BillsFanForever19

Some good news in there. Dodson not even having a designation and being good to go is great. He was pretty much a full time starter there since Milano's injury and we need bodies at LB. Douglas getting a Full Practice in makes his Questionable designation far less Questionable. All eyes on Taron Johnson. Optimism is great, but we REALLY need doctors to clear him. I feel like him being on the field all week means he's far along in the stages. If we have Rasul and Taron, that's MASSIVE. I really didn't see us having much of a shot against Mahomes and the Chiefs offense with Jackson, Elam, and Lewis starting. Especially if our LB's were A.J. Klein and Dorian Williams. It's one thing for that MASH unit to hold up against Mason Rudolph and the Steelers Offense. But KC and Mahomes is another thing entirely.

Some good news here! Tyrel Dodson got a Full Practice in and has no designation, so he's good to go and we have some more depth at LB. Rasul Douglas moved from Limited on Wednesday and Thursday to a Full Participant on Friday. Which makes his Questionable designation far less Questionable. Taron Johnson seems very optimistic. Still need to get over the hurdle of Concussion Protocol. Fingers crossed that happens between now and Sunday night.

I still would be shocked if he suits up. Like with Douglas last week, I've never seen a player under McDermott go DNP the entire week and then play in the game. I look at his Questionable designation as, well, Questionable. Fingers crossed we get a Full designation for Douglas and Dodson today and either today, tomorrow, or early Sunday we hear Taron is out of protocol.

Technically, Whaley was the GM. But if you look at the 2017 Draft - the way in which it was handled, the type of players selected, and how quickly Whaley was let go after the Draft - it's pretty clear it was at most, just Whaley's board with McDermott selecting the guys he wanted.

Unless the "unthinkable" is some kind of scandal even worse than the 9/11 fiasco he apologized for - yes, decision makers will remember those 6 wins, another division title, and another Playoff win - coming off of 6-6 and having key injuries. Losing to KC in Round 2 of the Playoffs with the amount of key and depth players we have injured isn't some "unthinkable", fireable offense. The idea that another loss to KC is going to make Beane or Pegula lose it and go back against everything they've said is a scenario that exists only in the heads of fans that want him gone and choose to ignore everything else. Firing McDermott after the team rallied around him and pulled off what they did would make the team look inept and the media would justifiably roast us for it. I don't think he's relieved he doesn't "have to fire him". He was never going to fire him and never felt like he had to. Before the Ty Dunne hit piece - https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/sean-mcdermott-is-safe-as-bills-coach-beyond-2023-despite-recent-struggles-per-report/ After the Ty Dunne hit piece - https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/report-sean-mcdermotts-job-is-safe And this was before we won the division, secured the 2nd seed, and advanced in the Playoffs. You weren't "attacked". You put forth a scenario that exists only in your mind and stated it as fact. Then doubled down in later posts. That's going to attract a lot of replies. And a lot, if not most, of the replies come from people who were open to a coaching change at one point - but simply realize the reality of the situation. That doesn't make them all "McDermott apologists". No one, beyond posters who live in a fantasy world and have no bearing on whether or not he is employed, is saying that. Those who do have bearing on that have multiple times this year said he's not going anywhere. As I and others have said, the only way his job would have been in jeopardy is if we missed the playoffs and (not or) the team leaders (specifically Allen) made it known he's lost the locker room and they didn't want to play for him anymore. That only didn't happen, the complete opposite of that happened in both cases.

Appreciate the enthusiasm and a lot of this. But it's far from the last hurdle. Baltimore and San Francisco are scarier and we're most likely going to have to beat them both to get the ultimate prize. It's not like we beat KC and it's smooth sailing from that point on.

