NFL '13 SEASON THREAD

[BBTV]

I'm sure you know why the Eagles would rank towards the bottom in TOP. I absolutely love the efficiency of that Eagles offense. Chip Kelly is such a good fit as a head coach with his system because (funny how this works, Dallas) that is a team that has the players through which his system can thrive. Of course, it was thought Michael Vick would be the QB for that, but Foles is more mobile than anyone ever thought and he's also a very smart guy; 27:2 TD:INT ratios are unsustainable but the ability to limit turnovers in general is not.

I know Riley Cooper likely would not have emerged if this were the case, but I can't help but wonder how much more dynamic the Eagles offense would be if Maclin weren't out for the season.

Chip Kelly has said repeatedly that he doesn't have a "system", and can design an offense to take advantage of the strengths if whatever players he's given. Sure the up tempo thing holds regardless, but the offense now is different than it was in the beginning of the season. Nick Foles is not mobile by any definition of the term. He's not even evasive or elusive. He just makes quick decisions and does a lot of the little things (like following through on fakes) that make defenses pause that extra split second.

[BlueSky]

Well, the Saints are certainly loose so far. They were talking about changing up their road routine including the sweats they're issued, the pregame meal, and even the Gatorade flavor. I thought they were joking but they're apparently not, they're really changing that stuff.

I have no ideas or presumptions about what will happen Saturday night but will say that in the Payton era, Saints teams that are loose, playing in prime time, and feel they have something to prove have generally played very well.

@ BBTV, a staffer at the N.O. paper is from Philly and the paper printed the following. This was kind of my impression from nothing more than hearing about Iggles games through the years. Your thoughts?

===

Philly fans will share food, beer, even tailgate with you, if you're respectful. Now, this may not go over well with our readers, but wearing Saints gear is not a wise idea, unless you have the number of people to support you. It's a late Saturday night game and Philly fans will be tailgating all day. Saints fans should be safe and assume that Philly fans will NOT want to see Saints colors beforehand, and especially not afterwards if the Saints win.

===

And btw...if Witten just lit up the Eagles we may see a lot of this Saturday night and I wouldn't mind a bit.

If anything worries me it's that Brees doesn't just throw more picks on the road, he throws some awful picks. Terrible, mistake-a-rookie-shouldn't-make, not-even-Tony-Romo-would-have-thrown-that-pick picks. I just don't get some of these errors by a QB of his stature.

[The_Admiral]

About the rumor itself, the "more seasoned" members of the board will surely remember that this same insinuation followed another very prominent NFC quarterback for a good chunk of his career in the '90s.

At this point he doesn't even remember whether he's gay.

[BlueSky]

BTW, if anyone is wondering (as I was) where the hell this came from...

It's this.

Oddly enough, Kenny Stills was the one penalized and fined for "participating in a choreographed celebration."

I like Lance Moore but that wasn't a proud moment for me as a Saints fan.

P.S. Who knew Dave Wannstedt was the Bucs' special teams coach?

[infrared41]

I'm sure you know why the Eagles would rank towards the bottom in TOP. I absolutely love the efficiency of that Eagles offense. Chip Kelly is such a good fit as a head coach with his system because (funny how this works, Dallas) that is a team that has the players through which his system can thrive. Of course, it was thought Michael Vick would be the QB for that, but Foles is more mobile than anyone ever thought and he's also a very smart guy; 27:2 TD:INT ratios are unsustainable but the ability to limit turnovers in general is not.

My opinion is Kelly is a good fit because he's smart enough as a coach to adjust his system to the personnel he has available. The Eagles weren't "ready-made" to run Chip Kelly's offense. He made the adjustments to work with the players he had. Now I'm not saying he did a complete overhaul, but I think he made the necessary tweaks and it worked. If you ask me, and no one has, I think being willing to adjust the system to the personnel is the difference in whether or not a coach can succeed in the NFL. In college, you can simply recruit the players you need to run a system. That's not the case in the NFL.

[BBTV]

@ BBTV, a staffer at the N.O. paper is from Philly and the paper printed the following. This was kind of my impression from nothing more than hearing about Iggles games through the years. Your thoughts?

===

Philly fans will share food, beer, even tailgate with you, if you're respectful. Now, this may not go over well with our readers, but wearing Saints gear is not a wise idea, unless you have the number of people to support you. It's a late Saturday night game and Philly fans will be tailgating all day. Saints fans should be safe and assume that Philly fans will NOT want to see Saints colors beforehand, and especially not afterwards if the Saints win.

===

You could have two groups of people in opposing jerseys go to the same game, and each could have remarkably different experiences - partially due to their own reactions, partially due to luck. You may have to tolerate some pretty disrespectful yelling but otherwise have a great time with the rest of the fans, or you could be in for a nightmare of drunk dicks egging you on and prodding you in to a confrontation. It's totally hit or miss - often in the same section at the same game. Of course the more good natured you are about it and show that it's not getting to you the dicks tend to back off, but I've seen some pretty horrible things in my time working there. I've also seen a lot of not-horrible things. I don't understand the troglodytitic nature of sports fans that see a person wearing a different shirt than them and take it as a personal attack on them and everyone they care about, leading to the "must fight" mentality. Sadly, it exists just about everywhere.

