Basisphilosophie » The national question in last week’s FanPulse

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Nearly four decades removed from a stint in the short-lived USFL Wes Martin Jersey , Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Polian will preside over the opening weekend of the newest spring league, the Alliance of American Football.“It’s one more challenge at the end of a long career,” said Polian, 76, who co-founded the AAF with Charlie Ebersol, a TV and film producer whose father, Dick, defined NBC Sports’ programming for more than two decades and created “Sunday Night Football.”Polian simply wasn’t ready for retirement after an NFL career in which he helped build Buffalo, Carolina and Indianapolis into Super Bowl teams, with the Colts winning the NFL championship after the 2006 season.This alternative league seems to stand a better chance of surviving than others, such as the USFL and the World League, because of the people and philosophies involved.“I’ve been pretty vocal about channeling the thoughts of so many of my friends in the NFL, in coaching and player personnel, that since the demise of NFL Europe, it’s needed a developmental league, where players can come in and learn and develop skills,” Polian said. “When Charlie approached me about this, we discussed it at great length and finally I said, ‘I’m going to put my effort where my mouth is and see where we can make this work.”Polian will catch half of the opening-weekend games in the eight-team league. He’ll be in San Antonio on Saturday night to watch the Commanders play the San Diego Fleet — broadcast by CBS in prime time — and in Tempe on Sunday night to see the Arizona Hotshots host the Salt Lake Stallions. The other opening-weekend games are the Atlanta Legends at the Orlando Apollos on Saturday night and the Memphis Express at the Birmingham Iron on Sunday night.Polian said the USFL took about 22 months to get up and running, and the expansion Carolina Panthers took about 19 months.“We’ve done this in nine months because of so many great former NFL people who are excited to do it, excited to be in it,” Polian said. “We started with nothing and we’re going to open it up on Saturday with eight teams playing what I think will be pretty good football.“That’s a credit to the people involved. We could not have done it if we had not had quality former NFL people.”The AAF is indeed stuffed with executives, general managers, coaches and players who’ve had various NFL experience.Hall of Fame linebacker and Super Bowl winner Mike Singletary is Memphis’ coach.Mike Martz, who was offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” Super Bowl-winning team in the 1999 season, returns to the sidelines as coach in San Diego Montez Sweat Jersey , which two seasons ago lost the NFL’s Chargers to Los Angeles.Mike Vick is the offensive coordinator in Atlanta.Dennis Erickson is head coach in Salt Lake and will face off against Arizona’s Rick Neuheisel.The AAF even has the Head Ball Coach himself, Steve Spurrier, who is coaching the Apollos.Hall of Famer Willie Lanier is an executive in the league office, where former Pittsburgh Steelers stars Hines Ward (head of football operations) and Troy Polamalu (head of player relations) also work.Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino are officiating consultants. Pereira helped develop the unique rules that include no kickoffs, no extra-point tries, overtime rules that call for each team to get one possession and a ninth official, the SkyJudge, who from his perch in the press box can instantly correct “obvious and egregious” officiating errors, like the one that marred the NFC championship game.San Diego hired so well that it lost quarterback Josh Johnson to the Washington Redskins in December and offensive coordinator Jon Kitna to the Dallas Cowboys as their quarterbacks coach.Ebersol said the AAF players can leave for the NFL between April 29 and Dec. 29. He said the AAF released 71 players to the NFL and 35 came back and are playing. The AAF says that of its more than 600 players signed to date, 98 percent have been in the NFL at some point over the past 18 to 24 months.Polian and Ebersol said every NFL team had scouts in San Antonio when all the teams recently held training camp and then each played an exhibition game.“We’re not competitive, we’re complementary,” Ebersol said. “We look at the NFL as, we’re going to support your existence, let them play in your league, put content on your network. They’re a partner. The goal is to improve and support the ecosystem of football.”Games will be carried on CBS, NFL Network and Turner.Ebersol is backed by some heavyweight investors from Silicon Valley and also MGM, and has told them he has a five-to-seven-year business model.The Alliance has built a proprietary tech platform that will allow for a real-time, rewards-based system of integrated gaming and in-game wagering for fans in states where sports gambling is legalized.In a nice touch, Kurt Warner is the pregame and halftime analyst for Saturday night’s games on CBS. After being cut by Green Bay, Warner was working in an Iowa grocery store before playing in the Arena Football League and ultimately landing with the Rams, leading them to a Super Bowl victory and being voted NFL MVP in 1999.