racketmaster
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Posts posted by racketmaster
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First off, the draft has always been a bit of crap shoot and depending on the criteria used to determine a successful draft pick or not it ends up being somewhere around 50% success rate for drafting a quarterback in the first round (might even be lower depending on how high your success standard is). So a lot of people are wrong and it is not that unusual to miss on a prospect, especially a quarterback. I liked EJ when he was coming out and thought he could be an above average starter in the league, especially with the shift in using a quarterback's mobility but it just did not work out (maybe in a different situation he becomes an average starter or maybe it was just a bad draft class with no prospects who were good enough to be franchise quarterbacks).
What makes Allen a little different is that he was such a polarizing prospect. There seemed to be no middle ground and the lines were drawn in the sand on him whether he was going to be good or bad. It was very much like our current political environment where you are basically on one side or another and very few people were in between. When evaluating Allen, I recall being immediately impressed by his size, athleticism and arm talent. I loved his toughness and determination. I loved that he was smart, coachable and was very intrigued with his back story (late bloomer, JUCO route, then Wyoming). You saw that he had little talent to no talent around him his last year at Wyoming and it was all Allen and having to throw into tiny window and playing hero ball because there really was no other option. If you went back and watched his games from the previous year where he threw 28 tds, you saw that he had a little more talent around him and that his play was more productive as a result. However, there was the valid inaccuracy questions and you would see poor mechanics at times and wonder if it was something that could be corrected. So I actually fell into the category of being interested in Allen and hopeful that he could be good but I certainly could not claim that I would have put all my chips on the table in support of him. I recall the debates defending Allen as a prospect and the other side had valid points with the accuracy issues and it would often cast doubts in my mind whether he would actually end up succeeding. I actually thought Darnold would be the safer pick and was hoping that the Bills would land him. After the draft fell the way it did, I was just excited that Denver passed on Allen and that we chose Allen over Rosen (I just thought he was the next Jeff George or Cutler at his best and that was not what I wanted).
After Allen was drafted, here again it was a little unusual as people had become so invested in their "guys" that if you were not an Allen guy you were depressed and had no faith that he would be any good. Usually, your team drafts a qb and most people get on board right away and are hopeful, but not with Allen. People had really went to extremes to trash him in the draft process and it was hard for many to come back from that. Little by little, Allen began earning the trust of his fans and the local media. It was first, his teammates genuinely like and respect him and believe he can be the guy. We knew he was tough and was a more impressive runner than most anybody could have imagined. He had some ability to pass the ball and maybe was not as bad as some thought but still not good enough. Second year Allen did not start out well but he picked up steam and by the end of last year, his critics became mostly silent (at least locally). Silent in that they were now willing to see more for him and not calling for him to be replaced by another draft pick. His biggest critics remained skeptical that he could make the leap to a top tier quarterback but even they saw that he could at least be an average to below average quarterback with his grit, big play arm and running ability. The national media by and large remained more skeptical coming into this year but that is because they don't watch him like we do and go more off narratives that have been assigned to him (classic group thought). Allen had some supporters like Chris Simms but by and large most of the media thought Allen was below average to bad and that it was all the Bills defense that carried this team. They were not totally off base but I think most Bills fans had seen steady progress in Allen and knew his special case background gave us legitimate hope that there was still more inside him. We saw him elevate his game in the 4th quarters of games and knew that this was not something most of his predecessors had done where as they tended to shrink in the biggest moments. And so many were cautiously optimistic that he could become above average this year and there was a significant portion of his fans that believed he could become a top ten quarterback or even a star. And so the first 3 games have happened and as one of those who believed Allen could be a star from the beginning, I can't say that I am surprised by his play but I can say that I did not expect this much of a leap this early in the season. I figured he would get better and better and maybe by the end of this season or next year he could be a top 5 guy but he is playing like that right now. And so at this point, everybody is basically on board with Allen but we also know that there are plenty of people in the national media and even locally that will be quick to turn on him when he has a bad game or two (which is to be expected). Because it is still new and because some people thought Allen would be so bad, he will have to play great for a longer period of time than most in order to get "crowned" a top tier quarterback. And that is okay, if you believe in Allen like I do it does not matter because it is all inevitable. It is just a matter of time before he proves that he is a top 5 qb to the country at large and there will be few doubters. It may take a year or maybe two and for some nothing short of a SB win but I believe in Allen and this organization that at some point in the next 5 years we will be a SB team. Just like many Bills fans, I sleep well at night knowing we have our guy and that is really all that matters.
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3 minutes ago, QB Bills said:
Umm, what?? How do you gather that? Allen might be able to throw it a couple of yards further, but you don't see Mahomes make nearly as many bad throws as Allen does either. I know everyone is on the hype train right now, but Allen is not even close to Mahomes. Likely never will be. And that's okay.
It really depends on if you think Allen can continue to play at the level he is playing at or not. If he continues playing like has then he very much is in the discussion with being as good as Mahomes, especially when you add in the fact he is more of a dual threat. Mahomes might still be better but that is in part because we have seen him play at a high level for a longer period of time.
