Ed_Formerly_of_Roch

With the Bills offense, assume they start at the 20 or 25 from a touchback, get one first down and stopped on next drive after gaining 7 yards. That's puts them at their own 40. A 40 to 50 yard kick would have the the opponent fielding between the 10 and 20. Most kickers can get at least half their kicks that far, conversely the Bills getting stopped on offense after only one first down should not happen that often. 2 to 3 first downs on a drive and you're at the 50 and beginning to think about not even bothering to punt. My point is eally not that hard to flip field with the Bills offense.

Howard likely was dropping banana peels all over the TE room, it worked!

OK well that didn't work. LOL

I think what the issue is the answer is somewhere between #2 and 3 Correct in July they didn't have access to the details, but they didn't look that hard to find out anything more. Apparently and not denied by Bills they never called the attorney back for more information. Maybe he would have given them an advanced copy of the lawsuit or maybe provide more details or at least drop a couple breadcrumbs where to look. Sounds like they more talked with Araiza and felt his version was more believable and didn't look into it much further. And maybe it still is the more believable version, but if they had got more of the alleged details, they likely would have added 2 plus 2 and figured out even if Araiza account is 100% the truth, they'd never withstand the public outrage when then the lawsuit was released and it would never be possible to wait until the actual truth comes out. So maybe we really need to take a much harder look into this, but doesn't appear they did. It's also possible in this late July conversation with the attorney, he kind of conveyed to the Bills money can make this go away so the Bills after talking with Araiza felt it was just a shakedown, but even so should have probably attempted to dig deeper. Like it or not it's the journalists job to dig deeper where as fans we'll more take the word of the person you want to believe. It's like when someone gets arrested for murder, often here, "My son didn't do it" AP and Athletic all kind of give similar accounts that the Bills easily could have done more, so it's not just the BN that is after them. McD's comments the other day before any of this was released after they cut Haack was something like "Araiza is a fine young man" Why say that if there's even the potential of something like this out there? So the team dug themselves into a bit of a hole IMO. Certainly not as deep as Cleveland has, but a bit of a hole.

Thanks. Now if I actually knew what I was doing, I'd imagine I could tag him in my post or something similar. But I don't!

But why in the beginning of the Denver game without Knox, the two playing with the starters were Morris mostly and some Sweeney? Howard only came in later and played till the end. Of the 3 I think Howard is the best blocker and most experienced, but isn't going to cause defenses to worry much, likely not going to give much YAC. But if I have 3rd and 3 and want to go wit ha 2 TE set, I'd put Howard in either as a blocker or to run a 4 yard slant or something. If it were 1st and 10 and going 2 TE set, I'd instead go with Morris as he could break one open. So where does that leave Sweeeny, IMO hoping they trade or just decide to take their losses and cut Howard. Overall think Howard provides more than Sweeney with the exception being ST plays, but maybe Morris can take Sweeney's spot there. Also think easier to sneak Sweeney onto PS than Morris.

OK have to ask. Not going to try and read 276 pages to find it but believe @SlimShady'sSpaceForce commented that he's a bit busy with his day job preparing for the NASA moon launch to comment too much on this thread. Just read the launch was canceled for today, do wonder if Two Bills Drive participation is the root cause of the delay??

Hadn't heard that story, but very believable as Al likely wouldn't listen to anyone but himself.

If you're going to make him inactive most weeks, then what purpose does it serve? He can do the same things from the PS that the OP suggested.

OK saw it happen a few times, thought there was some trick I didn't know about.

Agree like I can see Buffalo, Washington, Carolina, and Giants sharing and a connection between all 4. Though the Mikissic deal may have soured the Washington connection.

Just a dumb "process" question have seen this a few times in various threads. Old Man started the thread and posted: "Carted off the field, that guy is cursed" 2nd post/reply is by you Promo responding to K-9, "He has to want to sign" but there isn't a post above this from K-9. How can that be?? How are you replying to a post that isn't here??

No idea?? Do teams commonly share? If some team finds out a player has some medical issue, would they share that, or keep it to themselves and let another team draft damaged goods? If it were Al Davis, I'd think the answer would be no! I really have no idea how much and of what type/criteria of pre-draft info would be shared amongst teams? On one hand the less other teams know the better, but the Araiza situation does as Roger would say "Damage the shield" From that standpoint, you'd think they would alert others, but I don't know.

