BillsFan4

Players not in the "drug intervention program" are only tested 1 time per year between April 20th and august 9th (that's before the season starts), although most tests are done during training camp. So again, how does that prevent someone from smoking before a game? As long as they don't smoke during that small windows between April and august, they can smoke as much as they want the rest of the year. http://deadspin.com/its-remarkably-easy-to-beat-nfl-drug-testing-1695935246

How does testing once per year prevent players smoking on their way to the stadium? Players are not tested regularly unless they are already in the league's drug program (for failing a previous test). They could theoretically smoke on their way to the stadium right now, and since they won't have to take another drug test until next year, how would the coach know? So again, it would be no different than it is now.

They'd most likely have to be smoking at the team facilities to truly be "high" before a game, as the players have to show up hours early. I don't see that happening, but if it did they'd likely be cut anyway. There's always the rare exceptions, but what's to stop them from smoking before a game right now? They are only drug tested once a year (IIRC) as it is. If the NFL did decide to let players use it for pain management, it would be no different than it is now, except it wouldn't matter if they failed their once a year drug test for MJ. It's not like Pegula would be creating some "pot lounge" in the locker rooms or something. And the NFL allowing it still wouldn't make it legal on the federal level, so it'd be one of those "don't ask, don't tell" types of things most likely (especially for those not living in legal states).

None of those articles are definitive. The one says that marijuana might be a contributing factor. Key words - "might" and "contributing factor". there were obviously more factors that led to those events than just investing pot (if pot indeed did play a role). It was definitely not the sole cause by any means. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that marijuana could have contributed to that guy jumping off the balcony or the other one shooting his wife in those stories you provided. But the bigger cause would have most likely been some type of underlying mental illness. Just like when an anti-depressant or other psychoactive substances play a role in incidents like those. that can be the case with many psychotropic substances (of which there are many) when the people who take them have mental health issues. In many cases, those psychotropic drugs help the mental illness, but in those rare cases they hurt (I have no idea if that was the case in the articles you provided). I think when people in this thread say nobody has died from marijuana, they are referring to overdose deaths. Which as far as I know, there is still not a single marijuana overdose death on record. I guess you would need to eat injest a ridiculous amount to actually OD on it. Even if pot did play some sort of role in those 2 deaths, compared to the deaths caused by legal pain pills, like opiates, it doesn't even register on the chart... opiates are killing people at epidemic proportions (literally). Shoot, even deaths from things like aspirin and ibuprofen would put that to shame. Over the counter NSAID pain relievers kills 1000's per year.

Seems like you mention John Miller "dogging it" quite frequently, if I'm not mistaken. Kind of discouraging. Thanks again for doing theee reports. I have really enjoyed reading them. By far much better information and coverage than I read by most local media members. You should be getting paid, not them! lol

Interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing. I wasn't aware of that story. Makes you wonder about Payton, though. I don't know if he was supposedly taking those pills for himself or the players or someone else but I could see him being the type of guy that would pop pills...lol. Did yo ever see this article about the pain pill abuse in the NFL? Bud Carpenter is quoted in it - https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/nfl-abuse-of-painkillers-and-other-drugs-described-in-court-filings/2017/03/09/be1a71d8-035a-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html?utm_term=.5dc0930d106b

