2007 NFL Regular Season

[troutman]

http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/200...f_collusi.html

Incidently, the Titans were a late six-point favorite heading into the game. The final score, of course, was Titans 16, Colts 10.

[burn_baby_burn]

If the Colts did tell the Titans to go ahead and take a knee. That is collusion. But with 20 seconds left playing second stringers. Would the colts have come back to win the game? I can't believe Collins is stupid enough to blab about it on the radio.

[HOOT]

Don't know if this is FATA but I didn't notice it:

Report: Dolphins renew Williams' contract

The Miami Dolphins have reportedly renewed the contact of troubled running back Ricky Williams for 2008.

http://tsn.ca/nfl/news_story/?ID=226391&hubname=nfl

Whats up with that?

[corporatejay]

Talked about it on primetime sports.


They basically said there is no risk in doing this, if they find someone better or he doesn't work out, they'll just cut him anyway. Miami has a lack of good players, Ricky has the potential to be a good player again, why cut a guy until you know your situation (like if they decide to draft mcfadden).

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Talked about it on primetime sports.


They basically said there is no risk in doing this, if they find someone better or he doesn't work out, they'll just cut him anyway. Miami has a lack of good players, Ricky has the potential to be a good player again, why cut a guy until you know your situation (like if they decide to draft mcfadden).

I always forget football is like this. Very weird CBA agreement to have in such a violent sport.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by HOOT

I always forget football is like this. Very weird CBA agreement to have in such a violent sport.

Well contracts are HEAVY in signing bonuses and guaranteed money. Also, I'm guessing insurance policies for NFL contracts are fairly common place.

Here's an interesting quote from jerome bettis.

I wasn't faking that I had an injury. I was just faking that the injury happened on that short-yardage play. I had to fool the coaches and the team's medical department into thinking the injury had occurred on that play. Otherwise, the Steelers would have had their reason to cut me and my salary.

[Sainters7]

I keep hearing on the radio the past few weeks how the Jags could knock off the Patriots if they met in the playoffs. I just don't buy it. From what I've seen in the regular season, the way to beat the Jags is to spread out their D and look deep often. The Colts used this strategy in their first meeting and it worked extremely well. The Saints basically copied the Colts gameplan when they played the Jags two weeks later and put up 41 points on Jax, with Brees throwing for 445 yards and 3 TD's. With Brady and Moss on the roster, the Patriots have the right weapons to expose the Jags secondary just as well as Brees and Manning did. And as long as the weather stays decent at Foxboro(its been above freezing all week), I don't see how the Pats won't win this game.

IMO the only team who has any shot at knocking off New England is the Colts(though I'd still take the Pats in that match-up)

[Bobblehead]

Well, the other side of the coin is the Jags are a ball possession team. If they can grind the ball, dominate time of possession and minimize the number of possessions the Pats get, then they may have a chance.

Even then, the Jags are going to need to be efficient on offense and hope for a couple defensive plays.

So I think the Jags have a good shot, but the Pats are still favoured.

[Bobblehead]

49ers hire Mike Martz as their new OC

This should be interesting....

[Lurch]

Mike Martz coaching an offense with little to no talent at WR combined with a poor (to this point in his career) QB makes very little sense to me.

[moon]

Martz doesn't need talent at WR. whoever is playing there will succeed in his schemes. Furrey and Macdonald haven't exactly lit the world on fire in other schemes but with Martz both put up big catch totals.

Kitna is a mediocre QB but he put up big numbers with Martz as well.

The offensive problems with the Lions had a lot to do with the O-Line and no running game. The passing game with marginal guys was actually pretty good.

[JD]

Originally Posted by moon

Martz doesn't need talent at WR. whoever is playing there will succeed in his schemes. Furrey and Macdonald haven't exactly lit the world on fire in other schemes but with Martz both put up big catch totals.

Kitna is a mediocre QB but he put up big numbers with Martz as well.

The offensive problems with the Lions had a lot to do with the O-Line and no running game. The passing game with marginal guys was actually pretty good.

