NFL 2012 Season Thread

Torchsong

The regular season is upon us! Let the smack-talking COMMENCE!

Also...SUCK IT, GOODELL!!!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/nfl/09/07/saints-nfl-suspensions-appeal/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

electric_mayhem

Betcha Goodell sticks it with the original punishments under other rules, cuz he rolls like that and he is an attorney.

Mr_Cosmic

"Skol, Vikings!"

electric_mayhem

I had the Gary Anderson/Miracle at the MetroDome with Favre goosebumps on that kick to go into OT.....

awesome win...


Packers are on the bottom of the toughest division in the NFL, ha! For a week anyways.. :P

Torchsong

It'll be interesting to see what Goodell does this week.

Also, RGIII is pretty damn scary. Well played, Washington. They did a good job of bottling up any threat we could throw at them and killed us on our home turf.

As Batman said after his first beatdown by Prometheus: "Well, that was...humbling." :)

mguy1977

The bad news, the Saints lost the first game of the season.

The good news, I have a girlfriend to comfort me during the loss Sunday.

Winning even when the Saints are losing. Priceless.

Matthew

PS
The Crimson Tide are 2-0.

JCB

San Francisco is terrifying. They remind me of Dungy/Gruden Bucs in that they kinda feel meh on offense, but beat the piss out of everyone on defense.

My precious Giants are not set up to succeed this year, for damn sure. Losing Manningham (and keeping Hixon/Barden...ew) and Jacobs to SF was a huge mistake. The Giants never press to make good off season moves (losing Steve Smith to Phily, who then disappeared, etc).

RG3 is a fricking monster though. I still think he has more appeal long term than Luck. He has more weapons, and if he can stay healthy (unlike Vick), he can change the mindsets of QB's along with Newton (and maybe Russell Wilson).

Huge props to Julio Jones too. Kid can play.

DAR

Packers looked a lot better tonight. Big hand to the much maligned defense. Rodgers was rushed and made some bad decisions but he's just a smarter player than Cutler.

DAR

electric_mayhem

who dat SAINTS? A worse record than the Vikes?! The horrors for the winners of a "SuperBowl"


yes, yes, I am still bitter and ticked... But what fan wouldn't be after the debacle of that game on Thursday night...

Why did I start Cutler.... oh why???

Mr_Cosmic

Vikings...

Torchsong

Hand me over that bag, Mr. Cosmic. I'm gonna need it.

More than anything, I think this is showing what not having Payton on the sidelines does. Breesus can only do so much, eh? And our D is non-existent. So much for Spagnulo injecting new life into the squad. We better get it done against the Chiefs at home next week or there's serious problems we may not be able to fix.

On another note, my hometown boys (AZ) are 2-0? And they beat the Patriots at home? Are we in an Elseworlds story right now? :)

DoctorDoom

I had hoped for a comeback for my Giants, but to see what happened yesterday.... wow.

I didn't think Eli would redeem himself for that terrible first half, but I'm happy to have been proven wrong.

electric_mayhem

Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma met with Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday in what one source described as a "productive, at times contentious" meeting that, the source also said, emerged with all sides hopeful some sort of deal could be struck.

That last part remains highly doubtful but it is one of the first instances when the word "hopeful" was used by anyone in this long, crazy process.

CBSSports.com can confirm that Vilma was indeed presented an affidavit from Williams in which Williams states bluntly that Vilma put a $10,000 bounty on Favre. The story was first reported by ESPN.

Vilma continues to vehemently deny this fact and Vilma's camp questions the motives of Williams. Nonetheless, the statement from Williams is potentially damaging because it is Williams swearing under oath what he has previously just told the NFL's investigators.

Vilma was one of four Saints players suspended by Goodell. Those suspensions were temporarily overturned by an appeals panel. That panel specified that Goodell must clarify his decisions and that they were based solely on intent to injure and not salary cap violations.

"Today everyone was afforded an opportunity to start over," Vilma told reporters outside the NFL's offices. "It was in our best interest to meet today. We spoke truthfully, honestly, bluntly."

"We appreciate Jonathan Vilma taking the time to meet today and look forward to seeing the other players tomorrow," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

The other Saints players are still expected to meet with Goodell on Tuesday. One source close to the situation said as of late Monday night the league had not received any notices that the players were not planning to attend.

