dulles

Why stop at 2013. If you listen to this board, you'll learn that Whaley really was responsible for everything wrong done by Buddy Nix. In fact, some say that Whaley was even behind that prank phone call. </sarcasm>

One of my favorite memories back in the day was a game involving SF. They often were accused of spraying their OL and DL with silicone spray, but always claimed innocence. Back then, the 49ers were like NE today - you either lived in the Bay Area and loved them, were a bandwagon fan, or absolutely hated them. I was in the last category. Not only were they tough to beat, but the tv crews were always lauding them for their greatness, like Walsh and Montana had cured cancer or secured world peace. Anyway, one Sunday afternoon, I was watching a 4:00 game between SF and some sacrificial lamb destined for slaughter and what did I see...you bet. A sideline shot of Harris Barton getting his jersey sprayed down with silicone. What was really funny was their reaction after they realized they had been caught on TV. It was so unmistakable, the announcers even had to acknowledge what they had witnessed. The other note about horsecollar tackles has to be the risk to the knee. Tyrod's knees were definitely at risk because of how the LB flung his own legs onto the side/back of Tyrod. Bradham's tackle did not result in any contact with Mariotta's legs - he simply was "de-cleated" by the force of Bradham's tackle. The horsecollar rule is not meant to eliminate tackling from behind, but to eliminate the specific set of circumstances which cause knee damage (just like Tyrod's injury). The only thing that was at risk of injury for Marriota was his kiester and his pride.

Against NFL rules. Evidently, the owners don 't dig the Boise State Eye-Warping Experience.

All we need is for Benson to make a statement publicly supporting the coach. Once we get the vote of confidence, then we know for sure that he's on the market!

Oh, based on the subject I thought you might be a new player we just signed... Congrats on the plans. I live in WNY and have only been to one game back in the 90's it was a blast. I'd love to get my boys out there for a game sometime.

I have a relative who suffered a concussion last winter...they are still dealing with the fallout. I cringe every time I see someone get injured these days.

How soon does Kromer come back? I think that we went through a similar downturn during the preseason while Kromer was out. I know he doesn't actually play the games, but he has to have some ideas to improve the situation.

That's what i thought - timing. I also thought it was ticky tack. The NFL should tell the refs to lay off that type of call to start a game. All the build up and then a flag - really great entertainment.

That rule of thumb is no longer the norm in the NFL. It used to be that you would not Fair Catch inside the 10, but since special teams aces are so talented at pinning the ball inside the one yard line and punters so good at dropping the kick inside the 5, teams prefer to have their returners FC as far back as the 5. This keeps you from starting a drive at the 6" line. This trend is also due to the increased catching ability exhibited by most punt returners. Unlike college and high school, these guys are nearly perfect at making a fair catch, so the risk (of a muffed punt) is negligible vs. the risk of starting inside the one yard line. I don't know. It would seem that an early momentum TD would get the rolling, especially if they smashed a runner up the gut for the score. I thought the call was ticky tack, but I'm glad they simply reset and performed on the next play. Overall, I was pleased with their composure regarding calls. Re:2 you have to remember that Mariotta is a good runner and part of their scheme was to keep him contained. I thought they were exceptionally stout vs. the run and contained MM pretty well. The only bad play was the zone read that went for 20+ yards.

But when you get caught, you get beaned at the plate. There is a nice balance to how that works out in baseball. In football, it is all handled by lawyers and like anything handled by lawyers, it turns out poorly.

I couldn't tell the difference between Tasker or Blurrline, so I couldn't tell which one was making comments on the call. I don't really like either of them in the booth, but at least they aren't as bad as Deirdork used to be. I actually liked it that they had an opinion about the call, even though their opinion contradicted my rooting interest. I'm so tired of CBS announcers playing apologist for the NFL Refs. It was refreshing to see video evidence and opinionated analysis. I think Rex deserves credit for getting his team in line re: penalties. They were pretty good today.

This is likely the reason McK would be eager to play and play well. He's gotta know that he'll be pressed for snap count and that will effect his upcoming contract negotiations.

That's there's a good post. Strong opinion; witty commentary. I like it. Unfortunately, I don't like what it describes, but I have to agree. I didn't even know "Jayron Hosley's" name until you mentioned it. It must be a very peaceful, uneventful place to visit!

