The 4-3, the 3-4 and 34

Okay, if you have been following the Patriots at all this week you'd realize they were snapping up DEs and DTs like nobody's business. All of a sudden, the Hoody (Bill Belichick) is seemingly switching to a 4-3, considering they took less than 5% of all defensive snaps from the 4-3 since 2008 that's pretty ding dang dong ridiculous.

And at the risk of sounding like the homer I am, I have to say "all hail the Hoody".

Think about it. The Patriots played 3-4 for years. They didn't do 4-3. Period. So all these offense packages that teams have been dreaming up during the lockout, and you know they were working on those, to go against the Patriots D are all out the window now because to be honest no one really knows what they are going to do.

Okay now that I have everyone thoroughly confused, here's the deal with the different types of defense. I'll go over the major differences because if I start having to get into the coverage guys...it'll make your head spin. We'll start by explaining the personnel.

Linemen: these are the big guys. In a 3-4 defense, there are 3 lineman: a nose tackle (the biggest and strongest) and two defensive ends (DE) who are on either "end" of the three man line. In the 4-3 defense, there are four linemen. The two big dudes in the middle are called defensive tackles (DT) and are usually referred to as the "left" or "right" DT. Pretty self-explanatory.

Linebackers: they do exactly what their name suggests. The stand in back of the line. These guys are a little smaller and a little faster. In the 3-4 defense, you have four linebackers and they concentrate more on stopping the run and confusing the passer (the quarterback). In the 4-3, there are only three linebackers. Linebackers have several names:

Inside Linebacker (ILB) AKA Middle Linebacker (MLB) AKA "Mike". These are your guys in the middle of the line of linebackers. This is your boss of the defense, usually the guy yelling to his teammates what the QB is about to do or if a blitz has been called, etc. These guys have to do it all, they have to spy on the quarterback, tackle, block runs up the middle, blitz, or drop back into pass coverage depending on the situation.

Outside Linebacker (OLB) The outside linebacker stands on either end of the line of linebackers. They come in two varieties:
Strongside Linebacker AKA "Sam". These are your big strong guys in terms of linebackers. They line up on the strong side,
which is the side with the most offensive players.

Weakside Linebackers AKA "Will". These are your most mobile and your fastest linebackers. They line up on the side with
the least offensive players and often have to drop back into pass coverage.


Now that you know who everyone is, here is how those defenses work.

The 3-4
In the 3-4 you have 3 linemen, they consist of one Nose tackle and 2 DEs. Behind them you have 4 linebackers. This is a defense used by the Steelers, Jets, Dolphins, Redskins, Cowboys and several other teams. This seems to be the "trendy" defensive style at the moment,


The 4-3
In the 4-3, you have 4 linemen. A left DT and a right DT and two DEs. Behind them are 3 linebackers. Currently the Colts, Eagles, Lions and several other teams favor this style of defense.


Now, just because a team prefers one over the other doesn't mean that is the only defense they do. But count the players when they line up at the line of scrimmage (where the ball is) and you'll be able to make a good guess at what style of defense they are lining up in.

Back to the Patriots. So why are they changing things up when the rest of the league seems to be going the other way? Why not? If this season has taught me anything so far it is that you can never trust Bill Belichick to do what is expected. Watching them and the Eagles this pre-season, I keep wondering where they are getting all this money from. The Patriots like to get good deals for their players but they've always stayed closer to the cap than the stingier teams. And now they are switching the defense all up and have all these new faces I don't know what the team will look like come Thursday when they take on the Jags for the first preseason game of the year. Football (for real) is ALMOST HERE!

You know what, I might even watch the whole preseason game because I'm so starved for football that I don't care if I have no idea who is playing and the JV team is out there. It's football and it's back.

Switching sports for a moment. I'd like to add something about my very favorite #34 since we've been talking about 3-4 and 4-3. David Ortiz had a monster night against the Twinkies (Min Twins) tonight. 4-5 with 3 RBIs and just a triple short of the cycle is no laughing matter, especially since the team arrived in Minnesota around 5 PM due to an extremely late marathon against the Yankees. Papi has been slumping a little since the break, but seems to be coming out of it with a great night tonight and some solid ABs against the Yankees.

Schedule for the week:

Sox vs. Twins 8/9 and 8/10

Sox vs. Mariners 8/12-8/14

Patriots vs. Jags 8/11

Now if only I didn't have finals, this would be a fantastic week. I gotta go dig out my jerseys because FOOTBALL IS BACK!

