Beck Water

Yes. But the player can also just say "nope, I'm good, thanks!" and stay on the practice squad. He's a free agent, he can make his own choice. So when a team tries to sign a player on another team's practice squad, one of three things can happen: 1) player says "nope, I'm good, I'll stay on this practice squad, Thanks" 2) original team says "OK, we'll match them and sign you to our 53 man roster 3) new team signs the player and must pay him as though he's on their 53 man roster for a minimum of 3 games Since rostered players get paid a lot more, a young guy would usually NOT refuse an offer to sign to another team's 53-man - but it has happened when they really feel they have a much better chance to be developed and have a career with the team they're on.

You got some great stuff here that I'd missed somehow. But for "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas", your version is fine, but I gotta give flowers to the original Gayla Peevey version. She was 10 years old when she recorded this fine tune in 1953. Then her non-stage-parents said "we want a kid who can be a kid" and "Nope'd" out of show biz for her. Especial props to the gleeful way she announces "Mom says a hippo would eat me up but then...teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian"

I agree with you, which is why I was surprised at Tom Brady's POV on this. You're absolutely right that Al-Shaair went braced arm to the neck/helmet, and I don't at all see how that was unavoidable to him. By the way, Trevor Lawrence still looks like a horse.

It's an interesting question. Hamlin himself told teammates it was harder on them than it was on him, because he didn't know anything about it while they had to watch it unfold. That said, there are some interesting learnings about the unconscious state - that patients who are unconscious and later recover can hear and remember things that occurred while they were 'out of it'. There's also some interesting stuff about somatic memory where people who have no conscious memory of a traumatic event can still register stress responses when put in the location where the event occurred or into a similar situation. It's not rock-solid research but it's interesting. So as far as the events after his collapse - the CPR and so forth - Hamlin is probably right that it was harder and more traumatic for his teammates than it was for him, for the reasons you cite. As far as having no imprinted memory, though, I'm not entirely sure about that. Either imprinted, or just the learned knoweldge of what happened, I think there probably was some stuff Hamlin had to work through when it came to actually giving and taking a hit (he said some stuff in an interview about needing to work through some things last year).

For whatever it's worth, I agree with you. People give Hamlin grief for staying back and letting up too many yards, but forget that was a Hyde trait as well. The coaching is "keep it in front of you". Hyde watches incredible amounts of film and is very good at digesting it. I expect part of his role will be injecting some late-season energy into the DB film sessions for the young guys. Listen to the interview I linked and tell me it sounds that way to you.

When the Ram-a-Lambs won the Superbowl in 2021, their safeties were Eric Weddle and Taylor Rapp. Weddle signed to the practice squad after the season when Rapp was in concussion protocol and their other starting safety Jordan Fuller (the defensive play caller) went on IR. He had to learn the defense (which allegedly took him just two days), but wound up wearing the "green dot" and calling the defensive plays in the Superbowl. Eric Weddle had retired after 2019 and literally spent 2020 and 2021 at home with his kids and coaching Pee Wee football or something like that. So sometimes signing the ghosts of the past works out.

A practice squad player is officially a free agent, with a few extra wrinkles. So like any free agent, when a team tries to sign them they can say "no" or "yes". Back when the Bills were a bad team, they actually had several players they tried to sign off another team's practice squad who said "thanks, I'm Good." There is a minimum salary, but a vet player can be paid more. I think I heard $890,000 per season is the practice squad maximum, which is pretty much $50k per game.

So about 3 minutes in Hyde is talking about his expected role. He doesn't at all sound like a guy who "only signed because he's going to start once he's reacclimated". He talks about how "it's a new role for me" He sounds like a guy who's excited for where the team is and wants to help any way he can. At least, he sounds that way to me. Judge for yourself. I think he's lost weight though, his face looks really skinny. LOL at the part where he talks about how his locker was still there but Taron and D Ham went through it and got a lot of his stuff, but he's going to see him wearing it and s n a t c h it back.

I don't think that at all. Rapp and Hamlin have been doing a capable job. I think Micah is this year's help with the film room, sideline coach, "break glass in emergency" AJ Klein. I think it looks like the Bills may have something and he hopes he can be part of it, even a small part. I think what players really lose as they age is their recovery. They don't recover as well during the week. So the 2nd week let's say they're 85%, then the next week even less, maybe 70%, so then by week 12 or so they're down to like 35-50% of their off-season peak. It's like Steve Smith and Zo Alexander said on one hilarious piece they did about the difference between vets and young players "They don't listen 'cuz they young. They roll out of bed on Tuesday and go. We "unh-uh, not this day, I need that deep acupuncture" If he's just playing 2-3 games Hyde may have more left to him.

I dunno. I think Poyer kind of left with hard feelings. He had signed a 2 year contract "intending to retire a Bill", the team cut him, and it was pretty clear that he wasn't happy about that. He has a house in S. Florida and his wife loves it there. I don't think he'll want to return to Buffalo. Hyde was a free agent and was reportedly unsure whether or not he wanted to retire. Different situations, different outcomes. Edit: now that I've watched the interview with Hyde, I think family has to do with it too. Apparently Hyde's wife loves it in Buffalo and feels part of the community. Rachel Bush was open about "hating that she has to live in New York State".

