Raiders vs. 49ers down here in LA tomorrow - will be on TV so looking forward to it :p

Charming. :rolleyes:

Thanks :D

How are all your teams' rookies doing.
Mayo looked really good in Defense.
Wheatley had some good coverage but could have done better on some plays.
O'Connell looks a good RB for the Patriots which is a shame as he is a QB. Had two good runs. Some throws werent as accurate as they could be but he has a chance to take a few reps this year.
Crable made some good tackles and an interception.
Slater is going to be involved in a lot of Special Teams with his pace and his abilities as a WR as well as a Safety/Corner, or anywhere that needs help.

If only Matt Cassel wasnt so hopeless we might have won rather than lose by a point to the Ravens.

Shame I only saw that today!

Yeah :D

Was alright, No Brady, Moss or Welker but all were there in uniform.

Looking back at the line-up, there is one reason why there were so many sacks, there was no right side to the OL. Why there were so many interceptions who knows? Apart from Cassel being crap.

The only chance he has of taking any reps is if Brady goes down with an injury.

I actually don't care too much about pre-season - the games are even more pointless than pre-season football in England.

Yup.

Last year even Cleo ••••••• Lemon looked reasonable in preseason.

Will download the fins game and watch it at my leisure over the week.

The Pats are on SKY either this week or next.

The game against the Giants was originally supposed to be on but now appears its against one of the other 2.

I'm going to start asking random questions about your teams etc and predictions and that to build us up to the season.

What will your teams regular season look like?

I am going for 13-3 (Losses against Colts, Chargers and one of Steelers/49'ers/Seahawks)

Also, the Dolphins have signed Chad Pennington

Seahawks looked good against the Vikes the other night, but as it's only pre-season i wont get to excited.

Chargers beat Dallas Cowboys yesterday too - good performance. I think they'll win the division; just a matter of whom they'd face in the play-offs.

Is there a chance of the divisions ever being rearranged?

If you look at the divisions, some are far too easy for the best team in it. An example being AFC East, the Jets, Bills and Dolphins have been a guaranteed 6-0 recently although this year the Jets may have a slight chance but I highly doubt it.

But, if you look at AFC North and South, there are 3 good teams in each so they have a harder time of it then the Pats or the Chargers.

NFC East is difficult as well with all 4 teams in with a chance with the Cowboys being the best and the Eagles/Giants on the same level with the Redskins just behind.

And the AFC Conference is harder to win than the NFC Conference as well IMO.

Best 4 in each should be: AFC- Pats, Colts, Chargers and the Steelers/Jaguars.
NFC- Cowboys, Packers, Vikings, Seahawks.

In a tournament, all 4 AFC teams would probably make up the semi-finals when matched up against each other although the Cowboys might make a show of it.

Thoughts?

Yes, I have some thoughts...

The Redskins are a better side than both the Eagles and the Giants. With the luck the Giants had, they could've won a Superbowl, too.

To suggest the Packers are in the top 4 in the NFC is crazy. All four NFC east teams are better than them - last season was a one-off and post Favre they'll be nowhere close IMO.

Re-arranging the divisions will happen but only when the NFL expands. The issue is that expansion now is difficult. 32 teams splits equally into a division and knock-out format. Add 2 more teams and you throw that out of whack, same as adding 4 or 6 more teams. The next step would be, IMO, 40 teams with 8 divisions of 5 teams and the same play-off system as now. The trouble is that expansion is FAR too quick and will never happen unless there truly are 8 viable, new markets (Toronto, maybe a Vancouver team, LA, Utah, Oklahoma...?). It just won't happen in the near future, IMO.

As for the Patriots, I have no idea yet how we'll do. We'll win the division with a 5-1 record against divisional rivals and we'll have 2-3 other losses, at least. I reckon a 10-6 or 11-5 season is about right.

I'll give you a closer answer once I've seen how the teams fare in the next few weeks and how injuries resolve themselves (especially Peyton's...).

I think we will be better than 11-5 just because of Brady and Moss, we are going to try the running game more but as soon as that doesnt work, I hope we run up the score, and to quote Patriots writer and host of PFW in Progress Fred Kirsch:

"They tried moaning about it last year when we didnt make any effort doing it. This year, I want us to destroy teams, I dont want to win by a field goal or a touchdown, I want us to leave cities burning, wives raped and houses pillaged. You thought we were bad last year, now we're bad :D".

I sort of want us to ram spygate down their throats.

I think the Packers were in the Top 4 last year, I think the Eagles have improved and the Redskins, well I dont know about them, they blow hot and cold.

I think we can all agree that AFC is a harder division than NFC.

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/cpfcbbs

League Name is CPFC BBS
Password is eagles

I dont mind how the draft works or anything like that but there were requests for a yahoo league as well so here you go.

I have PM'ed this to most of you, if not all that have posted in this thread recently.

Bored so I thought I would look back through some posts while waiting for the Olympics and found this corking prediction on the day of the 06/07 Superbowl

Also found another one but dont have the quote for it from jlm, who said around Sept/Oct that McFadden would go high in the draft and could be the new AP. We shall see on that point however.

:D

:cool:

Along with the unbeaten season I also think the Dolphins went unbeaten against the AFC East in 1984. Also that year the 49Ers won all their games against opponents in the same division, and the Bears won all the games in the old NFC Central the year after that.

Basically, these things go in circles, and one day (probably a long way away) they'll come back around again. Really what the Pats and Colts are doing in terms of controlling their divisions in the salary cap era is something which isn't getting the credit that it should.

BTW Paul if you're recommending some kind of change to the play-off system I'd disagree with you on that, although I find it interesting that American Sports all run towards one prize. I don't think it is practical in the NFL, but there's no reason why something like the NBA couldn't have a knock-out cup.

Oh, and I hope Spygate continues to haunt you, obviously. ;)

No, I think the play-offs are fine as they are.

As you say, with the salary caps imposed, the way that these teams are consistently at the top of the division is amazing really.

I like the way Spygate haunts us, we destroyed the Dolphins and the Jets based on it last year :D

I really hope that we run up the score this year just to wind a few of the smarmy gits on NFL Network up. Schefter in particular, I dont know who he supports but he really winds me up.

And I hope Cassel isnt put in when we are winning as he manages to muck it up with an interception or something every time.

And the draft as well. Take away a first round pick so your first pick was seventh overall (hang on, how did that ever make sense?).

On a more important issue, I hope something goes wrong with the turf at Gillette Stadium. Someone needs to highlight the groundstaff who can't keep a grass field in place for ten days a year. At some point I really believe that a study will reveal that third-gen turf is just as damaging as Astroturf. Can't beat the real thing.