2014 Official NFL Thread

[november]

I read that Pete Carroll is taking the loss hard,as he should. Do you guys believe the conspiracy theory. Some people did not want beast mode to win mvp so that is why they passed the ball and wanted the QB to win the award. Is that possible? I Hope not.

 

[hungry101]

They gave him the ball the previous down from the 5 yd line. That would be absurd to suggest that they didn't want so and so to win the MVP. And if they wanted Wilson to be the MVP why did he not run a sneak? Or a naked boot or some sort of misdirection???? I think this conspiracy theory is absurd.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Ahhhhhhh the LUCK of the Irish!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2354310-irish-seahawks-fans-somehow-sneak-into-super-bowl-xlix

 

[Merlot]

They gave him the ball the previous down from the 5 yd line. That would be absurd to suggest that they didn't want so and so to win the MVP.

Now that it's been proven no team needs deflated footballs to win and that conspiracy theory is dead, some people need another conspiracy to latch onto. Human beings love conspiracy theories. See how much money they make on tv and in the movies. See: Da Vinci Code. Maybe they need this one to explain why the Seahawks FAILED. These people can't accept that there is some rationale behind the pass attempt so they concoct reasons why Seattle didn't run Lynch. This conspiracy theory is indeed absurd, but expect it to go on. :crazy:

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[PopeDover]

Human beings love conspiracy theories

The thing is, some stuff actually does happen with very low probability that it's not conspired. Forget this last game, all I remember is an amazingly effective rinky-dink passing game torturing a hyped up D that had no answers (21 passing first downs?)


But what about the previous Super Bowl that Seattle lost in 2006??? Just a few random bad calls perhaps? :noidea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XL#Reaction_to_officiating
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/06/four-years-later-bill-leavy-apologizes-to-seahawks/

That was worst I've ever seen but then again I was too young during the legendary Jets win in SB III when it appeared overwhelmingly that someone got to Morrall (rip) with some kind of stake in the AFL merger. Irrelevant ancient history I guess, and Broadway Joe is the greatest Jet ever! (not)

Well maybe I do love conspiracy theories, but it doesn't mean I believe them!

(but me and Bubba Smith and probably anyone still alive that laid the 18 points that day and watched the Colts hand the game away wont budge on that one)

 

[Merlot]

BOYZZZ!!!

Broadway Joe is the greatest Jet ever! (not)

He opened his big mouth and Morrall happened to throw 4 interceptions. I was a small kid and a Colts fan then, until the Patriots drafted Plunkett in 1971. Namath's stats were extremely mediocre even for his day. He got in the HOF for one game and the national hype for a loud mouth.

But what about the previous Super Bowl that Seattle lost in 2006??? Just a few random bad calls perhaps? :noidea:

Atrocious calls. I've made the point at the time it happened and several times since that Seattle was cheated out of a Super Bowl Victory by two extremely bad referee calls, one that would have put the Seahawks in excellent position to score, and a second on a separate series where I think it was an apparent touchdown that was called back. That's 14 points. But is that conspiracy or stupidity/incompetence. In the next year referees put 56 seconds on the clock during the last Giants drive claiming time had been run off that hadn't. Conspiracy or stupidity/incompetence. Picking up the flag against Dallas versus Detroit the same type of questions.

Conspiracy theories? Chris Mortenson starts deflate gate by reporting 11 of 12 Patriots footballs are 2 psi under-inflated. True? So far the NFL investigation has found some of those footballs were actually right about on the mark, some were ticks (tenths) off of the mark, one was 1 psi off and another was 2 psi off...the last one is the one the Colts handled to turn in. Conspiracy??? How come the haters aren't interested in citing any of that??? Well, WE KNOW WHY!

Something else the haters will definitely avoid mentioning below here.

