2020 Pats: Cam Tests Positive

fairlee76

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jp
Arthur Bryant's is still there. I went there (and to the Negro League Baseball Museum and the Jazz Museum) on the way back from Chicago in August.

But don't sleep on Oklahoma Joe's either. (I guess their name is now just Joe's.) That's the third of the dueling three KC places, and I know several people who swear by them.
Correct on Joe’s. Easily my favorite BBQ in KC. Jack Stack is great too, but more upscale. Brewery-wise, Boulevard Brewing has a huge space so guessing it’s pretty conducive to being open during distancing.
 

PseuFighter

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Correct on Joe’s. Easily my favorite BBQ in KC. Jack Stack is great too, but more upscale. Brewery-wise, Boulevard Brewing has a huge space so guessing it’s pretty conducive to being open during distancing.
went to the westport area last night and tried a few spots; char bar was excellent, and had a beer from boulevard; may go there today if they're open. hit emperial brewery earlier in the day.

we're avoiding places that aren't distancing / masking; so far, the places in the city seem to be doing fine, very spaced out, but we did see a few spots pretty packed. guy at the brewery we hit said the city is taking it pretty seriously, but if we go to the suburbs, forget it.

thank you all again for the recommendations! :)
 

DJnVa

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No you're referring to game that happened six days ago its some its some kind of medical fact/precedent. It's not. This isn't Pats related. There was no fucking way this wouldn't, won't, will hapen to every team.
How about not telling me what I was referring to? I referring to the fact that there was a game 7 days ago, apparently with a player that had it, yet has had no positive tests among the other team and the idea that teams going forward would shut down for 2 weeks due to a single positive test.
 

BaseballJones

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This was going to be a difficult game to win regardless. KC is playing great and they're the class of the NFL right now. But still, Cam gave them a chance. Now it will take a near miracle.

The bigger issue, from a Patriots football standpoint, is next week when they play Denver. That's a game they probably would have won relatively handily, but with Hoyer at the helm, it's suddenly a toss up, or at least a much tougher task. That's a game they simply cannot lose. If Cam is out for that game as well....ugh.

And I really wonder about Stidham v. Hoyer. It seemed that, before they signed Cam, the Patriots were going to roll with Stidham. So why did he disappear? My theory is that if they had to go with Stidham, they would have been adopting a perspective of "well, we know it will be rough, but at least we are turning the page to the future". But with Cam, suddenly the goal of the season changed into "hey we've got a chance". And when that changed, they then thought that Hoyer gave them a better backup option than Stidham.

Still....I've not much confidence in the offense with Brian Hoyer running things. Get well soon, Cam!
 

Mystic Merlin

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Schefter and co. should just post bylines that state ‘NFL PR auxiliary arm.’ They spend about half their tweets defending the NFL COVID testing protocols, breathlessly excited about avoiding the most horrible of all fates....NOT PLAYING EVERY REGULAR SEASON FOOTBALL GAME.

It isn’t quite Albert Breer levels of myopia in every case (check out his Ohio State/Big Ten tweets), but give it a fucking rest, guys.
 

DJnVa

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Hey, I always feel up and fresh after a long flight. This will go smoothly.
 

Captaincoop

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What does doomed mean? Wasn't baseball doomed from the start? You're not thinking clearly. And you're being reactionary. I don't understand why.

The goal for the NFL was never 0 positive tests. The goal is to try to play the season while navigating around positive tests and making changes on the fly when necessary. This was the goal of MLB, too. It looked like baseball was doomed and on this very website, there were multiples calls just to abandon the season. That was just as dumb and reactionary.
Exactly correct. There's no perfect way to do this. The NFL has a reasonable plan (not a plan that calls for zero positive tests all year) and will continue to execute it unless things really go south - probably in a way that goes way beyond just the NFL, like hospitals are overrun with Covid patients all over the country. The most likely outcome is that some players have to sit during isolation periods and some games get canceled or postponed, but they finish the season just like MLB has.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Mahomes v. Hoyer is going to be almost as exciting as our invasion of Grenada... wtf are we wasting the jet fuel and time ?
Hey in 2015, Hoyer, with Cleveland, beat a Cincy team that went 11-5, and he went 25-38 (65.8%), for 269 yards, 2 td, and 0 int! So there's hope!
 

Gash Prex

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Does Bill really have that little trust in Stidham (or is he still not healthy)? You aren't winning this game with a "game manager" like Hoyer.
 

BaseballJones

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Losing Cam not only really hurts the passing game (the dropoff from Cam to Hoyer, even as a passer, is significant), but it really hurts the running game. One reason the RBs are effective is because of the threat of Cam running.

The only shot now that NE has of winning (besides a miracle) is if the OL dominates, they run for 275+ yards, are extremely effective in the red zone, and the defense comes up with several turnovers (maybe even coming up with a score themselves). That's a hell of a lot that has to go right, and obviously the odds are pretty significantly against it.

