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The AAF Thread


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14 hours ago, Maybe Someday said:

NFL network is showing Salt Lake Stallions vs. Arizona Hotshots Sunday night at 8 & then re-airing it again @ 10:30.  NFL network agreed to air 1 game per week.  I'm sure I'll put one of the games on at some point if I can but not too sure how intently I'll actually be watching. 

 

I am kind of intrigued by some of these rule changes.  Sky Judge that can call/correct penalties without having to go to replay is an interesting idea.  Sounds kind of like an extra official in the booth that calls penalties in almost real time.  No extra points, you have to go for 2.  No FGs in OT.  No kickoffs.  On side kick replaced with 4th and 12 from the 28 but I believe there are score/time restrictions so you can't just go for it all the time. 

 

This league does feel a little different than a lot of the startups from the past, there are a lot of NFL ties to this one, so I can see it hanging around for at least a little while if it's done right and the product is decent.  But if they want to truly become a developmental league for the NFL like MiLB is to the MLB, they need to have better talent than UDFAs and guys that have bounced around practice squads.  The thing that makes the minor leagues of baseball and hockey interesting is that there is actually blue chip players on their way up.  Many of which are international.  How much international talent is there for football besides kickers?  Will the NFL ever attempt to bypass the NCAA or be associated with a league that would allow guys to skip college?  Would the NFL change their 3 years out of high school rule?  I'd say probably not but $$$$$ can change everything. 

I don't see a reason to change the rule. If guys can eventually sign 3 year contracts with the AAF straight from high school, that would be awesome. They could have a signing day like the NCAA does (ridiculous) or a draft. At that point, this minor league would get plenty of hype and publicity and I don't think the NCAA could do anything about it.

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Everything you need to know about the first Alliance of American Football season

 

You can only blitz 5 players and can't blitz from the secondary. Interesting. They say it's because they don't have time to prepare O-lines, so it would give the defense too much of an advantage and be bad for the QBs. Maybe that will eventually change if they establish enough continuity between seasons.

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22 hours ago, Maybe Someday said:

But if they want to truly become a developmental league for the NFL like MiLB is to the MLB, they need to have better talent than UDFAs and guys that have bounced around practice squads.   I'd say probably not but $$$$$ can change everything. 

 

In the NFL, blue chips can play right away.  

 

"Better talent" than NFL PS squad guys and UDFAs who bounced around.....don't have to play in the AAF, obviously.

 

Money changes everything, so $75 a year for 3 years won't change much....

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The only way another football league works, is if it’s an nfl minor league. That means, don’t have silly rules. If nfl fans had developmental talent to watch, of which their favorite  team had control of...it would have a shot. Teams bring 90 guys to camp. It absolutely can happen. It won’t work though when guys are playing in a league that’s barely football. No kickoffs, can’t blitz, no extra points. If it’s football people might watch. If you start just taking things away, you are making the pro bowl with guys nobody cares about.

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9 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

 

Everything you need to know about the first Alliance of American Football season

 

You can only blitz 5 players and can't blitz from the secondary. Interesting. They say it's because they don't have time to prepare O-lines, so it would give the defense too much of an advantage and be bad for the QBs. Maybe that will eventually change if they establish enough continuity between seasons.

Whoa! I somehow missed that rule!  NOT a fan of that at all.  That makes me a little more skeptical of the success of the league.  Wonder if we see a lot of teams week in and week out putting up 50 pts, with rules holding back the defenses.

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2 hours ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

The only way another football league works, is if it’s an nfl minor league. That means, don’t have silly rules. If nfl fans had developmental talent to watch, of which their favorite  team had control of...it would have a shot. Teams bring 90 guys to camp. It absolutely can happen. It won’t work though when guys are playing in a league that’s barely football. No kickoffs, can’t blitz, no extra points. If it’s football people might watch. If you start just taking things away, you are making the pro bowl with guys nobody cares about.

I think two of those three are rules the NFL is long overdue to adopt. Kickoffs are pointless no, onside kicks even more pointless. No extra points is a great rule, the extra point is boring. The can’t blitz is a thing I’m not a fan of. However, if you read the article it said they did that because in the amount of practice time they had, they couldn’t get the offensive line up to speed. I would imagine this rule will not stick. 

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45 minutes ago, Bills2ref said:

I think two of those three are rules the NFL is long overdue to adopt. Kickoffs are pointless no, onside kicks even more pointless. No extra points is a great rule, the extra point is boring. The can’t blitz is a thing I’m not a fan of. However, if you read the article it said they did that because in the amount of practice time they had, they couldn’t get the offensive line up to speed. I would imagine this rule will not stick. 

I completely disagree. I think kickoffs are a huge part of football and they need to stay in the nfl

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27 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

I completely disagree. I think kickoffs are a huge part of football and they need to stay in the nfl

 

...CERTAINLY emphasize/agree with the need/concern for player safety.......but the complexity of rules derogatorily affecting officiating and the overall dilution of the sport lead me to believe the next MAJOR conundrum at the Owners' meetings will be deciding the colors of HOME versus AWAY flags........yet the cash cow, "just keeps matriculating down the field" as the late great Hank Stram would say.......sad.........

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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

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1 hour ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

I completely disagree. I think kickoffs are a huge part of football and they need to stay in the nfl

There were 5 TD’s total in the NFL this year on kick returns. That is a percent of .00515. Out of 970 kickoffs. Touchbacks amount to 60% of kickoffs. Flags seemingly amount for the other 39% percent.  NFL’s rules have killed the kickoff, it is time to eliminate it all together. When you are getting a touchback or flag on the vast majority of the play, it is pointless. All they do is slow down the game. 

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On ‎2‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 3:22 PM, Maybe Someday said:

NFL network is showing Salt Lake Stallions vs. Arizona Hotshots Sunday night at 8 & then re-airing it again @ 10:30.  NFL network agreed to air 1 game per week.  I'm sure I'll put one of the games on at some point if I can but not too sure how intently I'll actually be watching. 

 

I am kind of intrigued by some of these rule changes.  Sky Judge that can call/correct penalties without having to go to replay is an interesting idea.  Sounds kind of like an extra official in the booth that calls penalties in almost real time.  No extra points, you have to go for 2.  No FGs in OT.  No kickoffs.  On side kick replaced with 4th and 12 from the 28 but I believe there are score/time restrictions so you can't just go for it all the time. 

 

This league does feel a little different than a lot of the startups from the past, there are a lot of NFL ties to this one, so I can see it hanging around for at least a little while if it's done right and the product is decent.  But if they want to truly become a developmental league for the NFL like MiLB is to the MLB, they need to have better talent than UDFAs and guys that have bounced around practice squads.  The thing that makes the minor leagues of baseball and hockey interesting is that there is actually blue chip players on their way up.  Many of which are international.  How much international talent is there for football besides kickers?  Will the NFL ever attempt to bypass the NCAA or be associated with a league that would allow guys to skip college?  Would the NFL change their 3 years out of high school rule?  I'd say probably not but $$$$$ can change everything. 

 

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. 

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1 minute ago, RobbRiddick said:

 

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 also initially thought the yardage was a bit too short. However, I would like to see the stats that went into that decision. I am sure they looked at how likely it was to get X yards on any one play, and arrived at a percentage they liked. If I had to guess, the conversion percentage for a 4th and 12 would be around 20%. I am completely fine with that being the “onside kick” conversion percentage. 

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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

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