2025-2026 NFL Season Thread

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Hatter

When your brother signs a bigger contract than the current one you had, what choice does Irsay really have to give him a large contract? Also as Manning is part of the NFLPA, they certainly don't want him screwing them over. If he signs a quite reduced contract, that doesn't help them in negotiations.

Yeah, I remember the MLBPA was trying to get Joe Mauer to become a free agent and sign the biggest possible deal because he would then raise the bar for future free agents. There was speculation that he could get as much as a 10-year and $250 million. There were rumors that the MLBPA was very unhappy when Mauer agreed to an 8-year $184 million deal to stay with his hometown team because Mauer was (at the time) the best catcher in baseball so no future free agent catcher was going to be able to get a bigger contract than Mauer.

[Dexter Morgan]

[Batman1980]

Rams named Jeff Fisher as head coach.

Source - Twitter

[NJ_RAMS_FAN]

Originally Posted by Darth Anakin

Source - Twitter

yup.. make the playoff and I'll be happy.. (of course super bowl but thats not happening yet).

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by NJ_RAMS_FAN

yup.. make the playoff and I'll be happy.. (of course super bowl but thats not happening yet).

Wouldn't you settle for just winning some games lol, Jackson not getting any Younger and Bradford keeps getting torn up, believe me I feel your pain having a team that didn't win for a few years, but honestly if the Rams go 8-8 next year I think you'd be happy

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by SleeperAgent

If Peyton goes anywhere it will be to a team that ALREADY has the pieces in place to win a Super Bowl in 1-3 years. Like the Jets. With Manning their receivers would have significantly more value and I think it would open up their run game to the 5 yards per carry range. Their defense is already very good, especially under Rex Ryan, he's a great defensively minded guy. But if you put Peyton Manning under center and let him loose with the play calling I can see them in the Super Bowl 2 times in the next 3 years.

Ya, he could probably take a team to the next level in a variety of cities. Kind of like what happened in Arizona when they dumped Leinart and went with Warner as their starter. All of a sudden they were a Super Bowl team.

Come to think of it somewhere like Arizona might be good for Peyton too. The Cardinals went 8-8 despite a mediocre Kolb and Skelton as their starter.

[fatediesel]

I wonder where the Dolphins will go next in their coaching search. Their owner Stephen Ross seems to want a rock star coach and is willing to pay a bundle. I can't see any circumstance where Bill Cowher would go there and Jon Gruden seems happy at ESPN. I just can't see Ross settling for a no-name assistant or retread so I wonder if he'll try and go after LSU's Les Miles or Oregon's Chip Kelly. Both are big names that have been very successful in the college game, and Ross showed last year in his pursuit of Harbaugh that he was willing to hire a college coach. I have no idea if either would listen but I could certainly imagine Ross looking at them.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

I wonder where the Dolphins will go next in their coaching search. Their owner Stephen Ross seems to want a rock star coach and is willing to pay a bundle. I can't see any circumstance where Bill Cowher would go there and Jon Gruden seems happy at ESPN. I just can't see Ross settling for a no-name assistant or retread so I wonder if he'll try and go after LSU's Les Miles or Oregon's Chip Kelly. Both are big names that have been very successful in the college game, and Ross showed last year in his pursuit of Harbaugh that he was willing to hire a college coach. I have no idea if either would listen but I could certainly imagine Ross looking at them.

Well word is Fisher picked St. Louis over Miami because Ireland refused to let go of his control of personnel selection, which will probably be a factor in other coaches' decisions on whether or not to go there.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Darth Anakin

Well word is Fisher picked St. Louis over Miami because Ireland refused to let go of his control of personnel selection, which will probably be a factor in other coaches' decisions on whether or not to go there.

I think St. Louis has more promising talent too. Not to mention being in the AFC East you're in the same division as New England. Rams were probably his best choice.

[Ashamed Pegasus]

The Jets are the last team I would want Peyton to QB for. They're in complete shambles, and quite frankly I hope they stay that way.

[Tony208]

John Skelton actually did a good job for Arizona, he went 7-2. He turned the ball over a lot but he made enough big plays to get them back in and win the game quite a few times.

[wilky61]

I missed it if y'all did your picks earlier in the week... but I think I have all the #1 and #2 seeds advancing from this weekend's games.

Honestly, I thought Denver should've been favored in last week's game against the Broncos (due to the prolific injury list for Pittsburgh and home-field advantage). But if the Broncos find a way to knock off the Patriots tomorrow, then I'll bow down and say a prayer of thanks, too.

Niners/Saints... I just don't see this game working out for San Fran. Alex Smith has been in the league for how long now and to my knowledge hasn't shown any signs of brilliance. I just don't see him coming out and playing the best game of his career and leading SF to a victory. I honestly don't think the 49ers are as good as everybody says they are. Maybe I just have an East Coast bias against the Niners. I only watched one Niners game all season long (Thanksgiving Day), but they looked like the LSU Tigers against the Alabama Crimson Tide in that game. So long story short: The Niners' offense isn't good enough to win a 41-38 game against the Saints, and their defense isn't good enough to make a 20-17 game actually happen (is anybody's defense good enough? Baltimore's?).

Baltimore/Houston should be an interesting matchup. Houston looked scary good against the Bengals last week. Arian Foster is in absolute beast mode right now. The atmosphere was great inside that stadium... too bad they now have to go into the toughest environment in the NFL to play the toughest team. Baltimore does not lose this game in Baltimore.

