NFL Off Topic

[jWILL253]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Yeah, the NFL has been consistant about this. Everytime a player has wanted to do it for a cause or event in recent memory they have said no.

Peyton Manning wanted to wear all black cleats to honor Johnny Unitas' passing; Nope.

Brandon Marshall wanted to wear green cleats to promote Mental Health Awareness; Nope

Williams wanting Pink to honor his mother; Nope.

I'm fine with the NFL's reasoning for not allowing this in any of these cases (even though I personally don't agree), but their reasoning is to prevent what almost happened with Marshawn Lynch. He almost wore those skittles cleats and the NFL knows that if they allow players to start to express themselves (even for good causes) it will only be a matter of time before companies that don't want to pay the NFL millions to be "The Official X of the NFL" can pay a player a few thousand and boom You've got DeSean Jackson wearing cleats with the Apple Logo on one side and "iPad" on the other, as he raises awareness for a lack of computers in schools in the poorest neighborhoods.

I think that the easiest solution would be for Williams to wear his cleats and the NFL agree to not continue to increase his fine from $10,500 for this season, or threaten to suspended him for continues uniform violation and all the money actually goes to breast cancer research.

I mean... we're already at that point, tbh. Just on a bigger scale. We got corporate sponsor logos on practice jerseys, and I remember some time ago that the league is/was considering adding them to game jerseys as well. And that money isn't even for causes and charities, it's advertisement money!

Idk. Just seems like another case of the NFL smelling their own farts while trying to keep players in line. The NBA seems to have no problems letting players express themselves with their own causes, brand deals and sponsorships while increasing their own bottom line. The NFL just seems to simply want to have their cake and eat it, too.

[steelerfan]

Re: NFL Off Topic

In regards to Williams, I understand both sides. Williams is doing the right thing because the league can't mandate the color of your hair (and, yes, it's been pink since the start of camp).

On the flip side if you have a policy you have to be consistent and, in this regard, the NFL is. If they allow Williams latitude then they have to honor the flood of requests that would follow every time one of these guys had someone die or get sick or whatever.

[ggsimmonds]

Re: NFL Off Topic

How come the NBA or other American leagues don't have this problem?

NBA got various logos floating on its courts, banners & player apparel and it doesn't seem to affect the league's relationship with their official partners. Yet, one player wants to wear a different colored set of cleats from AN APPROVED APPAREL PROVIDER, and the NFL wants to cry foul.

The NBA does have this problem. Are you forgetting the headband ordeal?
The only freedom NBA players get is their shoes.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NFL Off Topic

You talking about when Rondo wore his headband backwards with the logo upside down?

[Jr.]

Re: NFL Off Topic

I understand the resistance, but Williams isn't asking for something new. He's asking to continue something the NFL broadcasts themeselves. They don't do a Green September for Mental Health Awareness... they promote the **** out of this Pink October. DeAngelo just wants to do it for the rest of the season. There's an easy stipulation that can be added here.

[N51_rob]

Re: NFL Off Topic

I mean... we're already at that point, tbh. Just on a bigger scale. We got corporate sponsor logos on practice jerseys, and I remember some time ago that the league is/was considering adding them to game jerseys as well. And that money isn't even for causes and charities, it's advertisement money!

Idk. Just seems like another case of the NFL smelling their own farts while trying to keep players in line. The NBA seems to have no problems letting players express themselves with their own causes, brand deals and sponsorships while increasing their own bottom line. The NFL just seems to simply want to have their cake and eat it, too.

Is there an official tablet of the NBA or headphones? Serious question don't follow the league much at all. Because the NFL makes millions off these type deals and 1/2 that money goes to the players which is the reason the shield is so stringent.

[Hooe]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Cowboys officially promote La'el Collins to starting left guard, benching incumbent starting Ron Leary who had a particularly rough outing against Jabaal Sheard and the Patriots and has been battling back issues.

They're also mulling over promoting Christine Michael to starting running back over Joseph Randle. Randle is probably better in a change-of-pace role anyway, but the jury's still plenty out on whether Michael can be a lead back in the same vein that Demarco Murray was a year ago.

[mestevo]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Chiefs opted to stick with what they have, promoted RB Spencer Ware from the practice squad for a 3rd participant in the RB by committee they'll have going w/ Charcandrick West and Knile Davis @ Minnesota on Sunday. Added RB Darrin Reaves to the practice squad.

Both of the new guys mentioned spent the offseason w/ the Chiefs.

Isaiah Pead, Bryce Brown, Ben Tate and Pierre Thomas all worked out for the Chiefs this week.

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/10/13/9524183/chiefs-promote-rb-spencer-ware-add-another-rb-to-practice-squad

[N51_rob]

Re: NFL Off Topic

So ESPNs made up Quarterback Rating system (QBR) has officially jumped the shark.

Brandon Weeden had a higher QBR than Tom Brady in their game 28 to 24.....

Get out of here with that.

