[Archived] Nfl 08

[T4E]

With Stallworth, Edwards and Winslow the Browns have one of the best receiving corps out there, Jamal Lewis can still do it and Anderson is a solid QB when he's on it. They've started a lot slower than I expected them too this year.

Very interested to see how Eli reacts to all those turnovers.

[ABBEY]

what a good game it was, i expected the giants to come back but eli seemed to panic every time anyone got near him.It got me thinking of the browns fan that was a regular on here a few years ago but seems to have dissappeared...B-MAN

[T4E]

MNF = @#/?

[ABBEY]

started watchimg broncos in 1982 when we first got nfl on tv here and I think that last night was the most pathetic ,useless and powder puff over all showing I seen.Evryone was **** from management to waterboy.It was an embarsment and i was ashamed of them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

HEADS MUST ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Manchester Blue]

Not seen any highlights yet but I was surprised at the scoreline if not necessarily the result. Still think you'll qualify for the playoffs, had a look at the fixture list and think you've got too many i'd expect you to win. Although if they were as bad as you say you never know. Be interesting if the last game of the season was the decider.

[ABBEY]

cant see us making the play offs even with a soft schedule..we are soft all over.

[Shevchenko]

Had a bye week so more relaxed weekend of football this weekend.

And the funniest result of the week, the Cowgirls getting beat by the Rams.

The way things are developing in Dallas...well...it amuses me.

[Redrose49er]

Both Bay Area teams now lost their coaches, not rollin' with Nolan anymore. Sad in a way as he was decent enough guy but the record speaks for itself. 3-13 here we come!

[USRoverME]

Teh Buffalo bandwagon picked up a bit of steam this weekend knocking off the Chargers.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Anyone watching the game in London?

Despite the score being 30 - 37 at the moment, I can't help but be bored of the constant stoppages which can last longer than an actual play. Why don't they keep it flowing, remove the helmets and call it err Rugby.

[Shevchenko]

Anyone watching the game in London?

Despite the score being 30 - 37 at the moment, I can't help but be bored of the constant stoppages which can last longer than an actual play. Why don't they keep it flowing, remove the helmets and call it err Rugby.

Because this is a different game. The game does have flow, a lot of people just can't see this though.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Can you explain the flow then cos I couldn't see the flow when they spent 4 minutes deciding what to do with 1 second left to play.

I'm not trying to disrespect the sport but that fact the game is over here means it's trying to attract a new audience as well as please the actual fans but I just can't get into a sport which is so stop start. Maybe someone who is a fan of the sport can explain why so many people love it?

[Shevchenko]

End if halfs and end of games will be way more stop/start and slow as both teams will do their best to strategise against the opponent based on who is leading, by how much and how long there is left to play. You have to understand the strategy involved in this game and you have to appreciate that every second and every yard counts. Every inch of the field counts. And every inch and every second is crucial.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I love this game because of the amazing athleticism on display. The speed, strength, toughness and agility of the players. I love the strategy and tactics involved. Mix the two together and you have a superb spectacle and I love it more and more. There is also the competitive nature of the sport. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. Already this season we've seen a lot of crazy games, surprising results and shocker endings with seconds left on the clock. Stuff like that.

Compare it to soccer and I feel the NFL offers more. I care less and less about our version of football. The game has changed a lot for the worse in the last 10-12 years. I keep hearing the old argument about the flow of the game. Well, with the amount of cheating and diving and other stuff going on in our game, what exactly is the effective playing time of a game these days? Hardly 90 minutes. Most results are also foregone conclusions. We know the top 4 in the premiership even before it starts. There is also the fact that American football is played by men. The same can not be said for the cheating primadonnas of the game we know as football.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

You're right. I saw American Football a few times when we stayed in Boston and the one thing that stood out most was the passion the players had for the game. Unfortunately as you've said, our version of football has been transforming into a game which we can't connect with as much as we used to be able to years ago. I'm going to keep giving American Football a chance. I guess it will take time to really understand what the hell is going on. Maybe I should get Madden on the PS3 and learn the rules that way! That's how I got into baseball....go Mets!

[Rovermatt]

Can you explain the flow then cos I couldn't see the flow when they spent 4 minutes deciding what to do with 1 second left to play.

I'm not trying to disrespect the sport but that fact the game is over here means it's trying to attract a new audience as well as please the actual fans but I just can't get into a sport which is so stop start. Maybe someone who is a fan of the sport can explain why so many people love it?

It actually flows a lot. Teams will manage the clock the nearer it gets to the end, however the middle of games skip along quite freely.

Maybe I should get Madden on the PS3 and learn the rules that way!

Absolutely, it worked for me.

Anyway, what a brilliant performance by the Giants yesterday, they really ground out the win.

[Manchester Blue]

Despite the good guys losing i really enjoyed the game last night. Funnily enough i thought it was a really good spectacle with plenty of scoring and a good advert for the game. Fair enough i'm sure some purists would be unhappy with some of the quality but despite being disappointed with the outcome I genuinely enjoyed it.

I always find it really difficult to explain to people that don't like or don't get why it is so exciting. I suppose it's like marmite in that respect, you simply either get hooked or you think it's daft. I do think you need to have a pretty good understanding of the game to really enjoy it but to be honest for many years I just watched the SuperBowl and nothing else and still enjoyed it. Nowadays i'm watching pretty much every week and i learn something new every week.

