NFL 2011/12 thread

[JGK]

Season got off to a cracking start last night with the last two Superbowl winners (Packers v Saints) fighting out a 42-34 classic with the Packers winning.

[Bradman]

Green Bay is like South Sydney (except more successful), probably everyone's second favourite team.

[JGK]

I wonder what Nath has to say about that.

[Bradman]

Twas thinking that myself once I posted it. Never worked out his problem.

[JGK]

He's Victorian?

[Bradman]

Nuff said. I thought it might be an Alan Jones thing.

[Zat]

Glorious news for most fans, except the nobheads who worship the Colts. Peyton Manning gawn for the season in all likelihood after three neck operations in teh off season.

Having been a Pats fan for over 25 years, It'll be nice to see how they all cope should their team go to sh!t this season, because they have been pretty free and easy with 'the Pats are only good because of Brady, but the Colts are a team' stuff. Which is BS.

Must say Peyton belied his human vegetable looks by negotiating a huge pay rise even though he must have known he may not have been likely to play this season.

[Bradman]

$100M for a thrity-seven year old and dragging his replacement out of retirement. Money well spent.

[JGK]

So Cam Newton sets a debut record with 422 yards.

Tom Brady says "422 - phurt, rookie" and throws for a lazy 517.

And all this after Rogers had thrown 3 TDs in the first quarter against the Saints.

It's gonna be a cracking year.

[beamer]

Glorious news for most fans, except the nobheads who worship the Colts. Peyton Manning gawn for the season in all likelihood after three neck operations in teh off season.

Having been a Pats fan for over 25 years, It'll be nice to see how they all cope should their team go to sh!t this season, because they have been pretty free and easy with 'the Pats are only good because of Brady, but the Colts are a team' stuff. Which is BS.

Must say Peyton belied his human vegetable looks by negotiating a huge pay rise even though he must have known he may not have been likely to play this season.

Could be a blessing in disguise for them, if they go 2-14 and get first draft pick which would be perfect timing to bring in his eventual successor...

[Henry]

WGAF.

[beamer]

WGAF.

It's a great sport to watch if you take the time to get to at least understand the basics. A lot of parallels with cricket in the way it makes little sense to the uninitiated who criticise the stop-start nature of the game... Also there's no buying titles like in other sports, every team has a chance to get to the top if they are managed and coached well.

[Henry]

Yeah ok I admit it, I don't like the stops in play. A guy catches the ball, play stops. A guy gets tackled, play stops.

How on Earth is that better or even as good as Rugby?

[beamer]

I don't know about "better" than rugby but just a very different game. It's about the individual plays and series of plays, just like cricket's about individual deliveries and overs. Looks at first glance like lots of big lumps in helmets and body armour just charging into each other but in reality it's incredibly tactical, they have to learn hundreds of plays to potentially carry out in a match situation.

Of course for every sports fan there's going to be some sports you don't really "get" I suppose... Not enough hours in the week to follow everything! Although NFL's great for winter Sunday evenings when TV is at its crappiest...

[Zat]

Yeah ok I admit it, I don't like the stops in play. A guy catches the ball, play stops. A guy gets tackled, play stops.

How on Earth is that better or even as good as Rugby?

That is a comment no cricket fan should ever make. crickets about the most stop-start sport in the world. Under the 90-overs in a day regime, which doesn't get achieved in 6 hours very often, there are supposed to be 15 overs in an hour. 90 deliveries in 60 minutes. Plus the tea and lunch breaks...

[beamer]

That was exactly my point, in some ways the two sports couldn't be more different but they have a fair few things in common...

[Bradman]

And in the real stuff Oklahoma will probably retain 1st and LSU didn't do enough to sneak into 2nd ahead of 'Bama. Though Boise is a real floater.

[Zat]

Carolina's rookie QB sets and NFL all-time record for most yards passed in the first two weeks of a season, threw 422 last week, and 432 this week for 854.

About three hours later, with the Patriots having smashed up a mistake-ridden Chargers, Tom Brady, who threw 517 last week, threw 423, to take the record just sent and put it in the toilet, flush it away, for it to be eaten by the alligators that live under the streets.

And after just two weeks of the season, only seven of the 32 teams have gone 2-0 to start. Three of them in the AFC East, previously known as the Patriots charity conference.

[Yorkie Jill]

Watched a college game the other night on the teev at Florida State, think Oklahoma were visiting. Attendance was over 84,000. I'd say stop/start does just fine.

[Zat]

Here's a nice touch from Prez Obama:

Twenty-six years after they stormed through the NFL on their way to a 15-1 record, a dominating Super Bowl XX victory and an atrocious music video, ProFootballTalk.com reports that the 1985 Chicago Bears will finally get their day at the White House.

According to Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the 1985 Bears have been invited to the White House to be honored by President Barack Obama on Oct. 7.

The team missed out on the traditional presidential celebration after its January 1986 Super Bowl victory over New England. Two days after the game, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, and the nation went into mourning.

A final list of attendees has not yet been confirmed.

Obama, a Bears fan, had to swallow his Chicago loyalty this summer when he hosted last season's Super Bowl champions, the rival Green Bay Packers.

[beamer]

Watched a college game the other night on the teev at Florida State, think Oklahoma were visiting. Attendance was over 84,000. I'd say stop/start does just fine.

Don't really get the whole college football thing to be honest, it's like watching Oxford v Cambridge Uni at "soccer" rather than Man Utd v Chelsea... It's fair enough that people in cities/states without an NFL team turn up to watch their local college but why it gets national and even international interest comparable with the professional game is beyond me...

[Zat]

beamer, the college sports thing, especially with football in the states, is that there's no real 'second tier' comp for American Football. Once a college player finishes college, if he isn't drafted, it's basically all over as far as his football career is concerned.

As the NFL works on the principle of limiting supply to increase supporter interest (32 teams, but only 16 matches for each team in the regular season) there's plenty of air time left for college teams. And as the college ranks are where the next generation of NFL stars come form, there's interest in who's coming up. Also, college foootball is a pretty good standard.

I don't really know why there's international iinterest in College Football, but I suspect that as ESPN these days serves a global audience, and they have plenty of the college football to fill their schedule, it's the 'Field of dreams' thing. They've built it, and the audience has come.

[JGK]

Hi there.

[beamer]

The "limited supply" of NFL is I guess largely down to the physical demands of the game. Could anyone really play more than 16 games (plus play-offs) per year? There's enough injuries as it is. I know the likes of Brett Favre and Peyton Manning went over a decade without missing a game, but it's a different story for those on defense or the offensive line for example. They were trying to increase it to 18 games in the regular season but I think the players resisted that one.

It does mean each game is more of an event though. I don't follow baseball but do know there are hundreds of matches per season, some of them very poorly attended.

[Yorkie Jill]

Watched a college game the other night on the teev at Florida State, think Oklahoma were visiting. Attendance was over 84,000. I'd say stop/start does just fine.

Don't really get the whole college football thing to be honest, it's like watching Oxford v Cambridge Uni at "soccer" rather than Man Utd v Chelsea... It's fair enough that people in cities/states without an NFL team turn up to watch their local college but why it gets national and even international interest comparable with the professional game is beyond me...

But it's not. Like Zat said, these guys are the next big thing. There isn't really a comparison in English sport because they're still amateurs and students, but a lot of them, particularly from big colleges, are going to go on to be professional and paid millions. I guess people want to watch and see who the next stars are going to be. I can see why alumni would support a certain team, but there must be locals who get out there too. And then there's always high school football. Plenty of interest there, as it's just the next tier down from college ball.

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