Category: Football

NFL Week 6 Good Cop, Bad Cop Precaps

The NFL season has started but how do you know which games to watch and which to skip? Ask our favorite police duo with their good cop, bad cop precaps of all the Week 6 matchups in the National Football League this weekend. To see which games will be televised in your area, check out 506sports.com’s essential NFL maps. If you’re worried about watching too much football or if you’re negotiating for a little break during the weekend, read our weekly feature, Do Not Watch This Game.

Week 5

Sunday, October 12, at 1:00 p.m. ET

New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills

Good cop: The Bills always play the Patriots tough! It’s their downtrodden but tough Upstate New York personality!

Bad cop: You’re saying one team always loses and you want me to watch?

Baltimore Ravens at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Good cop: I admire the Bucs spirit! After a thwacking on national TV, they’ve come back to play two great games in a row! I expect three!

Bad cop: Games down in Florida depress me once it’s October. Football is a fall sport. It should be chilly.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns

Good cop: The Browns have been good this year but beating the Steelers would make them great!

Bad cop: Cleveland Browns = Charlie Brown. Pittsburgh Steelers = Lucy pulling the ball away.

Carolina Panthers at Cincinnati Bengals

Good cop: Two cats enter, only one will leave!

Bad cop: Two exposed, under-achieving teams enter. Both will leave.

Denver Broncos at New York Jets

Good cop: It’s the offensive brilliance of Peyton Manning against the defensive scheming of Rex Ryan! A chess game extraordinaire!

Bad cop: The only scheming Rex Ryan is doing is how he can keep his job for one more week.

Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings

Good cop: The NFC North division is wide open! This game between the Lions and the Vikings might be the difference between playoffs and bust!

Bad cop:  Hmm. The Vikings without Adrian Peterson versus the Lions without Calvin Johnson. I think I’m going to do some vacuuming instead.

Green Bay Packers at Miami Dolphins

Good cop: Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been on fire the last couple weeks! Can the aquatic Dolphins quench his flame?

Bad cop: Fire? Flame? Has my wit scorched you?

Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans

Good cop: This might be the Jaguars best chance to win a game this season!

Bad cop: This might be the Jaguars best chance to win a game this season.

SUNDAY, October 12, AT 4:05 and 4:25 P.M. ET

San Diego Chargers at Oakland Raiders

Good cop: I’m always interested when two teams from the same state play each other! 

Bad cop: San Diego is over 500 miles from Oakland. The Chargers are about 500 times better than the Raiders.

Chicago Bears at Atlanta Falcons

Good cop: These teams are like mirror images of each other! Good quarterbacks, great wide receivers, mediocre defenses!

Bad cop: Always the best men, never the grooms.

Dallas Cowboys at Seattle Seahawks

Good cop: This is a colossal matchup of titans! Two of the best teams in the league this year! This could be an NFC Championship game preview!

Bad cop: Did you say Titans? Have I already said how bad the Titans are? I have nothing bad to say about these two teams. Let’s move on.

Washington Redskins at Arizona Cardinals

Good cop: After burying their season and waving it goodbye, Washington has a sliver of life left if they can beat the Cardinals.

Bad cop: Washington, led by their second string quarterback, visits Arizona, led by their third stringer. The only interest I have in this game is what would happen if these quarterbacks got injured.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, AT 8:30 P.M. ET

New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles

Good cop: An NFC East battle! A tri-state area struggle! Both teams with winning records! Who could ask for anything more?

Bad cop: All I have to say is that this game doesn’t lend itself to themed cuisine very well.

MONDAY, October 13, AT 8:30 P.M. ET

San Francisco 49ers at St. Louis Rams

Good cop: The Rams may not be great but their defense always puts up a good fight against San Francisco! 

Bad cop: Do not watch this game.

What does the green dot on a football helmet mean?

The green dot on a football helmet signifies the player whose coach can talk to him through a radio. It has a long and curious history to explore…

Dear Sports Fan,

I notice that some football helmets have little green dots on the back of them. What does the green dot on a football helmet mean?

Thanks,
Gordon

 

Dear Gordon,

The green dot on the back of a football helmet means that there is a small radio receiver and set of speakers inside that helmet so that the player wearing it can hear their coach talk to them at specific times during the game. This seems like a really weird thing to have in the middle of sporting event but it’s not as rare as you might think. Race car drivers and cyclists have two-way radio capabilities during races and, although without radio technology, most team-sport athletes can hear their coaches during games. National Football League stadiums are just so loud during games that without radio, coaches would not be able to talk to their players. Let’s find out a little more about the history and use of radio in the NFL.

