NFL 2011

[Longy]

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

[Sheriff Fatman]

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."

[Sheriff Fatman]

Good excuse to post my favourite Haynesworth footage too:

[KarmaDope]

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

[Sheriff Fatman]

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.

[WPIL]

Haynesworth - Good ridance - Pats LOL ?

[Longy]

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.

[redarmi]

+1 Probably an inspired signing.

[77dave]

Roy Williams to the Bears.

[77dave]

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

Burress to the Jets

[Royal Flush]

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

Burress to the Jets

Lol

[Sheriff Fatman]

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.

[Sheriff Fatman]

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.

[LeKnave]

interest acca

Ravens, Patriots, Chargers, Cowboys.

[Sheriff Fatman]

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.