2013 NFL Season Thread

[Lint]

Lets move the discussion here, since cuts, trades, free agency etc..will all be starting soon...

To start things, according to Tim McManus of Birds 24/7 reports that Chip Kelly has been talking about getting Dennis Dixon, the Oregon QB when he was OC, to come on board as a 3rd string QB to teach the others more about Kellys offensive scheme.

He also said that, while Vick has been in the press, neither Kelly nor anyone in the Eagles front office has yet to meet face to face with Nick Foles

[Red Devil-Taker316]

Ahmad Bradshaw was released. I'm sure he'll get some attention from some teams.

[Plubby]

Boise State reunion in St Louis as Titus Young links back up with Austin Pettis

Couple days old, that news

[PatDaMan]

Eagles released Demetress Bell...the first of MANY moves expected. Start washing off the stink of the 2012 season.

[gunnar hendershow]

The 2013 Eagles are going to look entirely different from the disaster of 2012, agreed. The big domino to fall is Vick, and we should know what is happening to him soon.

Also, Eagles bringing in Dennis Dixon to help work on the Oregon offense is an interesting idea. I don't know where the Eagles will afford the speed and talent needed to successfully run it at the NFL level, but if they make it an aspect of their offense (and not the whole gameplan) it would likely work as well as the Option is in San Fran or Washington.

[The Buscher]

I'm really going to miss Bradshaw. Yes he had a ton of injuries, but he always showed plenty of heart and tried his damnedest to play through the pain.

[thatshortguy]

Falcons extended the contract of Dirk Koetter. Smart move. Scuttlebutt around here is Richard Seymour or Osi Umenyiora being the big defensive signing, of which I probably would take Osi (unless you could get Richard for much cheaper.) Smith & Co. still need to make up their mind about either doing a 4-3 or 3-4, though.

[DYSI]

I'm really going to miss Bradshaw. Yes he had a ton of injuries, but he always showed plenty of heart and tried his damnedest to play through the pain.

Yeah, he really gave everything he had for us and him leaving will be tough. Now it puts a lot of carries on David Wilson and Andre Brown and they showed some potential last season but now they'll have to go even further. I'm not sure if we'll pick up another RB in the off-season but I'm pretty optimistic with this combo, they're young and have a lot of carries in them, we just need to upgrade our O-Line for anything of that to matter.

Boley and Canty are out too. Our LB core was pretty weak to begin with and getting rid of our best LB isn't going to help, hopefully we can find someone in the draft that can anchor us for a couple of years. It's been awhile since we had a stout LB core.

[Dan]

Raiders have put down Tarps on 11,000 seats, they now have the smallest possible attendance in the NFL.

Last year they had the worst average attendance: http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance/_/year/2012

Funny that the Jags are 20th, people always call them out on the lack of fans and they're going to move because of it, but even in the worst season in the clubs history they managed a reasonable figure.

[livid]

That's because the only other thing to do in Jacksonville on a Sunday is go to church. They're not even fans, just bored.

[Thrilla]

The 49ers have signed (DT) Lamar Divens, (WR) Ricardo Lockette, (G) Al Netter, (LB) Nate Stupar, (G) Wayne Tribue and (T) Kenny Wiggins to Reserve/Future contracts.

Be interesting to see if Lockette makes it to the main squad, he got cut before the start of last season by the Seahawks. I don't recognise any of the other names.

[Cactus Drags]

Totally misread that as Kenny Loggins and went to make a Danger Zone joke.

[gunnar hendershow]

Raiders have put down Tarps on 11,000 seats, they now have the smallest possible attendance in the NFL.

Last year they had the worst average attendance: http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance/_/year/2012

Funny that the Jags are 20th, people always call them out on the lack of fans and they're going to move because of it, but even in the worst season in the clubs history they managed a reasonable figure.

