Mango

I think this should be boiled down to the nuance of what’s happening. People are upset that the NFL is finally saying that there are systemic racial injustices in this country and some don’t like that they are disagreeing with their POV so publicly. Call it what it is. This isn’t about a song.

With Cuomo's coalition of states, it won't be in the north east. Maybe they could go to Ohio. The Pegulas are probably going to be asking NYS for money in the next few years for a new stadium. Based on the economics/budget of the pandemic in NYS and the way the Pegulas have been managing their business (outside of football). Pegula will need NYS to help with that. Not sure pissing off the government to skirt pandemic safety rules is the best course of action long term.

I am mostly joking here. Just treat it like March Madness, but instead of traveling weekly, you stay in a region/city with a few stadiums and low covid cases. Rip through 4 games in a row on the same 2 fields, 2 days per week. Treat it like a weird crossover with the Truman Show and Bio Dome. Then the entire league goes home to live in their NFL bubble village in one location.

I actually think it is a valid concern. The Pegulas have a history of trying to micromanage. I don't think it will be immediate. It will come as franchise begins to peak and valley as all franchises do. When things start to trend down is when the Pegulas start to tighten their grip and make things worse.

Chesapeake has been rough for years, especially since Aubrey Mclendon died/got charged. They have laid off something like 1000 employees over the last 5 years or so. This is not really new. And coming out of this with only 200 layoffs is actually pretty good for them these days. It was a shame, I have met Aubrey, he always came across as genuine and caring. His philanthropy towards the olympic training center is the reason it existed in OKC. Folks like Devon, Sandridge, OG&E, etc. didn't want to be left in the dust. But that is a different story.

That defense in that era had a couple of absolutely great years. I actually can’t recall in recent memory a top 3 defense as good as they were not making the playoff. One of those years they held the Bengals to something like 25 yards. It was insane.

Would I listen in if I were an owner? Absolutely! How cool would that be?! But I also know I couldn’t be less qualified at an NFL level to scout a college kid, or know a play call. And no matter how long I own a team I probably never will be. My only job as owner is to be in charge of grading pass/fail for the people who are qualified to make those decisions. Are we drafting well? Are we retaining talent? Are we acquiring quality FA? Do we manage game day we’ll? Yes! OK, as you were folks. No, time to find people who can do those things.

As the team stands now at least, Jerry is too hands on as a GM, let alone an owner. They have a quality roster. Obviously he can do what he wants as owner. But he’s far too involved in game plans. His need for control has limited his HC’s to yes men.

I think the bigger worry based on how they manage the Sabres is, that McD either falls short of expectations for a year or two, or has a down year or two, and now KP is talking about how chaotic the headset was. Now we have some BS flow chart in how she thinks they can better their game day communications.

I think the issue is, this isn’t like a Buscotti who lets his football people do football things, but takes an afternoon to experience what game day is like. When it comes to this, you can’t separate it from the constant meddling from the Pegula’s. Especially on the Sabre’s side.

I am not sure outrage is the right word. But those were her comments on a league wide call, specifically to address solutions for the lack of hiring of minorities in HC/GM positions. It reads (at least to me like) like her solution to the problem is "it would be easier to higher minorities if I could hire/fire them faster or with less commitment" I think her point has some credence. I mean, you don't know what you have until you are fully committed to it. So from a general hiring perspective it makes sense in a way. (Although I would argue that if she hired somebody who knew about the specific sport to help, it would drastically reduce her risk) But given the nature of the forum it kinda sucks.

Since we are talking the Pegulas and dysfunction. Here is a a little diddy, right up there with the “maintain family lifestyle” slide deck. “No one has ever taken me up on this, but I think there should be a trial period, right?” the co-owner and president of the Buffalo Bills and Sabres said during a Zoom call Tuesday that was part of the two-day NFL Quarterback Coach Summit, geared toward helping minority candidates move up the professional ladder.“ I am guessing she was trying to say that hiring coaches is such a large commitment of time and money, and vetting is difficult. But it didn’t quite come out that way.

Turned out his load unknowingly didn’t have DoT numbers. They told him to call in the numbers when he got to the truck and he would be fine. But since their were no numbers (not his truck) he wasn’t “essential” and they told him he had to stay. He waited a few days and decided to make the run anyways because he couldn’t afford 2 weeks of hotels. Long and short. He got popped by a trooper at the Texas border. Lucky for him, they cut him a break and escorted him back.

I had a friend who is a transporter. A few months ago he picked up a run where he flew to Texas to pick up the load. He had to give the place he was staying to a cop, Marshall, whatever, for random checks to quarantine.

I could get behind this. But I think you’d have to change the schedule to make it fair. Imagine being a good team that opens against KC and Baltimore. You don’t even have a chance basically. Maybe run the through the division first. Then AFC divisional counterparts. Then NFC.

It’s better than no season IMO. I could get behind it if they have a play in round for every second place team in each division. So 4 teams from each Conference makes the playoff. 4 team play in round. Top 2 teams get a bye. Or a double bye if you count the play in round. 10 weeks instead of 19. All high stakes.

Doesn’t matter unless he reinvested back into oil and gas. He sold a majority of his holdings in the last 5-10 years.

