American Football

[patsfangr]

Patsfangr, you know football better than this. You know you can't pick out the carries you want and say that is what a running back did in a game. The running game was, as always with the Cowboys' O-line, starting to run downhill in the second half. Barber gained 23 yards on just 3 carries for an average in the second half of over 7 yards per touch! THEN, they abandoned the running game. It was just plain stupid. Phillips is taking the blame for this, but he is covering for Garrett who gets paid enough to know better.

OMR, you're doing much worse than that. You're looking at, basically, ONE carry. Barber got through for one carry of 15 yards. I don't specifically recall the details of that carry, but, if you'd like, I can go back and look at it with a replay via NFL Game Pass. Take that ONE play out, and he gained a very pedestrian 8 yards on the other two.

Let's consider this also, my definition of a "team" includes everyone from the owner to the ball boys. It certainly includes the coaches and players as the operational heart of the team on any given day. So, even if your suggestion that the coaches, and not the players, were responsible for the loss, the "Cowboys" were still beaten by the "Redskins". Win as a team. Lose as a team. If Romo had thrown 5 INTs, I suppose you'd still be saying that the "team" didn't lose the game, it was just that "one player had a bad game." :-)

[qwunk89]

I got up at 3AM this morning to watch the Redskins Cowboys game. DallasNews.com called this a trap game and it is one I feared. I know the Cowboys are many times better than the Redskins, but it is hard for a pro team to get up after playing the Eagles and then the Pack. I expected the Cowboys to be flat, but hoped for the best. They were flat and lost by 2. Pacman said this was good for the Cowboys as it will do them good later in the year to remind them that they have to play hard in ever game. I agree.

I notice that the Bears beat the Eagles. Everything that I have said for the Cowboys relates to the Eagles. I know the Eagles are better than the Bears (some will disagree on this, but not me), but the Eagles are coming off of games with the Cowboys and Steelers and also couldn't get up for their opponent. It is a long season and at the end, as it relates to the NFC, it will be the Eagles and Cowboys in the Championship game.

What this all shows us Cowboys and Eagles fans is how rare the Patriots team was last year as they could win regardless of who they played during the season.

yeah, both the cowboys and eagles had ample opportunities to win those games.

especially the eagles, the bears tried to give us the game numerous time with four second half turnovers. but our offense was ugly without westbrook; horrible in the red zone. with that being said, if reid lets mcnabb sneak on 4th down and an inch at the goaline with 2 mins left in the 4th the eagles win that game . . so frustrating . . in the previous two running plays the eagles center, jamal jackson, pushed his guy back but chicagos ends and linebackers got penetration, mcnabb would have scored easily on a sneak on 4th down - as i was screaming for the sneak on 4th down and again watching jamal jackson blow his man two yards into the end zone, we run the same play as third down and give it to buckhalter 3 yards deep and watch the bears d-ends and linebackers stuff him just like the third down run. <deleted>! i don't care if mcnabb has a chest contusion - we need to win that game!

sorry about the vent. but seriously, that's the kind of loss that comes back to bite you in december, especially in the nfc east and with the cowboys losing.

i will give the bears credit though . . their D came to play. also the redskins did too; especially their secondary, shawn spings in particular.

hey OMR, did you see TO yapping after the game? even though he touched the ball around 20 times out of about 60 plays? the cancer is starting . . sorry, couldn't resist.

The bottom line, guys, is the same for those two games as it was for the Super Bowl. The team that played the best game on that day won the game. I can go on for hours telling you why the Patriots of last season were a "better team" than the Giants. But, in the Super Bowl, the Giants played a better game for all 60 minutes. Whatever faults I can point out about the Patriots play in that game, the fact is that the Giants made less mistakes, and kept enough gas in their tank, to win the game at the end.

I watched both the Cowboys and Eagles games. They were both beaten by teams that outplayed them on that day. Washington took away the Cowboys running game, and they protected their own QB well enough to give him time for 2nd and 3rd options on pass plays. The Bears D brought it to the Eagles all game long. The Eagles shut down the Bears running game, and challenged Orton to beat them; and the Bears picked up the Eagles blitz well enough to allow Orton to find receivers, and move the ball well.

The better teams, that day, won. Believe me, nobody knows how much it stings to say that as much as I do. My Patriots lost a perfect season, and the chance to shove the 'Spygate' crap down everybody's throat! You have no idea how much Patriots fans wanted that! But, in the Super Bowl, where I know that our players and coaches wanted it just as badly, we ran into a team that outplayed us on that day.

Same thing happened to your Cowboys, OMR, and your Eagles, qwunk. They were outplayed this weekend.

true. but the eagles still should have won the game . . #5 cannot be stopped on 4th and inches . . check out the stats if you need to.

