NFL 2011 - Pre-Draft Thread

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Today was the Senior Bowl. Just finished watching the game for the first time. For this first viewing, I focused entirely on the quarterbacks. Here's an abridged version of my notes for each QB:

CHRISTIAN PONDER
* Looks like a pro top to bottom - holds ball high, great mechanics and footwork. Definite NFL arm.
* 100% healthy now and looks like totally different guy from the banged-up senior season player
* On-target on timing routes and fast getting ball out of hand
* West coast QB? Mayock thinks do. Definitely excelled with short & medium timing routes
* (Drive 1): Bad deep underthrow on 1st play - said in interview later that ball was slick and didn't come out cleanly
* (Drive 1): Nimble feet escaping rush and scrambling for 1st down, powerful sneak later in drive for another 1st down
* (Drive 2): On-time throw to post-corner but WR ran route too shallow and cut himself off
* (Drive 2): On-time throw on deep hitch, delivered before the break, right on back shoulder, touchdown, fantastic
* (Drive 5): Powerful delivery on quick slant
* (Drive 5): Great throw on seam for TD, delivered with pressure in face, threw the ball slightly behind in order to fit right into hole in zone and allow WR to adjust. Great.
* Helped himself a whole lot.

JAKE LOCKER
* First two drives went 3-and-out, largely from bad run game and poor protection. Frustratingly little to judge Locker on in 1st half.
* The pro-level tools are evident. Obvious NFL arm.
* Accuracy a BIG concern. Lots of throws just off-target. Thew skinny post too high twice.
* Started to come alive in drive 4. Couple of strong throws, but also couple of off-target throws that defenders could jump on.
* No wonder Mayock has such a problem judging him. All sorts of tools here, undermined by this accuracy problem.
* Is accuracy fixable? Locker still inexperienced working from pocket. Ripe for molding by a QB guru?

GREG MCELROY
* Smallest 6'3", 225lb QB I've ever seen. Disappears in the pocket.
* Completed passes in wide-open lanes. Avoided throwing over the top of people at all costs.
* (Drive 1): High and off-target out on 3rd-and-4 ended drive
* (Drive 2): Good on-target PA rollout throw to deep crossing route, WR dropped it.
* (Drive 2): Picked off on deep pass underthrown, but was throwing it up on free play from defensive offsides. Bad throw but not a bad decision as McElroy knew it was a free play. Slid to the left to get out of pocket to attempt throw - again, avoiding throwing it over the line.
* (Drive 2): Good PA screen, again slid around rush before willing to throw.
* Injured throwing hand hitting it on lineman's helmet, struggled in Drive 3 due probably to injury, won't use it for evaluation.

RICKY STANZI
* Great pocket awareness, excelled at avoiding rush
* Throws lacked power, did not look like an NFL arm
* (Drive 1): Too-high throw on WR screen, caught but slowed receiver for easy tackle
* (Drive 1): Off-target on curl on 3rd down, ending drive
* (Drive 2): Slooow throw on slant, got WR hit, no catch, throw was high and WR had to leave feet to go for it
* (Drive 2): Slowball on slot seam, ball didn't make it to WR, defender jumped all over it
* (Drive 3): Came alive a bit on this drive, delivered good ball on bootleg with defender in face.
* Good feet but overall the arm looked dead

ANDY DALTON
* Disappointing outing
* A number of near-miss throws
* Wish we could have seen more throws. Arm looked more lively than advertised.
* (Drive 1): Touch throw down the sideline, just delivered too far inside
* (Drive 1): Nice medium range completion with pressure in face
* (Drive 1): Near-miss throwing off back foot on deep post
* (Drive 2): Great PA bootleg and on-target throw to receiver in tight coverage
* Left game early after taking hit to chest. Want to see more to judge

