Sounds like the rest of the league is getting sick of the Belichicks, Mangini's and Parcells of the world. Doesn't sound like a bad idea, but there are still thousands of ways of circumventing the premise..... http://www.startribune.com/510/story/1071380.html NFL will revise the way teams report on injuries Old system is being revamped because coaches didn't trust reports last season. By Kevin Seifert, Star Tribune Last update: March 21, 2007 ? 10:12 PM The NFL on Wednesday said it plans to improve its weekly injury reports after several teams, including the Vikings, called into question the existing method and protocol. The new system, Atlanta General Manager Rich McKay said, will require teams to reveal each injured player's practice schedule. If approved by Commissioner Roger Goodell, the new format will de-emphasize the old classifications of probable, questionable and doubtful. "The coaches don't have as good a feel [on injuries] as they should early in the week," said McKay, who is co-chairman of the league's competition committee. "Oftentimes they're subject to a lot of criticism from an integrity standpoint that we don't like. We think also that it would be better to give more detailed information on practice, which quite frankly, goes to the heart of whether a guy's going to play than categorizing the player." Under the new system, teams will list the amount of practice in which each injured player participates on Wednesday and Thursday of a game week. On Friday, the team will designate each player as probable, questionable, doubtful or out. Last season, Vikings coach Brad Childress was one of several coaches who said they did not trust the injury reports by opponents. Goodell is expected to adopt the plan next week at the league's annual meetings in Phoenix. Other items on the meeting's agenda, according to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello: ? Goodell likely will adopt a stricter personal conduct policy after a rash of player arrests has embarrassed the league. ? Owners will vote on adopting instant replay on a permanent basis. As of now, it is set to expire in two years. ? Moving the kickoff in overtime from the 35 to the 30-yard line. The proposal is aimed at curbing a growing trend toward teams that win the coin toss in overtime. Etc. ?Receiver Travis Taylor, who remains an unrestricted free agent after spending the past two seasons with the Vikings, is expected to have a court date set this morning in Hennepin County District Court. Taylor was charged with three misdemeanors stemming from a Jan. 1 incident outside a downtown Minneapolis nightclub. Judd Zulgad contributed to this report. Kevin Seifert ? kseifert@startribune.com
certain teams have been fudging their injury reports for several seasons. It's about time the NFL did something about it.
I think the injury report should be abolished, there's no need for it. Why should the opponent know exactly who to gameplan for and who not? Sure it helps the fans a little, but not enough to be worthwhile.
With the owners meeting this week, here are some of the things being addressed. I thought it might interest a few. Updated: March 24, 2007 Goodell determined to clean up game By Len Pasquarelli ESPN.com Archive PHOENIX -- Ever since the NFL implemented free agency a decade and a half ago, league observers have been waiting for the annual spring owners' meeting to flourish into the kind of flesh market that Major League Baseball's yearly get-together has become. You know, agents and general managers huddled in corners, making the kind of small talk that inevitably turns into big deals. Trades and signings at a dizzying pace. Players switching teams and the balance of power ebbing and flowing in a marketplace where all of the power brokers are brought together under one roof and in a combustible environment. Well, for the NFL, it hasn't happened yet. And when owners convene here for the start of their annual meeting Monday morning, it's not apt to occur this year, either. Most of the meaningful deals in free agency, after all, have already been struck. Still, given the number of high-profile quarterbacks available via trade or free agency, some of the agents for those players have said they plan to come here now in an effort to make deals for their clients. This place is, essentially, the center of the NFL's universe for the next few days, and while the official order of business is heavy on the off-field prerogatives, agents and players might find an opportunity to push their own agendas. "Where else," the representative for one free-agent quarterback said as he booked travel to come here, "can I do this kind of one-stop shopping? Every general manager or head coach of any team that might be interested in my [client] is going to be in one place. I've got a captive audience. So I might as well go to Phoenix and try to do a little business." And so, in a climate where owners and league officials are poised to deliberate matters of big business -- with elements such as improved revenue sharing, an alteration of the overtime rules and a more stringent player conduct policy that commissioner Roger Goodell figured to unveil Tuesday -- there might actually be the potential here for some football deals to be completed. Or, at least, for the laying of groundwork that might eventually lead to some more movement and perhaps a further shake-up of quarterback depth charts around the league. In most springs, teams take a weeklong hiatus from personnel matters to concentrate on the league meetings, and that likely will be the case this year as well. But that doesn't mean that a trade or free-agent signing won't take place between scheduled meeting sessions. Or that a general manager won't consider a player move as he's mulling his choice of irons on one of the meticulously groomed golf courses in the area. Certainly, the availability of David Carr, the top choice in the 2002 draft but now suddenly seeking work after his unceremonious release by the Houston Texans on Friday, can't be ignored. And the efforts of teams to acquire quarterbacks such as Trent Green of Kansas City via trade, or any of the passers still in the free-agent market, won't be entirely relegated to back-burner status during the meetings. Let's face it, roster-building never really takes a vacation. That said, while the fortunes of some franchises in 2007 might be determined by a move or two consummated here in the desert, the annual league meetings figure to be defined by the much tougher player conduct policy Goodell plans to enact. After less than a year on the job, Goodell has made the pursuit of a policy with more teeth his biggest priority. And now, armed with the support of the NFL Players Association and also prodded by individual players disturbed by the indiscretions of some of their peers, Goodell is ready to get tougher. The new policy, tentatively scheduled to be released Tuesday, is all but certain to be the biggest headline item of these meetings. "It's clearly an area about which [Goodell] has a strong conviction, and he wants to put his imprint on it," said St. Louis Rams president John Shaw. Some of the other significant items on the agenda for the week: • Owners will attempt to agree on the so-called "qualifiers" that are a key to the expanded revenue-sharing plan that was adopted as part of the extension to the collective bargaining agreement. There remains an ever-widening disparity in the local revenues of big- and small-market franchises that needs to be addressed. It's been a year since the CBA extension and there is still no accord on the revenue-sharing element of it. • Concerned by the number of overtime games won by the team that won the coin toss, the powerful competition committee has proposed moving the kickoff in the extra period from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. The rationale is that the 5-yard swing not only will make it more difficult for the receiving team to score on its first overtime possession, but will impact field position in general. Since the 1998 season, 62 percent of the overtime games were won by the team that won the coin toss. • The competition committee also will propose that instant replay be made a permanent part of the playing rules. The replay provision has been reapproved several times, but the current one lapses after the 2008 campaign, and the committee feels it is time to end the temporary element to it and enact it permanently. As part of the proposal, the league would update all its replay equipment and move to high-definition technology. • It appears the league will alter the manner in which teams report injuries during the week. The standard designations with which everyone has become familiar -- "out," "questionable" or "doubtful" -- would be used only on Friday, not beginning on Wednesday each week. Until Friday, teams would identify if a player practiced during the week and to what extent. • Owners will consider a proposal that would allow one defensive player designated by the team to have a radio communication device inside his helmet. The device would permit the defensive coordinator to communicate with a key player in his huddle in much the same manner coaches now communicate with the quarterback. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2810754
