2017 NFL Offseason: Firin', hirin', signin', draftin'!

[See Red]

And last year two of those teams, Cleveland and Denver, were willing to discuss giving up draft picks and taking on his huge salary. Now, after a year that was objectively better than his 2015 campaign, neither team wants him for no picks and less money?  He was a dynamic talent who, the last three years, has been coached by a guy that was well on his way out the door, Jim Tomsula, and Chip Kelly. He deserves a little slack for the last three years. Somebody would take a flyer on him if he hadn't kneeled last year.

[Cujo]

From tonight's Trump rally:

 

 

[The_Admiral]

2 hours ago, BlackBolt3 said:

I don't care about the politics of the whole thing since teams are tripping over themselves to sign rapists and abusers. If Josh McCown and freaking Mike Glennon can get deals, Kaep can get a contract thrown his way.

 

lol a team signed Josh McCown before a team signed Jay Cutler. One final indignity for the road, huh.

 

EDIT: double-lol, you accidentally implied that Josh McCown raped someone. Or do you know something I don't?

[Cujo]

3 hours ago, the admiral said:

double-lol, you accidentally implied that Josh McCown raped someone. Or do you know something I don't?

 

Confirmed.

 

[BBTV]

not that I thought EDP was a champion of decency and sensibility, but this is disappointing.  I'm totally fine with the grotesque way he wanted to see Doug Pederson die, and his threats towards Chip Kelly, but this is a little much.

 

 

[CS85]

http://epidm.edgesuite.net/CMS/NFL/Harmony/CAMPAIGN_IMAGES/2017/LEGENDS/20170323_LegendsNL_March_P2_1/html/Commissioners_Email.html

 

Dear Fans,

Here at the NFL, we have a relentless drive to improve—particularly when it comes to the way fans experience our game. 

In order to understand how we might deliver a better and more exciting entertainment experience for you, we embarked on a specific project before the start of the 2016 season to gather feedback about the in-stadium and live NFL game viewing experience. 

Consistently, we heard from fans that we can improve in two key areas: the flow and pace of the game, and commercialization and the number of unnecessary disruptions to the game on the field. 

Today, I want to tell you about some of the ways we are working to address that.

On the football side, there are a number of changes we are making to the mechanics and rules of the game to maintain excitement and also improve the consistency of our officiating. 

For example, next week clubs will vote on a change to centralize replay reviews. Instead of a fixed sideline monitor, we will bring a tablet to the Referee who can review the play in consultation with our officiating headquarters in New York, which has the final decision. This should improve consistency and accuracy of decisions and help speed up the process.

Regarding game timing, we're going to institute a play clock following the extra point when television does not take a break, and we're considering instituting a play clock after a touchdown. We're also going to standardize the starting of the clock after a runner goes out-of-bounds, and standardize halftime lengths in all games, so we return to the action as quickly as possible. Those are just a few of the elements we are working on to improve the pace of our game. 

Together with our broadcast partners, we will be working to meaningfully reduce down time and the frequency of commercial breaks in our game. We will also be giving our broadcast partners increased flexibility to avoid untimely breaks in the action. For example, we know how annoying it is when we come back from a commercial break, kick off, and then cut to a commercial again. I hate that too. Our goal is to eliminate it. 

We also know that you feel there are too many elements in the broadcast that aren't relevant to the play on the field. With our partners, we will be looking to instead focus on content that is most complementary and compelling to you–whether that is analysis, highlights or stories about our players. 

All of these changes are meant to give you more of what you want: a competitive game with fewer interruptions and distractions from the action. 

There is much more work to do in the coming seasons as we continue to listen and learn. But these positive changes are intended to create a better experience for you, our fans.

We hope that you will continue to give us feedback on how we can improve. 

Thank you for all that you do for our players, our teams and our game.

 

 

- Roger Goodell 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Oh cool. Nothing about increasing player safety. Glad to see their priorities are in place.

[BBTV]

7 hours ago, DG_Now said:

Oh cool. Nothing about increasing player safety. Glad to see their priorities are in place.

 

To be fair, they said it was a response to a survey specifically about in-stadium and live viewing experience.  That doesn't mean they're not also doing anything for player safety, just that it's out of scope for this initiative.

[2001mark]

Try soccer & F1 style split screen ads during lulls.  Hell, they wouldn't ever have to leave the game, just throw up the next queued ad or 2 between a pat & kickoff.

That would be great for all sports frankly.  When I'm at a game, when nothing's happening on field, I still notice ads on the jumbotron &/or around the stadium.  Same thing.

[The_Admiral]

The championship-or-bust mentality has turned "smart" sports fans into such a bunch of chuds sometimes. Cubs fans came to be the worst. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE ADVERTISED TO AT ALL TIMES IN SERVICE OF REVENUE YOU ARE A BAD BAD FAN, ADVERTISE TO ME DADDY, POUND MY BRAIN WITH YOUR SWEET SWEET ADS

[Sport]

5 minutes ago, the admiral said:

The championship-or-bust mentality has turned "smart" sports fans into such a bunch of chuds sometimes. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE ADVERTISED TO AT ALL TIMES IN SERVICE OF REVENUE YOU ARE A BAD BAD FAN, ADVERTISE TO ME DADDY, POUND MY BRAIN WITH YOUR SWEET SWEET ADS

 

That's only slightly worse than "if it'll reduce ticket prices then I'm all for ads" guy. Lol, you naive dumbass. It's not reducing ticket prices. That's the entire point of the ads!