COLIN KAEPERNICK
* I want this guy
* Smart, decisive, not rattled by pressure
* Inexperience in pocket biggest downside, ran Nevada's pistol for 4 years. Lots of read options.
* WHAT AN ARM. This may be an elite NFL arm if he learns better how to use it.
* Has the legs to keep plays alive.
* (Drive 1): Powerful throw running out of pressure on 1st play, delivered right to receiver, who bobbled it up in air for INT. Bad stat line but positive play for Kaepernick.
* (Drive 2): Powerful throw on slant. Mechanics slightly odd looking but delivers ball effortlessly.
* (Drive 2): Couldn't beat Von Miller on naked zone read to left - will have to learn that that won't work against NFL linebackers.
* (Drive 3): BANG! Throw to receiver sitting down in zone hole. Stepped away from sack and delivered a STRONG ball without a full step forward.
* (Drive 3): Fast completion to receiver on slant, got ball out quickly
* (Drive 3): Missed recognition of receiver breaking back to him on rollout, missed opportunity
* (Drive 3): Frustrating pursuers with his ability to keep play alive and make them run the width of the field
* (Drive 4): Great scramble to keep play alive, came back to other side of the field, delivered strong ball throwing across body, receiver dropped it
* Legitimate high ceiling prospect. Helped himself a lot. Definitely a draft-and-develop guy.
* 2nd rounder? Probably.
* Just a sensational arm, which wasn't on display as much at Nevada as he ran it so much (rightly so for college ball).

By far, the guys that looked the best were Ponder and Kaepernick. As of right now, I think both guys are solid 2nd round picks. Ponder is starting to look like the guy that we expected to develop into a 1st round QB, but injuries are a concern going forward (healthy now, but obviously prone to injury). Looking best for a team with an offense built on timing routes. Kaepernick looks like a guy that needs the kind of QB coaching Mike Vick has been getting in Philly. Superstar potential, needs to learn the game better. Big arm and big mobility but also high character and work ethic. Not going to flame out JaMarcus-style.

I don't know what to make of Locker right now. The tools still say 1st rounder. Somewhere, there's a QB coach watching his film that thinks he can solve the accuracy problem.

Andy Dalton, I can't wait to see at the Combine. I need to go back and watch the Rose Bowl again too. I feel like there's something there.

McElroy and Stanzi, I'm not really feeling.

Locker's the streaky one, right? He has to get in a groove before it all comes together ... ?

Saw plenty of McElroy this year, of course. Don't figure he's much more of an NFL QB than Brodie Croyle.

Kaepernick is this years Flacco/Cutler - I'm guessing he keeps rising as it appears he has the intangibles to go along with the physical tools. I wouldn't be surprised to see him taken in round 1. I'd see him going all the way up as far as Washington or Jacksonville.

Is the game up online anywhere?

The ProBowl's on Fox, so I don't believe there's a legal online stream.

Minase wrote:

Kaepernick is this years Flacco/Cutler - I'm guessing he keeps rising as it appears he has the intangibles to go along with the physical tools. I wouldn't be surprised to see him taken in round 1. I'd see him going all the way up as far as Washington or Jacksonville.

That's crazy. I don't know if I can envision him going that high. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that everyone is pulling Nevada tapes right now to watch them again.

I've watched the guy for years, Nevada being a WAC school, and I didn't see it until I watched the Senior Bowl game. At Nevada, he ran so much and the passing game was all short spread stuff thrown to, well, WAC receivers. It was one of the NCAA's best offenses so it's hard to fault them, but it didn't show off the traits that will make him an NFL quarterback.

And some of these so-called expert draft websites have listed Kaepernick as one of their "losers" of the Senior Bowl. It made me understand why some of these experts end up so confused on draft day. They don't know how to isolate and watch for traits that an NFL player will need. One was talking about how great McElroy was. I guess when McElroy would complete a pass, they'd mark it as a positive play, even though there was plenty there to look at and say, "that wouldn't fly in the NFL". Or perhaps they just look at the stat sheet.

Is the game up online anywhere?

Other than private torrent trackers, I don't know.

tagged

That's crazy. I don't know if I can envision him going that high. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that everyone is pulling Nevada tapes right now to watch them again.

I've watched the guy for years, Nevada being a WAC school, and I didn't see it until I watched the Senior Bowl game. At Nevada, he ran so much and the passing game was all short spread stuff thrown to, well, WAC receivers. It was one of the NCAA's best offenses so it's hard to fault them, but it didn't show off the traits that will make him an NFL quarterback.

And some of these so-called expert draft websites have listed Kaepernick as one of their "losers" of the Senior Bowl. It made me understand why some of these experts end up so confused on draft day. They don't know how to isolate and watch for traits that an NFL player will need. One was talking about how great McElroy was. I guess when McElroy would complete a pass, they'd mark it as a positive play, even though there was plenty there to look at and say, "that wouldn't fly in the NFL". Or perhaps they just look at the stat sheet.

