2016 NFL Offseason

[Librica (Ancient)]

When your team is as overmatched as the Dolphins were tonight, no coach could have done anything.

True. Pats are gonna go to the Super Bowl again. Angry Brady won't take no less.

If the Pats go to the Super Bowl they will lose to Arizona.

[Fashie]

True. Pats are gonna go to the Super Bowl again. Angry Brady won't take no less.

If the Pats go to the Super Bowl they will lose to Arizona.

I am a huge Arizona Cardinals fan, but even I don't think they could win against the pats in the Super Bowl. The sad fact is that until Brady gets a career ending injury or retires, the pats will be good. And considering the pats are my 2nd least favorite team, thats bad for me.

[New Jerzylvania]

The Buccaneers were flirting with moving to Baltimore once in 1994. Thank God they didn't.

BTW, today is the 20th anniversary of Modell announcing the Browns were moving to Baltimore. No other moved franchise or expansion franchise (since Super Bowl I in 1966) has been as successful. Yes, the Ravens are 2 for 2 in Super Bowl games. In fact, nine of these fifteen teams have zero, five more have just one. That list includes.... Saints, Falcons, Bucs, Panthers, LA/Oak. Raiders, Tenn. Titans, Indy Colts, Texans, Jags, St. Louis Rams, AZ Cardinals, Browns, Seahawks, Bengals! The Dolphins have 2 but also lost one and are in their 50th season. Only 3 of the listed teams are younger than the Ravens, the Titans(1997), Texans(2002) and Browns (1999).

Baltimore is the King of the NFL newbies!!! So we get to have a bad season this year, we earned the right... so all you fans of these slacker teams need to get over it!

The Patriots moving from Boston to Foxborough doesn't count, then?*

* the Pats rebranded from Boston Pats to New England Pats when that happened, after the NFL rejected the suggestion of Bay State Pats**
** this proves the NFL have had it in for the Pats right from the get go

Nope. Thirty miles is not a relocation, unless you're the size of an ant. I can't even give you a nice try on that. In fact, that was pathetically lame attempt to undermine my spot on post.*

*sounds exactly like the type of psychotic twisted logic which I hear from too many of the Patriots' fans. There must've been plenty of lead paint chips in homes around the Boston area a couple decades ago for the kiddies to nosh on.

[Trumpostan]

The Patriots moving from Boston to Foxborough doesn't count, then?*

* the Pats rebranded from Boston Pats to New England Pats when that happened, after the NFL rejected the suggestion of Bay State Pats**
** this proves the NFL have had it in for the Pats right from the get go

Nope. Thirty miles is not a relocation, unless you're the size of an ant. I can't even give you a nice try on that. In fact, that was pathetically lame attempt to undermine my spot on post.*

*sounds exactly like the type of psychotic twisted logic which I hear from too many of the Patriots' fans. There must've been plenty of lead paint chips in homes around the Boston area a couple decades ago for the kiddies to nosh on.

It is of no concern, really.

But how do you see the NFL-AFL merger? Aren't all old AFL teams technically NFL newcomers as of the merger? Here's a full list:

Boston Patriots (now AFC East as New England Patriots)
Buffalo Bills (now AFC East)
Houston Oilers (now AFC South as Tennessee Titans)
Miami Dolphins (now AFC East)
New York Titans (now AFC East as New York Jets)
Cincinnati Bengals (now AFC North)
Dallas Texans (now AFC West as Kansas City Chiefs)
Denver Broncos (now AFC West)
Los Angeles Chargers (now AFC West as San Diego Chargers)
Oakland Raiders (now AFC West)

There were only 10 AFL teams back then, and 16 AFC teams now.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns (old style, moved to Baltimore to become Ravens) and Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts) moved from the NFL to the newly formed AFC in 1970
Later expansions are Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns (new style, though the NFL officially sees Baltimore Ravens as a new team and the new style Browns the continuation of the old style Browns)

[Luminesa]

True. Pats are gonna go to the Super Bowl again. Angry Brady won't take no less.

If the Pats go to the Super Bowl they will lose to Arizona.

Arizona's gonna lose to Green Bay in the playoffs, so that's not happening.
As much as I'd love to see Larry Fitzgerald get a ring, if Tom's on the other side,
it's not happening...

[Idzequitch]

If the Pats go to the Super Bowl they will lose to Arizona.

Arizona's gonna lose to Green Bay in the playoffs, so that's not happening.
As much as I'd love to see Larry Fitzgerald get a ring, if Tom's on the other side,
it's not happening...

I find your overabundance of faith disturbing.

[Luminesa]

Arizona's gonna lose to Green Bay in the playoffs, so that's not happening.
As much as I'd love to see Larry Fitzgerald get a ring, if Tom's on the other side,
it's not happening...

