Johnson clears protocol, Bernard not expected to play

[Special K]

I think McD’s Defense is more about “X’s and O’s” instead of “Johnny’s and Joe’s”.......it seems to stay somewhat effective no matter who they plug in to the lineup.

[eball]

4 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Yea the constant negativity/worrying about injury has been ridiculous all week.

 

For once we agree!

 

[WNYFAN1]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

That’s remarkable. From a pure fandom perspective I’m glad he is a go. 

 

From a human perspective, this is this guys 5th concussion of his career and he can play in 6 days? Nobody in the NFL gives a shirt about player health or safety, and the independent neuro’s must be on  the take.
 

Couldn't agree more. It's cringy hearing the guys on WGR praying the Johnson can quickly get over his FIFTH concussion to go play football. How many career traumatic brain injuries does a player need to have before we stop rooting for him to quickly clear the protocol?

[bouds]

Said it to my brother a while back, but I fear for Taron's future because he's given his life for this sport.  The way he plays, all out 1000%, you end up paying for it down the road.  I appreciate what he does for this team, but how many of us will be there for him after his playing days are done.  Obviously this is me projecting, and I hope I end up dead wrong, and he lives a relatively healthy life after he's done playing.

Edited January 21 by bouds

[NoSaint]

1 minute ago, WNYFAN1 said:

Couldn't agree more. It's cringy hearing the guys on WGR praying the Johnson can quickly get over his FIFTH concussion to go play football. How many career traumatic brain injuries does a player need to have before we stop rooting for him to quickly clear the protocol?

I’ll keep saying you are crazy if you think it’s only 5 or that several guys playing last week didn’t get their “bells rung”

 

so either we make football unrecognizable or we set baseline evaluations and hope both for the game and for the player that guys return to baseline that indicates health quickly

[34-78-83]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

Guys in host of other sports have missed 365 + days for a single concussion. The league has zero players with roster sizes 2x-3x. 
 

Take your kid to Dent neuro or the Cleveland clinic the day after their 5th concussion and see if they clear them to play sports 6 days later.

 

They won’t do it.  

something to consider. You don't have to have an actual diagnosed concussion to be placed into "the protocol".

[Toledo Bill]

1 hour ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

 

Agree with CincyBIllsFan. The Bills under McBeane have demonstrated repeatedly their patience and wisdom in bringing players back slowly from injury.

 

I believe there are teams who would be dressing Terrell Bernard today but not the Bills.

 

 

Exactly correct. They don't want to see Tyler Matakevich playing LB in this game. Whether as a starter or a backup, Klein was gonna get the callup.

 

I’m curious if anyone has seen Tyler play linebacker at anytime? I believe he had a very good career in college and apparently is a good special teams player. Thoughts on him at linebacker ?  I have not seen enough of a sample to judge.

[NoSaint]

"What we now know is concussions happen all the time," Favre said. "You get tackled and your head hits the turf, you see the flashes of light or ringing in your ears, but you're able to play. Based on that, thousands, had to be, because every time my head hit the turf, there was ringing or stars going, flash bulbs, but I was still able to play."
 

now imagine that extrapolated for any in the box hitter on either side, instead of a quarterback…

[balln]

6 minutes ago, 34-78-83 said:

something to consider. You don't have to have an actual diagnosed concussion to be placed into "the protocol".

Been saying this forever now. Someone gets a hit and headache they go into protocol. They have stinger they go into protocol. Doesn’t mean they had a true concussion 

[Golden]

2 hours ago, billsbackto81 said:

Tough decision if you can only have one. Taron's the better choice for coverage on Rice underneath but I think Bernard would be better for Kelce. 

We have put Siran Neal on Kelce in the past & he’s been fairly effective.  

[Brand J]

17 minutes ago, Toledo Bill said:

I’m curious if anyone has seen Tyler play linebacker at anytime? I believe he had a very good career in college and apparently is a good special teams player. Thoughts on him at linebacker ?  I have not seen enough of a sample to judge.

In preseason whenever he got in he looked like a tackling machine and I wondered why he never got any real consideration on defense. But I have no idea about his coverage abilities. I thought Spector looked like a tackling machine too, but he struggled to stay with the first team in camp when they were rotating LBs.

[Bob Chandler's Hands]

29 minutes ago, WNYFAN1 said:

Couldn't agree more. It's cringy hearing the guys on WGR praying the Johnson can quickly get over his FIFTH concussion to go play football. How many career traumatic brain injuries does a player need to have before we stop rooting for him to quickly clear the protocol?

