QCity

It's not a conspiracy, teams like the Pats and Ravens play the compensatory pick game like a chess Grandmaster. Our front office is playing checkers, and I don't think we've taken the pieces out of the box yet.

"Win now" was all the rage around here for the 2014 offseason. We've moved past that and started chanting "continuity" since then.

Step 1: Pretend we were really a 12-4 team last year. Step 2: Pretend every player no longer here was somehow a detriment to the team.

It's 2 points, but man, the effort was really lacking tonight.

Yeah, the crowd always feels lifeless. Kane just can't score when he walks in alone.

No, they didn't. You can't look back in retrospect and use winning percentage because the outcomes are dependent events. We play 6 games against 3 division teams that also play common teams from 2 other divisions. Weaker common opponents inflate wins within our division and stronger common opponents have the opposite effect. Those statistics are almost completely pointless by the end of the year. Actually, they're not even very useful at the start of the year because every team basically plays only 3 division each year (i.e. the Jets are not as good as their record, they just took advantage of their schedule and went 6-2 against those two soft divisions). If you want an accurate estimation, take each opponent individually and rank them against the entire NFL pool. Last year we were handed a cupcake schedule. We played the two worst divisions in football, and that's not debatable by anyone with even the slightest bit of football IQ. Those 2 divisions did not produce a single legitimate playoff contender -- every single team was a complete pretender, and we couldn't separate ourselves from that mess. Even worse, a large portion of those teams are comparatively soft and don't play a physical brand of football (IND, PHI, JAC, TEN, DAL). Contrast that to this year where we are playing the two most physical divisions in the game right now (by far), including teams that are expected to go deep in the playoffs. Back on topic, No.

It's way too early to call either a generational talent, but I agree. They were billed as 1A and 1B leading up to the draft, but it's looking a lot more like simply #1 and #2 at this point. GMTM's infatuation was warranted.

That's simply not true anymore. I've watched Shady his entire career and he's not even close to his former self. He devolved into an east-west runner in 2014 and as he sheds weight to maintain his speed, his odds of playing 16 games are very low (almost zero if he tries to run between the tackles). Your comparison to the Woods/Watkins dynamic is completely off base. Take a look around the league, the position is plug and play. Draft a young RB and give him 2 contracts MAX and replace him before 28. Last year a 5th round pick and a guy off the street smoked Shady in YPA -- it wasn't even close. Giving a RB a $40M contract in 2015 is unconscionable, and it emphasizes how out of touch our GM is with regards to modern NFL trends. They should have drafted a late-round compliment to Karlos Williams (or picked up a cheap FA) and invested a large portion of that money into the right side of the OL. Now you have your assets spread out over 2-3 players and it won't be sitting on the sidelines when your high-mileage RB inevitably gets hurt (and it will happen). As a bonus, our young QB might actually get some more time in the pocket.

One of the big myths is that McCoy is critical to our success. He isn't, but then again, most RBs aren't.

That's a shame, after this rough 3-game west coast road trip, the last month and a half is pretty soft. Three games against TOR, 2 against MON, with EDM, WIN, CAL and CBJ still up.

He dominated tonight. Starting to see why TM gave up that 1st.

No.

"We're in better shape than Cleveland"

I agree the difference between 8-8 and 10-6 and a playoff spot is very small. So if your main goal is to get into the playoffs and then get spanked Houston-style, then yeah, it could be considered a good move. Although if you are trying to build a legitimate contender and desire continued success year after year, that is the completely wrong approach. This isn't just my opinion, we've learned this from watching other front offices throughout the free agency era. We're operating under the early 2000's Dallas Cowboys philosophy, and it just doesn't work. I will strongly disagree with the notion that the guys they signed last year are Super Bowl caliber (aside from Dareus), the money was simply not spent wisely (from a football standpoint, it certainly generated ticket sales). The fans are grossly exaggerating the amount of talent we have. Our roster is paper-thin and lacks any depth -- an injury at nearly any position leaves the team in trouble. This is an important and often overlooked consideration, because when you sign older free agents, you are certainly going to have a higher injury rate than normal.

No, my point was they should have never went on that FA spending spree in the first place. I guess people forget the team was 8-8 last year (against a cupcake schedule). If you were talking about retaining a Superbowl caliber roster, it would be a decent strategy.

All we need is a GM that understands this concept and we'll be set.

He was too slow to figure out what was going on. He still may be standing there in the club.

The Sabres have $24M in cap space next year, and the only "absolutely must sign" player up next year is Risto (and he's restiricted FA). That's based off this year's cap number, which will likely rise another $3M, so figure $27M. This isn't like the Bills, the Sabres are in great financial shape. Moulson is the huge wart on the books. Almost impossible to move him before the deadline, and a buyout would probably exceed $9M. Ouch.

Handing out $91M in guaranteed contracts in the offseason is great for selling tickets, but that's about it.

OK, not what I was expecting...

It's funny, Harrington doesn't think it's a tank, just a "rebuild." He's actually praising them for it.

John Clayton was on saying he'll likely get 6 games. It's the new baseline suspension for anything involving assault or battery.

"It's not the alignment, it's the assignment." Stop getting hung up on "scheme." Mario was asked to play a lot of 5-tech with 2-gap responsibilities. That was not a priority of Pettine's or Wade's philosophies. Rex is hell-bent on stopping the run, and he was essentially asking the DL to stay home. That is clearly not the strength of our DL. I don't know if you noticed, but the rest of the DL was pretty much invisible all season (aside from Hughes' flags). Kyle Williams did absolutely nothing in the 6 games he was healthy, aside from occasionally lining up 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage and getting a running start (WTF was that Rex?). Dareus did a great job of plugging his gaps on the line, but that's not what you paid him $90M dollars to do. You're right that the entire defense shouldn't be built around him and what he wants. It should be built around what they do best -- and it certainly wasn't. Rex just took the best pass rushing DL in the entire league and effectively neutered it.

"Continuity!"