WideNine

Fauci did not know, and no one knows for sure as China will not release actual records and probably never will.... now. Fauci and others knew that the best way to get investigators into China with boots on the ground where they can dig for more info was not to go public and shame them right out of the gate. It serves no purpose in getting to the truth as they would just lock down the area and access to interviews and records so yes Timmy, there is a political component to serving in an official capacity as a health services representative of our government. I have always said that a lab leak is a plausible theory (you can search my earliest post on this topic). Although still not proven, is has always (in my mind) been as viable a source for the pandemic as a wet-market zoonotic leap. Those "lab leaks" have happened in the past with SARs and other viruses being studied and there is not a clear match for viral Covid-19 DNA signature in tested animals to date as was found with Camels in the case of MERS. Add to that logic the fact that they were studying very similar viruses at the Wuhan lab, they were using lax protection protocols, and like many others they seemed unaware of the danger of aerosol transmission and asymptomatic spreading. To my way of thinking a lab worker could have easily been infected and interacted with people for weeks before falling noticeably ill so of course any person (not in a position to be a spokesperson for the US government) would have to consider a lab leak as a plausible possibility. This is not anything new, and does nothing to absolve Trump and our government's abysmal handling of the pandemic once Pandora's box was opened. Pointing the finger at China and their handling of the whole affair did not serve much of a purpose other than deflecting from the US lack of preparedness and clumsy response and was effective at getting China to purge records and lock up the smoking guns. I do think Trump was brutally if not clumsily honest about the WHO being too cozy with China - the same could be said of a lot of organizations where China pours money into them to buy influence. Personally, I still lean towards lab leak even sans definitive proof just because of the circumstantial evidence and Occam's razor.

What is it with you guys and Fauci? but...but in March he said masks don't work. Over a a year later bombshell... in March he said masks don't work. Probably not a one of you have ever read the 20 year old guidance on how viruses can spread as an aerosol or how Covid-19 upended that standard. Covid-19 is a Novel Coronavirus. Do you know what that means? What does “novel” mean in medicine and virology? The word “novel” originated from the Latin word “novus,” which means “new.” In medicine, “novel” usually refers to a virus or bacterial strain that was not previously identified. COVID-19 is a new disease, caused by the novel, or new, coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that was not previously seen in humans. Doctors go with precedent till new information becomes available, that is a core practice for medical guidance and FDA approvals. It is dumb to keep beating this drum, and blaming a guy who was working with limited knowledge and changing guidance as more was discovered about how the virus spread, it's morphology, and its lethality. It was recently discovered that Covid-19 attacks juvenile red blood cells, our adult red blood cells only live for about 120 days, this attack by Covid caused the body to produce more juvenile red blood cells. What did that mean? Well juvenile red blood cells cannot efficiently carry oxygen and they suppress the immune system. This specific way that Covid attacks individuals explained why doctors were seeing patients dying of hypoxemia even when being given oxygen. A new discovery just this past month for a novel virus that will lead to different guidance and protocols. I know, the science and facts will make your brain explode 😂

On this we can agree, but knowing there are idiots out there that may take stupid or violent actions based on the false or distorted information you knowingly publish does make you culpable; although 1st amendment rights seem to stretch a long ways to cover slander and libel before settling into defamation.

Good point. Begs the question though... has Trump or any of the "adults" in the GOP taken any responsibility for their own actions leading up to the insurrection?

They should, as I believe CNN is just as culpable peddling divisive sensationalism rather than journalism too. But being dumb and easily swayed by distorted "truths" is a common thing in the US and apparently not a valid defense for doing stupid ***** in court. And this great nation also likes to toss guns at the dumb and mentally ill for fun to see how they responsibly use their rights. If you are looking for a far-left rioting sympathizer here, you are not going to find one. There are state laws against rioting and there are federal laws against bashing down the doors of Congress and trying to overturn our government. Both illegal, both punishable, but one is on an exponentially different level of stupid.

You're being obtuse. Not sure if it is purposeful ignorance that folks use to shield their brains from harsh truths or the subconscious variety. No, OK. He heard on Fox "news" a barrage of far-fetched and ridiculous election fraud lies and conspiracies designed to wind up the dumb and went along with all the rest of the slow-blinkers in their "stop-the-steal" nonsense to its obvious conclusion in DC - violence and deaths at the gates and halls of our nation's capital and Trump's undignified exit from office. Predictable. Then Fox was sued by voting machine companies because Fox was peddling the same baseless election fraud rabble-rousing nonsense that could not find any purchase in court because when you make ***** up you tend to not have things like.... "evidence". The facts are that the courts (more than a few led by Trump appointees) dismissed over 50 lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies for lack of said "evidence". The Supreme Court smacked it down and Independent election security officials (many from GOP ranks) claim it was the most secure in American history. After the insurrection in DC Murdock and Fox distanced themselves from Trump...Dobbs' show was canceled. Now with ratings falling and with spineless GOP collective amnesia (regarding their party and Trump's culpability fomenting the insurrection) on full display they are moving back to their usual nonsense. The lone exception at Fox in my book is Wallace who actually has some journalistic integrity. I actually enjoy watching him grill slimey politicians from either side of the aisle.

