National Football League

[Unchained]

He's absolutely right about the money. This is a marketing move rooted in greed.

Jason had some tough love for Shedeur before he was drafted. Saying he was worried Shedeur had been helicoptered most of his life by his dad, and hoped Shedeur would fall to the 2nd or 3rd round of the draft and go to an NFL team and sit for a year and learn what it takes to be on his own with grown adults, and not be the focus of attention. Little did he know...

There is a phenomenon that goes on with college alumni folks, it goes something like this... You are XX number of years old, you graduated from XYZ university @5-50+ years ago, please give to alumni slush funds so that we can maintain the university you graduated from in prestigious light, so your diploma doesn't lose value because current university conditions are declining. So if Harvard is suddenly rocked by fake test scores, underhanded admissions standards and some @60 Minutes type program trashes everything about the school, old people will argue when I went there it was one of the most prestigious diplomas to get, make some distinction between new and old standards.
Pro Bowl..
When it started it meant one thing.. Contracts and player responsibility grew. Guys and team advisors started saying, just say thanks and don't go to Hawaii, or go there and stand in street clothes and network commentators will explain that your part( knee, shoulder, elbow, ect) is on the mend and you would love to play but..
Then next versions were league trying to add importance to Pro Bowl.. Still for players, agents and teams, risk reward ratio was just too dangerous to play the game and risk injuries. Fast forward to moving from Hawaii, game being flag football.. It's ridiculous to compare modern Pro Bowl with game of significance of yesteryear. Sanders a guy with no stats, no history good or bad was selected to play in a flag football game.. Absolutely apples and oranges and all the prestige of selection and playing is encapsulated in Sanders ..he is deserving of no awards of any kind, not even best QB on his team.. They should do Battle of Network Superstars and allow celebrities or female athletes who are outstanding to play. Bruce Jenner type stuff, but the old school historically cherished selection to the Pro Bowl gone long ago, just something broadcasting crew spew out has zero value.. In college the idea of a Rhodes Scholar or Academic All American is of days gone by.. Guy like Pat Haden or Navy Academy grad like Roger Staubach don't exist anymore
not because athletes can't be accomplished students or sailors, soldiers,
it's because people don't find value in it, don't place importance on it.
Sanders gets attention for being a famous father's son not from ability or accomplishments. That is what is currently important.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I think your idea of Battle of the Network Stars is a good one. They already call this "The Pro Bowl Games". As there is no Pro Bowl. Really they are one step from making it a total social media event and party. Not too different than Pro's vs. Joes. In fact, they actually could find b-level actors and social media people who played some ball in high school, and have a few pro's out there teaching them how to toss a football through a tire. Or like when Vinateri coached Gronk to kick a FG for a beer commercial. It's almost at that level now.

I will admit a few of the skills events are okay. I like seeing the linemen for example. Dodgeball is kind of lame. The flag football game two years ago was entertaining. Came down to the end with a couple wild plays, and mild controversy. Last year I think they had more than one flag football game, making it confusing, and I don't even remember either game being interesting. Or whatever they did.

 

[Unchained]

I think your idea of Battle of the Network Stars is a good one. They already call this "The Pro Bowl Games". As there is no Pro Bowl. Really they are one step from making it a total social media event and party. Not too different than Pro's vs. Joes. In fact, they actually could find b-level actors and social media people who played some ball in high school, and have a few pro's out there teaching them how to toss a football through a tire. Or like when Vinateri coached Gronk to kick a FG for a beer commercial. It's almost at that level now.

I will admit a few of the skills events are okay. I like seeing the linemen for example. Dodgeball is kind of lame. The flag football game two years ago was entertaining. Came down to the end with a couple wild plays, and mild controversy. Last year I think they had more than one flag football game, making it confusing, and I don't even remember either game being interesting. Or whatever they did.

I know one football event that really, really effects me Dr.Pepper tuition event, back in the day they would have extended back story programs about all the things NFL did through the United Way. I still find Walter Payton award sincere and gratifying.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AC-DwHVPGwo&pp=ygUaZHIgcGVwcGVyIHR1aXRpb24gZ2l2ZWF3YXnSBwkJfAoBhyohjO8%3D

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bb99pTlWFo0&pp=ygUccGF0IG1jYWZlZSBjaGFyaXR5IGZlaWxkZ29hbA%3D%3D


This kind of stuff is fun and people would eat it up in my opinion, you could go 2 for one and have Bad Bunny holding the ball

 

[Nomad]

Not really, you can see a clear decline every year for the chiefs offense the last 3 seasons as well as getting more players that continue to commit penalties. For a big culprit I think they got so used to Mahomes making magic with his legs and penalties going their way they thought they could continue the run for the foreseeable future. Reid and the offense have been stale for years and they keep doing the same plays. The also didn’t follow Belichick’s philosophy of cutting players before it’s too late, take Jones and Kelce. They weren’t playing at their high level anymore and actively harming the team across multiple games. Their upsides weren’t overcoming the down. Me personally I thought they’d have a better record due to the defense and special teams continuing to carry them.