“Think about how many Kurt Warners are hiding among those kids who don’t get to the NFL,” Ebersol said. “Those are the guys we’re finding.”FOX Fantasy AutoForm a Racing Team, Compete for PrizesPlay Now! It was a tough opening week.Still no end to the Trent Williams holdout, and nothing to signal any kind of resolution in sight.The Redskins, after looking like champions for a quarter and a half in Philly, suffered collapses on both sides of the ball in the second half Dwayne Haskins Redskins Jersey , failing to sustain any offensive drives until garbage time, stranding a tired defense on the field that was short of healthy bodies and unable to slow down the Eagles attack.While most people had predicted a loss to Philly in Week One, given the 20-7 halftime lead, it was a deflating loss when it came.That was just the start of the bad news.During the game, Jonathan Allen, Washington’s young starting defensive tackle, hurt his knee and was not allowed to return.Post-game, it was unclear how much time he was likely to miss, though we’ve now been told he’ll be out for one or two weeks.Jim Brown-USA TODAY SportsRight after the game it became clear that running back Derrius Guice, freshly returned from an ACL tear sustained in the 2018 preseason, had hurt his other knee.It was initially described as a ‘strain’, but we heard this week that he suffered a partial tear of his meniscus, and that he had mid-week surgery.He will miss several weeks at least.Eric Hartline-USA TODAY SportsThe news on Greg Stroman’s injury came a little faster, as he had surgery soon after the game for what Jay Gruden described as a core muscle injury and was moved to IR.After that, the list of the walking wounded is a mix of old and new injuries.Colt McCoy’s leg/foot continues to prevent him from even practicing, and it is increasingly unclear why the team is unwilling to move him to IR in an effort to open up a roster spot.Jordan Reed remained in the concussion protocol, though Jay Gruden seems increasingly optimistic about his availability for the Week 2 game against the Cowboys.Defensive Tackle Caleb Brantley and cornerback Fabian Moreau each continues to recover from pre-season injury, while DBs Quinton Dunbar and Montae Nicholson were held out of practice due to injuries that resulted from Sunday’s game.Redskins fans suffering from a case of PTSD after watching 28 players sent to IR last year are wondering if the sky is falling on the 2019 season as well.Fan confidence — low at 36% prior to the Eagles game — fell 11 points to 25%.Even so, the relative confidence rating of Redskins fans looked a bit better, as the confidence of 5 other fan bases fell to levels that ranged from 6% (Panthers) to 22% (Falcons).Unsurprisingly, those five teams — Carolina, Tampa Bay, NY Jets, Steelers and Falcons — all lost their opening game of the season.In fact, the confidence level of fourteen fanbases fell by more than the 11-point drop found among Hogs Haven readers.Redskins fans were disappointed, but having entered the season with lower expectations https://www.theredskinslockerroom.com/authentic-dwayne-haskins-jersey , they simply didn’t have as far to fall.A bit surprisingly, the confidence of Eagles fans fell 2 points, from 99% to 97% — probably because so many Eagle’s fans expect this team to get to the super bowl while the Redskins ‘earn’ a top-5 draft pick that the first half domination by Washington shook the faith a bit.The other two teams inside the NFC East had predictable results.With the return of Zeke Elliott to the roster and a win over the Giants at home in Dallas, Cowboys fans responded with a confidence boost of 17 points, from 78% to 94%.With everyone in the division playing each other to open the season, there were always gonna be two winners and two losers.The home team won in both contests, with the Giants falling to 0-1 to begin what threatens to be a long uncomfortable season for Giants fans.They responded strongly in the FanPulse voting, falling an incredible 44 points after an expected loss.The latest confidence number of 29% seems to be more in line with the type of season that awaits the Giants than the 73% confidence level BigBlueView readers had prior to the start of the regular season. poll was this:Who was the most disappointing team in Week 1?Personally, I wanted to vote for my own Washington Redskins, but since nationally nothing was expected of them, no one, I suppose, sees them as a disappointment.Of the four teams on offer (Falcons, Bears, Steelers, Browns) I voted for the Steelers, who simply got wholloped, even if it was against the Patriots — perhaps because it was against the Patriots.The majority wasn’t with me, however, as the pre-season darlings of the media hype — the Cleveland Browns — somehow disappointed the largest percentage of fans by falling to the Titans by a 30-point margin.It’s very easy for fans, after waiting in anticipation through a long off-season, and getting excited about the team’s improvement in prospects after free agency and the draft, to feel a deep sense of disappointment and failure when their favorite team loses in Week 1.But a football season is a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s only just begun.As John Keim was quick to remind us via Twitter on “Over-reaction Monday” at the start of the week: