American Football (NFL)

oobi

playoff dates are set for next week.

saturday jan 6 2006:
kansas city chiefs at indianapolis colts      1:30 pm PST, 4:30 pm EST, 5:30 am MYT (next day)
dallas cowboys at seattle seahawks         5:00 pm PST, 8:00 pm EST, 9:00 am MYT (next day)

sunday jan 7 2006:
new york jets at new england patriots      10:00 am PST, 1:00 pm EST, 2:00 am MYT (next day)                  
new york giants at philadelphia eagles      1:30 pm PST, 4:30 pm EST, 5:30 am MYT (next day)

my predictions: all home teams will win the games. potential upsets, cowboys at the hawks and jets at pats.
first round bye: san diego chargers, baltimore ravens, chicago bears and new orlean saints.


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[ Last edited by  oobi at 2-1-2007 02:39 AM ]

oobi

jim mora jr. is out as atlanta falcons hc and arizona cardinals fired its hc, dennis green. meanwhile, alabama crimson tides is trying to lure nick saban out of miami dolphins sweat shirt.

dexa

Houston LB Ryans wins AP Defensive Rookie of Year
By BARRY WILNER, AP Football Writer
January 3, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- DeMeco Ryans came into the NFL as Houston's second choice to bolster its defense. He leaves his first pro year as The Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year.

The linebacker, chosen at the top of the second round of last April's draft -- 32 spots after the Texans made defensive end Mario Williams the first overall selection -- was a runaway winner of the award announced Wednesday. Ryans led the league in solo tackles with 126, and his 156 total tackles were 33 more than the next-best rookie, Detroit linebacker Ernie Sims.

In fact, no rookie in the last 20 years had more tackles than Ryans, who was an All-American at Alabama in 2005. And Ryans had more tackles than any of the other five linebackers who won the award this decade, including Brian Urlacher and Shawne Merriman.

"It's always nice to be touted as one of the best and have a big-time stat, but I credit that to the other 10 guys that are around me on defense," Ryans said. "We wouldn't be talking about me without those other 10 guys out there."

Well, we might be, because Ryans came into training camp, was moved to the middle and almost immediately established himself as the premier rookie defender on the roster. Better -- by far -- than Williams.

And Ryans never let up.

"It wasn't a big `Wow' moment to me and there wasn't any nervousness or anything like that. I was comfortable from the time I began," he said. "Nothing really just shocked me going through the year. I played in a big game atmosphere in college, so I was used to that. I knew what the competition level would be like. Nothing really surprised me."

The ease with which Ryans won the award might have been surprising. He received 36 of the 50 votes by a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL.

Second was Chicago end Mark Anderson, who was Ryans' teammate at Alabama, with five votes. Green Bay linebacker A. J. Hawk was next with four, while Cleveland LB Kamerion Wimbley got two votes.

Williams, Cincinnati DB Johnathan Joseph and Baltimore DB Dawan Landry each received one.

Gary Kubiak, in his first head coaching job, was concerned about moving Ryans to the leadership role in the middle of a revamped unit. He shouldn't have worried.

"I knew he was a special kid when he was here through OTAs and stuff," Kubiak said of offseason workouts. "Just how smart he was, and the coaches were coming back saying we hit it big on this kid, he's going to be something.

"I think when you really knew he was fixing to be a great player was about midway through training camp when we were in meetings and having a problem at (middle) linebacker and started having a conversation. We said: 'Let's just put the kid in there and go.' You say, `Well it's a lot to handle, it's the whole defense. We may set him back. We don't want to do that.'

"We made that decision and within about a two-week period you knew that he was going to be fine with it."
More than fine -- the best of all defensive rookies.
He is the first Texan to win an individual award since Houston entered the league in 2002.
Merriman won the award last year.

oobi

what is this rumor about bill cowher going to the dolphins? i just can't imagine it. he's a steeler and will only be known as a steeler.

dexa

Bill Cowher expected to resign Friday

Pittsburgh -  Pittsburgh Steelers will begin a coaching search Friday to replace departing coach Bill Cowher, a person familiar with Cowher's status told The Associated Press on Thursday night, speaking on condition of anonymity because the coach's departure had not been officially announced.