Packers/Giants... everybody's treating this like it's a trendy upset game... yeah, I can definitely see the possibility (whereas I cannot even a possibility for Denver). But Aaron Rodgers is gonna come out on Sunday and remind us all why he's the MVP. And we're gonna be right back where we were on the first week of the season: Saints/Packers.

Originally Posted by NavsterKing

What a fail by the Jags hiring Mularkey, he failed as an Offensive coordinator in Atlanta with a stud QB, 2 stud WR, a stud TE and a stud RB, yet he gets a job to be a head coach for Jags? How does that work .. Who only have a stud RB in MJD... Sure reg season numbers were decent, when you have great players like that, but what a bust in the playoffs... the Jags have almost no one on offense.... Great hire

Haha, I had not heard this! As an Atlanta fan, this is excellent news. I don't know if it was more Mike Smith's fault or Mike Mularkey's fault, but Atlanta's playcalling definitely regressed from 2010 to 2011. Maybe even Matt Ryan should shoulder some of the blame for his tentative decision making, but the Falcons became the masters of the four-yard check-down pass this year... not to mention fourth and inches... and it produced all of zero points in our third-straight first-round playoff exit. Thanks for taking Mularkey off our hands.

[filmnut5]

Originally Posted by Dexter Morgan

Hahahahahaha...Enjoy your 3 TD loss at Lambeau, Eli.

[Tony208]

Everyone wants to talk about the Steelers injuries.

The Broncos have injuries too you know, right guard Chris Kuper out for season just last week, 8x pro bowler Brian Dawkins missing a lot of games, and Eric Decker exited the game early.

[wilky61]

Originally Posted by Tony208

Everyone wants to talk about the Steelers injuries.

The Broncos have injuries too you know, right guard Chris Kuper out for season just last week, 8x pro bowler Brian Dawkins missing a lot of games, and Eric Decker exited the game early.

As do the Patriots (their safety Chung, Wes Welker, etc.). New England and Denver have roughly even injury reports heading into tomorrow's game, don't you think? (Losing Decker certainly hurts, though...)

But the Steelers' list last week was insane. Their two best offensive players and three best defensive players were either missing in action or severely limited.

[R3P0]

FCC to end NFL Blackouts !?!

From PFT

FCC considers ending the blackout rule
Posted by Mike Florio on January 13, 2012, 10:05 PM EST
EverBankField

Last month, Senator Sherrod Brown (D.-Ohio) called for the NFL to end its “failed” blackout policy, after said policy successfully had prevented six of seven Bengals home games from being televised in the Cincinnati area.

On Thursday, the FCC decided to seek public comment on the elimination of rules that prevent blacked out games from being televised via cable and satellite operators. If those rules are eliminated by the FCC, blackouts essentially would end.

Per Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, the NFL’s position is that the blackout policy helps keep all games on free television. Opponents contend that the league now makes the bulk of its money from the sale of TV rights, and that blacking out games due to the presence of unsold non-premium tickets unfairly prevents consumers from watching the games on television.

The move comes at a time when the NFL is struggling in multiple markets with a chronic inability to sell out stadiums. In places like Jacksonville, St. Louis, Miami, and San Diego, teams at times are buying, either directly or through sponsors, the unsold tickets at 34 cents on the dollar, which is permitted by league rule.

Ultimately, the issue becomes whether the teams are setting prices accurately. Every team wants its home games to be televised locally, since the broadcast of a game represents a three-hour infomercial in support of the franchise. But if teams simply can’t sell out on a consistent basis, the teams need to reduce the prices of the tickets until demand and supply properly intersect, or the teams need to win more games and hope nature will take its course.

Regardless, with each passing cycle of multi-billion-dollar TV contracts, it’s hard not to think that the box office receipts have gone from being the primary source of revenue to a secondary stream of cash, at best. Games played in stadiums that, for most teams, received direct or indirect public funding should be available for the public to enjoy, regardless of whether the team that plays in the stadium knows how to properly ensure that all tickets to the game have been sold.

Since the NFL supports its desire to expand the regular season to 18 games by saying the fans want it, here’s a chance for the fans to make their wishes known on the blackout rule.

All I can say is HELL YES

[dfinch]

Originally Posted by Tony208

Everyone wants to talk about the Steelers injuries.

The Broncos have injuries too you know, right guard Chris Kuper out for season just last week, 8x pro bowler Brian Dawkins missing a lot of games, and Eric Decker exited the game early.

Youre kidding, right? Brian Dawkins? The Steelers where missing their leading tackler, Ryan Clark. Their starting half-back. Obviously Ben Rothlesburgers injury was a factor. Hampton and Keisel both left the game before the first half. Lawrance Timmons also left the game. And lets not forget that Legursky, the fill in for Pro-Bowl Center Pouncey, cost the team 3 points with that high snap in the end of the first half.

[wilky61]

Originally Posted by R3P0

FCC to end NFL Blackouts !?!

From PFT



All I can say is HELL YES

Growing up as a Falcons fan in the 90s, our home games were always blacked out. This hasn't happened since the Michael Vick era, though.

Any other NFL teams still have trouble selling out?

[MD-Blu]

I just can't see Peyton as a Jet and if they somehow get him, then Irsay is dumber than I thought. I understand he won't play forever, but I'd rather have him than Sanchez on ANY day.

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by wilky61

Growing up as a Falcons fan in the 90s, our home games were always blacked out. This hasn't happened since the Michael Vick era, though.

Any other NFL teams still have trouble selling out?

Yes... Bucs, Rams, Jags, Chargers, Bills, Browns

Last year was Rams, Lions, Bills, Raiders, Jags, Browns