[qwunk89]

I got up at 3AM this morning to watch the Redskins Cowboys game. DallasNews.com called this a trap game and it is one I feared. I know the Cowboys are many times better than the Redskins, but it is hard for a pro team to get up after playing the Eagles and then the Pack. I expected the Cowboys to be flat, but hoped for the best. They were flat and lost by 2. Pacman said this was good for the Cowboys as it will do them good later in the year to remind them that they have to play hard in ever game. I agree.

I notice that the Bears beat the Eagles. Everything that I have said for the Cowboys relates to the Eagles. I know the Eagles are better than the Bears (some will disagree on this, but not me), but the Eagles are coming off of games with the Cowboys and Steelers and also couldn't get up for their opponent. It is a long season and at the end, as it relates to the NFC, it will be the Eagles and Cowboys in the Championship game.

What this all shows us Cowboys and Eagles fans is how rare the Patriots team was last year as they could win regardless of who they played during the season.

yeah, both the cowboys and eagles had ample opportunities to win those games.

especially the eagles, the bears tried to give us the game numerous time with four second half turnovers. but our offense was ugly without westbrook; horrible in the red zone. with that being said, if reid lets mcnabb sneak on 4th down and an inch at the goaline with 2 mins left in the 4th the eagles win that game . . so frustrating . . in the previous two running plays the eagles center, jamal jackson, pushed his guy back but chicagos ends and linebackers got penetration, mcnabb would have scored easily on a sneak on 4th down - as i was screaming for the sneak on 4th down and again watching jamal jackson blow his man two yards into the end zone, we run the same play as third down and give it to buckhalter 3 yards deep and watch the bears d-ends and linebackers stuff him just like the third down run. <deleted>! i don't care if mcnabb has a chest contusion - we need to win that game!

sorry about the vent. but seriously, that's the kind of loss that comes back to bite you in december, especially in the nfc east and with the cowboys losing.

i will give the bears credit though . . their D came to play. also the redskins did too; especially their secondary, shawn spings in particular.

hey OMR, did you see TO yapping after the game? even though he touched the ball around 20 times out of about 60 plays? the cancer is starting . . sorry, couldn't resist.

The bottom line, guys, is the same for those two games as it was for the Super Bowl. The team that played the best game on that day won the game. I can go on for hours telling you why the Patriots of last season were a "better team" than the Giants. But, in the Super Bowl, the Giants played a better game for all 60 minutes. Whatever faults I can point out about the Patriots play in that game, the fact is that the Giants made less mistakes, and kept enough gas in their tank, to win the game at the end.

I watched both the Cowboys and Eagles games. They were both beaten by teams that outplayed them on that day. Washington took away the Cowboys running game, and they protected their own QB well enough to give him time for 2nd and 3rd options on pass plays. The Bears D brought it to the Eagles all game long. The Eagles shut down the Bears running game, and challenged Orton to beat them; and the Bears picked up the Eagles blitz well enough to allow Orton to find receivers, and move the ball well.

The better teams, that day, won. Believe me, nobody knows how much it stings to say that as much as I do. My Patriots lost a perfect season, and the chance to shove the 'Spygate' crap down everybody's throat! You have no idea how much Patriots fans wanted that! But, in the Super Bowl, where I know that our players and coaches wanted it just as badly, we ran into a team that outplayed us on that day.

Same thing happened to your Cowboys, OMR, and your Eagles, qwunk. They were outplayed this weekend.

The bottom line is that both the Bears and Redskins played OK, but neither the Eagles or Cowboys were outplayed. They just didn't take advantage of the opportunities given to them.

I don't agree at all with your comment that the Redskins took away Dallas' running game. Jason Garrett took away Dallas' running game and he is being crucified in the Dallas press for it (and rightly so). Barber had only 8 touches from scrimmage the entire game and Felix Jones had no touches from the line. In the second half, Barber touched the ball only 3 times, all during the third quarter and these were runs of 3, 5, and 15. He wasn't stopped by the Redskins. It wasn't like the Cowboys were way behind and in fact, they never were behind by more than 10 points and that was in the second quarter and only for 2 minutes before Dallas came back and scored. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for Garrett to shut down the Cowboy's running game and have Romo throw 47 times in a close game. It was a ridiculous coaching decision.

yeah, garrett was too busy trying to keep TO happy and involved . . but still 20 touches weren't enough for him. that's why he is garbage; his talent is amazing, but his selfishness ruins the success of the team. barber should have had at least 12 touches and jones 5.

Edited October 1, 2008 by qwunk89

[qwunk89]

hey OMR, did you see TO yapping after the game? even though he touched the ball around 20 times out of about 60 plays? the cancer is starting . . sorry, couldn't resist.

Everyone was frustrated by this loss. T.O.'s frustration gets printed so he is an easy target. There was a lot else going on as well. Did you see Newman ready to rip Patrick Watkins head off on the sideline? A crowd of coaches and players got around Newman fast. Too bad he didn't get to Watkins as Watkins ended up being the 12th man on the field standing 30 yards from the ball when Dallas stuffed the Skins behind the line on a 3rd and short. That play led to 3 points for Washington and they only won by 2.

