May Day 10

It can be the same job, but doesnt have to be. I am thinking of a guy like Rick Dudley perhaps. He has enough experience, success, credibility, and connections to build the whole organization from the top-down. He probably would not want to take-on the heavy lift and pressure of the General Manager job. He would essentially be the wall and conduit between ownership and the team. The current format of both the GM and Coach reporting to ownership is toxic in the NHL and with how disposable coaches are. Thinking about the Pegulas and the Sabres funding Karin Housley's Senate campaign. They will also never attract a GM worth anything if he cant fire a coach whenever he wants. Lamoriello fired Julien once with a week left in the season, when they were in first place because he felt they werent prepared enough for the playoffs. Or it could be a pres/gm combo like Lombardi (or Lamoriello), who do everything, but are completely empowered over the hockey ops. Some successful organizations have a president and then a GM. You have Neely-Sweeney with the Bruins, you have Shanahan and Dubas (and previously Hunter and Lamoriello) with Toronto. John Davidson/Gorton with the Rangers, Linden-Benning with Vancouver, Holmgren and Fletcher with the Flyers, etc. It is pretty much science-fact that the Sabres' organization is broken they need help fixing it. Especially before they squander Jack Eichel in the process. They could use a healthy dose of credibility and a clean start. I would fire Botterill today and hire Dudley (theoretically if he would accept) as President of Hockey ops and Interim General Manager. Allow him to negotiate the deadline and monitor/interview all potential candidates for the best GM for the direction he wants this team to go. If he likes Krueger, thats fine. If he isnt a fan, Im not willing to let krueger be the reason the Sabres cant alter their course.

IMO, that plot line stinks and would hurt the integrity of the show.

He failed to sign Cal Peterson. Even looking at the top 20 in save percentage... many of them have changed teams since Botterill's tenure started.

I think the numbers can be helpful, but they also need to be weighed with real life humans in a continuous sport like hockey with such variable situations. Baseball is different because there is such a large sample space and the conditions are generally easy to define. For example. A team that doesnt possess the puck well pulls the goalie very early because the analytics say so. The Sabres have given away a staggering number of empty net goals and have gained nothing from pulling the goalie. The clown-act with Skinner's usage is another head scratcher.

Botterill needs to be released now and work needs to be done installing a new pres/gm before this offseason (preferably the deadline). He has failed. In 3 years, this team is still worse than the murray/bylsma era without many futures. Stinks for krueger. I think he is fascinating and deserves a shot. However, he is way too bound up in advance stats for my liking in a hockey setting. Coaches in the nhl are fairly disposable anyway.

A lot has to do with the solvency of the Bills and the need to be propped up by others. The gulf between the haves and have-nots has grown large. The number of haves compared to have-nots has also grown. Oakland going to Vegas is one less on 'our team' It also increases the franchise worth. Can increase gate receipts Monetize other things in the stadium with restaurants, bars, lounges, better merch POS locations, etc Brings standards within the exclusive class of NFL teams and a better 'look'

I share Sal's opinion on this. Goodell speaking so specifically to a renovation seems like it could possibly mean that the study has been looked at, and it is very favorable to a reno, and that is the way the Pegulas might be going toward.

It takes awhile to turn the stigma. For decades (arguably for its history), the Bills have been an outpost of the NFL. Many of these players know the Bills as having zero relevancy. Word spreads. It sounds like McDermott and Beane have created a great player-friendly atmosphere. If the Bills progress into a perennial decent to good team, and a place where players can grow, perform, and maximize their earning potential, then it wont be at a disadvantage for FA. If a player's most important qualification is 'city life', then Im not sure they are likely to be that appealing to McDermott/Beane anyway.

27 is awful because they let that mellonhead jimmy johnson narrate and rub it in

Im actually surprised it wasnt more than 10.

