National Football League

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re: Re:

Part III in the new mish-mash-forum... Let´s see how this post turns out with quote-quotes-quota-urls-non/urls and WTF else...
Edit: That URL shit happens again, so part IV will follow

I don't care what your friends tell you,

You dont have to ofc. But it gives a pretty good sense of how US fans "work"...

I am talking about Business, something you don't seem to understand.

We´ll see

Business for the NFL is having its name out there in the news all the time. Controversy creates articles and tv time creates interest. People who didn't watch the game rush on to NFL.com and affiliated websites to see what happened. They go to sports websites to read opinions about it. They hashtag it on twitter.

No doubt about that. But what has it got to do with refs messing it up?

Sure fans like "controversy". But there is tons of it by how coaches called a game in tough situations, how player abc dropped the pass, how xyz lost the fumble, etc, etc... No iota need for ref controversy to talk about...
Ever read the (certainly many dumb) posts on cbs, espn, nfl.com etc? 99% of time its in-fights between your team/QB/Coach is worse than ours. Refs? 1%...
Again: NFL/pro football sells trou stars, namly since Pudge Heffelfinger became pro...

Eg the Dez Bryant catch. The ESPN treated that incident as if the President had just been asssasinated and droned on about it for a week. Same with the no call vs Detroit a week earlier. People tweeted about it. Sports journos wrote articles about it then wrote more articles about it.

All of that is publicity for the NFL.

And this negative (ref) articles sell? Really (like doping articles in cycling)? Why then did the NFL give in*? AFAIR the strike was ended in a hurry when the negative articles about the replacement refs mounted.

(* And why do they (NFL) try to shut down as best as possible the negative articles? Pete Gents books were burned by shady NFL guys. Just one example. I talked about the numerous others many times here. Just search trou the thread)

You have some bizzare romanticised view of US sports fans.

Sure, 20+ years between them blurred my vision.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Part IV

They are the same as any fans.

Not. At. All. No stadium riots between hooligans, no battue in inner-cities between fans from different teams, (basically ) not a single fan that likes tie games, no one that understand the strategy of FIFA to keep 100-year-old-rules... Nothing of that. Not. At. All.

When controversy happens they go on social media to talk about it and go onto mainstream media to read/hear more about it.
That creates profit for the NFL.

Economics 101 really.

Yep. "Controversy". But no need for ref-controversy. See above.
Economics 101 the NFL-way:
Avoid negative publicity like the plague, but create stars! And as we all know, it works...

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re:

As to NFL fans, while they do talk about controversy, I think it's a mistake to say they relish in it, or it helps sell anything. I completely disagree with that.

Amen.
Not only you... Every US guy I talked to, drunk with, discussed about, battled it out on the field with, be it Football or Baseball, took/takes the same stance.

I think I can speak for 99% of NFL fans in saying we're happy with the way the game ended, with a properly officiated game.

Absolutely... At least US citizens that is.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Yes, you understand it correctly. NFL, MLB, NCAA, NHL, NBA, etc.

Jamis Winston's Pro Day was today. He threw 101 throws (that's a lot, about 75 is the norm). He showed good arm strength and zip on the ball, and a classic three step throw style. Not all his throws were spot on, and some felt he actually looked out of shape. Never the less, others are saying this sealed him being taken 1st by Tampa. He also scored some brownie points by explaining why he won't be at the draft. He will be spending time with his grandmother who is diabetic and in poor health. That works for me. He'll get drafted one way or the other, someday soon, his grandmother will forever be gone.

After dumping Matt Schaub, Antonio Smith has also been cut by Oakland. Both were somewhat of a disappointment last year, and this seems to be yet another cap move looking to have money to peak in the next couple seasons as Mack and Carr mature. Maybe. It's hard to read Reggie McKenzie. Last year he lost some decent players in FA, and overpaid for a few others (like these two), but he didn't break the bank like Al Davis did.

It seems the elephant in the room about Russell Wilson's contract is getting sorted out. Seattle is looking to sign him to a very long term deal that will likely (overpay) him as the highest paid player in the league. On paper that is. There's a lot of stuff going on about what's guaranteed, and word is Russell is trying to work with the team so they can sign some other badly needed players, like Bobby Wagner, while still having eye popping numbers (that really makes his agent look good).

