One of the huge problems is the bad, canned jokes. Tossing the football -- and then dropping it on purpose. The lame verbal jokes. The laughing over nothing, the fake laughing, the pretense that they are providing something useful to you. It is just a horrible presentation, from start to finish. And they come on before the game, during halftime, after the game. Who needs it?

What you need to do is to record the game without any of the extraneous BS. No commercials, no pre-game hype, certainly no tortured National Anthem, no halftime show, no postgame analysis, and no presentation of the trophy. Just the game itself. Then watch it again and enjoy it, being sure to destroy the recording immediately afterward so you can't be accused of thievery. Thievery is bad.

BTW you asked a question about where I'd rate Flacco among the other QBs, but you didn't indicate any agreement or disagreement with my rankings. Does that mean I've silenced you with my brilliance?

Who needs it?

Nobody needs it. Don't watch.

where I'd rate Flacco among the other QBs, but you didn't indicate any agreement or disagreement

Not that I was asked, but I don't see how you can put Flacco in the top ten. Ordered by group, but not within the groups, Brady/Brees/Manning/Rodgers are the elite "older" guard, Griffin/Kapernick/Newton and Luck/Ryan/Stafford are the "younger" guys who seem pretty clearly ahead. That's ten already. Then there's Eli, Roethlisberger, Schaub, and Wilson who I would take all ahead of Flacco, but would listen to an argument otherwise.

Also, I have no idea where to put Alex Smith. He's become a pretty efficient player under Harbaugh, but when the Browns oeverpay to get him next year and he gets he brains beaten in, he'll probably look like garbage. What's the true talent level?

Alex Smith has done nothing without Harbaugh. Any team that signs him is just fooling themselves.

Alex Smith has done nothing without Harbaugh. Any team that signs him is just fooling themselves.

More to play devil's advocate than anything else, he started to look like a reasonable starter at 25, and then Harbaugh got him in what should be his prime at 27/28. These are reasonable stages for him to take steps forward with or without Harbaugh. And even if he leaves Harbaugh, he's going to be taking that knowledge with him.

More to play devil's advocate than anything else, he started to look like a reasonable starter at 25, and then Harbaugh got him in what should be his prime at 27/28.

No, he sucked those years too.

Age 25: DYAR: 31 DVOA: 27
Age 26: DYAR: 33 DVOA: 33
Age 27: DYAR: 13 DVOA: 14
Age 28: DYAR: 15 DVOA: 10

And even if he leaves Harbaugh, he's going to be taking that knowledge with him.

Smith's increase in efficiency isn't from knowledge he gained, it's from having a coaching staff that understands his limitations and called plays accordingly. He can take all the knowledge he wants with him, there is no guarantee that his next coaching staff will use him properly. Smith is extremely fortunate that this is a bad year to need a QB.

Offensive play yardage counts from the line of scrimmage. Defensive and special teams return plays count from the spot where possession of the ball is taken. Looked at it that way, it makes a little more sense.

They should be measuring kick/punt returns based on net yardage gained vs no one returning the ball.

For example:

Returner catches the ball 5 yards deep in the end zone, and runs it out to the 37 yard line.
If he didn't return it, the ball would have been placed at the 20, so his total net yardage is 17 yards.

Returner catches the ball 2 yards deep in the end zone, and runs it out to the 13 yard line, before getting tackled.
If he didn't return it, the ball would have been placed at the 20, so his total net yardage is -7 yards.

What you need to do is to record the game without any of the extraneous BS. No commercials, no pre-game hype, certainly no tortured National Anthem, no halftime show, no postgame analysis, and no presentation of the trophy. Just the game itself.

I actually do watch games this way, on time delay. Except that I don't even suffer through the announcers. I just do the 30-second-skip-ahead, and -- voila.

BTW you asked a question about where I'd rate Flacco among the other QBs, but you didn't indicate any agreement or disagreement with my rankings. Does that mean I've silenced you with my brilliance?

Haven't had a chance to digest your list. Will do so later.

Returner catches the ball 2 yards deep in the end zone, and runs it out to the 13 yard line, before getting tackled. If he didn't return it, the ball would have been placed at the 20, so his total net yardage is -7 yards.

