blacklabel

Haha, when was this?

Barf-o-rama. As if they don't have enough long-ass road trips already. Trips out to Vegas, Denver, LA, and Arizona, and now across the pond to foggy ol' Londontown. They might win the Ultimate Road Dogs award next season, we'll see if they rack up the most travel miles of any team.

Yep. Pretty common to see players getting procedures done this time of year.

Gotta get them clicks, get them page views!! Ta hell with accurate, objective reporting, dramatize the sh*t outta everything, true or false, and get them clicks!

Yep. The way Joe B says it, it seems like Lawson is a guy with a decent sense of humor. Maybe he's one of those types that can crack a joke and lighten the mood whenever things are getting too heavy or serious. We're not in the locker room so we don't know for sure. But yeah, I don't know that whatever leadership he has would be a big reason to retain him. Now, they may be able to point to him as an example of a guy who was drafted by a different regime, had a rough rookie year with injuries and a system he didn't fit in. Then from there he has to take his lumps as a backup and work his way up after being a big-time player at Clemson. He even admitted he felt down when he heard they signed Murphy, but he followed up with how the culture and the guys in the locker room lifted him up. Then he gets told they aren't going to pick up his fifth-year option. He could've sulked and been like, "What, this team doesn't believe in me?!" but he played pretty well this season and never once did I see any kind of signs of body language from him that would indicate any sort of disgruntledness... he, and most of the team seem very gruntled... probably just the right amount of gruntled. So maybe they reward him with a decent deal and then they can point to him as an example for other guys who have maybe had a similar career path.

From everything I've read, Milano is more of a quiet dude, leads by example. Edmunds is a captain so he has to push himself into a leadership role. Veteran guys like Alexander, Lotulelei, Hughes, etc. are probably seen as OG's in the locker room. Not all of them have the C on their jersey, but they're known in the locker room as guys who can get messages from the players to the coaches and vice versa. They act as kind of a bridge between the two. When you hear the media claim, "This coach has lost the locker room!" it basically means the OG guys have checked out. Communication breaks down, guys lose faith in the coaches, become skeptical of the culture, etc. I've heard Pat McAfee talk about this stuff a lot on his podcasts, pretty interesting.

Yeah, I see his stuff on IG sometimes. Seems like it's mostly song lyrics and him with new clothes/chains, or it's Bills/football related.

This is exactly why McDermott hired Fraser and McVay hired Phillips. Learn from those who have done it, smart.

I didn't see this posted yet so I thought I'd share. It's an article on The Athletic so it's behind a paywall but I'll cut and paste a few bits and pieces. Shaq Lawson - Joe predicts the Bills will get a long-term deal done with him before free agency. Quote... "Signing Lawson would benefit the Bills in a few ways. They would be rewarding a young, vocal leader who has grown immensely under their watch. They would also be sending a message through the locker room that it doesn’t matter whether a player was brought in under the current regime; hard work, a good attitude and production are more important to them." Jordan Phillips - Joe predicts Phillips will sign elsewhere during free agency, however... "It wouldn’t be a surprise if Phillips allows the Bills to match a contract offer he receives, but the Bills are in a good place. Oliver is a superior pass rusher and run defender to Phillips, and Harrison Phillips is on the way back. All the team needs is another low-cost, rotational piece to complete their four-person defensive tackle rotation and they should be able to make up for the loss of Jordan Phillips. If Phillips doesn’t find a long-term deal in free agency, the Bills should remain open to another one-year pact (though it seems unlikely his market falls flat after his jump in production). But, with so much already in place at the position, it makes sense for the Bills to use that money elsewhere." Quinton Spain - Predicts he will test free agency... "Spain was an above-average starter for the majority of the season and stood out as a run blocker. But it’s notable that the Bills chose to rest Feliciano, and not Spain, in Week 17 against the Jets. Feliciano provides the versatility that Spain does not. The Bills also have a team option on the second year of Long’s deal and could bring him back this offseason. Cody Ford could play a part in the Spain decision, as the Bills haven’t ruled out moving the second-round pick inside." Kevin Johnson - Predicts the Bills will give him a short-term deal... "Without any substantial money tied to the cornerback position right now, the Bills have the flexibility to bring Johnson back on a short-term deal. He would give the Bills a fringe starter and depth option, he fits their scheme, is a special teams contributor and can even play inside at nickel when they need it." He also adds that he believes the Bills will likely bring back some depth/special teams players, naming Dean Marlowe, Julian Stanford, Senorise Perry, and LaAdrian Waddle. I wouldn't be opposed to bringing Lawson back, but at a manageable deal. He might be looking for a payday, though, who knows. There were also some quotes from Beane in the article that seemed to allude to them knowing the likelihood of Jordan Phillips testing the market is high. He added that they have Harrison Phillips coming back and how he had been playing very well before his injury. JP had some splash plays but also seemed to disappear at times, and also seemed to be in the game when the struggles to stop the run would happen, so, we'll see what happens there. Kevin Johnson is solid depth, I'd bring him back. Spain played well down the stretch but they may feel they have a better option there if they decide to switch Ford over to guard full-time. Should be an interesting off-season.