Yesterday was a very forgettable day for both of us.

yes, onto week 5! eagles vs. skins . . hopefully westbrook is back in the lineup. our O is so different with him.

[patsfangr]

patsfang do you think they will do a mid-season reduction on game pass ? I checked out the demo and downloaded the player and it works perfectly although I never doubted seeing I have triple the required speed.

So what do you think about there being a reduction or would I be best to get it now ?

Also

Do you have the full package with all the extras ? If so what do you get apart from being able to watch every game ?

Also

What about the playoffs is this included or is there another package you have to buy when it comes to the start of them ?

Thanks

The NFL Game Pass gives you access to all regular season games. You can watch them 'live', or replay them whenever you choose. In addition, you get access to replays of some NFL Network programs: 'NFL Game Day' (their version, not the NFL Films one on Truevisions); and NFL Playbook - AFC and NFC editions. There are no playoff games included in the package. However, here in Thailand, we'll get all of those on Truevisions.

I have no idea what kind of "in season" deals they may offer. I suggest that you go to their website to check on that. I only suggested that because I know that several "season packages" in other services do that. Perhaps they have a way to contact them for questions; I'm not sure. I just signed up as soon as I knew that my reception would be decent.

[bravingbangkok]

patsfang do you think they will do a mid-season reduction on game pass ? I checked out the demo and downloaded the player and it works perfectly although I never doubted seeing I have triple the required speed.

So what do you think about there being a reduction or would I be best to get it now ?

Also

Do you have the full package with all the extras ? If so what do you get apart from being able to watch every game ?

Also

What about the playoffs is this included or is there another package you have to buy when it comes to the start of them ?

Thanks

The NFL Game Pass gives you access to all regular season games. You can watch them 'live', or replay them whenever you choose. In addition, you get access to replays of some NFL Network programs: 'NFL Game Day' (their version, not the NFL Films one on Truevisions); and NFL Playbook - AFC and NFC editions. There are no playoff games included in the package. However, here in Thailand, we'll get all of those on Truevisions.

I have no idea what kind of "in season" deals they may offer. I suggest that you go to their website to check on that. I only suggested that because I know that several "season packages" in other services do that. Perhaps they have a way to contact them for questions; I'm not sure. I just signed up as soon as I knew that my reception would be decent.

Ok thanks alot for your time and answers, I think I will just sign up now.

[patsfangr]

Ok thanks alot for your time and answers, I think I will just sign up now.

Glad to help. I hope you'll let me know how you like it. If you're anywhere near as much of an NFL fan as I am, I'm sure you will!

[Old Man River]

OMR, you're doing much worse than that. You're looking at, basically, ONE carry. Barber got through for one carry of 15 yards.

Sorry, but this isn't ice skating where you throw out the lowest and highest (or in your argument you only throw out the highest).

For the record. The Redskins did not stop the Cowboys running attack as you stated. The Cowboys stopped their own running attack, one of the best in the NFL. Marion Barber should be running the ball 20-25 times per game, and Felix Jones another 5-10. Despite it being a close game throughout, Barber ended up with 8 carries and Felix Jones zero. Eight carries by running backs for an entire game where the score was close throughout.

In the first half Barber got only 3 yards on 5 carries. No need to panic. The Cowboys O-line always gets stronger as the game progresses. In the second half Barber was allowed to touch the ball only 3 more times (23 yards on 3 carries). Even if you throw out the one 15 yarder, he still averaged 4 yds per carry in the second half, but that isn't the point. What is, is that he was only given the ball a total of 3 times in the second half. There was absolutely no need for Garrett to panic. Tony Romo was sacked a total of zero times by the Redskins. In the second half, the O-line had complete control of the line of scrimmage. Garrett, the highest paid asst. coach in the entire NFL did not do what he was paid to do and the entire team suffered because of it.

The bottom line, the Redskins won by 2 points. OK, game over. I would hate to be wearing a Bengals uniform next week.

[koheesti]

I have no idea what kind of "in season" deals they may offer. I suggest that you go to their website to check on that. I only suggested that because I know that several "season packages" in other services do that. Perhaps they have a way to contact them for questions; I'm not sure. I just signed up as soon as I knew that my reception would be decent.

In past seasons they offer big discounts after mid season. I think the price dropped down to $100 for the last 7-8 weeks. But the reception this year is much, much better than last year.

[TokyoT]

Be carefull about signing up for the game pass without checking out your connection speed. I live in Bangkok and have yet to have speeds fast enough this year to watch a game while in Bangkok. Would not have mattered much last week as the Skins game was shown. However, I was in Japan at the time and actually had to revert to using NFL.com to watch the game.

