JohnRobertEichel

This is my take as well on this particular message board. McDermott and Beane are also equally hated here. It will take a playoff spot next year to change the consensus.

It's not at all hard to figure out. The Miami game was their 8th loss and the nail in the coffin for their playoff hopes. Before then, it was worth more to keep Benjamin around and hope he'd get his interest in being a #1 WR back. Or at least be a useful decoy and injury insurance. But now that they're (all but mathematically) eliminated at 4-8, it's more important to get the younger WR's their reps and figure out what they have at this position. We all knew KB wasn't returning next year.

Manuel's circumstances were different. He was a Whaley/Nix pick, and both Marrone and Ryan didn't care much for him. Allen is coming into a situation where both the GM and HC are fully on board with him. I bet you that Allen will get all of 2019 and 2020 to show that he's a franchise QB. That would be 44 NFL games played for him, barring any injuries. If Allen doesn't take the Bills to the playoffs by that point, all 3 will be gone by 2021 (Allen, McDermott, Beane). A couple interesting stats: 1. Allen currently has the 3rd most rushing yards for a QB, behind Newton and Jackson. He easily could be the #1 rushing QB by the end of the season. Regardless of what you think about QB's that run a lot, that is still an impressive stat for a rookie. 2. Allen's QB rating is bottom of the league, but fellow rookies Darnold and Rosen are both right there with him. Mayfield is noticeably higher, but even he is still comfortably within the bottom half of starting QB's. The conclusion I'm drawing from this is not necessarily that Allen is garbage, but rather that it's hard to play QB in the NFL as a rookie. The learning curve is steep, and highly touted rookie QB's often go to teams that are terrible.

Was anyone really expecting to feel this way about Josh Allen after playing in 8 NFL games with one of the worst supporting casts of OL, WR, TE, and RB we've ever seen?

Didn't get to watch the game, but I just finished watching the highlights... Risto's goal....are you ***** kidding me???!!!! And Skinner....this guy is elevating his game to 92-93 Mogilny levels....how you like them STEAMED HAMS???!!!!

Too many of us fans fail to keep in mind that overall positive player development doesn't typically follow a constantly positive trajectory.

While the target is the 2020-21 season, I've also heard that Seattle may not realistically start play until as late as the 2021-22 season. That would certainly change things, in terms of player protection for the expansion draft. So I decided to just list those whom I think are the most valuable 7 forwards / 3 defensemen / 1 goalie currently in the organization: G: Ullmark D: Dahlin, Risto, McCabe F: Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Mitts, Thompson, Nylander, Olofsson

So just how good are people thinking this Pilut guy could be? Top pair? Second pair? Bottom pair?

I was just about to post about how I haven't been this excited about Sabres hockey since 2007.

Ok, well I'll give it a shot. I expect the Sabres to be a borderline playoff team in February. I expect San Jose's 1st to be in the low 20's and the St. Louis pick to be deferred to next year because it will be top 10. So in this scenario, I would be willing to trade either our 2019 first (lottery-protected) or San Jose's 2019 first for a top-line RW rental that could help make the Skinner-Eichel line dominant. I wouldn't feel comfortable offering much more than one first, nor would I be comfortable offering up any 2020 first rounders unless they were lottery-protected.

That's awesome. What a nice free agent pick-up Pilut may turn out to be. Anyone know how Guhle is doing? I haven't heard much about him in a while.

This is a tough question to answer because the devil is in the details. Where are we in the division standings in February? Where are the Sharks and the Blues? What caliber of a rental player are we talking about? What position does he play? All I can tell you is that I seem to value winning in the present much more than the average Buffalo sports fan on the internet these days.

Interesting to note that 9 players in our organization were selected within the top 8 picks of their respective draft years: Eichel, Skinner, Reinhart, Okposo, Mittelstadt, Nylander, Dahlin, Ristolainen, and Bogosian. Outside the top 8 but still within the 1st round we have 4 more: Berglund, Girgensons, Beaulieu, and Thompson. So using the highly limited data sample of just our own NHL organization, there may be something to the idea that NHL draft picks outside the low 1st round may indeed be overrated in terms of talent, likelihood of making the NHL, and time it takes to develop. My opinion on the OP's question: yes, we absolutely must be buyers if playoffs are still within reach in February. The 7-year playoff drought needs to be broken. A winning culture needs to be grown ASAP. The end goal is always to win the Stanley Cup. If that is somehow looking like a possibility in another few months, you go for it because you never know what the future will bring (horrible injuries, salary cap crunch, etc.).

It sucks that we are still only third best in our division. The presence of Tampa Bay and Toronto in our division is highly problematic for our long-term Stanley Cup plans.

Sam's future here is as the second line RW, along with Nylander at LW and Mitts at C. The obvious problem right now is that Mitts is still developing and Nylander is still in the minors. So I would continue to be a bit more patient with him.

