NFL News

[Futureshock]

And this is bullshit that I can't like my own posts.

Why are you special? No one else likes them!

[Futureshock]

Cardinals decision to dump Rosen has been validated. Felt bold at the time. Smart choice.

…

Everyone ripped on Josh Allen too coming out of college from that draft class. All of the internet memes and such making fun of his accuracy. Not going to lie that all of the chatter swayed me into souring on Allen. Felt like that “Black Mirror” episode about cyber bullying.
Now Josh Allen is the QB you’d want from this class… followed by Lamar.

1. Josh Allen
2. Lamar Jackson
3. Baker Mayfield
4. Sam Darnold
5. Josh Rosen

I liked Allen and got some roasting the first couple of years. Who's laughing now?

Rosen was a disappointment but the rest are still on the fence IMHO. Mayfield is in the best situation. CLE is stacked and has so many high pick guys it isn't funny.

[Futureshock]

DeVonta Smith is expected to play tonight

Posted by Charean Williams on August 19, 2021, 3:25 PM EDT

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Eagles rookie receiver Devonta Smith didn’t get his feet wet in last week’s preseason opener. It appears, though, that he will tonight.

Smith is expected to play against the Patriots, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports.

Early this month, Smith sprained his knee in practice. He returned to team work Tuesday in a joint practice with the Patriots.

The Eagles used the 10th overall choice on the Heisman Trophy-winning receiver from Alabama. They are counting on him to emerge as their No. 1 receiver as a rookie, and he still has time to do that before the season opener.

[Futureshock]

Browns think Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt can both top 1,000 rushing yards

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 19, 2021, 2:53 PM EDT

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Browns run game coordinator and running backs coach Stump Mitchell said last season that he was aiming for Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt to both top 1,000 rushing yards. That didn’t happen, but Mitchell thinks it can happen this year.

Last year Chubb finished with 1,067 rushing yards, while Hunt had 841. This year, Mitchell thinks they can both get to 1,000 if they both stay healthy.

“I think it can happen,” he said, via the Browns’ website. “You never know. The more toys that Kevin has, the better he is as a play caller. You never know what’s going on in his mind. It’s always something creative to catch the defense off guard.”

Only seven teammates in NFL history have both topped 1,000 rushing yards in the same season: Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris with the 1972 Dolphins, Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier with the 1976 Steelers, Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner with the 1985 Browns, Warrick Dunn and Michael Vick with the 2006 Falcons, Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward with the 2008 Giants, Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams with the 2009 Panthers and Lamar Jackson and Mark Ingram with the 2019 Ravens.

In a 17-game season this year, Chubb and Hunt have a real chance of being the eighth pair of teammates to reach the 1,000-yard mark.

[Futureshock]

He better be good or they'll look bad for passing on a QB for a CB

Sam Darnold set for preseason debut this weekend

Posted by Josh Alper on August 19, 2021, 10:59 AM EDT

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Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold quipped about having plenty of experience getting hit in the preseason when asked on Wednesday about the importance of playing in games this summer, but said it is “important to a certain extent” to get some game action ahead of the regular season.

Darnold didn’t get any action in the team’s first preseason game, but the team is taking a different approach for this Saturday’s game against the Ravens.

Panthers head coach Matt Rhule told reporters on Thursday that he is leaning toward putting Darnold in the lineup to take his first game snaps since being acquired in an offseason trade. The snaps would be limited as Rhule indicated it will be a cameo appearance for the quarterback.

Other Panthers starters are in the same boat, so Saturday should provide a first glimpse at the kind of team they’ll put on the field this season.

[Futureshock]

The taunting rule will never be properly applied without a booth umpire to assist the process

Posted by Mike Florio on August 18, 2021, 9:24 PM EDT

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The NFL’s clumsy effort to get game officials to do a better job of doing their jobs when it comes to calling taunting penalties has sparked several news cycles of “No Fun League” criticism. It was completely avoidable.

This isn’t a new rule, or even a new approach. It’s an effort by the league office to get officials to enforce the rules on the books. It should have been explained that way from the get go.

And it’s not about celebrating; that should have been explained, too. In 2017, the league dramatically relaxed the rules regarding celebrations, to widespread praise. (How quickly Twitter forgets.) This is about deliberately directing taunts to an opponent — spiking the ball, spinning the ball, flexing, getting in someone’s face, throwing deuces at a player, etc. The officials had failed in recent years to enforce the rule as written, most notably by not consistently penalizing Tyreek Hill for his trademark taunt.