I didn't think Cutler/Flacco would go as high as they did, either - I thought they were both bottom 1st/2nd rounder guys. We'll see after the combine, I guess.

I totally agree with some of the analysis I'm seeing, though - I was wondering if these guys were watching the same thing I was, and I've only seen highlight clips and read senior bowl blogs. McElroy has looked decidedly mediocre - breaking his hand in the senior bowl may have actually helped him since he has a good excuse to miss the combine.

Now that it's been brought up, which analysts do you follow? Rob Rang at nfldraftscout.com seems like he knows what he's talking about, I usually start there. Mayock, of course. I'm not a big fan of McShay.

Minase wrote:

I didn't think Cutler/Flacco would go as high as they did, either - I thought they were both bottom 1st/2nd rounder guys. We'll see after the combine, I guess.

I hear you. The one thing that I think keeps Kaepernick out of the class of those two guys is that both of those guys had plenty of tape playing the role of pocket passer. Kaepernick lacks the experience those guys had in that role, so he has a bigger transition ahead of him.

I was not surprised with Cutler's draft spot - I chickened out of making him my #1 overall QB in that draft and I still kick myself over it. Flacco, though, I'm with you on that one. But I still feel that scouts are going to ding Kaepernick more because of the unorthodox college system he'll be converting from.

I totally agree with some of the analysis I'm seeing, though - I was wondering if these guys were watching the same thing I was, and I've only seen highlight clips and read senior bowl blogs. McElroy has looked decidedly mediocre - breaking his hand in the senior bowl may have actually helped him since he has a good excuse to miss the combine.

I just can't see spending more than a late round pick on McElroy, Combine or no. But Grump brought up the name Brodie Croyle, and there's a guy that was a 3rd round pick. And McElroy isn't as small as Croyle was. So, who knows?

Now that it's been brought up, which analysts do you follow? Rob Rang at nfldraftscout.com seems like he knows what he's talking about, I usually start there. Mayock, of course. I'm not a big fan of McShay.

McShay is truly not even worth acknowledging.

I somewhat like Scott Wright at DraftCountdown.com, though I disagree with him plenty.

I don't really pay a lot of close attention to other people. I glance at sites like footballsfuture.com and nfldraftscout.com, but usually after I see something and to see who agrees and disagrees with what I saw. I always like hearing what Mayock has to say, but even still, I don't watch nearly as much NFL Network as I would need to to catch all his stuff (though taping all the Combine workouts means plenty of time to hear him spell out his opinions on players as they're on the screen). My time is limited so mostly I try to spend it seeing the players myself and then checking my thoughts against the buzz and consensus afterwards.

*Legion* wrote:

And McElroy isn't as small as Croyle was. So, who knows?

Croyle had an NFL arm though, he just wasn't big enough to survive the physical demands on a QB in the league. McElroy hasn't looked like he has the arm to me. If I am a GM, he is at best a Rookie FA.

I saw Locker play when he came out a few years ago to play Hawaii, and I really think he has the "it" leadership quality to make it in the NFL.

I don't know enough about the rest to comment effectively, but I always feel like the best leaders would make it at the next level.

But what do I know, I (as a Charger fan), thought Ryan Leaf would be 100 times better than Peyton, and that Mark Sanchez wouldn't even start a game in the NFL...

Legion, how would you compair Kaepernick to say Alex Smith? As I think he also played a nice spread offense and ran a lot during college.

I saw Locker play when he came out a few years ago to play Hawaii, and I really think he has the "it" leadership quality to make it in the NFL.

I don't know enough about the rest to comment effectively, but I always feel like the best leaders would make it at the next level.

Living in Lockerland (the guy is talked about non-stop in the Seattle area), I can confirm that his intangibles are top-notch. Locker's problem has always been accuracy in the pocket - oddly enough, he is usually better on the run. As Legion has alluded, he'll go to whichever team thinks they can coach that out of him.

Legion, how would you compair Kaepernick to say Alex Smith? As I think he also played a nice spread offense and ran a lot during college.

