Author: Nick

There’s an undercurrent in the NFL I’ve been noticing that’s silent now but could swell considerably at any moment. What that is that I can’t remember another time in which so many quarterback situations are in flux for the following season.

I can only count 12 teams that unquestionably won’t significantly be in the market for a quarterback in 2018. Those teams are the Colts, Titans, Raiders, Cowboys, Eagles, Lions, Packers, Falcons, Panthers, Bucs, Rams, and Seahawks. That means that as many as 20 teams could see some sort of notable quarterback change next year.  Let’s take a look at those 20 teams, and the challenges that could face them at the position. Continue reading 2018 Could See Seismic Shifts In Quarterback Locations

Across many football platforms, I’ve been noticing a recent rise in conspiracy theories involving the officials.  Among them range from a crew being biased in favor or against certain teams, or even some sort of leaguewide conspiracy to tilt the scales in favor of a team for some beautiful Super Bowl story.

I’m not sure how many of these accusations are actually serious, and how many are merely a cathartic release of soreness when things don’t go the way the fan wants. Nonetheless, I’ll join the likes of Mike Florio, Aaron Schatz, and others in pushing back on this narrative, and I’ll do so by going through the steps necessary for these allegations to hold water. Continue reading The Implausibility Of Officiating Conspiracies

Over at CBS Sports, Jonah Keri wrote a scorched earth article in which he takes sports fans to task:

And more broadly, that both amateur and professional sports organizations stomp on the rights of athletes to enrich those in power.

And that all of us as sports fans aid and abet a corrupt system, and lambast any policy or practice that might interfere with our enjoyment of games, because we believe we’re entitled to drama-free entertainment, any time, all the time.

I found this article quite interesting, and have a few of my own thoughts to share on the subject, with a particular focus on football since that’s the sport I know best. Continue reading Owners vs. Players…vs. a Productive Sports League

While Nicki Jhabvala did an excellent job on breaking the news of John Bowlen (Pat’s brother) wanting to sell his share of the Broncos (around one third of the team), it got lost in the mix of it being, y’know, being broke the same day the Broncos would host the Raiders.  Jhabvala followed up yesterday by being able to get Bowlen on the record to state his desire to sell, a followup that finally caught the eye of more in the media, such as ProFootballTalk.

As I’ve noted before, the question of the future ownership of the Broncos should be deep in the minds of Broncos fans, as success of a sports franchise always starts with the owner. So what should be considered upon hearing this news? Continue reading John Bowlen Wants To Sell: Now What?

The San Diego Los Angeles Chargers have now played three straight games at Jack Murphy Qualcomm the StubHub Center, and the attendance reviews have been utterly mocked. Not only has the 27,000 arena struggled to fill up, but it has been filled with plenty of Dolphins, Chiefs and Eagles fans.  (While the Eagles fanbase in particular was impressive with its showing, just wait until the Broncos and Raiders come to town.)

This has led many in the media to question what on earth the NFL was thinking in allowing the Chargers to move, just one year after the Rams made their return to Los Angeles after a 21 year hiatus in St. Louis. In order to answer that question, it’s important to step back many years before Dean Spanos made his fateful decision to depart San Diego, and observe many decisions the NFL and its teams made to make this possible. Continue reading Reviewing How The Los Angeles Chargers Came To Be