Focus of this year’s NFL meetings to be L.A. situation

Reporting from DALLAS â€”  The NFL will hold its annual December meetings this week, and although the location is the same, the focus will be different.

Typically, the league’s owners convene for a one-day meeting on labor issues. This year, however, the main topic of conversation will be the Los Angeles situation. The league’s various committee’s will meet Tuesday, and the owners will gather Wednesday for closed-door meetings at a resort.

Exactly what the league plans to decide at the meetings is unclear. There aren’t presentations scheduled, so it’s likely to be more discussions on who should get the green light to return to the nation’s second-largest market, and which of the two stadium plans is better, Inglewood or Carson.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said he would like to see an L.A. vote take place in January or February, in time for a decision to be made on the 2016 season, and for the relocated team(s) to begin selling tickets in the new market. Eyeing relocation are the St. Louis Rams, San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders.

The clock is ticking on that time window, so it will be interesting to see if the owners have a renewed sense of urgency this week, or if they’re more inclined to give the L.A. can another kick down the road.

In that sense, if there were no news out of these meetings, it actually would be news.

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After years of posturing and of using L.A. as a stalking horse to get deals done in other cities, it appears the NFL really does want to get something done this time. One reason for that is now team owners are involved, spending money, and stirring up ire in their home markets. This is not a comfortable spot for the league, and it figures to get even more uncomfortable.

That said, some of the owners not directly involved in the process could have less of a sense of urgency. Some of them might feel, ‘Hey, what’s the rush? We’ve waited two decades. What’s another year if it means exhausting every possible option in the home markets and doing L.A. the right way?’ �

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Some people have suggested the possibility of the league holding an L.A. vote as late as May. That would mean factoring in L.A. after the release of the schedule. What a mess. The league doesn’t want to drag out this nonsense, but forcing a late vote gets the moving team(s) off on the wrong foot.

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After the Broncos beat New England, Denver is two miles high.

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So Luke Wilson is playing Roger Goodell in “Concussion�? I like Wilson, but I don’t understand that casting decision.

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Receivers practically have to get the football notarized these days to complete a catch. Using that standard, Kam Chancellor didn’t complete the interception on Pittsburgh’s last-gasp drive Sunday. The league needs to get this what-is-a-catch stuff figured out and applied in a uniform way. It’s becoming a weekly issue.

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Some receivers have great hands. Some have the speed to take the top off a defense. Arizona’s John Brown has both.

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CBS used Next Gen Stats to show that Pittsburgh’s Martavis Bryant reached a top speed of 19 mph on his 11-yard touchdown run at Seattle. Although that’s interesting, I’m not sure what it tells us.

Here’s hoping we don’t get to a point where we’re saying Adrian Peterson had 73 yards in 12 carries at an average speed of 14.2 mph.

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At one point Sunday, San Francisco had 13 defensive players on the field. Now that’s an imposing scheme.

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San Diego safety Eric Weddle is one of the few remaining NFL players to go glove-less.

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Kansas City’s Alex Smith had some Steve Young-looking runs Sunday.

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Fox’s Mike Pereira, who used to run the NFL’s officiating department: “You wanted younger officials, you got younger officials.�

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Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates, touchdown. NFL writers should have a save/recall button on their laptops for that.

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On Thanksgiving Day, two of the biggest proponents of the competing L.A. proposals were in opposite owners suites: Carolina’s Jerry Richardson (Carson) and Dallas’ Jerry Jones (Inglewood).

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Former UCLA star Anthony Barr made an amazing play for Minnesota on Sunday, chasing down Atlanta’s Tevin Coleman after a 45-yard gain and poking the ball out of his hands. No matter what else he does in his career, that should live forever on Barr’s highlight video.

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Six games into the season, Kansas City was 1-5. Since, the Chiefs have won five games in a row, even though they have been without star running back Jamaal Charles.

Six games into the season, Green Bay was 6-0. Since, the Packers have lost four of five games, even with star quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the helm.

Six games into the season, there wasn’t an NFC East team with a winning record.

And now?

Same thing. Washington and the New York Giants are tied atop the division at 5-6.