racketmaster

Bills have begun to hand out big contracts to the younger core players and have more decisions to make with Allen (more of a no brainer) but Edmunds and Milano have to be decided on soon as well. Tough decisions have to be made and Hyde has been a good player for us in the past but being sentimental and paying for past production will get this team in trouble in a hurry. We definitely need some youth on the back end and as opposed to his first 2 years, Hyde as been virtually invisible during these games the last year and a half.

I understand the urge to trade for players, especially with the team struggling the last few games. However, it is generally not a good idea to trade draft picks for veteran players. Teams trading players are usually doing it for a reason (eg. player locker room issue, unhappy about contract, aging and no longer playing at previous level). So what generally happens when a team trades for a player at the deadline is that they get a veteran on an expiring contract or a contract the player wants renegotiated. Teams giving up draft picks for half season rentals or players they then have to pay generally do not make sense. Teams need to build through the draft as that is the only way a team can acquire young talent at a cheap cost. Look at the Khalil Mack trade that the Raiders got blasted for a few years back. 2 first round picks and a huge contract had to be handed out. Is Mack a great player, yes. But he is just one player and not a quarterback so the Bears have not really been any closer to winning a championship with him and now they lost 2 first round draft picks and allocated a significant amount of cap dollars to a single defensive player. Teams trading a player like Mack don’t win the trade the day they make it but almost always win it down the road. Another example is our very own Kelvin Benjamin. There was a reason Carolina traded him for a 3rd. At the time, the move felt necessary but pretty quickly we realized we would be better off having another young draft pick like Singletary, Knox, Moss etc. rather than a Benjamin that ended up being a complete waste of a day 2 pick. A non deadline deal, such as the Diggs trade, is also beginning to show the potential dangers even when the player being traded for is good. Diggs has been just about as good as advertised but unless he helps us win the Super Bowl this year, it probably ends up favoring the Vikings. Jefferson was the next Wr in the draft and the player we could have selected at that spot in a deep wr draft. Jefferson will be a cap value for the next 4 years and even on his 5th year option and he has been good. While Diggs has a pretty reasonable contract for a vet it still costs us another premium lineman or safety free agent contract plus the other cheap labor mid round picks we gave up. It was a pretty costly deal even with Diggs producing and all it takes is at the end of the year or the next for Diggs to hold out asking for another contract like most every top vet player does and this becomes a not so good deal for the Bills. Pay market value (meaning the team gets no value as player is being paid at or more their worth) or he becomes distraction or is traded himself. I understand Diggs was a sure thing but whenever trading for a vet it is also a sure thing that the contract is a problem or will become a problem to the point where the player cannot perform at the level necessary to be a value at their contract. Are there deals that can work, sure. Sometimes teams are having fire sales and accumulating as many draft picks as they can but unless that player is going to be essential to winning a Super Bowl that year, it is better to hold onto the picks.

I’m not sure there is any valid reason for concern over Yeldon’s fumbling. Yeldon has never had more than 2 fumbles in a season while Singletary recorded 4 fumbles last year. My guess is that this team seems to force their top draft picks onto the field at times without them always earning it. Think about Zay Jones, he was pretty bad but played right away and often. Oliver was playing over Phillips early last year until it was too obvious to ignore that Oliver needed to take a step back and regroup. Look at Cody Ford l, they have forced him into spots across the line at the expense of other veterans who have been productive. AJ is now playing a at end and I have not seen much to warrant any action. And Moss is plugged in right away but has shown little burst. He runs hard but has not been very productive while Yeldon has been productive whenever called upon.

The Bills stuck with their guy because he showed real leadership and promise. Allen at the very least provided an impact on the ground and after the first few games and looking a little lost he came back from injury and looked different at the end of his rookie year. We even went .500 down the stretch with him so we were winning games. In his second year we go 10-6 and make the playoffs. Haskins has not made any progress from his rookie year and his poor play is causing them to lose games in a winnable division. They have a nice defensive line and between Gibson and McClaurin (who is a star playing with an erratic qb) there are some things to work with. Kyle Allen will get them some wins. He is a nice backup or low end starter but even that is an improvement over Haskins.

