GaryPinC

It wouldn't have mattered if they had shut China travel earlier. It spread too quickly with 2 or 3 days of victims being asymptomatic and infectious, and longer for those that remained asymptomatic. China was also slow to acknowledge it, I know I first learned about it from Li Wenliang's warnings shortly before he died and the construction of field hospitals in Wuhan early Feb 2020. Think about how long it had been spreading to get to that point. Probably 2-6 months, plenty to get it seeded around the world. The Wuhan market was shut down January 1 2020 to test for viruses. Other than Trump's standard stupid spews about alternative remedies he did just fine. So many hind-sighters on both sides forget how in the dark we were those first six months of 2020.

Ok, so what? Anyone with a reasonable scientific/medical mind knew that. How is your point that Trump didn't have the vaccine while Biden did relevant to this? Trump would have also "failed" similarly if he had been president in 2021. I would say Biden's political promise was based on two things: pushing vaccination as quickly as he could with the general population and the fact that the mRNA vaccines had been proven to be hugely effective against the beta version of Covid at the time in clinical trials. That's why health officials were quoting 100%, fully stop transmission, etc. So for a non-scientific, questionable mental-acuity president who listened to his over-speaking health officials, I feel like he made a legit good effort to achieve this promise but essentially the vaccine wasn't as great as his health officials were proclaiming. Plus Omicron was first identified in the fall of 2021, has dominated since, and the vaccines have never been as effective against it as they were beta. WRT mass vaccination, the vaccines became available mid-December and by the end of May 50% (167+ million) of the US population had received at least one dose with 41% fully vaccinated. That is pretty impressive to me in such a short time. I am definitely glad Trump presided over the outbreak as Biden probably would have dictated precautions similar to NY or CA and they were the most delusional about being able to stamp it out entirely.

Which point is that? The point that Trump handled it better than Biden with no vaccine? You really think Biden wouldn't have done the shutdown pretty much the same as Trump? Or is it the point of September '21 to February '22 round of deaths where Homelander pointed out to you the states with fewer vaccinations weighed more heavily on the death count? In this case your point is irrelevant. Or is it the point that no matter who was president the virus was going to ravage the US? This is the closest to the truth, except that dumb Democrats foolishly thought we could stamp it out while dumb Republicans felt we shouldn't do anything and let it run it's course. The truth is we simply needed to slow the spread of the novel virus long enough to not overwhelm our health systems and allow science and medicine time to understand in order to minimize it until it was fully endemic. Masks to protect those around you, distancing and isolation to minimize exposure, vaccines to minimize illness and severity. It was ugly going, but it worked. Also don't forget in that Sept 21 to Feb 22 timeline most states were coming off masking and isolation, undoubtedly contributing to the uptick. People were also burned out on all the precautions and the vaccine gave a sense of security.

Wrong about no one being fully vaccinated. https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/news/alumna-sandra-lindsay-first-to-receive-covid-vaccination-is-bmccs-2021-presidents-medal-honoree/ I myself received Moderna December 21 and the second jab 3 weeks later, before Trump left office. All the hospitals were in overdrive vaccinating December-February as the priority was to get health care professionals vaccinated first. As a researcher, I was just fortunate that our hospital had extra doses with limited shelf life. As a physician, I should think you would be well aware of this.

After reading the article, this is essentially how I feel about Martin. I think he's trying to whitewash this past a bit to try and propel himself into the future with the self perception of being a stronger man and having grown. I hope it works for him. I have trouble buying it. The entire article is an overwritten fluff piece on all these bold things he's attempted (and failed) and how Richie and Pouncey have already peaked while Martin's just getting started. A "look at me" article. On one hand he blames his own mother, Wells, and finally himself for not handling the situation differently. On the other hand in present day, he refuses to reach out to Richie to discuss this situation he feels he allowed to get out of hand. I know if I felt guilty like that the honorable thing to do would be reach out and at least try to be accountable. Martin's an emotionally fragile personality. He showed it back then and I see it in this article. I hope this article works therapeutically, he finds some peace and confidence from it, and can finally move on.

To hell with KC, let's focus on why the sun doesn't seem to shine down enough in our 8 years of drafting.

For whatever reason Mahomes wasn't stepping up in the pocket or reacting to the pass rush until it was too late. For sure Josh would have done a better job of that and completing more of those passes on the scramble. That would have strained Philly's defense far more. Not saying we would have won but our offense would have fared much better.

Making strategic changes to the scouting department might also help.

There is a draft coming up in a few months, let's also not forget about free agency.

Yep. Lamar had the better individual season while Josh really took the Bills to the next level. The proof is in the playoffs. The voters got it right.

Well, Knowles is in his mid-fifties and I think this picture is classless. Not happy to have him now and I think things will turn out for for the best with OSU. I'm about his age and clearly Knowles is emotionally immature. https://www.essentiallysports.com/ncaa-college-football-news-tensions-rise-for-james-franklin-as-ten-m-jim-knowles-gamble-sees-new-twist-adding-to-penn-states-misery/

I think best candy bar has to at least have chocolate and caramel. Milky Way/Snickers for me with Twix in second. Sorry Butterfinger fans, but that one tops my list of worst candy bars ever. I couldn't not spit it out the few times I tried it. A "worst candy bars" thread might be more fun!😂

Yep! Thanks, eloquently summarized. I would just add that the lifetime of joy doesn't have to derive from losses and victories, rather the shared experiences. And that can help dad redefine his fandom too!