The first coach to put a radio receiver into a helmet was legendary Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown (not related) way back in 1956. Mark Bechtel wrote a great article about this for The MMQB.  A few themes that will follow us throughout the history of the helmet radio were present at its inception: radio interference and attempts to cheat and counter-cheat with the radio. At this point, there were no rules legislating the use of helmet radios, so just having them was seen as cheating. It didn’t work that well for the Browns though because their opponents quickly, “became suspicious when they realized that Brown was no longer using offensive linemen to shuttle in plays.” Soon, another opponent got wise to what was happening and, “simply listened in and asked a former Browns player to decipher what was being said, then prepared accordingly.” Not that listening to the radio was all that helpful to anyone. Radio technology being what it is, there was a little bit of cross-pollination. According to Bechtel, the Browns stopped using the helmet radio when their quarterback, “called timeout, took off the helmet and reported to Brown: “Coach, some guy just got stabbed over on Fifth Avenue.” Not so long after, the radio was officially outlawed by the commissioner of the NFL.

The radio made a comeback in 1994 when its use was legalized as part of a sweeping set of changes intended to make life easier for the offense. Kevin Craft chronicles the history of these changes in a Slate article on the topic. The rule allowed for quarterbacks and only quarterbacks to have radio receivers in their helmets so that their coaches could talk to them. The only real caveat to their use was that the receivers would shut off for the last 15 seconds of the 40 seconds each team has to run a play. As soon as the rule went into effect, the race to cheat started. ESPN’s Mike Sando wrote an article in 2007 about all the various ways a team could try to beat the system and communicate all the way through the play clock. Jamming your opponents’ ability to communicate is another good cheat that teams have been trying (or accusing other teams of trying) since the radios were legal. And although the radios are now digital, jamming complaints continue despite highly encrypted and monitored systems. Meanwhile, the interference that led the Browns to give up the system in disgust back in 1956 have been a comedic trope all the way through. The articles I read for this post were full of funny interference stories. My favorite is from Sando’s article:

“I remember one time I was playing, I forget where it was, but I could hear the concession communication,” said Tennessee’s Kerry Collins, a veteran of 148 regular-season starts. “They were asking for popcorn on the second level or something like that.

In 2008, the NFL modified the helmet radio rule to allow for one defensive player to wear a radio in their helmet as well. In Jim Corbett’s article about the rule change for USA Today, he surmised that it was part of a league effort to “counter-balance the New England Patriots’ illegally video taping of the New York Jets’ defensive hand signals in last year’s season opener.” The same fifteen second cutoff applies to the defensive radio helmet which is most often worn by a middle or inside linebacker. Basically team’s want their best, smartest defensive player who almost never leaves the field and is centrally located enough to pass messages on to the rest of his unit to wear the helmet.

Back to the green dot. The dot is actually a sticker with a small NFL logo on it that the guys over at Uni Watch absolutely hate. The NFL rules about radios make it very clear that only one player from each team is allowed on the field at a time with a radio in their helmet. On offense, this is simple — it’s the quarterback — but on defense, there may be some packages that even the best middle linebacker isn’t in. In that case, an alternate player, who registered with the refs before the game as being a radio alternate, can come in off the sidelines with a second radio helmet, designated with a green dot. Before the play starts, he has to tell an official that the primary radio player has left the field and that he’s now the radio guy. The green dot helps officials make sure that there’s only one player from each team with a radio helmet on during each play.

My question has always been — what are the coaches really saying to their players? Oh, I’m sure they say the name of a play, but that only takes a second or two. Coaches are crazed, egotistical people. Are they really able to resist the temptation of being able to talk to a player who can’t talk back? Corbett provided us just a glimpse of this one-way communicative world:

Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder would appreciate calmer and clearer communication from excitable defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni.

“It scares the hell out of you sometimes because Pasqualoni is not the calmest guy in the world,” Crowder says. “He gets to yelling in there every play. He’ll say, ‘Watch the run! Watch the pass! Watch it!’

“What else can I do? It’s run or pass.”

I guess in the end, the green dot on football helmets lets us know which player is most thoroughly being harassed by his coach.

