FedEx Field is a Joke and other game notes

[UBinVA]

FedEx Field suck$, for a stadium that holds 92,000 and built in 1997, I was really expecting something special. First of all, if you don’t have a parking pass forget it. You can only get a parking pass if you’re a season ticket holder or buy one from a scalper. Their were no scalpers to be found so we ended up parking at the only cash lot we could find about ½ mile from the stadium.

 

I bought some cheap tickets on-line in the corner of the end zone about 35 rows up and figured they would be better than the nose bleeds. Boy was I wrong. Does anyone remember the rock pile with those columns right in the middle and obstructing your view if you happened to sit behind one? Well, try a 3 foot concrete column obstructing 40% of the field view along with the grandstand above obstructing any pass or punt. Their are these type of obstructive view seats all across the north side of the stadium. Dan Snyder and the redskins should be ashamed of selling these type of seats in this day and age. I guess their are still suckers born every day including myself for this game.

 

Needless to say I only stayed in the seats long enough to suffer the pan and misery of those people who actually own those God forsaken tickets.

 

Traffic out of the stadium was just horrendous. I can’t imagine what it would be like when the stadium is actually full to capacity. As far as other amenities, they were just average and the place seemed a bit dirty and unclean. I’ll take the Ralf any day over that stadium.

 

As far as the game, it seemed like a typical Bills game for that past 6 years. Sloppy offense, porous defense until the last minute, and our opponent seemed quicker and sharper. I did love those uni’s though. I wish they would use them as their regulars.

 

Bills should cut Shaun Nua ASAP, this guy was out of position and couldn’t make a tackle to save his life. I isolated on him because he looked large out their and his performance was pretty bad IMO.

 

Expecting some nice things out of Hardy and McKelvin this year. Youboty got a lot of playing time and looked decent. We need to get the ball to Parish more, he almost broke away with some nifty moves after a catch but ended up losing a first down. Edwards looked shaky, Losman looked good, Hamdam also held his own. O-line needs work, esp. in the running game as usual. Defense should be much improved but has yet to show any improvements in this game.

[zow2]

I could have told you about Fedex field. Been there 3 times now including last years Bills game. The parking is horredous, Yes. The Stadium was built by Jack Kent Cooke in about 9 months and it's a piece of crap. Go up the road to Baltimore if you want to see an awesome stadium.

[Rubes]

Bills should cut Shaun Nua ASAP, this guy was out of position and couldn’t make a tackle to save his life. I isolated on him because he looked large out their and his performance was pretty bad IMO.

 

 

I only caught him on a couple of plays, but man did he look awful. He really seemed like he was way out of his league out there.

[jarthur31]

FedEx Field suck$, for a stadium that holds 92,000 and built in 1997, I was really expecting something special. First of all, if you don’t have a parking pass forget it. You can only get a parking pass if you’re a season ticket holder or buy one from a scalper. Their were no scalpers to be found so we ended up parking at the only cash lot we could find about ½ mile from the stadium.

 

I bought some cheap tickets on-line in the corner of the end zone about 35 rows up and figured they would be better than the nose bleeds. Boy was I wrong. Does anyone remember the rock pile with those columns right in the middle and obstructing your view if you happened to sit behind one? Well, try a 3 foot concrete column obstructing 40% of the field view along with the grandstand above obstructing any pass or punt. Their are these type of obstructive view seats all across the north side of the stadium. Dan Snyder and the redskins should be ashamed of selling these type of seats in this day and age. I guess their are still suckers born every day including myself for this game.

 

Needless to say I only stayed in the seats long enough to suffer the pan and misery of those people who actually own those God forsaken tickets.

 

Traffic out of the stadium was just horrendous. I can’t imagine what it would be like when the stadium is actually full to capacity. As far as other amenities, they were just average and the place seemed a bit dirty and unclean. I’ll take the Ralf any day over that stadium.

 

As far as the game, it seemed like a typical Bills game for that past 6 years. Sloppy offense, porous defense until the last minute, and our opponent seemed quicker and sharper. I did love those uni’s though. I wish they would use them as their regulars.