It's about a whole lot more than stadium attendance. Jacksonville tickets are very cheap and easy to acquire, I've looked into going down there when the Ravens play them since, no joke on nothing, it is cheaper to fly and get a ticket in Jacksonville than it is to drive into Baltimore, park, and buy a Ravens ticket. Jacksonville's reasons for why they might move are much broader than overall attendance figures. Market size is tiny, I believe it's something like 40th nationally. Green Bay is the exception because of their national fanbase, but while other small markets might fill seats at home games there just aren't enough people to watch on TV. Another problem is that their stadium sucks and I believe I read loses money. Cosmetic changes like the new scoreboard do not address the heart of the problem. Merchandise sales for Jacksonville are some of the lowest in the league, for obvious reasons. In the end, there are simply bigger, more lucrative markets out there that any owner with any business sense would consider moving to.

That said, I don't know if Jacksonville will move since their new owner seems to have this notion of building a foundation in London and trying to become "their" team. Without wins that will be a fruitless endeavor. But it'll keep the team focused on that fool's errand long enough for LA to fill up.

[DMN in the House]

I've said it before, but the only teams that have any chance of suceeding in the Los Angeles market are the Raiders, Rams, or expansion. No one will care about the Jags.

[gunnar hendershow]

I don't quite get that. If an existing franchise like the Chargers or Vikings moves to town in a new stadium and wins, why would people not care? The expansion idea is the same as the Jags moving and changing their names and uniforms (which will probably happen were they to be a team that moved) by my estimation.

Are there just holdovers in LA who are still Rams fans and waiting for them to "come home" or something?

[thatshortguy]

A team that moves to L.A. will ultimately face a situation similar to Atlanta's teams. After the honeymoon's worn off, nobody will care until the team is deep in the playoffs.

[DMN in the House]

There's a pretty solid holdover of Raiders and Rams fans, and then it's mostly fans of western teams (decent amount of Chargers/Broncos/Niners fans), and the expected Packers/Steelers/Cowboys fanbases. LA just won't care about a team that's not 'theirs', and, despite not being in the south, college football is probably bigger than NFL football here, thanks to USC.

All in all, the teams LA cares about are Lakers, Dodgers, USC Football/UCLA Basketball, Kings, in pretty much that order, except when the Dodgers are really good. It's pretty much why I laughed at people that tried to talk about LA becoming a Clipper town. That will never happen. For all the great things the Clippers have done the last year and a half, all anyone talks about is the Lakers. The Anaheim teams are even farther behind that, although the Angels have a strong fanbase in Orange County.

[gunnar hendershow]

I always figured the Clippers would benefit from a move to Anaheim, they'd have a market that would be "theirs". And, would you say as someone from LA, that the Rams really suffered from playing in Anahiem? Like if they had stuck at a stadium in LA they probably would still be there?

But those are fair points. I admittedly get blinded by how Baltimore embraced the Ravens despite them not being the Colts nor having the Colts history. It's fair to say there just aren't a lot of cities that will embrace a new team as quickly and Baltimore is the exception to the rule. Not that the Cardinals ever had a huge following in St. Louis, but I don't think the Rams have really established themselves as a part of St. Louis life and they likely won't be missed if they move. I've always been told the "new Browns" don't have the same appeal as the "old Browns" but that's gotta be more because of how much they lose than the fans actually not having embraced the team, right? They were only without a team for 2 years, it's not like anyone had the time to become Steelers or Bengals fans. Does anyone have knowledge if the Texans have become more popular than the Oilers were? I'm just curious, it's safe to say that none of the "newer" NFL cities have become as major a part of the city's identity like the Ravens have but I'm curious how much of a foothold any of those teams have. And it is very safe to say a new LA team, besides having the league's best efforts at protecting it and keeping it in the TV market for leverage in future TV contracts, won't really become a part of the city's identity like the Lakers and Dodgers are.

[Maxx]

Helps when you win a title within your first 5 years of existence.

[gunnar hendershow]

It does and it has helped Baltimore. The same can't be said for St. Louis.