From what I've seen so far, Smith has a merely 'good' NFL arm, Kaepernick has an elite arm. Legion may comment more, but I'll have to hold off until the combine.

Zaque wrote:

Legion, how would you compair Kaepernick to say Alex Smith? As I think he also played a nice spread offense and ran a lot during college.

Well, for starters, Kaepernick has an arm Alex Smith didn't.

Also, he has legs that Alex Smith didn't.

Other than that, same guy.

OK, just kidding. As draft prospects, the difference is that Smith was supposed to be a seasoned passer. A classic doesn't-have-great-arm-but-boy-he's-accurate college prospect. And he could run around in college but never really in a way that made you think his legs would create an impact in the NFL.

Nobody thinks Kaepernick is a seasoned passer. But what he packs is an NFL arm and legs that can play a role in his NFL career. I'm not ready to make this comparison unequivocally, but in the Senior Bowl game, his arm made me think of John Elway (and like Elway, Kaepernick has passed on a career as a pro baseball pitcher to play football). And his legs, I don't know that there's a current NFL equivalent. He's not Michael Vick agile or flat-out straight-line fast, but he has more tuck-it-and-run potential than a Roethlisberger. And he's not a running back-playing-QB type like a David Garrard. Maybe more like a young Steve Young type? Maybe a Randall Cunningham?

Kaepernick has all the physical tools, but with a big learning curve in front of him. If he played in a more pass-oriented offense and had proven himself in that, he would be a higher prospect.

Also, another big difference between these two guys as draft prospects is that Smith's draft was a QB drought and Kaepernick's draft is stock full of them.

Also, another big difference between these two guys as draft prospects is that Smith's draft was a QB drought and Kaepernick's draft is stock full of them.

Yes, I remember Aaron Rodgers (who I liked much better, if only because he played in the Pac-10 :D) falling all the way to GB in that draft. I couldn't believe it then and I can't believe it now.

Of course, put Rodgers on that atrocious 2005 49er team and he may have developed Carr Syndrome too.

Minase wrote:

Yes, I remember Aaron Rodgers (who I liked much better, if only because he played in the Pac-10 :D) falling all the way to GB in that draft. I couldn't believe it then and I can't believe it now.

Tedford QB.

Trent Dilfer, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, Kyle Boller.

Not David Carr, although the morons at ESPN always claimed as such. (Tedford's time at Fresno State only overlapped with Carr's freshman season - I always wondered if they were confused with Carr and Harrington both being "Tedford QBs" when they came out in the same draft. Apparently it never dawned on them).

Anyway, even without Carr padding the list, that was a big red flag for Rodgers. Tedford's offense simplifies things for QBs. It allowed him to get production out of guys that might not be able to wrap their heads around NFL offenses. Of course, at the same time, that doesn't logically mean that every QB Tedford coached couldn't master the NFL mental game. Just that they were less proven (and more of a risk) on that front than some other prospects. And I think teams had that in the back of their head given how many of those risks turned out bad in the past for other teams.

Lockout or not... this should be interesting.

Rat Boy wrote:

The Doug Flutie Award for Breakthrough Performance...But Not By A Rookie (And Not Someone Named Terrence Knighton):

I know this is going to come as a deep shock to anyone who has ever read the NFL threads this year, but I'm going to vote someone else for this. Someone else who may or may not be a second-year QB for the Bucs. I know, deeply surprising. Anyways, Josh Freeman has more or less started a season and a half's worth of football, being he started the last nine games of 2009. For convenience's (and rhetoric's) sake, I'm going to break his career down into three half-seasons.

Half-season 1, 2nd half of 2009--158/290, 54.5%, 10 TD/18 INT
Half-season 2, 1st half of 2010--146/246, 59.3%, 10 TD/5 INT
Half-season 3, 2nd half of 2010--145/228, 63.6%, 15 TD/1 INT

And yes, before Legion says it, I realize that his INT rate smacks of David Garrard's a few years ago and is the sort of thing that is going to be unreproduceable, but his improvement was utterly ridiculous in year two. Oh, and before somebody says "it was the schedule", Tampa had about the same schedule strength as the Falcons and a harder one than the Saints, and Brees really had a shaky year.