As for sharing food and beer, that's new to me - never seen that!

[OnWis97]

@ BBTV, a staffer at the N.O. paper is from Philly and the paper printed the following. This was kind of my impression from nothing more than hearing about Iggles games through the years. Your thoughts?

===

Philly fans will share food, beer, even tailgate with you, if you're respectful. Now, this may not go over well with our readers, but wearing Saints gear is not a wise idea, unless you have the number of people to support you. It's a late Saturday night game and Philly fans will be tailgating all day. Saints fans should be safe and assume that Philly fans will NOT want to see Saints colors beforehand, and especially not afterwards if the Saints win.

===

You could have two groups of people in opposing jerseys go to the same game, and each could have remarkably different experiences - partially due to their own reactions, partially due to luck. You may have to tolerate some pretty disrespectful yelling but otherwise have a great time with the rest of the fans, or you could be in for a nightmare of drunk dicks egging you on and prodding you in to a confrontation. It's totally hit or miss - often in the same section at the same game. Of course the more good natured you are about it and show that it's not getting to you the dicks tend to back off, but I've seen some pretty horrible things in my time working there. I've also seen a lot of not-horrible things. I don't understand the troglodytitic nature of sports fans that see a person wearing a different shirt than them and take it as a personal attack on them and everyone they care about, leading to the "must fight" mentality. Sadly, it exists just about everywhere.

As for sharing food and beer, that's new to me - never seen that!

I've been to two Phillies games. The first was as a neutral fan when they played Atlanta. I saw nothing even approaching the stereotypes of Philly fans. The second was vs. the Twins and myself and about five friends were dressed in our Twins gear. Again, nothing. We were lined up in front of a bunch of fans in their 50s, though, and it was all good-natured ribbing. It ended up being about the most exciting regular season game I have ever seen, with the lead changing constantly and the Twins coming out on top. From the Philly fans...nothing. Granted, the Twins are not exactly a heated rival of the Phillies and we may have had some luck with the empty-nesters we interacted with, but all the wandering around the ballpark, city, etc. resulted in barely a dirty look. I've had much worse in Milwaukee.

Of course, I suspect Philly (Like every city) brings its true jerks to the football games. So I guess Twins/Phillies is not close to Giants/Eagles or something. But I still considered it a lesson. I was not expecting to see fights vs. Braves fans or to get jumped in the men's room wearing my Twins jersey, but I admit, I was a bit curious and it was almost disappointing .

[OnWis97]

Anyone ever think that this might have been started by a disgruntled Bears fan who is just pissed that their team didn't make it?

That was my first thought myself, honestly.

Even if he is, who really cares? He's a good football player and that is what he is paid to do.

Exactly. It shouldn't matter, and no one should care. If this turns out to be true, though, you'll have people trying to cover up their bigotry with "why are we even talking about this?" Which always struck me as code for "why can't those people just stay in the closet?"

I suppose some people are being sincere (i.e., from a place of not "getting" where we currently are on this topic), but I almost always take this just as you say...covering up their disdain for the "normalization of something icky." When someone asks that, I like to say "to make you uncomfortable", which is not true (though a bonus).

[pcgd]

I find the whole Aaron Rodgers being gay story kinda funny. It's odd that it comes out (yeah no pun intended) right after they beat the Bears and clinch a playoffs spot.

Anyone ever think that this might have been started by a disgruntled Bears fan who is just pissed that their team didn't make it?

Even if he is, who really cares? He's a good football player and that is what he is paid to do.

It was out there before the bears game, just didn't get big yet.

[rams80]

So...

I don't really have much to say about the game, mostly because I could only follow it through checking the score on the ticker at the sports bar I was at (If you want a description of what Packers-Bears is like when you are in a sports bar in Bum , Wisconsin I can provide that for you though). It sounds like the Rams got a little steamed at the refs, which they shouldn't do mainly because getting screwed by the officials should be an expectation at this point and you can rely on getting petty revenge later when Jeff Fisher gets the competition committee to fire selected officials. I honestly didn't have much expectation of winning this game, so *shrugs*

I'm not exactly up in arms about this season in general either. I swore an oath that I would not bitch about Jeff Fisher hovering around .500 until "The Triumph of Death" was at least 5 years in the past, so that's part of it.

The other part is, while the team certainly lost games it should have won, it won games that it would have lost in the past. Sunday excluded, there weren't that many second half implosions this season, which is real progress in my book. Granted the Pollyanna Brigade is upset because it talked itself into thinking the Rams were playoff timber prior to the season despite an upgrade in schedule and the NFC West's transformation into the best division in football, but that's why the Pollyanna Brigade's a band of utter heads with "Get a Brain, Morans!" signs.