 

[Zam_Olyas]

tebow to eagles is done?

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Oh Kelly... the biggest brain fart since Phillips benched Flutie before the playoffs.
We all should have seen this coming (but didn´t) when he (Kelly) cut Jackson: Kelly wants out of the NFL asap. He further wants to be throned as the biggest NFL fail ever. He is working on it hard...

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

there is actually a pretty good article on Bleacher's about why Kelly might sign Tebow (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-tim-tebow-is-all-about-chip-kellys-giant-ego). OFC there's always the explanation they need an off-season arm to take the load off of the real roster QBs. But then there's this insight:

Kelly... From 2011: “I look for a quarterback who can run and not a running back who can throw. I want a quarterback who can beat you with his arm. We are not a Tim Tebow type of quarterback team. I am not going to run my quarterback 20 times on power runs.”

So what changed? Kelly's ego got larger. He wants to be known as the guy who fixes Tebow. That's what changed.

And then they point out that not even Billichick could do that. So is this an ego move? Makes one wonder.

Personally, I'm glad he's getting another chance, because the last 2 he got with the Jets and Pats were not much of a chance at all.


Lots of talk, almost too much talk, on the airwaves about Winston and Mariota, and who's #1, or who goes first. Not a lot said about the numbers though. I'll report later on that.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Beli and him... well, they are lightyears apart... Even Switzer understood the name of the game (being an NFL coach) better than Kelly seemingly ever will "You fit your system to the players you have, not the other way around"... Now Kelly comes, and thinks with his arrogant style he can change the "laws" of NFL football.
1.) I read he gets rid of the "Reid players" inch for inch. Mistake. Don´t get personal.
2.) He wastes roster spots with players that either showed they are not got enough (Tebow), and/or loads positions (& wastes cap space) with more players than needed (RBs), and further wastes future draft picks
3.) He counts on his college succsees (thus the reason he signed Bradford). Mistake. Never count on the past.
4.) He stopped the only thing that worked (being aggressive on 4th down)

He is doomed. He got away with his style for a season: Going 10-6 again, even though letting go his best WR, and a QB who was made for his offense > ofc it back fired as Sanchez was sacked more than twice than his starting QB (Foles), and now he just got rid of him too, this off season.
Kelly is a maniac. His college ball made him think he is the world beater... Well, he is not. He is the opposite.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

No, no, no. You guys have all completely forgot. Kelly will be running the Wing-T offense with this RB laden offense, and Tebow can pull that off as good as any other QB, handing the ball to zig zagging RB's all game.

Steve Gorman pointed out a stat today, if you go back and look at starting QB's over the last five years and then list the 5 QBs with the worst total QB rating, you'll find that the Eagles now have three of them on their roster. Bradford, Sanchez and Tebow. It's an alarming stat. Toss in the the once very highly touted Matt Barkley who has been just short of a bust in the little playing time he has seen, and...wow.

My gut tells me this: Tebow won't make the team, but will make it until at least the first cut. And Kelly knows this right now. So why bring him in? Beyond the obvious ego, and the vision I have in my head of him watching old college scouting tapes when evaluating pro players. I'm guessing Tim is there for morale, and publicity. First, there's no doubt he's a genuinely nice guy and a well meaning person to his core. In a league with too many guys off to jail (or who should be there), Tim's the opposite of that, and his eternal optimism is going to rub off on other players. Also, there's been a circus following him for his entire career, and he's both used to it, and handles it very well. This will detract a lot off Bradford, and people hounding him about his injuries and learning yet another system, etc. They will focus on Tebow instead. FWIW, the Eagles now have 5 QB's on roster. Bradford, Sanchez, Tebow, Barkley and G.J. Kinne. He might as well trade one of his offensive lineman up in the draft to get Mariota as well.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

@Foxxy - Ouch! Switzer comment. Now that's a low blow. I have to say that whole take is a compelling case for CK to the insane asylum.

@Alpe - That is a lot of QBs with a ton to prove. Hate to say it, but looks like Tebow is just a piece of meat they can spread the load around to.

And whilst on the Iggles, some mock drafts say Mariota to the Iggles at #20 overall. Don't think he falls that far, but if he does CK will take him.

NFL 2015 schedule to come out this week.

