NFL 2017

[MrBungle]

I despise the Steelers and I even think Harrison was/is clean... he was a steady force to be reckoned with, and was never caught juicing.... I'm sure his name came up more often than others when it came to testing.. in fact I remember a couple years ago I think he wanted to record the testing and there was a big stink about it...


The dude is just a gym fixture and freak of nature....



The team(Pitsburgh) burned their bridge with him, as lots of teams do with older players, its part of the game when you get to that level... But I believe James might take it more personal than business.... While I will rule out roids, I won't rule out brain damage...

 

[pop_rocks]

i remember that,mrB', when they sent someone over to collect a sample and he wanted to record it; fwiw i dont think he is on roids either
he is just a freak of nature and even around the NFL (a league of hard men and giants) he is known as a big bad dude

 

[Bababooey]

Democratic states tend to have higher taxes and shaky finances; isnt cali still broke, or have underfunded pensions? Like the only state with worse finances than IL.
Maybe when the economy is good and stock market is going up it's not as big a deal, since the pension funds invest heavily in stocks.
Speaking of taxes cigarettes in Chicago are like 10 bucks a pack. I used to smoke back in the day and remember when they were like 2.50-3.50 a pack. Glad i quit, for multiple reasons.

I didnt know LT owned a pet resort. He's like the anti-michael vick. And he probably makes decent coin from that business too, americans spend a ton of money on their pooches.

Harrison may very well be natural, he works out hours every day and spends a lot of $$ on his body, probably eats 10k calories a day in lean meat and healthy carbs. I think i read that he spent 100K a year on massages alone, which is a lot for a player who averaged 2.5M a year in earnings. I just think in general half or more of nfl players are on some sort of PED. It's a sport where being bigger,faster, stronger is very important, plus the league i think only tests once a year in the offseason? Unless you're caught, then it's like random tests once a month.
Ive seen those videos of him lifting prodigious amounts of weight, and i just shook my head and thought hmmm. Very suspicious, but i could very well be wrong. Wouldnt be the first time.

But asking an athlete if they do ped's is like asking a person if they cheat on their spouse; the answer is always going to be no, whether it's true or not.

Having spent 15 yrs playing linebacker in the nfl, he's probably got some cte going on, but i saw that interview he did about tomlin and he seemed intelligent and soft spoken despite his hulking appearance. And it wasnt that bad either, he didnt really blast tomlin, it was more that belichick is a stickler for discipline, even tom brady was running to meetings so he wouldnt be late.
And i dont think tomlin's a bad coach, he won a superbowl, lost another, maybe steelers fans think he should have more trophies but it's hard to win titles, even the patriots went 10 years between lombardi's. But harrison didnt like not playing much last year with the steelers, became petulant enough that tomlin finally released him and he went to play (a lot) for the patriots, so he's naturally not inclined to say anything nice about the man.

Anyone want to talk about 'America's team', the cowboys? 4 years ago demarco murray had an 1800yd rushing season, now he's retired. Tony romo retired and is doing commentary, and jason witten joined him (witten is doing MNF, so we'll see him plenty this year). Dez bryant was released and is currently without a team - i do see him signing eventually with someone, maybe the packers, even though he said he didnt want to go there, a qb like rodgers can get him a 12-14 td season pretty easily. Especially since the #1 corner is probably going to cover davante adams.
Theyve still got zeke and dak on offense, some talent on defense, but i think they'll be lucky to go 8-8 this year. The eagles will definitely be better, probably the giants as well with obj and saquon, and maybe even the redskins, who didnt lose much at qb with alex smith in place of cousins.

