K-9

Hard pass from me. The minimum coming back has to be a proven top six winger with scoring ability. Risto is a commodity; a RD in his early prime at 25 years of age with proven offensive skills who plays a tough, physical style on the back end. Vatenen is not that and Boqvist doesn't qualify as proven.

Good question.

Alou?

Extend: walk on water Fire: sink like a stone

So, you’re the Zay Jones of guitar playing?

Regarding that scared GM who didn’t want to see the Leafs angry; that coward should be summarily fired and run out of his town on a rail. Fortune favors the bold as the old saying goes.

Nothing? Nothing at all? Does constructing a state of the art training and sports medicine facility for the betterment of his players not indicate at least one thing?

Egos are such fragile things. Which is why I’m gonna actually predict 0-16. Total protection for my ego as we literally can’t be worse. And anything better than that is pure gravy for my ego. Win win for me and my ego!

Stood on an F**king horse? That took a lot of courage in addition amazing athletic ability just to stay on!

It’s possible they can go 0-16 this year, too.

Sammy can go on to have multiple All Pro seasons, and I hope he does, but that STILL wouldn’t negate the legitimate reasons McBeane had in trading him when they did. Totally unrelated events. That won’t stop the conflating and complaining that will take place around here if he does, of course. My advice is just try to ignore it.

26 and we drafted him when he was 20! We forget how young these guys are sometimes. Still kids in the grand scheme of things but that’s often hidden under their prodigious talents. It’s a shame we didn’t get a fully baked Sammy, but that’s nothing to hold against him forever. I wish him well.

Krueger in action. Looking forward to seeing his behind the bench demeanor. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/ralph-krueger-dev-camp-speech/t-277437090/c-68560703

There is simply no “reloading” with a maxed out QB who isn’t gonna get you anywhere but stuck in perpetual mediocrity. And that tends to waste the prime years of your most talented players.

True. And I’m hoping that’s the case with Sammy this year. If he can stay healthy, he’s gonna have a monster year in that offense.

You know I’ve loved SW since his freshman year in college. And I’ve repeated the story several times how my friends in the scouting community would rave about his feet more than his other readily apparent attributes as a wideout prospect. I was totally on board with the trade to get the best WR prospect in the draft by a mile because it would help their second year QB prospect. I love Sammy Watkins and truly hope he breaks out in a big way this year. That said and per the bold text, in addition to the leverage the Bills had with their options to keep him, they also had Sammy’s self-admitted immaturity and the lingering foot issues that had severely limited his availability. Those two factors made their decision not to exercise his 5th year option an understandable one in my mind. I did not want to see him traded and was bummed when they did, but if I’m a new coach seeking to establish my own culture with my own philosophies and “process” I need complete buy in from everybody. ESPECIALLY the most talented players on the team. It’s essential that your best players serve as the best leaders and Sammy just wasn’t ready to be that guy, again, as he himself has alluded to. So the trade, even though it further depleted the talent level, made sense from that aspect. We can all act as though all good coaches find ways to reach their most challenging players and find ways to work with them in order to keep them and maybe that’s true for some good coaches. Other good coaches won’t tolerate a lack of buy in from anyone. It’s a mixed bag. But I can’t fault McD for running things the way he sees fit. That’s his prerogative as a head coach and no matter how much I may disagree with his decisions at times, I can respect them. Trading Sammy is one of those decisions.

If Sammy can just stay healthy, he’s poised to go off this year with Mahomes pitching to him and be a lock for the Pro Bowl, if not All Pro.

Does it work in both directions? I honestly don’t know if being within that four point window or better assures the playoffs. I’m only familiar with the stat that says if you aren’t within four points then you have little chance. Anyway, the Blues are certainly the exception. Almost flukey.

Agree entirely about Belichick. He may be the biggest student of the game as well as it’s best coaching practitioner. I see the two going hand in hand. He’s always evolving, always learning and applying knowledge. He probably attends more coaching clinics than anybody, too. He’s got the consummate learning spirit and, like I said, I hope that McD’s reported voraciousness as a reader is a sign that he enjoys learning as well. I’m glad you mentioned Allen’s possible role in the offensive change. Given the timing of it, it makes sense. Allen, McD, and Daboll were tethered after Allen got injured in week six. Four weeks later, we see Foster return and McKenzie inserted and safeties starting to play a bit more honestly. I can imagine Allen soaking up all sorts of film study with Daboll and being asked his thoughts on this and that. Wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn he had input. And I take that as a very good sign.

Belichick has been a football savant since he was began breaking down film for his dad at the Naval Academy when he was nine years old. You’re right; he’s a master of all facets of the game. Every. Single. One. I have no illusions that McD will ever bring the full realm of knowledge that Belichick does, but I want him to aspire to if that makes sense. I understand McD is a voracious reader, so he has that in common. Belichick’s son is a DB coach in NE*** so I suspect we will have a third generation football genius to contend with soon enough. Regarding Daboll and that modification he made, I suspect it was an entirely collaborative decision process among him, offensive assistants, McD, and Beane. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Allen, Anderson, and Barkley were asked for their input on favorite plays, formations, etc. But I suspect it was Daboll that first noticed things on video, broke it down, and initiated the process. That’s part of his job, after all.

In that case, I’m glad we took him at 19. But it was funny when people lost it about about an injured shoulder he played most of his college career with. This very well may be his last season here.

If Daboll leaves for a HC gig because he’s successful here, it would be a nice problem to have. I’d hope that someone else on the O staff would be handed the reigns and pick up where he left off, which should be the case. I don’t share the same concern about McD micro managing a successful offense and I’d want him to not interfere. Besides, he has shown an ability to rectify things on defense when he’s stepped because he wasn’t happy with Frazier. I’d prefer he concentrate on that if he has to micro manage a side of the ball. It’s all about McD, regardless though. He will have to own his W-L record like all head coaches. There’s just no escaping that reality. The reason I think Daboll has turned a corner and gives me confidence in him is that midstream last season he made a concerted effort to add more speed to the lineup and that forced DCs to alter that steady diet of cover 1 and cover 2 looks we’d seen all season. Deep safeties had to be more honest. So that gives me hope that at least Daboll can see a problem, figure it out, and attack it schematically. On paper, I agree we seem to have upgraded the talent level and it stands to reason that Daboll should be able to exploit it. But it’s just on paper at this point and I just have to see it all on the field before making proclamations. But I’m encouraged.

Ok, folks. Now that the schedule has been released, where are we at the end of October? Are we within that magical 4 points of the final playoff birth, or on the outside looking in? I see us at 5-6. Ouch.

I don’t know, there’s been some decent give and take today. Not a whole lotta pissing and moaning today. Yet, anyway.