Papers in NYC (he's from Long Island) starting to report Jovan Belcher had headaches and memory loss and, in one witness's eyes, rather significant changes in personality in the last few months. You have to fear CTE at this point, though it certainly isn't confirmed.

Lions lose another heart breaker. What a fun season.

I'm convinced they are about as "good" as they were last year. Just won everything last year. Found a way to lose everything this year. It's pretty incredible.

Good for Charlie Batch today.

It'll be one playoff win in 55 years after this season. Unreal.

i've seen enough from nick foles to say that i'd be comfortable with him as the starting quarterback going into week 1 next season. he's had some hiccups, but he seems to be getting better with each game, and he's made some really nice throws. if he gets a few mechanical things ironed out (specifically, his tendencies to stare down his receiver before throwing the ball and to throw the ball without setting his feet), i believe he's got the potential to be a top-tier QB.


as for the thought of who might be the next head coach of the eagles, after seeing what bryce brown has done the last two weeks, i think i'm jumping on the chip kelly train. kelly's offense would seem to me to be the best way to get the most out of both brown and lesean mccoy. and while i could be wrong, i believe that kelly would be on board the howard-mudd-train as well, which isn't so important because of howard mudd, but because it would be nice to not lose another handful of quality lineman because of another switch in line coaches.

so, considering the eagles have two running backs who appear to be very good (mccoy and brown) and an offensive line that should be extremely athletic (figure some combination of peters, herremens, kelly and watkins at tackle, some combination of mathis, watkins, acott, or herremens at guard, and hopefully the return of jason kelce at center), it seems to me like the eagles' offensive personnel is kind of tailor-made for kelly's spread rushing attack. if he's the new coach, maybe the eagles draft an offensive lineman or a tight end or a quarterback, but other than that, every other pick the eagles have could be used on the defense.

so, i'll take him.

Pretty disappointing game for the Niners last night. David Akers is a problem right now. With a game the Patriots in NE, they are going to need some luck to get a bye in the playoffs and could even lose the division if they are unlucky.

The defense is still stout as they had a very good game yesterday but anytime you have an inexperienced QB, you have to expect some growing pains.

I disagree with #335. Either play the game or cancel it, but if you postpone it to the Thursday before the playoffs start you may as well let Gregg Popovich coach both teams.

so, the eagles have fired their defensive line coach now. apparently the guy was pissed about jason babin being cut, and he had become disruptive.


nevermind that his unit has played like absolute #### despite having 3 guys pulling serious money (babin, cole, and jenkins) and 3 more who were picked in the first round (mike patterson, brandon graham, and fletcher cox).


i'm not gonna ##### about it because i'm happy it was done, but the lack of organizational discipline is both stunning and not at all surprising.


oh, and i don't know how many of you have ever followed a season like this, but my favorite part of the postgame interviews now is when every single player insists that this is still a good team. FOR ##### SAKE YOU'VE LOST 8 IN A ROW. STOP ####### TALKING ABOUT HOW ####### GOOD YOU ARE WHEN IT'S OBVIOUS THAT YOU'RE COMPLETE ####.

also, i'm not quite sure how important this is, but in the last 50 years, there have 5 games in which an eagles RB has rushed for 150 yards and scored 2 TDs. two of them have been bryce brown in these last 2 weeks. the others were done by wilbert montgomery, lesean mccoy, and brian westbrook. yes, bryce brown, in his first two starts as an NFL running back has done something twice that 2 all-pro RBs and another former pro-bowler could only do once.


also, surprising as this may be to believe, at 220 lbs, bryce brown is the fastest eagles running back in the andy reid era. mccoy and westbrook had quickness and agility, but when brown gets a full head of steam going, he can run past people in ways that mccoy and westbrook really couldn't.

it was kind of shocking how once don barclay took over at right tackle how much better the running game looked

it's one half and once teams start testing him maybe he falls apart in pass protection

but you can tell he's a scrapper. that he is likes mixing it up with people

offensive linemen need a lot of skills to be successful but that's a good place to start

full credit to journal sentinel writer bob mcginn who has been advocating that barclay take over at tackle so lang could go back at guard.

unless lang's injury is more serious than thought one would expect exactly that to happen for sunday's game against detroit

The Bears since starting 7-1 have now gone 1-3. So far the only team the Bears have beaten that currently has a winning record is the Colts in the season opener. The Bears are a godawful team masked by the fact that they played a powderpuff first half of a season. Like I said before the Bears will be lucky to get to 10 wins this year. Smith should be fired at the end of the season.

post 361

depending on how you believe the bears had about the 20th toughest schedule through 11 games.

i don't know if that qualifies as powderpuff but it does jibe with your overall sense that the bears played less than tough competition

depending on how you believe the bears had about the 20th toughest schedule through 11 games.

