BillsFan4

One week until the first preseason game!!! Can't wait.

Once again, thank you Astro! I actually really look forward to reading these every day now. Much more so than any of the stuff the local media is putting out. You should be getting paid for this! lol

This is pretty cool. I really like McDermott's overall approach so far. This is by far the most hopeful I have been about a coaching staff in a long, long time. I don't expect it to happen overnight, but I think we might have the right guy for the job this time. I was just a little skeptical about them seeming so focused on "character" players. It gave me flashbacks to Chan Gailey and trading away talent. But seeing how their draft picks - Zay Jones, Tre White, Doin Dawkins, even Matt Milano - as well as other players they've brought in have performed so far, and what type of people they are, how team first oriented they seem, I'm starting to like the "character" approach much more. I'm also hopeful that these drafted players aren't they type that will want to run away from Buffalo the first chance they get. I obviously don't know for sure, but they seem like maybe they could be more like Kyle Williams types to me, who become very dedicated to the team and fans and city. I think that's important in a place like Buffalo. McDermott seems to have a good handle on how to build a true team, and has a very clear vision on how to accomplish that. He seems like a true leader, and I'm not sure when the Bills have really had that in recent history... I was very excited when we hired SM, I've been a fan of his since 2013. But he's actually been even better than I expected so far. Obviously the games are what matters, but I'm definitely a lot more hopeful than I was with Rex, Marrone, Chan etc. I just hope McD is given some time to turn this around. I'm really sick of the coaching carousel.

Thanks for sharing!

I've noticed less and less Jerry Sullivan & Bucky Gleason articles and more stuff by the newer guys, which is a very welcome change IMO. They almost seem to maybe be very slowly phasing out the old blood (unless that's just my wishful thinking), or at least mixing in a lot more stuff by the new blood. Hopefully they continue bringing in new writers...

There doesn't have to be a new stadium built by 2023. It's not like New Era is falling apart, or will cease to exist once the lease runs out. They could very easily re-up for a few more years, while a new stadium is being planned or built. Pegula has also said something along the lines of he wants to accomplish something with the Bills (like winning) before he starts asking NYS for anything. if Pegula's plan is to move the team, he's sure going about it in a strange way - continually using his own money to make upgrades to the facilities as well as buying land + buildings near the stadium/arena and building restaurants, hotels, skating rinks (etc). But I'm sure he's just building up his empire in Buffalo to move the team(s)... lol I really have no fear of the Bills moving anymore and I think a new stadium (or an even bigger renovation to New Era (which I think is less likely)) will happen eventually. Pegula is being smart and respectful to NYS officials as well as us taxpayers. They're just finishing renovations on their current stadium. It would be kind of a dick move to already be talking about moving to a brand new stadium IMO.

He just doesn't look right in that Browns gear! I'd definitely prefer him here in the right team colors instead of that doo doo brown... lol Who knows. Maybe they'll have Bruce help out here in years to come. With trying to install a brand new system and culture (etc), I can see why maybe they wouldn't invite him (or any guest coaches, for that matter) to do something like that this year. I'm not even sure he wants to coach. I think he's just taken a personal interest in Myles Garrett for whatever reason. He's been helping him going back to before the draft I believe.

right. lol

I don't indulge on the medical side myself, but I used to live out in cali and knew many who did. It really depends on the person, and the doctor they go to. Some doctors are just there to give recreational users their medical card. That's their entire business (like pill-mill doctors who are only there to prescribe pain pills), and then some doctors only recommend MJ when they feel a patient truly needs it. The doctors who only recommend it when necesssary tend to be the ones who give guildlines on how to use it and in what dose. But recreational users who just want a medical card to be able to go to a dispensary to buy it, don't really want guidelines. Really, the big problem is the way MJ is classified. It is still somehow classified as a Schedule 1 drug (like the hardest and most dangerous of drugs like meth and heroin) - which means they see it as having no legitimate use to mankind. Where as drugs like cocaine are Schedule 2 and seen as having some legitimate use (go figure). Until it is re-scheduled, they can not perform any testing to find out what the true legitimate medical uses are, and there definitely are some. I've met parents out there who had kids that were having 100's of seizures every single day and were on dozens and dozens of very strong prescription medications that had terrible effects, yet they still had 100's of seizures a day. Then they tried CBD (which from what I understand has no intoxicating or psychoactive properties) and their kids went from 100's of seizures per day to maybe 1 seizure every week or two.

I actually think that's part of the reason why it stays illegal. It's a plant/weed that can grow wild pretty much anywhere and I don't think it can be patented by these big pharmaceutical companies. That's why you see synthetic MJ pills legal (like Marinol) and MJ itself not. But I do think you're right that the big tobacco companies are primed to cash in when it becomes legal. I believe that they already have massive farms ready to go/grow, or at least that's what I read somewhere IIRC.

I didn't look back through this thread, so I'm sorry if this has already been posted. But this is a pretty damn cool story on TT - Why Tyrod Taylor paid for Bills teammates to visit in offseason - http://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/index.ssf/2017/07/why_tyrod_taylor_paid_for_sammy_watkins_other_buffalo_bills_to_visit_offseason.html#incart_river_index "Players came to work with Taylor in shifts. He paid for everything for every player. Tight ends Charles Clay, Nick O'Leary and Logan Thomas made it down. So did fullback Patrick DiMarco and running back LeSean McCoy, who also lives in Atlanta for the offseason. Wide receivers Andre Holmes, Walter Powell, Dez Lewis, Zay Jones and Watkins all made it down. Taylor put them all up in hotels and fed them. He organized workouts during the day and took the guys golfing or bowling in the evening." "The last week of work might have been the most significant. By the time Watkins got to Atlanta, it was just he and Taylor for the week. Watkins' luggage got stolen, so Taylor gave him clothes for the week. Watkins got an up-close look at how his quarterback works. At 8 a.m., Taylor does pilates. At 10 a.m., Taylor does an hour of speed work followed by an 11 a.m. lift. Only after all of that did the on-field work start with receivers, and that included at least 100 passes per day at St. Pius X Catholic High School in Georgia." ""First of all, I didn't know we was going to do all that," Watkins said. "I'm just coming down thinking I'm gonna have fun, be a receiver and run some routes. He called me, 'Hey be here at 10, be here at 9.' We would go out to the facility that he's working with. He's got a crazy guy that works out. He's got us out there freaking dying before we even get out there and pass. So I see what he's been doing. I've never seen a quarterback run as much as he does. Being in shape, taking care of his body, eating right, sleeping right. I mean that's the whole day. He's finding something to work on with his body to be prepared." If this kid fails in Buffalo it definitely won be for lack of trying! Between stuff like this, and him being the first guy at OBD and last to leave every single day, you have to admit whether you like him or not that his drive, work ethic and commitment level are very impressive.

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...