DrDawkinstein

That was different since Poyer was motivated to take whatever Beane offered just to get his wife to shut up.

AB$OLUTELY Just like every decision and rule the NFL implements. It's to protect the shield and make/keep as much money as possible. I was questioning all this until the concussion thing was mentioned. Makes total sense why they would stop providing them.

Of course it's ultimately Cooks decision and action. And he has decided to prioritize maximizing his payout. So he is listening to his hired negotiator on how to get there.

They all understand the business. They all are in the same boat and support each other getting as much money as each of them can. It's the players vs the owners in a good union. Not the workers against each other.

Well, who is describing him? Some non-official twitter account talking to their "source" who want to hype it up as much as possible. And even if it came from the Cowboys, of course their going to hype it as well. What else would they say? "We're trading Micah Parsons for a good but 2nd tier back"? Also, for what it's worth, as I watch camp and Cook coverage on ESPN, NFLN, radio shows, etc, they ALL refer to Cook as a "top 5 back" or "elite RB". Whether he is or isnt, and whether we believe them or not, doesnt matter. The point is, it is how he is referred to and talked about across NFL media.

I fully expect Vrabel to pull one over on McD and squeak out one last-minute win over some rules technicality or having his players ready for something that we arent ready for. It's still our division, but we'll likely be 5-1 after splitting with the Pats (assuming we dont bench starters the last game as well) Not sure the Jets should even be compared to the Beatles. More like Aaron Rodgers was the Wes Scantlin of the Puddle of Mudd Jets.

Not really. The agent is hired to handle negotiations and maximize the money the player earns. If a player just wanted to "get the deal done" they could handle that themselves, and likely leave millions on the table. The agent would be advising on how negotiations are going, and if they need the player to do anything to apply pressure/leverage. So far, across all the hold-ins not just Cook, there has never been a report that the player is a "negative distraction". The fans all have way bigger feelings about all this than the other players. Jimbo is there, in meetings, watching film, bonding with the team. Just not practicing.

@Sierra Foothills like...

Exactly. To @Einstein's point, one of my favotite HK moments was during the Browns season. Douglas had Gregggg Williams and Todd Haley as Coordinators, and it was OBVIOUS they both took the job just for the potential that Douglas would be fired and they would have a chance to be interim HC. Coaches meetings with those 2 just circling Douglas like a couple of sharks...

That wasnt the HK Producers asking hard hitting questions and putting them on the spot for their most recent failure. Everything you mentioned was simply sitting back and capturing it on tape and then replaying it. Which is exactly what entertainment documentaries do. Any mentions of the failures is because it is typically a bad team that is under the gun and that is their entire story line that makes them interesting. All they had were failures. Browns sucked, Bengals sucked, Miami sucked. That's the story line. They had no big-personality MVP to focus on. Also, the things you mentioned all happened at least a few episodes in. We'll see some of that same "realness" in a couple weeks once we get to cut time.

Hard Knocks is not sports journalism tho. That isnt what this show is about. Why would anyone expect Hard Knocks to roll up and start busting the balls of the HC, GM, MVP QB and focusing on their latest failure?

I like watching GetUp! in the morning, but no amount of Bills coverage could make me watch Mad Dog/Stephen A on First Take. So much yelling.

NFL going to a BYOA model. Roger is cheap!

The first episode is always the fluffy "intro" episode. While most of the audience are football fans, that isnt the only audience HBO is targeting. For the casuals, and even the non-Bills fans, the first episode is the "origin story" episode. They had to set the stage with the 4 losses of the 90s, and how Bills Mafia is the best fanbase, and Tre White's injury comeback/rejoining the team, and Josh is the MVP who just wants to win a SB, etc. So for most Bills fans it would be a boring episode. They didnt tell us anything we didnt know. It should get deeper into actual camp happenings over the next couple of weeks.

You arent wrong. When we throw a d1ldo at the Patriots its because we think they're a bunch of d1ldos and they can "go f#$% themselves". And there is even a divsional rivlary here. When random fans are throwing them on the court of WOMEN'S basketball, with no bitter rivalry, the only point is to sexually embarass/intimidate/assault the female players. It isnt even close to the same thing.

Not every guy needs to be a "leader". Cant have 53 leaders anyways. Too many Cooks in the kitchen (pun intended). The team and Offense have their leader. Josh. All they need after that is talent, and Cook has piles of it. Beane did go out of his way TWICE in the recent Catalano interview to praise Cook. Even had to catch himself going on a Cook-loving tangent when answering a question about Shakir.

He'll either sign an extension or return by week 1. There is no holding out.

Yeah, there is far less drama in the building of a well-established, successful team (credit McBeane) then with the Jets, or the 0-16 Browns, or even Jerry and the Cowboys. They'll find the cut-down drama because that is just a natural part of the pre-season. Other than that, it is basically showing the rest of the country and 31 other NFL teams what makes the Bills team and org so special. They all WISH they could be like this.

Nothing more American than "squashing" your workforce. The owners are more than welcome to try to add rules/verbiage in the next CBA, as long as they are willing to give something in return like more % of revenue. I hear what youre saying, but I'm not worried about it. We should be able to keep all of them. We have Josh and our OTs locked up. We arent paying anyone else on Offense, except our backup TE. I'd look to take some money out of Knox's $17M next year for McGovern/Torrence rather than quibble with Cook over $11M vs $13M. Look how many guys other tops teams are paying. Big QB contracts AND a top WR contract or TWO AND their OL AND Defensive stars... And the cap is jumping up $25M/yr with streaming money.

I'd expect as soon as he clears waivers

Look at all the positivity in this thread... after YEARS of hand wringing and people bashing the idea like it would be some huge distraction and detrimental to the team.

You just gotta crank it up man! After reading about the possibility of teams/players using them to mask concussions, I get the ban.

It's on HBO live, like ol fashioned TV, at 9pm. It doesnt come out on streaming (MAX) until after it airs. Either at like 10pm tonight, or tomorrow. I forget which. They get the entire 2nd episode

Man that was great. What an amazing team we have. And to land a Josh after all those years... Enjoy this time.

I hear Bills fans say "We need to get Josh more weapons! He cant do it all himself!" but then want to let our one actual weapon walk. And what better way to support your QB than with a running game that is an actual threat to take it to the house each and every play, so Safeties CANT cheat up?