TPWW Forums - NFL 2011 Off Season Thread

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I've heard several times over the years that a lot of the Buffalo season ticket holders live in Rochester, and that they would love having a smaller stadium closer to home and would allegedly be able to sell out a 50K stadium easily, as opposed to the 73K Raplh Wilson Salad Bowl of Doom.

Any New Yorkers able to confirm or deny?

Quote:

NFL Network's Albert Breer reports the owners and players made "major strides" on the revenue split late into Thursday night and early Friday morning.
Talks didn't wrap up until after midnight after they came close to breaking down earlier in the day. Mediator Arthur Boylan has "optimism building a bit," and it now looks like the revenue split "might not be a major stumbling block" when talks resume next week. Boylan orchestrated a "huge rebound," writes Breer. That sentiment coincides with a cryptic tweet from CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman, who suggested football fans should be thanking Boylan as the July 4 holiday weekend begins.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO Taylor Lautner you are ho00o0tttttttttt

Barring an unexpected turn, signs point to this being over by the end of the week

As soon as its official, I'm in the market for Steelers v Colts tickets.

I'll be in Philadelphia on December 18 so I'll be hunting for some Eagles/Jets tickets once this nonsense is all over with. Come oooon.

Mediator Judge Arthur Boylan goes on vacation starting this Saturday. Both sides are open to meeting through the weekend. Sides met for 12.5 hours today, which included a phone conference with the plaintiffs for the first time. They'll meet again tomorrow at 9am. They apparently had some tough talks today, but def made progress.

The earlier prediction of an agreement by the end of the week MAY be slightly off, latest I'm hearing this is done by is mid-next week.

Judges ruled on the lockout today.

Gonna try to keep it short. Basically, 8th Circuit ruled somewhat evenly, as promised. Ruled that lockout is legal, but it doesn't apply to those not under contract i.e. FAs and rookies. It's up to a ruling from Judge Nelson as to whether that part will stick. But based on her previous rulings, she'll greenlight it. Here's the big thing though, this loophole would open up teams abilities to sign FAs ASAP.

Players and League released a statement saying that this ruling changes nothing, their priority is negotiations. If they're stupid, the league can try to use this as leverage. But given that Judge Nelson is likely to approve contact between teams and FAs and rookies, they need to get a deal done before all hell breaks loose.

Right now only 2 issues are causing problems with one upsetting the players and the other upsetting the owners.

The players don't like the idea of the right of first refusal only being limited to 3 players per team which could affect free agency and make the owners pocket more money.

The owners want only the arbitrator to have the final decision and no influence from other courts regardless of the decisions made due to the players having a lot more courts on their side than the owners side. Another reason is due to the AG of New York investigating the owners/NFL for anti-trust laws being broken because of the lockout being done by the owners and the "damages" also affecting states and cities who have agreements with the NFL.

The Steelers should just stay away from Georgia.

Mike Vrabel retires. Got a gig lined up as an assistant coach at Ohio State.

I liked how all his career catches were for TDs and that nobody bothered to realize that if he's on offense then to cover him the most since the next play is meant for him.

Pacman Jones got arrested in a bar for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, and he had a neckbrace on because he is still recovering from a herniated disk.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6754092

http://fastcache.gawkerassets.com/as.../07/pacman.jpg

Seriously? Drinking at a bar with a neckbrace? Stay the fuck home you idiot hope he never makes back on the field and gets cut

Quote:

Bradley Handwerger / WWLTV.com Sports Writer THIBODAUX, La. ―Jon Gruden isn’t sure about the details of the lockout. He doesn’t know how free agency is going to be changed. And doesn’t know how teams are going to react to being off from football for four-plus months. But one thing he does know is that he likes the Saints. ESPN’s Monday Night Football oracle, long high on the Saints, remains that way this offseason. “I still think they’re one of the top four or five teams in football without a doubt,” Gruden said Friday during an interview at the Manning Passing Academy. Gruden is most bullish on the Saints offense, especially the backfield. When asked about the addition of Mark Ingram through the draft, Gruden was glowing in his review of the former Heisman Trophy winning running back from Alabama. The rookie, Gruden said, can contribute immediately. “I think you need a guy that when you have the ball and the lead inside of four minutes to run the clock, that’s the only enemy (for an opponent),” Gruden said. “I think Ingram is that kind of guy. He’s an NFL back. He can pick up blitzes flush. I’ve seen him do it. He’s a pretty good receiver out of the backfield. “I just think he’s going to make a lot of big first downs for the Saints in key situations.” But the key will be remaining healthy. The Saints ended the 2010 season decimated in the backfield, among other positions. By the end of the playoff loss to Seattle, the Saints were down to DeShawn Wynn in the backfield. Reggie Bush and Julius Jones ended the game on the bench with injuries while Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory didn’t even dress because of injuries sustained prior to the playoffs. “This is a team that uses their backs,” Gruden said. “Two at a time. Multiple formations. Reggie is a joker –he lines up in the slot, he lines up outside, he lines up in the backfield. They missed those backs. Pierre and Reggie had a lot to do with the Super Bowl trophy I think. To get Ingram, hopefully Pierre and Reggie back and Ivory? “That’s a nucleus of four backs that not a lot of teams can say they have.” Gruden, though, extends his praise to the receiving corps. “They’re not catch-counters in New Orleans,” the former coach said. “They’re into winning football games.” In fact, the most diminutive receiver on the Saints’ roster the past few seasons picked up the most praise from Gruden. Lance Moore, who in all likelihood will come out of the offseason as a newly minted unrestricted free agent, was described as Brees’ “go-to guy in key situations” and a “quick slot receiver who really has the body language of an All-Pro.” And that’s not mentioning the man running the offense. Drew Brees, as always, got rave reviews from the quarterback guru himself. “Brees makes very few mistakes,” Gruden said. “The more football you give this guy, the better he is.” The question, though, is can the Saints get back to the Super Bowl. Gruden, for one, thinks it’s a possibility if the stars align and the right decisions are made. “I think they’ve got to come off the bye and make a couple of tough decisions with their roster and hit the ground running,” he said. “If they do that, they’ll get right back in contention.”