My gut says unless Rasul Douglas, Taron Johnson, and Tyrel Dodson come back - we're in trouble. The good news is Douglas says he's going to play. Taron Johnson has been getting limited practices in, which says to me he's got to be fairly far along in Protocol. The bad news is that once again, they've all been limited in practice today. Douglas says he'll play, but that's not really his call. There have been situations where guys have said they're good to go, but then didn't get a full practice in and were made Inactive. If we have all 3 of them out there and we don't take any more injuries, then we can win this game. If we have Dane Jackson, Kaiir Elam, and Cam Lewis as our starting CB's and A.J. Klein and Dorian Williams as our starting LB'ers - against Patrick Mahomes - that's a terrifying situation. It's one thing for the MASH unit to hold up against Mason Rudolph and the Steelers Offense. It's another thing entirely to expect the same thing against Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

He's only not "safe" amongst a portion of posters on here who don't live in reality. The same kind of posters who honestly thought Matt Araiza coming back in the Playoffs was a real possibility. Truth is he always has had a secure position. Even if we missed the playoffs, by all accounts, he was going to be given another year. The only real chance of a switch would have been if he lost the team and Josh said he didn't want to play under him anymore. Instead, the team rallied around him after the Ty Dunne hit piece and support him now more than ever. After 6 straight wins, another division title, and another Playoff win - he's 1000% not going anywhere after this season. You can hope otherwise, but it doesn't matter. It's not happening. Regardless of whether we win or lose against KC.

You're doing exactly what he wants. You're paying attention to him. It's a shtick. He knows if he says wild things about Josh and the Bills, a portion of Bills fans are going to tune in. They're going to give his Tweets replies and views. It's going to keep his name out there. It's all a ploy. Don't fall for it.

There were a couple problems here. One, his "immoral actions" were spelled out in every gory detail with horrifying images. Covered by every major news outlet, sports and non-sports alike. The bigger issue was that the incident occured before he entered the league. Wherein as others would have been afforded the opportunity to be put on an exempt list until proven innocence - having it happen before he was an NFL player didn't allow for it. We would have had to have saved an important 53 man roster spot for him and weather the PR nightmare for close to two years until he was cleared. Then there's the issue of lost trust. This was hanging over his head before the Bills drafted him and he kept it secret, putting them in the firestorm. You can in hindsight put them on blast and take a moral stance, but I guarantee you - every single team in the NFL would have done the same thing. And it wouldn't shock me if there were pressure from Goodell and the league to do so. Perhaps now that the civil suit has gone away and it's behind him completely, he will get another shot with us or another team. Though it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't. One things for sure - it's not happening this week. Goes back to the issue of the Position and the contract. If Matt Araiza were a HOF DE under a massive contract with a massive cap hit for cutting him, maybe things would have been different. But as a Rookie Punter on a Rookie contract? Not worth the hassle. And even now, why deal with any remote possibility of a distraction or headache for a position as meaningless as Punter? Now that it's done, maybe in the Offseason he'll get his second chance. But 0% chance they're going to do it now in the Playoffs when the guy hasn't sniffed a Regular Season game and hasn't been in an NFL building in two seasons. Either Martin is able to fight through it or Matt Haack will be Punting for us against KC.

Look, i'm not saying that he doesn't deserve a second chance. I wouldn't have a problem with him getting one here. My posts were in regards to someone wondering why he hasn't gotten one yet. And the fact that he hasn't speaks to your feelings really not being the end all be all. You can hypothesize that no one will pickett or boycott games. You can hypothesize it won't be an issue. But you do not know that. You don't have to deal with Public Relations teams in not only an organization of your own, but a League office and commissioner that you have to answer to. It's really not as simple as you and every other Araiza fan like to make it out to be. If it were, he'd have been on a team long before the Civil Suit was officially dropped.

Again, that's how you feel. That's not how everyone feels or will feel. Even around here, there's multiple posters who label him a "pervert". "Who cares? Opinions are like..." is not how NFL GM's think. Distractions and Public Relations issues carry a lot of weight. And when it comes to a position like Punter, even the remote chance of a PR problem isn't worth the trouble.

Yeah, it's pretty obvious to me that either Sam Martin is able to push through the tweak or Matt Haack is being signed to the Practice Squad.

True. But admitted to relations with an underaged girl. Yes, he didn't know. But for many around the country, even with some members of this very board, that doesn't matter. It's a matter of public record and whoever signs him will be signing the Punter who was accused of Gang R*pe and the Punter who Admitted to Sex with a Minor. Cleared or not, that title will follow him for the rest of his career and most GM's don't want to deal with that for a Punter. And before you say, i'm sure he's not the only one to have made that mistake - you may be right. But the difference is his is a matter of public record. You may be willing to think it's not a big deal and just a mistake. But many will disagree with that.

