NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - Off Season

[-Jrabbit]

Disagree. There are definitely issues remaining, but virtually all the core issues are agreed. Biggest issue is that the player reps hadn't yet seen the document when they had their 2-hr conf call tonight.

However, some of the technical points are interesting: The proposal apparently ties some issues to recertification of the NFLPA, which can be viewed as coercion, which would be a clear violation of federal labor law. Ironically, some of the open issues (like drug testing and league discipline) have to be bargained collectively (by law), so they can't be resolved yet. Kind of a catch-22.

I predict the player reps will agree by the end of Saturday. Players gotta play.

[Donegeal]

Regardless of the details, if the players don't sign, they will start to loose public favor. The general public will be thinking "Well, the owners have signed it and are ready to let them play, now the players are just being greedy and are refusing to play!"

Not that that is what is really going on.

[rah]

It does seem the owners out danced the players pr wise on this one.

[Ben Kenobi]

You're so full of ****, Ben. The Chargers only rely on deep passes?

Pretty much, that's the way their scheme has always worked.

One, NO offense wants to be one-dimensional (except maybe Al Davis' Raiders).

So you're saying that I'm wrong about the Chargers offense? Deep, down the field passes? That's how they roll.

Two, if an offense is forced to be one-dimensional, they want to be one-dimensional in the consistent moving the chains way, not the boom-or-bust occasional big play way. I'm sure Philip Rivers would LOVE a big-bodied possession receiver to get all that underneath stuff that opens up when you have receivers on go routes going deep and the safeties playing off... oh wait. He already has that.

He's got that big-bodied underneath dude. He's called Antonio Gates.

Yes, Rivers does from time to time heave a deep one to Gates but for the most part, Gates does his damage after he gets the ball. Same as Brandon Marshall. That's why both guys have the same percentage of their yards as yards after the catch, just under half.

Which is why the Chargers have the luxury of throwing deep to their WRs. Gates > Marshall and he's a TE!

[Ben Kenobi]

Tuberski:

He's not. He's an amazing TE though.

[Ben Kenobi]

Ideally you would have a pairing like Rod Smith/McCaffrey, Randy Moss/Welker, Larry Fitzgerald/Anquan Boldin or, more recently, Greg Jennings/Donald Driver, Desean Jackson/Jeremy Maclin, Hakeem Nicks/Steve Smith (or Plaxico Burress/Amani Toomer before that)... a deep threat guy who can make the big plays or, when he doesn't, at least forces the safeties off which not only opens up the underneath stuff for your possession guy but also opens up some space for your runningback.

Vincent Jackson is known for playing well without the ball. He doesn't take plays off and he actually tackles.

I'd love to play Ben in Madden for money. Let him play a one-dimensional Al Davis sort of offense heaving it deep every down. I'll break a sack record on Rivers and probably get half a dozen picks.

FYI, the Chargers invented the Coryell-style offense. And it's probably the best offensive scheme out there at present.

Why don't we just do tecmo?

[Donegeal]

Flutie to Jackson for the TD!

Ben... go change your stained pants now.

[Al B. Sure!]

I can't even begin to respond to Ben. I quit.

This, however:

And it's [the Air Coryell offense] probably the best offensive scheme out there at present.

made me

[MRT144]

I can't even begin to respond to Ben. I quit.

This, however:



made me

Stick to that. the less we talk with the ben, the happier we'll be.

[Al B. Sure!]

Chris "Warcraft" Kluwe went off at a former TE Nate Jackson who criticized Kluwe criticizing Logan Mankins and Vincent Jackson for 'holding up' the end of the lockout.

http://deadspin.com/5823788/chris-kluwe-responds-can-i-kick-it-yes-i-can

[MRT144]

Kluwe is pretty awesome.

[SlowwHand]

That's funny. I have a new hero.

[Al B. Sure!]

It does seem the owners out danced the players pr wise on this one.

Ochocinco said as much:

"Smart move by the owners to gain positive public perception and pressure the players into a bad deal shifting the negativity on us #kudos"

[Al B. Sure!]

Getting there...

Spoiler:

NFL owners and players have tentatively agreed to a plan that would allow for the players' executive committee to vote on Monday to recommend accepting the CBA and recertifying as a union, a source said Saturday.

According to the source, progress in talks with the owners has put the 11-member NFLPA executive board in position to vote Monday to recommend the 10-year collective bargaining agreement the owners ratified Thursday.

Under the plan, players would then begin reporting to training camps as early as Wednesday to physically vote on whether to recertify, with the hope that it will be done by Friday at the earliest, the source said.

The players' association's plan calls for the NFLPA's executive committee to meet in Washington, D.C., on Monday. If all agreements have been reached by then, the executive committee is expected to vote to recommend the CBA and recommend recertifying as a union, the source said. After that, the 32 player representatives also must recommend the CBA and recertifying.

If the executive committee accepts the new CBA, the source said, players from certain teams would be allowed to report to training camps on Wednesday and players from other teams will be asked to report to camps Friday. The hope from both sides is there are enough votes to recertify the union by as early as Friday.

The NFLPA needs a 50-percent-plus-one-vote majority of the players in order to recertify its union and accept the terms of the CBA.

The NFL announced Thursday it would open its doors to players under contract two days after the NFLPA executive committee accepts the CBA and settlement terms from existing lawsuits and free agency would start the day after the union is recertified. Therefore, under this tentative schedule for recertification, the the pre-league year buffer period could start Wednesday. Under that scenario, teams could potentially open contract talks with their unrestricted free agents, restricted free agents and draft choices although deals would not be able to be signed until the weekend. In that scenario, teams would also be able to renegotiate contracts with players from their own team starting as early as Wednesday.

Upon recertification of the union, free agency could start at 2 p.m. ET on July 30 and rosters could expand to 90. Left uncertain is when undrafted free agents would be able to sign

It was vital for the NFLPA to have enough time for recertification and have a period of time for the renewed union to work out final details of its benefit plans.

Only a union can negotiate benefits for its members and the NFLPA feared a Tuesday deadline to recertify would not leave enough time to properly negotiate changes in the benefits packages. Under terms of the owners' agreement from Thursday, players would have reverted to the 2010 benefits plan if they didn't make adjustments within a certain time period.

Also Saturday, both sides got closer to settling the $4 billion network television insurance case, according to a source. That case, which is in the court of Judge David Doty in Minneapolis, involved damages suffered by the players after Judge Doty ruled against the owners.

[Tuberski]

Why would you use spoiler tags? In case we don't want to know how it all tuyrns out?

ACK!