I can see doing net return yards on the team level, but I'm not sure it's a good idea on the individual level. A return guy who takes the ball at the 1 (a ball that likely goes in the end zone if he doesn't field it) and returns it to the 19 gets 18 yards, and another who takes it on the goal line and returns it the same number of yards gets -2. That seems like more of distortion to the stats than the existing system.

By the way, during the Super Bowl blackout were any of you waiting breathlessly to learn (a) the cause of the blackout, and (b) when the power would be restored? When I was watching it, I was just like, shrug, there's some issue, they're dealing with it, and obviously they're trying to get the lights back on as soon as possible. So I didn't even really care that CBS wasn't able to tell me what was going on.

But Mike Francesa was aghast at a caller who stated this view. Francesa said "You don't think it was a story why the lights were off?" "No." "Are you insane? What if this were a terrorist attack? Wasn't it important for them to confirm that to you?"

Umm... terrorist attack? We could see the stadium. We could see inside and outside. We could see nothing really was going on. There was no panic. There were no explosions. We had contact with Steve Tasker and such. Nobody was reporting that there were gunshots or bombs or any other type of urgent/dangerous situation. We could see inside the stadium, the players milling about on the turf, the fans acting normally, etc. WTF. So no, Mike Francesa, the fact that CBS wasn't able to give me any specifics wasn't important to me.

There were really no signs that it was a terrorist attack, so the thought didn't even cross my mind. I suppose inflicting CBS's studio personalities onto us unexpectedly might qualify as terrorism, but I imagine the terrorists have loftier goals.

ray

it becomes a story if the delay is prolonged or the game has to be postponed. the terrorist angle is silly but i think if the delay had passed the hour mark everyone would have reason to know what the h8ll was or was not happening.

would you have shrugged at a movie theatre if the film stopped and the manager told you they would have the problem fixed in an hour?

or to stay with sports, this isn't a golf tournament where everyone just shows up monday to pick up where they left off.

By the way, during the Super Bowl blackout were any of you waiting breathlessly to learn (a) the cause of the blackout, and (b) when the power would be restored?

"Breathlessly" overstates it, and I definitely wasn't worried about terrorism, but of course I would have liked some actual news-like coverage of what was happening. It was an embarrassment that the NFL hosted its premier event in a facility that wasn't up to the task, and it would have been easily recognized as one if something similar had happened during an XFL championship game.

By the way, during the Super Bowl blackout were any of you waiting breathlessly to learn (a) the cause of the blackout, and (b) when the power would be restored?

No to the first, yes to the second (other than the breathless part). I didn't care why it happened, but if it was going to take an hour, I'm sure I could have found something better to do than hang around with the gang that couldn't see straight.

it would have been pretty interesting if this was the work of 'anonymous'

HW, wouldn't the manager in your hypo just tell everyone "fifteen minutes...fifteen minutes...fifteen minutes"?

kurt

once any delay hits the hour mark folks begin to feel obligated to tell customers the truth. so yes, it would have likely been several such annoucements but after an hour folks start to seek real answers and then it's time to put up or shut up

this is a generalization based on observation of course

but i am fairly certain that if the lights were still not operational at about an hour cbs would have been compelled to demand answers since at that point viewers are going to walk away

Yahoo headline writers have a different definition of "problem" than I do.

BTW you asked a question about where I'd rate Flacco among the other QBs, but you didn't indicate any agreement or disagreement with my rankings. Does that mean I've silenced you with my brilliance?

Haven't had a chance to digest your list. Will do so later.

That's cool, but remember that I made two distinct rankings, not to be confused: One based on career accomplishment to date with no allowances for age; and the other based on the QBs I'd want going forward, which of course brings age into account in a major way. Flacco rates slightly higher going forward, but in both cases he's clearly above average but non-elite. And as I noted, I only rated about half the current starters, since I wanted it to be an impressionistic pair of lists and not just a fb-reference cut-and-paste job. That's why I omitted Newton and Stafford as well as most of the lower level possibilities---I simply haven't seen them enough.

Bill James mailbag:

I'm sure you've been asked this before. I'm guessing you may have answered before. But knowing your affinity for crime narratives, evidence gathering, I want to ask: What do you make of the double murder after SB XXXIV? Have you any notion of whether Ray Lewis was involved, or how?

