NFL 2012 thread.

[Guest MattP]

It's back.

Cowboys v Giants tonight so we might be treated to a Tony Romo collapse earlier than usual on Sky Sports.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

I'm a Cowboys fan but we have little chance tonight if pre season form is anything to go by whilst we got 3 wins, they were not convincing. Can't see Romo getting any assitance from the defense today and could be forced to throw too early, which isn't ideal for the first game of the season.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

7-3 Cowboys at HT. Thought Giants have been the better team from what i've seen.

[Guest]

Taking my first trip to New York at the beginning of October and have grabbed a ticket to see Giants v Browns live, can't wait!

[syston_fox]

Starting to regret watching the game last night! Got a few hours kip before hand, got up at 1:30am and then the game didn't finish until 4:40am. Up at 6:50 this morning for work. Shattered! Think I'll only be doing that when the Packers are playing in future!

Decent start to the season though but I did think a few players looked a bit rusty especially Cruz who dropped three pretty straight forward catches and so many flags thrown it was untrue. Thought it was down to the replacement referees at first but to be fair they all did ok considering the pressure they were under!

[Jordan]

I will not watch the NFL until it reaches a new collective bargaining agreement with the referees union. The NFL can easily accommodate the officials' demands; locking out the refs and using scabs is a disgrace (especially since the fast pace, vicious physicality and complex rules demand they use the best-trained officials both to keep the game orderly and to protect the players from unnecessary injury).

From what I've heard this morning, I should be relieved to have missed last night's Giants' season opener (although Bill Clinton's speech was a pretty damn good thing to watch instead).

[ScouseFox]

Is there a few teams that are on Sky quite a lot or do they just show a few games of every team? I wanna get into NFL and support a team but don't know who to choose and don't want to choose someone who will never be on Sky so I'll never be able to watch!

Any suggestions on who to support?

[purpleronnie]

Beena bengals fan since the early 90's, they used to be a bit of a laughing stock but have improved a lot since back then.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Is there a few teams that are on Sky quite a lot or do they just show a few games of every team? I wanna get into NFL and support a team but don't know who to choose and don't want to choose someone who will never be on Sky so I'll never be able to watch!

Any suggestions on who to support?

Support the Eagles like I have for the last 8 years. It's a bit like supporting City. I'd have thought they'd be on Sky for Michael Vick (because of his talent and his 'questionable' past), Constant hope and disappointment. They're good crack though, you'll love DeSean Jackson.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUr_oXh6h_o

There's a tonne of videos of him showboating and dropping the ball too, such a cocky bugger - excellent value. Get on the Eagles mate.

[ScouseFox]

That Vick's the dog fighting fella isn't he? Read about him the other week, bit of a nutter.

Eagles it is then. My mate told me to support the Giants but they won it last year and I couldn't bring myself to be a glory hunter and after a quick bit of googling Eagles are big rivals so that'll piss him off. Decent.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Yeah mate, that's Vick. Incredible talent but unfortunately made of glass. Be a miracle if he lasts a whole season.

Try not to get too involved. I find myself tearing clumps out my hair come November, really is the NFL equivalent of City. Such a talented roster with the likes of Vick, Jackson, McCoy, Asomugah etc but a weak offensive line means Vick doesn't always get the protection he needs. Still a steady team to support, though!

[ScouseFox]

Haha yeah, I've watched a few years of NFL on and off but never supported someone so got bored of games and lost interest so thought I'd find someone.

I've always liked supporting City though haha, even if it is torturous at times. Should be fun.

[Jordan]

Is there a few teams that are on Sky quite a lot or do they just show a few games of every team? I wanna get into NFL and support a team but don't know who to choose and don't want to choose someone who will never be on Sky so I'll never be able to watch!

Any suggestions on who to support?

Sky is owned by, of course, the same kind corporate citizens that own the Fox networks in the U.S.

I suppose the games you get on Sky are the same games that Fox shows live nationally in the U.S. on Sunday afternoons.

Fox has television rights for Sunday afternoon (when most NFL games are played) for all games where an NFC team is the away team. So, while a few games might be inter-conference games, all Fox games feature at least one NFC team, and most games will be NFC vs NFC as NFL teams play 12 of their 16 games against teams in their conference.

So, if you're only watching the NFL on Sky, the teams you're watching are pretty much chosen from only half of the league. Further still, Fox tries to schedule matchups between teams that have a large following and/or are Super Bowl contenders for its nationally-televised games in the U.S., so that whittles the choice of teams you get to see down even further.

In the NFC, the popular and successful teams are the New York Giants, the Dallas Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. Teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears will get more nationally-televised games in seasons when they are competitive/have a compelling story, while others like the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals will get top billing only when they are half-decent every blue moon.

