What if the Bills refuse to play the Patriots?

[Milanos Milano]

1 minute ago, Scott7975 said:

 

Yes, everyone knows the world goes on.  I dont know what your point is.  Its the same point I have made... everyone grieves in their own way.  The players are a million times closer to this situation then we are.  Nobody knows what they are going through.  If they dont play then they just forfeit and the season moves on.  All things I have said and the dude is still arguing with me.  So, and I mean this politely...  if you didnt follow the conversation then dont jump on me about it and start arguing too.

I’m not really arguing against you. Just simply stating options. I personally don’t think it’s fair to Americans that depend on the games for a forfeit. The game should be played no matter what. If that means finding 22 people off the street to suit up for a match until the team feels mentally prepared, so be it. We can’t expect others to suffer in the process of their grievances. I personally would still go watch the game, even if it meant 22 untalented Joe’s scrambling around. The game must be played. That doesn’t mean, our current players have to play, if they don’t want to, they can sit out, but the game will be played no matter what. 

[Scott7975]

3 minutes ago, IronMaidenBills said:

I’m not really arguing against you. Just simply stating options. I personally don’t think it’s fair to Americans that depend on the games for a forfeit. The game should be played no matter what. If that means finding 22 people off the street to suit up for a match until the team feels mentally prepared, so be it. We can’t expect others to suffer in the process of their grievances. I personally would still go watch the game, even if it meant 22 untalented Joe’s scrambling around. The game must be played. That doesn’t mean, our current players have to play, if they don’t want to, they can sit out, but the game will be played no matter what. 

 

Ok so now I have to argue with you too.  Well done.  I am not going to re-type it all so just go a few pages back and read my comments.  The game does not have to be played no matter what and they arent going to go find 22 people off the street to play it.  Thats ridiculous.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Scott7975

[WotAGuy]

Just now, Scott7975 said:

 

Ok so now I have to argue with you too.  Well done.  I am not going to re-type it all so just go a few pages back and read my comments.  The does not have to be played no matter what and they arent going to go find 22 people off the street to play it.  Thats ridiculous.

Reading his posts are like car crashes - terrible, awful things…..but I just have to look. 

[Milanos Milano]

5 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

 

Ok so now I have to argue with you too.  Well done.  I am not going to re-type it all so just go a few pages back and read my comments.  The game does not have to be played no matter what and they arent going to go find 22 people off the street to play it.  Thats ridiculous.

The city of Buffalo and surrounding areas depend on the Bills to play. The tax payers are too involved. The Bills need to do the right thing and play the game, even if that means losing 64-0. You are not looking at this through the lens of the community. Buffalo is already a struggling economic location, it doesn’t need more pain. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by IronMaidenBills

[PrimeTime101]

19 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

 

So as long as kids also play a game, it's automatically "a game for kids" or "a kid's game?"

 

Basically that makes any and all games "games for kids." Whether it's soccer or chess or video games, kids also play those, so guess they're all kid games!

No Im saying its more involved than just saying its a "kids game" or "Adult Game"

[Milanos Milano]

I guess the plight of the poor is funny, oh well. I guess nobody cares. 

[WotAGuy]

Just now, IronMaidenBills said:

I guess the plight of the poor is funny, oh well. I guess nobody cares. 

You can trust me with this; you have the Bills/Pats in a 10-game parlay that’s a sure thing, amirite?

[Milanos Milano]

Just now, WotAGuy said:

You can trust me with this; you have the Bills/Pats in a 10-game parlay that’s a sure thing, amirite?

No, I’m being genuine here. Nobody wants to talk about the big picture. Frankly not many people care about it. 

[Milanos Milano]

But we already know how a few players feel about us. We are just little people with little jobs. Not that they care that it literally takes some people a day or 2 of labor just to come support their career and a way for them to provide for their families. 

[WotAGuy]

11 minutes ago, IronMaidenBills said:

No, I’m being genuine here. Nobody wants to talk about the big picture. Frankly not many people care about it. 

You will find many people more than willing to talk about it over in PPP. That’s where it belongs, and why no one wants to talk about it here.  Now go, my son. 

[HappyDays]

This thread got really hostile. That's disappointing.

 

I expect the Bills players to show up and play, there's really no other choice, but I have no expectations about how well they will play. I think it will take one game to ramp up and get themselves 100% focused on the sport again. Against a team fighting for their playoff lives I'm not expecting a victory in that scenario, nor do I care about the outcome. I'll tune in just to watch the team show up as a unit and get the ovation they deserve.