He was involved, in the sense that he tried to prevent it. Ray Lewis was out in a place where alcohol was flowing freely, long after midnight. This was poor judgment, but I can't say I never did that when I was that age. There were rival gangs there, and there was evidence of bad feelings throughout the night. Ray Lewis, according to the testimony of numerous individuals, tried to play the role of peacemaker throughout the evening, and, when the fatal fight started, tried to break it up. This is what the evidence shows. His prosecution for murder was grossly irresponsible, and the Atlanta prosecutors themselves should have faced criminal charges for their effort to prosecute Lewis, when they knew full well that he was innocent.

This is what the evidence shows. His prosecution for murder was grossly irresponsible, and the Atlanta prosecutors themselves should have faced criminal charges for their effort to prosecute Lewis, when they knew full well that he was innocent.

Well, he was charged, but ultimately not tried, as he plead out in exchange for obstruction and the agreement to testify against the other two co-defendants.

He also settled with both victims' families.

Ray Lewis, according to the testimony of numerous individuals, tried to play the role of peacemaker throughout the evening, and, when the fatal fight started, tried to break it up. This is what the evidence shows.

Perhaps James is right. Though at least one of those "numerous individuals" who testified this way is Lewis himself. Not sure who the others are.

Quoting:

Lewis sat with his friends at the defense table for the first two weeks of this trial, until he was given a plea bargain and admitted that he was guilty of lying to police. Lewis then became the State's "star witnesss" testifying that his two friends and former co-defendants Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley had gotten knives from a Sports Authority during Lewis' autograph signing session before the Superbowl in Atlanta. When they showed Lewis, he asked them what they were doing with those knives, "I don't want to see those."

Lewis testified that he entered a guilty plea to a charge of obstructing justice. He admitted he lied to police and made a false statement in the hours after the fatal fight. Defense lawyers for his former co-defendants got the judge to instruct the jury that they could infer nothing against them from Lewis' guilty plea.

Lewis described a brawl with punches being thrown everywhere. He said he didn't want to get invoved because it would jeopardize his NFL career. "I tried to stop this fight", he said.

Lewis said at a hotel afterwards he asked Sweeting what happened. Lewis demonstrated how Sweeting allegedly held a knife with its blade protruding from his fist and said, "Everytime they hit me, I hit them".

Lewis testified that he noticed Oakley was injured, his "head was busted". According to Lewis when he asked Oakley what happened, Oakley said,"Nothing. I was just beating him." Lewis replied, "You was all trippin'".

http://www.artclu.com/crew/bfoley/lawscope/index.cfm?L1=news&story=10&pg=1

I actually do watch games this way, on time delay. Except that I don't even suffer through the announcers. I just do the 30-second-skip-ahead, and -- voila.

One of the funnest sports watching experiences I've had was when the French CBC announcers went on strike (or something, I forget the details) and so the Habs-Bruins playoff series was broadcast with absolutely no commentary on the French channel. I may be mashing together several different series' but I think it was the one Theodore made his behind the back stick save and Kyle McLaren tried to murder Richard Zednik. So the fact that it was a great series helped. It probably also helps that I've always felt crowd noise is a particularly important element of a hockey broadcast compared to other sports. The glass-banging on a big hit, etc.

Anyway, I've since experimented with cutting out the middle speaker in surround sound. It seems to cut out the commetnary and leave the ambient crowd noise. Though the volume rises and falls in a distracting way when the crowd noise is dimmed for the speaking I can't hear.

We had contact with Steve Tasker and such.

I just had an image of a disaster/terrorist movie - an aide puts down a phone in the Situation Room and all eyes are on hom. "Mr. President...I...we...we've lost contact with Steve Tasker".

His prosecution for murder was grossly irresponsible, and the Atlanta prosecutors themselves should have faced criminal charges for their effort to prosecute Lewis, when they knew full well that he was innocent.

this cannot be said loudly enough.

charging an innocent person with murder should not be used as a negotiating tactic, and the fact that overcharging in general seems to be a common practice among prosecutors to force defendants into plea bargains is gravely concerning.

this cannot be said loudly enough.

Oh, yes it can, and James said it too loud.

