The NFL Thread (with added College Football)

[ADVILLAFAN]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000404191/article/gannon-raiders-foster-commitment-to-mediocrity

Rich Gannon blasting the Oakland Raiders

[OCD]

Vikings didn't get into the Packers half of the field until late in the third quarter. Can't see them finishing anywhere but bottom of the NFC North. It's good to see your own side thump someone, its a shame Villa can't do it more often.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Vikings Offensive Line was particularly bad. I think Ponder is easily their worst QB but anyone would struggle with their O Line playing that badly.

[taylorsworkrate]

This is a rather upsetting article to read

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/03/american-football-third-us-teen

The bit that grabbed me:

In their 2012 football injury report the authors had called for better education for coaches over the potential risks for players exercising vigorously in hot conditions while wearing heavy equipment. Between 1995 and 2012, it said, 52 players had died from heat stroke, including 41 high school students.

Quite simply an astonishing statistic. I think the coaches that authorise these barbaric training conditions should face jail time.

[UK Redsox]

The President has stepped in and told football to clean up its act.

However, the President was Teddy Roosevelt and the year was 1905

In 1903, the president told an audience, “I believe in rough games and in rough, manly sports. I do not feel any particular sympathy for the person who gets battered about a good deal so long as it is not fatal.”

Football, however, was fatal, and even Roosevelt acknowledged it required reform if it was to be saved. With his son Theodore Jr. now playing for the Harvard freshman team, he had a paternal interest in reforming the game as well. Fresh from negotiating an end to the Russo-Japanese War, Roosevelt sought to end violence on the football field as well as the battlefield. Using his “big stick,” the First Fan summoned the head coaches and representatives of the premier collegiate powers—Harvard, Yale and Princeton—to the White House on October 9, 1905. Roosevelt urged them to curb excessive violence and set an example of fair play for the rest of the country. The schools released a statement condemning brutality and pledging to keep the game clean.

Roosevelt soon discovered that brokering peace in the Far East may have been an easier proposition than getting an American sport to clean up its act. Fatalities and injuries mounted during the 1905 season. In the freshman tilt against Yale, the president’s son was bruised and his nose broken—deliberately, according to some accounts. The following week, the Harvard varsity nearly walked off the field while playing against Yale after their captain was levelled by an illegal hit on a fair catch that left his nose broken and bloodied. The same afternoon, Union College halfback Harold Moore died of a cerebral haemorrhage after being kicked in the head while attempting to tackle a New York University runner. It was a grim end to a savage season. In what the Chicago Tribune referred to as a “death harvest,” the 1905 football season resulted in 19 player deaths and 137 serious injuries

[OCD]

This is a rather upsetting article to read

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/03/american-football-third-us-teen

The bit that grabbed me:

In their 2012 football injury report the authors had called for better education for coaches over the potential risks for players exercising vigorously in hot conditions while wearing heavy equipment. Between 1995 and 2012, it said, 52 players had died from heat stroke, including 41 high school students.

Quite simply an astonishing statistic. I think the coaches that authorise these barbaric training conditions should face jail time.

Firstly you need to ensure the standard of education in sports and raise the standard of coaching so that the worst get put out of the industry. In the US, there doesn't seem to be any sort of required accreditation - anyone can be a coach.

[UK Redsox]

Utter chaos in NCAA after 5 of the top 8 ranked teams lost in week 6

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/page/gamedayfinal100414/chaos-wins-week-6-college-football-playoff-contenders-were-upset

[cheltenhamlion]

Bears all over the Panthers but have missed a field goal attempt. Missed!

[UK Redsox]

Bears all over the Panthers but have missed a field goal attempt. Missed!

Just after the commentator was praising Robbie Gould's accuracy.

[Richard]

Terrible second half for da bears

[UK Redsox]

All these tight games and OTs is making for great watching on RedZone

[UK Redsox]

Peyton Manning throws his 500th Touchdown pass

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11648301/peyton-manning-denver-broncos-throws-500th-career-td-pass

He should pass Favre for the all time lead in the next couple of games

[ADVILLAFAN]

I really enjoyed the NFL Hard Knocks programme and hope that they'll do the Bears at some stage in the near future. Mind you, if you've won the Superbowl you can't go on it....   

[UK Redsox]

25 years since the Herschel Walker trade

http://grantland.com/features/30-for-30-shorts-the-great-trade-robbery/

[UK Redsox]

An NFL team based at Wembley edges closer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29546374

I'm hoping for an expansion team rather than, say, the Jaguars moving to London