That Aud Smell

I just overheard this at the coffee machine, and it's a fun bit of trivia. Maybe I can even get @PASabreFan to play. Thompson's 6-point game is one of - what is now - ten such games in franchise history. (The record is a 7-point game - done once.) WITHOUT LOOKING IT UP, can you name the other five players (excluding Thompson) who've had a 6-point game as a Sabre? (Including the 7-point game would not change the number of players to be identified in response to the question.)

This take ignores what schemes the Bills were using and what techniques the front 4 were using once the ball was snapped. The Bills wanted the Packers to run the ball. I'm sure there are some things they want to clean up, but I don't think it's fair to say that the Bills D-line got bullied. I certainly don't think that Aaron Jones thinks that.

Riffing off the thread title: The story appears to be that Thompson is a legitimate top-6 NHL centre. With a reasonable contract.

It's a plausible theory. The point Weave raises below is also fair. There's also the possibility that Green Bay made adjustments at half time. Because, at the half and especially after the Bills surgically got a bonus 3 points right before the half (preceded by a throwaway that almost turned into a TD to Davis), I figured the Bills were gonna hang 40 on them. The one where he went out at the 1? That was scary.

The d corps is effing ravaged. Sheesh.

I don’t get the concern with Green Bay’s running numbers. On or around that GB drive where they made it 27-17 (might have been the one where they got stopped on 4th and 1), my son turned to me (we attended) and said “they’re basically running the clock out on themselves.” The corners - especially Taron - need to be stout tacklers in this scheme. @Doohickiemakes a valid point. There was a colour commentator for an away game (Rams? Collinsworth?) who made an ominous observation about how the opponent was running at Taron’s side. And it seemed to be an issue. Until it wasn’t. Had Allen taken better care of the ball last night, the game wouldn’t have been as close as it seemed. You have to pick your poison in this league. The Bills make a defensible choice in term of which poison they pick.

Big Phil is a problem.

fwiw:

Let's go, Buffalo!

JUST WIN, BABY. They needed that one.

NFW the Sabres lose.

LFG, BUFFALO!!

False paradigm.

i don't see skinner's puck skills as being sufficiently precise for a power play 1 unit. i'd prefer olofsson there. for sure. i do not understand.

not my style, sport.

Fair. He's a smart guy. And, last I checked, he's a pretty gifted writer who's worked that gift in order to make it shine. I have reasons -- that I'm not at liberty to share (lame, I know -- sorry) -- for being a bit harsh. I'll only offer: For reasons that are not public (AFAIK), he's owed a comeuppance. I'll let my reasoned discourse on the topic speak for itself. And - notwithstanding my periodic disagreements with them - I'll refrain from insulting other posters by likening their reasoned thought process to a child's tantrum.

You've answered your own question. I've heard that or inferred it before around here. I've explained why I view the matter the way I do. If you've read and comprehended what I've posted and find it weird, so be it. FTFY.

Let's go, Buffalo! A clunker on the 4th game of a west coast trip isn't much cause for concern. But failing to bounce back from that clunker could be. Also: We are only a few games of status quo away from the power play being a 4-alarm fire. I want this team to challenge for a playoff spot. There's no effing way they'll sniff the playoffs with a power play like the one they have.

We’ve debated that to death upthread. I’m just pointing out that Graham’s full of sh1t. (Also, he acknowledges in the quoted excerpt what there is to be gained.)

Facile and revisionist. I wonder if he deleted his Tweets where he said he wouldn’t risk losing access (to senior PSE officers) in order to investigate the matter further.

Fwiw

Calgary outshooting Pittsburgh 20-2 with a couple minutes left in the 1st. (2-0 favouring CAL.)

^ I see that chart indicating that the Bills O-line is shmokay at pass protection, which, with 17 at QB, is most likely good enough. And then they're poor with the run blocking, which makes sense. That said, I was encouraged by the KC game - the run game showed up. Anyway, I agree that getting a good O-lineman would be their best move ahead of the trade deadline.

Who would come off the field in favour of a new guy? Bates? Brown (Quessenbery)?

Fair. And yet.