I read it. I had to laugh at the "God's not gonna make the same mistake" thing, haha. Athletes and the lord, I guess I don't quite get it. But if you follow his IG or anything, you'd think he's part of some kinda alien-worship cult, always posting about how he's an alien and he's on StarShip14 and yadda, yadda, ya. Weird dude. Talented, not quite what people thought he'd be, though.

I don't see this as a big deal or a sign of him being immature. The start of that game yesterday definitely did not go how anyone anticipated, KC included. He was probably just more shell-shocked then anything, like, "What the hell's going on?" And I really never minded when he spoke out while he was here in Buffalo. He was on some teams that weren't the most "together" group of guys like we see now under McDermott. It was the Whaley era so it was a roster constructed without too much concern for how a guy was going to fit into their culture, if they even had one at that point. Him biting back at folks on Twitter is a little lame. It's kinda like the stories I've read of Mayfield and O'Brien chirping back at fans in the stands. It's football, and if you're the visiting team, you're the enemy. You're going to get booed, people are gonna say things, you'd think most players, especially a coach, would be able to tune it out.

I'd be surprised if he comes back. I'm sure he was hoping Seattle was going to make a run to the Super Bowl where he would've only had to play in three or four games to get there. Who knows if he wants to go through another full season.

You mean the dreaded Haynesworth-Dareus Syndrome?! Haha. I like big JP, he made some great plays this year and does fly off the tape every now and again. I feel like he kinda disappears at times, too, though. I wouldn't mind if they re-signed him. They'll have Harrison Phillips back as well and from the few games he played, it seemed like he was a better option against the run. So maybe rotate those two like that, let Harrison handle run downs and then see if they can't scheme up something to get JP loose on passing downs, I dunno. Just spitballin'.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's accurate. EJ had extra tutors through high school. I think I read that he had some difficulty in comprehension or whatever. I remember reading about that the week before the 2014 season opener. It was an article about how hard the guy works but also some of the stuff he's had to overcome. I remember seeing the part about his issues in school and thinking like, maybe that was why he had such a difficult time reading defenses.

It's not Marcus frickin' Mariota, I can tell youse that much.

I don't think it was that bad. It was probably on par with other teams and near the league average. It's just a lot more noticeable when it happens at really inopportune times, like say, late in OT in a playoff game and two defenders magically bounce off a quarterback. Dear football gods, smite Deshaun Watson, smite him! Oh, they did, look at that, blew a 24 point lead.

He's JAG. They probably thought they'd get a bit more out of him and have him mentor Knox and Sweeney (which I'm sure he does), but he got a bum foot so he was a bum all season. Except that time he caught a touchdown against the Steelers. But yeah, as others have said, I don't think there's a huge love-fest going on for the guy. He could be alright, definitely serviceable. Just depends on him staying healthy. Next season is Rambo's year, though.

Someone will overpay for him. Won't be Beane, but someone will.

It's the old switcheroo. Make everyone think you aren't interested and then bam, that's the guy they take. I kid, but that's actually how they ended up with Kiko. Totally different regime, I know, but I'm sure a lot of teams do that. They knew they liked Kiko from the the first game they scouted him at and then afterwards they made it seem like they had zero interest in him. I'm confident they'll find some offensive playmakers. And I hope they keep investing in the DL. Keep adding studs up front like San Francisco. I expect it, that's pretty much how they operated when they (McBeane) were in Carolina.

Just made a fan out of me. Contact balance is outstanding, runs over guys like a back, change of direction is crazy, yowza. Get this kid in Bills blue, Beanie!

What was his answer?

What about four Cole Beasley's and a partridge in a pear tree?

Ugh, it was the worst. 4th quarter started and I began thinking, "Alright, he's gonna turn it on now, 4th quarter is where he makes his money, flip that switch my man!" Alas, the switch remained unflipped. Sad trumpets. Lateral move for sure. And on a personal level for him, why would he uproot his family and truck three hours down the 90 to coach in Cleveland? His career has taken him a lot of places but he's coaching in his own backyard now. I highly doubt anything less than an offer for a HC job would make him leave here.

I had to turn it off pretty quickly as well, the commentary, not the game. According to Booger, every play was the result of the other team breaking down in some fashion. "Great run by Singletary!" "Well, Joe, again, poor tackling, look at this guy over here, he's 15 yards away and misses the tackle, he should be ashamed!" I just can't stand commentary in general anymore.