Backwards compatibility is the #1 feature for me. 2nd is hard drive space. The remote play feature is interesting

I think it had more to do with how impressive he looked while Brady served his suspension

Its a tough and interesting thing to weigh. On one hand, the Patriots made 2 Superbowls since "choosing" Brady over Garopollo, and won one of them, and also another Division Title and a 12-4 record. Do they make and/or win a Superbowl with Jimmy G? Not sure, but you can make a case against it. Especially if you transpose the knee injury from last season. Most fan bases would kill and maim for that 3-year run. On the other hand, the Patriot's CC appears to be nearly maxed out on Brady. Looking forward, they would be pretty much set at QB for the next 10 years and it would be likely they could maintain the same standard for success. They have an uncertain future at QB moving forward, and we know that can be an awful existence.

MLB players dont normally choke up, and if they do, its only a couple players who may do it in extreme situations.

In fairness to me, i did not come up with it. I have a good friend who has been howling this at the moon for years and we kind of laugh him off. I never even mentioned it in the hundreds of anti-patriots threads. Yesterday I did a 180 on my friend's theory. The Astros and Patriots are very similar, and I said so long before the cheating allegations surfaced. There is a lot to admire. Every organizational detail is geared toward winning and in many ways they have altered their leagues/sports. Unfortunately, with this they push the line as far as possible to gain an as advantage, whether its creating a system to optimize psi on footballs, espionage, or live communication. I do not think it is crazy to think brady has a buzzer of some sort to alert him of pressure, blitz, where the safety goes, etc. The guy "guesses" and has guessed right with uncanny ability. Him and Edelman were like 42-1 at home before the miami game. That doesnt happen in the NFL, and Brady/Edelman are far from Curry and Durant. It has always been written off that Brady "prepares". I cant buy that. Nobody else does?

Like the strange "tape" job in the first photo?

So.... about 99% odds that Brady has a buzzer stashed away in his strange, cumbersome, and unnecessary leg-tape-job?

I get that the Bills need to take a turn... but with all these west trips, this is a tough season for it to happen.

This kind of speaks to my one fear of McDermott and Beane. They create this family, fun, and football atmosphere here.... which seems to be great, and the players buy in. However, I hope it doesnt bring too much emotion to it and cloud their judgement when re-signing their players. Good teams often allow performers to sign elsewhere, knowing that the delta between them and an rookie wage player (or someone waiting in the wings) will not be that severe. This will become especially important if/when Josh Allen gets starting QB money. It also makes things like Lee Smith and Croom happen. Great guys im sure. Connected. But no roster room or money for them.

I was reading the Patriots board on sunday. Someone posted a thread. A real one. About how to console his 9 year old son because he was so distraught for the loss and wouldnt stop crying. The "poor" kid knows nothing but Superbowls. I have a lot of friends in New England. One on my facebook feed posted a link to some column talking about that 'alleged' statement by Kraft the other day when he told 50 cent that they can/should win them all. Here is one of his friend's comments that made me laugh. Its like they think its automatic and easy. Let's just grab another Randy Moss this reminds me of the time right after Spygate and before 2007. They are going scorched earth. They can truly use the world is against them motivation now, and I think they will get a big time WR and another quality one similar to when they grabbed Welker and Moss. I also think a high-upside TE like OJ Howard could be in play. Kraft might just open the bank for once.

Yup. This was intentional to get the fan base emotionally in his corner 100%, and also tug at the heart strings of Bobby Kraft

Yeah, it doesnt seem that way, but all hands on deck, the more competition the better. There has got to be someone out there who can punt better than Bojorquez. When they punt from opponents' territory, it drives me nuts when they cant pin them in the 10. Just looked it up, and he had the 33rd "best" average for punts in the league, and 4th worst net average (33rd). You should never be in a position to blame a punter for a loss, but I think he played a big part in that Baltimore loss.

The Bills need a punter. Bojorquez had way too many shanked punts this season, and isnt nearly as surgical as most NFL punters seem to be.