The Cowboys gaining less than 50 yards on the ground was certainly more related to coaching (play calling) than what either team did on the field. The limited number of times the Cowboys actually ran the ball makes it pretty difficult to tell one way or another if the Skins would have been able to contain the running game all day long – had they continued to try and pound away. That being said Barber ran the ball 8 times, one was a good gain, (15), one was for negative yards, three were for 0 or 1 yard, and his first carry was a decent 5 yarder - nothing stellar by any means. The really sad part about the play calling was they they failed to put the ball in Jones hands even once.

I actually attribute the lack of the running game to the lack of production on first down. Dallas was much more likely to try and pass on first down, and they had far too many incompletions on first down. An incomplete pass does not have the same effect as a zero gain run. If a team continues to pound the ball even with what seems to be little effect in the first half, they are actually having an effect on the D-line. And a strong O-line coupled with strong backs will get returns on those zero gain runs late in the third and in the fourth quarter. Dallas did not see these gains, not only because they did not try and run the ball much in the third and fourth quarter, but because they did not try and run the ball enough in the first and second quarters to soften up that line.

Washington totally dominated the second and fourth quarters, and they went into that nasty prevent D on the last Dallas possession of each half that really helped to pad the total stats for Dallas. Those two drives account for nearly 150 yards (10 points) and the Skins were in prevent basically the entire time on both drives. On that front I think the Skins coaching staff were far too conservative, but I’ll still take the win.

Anyone who watched the game knows that the Skins really failed to put the nail in the coffin of several occasions, and thus the Cowboys were in it till the end. Dallas only had to settle for a FG on only one of the drives where they were able to move the ball (end of the first half), and that was because they ran out of time - not momentum. In the second half the Skins had the ball inside the Dallas 20 on three of the their first four possessions, but had to settle for FG’s on each of those – this has been a bit of a problem for them all year and they have had to settle for far too many FG’s. In a way Suisham should be very thankful for this because this means his FG attempts are rather short. He has been far from stellar and I doubt his skills once the distance gets much beyond 35 yards.

One thing that I think has steadily been getting worse in the NFL for the past couple of years is the officiating. In this game the poor officiating did indeed play into the hands of the Skins. There were several missed calls, and a number of times where it would have been easy enough to call the Skins secondary for interference or at least holding that were not called.

[TokyoT]

Not sure if the NFC East is really over rated or not. They do have a solid record right now against non-NFC East teams. But many of those have been against cupcake teams (Rams, Browns, Bungles). The NFC East has to play the AFC North (maybe the weakest division in the AFC), and the NFC West (maybe the weakest division in the NFC), with this kind of schedule they should end up winning at least 75% of those non-division games. And actually each of them have a chance (now except Philly) to run the table on non-division games.

The front of the Skins schedule is stacked against them. They played the Giants (in NY), then two home games against New Orleans, and Arizona, followed by two away games one in Dallas, and next week in Philly. They had to play all three of their road division games in the first five games. In all honesty with that type of schedule I will be pleased with getting out of those first five games with only two losses.

Not that I am conceding anything next week. If the Skins can get a W next week they will be sitting pretty, with a solid chance to have no less than two division losses, and a very week non-division schedule. Things can turn sour pretty quick and four games are hardly enough to estimate the entire season, but things are looking better now than most Skins fans expected.

I would love to go into Philly and get a W, and I think we have a strong shot at that considering Westbrook will be less than 100% if he is even up to playing. McNabb is a new man this year, but he was pretty beat up after the Steelers game. Factor in a healthy McNabb and a healthy Westbrook and I don’t think the Chicago game would have even been close. But teams have to play with what they got each week, and I think both the Eagles and the Giants are very vulnerable to loses over the season due to lack of depth.

[Old Man River]

Be carefull about signing up for the game pass without checking out your connection speed. I live in Bangkok and have yet to have speeds fast enough this year to watch a game while in Bangkok. Would not have mattered much last week as the Skins game was shown. However, I was in Japan at the time and actually had to revert to using NFL.com to watch the game.

The Cowboys gaining less than 50 yards on the ground was certainly more related to coaching (play calling) than what either team did on the field. The limited number of times the Cowboys actually ran the ball makes it pretty difficult to tell one way or another if the Skins would have been able to contain the running game all day long – had they continued to try and pound away. That being said Barber ran the ball 8 times, one was a good gain, (15), one was for negative yards, three were for 0 or 1 yard, and his first carry was a decent 5 yarder - nothing stellar by any means. The really sad part about the play calling was they they failed to put the ball in Jones hands even once.

I actually attribute the lack of the running game to the lack of production on first down. Dallas was much more likely to try and pass on first down, and they had far too many incompletions on first down. An incomplete pass does not have the same effect as a zero gain run. If a team continues to pound the ball even with what seems to be little effect in the first half, they are actually having an effect on the D-line. And a strong O-line coupled with strong backs will get returns on those zero gain runs late in the third and in the fourth quarter. Dallas did not see these gains, not only because they did not try and run the ball much in the third and fourth quarter, but because they did not try and run the ball enough in the first and second quarters to soften up that line.