Given the high stakes of throwing a flag, which shifts 15 yards of field position, it’s understandable that officials would be hesitant. It’s a no-win proposition. Throw the flag and get it right, and you’re an overoficious jerk. Throw the flag and get it wrong, and you’re an overoficious jerk who has potentially affected the game in a major way.

Meanwhile, these are decisions made in real time, based on things that happen in a blink of an eye.

There’s a simple solution, one that the league remains (frankly) too cheap to embrace. Sky judge, booth umpire, whatever the title. An extra official who monitors the TV angles and the replays and who can talk to the on-field officials and tell them either to drop a flag or to pick one up. That’s precisely one of the powers that a booth umpire would have, and it would provide useful backup and cover for the officials on the field.

That’s the only way to get the consistency the league wants when it comes to taunting. It also will help the league avoid taunting becoming a point of emphasis every few years, sparking another wave of unnecessary and preventable criticism.

[LightninBoy]

NFL Reaches Compromise on taunting

Posted by Mike Florio on August 19, 2021, 3:24 PM EDT

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The NFL's new "point of emphasis" on taunting has been met with broad criticism from league officials, media, and fans. It has resurrected the "No Fun League" moniker, which hasn't been a common refrain since the NFL loosened rules on player celebrations.

To address these complaints and avoid the embarrassing "No Fun League" label, the league has decided to roll out the taunting changes gradually, similar to the way sweeping overtime rule changes were first applied to playoff games. Specifically, the league has decided to apply the new taunting emphasis only on the Detroit Lions. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell lauded this new approach: "We feel this solution provides an ideal testing ground for the new emphasis on taunting. Officials can experiment with shifting standards and interpretations of the rules with realistic scenarios, but without impacting any relevant games."

Sheila Ford Hemp, the new owner of the Detroit Lions, also agreed: "The Detroit Lions organization holds collaboration as our number one value. Therefore, we are excited to work with the league to help innovate the game."

[Cody_Russell]

Dumb. Don’t see this going well like last time.
Check back on this rule change in a couple weeks when an egregiously bad subjective call happens.
But if you’re an owner with a “get off my lawn” mentality… or a small percentage of fans… or probably Mike Florio, I’m sure you love this.

[froot loops]

NFL Reaches Compromise on taunting

Posted by Mike Florio on August 19, 2021, 3:24 PM EDT

Getty Images

The NFL's new "point of emphasis" on taunting has been met with broad criticism from league officials, media, and fans. It has resurrected the "No Fun League" moniker, which hasn't been a common refrain since the NFL loosened rules on player celebrations.

To address these complaints and avoid the embarrassing "No Fun League" label, the league has decided to roll out the taunting changes gradually, similar to the way sweeping overtime rule changes were first applied to playoff games. Specifically, the league has decided to apply the new taunting emphasis only on the Detroit Lions. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell lauded this new approach: "We feel this solution provides an ideal testing ground for the new emphasis on taunting. Officials can experiment with shifting standards and interpretations of the rules with realistic scenarios, but without impacting any relevant games."

Sheila Ford Hemp, the new owner of the Detroit Lions, also agreed: "The Detroit Lions organization holds collaboration as our number one value. Therefore, we are excited to work with the league to help innovate the game."

Well played

[Futureshock]

[Futureshock]

Darrell Bevell: Trevor Lawrence, Gardner Minshew still status quo in QB competition

Posted by Josh Alper on August 20, 2021, 7:58 AM EDT

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The Jaguars started Trevor Lawrence at quarterback in the team’s first preseason game and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said on Thursday that the first overall pick of this year’s draft is likely to start against the Saints on Monday night.

Bevell was quick to note that starting Lawrence in these games isn’t a sign that the team has made a decision on their quarterback for Week 1. While just about everyone expects Lawrence to have that job, the Jaguars say he’s still competing with Gardner Minshew for the No. 1 job in Jacksonville.

“We’re still going to handle it that way until we end up making the final decision,” Bevell said, via John Reid of the Florida Times-Union. “Right now, they are still status quo. We’re trying to make everybody better. We want competition at each and every position. Both guys are getting better because of it.”

Bevell said that he thought “the whole game experience” was important for Lawrence’s growth and that he thinks the rookie will continue to improve as a result of being exposed to opposing defenses. That process wouldn’t come to an end in the preseason, which makes it all the likelier that the Jaguars will choose to roll with the player they made the long-term plan at quarterback once the dust settles on this summer’s competition.

[Futureshock]

The honesty is refreshing.


Jedrick Wills: I was trash last year, brand new game this year

Posted by Josh Alper on August 20, 2021, 7:22 AM EDT

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Jedrick Wills was a right tackle in college, so his transition to the professional ranks after being drafted in the first round by the Browns included a position change in addition to the need to adapt to the speed of the NFL.

