Patriots Pregame Thread Pre Game Thread - Pats @ Bills

[1960Pats]

I do get both sides of the argument here.
I was a firefighter for 33 years. We lost 2 guys at a fire. The stations were covered with Mutual Aide for a day after the fire and during the Funerals. Otherwise the stations were manned with our personnel. It’s a job that you have to put up a mental barrier and forge ahead.
Saying that it is probably not healthy from a behavioral standpoint but it is a job that does not offer day’s off.
So I get some people saying the games must go on but also have seen people during medical incidents when they lose a loved one or witnessing CPR being performed on a loved one. It’s traumatic.
Since football is only a game with only the entertainment factor as it’s importance. I’ll leave that up to the players to decide. On a bright note, Damar is making strides and hopefully fully recovers. Hopefully whatever caused him to go into Cardiac arrest on the field is not lost in all of this, Hopefully the right precautions are made in the future. That’s when everyone wins. Go Pats and #3

I think I mentioned this a few years ago but it fits perfectly here.

At the end of my career at a very dangerous job I had a couple of young kids in my crew who didn't like the lack of attention our profession received compared to firefighters. I never understood why it mattered to them but it did.

It's great to see that in the Hamlin case the kid has a chance for a full recovery.

 

[Fuzz]

You can be critical and not hate the team you do know that right? I agree there's probably some peeps who just want to be negative to be trolling, but that's not the case here.


Yea my stance has been pretty clear since March 2020 you can be both(Pats/Brady fan) and I'm not going to derail this thread any further on that. But I see you joined in 2021 so if anything I'm more of a Pats fan than you are my son. See how ridiculous that sounds? You can't be telling people how much of a bigger fan you are or how to be a fan.

99% of the people here are Patriots fan to the core. We are on a message board on the internet after all lol

Except it was the case here. I was replying to one of his many troll posts. He got me I guess. Rant over.

 

[venecol]

Can people stop even mentioning "forfeit." It's not on the table under any scenario. An L is not going on their record because one of their players literally died on the playing field and had to be brought back to life.

It's nice that you're so adamant about how the players feel and how they must act. There are Bengals players that don't want to play against the Ravens! Bengals! Against Ravens!

You don't think it's possible the entire Bills DB room may not want to suit up this weekend while their brother is fighting for his life <7 days removed from that game? The league wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it and wouldn't anyway based on public pressure. How do the Bills show up to a game w/o a secondary? I'm not saying this is going to happen. I think the league would move the game to Monday to try to accomodate the players as much as possible but there aren't any guarantees. It's fine to command the world from your couch but at some point you should realize that not everything is under your control.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

The NFL doesn't always do what's right, but they make a strong effort to always make it appear that they are doing the right thing for PR reasons.

I expect they will play the game, unless Demar's health worsens. The league doesn't want to face the PR backlash of forcing the Bills to play against their will. I'm sure they would rather the game be played, but being seen as forcing the Bills to play is probably more detrimental to the bottom line than cancelling the game.

Personally, I think it should be up to the Bills whether they play the game (IMO it's the right thing to do)

If the game isn't played and that screws the Pats the PR win will be worth upsetting one fanbase. Even if the game is played all the odds will be against them. I can't imagine the Pats getting a single call from the refs or getting support from anyone other than Patriots fans after the events of last week. It will be the Pats against the world.

I'm surprised they didn't move the game to the 4 pm slot. If the 1 pm games fall in a way that would get the Pats in the playoffs regardless of the outcome of Pats/Bills game it would be a lot easier to cancel the game without it effecting the playoff outcome.

 

[moosekill]

I honestly still think the 8 team playoff structure is the best solution. They don't have to make up the game. The only real downside is one team loses the bye week, but it gives the NFL 2 more games to make money from, gets two more teams into the playoffs and makes the NFL a ****ton more money.

 

[Steve102]

You don't think it's possible the entire Bills DB room may not want to suit up this weekend while their brother is fighting for his life <7 days removed from that game? The league wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it and wouldn't anyway based on public pressure.

This is the worst case scenario for the NFL. If the NFLPA got behind it, then you could have a pseudo walk out. I can see that as a possibility, albeit a small one. None of these guys want a 17 games season anyway.

