Tuco

For what it's worth, fix #2 has been implemented.

It works just like it's supposed to. It's not a reward for being good. It's a replacement tool for teams that lose good players. And the teams that are usually good tend to draft well, be coached well and so they have more good players year in and year out, which naturally loads their rosters with more players than they're able to keep. Bad teams tend to draft poorly, fail to develop and have inferior coaching with regular turnovers, which naturally leaves them trying to improve by competing for the best players that can't be kept by the good teams that developed them. I'd say it's more an indicator of the cause and effect of drafting, developing and coaching better than the competition.

I heard from a reliable source it will soon be named the "We Just Realized The Bills Only Own The Naming Rights For Two More Seasons So We're Waiting Until There's A New Stadium Or A new Lease Before We Commit Multi-Millions Stadium." Catchy ain't it?

So . . . Asymptote Stadium it is. I like it. It has that ring to the ears.

Yeah this is an idea that could work. I'm not saying it should, but it's not as far-fetched as some are thinking. In fact it's been done, albeit on a smaller scale that would be needed, in Ottawa. I don't even know what it's called now but it used to be the Civic Center. And basically the grandstand on the one side of the football field serves as the roof of the hockey arena. Or something like that. I was there once about 35 years ago but the memory does fade.

I'll do my best to cite everything. The author of this article is known only on this message board as Tuco. The article was originally published on this message board about 7 hours ago. Technically the cap is derived from the players percentage of all NFL revenue for a year. One caveat to that system is that the cap for a season is based on projected revenue for the season, which can wind up being higher or lower as the season plays out. So what really happens every year is they project the revenue for the season, come up with the cap number, then make an adjustment up or down to reflect the difference of projected revenue vs. actual revenue from the year before. This ensures the percentage the players get always equals the amount they're supposed to get per the CBA. The problem, as we all know, is the cap was set for 2020 using projected revenue for 2020. Then all Hell broke loose, and the actual revenue for 2020 wound up being much less than the projection. If nothing was done there would have to be a huge drop in the 2021 cap to make the correct adjustment. The CBA, however, specifies that in a case such as this, both sides should get together to agree on what to do. The above information is widely available and can be found by typing "NFL CBA 2020" into a Google search (6,980,000 results in .72 seconds). So they did, back in July. They didn't make any changes to the agreed percentage, they just agreed on how to make the adjustment starting in 2021. The league's initial proposal was to start the adjustment by dropping the cap $8 million in 2020, while making the cap floor $165 mil in 2021. The original proposal from the players was to spread the whole thing out for 10 years. The NFL wasn't real big on that idea. For one thing, NFL owners already paid the players more than their actual share for the 2020 season. And as businessmen they're not inclined to wait 10 years to recoup all that money. For another thing, not that probably either side cares, but doing so would actually penalize every young player coming into the league for the next 10 years because the current players didn't want to lose their fair share. I lost money in 2020 due to COVID because my company lost money. So did a lot of people all over the country. NFL players were trying to push their share of losses onto players who haven't started shaving yet. Anyway, the agreement was made that the players wouldn't give up any money in 2020. They would accept a cap floor of $175 million in 2021, with any amount beyond that cap floor that is required to be adjusted being spread out evenly for the next 3 years beyond that. The above information can be find through numerous news articles, mostly dated in late July of 2020, by typing "NFLPA agrees to $175 Million cap" into a Google search (31,000 results in .46 seconds). The part about the owners not wanting to wait 10 years to regain their losses is the author's opinion. Though it seems likely given that they refused to entertain the idea during the negotiation. Getting to your original question, yes, the owners have to use the $175 number (floor) as it was agreed to in a modified CBA. If revenues aren't as bad as they thought, the number can be higher by whatever amount the adjustment calls for it to be. Yes, they can go above that number too if they want, but if they do it would require a new agreement with the players. And you can rest assured if they find a way to do it it won't be by giving the players a higher percentage than they're already due. Meaning they will recoup the money they paid the players this year that was above and beyond their agreed to percentage. The information in the beginning of this paragraph can also be found with the above CBA Google search. The part about the owners not changing the percentage they will give to the players just to gain cap relief is the author's opinion. While I'm sure there are owners who won't be happy cutting players left and right, those owners knew what they were doing and that the cap floor was going to be $175 mil back in July when they voted and agreed to it. But all might not be lost. As a group, the owners are pretty good businessmen, and there's no doubt the current cap number was based on them covering their asses in a mostly worst case scenario. Put another way, they know better than to count their chickens before they hatch. This paragraph is also the author's opinion. Though he likes to think it's based on common sense. What that means is, it's possible, with the season going to 17 games, and if the anticipated new TV deals bring in more money starting in 2021, the cap may not be as low as $175 million. But as said, the owners no doubt moved forward back in July under the worst case scenario. Meaning they had to plan for not only huge losses, but the fact that they can't count on new TV money until it's actually there to be counted. So maybe just maybe it won't be the doomsday scenario. Although a cap of $200 million would still have the Saints trying to dump only $75 million instead of $100 million - oh well, that's their problem - it would be a welcome relief for most teams. This paragraph is mostly factual, with the information found through a combination of the above mentioned Google searches. The part about the owners having planned for the worst case scenario is subjective, and is the author's own opinion. Though he likes to think it's based on common sense. But there's a lot of ifs. Will the TV deals get done in time for their revenue projection to be part of the 2021 season? Will the COVID be considered under control enough they can project full stadiums, food stands and parking lots for 2021? They generally announce the official cap number early on because teams have to be under it by the first league day in early March. That's not a lot of time. This paragraph is subjective. Although there are news reports that the NFL expects to get at least one new TV agreement in place before the start of the 2021 season. The part about the cap being announced before the start of the season is factual, based on past practice and experience - and the need for teams to know what the cap is so they can abide by the CBA and be under it at that time. Thanks for reading. And for what it's worth, while the author has cited some reasons why the cap might not be as low as $175 million next year, the author doesn't feel all that rosy about next year's cap situation. A lot remains to be seen. And while it may well be that the cap doesn't go all the way down to $175, next year, the author doesn't think it will be $200 million either.