 

Bills should cut Shaun Nua ASAP, this guy was out of position and couldn’t make a tackle to save his life. I isolated on him because he looked large out their and his performance was pretty bad IMO.

 

Expecting some nice things out of Hardy and McKelvin this year. Youboty got a lot of playing time and looked decent. We need to get the ball to Parish more, he almost broke away with some nifty moves after a catch but ended up losing a first down. Edwards looked shaky, Losman looked good, Hamdam also held his own. O-line needs work, esp. in the running game as usual. Defense should be much improved but has yet to show any improvements in this game.

 

 

I'm with you on the Parrish there, bud. We still haven't unleashed him properly, IMHO. I apologize to McGee but Roscoe should be the one to handle both kicking duties along with Leodis. We can't afford to lose a starting corner to injury on teams. Props to Ashton for making a statement and hopefully he'll improve and makes the roster. A Buckeye defensive back has proven invaluable in the NFL (per our very own experience).

[ans4e64]

Actually... I sat in the exact same area you did, with the tickets bought on-line. That view is ridiculous, we moved down so we didn't have a 3 foot cement pillar and various pipes in our way.

[disco]

FedEx Field suck$, for a stadium that holds 92,000 and built in 1997, I was really expecting something special. First of all, if you don’t have a parking pass forget it. You can only get a parking pass if you’re a season ticket holder or buy one from a scalper. Their were no scalpers to be found so we ended up parking at the only cash lot we could find about ½ mile from the stadium.

 

I bought some cheap tickets on-line in the corner of the end zone about 35 rows up and figured they would be better than the nose bleeds. Boy was I wrong. Does anyone remember the rock pile with those columns right in the middle and obstructing your view if you happened to sit behind one? Well, try a 3 foot concrete column obstructing 40% of the field view along with the grandstand above obstructing any pass or punt. Their are these type of obstructive view seats all across the north side of the stadium. Dan Snyder and the redskins should be ashamed of selling these type of seats in this day and age. I guess their are still suckers born every day including myself for this game.

 

Needless to say I only stayed in the seats long enough to suffer the pan and misery of those people who actually own those God forsaken tickets.

 

Traffic out of the stadium was just horrendous. I can’t imagine what it would be like when the stadium is actually full to capacity. As far as other amenities, they were just average and the place seemed a bit dirty and unclean. I’ll take the Ralf any day over that stadium.

 

As far as the game, it seemed like a typical Bills game for that past 6 years. Sloppy offense, porous defense until the last minute, and our opponent seemed quicker and sharper. I did love those uni’s though. I wish they would use them as their regulars.

 

Bills should cut Shaun Nua ASAP, this guy was out of position and couldn’t make a tackle to save his life. I isolated on him because he looked large out their and his performance was pretty bad IMO.

 

Expecting some nice things out of Hardy and McKelvin this year. Youboty got a lot of playing time and looked decent. We need to get the ball to Parish more, he almost broke away with some nifty moves after a catch but ended up losing a first down. Edwards looked shaky, Losman looked good, Hamdam also held his own. O-line needs work, esp. in the running game as usual. Defense should be much improved but has yet to show any improvements in this game.

 

I've literally flown out of DC for a 1pm Bills game w/ a return flight after the game and gotten home faster than it's taken me to go to a Redskin game at FedEx.

 

If you don't have parking taking the metro does make it managable...driving otherwise is insane.

[marauderswr80]

Nua I think was more concerned with his damn fro then anything else.

[BillsWatch]

I sat in 214 which is a corner seat and under an overhang with a restricted view but it was ok as the seller said except for the kicks. Later I moved down to row 2 (row 4 really, rows 1-2 are a exclusive booth) in section 105 and view, especially of the cheerleaders, was great.

 

Comments on stadium:

Yes parking is terrible and it has been stated for years but public transportation was part of the formula for the stadium and it was thrown out of window this year by Department on No Transportation this year. No surprise that most of those who run it never had to take buses or other such transportation. Metro was not an option since Metro could not provide shuttles.