By most accounts, that transition went well. Wills started 15 regular season games at left tackle as the Browns snapped a long playoff drought and he did not stick out as a clear liability to the team’s offensive efforts.

Wills own assessment of where he was as a rookie wasn’t a rave review, however. Wills came to camp leaner than he did last season and he believes he’s raised his play to a level that leaves last season in the dust.

“Looking at it a year ago, I thought I was trash compared to this year watching film,” Wills said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “It’s a brand new game when you turn on the film this year.”

The Browns’ success last season has raised the bar for their expectations this year. Growth from Wills would be a big plus to reaching them.

[Futureshock]

Cam Newton: Pretty much a flawless night offensively

Posted by Josh Alper on August 20, 2021, 6:56 AM EDT

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The Patriots offense got a short field for their first possession on Thursday night and they cashed in on their good fortune.

Damien Harris ran twice for nine yards and a touchdown to open the night for the offense and things kept going well from there. Cam Newton went 8-of-9 for 103 yards and a touchdown, Mac Jones was 13-of-19 for 146 yards while leading three scoring drives, and the team’s only turnover came in the fourth quarter when the Patriots were already up 35-0 on the Eagles.

The outing may not have resulted in a clear end to the quarterback competition, but it was a better offensive effort than the first week of the preseason and a positive step for the unit as a whole.

“I think the whole offense did a pretty good job today,” Newton said. “From the first, second, third group, and I think we did play great complementary football as a team. From the first drive, having a short field, being backed up. Our first job as an offense is to get a first down. Once we got that first down that’s when everything also got rockin’ and rollin’. And really starting the second half with some points too. So all those keys to victory, we go over and it’s just great to see it coming to fruition tonight and just to see it close out. Outside of the fumble, it was pretty much a flawless night for us offensively.”

Thursday might not have settled anything in New England, but it likely made some people feel better about the future regardless of who winds up as the starting quarterback.

[Futureshock]

I get it. And just a little tweek by players can get them by with what they want to do. Within the rules too. Just don't do it while facing the opponent.


NFL’s taunting rule targets “in-your-face stuff”

Posted by Mike Florio on August 19, 2021, 8:23 PM EDT

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One of the strangest items of the past week came from the news (which wasn’t really news) that taunting will be a point of emphasis in 2021, like it was in 2014. Twitter lost its mind over the non-news news.

As we’ve explained, it’s not about preventing celebrations. It’s about preventing specific gestures of disrespect targeted at an opponent.

“I get what they’re trying to do,” Fox’s Joe Buck told Jimmy Traina of the SI Media Podcast. “It’s kind of the in-your-face stuff. At least when we had our seminar, they presented it. You can do a lot of the stuff we’ve come to expect, but you can’t do it in the direction of someone else.”

Buck is referring to the annual network presentations that the league office conducts for each of the broadcast partners. Thus, he’s saying that the league office explained during the Fox session that it’s a matter of targeting “in-your-face” gestures.

That’s the key. Celebrate all you want, within the limits of the rules that were dramatically relaxed in 2017. Just don’t disrespect opponents.

That’s what happened in Sunday’s Panthers-Colts game. If a player gets up and flexes generally, no problem. If he flexes in the face of an opponent, 15-yard problem.

“[I]f you’re staring right into another player’s face on the other team and you flex or dance or spike the ball, it’s going to be a penalty,” Buck told Traina. “According to Mike Pereira, Walt Anderson who is now inside the league office, they don’t believe this is going to be like other rules changes where you just see a ton of it early, a ton of it in the preseason and it magically goes away. They believe this will stick for the regular season.”

It should. It’s not a new rule. It’s been the rule. It’s only a point of emphasis because the officials failed to call it consistently, with the most notoriously example being Tyreek Hill‘s repeated throwing of deuces in the direction of an opponent while racing to the end zone.

[Futureshock]

Dumb. Don’t see this going well like last time.
Check back on this rule change in a couple weeks when an egregiously bad subjective call happens.
But if you’re an owner with a “get off my lawn” mentality… or a small percentage of fans… or probably Mike Florio, I’m sure you love this.

Agree. BUT, watch it again. The first thing he does is turn toward the opponent and flexes. The other stuff he did was ok. He didn't have to do that first part. Again, I get it, No fun league, blah, blah, blah. I personally don't like it because it's unnecessary and weak. It is just a tweak, like when the NBA outlawed the finger wag AT opponents. At first there was people a little mad, but once everyone saw that all you had to do was not direct it at the opponent it was a nothing burger. So much so that most people don't even remember that.

The players will adjust and it will be a nothing burger.