2015 NFL Season Thread

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Great Article that really sheds light into Spygate, which IMO probably should have been a bigger deal then it was.

I also hate the "everyone was doing it" defense.

IMO if everyone was doing it they probably wouldn't have had the cover up that they had, and you would probably have heard about other teams having these secret rooms as well.

Personally if the information in that article is true it then leads me to question Brady's place as a great QB. It's a lot easier to play quarterback, and read the defense (one of his greatest strengths supposedly) when you know what set the defense is running.

Although he has been even more productive since 2007 so who knows if it really mattered, or if they just found another way to cheat.

It's not a great article. It's a biased, leading article that doesn't shed light on any new facts. It should have been a far lesser story than it was at the time, and there's no reason it needs 11,000 words on it 8 years after it happened. Let me debunk some stuff from the article and what is thought of as fact.

Rams - There are thoughts that the Patriots videotaped the walk through before S36. This has been refuted many times. Not one shred of proof tied them to a disgruntled, fired, former employee's statement. Papers have run full page, front and back, apologies for reporting on this. They said the Patriots must have taped the walk through because they broke out some new plays in the red zone. The Rams entered the red zone one time in the game. They scored a touchdown on that possession. What are they complaining about for that one? They are also saying somehow knowing that Faulk was the KR on one play made them kick it so that Faulk ran out of bounds after catching it. This is baffling. If it was going out of bounds, the Rams would get the ball on the 40. That's a bad decision by Faulk, not a cheat by the Patriots. It also said Martz lost his career over that game. He coached St. Louis for five more years. Yeah, that devastated him. Next!

Eagles - The article says the Eagles feel they were cheated. They fell apart down the stretch, like they did in countless games under Reid/McNabb. Did they make McNabb barf in the huddle too? Child please.

Steelers - Kordell Stewart is a terrible QB, and their special teams had an awful day. I can give you stats to back this up, but they are in plain sight.

The article was made to look like the Pats wouldn't comment on it. Do you mean that Belichick might have something better to do in 2015 than comment on something that happened in 2007? Shocking.

I could go on and on, but the main point is this article is garbage. If you learned something new from it, you haven't been paying attention the previous 8 years.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by habernac

Brandon Marshall thinks Brady's suspension was overturned because he's white. Larf.

He also said Cam Newton would have gotten harsher penalties. Newton and Bridgewater (both black QBs) were in a game where the ball boys on both teams were shown heating the balls up during the game. They got a memo saying not to do it again. I agree that Marshall is wrong on this one. Brady got a 4 game suspension from Goodell. This was overturned by a judge, not the NFL. This had nothing to do with race.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

It's not a great article. It's a biased, leading article that doesn't shed light on any new facts. It should have been a far lesser story than it was at the time, and there's no reason it needs 11,000 words on it 8 years after it happened. Let me debunk some stuff from the article and what is thought of as fact.

Rams - There are thoughts that the Patriots videotaped the walk through before S36. This has been refuted many times. Not one shred of proof tied them to a disgruntled, fired, former employee's statement. Papers have run full page, front and back, apologies for reporting on this. They said the Patriots must have taped the walk through because they broke out some new plays in the red zone. The Rams entered the red zone one time in the game. They scored a touchdown on that possession. What are they complaining about for that one? They are also saying somehow knowing that Faulk was the KR on one play made them kick it so that Faulk ran out of bounds after catching it. This is baffling. If it was going out of bounds, the Rams would get the ball on the 40. That's a bad decision by Faulk, not a cheat by the Patriots. It also said Martz lost his career over that game. He coached St. Louis for five more years. Yeah, that devastated him. Next!

Eagles - The article says the Eagles feel they were cheated. They fell apart down the stretch, like they did in countless games under Reid/McNabb. Did they make McNabb barf in the huddle too? Child please.

Steelers - Kordell Stewart is a terrible QB, and their special teams had an awful day. I can give you stats to back this up, but they are in plain sight.

The article was made to look like the Pats wouldn't comment on it. Do you mean that Belichick might have something better to do in 2015 than comment on something that happened in 2007? Shocking.

I could go on and on, but the main point is this article is garbage. If you learned something new from it, you haven't been paying attention the previous 8 years.

I see somebody follows Bill Simmons since those were the exact points he flagged on his twitter feed.

It is a good article that outlines the timeline from the evolution of Spygate, the aftershock that even had, and why people feel the NFL was overly harsh on Deflategate.

It is not a coincidence that in 2007 all the rules that the NFL implemented, were exactly the things that the Patriots were rumored to be doing up until that point.

Patriots fans can refute the effectiveness of the teams actions all they want, and we will never know what impact it truly played, but in terms of the Patriots and cheating there has been more then enough smoke over the last 10 years, and where there is smoke there is usually fire.

In the end it probably doesn't matter much because Brady is a great QB, and Belichick is a great coach even with the cheating put aside but really you have to be a homer to think there is no truth to the allegations.

The part that stands out the most to me is that the Patriots were fined a first rounder, and had two maximum fines levied against them, yet in the years after both the NFL and it's other owners feel like they may have been too lenient with their punishment.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I see somebody follows Bill Simmons since those were the exact points he flagged on his twitter feed.

Of course I do, but as I stated, nothing new came out of this article that wasn't available for the last 8 years. I've said most of those points many times, including on CP. The Rams stuff is the most ridiculous, as it's been proven to be false multiple times, but here we are in 2015 and people still think it happened.

