Reaper Skins

Found it: http://fansided.com/2017/06/14/cowboys-rumors-blue-uniforms-home-2017/ article about the bad luck blues: 1. Blue jerseys are a jinx Back in the 1960s, team president Tex Schramm decided that the Cowboys would wear white jerseys at home, so that fans could see the different colors of the visiting team. It didn’t hurt that white is cooler to wear in the Texas heat. Then in 1968, the Cowboys wore blue when they were upset by the Browns in the playoffs. Soon after, the Cowboys were also wearing blue when they lost Super Bowl V to the Colts, and the Blue Jersey Jinx stuck. Nowadays, the Cowboys only wear blue when a road opponent, usually an NFC East team trying to throw them off, forces them to. The one exception is the annual Thanksgiving game when the team will wear a throwback version of their original blue jerseys with white raglan sleeves. However, it created a minor stir last Thanksgiving when, because of a sudden NFL rule change, the Cowboys were required to wear their normal blue jerseys at home for the first time since their Cotton Bowl days. The Cowboys managed to overcome the jinx and beat the Raiders, 31-24, although superstitious fans were given pause when Dallas fumbled the opening kickoff and saw it returned for a touchdown. http://www.foxsports.com/southwest/story/things-only-a-cowboys-fan-would-understand-070614 Also, just for fun I found this site that talks about Cowboys uniforms. Looks like they have alot of "special" little things that they add to it that are unique to them. Seems a bit like preferential treatment, is it even legal to modify uniforms like that? https://m.espn.com/general/story?storyPage=lukas/071025&lang=ES

There was an article on the Twitter thread that said Dallas will be wearing blues at home this season. If that's true it's good news for us aren't they really superstitious about their blues and losing?

Anyone notice that Jay Gruden and Kurt Russell never seem to be in the same place together at once?

Gruden calling the offense this season:

Looks like Norman is going for two years in a row as "NFL's most penalized player". From the new bleacher report article: Do you really see yourself as that last samurai, the last soldier, fighting for the good of the game? The league's changing. Everyone around you is changing. And you're saying F that. I'm the last of the Mohicans that's standing, that is in that mindset. ... What makes or breaks me is how I feel about how I do things and how I go about life inside those white lines because I'm a lion. That's why I'm so glad we got DJ (Swearinger) this year because he knows how we roll. When you have a guy like that who can back you up, man? It's so good. That must help when you're going into games against Dez and Odell this season. Trust me when I tell you, it's going to be bad blood this year. You think the NFC East didn't like each other before? This year right here? There's going to be a lot of fines and maybe some suspensions. I'm going to be honest with you: This **** is going to get really ugly. Because I do have a safety that don't give a **** and I definitely don't. And I know they don't have that many people on the offense who do on their side. And if it turns south like it did that last time, you're not holding back? I'm letting all hell break loose. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2711580-josh-norman-the-nfls-last-true-warrior-is-ready-to-let-all-hell-break-loose

Don't tell anyone, but Jordan Reed isn't practicing footwork with Chad Johnson. He's getting ahead of the competition by crafting some killer new endzone celebrations. Glad to see him seeking help from the best!

