Alphadawg7

So you would rather be right than see your team make the best decision. Got it. There is also the fact that neither Hodgins or Kumerow were competing to make this team as a WR, they were competing to make this team as a ST player.

But some are saying that and they say it all the time. Do you forget the fire beane threads from this past season? The threads criticizing his draft history? The rants how everything he has ever said is a lie now with culture? Sorry, it's just over the top and has been long before this week for some of these people. And again, 100% of all GMs cut players they drafted, signed or traded for right now. That doesn't make it a bad week for a GM, it makes it standard NFL football 9 days before the season starts. Nothing about cutting OJ or trading Ford is a "bad week" for Beane because no GM bats a thousand. In fact, I would argue that it indicates more than anything he is a great GM who isn't afraid to make the best choice of the team even if it means its contradictory to a previous decision he made. And has a proven track record of recouping some value in these situations like getting draft picks back. Lots of teams end up having to cut those players without any compensation back. As far as the the Araiza thing, of course that does make for a bad week...but more a bad week that he and the team had to go through it in the first place. Its not Beane's fault that something like this came out after they drafted him and doesn't change the tremendous job he (and McD) have done to rebuild the culture, the roster and tun this losing franchise into a perennial powerhouse.

I said they were #1 in the AFC 2 years in a row, not in the league. They were #2 overall in 2020 behind only GB (barely) and #3 overall behind only GB and TB. But #1 in AFC both years.

Based on those pesky things called math, facts, stats, etc. But let me guess, you are going to argue against facts now too right?

I am not against Hodgins, I was rooting for him. But the over exaggeration got out of hand with him is my point. People kept saying he was a must keep regardless of ST, and sorry, his play did not dictate he was a must keep candidate at WR if he couldnt play ST. He made some nice short catches, but again, under 9 ypc through 3 games while leading the team in targets and receptions against weak competition is not an example of roster lock. Shakir went out and turned heads and showed what a roster lock looks like. People were saying to cut Crowder, a 28 year old proven good starting WR in the league just to keep Hodgins which was ludicrous. The plays Hodgins made any competent WR at this level should be able to make, it wasn't anything special. It was the same with Blackshear, a guy who made a few good plays against weak competition, but ultimately, outside of 1 carry for 25 yards struggled to run the ball in 3 games. Yet people wanted to cut/trade someone like Moss to keep him. I love seeing young players beat the odds, so will continue to root for both. But this isn't 2017 anymore, this is a deep and talented roster. You keep the guys who will help you win games on Sunday and make you a better player. WR6 is not a Wide Receiver, that is a starting ST player...and if you are not the best player in your role, you will not make this team. No disrespect, but its silly to cite the catch % of Kumerow considering how few targets he saw or will ever see. He may not get even one target this year. I mean one more catch and the % jumps because the sample size is so small. Reality is, Kumerow is a strong contributor on ST, the only place he or Hodgins would ever see the field. And I do really hope Hodgins makes our PS again and keeps improving on ST so he can make the roster, I have nothing at all against him.

Exactly... Also, I have seen people around here getting on Beane over trading Ford and releasing OJ as if its not completely normal. Every GM, 100% of all GM's in the league now, the past, and forever in the future cut or trade guys they brought in through draft/signing/trade every single preseason that did not work out. The insistence on some peoples obsession to remain in the negative lane at all times is utterly mind blowing. Beane took a perennial loser team, got rid of 100% of the roster, and had them as a SB contender after 2 years of actually rebuilding, and now heading into their 4th year under him recognized as the most talented roster in the NFL by most and the consensus odds on favorite for both the SB and MVP. But Beane's overall record is clearly better than most, if not all, considering he flipped 100% of the roster over and turned into the consensus best roster in football in a few short years. But hey, you negative minded people go right ahead and keep micro nit picking at the fact OJ Howard or Ford didn't work out, the rest of us are enjoying the ride to not only relevancy, but a perennial winning team and powerhouse contending for Super Bowls instead of watching 7 win teams every year.

Bills have fielded the #1 offense in the AFC 2 years in a row

The Hodgins stuff is out of control. He is measly averaging under 9 yards per catch through 3 games...while leading team in targets and catches and facing backups and guys about ready to apply at Best Buy for holiday season work. I like him, root for him, but he hasn't done so much at WR on the field that he has made himself uncuttable. He needs to contribute and be good on ST or he isn't making this team. Like like you said, this is a very good roster, it will not be easy to make this roster across the board.

Oh I get it, I wasn’t advocating for it. I only said it was a possibility earlier in camp if they get more comfortable with Cook as a runner too, not just a pass catcher specialist. I don’t think Beane would trade him unless he got a strong offer anyway.

