2017 NFL Season: Then there were Two

[ozzyman314]

You can add Kony Ealy now to the list of scratchers for the Patriots season. Pats just cut him. 

 

-Edleman out for season

-Ealy cut

 

Whether you are a fan of the team or not, I doubt anyone had the Patriots offseason going like this 12 days away from opening night. 

[DCarp1231]

 

[BBTV]

3 hours ago, DNAsports said:

 

 

Or they could just cut a check.  The thing is that you don't want for there to be a lot of fines, because that means that a lot of bad stuff (illegal hits, failed drug tests, DUIs, wearing your socks wrong) happening.  If you're in Houston, do you cheer for helmet-to-helmet hits because more money will be donated?

 

I can appreciate the gesture, and I'd applaud it if they did it (though in the grand scheme of things it wouldn't be that much money) but donating from a fund that you're actively trying to reduce just doesn't sound right. 

[dfwabel]

36 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

Or they could just cut a check.  The thing is that you don't want for there to be a lot of fines, because that means that a lot of bad stuff (illegal hits, failed drug tests, DUIs, wearing your socks wrong) happening.  If you're in Houston, do you cheer for helmet-to-helmet hits because more money will be donated?

 

I can appreciate the gesture, and I'd applaud it if they did it (though in the grand scheme of things it wouldn't be that much money) but donating from a fund that you're actively trying to reduce just doesn't sound right. 

Good point.

 

Plus the NFL still touts its relationship with the United Way*. Unless, the league directly cut check(s) to specific area organizations, they'd just fund them

 

*-The United Way had one of America's largest charity scandals back in the 1990's and the NFL never broke off the relationship. Basically, the league kept them afloat while the national president went to prison for fraud, false tax returns and conspiracy while living a lavish lifestyle. Local scandals of million dollar salaries have followed over the last two decades.

(Think of a scandal like Wounded Warriors had over the last 18-24 months)

 

 

[Rockstar Matt]

So it appears the NFL has completely botched up its Zeke case and his suspension.

 

The person they hired to lead the investigation, Kia Roberts, after concluding her investigation and the only member of that investigation (and the NFL as a whole) to personally interview the accuser, recommended no suspension for Elliot. Her recommendation was not included in that report the NFL released two weeks, unbeknownst to her.

 

Furthermore, Lisa Friel, the Senior Vice President for NFL Investigations, not only barred Roberts from attending the final meeting with Goodell to decide on whether or not there should be a suspension for Zeke and actually, recommended herself that Zeke should be suspended for 6 games going against her lead investigators' recommendation.

 

It should be noted that Friel is reportedly a Giants fan, and she is the person who recommended to suspend Josh Brown, the former Giants' kicker who admitted to repeated DV against his wife, for just one game.

 

I know I'm biased with this, but my rational side is telling me there is something really fishy here.  

[dfwabel]

13 hours ago, Rockstar Matt said:

So it appears the NFL has completely botched up its Zeke case and his suspension.

 

The person they hired to lead the investigation, Kia Roberts, after concluding her investigation and the only member of that investigation (and the NFL as a whole) to personally interview the accuser, recommended no suspension for Elliot. Her recommendation was not included in that report the NFL released two weeks, unbeknownst to her.

 

Furthermore, Lisa Friel, the Senior Vice President for NFL Investigations, not only barred Roberts from attending the final meeting with Goodell to decide on whether or not there should be a suspension for Zeke and actually, recommended herself that Zeke should be suspended for 6 games going against her lead investigators' recommendation.

 

It should be noted that Friel is reportedly a Giants fan, and she is the person who recommended to suspend Josh Brown, the former Giants' kicker who admitted to repeated DV against his wife, for just one game.

 

I know I'm biased with this, but my rational side is telling me there is something really fishy here.  

OTOH, the Elliott defense is that while he acknowledges and Tiffany Thompson*, the accuser, shared a bed for those four days, he didn't touch her at all and her marks came from her job waitressing. His council wants full exoneration, meanwhile his NB behavior since the Columbus incident indicate he isn't what he claims.