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Yeah, I think it is too early to declare the end of the Jackson "era" if there was one to begin with (he was the MVP but he has yet to win a playoff game so he has not been dominating the league in the post season where it counts). I agree with the OP to a certain extent with Jackson in that I don't see Jackson ever being a long term answer at QB and it is why I never really thought we should have drafted him. For sure he can and will continue to be dominant at times during the regular season and as long as he stays healthy he should have is team consistently in the playoffs for 5-6 years which is an excellent draft pick for the end of first round. Beyond that is where things get dicey for me. You see, very soon Jackson will be coming up on his second contract just like Josh Allen. The Ravens will have to pay him 40 mil a year for probably 5 more years in an extension. But that is where I would be extremely worried if I were the Ravens. Jackson is never going to be faster, more elusive or athletic than he is right now at this moment. It is all a decline from here on out as he accumulates hits, minor or major injuries and goes through the natural aging process. Plus, the NFL just gets faster and faster so just like when Vick first came out he could dominate most defenders but the league got faster and closed the gap. I think defenders will only get faster as Jackson naturally gets slower. It will take only one major injury to significantly hamper his running ability and he is basically shot. Jackson's entire game is predicated on his ability to threaten a defense as a runner, and he is a runner at the qb position that the league has never seen since Vick (by comparing athletic standards of the peers he played against). If and when Jackson suffers a hamstring injury or ankle sprain he does not have the ability to play through it and still help his team win. You see last year how Mahomes struggled some with his knee injury but he was able to come back sooner and play through it and still be effective enough to win games and play through it until he recovered. Jackson needs to be at close to full health. He can't play through a knee sprain as he cannot play a full game from inside the pocket. And at this point in his career he is not going to develop into a better pocket passer (just like a Tebow but much more of an athletic threat).
So long story is the Jackson era over, no, not yet. But what is the Jackson era and what does it really mean long term. It means for now the Ravens are in line to win 11-12 games per year and be a playoff team year in and year out for the next 5-6 years as long as he avoids major injury. But when he gets to the playoffs and has to play at least 3 good teams and most likely 4 without the bye to win a Super Bowl it will almost certainly end in disappointment each year. It will be extremely difficult for the Ravens to play from in front for all 3-4 games in the playoffs against quality opponents as once they get down he has proven incapable of passing his team back into the game. After "getting close" for 5-6 years and getting a huge payday is when I seen the physical decline and eventually he is done as a franchise quarterback by around the age of 30. I'll take my chances with an Allen over Jackson in the long term any day of the week and twice on Sunday. It may not work out as Allen could also suffer some career ending injury but he has the ability to shift his game to the pocket (or more accurately in and around the pocket) and we have already begun to see this shift. So where as Jackson will likely be done by the time he is 30, Allen has the chance to plays great football deep into his late 30's because he has such a strong arm that even a natural decline will still allow him to play effectively as he matures and gains anticipation and field awareness. This will allow Allen to have a chance to win a SB potentially for the next 15+ years where as Jackson has a very narrow path to win one over the next 5 years. As for Murray, I think he is a much better passer than Jackson is and he could develop into a Russell Wilson like qb down the road. He is so small (even compared with Wilson and Brees) that I don't think he will ever be as good as Wilson but he has a better chance to win a SB while in his prime because he can threaten as a runner and as a passer.
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1 hour ago, Back2Buff said:
When Hyde first came to Buffalo, he was excellent. Since that first season, there has been a pretty rapid decline.
2017: 13 Pass Defended, 5 Ints
2018: 5 Pass Defended, 2 Ints
2019: 2 Pass Defended, 1 Int
2020: 1 Pass Defended thus far.
When you take a look at his last 15 games (including Houston game), he has one pass defended, that's it.
He doesn't get sacks, and plays more of a FS role on this team. That is awful for a guy that is supposed to be roaming in the secondary.
The only time I see Hyde on the field, is when he is making a tackle 15 yards down the field, or chasing a guy from behind.
It seems like a wasted position to me. I would rather have a guy out there like Neal, who can cause havoc. You don't need to be worried about getting beat over the top when you are applying more pressure.
OP, the above stats are a little alarming and at the very least something worth keeping an eye on. I do believe Hyde came in and played exceptionally well as the above stats indicate and that certainly made him a fan favorite so any criticism of Hyde is likely to be met with some resistance because he has been a core leader since the beginning of the McDermott regime. I’m not sure we have a better option right now but I do think it is probably time to look at upgrading the safety position in the 2021 draft.
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It will probably take a Super Bowl win and maybe a few pro bowls or an MVP season to realistically change the opinions on some of the “analysts” and media. There were a significant number of people who thought Allen was trash coming out. And out of those people, a portion of them have been willing to admit that he is better than they thought and has potential while the rest have dug in and just rely on the random bad play from Allen posted on Twitter to troll Bills fans and make themselves feel better about their draft take.
it seems crazy to think that a player would have to achieve that much to get some level of respect from a significant portion of the pundits when often another qb can play 1-2 games and be automatically placed in the upper half of the league’s quarterbacks. But Allen was such a polarizing draft prospect analytics v physical traits that people got more invested in their takes than usual. Plus, I think some of the draft day twitter posts from when Allen was a teenager added some more fuel to the fire for some of the media who already thought he was trash. It seemed to elevate the hate and target on him even more. In the end, those that watch and follow Allen know he is already a good qb, excellent leader and has special traits that can allow him to become one of the league’s best at his position. I think he has a great personality and has gained a lot of respect amongst his peers as evidenced by him appearing on the NFL too 100 list. Better to be respected by your teammates and opponents than loved by the media (still seeing those Baker commercials makes me laugh although some of them are pretty funny).
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Want to know part of the reason why the Texans got less In return for Hopkins than Vikings did for Diggs, $. That is qb type money for a wr and teams likely knew that Hopkins was looking to get paid top dollar and scared a lot of teams away.
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19 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:
This happens for everything. There are idiots who think nba players are thugs because of how guys acted in the 90s and they probably are the league with the least amount of guys who get in trouble. It’s like the far majority of protestors are doing so peacefully but some people just say they are all rioting.
yes, most people believe police officers do a great job. But when you are given a gun, you should be held to a higher standard. You can’t just be like “my bad.” They are not the jury and judge. And if you can’t handle that, don’t be a police officer.