Also, Brett Favre as Rat and/or Douchebag of the year . . . I think I have to go with Big Ben. Showing your junk is offensive, shoving it into someone who doesn't want it while an off-duty cop watches the door is repulsive. My only real regret of the Super Bowl is Clay Matthews didn't punch Ben in the junk hard enough to castrate him.

Okay, I guess it's time for me to start the pre...hey, wait a minute! Er...fine, moving on *grumbles*...

With the Super Bowl not even half a day behind us, the NFL season once again comes to a close. And once again, out of all professional sports, the NFL off-season is the most active of them all, with trades (hopefully), drafts (definitely), signings (possibly), and the occasional crimes against human decency (hopefully not). So, while most of us start to draft excuses to avoid spending too much time with our SO's on Sunday afternoons, football life goes on (maybe).

And what better way to start the off-season than to look back on the past season with...another awards show!

IMAGE(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/8669/20102011nflawardscopy.jpg)

You know the drill by now. We're not honoring MVPs or that thing. Some awards you want, some you don't, and even some have practically nothing to do with football. Now, let's begin...

The Doug Flutie Award for Breakthrough Performance...But Not By A Rookie (And Not Someone Named Terrence Knighton): Every so often we see a player who's been languishing in the league without a shot at stardom, riding the bench while others get the reps and the glory. Then, one day something comes along to change that. An injured starter, a trade, a free agent signing few people pay attention to and with that, a star is born. Of course there were plenty break-out seasons by players this year from the likes of Arian Foster, Peyton Hillis, and the much talked about Michael Vick, but this year's winner should come as something as a shock. I too was surprised when I was looking over the stat leaders for the season and found his name at the top of the receiving list even after being in the league for eight seasons and constantly being overshadowed by other players at the position. It's surprising, considering what team he's on. Our winner this year is...Brandon Lloyd (WR, Denver Broncos). Yes, that Brandon Lloyd of those Denver Broncos. The team that benched Kyle Orton in favor of Tim Tebow. The team who fired its head coach Josh McDaniels and appears to be moving into rebuilding mode for next season. And yet with all the turmoil and futility that surrounded him, Lloyd ended up leading the league in receiving yards, near the top in yards per game, and had zero fumbles. On a team with a bleak 2010 season, he was its only bright spot and should be a target of trade offers and fantasy drafts in the off season.

2009-2010 Winner: Charles Woodson (CB, Green Bay Packers)
2008-2009 Winner: Michael Turner (RB, Atlanta Falcons)
2007-2008 Winner: David Garrard (QB, Jacksonville Jaguars)
2006-2007 Winner: Frank Gore (RB, San Francisco 49ers)

The "Who Dat?" Award for the League's Best Obscure Team Up Until the Playoffs: You know how it is. Other than your local teams (and unless you pony up for packages on cable and satellite), more often than not you'll end up seeing teams the networks think are the best. Sometimes teams that don't make the playoffs get all of the attention while some teams just calmly slide into the playoffs and finally make people take notice. Well, this team didn't exactly slide into the playoffs but at the same time they weren't getting much buzz outside of that Play 60 commercial. Of course, that was mainly due to a knock or two against them that bore out in the division round, but it amazes me that even though they were the #1 seed in their conference they weren't attracting that much attention. Our winner this year is...Atlanta Falcons. True, they were bounced by the sixth seeded Green Bay Packers, but they did have the second best record in the NFL behind New England, who also happened to have made an early exit from the post season. The Falcons are still not quite there yet and there's a good chance that their division rival Buccaneers can make it three in a row for the NFC South in this category, but for this year they get my nod.

2009-2010 Winner: New Orleans Saints
2008-2009 Winner: Arizona Cardinals
2007-2008 Winner: Jacksonville Jaguars
2006-2007 Winner: New York Jets