Personally, I think Beanes position on Moss is that he wont trade him unless he gets a strong offer. I think it would take a 4th rounder to get Beane to start thinking about it. Moss has more value than a low round pick to us in a Super Bowl run, so I don't think there is any chance he gets moved on the cheap. I think the odds of him getting traded are low just because I am not sold anyone would offer him what it would take to peak Beanes interest.

There have been twitter rumblings since Friday of a possible Moss trade...but no one noticed because of Matt Araiza

Weird, I feel like I got a lot of flack when I suggested multiple times now through camp and preseason Bills could be showcasing Moss for a trade...

Geezus, the world is out of control right now. Glad to hear he is in stable condition already, hopefully he makes a speedy and full recovery.

If true, that is still bad thinking on her part or bad advice because she could have had both. Let him get paid, then after file the civil suit and take the money in court as that would still end his career and take away all his money. Now she has his money and took away his career. But that also doesn't add up. Multiple times they were in negotiations or attempting to open negotiations for a settlement. It was not until Matt's attorney recently told her attorney he will not be interested in a settlement that they decided to file a civil suit. Her attorney even posted the text messages between the two attorneys confirming this where he was essentially threatening him to settle or else.

They had 2 press conferences within 24 hours of each other in which he was cut in between. Geezus man, what did you expect an 10 hour telethon to discuss it? He was on the team less than 36 hours after the civil suit was filed. You are being way overly dramatic here.

Hard disagree...honestly I couldn't disagree more with this assessment. Very few, if any, other HC's would have come to the press conference and initiate the discussion of Matt and then refuse all football questions to focus only on this subject. If they even took questions at all, they would have maybe taken a few and then moved on to questions about the game. Then after cutting him, most GM's and HC's would not have given a face to face press conference for 30 min takin any and all questions from reporters out for blood trying to force any negative narrative they can for clicks. Most teams the GM would have released a written statement or maybe a short video where they controlled the message and that is it. They would have hidden behind being able to say they cant comment on an active investigation. Both McD and Beane did not hide from this and went out there and took responsibility and addressed the press directly and took what ever heat they wanted to throw at them. And they were clearly emotionally affected by the severity and gravity of the situation for the victim and did nothing but do their best to respect everyone involved. Sorry, you are categorically wrong if you think that is the behavior or just any other franchise. And that is just a flat out fact.

Surprisingly, I feel like a lot of people here are very much missing this very fact and just have unrealistic and unreasonable expectations of the reach and investigative prowess of a sports organization. Very well said, and I think this is a post worth pinning to be honest.

I agree with you, of all the things to question this is the fairest. But 2 things...Haack sucks, I think they had no intention of entering the season with Haack as the starting punter regardless. So I think that played into why they cut him, I mean a punter is as plug and play as it gets in the NFL in terms of a position. When they released Haack, they literally said they wanted to give him time to catch on with a team. So I think that decision had everything to do with respecting Haack as a person and doing what was right for Haack because they had already decided they wanted to make a change there. And Beane also said, they aren't perfect, not every decision is easy when they make it. And things can happen after the fact that make you rethink a previous decision. To be honest, if I am Beane I am assuming I have more time before a civil suit gets filed to figure the situation out. It was not in the best interest of the victim to file the suit when they did, so I don't think they expected this to escalate this soon either and caught them off guard. And I think that is pretty evident in the timing of releasing Haack.

Agreed, look at her lawyers tweets...he tries every case in the court of public opinion, its literally his primary tactic. I still don't understand why her attorney was so foolish to file the civil suit before Matt was further into a better financial situation. His job is to get as much money as he can for his client, so the timing seems like a poor decision for what was in the best interest of his client. And based on these two idiot lawyers pissing competition in text and social media, it almost seems like he was reacting to that more than making the best choices for his client. Both these idiot lawyers are not doing anything positive for the images of their respective professions as a whole.

I will admit, I immediately felt bad for Barkley as a person when we traded for Keenum. He and Josh are close, the team loves him, he loves being here. He is a fun guy and good energy on the team. But, end of the day, it is really hard to imagine or even justify keeping a 3rd QB. And Keenum is just a better QB, so as much as I like the guy, he won't be on the team IMHO. And he clearly loves it here, so feel bad for him, but its the right football decision.

