PalmTreeMafia

The past twenty years don't mean anything to these guys. New ownership since 2014. New coach and GM since 2017. Only 5 players on the roster were here before McDermott (Lorax, Hughes, Lawson, Lee Smith, and Ferguson). It just doesn't make sense to play the "same old Bills" card when these are decidedly not the same Bills. Life is ***** short and miserable anyway, so why not just enjoy the 2-0 start for what it is? Unlike the Sabres, the Bills actually made moves to get better this fall. So far, so good.

Where were you on November 30, 2003? So right now I have the Bills as a top-6 AFC playoff team: DW1. Pats DW2. Chiefs DW3. Ravens DW4. Texans WC1. Chargers WC2. Bills The preseason hype trains for the Jets, Browns, Steelers, and Jags appear to have derailed. The Colts are hurt badly by not having Luck. The Titans are a decent team, but I still think the Bills are better overall. Raiders, Broncos, Bengals, and Dolphins bring up the rear. Thoughts?

If my interpretation of the bolded is correct, you are stating that everyone else is probably cheating and lying about it too, and the act of calling out those who cheat and lie isn't important. Regarding the first statement: simply no. If the Bills, for example, were cheating during the 21st century, then they did an incredibly terrible job of it I'd say. But the level of cheating that the Pats have done has been especially egregious in the advantages it has given them over opponents. Regarding the second statement: I think it is very important to recognize, criticize, and shame bad behavior so that it does not become normalized and tacitly accepted. But I've clearly lost this debate in the eyes of the national sports media, as no one even mentions (or wants to mention) Spygate, Deflategate, etc... anymore. The bottom line is that it's okay to cheat and lie to get to the top because winning is the most important thing ever and no one gives a damn about the losers. If I may step on to my soapbox for a second: how very American. The 21st century Patriots are kind of a nice analogy for our modern capitalist system. Whatever. At this point, I'm perfectly happy to end this particular discussion today so that we can all try and focus on enjoying the 1pm Bills game. I'll be back for Week 4, however.

And also the most sociopathic. Belichick, Brady, and their Aspergery friend Ernie Adams have perfected the art of cheating, which I would argue is certainly a type of genius. Spygate. Deflategate. Headsetgate. A long history of ridiculously suspicious referee calls ever since Kraft took over in 1994. If you want to lionize teams that bend the rules to win at all costs, go right ahead. But I don't see how this latest Patriot tampering controversy with Antonio Brown is in any way fair to the Steelers or Raiders (or the rest of the NFL). At the very least, Brown should be facing a long league suspension or the Patriots should have to compensate the Raiders with draft picks.

How are you speaking objectively? You are offering an opinion of what you think will happen this season, which is inherently subjective. Here's my SUBJECTIVE take on the Bills this season: the Bills have improved at every position this season (except punter at the moment). Josh Allen has more experience and familiarity in Daboll's offense. Singletary and Gore will be better than McCoy and Ivory. Brown and Beasley improve the WR's. Kroft, Knox, Smith, and Sweeney have got to be a collective upgrade at TE. 4 new starters on last year's abysmal OL. Oliver and a healthy Murphy at DL. A full year of NFL experience for Levi Wallace and Taron Johnson. Better depth all across the roster. Better kick returner with Roberts. I'm seeing 10 wins (Jets, Jets, Dolphins, Dolphins, Bengals, Ravens, Titans, Broncos, Giants, Redskins) and 6 losses (Pats, Pats, Eagles, Cowboys, Steelers, Browns) if no major injury losses. They'll probably drop a game or two that they should win (Jets, Ravens) and steal one or two among the tougher opponents (Cowboys, Steelers, Browns). By the way, I've noticed how McDermott and Allen seem to take a lot of crap from people on this particular message board, much more so than other message boards. Why is that? Is it all the extra hate left over from the failed NHL franchise that is Pegula's Sabres?

Worst. Off-season. Ever.

Here's my opinion of this team's culture problems: 1. First and foremost, the head coaches here (Bylsma and Housley) have been really poor at communicating. Hopefully Krueger is different. 2. Player acquisition has predominantly focused on skill and raw physical talent at the expense of the more mental/personality attributes of physicality and grit. Botterill still needs to balance the roster out with more piano movers to complement the piano players (to use a phrase I've heard in soccer). 3. The younger core (everyone 27 and under) doesn't seem to have the requisite work ethic and mental focus for making deep NHL playoff runs. Many of these guys (Skinner, Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, McCabe, Girgensons, Larsson, Rodrigues) have never even been a part of an NHL playoff team and probably don't know what it really takes to endure the marathon that is an NHL season. 4. The older vets (28 and over) who are supposed to be providing a lot of the leadership on this roster are simply atrocious, both on the ice and in the locker room. I'm okay with Johansson and Hutton, but Okposo, Bogosian, Scandella, Hunwick, and Sobotka should be jettisoned and replaced with better vets as soon as possible. Okposo and Bogosian wear the "A" but are too easygoing in personality to hold such default roster leadership positions on this particularly youth-heavy roster.

