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Draft fun kicks off early, Rams trade up to no. 1

TRADE BY NUMBERS

Titans receive from Rams:
1st round pick (15 overall)
2nd round pick (43)
2nd round pick (45)
3rd round pick (76)
1st round pick in 2017
3rd round pick in 2017

Rams receive from Titans:
1st round pick (1 overall)
4th round pick (113)
6th round pick (177)

First impression is that's a lot to give up for Rams, better hope their QB (assume Wentz or Goff) takes off or it's another few years of sub 8-8 seasons to come.

You are right... that is one hell of a lot to give up. I am not sure either of the top QBs are franchise level talent....time will tell, but I think the titans are about to reap a windfall.

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Forza Ferrari
WCCs = 16
WDCs = 15

Good for the Titans, they really hit lucky with having drafted their (probable) franchise QB last season, and having the QB graveyard that is Cleveland drafting right behind.

A few bits of starting line ups still needing sorted. Surely we aren't going to have the defending Superbowl champions go from Peyton Manning to Mark Sanchez. (Bring back Tebow!)

Jets and Fitzpatrick is interesting too. I really enjoyed Fitzpatrick with Marshall and Decker in 2015. I get that he wants paid but I don't think he will get the money he seems to be after. Can't see anyone else paying him that much too. He has not done enough to make me think he's worth the $15 million a year he seems to want.

Curious as to what the Cowboys do. Cowboys have become my second team, mostly because I really liked them in 2014. I really thought that 2014 and 2015 would be their best shots. 2015 ended up being a write-off. I'm a Romo fan, so I'd really like to see him get a ring and maybe shut some folk up that give him dog's abuse.

Interested to see how Osweiler gets on in Houston too. They really grew on me after Hard Knocks last year. Not too sure I fancy the LA Rams on HK this season, but I'll inevitably watch.


(Go Vikes!)

After watching Chelsea this season I can't wait for the NFL season to start..

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I think Romo is going to be one of those "would-a, could-a" guys. Big talent, but never quite had all of the right pieces around him to make a Super Bowl run.

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Probably true. I think 2014 might have been their best shot - Romo was on fire. He was MVP level bad donkey that season. That Dez non-catch against GB in the playoffs... I'm not sure I agree with the NFL's definition of a catch in that instance. I assumed going into 2015 he'd play at a similar level. Maybe not having Murray in the backfield hurt a lot more than I expected. I think this is probably the last year in his Superbowl window. And I'm not entirely convinced that one strong sack and he'll be back on IR. I hope not. The Cowboys without Romo last season were genuinely the worst team in the NFL to watch on offense. That team looked amateur half the time without Romo. Perhaps that's my bias, or perhaps that's how good Romo is.

Glad that Dex non-catch wasn't a catch though. I still think GB vs Seahawks NFC Championship game was one of the most entertaining things I've seen.

Now it seems LA has proper Rams fever. Trading up to get the #1 pick, getting a highly rated quarterback, who played in California, has really built up the anticipation here. People are on the bandwagon (except me ), but the owner is still Stan Kroenke, so.....

Still waiting for the other shoe (the stadium) to drop. If it really gets built solely using private funds then the only problem will be traffic, which is always a problem, anyway.

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"No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning."
Jean-Pierre Sarti

Snake... Trust Kroenke as far as you can throw him... and absolutely no further.

He dileberately screwed St.Louis and then as a parting jesture threw them under the bus... just to rub salt into the wound.

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Forza Ferrari
WCCs = 16
WDCs = 15

Not to mention how he is holding Arsenal back in the Premier League with his complete lack of ambition. If Arsenal fans think holding signs and protesting is going to do a thing to someone who likely doesn't even watch the games, they are delusional. They need to hurt the man the only way they can, in the wallet, but they won't have it in their hearts to hurt their club financially.

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"No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning."
Jean-Pierre Sarti

The season is almost upon us. Preseason has thrown us a few interesting things so far.

As a Vikes fan, I'm worried about Teddy Bridgewater still. I really hope he makes "the leap" this year after a rather disappointing - at least stat line-wise - second year. The thing is, I think from some comments Zimmer made earlier this month that if the Vikes make playoffs that Teddy will be staying even if he ends another year with about 15 TDs and 8-10 INTs. Maybe it's stupid to criticise the guy. If the Vikes win the game, does it really matter if the QB threw for 300 yards and 3TDs? I guess not, but (obviously) I wish he would/could. Of course, he's in a bit of an unfortunate position. I criticised the Vikes last season for not feeding AP enough in an early game, and criticised them for not throwing enough in a later game (I think the Seahawks game where they destroyed the Vikes). Hoping AP, now 31, doesn't slow down. Teddy looked solid in preseason last night, but (iirc) he was looking good last year in preseason also then didn't show those numbers in regular season.

