That Aud Smell

Fair point/question. I have a somewhat clear memory of Whaley talking about his decision to do what it took to get Watkins. It was something to the effect of showing up at ... what, a practice, a training, and within seconds of setting up camp, Watkins made this ridiculous, elite body control grab near the sideline, and then just jetted past them. Whaley joked "that was all I needed to see." My bet: There were people in the scouting department who did the due diligence and related the warning flags. But they were ignored. I heard an interview recently with ... Daniel Jeremiah, was it? He's a former NFL personnel guy, and he was saying that most scouts are/feel discounted and/or ignored by their FO, which is why they end up leaking information to reporters.

That's ... that's one way of putting it. To me, he sounds like he's suppressing/managing a full-blown psychosis.

I think I'd heard of that particular issue being mentioned. It had to do with a report that front-line hospital docs in NYC were coming to the conclusion that ventilators were often doing more harm than good to patients, whose actual mechanics of breathing were actually okay (or, at least, not in need of a ventilator's support) but who nonetheless remained hypoxic (and it not being the least bit clear why that would or could be the case).

The article that's currently online says that he was "declared symptom-free on April 26." I'm glad that he's on the mend.

Here's what he said on Facebook on May 8th:

Is he back in the hospital? The article doesn't say that he is. From what I read about this occurring in the far east, it sounded as though people are continuing to test positive based on ... inert (?) vestiges of the virus. The fact that this guy is continuing to feel like sh1t could, then, just be a function of what a nasty virus it is.

I will say: If Josh Allen can better manage the hero ball urges and just (consistently) be more consistent, I’d feel good about predicting 10 wins. Here’s hoping!

I look at that schedule, and see a losing record. The margins of error in the NFL are razor thin and most teams are very close in terms of overall quality. The Bills are being hyped up. It’s a scenario that screams out for falling short of overdone expectations.

The most assertive, self-assured medical voice in my circle proclaimed a couple weeks ago that Florida was gonna be FOOKED. Not so much, it’s turned out. There’s much that’s known about the virus. And it appears that there’s much that’s not known. On the other side of the ledger: That same voice was proclaiming “phew - kids aren’t being affected”. Again, not entirely true, it appears (as the weird inflammatory syndrome hospitalizations in NYC suggest). Has there been discussion herein of how some areas of the world really seemed to get a virulent strain (NYC, Italy), while others seemed to get a less potent one (Seattle?)?

i came in here for the first time just now, like

It’s there. Just needs some poetry and romance is all.

Go on ...

Not a whole lot of poetry and romance coming from the Sabres over the last, oh, 9 years. Which plays into the theory that the team being bad is a factor in why there’s so much interest in their advanced stats. If this team were really good? I think there’d be less interest in the topic, generally. As it is, the stats provide a way of understanding what’s wrong (and thereby providing some sense of ... control? Mastery? Over a bad situation).

those are all fair points. i'm not saying that a dalton-led patriots team would be fearsome (at least not because of dalton). but i would wager that belichick & co. would get more out of him than the bengals had been getting.

counter x3 point: bill belichick >>>>>> marvin lewis

Or, counterpoint, the 2008 New England Patriots. (Matt Cassel)

Dalton to the Patriots seems almost inevitable. And - while it could hurt Buffalo's chances - there's a way in which it'd be delightful to see Brady sputter in Tampa, and Dalton be perfectly serviceable (good?) in New England. Or vice versa. I'm not fussy. I guess I just don't want both Brady and Belichick both to experience success apart from each other.

This is helpful context on Chad (Chet). Also, your other recent posts in this thread were intense.

^ Chad/Chet said in the replies that this inferred disconnect is not about Skinner.

I appreciate @LGR4GM saying that there's substance to Chad's/Chet's analysis. I think I still resent the misleading implication of his Tweet.

Quite so! Thanks.

Good call @Lanny. Also, I may be somewhat to blame here? Maybe I just misread Chad’s (Chet’s??) intent. /Insert Roseanna Danna Danna “never mind” gif

I’m gonna mostly agree. Shame on you, Chad! One more trick like that and we’ll be calling you Chet. I mean, I think he can plausibly defend that he didn’t intend to connote a personal conflict when he referenced a disconnect. But, that’s how I read it. Someone upthread intuited that this was going to be a stats-based inference piece, not a sourced piece. Whodat?

There’ll be no need to wait, for some. I’ve learned that there are some members here who dislike/distrust Chad D. I mostly find him interesting and credible.

Another?! What was the first one? Plenty, apparently.