New to American Football.. Kind of

[PedroGrande]

I'm an regular Bucks board Reader for almost 2 years now and always loved Basketball and NBA in particular since an early age, and for a reason I still can't full explain I became a Bucks Fan (Actually I believe that It was because Ray Allen is/was one of my favorite player in NBA).

Since I found this board thanks to brewhoop.com I started to get some kind of empathy to people from Wisconsin and consequently their Teams.

So Football and the Packers came into my attention. Here in Portugal I started to get regular games on cable (ESPN America) and started following and trying to understand the game.

I think i know the basics of the game, I know the main Rules (there are some that still make me scratch my head) but the hardest part is understand the game strategies and learn to watch the game to have a better experience out of it.

So the thing I wanted to ask is how did you learn the game or if you have some kind of advice for me?

The other thing is actually know the players (GB players especially), although that I think comes by watching and over time, but still, Beyond Rodgers perspective of becoming a top 5 QB and Woodson DPOY and Jenning what are the other team's strengths and faults?

Thanks In advance for your atention and sorry for the time loss of reading this;)

[trwi7]

I just watched. It sounds like you're picking up the game just fine. My first memory of watching the Packers was when I was four. I was watching with my dad, the Packers scored a touchdown and I shouted "Yes! 1-0 Packers!"

If you have any questions, just use this thread to ask. It's a pretty simple game once you start watching for a while.

Other strengths of the team:

Pretty much the whole offense. Recievers, tight ends. Defensive line is good at what they're supposed to do. They stop the run well.

Weaknesses of the team:

Kicking.
Penalties.
Jarrett Bush.
Offensive line.

[chuckleslove]

You seem to know the basics, my suggestion would be to watch more and then if you have specific questions just ask about a specific scenario or strategy.

As for our team. We have some really good young players like Clay Matthews and Jermichael Finley that will be studs for years to come. Our weaknesses are pretty much depths in the secondary(the defenders that are covering passes, cornerbacks and safeties), could use some more pass rush, a punter, some people would say field goal kicker I'm not completely ready to give up on him personally.

Watch some games, get some specific questions and I'm sure we can all spread the knowledge. The basics of the game are pretty easy but learning all the scenarios, strategies and rules at once would probably be a bit overwhelming.

[Aaron It Out]

(there are some that still make me scratch my head)

Don't worry, it still happens to me and I'm sure it happens to a lot of people sometimes with some calls officials make.

At a young age I picked up the concept of football pretty easily, offense, defense, special teams, penalties, etc.. But I really started to get a grasp on the rules and strategies the same way I did other sports and that's by playing them. I really think that playing a sport gives you an advantage to knowing how it works. I watch soccer all the time and I still really don't understand the rules and basic strategies of the game and I think it's becuase I have never played it.

[aaprigs311]

I learned from just watching too. And 15 years of playing Madden would be my cherry on top.

[aaprigs311]

Pedro, I have a good friend in Portugal. He plays on the national rugby team. Goncalo Uva ring a bell ? He was a foreign exchange student at my highschool and we still keep in touch. He's even visited. Sounds like he's a bit of a celebrity over there. I know he's banging Christian Renaldo's ex. who of course is a model. Let me know Pedro, it'd be interesting.

[MickeyDavis]

Playing Madden would help a lot. When my son was little he didn't watch much football because he didn't understand it. Once he started playing Madden he learned a ton and now he is a diehard Packer fan.

[Aaron It Out]

What people are saying about Madden is true as well. Madden helps you understand strategy. It's not 100% realisitic but it's getting damn close. The game will give you a good idea of when to run or when to pass, as well as when to kick a field goal versus a punt. It probably won't help a whole lot with penalties becuase in Madden you don't always really see the penalties take place, they just get called.

[PedroGrande]

I learned from just watching too. And 15 years of playing Madden would be my cherry on top.

Yeah I started playing a couple of days ago and it is helping me with some things, although the rosters on the version that i have aren't from this year.

Pedro, I have a good friend in Portugal. He plays on the national rugby team. Goncalo Uva ring a bell ? He was a foreign exchange student at my highschool and we still keep in touch. He's even visited. Sounds like he's a bit of a celebrity over there. I know he's banging Christian Renaldo's ex. who of course is a model. Let me know Pedro, it'd be interesting.

I know who he is... And I know who is girfriend is:



Damn.

At a young age I picked up the concept of football pretty easily, offense, defense, special teams, penalties, etc.. But I really started to get a grasp on the rules and strategies the same way I did other sports and that's by playing them. I really think that playing a sport gives you an advantage to knowing how it works. I watch soccer all the time and I still really don't understand the rules and basic strategies of the game and I think it's becuase I have never played it.

Yes it's true, and here (in Portugal and europe) to there are so many people that don't understand a thing about soccer and still think they do. Any questions about it just let me know;)

Other questions:

What's the Favre "love" thing? I know, or I think i know the media version, is there an Packer fan version? And for what I've seen Packers fans are somewhat still divided in the "we should or should still have him" thing right?

The Draft, Salary Cap and the Schedule. The differences to the NBA?

