That Aud Smell

Several other leading Republicans now reportedly testing positive. NFW this is a hoax — they’ve got a super spreader in their midst. That’s how this thing spreads, evidently. Like 1 in 6 or 7 (?) who have it account for 80%+ of all transmissions.

See ya over at the off topic thread?

Boris got a post-COVID bump. It's borderline tinfoil hat stuff to think that this is a hoax, a ploy.

The Eichel trade thread got shut down. B.S.

A little (?)

^ Which is not inconsistent with Eichel having given the organization an ultimatum.

yeah, man - i want blue check mark corroboration that dreger said that. Welp?

I think that’s an obtuse reading of what McKenzie put out there. I’m not saying there’s a fire or will be a fire, but I am confident based on who McKenzie is that there’s some smoke there.

Put me in the camp of people who think it's enormously significant that Bob McKenzie was the one to put this out there. It will suck royally if the Sabres squander Eichel. While the chances of that happening seemed somewhat marginal to me as of February 2020 (~25%), those chances now seem closer to even or even better than 50% given the havoc that the pandemic has wrought on pro sport finances.

True enough. It's possible that they'll be peaking at the wrong time. OTOH, it's also possible that they're just going to curb stomp everyone on their way to a 2nd consecutive Lombardi trophy.

I hear you. I did not have the benefit of watching the game, but, based on what I heard from people whose opinion I respect, the Rams came on like a house of fire not because our D choked or let up on the gas, or whatever, but because the Rams coaches figured out better ways to attack our defense, and did so on an in-game basis. Full marks to them. I think that the Rams are good this year - maybe really good.

It's strange business, isn't it? I'm not sure what to make of the D's struggles to date. Well, insofar as the Rams are concerned, I am comfortable with the notion that they got figured-out as the game went on by one of the league's great coaches. This may go to show why it's so much more important to have an excellent QB than it is to have an excellent D. It's so, so hard to maintain an excellent defensive unit/level of performance, for a variety of reasons. And the league is just geared to favour the QB and his side of the ball. Even so, I expect the D to regroup and have some solid outings in the coming 3 weeks.

Further to the same point: If the defense can pull its sh1t together, a QB who's just a bit less like Mahomes, and a little more like the hero ball idiot of days past, would still be good enough for a deep (and exhilarating) playoff run.

Yeah, for sure. I edited my response to indicate that I saw where you were coming from -- that Nate Silver was unfairly criticized for failing to identify a Trump victory as possible (when, in fact, he did just that - he just saw it as unlikely). Reading that in the sober light of day, it doesn't sound as nasty as I'd first inferred. I mean, they've even got "probably", "little less", and "bit more" in there. That's probably right, going forward to Week 4. Isn't there something stankier in there? Such as: "Additionally, Josh Allen just frickin sucks lol."

Understood. I'm not referring to anyone's take on the player as a prospect (at which time, I think it was fair to see him as having a huge ceiling and a deeply subterranean floor). What I was talking about was that someone at 538 published something last week taking a sh1t on Allen, saying he was still junk and that good numbers against the Jets and Dolphins meant little. Or something like that - I glossed it with my #BillsMafia fanboi glasses on.

Not quite sure I follow this*, but, at the very least, their take on Allen has been shown to be stupid for another week. * Okay, I get it now. https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ref/nate-silver-was-right.html The who now?

^ I saw that. Am I mistaken in having the sense that 538’s reputation has never recovered from the 2016 election?

penciled in as the 4C? this means no larsson?

I know it's a lol point, but there's a lot of truth to that. I have a friend who grew up doing golden gloves and now trains in MMA (doesn't fight, mind you - we're old), and he's become a bit of a student of martial arts. He's resolute that the best foundation for MMA is wrestling.

^ That's more in-line with what I saw.

Yeah - I'm not seeing it from PFF. For me, the analytics needs to square with what you're watching. A couple seasons ago, when the Sabres had that bonkers win streak early in the season -- their basic advanced stats were not good and any observant fan knew that they were whistling past the graveyard for most of those wins, but, whatever, it was fun. I watched that game against the Dolphins. Allen was good. He wasn't perfect, to be sure. But he was really, really good. PFF says he had the 13th best game from a QB in Week 2? GTFO.

^ The PFF stuff is confusing to me, for sure. What are they factoring in? Elements like good luck/bad luck? Throws that should have been picked off and weren't, etc.?

He's been their best player so far this season, for sure. The Texans are taking a lot of heat for moving on from Hopkins - the Vikings arguably deserve the same heat.

It's a small sample size, but Allen is looking like a legitimate difference-maker (as in the good kind) at the game's most important position. The D struggled without their two studs in the middle -- that, and FitzMagic was just having one of those games he has sometimes. Oh, and I think the Bills' defensive coaches got out-coached by their counterparts from Miami. The Bills did well to win against a team that seemed sort of destined to pull off an upset.

It’s a little like marking the migratory path of birds. Now and then, a group of board regulars sincerely question @PASabreFan’s fandom, sanity, etc. There’s no bigger fan of the franchise on this board. You may not care for how he goes about it, but that’s just a matter of personal taste. I haven’t seen the Staal videos or heard any interviews. I’ll have a look/listen and then chime in on whether he appears like a laid back professional or a guy thinking of retiring rather than going to Buffalo.