So as discussed in the football thread we've got a few NFL fans in here so worth a new thread, just as a recap who supports who?
Anybody doing a fantasy league this year?
So as discussed in the football thread we've got a few NFL fans in here so worth a new thread, just as a recap who supports who?
Anybody doing a fantasy league this year?
The Giants are my side and last years Superbowl win was even sweeter than the 2007 one. Bit worried with losing Manningham who was vastly underrated but hopefully Victor Cruz will continue his form of last year and Domenik Hixon will stay healthy and prove his worth this season
Eli Manning is a great talent and I expect us to win the NFC East but not sure we can go all the way again but I will have fun watching the season unfold.
The mighty Washington Redskins. The RG3 era begins. I will default to my 2nd team the Saints obviously when the Redskins can no longer make the play offs. Normally mid October lol.
Got my game pass which is really worth it. Anybody want a referral PM me your email address.
Looking forward to the new season.
Packers and Patriots will be hard to beat. My dark horse team for this year is the Lions, they need a fit running back to be competative.
How does the referral work on the game pass? I've considered one.
My team are the Panthers, high hopes going into this season if things go well then i'm confident of reaching the play offs but a lot depends on our defense staying fit and Cam Netwon not suffering a slump. There's a slight concern with depth at WR as beyond Steve Smith we're not particularly strong but LaFell could hopefully step up this year.
Watch out for Joe Adams on Punt returns, he had one last season for Arkansas which was unreal and has already done something similar in pre-season for us...should make returns a hell of a lot more interesting that they were last year for us!
My team are Green Bay.
The only issue I have with the Game Pass is that the Sky games at 6pm and 9.15pm on Sundays are blacked out on GP and you cannot then view them for 6 days. That takes some big match ups out of the deal for me and so I have so far not thought it worth the price given that I have Sky. Sky haven't announced whether they have signed a new TV deal yet but word is that they will very shortly, and C4 have re-signed their deal for the late Sunday night game (usually the marquee game of the week) for this season which is good news.
Really looking forward to the start of the season, a couple of big games in Week 1. Dallas @ NYG obviously on opening night and also SF @ Green Bay on the Sunday at 9.15pm and Pittsburgh @ Denver late Sunday night on C4, all really interesting.
I'm just glad that College Football is back a week earlier because I am a huge fan of that as well. If anyone has ESPN America check out a game over the next few days. Michigan v Alabama on Saturday night will be awesome.
Great Thread.
I follow the Dolphins. Looking forward to seeing Tannehill progress and see how Philbin changes our play. Our offense is supposedly going to be seriously up tempo this year. Since we traded a top 10 WR and followed that up by trading our Number 1 pick from a couple of seasons back, cornerback Vontae Davis, last week then I am not expecting much. We drafted pretty well and so this year will be about seeing how the rookies go more than anything else.
Still no TV deal for the NFL and we're only days away from the big KO.
Sort your sh!t out!!!
People 'in the know' have been saying that the deal would be sorted but all of this 'don't worry' attitude now has come to a head with the kick off game tomorrow and no deal done. NFLUK released a statement saying that a deal may be sorted today. As it stands though ESPN have a live baseball game arranged in the Monday Night football slot and Sky have not even left a TBA on their Sunday night slots where NFL would normally be.
When we have a regular season game at Wembley and NFLUK keep saying that the UK is the NFL's second most important TV market is does make me wonder what the hell is going on.
I'm relatively new to the sport but in the year i've followed it i've seen the issue last season where there was a lockout/holdout prior to teh season begining, there's the issue with the referees this season and the TV deal - is it just coincidence that i've started following it at this time when there are lots of disputes or is it the way of the NFL? certainly creates headlines....the cynic in my would say it's a big pantomime!
Just a coincidence! The lockout happened last year as it was the year the previous collective bargaining agreement ended and they couldn't sort a new deal out in time. The referees dispute is the same thing as their CBA expired this year. The players new deal is for ten years so that won't happen again for a while.
I'm not sure however that many people in the NFL are too concerned about whether UK based fans have access to live games though.
TV deal with Sky sorted, 3 year deal. Cowboys at Giants tomorrow night is their first game. Hallelujah!
http://www.nfluk.com/opinions/articl...-year-nfl-deal
im a redskins fan since the superbowl when the raiders and marcus allen destroyed us think it was 84. looking forward to a new qb and much improved d line this year for the skins. its too much of a tough call to predict anything with the redskins really as it is with trying to predict superbowl champs. as long as we can get a winning season or a 8-8 will be a massive improvement. good luck to all your teams though! enjoy!