Capitol Rioter's Attorney Calls Him 'Dumb***' Who Believed 'What He Heard on Fox News' (newsweek.com) der-t-der Capital rioters believe Fox and sketchy social media "reports" "Attorneys have told Newsweek that the "blame Trump" defense isn't a strong one because in a trial, defendants will be held accountable for their own actions. Joseph Hurley, Antonio's lawyer, acknowledged to the Associated Press that misinformation is also "not a defense." "But it will be brought up to say: This is why he was here. The reason he was there is because he was a dumb*** and believed what he heard on Fox News," Hurley said."

Doc, you just have to finish that quote "...it smells like victory."

I have looked for that replay - Friggin Lonnie somehow forgets that there is a man deep on that trick play. Saw that play live with some friends and just had to shake my head. If he had just secured that ball and braced himself - he was a bigger dude than Sharper. Why the hell was he looking at the guys behind him? One in a long series of really bone-headed plays by Lonnie who had some physical tools, but sadly was a bit of a slow-blinker, and that hit probably did not help improve upon the grey matter.

I do remember that... Trentative would never, ever push the ball downfield. 4th and 15 with 10 ticks on the clock and he would dump it off 5 yards to get smothered - and you just knew he was going to do that. Game over.

It is funny... it is like that little brother who has been bullied and dominated by his older brother forever and he finally gets in a few punches. The worm may well have turned, but it takes more than a sweep in one season to start talking about dominating your division. Having the goat out of the picture behind center does help the narrative, but if anything Belichick's offseason scrambling should signal to anyone looking that he is not resting on his team's past laurels and is not ready to step off the gas anytime soon. He will be extra motivated this season to pull that tender, sprouting narrative of a new AFC East top-dog out by the roots and salt the earth afterwards. I would love to put the ghost of NE past behind us for a few decades, but think the Bills are going to have to put their big-boy pants on and bring their "A" game for a few more seasons to crush them enough that it forces that guy to retire or have to coach elsewhere. It happens, even to well-established coaches with long successful careers.

Ball security and blocking... some is learning better technique and some is hitting the books and understanding his assignments and protections better when he is called upon to block. You are right about the needed patience... Some guys come out of schools that are really good about developing TE's, some come out of schools where TE is a bit of an afterthought. We see the Kittles that come out of a very good Iowa program or prospects out of programs like Stanford, MIami, Notre Dame that are better at producing more NFL-ready TE's and expect a kid out of Ol' Miss to be less raw. It is hard to wait for a TE to develop when it is a position that has been so notably under-utilized in Bills offenses for so long. And last year we just seemed to telegraph our for-sure run plays when we trotted Smith out - hope Knox improves his game and I am still hopeful the Sweeny kid develops too.

This. I think Josh opened a PR can of worms earlier in the year regarding pandemic safeguards and OBD just coached him to be more circumspect around that topic. Allen is pretty well-coached for pressers, he will continue to grow and learn how to sidestep those "in-house" OBD policy questions. I don't fault reporters for asking - it's what they do, and I applaud OBD for trying to keep these types of discussions in-house as that policy helps limit team distractions and allows the team to better present a unified narrative rather than a Twitter-storm of player opinions that they may be forced to address.

I would add to this that teams that have to dedicate more of their back seven bodies playing in the box to counter runs, have less coverage resources and leave more open real-estate to be gashed defending against the pass. There is certainly more nuance to this topic of being able to better counter runs with your front four and Mike especially with the nickel being the predominant personnel package.

Not worried about Diggs conditioning... or timing with Allen for that matter. https://13wham.com/buffalo-plus/bills-latest-news/diggs-putting-in-the-work-in-offseason-practices Star.... I did not find any info on him doing any conditioning so we will see I guess.

