WideNine

The thought had crossed my mind

That would be motivational for those too stubborn to take responsible measures to limit risks. Regardless, this is going to be an odd year... and as much as I love this time of year and feel like the heavens opened and gave me something to enjoy, i have to think of the long-term safety of players and their families too. We will see how this plays out and if they are able to keep a lid on it.

Yet Fox continues to lead the pack with the least well-informed audience. Study after study shows Fox News strategy of pandering to the dumb works. Fox as a network has some good venues, just find their news and commentary to be as irresponsible as the left-wing nuts. Wallace was a good hire, and although conservative, he does not blindly just follow the cult of Trump. http://m.digitaljournal.com/news/politics/fox-news-viewers-tend-to-be-less-informed-says-new-study/article/433762 Just one study, there are plenty of others.

Interesting logic to point out the alleged wide-spread fallacy of media reporting Trumps many failures of leadership, then leverage a media report to cast Biden in a negative light. Howie Carr, an objective source no less. I personally think both are slipping, but one is an angry despotic conspiracy-spreading flat-earther who just got punched in the nose by the virus he both downplayed and encouraged his sycophants to irresponsibly spread, the other is sleepy... No small wonder one is leading in the polls. Folks are tired of Trump's childish antics and nonsense.

Trump knows how to launder money... I believe it was the family way with Fred for years with real estate shell companies and for Trump later with real estate and casinos. Both are good businesses to use to launder money...is it any wonder why Nevada also has very lax LLC laws. Don't fool yourself into believing Trump just stumbled onto the concept because if you do, you may be trying too hard to believe in the public image he has worked to create and not the reality of how Trump does business on the back end. Don Sr. was the top dog at Trump Org. till he passed it along to Eric and Don Jr. to avoid direct emolument charges... it would be a stretch that Trump would be unaware of shady money-making operations - if they are proven to exist. Corporate Privacy in Deleware: Local laws offer confidentiality by shielding the identities and personal information of privately held corporate business owners from public record. Even when business owners file incorporation papers, the state only requires filing the name of the entity and the name and address of the registered agent. Additionally, Delaware doesn't require the names and addresses of LLC members and managers to be made public. There are likely plenty of connected politicians hiding their wealth and the source of their wealth through similar tax havens, shelters, and LLC mechanisms. It does not make it right, and similar to the lax laws governing Super PACs and 501C4s and their ability to hide sources of donor money, these entities not only provide the means to hide money they also create excellent points of entry for foreign and corporate interests to funnel dark money into businesses and campaigns tied to political figures. All law enforcement can do is follow the money, but the Supreme Court screwed the pooch with Citizens United, and subsequent efforts to fix campaign finance laws. It is odd to setup so many LLCs in a place that offers the ability to hide the company members and officers, and it is odd for Trump to look into his Presidential pardon powers and propose in 2018 that he could pardon himself of crimes. Odd does not mean crime, but I lean towards not getting my hopes up that he or his boys are clean.

Feigned ignorance about your finances is not innocence. One could argue (probably successfully) that the way Trump Org was setup to obfuscate finances was a premeditated and deliberate act. I will never understand the cult-like devotion people have for politicians and crooks. Like they have a genetic need to worship another human; To stand in crowds and chant or wave banners or yell Heil mein Fuhrer! Where nationalism starts down a slippery slope of thinking in terms of "real Americans" and the amorphous enemy. If they just can't help themselves they should look for their hero figures somewhere other than DC politics. Like when the Dems grandstand roasting some cancer drug company's CEO for arbitrary price gouging, yet the big political donors to both sides (JJ, Pfizer, Bayer, etc.) do the exact same thing on a grander scale costing tax payers billions in medical costs subsidizing their for-profit industries and nothing happens to them and business goes on as usual. It is a show to appease the ignorant masses using a less politically connected scape goat into thinking real change is happening... As far as I know Federal law still currently prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from negotiating prescription drug prices. Only Congress has the power to change this law. So we have this big bag of tax money and rather than negotiate how much we are willing to pay these companies like the EU and everyone else does we just hand it over... Follow the money. We hang the petty thieves and elect the great ones to office. Aesop

