Are there Super Bowl rematches every week this NFL season?

Dear Sports Fan,

Is it true there will be a rematch of a prior Super Bowl every week this season?

Thanks,
OmitsWordsByAccident

Dear OmitsWordsByAccident,

Not quite every week, but there are a surprising number of them. In all, there are 19 Super Bowl rematches this season, but not every week has one. The large number of rematches is no coincidence, it’s part of the NFL’s promotional campaign to promote this year’s Super Bowl, the league’s 50th. The exact number of the Super Bowl is always a little confusing. For one thing, the league insists on labeling the game with Roman Numerals instead of numbers. Since most of us were not educated in late 19th century elite prep schools, a number like XLVIII (48) is not intuitively obvious. This year, for the 50th, they are going with the number “50” and not just “L”. For a second level of obfuscation, the Super Bowl for each calendar-year season occurs in the next calendar year. When I was writing a series of posts describing what was special about each NFL team, I was never sure whether to refer to a Super Bowl by the year it was in or the year of the regular season it crowned the champion of. Lastly, the numbering is tricky because it’s hard to remember when the first Super Bowl was.

The NFL is much older than 50 years. It’s first year of competition was in 1920, and by 1930, five of today’s teams: the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and Detroit Lions were in existence. The reason why the Super Bowl is not 95 years old instead of 50, is that it began specifically as an end-of-season competition between the NFL and a competing league, the American Football League. The American Football League was founded in 1959 and began play in 1960 in direct competition to the NFL. By 1970, the two leagues had merged. So, if you count back 49 from 2016, you should get one of those years – 1960 or 1970 – right? Nope – you get 1967, a year that hasn’t popped up in conversation yet. Why? The NFL and AFL actually agreed on and announced their merger in 1966, it just took four years for them to merge the operations of the leagues and begin playing as one. The one major element of merging that they decided to act on immediately was the creation of what they called the “AFL-NFL World Championship Game“. It wasn’t until the third such game, in 1969 that the game became known as the Super Bowl.

Celebrating past Super Bowls by inserting rematches into this year’s schedule is a nice idea (although it must have been a tricky scheduling feat). Here, taken directly from the Super Bowl 50 website, with my links, are the games:

Thanks for reading,
Ezra Fischer

Sports reads: Second (and last) chapters of great athletes

What’s a book without great characters? Nothing. Although sports provide many enjoyable aspects of non-character based entertainment, like tactical board games or impressive modern dance, the same is essentially true for following sports. The more interesting the characters are, the more people will enjoy following them in a sports context. This week, we’re featuring three character studies of former athletes who continue or continued to be impressive people worth knowing about even after their playing days were done.

From Hot Takes to Watch Tape: Cris Collinsworth and the Evolution of NFL Broadcast Analysis

by Bryan Curtis for Grantland

If you watch a lot of sports on television, you almost inadvertently become a critic of television commentators. Chris Collinsworth, the analyst paired with legendary play-by-play announcer Al Michaels for the Sunday Night Football broadcasts, is one of the best. In this article, Curtis places Collinsworth’s work in a proper historical context and describes his unique approach to the job.

The Collinsworth of Sunday Night Football shows how the old hot-take model of TV analysis is slowly changing. “The entire environment of television is so different than the ’90s,” said Gaudelli, the Sunday Night Football producer. “All these 24-hour networks — people are criticizing people all the time, or building them up all the time.”

If hot takes no longer seemed unique, neither do we assume the ex-jock’s knowledge of the inner workings of the game. The new breed of football writer — the Schatzes, Barnwells, and Browns — revealed that TV talkers were doing a Regular Joe gloss rather than real analysis. Some analysts were holding back; some didn’t seem capable of real analysis at all.

The new paradigm required an analyst who could marry ’90s brio with the new tools of research. The old analyst’s boast was, “I’m not afraid to speak my mind.” The new boast — repeated by Collinsworth, Ron Jaworski, and Mike Mayock — is, “I watch tape.”

At 65, Bobby Orr is focused on doing good — quietly

by Bob Hohler for the Boston Globe

It’s always interesting to learn about what athletes do after they retire – the bigger the star they were when they played, the more interesting their second chapter becomes. Hockey player Bobby Orr was a giant mega-star, the likes of which hockey rarely creates. This article describes a second chapter that is highly disciplined, principled, and kind. It’s inspiring and, perhaps even more important given the cynical baggage intelligent readers bring to this type of flattering profile, rings true.

