Are you ready for some NFL Football? 2014 Edition.

[boogielicious]

Browns Shenanigans?

http://deadspin.com/the-browns-appear-to-be-up-to-some-pre-draft-shenanigan-1685196615

Quote:

The Cleveland Browns, who are a goddamn mess , have found themselves a nice little loophole in the NFL rule book that they might be able to use to get an edge in the upcoming draft.

The Browns have not yet officially hired Kevin O'Connell to be the team's new quarterbacks coach, but it's been reported far and wide that O'Connell will be joining the coaching staff this upcoming season. Before he does that, though, he's going to finish personally training top prospect Marcus Mariota , a quarterback whom the Browns are reportedly interested in drafting.

The problem here is that all of the other NFL teams are forbidden from directly contacting any draft prospects before the combine. O'Connell is allowed to do this because he's not "technically" a member of the Browns' coaching staff, but in reality the team has a man on the inside who can either get a jumpstart on coaching Mariota up on the Browns' system, or feed them a more complete scouting report than any other team will have. Naturally, rival execs are going to be pissed about this. From Pro Football Talk :

"So let me get this straight," a high-level executive with another team told PFT on Wednesday morning. "The Browns can have their quarterbacks coach in waiting work with a player, teach him the entire offense, etc., but we can't even talk to any potential draft pick until the Combine per league rules? Something is wrong here."

[Golfingdad]

Browns Shenanigans?   [URL=http://deadspin.com/the-browns-appear-to-be-up-to-some-pre-draft-shenanigan-1685196615]http://deadspin.com/the-browns-appear-to-be-up-to-some-pre-draft-shenanigan-1685196615[/URL]

Easy solution: everybody "fire" their qb coach after every season and rehire them after the draft.

[Slice of Life]

Browns Shenanigans?

http://deadspin.com/the-browns-appear-to-be-up-to-some-pre-draft-shenanigan-1685196615

If the Patriots did it, people would just be talking about how savvy Bill is.

The Browns do it, and it's because they're a god damn mess.

[Golfingdad]

If the Patriots did it, people would just be talking about how savvy Bill is. The Browns do it, and it's because they're a god damn mess.

You have got to be kidding right???? We're you not paying attention the last few weeks??

[Gunther]

If the Patriots did it, people would just be talking about how savvy Bill is. The Browns do it, and it's because they're a god damn mess.

I'll cut em some slack on this, but good qb's go to Cle to die so for Mariota's sake, I hope he goes elsewhere.

[Slice of Life]

You have got to be kidding right???? We're you not paying attention the last few weeks??

Deflate-gate was about blatantly breaking the rules.

This is something that isn't technical against the rules. Very similar (from a rules standpoint) to what the Pats did with the ineligible player formations...which I defended as Savvy on Bill's part.

So no, I'm not kidding.

[saevel25]

Deflate-gate was about blatantly breaking the rules.

This is something that isn't technical against the rules. Very similar (from a rules standpoint) to what the Pats did with the ineligible player formations...which I defended as Savvy on Bill's part.

So no, I'm not kidding.

From what I hear the Deflate-gate story has deflated and all all the rumors about how all these footballs were severely deflated were greatly over exaggerated.

Also it isn't the same as the ineligible player. That is legal.

[Gunther]

From what I hear the Deflate-gate story has deflated and all all the rumors about how all these footballs were severely deflated were greatly over exaggerated. Also it isn't the same as the ineligible player. That is legal.

Yep, add this to ebola on my a-hole, knee-jerk resume.

[dsc123]

An example to show that cheaters can in fact be punished when caught, even though they're not the only people to have ever cheated.http://deadspin.com/chicago-little-league-team-stripped-of-title-1685163070

[trickyputt]

[quote name="saevel25" url="/t/76052/are-you-ready-for-some-nfl-football-2014-edition/1720_40#post_1104537"] From what I hear the Deflate-gate story has deflated and all all the rumors about how all these footballs were severely deflated were greatly over exaggerated. Also it isn't the same as the ineligible player. That is legal.

Yep, add this to ebola on my a-hole, knee-jerk resume.[/quote] It is at least an interesting resume. That coach has a fiduciary responsibility that he is violating. He has a problem more than he knows.

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

You have got to be kidding right???? We're you not paying attention the last few weeks??

Deflate-gate was about blatantly breaking the rules.

This is something that isn't technical against the rules. Very similar (from a rules standpoint) to what the Pats did with the ineligible player formations...which I defended as Savvy on Bill's part.

So no, I'm not kidding.

You are correct.  Having a potential future QB coach work with a draft prospect is not against the rules.  It could be in the future if enough teams whine about it. The eligibility plays against the Ravens were completely legal and within the rules.

However, texting to coaches during a game is against the rules. But I really don't understand why.  It seems a bit arbitrary on the NFL's part.  Where is the advantage?  They can talk by phone.

[dsc123]

I read earlier that Haslam said the gym admitted to having sent the texts. sounds like they will accept the penalty and move on. quite a stark contrast to another owner.

