Buffalo Bills Media Frenzy

When was the last time you turned on ESPN, and one of the main story lines was about our Buffalo Bills? When was the last time “Pardon the Interruption”, “Around the Horn”, or “Highly Questionable” on ESPN talked about the Bills? Recently the Buffalo Bills have become a hot topic in the sports world. Not for winning a game, making the playoffs, or a big signing, but for some foolish reasons.

The Bills have become a joke around the NFL. I’m not talking about their impressive sixteen years without a playoff appearance. I’m talking about some of their recent decision making. Let me start off by saying that I bleed Buffalo sports. I love this team and I love this city, but enough is enough.

Apr 28, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Shaq Lawson (Clemson) after being selected by the Buffalo Bills as the number nineteen overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft at Auditorium Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports /

Let’s start with the draft. With the 19^th pick, the Buffalo Bills select Shaq Lawson, defensive end from Clemson, and in my opinion, a great pick by the Bills. He will replace Mario Williams right away, which is the first step to fixing Rex’s defense. However, before we can celebrate, Adam Schefter reported that Shaq Lawson will need shoulder surgery at some point, just minutes after the pick was made. In true Buffalo Bills fashion, they downplayed the injury. Doug Whaley, Rex Ryan, and even Shaq Lawson pretty much lied to our face. They told us he doesn’t need shoulder surgery right now and he will be a starter come week one.

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A week later the truth comes out. We find out Adam Schefter was right after all. I don’t have a problem with the pick or the player, but what I don’t understand is why the Bills downplayed the injury. I think Lawson has a bright future in the NFL and if he misses the first few months of his career it won’t be a big deal. The Bills pretending like nothing was wrong with Lawson’s shoulder is the embarrassing part. Maybe they thought the season ticket numbers would go down, or maybe their medical personnel have no idea what they are doing.

The Shaq Lawson injury doesn’t have me worried because the Bills can just plug in Manny Lawson and be absolutely fine. However, hours after the Shaq Lawson injury was reported, we found out Sammy Watkins had surgery on a broken foot. Rex claims Watkins will be ready week one. I don’t know how true that is, but the Bills better hope he’s ready to play. Unlike the Shaq Lawson injury, the wide receiver position is paper thin. With all due respect to Robert Woods, the opposing defense is not going to fear our wide receivers. Watkins might be the most important piece to the Bills success this season, but without him, I say good luck Tyrod.

Dec 6, 2015; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor (5) and wide receiver Sammy Watkins (14) during the game against the Houston Texans at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports /

I know injuries happen, it’s part of the game. Why haven’t the Bills signed a wide receiver? Anquan Boldin and Marques Colston are both proven wide receivers in the NFL, and both are free agents. Why not bring one of them in? They could learn our system, help our young wide receivers, and if they made the team it would be great. If Sammy comes back, cut one the wide receivers and move on. The Bills need to have a backup plan if Sammy can’t go week one. However, it looks like the Bills have all their eggs in one basket. We all hope Sammy is ready to go week one and maintains his health all season long.

A week goes by and the Bills embarrass themselves once again. During an appearance on “The Howard Simon Show”, on WGR 550, General Manager Doug Whaley used poor words to describe the sport of football. Whaley said “Injuries are part of it. It’s a violent game that I personally don’t think humans are supposed to play.” In my opinion, his comments should not have been a story. Humans are not supposed to do a lot of things. We are not supposed to throw a baseball 100 mph, drive speeding cars around a dangerous track, or be able to lift hundreds of pounds, but we do it anyways because we can.

Sep 14, 2014; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley celebrates with fans after the game between the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Bills beat the Dolphins 29-10. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports /

Doug Whaley was just trying to defend himself after he found out about the key injuries to Sammy Watkins and Shaq Lawson. He opened a whole new can of worms with his comment. The NFL is now facing lawsuits and concussion problems. With that in mind, I don’t think Whaley’s comments were the smartest thing he could have said. The only person who should be angry about Whaley’s comments is the commissioner, Roger Goodell. I’m sure Goodell was not happy hearing about it because a day later Whaley issued a statement saying he “used poor choice of words”. Everyone knows that the game of football is violent, but the NFL does not need one of their own confirming that.

Let’s jump into the media policy that the Bills enforced for all OTA. The media is not allowed to report, in any way, anything from OTA’s. If a player drops a pass, fumbles the ball, or even throws an interception, no one in the outside world can know. News flash Bills, we already know the players are dropping passes and throwing interceptions. It’s practice, I’d rather have the players make mistakes now than in September when the season starts. If the media reported that Tyrod threw an interception in May I wouldn’t care at all. If he throws an interception in September I might care a bit more.

The worst part of this media policy is when Rex was asked about it. He said that he had nothing to do with it. So, he’s telling me he had no part of this policy? I find it hard to believe that the head coach wouldn’t be asked what his thoughts were about this policy. I guess that’s just Rex being Rex, always someone who is looking for attention. Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills were laughed at nationwide after this policy was released.

Nov 23, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan shakes hands with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick after the New England Patriots 20-13 win over the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /

Right before the long Memorial Day weekend the Bills struck again. Rob Ryan, who won two Super Bowl’s with the New England Patriots, did a Q&A with Jenny Vrentas of MMQB. Of course, during the Q&A he starts running his mouth about beating Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. This obsession must run in the family. Rob Ryan said that he and his brother Rex “are going to beat them. We are together, we’re going to beat the best. It’s two against one.” The Ryan brothers must have had a few drinks before this Q&A. I like their confidence, but they are forgetting something.

New England has Tom Brady under center for them, and the Bills haven’t had much success in beating Mr. Brady. Talk is cheap, let’s see their confidence translate to the field. I wish I could have seen Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s faces after they heard Rob Ryan’s comments. All of Boston got a good laugh out of this Q&A. September, please hurry up so we can at least embarrass ourselves only on the field.

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