billsfan89

What I propose is using algorithms and technology to better draw districts. You can set the conditions to draw districts based on what you think best fits to represent the people. Yes there is some subjectivity to it but as you said there is no perfect solution. So if you want you can use technology to draw districts that are more politically homogeneous if you feel that fits the conditions of the House better you can do that. To not use the tools of modern technology and rely on partisan pols when partisan pols have been shown to draw districts based on what benefits their party as opposed to where populations of people are is not a system that makes sense.

The current system marginalizes people of one political persuasion based off of which party is in power when the lines are drawn. If you have a large urban center that has 50% of the population of the state but only gets 25% of the representation how is that not marginalizing 50% of the state?

So you honestly see no problem with 47% of votes going to one party but only 23% of the seats going to that one party? I don't understand your argument here. I am fine with districts being homogeneous if your premise is to be believed but they aren't drawn that way. Gerrymandering will place 2 large population centers of one party into 1 district that will vote 90% with one party then split the suburbs which have 50% less population into 2 districts that tend to vote 60% for one party. Drawing on partisan lines is fine if it is drawn in accordance to population and reflecting who is being represented. You can't possibly be defending the way lines are drawn to isolate small populations and concentrate large ones. In a Democracy you have to have a system that actually represents the votes of the people and not the power of the party to draw silly and insane lines.

Your argument would have more weight if districts were drawn to have equal partisan representation and algorithms can provide a better way to actually accomplish what you want too. Often times a part will win 47% of the votes but only gain 23% representation because, you can't always expect 1:1 representation but 1:2 shows you that gerrymandering isn't representing people in any way.

Politics and sports are super similar, if the Bills get away with a push off its OK because the Pats cheat all the time anyway or if the Bills do it, its not an obvious push off ***** you. If you are a Trump fan you are going to be OK with almost anything he does because he is your guy. If Obama did something similar to what Trump did with the WWI vets the same people making excuses would be killing Obama and saying that there were 1,000 ways he could have made it and all the excuses would be ignored as whining. It goes the other way around too. When it comes to politics very few people are actually consistent and hold principles. As far as Trump ***** him for missing the event. Trump always rails against his opponents for "Poor Management" yet when he poorly manages a situation like this all the excuses he lambastes other for starts to come out.

Gerrymandering (which is done by both parties, this is not a partisan issue) is one of the biggest and most open forms of corruption and its shocking to me in an age of such advanced technology and algorithms we allow pols of either party to make these horrid maps to their parties benefit. How there isn't an universal algorithm to draw maps in ways that make sense and avoid partisan pols running the system is shocking.

I don't think the Giants are getting rid of Eli until after 2019. I think that the Giants draft a top QB and have Eli be the place holder for 2019. Then they dump Eli for the young QB in 2020. But I do think that if the Giants were to outright cut or trade Eli he would probably land in Jacksonville (They are in desperate need of a QB and his old Giants coach is the President there) or Denver (They too will have a young QB who could maybe use a veteran mentor, plus if that defense adds a piece or two they could be good enough to make a push with competent QB play.) The Cowboys are going to stick with Dak for at least one more season as the starter. He has shown some improvement from his Sophomore season and he still has one year left on his rookie deal. The Cowboys would be more so in the market for a veteran backup which Eli would fit but probably not be interested in. Besides Denver or Jacksonville I am not sure what other QB thirsty teams would want Eli. The teams in 2019 that will probably be in the market for a QB Giants Denver Jacksonville Possibly Oakland if they trade Carr Dolphins Redskins (they are fine with Smith in the short term maybe they want a QB prospect to develop). Bucs (If they are moving on from Winston) I am not sure why the Giants would move on so quickly if they can have Eli be the veteran mentor for a rookie at least for a season. The Giants are a bit of a mess but the potential is there. They have a dynamic running back, one of the best receivers in the league, a young tight end with potential, and a decent WR 2 in Sheppard. Their O-line sucks and Eli might be shot but if you get a QB in there and add 2 pieces to the O-line they might have one of the best offenses in the league. Of course the defense is pretty horrid. Given how the Giants passed on Darnold to take Barkley they want to win asap and I could see them trading for Carr as Oakland with pick 1 could fully reset and take a QB and get a haul for Carr. I could see the Giants trading their top 5-10 pick, plus a couple of mid round 2019 picks, and a 1st in 2020 for Carr, Oakland's 2019 2nd, and a 3rd in 2020. The Giants would still have 2 early 2nd round picks in the draft to address the O-line and they get a young QB on a fairly affordable contract. Oakland swaps a early 2nd for and top 5 pick but also gets some mid round picks to add to their draft and gets a 1st in 2020 only having to give up the Bears 3rd to do so. Of course the Giants could just do the sensible thing and draft a young QB and stick with Eli for one more year but I think the Giants want to win asap for some reason.

The team is 3 and 7, there isn't any saving this season. If Allen is healthy throw him out there. Although I wouldn't be opposed to waiting an extra week on Allen if an extra week is beneficial. I guess what I am trying to say is, if Allen is ready to go 100% play him but I don't see the need to rush him back right away given Barkley played well the last game.

To make the playoffs the Bills are going to have to run the table to get to 9-7 which with 6 games left (including one against the Pats) just isn't likely to happen. Even if the Bills go 5-1 and get to 8-8 (which is unlikely) that's not likely to get you into the playoffs. I think the Bills split the Fish games, lose to the Pats, split the Lions and Jags games, and likely beat the Jets again. Pending on if they sweep the Jets the team will finish 5-11 or 6-10. Don't be a prisoner of the moment because they curb stomped a poor team that came out flat.

