The Official 2012 NFL Offseason Thread

New York has its own mega-church. Its called Roman-Catholic Diocese. I had maybe two WASP friends growing up.

 

My quote: "In NY he's pretty much just a stick to threaten Sanchez with. He may not even be the backup-- I'd let him compete for the starting job, and make a wildcat player out of him when he doesn't win it... "

I'm not seeing the disagreement? (And I think your analysis in re the Panthers is unusually accurate and articulate.)

My point was that Tebow isn't at all likely to win the starting job; his presence simply serves the Jets perceived need to light a fire under Sanchez.

That is. he serves the Jets needs, but doing so does not particularly serve his...

 

My point was more that Colorado is Ground Zero, as I understand it, for non-denominational evangelical Christianity. In most of the Southern Bible Belt, evangelicals are Baptists or Pentacostals. Tebow strikes me as a hero of the nondenominational segment of evangelical Christianity.

Have you read Fast Food Nation? It has some interesting things to say about Colorado.

 

As far as the Panthers go, yeah, Edwards is a great open field runner, that's why he returns punts. And Steve Smith is a Hall of Fame receiver precisely because he's great at catching the long ball AND he's a great RAC guy. Putting Smith at wideout in a wildcat is basically forcing the other team to pick their poison; he's ideal for the formation.

This is the part I disagree with. I think he's being brought in solely as a Wildcat quarterback and publicity stunt (mostly the latter, I think). I don't think he's being brought in as competition for Sanchez.

Now that I think about it...if the Jets brain trust thinks Sanchez is suffering from the media spotlight, maybe they're bringing in Tebow as a lightning rod to take that spotlight away from Sanchez (horribly mixing my metaphors there. ) In that case, Tebow being a publicity stunt is an on-the-field FEATURE, not a bug.

I generally think triple bank shot explanations of otherwise inexplicable moves are wrong, but they're fun to think about.

 

Ah-- well, they haven't actually called a press conference and announced "We think Sanchez is lazy," but there has been rather a lot of leakage about his work ethic this off season-- I was figuring one had include that static in assessing any such move.

And keep in mind, guys who are still on their rookie contracts are, for the first time in a long time, going to cost noticeably more than new draftees, and for a couple of years. There are pretty intriguing Wildcat prospects out there for cheaper...

But mainly, I was not really assessing the Jets motives, but puzzled as to Tebow's. He's now saying he had no input as to where he was sent, and that would make more sense to me than the initial story-- because the opportunity in Jacksonville, if not golden, at least seems greater than that of being the Jets Wildcat guy and possible back-up.

 

FFN is about more than just fast food, it's about the sociological changes in America that made/make the fast food industry. It's been a few years, so I may be hazy on the details, but the writer notes that McDonald's and megachurches both got their start in SoCal, and argues that's not a coincidence. IIRC, he starts the book with an anecdote about McDonald's and Taco Bell trash at a NORAD site in Colorado. And he talks about the role of the Ted Haggard/Focus on the Family/home schooling strand of Christianity in Colorado.

One of the threads running through the book is that Colorado has become what SoCal was. That's what is relevant to Tim Tebow and the Broncos.

 

I agree. Sanchez is lazy and Tebow was brought in to turn the attitude and chemistry of the team around, starting with the QB position.

I haven't read the book, but I'm not sure I understand the point or the links. SoCal was supposed to be what exactly? Disneyland is from SoCal. When the Super Bowl winner says "I'm going to Disneyland!" is that some type of religious subliminal message telling people to eat at McDonalds?

 

Que the "Nixonland" reference among others, with a lot of extreme Conservative/Christian movements starting in SoCal (more specifically the Anaheim area) in the 1960's. The area was plain nuts when Reagan was Governor.

 

I don't doubt Rex's involvement in this trade. Putting things into perspective and getting over (sort of) the initial shock, we'll just have to wait and see how the hell this plays out. Rex liked using the Wildcat but with Brad Smith having gone to Buffalo, we didn't see a lot of it last season. Now, I assume we'll see a lot of it, especially with Sparano as our new OC.

The biggest issue I have with the trade is the affect it could potentially have on Sanchez's confidence. We gave him an undeserved contract extension despite reports of locker room dysfunction and anonymous teammates calling him out. Whatever confidence boost he got from that new contract had to have gone down at least a little bit. What kind of message are you sending your supposed starting QB? I just don't get it.

 

The Sanchez extension is nothing more than a shell game to create cap room this season. If he doesn't [pan out during the next two seasons, he won't be here for that extension year, and it also moves his cap number (and potential hit) out an extra year. THAT is what Tannenbaum's job is.

I wonder if Daniel Snyder is chuckling and saying "what the f#ck are the Jets doing?"

 

Matt, don't do that. You're starting to sound like a Yankee fan.

 

Just tackling Cruz instead of letting him go 99 yards and there is no big brother super bowl.

Lots of PSL's to sell in the swamp.

 

Yep for the first time, the Jets are really looking like the Mets. This is Carlos Beltran.

Just waiting for Bernie Madoff to stick his nose into this team.

 

I agree that Forte has earned a new deal, but if there's one thing I've seen in the league, deserve and get are two different things. The Bears are protecting themselves in case Forte holds out (did they franchise him?). If they can't reach a deal, it could lead to either a trade or a holdout.

 

I don't begrudge a player holding out in the NFL. Contracts are not guaranteed (generally). Get what you can up front. If your not performing, the teams are quick to dump you.

 

Yep.

Absolutely. And considering the average NFL career is 3-4 years, it's hard to fault a guy who has produced on the field for several years at well-below market rate. Not to mention the fact that the Bears have now given fairly generous contracts to Kevin Jones, Chester Taylor, Marion Barber, and Michael Bush to serve as Forte's backup.

 

He's going to become the John Gotti of the NFL?