Wasn't there already a thread made on this topic when these quotes came out like 5 months back...? EJ had opportunity here. He wasn't given an unquestioned starting role his entire time here, but why should he get that? He should earn what he gets, and IMO he never earned the starting role to begin with. It was handed to him because of injury. Really, IMO he should be thankful that Buffalo made him a 1st round pick (therefore having to pay him like a 1st round pick) and gifted him some NFL starts, because (IMO) I don't think that would have happened anywhere else... The more he played the worse he got. I was happy when he was benched in 2014. Even when we started the season out 2-0, the offense was absolutely terrible IMO. The Bills won despite that offense, not because of it. If not for the defense, they wouldn't have stood a chance... I remember all my friends being all hyped up about the Bills 2 wins to start that season, and I just kept saying I had no faith in EJ. He would miss the most rudimentary throws. Bounce the ball off the ground on what should have been a simple short yardage pass, or he'd throw way behind his receivers and/or lead them right into a monster hit (when he was accurate enough to throw a catchable ball), and he'd have to put sooo much effort into trying to make those basic throws. It was painful to watch. He'd have to take like 3-4 steps to set up an easy 10yd pass. He really Struggled, and this is while running probably the most basic offense I have ever seen at the NFL level. Then in 2015 he was given an honest and fair opportunity to win back the starting job, and he couldn't even win the backup role until Whaley traded away Cassel (against the wishes of his OC and HC from most accounts). And when he got his chance to start a couple games when Tyrod got injured in 2015, he once again did nothing with it. Finally, when he was forced into the lineup once again by Whaley and given one final chance in 2016 to show something, anything, against a Jets team that had given up weeks ago he had probably his worst game yet and didn't even look like a backup caliber player and got benched for a completely raw rookie with a whole 10 games of college experience that the coach had no plans of playing... He never seemed to improve on any of the flaws he had in college, and he had a lot of time to develop in a pro system there. Not that many QBs coming out of college had a chance to play for 4 whole years in a pro style system like EJ did. That's a damn good program he came from, too. They produce quite a bit of NFL talent. There always seemed to be some excuse with EJ, though. He never seems willing to put the blame on himself. He claimed the system in college held him back (half field reads, etc). He claimed Buffalo held him back. I even remember listening to him after games (when he was the starter), he could never seem to take any blame for a loss. He'd say "well the coach said I did ok" after a terrible performance, instead of standing up and taking the blame for it. I wish the kid well though. I hope he is able to carve out a successful NFL career for himself. He was a very nice kid and seemed to legitimately want to win in Buffalo and I will always respect that.

Exactly. They dole out narcotic pain mess like they're candy from what I've read. MJ is undebatably safer and less addictive.

What type of wireless router is It? The make and model?

What type of cable modem do you have? Do you have a combination cable modem and router? And if so are you using a separate wifi router? Because if so your cable modem needs to be set in bridge mode by the cable company. Otherwise it will compete with your wifi unit. Edit - I wanted to add that even if you didn't get a new modem recently, if it also has wifi capabilities it could have been knocked out of bridge mode. If that was the case, all you'd have to do is call Spectrum and have them out it back into bridge mode for you. I had this problem recently Oh man, I had a freaking nightmare dealing with Spectrum the other day. Come to find out that the cable modem they provided me (back in 2007) wasn't capable of providing the "turbo" internet speeds I had been paying for since 2014! So I was demanding a $10 per month credit for those 3 years I wasn't getting the service that was paying for. The best they would do was offer me a $25 total one time credit, and oh by the way my bill is going up by $40 starting in august...! (some promotions they clam were not listed on my bill). So after about 4 hours on the phone and multiple people lying their butt's off to me about all different things (saying that they just started offering turbo just recently which is why I wasn't getting the speeds promised, saying my modem was capable of the speeds even though their tech said it 100% was NOT and the modem was 100% at fault (his exact words), saying the issue was on my end not the cable modem's and all sorts of other BS), I finally got to a head of the dept. who said he would look into when they started offering the turbo internet speeds and call back. That was Thursday. Still no word. I called today and he didn't answer. It took me all of 5 minutes to pull up an article on google showing they started offering it in 2012... I replaced the cable modem Friday and instantly started getting the proper speeds. Obviously the issue was with their old ass cable modem (which they claimed the computer would have flagged if it wasn't capable of providing those speeds....lol).

Thanks for the replies everyone. Alaska - I know nothing is future proof, but I just wondered if it was worth getting certain features to protect me in the coming years. Like 802.11ac wave 2 which supports mu-mimo. I only have 1 mu-mimo capable device right now (2 if you count the Xbox on wired connection) but I am thinking of upgrading my fire stick soon. Many devices are just starting to become ac (mu-mimo) capable, so I expect most things you buy to star having those capabilities/compatibility. Same with the beam forming. I believe I only have 1 capable device right now, but it's the device I used the most. Then you have to see whether it's explicit or implicit beam forming, which gets more complicated and harder to find out. But there is a pretty decent price jump to get some of those capabilities. I am starting to lean more toward an AC1900 series router. I can get one of those for roughly $100-$120, as opposed to $150-$200+. Anyone have any opinion on TP Link products? Specifically their ac1900 long range router? And compared to the one I listed. Worth the price increase for the previously listed router? https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AC1900-Range-Wireless-Router/dp/B00PDLRHFW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501525029&sr=8-1&keywords=tp+link+archer+c9

