Hapless Bills Fan

I'm not that familiar with the Bears starting lineup. This article seems to think they did not play starters: https://www.nfl.com/news/nagy-reiterates-andy-dalton-will-start-week-1-for-bears-we-need-to-see-him-in-th I'm not familiar with the Bears roster so I can't tell you who, on this list, is expected to start:

9 out of 19 (47% completion) for 80 yds (4.2 ypa) plus 46 yds on the ground. Punt, TOD, TD, Punt, FG, TOD. One could argue that Dalton did better with 11/17 (64.7% completion) for 146 (8.6 ypa), 1 TD 1 INT - it would actually translate to almost 300 yds passing over a game. But, Fields is the New Shiny.

There's a saying that "perception is reality", but when a team makes personnel decisions, they need to look at actual reality. Fans think that McKenzie lost his KR/PR job due to muffs. It was probably more due to bad judgement about when to abort and when to run back. The fact is that Roberts had 3 fumbles on KR/PR last season (61 KR/PR, 1 of them a muff), 3 during 2018 and 4 during 2017 with the Jets. Yet the overall impression I get is that fans are ready to canonize Saint Andre of the Sure Hands and vilify McKenzie, who is on the record with 2 fumbles (26 KR/PR, 1 of them a muff) Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to argue that we won't miss Andre' Roberts or that 1 in 20 is the same as 1 in 13 (it's not); my point is that 1) even the "All Pro" KR/PR fumbled some, perhaps more than his reputation in fans' minds would suggest 2) impressions/perceptions are not reality, even when we believe them to be reality.

My eyes have not seen so I can neither confirm nor deny, but NFL's scoring credits Boogie Basham (96) with the EP block

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I think Turf vs Grass has something to do with it

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Both are listed at 6’4”. The towering may be a camera perspective

Shaw. Yes, can’t muff punts. But how many has he actually dropped? I think you need to look it up yourself

ESPN saying Achilles, ugh He was a guy I wanted the Bills to sign although not so much as the “45 million dollar man”

I’ll hope it’s something like your shin splinty friend

Yeah, but @BubbaT has a point - you’d think one of the reporters would ask. He probably wouldn’t get a meaningful answer though. Look at the “radio silence” around Diggs. I think Sweeney has shown a lot of promise, but he’s looking like a prime candidate for the moniker “boo-boo foot”

I’m here with you now. I was one who thought he got a raw deal in ‘Zona - crappy OL, multiple OCs, and clearly there was a “changing of the coaching guard” which is usually prone to sweeping out the previous regime’s mistakes. Many a deserving player has found himself on the street because of this “not invented here” phenomenon. Then in Florida, there were intimations that he didn’t understand the offense well enough behind Fitz. OK, but part of his selling point was that he was supposed to be a cerebral “smart” player, so why is it such a struggle for him? At this point, where he’s been on 4 teams (you’re forgetting Tampa Bay) and where 3 of them had established veteran QB he can learn from, excellent coaching, and adequate receivers/OL: you’re exactly right, there’s a common denominator there and it’s not the team, it’s Rosen. That pick was really really bad.

The comments on that article are interesting. ” I thought the comments on his arrogance were probably overblown, but that INT was really really bad. That was a forgivable pick for a rookie, and possibly a miscommunication between WR and QB, but miscommunication or no, no QB with pretentions to play in the NFL should be making that throw to the middle of the field with 3 defenders there. That’s the kind of throw that Josh made early in his 2nd season vs. the Pats and later acknowledged he had meetings after that game “I’ll keep private between us” with Beane, McDermott and Daboll after the game where it’s probably reasonable to infer they told him if he didn’t learn to read defenses better and not put the ball at risk by making those throws, he was going to be making an early exit from the team and probably the league.

Or at least on the path to recovery, which we all hope is Speedy - agreed! Feliciano commented that the endurance needs for an OLman are different since a DLman may be rotated or may have different responsibilities and probably isn’t rushing on every play - but someone will be rushing on every play, and most OLmen play 100% of the game.

I don’t want to derail this, but per NFL protocols Dawkins did NOT count as vaccinated, even though he had received the vaccine. A player counts as fully vaccinated to the NFL only 2 full weeks after the final dose. When your immune system fully develops immunity is a different (and possibly longer) timeline. Muki is mistaken about Dawkins being “one of the first” since the Bills were publicized as having reached a 50% threshold (of fully vaccinated players) during OTAs. I think Dawkins comments in his presser are consistent with this - he said he wished he had gotten vaccinated earlier because if he had been fully vaxxed when he got infected, it might not have been as bad I will add that (not to you but to others) I personally didn’t envision McDermott’s comments as a “public tongue lashing”, but more as a point that the team needs availability from all its starters and that he wants players to take every step (ASAP) to minimize impacts and maximize their availability. Obviously Dion took the step of being vaccinated, but also obviously delayed in starting.

Covid has a 5-14 day incubation period, if Dawkins developed symptoms 1.5 weeks after getting his 2nd shot, the chances are he was infected just before or just after getting the 2nd shot - before it had a chance to boost his immunity. Data about 1 and 2 shot effectiveness are available (in the OTW Covid thread with references and stuff). Glad Dawkins is better and able to work out again, and hope he gets back up to speed quickly.

Since when is Bam Johnson the gunner? But yes, having him closing at a high rate of speed has got to be scary

unlikely imo

Correct. It's a possibility. It's not known. We don't even know when exactly Dawkins tested positive, just that he was placed on the list when the list started, at the beginning of camp. The point is, these lasting issues do occur sometimes, even for guys who weren't that sick. And even if he doesn't have an issue he's been unavailable for almost 3 weeks and now longer while he conditions. 3 weeks vs. 5 days is a huge concern, especially with key Bills players making a public issue of being unvaccinated. It's enough to make a coach pull his hair. (Oh...Wait) I, like you (because you're here), signed on to the agreement to not talk Covid-19 on the main board, so per that agreement Football/Sport relevant anecdotes is what we're going to get. Put down the statistically significant and step away; given the small number of players who did get Covid last season and given their right to medical privacy, anecdotes from players who personally chose to share medical information is what we have. Doesn't mean it's smart to discount or ignore it, especially when there may be *ahem* studies of statistically significant numbers out there saying this isn't some fluke. Fair.

Well....he appears heavier than the Bills, perhaps, would like him. But he came to OTAs heavier and did full practices and no comments were made about him "being a long way from where he can play and help us", so....

If you can't see a difference between coaching to "play physical" and launching yourself horizontally into the team's star WR to pick a pass in practice, then rolling on his knees as you get up, I don't know what to tell you. As Hyde himself has said at times "I'm the 'he be doing too much" friend". There's a time for that, and practice in training camp is not that time. I'm sure having film on that will make Allen a better QB...IF Diggs isn't more seriously injured than thought. It's possibly not a good sign that Diggs has been out at practice and traveling with the team but wasn't out there today.

This could have been an open thread With a meaningful title indicating the thread's subject But instead It is locked Try again, OP

Here's wishing Dawkins a speedy recovery

Yeah, I had the thought that McDermott (and certainly Daboll) probably weren't too thrilled with that interception of Hyde's. Moreover, when he was on-top of Diggs, he rolled over and got to his feet, right over Digg's legs. I "get it" he was probably just real excited but you can't lose your sense of what you're doing (practicing!) like that. I don't think "indefinitely" is in the picture. Remember Diggs stayed on the field and was tossing signed footballs into the stands, and has been walking around at practice coaching players. My guess is a sprain he might play through during the season, but is taking extra pains to "get right" during training camp. Maybe BangedupBills will watch the play and give us his take.