NFL 2012 -- OFF SEASON IS NOW OPEN

[naednek]

Football is finally back.  Last week we saw the cheaters, I mean the Saints beat the Cardinals in the HOF game
Last night we witnessed the exciting high scoring game between the Bills and the Redskins
Tonight we get to see if all the baseball training Alex Smith participated in during the off-season paid off!  I kid, I kid.

Football is back!

What is your favorite team, and for fun so that we can compare at the end of the season, what do you think their record will be when it's all said and done?

[naednek]

I can see the niners ending up 12-4 winning the NFC West.

[Harkonis]

I still like the Colts, and I figure they can't do worse than last year.... right? 

[naednek]

Smith had a nice TD pass.  Threw the ball to Brett Swain and the defender didn't even knew the ball was in the air.  While Smith didn't get sacked, he was hurried quite a few times and had to improvise often.
Colin K had a nice TD run, but his throwing mechanics is just weird and awkward.
Thought the starting D gave up some nice passes by the Vikings.
I miss Blake Costanzo.  I noticed they don't do that weird formation prior to kickoff, guess that was Blake's thing
I never realized how big Brandon Jacobs is.  I think just by having him on the team will significantly improve our 3rd down conversion rate

[leo8877]

Luck's first NFL pass is a 63 yard TD.

[theohall]

It should be noted that 63-yard TD pass only traveled about 5 yards in the air and never crossed the line of scrimmage.  It was an inside screen which the Rams defended horribly.  Let's not make Luck into something great, yet.

[Harkonis]

P Manning's first pass was only 8 yards, but otherwise was similar in result 

[Mystic95Z]

/grumbles.... My cable provider dropped NFL Network on Jul 31'st.... 

We be switching back to dish as soon as we can get new cust discount.

[leo8877]

Heck of a start to MNF tonight.

[McBa1n]

Heck of a start to MNF tonight.

Sheesh. It was a terrible game. 2 teams that likely won't contend, though, to be fair.
This preseason is very odd, to me. I have 2 games left to watch and I've had 0 things that have 'jumped' out at me - as far as things being interesting, exciting or saw something from a player I did not expect. This preseason has been extremely dull through 1 week. I'd say the biggest story is all the damn injuries. I don't recall it being this bad. Not this early. Last year was really bad - but this year seems much worse.

Other things I saw of note so far:
Rodgers, Big Ben and Cutler will be bludgeoned this year without significant advances in their pass protection. At least Pittsburgh looked very sharp in the run game blocking.
Russel Wilson and Luck looked pretty sharp for being rookies. Osweiller wasn't bad, either. Nick Foles played real well, also.

I can't wait for the next 2 pre-season games to really get a read on what teams are capable of early in the season. Teams aren't tipping their hands much - but I think I've seen a LOT more blitzes in preseason week 1 than in any preseason week ever.

Ah, and one other point. With the QB competition in Arizona - it looks like the team isn't playing 'NFL' speed when Kolb is under center - but they do when Jon Skelton is on the field. Granted, Zona is pretty bad, they are also very scrappy. Skelton should be making a move in his 3rd year. Afterall, he was projected as a 'project' at best type of QB. I still see him making some bad decisions in his reads. It is early in the preseason, for sure, that's something he's got to do better. But overall, I don't think the Cardinals players want Kolb to be their guy - you can see it in their body language. Odd, really.

Anyhow, can't wait for Thursday. Mmm football.

[Soulchilde]

Dislike preseason football.  Refuse to pay attention till the regular season kick offs

[rshetts2]

I dont dislike preseason football,  I just dont put much stock in it.  Wins and losses are meaningless.  These games are mostly a tune up and evaluation tool for lower tier players.   Good teams dont spend much time evaluating starters, where as bad teams do.  Because of that, you will often find that good teams lose games and bad teams win. 

[leo8877]

NFL has alerted teams that replacement refs will be used in week 1.  BOO!!

[gellar]

NFL has alerted teams that replacement refs will be used in week 1.  BOO!!

Yeah that's terrible.

[naednek]

Well Football is finally back!  Don't forget it starts tomorrow night with the Giants vs Cowboys


And for those who want to relive the 49ers 2011 season, you should watch this.  It's actually pretty cool

http://vimeo.com/mattware/sportsfan


*photobucket is having problems.  I made the schedule as an attachment until they fix their issue

[leo8877]

Holy crap I forgot it starts tomorrow!

