Hoss

In the West I only really see one “lock” and that’s Nashville. That’s being very conservative, I know, but I’m not incredibly confident a lot of these teams can repeat their performances from last year. I’m skeptical about Winnipeg keeping it up but do see them as very near a lock. I don’t see Vegas being anywhere in the realm they were. Minnesota has been treading water and may have gotten worse (can they expect 40 goals from Eric Staal again?). Anaheim is in that same boat. I think the main threats to San Jose and St. Louis are the up and comers or bounce back teams like Colorado, Dallas, Calgary, Edmonton and maybe even Chicago. I see at least one of them being locked in (feel better about San Jose who is maybe the second best team in the West. At this moment I think the West is a pretty clear top three of Nashville, San Jose and Winnipeg then ??? 1. Nashville 2. San Jose 3. Winnipeg 4. Calgary 5. Anaheim 6. Colorado 7. Minnesota 8. St. Louis Edmonton/LA/Dallas I have very little confidence beyond the top three.

Mine based on Pronman’s tiers: Tier 1: Dahlin Tier 2: Mittelstadt Tier 3: none Tier 4: Nylander, Thompson Tier 5: Asplund, Samuelsson, Ullmark, Davidsson, Guhle, Olofsson Tier 6: Lukkonen, Borgen, Nelson, Lakksonen, Pilut, Smith Tier 7: Bailey, Baptiste, Hickey, Malone, Ogilvie, Pekar, Fitz, O’Regan

It was an honest question.

Fielding a handful of balls a game is not comparable to throwing upwards of 120 pitches. The preparation for the two is entirely different and pitchers exist to pitch above all else. I can see an argument on either side, but I don’t see this reasoning being one of them.

The civil complaint specifically mentions that McCoy had a role in the attack, to be clear. Some of the details in the suit claimed by Cordon: - McCoy knew of and played a role in the attack (does not claim he was present) - He repeatedly abused his son, their dog and her - he changed his ways after she pleaded with him so they stayed together but he went back to abuser before too long - the attacker on July 10th specifically named McCoy when attacking her

For those that think four cups wouldn’t be “success” for the Sabres tank is it purely because you believe nothing will ever cover for the moral questions you have of the tank? If so, do you no longer root for the Sabres?

The Leafs 100% tanked. It was blatant.

Amazing, innit? People routinely call other people’s opinions bad. I actually haven’t had a single issue since returning, luckily. It’s been a better culture here. The only slight issue was someone freaking out because I had the same original thought as them and they didn’t like that.

To your first question: because they’re very different things. It’s not the fault of a tank if management fails to piece together the rest of the roster. Can you win trades during a rebuild that fails? Everyone seems to think we won the O’Reilly trade. Can you have good drafts? Yes. To the second question: the point of the tank was to acquire either Eichel or McDavid which should eventually lead to good hockey. To the third question: heck yes, drafting first overall every year is bound to lead to success!!!! ?

This is what my post was in response to. The Oilers won four championships in that timeframe. I imagine he’s talking about the four championships the Isles won. And I also imagine he meant the portion of the late-60s/70s where the Habs won seven or eight. For someone to somehow twist their minds to say that winning four championships with the core established through the tank years would not be successful is mindless.

This is something people really struggle to grasp. The tank is PART of a rebuild, not a rebuild itself.

How dare I forget just how far anti-tankers will go to make sure the tank can never be defined a success.

Mack is the most intriguing one because of a previous stated desire to play here. Others that fit what we’ll need: Le’Veon Bell is almost guaranteed to be available Geno Atkins and Jadeveon Clowney. Ali Marpet highlights a good list of guards. Beane has made most of his work via trade, though.

Another inside look at a reliable CapFriendly-type website: http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2018/02/15/spotrac-follows-the-money-of-pro-spots Not as in-depth as above but that's the difference between day-turn television news and long-form print.

