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Friday, August 26, 2011
Bill Belichick wants the extra point to die
"Philosophically, plays that are non-plays shouldn't be in the game. I don't think it is good for the game. Extra points, when the odds are 99 percent range in extra points it is not a play. Let's move the ball back to the 15-20 yard line and not make it a tap in. Let them kick it. Same thing with the kickoff return, if you're just going to put the ball on the 20, put the ball on the 20."
(Applause.)
Given my druthers, I'd eliminate it completely -- I don't think you'd see a lot of kicks missed from the 15 or 20, either. It saves time, it speeds the game along, and the guy in the end-zone seats with the John 3:16 sign doesn't get time to prepare for his close-up.
This is the MJD plan: Let's just make touchdowns worth seven, and if someone wants to risk a point either way, they'll have the option to trot the ball out to the 2-point conversion spot, and they'll get eight points for their touchdown if they convert, six if they don't. Hell, I say we move that back, too. I think the 6-yard-line sounds about right.
I'm with him on the kickoff, too. I'll talk more about this later, but Belichick is right. If what the NFL wants is more touchbacks, then why go halfway? Put the ball on the 20. Put it on the 25 or 30 if you want to. I'm not saying I'm anti-kickoff, I'm just saying that if the league just wants drives to start at the 20, there are ways to do that that are more efficient.
Hmm. This Belichick character. I think he might be a smart one.
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San Jose Sharks Lock Up Logan Couture for 2 Additional Years
As reported by Brodie Brazil of CSN, the San Jose Sharks and Logan Couture have agreed to a two-year contract extension that will keep the center in teal through the 2013-14 season. Couture, who will make $1.25 million this year, will make a combined $5.75 million in the the following two seasons.
Couture is a young centerman with skills on and off the puck. Sharks GM Doug Wilson was keen on keeping him in San Jose. In his first full season last year, Couture notched 32 goals, good for second most on the team.
Perhaps more important to the Sharks, though, is Couture's playoff production. Couture put up 14 points in 18 playoff games this past season. In the 2009-10 playoffs he was also an asset. After playing in only 25 regular season games, Couture contributed four goals to the Sharks cause in limited playing time.
The Sharks have struggled in the playoffs to get consistent production from their top six forwards. Hopefully, Couture's play will continue to help correct what has turned into the Sharks' fatal flaw.
It has been a busy offseason for the Sharks and GM Doug Wilson. However, the extension given to Couture will likely be considered his least controversial move—there's no denying the upside of the 22-year-old Couture.
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Chris Johnson?s holdout may have just gotten longer
He wanted money, they wanted to give him money, and as soon as they worked out the silly little issue of Johnson reporting to camp first, or the Titans giving him a contract first, it'd get done.
Maybe not.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, "highest-paid running back in the league" money might not be enough to get a deal signed. Johnson might be thinking more along the lines of "highest-paid person in the league."
While the Titans publicly stated they are willing to make Johnson the highest-paid running back in the NFL, those close to Johnson believe he should be paid as one of the top playmakers in the league -- not just for running backs, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
Oh boy. Pretty much everyone agrees that the Titans need to step up and pay Johnson, but if he's asking for quarterback money, that complicates things.
As an example, DeAngelo Williams was the best running back available on this year's free agent market. He got a five-year deal worth $43 million, with $21 million of that guaranteed.
Peyton Manning, on the other hand, got a five-year deal worth $90 million, and if he wants it, he'll see every penny of that.
Now, I doubt that Johnson is expecting Peyton Manning money (but who knows, really), but that illustrates the difference we're talking about here. I'd have no problem making Johnson the best-paid RB in the league, but if the decision were up to me, and a running back wanted QB money? No chance.
Running backs just don't last long enough, and they're too easily replaceable. Not that you can just go out and replace a superstar like Chris Johnson, but you can go cheap and get way closer to elite production at running back than you can if you go cheap at quarterback. It just wouldn't make sense to tie up that kind of cap space with a running back.
Good news for fans of non-Titans AFC South teams. This could drag on for a while.
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Tottenham Hotspur V Manchester City: Nasri Set for Debut
Manchester City are set to give new signing Samir Nasri his debut at White Hart Lane following his �24m move from arsenal earlier in the week.
The France international playmaker will make his first appearance for City just a few miles away from the Emirates Stadium, where he spent three years as a Gunner.
Defensive midfielder Nigel de Jong is almost certain to miss out with a foot injury, but otherwise City boss Roberto Mancini has a fully fit squad to take to London.
Striker Carlos Tevez could also play some part after spending the summer trying to engineer a move away from the club. The Argentinian forward is still looking for match fitness, though he did come off the bench in last Sunday's win at Bolton, replacing compatriot Sergio Aguero.