You don't have to actually do the killing to be charged with and be guilty of murder.

By the way, during the Super Bowl blackout were any of you waiting breathlessly to learn (a) the cause of the blackout, and (b) when the power would be restored? When I was watching it, I was just like, shrug, there's some issue, they're dealing with it, and obviously they're trying to get the lights back on as soon as possible. So I didn't even really care that CBS wasn't able to tell me what was going on.

I was pretty happy about it to be honest, We run a huge Superbowl party at our pub now (starts at 9am) and the bar just got even busier.

Pixar animator recaps NFL season with illustrations

so, taking another look at the eagles offseason, i'm still in basically the same frame of mind, so i'm thinking this:

cut vick, trent cole, and nnamdi.
put the franchise tag on dominique rodgers-cromartie
trade jeremy maclin to new england.
sign greg jennings and jairus byrd, and then something for the front 7 on defense.

if you go into the draft with that, your roster looks something like this:
QB: nick foles, dennis dixon, trent edwards
RB: lesean mccoy, bryce brown
WR: desean jackson, greg jennings, jason avant, riley cooper, damaris johnson
TE: brent celek, clay harbor
OL: jason peters, evan mathis, jason kelce, todd herremens, dennis kelly, danny watkins, jake scott, matt tennant

DL: fletcher cox, cullen jenkins, cedric thornton, antonio dixon
rush LB: vinny curry, brandon graham, phillip hunt
ILB: mychal kendricks, demeco ryans
CB: dominique rodgers-cromartie, brandon boykin
S: jairus byrd, colt anderson


from there, you get into the draft, where i still think luke joeckel at 4 is the best possible outcome. if the eagles are moving to a 3-4, i wouldn't mind either of jarvis jones or bjoern werner. i also wouldn't quibble with geno smith, but i don't think he should be the way to go. and if the eagles can trade down, i'd be very happy with chance warmack or eric fisher. i'm hot and cold on dee millner, but i'm more cold than hot right now. and i really want no part of star lotulelei or demontre moore.


if you can get another pass rusher, at least one other DB and hopefully a good tight end through the middle rounds of the draft, i think that'd be a solid start to the kelly era.

trade jeremy maclin to new england.

Have you given any thought to whether or not New England would give up a draft pick for a WR, a position they don't need? Hint: they likely won't, and if they do it won't be anything higher than a 5th. They prefer to take fliers on dirt cheap veterans.

The Franchise Tag for safeties is a tiny amount. I don't think Byrd's getting free.

Have you given any thought to whether or not New England would give up a draft pick for a WR, a position they don't need? Hint: they likely won't, and if they do it won't be anything higher than a 5th. They prefer to take fliers on dirt cheap veterans.

edelman and welker are free agents this offseason and brandon lloyd started 15 games for them this past year. even if they resign welker, maclin is a very clear upgrade for them.


and yes, belichick does have a thing for undervalued assets, and that's exactly why i think there's a chance he'd be interested. maclin has above average skills across the board (above average speed, above average hands, above average route-running) and if you think he still has a chance to play up to his pre-draft potential, now really is the ideal time to go after him.

Maclin would be their 2nd most expensive receiver after Welker. He is not an undervalued asset to them, he is overvalued. They get guys like Lloyd, Branch and Stallworth on veteran minimum contracts and the guys that don't work out they discard and try again. The ones that do they get great value from. And this is the last year on Maclin's contract, so you're not going to get anything of real value for him.

Maclin would be their 2nd most expensive receiver after Welker. He is not an undervalued asset to them, he is overvalued. They get guys like Lloyd, Branch and Stallworth on veteran minimum contracts and the guys that don't work out they discard and try again. The ones that do they get great value from. And this is the last year on Maclin's contract, so you're not going to get anything of real value for him.

so your argument is that because they can get a rambler for free, it's not worth spending 10 cents for a mercedes?

They're not spending ten cents for him. They're spending ten cents to get his contract, a contract that isn't in line with how they operate. So yes, they will probably just sign some more scrap heap veterans and not miss a beat passing the ball like they have the past few years.

What do expect to get in exchange for Maclin?

