The OFFICIAL NFL 2014 Thread

[Insel affe]

I'm calling it now.

Lions win.

Never, Never, Never underestimate the Lions capabilities of completely blowing a good thing..... It's the Detroit way.

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

Not to forget the new fellas like Luck and Seatle's QB who's name escapes me.

I listen to Tony Kornheiser's radio show on ESPN980 Washington.

But the nature of the NFL means you have to be truly woeful if you can't get your time in the spotlight every 10/15 years or so.

Seattle's qb is Wilson.....easy name to forget.

I agree. Once you know that an offence must move the ball 10 yards every 4 downs then I think you can start to catch on if you keep watching. I've had a lot of trouble with what a D-CB or LB can do to a receiver. He can touch the receiver for the first 5 yards but then hands off. That never seems to happen. Also how the qb can be touched or how a kicker can be touched. Rules get very specific in certain situations. Everybody argues about almost every call. I suppose that is the same as a sliding tackle in footie---everybody seems to argue every call.

Tony Kornheiser was also on a TV show on ESPN in America in much the same way arguing everything under the sun in sport with a black chap

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Seattle's qb is Wilson.....easy name to forget.

I agree. Once you know that an offence must move the ball 10 yards every 4 downs then I think you can start to catch on if you keep watching. I've had a lot of trouble with what a D-CB or LB can do to a receiver. He can touch the receiver for the first 5 yards but then hands off. That never seems to happen. Also how the qb can be touched or how a kicker can be touched. Rules get very specific in certain situations. Everybody argues about almost every call. I suppose that is the same as a sliding tackle in footie---everybody seems to argue every call.

Tony Kornheiser was also on a TV show on ESPN in America in much the same way arguing everything under the sun in sport with a black chap

Once you know how to spell offense....

Go Raiders

 

[Stat Brother]

Tony Kornheiser was also on a TV show on ESPN in America in much the same way arguing everything under the sun in sport with a black chap

That'll be PTI with Michael Wilbon, another podcast I listen too.

 

[daves143]

Wow well the lions v cowboys didn't disappoint! Like someone else said I can see cowboys upsetting the packers too!

Interesting reading on here this morn!

The newish guys to the nfl keep watching and itl come to you, took me a while to fully understand it and the different plays and terminology but the more you learn about it the more you appreciate the sport and enjoy it. Iv only few been watching for a few years but still find my self picking up bits I didn't know, plus reading insights from the knowledgable people on here helps a lot too, enjoy reading bladders post of analysis!

College football I dont get how it's done, all I know is it's it's between the university's and it's draws huge crowds and often high scoring. Is their one grand final like the Super Bowl or just these individual bowl finals?! I tried following it when I was over in November, but struggled! Lol

 

[daves143]

Hope viper doesn't mind I updated the list, remembered their was a couple on here that had been missed off

Jacksonville Jaguars - DFP, WillyFantastic

Arizona Cardinals - Gullyflyinghigh

Buffalo Bills - Herne Hill Seagull

Cincinatti Bengals - Lemming Stomper, Bladders

Washington Redskins - Hotchillidog

Minnesota Vikings - Ali_rrr, Eggman

NY Jets - SeagullTim

Cleveland Browns - Wattos Left Peg

Green Bay Packers - lola, Stat Brother, Juan Albion

Seattle Seahawks - Reinelt12, Hawk the Seagull

Baltimore Ravens -

NY Giants -

Tennessee Titans - The Tassie Seagull

Houston Texans -

San Diego Chargers -

Carolina Panthers - bedsex

Detroit Lions -

San Francisco 49ers -

Dallas Cownoys - Wakeytom

Oakland Raiders - M20gull

Miami Dolphins - Miami Seagull (just a hunch)

Indianapolis Colts -

Philadelphia Eagles - granny weatherwax

St Louis Rams -

Chicago Bears- The Viper

Denver Broncos -

Pittsburgh Steelers - spring hall convert

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Da Man Clay

New England Patriots - Halbpro

New Orleans Saints -

Atlanta Falcons - daves143

Kansas City Chiefs-

 

[Cloughie]

Wow well the lions v cowboys didn't disappoint! Like someone else said I can see cowboys upsetting the packers too!

Interesting reading on here this morn!

The newish guys to the nfl keep watching and itl come to you, took me a while to fully understand it and the different plays and terminology but the more you learn about it the more you appreciate the sport and enjoy it. Iv only few been watching for a few years but still find my self picking up bits I didn't know, plus reading insights from the knowledgable people on here helps a lot too, enjoy reading bladders post of analysis!

