NFL Postseason Megathread: Playoffs in the Post-Orton Era

[sbr]

I thought we were talking about Willis.

Oh.  Willis retired mostly because his feet didn't work anymore.

"You've seen me break my hand on Sunday, have surgery on Monday and play on Thursday with a cast on," Willis said. "But there's something about these feet. And those are what made me who I am. They had you all saying, 'Wow, where'd he come from?'

"I know I no longer have it in these feet to go out there and give you guys that kind of 'Wow.'"

[Valmy]

Colt McCoy re-signs with the Slurs. Funny how Kirk Cousins went from 'the guy who SHOULD be starting for Washington' to 'we cannot even give this scrub away' so quickly.

[sbr]

Colt McCoy re-signs with the Slurs. Funny how Kirk Cousins went from 'the guy who SHOULD be starting for Washington' to 'we cannot even give this scrub away' so quickly.

It's amazing what happens to these boy wonder QBs once they go up against defenses that have seen film of and schemed for them.

[jimmy olsen]

Colt McCoy re-signs with the Slurs.

That's great.

[Neil]

I'm hearing the Raiders just signed Trent Richardson.  I'm hoping for BA to just completely melt down and lose his shit when he hears the news.

[sbr]

I'm hearing the Raiders just signed Trent Richardson.  I'm hoping for BA to just completely melt down and lose his shit when he hears the news.

  I had seen the Richardson news but hadn't thought about BA.

[Sophie Scholl]

Yeah.  I was not pleased.  At all.  We finally get rid of McFadden, and now we bring in Richardson?  Fuck.  Me.  At least they haven't brought in Holmgren.  I would just walk away at that point.

[Valmy]

I would just walk away at that point.

And then they would go to the Super Bowl

Ok sorry that was uncalled for.

[Sophie Scholl]

I would just walk away at that point.

And then they would go to the Super Bowl

Ok sorry that was uncalled for.

But totally accurate.  15 years as a Royals fan, and they finish over .500 one time.  By a single game.  I become an Indians fan. and the Royals are in the series within 5 years.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Chuck Bednarik died.

[Razgovory]

Bradford is not *that* bad.  Course I haven't watched a Rams game in about three years.

Wait, what did I do?

[jimmy olsen]

Looks like the Rams are definitely moving to LA. If I were the Jaguars I'd bail for St. Louis.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/rams--l-a--power-play-allows-nfl-to-maintain-its-top-leveraging-weapon-191030426.html

Rams' L.A. power play allows NFL to maintain its top leveraging weapon By Dan Wetzel
4 hours ago

Yahoo Sports ˠ➕✓✕Content preferences Done
The NFL franchise that has proven most valuable to the league and its owners over the past two decades is the one that hasn't existed in Los Angeles.

It was after the 1994 season when the Rams and Raiders moved to St. Louis and Oakland respectively, leaving the nation's second biggest media market without a team of its own. Since then franchises have leveraged that gaping hole in California to get their local governments to subsidize construction of new stadiums, renovation of existing ones or innumerable other concessions on taxes and services provided.


Nothing scared the tax money out of some poor Rust Belt mayor or image-obsessed Sun Belt city council than an NFL owner trotting out a few awe-inspiring renderings of a proposed stadium in some obscure L.A. suburb.

The Rams and the Raiders, in fact, are even back, talking about a return to their old stomping grounds. The San Diego Chargers are talking big also.

At the NFL owners' meetings this week in Phoenix, the Rams will, according to the Los Angeles Times, show designs on their proposed stadium to be built at the old Hollywood Park site in Inglewood. This one is serious and not just because Rams owner Stan Kroenke has already purchased the land and is willing to privately-fund stadium construction. There are plenty of rubes that own pro sports franchises in America. Kroenke, the league's second richest owner, isn't one of them. It's believed construction could begin as soon as 2016. He's more than capable of getting it done.

That's why the Rams going to Inglewood has always been exponentially more likely than the Chargers and the Raiders getting a shared stadium, funding source still unknown, down Interstate 405 in Carson.

And now a couple of key details in Kroenke's stadium proposal make the entire move seem even more likely, so likely that the Rams have to be the heavy favorite to win the long-running L.A. relocation derby and actually relocate.

The two big ones: $1.86 billion stadium is designed to house a second NFL franchise ... it's just a second franchise won't be put in there right away, according to the Times.

"The Inglewood plan is two-team compliant, which means it has two home locker rooms, identical sets of office space, and two owners' suites," Sam Farmer's article states.


The two-team concept is an old one, mind you, because why use the fear of L.A. relocation to scare one city when you can scare two? The NFL has long claimed that a market that never supported one team very well is capable of supporting two. Whatever.

The twist here is Kroenke is putting up the money for the stadium and not relying on direct public funds or skimming off future possible tax revenue. A deal like that – essentially the Chargers/Raiders proposal – requires government support and approval, which is a lot easier if there are two clubs as tenants that can double revenue, taxes and ancillary neighborhood income.

Since this is all Kroenke, he reportedly will want exclusivity in his own stadium, and thus the market, for some undetermined stretch.

That seems fair. It's his money. Why would any owner in any business want to share the region? Why not lock out the competition and control it all for yourself?

At the very least, Kroenke's team wants time to ride the attention and excitement, draw in the most football-starved fans who are likely to become the most loyal customers, lock up the best corporate sponsors, and be the hot spot in town for all the celebrities to see and be seen. You always want to be first and sports are no different. More than half a century later, the New York Jets and Mets still, in various ways, play second fiddle to the Giants and Yankees.

The entire idea of splitting the L.A. market is actually a cause of concern for an owner. Is this market really that eager for football? It hasn't been in the past. While the sport is more popular than ever, there are also far more entertainment options out there. And the beach hasn't moved.