They're not spending ten cents for him. They're spending ten cents to get his contract, a contract that isn't in line with how they operate. So yes, they will probably just sign some more scrap heap veterans and not miss a beat passing the ball like they have the past few years.

maclin is still on a rookie contract and he was a late first round pick. i am fairly sure that his contract is not exactly backbreaking.

What do expect to get in exchange for Maclin?

i'd be looking for something like what they got for mcnabb. a 3rd round pick this year with a conditional 2nd round pick next year, depending on maclin's performance.

i'd be looking for something like what they got for mcnabb. a 3rd round pick this year with a conditional 2nd round pick next year, depending on maclin's performance.

LOL, not unless Belichick falls and strikes his head on a sharp rock.

Did anyone see the story ESPN is running this morning about the end of the SB? Flacco supposedly told his teammates, they should come off the bench,if necessary, to tackle Ted Ginn, if it looked like he would break the punt return; a la Tommy Lewis-Dicky Maegle in the 1954 Cotton Bowl. In that case they awarded Rice a TD. I wonder what they would have done in this case.

#3837 I haven't seen the story but it was annoying to me that the Ravens rushed the field immediately as Ginn was tackled. Because he threw the ball up in the air there right at the end to try to prolong the play and I guess it was after he was down but I'd have liked to see the play finish first before the idiots stormed the field.

maclin is still on a rookie contract and he was a late first round pick. i am fairly sure that his contract is not exactly backbreaking.

No but you're not giving up a good pick for a one year contract.

i'd be looking for something like what they got for mcnabb. a 3rd round pick this year with a conditional 2nd round pick next year, depending on maclin's performance.

Again, look at how the Patriots acquire players. The Patriots do not make trades like that.

i'd be looking for something like what they got for mcnabb. a 3rd round pick this year with a conditional 2nd round pick next year, depending on maclin's performance.

Again, look at how the Patriots acquire players. The Patriots do not make trades like that.

They traded picks for veterans Moss and Welker - although I think those guys had more than one year left on their contracts.

I don't think he was down; I am not sure if it was blown dead. I think they were rushing the field because they thought it was over and it may have been; but it annoyed me a little as well.

They traded picks for veterans Moss and Welker - although I think those guys had more than one year left on their contracts.

They got Moss for a 4th and Welker for a 2nd and a 7th because that's what his RFA tender amount was. Welker also had added value in being a punt returner. And that was a few months after losing the AFC Championship Game because their #1 WR was Reche Caldwell. They are not in that position this year. Trading for Maclin is possible, but they're not giving up a second day pick to do so.

They got Moss for a 4th and Welker for a 2nd and a 7th because that's what his RFA tender amount was. Welker also had added value in being a punt returner. And that was a few months after losing the AFC Championship Game because their #1 WR was Reche Caldwell. They are not in that position this year. Trading for Maclin is possible, but they're not giving up a second day pick to do so.

yes and that actually is completely different from the fact that they lost this year's AFC championship game with their #1 WR being brandon lloyd.

Did anyone see the story ESPN is running this morning about the end of the SB? Flacco supposedly told his teammates, they should come off the bench,if necessary, to tackle Ted Ginn, if it looked like he would break the punt return; a la Tommy Lewis-Dicky Maegle in the 1954 Cotton Bowl. In that case they awarded Rice a TD. I wonder what they would have done in this case.

iirc, the game cannot end on a defensive penalty, so if they did that, it'd be a 15 yard penalty from the end of the play, and SF would have one last snap at the end of the game.

Did anyone see the story ESPN is running this morning about the end of the SB? Flacco supposedly told his teammates, they should come off the bench,if necessary, to tackle Ted Ginn, if it looked like he would break the punt return; a la Tommy Lewis-Dicky Maegle in the 1954 Cotton Bowl. In that case they awarded Rice a TD. I wonder what they would have done in this case.

I always loved Lewis's explanation for what he did: "I'm just too full of 'Bama." Two nights later Lewis appeared with Moegle on the Ed Sullivan Show, and the Texas Legislature made him an honorary citizen, on the unarguable grounds that "Anybody that's got that much spirit deserves to be a Texan."

yes and that actually is completely different from the fact that they lost this year's AFC championship game with their #1 WR being brandon lloyd.

Brandon Lloyd is not their #1 WR. And he is better than Reche Caldwell ever was.

