BillsFan4

I enjoyed that interview. Thanks. This was the next YouTube video that played after the interview. I didnt know Wade played the drums (about 1/2 way through the video). He’s actually really good!

I didn’t blame the fans. I just said that I can see why it would be easier to play on the road right now. Yeah that wouldn’t surprise me. This team needs massive changes. There are too many mentally fragile players that just give up and start hanging their heads at any sign of adversity.

I guess I didn’t word that very well. I just meant that they seemed more relaxed and confident away from KeyBank arena (at least last night), and that it doesn’t surprise me that they’re more confident on the road than they are at home right now (with all the booing and “fire botterill” chants and even protests in the plaza at their home arena). I didn’t mean that they are motivated by negative backlash, but that it’s having a negative affect on them when they play at home. Maybe they’re cheating/pushing too much to score for the fans like Krueger said after the game. Or maybe they just get in their own heads too much at home due to the quiet atmosphere at games and all of the booing. I can see where it would be easier for them at the moment to play on the road.

This guy just can’t take a hint, can he...? ?

Nice win last night. Rangers made it interesting at the end, but the Sabres hung on. I’ll take any win they can get at this point. Anything to help them build up their confidence and stop this thing from going completely off the rails. They did look like they had more confidence + jump on the road tonight, which isn’t really surprising with all the negative fan backlash right now. They played a simple, structured game. That’s what they need to do at home, too.

Here’s some of AB’s quotes from that interview, for those who didn’t listen. https://theathletic.com/1588486/2020/02/06/antonio-brown-despises-juju-has-love-for-ben-roethlisberger-and-explains-why-he-left-the-steelers/ (sub, req.) The entire interview changed when the host brought up JuJu. AB’s voice and whole demeanor immediately changed. He got very upset and it led to a long rant that pretty much lasted the rest of the interview. It seems pretty clear that he HATES JuJu. Here are a couple comments on Big Ben -

I think he forgot the “apology” part of his apology tour... ?

What a pathetic effort. Once they got down 2-0 it was like they started feeling sorry for themselves or something. They didn’t snap out of it until they scored in the 3rd period to make it 2-1, then suddenly they woke up and started giving a full effort again. Where was the urgency before that? Maybe if they had given that type of effort the entire game, they wouldn’t have been down by 2. Detroit hadn’t won a road game since Dec. 13th. They hadn’t even scored a goal in over 4 games ffs! I am so done with so many players on this team. They are so damn fragile. They need some Major changes.

Came across this article - https://www.diebytheblade.com/2020/2/5/21123483/should-the-buffalo-sabres-move-on-from-jason-botterill Should the Sabres move on from Botterill? ‘The 2020 offseason is the ideal situation for a new general manager to come in, and immediately put their stamp on the roster’ I thought this was an interesting question. The author says that he has not earned the opportunity and I thought he made some pretty good points as to why. I decided to look at his roster moves since he’s been here. I am not looking at the draft, only free agent signings and trades. His drafts look ok so far but it’s too soon to tell (for the most part). His moves: (not counting the draft) -Scandella -Pominville -Sheary -Hunwick -Elie -Wilson -Hutton -Chad Johnson -Beaulieu -Sobotka -Berglund -Thompson -Skinner -Montour -Jokiharju -Vesey -Miller -Frolik -Johansson -Pilut -Pouliot -Josefson -Griffith I may be forgetting some (feel free to point any out that I forgot) Looking at that list - good: Skinner, Jokiharju, Pilut, Johansson, Montour maybe? -Skinner was a good move, but supposedly we were 1 of only 2 teams on his NMC (Toronto being the other, who had no cap space to add him). Still, credit where credit is due. It was a good trade. -Joker trade looks fantastic. He took a bad 1st round pick by the previous GM and turned it into a valuable asset. Joker looks like a top 4, with potential to even possibly be a #2 d man for years to come. Great trade (so far...). -Pilut is a good signing, but I don’t think Botterill was the point man. Iirc, I believe Steve Greeley was, along with their head European scout. But again, you have to give botterill some credit. -Johansson was a nice signing for the price. Everyone was happy with that move. -Montour looks good, but it’s hard to judge. He’s being used all over the place. We haven’t seen him in a consistent role with a consistent partner. Guhle hasn’t exactly lit things up in Anaheim and the 1st ended up being late in the draft. So overall it looks like a decent trade. No real complaints. The bad: ROR trade was just brutal. Maybe Thompson or Johnson turn into something and make the trade look better. But as of now there’s no real argument that Buffalo did well in this trade. And you can’t even say “well, we wouldn’t have been able to trade for Skinner” because Botterill took back almost an even amount of cap in the ROR trade. The rest of the list is a whole lot of ‘meh’. I get that some of the moves were to add some cheap depth and I don’t have an issue with that. Plus, you have to take into account the Sabres cap situation at the time of the signings/trades (I couldn’t really find accurate cap info for 2018 or 2018). But looking over the list, it doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence that he’s going to suddenly fill out the team this offseason with better performing players. https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/02/06/buffalo-sabres-detroit-red-wings-sabres-fans-sabres-live-stream/ This article makes some similar points: There are also some pending RFA’s to make decisions on - Reinhart, Olofsson, Montour, Ullmark. The article also mentions that the Sabres can’t afford to keep starting over. So, do you bring in a new GM (that doesn’t know the roster/players)? Or do you stick with the current GM for one more season and see if he’s finally able to fix this roster? I can make an argument for a new GM, and I can also see some of the merits of giving Botterill one more offseason to make improvements. Botterill has done a pretty good job revamping the defense. I’ll give him that. But the forwards are a mess, as is the goaltending. I will say this - the Pegulas know what goes on behind the scenes. They know if there were trades/signings he could have made (etc). If they feel strongly that he’s still the guy for this job, then they need to stick to their guns and not cave to fan pressure. Eventually they have to allow a GM some time to build a team. I’m just not sure if that GM is Jason Botterill... Ray Shero being available is also tempting. If they do move on from botterill, I hope they bring in a competent veteran GM to at least get this thing back on the tracks. No more rookies learning on the job, at least right now. They can’t afford to waste any more of eichel’s prime.

