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2024 Buffalo Bills (1 Viewer)

I'm confused here. Are you saying we should or shouldn't rush to judge him before waiting on the evidence?

It's not mutually exclusive. It's a terrible story and one that leaves me with unease. Society, and especially the legal system, should wait until the facts are in before judging. Doesn't mean I want him front-and-center as somebody to be discussed when we're trying to enjoy football.
 
It's not mutually exclusive. It's a terrible story and one that leaves me with unease. Society, and especially the legal system, should wait until the facts are in before judging. Doesn't mean I want him front-and-center as somebody to be discussed when we're trying to enjoy football.
Hmmm I guess this is confusing to me but maybe just difference of opinions. You're saying society should wait until the facts before judging. If that's the case, then it shouldn't mean he deserves to be stopped being discussed as a Punter.
 
Hmmm I guess this is confusing to me but maybe just difference of opinions. You're saying society should wait until the facts before judging. If that's the case, then it shouldn't mean he deserves to be stopped being discussed as a Punter.

His "Punt God" status and his own thread was based on a sort of good-hearted novelty that no longer applies.
 
that no longer applies.
If we don't judge him until facts come out, then there's zero reason to say that it no longer applies.

Deamon, the stink of the story is enough. He has pretty much admitted to sex with a minor and giving her an STD. Not sure what angle you're looking for. We aren't just going to stick our heads in the sand and have a laugh and a romp because of the punter. That's about it. Sort of done discussing it.
 
Deamon, the stink of the story is enough. He has pretty much admitted to sex with a minor and giving her an STD. Not sure what angle you're looking for. We aren't just going to stick our heads in the sand and have a laugh and a romp because of the punter. That's about it. Sort of done discussing it.
I'll take it to the Ariza thread
 
Matt Barkley just uncorked a 53 yard punt. Might as well cut Araiza and make Barkley part of the 53 man team and he can punt the like 20 times the Bills will punt all season.
 
Matt Barkley just uncorked a 53 yard punt. Might as well cut Araiza and make Barkley part of the 53 man team and he can punt the like 20 times the Bills will punt all season.
haha wow. I just looked at the box score and saw that he was the one punting. He have any history with this? Just let him do it and what a weapon that would be to fake punts and throw. You know, if he could actually throw.
Joking aside though, that's pretty cool. So he got stopped on 3rd down as QB and stayed on the field to punt?
 
The only silver lining in any of this punter situation is that this could have dropped days before the season opener. The Bills at least get 12 days. Not ideal but it could be worse.

It feels to me like the Bills think he is innocent and McDermott very much has a “stand by your guys” and “we are a family” mentality.

I don’t think they have much choice unless there is something they can share publicly that shows his innocence. They should cut him and if he finds a way to clear his name bring him back next year.
 
The Bills have better information about the Araiza situation than we do, and they have every incentive to make a sound decision based on the evidence. If they have reason to think that the charges against Araiza are false, cool. They should let us know that and just move on with him. If they have reason to think that the charges are probably true -- and this would include if Araiza was dishonest with the team about the nature of the complaint -- just cut him and sign another punter. This is a pretty straightforward decision that organizations of any size deal with all the time.

If this same accusation was leveled against a franchise QB, star WR, blue chip edge rusher, etc., I think we all know that any NFL team -- including but certainly not limited to the Bills -- would be highly conflicted. Not so with a rookie 6th rounder, and a punter on top of it. It should be fairly easy to evaluate the evidence without too much bias.
 
Araiza gone. Titans about to cut their 3 time Pro Bowl punter to keep their rookie punter. Seems like a perfect match.
 
Lol, of course in his debut for the Colts, Matt Haack had 5 punts for a 48.4 net average including 4 punts inside the 15 yard line. Colts fans are pumped.

We’ll see how they feel when he shanks one 22 yards in a crucial situation though…
 
Obviously I don't want Araiza on our team if he did what he was accused of doing. That said, I really hope this season doesn't due to a shanked punt or bobbled snap because my head might literally explode. (Not "literally" as in "metaphorically" -- "literally" like in Scanners.)
 
