We're close enough to training camps that it's time to get this thread started.

To start, this sucks for both parties involved.

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/News/Art ... ewski.aspx

Ravens Waive Sypniewski
With players set to arrive Monday, the team has already made a move at the TE position. by Mike Duffy
Jul 27, 2009, 12:34PM

As players and coaches descended to Westminster, Md., for the start of Ravens training camp, the team waived tight end Quinn Sypniewski.

The former fifth-round draft pick out of the University of Colorado was coming off a year spent entirely on Injured Reserve, and an offseason setback to the recovery of his surgically-repaired knee didn’t help matters.

Sypniewski, 6-foot-6, 270 pounds, was highly valued because of his blocking skills. As a rookie in 2006, he played in all 16 of the Ravens’ games, followed by a 15-game showing the following year.

But in an offseason minicamp in preparation for the 2008 campaign, Sypniewski tore ligaments in his knee after colliding with linebacker Antwan Barnes.

After spending the entire year on the sidelines, Sypniewski then had to get another corrective surgery to reattach the ligament to the bone, which extended his timetable for rehab.

The Ravens have other injury concerns at tight end, as well. Todd Heap (back) and L.J. Smith (groin) were both limited in Organized Team Activities (OTAs). Behind them, Baltimore has rookie Davon Drew and Edgar Jones, who switched over from linebacker.

The Ravens also waived 6-foot-4, 307-pound guard Brian Johnson. Johnson was on the Ravens’ practice squad last season.

tom brady is back.

/2009 season

Long year for the Ponies. Trying to stay optomistic but man with all the drama of the offseason...

the outcome of the games won't be nearly as telling about the quality of bronco football this year as the discipline and effort of the players will. it appears mcdaniels has a plan, and if the players are buying in, that's HUGE.

There's too much talent on offense for them to be completely awful. I'd be surprised if they finished worse than 7-9.

the Lambs are gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuck again

Yeah the line is too good for them to be ineffective. I just want Marshall to shut-up and play and the defense to show up more than half the time.

maybe i'm a big pussy, but im still mad the eagles let brian dawkins walk. i cant root for another team, but holy shit is it hard to root for the eagles right now. every time i think of them i think of joe banner, and then i start to this of way to kill him. if westbrook stays healthy they should be decent and contend for the division. and then lose in the nfc championship game.

just read vick is back, he cant play a game till week 6 but he can practice right away.

Browns vs. Rams...the race for the #1 pick!

I just got my season tickets in the mail the other day. One of these days, my years of seniority of having tickets will help me get tickets to a super bowl...

If the Cowboys don't get their shit together and actually focus on winning some games, I may have to become a Texans fan.

Elephant in the room post I guess. (I couldn't find a thread on it)

I think Vick should have been fully reinstated. He served his time. Nobody is pretending he's going to turn around a franchise. Given the PR nightmare for any team that signs him, give the guy a fair chance to prove himself to whatever team would like to take a chance on him.

Watching Monday Night Miracle on NFL Network, and I have to say I forgot how bad Dennis Miller was.

I was going to post the same thing. Worst idea ever.

I'm pretty sure he was a better idea than Rush. But yeah easily bottom 3.

Jim Johnson lost his battle w/ cancer today. if there's any one single person to credit with the eagles success over the last decade its Jim Johnson. the eagles defense has been at the top of the league for years and was the backbone for their team since reid and Johnson got here. i knew he was in bad shape, but the happened pretty quick. he's one of the best coaches ive ever seen in any sport. RIP.

Eagles Coach Jim Johnson Passes Away
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

By Andy Schwartz
CSNPhilly.com

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Eagles on Tuesday lost the mastermind of their defense, as Jim Johnson succumbed to cancer at the age of 68.

A college or professional coach since 1967, Johnson spent the last 10 seasons as the Eagles’ revered defensive coordinator.

“For 10 years, Jim Johnson was an exceptional coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, but more importantly, he was an outstanding human being,” Eagles Chairman Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement released by the team. “As an integral part of the Eagles family, Jim epitomized the traits of what a great coach should be – a teacher, a leader, and a winner. He positively touched the lives of so many people in and out of the Eagles organization. It was easy to feel close to him. Our hearts go out to his wife, Vicky and his wonderful family. We will miss him greatly.”

