Archives for May 2016

'"It's the game of football. Injuries are part of it," Whaley said. "It's a violent game that I personally don't think humans are supposed to play.'

'With everything that's happened in the last two years, you would think the Bills (and the Jaguars for that matter) could avoid mention in stories like this. Buffalo doesn't have a stadium riddle. The only riddle is that the league wants the Bills to build a new stadium while the Bills are in no rush after completing a $130 million renovation project.'

'“I got involved because of my mother-in-law’s condition,” Tasker said. “We started noticing symptoms. She’s had a few episodes … The first incident that got everybody’s attention was actually at the Grey Cup, two years ago. It wasn’t life-threatening or anything like that, but we knew something was up.”'

'The point isn't that the Bills made a silly little change, it's that they made a silly little change without considering the consequences. Whoever made the decision to enact the new policy displayed outstanding levels of ignorance and carelessness.'

'There will be those who say, "Well, the Bills are a private company. They can do what they want!" And those people will be right. The Bills, if they choose, could go all Kim Jong-un and use its own propaganda machine to generate content.'

'Even Bills guard Richie Incognito joined the fun: "Not sure if I'm supposed to be tweeting this with the new media policy but since we started practice there are cookies in the lunch room."'

'Is that really Rex who's coaching this team? What happened to the Rex who couldn't get enough of the media in New York?'

'That's a refreshingly honest take from someone in the game. And it's worth noting that on the grand scale of football injuries, a broken foot is pretty mild.'

'Bills fans probably would like the old Rex back – the one who led the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship games, and didn’t try to overprotect his team from the media. Ryan has not had a winning season since 2010, including his first campaign in Buffalo when the Bills went 8-8.'

'His statement will likely give even more fodder to the current conversation being held regarding football’s safety. While the comments were made in relation to Watkins’s foot injury, the timing fits well (or poorly, if you’re the NFL) with the league’s very public concussion-CTE problem. The issue was brought to the forefront once again this week, when ESPN investigative reporters Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada published their findings from a congressional report stating the NFL attempted to improperly influence funds meant for a study on the relationship between concussions, football and CTE.'

'The Bills traded up eight spots in the draft to select the Alabama prospect and 2015 SEC defensive player of the year with the 41st pick. Ragland was two-year starter and was a unanimous All-American, leading the Crimson Tide with 102 tackles last year, including 60 solo.'

'In an email to The Associated Press, Jeff Legwold, President of the Professional Football Writers of America, described the Bills' new rules as "a vast over-reach of the guidelines in the (NFL's) current media policy." Legwold added, the Bills' policy is "not only unnecessary, it is not in compliance."'

'One of the stinging criticisms levied against the Bills is that with a 16-year playoff drought hanging around their collective necks, they didn't have the luxury of picking a player who probably won't be of much use to them this season. In effect, this is lining up as a redshirt year for Lawson, similar to what Jacksonville went through in 2015 when its first-round pick, edge rusher Dante Fowler, was felled by a knee injury on the first day of a rookie minicamp practice and was lost for the season.'

'With Ragland under contract, the Bills have signed five of their seven 2016 draft picks. Still unsigned are first-round defensive end Shaq Lawson of Clemson and fourth-round quarterback Cardale Jones of Ohio State.'

'Whaley's thoughts came as part of a larger response to a question about whether top receiver Sammy Watkins is injury-prone.'