 

Interestingly the league's decision on the Bengals game may impact our approach to this game. If the reports are correct that the Bengals game will be declared no-contest I would be fine if the Bills rolled into the Pats game with very little game planning and starting a lot of backups. Use week 18 as a pseudo bye week and hopefully get some good news on Hamlin over the next week. Then roll into the playoffs likely as the #3 seed with the team fully focused, rested, and able to think about something other than how their teammate's recovery is going. That to me is the ideal scenario.

[davefan66]

7 hours ago, Buffalo03 said:

Let me say this in terms you can understand. They HAVE to move forward because we can't have 2 canceled games and only 15 games played when it comes to playoff seeding when the rest of the league, minus the Bills and Bengals has 17. It's going to cause major issues. If this happened with someone you worked with at your job that you were close with, eventually you have to continue going back to work, right? These guys know they have a job to do. We can't have 2 canceled games. They have to play. 

Terms I can understand? Thank you dearly for helping me throw out any shred of empathy I have for the situation and those involved.  You are correct! A game that does nothing to change my life is more important than the mental health and well being of those involved in the situation.

 

If the people involved closely with what happened decide they can’t move forward, only THEY have the right to make that decision. I wouldn’t question this teams desire to win or think any less of any one of them. 

[UKBillFan]

5 hours ago, IronMaidenBills said:

I’m not really arguing against you. Just simply stating options. I personally don’t think it’s fair to Americans that depend on the games for a forfeit. The game should be played no matter what. If that means finding 22 people off the street to suit up for a match until the team feels mentally prepared, so be it. We can’t expect others to suffer in the process of their grievances. I personally would still go watch the game, even if it meant 22 untalented Joe’s scrambling around. The game must be played. That doesn’t mean, our current players have to play, if they don’t want to, they can sit out, but the game will be played no matter what. 

 

If the Bills announce that a load of people from the street will be playing them then barely anyone will turn up and watch. It won't be entertaining, it won't be a spectacle and it wouldn't help the local community that much.

 

I agree with you that, if the Bills decide not to play, then they should forfeit though, and the same time, I don't think the Pats can just be given the win. 

 

I think the big sign will be if the Bills undertake a full practice today. If they do, then the game will definitely be going ahead.

 

[machine gun kelly]

As much as it stinks I think the Pats game will happen.  We can only hope there are some positive developments for Damar’s health.

[CheshireCT]

4 hours ago, HappyDays said:

This thread got really hostile. That's disappointing.

 

I expect the Bills players to show up and play, there's really no other choice, but I have no expectations about how well they will play. I think it will take one game to ramp up and get themselves 100% focused on the sport again. Against a team fighting for their playoff lives I'm not expecting a victory in that scenario, nor do I care about the outcome. I'll tune in just to watch the team show up as a unit and get the ovation they deserve.

 

Interestingly the league's decision on the Bengals game may impact our approach to this game. If the reports are correct that the Bengals game will be declared no-contest I would be fine if the Bills rolled into the Pats game with very little game planning and starting a lot of backups. Use week 18 as a pseudo bye week and hopefully get some good news on Hamlin over the next week. Then roll into the playoffs likely as the #3 seed with the team fully focused, rested, and able to think about something other than how their teammate's recovery is going. That to me is the ideal scenario.

 

I think they'll play, and ball out. The situation will likely make them hyper-focused rather than distracted.

 

If the league does cancel the Bengals game before this game, then you're probably right. Though I would be surprised if they rendered that decision right now. I think they'll wait for this week to play out first and see all the seeding implications, etc. I don't have the desire to calculate all the seeding scenarios, but lets say hypothetically after this week that the postponed game would have no seeding implications...then they could simply cancel it.

Edited January 5, 2023 by CheshireCT

[OutOfBubbleGum]

I'm going to let this one simmer just a bit longer.

[HOUSE]

54 minutes ago, OutOfBubbleGum said:

I'm going to let this one simmer just a bit longer.

Me too, an announcement is likely today. 

[NoSaint]

I do think at some point this morning you really have to commit to the game or pull the plug.

 

game planning and player safety become a concern soon, and as annoying as he is, the guys right that it’s still a massive production to pull the plug on last minute. From the highest level production expenses down to the security guard that is telling his second job he can’t work cause he has a game day- at some point it’s got to transition to all in barring a catastrophic change. 
 

14 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Me too, an announcement is likely today. 

Yea, I think this is the day they transition from everyone doing what they need in the wake of the event to an official plan of this is what we are doing as a team moving forward - whatever that looks like 

[GreggTX]

Sure. Let's shoot ourselves in the foot.

What would be the point of this self inflicted wound?

[Strethor]

I am sure there will be a player vote, but at the end of the day the world does not stop. Human's face tragedy and traumatic events have to gather strength and move forward because the world keeps spinning