Thanks for the question,
Ezra Fischer

Do Not Watch This Game 10.10.14 Weekend Edition

For sports fans, the weekend is a cornucopia of wonderful games to watch. This is particularly true in the fall with its traditional pattern of College Football on Saturday and NFL Football on Sunday and Monday. As the parent, child, girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, husband, wife, roommate, or best friend of a sports fan, this can be a challenge. It must be true that some games are more important to watch than others but it’s hard to know which is which. As a sports fan, the power of habit and hundreds of thousands of marketing dollars get in the way of remembering to take a break from sports and do something with your parent, child, girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, husband, wife, roommate, or best friend. To aid all of us in this, and just because it’s fun, I’m going to write a weekly post highlighting a single game that is ideal for skipping. Use this to help tell yourself or someone else: “Do not watch this game!”

Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET, NFL Football, St. Louis Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers. It’s on ESPN but do not watch this game!

This looks like it should be a good game. Both teams are in the NFC West, which was, by consensus, thought of as the best division in the NFL after last season. Last year, the four teams in the division combined for a 42-22 record last year and if you exclude the games they played against one another, that record improves to 30-10. The 49ers made it to the semifinals last year where they lost to division rival and eventual champion, Seattle. The fourth member of the division, the Arizona Cardinals, just barely missed out on the playoffs but had a 10-6 record. The Rams were the only team in the division last year not to make the playoffs and to have a losing record at 7-9 but we’re widely said to have been “stronger” than their record.

So, why wouldn’t this game be appointment television? Well, for one, things change fast in the NFL. The teams aren’t as strong as they were last year. The Rams lost their starting quarterback to a season ending injury in the pre-season. They’re playing pretty well on offense behind first-time starter Austin Davis but their defense has basically collapsed. They are allowing an average of almost 30 points per game which is third worst in the league. This won’t help make the game more exciting because even last year, games between these two teams weren’t that close. The 49ers beat the Rams by 10 and 24 points last year.

Last, and this is oddly important to me and other sports fans, this game just doesn’t have many potentially fun story-lines regardless of its outcome. A 49ers victory would engender basically no story at all. They are expected to win. A Rams win would only fuel the prevailing “What’s wrong with the 49ers?” story which, so far, has been answered with a chorus of “they hate their coach.” Teams hate their coaches all the time, it’s not that interesting.

Alternate: If you or the sports fan in your life is a fan of one of these two teams, then this isn’t a good game to skip. Instead, skip the CBS early game at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon between the Denver Broncos and the New York Jets unless you enjoy watching a finely tuned piece of machinery cut through a confused mess.

When fantasy football gets real

Fantasy football is so commonplace that we never stop to think about how funny it is. Luckily two NFL players recognized the humor for us…

Fantasy football has become such a popular game that it’s become quite commonplace. We rarely stop to think about how weird it all is. Millions of people play a game based on the statistics generated from hundreds of people playing a different game. That’s weird! It’s especially weird for the couple hundred people who are notable enough football players that their names and statistics are the ones being used in fantasy football. Two NFL players made news recently by playing with the comical boundary between fantasy and reality this past week.

Glenn Davis of the USA Today reported that New York Giants Tight End Larry Donnell lost his fantasy football game last week because he chose to start 49ers Tight End Vernon Davis over himself! Little did he know that he was going to catch three touchdowns in the Giants game versus Washington while Davis was going to leave his game against Philadelphia early with an injured back. Whoops! As a fantasy owner, it’s comforting to know that even the player involved has no idea before the game whether or not he’s going to do better than another player.

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin reported recently on another NFL player having fun with fantasy. San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Stevie Johnson has been perpetrating a running joke on his twitter feed. He pretends that he is fielding a “Fantasy Work team” and his twitter followers reply with clever reasons to be included on or excluded from his team. It’s an incredibly clever gag. Here are a few of my favorites:

Johnson himself continues to be a surprisingly useful fantasy player himself. In the past three weeks he’s had one game with 100 yards receiving and two other games with a touchdown. As good as he is at football, he’s probably even better to have in a fantasy good-natured-comedy league!

Week Five NFL One Liners

NFL One LinersOn Mondays during in the fall, the conversation is so dominated by NFL football that the expression “Monday morning quarterback” has entered the vernacular. The phrase is defined by Google as “a person who passes judgment on and criticizes something after the event.” With the popularity of fantasy football, we now have Monday morning quarterbacks talking about football from two different perspectives. We want you to be able to participate in this great tradition, so all fall we’ll be running NFL One Liners on Monday. Use these tiny synopses throughout the day:

Week 5

Sunday, October 5, at 1:00 p.m. ET

Buffalo Bills 17, at Detroit Lions 14

The first of a series of extremely close games this week. The Bills beat the Lions on a last minute 58 yard field goal. That’s an incredibly difficult feat. Kickers are not totally accepted in the football fraternity but when you need them, it’s good to have a good one.
Line: I guess benching quarterback EJ Manuel was a good idea for the Bills.

