NFL Offseason Thread: March 3, 2011. A date which will live in infamy.

[AidenCarby]

Reminds me of earlier decade pats, old defenses win championships!

[Plow]

Yeah I mean it's not like the Pats signing random old guys that are starting to look like crap and getting excellent value out of them is a new concept at all.

[Celeras]

Jeremy Kerley is a boss. I wanted to be on record as saying that before he balls out tonight.

(Inc fumble)

[Demosthenes11]

really excited to see plax tonight.

oh wait

[Effluo]

Hoping to see some improvement in the Texans secondary with the FA additions. Will be interesting to see how well they do with the new 3-4 under Wade.

[Tajin]

Holy shit Rex Ryan raging, lmao

[Rhinox]

well I like the darren sharper thing at least, as we need leadership at the safety position with the 3 top people at that position having something like 7 years total experience and it seems like Bill is very unhappy with meriweather right now.

I don't mind the older passrushers at all, as we had nothing at that position anyways. Literally nothing. No good young ones out on the market for a decent price, so bill just added a bunch on one year contracts and will probably cut a few before the season starts. He had to try something at that position. No fucking clue why they would be looking at Housh at all.

The pats got a lot younger in the last few years, so adding a few aging players isn't too bad at all. Their WRs are a little bit up there now, but w/ price and edelmen working as hard as they are, we wont be in serious jeopardy when the currents retire or start sucking. Are running backs are fucking young, too. sammy morris wont make the team and kevin faulk will probably just make it to mentor. Almost all of the starters on the team are under 26-28 or so, it's just the backup and rotated positions that are getting old. Bill loves those 1 year contracts.

lol

[jmc]

Holy shit Rex Ryan raging, lmao

I just saw the clip.....

$20 rex has a heart attack before the season even starts.

[noblemountain]

McElroy looked good before the o-line decided to just let people hit him at will.

[Akiyama]

wtf o.O

pats working out housh tomorrow. darren sharper also coming in for a work out. NE gonna be the place old players come to win SBs if they will it all this year

man, darren sharper is one of the hardest hittin corners in da lig, dawg

[Effluo]

Texans beat Jets... Stop the presses, put that shit in the Tuesday paper. Great game, glad to see the defense make some good plays...

[Tajin]

I'm officially a Jets fan, thanks to that Rex Ryan rage, until he gets fired/quits/whatever that is.

[Lordender]

Or maybe he just realized he's a QB away from getting to the superbowl!

[Azull]

Still very early but the Texans D looked much improved. Itll take Williams some time to adjust to the new position but he didnt do bad last night. The Jets mostly did what they could to keep away from him which all in all isnt a bad plan. 7 (i think?) sacks total is very nice but the large number of hits on QB is just as nice imo.

[Tyche]

McElroy looked good before the o-line decided to just let people hit him at will.

[archibaldcrane]

Yeah, that was lolz, but two plays prior he threw a perfect pass right into a receiver's arms for a game-winning TD and it was terribly dropped.

[Demosthenes11]

Oh Bill.

Without question, the rule moving the kickoff point from the 30 to the 35 has generated more discussion and debate than any other rule. It’s arguably caused more reaction and analysis than most other rules changes, combined.

Here’s the latest, courtesy of Tom Curran of CSNNE.com.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday that the league wants to eliminate the kickoff. And that’s not an expression of opinion. Belichick says that the league told him this.

“That’s what they told us,” Belichick said. “I’m not speaking for anyone else. That’s what they told us, that they want to eliminate the play.”

The league disagrees.

“[Chairman of the Competition Committee] Rich McKay and [NFL Vice President] Ray Anderson say that’s not accurate,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Curran via e-mail. “They said the Competition Committee’s position was that they wanted to ‘shorten the field’ and that the movement of the kickoff line would potentially reduce the number of kickoffs to be returned. They said they are unaware of anyone saying that it was intended to ‘eliminate’ the kickoff return.”

It could be a matter of semantics. The league wants to make the play safer by having the play unfold less frequently. Each iteration of the play remains just as dangerous; the thinking is that, by running the play fewer times, the total number of injuries will drop. And so if the rule change results in no kick returns, the play will be completely safe.

NBC’s Al Michaels said on Tuesday’s PFT Live that he doesn’t like the rule, and that he doesn’t think it will last. Belichick explained that, for now, it will impact the decisions made when shaping a roster.

“If, instead of covering 60 kickoffs in a year you think you’re only gonna be covering 30, then is that coverage player as important, or — on the flip side of it — is the return game?” Belichick said. “If you’re going to be returning 30 instead of 60, are the guys who block on the kickoff return [as important?] If you think you’re gonna be returning more punts than kickoffs [there's a decision to weigh]. Usually you’re going to be returning more kickoffs than punts but if you think you’ll be returning more punts than kickoffs, then maybe you put more of a priority on your punt returner than your kickoff returner.”

He’s right. Kickoff returners have less value, and a kickoff specialist who can put the ball into the front row — or who can hang it high and drop it inside the five — will have greater value.

Regardless, the rule has created a bigger reaction than anyone anticipated. Peter King of SI.com pointed out in his latest Monday Morning Quarterback column that, in 2010, 16.4 percent of the kickoffs resulted in touchbacks. The number surely will go much higher in 2011.

Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, not many people are calling it a good thing.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...nate-kickoffs/

[Akiyama]

Hester's usefulness decreased some more.

[Demosthenes11]

"devin hester you are..." ... irrelevant

[Akiyama]

"devin hester you are..."

"the weakest link.. Goodbye."