The "Don't Believe the Hype" Award for the League's Highly Overrated Team: Great expectations usually result in great disappointment. When you have a team with star talent, you're expected to make noise in the league. The good kind of noise, not the whining and complaining you generally associate with losing teams like the Raiders or the Rams. Sometimes, though, the hype just goes to a level that's way beyond eleven. In this year's case, the hype factor was probably in the forties, thanks in no small part to who was lining up under center for most of the season. Throw in the complete collapse of the team during the early part of the regular season, a bizarre trade for and cutting of a well-known wide receiver, and you have what's arguably a bigger train wreck than Dallas. Our winner this year is...the Minnesota Vikings. Yes, the Cowboys could have easily been this year's winner, but if you look at the past winner's list in this category below, expectations for them had to be tempered based on the team's lack of performance in the post season. But, with Minnesota, you had Brett Favre coming off one of the best seasons of his career, fall flat on his face, and end the year on the bench. You had the trade for Randy Moss which should have given the team a spark to go after their division rivals only to have it blow up in their face when now fired head coach Brad Childress spontaneously cut him. Throw in the roof of the Metrodome caving in and the craziness surrounding their attempts to have "home" games afterwards and this quite possibly is one of the biggest FAILs I've ever seen in professional sports.

2009-2010 Winner: Pittsburgh Steelers
2008-2009 Winner: Dallas Cowboys
2007-2008 Winner: Dallas Cowboys
2006-2007 Winner: San Diego Chargers

The Jim Mora Award for Spontaneous On-Camera Combustion: I both love and hate this category. I love it for the sheer insanity (PLAYOFFS?!) and quotability (I'M A MAN! I'M FORTY!) of it. On the other hand, I hate it because sometimes there's always a chance of not finding a winner in the ranks of the NFL, hence my bending the rules and looking to the college ranks a few years ago. Head coaches are getting more and more media savvy, more level headed even after getting their butts whooped ten minutes before the press conference begins. Since that was the case, I further bent the rules and extended it to players. After all, they go before the cameras, too. I also further bent the rules because I felt there was just one performance that couldn't go ignored. Our co-winners this year are...Derek Anderson (QB, Arizona Cardinals) and Bart Scott (LB, New York Jets). In the case of Anderson, it was after the Cardinals were thrashed by the 49ers on Monday Night Football and a reporter called him out for apparently laughing on the sideline. His repeated denials were met with further prodding, causing him to unleash a battery of "That's fine" and cap it off with "I put my heart and soul into this sh*t every week!" Whoa, chillax there, Derek. Fast forward to the divisional round and the Jets' surprising victory over the Patriots at Foxboro. ESPN's Sal Paolantonio served as the middle man between Bart Scott and studio analyst Tom Jackson, who was quite down on New York's defense. Scott clearly took umbrage with that assessment and rather than try to paraphrase him, I'll let him do the talking:

That line about nose bleeds seems to take on a different tone considering they were beat by Ben Roethlisberger in the AFC Championship.

2009-2010 Winner: Rex Ryan (Head Coach, New York Jets)
2008-2009 Winner: Mike Singletary (Former Head Coach, San Francisco 49ers)
2007-2008 Winner: Mike Gundy (Head Football Coach, Oklahoma State University)
2006-2007 Winner: Denny Green (Former Head Coach, Arizona Cardinals)

The Guiding Light Award for Soap-Operas that Never End: Once touted as a revolution in media, there is one unfortunate side-effect of the 24 hour news cycle; you got to report stuff for 24 hours. For channels like CNN and FOX News, it means wall-to-wall coverage of whatever Barack Obama or Sarah Palin are up to. For ESPN, particularly when we're in the doldrums of the off-season, where the only other sport of note is baseball that still has miles to go before the penant race, it means constantly hounding NFL teams about this, that, and the other thing. Occasionally, we find ourselves tormented by an ongoing story that torments our every waking hour. Even if nothing is really going on with it, we're still being beaten over the head by speculation and rumors. And with this year's winner, the drama started in training camp and didn't stop until the conference title game. Nine times out of ten, if this winner was referred to in a news report, it wasn't about what happened on the field. Our winner this year is...the New York Jets. Hard Knocks, Ines Sainz, Jenn Sterger, Sal Alosi, Michelle Ryan, F-bombs and alpha-hotels; practically everything other than the game of football kept this team in the headlines. I won't rehash what happened, but it seemed like week after week some new scandal came up, including the one with Sterger that stemmed from her encounters with Brett Favre back in 2008. But perhaps this team fed on it; the one week where all was quiet just happened to be the lead up to the AFC Championship game they lost to Pittsburgh. Perhaps next time they should keep running their mouths off and keep running into trouble.

