Rocky Landing

Once again, apparently this bears repeating: never drink and drive and speed.

In all honesty, I'm a little bit surprised at how many people dislike preseason games, and want fewer of them. Personally, if they televised practices (I wish they would) I would watch them. So why wouldn't I want to watch a preseason game? I will watch all four. Happily. I remember watching Darby in the preseason last year and wondering if Rex wasn't putting too much faith in him. Corey Graham had just been moved from CB from the previous season in which he was ranked the #1 second CB in the league. I thought at the time that moving him to safety was a mistake. But, Darby got better in each game. That was interesting stuff.

I'm with you.

I'm cool with four. I think it's the right amount.

If Donald Trump wins the presidency, he is going to remove the NFL's anti-trust immunity by executive order, and blackmail Goodell, and all the owners with the threat of RICO crimes. At the end of his term, he will decline running for re-election, and instead take over as commissioner of the NFL. Within two years of that time, he will have changed his title from "commissioner" to "Don." It will all be downhill from there. Bon Jovi will be his second in command, and the Bills will be moved up to Northern Canada. They will be called the "Hudson Bay Moose." Out of spite.

Quite a few people have suggested that PI calls should be challengeable, and some have even suggested that ALL calls should be challengeable. Then, by extension, should non-calls also be challengeable? Should a coach have the right to challenge the refs when a flag hasn't been thrown? I recall a similar debate in one of these threads a season, or two ago, when someone made the point that refs should be replaced with robots. Certainly, the technology exists, and inaccurate calls would become a thing of the past. Frankly, I'm not down with that. I know that erroneous calls can be frustrating, and it often raises the specter of conspiracy (Patriots*, e.g.). But, personally, I don't want the NFL to lose any more of its humanity. I don't mind the human element. If there are any rule changes to be made, I think they should be aimed at simplifying the game.

That post is way too long for me to read all of it. But... are you suggesting we send one of our players down to South America to contract the Zika virus???

This is the "2016-2017 BOLD Predictions! (Offense)" thread. Try again, please.

Too many bold predictions. A "Bold Predictions" thread should only have two, or three per post. I don't have the attention span to get through much more than that. My bold predictions: Kujo wins RT. Goodwin makes the roster. Listenbee to the PS. Keep it simple.

1+1+1+1+1=17. It's so obvious!

Weird and pointless turn this thread took...

And who would we cut from the 53? One of the other, younger WRs? One less CB, perhaps? It's not the money. We can't afford the slot.

Another season fighting for a wildcard...

I meant Goodwin's turn to get bashed.

I was speaking, a bit facetiously, on the NFL. But, I should probably watch how my words are perceived. As a Los Angeles resident working in the motion picture industry, I have actually worked on my fair share of reality TV, and have a bit more respect for it than most. There is a rather common misperception that the story lines in reality TV are created. They're not. The story lines create themselves, and the directors, and editors exploit those story lines. Occasionally, if the show has been poorly cast, they will have to do what they can to prod the drama out of their cast, or make mountains out of mole hills. The off-field side to the reporting, and the NFL's "feel good" stories are not unlike this. Lucas' story line is pretty amazing all by itself. But, as we've seen from time to time, on a slow news cycle, the pundits will do what they can to gin up human interest, and as Jerky very cynically pointed out, anyone in the NFL can be turned into a human interest story. (Really, anyone in the world can. IMO, everyone has a story to tell.) And, why not? As I mentioned above some fans are only interested in what happens on the field, but not me. Personally, I like to know what the players are like as people. I root for them, and I love it when I can feel proud of who my team is.

It is reality TV, after all.

I remember about this time last year, one of the popular debates on this forum was all about Hogan vs. Goodwin. LOTS of Goodwin fans (and apologists) talking about what an important deep threat he was-- even if he didn't get that many targets, defenses had to account for him on the field-- even if had only gotten one catch the previous season, he was special... And, plenty of Hogan bashing. LOTS of Hogan bashing. Well, Hogan's gone, now... Goodwin's turn.

Yeah, there's a few feel-good stories trying to make the roster this season. I'm pretty much a sucker for this sort of human interest drama. Some fans care about what kind of people are playing on their team, and what they do off the field, and some only care about what they do on the field. I'm definitely in the former category. It would be very cool to see this guy excel, and make it onto the team.

I've been re-watching all of the games from last season, and I definitely see TT improving both with reads, and with his pocket presence. Although, rarely did he step too far up into the pocket. Truly, he rarely had time, as the right side would collapse pretty quick. But, I would say that one of his deficiencies was to stay pretty far back in the pocket, always ready to escape. That made it really hard for Miller, and Henderson/Mills to defend him-- they just weren't good enough to protect that large of a space. It would be great to see Tyrod be able to climb up in the pocket and have the right side keep it tight. Maybe it only takes the right side of the line to improve? Certainly, Miller will be better. But, if Tyrod can do that, I think we may see improvement in the right side anyway. As it was last season, they needed eyes in the backs of their heads to know where he was.

Not really worth it these days, anyway. Back in the day, when Nick Tahoe's had five cigarette machines lined up in a row, and the grill cook ALWAYS had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth- often with about an inch and a half long ash- and the prostitutes would be lined up outside on the street, THAT'S when the garbage plate got its name. They didn't even know for years that that is what their customers called it. You would order either a hotdog plate, or hamburger plate with double everything. Eventually, they found out what all the drunk night clubbers were calling it, and embraced the name as their signature dish. Rochester cuisine at its finest.

I don't know which team would have THE smartest fans, but we're up there. Once in a while, I'll go on the Jets, Dolphins, or Patriots* forums to get a bead on their opinions. Good God! Pats* fans especially seem to have only a basic knowledge of the game (with exceptions, of course) and will become utterly unhinged with any realistically negative opinion regarding their team. But, recently, as I am a resident of Los Angeles (born and raised in Rochester), I've been following the Rams a bit, with the intention of making them being my "second team" as it were. (And, my son is an LA native.) So, I've been going on some Rams' fan sites. And, wow... Seriously. Wow.

The Spleen!

I would say more like if Tyrod goes out on injury. He would have to crap the bed in a monumentally, wet, stinky, ate-too-much-spicy-Mexican-food kind of way to get benched for CJ. But, at that point-- injury, or toxic, steaming pile on the bed-- yes, there would certainly be an argument for the unknown commodity that is CJ, versus the below-average, known commodity that is EJ.

Some more unpopular opinions: 1) Bringing in Rob Ryan was a good hire. (Yes, I'm serious!) Regardless of how one might feel about the Ryan Brothers, if there is anything to the notion that Rex Ryan is a defensive genius (I mean, anything at all) then whatever will help Rex implement his defensive scheme is a positive. Including the support of his goofball brother. 2) Corey Graham, our leading tackler, being one of the few (possibly only?) players to actually take responsibility, and hold himself accountable for his play, has, as a result, become weirdly under-rated. 3) I'm still serious about Buffalo Wings. They were invented in Rochester.

Chris Hogan will become Brady's* favorite WR. The original recipe for what we now refer to as "Buffalo wings" (essentially Tobasco sauce and butter) was invented in Rochester. Aaron Williams will play gun shy all season, and be cut in the end.