 

The Ralph's score and video boards are so much better than this stadium's. Even the old score and video board were better. One half on the video board was occupied by a graphics display creatable by a junior high schooler. The video board was much smaller than the one at the Ralph.

 

No police direction in inner parking lots so people just walked where ever they felt like.

 

First food sale I saw was Famous Dave's selling a whole rack of ribs for $20 and beans for $1. I thought great a stadium that understood you could make money without charging a fortune and then I saw all of the other sales.

 

The stadium feels smaller than the Ralph despite fitting more people; never tried the nose bleed seats accessible via escalator but the reason I think it feels smaller is because you are closer in lower levels to field. Very little space on sideline and endzone with cameramen and cheerleaders getting tangled.

 

For $25 not too bad. Regular price atrocious.

[Bmwolf21]

Bills should cut Shaun Nua ASAP, this guy was out of position and couldn’t make a tackle to save his life. I isolated on him because he looked large out their and his performance was pretty bad IMO.

Speaking of this, when is the first round of cutdowns?

[DonInBuffalo]

Speaking of this, when is the first round of cutdowns?

http://www.draftinsiders.com/node/33

 

August 26 - 75 players (Tuesday after 3rd preseason game)

August 30 - 53 players (Saturday after final preseason game)

 

They changed the early cutdown a few years ago, IIRC it used to be 60. Some coaches complained that they had to play their regulars too much in the final preseason game because there weren't enough other players available.

[Bmwolf21]

http://www.draftinsiders.com/node/33

 

August 26 - 75 players (Tuesday after 3rd preseason game)

August 30 - 53 players (Saturday after final preseason game)

 

They changed the early cutdown a few years ago, IIRC it used to be 60. Some coaches complained that they had to play their regulars too much in the final preseason game because there weren't enough other players available.

Thanks for the dates. I've been reading a lot of complaints from NFL head coaches about the lower number of players in camp this year (because of the loss of the NFLE exemptions that gave teams an average of six extra camp players) saying that it's forcing them to use more starters and reserves longer than they want to, risking injuries and guys wearing down.

[DonInBuffalo]

Thanks for the dates. I've been reading a lot of complaints from NFL head coaches about the lower number of players in camp this year (because of the loss of the NFLE exemptions that gave teams an average of six extra camp players) saying that it's forcing them to use more starters and reserves longer than they want to, risking injuries and guys wearing down.

Apparently those doing the complaining are much better at that than they are at simple arithmetic. All teams have exactly the same number of players in camp (80) as they did last year at this time. The NFLE exemptions allowed teams to pick up additional players to bring their roster up to 80, to account for the fact that some of their 80 players weren't in camp because they were still playing in NFLE. As best I recall, the NFLE season didn't end until about a week or two before the regular season starts.

[Bmwolf21]

Apparently those doing the complaining are much better at that than they are at simple arithmetic. All teams have exactly the same number of players in camp (80) as they did last year at this time. The NFLE exemptions allowed teams to pick up additional players to bring their roster up to 80, to account for the fact that some of their 80 players weren't in camp because they were still playing in NFLE. As best I recall, the NFLE season didn't end until about a week or two before the regular season starts.

I don't think that's right. Here's an excerpt from Clayton's column heading into the owner's meetings in March:

 

2. Increasing the roster from 80 to 86 players: What seemed simple a year ago is now more complicated because of the potential for labor problems.

 

In past years, teams used NFL Europa roster exemptions to bring more than 85 players to training camp. Because it was losing $30 million a year and not developing as many players as hoped, NFL Europa folded last year. The current rules limit the number of signed players on rosters to 80.

 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers proposed increasing rosters to 90. Other teams have different numbers in mind and are leaving it to the meeting to continue the debate. The competition committee is pushing an idea to increase preseason rosters to a maximum of 86. Believe it or not, there is a decent block of owners who want to keep rosters at 80, thinking 80 players in enough. The committee is pitching the idea that the extra six players on a roster are necessary -- and they are -- because teams need to fill out eight-man practice squads during the fall and they need replacement players because of injuries.