 

[pop_rocks]

yes, baba', cali is broke
even worse is the finances of individual cities, i know san diego has an huge deficit ( city pensions are a big part of it), and other cities are even worse
no matter how much they take in in tax revenue, there is no end to the california budget
/we are literally spending billions on a train to nowhere
i think smokes cost about $10 a pack here too, its like $5 cigarette tax , plus the usual state/ fed sales tax
i wonder how big a black market this creates
/in mexico im sure marlboros (or what ever brand you like) are much cheaper
i cant wait to see how the cowboys look once the preseason starts,hopefully they will have zeke for the whole season
but like you mentioned baba', they play in a tough division.
im not really up to speed on them overall and would like to hear what their fans think

 

[Bababooey]

San bernardino and detroit had to declare bankruptcy in the last decade, which played havoc with their pensioners. I think detroit pensioners have to pay something like $1000/mth for health insurance if theyre not old enough for medicare. And chicago pensioners have also seen their health insurance premiums go up. The rising cost of healthcare and pensions is just draining govt finances, leaving less for schools, mental health, infrastructure, etc.

I didnt even know california was building their san fran to LA bullet train, thought that was only an elon musk idea. 60 billion cost, paid for by the state and federal govt, and it might be done in 20 years. Well, maybe by that time the rams and chargers will have moved out of LA again.

Eric Garner, the i cant breathe guy who was killed by nypd, was being arrested for selling loosies - single cigarettes, for people unable or unwilling to buy a pack. Cigarettes in nyc were $10 a pack way before chicago, theyre probably like $13 a pack by now.

I forgot that the cowboys signed allen hurns this offseason; hurns had a 1000yd, 10td season with the jaguars 3 years ago but hasnt approached those #'s since, and last year was overshadowed by younger, more talented receivers on the team.
Zeke is a big time weapon but without decent receivers he may be bottled up by opposing defenses. He'll still be a top 5 fantasy draft pick though.
People are saying saquon barkley is already the best RB in the league without having played a game yet, but ill still take guys like zeke, leveon, gurley over him...

 

[iTarzan]

I can't believe that N.Y. pig/cop didn't get any criminal charges from killing eric Garner. The police force was instructed never to use that choke hold again. Eric kept yelling "I can't breathe" and really wasn't putting up a dangerous fight against the police. I think they are having a civil trial now. Sometimes I side with the officers but there have been quite a few now that I can not believe the officers are not in jail.

Thursday is the start of practice for some teams. I know it is for the Colts. They announced Luck is 100% ready to go.

Did anybody see the picture of Brady that all of Twitter is body shaming him about? I don't actually like Brady but leave the guy alone about his body. Yeah he looks like the guy next store but he plays like a guy from another planet, is rich and married to a supermodel. people need to chill. LOL!

The big "if" hanging over Barkley for me is that all throughout college he had 1 run or 2 that he gained all his yards on to give him a decent game total but he had many carries for 0 and 1 yards and even negative yards. I don't know if he will be that big of a runner in the NFL. We will see soon because the season is only 2 months away and preseason is only a month.

My Prudential health insurance policy, just for myself, cost me $880 a month. It pays for everything though, including dental and vision but I can hardly wait until I get on Medicare. I have been paying my own health insurance for over 10 years since I went self employed.

 

[shithawk420]

medicare and medicade suck.i need 3 wisdom teeth pulled and i have to wait till August 15 and the only places tht will do it is Rockford and Chicago.both are about a 2 hour drive 1 way from me.still gotta pay for hospital bills.trust me its not that great.at least in my state

 

[pop_rocks]

we are just scratching the surface of the problem with san bernadinos financial problems
i would bet half the cities/counties in california are on shaky ground financially, and many are robbing peter to pay paul
/as long as the money keeps rolling no problem, but come upa dollar short and the house of card starts to collapse; remember when OC declared bankrupt, yeah the problem is that bad
i wihs the bullet train connected urban centers like LA or frisco; that would make sense
no sir, this is much better than that; lets connect nowheres'ville cali to next to nothing ,"...from Madera to an orchard near Bakersfield"*
even if it were to work, this "..was a solution looking for a problem"*
*source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Is-California-high-speed-rail-still-a-train-to-12757303.php
ahahah, the state is sooooo screwed!