As a a relative fan of the Cowboys, I'm hoping Romo stays healthy. The Cowboys were the worst team to watch last year for about 10 weeks total. I have love for Matt Cassel (he QB'd the one Wembley game I went to and threw 2 TDs) but he was awful. Weedon was also awful. I like Romo, I love watching the guy but I think this is possibly the last year of his Superbowl window. 2014 he was, imo, the best QB in the league.



My predictions for the season:
MVP will be between Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers. Carolina are scary. Newton is now a guy I seriously consider (though I'm not 100% sure but a high %) to be in that elite tier. His star receiver is back. Actually, pretty much those last 3 sentences transfer to Rodgers/Packers except I'm sure he's in that elite tier. Thankfully, as a guy who picked my team almost at random I don't actually dislike the Packers.

AFC is going to be tight. I see Brady going 10-2 at worst. He'll want to stick a finger up to Goodell and I think he'll be an absolute demon. Steelers I can't right off, though they have suspension issues again. I expect Andrew Luck to be much stronger resulting in the Cots going well. Broncos could do well but I can't believe I'm predicting Sanchez to lead a team. Of course, the D will probably be the driving force again. And as absurd as this is to say, Sanchez is probably a better QB than Peyton Manning... was last season. I don't think they are quite there yet but I like the Raiders - Carr is coming along. Mack is coming along. Amari Cooper is back and healthy (I also love the AC/DC name for that tandem).

NFC is likely going to end up Panthers and Packers.


My League is Fantasy Drafting next Saturday night. Looking forward to it. The smack talk in our league is quite fun. I also lost a pool series with a buddy so after he draws his number he can blindly swap for mine if he wants. Draft last year was one of the most fun evenings I've had in a long time.



Anyway, just hoping the season doesn't disappoint. I follow 2 sports - NFL and F1. And I've found F1 lately to be pretty lackluster. I missed more races live in 2015 than the previous 10+ years combined. I've missed more than that already this season. I think that's a symptom of some other stuff I have going on but I really do worry that everything I used to love has become a bit sh*t.

People, a question: do preseason games effect the championship standing?

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too fast to slow down

No is the short answer. However it does matter in regards to players getting injured but also coaches getting answers on their players, new and old and that can have an impact on the regular season.
But as for points no.

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The NFL also has a 53-man roster for the regular season. Teams pick up a lot of players to test them out as MR-E has said and these limits are why it's important to get some answers on players. The limit before preseason is about 90. After W3 of preseason it's down to about 75. After the final preseason game, the last round of cuts happen to drop all teams to 53 (active) players. Certain players are pretty safe. Week 3 of the preseason is also the game where we tend to see a higher propertion of starters, at least for the first quarter or first half.

In 2008 the Detroit Lions went 4-0 in preseason. They then went 0-16 in regular season. Preseason doesn't matter in terms of wins and losses. You don't play all your best guys, you don't tip all your plays for the season. As Mr-E said, other aspects have significant impact but the wins and losses don't impact making playoffs directly, the stats of players etc don't "count" toward their career stats etc.



Watching NFL preseason just now. The Vikes @Seahawks game is repeated on NFL network. The bad thing about NFL network in the UK is that it's basically a live channel and so it needs to be really quite late in the day before they have punditry and discussion segments as even the East Coast of the USA is 4 hours behind current UK time. That said, NFL network is a great subscription service. I don't know how NBA/MLB compare but I think many sports should consider a similar service.

Quick answer: no. After the preseason is over, everyone's record is set back to 0-0, and everyone starts the season equal in the standings.

As others stated, preseason is for player evaluation, overall offensive and defensive scheme evaluation, and, unfortunately, the odd season-ending injury.

Let us not forget the rather sizeable paycheck for the league and teams from the game attendance and TV rights.

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Forza Ferrari
WCCs = 16
WDCs = 15

Thanks mac_d & Mr-E for your explanation.

Another question if I may: how to select who versus who in preseason? Is it simply a random drawing?

