BarleyNY

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.

Diggs. The Browns defensive scheme is trash. Diggs should feast in the dome.

It did not

I couldn’t remember it either. It didn’t seem like something they’d make up, but I thought maybe I heard it wrong. I thought somebody here would remember if it happened.

If cash issues are still a problem for the Raiders (and they probably are), they stem from their time in Oakland when they had the lowest revenues of any team. The move to LV was meant to rectify that - and it will - but it’s possible that they have not been there long enough to build up cash reserves. Paying out Gruden certainly was a hit to them, plus guarantees for Adams, Carr, Jones, etc. Remember that fully guaranteed money in NFL contracts has to be escrowed at time of signing. That was why they could not keep Khalil Mack when they were in Oakland.