NFL offseason thread 2009

[hawkeyecub]

Favre fascination is nuts...

 

 

It wasn’t just Twin Cities viewers who wanted to see Brett Favre play extensively on Monday night.

 

ESPN’s telecast of the Vikings’ 17-10 victory over Houston earned a 6.0 rating, representing an average of 5,943,000 households, making it the network’s most-viewed NFL preseason game ever and its highest-rated since New England-Dallas on Aug. 12, 1996. That game had a 6.6 rating.

 

According to an ESPN press release, Monday’s game was the most-viewed program of the night (broadcast or cable) among households, viewers, all key male demos, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49. Additionally, ESPN was the No. 1 network for the night (broadcast or cable) among households, viewers, and all key male and adult demos.

 

The game ranks as the ninth most-viewed cable program of the year and ESPN’s third highest-rated/most-viewed program of the year among households.

 

[hawkeyecub]

jeez, i finally saw the favre block from last night. what an [expletive] move. i bet he's trying to prove he's gonna be a tough guy for his new teammates or something other [expletive] logic from the hillybilly.

 

I think people are getting a little dramatic with it. If it wasn't Favre no one is talking about it today.

 

In almost every game there are crackbacks similar to that by WR's and TE's. You're supposed to make contact at the hip or higher. He hit him in the thigh and fell into his knee. If it was behind the line of scrimmage it would have been legal anyways. It was 1.5 yards downfield.

 

It was a penalty and was rightly called. It was dumb for the coaches to have him blocking especially in a preseason game. But all of the dirty play, cheap shot, "threatening someone's career" stuff is just over the top.

[Guest]

Anyone know where I can see this play?

 

NFL.com...it's the last play on the Favre highlights video.

 

Thanks.

[RynoRules]

OMG, FAVRE HAS A CRACKED NAIL ON HIS RIGHT INDEX FINGER!!! OMG!!!

 

He speculates about a cracked rib on the basis that he couldn't take a deep breath (a diagnosis that the team's Coach won't confirm) and then runs around like a teenager on the field on Monday night. Does anyone else think he self-releases this info to the media to help enhance his "legend" amongst the faithful/gullible? The guy is a freakin' egomaniac and narcicist of the first order.

[hawkeyecub]

Does anyone else think he self-releases this info to the media to help enhance his "legend" amongst the faithful/gullible? The guy is a freakin' egomaniac and narcicist of the first order.

 

Likely. I think it was to keep expectations down and have an excuse if he didn't play well.

He was basically telling local media earlier in the week not to expect a great, smooth showing.

[Soul]

Does anyone else think he self-releases this info to the media to help enhance his "legend" amongst the faithful/gullible? The guy is a freakin' egomaniac and narcicist of the first order.

 

Likely. I think it was to keep expectations down and have an excuse if he didn't play well.

He was basically telling local media earlier in the week not to expect a great, smooth showing.

So basically he's now the GW of football.

[SpongeWorthy]

Favre fascination is nuts...

 

 

It wasn’t just Twin Cities viewers who wanted to see Brett Favre play extensively on Monday night.

 

ESPN’s telecast of the Vikings’ 17-10 victory over Houston earned a 6.0 rating, representing an average of 5,943,000 households, making it the network’s most-viewed NFL preseason game ever and its highest-rated since New England-Dallas on Aug. 12, 1996. That game had a 6.6 rating.

 

According to an ESPN press release, Monday’s game was the most-viewed program of the night (broadcast or cable) among households, viewers, all key male demos, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49. Additionally, ESPN was the No. 1 network for the night (broadcast or cable) among households, viewers, and all key male and adult demos.

 

The game ranks as the ninth most-viewed cable program of the year and ESPN’s third highest-rated/most-viewed program of the year among households.

 

How is it the highest rated ever while simultaneously being the highest rated since August 12, 1996?

[Soul]

Preseason vs all games

[SpongeWorthy]

Aug. 12, 1996 is a preseason game though. I'm thinking they messed up the date because there's no way the highest rated NFL game ever on ESPN is a preseason game.

[hawkeyecub]

Aug. 12, 1996 is a preseason game though. I'm thinking they messed up the date because there's no way the highest rated NFL game ever on ESPN is a preseason game.

 

I think they meant last night was the highest rated preseason game ever on ESPN and the highest rated preseason game on any network since '96.

[David]

Total viewers and rating doesn't necessarily mean the same thing.

 

 

A 6.6 could have represented fewer viewers in 1996 than in a 6.0 in 2009.

[Banedon]

Newsday says the Jets are considering trading for Brandon Marshall. Good luck with that.

[wekse]

Anyone know where I can see this play?

 

NFL.com...it's the last play on the Favre highlights video.

 

Thanks.

 

that's a really ugly play...the guy he hit was lucky to get up.