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too fast to slow down

I had a great Sunday (apart from falling asleep during the GP and missing all the excitement in the second half and waking up confused to a re-run of Austria 1999).

Most importantly - the Vikings won against the Packers. First time Vikes have beaten the Packers in the first game at a new stadium. AP got hurt, which is awful. Hopefully the MRI today comes back as nothing too serious. Vikes D looks beastly, though of 4 fumbles they caused they only recovered one (well, two but one they got then fumbled right back). Sam Bradford... I like it. I think he'll get better in his role, and tbh if he keeps this up I prefer him over Teddy. I've never been that sold on Teddy. Solid game manager but I thought he needed to step it up. Early doors yet, but promising.

Secondly, I won my fantasy matchup. 1-1 now, so at least I cannot get grannied. Always a fear. Though I'm a little worried about a couple of my guys. I have Gurley (who did better this week), Doug Baldwin (Seahawks were pretty poor against LA Rams) and Sammy Watkins who was pretty ineffectual in both games so far and seems to be having a lot of pain in his foot. Got 1st pick on Wednesday Waivers at least. Put in already for Stefon Diggs. Hoping to trade him this week or else see how the Vikes offense plays out under Bradford.

Thirdly, I had a £2 bet that 4 specific games wouldn't have either team score unanswered 3 times at about 75/1. I made £155.50 profit off of that. So I'm pretty pleased as that's a decent chunk of cash for me.

Dak Prescott looks like the real deal...

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He earned the right to start, good for him. Dallas look to be real Superbowl contenders again. Good qb game and astounding run game. Zeke could win MVP. Matt Ryan, Tom Brady (astounding that a 12 game season he could have stats good enough) and as an outsider, Derek Carr too, all have shouts.

I'm rooting for the Cowboys for the first time in a long time this year. Prescott and Elliot look to be stars for years to come.

Unfortunately they went up against my Ravens yesterday who needed the win to consolidate their lead in the division and did their usual, for this year, second half fade.

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It's a contrast in divisions, as 5-5 is last place in the NFC East this season, while 5-5 is first place in the AFC North.

Yea, but as a fan of the Ravens since their inception I've grown accustomed to them playing from behind in low scoring games. This, seemingly, new trend of scoring early and playing well in the first half and making either poor or no adjustments in the second half is killing me.

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{Insert clever sig line here}

Thanksgiving Thursday is always nice as a UK fan. Can get 1.5-2 games watched and still get to bed at a reasonable time. Pity Luck is in concussion protocol, I liked the Steelers vs Colts matchup. Lions and my Vikings playing for first in NFCN. Big game in that division with Bears looking like they won't finish on a good record and the Packers having major defense problems and some offense issues (though they have an actual running back in their team again).

I'm not doing great in my fantasy league but if I win this week I'm likely to not be in our last place playoff which is my primary target. One of our guys has David Johnson, Zeke and Melvin Gordon and is smashing our league.

0 wins for Cleveland Browns so far (11 losing streak).

is this the worst record ever in a season in NFL history?

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too fast to slow down

Lions went 0-16 in 2007, at worst they'll match them. I'm not even sure the Browns are the worst team this season, 49ers seem just as bad only they managed to bink an early win. Browns could easily have won a couple but just Brownsed it up at the end in each.

Dak is looking good - wonder if he can take the Cowboys all the way. I'd love a Dak vs Brady Superbowl.

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Top Three Team Champions 2017 (With Jezza13)
Group Pick 'Em Champion: 2016 & 2019

Nooooooo. I can't take Brady making another Superbowl.

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{Insert clever sig line here}

I'm a Patriots fan

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Top Three Team Champions 2017 (With Jezza13)
Group Pick 'Em Champion: 2016 & 2019

Jeff Fisher fired, couldn't even win at being the best loser!

Cardinals coming to the UK next season, finally can get to see my team play

Of my little group of 6 that like NFL.

I'm a Vikes fan so want to go to that game.
My best mate is a Saints fan so wants to go to that.
One guy is so whipped he isn't allowed to go.
One guy isn't fussed.
One guy fancies the Cardinals.
And one guy doesn't care so long as he gets a trip to London and gets steaming.

I must say, if the Vikes were against anyone other than the Browns I'd be more interested. Browns are a team without any kinda "legends" that I'd like to see.

I'm getting married on the 23rd September, so I suspect my preferred game (Dolphin/Saints) is out. Not bothered which of the other games I go to, but I'm leaning towards the Rams game.