Washington totally dominated the second and fourth quarters, and they went into that nasty prevent D on the last Dallas possession of each half that really helped to pad the total stats for Dallas. Those two drives account for nearly 150 yards (10 points) and the Skins were in prevent basically the entire time on both drives. On that front I think the Skins coaching staff were far too conservative, but I’ll still take the win.

Anyone who watched the game knows that the Skins really failed to put the nail in the coffin of several occasions, and thus the Cowboys were in it till the end. Dallas only had to settle for a FG on only one of the drives where they were able to move the ball (end of the first half), and that was because they ran out of time - not momentum. In the second half the Skins had the ball inside the Dallas 20 on three of the their first four possessions, but had to settle for FG’s on each of those – this has been a bit of a problem for them all year and they have had to settle for far too many FG’s. In a way Suisham should be very thankful for this because this means his FG attempts are rather short. He has been far from stellar and I doubt his skills once the distance gets much beyond 35 yards.

One thing that I think has steadily been getting worse in the NFL for the past couple of years is the officiating. In this game the poor officiating did indeed play into the hands of the Skins. There were several missed calls, and a number of times where it would have been easy enough to call the Skins secondary for interference or at least holding that were not called.

Thank you for this post.

On Game Pass, I also have the same problem. I have tried their test on their website, but my download speed wasn't high enough to where I could buy it (or I would have).

On Dallas, I think we both have pretty much said what needs to be said. Bottom line is that they ran only 8 times all game. The three rushes in the second half (two on their opening possession in the third quarter), yielded 23 yards. Jones, who had 3 TD's in 3 games, didn't even touch the ball from scrimmage the entire game. Patsfangr's comment that the Skins put an extra guy in the box means nothing. Many teams do this. I have no doubt that Phillips (aided by Jerry Jones) will have a different game plan for the Bungles.

There is no question that Dallas' stats were aided by the Redskins prevent, which almost cost them the game as Dallas scored quickly against it (so much for the prevent). Romo's 300 yards passing was meaningless. He threw 47 times with one of the best running games in the NFL. It was ridiculous and Phillips' taking the blame says a lot for this guy. Garrett is the highest paid assistant coach in the NFL, and his game plan sucked. For what he makes, this should never happen.

Coming from a Skins fan it is a breath of fresh air to hear your comments about the officiating against Dallas. I didn't want to bring this up, because it sounds like sour grapes, but many in Dallas suspect it is because of Jerry Jones' comments against Ed Hochuli (which he was fined for). When the Skins almost yanked Pacman's head off on a return and there was no face mask call, it became obvious what the officials were doing. Both Buck and Aikman commented that they could see it clearly way up where they were sitting and there was an official looking right at the pull just 5 yards away. It is clear, don't say anything about the officials and they might open their eyes once in a while during a game.

[jfchandler]

OMR, what provider/speed do you have at home for your Internet???

It's be helpful to know at what level it was too slow to run properly for GamePass... Thanks...

[Calico]

Did you hear what Chris Rock said about McCain choosing Palin?

"It was such a bad pick, I thought Al Davis made it."

[Old Man River]

OMR, what provider/speed do you have at home for your Internet???

It's be helpful to know at what level it was too slow to run properly for GamePass... Thanks...

TOT and 1Mb, but I am lucky to get one third of this and often the download speed is around 200 kbs. I have talked to TOT and, apparently, I want to use it when everyone else wants to use it. Also, TOT told me that normally it is expected that you will only get 70% of what you pay for. So, 700 kbs is what I should expect if I use it when nobody else wants to use it. The cost of this is approx. THB 500 per month.

I have read that some who have CAT available can upgrade and get much higher download speeds at a cost of THB 2000/month. That is a lot to pay. Now, if my kid needed it for her homework, then no problem, so I guess I should be putting this into her mind so she can nag the wife for it.

[jfchandler]

I have True 2 mb DSL in BKK (for about 900 baht per month) and get at best about 1.7 mb...and a lot slower during peak times...

But, most of the live games here are airing starting at either midnight or 3 am our Monday...so that's pretty well off the peak use times.... meaning streaming video usually works ok then.

Edited October 2, 2008 by jfchandler

[Old Man River]

I have True 2 mb DSL in BKK (for about 900 baht per month) and get at best about 1.7 mb...and a lot slower during peak times...

But, most of the live games here are airing starting at either midnight or 3 am our Monday...so that's pretty well off the peak use times.... meaning streaming video usually works ok then.

