The NFL Thread - Root for your favorite team (or laugh at the Browns, whichever's easier)

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Who are you rooting for in Super Bowl 60?

  • New England Patriots

    Votes: 11 22.0%
  • Seattle Seahawks

    Votes: 25 50.0%
  • Team State Farm

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • The Meteor

    Votes: 13 26.0%

  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .
Well for the Thanksgiving games, go Lions, go Giants because it would be funny, and go Dolphins.

Worried about the Lions though, they haven't won on Thanksgiving since 2016. Even the past two years when they've been good.
 
Well for the Thanksgiving games, go Lions, go Giants because it would be funny, and go Dolphins.

Worried about the Lions though, they haven't won on Thanksgiving since 2016. Even the past two years when they've been good.

I have a friend who is a big Dolphins fan, with a father who is all GB... should make for a very interesting Thanksgiving. lol
 
So I just saw this come up from Sports Illustrated (though it was posted there on November 14th) about the possibility of an 18 game regular season and a 16 game international schedule: https://www.si.com/nfl/roger-goodell-reveals-goal-timeline-to-expand-nfl-season-to-18-games

Roger Goodell Reveals Goal Timeline to Expand NFL Season to 18 Games

The NFL commissioner also wants to increase the amount of annual international games.​


NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has some lofty goals for the league in the next few years.

Goodell mentioned over the weekend that he's hoping the NFL will play eight international games next season. But, now, he's bringing up more long term goals, including the league's plan to expand to 18 games per season. He hopes to execute this plan within the next five years, via Sports Business Journal.

On top of this, he wants to increase the international game total to 16 a season, which, in theory, would allow all 32 teams to play an international game each season. The NFL hosted five international games this year, which was the most in a single season in league history.

“We’re looking at a change from the 17-and-3 format to maybe 18 regular season games and two preseason games,” Goodell said Thursday at Liberty Media’s investor day. “And that will open up more inventory to allow us to play more globally.”

This possible expansion would come shortly after the league moved up to 17 games a season in 2021. It was the first time the NFL expanded since 1978.

The timeline for this goal times nicely with the NFL's television deals, which are set to expire after the 2029 season. If the league's schedule expands in five years, then new television deals would be needed, most likely.

However, the NFL and NFLPA's Collective Bargaining Agreement doesn't expire until after the 2030 season, meaning Goodell would have to argue before the bargaining period.

If these changes are made in the next few years, the NFL schedule will be completely different than what it is now.

So a couple of thoughts on this:

With the current union contract set to expire after the 2030 season, what is the likelihood of a contract amendment that the player union will agree upon? Everything I read is that players don't necessarily want more games, and why would they? Their bodies take enough of a physical toll as it is, plus the added time away from wives and kids isn't exactly ideal. I can empathize with that. If I were an active player, I'd certainly be looking for as much of a sweetheart deal as I could if the league wants me to play 18 games.

That brings me to my next point: what is to be done about the schedule? If we're looking at having 16 international games, that means each team will have one game overseas each season. I think these games are great for the sport, and the players seem to have a positive outlook about them in general, so expanding the series is probably a good thing. Moreover, if we're moving to an 18 game season, then these guys need more than one fucking bye week to rest/recover. There's probably multiple ways to solve this, but this is the scenario I can come up with:

With 18 games in the regular season, we would most likely get 2 preseason games. The international games are played from Weeks 1-9. If you play an international game in any of these given weeks, you will get a bye week the following week. Thursday night games are from weeks 9-18 and they will come after a scheduled bye week. I suppose you could also eliminate the Thursday night games altogether, but I doubt that happens. That seems to be the big hangup in my mind, because there's often way too many teams that end up playing Thursday games with short rest and not enough time to properly prepare. Would a league wide two week break in the middle of the season be good? That would extend the Super Bowl until almost the end of February. Perhaps have half the league off one week and the other half be off the following week?

Either way, I'd love to see an 18 game schedule. This 17 game era has just been weird and I think we're only going to make this sport work with an even number of regular season games.
 
Before they signed Jones, they had exactly one QB under contract for 2025 - JJ McCarthy. Even if JJ is ready to go by OTAs he still needs a backup and backup QBs do not get cheaper than a veteran league minimum contract(next year). For low, low price of $375k, the Vikings get 4 months to evaluate if Jones can be their backup.
While true, I still want them to do the funny thing of signing Rodgers, assuming he walks/the Jets say to fuck with it.

The Salt from both Vikings and Packers fans would be glorious.
 
