Sports

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

The Chiefs have issues. Their NFLPA grades are among the worst (31st) in the league. Take away the A+ for Andy Reid and they'd be the worst in the league. That makes it harder to lure free agents and retain your own players. There might be the teensiest bit of a lack of discipline among the players, who seem to get into trouble quite a bit. Patrick Mahomes is their savior and keeps them alive, but they've got some issues to overcome and they're being run down quickly by a pack of other teams that are catching up to them and likely passing them. I wouldn't be shocked to see them miss the playoffs this year.

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@gardenman 

There definitely is a disconnect between the Chief's  ownership and the way the front office is run and player expectations for a Super Bowl caliber team!!!! And this can also be tied into the fans feelings too with their NO vote on taxes for a new stadium with the majority of the burden and expense placed on them, rather than ownership.

• KC's Grades were almost as bad as Washington's....and you never ever want to match a Dan Snyder run organization.  Although Andy Reid is an excellent coach and game strategist, but as a father, he's a disaster, quoting one judge-"it sounds like a drug emporium with drugs all over the house"--with one of his dons dying from drugs, the other in jail for DWI accident (while being employed by the Chiefs no less).....I don't think Andy emphasizes the importance of proper off the field conduct to his players, much like his home life was run.....A definite lack of discipline in both scenarios.

[Spurt]

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@PARedbird wrote:

@gardenman - thank you for that information!  I had no clue and your comment kinda cracked me up when you said they try to spread the unhappiness from team to team.  LOL!  I don't know what to think about our Eagles for this upcoming year.  When I'm out driving, I listen to the Philly sports radio and some of them think they're going to have a great year and others think it'll take a few more years before they'll be really good again.  We shall see! 

@Spurt - yes, very sad about Houston.  I remember years ago when that one hurricane hit and the city was under water.  I believe I heard that the nickname for Houston is concrete city since they keep building and building and not enough green.  JJ Watt was extremely generous to Houston when that hurricane hit them.  

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@PARedbird 

YEP, JJ Watt did a LOT to help the community after Hurricane Harvey, working with his foundation he raised 41 million to help in the relief efforts !  He really was a blessing here in Texas, such a wonderful "face" of the Texans franchise, he was constantly helping in the  community, and visiting kids in hospitals......etc etc....Just an overall great guy, I enjoy reading his Twitter/X posts....he posts family photos too, his little son is so cute, JJ has him in the weight room, and helping in the house, taking out the trash....lol...I wonder if some college has already recruited him....lol

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

The league uses a computer to spit out all of the possible schedule options. Then they get weeded out and sorted until they come up with one that makes everyone happy. Well, as happy as you'll ever get everyone.

You'll never get all 32 teams happy with any schedule. They do seem to try and spread the unhappiness from team to team season by season.

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@gardenman 

LOL...Talking about "spreading the unhappiness" Washington got a late Bye Week again, that's 3 yrs in a row........They thought giving us lowest travel mileage would make up for it....NO IT DOESN'T!

[teganslaw]

@Ladybug724 what's the status on Deshaun Watson? Hopefully, he will be fine this season; the Browns have a lot riding on him. 

I was surprised that they didn't keep Joe Flacco. I'm glad that he landed with the Colts, though.

[gardenman]

The Eagles dust off the whole team tomorrow for the first of their full-team minicamps. The rookies will get their first chance to work side-by-side with the vets. This is always something of an eye-opening experience for the kids. Their first real taste of something close to NFL speed and physicality hits them tomorrow. A few guys will realize, "Hey, I can do this!" Others will soon realize, "Maybe I should look into another line of work." It'll be an interesting experience for all of them. 

We'll get some media coverage, lots of post-practice interviews, and our first look at the new roster in total. Well, nearly so. A few guys won't show up as is typical, but most should be there. If you're a kid stepping onto the field with Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Saquon Barkley, it's an experience. "One of these things is not like the rest. And it's me." You want the vets to nurture and help build the kids not try to destroy them.

When the Eagles drafted Todd Pinkston many years ago he talked more than a few of the defensive vets thought was wise. They bullied the poor kid to death. He'd line up to go on a route and they'd grab him and throw him to the ground. They just manhandled the kid and largely destroyed his confidence from the start. That's not what you want. You want the vets to help build up the kids and get them to believe they belong. Destroying a kid doesn't help anyone.

For the next few days, we'll be buried alive in Eagles news. The media will breathlessly report who lined up where and who the first team, second team, and third team guys are. (Note: None of it matters as the coaches intentionally rotate guys in different combinations in practices.) Some guys will look better than expected, some worse. And none of it matters. Not yet anyway. Training camp is when the real sorting process takes over. You don't want to look so bad that they look to replace you already, but you can make mistakes and survive now. You just need to show an occasional flash to let them think you're capable of playing at this level.