Johnson was first diagnosed with melanoma in his back in 2001. In January, nearly two weeks after the Eagles lost to Arizona in the NFC Championship, the team announced that he had experienced a recurrence because a tumor had developed in his spine.

Back pain forced Johnson to coach the Eagles’ final two playoff games from the press box. Although he was on the field during the post-draft minicamp, the usually vigorous Johnson clearly was affected by the disease.

Because of broken bones in his back, he traversed the fields on a scooter and used a cane to walk. On May 2, in his first press conference since the team disclosed his condition, Johnson still spoke like a football coach, referring to the disease as an “injury.”

He took a leave of absence from the team in May, when then-secondary coach Sean McDermott filled in on an interim basis before officially being promoted to defensive coordinator last Friday, two days before the start of training camp.

After Monday morning’s practice McDermott explained when he most misses Johnson.

“Not so much, ‘What would Jim do here?’ – I ran through those situations already in my mind, and if I hadn’t by now it would have been a big mistake,” McDermott said. “But more so, missing him coming out of the locker room, missing him in the meetings this morning, just his presence. He had a way about him that you loved just being around the guy. Our offices were next to each other for a number of years, and so you miss that.”

Johnson was named defensive coordinator in January 1999, just 11 days after Andy Reid was hired as head coach. While that was Johnson’s title, Reid often referred to him as the “head coach of the defense“. Renowned around the league for his attacking, blitz-happy scheme, Johnson allowed Reid to focus solely on the offense.

Since 2000, the Eagles’ defense is second in the league in sacks (390), tackles for loss (tied at 457), forced fumbles (159), red-zone touchdown efficiency (43.9 percent) and third-down efficiency (34.0 percent).

Most important, however, Johnson’s goal was to allow a maximum of 17 points per game. In that same span, the Eagles have allowed an average of 17.7, fourth fewest in the league.

The media enjoyed talking to him because of his refreshing press conferences, which consisted of insightful and honest answers. During the season, Johnson met the media on Thursdays, which subsequently became easy days to write. When someone asked me what I was writing on a Thursday, I’d respond, half-jokingly, “Whatever Jim says.”

Johnson’s players enjoyed playing for him in part because he continued to refesh his scheme. Under his leadership, 10 Eagle defenders made the Pro Bowl, led by Brian Dawkins, who has been selected seven times.

After the Eagles forced only 19 turnovers in 2007, Johnson installed a new policy in practice that instructed players to rush to any loose ball, whether a fumble, dropped or deflected pass. Last season, the Eagles forced 27 fumbles. Their 20 forced fumbles doubled their total from the 2007 season.

A quarterback for Missouri from 1959-62 and tight end for the Buffalo Bills in 1963-64, Johnson's career on the sideline began three years later as the head coach for Missouri Southern. He served as the defensive coordinator for Drake from 1969-72, the linebackers coach for Indiana from 1973-76 and the defensive coordinator/assistant head coach for Notre Dame from 1977-83.

Johnson spent two years as a defensive coordinator in the USFL before earning his first NFL coaching job in 1986, when he tutored the defensive backs and defensive line for the St. Louis Cardinals. He became the Indianapolis Colts' defensive coordinator/linebackers coach in 1994 before being named the Seattle Seahawks' linebackers coach in 1998.

Johnson is survived by his wife Vicky, children Scott and Michelle, and four grandchildren, Katie, Justin, Brandon and Jax.

http://csnphilly.com/pages/landing_09?E ... feedID=704

Jim Johnson

what if he had raped someone, would the league be accepting him back? i know boxing accepted mike tyson back, but that's boxing.

jim johnson was a criminally underrated defensive mind. then giants DCoordinator spagnuolo got credit for stymying the patriots in super bowl 42, but johnson devised the general blueprint for how to contain the '07 NE offense on a sunday night game in about the tenth week. i still remember being on pins and needles that night when the eagles and AJ fucking feeley played NE so tight.

RIP.