Yes agree, false information is an issue! Below from two different articles, 2nd from our buddy John Warrow. I've also read other articles that have implied the same. Sounds like there was something out there, not faulting the Bills for not finding it as many other also didn't but also not absolving them completely either. But of course these articles must be all wrong I'd assume? I'm not condemning the Bills for not immediately releasing him and do question much about this whole thing. But do agree with Dingus, a thread calling the Bills a "Class act" for their handling of this is a bit over the top. They did what they had to do to avoid bad press and this continuing as a distraction and there's nothing wrong with coming to that conclusion either. Several other teams executives also have told the AP they weren’t aware. But executives from two different teams told the AP they became aware of Araiza’s involvement in an incident during the draft process. Neither person knew the extent of the allegations and both people said it didn’t impact Araiza’s status on their draft boards because they weren’t interested in selecting the punter. Executives from two different teams told The Associated Press they became aware of Araiza’s involvement in an incident during the draft process, but neither person knew the extent of the allegations. Executives from three other teams said they had no knowledge of the allegations against Araiza before the draft and only learned of the incident Thursday. All the people spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter

My point was more Keenum is as good a backup as almost any team has. There are some teams that their starting QB is nothing special so an injury to him and bringing in the backup may make little difference. The Bills aren't one of those teams. If Allen gets hurt they are in trouble to some level but no more than if it were Rodgers, Brady, etc. And don't think are in worse shape than Tampa, Green Bay are and can win games with Keenum when you factor in how strong the overall team is. Could they go all the way without him, not likely but what team could with their backup. It has happened, but usually some extenuating circumstance play into it. And more importantly, who could they have signed instead as a definitively better backup?

There's about a dozen teams would say the same about their starting QB and another dozen that if he were replaced due to injury, there might be an improvement. That's how Fitz managed to last as long as he has. I do think though with actual game planning and starting lineup Keenum would look much better than on Friday.

Often the cuts come out in slowly couple at a time. My prediction is TE may be one of the last ones you hear of as may work the phones till the 11th hour to try and trade Howard. But once you're to the 11th hour other teams know go chance he's going to be cut anyway. Think there's a little more uncertainty only because it will cost about the same to cut or keep. Morris has out played Sweeney IMO, so I think it's going to be Knox, Morris and Howard or Sweeney.

Why, highly doubtful you're getting anyone better than Keenum, plus he knows the offense. Maybe if Davis Webb were released, they may keep him over Barkley on the PS, but that's about it IMO. Even that one not sure of.

That's the problem with kickers,teams usually only have one so not likely to trade them. Maybe if the Bills had still had Haack, could have traded him and maybe a 5th to Carolina would have worked. But not now as would leave Carolina with no one. Whenever one gets hurt, teams are scrambling.

The one thing going though for Matt is he likely has the means to make it rough on the attorney to if this whole thing is proved false.

And the person you're going after has enough money to make it worthwhile to go the civil route.

Yeah that's where I'm kind of thinking Araiza would have to maybe agree to not contest being placed on exempt list. That Goodell and the Bills will tell him it's just not a good look for everyone, this gives you time to work things out on your end. But does he still get paid and if not, would he agree to it?

Would he to voluntarily agree to that otherwise a CBA grievance? Though not sure the NFLPA would want that bad press either fighting it. If suspended does he count towards 53? Read a couple threads about putting him on exempt list. Would Araiza have to request that? And what exactly does that mean for roster salary, etc.? As has been said too much of him being guilty in court of public opinion to keep him on roster now as too much of a distraction.

One of the things I find very annoying is these merged threads. You read the title of the 2nd thread and it's something I was interested in, but now you need to go to this other thread that's maybe 10 pages long and try and find what/when this merged part came in. It would be OK if you click on the merged thread and it would take you right to that post. And never consistent in when there are 5 different threads and when there aren't.

As has been said didn't want to risk injury from getting hit particularly since backups on O-line. I'd imagine too punting puts a whole different strain on leg, so Bass could have injured himself. Could be during practice Barkley looked decent at it. They must have known for some reason as he looked pretty good at it. Wouldn't surprise me Barkley's average last night beat Haack's average from last year. I didn't read through this entire thread but I'm sure if it had, it would been posted. LOL When I was a kid playing backyard football, we had a thing called an "angel pass" where the QB could throw it to himself.