Taro T

So there was somebody else that didn't see that play. Cool. 😉

Expect a big part of a transition to "shut down mode" is transitioning to paying attention to opponents in & near the crease and clearing them away. Expect we'll be seeing that more often moving forward. Doubt the C swap was for shutdown purposes but more to try to get Thompson to simplify his game and get lesser opponents to work through and also to keep from benching Krebs who had been playing well and deserved to still be getting shifts. Can make the 1st move w/out the corresponding one unless somebody is getting double shifted. Will be watching to see if either happen as the game moves on tonight.

Really believe they've got another win streak in them, but wouldn't be surprised if we don't see it before the AS break.

Have no good feelings for how this one'll go. Hoping @Doohickie & @Spoonman get to see a good game & a W. Will be interested to see if the defensive play from the 3rd period of the Aisles game will continue. Was busy w/ other stuff during the Anaheim game so couldn't focus on how they played in their own end that game. Hoping they bring that play back. Which is something they'll been to do to play "playoff" hockey.

So what "good things" are you advocating they move on from?

Which coincidentally corresponds to a modest rise in the cap followed by an explosion there as well.

If Cincy REALLY needed tickets sold in Atlanta as a motivator to be up for this game, KC is going to stomp them even if Mahomes is severely limited.

Stinks that they needed to get through both KC & Cincy to get to the Superbowl and especially that they were unable to get that 1st W for an opportunity for the 2nd. But this team was LITERALLY within a botched snap in either of TWO games being clean from only having to get by the Jags & then play the winner of a KC-Cincy game to advance to the Superbowl. And that's w/ all the injuries & off field adversity they dealt with this season. Get a clean snap at the end of the 1st half in Miami & the Bills kick the FG there & pull that one out. Get a clean snap on the goal line vs the Vikes & the game is over w/ 1 more clean snap. Win either of those & even if the league had made them forfeit in Cincy & they're still the #1 seed. Win them both & they don't even need the tiebreaker to be ahead of KC w/ a loss in Cincy. For all the handwringing about how horrible they are, they were that close to hosting the AFC Championship game.

Likewise. Might be the only person in America that didn't see Beebe strip the ball from Lett live. Just sat down amongst the Cowboy crowd when Lett started heading to the end zone. Friggin' Pokes fans chanting Three Beat on the way out of the Rose Bowl. Morons, YOUR team lost 3 of these too; yes, your boys are three beat. Can't be cheering about THEIR team's win but rather were rubbing our loss in our faces. Don't want that team to ever win another championship.

He's good buddies w/ Gretzky. When things don't work out in Van City he'll get his old job back.

And that 1st Cowboy game in large part came down to their cleats. They didn't expect it to have been raining the better part of the week in Pasadena. The NFL literally had helicopters hovering over the field the day before the Superbowl trying to dry it out. The Pokes were prepared for it, the Bills not so much. The 1st INT happened because Metzalars fell down making a cut while the ball was in the air.

Walt Corey himself would refer to it as a "bend don't break" D. The plan was to force teams to chip away w/ no big plays and expect thatebentually either through Bruce or Biscuit causing a disruption or Odomes or a safety eventually getting a pick they'd force a turnover or eventually the opponent wouldn't get a 1st down. It was a dumb strategy w/ Kelly, Thomas, Davis, Reed, Lofton, Beebe, McKeller, & that line because it kept the ball out of their hands. It also was a dumb strategy because other than having an undersized NT, and a subpar CB2, that D was loaded & could've been deadly attacking. Those teams sadly were outcoached on the biggest stage 4 years in a row.

They'll definitely get Dahlin inked this summer, so they'll know what they're up against. Hoping they can get Power inked this summer too, but expecting he'll follow Cozens path and wait until the offseason where he'd become an RFA to ink a deal.

Welcome back. Don't follow Twitter, so no answer. But pretty sure there's a similar thread to this (though it may be for pod casts). And, @Brawndo is the master at getting Sabres news fresh off the wire. If you're lucky, he'll share some good follows.

