nfreeman

Vegas came out flying and determined last night, and the Sabres didn’t come close to matching their intensity. That’s a Howie issue, to be sure, but it’s also a leadership issue. The alleged young leadership core — Eichel, Reino and Risto — did nothing (unless you want to count Reino giving Vegas their 2nd goal with a terrible turnover at the blue line, which he repeated on the next PP, as well as contributing mightily to the Vegas goal that was called back by bailing on his back check). At some point the players have to want it bad enough.

Reino: 0 goals in 6 games (and a minus-5 for Pi) KO: also 0 goals Mitts and TT: also 0 goals Time to change the lines. Sheary-Eichel-TT Skinner-Mitts-Reino Sobotka-ERod-KO Zemgus-Berglund-Pommer

Just when I was thinking that Reino was having a strong period, he bailed on the backcheck for no reason and gave Theodore the inside lane to the hole while Dahlin was taking the outside. That was a great hit by Bogo. I've never heard someone pronounce "Vegas" the way Rayzor does.

Who is starting in net???

Welcome Sue!

OK, Mr. Smarty-Pants. I appreciate the links but I don't think DBTB has any advance info on lineups. I've been a bit disappointed in Berglund -- I feel like his line never generates any offense, and his playmaking skills are closer to Larsson-level (i.e. zero) than I was expecting.

Ullmark or Hutton? I vote Ullmark. Larsson or Berglund? I vote Berglund, although kinda half-heartedly. Bogo or Nelson? I vote Bogo, because I want to see what Howie likes so much. If they make all 3 of those changes -- that would be kinda a lot of changes to make after a good win.

McD and Beane really and unnecessarily have painted themselves into a corner with their "management" of the QB position this year. They've made one major blunder after another: - Failing to get any of the good vet QBs in the offseason - Unloading McCarron and going into the season with only Allen and Peterman - Not releasing Peterman immediately following that epic week 1 debacle - Not bringing in another QB until after week 5 They've put themselves into a situation where they either have to start a 36-year-old career mediocrity who has been with the team for a week, or a guy who clearly can't play in the NFL and who should've been out of the league 5 weeks ago at the latest. This series of decisions is as stupid as any move Whaley ever made -- and that's a high bar. WTF were they thinking??

Nelson had the fewest minutes vs AZ, so it's logical that he would be the one bumped in favor of Bogo.

Thanks Liger.

Please take this to the politics club. Thanks.

You're accusing him of exploiting his boss' religious beliefs for personal gain. Of course it's a smear. What do you know about Nathan that makes you think he is doing this? As for the question of whether it's appropriate in a workplace -- a bit of unpacking is needed. No one is interviewing employees at my workplace (or at most others) about their failures, so there isn't the opportunity for an employee who has made a series of blunders to openly seek comfort in religion. I suppose if someone at my office made a major blunder, and I confronted that person about it, and he/she said something like "I know I screwed up but I'm not going to jump off a bridge -- I have faith in God and my faith helps me understand that even though my work here is poor, it's also not the sum total of who I am" -- I don't think I would be terribly put off by that response (and frankly would be glad that the person wasn't going to jump off a bridge), although it wouldn't make me any less inclined to be in favor of firing that person. Yes, but it would've cost them something like $18MM - $20MM for them to keep TT.

So McD is more inclined to accept poor performance in white players than in black players? Again: any empirical data to support this? Any anecdotal data (other than Peterman's ongoing employment, of course, which I agree is evidence of a flaw, but a different flaw than the one you've suggested)? Anything a-tall other than "my gut tells me he's subconsciously biased in favor of white people?"

As I mentioned, I think it's suspicious if someone appears to adopt religion at the same time he takes a new job where the boss is religious. If he was already openly religious before taking the job -- then I don't think it's suspicious. It's probably worth a bit of looking into before deploying the smear.

What do you see that is in line with racist behavior? Do the Bills have fewer black players than other teams? Has anyone associated with the Bills made racist statements or committed racist actions? Is there anything tangible whatsoever to support this accusation? Or are you just so put off by McD's open religiousness that you are willing to free-associate your way into assumptions regarding awful character flaws that must be animating their decisions?

That's an "if" that swallows the entire issue.

This is not even close to being true.

I thought I knew why you made the comment, but then your response to Neo didn't seem consistent with the worldview underlying the original comment.

What is this based on? Was he not religious before joining the Bills? Maybe he knows he's been embarrassed on TV for the 3rd time in front of everyone he knows and he's at the end of his lifelong dream, and he's taking comfort where he believes he should. Do you think everyone who professes religious beliefs is some kind of hustler? Then why did you make the comment about him being white?

My game notes: 1. That was a fun game! Not nearly as one-sided as Flagg was painting it, IMHO. (Does not excuse the related temper tantrum someone else threw though). 2. Ullmark looked fantastic. 3. Does Ullmark start against Vegas baby Vegas? I think he should. 4. AZ has a lot of speed but zero finish. I think Howie recognized that and went into prevent defense mode towards the end of the 2nd, which skewed the stats Flagg was hung up on. I agree that better teams would've finished more of the chances that AZ generated, but I think the Sabres would've kept their feet on the gas longer too. 5. Skinner and Mitts look pretty good together, but they each got only about 13 minutes. The difference between Skinner and KO's ice time (which was about 15 min) was that KO got 2 min more of PP ice time. I'd like to see Skinner getting KO's spot and minutes on the top PP. 6. Another couple of ice time items I found interesting: Dahlin and Beaulieau got 6 seconds each of SH ice time; the other 4 got about 3 min each. And the top D pair each had 24 min and change, Nelson had 15 and change, and the other 3 each had 17 and change. 7. Here's a stat of Flagg's I agree with: the one that says Berglund generates zero offense. He's pretty responsible on the backcheck but I don't like his offensive game much so far. I like Sobotka's better. And I wouldn't mind seeing ERod centering Sobotka and TT on the 3rd line and Berglund on the 4th with 2 of Zemgus, Pommer and CJ Smith or one of the other Rochester kids. 8. I hope Pommer can find some life in his legs. He looks to me like he's coming to the end. 9. That Eichel-Reino-Sheary PP goal was very sweet. 10. It is great to look forward to the next game! Tues vs. Vegas, who are struggling but will be looking for payback, while Ullmark will try to raise his bid for the starting G job and Skinner will do the same for the top PP.

Good reporting gents. Thanks.

Welcome Klos! I'd keep playing. I don't think the heavy stuff's coming down for some time yet.

A feeling that NAO’s appearance is somehow associated with a great season for the Sabres? i can see it.

Welcome NAO!

It would be nice to start getting some production out of Skinner, KO and/or Mitts.