Obviously I don't want Araiza on our team if he did what he was accused of doing. That said, I really hope this season doesn't due to a shanked punt or bobbled snap because my head might literally explode. (Not "literally" as in "metaphorically" -- "literally" like in Scanners.)
Matt Haack was statistically the worst punter in the league last year. Just about anyone else will be an upgrade.

The Titans have a 3 time Pro Bowl punter they are likely cutting Tuesday in favor of a rookie punter who has been booming it.

Michael Palardy punted for the Dolphins last year and finished middle of the pack statistically, though 40% of his punts ended inside the 20 yard line and he lead the league in fair catch percentage. Palardy is a free agent right now.
 
Obviously I don't want Araiza on our team if he did what he was accused of doing. That said, I really hope this season doesn't due to a shanked punt or bobbled snap because my head might literally explode. (Not "literally" as in "metaphorically" -- "literally" like in Scanners.)
Matt Haack was statistically the worst punter in the league last year. Just about anyone else will be an upgrade.

The Titans have a 3 time Pro Bowl punter they are likely cutting Tuesday in favor of a rookie punter who has been booming it.

Michael Palardy punted for the Dolphins last year and finished middle of the pack statistically, though 40% of his punts ended inside the 20 yard line and he lead the league in fair catch percentage. Palardy is a free agent right now.
Do those guys hold for kicks? That's my bigger concern - not the punting ability, the impact on FGs for what could be some close games out of the gate.
 
I don’t get the criticism about how the Bills handled the last month. There are many plausible reasons why the Bills may have thought this was a non issue. Maybe the PD flat out told them that Araiza wasn’t in the room or involved in the gang rape and there would be no charges coming?

To think they didn’t investigate or found out all the details and still went ahead HOPING it wouldn’t become a story is laughable to me.

Still good call to cut ties….moving on to football.
 
Obviously I don't want Araiza on our team if he did what he was accused of doing. That said, I really hope this season doesn't due to a shanked punt or bobbled snap because my head might literally explode. (Not "literally" as in "metaphorically" -- "literally" like in Scanners.)
Matt Haack was statistically the worst punter in the league last year. Just about anyone else will be an upgrade.

The Titans have a 3 time Pro Bowl punter they are likely cutting Tuesday in favor of a rookie punter who has been booming it.

Michael Palardy punted for the Dolphins last year and finished middle of the pack statistically, though 40% of his punts ended inside the 20 yard line and he lead the league in fair catch percentage. Palardy is a free agent right now.
Do those guys hold for kicks? That's my bigger concern - not the punting ability, the impact on FGs for what could be some close games out of the gate.
I honestly don’t know for sure, but I would assume so as that is pretty much standard at this point.
 
Obviously I don't want Araiza on our team if he did what he was accused of doing. That said, I really hope this season doesn't due to a shanked punt or bobbled snap because my head might literally explode. (Not "literally" as in "metaphorically" -- "literally" like in Scanners.)
Matt Haack was statistically the worst punter in the league last year. Just about anyone else will be an upgrade.

The Titans have a 3 time Pro Bowl punter they are likely cutting Tuesday in favor of a rookie punter who has been booming it.

Michael Palardy punted for the Dolphins last year and finished middle of the pack statistically, though 40% of his punts ended inside the 20 yard line and he lead the league in fair catch percentage. Palardy is a free agent right now.
Do those guys hold for kicks? That's my bigger concern - not the punting ability, the impact on FGs for what could be some close games out of the gate.
I honestly don’t know for sure, but I would assume so as that is pretty much standard at this point.
I've never understood why that has become the standard... Why would you not want the backup QB (someone who can throw), or a backup WR/RB (someone who can run) taking that snap to both help with fakes, and to keep the defense more honest? The only thing I've ever been able to come up with is injury to the backup QB, but when is the last time you've heard of a holder getting his fingers smashed by a kicker? Pretty sure that only happens in back yards. The other thing would be practice time. QBs, RBs, WRs, need more time to practice with their groups, but do they really - the backups? One of them can't find time to practice spotting kicks?
 
