NFL 2015: Offseason: OTAs / Dead Zone

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Now comes the boring part. The draft is over. OTAs and minicamps offer a small drip of football (mostly just injuries), and then we go into the "Dead Zone" (as Vic Ketchman coined) of zero activity between OTAs and the start of training camp.

DeflateGate discussion (if there's any left) still goes in the DeflateGate thread.

*Legion* wrote:

"Dead Zone"

Another one of those quirky basic cable serialized dramas that was ahead of the curve. Also, Nicole "Ezri Dax" de Boer.

*Legion* wrote:

EJ Manuel at risk of being cut this offseason.

EJ Manuel is both possibly the best QB the Bills have and worthy of being cut, which says it all.

In some weird way I'm hoping Brady's suspension is cut to 2 games so he can play against the Cowboys.. gah I feel dirty.

Justin Smith retires and Ryan Tannehill gets an extension.

Rat Boy wrote:

Justin Smith retires and Ryan Tannehill gets an extension.

Smith will be missed, though the team was preparing for that inevitability over the past couple of years, drafting Tank Carradine and now Arik Armstead, along with signing Darnell Dockett this offseason.

Replacing both Smith and Ray McDonald's production is a tall order. They need those young guys to step up soon. I wonder if Glenn Dorsey might get a look back out at DE again, though he seemed better at NT when filling in for Ian Williams. But if Williams is healthy, that puts Dorsey back on the bench.

Rat Boy wrote:

Justin Smith retires and Ryan Tannehill gets an extension.

Real football news!

Extra points to the 15 yard line. Two points still from the 2 and the defense can return.

Rat Boy wrote:

Extra points to the 15 yard line. Two points still from the 2 and the defense can return.

Oh, good, they chose the most ridiculous one of the options. I don't need extra points to be exciting. Either do everything at the 2, or everything at the 1. No more fakes? That sucks.

I didn't watch many (any?) Eagles games, but at Oregon Chip Kelly (and now Mark Helfrich) would frequently line up in a non-kicking formation on PAT's, read the D, and then make a decision whether or not to run a 2-point play or just switch the formation back to a kick. If that was even legal in NFL, its certainly not going to make any sense now.

Also, while this is the fringiest of the fringe cases... can the QB dropkick on a PAT from the 2-yard line and how many points would that be worth?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Extra points to the 15 yard line. Two points still from the 2 and the defense can return.

Oh, good, they chose the most ridiculous one of the options. I don't need extra points to be exciting. Either do everything at the 2, or everything at the 1. No more fakes? That sucks.

I'd rather they just do everything from the 15. Maybe make going for it instead of kicking the point worth 3 instead of 2. If it's equal to a field goal there's more reason to gamble.

Note: Completely random thought. The above may be bad for the game overall.

It was just the most amusing thing to pop in there.

Rat Boy wrote:

Extra points to the 15 yard line. Two points still from the 2 and the defense can return.

I have absolutely no reason to be against it other than the fact that It Has Always Been From The 2.

Between that and Letterman retiring, I feel damned old all of a sudden.

It'll be interesting to see how this factors into fantasy scoring for kickers, if at all.

NFL kickers were 90.1% (272 of 302) from 30-39 yards last season. Turning the PAT into a 32-yard field goal kick isn't likely to make much of an impact.

My bet is that the conversion rate will be about 95%. (Kickers converted 97.6% of 20-29 yard field goals in 2014, which establishes a reasonable upper bound for what we can expect from 32 yards). Certainly down from 99.3% but still too conservative a move to actually have the game changing effect it is supposed to. Basically this just rewinds the kick conversion rate to the early 1980s, and was anyone watching football in the 80s thinking of PATs as an exciting, meaningful football play?

*Legion* wrote:

Basically this just rewinds the kick conversion rate to the early 1980s, and was anyone watching football in the 80s thinking of PATs as an exciting, meaningful football play?

It was the Golden Age of Football.

garion333 wrote:

It was the Golden Age of Football.

IMAGE(https://40.media.tumblr.com/436f9d21d201ba1e48441425d88ea76e/tumblr_mlb0org6cs1qm9rypo1_1280.jpg)

You're goddamn right about that.

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

It was the Golden Age of Football.

IMAGE(https://40.media.tumblr.com/436f9d21d201ba1e48441425d88ea76e/tumblr_mlb0org6cs1qm9rypo1_1280.jpg)

You're goddamn right about that.

Apparently it was the golden age for Montana's nuts too.

Gumbie wrote:

Apparently it was the golden age for Montana's nuts too.

It takes two big ones to stand in the pocket when Lawrence Taylor is coming around your blind side.

DV charge dismissed for Ray Rice.

Fun trivia I saw on Twitter today...

No cheating!

5 quarterbacks last season were second on their teams in rushing attempts. Four of them were: Kaepernick, Wilson, Newton, and Tannehill.

Who was the 5th?

Barry Allen!

Bortles

Cause that's all Legion cares about anymore.

garion333 wrote:

Bortles

Cause that's all Legion cares about anymore.

/burn

Wrong! On both counts.

Bortles was 3rd on the team behind Denard Robinson and Toby Gerhart.

Hint: think of teams where a disproportionately high number of carries go to the #1 RB.

Tony Romo?

Nope. Romo was actually 4th on his team, behind Murray, Joseph Randle, and Lance Dunbar.

One more hint: this player is on the wrong side of 30, but not as far as Romo is.

Bonus hint: this team's 2014 RB depth chart was so top heavy, that the #2 RB (who ranked 3rd on the team in carries) was the only other RB to even record a carry on the season. Following him on the team carries list were two wide receivers and the backup QB.

*Legion* wrote:

Nope. Romo was actually 4th on his team, behind Murray, Joseph Randle, and Lance Dunbar.

One more hint: this player is on the wrong side of 30, but not as far as Romo is.

Bonus hint: this team's 2014 RB depth chart was so top heavy, that the #2 RB (who ranked 3rd on the team in carries) was the only other RB to even record a carry on the season. Following him on the team carries list were two wide receivers and the backup QB.

Alex Smith? Wild guess. Charles stayed healthy last year, right?

*Legion* wrote:

Nope. Romo was actually 4th on his team, behind Murray, Joseph Randle, and Lance Dunbar.

One more hint: this player is on the wrong side of 30, but not as far as Romo is.

Bonus hint: this team's 2014 RB depth chart was so top heavy, that the #2 RB (who ranked 3rd on the team in carries) was the only other RB to even record a carry on the season. Following him on the team carries list were two wide receivers and the backup QB.

Ben Rothelisburger?

Millard Filmore!

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