All_Pro_Bills

This isn't another George Floyd killing. That was homicide, murder, or whatever they want to call it. That was clear. The incident in Atlanta was an entirely different situation. Did they have to shoot him? Perhaps no. Did he have to engage in a physical confrontation with the police? Well no to that too. So maybe, just maybe we need to stop making excuses for bad behavior. A balanced view would be looking at both parties and assigning some shared responsibility for the outcome. But right now everybody is automatically inclined to just place 100% of the responsibility on the cops. They didn't stop this guy to hassle him because of his race. They were called to the scene to check on some guy that fell asleep in the drive thru line of a Wendy's and was found to be driving drunk. And what did the crowd that gathered do in response? Well burn down the Wendy's. Simply brilliant.

I did watch the video and am familiar with some of these practices like red-lining and school funding. In reading your story I found some common themes with my life as I also had some issues to work through when I was younger and perhaps got a break from the cops that you didn't get. I also had a strong pair of parents and through listening to stories of others and sharing mine through cultural workshops and events I've come to find that it's a common theme for most people that manage to navigate effectively through life whatever their race, ethnicity, religion, and so on might be. Something to think about, in pursuit finding common ground to discuss and define solutions in an environment of civility, honesty, and respect to move forward. I heard it said once there's three sides to every story, yours, mine, and the truth. So while I agree systemic racism exists to some degree I also believe some of the problems faced by African-American communities are self-inflicted. I'd be interested in hearing some feedback. They are: Crime and violent acts committed by members of the community against other member of the community. A dysfunctional educational system to leaves students without the basic skills needed to start life as young adults. A social services system that fosters dependence and discourages the formation and maintenance of family units. A self-serving political system that provides power, money, and prestige to members of the political class but produces no real benefits to their constituents in the community.

I had an interesting conversation with a successful African-American business person I know about the current state of race relations and one topic was kneeling before the flag. Their views were a lot different from the dominant narrative being played out almost everywhere. And while they would hesitate to say these things publicly for fear of being attacked their insights opened my mind to viewing things from a lot of different angles. Its goes like: "From the perspective of a minority person I think blaming white racism for all the problems faced by African-American people and communities is blacks saying the white man has the power to decide our fate. And the only way things are going to get better for us is if white people become less racist and treat us better. And white people joining in kneeling isn't so much joining us in the fight but rather them giving us their permission to try to improve our conditions. The entire concept ignores the principles of free will & control of your own destiny and replaces that with a mindset of dependence. Other minorities that prosper in America don't have this mindset. Think about that?"

The primary thing you need is to have a good testing protocol in place. There are several approved tests and one is saliva tests that is self-collecting which can be run and while you need a medical device to process the samples I expect each NFL team could afford the cost for that and bringing on a lab tech or two to run the tests. Any player testing positives would be sent home and quarantined. Knowing that players are not positive on a daily basis renders social distancing and mask moot as the reason for those are because we don't know who is positive and who is not. Testing would provide that answer. [edit: discussion of what role Rantes plays and whether it's a suitable diagnostic -> covid19 threads please]

I read this comment in response to an editorial on a news services board earlier. When I read your comment I thought it might be appropriate to paste here. I found it insightful and thought others here might too. "The author obviously thinks racial prejudice is the cause of the police abuses that he described, including ones that he personally suffered. But other than donating money to black organizations and spending money patronizing black owned businesses, all he really prescribes is a combination of going through the motions of pontificating social equality to others while not violating it yourself. I believe that NOTHING he prescribes will be effective to end or substantially reduce the police abuses he described. That is because he falsely believes that racism is the cause of those abuses. Racial bias is undoubtedly often (but not always) the motivation of cops who abuse blacks. But it is not the cause. The cause is that which allows and facilitates cops to act on their racial biases. All the racial bias in the world will not harm a single black person if the biased person does not act on his racial bias. The real cause of the abuse by cops against citizens of all colors (though disproportionately against persons who are black or brown) is that cops are essentially above the law. Cops know they are above the law and thus the only thing that restrains them from acting on their prejudices or any other bad motive is their personal ethics and conscience. Unfortunately, many cops have no personal ethics or conscience. And even the "good" cops who don't themselves abuse citizens nevertheless refuse to report or testify against the cops who do abuse (so, how "good" are they really?). Indeed, they often lie for the abuser cops to protect them. Cops are above the law because: 1) The government has made a different law for police than for all the rest of us, a law which essentially gives them license to abuse and murder citizens simply by mouthing words similar to "I thought he was reaching for a weapon" with no requirement that such a thought was reasonable under the circumstances. 2) Fellow cops lie to cover up for cops who abuse citizens. 3) Supervisors cover up for cops who abuse citizens. 4) Corrupt prosecutors strive to protect bad cops from prosecution rather than to protect the public from bad cops. 5) Timid jurors fear that police forces will retaliate against the public if they convict cops. Nothing will change until cops are made subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and until those laws are enforced against cops who violate them. Even if the laws were thus changed, they will never be enforced if left to local prosecutors to enforce them. Every state should establish a special out-of-town state-level prosecutor office that focuses only on prosecuting cops. You will never get rid of racial prejudice. It has existed since time immemorial nearly everywhere in the world. Trying to change deeply ingrained biases in adults is an angelic pursuit that will prove futile in nearly every attempt. It will be much more effective to focus effort on what people do rather than what they think."

