BarleyNY

No. It did not come out immediately so no one else was asked about it. Other than Garrett stating that Rudolph did call him a “stupid n-word” when asked about it in a subsequent interview and Rudolph denying it through his lawyer I don’t think anyone else weighed in. The NFL said they found no evidence of it happening, but they also didn’t share the recordings.

I agree that it’s not that big a deal at this point. But I didn’t see any post with a plausible explanation other than discipline or that he’s struggling. The former makes more sense and is lot less concerning than the latter IMO. It’s one thing to not start Elam, but it’s another to bring your other 6 CBs to the game and leave him inactive. Maybe he struggled with the game plan and in practices and they’re sending a message. That would be a lot less significant than him oversleeping and missing a meeting or something like that. People are coming up with some funny stuff to explain it away though. My favorites: - We were going to be playing a lot of zone and running a ton of Nickel. Lol. We always run a ton of Nickel and we’ve played a lot of zone so far this year. - Matchup. Lol again. Against Mac Jones and that group of receivers Elam is the 7th best option? SMH - Injury. Nope. Full participation in practices the last two weeks. Also McD would have just told the media he was injured when asked why he was inactive. - Just wanted to see what Rhodes could do. This is probably the funniest one. I think they have a good idea of what the former first round, 32 year old, 9 year vet can do. Also doing so wouldn’t push Elam down to the 7th CB spot and off the actives list.

Nah. Mysteriously the audio from that game disappeared. Both the recordings from the field microphones and Garrett’s as he was mic-ed up for the game. NFL protecting the shield. They don’t want it known a QB dropped the N-word. It’d have been easy to disprove Garrett’s claim with those recordings otherwise.

Agreed. He’s on pace for 950-1,000 yards. That’s pretty darn good for a #2 WR. I think there were a lot of fans with unrealistic expectations that were based on #1 WR numbers.

Current physical shape? Weird that he was so hurt he couldn't play but was not listed on the injury report the week of the game - or the one the week prior.

I remember thinking “I hope he’s just tired and didn’t just hurt himself.”

No need to be conspiratorial to understand that this was almost certainly a disciplinary measure, even with the face-saving comment from McDermott. The only other option is that the coaches thought that Elam was the Bills 7th best option at CB in a zone-heavy game plan run against a limited QB and pedestrian WR corps. That would be a considerably worse situation. There’s also no need to make any more out of it than that. A rookie messed up, the coaches held him accountable (without making what happened public), he hopefully has learned his lesson and we all move on. It’s not that big a deal unless it continues to happen.

Since it’s not illness or injury it has to be discipline or play - and I can’t see how his play could be the reason he’s made inactive. Someone else starting over him, sure. But not inactive. Has to be a disciplinary move.

https://www.si.com/nfl/browns/.amp/news/report-lawyer-tony-buzbee-10-of-deshaun-watsons-accusers-to-attend-his-debut-in-houston Buzbee and 10 or so of Watson’s accusers will be sitting in a luxury box for the game. That seems very odd to me.

He’s gotta be in the conversation at least

Props to Milano on this!

Don’t go blaming the dress again

Good call. That might also explain Dane’s struggles.

Certainly a lot can be said about that aspect of it. But if I’m being honest I doubt there are many owners who really care about the morality of their players beyond how it can hurt the team’s win totals with suspensions, etc.

Because GMs and HCs are invented to keep their jobs and get their next contract. They don’t need to win a SB to do that, they need to have successful seasons. They have a better chance of doing that with a known commodity than rolling the dice again. I give Berry and the Browns a lot of credit for cutting bait with Mayfield and acquiring a QB who can be elite.

Any word on how everyone’s spleens are doing?

No Bills bandannas on my dogs and my daughter wore her Stefan Diggs socks. That was touch and go for awhile. One made it through the laundry but the other was lost. She found it in a pair of pants and wore it dirty. Props for that.

I agree. This has to be locker room driven. Wilson is a bad QB, but White and Flacco are worse.

The NFL is 32 separate businesses with some antitrust exemptions that allow it to act as one entity for certain things. IIRC those things are spelled out in laws that Congress passed that specifically pertain to the NFL, a Supreme Court decision and in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The existence of the NFLPA and a CBA are required for the antitrust exemptions to remain in place. That’s why when CBA negotiations get contentious, the NFLPA threatens to disband.

I’m not really arguing one side or the other. I can see some real downside if the NFL went to all fully guaranteed contracts and why teams don’t want to do that. I can also see why the players think more contracts should be fully guaranteed and why they think there is collusion by owners. I was more just trying to point out what the landscape looks like and discuss that, if proven, it would be a problem for the NFL.

The NFL has a number of antitrust exemptions. It is important to understand that under regular US law, teams would have to operate independently of one another. No draft, no salary cap, no league-wide broadcasting deals, no franchise tag or free agency rules, etc. All would be in violation of antitrust laws. Teams would operate like any other competing companies. I’m not saying that there’s a case in this instance or that there’s not. I have no idea if the NFLPA can prove that owners have colluded to not fully guarantee long term contracts. But if they can, then the NFL would be in real trouble. It would be as illegal as all of the large IT company CEOs getting together to set industry-wide wage scales for programmers. If I had to take a guess, I’d say this is probably a lot like airline ticket pricing. Airlines collude constantly, but good luck proving it.

Good call. I wish I’d have remembered that at the time

The Jest are a QB away from being a formidable team. I don’t see Zach Wilson developing into one so a lot will depend on how long they stick with him.

Dude. It was playing out in front of us. You weren’t having a waking nightmare, you were watching one unfold. If the Brown who almost caught the kick had caught it……….

This was the turning point for me and my opinion on this. People need to consider that he will likely be worked in slowly when he comes back. He can start by playing less meaningful snaps. There was certainly opportunity for that on Sunday.