The NFL Thread

[The Bear]

Meanwhile, here in England, no one has a clue what a crip walk is.

 

[Alan]

Meanwhile, here in England, no one has a clue what a crip walk is.

I always get a good laugh out of the name of our training facility.

 

[The Bear]

I always get a good laugh out of the name of our training facility.

Me too, I get that one.

 

[Jack Regan]

I always get a good laugh out of the name of our training facility.

Well if you ever get to visit our Compton is far more dangerous. That island by the Swan pub no one has a clue what's going on...

 

[Tony Towner]

On the 28th December JJ Watt told James Trafford that if he didn't concede again for the rest of the season he'd come out of retirement and play for the Patriots. 10 games down, 13 to go (not being playing in the cup)

 

[Jack Regan]

It's the Bengals not the Patriots.

 

[Tony Towner]

It's the Bengals not the Patriots.

Ah sorry

 

[Jack Regan]

Obviously it's not gonna happen anyway although with the Bengals D last season they'd be sure to try and hold him to his word if it did.

 

[Alan]

Speaking of D, 7 more women have come forward accusing Justin Tucker of misusing his.

 

[Jack Regan]

Yep definitely heading the way of Watson, unless the Browns need a kicker that is.

Although saying that, come the playoffs next year and a team desperately need a kicker I'm sure he's get offers (unless he's in jail of course).

 

[Alan]

I think if he hadn’t gone over a cliff so severely you’d be right. Though teams do go through kickers at a crazy rate these days.

 

[Jack Regan]

The NFL season is over, so why not pick one of these soccer teams to follow?

NFL fans may be wondering what to watch during its long offseason. Consider this a guide to the alternative round-ball teams to root for.

www.nytimes.com

Obviously paywall but apparently Indianapolis Colts fans should consider supporting us.

Colts fans have hopes pinned on quarterback Anthony Richardson to be the future of the franchise. Regarded as an athletically gifted and dynamic talent, he needs more development time to reach his NFL potential.

Wolves know all about nurturing players who show flashes of genius but are yet to put it all together. Speedy Spanish winger Adama Traore, now at fellow Premier League side Fulham, made 157 appearances for the Midlands-based club. Opposition defenders resorted to grappling him so often, he wore baby oil to help foil would-be tacklers.

Liverpool forward Diogo Jota also started his Premier League career at Wolves, as did the talented midfielder Ruben Neves, now playing in the Saudi Pro League.

 

[Alan]

The Adama comp is a fair one, but adding Neves and Jota in is bizarre.

Still angry that refs treated Adama like fucking LeBron James (must have only got 40% of the fouls he deserved) but c’est la vie.

 

[Tony Towner]

We'll see if I'm wrong, but it feels like Moore is interviewing a couple of Eagles positional coaches to tick the Rooney Rule box before hiring Staley and Nussmeier as he was always going to

 

[Derby Wolf]

I have come into possession of a Panthers "jersey" over the weekend and so my delve into NFL begins



I had a wry smile when I googled them and saw they're from Charlotte, NC owing to ower @Alan but I don't know much else about them? Are they any good? Any stand out players? Have I unwittingly chosen the McDons of American Football? Is the team undermined by a megalomaniac administrator who hasn't got a clue? Because I've only got space for one of those in my life.

I have a basic understanding of the game but been reading up on the rest today and learning about positions etc. Interested to see where it goes.

 

[Tony Towner]

I'll let Alan give you the lowdown, what he won't tell you though is they have a Head Coach who wrote a book all about how shagging around strengthened his marriage

 

[Alan]

I’m offended by the idea that I wouldn’t immediately put Canales on blast for that.

 

[Jack Regan]

I have come into possession of a Panthers "jersey" over the weekend and so my delve into NFL begins

View attachment 13000

I had a wry smile when I googled them and saw they're from Charlotte, NC owing to ower @Alan but I don't know much else about them? Are they any good? Any stand out players? Have I unwittingly chosen the McDons of American Football? Is the team undermined by a megalomaniac administrator who hasn't got a clue? Because I've only got space for one of those in my life.

I have a basic understanding of the game but been reading up on the rest today and learning about positions etc. Interested to see where it goes.

Tepper does not like this. But the answer to your question is yes.

 

[Alan]

I have come into possession of a Panthers "jersey" over the weekend and so my delve into NFL begins

View attachment 13000

I had a wry smile when I googled them and saw they're from Charlotte, NC owing to ower @Alan but I don't know much else about them? Are they any good? Any stand out players? Have I unwittingly chosen the McDons of American Football? Is the team undermined by a megalomaniac administrator who hasn't got a clue? Because I've only got space for one of those in my life.

I have a basic understanding of the game but been reading up on the rest today and learning about positions etc. Interested to see where it goes.

Well, one piece of terrible news for you off the top: every professional team in the US is McDons. That’s the unfortunate way of things here. The Colts (in)famously left Baltimore for Indianapolis overnight with scarcely anybody knowing about it. The Browns left for Baltimore (becoming the Ravens) after a ton of drama regarding tax funding of Cleveland’s stadium. Most franchises here are furiously doped by taxpayers rather than owners (not that the owners spend nothing).

As to the Panthers, they entered the league as part of the 1995 expansion that also added the Jaguars in Jacksonville. Carolina have been generally respectable since, though with the caveat that the league is purposely structured to keep parity as much as possible, which is why “dynasties” like the Patriots of the 2000s and the Chiefs of today are so rare and impressive.

That 17 shirt has got to be Jake Delhomme, who is something of a cult hero around here. Was never very good, mostly propped up by excellent WR and OL play, but in personality was a goofy, über-likable country bumpkin. The number of times they played Cotton Eye Joe at the stadium during his tenure was enough to put me off the song forever. But man, the 2003 season when Carolina got to the Super Bowl (lost to, who else, Brady/Belichik and the Pats) was so much fun for 11 year old Alan. One of my most vivid sporting memories is seeing this play live while at my Dad’s bowling league:

Funnily enough, I remember the commentators being way more excited than they apparently were, based on that clip. Dopamine does crazy things to a memory, I suppose.

Anywho. Going forward, Carolina are owned by David Tepper, who also owns Charlotte FC. With the MLS club he’s smart enough to stay hands-off. With the Panthers, though, he’s basically Jerry Jones with less mentions of glory holes. He’s a shitty person (threw a drink on some fans in Jacksonville, is constantly getting into spats with local business owners here at home, etc) and not a quarter as intelligent as he believes himself to be. As for the team, there’s the sex-addicted Dave Canales as head coach, who, in fairness, at least seems to be legitimately good at the actual coaching. The players are generally quite young or quite old, but the QB, Bryce Young, after a disaster of a rookie season, did almost a total 180 after a few weeks this season just past. If he can maintain his growth, Carolina are actually very well set up for the future; there should be a lot of room within the salary cap for the team to bring in some proven veterans in free agency, and a lot of draft picks have been gathered up by trading away some of the more expensive players on the team in the last couple of seasons when it became clear there would be no playoff appearance in those years (offloading those contracts is part of why they have so much cap room to play with).

Tl,dr; there are rarely guarantees in the NFL, and Tepper has every opportunity to blow it all up by being a fucking dipshit asshole, but for the first time since Cam Newton was here, there’s genuine positivity around the team’s chances of a successful season.