RobbRiddick

Well we'll see what happens if the XFL does it. As I say, this is the only thing I find remotely interesting about the XFL plans I've read

One thing about the XFL that I do think they have in their favour, and which I think this league should copy, is to allow high school graduates to play. I was thinking about this the other day and I think if the AAF allowed this it could add a tonne of interest. Imagine if certain players leaving high school were big producers and good prospects but A) they don't want to go to classes etc. B) they want to develop in a pro-style offense and C) they want to earn some money ASAP. I'm not sure if any big name prospects would just totally bypass college, but imagine if some of the bigger names did? They would produce a huge amount of interest from fans and scouts alike. Plus, it would eliminate the perception of these guys being scrubs, because the HS graduates wouldn't have 'failed' in the NFL yet.

That's great, and what this league needs. As soon as I saw Prerez throw three or four passes last week I posted here that he looks like a real QB. You could just see it right away with his mechanics and velocity and placement. Not to say he'd ever make it in the NFL but I'd like to see a guy like him continue to play well and earn a shot at training camp with an NFL team.

I agree, there's definitely a place for that 'old school' approach. The XFL had some nice ideas last time but ruined them with crap play and all the stupid wrestling style antics. The ideas of playing only outdoors, on real grass, with real hits, is something that appeals to someone of my age group. But of course that's not enough. You still have to take the product seriously.

I like the mandatory 2 point conversion, but if the NFL gets rid of kicked extra points I hope they change the 2 point conversion to the 1 point conversion. I just prefer 7-0 , 7-7 type scores, call me old.

I've seen bits and pieces of this league so far and like a lot of what I've seen. There are some things I would change if I were Charlie Ebersol: First of all, as I said earlier, have players whose rights are owned by NFL teams and have the NFL team emblem on the back of their helmet to make them easily identifiable, just to give us extra incentive to watch. In between drives (when not showing an ad) show quick 90 second 'get to know' segments of the players, maybe ones with interesting stories or charismatic personalities. One of the big problems new leagues like this have is that people don't know the players, they're just faceless guys in a new uniform, but when you get to know the players a bit you form more of a connection and take more of an interest.

This Perez guy actually looks like a real QB

What I would like is if the NFL teams could have rights to so many players each before this league kicks off each year. So maybe each team would have between 3-5 players that they would essentially own the rights to. That way it'd give us fans more of a rooting interest because we'd be looking out to see how our Bills players, or potential Bills players, were doing. If one of them led the league in rushing or passing or sacks etc. we'd probably have a lot of interest in seeing how that guy did during training camp with the Bills

I like some of these rule changes too. I think some will definitely be adopted eventually by the NFL. The main one will be the sky judge. If they can overturn decisions QUICKLY without really detracting from the flow of the game I think they'll definitely adopt that. Maybe they'll only use it in the final 2 minutes, or maybe just the playoffs to begin with. I also like the 4th down play to replace an onside kick, though I think the yardage needed is maybe too short. Personally I'd extend it a bit. 4th and 25 makes the odds much much lower and therefore people are only really going to go for that when they absolutely have to.

I will say, Charlie Ebersol and Polian have been very clever in the way they've set this league up. I like that they've got NFL guys like Warner to do the announcing because it creates a bridge from one league to the other, especially when you think that the NFL ended last week. I think the presentation will be very much like the NFL. They don't want to be different (obviously the games themselves will be) to the NFL, they want to be a security blanket for all the hardcore fans who are down that the NFL has ended. If the games aren't sloppy and are well played I could see it doing quite well and having some longevity

Oh, it's Kraft in that video? I thought Jesus Brady was curing a leper.

Yes, all seven of them.

There's a conspiracy going around that the Pats had been messing with the language settings on Goff's earpiece, so all the pre-snap instructions from McVay were coming through in Spanish

I did have a disturbing dream last night involving Tom Brady and Bill Belichick dancing around poles in the BadaBing wearing nothing but thongs. I'd completely forgotten about it until reading this post. I tried to slip a dollar into Brady's pouch but one of the bouncers, who turned out to be Teddy Bruschi, grabbed my arm and said, "it costs a LOT more than that to buy Tom." And then I looked up and saw he was walking towards the VIP booth with Roger Goodell. I Googled this to see what it means and apparently I'm worried about failing an exam. Weird, I left college twenty years ago.

At this point a Bills loss is as normal as getting up for work on a Monday morning.