NFL Discussion Thread - Hall of Fame Game: August 3rd

[antidope]

Matt Ryan and Tom Brady withdrew from the Pro Bowl..... Clowns.... The Pro Bowl really has lost all meaning.

 

[mronegative]

Matt Ryan and Tom Brady withdrew from the Pro Bowl..... Clowns.... The Pro Bowl really has lost all meaning.

Matt Ryan jacked up his shoulder...they said he wouldn't have played in the Super Bowl had they won.

And Brady got a lot of sand up there. That's a real condition.

 

[licensed to ball]

Matt Ryan and Tom Brady withdrew from the Pro Bowl..... Clowns.... The Pro Bowl really has lost all meaning.

You really expected Matt Ryan to play when he damn near almost dislocated that left arm!?

C'mon man... Pro-Bowl has BEEN meaningless for a decade. Can't blame Rodgers, Ryan, and Brady for trying to preserve their bodies for the next Super Bowl run.

 

[antidope]

I honestly didnt think Matt Ryan was that hurt, but I just went and looked into it so I take that back. Tom Brady withdrawing really just looks bad though, even though we all know the game is meaningless, being out there and taking like 10 snaps wasnt going to kill him.

 

[airjordan jb23]

Welkers wife throwing shots at Ray Lewis

She's bad though

 

[trynafeelmink]

NOBODY wants to go out there and risk injury in a damn Probowl game especially after youve been there several times

 

[TipsyMcStagga]

NFL reviewing Tom Brady's slide


New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is being reviewed by NFL officials for possible discipline for the play in the AFC Championship Game in which he slid and attempted to protect himself by making a kicking motion at Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed, league sources said.

During the final minute of the first half, Brady slid to the ground to end an impromptu run. The quarterback had one leg raised a few feet off the ground and it hit Reed, who emerged from the play without injury.

Ravens safety Bernard Pollard has publicly complained and asserted the quarterback deserves to be fined by the NFL, which levies fines on defensive players for helmet-to-helmet hits.

Pollard said Monday, "If you want to keep this going in the right direction, everyone should be penalized for their actions."

He said Brady "knew what he was doing. It has to go both ways. Hopefully the NFL will do something about it. If they don't, that's fine. If they do, then that's fine."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report

 

[Retroballer]

I'd wish the harbaugh brothers would just make fun of each other like brothers should.

 

[lightweight champion]

Jim hates the media while John seems to have a lot better grasp of handling them.

If they're not going to show animosity towards one another, even at the slightest bit, what are the chances ESPN tries to spin this storyline into good brother vs bad brother?

 

[Kimchi Papi]

John is much more at ease with the media than his brother. John's a nicer guy too. Their father Jack is a really nice guy. Very old school. Everyone in the Harbaugh family has J names (first names). Their brother-in-law is Tom Crean, head coach at Indiana...

For those interested...NFL channel's Sound FX Harbaugh Bowl from Thanksgiving 2011...

 

[hymen man]

I WANT CAKE NAOWWW

 

[Kimchi Papi]

E60: The Good Life, Patrick Willis

This was a good feature from espn's e60 on Patrick Willis from earlier in the season...

 

[651akathepaul]

I'd wish the harbaugh brothers would just make fun of each other like brothers should.

They're not 12.

 

[dland24]

I know a lot of you have the opinion that "The Pro Bowl is a joke." I just wanted to point out, that in recent years I totally agree. But looking into the past, the Pro Bowl absolutely meant something. It meant a hell of a lot. So when people talk about Pro Bowl appearances in regards to how a legacy is remembered, at this point in time it is very meaningful IMO. When the discussion happens in 10-15 years, THAT is when you can have the opinion that Pro Bowl appearances are meaningless. Right now, its a joke.

 

[mez 0ne]

I know a lot of you have the opinion that "The Pro Bowl is a joke." I just wanted to point out, that in recent years I totally agree. But looking into the past, the Pro Bowl absolutely meant something. It meant a hell of a lot. So when people talk about Pro Bowl appearances in regards to how a legacy is remembered, at this point in time it is very meaningful IMO. When the discussion happens in 10-15 years, THAT is when you can have the opinion that Pro Bowl appearances are meaningless. Right now, its a joke.

they should just keep to all-pro voting and leave it at that, no game.

 

[lightweight champion]

Players don't enjoy the game, but that trip to Hawaii sure is rewarding.

 

[651akathepaul]

Peterson will be MVP of the game. He always plays hard and I'm pretty sure he has said that he's gonna give 110% in the game.

I love that guy.

 

[mmg]

In just waiting for the Nike pro bowl jerseys

Nothing yet

 

[deuce king]

I thought players got paid to participate in the pro bowl game, is that correct??

 

[mmg]

-deuce

It's 50K to winners and 25K to losers

That was the last number I heard

 

[deuce king]

-deuce

It's 50K to winners and 25K to losers

That was the last number I heard

Thanks for that information.  A free trip to Hawaii which means you can either take your wife, girl or side piece and money regardless of the outcome of the game, what's not to like??  I know most of the QB's got multi-million dollars deals so maybe this is chump change to them, but for the rest of the players it should be an easy sell.  In recent years I don't think a player has ever gotten injured at the pro bowl game.................unless you count the punter that Sean Taylor blasted.  It was curtains for him.

 

[the natural mystic]

Jerry Jones strips playcalling duties from Garrett.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...es-strips-jason-garrett-of-playcalling-duties

 

[elpablo21]

Jones is essentially neutering his head coach.

 Might as well euthanize him at this point

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Tim Brown's main man Bill Callahan will be calling plays...


Seriously though, Kiffin with Rod Marinelli coming over should be alright...