From Peter King's new article, concerning Vernon Davis getting fined for celebration: • Vernon Davis, you can shoot that jump shot again, without getting whacked. The NFL flagged and fined 26 players for excessive celebration last year; most of those celebrations this season will not be penalized or fined. Commissioner Roger Goodell and his staff met on at least two occasions this spring with a large group of players (one club official told me Goodell talked with more than 40 players about this issue) and came to his senses: It’s asinine to use the “ball as prop” reason to penalize players, and even more asinine to fine someone $12,000 for the simple act of expressing joy after scoring a touchdown. Most of those penalties will disappear Tuesday at the league meeting. For instance, this “foul” will be wiped off the books: Remember when Davis, the Washington tight end, caught a touchdown pass against the Eagles last October and then calmly shot the football over the crossbar, as if was shooting a basketball into the hoop? Last year that was a 15-yard penalty and a $12,154 fine. This year, if the league approves, it will be neither a penalty or a fine. (That has more than just sportsmanship aspects to it. Last year, the 15-yard flag against Davis caused Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins to make a short kickoff, and Eagles returner Wendell Smallwood brought it back for an 86-yard touchdown.) Thankfully, intelligent heads will prevail, and that silliness is very likely to be knocked off the books in 2017. http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/05/22/nfl-power-rankings-offseason-peter-king-part-one So when a Cowboys running back does a MORE ELABORATE celebration later in the same season, there's no fine and then they go ahead and change the rule in the offseason? Yup sounds about right. Absolutely seems like even enforcement across the board. I forgot that Davis' penalty lead to a kick off return touchdown for the Eagles, but definitely a fitting end, because of course it did. Just another example of the NFL admitting they were wrong after the fact, but in a way that does nothing to change the on-field outcome of the call.

Regarding the strength of schedule theory: Past 5 years, the combined records of the teams in our division: Cowboys: 37-27 Eagles: 34-30 Giants: 30-34 Redskins: 24-39-1 Hardest schedule within division for past 5 years: 2017: Redskins, Giants, Cowboys, Eagles 2016: Redskins, Eagles, Cowboys, Giants 2015: Giants, Redskins, Eagles, Cowboys 2014: Redskins, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants 2013: Redskins, Eagles, Giants, Cowboys For the last 5 years, we have been the weakest team in the division. Despite this, in 5 years we have NEVER been given the easiest strength of schedule within our division. We have also NEVER been given the second easiest strength of schedule within the division. In fact, 4 out of the past 5 years we have been given the HARDEST schedule in the division, with the one year exception being the second hardest in 2015 (1 place lower than the Giants).

Whatever pisses Dallas off more would be my preference

Dallas hates wearing their blue uniforms. They think they're bad luck. My guess is they will want to wear white

Another offseason, another example of our division rival cheating. This team's owner is the head of the competition committee that ensures ethics and fair play ladies and gentlemen! Can't make this stuff up "The emails were filed Tuesday in New Jersey’s Bergen County Superior Court by three memorabilia collectors who are pressing a civil racketeering suit against the Giants, Manning, Skiba, Steiner and others, including team co-owner and CEO John Mara. Related court papers allege that the emails prove “Manning was looking to give non-game-used helmets to Steiner to satisfy — fraudulently — his contractual obligation” with Steiner. The legal filing also alleges that Big Blue failed to produce the Manning-Skiba emails — between the athlete’s old-school AOL account and an official NFL account — even though “they claim to have no document destruction policy.” In that exchange, Skiba allegedly admitted to plaintiff Eric Inselberg that Manning had asked him to create “BS” versions of a game-used helmet and jersey because Manning “didnt want to give up the real stuff.”

Not that bold. They've been on thin ice with the fanbase for years already.

Bold Prediction: Pryor will throw for at least 1 touchdown next season. He will also lead the league in "offensive pass interference" calls. Because Redskins

If the throwback uniforms have yellow pants, maybe that means they'll get rid of them for the rest of the season? Fingers crossed

Gun to the head- If you had to pick a guy to play placeholder QB for the Redskins for ONLY the 2017 season, with their recieving corps intact (imagine there's a plan to draft one the next year) Would you rather have: - a controlled, simplified offense run by Romo (and most likely McCoy) -a boom or bust offense with Jay Cutler saying "**** it i'm going deep" to DeSean Jackson 9 times a game

Just want to give a shout out to Kirk Cousins for staying busy this offseason. His "big Sexy Valentine's Day" special on Netflix was hilarious!