I watch a lot of College Football and I am really looking forward to seeing RG3 at Washington. He is electric and will certainly mean you are a must see team early on. He has weaknesses and is yet unproven as a real pocket passer, but he will give you something extra and will be fun to watch.
That NFC East is anybody's to win any year. It's so evenly matched that no team ever seems to dominate or indeed win more than 10-11 games. If any team makes a good start they have a chance to win it. Dallas seem to have mixed things up nicely by winning the opener in NY on Wednesday.
do you think rg3 will outdo luck this year? im unsure as i dont see a lot of the college games. stats on both are pretty even. i suppose it comes down to how much firepower the offence posess. first live skins game sept 16th at st louis.
Andrew Luck IMO has the potential to be an all time great QB, he is made for the NFL, has great presence and is a great passer. RG3 is very good, he won the Heisman after all so has just had a great senior year in college for a fairly average Baylor team. I think Griffin is on a better team so can maybe make an impact more quickly in terms of winning games and maybe even getting his team into play off attention whereas Luck is going to find it hard to do that in Indy straight away.
Washington have a very good young QB who will IMO lead you to many successful seasons and will be a star, but Luck IMO is the better QB. It all depends on the rest of the team though, as there is no guarantee Indianapolis will build the kind of team for Luck that they did for Peyton Manning. If they do then Luck will win Super Bowls there, he will be that good.
Is the role of QB progressing? Again bear in mind i'm a recent convert to the game and I may be talking rubbish but from things i've heard over the year a QB that is a threat both with passing & Rushing is how the game will go, Micheal Vick Cam Newton & RG3 as examples perhaps. Before that there may well have been others that have been in the same ilk of those 3 and my point isn't all that great!
As for this season I expect both to have good season, RG3 I think will start off the better as his style allows him to impose himself on games without having a fully developed understanding with his team mates. Luck on the other hand will need to build relationships up with is recievers, he will benefit from Fleener being a teammate last season and i'd expect Fleener to see a lot of ball early on until he is comfortable throwing at his Wr's
I think you're right to an extent, and there is nothing better than your most exciting offensive player being the fella who gets the ball on EVERY snap, ie - the QB.
Newton and Griffin IMO are much better passers than Vick, and Tebow showed last season that being a great runner and being three dimensional as a QB only gets you so far if you're not that great of a passer. Which is why Elway ditched him in favour of the guy who will stand in the pocket and pass the ball through the eye of a needle in Manning. Now maybe Elway is just out of touch with the modern QB, but I think he sees that a QB who can pass really well and run a bit (and Luck can run a bit) is better than a QB who can run a lot but is an average passer. Newton and Griffin are better than average passers and will both be really successful but for me Luck is a better QB because of his passing.
Passing QB's are still the ones who tend to get it done in the big games as well. Eli, Rodgers, Brady and Brees being the best examples of this.
Passing QB's of a high quality will always be preferable to a rusher, no question. Rushing QB's have only become fashionable because QB talent has been relatively thin off the ground for so long. Luck will instantly make the players around him look better and he's a once in a generation player. All the best QB's make their players look a lot better. Brady is my personal favourite. Its like watching a surgeon at times and there really is little a defense can do against that level of vision, anticipation and throwing ability.
I think the likes of Newton, RGIII etc have a limited shelf life in the NFL and the best rushing QB's that last anytime always develop their game to a pocket presence QB. Newton looks capable of that IMO, RGIII will need to prove he is capable.
Wow!!! The Giants have just completed a tremendous comeback against the Buccs. Manning had a shocker of a 1st half but in the 2nd he was absolutely flawless, hopefully we can kick on from here and be a big threat come playoff time
The Giants need to reach the play offs first, this isn't Super League you know!
I see major holes in NYG and would not be overly confident that they reach the post season, especially given the 3 other teams in that division. Philly beat Baltimore today, which surprised me, and Washington with RG3 and Dallas can all potentially challenge in the NFC East.
Happy as well today that Luck won his first home start for Indy. He won't win many this year but it's nice that he got his first win early. Looking forward to the Detroit at SF game late on, will catch that tomorrow on tape. SF looked really good beating my Packers last week, it will be interesting to see if they can keep it up and have a special season.