That may be true but that approach doesn't get us any closer to the environment needed for defining constructive solutions to move forward.

Whether or not I agree with Brees is not important. You'd think he's entitled to his own view and to express it. And I'd hope that the people attacking him would have some recognition or self-awareness about their reactions to his statement and perhaps assess their ability for tolerance and understanding. But not so much of that. There doesn't seem to be much room at this time for mutual respect and understanding which could lead to sitting down and discussing grievances and issues in a constructive setting. Very sad.

Interviewing more minority candidates won't do much good if none of them get the job offer. And there's a fine line between offering opportunity and preferential treatment. So the issue is very difficult to address but the theme of the issue is that qualified minority coaches are being overlooked and the head coaching jobs are given to less qualified white candidates. Along with every new head coaching hire I think teams needs to disclose their thought process on selecting their new head coach. And provide detailed explanations about why the other candidates were not selected. Maybe this just stays between the NFL league office and the and the teams ownership? I suggest this because a lot of the head coaching decisions we see are very puzzling. And to this day I'd really like to know the thought process that went behind the Pegula's hiring Rex Ryan. My first question would be, "you beat his Jets team twice last year and scored over 80 points total so what in the world leads you to believe this guys is some kind of defensive genius?" Obviously from the results of his tenure it wasn't a wise choice as is the case with many other team's head coaching hires. So if owners are indeed discriminating and hiring less qualified candidates they only end up hurting the quality of the their team which is counter to what you should be doing here. Or they could simply be inept at managing the hiring process

I was expecting all 16 Bucs games to be TNF, SNF, MNF, or at a minimum the 4 PM national game along a new 24/7 Tom Brady Network with web cams in Brady's home and SUV with special bonus features of him going to the grocery store and kids after school and sports activities so only 5 games is a surprise.

Mr. Shaughnessy is suffering from what is called linear thinking. When some circumstances or conditions occur with regularity over a long period of time people come to believe those circumstances and conditions will continue forever in the same direction at the same rate. In this case the Patriots have been good for a long time while the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets have been bad so they can't comprehend this ever changing. But nature and life in general, and professional football too is a cyclical thing. And when things change they never see it coming. It's all right there for him to see but he's blind to it.

The other thing S. Korea has going for them was they did not outsource almost their entire medication/device supply chain to countries like China. So when we needed additional test kits and materials there was none to be found domestically. This is being addressed now but the window of opportunity to suppress the outbreak has passed. When all this finally resolves I suspect the entire globalization and outsourcing work to other countries is going to suffer some massive political and social backlash. With hope we get some football this fall and a return to somewhat "normal" life.

Korea and Singapore also have homogeneous populations that has been cooperative of the effort. Some ethnic/religious groups are still defying the lock down and quarantine mandates in NY/NJ. In Korea and Singapore they temperature test people entering the transit system and buildings with large groups of people working or assembling. NYC does not do this. I could go on. And for the life of me I cannot understand how any of the airports are still open to send potentially infected traveler across the country.

Some recent studies are finding that in 90% of infected individuals the first symptom that appears is a significant loss in the senses of smell and taste. So maybe a good test might be a dozen or so hot sauce coated wings and blue cheese every day to make sure we're all virus free?

