Everything Gridiron

[The Great One]

Seattle has the fourth hardest schedule this season. They've been very lucky with injuries but that can't last forever.

The sked doesn't really matter. The Seahawks are the best team in football. Like i said, injuries are the only thing that can stop them this year.

As for being lucky with injuries. The Legion of Boom aka Chancellor, Thomas and Sherman all played with serious injuries vs the Pats last year. If they were healthy they would;ve won that game easily.

[Apollo]

Right but they played.

I'll bookmark this page and check back with you later in the season.

[Mack North]

Cheatriots up to their old tricks again lol

NFL quickly brushes it aside... *throws hands up in the air*

[Apollo]

Headsetgate - Darth Belichick Strikes Back

This is a great article on Headsetgate: Deadspin.com

Here's just part of the article:

As Tomlin implied, this is far from the first time opponents facing the Patriots have raised questions about headset issues.

• 2006: Patriots security staff audio interferes with the Jaguars’ coach-to-QB communication system at “crucial moments” during a playoff game. The Lions and the Bengals also reported their coaches’ headsets stopped working during games at New England.
• 2007: The Patriots are investigated for using unapproved communication frequencies to interfere with the New York Jets’ headset system.
• 2008: Karlos Dansby accuses the Patriots of tampering with the Cardinals’ headset system.
• 2011: Jack Del Rio has his Jaguars team practice without headset communications, as “that tends to happen in New England.”
• Reports emerged while the game was still ongoing that pointed to a “grounding issue.” That makes sense when considering the NFL’s “power infrastructure” statement, but it doesn’t make sense given what we know about the NFL’s wireless communication technology.

The NFL switched to using Bose noise-reducing headsets for coaches when that company paid to be an official league sponsor in August, 2014; this Patriots.com article suggests the communication system runs on Microsoft software—presumably since that company became the league’s official technology sponsor in 2013. The league had previously switched to using digital, not analog, communications tech in 2012. This NFL Ops blog post suggests that the league deals with severe bandwidth issues on game days, even employing radio-frequency traffic cops to manage and ban intruders who might interfere with crucial coach-to-coach or coach-to-player links. (The NFL has pled to the FCC on multiple occasions for protection of existing channels for wireless audio communications.) And the NFL also claims it has 268 million military-grade encryption codes to secure all these communication channels.

Which brings us back to Thursday night, and asking how a deciphered audio intrusion entered what is allegedly an encrypted, digital system. After all, the power/grounding issues the NFL blames for the problem should and could not exist in an “all-digital system.” A signal intrusion due to grounding or electrical problems could, by definition, only exist with analog audio.

The only way to keep the Patriots out of the news now is to change league rules and allow everyone the ability to cheat.

[Axel]

Big Ben downplayed the issue while Tomlin definitely stirred the pot.

This is just one of many things you hear happening in Foxboro over the years but I would be very interested to see a breakdown of how often it happens at each stadium around the league. You don't often hear about it at other stadiums but I suspect that is more about lack of reporting on it than not happening.

Until Belichek is retired, I don't see these persistent rumours from swirling.

[Bendit]

Has anyone brought up the gambling angle on this? I can see hackers for eg. Vegas big money movers being involved to mess with (team specific) communications to impact negatively depending on what outcome they want. This would be a cakewalk compared to successful hacks into the Pentagon and other sophisticated environments.

It was strange hearing Belichick even attempting to be verbose in his post game remarks

[Apollo]

After the game the Steelers filed a second complaint about the Patriots movements on defense in the 4th quarter goal line situation that the Steelers blew.

Also after the game there were allogations made that a Steelers assistant coach assaulted a fan.

What a mess of a game to kick off the season.

[Axel]

After the game the Steelers filed a second complaint about the Patriots movements on defense in the 4th quarter goal line situation that the Steelers blew.

Also after the game there were allogations made that a Steelers assistant coach assaulted a fan.

What a mess of a game to kick off the season.

Kinda appropriate though

[Apollo]

Yeah. The Steelers left about two or three TD's on the field. This one might come back to haunt them as the Patriots weren't doing anything spectacular. Not having Bell or Bryant in the lineup hurt them badly too.

[Apollo]

The NFL

Aldon Smith

• DUI x 3
• Felony weapons charges x 3
• Hit and run
• Vandalism
• Drug violations
• Airport bomb threat accusations

Smith was arrested by Santa Clara police on Thursday night for a hit and run, DUI and vandalism, the department tweeted on Friday. Online records show the 25-year-old was booked on Friday with a bail of $26,000. Smith was bailed out Friday morning, according to KTVU.

Smith served a nine-game suspension last season for violating the league's policy on personal conduct and substances of abuse. In 2013 he missed five games following a DUI arrest and voluntarily checked himself into a treatment facility.

The latest arrest, his third for DUI, is the most recent in a long list of off-field transgressions for Smith. He received a 12-day sentence and three years of probation in July following a no-contest plea to three felony weapons charges and two misdemeanor DUI charges. The weapons charges (and one of the DUI charges) were in connection to a 2012 party at Smith's residence where he was stabbed.

Smith also made waves last year when he was accused of making a bomb threat to a TSA agent at Los Angeles International Airport, but charges weren't filed.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...-dui-vandalism

He served a whopping twelve days in jail. Average Joe would still be locked up.

49ers release Aldon Smith August 7th due to legal troubles surrounding the drunken hit and run.

The San Francisco 49ers released Aldon Smith on Friday after the 25-year-old linebacker's arrest Thursday night on hit-and-run, driving under the influence and vandalism charges.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13...rancisco-49ers

Now one month later, the Raiders sign him to a one year deal.

The Oakland Raiders will sign Smith to a one-year contract after a recent face-to-face meeting, NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reports, via a source informed of the player's situation.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...eyear-contract

All is forgiven, now lets forget about all his issues and enjoy some football. Everyone buy an Aldon Smith poster for their kids.

[Axel]

All is forgiven, now lets forget about all his issues and enjoy some football. Everyone buy an Aldon Smith poster for their kids.

When I was in Baltimore a few years ago I almost bought my daughter a little Ray Rice jersey lol. Glad I held off on that one.

[Apollo]

The Secrets of an NFL Locker Room

There's a strange place that exists in our world. It's an intersection of cultures, ideas and people, from all manner of socioeconomic backgrounds, hailing from every walk of life, brought together under an umbrella of violence and greed. It's a sphere of privilege and respect as ephemeral as the surface of a soap bubble – yet, to those on the inside, it's the solid bedrock of reality.

I speak, of course, about the NFL locker room.

Inside an NFL locker room, you will not find a sole collection of...

http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/f...-room-20150901

Worth five minutes to click and read.

[The Great One]

Yep. Raiders just signed him today.

https://twitter.com/bylindsayhjones/...03001056014336

[Axel]

Kick off Sunday.

[Mack North]

Kick off Sunday.

Game Day, baby!

So pumped up for this season. May it be a healthy season for all and let's all rejoice in a 6th Super Bowl for the Dallas Cowboys in February. 😆🏆🏈