blonde poker forum

It could be a very short thread if the lockout doesn't get resolved!!!

Just read that the London game this year is Bucs vs Bears.  Can't say that I'm over-excited by the matchup.  Would have preferred two franchises who haven't played here yet after watching the Bucs in 09.

Even though they're a great young team on the rise I just don't see this game as a matchup to get excited about.

The remaining schedule gets released later today, so we'll be able to see which early fixtures are at most risk!

OMG Bears at Wembley will mean i got to try and get tickets for that now  :D

Sods law the lockout will mean it doesnt happen!

sigh, 5xprimetime games for the jets=gg sleep schedule

Bout time the Raiders came over I think.

I'll get to see them in America one day I hope.

think the raiders might have a sqeak for superbowl this year

pmsl good one

We got a ball game!

?

Federal Judge has ordered an end to the lockout

owners set to appeal.

Also Thursday is Draft night.

Bears need a good offensive lineman

A reminder that there is live coverage of the draft on Radio Five Live Sports Extra from midnight.

live on www.nfl.com on your tinterwebs..NFL Network streamed live

Going to be a good one, lots of trades.

Really looking forward to the draft tonight - there seems to be much less consensus over the picks this year than usual and the lockout issues / lack of free agency have made for an interesting dynamic.

I'm not convinced as to whether there'll be quite so many trades as Tighty seems to suggest, given that the only tradeable commodity is other draft picks.  However, there are quite a lot of teams sitting in awkward spots for their biggest needs.  The QB hungry teams are mostly the teams in the top half, and the QB prospects all have big question marks if they go that high.

It now looks like a fait accompli that Cam Newton will go to the Panthers at No1 (controversial in itself as most analysts seem to think Gabbert is the better prospect), but a lot of teams are now being tipped to make 'safer' first round picks compared to the QB rush that had been talked about not so long ago, and perhaps rely on the 2nd round or free agency to fill these needs.

Sounds like there are also a few exceptional talents with question marks over injuries (Da'Quan Bowers) or character (Jimmy Smith) who might drop down the order and become very good value picks for the later teams.  The Eagles have been heavily tipped to pick up Smith if he drops that far, although I suspect that they won't end up picking at No23, as scheduled.  If they do move up, I suspect it'll be to get Smith a few spots earlier, although there's probably a greater chance that they trade down.

My guess for the top 5:

1) Panthers - Cam Newton
2) Broncos - Marcel Dareus
3) Bills - Von Miller
4) Bengals - AJ Green
5) Cardinals - Patrick Peterson

I have no confidence in any of these choices past No 1 though, which is why this draft is so fascinating!

Broncos: Von Miller at 2

Atlanta wants to go to 5-6 to get a playmaker

NE wants to get to 9-12 for Cam Jordan

Houston would love Peterson

Lots of QBs going high. Washington, Minny both want the right one

Dallas wants to trade back

etc etc

One of the best nights of the year.

Didn't you do some sort of prediction comp last year where you got quite a few right?  If so, is it running this year and where?

three years ago on www.footballoutsiders.com, I won it. They were rather amused I was from England

Haven't entered this year, a bit under-researched compared to normal

bink

bink

They gave up a lot in that trade.

I'm quite pleased at getting the names right, if not the exact order!

huge price, but Ryan throwing to Jones and White and Gonzalez and Michael Turner pounding it, on astroturf?

Could be awesome

Titans a huge shock picking Jake Locker.  Lots of concerns about him in the pocket.

Having said that, he was projected to be No 1 this time last year, but stayed in college another season.

It seems an appropriate time to start the thread, as we are going to get a full season it appears.

Who do we like this year?

Anyone going to any games?

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=52960.0

Whoops delete this then, I did a search before posting but it didn't come up.

I've merged the two - my thread was a casualty of the lockout buried down on page 3.

Thank God it's been resolved and only one game lost (the HoF game).  Its going to be a manic few days as free agency gradually kicks in over the next few days.  Waiting with intrigue to see if the Eagles are one of the teams who make a move for Asamugha - their draft tactics of passing on the chance to take a cornerback in the first round suggest they might (although about 20 other teams are also linked with him - Dallas and Houston are two I've seen mentioned a lot recently).

