K-9

Taking nothing away from Belichick whom I consider one of the greatest defensive minds in the history of the game, but that SB XXV scheme is the most overrated piece of work in history. That scheme did little to stop us all game, unless one considers 19 points in 19 minutes as stopping anyone. Nope, it was Kelly and Marv who let him do it, stopping that offense on that day. Had I been Kelly and saw five of the front seven standing up at the LOS, I’m telling our all world O line to enjoy the automatic leverage and ramming Thurman down their throat all game.

Neither UPL or Portillo is the answer in the short term. Adams’s number one priority and focus is to acquire a good veteran NHL goalie this offseason. UPL as back up, Portillo developing in Rochester. Levi going back to school May actually be of benefit in terms of staggering the development of these young goalie prospects. But it’s all moot if Adams can’t find a solid vet starter.

This is a recent pic, but they’ve had Baltimore in their endzone before. I recall one with Ravens, the other with Baltimore.

No. They hold his rights until summer of 2024. They own Portillo’s until summer of 2023.

That’s a fair point, but based on what I’ve heard about it, I suspect that even if Beane and the Pegulas were OK with keeping him and willing to make him the highest paid defender in history, McD would have vetoed any possibility of re-signing Gilmore. And it had noting to do with scheme fit as Gilmore can play zone schemes as well as man coverage. McD didn’t want him on the team. Full stop.

Beane didn’t let him walk, McD did.

Mea culpa.

Right. If. But they had ZERO interest in retaining him after McD informed them he wasn’t interested. The Pegulas never even considered paying him handsomely so I’m unclear as to why anyone would assert that they would have. The decision to move on was made months before Gilmore even became a free agent. l understand your point that Gilmore was moving on and I’m sure that no amount of money could have convinced him to stay, but that’s conjecture and we will never know. What’s not conjecture is that the Bills wouldn’t have kept him even if he agreed to play for league minimum. One could say they moved on before Gilmore did.

The Pegulas would not have paid him handsomely because they were never gonna try to retain him in the first place. McD made that clear to them. We didn’t even bother to tag him with either designation. It was a fait accompli.

Great player when he was here right up until he went into self-preservation mode and quit on his teammates, coaches, and fans. Don’t blame him at all for wanting a better situation at the time though. Totally understandable given the level of dysfunction during the Rex years. But there was no chance McD was gonna keep him around, anyway. His time was up as soon as McD finished reviewing his 2016 game film and started asking questions.

We’ve had a top 5 offense two years running and it’s your contention that McBeane hasn’t built an offensive unit? OK then.

Great question. I’m gonna go with OJ breaking the 2K barrier. There have been many great plays over the years, but that one made history.

About time. Slacker.

That’s nothing. I went to the Four Corners Monument and had my hands and feet in four separate states at once.

Considering we’ve averaged 36 points the last six games against them, I’m not sure I agree offense is their biggest problem.

Always respected Crowder’s game.

Nah. Tuch does that after every win.

Sad to hear this news. Lost a good one when good ones are needed most. RIP.

Per my response to Shaw66, Jim never had unsupervised control of anything. Others have always made the call in terms of contract approval or not. As GM, Beane is indeed the boss of everything as it applies to player contracts. Including the cap. But Overdorf is still the guy he goes to in order to make it work both now and several years down the road.

Up until about a year ago, Jim was the chief contract negotiator as well as cap guru. Since then, he has been strictly a consultant for Beane and his area of expertise is still the cap. I’d lay dollars to donuts that Overdorf has his hands all over the recent re-structures to create the room for the new additions as well as the constructs of those new contracts. Makes sense given his familiarity with the numbers. Pre Pegulas, authority to approve or kill deals rested with Mr. Wilson and Jeff Littman. Overdorf had no say on approval one way or the other and never did. And while he was leaned on more by Pegula, Brandon, Whaley after the ownership change, he never had complete control then, either. Not even a vote. Just his opinion and expertise in fitting desired contracts into the cap current and future cap structure. Same thing since Beane took over as GM.

That’s ironic because the one thing Beane consults with Overdorf on is the salary cap and how various contractual structures might impact the management of it currently and down the road. People don’t want to hear it or believe it’s true (probably because of his long tenure in managing Mr. Wilson’s cash to cap accounting system since the cap was implemented in the early nineties) but Jim Overdorf has a great reputation as a cap guru around the league.

Stranger things have happened and never say never and all that, but after the strain of last season, I’d be shocked if he plays for us again at any price.

How often?

As a long time season ticket holder, I can personally attest that Eichel is full of crap with that comment.