2019 NFL off-season thread

It's the PERCEPTION that this is the case, and has been for years, that is the NFL's problem.

 

It’s only the problem of people who have this misperception. It ain’t hurting the NFL’s bottom line.

 

Is it really public perception that the NFL favors the Patriots and Brady? They've taken draft picks away from the former, and suspended the latter. They've been on the "good" side of some officiating calls, but they've also been in more high profile games than other teams, and also won more, so I kind of assume there is just more to pick apart there.

 

Jags will sign Nick Foles. Possibly a move done a year too late but good for Nick to get paid and a chance to lead a team.

Sources: Jags expected to sign Foles next week

 

A lot of the most famous Pats' games in their dynasty have been very close and turned on one or two plays. This helps breed conspiracy theories. Note: Some of those games were famous losses, like the 2006 AFC title game against the Colts and their three Super Bowl losses, all of which were real close, and in the case of the three Super losses, turned on very improbable big plays.
Note the second: The idea that the NFL and indeed all America has it in for the Pats and stacks the deck against them at every turn is an ingrained belief here in New England, part of what makes so many Pats fans so tiresome. They are whining winners.

 

All of America does have it in for them because a) they win a lot, and b) they cheat as much as the next team (but probably more), definitely get caught more, and they act smarmy. That freaking video of Brady and Gronk after the AFC title game was the encapsulation of that whole franchise and its fanbase.

 

I certainly think the officials are swayed at times when they are assigned with the task of protecting Brady and officiating a Belichick game. But sometimes...it's Pete Carroll overthinking a play at the goal line.

 

Don't forget what happened with SpyGate. Goodell's decision to destroy the evidence made it very difficult to trust the NFL's process. I think the whole Deflategate thing was an overcompensation.

 

I do remember when Stabler ran it in on the Pats for a playoff win in the '70s - the Raiders did receive a gift of a roughing the passer penalty. The Raiders went on to win SB XI

 

Chiefs could move Ford, Houston, sources say

This is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You want to move players because of production declines? Salary cap issues? Fine. But because your new DC favors a certain defensive alignment? My goodness. Most Ds operate out of a hybrid in any event.

 

Last year was a close call. They don't want to risk getting that close to a Super Bowl again.

 

This is indeed stupid. Teams have won with the 3-4 and the 4-3. And the Chiefs are going to win with offense as long as Mahomes is in Kansas City. You don't want to spend the next year doing a transition to a new system when the team is coming off a loss in the AFC title game.