that sounds about in line with what a lot of self employed friends are paying, itarzan
health care costs in the us are out of control and i only expect them to get worse with the aging population

i wonder where people get the idea that saquon barkley is the best back in the league? sounds like hype from folks who dont really know the game if you ask me
until i see him play some preseason ball, i cant really rate his potential but he is playing on a team short on offense, so if he does take off he will be see stacked defenses all season long
plus to be the best takes more than a good rookie season or two (if that were the case lets just induct fournette and kareme hunt into the HOF right now)
as far as brady and his physique goes,thats more bullshit
yeah he dosent look like a body builder at aged 40y. but i will bet he is in very good shape
quarterback is a "skills" position in the game, so he dosent need to be jacked, he just needs to do what he does well
again, it sounds like people who dont know the game well; most athletes arent built like weight lifters but more toned to suit their craft

i cant wait for the start of the next season, fellows
even if its just preseason, im ready for some football

 

[Bababooey]

Yeah, but that part of the train line in central california is just phase 1, right? Still, it's not good that theyre taking so long to finish what should be the easiest part of the project.

Chicago and IL were neglecting their pension plan payments for decades, using that money for other things. Robbing peter to pay paul, indeed. So local and state govts have to keep upping the taxes to keep up with the bills, and even that is probably not enough. What makes it worse is a lot of govt pensions are very generous, like 2-3x more expensive that giving someone social security retirement benefits, and some unscrupulous employees do things like give themselves a big raise at the end of their career, since their pension is based on their last year's salary.

I think san bernardino went to a 401k plan instead of a pension plan, it's cheaper and the city cant push off their obligations into the future, they have to make their contributions to the plan every year. That's probably the model you'll see happen to govt's at all levels, much like the airlines did when a lot of them went into bankruptcy in the 2000's and couldnt afford their pension payments.

Sorry to hear youre having trouble hawk, dental problems suck. Yeah, i dont think medicare and medicaid provide much in the way of dental benefits. Theyre decent coverage in some things, but not dental.

The cop that choked eric garner is now being brought on disciplinary charges by the nypd, maybe he'll lose his job, even if he does he'll probably just become a cop somewhere else.
When I first saw the chokehold i didnt think it was that bad, he had it for less than 15 seconds - certainly painful and distressing but not enough to actually kill someone. But the choking and takedown triggered an asthma attack, and the lack of medical assistance immediately afterward (they just cuffed him and called emt while watching him die) really just gave him zero chance of survival. Over a charge of selling loose cigarettes.

Dang, almost $900/mth for health insurance. But it sounds like you got the gold plan if it covers everything, i suppose it's worth it if you have a lot of medical bills. One procedure at a hospital can cost thousands, an operation tens of thousands.

Tom Brady has the 'dad bod' going on, some love handles, body fat, not too much muscle definition. But i think his training focuses more on pliability than strength, he doesnt need to stiff arm a linebacker, he just needs to survive a hit by one. Whatever he's doing is working for him on the field, he just won an mvp at 40 years old.

I heard luck is going to be limited to 4 days a week of throwing in camp?

Barkley is projected to be adrian peterson with marshall faulk's receiving and pass protection skills, just an ultra-back. Like leveon bell but bigger, stronger, faster.
Ive only seen highlights of his play, i guess if you only see a player's best plays they'll always look great. It's not uncommon for a RB to have a majority of their value come from their top 5 longest runs, like kenyan drake last year, or todd gurley his rookie year.
Still, most everyone predicted ezekiel elliott to be a top 5 RB as a rookie, because of his talent and dallas's o-line. Saquon is even more hyped, although his line is still a question, but it's supposed to be quite a bit better than last year's version.

