Is there a changing of the NFL guard?

[AngryAmish]

I know that because of parity the NFL is constantly changing. New England was good for years and again they seem to be the team to beat.

However, a lot of teams seem to be getting old fast (Green Bay, Tampa, Buffalo, Miami, Tennessee. I have no idea what is up with KC.)

I would not want to play Atlanta right now. Mike Vick seems like he could win a game by himself - like Favre was for years.

I think the networks do not know what games to make there featured games. The game last night sucked.

I am just glad the Bears are running a professional system on both sides of the ball. They may go 5-11, but there is improvement. And it will flow.

[Red State Rebel]

1. Networks have to plan so far ahead it's a guessing game...

Which game last night are you talking about? I watched the Rams game and enjoyed it quite a bit :). There was a lot of discussion about the salary cap and how it is hamstringing some teams. They are tied into high salaries on older players who aren't producing and can't afford to go out and get good new talent.

[AngryAmish]

3. Rams fans sure enjoyed last nights games

But Indy-Jacksonville would have been more exiting for fans of teams not involved.

I also understand that guessing ahead of time makes no provisions for injuries, etc. There was talk about adjusting MNF to get good match-ups. There are logistical problems. I just wish more competitive games were available for national games.

[Arkana]

2. No kidding.

Right now the Pats are holding onto an 18-game win streak, and the fact that they're my hometown team makes it even better.

You're right about Mike Vick...he's an amazing quarterback to watch--I watch him run and I just think, "Are you kidding me? These guys aren't supposed to miss like this! They're getting paid!" Without Vick, though, the Falcons are hopeless.

Miami's running game is all but nonexistent, and they don't have a good starting quarterback in either Jay Fiedler or A.J. Feeley. Green Bay is lost without Brett Favre (I don't know where his head is now). Buffalo has no offense (I know, because when your quarterback is Drew Bledsoe, you become one-dimensional real fast) but for some strange reason an All-Pro defense.

Tennessee without McNair is like a tiger without teeth, and Tampa Bay...well, they've been bad since they won the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.

[redstateblues]

5. My Titans Are Pitiful With/Without McNair- No Defense

Next weeks MNF between Green Bay and the Titans should be of little interest to anyone outside TN or WI

[Arkana]

12. If it's any consolation

The Titans are my second-favorite after the Pats for the simple reason that they have Steve McNair. That and the fact that they hate the damn Colts too.

[redstateblues]

14. Hate is perhaps not a strong enough word.

[Teaser]

4. Eagles Green Baby.

Yeah, you heard me.

[AngryAmish]

6. Bears were lambs to the slaughter yesterday

Eagles won with their C game yesterday. They will be more competitive with Peanut Tillman back. Eagles seem to be the best in the NFC right now.

[JackintheGreen]

13. Hack Hack Slash

The bears lost due more to organizational disarray than to any competence by the Eagles. Except for that catch by TO, it looked like a high school game on both sides.

Don't get me wrong. Fly Eagles, Fly and all that, but they didn't look half so good as they did the first three games. Half the NFC could have beaten them yesterday; they were lucky to play the Bears.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. If The Bears. . .

. . .had their full compliment, the Eagles would have had to play a LOT better than they did.

But, they may have come in flat given that they knew the Bears had 4 starters out on defense (and their best 4 defensive players) and their starting QB out for the year.

I think if the Eagles came in with Chicago at full strength, they would have brought their A game, and my Bears would have been beaten by about the same score.

It would have been a less ugly game, but a loss nonetheless. The Bears are going to at least be a more interesting and competitive team now. Hope springs eternal.
The Professor

[Rufus T. Firefly]

8. Ah, McNabb is overrated.

I'm surprised Limbaugh hasn't taken credit for making the 0-2 Eagles so much better after his Cro-Magnon comment last year. Motivation and all that.

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. WHAT????

Brett Favre threw a touchdown pass on 4th and 5 with a concussion before they took him out. His receivers are young. Ahman Green is not what I would call old and decrepit. The D Line is young. Sorry, does not compute. A bad start does not necessarily equate a bad end and vice versa. Remember last year when the Vikes were killing the Packers at season start? :shakes head in disbelief:

[Rufus T. Firefly]

9. I thought they already had taken Favre out

and he just went back on the field and threw that TD. Even better, IMHO. Favre is the MAN.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. They had. And then he ran back out...and then they took him out again...

and then he begged them to let him back in again...which, thankfully, they did not. Aged my ass. Wishful thinking on the part of those who know the threat that he is. :hi:

[Arkana]

11. Brett Favre needs to retire...

He's too old for this.

[ScreamingMeemie]

20. Oh. Please.

:eyes:

[Arkana]

21. I'm a Patriots fan...we hate Green Bay

Especially for what they did to us in the Super Bowl in 96.

[ScreamingMeemie]

22. Hehehehe. That was great wasn't it?

:7

[Arkana]

23. No. No it wasn't.

New England Super Bowl Titles Since: 2
Green Bay Super Bowl Titles Since: 0

:evilgrin:

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. Green Bay: Total Super Bowl Titles: 3

:P

Better team.