I don't have access to True where I am (even though I am in Bangkok). The problem I have with these offpeak games is that I work the next day and I haven't figured out how to record them. Patsfangr has mentioned that Game Pass has replays of the games which is the function I wold be interested in, but I would be viewing them during peak times which may or may not work.

During peak times, what is your speed? You can test it at www.speedtest.net which has a Bangkok server (this is the one TOT told me to use). This would give me an indication of what I might expect if I up it to 2mb (THB 1000 for TOT).

Thanks.

[patsfangr]

I have True 2 mb DSL in BKK (for about 900 baht per month) and get at best about 1.7 mb...and a lot slower during peak times...

But, most of the live games here are airing starting at either midnight or 3 am our Monday...so that's pretty well off the peak use times.... meaning streaming video usually works ok then.

I don't have access to True where I am (even though I am in Bangkok). The problem I have with these offpeak games is that I work the next day and I haven't figured out how to record them. Patsfangr has mentioned that Game Pass has replays of the games which is the function I wold be interested in, but I would be viewing them during peak times which may or may not work.

During peak times, what is your speed? You can test it at www.speedtest.net which has a Bangkok server (this is the one TOT told me to use). This would give me an indication of what I might expect if I up it to 2mb (THB 1000 for TOT).

Thanks.

OMR, right now (2 PM) I test at 1454 download / 225 upload on Speakeasy. (For some reason, speedtest, which I usually use, won't work for me right now. It sticks on "ping test".

This is pretty much in the middle of peak time here. I usually range between 900 and 1700, with the usual exception of occasional "problem times". Those can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours, during the day and early evening.

As I've said before, I haven't had a total "blackout" yet on NFL Game Pass. But I have had some very "fuzzy" quality with replays during daytime hours. However, that has NOT been the norm. Most of the time, it has been fine, with just some very momentary "fuzziness" between otherwise clear video.

It has run for me with download speed as low as 500. I really believe that the new equipment they're using this year will work for most ISPs. I know that I tested on two occasions last year, with this same ISP, and it would NOT work then. The change had made a huge difference for me.

[Old Man River]

I have True 2 mb DSL in BKK (for about 900 baht per month) and get at best about 1.7 mb...and a lot slower during peak times...

But, most of the live games here are airing starting at either midnight or 3 am our Monday...so that's pretty well off the peak use times.... meaning streaming video usually works ok then.

I don't have access to True where I am (even though I am in Bangkok). The problem I have with these offpeak games is that I work the next day and I haven't figured out how to record them. Patsfangr has mentioned that Game Pass has replays of the games which is the function I wold be interested in, but I would be viewing them during peak times which may or may not work.

During peak times, what is your speed? You can test it at www.speedtest.net which has a Bangkok server (this is the one TOT told me to use). This would give me an indication of what I might expect if I up it to 2mb (THB 1000 for TOT).

Thanks.

OMR, right now (2 PM) I test at 1454 download / 225 upload on Speakeasy. (For some reason, speedtest, which I usually use, won't work for me right now. It sticks on "ping test".

This is pretty much in the middle of peak time here. I usually range between 900 and 1700, with the usual exception of occasional "problem times". Those can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours, during the day and early evening.

As I've said before, I haven't had a total "blackout" yet on NFL Game Pass. But I have had some very "fuzzy" quality with replays during daytime hours. However, that has NOT been the norm. Most of the time, it has been fine, with just some very momentary "fuzziness" between otherwise clear video.

It has run for me with download speed as low as 500. I really believe that the new equipment they're using this year will work for most ISPs. I know that I tested on two occasions last year, with this same ISP, and it would NOT work then. The change had made a huge difference for me.

That is impressive. I checked to see what I would get on Speakeasy, but didn't when I saw they only use servers from the US. I don't know much about this, but the guys at TOT told me not to test my speed using servers outside of Thailand. When Speedtest does work for you, please try it with the Bangkok server and let me know if it shows that you still get the speeds Speakeasy is showing. The difference of THB 500 per month really isn't a whole lot to buy the 2mb service from TOT, but I hate to just up the ante without having some indication that it will do the trick for me.

I very much appreciate your help.

OMR

[Old Man River]

I have True 2 mb DSL in BKK (for about 900 baht per month) and get at best about 1.7 mb...and a lot slower during peak times...

But, most of the live games here are airing starting at either midnight or 3 am our Monday...so that's pretty well off the peak use times.... meaning streaming video usually works ok then.

I don't have access to True where I am (even though I am in Bangkok). The problem I have with these offpeak games is that I work the next day and I haven't figured out how to record them. Patsfangr has mentioned that Game Pass has replays of the games which is the function I wold be interested in, but I would be viewing them during peak times which may or may not work.

During peak times, what is your speed? You can test it at www.speedtest.net which has a Bangkok server (this is the one TOT told me to use). This would give me an indication of what I might expect if I up it to 2mb (THB 1000 for TOT).

Thanks.