[Golfingdad]

If the Patriots did it, people would just be talking about how savvy Bill is.

The Browns do it, and it's because they're a god damn mess.

You have got to be kidding right???? We're you not paying attention the last few weeks??

Deflate-gate was about blatantly breaking the rules.

This is something that isn't technical against the rules. Very similar (from a rules standpoint) to what the Pats did with the ineligible player formations...which I defended as Savvy on Bill's part.

So no, I'm not kidding.

I'm not objecting to any of that, I'm objecting to the idea that a bigger deal is being made out of it because it's the Browns than would be made of it were it the Patriots.  Remember, Bill Belicheck is the guy that everybody was salivating at the opportunity to crucify for his "culture of cheating" and what-not.  If there was any hint of impropriety, people would be more than ready to jump in and roast him - regardless of whether or not the accusations have a decent foundation.  (As its looking more and more like the deflate-gate accusations are lacking in that regard)

I don't think that it's a big deal at all.  In fact, I just checked espn.com, and the espn nfl page as well, and it doesn't show up on any of the headlines, so apparently, nobody else does either.

[dsc123]

I don't think that it's a big deal at all.  In fact, I just checked espn.com, and the espn nfl page as well, and it doesn't show up on any of the headlines, so apparently, nobody else does either.

It definitely would have been a bigger deal if it were the pats, because of the history and because they were playing for the super bowl.  But were you referring to the browns thing with this part?  Its been on the front page of espn most of the day.  Still is right now.

• Browns owner says GM Farmer behind texts

Its also less obviously an advantage for the team, which is why it hasn't gotten a huge amount of attention.  (Not to say it wasn't an advantage--i have eno idea what the texts were about--but its not obviously so.)  It seems to me that the falcons pumping fake crowd noise should recieve more attention than the Browns issue.  An interesting note on that, on the radio a couple weeks ago Chris Cooley was talking about that and he said each team, including the Skins when he played for them, have a guy assigned to detecting fake crowd noise.  The guy would move around the stadium and stand in front of speakers paying attention to the noise levels throughout the game.  He didn't seem to think it was something they could get away with for very long.

[Golfingdad]

It definitely would have been a bigger deal if it were the pats, because of the history and because they were playing for the super bowl.  But were you referring to the browns thing with this part?  Its been on the front page of espn most of the day.  Still is right now.

• Browns owner says GM Farmer behind texts

Its also less obviously an advantage for the team, which is why it hasn't gotten a huge amount of attention.  (Not to say it wasn't an advantage--i have eno idea what the texts were about--but its not obviously so.)  It seems to me that the falcons pumping fake crowd noise should recieve more attention than the Browns issue.  An interesting note on that, on the radio a couple weeks ago Chris Cooley was talking about that and he said each team, including the Skins when he played for them, have a guy assigned to detecting fake crowd noise.  The guy would move around the stadium and stand in front of speakers paying attention to the noise levels throughout the game.  He didn't seem to think it was something they could get away with for very long.

We weren't talking about the texts thing tho ... We were talking about this thing with their soon to be qb coach who is allowed to workout with potential draftees pre draft because he's not officially a coach yet. It's not against the rules, and it's no big deal - no matter which team did it.

[dsc123]

We weren't talking about the texts thing tho ... We were talking about this thing with their soon to be qb coach who is allowed to workout with potential draftees pre draft because he's not officially a coach yet. It's not against the rules, and it's no big deal - no matter which team did it.

oh, right.  I conflated the two when the owner made his comments about the texts today.

[Golfingdad]

oh, right.  I conflated the two when the owner made his comments about the texts today.  :doh:

No worries .. But since you asked I don't have much opinion about the texts thing yet cuz I don't really know the story. It's the Browns after all so ... Well ...

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

I don't think that it's a big deal at all.  In fact, I just checked espn.com, and the espn nfl page as well, and it doesn't show up on any of the headlines, so apparently, nobody else does either.

It definitely would have been a bigger deal if it were the pats, because of the history and because they were playing for the super bowl.  But were you referring to the browns thing with this part?  Its been on the front page of espn most of the day.  Still is right now.

Browns owner says GM Farmer behind texts

Its also less obviously an advantage for the team, which is why it hasn't gotten a huge amount of attention.  (Not to say it wasn't an advantage--i have eno idea what the texts were about--but its not obviously so.)  It seems to me that the falcons pumping fake crowd noise should recieve more attention than the Browns issue.  An interesting note on that, on the radio a couple weeks ago Chris Cooley was talking about that and he said each team, including the Skins when he played for them, have a guy assigned to detecting fake crowd noise.  The guy would move around the stadium and stand in front of speakers paying attention to the noise levels throughout the game.  He didn't seem to think it was something they could get away with for very long.

So now that the Browns have a "history" will it  be a bigger deal the next time they do it?  They have as much "history" as the Pats now, a "history" of one incident if they are found in violation.