Why the 2012 NFL Season Will Be Spectacular

Why the 2012 NFL Season Will Be Spectacular

To the average football fan, every new NFL season is greatly anticipated. The training camps and OTAs start the juices flowing with the guys showing up in the training facilties and host camp cities alike. Fans flock from miles around to see their favorite players gear up for the season during the hot sweltering days in July and August. It a rite of passage in the true football fans book, from driving through the Monk filled fields in Latrobe, PA for die hard Pittsburgh Steelers fans to the Napa Valley wine country to see the Oakland Raiders train hard during the 2 a days in camp. Its just part of the NFL standard and signals the upcoming start of the season. While those who casually follow the sport might not think much about the events leading up to the NFL season, the real nuts know every practice, every scrimmage and every preseason game because they just can’t get enough.

Looking ahead to the actual 2012 NFL season, lets start with the NFC who has the current Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. The NFC East is always deemed as one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL yet last year the NFC East Champion Giants struggled greatly just to get into the playoffs. Everyone expected the Philadelphia Eagles with the newly acquired Michael Vick to emerge or the Dallas Cowboys and the always confounding Tony Romo to be the top dog. In 2012, look for the Giants to continue their strong play with top WR combo in Nicks and Cruz along w/ Eli Manning to run the show.

The NFC North had a dominating regular season by the Packers end in heartache to their nemesis in the Giants. The resurgent Detroit Lions with Megatron and Matt Stafford made the playoffs however were dismantled by the New Orleans Saints in the end. The Vikings and Bears were doormats last year. This year, expect the Packers to come back to the Pack (no pun intended) and the Bears to be a pleasant surprise with the addition of Brandon Marshall. The Lions will drop back to reality.

The NFC West is San Fransisco’s to lose. They are clearly the best team in this division and the only thing stopping them will be their playoff mettle. The Rams, Seahawks and Cardinals will all play for 2nd place once again.

The NFC South is one that seems to change the guard every year. The Saints are currently holding the division crown but the Falcons are always buzzing around. We expect the Carolina Panthers to make a strong run at the division even as early as this year with Mr. Cam Newton showing his tremendous skills as a leader. The Bucs are toast.

Moving on to the AFC, we start in the East where the Super Bowl runner up Patriots have dominated this division for so long their fans are becoming bored. Can the NY Jets and their new beau Tim Tebow make a run at them? Buffalo and Miami are clearly rebuilding and we expect a Patriots division crown once again and the Jets to fall mightily. Don’t plan on streaming nfl games in New York in January.

The AFC North has been a battle of titans between the Steelers and Ravens in the past 5 years with the Ravens taking the crown in 2011 and narrowly missing the Super Bowl. The Bengals defense makes them a legit wildcard threat while the Browns go through another regime change. Expect the Ravens to continue their quest to another Super Bowl.

No more Peyton Manning in Indianapolis means no chance. The Texans took advantage and rolled over the division while the Titans and Jags basically show up on gamedays for a beating. Expect nothing to change as the Texans have too much raw talent to fail. Expect them in the AFC Championship this year.

Speaking of Peyton, he’s now with the Tebow-less Denver Broncos in their desperate grab for one last hurrah with the future hall of famer. Denver shocked everyone last year in defeating the Steelers in the wildcard round only to get obliterated by New England next week. Throw in the competitive Chiefs, Raiders and Chargers and this division might be the most interesting in football. We see the Raiders as a team on the come and taking the division.

So are you now ready for the the 2012 NFL Season? You’re welcome. Start Streaming NFL Games at your convenience.

The National Football League in 2012: Would Streaming NFL Games Truly Function?

Would Streaming NFL Games Truly Function?

The area around us has been altered a good deal during the past 3-5 yrs aided by the surge of the web with streaming and internet access that we all neglect nowadays. In older times, the access we maintained as far as multimedia was cable tv, ppv and stereo telecasts. On behalf of the sports fanatic, this inadequate access was perpetually a frustrating experience as those fans far away from their residence sites were limited in what contests they could see and exactly how the games were shown. NFL competitions in particular were limited to nearby team access unless you opted to pay for DirectTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket which granted you complete access to every one of the of the games. These days, streaming nfl access is available and yet so many consistently question its suitability.

So why wouldn’t you use Directv’s service? Most NFL fans for one reason or another plainly are unable to attain the Sunday Ticket. First reason of course is the considerable cost of the plan they provide. The typical NFL fan just cannot afford to buy the complete deal. Its very costly and can’t be terminated once purchased for that year. An additional major factor for NFL fans not getting hold of the premium services is that the issue of changing to Directv is too much. Being forced to go through the setup and install of a physical satellite dish on your rooftop or dwelling just doesn’t appear ideal to most people. Maybe it will stick out like a sore thumb in the community or maybe its just not ideal. No matter what, it’s a simple reason that a supporter in the end does not get the NFL Ticket.
I have talked about people who probably won’t desire to have the change but think about those who actually desire to buy the Sunday Ticket however just can’t? What are we speaking about? A while ago when I lived in an apartment unit, I genuinely wanted to get the access but the apartment complex would not allow installation of the satellite dish. Many homeowner associations, townhome units and condos will never allow installation of the dish unit as well. Its easy to understand that you can discover plenty of constraints that might prevent fans from obtaining paid access.