Jerry Rice screwed up mightily just before so-called Deflate Gate broke. Had he known what was coming he no doubt would not have said this:

Jerry Rice admits to stickum use, calls New England Patriots 'cheaters'

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nbc-y...250600-nfl.html;_ylt=A0LEViqqCdVU3xoAK_wnnIlQ

When it comes to playing football in any conditions, the challenge becomes not only throwing it but catching it. And in the ESPN segment narrated by Jim Trotter, Rice nonchalantly made a stunning (in hindsight) confession: Rice put stickum on his gloves.

“I know this might be a little illegal, guys, but you put a little spray, a little stickum on them, to make sure that texture is a little sticky,” Rice said, laughing.

It wasn’t a little illegal, it was a lot illegal. As explained in the ESPN feature, gloves were introduced to football after the NFL decided to outlaw the stuff that guys like Fred Biletnikoff and Lester Hayes (pictured) would spread copiously on their hands, and elsewhere. Rice admitted in the feature that he enhanced the surface of gloves approved for use in the NFL with a substance that would make it easier to catch the ball.

“I’m going to be point blank, I feel like it’s cheating. Because you have an edge up on your opponent and its unfortunate that it happened.”

With or without the stickum or the gloves, Rice still would have been the greatest receiver of all time. But, as he said regarding the Patriots, he still had an edge.

Deflate Gate is all about being able to grip the ball and have a more certain hold isn't it. So here's Jerry Rice, that super idol and paragon of NFL gods branding the Patriots with cheating when at the same time he's fully aware of his own CHEATING with stickum, which he laughs off. Say it ain't so Joe.t! Jerry's not just letting some air out for a grip he's actually making sure his hands STICK to the footballs. OMG the Haters outrage just went supernova on that one. :lol: Or NOT! His career exactly parallels that of the NFL GOD Joe Montana and all 4 of his Super Bowl victories. DAMN, is anything sacred. How will those who have been in a fury over alleged deflating by the Patriots be able to live with more gross rule breaking by their sacred idols. Yeah well, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice aren't Patriots are they.

Does it mean the legacies of Montana and Rice are forever tainted with the CHEATING label? The Patriots Haters will laugh at that but continue to obsess over the Patriots so-called cheating. Jerry is are right in line with the hypocrisy of the Haters Club.

Regarding Tom Brady's achievements. He's made 50 or more throwing attempts in playoff games 5 times and won 4 of them. For all other quarterbacks making 50 attempts they've won 3 and lost 29, and no one else has done it twice. In the history of the Super Bowl no team has ever come back from being down by 10 points or more until Super Bowl XLIX and the New England Patriots led by Brady did it against one of the best defenses ever.

HUGE Cheers,

Merlot

 

[PopeDover]

In the history of the Super Bowl no team has ever come back from being down by 10 points or more until Super Bowl XLIX

Well technically not true, but for all intents and purposes it might as well be with those last two drives more relevant than one play

 

[Merlot]

BOYZZZ!

Well technically not true, but for all intents and purposes it might as well be with those last two drives more relevant than one play...

Yes, yesterday WEEI reported there was no other team that had come back from 10 or more points down, then today they said there was one other who did the same from 10 down.

CONSPIRACY???

Adam Schefter: ‘There Are People Who Believe’ Colts Deflated Patriots’ Football

http://nesn.com/2015/02/adam-schefter-there-are-people-who-believe-colts-deflated-patriots-football/

Many people already have made up their minds that the New England Patriots are guilty, and any amount of evidence that suggests otherwise won’t convince them. Apparently there still are some who believe otherwise, however.

The latest report on DeflateGate, from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, is that only one of the Patriots’ footballs was 2 PSI under the NFL minimum and that many were just a “few ticks” under. The football that was 2 PSI under-inflated was the one that Indianapolis Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted in the AFC Championship Game, ProFootballTalk reported.

That has led some to believe that the Colts, not the Patriots, deflated that football, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on WEEI’s “Middays With MFB.”

