Rochesterfan

So sorry for your loss. Bless

Prayers for the family.

I hear you and maybe there have been other things I’ve missed, but I was surprised because the few things I had seen were 4-6 weeks and similar injury to the Dolphins rookie LB last year that did the IR designation to return thing. The whole thing seems weird and I have yet to seen anything from Cleveland on the move - so I am assuming they are holding him till cutdown day and going to try to IR him to bring back later.

But that is not the question asked by the OP. The question was could that player (1992 Frank Reich) that played very well in minor spot starts lead this years team to the Super Bowl. To me the answer to that is a resounding No. There are 2 reasons why I think that. 1) Reich played alright and even well with a team that had a ton of Hall of Fame level talent across the offense. He was a good guy to fill in for a game or 2, but he did not elevate them or make them play better. Coming to the 2020 Bills - they would need to rely more on his passing with a weaker offensive team. I just do not see him being able to take the reigns for a 16 game schedule with a team with less talent and suddenly make it a better team. I just do not see that happening. 2) When we look back at the time he spent in Buffalo - it was all a game here and there - so yes he looked good in a great offensive system for a week or 2, but to answer this question we need to see what happened when he became a full time starter. So you look at Carolina and the NYJs as signs to what he was when teams expected him to start and he was not good at all. If I look at that - there is no reason to suspect that he would have been a quality starter and a guy that could have taken this team to the Super Bowl. If you put him in the right environment - as a seldom used back-up - he was fine, but nothing more. That is how I see this question.

Definitely expect a lot more soft tissue injuries. Not enough quick twitch activities without games. Would not be surprised to see a significant increase in things like ACL tears - as those tend to happen in camp and without the games - those injuries will push to the regular season. Overall - I expect to see more injuries especially early.

YES!

The reporters talked about this in the scrimmage thread. Years past - you had more flexibility about this because at training camp - there were tons of fans posting images, snap counts positions- everything - so the info was readily available. The team could not limit the fans. This year with no fans - they have refined the policy and tightened control - not just the Bills, but across the league. Most teams have limited what can be discussed because the only info getting out is by a limited group of credentialed reporters. They were all informed and given rules about what could and could not be discussed. The rules also extend to something like today where because there was no stream - the reporters were not able to tweet until after the practice was complete. And therefore perhaps the easiest for the team to give a small punishment to and therefore reinforce the rules for the rest of the reporters.

Yes they are afraid the Jets will gameplan based upon info released. Just look at what happened on this board alone based on Joe B’s report about Ford blocking on a DT and Williams blocking a DE to open a hole. That one tweet set told us (and the rest of the NFL) that right now the starting right side of the O-Line looks to be Ford at Guard and Williams T Tackle. The prevailing sentiment before that was that Winters would be starting at Guard until Mongo returns and Ford and Williams were battling for RT duty. Now without an injury - the Jets can begin game planning and watching tape of Williams as RT and how best to attack him rather than the ambiguity of either Ford or Williams there. It also impacts their attack plans at guard - because they had a strong understanding of Winter’s strengths and weaknesses and how to attack and now may have to adjust that. It also may reveal where the Bills would like to attack and how based on having to powerful run maulers on the right side - that may adjust how they decide to attack this offense. Every little thing that the other team has to account for is one less thing they have time to perfect before the game and gives teams more they have to get ready. It could mean the difference between the Jets Defense coming out bland and vanilla to react to what the Bills do or coming out aggressive because they have an idea of how to attack. We have the same people running the offense and defense, but with Diggs, Williams, Knox, and Moss - there is potential that we could have 4 new starters on offense and 5+ guys in different position and I would imagine the planning of the offense will be different with Diggs as a WR than last year. Why do the Bills think it matters - because they have their scouts doing exactly what you are looking at. They are scouring the internet and podcasts to piece together what players are excelling and what formations they are using to have a solid plan for game 1 and who they want to look at or pick up if anything happens. Does it seem over the top - yeah, but I get it. This is the first year they can completely control what comes out. They could not control the fans - so in other years all of the info was available- this year it is a war on info because everything that comes out - provides something to your first opponent and is an advantage they have over you. With no preseason games and no fans making counts of every play and who lined up where - you have a lot of unknowns going into game 1 and they all want an advantage for that 1st game because that game will drive the season and with their already being disadvantages in fan numbers at games - you want every advantage you can get.

