Rocky Landing

There are many different types of fans. It's pointless to judge.

Anyone who has a strong opinion on what, if any, role Wade will have this upcoming season is talking out their ass. He was an elite talent in European rugby, and an exceptional athlete with zero American football experience. He showed us (and the coaches) his talent, and potential in the 2019 preseason, and it landed him on the PS. He could be great. He could be lost. Anyone who pretends to speak with authority (and there are several on this thread) is full of crap. Just my opinion.

Inadvertently, this thread will be trolling the trolls to come out and troll.

Maybe if you read the article, you'd see that he's saying quite a bit more. Also, what's the inference here? That he shouldn't do the interview? Shouldn't answer the questions? I have heard him state, btw, in numerous interviews, that he is not in any position to set policy anywhere, for anybody. He is just director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases doing his job. Peter King of NBC sports interviews him, and asks him questions, and he answered them-- fairly, and rationally, IMO.

You can't just take that one sentence fragment out of the context of a much larger interview, and make some generalization that he is stating the "incredibly obvious," and then imply that he thinks little of the American people. Sorry, Mark, but that's pretty disingenuous.

A good number of people participating in this thread are not mature enough to be having this discussion. It's an embarrassing read.

I was saying $2Gs just for myself! I'm not spending that kind of money for my Pats*-fan wife to go to a Bills game! (unless, it's to see the Bills dismantle the Pats* in week eight).

I live in Los Angeles, and I've been looking into it. Yeah, ticket prices are sky-high. And, if the thing gets canceled, depending on where you found your tickets, you may be out the money. Hotels are filling up for that area, also, so those prices aren't particularly cheap, depending on how close you want to be to the venue. I'm assuming I'm going to be spending in the neighborhood of $2,000+ for the trip, with not-particularly-good seats. My Pats* fan wife is not really into me spending that kind of money for a football game, but... screw it. I'm going.

I don't usually do this, but... IN.

No thanks you on the bet. That's a bet I would not want to win. I don't ever feel comfortable about betting against the Bills, and that's what it would feel like. If the season goes on as expected, believe the Bills are very well positioned for this season. I've said many times in other threads that continuity has a greater value this season than in those past, with many teams having a clumsy start. And, look at the rest of the division. Even the Pats* are going to struggle to install their system with so much turnover. The Bills have continuity and a really good team. I really, really, really hope you are right.

I've been on this forum for years, and I know the tradition very well. My post seemed pretty relevant to the conversation, to me, but I certainly didn't want to crap in anyone's corn flakes. The thing of it is, my predictions-- about anything, really-- are almost always wrong.

If I wasn't clear, I'm saying that I think there's about a 50% chance that there is no regular season, at all. If there is a season, it will likely be with either no crowds, or significantly diminished crowds. The chances of the season happening with full crowds is, IMO, very slim.

My utterly cynical take on the season: 2% chance games will be attended by full crowds. 25% chance games are attended by quarter capacity (ish) crowds. 50% chance the season happens at all.

They also had Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Ben Watson in his prime, and an absolute brick wall of an O-line. Their D that year was led by the likes of Teddy Bruschi, and Vince Wilfork, and Mike Vrabel. The '08 Bills, on the other hand? Dick Jauron, and Trent Edwards. No other names need be mentioned.

I have a good friend who's a die-hard Pats* fan, and knows football (rare, but they do exist). We had a conversation a year, or so ago about how much the Pats* have benefitted from their long dominance in the AFCE in terms of how many more practices they have held over the years. I had never really thought about that before that conversation, but in terms of a team's system, and their cohesion as a team, getting an additional month+ of practices every year for almost two decades contributed to the advantage they have had in the AFCE. That has just been interrupted, and in a way, this Covid-19 thing happened at the wrong time for the Pats*. And, if it happened at a "right time" for anyone, it's the Bills, who will enter the 2020 season with a decent team and a high degree of continuity. (I apologize for referring to a "right time" for Covid-19-- kind of an ugly thing to say...) I certainly agree that their fall will not be permanent. But, I don't agree with the "conventional wisdom" in NE that they're looking at a one year rebuild to a return to dominance.

So, I went onto a Patriots* fan forum and asked these same questions (full disclosure: I plagiarized you massively...), because I have been wondering what their faithful would have to say about such things. And, I have to say, by and large, they seem pretty sober about all of it. At least as far as the upcoming season is concerned. I know quite a few Pats* fans, in fact (my wife, and her entire extended family is from Boston), and they saw the writing on the walls even before Brady* skipped out. Mostly, they are putting all their faith in Belichick*, and his massive brain to execute a full rebuild by 2021, at which point the Fourth Reich begins. Or something like that.

Hopefully, the season doesn't get postponed. The Raiders will be hosting the Bills in Las Vegas, and apparently the mayor has no problem turning the entire town into a giant petri dish. That city has about 1,000 deadly, infectious diseases floating around on any given Sunday, anyway. I'll just have to get a motel room in Baker on my drive back to LA, and quarantine myself for about two weeks so I don't end up wiping out my whole family upon my return. Totally worth it to see the Bills in Vegas.

Some of the protocols for Bills games: No mild, or medium wings. Extra-spicy only. Any table being jumped through either has to be disinfected, or burning for at least one minute. Any alcohol being drunk through a woman's ass-crack has to be at least 100 proof. All dildos thrown onto the field must be sanitized. Any brawls in the stands must be conducted with gloves, and face-masks. No Steelers fans. No drinking the hand sanitizer. Social distancing at urinals (no doubling up). All visiting team's fans must genuflect at the statue of Ralph Wilson.

I'm kind of a broken record on this, but in my opinion, with the limited practice, training camp, and team activities, continuity will be of enormous value this season. The Bills are especially well positioned in this regard. If the season started tomorrow, the Bills would be firing on all cylinders. That cannot be said of any other team in our division, and few in the NFL as a whole. Many teams are going to have an exceptionally clumsy start to the season, with limited installs of their systems, and limited playbooks.

Because at this point I don't see us cutting anyone of value before training camp. Even depth players like Long, or McKenzie, or anyone who plays on special teams provides us with continuity from last season, and continuity is far more valuable this year than in previous years.

Trade for what? Late round draft picks next year? Another running back? LB depth? I've said in other threads, and I firmly believe that this season, continuity is going to be a valuable asset in the NFL. And, all three of the other teams in our division are going through significant turnover. With severely limited TC, and other team activities, the teams lacking continuity are going to have it much harder this time around dialing in their systems. Many teams are going to have a clumsy first half of the season-- and who even knows how the regular season schedule is going to affected? With the continuity we have on this roster (and that includes Trent Murphy) we could start the season tomorrow and be firing on all cylinders. How many teams can say that?

I actually love this article. There is an undercurrent of grief, and desperation. Shaughnessy knows he is utterly full of crap, and it's obvious. The more brazen, and audacious, and insulting his proclamations, the more you can tell he's just doing his level best to turn a blind eye to the blisteringly obvious writing on the wall. When your own team has a dwindling reservoir of hope, turn to insulting the competition. As the saying goes, insults are the last resort of insecure people with a crumbling position trying to appear confident.

Continuity will be a premium asset for teams this year. The question to say is: would our team be better with #2WR Brown embedded into our system, or with #2WR Greene new to it? I'm going Brown.

Or up against it.

Is it me, or does Moss have an odd, sort of upright running style? It looks like his shoulders never get as low as they should.