Idle thoughts - the bye week edition.

[aluminum seats]

Agree that it would be smart to get Mitchell targets, if for no other reason (and there are other reasons) than to better set him up for success next year.

 

[n6249c]

That is the smartest alternative so it obviously won't happen. Now it is 17 weeks and 16 games. Make it 19 weeks and 16 games and both sides win. The owners get two more weeks of games while the players get the same wear and tear on their bodies with a little extra rest during the season. You could start the season a week or two earlier so it doesn't end much later.....

no, don't agree. Starting before Labor Day is a bad idea. For several reasons: too hot, training camps would have to start too early, too many fans still busy with summer vacations. Running season longer is also bad idea. January weather is a crapshoot for playoffs, worse for a full schedule. Pushes Super Bowl almost into baseball season. Running the regular season from Labor Day to New Years Day is enough.

Ratings are already tanking this year, over exposure of a bad product will just hasten the decline.

So, Roger, go for it!

 

[Nikolai]

no, don't agree. Starting before Labor Day is a bad idea. For several reasons: too hot, training camps would have to start too early, too many fans still busy with summer vacations. Running season longer is also bad idea. January weather is a crapshoot for playoffs, worse for a full schedule. Pushes Super Bowl almost into baseball season. Running the regular season from Labor Day to New Years Day is enough.

Ratings are already tanking this year, over exposure of a bad product will just hasten the decline.

So, Roger, go for it!

Yep, the formula was more or less perfect in the early-mid 2000s, and I'd argue that most of the revenue growth we've seen in the last 10 years has been an echo of that golden age.

I have a friend from Europe who is about to move here and is fascinated by American football. But I started to think that they're probably going to be a little underwhelmed by what they actually wind up seeing on TV...a commercial fest and kinda sloppy play. We'll see if it takes, but I have my doubts.

 

[NormZauchin]

I disagree. Because BB suggested it, they don't want to admit he was right. If anybody else had suggested it, it would have been enacted already.

As was stated here in weeks past, if BB wants the NFL to do something, he has to publicly come out for the opposite.

 

[supafly]

no, don't agree. Starting before Labor Day is a bad idea. For several reasons: too hot, training camps would have to start too early, too many fans still busy with summer vacations. Running season longer is also bad idea. January weather is a crapshoot for playoffs, worse for a full schedule. Pushes Super Bowl almost into baseball season. Running the regular season from Labor Day to New Years Day is enough.

Ratings are already tanking this year, over exposure of a bad product will just hasten the decline.

So, Roger, go for it!

I agree with what you're saying, but the only real argument and incentive to an 18 game schedule is to compromise and remove two preseason games, so they'd likely just start earlier.

Or..they'd start a week earlier and end a week later. I don't think that would deter Goodell from pushing for it. Not much difference if the season ends the first week of January vs. the second.

 

[AtomicDawg]

a. I voted today. Early voting was easier than on election day and makes so much sense I wonder why to took this long to enact. BTW- How many states have this benefit?

From Wiki:

In many U.S. states the period varies between four and fifty days prior to Election Day. Early voting in person is allowed without excuse required in 33 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia (DC). Absentee voting by mail without excuse is allowed in 27 states and DC. In 20 states, an excuse is required.

I can almost guarantee you that if the league took the time to review EVERY QB in the league, they would also have at least 2 roughing calls that were missed, including one just last week that Brady just shrugged off. Grow a set, will you Cam. At best he is trying to work the refs, and at worst he is subtly using the race card for something that isn't at all racial.

I'm not sure where you got the "race card" aspect of his comments about "not feeling safe" while playing football, but I have to say that even though I'm not a fan of his either, he has somewhat of a point, especially when you look at the hits he took YESTERDAY.



And it isn't just him.



Now for Kessler, the refs threw the flag, and rightfully so. The point is if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. If you're going to call it once, call it for all. Human element or not, either enforce the rules or don't. But this is ****dell and the NYJFL* we're talking about, so......

 

[archstanton543]

The way I see it is turnovers are a "nice-to-have" stat but they aren't the only way to win a game. Looking at the rest of the schedule, there are only 2 maybe three tough games left. I wouldn't worry about the D. If the Pats were 4-4 right now, yeah, I'd say there's cause for concern. They're not playing sexy defense and that's what you want to see. I get it. I love seeing that stuff too but if they can win games they way they're winning games now, I don't want them to change a thing.

 

[patfanken]

From Wi

I'm not sure where you got the "race card" aspect of his comments about "not feeling safe" while playing football, but I have to say that even though I'm not a fan of his either, he has somewhat of a point, especially when you look at the hits he took YESTERDAY.



And it isn't just him.



Now for Kessler, the refs threw the flag, and rightfully so. The point is if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. If you're going to call it once, call it for all. Human element or not, either enforce the rules or don't. But this is ****dell and the NYJFL* we're talking about, so......

Thanks for the feedback on early voting. I'm glad that it is more widespread than I thought.

I still kind of disagree that Newton is somehow getting hit more than most QB's. It may be true if you add the hits he takes when he is a runner. But I wonder if you just consider the hits he takes in the pocket, I doubt its more than what we see for other QB's.

BTW- I didn't find that the clip you gave helped your point. It looked to me that any head contact was minimal at best, and certainly not intentional. We've all seen Brady get hit harder than that on a couple of occasions this season alone (unfortunately) On the other had the one on Kessler WAS egregious. Cam had a real b!tch after the first game with Denver. Like usual Denver got away with murder. But Newton didn't say much on the topic when he had both the chance and facts on his side. His "not feeling safe" comment seemed very contrived to me....and more than a little weak.

BTW- Brady often gets tagged with the "crybaby" moniker by haters who think he is over protected. A few years ago someone came up with a stat that showed Brady got fewer roughing calls than most of the QB's in the league. But that was a while ago. I wonder if someone in our crack research universe here Patsfans could see where he's at in 2014-16

As far as the race card thing, you are right. That was a stretch on my part. Just another product of this damned election process. It's effecting my mindset. Thank GOD it will be over tomorrow. I live in MA on the RI border, and I am still being bombarded by NH election commercials. PLEASE make it stop.

 

[rochrist]

Thanks for the feedback on early voting. I'm glad that it is more widespread than I thought.

I still kind of disagree that Newton is somehow getting hit more than most QB's. It may be true if you add the hits he takes when he is a runner. But I wonder if you just consider the hits he takes in the pocket, I doubt its more than what we see for other QB's.

BTW- I didn't find that the clip you gave helped your point. It looked to me that any head contact was minimal at best, and certainly not intentional. We've all seen Brady get hit harder than that on a couple of occasions this season alone (unfortunately) On the other had the one on Kessler WAS egregious. Cam had a real b!tch after the first game with Denver. Like usual Denver got away with murder. But Newton didn't say much on the topic when he had both the chance and facts on his side. His "not feeling safe" comment seemed very contrived to me....and more than a little weak.

The refs threw the flag on the Kessler hit, but they didn't throw it on a virtually identical hit on Newton. Seems pretty clear cut to me.

 

[patfanken]

The refs threw the flag on the Kessler hit, but they didn't throw it on a virtually identical hit on Newton. Seems pretty clear cut to me.

No question they missed the low hit call on Newton. The league actually admitted it. But it still doesn't mitigate Newton's claim that missed calls are all about him. Any game (as we have seen) will have examples of a call being made, while a similar call goes uncalled. It happens all the time....and not just to Cam Newton.

Brady has had a few late hits not called, and a few other marginal that could have been called, and it would have been a weak call that I'd hate even if it were good for the Pats

 

[SlowGettingUp]

No question they missed the low hit call on Newton. The league actually admitted it. But it still doesn't mitigate Newton's claim that missed calls are all about him. Any game (as we have seen) will have examples of a call being made, while a similar call goes uncalled. It happens all the time....and not just to Cam Newton.

Brady has had a few late hits not called, and a few other marginal that could have been called, and it would have been a weak call that I'd hate even if it were good for the Pats

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Drew Brees weighs in against the bad guys:

Brees, Strief: Mistrust hurting NFL popularity

 

[long distance]

Thanks for the thoughts, as always, Ken.

There's an article today in the ProJo about Ivan Fears that has the following tidbit and this seems as good a place as any to share it.

The running back group will only become more dangerous if Lewis can get back on the field. The quick, shifty back started six of seven games in 2015 before suffering a season-ending knee injury Nov. 8 against the Redskins.

“We really haven’t seen Dion that much, to be honest. Hopefully we’ll see a lot more in the next week or so. From what I’ve seen so far, he looks really good,” Fears said.

Kevin McNamara: Fears plays important role for Patriots​

Getting Dion Lewis back at last season's level would be enormous, and even 85% would still be a big upgrade on James White, IMHO.

So this is where the Dion Lewis Update thread escaped from the music aficionados and pass rushers.
Good to know. Thanks for the update.