I went to grad school at SUNY-Albany. They had a good lacrosse team and a bad football team. Good luck Brian Parker!

The Vikings played at the University of Minnesota last season while their new publicly-funded stadium in being built. So really, St. Louis is 31st in attendance.

Looking at the Broncos helmet up close, that horse has way to much stuff coming out of its nose. It’s unsanitary.

I like Richard Sherman’s comment about the man-love and conflict of interest between Kraft and Goodell.

I think the Patriots have always had very good offensive lines. Gave up only 22 sacks this season. Here is their starting five:

New England
LT N.Solder 1st round pick 2011, 17th overall
LG D.Connolly UDFA 2005 by Jacksonville
C B.Stork 4th round pick 2014, 105th overall
RG R.Wendell UDFA 2008 by New England
RT S.Vollmer 2nd round pick 2009, 58th overall

wv wrote:

snowman wrote:
The Patriots would be nowhere without Tom Brady. They got lucky as hell in drafting him as we did in signing Kurt Warner. Without Brady, the Patriots with Belichick would be just like the Cleveland Browns with Belichick. The Patriots also have signed a lot of low end free agents and have gotten a lot of value from them – Randy Moss, LeGarrett Blount, Darrelle Revis, Brandon Lafell, etc… and I believe that many FAs are attracted to the patriots because of Brady, not Belichick.

Well, Brady is a great one,
but they have managed to surround him
with a Good Oline year after year.
They just seem to plug in RBs
and WRs.

w
v

They do have a technically sound and very good O line for pass protection, not sure they stand out on run blocking.

This is just me watching games, not breaking down film or really analyzing anything from a technical perspective, but watch how the Patriots O line pass blocks. They stay in their areas and don’t chase the D lineman on stunts or crosses. They have perfect posture, perfect balance and use their hands effectively making them almost immovable. They keep square to the pass rusher, meaning they move their feet well and rarely get in a position to need to take a holding penalty. They are very disciplined and work very well together as a unit, not a group of five one-on-one match ups. I hate the Patriots to my core but I admire their policy and training on pass blocking. From the looks of their roster, this technique and style and discipline is teachable to almost anyone. There have had some notable draft picks and free agents on their line, but for the most part, they are just offensive linemen who are good athletes with size and teachable. I credit Brady and their O line coach for much of their success.

The Patriots would be nowhere without Tom Brady. They got lucky as hell in drafting him as we did in signing Kurt Warner. Without Brady, the Patriots with Belichick would be just like the Cleveland Browns with Belichick. The Patriots also have signed a lot of low end free agents and have gotten a lot of value from them – Randy Moss, LeGarrett Blount, Darrelle Revis, Brandon Lafell, etc… and I believe that many FAs are attracted to the patriots because of Brady, not Belichick.

Draft a QB in the first round, start Bradford and hope he doesn’t get hurt, start rookie in season 2.

or

Draft a QB in the first round, sign a veteran QB akin to Carson Palmer, release Bradford, start rookie in season 2.

joemad wrote:

snowman wrote:
Here’s my two cents.

Unless you own your own business or are retired, you work for someone, for an employer. That employer has rules of conduct when the employee is representing the organization. These players could have expressed their feelings on the subject privately, as Steadman Bailey, as Tavon Austin, etc… but they chose to do it publicly, while at work, as Saint Louis Rams. They should have run this past their boss, Coach Fisher, before doing it because this reflects on their employer and on the league. IMO, they were selfish and perhaps grandstanding by doing it during game introductions. If I were Fisher, I would chew their asses for not consulting him before doing it and privately apologize to the Saint Louis Police Association. This probably involves Stan Kroenke too as the owner of the business.

Did Kurt Warner ask for permission from DV and Georgia F. when he thanked Jesus after winning SB 34?

It’s known that teams are OK with religious gestures because it plays well to the crowd, even though it’s absurd to say so. I guess Andre Dyson feels God hates him, right?

Oh, I should clarify that teams are OK with Christian religious gestures.

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by snowman.
• This reply was modified 10 years ago by zn.

I have become cynical about a number of things and Native American rights is one of them. I am also on the fence about oil pipelines.

I have trouble caring about sacred land treaties when tribes abuse fishing rights by netting more walleyes than they need and keeping ones outside the slot limits. The fish population becomes depleted in certain lakes and the people who depend on the fishing and tourism industry suffer. And then there is the casino business that is somehow compatible with sacred lands.

The Bakken oil fields in North Dakota produce over a million barrels of oil per day. That’s about 11% of the total produced in the United States. They send out nine oil trains per day, most of them heading east through the Twin Cities to Illinois and farther east. This much freight traffic ruins the ability of Amtrak’s Empire Builder to stay even remotely on time and it drives up the cost of rail cars for agriculture and other businesses who depend on freight rail to receive and deliver products. An oil pipeline can move over a million barrels a day without impacting other sectors of the economy and without creating safety issues on the railroads. Enbridge is proposing to build the Sandpiper pipeline from ND to Superior, WI to move Bakken light crude to refineries in the east. I think I am fine with that. I am not down with Keystone XL if the oil is shipped to Texas, refined and sold to the Chinese.

Zooey wrote:

zn wrote:
Injury Epidemics I have seen…and I’ve lost count…this one has the *potential* to be one of the more benign, or should I say, least deadly.

Before, there was no Robinson and Jones. It was street free agent city.

If Robinson and Jones can play, then…they are not as completely bad off as they were in prior versions of OL Apocalypse.

To be fair, you haven’t give Robinson and Jones enough time to get injured.

I love it!

I don’t have anything to back this up but I think kids that come out for the draft early like Robinson have a tough time adjusting to the responsibilities of professional football. He is not physically mature yet and has a harder time adjusting to the mental requirements of playing LOT.

I didn’t think he would be an immediate starter so I am OK with where he is at now. It’s going to take another year or two before he can be written into the starting lineup in ink, not pencil.

I just don’t see a development firm like AEG building a stadium and leasing it to a NFL team. I think this window closes and we see the city take over negotiations. If a team moves and a stadium gets built in LA, it will be done the old fashioned way – with shitloads of public money and promises of economic benefits to the taxpayers.

Sadly, the punter is the best and brightest of the group.

Dallas does not have one of the best offensive lines in the league. Uh uh.