Baltimore Ravens 13, at Indianapolis Colts 20

Two good teams played a pretty good game. One won but they’ll both be fine in the long term.
Line: When in doubt, go with the better quarterback. Andrew Luck on the Colts is better than most.

Chicago Bears 24, at Carolina Panthers 31

The Bears continue to torture their fan base by looking like a supremely talented team… and then losing. Meanwhile, in an attempt to prove how crazy football players really are, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton had four wisdom teeth taken out in the last week and played professional football on Sunday.
Line: Can you imagine having four wisdom teeth taken out and then playing football a few days later?

Houston Texans 17, at Dallas Cowboys 20

The battle of Texas was won by big-brother Dallas but little-brother Houston really made them work for it. The whole “battle of Texas” thing is probably more of a media creation than a real rivalry because the two teams play in different divisions and conferences but it sure made for a good game anyway.
Line: Love them or hate them, the Cowboys do seem to play in an inordinate number of exciting games.

Pittsburgh Steelers 17, at Jacksonville Jaguars 9

The Jaguars fall to 0-5 making them one of only two unvictorious teams left. They’re really just not as good at football as the rest of the teams.
Line: The Jaguars will probably win a game at some point but it’s hard to imagine when.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, at New Orleans Saints 37

The second overtime game of the day, two weeks ago the Buccaneers had just been humiliated on national television and were winless. Now they’ve won one game and taken another good team to overtime. Although, really, how sure are we that the Saints are good? Not very.
Line: This game says more about the Saints (in a bad way) than it does about the Buccaneers (in a good way.)

Atlanta Falcons 20, at New York Giants 30

This game was a microcosm of the Giants’ season so far. They fell behind 20-10 just like they started the year 0-2. Then they seemed to get their act together and came back to score the next twenty points just like they’ve won the last three games to get to 3-2.
Line: When Eli Manning retires from football he should go right to his next career as the villain in a zombie movie. Every time you think he’s down, he rises back up.

St. Louis Rams 28, at Philadelphia Eagles 34

The fate of the Rams seems to be to scare teams but not to beat them this year. The Eagles, on the other hand, are specialists this year in finding ways to win without looking all that dominant.
Line: The Eagles look like the weakest 4-1 team I can remember seeing.

SUNDAY, October 5, AT 4:05 and 4:25 P.M. ET

Arizona Cardinals 20, at Denver Broncos 41

This game exemplifies the current era of the NFL. A good offense beats a good defense every time. The Broncos have a great offense and the Cardinals have a very good defense. It wasn’t close.
Line: A good offense beats a good defense every time.

Kansas City Chiefs 17, at San Francisco 49ers 22

A couple years ago, the 49ers decided to move on from Quarterback Alex Smith and go with Colin Kaepernick. Smith went to play in Kansas City and Kaepernick took over the starting job in San Francisco. Since then, both quarterbacks have played extremely well. Today, Smith’s old team beat his new team but there’s no shame in that.
Line: Football is a team game. It’s too simple to make it into Smith vs. Kaepernick or any one player against another.

New York Jets 0, at San Diego Chargers 31

Whoa. Uh oh. The New York media was out for struggling Jets quarterback Geno Smith after last week’s poor performance and slight misbehavior (he cursed at some fans.) I can’t imagine how hard their going to slam him this week.
Line: Smith’s time as a starter in NY might be done.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, AT 8:30 P.M. ET

Cincinnati Bengals 17, at New England Patriots 43

The NFL stands for the National Football League but people often say it stands for the No Fun League or the Not For Long league. This game was an exhibition of why people call it the Not For Long league. The Bengals were undefeated coming into the game an the Patriots had just spent a week in an existential crisis over old-age and poor performance. Not for long!
Line: I guess Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick still remember how to win.

NFL Week 5 Good Cop, Bad Cop Precaps

Good Cop, Bad CopThe NFL season has started but how do you know which games to watch and which to skip? Ask our favorite police duo with their good cop, bad cop precaps of all the Week 5 matchups in the National Football League this weekend. To see which games will be televised in your area, check out 506sports.com’s essential NFL maps. If you’re worried about watching too much football or if you’re negotiating for a little break during the weekend, read our weekly feature, Do Not Watch This Game.

Week 5

Sunday, October 5, at 1:00 p.m. ET

Buffalo Bills at Detroit Lions

Good cop: The legendary Kyle Orton comes off the bench to lead the Bills against the Lions!

