Time for fans to send message by reducing NFL spending

by | Jul 1, 2011 | 2011 season, NFL Lockout, NFL Random Thoughts

The first NFL preview magazines have showed up on the shelves of my local bookstore. For the first time in many years I didn’t make a special trip to go find them. I stumbled on to them while I was in the store looking for something else.

I bought two fantasy football publications: Sporting News 2011 Fantasy Football and Fantasy League Football 2011. The NFL is largely about money for owners and players so I’ve made it at least somewhat about money for me too – I play in several fantasy football leagues and have had a fair amount of success over the years.

But as for buying the actual preview magazines, it seemed a bit pointless given the lockout and lack of a free agency period to this point. We’re a couple weeks off of when training camps would normally start and there has not yet been anything resembling an offseason.

Lindy’s, which publishes my favorite preseason annual, seemed to recognize this. They published their typical June version with a publisher’s note saying they planned to publish again in August if there was movement toward the season taking place.

With all due respect to Lindy’s, I’ll wait until then to buy the magazine.

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Owens done? Is he Hall of Famer?

by | Jun 27, 2011 | Hall of Fame, NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

ESPN has reported that star wide receiver Terrell Owens tore his ACL last month, either while filming a “reality television show” or during a personal workout.

As a 37-year-old athlete who is not currently under contract, the injury obviously puts the controversial wide receiver’s future in doubt.

So, two questions: Is he done? And is he a Hall of Famer?

I don’t care for Owens. He’s definitely got some diva to him as an individual, prancing for the cameras and throwing quarterback Donovan McNabb under the bus as his two years in Philadelphia wound down.

But you can’t help but respect him as a player. No matter what his often strange life has looked like off the field, he is a workout warrior who always answers the bell on Sundays. His nine catch, 122-yard performance in Super Bowl XXXIX on a barely healed broken leg was as memorable as it gets, despite the loss.

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Denver, Detroit make early strides in the draft

by | Apr 30, 2011 | 2011 season, NFL Draft, NFL Random Thoughts

There are a lot of picks left to be made but the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos have already had winning drafts.

Even if Denver forfeits its remaining picks the team took unmistakably helped its putrid defense with the additions of linebacker Von Miller, safety Rahim Moore and linebacker Nate Irving.

I’m a little confused about why the team took Miller over Marcel Dareus in a year they are switching from the 3-4 defense to the 4-3. Miller is considered a top-notch edge rusher for the 3-4 and Dareus would help fill a gaping hole in the team’s run defense.

But as far as just adding talent, Denver has done a tremendous job heading into day three. (more…)

Fantasy football also affected by lockout

by | Apr 19, 2011 | 2011 season, Fantasy Football, NFL Lockout, NFL Random Thoughts

The NFL lockout is becoming a drag in more ways than one. Sure, it’s kind of cute … well, no, it’s really not cute at all … when players and owners get up in front of cameras or type away on twitter telling fans not to worry because they expect to make a deal in time to ensure that games are not canceled.

Or when the league moves forward with their farcical plan for a two-hour special on NFL Network introducing the schedules for the season that may or may not be played.

The truth is even if the league and the players miraculously settle during forced negotiations this afternoon, the lockout has already gone on long enough to ensure that the quality of play on the field in 2011 will suffer.

Free agency has been postponed for more than a month, leaving teams unsure how they will fill holes from last season. Minicamps have been lost, especially hard for teams with new coaches and new systems. And at this point there is little indication the collective bargaining process will conclude by next week’s NFL draft, so rookies and other new entrants to the league are almost inevitably going to lose at least one and likely more opportunities for pre-training camp instruction with coaches.

That means we are also closing in on the point where, assuming football is played in 2011, the lockout will have a direct effect on fantasy football this season as well. What teams and players benefit from this situation? Will there still be rookies who are worth drafting for your teams in 2011? We at Zoneblitz feel continuity will be key this season but we contacted fantasy football writer Ryan Boser, who contributes to a number of fantasy sites, to see what he thinks.

Zoneblitz: With a shortened free agency period and minicamps already being canceled it would seem to us that continuity and lack of roster turnover will be key to success in 2011. Do you agree? (more…)

49ers interest in retaining Smith shows downside of lockout

by | Apr 14, 2011 | 2011 season, NFL Lockout, NFL Random Thoughts

Reports out of San Francisco indicate that the 49ers have a contract on the table aimed at keeping former first-overall pick Alex Smith in the fold for at least one more season.

The on-again, off-again starting quarterback for San Francisco has shown flashes of competence but has been mostly injured or disappointing (not always through faults of his own) during his first six years in the league.

At the end of the season, Smith talked pretty openly about being ready to move on to a new situation where he could get a fresh start. The fans turned on him pretty aggressively at the end of the season and, with a new coach on board in Jim Harbaugh, in a normal year my guess is Smith would already have signed somewhere else.

But this is not a normal year. (more…)

Grant says Packers 2010 injuries will keep championship team hungry

by | Apr 4, 2011 | NFL Random Thoughts

I was doing some other work with the Milwaukee Brewers’ home opener on mute in the background (Gotta love that free MLB Extra Innings trial at the beginning of the season) when I noticed that Green Bay running back Ryan Grant was being interviewed by the Brew Crew’s announcing team on Fox Sports Wisconsin.

Turns out the Brewers were honoring the Packers and their Super Bowl championship by having a collection of the Green Bay players throw out the first pitch on opening day at Miller Park.

The Packers’ starter at running back heading into the season was all class during the inning-long interview. He acknowledged that sitting out the season and the Super Bowl was difficult but also acknowledged that it was not bittersweet at all because he realizes many contemporaries won’t have the opportunity to even attend the big game as a player.

Grant, who injured his leg and ankle in the team’s opening game and missed the entire season, added that the coaching staff and front office deserve a lot of credit for keeping the team together through a collection of injuries that included him, tight end Jermichael Finley, linebacker Nick Barnett and a dozen others.

On the other hand, Grant adds that the stars who missed the Super Bowl due to injury may help the Packers avoid the so-called Super Bowl hangover, as those players will pine to get their opportunities to experience the game on the field.

“I think that will continue to keep guys hungry,” Grant told the announcing crew of Bill Schroeder and Brian Anderson. “We do feel like we’re built to be a team in the mix for the next couple years.”

I’ve grudgingly grown to respect Grant quite a bit. When he emerged out of nowhere in 2007 to run for nearly 1,000 yards, I thought he was a one-timer who would stick around just long enough for someone better to come along. Instead, he followed that season up with two 1,200-yard seasons, hitting paydirt 11 times in 2009.

I think James Starks, who came on strong at the end of the regular season this year and helped establish a run threat for Green Bay on their Super Bowl run, may be more talented than Grant. But Grant has proven he will give Starks a battle when it comes to how they split the carries in 2011 and beyond. And missing the season, he adds, has his body feeling the best it has since 2007.

In the meantime, my respect for Grant grew even more when he told the story of how he managed to arrive in time for the opening ceremony Monday at the ballpark. The driver of the car that was supposed to take him to the airport in New York for his flight to Milwaukee locked the doors and drove off, Grant recounted. Grant missed his flight and ended up paying a good chunk of change to charter a plane.

“I gave my word,” he said.

During a time when the NFL is in the middle of a lockout, with several players running into legal issues and several others tweeting idiocy and gibberish, that’s a refreshing attitude to hear. So kudos and best wishes to Grant as he attempts his comeback in 2011.