Oh yes. I dare. I mentioned this back at the beginning of the 2015 season. That was the first year that the NFL had a marketing partnership with FanDuel and DraftKings. fantasy games are considered "games of chance", not gambling, so there is nothing in the rule book that would prevent a referee from playing fantasy football. Evidence and links in my full post below - I first noticed it when the number of overall flags called for the season was eclipsed from the year before after only 3 weeks. Refs using flags to determine the outcome of plays to better suit "big name" fantasy players http://es.redskins.com/topic/388511-the-conspiracy-thread/?do=findComment&comment=10381199

At least make the helmets match the throwbacks. I know it was due to the leather ones being outlawed, but that mismatch has gone on far too long to not be taken care of by now. Looks super scrubby

What if we franchised Cousins for another year and got Bridgewater on the roster. Give him a year to learn the offense and continue healing his leg. For the record, I don't want this, just a hypothetical. Would people revolt? Are the Vikings gonna stick with Bradford? I can't imagine Bridgewater is gonna be ready to go out of the gates next year but he looked pretty solid before going down. He's one of the few QBs that I think still has upside, might be a low risk high reward situation.

Thanks for the link Riggo there's a lot of good info in that article. Myself and several others definitely anticipated Norman being targeted this season after that interview he gave where he called the refs "The Mob". The ending section is also particularly interesting: Biggest revelation no one seems to care about Three times in 12 months, Pereira has gone on record to accuse NFL referees of circumventing league policy by accepting illicit help from replay officials via their wireless headsets. The league allows discussion between the parties only in cases of official reviews or certain administrative issues. But Pereira said he sees it occur much more often than that. In essence, he is calling out clandestine discussions that arbitrate games in a way that can't be accounted for. I've noticed very little recognition of this revelation, which the NFL has not commented on, but to me, it is a big deal. The intent might be noble, and the end result productive, but there seems to be something inherently wrong with the process. As Pereira noted, everyone involved in the game -- players, coaches and fans -- should know how games are being officiated and who is making the decisions. Are the conversations equal and fair to both teams? Is an agenda being followed? These are among the questions raised when stated policies are disregarded.

Can't believe I forgot about this one! So shady!!