The District of Southern Manhatten's subpoena is not just for Trump's taxes which I assumed were filed the way they were to evade taxes - no surprise to me, they also are seeking to dig deeper into the Trump Org's financial records from Mazars USA particularly tracing the funds flowing through it's roughly 500 LLCs. What do these have in common? Trump Foundation Charity Trump Victory Fund They were both indicted for fraud and misappropriation of funds. Regarding the LLCs https://www.nbcnews.com/business/taxes/what-trump-s-disclosure-his-500-llcs-can-can-t-n874391 Not sure why they are slow-walking the investigation. One generally does not create a bevy of LLCs in states with lax reporting laws or shell companies in countries that do not disclose to the US unless they are trying to hide income, the source of income, and evade laws and taxes. I can only guess that they likely do not want the constitutional mess of criminally charging a sitting President. What a cluster * our government has become since Citizen's United...too many of them on both sides of the isle are simply bought and dirty. I think there also could be some connections to many large Manhatten real estate deals, Trump Org, and Prevezon Holdings a shell company used by wealthy Russians trying to launder money to get around the Magnitsky Act. Folks should educate themselves on Magnitsky...poor bastard. Russia has a very low survival rate for honest men and whistle blowers. The Southern District was very active in that case and some may remember the news of Nikolai Gorokhov, a witness in the Prevezon Holdings case getting tossed out of the 4th floor of his apartment bldg. 8 other Russians identified and involved in this case died in mysterious and violent circumstances. Follow the money, then follow the money. That is all investigators can do. The swamp is alive and well.

Ol' Mel can be off more than his hair will ever be, but he was high on Allen and was taking plenty of heat for it. So many intangibles go into a raw QB with potential transforming into a legit NFL franchise QB... I was thinking back to Brady's mentoring and how he learned the game at the feet of Charlie Weis and how he ran the Erhardt-Perkins and later the Air-Erhardt offense with motion formations, multiple receiver sets, and empty backfields and now if you think about it, much of that offensive philosophy is in Daboll's system that Allen is absorbing and putting into practice on the field. He is in a great place to grow and so many things could have gone differently in the 2018 draft..... if the Browns had not gone Mayfield, and the Giants had not gone the Saquon route, and the Jets had not taken Darnold, and if Indy had any inkling that Luck was planning on retiring right before their 2019 training camp. It is like all of our Bills bad Karma just rolled to a stop and the universe tipped the scales in the other direction just enough for Beane and company to be able to get the QB they wanted. Going back and listening to Beane's early comments about Allen in this 2018 post draft interview - damn, we have a very good GM folks. He may even be smarter than math itself

This is fair. There are plenty of so-called draft experts out there and analysts that have shows and/or followers, but most scouting reports were high on Allen's potential and did not really sugar-coat that he was a project. Just to show the disparity between a scouting approach and a draft analyst/commentator's approach - I just picked two at random. It is interesting what scouts focus on vs analysts... my opinionated take is that those who are more analysts and media personalities love to quote numbers, but numbers without context are not very meaningful. If you just look at the numbers, Allen has thrown an interception this year. Draft analyst - Allen mostly red flags: https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/4/2/16913670/josh-allen-wyoming-nfl-draft-college-schedule-strength-opponents Scout assessment from Dave-Te Thomas back in 2018: https://www.bigblueview.com/2018/4/21/17264242/nfl-draft-report-josh-allen-cream-of-quarterback-crop-2018-nfl-draft-sam-darnold-josh-rosen