So I just saw this come up from Sports Illustrated (though it was posted there on November 14th) about the possibility of an 18 game regular season and a 16 game international schedule:
Hard pass on all that shit. If anything the league needs to go back to 16 games and 28 teams. Fold the Chargers/Rams into one team and then fold the Jaguars, Panthers and Titans.
 
So I just saw this come up from Sports Illustrated (though it was posted there on November 14th) about the possibility of an 18 game regular season and a 16 game international schedule: https://www.si.com/nfl/roger-goodell-reveals-goal-timeline-to-expand-nfl-season-to-18-games
It has ever been thus that Da League wants more (meaningful) football played at more times and available to more fans since, let's face it, the average NFL fan just watches whatever slop is available any time it's available. Shitty refs? Who cares? 10 million people tuned into watch it because it was better than anything else streaming. Or because they had someone on their fantasy team. Or because they took the over. The only human cost is to the players themselves, and promising them a higher share of the revenue will probably get them over their objections. Sure, the salary cap is basically the TV contracts / 32 now, but what if we threw in a portion of the nflshop.com merch sales, too? Basically, I think it would be pretty simple to get them on board with a 2-18 schedule, and not just because they're greedy, but because the preseason games are already just vehicles to see which lower-tier players should be on the roster. If Jared Goff decides he needs a series or two to work on stuff, that's just as easy to do in Preseason Game 2 as it is in Preseason Game 3 now.

So I think an 18-game season is all but inevitable at this point. Your other point about the expanded international series is interesting, because dangling a second bye week in front of players would also make the NFL's bargaining position stronger. Where the NFLPA may balk is at the possibility of having to play a February playoff game in Buffalo or Green Bay. And I kinda doubt either team would be amenable to hypothetically moving such a thing to a dome because of the amount of revenue the local area would lose out on. Not to say these things can't be worked around, but the Pegulas and Mark Murphy's successor would be a thorn in the NFL's side if they did start to make such noises.

I think it more likely that they'd move the start of the season up a week or two. It's been a long-time gentlemen's agreement between the NFL and NCAA that they won't step on each others' toes in terms of early-season scheduling, but the NCAA is a fucking disgrace of an organization right now, and I think telling them "look - you still get Saturdays until Bowl Season, and people will already be primed for football by the time your season starts: win-win" is doable. The big objection from owners would be the Florida teams, but ain't nobody wants to play in 100 degrees, so you guys can start on the road or overseas and wait for your home openers to be played in non-Mercury-like temps.
 
Hard pass on all that shit. If anything the league needs to go back to 16 games and 28 teams. Fold the Chargers/Rams into one team and then fold the Jaguars, Panthers and Titans.
Yeah I've never been a fan of one state having multiple teams, growing up I'd always mix up the Chargers and Rams and also the Texans and Cowboys.

I think it'd be more interesting to have more state representation at some point. Good example being Alabama, plenty of great players have birthed from here yet they have no team in the NFL. I realize this probably won't ever happen but it would be cool
 
I think it'd be more interesting to have more state representation at some point. Good example being Alabama, plenty of great players have birthed from here yet they have no team in the NFL. I realize this probably won't ever happen but it would be cool
Problem with that is, if to use your example, Alabama has a "College ball is king" mentality.
 
Vikings, this is why people have trouble taking you seriously - apparently they signed Daniel Jones.

I mean, it worked out with Darnold, maybe New York as a whole is just cursed as far as QB’s…
Fun fact. Back in 2020 Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold played against each other in a cornhole tournament.

I have zero idea what this is or even how cornhole is played, but it's nice to imagine them playing it in the locker room during half time.
 
Thanksgiving and football; nothing quiet like it. Here's some madden highlights to celebrate;




Stay warm w/ full bellies today!
 
Problem with that is, if to use your example, Alabama has a "College ball is king" mentality.
Probably an unpopular opinion but I'm honestly not a fan of college ball simply because the caliber of play isn't there compared to the NFL. College defenses are ass, the vast majority of players are not good enough to become NFL prospects, etc. Nothing pains me more than watching bad football. I pay a little attention just to follow draft classes but that's about it.

Either way, hope the Bears crush the Lions today. They won't, but I wish they do.
 
Fun fact. Back in 2020 Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold played against each other in a cornhole tournament.
Daniel Jones 4 point Round.mp4
I have zero idea what this is or even how cornhole is played, but it's nice to imagine them playing it in the locker room during half time.
Cornhole, ping pong, HORSE style basketball games, and card games like bourre are huge in lockerooms. Those two will definitely be cornholing each other during downtime.
 
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