BillsFan4

He actually got demoted to QB4. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5938588/2024/11/21/giants-daniel-jones-addresses-benching-bids-farewell/ they put him in a red no contact jersey and he was taking reps at scout team safety.

It had to happen. He doesn’t look ready for the NHL. I don’t understand why they’ve seemed so intent on forcing him into the NHL so quickly, especially after UPL established himself as the starter and they signed him to that new 5yr deal. They have a young starter who’s just emerging and is signed for half a decade. Like, wtf is the rush on Levi? I don't get it. All I can think is that they promised him a fast track to the NHL to get him to sign here out of college. Otherwise I don’t understand why they’d handle him they way they have. Hopefully UPL is back to full health soon and Reimer can be a competent backup. He didn’t look good in Anaheim but he’s an experienced veteran. All we need is him to be an average backup that can play an occasional game. Unless he’s needed due to injury, I want Levi in Rochester for at least the rest of the season. Hopefully Kevyn Adams doesn’t keep repeating this same mistake.

Saying Woody is a problem is putting it lightly. Holy cow… https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5933929/2024/11/19/joe-douglas-new-york-jets-gm-fired/ Good luck hiring a new GM. Why would any potential GM or head coaching candidate with options even take an interview there?

Same here. That’s how I took it as well.

I agree. They need to show more consistency game to game and even sometimes period to period. I am hoping that more time under Lindy will bring more consistency to their game. They look good when they play the way Lindy wants them to. But there’s still a lot of dumb mistakes in their game that need to continue to be coached out. And yes I think Lindy is done being patient. Him benching Samuelsson seems to have woken the team back up. you should listen to some of ruff’s press conferences. He pulls no punches. I love it.

2 very good games in a row for them. They just need to keep playing that way! I am really hoping that ass kicking of the rangers boosts their confidence and they can get into a groove. They need to start stacking some wins before Thanksgiving. Historically, the teams in a playoff spot by Thanksgiving usually make it. They are currently only 2 points back of 3rd in the division even though they sit in the 6th wildcard spot right now.

The -9 isn’t great (if you put stock in plus/minus) but the 15 points would be 2nd on the Sabres in scoring right now, only 1 point behind Tage Thompson (16pts) for the lead. and at the time I posted that he was, or had just been, in the top 10-15 in the NHL in total points (ahead of all Sabres players iirc). edit - but I was being over-emotional to call it a “terrible, terrible” trade. Byram is a good player, is younger and probably has a higher ceiling than Mittelstadt. I just didn’t think it made sense to trade for another left handed offensive defenseman with already having Dahlin + power and paying them both big money. Are they going to pay Byram too? They didn’t want to pay another center $7M but they’ll give a third LH defenseman $7+M?

Same here. Any fan of any team would be nervous in that moment. No kicker is a lock from 61 yards. But they drafted Bass in part because he has a big leg. That was the moment to use it. The wind had died down and a field goal wins the game. What other choice was there but to attempt a kick? I would have been so beyond pissed if McDermott punted it. and the announcers saying they should have tried a Hail Mary are idiots. I immediately said “f no” when they said that. Yeah, Allen has a great arm but hail Mary’s are such low percentage plays. To attempt one when they only needed a field goal to win would have been dumb AF.

To be fair, Mittelstadt was our leading scorer when he was traded, and had been for a while. that was just a terrible, terrible trade. The last thing they needed was another left handed offensive defenseman. It made zero sense as soon as it happened. and it’s not just Mittelstadt who’s looking great after leaving Buffalo. It’s been a consistent thing going all the way back to Botterill. ROR, Montour, Reinhart, Eichel, Hagel, Rodrigues. Even Bogosian won a cup the year he left Buffalo. It seems like literally everyone they trade away blossoms. To me, that clearly shows the issue is with the Sabres organization.

Damn, that’s sad to read. I didn’t know him IRL but I had many conversations with him here. I always enjoyed his posts. RIP John! And my condolences to his family (if any of them ever read this).

Two weekends in a row both the Bills and Sabres won. How about that! 😁

So, yeah. It was as bad as I remembered… 😂 (Also didn’t realize their first 3 game win streak came on my bday! lol)

Wow… 3 wins in a row this early in the season. When was the first time they won 3 in a row last year? I think they only did it once or twice all year, didn’t they? It would be a big step forward if this team could start stringing together 3(+) wins at a time (and also not follow it up by losing multiple games in a row. lol). They have struggled for years to consistently win 3 in a row.