I am looking to upgrade my wifi router. I have a basic understanding of features, but was looking for input and recommendations. My currrnt router is pretty outdated at this point. I definitely want at least a dual band, but was looking at tri-band too. My house isn't huge, (maybe 2000ish sq ft.). but I'd like a single router that could cover my whole house with a good strong signal (instead of having to buy 2, or use a range extender that will slow my speeds). Some of the stuff I was considering - -dual or tri-band -beam forming -mu-Mimo (wave 2?)? -smart connnect (intelligently choose best band for each device) -advanced QoS? -single processor vs dual core vs quad core (and what size MHz/GHz the processor is, as well as the RAM specs and their importance in my situation) -gigabit Ethernet ports -3, 4, 6 antennae? The devices that will be in use on the network - iPad Pro, regular iPad, amazon tablet, smart phone, smart tv and amazon fire stick (on wifi, only maybe 3 devices at a single time though) and Xbox one S, laptop (connected by Ethernet cable). It is important that my smart tv and fire stick can stream movies without constantly having to buffer, and I want the iPad Pro to also receive a strong, reliable, fast signal (I currently have issues with intermittently getting knocked off wifi on the iPad). It'd also be nice to be able to connect my Xbox to wifi and game online if I so choose, but it'll most likely stay connected by Ethernet. Here is one I was considering - https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Max-Stream-Tri-band-Wireless-EA8300/dp/B06X9CPC45/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501427782&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Links%27s+ac2200+router I was also looking at some of the netgear nighthawk series routers, like this one for ex (or the ac3200) - https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Tri-Band-Gigabit-Compatible/dp/B0192911RA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501444832&sr=8-1&keywords=nighthawk%2Bx6%2Brouter&th=1 I've heard some good things about Asus brand routers, too. I am very open to suggestions though. My current internet speed is only 60mbps, so I don't really know if it's worth getting these higher end models, but I'd also like this router not to need to be upgraded a couple years down the road. Any suggestions as far as make, model, must have features, etc? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I usually just try to stay out of the Tyrod threads for the most part these days. I posted many pages ago in here and it was going pretty good at that time (especially for s Tyrod thread). Figured I'd check back in. That was a mistake... lol.

PITTSFORD -- Maybe Rex Ryan and Doug Whaley just thought they were smarter than everyone else. What other explanation could there be for why the Buffalo Bills' former head coach and general manager invested a first-round draft pick in Shaq Lawson last year only to change his position? "Yeah, that was kind of odd," Lawson said after the Bills wrapped up their third practice of training camp at St. John Fisher College. "It really was. I knew I wasn't a fit for that defense. They thought I was. I just tried it out. I wasn't very comfortable." Interesting... hopefully we see a totally different Shaq this season. Freaking Rex. Forced a very good, simple 4-3 defense to play a waaayyyyy over-complicated 3-4 defense that didn't really fit many of the defensive players. Then when they get a chance to draft a guy in the 1st, they pick another player who doesn't fit their scheme...

It's Ground Hog Day for real in here. I'm waiting for Bill Murray to stroll in and smash the alarm clock playing "I got you babe" any minute now... Seriously, don't you same people get tired of having the same fights with each other in every single Tyrod thread? I mean, really...

Great stuff. Thanks (again).

Almost 2/3 of the NFL's revenue comes from TV. National broadcasts (which the Bills don't play on too often) being the greatest source of revenue. I believe sponsorship is another big chuck of the NFL's annual revenue. Ticket sales (from 8 home games) for the Bills is a relatively small part of their overall revenue. I believe they only make like just under $50M per season in ticket sales IIRC. That barely pays, what, 1/2 a dozen guys maybe. They get far more from revenue sharing (Buffalo got $244M in 2016, which I believe is 2/3rds or more of their total profit) than the sale of tickets and Bills merchandise combined. Actually, I believe officially licensed merchandise is part of that revenue sharing. So really, other team's fans are probably paying as much towards the players salaries as we are. lol I totally get what you are saying, and I totally agree that us fans have every right to complain about the team that we give unwavering support every year (through almost 2 decades of mediocrity). But let's be real - Pegula pays the players salaries, and if not for the revenue sharing Ralph Wilson fought tooth and nail for, the Bills would probably be in trouble.

