Sports

[gardenman]

Time to switch to the weekly format now that the games are starting. Tonight (8/01/2019) we start out with the Broncos at the Falcons. It may be our first chance to see Joe Flacco at the helm of the Broncos. (At least for a few plays.) I haven't heard much out of Denver about how he's looked, so I'm guessing he's not setting camp on fire. He's very much a short-term solution for the Broncos since he's 34 now and has an iffy back. With Mahomes in KC, the AFC West is facing a top tier young QB for the foreseeable future with no real clear cut rival. The Chargers have Philip Rivers, but he's now 37 and declining. The Raiders have Derek Carr, but I'm not sure they're sold on him. The other three teams out there have to find themselves a young gunslinger in the very near future.

The Falcons have been pretty quiet also. I've heard more about the Julio Jones contract situation than anything else. The Falcons seem to have slipped a bit from their Super Bowl high and face stiff competition in that NFC South. Are they as good as the Saints? (Probably not.) Are they as good as the Panthers? (Trickier to answer. A lot depends on Cam Newton's shoulder.) Are they as good as the Bucs? (Probably better.) Matt Ryan is also 34, so they've got to be thinking about the future before too much longer too.

The league has a lot of older QB's (mid-thirties and up) floating around that will need to be replaced over the next few years.Those transitions will be interesting to watch. We'll see two of them in tonight's game in Flacco and Ryan. How close are they to being done?

Next Thursday most of the rest of the league takes the field. The Eagles will take on the Titans in the "What could have been" game. Marcus Mariota almost became an Eagles QB coming out fo the draft, but it wasn't to be. Now the Titans aren't sure if he's their QB of the future or not while the Eagles seem set on Carson Wentz. It'll be the first test of the team against someone other than themsevles. The Eagles seem pretty balanced right now with neither the offense or defense dominating practice sessions. Hopefully that means both are good and not both are bad. We'll start to find out next Thursday.

[gardenman]

A quick update, it turns out Joe Flacco won't be playing tonight. Pity.

[teganslaw]

I didn't know that Mariota was almost drafted by the Eagles. That would have been an interesting turn of events. 

Denver is splitting QB duties between Kevin Hogan (who's starting) and Drew Lock. I've heard various reports on Lock, both positive and negative, so we'll finally get to see what he's like. 

The Falcons seem high on RB Brian Hill. I don't know much about him, but since most of the starters are resting, he should get a chance to play. 

[gardenman]

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@teganslaw wrote:

I didn't know that Mariota was almost drafted by the Eagles. That would have been an interesting turn of events. 

Denver is splitting QB duties between Kevin Hogan (who's starting) and Drew Lock. I've heard various reports on Lock, both positive and negative, so we'll finally get to see what he's like. 

The Falcons seem high on RB Brian Hill. I don't know much about him, but since most of the starters are resting, he should get a chance to play. 

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Yeah, Chip Kelly was the head coach and really wanted Mariota. He offered the Titans Fletcher Cox (defensive tackle,)  Brandon Boykin (cornerback), their choice of any of the Eagles then quarterbacks (Sam Bradford, Mark Sanchez, and whoever the third string guy was) along with the Eagles first round pick (#20) for the Titans pick (#2) to get Mariota..The Titans said no. I suspect if there was a time machine the Titans might go back and make that trade now. Fletcher Cox is a beast. The Eagles drafted Nelson Agholor instead and he's become a nice starter for the Eagles.

Mariota's two biggest issues have been health and inconsistency in offensive coordinators. He's still got a lot of potential, but he needs to get settled into one system for a while and stay healthy.

[redwingsgal]

I am so ready for football of any kind, I do not care who plays tonight at all!!!  Probably won't know anyone by name, but for sure I will be watching!!  I need it!!!

[gardenman]

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@redwingsgal wrote:

I am so ready for football of any kind, I do not care who plays tonight at all!!!  Probably won't know anyone by name, but for sure I will be watching!!  I need it!!!

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Agreed! I think we're three weeks from college football also, so the weekend's start to become a lot more fun than they already are in the very near future. I love the football season, both college and pro.

[gardenman]

Stephen Jones of the Cowboys says the Cowboys don't want to be market-setters for salaries. He's preaching team loyalty and that players should be willing to play for less money to stay Cowboys. I don't think that's going to work all that well. They aren't a recent Super Bowl winner, or a team that many view as the top contender. They're a contender, but not the top contender. (Eagles, Rams, Saints are generally viewed as the top contenders in the NFC.) 

Salaries at every position go up every year. If you want to get ahead of the curve, you sign your guys early, set the early price, then let everyone else react to it. Teams that sign a guy later will likely get an inferior player at a higher price. When you wait to sign a guy, his agent starts out the bidding at least at the price of the last guy signed at that position.

