HardyBoy

Meh, he's not really a fan of any team anymore. Too much time in sports journalism will do that to you (I live in south florida and have listened to him a crap ton since 2012...well until tomorrow when we're driving/moving to Raleigh). I don't get their hate for Allen either honestly...they truly are all about nuance in just about everything except for Josh Allen...I think they're trolling a bit, but also setting up a bit when Allen gets good they can make fun of themselves...I don't think he did it on purpose, but Le Batard predicted the Lions would win the nfc north the year the went 0-16 and they've been making fun of him for that on the radio show randomly since I started listening. It's a parody of talk sports radio...if you look at it like that, you'll be in on the joke and it's pretty hilarious honestly, just takes a bit of getting used to it being a parody...basically they're parodying shows like Schopp and the Bulldog, where they have no idea on what they're watching strategy wise, but comment like they know everything without question, and likely didn't even watch the random golf round they are commenting on.

If you're not familiar with Mandolin Orange, I highly, highly recommend diving really deep into their stuff...incredibly, incredibly talented musicians and songwriters. MLK wasn't assassinated because he was trying to get black people the right to vote. He was assassinated because he was trying to bring poor people together into a unified organized voting block to demand an end to policies that kept those people poor in a real war on poverty. Stop fighting one another, your anger is with those above you pulling the puppet strings. This instant, I'm not going to even listen to someone's genuine words of anguish mentality is designed to keep people from talking to each other and coming together in understanding.

Nothing I could say would be better said than how Bob Dylan put it. We're being intentionally divided to be taken advantage of: A bullet from the back of a bush Took Medgar Evers' blood A finger fired the trigger to his name A handle hid out in the dark A hand set the spark Two eyes took the aim Behind a man's brain But he can't be blamed He's only a pawn in their game A South politician preaches to the poor white man "You got more than the blacks, don't complain You're better than them, you been born with white skin, " they explain And the negr*'s name Is used, it is plain For the politician's gain As he rises to fame And the poor white remains On the caboose of the train But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid And the marshals and cops get the same But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool He's taught in his school From the start by the rule That the laws are with him To protect his white skin To keep up his hate So he never thinks straight 'Bout the shape that he's in But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks And the hoofbeats pound in his brain And he's taught how to walk in a pack Shoot in the back With his fist in a clinch To hang and to lynch To hide 'neath the hood To kill with no pain Like a dog on a chain He ain't got no name But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught They lowered him down as a king But when the shadowy sun sets on the one That fired the gun He'll see by his grave On the stone that remains Carved next to his name His epitaph plain Only a pawn in their game

Yup, I like that line...his name just makes it that much better too!

I'm not a fan, it's fake (fact) and annoying (opinion). I'd rather they get creative with the time between plays that is typically taken up by the crowd. It's kinda like if the late shows went to a laugh track to help cover their awkward pauses when they stopped having a studio audience. Then they adapted (at least some of them did) and changed the style to match the reality of the medium they were performing in. Give me analytics and film guys dropping in from time to time to talk about trends they're seeing. Show me more advanced stats and things to look for in body mechanics or oline techniques to look for in different situations based on the likely analytics (basically give me aTony Romo guy to drop in between plays from time to time like they do with the rules guy). Don't give me a laugh track because you can't figure out a new way to do things in this reality. The yellow line was jaring once too.

Come on people with wanting everything to be an A (don't you make fun of us millenials for stuff like that?). In the nfl a B+ is a really good grade, and to me this is a B+ (arguably his best grade yet)...an A in the nfl is like 450 yards, 4 tds and maybe a pick. That or better was actually on the table today and he left some plays on the field. Think about it this way. When Josh Allen left plays on the field the second half of last year, he'd end up with 235 yards and two total tds. If now he can leave plays on the field and still break 300 yards, help the team keep that amount of time of possession and get three tds while the team scores over 25 points and controlling the game the entire game...that is monumental progress. Also, this is how Daboll wanted to play last year, and after the first Pats game had to adjust to fewer throws, because Allen couldn't handle that amount of responsibility yet (he was a second year starter from a small school, not knocking him). If Allen is able to handle that passing volume this year, and control that time of possession...watch out!

The heck are you talking about?! Singletary had four carries week 1 last year and was very lightly used the first half of the season even before the hamstring injury: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/player/gamelogs/2019/2241251/devin-singletary

Remember, this coaching staff is very cognizant of the rookie wall and don't overuse rookies early in the season (Ford, Oliver and Singletary last year for example). Looks like Ford is still going to be rotating with Nsekhe, but instead of sitting, will play right guard when Ty is on the field. You'd much rather have AJE be fresh the second half of the season, which is when the hardest stretch of the schedule is too.