OMR, right now (2 PM) I test at 1454 download / 225 upload on Speakeasy. (For some reason, speedtest, which I usually use, won't work for me right now. It sticks on "ping test".

This is pretty much in the middle of peak time here. I usually range between 900 and 1700, with the usual exception of occasional "problem times". Those can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours, during the day and early evening.

As I've said before, I haven't had a total "blackout" yet on NFL Game Pass. But I have had some very "fuzzy" quality with replays during daytime hours. However, that has NOT been the norm. Most of the time, it has been fine, with just some very momentary "fuzziness" between otherwise clear video.

It has run for me with download speed as low as 500. I really believe that the new equipment they're using this year will work for most ISPs. I know that I tested on two occasions last year, with this same ISP, and it would NOT work then. The change had made a huge difference for me.

That is impressive. I checked to see what I would get on Speakeasy, but didn't when I saw they only use servers from the US. I don't know much about this, but the guys at TOT told me not to test my speed using servers outside of Thailand. When Speedtest does work for you, please try it with the Bangkok server and let me know if it shows that you still get the speeds Speakeasy is showing. The difference of THB 500 per month really isn't a whole lot to buy the 2mb service from TOT, but I hate to just up the ante without having some indication that it will do the trick for me.

I very much appreciate your help.

OMR

As an addendum to the above, I just checked (11:15PM) my speeds using the Seattle server on Speakeasy and the Bangkok server on Speedtest. Interestingly, my download speed on Speakeasy was 717 kbps and on Speedtest was 970 kbps (the highest it ever has been). On the upload side, on Speakeasy it was 67kbps and on Speedtest it was 115kbps.

Immediately after, I did the Game Pass test and it was 84 kbps and was termed "insufficient." I don't think I will ever understand this.

[patsfangr]

That is impressive. I checked to see what I would get on Speakeasy, but didn't when I saw they only use servers from the US. I don't know much about this, but the guys at TOT told me not to test my speed using servers outside of Thailand. When Speedtest does work for you, please try it with the Bangkok server and let me know if it shows that you still get the speeds Speakeasy is showing. The difference of THB 500 per month really isn't a whole lot to buy the 2mb service from TOT, but I hate to just up the ante without having some indication that it will do the trick for me.

I very much appreciate your help.

OMR

As an addendum to the above, I just checked (11:15PM) my speeds using the Seattle server on Speakeasy and the Bangkok server on Speedtest. Interestingly, my download speed on Speakeasy was 717 kbps and on Speedtest was 970 kbps (the highest it ever has been). On the upload side, on Speakeasy it was 67kbps and on Speedtest it was 115kbps.

Immediately after, I did the Game Pass test and it was 84 kbps and was termed "insufficient." I don't think I will ever understand this.

I'm right with you, OMR, on being unable to understand the specific workings of these signals. I am a long, long way from being an expert in the technical aspects of the cyber world. After all, I'm one of those guys who grew up with adding machines with the pull lever on the side! :-)

All I can tell you is that my particular service (C.A.T.) did come up with "insufficient" for NFL Game Pass on two tests last year; but tested OK with their new equipment this year; and has run without "serious" interruption, or "extended" periods of poor quality video, through the first 4 weeks of the season.

Just as an example, I have had C.A.T. service go out, or run at extremely low speeds, several times over the past few months. With the exception of only two cases, when I have called them to complain, the service has come back to normal within 15-20 minutes. Now, at the risk of being some combination of cynical and paranoid, that makes me wonder if they either don't pay attention to problems, as they arise; or if they are intentionally "shifting signal power", in some way, to other areas, until they get complaints. There's probably a good demonstration of my technical ignorance in there, since I have no idea whether that would even be possible. But it does seem odd that phone calls help restore service most of the time.

(This just happened this morning, by the way. I had NO SIGNAL when I tried to sign on at 8:30. I called the Tech Service. 15 Minutes later, I had full service on. ... I just now got a call back from the technician. His English is very minimal. They nearly always do call back to follow up, by the way. After confirming that my service was back, I asked him if he could explain to me what he did. He said that he "reset" (something) to restore the signal. Again, his English was too poor, and my Thai non-existent, so I couldn't get more specific information than that. But, clearly, something in the system does go "off" at times, and human intervention is required to reset it. That still doesn't disprove my suspicion that there may be intentional "re-routing" of signal strength, somehow. Any and all truly informed opinion, and/or technical facts, on this idea would be most welcomed.)