I've never understood why that has become the standard... Why would you not want the backup QB (someone who can throw), or a backup WR/RB (someone who can run) taking that snap to both help with fakes, and to keep the defense more honest? The only thing I've ever been able to come up with is injury to the backup QB, but when is the last time you've heard of a holder getting his fingers smashed by a kicker? Pretty sure that only happens in back yards. The other thing would be practice time. QBs, RBs, WRs, need more time to practice with their groups, but do they really - the backups? One of them can't find time to practice spotting kicks?
It's practice. The backup QB is practicing with the other skill position players while the specialists are working on FGs and PATs. My understanding is that pretty much literally nobody uses their backup QB for this any more specifically because of the practice issues.
 
Bring in Brett Kern. Easy choice for a homecoming, play out the end of a very nice career for the hometown team, and have a chance to win a title while you're at it.
[Rapoport] #Broncos P Sam Martin is being released today by Denver after indicating he would refuse any pay reduction. He was a top 5 punter statistically in 2021 and set Broncos all-time record for net punting last season. Will have interest.

Ladies and gentlemen, your new Bills punter.
 
This feels a little silly because I've been beating the drum for a new punter since last season. I get that we played an improbable number of games in terrible weather, and I don't care about Haack's season stats. He arguably cost us the Pittsburgh game, and he tried his best to lose us the Jets game in week 17. I feel very fortunate that we're going to end up with a solid upgrade over Haack despite the current cluster----. (Edit: Look, I know I shouldn't be too critical of Haack given the guy who we just released, but Haack needed replacing and he's why we drafted that guy. Please just give me a competent punter who I can forget about.)

Kern is fine. Martin is fine. I'm sure either of those guys would be happy to play for us for whatever against-the-cap salary we're offering. This all worked out reasonably well.

Let's just get on with the Rams.
 
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Obviously I don't want Araiza on our team if he did what he was accused of doing. That said, I really hope this season doesn't due to a shanked punt or bobbled snap because my head might literally explode. (Not "literally" as in "metaphorically" -- "literally" like in Scanners.)
Matt Haack was statistically the worst punter in the league last year. Just about anyone else will be an upgrade.

The Titans have a 3 time Pro Bowl punter they are likely cutting Tuesday in favor of a rookie punter who has been booming it.

Michael Palardy punted for the Dolphins last year and finished middle of the pack statistically, though 40% of his punts ended inside the 20 yard line and he lead the league in fair catch percentage. Palardy is a free agent right now.
Do those guys hold for kicks? That's my bigger concern - not the punting ability, the impact on FGs for what could be some close games out of the gate.
Great point. Araiza never held in college & spent offseason working on that. We just need consistent, reliable punter - conservative teams with limited offenses need the Pro Bowl punters.
 
Billsguys - all good with James Cook, yes? I have no reason to believe otherwise, and have been scouring as many outlets as I can find to corroborate...my high-stakes partner swears he heard something over the last few days that the Bills were unhappy about something regarding James Cook.

I can't find anything, for the life of me. Any of you mavens know of anything?
 
Billsguys - all good with James Cook, yes? I have no reason to believe otherwise, and have been scouring as many outlets as I can find to corroborate...my high-stakes partner swears he heard something over the last few days that the Bills were unhappy about something regarding James Cook.

I can't find anything, for the life of me. Any of you mavens know of anything?
I haven’t heard anything like that, though there were definitely some issues with pass blocking from Cook last week. If that continues to be a struggle for him, it’s certainly possible that it could impact how much work he sees if Josh is taking hits because Cook is whiffing or getting blown up.
 
I'll admit that I'm pretty surprised to see OJ Howard get cut. I know there was a lot of foreshadowing there and people have been speculating that his roster spot wasn't safe, but I just assumed he would get the nod over a guy like Sweeny (good locker room guy but not a very good football player). It's weird how this franchise is allergic to TEs.
 
Billsguys - all good with James Cook, yes? I have no reason to believe otherwise, and have been scouring as many outlets as I can find to corroborate...my high-stakes partner swears he heard something over the last few days that the Bills were unhappy about something regarding James Cook.