It also seems appropriate to guage interest for a Fantasy NFL League.  I'm plan to set one up on nfl.com shortly but post here if interested.  My general thoughts are to maybe have a money league if enough interest, say $20 a team, and perhaps a separate free league for those wanting to give it a go for the first time without playing for money.  For those who haven't played it's immense fun and relatively easy to pick up.

The format works best with around 10-16 players.  I played a few leagues last season, including one with 20 players, and the free agent pool in that league was a little thin on the ground so the post-draft trades were somewhat scarce.

cant wait

In for Fantasy Leagues too

IN

Id be up for a fantasy league $20 is just about right to make it fun and keep the interest

IN

It's carnage now - I can barely keep up with the trades being announced!

Some interesting ones so far:

Reggie Bush to the Dolphins
Sidney Rice to the Seahawks
Donovan McNabb to the Vikings (been rumoured every year for at least the last 5 so at least it's happened now!)
Matt Hasselbeck to the Titans
Quite a few players staying put too - Santonio Holmes the most notable

Other rumoured trades, but not confirmed yet
Kolb to go to Arizona in a trade for Rogers-Cromartie
Asomugha being strongly linked with the Jets (scary if paired with Revis!)

Thought there might have been a bit of calm before the storm, as the trades don't take effect until 2nd August (or sometime around then) but it's not stopping them being announced.

Sigh, massively overrated imo. Should fit in well in Miami then.

Sounds like Kyle Orton will be handing off/throwing to him too!

Orton I don't actually mind, he is surely going to better than Henne.

OMG - Haynesworth traded to the Patriots for a 2013 5th round pick!!!

Wouldn't have predicted that as a landing spot in a million years!

Interesting to see how he gets on under Belichick - could be a bargain if he gets his act together.

Best quote ever too:

"We're in the process of acquiring Haynesworth, but that’s not complete yet, so I can’t really comment on that at this point until it's completed, if it gets completed," Belichick told reporters. "We'll see how that goes."

Good excuse to post my favourite Haynesworth footage too:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFzp3uHua40

Patriots really going for it, they just signed Ochocinco from the Bengals!

Very happy with the Eagles' business so far:

Kolb traded to Arizona as expected, for Rodgers-Cromartie plus a 2nd round pick.

Vince Young brought in as backup to Vick - risky but has massive upside, much like when Vick was brought in.

Very surprised to see us then get Nnamdi from under everyone's noses, after trading for DRC.  Can't see Asante Samuel leaving so it looks like some sort of 3 way rotation planned at CB with 3 pro-bowl calibre players.

Jason Babin back at DE.

The only downside so far is that DJax looks like he's holding out, which potentially makes the WR depth look somewhat thin.

Haynesworth - Good ridance - Pats LOL ?

If there is a coach who knows when someone is done it is Belichick, therefore I expect Haynesworth to be the man this year.

+1 Probably an inspired signing.

Roy Williams to the Bears.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/6820679/plaxico-burress-new-york-jets-agree-one-year-deal

Burress to the Jets

Lol

OK, the fantasy league is set up.  Details on the separate thread

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=54617.0

I'll PM those who've expressed interest already.

Anyone else who wants to play, please express interest in the other thread.

Pre-season begins tonight including my 'ideal' fixture - Eagles vs my AFC team, the Ravens.  Would love to go to this fixture when the next regular season game comes around.

Must admit that pre-season tilts me in general, as the games tend to be generally manned by players who won't even make the final roster in many cases.  The lack of OTA's prior to the lockout ending might mean starters see a bit more time than usual, but even then they still then just run 'vanilla' plays rather than give too much info ahead of the regular season.

Still, at least they're back on the field at last, which means not long to go until it means something again!


Pleased to see that the Eagles have signed Steve Smith from the Giants too.  Could be a shrewd pickup once he's clear of his injuries, especially as Jackson (contract) and Maclin (mystery illness) have ongoing issues to resolve.

interest acca

Ravens, Patriots, Chargers, Cowboys.

ESPN's site has finally gone live with their Pigskin Pick'em and Eliminator games, so I've set up blonde mini-leagues for these.  I played all of these last season and they run very well, so need very little administration.

Pigskin Pick'em is a straightforward predict the winner of each fixture (two versions, one with a spread, one without - you can enter one or both).