Here’s the transcript from Schefer’s appearance: OK Adam, here’s the latest.

The Colts deflated the one ball that D’Qwell Jackson intercepted, and all the other balls were just a tick under. That’s the latest theory that’s going around. I don’t know how much of that has reached your ears. What if that were ever — if we could find out that was true, what would be the ramifications?

“Well, I’ll say this. I think there are people who believe that.”

Here, too. “I know there are people who believe that.”

Are these just friends of yours? Or are these executives, coaches who believe that? “I’ll just say — I won’t even specify. There are people who believe that. OK? There are people who believe that. And I think there are people who’ve heard that theory and who say that it’s impossible.

“Now, again, it’s a little bit like my take on all of this. There are people in the Patriots’ organization, multiple people there, who are adamant, adamant, that nothing happened. That they did nothing wrong. This is an overdone, blown up situation that got carried away, when they did nothing, and when you listen to them, you 100 percent believe them. And there are other people who I’ve spoken with who say ‘Ah, come on, there is something that happened with those footballs. How could you deny it? How could these balls come out to be where they’re out in the measurements and the Colts’ are fine.

“My thing on this is I’d like to believe people that I’ve known and trusted and liked for a long time. That’s No. 1. And No. 2: Let’s let Ted Wells determine what’s right and what’s wrong. Why do I have to determine it?”

ESPN’s initial report was that 11 of the Patriots’ footballs were 2 PSI under the league minimum, and since that’s the first thing that the general public heard, it has stuck in the minds of those not still following DeflateGate closely. It’s possible that the change in temperature from where the Patriots inflated their footballs to going outside would deflate them a few ticks, but not by 2 PSI.

The Patriots have come out four times and adamantly denied any involvement in DeflateGate. Head coach Bill Belichick has has two news conferences, while quarterback Tom Brady and owner and CEO Robert Kraft each have held one.

The Patriots turned in a tape to the NFL that showed an elderly locker room attendant taking 12 of the Patriots’ footballs and 12 of the Colts’ footballs into a restroom for 90 seconds, ProFootballTalk reported.

The NFL admitted last Thursday that the officials didn’t log the PSI in the Patriots’ footballs before the AFC Championship Game. He also confirmed that DeflateGate wasn’t a sting operation.

It absolutely would be in the Patriots’ best interest for Wells to find that the Colts deflated the football intercepted by Jackson. If that’s the case, then that story could be even bigger than DeflateGate was to begin with, especially since it would come out during the NFL’s offseason.

If Wells’ findings are inconclusive, then the general public likely will just assume that the Patriots were guilty, and that they got away with it because Robert Kraft is so close to commissioner Roger Goodell.

It does seem unlikely that the Colts would be conniving enough to deflate a football, then turn it in to the NFL and blame the Patriots. It doesn’t make sense that only one football was so under-inflated, though.

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[Doc Holliday]

A funny thing happened on the day of the Superbowl. Like in past years, i wanted to place a bet. Since i hate the Patriots, i figured i'd bet $500 on the Seahawks. It would make watching the game much more interesting.

So i contacted a buddy of mine whom i owed $200 to, having lost a few bets to him recently. "Want to bet on the Superbowl?", i asked him. "Sure, but i'm betting on the Seahawks since i've already got a couple of other bets going on", he told me. I told him i hated the Patriots and couldn't see myself rooting for them. I despised them! "I feel the same way", he said. So we decided not to bet with one another and i told him he'd have his money come the following Monday.

Ten minutes before kickoff, he texted me and made an offer: If i agreed to pick the Patriots and bet with him, he'd triple the amount of money if i won. In other words, if i bet $100, he'd give me $300 if i won. Since i already owed him $200, i said why not....i bet $100. Ten minutes later, i texted him and upped the ante to $200. If i won, he'd pay me triple....or $400 since i already owed him $200. If i lost, i'd owe him $400.

