GunnerBill

Haven't said at any point it shouldn't have been reported. It needs someone with the freedom that Dunne has now as a glorified blogger to be able to print a piece like this though. First because of length and second because it doesn't really make much of an effort at balance and as someone who was a sports journalist earlier in my career I know how hard that is to get past your editor. That is not me saying he shouldn't have published it. He is trying to make a living. When you are essentially a content creator charging people $8 a pop for your content you won't drive eyes and subs with on the one hand this on the other hand that pieces. Much more likely to drive traffic with hit pieces. Which he has on Rodgers and McDermott. And worth saying Buffalo and Green Bay are the two markets in which he has most contacts and knowledge.

It is a hit piece. It is pretty much the definition of one. That doesn't mean it isn't legitimate, or well researched, or true. But it is a hit piece.

Yea he was. They took an all in swing on Von. When you do that you need a bit of luck and they, sadly, didn't get it with the ACL.

And didn't they get at the time record draft viewing figures the one year they went all out for a draft in May (think it was 2014)? If they moved the Superbowl back a week, and punted FA to the last week in March and then the draft first week in May then opened training camps 1 August and had zero pre-season they could do it possibly. I don't think they have a lot of space to move anywhere (forward or back) without losing something though, and the thing that everyone agrees can go is more pre-season games.

But it was the Bills decision to do that. Nobody was making them.

Yes but that wasn't because of the international series. Can't blame them for that.

London would absolutely sell out a team now at 8 games a year. And I have been sceptical about that in the past, because most NFL fans here have "a team" and are not suddenly going to make the London Jags or whoever their team just because they are based here. But the level of demand at the moment is insane and they would sell out Tottenham and 60,000 seats 8 times a year without a doubt. Whatever Goodell's test of readiness for that is, London is ready. Would they continue to do it 5 or 10 years down the line if the team sucked once the initial enthusiasm died away? Who knows, but that is a risk in any new market. There are, of course, lots of good reasons why a permanent franchise in London is still a bad idea. And the 'experiment' the NFL played on the Bills this year proves that. There is a significant competitive disadvantage to a team that has been out there 2/3 weeks playing one that has only been out there a few days and I don't know how you get around that. Then there is the tax position. If it was ever going to happen then the last 14 years of Conservative rule when a nod and a wink for rich Americans wanting a tax loophole might have been looked upon favourably was the time. That isn't something that would fly with a likely incoming Labour Government at some time next year and the dissary the Tories are in they could be out of power for some time. I'm sure there are others too. I wonder slightly if the NFL itself is now less convinced on the permanent London franchise model in any event. I think Goodell's ideal is lots of different host cities and the "17th" game for every team essentially becoming a neutral site game. So each season every team plays 8 home, 8 road, 1 international game. You need 16 venues for that. 3 in London, 2 in Germany, 2 in Mexico (all numbers they have done before without any expansion in their current territories) gets you to 7, suddenly you are halfway there.

Yea I hate 17 as a number. And the way they get to it feels very manufactured.

I mean this was literally the first time the Bills gave up a home game to play an international series game.

Yea I meant 2-3 months minimum. Sorry was on a bus when I wrote it. It could well have been an ongoing - i.e. something you keep coming back to and bring together over the course of 6, 9, 12 months. On timing I think it sort of makes sense in terms of where we are in the season and if I were being generous I might say just that. But personally I suspect timed to do maximum damage, yes. I think he does have axes to grind... or (I should say) is very close to people who do - Doug W and Russ B. That isn't the same as me doubting the authenticity of the sources btw. I think it is substantially an accurate piece. But I sense just a touch of vengence in the timing.

Yea something like this is 2 to 3 months work minimum. I think the timing of the release is more about causing maximum damage to the Bills season (therefore getting McDermott closer to the sack) than it is anything to do with the Athletic article.

It is a one sided hit job. That doesn't mean the points have no merit. But it is still a hit job. Written by a blogger. But the team is tight, no question about that and it is a reflection of the Head Coach in that sense, I agree.

I give Ty one thing, he can write. And as a piece of writing it is compelling. He is a really talented writer. It is why I find it slightly ridiculous that he is hawking his wares around on a blog nobody reads, then showing just enough ankle to try and get you to pay to go behind the paywall rather than working within the admittedly more restrictive conventions of traditional media.

There is also a huge difference between a journalist employed by a credible organisation and Tyler Dunne. He now has much more in common with your son than he does with proper journalists. Hence almost nobody is paying $8 a pop to read his opinions. He needs to try and make people pay that money. Hence he figuratively flashes his bits like the Only Fans model. Again - I have said repeatedly that I don't doubt there is a basis of truth in what he has written about OBD. But it isn't a balanced journalistic piece. It is a one sided hit job that in the end hurts McDermott but will hurt Dunne in the long term too.

I haven't disputed what he said about OBD. That is a separate issue. But Tyler Dunne is now essentially a blogger asking you to pay for his opinions. That is what he has done taking himself out of the mainstream. And I don't blame him for quitting journalism I made that decision myself. You can make money as a content creator. Good luck to him. But that is what he is now. A content creator asking us to pay to see his bits.

I mean technically he doesn't have a job.... he is a content creator. Just the same as the college girl flashing her bits on Only Fans.

I think the tweet is true. Whatever you think of McDermott coming out of this story (and as I said before I think there is likely a basis of truth to most of it) Dunne comes off really badly. And he likely doesn't realise what he has just done to his own career.

And that shouldn't be a surprise given Dunne's closeness with Whaley and McDermott's pushing out of Whaley early. This is definitely a total journalisitc hit job of a type you rarely see. But that doesn't mean Dunne is wrong. I take it all with a pinch of salt but equally I suspect the majority of the core claims are at some basis factual.

If it stops being fun, stop doing it. If you are so emotionally dependent on sports results that it stops it being fun you need to take a break.

It is but if those players end up playing on that 'can' money it is actually a way of buying cap space. Because $10m now in 2023 against a $228m cap is more expensive than $10m in 2025 when the projections are the cap will be somewhere between $265-280m. With an ever escalating cap accounting more money later is good financial sense not just a way to buy now and pay later.

You can restructure it and spread it on the new deal. You have to account for it. But so long as there is a way to kick it you can kick it down the extension.

Yea but they will extend Josh. And Mahomes will get a new deal or a chunk of new money after this year despite being tied up for longer.

I think the routes are there. Josh has to start trusting him on them.

This is the answer on my card.

Yes I do. I am not saying he should. But I think he would.