In the sports world, there are many charitable superstars and many others for whom philanthropy is a masquerade, an exercise in image-buffing. Then there is Orr, who has created a model for giving back that embraces the power of true connection, of responding when the need is greatest.

When social studies teacher Christa McAuliffe died aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, Orr learned that members of her family were Bruins fans and he quietly traveled to Concord, N.H., to visit.

When former Bruin Ace Bailey died aboard a hijacked airliner that struck the World Trade Center in New York during the 2001 terrorist attacks, Orr turned up the next morning at the door of Bailey’s widow, Katherine.

“Bobby will always have a place in my heart,’’ she said.

When Orr learned last year that James Gordon, a hockey player at Hingham High School, was fighting testicular cancer, he called Gordon’s mother, Terry, and asked to visit.

Orr chatted for several hours with James, his family, and friends, spending much of the time holding Terry’s daughter, Jenna, who has Down syndrome.

Orr posed for pictures with everyone in the house. He later mailed them autographed photos with personal messages, having remembered the name of each family member and friend as if he had known them for years.

Terry Gordon, still in awe months later, said, “Who does that?’’

Moses Malone: 1955–2015

by Chuck Klosterman for Grantland

I pay attention when Klosterman writes anything. He is at his best when writing about a subject he has great affection for. In this brief ode to basketball player Moses Malone, who just died, Klosterman’s affection comes across palpably.   

Malone was the greatest rebounder of the modern era (a counterargument could be made for Dennis Rodman, but that argument would be wrong). His brilliance was grounded in the simplicity of his approach, deftly explained to Frank Deford in 1979: “Basically, I just goes to the rack.” There has never been a better seminar on the art of rebounding. He wasted no motion and expressed no ulterior agenda. Malone was a workaholic, so it would be unfair to claim his glass-eating to be somehow intuitive or instinctual or devoid of consciousness. He made himself into the person he was. But there was never a time when he could not do this one thing.

Why aren't football players arrested when they break the rules?

Dear Sports Fan;

Football is a rough sport, I get it, players get hurt in normal competition. But why isn’t someone like Pacman Jone criminally charged after wrestling an opponents helmet off and then slamming his head into it?

Is a fine or even a suspension (which it appears he will not be subject to) enough?

Thanks,
Al

Dear Al,

You pose a good question, and one that I’ve addressed before on this site, but it’s worth thinking about again. Why is a violent act, which would be worthy of a criminal charge in other contexts, not illegal in the context of a sport? Why aren’t football players arrested when they break the rules?

First, let’s take a look at the incident:

Jones is the player on the Cincinnati Bengals, wearing white and orange, who tears the helmet off of Oakland Raiders rookie wide receiver Amari Cooker and then jams Coopers head back into his own helmet. Cooper’s teammates quickly come to his defense and a bit of pushing and shoving follows as the referees throw their yellow penalty flags to show that a foul has been committed.

Jones’ act is clearly against the rules of football. It would just as clearly be defined as assault if it happened outside of the context of football.

 

The rules of any sport describe a set of expected behaviors that fall on both sides of the line between allowed and not allowed. Fist fighting is illegal in ice hockey and golf, but you can get a good sense about which sport expects their players to fight by looking at the two rule books. Ice hockey has a clear rule about fighting – players who fight are given matching five-minute penalties. Golf doesn’t have a rule at all. A hockey player who fights is very unlikely to be prosecuted. A golfer… may just be in cuffs by the end of the day. Why the difference? A reasonable hockey player assumes the risk of being confronted with violence, legal and illegal, when he or she steps onto the ice. A golfer doesn’t. Even though fighting isn’t as prevalent in football as it is in hockey, it is a violent sport and its players reasonably assume the risk of being confronted with violence when they play. Athletes in contact sports have implicitly consented to violence.

Even if a player or an authority did try to prosecute a player like Jones, who goes to far, it would be a hard case to argue. Consider how difficult it would be from an outsider’s perspective to compare legal and illegal forms of violence. Here’s another incident which happened during this year’s preseason, in a game between the San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers:

In this film, former rugby star Jarryd Hayne finishes a run by lowering his shoulder into a defender’s chest and knocking him to the ground. Let’s apply the same two tests to it: it would clearly be considered assault if it happened on the street but in the context of football, it’s not only legal, it’s deeply admired. I’m not a legal scholar, or a practicing lawyer, or even the fiancée of Vinny Gambini, but I feel like it would be very difficult to convict someone of assault for one incident on a football field if opposing counsel could show equally violent or even more violent acts that are explicitly allowed in the context of football. And I don’t think the legal system cares very much about whether an act is strictly allowed or not allowed by a sports league.