[lomatopo]

TrueSport 4

009: SEATTLE SEAHAWKS @ N.Y. GIANTS (06-OCT-2008)

06-Oct-2008 00:00

010: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS @ SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (06-OCT-2008)

06-Oct-2008 03:15

Note that the change from Daylight to Standard time occurs on 2 Nov. (Week 9)

010: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS @ SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (06-OCT-2008)

06-Oct-2008 15:30

009: SEATTLE SEAHAWKS @ N.Y. GIANTS (06-OCT-2008)

06-Oct-2008 18:30

NFL GAME DAY 2008

05-Oct-2008 10:30

05-Oct-2008 20:00

[qwunk89]

OMR, i have gamepass as well and i have a TT&T connection - the one that comes to around 1,200 baht with taxes (fastest i could get here). when i tested with gamepass my results came back as insufficient around 260kbps - but i have had great picture quality even at peak times (so far) . . so i guess the test can be misleading/inaccurate. when i watch the games with gamepass, i switch to the highest video quality (i think 1200kbps) and the small screen comes in super clear; when i enlarge the screen to fullscreen on my laptop things distort a little, although fullscreen seems to be a little better with nationally televised games (but i usually watch on the super clear small screen). hope this helps you figure things out. i guess the best way is to buy a one week pass and test it out . .

[jfchandler]

Lom, just wanted to say THANKS for regularly posting the True schedule on these games... I much appreciate it, and I'm sure others here to also!!! Cheers...

TrueSport 4

009: SEATTLE SEAHAWKS @ N.Y. GIANTS (06-OCT-2008)

06-Oct-2008 00:00

010: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS @ SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (06-OCT-2008)

06-Oct-2008 03:15

Note that the change from Daylight to Standard time occurs on 2 Nov. (Week 9)

010: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS @ SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (06-OCT-2008)

06-Oct-2008 15:30

009: SEATTLE SEAHAWKS @ N.Y. GIANTS (06-OCT-2008)

06-Oct-2008 18:30

NFL GAME DAY 2008

05-Oct-2008 10:30

05-Oct-2008 20:00

[huggybear]

How about this Travis Henry? 9 kids with 9 different women, busted............

A friend says in the new C. Rock standup he mentions Sara Palin getting accolades for shooting a moose, "and Michael Vick is in jail for what?"

[patsfangr]

Lom, just wanted to say THANKS for regularly posting the True schedule on these games... I much appreciate it, and I'm sure others here to also!!! Cheers...

I also applaud LT for taking the time to post the information. However, I am curious about those who need it. If you have True, and you have access to a PC (which you obviously do, since you post here), why do you need LT, or anyone else, to post the schedule for you? Can't you just go to their website, and view it yourself?

I'm not trying to give anyone a hard time. I'm just curious about it.

[patsfangr]

How about this Travis Henry? 9 kids with 9 different women, busted............

A friend says in the new C. Rock standup he mentions Sara Palin getting accolades for shooting a moose, "and Michael Vick is in jail for what?"

I didn't read that story on Travis Henry. I'll go after it later. But the only two questions I'd have about it. First, were the sexual acts mutually consensual? Second, is he supporting those children? If the answer to either of those questions is "no", throw his a$$ in jail. If the answers to both are "yes", then it's between him and the women who made the choice to have unprotected sex with him.

As for the line about Palin and Vick, the obvious answer is that hunting is legal, and sponsoring dog fights is not. Beyond that, while I'm personally opposed to hunting that is not truly for personal survival, it is still "usually" more humane than pitting two animals against one another in a savage fight to the death. By any reasonable measure, the two situations are not even close to comparable.

[lomatopo]

I usually look up the current week's schedule anyway, just to see if there are any games I want to watch. Then I just copy/paste the results here as it seems like we get new members all the time, and many often ask about which games are televised, when and on which channel. I guess you could just ignore my posts if you're already familiar with the local TV schedule?

[jfchandler]

Re the question above, of course, I don't NEED Lom to post True's NFL broadcast schedule...for the same reason, since I have access to the same info... But since I read this thread regularly anyway, I tend to see his posts on the NFL game schedules often before I have a chance to ck the sched myself... So it makes my life simpler....

All the more reason to say THANKS ....

Same reason I posted here before on the details of the NFL GamePass program and various other related things. Sure, anyone COULD go out on the Internet and check to see what streaming games can be had in what manner. But not everyone does what they could do... Sometimes is nice to offer your fellow TV members a helping hand....

Edited October 4, 2008 by jfchandler

[patsfangr]

Re the question above, of course, I don't NEED Lom to post True's NFL broadcast schedule...for the same reason, since I have access to the same info... But since I read this thread regularly anyway, I tend to see his posts on the NFL game schedules often before I have a chance to ck the sched myself... So it makes my life simpler....

All the more reason to say THANKS ....

Same reason I posted here before on the details of the NFL GamePass program and various other related things. Sure, anyone COULD go out on the Internet and check to see what streaming games can be had in what manner. But not everyone does what they could do... Sometimes is nice to offer your fellow TV members a helping hand....

I totally agree, JF. Again, I also commend LT for taking the time to post the info. I have nothing but respect for people who make an effort to help others, whatever the subject matter.

I was, as I said, just curious.