AZ54

Because to prove a theory you must have a baseline data set or at least two tests with just the one variable different. You don't have that for any particular game, or any one single player to where you can say the steroids made the difference. Can you see him defend the same offensive play in the 1st half with and 2nd half without the steroids? No, so you have no way of knowing exactly in which way his use of steroids impacted any particular play much less the final outcome of the game. The steroids are just an example where people can more easily jump to the conclusion that using them must have helped that player. Yet that is the argument the Brady supporters throw out.... "You can't prove that it impacted the game."

Not one person in that MTV video threw a pass but to be fair I only watched about 6 or 7 people before realizing they are not doing anything close to a fair test. In fact they are so smart at MTV they labeled it a weight difference. I see no evidence of professional football quarterbacks, not even college football QBs who are more expert in handling a football, maybe they asked them later in the video. In any case it does not matter because the point of this is did Brady cheat to gain an advantage for himself. It mattered nothing with tackling ability of the Colts, nothing with play calling, as so many others are apt to point out. It doesn't even matter if other QBs don't find it advantageous. We can say the same things about steroid use. Prove who gained an advantage from that on game day. GMs who send text messages down to the field during games. Any advantage there? Teams who pumped in fan noise through their loud speaker system. Can you prove that was advantageous?

Everything we've heard about McPhee is good. He's not an explosive edge rusher but he's probably more like Michael Bennet of the Seahawks, perhaps a bit more athletic. He might be what we thought, or hoped, Houston would be.

As the owner's meetings get underway in San Francisco it seems clear we're going to get a change to the extra point rules. I'm curious which option folks prefer. I like the Competition Committee plan 14b the best. If it's a competitive play IMO the defense should be equally allowed to score as the offense does. I think the Eagles plan 14b, 2 point conversion to the 1yd line, is making the 2 point conversion too easy and sort of defeats the purpose of making this a more competitive aspect of the game. I do agree that a safety, even on an extra point (try), should be 2 points as it always is. However, getting a safety on any try is extremely unlikely so it's sort of a mute point.

Back to the OP: I'm trying to figure out how all this is fun?

I really like hiring Joe Douglas from Baltimore. He's been in that organization for many years and moved up. Whatever it is that Ozzy is doing, he's the man to learn form IMO.

I'm ok with calling it something else. Any preference to Ravens model? Seahawks model? Giants model? Those teams have all won with a defense-first model followed by a strong running game and a good not great QB. I don't think anyone is fixated on a name per se it's just that is the most recent example of a team using the run first model and focusing on that via the draft to be consistently successful on offense. Had Dallas a defense somewhat close to any of the three teams listed, i.e. ranked #10, they likely would have won the Superbowl. Seattle was one play away from doing so.

Cade McClown. Not sure I spelled that correctly but it feels right.

I'm hoping Brady and the Pats go full on civilian lawsuit so we can begin the legal process of discovery.

Asking Bears' fans if they want Cutler suspended so he can't play for a season? Even without a cheating scandal you'll still get a 50/50 response on that one.

Yes, they are taking the fall in a big way.

Did they lose their jobs? I haven't seen that anywhere. Fire them and it gets interesting because then they could sue and of course provide evidence they were just doing their job as they were instructed. I think New England knows they have to protect themselves from that risk.

You are correct, Fangio cited SMC as being one of the potential core players on defense at ILB among the returning players. Doesn't mean he's the starter right now, especially because the question he answered was solely about returning players, but that he seems him having the skills to be successful at ILB.

Just because Jason can't tell the difference between an under-inflated and properly inflated football doesn't mean others can't. Back when I played basketball every day it was easy to know if a ball was slightly under-inflated a couple psi. You can do that just by squeezing it. Whether an official notices or not isn't at issue because you know how much pressure a football has when you squeeze it to throw a pass. Most officials only hold a football hard enough to place it on the ground or toss it a little ways. Big difference in how much pressure you hold the ball with versus the grip used to throw a 15 yard out pattern. Fact is an NFL linebacker knew the football was under-inflated when he started this entire investigation. We've seen quarterback after quarterback come forward and state they always made sure the game balls met their specs before the game started. Why are so many of them so picky on air pressure and feel of the ball? Kickers are too and some used to microwave footballs before the game. The NFL took that advantage away from them.

Unless there is a miracle turnaround in our offense and defense both of these guys will likely be here for at least two seasons. At this point in his career it doesn't appear Fangio is considered HC material or he'd have been in the mix the last couple years. That his Dline coach got the nod over him was surprising.

...what I said about it being good to sign all of your rookies before rookie mini-camp. Jaguars are obligated now to "negotiate in good faith". While I don't know which of their rookies are signed, don't think the rest of them aren't thinking about this. According to Schefter, Fowler signed an injury protection waiver before the injury that "obligates Jaguars to negotiate in good faith." Fox Sports' Mike Garafolo reports that the DE is in line for a four-year, $23.5 million deal that's fully guaranteed.