I am going for the waaay over (the top) Allen comes out laser focused and the Raiders cannot stop him or Singletary in a windless dome and our defense does the usual 2nd half meltdown. Our defense has not shown they can shut a team down in the 2nd half, so until they do... Raiders tack on (2) 2-point conversions as Gruden sees we have been giving those away and goes for it to try to close the gap with our offense. Edmunds gets to Carr on a rare blitz and Carr turns the ball over early in the 2nd quarter. McD is spotted wearing something blue.... I could go on and on Bills 38-32

Read the whole thing - love the enthusiasm. Keep it coming. Don't sweat the folks that tell you you have to post in tweet-sized bites, life is a banquet not a damn happy-meal. To each their own and it's all good! Most of us long-suffering Bills fans have earned the right to crow from the roof tops - been a long drought. If there is a char limit on talking about how great Allen has been, and how good it is to have a QB and offense like we have today then I have yet to hit it - and lord knows I've tried

Uncharted territory for the NFL... I would think if there are enough players on the Titans who have quarantined and not tested positive then the NFL may waive some rules around how many guys they can call up from reserves to fill out their roster, or they could go the forfeit route. If they are following NFLPA guidance then contact-tracing should not be that hard, but if they weren't... Players and teams have to be smarter. I am still a bit PO'd at the Raiders and hope their stupidity is not literally contagious.

A few decades before my time, but RIP Mack.

He is the real deal. Give him some weapons and he is going to be a force in the NFL. It is all about staying healthy in the NFL too, I have seen some great natural talents flame out due to early injuries and off-field issues. Handling the big money and spotlight of the NFL affects different players different ways. Some do well, some not-so-much, but Lawrence is kind of the anti-Allen. This is a guy that has been groomed to play QB and as such he should have a shorter learning curve. Lawrence is a big dude at 6-6 220 and has some wheels too - had over 400 yards rushing last year on 77 attempts last year so he can run to the sticks to extend drives. He has that ability to keep his eyes downfield and slide around the pocket to create space, buy time, and drop dimes all over the field. Would prefer he end up in some other division rather than on a team we would play twice, but no sense worrying about that and the NFL is shaping up to be pretty entertaining with the play of their recent crop of QBs and the elite vets that are stepping up. Who knows, if the jets do have the first pick and are targeting Lawrence he may just opt to stay in Clemson another year.... I would not blame him, but he has been on record before saying he would like to leave school early for the NFL.

My thoughts too. I am suspicious of this dedication to losing that the Jets' ownership seems committed to embracing this season. This smells like a tank process decision. Let's just let this train wreck play out. We can then jettison Gase and Williams, trade Darnold to a .500 team that is missing a QB piece of the puzzle for picks, bring in our preferred coach and either pick Lawrence because we will be at the top of the draft, or have the picks needed to trade up to number 1 to take him.... let the rebuild begin.

That is certainly part of the equation, but there are outliers. A stable diet of Gase is close to being proven to be bad for QB development. Just saying. Have to have the right coaching support and retain them.

Rogers in the league for 15 years and Wilson for 8... so Allen in just his 3rd year is in good company with those guys who have worked hard at their craft. Mahomes deep ball completion percentage is abysmal in that list so thinking he is riding on reputation. Ryan has always had a sweet long ball, and nice to see Teddy getting some love after such a rocky start to his pro career. Not knocking Goff too much, but just 5 deep passes, but he is 5 for 5 and when he is given time he gets that ball in there... would like to see him have to do that without having such a squeaky-clean pocket. That sounds probably a bit small, but I just think Allen is able to do more with pass-pro breaking down around him. There have been numerous QBs that if you could keep them clean and on their feet they could tear you up. Maybe I am just a bit jealous of that Rams offensive line that has really come together so well for them and frustrated at how hard it is to defend their play action/jet sweep option offense. Either way, they are sneaking Allen into the conversation more and more to he is getting props for his progress.

