Topic: 🏈🏈 The American Football Discussion Thread 🏈🏈 - page 253. (Read 57541 times)

The ESPN article seems to suggest that there's support for adding one more team to the playoffs while limiting the bye week to the top seed.  That one I can see getting pushed through.  What owner doesn't want to increase the odds of his team getting in?  That seems like a no-brainer.  I like this proposal, myself.  As a fan, it would be cool to see more playoff games, they can be quite entertaining and tend to produce the best football.

There's been talk of reducing the number of preseason games and expanding the regular season for quit a while now.  To be honest, with all the fear about injuries and concussions, I thought it would never happen.  I was surprised by this news that the proposal has gotten this far.  It's still going to be debated, and I believe the owners' votes have to be unanimous, so it may not happen.

One of the reasons I find it surprising is due to scheduling issues.  How will each team's 17th opponent be determined?  Right now there's a symmetry to the scheduling path that I imagine would be hard to duplicate with a 17th game.  

Currently:

• Each team plays their division rivals twice.
• Each division is matched with two others, one AFC and one NFC (rotating annually.)
• And finally, each team is matched up with the two intra-conference teams that finished the previous season at the same table position within their respective division.

This system works great for the ever elusive "parity" that the NFL seems desperate to achieve.  As it stands each team's schedule consists of only two teams that their division rivals aren't playing against.  For example: this past season the teams of the NFC west played all the teams from the NFC south and AFC North.  The only teams the 49ers played that the Seahawks, the Rams, and the Cardinals didn't play are the Packers and the Redskins.  That means each team within a division plays twelve games against common opponents, which helps to assess a team's strengths within it's division, and can be used for tie breakers when needed.

I'd be curious to see the proposal for 17 games, and see how it recommends the 17th opponent be selected.

We talked a little bit about this during the previous thread and I expressed my dislike for a 17 games season, I do not like the idea, this will lead to stat inflation and positions like RBs will have an even shorter life span as they accumulate even more damage in a single season and this will devalue their position even more.

However, I like the idea of one more team in the playoffs and only one team getting a bye even less, this change even if it seems to not be as significant will make dynasties even harder and will add a random element to it, this also devalues the second seed to the point of almost making it pointless, one of the great advantages of being the first and second seed not only comes from resting for an additional week, using that week to study your rivals and getting home field advantage, your probabilities of reaching the SB are way higher as well since you only need to win two games instead of three, and now the second seed will only receive home field advantage under the new rules.

I actually like the current amount of teams in the playoffs adding 2 more doesnt seem like a lot but it starts to get watered down.  NBA could use a cutback too.  Regular season wins should matter more than just seeding.  If you arent good enough to be one of the top teams than you dont deserve to be in the playoffs.  As it stands now one out of every four teams in each conference make it, plus 2 more.  This coming from a giants fan too lol

Yep. According to the article it still needs to be ratified, but should be a gimme. All involved parties seem to be fine with these changes.


It's a financial win for everyone. Players on the bye-team would now get postseason pay for the bye (which they didn't get before) and overall players revenue share will increase from 47% to 48,5% (+5bln more).

I assume these changes are already negotiated and only need to be officially included in the new CBA, correct?


I like this one, i've never been a fan of prolonged preseason, it's like the XFL, it's football but not really. 
4th/5th stringers fighting for a roster spot, game speed is different, starters only get a few snaps here and there, some don't play at all.

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It feels like all of these upcoming changes are first and foremost financially driven, rather than the NFL actually fixing issues with the game.

Looks like we'll get a new playoff structure for NFL next season

• Seven teams from each conference will go to the PO.
• Regular season will be expanded to 17 games.
• Preseason will only be three weeks instead of four.
• Only one team from each conference will get a bye.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28739375/more-playoff-teams-expected-new-nfl-cba-sources-say

Hehehe the older boy appears that he can also do something. Look at the picture, you do not know what he is doing with his left hand while his father is giving a weird smile again hehehee.

One of my favourite "defensive" plays ever and a great little video about it (quality is a bit meh): Benjamin Watson tackle saving touchdown



It was the end of the third quarter in AFC divisonal round in 2005 and the Patriots were trailing 6-10 at that point. Ball was ruled out of bounce at the 1yd line. Belichick threw the red flag, but the decision was upheld. There was no conclusive evidence, if the ball went out of bounds through the endzone (I think it did), which would have resulted in the Patriots getting the ball back at their own 20yd line and would have made that play even more heroic.

Denver went on to win 27-13 in the end, but it was a great play and great effort by a TE in a place where breathing is an issue.

I hope she has a nanny or 9.  That younger boy looks like he might need two nannies just to keep an eye on him alone.



Yes, and yes.  For decades the Chargers were based in a fairly small market that's blessed with great weather all year.  Not the prime environment to foster a lot of football fans, which doesn't help revenue.  They haven't really had much to brag about in the coaching department since Marty Schottenheimer.  The culture of the organization seems determined to put too much emphasis on the quarterback, without putting much effort into other positions.  I do believe Rivers would have done better on a different team.

The move to LA will likely help in the long run, but they need to start winning to attract some more fans. 

His wife cannot hide the black spots under her eyes with make up. She clearly is very tired from taking care of those kids hehehe.

Would Rivers have a better career if he did not play for the Chargers? I read his history and it appears his team did not utilize his prime properly.

Yes, think so too and I quite like that rule. NFL wants to get rid of kick offs for a long time and the way they do it in XFL seems to be a good compromise.


Commentators said, the 3-point-conversion from LA was only the second successful one, so I guess there weren’t that many by now.