[Arkana]

25. We can go back and forth, but I think you'll agree

That the Packers defense would be confounded by Brady.

(Hey, that rhymes!)

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. And the Patriots would be shredded...in pieces, by Favre.

Just like always. :hi:

I love these arguments, and I'm so glad it's football season. :bounce:

[Arkana]

32. Me too

It's the most wonderful time of the year! :D

[H3Dakota]

19. Yes!

Favre IS the man! Let's just hope that he recovers in time for MNF.

[kick-ass-bob]

15. Don't base Vick on Panthers games...

The combined score of Atl. v. Car. in his games is like 1,032-17.

[bigwillq]

16. I'm just happy that the Giants won yesterday

But I do agree that there is a bit of a change going on.

Parity is the word for what is happening in the NFL.

But that's just the cycle that the league goes through at times. Players get old, retire, rookies come in and teams need to rebuild.


It's time that new rivalry's start to emerge.

[catmandu57]

17. Chiefs have a curse on them

After making a team jersey for crashcart, and having the moron* visit at their training camp ( they haven't won a game since ). To having crashcart sit in Lamar Hunt's private suite at Arrowhead, they're fucking cursed, they've been losing games in the strangest of fashion. Plays made by the opposing team that makes one say did you see that? 102 yard interception returns, acrobatic mind numbing grabs by opposing wide recievers, running backs busting through for huge gains.
They're cursed plain and simple, I don't care if they go 0-16, they won't but I wouldn't give a fat rat's ass if they imploded on the field.

[bigwillq]

18. As long as the Chiefs lose by more than 5.5 points tonight

Then I don't care what happens to the Chiefs after that.

[LanternWaste]

27. Parity is undramatic

Free-agency killed any chances of a long-term dynasty or super team. While it may be fair to the players, it's killed certain aspects of the game that I really enjoyed, e.g, rooting against the Dynasty franchises of the seventies and eighties like SF and PT or rooting for the Dynasty franchises of the early nineties like Dallas.

When I began watching the NFL in the mid-early seventies, you could rest assured that the bulk of a team would, all other things being equal, stay with that team until retirement. O-lines and D-lines were bigger stars than any one player due to consistency.

Ever since free agency and the salary cap took effect, a good team in any given year is simply not going to be the same team the next year. Too many players' loyalty are directed at dollar signs rather than the team.

Today's team-parity is simply undramatic. The Player's Union won, and this particular fan lost. Hey, I'm a union supporter myself, but it doesn't make me enjoy the contemporary games any more...

:(

[AngryAmish]

28. NFL has never been better

Dynasties are nice, but it makes for boring football. If your team was down it was down for good.

Now, many teams can jump up and try to win. You know that there is not a long dry spell (unless you are a Bears fan grumblegrumble).

One gets to see many more games thanks to expanded double-headers. More playoff games. Sunday Night Football (notwithstanding the announcers) has created much joy in my life.

Week in an week out, NFL football creates more joy in my life than virtually anything else. (Yes I know I am a loser).

[LanternWaste]

29. Boring? Not to me...

I suppose it's an individual call on the entertainment factor or today's NFL. From where I sit and watch, rivalries have no where near the passion they used to. 10 years ago, Dallas @ Philly was one of the best games to watch-- the fan's absolutely hated Dallas and a few arrests after the "battery" incident merely illustrated that.

These days, the only reason I want Philly to lose a game is because they're in Dallas' division. There's simply no "heat" anymore. playing one team is no more nor no less than playing any other team.

But I suppose it's all opinion. Personally, the late 70's were the heyday of the NFL to me. Even during the eighties when Dallas was out for the count, I relished the Washington or Philly games. The way Pittsburgh owned Dallas in the SB's during the seventies was beautiful-- frustrating, but sheer beauty. Boring? Not to me...

[sasquatch]

31. Do you know why baseball sucks? Dynasty is why

Dynasty's don't need eveyone to play together because they've got enough talent that they'll beat anyone they come up against. Now football has dynasty's right now(Eagles, Patriots and maybe the Packers or Rams)but it isn't like baseball's dynasty where the NY Yankees just buy up all the talent because they can. In football if you do that you'll pay for it later on. Because every team has a shot, every game is important.

[LanternWaste]

33. I enjoyed hating Dynasties....

Well, I've never been a baseball fan so I can't say whether that's the reason it sucks or not... or whether it even sucks or not. To each his own.

But as for me, I really did enjoy the dynasties of PT in the seventies, SF in the eighties and DAL in the nineties... or at least enjoyed hating the first two.

Yet they all obviously rose and then just as obviously fell, it's simply that the growth-arc was longer and patience was a required virtue for franchise fandom (at least it was in Dallas during the 1980's...).

To each his own. I enjoyed football a lot more before free agency, salary caps and naming football stadiums after businesses became commonplace (3Com Stadium? FedEx Field? Screw tradition-- let's make money!!!).

As an aside, in football, I really don't think you can lay claim to "Dynasty" until the team gets a few SB rings. Patriots? Sure. Eagles? They may be a strong team at the moment, but they need a few rings for Dynasty bragging rights... :)