GunnerBill Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 24 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: A party line is an official stance. It's not possible to have an official stance in this situation. "Focusing on football" and "keeping it in house" are deflections, not party lines. Deflection is their method for controlling the narrative. Just making that clear. I don't think it will be hard for them to start deflecting again. I've never said reporters shouldn't ask questions. I don't think they should ask stupid ones, but it's not a perfect world... The state of the Bills is still to be determined now that they're all back together. I'm not advising against a wait-and-see approach, but my problem since this thread resurfaced is that Wawrow's comments indicate some reporters will push a certain angle, regardless of the answer they get. They won't see it until they believe it...as Mahomes so elegantly put. I believe we're already seeing the Bills come back together and starting to gel again... The Bills had a party line - they were not going to get into it publicly and every player they trotted out in spring stuck to that. And I don't think JW's comments suggest that at all. Reporters will ask their questions and if the Bills continue to try and "deflect" in your words they will keep asking. To me what the Bills should do is get in front of this. If I was advising them on media strategy here my advice would be: 1. Stop pretending you have no idea what the threshold from the NFL will be. Numerous teams have acknowledged the 85% publicly. The Bills should put Beane up today to the media to do the same and give an indication of how close or far they are from that. 2. Obviously day 1 of camp it will be McDermott, Allen and possibly Beane in front of the media. But day 2 they should make Cole Beasley available and let him explain himself. I don't think he has done a great job on social media of explaining his position I think allowing him to speak to the media would help. 3. You acknowledge that there are some players with strongly held views against the vaccine and you address as an organisation your stance on moving forward with some vacced and some unvacced players. That way by the end of this week you could have the situation out there transparently, reporters could report on the facts and the story would move on. The longer the Bills try to deflect it leaves a vaccum in which other people will run with the narrative. If the Bills want to keep control at this point they need to start saying more, rather than less. PS. I also think it would really help them if Josh clarified his status when he speaks to the media today but that is a personal call for him.
LeGOATski Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 8 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: The Bills had a party line - they were not going to get into it publicly and every player they trotted out in spring stuck to that. And I don't think JW's comments suggest that at all. Reporters will ask their questions and if the Bills continue to try and "deflect" in your words they will keep asking. To me what the Bills should do is get in front of this. If I was advising them on media strategy here my advice would be: 1. Stop pretending you have no idea what the threshold from the NFL will be. Numerous teams have acknowledged the 85% publicly. The Bills should put Beane up today to the media to do the same and give an indication of how close or far they are from that. 2. Obviously day 1 of camp it will be McDermott, Allen and possibly Beane in front of the media. But day 2 they should make Cole Beasley available and let him explain himself. I don't think he has done a great job on social media of explaining his position I think allowing him to speak to the media would help. 3. You acknowledge that there are some players with strongly held views against the vaccine and you address as an organisation your stance on moving forward with some vacced and some unvacced players. That way by the end of this week you could have the situation out there transparently, reporters could report on the facts and the story would move on. The longer the Bills try to deflect it leaves a vaccum in which other people will run with the narrative. If the Bills want to keep control at this point they need to start saying more, rather than less. PS. I also think it would really help them if Josh clarified his status when he speaks to the media today but that is a personal call for him. That's cool, but none of this concerns the take I originally bolded in Wawrow's post, which was about the interplayer feud on Twitter and how it will affect the locker room. Asking Cole Beasley to explain himself comes kinda close to that...
GunnerBill Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 4 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: That's cool, but none of this concerns the take I originally bolded in Wawrow's post, which was about the interplayer feud on Twitter and how it will affect the locker room. Asking Cole Beasley to explain himself comes kinda close to that... JW's comment was that the twitter feud made it difficult for the Bills to say "we are keeping it all in house and we just wanna talk about football." Clearly that isn't true and indeed Beasley's tweet about not being made available to the media suggests very strongly that it was never really true. The Bills said that in the spring purely as a media handling strategy. What has happened since makes that strategy really difficult to persist with in camp. And if they do then the media covering the team has every right to challenge it.