I find your overabundance of faith disturbing.

Well, think about it this way, if mah Saints sneak in, we going all the way!

[Ameriganastan]

Time for Carl's Stone Cold Lock of the Century: Of The Week.

[New Jerzylvania]

Nope. Thirty miles is not a relocation, unless you're the size of an ant. I can't even give you a nice try on that. In fact, that was pathetically lame attempt to undermine my spot on post.*

*sounds exactly like the type of psychotic twisted logic which I hear from too many of the Patriots' fans. There must've been plenty of lead paint chips in homes around the Boston area a couple decades ago for the kiddies to nosh on.

It is of no concern, really.

But how do you see the NFL-AFL merger? Aren't all old AFL teams technically NFL newcomers as of the merger? Here's a full list:

Boston Patriots (now AFC East as New England Patriots)
Buffalo Bills (now AFC East)
Houston Oilers (now AFC South as Tennessee Titans)
Miami Dolphins (now AFC East)
New York Titans (now AFC East as New York Jets)
Cincinnati Bengals (now AFC North)
Dallas Texans (now AFC West as Kansas City Chiefs)
Denver Broncos (now AFC West)
Los Angeles Chargers (now AFC West as San Diego Chargers)
Oakland Raiders (now AFC West)

There were only 10 AFL teams back then, and 16 AFC teams now.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns (old style, moved to Baltimore to become Ravens) and Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts) moved from the NFL to the newly formed AFC in 1970
Later expansions are Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns (new style, though the NFL officially sees Baltimore Ravens as a new team and the new style Browns the continuation of the old style Browns)

I started from Super Bowl I, since the measure of success in my post is a SB victory. Teams existing during the 1966 season were competing to be in SB I. They are the original teams from the Super Bowl perspective.

That should be clear enough, if it's not...

All of those teams have had a chance at every SB trophy, except the Cleveland Browns. Therefore, I chose that time, 1966, to start the Newbie team designation, as it is most fitting.

The AFL/NFL Merger came in 1970. I could have started from there. The funny thing about the AFL/NFL merger is you can truly say the 1969 Vikings were NFL Champions, because they actually were, but they were not Super Bowl champions. Same goes for 1968 Baltimore Colts. Makes a great question at a bar, gotten free drinks several times by betting I could name two teams that were NFL champions that lost the SB that same year. It stumps them most times. Remember, I am in my 60s and have seen each of these 49 Super Bowl games and remember a lot of the crap that went on around the merger. The merger was strange at the time, and fans in Baltimore, Cleveland and Pittsburgh did not like going into the old AFL. Especially for Pittsburgh, which was originally an NFL team. The other two's roots were in rival leagues. So, in the merger their owners were compensated $5 million each for switching to the newly formed AFC. In Baltimore's case, the owner (Carroll Rosenbloom) swapped his team before the 1972 season began, like a trading card, for the LA Rams. The Rams' had just been bought by Chicagoan Bob Irsay. Rosenbloom literally got away with the $5 million bucks in compensation and only spent two years (1970 & 1971) in the AFC before returning personally to the NFC via ownership of the Rams in 1972, plus he also avoided paying capital gains tax. Slick. Check this article from 1992 on the 20th anniversary of the swap and you'll learn plenty of wild stuff about this inside history and the effect of it on the league... http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-0 ... rosenbloom

So that in essence is why I've choose the end of the 1966 season as a starting point. Simple decision on the surface, yet complex enough on the inside.

The AFL started with 8 teams in 1960. There were also 2 NFL expansion teams in 1960, the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings. All these teams had a crack at each and every Super Bowl birth. The 1966 expansions in both leagues (AFL - Cincy & Miami, NFL - New Orleans & Atlanta) were problematic for me at first and I included them with the so called Newbie teams, but have since edited them out. I reversed field on this because they did get to play and compete (LOL) for a birth in SB I and all other Super Bowls. The reason they weren't included with the original SB era teams in my first post was they were really lousy expansion teams for many years and it didn't seem fair at all, nevertheless a historical line has to be drawn. It's amazing the four of them have played a total of 200 NFL seasons between them by the end of this year and have only three Lombardi Trophies between them to show for it. Also, they have only 7 Super Bowl appearances between them. That's a 3.5% appearance rate, which is far less than a single team statistically would expect over the soon to be 50 year span of Super Bowls. That's some serious short comings. A partial explanation is the NFL and AFL owners in the mid 1960s really invented these teams to be canon fodder for at least 20 years. The only reason the Dolphins broke through was of the issue of Dolphin owner Joe Robbie tampering with Colts' coach Don Shula and the talent he brought with him. Check this article out on the implications of that...
http://www.stampedeblue.com/2015/3/18/8 ... -baltimore