Aside from being flagrantly against the rules of football, what quality would one use to argue that Jones’ act is more worthy of prosecution than others? It’s not more damaging – earlier in the day, a New York Jets player was taken off on a stretcher and hospitalized during a legal play. Other injuries from just yesterday’s action included a torn Achilles tendon, a broken bone in a foot, several strained or torn knee ligaments, and several other concussions. Cooper, on the other hand, seems to be fine. How about force? Jones certainly didn’t use as much force on Cooper in that video than he would in a normal tackle.

This doesn’t mean that within the context of a sport, anything could and should be allowed to happen. For example, a player who snuck a knife onto the field and attacked an opponent would surely be prosecuted. No one assumes the risk of being stabbed during a sporting event. (Except fencing accidents, I suppose.) Our attitudes on this issue may also change – may even be in the process of changing already. Not so long ago, the law held that a married woman assumed the risk of being raped by her husband by entering into a marriage contract. That’s no longer the case and the world is a better place for it. With what we now know about the damaging effects of brain injuries on athletes, it’s possible that we are moving towards a world where flagrant and intentional violence toward a player’s head will be subject to legal charges.

Thanks for your question,
Ezra Fischer

How to plan for the week of Sept 14-20, 2015

If you are a sports fan or if you live with a sports fan then your weekly schedule becomes inextricably linked with what sporting events are on at what times during each week. The conflict between missing a sporting event for a poorly committed to social event and missing an appealing social event to watch a game is an important balancing act in any kind of romantic, familial, or business relationship between a sports fan and a non-sports fan. To help facilitate this complicated advanced mathematics, Dear Sports Fan has put together a table showing the most important sporting events of the upcoming week. Print it out, put it on your fridge, and go through it with your scheduling partner.

This does not include MLB baseball games. There are so many of those every day that another approach is needed. That approach is our special Daily MLB Forecast. Same deal, for the most part, with NFL football games. For those, see our NFL Forecast.

Download a full-size copy here.

Monday: If you spent your weekend watching football and want a little soccer, there should be a good British Premier League game on in the afternoon. Alternatively, if you spent your weekend watching football and you want some more football… there’s more tonight!

Tuesday: The UEFA Champions league is the biggest and best club soccer tournament in the world. Today’s best game features one of the top three British teams against one of the top three Dutch teams. In the evening, settle in for a Texan battle in Major League Baseball. The Rangers are only 1.5 games back from the Astros in the standings, so it’s an important game too.

Wednesday: Another Champions league game (this one between the top German team and top Greek team) and another important baseball game between teams scrambling for wild card playoff spots.

Thursday: Women’s sports take over for the day. At 7 p.m., catch the U.S. Women’s National soccer team play Haiti on their victory tour. An hour later, once the USA is up by 17 goals, switch over to an WNBA playoff game.

Friday: Date night! There’s not much to ignore today in the sports world, just some college soccer and a middling college football game. Go out, enjoy yourself!

Saturday: There are an enormous number of college football games and a bunch of them are really compelling this week. Four games match top 25 ranked teams against each other, so those are the four we featured in this calendar. Chelsea vs. Arsenal in the British Premier League is about as good a soccer game as you could wish for, and the battle of New York (often called the Subway Series) is actually relevant this year because both teams are in the playoff hunt.

Sunday: Wow, this is a full day of sports. On top of the oodles of NFL action, which you can get info later in the week on by looking at our NFL Forecast, there’s also a full day of soccer. Start in the morning in England, move to the United States for a women’s international friendly in the afternoon, and they stay in-country for a Major League Soccer game at 5 p.m. If you’re not into football of either sorts, you can feast on early morning rugby, a golf championship, a WNBA playoff basketball game, and a NASCAR race!

Caveat — This forecast is optimized for the general sports fan, not a particular sports fan. As such, your mileage may vary. For instance, you or the sports fan in your life is a fan of a particular team, then a regular season MLB baseball game or MLS soccer game may be more important on a particular day than anything on the forecast above. Use the calendar as a way to facilitate conversation about scheduling, not as the last word on when there are sports to watch.

