Roger Goodell admits Bills were given a disadvantage in Jags game
The Buffalo Bills lost a brutal game to the Jacksonville Jaguars in which the team suffered some potentially devastating injuries to some of their starters. Specifically, Matt Milano and DaQuan Jones. While there is still some uncertainty surrounding their injuries, it looks like Milano will be lost for the season. A former NFL doctor opened […]
The Buffalo Bills lost a brutal game to the Jacksonville Jaguars in which the team suffered some potentially devastating injuries to some of their starters. Specifically, Matt Milano and DaQuan Jones.
While there is still some uncertainty surrounding their injuries, it looks like Milano will be lost for the season. A former NFL doctor opened up on his injuries and Ian Rapaport added that the injury wasn't looking good.
Part of the reason for the injuries was the poor field conditions. Taron Johnson, who was injured in the contest after getting his foot stuck in what was described as playing on concrete, exploded on the NFL for seemingly ignoring player safety.
On top of the injuries, penalties played a factor in the contest as Buffalo drives were stalled out due to some questionable calls. The team just couldn't get going in the contest and it appears that their decision to leave late weighed heavy on the outcome.
Many of the Bills Mafia were left scratching their heads at the decision, tied with the Jaguars getting an advantage by staying in London for an extra week. Well, an old video of Roger Goodell has surfaced that discusses the intentionality of the disadvantage.
Goodell, speaking at what appears to be a panel, opened up on the NFL's decision on the London games. Specifically, an intentional move made by the league to see if travel has an impact on the contest.
He began, "The Jaguars are playing consecutive games over here and staying over here. Part of that is to see how would teams react to that. Is it a competitive disadvantage or advantage one way or another? We'll learn something from that that will help us determine can we play more games?"
While I am by no means an expert and can't even imagine the difficult undertaking it must be to plan and schedule the NFL season. One thing I can say for certain, though. Yes, Mr. Goodell, it is very much an advantage to have one team stay in a different country for several weeks while another flies out late during the week for a game.
Goodell openly admitted that this was all an experiment for the league to see its impact on players. A decision and "experiment" that could very well have cost the team two of its best defensive players. The Commissioner decided to use two of the top teams in the AFC to test a hypothesis that completely ignores player safety.
For a league constantly under the microscope with many of its own players calling out the league for avoiding player safety, Goodell didn't do much to dispel those accusations. It was a wild and downright unacceptable position for the NFL to take. And, once again, Goodell was caught in 4k. Remember on draft nights when Goodell gets booed to oblivion? This is a perfect reason why.
It's almost laughable how bad this take is from the NFL Commissioner. If the injuries, poor playing field, and the Bills' inability to get out of the gate quickly were any kind of raw data for him to determine this was a mistake, we're hoping he was watching extra closely to gather all the evidence.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Bills’ Stefon Diggs erupts on the sideline as tempers flare
The Buffalo Bills offense had a day to forget against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Late in the contest, WR Stefon Diggs went viral after he erupted on the sideline.
