NFL 2011 Thread

[Cyd]

Rams finally won. They tried so hard. And looked so proud and excited. I feel sorry for them.

[poizond13]

Well friends, I can tell you, this season makes me realize what it's like to be a fan of teams like the Redskins, Texans, and Cowboys. Now I know what they've been going through for years on end. Good thing we are just having one off year, and will be back to being an elite team next season.

[metalpowerman5000]

Typical Cowboys fan. In this game, there are no excuses, no explanations.

Coming from the Queen of excuses & explanations....

have to admit the packers look damn good this season, just sayin'

[johnk5150]

Yes they are! They have room for improvement though esp on defense!! Hopefully they will carry it through to another Super Bowl win!!!

It won't matter if Captain Aaron and their offense keeps putting up 50 a game.

[SkyDog112046]

It's looking more and more like Manning is done.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=d ... ess_110311

Peyton Manning(notes) stood in front of his locker Thursday and did nothing to silence growing concerns about his ailing neck, his future with Indianapolis or the debate about whether he should be released/traded if the Colts secure the No. 1 draft pick and thus the rights to Stanford’s Andrew Luck.

“Nothing earth-shattering, just two months today since my surgery,” Manning told reporters. “Still waiting for the fusion to take place. That takes place, they thought, between two and three months. Still going slow with that.”

How slow?

“I still have some of the same issues I had before the fusion as far as the nerves and the regeneration,” the sidelined Colts quarterback said. “Still dealing with that, the idea being that this surgery gave me the most stability for the nerves to regenerate. That’s still a process there.”

So here comes the most agonizing of months for the Colts. Manning said he wasn’t scheduled for a checkup until Dec. 1. Between then and now it’ll be some light rehab and some heavy worrying.

As the calendar spins, however, the likelihood of his return drops.

If a process that was supposed to take “between two and three months” hasn’t revealed anything at all, hasn’t shown he’s on the verge of progress (no checkup for four more weeks?), hasn’t changed the “issues” he had before fusion surgery, then will another month do it?

Or another after that? Or ever?

It’s actually eight weeks (not two months) since the Sept. 8 anterior cervical discectomy and fusion procedure. However, the original recovery time was pegged at 8-10 weeks (not three months, which in this case would be 13 weeks). Calendar semantics aside, none of this is good.
Peyton Manning has not taken a snap this season.

It’s the right thing for the front office to brush off trade or release talk, and speak with great optimism of their future Hall of Famer’s future. It’s also completely naïve to ignore the obvious.

These are the critical moments for Manning’s recovery and the once-unthinkable concept of the Colts moving on from the four-time MVP who literally made the franchise matter after its 1984 move from Baltimore.

There is no understating his importance on not just the franchise, but the city and state. The Colts averaged just 6.3 victories during the 14 pre-Manning seasons in Indy. They had some magical moments behind quarterback Jim Harbaugh, but it wasn’t until Manning showed up that everything changed.

The one-time basketball state became football mad. Manning became the city’s celebrity, just as a massive gentrification of Indy’s once sleepy downtown was complete. He then helped get a new stadium built. Subsequently, the Super Bowl is coming in February.

The bigger moment for the Colts will come later that month. The Indianapolis Star reports the team must decide by then whether to pick up Manning’s option. If so, it will owe the quarterback $28 million. Manning said that provision in the contract he signed just last offseason, was his idea.

“It’s a one-year deal with a four-year extension, if you will,” he said. “That was my recommendation. I wasn’t healthy when I signed the contract. If I’m not healthy in February I think it’s fair for the Colts to be able to make their decision there.”

By then the Colts will know if they’ve won the “Suck for Luck” race. The prize is Andrew Luck, expected to be the league’s next franchise signal caller. The Colts aren’t just 0-8, they are a terrible 0-8, non-competitive in many of those defeats. They may have the inside track on the league’s other winless franchise, the Miami Dolphins.

The options then are multiple. If Manning isn’t healthy, trade him and move on with the rebuilding. If he is, they could keep him, let him return to form and finish out his iconic career while mentoring his understudy. Or they could get on with the rebuilding and trade him for parts and picks. There’s also an outright release that opens up plenty of salary cap.

Manning wouldn’t touch that subject.

“That’s a lot of speculation and I don’t think that’s fair to the players that are playing, to speculate on what draft choice the Colts will have,” said the top overall pick in 1998. “We might win eight in a row starting Sunday and I certainly hope that we do. … We’ve never talked about what draft pick we were going to have before during the past 13 years, so I don’t think it’s fair to do [that] now.”

What Manning is worth on the trading block depends on his recovery. Yes the Cincinnati Bengals got a first- and a second-round pick for the all-but retired Carson Palmer(notes), who has never been Manning’s equal.

Palmer is 31 though. Manning turns 36 in March. Besides, you can’t count on another franchise willing to hand over as much as the desperate Oakland Raiders.

Either way, Manning’s either damaged goods or a risky proposition. It’d be one thing to look good in practice, but he’s still an aging player who has had three neck surgeries over a 19-month period.

Right now, all anyone knows is that the first eight weeks (the front end of an expected recovery) have yielded little progress. It isn’t over since absolutely no one knows for sure, but there is no simple way to spin this into a blue skies scenario. This is one contest Manning can’t run a two-minute offense on and pull victory in the face of defeat.