 

Budget-minded owners are trying to save some dollars because of the crunch of the last collective bargaining extension. Here's where the owners could be pinching pennies a little too much. The worst fear in training camp is an injury. By keeping rosters at 80 with no exemptions, more veteran players will be asked to do more things during preseason games, risking them to further injury. Salaries for camp players are roughly $1,000 a week. For the savings of $6,000 a week, teams could be risking players worth $1 million or more to injury.

 

Currently, five teams have 70 or more players on their rosters. If owners don't change this rule and add some extra offseason roster spots, teams will be releasing players after they start signing their draft choices.

[Dr. Fong]

I've literally flown out of DC for a 1pm Bills game w/ a return flight after the game and gotten home faster than it's taken me to go to a Redskin game at FedEx.

 

If you don't have parking taking the metro does make it managable...driving otherwise is insane.

 

 

Couple years ago went with a couple of buddies to a Redskins vs. 49ers game at Fedex. We left at the end of the game, got to our car about 4:30 and didn't get home to Virginia Beach until 11:30. What is usually a three hour drive had become a seven hour. Terrible day.

[DonInBuffalo]

I don't think that's right. Here's an excerpt from Clayton's column heading into the owner's meetings in March:

That's odd. What Clayton is saying doesn't make any sense to me. I thought the basic reason they made roster exemptions for NFLE players is because those players miss most of training camp.

[scribo]

Not sure about where the exact spot the originator of this thread sat last night, but I've sat in other areas like that at FedEx, and Snyder paid to have flat screen monitors mounted every 10 yards or so near every seat with an obstructed view. The team's stadium website clearly states which seats are obstructed. I would hope the tickets were cheaper for you, as I have always found them to be.

 

I sat way up top last night (sectin 411, row 24, which puts me five rows from the very top), and I loved the seats. We could see every play develop, and it was great in really studying the Xs and Os of the game.

 

Parking is really a pain there and it seems to only be getting worse with the VERY RECENT elimination of a shuttle between the Metro system. So recent in fact, the Skins' website states that it still exists, but as we found out last night just afte getting off the train, it doesn't.

 

Lastly, I found the child jerseys at FedEx cost less than they do at Saint Johns Fisher.

[Lori]

Apparently those doing the complaining are much better at that than they are at simple arithmetic. All teams have exactly the same number of players in camp (80) as they did last year at this time. The NFLE exemptions allowed teams to pick up additional players to bring their roster up to 80, to account for the fact that some of their 80 players weren't in camp because they were still playing in NFLE. As best I recall, the NFLE season didn't end until about a week or two before the regular season starts.

Nope. NFLEurope seasons ended in late June. The roster was 80+NFLE exemptions; now it's just 80.

[Bmwolf21]

Nope. NFLEurope seasons ended in late June. The roster was 80+NFLE exemptions; now it's just 80.

Thanks for clarifying, Lori.

[bladiebla]

Nope. NFLEurope seasons ended in late June. The roster was 80+NFLE exemptions; now it's just 80.

 

Jup, so NFL Europe players normally missed out the pre-season workouts but were in time for the trainingcamp. Many teams used the 'our pre-season workouts are essential' line to send nothing but camp fodder to NFL Europe (those players often didnt even get past NFL Europe draft let alone their camp). Teams that did take it seriously other then a roster exemption insurance often reaped great benefits from it to the extend of retraining players at a different position to gaining surprise pro-bowlers out of them or the negative that was finding out a player was not going to be going anywhere (*cough* Akili Smith).

[ndirish1978]

If you're not down low the view is terrible. I was fortunate enough to get into a suite that a friend of mine's company has. The view was NOT good, which is ridiculous. The partitions between the boxes were awkwardly built, so if you're sitting near the side the last 20 yards downfield look like you're looking through a fishbowl. On top of that, the prices are RIDICULOUS. They are supposed to spend like 100k just for the box. For that I would at least expect a good view. I did have a great time though.