Pimlach

Ray endorsing wasting power play time

Ok. Dan Dunleavy made a decent call on the Peterka goal. Thumbs up 👍

That was a nice goal. Tage is a finisher. Get Tage a 1C playmaker. That will be a impactful start to improving the team.

Cozens overpass leads to 3 on 1 against us. Nice looking taco. Or is it a “street” taco?

Yes. And we drafted a bunch of centers too. Even more bizzare is that Kulich played wing in the AHL.

Good evening Teammates. This is a winnable game. We should beat this Bruins team in our rink. Of course, not sure we will, but this is not a good Bruins team.

As bad as Adams off season judgement was on his player and coaching moves (see bold), he was even more wrong on the majority of players that he knows and keeps in prominent roles on this team. Below was the opening day forward line up. This team does not stink because of the 4th line. The 4th line was never the reason they were losing last season, and it is not the reason they are losing now. The problem is that the first line and the second line are overmatched almost every night. Peterka - Thompson - Tuch Benson - Cozens - Quinn Greenway - McLoed - Zucker Malenstyn - Lafferty/Krebs - NAK Tage is the only true first line forward on the team, and he is not a very good center (for those who think he is a center) but he is 40 goal sniper that might greatly benefit from a playmaking center. No one else on this team can play on contending playoff teams first line. Tuch is a 2nd line player and is probably a 3rd line player on top tier teams like Vegas, Colorado and Florida. All the rest of the Sabres top 9 are 3rd liners. A few of the young guys still have second line ceilings (Peterka, Quinn, Benson) but do not consistently match up well when real bullets are flying, especially when they play together or with Cozens (a third liner too). Adams was wrong.

No. Do not count on it. He doesn't learn and he has little say in how much he can spend. Look at his past veteran acquisitions, Zucker is an outlier.

He doesn't have to say a word. He just tells his agent he is going the UFA route and wait for offers.

I will be watching the Sabres but I just don't care about this team right now. I will be still thinking about why the Bills couldn't muster up their "A" game last Sunday.

This. I hope there is no trade. Fire Adams in April and bring in an outsider with real NHL Exec and GM experience. Let that person run things.

Elam, Kincaid, Coleman (trade down to second) are his top picks the past three years. I still think Kincaid will be a good player. Coleman possibly, if he figures out how to consistently get open then yes. Elam has had 3 years and there is no sign of him coming around.

Only counting my Buffalo professional teams you have to go back to my childhood days - The AFL Buffalo Bills (64, 65) and the AHL Buffalo Hockey Bisons (69-70) won league championships.

The big guy is missing. Hard to get another Bruce Smith when you draft at the end of round 1. The mid 60’s Bills had the undisputed best defense in the AFL. They won 2 championships in a row and then Lou Saban went flakey and moved on.

They need to upgrade WR and CB and S.

The coach is probably not going anywhere. I agree that his defensive system and the players we have right now are not getting it done. I just don't need 5 years of stats to tell me that. The team lacks play makers on defense. There are no Pro Bowlers I would be open to a new DC with a new system but I doubt that happens. I was at the gym and ESPN was on. A talking head showed a few replays of KC making big runs and he said KC ran play and used a few looks that he had never seen them use before. So Andy Reid was holding back some plays for the big game. It is clear that McD and his staff do not match up well to Reid/Spagnola. Nobody else does either.

No one is talking about the last four playoff games which goes back five years. Many players and coaches have changed in that time anyway. Most honest fans will admit that the KC defense is better than the Buffalo's defense. That is the most significant difference in the talent between the teams and it has given KC the edge in the past two seasons. The subject is the last game. The Bills offense has to control the clock and score more to overcome their defense, that is an honest assessment. The margin for error against KC is small as we see over and over. It is fair to say that the officials completely blew the spot on back to back plays when the Bills were driving and looking to go up by two scores in the 4th Q. Replays show that Allen passes the line on 4th down. The only question is does the ball pass the line? The sideline ref that could actually see the ball in Allen's arms was going to spot it over the line for a first down, you could see his foot placement on the replay, it was over the line. The ref on the opposite sideline, the one that could only see Allen's back took the ball and spotted it at least a 1/2 yard behind the line. So the first question is why did the ref with the impossible view make the call on the field? Ok, we have replay, that should fix it, right? So the second question is how does the replay not overturn the spot? That is a big problem with the NFL right now and it seems that these controversies follow the Kansas City Chiefs. Add that Nantz, Romo, and Gene Seratore (Rules analyst, former NFL employee) all thought Allen made it, and they said it on national TV. For some reason the call on the field stood and the ref with the blind view spot was upheld. I have looked at this replay a lot. Allen and ball were over the line. There are videos out there showing it. This is how you get people complaining about the refs and looking down at the NFL. Social media and mainstream are both overwhelmingly supporting that the Bills did not get a fair spot. Did the Bills get more chances to score? Yes, the Bills still could have made more plays and won the game. But stop pretending that these calls did not change the momentum of the game and effect the outcome. There were at least 3 other big officiating errors that hurt the Bills, so unfortunately it is not all coaching/players/scheme. There were other variables in the outcome to this game.

Yup, I am devastated. They didn't. Very vanilla game plan overall. They didn't even adjust to the tush push getting stopped. I find it very curious that Cook was not on the field for the last drive. He was running hard, finding lanes, he should have been getting passes too. He had two brilliant TDs and he played like a the guy that wanted the game put on his shoulders. Yet, he was underutilized IMO.

Now there Mr Inky, after we review the purchase contracts, then you can show me the tush push play.

I am sure that there are people that say that. Bill Bellichick was not one of them. If you coach purely by analytics then I guess you subscribe to that. I prefer coaches that can feel the game. To be clear, we didn't lose the game because we took away the PAT. There was no one play that caused the loss IMO. I am just saying that in general, trying for 2 that early in the game and failing, is worse than just settling for 1 point.

ehhh, maybe you should not be reading the Bills thread then?

Going for 2 points in the first half is almost always a mistake. Baltimore made that mistake against us just the week prior. The Bills literally took one point off the board. Keep that point and you need a FG to win, not tie. Keep that point and make your 2 point try and the game is tied. I hate going for two in the first half, you just don't know how things will play out.

They are a very good team, they have better talent than most think, but without Allen they are not a serious contender. You can say that about a lot of teams and their QB. They are drafting 30th. The best path to get a true #1 WR, one that they can plug in right now, is probably free agency. Unlike the Sabres, good players will come to Buffalo. The problem is they cost a fortune and the best ones are usually divas. Tee Higgins is young and a notable name. Areas that they are set at: QB, OL, TE, RB, starting LB The needs are: WR - speed and a true #1. Keep Coleman, Shakir, Hollins but add speed and a real #1. CB - Add another that can start and they can rotate with with Douglas and Benford. They are too susceptible to injuries' and it is time to move on from Elam. I expect them to pick two CBs in the draft. They have good luck in the middle and late rounds. Safety - I would look at replacing Hamlin. Again they can look at Free Agents and the draft. DL - they always seem to need help here. They really need a playmaker/difference maker on defense. Free agency may be the way. The have a good amount of cap space and a bunch of picks to work with. This retooled version of the Bills is just getting started.

Let’s Go Bills!!!