Ideally? Yes, of course. External factors, however, will dictate the order in which a roster can be built. Namely, the draft year in which franchise QB's can be selected. Beane and McDermott weren't impressed with the QB options in 2017 or 2019, but they were for 2018. Should they not have sat at #10 and picked Mahomes last season even though the OL wasn't properly constructed?

Fine, but are you also willing to acknowledge that Beane and McDermott can't address every position adequately in two off-seasons? I'm pretty sure the plan has been to fully deal with WR, OL, and the #2 CB in the spring when they will have $90 million cap space and 10 draft picks to use. Can you also acknowledge that the sudden unexpected retirements of Wood, Incognito, and Vontae Davis might have further constrained their plans? Or that Kelvin Benjamin's strange, precipitous drop from top-25 NFL WR to lazy, marginal practice squader affects how the rest of the WR corps perform? And are you able to give a little credit for Beane and McDermott attempting to improve the WR's by adding Foster, McKenzie, and Thompson for their speed? Or how about the emergence of Wyatt Teller at LG? Or Johnson at slot CB? Or White as a top-5 NFL CB? Levi Wallace at outside CB? Or for that matter, how about the job he's done at creating the #1 NFL defense after facing a very difficult first-half schedule? I definitely should have reworded my post so as not to suggest Peterman was the only bad decision they've made. However, all of the bad decisions at QB that they've made are kind of related to him. Benching Tyrod last year, trading Tyrod, trading McCarron before the first game, starting Allen too early in his career, forcing Anderson onto the field a week after picking him up off the streets...they all kind of stem from the singular, wrong idea that Peterman is a capable NFL QB. Even the worst-in-NFL-history WR corps and OL looked adequate when Barkley took over behind center. I just want to reiterate that I'm not a Beane/McDermott apologist; however, there is certainly valid room for opinions on this message board that are looking at the long-term picture and are waiting to pass judgment until more data is gathered. I'll revisit this topic after the next 6 games are played. I expect to see non-trivial improvement from the offense and from Allen after all the bye week changes have been made. I also expect more wins now that we are playing the easier half of the schedule. If not....well then....

No doubt. This regime has yet to prove that they know how to build an offense and identify a QB capable of producing in the modern NFL. However, the regime optimists have a valid opinion as well. They are looking at this rebuilding project beyond the 1.5 season mark. They see the plan as: Year 1: remove all the bad apples from the Rex Ryan Era, i.e. players without the self-discipline or work ethic to succeed in a team environment despite whatever individual talent they possess; establish the framework for the defense. Year 2: eat the remaining salary cap dead weight; find a franchise QB; elevate defense to playoff-caliber; establish framework for offense. Year 3: use draft and free agency to put finishing touches on defense (DL depth, #2 CB) and add key pieces to offense (OL, WR); get franchise QB more experience; get playoff experience. Year 4: fill in roster gaps with another off-season of draft and free agency; I presume contend for SuperBowl?

Or maybe he's just providing an alternative point of view for a message board that tends to be heavily biased against this current regime...much more so than the average Bills fan. I would argue that they're doing a very good job, except for the singular - and absolutely catastrophic - decision to treat Nate Peterman as if he's a capable NFL QB. The vast majority of poor on-field performances and off-field executive moves stem from the nightmare that is/was Nate Peterman.

That's a shame. I kind of miss the goons and the fighting.

Allen needs those practice reps as the #2 QB. As soon as Allen is 100% healthy, they need to cut Anderson. Start Barkley. Peterman needs to be cut by Tuesday morning.

Sure beats Ryan O'Reilly's "woe is me" shtick.

A corner has definitely been turned. We finally look like we belong in the NHL and are not just some glorified AHL team. I expect the Sabres to be competing for those final two wildcard spots up to the very last week of the season. Are we "good" yet? Well no, definitely not in the Tamapa Bay/Toronto class. But this club's potential is off the charts. 13 of the 20 active players for today are 26 years of age or younger. For example, we clearly are not seeing the best that Mitts or Dahlin or Thompson or Ullmark...or for that matter Eichel and Reinhart....have to offer. It's fun to think about where these guys can take the franchise as they accumulate NHL experience and gain maturity with age. And then of course you have our current prospects and the 3 first rounders next year. One last note: I'm giving loads to credit to our GM for his off-season moves. Early signs are that he adequately got rid of the locker room cancers from last year. I was originally disappointed to see Bogosian, Beaulieu, Pominville, Larsson, and Girgensons still on the roster. But all of them have been productive and functional in at least some capacity for the team this year.

Probably. Interesting to note just how difficult our first 9 games have been: NE, GB, Minn, Chicago, Baltimore, LAC, and Houston are all playoff-caliber teams. We went 1-6 against them. Tennesee and Indy aren't too awful, either. 1-1 against those guys. NYJets twice, Miami twice, Detroit at home, Jax at home, and NE in possibly a game that will mean nothing to them for playoff seeding...this looks a lot easier. Too bad we have the worst offense in modern NFL history - without hyperbole - to take advantage.

I'd like to see Mogilny, Turgeon, and Barrasso in before Martin.