As I joked with Chris Ostrander of 2itb on Twitter, there isn’t an HGTV show that won’t fit Buffalo’s situation in general, but yesterday was a gem:
Use where applicable Bills pic.twitter.com/z2hWsW4nnr
— Chris Ostrander (@2ITB_Buffalo) May 16, 2016
Shaq news is like the part on Flip or Flop when they unlock the door & there's an illegal immigrant squatting inside https://t.co/dARpoizbEL
— Cristina Ledra (@cledra) May 16, 2016
This Shaq news is like the part on Fixer Upper when Chip realizes the floor joists need to be reinforced after all
— Chris Ostrander (@2ITB_Buffalo) May 16, 2016
Like one of those HGTV shows, the Bills consistently sell you a house. It’s a lovely house, one that you imagine your family and friends enjoying. But then you bring in the crew and they pull back the wall and there’s mold in the bathroom. Or the walls weren’t properly wired. Or your roof was far more damaged in a recent storm than the seller let on. Ultimately, what looked like a steal is now seeming to be a big work to even get to operational. That’s been 21st century Buffalo Bills football – and most notably Buffalo Bills PR.
One of the biggest missed issues with the whole Shaq surgery isn’t that he misled the team or something like that – it’s the vitriol and rage that permeated One Bills Drive when anyone even suggested it. Now, when they’re wrong, like wrong wrong – you have to eat crow, not tout that he’s putting team about himself to do this. Per Florio, note that he got hurt doing a bag drill – and not in real contact. If he could aggravate this condition with a bag – imagine him in training camp, or pre-season or in the regular season? I’ll be working with Building the Herd’s Rob Quinn on a video series highlighting the responsibilities each of these rookies should look forward to. In the case of Lawson, he would be doing the work that “Mario didn’t do because lazy”:
#Bills Shaq Lawson will have surgery. Team statement here. pic.twitter.com/OlQL6MbkmS
— Jeff Russo (@JeffRussoWKBW) May 16, 2016
Which brings me to another point. One of the best ways to ensure you don’t get one of these flaming bags of poop PR wise on your doorstep is having some modicum of chill with your customer/fan base. The Bills, since the drought has started and social media has blown up there is zero chill. I get that you have to sell a product, but the constant “bigging up” of the Bills results in the backlash when things happen.
https://twitter.com/manecci/status/732574655920279552
I would disagree with Mike Rodak in this area – it’s not overall optimism – it’s the steadfast “you’d be an idiot to believe otherwise” stance they take. It’s similar to the Bills took the time to take a shot at Mario Williams with the team stuff. Or talking about how you don’t need OTAs for chemistry with Tyrod and Sammy, because Sammy’s now out until at least the pre-season games. This constant hopping around or comparing to old players to prove how much better someone is – to be honest – is low brow and sad.
Now, Sammy is going to be out for some period of time that will allow the “injury bug” tag to start to become aligned with him. Since he was drafted, Sammy’s had broken ribs, bad hips, knee, ankle and now foot. While he’s only missed 3 games, he’s been hobbled in some and had to “suck it up” to get through others. That’s a lot – but that’s also because at no point did the Bills want to shut him entirely down to heal, because they’ve been in win now mode the day Ralph Wilson died. That’s an article for another day, however.
If the Bills want to avoid the egg – just be straight up. When you’re more worried about setting “All In” up than you are to figure out if your 5 year investment needs a surgery, there’s a problem. Think back to the number of times Bills players have said at the end of seasons the litany of injuries they played with and PR used it as a sob story to say, “we’ll be back next year!”. Turn the page – why are they playing that hurt? Sully went in on Mario Williams for seeing a 3rd party doctor for his foot in his second year. Why don’t more people do that? If Bills medical are allowing players like McCargo or Troup to play with injuries that would be flagged by others – who are they serving? That’s not “all in” to me.
In closing, the Bills need to get their medical house in order and ask if they’re truly looking out for the best interests of the player and not the team.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