Exactly, the Bills played basically every game in 30+ mph winds the second half of the season last year. Not only do I strongly believe that had a huge impact on Allen's deep ball accuracy stats, but unquestionably has a huge impact on punting. The punters in the games against the Bills did worse than he did (he was consistently the better punter in most games unless I'm totally misremembering). Wind doesn't impact just the ball flying through the air, but more importantly the drop of the ball from the hand to the foot...but don't take my word for it, here is apro bowl punter discussing it fairly in depth:

I mean it depends. You can play well and lose. You can also play badly and win. This is a three year window. Process over outcome, which is how you build long term success. They have a plan and benchmarks they are trying to hit, and my guess is it is a lot more nuanced than their win/loss record. Edmunds was a true nfl lb last year...he made the pro bowl...Poyer and Hyde are key pieces of a top 5 defense three years in a row.

Lol, madden is having a really rough go of it currently...the complaints about the weak gameplay and complete rubbish they call a franchise mode going back to 2013 has finally gone mainstream.

We could theoretically be literally in the same position as the Bears next year, with Foles competing for the starting job. I really don't think so, JA is underrated because the things he does well aren't in line with the established narrative of him. The biggest legit knock is his deep passing accuracy, but basically every game starting with I think the eagles game through the end of the year had 30 mph+ winds and that is not being taken into account nearly enough.

Funny, the PR dept likely reports up through the marketing dept...

Seriously, you all need to read this...to call Marcell Dareus lazy is just flabbergastingly misinformed. He's the literal definition of the process. http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201104/marcell-dareus-alabama-crimson-tide-defensive-tackle-nfl-draft#:~:text=Dareus' father%2C Jules%2C passed,were hard to come by.

Yeah, a lot of stereotyping of acceptable male actions going on up in here. Maybe one day I'd get my nails done, but my reason I haven't isn't because it's not manly, it just feels unnecessary (though this endorsement has me reevaluating if it is more than a looks thing, though I do like to walk around barefoot on rough surfaces, and play guitar, so they would need to leave the bottom of the feet and finger calluses alone). I think that about women getting their nails done and makeup too, like stop worrying about what other people think about you. Easy to say as a 6' tall dude with an athletic build, I know, but my dream is we can get to that place as a society one day... Anyway, Darius cried when he was traded. Dude has had a super rough childhood and by all accounts is a good guy who has made some mistakes, but overall has worked insanely hard to get to where he got to and the stability he needed just vanished when Rex came in. Also, dude worked his absolute butt off to get that big contract. It's likely all he focused on since he was a kid, and again his childhood was really rough. Try and imagine that level of stress for a minute. Everyday for like 20 years, everyday with moments of terrible anguish along the way. Then he finally reached his goal and you have to think that just pops your motivation for a bit. So right as his motivation wanes for a bit, in comes Rex and just totally gets rid of the accountability, you have Mario Williams complaining about their roles and boom that motivation suddenly is incredibly hard to get back. Then McDermott comes in, and it sounds like Darius actually bought in and was ready to get that drive back, but just his reputation and the size of his contract made it so he was traded. I have no clue if I'm right, just sense I get, but I fully trust McBeane to figure that out talking to him and seeing what kind of shape he's in if they do bring him in for a workout. That said, the judgment from people, most of whom haven't worked a fraction as hard at anything in their lives as Darius did to get to be a top draft pick and get a massive second contract in the nfl, is a bit astounding. Sitting with your feet up in a recliner with a beer in your hand calling an elite athlete lazy for having a completely understandable lapse in motivation.

I think it's probably less the cap hit and more the cap hit along with the draft assets being sent away. I don't know what the market is for a running back with multiple 1000 yard seasons who played on bad teams (impacting his production), but $4 million seems reasonable for Fournette, especially on a one year deal. If he clears waivers, I'm guessing he gets a multi year deal and the guaranteed money will be for more than a non guarented $4m waiver claim. Or I have no idea what I'm talking about, totally possible, but to me it's that a 5th or 6th round pick can very easily turn into a serviceable above replacement level rb that is under team control for 4 years. Him not being tradeable is less about spending the $4m this year, and more about keeping the asset for the future imo, and I would be surprised if he clears waivers.