I expect a lot of restructuring too. But for teams that are $100 million over the cap, they will be cutting players left and right.

Technically the cap is derived from the players percentage of all NFL revenue for a year. One caveat to that system is that the cap for a season is based on projected revenue for the season, which can wind up being higher or lower as the season plays out. So what really happens every year is they project the revenue for the season, come up with the cap number, then make an adjustment up or down to reflect the difference of projected revenue vs. actual revenue from the year before. This ensures the percentage the players get always equals the amount they're supposed to get per the CBA. The problem, as we all know, is the cap was set for 2020 using projected revenue for 2020. Then all Hell broke loose, and the actual revenue for 2020 wound up being much less than the projection. If nothing was done there would have to be a huge drop in the 2021 cap to make the correct adjustment. The CBA, however, specifies that in a case such as this, both sides should get together to agree on what to do. So they did, back in July. They didn't make any changes to the agreed percentage, they just agreed on how to make the adjustment starting in 2021. The league's initial proposal was to start the adjustment by dropping the cap $8 million in 2020, while making the cap floor $165 mil in 2021. The original proposal from the players was to spread the whole thing out for 10 years. The NFL wasn't real big on that idea. For one thing, NFL owners already paid the players more than their actual share for the 2020 season. And as businessmen they're not inclined to wait 10 years to recoup all that money. For another thing, not that probably either side cares, but doing so would actually penalize every young player coming into the league for the next 10 years because the current players didn't want to lose their fair share. I lost money in 2020 due to COVID because my company lost money. So did a lot of people all over the country. NFL players were trying to push their share of losses onto players who haven't started shaving yet. Anyway, the agreement was made that the players wouldn't give up any money in 2020. They would accept a cap floor of $175 million in 2021, with any amount beyond that cap floor that is required to be adjusted being spread out evenly for the next 3 years beyond that. Getting to your original question, yes, the owners have to use the $175 number (floor) as it was agreed to in a modified CBA. If revenues aren't as bad as they thought, the number can be higher by whatever amount the adjustment calls for it to be. Yes, they can go above that number too if they want, but if they do it would require a new agreement with the players. And you can rest assured if they find a way to do it it won't be by giving the players a higher percentage than they're already due. Meaning they will recoup the money they paid the players this year that was above and beyond their agreed to percentage. While I'm sure there are owners who won't be happy cutting players left and right. Those owners knew what they were doing and that the cap floor was going to be $175 mil back in July when they voted and agreed to it. But all might not be lost. As a group, the owners are pretty good businessmen, and there's no doubt the current cap number was based on them covering their asses in a mostly worst case scenario. Put another way, they know better than to count their chickens before they hatch. What that means is, it's possible, with the season going to 17 games, and if the anticipated new TV deals bring in more money starting in 2021, the cap may not be as low as $175 million. But as said, the owners no doubt moved forward back in July under the worst case scenario. Meaning they had to plan for not only huge losses, but the fact that they can't count on new TV money until it's actually there to be counted. So maybe just maybe it won't be the doomsday scenario. Although a cap of $200 million would still have the Saints trying to dump only $75 million instead of $100 million - oh well, that's their problem - it would be a welcome relief for most teams. But there's a lot of ifs. Will the TV deals get done in time for their revenue projection to be part of the 2021 season? Will the COVID be considered under control enough they can project full stadiums, food stands and parking lots for 2021? They generally announce the official cap number early on because teams have to be under it by the first league day in early March. That's not a lot of time.