I can't find anything, for the life of me. Any of you mavens know of anything?
The only low-key thing I've heard about Cook is speculation that he won't see the field much early in the season. This coaching staff has a tendency to go real easy on rookies, presumably in the hope of having them fresh for crunch time. They did this with Singletary in his rookie year, and Moss two years ago. I think it's intentional.
 
Any Bills fans listen to the Buffalo Beat podcast? I’ve been a pretty regular listener for a while, but after their latest episode I’m not sure I’ll keep listening.

It was Joe Buscaglia, Matthew Fairburn, and Tim Graham discussing the Araiza thing. They made some good points and a lot of their criticism of how Buffalo handled the situation was fair…BUT there was an incredible amount of condescension towards the fans as well. They remarked several times about how shocked they were that Bills fans pretty unanimously wanted to cut him, and then spent quite a bit of time insinuating that fans wouldn’t have cared and would have ignored it if it was a more important position. It was incredibly condescending and basically an attitude that fans are kind of scummy and don’t care about anything except winning. Maybe they’re right, I don’t know. But it felt incredibly high and mighty and pointed at fans for seemingly no reason.

I’m not sure if these guys just spend too much time dealing with awful people on Twitter or what, but it seemed incredibly obnoxious and off putting. Frankly, I ended up turning it off and will likely deprioritize listening to it. Criticizing the Bills for mishandling it seemed fair game, but ripping Bills fans while straight up admitting that the fans were practically unified in their disgust seemed completely uncalled for and seemed to what what these guys really think of their audience.
 
I'll admit that I'm pretty surprised to see OJ Howard get cut. I know there was a lot of foreshadowing there and people have been speculating that his roster spot wasn't safe, but I just assumed he would get the nod over a guy like Sweeny (good locker room guy but not a very good football player). It's weird how this franchise is allergic to TEs.

I’m somewhat surprised given the cap hit due to the guaranteed money they gave him. Cutting him didn’t save them much. But they also expressly said that if you are a backup, you’d better be able to contribute on special teams, and Howard doesn’t. And he just seemed slow to pickup the playbook and offered very little in the passing game.
 
Any Bills fans listen to the Buffalo Beat podcast? I’ve been a pretty regular listener for a while, but after their latest episode I’m not sure I’ll keep listening.

It was Joe Buscaglia, Matthew Fairburn, and Tim Graham discussing the Araiza thing. They made some good points and a lot of their criticism of how Buffalo handled the situation was fair…BUT there was an incredible amount of condescension towards the fans as well. They remarked several times about how shocked they were that Bills fans pretty unanimously wanted to cut him, and then spent quite a bit of time insinuating that fans wouldn’t have cared and would have ignored it if it was a more important position. It was incredibly condescending and basically an attitude that fans are kind of scummy and don’t care about anything except winning. Maybe they’re right, I don’t know. But it felt incredibly high and mighty and pointed at fans for seemingly no reason.

I’m not sure if these guys just spend too much time dealing with awful people on Twitter or what, but it seemed incredibly obnoxious and off putting. Frankly, I ended up turning it off and will likely deprioritize listening to it. Criticizing the Bills for mishandling it seemed fair game, but ripping Bills fans while straight up admitting that the fans were practically unified in their disgust seemed completely uncalled for and seemed to what what these guys really think of their audience.
As an out-of-towner, I was surprised by how much pot-stirring the local beat reporters did. Obviously this was a big story, but the national press moved on quickly after the Bills cut Araiza. It's kind of gross that guys like Fairburn feel compelled to keep litigating a case that's already concluded.
 
Any Bills fans listen to the Buffalo Beat podcast? I’ve been a pretty regular listener for a while, but after their latest episode I’m not sure I’ll keep listening.

It was Joe Buscaglia, Matthew Fairburn, and Tim Graham discussing the Araiza thing. They made some good points and a lot of their criticism of how Buffalo handled the situation was fair…BUT there was an incredible amount of condescension towards the fans as well. They remarked several times about how shocked they were that Bills fans pretty unanimously wanted to cut him, and then spent quite a bit of time insinuating that fans wouldn’t have cared and would have ignored it if it was a more important position. It was incredibly condescending and basically an attitude that fans are kind of scummy and don’t care about anything except winning. Maybe they’re right, I don’t know. But it felt incredibly high and mighty and pointed at fans for seemingly no reason.