Haskins is pretty bad and their team really needs an impact qb. I wish they left Haskins in as Allen may get them a few wins, especially in that division. Any team that beats out the Jets and Houston (goes to Miami) forthe worst team, I am rooting for as I don't want Lawrence in our division.

They are really bad but with a coaching change, Trevor Lawrence and additional picks from trading Darnold they could turn it around in 2021. My hope is they fire Gase and elevate Williams who then coaches the Jets to 2 late season meaningless wins and hopefully there is an NFC team that has a worse record who decides to draft Lawrence before Jets get him.

I know we are playing the Raiders this week and it is typical to praise your opponent but the amount of high praise he has for both Allen and McDermott is interesting. Seems like Gruden believes most of the offensive success the Bills have had this year goes to Allen and not necessarily Daboll. He also seems like he would really love to coach Allen.

The NFL has so much chatter in between games as your team only plays once a week that it leads to over reactions on a weekly basis and that is compounded with the "hot takes" media environment we live in. This week Allen is a potential MVP candidate and if he struggles some against the Raiders it will be a bunch of haters saying "see I told you he was bad". If you remain somewhat level about Lamar you could say the following: 1. Using era is too strong to begin seeing as Jackson's strong play has lasted just about a 1 and a half. 2. During his time as a starter, Jackson has been a problem for defenses to defend and I expect that to continue as long as he remains healthy. 3. If the Ravens get a lead and keep going in at halftime, chances are they are going to win. The offense wears defenses down and he is a dynamic runner with the ability to make big passing plays when things are going well and they often do. 4. If the Ravens get down because Lamar is being defended well early and the opposing offense is scoring on their tough defense then it is a problem for the Ravens to come back and win. Jackson will have some games that he does bring his team back from being down in the second half but more often than not, when Jackson is put in a must passing situation, he is going to struggle. 5. Expect the Ravens and Jackson to be good for the next 5 years or as long as Jackson remains an outlier in terms of his running ability for the quarterback position. Again, the Ravens are difficult to prepare for and regular season games he will have more success than not against teams that have not seen this type of offense or are ill equipped to stop it. 6. Also, expect Jackson to continue to have postseason struggles. In the playoffs teams have a ton of tape to study and their staffs have been breaking down the playoff teams even before they start in preparation. Players are dialed in and the level of preparation and study is goes up a level. Teams also tend to be better in the playoffs as that is why they are there and in that way tend to be more equipped defensively to matchup or slow down Jackson. Also, the opposing offenses tend to be better and are likely to score more points against the Ravens defense putting Jackson in more uncomfortable positions. 7. With 5 and 6, it will be a tall task for Jackson to win the necessary 3-4 games in a row against good to great opponents. It will not be impossible as we have seen much lesser quarterbacks get to and win SBs but it is not something that I would expect to happen, especially with Mahomes in the conference. 8. Most likely outcome is Ravens win some in the playoffs but continue to lose before getting to SB. Jackson's athletic ability declines over time and by the time he is 30 he is done being a "problem" to defend. 9. Jackson is so limited as a passer (little better than Tebow was but not by a wide margin) that as soon as injury or significant athletic decline occurs his "era" of being a problem and playoff team will be done. 10. I don't see a way that Jackson could develop into a "pocket passer/extend the play" quarterback as he just does not have that skill set. He has a funky delivery, limited arm strength when throwing to the outside and his anticipation and reading of defenses is raw because he has not and will not need to develop those skills until he no longer has the rare running ability. His rare running ability is also his "curse" as far an longevity goes. It will cause a quicker athletic decline (I know the stats about injuries in the pocket and outside the pocket) but the fact is if he runs the ball 180 times a year or so he is still running, cutting, falling and getting hit sometimes and over time this all wears on the joints and body. It adds up and leads to a quicker decline. His athletic ability also gives him different looks and coverages. He rarely gets experience passing against more complicated coverages because he does not have to play the in the pocket game unless they are down at the end of games and that is rare. The limited experience he will get in those obvious passing situations will not allow him to get better at it and that is his "curse". Immediate gains but no longevity and a narrow path at getting to the very top (winning SB). 11. But that is all down the road stuff that the Ravens organization can deal with in time. In the meantime, Jackson is still and will continue to be a problem.

