Blank Stare

I’d venture to guess your work with the black community doesn’t involve telling them you are against Black Lives Matter. No, that little diddy is just for us special folk here.

Agreed dude. I try to share that link with anyone I can. It’s wild stuff. I think regardless of which side of the fence you’re on with this issue, no one considers themselves a sucker. But that’s exactly what we’ve all been. Duped. It’s no wonder this issue touches a nerve with so many. Years and years (and years) of conditioning. That’s why it’s SO important we continue to educate ourselves on things like this.

This all day. I posted about this last week. Here is the cliff notes version for anyone not wanting to do the leg work: https://mobile.twitter.com/clairewillett/status/1266894029498675200 It’s a long twitter thread, but a fascinating read.

I agree. Or even coaching for that matter. Say what you will about Harbaugh at Michigan, but the guy was a damn good NFL coach. Worst season record was his last at 8-8. Coaching matters folks. Kaepernick was still developing when Harbaugh left. Who knows what his trajectory would’ve been if Harbs stuck around. Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly were awful.

Damn shame we FINALLY have a roster to compete and make a real run at this thing, and this damn coronavirus is threatening the season (yes, I know football doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things). As Bills fans, we truly can’t have nice things.

This is absolutely a fair question to ask. Whether it’s genuine or not, I appreciate you asking it. The short answer is, no, I have not done enough. No one has. And that has to change. Im man enough to admit it and I’m committed to addressing my failures. With respect to how you demonstrate your patriotism, I’ve got no problem with you (or anyone else) feeling compelled to honor the great men and women of our military by standing for the flag/anthem. But the flag represents an ideal. One that quite frankly, we’ve never fully achieved. Certainly, not for people of color. Anyone who is still having the kneel or stand for the flag conversation, or is upset by anyone choosing to do the opposite of what they choose to do, is completely missing the point. And I’m sorry, but that completely baffles me because people have to try really hard not to get it. Harder than they would have to try than if they just accepted the reality of the situation.

My last posts were damn near 24 hours apart. That long enough for you? I’ve read many of these posts in this thread, and the only yapping I see is coming from you and people like you. Right on brand.

Great question, but be careful what you ask for with that question on here. You’ll feel the full wrath of the resident Drew Brees’es. The “well my grandaddy served and I’m steaming mad about this” crowd. It’s sad after all this people would rather spend all this time and energy fighting and deflecting vs. stopping to actually listen and ask themselves whether we have a legitimate race problem in this country.

I’m part of the problem? ? Ok, guy. There’s that white fragility kicking in. Like I said, history has eyes for people like you. Enjoy that life!

No, I’m pretty sure I know. But, if I’m wrong and you’re not white (and that’s possible), then you’ve got bigger problems than arguing with me on a message board.

Gee, thanks for throwing a bone. That’s mighty white of ya! It’s sad you think one black president makes up for 400 years of oppression. One who continues to be undermined by his successor and droves of white people to this day. Rolling back any progress he was able to make. In fact, it’s another example of what happens whenever black folks taste a little success in this country. And you said I had no idea if I was talking to someone white, Black, Hispanic, or Asian. ?? Oh, and by the way, it’s not just me who feels the Merriam Webster definition needs a little updating. I know it’s not Fox News like you’re used to but here you go if you care to read it: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/06/09/us/dictionary-racism-definition-update-trnd/index.html (now that’s a mic drop ?)

The true definition of racism - not the one white people cling to in Merriam Webster - is when prejudice meets power. People of color can absolutely be prejudiced, but name one time in US history they’ve ever held a position of power over the white majority. I’ll wait...

What’s any of that got to do with acknowledging systemic racism and injustice for people of color in this country? History has its eyes on you and every other person who is butt hurt over this movement.

This sensitive subject gives whitey an upset tummy. Shocking as it may be, people still don’t get it.