Well you can’t win if you don’t make it - therefore I would rather see Josh and the Bills win more games and win a division- than see Josh throw one more TD pass than Darnold. Now ideally- both could happen, but again - I am more focused on the Bills winning than a comparison of Josh and Sam’s TD pass totals. Now you stated Allen will account for more TDs than Darnold- does that matter to you. If Allen throws 40 TDs and runs for 10 more and the Bills only win 8 games and Darnold throws 25 TDs and runs for 2, but the Jets win 9 games are you happy?

I personally do not care about TD passes. I care about which team has more wins. The Jets D should be worse and therefore I would expect Darnold to have to do more over the course of the year, but it means nothing. I want wins and playoffs.

I have not seen anything that said he was not coming back. I believe the Dolphin thought it was a 4-6 week injury. He could be ready by the start of the 2nd quarter of games potentially. The ideal situation would be IR designation to return. They used that last year on a rookie LB with a similar injury. He is currently still on the Browns active roster - now they have the same choice as the Dolphins. Do you hold on through final cuts and then IR him to return or at some point do you need a spot and you have to waive him also. I totally agree - I would think with all of the former Pats on the Dolphins - this would have been simple. Keep him on the roster - cut a guy that you know will not sign elsewhere and then IR him at that point. Seems a bit off, but without seeing any practices - it is hard to know. Maybe Miami was not a great fit for him and his attitude showed that and they felt it was easier to move on. I just do not know. Seems like a huge blunder, but it is an experienced FO - so there must have been some thought behind it.

I believe the idea is that the player has to agree to the designation to try and help prevent gaming the system. The team cannot just IR the player. Also if they IR at this point - it is for the season - so if a player feels he is going to only miss a few weeks - there is little incentive to agree to full season IR. So many players at this point want to wait - make the final roster and then go on IR with a designation to return. PUP I thought was only a pre training camp designation or if a player is injured away from the field. One training camp hits all injuries are considered IR type injuries and they have to decide what to. Similar to Josh Norman right now for the Bills - he is injured, but counting against the roster. They can not free up that space without deciding that the injury will force him to miss at least 6 weeks - then they could IR him, but he is done for the season. I definitely think some teams do “game the system” and use an injury like this to IR a young player and give him a year to really learn and grow, but I think there has to be some mutual respect and understanding between player and team. Heck - I think the Bills may have used it last year to stash Joseph with a shoulder injury. I think the system worked perfectly for this - a young player with a minor injury that will cause him to miss 4 weeks or so. Years ago - The team could just stash him on IR and prevent him from playing for 2020. Now - they either had to hold on to him until after training camp or take a chance and waive him and bring him back as injured where they can then reactivate him as needed. If you think he is a cornerstone - you hold him and IR him to return - remember this come with the fact that not only do you lose him for the last 2 weeks, but he has to make you final roster - meaning you are cutting someone else that you (and other teams) may value. If you want the position- you waive him and take a chance.

I believe it had to do with the severity of the injury and how teams want to proceed with a player. A major injury like Delpit (out for more than 6 weeks) allows teams to directly IR the player. A minor injury like Weaver (expected out less than 6 weeks) the NFL and NFLPA have agreed they can not go directly to IR to prevent teams from stashing players. I believe the doctors have to designate an injury and then the player can also get a say if they agree to full IR or not, but the doctors must initially call it a major injury. The Dolphins doctors decided it was a minor injury and therefore Weaver was likely to miss less than 6 weeks of action. In this case - the Dolphins could not just IR the player - he would need to remain on the active roster until cutdown or they could try the waive/IR designation and free up a spot on the roster. Now the question becomes what have they seen and heard from the player in the last 2 weeks and do they think he has any long term value. The Dolphins must have thought he had little long term value and decided to risk it to try and free up the roster space. Seems crazy to me for a guy you “snagged” as a great value pick in the 5th round, but maybe he did not show a commitment that they want to see. This screams blunder because it is now officially a wasted 5th round pick that you lost for nothing, but if he was not going to practice between now and the season starting did they really want the roster spot more than the player. We will also see what the Browns do as he will not get to practice for them at all do they keep him and cut someone else so they can move him to IR or do they expose him during cut down or try getting him on a PS where the Dolphins can steal him back later on. We will see the final outcome over the next several weeks/years, but it is a really bad look for the Dolphins and a hard move to understand for the Browns with all of their current injuries, but I get it.