There are some talent differences on the roster, but I think it goes deeper - I truly think that the Bills were out-coached by Andy's staff last season. He took them to the woodshed twice so if McD embraces that growth mindset, then he and his coaching staff need to take a long look in the mirror and think not just about roster changes, but how they can "up" their own game too. Although it seemed like we were completely out of that playoff game, stat-wise the gap is not so great that the Bills could not close it. The biggest differences, they had about a 100 yards more passing which leads into the discussion of our lack of defense production; Our 1 sack for 0 yards lost to their 4 sacks for 53 yards and our secondary allowing large chunks per pass play. Both teams had one turnover (the Bills an INT and the Chiefs a fumble lost). The difference in Red Zone efficiency was glaring and I believe that may be where Spagnuolo turned up the heat and Allen took more sacks too. Out of our 5 trips to the red zone we scored twice, out of the Chiefs 6 trips to the red zone they scored 5 times. Allen was running for his life far more than Mahomes, and it would be hard to say how successful Mahomes or Allen would be in different systems. Mahomes under heavy-pressure from a dominant front-four (Tampa for instance) that can also cover all his receiving options, holds the ball longer and looks a lot more vulnerable and mistake-prone than Mahomes facing a defensive front that is weaker and has to borrow from coverage to blitz to manufacture pressure. Allen is similar in that he excels when teams blitz him, but when teams can get pressure on him with limited fronts and dedicate a lot of resources to covering receivers he holds the ball longer, has to account for pass-pro break downs, and makes some poor decisions as well. I do think Mahomes at this stage in his growth reads the field better and still has better touch on his throws - particularly the short ones that require leading receivers sans heat on the throw (wheel routes, screens, etc...), but neither young QB has reached their ceiling and I think Allen may have more room to grow into his athletic gifts and cannon arm if he keeps working like he has.

I think Allen was getting better too, but KC was throwing him off by changing alignment right before the snap... and that was causing him a lot of confusion. Perhaps his presnap process was getting a bit too predictable so it was easier to time when to throw in the monkey wrench. Not sure how you prevent that other than throw in some no-huddle to force more base defense looks and/or call runs and such that do not rely upon much pre-snap coverage reads and protections and start dictating cadence more....

I know right? This is the case and point that there are statistics and analytics that are always lensed subjectively... catchable pass or did receiver slightly adjust route and/or timing to make it so? Good receivers make sub par throws (that all QBs make in this league of off-platform throws on extended plays) look better. Not discounting Allen's needed growth areas in 2019 (touch and mechanics for consistency), but taking in what he did that year with the supporting cast he had, PFF's take was hardly objective. They have a penchant like any other football affectionados to go into a publication with bias in place and cherry-pick the stats and analysis that best support the narrative they prefer to put forward. I like their player data collection, but rather view how those numbers trend over time sprinkled with some honest slant of what my eyes are telling me. Many of us could look at the same failed QB play (results-wise) and see progression, regression, no change; Pre-snap reads, where his eyes go - is he going through his progressions, how he moved, avoided the rush, decisions on where to throw - is he looking off defenders or throwing it away, timing, throwing mechanics, etc... Those performance details are pretty subjective and are harder to capture if you are not looking for them to begin with.

Need we remind ourselves that they once rated Josh Allen dead last - 32nd in the league behind the struggling Josh Rosen who had just been sent packing to Miami. That list is rather humorous in hindsight. https://www.pff.com/news/pro-pff-rankings-nfl-starting-quarterback-rankings-for-2019

Remember their project 1st round QB Allen trying to build better rapport with him, "Dude want to run some routes and warm up with me?" "No".

Good point, as most colleges run some kind of read-option and/or spread offense most receivers are in a complimentary role where excelling at fighting for balls would be a red-flag that the receiver may have pedestrian speed, change-of-direction, and separation ability. I guess if a receiver came out of a small program where he was their only threat and drew the lion's share of defensive attention, then you may take a longer look at more tape, but for most major colleges with talented depth not-so-much.

That is a suck double-whammy Giving TB & TB 2-weeks to prep for us... if I was feeling generous I would give them a few hours and feel better about our game plan.

Have no idea why that movie has grown on me - but classic.

I think some folks struggle with the concept that you can run to open the pass, especially with a QB like Allen. When teams are playing 2 safeties deep or 3-deep shell with a SS in run/pass support, Allen can dink and dunk against that, but his deep options are limited. But to turn that arm loose, it would be in our interest to get teams into more of a single high safety look where one of our receivers is more likely to break free deep or be covered 1:1. The way to do that is to gash teams with runs to force them out of those 2-3 deep safety zone looks and open up space for Allen to use that arm. If that SS has to keep coming up in run support your play action will work to open space behind their under defenders. The onus is on Daboll too, to stay committed and not abandon the run too quickly and our line and TEs have to block better. I do think all pass pro is hard on oline players. Think of teams that fall so far behind where defenses know they have to pass to catch up. Defenders pin their ears back on their pass rush, and that is usually where the sacks and turnovers start to pile up. IMO the only reason things have not been worse for the Bills is that DE's have had to put on the brakes and have some discipline setting the edges on their rush as Josh is a threat to escape and run it himself.

The avg point differential between NE and their opponents was only 1.7. Their blowout of the chargers certainly skews that a bit, but they beat the Jest twice and split with Miami. It's going to take more than a one-season beat-down before I feel like we can think past NE on our schedule. I am cautiously optimistic.