2013 NFL Season Thread

[Slogger]

Ed Reed goes to the Texans.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/houston-texans-agree-to-deal-with-safety-ed-reed-032013?

Favorite player: Retires

Second favorite player: Takes the money is bolts in Free Agency. >_<

You've been promoted to #1 T-Sizzle. (Y)

I'm still holding out hope that this is all a cap space cleanout so we can sign Dumerville, Urlacher, Harrison and Heyward-Bey/Some other good WR.

But then again I'm grasping at straws right now... But we did just win a Superbowl so It doesn't really matter.

[HC]

Fucking Urlacher has gone.

As long as he doesnt go to Green Bay or Minnesota I hope he does well

He's not coming to GB. Linebacker isn't our most urgent position of need, not to mention he doesn't match defensive scheme. Maybe the Vikings, or he could be smart and retire to take a cushy sportscasting job.

[Maxx]

The Tuck Rule is dead.

Until the Patriots are in the playoffs again, anyway....

Yes, that is definitely how rules work.

[gunnar hendershow]

Ed Reed goes to the Texans.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/houston-texans-agree-to-deal-with-safety-ed-reed-032013?

Favorite player: Retires

Second favorite player: Takes the money is bolts in Free Agency. >_<

You've been promoted to #1 T-Sizzle. (Y)

I'm still holding out hope that this is all a cap space cleanout so we can sign Dumerville, Urlacher, Harrison and Heyward-Bey/Some other good WR.

But then again I'm grasping at straws right now... But we did just win a Superbowl so It doesn't really matter.

They'll be drafting a lot of players and signing undrafted players (a franchise specialty). Cheap vets to plug the holes. They have a lot of faith in Suggs/Ngata/Webb/Upshaw to be the new cornerstones on defense. An Urlacher signing wouldn't shock me if it's only for a year or two. They do have a need at MLB. Dumerville is way too expensive. Harrison would be a good pickup if he's cheap enough. WR signings are interesting. They want to build the position through the draft, but they do need to find a tough over-the-middle WR. They've got Pitta as a tough-as-nails receiving TE, but yeah they definitely need to fill that hole. Maybe on the cheap they'll sign another speedy WR so Jacoby can focus on returning, but only if the price is right.

In any case I like what they've done this offseason much more than overspending and sacrificing a lot of the future for the chance at a repeat. A lot of the core is still there, we forget the names who are still Ravens in the face of his makeover, and they'll be there for years to come. After the first Super Bowl they thought they had the tools to do it again and went all-in. Then Jamal Lewis tore his ACL, the defense simply wasn't as good, Elvis Grbac was a disaster (though if you ask me Dilfer probably would not have done any better thanks to the Lewis injury), and the team scraped into the playoffs. 2 years later we were stuck in the Kyle Boller nightmare and before we knew it over half of Ray Lewis's prime was spent winning games in spite of an anemic offense.

But man, favorite Raven? It's all about Hey Diddle Diddle!

[Maxx]

Schefter says the Ravens will play their home opener on the road due to the conflict with the Orioles. What a bunch of bullshit, I bet they'll end up playing in New England now.

[Dan]

That's dumb. Who gives a fuck about rounders? :/

[gunnar hendershow]

Schefter says the Ravens will play their home opener on the road due to the conflict with the Orioles. What a bunch of bullshit, I bet they'll end up playing in New England now.

Yeah it's confirmed. It's a big ripoff. Why couldn't the Ravens play the game on Wednesday? They play on Christian holidays, why not a Jewish holiday? Hiding behind Rosh Hashanah in the interest of making more money in ad revenue on Thursday night is mighty shameful, Goodell.

Orioles did try to move the game for those wondering, but league rules prevented them from moving it to an early enough time. Doing that would have set off a domino effect I think I mentioned earlier.

I stick the blame for this solely on the NFL. Just play on Wednesday!

[Cactus Drags]

Goodell is the worst thing that's happened to the league in a long time. Possibly after Brett Favre and the Patriots.

Not looking forward to this season as much now. It's crazy, but Urlacher's been my favourite player as long as I could properly call myself a Bears/NFL fan. I think I'd rather him retire than see him play for anyone else.

[The Buscher]

The Ravens' road opponents next year are Miami, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, and the AFC North.

So I figure it'll either be Ravens/Broncos or Ravens/Steelers. Leaning towards the latter because I see Broncos @ Giants in Manning Bowl III being the first official Sunday Night Football game of the season.

[gunnar hendershow]

I'm expecting them to open in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.

[Szumi]

They should be kind and make it at Cleveland. That way it's so easy it's like a home game!

[Dan]

I don't get it, why not play at the same time?

[SeanDMan]

You don't want to risk baseballs hitting footballs when both are in midair. You'd have altered trajectory and that would lead to possible dropped balls or missed kicks, it would just be a mess. Plus you run the risk of people running into each other.

[TCO]

The stadiums are right next to each other and they share parking space

You can't realistically host both especially since the Ravens' game would have a huge gathering and a party atmosphere. I'd be seriously pissed off if I were a Ravens fan

[Dan]

Didn't realise they where that close. Makes sense then.

[Plubby]

the only problem is the people who would go to the Ravens and never go to the baseball and vice versa. Those who attend both are still occupying the same amount of parking space.

[Damian WayLNKe]

You can also bet that they would clear the parking lots between games or at least a dedicated one for Orioles fans not going to the Ravens game

[gunnar hendershow]

Basically if the Orioles had been able to move their game to 1 (and there are a lot of factors preventing this) the Ravens would have then started at something like 8:30 or 9. Barring extra innings or a rainy day the O's game would be over by 4, parking lots cleared by 5, and then they could open it up to Ravens parking for 3 hours of tailgating. Even then, having gone down to the stadiums as many times as I have, I am apprehensive even that would have worked without a logistical nightmare when all the stadium traffic is compounded with the city's rush hour traffic. Imagine how much worse it would be if there was more of an overlap in game times than that, which is what they were working with. I read the O's were trying to move their game to 5:00 (CBA rules apparently prevent any earlier starts without moving the game on the day before) and the Ravens and NFL trying to push their game back to 9:00. There is no way that could work.

[The Buscher]

The Orioles are playing a night game in another town on Wednesday, which is why Thursday couldn't have been made a 1 PM start. The outrage from Ravens fans seems to be that if they start off next season 0-1...it would somehow "ruin" their Super Bowl celebration when they get their first home game the next week. While it is kinda cool to know you're opening the year because you won the SB, as somebody who got to see the Giants start the year twice in a 4 years span, the pre-game celebration is a bit overrated. They'll bring out the trophy one more time to hype up the crowd but other than that it's business as usual. By the time opening night rolls around I only care about the season at hand anyway, not the year before.

I'm siding with MLB. Their schedule was out first and always is out first - it comes out right after MLB's season ends. It's the NFL's responsibility to work around it for teams like Baltimore, Philly, etc. that share complexes. It's not MLB's fault that they didn't forecast months ahead of time that the Ravens would win the SB.

[Maxx]

The MLB has significantly more flexible schedule. What happens if it rains that evening? Oh they're going to reschedule the game. They could easily move it to some other time in the season or turn it into a double header later in the week.