Rams playoff bound this year

James Harrison is an idiot. This lockout needs to end soon. Rooney and Tomlin got a few issues they gotta take care of, first Hines now this. The hell is goin on.

Harrison is a ignorant black man. That's putting it nicely.

It was one thing to be upset at the Commish and call him a liar but then either stupidity or him just ranting managed to include gay slurs, verbal attacks on his team mates, and then news of him taking pictures holding guns.

The NFL is really upset at the picture since everything else can be taken care of behind doors. The picture ends up being part of the same thing that occurs every year with some players acting like dumbasses or criminals and hurt the public image of the NFL.

Why should James Harrison care about the public image of the NFL?

Im enjoying the implosion of the Pissburgh Steelers even before the lockout is over. Its awesome.

ESPN is reporting that an agreement on a principle version for the CBA could be finished by the next 1-2 days with just a few big issues left but nothing serious that wouldn't allow an agreement to be reached.

A fix to the rookie wage system has been agreed to go along with the CBA guaranteed to last 7-10 years and a salary cap around $120 million for 2011.

The players wanted $141 million for the cap but agree to drop $20 million and use the extra for each team's benefits plans. The owners are still split on how much of the cap must be spent per year with 90% being agreed as the starting level. Also agreed is some sort of small exemption for teams who are over the cap but nothing more than 1 player or $3 million.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/67...em-sources-say

so will free agency literally start the second a new deal is sealed or will the date for it be something they organize/agree on?

I'm guessing it will take just a few days after a deal is officialy done to start free agency? Or it might even start right away..but shorter than a week for sure from what i've heard.

I think if they get the deal ratified on Thursday free agency starts the following Monday

Relatively good chance of the schedule going something like this:

Wednesday: Finish off deal, player vote, plaintiffs approve
Thursday: Owner's meeting in ATL, they vote
Friday: Planned seminar for team officials about new CBA
Weekend off, as usual
Monday - Wednesday: Exclusive team negotiations with their FAs
Thursday: Free Agency opens

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corndad (Post 3578232)

James Harrison is an idiot. This lockout needs to end soon. Rooney and Tomlin got a few issues they gotta take care of, first Hines now this. The hell is goin on.

It's not just him either, you now have Mendenhall suing Champion for 1 million. I agree with the recent Mark Madden blogs, Mendenhall, Harrison, and Ward just need to shut the f*ck up, play football, and learn from these mistakes. This team is totally out of control compared to when Cowher was coaching.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Battlekat (Post 3583548)

+1. Also Dan being in Ireland the whole time doesn't help.

Kris Jenkins retired :(

Loved the guy's determination and commitment but so unreliable :( He tailed off big time in the Brett Favre season (along with most of the team sure), got injured and out for the year in week 6 of 2009 and again in week 1 of 2010. Definitely time to call it a day.

Getting worried about Peyton tbh. I read something about nerves affecting his throwing arm and stuff. Km not even sure Indy makes the playoffs with Peyton this year. So many questions. Colts need to get a big FA. I want Deangelo Williams and/or Nnamdi. Who knows maybe Donald Brown has a breakout season.

Really concerned.

Owners set to vote on the new CBA around 3-5:30pm ET today with about 24 votes needed to end the lockout or at least put an official start to the offseason. The players are expected to reform the union either later in the week or next week with the problem being a lot of votes need to be collected and counted which is why they couldn't do it yesterday before the owners vote.

The other issues not agreed on by both the players and owners are not strong enough to kill the new CBA and can be agreed on at a later time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 3584498)

The players are expected to reform the union either later in the week or next week with the problem being a lot of votes need to be collected and counted which is why they couldn't do it yesterday before the owners vote.

The reason it hasn't been done is NFLPA lawyer Jeffrey Kessler insists on being the typical POS lawyer. He wants this thing to drag on as long as possible in the hopes of blowing it up so litigation can go all the way and he can in the end fuck up the way the NFL operates.

Despite that the league set up or at least outlined a way for the PA to vote quickly and electronically, he insists that the PA mail out vote cards and wait for them to be returned and counted.

Smith got in his shit already a few weeks ago about trying to fuck things up, and now he just continues to try it. Smith just needs to tell him to stfu or fire his ass already, like Upshaw would've done a while ago

Quote:

At the top of the hour on ESPN, Sal Paolantonio reiterated what we’ve been saying for weeks: “We keep hearing from a lot of owners here that . . . Jeffrey Kessler is holding up this deal.”

Kessler apparently is holding up the deal in one way by ignoring all modern means of communication to insist on sending out union cards in the mail for players to sign and return.

There’s another Kessler tactic that continues to find willing soil. As Chris Mortensen of ESPN mentioned moments after Paolantonio’s report from Atlanta, some of the players meeting in Washington are reluctant to reformulate the union.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...r-red-herring/