I think he’s not starting because he didn’t earn the starting role. It’s also not fair to say that Bills fans were “very excited” about the Edwards signing. Many fans were disappointed with the signing and weren’t very impressed with his play for KC. I have to laugh at the dude in that tweet in the first post. He said it himself - He has absolutely no idea why Edwards isn’t starting. Yet he’s certain he should be. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️😂

Benson has been playing through an injury so at least he has an excuse. Cozens and Quinn have no excuses. They’ve just been disappointing. agreed! They need to figure out the PP quick. Their 5v5 numbers being so good despite not getting any production from half their top 6 makes it even more impressive IMO. And without the standard production from Dahlin we are used to… I’m sure he’ll get going soon enough. He was injured to start the year too. Right now the 3rd line is vastly out-performing the “second” line despite getting heavy d-zone starts. I’m really hoping that 2nd line will get going at some point. Kulich has looked good. I hope Cozens and Quinn can find their games. Cozens was fantastic at the world’s for Canada. Thats the Cozens Buffalo needs. If that second line gets going and the rest of the team keeps performing, it’ll be pretty exciting. The only bottom 6 addition that hasn’t looked good is Lafferty.

Probably their best game of the year so far. If they keep playing like that, they’re going to be alright.

I doubt he feels in over his head. He has the 4th most games coached in NHL history. He’s the second most experienced active coach (Paul Maurice is first, and sits 2nd on the all-time list) and currently sits 5th or 6th on the all time wins list. But I do think he’s probably realizing that there’s a lot more work to be done here than what Kevyn led him to believe. Too bad he wasn’t allowed to bring in any of his own assistant coaches to help him out…

Yeah, I keep telling myself this. I really thought I’d have some patience for the early season growing pains. But it’s hard once the losses start piling up so quickly. My patience with this team is just worn so thin. There have been some positive signs. Their even strength statistics are good. Hopefully they’ll start winning some games.

I don’t really blame Lindy for this mess. He’s only been here 5 games and he was saddled with the same failed core (Adams brought back the same top 8/9 (minus skinner) and only made changes to the 4th line) and was also forced to keep all of Granato’s assistant coaches + Adams good buddy Seth (who’s currently running the worst PP in the NHL). He wasn’t even allowed to hire a single asst. himself. But I definitely blame Adams and Pegula. Adams made a huge bet on his same failed core (again). He bet on “internal growth” (again), and an unproven goalie tandem (again). On no veteran players on defense (again). On the same failed top 6 (again). and between keeping the same coaching staff, buying out skinner to create a bunch of cap space they didn’t use + being the only team to enter the season with $8+M in cap space for the 5th year in a row… it’s clear the Sabres have an internal budget that’s handicapping their ability to compete. Pegula is also allergic to hiring a GM with experience. He’s owned the team for what, 13-14 years now? and hasn’t hired an experienced GM once in all those years despite the constant losing.

He was never a realistic target for Buffalo. Mark Davis was never going to eat the type of money it would’ve taken for a trade with Buffalo. Im good with him going to the Jets though. I think it’s going to end up biting them in the ass with Garrett Wilson. Instead of Rodgers developing chemistry with a good young WR who was recently a top 10 pick, he brought in his old #1 WR who is going to get the lion’s share of targets now and be unhappy if/when he doesn’t. I could see Wilson forcing his way out eventually. I thought Joe Douglas built a good young team. But they keep slowly replacing the young players with aging out vets to appease Rodgers.

I like the passion. I thought they played a pretty good overall game. They just transitioned to defending their lead in the 3rd. Lindy’s trying to get them to play a more mature game with less risk, especially when they’re up by a few goals.

In familiar territory…

0-3 to start the season… and they play the Florida panthers next (who are probably pissed after losing to ottawa tonight). 0-4 feels pretty likely. I did actually think they looked pretty good tonight. I thought they looked like the better team. But when you score 0 even strength or power play goals (on 5 PP chances) it’s kind of hard to say they deserved to win. And I’m way past giving them any moral victories.

That was an incredible goal. Glad they got the win. They deserved it. They out-played ottawa all game long. Ullmark standing on his head for 1/2 the game is the only thing that kept it close. Not bad for the Sabres AHL team! lol. They definitely have some talent in the pipeline. Really nice blend of different skill sets too. The Sabres are undefeated so far this pre-season and they won their exhibition matchup against RedBull today, too. I really like the way Lindy and the staff have these guys playing so far. The structure is like night & day compared to Granato. You can clearly see how all 5 guys are playing as one unit now. It’s actually been fun to watch them in their own zone. Can’t remember the last time I’ve said that! 😂

He said being named captain was “the proudest moment of my life”.