Yes, that was one of the plays this guy did more analyze and not just "fanboy" I would want to see a different view of that but I think DPI was involved and it wasn't as close to a pick without that - BUT, clearly there was a 'surer' throw underneath that Josh could have had. I thought Shakir was getting interfered with a lot during the game, which is a testament to how dangerous the 49ers assessed him to be. And statistically, yeah, if you interfere with a guy and prevent a reception on 8 plays and 1 gets called, you're quite possibly ahead. Agreed, he was a fun listen. I'll see if I can carve out some time to check out his coverage breakdowns, you know that's "catnip" for this cat

Fun watch, thanks for sharing! It's kind of a fan piece with a few pieces of professional insight spliced in. He does point out a couple places where Josh got greedy and went for a deep shot when there was a wide open alternative underneath, although on at least one of them I thought DPI was involved.

Just found this video of Tom Brady discussing the hit with Colin Cowherd. It's Tom Brady, so, his POV is worth listening to (especially since he's the one Al-Shaair grabbed by the throat) https://youtu.be/NOU6-IEMeDw?t=31 I will say that his POV kind of surprised me a bit, but then, he did spend many years playing before some of the new rules came into being.

My point of disagreement with you is that I don't think she posted to get clicks. I think she was genuinely upset and genuinely felt that her daughter had been cheap-shotted, so to speak. I think the reference to "dealing with the police" shows that they legit felt they were done wrong. My guess is that the police took a report, then pulled up the footage and later told the family "there's nothing out of the ordinary here"

Josh is a running back for that play. He's not down by contact, nor is he trying to give himself up. In fact he keeps fighting for yards. You can't lead with your helmet, so it's not legal and should be a penalty by rule, but just like DPI and holding, a lot of that goes on every game and is not called. If we don't want Josh taking shots like that, he has to stop running those QB draws.. Simple as that. It's not a clean football play. Can't lead with the crown of the helmet. So by rule, it's a foul. But you're correct that RBs are hit like that constantly and it's not usually called unless the player is "defenseless"

Maybe one reason the parents are so reactive about it, is that they failed to take all care they reasonably could? Like the dad and son were considerably ahead of the daughter or something?

Practice squad. Huh. When we re-signed Cole Beasley to the Practice Squad, it didn't have very good results. Hopefully this results in something better. Apparently, Deon Cain, WR, from the practice squad. Each team gets 2 practice squad call-ups per game, who revert to the PS immediately after the game without needing to clear waivers or be signed to the 53 man roster. Each practice squad player can be called-up 3 times.

This sounds like a believeable account, except that why would a father let a belligerent drunk push past him and have access to his medically fragile daughter? Would you be like "hold up fella!" and get between him and your daughter? And if you're going down stairs and your daughter is behind you and your son, wouldn't you be in a position to catch her and break her fall? Maybe I don't "get" the geometry of the situation?

The thing about Bills mafia is, you know if we felt that would bring us victory, parents and kids would line up to be chosen.

There's bruising, then there's bruising.

Geez, fans really ought to be able to attend a freakin' football game without passing the He-Man Test of Carolina Boyst Tough Guy I personally think the Bills/Stadium bear a lot of culpability for apparently not modernizing their snow removal (if it's still largely done by hand and not with the snow blowers Green Bay uses), thus leaving the stairs so slick it's easy to fall. They really need to do better. I may write them a Carefully Worded Letter about this. PS you can ditch the "probably".

I've looked into it, and Hope Rises is a legit nonprofit with very high % of their funds going to the people they support. So calling it a media/fundraising organization kind of mis-represents it a bit, IMO It is true the founder is a reporter, and that if they didn't have that connection their story might not have gained so much traction. I don't think the family is making extraordinary claims. I think that's AB with the "fan threw little girl down the stairs" tweet is the extraordinary claim, but they can hardly control AB when coaches and football organizations failed to be able to do so.

Now that would be too far. I can understand the family of a girl who has battled cancer, relapsed, and battled again going for a chance to see their favorite team play close to home, even though it's a school night and the weather sucks, because when you're in those shoes, you just don't know if you'll be able to do it next year or next decade. But if they take her to a mosh pit I'm Done with them.

I disagree with it being a money grab. The GoFundMe has been there for more than a year, and the girl/family are evidently known to a respected reporter and founder of a legit nonprofit Hope Rises. I think the family legit had a bad time after trying to give their 49ers fan daughter a "bucket list" experience, and are upset about that. We have no way of knowing how slight a bump it was. It could have been a bump that was deliberate and harder than it needed to be because the guy is a jerk. But, at a crowded event where the stairs are "fall on your ass" slick without any bumps needed, that doesn't amount to assault charges either.

If I were guessing....I would guess that the family filed a police report, but police told the family that after review of the video, it didn't appear that there was enough evidence to support charges since the stairs were so slippery people were falling without any pushes, all night.