Again, some of it is perception but a recent study showed 93% of the protests were peaceful. If that study is to be believed then 7% are not and there has been a lot of people killed and property looted and destroyed in that 7%. It’s almost 1 out of every 10 protests turn violent. If 1 out of every 10 police interactions ended badly then we would have a serious epidemic on our hands with the amount of daily police interactions across the country.
The fact is BLM and Antifa like protests that end up with looting, robbing, burning and killing can cause serious damage to a community and is not helping. Peaceful protestors need to distance themselves from this criminal behavior or risk being lumped together since seeing a protest coming down your street you might not know if you will be harassed or attacked or left alone. There are disturbing videos of protesters harassing ordinary citizens just trying to have a meal. What is this accomplishing. The protesters that act like this just piss ordinary people off who just want to go to work, provide for their family and have a meal out in peace once in a while. It will cause people to move out of the cities or avoid patronizing businesses in the cities which will lead to financial issues with less taxes being raised.
Again, you could spend hours talking about this and issues surrounding it. I just think the mainstream narrative is a one way street right now and is causing more fear and distrust in police then ever before. Yet, with body cams and cell phones, police have never been watched more closely. It is a tough job and every officer I know is a good dude and would never want to harm someone if they did not have to. But as we push this narrative the confrontations between police and citizens are worsening. Who wants to be an officer and have a bunch of peaceful protestors walk by shouting obscenities at you and spitting all sorts of things. The officers are often showing uncommon restraint. Maybe the media and civilians need to show some of that same restraint before rioting after seeing the next 20 second video of police violence before days later a more complete video is released showing more to the story.
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48 minutes ago, fergie's ire said:
Over the last 10 years, an avg. of 27 Americans have died from lightening per year. Over that time, the rate of African-American deaths from shootings is 31 per million. Even if there were only 1 million African-Americans in the country, and every person killed by lightning were black (seems unlikely) that would still be more deaths from police than lightning. There is the issue of unarmed...according to a 2012 report, most victims were armed (but African-American victims were much more likely to be unarmed) at about 15%....but that would still mean many more killed by police than lightning. But it sounds good, so.....
I should have used "shot" and not killed by police as the article referenced by me did not include other means of deaths (vehicles, beatings, choke holds etc.) but still the total in 2019 of all types of unarmed black killings at the hands of police in 2019 was 25 deaths (at least according to USA today). Now with blacks making up 13% of the population in the US, 25 killings in a year does not seem like an epidemic as you stated 27 Americans die of lightning per year. Is 25 too many, well I guess 1 would be considered too many. But without researching each case, "unarmed" is likely to be somewhat deceiving (was the suspect cooperative, did they resist arrest, run away, grab for their gun etc.). The numbers don't say peaceful unarmed suspects killed by police. I would venture a guess that the vast majority of the unarmed killings, the suspects were doing something other than being cooperative. There are probably a handful of cases that the officers were completely out of line and should be charged and held accountable by a jury of their peers.
But the general point is that the media and often the players (who have higher profile positions of power based on the numbers who follow them on social media) are perpetuating a myth that black people (especially males) are at great risk of being killed by police just about any time they leave their homes. It creates an atmosphere of fear and more animosity and mistrust between police and black communities. So are there some bad officers out there, you betcha, just like there is in every profession. There are going to be some bad doctors out there and if you are treated by one, they may end up killing you. But we accept the risk and put our trust in the fact that most doctors are good and the bad ones can hopefully be weeded out over time.
What bothers me is that the vast amount of blame is being heaped on police officers and most officers are good people who live in the communities they serve and want to see there communities safe. I'm not against banning certain police tactics or offering different training, eliminating officers from the force who have a certain number of verified complaints etc. But the black community (and this really goes for all people but since it is currently defined as a black person getting killed by police issue) also needs to step up and be more accountable. We need more fathers in homes and we need to be more respectful and peaceful when stopped by police. If there is harassment from police, report it. But it is never a good thing to start mouthing off and fighting police. Changing levels of respect starts in the homes and unfortunately there are way too many young people who are completely disrespectful toward any type of authority (this goes for all races). I think more community based policing efforts, more positive interaction between police and youth in minority communities needs to happen whether through recreation leagues or camping etc. Schools need a complete overhaul and there needs to be more school choice for parents instead of the random charter school or private school stipend. Demonizing one side or another will not work, everyone will need to step up some and do their part in order to solve some of these issues. I also think it might not be a bad idea to make a requirement that all Americans spend a year serving in the military or fulfilling a 1 year community service requirement like the peace corps. This could help young people gain a greater appreciation for the country, bring people together as a team, and help instill greater respect and discipline. There are many more things that smarter people than me could come up with that could make a positive change in the black community and the country as a whole but the current mainstream rhetoric is not one of those things.
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1 hour ago, RoyBatty is alive said:
The NBA and Lebron are both hypocrites, I recall they wanted to fire Daryl Morey of the Rockets for having the unashamed gall to call out the Chinese on Hong Kong and tweeted "Fight For Freedom and Stand with Hong Kong". Or course he was humiliated into submission and forced to apologize. .