The NFL features its own cable television network strategically called NFL Network which has made an abrupt influence on the extent and detail of coverage of American football on tv. With this element, one should think that the National Football League would love any and all access to this info not only for fiscal increases but also maintaining fan interest even during the offseason periods. Their sharp cutdown on streaming websites and online ways of access have proven differently but we hope this will change into the future.

Subsequently now its up to the average NFL fan to evaluate exactly how they will secure access to their favorite teams via NFL streams. Stick with the local telecasts? Streaming nfl games using the internet thru one of the available resources? Top quality Directv access? Each and every single fan at least has many more possible choices than during the old days of enjoying the National Football League .

Streaming NFL Games: Owners’ support for 18-game slate waning

Streaming NFL Games

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Owners’ support for 18-game slate waning
Mike Freeman
By Mike Freeman | National NFL Insider
July 24, 2012 10:06 PM ET

30 | Comments

Packers president Mark Murphy now says he ‘couldn’t support a move to 18.’ (Getty Images)
Packers president Mark Murphy now says he ‘couldn’t support a move to 18.’ (Getty Images)

In what was yet another busy day of sports — more Penn State, more USA basketball, more NFL signings, too much Dez Bryant — there was the biggest news that many missed. It was a huge story and might have signaled the end of one of the biggest debates in the history of the NFL.

The moment happened Tuesday in Green Bay. Mark Murphy, the Packers’ team president, was asked about the 18-game season during a meeting with stockholders. Once for 18 games, Murphy made a startling about face.

“Now, to be honest with you, I couldn’t support a move to 18,” Murphy told Packers shareholders, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “I just think with all the focus on the player health and safety, it would be really hard to do that. I would be in support of a move to two and 16. Reduce the number of preseason games. The challenge there obviously is you’re losing revenue. On the other end, do you really have enough time to develop younger players if you only have two preseason games?”
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Murphy isn’t technically an owner since the Packers are a publicly owned franchise but he has all the responsibilities of one. NFL owners themselves consider Murphy to be one of them.

This was the first time anyone in a current ownership position publicly came out against the 18-game season. Publicly, at least, owners have been unified about the 18-game season as much as they have about almost anything. It has also been one of Roger Goodell’s main thrusts since becoming commissioner. It seems every owner has backed him … until now.

Murphy’s words are big and they coincide with what I’ve heard from a variety of NFL sources during the past few weeks and months. The owners are backing off their 18-game beachhead. Maybe not publicly. Maybe not loudly. But the support for an 18-game season is definitely eroding.

It’s possible owners will continue this fight or, at least, the illusion of a fight, but it’s been quietly discussed among ownership that an 18-game season might no longer be practical, feasible or legally viable.

Owners are beginning to back off, I’m told, because of the torrent of concussion lawsuits. It’s basically a fact that more regular-season games puts NFL players at more physical risk. Thus the NFL, in defending these lawsuits, both in court and in the court of public opinion, can’t push for a system that could lead to more concussions while saying they care about players who have already received them.

For the past several years, Goodell and owners have been pushing players hard for an 18-game season while players and the union have steadfastly fought against it. Several league sources say the discussion on the matter between the union and NFL has been practically non-existent for months.

Again, it’s possible Murphy is the lone wolf among the ownership pack, but I’ve been told he’s not. It also makes no sense he would be the only one thinking this way, particularly since he was a strong advocate for the 18-game season and also one of the owner hawks during the lockout.

The myriad of concussion lawsuits continues to scare the hell out of the owners. It’s not just that the number of players joining them continues to grow, it’s the names themselves, as former stars keep joining en masse. Just recently, former Washington Redskins offensive lineman Joe Jacoby sued the league. Jacoby won three Super Bowls and is a member of the 1980s All-Decade team. He’s the fifth member of the Redskins’ Ring of Fame to sue the NFL. Also this week, five-time Pro Bowl selection Ricky Watters joined the concussion suits.

Before the lawsuits, owners pushed hard for an 18-game season. Said Patriots owner Robert Kraft in 2010: “I think it’s a win-win all around.”

“We started this with the fans,” Goodell told the media during his State of the League address in 2011. “The fans have clearly stated that they don’t like the preseason. We have a 20-game format, 16 regular-season games and four preseason games, and the fans have repeatedly said the preseason games don’t meet NFL standards. And that is the basis on which we started this 18-game concept, taking two low-quality preseason games and turning them into two high-quality regular-season games.”

What once seemed fairly certain to happen now seems less so. Much less so.

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