The NFL Thread

[werty]

How have a lot of you UK based guys got into the NFL?

Mine was a strange way. I was getting bored of games like FIFA and PES decided to go for something different, so I bought Madden. I only knew a handful of the teams and remembered the Miami Dolphins from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and chose them to play with. The first season I followed them they went 1-15 and I knew they were the team for me. :lol:

 

[dch182]

I thought he might have ended up with St. Louis. They need a WR and he would have been perfect for Bradford. He now has Jackson or Whitehurst throwing to him. :lol:

Rams didn't have the cap space for Rice. We just signed the best FS in the league to a serious contract, so we couldn't afford another high payed player with all the holes that still need filled.

I like the Haynesworth deal for the Pats. A good gamble that they can toss away if he refuses to work.

 

[felmani26]

I will unashamedly state my alliegience to the Oakland Raiders - been a fan of the Raiders for years, since the LA days, through to the Rich Gannon era and the dark times since although I feel we are definitely on the rise once more.

Really hope Heyward-Bey steps up to the plate this year but think it will be Murphy and Miller as the go to guys out there.

Shame about Asomugha though, was a great servant and a brilliant shut down corner so will definitely miss him in our secondary.

First time on this thread, didn't know it existed but is there scope to have a SC NFL fantasy league set up at all?

 

[werty]

Kolb going to Arizona for Rogers Cromartie and a 2nd rounder. Too much?

Rams didn't have the cap space for Rice. We just signed the best FS in the league to a serious contract, so we couldn't afford another high payed player with all the holes that still need filled.

I like the Haynesworth deal for the Pats. A good gamble that they can toss away if he refuses to work.

Assumed you'd have more space. Guess you can't spend if you don't have the room! Didn't realise Ed Reed played for the Rams though :wink:

I will unashamedly state my alliegience to the Oakland Raiders - been a fan of the Raiders for years, since the LA days, through to the Rich Gannon era and the dark times since although I feel we are definitely on the rise once more.

Really hope Heyward-Bey steps up to the plate this year but think it will be Murphy and Miller as the go to guys out there.

Shame about Asomugha though, was a great servant and a brilliant shut down corner so will definitely miss him in our secondary.

First time on this thread, didn't know it existed but is there scope to have a SC NFL fantasy league set up at all?

There's a couple of Raiders fans here I believe.

We've had a fantasy league for a few years now between SCers. DFF is the comiss. If someone drops out/can't make it give him a message, although I think there's a few on the "waiting list" already.

 

[felmani26]

Kolb going to Arizona for Rogers Cromartie and a 2nd rounder. Too much?Assumed you'd have more space. Guess you can't spend if you don't have the room! Didn't realise Ed Reed played for the Rams though :wink:

There's a couple of Raiders fans here I believe.

We've had a fantasy league for a few years now between SCers. DFF is the comiss. If someone drops out/can't make it give him a message, although I think there's a few on the "waiting list" already.

Thanks Werty, I guess if there is enough overspill there could be scope for 2 leagues but cheers anyhow.

 

[kishman]

How have a lot of you UK based guys got into the NFL?

I spent a year at University of Illinois a couple of years and got into American Football and Basketball whilst I was there.

 

[felmani26]

Wow since the LA days :grin:

I came about my team because of the Raiders (and forgive my intrusion on this as I grew up with the NFL)

I remember when I would start my love affair with the Patriots (I didn't live anywhere near Boston at the time). The year was 1976 (before that I was a St. Louis Cardinal fan and to this day my all time favorite player is Terry Metcalf) and I would split allegiance as a tweener for a couple of years. But it was at old Schaefer Stadium, where as an adult I would spend too many cold nights on those aluminum seats watching them and the Revolution suck, which is how I learned how to become a Yid :grin:. It was against your Raiders. And it was en epic blow-out.

Back then the Raiders were the team everybody hated. You'd put up with glitzy Pittsburgh or the blue collar Dolphins. Minnesota (sorry cwy) you felt sorry for and Dallas, you either loved or hated. But never in any sport was there a better pantomime villain than the 70's Raiders with just controversy after controversy caused by a crew of players that actual pirates would hate. I believed that this team was rotten to the core. How could they not be with Stabler and Hendricks and Matusak and Casper and TATUM? I grew up thinking that Belitnikof never caught the ball against Miami and Stabler should have been called down on the Sea of Hands and that the Holy Roller is proof that the league was fixed. I rejoiced at the Immaculate Reception and I scoffed every time they would get knocked out of the playoffs. And that's before even considering Davis.