The NBA’s two-year ratings tank just took tanking up another notch. As pointed out last night, year-over-year, the first round of the playoffs was down an eye-popping 27%. Furthermore, the first round’s 1.94 million average is down 40% from two seasons ago, the last time LeBron James participated in the playoffs.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/3235072001
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We have had at least 35 police officers die in gunfire this year and the numbers are more than usual but this causes little to no outrage. Plus, more than a hundred have died of COVID and how many are related to dealing with the protests and being spit on and such. There are narratives that the mainstream media chooses to focus on and every time a black person is killed by a police officer it becomes a story even though white and Hispanic deaths at the hands of police will go unreported. See the connection, as the media knows that certain police deaths cause outrage and in turn ratings. By promoting only certain stories and by promoting only half truths related to each of the deaths the media is creating division in the country at the expense of a profit and ratings. And most people don’t bother to investigate cases, they see a clip or hear LeBron speak on it and that is good enough for them. But it is dangerous and irresponsible to create a narrative that anytime a black male leaves there home they are at risk of being shot by police. An unarmed black man has a greater chance of being struck by lightning than being shot by police yet the narrative makes it seem as it is commonplace. It causes division and disenfranchisement amongst the black community. We experienced some of this after the Ferguson riots (which the media also told half truths and turned a blind eye to key details) but the current media narrative seems to have taken it to the next level. So if you are a young black male and really believe you will be shot if you encounter a police officer than of course there will be mistrust and a sense of who cares so lets just join in and loot and burn it down since the system hates us.
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6 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:
Yeah, I don’t really get what the opposite side of this is. Pro racism? And while I do get some of the I don’t want politics in sports argument (my ex’s dad was like that and he was just a great dude who was sick of all political bs), politics has always been a part of sports.
these guys have the highest platform to bring awareness to problems in their communities. The easy thing for them is to not say a word and make millions of dollars.
I love it when people compare their occupations to a billionaire dollar industry where the workerS get to the top 1% of their profession solely based on merit.
I agree that athletes have a higher platform than most but with that also comes some greater responsibility and if they decide to speak out they should also be fully informed and not create unnecessary panic like LeBron continually stating any of the recent victims from police could be him. Umm, yeah it could be you LeBron if you decide to rob a store, get hyped up on drugs or alcohol and begin to resist arrest or actively fight with police when they arrive to arrest you. I’m not saying they deserved to die and in some of the situations the police could have done things better but I also find these hindsight arguments lack any context or perspective from the law enforcement side. Lets take the recent Atlanta shooting where all we saw in beginning was police shooting a black man in the back while he was running away with a taser gun that he was turning around to fire at officers. Ok, looks like they could have done something different and shooting seems needless. But then the full video and details come out and victim is wanted on warrant for violating probation, victim is clearly intoxicated and does not want to go back to jail, officers try talking with him to gain cooperation over a period of 15-20 minutes before they decide to try and place him in custody and victim goes full mma fight with the 2 officers throwing haymakers and managing to get the taser gun off one of the officers before running away and then turning back to shoot. There are a number of points in which this victim could have chose a different path but he kept making decisions that put him and the officers at risk. It is dark, after struggling with the victim and seeing him take off with a gun, the officer may have had enough. Anybody that has just been in a fight will tell you there is a little extra adrenaline running though you and maybe the officer overreacted on that adrenaline. This is a case that has a lot of nuance to it just like just about every single one of the high profile cases of late. I feel bad for all parties involved but the victim made a series of bad decisions and I have a hard time seeing the league celebrate he and others like Blake who was wanted on felony sexual assault for sexually assaulting a female for a second time.
So, yes just about everybody is against racism and if the message from the NFL was “Treat everyone as equals”, “Let’s all come together as one” or some better phrases similar to that then we are all on board. But BLM phrases are political and socialist organizations that I don’t want to see promoted during a Bills game and the victims being celebrated I have a hard time celebrating because their backgrounds and actions show a lot of poor and criminal decisions (Taylor is a separate case but also very nuanced and she was tied closely to a wanted drug dealer-needless to say she was not murdered by police while sleeping in her bed but her case does raise serious questions about the no knock police raids and hopefully results in some changes there)
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30 minutes ago, K-9 said:
So, BLM, the organization, is the be all, end all authority on the issue of racism? BLM the organization and what it advocates are simply not the same as the more wide spread anti racist movement. While the founders of the BLM organization may have coined the phrase, “black lives matter”, it has since come to be used by a much broader anti racist movement.
I find the comparison to the abortion issue lacking on several levels, but I appreciate your response.
I would hope that BLM is not the be all end all authority but at present they certainly have the loudest voice and have been found on the Bills stadium billboard and is talked about being shown on the field. My only point is that many including myself consider BLM a political organization and with that really has no place being on the field, billboards or uniforms. I have no issue with simple phrases like end racism or treat all peoples equals. They are just generic terms most everyone can get behind, like cure cancer. Also, when honoring specific victims of police violence, I’d prefer to honor persons that were innocent not those hyped up on substances and fighting and resisting police officers. And I’m not saying that they deserved to die, I’m just saying that I can pretty much guarantee you they would all be alive and well today had they not made a series of bad choices that are generally left out of the narratives when celebrating these individuals. Can’t we just find some real heroes that have been working to build bridges in their communities and better community police relations to honor? That’s something we can all get behind.
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25 minutes ago, K-9 said:
Who would want to be on the opposing side of anti-racism messaging?
If you want to simplify things, who would want to be on the side of killing innocent babies? Just as abortion can be a complex argument, so too is the BLM social justice messaging. Just about everyone in America is against racism so if that was what BLM actually stood for than it would not be an issue.