One line to fool them all – 9.14.15

Sports talk is frequently used as a common language but it’s far from universal. If you’re someone who doesn’t follow or even understand sports, you can find yourself at a disadvantage in common small-talk situations like in an elevator, waiting for a bus, sitting at a bar, or around the proverbial water cooler at work. Even if you are a sports fan, it’s impossible to watch everything and know everything. To help in these situations, we provide lines to use when engaged in a conversation about all of the high profile sporting events of the day, plus explanations of what they mean.

U.S. Open Tennis

Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in four sets

Line: Roger Federer may be the best ever but Djokovic is just too good.

What it means: This seemingly confusing statement makes sense because of the two players’ relative ages. Federer, who is now 34, is thought to be one of the greatest players ever. He holds records for being ranked number one in the world for almost six years consecutively, and for winning 17 Grand Slam (the important four tournaments) titles. Djokovic, on the other hand, is just 28, firmly in his tennis prime. Although he’s not (yet?) thought of as a player with the type or extent of greatness that Federer is, given the disparity in age, he is demonstrably stronger than Federer now. He’s won the past three Grand Slam finals that the two have met in.

NFL Football

Kansas City Chiefs 27 at Houston Texans 20

Line: So maybe Alex Smith just didn’t have good receivers.

What it means: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith has been criticized throughout his career for being unable or unwilling to throw the ball down the field. Last year he didn’t throw a single touchdown to a wide receiver all year. He still hasn’t, but he already looks more comfortable with throwing it downfield, perhaps because he has much more talented players to throw the ball to.

Indianapolis Colts 14 at Buffalo Bills 27

Line: The Colts won’t win until they can compete physically.

What it means: Of course, it’s silly to claim any professional football team isn’t physical but the Colts have lost their last two games (last year in the playoffs against New England and this game) because they couldn’t keep a more physical team from pushing them around.

Green Bay Packers 31 at Chicago Bears 23

Line: Did you see what Matt Forte said at the press conference? LOL.

What it means: The Bears were a giant disaster last year and, after their loss today, their star running back Matt Forte had this to say:

As reasonable as this might seem, it comes off as unintentional humor in a culture that believes there’s no other goal but winning.

Carolina Panthers 20 at Jacksonville Jaguars 9

Line: Who needs offense when you’re playing the Jaguars?

What it means: The biggest concern for the Panthers this year is their lack of quality wide receivers for quarterback Cam Newton to aim for. Today’s game didn’t lesson that concern, but since the Panthers were playing one of the weaker teams in the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars, they were still able to win.

Cleveland Browns 10 at New York Jets 31

Line: Johnny Football didn’t look half bad!

What it means: “Johnny Football” is the nickname of Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel. Manziel was a popular figure when he played in college but has not been a success so far in the NFL. He wasn’t supposed to play in this game but after the starting quarterback, Josh McCown, left with an injury, he was forced into action. He played decently despite the large loss.

Miami Dolphins 17 at Washington Redskins 10

Line: The Dolphins won, but I think I’d be more optimistic if I were a Redskins fan.

What it means: How happy you are as a fan is all about expectations. Dolphins fans thought their team was going to take a leap from good to great this year. Redskins fans thought their team might not win a game. They didn’t win this one, but they played much better than expected.

Seattle Seahawks 31 at St. Louis Rams 34

Line: The Seahawks finally gave the ball to Beastmode and they still lost.

What it means: Last season, the Seattle Seahawks lost the Super Bowl when a pass near the goal-line was intercepted by the New England Patriots. Many people felt they should have handed the ball off to running back Marshawn Lynch, nicknamed “Beastmode” and one of the best in the league. In this game, facing a must-have fourth down in overtime, they did just that – hand the ball to Lynch – and he couldn’t get the first down.

Detroit Lions 28 at San Diego Chargers 33

Line: Classic Lions, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

What it means: The Detroit Lions were winning 28 to 3 in this game before everything went wrong for them and everything went right for the Chargers. Unfortunately for Lions fans, this type of monumental collapse is not uncommon. The Lions have been known as an immature team for so long that some of their players have gotten old without ever shaking that label.

New Orleans Saints 19 at Arizona Cardinals  31

Line: The Cardinals are great, I just don’t think Palmer can last the season and I can’t believe they still don’t have a reasonable backup. What a waste of surrounding talent.