College football I dont get how it's done, all I know is it's it's between the university's and it's draws huge crowds and often high scoring. Is their one grand final like the Super Bowl or just these individual bowl finals?! I tried following it when I was over in November, but struggled! Lol

The college game is amateur (well, supposedly) and players have to be at least 20-21 before entering the NFL which means in all likelihood the colleges will get the players for a couple of years too. It's hugley supported due to the fact that there are only 32 Pro teams in the US so not everyone has a local NFL team. It's a weird set-up in the States as high-school football can also draw thousands of fans each week too.

This year the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) have gone away from the BCS (An algorithm based ranking system that used to pick the two best teams based on their schedule or 'body of work') and have assigned a twelve person panel to choose the four best teams in the country who will play-off to decide who plays in the national championship game. This, mainly due to the playoffs in college being in its infancy, has caused chaos with TCU dropping from 3rd to 6th after winning their last game of the season.

 

[spring hall convert]

I think that's probably right; could easily see the Ravens beating New England. But I wouldn't be that surprised if the Cowboys puled off a surprise against the Packers either.

That was where I though the other surprise might be.

Clearly the Ravens call depends on Joe Flacco the playoff version turning up rather than the rubbish regular season one.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Quite an interesting question in general though: what is everybody's background (if any) in the game?

I started watching in '84ish, got involved at the B52s with a few others my age (helping set up for the team on game day etc.) down at Withdean Stadium. Used to love Sundays there with the lads throwing the ball around on the running track, watching the game, being ball boys etc. - made some good friends, despite our allegiances to different NFL teams. Then my father set up the junior side of the club in the late 80's. Played at QB / DB for Brighton from age 11-15 & desperately had my fingers crossed for a scholarship as a couple of the lads managed to get Stateside to play - but nothing ever came my way. I sort of fell out of love with the game for a few years after that until getting together with the missus in '99 who is a big Vikings fan. Started watching again on SKY with her and now love the game more than ever. Have also got back in touch with a few old team mates who are involved in coaching the Sussex Thunder and Saxons Uni team. Have been invited to join the coaching side of things a couple of times but, while I would love to get back into the game, I cant really spare the time with 2 boys heavily involved in our version of football & then cricket pretty much every weekend through the year! Will definitely try to get along to a couple of Thunder games if I can though this season as my boys are big fans of the game too these days...best sport in the world if you ask me.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Quite an interesting question in general though: what is everybody's background (if any) in the game?

I watched it with my dad on Channel 4 in the 80s, and have relatively recently got back into it to the extent that it's close to being my favourite sport. Also, thanks in part to Bladders and a couple of others on here, I'm starting to watch some college games.

Like a lot of people started watching in 1984 on C4. I picked the Redskins as the only game i had seen before was a Rose Bowl on World of Sport featuring the Washington Huskies and I stupidly thought they were same team. I have been paying for that mistake ever since, as Stat Brother correctly points out we are a car crash of a team.

Started watching college football when I got NASN and ESPN and it was on all the time. Picked Oregon as I have family connections and I love Portland, it's a great state. Cannot wait for the Championship game, could be a classic.

 

[Bladders]

A Quick Guide to College Football

College football is split into the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and FCS (Football Conference Subdivision) mainly (as well as Division II and Division III),

The FBS the one that you want to pay attention to as that is the highest standard. In the FBS there are 124 colleges, who play in 10 conferences, plus 4 Independents.

The Big 10 - Northern Midwest mainly
The Big 12 - Southern Midwest and Texas
The Pac-12 - West Coast
The American Athletic Conference (Formally the Big East)
The South-Eastern Conference (SEC)
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

Those are the main 6, which all until this year had automatic BCS (Bowl Championship Series) bids- more on that later, and there are also four other, smaller conferences:

The Mountain West Conference
The Sun-Belt Conference
The Mid-American Conference
Conference-USA

The number of teams in each varies, but 10 to 12 is the norm, with some conferences splitting the teams into two divisions (usually East & West etc) . There are also teams such as Army, Navy, BYU and Notre Dame who are not a part of any conference. These are called independents.

The Bowl Championship Series was a system for determining a national champion, as well as for putting teams into other prestigious bowls. The BCS bowls are:

The Rose Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl
The Sugar Bowl
The Orange Bowl
The National Championship Game

This year, the Rose and Sugar were used as Semi Final games for the National Championship match up.

Which teams get into these Bowl games are determined by which teams win the 6 BCS conferences, who each get a bowl berth, as well as 6 other teams, with a maximum of two per conference. The other determinant is the BCS ranking of each team. The BCS rankings are determined by a poll of coaches as well as computer rankings and another poll.