[jWILL253]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Is there an official tablet of the NBA or headphones? Serious question don't follow the league much at all. Because the NFL makes millions off these type deals and 1/2 that money goes to the players which is the reason the shield is so stringent.

Not sure about an official tablet specifically, but they the NBA has general sponsorship deals like the NFL has: Kia, Nike, Adidas, 2K Sports, etc. And I don't see the league throwing a hissy fit every time a player wears or promotes something that goes against their sponsorship.

In fact, regarding apparel specifically, I think any qualms about it went out the window with Michael Jordan. He'd wear new kicks for no certain reason or occasion, just to do it. Fast forward to now, and we have marquee players changing shoe colors for every holiday.

[wwharton]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Thoughts on this?

I'd say "expected".

The goal is to eliminate gray areas so as bad as it sounds telling Williams no, it'd sound much worse if they told him yes but someone wanting to wear certain cleats for prostate cancer no... or someone wanting to honor their dead mother no, etc.

I'd say Williams handled it perfectly too, and doing the pink hair is a cool alternative.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Katie Nolan is right...the NFL is hypocritical. Allows players to wear pink during October for breast cancer awareness, but won't allow one player to do it all year.

Who the hell is Katie Nolan?

[redsox4evur]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Who the hell is Katie Nolan?

Katie Nolan going in on Hardy and the NFL:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rGrL39Q99sE?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Her...

[p_rushing]

Re: NFL Off Topic

In fact, regarding apparel specifically, I think any qualms about it went out the window with Michael Jordan. He'd wear new kicks for no certain reason or occasion, just to do it. Fast forward to now, and we have marquee players changing shoe colors for every holiday.

The NFL doesn't want that because the money goes directly to the players. NFL to NBA isn't that direct of a comparison because they have rules to protect their money.

Look at the UFC. Fighters were able to get their own sponsors on their shorts, shirts, etc and as long as the sponsor paid the UFC's sponsor fee per event, they were able to be worn in the cage. So that sponsor money was being paid directly to the fighters and not the UFC. This fits more with the NBA model were players can wear their own shoes and receive money for that. As long as someone is willing to pay them, they will wear whatever.

Now the UFC has a deal with Reebok. Now the fighters are paid by the UFC for wearing Reebok and maybe an additional sponsor as they has a small spot for non-Reebok. This is what the NFL has done. NFL and UFC both claim it is to standardize and keep their from being a crazy number of colors, etc. The real reason is to keep the players only wearing approved and sponsored products that they can then put on sale.

If they let players personalize stuff, they lose out on money gained as the players could be paid directly.

[Hooe]

Re: NFL Off Topic

So ESPNs made up Quarterback Rating system (QBR) has officially jumped the shark.

Brandon Weeden had a higher QBR than Tom Brady in their game 28 to 24.....

Get out of here with that.

Bear with me for a minute here: this makes sense once one understands how the system works.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/qbr/_/type/player-week/week/5

Background: among other things, Total QBR considers three factors that traditional passer rating does not: Expected Points Added, Win Probability Added, and Air Yards.

Tom Brady got a grade of 3.8 for his contributions to his team's passing offense, 10th best in the league in Week 5. This grade considers that much of Tom Brady's passing yardage was yards after catch (I think his receivers had close to 200 yards of YAC). This grade also considers that much of the 3rd and 4th quarter was a blowout, so Brady's contributions weren't necessarily greatly contributing to his team's Win Probability because the Pats' WP was consistently 90% or greater in the second half.

Tom Brady also earned a -3.8 grade for taking five sacks. Every one of these fives sacks came in the first half - while the game was still a meaningful contest - and a few of these sacks happened on 3rd down - which kills drives and results in the greatest decrease in Expected Points (compared to a loss of yards on 1st or 2nd down).

ESPN appears to weigh the sacks taken portion of their calculation equally to the passing contribution, as Brady's -3.8 sacks grade completely cancels out his 3.8 passing grade, and he ends up with a negative total grade, which results in a low Total QBR.

In comparison: Brandon Weeden didn't really ever try to go downfield and didn't throw a TD, and as such the passing component of Weeden's Total QBR was -0.1, second-worst in the league in Week 5. The main difference is that Weeden ran for a few first downs (he finished with a positive running grade, Brady had a running grade of -0.1) and he didn't take as many drive-killing sacks when the game was competitive. Weeden's grade is still bad, but it's not quite as bad because he was largely irrelevant, the plays he participated didn't really impact the game in a meaningful way, speaking to primary and second-level statistics.

I think it's fair to say that Total QBR probably still needs some more tweaking - I'm not going to begin to argue that Brandon Weeden was better than Tom Brady last week, that's obviously absurd, Weeden didn't even throw a touchdown and the Cowboys passing offense was dreadful. But the Total QBR metric isn't absurd once one understands what it is attempting to quantify and how it arrives at the numbers it does. It is indeed a much more thorough measure of QB performance than passer rating, albeit not without its own flaws (traditional passer rating puts too much of an emphasis on high completion percentage and low INT percentage, and doesn't account for how much of the QB's passing yardage is YAC, for example).