For anyone still on the fence about the pervasiveness of racial inequality in this country, I encourage you to do a little research on Fred Hampton, the Black Panthers, and a little gem called COINTELPRO under J. Edgar Hoover. It’s not the first example in US History, but explains a lot about how we got to where we are today psychologically. For anyone looking for the cliff notes version: https://mobile.twitter.com/clairewillett/status/1266894029498675200 They sure as hell don’t teach you that in the history books. At least not where I’m from. We’ve been conditioned for a long time to react the way we do to these situations. It’s time we wake up, acknowledge it, educate ourselves, and become part of the solution.

Good first step.

Thanks. I wasn’t sure based on Gelber’s wording. Would’ve been interesting if Josh had been throwing to both. Again, not because I want AB. Just interesting.

Anyone see Gelber’s response to someone asking about AB? He said “He worked out with AB yesterday”. Wonder who he was talking about Allen or Diggs. Not at all advocating for AB, but an interesting comment in light of last year. Anyway, good to see him getting in work with the guys. Especially Diggs.

I’d replace Murphy with him in a second, but I think it’s pretty telling he’s lasted this long and we haven’t shown interest with the Leslie Frazier connection.

In my mind, cap management is a given. A constant. However, keeping everyone you want to keep is different than keeping everyone you wish you could. You always hear the GM/coach-speak “Boy, we’d really like to keep everyone”. Obviously, you can’t. But you can prioritize cap dollars for anyone you truly want to keep around. It comes with drafting successful players. Time always tells whether you made the right call with your cap allocation choices. Texans and Niners absolutely could’ve kept Hopkins and Buckner around, but they decided to allocate their cap dollars elsewhere. The organization didn’t look at it as a strong enough “want”. Again, when I say you can keep anyone you desire, I said nothing of the consequences. How strong is the desire? ? Yes, bad example. Rather than running from it and delete it, I’m comfortable just making the edit and acknowledging that mistake. It happens. Agree. Bad example to use.

I don’t think we are in fundamental disagreement, but I think you may be misinterpreting my comment. Of course they won’t keep everyone, but they can figure out a way to keep anyone they really want to keep. Will that come with sacrifices to other areas to make it work with the cap? Sometimes. But they, like any other team, can keep anyone they really want to keep. I said nothing of the potential consequences for who they choose to keep. I’m constantly reminded of the Saints with this topic. Years ago, we heard a lot of “They are up against the cap, there’s no way they can sign Jairus Byrd or X player without the cap catching up to them.” All these years later the Saints have remained competitive and kept most of their core players together. Besides GM and coaching staff continuity, the most successful teams are able to identify their franchise QB, keep core players, infuse the roster with cheap young talent, and effectively manage the cap. The Saints have all of those things in spades and have never really had to “pay the piper”. Look, I get it. As Bills fans we aren’t accustomed to a competent GM and coaching staff, but we finally have that folks. It can be done. Enjoy the ride! Edit: I just looked up the Saints record the last 10 years or so, and yes, they had a few 7-9 seasons sprinkled in there. No one is more familiar with 7-9 than we are, so maybe not the best example I could’ve used. But, even in those 7-9 years I never remember them being flat out terrible. Plus, with the Falcons and Carolina, they were in some pretty tough divisional matchups.

They can make the cap work to re-sign any player they desire.

This is completely fair and I don’t blame you after the misguided moves made by the previous regime. If we were picking #9 again this year, I would’ve been completely against trading that pick for Diggs. As good as he is, you don’t trade top 10 picks for anything other than QBs. Fortunately, I think the Bills would’ve also been out for that price since we could’ve had our pick of any of the top WRs. It’s crazy what a difference 13 picks makes on how I view a deal. Either 9 or 22, it’s nothing more than lotto tickets. Diggs is still a proven great player, but I wouldn’t trade the #9 pick.

Right on ?. Innocent mistake. It happens and I’m not usually that guy.

*Dante Fowler And, yes I agree. People (not on this board but in the media) were getting all worked up because of what we gave up for Diggs. Based on where we were picking, I’ll take the proven commodity all day. Especially at a position of desperation and on a reasonable deal (comparatively speaking).