Hapless Bills Fan

To that last, absolutely. But I think Hollister is showing some stuff that makes him an effective "shot across the bows" in case Knox doesn't show the development the team wants, not only in the passing game but as a blocker.

I haven't, really. Questions about Josh's contract are asked almost every time Beane gives an interview and likewise Josh. No one is claiming they're out of bounds because the Bills have said they aren't talking about it. Hopeful reporters keep re-phrasing and re-packaging in the hopes of gleaning something. I don't get your Sullivan thing, but that's OK.

Earlier comments on Hollister and Knox from Joe B and Matt F: emphasis mine

From Athletic article Now I grant that Fairburn has a tendency to zero in on errors, like Singletary's drop, instead of positive aspects. I'm sure Josh Allen has thrown some interceptions too. Perhaps there are positive plays he isn't mentioning. I did notice that after an arcing pass from Josh that Diggs caught in stride, Tanner Gentry had to decelerate and hold up for a Webb pass to get there.

'Tis true. But just as with the press fixating on Singletary dropping an easy pass, there are other good catches in clips floating around. So we'll see. Hopefully now he has some technical things to focus on "next pass do this, this, this" instead of just "@#$@%!!" at himself. There were lots of interesting small things I like to see... -Stefon Diggs catching warm up passes standing on one leg or the other. Even in the littlest things, he raises the bar for himself. -Beasley near Diggs on the sidelines doing some warm-up footwork drills. Good to see that he's able to participate in individual drills anyway -Moss assisting with an RB drill, but holding a ball in alternate hands, pointing downwards, in what looks like some kind of ball-security drill

Me three (Dawson Knox being at the head of the list of those hoping). FWIW, in terms of budget player acquisitions at TE, I don't think the Bills could have made a better choice to "push" Knox than signing Jacob Hollister. He's been part of two championship-contending teams with top QB so he knows what effort and prep are required on a top team; he has prior connection and chemistry with Josh Allen from Wyo; and, in games where he's had the opportunity to take significant snaps, he's actually made a bit more of his opportunities than Knox in terms of Y/G and catch %. He doesn't apparently have the athletic upside that our experts seem to feel that Knox has, but he's solid. Well, for one thing, last off season a lot of things got shut down. Maybe he wanted to travel to Cali and work with this guy, but the facility was shut down. For another, the right training or step isn't necessarily immediately obvious. Knox said last year that he bought a Juggs machine and caught 200 balls a day, so it's not as though he wasn't trying to do anything to improve, maybe he and the Bills felt that was all he needed, but then after last season they and he decided he needed a different approach. It could be sort of analogous to Josh Allen, where he worked and improved between his rookie and second season, but then decided in the off-season last year that a different, more extensive and comprehensive approach to upgrade his throwing was needed.

Shaw, again with all respect, and not wanting to flog a horse, but these are just faulty analogies. For one, see the point I made above: "It differs from a random circumstance like an injury, in that it's (whether or not vaccinated) an outcome the player can control." For two, preventive measures like vaccines against disease require time to be effective. So just being vaccinated and able to be available to the team and avoid quarantine upon exposure, requires prior action. I'm not going to go down the road of explaining exactly why it is and should be a question leading up to training camp, rather than one that defers into the season, as that would fall into the category of "general discussion". No one, including myself as stated explicitly and repeatedly, is arguing that it's not their choice to not answer questions. The point is, because of the NFL/NFLPA agreements impacting how players meet, train, and whether or not they quarantine, it impacts football. You even seem to be acknowledging that above. So why is a question about it somehow "out of bounds" and not football related? It seems to me it's fair game for the press to ask, and for the players not to answer. This seems to me to be a very apt analogy. The Bills, and Allen, have a right to not answer questions about contract negotiations and Allen's contract. But no one is complaining, as you are here, that those questions they aren't football related and shouldn't be asked, or that it's "disrespectful" to ask them. They ARE football related, and it's part of the reporter's job to see if he can get something on the topic. We'll just have to disagree here. I don't think Wawrow's behavior was disrespectful at all. He had an angle that he didn't think fell into the exact category Poyer said he wouldn't talk about, he gave it a try, Poyer said essentially "nope, falls into the category of stuff I'm not going to talk about", the interview moved on. It seems to me that various reporters have asked, not the specific $$, but "would you be open to taking a team friendly contract?" type question, and Allen has appropriately refused to get into it. But I don't hear people claiming those questions "arent football related" or aren't appropriate, because they are.

Video Clips where he's talking about it some here: This might be the guy in question: At least he's putting in effort, let's see if it shows results. My personal belief with Dawson is that a lot of his problems have to do with focus and concentration, not so much hand-eye coordination but with taking his eye off the ball to think about his next moves. But maybe this sort of training addresses that too, or maybe if his hand-eye coordination is better then he'll be able to spare the focus.

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/respect-fuels-high-participation-rate-at-bills-spring-workouts-otas-week-2

People asked what Poyer said. I found this in a Mark Gaughan article on TBN:

If it's football-relevant, then discussion focused on the football aspect - football impacts etc - is considered on-topic here. It Is How It Is. This and threads like the Chung thread or Deshawn Watson thread are always the most difficult threads to moderate because there's obvious judgement involved in making that call, what's focused discussion and what's general. My best advice is to folks who have trouble seeing a line between football-focused and general discussion, is "stay out of these threads". Sorry.

