That Aud Smell

I hear what you're saying. And with the expanded playoff field, I reckon GMs and coaches will have an easier time hanging onto their positions. I just think that if Allen detonates as a bust, the chances of Beane ultimately surviving that are slim. "Ultimately" is the key there -- Beane could get time beyond cutting ties with Allen (if it came to that (pray not!!)); I don't think it would be much, though.

There are no guarantees on how this shakes out (take, for example, the very real and open questions about Josh Allen as the QB1), but I will say this: Beane has proven himself to be a sharp ass motherfunkster. He's been really smart about how and when he builds. And even for all of that, if he and his team were wrong about Allen, then there'll likely be no saving him. That's generally how it is in the NFL, of course.

Bills signed a special teams ace / backup LB today (formerly with Pittsburgh). I'm more amused than I should be that he (1) looks like McDermott's brother and (2) looks like Trent Murphy's cousin.

Interesting. As for the NFC South being a bit light on competition, you've got the Saints and Falcons, yeah? I know the Falcons have been down, but they should (?) be good again? And the Saints should still be good? Or nah. Similar reasoning: Why would he go to the Chargers and have to contend with Mahomes?

Brady to Tampa would be nothing less than bizarre. Who's coaching there now? I mean - if he goes there, it's gotta be about what happened with Manning when he went to the Broncos, yeah? Where the veteran QB comes in and tells the team what they're running as an offence.

I really like the trade for Diggs for all of the reasons noted above. Accumulate assets, and then strike big. Smart asset management. Nothing in guaranteed, but it’s as smart a move as one could hope for. Now: To get Allen to hit on deep balls at a respectable clip.

To my surprise, I am sort of grateful to the NFL for some unimportant (but interesting) news to distract from the other major awfulness out there.

Holy Jesus, Bill O'Brien. The guy has an absolute stud and monster at QB. He's risked ending Watson's career early with dubious play calling and porous protection schemes/personnel. And now he's traded away Watson's #1 weapon, and taken the short end of the stick in so doing.

Fwiw, in the Buffalo City Schools, the school building engineer (who employs the maintenance staff) is actually paid a lump sum (or sums) at or around year’s start, and he (she?) figures everything out from there.

^ Fair point re villains, etc. Still: WTF, Pegulas?

Not an unfair criticism re Jack and other highly salaried Sabres. 19 year old Zion Williamson is floating his (NBA) arena’s workers.

Can anyone catch me up on why the Pegulas are getting excoriated on Twitter for what they’re doing/not doing with paying arena workers, etc.?

He’s got it backwards. You close the schools to mitigate worsening numbers; you don’t close the schools in the face of worsening numbers. By the time he closes them, it will be too late to do any good.

hey, and shout out to @X. Benedict who educated me to the reality that, quite contrary to a narrative that emerged, Connolly was the direct opposite of "soft" -- dude was, in point of fact, quite fearless in terms of the positions in which he put himself on the ice.

Contract.

Peak Tim Connolly was among my top-10 favourite Sabres, ever. So, so fun to watch.

30 days is the estimated maximum period of quarantine (I think I misused the term isolation above). That's because it's essentially impossible to do more. This isn't about stopping it; it's about slowing it down. There is no stopping it. Angela Merkel (sp?) of Germany stated that ~70% of all Germans will contract the virus. The questions is, over what period of time will those infections occur.

An educated guess: In the next 10-14 days, give or take, most U.S. populations will be directed to isolate themselves for a ~30-day period. That’s the only way to flatten the curve.

My guess? Many, many NHL (and SC playoff) games will be played in front of empty arenas. The people whom I know personally and trust on such matters are essentially unanimous (okay, it's 3 people, but still): This thing is about to bust wide open in the U.S.

The Sharks have some schedule changes to make now that their local county has banned gatherings of 1000 or more people. https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/coronavirus-san-jose-sharks-may-have-to-play-in-empty-arena-after-santa-clara-ban-on-mass-gatherings/

That's what is encouraging to me. He's proven that he's a fit in this scheme. It's a low-risk move, anyway.

Shrewd.