Okay, fine. He had one Pre-Season game and 1 punt in that game of NFL action. He missed the entirety of the 2022 and 2023 regular season campaigns. So not technically exactly two calendar years. But two regular seasons.

The thought process is fascinating to me. - Bills win 6 straight. - Bills win the Division. - Bills secure the 2 seed. - Bills secure home field outside of Baltimore - Bills win 1st Playoff game with injuries everywhere and Diggs contributing "What should I post about? ..... oh, I got it! Diggs is done" Like, how?

Between this and getting roasted for making a thread shaming Allen for a "fake slide" - I'd imagine he's going to disappear for a while 😀

I have to assume he was unhappy that he never got signed to the roster and was looking at being active in the Playoffs as the bare minimum. When he was inactive because of injuries at other positions and then saw we had a bunch more injuries at other positions, i'm guessing he got fed up and said I'd rather go home than work all week in Buffalo for peanuts. There's definitely other players that would be better candidates to release from the Practice Squad than Lenny. So it had to have been more than just needing to make room on the PS for a Punter like Matt Haack or a LB like Christian Kirksey.

False. Matt Haack was recently made a Free Agent. He has actual experience on Sunday's and has more of a rapport with everyone you mentioned than Araiza does. It'll be Haack, not Araiza, if Martin can't go this week. It's not even a question, save for Araiza fanatics that just want to will it to to happen.

I think he gets a shot to prove himself with a team in Training Camp. Midseason, teams have their Punter situation settled. Teams carry one and if someone gets hurt, they go out and sign someone else. Teams don't carry Punters on the Practice Squad. And as I've said previously, he's been out of Football for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Prior to that, he played in only one Pre-Season game and Punted the ball in that game just once. So where he's at now and his potential is a complete unknown. So even if there were an injury, teams aren't going to just throw a guy on the field with no experience. Especially not in the Playoffs. Compounding all of that is the off the field noise. Yes, he has been cleared of possibly criminal charges and the civil lawsuit has been recently dropped. But the fact remains that anyone who signs him is going to have to deal with being the team that signed the guy who was accused of sexual assault. The media is going to make a thing of it for a bit and the story is going to be brought back up. Part of that story includes a public admission that he slept with an underaged girl. Yes, he didn't know. But for a lot of people, it doesn't matter. He still slept with an underage girl and his admission to doing so is public record. Which is not going to go over well with a lot of fans of whoever signs him. And on top of all of that... he's a Punter. If he were a QB or a WR or something, teams would be willing to deal with a bit of a distraction. But for a Punter and a Punter who is essentially a developmental prospect? Most GM's aren't wanting to deal with questions regarding a frickin' Punter. Like I said, I do think there's a chance someone gives him a shot in the Offseason, where dealing with any sort of distraction is much easier to deal with. And at a time when Punting competitions are happening and developmental prospects have a chance to prove they can handle Game Day. But midseason and especially now? It's no surprise to me he's been unsigned.

Yeah, it is. As competition for Martin in Training Camp after the season. But not right now.

Well and that's just it. Maybe after the Chiefs game, if we win - he might be able to play. Though if he pushes through it after a week, he's going to be less than 100% Regardless, we're talking about him playing 6 days from now. No way.

Oh yeah. That's a no brainer. I didn't realize he was a Free Agent. He was released on January 2nd. Without a doubt if Martin can't go, it will be Haack.

Holding for Bass for a month or two in Training Camp almost 2 years ago is not going to make them value him over a veteran. He hasn't practiced with any team in almost 2 years and has a career total of 1 Punt in the Pre-Season. If Martin can't go, it'll be a vet coming in. It's the Playoffs. Not a roll the dice situation.

He was writhing in pain on the field, couldn't stand on it, and was carted off the field with an air brace applied bc they thought it was broken. I assume it's a High. But whatever kind of sprain it is, that's not something that you just "tape up" and play on 6 days later. Hopefully we're in the AFC Championship and the Super Bowl. Maybe he has a chance for at least one of those games. But next week we have to hope Dodson is back and that a full week of practice with the expectation of a heavy workload for Klein and Williams makes them play even better.