2021 Buffalo Bills

[That Aud Smell]

1 minute ago, Norcal said:

He was really close to a million dollars in bonuses. And walked.

8 catches=$333,333

55 yards=$333,333

1TD=$333,333

Thanks. So it was 8, not 3 or 4.

Seems safe to infer that the tension was tied to the incentives. Brown may have interpreted a lack of targets for him, and the coaching staff's indifference to whether he reached those incentives as the coaches plotting against him. And, honestly, it is IMO totally possible that the coaching staff was working to cap those incentives and save the owner a few bucks (and the GM some cap space (?)). So when Brown was busting his butt to play through pain, but was not getting targets (and his cash), and then was told to go back in ... maybe he made a different sort of business decision? Like, "nah, man, I'm good. I can play through this pain if there's a million dollars at stake ... but if you're trying to keep me from that money? Funk you. I'm hurt. Can't go." To which the coaches may have reasonably responded: "Okay. If you're hurt and can't go, then go to the locker room for treatment." Which Brown would have heard as: "You're fired. Leave."

[Norcal]

1 minute ago, That Aud Smell said:

Thanks. So it was 8, not 3 or 4.

Seems safe to infer that the tension was tied to the incentives. Brown may have interpreted a lack of targets for him, and the coaching staff's indifference to whether he reached those incentives as the coaches plotting against him. And, honestly, it is IMO totally possible that the coaching staff was working to cap those incentives and save the owner a few bucks (and the GM some cap space (?)). So when Brown was busting his butt to play through pain, but was not getting targets (and his cash), and then was told to go back in ... maybe he made a different sort of business decision? Like, "nah, man, I'm good. I can play through this pain if there's a million dollars at stake ... but if you're trying to keep me from that money? Funk you. I'm hurt. Can't go." To which the coaches may have reasonably responded: "Okay. If you're hurt and can't go, then go to the locker room for treatment." Which Brown would have heard as: "You're fired. Leave."

The whole situation is so multi layered with all the things that have transpired with him this season and throughout his last several years in and out of the league.

It would be petty to deny the man his bonuses or a reasonable chance to achieve them but I can see why they might not think he's quite earned them all things considered. 

 

He was listed as injured all week and hadn't practiced.

I didn't watch the game but if they were asking him to run decoy routes that might have been a trigger. 

[Eleven]

32 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Story emerging is that he was ~3-4 good catches (for ~50 yards) and a TD away from ~$1M in bonuses ($333K for each item), and that he understood the coaching staff as actively keeping him out of the game plan so as to avoid him hitting those incentives.

Which, by the way, is totally plausible.

And conflicts with Arians's story that he was trying to get Brown into the game.

After 10+ years of reading about Brown, he isn't the one getting the benefit of my doubt.  YMMV.

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

And conflicts with Arians's story that he was trying to get Brown into the game.

Not necessarily - maybe not at all.

See @Norcal’s point about decoy routes. Brown seems crazy - but he could be crazy like a fox when it comes to his money. If he knew he was getting sent in for packages not designed for him … that could’ve been the straw that broke the camel’s back … or the straw that stirred the drink (?) 😜.

[ubkev]

The Steelers v Browns line moved 3 points in the hour leading up to kickoff then back 1.5 points about 15 minutes ago. About a billion dollars just came in on Cleveland.

[Sabel79]

1 hour ago, ubkev said:

The Steelers v Browns line moved 3 points in the hour leading up to kickoff then back 1.5 points about 15 minutes ago. About a billion dollars just came in on Cleveland.

The NFL should just drop the charade and make J.B. Smoove the League Commissioner already.  

[Indabuff]

5 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Ian Rapaport carrying water for A. Brown, for sure. The truth is at the bottom of a bottomless pit.

 

That's right.  Pit not the Palace.

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2022 by Indabuff

[Indabuff]

Surprisingly lots of Mayfield commercials out there still...

[Norcal]

1 hour ago, Indabuff said:

Surprisingly lots of Mayfield commercials out there still...

They are starting to be less funny for more reasons than one

[GASabresIUFAN]

Mr. Brown, Vontae Davis on line 1. 

What does he want?  

He wants to thank you for ending the need for his meme.

[inkman]

10 hours ago, Indabuff said:

Surprisingly lots of Mayfield commercials out there still...

 

8 hours ago, Norcal said:

They are starting to be less funny for more reasons than one

As soon as I saw this nonsense, I stopped paying attention to this jackass. 
 

 

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

As soon as I saw this nonsense, I stopped paying attention to this jackass. 
 

 

Ideally, your black socks were knee high when you made that decision.

C'mon. There's nothing wrong with the guy dancing and goofin' around. 

That said, my take: The executives and pundits who pegged him as the #1 QB prospect in that draft identified a player who looked so NFL ready that they failed to consider that, maybe, what they were seeing was all he was ever going to be. He was at his ceiling. And then they failed to reckon with his average physical measurables - size, speed, etc. I still think he could be a decent NFL quarterback, if healthy. One thing that seems to be weighing more heavily against him is that he has had a good to very good running game to support his play at QB. You'll often hear that: This guy could be good or even great, but he needs a strong run game to support him (e.g., Russell Wilson).

Anyway. I wish him well, except when he plays the Bills or plays in a game where the Bills need his team to lose.

[Thwomp!]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

 

As soon as I saw this nonsense, I stopped paying attention to this jackass. 
 