I don't claim to be as knowledgable as some of the guys on here by any means but the beauty of the game is you can enjoy it even without having a huge indepth knowledge. I think like Shevchenko says the biggest thing for me is the fact the sport is setup so well to give every team a fighting chance. You just seem to get shocks every week.

How did the people who went find the game and the atmosphere? I had tickets but had to sell them so was gutted but it looked a really good atmosphere.

[T4E]

How did the people who went find the game and the atmosphere? I had tickets but had to sell them so was gutted but it looked a really good atmosphere.

The atmosphere was pretty placid, just a bunch of people who seemed pretty knowledgable about the game enjoying the novelty of it all.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game, it had a bit of everything - passing TDs, rushing TDs, interceptions, fumbles, a missed PAT (wtf happened there?!), a recovered onside kick, challenges resulting in overturned callls, even a safety (which I'm still struggling to understand the logic behind even now). I'm not sure how great an advert for the game it was though, as too many things happened that would have required explaining to the newcomers (such as the safety, onside kick, the challenge proceedure, the countless penalties given away by SD).

As far as the NFL as a whole goes, I think I like it because it appeals to the nerdy side of my character. There's an awful lot to learn and understand, many small nuances in the rules and the tactical side of the game is never ending. They also take the use of statistics to a ridiculous level. Once you gain a relatively good understanding of the game you can watch it and call the penalties as the officials do, see challenges coming etc, which just heightens the enjoyment.

The biggest thing though is how competitive it is, and how even a lot of the players are talent wise. Last night was a perfect example - Drew Brees was released by the Chargers in 2006, signed for the Saints and is now on course to break passing records this season. Its hard to imagine something similar happen in the Premier League.

[Manchester Blue]

even a safety (which I'm still struggling to understand the logic behind even now). I'm not sure how great an advert for the game it was though, as too many things happened that would have required explaining to the newcomers (such as the safety, onside kick, the challenge proceedure, the countless penalties given away by SD).

I'm glad you said that, I thought it was just me. The commentators were raving about it being a really smart play and I couldn't understand the sense in it. To me the Chargers had the slimmest of chances to tie the game if NO had punted back up the field on that 4th down. By giving away the safety I was thinking that they had given the Chargers the slimmest of chances to actually win. Fair enough it was still remote but I didn't really see the sense in it but assumed it was something too clever for me to understand.

I know what you mean about the many things that required explaining, the penalties did get a bit ridiculous in the end. It's true what you say though in the fact that the more you watch the more you understand.

[T4E]

As far as I can see the safety was to waste time and allow NO to eat up more ground. I believe there was :14 on the clock when Brees took the snap at 4 and 2 on his own 26 - the punt would have been from around the NO 10 - it would have travelled 50 yards max with a hang time of :05 max, which would have left :09 on the clock and would have landed around the SD 40. Even a return of only 10 yards or so would have left SD starting on the 50 with likely :06 or :07 on the clock - enough time for two shots at the end zone - and they are capable of a far better return than that. It would possibly have even left time for a pass out wide for a receiver to get out of bounds and give Rivers a better shot at it. This way the Saints still got to kick it away after the safety from the ground, after having wasted 6 seconds, and kicked it further than they would have been able to punt it. As it happened SD returned it to the 50, but still only had time for one hail mary.

Still a risk though, the worst that could have happened if they'd punted originally was OT (barring SD going for 2, which was unlikely), if Rivers had connected at the end the Saints would have been down for the first time in the game with no time to comeback.

Now that I've thought about it I guess it was pretty smart, but I've never ever seen that done before and I definitely wasn't expecting it. Actually, the above is a very very good example of why I love the NFL - so damn intricate!

[ABBEY]

Anyone watching the game in London?

Despite the score being 30 - 37 at the moment, I can't help but be bored of the constant stoppages which can last longer than an actual play. Why don't they keep it flowing, remove the helmets and call it err Rugby.

its like comparing football with golf because the balls round.

so glad the right team won yesterday...my cuz in denver heard a rumour next year could involve a bronco road game..@ wembley.Hope hes right .

I enjoyed the giants and steelers game last night ,you cant beat a good hard def battle.Anyone see the long snappers knee give way ..gruesome.

[grizfoot]

Thought the game at Wembley was a wonderful spectacle and a very entertaining game. Few people who've never watched NFL before mentioned how exiciting it was but also seem to come out with the common 'it got boring because they kept going off every five minutes' comment. I do myself still find it annoying that there's so many stoppages but you can understand why, often a few injury timeouts and then there's switching over of players, ect.

Oh yeah and the Seahawks won a game, that makes a change. That's a 2-5 record now, luckily were in the NFC West which isn't exactly one of the strongest divisons, so there's still hope if we can go on a bit of a run.

[American]

I'd suggest that anyone wanting good insight to the game read Peter King's Monday Morning QB every Monday (fancy that) on cnnsi.com.

[ABBEY]

will do just that.

[American Rover12]

I really like to see the understanding of the posters here from the UK and otherwise.

The NFL is every jocks nerdy pleasure for the intricacies and subtle rule nuances. It is a flowing game bar the last 3 minutes of every 2nd and 4th quarter like mentioned previously because it turns into an ubber strategic game. I'm glad to read many posters enjoying and liking the game as a whole and getting into the NFL overall.

[ABBEY]

makes me laugh when people slag the gridiron for injury timeouts...it is worse in our footy with the trainers runnning on with the magic sponge for a "broken leg" or the stretcher coming on for a "tickle".