First off, the draft has always been a bit of crap shoot and depending on the criteria used to determine a successful draft pick or not it ends up being somewhere around 50% success rate for drafting a quarterback in the first round (might even be lower depending on how high your success standard is). So a lot of people are wrong and it is not that unusual to miss on a prospect, especially a quarterback. I liked EJ when he was coming out and thought he could be an above average starter in the league, especially with the shift in using a quarterback's mobility but it just did not work out (maybe in a different situation he becomes an average starter or maybe it was just a bad draft class with no prospects who were good enough to be franchise quarterbacks). What makes Allen a little different is that he was such a polarizing prospect. There seemed to be no middle ground and the lines were drawn in the sand on him whether he was going to be good or bad. It was very much like our current political environment where you are basically on one side or another and very few people were in between. When evaluating Allen, I recall being immediately impressed by his size, athleticism and arm talent. I loved his toughness and determination. I loved that he was smart, coachable and was very intrigued with his back story (late bloomer, JUCO route, then Wyoming). You saw that he had little talent to no talent around him his last year at Wyoming and it was all Allen and having to throw into tiny window and playing hero ball because there really was no other option. If you went back and watched his games from the previous year where he threw 28 tds, you saw that he had a little more talent around him and that his play was more productive as a result. However, there was the valid inaccuracy questions and you would see poor mechanics at times and wonder if it was something that could be corrected. So I actually fell into the category of being interested in Allen and hopeful that he could be good but I certainly could not claim that I would have put all my chips on the table in support of him. I recall the debates defending Allen as a prospect and the other side had valid points with the accuracy issues and it would often cast doubts in my mind whether he would actually end up succeeding. I actually thought Darnold would be the safer pick and was hoping that the Bills would land him. After the draft fell the way it did, I was just excited that Denver passed on Allen and that we chose Allen over Rosen (I just thought he was the next Jeff George or Cutler at his best and that was not what I wanted). After Allen was drafted, here again it was a little unusual as people had become so invested in their "guys" that if you were not an Allen guy you were depressed and had no faith that he would be any good. Usually, your team drafts a qb and most people get on board right away and are hopeful, but not with Allen. People had really went to extremes to trash him in the draft process and it was hard for many to come back from that. Little by little, Allen began earning the trust of his fans and the local media. It was first, his teammates genuinely like and respect him and believe he can be the guy. We knew he was tough and was a more impressive runner than most anybody could have imagined. He had some ability to pass the ball and maybe was not as bad as some thought but still not good enough. Second year Allen did not start out well but he picked up steam and by the end of last year, his critics became mostly silent (at least locally). Silent in that they were now willing to see more for him and not calling for him to be replaced by another draft pick. His biggest critics remained skeptical that he could make the leap to a top tier quarterback but even they saw that he could at least be an average to below average quarterback with his grit, big play arm and running ability. The national media by and large remained more skeptical coming into this year but that is because they don't watch him like we do and go more off narratives that have been assigned to him (classic group thought). Allen had some supporters like Chris Simms but by and large most of the media thought Allen was below average to bad and that it was all the Bills defense that carried this team. They were not totally off base but I think most Bills fans had seen steady progress in Allen and knew his special case background gave us legitimate hope that there was still more inside him. We saw him elevate his game in the 4th quarters of games and knew that this was not something most of his predecessors had done where as they tended to shrink in the biggest moments. And so many were cautiously optimistic that he could become above average this year and there was a significant portion of his fans that believed he could become a top ten quarterback or even a star. And so the first 3 games have happened and as one of those who believed Allen could be a star from the beginning, I can't say that I am surprised by his play but I can say that I did not expect this much of a leap this early in the season. I figured he would get better and better and maybe by the end of this season or next year he could be a top 5 guy but he is playing like that right now. And so at this point, everybody is basically on board with Allen but we also know that there are plenty of people in the national media and even locally that will be quick to turn on him when he has a bad game or two (which is to be expected). Because it is still new and because some people thought Allen would be so bad, he will have to play great for a longer period of time than most in order to get "crowned" a top tier quarterback. And that is okay, if you believe in Allen like I do it does not matter because it is all inevitable. It is just a matter of time before he proves that he is a top 5 qb to the country at large and there will be few doubters. It may take a year or maybe two and for some nothing short of a SB win but I believe in Allen and this organization that at some point in the next 5 years we will be a SB team. Just like many Bills fans, I sleep well at night knowing we have our guy and that is really all that matters.

