Football Reporters Online

By Rafael Garcia-Sr. Contributing Writer-Southeast Region

Houston 41 Tennessee 7

In all the years this team has been in Nashville, no loss was ever this bad. The Titans last game was a trouncing by the Steelers, followed by the bye week. The bye was to be used to correct the mistakes of that blowout. It was supposed to be used to get ready for the biggest game this town has seen in years. It was for first place in the AFC South and what would have amounted to a two and a half game lead. What the fans and the team got was worse than expected.

Football is more than just skill and effort. It requires a passion and a deep commitment to your craft. You must come out every game on fire ready to hit the first opponent near you. After a bye week the Titans were expected to come out firing and fired nothing but dud after dud.

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By Rafael Garcia-Sr.Contributing Writer-Southeast Region-Football Reporters Online

September 28, 2011

Tennessee 17 Denver 14

During the week there was some trash talking between the teams. Some of the Bronco players said that last year the Titans played dirty at times. Courtland Finnegan was the main target and he heard what was said. He would not play into it and did his talking on the field. The rest of the Titan defense made some noise too. On this day it would be physical and there would be some casualties by game’s end.

With only two weeks gone in the season, the lack of a running game began worrying the team and fans as well. Chris Johnson had not made a dent yet and the Broncos didn’t allow much more from him. He carried the ball 13 times for 21 yards. That gives him a grand total of 98 yards in three games. He kind of did breakout but his two impressive runs were called back because of penalties. Punter Brett Kern matched his rushing total on a botched punt turned first down. After two weeks of saying that they would wait and be patient, Johnson and the coaching staff now feel the pressure of getting this ground game going. The contract Johnson signed is making the fans boo and the team wonder when will he get off. It puts pressure on him to perform and right now he just aint getting it done.

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By Anthony “Mini-Kiper”Carillo-Contributing Writer

Peyton Manning is a first ballot hall of famer, regardless if he takes another snap in the National Football League. He is the only player in NFL history to win 4 Most Valuable Player awards, and he has a super bowl ring after beating the Chicago Bears on a rainy night in Miami. He owns the second longest consecutive start streak for a quarterback, behind the iron man Brett Favre.

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By Rafael Garcia Sr. Contributing Writer Southeast Region-Football Reporters Online

September 15, 2011

Tennessee 45 Cincinnati 23

By the end of the first quarter the score was tied and Bearcat RB Isaiah Pead had almost 100 yards rushing. Their first two scores were off 80-yard drives that made the Tennessee defense wonder. On the other side of the field the Vols answered any questions by scoring two touchdowns of their own and the game was on. Pead would finish with 155 yards on the ground, but his second half did not match his first. A game that looked close after one quarter was about to become a blowout.

Last year Volunteer QB Tyler Bray finished the season strong. It may have been against teams that some considered soft, but he looked good. The biggest question coming into this year would be if he might suffer from the sophomore jinx. That notion was a bit dispelled after a week one rout but on this day he was supposed to get a test. It would end up with Cincinnati failing their final exam by game’s end. On this day Bray would throw for 405 yards and four touchdowns. He found receivers wide open and hit the target every time. His confidence was in high mode and the Bearcats could not turn it off. Bray became the first quarterback at UT to throw for two touchdown passes in eight straight games. The guy he passed is someone named Peyton Manning. The first three scores were more like a video game than a real one. Some are saying that he is the best thing since Manning and others are saying hold on just a minute. Either way, Bray is coming along just fine and may be the best QB in the SEC right now. He has command of his passes and he is not looking to just air it out anymore. Of course you can’t do all this by yourself. You need a little help from your friends too.

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 Just how much Trouble are the colts really In??

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By Rafael Garcia

Sr. Contributing Writer Southeast Region-Football Reporters Online

September 14, 2011

Jacksonville 16 Tennessee 14

The reason for the preseason is to tune up the engine of the team. At times things are going to look better in August than they will actually look in September and beyond. During the preseason the offensive line of the Titans looked to be back to form. They appeared to push around their opponents on a regular basis. So as the team headed for Jacksonville, the fans figured this one was in the bag. Well, somebody forgot to tell the offensive line of the preseason to show up for this one.

Chris Johnson was back in his usual position but did not have FB Ahmard Hall with him due to a suspension. This may have been one of the first things that played a part in the lack of Johnson getting going. He had just nine carries for 24 ineffective yards and a lackluster first half produced a 10-0 deficit they could not recover from. By the time they got it somewhat together it was too late. There had been too many three-and-outs just like last year by the game’s end.

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We have word late tonight that with the exception of the suit filed by the Retired Players association, The two sides have an “agreement in principle” according to at least a few NFL players, Including Ex-Giants & Saints TE Jeremy Shockey, now with Carolina….”The Deal is done” he told a sports website in an interview monday evening. “I got a TXT while on my vacation to get ready to come back to work”

Hopefully this means the end of the longest work stoppage in the history of the NFL.

