billsfan89

I would say the franchise tag of roughly 14.5 million is close to his value in terms of average annual value but it offers him no security beyond this season. If Bell had hit the open market this past off-season he would have had over 35 million in guaranteed money as opposed to the 14.5 million he currently has on the table. The risk of playing on that tag is far too high for him.

It's a business and Bell has more to gain by sitting out the season than he does playing. The Steelers can't franchise him anymore and their plan was to ride him for one more year than let him walk as he enters the latter years of his 20's with 5 straight years of wear and tear (2014-2018.) So why play this year on the franchise tag if you stand to lose your long term value if you get hurt? Bell has already proven for 4 straight seasons that he is an elite starting running back in the NFL, he has very little to gain by being elite for a 5th season. Yes it does suck for his teammates who are losing a great player but why put the blame on Bell and not on the team for not signing him? It seems to be completely one sided for the team to just blame Bell and not express any frustration with the management. The CBA also allows for a player to holdout provided that they pay fines. So if a player does not want to play on his deal he is allowed to pay the fines.

Joe Flacco won a Super Bowl while Nate Peterman made Tyrod Taylor look like a savior. You can say Flacco sucks all you want but Flacco has been a pretty decent QB for a team with very little talent at the receiver position and offensively in general the last 4-5 seasons. Flacco might be highly overpaid but he is a competent NFL QB, something I can't yet say about Nate Peterman whose greatest accomplishment thus far in his NFL career has been that he looks good in pre-season. So yes I feel very confident saying that the Ravens have a better QB than the Bills do at least on paper and from what you can project based off of what each player has done in their respective NFL careers.

The Ravens have some offensive issues but they have a better QB and a defense that should be able to handle this teams offense. I don't think it will be a blowout because I don't think the Ravens will score a lot but I think it will be a 21-10 type affair.

There is a fine line between optimism and delusion. I fashion myself a realist about the team. I hope that the coaching makes a big difference for this season. The talent isn't tragic but there are fundamental flaws with the team.

I hope to be proven wrong but I am not too optimistic about the Bills chances, I don't think it will be a blow out but I really don't like the way this lines up for the team.

I am one to think that unless a QB is in a somewhat decent situation talent wise (in terms of surrounding offensive talent) and has a fairly pro-ready skill set (while displaying that skill set in training camp and pre-season) then they should at least sit the first part of their rookie season if not all of their rookie season. I think it is hard enough to learn a pro-system, how to handle a pro-locker room and how to handle the things that come with being a pro-QB while holding a clipboard. I can't imagine the learning curve that comes with actually trying to be a starting QB. So unless you have a QB who is under ideal conditions starting right out the gate seems to me to be a bad idea. I think with Allen the best bet is to play him 7-9 games into the season, feed Peterman to the wolves against the better defenses and see what he can do. Then if the season is lost throw Allen in there and see what happens.

People say that CBD oil is good for a lot of other things like Anexity and inflammation. I think it is inconclusive for most other ailments people claim it helps treat. I think that the certainly there are benefits to it beyond seizure treatment but as I said they just haven't been able to clinically prove it. But I have heard a lot of similar stories that that of your close friend.

The Raiders got way more than I thought they would. I thought they would get something in the range of a 2019 1st, a 2019 3rd, and a 2020 3rd plus a throw-in player. So for the Raiders to get two firsts is a big boon, even factoring in the swap of a 2020 second for a 2020 3rd it is still a good deal for the Raiders. I think Chicago is giving up a lot for Mack (All those draft picks plus a massive contract) but Mack gives them one of the best pass rushers in the league to a defense that was ranked 10th last season despite the fact that they didn't have that big-time pass rusher. To top it off the Bears did add the best linebacker in the draft in the top 10. But these trades tend to benefit the teams receiving the draft picks and not handing out the big contract. That's not to say that there aren't exceptions to the rule. We all know how the Jason Peters trade ended up. But if I had to put money on it I would say that the Raiders will most likely come out the "winner" of this trade.

Hell no, a big contract and 2 first round picks for a non-QB player is too rich for my blood.

Following up the Sammy trade with Cyrus (Who was not viewed as a bad pick at the time) was not a good draft, from 2013 to 2014 Whaley missed on 2 picks in the first round (EJ and Cyrus) and didn't hit a home run on a pick he mortaged the farm for (If you trade picks 8 and 19 for a player he can't be a double.) That's not to say that Sammy was a bust but rather that Sammy Watkins was not worth the cost and considering the high caliber players that were drafted around that spot and the cost of the trade up. Had Cyrus been a high caliber RT that wouldn't have been nearly as tragic a draft. I was always frustrated with Whaley because a lot of his moves weren't considered to be all that bad at the time they were made except for his 2013 and 2014 drafts. But a lot of Whaley's pro-personnel moves were actually good moves both at the time and in hindsight. I kind of feel the opposite on this regime, their drafting seems to be good but their pro-personnel moves are puzzling.