IF (and these are big IF's) Teller pans out to be a good guard and Josh Allen pans out as a QB then the 2018 draft class could be legendary for the Bills, that's your QB and a starter along the offensive line along with Edumonds, Phillips, and T.Johnson as 3 starters on defense. That's 5 starters all at critical positions. The jury is still out on all 5 even if the early returns on Edumonds, Phillips, and T.Johnson are good they still have some way to go. Overall I like seeing Teller play well, its only one game but if he finishes the season strong I think there is one less hole on the offensive side to deal with.

That's true but the Jets played like crap and came out flat. I am not trying to diminish Teller's performance but rather just avoid being a prisoner of the moment and add some context to his performance. To me Teller looked good and if he continues to play like this he will be the starter next season too.

The Jets are a garbage team so I take any performance with a grain of salt. That being said a good game is a good game and I think almost regardless of how he played in this game Teller should start the rest of the way simply to see what he has If Teller finishes the season strong then you can focus on Center and the right side of the O-line.

If Peterman was regular bad he probably would get one more chance to be at least a backup QB in the NFL. But he was historically bad, he looked like he didn't belong in the NFL most likely because he doesn't.

Its one game against a bad team, sometimes these fluky things happen. The Bills as a whole have come out great and the Jets have come out flat, these things happen. Its best to not be a prisoner of the moment. If Barkley is playing even just competent I don't bring Allen back until after the Jacksonville game.

The Vikings were a stacked team, Diggs, Thilen, and Rudolph and a decent set of RB's, even the Vikings O-line put together a decent season combine that was a great defense and Keenum was able to put together a storybook season. Barkley doesn't have the same type of circumstances.

Allen will get a shot in a QB competition in 2020 if he looks bad in 2019 but he will still be given a chance to turn around his development. Once again it depends on how 2019 goes but Allen won't have as long a leash as most think if 2019 is a turd year.

There are a lot of variables as to what will happen in 2020. Ultimately I trust the Dems to ***** it up and not manage their control of the House (they will probably focus on indictments and other stupid stuff) I also trust the Dems to run another bad Hillary Clinton type candidate. IF the Dems push a more populist left policy agenda and a less Russia based agenda they stand a chance to push momentum positively in 2020. But as I said the Dems are as incompetent as the day is long. But I do think that there was a mandate from the voters to reel Trump in but once again it matters what you do with the support of the voters.

Cam also put up one of the best rookie seasons ever. Allen has looked like a very raw rookie (which isn't unexpected) they only comparable they had are their big frames and insane arm strength. That being said Allen will be the starting QB next season, hopefully they massively upgrade the offensive talent and adjust the scheme to his strengths and mask his weaknesses. After seeing what he has in 2019 they will make a longer term decision on his future although no matter what he is going to get a shot to be the stater in 2020.

The Bills aren't at the point where they should bench most veterans (That's usually reserved for the last 2-3 games of a season) but in this particular case when neither veteran player is doing all that well and you have a 5th round pick sitting on the bench you might as well see what he has over the next 7 games because if Teller finishes strong in the back half of the season maybe you invest the resources you would have spent on two guards into one high end signing? Its better to make the change now and see if you get some better play or at worst know Teller needs more development.

I think you are being a prisoner of the moment. The Pats are clutch and in a winner take all one shot game its hard to take them down. The Rams are as complete a team as possible and in a rematch I wouldn't count them out. The Chiefs are the softest of the 4 but in a shootout the Chiefs have as good a talent to do that as anyone.

Bills 16 Jets 13. A real ugly defensive struggle. The Bills get a couple of turnovers and eek out a win.

I don't think the XFL expects to or wants to compete with the NFL. I think the XFL wants to be more like the USFL in the 1980's and be a winter/spring league for football fans who don't want to watch the back half of the NHL and NBA seasons and spring training. Even the original XFL wasn't trying to be direct competition but just be an alternative. I don't think the XFL2 will be successful even if they apply some of the lessons they learned from the first time. I do however think there is room for a spring football league. I think there is room in the sports landscape for minor league off-season football.

I disagree with the sentiment of the article because there are always 5-6 teams whose seasons fall apart early and they go into a tank mode of trading vets and playing the young guys. Then there are 3-4 elite front running Super Bowl contenders followed by 4-6 teams who are secondary contenders who can get hot and contend. Then the rest of the league is just trying to make the playoffs. The balance isn't that much more different than it has been in years past. The Saints, Rams, Chiefs, and Pats are elite contenders and then you have the Panthers, Steelers, Vikings, Chargers, Falcons, and possibly one or two other teams are in the "If they get hot" category.

I wouldn't put the Saints above the Rams, Chiefs, and Pats. But the Saints are for sure in the conversation with those teams as being an elite Super Bowl contender. The best part about the NFL in my opinion is that you can have 4 teams that are legit contenders but then have several other teams that can get hot and have a shot to contend. I wouldn't rule out the Vikings, Panthers, Chargers, Falcons, and The Steelers in the conversation either.

I was in the camp that wanted to keep Tyrod for one more year because he was on a great one year deal and could have kept Allen from starting for at least a year. But that being said the offense with a run first and don't turn the ball over mentality ranked 9th in 2015 and 10th in 2016. IF the Bills had a top 5 defense like they had in 2014 those years the team would have had a top 5 defense to go along with a top 10 offense. A top 5 defensive unit and a capable top 10 offense is a recipe for a 10+ win team, Rex's poor execution of the defense cost the team a chance at 2 playoff appearances.