It really depends on if you think Allen can continue to play at the level he is playing at or not. If he continues playing like has then he very much is in the discussion with being as good as Mahomes, especially when you add in the fact he is more of a dual threat. Mahomes might still be better but that is in part because we have seen him play at a high level for a longer period of time.

Yeah, I think it is too early to declare the end of the Jackson "era" if there was one to begin with (he was the MVP but he has yet to win a playoff game so he has not been dominating the league in the post season where it counts). I agree with the OP to a certain extent with Jackson in that I don't see Jackson ever being a long term answer at QB and it is why I never really thought we should have drafted him. For sure he can and will continue to be dominant at times during the regular season and as long as he stays healthy he should have is team consistently in the playoffs for 5-6 years which is an excellent draft pick for the end of first round. Beyond that is where things get dicey for me. You see, very soon Jackson will be coming up on his second contract just like Josh Allen. The Ravens will have to pay him 40 mil a year for probably 5 more years in an extension. But that is where I would be extremely worried if I were the Ravens. Jackson is never going to be faster, more elusive or athletic than he is right now at this moment. It is all a decline from here on out as he accumulates hits, minor or major injuries and goes through the natural aging process. Plus, the NFL just gets faster and faster so just like when Vick first came out he could dominate most defenders but the league got faster and closed the gap. I think defenders will only get faster as Jackson naturally gets slower. It will take only one major injury to significantly hamper his running ability and he is basically shot. Jackson's entire game is predicated on his ability to threaten a defense as a runner, and he is a runner at the qb position that the league has never seen since Vick (by comparing athletic standards of the peers he played against). If and when Jackson suffers a hamstring injury or ankle sprain he does not have the ability to play through it and still help his team win. You see last year how Mahomes struggled some with his knee injury but he was able to come back sooner and play through it and still be effective enough to win games and play through it until he recovered. Jackson needs to be at close to full health. He can't play through a knee sprain as he cannot play a full game from inside the pocket. And at this point in his career he is not going to develop into a better pocket passer (just like a Tebow but much more of an athletic threat). So long story is the Jackson era over, no, not yet. But what is the Jackson era and what does it really mean long term. It means for now the Ravens are in line to win 11-12 games per year and be a playoff team year in and year out for the next 5-6 years as long as he avoids major injury. But when he gets to the playoffs and has to play at least 3 good teams and most likely 4 without the bye to win a Super Bowl it will almost certainly end in disappointment each year. It will be extremely difficult for the Ravens to play from in front for all 3-4 games in the playoffs against quality opponents as once they get down he has proven incapable of passing his team back into the game. After "getting close" for 5-6 years and getting a huge payday is when I seen the physical decline and eventually he is done as a franchise quarterback by around the age of 30. I'll take my chances with an Allen over Jackson in the long term any day of the week and twice on Sunday. It may not work out as Allen could also suffer some career ending injury but he has the ability to shift his game to the pocket (or more accurately in and around the pocket) and we have already begun to see this shift. So where as Jackson will likely be done by the time he is 30, Allen has the chance to plays great football deep into his late 30's because he has such a strong arm that even a natural decline will still allow him to play effectively as he matures and gains anticipation and field awareness. This will allow Allen to have a chance to win a SB potentially for the next 15+ years where as Jackson has a very narrow path to win one over the next 5 years. As for Murray, I think he is a much better passer than Jackson is and he could develop into a Russell Wilson like qb down the road. He is so small (even compared with Wilson and Brees) that I don't think he will ever be as good as Wilson but he has a better chance to win a SB while in his prime because he can threaten as a runner and as a passer.

OP, the above stats are a little alarming and at the very least something worth keeping an eye on. I do believe Hyde came in and played exceptionally well as the above stats indicate and that certainly made him a fan favorite so any criticism of Hyde is likely to be met with some resistance because he has been a core leader since the beginning of the McDermott regime. I’m not sure we have a better option right now but I do think it is probably time to look at upgrading the safety position in the 2021 draft.

