Is Crappy Football On The Way?
June 19th, 2011
St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton apparently had a crappy lunch last week and penned a very negative column about the NFL that appears in today’s newspaper.
Shelton takes a page from THE PESSIMIST and rambles about how fans he knows don’t care about the NFL and carries on that we’re all doomed to watch second-rate football because teams have missed OTA days and minicamps.
What ought to alarm the players, and what ought to scare the dickens out of the owners, is the growing apathy. That’s the real cost of this wasted offseason. Every time a fan turns his head, the Benjamin Franklins in his wallet do the same.
And so it does not go. Bounce around the Internet and you can find dozens of NFL headlines a day, and not one of them says anything new. Secret meetings? Positive signs? Someone else arrested? Both sides are talking, neither side is listening, and what else is new.
You know what ought to be new?
By now, someone — anyone — should be concerned about how good the football will be when the NFL comes back.
The quality cannot be the same, you know. A league cannot sacrifice all the organized team activities and offseason workouts and minicamps without losing chemistry and cohesiveness. The result is bound to be a lessened product on the field.
Joe must disagree with Shelton — at least right now.
First, Joe knows Bucs fans are aching for football and there is no real loss of interest yet in the NFL. Shelton’s off the mark. The non-hardcore Bucs fan, which is the vast majority of fans, hasn’t missed a damn thing yet. These people don’t care about OTAs. They have rippin’ Super Bowl parties, keep their eye on on the Bucs’ draft, and circle their calendars for opening day of training camp.
Second, the hardcore fans may be a bitter bunch right now, but Joe doesn’t know any that are ready to write off their passion — notyet anyway. (Joe also looks at the traffic numbers here and isn’t seeing a dropoff.) If hatchetman Roger Goodell screws up and lets training camp and preseason to get screwed up, sure. But it’s not there yet.
As for the crappy football Shelton claims is a given in 2011, Joe’s not buying that the best football coaches in the world, along with the best players, can’t figure out how to execute on Sundays without OTAs. As Bucs linebacker Scot Brantley always said, the core of football is still “blockin’ and tacklin,'” which isn’t about to change.
Of course, more practice time is a good thing, but Joe thinks coaches and players can adjust seamlessly as long as they don’t miss training camp.
Joe’s choosing to be optimistic about all-things lockout today. Just get the damn thing done in the next two or three weeks. It’s important to note that the $700 million of expected revenue from preseason games primarily all falls in the owners’ pockets, as players are only paid a small stipend — not salary — for those games.
Joe continues to hope that $700 million is enough motivation to get 24 of the 32 billionaires to end this asinine mess.
June 19th, 2011 at 10:05 am
Joe,
Read the PFT headline right now. Apparently, Talib’s attorney is telling you one thing and Rick Stroud another.
June 19th, 2011 at 10:22 am
Joe here,
@Thomas 2.2 — First off, please don’t take a comment thread under a post way off topic, especially not out of the gate.
Second, you’re reading way too much into stuff and making baseless assumptions. Joe saw Stroud’s post yesterday. Joe thought it was rather laughable on a lot of levels, but Joe’s not ivesting the time to touch it.
Joe fully expects, as he has all along, for a deal to be struck that keeps Talib out of jail and drops his charge to a misdemeanor.
June 19th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Shelton’s just writing a story because he has to write! I’m with you Joe 100% on this topic. What I am concerned about is player conditioning and its impact on 4th quarter performance along with increased risk to injury.
June 19th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Agreed, and increased risk of injury is a real concern, there is another side to it.
I bet Price, Bowers, Grimm, Benn, and McCoy are all glad to have the extra recovery time. I don’t know if Price can come back, but the extra time helps. A broken ankle is a real robber of speed and foot quickness. The more time Grimm has without forcing it to respond under pressure, the better his chance to minimize skill loss. And Cody can’t afford speed of quickness loss if he wants to start.
So, in so instances, the lockout may have helped us.
June 19th, 2011 at 10:47 am
…and the learning curve for rookies.
Thomas 2.2 – Why such an antagonist all the time? Take a deep breath. Damn.
June 19th, 2011 at 11:23 am
Joe, i didnt know how else to direct your attention to a national blog with a headline directly contradictory to the narrative you have taken on thd Talib story.
You have said repeatedly that this would end with an early plea – according to PFT – Talib’s attorney disagrees with you on the early part. Talib is a felon and the state will try to prove it.
