TrueBlueGED

Proposal: let Skinner walk and pay Panarin a bazillion dollars.

I hate you.

No, but I did laugh. Good point. Your opinions are just bad.

You were never alive to me.

You're dead to me.

I have no idea if this is the norm, but Columbus is giving free T-shirts to everyone in attendance as they walk in.

I'm going to the game in Columbus on Saturday. A week ago I was dreading it. I woke up today wanting Friday to end as quickly as possible to get me to game day. I think that says it all.

I'm going to blame Bogosian for being useless in front of the net and getting smoked on the race to the puck. Fair? Why would I care? I've got a bunker to maintain.

I think my favorite part is it's an op-ed by authors hocking their own book with "the plot to destroy football" in its title. The plot to destroy football!

This is less surprising than Derek Anderson throwing footballs to the wrong team.

More nonsense. He's looked great every time he plays...he just gets suspended all the time.

Smith had a career season last year with 26 TDs and 4000 yards, but his other 5 years in KC he was the same guy he's always been: good for around 20ish TDs and 3400ish yards. So sure, he may have benefited from the Chiefs offense...but Mahomes might tie Smith's passing TD total from last season in only 8 games! As a first-time starter! Would Mahomes be setting records for proficiency in his first year as a starter in Buffalo, all else equal? Almost certainly not. But given the gargantuan leap he's been over Smith in the same environment, I'm not going to sit here and downplay it too much, either. Some guys are so great they can thrive regardless of circumstances. After walking in the QB wilderness for two decades, the Bills traded away from a QB who is setting the league on fire in order to draft a corner and need to trade a bunch of assets next year to get a giant question mark at QB. We all love Tre White, I think, but what an apocalyptic blunder. Unless Allen turns out great, I'll never get over this. The whole thing makes me want to go full-Liger.

The off-field/suspension concerns are fair, but there's no evidence to support this.

Does that change anyone’s view of the matter? I still think it reflects an antiquated view of offensive foobaw. Nope. The first part of the quote didn't quite tilt me the way it tilted some, either. I don't need McDermott to tell me what his philosophy is in words--he does so in actions. And his actions say he's as old school as old school comes.

I mean, if he was flourishing like he is because of all of that...why didn't Alex Smith? He had the same stuff, sans Watkins. I think Bills fans falling back on coach/system/players around him are really just relying on a coping mechanism for the fact we traded out of that spot and we're now watching QBs either incapable of completing a pass, or incapable of completing a pass to the right team. He was my QB2 that year! Sure, Kizer was my QB1, but I had the order pretty well set: Kizer > Mahomes > Watson > Trubisky. Obviously I was WAY off on Kizer (I'm a Notre Dame homer, leave me alone), but I'd still keep the rest of the order the same.

Actually, it's completely believable ?

Put differently, it's the difference between 2005-06 league scoring and 2015-16 league scoring. It's quite significant.

If true, kinda weird how he's never scored more than 63.

Some people just want to watch the world burn ? I. Hate. Jeff. Skinner.

https://www.sportingcharts.com/articles/nhl/average-goals-scored-per-game-in-the-nhl.aspx 05-06 for sure, but that wasn't one of Vanek's >63 point seasons. Vanek's second best season (rated purely by raw points, because I don't have time for more thorough analysis) was in 2010-11 with 73 points, and the average team was scoring 2.73 goals per game. That 2.73 goals per game was the same as in 2016-17, when you guessed it, Jeff Skinner had....*drum roll*.....63 points. Vanek was in his 6th season and Skinner in his 7th, respectively, so it's not like Vanek was a more developed hockey player. Again, Skinner's possession metrics have been better, and I wouldn't be surprised if his even strength scoring rates were better. I'm just saying, it's not clear on the surface that Skinner is better. Edit: Incoming sarcasm. Vanek is a +9 on his career, whereas Skinner is -87. So obviously good ol' Tom was light-years ahead of Skinner defensively. That seems high to me. I'm anticipating more like $j7.5-$8M over 7 years.

Well, in 8 season as a pro, Skinner has never exceeded 63 points. Vanek did it 4 of his first 8 years. Skinner's career points-per-game average is 0.66, whereas Vanek's is 0.78. Skinner has traditionally had better possession metrics and is certainly the better player right now, but comparing him to Vanek in his prime is a whole 'nother animal.

Who is a better clapper while their team is losing: Sean McDermott or Jason Garrett?

How many teams are currently unable to compete because they're too shallow due to paying elite players top money?

All of them producing elite-level offense. Teams don't get into cap trouble by paying elite players, they get into cap trouble by overpaying for (or over-committing to) the Milan Lucic's of the world.

If you can't bring yourself to have some fun with this, you'll go insane. One thing is for sure: winning certainly hasn't begotten winning.