“I just can’t give a prediction of where I’m going to be,” Manning said. “I don’t think anybody really can because as I’ve said all along, this injury is one that is a little bit unpredictable.”

Here comes the big month for Indianapolis and its Colts; the once-unimaginable end of the Peyton Manning era growing just a little more likely by the day.

[Crazy Levi]

We all know Manning is finished, this isn't news.

The only issue is, does Manning know it? Will he accept it? Or will he soldier on like Ali did against Holmes and Berberick because he simply cannot believe that he is now a frail shadow of his former self?

I think it's pretty clear that the Colts WILL get Luck. The Dolphins are playing the Redskins, so that's at least one win for them. The Colts can't beat anybody. Even a JV team from a special needs school.

So it will be interesting seeing how all of this plays out. I think a trade is most likely. Maybe the Vikings will try. Again.

[SkyDog112046]

Manning could be a heck of a coach if that's what he wants to do once he realizes his career is over. Although he might get frustrated about coaching players that can't do what he did the same way that Ted Williams had difficulty managing players that couldn't hit like he did.

[MickeyG]

What evidence is there that Manning would be a good coach?

[AliceManson]

What evidence is there that Manning would be a good coach?

He calls his own plays and he has more power than Caldwell, no matter what the Colts tell you.

[metalpowerman5000]

There is no evidence that Manning would be a good coach.

fixed

[SkyDog112046]

What evidence is there that Manning would be a good coach?

He calls his own plays and he has more power than Caldwell, no matter what the Colts tell you.

Exactly. He is essentially the offensive coordinator now. He could be a QB coach tomorrow and officially an OC within 2-3 years if he wanted to.

[MickeyG]

That doesn't mean players would respond to him in a coaching capacity though. Isn't he also a selfish fuck who won't give his back ups reps on the training field? I'm not saying football knowledge wise he hasn't got the tools. But I'd like to see him mentor a young QB before I say he'd make a good coach.

[Bourbon Cowboy]

The Falcons should be ashamed of themselves running up the score like that on the Colts.

[cantstopthemusic]

Before fleeing Lucas Oil Stadium in the second half, fans serenaded Colts players with boos after watching Indianapolis go nearly 30 minutes between first downs. By the end of the game, at least 80 percent of the stadium was empty.

[LAglamrocker]

yea like Luck wants to go to that sh*thole, Luck prays for Miami

[sin]

If the Colts get the #1 pick and I were in charge Iwould trade down for whatever team offered me the best deal. Hope Peyton plays another season or two while upgrading pretty much everything in the draft.

[johnk5150]

That Packer/Charger game was entertaining as shit.

Not sure where Flacco is throwing some of these passes tonight. Bradshaw is retarded for calling him a better QB than Cutler.

[cantstopthemusic]

yea like Luck wants to go to that sh*thole, Luck prays for Miami

Matt Moore messed THAT once-possible scenario up, today.

[johnk5150]

yea like Luck wants to go to that sh*thole, Luck prays for Miami

Matt Moore messed THAT once-possible scenario up, today.

The great Matt Moore. I heard someone on one of the fantasy channels on Sirius call him that last week tongue in cheek and laughed my ass off.

[Crazy Levi]

Before fleeing Lucas Oil Stadium in the second half, fans serenaded Colts players with boos after watching Indianapolis go nearly 30 minutes between first downs. By the end of the game, at least 80 percent of the stadium was empty.

They got some great fans in Indy.

Remember when 11 people showed up to greet them when they returned from their super bowl loss?

[johnk5150]

Is Baltimore v Pittsburgh the best rivalry going the last four or five years?

[Crazy Levi]

5 seconds after reading your post Flacco threw that TD pass.

So, yes. Awesome!

[WTF]

Is Baltimore v Pittsburgh the best rivalry going the last four or five years?

That game was fucking awesome last night.

[Machado]

Dallas gets the win. Instead of falling flat on their face, Dallas got the job done.

Murray had another very good game against a defense was prior to the game had a reputation for stopping the run.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, so I'll take the win and look towards the
next game vs Buffalo.

[johnk5150]

Is Baltimore v Pittsburgh the best rivalry going the last four or five years?

That game was fucking awesome last night.

That's two weeks in a row where Flacco looked like dogshit for 3 quarters then pulls one drive straight out of his ass.

Those two teams played big boy football last night. Roughing/helmet to helmet flags be damned.

[johnk5150]

Not going to start a new thread on this, but the shit coming out of Penn State is stomach turning.

[Tenacious_Dio]

Not going to start a new thread on this, but the shit coming out of Penn State is stomach turning.

[WTF]

I know there's a typo. Should read 101 Linebackers Drilled.

[johnk5150]

I know there's a typo. Should read 101 Linebackers Drilled.

This could kill the program for years.

[El Metalico]

Dallas gets the win. Instead of falling flat on their face, Dallas got the job done.

Murray had another very good game against a defense was prior to the game had a reputation for stopping the run.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, so I'll take the win and look towards the
next game vs Buffalo.

Two times at the opponent 1 yard line and they just got FGs.

Bryant fumbles at the 1 yard line as well.

Defense keep racking rushing yards.

AND the fucking Patriots couldn't get ahold of the Giants

COWBOYS better make a good plan for the Bills or we can start to scratch off any possibilities for playoffs