Beck Water

Now we have Edgar Allen Poe Fanfic Poetry about The Pit

Bernard must be catching naps in the training room, working with trainers who are treating him in shifts Bernard listed as "DNP" but he was out there with a jersey on, walking across the field house and doing some stretching. He didn't look too lively though, unlike Smiley (Taron Johnson) Also caught a glimpse of Benford in the distance.

I think this is one of those situations where some of the pundits (Orlovsky knows ball) are looking at the injuries on the Bills defense, and saying "no way can a one-armed LB, a practice squad LB coming off his couch, a backup nickel, and two backup CBs contain Pacheco, Kelsey, and Rashee Rice To which I say "We Shall See, Zorn. We Shall See."

Not only that, but someone said he was running the scout team defense. So he wasn't even practicing with the starting D.

I wish I'd been day drinking And not in the Mike McDaniels "Stupid Tshirt Slogan that Everyone Knows is Fake" sense, in the "No, for reals" sense.

Yup!!!!! Now do Elam...."This guy is useless, he just got trucked. What now, DPI? What a bust, waste of a first round pick...." *two plays later* "KAIIR! That guy can Ball, Man! Way to go!"

My take for whatever it's worth, is "Nah". For one thing, it's not clear that it's a "super virus" to anything in the wild. There are a number of things that, if you're forcibly infected with a significant amount, might kill you but that aren't particularly good at spreading on their own. For research on a potential vaccine, we have the published genetic sequence of this ***** (Genbank Accession #MT072864) and the beauty of mRNA vaccines is, that could be all we need. It's worth having a look at that, and someone probably is.

These days, I'm this kind of GDT poster.

It's always nice to do a little digging before one propegates fear mongering headlines, and while putting "create" mutant coronavirus isn't as bad as some, there are a lot of them out there. Yeah, I've been following this. Here's the paper if anyone cares https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.03.574008v1.full Note that biorx server is NOT a peer reviewed journal. They didn't invite other scientists to look at their study design or results and critique. That matters. Bottom line up front: it appears real. there are legitimate and real concerns about this kind of work, but the result of this is likely not as alarming as headlines are making it sound. Snopes does a pretty good job dissecting it. https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/01/18/chinese-mutant-covid-19/ First, it's not Sars-CoV2 the virus that causes Covid, it's a pangolin coronavirus GX_P2V that's like a "cousin" of Sars-CoV2, isolated in 2017. Second, the virus mutated while being propagated in cell culture, this wasn't genetic engineering to cause gain of function. As Snopes notes: "The virus mutated from its original isolate, but it is a bit unfair to claim that the scientists "created" the virus. Since coronaviruses (and viruses in general) are known to rapidly mutate their genetic instructions, it is unsurprising that the virus used in the study mutated from the time it was isolated. In the paper (and in prior research by the same group), the researchers note that this particular variant of GX_P2V contained the mutation because it had better adapted to the cell cultures in which it was grown." In simple terms, mutating is what RNA viruses do...they're slobs (technical talk: RNA viruses have a naturally lower fidelity of replication, so they incorporate 'mistakes' more often. Mistakes that provide a competitive advantage to the virus = mutation) Third, the genetic engineering took place in the mice, who were given gene to express the human receptor proteins Covid binds to and uses to enter cells (technically: hACE2). But of course, that's all the humanity they gave the mice; we don't know how that genetic change affects the murine immune system or how high lethality in hACE2 mice would translate to a human population, or even.....a larger number of mice because.........wait for it..... Fourth: we're talking FOUR mice. They injected FOUR mice, and they all died. "All died" is bad, but four is a damned small sample size. I want to know what the mortality rate in these mice is, in their transgenic mouse facility, under normal conditions. Lots of other questions. Last but not least, there's a fair amount of moral indignation in the scientific community over this whole line of research and its risks vs. potential learnings and possible benefits in the first place. Rightfully so IMHO: If it would persuade China to for-real start treating wet markets like a problem and to crack down on the black-market trade in pangolins and pangolin parts, it might do some good. That's all I got for ya right now @BringBackFergy, hope it helps. If anything unclear, ask.

Not just for Patriot games. For Tom Brady Patriot games.

Um...if it were correct that he was released October 9th, October 9th to January 10th is like 14 weeks. More like 3 1/2 months Did you mean December 9th or something?

What are the rules on when the Bills must allow this to happen?

I have to say, ***** Von, and ***** the microphone he rode in on. I'm sick of seeing him in interviews and sick of hearing about how he's "back to himself" and finally ready to contribute. If he hasn't been able to contribute "as himself", why has he been clogging up a roster spot since week 5? Show us first, then talk. I mean, yes, it would be totally awesome if he were a force to reckon with in this week's game and he racked up a couple pressures, but zero to hero is a long climb.

I think the turban could be optional in the 56-0 circs. Which: Avert.

Did he have Mike Hammer, the meteorologist, on? Sal tweeted he was scheduled for 10:45 am.

