Super Bowl Report: Friday’s facts
It’s getting really serious now, well at least for the two participating teams it is, as they underwent their final practice sessions with the big game just a few hours away. This doesn’t mean that time stopped for all other things NFL, and it was time for the top man to have his say on a few matters.
Commissioner Roger Goodell took some issues in hand on Friday and reiterated something that cropped up a few months ago. The expanded playoffs. “There’ll be more excitement, more memorable moments for our fans. And that’s something that attracts us, and we think we can do it properly from a competitive standpoint.”
The competition committee will look long and hard at this and if it were to be implemented, with one extra team per conference being entered into the postseason, it wont happen until at least after the 2015 season.
He then went on to reassure fans in St.Louis that the recent land purchase in Los Angeles by Rams owner Stan Kronke, had nothing to do with a new stadium in the city. “Stan is a very successful developer. He has billions of dollars in projects around the country of real-estate development. I think, instead of overreacting, we should make sure we do what’s necessary to continue to support the team locally, which the fans have done in St. Louis”
Good news for fans over here, at least those in favour of a franchise, Goodell announced he was very pleased with the quickness in which all three games to be played at Wembley later this year sold out, by saying the United Kingdom is “further down the road” to have a franchise, and added “the more we give the UK fans, the more they want”
Other notes of interest from the State of the League news conference were that the League wont be changing it’s views on theuse of mariuana for medicinal purposes any time soon; he commended the city of New York as hosts for this weeks festivities and the game itself, saying that not many other large cities would have been able to cope in the current climate conditions; he also said that he wants to introduce the Super Bowl to more cities across the nation maybe instead of just rotating between the fair weather ones; and good news for players of Fantasy Football, Goodell does not equate the popular game to gambling and will continue to support it.
Denver head coach John Fox says his team are fully prepared for Sunday, this coming after their 85 minute practice indoors. They didn’t shy away from the elements completely and used the outdoor facility at Atlantic Health Training Center for a 30 minute walk through, “I just wanted to see what shape the field was in,” Fox said. “We came back in here, just for the same reason as yesterday. It was a little too hard, so we came back in.”
Likewise Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle team said that his team was in great shape, We had a great day today. “We finished like I hoped we’d finish, and I thought our execution today was very good.” he said after a 77 minute workout of his team at the New York Giants training facility, the Quest Diagnostic Training Center.
And so the stage is set, there is really nothing more the two teams can now other than wait. It is by all accounts set to be a classic, however you choose to follow the game on Sunday night be sure to stay with us throughout the weekend and of course on Monday when we give you the lowdown as to how it all went down in NYC.
