Tennessee Titans Daily Links: Is This A Lockout Or A Court-in Edition

I agree with the NBJ only due to the teams record the last TWO years a combined 14-18.. Two six game losing streaks and internal chaos done it for me and any honest fan. I’m still with the team but it has been a BIG fall from the top after a 13-3 season three years ago. Now I have new hope with the Jedi Mind trick, I’m entitled to be the Titans coach for life gone. Our Real Housewife(you pick the city, I prefer ATL and NJ) QB gone too. With Munch as the coach, a new qb I have a new enthusiasm for the future if and when the lockout ends. I’m willing to be patient for this franchise to get back to the top and some much needed respect from the league and its fans.

It’s not exactly going to inspire confidence in our team, but it’s really nothing new to the folks here.

Star QBs says time is not for deal

NEW YORK (AP) — Calling the players’ offer “fair for both sides,” star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees — plaintiffs in the antitrust suit against the NFL — said Wednesday “it is time” to wrap up negotiations on a deal to end the league’s lockout.

Brady, Manning and Brees spoke as a group publicly for the first time with talks in a critical phase, four months into the league’s first work stoppage since 1987. Players and owners were gathering Wednesday morning at a Manhattan office building for the latest round of discussions.

Deadlines are coming up next week to get training camps and the preseason started on time. Although it seems the sides have agreed on the basic elements of how to split more than $9 billion in annual revenues, among the key sticking points recently have been how to structure a new rookie salary system and what free agency will look like.

In a statement released to The Associated Press via the NFL Players Association, New England’s Brady, Indianapolis’ Manning and New Orleans’ Brees said: “We believe the overall proposal made by the players is fair for both sides and it is time to get this deal done.”

The statement continued: “This is the time of year we as players turn our attention to the game on the field. We hope the owners feel the same way.”

Brady, Manning and Brees are among 10 players who are named plaintiffs in the antitrust suit that is pending in federal court in Minnesota. That class-action lawsuit was filed March 11, hours after federally mediated negotiations to arrive at a new collective bargaining agreement broke down, and the old labor contract expired. The NFLPA immediately dissolved itself, meaning players no longer were protected under labor law but instead were allowed to take their chances under antitrust law.

On March 12, the owners imposed a lockout on the players, a right management has to shut down a business when a CBA expires. During the lockout, there can be no communication between the teams and current NFL players; no players – including those drafted in April – can be signed; teams won’t pay for players’ health insurance.

A series of court rulings followed, including one last week from an appeals court that said the lockout could continue.

Talks resumed in May, overseen by a court-appointed mediator, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who is on vacation this week. Boylan ordered both sides to speak with him in Minneapolis next Tuesday, and the owners have a special meeting set for July 21 in Atlanta, where they could vote to ratify a new deal if one is reached.

That means there’s intense pressure on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith to keep things moving in a positive direction. Disruptions to the planned preseason schedule would decrease the overall revenue pie.

Smith was among those arriving Wednesday morning for talks, along with powerful team owners Robert Kraft of the Patriots, John Mara of the New York Giants and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys.

Compared to other professional sports commissioners, I think he is honest and straight-forward. I don’t know much about the lockout because I don’t care about it, but from what I have read, it seems like he’s eager to get football started.

walked right by him in the locker room

I win for today!

Daniel Reese of MusicCityMiracles.com, a Tennessee Titans fan blog, sees a lot of similarities between Titans rookie quarterback Jake Locker and Josh Freeman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He writes that Locker, like Freeman, should not be the starter on opening day, but he should see the field sooner rather than later.

“[Nine] starts like Freeman got in 2009 sounds about right,” Reese writes. “They were low pressure, they were with a weak supporting cast, and they were a great learning experience that gave him the preparation he needed to succeed in 2010. And you know what? He wasn’t half bad. He only completed about 55% of his passes, but the TD/INT ratio wasn’t awful and he showed promise. In 2010, he was the spitting image of Steve McNair out there. That’s what we’re aiming here folks, we want another McNair.”

Reese adds that the Titans will need to find a veteran quarterback who’s willing to start for half a year before turning the team over to Locker.