2009-2010 Winner: Tim Tebow
2008-2009 Winner: Brett Favre
2007-2008 Winner: New England Patriots chasing the '72 Miami Dolphins
2006-2007 Winner: Terrell Owens

The Carolina Panthers Cheerleaders Award for Best Oogaba of the Season: This is another one of those awards that occasionally you have reach real far to find a winner, but at the same time, the effort is well rewarding, at least for me. Wardrobe malfunctions, cheerleaders getting rained on, bathroom hookups, and scantily clad women braving the frigid elements; sometimes you forget that there's a game going on. Well, in this case, this winner was about the interesting going on during the game. With the home team getting clobbered, anything else would be entertaining than what's going on. Our winner this year is...the lap dancer at Cowboys' game (NSFW). This lucky SOB certainly got his money worth with those front-row tickets. Special shout-out to SI swimsuit and Victoria's Secret model Marissa Miller for her yeoman effort in promoting the NFL in London. Now that's marketing.

2009-2010 Winner: New Orleans Saints fan with under-boob
2008-2009 Winner: San Diego Chargers cheerleader whose nipples inadvertently slipped out, AFC Wild Card Game
2007-2008 Winner: Three Green Bay Packers fans wearing bikini tops, Week 17 and NFC Championship Game
2006-2007 Winner: Tara Conner and Katie Blair (Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, 2006). See this thread for details.

The Dick Cline Award for Bad Decisions in NFL Broadcasting: Television revolutionized the NFL and the NFL gave a little back to it. After all, no single program annually draws as much attention (and calls for proclamations of national holidays the following Monday) than the Super Bowl. That isn't to say that it's all been good; for every couple of good Super Bowls, we get Heidi Bowls (to which the name of this award is in reference to). In the case of this year's winner, they fortunately did not go through (yet) with the idea they were entertaining, because the one instance they tested it out was horrifying. Even if the announcers were the NFL equivalents of baseball's Dwayne Kuiper and Mike Krukow, you'd still be rushing for the mute button because of what this network unleashed upon fans. Our winner this year is...FOX. During a game between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, FOX Sports decided to do a little experiment: to play music during the game. The whole game. Constantly. During and in between plays. And this wasn't good music like classic NFL Films pieces or the Daft Punk soundtrack to TRON Legacy that ESPN used during Monday Night Football. It was horrible! Being bombarded like that without interruption during the course of the game is terrible and at least for me ruined the experience of watching. Since FOX so far hasn't done this travesty again, we can only hope they've abandoned this asinine idea.

The above section was written earlier in the post season, but upon viewing the Super Bowl broadcast, I felt the need amend this award. Truly, a horrid effort. An over-bearing montage of current and former players reciting the Declaration of Independence alongside ordinary folk (I bet that played well in the international markets), Christina Aguilera's butchering of the National Anthem, a generally lame assortment of Super Bowl ads capped off by the horrendously offensive Tibet ad by Groupon, the half-time show. Pile this on top of the usually bad broadcasting talents of FOX Sports and the disastrous situation at the venue; FOX should be damn glad that the actual football game was entertaining.

2009-2010 Winner: CBS
2008-2009 Winner: ESPN
2007-2008 Winner: NFL Network
2006-2007 Winner: NFL Network

Rat Boy's Rat of the Year Award: Finally, the granddaddy of them all, the one award that you really, really don't want to have any part in (though Nick Saban seems to be doing well right now). This award recognizes the worst of the worst, the most egregious acts that can possibly be committed by anyone affiliated with the National Football League. I'll spare you further preamble and announce that our winner is...Brett Favre. I'll also refrain from rehashing what I've covered to death in these threads, but in last year's Rat of the Year Award, I stated the following about our dishonoree Tiger Woods:

With fame and money comes temptation and Tiger clearly succumbed to that temptation and set a cautionary tale for all celebrity athletes including those in the NFL. Too often we've seen what abusing the lifestyle has resulted in and what Tiger's debacle proves that no matter what the public persona of a person is, everyone is still one (or about ten in Tiger's case) misstep from pissing it all away.