1-point-conversion is of course fine, if you trust your running game. In the end it’s maybe just a mathematical calculation. If you are able to convert a 10yd (pass) play with 33,33+%, then you are better off just attempting the 3-point-conversion every time. Maybe some lower percentage would be fine as well, since you don’t convert the 1-point-conversion at 100% and the 2-point-conversion at 50% most likely (or pretty sure !).

But when you look at how teams often struggle to move down the field for just a FG and all the effort it needs to get there, these 3 points look pretty cheap.

I like the options for 1, 2, or 3 point conversions also.  I didn't get to watch any of this past weekends' games, but I have my TV service provider set to record all the games for me.  Maybe I'll pick one to watch tonight.

Last week I didn't notice any of the teams attempting anything but 1-point conversions from the 2-yard line, and I thought it was odd.  I agree that it seems like it would be more successful to attempt from the 5-yard line, or better from the 10, so I was surprised to see team not make those attempts.  But those longer attempts favor a more pass-heavy approach, and if your running game is more reliable I can see why teams would opt for 1 point instead.

The XFL has many more players on the field with speakers in their helmets, which is meant to make the game-pace a little faster with fewer interruptions.  It tend to reduce the need for offensive huddle, possibly reduce the amount of time needed on the play clock.  I like that aspect, and wish the NFL would adopt it.

All the rule changes in the XFL seem experimental, and I imagine many result from complaints about specific NFL rules.

In my country some of the games are being transmitted by ESPN, ABC and even the NFL Network, in fact I have seen some shows in which they even comment about it, so I am not so sure the NFL is against this league as much as we may believe, personally I think there are some rules that could make it to the NFL very soon, the kick off rule in which the players are only 5 yards apart and begin to move only after the ball is caught is probably the rule that will be adopted the soonest since it protects the players.

Edit: I am only referring to the aspects I enumerated about the rule in the post above, since the rest of the rule is a bit quirky but I think with some adjustments the XFL could be on the right path.

I will fine with that as well but it is a terrible business decision since overpaying your QB when he does not deserve it is a sure way to not make the playoffs for a very long time.

I sat through the second half and it was worth it Good action in Q4 and even Josh Johnson showed glimpses of why he was able to be at least a journeyman in NFL (13 teams in 12 years).

This 3-point-conversion is very worth trying imo - after every touchdown. It gives as many points as a FG and attempting a pass from 10yd line is often better than from like 2yd line. There are a lot of different rules in comparison to NFL (which is quite confusing) and from what they said, this is a testbed to adopt some of them for NFL. I would have to watch some more games, to see if any of those rules could change anything for the better in NFL.

Final result: Dallas 25-18 LA

Turned off the channel right after the first quarter, it was awful, certainly not watching LA Wildcats game again.
On top of that ref calling the game had some weird speech problem or something like that, quite off-putting.

O/U was at 46.5 (after 3 just 9 points on the board). Oddsmakers may have a hard time putting the right lines in the next few weeks.

edit; 34 points in the 4th, i guess i missed all the fun

First half done in my first XFL game Quality wise it's quite poor compared to NFL, but way better than GFL, what I accidentially watch from time to time. There were turnovers all over the place, miscommunications etc.

They have only 25sec per play and thus play no huddle offense mainly. This should normally make for a fast game and lots of points, but nope.

There are often sideline interviews from players that just made a great play the previous drive. It's a good idea, unfortunately it's just some bla bla like you hear so often from athletes. Seems to be some delay too, since they beeped out the f-words.

You can hear what the refs talk when a flag has been thrown and if some player engages in that discussion you can hear that too. Quite interesting. There was a booth review after a fumble, that was ruled down by contact initially, and you could hear the refs in the booth talk as well. Some coaches are mic'd up, f.e. the OC from the Wildcats, and you can hear their playcalling.

German commentators said that players earn a base salary of $27k per season with bonuses being added for winning games etc. From what I understood it's the same for everyone but the QB's. Some of those QB's might even earn more than the NFL minimum (which is around $500k).

Hard to get some NFL feeling all in all, stadium is maybe 50% full.

Score at halftime: Dallas 3-3 LA

I watched the LA Wildcats last week, the final 6-7 minutes of the 4th quarter only, teams didn't score. Apart from a few pretty rough hits which were not flagged it was kinda boring. I might tune in today and see how are they doing. I read that they fired their defensive coordinator after that game with Houston, lol just one game and dude is gone.


Mid-game interviews with coaches, DC calling plays on the comms and my favorite XBOX replay reviews  

I agree, paying dak a crazy contract as one of the highest players in the league would be a mistake.  Throw him behind the giants online and he turns into a qb people would question if he should start.  I think the cowboys would be better off paying someone like teddy Bridgewater's to come in and pay some top end defensive free agents.  But they will probably pay him and slip into long term mediocrity which is perfectly fine by me as a giant fan. 

Would love to watch it in person. Not only because it would be quite some fun, but it would also mean I would be in sunny and warm LA now and not sitting in some shitty, rainy and windy weather It will be streamed on some german website, that is also doing the main coverage for NFL here.

Will watch my first XFL game today, when the LA Wildcats host the Dallas Renegades

I have no idea what to expect tbh. From the previous results, it looks like there is not a lof of points scored, which is a bit meh, but lets see. Landry Jones is set to start for Dallas, while LA will have Chad Kanoff under center - never heard that name. Wikipedia says, that he was signed by the Cardinals as undrafted FA and also stayed with the Lions and the Bucs. But he didn't get beyond practice squad with these teams. Will probably have a small punt on Dallas.