[The Grue]

I can finally start to care about the NFL season (not much into all the preseason hype stuff)!  Going to be a painful year for me to watch the Saints defense suck balls yet again.  Oh well, hopefully the offense can outscore the other team and we can get into the playoffs only to lose.

[msteelers]

I'm at the "can't wait" stage of football withdrawals. Before I had my fantasy football drafts to worry about, but now all of them are done and I'm stuck in a holding pattern waiting for the season to begin. At least there's hard knocks tonight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ATB]

Buffalo out of the playoff chase yet?

[TheEgoWhip]

Buffalo actually has some potential this year. As a lifelong Lions fan, I know potential when other teams have it... Looking forward to the week 2 matchup with your 49ers, even tho I have it penciled in as a loss on my predictions. I don't see the Lions gelling as a team until we have at least a minimal threat to run the ball when Leshore returns in week 3.

[Gratch]

I decided to skip fantasy football this year.  I really think its the reason why I haven't much enjoyed the last few NFL seasons, as I spent more time watching the stats ticker than the actual games.    I spend my emotional sports investment on college football, and am hoping this year i can just watch whatever NFL game is on and be entertained.

Besides, I'm a Raiders fan so it's not like there's anything on the field to cheer about.v 

[leo8877]

Where's Devil?  Shouldn't he have chimed in by now?

[Azhag]

I meant to cut down to 2 leagues this year... but somehow found myself in 3 as I forgot about one. Sigh... But looking forward to seeing whether RG3 can survive my skins offensive line.

[Soulchilde]

Having a hard time getting into Football mode because of the O's.  Honestly, think the Ravens will have a difficult season and the transition of power for this team will fully swing the Offense way.  Sadly, I think the days of the stingy Raven's defense is over. 


My prediction 10-6 or 9-7.   Suggs injury will be too much for this team to overcome

[leo8877]

Niners starting Crabtree and Moss.  I'm interested in seeing how those guys both do this season.

[Isgrimnur]

Let's hear it for the Giants as the lesser of two evils!

[PeteRock]

WTF is this version of the Star Spangled Banner?  

As sung by the cast of Lion King?  Leave it as is, thank you.

Oh, and as usual, fuck the Cowboys. 

[Isgrimnur]

Hear, hear!

[leo8877]

Pete you must be starved for football to be watching Giants vs. Cowboys!!

[PeteRock]

Pete you must be starved for football to be watching Giants vs. Cowboys!!

You have no idea.

I was relegated to watching University of Arizona football last week.  <<shudder>>

Granted, I got to participate in a day of tailgating with med, nursing, and pharm students at the Clinic Tailgate ($10 bought you all-you-can-drink beer and all-you-can-eat catered El Guero Canelo).  But the game was excruciating, despite UofA winning.  This week we play Oklahoma State, who won last week 84-6.     Thank goodness the NFL has started.

Are you ready for some football?

Fuck.

Yes.

Although the replacement refs can sod off.

[msteelers]

It's good to have you back NFL, even if neither team is playing all that good.


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[Isgrimnur]

Same old Romo. I love it.

[msteelers]

That's how veterans fumble. So their teammates can recover.

[gellar]

This is nearly unwatchable.

[Isgrimnur]

Jerry Jones has someone around to clean his glasses. Nice.

[naednek]

Jerry Jones has someone around to clean his glasses. Nice.

Heh I was about to post that myself.  But I was too busy cooking dinner

[gellar]

This is nearly unwatchable.

Well it's picked up quite a bit.

[Teggy]

Cowboys get the job done! Big NFC east win. Still making tons of stupid penalties. How they expect to win consistently playing that sloppy I don't know.

[leo8877]

All the suspended players from the Saints bounty scandal have had their suspensions overturned by an arbitration panel! 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000059459/article/vilma-hargrove-smith-fujita-suspensions-overturned-on-appeal?module=HP11_breaking_news

[The Grue]

All the suspended players from the Saints bounty scandal have had their suspensions overturned by an arbitration panel! 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000059459/article/vilma-hargrove-smith-fujita-suspensions-overturned-on-appeal?module=HP11_breaking_news

Still won't have a good defense.