Gave myself 24 hours to decompress before writing this up. I’m going to preface this post by saying that there were plenty of opportunities for the Redskins to win this game. The coaches idiotically decided to feature a vanilla run game with an injured back, ensuring a predictable, one dimensional offense. Cousins played his worst game of the season and consistently missed throws and receivers. The lack of situational awareness on the part of the coaching staff with timeouts was also mind boggling. The main point to note before reading below is this: getting beaten by a better team and getting fair treatment from the refs are not, and SHOULD NOT, be viewed as mutually exclusive events. Yes, we had plenty of time and opportunities to win this game. But that does not mean there I didn’t see a ton of calls that gave the Giants a competitive edge and helped keep the Redskins stuck in first gear all night. Good teams are able to overcome referee bias, and its quite clear that we are not there yet. With that being said, in my mind this entire game was decided within the first two minutes. Whenever we play the Giants, the Redskins always seem to have a momentum shifting play called back early on in the game due to a questionable call. It deflates their momentum, and gives them a "victim mentality" distraction towards the refs for the rest of the game instead of focusing on the Giants - 2 years ago it was when RG3 “didn’t get in the endzone.” The play happened before halftime, but the team took it as an excuse to say “well the refs are against us, we can’t win this game.” They showed that they weren’t mentally tough enough to shake off a bad play, a bad call, and move forward. - Last year it was a 33 yard play that was negated due to a pass interference call on Jordan Reed. No replay of the infraction was shown. Contact is allowed within 1 yard of the line of scrimmage. In his post game presser, Gruden says that “We had some bad thing happen to us early and were never able to recover. Watch his reaction when asked about the Reed holding call https://youtu.be/LpSCbRwqu5o?t=6m - Last night, I saw the exact same thing happen, and again it happened within the first few minutes of the game. Q1 11:10 - A SUPER late flag is thrown that negates J. Crowder's 25 yard punt return. The penalty is enforced DURING a commercial break ( at this point I have still not seen a replay of the foul, but the timing and delay of the flag throw is questionable at best). Once again a shady call against us killed our momentum and we spent the rest of the game getting in our own way. We proceed to let the refs and the Giants kill our momentum every single time we tried to get something going. The very next play Cousins is sacked for a 10 yard loss. Momentum gone. Other plays in the game that I found extremely one-sided: Q1 7:03 - Josh Norman goes for a probable interception after undercutting a route. The Giants receiver grabs him by the facemask in clear view of the official, twisting his head around to prevent the pick. No flag is thrown. Ryan Kerrigan is also held on the play. Commentators remark that they are surprised no facemask was called. (For the record, number of holding penalties against Giants linemen for the whole game? 1) Q1 3:04 - Eli Manning commits intentional grounding. The refs wait SUUUPER long and it is only due to Gruden's complaints and the super strong reaction from the crowd that they are forced to throw the flag. Commentators notice and seem surprised that it wasn't immediately noticed by officials. Q1 1:30 - Garcon hauls in a 23 yard catch along the sideline. The Redskins run up to the line to try and get the next play off. The referee CLEARLY tries to keep Cousins from running a play to give the Giants a chance to throw a challenge flag (i could not find any video footage of this but any would be greatly appreciated. The commentators laugh about it) Next play Desean Jackson is absolutley MAULED along the sideline and no pass interference is called. The play after that, Garcon is called for a false start penalty. Next play, Cousins is sacked. Momentum gone. Q2 10:05 - Josh Norman is called for unnecessary roughness against Odell Beckham. Puts Giants on the goal line and they score 2 plays later. During the replay, it clearly shows OBJ grabbing Norman's facemask prior to the play ending. At the very least this could have been offsetting penalties. (For the record, number of penalties against OBJ for the whole game? 0) Again, there were plenty of opportunities for the Redskins to win this game. Numerous times during the broadcast the commentators mentioned about how the Redskins were only down by 10 points, but that it seemed like much more, an almost insurmountable challenge. The team's body language was that of defeat before the second half even began. The storyline from last night was once again an offense that could not get into a rhythm. When he is forced to overcome everything else on the field and try to “save the day” Cousins over exerts himself and our coach abandons the run. I absolutely think the Giants front office and hometown refs used this knowledge to their advantage and stacked the deck against us. They used an uneven level of enforcement early in the game to stall our offense and allow the Giants to take a lead. Once New York had a multi score lead, they faded into the background . Anytime we began to get anything going offensively, the refs became involved. Ideally a good team should be able to overcome this. But we’re not there yet. So while I don’t blame this loss soley on the referees, I absolutely do think that their uneven penalties took a mental toll on our offense and quarterback and ended up being the straw that broke the camel’s back for this week’s loss. You cannot run your playbook effectively and go for the jugular if you’re worried about the refs checking you at every turn. Similarly, on defense, you cannot play effectively if you are worried about getting called for infractions that are not being called against your opponent. The loss is on the Redskins, but the lack of energy, mental confusion, and the “playing scared” attitude we saw from our players was definitely aided by the referees. It’s much easier to “out physical” the other team when you’re not worried about penalties, and this was the gameplan that New York employed this week. It happens EVERY TIME we play them. At this point, whether it is fair or not, the coaching staff needs to anticipate it and figure out a way to gameplan for it if they want to have any level of success against this divisional rival going forward.

In other news: Ezekiel Elliot WON"T be fined for his Salvation Army celebration. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/12/19/nfl-wont-fine-ezekiel-elliott-for-salvation-army-celebration/ I'll bet Vernon Davis is wishing he shot the ball into a pot instead of the goalpost. Totally consistent enforcement from team to team right?

From that same article aREDSKIN: "It’s somewhat surprising that the league won’t come down harder on the Giants. When former Browns G.M. Ray Farmer violated an in-game communications rule by texting the coaching staff during a game, he was suspended for four games. It’s odd that one in-game communication violation results in a suspension, but another one doesn’t. There’s no word on how much the fine will be, but suffice to say it’s not going to be an amount of money that really hurts McAdoo, who’s a millionaire, or the Giants’ owners, who are billionaires. If using walkie-talkies helped the Giants beat the Cowboys in a crucial divisional game, it will be money well spent"