That Aud Smell

Bro - the fake punt. That's McDermott in a nutshell. Coaches a solid game, and then barfs on himself at a crucial juncture. The fact that that call didn't lose the game was a stroke of good fortune for him.

Interesting thought experiment. Maybe. OTOH, I feel like we know what tends to come from an invitation to losing. More losing. My enjoyment of my favourite sports teams isn't pinned on titles. I'm in it to enjoy the ride. What the Bills did late in the season was fun. The playoffs were fun as well, albeit very disappointing last night. From my perch in the 300s, I really and truly thought that the Bills were going to get their go-ahead touchdown and then we'd all be sh1tting ourselves as Mahomes took the field with however much time he'd have been left. Oh well.

The same Bill whose Patriots got absolutely toasted in the wildcard cold game in Buffalo? Nah.

No idea whose blog this is, but I'm encouraged by this breakdown of the 2024 WR class. 2. Wide Receiver Top-10 Grades: 2 Top-50 Grades: 9 Top-100 Grades: 13 Heading into the season I thought the 2024 class of receivers would be better than the 2023 class, but this year’s group has become a different animal altogether. We could legitimately see this class challenge the record for most receivers taken in the first round (seven, in 2004). Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s Malik Nabers, Florida State’s Keon Coleman, and Washington’s Rome Odunze are all stone-cold locks at this point. LSU’s Brian Thomas Jr., Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka and South Carolina’s Xavier Legette, along with the Texas duo of Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell, all have a shot of hearing their name called on the first day of the draft as well. Unlike a year ago, there’s no shortage of different body types and skillsets at the position either. I’d categorize the top options in the class is as follows: X-Receivers (Big-Bodied No. 1’s) Marvin Harrison Jr, Ohio State Keon Coleman, Florida State Rome Odunze, Washington Xavier Legette, South Carolina Adonai Mitchell, Texas Vertical Threats (Movable Speedsters) Malik Nabers, LSU Brian Thomas Jr., LSU Xavier Worthy, Texas Ladd McConkey, Georgia Troy Franklin, Oregon Y-Receivers (Savvy No. 2’s) Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State Ja’Lynn Polk, Washington Roman Wilson, Michigan The one position where there’s, arguably, few if any high-end options is pure slot receivers like we saw a year ago. I’m sure NFL teams won’t be complaining about that given the preponderance of talent elsewhere. https://themessenger.com/sports/2024-nfl-draft-strongest-weakest-position-groups *Edited to remove spam post of Twitter profile. The above was written by a guy named Mike Renner.

This is the team's #1 need. Full stop. Diggs is probably at a point where he's not a true #1. He can still be very good. But he needs help. Hopefully that help comes in the form of a drafted, cost-controlled WR who's got good size and then one additional elite attribute -- be it hands, contested catch ability, speed, catch radius, zone beating smarts, etc.

These two Tweets encapsulate and confirm what I felt about that failed throw to Shakir. Good call, great opportunity -- they just missed it. Chris Jones pushing the Bills guard into Allen's feet played a role. That throw was fu*king spectacular, especially given the conditions and circumstances. It's a low percentage play in the abstract, but not so low when you have 17 throwing a fu*king 65 yard laser beam in a cold breeze. And, Jesus Christ on a popsicle stick, he put it right on him. 14 just could not bring it in. I know that's a tough play for the WR. But FFS.

perhaps i was unclear. I meant power play production (goals) is the difference between last season and this season.

I somewhat recently heard Granato say that the principal difference between this year's team and last year's team is the power play. That the even strength goals are about the same. Is this true? It's incredible to me that there's been no change with the assistant coach who's responsible for the power play.

Yeah - I saw that as well. It's one of this team's main storylines. They can be defensively good, good, good, good, good, HORRENDOUS, good, good ... and so on. Just huge lapses.

This is a thing. The Sabres are easy to play against. They tend to do pretty well when they play against teams that are similarly constituted. And they tend to get trucked when they play against teams that are hard to play against. By the way. Being hard to play against doesn't mean that you're a team full of natural born thumpers. It's more a mindset and approach to the game.

I tuned in a little late and wasn’t immediately aware that they didn’t have Bedard in the lineup. As I watched, it steadily dawned on me: The Blackhawks look every bit the part of an AHL team. I mean woof. There were times when Sabre players were carrying the puck and wound up looking like a star from the 80s Oilers. Several Blackhawk players were just pylons out there.

On some level, I do. I mean I understand where it comes from. There are certainly things to point to, to cite as evidence that #BillsMafia is dumb, hypocritical, lame, etc. But I think all of that's misplaced, wasted energy. And I agree that it's way more fun to put your arms around #BillsMafia and promote it as a slogan (metaphysical repository?) for everything that's good about being linked by Bills fandom. There's a choice to be made, as there usually is. Go Bills. and it ain't all good, btw. there's plenty that's not so great to downright awful. but that's the human experience, innit? and there's a choice to be made on where one's focus will settle.

let's go, buffalo.

I see that I’m in the crushing grip of reason. Uncle. Hmm. Maybe?

this take is popular right now. i agree that brady wound up looking better following their divorce. but i just can't get down with this theory. there are plenty of incredible QB's who haven't found postseason success. that team was an unprecedented dynasty because of the head coach and the QB - not necessarily in that order. if people insist on quantifying it, maybe a larger share of credit belongs to brady? but not by much.

Orchard Park (and the City of Buffalo) in line for another 1-3' of snow starting tonight and into mid-day Thursday. That stadium is going to be an absolute sh1t show. Yesterday was bad enough. I have no idea how they're going to manage this. They just can't get enough bodies (and backs) into the stadium to remove the snow. Fans at the stadium will pine again for the days of Ralph's fleet of motor coaches showing up at all area homeless shelters and taking the able bodied to the stadium for snow removal.

It is *the* problem with this Sabre player, afaic.

Respectfully, then, I think you’re good with the Sabres not being a good NHL team. I want and need more/different from my team’s top winger. The Hurricanes did too.

He's my favourite Sabre and honestly it isn't close. [Old man yells at cloud alert]: He plays the game the right way.

I disavow those dinosaurs - truly. That said, I'm just done valuing ostensibly high-performing players on sh1tty Sabre teams. What did Swamp say? And, yes.

Included in my recent largely irrational/somewhat rational turn against this iteration of my beloved Sabres is being out on Skinner. So - addition by subtraction is my take, I suppose.

Imperfect though they are, the Bills are among the league’s hottest teams at the moment. You have Josh coming off a 425 total yards game. And now it appears likely that the weather will turn this game into a randomized toss up. Sorta sucks.

Yep. All the talk about "yo, this is Buffalo, we're built for this sort of weather" is nonsense. At least insofar as this team is concerned. And probably insofar as the NFL is concerned generally. The winter weather talk made for a good Steve Tasker cigar-smoking hype video. But this is a passing league. The Bills are a passing team. We would have been better served by a climate-controlled facility. I just don't think the economics worked.

If you have the stomach for it, you will probably be able to get tickets selling at a loss a couple hours before game time. #BillsMafia has a very good brand and national reputation. The reality is a bit more nuanced. There's no 10-year waiting list to get season tickets in Buffalo like there is in Pittsburgh. And the demand for wildcard round playoff games in Buffalo is pretty weak. I'll be mildly concerned if they hire Vrabel. He's a very good head coach. His teams are always prepared and play hard. I would not expect him to take New England back to its previous era of dominance (perhaps not unless another generational QB is drafted), but, even so, having him in the division would not be good news for the Bills.