I could see saying that about Cardale, but The Bills got rid of EJ Manuel before they even drafted Peterman, and I believe before they signed Yates. So I don't think it had anything to do with deeming either of them better than EJ. They just decided that it was time to move on from EJ, which I totally agree with. That decision was also made before our new GM and scouting + personnel staff was in place, so,it's hard for me to put any blame on them for EJ. I am really not concerned with EJ turning into a successful NFL QB. He will be lucky to even stick as a backup IMO. Cardale is more of a wild card, since he is so completely raw. As of now I don't see it, but I'm not ready to write him off yet either.

Enjoy the (run up the middle, run up the middle, pass) 3 and out's Jags fans! Oh, and the TV announcers being able to predict the next play call, because the offense is so basic (anyone else remember that from his time with the Bills?) lol

The ironic part is that more than likely most of that 45 percent (of self identified republicans that want biased or inaccurate media outlets shut down) don't realize that Fox News and Breitbart would be at the top of the list! They probably think Fox would be the only "news" outlet left... haha. I really do miss the days when news was based more on fact than opinion, though (and that goes for both sides, obviously).

I really hope he has his best year yet in a Bills uniform. If he stays healthy, I think he will. This offense could be a great fit for him. The last offense was not good for YAC, and that's what Sammy excelled at in college. I'm hopeful that this offense will be much better for getting players YAC. He seems to be putting in the time with Tyrod too, and I think that's very important. The more trust Tyrod has in him, the more he is likely to get the ball. Tyrod being as cautious as he is at times, I think trusting his WR's is very important to him, and with Sammy missing so much time I think it's been hard to really build that relationship. I feel like Sammy has just scratched the surface of what he's capable of, and I'd love if he's able to stick around and realize all that potential as a Buffalo Bill. It's nice heading that he seems to feel the same way and wants to stick around here. He's such a young kid. I don't hold that against him either. I think about some of the stuff I did and said at his age... yikes. lol Plus, like you said those twitter trolls are brutal. I'm sure they've said a lot worse to him. I cam only imagine reading all those nasty comments constantly. We are only human. Sometimes it's hard to bite your tongue every single time.

Good stuff. Thanks Astro. This is my first year reading your reported I must say I really enjoyed it. Well written. Made me Alamogordo feel like I was there. So Mills didn't look too good from the sound of it? I sure hope he either greatly improves from last year, or Dawkins relegates him to backup duty...

Interesting. At first I thought that meant maybe Glenn wasn't ready to go yet. Wonder if it's just training Dawkins to have a backup at the LT spot, or what. I can't imagine that they're thinking of moving Corey Glenn to a different spot on the line. I'd rather have Dawkins focus on RT, since that's where he's needed most IMO (and IIRC has less experience at). But I guess it's nice to have options in case of injury (etc).

For sure. Beane is an excellent public speaker & communicator. I have been thoroughly impressed every time I've heard him speak. Very excited to see what him and the front office/scouting staff he put together can do.

Boldin still mulling over Bills offer. Sounds like there's more at play than just money - https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2017/7/26/15976540/anquan-boldin-still-mulling-buffalo-bills-offer-2017-nfl-free-agency “I’ve been talking to teams the entire offseason,” said Boldin, who will turn 37 in October. “They understand the way that I train, and the fact that I train at XPE, any team that I go to knows that when I come [into camp] I’m in top shape, and they don’t have to worry it.” Working against the Bills are two things; location and pedigree. Boldin’s family is in Florida and he has expressed a desire to be closer to them. He also told The Florida Sun-Sentiel that he wanted to play for an established winner. "I’m going into year 15 so the only thing on my mind is winning. I’ve earned enough money to take care of me, my family, and my kid’s kids,” said Boldin last week. “I’ve won a championship [with the Ravens]. I know how that feels so I want to a taste of it again. I want to line up with a team that’s in position to win right now.” I'd love for him to sign here, but it doesn't sound all that promising if he wants an established winner.