The Modest Monarch: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Okay, normally I am not a celebrity stalker. Frankly, I think they are just like everyone else and should be left alone. However, I am completely and totally obsessed with the new Duchess of Cambridge's style. Not only because it is classic and elegant, but because it is MODEST. Not just modest as in covered up but modest in price as well. Let me explain.

Last week E! made a big deal about the fact that not only did the Duchess recycle a coat, she also recycled a dress. Shocking! It amazes me that anyone thinks twice about this. We all have clothes we like. We like how they fit, feel, and look on us. Raise your hand if you recycle outfits (I'll give you a hint, we all do it!) I found it refreshing. Yes, the dress is designer. Its also fantastic so why wouldn't she wear it more than once? Same goes for the coat. The only new thing in her outfit for Zara Phillip's wedding was the hat. Granted it was an expensive hat, but it's one we will probably see again. Plus she doesn't seem to be allergic to off-the-rack clothing. I'm pretty sure she's gone out in stuff from Banana Republic, Zara (which is really cute but very reasonable) and clothes that won't cost you your first born child. It's important to note that both she and her sister Pippa seem to not care where the clothes come from, so long as they are cute, but invest in nice designer bags and shoes, which is a smarter investment than a $200 shirt.

The other thing I love is the modesty. She looks fantastic but she can move without fear of, as my father always said, "giving someone the chance to autograph her underwear". And her clothes don't show too much of the girls. And that makes her prettier than some of these trashy hollywood starlets who think the less skin you show, the sexier. Maybe its because I'm a woman, but I just think they look cheap. You wear a $50 dress from Khols that fits right and looks good and doesn't show too much skin, you can look more expensive and well-dressed than someone in a $400 designer dress that leaves too little to the imagination. I truly hope the drop in hemlines and the more modest style of the spring and fall will carry over into next year. I hope with the influence of the Duchess, we may see a return of modesty.

I want this not only because I think that will make women everywhere look better, but also because I am tired of seeing spare-tires and muffin tops hanging over too-tight jeans, thongs and butts hanging out of shorts and skirts, and dresses that really are entirely too short to be a dress. Enough is enough, people. Really.

One more thing to discuss, in terms of looking fantastic on a modest budget, but investing in quality. It's called "Clinton Math". I named it this because it comes from Clinton Kelly and the TLC show What Not To Wear. It is a really great tool to help make decisions when shopping and identifying what is a good investment and what isn't. Here's how it works:

Look at the price of your item.
Example: LOFT sweater, $50

Ask yourself: how many times will I wear this sweater?
Example: At least 3 times a month from Sept-April, a total of 21 times

Now, divide the price of the item by the number of times per wear.
Example: 50/21=$2.38 a wear.

But because it is a wardrobe basic, we also have to think about how many years you will use it. For this I'll estimate at least 2.
So the math becomes 50/42 = $1.19 a wear. That's not terrible, especially for something that is work appropriate.

You have to decide for yourself what you want to spend for each type of clothing. $2 a wear for a wardrobe staple may not be a bad investment, but $2 a wear for pajamas...that may be a bit much.

So just remember divide the price by the number of times you think you will wear an item and that will really start to make you think about the cost of clothes.

au revoir

-Sara

NFL Week 10: Blackout for Big Blue, Big Ben, But Not Buffalo

Here's the big story of the week: The Bills have won their first game of the season. They beat the Lions 14-12. The Lion's ability this season to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is astounding. Good for the Bills, terrible for Detroit.

On to the actual big stories of the week.

The lights went out in New Jersey. Literally. And we aren't talking about an old dump like Schaefer Stadium, we are talking about the Brand Spanking New New Meadowlands Stadium. Did they forget to pay the power bill or what? Perhaps the Giants need to call in Mike Holmes from HGTV to check out their contractors work and fix what they did wrong.

Things did not go uphill from there. The Cowboys had already plowed over the Giants and were leading the game 26-6 early in the third quarter. The Giants made a good run after the lights came back on 12 minutes later, but much of the amenities we are used to did not return. The biggest thing missing for viewers at home? The score graphic.

Not that it mattered as the Cowboys beat the Giants 33-20. Jason Garret got his first win and the 'Boys are now 2-7. But hey, if the Cowboys run the table and beat Philly twice, New Orleans and Washington in Dallas, and Indianapolis and Arizona at home, they'll be 9-7 and may even make the playoffs.