Cowher called owner Dan Rooney earlier in the day to tell him of his decision, and the team announced a Friday afternoon news conference.

There was no chance Cowher would walk away from the Steelers without winning a Super Bowl. That became obvious during a long succession of frustrating near-misses that left him one of the most successful NFL coaches without a championship ring. Once he finally accomplished the goal he set for himself back in 1992, saying goodbye proved much easier.

The 49-year-old Cowher, one of the NFL's most recognizable faces and successful coaches for 15 seasons, has weighed resigning since shortly after the Steelers finally won the Super Bowl in February.
Once Cowher leaves, one of the NFL's rarest events will occur

oobi

yeah, i know he'll resign. it's been known since after steelers won the superbowl last season. but, not going to the dolphins. that's what surprised me, rumor of him going to the dolphins.




[ Last edited by  oobi at 6-1-2007 12:34 AM ]

oobi

art shell was fired by the raiders, again! al davis really needs to take his hands of the team. it's not the 50s and 60s anymore. he needs to let the people who know how to run the franchise in the 21st century, run it with freedom.




[ Last edited by  oobi at 6-1-2007 12:33 AM ]

hetrek

Originally posted by oobi at 2-1-2007 02:37

playoff dates are set for next week.

saturday jan 6 2006:
kansas city chiefs at indianapolis colts      1:30 pm PST, 4:30 pm EST, 5:30 am MYT (next day)
dallas cowboys at seattle seahawks  ...

on astro this month

American Football
	NFL Football (I)(LIVE) 01 Jan 0900 NFL Football (I) 07 Jan 0900 AFC Wildcard 07 Jan 0530 NFC Wildcard
	College Football Bowl Game 2006 (LIVE) 02 Jan 0600 Michigan vs. Usc 08 Jan 0900 Ohio vs. Southern Mississippi

dexa

thanks hetrek! -

dexa

wonder why they were saying (rumors)
he is going to dolphins -

adaka sebab management kat dolphins
have some problems?

oobi

Originally posted by dexa at 6-1-2007 12:21 PM
wonder why they were saying (rumors)
he is going to dolphins -

adaka sebab management kat dolphins
have some problems?

no, dolphins coach quit. nick saban went on to coach crimson tides. dolphins is looking for new hc. so, since everybody knows that cowher would quit steelers and miami is closer to north carolina, there's a possibility that he'll coach miami. but, i don't see relevancy in that because cowher is really a steeler. if he's going to coach again, it's either going to be with the steelers again or college. but, we'll never know.

dexa

kalau offer tinggi possibility dia move

saya selalu connectkan pat riley dengan lakers
and tak sangka end of the day dia nak ke heats
(saja aje bagi comparison - maybe tak begitu
relevant pun ;)   )

prolly same goes to cowher - kalau good offer
and stuff -- we never know

but for now - nampaknya tak ada lak ura2 dengan
dolphins lagi --

oobi

a very nice San Francisco 49ers website - the first 5-time winner of the superbowl:

49ers Paradise

dexa

thanks oobi  

oobi

as expected, colts defeated chiefs 23-8 in afc wildcard game. both qbs didn't play their best game. as predicted, colts defense stepped up to shutdown chiefs offense. even better, colts porous run defense didn'tallow one of the best running backs in the nfl, larry johnson, to roam around.

next for the colts is the ravens in baltimore. it's going to be very tough and i think this is the stop for the colts for this season. even though i like the chargers to go to the superbowl, i think the ravens is a better team overall and i expect them to represent the afc.

oobi

what a crazy game between the cowboys and the seahawks, especially in the 4th qtr. even though seattle prevailed by beating the boys 21-20,the way the hawks played the game, it's really a disgraced. i don'tthink they have a chance if they were to play boise state.

next for them is the bears in soldier field (if the eagles beat the giants). against brian urlacher and company, don't even think about it. even if they had to travel to new orleans, seahawks season will definitely end one way or the other.

oobi

By Paul Thomasch
Fri Jan 5, 2:53 PM ET

Link to original article here

The average Joe may never get a chance to play in the Super Bowl, but this year some ordinary folks can participate in what many consider the most entertaining part of America's biggest football extravaganza: its television commercials.