I think we are just getting lost in some minutia but saying similar things. The offense still has a lot of "if's" they have also had some whiffs, especially at WR (a unit that is clearly better now, but boy where KB, Zay Jones, and Matthews bad). Nothing is an indictment yet. This year will paint a much clearer picture. My overall point was meant to be that, if we still struggle offensively this year, likely we will have the answer as to whether it is conservative coaching or talent ID/roster management (which has been an issue at times on the offensive side of the ball).

I am well aware of that. Hence I framed the progression from 2017 to 2019. WR: McBeane assembled the bottom 5 unit. And his replacements were huge whiffs. We don't have a great passing game. On paper it is a great unit at the moment.Hence the we will know more about the staff this season. RB: McCoy would have been better than Gore in 2019. It was silly. Again, not using Singletary is a head scratcher. The running game from a backs perspective was not good. Shady has lost a step, but the tires fell off of Gore. TE: You can't say "If he didn't lead the team in drops, he would have been great". He had the 4th worst catch percentage among all TE's last year. It isn't a small part of his game you can just ignore and say what if. If he does not fix it, he will be a miss. He may very well. But until he does it, he hasn't. OL: We aren't really disagreeing on OL. the right side has been iffy for some time now. QB: I didn't mention Mahomes at all. You did. Josh's peers are starting QB's in the NFL. Not just the guys he was drafted with. By the same logic, EJ was great (he wasn't). You totally skipped over the part where I said. "Unsure if it is conservative/hard headed, failure to put people in a position to succeed, or having a bad eye for offensive talent. I think we will know more this season with Diggs. If our offense looks like Minnesota's last year, it will be that we are conservative." The offense is bad until they are good. They haven't played a down yet and their last showing was abysmal. They should be better, but they aren't yet, and we don't know how much they will be if they are. I don't know what to tell you man. The FO and staff have had issues on that side of the ball. My point was that it may not be conservative coaching, it could also be talent identification. They have at times drafted, given up resources, and made some weird decisions based on who starts work/load etc. for guys who have really not been very good.

Unsure if it is conservative/hard headed, failure to put people in a position to succeed, or having a bad eye for offensive talent. I think we will know more this season with Diggs. If our offense looks like Minnesota's last year, it will be that we are conservative. If we keep misfiring on blocks, routes, catches, bad passes, it will be because we have done a poor job again at identifying talent. We have made some moves that have smoked us on that side of the ball. Some for good reason, but others are just flat out bad replacements. WR: I am pleased with Brown and Beasley. I think they are above average as a 1B and slot receiver. But Matthews, Zay Jones, and Benjamin were absolutely huge misses and mistakes they signed to fill holes they created. We still have issues in the passing game. Some is having a no. 1. some is talent (QB, WR, OL). some is scheme. RB: Letting go of Shady in hindsight was dumb. He would have been more productive than Gore. Motor is an oddity. He doesn't get a ton of touches, but does see some good production. Coaching is either wrongly not feeding him the ball, or they don't have faith that he can be a bell cow. I am not sure how else to explain it. I think either is a knock on the staff. Hoping Moss can help renew some production from the backfield. Gore and Motor are both from this regime and I would say the backfield as a unit were not terribly strong. TE: We have not had a bunch of production. If Knox doesn't fix the dropsies he could be a miss. Kroft was given a large contract (although escapable) and is injured AGAIN! Then there is Lee Smith. All these guys are from this regime OL: Upgraded. Slightly above average at the moment. Still some weaknesses, especially on the right side. Hopefully we see a huge leap from Cody Ford. QB: I don't think we need to explain how terrible 2018 was planned. Allen, Exciting guy to watch. Improving, but still below average when compared to his peers. Brought in by this regime.

Just going off the sabres because it is the same ownership albeit a worse revenue stream, will they continue to fund the FO in the same way? And if not, do we run into a similar Botterill situation where the Pegula’s say we need to cut costs, GM says no, and everybody goes their separate ways? I think that’s a larger concern than actually offering a contract.

Dude, happy we scored, said it right in the post. And yes, in the back of my mind (especially after the second drive) I worried for an offense that has had difficulty sustaining drives and finding the end zone, scored on a drive with a 40+ yard QB run and a flea flicker. The very next drive was 9 yards and a punt. Turns out, we never found the end zone again, even after getting the ball at the HOU 35 off of a turn over. The offense did not have much of a rhythm. And it ended up being the type of offensive game I was worried about. Can’t find the end zone, can’t put up points outside of a few gimmick plays.

I mean the only TD was on a drive with some unstastainable/gimmick plays. Our QB caught a TD pass and ran 42 yards on a sweep. You can’t count on those all game long for chunk plays. We passed twice for 11 yards (excluding Brown to Allen). I was obviously excited to score but at the time was worried about how we got our chunk yards and score on the drive. We had the lead but weren’t terribly methodical on the offensive side of the ball. I don’t think it was so much of a change in game plan, as much as it was the Bills catching a few breaks.

At the very least it should quiet the “Josh was supposed to sit a year to work on his mechanics/fundamentals”. Seems like there is a chance that he might finally get to do that.

The issue is pro athletes need far more efficiency in their respiratory systems. They’ll lose a huge amount of aerobic capacity, which will effect strength and speed. Which will effect some for whether or not they make a team, get snap count/performance bonuses, or if they’re in a contract year, lifetime earning.