 

25 minutes ago, bouds said:

Said it to my brother a while back, but I fear for Taron's future because he's given his life for this sport.  The way he plays, all out 1000%, you end up paying for it down the road.  I appreciate what he does for this team, but how many of us will be there for him after his playing days are done.  Obviously this is me projecting, and I hope I end up dead wrong, and he lives a relatively healthy life after he's done playing.

I hope Taron's post playing career health is good. 

 

That said, it's one thing to get a concussion playing rec soccer or middle school football...of course stop playing, maybe forever at some point. 
Whereas Johnson is an adult who is being compensated more than $6M per year for his avocation. 

Generally speaking, the market rewards risk taking with higher returns. That's what's going on here. 

 

Aside from concussions, NFL players are taking all sorts of physical punishment that will cause them significant problems later in life. It's their choice. Some guys walk away (ex: Andrew Luck) because of it. 

 

Regardless, I hope they are making good decisions for each player's long-term health.  

[PBF81]

39 minutes ago, Punch said:

He suggests the Bills are at a "supreme disadvantage" and have the worst health of all remaining playoff teams:

 

https://sicscore.com/nfl/updates/kansas-city-chiefs-vs-buffalo-bills-which-team-has-the-injury-edge

 

 

Good link.  

 

Having said that, this entire discussion isn't complete without a comp of positions, starter-to-starter.  

 

The Chiefs' receivers aren't exactly striking fear into the hearts of opposing defenses this season.  Mahomes has about 2/3 of the passing yards that he's had the past several seasons, about 75% of the passing 1st-Downs, and a significantly lower Rating, YPA, YPC, INT%, and Success% than any other season.  

 

It's not the Chiefs' offense that should be a problem.  

 

 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

53 minutes ago, Magox said:

What did he say?

KC has highest SIC score in playoffs and we have the lowest

[Eastport bills]

AJ Klein is a solid veteran MLB. He can handle calling the defensive signals and be fine in the run game. Williams will be better in space and spying Mahomes. I think with Dodson’s improvement, we’re fine at LB. The offense will be the difference.

[SoonerBillsFan]

2 hours ago, london_bills said:

I think we'd most all agree we need KC to have a slight off day given so many injuries 

Nope, McDermott needs to out scheme Wilford Brumley on the other side line and crush MaCrybaby

[TampaBillsJunkie]

1 hour ago, CSBill said:

 

I like the idea of Williams starting over Klein. He is bigger, faster, and stronger. His athleticism and thumping ability are very good things when guarding Kelce and the many people the Chiefs run across the middle on crossing routes. Hit them early and often, Mr. Williams. Hit'en again.

That's where we will miss Rapp. He could lay some wood on Kelce multiple times and make him think twice on every pass coming his way. 

 

[Boatdrinks]

1 hour ago, WNYFAN1 said:

Couldn't agree more. It's cringy hearing the guys on WGR praying the Johnson can quickly get over his FIFTH concussion to go play football. How many career traumatic brain injuries does a player need to have before we stop rooting for him to quickly clear the protocol?

The protocol is what it is. If it’s cleared it’s cleared, whether it’s yesterday or next Wednesday. Of course fans want that. Does Johnson want to play ? He probably does. He’s an adult and a professional athlete. 

[SectionC3]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

Dodson

Williams

Klein

Matakevich

 

That is likely to be the extent of our LB depth today. It's certainly not ideal. The Bills pretty much always have 5 LBs active on gameday, but they are left with no choice if Bernard can't play.

 

I would guess they'll go Dodson at MLB and Williams at WLB. If Williams is completely lost they'll pull him for Klein, or in a real emergency they'll bring Poyer down into that spot and start Cam Lewis at safety.

If I had  to guess I’d say Klein is in the middle so that Dodson stays as WLB and they don’t change two positions.  I’d imagine they had Klein there all week at practice given the uncertainty and the stability he would bring relative to Williams slotting in there.  But who knows. That is a fluid situation for sure. 

[FLFan]

2 hours ago, eball said:

He did. I think sometimes we get caught up in the number of concussions without remembering that all concussions are not equal in severity, and everyone doesn’t react the same way to a concussion. It’s entirely possible that Taron’s symptoms were very mild and this was done out of an abundance of caution. 
 

Anyway, it’s great that he is feeling good and will be out there. 
 

The fact that he had already progressed to the stage of a limited practice participant by Wednesday indicates that this was a minor concussion if one at all.  Likely a very conservative diagnosis and I am not surprised he is back.