Concussions, crime, and mascot-who-must-not-be-named area unit owning the headlines heading into the football game season
By Eric Dodds @doddsefSept. 05, 20135 Comments
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Wild Card Playoffs - port of entry Seahawks v Washington Redskins
Win McNamee / Getty pictures
Robert mythical monster III embraces Russell Wilson when the Seahawks defeated the Redskins twenty four to fourteen throughout the NFC Wild Card game at FedExField on Three Kings' Day, 2013
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After 215 long days, the NFL is back. Not the draft, not coaching camp, not season games—real, genuine , this-actually-counts soccer games. Thursday night’s pairing between the defensive Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens and therefore the Peyton Manning-helmed Denver Broncos has been circled on fans’ calendars since it had been declared on Apr eighteen and currently it's finally arrived. these days may be a happy day for soccer fans.
But the beginning of the 2013 campaign is unlikely to totally throw away the angst-filled narrative that drove discussion of football game throughout the offseason. There are arrests and scandals and debates and lawsuits—hardly any of that are resolved. This has become commonplace for the NFL of the twenty first century and nonetheless every fall, there arrives ample time and energy to debate quarterback battles, work choices and division rivalries. Here area unit six compelling story lines because the 2013 NFL season gets current tonight:
1. The Concussion drawback. tho' the difficulty of concussions within the NFL has solely got wind of the forefront of public consciousness within the last decade, there’s very little doubt it's been a haul for a lot longer than that and can stay one for the predictable future. On Aug. 29, the NFL and thousands of retired players reached a tentative $765 million settlement to help within the treatment of concussion-related brain injuries. tho' the payout demonstrates progress, one condition of the settlement was that the agreement “cannot be thought-about associate degree admission by the NFL of liability, or associate degree admission that plaintiffs’ injuries were caused by soccer,” which, of course, is regarding as ridiculous because it sounds. With athletes growing stronger and quicker, the NFL has created makes an attempt to update its rules and instrumentality to higher defend players, however it appears seemingly that that the league are fighting a really public uphill battle for years to return.
(MORE: NFL Settles Concussion Suit: Is It a Win For Player Health?)
2. A infuriating organism. The Washington Redskins area unit one among the league’s hottest franchises, however their old denomination received heightened criticism throughout the 2013 offseason. Criticism for the ‘Redskins’ nickname is nothing new—complaints go back to a minimum of 1992—but there has been a groundswell of support for amendment since February’s Super Bowl. In spite of incalculable requests from politicians and pundits WHO decision the name unambiguously racist, owner Dan Snyder has mamma his heels in: “We’ll ne'er amendment the name. It’s easy. NEVER.” in spite of Snyder’s position, some have determined to abandon the name anyway. Reports indicate that Peter King’s new “Monday Morning Quarterback” web site (an outcome of Sports Illustrated that, like TIME, is a component of your time Iraqi National Congress.) can merely ask the franchise because the “Washington eleven.”
3. The Specter of Aaron Hernandez. The geographical area Patriots free Hernandez simply hours when his arrest in July, however his close murder trial can virtually definitely be a distraction for the team well into the regular season. And build no mistake regarding it, the Hernandez case can still be associate degree NFL plot line in massive half as a result of he was a nationalist. The oft-repeated story of the ‘Patriot Way’ has been debunked thus often and totally in recent years that it appears absurd to expect any kind of higher morality from owner Bob kraft paper or head coach Bill Belichick. Still, fans were aghast that a Patriots player can be capable of murder. Belichick and different members of the organization area unit almost absolute to decline investigate any Hernandez queries they receive throughout the season, however that doesn’t mean they won’t be obtaining them. geographical area conjointly didn’t recoil from potential distraction once they signed the NFL’s most overexposed player, Tim Tebow,within the spring before cutting him on Aug. 31. raise that the departure of wideout Wes Welker to the rival Broncos and star end Rob Gronkowski’s tenuous injury state of affairs, and there’s an honest bet the Patriots area unit sure season crammed with Belichick’s least-favorite thing: tumult.
4. M-E-S-S! MESS! MESS! MESS! If there’s a franchise that is aware of additional regarding distractions than the Patriots, it’s the ny Jets. For a team that nearly nobody expects to form the playoffs, the Jets have received associate degree excessive quantity of attention throughout the offseason. First, the franchise unemployed chief electro-acoustic transducer Tannenbaum however determined to retain head coach Rex Ryan (an approach that nearly continuously ends in disaster and therefore thedismissal of the top coach the subsequent year). Then in Apr, the Jets cut Tebow days when drafting the foremost ‘controversial’ quarterback of the beginner category, Geno Smith. Things haven’t quieted down in the slightest degree over the summer with Smith battling much-maligned incumbent quarterback Mark Carlos|Ilich Ramirez Sanchez|Carlos|Carlos the Jackal|Salim|Andres Martinez|Taurus|Glen Gebhard|Hector Hevodidbon|Michael Assat|terrorist} for the beginning job—a battle that resulted in the team’s final season game once Smith threw 3 interceptions before Ryan re-inserted Sanchez, WHO gashed his shoulder and will continue the gashed reserve list. the primary game of the regular season hasn’t even been contend, and a few columnists area unit already vocation for Ryan’s head. simply another season for the ny Jets.
5. the increase of Football’s huge Four. The story lines heading into the beginning of the 2013 season aren’t all negative. The quartet of gumptious quarterbacks—Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck, Washington’s Henry M. Robert mythical monster III, San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick and Seattle’s Russell Wilson—is one among the foremost talented united history. Last season was the primary year beginning at quarterback for all four players, and every one four light-emitting diode their team to the playoffs. tho'there’s been extensive dialogue over that one has the brightest future, this year’s matchups between the four can beyond question be appointment viewing for casual fans of soccer.
6. WHO can Win Super Bowl XLVIII? Your guess is nearly as good as anyone else’s. Few picked last year’s winner, the Baltimore Ravens, to return away with the title, however we all know however that all over. Even fewer area unit selecting them to repeat this year, due to associate degree aging offensive and a depleted defense. Last year’s NFC champs, the city 49ers, area unit a preferred decide due to Kaepernick, head coach Jim Harbaugh and one among the league’s best defenses. however the Ninersarea unit handling variety of injuries (including serious ones to archangel Crabtree and Mario Manningham, the team’s prime wideouts) and will not have enough weapons on offense to form up for them. port of entry and Atlanta each went deep in last year’s playoffs and area unit expected to try to to identical this year. Same for the Broncos and Patriots within the AFC. nonetheless as is nearly continuously the case, there’s no clear-cut favorite. All any fan will do is wait, surprise and hope—it all begins tonight.
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