Many NFL teams are fond of starting their final drives before halftime with a draw or another sort of running play to try to test the waters. If the play goes well, they’ll kick it into second gear and start sprinting down the field to try to score. If the play fails, they’ll slow down and waste time before hitting the locker room for halftime. In a league where teams constantly talk about dictating the game and imposing their will upon the opposition, the halftime draw is weirdly passive.
But the halftime draw doesn’t suit either master. If the play works and gains 10 yards, you’re now sprinting up to the line of scrimmage to run your next play while wasting precious seconds or you’re burning a timeout. Given how far these plays likely David Clarkson Jersey are from the end zone, they’re the most likely passes on your drive to be completed and the mostly likely to end with a free pass out of bounds to stop the clock. Teams are afraid of throwing incomplete passes and being stuck punting to the opposition, but if that’s David Savard Jersey such a concern, you’re better off kneeling and avoiding the risk of fumbles.
Who are these people keeping Goodell in power? Well, they’re the kind of people who get giant statues of themselves for their 80th birthday, like Panthers owners Jerry Richardson. It’s the kind of art only a dictator would love.
But roughly just six weeks after the NFL and NFLPA were reportedly negotiating a way to lessen Roger Goodell’s authority, a federal appeals court reinstated Brady’s suspension in late April. “We hold that the commissioner properly exercised this broad discretion under the collective bargaining agreement and that his procedural rulings were properly grounded in that agreement and did not deprive Brady of fundamental fairness,” the majority opinion said. “Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remain with instructions to confirm the award.”
Once that ruling was issued, the league no longer had any incentive to work out a deal with the players’ union. One of the highest courts in the land essentially determined there are no limits to Goodell’s disciplinary power in the CBA.
Andy Dalton, NFL MVP. Another in a series of bold predictions for the Bengals’ upcoming season, Cincy Jungle look at the case for why Andy Dalton will win the NFL MVP award for the 2016 season.
Could Jimmy Garoppolo supplant Tom Brady on the Patriots depth chart? No. But that didn’t stop daytime cable sports television from asking the question.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has shown a willingness to go for 2 early in games, but he doesn’t do it every time. Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports
It’s impossible for humans to imagine all of the possibilities in their head in real time, but it’s far from impossible to imagine them with a computer, which is why coaches should look to models. The one created by Football Commentary is outdated because it doesn’t account for the new extra point rules, but it gives us some broader insight into how teams should think about these sorts of decisions.
Their model suggests going for two isn’t as meaningful or clear-cut early in the second half as it might be later in the contest, but there are still situations where the choice to go for two should be quite obvious. Teams should basically always be going for two when they are up by five or down by five. The same is true when they are down by two, eight, nine, 13 or 15, which leads to another unwritten rule …