I’m not sure if these guys just spend too much time dealing with awful people on Twitter or what, but it seemed incredibly obnoxious and off putting. Frankly, I ended up turning it off and will likely deprioritize listening to it. Criticizing the Bills for mishandling it seemed fair game, but ripping Bills fans while straight up admitting that the fans were practically unified in their disgust seemed completely uncalled for and seemed to what what these guys really think of their audience.
As an out-of-towner, I was surprised by how much pot-stirring the local beat reporters did. Obviously this was a big story, but the national press moved on quickly after the Bills cut Araiza. It's kind of gross that guys like Fairburn feel compelled to keep litigating a case that's already concluded.
Tim Graham is a notorious ****-stirrer, and absolutely insufferable on social media. Ego through the roof. He wanted so, so badly for the Bills to be caught doing something wrong here for the "I told ya so" moment. His long-form pieces are good and he's obviously a veteran reporter who does a fine job when he's actually researching and reporting, but he's a total blowhard otherwise (and not the only one in local media, if we're being honest). My Twitter feed is mostly just local sports writers, and I can't even stand to follow him. He's that bad on Twitter - it's argument after argument with people over nothing.

I don't have a problem with Joe B or Fairburn though, they're usually pretty even-handed. I don't listen to this podcast though, so I don't know what they said on there.
 
Any Bills fans listen to the Buffalo Beat podcast? I’ve been a pretty regular listener for a while, but after their latest episode I’m not sure I’ll keep listening.

It was Joe Buscaglia, Matthew Fairburn, and Tim Graham discussing the Araiza thing. They made some good points and a lot of their criticism of how Buffalo handled the situation was fair…BUT there was an incredible amount of condescension towards the fans as well. They remarked several times about how shocked they were that Bills fans pretty unanimously wanted to cut him, and then spent quite a bit of time insinuating that fans wouldn’t have cared and would have ignored it if it was a more important position. It was incredibly condescending and basically an attitude that fans are kind of scummy and don’t care about anything except winning. Maybe they’re right, I don’t know. But it felt incredibly high and mighty and pointed at fans for seemingly no reason.

I’m not sure if these guys just spend too much time dealing with awful people on Twitter or what, but it seemed incredibly obnoxious and off putting. Frankly, I ended up turning it off and will likely deprioritize listening to it. Criticizing the Bills for mishandling it seemed fair game, but ripping Bills fans while straight up admitting that the fans were practically unified in their disgust seemed completely uncalled for and seemed to what what these guys really think of their audience.
As an out-of-towner, I was surprised by how much pot-stirring the local beat reporters did. Obviously this was a big story, but the national press moved on quickly after the Bills cut Araiza. It's kind of gross that guys like Fairburn feel compelled to keep litigating a case that's already concluded.

I get that they felt like they needed to ask questions and try to find out exactly what the Bills knew and when they knew it. It’s their job and I’m sure they felt like they needed to be good journalists.

I bet another piece is that they were embarrassed. Or at least they should have been. Tim Graham can run his mouth all he wants about how Buffalo should have known more or should have put pieces together sooner, but the truth is that the local sports media didn’t know anything either. They never put any pieces together from the stories that ran a few months ago that didn’t name Araiza. They never bothered to ask questions. The media as a whole has more resources in total to research players than a single team has and they reported zip.

So now they have to play the tough guys pointing the finger at the Bills so that they don’t look bad after they fell asleep at the wheel.
 
What does this group think of this take:
The change at O coordinator is just as likely to be a PLUS as a MINUS.

When looking for reasons why the Bills may struggle, a common take is the risk associated with coordinator change. But no one talks about this being a potentially beneficial change.

I get why Daboll is highly regarded. He did a great job as part of the team that developed Allen. But I don’t think he is some guru in play calling or concepts. There are a lot of things to point to where his play calling was poor.

He had no great track record, his success came with Allen’s. I think it is entirely possible that Daboll is an average coordinator and there is potential for a step up with Dorsey.
 
A 4 year extension worth $53.6M for Dawson Knox.

The salary cap isn’t real.

