NFLPA Blogger Conference Call

by Bruce Raffel on Jan 18, 2011 4:25 PM EST

Baltimore Beatdown participated in a conference call with other media and bloggers with two members of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), Kevin Mawae, NFLPA President/former player (Seahawks, Jets, Titans) and George Atallah, NFLPA Assistant Executive Director of External Affairs.

Obviously, the topic of the conference call was the Collective Bargaining Agreement and this call was specifically
to talk with members of the online media. I was able to ask a question to the two of them and Kevin Mawae responded directly to me.

Beatdown: "Are there any organized showings of public solidarity planned for the two Conference Championship Games this Sunday?"

Mawae: "I haven't heard of anything. If it does, it would be spontaneous and unknown to the union."

Mawae went on to say that any previous shows of solidarity throughout the regular season was player-driven, player-concocted, not union. If you have ever seen the players come past the sidelines just prior to the game in unison on both sides of the field and hold up their pointing finger to signal #1, that was what I was referring to.

Interesting was the final question from our friend Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post and Carroll County Times, who asked Mawae why he thought he was voted into the Pro Bowl, yet did not receive a call from any NFL to play this season. His response was that he felt that he knew once he was elected Union President that if there were labor strife, that he would be virtually ignored by the league, despite the fact he played center last season for a team (Tennessee Titans) that had a 2,000 yard rusher (Chris Johnson) and a QB (Vince Young) that had been sacked as few times as any in the NFL, and knew he could be one of the best centers in the league had he been given the opportunity.

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According to twitter

Mattison is off to U of M. Pagano is named D Cord. Not sure I like that

by Georgia Raven on Jan 18, 2011 6:30 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Maybe it's a blessing in disguise

by StuckInUtah on Jan 18, 2011 7:14 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

It may just be... here's what Fabian Washington had to say:

Fabian Washington on Pagano: "He believes in his guys. There’s probably going to be a lot more blitzing. He’s an aggressive guy.’

by mlb32001 on Jan 18, 2011 7:18 PM EST up reply actions

Aggressive? Me likey

Editor at Baltimore Beatdown - SB Nation Baltimore Ravens Blog

by Zachary Beard on Jan 18, 2011 7:50 PM EST up reply actions

Good cchance that the secondary coach

could be frustrated with rushing three guys setting up his DB’s to fail with no pass rush. That might get him more likely to blitz to protect the guys he’s used to coaching.

I like the move and wonder if Harbs knew about it when he said how much he liked his coordinators and wanted them back next season.

Also question why a DC from the pros would take the same position in the collegiate ranks, unless of course, he is hoping to one day be the head coach. The other side is that he just didn’t like the pressure and dealing with the big boys.

aka 'Rexx'

by Bruce Raffel on Jan 18, 2011 8:31 PM EST reply actions