At halftime, the score was very close, so he texted me and made me one last offer: $600. Winner take all and the money i owed him would be scratched off the books. So i said why not, and if he won, not to bother me again for wagering this season. I had already drank a couple of beers by then and probably wasn't thinking straight. Or maybe my recent suspension from the board was affecting me negatively, who knows.

All i know is that i suddenly became a big Tom Brady fan. I was pulling for Rob Gronkowski to do something! I began to love Julian Edelman and his clutch catches! I would jump with joy everytime Danny Amendola would make a catch! And when Gronk got the TD, i was high-fiving everyone!

However, come halfway into the 4th quarter, i figured i'd be $600 poorer after the game. But with about 30 seconds left to go, Seattle made the biggest coaching blunder in the history of the Superbowl and NE wound up with the game-winning interception!

I ended up $600 richer and i will watch this great Superbowl over and over again!! :thumb:

 

[wolfie7]

Ummmm... And that episode, gents, sums up Doc as a sports fan and sports forum trash talker... :wave:

 

[Doc Holliday]

Ummmm... And that episode, gents, sums up Doc as a sports fan and sports forum trash talker... :wave:

Oh, i'm flattered....but as the ol' BTO song goes, YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET.

Bills all the way!! Love the Richie Icognito signing!!! :thumb:

 

[wolfie7]

It's been a week already, and I still laugh like a crazy person every time I think of the Pats Super Bowl win. Especially when I open this picture - I start cracking up maniacally in my office. My admin knows by now to just leave me alone in my mirth. After the pain of 2007-2008, this was such a sweet sweet win for New England fans. For the rest of this year, I'm sure, whenever I get down at work, I'm just going to open this picture. Enjoy, my fellow Patriots fans! eace: :whoo:

 

[wolfie7]

Last thought, for now:

I thought these two articles, one from the Post and the other from Bill Simmons, provided pretty good explanation of what Pete Carroll might have been thinking.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ributed-to-fateful-play-call-by-pete-carroll/

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/r...l-xlix-new-england-patriots-seattle-seahawks/

Pretty unfair lambasting by the media of Carroll and his staff. I do think Belichick psyched him out by not calling a timeout. Stupid me, I started panicking after the Lynch run to the 1, and myself and everyone else started screaming at the TV for Belichick to call the timeout and then let Seattle score, so Brady would have a fighting chance to move into field goal range. That's why the rest of us aren't coaches. Belichick pulled a master move - he did the totally unexpected. Just like myself and everyone else I was with, we were all bewildered at what the hell was going on as the seconds ticked off and New England did not call a timeout. In that moment of panic, nobody was thinking completely straight on the Seahawks - coaches, QB, receivers. I think that little bit, that slimmest of margins, put the Patriots over the edge. The Seattle coaches had their own time management problem now, what they called was actually not that crazy, when you consider their timeout situation. The Pats could well have stuffed Lynch in the backfield if they ran, Seattle had 3 wideouts! Lynch makes DBs look bad, not defensive linemen and LBs. If the wideout makes the catch, Carroll is a genius.

Equally bad, Russell Wilson should never have thrown that pass. It's more on the QB than the coach.

Ultimately, though, Butler made an unbelievable play. Browner prevented the pick play, Butler jumped the route, and then to hang on. Unbelievable play. Pretty amazing. What an amazing end to a Super Bowl.

Belichick also made the astute observation from past experience that radio communications had a high likelihood of going down in the last few moments of a Super Bowl. All the TV equipment and radios moving near the field creates a ton of interference, and adds to the craziness. Something a fan would never know. Belichick was so frickin' calm on the sideline, and you could see in the replays of the game he was just crunching through all the scenarios. Masterful.

 

[Merlot]

BOYZZZ!

Ummmm... And that episode, gents, sums up Doc as a sports fan and sports forum trash talker... :wave:

If it happened at all it shows haters can be bought.