 

[leftover pie]

i must say chip has made this a most interesting off-season, if he manages to pull off trading up in the draft to get mariota then it's going to make the plot of the Kevin Costner film "Draft Day" look plausible.

the philadelphia press must love him, he'd be selling so many newspapers.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Costner in 'Draft Day'. That's funny. But I actually liked the movie. I love paybacks.

Well is it Winston – Marioto, or Mariota – Winston? Who goes first? Or who’d you take first? Talent wise, both are very close, dead even in many categories in fact, with the edge in arm strength to Winston and the edge in athleticism to Mariota. OFC Winston gets the edge in familiarity with traditional pro style offenses, and Mariota looking like he’s got a bit of a learning curve to climb in that aspect. But what I say about familiarity with pro style is simply that Winston appeals to MORE teams than Mariota does because of that, and Mariota is a good fit for a smaller number of teams… the point being, with the right team Mariota is a hands-down no brainer over Winston mainly because of Winston’s off field issues that still are surfacing as recently as this week. One could say Winston is a no brainer because he fits a pro style better right now, but then there is the baggage.

Take the Titans for example (sitting with the #3 overall pick). They have Mettenberger and Whitehurst, and QB is a big need mainly because of inconsistent play by those two. Not a good fit for Mariota. HC Wisenhunt has never had a QB like Mariota. He’s had more of the traditional drop back guys over his career. But if Mariota is still on the board at #20 he will become an Iggle, and would be a perfect fit for Kelly.

Now consider the numbers. But first, I’ve been hearing a lot of words like Winston has all this confidence, which is a needed quality. But what is the hidden meaning? He takes some chances throwing into traffic ending up in interceptions. One of his recognized weaknesses is bad decision making when having to create things on his own. Let the numbers speak:

JW stats:
..........YPA.....PCT....TDS....INT
2013..10.6.....66.9.....40......10
2014...8.4......65.3.....25......18 (OUCH)

MM stats:
..........YPA.....PCT.....TDS....INT
2013...9.5......63.5......31.......4
2014..10.0.....68.3......42.......4

With Winston’s high INT ratio vs college defenses, take that against NFL defenses and Winston has some adjustments to make of his own.

In the end, either should do well on the right team, but if I have to pick one I'd take Mariota.

Shifting gears a bit, for the Bucs, they have kind of painted themselves into a draft corner that teams don’t want to be in. I mean, they have QB Glennon and had McCown until they released him. So Glennon is the first and second string QB. They HAVE to draft a QB. But #1 overall, no worries there. They WILL get one. It is just they don’t have the freedom to get who they want by moving down. At #2 and #3 overall, the Titans and Jags have more directions they can go, but bank on Jags HC and former DC Gus Bradley to draft defense at #3 overall.

Some QB draft rumors have SD trading Rivers to the Titans for the rights to draft Mariota. In the long run, this looks like a bad deal for the Titans when faced in the near future with having to replace Rivers. But if they pull the trigger on this it would be in hopes that Mettenberger can learn from Rivers, but you’d think ex-Bolt Whitehurst should be able to help in that way. More than likely, this is just a bunch of draft posturing.

An older draft rumor is the Redskins drafting a replacement QB for RGIII, if say Winston or Mariota are still on the board when the Skins pick at #5 overall. That would be a colossal bad move. For lots of reasons: 1) too early to give up on RG especially considering their terrible OLine, 2) they gave up the farm for RG, so it is still too early to give up on him, 3) the Skins have more holes to fill than you can shake a stick at, 4) if management expects any QB to perform they had better address the ROT first. Depending on what the Skins do in the draft, they could end up with a rep as whacky as the Iggles are right now.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

That would be the stupidest thing the Skins could possibly do. Not only do they badly need line and defensive help (and really, a new owner!), they shouldn't give up on RG3 that quickly. They also have Cousins who really should get a chance at starting for a growing team. This is like the 5th time I've said this, and listed numerous reasons why. Which brings up another point, I'd much rather trade for Cousins and try to build around him, than draft either Winston or Mariota. Absolutely. Best young quarterback sitting on the bench today.

If I were going to draft a QB and the owner said I must, I would draft Winston, especially if I knew I needed him to start either from week 1, or be ready to take over early in his first season. That sounds like TB to me. The problem with TB is this though. Winston is very good at letting plays develop and throwing the ball down the field. Not a rocket arm, but a very good one. Glennon is more of a quick pass, Alex Smith type QB. Maybe not as accurate as Alex, but he sees the field well and makes quick decisions. Transitioning from Glennon to Winston may not be very smooth.