[chuckleslove]

Other questions:

What's the Favre "love" thing? I know, or I think i know the media version, is there an Packer fan version? And for what I've seen Packers fans are somewhat still divided in the "we should or should still have him" thing right?

The Draft, Salary Cap and the Schedule. The differences to the NBA?

As for Favre? He was the Packers Quarerback from 1992 until 2007. Then he retired, the Packers staff(coaching and management) prepared to move on with Aaron Rodgers. Then Favre decided he wanted to come back. The team had moved on so ultimately they traded him. Some fans are still split on the issue because they love Favre more than the Packers, some fans that is all they ever knew in their life. For me I was 10 years old when Favre took over as QB so he was the only QB I really knew as a Packers fan, sure I watched the games before that but I lived out of the state so I didn't get many games and was too young to really know much. I love Rodgers though and while Favre wears a Vikings uniform he is the enemy. When he retires he will go back to being one of the greatest Packers of all time.

Ok the differences in the draft and such compared to the NBA. Well first of all there are 7 rounds of drafting compared to 2, you need a lot more players in the NFL obviously. Typically in the NBA the people expected to contribute right away might be limited to the first 15 picks or so depending on the year, in the NFL you can have anyone in the draft potentially contribute. For instance Tom Brady one of the best QBs in the league right now was a 6th or 7th round draft pick. You have to do a lot more research for the NFL draft so I think a football GM really has their work cut out for them leading up to the draft.

Salary Cap in the NFL is different in 2 big ways though this is about to change over the next 1-2 years. Right now in the NFL there is a base salary that every team has to spend, you cannot spend less than X dollars on any given year, then there is a limit on how much you can spend. In the NBA if you go over that amount you pay a tax, in the NFL you cannot go over that amount.

Schedule? Well in the NFL you play 16 games over the course of 17 weeks. Games are mostly played on Sunday but for weeks 1-16 of the schedule there is a Monday night game and weeks about 6-16 there is a Thursday night game, on Thanksgiving there are 2 additional Thursday games and about weeks 13-16 or so there are Saturday night games. The last week of the season every game is played on Sunday which is week 17. Every team gets one bye week over the course of the season between say week 4 and 10. I estimated all of the time frames in this post because I just woke up and not going to do the research but yeah that is the basics. Every game has a lot more meaning when you play only 16 games compared to the 82 they play in the NBA.

[PedroGrande]

As for Favre? He was the Packers Quarerback from 1992 until 2007. Then he retired, the Packers staff(coaching and management) prepared to move on with Aaron Rodgers. Then Favre decided he wanted to come back. The team had moved on so ultimately they traded him. Some fans are still split on the issue because they love Favre more than the Packers, some fans that is all they ever knew in their life. For me I was 10 years old when Favre took over as QB so he was the only QB I really knew as a Packers fan, sure I watched the games before that but I lived out of the state so I didn't get many games and was too young to really know much. I love Rodgers though and while Favre wears a Vikings uniform he is the enemy. When he retires he will go back to being one of the greatest Packers of all time.

Ok the differences in the draft and such compared to the NBA. Well first of all there are 7 rounds of drafting compared to 2, you need a lot more players in the NFL obviously. Typically in the NBA the people expected to contribute right away might be limited to the first 15 picks or so depending on the year, in the NFL you can have anyone in the draft potentially contribute. For instance Tom Brady one of the best QBs in the league right now was a 6th or 7th round draft pick. You have to do a lot more research for the NFL draft so I think a football GM really has their work cut out for them leading up to the draft.

Salary Cap in the NFL is different in 2 big ways though this is about to change over the next 1-2 years. Right now in the NFL there is a base salary that every team has to spend, you cannot spend less than X dollars on any given year, then there is a limit on how much you can spend. In the NBA if you go over that amount you pay a tax, in the NFL you cannot go over that amount.

Schedule? Well in the NFL you play 16 games over the course of 17 weeks. Games are mostly played on Sunday but for weeks 1-16 of the schedule there is a Monday night game and weeks about 6-16 there is a Thursday night game, on Thanksgiving there are 2 additional Thursday games and about weeks 13-16 or so there are Saturday night games. The last week of the season every game is played on Sunday which is week 17. Every team gets one bye week over the course of the season between say week 4 and 10. I estimated all of the time frames in this post because I just woke up and not going to do the research but yeah that is the basics. Every game has a lot more meaning when you play only 16 games compared to the 82 they play in the NBA.

Thanks a lot for the time answering. And i found out in web how the teams who each one plays are defined. Logic.

Again Thanks a lot for the info

[chuckleslove]

Oh yeah about the teams everyone plays? Of the 16 games each year you play 6 against your 3 division opponents, 1 road, 1 home. You play 4 against an opposite conference division(for instance this year the NFC North played the AFC North), you play 4 against a division in the same conference(this year we played the NFC south), and you play the last 2 games against the 2 teams in the other conference divisions that finished in the same place as you. The conferences you play rotate on a 4 year rotation for the opposite conference and a 3 year rotation for the same conference.