What it means: The Arizona Cardinals are both very good and very lovable. Their Achilles heel is that their starting quarterback, Carson Palmer, is slightly old and slightly injury prone and their offensive system requires him to get hit over and over and over again. Combine that with their not having a good enough backup and their seasons tend to get torpedoed by injury. It’s fun to root for them early in the season though, before the injuries pile up.

Cincinnati Bengals 33 at Oakland Raiders 13

Line: And just like that, all the positivity around the Raiders is gone. Same old Raiders.

What it means: The Oakland Raiders have been bad for most of the past 15 years. Their fans were hoping that they had improved this year, particularly because of their promising second year quarterback, Derek Carr. But by halftime of the first game, Carr was gone because of an injury, and the Raiders were being beaten badly.

Baltimore Ravens 13 at Denver Broncos 19

Line: Don’t be surprised, this is the new Broncos.

What it means: For the past few seasons, ever since quarterback Peyton Manning came to the Broncos, they’ve been a team that was built around offense. They scored a lot of points. This year, they’re likely to win more games like this one – low-scoring, closely contested contests. It may take casual fans some time to adjust, so you can sound really in-the-know by pointing it out.

Tennessee Titans 42 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14

Line: Good riddance. I would be happy if every game Jameis Winston played went like this.

What it means: This game was billed as a matchup of the two top rookie quarterbacks, Marcus Mariota for Tennessee, who was picked second overall in this year’s NFL draft, and Jameis Winston, who was picked first. Partially because Winston is so obviously not a good person, Mariota has been cast as the good one in the nascent rivalry. Well, everything went right for Good in this game and everything went wrong for Evil.

New York Giants 26 at Dallas Cowboys 27

Line: More dramatic than good.

What it means: The Sunday Night Football game is always one of the highest rated football games of the weekend and for this one, the NFL schedulers picked two of the highest profile teams to play each other. The game came in first place in our NFL Forecast. It eventually was worth it, as the Cowboys came from behind to score a touchdown with less than 15 seconds left that won them the game, but despite the game’s exciting ending, it was played sloppily by both teams throughout.

Pitch that game: NFL Week 1, 2015

Hello everyone and welcome to America’s favorite game show that… has never actually happened before and no one has heard of it… it’s Pitch That Game!

Here’s how it works. As your host, I have one minute to pitch a sporting event to someone who is not a sports fan. If, after my pitch, they’re interested in watching, I get a point! That’s it! Why would we play such a game? Well, it’s a good way to quickly learn about a set of games to see if you’re interested in following any of them. It’s also a great way for me to learn from you about what may or may not make a sport interesting to a layperson.

During this episode I’ll be pitching the fifteen NFL football games that will take place during the first weekend of the NFL season on Sunday September 13 and Monday September 14. Our guest is Max Nisenbaum, a New York City resident, rock climber, and cognitive behavioral therapist.

Enjoy the show!

What do I need to know about the 2015 Washington Redskins?

National Football League (NFL) previews abound at this time of year. We’re close to the start of the 2015 NFL season and basically everyone in the sports world is in a tizzy, anticipating another great season of the country’s favorite sport. Whether you’re a beginning NFL fan, the family member, friend or partner of an NFL fan, or simply someone who doesn’t follow the league during the offseason, our team previews should get you ready for the season to begin.

If you’re curious about the history and culture surrounding the team, and not just the plot and characters of this edition of the team, read What’s special about the Washington Redskins?

How are Washington Redskins fans feeling heading into the 2015 NFL season?

Pissed off

When are the Washington Redskins on national television?

Use this to know when you should host a party with locally (or favorite team-ily) themed food!

Week 3 – vs. the New York Giants on Thu, Sep 24 at 08:25 PM.
Week 13 – vs. the Dallas Cowboys on Mon, Dec 7 at 08:30 PM.
Week 16 – vs. the Philadelphia Eagles on Sat, Dec 26 at 08:25 PM.

When is the Washington Redskins bye week?

Use this to know when to plan that camping trip you’ve been wanting to go on.

Week 8

What was the Washington Redskins record last season, in 2014?

Expressed as: wins – losses – ties (if any).

4 – 12

Who are the Washington Redskins most important departed characters?