This season the defense and special teams finally couldn’t overcome and carry the poor to average offense anymore while they stopped getting game changing penalties going their way.

When they lost to the Bengals the offense was still playing average to elite and the following season their defense and special teams started getting better.

Mahomes coming back from injury will be a mystery till we see him. They need to change up their play calls, get a physical WR/TE, and maybe a better running back. The fact the GM chose not to get Breece Hall was dumb af. But the chiefs passing attack hasn’t been good making it easier to stop the run and I don’t think EB coming back helps them at all. If able, a great pickup would be AJ Brown. Defenses wouldn’t be able to cover the speed of Thornton or Worthy, physicality of Brown, footwork of Juju and H Brown in the slot, or Mahomes running out of the backfield.

You make some excellent points but I think the clear decline in his performance was exhibited this season. He had career lows in passer rating & comp pct. His "89.6" passer rating was unprecedented as he's never gone under 90 in his career. Furthermore, he had only one 4Q/GWD comebacks (vs Indy) -- another career low. And all but one of his losses were one score games.

Last season (2024) Mahomes was as good as he's ever been, IMO. He recorded a career high eight (8) 4Q/GWD comebacks -- 7 in the regular season & the big one in the AFCCG vs Allen. Though he didn't have the huge 5000 yd & 40 TDs passing performance that he's had in year's past, he was winning games at clutch time with his playmaking skills.

Patrick Mahomes's Career 4th quarter comebacks and game-winning drives | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Get Patrick Mahomes Career 4th quarter comebacks for regular season and playoff games on Pro-football-reference.com.

www.pro-football-reference.com

At the end of the day Mahomes is a bigger version of Steve Young. The only difference is Young was running & scrambling exclusively under center in the 9er's WC offense while Mahomes is primarily doing it in a shotgun-centric pro/spread offense. If they had the QB Tier rating system back then, Young would be Tier 1 for all his career. Mahomes has been Tier 1 for all his career as a full-time starter (he only started one game his rookie yr).

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6514160/2025/08/11/nfl-qb-rankings-tiers-2025-jackson-daniels/

And you bring up a great point on the uncertainty of how well Mahomes comes back from this injury (Mahomes has never had an injury of this magnitude in his playing career). Young never had a major injury in his career & played at high level way into his late 30s. Mahomes will not only have to deal with the physical aspect of his surgical-repaired knee holding up to the stress of his running & scrambling style, but the mental aspect of not getting the knee re-injured on another hard tackle

 

[Nomad]

Bills' Josh Allen expects to be ready for OTAs after foot surgery

Bills quarterback Josh Allen says he expects to be ready for OTAs after having foot surgery this week.

www.espn.com

Wow...he played the Bronco game on a broken foot.

 

[Nomad]

Ex-Broncos OC Joe Lombardi: Sean Payton 'was in one of those moods where he felt like some changes needed to be made'

Transalation: Payton was in one of those moods to fire somebody for the loss. Lol.

Hmmm....do I hear Lombardi's name being considered for the Raider job?

 

[Nomad]

Sanders gets attention for being a famous father's son not from ability or accomplishments. That is what is currently important.

Yeah, and can you believe they retired his number at CU to supposedly honor his impact on the program. Lol. Maybe if Sanders has a stellar performance in the pro bowl, Cleveland will retire his number? Lol

 

[movingtarget]

Bills QB Josh Allen will be ready for offseason program after surgery on broken bone in right foot

Eagles hire Packers QBs coach Sean Mannion as new offensive coordinator

 

[movingtarget]

Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham hired as new Falcons GM

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Hmmm....do I hear Lombardi's name being considered for the Raider job?

0% chance. If you mean HC. In order, it will be one of these guys: Klint Kubiak, Ejiro Evero, Mike LeFleur, Vance Joseph.

Davis Webb withdrew from all HC openings early today, and immediately got offers for OC positions.

Unless you're thinking Kubiak (or one of the other guys) hires Lombardi to be OC?

Kubiak is down to three choices: HC for Raiders. HC for Cardinals, or stay on in Seattle as OC.

 

[Oldman]

They should do Battle of Network Superstars and allow celebrities or female athletes who are outstanding to play. Bruce Jenner type stuff, but the old school historically cherished selection to the Pro Bowl gone long ago, just something broadcasting crew spew out has zero value.. In college the idea of a Rhodes Scholar or Academic All American is of days gone by.. Guy like Pat Haden or Navy Academy grad like Roger Staubach don't exist anymore
not because athletes can't be accomplished students or sailors, soldiers,
it's because people don't find value in it, don't place importance on it.
Sanders gets attention for being a famous father's son not from ability or accomplishments. That is what is currently important.

How could they place importance on it. Ask Caitlin Jenner how far that takes you in life...