https://937thefan.radio.com/articles/antonio-brown-addresses-everything-with-fan-morning-show Just listened to the whole interview (link is in the article). The beginning isn’t too bad. But then the radio host brings up JuJu smith-schuster and things go way off the rails... He went off about JuJu for like 5+ minutes (starts shortly after the 8am mark on the radio.com app), defending his attacks because he said JuJu posted a picture of himself scoring a TD and saying “I’m ready”. AB took it as disrespect, so he therefore felt justified in his response. Then he continued ranting for a while about everything. Mainly making excuses for all his actions, saying people just need to understand his side (yikes). Unfortunately I dont see this guy changing any any time soon.

So sorry for your loss ?

I watched a bit of their SB parade on NFLN and I was surprised by the turnout. It didn’t really seem like a whole lot of people showed up. Their first SB in 50 years, I don’t get it? Weather maybe. I know that sure wouldn’t stop people from showing up in Buffalo.

Amari Cooper already threw cold water on this idea at the Pro Bowl. https://theathletic.com/1569231/2020/01/29/are-the-bills-shaking-the-siberian-stigma-it-depends-what-matters-to-nfl-players-in-free-agency/ (sub. req.) That doesn’t sound like a player that’s interested in Buffalo.

Yes, I agree. Mentioned that right at the top of the post you responded to. we need more talent and a new mix of players.

That pretty much is what he said, actually. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/sabres-avalanche-recap-highlights-sam-reinhart/c-314645400 Reinhart had some things to say too - I appreciate Reinhart saying it, but it just rings so hollow. We’ve heard it literally 100x before. Maybe not from Reinhart, but from plenty of Sabres players. I just don’t know how many of them have it in them to actually step up.

This team is so mentally fragile. They can’t overcome any in game adversity. We need a new mix of players, and more talent. No coach is going to do much better with this crap team. I don’t see how Botterill survives if the end of this season keeps trending the way it’s been since the all star break. They had this big home stand and so far they’re 1 for 4... Fans are going to completely revolt if they keep collapsing. It’s going to get ugly. I’d have to say that I’m on the “fire botterill” bandwagon. I was trying to be patient and find reasons to not lose all hope in botterill. He just hasn’t done nearly enough and I have no faith he can fix this mess. This is year 3 and I see no improvement from the team he took over. They may actually be worse, as far as the talent level. His only good moves seem to be Jokiharju (LOVE that trade) and Skinner (But Buffalo and Toronto were the only 2 teams on his no move list). But he also subtracted ROR and Kane. i think the Sabres need a veteran GM. Enough rookies. This job is too big for a rookie.

Glad to hear about PHam. You had me worried. After you mentioned that, I started paying more attention and noticed he hadn’t written or tweeted anything in over a week (and he always writes post-game articles).

This was pretty good.

https://www.tsn.ca/trade-bait-winnipeg-jets-and-dustin-byfuglien-heading-toward-split-1.1437152 Winnipeg Jets and Dustin Byfuglien headed toward a contract termination. This has long been a team that I thought made a good trade partner for Buffalo. They desperately need defenseman (only 4 under contract beyond this season, and they’re already playing with a bare bones D corps), but they’ve been waiting for this Byfuglien situation to be resolved due to his $7+M cap hit. Ill be interested to see what happens once this is finalized.

Feel bad for him. I hope he’s able to beat it.

It’s a rule in place between the NHL and CHL, basically to make sure that they have talent for their leagues. https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2012/8/1/3213217/bruins-nhl-chl-ahl-agreement-CBA-talks-2012 So Cozens would have to go back to juniors for 1 more season if he doesn’t make the Sabres next year. Then after that, if he didn’t make the Sabres they could send him to the AHL. With certain players (like Alex Nylander for ex) whose rights are held by European clubs, they can play in the AHL right away.

Meh

I’m sure you’ve probably seen the replay by now, but it’s still worth seeing again.

Good for him. I’ll always be a fan after seeing this ^

? Brady is such a troll