I'd love to see their SoS through the first 8 games.

i may or may not have created a new monthly thread. if i did, i'm sure you'll notice it because it will probably break the main page.

Fifteen new cases of CTE among NFL players, including Ollie Matson and John Mackey. It's hard to conjure up a way out of this for football that doesn't involve significant change, or inevitable decline. Tough situation for longtime fans.

Change the rules to alter how formations, lines, and tackling can be done. Drop the three point stance, have the line stand, disallow any helmet contact, and create a "strikezone" in which the only place to make contact on a body is from the torso to the shoulders and you can only make contact with that area with your hands, arms, shoulders, chest, and torso.

Why is the Holy Roller rule only in effect in the last two minutes? That makes no sense. It's not a timing thing, it's a yardage thing.

My god I hate watching ESPN.

My god I hate watching ESPN.

Watching the "Sunday Soundtrack" at the half drives home just how cultish most football teams are.

NFL Network has SoundFX, which usually attempts offers some actual insight from players, coaches, etc. Watching this broadcast though is really painful.

It's hard to conjure up a way out of this for football that doesn't involve significant change, or inevitable decline. Tough situation for longtime fans.

I'm a little in disbelief that there's no way to play something that looks like something in the history football without turning it into a bloodsport.

I mean, you're still going to have debilitating injury to the rest of the body (like a lot of other sports) -- its the head trauma that we're seeing as the real tragedy, right?

Giants now lose any division tiebreakers to Redskins and Cowboys, so only a half-game lead on each. Surprising, given their disemboweling of the 49ers and Packers.

Are the Luck and Griffin III going to be remembered as the best two top picks (1 and 2) of any draft in any sport ever?

Are the Luck and Griffin III going to be remembered as the best two top picks (1 and 2) of any draft in any sport ever?

You mean that went together, and based on individual quality? I doubt it.

Just out of recent drafts Ovechkin and Malkin were 1 and 2 in 2004, that's 3 MVP's right there.

If I remember right, Elway and Eric Dickerson went 1 and 2. That would be a tall order.

Heck, they have a ways to go to catch Shaq and Alonzo Mourning.

All that said - that we can even have the conversation about them without laughing hysterically is pretty exciting.

It's gotta be Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan ....ooops.

It's gotta be Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan ....ooops.

The NFL version of this I assume would be the 1989 draft:
1. Troy Aikman
2. Tony Mandarich
3. Barry Sanders
4. Derrick Thomas
5. Deion Sanders

Pretty disappointing game for the Niners last night. David Akers is a problem right now. With a game the Patriots in NE, they are going to need some luck to get a bye in the playoffs and could even lose the division if they are unlucky.

The defense is still stout as they had a very good game yesterday but anytime you have an inexperienced QB, you have to expect some growing pains.

Disagree re the defense. There's probably a way to find this out more accurately than rank speculation/exaggeration, but I wouldn't be surprised if you told me the Niners' D missed more tackles in the 2nd Rams game than in the rest of the season to date.

The playcall on the pitch wasn't anywhere near the biggest mistake/problem in that game:
1. Kaepernick not running out of bounds to burn the Rams' last TO
2. Kaepernick's safety (I don't care if some nerd says the LOS extends past the sideline, CK never should have been in the endzone throwing away to begin with; the LOS was the SEVENTEEN YARD LINE WHY ARE YOU IN THE END ZONE)
3. Harbaugh's (or Roman's) ludicrously conservative playcalling down the stretch (this is becoming a huge problem, and is EXACTLY how they failed to win the first Rams game; hard to believe run-run-run-50 yd FG was even still an OPTION, much less the approach they decided to go with)
4. Jackson breaking the first tackle and gaining several YAContact every time he touched the ball
5. Akers
6. The front seven failing to generate any consistent pressure in the 2nd half
7. Kapernick audibling out of a pass play and into a 1-yard run about half a dozen times over the course of the game
8. Kaepernick rushing the pitch
9. Ginn's lack of effort recovering the ball on the pitch
10. Calling the pitch play in the first place, which I actually think was a defensible idea.