[Guest]

Anyone know where I can see this play?

 

NFL.com...it's the last play on the Favre highlights video.

 

Thanks.

 

that's a really ugly play...the guy he hit was lucky to get up.

 

Agreed. I can't believe he'd do something like that during a preseason game.

[shnsajax]

Newsday says the Jets are considering trading for Brandon Marshall. Good luck with that.

 

I'm pretty sure this guy will be on his best behavior living in NYC.

[TruffleShuffle]

Newsday says the Jets are considering trading for Brandon Marshall. Good luck with that.

 

I'm pretty sure this guy will be on his best behavior living in NYC.

 

hardly any women to beat up there.

[jersey cubs fan]

Tampa Bay fired their offensive coordinator already. I really don't see the raheem morris era working out well.

[OleMissCub]

My firm has skybox seats for the Saints this season. Going down today for the preseason game against the Dolphins to check them out. Should be fun, never been in skyboxes before.

[David]

Analyst: Favre looks ‘slow’

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AvjSMUagjpPSxHkdFeLkQI9DubYF?slug=jc-favrereview090109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

 

 

 

First off, I'll say that I think it's unfair, at best, to attempt to extrapolate his sack total in a a few quarters of a preseason game into a full season total. That said, it's not surprising at all.

 

 

At the end of last year, Favre complained of having an aching right arm. As a result, much of the focus this offseason was on how he would respond to surgery on a tendon in his arm and on a small tear in his rotator cuff.

 

Again, however, the analyst said that arm strength was not the problem.

 

“Even at the end of last season, he threw it fine. It was that the other team figured out that the Jets didn’t have any speed and that everything was a three-yard pass. Eventually they smothered all that,” the analyst said.

Also adding to the problem is that the Vikings had Favre throw only one pass that could be called a true “timing” pattern, where Favre was throwing to a spot rather than reacting to what the receiver did on the route.

 

 

I mentioned the point made in the bolded earlier in the thread. Favre was getting TONS of YAC last year, 2nd or 3rd most in the league among qualifiers. I don't know that it's accurate to blame it on the Jets speed so much as it might be that Favre doesn't have the quite have the deep accuracy anymore. Either way, it points to the idea that it may have been more of an adjustment by teams playing against him than the injury (a bit of both, certainly) that caused him to turn the ball over like crazy toward the end of the season.

[hawkeyecub]

Analyst: Favre looks ‘slow’

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AvjSMUagjpPSxHkdFeLkQI9DubYF?slug=jc-favrereview090109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

 

 

 

First off, I'll say that I think it's unfair, at best, to attempt to extrapolate his sack total in a a few quarters of a preseason game into a full season total. That said, it's not surprising at all.

 

 

At the end of last year, Favre complained of having an aching right arm. As a result, much of the focus this offseason was on how he would respond to surgery on a tendon in his arm and on a small tear in his rotator cuff.

 

Again, however, the analyst said that arm strength was not the problem.

 

“Even at the end of last season, he threw it fine. It was that the other team figured out that the Jets didn’t have any speed and that everything was a three-yard pass. Eventually they smothered all that,” the analyst said.

Also adding to the problem is that the Vikings had Favre throw only one pass that could be called a true “timing” pattern, where Favre was throwing to a spot rather than reacting to what the receiver did on the route.

 

 

I mentioned the point made in the bolded earlier in the thread. Favre was getting TONS of YAC last year, 2nd or 3rd most in the league among qualifiers. I don't know that it's accurate to blame it on the Jets speed so much as it might be that Favre doesn't have the quite have the deep accuracy anymore. Either way, it points to the idea that it may have been more of an adjustment by teams playing against him than the injury (a bit of both, certainly) that caused him to turn the ball over like crazy toward the end of the season.

 

LOL wait, a "former NFL quarterback and current NFL analyst" had to remain anonymous for this report?

They spent two paragraphs on the concept of extrapolating his sack totals in less than 4 quarters over a 16 game season. It's also panic time in Detroit because Matthew Stafford's play this preseason would put him on pace for 48 interceptions this season. He's a bust!

 

He was playing with a torn biceps down the stretch and that's factual. His breakdown could have been due to an adjustment. I would just wonder why it took them 12 games to make the adjustment and why a few of the best defenses in the league couldn't figure it out with so much film.

 

If it was that easy to recognize and that easy to make an adjustment and shut down, it doesn't take NFL coaching staffs and good defenses 12 games to figure out. In week 11 he went into New England and went 26-33 for 258, 2 TD's and 0 INT's. In week 12 he went into Tennessee and went 25-32 for 228, 2 TD's and 1 INT. Belichick and Schwartz weren't able to figure it out and their defenses weren't good enough to make the adjustment but the putrid bunches in Denver and Seattle were? Come on now.