Didn't they sign Incog?

Ironic because I think Whaley's drafting was mediocre at best but his pro-personnel scouting was actually pretty good. The players the Bills got in free agency tended to be better than what they got in the draft. I don't think Whaley was a bad GM, he just wasn't a good one. Somewhere between Mediocre and average is where I would rate him. It seemed like for every good move he made he would make a bad one.

Interesting concept/

I wouldn't want to put Allen behind this O-line, throw Peterman or AJ out there until the season is lost then toss Allen out there the last 6-7 games to get him some experience.

Has Holmes been doing anything of note either? Both of those players are just JAG's to me.

I agree the dispensaries in the burbs of OC aren't that plentiful but they are there, I was in Irvine 4th of July weekend and I found a dispensary about 10 minutes away. That being said my friends out there said they mostly use delivery services. But I wanted to check out a dispensary for the kicks of it. Cartels and organized crime are not going to go away as long as there is some sort of illegal industry they can peddle in. But if you do legalize weed you dramatically shrink their market in that particular vice. That does have a negative impact on their business. Since the lottery you don't really see a lot of people running numbers anymore.

My first time was a mess but I think that it certainly alleviated my stress over not feeling experienced enough. I think that's a very powerful thing to feel inadequate sexually it makes things much easier when you alleviate that feeling.

I am all for experimentation. I for one think that "Live rounds" for starters in the form of pre-season is necessary. Adding up how much time starters play in pre-season is about less than 5 quarters of football spread out over 3 weeks. That seems like the right amount of time to get the vets ready for a season. However if training camp and practice is enough and the results show it then why not just end pre-season or have pre-season be for backups only? Sure it would make pre-season that much more worthless but if it means less injures then that's worth the cost.

The O-line isn't talented, although the coach doesn't seem to be helping there is only so much a coach can do to mask bad talent.

Of course it wouldn't be a panacea for every situation but I know a lot of guys who developed confidence from their first sexual experience. I think if you allowed men and women (I know a lot of women who had a lot of anxiety over their first sexual experience) to pay for sex legally and as safe as possible you would see a lot less anxiety over sex. Even just the idea that "you could always pay for it" would alleviate a lot of anxiety and stress people experience over sex. Yes paying for lots of sex is never going to teach you how to meaningfully interact with women in a romantic way. You can be good at sex but still be corny. But it is at least a piece that someone can acquire that would greatly alleviate one aspect of romance for many. I think that would be a net positive for society as a whole. It's tough enough for a guy to learn to be good with women but doing so while feeling sexually inadequate is almost impossible.

I have multiple people that I know who swear by CBD oil for pain and anxiety relief. I think it is either bunk or at best highly unproven. I wouldn't mind checking it out myself but I don't want to throw good money after bad.

I think you are misunderstanding my argument. A prostitute would never be able to replace a real in kind interaction with another person on an emotional level. However a prostitute can help someone with sexual anxiety and eliminate the social pressures that can some with a man being a virgin into his 20's. A lot of men who don't get laid in high school or early on in college develop a complex about being a virgin which can lead to them not feeling worthy enough of being with a woman sexually. A prostitute can eliminate that anxiety for many men. I don't think prostitutes add a layer of fantasy to anything. Guys who are trapped in miserable marriages are going to find a way to cheat or pay for it. Women will also find an outlet to cheat. Might it make it a bit easier? Sure but then again I think that if you have more guys getting laid at a younger age their confidence builds and they might interact with more women at a younger age and get their fill preventing a mid life crisis.

You would see a lesser schism between the sexes if prostitution were legalized in my opinion. There are a lot of men that don't get laid, more now than ever since computers, video games and easily accessible porn make it easy to not interact with women. If you allowed prostitution in a safe (Well as safe as possible) legal setting you would see more guys get laid and more men want to be around women as a result. I think it would also result in a lot of men being less angry at women since they would actually be getting laid. The types of guys that would just pay for it and !@#$ off with women are most likely going to have a negative attitude towards women. I think you would also see a lot of women who have trouble getting laid be with gigolos and it would ease a lot of pain for them too. I don't think prostitution would be fully accepted in society. But I think that the benefits of people who are lonely or sexually frustrated having a safe way to vent out those frustrations and get sexual experience would be a net positive for society. Go to Canada where it is legal (person to person anyway) and I don't think Canadian women and men have a large gap between them, certainly not larger than the USA. CBD oil has only been proven to help childhood epilepsy, the other benefits people espouse aren't nearly as proven (Which is to say that they aren't proven.) I would wait until they do more studies on the other impacts before using it myself.

OP They have dispensaries in Orange County, but the delivery services are competitively priced and so much more convenient. Although legal weed is not all good (It does increase use among teens at least in a short term sense and it does have some unintended consequences) the benefits of legal weed far outweigh the costs. Glad to hear things are going good in California, New Jersey is about to legalize rec weed hopefully they have as good a set up as California or Colorado.