LeGOATski Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 14 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: JW's comment was that the twitter feud made it difficult for the Bills to say "we are keeping it all in house and we just wanna talk about football." Clearly that isn't true and indeed Beasley's tweet about not being made available to the media suggests very strongly that it was never really true. The Bills said that in the spring purely as a media handling strategy. What has happened since makes that strategy really difficult to persist with in camp. And if they do then the media covering the team has every right to challenge it. It was his answer to this post. It's specific to the Twitter feud and locker room/team dynamic.
GunnerBill Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 24 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: It was his answer to this post. It's specific to the Twitter feud and locker room/team dynamic. Where does JW say anything about locker room dynamic? He says it is harder for the Bills to continue to say we are keeping it in house and just focussed on football. I took that to be about the way they handle it publicly rather than what they do in the locker room and that is why I say my advice to them would be to be more open and transparent. With the media they can't legitimately say we are not talking about it publicly and we just want to focus on football when as many as 5 or 6 of their players (Hughes, Diggs, Sanders and Dodson pro, Beasley and Feliciano against) have been openly commenting one way or the other on social media - including 4 of them debating it with each other.
LeGOATski Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 6 hours ago, GunnerBill said: Where does JW say anything about locker room dynamic? He says it is harder for the Bills to continue to say we are keeping it in house and just focussed on football. I took that to be about the way they handle it publicly rather than what they do in the locker room and that is why I say my advice to them would be to be more open and transparent. With the media they can't legitimately say we are not talking about it publicly and we just want to focus on football when as many as 5 or 6 of their players (Hughes, Diggs, Sanders and Dodson pro, Beasley and Feliciano against) have been openly commenting one way or the other on social media - including 4 of them debating it with each other. Since he was answering a question specifically about the Twitter feud and locker room dynamic, I took it as that. I linked directly to it. If we're just discussing the FO's media strategy now, then we've been successfully sidetracked. 👍
GunnerBill Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: Since he was answering a question specifically about the Twitter feud and locker room dynamic, I took it as that. I linked directly to it. If we're just discussing the FO's media strategy now, then we've been successfully sidetracked. 👍 I am not sure we have been sidetracked. This thread was complaining about the questions journalists and JW in particular were asking players who were toeing the party line at OTAs and saying they wouldn't talk about it. This thread to me has always been about the Bills' media strategy and the media's attempts to find answers.
LeGOATski Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 27 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: I am not sure we have been sidetracked. This thread was complaining about the questions journalists and JW in particular were asking players who were toeing the party line at OTAs and saying they wouldn't talk about it. This thread to me has always been about the Bills' media strategy and the media's attempts to find answers. You've been responding specifically to my posts (apparently under the wrong context) not the OP. 🤔 It's okay, but no longer constructive to the point I was making with Wawrow.
LeGOATski Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 Beasley's statement seems to indicate they've locked it up for now. I guess they're focused on football. 👍
Warcodered Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 9 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: Beasley's statement seems to indicate they've locked it up for now. I guess they're focused on football. 👍
GunnerBill Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 27 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: Beasley's statement seems to indicate they've locked it up for now. I guess they're focused on football. 👍 I think the Bills have done a great job today. They have hit most of the marks I set out earlier. Beane's pressed was honest and candid, they told us where they are on vacc %, they acknowledged that two different sets of protocols is less than ideal and can cause division but reiterated that they were not gonna try and force anyone. Add that to making Cole available and they got this right. I am glad they have not tried to circle the wagons and parrot the party line or deflect. 1 1 1
DrDawkinstein Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 31 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: Beasley's statement seems to indicate they've locked it up for now. I guess they're focused on football. 👍 https://www.wkbw.com/sports/buffalo-bills/im-not-anti-or-pro-vax-im-pro-choice-cole-beasley-comments-on-viral-social-media-posts The most important parts: Beasley added that he plans to have no further comments on social media about the COVID vaccine. General Manager Brandon Beane told reporters before practice that “just over 80%” of the players have received at least one dose of the vaccine while the entire coaching staff is fully vaccinated. We'll se how the first point goes. But great news on the second to be up above 80%. Although that is just one dose. 1
GunnerBill Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 40 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: You've been responding specifically to my posts (apparently under the wrong context) not the OP. 🤔 It's okay, but no longer constructive to the point I was making with Wawrow. I think you were the one conflating things. I can't find a post from JW talking about locker room division. His criticism of the Bills was specifically about them trying to sweep the subject under the carpet in the spring.