Spot on 👏🙌

No disrespect bud, and really not singling you out on this, but what did you expect them to do? And to be clear, I don't have an exception with your post here, its a good one. I am just asking about the stayed quiet for a bit. Others are really stuck on that, so this reply is more about addressing that staying quiet from the overall thread than your post here. This was a sensitive subject they had no idea that was true or not. They were just accusations, and we live in a country where false accusations are made every day. Heck, let's be real, it so common that our own politicians and media on both sides of the aisle literally lie and make false accusations daily to the entire country. My point really is there were no criminal chargers (still aren't) and there was no civil case (just got filed). A civil attorney, who is someone working to get money for his client, contacted the accused employer to push pressure on Matt that he has something massive to lose here to incentivize a settlement and for the most he can get for his client. Anyone would be reckless to take that at face value, assume guilt, and throw the player under the bus making public statements on something they don't not yet know are credible accusations. Bills not only respected the seriousness of the accusations and victim, but also the seriousness of the accused and working to figure this out behind the scenes before making any decisions or statements. Also, lets not forget these are football coaches and football executives. They are not professional investigators, lawyers, etc...this could not have been, and clearly was not, easy for them to deal with and figure out what the right thing was to do. And there is 0% chance any decision they made would have been seen 100% of all people approve of. Had they just cut him over an accusation from a civil attorney working on a settlement, they would have looked bad to for not giving it a chance to shake out and see if this is credible or not. So people just need to give these guys a break (not really talking to you on that, you seem to be pretty level headed on this whole thing, just saying to the board in general)...they did what they felt was the best they could in a really bad spot. Now lets all move on and get back to football. This is in the rear view mirror and they guys did the right thing.

Isn't there a whole thread to debate Matts guilt or innocence or the merits of the case? TAKE ALL THAT NOISE THERE. Beane, McD, and the Bills organization deserve a heck of a lot more benefit of the doubt here than all these conspiracy nonsense theories that keep getting repeated. To be honest, I find the position of many people here to be both disappointing and disturbing. Stop trying to negatively sensationalize the situation into something twisted to fuel your interest in tearing down the character of this regime. It's 100% misguided. Bills, McD, and Beane handled this incredibly well respecting the fact these were accusations...not criminal chargers, nor a civil case yet...when they were made aware of them by a civil attorney looking for money for his client. At the same time, taking them very serious and working behind the scenes to try and get enough info to figure out if this is a credible accusation and moving towards a real case. Once it progressed into a filed case, their inability to get enough of the things they tried to get, making it seemingly impossible for them to determine any truth or prove the version Matt told them, they had no choice to cut him and move on. And once the situation escalated into an actual filed civil suit, they immediately pulled him from the game, practices, etc and cut him the next day after the game. And not only that, they did not run or hide from this. McD sat up there after the game and immediately went into this and repeatedly said no football questions, all we are going to talk about is this because its bigger than football. Most coaches would not have even taken questions on it, let alone the entirety or the press conference. Then the next day, Beane and McD again sat out there for over 25 minutes taking questions, even stupid and repetitive ones, without hesitation and disclosing as much as they could considering its an ongoing case as of now. Most teams would have just had a GM release a statement, a controlled short video or interview. Or if they had the courage to take questions, would have done a few questions and then moved on. These guys are a total class act and never hide or shy away in moments like this. And honestly, if you cant see that then I don't know what to tell you. Too many people in this society want to turn everything into the negative way they view the world. And with McD and Beane...you are way off the mark.

Except you're wrong, so there's that too.

Well to be fair, accusations and lawsuit threats more often than not don't move forward. Its one thing to threaten a civil suit to induce a settlement, its another to actually file it. And the fact the civil attorney contacted a football team is reason enough for a red flag because they have no involvement or relation to the suit. Its a clear tactic to shake the tree and ruffle the leaves to try and get Matt scared and come to the settlement table with a big checkbook. The attorney has openly admitted to trying to settle this without it coming out for money. Yeah but her journal directly contradicts her civil suit and claims. In her own hand writing, she writes the day after the assault and again in the days following she doesn't know who took her to the room or who was in the room. Yet in the civil suit the attorney filed, it magically states it was Matt and he was in the room. Not to mention, there are other sworn statements by eyewitnesses that say Matt wasn't there at the time of the assault. So point is...a civil suit is one side of the story, the side of the story that is in pursuit of money from the accused and is always going to be embellished to their bias. And if Bills were getting Matts side, the info in the civil suit, conflicting accounts in her journal, conflicting info from witness statements, etc...its no wonder they would have taken pause to see what was shaping up to be truth before rushing to a judgement. I recommend people watch the press conference because they cover all of this. In fact, they were asked this questions multiple times, and gave thorough answers each time. Prior to the civil suit...it was just an accusation which is drastically different than an actual criminal case or civil suit. The Bills at that time, while knowing this is serious, still don't know if it will actually go to a civil suit, are her accusations substantiated by any evidence, is this a jaded ex doing a money grab, or is this player a monster that no one realized. There is a lot that is not known at the stage of just being accused. Beane said this verbatim too...there were no criminal chargers, and still are none. There was no civil suit. It was an accusation only, and one they took serious, but also wanted to see what they could find out before making decisions. They went further and said we are just a GM and football coach, there were things they were trying to get their hands on, but were not able to. And without that, there was nothing they could really do anymore to determine the truth. And with the filing of the civil suit, they had no choice here but to cut him and let him go deal with this.