The Championship game against the Broncos in '92 (I think) reminds me a little of this past game against the Ravens. We all remember the early '90s Bills as having the high-powered K-Gun. But that game was a slugfest. It was 0-0 at the half. Finally the Bills scored their only touchdown on a pick 6, and went on to win 10-7. That's right, our high-powered offense scored 3 points in a championship game. Fortunately the Elway led Broncos weren't much better on offense that day. Our defense only gave up 7 and scored 7 to win and advance.

This. ^^^ Everybody remembers the PI call on Burroughs because it was the end of the game. But in close games every possession and drive counts. Bruce grabbed the front of his jersey and yanked him down so hard the ref imagined he had him by the facemask. Should have been a Bengals punt but instead it kept their drive alive and they wound up scoring. Worst call I've ever seen in a Bills game.

All the bars and restaurants that have to close at 10:00 PM in New York are definitely not hoping for an 8:15 start.

Interesting. I was able to go to XXV also, but I thought it was a fantastic event. Maybe my circumstances were a bit different. I won the lottery so me and my buddy were able to get out tickets for $150 each. And my buddy had a buddy who lived less than a mile from the stadium so we were able to stay at his house for free. And his buddy also had connections at one of those huge downtown clubs so we were able to get in (KC And The Sunshine Bad was playing LOL) without standing in line like so many others. But I thought the downtown party the night before was a riot, and there were many fans of both teams. The one thing that sticks out is most fans were wearing their blue jerseys so every time you would see a Giants #56 we would yell, "Hey yeah, Darryl Talley woohoo!" and of course they would puff their chest and say "This is an LT jersey man!" I really have a whole different take it seems than you. Interesting. But then we never did agree on much. Of course back then I was 27, buffaloes shaved in the side of my head and ready for anything that looked fun. Now I'm 57 and have no desire at all to go to another Super Bowl. But I feel for the young fans here in my home town. They've been getting excited over the last couple years, and I've been telling them just how great it will be if we ever get good again. And I tell them I hope they get to experience going to see our team in the big game at least once. And now here we are, all those good games this year nobody could attend. On the verge of our first home playoff game(s) in forever and nobody can attend. And uncertainty surrounding the attendance and atmosphere of the big game. It's a bummer for sure for these young guys who, like me, waited patiently for our team to get good again. Hopefully we can stay good for a bunch of years. EDIT: Although as I think back on it now, it really was just that one night before the game that I thought was full of jubilant fans. The rest of the time I suppose it really was just visiting a different city and doing whatever there is to do there. Still we thought it was cool going into Hooters and ordering wings, only to have the waitress tell us Ray Bentley was in the night before and he ate all his wings, bones and all. Just crunched them up and ate 'em up.

This is correct. A two way tie with KC we lose. A two way tie with Pitt we win. A three way tie with Pitt and KC we win on SOV as long as one of the KC losses is the Chargers. A four way tie would eliminate Baltimore first as Pitt beat them twice. So a 4 way tie is a 3 way tie.

Nice review. I don't even feel the slightest urge to nitpick. Well done.

A lot of people don't seem to realize, the deal has already been struck. There is no keeping it flat for a couple years. The CBA covers this scenario. It says in the event of catastrophic (me paraphrasing but whatever) decrease in revenues due to something like a Pandemic, both sides will work it out. And they did. But the players are still going to get the same percentage of revenue they were always going to get. And in the long run, that will be less for at least one year. Owners get less, players get less. This year's cap is based on this year's projected revenue, just like every year. But it was projected before the pandemic. Every year the cap is figured on projected revenue and then an adjustment is made to reflect any gains or shortfalls from the previous year in relation to its projection. So the huge shortfall in revenue this year will be reflected in next year's cap. The players could have agreed to lower this year's cap, but they weren't interested, so they kicked the can. The agreement was next year's cap will be no lower than $175 million, even if it's supposed to be less than that (the owners were pushing for $165M because they know how much they're losing). And any amount it's supposed to be below $175 will be absorbed by reducing the remaining shortfall from the total cap in the subsequent years. I'm not just making this number up. It was agreed to via an amended CBA back in September. Could they just amend the CBA again? Sure. But don't think for a moment the owners are going to give a bigger percentage away. And the serious loss of revenue this year is going to be reflected in next year's $175 million cap. That cap has already been negotiated. The only real issue is how much it will affect the cap in the years after that.

The ESPN one is up and running now. http://www.espn.com/nfl/playoffs/machine

That rule doesn't apply to week 17. Nor does the rule allowing networks to protect certain games from flexing. The NFL has unilateral decision making in scheduling week 17, all on only 6 days notice.