Not exactly likely, but they don't say "any given Sunday" for nothing.

Another big story of the week: Jacksonville at Houston. After starting the season hot, Houston seems to have cooled off a bit. They went 4-2 before the bye and have lost all three games since then. But nothing hurts as much as the way they lost to Jacksonville on a last-second Hail Mary pass thrown by David Garrard, batted like a volleyball by Houston defensive back Glover Quin into the hands of Jacksonville wide receiver Mike Thomas who scored the go-ahead touchdown with no time left.

Someone needs to explain what you should do in that situation to Quin. You don't bat the ball you catch it. Or at least make sure that no one else can catch it. Either way Houston walked away with it's third straight loss and Jacksonville walked away happy.

On to the Sunday Night Game. Pretty good match up as far as Sunday Night games go. The Patriots and the Steelers had identical records, Pittsburgh was coming off a win over Cincinnati, and the Patriots were coming off a shellacking by the Cleveland Browns.

Mike Tomlin called it a match up of emotion verses cerebral. In one sense it is. The Steelers are more aggressive, hard running, taking the lunch pail to the coal mine kind of mentality. The Patriots are like a steady organized assembly line, everyone has a roll, and they do it or they are replaced.

Of course, Tom Brady showed more emotion in the first half that most of the fans there. After his stagnant offense got in it's own way (again) he pulled them together and blasted them. That seemed to do the trick as the offense quickly put the game out of reach.

It didn't help that Big Ben was sacked 5 times for 38 yards, as the offensive line couldn't hold up with both of Ben's blind side guys, Max Starks and Chris Keomeatu, out with injuries. They also could not establish the run with the offensive line, and when you take away the run, you take away the play-action pass.

All told it was really a bad match up for the Steelers. They are excellent against the run, but the Patriots run game is iffy at best. They have a decent secondary, but the team is predicated on stopping the run. When you face a team that is pass first think about the run later, and your linebackers are not generally pass rushers, its a difficult match up. Especially with the return of Logan Mankins and a generally stout offensive line built around protecting the passer.

Final score: 39-26, though all three of the Steelers touchdowns came in the fourth quarter, which started with the Pats up 23-3. It is of note that Hines Ward left the game early with a "neck injury" (aka concussion) and did not return, leaving the red zone offense to the likes of Randell El.

Other notes from Sunday:

Newly minted Titan Randy Moss caught one pass out of the 5 thrown to him as the Titans dropped one in Miami. The day was equally bad for Miami, despite the win. Chad Pennington attempted his first two passes of the regular season, was promptly injured and now requires surgery. See you in 2011 Chad. So in came Chad Henne. He made it to the tail end of the third quarter before injuring his knee on an incomplete pass. The Dolphins have not ruled out Henne for week 11.

After Henne left, in came quarterback number three, Tyler Thigpen. At this point Tennessee, themselves on their second quarterback of the game, was only down by five. But Thigpen threw a touchdown to Anthony Fasano, they kicked a field goal, and Miami's defense held Tennessee scoreless in the fourth on their way to a 29-17 victory.

The Jets managed to score in the last minute of overtime to defeat the Cleveland Browns 26-20.

Carson Palmer's late interception halted Cincinnati's comeback against Indianapolis as the Colts hang on to win 23-17.

Tampa Bay clobbered Carolina 31-16, just about every player on the Broncos scored in their 49-29 route of Kansas City. Ye Olde Gunslinger Brett Farve's 1 TD and 3 INTs helped the Chicago Bears on their way to a 13-27 victory over Minnesota.

It is also notable that Jay Cutler thew 3 TDs and 2 INTs in the game and he and Farve are tied for the most picks thrown this season.

Seattle, with Matt Hasselbeck back at the helm, easily defeated the hapless Cardinals 36-18 and the Niners rallied for 10 points in the fourth quarter and an OT field goal to defeat the St. Louis Rams 23-20, giving QB Troy Smith his first win of the season.

Philly takes on Washington tonight, and with the Giants loss to Dallas, an Eagles win would put them in a tie for first in the NFC East with the G-Men. If the Redskins win they will move into a tie for second with the Eagles.

Big games next week:

Brett Farve and the Vikings take on the Green Bay Packers at home in Minnesota.

Philadelphia plays at home against the Giants, and if they win this week against the Skins, it would be a battle for first in the NFC East.