O-zone, the D often flip as well as just the wings. Typically, Quinn is listed as the RW, but there have been a few where he's been listed at LW (& Peterka's listing was adjusted as well). Those 2 play fairly interchangeably, but they are each at their best when actually going to their off wings. Noticed that they do tend to get replaced by a W listed at the same side they are listed as playing. Why Granato lists them & deploys them at their strong side W when both sure seem to be better on the other side is one of the myriad of Q's would love to ask him.

Whether those three here get extensions or not is going to come down to whether any of the kids are ready to supplant them or not. Or if somebody the pro scouts & analytics departments covet somehow become available. It really is that simple. Have nearly no doubt thar all will be back next year. Expect 1 or 2 will be gone the year after that (Jost could be gone too then) but doubt all 3 go.

True. But he was one of a VERY few that could realistically have gotten a "max" deal & he didn't come particularly close to that. He was the best player in the league & by a fairly wide margin. He left money on the table.

And, congrats to the Bengals. They outcoached and outplayed the Bills. Next week should be a great game. Stinks that the Bills won't be in it, but the Bengals were the better team today & earned the right to move on. Hoping the Bills spend at least 2 of their 1st 3 picks on OL. If a monster RB falls to 28, grab him, but otherwise take a C or T in the 1st round. If it makes sense to grab a MLB at some pint, then do so. But spend the late round picks grabbing more WRs/DBs. Find the next Poyer/Hyde where they found the current ones in FA.

Yes, Dorsey was outcoached. Didn't say he wasn't. Said there is hope he can be better if he doesn't end up the Panthers new HC. And, regardless of how today turned out, do you disagree that the #2 scoring & yardage/game O is a Ferrari? Frazier is what he is & is too timid to have a D that complements this O. Would be very happy to have had him gone long before this. But the post mine referenced said the D-line isn't good. When healthy, it actually is. It was upgraded significantly over last year's which is a big part of why Milano was an All Pro and in the conversation for defensive MVP and also why somebody is giving Edmunds a huge contract next season. (And the Bills won't be giving him that deal.)

The D Line was also without their best run stuffer Jones & Phillips w/ only 1 good arm wasn't much of use out there. That is a lot of talent to be missing. Yes, the Bengals were missing talent on the O-line but their coaches had a gameplan to cover for that. The Bills did not have a successful plan to make up for what they were missing on D.

There is hope that Dorsey, who seems to be a bright guy, can learn from his mistakes w/ an offseason of reflection. Frazier is what he is & a bend - don't break D is a HORRIBLE complement to an offensive race car. (& it was back in the early 90's too.) Switch to an attacking D scheme. If you stop them, Josh & the O have more time to work w/ and can bury 'em. If you give up the quick strike, Josh & the O have more time to work w/ to run w/ 'em.

Teams sell playoff tix well before they know they'll be hosting the games. It's SOP and anyone complaining about tix going on sale more than a week before the game is played is not realistic (to remain polite). That said, StubHub probably has some REALLY hood deals on tix now. 😉 (Yes, we all know the purchases are getting refunded to the buyers. It's a friggin' joke.)

Understandably.

So, Anaheim's and Chicago's odds are so low they don't even get on the chart? That blown point is frustrating. But not a killer.

Wait a sec. You're OK with the Sabres trading away picks for cap space but not the other way round? That makes no sense. Maybe you meant something else? The Sabres have over $15MM in cap space this season. That is an asset that a team close to the cap might want to try to access either by dumping a vet or getting help acquiring a deadline piece of their own puzzle. And the Sabres should be interested in hearing them out because that cap space vaporizes as the final horn blows after the 82nd game (currently the makeup game vs the BJs). The actual cash out of pocket to the owners is immaterial to us and for a player w/out a signing bonus will only be about 1/4 of the face value of the money owed this season & if that player had a signing bonus it would be even less. As long as the player is on an expiring contract, the Sabres should be interested in almost anything (even if the player goes to a rival, just extract a bigger premium to work w/ them) and if the player is under contract another year they should still talk but should extract a premium for that as well. Don't want anyone still under contract next year & would consider a 2 year or longer cap eat a nonstarter.