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Special teamer Donnie Nickey goes off on the kickoff rules
Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean passed along a letter from NFL special teamer Donnie Nickey on Monday. Nickey's been a career special teamer after being drafted by the Titans in the fifth round of the 2003 draft. He became a free agent after last season, and has yet to find work for the upcoming season. Here's his letter.
Just a thought from an unemployed ex-Titan ? In today's economy industries need to be creating jobs. In the NFL, the new kickoff rule is eliminating jobs. The kickoff may as well be eliminated all together. For eight years I made my living covering kickoffs and I took pride in it. The kickoff may be the most violent play in all of sports but is one of the most exciting and game changing plays as well.
The first sign of the kickoff's extinction was the elimination of the four man wedge. That eliminated the need for a wedgebuster, which is how I earned my job. I think the NFL is destroying the true game of football and the physicality that America has grown to love. For someone who has never played the game to make so many changes unchecked is criminal. Paul Brown is rolling over in his grave because of all the changes made in the name of "player safety."
People go to NASCAR races to see wrecks. People go to football games to see long touchdowns and devastating hits. It's an injustice to the game and the men who have made their living covering kickoffs and sacrificing their bodies to have their jobs made obsolete. They might as well just have the kicker try to make it through the uprights on the kickoff for two points and the receiving team start at the fifteen or miss and start at the twenty.
Roger Goodell is hurting our game and eliminating jobs. Do NASCAR drivers get fined $100,000 for wrecking their cars? It's part of the sport. Come on Roger, America loves violence and the men who are lucky enough to be in the NFL love the game. Businessmen, lawyers, and insurance companies are turning football into flag football and preventing men like me from feeding my family.
With zero disrespect intended to Donnie Nickey, I disagree with a great deal of this. After the jump, I'll quibble with a few particular points.
Here we go.
In today's economy industries need to be creating jobs. In the NFL, the new kickoff rule is eliminating jobs.
No it's not. Gameday rosters will still be comprised of 45 men, whether or not there are kick returners and kick coverers among those 45. Someone will get those jobs. The amount of jobs available for NFL players is exactly the same today as it was last season (unless you count the new rule about the third quarterback not being inactive, in which case, you could say the rosters have grown by one).
Also, can we not say "eliminating jobs" and reference the economy like we're talking about sending 450,000 factory jobs to Taiwan or something? If we even were eliminating jobs -- and we're not -- it would be a very small handful of jobs, not some mass defection that could further cripple America's economy.
The kickoff may as well be eliminated all together.
I think the NFL is destroying the true game of football and the physicality that America has grown to love.
Yeah. A lot of people feel that way. In the long run, I don't think it's going to matter, though. By Week 4, I don't think anyone's going to be talking about the kickoff rule anymore, because the game's still going to be exciting, and there's still going to be a very high level of physicality. And by the end of the season, I don't think anyone's going to be sitting around saying, "I really didn't enjoy that season because it wasn't violent enough."
It seems like an issue now. In time, I don't believe it will. But we'll see.
People go to NASCAR races to see wrecks.
I'm not sure that's true. Maybe a small percentage, but by and large, I think most of a NASCAR crowd enjoys the spectacle, the competition, and the nuances and excitement of a race.
But I'll play along. Say there is a portion of NASCAR fans who show up just to see car crashes. How'd they enjoy this one? People will watch all kinds of violent things. People watch Bumfights. Just because there are people out there who feel jolly when they see a man's car flip seven times and smash into a wall at 170 mph doesn't mean that those fans must be courted.
I think there are purer reasons for watching a race, just like there's more to an MMA fight than a knockout head kick, and there's more to a hockey game than the fights. Hockey's a great example, in fact. Fights may be fun, but in the Olympics, when hockey somehow still exists without fights, we get some of the most exciting games in hockey history.
People go to football games to see long touchdowns and devastating hits.
I think that's a little bit reductive of NFL fans. A lot of people like short touchdowns, too. And a competitive, back-and-forth game. And rooting for their favorite teams. And all of it, really. We're not all just sitting around waiting for long touchdowns and devastating hits. There's a whole game there.
Businessmen, lawyers, and insurance companies are turning football into flag football and preventing men like me from feeding my family.
I empathize. I am sorry that you haven't found a spot on an NFL roster. I hope you do. Really.
I just don't agree with what you're saying. If someone wanted to argue that the kickoff wasn't any more dangerous than any other play in an NFL game, and had statistics to back that up, I'd listen. But the NFL believes it's a dangerous thing �-- one of the few they actually can control in a game -- and they're trying to do that.
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