The problem those on the other side of the BLM movement have is that it’s motives are much more than “ending systemic racism” but moving America toward socialism and defunding the police. The narratives of the shootings that are held up as examples of blatant racism are also chalk full of missing facts and extenuating circumstances. There is no context and some career criminals are being glorified for committing crimes, resisting arrest and then being shot and wounded or killed most often after threatening the lives of the officers. What the media and BLM movement wants us all to believe is that officers showed up on the scene where an innocent black man was fully cooperative with police and then still mowed down because of the color of their skin. It is this narrative that gets perpetuated and the victims are celebrated as heroes. This rubs some people including myself the wrong way so it certainly is not as simple as who is for racism.
What I am for is taking a break from the narratives and just watching some sports but we can’t even get that anymore.
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On 9/2/2020 at 11:05 AM, Jdragon2 said:
lol, didnt you, or others with this same mindset, say the same thing about kneeling, allowing shoes to be designed by players, letting players voice their social justice concerns, and any other multitude of things that mean players have a brain and can think for themselves?
The league will be fine, but by all means boycott the league.... you need them far more then they need you.
I need food, water and prefer to have shelter. The NFL and football is a want not a need but I would like to escape for a few hours and actually watch and concentrate on the game of football. Political opinions and social justice causes are abound and have gradually seeped into all aspects of our lives. If I want to watch and hear political opinions I’ll go to one of the multitude of cable news channels to do so. If I want social justice then I will join a cause or protest that I believe in. The NBA ratings have gone down in part because people want to see basketball being played and not be constantly hit over the head with social justice causes. As a fan I’m being lectured by athletes who too often know little about the cases and causes they are championing. Its sad but mixing sports and politics is the cool thing to do right now in order to be woke and everyone has to jump on board with the same thought or you are shunned, ie. Drew Brees. I’m a huge football fan but I am prepared to walk away from the game if the NFL decides to take the NBA model. I’m already going to be reducing my watching to the Bills and will see how things progress.
And for the many of you who will say good riddance and just deal with it. I’ll ask you this, if the NFL began to push a anti abortion stance before and through its games then would it bother you? Or maybe some some environmental issue that you are not for? I happen to think it would not sit well with those who were on the opposing side.
I’ll leave with this, sports are a pastime and distraction from a more complicated life. It is supposed to be where everyone in your community can come together no matter the background even for just 3 hours of time. Politics is poison right now and we are injecting it into the “safe spaces” that can bring an entire community together.
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10 hours ago, whatdrought said:
After looking at the article closer I see that the nfl is making a list with players and right away we’re stuck in the issue of what is police brutality.
Breaonna Taylor was shot because she was in a house from which officers were taking fire.
Michael brown, which is brutality on narrative alone, and not substance and evidence.
Amen, and here’s a thought, if you don’t want to be shot by a police officer you could start with not robbing a store and then being confrontational and resist arrest when police officers arrive on the scene and then charge at them. Is there something wrong with me that I’d like to think I would never rob a store but that if I did and officers came to arrest me I’d be fully compliant and not trying fighting and charging them.
We all know there are some bad apple cops out there and often they are protected by bad union contracts that enable them to stay on the force long after they should have been removed. But there are many more good officers out there and it is like this in every field. Since this is an NFL discussion, lets stay with that analogy. Players hate it when 1 or 2 of there teammates on a 53 man roster get arrested or do something stupid. But that does not mean all players should be lumped in with the few bad apples on there teams as most players are good people and do a lot of good in there communities. There are thousands upon thousands of police interactions each day and the vast majority of them end peacefully, especially if the person in question is compliant. Only when people start resisting arrest is when the odds of being shot begin to go up significantly.
Think about it from the officers perspective at this point. Many more officers are unjustifiably losing there lives right now but you would not know it from the media as they continue to max cover certain deaths that fit a narrative and create division in order to increase viewership (similar to “hot takes” that has taken over). Officers know the dangers because they live and see it everyday. Every time they do even a traffic stop they don’t know what is going to happen as there is an unprecedented amount of people out there who have a hatred for the police and are looking to harm or disrupt them in some way. Officers have to be on edge right now and for good reason.
I’ll leave on this note, I’m beginning to think that the country needs to have some type of mandatory military or community service requirement. This would serve a few purposes (1) the youth could use some sort of understanding of discipline, respect, teamwork, and service that appears to be lacking amongst a higher than normal amount of their generation and (2) it would be a good way to create a common bond amongst all citizens having gone through the service requirement together spending time and developing friendships with all different peoples from all different backgrounds thus forcing more people to break out of their bubbles.
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8 minutes ago, Rob's House said:
It's already a "big win."
I have no desire to see anything happen to this guy. This is about as much heat as anyone should get for this kind of thing.
Desean is strongly anti-Semitic. I imagine he has similar feelings about white people, but I wouldn't feel any differently if he said the white man is the devil.
I don't demand that people like me or pretend to like me. Until he's inciting violence, and I don't mean in some abstract way, I support his right to say what he thinks without falling victim to the cancel culture lynch mob.
What's so glorious about this is the double standard being exposed for what it is. Not that it will have any lasting impact. By this time next week it will be forgotten and we'll be back to calling for people's heads over every minor transgression made by a member of the perceived oppressor group directed at a perceived victim group.
But for the moment it's entirely satisfying to watch those who sanctimoniously declare their impassioned devotion to certain principles implicitly (or in some cases explicitly) admit that they selectively apply those principles only when they confirm to their bias or agenda.
There really is no disputing that cancel culture disproportionately punishes white men. It does not take into account your age or income status, as if you are a white male and make bad comments you will face greater scorn.