But hey...the Pats are a proud group and they sure as hell aren't going to give up. They might prove to be tougher than KC thinks.
 

lexrageorge

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Does Bill really have that little trust in Stidham (or is he still not healthy)? You aren't winning this game with a "game manager" like Hoyer.
Sure, it's probably an L, but sometimes fluky things happen that can turn a single game. Stidham didn't seize the opportunity he had during training camp to become the clear #2, and like it or not that was his best chance. Belichick is not normally known for playing the less effective option out there (with the possible exception of the Butler benching), so the simplest explanation remains the most likely: Hoyer gives them a better chance of victory than Stidham.

It's probably a 2% chance vs. 1%, but that's still twice as much :unsure:
 

Harry Hooper

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Since camp started, Bedard has indicated several times that Foxboro people told him they were very disappointed in Stidham's lack of "all-outedness." Fair or unfair, they don't feel he really prepared and competed to the utmost to win the job.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Does Bill really have that little trust in Stidham (or is he still not healthy)? You aren't winning this game with a "game manager" like Hoyer.
He didn’t win the backup job, which means he hasn’t looked as good as Hoyer. The ‘game manager’ label is meaningless, they’re not running a ‘game manager’ offense.

Why should Stidham play? Because ‘fuck it he hasn’t shown anything to justify his playing but maybe he does in a live game against the Chiefs!’ That’s no way to manage an actual team. ‘Sorry guys, Stidham has more theoretical upside even though he’s been outplayed by Hoyer and we can’t win this game unless we take blind risks.’

The most likely outcome in playing Stidham over Hoyer is lesser QB play and therefore a lower chance to win.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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I think the idea is that Stidham has a higher ceiling and a lower floor than Hoyer. On a number scale (1-10), let's say:

Stidham
- Ceiling: 8 (5% chance of reaching it)
- Floor: 1 (20% chance of reaching it)

Hoyer
- Ceiling: 6 (40% chance of reaching it)
- Floor: 3 (30% chance of reaching it)

So you're reasonably certain that Hoyer will give you between a 3 and a 6, which isn't bad for a backup. Stidham has excellent potential as a starter, but he also has a relatively high percentage of being an unmitigated disaster. Not what you want in a backup.

However, in a one-game situation where a 6 isn't good enough to win against a team like KC, maybe rolling the dice on getting super Stidham is the only chance you have to win.

Play with the numbers all you want....obviously this is just imagination, but I think this is the thought process behind why some people prefer Stidham against KC this week over Hoyer.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Why do we think Stidham has latent ‘super Stidham’ waiting to emerge at any time? Seems like wishcasting in the face of contrary evidence.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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What does doomed mean? Wasn't baseball doomed from the start? You're not thinking clearly. And you're being reactionary. I don't understand why.

The goal for the NFL was never 0 positive tests. The goal is to try to play the season while navigating around positive tests and making changes on the fly when necessary. This was the goal of MLB, too. It looked like baseball was doomed and on this very website, there were multiples calls just to abandon the season. That was just as dumb and reactionary.
It's not dumb or reactionary. The MLB season is dumb. "Let's jam a bunch of 7 inning double headers into a week to make up for the Cardinals". At what point did you find MLB to be a legit season?

I'm thinking very clearly. As many other people here did as well when we did the threads and polls on the season. You're trying to keep probably 150 people per team clear of a highly contagious airborne infection, with no control over what they do when they leave the building or where they go. The, by design, they have to disregard distancing and breathe and spit on each other.

To answer your first question, this will not go away on it's own. So doomed means we are going to see games cancelled, long trails of infections over cycles for teams and at some point there's a critical mass. So then....what? You're playing one or two games a week for three weeks to make them up and now the SB is in March? There's no doubleheaders here, no cram in an extra game on Wednesday. They built zero contingency for this. Because they want their $$. Perhaps had they been smarter, they'd have truncated the season or built a few weeks into the schedule. But no let's keep it and add another playoff team. Thinking the NFL can handle anything on he fly is the only dumb thing in this conversation.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Why do we think Stidham has latent ‘super Stidham’ waiting to emerge at any time? Seems like wishcasting in the face of contrary evidence.
Because it appears that he has some real talent. Lots of really talented players don't see it realized. Doesn't mean it's not there.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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How about not telling me what I was referring to? I referring to the fact that there was a game 7 days ago, apparently with a player that had it, yet has had no positive tests among the other team and the idea that teams going forward would shut down for 2 weeks due to a single positive test.
The point is that the game 6 days ago means nothing as far as someone having tested positive as of today. I apologize if I offended you by stating the exact same thing you just did.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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It's not dumb or reactionary. The MLB season is dumb. "Let's jam a bunch of 7 inning double headers into a week to make up for the Cardinals". At what point did you find MLB to be a legit season?

I'm thinking very clearly. As many other people here did as well when we did the threads and polls on the season. You're trying to keep probably 150 people per team clear of a highly contagious airborne infection, with no control over what they do when they leave the building or where they go. The, by design, they have to disregard distancing and breathe and spit on each other.