I still maintain they are playing the game, everyone needs to get paid. In the end, the money wins out.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

I’m not at all criticizing you for prefacing your post in this manner but I feel like this sentiment is becoming akin to “Thank you for your service”. Can we agree as a site that we all feel that this was a tragic event and first and foremost we hope that he recovers fully, but at the same time can engage in a discussion about how the situation affects the Patriots and the rest of the league without having to apologize for that?

My take is, if you're feeling the caveat, caveat. If you feel like just cutting to the chase that is fine too. It'll always be valid to asterisk the callousness that we legitimately all feel, when we realize our prayers are for the best, but since we are not close to the young man, our lives do go on. There really is no one right answer.

Just heard the same thing today on sports radio. Fecking Eagles and Chiefs would get 3 weeks off. Biggest advantage ever.

Or... biggest loss of an edge ever, that's what I would worry about if we got that. Devil's advocate.

 

[denverpatsfan]

Wow! I was there. The old stadium was rocking. We stood the entire game. So much energy. So loud.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

It's nice that you're so adamant about how the players feel and how they must act. There are Bengals players that don't want to play against the Ravens! Bengals! Against Ravens!

You don't think it's possible the entire Bills DB room may not want to suit up this weekend while their brother is fighting for his life <7 days removed from that game? The league wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it and wouldn't anyway based on public pressure. How do the Bills show up to a game w/o a secondary? I'm not saying this is going to happen. I think the league would move the game to Monday to try to accomodate the players as much as possible but there aren't any guarantees. It's fine to command the world from your couch but at some point you should realize that not everything is under your control.

At the end of the day, the Bills are paid employee. They need to show up for work after a reasonable time to process everything that took place. If the Bills don't show up with a secondary, they don't show up with a secondary. They will just have to hire a bunch of guys from the local HS team.

After Brett Favre's dad died the day before a game, he showed up and played the game of his life.

 

[Steve102]

At the end of the day, the Bills are paid employee. They need to show up for work after a reasonable time to process everything that took place. If the Bills don't show up with a secondary, they don't show up with a secondary. They will just have to hire a bunch of guys from the local HS team.

 

[Rob0729]

I do get both sides of the argument here.
I was a firefighter for 33 years. We lost 2 guys at a fire. The stations were covered with Mutual Aide for a day after the fire and during the Funerals. Otherwise the stations were manned with our personnel. It’s a job that you have to put up a mental barrier and forge ahead.
Saying that it is probably not healthy from a behavioral standpoint but it is a job that does not offer day’s off.
So I get some people saying the games must go on but also have seen people during medical incidents when they lose a loved one or witnessing CPR being performed on a loved one. It’s traumatic.
Since football is only a game with only the entertainment factor as it’s importance. I’ll leave that up to the players to decide. On a bright note, Damar is making strides and hopefully fully recovers. Hopefully whatever caused him to go into Cardiac arrest on the field is not lost in all of this, Hopefully the right precautions are made in the future. That’s when everyone wins. Go Pats and #3

There is a difference here in that if firefighters don't go back to work, people could die because of it.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

It was a joke. The point is, if the Bills secondary can't go, find someone else to play CB. That's just how the real world works.

 

[crawhammer]

It's nice that you're so adamant about how the players feel and how they must act. There are Bengals players that don't want to play against the Ravens! Bengals! Against Ravens!

What does this have to do with me saying the league will not impose an L on Buffalo under any circumstance? You can answer my question but I'll address your comment regardless.

I don't know how they feel. Neither do you. Even if every single Bengals player lined up to the speak at the podium on the situation, I still don't think we'd know how they feel. I know this, they have to play again. This season. And within a short period of time... Sunday, Thursday, next weekend, etc... they are playing games again this season.

And again, there is nothing any Bengals player, or Bills player, or any player on any team can do for Hamlin's progress in the ICU. He's in the care of medical professionals. It sucks what happened, also no doubt traumatic for some players, and everyone is concerned for Hamlin's well-being, but they have to get on with the season at some point. And as I said before, the Super Bowl is being played on February 12, guaranteed not to be rescheduled by even one second. So whatever scenario unfolds, it have have to be in accordance with the unchanging timeline of the Super Bowl.

You don't think it's possible the entire Bills DB room may not want to suit up this weekend while their brother is fighting for his life <7 days removed from that game? The league wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it and wouldn't anyway based on public pressure. How do the Bills show up to a game w/o a secondary? I'm not saying this is going to happen. I think the league would move the game to Monday to try to accomodate the players as much as possible but there aren't any guarantees. It's fine to command the world from your couch but at some point you should realize that not everything is under your control.