June 19th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Joe here,
@Thomas 2.2 —
First, “early” is a relative term. Yes, Joe is confident this will end “early” in the process with a plea sooner rather than “later,” as in the 11th hour before or during a trial.
Second, a headline is not a story, it is a headline.
Third, how in heaven’s name can you say what Talib’s attorney agrees or disagrees with Joe on when you didn’t hear the conversation?
Fourth, you were welcome to chime in on this on the latest Talib thread, which is on the main page. You’re capable of controlling yourself. Surely, you do it all the time during your alleged legal career.
June 19th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Wrong again Thomas. It’s amazing how you hope for negative things to happen to the team and you create a post that has nothing to do with the article. Talib will get off and stay on the team. Get over it and go spew your negativity somewhere else.
Agree with Joe about Shelton. It seems the sports writers around here are related to Thomas. This goes with the comments Ronde said on the NFL network about the local writers around here.
June 19th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
alot alot of rules in this blog…
June 19th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
“alleged career” lol. I appreciate that you find the profession worthy of allegation.
I find Perez’s statement clearly inconsistent with your multiple stories about a probable early misdemeanor plea. Talib is a good player but bad person who has committed multiple crimes. Texas must fight to keep this guy off our streets. The football ramifications are unimportant
June 19th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Oh no! I agree with Thomas’s last post! I must be on the wrong side of this whole Talib thing!! Lol
By the way, happy father’s day to all the Papa posters on JoeBuc!
June 19th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
On the subject of crappy football, did you see the schedule of crappy teams with horrible qbs last year?
June 19th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
@Joe
How about a “Father Dungy” post that we can all wish him a happy father’s day on?
On the Apathy theory that Shelton brings up
I agree he is waaaay of the mark. Fans are not bitter at the NFL at all. They are bitter at the lockout.
There won’t be a single fan lost if the football season starts on time…or even if it starts a couple weeks late.
Yes, fans will be screaming in anger…but football is to fans like cigarettes are to smokers or sex is to men…highly addictive and we can’t walk away from it.
Sure…fans might protest a little…and they might even refuse to go to a few games (some of them will) to show their anger. But in the end…we all know the NFL is America’s Sport. No way will anyone walk away from it.
I think, also, that Shelton is considering his own bitterness in tune with the rest of the fans, and that’s not so.
Regardless of which side of the lockout issue we all fall on, one thing is certain…players are here for a limited time, and the NFL will never go away. We can say we’re on the side of the players all we want, but even if the NFL refused to bring back half or all of the current players, eventually we would accept it and move on. Because new players would come in and win us over.
The NFL would keep going.
The only chance of changing that is a new league that can actually compete with the NFL…like if the players themselves formed one…then there might be a slim chance of success. But that’s a fantasy.
That sort of thing has been tried in business before. In the late 90s, the comic book industries top artists and creators quit working for others and formed Image Comics. At first it was a success and they became the #3 company. But they never grew beyond that and now they barely exist. Why?
Because the artists are not the product. The characters are.
In football, there is a wise-spread misconception that the players are the product. They are not.
The game of football is. The players are the talent.
June 19th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Thomas has yet to discover e-mail……or class….
June 19th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
LOL…I guess you don’t realize what PR really is. They charge money for access, and that content they offer for it is nowhere near as good as JoeBucsFan.com.
I could go on and on about my sorespot for them, but let’s just leave it at I feel they charge for content available elsewhere in another form.
At least Joe links to his sources in every post. He only quotes a portion of someone’s article and then comments on it. PR says “Pewter Report has learned…” or “sources tell us…” instead of always naming sources half the time.
Many a blogger has made this same mistake. I myself had years ago. But I learned the proper way of doing things…and Joe does it right…even if I don’t always agree with his stance, I respect it.
As to “You have said repeatedly that this would end with an early plea…”
You do not seem to comprehend that this is a blog where opinions are expressed. The point that you confused his prediction with fact when it was clearly theory demonstrates the level of intellect you bring to the table with your constant negative characterizations of people, teams and opinions.
June 19th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
I don’t disagree with Shelton in regards to a “lessened product on the field.” I agree with Joe that players will still be able to execute but I would be willing to bet that overall stats will be noticeably down from last year. That is what I think ShelTON was getting at.
June 19th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Thanks, Capt..same back at you if you are a dad too.