I think it can be argued that the Pats' acquisition of Welker was a special case. He tore them up regularly when he was a Dolphin and Belichick has said publicly that he's never coveted another team's player as much as he wanted Welker back in those days (paraphrasing) - he clearly saw something in the guy that would be a perfect fit in his offense (and obviously he was right).

The Pat's system of WR pickups (and usage) over the last several years has been really consistent, as DA B has pointed out. Their offense has clearly-defined roles (though they're not the roles that most other teams use). You got your Ben Watson - huge TE. Kevin Faulk - 3rd-down RB type. Then there's a plodder - Dillon/Maroney/BJGE. There's Welker himself. And then they go get a downfield threat, usually off the scrapheap, who's usually utilized more for the 'threat' aspect than the 'downfield' part. They haven't really used a true/typical '#1 WR' much since Troy Brown got old (aside from the ~1.5 unbelievable years from Moss, which they basically fell into).

The reason their offense has gone from 'great' to 'historically great' more recently is that they turned the 'big TE' into a legitimately major threat in Gronkowski plus added Hernandez's versatility, Welker hasn't slowed down, and they've managed to find somebody to effectively play the Faulk role just about every year.

In other words, Lloyd was this year's 60-70 catch tertiary offensive weapon that Branch had been for the two previous seasons; prior to that Moss well eclipsed this type of usage, which they needed pre-Gronk/Hernandez. I don't see NE giving up anything of value for Maclin.

If maclin is undervalued then the iggles shouldnt trade him.

If maclin is undervalued then the iggles shouldnt trade him.

i don't think maclin can produce as much with the eagles as he could on a team with a more established/better QB. he has above average tools across the board (size, speed, hands, route-running), but he can't make use of those skills if his QB can't hit him in stride, or throws the ball 2 steps late.

with mike vick or nick foles, maclin is a 70 catch/900 yard guy, but with brady (or drew brees, or aaron rodgers or any QB who is precise in his throws), the sky is the limit.


anyway, coming out of the combine, i think the best thing the eagles could do would be to trade down, but i don't see why someone else would give up anything of value to come the other way. i'm still not a huge fan of lotulelei or moore, plus jarvis jones didn't participate in any of the workouts, and millner and warner didn't exactly stand out. that's 5 of the top 6 guys in the draft class who failed to impress.

on the plus side, i'd be pretty okay with any of the linemen (joeckel, fisher, warmack or johnson), but the issue there is that none of those guys are surefire blue-chippers. they're definitely at the head of this draft class, but i don't know how likely any of them are to become all-pro type tackles, and if you're picking in the top 5, that's really gotta be what you get.

and then on defense, i think ansah and jordan really stood out. if the eagles are going to a 3-4 or a hybrid 4-3, either of those guys would fit in.


with this being the first year since 1998 that andy reid hasn't been in charge on draft day, i really have no idea what to expect from the eagles, but if they can manuever themselves into a position where they add multiple mid-round picks, the depth in this draft is really tailor-made to fill their needs. if they pick eric fisher at 4, they can get a blue-chip DB in the 2nd/3rd round (either reid, vaccaro, rambo, mathieu, cyprien, elam, banks, amerson, rhodes, ryan or poyer), plus a TE in the 4th (i'd be really happy with any of ertz, escobar, eifert, kelce, fauria or mcdonald), and whatever decent pass-rushers/defensive backs/linebackers make it to day 3.

if they get a little lucky, this could be a hell of a draft class.

What are you talking about? Milliner looked good today.

they can get a blue-chip DB in the 2nd/3rd round (either reid, vaccaro, rambo, mathieu, cyprien, elam, banks, amerson, rhodes, ryan or poyer), plus a TE in the 4th (i'd be really happy with any of ertz, escobar, eifert, kelce, fauria or mcdonald)

At least half those players won't be available in the rounds you want them at.

What are you talking about? Milliner looked good today.

i didn't say and i'm not saying that he looked bad. what i'm saying is that he didn't stand out in the way that patrick peterson stands out.

At least half those players won't be available in the rounds you want them at.

yep. but all it takes is one, and i'm pretty confident that at least one of those players will be available into the 3rd/4th/5th rounds.