I get it to some degree with “old white men” but even then there are a lot of old white guys who just went about there business and never harmed or tried to cause harm to any persons of color and they are lumped into a group. But for middle aged and younger white men, we grew up mostly wanting tolerance and many of our heroes growing up were black ie. Michael Jordan or Will Smith. The majority of us have and still have black friends and have never mistreated or tried to mistreat any persons of color. We grew up thinking that by the time we were this age we would not even be talking about this issue because there would be no issue.
But the tensions between races have continued to some degree when it should be an all for one mentality by now. Much of the tension is caused by forces on the extreme sides of the issue. They are loud and provocative so their voices are heard especially in a day of social media where anyone can be heard. The mainstream media exasperates the problem by relentlessly focusing on bad incidents and yet not adding perspective and basic statistics. For example, there has not been a documented focused lynching in the US since 1981. Yet if you are a 13 year old black person and listened to the race baitors and media, its understandable you would think that you are under a real threat of being lynched. This is an extreme example and it is awful to think of but the young persons of color today seem to have the loudest voices along with the white kids of privilege as far as negativity toward white men and the “establishment”. Yet it was their parents and grandparents that were much more impacted. We elected a black president and the re-elected him for a second term for gods sake.
If a person of color can hold and maintain the most powerful position in the world for 8 years, how much systemic racism is really out there holding people down. Just like the me too movement started of with justified complaints, I do believe there were some justified BLM complaints. But much of that has been addressed in recent criminal justice reform legislation. There has come a point where the movement is never satisfied and continues to seek justice and blood. It is at that point that targeted groups begin to become resentful towards the constant attacks and rush to judgments.
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1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:
Viewed from one perspective, you have a point. Hitler was a genocidal maniac.
Viewed from another perspective (probably the perspective of those who reacted to it) Brees comments were about about re-framing a struggle against racism, specifically in this instance racist policing and a racist justice system, into an act of disrespect to the military and thus silencing or attempting to silence, that struggle.
I "get it" that you don't see it that way, but other people are entitled to see it differently.
I love it when people start predicting what would happen - based upon what evidence? Patriots draft choice Jason Rohrwasser literally had a tattoo on his body supporting an anti-government extremist group with white supremicist ties whose members throw Nazi salutes, chant about Hitler, and shoot at peaceful demonstrators. He hasn't even shown he can play in the league and it's still a total non-issue. He apologized, said he didn't really realize what the group was all about and would certainly never, and had the tattoo removed. The End.
Do I believe that? Not really - who the hell puts ink on their body without 5 minutes of research about what it represents?
I think that episode is evidence that if Fromm or Brees quoted Jackson or Wallace, they would say their remarks were taken out of context, they didn't realize or don't really support all that, apologize, and that would be that.
If you have counter evidence from something that has actually gone down in the NFL, please present it. Otherwise I call shenanigans on the hypotheticals based on what's actually occurred.
There are a lot of examples out there, too many to go through and the remarks vary in how bad they were. Michael Richards said some pretty awful things after being heckled on stage and he has basically been ostracized from Hollywood for the past 15 years. It does not seem that he can ever be forgiven. Again remarks are horrible but they were remarks that were closer to what Jackson just said and has said previously or at least closer than what Drew Brees said.
Another is Rosie O’Donnell. She makes fun of a black official and it was again distasteful but her show was canceled and she will likely never return to Hollywood. These are just a few of countless instances involving white peoples making bad comments. If you don’t think there is “black privilege” when it comes to saying bad things about other groups then you aren’t paying attention. There have been countless black actors and athletes who say terrible things and get blowback but then go back to there positions with all being basically forgotten within a few months.
All I’d like to see is people being treated equally in all facets of life. I don’t want black people or Muslims being profiled in certain situations and I don’t want 2-3 times the outrage heaped on white people rather than persons of color when both make similarly awful comments. Playing favorites just leads to resentment and mistrust from all sides involved and it is not healthy.
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3 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:
Do you think because something like 70% of the NFL players are black, grew up in black families, usually in minority-dominated communities, they might naturally be expected to have more concern and be more vocal about issues that they perceive to affect them and their families and communities directly? Maybe the players care more about black issues because they have seen the effects of racism up close and personal in their own lives?
There are relatively few Jewish players in the NFL. HEY! WHAT HAS ROSEN SAID ABOUT THIS? Has he totally failed to speak up?It's just strange to me because one of the criticisms I sometimes read about people with a liberal bent, from people with a conservative bent, is that liberals are "social justice warriors" and "white knights" who get all worked up about every perceived injustice or slight in the world. Isn't the implication of the phrase "social justice warrior", someone who is reactive against every slight to social justice whether or not they are personally and philosophically concerned?
Now that black players are not all individually and publically worked up about an instance of anti-semitism that has been condemned by the NFL, condemned by the team, apologized for by the player and removed, that's a problem? Maybe...they aren't "social justice warriors" but men who are concerned about issues that affect them?
I don't get it. Actually, I think I do get it but I'll stop there.
All this implies is that certain bad things can be said from NFL players and there should be limited blowback because of the makeup of the players. By your reasoning, players can blast gays or women and receive less scorn because there are no women they have as teammates and few gays in the lockeroom compared to their heterosexual teammates. I think everyone with a brain realizes that there are issues in black communities that other races that don’t live in those communities have to face. Many have to do with past transgressions and are not applicable to the present day and other issues persist. Some are issues of mistrust and some are issues that the community members themselves need to address and be accountable for. So I do see that black players may be more sensitive to certain remarks but at the same time we as a country start to move forward rather than continually looking back. There has to be a level of trust and forgiveness on all sides so that we can move forward as one country. And there will continue to be bad acts as every group has its share of bad apples. So if a bad apple does something wrong we need to be careful not to label the rest of the group as bad. That is stereotyping and it is generally not healthy to do.