Yup, it was a media hack job... Smh, I'm in fort lauderdale, and would say we should have a tbd meetup at packys once this all clears out, but we're moving to Raleigh NC in a few weeks...the way this was handled knowing we were heading into hurricane season, yeah I'm good. I totally get the lack of sales and tourist tax revenue in a state with no income tax is going to cause huge issues, it's a huge issue. They need to be honest and ask for help, not knowingly mislead while manipulating data to prevent having to ask for help and damage a narrative that only certain states need help because they're "mismanaged" simply because of the letter of the political party with no actual discussion and honest analysis of how the specific policies have caused issues. Like the nfl isn't saying everything is totally fine, so we're opening. They're saying things aren't fine, but we'll be in insane financial problems if we don't play and we're taking these specific precautions to mitigate, while giving the players facts and ultimately giving them options (wow, maybe they learned from the concussion stuff). What's happened in Florida with the data manipulation and the twisting of facts to support a specific narrative is really scary. Plus, and up there as the biggest thing, Raleigh is a 10 hour drive to Rochester and Albany (can be done in one shot) vs 22 hours from south florida, and we're not going to fly until this settles so not seeing family for two years is a bit much. Especially with a 3 y/o and 8 month old that we've been literally raising ourselves without a break for even 5 minutes for the last five months...we have it pretty damn good all things being said, but I'm now ordering things from Lowe's curb side pickup so I can go sit in a parking lot by myself for a tiny bit. My in laws are coming to stay for a couple weeks once we get up there and everyone tested, and I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.

Completely 100% agree with you and well said. I'm more talking about OPs claim that this is going to have no impact on people in the nfl demographic if they do catch it..that's just an empirically outrageous point of view. This is causing heart disease in otherwise healthy people who are not showing significant symptoms.

Right, except there are some people who believe the world is flat and/or there is a government agent supplying key information in code and that this outcry about the virus is to protect kid eating pedophiles from the only person who can stop them and/or are actively hoping things get destabilized leading to the end of human civilazation so we can get the prophesied rapture. Bit of a false equivalence.

I love the idea during an El Nino year, because the south easterly wind has a stronger north south vector that really takes advantage of a left footed punter (take that with a grain of salt, I'm not a physicist, but I've read a ton of blogs and watched even more youtube videos). Unfortunately it's a La Nina year, so this is just a bad idea sadly.

He's holding himself accountable, which is refreshing. Complimenting player physical skill sets is one thing, when you start saying they understand the game extremely well, that puts all the accountability on scheme. Honestly, one of the best things about Beane and McDermott and "the process" in general is process over outcome. I imagine dude fully believes that if he schemes something that should work say 75% of the time, and is the most likely play to succeed in that situation, and that play is called and fails, the coach will receive praise from the head coach and the gm...very different from when Rex was here for sure. Makes me curious how the throwback play against the Texans went over during film study...my understanding is that Allen should have audibled out of it given the defensive look.

Noted...they need to play at least 12 games in the regular season this year, or this nulls...fair?

Thanks missed the link. I went to University of Rochester, after Dabol was gone, but it's pretty cool he went there. I found this article about how most athletic departments send very little money to the academic side of the school. Now what I don't know is how the accounting works, and maybe there are tax benefits, who knows, but based on that article it sounds like most sports are costing schools money. Now, I think sports improve the collegiate experience overall, and colleges shouldn't be about profits at every line item. That said, they shouldn't be a minor league farm system either with hugely under compensated labor (I understand a 4 year + scholarship is worth a lot, but D1 athletes practice a ton, and my guess when you look at it from an hourly rate perspective, it's not gonna be minimum wage (I mean how can it be, at most they are getting maybe $50k a year in a scholarship at a private school, and time they spend training should be counted as time working, unless you can somehow say they are salaried, which I don't see how, and no way they're a contractor since they are students...is there a reason they can't be work study jobs, like a random student working at the library? https://thecomeback.com/ncaa/less-than-1-in-every-100-of-public-athletic-departments-revenue-goes-to-academics-only-10-schools-gave-on-balance.html While the NCAA likes to promote the narrative that athletic revenues support academics, claiming that more than 90 percent of NCAA revenue goes to support student-athletes and that athletic programs help their school’s academics, the reality is that direct financial support for academics beyond scholarships (a significant investment, but not one that benefits non-athletes) is quite limited at most schools. According to a Chronicle of Higher Education analysis, “Less than $1 of every $100 in revenue generated by major college athletic departments at public colleges is directed to academic programs.” Perhaps even more notably, while over 40 athletic departments reported giving money to their schools for academic purposes between 2011 and 2014, only 10 actually gave more than they received in subsidies, and only six of those received no subsidies whatsoever.