And in terms of possibly losing the division, they've already been unlucky - Goodell already owes the Packers a win and Carroll a loss.

So, if anyone still cares - NHL talks have had two very long difficult days of negotiations, and may be as close to resolving the issues today as they have ever been - and probably also as close to having talks completely break down after today.

I am cautiously pessimistic.

So, if anyone still cares - NHL talks have had two very long difficult days of negotiations, and may be as close to resolving the issues today as they have ever been - and probably also as close to having talks completely break down after today.

apparently they're nearing the shutdown point for the season. whether this is just posturing or not, i believe some NHL executive has made it clear that they will not be waiting until february to cancel the season like they did in 04, and also that it will take a ~60 game season for the league's sponsorship revenue to be lucrative enough to make the season financially viable.

Right. Apparently, from I don't remember where, 60 games are needed for 100% of sponsorship money, 40-60 is 75%. If they can start games by about 2 weeks from today, they can maybe possibly aim for 60 games, but it'll be real tough.

Overall, I think it's total ########, since my guess is that part of the deal on a partial season is prorated salaries, not to mention there will end up being some sort of rollback on the existing contract numbers.

WAG: if no deal by 12/12/12, no NHL this year.

From ESPN. Please make this happen:

Commissioner Roger Goodell recently discussed a proposal to eliminate kickoffs with Rich McKay, the head of the league's competition committee, Time magazine reported.

Goodell and McKay discussed an idea brought up by Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano in which a team, instead of kicking off, would get the ball at its own 30-yard line in a fourth-and-15 situation. The team then would punt the ball away or, to replace an onside kick, could go for it and, if they failed to get a first down, the opposing squad would start with great field position.

Few football plays are more boring than kickoff and punt returns. I skip past them with the 30-second advance button until I get to first down (and through the commercial). The only exception is a kickoff or punt return late in the 4th quarter of a close game.

Uh, Ray. Doesn't this replace a kickoff return with a punt return? 99 times out of 100?

Kickoff returns are spectacularly more boring than punt returns, although there are more touchbacks.

Um, yeah, probably.

I don't get the point of kick-offs anymore. Since they moved the kick spot back up, modern kickers put it straight out of the endzone pretty much every time unless they are kicking into the wind.

And it just leads to TD, commerical, extra point, commercial, kick-off, commercial. Wait, I just figured out the point.

There's probably a way to find this out more accurately than rank speculation/exaggeration, but I wouldn't be surprised if you told me the Niners' D missed more tackles in the 2nd Rams game than in the rest of the season to date.

Are you confounding the 1st and 2nd rams games? I think they missed maybe 3-4 tackles in the 2nd. Jackson was 21 for 48 yards with 1 9 yard run... unless he was breaking a lot of tackles 4 yards behind the LOS (he probably did break a couple).

7. Kapernick audibling out of a pass play and into a 1-yard run about half a dozen times over the course of the game

I don't think this is fair either. I think they often call 2 runs in the huddle with the roll/kill call. Although I agree in GENERAL that they were either horribly misreading STL defense at the line, vastly optimistic about their OL, or tipping plays.

And it just leads to TD, commerical, extra point, commercial, kick-off, commercial. Wait, I just figured out the point.

Yeah, that's why I DVR a game and fastforward straight on through the kickoffs and commercials, right to the next 1st down.

Even the FGs are not interesting before the 4th quarter. So he shanks one. Big deal, there's nothing really to see there.

2008 NHL draft has a pretty good 1-2:

Steve Stamkos
Drew Doughty

So the NHL is pretty much canceled.

Yeah, season almost surely gone now. I don't know how you can be that close and then just tank everything, but it looks like I have yet again underestimated the hardline owner's avarice. Unbelievable.

Again, this rule that the NHL only needs 6 (of 30!) owners to reject any proposal is the worst bylaw I have ever heard of. It guarantees this will happen every damn time.

Graphic from last night's game. Most division titles. I might have this wrong but this is the gist:

11 - Manning
10 - Brady
9 - Montana

Interesting.