The Broncos taking on the Chargers could be a good game, certainly a make-or-break one for San Diego, and if Denver plays like it did this last week, the Bolts could be in for a tough one.

And the mother of them all:

Indianapolis at New England. The weather at the moment is cold but clear and this looks to be a big match up, as these games always are, pitting Tom Brady against Peyton Manning. Both teams are pretty evenly matched, with the Pats getting a slight edge for being at home. We should be in for a real treat, watch at 4:15 on CBS.

Special Teams, Special Win

I've seen a lot of MNF games in my life, and a lot of Patriots MNF games. I've seen great defenses, better offenses, and pretty good special teams. But I have never seen anything like what happened on Monday night.

The Patriots set an NFL record for scoring a touchdown 5 different ways:

1. Brandon Tate kickoff returned for a touchdown (start of the second half)
2. Patrick Chung blocks a punt with 13:32 remaining in the 3rd quarter, which leads to a BenJarvis Green-Ellis rushing touchdown with 12:50 to play in the 3rd.
3. Tom Brady threw to Danny Woodhead for 11 yards and a touchdown with 4:09 left in the 3rd.
4. Patrick Chung blocks a field goal attempt and Kyle Arrington picks the ball up and scores with 14:16 left in the game
5. Brandon Marshall doesn't commit to his route which leads to Chad Henne throwing the ball right to Patrick Chung who promptly runs the ball 35 yards for a pick-6 touchdown.

Actually, that's pretty much the only ways you can score a touchdown, the only one missing was a punt return.

By the way, Rob Ninkovich is the honorary Yeti of The Week for stopping two Miami drives with his first and second interceptions of his career. Chad Henne will be seeing number 50 in his sleep this week.

Also, kudos to Randy Moss. He didn't see a lot of action this week, but his presence on the field opened things up for the running game, the tight ends and the slot receivers. (PS...please don't trade him!)

Tom Brady also won his 100th game of his career, 7 games faster than any other quarterback, the next quickest being Dan Marino at 138 games, in the Superbowl Era (yes, that includes Peyton Manning, it took him 154 games). In fact, only two coach-quarterback combinations have more wins together than Brady and Belichick, and if they stay together for the next two years, they will easily surpass that number.

But the offense was not really the story on Monday. It seems the thing missing last year was Rodney Harrison. Not necisarily him, personally, but his ability to get the team feeling like they were being disrespected, overlooked, and underappreciated by everyone else. For the first time in a while, that team looked around the locker room and knew that all they had was each other. If you don't think that's a powerful thing, you haven't seen the difference between a team gelling on defense and a team not gelling on defense.

It's night and day.

This time the lack of respect was brought up by the Hood Man himself. In the Patriots weekly newspaper, they post the "expert" picks from around the NFL. None of the experts picked New England, and most of them were down on the young defense, calling them the worst pass defense in the league. Bill Belichik thought it appropriate to share that with his team, and most of them did not appreciate the lack of faith from the leagues "experts".

Yes, the defense needs work, but its hardly the worst in the league. The defense is young, and with that youth comes the propensity to make mistakes. Without veteran leadership from guys like Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi, who are, admittedly, the one-in-a-million type guys who lead without trying, some of the young guys fall apart when they make mistakes instead of fighting back.

This Patriots defense fought back, and fought back hard.

The first half wasn't pretty. In fact, Miami would have scored another two touchdowns if it weren't for Rob Ninkovich. But Ninkovich was prepared, he knew the routes Miami was running, and it paid off. So despite the fact that they gave up 400 yards, they only gave up 14 points. And I'll take that any day. When they needed stops, they got them, and as such looked much, much better then they had the previous two weeks.

Which is good, because you can't give up thirty points to Buffalo and have people take you seriously as a defense. But I was really impressed at how everyone stepped up their game this week. Mayo seemed to be all over the field, making tackles left and right, Banta-Cain got some good pressure in Henne, Patrick Chung made some outstanding plays and so did Rob Ninkovich.

The most important improvement from the defense this week was confidence. When the game was close, they held it together. They shut down the Dolphins and kept them down. And confidence can be built on. Now they know they have this sort of game in them, now they have a huge chip on their shoulder by being doubted so completely, now they are playing as a team.

Bill Belichick needs to take a page out of Doc River's book and have his defense working on Ubuntu. It means "I am what I am because of who we all are". It is the Celtics mantra, and what helps them remember that individuals do not win games, teams do.