LeGOATski Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 5 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: I think the Bills have done a great job today. They have hit most of the marks I set out earlier. Beane's pressed was honest and candid, they told us where they are on vacc %, they acknowledged that two different sets of protocols is less than ideal and can cause division but reiterated that they were not gonna try and force anyone. Add that to making Cole available and they got this right. I am glad they have not tried to circle the wagons and parrot the party line or deflect. They certainly have. A PC void of drama and McBeane have seemingly locked in their most controversial player, just like I figured they would. Good leadership on this team. 7 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: I think you were the one conflating things. I can't find a post from JW talking about locker room division. His criticism of the Bills was specifically about them trying to sweep the subject under the carpet in the spring. Then I guess you missed the post I linked directly to. I couldn't have made it any easier. Your confusion seems deliberate at this point. 🤷♂️
GunnerBill Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 4 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: Then I guess you missed the post I linked directly to. I couldn't have made it any easier. Your confusion seems deliberate at this point. 🤷♂️ I have looked at that post. Where does he talk about locker room division?
LeGOATski Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 18 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: I have looked at that post. Where does he talk about locker room division? ** It's right here. <--- Link ** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The question he responded to is specifically about locker room division.
GunnerBill Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, LeGOATski said: ** It's right here. <--- Link ** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The question he responded to is specifically about locker room division. Yes and JW says we will have to see. But then what he moves onto in the following sentence is clearly how they handle it - they can't claim to keep it in house or say they are only focussed on football. That is a direct reference to what they said to journalists during OTAs and mini-camp (in fact it is almost quoting the lines the Bills took in those pressers) rather than a reference to any actions in the locker room. This thread has clearly to me at every stage been about the way the Bills address this publicly. I don't think it has been a lot of people speculating on what they are doing inside the locker room.
LeGOATski Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 17 minutes ago, GunnerBill said: Yes and JW says we will have to see. But then what he moves onto in the following sentence is clearly how they handle it - they can't claim to keep it in house or say they are only focussed on football. That is a direct reference to what they said to journalists during OTAs and mini-camp (in fact it is almost quoting the lines the Bills took in those pressers) rather than a reference to any actions in the locker room. This thread has clearly to me at every stage been about the way the Bills address this publicly. I don't think it has been a lot of people speculating on what they are doing inside the locker room. He's clearly responding to a specific question, but whatever helps you get through this 👍 1
Shaw66 Posted July 28, 2021 Posted July 28, 2021 18 hours ago, JoPoy88 said: great contribution 🙄. Very unlike you in all honesty. Take the L on this one and move on you post to excellent stuff almost all the time. Thanks. What's unlike me? That I have a point of view? Do you find that difficult to accept? I ALWAYS have a point of view. My point of view is that the NFL will have rules about COVID, the teams and the players will follow them or not, and they'll all live with the consequences. I don't need to hear any discussion whatsoever in July about those rules. When I show up at the stadium on opening day, the Bills and the Steelers will play a football game. 65,000 people will make a lot of noise. One team will win, the other will lose. The game will be all about the 106 players on the two teams, and their coaches. Some players we might have expected to be in that game won't be in it, because of injury, arrest, personal matters, or COVID. I don't really care. I, and the 65,000 other people, and the coaches, will be focused completely on the 106 who are there, and no one will be worrying about who isn't there or why. When the Bills took the field to start the 2020 season, we watched the players and what they did. We didn't moan and groan because Star wasn't there. 40 guys who came to training camp weren't there, either. I'm a football fan. I see no point in my football life in getting excited about COVID. If you have a point of view that's different, fine. I get it. But dismissing my point of view because you disagree with it is ignorant. So, lalalalalala.
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