It was OK, a little mismanaged at times. Maybe prolific at other times.

Deep passes to Shaun MacDonald while he was double-covered always frustrated me. Why a team with Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson commonly used MacDonald as a deep threat boggled my mind.

Martz took a lot of heat for not using the running game enough, but having watched most of Detroit's games, I really can't blame him in many cases. The running game was either completely ineffective or the team was down early and needed to rely on their strengths (passing game) to get back into games. Only a couple games did Bell, Jones, or Duckett get anything going at all.

Anyway, I was glad to see Martz move on. I fully admit his schemes are effective and there is a place for them in the league, but they are contrary to the head coach's philosophy of fundamental, smash-mouth football. The Lions need to build an offensive line and play physical football to gain any foundation of a winner.

[moon]

Originally Posted by JD

It was OK, a little mismanaged at times. Maybe prolific at other times.

Deep passes to Shaun MacDonald while he was double-covered always frustrated me. Why a team with Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson commonly used MacDonald as a deep threat boggled my mind.

Martz took a lot of heat for not using the running game enough, but having watched most of Detroit's games, I really can't blame him in many cases. The running game was either completely ineffective or the team was down early and needed to rely on their strengths (passing game) to get back into games. Only a couple games did Bell, Jones, or Duckett get anything going at all.

Anyway, I was glad to see Martz move on. I fully admit his schemes are effective and there is a place for them in the league, but they are contrary to the head coach's philosophy of fundamental, smash-mouth football. The Lions need to build an offensive line and play physical football to gain any foundation of a winner.

It certainly was not a fit in Detroit and it seemed to only further hinder and weaken the weaknesses already present in the offense.

Iwas just pointing out that just because you do not have a proven set of WR's or QB does not mean that Martz's offense will not be successful. He can run it and put up yards without the big name guys at those positions. The guys there will end up being successful because of Martz's schemes.

As much I like the numbers and his schemes that his offense produces I am also surprisingly not that sad to see him go. The Lions do not have the defense that can make up for all the short possessions on offense and the offense really could have benefited from a more traditional scheme developmentally speaking. I think that the Martz offense was able to make it look better and rank higher than it actually was.

[Bobblehead]

The 49ers need to work on their O-line. That was why they traded this year's 1st rounder to NE, so they could grab Joe Staley OT, who had a bit of a tough rookie season. Of course, teams loaded up on the run and Alex Smith never made them pay. Nor did Trent Dilfer. I actually hated the play calling this year. It seemed to be trying to make Smith into a pocket passer when he was much more effective when he was able to scramble. The whole offense just never seemed to get in sync and was really tough to watch. This is 6 OCs in 6 years. Hopefully we can see a bit of progress this year.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Flames in 07

With the preseason over, the regular season is officially on. It will be interesting to see the significant cuts on Monday.

SB XLII prediction is the Chargers over the Saints

Teams to be better than expected are Jacksonville, Houston, Carolina and the Giants

Teams to be worse than expected are Denver, Seattle and Chicago.

If one coach is fired midseason it will be the kid in Oakland.

Heh thought it would be good to review the preseason pics

SB pics ... well the chargers were close, as for the better than expected I'd say 3 for 4, with Jacksonville Houston and NYG. Worse than expected Id say 2 for three there with Denver and Chicago.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Flames in 07

Heh thought it would be good to review the preseason pics

SB pics ... well the chargers were close, as for the better than expected I'd say 3 for 4, with Jacksonville Houston and NYG. Worse than expected Id say 2 for three there with Denver and Chicago.

I'd give you Seattle too, even though they still won their division I don't think they were as good as most expected.

I had New England over Dallas in the SB.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I'm going to take the Patriots over the Chargers in the AFC title game this year and the Eagles over the Saints for the NFC. In the Superbowl...same as it ever was Patriots....puke.

Well I had the AFC right, and I think I'll get the Superbowl winner right. I don't think anyone had the Giants for the NFC....don't think the Packers had many pick them for the NFC Championship game either.