Professional Football Researchers Association Forum
PFRA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history of professional football. Formed in 1979, PFRA members include many of the game's foremost historians and writers.
Rupert Patrick wrote:There has been issues with the lackluster play thru the first two weeks of the season, that so far scoring is on pace for 25-year lows:
Some of that, I think, may be due to the fact that a number of teams may have not given their starters enough time to play together in the preseason for fear or injury. It seems like a number of these teams have treated the first regular season couple games as preseason games and are still trying to get their teams together.
I don't really see lackluster play though. Scoring is down but I felt scoring and statistics needed to come down a bit from the astronomical total of years past.
It seems to me like teams are allowed to play defense a bit more, and some QB hits that were sure "are you kidding me" personal fouls are going uncalled, which is good to see. To me I see a return of balance rather than a quality of play problem.
sheajets wrote:Some of that, I think, may be due to the fact that a number of teams may have not given their starters enough time to play together in the preseason for fear or injury.
I'm on an HBO promo and saw a complete season of Hard Knocks for the first time ever. I was surprised how little the starters were on the field for the games. Could be faulty memory, but I thought the 4th game used to be kind of a dress rehearsal when I was a kid, now the starters seem to play even less in the 4th game which equates to practically nothing because they barely played in the first three as well.
sheajets wrote:Some of that, I think, may be due to the fact that a number of teams may have not given their starters enough time to play together in the preseason for fear or injury.
I'm on an HBO promo and saw a complete season of Hard Knocks for the first time ever. I was surprised how little the starters were on the field for the games. Could be faulty memory, but I thought the 4th game used to be kind of a dress rehearsal when I was a kid, now the starters seem to play even less in the 4th game which equates to practically nothing because they barely played in the first three as well.
Usually, it is game 3 where the starters play the most (a half, maybe into the third quarter). Game 4, you will see the starters for maybe one series.
He's a bit player but Lawrence Thomas has played on offense and defense this season for the Jets. He also switched his jersey number from 97 to 44 for the game vs Cleveland.
sheajets wrote:Ugly moment there with Lynch. Comes off the bench, grabs the official. Then flees the stadium in street clothes while the game is still going on.
I've never seen anything like that before. That is one of the worst attacks I've ever seen on a ref. If it's a player on the field in the heat of the battle, that's one thing, but when a guy runs in from the sideline, that is something much worse. I wouldn't be surprised if the Raiders cut him after that.
"Every time you lose, you die a little bit. You die inside. Not all your organs, maybe just your liver." - George Allen
If the Falcons play the rest of the season like last night,they won't make the playoffs.As much as it pains me to say it ,the way they're playing NO might win the division.And I can't really tell who'll win the NFC,but in the AFC right now,it looks like NE and Pittsbugh for the AFC title.
One thing that annoys me is the endzone cameramen on prime-time games, especially in short-yardage TD runs. it appears that they enter the endzone before the officials blow their whistle, and sometimes ran faster than the defensive players!
