RuntheDamnBall

Plus, Tuel is all floor. Boyd is a guy you pick up for ceiling and intrigue. Great choice for a learning #3. it's crazy. If this goes down, we could really have what I would describe as my ideal quarterback situation going into this season, just having lucked into it. That is, the ideal quarterback situation that doesn't have Manning starting and Andrew Luck backing him up

Add Donte Whitner. Cathal Kelly is definitely up there though.

Not to resurrect Whitner feelings, but the comparison between these two individuals is night and day if you recall his "Toronto Bills" statements. Now you can see why we root for the kinds of people we root for. Now, if we really want to up the class level, let's get FredEx into the playoffs. The man deserves it.

Wanted to see them draft Tajh. I am way into the idea.

Or, y'know, the day that they said all the binding bids needed to be in has been 9/8 for a long time. I think if they were timing anything with Ray Rice, it would have been entirely a part of the offseason. People aren't going to forget that video, and a new owner is a big story but not a salacious one and ultimately not a terrifically interesting one to most NFL fans.

Anybody who has seen an abusive relationship up close knows that this is nonsense. Is it possible that Rice can reform himself? It's possible. They have a sh-t ton of stuff to work out, though, and there is a power dynamic that she will probably never fully be able to extricate herself from, no matter how contrite he is. "It takes two to tango" is circling back to the victim-blaming dumbassery that suggests she invited a lights out punch in an elevator. Was she physically involved in the altercation? No doubt. Is Ray Rice big and strong enough to control the situation without decking her? Yes, he is.

I guess to clarify, you're right - it's all shades of the same reasons. But covering your ass in light of some botched PR is even more cynical than making that initial move to protect interests. And while no, football has little to do with domestic violence, again, if you're charged with (sometimes not even convicted of) a felony, your employer is definitely not always going to stand by you, no matter how publicly visible they are. And that's part PR / protecting interests, and part borne of the idea that you can't trust people who have committed serious crimes. Whether offenders, especially violent ones, can be reformed is another measure - and another issue that our criminal justice system gets wrong all the time. But then we're heading into another part of the board that I'm not interested in taking this to.

Caveat - it would have been open season…without the tape everybody saw today, which again, would he have been cut without its release? What looks bad is the insinuation made to many respectable NFL reporters that the NFL and Ravens had all the evidence when they made the initial decision, and then to backtrack on that. It makes it look like they are making the decision for the wrong reasons, whatever their decision.

Yesssssss

Fair enough.

I guess one thing NOT to do would be to have a press conference lauding the guy and making his wife sit up there with him. JMO.

Isn't that next Friday, dude? I'm all sorts of confused.

That's a great question. I think it depends a lot on whether that owner has seen the videotape, no?

One small problem with that, is that then you're asking the owner to weigh "doing the right thing" vs. making sure his team wins on Sundays. I think we all know which scenario is likeliest to play out here. I know that these kinds of cases bring out the anti-PC brigade and people who think that the real problem is false moral outrage, and I understand why. But I also caution posters who don't know the histories of other posters here about painting anyone with too broad a brush on this issue. It is entirely possible that the outrage that some people have on this issue is real and valid, and personal. I will concede that this is first an issue because the video exists, and second because of Goodell's complete mangling of the PR side of this (the "who did/didn't see the tape" fiasco). It's pretty reasonable to assume that the recently released video 1) existed and 2) should have been seen by Goodell. It's also pretty reasonable to assume that law enforcement screwed the pooch big time here. Is this all Goodell's job? I am not exactly sure. It is certainly less his job than it is the job of law enforcement. But he is a standard-bearer for a brand that really cannot alienate women wholesale right now -- not when a lot of moms are already thinking long and hard about whether their sons should even be allowed to play this sport. I understand why things are the way they are. As for people hating Ray Rice more because the tape exists: Ray Rice is the coward here -- and if fewer abusers can dish out violence because they fear they might be caught on tape somehow, all the better. The existence of the tape should magnify the evil of domestic abuse. It shouldn't be taken as the big bad media etc singling out the guy when he's not the only one. It's a moment where the tables are turned, the abuser is revealed for who he is, and the victim-blaming excuses are just absolutely crushed. We need more of that.

Most people who do this and get caught with this kind of evidence go to jail, and have a felony on their record that will DEFINITELY hurt their prospects for employment. I don't feel bad for the dude at all. He made his decisions.

#quotesofthelast14years

+1111!1

Think about it this way. You can get jail time for being negligent in an accident. If you're at all aware of your surroundings, you know that you could damn near kill someone if they hit their head on a rail in a small space like an elevator. This was not criminal negligence, but intent, magnified and made worse by the surroundings. The guy should be in jail and is lucky his wife isn't brain-damaged. This is pretty indisputable unless you somehow believe this video is edited, and even then that's a major stretch.

I understand where you're coming from, but real justice should be coming from a court of law. As is often the case with domestic violence, they are not at all holding up their responsibilities here.

One more interception, and EJ is on the sidelines with a pack of Pall Malls.

I know! Really, really smart people said that! And Graham is a MAJOR upgrade.

How about this as a counterpoint (enjoying the back and forth): I don't think we can call Schwartz a great defensive mind yet - and we never may be able to. But one of the great things about the teams that Belicheck has assembled is that they are versatile. You often think of wanting a defense to dictate, and to take it to the other team. But my hope is that when we need them to play Jauron ball, they can. When they need to send waves of pressure because that is the best way to beat a particular opponent, they can. When they need to sit back and blanket everybody, they can. I hope we have a defense that can meet the challenges of any opponent. Because seriously, NE can beat the Jauron ball strategy. Brady is just too quick and not as likely as Cutler to make mistakes. Not saying it doesn't happen or that he won't get worse as he gets older. Just something to consider.

I wouldn't go that far. Tampons actually serve a purpose.

Hopefully they'll be blaming the cold in Buffalo in October.

Maybe. But they had some good stops as well. The gains hurt, but what really matters is ending their drives.