Here's what's under my control, and yours... nothing. I have a solution but Goodell doesn't ask for my input and I'm not sure if he has an account here? And yes, it's possible the entire Bills roster doesn't want to play this weekend, but it's extremely doubtful at this point because if they felt that strongly about it then the game would have been cancelled already. Even so, if they do cancel the game (insert any reason here), Buffalo will not be assigned an L and the Patriots will not be assigned a W. It will be rescheduled or wiped out completely. Patriots will finish the regular season at 8-8 if the latter happens.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

regarding the claim in someone's signature that Joe Montana never took a shotgun snap, it's blatantly false. They were rare, since Bill Walsh hated the shotgun since it affected timing. But they used it when opposing pass rushes were having their way. A few screenshots:

 

[upstater1]

Wow! I was there. The old stadium was rocking. We stood the entire game. So much energy. So loud.

Poor Curtis made a very bad decision to leave the Patriots. He would've had 3 Super Bowl rings.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

regarding the claim in someone's signature that Joe Montana never took a shotgun snap, it's blatantly false. They were rare, since Bill Walsh hated the shotgun since it affected timing. But they used it when opposing pass rushes were having their way. A few screenshots:

Wow, a grand total of 3. How many did Timmy have over the past 20 years? And you are correct, Walsh did not like the shotgun, and it seems like it was incredibly rare for the 49ers to use. Still, it allows for a huge advantage for the QB to be able to scan the defense and get the ball out quickly.

"We tried the shotgun once at San Francisco," Montana recalled. "The first snap went over my head, so Bill (Walsh) said, 'OK, that's it. No more shotgun.'"Walsh didn't embrace the shotgun 30 years ago.

 

[Nehalem]

The NFL doesn't always do what's right, but they make a strong effort to always make it appear that they are doing the right thing for PR reasons.

I expect they will play the game, unless Demar's health worsens. The league doesn't want to face the PR backlash of forcing the Bills to play against their will. I'm sure they would rather the game be played, but being seen as forcing the Bills to play is probably more detrimental to the bottom line than cancelling the game.

Personally, I think it should be up to the Bills whether they play the game (IMO it's the right thing to do)

If the game isn't played and that screws the Pats the PR win will be worth upsetting one fanbase. Even if the game is played all the odds will be against them. I can't imagine the Pats getting a single call from the refs or getting support from anyone other than Patriots fans after the events of last week. It will be the Pats against the world.

I'm surprised they didn't move the game to the 4 pm slot. If the 1 pm games fall in a way that would get the Pats in the playoffs regardless of the outcome of Pats/Bills game it would be a lot easier to cancel the game without it effecting the playoff outcome.

The thing is what way is not playing the Pats/Bills game the right thing?

This isn't the first time someone has been seriously injured in an NFL game. I get why no one want to keep playing after seeing someone literally almost die on the field. And I also posted a link that a Target store shut down for the day after experiencing a similar event.

But come on people don't even get a week off work when family members die.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Wow, a grand total of 3.

I spent about 2 minutes on youtube and found 3. I am sure that you can find more if you want, but it was indeed rare, due to Walsh's preferences. It's a coach specific thing, at least back then. Landry, for example, LOVED the shotgun, but it didn't get Danny White into the GOAT conversation. However you line up, you still have to make the plays.

My own gut feeling is that the running game options are severely limited in the shotgun, so, while you have perhaps more time to survey the defense, the defense is also better equipped and is expecting to defend the pass.

You could fix your lie, but based on your posting history, I know that you won't. Or you will claim that he had 3 shotgun snaps, since I only showed you three, based upon 2 minutes of perusing youtube Montana highlights.

edit: I see, "rare"

Niiiiiiice...

 

[venecol]

The thing is what way is not playing the Pats/Bills game the right thing?

This isn't the first time someone has been seriously injured in an NFL game. I get why no one want to keep playing after seeing someone literally almost die on the field. And I also posted a link that a Target store shut down for the day after experiencing a similar event.

But come on people don't even get a week off work when family members die.

You're confusing bereavement with undergoing a traumatic event. Anyway, with the good news on Hamlin's recovery, I see no reason why there won't be a game w/ very motivated Bills players.

 

[venecol]

We have a game.