Strength of schedule is a good point. But even with the 2020 schedule I can see the Bills getting to 10-6. Division games, I can see them beating 2 of the division foes once and the 3rd team twice, so 4-2 here. 2nd Place schedule games, maybe a split with Titans and Steelers so 1-1 here. AFC West, beating the Chiefs might be very difficult but try telling me the Bills aren't better than the Broncos, Raiders, and Chargers, so 3-1 here. NFC west, I say they beat Rams and Cardinals so 2-2 here. That gets you to 10-6. Another factor is 4 of the road games are out West so more travel. In 2019 the farthest west the Bills traveled was Dallas. I think the biggest factor this year is how much of a jump Allen can make in his 3rd season.

Not impossible to get a NYC carry permit if you're politically connected or wealthy enough to grease the skids. Everybody else has their applications pushed to the bottom of the pile or denied.

Poyer is under contract for 2020 at a $4.075M cap hit and will be a UFA after this season absent some extension or deal. Signing him to a new deal at a market value and cap responsible level would be a good move but I wouldn't break the bank. I think he's played at an above average level and helped provide stability and leadership to the defense while it was developing but I wouldn't call his overall performance great or elite here. My guess is this might be a spot where management will be looking to find less expensive and more physical options through the draft. I hope Jordan gets paid what he's looking for but I wouldn't want my wife tweeting out messages about my contract and publicly making what sounds like ultimatums to my current employer. I have absolutely no idea what she does or if she's some kind of celebrity or famous for something but maybe the smart play is to leave the negotiating to the professionals here.

They should reduce the game checks for the officials.

Me too. I figured the Seahawks would be the choice too. Most likely offered the most dollars and in win-now mode vs. the Bills who might be a year away from a realistic shot at the SB.

I'm not sure about the Detroit-Miami trade for #3. I might be alone on this but I can see Detroit going with Tagovailoa with that pick. Patricia is going into year three and needs to show improvement. Stanford has been there 11 years and they have 3 wildcard appearances and three loses in that time. They can draft Tua, play Stafford the year and opt out of the last two years of his deal. That might put the Giants pick in play for teams looking for a QB in this year's draft.

On the play you're referring to if you watch again you may come to the conclusion that, while admitting the Bills botched the blocking assignments, the Texans defender launched into Allen with helmet to helmet contact. In most cases that's a personal foul but I guess the refs were holding onto their flags to throw for that blindside block. Although on Watson's 2 pt conversation an offensive player peeled back and hit Edmunds in the same way. Watch that one too. Called on us, not called on them.

Gurley has a 2020 cap hit of $17.25M with 3 more years on his deal at $13.M, $14,.2M, and $12.5M. A dead cap hit of $12.6M this year. Couple that with diminished carries as a result of suspected knee joint issues and it looks like a no-go to me. If I'm going to commit that kind of money to a RB plus giving something back in any kind of trade scenario I'd rather make a run at Derrick Henry for something close to these numbers. But I don't expect the Bills to do that either.

I'd be surprised if the Cowboys tag or attempt to re-sign Cooper here. For what they gave up in the trade with the Raiders they'd probably be better off never making it. The Bills might take a look at him but in the end they should quickly run the other way. He just seems to disappear when things get tough. He's not a good fit here based on how our team is being built. The cap hit it would take to sign Cooper can be wisely put to use elsewhere. It's a deep draft and there are other options that better fit. Both parties should be in agreement here. Cooper isn't interested in the Bills and the Bills shouldn't be interested in Cooper.

Hard to see the Bills going RB in round 1. I think they're more inclined to take BPA with a view towards need and the relative improvement the pick would provide at that specific position. Depending who's available DE, OLB, WR. OL. Don't see RB as an urgent need.

For the Bills to win as presently defined they would have needed to play a perfect game while getting some breaks against an opponent, the Chiefs for 49ers here for example, that would have needed to more or less under-perform. I think we're an off-season of a good free agency and draft class away from running with the big dogs. And the tougher schedule next year doesn't scare me given a goal of winning the AFCE next season. But I share your enthusiasm and it's great to hear more and more Bills fans express positive expectations vs. the doom and gloom we've been subjected to for what seems like forever.

I don't take a lot of these player evaluations of NFL cities very seriously. What do they have to go on? A flight in on Saturday, one night in a hotel, and a bus ride to the stadium? I expect the nightlife in KC isn't up to par with LA or NYC or NO. I'll also suspect that almost every one of these players dissing Buffalo would give their front teeth to be on the Chiefs active roster on Sunday. The Bills were avoided because they were not contending. That looks to be changing. If you want a chance to help build a winner, come here. If you want advanced training facilities, come here. If you want to play in front of the most passionate fans in the league, come here. If you think it might be a better opportunity elsewhere, take it and good luck to you.