NFL Football

[GoCubsGo]

Jordan Love sucks.

Danny Etling: 6/8, 123 Yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 156.3 QBRat
Ut-oh. Still 21-28 SF

Brock Purdy?

it's preseason, I turned it off after the third pick.

[O Really]

it's preseason, I turned it off after the third pick.

"Pre-season" should be eliminated. It's just a way to scam more fan/tv money while putting players at risk for no value (right, Jets?)

[GoCubsGo]

it's preseason, I turned it off after the third pick.

"Pre-season" should be eliminated. It's just a way to scam more fan/tv money while putting players at risk for no value (right, Jets?)

Oh yeah, it's all about the benjamins.
Wasn't there no preseason in 2020?

Seems like the quality of the game did not suffer.

[O Really]

CFL plays two weeks pre-season, then 21 weeks where each team plays 18 games with 3 off weeks. I'd vote for no pre-season and more weeks off. Let 'em rest, let'em play for something that matters. Risking a career for a few extra bucks to the league/team doesn't seem like a good idea whether for player or team.

[Vrede too]

CFL plays two weeks pre-season, then 21 weeks where each team plays 18 games with 3 off weeks. I'd vote for no pre-season and more weeks off. Let 'em rest, let'em play for something that matters. Risking a career for a few extra bucks to the league/team doesn't seem like a good idea whether for player or team.

What can they learn in a preseason game that they can't learn from internal scrimmaging?

[GoCubsGo]

CFL plays two weeks pre-season, then 21 weeks where each team plays 18 games with 3 off weeks. I'd vote for no pre-season and more weeks off. Let 'em rest, let'em play for something that matters. Risking a career for a few extra bucks to the league/team doesn't seem like a good idea whether for player or team.

I've never understood why the NFL doesn't put in a mini bye around the Thursday night games. Ten days off before, nine days after. They could extend their TV viewership by another week, have happier well rested player and possibly cut down on injuries.

Win win.

[GoCubsGo]

Whoa!

[Vrede too]

Whoa!

Drop kick for a FG on every 4th down outside their own 30 or so.

Matthew Ryan Araiza (born May 16, 2000) is an American football punter for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at San Diego State.

O Really's Aztecs represent!

Early life and high school

Araiza grew up in San Diego, California and attended Rancho Bernardo High School, where he played football and was a hurdler on the track and field team. He made 37 field goals and was a two-time All-America selection as a placekicker. Araiza committed to play college football at San Diego State over offers from UMass and Montana.

Dammit!

College career

... He became the team's placekicker as a redshirt freshman and made a school-record 22 field goals on 26 attempts and was named honorable mention All-Mountain West.Araiza made 10 of 14 field goal attempts in SDSU's COVID-19-shortened 2020 season and was named honorable mention All-Mountain West for a second straight season....

n 2021, Araiza was named the Aztecs first-string punter in addition to his kicking duties going into his redshirt junior season and was named a mid-season All-American by ESPN at the position. He finished the season averaging 51.19 yards per punt, breaking the NCAA record set by Texas A&M's Braden Mann in 2018 (50.98) and earning himself the nickname ‘Punt God’ by fans. Araiza won the Ray Guy Award as the top punter in the nation.

Punt God

The Buffalo Bills selected Araiza in the sixth round, 180th overall, of the 2022 NFL Draft.

That's where the "top punter in the nation" goes? I guess they're not highly valued.

Twitter:

Wasn’t even the first punter taken which is wild

80 yard, nbd

Scouts said he didn’t hold enough for field goal kickers, so they were afraid

3rd punter taken in the draft WTF

I was astonished he went so late. Dude was breaking records all fucking year

has a punter ever been league MVP?

Holy shit

[Vrede too]

I think the league and teams are within their rights, legal as well as practical, to discipline players for behaving in a way that reflects badly on the league/team. The league's all about money and they need happy-ish fans as part of the money stream. It's easy to see from examples like Michael Vick how the wrath of fans can affect operations. And I don't think it should require an actual criminal conviction to discipline the players. I just think it's a sad commentary on society that the favoritism toward cops is so blatant when one might expect that it's the cops to be held to the high standard.

I guess it's over now.

Deshaun Watson suspension increased to 11 games, receives largest player fine in NFL history in settlement

Deshaun Watson will serve an 11-game suspension and pay a $5 million fine for multiple violations of the league’s personal conduct policy in what amounts to one of the most significant penalties in NFL history, sources have confirmed to Yahoo Sports.

The Cleveland Browns quarterback and the NFL have settled his disciplinary case prior to a final ruling by arbitrator Peter C. Harvey, following an agreement between the two sides on Thursday. The fine is the steepest ever levied against an NFL player....

“I’ve always been able to stand on my innocence, and always said I never assaulted or disrespected anyone,” Watson said, “but at the same point I have to continue to push forward with my life and career.

“(I apologized) for everybody that was affected by this situation. There were a lot of people that were triggered.”

... The settlement also includes mandatory mental health counseling for Watson, and the Browns and the NFL will donate an additional $1 million each to sexual assault prevention programs.