Although he’s officially still on the roster, Robert Griffin III, the once and future hope of the Washington Redskins at quarterback for the past handful of years is seemingly gone. After oddly annoucning that he would be the starter this spring, coach Jay Gruden recently announced that he would be going with Kirk Cousins for the entire season instead. Once thought the complete package as a quarterback, RGIII is now a discarded delivery on the side of the road.

Who are the Washington Redskins most important new characters?

Offense, as terrible as it was, wasn’t even the biggest problem for the Redskins last year; that would be defense. The team’s defense was unrealistically bad, something which Redskins fans hope they addressed by bringing in cornerback Chris Culliver from the San Francisco 49ers. Culliver is better than anyone they had before, and entering the second year after an ACL tear, a prime prospect to improve even more.

Who are the Washington Redskins most important characters?

Owner Daniel Snyder is the cloud that looms over all of the dysfunction that Washington generates. Oh, sure, he can’t be blamed for Congress but his finger seems to be in every pot of ugly as it relates to football. The whole RGIII saga may have been over two years ago if it weren’t for Snyder who was either bamboozled into thinking RGIII could recover the excellence of his first year or furiously trying not to admit the trade Snyder pushed to acquire RGIII was a mistake.

What is the most pivotal pivot point for the 2015 Washington Redskins?

A quiet 3-13 season would actually be a success for this team. Anything, even 0-16 would be fine if they could, once and for all, figure out how to operate like a business instead of a reality show.

How will the 2015 Washington Redskins fare?

Too talented to go 0-16. Too messed up to win more than four games.

What do I need to know about the 2015 Tennessee Titans?

National Football League (NFL) previews abound at this time of year. We’re close to the start of the 2015 NFL season and basically everyone in the sports world is in a tizzy, anticipating another great season of the country’s favorite sport. Whether you’re a beginning NFL fan, the family member, friend or partner of an NFL fan, or simply someone who doesn’t follow the league during the offseason, our team previews should get you ready for the season to begin.

If you’re curious about the history and culture surrounding the team, and not just the plot and characters of this edition of the team, read What’s special about the Tennessee Titans?

How are Tennessee Titans fans feeling heading into the 2015 NFL season?

Guarded

When are the Tennessee Titans on national television?

Use this to know when you should host a party with locally (or favorite team-ily) themed food!

Week 11 – vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thu, Nov 19 at 08:25 PM.

When is the Tennessee Titans bye week?

Use this to know when to plan that camping trip you’ve been wanting to go on.

Week 4

What was the Tennessee Titans record last season, in 2014?

Expressed as: wins – losses – ties (if any).

2 – 14

Who are the Tennessee Titans most important departed characters?

Jake Locker, the hyper mobile, athletic quarterback from a West Coast college who the Titans selected high in the draft and pinned much of their hope on is gone, having failed at his task to lead the Titans to the playoffs.

Who are the Tennessee Titans most important new characters?

Marcus Mariota, the hyper mobile, athletic quarterback from a west coast college who the Titans selected high in the draft and pinned much of their hope on is here! Drafted second overall from Oregon, Mariota is the new guy in town and the season’s (and perhaps the coach and general manager’s jobs) outcome are riding on his shoulders.

Who are the Tennessee Titans most important characters?

Marcus Mariota was compared endlessly to Jameis Winston throughout the last year of college football and in the months preceding the NFL draft. The consensus is that he’s a much better person and a slightly worse football player.

What is the most pivotal pivot point for the 2015 Tennessee Titans?

Surprise, surprise, Marcus Mariota is the pivotal pivot of this season for the Titans. Just like with Tampa Bay, when you break the bank for a rookie quarterback, how he plays is the most vitally important piece of information for your team’s season.

How will the 2015 Tennessee Titans fare?

Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I imagine Mariota doing well in the NFL. Oregon quarterbacks have been criticized in the past for having developed in an environment that’s too dissimilar to the NFL but the NFL has been copying so much from Oregon and other college teams like them that that criticism may no longer be valid.

What do I need to know about the 2015 Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

National Football League (NFL) previews abound at this time of year. We’re close to the start of the 2015 NFL season and basically everyone in the sports world is in a tizzy, anticipating another great season of the country’s favorite sport. Whether you’re a beginning NFL fan, the family member, friend or partner of an NFL fan, or simply someone who doesn’t follow the league during the offseason, our team previews should get you ready for the season to begin.

