McD's Presser

[Hapless Bills Fan]

I just hid a bunch of off topic Seatbelt discussion, I understand the intent of the analogy but it was getting 2nd and 3rd responses about seatbelts and not football.  Time to steer the vehicle back on the Prime Purpose road

 

Errr...so to speak.

 

If your post disappeared just want y'all to know why

[teef]

1 minute ago, SCBills said:

It sounds like it was more laziness/lackadaisical attitude than opposing the measures.   
 

I get it… I’m not vaxxed (I’m actually on Day 10 of having covid right now - moderate to now minor symptoms), so I have nothing else to do today but finish my quarantine and debate some of y’all ha.   
 

If I was Cole, I’d follow the rules completely.  It is what it is and he gets paid well to follow dumb rules.  
 

That said, he is 100% correct about the rules not making sense, and they will cause issues during the season.   The league doesn’t want to acknowledge the changing covid landscape because players got vaxxed with certain assurances of how they could live life, but it’s a very different world now than just a few months ago. 

i'm glad you're ok.  

[Gugny]

2 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

I just hid a bunch of off topic Seatbelt discussion, I understand the intent of the analogy but it was getting 2nd and 3rd responses about seatbelts and not football.  Time to steer the vehicle back on the Prime Purpose road

 

Errr...so to speak.

 

If your post disappeared just want y'all to know why

 

As long as you don't tare me down, I think I'll be okay!  😉

[Kelly the Dog]

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

Yes

Frankly I don’t believe him. The NFL is petty, and serious about Covid, but I seriously doubt they would fine him 14k for those five steps. I know he said it I just don’t believe it. 

[716er]

6 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Must be in jest otherwise he wouldn’t be fined… 

Could be in the post vax window where he still needs to mask up. Ditto Gabe Davis.

 

The only player who it’s obvious doesn’t have the vax is the one who promised to stay off Twitter once camp started.

[JGMcD2]

3 minutes ago, Mango said:

You don’t miss nearly a week of practice for wearing a MAGA hat. Or a quarter of the season. 
 

We all draw the line between work and personal life. You really like a guy at work even if he holds some unfortunate opinions. But things change when they start impacting you at work and you’re personal beliefs. There’s only so much you can compartmentalize. 
 

At least that’s my take on being in that locker room. 

Being in the locker room/front office it’s exactly as @Hapless Bills Fandescribed. 
 

Plenty of my co-workers and players have missed time, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, but there’s very little finger pointing.
 

Everyone has a different viewpoint and that’s it… the various factions agree to disagree and carry on with life like adults should.

 

It’s next man up to keep the ship running when someone pops positive or is a close contact and we’ve all taken pride in keeping things together. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 minute ago, ScottLaw said:

Must be in jest otherwise he wouldn’t be fined… 

 

Not necessarily.  He could have been in the process of being vaccinated between the warning (July 27th, start of training camp) and the observed masklessness August 26th.  For example, if he got vaccinated on July 27th with Pfizer, he would get his 2nd shot August 17th but not count as "fully vaccinated" to the NFL until August 31st.  Until August 31st, the non-vaccinated protocols would apply.

[LeGOATski]

I assume that's an easy dispute for McKenzie if he's actually vaccinated. Why tweet it out?

[Rochesterfan]

5 minutes ago, SCBills said:

It sounds like it was more laziness/lackadaisical attitude than opposing the measures.   
 

I get it… 
 

If I was Cole, I’d follow the rules completely.  It is what it is and he gets paid well to follow dumb rules.  
 

That said, he is 100% correct about the rules not making sense, and they will cause issues during the season.   The league doesn’t want to acknowledge the changing covid landscape because players got vaxxed with certain assurances of how they could live life, but it’s a very different world now than just a few months ago. 
 

 

This is somewhat true, but the fact that the NFLPA has come out and said they would support daily testing for all tells me it is not assurances that are preventing the update.  I think they have an agreement in place for preseason and are running with it to find out just what cracks they have and will make adjustments in the last week after Preseason game 3.

 

I believe they are trying to get the vaccination rate as close to 100% without forcing the issue and now we will see what kind of an agreement the NFL and NFLPA will come up with that will impact everyone.  
 

The worlds changing fast and my guess is like last year - the NFL in working with the NFLPA will respond slightly more slowly, but will tweak protocols as the years goes on.  They were not against changing last year and I would assume they will change this year - it just does not happen as fast due to the negotiations required.

 

[716er]

Just now, LeGOATski said:

Why tweet

Indeed 

[FLFan]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

 

Weird quote. 
 

“we're going to be under the same protocols as last year.”