 

And the Browns took him #1! And over Josh.  We won't even talk about the Jets and Darnold.

 

[LGR4GM]

19 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Ideally, your black socks were knee high when you made that decision.

C'mon. There's nothing wrong with the guy dancing and goofin' around. 

That said, my take: The executives and pundits who pegged him as the #1 QB prospect in that draft identified a player who looked so NFL ready that they failed to consider that, maybe, what they were seeing was all he was ever going to be. He was at his ceiling. And then they failed to reckon with his average physical measurables - size, speed, etc. I still think he could be a decent NFL quarterback, if healthy. One thing that seems to be weighing more heavily against him is that he has had a good to very good running game to support his play at QB. You'll often hear that: This guy could be good or even great, but he needs a strong run game to support him (e.g., Russell Wilson).

Anyway. I wish him well, except when he plays the Bills or plays in a game where the Bills need his team to lose.

When he allowed Georgia to come back after being down (23?) points in the Rose Bowl, I stopped believing in him. 

[inkman]

11 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Ideally, your black socks were knee high when you made that decision.

C'mon. There's nothing wrong with the guy dancing and goofin' around. 

That said, my take: The executives and pundits who pegged him as the #1 QB prospect in that draft identified a player who looked so NFL ready that they failed to consider that, maybe, what they were seeing was all he was ever going to be. He was at his ceiling. And then they failed to reckon with his average physical measurables - size, speed, etc. I still think he could be a decent NFL quarterback, if healthy. One thing that seems to be weighing more heavily against him is that he has had a good to very good running game to support his play at QB. You'll often hear that: This guy could be good or even great, but he needs a strong run game to support him (e.g., Russell Wilson).

Anyway. I wish him well, except when he plays the Bills or plays in a game where the Bills need his team to lose.

I’m all for these guys getting loose and having fun.  See below:

Baker Mayfield Crip Walking or whatever that embarrassing thing was, tells me he makes bad decisions and is a guy I would not want to have a beer with. 

[That Aud Smell]

21 minutes ago, inkman said:

I’m all for these guys getting loose and having fun.  See below:

Baker Mayfield Crip Walking or whatever that embarrassing thing was, tells me he makes bad decisions and is a guy I would not want to have a beer with. 

You're gatekeeping what's an acceptable dance and what isn't? I'm curious to hear more about your criteria.

Baker's interpretation of the Walk It Talk It dance was in-line with how the young folks were doing it at the time. (There's no one way to do it - not unlike Digital Underground's The Humpty Dance ("no two people will do it the same; you gotta get down when you appear to be in pain").

[That Aud Smell]

33 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

When he allowed Georgia to come back after being down (23?) points in the Rose Bowl, I stopped believing in him. 

Was he playing defence?

The fact that the consensus had him ranked over Josh Allen is a reflection on the risk-averse nature of most decision makers. I give huge credit to Beane and his team (including Terry (?!)) for swinging for the fences, and not just choking up and taking a safe base hit.

[Doohicksie]

42 minutes ago, Thwomp! said:

And the Browns took him #1! And over Josh.  We won't even talk about the Jets and Darnold.

And a lot of people thought picking Allen was risky.  You just don't know.

I can't speak to the other QBs, but I think we've all seen how diligently Allen has worked to develop his game.  Out of college he couldn't read a defense and the only way he threw a ball was full cannon mode.  He's learned so much since then.

[LGR4GM]

18 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Was he playing defence?

The fact that the consensus had him ranked over Josh Allen is a reflection on the risk-averse nature of most decision makers. I give huge credit to Beane and his team (including Terry (?!)) for swinging for the fences, and not just choking up and taking a safe base hit.

No but he was playing offense and you would think being up by so much he could have scored enough to stay up. 

[Eleven]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

No but he was playing offense and you would think being up by so much he could have scored enough to stay up. 

See Ryan, Matt.

[LGR4GM]

13 minutes ago, Eleven said:

See Ryan, Matt.

Yup. See Mac Jones. 

Mac Jones is a great story because his defense is really good and he is good enough to throw for 200-250yrds a game and win. However once he gets behind by more than 1 possession and has to start pushing the ball downfield, it opens up all kinds of issues. Mac Jones might be the QB that if I won the toss against, I would take the ball first against. 

[Brawndo]

 

[inkman]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

You're gatekeeping what's an acceptable dance and what isn't? I'm curious to hear more about your criteria.

Baker's interpretation of the Walk It Talk It dance was in-line with how the young folks were doing it at the time. (There's no one way to do it - not unlike Digital Underground's The Humpty Dance ("no two people will do it the same; you gotta get down when you appear to be in pain").

My criteria: Do you look like a jackass?

[inkman]

12 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

I really don’t enjoy stadium discussions.  Will it be a nice shiny new toy?  Sure.  Will fans have a slightly better experience? Possibly.  
 

Spending $2 Billion dollars of our money to make something a slightly better fan experience doesn’t exactly sound like a good ROI.  

I suppose it’s more about the NFL ensuring their revenues are as maxed out as they can be.  Not sure if our withering region needs this right now.  

[Flashsabre]

2 hours ago, Thwomp! said:

And the Browns took him #1! And over Josh.  We won't even talk about the Jets and Darnold.

 

I remember people quitting Bills fandom because they took Allen over Josh Rosen.