Jordan Poyer Interview - OTAs June 2, 2021

[wppete]

A great interview by Jordan Poyer today. Some great insight in the teams mindset and some thoughts on rookies. This he is ready to roll for a super bowl containing season. Some reporters with an angle like John Warrow just can’t give up the whole vaccine issue but Jordan shut him down nicely. Great to see because we are about football and nothing more. Really looking forward to this season, the team looks ready to roll!!!
 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by wppete

[QLBillsFan]

I appreciate the positivity and we are all excited for the season. But I think the Bills players have brought the vaccine discussion up and JW is just doing his job. BB and McD have put a lockdown on any additional discussion. Jordan shut him down because that’s what he was told to do. 

[LeGOATski]

23 minutes ago, QLBillsFan said:

I appreciate the positivity and we are all excited for the season. But I think the Bills players have brought the vaccine discussion up and JW is just doing his job. BB and McD have put a lockdown on any additional discussion. Jordan shut him down because that’s what he was told to do. 

Uh....that was all JW. Really dumb question, (as if Poyer would even know the answer, lol) and he struggled to even put together the words. What a waste of time for the interview.

 

I gotta believe that his goal is just to catch a click-bait headline, because having camp at OBD vs SJC is a wash. It doesn't matter.

[Saxum]

Just now, LeGOATski said:

Uh....that was all JW. Really dumb question, (as if Poyer would even know the answer, lol) and he struggled to even put together the words. What a waste of time for the interview.

 

I gotta believe that his goal is just to catch a click-bait headline, because having camp at OBD vs SJC is a wash. It doesn't matter.

 

JW is not a click bait reporter. He works for AP and is poster on TSW.

 

I believe you are reading into it what you want to or are trying to start argument here.

[LeGOATski]

1 minute ago, Limeaid said:

 

JW is not a click bait reporter. He works for AP and is poster on TSW.

 

I believe you are reading into it what you want to or are trying to start argument here.

Every writer could respect Poyer's request to not ask about the vaccine, except JW. He's not a dumb person and even acknowledged Poyer's request before blatantly disregarding it. 

 

There's no reading between the lines here.

[wppete]

3 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

Every writer could respect Poyer's request to not ask about the vaccine, except JW. He's not a dumb person and even acknowledged Poyer's request before blatantly disregarding it. 

 

There's no reading between the lines here.

Completely agree. JW has proven to be a hack. Jordan did a great job and respectfully shut him down. Hopefully these reporters respect the players wishes and stick to football related questions going forward. We have a great season ahead of us! 
 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by wppete

[Buftex]

There is so much valuable information to be gleaned from interviews with athletes!

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, wppete said:

Completely agree. JW has proven to be a hack. Jordan did a great job and respectfully shut him down. Hopefully these reporters respect the players wishes and stick to football related questions going forward. We have a great season ahead of us!

 

I don't agree at all that John Wawrow is a "hack". 

 

I would say that the video interview format hasn't been kind to him; he seems to struggle to frame and ask concise open-ended questions and I swear to God he was showing up on-camera in Zoom interviews in his bathrobe and a torn undershirt at times last season.

 

1 hour ago, LeGOATski said:

Every writer could respect Poyer's request to not ask about the vaccine, except JW. He's not a dumb person and even acknowledged Poyer's request before blatantly disregarding it. 

 

There's no reading between the lines here.

 

One viewpoint on journalism is that it's a journalist's responsibility to ask "tough questions" and not limit himself to the questions the interviewee wants to be asked. 

 

I'm not saying that Poyer has a responsibility to answer - he doesn't - just speaking to the point that a reporter traditionally would not consider himself "bound" to respect the interviewee's requests in an open interview format (if it's a 1:1 interview by special arrangement where certain topics have been agreed out of bounds, sure).

 

Wawrow has serious journalist chops and (for example) was the guy chosen to interview Terry Pegula after the Whaley "Privy to" debacle presser /Rex firing, because his reputation as a fair, even-handed report gave him trust with them.

[Don Otreply]

Poyer was professional and gracious in his manner and words when he repeatedly closed down JW, that was well done, JW made himself look a bit like he wanted to be a gossip columnist with his insistent Covid questions, it made him appear unprepared especially when he evidently didn’t do his homework on how to frame the questions he tried to ask, Warrow has seemed to be more astute than that in his past pressers. Oh well, he likely learned how to be a better version of himself because of it..., (process) 

 

Go Bills!!!

[wppete]

31 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I don't agree at all that John Wawrow is a "hack". 

 

I would say that the video interview format hasn't been kind to him; he seems to struggle to frame and ask concise open-ended questions and I swear to God he was showing up on-camera in Zoom interviews in his bathrobe and a torn undershirt at times last season.

