NFLPA's Smith Likely To Hit Familiar Talking Points In Press Conference

NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith is scheduled to give a press conference on the labor situation today, and the NATIONAL FOOTBALL POST's Andrew Brandt writes, "I expect he will harp on the same themes that he has been for months." These talking points include the fact that the "owners opted out of the CBA, not the players," and that the "owners are claiming the system doesn't work, not the players" 
(NATIONALFOOTBALLPOST.com, 2/2).

Smith said the "rhetoric has been high" between the two sides, "but at the same time there really isn’t two days go by where (NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell) and I don’t communicate with each other." Smith: "We’ve got a good relationship. We’ve taken hard looks at the business of football. ... We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re going to do it. Look, we have to get this done. There’s not a fan in America, there’s not a player in America that can point to anything that justifies a lockout" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 2/2).