The review thing is rough. I watched a CFL game last summer. It was weird to have the flow stopped for an appeal on PI. The big deal about PI is that it helps the offense far more often than the defense. That is something the NFL is willing to live with, especially if it helps with the flow of the game. If they start reviewing penalties, football games will begin to rival the last few innings of a baseball game. We see enough lame commercials during a game. I think more "eye in the sky" could really help on some of these plays, but we fans can like us some tin-foil-hat. The first time a call gets changed based on the "eye" we will be comparing it to the Russian dude overseeing the officials at the '72 Olympics.

What they really need to do is put a goPro on every ref's head. Then, they can add an out-of-shape ref who knows the rules for every mobile ref who can run with the play. That way, we get the best of both worlds. Besides, the guys on the field already have those Inspector Gadget headsets running. Who cares if they are getting corrections from HQ in NYC. The only people that will be upset by that will be the bookies and we know that the NFL doesn't have any connections to gambling...only FanDuel and DraftKings...and they aren't gambling... really it's not gambling...seriously...and it doesn't make a difference in our games anyhow...really...Roger means it!

It was comical to see how upset the ref was during the Pats** game. The guy closest to Rex looked like he was peeing his pants...then he threw the flag. It obviously had the look of a rookie who couldn't handle the pressure and overreacted. I don't think I've ever seen a flag thrown on a coach like that.

Well, at least a couple, because if it was Jerry Hughes or Preston Brown, they would have deemed their menacing behavior to constitute unsportsmanlike conduct. At which point, they would have suspended the "half the distance rule," given Calvin Johnson credit for going 15 yards into the endzone and thus crediting the Lions with two touchdowns. I think I'm getting over the officiating pretty well, don't you?

Good thing they aren't replacement refs!

Frankly, I think Pittsburgh would probably appreciate if Vick was Taylor 2.0. Taylor is not really the problem here. Additionally, Vick was never this disciplined as a passer. Vick was probably a better runner, but it was also what got him into trouble and into the trainer's care consistently. Take it easy on TT. This offense was built around a few more pieces than we had Sunday. Give it time and Roman will get it ironed out.

I knew he was fired the moment James Walker said his job was secure because of a meeting with the owner. A meeting with the owner, like a "vote of confidence" is the kiss of death for a head coach. Isn't it nice that the Dolphin fans have such a reliable insider like James Walker to help them get the low down on the situation! http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13806890/miami-dolphins-coach-joe-philbin-meets-owner-stephen-ross-team-falls-1-3 That's clickbait. Tannehill is secure. They'll look for a coach who thinks he can fix Tannehill. It's cheaper and easier than finding a coach AND a QB.

If I was an owner, I'd be making a call tomorrow. "Rex, Let's chat...All this yellow is embarrassing. I want it cleaned up. Fine every unsportsmanlike penalty for the rest of the year or I'll fine the coaches." I thought the reason the refs picked up the flag and didn't throw another on the late hits to TT was retribution for the Bills' stupidity on the other side of the ball. Brown was outrageous, even on the next play he could have been called again for unnecessary roughness.

Exactly. You also have to scare him away from dumpster fires like Cleveland. He has to make the move at the right time, to the right organization, with a QB or #1 pick. Otherwise, he's just shooting himself in the foot. (At least, that's what I'd be telling him!). He won't need to "honor his contract and bring us a championship." He will need to "honor his contract and defend the championship by repeating!"

Wouldn't it be funny to find out he had an incentive clause with an endorsement deal which required that he be the Week 1 starter, especially for an endorsement deal with a business in the Minnesota market!

I thought you were comparing the computational abilities of the various predictors. For instance, FiveThirtyEight used advanced analytics, CBS used basic multiplication and Cortana simply added.

I can remember that. Every single time the 9ers would be on TV the announcer would show us how smart he was and how revolutionary the 9ers were because "You, know that 9ers know exactly what they are doing. Did you know they script the first 15 plays of every game?" It was almost laughable how predictable and "colorless" the color commentators got. It was almost as bad as some of Madden's maddening explanations. "Yes, John, we heard you tell us that one last year and every year of the last two decades!" I think you make two excellent points. You don't learn Romans full offense in one off season. You don't go from clipboard holder to weekly starter w/o some growing pains.