Ideally, we'll come out of this with no one with a torn ACL or Achilles and lost for the year, but injuries happen. There will be a lot of kids taking the classroom lessons they've had up to now onto the field for the first time and feeling a bit lost. There will be vets feeling every bit as lost with new offensive and defensive systems being installed. There's a whole lot to learn and not all that much time between now and September. It all kicks into a higher gear starting tomorrow.

[PARedbird]

@Spurt - is it the players themselves who do the grading and then they average it out?  I wonder why they grade the family part so badly?  Just what are they wanting/looking for?  Same with the travel - do they all want first class treatment/seats on the planes?

[gardenman]

Day one of the first full Eagles minicamp starts today. We should get some news coming from that later on. My big concern early on is avoiding injuries. You hate to lose a guy this early in the preseason. You get a feel for who had offseason surgery by who's sitting out the practices. You also find out who's still unhappy with their contract by them not showing up. Reporters will be breathlessly reporting who's first string, who's second string, and whatnot, not that it matters yet. 

[Spurt]

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  @PARedbird wrote:
  

  @Spurt - is it the players themselves who do the grading and then they average it out?  I wonder why they grade the family part so badly?  Just what are they wanting/looking for?  Same with the travel - do they all want first class treatment/seats on the planes?

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@PARedbird @gardenman @teganslaw @LavernLuvsShoes and all fans...

The survey is conducted by the NFL Player's Association. According to what I read, some teams don't provide a family room during games, and some do not provide daycare support for players' children on gameday. The survey allows players to also grade their teams on the treatment of their individual families.

I'm sorry as far as daycare in the Netflix QB series, Kirk Cousin's wife took their older son to the game with her, and got their own babysitter for their youngest son......And I know Kirk has  tremendous contract, but come on even normal "mortals" go out on occasion and pay for a babysitter, and even NFL Practice Squad guys usually make more than the average person in their community so they certainly can afford a babysitter---SMH! Also noted in the series, the Vikings provided a nice spread of food for family and players for after the game.... The Vikings received A’s across the board, including the treatment of families. 

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.What was funny is the Patriots also got an F in the Family category....Gee, how did Tom Brady's family cope ......lol. The Bengals, Steelers, Washington, the Chargers, and Buccaneers also scored an F in that category......

As far as travel ----Six teams don't give players first-class seats when they travel, and seven teams have their players room with teammates at hotels on road trips.

All this could impact which team a Free Agent decides to sign with particularly if the money is pretty equal in the offers...

BTW the Eagles did pretty well, they were 14th overall, and the Chiefs were 29th.

Under a separate platform, the NFL as a league offers free, confidential support through the NFL Life Line. Current and former NFL players and their families can receive up to eight free counseling sessions, as well as referrals for child care, elder care, financial, legal, and other resources. 

[Spurt]

@PARedbird @gardenman 

On the Sunday Night Overtime Show, not much on the NFL.....

But they did talk about the Schedule Release and fruitlessness of predicting wins/losses....there could be injuries, weather, or other factors impacting games....However, they went ahead and predicted the Cowboys win/loss record anyway....LOL!!!! 

Of course David the Cowboy Homer predicted 10 wins 🙄

Richard Oliver predicted 9 or 8 wins

Don predicted only 7 wins--- citing all the players they lost in free agency, the running back by committee, no action on signing Parsons, Lamb (will they hold out), and no resolution of Dak contract. McCarthy is pretty much a lame duck coach, Jerry isn't showing any confidence in him.....that stress could impact performance 

They also said can anyone imagine how Jerry Jones felt when his Cowboys were rejected for one of the Christmas games, while the other Texas team, the Texans, were chosen and are even the home team...

They also interviewed Cowboy's OC Brian Schottenheimer who said he was excited about getting Zeke back and using a running back by committee (but what else could he say, that's the hand he was dealt)......JMHO, but my team has been there, done that, this doesn't work, Washington tried that in the Snyder yrs...not effective at all.  Yes, having RBs with different styles does work---- a big bodied ground and pound guy and a faster, quicker, more elusive running back, but what the Cowboys are doing is having several players at the same position run with the ball hoping at least one of them is gonna be effective.🙄

[teganslaw]

The Eagles have used running back by committee. Gardenman, do you consider this to be successful? As SPURT mentioned, it didn't work in Washington. 

RB David Johnson retired. He had some good years, but has declined lately. He was in the NFL about 8 years, and with several teams. He figured it was time to leave.