 

"There's league rules and then there's my rules. We ain't going anywhere. We're the same as last year,"

 

I took the “I don’t give a crap if they’re vaccinated or not” in context with the above. Vaccinations don’t get special treatment. Everybody follows the same rules. House rules are 2020 covid protocols not 2021. 

The only thing Arians is doing any differently is the rules for road trips.  He did this because they had a vax’d player have dinner with his former teammates on the road in TN and then spread Covid to the team.  Nothing that Arians is doing would have impacted anything that happened with the Bills this week.  Tampa has to follow NFL and NFLPA rules like everyone else.  His road policy is within his prerogatives.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 minute ago, LeGOATski said:

I assume that's an easy dispute for McKenzie if he's actually vaccinated. Why tweet it out?

 

If he's had the vaccine shots but is still in the 2 week window where he still counts as unvaccinated,there's nothing to dispute.

[BuffaloBill]

2 hours ago, eball said:

Goodell could clean this up in a hurry.  Vaccine mandate.  Let the chips fall where they may.

 

 

Not that simple as the players have a union. The NFLPA would have to agree.

[716er]

FWIW Beane said in his last presser any vaxxed close contacts to the trainer who had covid were also tested.

 

It’s not a free for all in there once vaxxed as much as Cole wants us to believe that.

Edited August 26, 2021 by 716er

[Captain Caveman]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

This wouldn't be cutting someone for his personal belief. This would be planning for the season and the future. If Beasley isn't going to be available to the team consistently, one plan for the current season and the future would be to cut him, give the starting job in the slot to Mackenzie.  That would create the room on the roster necessary to keep Stevenson and protect him from being signed away by another team. At some point Stevenson might take the slot job from Mackenzie.

Not a bad plan except it seems like McKenzie is also unvaxxed and therefore unreliable.  At this point it feels like there is a problem in the WR room.

[Mango]

3 minutes ago, FLFan said:

The only thing Arians is doing any differently is the rules for road trips.  He did this because they had a vax’d player have dinner with his former teammates on the road in TN and then spread Covid to the team.  Nothing that Arians is doing would have impacted anything that happened with the Bills this week.  Tampa has to follow NFL and NFLPA rules like everyone else.  His road policy is within his prerogatives.  

OK, that makes sense. I just assumed franchises in general were like munipalities and NYS home rule law. Where clubs can enact house rules like “no dinner with others while on the road”, so long as it doesn’t violate any league, NFLPA, CBA, etc rules. 

[Billever76]

1 hour ago, NickelCity said:

I, too, think the best course of action is instituting tampa style rules. Everyone plays under the same restrictions regardless of vaccination status. 

Sure punish the 80% of players who did the right thing for not only their teams but society as a whole..

[Doc Brown]

2 hours ago, JGMcD2 said:

What a miserable take with no basis rooted anywhere. 
 

Personal choice and caring about each person’s beliefs individually is EXACTLY what he built here. 

Is having a player spout off on social media about a very controversial subject a part of what we built here?

[Captain Caveman]

1 hour ago, Success said:

Purely hypothetical, and a goofy exercise, but just curious what other posters think on this one:  would Belichick cut Beasley?

 

Will he cut Cam?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

25 minutes ago, SCBills said:

It sounds like it was more laziness/lackadaisical attitude than opposing the measures.   

 

In the case of Cole Beasley, he made a very public issue on twitter that he would get tested every day, but otherwise "my day is the same as everyone else", no masks, no restrictions, in or out of the facility.

 

McKenzie is "Dad's" loyal apprentice, has been public in his support of Beasley and is possibly taking his cues from him.

 

So no, I don't think it's just laziness or lackadaisical attitude.

 

Quote

If I was Cole, I’d follow the rules completely.  It is what it is and he gets paid well to follow dumb rules.  

 

Again, Cole made a very public issue on twitter that he would not follow the rules and that he didn't care about money, he would play for free if he had to.  I don't know if he was considering being suspended for 4 games as a possible occurrence.  My guess is "no".

 

Now I think McDermott may have sat down and had a heart-to-heart with him about vaccination being his choice but was he In (follow the rules, don't be a distraction) or Out (do his own thing, distract away)? and I believe Cole chose "In".  I expect there is going to be another convo.

 

Quote

That said, he is 100% correct about the rules not making sense, and they will cause issues during the season.   The league doesn’t want to acknowledge the changing covid landscape because players got vaxxed with certain assurances of how they could live life, but it’s a very different world now than just a few months ago.

 

I agree with the first.  As far as the second, I think it's more likely the NFL's medical officers are taking guidance from the CDC and looking for data from the US (which has been very slow to emerge) on which to base any changes, and also they don't want to be "trigger happy" and make changes that later data don't support.  They established their pre-season protocols and decided they would run with them, see how they worked, then adapt.