Next year things will get interesting because the current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire which means no salary cap for next year unless something drastic changes in the near future. Most people are speculating that this will have a bigger impact for lower spending teams as they will no longer be forced to spend a minimum. A few teams will become free spenders(Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins to name a couple), but probably not a ton. The Packers are actually in a pretty decent situation for an uncapped year at least to survive in the short term as we are one of the higher revenue teams despite being in the smallest market.

I have one question for you. Do they sell Cheesheads over there? Can you become a real fan and wear one?

[PedroGrande]

Oh yeah about the teams everyone plays? Of the 16 games each year you play 6 against your 3 division opponents, 1 road, 1 home. You play 4 against an opposite conference division(for instance this year the NFC North played the AFC North), you play 4 against a division in the same conference(this year we played the NFC south), and you play the last 2 games against the 2 teams in the other conference divisions that finished in the same place as you. The conferences you play rotate on a 4 year rotation for the opposite conference and a 3 year rotation for the same conference.

Next year things will get interesting because the current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire which means no salary cap for next year unless something drastic changes in the near future. Most people are speculating that this will have a bigger impact for lower spending teams as they will no longer be forced to spend a minimum. A few teams will become free spenders(Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins to name a couple), but probably not a ton. The Packers are actually in a pretty decent situation for an uncapped year at least to survive in the short term as we are one of the higher revenue teams despite being in the smallest market.

I have one question for you. Do they sell Cheesheads over there? Can you become a real fan and wear one?

Actually no:) It would be funny but if i go out with a yellow triangle as a hat no one would know what it was. I believe that in some specific places I could found NFL team jerseys but it would be more logic if i order it over the internet.

Portugal as a Mediterranean country everybody is a soccer head (ok maybe myself included:)) and the second sport is basketball. SB is the only game that is on the portuguese sports channel and many don't like it because of the constant comercials lol.

And the dinamic is somewhat diferente to people here to understand it. The "one team on offense and the other on defence" concept is somewhat difficult. Only got a friend who is a Patriot fan who i can talk to.

The packer ownership concept though is somewhat intriguing. Like almost all soccer teams in europe is owned by thousands of people right? So why the rule that doesn't allow that to happen more even in other sports like the NBA?

A Wisconsin team with one of the higher revenue? The things that winning a lot in the 60's and somewhat in the 90's can do to a franchise:)

[Bucksfans1and2]

Weaknesses of the team:
Jarret Bush.
Kicking.
Jarret Bush.
Penalties.
Jarret Bush.
Jarrett Bush.
Jarret Bush.
Offensive line.
Jarret Bush.
Ofensive line.

[chuckleslove]

I wanted to bump this for you Pedro in hopes that you would see this because when I saw this come across it made me think of our resident Portuguese Packer fan.

http://twitter.com/will_blackmon/status/9489641830

[PedroGrande]

I wanted to bump this for you Pedro in hopes that you would see this because when I saw this come across it made me think of our resident Portuguese Packer fan.

http://twitter.com/will_blackmon/status/9489641830

Haha great Catch:D Thanks. Its Funny because that wine here costs like 2.5$ a Bottle. But I like it a lot, its perfect for those who are starting to drink wine. Its soft, Fruity and fresh. I would send it to anyone who wanted to try it but i doubt that it would pass customs;)

For mor info about the tipe of wine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinho_Verde

Thanks for the Bump;)

[PedroGrande]

A year or so ago, i was starting to really follow the NFL. I almost didn't know a thing, except the main rules of the game.
I could watch it and enjoy it. But it wasn't the same. Because of the bucks guys in here, i would watch packers with a special attention. I saw the Rodgers debut 3 years ago. My first full game was right after the ending of the Brett Era.


Last year i decided that i would support the Packers. After that amazing game against Arizona, i had no more doubts in my mind.
However i wouldn't know how lucky i would be. And how right was the choice.

I'm a bucks fan so, i'm not a bandwagoner. I never dreamed that we would be in this place, a year after my first post in the packer Board. I never thought that this team was so easy to root for.

I never thought how the future of the team was so well put in Rodgers hand, a class act all the way.

I never thought that one of the guys who were always here like driver, was so well spoken and comunity driven.

I never thought that the other guy like Tramon, would make me scream so much like in the Falcons game.

I never thought that that cocky bishop guy would really prove that the words he said in PS were right.

I never thought we would have the Clay god destroing every thing that would come into his way.

I never thought that the shields guy that luke had a "boner" for in TC would be so fundamental.

I never thought how good of a leader Woodson would be.

I never though how funny the fridge would dance.

Walden 3 sack game, Jennings season, Starks, Clifton, Collins, zombo zorro thing, the jenkins clubby, everyone.

I'm not a bandwagoner, if was i would choose the Packers.

If it was for a story point of view, i would choose the Packers.

If it was for future side, i would choose the Packers.

If it was for a star player, i would choose the Packers.

If it was for the personality of the players, i would choose the Packers.

I don't know why i really choose them, but i'm lucky as hell.

[Wilford Brimley]

****, you know a lot about football/Packers already.

[chuckleslove]

That post made me smile, awesome Pedro.

[ReasonablySober]

Great post!