Lastly, while 8 wins have yet to happen, Jeff Fisher has delivered 14 wins and a tie in two years of coaching. The Rams won 15 games in the five years prior to that (and 7 of those were in Kumbayah's smoke and mirrors season). I can't exactly complain.

[BlueSky]

@ BBTV, thanks. Makes sense.

So they're talking 20 degrees at game time Satuday night but at least no precip and I don't think wind will be a factor.

[The_Admiral]

If you want a description of what Packers-Bears is like when you are in a sports bar in Bum , Wisconsin I can provide that for you though

Yes, do this. Where in Bum:censored: were you, precisely?

[BBTV]

@ BBTV, thanks. Makes sense.

So they're talking 20 degrees at game time Satuday night but at least no precip and I don't think wind will be a factor.

We're going to get 8-12" of snow tomorrow. It should be cleared from the field and stands by gametime, but who knows what it will be like on Sat night. The wind chill will be dangerous. Obviously players like drew Brees played in cold weather in college, but then again his home games were done by end of November. You'd think that pros could handle these conditions and it shouldn't affect much, but it'll suck for receivers who need to keep their legs warm and the ball will be "dead".

I don't buy that a team in a cold-weather climate automatically has the advantage, because several of the Eagles players said that they never even saw snow until that game vs Detroit, so other than the fact that they are practicing outdoors now, they're probably not any more ready for it than the Saints. Of course having an experienced line and McCoy / Brown helps.

[BlueSky]

Yeah, I think if there's any advantage it will be to the team who can run the ball. That will be the guys in green. What I wish would happen is that the Saints would leave Ingram in or alternate him with Khiry Robinson (an underrated pounder who hasn't played much) and let them grind away, then go play-action.

What I think will happen is that the temptation of going after Philly's dead-last pass D will be too much for Payton and Brees to, uh, pass up. A fine plan at home or in normal conditions but one I suspect won't work out too well Saturday night.

Edit: Hey Packers fans, what in the world is going on with them not selling out the 49ers game? Is it the brutal weather? I was really surprised to hear about that.

[Still MIGHTY]

Edit: Hey Packers fans, what in the world is going on with them not selling out the 49ers game? Is it the brutal weather? I was really surprised to hear about that.

A defense of it I head on the radio today from Mike Florio of PFT said that the Packers season ticket holders got their invoices in November, right in the midst of Rodgers being down, the team losing, and looking like the Lions or Bears were in control of it. So many of the season ticket holders didn't want to put the money down for the playoff tickets at the time, even if they were going to be reimbursed should they not make it.

Flash forward a few weeks later and now the Pack are hosting a playoff game, and all the prices are now regular playoff prices and not any season ticket holder discount. And unlike in the regular season when to avoid a blackout the remaining non-premium tickets can be purchased by the team or a sponsor for 34 cents on the dollar, all playoff tickets are sold to 100% value.

So we now go from having only two local blackouts for the entire regular season to the prospect of 3/4 playoff games getting blacked out in Green Bay, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis.

[BBTV]

That's pathetic for Green Bay. They just said on PTI that it's because they didn't know there would be a game until the last game. That doesn't make a bit of sense.

Eagles tickets went on sale to non-season ticket holders at noon on 12/31. I was at a Starbucks logging on to try and get some (along with pretty much everyone else there.) At 12:00:30, you could hear a yell from someone lucky enough to get through and get a pair. By 12:01, when I was able to get Ticketmaster to load, I was unable to get even a single ticket. It has nothing to do with it being the first home playoff game in 3 seasons. I would have expected Green Bay to be similar, even though it's a much smaller market. Hell - I was under the impression that the entire stadium was season-tickets only, unlike the Linc, where they hold a few 000 seats back for individual game purchases.

[illwauk]

The Packers have sold out every game at Lambeau since Kennedy was in office. If they can't sell out a playoff game, it says more about the NFL's ticket policies than it does about the Packers' fans. Most NFL owners would give both testicles for a fan base as disloyal as the Packers.

Although I said at the beginning of the year that the new seating at Lambeau was a mistake, and this more/less proves it.

[BBTV]

But other cities are selling fine despite the policies. I get that some markets are challenged, but I'm just surprised to see it hit GB. If you told me Tampa Bay couldn't sell out a playoff game, then OK. But I'd've been shocked to hear that it happened to any of GB, PIT, NYG, NYJ, PHI, and I'll assume SEA and BAL.

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

What are the policies? Or is that things are too expensive? Because if the latter, I totally get it.

[IceCap]

But other cities are selling fine despite the policies. I get that some markets are challenged, but I'm just surprised to see it hit GB. If you told me Tampa Bay couldn't sell out a playoff game, then OK. But I'd've been shocked to hear that it happened to any of GB, PIT, NYG, NYJ, PHI, and I'll assume SEA and BAL.

The NFL has been on the verge of out pricing it consumer base for a while now. Some markets are fine, some aren't. The "aren't fine" group's only going to get bigger. At a certain point it's not that Green Bay or Cincinnati can't support a NFL team in this day and age. It's the NFL not realizing that they're pricing tickets beyond the grasp of most of their fans.