The likely scenario remains that Goodell will make a quick decision, maybe as soon as next week, and he will stick to his original suspension timetable. And this case would continue through the courts.

Things could change and today's more congenial (though at times argumentative) meeting is a hopeful step. But don't get your hopes too high.

Why? Later Monday night the congenial tone took a different turn when Vilma tweeted: "You obviously want me to be guilty if you cant see that gregg was bullied to sign the affidavit. He signed 3days ago!"

Vilma also tweeted: "The nfl has 1 affidavit saying i did it. I have NINE saying i didnt. Do the math. Hush haters."

And so it goes ...

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/mike-freeman/20214629/source:-vilma,-nfl-have-'productive,-at-times-contentious'-meeting

bOO-YA! around and around they dance, who will blink first?

Torchsong

I'll be surprised if Vilma blinks at all. He's got nothing to lose and Goodell is just getting reamed in the court of public opinion as well as the Federal court.

"I have reams of evidence proving what I say!"
"Show it, then."
"No. Don't have to!"
"Court says do or shut up and let me play. They're on my side."
"Hurrrm....okay, fine. I have an affidavit saying you did it."
"And that's reams of evidence? You said you had 50,000 pages worth!"
"This one page is enough!"
"You got that signed 3 days ago. From a guy whose career you're danging like a carrot over his head."
"So?"
"Seriously?"

Doesn't change the fact that we're 0-2. The damage is being done. At least it shows Payton's value to the team. He's definitely missed. We lose to the Chiefs next week and our season is effectively over.

mguy1977

Almost time for Hank Williams Jr. sad times songs for the Saints.

Until then I got to keep the faith for week 3 & the Saints pulling out a win.

Matthew

RedRight88

RIP Steve Sabol of NFL Films =((

nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000063643/article/steve-sabol-president-of-nfl-films-dies?module=HP11_headline_stack

Torchsong

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/nfl/09/18/michael-turner-dui.ap/index.html?eref=sircrc

Hey Goodell! Conduct unbecoming an NFL player! Better see a suspension out of this or you're a hypocrite of the highest caliber.

DAR

RedRight88 said:

RIP Steve Sabol of NFL Films =((

nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000063643/article/steve-sabol-president-of-nfl-films-dies?module=HP11_headline_stack

The man along with his father changed the why we watch football. Deserves to be up there with the great filmmakers.

RedRight88

Deion Branch to re-sign with the Patriots, I think this could be the nail in Welker's Patriot coffin.

sports.yahoo.com/news/report-patriots-sign-deion-branch-230012823--nfl.html

Torchsong

Well, it's official. If the Saints were playing for shit they couldn't get a smell...

electric_mayhem

MINNEAPOLIS -- Replacement official Ken Roan didn't just make a key mistake on a basic rule by allowing San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh to challenge a play after calling his final timeout.

He did it twice in the span of six plays late in the game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

The errors cloaked the final four minutes of Minnesota's 24-13 victory in chaos, with fans throwing their hands up in confusion and normally mild-mannered Vikings coach Leslie Frazier shouting at the officiating crew.

With the Vikings trying to run out the clock, Harbaugh called his last timeout after a run by Toby Gerhart on third down. He then decided to challenge the play, and replays showed that Gerhart fumbled the ball and 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis recovered it.

Roan said Harbaugh first called the timeout, then asked him if he could still challenge the play.

"What I told him was, 'Well you challenged it not knowing what the result of the play was going to be,'" Roan said. "So I granted him the challenge and we went and looked at it. That was wrong. I should not have."

Gerhart even disputed the replay ruling, saying that he simply let the ball go after he heard the whistle blow to stop the play.

"I was stopped. They pushed me backwards. They blew the whistle. I was going down. I just put the ball on the ground and got up," Gerhart said. "They grabbed it and I don't know. That one I have no idea."

Because the 49ers won the challenge, Harbaugh was given his final timeout back.

Five plays later, the Vikings had the ball again with less than three minutes to play. After a first-down run, Harbaugh called his last timeout, again only to decide later to challenge the play. Roan again granted Harbaugh the challenge, but replays showed that Gerhart did fumble the ball before recovering it himself, so the Vikings retained possession.