So I am heading into the bye week with hope. Hope for the Patriots, and hope for that young defense.

And since the Red Sox are officially out, I'm going with my hometown boy Mike Cuddyer and saying "GO TWINS!". This could also stem from a hatred of the Rays, dislike of the Texans, and a burning, intense hatred for the Skankees.

Goals For The Fall: Cook More, Run More & Understand Hockey

Going off the title, I have decided to better learn to cook this fall. And I've been wanting to read the book Julie & Julia after seeing the movie. I love cooking but I'm not great at it yet, so we'll see how that goes.

And October is fast approaching. Which, if you even remotely follow sports, its a big month. The MLB postseason kicks off October 6th with the ALDS and NLDS. (American League and National League Division Series). The NBA preseason starts, but no one really pays much attention to that, and the real NBA starts October 26th. The NFL is in full swing in October with games every Sunday and Monday, and college football starts to get into interesting conference match-ups. Oh, and if you follow hockey, that starts October 7th too.

Which means I'll be doing a lot of cooking in front of the tiny little tv in my kitchen instead of the giant HD one in the living room. Go figure.

I also got a Gordon Ramsay cookbook. Gotta love him. I love watching Kitchen Nightmares on the BBC, it's fantastic.

Another goal of the fall: continue running, which, by the way, is some sort of bizarre addiction. Doing a 10K in October, 10 Miler in December, 14K in February, and Half-Marathon in March. Maybe another 10K in April. After you run a Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) a 10K (6.2 miles) seems a whole lot easier.

Which brings me to the idea of running as a sport. It is completely different from team sports in that you are not usually motivated by a coach, and for most sports, running is the punishment for doing something wrong. I know, we used to have to run around the field if we missed a pop-up because we didn't use two hands or didn't get the glove all the way down on a ground ball. Now my coach likes squats. Five squats for every screw-up. Ouch.

So because I am training for a 10K, infinitely easier than training for the 1/2 Marathon, I'm going to use the cooking goal and the running goal and combine them. How, you ask? Easy. I'm going to learn healthy, energizing recipes I can use not only as a tasty meal, but something that gives me fuel and electrolytes and all the vitamins and minerals you need to get in shape and keep your body from having problems when you do run.

So on to the final fall goal: hockey.

I love hockey. I find myself watching it with rapt attention like you would watch the word "dvd" bounce around the screen in a boring meeting waiting for it to hit the corner. But I have zero clue what's going on. Its different from the other sports I watch, because I know the rules of those, except curling. I still don't have a good grasp on that. Anyway, hockey is the beast that has eluded me for some time. Its like football combined with basketball combined with MMA (mixed martial arts).

And it moves as fast as the 100 meter dash.

So what is the best way to go about learning the sport? I've found the most effective way is to watch it with someone who knows and ask questions. Yes. It is never bad to ask questions, even if you think they are stupid. There's a difference between asking a stupid question because you want to understand and asking a stupid question because you want attention.

If you are uncomfortable with a group setting, ask someone in advance to watch a game with you and explain it. Chances are good they won't mind. Which is my plan. This fall I will master hockey, I will understand it, I will know how to pronounce all the Russian and Canadian names, and I will not jump on the Sidney Crosby bandwagon (Go Bruins!)

So, by December 21st (the official start of winter) I will be a better cook, a better runner, and possibly a hockey fan. Who knows. Life is full of possibilities.

Ga-Ga For Gronk, Crazy For Crumpler

The New England Patriots new tight end, Rob Gronkowski, is my new favorite player. Called, almost appropriately, "Gronk", he is one of three Gronkowskis in the league this season. Chris Gronkowski plays fullback for Dallas and Dan Gronkowski, is a tight end for the Lions. They are the only set of three siblings in the NFL at this time.

Gronk is an absolute beast. 6'6" and 264 pounds, and only 21, he is what I like to call a "big fella". 

His play during the first half of the Rams/Patriots game tonight solidified my good opinion of him. He's a big, blocking tight end and taking over in a position that's been largely ineffective the last few years. 

But that's not all the Patriots did to improve their tight end play.

They added speedy Aaron Hernandez and bull-dozing Alge Crumpler to create a really interesting mix of tight ends that can add wrinkles to the Patriots offense this season. 

And tonight, both Gronk and Crumpler have been showing off. 