[dfwabel]

23 hours ago, CS85 said:

http://epidm.edgesuite.net/CMS/NFL/Harmony/CAMPAIGN_IMAGES/2017/LEGENDS/20170323_LegendsNL_March_P2_1/html/Commissioners_Email.html

 

Dear Fans,

Here at the NFL, we have a relentless drive to improve—particularly when it comes to the way fans experience our game. 

In order to understand how we might deliver a better and more exciting entertainment experience for you, we embarked on a specific project before the start of the 2016 season to gather feedback about the in-stadium and live NFL game viewing experience. 

Consistently, we heard from fans that we can improve in two key areas: the flow and pace of the game, and commercialization and the number of unnecessary disruptions to the game on the field. 

Today, I want to tell you about some of the ways we are working to address that.

On the football side, there are a number of changes we are making to the mechanics and rules of the game to maintain excitement and also improve the consistency of our officiating. 

For example, next week clubs will vote on a change to centralize replay reviews. Instead of a fixed sideline monitor, we will bring a tablet to the Referee who can review the play in consultation with our officiating headquarters in New York, which has the final decision. This should improve consistency and accuracy of decisions and help speed up the process.

Regarding game timing, we're going to institute a play clock following the extra point when television does not take a break, and we're considering instituting a play clock after a touchdown. We're also going to standardize the starting of the clock after a runner goes out-of-bounds, and standardize halftime lengths in all games, so we return to the action as quickly as possible. Those are just a few of the elements we are working on to improve the pace of our game. 

Together with our broadcast partners, we will be working to meaningfully reduce down time and the frequency of commercial breaks in our game. We will also be giving our broadcast partners increased flexibility to avoid untimely breaks in the action. For example, we know how annoying it is when we come back from a commercial break, kick off, and then cut to a commercial again. I hate that too. Our goal is to eliminate it. 

We also know that you feel there are too many elements in the broadcast that aren't relevant to the play on the field. With our partners, we will be looking to instead focus on content that is most complementary and compelling to you–whether that is analysis, highlights or stories about our players. 

All of these changes are meant to give you more of what you want: a competitive game with fewer interruptions and distractions from the action. 

There is much more work to do in the coming seasons as we continue to listen and learn. But these positive changes are intended to create a better experience for you, our fans.

We hope that you will continue to give us feedback on how we can improve. 

Thank you for all that you do for our players, our teams and our game.

 

 

- Roger Goodell 

Nearly 30 years ago, they had the length of game issue and they shortened halftime from 15 to 12 minutes, so this really seems to be something which the NFL took control of, but lost it.

 

From the 1990 story:

Quote

The Competition Committee is to report a recommendation to the owners for a vote at the NFL`s annual winter meeting next week. A three-fourths majority (21 of 28) is needed to implement the changes.

Joe Browne, Tagliabue`s director of communications, said the commissioner had spoken with Kansas City coach Marty Schottenheimer and Dolphins coach Don Shula, both members of the Competition Committee, and they ``saw no hardship`` in reducing the traditional 15-minute halftime.

In fact, said Browne, halftimes have been closer to 16 minutes because of TV commercial delays. Browne said the commissioner doesn`t think halftime periods should be less than 12 minutes.

Television networks are allotted four 2-minute timeouts per quarter, though many are taken after touchdowns so they don`t interfere with the flow of a game or stall a driving offense. It is believed to be a prime reason for the expanding length of games.

The Competition Committee is considering the use of a league administrator to ``control the introduction of and exit out of timeouts.``

Although TV timeouts are supposed to be two minutes long, they often are as long as two minutes and 20 seconds, Browne said.

NFL games haven`t averaged under three hours since 1978. The average was 2:57 that season and jumped to 3:01 in 1979.

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

How long do people want an NFL game to last? Three hours seems like a good length to me.

[Dynasty]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-we-the-fans-espn-bears-series-20170322-story.html

[Cujo]

"Ima spend all day on the sofa. Gimme gimme gimme NFL!!!"

 

"These games are too long. Fxck you Goodell"

 

 

[BBTV]

Comcast just played a prank and announced that the eagles signed adrian Peterson to a 1-year deal. 

 

I got sick to my stomach and felt very relieved when they said it was just April fools. They definitely got me, but I'm glad I don't need to make the choice of rooting for him vs giving up on the league for good, because he would lose. 

[DCarp1231]

Tony Romo retiring from football to pursue a broadcasting career

[Dalcowboyfan92]

1 hour ago, DNAsports said:

Tony Romo retiring from football to pursue a broadcasting career

 

As a Cowboys fan; I wish him nothing but the best.

 

Despite all the times he ripped my heart out as a fan; I can't hate the guy. Because he brought the team out of an endless loop of bad-to-mediocre QB play after Aikman retired to Parcells yanking Bledsoe against the Giants in 2006.

 

If Romo never became the starter; the team would've stuck in a Cleveland Browns eqsue revolving door of QB play.

[2001mark]

As a fan of an AFC team, anything to get a change from Phil Simms can't be bad.  

 

[Rockstar Matt]

Not going to lie, I had hoped Tony would retire rather than to play for another team. Still sucks to see though as he was my all-time favorite Cowboys player. 

 

Looking forward to watching CBS games now.