BillsFan4

Yup. I believe that was right after Lawyer Malloy was released by the Patriots days before the season started and signed with the Bills. We beat them 31-0 the first time we played them that season. Then in the second game against the Patriots that season, they beat us by the exact same score - 31-0. I'd love it if we could somehow split our 2 games with the Pats this year. It doesn't even have to be a shutout! I'm not picky... lol.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/29/lights-camera-action-sabres-hope-to-provide-some-as-winter-classic-filming-begins/ The camera crew crew started following the Sabres today (for "road to the winter classic"). I'm excited to see it when it starts airing. It'll be very interesting to see behind the scenes. Although I'm a bit worried what it'll look like if they go on another prolonged losing streak. It'd be amazing if they could go on a tear and start winning some games just in time for this filming... yeah yeah I know I know. I'm a dreamer. lol

I was just looking to see if anyone had posted this yet. I didn't find it so I posted it in the "Rex rips McDermott" thread. Looks like we were both posting it at the exact same time OP... lol.

Rex Ryan said he was told to bench Tyrod Taylor last season, which led to his firing. http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/29/rex-ryan-says-he-was-told-to-bench-tyrod-taylor-last-season-which-led-to-his-firing-bills/ I'm not sure if Rex had a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) in his contract. It seems to be something Pegula puts in all of his coach/exec contracts. Id laugh so hard if Rex violated the terms of his NDA and lost out on the last couple/few years of his Pegula bucks.

I thought they actually played a pretty good game tonight. They just can't score... Oh, and I just seen this - http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/28/sabres-road-to-the-winter-classic-will-air-on-nbcsn/ NBC Sports will be airing "Road to the winter classic", a behind the scenes look at the Sabres in the weeks leading up to the winter classic. It's supposed to start sometime in December. So glad this is moving from Epix to NBCSN since I don't get Epix. Should be interesting... I am very curious to see what the glimpse of the culture inside Buffalo's locker room looks like.

Buffalo Sabres: Rasmus Ristolainen finally turning the corner https://puckprose.com/2017/11/27/buffalo-sabres-rasmus-ristolainen-finally-turning-corner/ Like the article says, it's only a 15 game sample size. But it's still nice to see Ristolainen s underlying analytics numbers improving. Maybe he'll start getting the respect he deserves (outside of Buffalo, as most of us already knew that he was much better than his terrible analytics showed). I always felt that that some of his numbers, like shot suppression (etc) were a product of Bylsma's system first and his D partners, as well as playing on a terrible team (obviously). Bylsma asked/wanted him stay in front of the net and push the shots to the outside. He wanted guys staying in their positions, not attacking the puck. The purpose was to keep the shots on goal limited to the low(er) danger areas along the perimeter of the ice. He didn't care if teams took a hundred shots from along the boards (etc). as long as we didn't give up the slot area. So obviously that is going to make Ristolainen's shot suppression numbers look terrible. That doesn't automatically mean he's a 2nd/3rd pair defender, like those stupid hero charts show... analytics are just 1 small piece of information. Not the be all end all that some make them out to be. I'll definitely be interested to see if this new upward trend in his numbers continues.

Well, you can add them to the growing list of teams that will most likely draft a QB in 2018, and sit ahead of us in the draft order. Cleveland San Fran is a ?? Giants Jets Broncos Miami (possibly) Cardinals (possibly) Redskins (possibly) San Fran is sitting in a perfect spot to start a bidding war between QB needy teams and collect a massive haul of picks (assuming they go with Garoppolo, or Cousins).

Yeah I didn't think the offense played very well as a whole. That's why I only mentioned a few runs and the o line doing better in pass protection (compared to the last few games, anyway). Like i said, I don't think the team played great or anything (nor do I expect them to with the talent level they currently have). I know they are nowhere near playing on the level of the better teams around the league... I just though that it was nice to see them rebound. They were so awful the previous 3 weeks. I just wanted to see them get back to the level they were at earlier in the year and I thought the defense did that for the most part. It was also also nice to see our rookie draft class playing pretty decent. Im the type that will take any positives that I can get. I always try to look for the positive in any situation. That's just how I am... The Bills are currently at the very beginning of a rebuild. So I guess my expectations aren't all that high.