Certainly, Favre fits that description, the likable Southern man, the faithful husband and father, or at least that's how he was marketed before. Now, thanks to this scandal, it's all gone out the window. Obviously Favre got out of the situation with just a slap on the wrist from the league, not because the NFL didn't think he did anything wrong, just that his stonewalling the investigation prevented them from getting anything really incriminating. This certainly sends a bad message that all you have to do is lie and you'll get away with it, and that's what I find most troubling about this whole thing. True, his personal life probably suffered and the whole thing destroyed Jenn Sterger's career, but the next time an NFL player finds himself under league scrutiny, all he has to do is follow Brett Favre's pattern to get away with it. It's acts like that will get you the Rat of the Year Award.

2009-2010 Winner: Tiger Woods (Golfer)
2008-2009 Winner: Al Davis, (Owner, Oakland Raiders)
2007-2008 Winner: Michael Vick (QB, Philadelphia Eagles)
2006-2007 Winner: Nick Saban (Former Head Coach, Miami Dolphins)

Before I let you go, let's close the books on the last caption contest of the season:

oldmanscene24 wrote:

IMAGE(http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/954/ap95af851ad1264f03b1dbe.jpg)
It was easier to exaggerate an injury in Denver.

For those of you keeping score, here are the winners of the past season ranked by total number of said wins:

*Legion* - 2
MilkmanDanimal - 2
oldmanscene24 - 2
boogle - 1
Kush15 - 1
lostlobster - 1
Nightmare -1

Now hopefully there will be a regular season so we can do this again. *sigh*

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Also, Brett Favre as Rat and/or Douchebag of the year . . . I think I have to go with Big Ben. Showing your junk is offensive, shoving it into someone who doesn't want it while an off-duty cop watches the door is repulsive. My only real regret of the Super Bowl is Clay Matthews didn't punch Ben in the junk hard enough to castrate him.

I didn't pick Favre because of the texting, I picked him for the cover-up, which like I said establishes a very troubling precedent. Big Ben at least cooperated and did his time.

Edit: And it gets worse for the NFL over those 400 seats since they knew about it last week.

Steps for staying out of trouble:
1. Admit nothing
2. Deny everything
3. If all else fails, refer to rule 1.

bighoppa wrote:

Steps for staying out of trouble:
1. Admit nothing
2. Deny everything
3. If all else fails, refer to rule 1.

4. If that fails, cry on TV and go to rehab.

Lame!

The Terrance "Pot Roast" Knighton Award for Being As Awesome as Terrance Knighton: B.J. Raji made a fight of it, but inaugural winner is Terrance Knighton (DT, Jacksonville)

IMAGE(http://www.profootballsouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/nfl_a_knighton_2001.jpg)

That's better.

I should do this award every year. The player (usually lineman) that I jump up and down screaming about that gets nowhere near the level of attention deserved.

*Legion* wrote:

B.J. Raji made a fight of it, but inaugural winner is Terrance Knighton (DT, Jacksonville)

Yeah, but can he dance like Raji? I thought not. Please try again next year.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN *LEGION* RUNS A THREAD!

IMAGE(http://www.profootballsouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/nfl_a_knighton_2001.jpg)

"Seriously, I swear Terrance Cody's ass is THIS big."

Wait, is that not what we're doing here?

IMAGE(http://www.profootballsouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/nfl_a_knighton_2001.jpg)

SCOBEE!!!!! IS RIGHT HERE GOOD?!?! AND YOU WANT ME TO STAND HERE JUST LIKE THIS?!?!?!?!

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

IMAGE(http://www.profootballsouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/nfl_a_knighton_2001.jpg)

"Seriously, I swear Terrance Cody's ass is THIS big."

Wait, is that not what we're doing here?

If I could take back the rule I made about only doing this during the season, I'd make you the leader just so *Legion* drops back to second place.

The dirty, potentially lawsuit attracting details of Mark Sanchez's romancing a 17 year old girl. Now it's officially the off season.

Edit: More fun news; fans who got shafted during the Super Bowl are suing the NFL, the Cowboys, and Jerry Jones.

Rat Boy wrote:

The dirty, potentially lawsuit attracting details of Mark Sanchez's romancing a 17 year old girl. Now it's officially the off season.

So am I a bad person because my wife was 17 and I 25 when we started dating?

Rat Boy wrote:

More fun news; fans who got shafted during the Super Bowl are suing the NFL, the Cowboys, and Jerry Jones.

Yup. The more I hear the more I feel bad for those people, but mostly I want to laugh at Jerry Jones. He isn't seeing another Super Bowl at his stadium in his lifetime.

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