Sam Farmer of the L.A. Times does a fantastic job with his primer on what, exactly, all the hub-bub is about on the labor-war-front.

Money quote:

What’s the dispute about?

No surprise here: money. Owners believe players have gotten too much of it under the current collective bargaining agreement, struck in 2006, and that they haven’t shouldered enough of the financial risk of “growing the pie” with new stadiums, NFL.com, NFL Network, international games and the like.\

Read the whole thing. Just a must-read for any real football fan.

I realize that, for a blog that’s supposed to cover the other 31 teams, I’ve been silent on the subject of the labor negotiations, the CBA, the implications of an un-capped 2010, and the current draft projections for Jacksonville. Free Agency starts this Friday, and I haven’t said a word. And you know what? You’re welcome.

Frankly, you don’t want to hear from me about these things. First, Aaron has a better handle on this than I ever will. Second, I’d only be spitting back what I hear from @caplannfl, @doug_farrar, @SalaryCap101, @GAtallah (even @Adam_Schefter), and that’s boring.  Third, I recognize that this is where folks get down to brass tacks, and where the league actually lives or dies, but I hate this time in football.
continue reading "Free Agency (aka “CHICAGO OR BUST”)"

Apologies for the lag time.  Work + life + inability to visit an NFL page without reading about how great Warner was against Green Bay = Holly took some time off from football.

After watching the weekend’s games, however, I’m left with a few lingering thoughts:

1.  The Cowboys-Vikings game reminded me at points of each of the Packers-Vikings games.  In each game against Minnesota, the Packers were down significantly at the start of the 4th quarter (28-14, 31-20 – 24-3 in 3d!), but managed to tighten the score in the face of serious pressure from Minnesota’s front four.  On Sunday, Dallas was still theoretically “in the game” going into the 4th quarter.  Yes, they were down 17-3, yes, Flozell Adams had left the game before halftime, and yes, Romo was getting his butt kicked.  But 14 points wasn’t so much that Dallas’s offense couldn’t make something happen.  The Vikings were letting them stick around.
continue reading "Seven Thoughts on the Divisional Round"

Before anything else, I just want to say thank you.  Thank you for reading, for giving me feedback, and for letting me geek out on football stats without pointing and laughing (overtly, anyway).  It’s been a treat.
continue reading "Down To “The Other Eight”"

Everyone does it…staring out of your car window as you pass a particularly nasty accident on the highway.  You hope that the drivers are OK, of course, but you also want to get an eyeful so that, when you finally get to where you’re going, you can say, “You’ll never guess what I saw today.”  Millions of people tuned in to the October 15 “Balloon Boy” incident, riveted by both the potential tragedy and the resulting spectacle of the media ploy.  Despite our claims that we “try not to get sucked into the drama that surrounds a bad situation,” be it a twenty-car wreck or Britney Spears’ latest public meltdown, we all have those moments where we see a situation and think, “Thank God (or fate or common sense) that’s not me.”
continue reading "Let The Rubbernecking Begin!"

When I was in Cleveland last week, my sister and I agreed that one of the best things about football is the physicality of the game.  There’s just nothing quite like the sound of pads colliding, that pop that rings out as a player tries to impose his will on an opponent.  No one can dispute that Atari Bigby’s punishing hits on Seattle’s receivers were highlights in the 2007 divisional playoff game.  They were thrilling, and we watched them again and again.  But reality sinks in when, in extolling the rush that comes with a particularly hard hit, we have to add a caveat: “so long as it’s clean and no one gets hurt.”
continue reading "Sobering Realities Regarding Head Injuries"

Welcome to Opposition Research, where I’ll be taking a look at the next Packers opponent, the Detroit Lions.  In contrast to Week 4’s monumental and record-breaking showdown with the Vikings, this week’s game is a “ho hum, it’s the Lions” kind of game.  The line is 13.5 and the city of Detroit cares more about the upcoming bidding for the Silverdome than this week’s game.  Nevertheless, I’ll see what I can do to hype up the matchup between the injury-riddled Lions and the bye-rested Packers.
continue reading "Opposition Research: Detroit Lions (W6)"

It’s been a weird couple days in the NFL.  Here are a few stories that are making the rounds, each of them a head-scratcher:

• Rookie WR Michael Crabtree, after spending significant time away from San Francisco, finally signed a six-year contract with the 49ers.  If he has two outstanding years in his first four, the contract evolves into a five-year deal.  The weird part of all this?  M.C. Hammer was apparently present during negotiations.  Yes, really, that M.C. Hammer.
  continue reading "M.C. Hammer to the Rescue!"

Welcome to Opposition Research, where I’ll be taking a look at the next Packers opponent, the Minnesota Vikings.  I could try to be dispassionate and approach this post like I did the one before it, but you know that’s not going to work here.  Everyone in the national media is talking about this game – what it means to the Packers, what it means to Brett Favre, what it means to those fans that still can’t choose between the Packers and Brett Favre.  You get the picture.  So for this week, I’m going to do what I can to shed light on a few things you might not have heard about in the hype that’s already started.
continue reading "Opposition Research: Minnesota Vikings (W4)"

An interesting factoid this afternoon from Tom Pelissero on Twitter – the NFC North went 4-0 on the week.  With the Lions finally having won a game (their first since December 2007), I wondered just how far back you’d have to go to find the last time the North had such a good outing.  Not counting bye weeks, the last time the NFC North went undefeated was Week 10 in 2005, when the Packers won their second of only four victories on the year.  On that given Sunday, the Packers beat up on the Falcons, the Vikings beat the Giants, the Bears beat the 49ers, and the Lions held off the Cardinals. 
continue reading "Sunday Night Fallout (W3)"