By David Levy-Fan Experience reporter-Football Reporters Online

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

When I set out to film this documentary(Gang Greed) in August of 2008, my goal to tell the fans side. To let the fans speak about what it means to be a Jets fan. How the new PSL’s were going to affect their status as a season ticket holder. Were they going to invest in them or stop going to games altogether. Now, it seams, no one may be going to any games in 2011.

National Football League team owners locked out the league’s players Saturday, shutting down professional football for the first time in 24 years and plunging the nation’s most popular and prosperous sport into a time of uncertainty.

The owners acted after labor talks with the players’ union collapsed Friday afternoon and players decertified the NFL Players Association, moving the bitter dispute into the courts and ending an era of NFL labor peace that had lasted since players went on strike in 1987.

Decertifying the NFL Players Association enabled the players to file antitrust litigation against the owners, which they did late Friday, with superstar quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees among the 10 named plaintiffs. Lawyers for the players also announced that they are seeking an injunction to lift the lockout.

Some still wonder if all of this was worth the headache. Not just for the players and owners, but the fans as well. Both the Jets and Giants issued apologies to the fans for the lockout. The players feel they did what they could but were left with no other choice.

The team owners will complain they are losing money. I am sure they will have no issues paying their bills though. The income is a loss for their business, not them personally. Some younger players will feel the crunch if they are not playing. Many veteran players have investments and other business ventures that will help them get by. But in the end, they will all be on the losing end.

Does anyone really win when this happens? When the last lockout occurred in 1987, who won that battle? The players went  on strike while the owners went out and hired “scabs” to play out the season. Will the team owners do the same thing this year? Probably not. They all want to get this rectified before training camp begins. The fans would like it done sooner.

For season ticket holders, they would like to know sooner than later. Many are pleased only 50% is due and not the whole bill. It gives some longer to get that money together. But knowing a season will happen is better knowing now rather than three weeks into a season. We are on the outside looking in, wondering if a sport many of us enjoy will even happen this year.

Last week Judge David S. Doty ruled that the NFL violated the collective bargaining agreement with its players by renegotiating $4.078 billion in television rights fees for team owners to tap during a lockout even if no games are played in 2011. Why should the owners be entitled to money if there is no season? Should the players get paid if they do not play?

Both sides have their issues. Many players feel the union walked away from a deal that sounded good and met their needs, despite the negative media attention towards the NFL and its owners. According to that statement the NFL released the latest proposal’s details included:

1. The NFL proposed that the two sides split the economic differences between them, increasing their proposed cap for 2011 “significantly” and accepting the NFLPA’s proposed cap number for 2014, which was $161 million per team.

2. The NFL proposed an entry level compensation system that was based on the union’s “rookie cap” instead of a wage scale that the clubs originally proposed. In this proposal, the players drafted from rounds 2-7 would be paid the same amount of money, or even more money, than they are paid now. The savings that would come from the first-round picks would be reallocated to help veteran players and benefits.

3. After a player is injured, the NFL would guarantee that they would pay up to $1 milllion of that player’s salary for the contract year. This is the first time that the owners have offered a standard multi-year injury guarantee.

4. The following changes would be made immediately to promote player safety:

Reduce the off-season program by five weeks, reducing OTAs from 14 weeks to 10 and limiting on-field practice time and contact.

They would limit full-contact practices in the preseason and regular season

They would increase the number of off days for players

5. The NFL proposed that any change from a 16-game season to an 18-game season would only be made if the two sides agreed on the change. The 2011 and 2012 seasons would be 16-game seasons.

6. The NFL team owners would boost retirement benefits for more than 2,000 former players by nearly 60 percent by funding retirees benefits $82 million in 2011 and 2012.

7. The owners offered current players the opportunity to stay in their current medical plans for the rest of their lives.

8. The owners would allow third-party arbitrators in the NFL’s drug and steroid programs.

9. The owners would improve the Mackey plan (designed for players suffering from dementia and other brain-related problems), disability plan and their degree completion bonus program.

10. The owners proposed a per-club cash minimum spend of 90 percent of the salary cap over three seasons.

Now that you know the particulars of the deal, do you still agree with the NFLPA’s decision to decertify and go to court with the NFL?

Yes, the negotiations have been messy and well-publicized but progress was made before the recent burning of bridges. After having half the month of March in extensions of negotiations, both sides were reportedly off by $185 million on how much owners should get up from each season for certain operating expense before splitting up the rest of the revenues with players. That’s a far less amount than the $1 billion difference that separated the two sides earlier in discussions.

A recent poll by ProFootballTalk.com asked fans to place blame on who is responsible for the lockout and 27,000 have said that the player’s are to blame, barely. Just over 38% say the players are to blame, while 24.8% blame the owners and 36.7% blame both.

Many say this is the billionaires vs the millionaires. Two sides who get paid well, fighting to be paid more. If you own a professional football team, one would think you already had enough. Some of that may go to team operations and other bills to be paid, but many know where the bottom line ends. Players put their bodies on the line and should see a little more compensation. Let’s see Woody Johnson or the Mara or Tisch families out there to battle for that extra compensation. I think not.

So while the league and the union continue to bicker like a divorced couple fighting over bank accounts, the fans are the ones who are truly hurting from this dispute, like a child overhearing their parents argument.