Same. Lehner, O'Reilly, Berglund, Sobotka, now Ristolainen...the firmly entrenched losing culture in Buffalo is destroying our players. Who knows what Eichel, Reinhart, McCabe, Bogosian, Larsson, Girgensons, Rodrigues, and Okposo are thinking? This team badly needs to make the playoffs THIS SEASON.

I'm wondering what teams in the Eastern Conference people here think the Sabres are better than, on paper? Ottawa? Detroit? Who else? There aren't many. Yet some here are excited that we added a decent second line LW (Johansson), a decent third line winger (Vesey), a prospect of completely unknown NHL impact (Olofsson), a solid 3rd line D-man (Miller), and a solid D-man prospect (Jokiharju)? None of these are individually bad additions, but cumulatively they are nowhere near enough to put us into borderline playoff contention this year. So we're looking at 9 straight years without playoffs now (NHL franchise record is 10), 3 straight for Botterill, and 5 straight for Eichel's career. Also, some here are not factoring in the issue of injuries. This team was atrocious since November despite barely getting hit with the injury bug. What happens if or when the team's injury situation regresses to the mean this season? Another lottery pick to look forward to? It's getting really hard to get excited about the 2019-20 season. I realize Botterill still has a couple months to trade Risto for a 2C, move out the Sobotkas and Scandellas of the roster, etc... but the closer we get to the start of the season without substantive roster changes, the less sanguine I feel about Botterill's future in Buffalo. He talks a good game about locker room culture and has certainly created that in Rochester, but the core players in Buffalo have been languishing.

Small improvement basically means getting back to Bylsma's (and Eichel's) first season of 81 points, no? So no progress after 4 seasons....this is simply unacceptable.

Botterill will be fired if he doesn't make the playoffs by the end of his 4th year. And he's not safe if there isn't substantial improvement by the end of his 3rd year. Also, there will be a massive roster firesale if this team can't make the playoffs within the next 2 seasons. No one but Dahlin will be safe. Eichel especially will be gone. This is why it is in everyone's best interest to try and make the playoffs THIS season.

All of them were stupid tweets made by a juvenile trying to be "edgy" and nothing more. The "if it ain't white, it ain't right" was a reference to a joke from Modern Family. No one in the Buffalo Bills locker room today actually thinks Josh Allen is a racist. It's a non-issue to everyone but the most politically correct and easily offended. I heard rumors that the Arizona Cardinals were the team that released his tweets before the draft so that he'd drop to them at 10.

I love it, but I don't think any Risto-RNH trade is happening unless we're giving up significantly more. Why is Edmonton willing to trade RNH anyway? I've seen these rumors floating around, and I want to believe... Also, check out your D-men lineup. With the Gardiner rumors and the McCabe trade rumors, how about: Dahlin - Montour Gardiner - Jokiharju Pilut - Miller Notice that this would be a complete overhaul of Housley's first-year D-men crew, which of course is a very good thing. JBot is finally getting serious about winning hockey games. A little on the late side, but better late than never.

Being captain of the Buffalo Sabres has a similar effect on the body as being President of the United States.

We'll very likely need to protect Jokiharju, which is yet another reason why Ristolainen is as good as gone. 7 Forwards: Eichel, Skinner, Reinhart, Mittelstadt, Olofsson, Thompson, new guy from Ristolainen trade 3 Defenders: Dahlin, Montour, Jokiharju 1 Goalie: Ullmark Exposed: Asplund, McCabe, Miller, Borgen, Pilut Maybe Asplund eventually replaces Thompson. Or maybe Pilut's development will force the Sabres to choose the "protect any 9 players" option instead of the "7 F + 3D + 1G" option. But at the moment, the 2021 expansion draft isn't a concern.

Goddamn do I miss John Scott.

Is Jokiharju maybe expected to be the long-term defensive partner for Dahlin?

Long-term, this team desperately needs a top right winger more than a #2 center. We have Mittelstadt, Cozens, and Asplund at center but only Reinhart and Thompson at RW. So any RW who would be a good fit with Eichel and Skinner should be considered in a Risto trade.

Rodrigues is currently our 5th best forward. This is indeed a very sobering revelation.

The best 12 I have are: Skinner - Eichel - Olofsson Johansson - Mittelstadt - Reinhart Sheary - Rodrigues - Vesey Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo This could, in theory, work if Mittelstadt and Olofsson take big enough steps in their development.

Playoffs need to be the franchise's expectation for this coming season. At a certain point, you have to be concerned about the collective psychology of a team that manages to miss the playoffs for 5 straight seasons after the 2014-15 tank season. I'm looking specifically at the core of Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, Girgensons, Larsson, McCabe, and Rodrigues. JBot preaches player development, but how much can players develop in an environment that has only known losing for this long?

https://www.notinhalloffame.com/hockey Sabres-related summary: #1: Mogilny #7: Turgeon #12 Barrasso #17: Martin I'm not so sure about the other three's chances, but with Mogilny, I only feel that it is a matter of WHEN and not IF.

Trend "bear" for Lafreniere? That's exactly where I'm at as well.

So basically reverse the O'Reilly trade and we make the playoffs last season?

He'll retire as the all-time career wins leader for American goalies, though Quick will eventually surpass him for that title. He was absolutely elite for a period of time in the NHL and should have had a Stanley Cup title or two if ownership had been more devoted and management more proactive.