I thought at a minimum he would have a deep bruise and hyper extended knee... lucky it does not appear to be anything worse. And yeah, not the smartest play, but I think a lot of our guys around the d-line are playing a bit desperate, sometimes out of position, and too often over their heads trying to beat blocking schemes. We either need some infusion of talent so folks can go back to playing positionally-sound football in our existing scheme, or scheme up a new way to ensure the guys we have are in positions where they can be effective with their assignments. I feel like they are pressing, and when players are pressing and trying to do too much, that is when the injuries start to pile up.

Like a duck... calm on the surface and paddling like mad underneath. He has certainly taken a page out of Belichick's book of non-answer answers that are definitely not what the players are going to hear in their film sessions. I do miss the pressers with our more humorous coaches of yore like Wade, but the strategy of keeping everything close to the vest seems to work more often than not. Especially in our division where there are teams that go to great lengths to obtain any competitive edge.

Even if we did go 9-7 I would not place that all on Allen. The defense has regressed and needs to get healthier, Allen is putting up elite numbers and if that is not enough to get the wins then the problems are elsewhere. I think the rebuild that Beane envisioned is moving towards the stage of locking up key pieces to longer deals. Not really anything knee-jerk, just the next phase of rebuilding a franchise, and I don't think it is a stretch to think that Allen is one of those key pieces.

Earning it. My recommendation is to lock him up as a Bill for life.... a real long-term deal that spreads out the hit and allows Beane to surround him with a decent supporting cast. Also would signal to Allen, you ARE our franchise QB.

Everyone always leans towards the flashy DE's, but I think in our defense, with the issues we have had we go for an impact DT if one is graded high enough to warrant the pick. We need that guy who not only anchors the d-line, but can get push on the pocket. Someone like that makes everyone else better, frees Oliver to be the disruptive force he can be from the interior, frees our ends because if forces QBs off their spot and they have to slide left or right. And it creates the room for LBs to stay clean and fill the gaps to attack the run.

I think Darnold has flashed some elite ability - especially his first year. Belichick made him see ghosts, but Allen fared only marginally better against the defensive goat. If Darnold continues to regress that makes two QBs under Gase's tutelage that have regressed when you look how Tannehill is doing in a system that emphasizes what he does well as a QB. It starts with raw skill and there are plenty of measurables for those, then I believe a player has to be in the right situation to grow and mold those skills. Allen once reminded reporters "I am in NY". I am not certain Allen has the progress he has made if he ended up with that NJ team, with organizational turmoil, under Gase, subjected to brutal NYC media and scrutiny. He is where he needed to be, and we are fortunate that McBeane saw the skill and was willing to gradually build a supporting cast, emphasizing organizational continuity and supportive mentoring that provided the fertile ground for him to begin to realize his potential. Of course Allen had to put in the work and show progress too.

Phil Simms had an interesting take on Rosen pre-draft. Said he did not move enough, did not sense pressure in the pocket and move to create time and throwing lanes. He did not say that he could not learn these things, but that it was not part of his toolbox coming in and that successful QBs all had this ability. He said that Allen had this ability and although Rosen may have a fast start, there was a good chance that Allen would overtake him performance-wise. I am paraphrasing, but you get the gist. I also thought Rosen was more polished as a passer, but a bit of a statue with an exaggerated throwing motion... thought he would be a sack magnet and he was not built to take a lot of hits. I did not think he would flame out in Arizona as quickly as he did, but thought he would get pummeled and injured.

They need to just stop saying things like "although he missed a pair of open receivers"... that just falls flat for me when they start out with some lame way of trying to justify their past positions. Every QB, even those considered elite, have errant passes. None elicit the level of scrutiny of Allen and that needs to stop. Just accept that even great QBs miss some layups over the course of a game , it happens all the time, and don't use a different means of measuring just for Allen. It has been their overwhelming application of confirmation-bias focusing on the few mistakes that has led them down the path of missing the bigger picture of his growth as an elite NFL QB with some physical skills that are off the charts. Not that there are not things for Allen to work on, but his attitude of wanting to be the best and continuing to improve his craft leave me less worried about slack and complacency setting in.