 

 

One viewpoint on journalism is that it's a journalist's responsibility to ask "tough questions" and not limit himself to the questions the interviewee wants to be asked. 

 

I'm not saying that Poyer has a responsibility to answer - he doesn't - just speaking to the point that a reporter traditionally would not consider himself "bound" to respect the interviewee's requests in an open interview format (if it's a 1:1 interview by special arrangement where certain topics have been agreed out of bounds, sure).

 

Wawrow has serious journalist chops and (for example) was the guy chosen to interview Terry Pegula after the Whaley "Privy to" debacle presser /Rex firing, because his reputation as a fair, even-handed report gave him trust with them.

He looked homeless in majority of those zoom Interviews. Stuttering and couldn’t gather his thoughts many times. Was very bad. 
 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by wppete

[Shaw66]

34 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

One viewpoint on journalism is that it's a journalist's responsibility to ask "tough questions" and not limit himself to the questions the interviewee wants to be asked. 

 

Well, I think there are tough questions and then there are tough questions.  

 

This whole vaccine thing is not a football issue.   It's an issue that the press thinks they can turn into controversial headlines, so they pursue it.   Does it matter how many players are vaccinated?  Yes, in some sense, because it affects the rules that govern how the team can practice.   But think about it - during the 2020 season, how many times did the press ask McDermott whether the June COVID-19 rules affected the outcome of last week's game?   Never.   The vaccine issue will have about as much impact on the season as how many reps Basham is getting this week.   It's just a non-issue.   Sure, JW can make up some BS why this is an important issue affecting the future of the team, but that's just BS.   There are literally hundreds of operation issues decided every month; not every decision is ideal.   You do the best you can and move on.  

 

Then there are tough questions, like "why did you decide to punt on 4th and one with three minutes left?" or "why didn't you run for the first down instead of throwing the INT in the third quarter?"   Those are tough questions - somebody made a mistake, and the press asks the guy to talk about it.  

 

The team has been clear about what it's doing about the vaccine issue, and clear particularly that they're keeping the discussions about the issue strictly in-house.   Questions to the players in the face of that clarity are just attempts to bait the player into saying something that will make a headline.  Now, if the team says "we aren't talking publicly about how we feel about last week's loss," okay, that's outside the ordinary rules of team-press relations.   But not talking about the vaccine is a completely understandable and justifiable position to take.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

16 minutes ago, wppete said:

He looked homeless in majority of those zoom Interviews. Stuttering and couldn’t gather his thoughts many times. Was very bad.

 

He wasn't the only one who came across badly - a number of the reporters seemed to really struggle with the format and being ready with several concise, well-phrased open ended questions - but he certainly set a low for appearance. 

 

Though we're not supposed to judge folks by that I guess.

[Malazan]

2 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

He wasn't the only one who came across badly - a number of the reporters seemed to really struggle with the format and being ready with several concise, well-phrased open ended questions - but he certainly set a low for appearance. 

 

Though we're not supposed to judge folks by that I guess.

 

You can certainly judge someone by their professional appearance. Judging a lawyer because they have a build that doesn't look good in a suit is silly, but judging them because they show up to court wearing a wife beater and crocs is something else. Wawrow has seem to have had issues with wearing appropriate attire since the pandemic started. 

 

----

 

I don't know what wawrow asked, but why do the Bills just not have to answer questions about the vaccine? Aren't they 1 of only 2 teams that have to operate under restricted conditions because they don't meet the threshold for having enough vaccinated players?

 

I'm not saying they need to talk about who is who isn't vaccinated, but I think questions about them being under the restrictions because of it is fair game to all of the players, coaches and staff. 

 

I haven't paid too much attention so hopefully someone can fill me on what the protocol restrictions are.. where the Bills are at..

[Aussie Joe]

I cringed a bit during that interview..

[GunnerBill]

5 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I don't agree at all that John Wawrow is a "hack". 

 

I would say that the video interview format hasn't been kind to him; he seems to struggle to frame and ask concise open-ended questions and I swear to God he was showing up on-camera in Zoom interviews in his bathrobe and a torn undershirt at times last season.

 

 

One viewpoint on journalism is that it's a journalist's responsibility to ask "tough questions" and not limit himself to the questions the interviewee wants to be asked. 

 

I'm not saying that Poyer has a responsibility to answer - he doesn't - just speaking to the point that a reporter traditionally would not consider himself "bound" to respect the interviewee's requests in an open interview format (if it's a 1:1 interview by special arrangement where certain topics have been agreed out of bounds, sure).

 

Wawrow has serious journalist chops and (for example) was the guy chosen to interview Terry Pegula after the Whaley "Privy to" debacle presser /Rex firing, because his reputation as a fair, even-handed report gave him trust with them.