At a minimum Beane should bring in some scouts better at picking D-line

Ok good luck with your decision. Even though your wife hates football, I hope she respects how much you love it and if you choose to build that connection with your daughter.

Except for the shaky start, I thought he was great again. Fantastic TD pass to Hollins. Led us again, unlucky on the fourth down and a great deception by Spagnola. We were right there thanks to him, even though his superman role is less frequent because of the run game. You are well within your right to expect him to be "great" every game, but to me it comes off as petty. Great defenses are going to take their toll and Josh was far from the reason we lost, Kincaid makes that catch or coaches have a backup plan for the tush push and we're not nitpicking Josh's couple of bad plays.

Who came up short? Yep, it’s okay to love all of the great things he does AND to point out when he comes up short. But to then declare he's not reliable enough in the playoffs? That borders on deranged for me, like all his outweighing great plays are negated by a jittery start and a misread on a fourth down (where he unbelievably still got out a catchable ball with a throwing hand/wrist injury to boot)!

Concussions are a highly variable thing. Both my kids have had "mild" concussions that kept them out 2-3 weeks with symptoms even though they could pass a neurologist's mental questionnaire/assessment. A lot of it seemed to rely on the self-reported symptoms they were experiencing, and if you apply that to an ultra competitive professional athlete..... Even at the child level I was shocked at the large number of parents who still preached the attitude that you play through them unless the symptoms are severe. So, I don't know how these players recover in a week but I have some suspicions...

I'm not as confident. Kelly ran the offense, so were there really any signals to steal? The Giants defensive plan centered on taking away the passing game by jamming to disrupt timing, being extremely physical in the secondary, and changing coverage schemes every series or two. The most effective thing they did was hold the ball on offense for a 2:1 TOP advantage. Even if Belichick was secretly taping I'm not sure there was much to be gained anyways.

Thanks for this, I only wish our coaches could see this. It's easy to blame missed plays but you're right on in that this is how the coaching gap translated. What to do about it? I believe Beane/FO should bring in an experienced "consultant" coach to assist McDermott, a la Ernie Adams for Belichick (my brother mentioned this after the Rams game). Someone who's won it all and can work with McD and provide guidance, experience and advice on how to up their coaching game and self scout the Bills for the playoffs. Suggestions on what to change up in the playoffs. He could potentially provide anticipatory in-game suggestions also, like how to play that goal line situation with the Rams. 2 things jump out at me with McDermott: 1. He is a system guy through and through. He's shown some progress in opening his thinking (4th downs, no prevent D vs Mahomes) but it's a struggle for him and that's ok. His system has gotten us this far. 2. This is his first head coaching job and his system struggles in the playoffs. Get a respected voice in here to work with McD and find a new angle. A change is needed. This Athletic article points to the impending degradation of McDermott's process. The team did everything right and it wasn't enough.

I guess wildly off target for me would mean the receiver had little or no chance to catch it, which I completely disagree with. Kincaid had to adjust and did. His body wasn't stretched horizontal trying to reach the ball, his chest was angled up and he tried to arm scoop it into his body instead of reaching towards it with both hands. The distance and angle of the ball were such that he got his core close to the ball and was unimpeded. The throw was off but more than adequate IMO.

Yeah, I get that, for me it just rubs the wrong way. Maybe it seems too similar to all the attention seekers dramatizing their daily struggles on social media as click-bait.😄

Gotcha, thanks for explaining. The bottom line is, as a parent you have to walk the talk. There's no point in bothering if you turn into a monster and scare the hell out of her. It's got to be enjoyable and positive for you both, so how do you refocus and do that? All I could offer is this perspective: I badly want to win a Superbowl but the 90's taught me the journey and entire story is more fun. After the third loss the national mockery or pity parties took hold and I realized how much more gratifying and privileged it was to watch those teams absolutely light it up in elite football fashion except for 1 game a year compared to all the losing years of crappy, incompetence. We have the rarest of gifts with Josh and I want at least 1 superbowl but I'm going to enjoy all his amazing unstoppable performances even if the biggest one still escapes us. Especially with my daughter and family, that is far more important to me than a losing score.

Honestly, you are all over the place with your text. It sounds like there are two people talking, which one is the real you? And who is the other person? How is exposing her to the Buffalo Bills "forcing" yourself on her? The great thing about being a parent is you see parts and even a lot of yourself in them and they turn out refreshingly different because it's a different life and you help shape it! I have two kids from my first marriage, born and grown up in Cleveland and now in college. I took and showed my kids how to fish, took them to Bills games, put them in sports. My daughter likes to fish, and the Bills. My son didn't like fishing and stayed true to his hometown Browns. So, I follow the Browns and Cavs just to share that connection with him, and I know part of my daughter's Bills fandom is to share a connection. You could argue anything you expose your kids to is technically forcing but we all know that's not true. But kids love sharing and feeling your positive energy for things you are passionate about so stick with that. Expose, even repeatedly but don't force. But first you have to identify the real you here.

Sorry, not going to wallow in suffering or stratify it. We're completely lucky to have Josh and despite the bad ending following the Bills is overall interesting and fun. We lost a tough, close game in the AFC championship. Still have Josh. Woe is us.🤮 Way better than the habitually dark, hopeless tundra that is the Browns.