 

 

Granted, the NFL was able to get text messages from Thompson about her possibly blackmailing him (which is a big deal for a non-law enforcement body), however, I don't blame her for NOT talking to either campus or local police regarding sexual assault involving a star athlete as we have seen, it greatly favors the athlete.

 

Honestly, the 2017 Cowboys defense is so awful through suspension and injury that why not sit out the games in 2017, as opposed to have Kessler take this to court, receive an injunction for this year and lose, thus start out 2018 suspended? If out for 2018, they'll likely waste a 2nd-4th round pick on a RB for six games, who could eventually replace the least value position in the game.

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/article169747202.html

 

*-She was named here.

https://sports.yahoo.com/documents-ezekiel-elliotts-accuser-admitted-talk-leveraging-sex-videos-rb-money-120034705.html

 

Edit: Here you go Matt.

http://deadspin.com/heres-the-nfls-investigative-report-on-ezekiel-elliott-1798689151

[FiddySicks]

Very strange, and so unlike the NFL. Who would've ever expected the NFL to screw up an off the field investigation and garner themselves such negative press? I mean, they've just done such a bang up job with other domestic violence cases, the perception that their owners aren't racist at all, that they care about the health and safety of their players and former players, and that they want nothing more than to give back to the communities they're in by funding their own stadiums and not using a dime of public money. This is an odd case and it must be an anomaly. WEIRD!

[ninersdd]

Sheldon Richardson to the Seahawks. Bad feeling it's gonna be a New England-Seattle Super Bowl again this year.

[Seadragon76]

1 hour ago, ninersdd said:

Sheldon Richardson to the Seahawks. Bad feeling it's gonna be a New England-Seattle Super Bowl again this year.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, Seattle just went YOINK! and took the Jets' best player. Still doesn't answer the issues with the O-Line, but with a defense like that... why worry?

[BBTV]

19 hours ago, Rockstar Matt said:

So it appears the NFL has completely botched up its Zeke case and his suspension.

 

The person they hired to lead the investigation, Kia Roberts, after concluding her investigation and the only member of that investigation (and the NFL as a whole) to personally interview the accuser, recommended no suspension for Elliot. Her recommendation was not included in that report the NFL released two weeks, unbeknownst to her.

 

Furthermore, Lisa Friel, the Senior Vice President for NFL Investigations, not only barred Roberts from attending the final meeting with Goodell to decide on whether or not there should be a suspension for Zeke and actually, recommended herself that Zeke should be suspended for 6 games going against her lead investigators' recommendation.

 

It should be noted that Friel is reportedly a Giants fan, and she is the person who recommended to suspend Josh Brown, the former Giants' kicker who admitted to repeated DV against his wife, for just one game.

 

I know I'm biased with this, but my rational side is telling me there is something really fishy here.  

 

I highly doubt that anyone's reported fandom has any impact whatsoever in a case like this.  Senior VPs don't walk into board rooms risking their reputations so that their team might win an extra game or two.  

 

That being said, if the rest is true, it seems like the NFL saw this as an opportunity to show the public that they're tough on "domestic violence" (why not just call it assault?) and whether it was Elliot or someone else, whoever was "next" was going to get 6 games no matter what.

 

If (and again IF) it's true, then whoever orchestrated it - whether it was Gooddell, Friel, os someone else, needs to be out of a job.

 

I don't have any doubts that Elliot has done things that would warrant suspension - this is probably one of them - but if the lead investigator had doubts, or couldn't find enough evidence, then it's just wrong to do him like this.

[ozzyman314]

Remember the "deflategate" debacle? Goodell literally hired a firm that just defended big tobacco claiming secondhand smoke isn't harmful at all. And to no one's surprise, their deflategate "report" was filled with so many inconsistencies. 

 

The meeting between the NFL & NFLPA in a few years is going to be so much fun. 