"My interpretation of it was that he could do that based upon the time factors and not knowing it was a challengeable play to begin with when he called timeout," Roan said.

NFL rules require a team to have a timeout to challenge a play. Because Harbaugh called his final timeout before throwing the challenge flag, he should not have been allowed to contest the ruling on the field.

The errors were magnified by the labor battle between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association. The league has locked out its referees while the two sides fight over salary, retirement benefits and operational issues.

The replacement officials, most of whom have come from the small-college ranks, have drawn heavy criticism from coaches and players across the league in the first three weeks.

"Well, I think the fact that we have to talk about it after every game is something right there," Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway said. "I don't think in my seven-year career that I've had to do that ever. So that probably tells you the story right there."

While the mistakes didn't end up costing the Vikings the game, they did manage to get Frazier's blood boiling. Frazier is known as one of the calmest, most level-headed coaches in the league, but he was having a heated argument with several members of the officiating crew during the confusing final minutes.

"There were some head-scratchers, there's no question about it," Frazier said. "But just proud of our guys. We talked about this during the week, of not getting caught up in anything other than just playing the next play."

It was a shaky day for the officials from the opening kickoff, when a flag was thrown on San Francisco for an illegal block in the back even though the 49ers were the kicking team. Harbaugh berated the official nearest to him on the sideline, and the flag was eventually picked up.

"By rule there is no foul on the play," Roan announced to the crowd. "First down, Minnesota."

The NFL has warned teams and front offices that there will be consequences for criticizing the replacement officials, and Greenway said the key was not to allow any mistakes that are made to take their heads out of the game.

"It was really weird how things were going," Greenway said. "We didn't even know what was going on. We thought it was a penalty because they had no timeouts. It was kind of a weird deal, but anyways, we got the win."

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/20341278/replacement-referee-admits-giving-niners-harbaugh-mistaken-challenges

terrible officiating... at least it didn't change the games true outcome, yet........... 2-1 Vikes, WHOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Lost my voice, 50 yard line, 8 rows up and the ticket was free... What a great day...


Saints fans, there's a sale on paper bags....

Torchsong

electric_mayhem said:

Saints fans, there's a sale on paper bags....

I never threw mine out. :)

"It's a rebuilding year... *cough* *cough* yeah, that's the ticket!"

DAR

I would like to apologize for this but


Mods allow me this indulgence.

BUT ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDDING ME!!! ON WHAT FUCKING PLANET IS THAT NOT A FUCKING INTERCEPTION!!!!! JENNINGS HAD THE BALL IN HIS HANDS!!!! TATE HAD ONE FUCKING HAND ON THE BALL!!!! TATE DID NOT CATCH THE FUCKING BALL!!!! AND NOT TO MENTION THE OBVIOUS FUCKING PUSH OFF!!!


And the both the Packers and Seattle got calls that they shouldn't have, I will fully admit it. But this is a fucking joke. Godell you're league is worth 10 billion fucking dollars, get the regular guys back on the field.

DoctorDoom

Just watched the Seahawks-Packers game...

Wow. Just.... wow.

Pay the damn refs.

DAR

Mr_Cosmic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5L7O3PWICs

As a Vikings fan it makes me chuckle..but then as a football fan it makes me cry. This is terrible!

What if the Packers miss the playoffs by one game? Even being stuck in a wild card spot when they might have won the division? This could have huge ramifications for their team.

I'm not sure what the hangups with the real refs are. I'm not going to simply say that the NFL should give them what they want but something needs to be done. Both sides need to give in a little and get this thing settled.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

@DAR That's awesome! :))

Torchsong

Wow. On what planet is that a catch?

Of course my Saints now have to travel up north and face a very pissed off Packer squad. Hurmn...

Is it too early to just write this season off? I'd do it but my homeboys (the Cardinals) are doing well and Fitz needs a ring before he retires. :)

WetRats

Officiating am wonderful!

Me not understand what fuss about.

John_Steed

@WetRats - I just you give the 500th LOL. Saying just. Me like you. 8-}

WetRats

John_Steed said:

@WetRats - I just you give the 500th LOL. Saying just. Me like you. 8-}

500 Thanks!