In the first half, Gronkowski literally dragged linebacker James Laurinaitis about five yards before diving and just breaking the plane for a touchdown. He looked like a favorite uncle trying to escape the pesky niece or nephew that just won't let go of his foot. (Video here)

And the Patriots were in the red zone thanks to a huge, on his knees, hands clamped onto the ball catch on the sideline by Alge Crumpler. I'd say that was Sportscenter highlight number one and Gronk's trip to the end zone number two. (Video here)

 

I would look for Gronk to be a big end zone target in the mold of Mike Vrabel. Vrabel worked as a touchdown target because he was big, quick, and had good hands. Vrabel was two inches shorter and four pounds lighter than Gronkowski. 

And Crumpler will not only provide an experienced blocker with good hands, but his ten years of experience will rub off on his rookie counterparts. 

How much better is this team going to be when you can't tell if Brady is going to check down to one of his tight ends, or if they will provide blocks for runs or big throws. Plus, it is hard for some of the guys in the backfield, who average about 6', 200 pounds, to guard someone who is just plain bigger than them. 

Now if only some of the awesomeness of the new tight ends will rub off on the defense, the Patriots will be unstoppable. 

 

Brady, Manning and the CBA: 18 Games and Counting

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are both in the final year of their contracts this year. The NFL is spiraling towards a lockout in 2011 and a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). There might be 18 games in the 2012 regular season. And it's the all-important week three of the preseason where starters play most of the game.

First off, the ever-present, but not talked about as much as Darelle Revis's holdout, contract negotiations. One would think this would be one of the summer's biggest stories, aside from Albert Haynesworth and his conditioning test.

Of course, the two teams and two men under discussion are football-focused and generally mum to the media on any issues.



Tom Brady looks to bounce back this season, another year removed from his knee injury, and he has his favorite weapons of Moss and Welker, plus shiny new tight-ends and a healthy troupe of running backs.

If his young defense picks it up this season, even in a difficult division with a killer schedule, the Patriots should make the playoffs. Again.

And Manning is consistently very good, winning accolades and games. Brady has more rings and is younger, so he should probably be paid a bit more, but both players are looking at contracts upwards of $100 million.

So why haven't the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts inked their franchise QBs to mega-million dollar deals?

Here are a few reasons:

1. Both teams want their star quarterbacks and are willing to fork up the cash, but both want to say their guy is the highest paid guy. Maybe Robert Kraft (Pats owner) and Jim Irsay (Colts owner) need to call each other up and pay them the exact same.

2. Jim Irsay forgot Peyton Manning is payed to play football. Irsay is so used to seeing Manning on TV in one of his million commercials, he thought he was an actor.

3. Bill Bellichick and Robert Kraft don't like Tom Brady's haircut and are hoping to ink a deal once he gets it cut.

4. Why pay a guy millions of dollars if you are just going to lock him out next year?

At least one of those reasons is a joke. The prospect of no football next year is not, however.

The NFL is one of the most successful companies in the country. And yes, it may be a game, but it is still a company in the business of making money.

The players want better health care, which they only receive for five years after retirement. Also, they don't want to add two games to the season, partially because they are concerned about injury and partially because they won't be paid extra for the extra games.

The owners want more money. No one goes to the preseason games, so they want more butts in the seats eating popcorn and drinking beer.

As for the lockout? No problem. The owners get paid big bucks next year whether we watch football on Sundays or re-runs of I Love Lucy.

The sides are only miles apart on the issues, and will grow further as the owners approved the "enhanced" season (AKA the 18 game one) today. That would have to be approved by the Players Union, and that's looking like a big, fat "no" at the moment.

So how do we solve this quandary?

Some suggest a compromise of a 17-game season and 3 weeks of preseason. That won't work because it's not "fair". Some teams would get two home games, others only one.

Okay, how about 17 and 2? And I bet if the owners lowered the price of the games, like baseball does for spring training, you would get more butts in the seats eating popcorn and drinking beer. That's probably not going to happen.

The players might agree to the 18-game season if they are paid for it and their health benefits are increased. It also wouldn't hurt to restructure the rookie salaries to be slotted like the NBA, allowing you to pay players based on their merit in the NFL as opposed to what they did in college.

Until this is all sorted out, expect delays on all contract negotiations, even the gimmes like Brady and Manning. And enjoy what football gives this season, we may have to wait another 18 months between this season's Superbowl and the next season opener.