I looked back at Montana's career and was reminded that the 49ers were in a 4-team division all those years. 4 of the 6 divisions were 5-team divisions. So both the 21st-century players and Montana benefitted from that slight advantage over most potential division winners.

That needs some perspective though. Manning has 11 in 14 years as a starter, Brady 10 in 11, Montana had 9 in 12 years.

I looked back at Montana's career and was reminded that the 49ers were in a 4-team division all those years. 4 of the 6 divisions were 5-team divisions. So both the 21st-century players and Montana benefitted from that slight advantage over most potential division winners.

Not that it makes a huge difference, but he also had one with the Chiefs in a 5 team division.

Nah, I think there'll be a deal done in time to save the season. At some point, common sense has to take place, but yeah, the NHL choosing five-year guaranteed contracts as "the hill to die on", seems like a rather petty thing on which to cancel the season. No one's putting a gun to these guys heads to sign long deals. Also, the notion that bringing Don Fehr in to close the deal was a "dealbreaker" is mindblowing to me as well. What did they think the union hired him for? Then again, I've long held that NHL "leadership" was the dumbest in pro sports... but I never thought they were this dumb.

Ok, can we identify the best/greatest quarterback over the past 35 years? Are these the candidates, or am I missing someone? Near-full career players only (thus, excluding Aaron Rodgers et. al.). And I don't really think Elway or Favre or Marino has a claim to the title, but just including them anyway as I see them as in the top 7 of this time period. I guess people could quibble with someone like Fouts being excluded. And I know QB rating, for whatever it's worth, can't be compared across eras.

Anyway, in order of who I'd choose. Keep in mind this is not whose career I'd choose if I were drafting a QB; it's simply "which QB was the greatest." I view that question as a combination of peak, prime, career, regular season, postseason, super bowl wins, QB record, QB rating. Some of the categories that are important to me are below.

Brady: 133-38 regular season record (.778), 16-6 in the playoffs, 96.9 rating, 3 SB wins (5 trips)
Montana: 117-47 regular season (.713), 16-7 playoffs, 92.3, 4 SB
Manning: 151-70 regular season (.684), 9-10 playoffs, 95.5, 1 SB
Young: 94-49 regular season (.657), 8-6 playoffs, 96.8, 1 SB
Elway: 148-82 regular season (.644), 14-7 playoffs, 79.9, 3 SB
Favre: 186-112 regular season (.624), 13-11 playoffs, 86.0, 1 SB
Marino: 147-93 regular season (.613), 8-10 playoffs, 86.4, 0 SB

Comments:

1. I don't really see a reasonable argument for anyone except Brady. Unless one argues that he hasn't gone through his decline phase yet, but my impression is that decline phases for NFL QBs are quite short, so I don't think it will matters much, and he's just so far ahead of everyone in total, and does extremely well in each of my categories. At the end of the day, his .778 "winning percentage" can't be ignored, and in the other categories he does great.

2. I struggled on where to place Young, given his short career. Ultimately I placed him over Elway due to peak.

3. Manning's pedestrian performance in the playoffs wasn't enough to knock him from the top 3, in my view.

4. I expected Marino to rank ahead of Favre, but I don't think he does.

Thoughts? Anyone else to add? Something I should be considering but am not?

1. I don't really see a reasonable argument for anyone except Brady.

You must have missed the last 7-8 years of this argument.

At the end of the day, his .778 "winning percentage" can't be ignored, and in the other categories he does great.

Why are we okay with using QB "wins" as a measurement of talent, but despise using pitcher "wins"?

Oh, and Elway only won 2 Super Bowls (in 5 appearances).

I've never understood the need to crown a singular best player, team, coach or whatever. What's wrong with saying the best ever were equals?

Why are we okay with using QB "wins" as a measurement of talent, but despise using pitcher "wins"?

Different sport, different (and worse) ways to measure player effectiveness (because you don't have the individual pitcher/batter and fielder/ball matchups that you have in baseball), etc. I've said before that I really _do_ think an NFL quarterback wins and loses games all by himself, as long as the head coach lets him open up the field and do his thing, throw vertically, throw long, throw early and often, etc.

So that's why I'm more than ok with it.

Oh, and Elway only won 2 Super Bowls (in 5 appearances).

Thanks. I was having trouble finding SB wins and appearances, so was going from memory. For some reason I thought Elway finished up with 3 SB wins in a row.