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2 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:
Fromm said only elite white people should have guns. I believe he is kidding but that is absolutely a stupid thing to put out there.
but again, a rookie (who isn’t that good imo) had one zoom meeting and the team moved on and no ones cares about Fromm anymore.
Yes, we can agree it was stupid but like I said in the original post he put haha after that. If he had followed that up with a plan to actually make rich white people be the only ones able to buy assault weapons then that would have be a clear act of racism. The man was likely joking and again it was in poor taste but he did put the haha in the text for a reason. I’m not sure what else Fromm could do but apologize to the team over zoom because they are not meeting in person. And I’m not sure if you have ever had to apologize to a group of men that you don’t really know but it is likely not the most comfortable thing to do and if Fromm is a good person the whole issue was probably agonizing to him. But I’m context, what else more could be done. Should he be banned from the league, a league that has given second and third chances to people who have committed actual crimes and have harmed people?
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2 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:
Literally nothing happened to Fromm or Allen. Even by all player accounts, Allen had one single conversation with the team about it and everyone moved on. Same deal for Fromm. Rightfully so, as they weren't big deals.
I'm absolutely not excusing what Jackson did, but I would also absolutely classify it in the same group as the Fromm/Allen stuff. Idiots on phones.
Discuss it, learn from it, grow from it, and move on.
Again, this is not correct. Both Fromm and Allen had to stand up in front of their teammates and apologize. They met with the team leaders and they were told they needed to earn the trust of their teammates back overtime. Allen has done that, we shall see with Fromm. Again, how bad were their comments. Allen’s were almost ridiculous considering the age he made them and that he was quoting rap lyrics. Let’s go back into everyone’s social media and texts from when they were 13 and 15 years old. I’m sure there are so things that without context or even with context that we would all want back because at that age you are just an immature kid. Again they both faced major blowback from the media and scrutiny from their teammates. They never did any overt acts to harm anyone nor committed any crimes so I’m not sure how much more punishment they deserved.
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6 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:
Riley Cooper screamed the n word at concert and didn’t miss a game.
What do you want?
Literally nothing happened to Fromm or Allen.
You mean that being demonized in the media and from players around the league was nothing. They were told they would have to work hard to earn the trust of there teammates back in order to be accepted. That is something. And for what there comments were and the ages they said them, I don’t really think any more punishment was warranted. Do you?
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It is nothing but complete hypocrisy. You have players like Fromm who has a private text chain released from a person who likely has an agenda. The post when read without any context is not flattering to say the least but conveniently the haha parts are often left out of the discussion where Fromm could easily have been making a joke that was in poor taste but not meant to be racist. Allen was quickly vilified for his posts from when he was 14 and 15 years old. Essentially, he was quoting rap lyrics and he was labeled a racist and had to work hard to earn the trust of his teammates. The Brees issue is a joke, he basically states that he does not think it is right to kneel during the anthem (something many others also agree with) but he is torn apart for his opinion. There was no honest debate, there was no trying to see the other side, it was you don’t see it the way BLM sees it so you are wrong and are on the side of racists. Apologize now or be labeled a racist and Brees caved and apologized for having an opposite viewpoint on a complicated issue.
Jackson on the other hand makes overtly racist and dangerous remarks and there is barely a peep from his peers. No Tre White’s condemning him right away. No, he just needs to be educated and apologize and all is immediately forgiven. No need to earn the trust back overtime. I’m not even go to try and list the countless insensitive remarks made by black athletes and entertainers toward other races, sexes and gays. The treatment is always the same, just try and educate yourself and apologize and you are forgiven. There is no being ostracized for years or having to actually put in the work to earn people’s trust back. A simple apology is all that it takes. And I’m fine with that if we treated all people the same. But just as the me too movement started to go too far and dig up every text, post, action in the past and label men rapists and sexists sometimes without any proof, this BLM movement is heading down the same path.
I understand there are bad people out there. There are actual racists and believe it or not there are racists among all the races as hard as that might be to believe among some people. There are sexist pigs, there are just plain bad people. Those are the people that based on evidence and clear pattern of behavior should be scorned and punished. But the sanctions should be distributed equally.
I mean, is that not what we as good people want. That we all just get treated the same no matter our race, sex, religious beliefs. If you are a dirtbag than you should be treated as one no matter your background. I do believe there are extremists on both the left and the right. These are generally the bad and misguided people and they are trying to pull out country apart. I believe there are enough good people out there with some common sense, but as the days go on I am beginning to question if there are enough people in the middle and whether they want to do anything about it rather than get bullied in one direction or the other. Our country depends on this group so I hope they stand up soon like a parent needs to do at times and take control of this situation.
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I would have to say I would not be happy if McDermott decided to kneel during the national anthem. If it were a one time deal to start the season and it was an act of solidarity performed by all players and fans, then I might not have an issue with it. But if it was a persistent thing then I would be totally opposed.
We could all right a book on this topic alone but briefly I believe the national anthem to be one of the few things (maybe the only thing) that we should all do together as Americans. Despite what some people say, the United States is the greatest country in the world and most people outside the US agree with this and would do almost anything to live in America. I think standing and putting your hand over your heart is not too much to ask of us all to do for a moment in time. A moment where we are all one and there are no factions. That is why I could get behind a one time deal where we still all came together as one but after that I want to go back to standing and tradition.
We could debate whether systemic racism still exists or whether there are just some racists performing bad acts (there is a difference). But that again is a deeper conversation. I don’t think the anthem is the be all end all place to protest if u are on the side that there is systemic racism. There are many other ways and platforms out there and we can still all come together in respect and as one during the anthem for that brief moment in time.
