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AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — And we're off. Traveling back to the 423 today, so you kids play nice.
Oh, I'll check in, but keep it above the board.
Or as Casey Kasem would tell you, "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."
Titans offseason momentum
So you fire a former coach of the year mainly because he and the GM were oil and water.
OK. Hey, if those cats are more like cats and dogs, then the operation is doomed from the start, and it's clear management went with the new GM.
You address the biggest need on your roster by overspending for Calvin Ridley when you could have secured AJ Brown for an eerily similar price tag.
To be fair, the decision to send Brown to Philly likely got Jon Robinson fired and allowed Ran Carthon a path to run the Titans.
Did the Titans get better?
Their best signing was Lloyd Cushenberry, an excellent center they lured from Denver.
I thought the RB market had better names and better talent than Tony Pollard, but that's who Carthon picked to replace Derrick Henry.
Will it be an upgrade? Hard to know. Pollard is 26; Henry is 30 and is headed to Baltimore.
On the positive side, Carthon assuredly upgraded at linebacker and corner with Kenneth Murray and Chidobe Awuzie, respectively.
And maybe the GM's savviest move was bringing in Mason Rudolph as mentor/insurance policy to second-year QB1 Will Levis.
This is not a great roster, and you can pick nits about a lot of the offseason moves.
But it feels like for the first time in more than a few years, everyone's on the same page in Nashville.
NFL changes
So the league year started on Wednesday and with that comes the annual roll of the dice on proposed rule changes.
Amazingly most of the meaningful rules a) deal with alterations to the kickoff protocol and b) are changes that proved somewhat effective in the previous versions of spring football like the XFL or the USFL.
The Eagles are pitching an alternative to the onside kick, which is the success rate roughly of Lloyd Christmas hooking up Mary Swanson. "So you're telling me there's a chance."
If teams want another possession, they can try to convert a fourth-and-20 from their 20. Wherever the ball is place at that the end of that play is where the next snap occurs.
If the attempting team gets 19 yards, for example, then the defense takes over at the 39.
This is actually the clearest of myriad pitches to alter kickoffs, which includes landing zones and the ball to be placed at the 35 on touchbacks that fly into or through the end zone.
For rules to be adopted, 75% of league owners have to approve.
Also out there is an idea for coaches to have a third challenge if only one of the original two challenges is correct, moving the trading deadline and giving a coach or the booth challenge power in the last two minutes on any foul.
And so it begins
We detailed the true problem facing college football Wednesday.
And to be fair, Bearddawg has been predicting this since the early days of the expansion land grab by the power schools that led the Pac-12 to the way of the VCR and the Dodo bird.
But not only are the Big Ten and the SEC powerful enough to demand to split almost 60% of the expanded CFP payouts, it appears he ACC and the Big 12 have agreed to the smaller shares primarily just to keep those juggernauts in the collective.
Here's more. (And the ACC and Big 12 approval was reportedly unanimous.)
From that YahooSports story here's the breakdown:
— SEC and Big Ten split 58% (not sure if that is an even split or has some wrinkles depending on performance).
— ACC and Big 12 will split 32% (same stipulation as above).
— Notre Dame and the Group of Five will have a slice of the final 10%.
First, because the deal is three times more lucrative, even the distorted scale will not lose money for the ACC and Big 12. But wow the CHA-chings for the Power Two.
Also of note, Notre Dame is about to take football a lot more seriously, if that's possible because without a conference to share with, and even if a group of five gets in or not — more on that in a minute — Notre Dame in the playoff gets no worse than half of 10% of 1.3 billion.
Holy Mary mother of grace and great paydays.
And yes, there are invite models out there that do not guarantee spots for anything more than the Power Five. Sorry Power Four, and at-large teams.
Yeah, this playoff expansion seems more and more fair and inclusive to me. Great idea friends.
And I'm an SEC fan.
This and that
— We hit the first full day of the SEC tournament today, and I love A&M tonight against an Ole Miss team that has packed its tents. Here's more from the "Bets and Ballgames" podcast I did with Brian Edwards breaking down potential matchups and some picks for the draw.
— Hey 2-0 night on the Plays. I know, I know, Fight Club. And I also know some of you are thinking, "'Bout time fat face."
— Latest version of Joe Lunardi's Bracketology has Tennessee on the 1 line. Thoughts?
Today's questions
It's an anything goes Thursday, so fire away.
We'll start here:
Yay or nay on the proposed changes — all or in part — to the kickoff rules in the NFL?
Also, who had a better free agency, Titans or Falcons?
Happy Pi Day everyone. I know we have done the Rushmore of everyday pie.
Rushmore of movie pies.
Go.
And remember the mailbag we have a couple of open spots.