If I knew I had time to groom Mariota, and give him some playing time this year, but start him maybe next year, then I would draft him. That sounds more like Tennessee. But the same problem exists there, only in reverse. Mettenberger is a slow drop back and throw QB. Mariota is used to playing in a fast system. It's going to take time for him to develop. However, this is where the year on the bench really helps.

 

[Amsterhammer]

As the resident masochist supporter (West Ham, Skins, Nats) I entirely concur with the two learned gents above. The Skins need a revolution rather than a new QB. Seriously, we need a new owner for starters and, as noted above, there are so many other dire holes that need urgent attention that even thinking about another QB is typical of the kind of madness we have sadly come to endure for so many years.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

The sad part is when they drafted RG3, there was talk about building up their OL better, getting him a speed receiver to throw to, and in a year or two they would really be peaking, and for several seasons after. Then, after his injury, that entire plan seemed to go out the window. It was chaos after that. A revolving door of QB's, poor trade and draft decisions (after giving up too many picks anyway), fire the coach and blame him, then get a new one and point fingers at him. And a megalomaniac micromanaging owner whose greasy fingerprints seem to be all over the thing. I can't see Washington ever winning big as long as Snyder is the owner. It just won't happen. Owners like the Rooney family, Steve Bisciotti, Paul Allen, or Bob Kraft, who hire the right people, get out of the way and let them do their jobs, those are the owners that win.

I will say this for you though, I wouldn't write your Nats off just yet. That team is stacked with talent.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Redskins owner though needs to beware of not becoming what Oakland did by having a firing squad on every head coach that took the job. Because few good coaches would want to put themselves in that situation. I agree, Snyder would be wise to back off and let football people run his team.

B/R link to 2015 schedules for every team here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...letter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=nfl.

Saw Gruden's QB camp on Winston, Mariota, and Hundley. I was impressed by all. Winston did show an edge in understanding. But Hundley, he's right up there with them on knowledge and understanding. Someone could get a pretty good QB with him if he can improve on accuracy.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re:

Oh my, what a great post.

No, no, no. You guys have all completely forgot. Kelly will be running the Wing-T offense with this RB laden offense, and Tebow can pull that off as good as any other QB, handing the ball to zig zagging RB's all game.

ROFL. I wonder if Kelly gets informed that he lives in a parallel universe, while the people in the real world can only make jokes about him. That´s all that is left of him. Basically no one takes him serious anymore.

Steve Gorman pointed out a stat today, if you go back and look at starting QB's over the last five years and then list the 5 QBs with the worst total QB rating, you'll find that the Eagles now have three of them on their roster. Bradford, Sanchez and Tebow. It's an alarming stat. Toss in the the once very highly touted Matt Barkley who has been just short of a bust in the little playing time he has seen, and...wow.

It is grotesque. Isn´t it? Hey Kelly, how about to call Chris Greisen.
Barkley. What a joke. We saw him play two times. After that he was called Gnarls Barkley. Nuff said...

My gut tells me this: Tebow won't make the team, but will make it until at least the first cut. And Kelly knows this right now. So why bring him in? Beyond the obvious ego, and the vision I have in my head of him watching old college scouting tapes when evaluating pro players. I'm guessing Tim is there for morale, and publicity. First, there's no doubt he's a genuinely nice guy and a well meaning person to his core. In a league with too many guys off to jail (or who should be there), Tim's the opposite of that, and his eternal optimism is going to rub off on other players. Also, there's been a circus following him for his entire career, and he's both used to it, and handles it very well. This will detract a lot off Bradford, and people hounding him about his injuries and learning yet another system, etc. They will focus on Tebow instead. FWIW, the Eagles now have 5 QB's on roster. Bradford, Sanchez, Tebow, Barkley and G.J. Kinne. He might as well trade one of his offensive lineman up in the draft to get Mariota as well.