IMO, what this likely means is that Poyer will be gone after this year and so will Matt Milano. Edmunds and Oliver will be the next ones to get extensions.
 
Knox extended. 4 years, ~$54M. That's about what I expected for him, and seems in line with the current market.

This my second-highest priority signing, after Oliver. It's inconceivable to me that the team will let Oliver hit free agency considering how much they value the D-line, which leads me to suspect that this will be Poyer's last year with the team. Not an unreasonable business decision. (Edit: I see GD and I are on the same page here.)
 
What does this group think of this take:
The change at O coordinator is just as likely to be a PLUS as a MINUS.

When looking for reasons why the Bills may struggle, a common take is the risk associated with coordinator change. But no one talks about this being a potentially beneficial change.

I get why Daboll is highly regarded. He did a great job as part of the team that developed Allen. But I don’t think he is some guru in play calling or concepts. There are a lot of things to point to where his play calling was poor.

He had no great track record, his success came with Allen’s. I think it is entirely possible that Daboll is an average coordinator and there is potential for a step up with Dorsey.
Dorsey got high praise from Cam Newton, who had his MVP season with Dorsey as QB coach. He also got fired after a couple of down seasons from Newton. I think Allen's slight reduction in efficiency last year, compared to 2020, was due in part to accuracy issues in the games I saw. Dorsey should be fine as coordinator calling plays, but how much better can a QB play than his 2020 season.
 
Over 66% of bets on tonight’s game have been on Buffalo including over 75% of the money bet. This feels so weird. I feel like Ricky Bobby, I’m not sure what to do with my hands emotions.
 
Rams win tonight by a 1-score margin. Bills play well and it doesn't dampen any enthusiasm overall for the season. Offense looks good for the most part, defense solid. Aaron Donald makes a huge play or two, and the Bills young CBs get beat in a couple of crucial plays. Maybe something like 34-31, something along those lines.

Seems kinda wild seeing everyone picking against the reigning SB champs at home, when the Rams didn't really take much of a step back compared to last year.
 
Rams win tonight by a 1-score margin. Bills play well and it doesn't dampen any enthusiasm overall for the season. Offense looks good for the most part, defense solid. Aaron Donald makes a huge play or two, and the Bills young CBs get beat in a couple of crucial plays. Maybe something like 34-31, something along those lines.

Seems kinda wild seeing everyone picking against the reigning SB champs at home, when the Rams didn't really take much of a step back compared to last year.
I have to keep reminding myself that our schedule is absolutely set up for a 3-3 start on the way to a 13-4 season.
 
Rams win tonight by a 1-score margin. Bills play well and it doesn't dampen any enthusiasm overall for the season. Offense looks good for the most part, defense solid. Aaron Donald makes a huge play or two, and the Bills young CBs get beat in a couple of crucial plays. Maybe something like 34-31, something along those lines.

Seems kinda wild seeing everyone picking against the reigning SB champs at home, when the Rams didn't really take much of a step back compared to last year.
I could see either team winning. Both very good teams. Hoping the difference ends up being that the Rams lost Von Miller and the Bills added Von Miller. The Rams were a better defense last year after they added Miller. My biggest worry is Buffalo’s CBs. If Tre were healthy and playing, I’d be way more confident. Should be a fun game either way.

Go Bills!
 
Well that’s certainly one way to start the season. The turnovers are rather concerning, but that was a dominant performance.
 
This comment from Diggs after the game is absolutely concerning for the rest of the league: “Josh told me just run. That wasn't even the original play."

One of Allen’s previous weaknesses was that he wasn’t great at pre-snap reads. But last night he knew exactly what was going on the entire time. To know exactly what the defense is going to do to the point you tell your WR to just run and end up with a 50+ yard TD is having full control of the offense and knowing what the defense is giving you before the snap. Love it.

Also love that Jalen Ramsey gave up a perfect passer rating last night, lol.
 
The defensive line greatly exceeded my expectations, and I had high expectations for this unit. Oliver has 10 days to heal up, but I'm really not concerned at all if any of these guys need to miss a game or two. #40 was as-advertised and I think we're finally at the point where we have a dominant unit.
 

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