Not worried about it. Coaches were sending a good message plus these guys just came off a whirlwind two weeks. Read all about the non-stop interviews and other PR stuff some of these kids went through before and after the draft and it's crazy. I don't care what the rest of you might think but had I ever been good enough to get drafted I'd have given myself one good week to relax, hangout, and even party with my friends afterward. Then it's time to get to work.

That statement about not playing for anybody after the 3rd Rd, earlier it was after the 1st Rd, is just one more indication of some bad character IMO. It was all very odd behavior.

I hope it's not Acho, he's not that good of a player and that doesn't bode well. For the defense I found this which may have already been posted here: Base defense: http://www.ninersnation.com/2013/5/2/42942...ickel-4-3-under http://dabearsbeat.com/2015/01/21/what-cou...der-vic-fangio/ Nickel defense. Here I see Amos fitting in very well if he learns the role. http://bearingthenews.com/?p=3463

My thoughts remain the same. Brady cheated and the Commish will let him and his buddy Kraft get away with it. For all those who state there is no "proof" realize that the majority of criminal trials are won based on circumstantial evidence. Since this was not a trial the only conclusion this report can state is that the circumstantial evidence shows he at a least generally knew what was going on. By the way, domestic violence is a huge issue in the NFL and here on the board yet most cases are based on circumstantial evidence. Ray Rice with the video being one exception. In this case there was substantial circumstantial evidence in the amount of tampered footballs that were on the New England sideline and none that were on the Colts sideline after both groups were validated by the officiating crew. It's a statistical improbability for that to happen by a random event. ------------------------------------------------------------ https://sites.google.com/a/colemantech-high...antial-evidence Circumstantial evidence is used mostly used in criminal cases. It is false that circumstantial evidence is way less useful then direct evidence it is quite the contrary in fact more cases are won with circumstantial evidence than with direct evidence. The Scott Peterson trial is a perfect example of using purely circumstantial evidence to win a case.Scott was accused for the murder of his wife and their unborn baby and then dumping them in the sea.The prosecution used his wife’s DNA on his boat and homemade cement anchors as their key circumstantial evidence. Other circumstantial evidence they found was what he was carrying with him when he was arrested, with things that was suspicious like four different cellphones 15,000 dollars and dyed hair. They were circumstantial because both with both pieces of evidence the jury had to infer what happened which is the basic definition for circumstantial evidence.Scott Peterson was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection. ------------------------------------------------------------ As Ryan Clark said on ESPN: "Every quarterback knows how his balls feel." The commissioner delayed this entire investigation for months and released it only after the draft and at the beginning of the dog days of summer. He will let Brady off with, at best, a small fine or maybe do something stupid like suspending him for a preseason game.

It does matter because it means your rookies can come into rookie minicamp on a full contract as opposed to the "insurance policy" many teams have their rookies practice under. I've seen it here in AZ in recent years since the rookie slotting rules were setup and players were saying they'd be there but they weren't sure if they'd hit the weight room or how much they'd do on the field. I know there isn't much room to maneuver among the rookie salary slots but there is a little bit. By not penny-pinching and having our players signed and fully onboard before rookie mini-camp is a good thing for the morale of the new players IMO. Right now there are only two 1st Rd picks signed and I applaud Stein and our GM for getting this done early.

When did we move Washington inside to DE? He was one of our fastest LBs seems odd to not take advantage of that at OLB.

Well of course I agree with you here but as we both know, Scherff was far from Ogden's ability, and that was my point. I don't know if the majority defended the SMC pick. I think it's more the majority said a) WTF then Who is this guy? then after another beer c) We need to give him a chance. That chance didn't pay off. I know I felt Chandler Jones fit our needs better, or even Nick Perry who ended up with the Packers and hasn't done much at all as an OLB. I even thought a guy like DeCastro would have been a better choice. After we've given up 50pts in several games here we are.

He's more competition for the RT spot and that can't be a bad thing but let's hope Cornick doesn't win the job so we'll know we have someone better at that spot. Cornick seems to be a better run blocker than pass blocker and it's obvious once again that is priority over pass protection which is the complete opposite from what Trestman wanted. If it's run blocking first then I hope Fabuluje wins the job. If Cornick is as bad as the Broncos fans stated then it's odd that Gase and Fox bring him in here. Fox is on his last job in the NFL so he might not be so worried about how things end up but Gase is looking to become a HC. Who made this call? I saw comments on the Denver message board that Cornick would be a better OG than RT. Perhaps Gase and Fox see the same and brought him here to compete with Ola instead of Mills? This is an understatement since Fox got fired…. but there must have been a huge rift between Fox/Gase and Elway/Manning on how to setup and run the offense. For an offense that was ranked so highly it amazing how much conflict was going on. It's going to be very interesting to see how this shakes out as we get into the season. Peyton will be Peyton but will they be running the ball as effectively as they did last year? Cutler will be Cutler but will we be running the ball? If so, behind who?