New NFLPA Director Prepares for “War”

by | Mar 16, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL News

DeMaurice Smith, a Washington, DC based attorney, was elected the new Executive Director of the NFL Players Association late Sunday night, replacing Gene Upshaw who passed away last August.

On Monday, Smith had his first press conference with reporters since being elected, via telephone.

Amongst the highlights of the call, Smith said of the league’s current labor situation:

“There isn’t a day where I don’t hope for peace, but at the same time there isn’t a day where we don’t prepare for war.”

Amazing.  It was one thing when Kellen Winslow Jr., still in college, went on a tirade claiming he was a “F*ckin’ Soldier.”

But for a man who has his law degree, and who is expected to lead a labor union for employees that average well over a million dollars per year (and a union that is probably going to be asking for a greater share of the pie, while the owners are going to be shooting for giving them less) to compare what he’s preparing for to war is absolutely ridiculous.

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Should Eagles Now Look at Trading McNabb?

by | Mar 11, 2009 | 2009 NFL Free Agency, NFL Random Thoughts

The Philadelphia Eagles have been relatively busy this free agency.  Unfortunately for Eagles fans, they’ve spent more time waving goodbye to former All-Pros than welcoming players to the fold.

First it was Drian Dawkins leaving for Denver.  Most recently it was Tra Thomas heading to Jacksonville.  In between they’ve lost or traded role players Correll Buckhalter, Lito Sheppard, Greg Lewis and Sean Considine.

Donovan McNabb wrote on his blog that he “will always regret not having the chance to win a championship with these guys.”  (Technically he did have a chance, but I think we get his point).

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Another Possible Winner in the TO to Buffalo Deal

by | Mar 10, 2009 | 2009 NFL Free Agency, Fantasy Football

Andy already threw out Miles Austin as one potential sleeper for 2009, with T.O. no longer causing headaches in Dallas.

Another player that could move up draft boards come August thanks to T.O. landing in Buffalo is Marshawn Lynch.  After bursting on the scene with 1,115 yards as a rookie in 2007, Lynch took a bit of a step back in 2008 with just 1,036 yards in 2008.  This was partially due to the emergence of Fred Jackson as a capable backup, and partially due to some injuries suffered–although Lynch appeared in 15 games.

Additionally, in 2008 he actually scored more touchdowns on the ground (8 vs 7), slightly improved his yards per carry numbers (4.1 from 4.0), and got himself more involved in the passing game (47 receptions for 300 yards and a TD, vs 18-184-0 in his rookie season).

While the Bills have been making some changes to the offensive line that could impact Lynch’s ability to find holes in 2009, the addition of Owens on the outside should help keep defenses a little more honest when it comes to moving a safety up in the box.

In fact, if James Hardy can show signs of improvement in his second season, Lynch could possibly even crack our 2009 draft board top 10.

2010 Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductees

by | Feb 10, 2009 | Hall of Fame

Find out about the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2010 announcement, along with our thoughts and analysis.  Also, check out our new 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee guesses…

Our 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductees post had a lot of discussion around it, so we figured we’d better come back and take a chance at 2010.

First, taking a look back at 2009, we only hit 3 of the 5 non-senior inductees–Randall McDaniel, Derrick Thomas and first time eligible Bruce Smith.  Also making it were first timer Rod Woodson, who we debated about including, and figured would make it in a year or two, and Bills owner Ralph Wilson, who snuck in despite not even being a finalist in 2007 or 2008, and seemed like a bit of stretch to me, given the recent way he’s treated the people of Buffalo with his team (the whole Toronto thing).

Regardless, here’s looking ahead to 2010:

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Ratings Down for Super Super Bowl

by | Feb 2, 2009 | Business of Football, Super Bowl

In news that will probably make fans in New York and Boston giddy, and only encourage the folks in Bristol to continue showing every conveivable Yankees-Red Sox matchup (even when more compelling games are on), the ratings for the Super Bowl dropped slightly this year, from a rating of 44.7 last year to 42.1 this year.  Each rating point represents 1,145,000 households.

The rating for the 2007 game was also a 42.1, and in 2006 it was a 42.2.  East coast fans will likely conclude that the drop in ratings was because neither team in the Super Bowl was from New York or Boston (despite the fact that no teams last year were either–the Giants are from New Jersey, and the Patriots are from Foxboro).

There are other plausible explanation, though–there may have been more fans who were unable to take time off from work, thanks to the economy.  And since it sounds like tickets were cheaper, and it was the first time for Arizona (and since Pittsburgh fans are so fanatical), it’s possible that more people made the pilgrimmage to Tampa to try to attend in person.

Or maybe a whole bunch of people were so sickened by the crap that NBC chose to air as its pregame show, that they turned the TV off in disgust and listened online or on radio.

Still, it was a lot of people watching (estimated at about 90 million), but we do wonder if a ratings drop (combined with the economy, and the fact that some companies finally started mocking the prices–see High Life with their 1 second spots) will impact the price for ads next year…lord knows if they drop by about $2,999, 925 or so, ZoneBlitz.com will be first in line for a 30-second spot…

**UPDATE** After further review, the numbers for this year’s Super Bowl were actually higher than last year’s–take THAT, East Coast Media Bias!