Just like myself and everyone else I was with, we were all bewildered at what the hell was going on as the seconds ticked off and New England did not call a timeout. In that moment of slight panic, nobody was thinking completely straight on the Seahawks - coaches, QB, receivers.

I never call on God for anything as small as a game, but I thought: "I know you don't take sides in a football game, but help." I wasn't panicked, I just thought it was over. When Butler picked off the ball I didn't jump around and yell, I went into stunned but silent glorious excitement unable to speak. I had been watching the clock seeing Belichick was not stopping the clock, but knowing there would not be enough time no matter what. Still I was shocked Bill didn't make the attempt. I guess that's why he is one of the best ever. Even at this moment when everyone was going crazy he had balls the size of a truck to realize the excitement just might lead Seattle to do something logically against the odds, and somehow it turned out that karma was on the Patriots side.

As I've said, the hater needs to blame Carroll for "the stupidest play ever". It doesn't matter to haters that Lockette seemed wide open from Wilson's view, or that ESPN did what they call a scientific breakdown of the interception showing Butler had to have made the perfect move in the perfect millisecond of time to intercept the ball. It couldn't be the Patriots hard work in practice led to a perfect read by Butler with extremely key blocking work by Browner to keep the path open for Butler. Haters can't fathom crediting the Patriots. It had to be Carroll's fault no matter if the play very nearly worked. This was all after Dont'a Hightower, bad shoulder and all, had stuffed Lynch just over the 1 yard line.

The Patriots are Super Bowl Champs. Let the haters deal with their agony.

It was awesome seeing trash mouth Sherman walk up to Brady and humble himself to the greatest quarterback EVAH!!!
:thumb:

Merlot

 

[Merlot]

Hey ya BOYZZZ!

Now my little darlings isn't this BEEEEAUTIFUL!

Don't think the celebrations are over either. They go on...and on...and ONNNNNNNN!

I must also say you conspiracy addicted whiners gave this victory a special sweetness aside from the fact Brady-Belichick would have vindicated their legacy by their work and achievement regardless of anything else. We know the haters would have hated anyway. But this deflate baloney with the alleged advantages of softer balls providing better chances came along at the perfect time. With the whole world watching and the highest Super Bowl ratings ever Brady and the team showed that using an NFL certified inflated football changed nothing against one of the toughest defensive teams ever. Brady set records for passing, and the team NEVER FUMBLED despite the Seahawks grabbing, punching, doing everything they could to loosen the ball. The world witnessed the downfall of all the haters soft football claims together with their sad conspiracy fantasies. BRAVO!

This VICTORY was SWEEEEET indeed.

from the realm of CHAMPIONS,

Merlot

 

[Joe.t]

"The NFL is conducting a "thorough and objective investigation" into the "deflate-gate" controversy, league commissioner Roger Goodell said today."

"Once the investigation is complete, the results will be shared publicly, according to Goodell."

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/deflat...oodell-conducting-objective/story?id=28611142

 

[Merlot]

BOYZZZ!

"The NFL is conducting a "thorough and objective investigation" into the "deflate-gate" controversy, league commissioner Roger Goodell said today."

"Once the investigation is complete, the results will be shared publicly, according to Goodell."

Hello my cupcake. Nice of you to provide a January update half way through February. :lol: Here's some insight that's not two weeks old.

Did Bill Belichick give us news about deflate-gate on David Letterman?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...bout-deflate-gate-on-letterman-143415897.html

We enjoyed the hilariously awkward interview with David Letterman and Bill Belichick on Wednesday's edition of the "Late Show with David Letterman," which was, as expected, mostly an exercise in frivolity.

But was there actually some breaking news from it?

As Frank Schwab detailed previously, Letterman and Belichick volleyed around the deflate-gate silliness for a few minutes with the New England Patriots coach not giving the late-night talk show host much.

But Belichick, in what sounded like an attempt at humor, offered one interesting detail to the still-ongoing investigation into what the Patriots did and didn't know about ball pressure.