To answer your first question, this will not go away on it's own. So doomed means we are going to see games cancelled, long trails of infections over cycles for teams and at some point there's a critical mass. So then....what? You're playing one or two games a week for three weeks to make them up and now the SB is in March? There's no doubleheaders here, no cram in an extra game on Wednesday. They built zero contingency for this. Because they want their $$. Perhaps had they been smarter, they'd have truncated the season or built a few weeks into the schedule. But no let's keep it and add another playoff team. Thinking the NFL can handle anything on he fly is the only dumb thing in this conversation.
The better way to handle it (if the goal was to have a season) would have been to reduce the schedule to 10-12 games, and allow lots of open space in the schedule to make up games that get postponed due to positive tests. Yes of course that would have cost the NFL some money. But it also was a much better way to ensure (if I can even use that word) they had a season. But no...the NFL went for the whole enchilada and, to the surprise of nobody, it's likely to prove much more difficult.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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The better way to handle it (if the goal was to have a season) would have been to reduce the schedule to 10-12 games, and allow lots of open space in the schedule to make up games that get postponed due to positive tests. Yes of course that would have cost the NFL some money. But it also was a much better way to ensure (if I can even use that word) they had a season. But no...the NFL went for the whole enchilada and, to the surprise of nobody, it's likely to prove much more difficult.
Precisely, that's why I said truncate the season.
 

Harry Hooper

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It's not dumb or reactionary. The MLB season is dumb. "Let's jam a bunch of 7 inning double headers into a week to make up for the Cardinals". At what point did you find MLB to be a legit season?

I'm thinking very clearly. As many other people here did as well when we did the threads and polls on the season. You're trying to keep probably 150 people per team clear of a highly contagious airborne infection, with no control over what they do when they leave the building or where they go. The, by design, they have to disregard distancing and breathe and spit on each other.

To answer your first question, this will not go away on it's own. So doomed means we are going to see games cancelled, long trails of infections over cycles for teams and at some point there's a critical mass. So then....what? You're playing one or two games a week for three weeks to make them up and now the SB is in March? There's no doubleheaders here, no cram in an extra game on Wednesday. They built zero contingency for this. Because they want their $$. Perhaps had they been smarter, they'd have truncated the season or built a few weeks into the schedule. But no let's keep it and add another playoff team. Thinking the NFL can handle anything on he fly is the only dumb thing in this conversation.
They should have front-loaded the scheduling of division games in case they didn't play all 16.
 

E5 Yaz

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They should have front-loaded the scheduling of division games in case they didn't play all 16.
Agreed, and I think many of us said this at the time. My guess is that they wanted to project "strength" or some such nonsense, instead of thinking practically
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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The fucking Chargers played the Chiefs to OT two weeks ago with a backup QB who had about fifteen minutes notice that he was starting.

Playing this game is immensely stupid from a health perspective. However, I hope the team still shows up and doesn't get embarrassed tomorrow night if they do play.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Agreed, and I think many of us said this at the time. My guess is that they wanted to project "strength" or some such nonsense, instead of thinking practically
Yeah and I think they wanted their high rated game every week. They sure as shit could have at least built in an extra bye week or two to allot for contingencies.
 

E5 Yaz

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The postponed Patriots-Chiefs Week 4 game has been rescheduled for Monday night at 7:05 p.m. ET, the league announced Sunday. The game will be broadcast on CBS.
 

axx

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The bigger issue, from a Patriots football standpoint, is next week when they play Denver. That's a game they probably would have won relatively handily, but with Hoyer at the helm, it's suddenly a toss up, or at least a much tougher task. That's a game they simply cannot lose. If Cam is out for that game as well....ugh.
Cam probably won't be allowed to play against Denver.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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I wonder if Cam knows how he got it, and if he will take this opportunity to react opposite of how the other famous person with it has reacted? To wit: take to social media and warn his fans, friends, and followers that COVID is serious, that even “Superman” can get it, and that folks should social distance and wear masks, because most people don’t get the level of care that the guy in DC and Cam himself have available to them
 

fairlee76

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jp
went to the westport area last night and tried a few spots; char bar was excellent, and had a beer from boulevard; may go there today if they're open. hit emperial brewery earlier in the day.

we're avoiding places that aren't distancing / masking; so far, the places in the city seem to be doing fine, very spaced out, but we did see a few spots pretty packed. guy at the brewery we hit said the city is taking it pretty seriously, but if we go to the suburbs, forget it.

thank you all again for the recommendations! :)
Nice on Westport! That is such a gem of an area. If only KC was closer to...anything.
 

axx

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This depends on whether he is symptomatic and, if not, passes several tests into mid-week.
It isn't as much about him being symptomatic as much as it is about him being contagious.

You also have the factor of Bill not liking having players play in a game that they don't practice during the week.
 

Mystic Merlin

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It isn't as much about him being symptomatic as much as it is about him being contagious.

You also have the factor of Bill not liking having players play in a game that they don't practice during the week.
I’m just going by the protocols as-written, not what they should be.

I would agree that if Cam can’t practice he is unlikely to play, even if he is cleared.