But like many other traditions have faded, I fear that the anthem is next. There seems too eager of a push to accept do whatever u want during the anthem and again I’m not a fan of that. I’m not a fan of people sitting, wearing hats, talking during and many other things during the anthem either so it is not just kneeling. Again, I believe this is one time we should be encouraged to celebrate our country and mourn those who have died for it coming together as one.
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21 minutes ago, Jerome007 said:
Stupid ass text message but it was a year ago and in private. Not today after what has happened in this lat week nor in public. So tired of this modern day witch hunt. Beat your kids and get a few game suspension, but say a mean word in a private text conversation and get fired? Seems logical to me!
We are living in a gotcha society and it is kind of sad. Guys generally like to joke around and poke fun of each other. As long as it is in good fun, no malicious intent and you care for each other then it should be all in good fun. There are malicious acts and then there are things done or said in jest and some stuff falls in between. Everyone agrees the murder of George Floyd was wrong. Why did the police officer do it? I’m not sure, was it because he was a racist, maybe his wife was cheating on him and he was charged up that day, maybe he just has anger problems in general or maybe it was a combination of issues that came together to cause him to be an ####### to Mr. Floyd. But there are something like 340 million people that live in the country and there are millions of police contacts each year, most of which are conducted professionally with no issues. There are bad people in every industry so I’m not into painting all police as bad or all white people as bad and in need to accept there privilege or they are branded racists. There are a lot of white people that grow up in poverty and have not seen any real privileges. They are poor and attend poor schools and they don’t even get minority status for hiring or college entrances.
Maybe people are extra charged up because of the Covid quarantines. Maybe it is because politically we are so divided and that extremes on either side can’t even have an honest conversation. And that’s maybe what really needs to happen, honest conversation without it feeling like you are at a witch-hunt trial as a white person. All sides can learn from each other if they are willing to listen and be honest. Only then can people reevaluate there opinions and thoughts. And the media needs to stop focusing on creating more divides and bring more truth and reality to the people without demonizing folks who think differently at a level that should be reserved for murderers and rapists.
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The End of the Lamar Jackson Era
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
The NFL has so much chatter in between games as your team only plays once a week that it leads to over reactions on a weekly basis and that is compounded with the "hot takes" media environment we live in. This week Allen is a potential MVP candidate and if he struggles some against the Raiders it will be a bunch of haters saying "see I told you he was bad". If you remain somewhat level about Lamar you could say the following:
1. Using era is too strong to begin seeing as Jackson's strong play has lasted just about a 1 and a half.
2. During his time as a starter, Jackson has been a problem for defenses to defend and I expect that to continue as long as he remains healthy.
3. If the Ravens get a lead and keep going in at halftime, chances are they are going to win. The offense wears defenses down and he is a dynamic runner with the ability to make big passing plays when things are going well and they often do.
4. If the Ravens get down because Lamar is being defended well early and the opposing offense is scoring on their tough defense then it is a problem for the Ravens to come back and win. Jackson will have some games that he does bring his team back from being down in the second half but more often than not, when Jackson is put in a must passing situation, he is going to struggle.
5. Expect the Ravens and Jackson to be good for the next 5 years or as long as Jackson remains an outlier in terms of his running ability for the quarterback position. Again, the Ravens are difficult to prepare for and regular season games he will have more success than not against teams that have not seen this type of offense or are ill equipped to stop it.
6. Also, expect Jackson to continue to have postseason struggles. In the playoffs teams have a ton of tape to study and their staffs have been breaking down the playoff teams even before they start in preparation. Players are dialed in and the level of preparation and study is goes up a level. Teams also tend to be better in the playoffs as that is why they are there and in that way tend to be more equipped defensively to matchup or slow down Jackson. Also, the opposing offenses tend to be better and are likely to score more points against the Ravens defense putting Jackson in more uncomfortable positions.
7. With 5 and 6, it will be a tall task for Jackson to win the necessary 3-4 games in a row against good to great opponents. It will not be impossible as we have seen much lesser quarterbacks get to and win SBs but it is not something that I would expect to happen, especially with Mahomes in the conference.
8. Most likely outcome is Ravens win some in the playoffs but continue to lose before getting to SB. Jackson's athletic ability declines over time and by the time he is 30 he is done being a "problem" to defend.
9. Jackson is so limited as a passer (little better than Tebow was but not by a wide margin) that as soon as injury or significant athletic decline occurs his "era" of being a problem and playoff team will be done.
10. I don't see a way that Jackson could develop into a "pocket passer/extend the play" quarterback as he just does not have that skill set. He has a funky delivery, limited arm strength when throwing to the outside and his anticipation and reading of defenses is raw because he has not and will not need to develop those skills until he no longer has the rare running ability. His rare running ability is also his "curse" as far an longevity goes. It will cause a quicker athletic decline (I know the stats about injuries in the pocket and outside the pocket) but the fact is if he runs the ball 180 times a year or so he is still running, cutting, falling and getting hit sometimes and over time this all wears on the joints and body. It adds up and leads to a quicker decline. His athletic ability also gives him different looks and coverages. He rarely gets experience passing against more complicated coverages because he does not have to play the in the pocket game unless they are down at the end of games and that is rare. The limited experience he will get in those obvious passing situations will not allow him to get better at it and that is his "curse". Immediate gains but no longevity and a narrow path at getting to the very top (winning SB).
11. But that is all down the road stuff that the Ravens organization can deal with in time. In the meantime, Jackson is still and will continue to be a problem.