It will probably take a Super Bowl win and maybe a few pro bowls or an MVP season to realistically change the opinions on some of the “analysts” and media. There were a significant number of people who thought Allen was trash coming out. And out of those people, a portion of them have been willing to admit that he is better than they thought and has potential while the rest have dug in and just rely on the random bad play from Allen posted on Twitter to troll Bills fans and make themselves feel better about their draft take. it seems crazy to think that a player would have to achieve that much to get some level of respect from a significant portion of the pundits when often another qb can play 1-2 games and be automatically placed in the upper half of the league’s quarterbacks. But Allen was such a polarizing draft prospect analytics v physical traits that people got more invested in their takes than usual. Plus, I think some of the draft day twitter posts from when Allen was a teenager added some more fuel to the fire for some of the media who already thought he was trash. It seemed to elevate the hate and target on him even more. In the end, those that watch and follow Allen know he is already a good qb, excellent leader and has special traits that can allow him to become one of the league’s best at his position. I think he has a great personality and has gained a lot of respect amongst his peers as evidenced by him appearing on the NFL too 100 list. Better to be respected by your teammates and opponents than loved by the media (still seeing those Baker commercials makes me laugh although some of them are pretty funny).

Want to know part of the reason why the Texans got less In return for Hopkins than Vikings did for Diggs, $. That is qb type money for a wr and teams likely knew that Hopkins was looking to get paid top dollar and scared a lot of teams away.

Again, some of it is perception but a recent study showed 93% of the protests were peaceful. If that study is to be believed then 7% are not and there has been a lot of people killed and property looted and destroyed in that 7%. It’s almost 1 out of every 10 protests turn violent. If 1 out of every 10 police interactions ended badly then we would have a serious epidemic on our hands with the amount of daily police interactions across the country. The fact is BLM and Antifa like protests that end up with looting, robbing, burning and killing can cause serious damage to a community and is not helping. Peaceful protestors need to distance themselves from this criminal behavior or risk being lumped together since seeing a protest coming down your street you might not know if you will be harassed or attacked or left alone. There are disturbing videos of protesters harassing ordinary citizens just trying to have a meal. What is this accomplishing. The protesters that act like this just piss ordinary people off who just want to go to work, provide for their family and have a meal out in peace once in a while. It will cause people to move out of the cities or avoid patronizing businesses in the cities which will lead to financial issues with less taxes being raised. Again, you could spend hours talking about this and issues surrounding it. I just think the mainstream narrative is a one way street right now and is causing more fear and distrust in police then ever before. Yet, with body cams and cell phones, police have never been watched more closely. It is a tough job and every officer I know is a good dude and would never want to harm someone if they did not have to. But as we push this narrative the confrontations between police and citizens are worsening. Who wants to be an officer and have a bunch of peaceful protestors walk by shouting obscenities at you and spitting all sorts of things. The officers are often showing uncommon restraint. Maybe the media and civilians need to show some of that same restraint before rioting after seeing the next 20 second video of police violence before days later a more complete video is released showing more to the story.