Irvin, pardon my saying so, is either an idiot, doesn't pay attention to the Bills enough to look at the depth and injury chart, or is posturing for clicks. The Bills have been playing without 2 all-pro defenders (Matt Milano and Tre White who yes, had come back to form when he went down) as well as NT DaQuan Jones ("the straw that stirs the DL's drink"). OK, they filled in for Matt Milano by splitting his role between Tyrel Dodson and Jordon Poyer, and filled in for Tre White by trading for Rasul Douglas. They got reinforcements in the form of Linval Joseph, and now they have Jones back. And Terrell Bernard at MLB has been a revelation. Now Douglas is gonna be playing hurt (assuming he plays); our other starting corner Benford is injured and not practicing (and if you want to know how key he is, listen to Micah Hyde talking to him pre-game on "mic'd up"); our rising star MLB Bernard is injured and not practicing; Rapp, the S that backfilled for Poyer and allowed the Bills bring Poyer up as a sort of "pseudo Milano" is injured and not practicing; Dodson is gonna be playing hurt (assuming that he plays). Dodson's primary backup is also injured and not practicing. As of right now, it's looking like our starting MLB is gonna be a 32 1/2 yr old vet who was sitting on the sofa 10 days ago and our starting OLB is gonna be a rookie with all the promise in the world and the propensity to be in the wrong place doing the wrong thing right now, platooning with Jordan Poyer, which will leave Cam Lewis or Damar Hamlin paired with Hyde at S. CB will be an injured Douglas paired I don't want to be a "woe is me" type, but if we can't beat this version of Kansas City, it is very likely to be because when you're starting 2nd and 3rd string defenders against Pat Mahomes, who can crunch up talented 2nd and 3rd string LBs and DBs and pick his teeth with them. There is going to have to be some rebuilding this off season just due to contracts ending, but "Tear it all down and try something else" may be foolish in that situation.

Good question. https://www.chiefs.com/team/injury-report/ The two most significant injuries on that report are Derrick Nnadi with a tricep injury (he's their starting NT) and L'Jarius Sneed, one of their starting corners, with a calf. We had someone in here saying Nnadi was a "mediocre player" who "might help against the run" which I think is someone who doesn't understand the difference between a NT/1TDT and a penetrating/3TDT. Like the Bills, the Chiefs rotate DLmen, but Nnadi has their 2nd highest snap count for a DT on their roster with 45% of the snaps (2nd to Chris Jones with 68%) so they'll miss him if he can't go. He's been DNP in 2 practices. Sneed has played 91% of the CB snaps this season and IMHO is one of the key factors that have made the KC defense formidable. He's been "LP" with a calf which can mean anything. If he plays but his hampered, that would help our WR. A sneaky factor might be Wanya Morris. He's their backup LT and was playing for Donovan Smith. Smith was on IR for 5 weeks but returned to play 100% of the snaps against the Dolphins. He's still listed on injury report with a "Neck" but FP. Morris had a concussion during the Chargers game and was ruled "out" against Miami. Morris went from "FP" Wed to "LP" Thurs, not a good sign especially when a guy is in concussion protocol. So if he can't go, and Smith were to be injured again, the Chiefs could be thin at LT. Unfortunately, they look pretty freakin' healthy. They have some notable starters on their injury report - LB Nick Bolton, DE Charles Omenihu, WR Rashee Rice - but they're all full participants and likely to play.

Can we just freakin' continue to play for as long as possible this season? Worry about next season when next season comes - hopefully, not until February.

Yes, but keep in mind when Rivera talked about McDermott as a DC, he said he needed to rein his aggressiveness in.

That was really cute. Billl with 3 Ls....I have a feeling that you're not in Kansas any more

We had a discussion about that over dinner tonight. I think The Pit Sacrifice must be a Bills fan. Trying to appease it with fans of other teams could have an adverse effect. "No" to Taylor.

Yep, This. IMO, when I've watched the Ravens I think their offense is a different beast now. It's not just the LJax show, contain him and cover the TE and Done. They've stocked up on WR talent in the draft and FA, and Lamar seems very comfortable and decisive in the passing attack they're running. Like I said #5 for NY/A this season. What will be interesting is whether essentially 2 weeks off for Lamar and some of their starters has the Ravens rusty.

Don't forget Nick Broeker (Bills 7th round rookie, waived and snapped up) That would be the same non-logic that says "Josh Allen always lose in the Division round, Josh Allen always lose to Pat Mahomes in the playoff. This is no exception" I guess we ought to all skip the games, then.

So I've only caught a couple of Ravens and a couple of Texans games. I expect the pundits are all-in on the Ravens because Lamar, #1 seed - and they absolutely destroyed the NFC #1 seed 49ers. Looking under the hood, though, the way a fan with a little bit of football understanding but not deep knowledge about both teams sees it - The Ravens have the #1 defense in the league, and where it really shines is against the pass. #1 in NY/A. It's a bit more mediocre against the run, 26th in the league giving up 4.5 Y/A The Texans have the #13 offense overall, but it's based on a pretty strong #8 (tie) NY/A passing and a pretty "meh" #28 3.7 Y/A rushing. So that kind of looks like the Texans offensive strength matches up poorly against the Ravens defensive strength. On the other side of the ball, the Texans overall have the #11 defense, but it's actually #2 in rush Y/A, very sound - but #27 for NY/A passing. That would seem bad for the Ravens, who finished the season with the #4 offense on points, #3 for rush Y/A but this year the passing attack is more balanced, #5 for NY/A passing. So that kind of sounds like the Ravens have a balanced offense which can either go blow-for-blow against the Texans rush defense, or maybe find an advantage in the passing game that could open up the run for them. I think the Texans have a chance but in the end the Ravens will be too much for them, but I do think it will be more of a contest than many believe. I think the Ravens are a team that you have to have some experience with to "solve" offensively and defensively, and I don't know if the Texans have that.

I don't know whether they had crews working on it after the game and through this week, but there was more snow yesterday and today, so that needs to be cleared starting tomorrow. You can't preemptively clear snow that hasn't fallen yet.