[David]

Making the adjustment doesn't guarantee success against it. There was definitely a trend. Regardless, no matter how you look at it, Favre was a turnover machine at the end of last year and isn't any younger. And he might still be hurt. And he's had one good season out of the last 5 or 6. It might work out if he can defer to Peterson and the run game and plays a more conservative game. Whether he can do that remains to be seen.

 

 

And like I said, extrapolating the sack totals was pretty much absurd. Citing his sack total last year and how it was higher than any he'd had in a while while playing behind a pretty damn solid offensive line is legitimate, though.

 

 

 

 

EDIT - Fixed... LOL at he might still be young

Edited September 3, 2009 by David

[hawkeyecub]

Making the adjustment doesn't guarantee success against it. There was definitely a trend. Regardless, no matter how you look at it, Favre was a turnover machine at the end of last year and isn't any younger. And he might still be young. And he's had one good season out of the last 5 or 6. It might work out if he can defer to Peterson and the run game and plays a more conservative game. Whether he can do that remains to be seen.

 

So only the last 5 teams on the schedule were able to be successful with the adjustment? Something much better defenses and more celebrated coaches weren't able to do just 1-3 weeks prior? Come on, he broke down physically. He had a torn biceps which you want to eliminate from the equation for some reason.

 

Now if you want to argue that he's likely to break down physically again because he's 40, I'm with you. But this stuff about defenses finally catching on and him/Jets not being able to react sounds way off base. He torched good defenses on the road in weeks 11 and 12. They had 10 weeks worth of film on him and knew what he was doing just as well as the last 4 teams did. And they had better coaches and better players to be able to carry out the plan.

 

I believe you meant to say 1 good year out of 4. In '04 he completed 64% for nearly 4,100 yards, 30 TD's, 17 INT's and he was nearly that good in '03. From 2001-2009 he's had 2 bad seasons which were '05 and '06. '01, '03, '04 and '07 were great. '02 was average and '08 was below average. What he did 8 years ago isn't relevant, I'm just giving you the numbers.

 

The thing is the Vikings don't need him to be a savior or difference-maker like the Bears are with Cutler. We have a top 5 running game and a very good chance at a top 5 defense. Favre of '08 would be an improvement over what we got last year when they won 10 games. Dinking and dunking like he did Monday would be a huge improvement.

If he accepts that this is Adrian's team with a great defense and defers like Elway did in '98 he'll be fine. He says he understands that now but his ego may be too big for that. Then again Elway was pretty high on himself also. Who knows, we'll see.

[David]

Making the adjustment doesn't guarantee success against it. There was definitely a trend. Regardless, no matter how you look at it, Favre was a turnover machine at the end of last year and isn't any younger. And he might still be young. And he's had one good season out of the last 5 or 6. It might work out if he can defer to Peterson and the run game and plays a more conservative game. Whether he can do that remains to be seen.

 

So only the last 5 teams on the schedule were able to be successful with the adjustment? Something much better defenses and more celebrated coaches weren't able to do just 1-3 weeks prior? Come on, he broke down physically. He had a torn biceps which you want to eliminate from the equation for some reason.

 

 

All I'm saying is that those teams could have implemented whatever adjustments needed and that doesn't mean they would be guaranteed to work in practice. Balls could have wound up in good spots, borderline tossup plays could have gone the Jets' way, etc. The fact that he had success at times during that stretch doesn't debunk the theory, to the same extent that it does not debunk the theory that he was hurt and that that was causing him to play poorly.

[Banedon]

Tampa Bay fired their offensive coordinator already. I really don't see the raheem morris era working out well.

 

"Jags" had very little experience calling plays, something that Steve Logan normally did for him at Boston College. (Logan is now in Tampa as a running backs coach and will remain there.) The Bucs reportedly grew concerned that Jagodzinski knew how to install a zone blocking running scheme on the team, but not much else.

 

"Sometime during training camp, it became increasingly apparent to Bucs officials and players, that Jagodzinski was not equipped to install and direct an NFL offense," writes Rick Stroud.

 

The team reportedly believed Jagozinski lacked "sophistication" when it came to various aspects of the passing game.

[jersey cubs fan]

Tampa Bay fired their offensive coordinator already. I really don't see the raheem morris era working out well.

 

"Jags" had very little experience calling plays, something that Steve Logan normally did for him at Boston College. (Logan is now in Tampa as a running backs coach and will remain there.) The Bucs reportedly grew concerned that Jagodzinski knew how to install a zone blocking running scheme on the team, but not much else.

 

"Sometime during training camp, it became increasingly apparent to Bucs officials and players, that Jagodzinski was not equipped to install and direct an NFL offense," writes Rick Stroud.

 

The team reportedly believed Jagozinski lacked "sophistication" when it came to various aspects of the passing game.

 

How do you hire such a guy?