The top two teams in the BCS rankings did go into the National Championship Game, and the other bowls select their participants from the rest of the teams who are eligible. Some bowls have ties to certain conferences, so the winner of a conference will go to a certain bowl game. For example the Rose Bowl was always played out between the Pac-12 and the Big 10 Champions. Teams from non-BCS conferences can qualify if they win their conference and finish in the top 12 in the BCS rankings.

The rest of the bowl games are traditional end of season games, which have ties to certain conferences or teams, and provide teams who finish with a record better than .500 a big day out and good money for the University.

Before the BCS came in in the 1990s, the national champion was the team who finished top of the polls- with the Associated Press poll tending to carry the most weight. The AP poll is no longer a part of the BCS rankings as they refuse to name the BCS national champion as their number one automatically.

There's a lot to learn, but you'll get there in the end. I've probably just confused everyone even more, so if you have any more questions then stick them down here and I will do my best to answer them for you.

 

[Cloughie]

College football is split into the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and FCS (Football Conference Subdivision) mainly (as well as Division II and Division III),

The FBS the one that you want to pay attention to as that is the highest standard. In the FBS there are 124 colleges, who play in 10 conferences, plus 4 Independents.

The Big 10 - Northern Midwest mainly
The Big 12 - Southern Midwest and Texas
The Pac-12 - West Coast
The American Athletic Conference (Formally the Big East)
The South-Eastern Conference (SEC)
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

Those are the main 6, which all until this year had automatic BCS (Bowl Championship Series) bids- more on that later, and there are also four other, smaller conferences:

The Mountain West Conference
The Sun-Belt Conference
The Mid-American Conference
Conference-USA

The number of teams in each varies, but 10 to 12 is the norm, with some conferences splitting the teams into two divisions (usually East & West etc) . There are also teams such as Army, Navy, BYU and Notre Dame who are not a part of any conference. These are called independents.

The Bowl Championship Series was a system for determining a national champion, as well as for putting teams into other prestigious bowls. The BCS bowls are:

The Rose Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl
The Sugar Bowl
The Orange Bowl
The National Championship Game

This year, the Rose and Sugar were used as Semi Final games for the National Championship match up.

Which teams get into these Bowl games are determined by which teams win the 6 BCS conferences, who each get a bowl berth, as well as 6 other teams, with a maximum of two per conference. The other determinant is the BCS ranking of each team. The BCS rankings are determined by a poll of coaches as well as computer rankings and another poll.

The top two teams in the BCS rankings did go into the National Championship Game, and the other bowls select their participants from the rest of the teams who are eligible. Some bowls have ties to certain conferences, so the winner of a conference will go to a certain bowl game. For example the Rose Bowl was always played out between the Pac-12 and the Big 10 Champions. Teams from non-BCS conferences can qualify if they win their conference and finish in the top 12 in the BCS rankings.

The rest of the bowl games are traditional end of season games, which have ties to certain conferences or teams, and provide teams who finish with a record better than .500 a big day out and good money for the University.

Before the BCS came in in the 1990s, the national champion was the team who finished top of the polls- with the Associated Press poll tending to carry the most weight. The AP poll is no longer a part of the BCS rankings as they refuse to name the BCS national champion as their number one automatically.

There's a lot to learn, but you'll get there in the end. I've probably just confused everyone even more, so if you have any more questions then stick them down here and I will do my best to answer them for you.

This is a fantastic breakdown. Thank you!! I spent a good 1/2 hour explaining to a friend why there were multiple national champions for some years yesterday. He's just finished a book I loaned him on Ara Parseghian and was more confused than informed by the end.

 

[daves143]

College football is split into the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and FCS (Football Conference Subdivision) mainly (as well as Division II and Division III),

The FBS the one that you want to pay attention to as that is the highest standard. In the FBS there are 124 colleges, who play in 10 conferences, plus 4 Independents.

The Big 10 - Northern Midwest mainly
The Big 12 - Southern Midwest and Texas
The Pac-12 - West Coast
The American Athletic Conference (Formally the Big East)
The South-Eastern Conference (SEC)
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

Those are the main 6, which all until this year had automatic BCS (Bowl Championship Series) bids- more on that later, and there are also four other, smaller conferences:

The Mountain West Conference
The Sun-Belt Conference
The Mid-American Conference
Conference-USA

The number of teams in each varies, but 10 to 12 is the norm, with some conferences splitting the teams into two divisions (usually East & West etc) . There are also teams such as Army, Navy, BYU and Notre Dame who are not a part of any conference. These are called independents.

The Bowl Championship Series was a system for determining a national champion, as well as for putting teams into other prestigious bowls. The BCS bowls are:

The Rose Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl
The Sugar Bowl
The Orange Bowl
The National Championship Game

This year, the Rose and Sugar were used as Semi Final games for the National Championship match up.