[Rockstar Matt]

5 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

I highly doubt that anyone's reported fandom has any impact whatsoever in a case like this.  Senior VPs don't walk into board rooms risking their reputations so that their team might win an extra game or two.  

 

That being said, if the rest is true, it seems like the NFL saw this as an opportunity to show the public that they're tough on "domestic violence" (why not just call it assault?) and whether it was Elliot or someone else, whoever was "next" was going to get 6 games no matter what.

 

If (and again IF) it's true, then whoever orchestrated it - whether it was Gooddell, Friel, os someone else, needs to be out of a job.

 

I don't have any doubts that Elliot has done things that would warrant suspension - this is probably one of them - but if the lead investigator had doubts, or couldn't find enough evidence, then it's just wrong to do him like this.

 

The bolded is what I personally think happened.

 

The NFL has had a serious issue with DV and the public's perception of how the NFL handles it (the Ray Rice and Josh Brown debacles come to mind), so they chose the next player to be accused of DV, in this case Zeke, to make an example out of him. I imagine they thought that a.) by suspending Zeke, the NFL would have shown that they aren't afraid to punish one of their star players and b.) that they're becoming more, as you correctly pointed out, "tough on domestic violence."

 

It just seems like once the NFL learned Zeke was accused of DV, they had the opportunity to show off their new "tough on DV" stuff and sought evidence to prove their agenda (being tougher on DV) than to actually gather the evidence first, then to draw a conclusion from it.

 

With the lack of evidence in this case, it should not have taken the NFL 13 months to come to a decision on whether or not to punish Zeke.

[HedleyLamarr]

7 hours ago, Rockstar Matt said:

 

The bolded is what I personally think happened.

 

The NFL has had a serious issue with DV and the public's perception of how the NFL handles it (the Ray Rice and Josh Brown debacles come to mind), so they chose the next player to be accused of DV, in this case Zeke, to make an example out of him. I imagine they thought that a.) by suspending Zeke, the NFL would have shown that they aren't afraid to punish one of their star players and b.) that they're becoming more, as you correctly pointed out, "tough on domestic violence."

 

It just seems like once the NFL learned Zeke was accused of DV, they had the opportunity to show off their new "tough on DV" stuff and sought evidence to prove their agenda (being tougher on DV) than to actually gather the evidence first, then to draw a conclusion from it.

 

With the lack of evidence in this case, it should not have taken the NFL 13 months to come to a decision on whether or not to punish Zeke.

This is the point I made a while back, which got brushed to the side.  No matter what happens during the appeal, the NFL can say "Hey, we tried to be harsh on a player accused for domestic violence/abuse, the court changed the punishment!".  Whether they got the Elliott decision right or wrong, the NFL wins brownie points for being tougher now on this issue.  They can advertise to women and NFL detractors that they do care and "We've changed" and all that.

 

Plus, the NFL doesn't have to fall in line with what a court of law says.  They can suspend you for making the league look bad and breaking their Code of Conduct.  And what Elliott can't deny is that he's made some wrong, and dumb, choices since he's become a pro.  It's not just this DV allegation....it's the weed store, it's the lifting up a woman's shirt in public, it's the bar fight, etc.  The 6-game punishment was the NFL's way of saying to Elliott: "Start making better choices now, stop doing dumb shee-ot, or you'll be gone from the league.".

[ozzyman314]

Patriots just traded their 3rd string QB Jacoby Brissett to Colts for Phillip Dorsett. 

 

I 100% knew Brissett was getting traded during the cutdown. He hadn't played much in the preseason, the Patriots don't need a 3rd QB taking up space on the roster, but he had proven himself too valuable to simply cut. Wouldn't be shocked if he starts for the Colts. 

 

As far as Dorsett, I haven't heard of him. He any good? 

[~Bear]

Steelers trade Sammie Coates and their 2019 7th for the Browns's 2018 6th and 2019 7th. 

 

Steelers also trade Ross Cockrell for a conditional pick to the Giants. 