Players do not need to go this route - the Browns placed Delpit on IR to free up the space. Typically the waive IR is used for guys that are not going to make the roster and you want to get rid of them. It sounds like the Dolphins did not think enough of this player and used a route to get rid of him. The Browns thought enough to take a chance.

This video from Heather.

@Hapless Bills Fan - watching it again - the first drop back pass - that same guy mimicked a rusher around the outside of Josh. The pass in question was thrown between the second and third tap - so I really think they were just simulating pressure and minor contact. Fun stuff to see either way.

Not sure, I saw that and assumed it was just trying to give him a feeling of being in a pocket with movement around him and wanting him to focus, but it seemed very deliberate- so it could have been timing related. It was interesting for sure.

I think he is/was signed as a legitimate guard starter/back-up because of the Mongo injury. They needed to give themselves some nice veteran depth and he was an upgrade. I think when he became available it changed the teams depth vision. It allows Mongo to come back and fill the Spencer Long role of Guard/Center depth as Mongo showed well filling in at center. I would not expect them to use Winters as trade bait - I think he is their swing guard and still has potential to start as needed. Mongo becomes the swing interior lineman to cover for center and guards. Bates and Ty help cover the tackle position. I love the depth and the versatility these guys bring.

I believe the original agreement was testing - daily early in TC, then going to a couple of times a week during the season. The NFLPA wanted Daily testing during the season, but this is exactly why the NFL was looking at 2x per week during the season. The NFL wanted Monday and Thursday/Friday to ensure there was enough time to re-clear players before Sunday games. The NFL wanted to avoid any testing on Saturday or Sunday - unless to clear a player - because a false positive either day would rule them out of the upcoming game. That was a big part of the discussion between the league and the union as the players were still pushing for daily tests.

They are an enormous reference lab - I mean absolutely huge. They are doing most of the NYS non symptomatic testing (and many other states also) as they have agreements with many of the departments of health. I wonder if this will go beyond the NFL testing as I know that is where most of the upcoming college kids - returning to school in the north east - have their tests going through.

Maybe not, but with the Fitz lifecycle he will be back to starting by week 6 or 7. Then benched again by week 12 when they are out of the playoffs and then starting again by week 14 due to injury. I think that is how this works. ?

So sad and so young. What a leader.

Are you saying that due to all of the winning - Bills fans eat to much and each individual Fan doubles in size. That will suck for the flaming tables and sitting in the stands, but make for some epic tailgating. LOL ?

This just brings up so many questions. 1. How do we know if we have a Frank Reich on our team? Frank’s 1st 3 years in the league he completed 10 of 20 passes for just over 100 yards and 0 TDs with 2 Ints. Not exactly the stuff of legends. 2. Could Fromm become Reich like or at least be that good coming out of the gate? We do not know - just as we knew nothing of Reich until honestly the 1992 playoffs - 8 years into his career. At that point he was 4-2 as a starter with a 60% completion percentage on a team that was loaded with talent. 3. I love Frank for all his patience and the way he would stay back and help guide Jim when needed, but as a true QB - he was nothing special. He was 5-15 as a starter in his career with a sub 55% completion, 40 TDs and 36 ints. Heck throughout most of his career - he was Matt Barkley. Reich had a lower completion percentage, similar win %, but a much better TD to Int ratio. The difference is Reich did most of his damage when on a team with enough talent to go to 4 Super Bowls rather than limited talent teams like Barkley. Reich’s one year with more than 3 starts saw him with a sub 54% completion percentage, 16 TDs to 15 ints in 7 games with the Jets and a 1-6 record. Is that what you are looking for? I get that Back-up QB may be an issue, but I am not sure we do not have something similar in place already. We may need better, but then so do a ton of teams as there are not 32 legitimate starting QBs let alone back-ups in this league. I would love to see better, but not sure at this point what is really better and what is just window dressing.

Because the NFLPA wants to allow these guys the ability to get promoted. Therefore for a day and a half everyone is free. This just gives teams a bit more protection if they know they have a weak area and prevent teams from exploiting that late in the week.