I should have used "shot" and not killed by police as the article referenced by me did not include other means of deaths (vehicles, beatings, choke holds etc.) but still the total in 2019 of all types of unarmed black killings at the hands of police in 2019 was 25 deaths (at least according to USA today). Now with blacks making up 13% of the population in the US, 25 killings in a year does not seem like an epidemic as you stated 27 Americans die of lightning per year. Is 25 too many, well I guess 1 would be considered too many. But without researching each case, "unarmed" is likely to be somewhat deceiving (was the suspect cooperative, did they resist arrest, run away, grab for their gun etc.). The numbers don't say peaceful unarmed suspects killed by police. I would venture a guess that the vast majority of the unarmed killings, the suspects were doing something other than being cooperative. There are probably a handful of cases that the officers were completely out of line and should be charged and held accountable by a jury of their peers. But the general point is that the media and often the players (who have higher profile positions of power based on the numbers who follow them on social media) are perpetuating a myth that black people (especially males) are at great risk of being killed by police just about any time they leave their homes. It creates an atmosphere of fear and more animosity and mistrust between police and black communities. So are there some bad officers out there, you betcha, just like there is in every profession. There are going to be some bad doctors out there and if you are treated by one, they may end up killing you. But we accept the risk and put our trust in the fact that most doctors are good and the bad ones can hopefully be weeded out over time. What bothers me is that the vast amount of blame is being heaped on police officers and most officers are good people who live in the communities they serve and want to see there communities safe. I'm not against banning certain police tactics or offering different training, eliminating officers from the force who have a certain number of verified complaints etc. But the black community (and this really goes for all people but since it is currently defined as a black person getting killed by police issue) also needs to step up and be more accountable. We need more fathers in homes and we need to be more respectful and peaceful when stopped by police. If there is harassment from police, report it. But it is never a good thing to start mouthing off and fighting police. Changing levels of respect starts in the homes and unfortunately there are way too many young people who are completely disrespectful toward any type of authority (this goes for all races). I think more community based policing efforts, more positive interaction between police and youth in minority communities needs to happen whether through recreation leagues or camping etc. Schools need a complete overhaul and there needs to be more school choice for parents instead of the random charter school or private school stipend. Demonizing one side or another will not work, everyone will need to step up some and do their part in order to solve some of these issues. I also think it might not be a bad idea to make a requirement that all Americans spend a year serving in the military or fulfilling a 1 year community service requirement like the peace corps. This could help young people gain a greater appreciation for the country, bring people together as a team, and help instill greater respect and discipline. There are many more things that smarter people than me could come up with that could make a positive change in the black community and the country as a whole but the current mainstream rhetoric is not one of those things.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/3235072001

We have had at least 35 police officers die in gunfire this year and the numbers are more than usual but this causes little to no outrage. Plus, more than a hundred have died of COVID and how many are related to dealing with the protests and being spit on and such. There are narratives that the mainstream media chooses to focus on and every time a black person is killed by a police officer it becomes a story even though white and Hispanic deaths at the hands of police will go unreported. See the connection, as the media knows that certain police deaths cause outrage and in turn ratings. By promoting only certain stories and by promoting only half truths related to each of the deaths the media is creating division in the country at the expense of a profit and ratings. And most people don’t bother to investigate cases, they see a clip or hear LeBron speak on it and that is good enough for them. But it is dangerous and irresponsible to create a narrative that anytime a black male leaves there home they are at risk of being shot by police. An unarmed black man has a greater chance of being struck by lightning than being shot by police yet the narrative makes it seem as it is commonplace. It causes division and disenfranchisement amongst the black community. We experienced some of this after the Ferguson riots (which the media also told half truths and turned a blind eye to key details) but the current media narrative seems to have taken it to the next level. So if you are a young black male and really believe you will be shot if you encounter a police officer than of course there will be mistrust and a sense of who cares so lets just join in and loot and burn it down since the system hates us.

I agree that athletes have a higher platform than most but with that also comes some greater responsibility and if they decide to speak out they should also be fully informed and not create unnecessary panic like LeBron continually stating any of the recent victims from police could be him. Umm, yeah it could be you LeBron if you decide to rob a store, get hyped up on drugs or alcohol and begin to resist arrest or actively fight with police when they arrive to arrest you. I’m not saying they deserved to die and in some of the situations the police could have done things better but I also find these hindsight arguments lack any context or perspective from the law enforcement side. Lets take the recent Atlanta shooting where all we saw in beginning was police shooting a black man in the back while he was running away with a taser gun that he was turning around to fire at officers. Ok, looks like they could have done something different and shooting seems needless. But then the full video and details come out and victim is wanted on warrant for violating probation, victim is clearly intoxicated and does not want to go back to jail, officers try talking with him to gain cooperation over a period of 15-20 minutes before they decide to try and place him in custody and victim goes full mma fight with the 2 officers throwing haymakers and managing to get the taser gun off one of the officers before running away and then turning back to shoot. There are a number of points in which this victim could have chose a different path but he kept making decisions that put him and the officers at risk. It is dark, after struggling with the victim and seeing him take off with a gun, the officer may have had enough. Anybody that has just been in a fight will tell you there is a little extra adrenaline running though you and maybe the officer overreacted on that adrenaline. This is a case that has a lot of nuance to it just like just about every single one of the high profile cases of late. I feel bad for all parties involved but the victim made a series of bad decisions and I have a hard time seeing the league celebrate he and others like Blake who was wanted on felony sexual assault for sexually assaulting a female for a second time. So, yes just about everybody is against racism and if the message from the NFL was “Treat everyone as equals”, “Let’s all come together as one” or some better phrases similar to that then we are all on board. But BLM phrases are political and socialist organizations that I don’t want to see promoted during a Bills game and the victims being celebrated I have a hard time celebrating because their backgrounds and actions show a lot of poor and criminal decisions (Taylor is a separate case but also very nuanced and she was tied closely to a wanted drug dealer-needless to say she was not murdered by police while sleeping in her bed but her case does raise serious questions about the no knock police raids and hopefully results in some changes there)