 

With the trade for Vance McDonald earlier and the signing of Joe Haden, the Steelers are more active in player movement than they have been in recent memory. I personally am a fan of these trades; Cockrell was horrible in preseason and the Steelers need a TE. Coates isn't a big loss since Pittsburgh has a lot of depth at WR. 

[HedleyLamarr]

8 hours ago, ozzyman314 said:

Patriots just traded their 3rd string QB Jacoby Brissett to Colts for Phillip Dorsett. 

 

I 100% knew Brissett was getting traded during the cutdown. He hadn't played much in the preseason, the Patriots don't need a 3rd QB taking up space on the roster, but he had proven himself too valuable to simply cut. Wouldn't be shocked if he starts for the Colts. 

 

As far as Dorsett, I haven't heard of him. He any good? 

New England traded for Dorsett, so they must see something in him.

 

This speaks more to the Colts, though.  This move isn't made unless Luck is missing some significant time.  If Pagano is on the hot seat, not having his stud QB doesn't help his chances.  I've no idea what to make of the Colts or the direction they're going in.

[vicfurth]

On 8/25/2017 at 3:10 AM, SabresRule7361 said:

I'm usually the guy who's excited for every football season.

 

But not this year.

 

My interest for this season is it an all-time low.

 

It's basically gonna be 4.5 months of false hope before Brady/Belichick win another joyless SB trophy.

 

Seriously, after hearing all NBA season about how THE WARRIORS ARE RUINING BASKETBALL, you don't hear anyone say the Patriots are ruining football.

 

I mean, the AFC is basically 'Why bother?'

 

Brady and Belichick have singlehandedly sucked the fun out of football for me more than anyone thinks Durant ruined basketball.

 

The NFL is so watered down that its top player is a freaking 40 year old geezer.

 

Might as well stand for National Foxboro League.

 

It's New England and 31 others at this point.

 

Wake me up when the parade is over.

 

Different reasoning from me, but I'm very Meh this year as well. It's more because I've dived into watching Premier League. 

 

The game is still quicker than NCAA for me, though. No sporting event SHOULD take 4+ hours. Stop it. 

[DCarp1231]

Su'a Cravens, S/LB for the Redskins was on the cusp of retirement, but after a meeting with team officials he has agree to stay with the team for now. Although he is staying with the team, he will miss at least the beginning of the season while he addresses his issues. He's only 22 years old, but has knee problems. 

[HedleyLamarr]

Using this season prediction assistant, here's my 2017 season predictions:

 

AFC

East: (1) New England 14-2, Miami 8-8, Buffalo 6-10, New York 1-15

North: (3) Pittsburgh 12-4, (6) Cincinnati 9-7, Baltimore 7-9, Cleveland 5-11

South: (4) Tennessee 12-4, Houston 8-8, Jacksonville 8-8, Indianapolis 5-11

West: (2) Oakland 13-3, (5) Kansas City 11-5, Denver 7-9, Los Angeles 6-10

 

NFC

East: (3) New York 10-6, (6) Philadelphia 9-7, Dallas 8-8, Washington 7-9

North: (4) Green Bay 10-6, Detroit 9-7, Minnesota 5-11, Chicago 3-13

South: (1) Atlanta 14-2, (5) Carolina 11-5, Tampa Bay 7-9, New Orleans 5-11

West: (2) Arizona 12-4, Seattle 9-7, Los Angeles 3-13, San Francisco 2-14

 

Postseason

Wild Card:

PIT over CIN, TEN over KC, PHI over NYG, GB over CAR

 

Divisional:

NE over TEN, OAK over PIT, ARZ over GB, ATL over PHI

 

AFCC: NE over OAK

NFCC: ATL over ARZ

Super Bowl: ATL builds a 29-3 lead, hangs on this time, defeats NE

[dfwabel]

Raiders are trying to squeeze Janikowski in final season of his contract, $4.05 million and restructure.

 

Team brought in Mike Nugent, Josh Mambo, and Marshall Koehn.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20580952/sebastian-janikowski-oakland-raiders-impasse-contract