So I just seen that Alex DeBrincat just got his first career hat trick 22 games into his rookie season. He has 10 goals and 17 points in 22 games so far. That would put him 2nd in goals and 3rd in points on the Sabres. The reason I mention that is because Tim Murray traded the 2nd round pick used to draft him for Josh freaking Gorges! Its really going to start start showing how badly he wasted some of his picks. It bugs me when you look at how strong those 2015 and 2016 drafts were and the players that were available to us had Murray kept all those 1st and 2nd round picks we had. I think he really squandered a golden opportunity for Buffalo to build a true young powerhouse of a team...

I wouldn't go as far as to day that the Bills sucked yesterday. I know Alex Smith was playing like crap but I still thought the defense rebounded nicely. They were actually getting pressure on Smith, they took away a lot of his (favorite) short, quick throws. Did a good job stopping the run. Were much better tackling and swarming the ball like earlier in the season. I also thought the offensive line rebounded pretty nicely. They were much better in pass protection. Opened up some nice running lanes at times. All in all I thought the team looked much better than the last three games. They don't have the talent right now to be some great team. But they can at least play fundamentally sound football and not kill themselves with mistakes, which I thought they did for the most part.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/27/sean-mcdermott-refutes-report-that-kelvin-benjamin-has-torn-meniscus/ Yeah, as Art said and the article above explains, he does indeed have a torn meniscus. The Bills confirmed it. McDermott thought they said torn ligament, which is why he refuted it.

He did quit, there's really no other way to describe using the out clause on your contract to quit your job as head coach of the Bills. It also happened after the Pegulas had bought the team and declared that they were staying in Buffalo forever. It took him 2 years to get in that "better position", too. He had to take a job as an offensive line coach because he couldn't get a better job elsewhere. It's not like he just walked away right into that job or something. I'm not sure I'd call being an offensive line coach the last 2 years for a team that perennially finished in the bottom of the league better than being a head coach (which he could have been during that same 2 year stretch). Or say someone was a fool if they didn't do the same thing....

3 of those names on your list were not shipped out. Woods, Gilmore and Gillislee. It was feporter ling before McDermott got here that Whaley and co. were not willing to go above $11.5M per year on Gilmore. Whaley had 2 years to sign him and didn't. McDermott was here for what, 2 months? Beane wasn't even here yet. It was also reporter long before McDermott got here and Whaley and Woods were not even attempting to negotiate a new contract. It was later said that Woods wanted to test free agency, and after signing in LA he said that he was looking to go back to the west coast to play, preferably to his home state of California. Whaley also had a year to sign Woods. Gillislee was was given a 2 year offer sheet by the Patriots, with a $4M salary/cap hit this year. They did this purposely because the Bills didn't have a whole lot of cap space at that time. IIRC I believe they only had around $6M when that offer sheet was given. Plus they had McCoy already making $8+M. They also got a draft pick for him, and when you're trying to transition a team to a new scheme, those picks are valuable. Whaley was also here at that time, and you can say it was all McDermott deciding to give him the original raround tender and not match the offer, but we don't really know that for sure. Whaley did the exact same thing with Hogan the year prior, so it's not like that would have been an out of character move for him... and I would guess that he was telling McDermott at the time that Jonathan Williams could take Gillislee's spot. Remember, McDermott hasn't been here long, so he really hadn't had a chance to get to know all the players well and probably had mostly only evaluated players on tape at that point. Also, I have no idea what you are saying about Kailen Clay... He had 1 reception for 28 yards here, plus 2 punt returns for 2 yards. Hes had 1 reception for 5 yards in Carolina, plus 6 punt returns for 24 yards. 29 total yards in Carolina. 30 total yards in Buffalo. How exactly are they getting more production out of him? And what peoduction are are you talking about from players that have left? Woods, Gilmore, Gillislee were never here with McDermott, Dennison, Frazier. Clay was arguably more productive here. Seymour was here for a second, but hurt most of the time and hasn't been all that productive in Carolina yet. Actually, I believe he was more productive in Buffalo last year than he has been so far in Carolina (but nothing really worth mentioning, production wise in either place). Jonathan Williams hasn't played a game for anyone else yet. Dareus has performed almost exactly the same for Jacksonville as he did here under McDermott. Almost identical stats, except he had 1 sack here and 0 so far in Jacksonville. As for Miller, he hasn't performed in this new scheme, that's true. Tyrod has been very similar to his past 2 seasons so far. Many/most of his stats are very close to what they were last year. And id say the new defense is getting more out of the players that are still here than Rex got the last 2 years, except for Lorenzo Alexander maybe. Outside of those 3 bad games, the defense has actually been pretty damn good. The offense isn't scoring as many points as last year and the O line is struggling more in the run game. Some of that's on Dennison and Juan Castillo. Some is on the players. I dont think they are just scapegoating players either. They are getting rid of players they don't think fit, or are not on board, and keeping the players that fit/are on board. Theres still quite a few players here that were acquired by the previous regime... so we will agree to disagree there.

