SoTier

You were able to fire her, just not have her be denied unemployment. That's an entirely different issue.

Sorry, dude, but as of the 2010 US Census, 80.7% of the US population lives in urban areas. More than 66% of North Carolinians lived in urban areas in 2010.

That's probably more company policy than state law. In my working days, I worked in both the private and public sector, so I've seen both sides. The key to terminating employees who are not doing their jobs or who have time/attendance issues or whatever, is to build a good case. That means keeping a log documenting the employee's incidents of poor work, poor attendance, trouble in the workplace as well as your efforts to correct the situation. Document, document, document.

It's not very hard to fire employees in New York, particularly for non-union employers. AFAIK, the only New York employees who have protection from firing without just cause are unionized employees and those protected by Civil Service law.

That's a naive statement. There can be "issues like this" on any team because teams can't control whom their players form relationships with. Moreover, it takes two people to have a relationship, and sometimes people who are attracted to one another may not necessarily be good partners for one another outside of the bedroom. Plus, there's always a possibility that people can develop psychological issues over time or start to abuse drugs or alcohol. Some people, male and female, are really good at figuring out what pushes their significant others' buttons -- and get their jollies doing so. I'm not making excuses for any guy who hits a woman, but volatile domestic situations are not always the guy's fault, so you can't sanctimoniously blame a lack of "good moral leadership" on the part of the team when they erupt.

That's YOUR take. The ratings say differently.

If you don't like it, then don't watch. The NFL in 2018 was exciting. There was the rise of young superstars like Mahomes and "super offenses"like the Chiefs, Rams, and Saints early in the season, and then toward the end of the season, there came the resurrection of teams that had been left of dead earlier in the season: Houston (0-3), Indy (1-5), Baltimore, and Philly. Plus Baker Mayfield made the Cleveland Browns exciting and relevant, Matt Nagy took the Bears from worst to first, and Andrew Luck returned from injury to be the QB he was supposed to be when he was drafted. Not only were teams playing for playoff spots right up to the final Sunday, the last playoff berth was determined in the very last game, #256, on Sunday night, not to mention that lots of individual games were edge-of-your-seat back and forth contests like that awesome 54-51 Monday nighter between the Rams and Chiefs.

LOL. McDermott and Beane have spent their first two years "tearing down" without adding much top young NFL caliber talent except for a promising young QB and a MLB and a young DB and LT who did not progress all that well in their sophomore seasons, so what is there to "finish up"? It's more like these clowns need to START building an NFL caliber team because except for Allen, Edmunds, White, and Dawkins, most of the young players are fringe or even non-NFL starting caliber players while almost all of the players with genuine NFL talent are older or even at the end of their careers. The Bills need to rebuild their entire offense except for QB. They need to get younger and better on defense. Nothing McDermott and/or Beane have done so far would indicate that they are capable of doing one or the other, much less both, in a single off season -- or five more. Ah, yes, the "moral victory" excuse for crappy coaching! Except that the Bills didn't play that well all season long. Seven of their losses were blow outs. Penalties and poor red zone defense were problems all year long. They lost a close game to Houston with DeShaun Watson hampered by a partially collapsed lung. They beat Tennessee when Mariota was limited by his recurring elbow injury. They thumped the Jests with McKown playing for Darnold, and got spanked by the Jests when Darnold played. The Bills did beat the Carp twice -- once without Tannehill and in the season ender when Miami was clearly in "run for the play" mode even before the game started. They were uncompetitive against Green Bay, Indy, and New England twice. Your Bills-colored glasses need a good cleaning.

Why does he "need to STFU"? IMO, you should follow your own advice. As a former NFL player and now as a media professional who works in the media in close contact with current NFL players and other pro football professionals, Burleson is in a much better position to have a valid opinion on the role of race in how coaches/execs are evaluated/hired/fired than some bigoted message board nazi who thinks refusing to discuss race matters will make them disappear.

Indy significantly upgraded their OL since Luck got hurt with Nelson being the crowning piece, the result being that their franchise QB not only has stayed mostly upright but he has played just like he was expected to play when they drafted him but never had because he was always running for his life or hurrying his throws. QBs -- and other players --- can get hurt on almost any play, but having a good OL is about the best insurance policy a team can have. The Bills have 10 draft picks in 2019. If they are serious about developing Allen into a franchise QB and not just using him as an excuse to cover their own incompetence in figuring out how to build a competitive NFL team, they should draft at least 2 OLers, including at least one from Day One or Day Two (rounds 1-3). With the salary cap, teams can't afford to sign more than 1 quality OLer through FA, and top OLers -- if they even hit free agency -- tend to cost only somewhat less than QBs and pass rushers. Consequently, teams need to develop their own young OLers through the draft, so taking a good prospect in rounds 1-3 and another later is a good strategy. Luckily, OL is one unit where it's possible to truly find "diamonds in the rough" on Day 3.

Just because you're a McDermott cheerleader doesn't mean everyone is. I've considered McDermott (and his pardnuh Beane) incompetent since he named Nate Peterman the starter for the season opener. They should both be gone. His -- and Beane's -- handling of the QB situation is more than adequate grounds for sending both packing.

In the AFC, I'm rooting for the Chiefs as well as the Colts if they make the playoffs by beating the Titans. In the NFC, I'm rooting for the Saints and the Seahawks. They have long been two of my favorite NFC teams. If Philly somehow manages to make the playoffs, will root for the Eagles unless they're playing the Saints or Seahags.