Which teams get into these Bowl games are determined by which teams win the 6 BCS conferences, who each get a bowl berth, as well as 6 other teams, with a maximum of two per conference. The other determinant is the BCS ranking of each team. The BCS rankings are determined by a poll of coaches as well as computer rankings and another poll.

The top two teams in the BCS rankings did go into the National Championship Game, and the other bowls select their participants from the rest of the teams who are eligible. Some bowls have ties to certain conferences, so the winner of a conference will go to a certain bowl game. For example the Rose Bowl was always played out between the Pac-12 and the Big 10 Champions. Teams from non-BCS conferences can qualify if they win their conference and finish in the top 12 in the BCS rankings.

The rest of the bowl games are traditional end of season games, which have ties to certain conferences or teams, and provide teams who finish with a record better than .500 a big day out and good money for the University.

Before the BCS came in in the 1990s, the national champion was the team who finished top of the polls- with the Associated Press poll tending to carry the most weight. The AP poll is no longer a part of the BCS rankings as they refuse to name the BCS national champion as their number one automatically.

There's a lot to learn, but you'll get there in the end. I've probably just confused everyone even more, so if you have any more questions then stick them down here and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Thanks, great breakdown! Shame it's all finished now, il be ready next season!

 

[Hampster Gull]

Wow well the lions v cowboys didn't disappoint! Like someone else said I can see cowboys upsetting the packers too!

Interesting reading on here this morn!

The newish guys to the nfl keep watching and itl come to you, took me a while to fully understand it and the different plays and terminology but the more you learn about it the more you appreciate the sport and enjoy it. Iv only few been watching for a few years but still find my self picking up bits I didn't know, plus reading insights from the knowledgable people on here helps a lot too, enjoy reading bladders post of analysis!

College football I dont get how it's done, all I know is it's it's between the university's and it's draws huge crowds and often high scoring. Is their one grand final like the Super Bowl or just these individual bowl finals?! I tried following it when I was over in November, but struggled! Lol

Went to sleep when it was 14-0 and looking like only one winner. Good turnaround

 

[Hampster Gull]

You say you don't have team yet hampster?! Any teams catching your eye who your looking to pin your allegiances too?

Need to watch and i guess i will latch onto one team. I was thinking Jets or Panthers but there is no reason other than i think NY is a great city and i would like to go to Carolina one day.

 

[daves143]

Need to watch and i guess i will latch onto one team. I was thinking Jets or Panthers but there is no reason other than i think NY is a great city and i would like to go to Carolina one day.

The jets are also coming to wembley next season

 

[Dave the OAP]

My background is I watched it since 1983 on C4, then lost it a bit when it went to Sky in the 90's (as I didn't have Sky then) picked it back up when I got Sky back around 2001 ish ,

Followed the college game for about 5 or 6 years now since NASN then ESPN started showing over here.

I don't play, just sit on my arse with a beer and watch too much of it.

This.

Follow the Eagles as I do with all philli teams. One of the things with american sport, you tend to follow everything from your city. Our HQ is in philli and I have some good friends there, although most of them have left the business

 

[daves143]

This.

Follow the Eagles as I do with all philli teams. One of the things with american sport, you tend to follow everything from your city. Our HQ is in philli and I have some good friends there, although most of them have left the business

Ah cool !! My gf lives in Philly I go their 3 times a year and she does the same over here, trying to get work and live out their.... Although she's wants to do the same over here! ANYWAY What you say is very true esp in Philly everyone their massively follows their city in any sport,fans of the eagles also support phillies/flyers/76'ers/union. Philly is one of the greatest sporting city's dare I say it..... In the world. They have huge baseball.nfl,ice hockey/basketball stadia all in one complex,as well as a great huge sports bar in the middle of it all, it's a sporting heaven! a lot go straight from watching eagles games to phillies right after the eagles game has finished or watching watching phillies then flyers. People moan about traffic getting out the Amex havnt seen anything when their is a one or more major events on in Philly at the same time! You follow the philles granny?

 

[Dave the OAP]

Yes dave. Have Phillies t shirts, cap, mug and as most Phillies fan, a sinking feeling every year. I also follow Union. They are not a bad side. Never really got into ice hockey or basketball!

 

[Bladders]

Thanks, great breakdown! Shame it's all finished now, il be ready next season!

Not quite, still have the National Championship game on Monday the 12th (though it will be early Tuesday morning here so probably will want to Sky plus it)

Oregon Ducks (2) vs Ohio State Buckeyes (4) at the AT & T Stadium, Arlington, Texas. (Cowboys Stadium)


As there seems to be a bit of interest in the College game I will try and remember to do a pre season preview bit in August as well as post the polls each week.