What gives me confidence in the Bills going forward is how much this team changed even after breaking the drought. Beane and Co. could've easily just rested on that, but they knew they weren't going anywhere near prolonged and meaningful success as constructed. And I don't want to get way ahead of ourselves here but there's a pretty good chance this team is going to have even bigger changes next offseason. Looking at contracts some guys that seem to make sense on the chopping block: LeSean McCoy: save $6,425,000 on a $9,050,000 salary if cut Jerry Hughes: save $7,500,000 on a $10,400,000 salary if cut Charles Clay: save $4,500,000 on s $9,000,000 salary if cut Kyle Williams: seems very likely to be his last year Kelvin Benjamin, Lorenzo Alexander and Vontae Davis are the key free agents. They're going into next offseason with $70M in cap space (second in the league behind the Jets at $78M) and the three cuts above get them to nearly $90M. This is a big part of why I think this current season is mostly one for building on the few young guys they've got.

The offensive line took a big step back. Wood and Incognito out and guys like Ducasse/Bodine replacing them (they're both abysmal). I really like what I saw from Dawkins last year, but offensive lineman are more prone to sophomore slumps than most so relying on him at the most important spot on the line will be interesting. And it'll impact McCoy who was electric last year but clearly not the player he used to be. I imagine this offensive line will accelerate the downturn of his career... if he doesn't end up arrested/suspended (not counting on it). The team was also near the top in turnover margin which is a big reason they were winning unlikely matchups last year (like Atlanta where they were given two takeaways by the refs) but that's a very unstable stat year to year AND they got rid of Tyrod. While I was never a believer in Tyrod his ability to avoid turnovers was big for the team last year, and it doesn't look like any of the three guys they have right now will be anywhere near that. They might be able to push the ball down the field with their arms more but I'm not confident any of them will be an upgrade to him immediately. I'll also be interested to see how the defensive backfield does this year. Poyer and Hyde played to a level they've never even really been close to before. Can they repeat that? They've also both had some injury troubles -- will that be an issue? Can Tre White build off his rookie season? He was great but so was Ronald Darby in his rookie season and he quickly went downhill after that.

The Bills were bad last year, REALLY bad. And BARELY snuck into the playoffs (guess it was easy to get in last year). Like they got in in an incredibly unlikely scenario at the last moment possible. And they almost assuredly got much worse.

I always have been, yes. Glad it has worked out to this point. The rest of the process needs to start working, though. I’m not advocating for the Bills to tank (I was in the preseason last year due to the QBs in the draft), but I think they’re bad and I don’t think plodding to 7-9 (ironically referred to as “winning” above) does anything for anyone. There’s a very real chance Josh Allen has a full redshirt year ahead and I some of key core members of this team (McCoy, Kyle, maybe even Benjamin) will be gone after this year. The only top talent on this team: Poyer, Hyde, White, Dawkins (and have all only done it for one year) and then potential top talent: Allen, Edmunds. They need some serious high-end talent. They’ve got one of the worst groups of young players.

There’s a reason I was turned off and stayed away for almost two years. Seems to be mostly a more welcoming place these days so that’s appreciated. I remember having thought about Reinhart vs Sharp so early that I mentioned him wearing 10 in Kootenay as a connection.

No. He won’t be able to now that he’s signed the contract.

Watching that Rosen had several opportunities with a clean pocket. One he gets his full drop back and take one step up before someone touches him and it was incomplete. Another he threw a pick six (corner dropped it). Another he threw into triple coverage for an incompletion. His first throw was a completion with a clean pocket (hit as he throws but play design was for him to take a short drop and get it out). The last two are good throws where his receiver does him no favors. Clean pockets but and good throw where no adjustment was made.

Allen dealt with the same. I imagine these teams are smart enough to give them some run with the first teams even if they’re not likely to start.

Anyone worried about what Rosen looked like: made one good play (low snap, pocket not steady so he stepped up and to the side to deliver a 21 yard strike). Finished 6/13 for 41 yards (so outside of the one good play he was 5/12 for 20 yards.

I imagine it’s very possible two people had the same original thought.

I think there’s a decent chance they are indeed drafting in the top five. Maybe someone remembers where that statistical breakdown that concluded last year’s team was actually the second worst of the entire drought? They got worse. So the ton of luck they had heaped on them last year would have to save them double this time around.