No one doubts one team could certainly work. So here's one team ... Kroenke's; not two, the Chargers and Raiders. If, at some point in the future, Kroenke believes his team can handle the competition, he welcomes a tenant that will pay hefty rent that helps offset losses competition would bring. In the meantime, all the other NFL owners, three-fourths of whom would need to approve the move, don't lose the valuable bargaining chip they've always carried in their back pocket – the threat of packing up for L.A.

In fact, with Kroenke doing all the dirty work of building an actual stadium in a region that for decades has shown little eagerness to do such a thing, the ability to pressure governments and fans back home is greater.

This isn't some pipe dream plan anymore. There would be a modern stadium in place with an extra home locker room, extra identical office space, and an extra owner's suite just waiting. There's no funding to secure. No building permits to attain. No governments or unions to court. No transitional seasons at the Rose Bowl or L.A. Coliseum.

The NFL gets to trade smaller St. Louis for the larger L.A. and keep its relocation threat for all the owners who never actually want to move but are more than happy to bluff that they do.

So by at last putting an actual team in Los Angeles, Kroenke not only manages to continue the league-wide value of a team that doesn't exist in Los Angeles, he may have figured out how to make the new non-existent team in Los Angeles even more valuable than the old non-existent team in Los Angeles.

Does that last sentence make sense to you?

It will to NFL owners.

[jimmy olsen]

Some rule changes. 

That Patriots play should absolutely remain legal. If the defense can't figure out who's eligible after it's beem announced, that's on them!

http://triblive.com/sports/nfl/8048862-74/extra-nfl-team#axzz3VRckGH8C

Spice it up.

The NFL's dullest play, the extra point, appears to be headed for some changes, perhaps significant ones, for the 2015 season.

While team owners didn't vote on any extra-point proposals Wednesday, there was so much discussion and interest in potential changes that the issue will be a main focal point for the next set of league meetings in May.

"There's a clear movement to wanting to change and change it this year," said Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee and president of the Falcons. McKay's committee will "develop alternatives and be ready for a potential vote" in two months in San Francisco.

Among the possibilities are moving the line of scrimmage back for PAT kicks; placing the ball on the 1½-yard line for a 2-point conversion; eliminating the PAT kicks entirely, requiring teams to run a play from scrimmage; and allowing the defense to score, as in college football, if the ball is turned over on a 2-point try.

McKay described the discussions as "lively, with lots of ideas ... it's time to make this a football play."

"A couple coaches said they favor just lining up on the 2 and going for the 2-point play," he said. "Or move the ball to the 1 1-2 for two points, or kick from the 15 for one, your choice."

The league experimented with extra-point kicks from a longer distance last preseason.

Currently, the line of scrimmage for both an extra point and 2-point conversion try is the 2-yard line.

Voted down as the meetings concluded was Chicago's proposal that each team get a possession in overtime regardless of what happens on the first series. Now, if the side receiving the OT kickoff scores a touchdown, the game ends. If it kicks a field goal, the opponent gets a possession.

Unsportsmanlike penalties handed out at the end of a half now will carry over, either to the second half or to overtime.

The owners also approved teams with retractable domes being allowed to open them at halftime, weather permitting, and allowing linebackers to wear numbers from 40-49; previously they could wear only numbers in the 50s and 90s.

NFL outlaws Pats' tactic

An NFL competition committee proposal to "make it illegal for an offensive player with an eligible number to report as ineligible and line up outside the core of the formation" got the necessary 75 percent approval from team owners during the final day of the league meetings in Phoenix.

That means that a tactic the Patriots used in their 35-31 comeback victory over the Ravens in an AFC divisional playoff game in January will be penalized going forward.

The proposal to change the rule was made by the competition committee, which includes Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome.

DA: Hernandez lied

Former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez tried to buy his cancer-stricken cousin's silence during the Odin Lloyd murder investigation, but was lying when he told her he had created trust funds to provide for her two children, prosecutors said.

Hernandez, 25, was arrested on murder charges in June 2013. In a jailhouse phone call less than a month later, he told his Bristol, Conn., cousin, Tanya Singleton, that he deposited money into accounts for her young children, Jano and Edward, to access when they turn 18.

Less than a week after the call, Singleton was incarcerated for refusing to testify before the grand jury investigating Lloyd's shooting. In an earlier phone call referenced in court filings, Hernandez had told her, "don't say nothing."

Bills to honor late Wilson

Late Bills owner Ralph Wilson will be honored with a life-sized statue erected at the stadium that bears his name.

The decision to commemorate the team's founder and Pro Football Hall of Famer member was the brainchild of new Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, and Wilson's widow, Mary, the team announced.

The announcement was made exactly a year after Wilson's death. His estate eventually sold the franchise to the Pegulas in October.

Kim Pegula referred to Wilson as an "icon" in saying the statue will honor the legacy of the man who established the Bills in Buffalo as part of the American Football League in 1959.

Extra points

Packers receiver Jordy Nelson had offseason surgery on his hip, a person with knowledge of Nelson's surgery told the Associated Press. Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who did not specify what part of the body was operated on, said the recovery period could take six to eight weeks. ... The Bears have agreed to a one-year contract with former Buccaneers linebacker Mason Foster. ... The Cardinals signed free-agent tight end Ifeanyi Momah to a one-year contract after he participated in the NFL Veteran Combine during the weekend in Tempe, Ariz.

[Valmy]

Changing the PAT is stupid.

[jimmy olsen]

Changing the PAT is stupid.

Moving it back so that its equivalent to a 35 yard field goal seems reasonable. As it is right now, it's completely automatic.