The expansion teams in the 1970s, Buccaneers and Seahawks, were equally as futile, and were designed for a long uphill climb. The Buccaneers are testament to that and lost their first 26 games. Not until the 1994 expansion was this sham corrected. Probably because the Panthers and Jaguar owners paid much more to the league for their franchises than the earlier newbies did, and refused to be ripped off by getting a terrible weakling team in return. Baltimore was also snubbed in that 1994 expansion selection, with the final team being awarded to long shot Jacksonville. Baltimore and the State of Maryland expected to get that team. The Baltimore Sun held a contest for naming a new team that year, the winning two names were "The Rhinos" & "The Bombers." The name "Ravens" was amongst the short list, but failed to make the final cut of two names. As for the Cleveland Browns being moved, I hated to see this happen to them. We knew too well what it felt like, but the league provided no alternatives. Basically, it was proof of the modern adage, what comes around, goes around. In the resulting aftermath, the NFL would get the taxpayers of Maryland and Ohio to spring for new stadiums after they both been screwed by them. After all, the free new stadiums are what it was all about anyway. Grrrr.

Anyhow, Baltimore's fans really deserved to have the best of the designated "Newbie teams" in the league after all of that strangeness and dysfunction which dragged on for so many years. We had to show great heart. And as fate would have it, we finally got redress and we are grateful to the powers that be for that. However, the twists and turns were agonizing as they occurred. At times I wish it had all gone normally, as it did for most of the designated original teams in the league before and after the Super Bowl era. At least I think I do... because, on the other side of the coin are the fans of the Lions, Cardinals and others. Yes, being an NFL fan can be a much, much emptier and desolate experience, with far less drama or celebration to entertain you through the many years than being a Baltimore football fan the last 60 years. Continual losing, season after season, decade after decade, is the worst thing... except for not having a team. No team to root for is definitely the worst, because then there is no hope at all.

Therefore, as a fan of Baltimore teams, I am satisfied with the ways things have turned out. Even including this disappointing 2015 season. That's a small matter, as Baltimore Football shall always strive to compete and the fans will be there to hope for another taste of a championship season.

[Luminesa]

Time for Carl's Stone Cold Lock of the Century: Of The Week.

This...made my week...

"Sprained his ankle by shoving his foot into his mouth."

...Wow.

[Ameriganastan]

Time for Carl's Stone Cold Lock of the Century: Of The Week.

This...made my week...

"Sprained his ankle by shoving his foot into his mouth."

...Wow.

I was a fan of "Grade 3 panty sprain" and "Human pitstain" myself.

[Luminesa]

This...made my week...

"Sprained his ankle by shoving his foot into his mouth."

...Wow.

I was a fan of "Grade 3 panty sprain" and "Human pitstain" myself.

That's Greg Hardy in a nutshell, for sure.

[Librica (Ancient)]

This is probably Baltimore's last season as an NFL team.

[Luminesa]

This is probably Baltimore's last season as an NFL team.

Why you think that?

[Trumpostan]

This is probably Baltimore's last season as an NFL team.

Why you think that?

Maybe they're gonna switch to soccer?

[Bhikkustan]

This is probably Baltimore's last season as an NFL team.

TFW when ur trying to troll a reaction but no one cares cos they know ur trolling.

[Idzequitch]

Why you think that?

Maybe they're gonna switch to soccer?

If Baltimore is switching to soccer, then Jacksonville will probably be switching to ballet. Then again, that might still be too intimidating. *shrug*

[The Matthew Islands]

LETS GO FALCONS, 7-1 HERE WE COME!

RISE UP!

[Bhikkustan]

Maybe they're gonna switch to soccer?

If Baltimore is switching to soccer, then Jacksonville will probably be switching to ballet. Then again, that might still be too intimidating. *shrug*

Plz not soccer. The football is my distraction from how boring soccer is!

[The Ben Boys]

Maybe they're gonna switch to soccer?

If Baltimore is switching to soccer, then Jacksonville will probably be switching to ballet. Then again, that might still be too intimidating. *shrug*

If anyone is switching to soccer, it's going to be 49ers. They would be the MLS expansion, the Magnificent Floppers.

[Librica (Ancient)]

Ravens are switching to Lacrosse.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Ravens are switching to Lacrosse.

nah, not enough coordination.

[Vilatania]

Ravens are switching to Lacrosse.

Wouldn't surprise me.

[Librica (Ancient)]

Ravens are switching to Lacrosse.

nah, not enough coordination.

They just need to get rid of Flacco, then they will be fine.

[Trumpostan]

nah, not enough coordination.

They just need to get rid of Flacco, then they will be fine.

I heard Ryan Mallett is available