The pickings are less than slim. They don't just take 2 games out of the whole Sunday schedule. There are 5 games pre-selected before the season starts, and they will move a minimum of 2, but possibly 3 of those games to Saturday. The choices are- Lion @ Titans Jets @ Rams Texans @ Colts Panthers @ Packers Bills @ Broncos Also, FWIW, since the selected teams are switching days and not just time slots, the NFL says they will be informed a minimum of 4 weeks in advance.

They have already agreed to that big of a drop in cap. Most businesses and employees in America have lost wages of some sort this year because their employer lost wages. The CBA is very specific in how the cap is tabulated, and the players voted to keep their salaries the same this year even though league revenue is way down. The agreement they made was that revenue (and subsequent salary drop) will be made up next year (and possibly beyond). The cap is based every year on the projected revenue for the year, and then there is an adjustment made every year to reflect any difference in the projected revenue to the actual revenue from the previous year. So it's very possible the cap next year may be $200 million. But then there will be a huge adjustment because the players voted, and the NFLPA agreed, that instead of taking any kind of pay cut this year, they would proceed as normal with the cap, with the exception that any adjustment that makes the cap lower than $175 million in 2021 will be pushed even further into the next year(s). So what happens? The NFL has a huge difference in revenue this year compared to what was projected, and subsequently the players are getting a much larger portion of revenue this year than they should according to the CBA. How much revenue difference? Well it's hard to say, but using some rough math we can say conservatively there's about 60,000 tickets not being sold every game. So let's say $100 per ticket average, times 60,000 = $6,000,000 times 8 home games per team = $48,000,000 times 32 teams = $1,536,000,000. Add in loss of parking, concessions, luxury suites, 12 playoff games and the Super Bowl, etc., we can easily see a revenue shortfall of , let's say, $1.8 billion. Anybody who thinks the league is going to ignore that kind of money in the name of keeping their salary cap flat is delusional. So let's take the players' roughly 48% of $1.8 billion, that's $864,000,000 in total reduction that needs to be rectified in the 2021 cap. $864,000,000/32 teams means a reduction adjustment of $27 million in cap for each team. So even if next year's cap does go up to $200 based on next year's revenue projections, it will then have $27 million subtracted (or actually $25 million so it doesn't go below $175 in 2021 and the rest pushed back another year). Now people saying this isn't going to happen because it will create cap hell for a lot of teams don't seem to understand, it's already been bargained and negotiated. It's what they were doing right before training camp while they were hashing out all the other COVID rules. And all teams are expecting it to happen. It's been agreed to by both sides already. And unless there's some changes in the amount of fans allowed into games it's going to be ugly next year. Everybody knows it. The owners aren't stupid when it comes to money, and they were actually pushing for the floor to be $165 million next year. There's a reason for that. They know how much revenue they're losing. People need to stop thinking the league will ignore around $1.5 - $2.0 billion in lost revenue in the name of keeping their salary cap flat. They've already made that decision.

I'm certainly not complaining, but I'm not so sure "he" made the right audible call. Josh starts the audible right around the :15 mark on the play clock, which means it's very possible the OC told him what play to audible to. But yes, I get the gist of your post and it is good to see.

All the good teams defer, and it makes sense for all the reasons above. The bad teams also defer because they want to be like the good teams. Deferring is a great idea, but if you go on to allow a long TD drive to start the game and then start the 2nd half with a quick 3 and out, you're beating yourself over the head trying to act like a good team. Should we defer? Of course we should. But I don't know how many times during our 17 year playoff hiatus we did just exactly what I described above, nor am I going to try to look it up. But it happened a lot, especially the 3 and out in the 2nd. Nothing blows your whole game plan, strategy, momentum and juju-mojo like going 3 and out to start the 2nd half. And deferring to have the wind at your back to start the game doesn't work very well if you give up a nine and a half minute touchdown drive to start the game.

The league sends a noise loop to each team that has to be played at an exact decibel level. Fines to teams and responsible personnel and loss of draft picks are the penalty for not adhering. https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1301653002390994945/photo/1

I should edit this. During the years before they made the rule where you could bring guys back from IR if they made the 53 it didn't happen because there was no reason for it to. But before the salary cap, when that rule saying every IR player was gone for the whole season, it happened a lot. As in, every team would do it with 3-4 players every year. I guess I'm showing my age.

This has been going on for 50 years (probably more). I'm pretty sure both sides are okay with it.

It always happens with every team. It's been happening for about 40 years that I know of. Last year's example was cutting safety Kurt Coleman, putting Croom on IR after he made the 53 and then resigning Coleman.