Bad cop: He’s legendary for his neck beard, not his football prowess.

Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts

Good cop: Baltimore takes on the team that Indianapolis stole from their city! It’s the ultimate revenge game!

Bad cop: The Colts left Baltimore 30 years ago — do you really think people are still angry?

Chicago Bears at Carolina Panthers

Good cop: Two good teams with high hopes for the year face off after crushing defeats last weekend! I want to see which team can bounce back!

Bad cop: More than just crushing, those defeats last week were revealing of flaws that neither of these teams are going to be able to overcome this year. Let’s move on.

Houston Texans at Dallas Cowboys

Good cop: It’s the battle of Texas! The lone-star state! Everything is bigger and better in Texas, especially their two 3-1 football teams!

Bad cop: You got me. I’m going to watch this game until Texans defensive lineman J. J. Watt eats and digests Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Which will happen within five minutes.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Jacksonville Jaguars

Good cop: Last week the Steelers lost to a winless Tampa Bay team! Will Jacksonville get their first win this weekend?

Bad cop: No.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints

Good cop: Avast there Matey! This game pits the two scurviest crews of scalawags in a contest of blood and guts! Yaaaarrr!

Bad cop:  You do know that Saints are not a type of pirate, right?

Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants

Good cop: The Giants are on a roll! The Falcons are on a roll! After this week, only one will remain on a roll!

Bad cop: First it’s pirates, now it’s sandwiches? You’re confusing. And making me hungry. 

St. Louis Rams at Philadelphia Eagles

Good cop: I’m fascinated by the Eagles! They’ve overcome injuries to almost all of their offensive linemen to make it to a 3-1 record over the first four weeks. How long can they keep this up?

Bad cop: I’m having trouble expressing why, but I just don’t want to watch this game. And I don’t think anyone else who isn’t a green-fonted lunatic would want to either. 

SUNDAY, October 5, AT 4:05 and 4:25 P.M. ET

Arizona Cardinals at Denver Broncos

Good cop: The 3-0 Cardinals and the defending ACF champion Broncos must have used their bye (or off) weeks to plan how to beat each other! This game is going to be a festival of tactics! 

Bad cop: Tactics you say? I’m going to go all the way out on the limb and say that the team with Peyton Manning is going to beat the team without Peyton Manning

Kansas City Chiefs at San Francisco 49ers

Good cop: Two teams on opposite trajectories! The Chiefs are springing back to the top of the heap after a bad first two weeks! The 49ers’ curve is like a U so far! Win, loss, loss, win!

Bad cop: Both teams are stumbling their way to winning half their games and losing half their games. That’s literally average. Could. Not. Be. Less. Interesting.

New York Jets at San Diego Chargers

Good cop: Is this the last chance for Jets quarterback Geno Smith? He’s exciting to watch but he makes lots of mistakes including cursing at the New York fans in New Jersey last weekend! 

Bad cop: Every disappointing, angry New Yorker should get a chance to go to San Diego. They just shouldn’t start at quarterback.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, AT 8:30 P.M. ET

Cincinnati Bengals at New England Patriots

Good cop: The day of reckoning is here for the Patriots! Tom Brady has had nothing but bad things to say all week! Bill Bellichick hasn’t really said anything but you can tell he’s not happy! They need to beat the Bengals to right the ship but the Bengals are undefeated!

Bad cop: Day of reckoning? I reckon the Patriots will find a way to win nine games this year. Which is probably all they’ll need to make the playoffs because their division is so weak.

MONDAY, October 6, AT 8:30 P.M. ET

Seattle Seahawks at Washington Redskins

Good cop: It’s… uh… umm… football! Hooray!

Bad cop: Do not watch this game.

Do Not Watch This Game 10.4.14 Weekend Edition

Do not watch this game 1

 

For sports fans, the weekend is a cornucopia of wonderful games to watch. This is particularly true in the fall with its traditional pattern of College Football on Saturday and NFL Football on Sunday and Monday. As the parent, child, girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, husband, wife, roommate, or best friend of a sports fan, this can be a challenge. It must be true that some games are more important to watch than others but it’s hard to know which is which. As a sports fan, the power of habit and hundreds of thousands of marketing dollars get in the way of remembering to take a break from sports and do something with your parent, child, girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, husband, wife, roommate, or best friend. To aid all of us in this, and just because it’s fun, I’m going to write a weekly post highlighting a single game that is ideal for skipping. Use this to help tell yourself or someone else: “Do not watch this game!”

Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET, NFL Football, Washington Redskins vs. Seattle Seahawks. It’s on ESPN but do not watch this game!

If you enjoyed last Monday’s lopsided game between the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs, then you’ll probably love this game. It’s likely to be at least as lopsided as the 41 – 14 shellacking we just witnessed. Why? Let’s count the ways:

  1. Washington is on their second quarterback of the year, Kirk Cousins, who just threw four interceptions against the Giants last week.
  2. Seattle’s quarterback is Russell Wilson who has thrown four interceptions in his last ten regular season or playoff games.
  3. Seattle won the Super Bowl last year. Washington last won in 1991, when Cousins and Wilson were three or four years old.
  4. Vegas thinks Seattle will win by 7.5 points even though they are on the road and playing at home is usually the equivalent of a three point advantage.
  5. Seattle has players and positional units nicknamed “Beast Mode” and “The Legion of Boom.” Washington’s nickname is so bad that announcers won’t even say it on television anymore.
  6. Washington has lost their last six night games. Seattle is 10-1 since 2010.
  7. Stats like that are pretty meaningless because it’s always easy to find counterpoints: Washington has won the last six regular season games against Seattle.
  8. The truth is that Washington and Seattle don’t play that often. Those six games have been played over fourteen years. In that same time, the two teams have played three times in the playoffs and Seattle has won every time.
  9. Football Outsiders thinks Seattle has an 80% chance of making the playoffs. Washington? 6%.
  10. Washington themselves doesn’t think they have much of a chance in this game. The Washington Post got offensive lineman Trent Williams on record as saying, “Can we beat them? Yeah,” Williams said, nonchalantly. “At the end of the day, they’re not robots. They’re human beings and nobody’s perfect. Nobody plays perfect every Sunday. They have been beaten before. It’s not like they’re unstoppable. They’re a great team, no doubt about it, but anything is possible in the NFL.”

There’s ten ways of saying roughly the same thing: Seattle is very good at football and Washington is pretty bad. I’m not going to bother giving an alternate game this weekend because really, even if you are a Washington or Seattle fan, I think you can do without this game. Go for a hike. Read a book. Play some bridge.

News Clippings: Want the truth? Ask the players!

ReadsFootball players have been in the news a lot this fall and mostly for the wrong reasons. A string of high profile domestic abuse and child abuse cases has left many observers wondering about the present and future of the National Football League. Luckily, some great journalists and organizations have given platforms to players and former players and I have appreciated hearing from them. I’ve chosen just a few of the many public contributions to share with you today. These three athletes are a great reminder that as physical as sports are, they are equally a mental pursuit. It’s a mistake to think that just because a football player can run through a brick wall that they think like a brick wall.

Take Him Off the Field

Chris Carter on ESPN NFL Countdown

Former wide receiver Chris Carter was impressive on television discussing the Adrian Peterson child abuse case. He two best points were that taking a player off the field is really the only way to adequately punish him and that tradition is no excuse for wrongdoing.

 

Looking Through Bulletproof Windows

William Gay for The MMQB

On the subject of domestic abuse, there could be better voices out there, but there’s none more immediately relevant than an active NFL football player who volunteers regularly at a shelter for victims of domestic abuse and whose mother was killed by his stepfather. William Gay is all of those things and an effective writer as well. Here he is on the balance between punishment and assistance:

A lot of people have asked me for my thoughts about the Ray Rice situation. They want to know if I think the punishment has been fair. With all due respect to the commissioner, I couldn’t care less about what the punishment was. My concern is not about how many games Ray Rice is going to play or not play. This isn’t about games or football; it’s about the bigger picture. It’s about life itself…

If we’re going to fix this problem in the NFL, our focus can’t be solely on what the punishments should be. The main priority needs to be helping victims—to show them how they can be heroes. The league needs to be asking, Why is this occurring? And how can we help prevent this? The NFL needs to focus on setting up programs that can help men and women have healthy relationships.

The NFL Made Me Rich. I Won’t Watch It Now.