Excellent post. Overdorf has been and still is, AFAIK, the supposed "cap genius" for the Bills for the past decade -- and a key piece in Russ Brandon's "money ball" approach to running the Bills. The Bills are still playing "money ball" with the McDermott-Beane regime but now with incompetent talent evaluation. The current regime is simply a reprise of the Jauron/Levy regime from 2006-2008.

The truth hurts for cheerleaders like yourself.

Who's fault is it that the team is "undertalented"???? It's McDermott who was in charge of personnel decisions since some time before the 2017 draft, so the reason the team is so lacking in NFL talent is squarely on him. He ran the 2017 draft. He decided that he didn't need/want Watkins or Dareus or Taylor or Brown or Glenn. He decided to pass on Patrick Mahomes and DeShaun Watson and he had to had have Zay Jones and Tremaine Edmunds so much that he traded up for them while players like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Leighton Vander Esche, and Darius Leonard were all available when the Bills original trade spot came up. Aside from Tre White and Matt Milano, none of the 2017 draft class have been NFL starting caliber players by the end of their second year. The only reason that Jones and Dawkins are starting for the Bills is because the Bills do not have NFL caliber talent on offense except for RB (McCoy and Ivory), TE (Clay), and QB (Allen). While Allen has looked promising as a rookie, the rest of the 2018 draft class so far has been unimpressive, including the much-touted Edmunds. The team's lack of talent, which is squarely McDermott's fault for a string of poor personnel decisions, simply obscures McDermott's incompetence. First and foremost, he doesn't recognize the importance of natural talent and is unwilling to accommodate it (as in the cases of Watkins and Dareus, and possibly Incognito). He also rigidly attempts to fit square pegs in round holes. Both Dawkins and Edmunds have struggled because they may not be physically suited to play the positions McDermott wants them to play. The entire debacle with the blocking schemes for the OL in 2017 and the entire Nathan Peterman saga were both examples of McDermott's philosophy over reality. Training and hard work can not overcome all physical and/or mental limitations. Second, McDermott's teams have appeared to be too unprepared and too undisciplined too often over the last two seasons. They have been blown out much too often, and in several games, the final score doesn't reflect how badly the team was out played from the opening kickoff. It has come out "flat" on numerous occasions. Third, the handling of the QB situation in 2018 should get both Beane and McDermott fired. Why is a WR coach "coaching" a supposed future franchise QB? Why the hell does Matt Barkley merit being given a two year extension to "mentor" Allen? Allen needs a real QB coach not a confident. The Bills need a solid backup QB not a street FA turned backup QB/pseudo-coach! Then there's the whole stupid Peterman and Anderson comedy act. But, hey, John, keep those convenient excuses for McDermott (and his henchman Beane) coming, although you might want to come up with some new ones for 2019 when your boys continue their pursuit of making the Bills even more irrelevant than they've been for the last two decades.

I seriously doubt it. Philosophically, McDermott's much more a defensive HC like Dick Jauron than Bill Belichick or Pete Carroll -- even Ron Rivera.

Keep telling yourself that. Too many current Bills players, especially on offense and including some starters, don't belong on an NFL roster -- and won't be on one unless the Bills bring them back.

I got a better idea ... fire McDermott and his crew, especially QB David Culley, and hire an experienced NFL HCfor 2019 rather than waste another year of Allen's career ... and pack Beane off, too.

Succinct ... and absolutely correct. My guess is that many of the Bills offensive players, including some that are starters, probably won't be in the league in 2019.

The offense is putrid and has been putrid in the past. Nothing new there. What is so discouraging, this year and for the future, is that so many key players on so many playoff teams are former Bills who were sent packing by the current regime or were available for the current regime to draft and the Bills passed on them for lesser players. I'm not going to list them all but one of them is a leading candidate for league MVP. Moreover, the team is so talent deprived and lacking in the ability to evaluate talent, most especially on offense, that they simply aren't going to be able to acquire enough good talent to compete with the best of the NFL in the foreseeable future despite having a pretty good looking QB prospect in Josh Allen.

I totally agree. Fans whining about good Bills players being "ignored" by the Pro Bowl selectors obviously don't watch other teams. The best players on the 2018 would likely be JAGs on any of the current playoff teams in either conferences. Fans expecting the Bills to become real contenders for the playoffs in 2019 are in for a rude awakening. Talent counts, and McDermott/Beane haven't shown that they can recognize talent, much less figure out how to acquire it to build a successful NFL roster. Bull manure. The Bills that made the Pro Bowl for the Bills last season are either not on the roster or didn't have good years.

The Pouncey twins both made the Pro Bowl, too. DeCastro suffered a knee injury in a preseason against the Bills IIRC, so he missed his entire rookie season, but he's been better than any guard the Bills have had during that period except for Incognito.

I'm not sure what some fans expected. The offense is filled with non-NFL caliber players -- even before injuries. Allen, McCoy, Ivory, Clay, Jones, Dawkins, and maybe Bodine are probably the only bonafide NFLers on offense, and most wouldn't be starters. Defense has better talent but no truly outstanding much less dominating players. Except for Hauschka -- who didn't get an opportunity to play in a significant game -- most of the Bills ST shouldn't even be on any NFL roster.

I bought it in 1963, which was the year it came out I think. Of course it was mono because I was thirteen and all I had was a "record player" to play mostly 45s (as opposed to a "stereo" which back in that day was an expensive piece of furniture like a TV).

I voted for "Meet the Beatles" ... I think it was the first record album I bought ... and I wore the vinyl out and eventually had to buy a new copy several years later.