Awesome. Go for it Kelly. You have 80 roster spots pre camp. Thus fill it with 15 RBs and 10 QBs. Who cares about other positions

I seldom make pre season predictions, but I´ll make this one: Eagles going 2-14. If they get lucky and win the close games like early last season, max 5-11. That´s all I give. 5 wins max... OTOH, if the bounces take the wrong way this season, they might as well go 0-16. Yes. 0-16.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re:

i must say chip has made this a most interesting off-season, if he manages to pull off trading up in the draft to get mariota then it's going to make the plot of the Kevin Costner film "Draft Day" look plausible.

the philadelphia press must love him, he'd be selling so many newspapers.

LOLZ. I thought Alpe was kidding... but then @3 & you confirmed Kelly might draft another (high priced) QB*. Oh my... the outer space head bilharzia he got, is destroying his brain faster than I imagined only weeks ago.Hope for the Eagles players it´s not contagious.

* so to summarize: He wasted future picks for a QB bust and wasted cap space. He traded/cut away two starting QBs who showed they can run his offense effective two years in a row... and got basically nothing in return. He "managed" to have 60% of the worst QBs on his roster instead. But he did not cut the worst QB ("Gnarls" Barkley) of his team (until Tebow was signed, to further downsize the QB talent level on the roster). He looks to further waste roster spot(s) with un-proven QBs (which drafted rookies are by nature) and, if drafted high, tries to further waste cap space... Did I forgot something?... And I havn´t even started about the insanity that goes on at RB & WR positions...

You guys thought Matt Millen was bad when he nuked the Lions? He was a master of the NFL in comparison.
I follow the NFL since circa 30 years. Went trou the Walker disaster, the drunken Ditka trade, the Flutie benching and more idiotic roster moves... but never ever saw something bad like this. The mentioned did their crazy actions once, or at least allotted their insanity over many seasons (Millen). But none managed to do moronic moves in clusters like Kelly does. That is a NFL first. Unlikely as Horner winning the Vuelta aged 53 or something.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Recently signed Dallas DL Greg Hardy gets slammed with 10-game suspension. And appropriately so. Good for the NFL. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2439778-greg-hardy-suspension-shows-the-nfl-finally-gets-it.
However, the NFL PA will appeal. It is time for the NFL Players Association to take a stand for abused women and back away from the appeal.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

The only way the NFLPA gets away with such an appeal is if they come up with a better idea that helps women's groups, involving Hardy somehow. Otherwise, I say no reduction. As much as we say people like Tim Tebow don't belong in the NFL, I say people like Hardy don't.

Funny about that Kelly comment on how he wants a QB who can throw first, then run second. Strange, he had not one, but two of them like that in Foles and Vick. Nick wasn't the best runner, but was athletic and big, and could move. Vick always had passing decision problems, but he was very mobile. I don't imagine Bradford running, ever, and Sanchez almost as little. And I picture Tebow throwing even less.

In some funny news, the Patriots visited the White House, and Obama even made some jokes about deflategate. Saying he usually tells jokes at these events, but felt 11 out of 12 of them would fall flat (ugh). Then, the whole thing was blown out of proportion (oh my!). Bill Belicheck actually gave him a thumbs down when he did it. But all in all, the whole thing came off as pretty fun, and the Pres had high praise for the Pats as a whole. I would too. Trickery and cheating or not, I agree with Foxxy that when he's done, Belicheck has to be considered the best coach ever, or right up there with Lombardi.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/patriots--white-house-visit-has-obama-s-deflate-gate-joke--no-tom-brady-203513444.html

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I hope you are right about the NFLPA and Hardy vs the League and his suspension. I just think it would paint the PA in a better light if they came out and supported the League's decision and dropped the appeal.

Since the White House gig with the Pats is all in fun, no harm's done from a respect standpoint for Belichick to give the thumbs down to the comment about deflategate made by the Pres. So props to the coach for not cowing down in the presence of the Pres. (Interesting phrase 'cowing down' that such a large animal could be used to mean being intimidated). Prolly not much that could intimidate that coach.

Back to the 'Skins draft, this is interesting to me because of their needs and where talent is spread around in this draft.

Needs: the need 1) OL [T], 2) DB, 3) DL, and some say 4) QB. I say forget QB for now. So in the first couple of rounds it really comes down to OL and DB. And I put DL as a lower priority, although they overpaid for Hatcher last year who ended up on IR.

