Good and bad news for football fans. The good news is that the NFL just kicked off the 2023 season. The bad is the "I'm still young enough..." day just changed for the first time in years. Last year, the oldest player in the league was born in 1977. This year, it's May 19, 1984.

store.steampowered.com/app/2633170/Fr… Front Office Football Nine, the ninth full version of our professional football game, was just released.

Alex Smith claimed that Tom Brady's record is tainted because New England's opposition in the AFC East was weak. It was. The difference should amount to about 3-4 of Brady's 81 in-division wins during that stretch. Smith would know. He played the first half of his career in SF.

Seeing Justin Fields go for a sixth-rounder illustrates the huge difference in value between a quarterback who can start and a quarterback who you only want to see in case of emergency.

At this point, teams have gone 136 picks without selecting a quarterback (longer than any gap since the league went to a seven-round draft). Back in 1983, when six first-round QBs were selected as well (ending with Dan Marino), they went 135 picks before another was chosen.

The new #NFLKickoff sure looks like something designed by committee, but I kinda like it. Really seems to add something that's been missing for a long time while addressing the serious injury issue. I sure won't be able to model it in FOF for at least a season, though.

The kickoff looks a little like an organized interception return. One strategy I'd consider is training a position backup on your team to kick the ball to the 10 somewhat reliably. Last thing you need is an injured kicker. Return teams are going to want to get to the sideline.

Poor #TreyLance. The Cowboys are trying to see if they have anything, or showcase him for a trade. He has played just about the entire preseason. He threw five picks tonight and fumbled twice. This doubles his career preseason/season totals in each category.

#Lance is only 24, believe it or not. He needs the work. He had only 318 pass attempts in college (Division II) with 1 pick. Going into today, he had 154 career exhibition pass attempts (2 picks) and 102 regular season attempts (3 picks). Tonight: 33-for-49 with the five picks.

Grading the NFL's starting quarterbacks at mid-season, each team's leader in games started included. A rather easy Rookie of the Year pick for the Commanders.

The #NFL is concerned about late-game excitement, and is considering changing the onside kick rule. But is there a problem? This season so far, 28% of games have featured a winning drive after the halfway point of the fourth quarter. Rob Manfred has a problem; the NFL does not.

Regular Season grades: No team asked more of its quarterback than Cincinnati, and no team received more non-QB production than Detroit. But both quarterbacks excelled. I'd give the MVP to Lamar Jackson and the offensive rookie award to Jayden Daniels.

#Eagles today: 27 drop-backs, 2.4 yards per play. 34 runs, 8.4 yards per carry. No turnovers. They play the games to defy the paper-analysts, but it's hard to see #Washington stopping this.

With the Philadelphia Eagles leading the way, void years are ushering in a new NFL era - one without a meaningful salary cap. solecismic.com/frontierblog/u…

In the space of three picks near the end of the sixth round, the #LasVegasRaiders selected two quarterbacks, neither of whom are in many top 20 lists for draftable QBs, and who opposed each other in last season's FCS championship game. Civil War buffs might understand this.

I was wondering why I saw military jets overhead this afternoon. Must have been a practice run. Just heard them again, looked at the TV (muted), and the Hall of Fame game is about to start. Dicker the kicker opens football for the 2025 season.

After #NFL cut day, 83 quarterbacks remain on rosters. 38 were drafted in the first round. Of the 37 quarterbacks drafted in the first round since 2015, 34 are on current rosters. 26 NFL teams have first-rounders starting at QB, 3 others have first-round backups...

(2/2) The teams without a first-round QB on the roster... Dallas and Philadelphia have high-paid veterans (Dak Prescott, defending Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts). New Orleans has a 2025 second-rounder backing up a 2024 fifth-rounder. Maybe Arch is joining grandpa's team next year.