 

[pop_rocks]

brady definitely has the dad bod going on thats for sure, but he is also tough as nails and can read a defense
who knows about how barkley will play, he very well could be the next big thing at running back and only see him improving the NY offense
/no ground game at all
comparing him to AP or marshal faulk, well this is all just preseason hype brother;heck since we are throwing out names,lets add some LT into the mix just for the td's (best pass blocking, hard runnin, pass catching, td scoring back EVVAHHH!)
if he plays half as well as projected it should be fun to watch
yes, this is just the first segment in the high speed rail line, but its almost like the project is set up to fail before it even gets off the ground
by connecting two noplaces', you are almost guaranteeing low rider turn out and almost no revenue
thats going to make it that much harder to sell the next phase, especially once we see the final bill for this part
if they connected places where people go with frequency: san diego with los angles,( or la to sf/ la to vegas), we would really see how useful this is at provide a service to travelers/ commerce
otherwise, its just another waste of tax payer money

 

[Bababooey]

Yeah, marshall faulk, ladainian, priest holmes, they all took turns holding the title of best RB alive. I think LT's peak was better than the others' peaks though, that's how good he was. And none of those dudes were overly large people, they were actually kind of normal sized dudes.
The giant's RB's have been a fantasy wasteland for years now, if you were starting one of their rb's you were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. The giants threw a bunch of 4-5th round draft picks at RB the last few years to try and find a gem but none ever panned out. Now they have the most hyped RB prospect since Peterson, who at the combine proved to be as strong as an offensive lineman and as athletic as a defensive back.
Im thinking with saquon, a healthy odell, evan engram and sterling shepard, the giants offense will be set and eli may even have a good season. Their defense lost pierre paul but still has talent. I predict they'll be the 2nd best team in the nfc east, after the eagles of course.

Bears-packers open week 1 on sunday night football. Should be an interesting game, a lot of experts are predicting good things for the bears offense and trubisky. Packers havent had a good defense in years but they continue to revamp and build up their secondary, if all those guys stay healthy and play well they could be a top 5 defensive backfield. If the bears are able to move the ball against them, you'll know their offense is legit.

 

[pop_rocks]

im hearing a bit of hype about trubinsky, but until i see some real speed action its hard to gauge his potential
i bet you are hearing the hype about how hes making this throw or that read in practice,so what is your take on him,baba'?
that sounds like a great opener and i cant wait for the regular season to begin
it will be a test for the bears but i think its too early to tell who will be hot this season
im sure barkley is going to be a big upgrade for the giants on offense and he sure looks like he can play
i saw his combine numbers (a 4.4s 40 and 29 reps) and he looks amazing on paper
he was also in the espn magazines body issue, so ive seen so much more; lets just say the kid is jacked and has the build
but its going to take a lot for him to live up to his potential, including a lot of help from those around him
where is eli stacking up in fantasy this year? was he ever a top 5 pick?
so gurley just signed a big contract thats going to keep him in LA until hes almost 30
hes making close to what bell will be making with some decent money guaranteed, so it looks like a win win for both the rams and mr gurley
priest holmes, man he was great! one of my favorite back, i still remember the hit that most likely ended his career, delivered by sean "lights-out" merriman
/i was a huge fan of merrimans at the time and remember being stoked when the chargers drafted him in the first round

 

[Bababooey]

I havent seen or heard anything from practices hyping trubisky up, mostly just football and fantasy 'experts' expecting him to have a much improved 2nd year, maybe even on par with jared goff's improvement from a terrible rookie year to QB of a high scoring team. This is due to him having a whole different receiver group and a new, offense oriented coach.
It'll be interesting to see if they have him line up in shotgun a lot more this season, incorporate a lot more college style read option, sprint option plays, like what the chiefs did last year. Trubisky is a mobile qb (was actually ranked the #1 dual threat qb in the country in high school) like alex smith, so anything that helps stretch out a defense can only be a good thing. Last year, under fox, you'd see him do a lot of rollouts, but under nagy we should see a lot more imaginative uses of his athleticism.

I'm thinking i would take saquon if i have a mid-round pick in the 1st round, after guys like bell and gurley and elliott and johnson, and before guys like kamara, hunt, gordon. I want to see how many defenders he hurdles this season.