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Looks like doctors might have a new imaging technique to spot evidence of CTE... This could pave the way into players being forced to retire very early if this proves to be reliable & made mandatory...


http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...igns-cte-living-former-nfl-players-first-time

CTE found in living ex-NFL players

Brain scans performed on five former NFL players revealed images of the protein that causes football-related brain damage -- the first time researchers have identified signs of the crippling disease in living players.

Researchers who conducted the pilot study at UCLA described the findings as a significant step toward being able to diagnose the disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in living patients.

"I've been saying that identifying CTE in a living person is the holy grail for this disease and for us to be able make advances in treatment," said Dr. Julian Bailes, co-director of NorthShore Neurological Institute in Evanston, Ill., and one of the study's co-authors. "It's not definitive, and there's a lot we still need to discover to help these people, but it's very compelling. It's a new discovery."

Dozens of former players -- including 34 who played in the NFL -- have been diagnosed posthumously with CTE, a neurodegenerative disease linked to dementia, memory loss and depression. The disease, which researchers say is triggered by repeated head trauma, can currently be confirmed only by examining the brain after death. CTE was discovered earlier this month in the brain of former Chargers linebacker Junior Seau, who committed suicide in May by shooting himself in the chest.

The UCLA researchers last year used a patented brain-imaging tool to examine Fred McNeill, a 59-year-old former Vikings linebacker; Wayne Clark, a 64-year-old former backup quarterback; and three other unidentified players: a 73-year-old former guard; a 50-year-old former defensive lineman; and a 45-year-old former center. Each had sustained at least one concussion; the center sustained 10.

CTE is caused by a buildup of tau, an abnormal protein that strangles brain cells. The scan lit up for tau in all five former players, according to the study. The protein was concentrated in areas that control memory, emotions and other functions -- a pattern consistent with the distribution of tau in CTE brains that have been studied following autopsy, according to the researchers.

"The findings are preliminary -- we only had five players -- but if they hold up in future studies, this may be an opportunity to identify CTE before players have symptoms so we can develop preventative treatment," said Dr. Gary W. Small, the study's lead author and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA.

The findings were published Tuesday in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

The study could open up new areas for CTE research -- and provide additional fuel for the controversy surrounding it. The ability to diagnose CTE in living patients would raise thorny questions about the need for mandatory testing and whether players at all levels can be forced to find out if they are vulnerable to a devastating disease.

The study was funded by a $100,000 grant from the Brain Injury Research Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by Bailes; Dr. Bennet Omalu, a pathologist who in 2005 identified the first case of CTE in a former NFL player; and Bob Fitzsimmons, a Wheeling, W.Va., attorney who represented late Steelers center Mike Webster, the first NFL player to be diagnosed with CTE.

Omalu, now chief medical examiner for San Joaquin (Calif.) County, is a co-author on the study.

The NFL once attacked Bailes and Omalu's research and denied the link between football and CTE. The league later reversed its position and acknowledged a scientific connection between football and long-term brain damage.

Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, a Seattle neurosurgeon who serves as co-chair of the NFL's Head, Neck and Spine Committee, described the study as "promising work," adding the researchers were "honest about the limitations as well as being excited about the findings."

"This is the holy grail if it works. This is what we've been waiting for, but it looks like it's probably preliminary to say they've got it," said Dr. Robert Cantu, a senior adviser to the NFL's Head, Neck and Spine Committee and co-director of Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. "But if they do have it, this is exactly what we need."

McNeill, a first-round draft pick in 1974, played 12 seasons in Minnesota and was the subject of a 2011 "Outside the Lines" story. McNeill had a successful post-football career as a lawyer before becoming afflicted by early-onset dementia. Now 60, McNeill no longer practices law and is primarily looked after by his family and professional caretakers.

Tia McNeill said Omalu contacted her a year and a half ago to see about her ex-husband, Fred, participating in the UCLA study. She said she was eager to have him included and even worked to recruit other former players.

"When Dr. Omalu first called, because you hear so many stories of people committing suicide and other things, I thought, 'Wow, if this test that can determine prior to someone's passing they have it, absolutely, I'm all in," she said. "And I felt it would be important to tell as many people as I could."

Bailes, who once worked with the Pittsburgh Steelers, said the ability to make the diagnosis in living patients could provide several treatment options and help prevent the kind of suicides seen in cases like Seau and former Chicago Bears defensive back Dave Duerson. Duerson shot himself in the chest in February 2011, leaving behind a note that directed his brain be donated to research. It was later shown that Duerson suffered from CTE.

Active players who show signs of CTE could use the information to decide when to retire and thus prevent further injury, according to Bailes. He said additional research involving a much larger number of players is needed before that can happen.

Bailes and Small said they have applied for several grants, including one through the National Institutes of Health. In September, the NFL donated $30 million to the NIH for brain injury research.

Clark was a backup quarterback with San Diego, Cincinnati and Kansas City who started five games during his five-year career. Clark's most active season was 1973, when he started four games for the Chargers while splitting time with Johnny Unitas and Dan Fouts.

Clark, now 65, said in an interview that he was exposed to limited contact and sustained only one major concussion during his career. During a 1972 game at Miami, he was holding on a field goal attempt that was blocked and was injured while trying to make the tackle.

Film of the play failed to show how the injury occurred, and Clark didn't remember. "It was a total blackout," he said.

Clark, who ran a Southern California video services business and officiated high school football games after his playing career ended, said he reacted with "interest, not alarm," after being told that he had signs of CTE.

"I don't feel like I'm suffering from any real symptoms at this point, and didn't have any sense of anything going on except normal age-related issues," he said. He decided to participate in the hope that "it could help other people and maybe help me."