Sports

[RetRN]

@gardenman, thank you for getting us up and running for another season. Looking forward to some good games. 

[Spurt]

Hall Of Fame thoughts.....

I watched the NFL Networks feed....

I liked Kevin Mawae's speech the best.....

As a Redskin fan I had to laugh when Gil Brandt gave credit to Jerry for continuing the excellence that he, Clint Murchison, Tex Schramm, and Tom Landry started....SMH...that credit goes to Jimmy Johnson and his evaluation of talent, and the Herschel Walker deal with the Vikings and those 13 picks they got with that trade....😒

I couldn't help but chuckle when Gil Brandt rattled through the list of players he signed....and I recalled those players and some of their renown "incidents" with the law...such fond memories😆😆😆..I guess character wasn't measured.....oh I know he also signed some good guys--Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Drew Pearson, Too Tall Jones, Troy Aikman etc etc...but it made me think about the reason I didn't become a Cowboy fan...

I bet Redskin fans laughed when Champ Bailey thanked Redskin GM Charlie Casserly who drafted him and some of his Redskin teammates but no mention of Danny Snyder but tons of compliments for the Broncos Pat Bowlen ad how he ran the organization....and I dont think it was just because Bowlen was being inducted either....nice shot...

[teganslaw]

I watched highlights of some of the HOF speeches. Wonder why Dan Snyder doesn't get any respect? (Never mind answering that; I think I know the reasons. ) 

The Colts-Bills game will be televised on our local FOX station. I'm interested to see some of the rookies in action. Training camp went well, see how that develops on the field. 

Gardenman, who will start the first preseason game: Sudfeld or Kessler? It seems that the two are competing for backup behind Wentz.

[gardenman]

@teganslaw 

It might be Wentz. He's been campaigning to play a series. If not, it should be Sudfeld. He's still the number two. Cody Kessler has been a pleasant surprise in camp. He looked bad in the OTA's but has played well in camp. Clayton Thorsen will get some time also, but he's been pretty erratic so far. You don't expect a lot from a late round QB, but he was missing receivers by so much the other day that some season ticket holders standing ten yards off the field were catching his passes. That's not good. He's made some good throws, but he's made some really horrible ones too. The Eagles have adjusted his throwing motion and he's still adjusting to it. When he doesn't think about it, he's pretty good, but when he starts to think too much things go all cattywampus.

[gardenman]

Dang! One of our young defensive ends, Joe Ostman went down with a knee injury in last night's practice and had to be carted off the field. That could open the door for a return of Connor Barwin or Chris Long, both of whom are waiting in the wings in case they're needed. Ostman was having a very good camp also and earning some time with the starters.

By the way, just as an aside, our local sports station NBCSports Philadelphia kept promising live coverage of the only Eagles open training camp session and showed the players going on the field and warming up, then switched to all talking heads in the booth for an hour and a half during the actual practice session. Very, very annoying! They managed to tick off most of their viewers with that little stunt. 

[gardenman]

Interesting. The website insidethestar (and others) say the August sixth date doesn't matter for Ezekiel Elliott since the Cowboys picked up his fifth year option. I see what they're saying, but I'm not sure they're right. They're saying it takes four accrued years to become a free agent and that since he's under contract for next year using the fifth year option that'll give him his fourth accrued season and he could become a free agent in 2021 as scheduled.

My understanding though is if he doesn't report on the sixth the 2019 contract doesn't count at all and he has to play in 2020 on the 2019 deal and then 2021 on the fifth year option. I think I'm right on that.

If they're right then there's no disincentive for a player in his third year not to hold out for as long as it takes to get what he wants. Say a Lamar Jackson decides he wants to be paid as a top tier QB next year despite only playing two seasons and opts to hold out. (He's making just $900,000+ this year and $1.3 million next year while other guys are making $30+ million.) He could sit out camp, and the first few games of the season and then come back in and play after getting an extension/new deal. There's no reason for him not to do so if he could come back with a $30 million a year deal. The Ravens would have little choice but to sign him.

The only way to make that unattractive to players is to make them wait an extra year and play an extra year on their old contract if they miss the August sixth deadline. Given how few third year players hold out, I'm pretty sure I'm right on this. We'll have to see what happens, but many/most people are saying the August sixth date doesn't matter because he has a fifth year already on the contract. I'm not so sure about that. Are contracts for specific years (2018, 2019, 2020) or for playing years (for lack of a better word) or accrued seasons. If 2019 counts as a contract year season even if he doesn't take the field then why should Elliott play at all?

[teganslaw]

Reading the details of Elliott's contract is enough to cause a headache. I have no idea what the correct action is pertaining to the August 6 deadline.

Melvin Gordon is holding out for a new contract. His agent requested that Melvin be traded to another team, but the Chargers refused. At least for now. He is set to make 5.6 million under his current contract, but wants as much as 13 million.

I would be annoyed if a network promised live action of my team's training camp, but switched to "talking heads" instead. BTW, is it really necessary to have dozens of analysts on one show? I think two, maybe three, would be enough. 

[gardenman]

Re: the TV coverage of the training camp. It was so weird as they promoted the heck out of it, showed us the players stretching, then went all talking heads once the actual practice started. Early on they said they'd been hoping to do this for years and were finally able to swing the deal, then they showed us nothing. They made a lot of viewers very, very unhappy. It was so frustrating. You could hear the fans cheering big plays. My Twitter feed was talking about great catches and passes and runs, and all we saw were their talking heads. Ugh!

[teganslaw]

The Colts claimed former Texans RB D'Onta Foreman. He had an achilles injury late 2017 and is just starting to get healthy. The Texans waived Formen because they didn't like his work habits, whatever that means. 

Foreman will take the place of Spencer Ware, who is on the PUP list.  Ballard didn't seem worried about Foreman's work ethics, otherwise he wouldn't have signed him. This could turn out to be a good move for the Colts, as it adds depth to the RBs. Not sure what this means for Ware, though. 

[gardenman]

Joe Ostman, our fourth/fifth string defensive end is now on the DL with a torn ACL. Pity. He was having a good camp. We signed Kasim Edebali to replace him for now. Connor Barwin or Chris Long could rejoin the team closer to the start of the season.