Draft Talent: DL has a few top 10 prospects (DT Williams from USC, and a couple DEs), and the draft is pretty deep at the DT and DE positions. But I'd put DT/DE as a lower priority (see below). This is also a deep draft at the tackle position, less so at guard, and lesser again so at center. A team could get a pretty good T in later rounds 2 through 4. The draft is fairly deep at CB and S, but most of those are projected 2nd to 6th rounders. There are only a couple DBs projected as 1st or 2nd rounders.

'Skins draft philosophy: Because of THAT talent distribution (at DB and T), the 'Skins could be tempted to take a CB in the 1st round realizing they could pick a good T or DL in later rounds. But that would be stupid. The reason? In the top 100 draft prospects, there are 3 offensive tackles (Peat, Collins, & Flowers) ranked in the top ten ahead of the top DB (CB Trae Waynes from MSU Spartans, who has a middle teens ranking, probably because he does not have a physical presence in this playing style). There are also 4 to 5 DTs and DEs ranked ahead of Waynes in the top 100. So to take CB Waynes ahead of a T, DT, or DE would be ignoring best player available as well as need. And to me, the 'Skins top priority should be to upgrade the protection for the QB position. They can do that and STILL get best player available while still considering their needs.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re:

Funny about that Kelly comment on how he wants a QB who can throw first, then run second. Strange, he had not one, but two of them like that in Foles and Vick. Nick wasn't the best runner, but was athletic and big, and could move. Vick always had passing decision problems, but he was very mobile. I don't imagine Bradford running, ever, and Sanchez almost as little. And I picture Tebow throwing even less.
...
I agree with Foxxy that when he's done, Belicheck has to be considered the best coach ever, or right up there with Lombardi.

Oh Kelly. I guess this saga will follow us trou-ou the year until he is fired for good.

Next stunner will be: Naming Gnarls Barkley as his starting QB.

You may re-think about Lombardi, since he had the luxury of the non-free agent era. He never had to deal with fearing to lose his best players... Beli is so much above the rest in (almost) every phase of the game (play calling, roster movements, game preperation, cheating ), I think you soon will agree him being the GOAT solely.

 

[leftover pie]

Re: Re:

Oh Kelly. I guess this saga will follow us trou-ou the year until he is fired for good.

I think this could be a fun addition to our comps for this season, in addition to "LoserBowl©" and Elimination Football.

"Pick the week Kelly gets his marching orders" - we could have a "closest to the pin" competition.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I wouldn't take bets on Kelly being fired this season. There are too many intangibles. But I will say this, even if Bradford stays completely healthy, and the rest of the team stays above average healthy (as most injuries are a wash between teams), I still will be surprised if the Eagles make a serious run at the playoffs. They look like another gimmick team. Their Wishbone offense will throw some teams off for a few games early, other teams will start to adapt, and they will finish about 7-9 at best. If Bradford gets hurt (probable, I hate to say), and Sanchez or Tebow or Barkley play like they have in the past, and the rest of the team doesn't rise up, they look more like a 5-11 team, or worse. If the Eagles have injuries like the Cardinals did last season, that would be a disaster.

Meanwhile, two days until the draft. The stories about Winston's character just don't seem to be going away. And for every time he says something that sounds good, he will open his mouth and sound like he's from the ghetto. But TB has said they have looked at him extensively, couple this with their need at QB, and I see them picking him.

Hoping Leonard Williams falls to Oakland. But my team still has other needs as well, so just about any pick they get should help.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re: Re:

Oh Kelly. I guess this saga will follow us trou-ou the year until he is fired for good.

I think this could be a fun addition to our comps for this season, in addition to "LoserBowl©" and Elimination Football.

"Pick the week Kelly gets his marching orders" - we could have a "closest to the pin" competition.

Depends on how his team starts. All we know so far is him wasting roster spots to over-load single positions, trading talent in exchange for some of the worst active NFL QBs, wasting the future of the Eagles (by additionally throwing picks away, literally)... IOW: He is all over the place. Kelly reached his incompetence level http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle


OTOH: His gadget offense could work for some more weeks, and the ball could bounce in his favour (like it did in last years early games). So everything between 0-16 (firing around mid-season likely) and 5-11 ("only" firing after the season) is possible*. But the more time goes by, the more things even out, and talent will prevail. Thus the future for the Eagles is dark... for years to come.

* Thus I think Alpe sees things to positive