And of all the things I have just said, none of them are true. And its only later that I realized I missed an opportunity to love one of the greatest teams ever. There was nobody like them. They were brilliant. And Stabler wasn't down and Belitnikoff made a great catch and the Ghost to the Post was phenomenal tactics and Casper only took advantage of the rules on the Holy Roller. But Davis is scum....that was and will always be true.

But that's now and not back then. God I FUCKING hated them. And when the Patriots beat them 48-16 (had to look that up), it was such great news. And even though they weren't my team, I took notice of that blowout. And later when New England ended up being the team that kept that scumbag franchise from a perfect season, I thanked them and started to like them (and the Giants provided payback for that little bit of childhood schadenfreude). And when the Pats got screwed (the didn't) in the playoffs and are the only team that could have possibly stopped Oakland, I fell for them a little more. And in 1978 when Tatum ends Stingley's career, its done. They were my team. And I seethed with hate and love. And I only softened when I found out years later that it was the Raiders that did right by him with Upshaw basically taking care of him as Union Leader and Madden being by him after it happened.

But the die is cast. And I had to settle with a team that became perpetual losers, even being a joke the one time they make the Superbowl, while the Raiders win two more. Forced to go to old Foxboro because the Pats couldn't fill the stadium and were blacked out in Boston on 10 degree days in December. They were horrible and I still can't drink whiskey because of that game.

Now that I am old enough to understand, I can't find a reason to hate the Raiders. They were pure entertainment and are now the shittiest teams in the world. While my Patriots are epitome of what they were, winning with outcasts and luck. And funny enough, I was only able to erase the 70's and see the Raider in a better light because of the Snow Bowl. It was a cathartic act that let me start learning history rather than believing childhood conspiracies. But it had to be that way.

But that's how the Raiders led me to the Patriots all those years ago

Nice DP!

Whenever I think of the Patriots now is the infamous 'incomplete pass' or as I call it, a fumble, back in '02 when we were completely screwed over by the ref's and the ridiculous ruling.

That's what has drawn me to the Raiders as they are world renowned for being that nasty team that other fans love to hate but the game would definitely be worse off without them and the absolutely brilliant Raider Nation! Can't say I've ever been to see them but would love the opportunity and who knows, maybe they will return to LA?

 

[werty]

Ochocinco is being traded to the Patriots. AFC East very busy the last two days.

 

[werty]

Greg Olsen has been traded to The Panthers. I was hoping we'd be in for him :-(

 

[werty]

Jonathan Joseph gone to Texans. Looks like Nnamdi is going to the Jets :-(.

 

[tobi]

Looking forward to seeing Ochocino with the Patriots.

I hope the Cowboys sure up our awful secondary asap.

 

[Darrkespur]

Hey chaps, now that the lockout's over and football is back on the menu, we're able to start planning. We doing the usual 8-10 ESPN fantasy league this year?

 

[werty]

Miami signed QB Matt Moore :|. No trade for Orton it seems.

In other news, Darren Sproles has gone to New Orleans, Willis McGahee has gone to Denver, Roy Williams has signed for Chicago. I think that's all the "major" signings not mentioned so far.

Latest word is on the Nnamdi saga is The Cowboys have entered the race, but The Jets still remain favourites. Don't think The Cowboys have cap space without doing some serious cutting.

 

[steventhfc]

Fuck!

I thought it was time for my boy Tebow to step up, another season with this no hoper Orton! Great.

He's so inconsistent.

 

[werty]

Adam Schefter has just said Nnamdi isn't going to the Jets! Surely not the Cowboys...

 

[werty]

Cowboys out now too. Philly been linked now. Fuck me this is exciting.

EDIT: It is The Eagles! Lucky bastards. Nnamdi, Samuel and DRC now! Bagsy their D for FF :grin:

 

[dch182]

When other teams go 2 TE's on the Eagles they'll be wasting 10 M dollars. Seems like a stupid move that just looks good on paper. Like adding Mata to play left wing on the Spurs.

 

[werty]

Samuel is now on the Trading block, according to Michael Lombardi. Thought they would have kept him. The Packers played a lot with three corners last year.

Philly has signed VY too. Kevin Burnett has gone from SD to Mia. Ray Edwards has sign for Atlanta from the Vikings. Good move for them.

 

[cwy21]

Puts the Eagles up there as favorites in the NFC, maybe tied with Green Bay.

 

[felmani26]

Have Oakland made any moves in free agency yet? Severely lacking in the secondary now that Asomugha's gone and we need someone on our D to turn the ball over.

Still hopeful for a good season and hopefully a run at the post-season.