Love seeing the post game victory speeches. Can't wait until they come much more frequently... lol. But I am bummed that Kelvin Benjamin wasn't there to experience the Bills sideline and locker room during a good performance & win by the team. They had him stay back in Buffalo.

Damn. I thought all the negative posters would disappear for a week. Geez, I guess some Bills fans can't even enjoy a win anymore. Moat rational fans know that the Bills have a long ways to go yet. They are rebuilding and lack talent at many positions. But it's ok to enjoy the win anyway.

Great win today! They just saved their season season with a HUGE win. I'm pumped up! Now, I fully expect a loss next week. But if we can pull out 3 wins against Miami and Indy we got a damn good shot! And a bonus - this message board should actually be tolerable for a week! lol It was getting to the point that I didn't even bother posting here anymore. Hopefully all the talk of the team quitting and McDermott losing the locker will stop now.

HUGE WIN guys! They looked SO much better today. So glad they rebounded. If we can get 2 wins against Miami and a win against Indy, we got a damn good chance at the wild card.

Playoff hopes saved baby! F U referees! Couldn't hand KC the game, despite your best try. Jerks.

Come on defense. Shove it down the refs threat.

TOTAL BS FLAG!!!!

I hope playing it ultra safe doesn't bite them in the arse. I freaking hated that last series. You knew it was coming even before the first play. They'd run it 3 times and punt it away. Im nervous now, guys. A field goal would have been HUGE there.

http://www.wgr550.com/articles/news/sabres-waive-griffith Sabres waive Seth Griffith. I'm hoping that this means Bogosian is ready to come back... Also hoping that Griffith makes it through waivers. He's always been a very good goal scorer at the AHL level, so he could be a nice boost for a Rochester team already playing well.

Oh, ok. I get what you're saying now. Fair enough. I thought you were saying that Tyrod would choose to leave.

We have an entirely new GM, personnel and scouting staff from top to bottom since that 2017 draft. They fired every single scout and personnel man. So you can't compare any previous draft to what we will see in 2018. We have no clue how the Bills are going to draft yet... but Beane hired some top end people to run things so my hopes are much higher than they've been in years, as far as drafts go. Also, it's a bit early to lament passing on Mahomes, no? He hasn't even played a regular season snap yet. Even on Watson. Yes he's looked good but we've seen plenty of players flame out after good starts. The league catches up quickly. Let's see if Watson is able to keep playing at a high level in years 2 and 3, as game plans are made specifically to exploit his weaknesses. I think it has to be taken into account that McDermott was clearly working with a GM, personnel and scouting staff that he did not trust. I can see why a rookie HC wouldn't want to bet his career on a QB drafted by a staff he had no faith in, especially when I'm sure he knew that a new staff would be brought in after the draft, that would have two 1sts the following year (that was supposed to be a very strong year for QBs). I don't even think he used Whaley's draft board from what has been said. Sounds like they used Carolina's more than Buffalo's, and Carolina wasn't in the market for a QB, so... We we don't know where they will be picking yet either. But I definitely get your point on that, as historically we've missed out on some good QBs by being mediocre.

Thing is, he is under contract for next year. Tyrod can't leave next season unless he is cut or traded. I definitely don't think he is the type to demand a trade just because he was benched for a game. He was benched for the the last game of last season, and that was right after he had played the best game of his career against Miami. He still chose to take a big pay cut to stay here. He could have refused and become a free agent. But he didn't. He said a lot of the same things in interviews that he's saying now, and he chose to come back here. This time he was benched after the worst game of his career. Then they went right back to him 1/2 a game later. I don't see an issue keeping Tyrod if the Bills choose to do so.