Eliminator is the same as the blonde eliminator played by some last season (pick a team to win each week, different team every week has to be used, get it right and continue to the next week & last man standing wins - although the software lets you carry on making predictions after this if you like).

Links to both games are below.  Basically, once you register a team (free) and create an entry you can choose to join a mini-league.  I've included the names and passwords for each of the blonde group's below.  NB: For Pigskin Pickem you have to create separate entries for each version (i.e. spread and non-spread) but you're allowed 3 entries in total on the site.  Just make sure you give them different names.

http://games.espn.go.com/pigskin-pickem/en/frontpage

Groups:

'blondepoker non-spread'  Password: tikay

'blondepoker spread'  Password: tightend

http://games.espn.go.com/eliminator-challenge/en/frontpage

Group:

'blonde eliminator'  Password: ironside


The plan is to have the leagues open to anyone who wants to have a go for bragging rights, hence the passwords being shown above.  If anyone's interested in playing for money then we can do this from within the free game, and I'll be happy to administer - just post in the thread to express interest.  I was thinking $20 for each game (similar to the Fantasy League) - winner take all if <10 players, maybe 75%/25% for 1st and 2nd if we get more than 10, but am open to suggestions on this.

No need to be an NFL expert to play these for nothing - you can basically make paper bets for the entire season.  Who knows, you may turn out to be a natural!

Please let me know if any problems signing up or finding these leagues.

Bears v Giants about to start on ESPN

Preseason but should still be a good game.

BIG BLUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

just chucked a bully on the giants for it all @ 40.0 great price.

I'm all over the Detroit Lions this year like a rash.

I've backed them for the division @ 6/1, for the Superbowl @ 50s and then again for the Superbowl @ 40s.

Also, my new favourite team is the Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm sick of just following Jones and Rich by supporting the Giants for no reason and my Dad has tickets for us to see Jags v Colts when we go over to our house in Florida for christmas, so seems wise to support them coz I know I'll love it when I go. UP THE JAGS!

The opening game could quite possibly be a contender for game of the season already.

Brilliant performances from both QBs, Saints kept hanging in there throughout and were 1yd away from a possilby game tying TD on the final play.

Randall Cobb ties the NFL record for a kickoff return in his 1st game, and adds another TD to boot.

[X] Glad I picked him up in my double-roster league.
[  ] Glad I had him on my bench.

What a start to the season!  Ravens - Steelers going to be awesome too on Sunday, but in an entirely different way.  A shootout last night, followed by good old-fashioned smashmouth attrition!

Some big surprises last night, particularly how easily the Ravens beat the Steelers.

Good results for some of the predicted strugglers too - not sure many saw the Bengals and Bills winning their games.  KC do seem to be as bad as their pre-season suggested and they've got a horrible schedule as divisional winners this year.

Cam Newton broke Peyton Manning's record for best QB debut (stats wise), when it was predicted he'd struggle to adapt (albeit it's only one game), Minnesota ran the Chargers close and the Bears battered the highly-fancied Falcons.

Relieved to see the Eagles get through their game relatively comfortably, as that was a banana-skin game.  They travel to Atlanta next week so thought there was a good chance they'd start the season 0-2.  All the hype will be on Vick going back there so should get a lot of coverage this week.

Chargers didn't look too good.  Guess they were a bit rattled by losing the field goal man to injury and conceding a first play TD.

Special teams was a huge issue for the Chargers last season so to concede a touchdown return on the first kick-off of the new season was particularly comedic.

To be fair, they did well to win in the end, given that they lost their field goal outlet (saw a play on the red zone coverage where they went for a 4th and 8-ish, because they had no-one to go for the field goal).  It takes away a few 'safe' scores so they had to rely on TDs all through the match.

Bizarrely, I've just read now that the punter kicker a 40yd field goal later in the game, and I'm sure the one they declined was closer than that.  Must've been practicising on the sideline!

yes I watched the games - his field goals were funny.  All jerky action and flat trajectory. He got it over though!

Later on was after half time and i would imagine he spent the half time break practising kicks.

The chargers looked just as they usually do at the start of the season, thankfully they turned it into a win though.

I assume Houston are the big movers in the outright markets?  And Colts the other way?