I would hope that BLM is not the be all end all authority but at present they certainly have the loudest voice and have been found on the Bills stadium billboard and is talked about being shown on the field. My only point is that many including myself consider BLM a political organization and with that really has no place being on the field, billboards or uniforms. I have no issue with simple phrases like end racism or treat all peoples equals. They are just generic terms most everyone can get behind, like cure cancer. Also, when honoring specific victims of police violence, I’d prefer to honor persons that were innocent not those hyped up on substances and fighting and resisting police officers. And I’m not saying that they deserved to die, I’m just saying that I can pretty much guarantee you they would all be alive and well today had they not made a series of bad choices that are generally left out of the narratives when celebrating these individuals. Can’t we just find some real heroes that have been working to build bridges in their communities and better community police relations to honor? That’s something we can all get behind.

If you want to simplify things, who would want to be on the side of killing innocent babies? Just as abortion can be a complex argument, so too is the BLM social justice messaging. Just about everyone in America is against racism so if that was what BLM actually stood for than it would not be an issue. The problem those on the other side of the BLM movement have is that it’s motives are much more than “ending systemic racism” but moving America toward socialism and defunding the police. The narratives of the shootings that are held up as examples of blatant racism are also chalk full of missing facts and extenuating circumstances. There is no context and some career criminals are being glorified for committing crimes, resisting arrest and then being shot and wounded or killed most often after threatening the lives of the officers. What the media and BLM movement wants us all to believe is that officers showed up on the scene where an innocent black man was fully cooperative with police and then still mowed down because of the color of their skin. It is this narrative that gets perpetuated and the victims are celebrated as heroes. This rubs some people including myself the wrong way so it certainly is not as simple as who is for racism. What I am for is taking a break from the narratives and just watching some sports but we can’t even get that anymore.

I need food, water and prefer to have shelter. The NFL and football is a want not a need but I would like to escape for a few hours and actually watch and concentrate on the game of football. Political opinions and social justice causes are abound and have gradually seeped into all aspects of our lives. If I want to watch and hear political opinions I’ll go to one of the multitude of cable news channels to do so. If I want social justice then I will join a cause or protest that I believe in. The NBA ratings have gone down in part because people want to see basketball being played and not be constantly hit over the head with social justice causes. As a fan I’m being lectured by athletes who too often know little about the cases and causes they are championing. Its sad but mixing sports and politics is the cool thing to do right now in order to be woke and everyone has to jump on board with the same thought or you are shunned, ie. Drew Brees. I’m a huge football fan but I am prepared to walk away from the game if the NFL decides to take the NBA model. I’m already going to be reducing my watching to the Bills and will see how things progress. And for the many of you who will say good riddance and just deal with it. I’ll ask you this, if the NFL began to push a anti abortion stance before and through its games then would it bother you? Or maybe some some environmental issue that you are not for? I happen to think it would not sit well with those who were on the opposing side. I’ll leave with this, sports are a pastime and distraction from a more complicated life. It is supposed to be where everyone in your community can come together no matter the background even for just 3 hours of time. Politics is poison right now and we are injecting it into the “safe spaces” that can bring an entire community together.

