nfreeman

Holy mackerel this is a huge game. I wish I felt more confident. I think it's gonna be a nail-biter.

Holy mackerel there is a potentially historic Bills game on Sunday. This is like Kelly vs Marino or Kelly vs Elway in their absolute primes, except the Bills have an overdue bill to pay. And maybe the most famous person in the world is probably going to attend. The Bills will need to play better than they played today to beat KC.

I read today that Miami has won one playoff game since Marino retired in 1999.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty close with the Sabres to the point that I got to with the Bills about 2/3 of the way through their streak of suckitude -- I'm only casually interested and don't make a point of watching the games, although I might flip it on if I'm home and not doing anything and they aren't getting smoked again. I'd expect that I'll be much more invested if and when they become a real team again, but not until the results are there. I certainly don't give a crap about who they draft or which B-level free agent or trade they make next summer. Hiring a real coach would probably get my attention. As for other NHL games, I'm less interested there too. At this point I'll turn on a game if I'm hanging out with my son, who's more of an NHL fan than I am, but not otherwise. I prefer the NBA, and most of the time when I want to check out a random game, there is a good NBA game on. Great job, KA!

I think a dome probably would've been the right call for the new stadium, and definitely would've helped demand for December and January games. Agree on Vrabel. The Pats are probably going to hire him, and are probably going to be good if they do.

Me too. He has a certain confidence that I think gives his team a swagger. He's turned the Dolphins into a legit team after years in the desert, and he turned Tua into a major star. I like him as a rival to McD and as part of the Bills-Miami rivalry. OTOH, he was close to despondent in his post-game interview last night, which isn't good for Miami's morale going to KC.

Soft. (but high-potential.)

The story I remember is Drury working out in the weight room and seeing an unnamed teammate performing an exercise at less than 100% effort/technique, at which point Drury said something like "if you're not going to do it right, you should just go home."

This, this, a thousand times this!

I'm fairly patient with most of the players, but not the coaches. When I watch the team -- especially the very frequent comatose starts to home games, plus the terrible power play -- it just screams bad coaching to me. I'd sure like to see a real, experienced NHL coaching staff brought in before they make any major trades. And I know everyone loves KO, but I think the team's results during his captaincy are pretty damning. This team is dying for a Drury to show them the way.

I gotta admit Appert taking over this summer is a distressingly possible scenario. I think if DG is canned during the season, Appert would get it on an interim basis until the end of the season. Not necessarily on a permanent basis but distressingly possible as mentioned above. Good stuff here boys. But the FO guys gotta pick better coaches.

I think the most likely outcome is that the Sabres stink for the rest of the year, DM is fired (but not KA) and a real coach with a legit NHL resume is brought in over the summer. If we're very lucky it will be Brind'Amour. But the rest of this season will be painful.

I don't know the right answer. It looks increasingly clear that if DG remains as HC, they will limp to yet another bottom-7 finish, with the stink of losing becoming further ingrained among the new core and the fan base becoming increasingly apathetic (if not hostile). A real NHL team wouldn't just sit back and let that happen without firing the HC. OTOH, firing yet another coach does seem like it would increase the apparent disinterest among experienced, accomplished NHL coaches/GMs in coming here. What a great idea the tank was.

I don't think it's merely ceremonial either. Beyond the factors PA cited, I think it matters to the players in that they take their cues first and foremost from the captain. I also think, without doing a minute of homework, that on most teams the captain isn't the best player.

IMHO, McD and JA are both great, but need to win quite a few more playoff games before they displace Marv and Jimbo. Jimbo was 9-8 in the playoffs. JA is 4-4. Five more playoff wins is meaningful IMHO. I don't agree that the Marv-Kelly teams were a juggernaut, other than the 1990 team that lost to the Giants in the SB, although it is true that there was no opponent on the level every year of Mahomes' Chiefs. Still, they had to beat Elway's Broncos, Marino's Dolphins, Montana's Chiefs and Moon's Oilers. And while JA has had some scintillating playoff performances, he's also had not great outings vs Houston in 2019, Baltimore in 2020 and both Miami and Cincy last year. Only one can be the best. At this point IMHO it's still Marv and Jimbo.

I wouldn't expect much out of Quinn tonight or for the next couple of weeks. He's recovering from a major injury and missed all of training camp and the first 1/3 of the season so doesn't have his NHL timing yet.

Allen is the most talented, but he's not the best QB until he starts winning more playoff games.

Well, I think most NFL observers would say Reid is a great coach. He's accomplished more as a HC than McD has, but Reid's been a HC for 25 years, while McD has been one for 7. Taylor is pretty well regarded too, although he has a career losing record. It's not crazy to say he outcoached McD in the playoffs last year, but I don't think that it's inarguable either. The Bills had a very difficult year last year, with a number of very unusual events hanging over them. Could a different coach have righted the ship and beaten Cincy in the playoffs? Possibly, but I don't think we can be sure either way. I too would like to see better and sharper end-of-game execution, and it's fair to hold McD accountable (although several of the end-of-game debacles have been freak occurrences that I don't think it's fair to blame him for -- the Kyler Murray hail mary, JA's fumble in the end zone vs Minny, etc.). I just think that that is one of many elements that a coach should be evaluated on, and that he shines in most of them. Let's see what happens this year.

If he weren't a great coach, they'd still be going 7-9 every year. The Bills were the biggest joke in the NFL for 17 freaking years. The stink of loserville was deeply ingrained in the franchise. He pulled them out of it. And this year, when they were on the ropes, he did what needed to be done in firing Dorsey and he got the team to rally and beat KC on the road and throttle one of the hottest teams in the league yesterday. There's another franchise in town that could sorely use a guy like McD.

I'll say it again: McD is a great coach.

James Cook is turning into a star. And the D has played a great, tough first half.

Nylander and Reino are going to get much bigger deals than Mitts will. The second point, and your separate one about continuing to commit to guys that haven't done anything as a team, are both completely valid and echo my concerns about giving Mitts a fat extension as well.

Yes but pls don't jinx it you hoser.

I think Dahlin would make a fine captain, but I agree that it's gotta be Tuch. He brings the fire, the speed and the inspiration -- I think they rally around him more than they do for Dahlin. They are noticeably better when he's in the lineup (as is the case with Dahlin, of course). I also agree with your alternates. Now this is a fair point. Tuch has 2 more seasons after this one on his contract, after which he'll be a UFA at age 30.