IMO this is a hurdle Josh can improve. It really comes in two parts. He developed a lot at not trying to win on every play last season. But he still doesn't see/take the checkdown at times, even when the player in question has a ton of green grass around him. But the other part is, I don't think he fully trusts the guys who are out there (Singletary, Knox) to be a safe outlet leading to a good play. So they have to develop too, or else give way to someone who can get it done. Hopefully he'll continue to mature here. The Bills had 3 games with 25 or less passing attempts last season (1st NE, Chargers, and 2nd Miami). We won all 3. The MIA game he only played a half, but seems to me he performed pretty well in the other 2 games where we rushed 38 and 30 times, respectively.

I respectfully disagree that the vaccine thing is not a "football issue". The NFL and NFLPA have issued protocols that vaccinated and non-vaccinated players need to follow. I respect the Bills and Poyer's decision as a team to keep discussions in-house and not address them in the media, but that doesn't mean it's not an issue that will affect the team (ie a football issue) this upcoming season and fair game for a journalist question. I don't "get" the take that it's BS. The NFL and NFLPA have agreed on rules which make it not BS. People may disagree with their rules, but they are what they are. As I said elsewhere, if both Allen and Mahomes are exposed to Covid a few days before we play KC, and the publically "vaccinated in April" Mahomes is available when we play while Allen is quarantined (per NFL/NFLPA rules) and not available, that would be far from a BS non issue with regard to football. It differs from a random circumstance like an injury, in that it's an outcome the player can control.

So apparently the team has agreed, as a team, to keep their vaccination discussions in house and not answer questions about them. I think that's their right. I've read this 1 of 2 teams thing, and I'm very curious - anyone got the source on that? The protocol restrictions were posted in a thread titled something like "New NFL/NFLPA Protocol something something" Edit: looping back on this. I found this article: https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-updates-covid-19-protocols-fully-vaccinated-players-largely-returning-to-pre So the 30 of 32 teams applies to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel being >90% vaccinated, nothing about players. It says the remaining 2 teams are currently at 85% Tier 1 and Tier 2 vaccinated. I can't find anywhere where it says which are the 2 teams at 85%.

This first part, Yeah. It's not new either - when pressers were in person and McD came to town he would actually respond to John "what is the question?" or "I'm sorry, I'm trying to get you a good answer, I'm not clear on the question?" But IMO it got worse with Zoom pressers. Us old curmugeons have trouble with new technology and IMO it took JW's tendency to ramble with his own thoughts instead of asking an open-ended question to new depths. I think you're mistaken about "People will also defend him in this thread solely because he gets on these boards from time to time with his viewpoints" though. I for one respect John's body of work over the years and consider him a journalist of serious chops who does good stuff. Especially during the drought when so many became truly jaded and, basically IMO, toxic in their negativity towards the team (we probably know who I'm talking about here) Wawrow stood out. And he still writes good balanced pieces.

He wasn't the only one who came across badly - a number of the reporters seemed to really struggle with the format and being ready with several concise, well-phrased open ended questions - but he certainly set a low for appearance. Though we're not supposed to judge folks by that I guess.

I don't agree at all that John Wawrow is a "hack". I would say that the video interview format hasn't been kind to him; he seems to struggle to frame and ask concise open-ended questions and I swear to God he was showing up on-camera in Zoom interviews in his bathrobe and a torn undershirt at times last season. One viewpoint on journalism is that it's a journalist's responsibility to ask "tough questions" and not limit himself to the questions the interviewee wants to be asked. I'm not saying that Poyer has a responsibility to answer - he doesn't - just speaking to the point that a reporter traditionally would not consider himself "bound" to respect the interviewee's requests in an open interview format (if it's a 1:1 interview by special arrangement where certain topics have been agreed out of bounds, sure). Wawrow has serious journalist chops and (for example) was the guy chosen to interview Terry Pegula after the Whaley "Privy to" debacle presser /Rex firing, because his reputation as a fair, even-handed report gave him trust with them.

There was a pass rush, Addison just went for the sack instead of continuing to pursue him which would have kept him from setting to throw (IMHO)

Actually sounds like a rap song to me. Maybe Beasley will write one. Meaning no offense, but if a journalist or aspiring journalist doesn't realize a term will cause an issue maybe he needs to change careers. I tend to believe he wanted the clicks/controversy and is now trying to change face

I think it's "Stand and Deliver" time for Motor and for Knox. Nothing is given, everything is earned. If you're not gonna take advantage of your opportunities, you'll sit down and be replaced by someone who will. Allen to Hollister here. He looks smooth. He and Allen look as though they've played together before. Oh wait..... I like how Hollister rocks the "Suns Out Guns Out" look. Hey, if you've got 'em...

I like this view of the TD to Diggs best: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPoY9VpJd08/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link And if we want a quick glimpse of Sanders: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPoDMSQpfb5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Is anyone else concerned about the reports Beasley is here but not participating (and limited last week)?

Like this view better Is it just me or is there something that just looks awkward about how Singletary runs? Looks faster though.

Click on the pic for full size