2014 NFL Season (1 Viewer)

[Ockeghem]

The Patriots must have been reading my mind. This is a baby step, but in my opinion it's a step in the right direction.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/10597820/darrelle-revis-agrees-new-england-patriots

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The Jets signed Eric Decker. Talk about sending a decent receiver to the NFL passing offense equivalent of Siberia!

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Let's not forget that the Pats defense had *major* injury issues last season. They were missing their best DL and LB for pretty much the entire season, plus other starters, and the AFC Championship game didn't get out of hand until Talib went down.

Of course, now Wilfork has asked to be released. Guess they wouldn't budge on the pay cut. . .

 

[Dheiner]

All these teams taking a page out of the Eagles "Dreram Team" playbook, an approach to team building has been so successful....

 

[Ockeghem]

Aaron,I understand the reasons the Patriots would not want to pay Wilfork. But man am I going to miss his presence on that line.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The Lions have resigned free agent tight end Brandon Pettigrew to a 4 year contract. The team has denied all rumors that Pettigrew dropped the pen twice while trying to sign the contract.

 

[Ockeghem]

Some more good news for the Patriots.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/10613215/julian-edelman-agrees-re-sign-new-england-patriots

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Some more good news for the Patriots.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/10613215/julian-edelman-agrees-re-sign-new-england-patriots

The Pats really needed Edelman back. Their receiving group is pretty thin, especially with Gronk unable to stay healthy.

...and more bad news for Lions fans. Speculation is it will be "business as usual" with the running of the team after the passing of William Clay Ford, Sr. Makes sense -- why change anything after half a century of ineptness and incompetence?

 

[Patrick Sun]

The 2014 Draft finally got underway.

How did your team do?

My hometown team, the Falcon snagged Jake Matthews after Greg Robinson went 2nd.

My buddy, the Cleveland fan, immediately lamented that there will be no #2 jerseys in his house as they do not cheer "Let's go, number two!"

Bortles went really early at #3.

 

[Ockeghem]

Scott,You must be incredibly pleased with the Lions' first-round draft pick. I mean, what they needed was yet another wide receiver, right? Hopefully they will firm up their defense with their remaining six picks.

 

[Dheiner]

The Lions seem to be thinking "We need to be outscoring the Heat."

 

[Johnny Angell]

I've been watching the draft on the nfl network. According to the commentators every pick is great for the team that picked him. So every team will be getting better.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I'm curious to see what the Hawks come up with in the later rounds

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Scott,You must be incredibly pleased with the Lions' first-round draft pick. I mean, what they needed was yet another wide receiver, right? Hopefully they will firm up their defense with their remaining six picks.

Absolutely terrible pick. This is why the Lions continue to suck. Even the Browns got their draft right, yet Mayhew decides he needs two tight ends with bad hands - Pettigrew wasn't enough. That is two first round picks he has wasted on the position. You can tell he learned from the master Millen. Good teams do not use high first round picks on tight ends. There were several defensive backs just waiting for the Lions, which was a position of need.

I have not even bothered to check out their remaining picks yet.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Emergency manager for the Detroit Lions? Funny stuff.

Not so funny stuff -- since Vernon Davis came into the NFL 8 years ago - highest tight end ever at 1.06 - only four TEs have gone in the first round. Martin Mayhew has drafted two of them..

 

[Ockeghem]

I wasn't sure where to post this news. So I just started a new thread. I'm sure many have heard of the passing of one of the NFL's greatest-ever coaches. I knew Noll was a great coach, but what I didn't know was how he was often times blatantly honest with his players.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11080732/legendary-pitsburgh-steelers-coach-chuck-noll-dies-82

Today, I heard an interview with Andy Russell, who was with the Steelers before Noll arrived (1969) and who saw the amazing transformation that took place with the Steelers. Russell had been selected for the Pro Bowl the preceding year. Noll called him into his office. Russell thought he was going to be congratulated for his accomplishment the previous year. Instead, Noll told him that he "Didn't like the way he played." Noll also told him that he would make Russell a better player in his thirties than he had been in his twenties, which Russell said he did.Noll's first year was less than glamorous, as the Steelers went 1-13 (including thirteen consecutive losses) before history was made. But the players that were eventually drafted -- including five(!) future Hall of Famers in 1974 -- were among the best ever to play the game. Noll was both a defensive and offensive coordinator at times with Pittsburgh. And he was so very good at getting his teams prepared for games.I'm sure Scott M. could tell us a lot more about this great coach. Although I've been a fan of the Patriots since the mid-1960s, I have loved watching the Steelers play for decades and have always rooted for them to win whenever they are in the Super Bowl. What the Steel Curtain did was at times astonishing, both statistically and pragmatically. That is the best defense I have ever seen in my nearly five decades of following the AFL and NFL.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I was quite saddened by this news this morning. I grew up cheering for Noll's Steelers, as my mother was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, so I was raised as a Steelers fan. It was a much different NFL back then -- dynasties, no free agency, rushing-oriented offenses, bone-breaking defenses, and QB's still calling their own plays. Noll was a huge part of turning the Steelers from a laughing stock into a great franchise and the Team of the Decade in the '70's. I have so many great memories of watching that team, and Chuck Noll was instrumental in creating those memories.

The term "legend" gets thrown around a lot, but in this case it truly fits the man. Noll was a legend, and one of the catalysts that turned the Pittsburgh Steelers into arguably the greatest franchise of the Super Bowl era. RIP, Coach Noll.

 

[Dheiner]

Maybe this belongs in this thread:http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/330241-2014-nfl-season-pre-draft-to-disney-world/

(Mods, if you move this thread, please remove this, and the previous line.)

I grew up with a younger brother that loved the steelers. So I was forced to dislike them. I could never not like Chuck Noll.

He seemed to be the kind of man I would want to be coached and mentored by. He will be missed. May he rest in peace.

 

[Patrick_S]

Wow the regular season thread 3 months before the season starts?

 

[Ockeghem]

Dheiner,Yeah, I thought of that thread as well. That's fine if they move it. I just started this thread rather than a Chuck Noll thread because I wasn't sure. Thanks for the suggestion, though.