June 19th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
I wonder if there are any teams that have zero players getting together.
June 19th, 2011 at 3:41 pm
btw, Thomas…
Pewter Report does not claim to be a group of bloggers. They claim to be reporters. It’s right there on their homeage (bottom left).
June 19th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Pete Dutcher,
Your rant against PR seems way off base. Thomas was talking about PFT.
June 19th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
I think that someone, a fan, should organize a national boycott day to protest the lockout.
As an example, if 1 game is missed fans should not go to their team’s opener. I know this is impractical for many reasons notably that tickets are already purchased. But it would send the gluttons a message.
June 19th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
well…don’t I look foolish then 😉
June 19th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Crappy football is better than no football…..well yes it is after watching Friday night football and all day and night Saturday football….errr…perhaps we do not need the Nihilist Football League..to have a good day
June 19th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
I don’t know about that, Thomas 2.2.
Hate on the owners all you want for the lockout, but if they win this thing it will be better for the sport overall. We, as fans, need to decide which is more important…lining players pockets or improving the game overall.
Yes, if the players lose this thing, the owners pockets would be lined…but we would benefit from it as fans. If the players win, they get to spend on themselves, and the game is not improved.
June 19th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Lining players pockets? Their wealth falls way short of owners who dont destroy their bodies for our entertainment. The game may be more of the product than the players but the on field product has much less to do with ownership. Anyone with $ could hire a good gm and sit back and count money. Sound familiar?
June 19th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Pete is right!
Doesn’t anyone know it’s the damn players who locked out the owners!
Doesn’t anyone know it’s the players who instituted the tuck rule?
Doesn’t anyone know it’s the players who instituted rules that defenders get fined for playing physical football?
Doesn’t anyone know it’s the players who instituted rules that quarterbacks and receivers are to be treated like china dolls?
Damnit to hell, if it wasn’t for these friggin players, football would be a great game!
Watching owners shoveling their faces with shrimp cocktails in their luxuries boxes during games is why we all live for Sundays for!
June 19th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
The only crappy football played this year in Tampa will be from me warming up at the tailgate spot, in case coach decides to put me in.
June 19th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Im not sure I totally agree with the whole Shelton article, but if the point was, and I think it was, that a bit of rustiness will prevail, then Yes, I agree, and as I posted in Gary’s reply, this is why.
In 1981 the Bucs were beaten by the Dallas Cowboys 38-0 in the playoffs. There was no free agency back then like today, a team needed years to change, so you didn’t have massive improvement from one year to the next. In 1982 week 2 the league went out on strike. They came back and the Dallas Cowboys BARELY beat our Bucs 14-9 in which the Bucs had 5 trips in the Dallas red zone and only came up with 9 points.
Next case in point, the 87 strike Shelton refers to. After the replacements left, the Bucs took on the Mighty Chicago Bears, who were in the middle of owning the Bucs for 12 straight games. The Bucs took a 20-0 lead on these Bears, who were just good enough to beat the Bucs 27-26. The year before the Bears beat the Bucs 48-14 in Chicago and 23-3 in Tampa.
If we have training camp, the difference wont be as bad, but Tampa Bay has an advantage; we play many teams in 2011 with new coaches/Qbs who will be even more unprepared.
June 19th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Gary Shelton is always a negative tool. Never cared for his articles at all.
June 20th, 2011 at 6:01 am
K2the Soldier- well said. He is a tool.
June 20th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Yeah! lol.
Seriously though…if not for the owners, there wouldn’t even be an NFL.
Let’s assume for a moment that the Players win and get more money. How will that help the game at all?
Short answer: It won’t. In no way at all.
It just puts money in THEIR pockets.
If the owners win, what happens? Yes, they make more money (rightfully so since they own the product). But what does at least some of that money go toward?
Short answer: Football.
So you tell me, Joe…how am I wrong? Zero money from the players goes into the sport of football. A portion of the money from the owners does.
I really don’t see how people cannot see the logic in this.
Short answer: I’m right.
June 20th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Pete:
There’s the fundamental flaw in your argument. The players are not asking for more. They are asking for status quo. It was not the players who decided to reopen negotiations. It was not the players who caused the lockout. The game has never been this healthy. There was zero reason to screw with the golden goose.
If you are claiming if the players get what they want — again, status quo — will ruin the game, then you are claiming the game was in horrible shape before the lockout which is patently inaccurate.
You really need to do more research Pete.