Eli might have had one top 5 fantasy season, 3 years ago he threw for 4400 yds, 35tds and 14 ints, only brady, cam (mvp year) and russell might have finished with more fantasy pts that year. I think that was odell's rookie year, and last year when odell was hurt for most of the season it was bad, he even got benched for one game for geno freaking smith. That led to their coach being fired. Not sure he'll be a top 10 qb this year, but should be worthy of a starting spot in 2 qb leagues, with plenty of upside if their offense gets rolling.

Gurley just set the RB market with a 4 year deal, 15M per year, 45M guaranteed. Actually those numbers are close to what leveon bell wanted, and might get when he leaves the steelers after this season. Good for him, he really flashed some elite receiving skills last year, proving he's a complete back.

Merriman was the most disruptive defensive player in the league before injuries ruined him. You ever do his 'lights out' dance after you have a big moment? Sometimes I bust it out and people think im having a seizure or something and i have to explain what im doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ_y6KyA3kQ
Merriman was a guest on this podcast earlier this year, talking about sports and politics and stuff. Might be interesting if youre a fan.

 

[pop_rocks]

thanks for the link man, i was a big fan of merriman
/his is one of the few team jerseys i have, the others are LT and an all black seau jersey
i think it was more than injuries that ruined sean merriman, he was know to host wold parties and there was even some incident with tia tequilla (remember her) not wanting to leave when asked. of course she made it sounds like she was an innocent victim in it all abd merriman went hard on her. but i heard another side that said he was hosting a party at his mansion and she was just mad because she caught him with another girl in his bedroom; instead of expressing remorse he was a true player and invited her to join in
i hope he is doing well for himself whatever he is up to and making the most of his life (wasnt he trying to get into mma style fighting)
the thing gurley has going for him is hes still really young, i think hes 24y this seasonwe will see but it seems like 30 is the magic number for running backs
rb's have a very limited shelf life , i tihnk bell will be in his late 20's when he hits the market next year, that makes it unlikely he will be seeing a long term deal; he will still get paid so im not going to worry about him too much
dident you mention that by drafting a guy, you get the rights to draft him in the next season (keeper league rules)?
if thats the case it might be worth picking saquon up just to have the option to draft him next season
have you drafted yet for the upcomming fantasy season?
who would be your top picks this season?

 

[Bababooey]

I hear you can get some cheap (less than $20 inc shipping), pretty authentic looking jerseys on dhgate . c o m, which is a site that sells cheap chinese made goods. Not sure if you want to buy any more chargers jerseys, but maybe they can make a san diego one for you.

Yeah, i heard he was involved with tia tequila. I thought she was bi too, so you'd think she wouldnt be that offended at the idea of a menage a trois, but maybe there were extenuating circumstances.

I think you can still party hard and be a great player, mickey mantle, michael irvin, michael jordan, allen iverson, babe ruth, all were known to party till the wee hours before a game. I think elite athletes in general are used to pushing their physical limits. But merriman had consistent lower body injuries (knees, feet, ankles), perhaps contributed to by PED use. He did fail a drug test early in his career, and like barry bonds, sometimes PEDs give you that short term burst in performance but long term make you more susceptible to injuries (too much muscle and mass on your joints).
I think merriman dabbled in mma and wwe for a bit but never really committed to either seriously. He's made about 22M in career earnings, after taxes you figure he received about 12-14M, which isn't a lot for an athlete who likes to party but hopefully he's got some money socked away.

Some leagues are keeper leagues but none of mine are.
I think my top picks will correlate to what most expert's rank them as, although when you're drafting sometimes there's a run on QB's, or WR's, or RB's, and you feel pressured to snag one before all the elite prospects at that position are gone.
I have a lot of bears fans in my league, so im sure guys like trubisky and jordan howard will go way before they should, and even secondary prospects with high upside like trey burke and anthony miller will be drafted a round or two earlier than normal by a rabid bears fan.