Building on the popularity of so-called user-generated content -- like the homemade videos and blogs that rule the Internet -- a handful of marketers decided to allow their customers to create advertisements for Super Bowl XLI, which airs on CBS on February 4.

"User-generated content is the hottest concept in marketing today,"said Fran Kelly, president of ad agency Arnold Worldwide. "Trying an idea that people are going to talk about and look forward to seeing during the game is using the Super Bowl the right way."

Chevrolet and Doritos will be among those trying to win over the anticipated 90 million viewers with ads developed by average consumers.

In another twist, one man is hoping to use 15 seconds of a marketer's Super Bowl time slot to propose to his girlfriend. The groom-to-be says on his MySuperProposal.com site that "a deal seems like it's in the works."

Even the National Football League is getting into the user-generated act, sponsoring a "Best NFL Super Bowl Commercial Ever" contest that gives fans a chance to create a spot and have it broadcast during the game.

For many, these commercials and others will be the highlight of SuperBowl XLI in South Florida. So far, marketers have paid up to $2.6 million for a 30-second spot, slightly more than last year, when the game aired on ABC.

John Bogusz, executive vice president of sports sales and marketing for CBS Corp. declined to say exactly how much of the commercial time had been sold so far.

"We're pacing similar to where we were in the past," he said, noting that most of the remaining inventory was available in the fourth quarter of the game.

Top buyers so far have included Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc., which has purchased 10 30-second spots, General Motors Corp. and PepsiCo Inc..

WATER-COOLER CHATTER

"As you go into a Super Bowl spot, you have to think about it as much more than just that 30-second advertisement," said Andrew Burke, vice president, marketing at Diamond Foods Inc. "It's about water-cooler talk the next day; it's about chatter on the Internet before and after the game."

Diamond purchased a 30-second spot in the third quarter for about $2 million to promote its Emerald nuts snacks featuring entertainer Robert Goulet.

Burke said the company decided to buy the time after last year's commercial gave an immediate lift to sales. Since Diamond has a specific marketing strategy based around its Super Bowl ad, Burke said, it never considered turning its commercial time over to customers.

But some executives believe it can be worth the risk of handing over some control of a $2.5 million commercial in hopes that it leads to an original and buzz-worthy spot.

"You're trying to get people engaged and it's hard to argue that they're not engaged if they're actively involved in the making of the commercial," said John Condon, chief creative officer of ad agency Leo Burnett USA.

Doritos, owned by the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo, is among those marketers banking on a user-generated commercial. In September, it invited customers to shoot their own ad for the Super Bowl. After narrowing the entries to five finalists, Doritos opened its Web site to voting by the public.

Another consumer-generated commercial scheduled to premier during SuperBowl XLI comes from GM's Chevy, which launched a competition for college students to submit proposals for one of the carmaker's game time ads.

Alka-Seltzer also opened its advertising to customers, asking them to come up with a new jingle for the product, using the familiar "Plop,Plop, Fizz, Fizz -- Oh What a Relief It Is" in at least one of the verses. The winning submission will be aired in the Super Bowl pregame show.

"If the spots are great, that creates a lot of buzz in one direction,"said Arnold's Kelly. "If the spots are terrible, it creates lots of talk another way. I don't think you can lose."

oobi

the pats defeated the jets 37-16. yes, the score looked like the jets got steamrolled by the pats. but, the game was actually a lot closer than the score indicated. both teams had to fight for every inches, until the second half of the 4th qtr.

next, patriots are off to san diego to face the chargers. if the pats defense can neutralize tomlinson and pats offensive line can hold off the bolt defensive linemen lead by merriman, i expect an upset here.

is brady another montana? sure look like it. but this junipero serra high graduate of san mateo, california needs to win another superbowl, or may be two.

oobi

what a game between the giants and the eagles. eagles won 23-20 on a last second field goal by david akers.

next for them are the saints in new orleans.

hetrek

your welcome....

colts menang..yess.....