"We're gonna bring you in," Belichick said to Letterman, "to testify when we get the investigation next month."

Wait, what? Next month?

It makes some sense that with the Patriots still basking in the afterglow of a Super Bowl title and Belichick and his players embarking in the talk-show circuit — and the NFL combine next week closing fast — that there might not be a lot of time for NFL investigator Ted Wells to get an audience with Belichick, Tom Brady, the "elderly" ball boy or Bill Nye, for that matter.

But goodness, what is the darned hangup here? Looks like we'll be waiting for a while to find out if the Patriots will be fined. After all, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank all but admitted that his team pumped in fake crowd noise, Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam did the same with GM Ray Farmer illegally texting down to the sideline, and we don't have any resolutions in those cases yet, either.

The difference with deflate-gate? Belichick wasn't admitting to anything Wednesday night.

But for fun, let's roll through a Top 10 list — in the Letterman tradition — of our favorite moments from Belichick's appearance:

10. Belichick clumsily high-fiving band director Paul Shaffer on his way out on the stage.

9. After sitting down, Belichick heard mostly cheers from the audience, with a few scattered boos. "I hear the Jet fans," he said to Letterman with a smile.

8. Belichick, responding to the Patriots' AFC title game win over the Indiana-bred Letterman's Indianapolis Colts: "Well, it was only a 38-point win."

7. After Letterman segued away from that game, Belichick zinged him a bit. "We get off that Colts subject in a hurry, didn’t we?"

6. Letterman imitating Belichick's mumbling "We're onto Cincinnati" statement. Funny stuff.

5. Asked by Letterman about Jonas Gray, the regular-season Colts killer who disappeared down the stretch, and whether he missed a meeting (and pressing on the issue), Belichick didn't exactly deny it. "Well," he said, laughing, giving us all we needed to know on that "Fifty Shades of Gray" issue.

4. Do fans and neighbors and armchair coaches offer up fancy plays to Belichick? Perhaps, but the coach made a funny paper-crumpling motion with his hands and said that it's harder to pass a bill through Congress than for an outsider to wedge their way into the Patriots' playbook.

3. Do Brady and Belichick hang out outside the facility? Belichick said Brady gave him a "good licking" while playing golf together at Pebble Beach.

2. Letterman making a few funny age jokes, saying Brady is his age (Letterman is 67; Brady is 37) and asking Belichick (who is 62) if he takes 90 seconds in the men's room, like the ball boy did on that fateful night.

1. Letterman referring to deflate-gate as "horseplay" and doing the whole "you know that I know that you know" routine about what actually happened. Belichick didn't bite, of course, but it was a fun bit of "Three's Company"-esque humor.

I watched the whole session with Belichick and Letterman. Bill didn't give an inch. He wore a suit, smiled nearly all of the time, and shot back a few clever zingers. The audience roared when Bill shot: ""We get off that Colts subject in a hurry, didn’t we?" Dave's face was...DAMN, nice shot.

The word is this investigation can't come up with anything either way. Right now it looks like it will probably be the witch hunt Patriots fans have called it and the waste of time haters have dreaded.

Cheers sweet pea,

Merlot

 

[Joe.t]

BOYZZZ!

Hello my cupcake. Nice of you to provide a January update half way through February. :lol: Here's some insight that's not two weeks old.

Sorry to burst your delusional bubble but Jan 30 was only a short 13 days ago, I for one can't wait for the results.

 

[Doc Holliday]

RB Chris Johnson was released by the NY Jets the other day after an unproductive season with them.

Since the Bills have announced that their offense will be dominated by a running game, i wonder if his former head coach (Rex Ryan) might not want to sign him?

Chris Spiller is a free agent and is likely on his way out of Buffalo. Fred Jackson was the league's oldest running back last season and isn't getting any younger.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Demarco Murray is a free agent at the time being.