Anna Sale for Death, Sex & Money on WNYC

Death, Sex & Money is an excellent weekly interview show on WNYC. Its title is a clever reference to a cliché about the only inevitable things in life being death and taxes. The NFL is nowhere near as inevitable as death, sex, or money but during the past decade, during football season… it has been right up there! Now, due to an increasing reluctance among its audience for its violence on and off the field, many are wondering whether they will keep following it. With that uncertainty as the backdrop, Sale interviewed former player Dominique Foxworth about his experience in college football and the NFL and his reflections on it now that he has retired and graduated from Harvard Business School. We’ll cut into Foxworthy answering a question about the end of his career. He retired the fall after participating in a collective bargaining negotiation as president of the NFL Players Association:

I just participated as the president in the negotiations for the collective bargaining, the most recent collective bargaining agreement, and I sat across the table from the owners of the teams and negotiated over the ten billion dollars the NFL was supposedly making. And days later, I was on the practice field. Like, sweating and listening to coaches yell and all that, and that—at this point in my life, I felt more comfortable at the table than I did on the field. It didn’t feel like—I went from the top of the totem pole to the bottom. We get paid well because the talents that we have are so rare. But you’re still the labor.

Do you enjoy watching football now?

Nope.

No? Do you just not watch?

Nah. I have a hard time watching injuries. It’s difficult for me to watch guys get knocked unconscious. The strategy and the mental part of football, I still love. It’s a lot more like chess, and these calculated decisions, than these other sports are. And I love that about football, and I love that about business, and I love that about chess. But, the play-by-play guys don’t know what they’re talking about, which is shocking considering there’s so many ex-athletes, and maybe they just simplify it for the sake of the common fan, but I can’t listen to them. Most of them. because they don’t know what they’re talking about, and it makes it hard for me to watch, like, no that’s wrong. And I want to see the entire field, so I can, like, really analyze the chess match. TV copy, I can’t—the angles that they have, what I enjoy about football, I can’t see.

Week Four NFL One Liners

NFL One LinersOn Mondays during in the fall, the conversation is so dominated by NFL football that the expression “Monday morning quarterback” has entered the vernacular. The phrase is defined by Google as “a person who passes judgment on and criticizes something after the event.” With the popularity of fantasy football, we now have Monday morning quarterbacks talking about football from two different perspectives. We want you to be able to participate in this great tradition, so all fall we’ll be running NFL One Liners on Monday. Use these tiny synopses throughout the day:

Week 4

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, AT 1:00 P.M. ET

Buffalo Bills 17, at Houston Texans 23

The Texans played less worse than the Bills and snuck away with the victory.
Line: The Texans won but I don’t think either team’s fans are all that happy with how their team looked.

Carolina Panthers 10, at Baltimore Ravens 38

The story will be Steve Smith’s great play against his former team but the story should be how the Panthers have now been blown out in two straight games.
Line: I’m worried about the Panthers. If they don’t turn things around fast, they could lose most of their games this year.

Green Bay Packers 38, at Chicago Bears 17

Close at half-time, the Packers shut out the Bears in the second half while scoring 17 points of their own.
Line: I guess Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was right when he told the Packers fans to “relax” this week.

Detroit Lions 24, at New York Jets 17

The Lions are very quietly 3-1 this year and have winnable games against the Bills and the Vikings coming up in the next two weeks.
Line: Don’t look now, but this could be the Lions’ year.

Tennessee Titans 17, at Indianapolis Colts 41

The Colts lost their first two games by a combined 10 points. Since then, they’ve won two games by a combined 51 points. Losing close games and winning big are often the sign of a good team.
Line: Through four games, the Colts look like they can play with anyone.

Miami Dolphins 38, at Oakland Raiders 14

This was the first of three games this season to be played in England. There’s already news suggesting Raiders coach Dennis Allen may be fired following this big loss.
Line: If I were the Raiders coach, I might just stay and do a little sight-seeing in London.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27, at Pittsburgh Steelers 24

After a humiliating loss last week on national television, the Buccaneers won a dramatic game in Pittsburgh. The motivational and emotional swings are one thing, but having ten days between a Thursday game and a Sunday one might have been the bigger factor in this game.
Line: NFL teams are all more evenly matched than people think. An extra three days of rest and preparation are a big deal.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, AT 4:05 AND 4:25 P.M. ET

Jacksonville Jaguars 14, at San Diego Chargers 33

The Jaguars, like the Raiders, remain winless after this loss in San Diego. Being 0-4 must be a helpless feeling for the players, fans, coaches, and everyone involved and invested in the team’s performance. The Chargers camp is the exact opposite — happy and excited.
Line: Doesn’t it just feel like the Chargers’ year? Not that beating Jacksonville is a sign of anything other than professionalism.