Amen, and here’s a thought, if you don’t want to be shot by a police officer you could start with not robbing a store and then being confrontational and resist arrest when police officers arrive on the scene and then charge at them. Is there something wrong with me that I’d like to think I would never rob a store but that if I did and officers came to arrest me I’d be fully compliant and not trying fighting and charging them. We all know there are some bad apple cops out there and often they are protected by bad union contracts that enable them to stay on the force long after they should have been removed. But there are many more good officers out there and it is like this in every field. Since this is an NFL discussion, lets stay with that analogy. Players hate it when 1 or 2 of there teammates on a 53 man roster get arrested or do something stupid. But that does not mean all players should be lumped in with the few bad apples on there teams as most players are good people and do a lot of good in there communities. There are thousands upon thousands of police interactions each day and the vast majority of them end peacefully, especially if the person in question is compliant. Only when people start resisting arrest is when the odds of being shot begin to go up significantly. Think about it from the officers perspective at this point. Many more officers are unjustifiably losing there lives right now but you would not know it from the media as they continue to max cover certain deaths that fit a narrative and create division in order to increase viewership (similar to “hot takes” that has taken over). Officers know the dangers because they live and see it everyday. Every time they do even a traffic stop they don’t know what is going to happen as there is an unprecedented amount of people out there who have a hatred for the police and are looking to harm or disrupt them in some way. Officers have to be on edge right now and for good reason. I’ll leave on this note, I’m beginning to think that the country needs to have some type of mandatory military or community service requirement. This would serve a few purposes (1) the youth could use some sort of understanding of discipline, respect, teamwork, and service that appears to be lacking amongst a higher than normal amount of their generation and (2) it would be a good way to create a common bond amongst all citizens having gone through the service requirement together spending time and developing friendships with all different peoples from all different backgrounds thus forcing more people to break out of their bubbles.

There really is no disputing that cancel culture disproportionately punishes white men. It does not take into account your age or income status, as if you are a white male and make bad comments you will face greater scorn. I get it to some degree with “old white men” but even then there are a lot of old white guys who just went about there business and never harmed or tried to cause harm to any persons of color and they are lumped into a group. But for middle aged and younger white men, we grew up mostly wanting tolerance and many of our heroes growing up were black ie. Michael Jordan or Will Smith. The majority of us have and still have black friends and have never mistreated or tried to mistreat any persons of color. We grew up thinking that by the time we were this age we would not even be talking about this issue because there would be no issue. But the tensions between races have continued to some degree when it should be an all for one mentality by now. Much of the tension is caused by forces on the extreme sides of the issue. They are loud and provocative so their voices are heard especially in a day of social media where anyone can be heard. The mainstream media exasperates the problem by relentlessly focusing on bad incidents and yet not adding perspective and basic statistics. For example, there has not been a documented focused lynching in the US since 1981. Yet if you are a 13 year old black person and listened to the race baitors and media, its understandable you would think that you are under a real threat of being lynched. This is an extreme example and it is awful to think of but the young persons of color today seem to have the loudest voices along with the white kids of privilege as far as negativity toward white men and the “establishment”. Yet it was their parents and grandparents that were much more impacted. We elected a black president and the re-elected him for a second term for gods sake. If a person of color can hold and maintain the most powerful position in the world for 8 years, how much systemic racism is really out there holding people down. Just like the me too movement started of with justified complaints, I do believe there were some justified BLM complaints. But much of that has been addressed in recent criminal justice reform legislation. There has come a point where the movement is never satisfied and continues to seek justice and blood. It is at that point that targeted groups begin to become resentful towards the constant attacks and rush to judgments.

There are a lot of examples out there, too many to go through and the remarks vary in how bad they were. Michael Richards said some pretty awful things after being heckled on stage and he has basically been ostracized from Hollywood for the past 15 years. It does not seem that he can ever be forgiven. Again remarks are horrible but they were remarks that were closer to what Jackson just said and has said previously or at least closer than what Drew Brees said. Another is Rosie O’Donnell. She makes fun of a black official and it was again distasteful but her show was canceled and she will likely never return to Hollywood. These are just a few of countless instances involving white peoples making bad comments. If you don’t think there is “black privilege” when it comes to saying bad things about other groups then you aren’t paying attention. There have been countless black actors and athletes who say terrible things and get blowback but then go back to there positions with all being basically forgotten within a few months. All I’d like to see is people being treated equally in all facets of life. I don’t want black people or Muslims being profiled in certain situations and I don’t want 2-3 times the outrage heaped on white people rather than persons of color when both make similarly awful comments. Playing favorites just leads to resentment and mistrust from all sides involved and it is not healthy.