[Guest MattP]

Sky takes coverage from Fox, ESPN and CBS and show every team at least twice a season.

And Scouse, never pick a team, watch the sport and wait for one to come to you, it does eventually.

[Jordan]

Sky takes coverage from Fox, ESPN and CBS and show every team at least twice a season.

And Scouse, never pick a team, watch the sport and wait for one to come to you, it does eventually.

I didn't know that. You get half-decent coverage there--and that's half-decent advice about supporting a team.

[Jordan]

Support the Eagles like I have for the last 8 years. It's a bit like supporting City. I'd have thought they'd be on Sky for Michael Vick (because of his talent and his 'questionable' past), Constant hope and disappointment. They're good crack though, you'll love DeSean Jackson.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUr_oXh6h_o

There's a tonne of videos of him showboating and dropping the ball too, such a cocky bugger - excellent value. Get on the Eagles mate.

Do you have animated GIFs that show DeSean Jackson quitting on his team last season and of the Eagles being the NFL's biggest disappointment?

[Guest MattP]

I didn't know that. You get half-decent coverage there--and that's half-decent advice about supporting a team.

You get a lot of people moaning about the coverage here and I've never understood it.

We get all the Thurs, Sunday and Monday might games and the Sunday day games we get the 1pm and 4pm live game and another game on the red button as a different option for each.

Can't complain at all.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Do you have animated GIFs that show DeSean Jackson quitting on his team last season and of the Eagles being the NFL's biggest disappointment?

Haha that's quality

[Jordan]

You get a lot of people moaning about the coverage here and I've never understood it.

We get all the Thurs, Sunday and Monday might games and the Sunday day games we get the 1pm and 4pm live game and another game on the red button as a different option for each.

Can't complain at all.

That's solid. Most people get that, but three (sometimes four) Sunday afternoon games every week unless you buy the Sunday Ticket and get every Sunday game live. That reminds me of several Brits telling me we get as good if not better live coverage of the Premiership here (provided one has the proper channels, which are rather cheap to add on to a cable package). For an extra $6.75/month, I get, at the very least, five live Premiership games every week from my cable service.

However, New York (and sometimes the Bay Area) get fvcked out of that extra game and only get one 1 pm game and one 4 pm game due to the league's convoluted local television rules (because both markets have two "local" teams). I hate watching a 1 pm Giants game and hearing, "Up next, except in New York, it's the Packers at the Patriots!" and getting stuck with the Jets vs the Dolphins as the only 4 pm game on TV.

I can, though, just walk across the street to the bar with Sunday Ticket and watch whatever game I want, though I'm still on my personal boycott of the league.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

That's solid. Most people get that, but three (sometimes four) Sunday afternoon games every week unless you buy the Sunday Ticket and get every Sunday game live. That reminds me of several Brits telling me we get as good if not better live coverage of the Premiership here (provided one has the proper channels, which are rather cheap to add on to a cable package). For an extra $6.75/month, I get, at the very least, five live Premiership games every week from my cable service.

However, New York (and sometimes the Bay Area) get fvcked out of that extra game and only get one 1 pm game and one 4 pm game due to the league's convoluted local television rules (because both markets have two "local" teams). I hate watching a 1 pm Giants game and hearing, "Up next, except in New York, it's the Packers at the Patriots!" and getting stuck with the Jets vs the Dolphins as the only 4 pm game on TV.

I can, though, just walk across the street to the bar with Sunday Ticket and watch whatever game I want, though I'm still on my personal boycott of the league.

We get similar to sky for NFL 3-4 live games a week, plus about the same amount for college games.

For the EPL we get every game live, if there is a clash ie. Saturday arvo time in UK press the red button and choose which game you want or watch 5 at a time if your TV is big enough.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Do you have animated GIFs that show DeSean Jackson quitting on his team last season and of the Eagles being the NFL's biggest disappointment?

No

Last season was a turd.

[Jordan]

We get similar to sky for NFL 3-4 live games a week, plus about the same amount for college games.

For the EPL we get every game live, if there is a clash ie. Saturday arvo time in UK press the red button and choose which game you want or watch 5 at a time if your TV is big enough.

On DirecTV here, there is a channel called, "NFL Mix," which shows all of the live NFL games on one screen. There's also another channel--which my cable provider just added--called, "NFL Red Zone," which jumps from game to game, showing almost instant highlights and goes live to any game where a team has the ball within the opponents' 20-yard line.

[Fox in the North]

Sweet lord what a field goal! 63 yards!

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Sweet lord what a field goal! 63 yards!

Seen that Aikers just seemed to hit it flush.

Hope Tampa can finish this one off for a handy collect on a multi.

[Guest]

Decent if unspectacular start for the Redskins against the Rams tonight. Few debatable ref decisions too to chew over