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Top Three Team Champions 2017 (With Jezza13)
Group Pick 'Em Champion: 2016 & 2019

I was this guy both years I went with my mates to Wembley. London is great for a weekend piss-up!

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I don't rely entirely on God

I rely on Prost

I've only been to London three times. Once to Wembley to see my Vikes beat the Steelers, once with my dad and my nephew and last year with my pals to see Motley Crue. I like London, but in terms of drinking I find it similar to any other major UK city. But London has the Imperial War Museum which I think is my favourite museum. Be interesting trying to persuade the party guys to spend a few hours looking at WWII stuff (that's my favourite bit).

There is discussion of 5 of us going to the Saints game, and 3 of us going to the Vikes game. Expensive - train tickets are about £100. The NFL we'll probably spend at least £60. I'm expecting we'll stay over at least a night each time and that'll cost another chunk. Add in food and drink (I probably won't be drinking booze at least). That's quite a lot of money. I loved the game I went to in 2013. Really brilliant atmosphere as it wasn't really home team vs away team but just a whole bunch of NFL fans getting to see a game.

Christmas Eve edition of NFL Redzone is a nice highlight this week.

I find it kind of odd they play games on Christmas day though. I'm not sure, perhaps one of our Americans can confirm but Thanksgiving is the real big one in America over Christmas, whereas in the UK I'd say Christmas was the "big" holiday. And Thanksgiving games are a plenty (also a great day for fans in the UK due to the early games being watchable and you still get to go to bed at a reasonable hour). Even if I was earning many millions and was a star NFL player, I'd be a little miffed having to miss Christmas day at home to play a game. Especially if I had kids and a wife who made a nice turkey dinner.

Unfortunate the Sundays are Christmas and New Year's Day. Doubt I'll be able to round up any of my little NFL gang to watch the games.

Is the Christmas Eve Redzone on Sky? It's normally shown on Sky Mix, but last I looked I couldn't see it on the schedule.

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Top Three Team Champions 2017 (With Jezza13)
Group Pick 'Em Champion: 2016 & 2019

I know Sky are showing 2 games on Saturday, so I'd guess Redzone will be on Red Button at that time. I watch through NFL Gamepass so I don't know for sure.

Man, the Raiders finally have a good team and they lose their star QB. The Titans too, but they aren't going to playoffs and aren't fighting for a potential #1 seed. I really like Derek Carr and the Raiders over the last couple of years. With the trade deadline long since gone they aren't likely to get a better QB the McGloin. I have to think anyone in FA would be a better prospect (there is a part of me that wants to see Johnny Football or Tebow though cause that'd be so wild).

I've all but lost my fantasy playoff (our league has a W17 superbowl this year). My opponent is down by under 1 point with Zeke still to go. He also had David Johnson who is just a beast. Oh well. And my two fantasy QBs - Carr and Mariota. I hope I didn't curse them.

What a game the Packers @ Cowboys game was. I had no intention of watching it till the end, but I couldn't turn it off.

For those that have Sky, but not Sports. Sunday's AFC game will be on Sky Sports Mix, which is free!

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Top Three Team Champions 2017 (With Jezza13)
Group Pick 'Em Champion: 2016 & 2019

With about 6 mins left in the first half it was 21-3 or thereabouts and I thought it was going to be a bust. The second half was great and the last few minutes were so dramatic. The Cook catch on 3rd and long to put them into long FG range was spectacular. Crosby make 2 50+ yarders in the last few minutes. Bit odd to say, but one of the most impressive plays by Aaron Rodgers was not losing the ball when he got absolutely smashed on a sack right near the end.

Definitely a great game to watch. I stayed up too. Was a little gutted the Steelers and Kansas game was delayed. Did well in the US ratings but, as a UK fan, I hope they'll not change anything in the timings. 6pm and 9/9:30pm games are so much nicer for me.


Packers vs Falcons could be a brilliant game. Steelers Patriots too. Excited for championship weekend! I've got to think it'll be Patriots and Packers. I think Rodgers is the best QB in the league and he's pretty hot right now. Brady is a solid GOAT contender. But then, Big Ben is a 2 time SB champion and the Steelers have Bell and Brown. And really, I can't write off the Falcons after they've looked great all year. Ryan is playing at MVP level. They have Julio Jones (assuming his toe isn't an issue) along with a number of other great wideouts and have the Freeman/Coleman RB tandem that have impressed week in and week out. Should be good!