If you’re curious about the history and culture surrounding the team, and not just the plot and characters of this edition of the team, read What’s special about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

How are Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans feeling heading into the 2015 NFL season?

Guilty

When are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on national television?

Use this to know when you should host a party with locally (or favorite team-ily) themed food!

Week 15 – vs. the St. Louis Rams on Thu, Dec 17 at 08:25 PM.

When is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers bye week?

Use this to know when to plan that camping trip you’ve been wanting to go on.

Week 6

What was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers record last season, in 2014?

Expressed as: wins – losses – ties (if any).

2 – 14

Who are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers most important departed characters?

Three defenders, defensive end Michael Johnson, linebacker Mason Foster, and safety Dashon Goldson are gone. Bucs fans won’t miss any of them — they didn’t play very well last year, but they should hold judgement until they see who they’ve been replaced with…

Who are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers most important new characters?

With the number one overall draft pick this year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston was the subject of a colossally bungled investigation that resulted in no formal charges being brought against him for sexual assault while simultaneously providing little doubt that Winston had assaulted someone. His position as the NFL’s number one draft pick and the presumptive face of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise is not a good thing.

Who are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers most important characters?

Jameis Winston. Grrr.

What is the most pivotal pivot point for the 2015 Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

Jameis Winston. Gahhh!

How will the 2015 Tampa Bay Buccaneers fare?

Alas, being good at football is not correlated or even perceptively affected by being a good person. The Bucs will improve this year, perhaps even to around 6-10.

What do I need to know about the 2015 St. Louis Rams?

National Football League (NFL) previews abound at this time of year. We’re close to the start of the 2015 NFL season and basically everyone in the sports world is in a tizzy, anticipating another great season of the country’s favorite sport. Whether you’re a beginning NFL fan, the family member, friend or partner of an NFL fan, or simply someone who doesn’t follow the league during the offseason, our team previews should get you ready for the season to begin.

If you’re curious about the history and culture surrounding the team, and not just the plot and characters of this edition of the team, read What’s special about the St. Louis Rams?

How are St. Louis Rams fans feeling heading into the 2015 NFL season?

Relieved

When are the St. Louis Rams on national television?

Use this to know when you should host a party with locally (or favorite team-ily) themed food!

Week 15 – vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thu, Dec 17 at 08:25 PM.

When is the St. Louis Rams bye week?

Use this to know when to plan that camping trip you’ve been wanting to go on.

Week 6

What was the St. Louis Rams record last season, in 2014?

Expressed as: wins – losses – ties (if any).

6 – 10

Who are the St. Louis Rams most important departed characters?

The Rams drafted number one overall in the 2010 draft and have treated him like their franchise quarterback ever since. It never really worked. Injuries were a big problem for Bradford. Aside from various angle and shoulder issues that he mostly played through, he tore his ACL in 2013 and than again in 2014. Despite his pedigree, Rams fans were fed up with waiting for him to get healthy and play well. So, they couldn’t have been too sad when he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles this summer.

Who are the St. Louis Rams most important new characters?

The player who the Rams got back in return for Bradford is Nick Foles, another quarterback, and he’s expected to start the year as the Rams primary quarterback. Foles will be a fan favorite, at least at the start of the season, simply because he’s not Sam Bradford. Foles has only ever played in Philadelphia though, under coach Chip Kelly, who is thought to be an offensive mastermind. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Foles crashed and burned in a new setting… but, if the alternative was another season with Bradford, Rams fans would still take that outcome.

Who are the St. Louis Rams most important characters?

The Rams defensive line doesn’t have a nickname but it could be coming. Lost in the many odes (deserving, for sure) to Texans lineman, J. J. Watt, the Rams are quietly almost as fearsome. Led by pass rusher Robert Quinn, second year beast, Aaron Donald, and Chris Long, son of famed defensive end and Fox Sports analyst Howie Long, the Rams are loaded with talent and personality on the defensive line.

What is the most pivotal pivot point for the 2015 St. Louis Rams?

This year is all about seeing what Nick Foles has to offer. If he’s good, the Rams have a shot in a weakened NFC West to challenge for a division title. If he’s bad, they’ll be stuck down in the cellar where they’re used to being.

How will the 2015 St. Louis Rams fare?

By the middle of the season, Rams fans will be wondering if Nick Foles and Sam Bradford are twins who were separated at birth. That’s not good news.