The agreement features a sizable suspension increase over the six-game ban handed down by arbitrator Sue L. Robinson earlier this month after Watson was accused by two dozen women of sexual assault and misconduct, which included no financial penalty. The NFL appealed that ruling and had been seeking an indefinite one-year suspension from Harvey, a former New Jersey attorney general who was selected by the league to rule on the appeal.

While the final outcome for Watson appears costly, it will keep his current contract from tolling for one year. Had he been suspended for a calendar year, his fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million extension with the Browns wouldn’t have begun until 2023. That would have pushed his next free agency window out one year and effectively wiped off an entire season of his career. In theory, such a development could have cost Watson one season of his $46 million average salary. Now he’ll lose the 11-game prorated portion of his $1.035 million salary (which works out to $632,500), alongside the $5 million fine.

... Watson's first game back is set to be in Week 13 at his former team, the Houston Texans.

Oh good, he'll be able to get a massage at a familiar place to ease his pre-game jitters.

More seriously, I don't have an opinion on any of the details, from the accusations through to today. The whole thing is icky. I'm just glad it's mostly ended - still some victim lawsuits? - and hope that most parties are at least a little satisfied . . . maybe not:

11 Games is not enough. The 5 million is nothing to him.

$5m fine? Devastating. So he has to somehow move forward in life now with only $225m of his new $230m contract?

Way to go Browns. Can't wait to see if Baker Mayfield can stick it to you in the first game of the season. Otherwise I wouldn't bother to watch. You've sunk so far. New owners needed and wipe the administration clean.

This punishment seems to be aimed at the Browns. They have to pay him his signing bonus and he won't make a meaningful contribution this year. I think this is a warning to owners, sign a problem child at your own risk.

The Haslams have destroyed the Browns for the next 4-5 years. Watsons' ridiculous salary and giving 4-5 first round picks and how they treated Baker paint the Browns management in an extraordinaryly poor light . Players and coaches will have second thoughts before joining the Browns .The fans may start to go to Cincinatti . Cleveland needs the Browns but management seems unable to build an effective organization to support Cleveland fans

"destroyed ... for the next 4-5 years."
It's the Browns, how would anyone be able to tell?

[Vrede too]

Second week of NFL pre-season and nobody here has mentioned it.
Seahawks have apparently decided to sit this season out, I haven't forgiven the Chargers, despise the management of the team formerly known as the 'Skins, am ambivalent about the Iggles. Maybe I'll go for the Rams this year, at the risk of being called a bandwagon-jumper.
Or maybe I'll spend Sundays on a trail or at the beach. Yawn

What, no trash talk between you two?

Chicago Bears at Seattle Seahawks starting right now.

Opps, Seahawks fumble on the opening kickoff, Chicago ball but in Chicago territory.

[GoCubsGo]

What, no trash talk between you two?

[Vrede too]

What, no trash talk between you two?

Hey, you could at least try to top each other with how much your own teams suck.

Bears 10-0, beginning of 2nd.

Apparent NFL aphorism, new one to me: Every rookie you start is a loss.

[O Really]

Sorry - what?

[O Really]

Starting QB is being the same Geno he's always been and now injured. Other "future" QB gets covid. Receivers couldn't find the ball if it was up their ass. QB trips over his own RB. Can we just pass up the rest of this season before anybody gets seriously injured?

[GoCubsGo]

Starting QB is being the same Geno he's always been and now injured. Other "future" QB gets covid. Receivers couldn't find the ball if it was up their ass. QB trips over his own RB. Can we just pass up the rest of this season before anybody gets seriously injured?

Football Follies are drooling for fresh meat.

[Vrede too]

Hey, you could at least try to top each other with how much your own teams suck....

Starting QB is being the same Geno he's always been and now injured. Other "future" QB gets covid. Receivers couldn't find the ball if it was up their ass. QB trips over his own RB. Can we just pass up the rest of this season before anybody gets seriously injured?

Excellent opening salvo . GoCubsGo, you're up.

Full disclosure, since I'm taking O Really's advice to give up on Seattle this year:
Ravens > Tennessee 23-10 on 8/11, and that was without Lamar Jackson playing.
Sun, Aug 21 @Arizona, this will also be the B-squad:

Ravens Holding Key Players Out of Preseason Game Vs. Cardinals

Super Bowl, baby!

[GoCubsGo]

Hey, you could at least try to top each other with how much your own teams suck....

Starting QB is being the same Geno he's always been and now injured. Other "future" QB gets covid. Receivers couldn't find the ball if it was up their ass. QB trips over his own RB. Can we just pass up the rest of this season before anybody gets seriously injured?

Excellent opening salvo . GoCubsGo, you're up.

Hey, at least O Really's star (as it were) players show up. The best player on the Bears has yet to practice or play because he's holding a "hold in" for a new contract.

[Vrede too]

Hey, at least O Really's star (as it were) players show up.

No, Russell Wilson didn't play.
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/dallas-cow ... 220813007/
They stomped Dallas 17-7, anyhow.

The best player on the Bears has yet to practice or play because he's holding a "hold in" for a new contract.

Who's that?

Good retort. O Really?

[GoCubsGo]

Who's that?

Good retort. O Really?

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2022 ... -teammates

[Vrede too]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2022 ... -teammates

Ah, good luck, seems like you'll need a strong D.

I didn't know that any players, especially elite ones, shunned agents.