 

As a former journalist I think it is absolutely the job of reporters to ask tough questions. It is not the job of reporters to ask players the questions they want to answer. The vaccine issue is a tough one for the Bills right now because their players made it so - whether it was Josh's likely too honest answer to a question earlier in the spring or Cole Beasley's clumsy tweet - they put it out there. McDermott has wisely in my view tried to put the issue back in the bottle and pull the clasp shut but I am afraid Sean doesn't get to choose what the issues are that the media asks about. 

 

For those who say the reporters should "stick to football" the regulations released last week make it pretty clear to me that whether or not individuals on a team are vaccinated is going to affect the football season in a multitude of ways. It is a legitimate line of questioning. 

[Warcodered]

50 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

As a former journalist I think it is absolutely the job of reporters to ask tough questions. It is not the job of reporters to ask players the questions they want to answer. The vaccine issue is a tough one for the Bills right now because their players made it so - whether it was Josh's likely too honest answer to a question earlier in the spring or Cole Beasley's clumsy tweet - they put it out there. McDermott has wisely in my view tried to put the issue back in the bottle and pull the clasp shut but I am afraid Sean doesn't get to choose what the issues are that the media asks about. 

 

For those who say the reporters should "stick to football" the regulations released last week make it pretty clear to me that whether or not individuals on a team are vaccinated is going to affect the football season in a multitude of ways. It is a legitimate line of questioning. 

Team basically trying to dead end the story by giving everyone a company line of not discussing it so they can't get any further into it. At this point I think the more interesting thing is that everyone one seems to be following that line despite some of them seeming to of had opinions they were starting to express.

[machine gun kelly]

3 hours ago, jeremy2020 said:

 

You can certainly judge someone by their professional appearance. Judging a lawyer because they have a build that doesn't look good in a suit is silly, but judging them because they show up to court wearing a wife beater and crocs is something else. Wawrow has seem to have had issues with wearing appropriate attire since the pandemic started. 

 

----

 

I don't know what wawrow asked, but why do the Bills just not have to answer questions about the vaccine? Aren't they 1 of only 2 teams that have to operate under restricted conditions because they don't meet the threshold for having enough vaccinated players?

 

I'm not saying they need to talk about who is who isn't vaccinated, but I think questions about them being under the restrictions because of it is fair game to all of the players, coaches and staff. 

 

I haven't paid too much attention so hopefully someone can fill me on what the protocol restrictions are.. where the Bills are at..

Jeremy, the op posted the interview so you can listen to it about 5 minutes or so into the interview.  The rules for vaccinated and non-vaccinated players was posted and you can search for it in the board.  It was last week.  I hope that helps.

[oldmanfan]

1.  Wawrow is not a hack.  He is an experienced, good writer and journalist.

 

2.  Vaccinations are in fact a story.  If you don’t think they are now, they will be if and when a non-vaccinated player winds up getting Covid.  And because a player is making an active choice to exhibit behavior that could sideline him and potentially other contacts on the team, it’s relevant.

[eball]

13 hours ago, wppete said:

Completely agree. JW has proven to be a hack. Jordan did a great job and respectfully shut him down. Hopefully these reporters respect the players wishes and stick to football related questions going forward. We have a great season ahead of us! 
 

 

 

Horrible take.  You don’t know jack-schitt about JW, and he’s anything but a “hack.”  If you’re not still concerned about getting our country and the world to herd immunity by getting everyone vaccinated, and you’re ignoring science, you’ve got your head in the sand.  These dumb takes are akin to the “players shouldn’t talk politics, only football” neanderthal mindset.  Football is a GAME.  There are much more important issues in life.

 

Edit:  I completely "get it" that the Bills have decided not to address vaccine/Covid issues with the media.  That's fine.  I just won't bash a reporter for still trying to get an answer.

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by eball

[Boxcar]

1 hour ago, oldmanfan said:

1.  Wawrow is not a hack.  He is an experienced, good writer and journalist.

 

2.  Vaccinations are in fact a story.  If you don’t think they are now, they will be if and when a non-vaccinated player winds up getting Covid.  And because a player is making an active choice to exhibit behavior that could sideline him and potentially other contacts on the team, it’s relevant.

This shouldn't be the same as last year.

 

I never understand those people who want to force the vaccine on others. For one, they cite their necessity for "the greater good", have no doubt about their efficacy and then act as if the vaccine has absolutely no effect because we have to continue to follow the draconian measures of pre-vaccine times. If the vaccines work, why do people still need to wear masks? If 30/32 teams are vaccinated to the "standard" (and the other two obviously not being at 0%), why would we continue to treat this virus the same way as last year?