I also follow Michael Hurley, who debunked any of the Kordell Stewart/Steelers allegations in two tweets.

https://twitter.com/michaelFhurley/s...19731343085568
https://twitter.com/michaelFhurley/s...23718733742080

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

It is not a coincidence that in 2007 all the rules that the NFL implemented, were exactly the things that the Patriots were rumored to be doing up until that point.

So the Patriots were responsible for instant replay becoming permanent, spiking the ball is a 5 yard penalty, 15 yard penalty for blocking below the waist, 2 minute warning/10 second run off, unintentionally touching of a forward pass by an interior lineman was eliminated, and a 5 yard penalty against the defense for excessive crowd noise has been eliminated.

Seriously, which of those rules introduced in 2007, were attributed to the Patriots, if any? This is another example of putting something out there as though it is fact, without any research into it. It's the exact way that all of these "cheating" stories got carried away with in the first place when done by major news networks and guys on twitter with large followers.

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Patriots fans can refute the effectiveness of the teams actions all they want, and we will never know what impact it truly played, but in terms of the Patriots and cheating there has been more then enough smoke over the last 10 years, and where there is smoke there is usually fire.

In the end it probably doesn't matter much because Brady is a great QB, and Belichick is a great coach even with the cheating put aside but really you have to be a homer to think there is no truth to the allegations.

The Patriots cheated by the location of filming the other team's signals. I've never disputed that. I've disputed how terrible the crime was. I've also wondered why Bill didn't just get somebody to do the exact same thing from the press box. Cameras are so good, they could have gotten the same information from a different (legal) spot.

Other than that, there have been no allegations that have been remotely proven during the Belichick/Brady era. There have been many people that have made up things (11/12 balls 2 PSI below limit, etc.), but nothing has been proven. Just because you hope something happened, or are looking for an excuse, doesn't mean they cheated.

You really have to hate, or be jealous of, the Patriots to think they did all those things.

[d_phaneuf]

[SuperMatt18]

I was talking about allowing defences to have a radio just like offenses and the new mandatory "Policy on Integrity of the Game & Enforcement of Competitive Rules" as the new rules introduced.

I think at this point you would really have to be a huge fan of the Patriots to think they didn't do any of those things.

The NFL ownership group is very much an old boys club that doesn't like to step on each other's toes and it's unlikely they would be willing to go after one of their own franchises, especially with an owner as respected as Kraft was, without their being some truth to the accusations.

[Flabbibulin]

What day games will everyone be watching this Sunday? Im guessing sunday ticket will be free the first week as usual, so we will probably have all of them to choose from.

I think I will have to go with Indi-Buffalo for the morning game. Really curious to see how Buffalo looks.

For the afternoon, Im sure just about everyone will be all over Titans-Bucs game at first, but I expect the rookie QBs to look like rookie QBs and end up switching to Ravens-Broncos.

[d_phaneuf]

afternoon is the start of Amari Cooper's HOF career and Khalil Mack's first DPOY season

[Bobblehead]

I think the Patriots did all that stuff. I think it is something that needs to be clamped down on and I have no problem with the penalties as originally assessed.

I also think many/all teams to similar things, there are no choir boys, and they all should get similar punishments. I'm not sure if the Patriots pushed the boundaries more or just better at it; or if they are worse because they seem to be getting caught more.

Regardless, my interest in NFL football overall has scaled way back. There seems to be so much of it all year around, it really has become the Nickelback of pro-sports - over-exposed yet still popular and super successful.

[Sainters7]

Gotta admit, for week 1 none of the morning games are really blowing any wind up my skirt, will probably just be a RedZone morning for me. Unfortunately my team plays in the same slot as the much more enticing afternoon games.

Haha I'm already kinda dreading that Saints@Cards game, I've never felt that way about my team before going into Week 1. That's really not a good sign. Obviously I'll stick on that one save for parts where I start getting PO'd, then I'll check out bits of Ravens/Broncos and Chargers/Lions.

The NFL being back far outweighs my excitement in the Saints being back, still have some leftover resentment from that embarrassing, mentally soft as a soup sandwich '14 Greenbrier country club team posing as a Payton-era Saints team...Payton included. Prove me wrong boys..

[Finger Cookin]

Does anyone have any info on what Shaw will be charging for Sunday Ticket? I can't find price information on its website.

[Jason14h]

Does anyone have any info on what Shaw will be charging for Sunday Ticket? I can't find price information on its website.

Realistically just get red zone and then there are usually 7 of the other games on anyways across all the channels.

Red Zone itself only costs 50$ I believe!

Sunday Ticket is usually $250?

[Pagal4321]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Does anyone have any info on what Shaw will be charging for Sunday Ticket? I can't find price information on its website.

I just called them to add Sunday Ticket to my account and your options are pay $199 immediately or pay 4 installments of $55. However, they apparently aren't offering Red Zone at this time and if they decide to offer it they will contact all Sunday Ticket Subscribers.

No idea what the hell that means.

[GirlySports]

Wooooo! Football!!!

[DropIt]

So is Edelman playing or no? I have been getting conflicting reports all day

[GirlySports]

He is in

[GirlySports]

That trick play was dumb. Never made those yards back and missed the FG

[troutman]

4 TD passes in the rain. Cheater.

[DropIt]

That Brady vs Favre Stat was insane....to think Brady will obliterate that record of wins by a QB with 1 team

[Flabbibulin]

A lot of extra garbage yards to really make the Pats D look worse on paper.

Thought Butler looked good at first, but a little iffy in the last half.