 

[pop_rocks]

im glad you mentioned jordan howard, he is a really good player that dosent seem to be getting much love at this point in his career
maybe in your area they see his value, but around the league i think a lot of people dont know what an explosive back he is
/not a complete back, but good for some solid numbers on the ground
its amazing what these guys can put their bodies through and still perform, one of the gifts of being young and fit
but yeah, fast living and peds were merrimans demise
im more worried about giving out my CC info to the chineese knock off sites than anything else
branded football gear is super expensive, but i will treat myself (or used to) every now and then
do you own many bears jerseys, t-shirts, etc?
i have a few tees, long sleeves, beanies, and couple jerseys (those things are expensive)
im thinking of picking up a rams t shirt for next season but im pretty damned cheap...
hope your week is wrapping up nicely brother and you have a kick ass weekend planned

 

[Bababooey]

Yeah, Howard finished #2 in rushing yds his rookie year and #6 last year, he's the best rb the bears have had since forte, but he doesnt add much receiving value. I think in the steelers game last year, he dropped a pass that would have been a game winning td, although the bears still ended up winning in OT.

You mentioned leveon's age, he'll be 27 next season, and youre right, 30 is about the age that RB's performance tends to decline, although guys like frank gore and maybe peterson and deangelo williams are still chugging along. But if he signs a 4 yr deal next year, he'll have a good 3 seasons before he hits that dreaded 30 age, and most nfl players in general dont see the end of their 4-5 year contracts - they either get released early if their performance falls or extended early if theyre still good.

You've heard more than me if merriman was partying too much. Was it so much that he wasnt training as much, he was getting out of shape? Losing interest in football? Not studying film and the playbook?

I think dh gate is more americanized than most sites that sell chinese goods, they may be hosted and administered here. I havent bought stuff from them in years but when i did i didnt notice any shenanigans with my card. Nowadays you always hear about this big company or that big company that gets hacked, not sure if there's anything safe anymore. Maybe you can order from them using paypal, that way only paypal has ur pmt info, not the site...

I think i have a fleece with a small bears logo, but not too much in the way of jerseys. I might have to get some if they become good again.

It's supposed to be in the 70's but raining this weekend, so not sure we can do anything outdoors, but ill try to have a good weekend nonetheless...

 

[pop_rocks]

camp is set ot open here for most teams and there are a couple big name hold outs
bell isnt reporting ot the steelers camp and aaron donald is not reporting to the rams
a few notable injuries this past week as well and we havent even gotten to the pre season
yeah, it seems like almost anyone can be hacked now days and i try and keep my internet footprint small
i only order online from amazon and if i have to get something from another site i will have someone else order for me
( i dont even have a paypal account)
its funny because for someone who works with computers as much as i do, i am not a big fan of e-commerce
i know im a relic but i still do most of my shopping in brick and mortar stores
so have you selected your players yet for your fantasy football teams,baba'?
a few friends were talking about stats at work today and i thought about this thread
hope you had a great weekend and your weeek is off to a great start!

 

[Bababooey]

I think pretty much every team is in training camp by now. Weren't we supposed to start a new 2018 nfl thread when camp opens?

Bears and ravens play this thursday in the hall of fame game. Maybe trubisky and the starters will play a series or two, see if they actually have an offense that can move the ball. And maybe lamar jackson will play a bit for the ravens too, it'd be interesting to see him run around and throw bombs.

Chargers have already lost hunter henry and jason verrett, not a good start but maybe if that's all they lose to injury not so bad.

Shopping at brick and mortar stores is nice because you can actually touch and feel what you're buying, and makes returns easier as well, although amazon had dropoff boxes for returns.

We dont draft until the last week of the preseason, it's kind of late but at least you know by then who's been injured in camp and preseason so you can avoid those guys.

 

[pop_rocks]

yes, camps are open and that was when we decided to start the new thread...

to be continued in NFL 2018