Atlanta Falcons 28, at Minnesota Vikings 41

The Vikings’ excitement over the performance of their rookie starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was muted when Bridgewater was carted off the field with an injured ankle. X-rays were said to be negative but a sprain so severe that it requires a cart is sometimes worse than a clean break would be.
Line: The Vikings can’t catch a bre

Philadelphia Eagles 21, at San Francisco 49ers 26

This was a weird game. The Eagles defense and special teams played so well in the first half that their team had the lead without the offense doing anything substantive. The offense were barely even on the field. This lack of rhythm came back to haunt the Eagles because when they needed the offense to do something in the second half, they couldn’t count on them.
Line: The Eagles defense and special teams players must be pissed at their offensive players.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, AT 8:30 P.M. ET

New Orleans Saints 17, at Dallas Cowboys 38

With the Saints’ ability to score quickly and the Cowboys penchant for blowing leads, I kept waiting for the inevitable comeback during this game. It never really materialized. After starting the year 0-2, people were describing the Saints as the best 0-2 team in the league and counseling patience. I’m not sure anymore.
Lead: Eventually, your record does define you as a team, that’s where we might be with the Saints now.

NFL Week 4 Good Cop, Bad Cop Precaps

Good Cop, Bad CopThe NFL season has started but how do you know which games to watch and which to skip? Ask our favorite police duo with their good cop, bad cop precaps of all the Week 3 matchups in the National Football League this weekend. To see which games will be televised in your area, check out 506sports.com’s essential NFL maps. If you’re worried about watching too much football or if you’re negotiating for a little break during the weekend, read our weekly feature, Do Not Watch This Game.

Week 4

Sunday, September 28, at 1:00 p.m. ET

Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans

Good cop: What a revealing game! Two teams that started the season with two wins and followed them with a loss! Who will bounce back and who won’t?!

Bad cop: I’ll tell you what will bounce — most of the passes thrown by the two quarterbacks in this game. They’re both terrible.

Carolina Panthers at Baltimore Ravens

Good cop: After thirteen years on the Panthers, wide receiver Steve Smith plays against them for the first time! Drama!

Bad cop: You’re gonna be let down. Do not watch this game.

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears

Good cop: If you don’t want to watch this game, you must not like football! Two traditional rivals, playing outside on grass, throwing the ball left and right, it’s going to be exciting!

Bad cop: It’s a moderately interesting game of football. Moderately.

Detroit Lions at New York Jets

Good cop: Calvin Johnson, Geno Smith — exciting players with interesting first names and boring last names!

Bad cop: Geno is exciting only if you like interceptions. You don’t like interceptions, you’re the good cop.

Tenessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts

Good cop: Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has been the best in the league through three games! This could be the start of a new era!

Bad cop: If you’re planning on watching this game, pay attention to the Titans and you’ll see the beginning of a new error.

Miami Dolphins at Oakland Raiders

Good cop: This game is in London! How classy!

Bad cop:  This game is so bad, the NFL put an ocean between it and NFL headquarters.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Pittsburgh Steelers

Good cop: Can the Buccaneers bounce back after last week’s poor performance? I want to know!

Bad cop: Well, they can’t get worse. They’ll bounce back, but only high enough to lose by fifteen points.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, AT 4:05 and 4:25 P.M. ET

Jacksonville Jaguars at San Diego Chargers

Good cop: Jags rookie quarterback Blake Bortles gets his first NFL start!

Bad cop: Wait, is it too late to send this game to England too? Yikes. I think the NFL might have picked the wrong game to deport.

Atlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings

Good cop: The greatest show on turf (this year) goes on the road to play another first time rookie starter, Teddy Bridgewater!

Bad cop: The Vikings are an increasingly troubled franchise. Suspended running back, injured quarterback, what’s next?

Philadelphia Eagles at San Francisco 49ers

Good cop: In the first three games of the season, the Eagles have been bad in the first half and amazing in the second half while the 49ers have been excellent in the first half of games and terrible in the second! I can’t wait to see this game be 50-0 at the end of the first half and 50-50 at the end of the second!

Bad cop: Wait. How do you get to 50? Six touchdowns, two field goals, and a safety? What a random and unlikely score.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, AT 8:30 P.M. ET

New Orleans Saints at Dallas Cowboys

Good cop: Talk about teams that sling the ball around! Tony Romo and Drew Brees? What a matchup!

Bad cop: Your information and enthusiasm is so five years ago. Romo is a shell of himself physically and Brees isn’t so hot either.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, AT 8:30 P.M. ET

New England Patriots at Kansas City Chiefs

Good cop: I can’t wait for Bill Bellichick and Tom Brady to break out Mark Twain’s famous line after this game! The reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated!

Bad cop: Reports of the Chiefs’ demise are not.