Had the Cowboys been aggressive and signed Dak back in March at the start of the new league year, they might have gotten him for around $30 million a year. By waiting they're now chasing Wentz at $34-$36 million a year and whatever Jared Goff signs for, likely more than Wentz. Amari Cooper is the same way. Had they signed him to a deal right after trading for him last year, they'd have likely paid $16-$17 million a year. Now the $20 million barrier hs been broken by Michael Thomas and Julio Jones may very well top that. The Cowboys think Todd Gurley is overpaid by the Rams, but Ezekiel Elliott is more important to the Cowboys than Gurley is to the Rams. The longer they wait to sign Elliott the more it'll cost them both in terms of wins/losses and salary.

Smart teams sign the guys (young rising players) they want to keep early and even overpay up front, but then in a year or two when everyone else has caught up and passed them, they look like they got a bargain. The Cowboys right now are playing from behind and trying to convince their players they're not worth as much as other players. That's not an especially effective strategy.

On Tuesday we'll see how it works with Elliott. That's largely the drop dead date for the 2019 season for him. If he doesn't report on Tuesday, the 2019 season won't count towards free agency and he'll have to play any games in 2019 he plays (which may very well be none if he doesn't show up) and also 2020 on his 2019 contract which only pays him $3+ million and he won't be eligible for free agency until 2022. 

That Cowboys braintrust is saying and doing some really odd stuff this year. Trying to convince your players to take significantly less money than their equals (and truth be told Elliott has no equal at present) is a bit absurd. They've built their offiense around Ezekiel Elliott and now they're more or less telling him they don't need him. Yeah. That's going to be interesting to watch how it all plays out.

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

Stephen Jones of the Cowboys says the Cowboys don't want to be market-setters for salaries. He's preaching team loyalty and that players should be willing to play for less money to stay Cowboys. I don't think that's going to work all that well. They aren't a recent Super Bowl winner, or a team that many view as the top contender. They're a contender, but not the top contender. (Eagles, Rams, Saints are generally viewed as the top contenders in the NFC.) 

Salaries at every position go up every year. If you want to get ahead of the curve, you sign your guys early, set the early price, then let everyone else react to it. Teams that sign a guy later will likely get an inferior player at a higher price. When you wait to sign a guy, his agent starts out the bidding at least at the price of the last guy signed at that position.

Had the Cowboys been aggressive and signed Dak back in March at the start of the new league year, they might have gotten him for around $30 million a year. By waiting they're now chasing Wentz at $34-$36 million a year and whatever Jared Goff signs for, likely more than Wentz. Amari Cooper is the same way. Had they signed him to a deal right after trading for him last year, they'd have likely paid $16-$17 million a year. Now the $20 million barrier hs been broken by Michael Thomas and Julio Jones may very well top that. The Cowboys think Todd Gurley is overpaid by the Rams, but Ezekiel Elliott is more important to the Cowboys than Gurley is to the Rams. The longer they wait to sign Elliott the more it'll cost them both in terms of wins/losses and salary.

Smart teams sign the guys (young rising players) they want to keep early and even overpay up front, but then in a year or two when everyone else has caught up and passed them, they look like they got a bargain. The Cowboys right now are playing from behind and trying to convince their players they're not worth as much as other players. That's not an especially effective strategy.

On Tuesday we'll see how it works with Elliott. That's largely the drop dead date for the 2019 season for him. If he doesn't report on Tuesday, the 2019 season won't count towards free agency and he'll have to play any games in 2019 he plays (which may very well be none if he doesn't show up) and also 2020 on his 2019 contract which only pays him $3+ million and he won't be eligible for free agency until 2022. 

That Cowboys braintrust is saying and doing some really odd stuff this year. Trying to convince your players to take significantly less money than their equals (and truth be told Elliott has no equal at present) is a bit absurd. They've built their offiense around Ezekiel Elliott and now they're more or less telling him they don't need him. Yeah. That's going to be interesting to watch how it all plays out.

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@gardenman 

Yep, The Cowboys problem is they should have had a better long term plan in place and shouldn't have designed their whole offense around a runningback, and focused on a better QB instead.....Jerry's son, Stephen, is the smarter and more practical one, Jerry needs to listen to him and keep his mouth shut....Jerrah loves to say things without thinking just to keep his team in the spotlight.(why its a priviledge to play for America's team, players can make money from endorsements ...and you can win without a RB...blah,blah,blah) But now  the focus of their offense, a RB, wants to get paid!!!!.......AS A REDSKIN FAN WHAT THE HECK AM I SAYING?????!!!!...KEEP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING JERRY....😉😆😆😆

And in Jerry's mind HE thinks his team IS a Super Bowl contender even without Zeke......😆

[Spurt]

FOOTBALL IS BACK.....!!!

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

A quick update, it turns out Joe Flacco won't be playing tonight. Pity.

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@gardenman 

The only news I've heard about Joe Flacco is everyone is RAVING about his hair....They talked about it on ESPN this morning and it's even a Twitter topic.....Maybe they'll focus some TV camera sideline shots on his perfectly styled coif  since he's not playing tonight....

• @NickiJhabvala

Joe Flacco's hair is simply astounding and might be the MVP of Broncos camp so far. Look at this: Post-practice coif (right) is the same as no-practice coif. (Once again ... I have no life.)

@sunshine45 

I know he's not with your beloved Ravens...but did Joe create a bit of a stir and a bit of a man and women crush when was your QB?