smokinandjokin

This season, I've found it to be just the opposite. Teams forechecked hard early on, and the Sabres won 10 straight out of the gate. Lots of breakout goals on odd-man rushes. Since then, opponents have played predominantly one guy up and four back. The Leafs have been one of the few teams who have sent two guys into the zone on the forecheck, and the Sabres defeated them 7-4 last time they played (although the final 2 were empties.) It seems the more defenders hang back, protect against the rush, and force the Sabres to dump the puck in rather than skate it in, the more trouble it presents. At the same time, it's hard to say it presents problems when the Sabres win 3 out of every 4 games.

Yeah, it says he wants to put it in GM's minds to draft Quinn in the top-5 so that it reflects well on him and his program. It might look pretty good if Weis can walk into the living room of the #1 QB recruit in the nation and show him Quinn's first two seasons (horrible) and his last two seasons (record-setting) followed by a draft pick and $22M signing bonus. I'm sure he thinks VERY highly of Quinn, but don't rule out his own motivations.

Weis' opinion matters- he's seen the tools up close on a daily basis that make quarterbacks successful. However, he may be exaggerating his opinion, because it only benefits him and his program to have his QB go #1 in the draft. Something like that might make recruiting high school QB's a little easier in the future, don't you think? I agree Quinn could be overrated, but I think he'll be serviceable in the NFL. At worst, I could see him as a Pennington-type with a better arm...Wins more than he loses, but may not get you to the ultimate goal. At best, he could be, like Weis says, one of the top QB's in the league. It's alarming that he was never able to win one big game in his ND career. I know, that's a function of the whole team, and particularly the defense, who hasn't stopped anyone since Willingham's first year. But...If he wants credit for all those records he set throwing multi-TD's against Stanford and Purdue, he has to accept some blame for the losses to USC, Ohio State, and Michigan.

The Sens did to Buffalo what the Sabres have been doing lately. Buffalo came out flying and played a great 1st period, creating numerous GOOD scoring chances, and heavily outshot Ottawa. But much like Miller when Buffalo slept-walked through a few 1st periods, Emery came up huge and got them to the break at 0-0. Buffalo had a couple of PP's early on in the 2nd, looked terrible, and gave up the shorty. Then they pretty much let the air fly out of their sails after that. You're right buftex- it was right up there with the 1st period in Washington last month as one of the worst periods of the year. No intensity, not sharp, and outskated.

Yeah, I'm not sure what exactly Ottawa does that presents problems. The Sabres' PP is ranked 17th in the NHL at 17%, and that is up a bit from a few weeks ago. The Sabres have had trouble establishing the zone against every team, it seems. I know a huge difference, compared to last year, is the lack of Connolly. I think he alone would get them into the low-20% range. The Sens' PK is ranked 17th in the NHL, so I don't know what they are doing against Buffalo that works so well. It doesn't seem to work as well against the rest of the league, so maybe they do have the Sabres number a bit. Additionally, Emery has been on fire when he's played the Sabres. When they have managed to get set up and get good shots, the goalie has been reliable.

I actually hadn't heard them lobbying at all for a shot at the title. I heard interviews with both the coach and the QB, and each said that while they would love the opportunity to play the winner of OSU-Florida, they did the best with the hand they were dealt. Both mentioned that they were extremely pleased with the Fiesta Bowl, they were treated great, and they were proud to beat a great program like Oklahoma. I think they both know there were 10 or 15 other teams who would've been undefeated if they played Boise's schedule, so they weren't playing the "We beat everybody so we're champions" card. I thought they represented their conference well in a big time bowl game, and earned a huge payout. They beat everyone they lined up across from this year, even if the schedule wasn't the best. No clammoring for a playoff, no begging for a shot at Ohio State- just happiness with ending an undefeated season as Fiesta Bowl champs. What's wrong with that? Isn't that better than being seeded 8th and losing 55-17 to Ohio State in the 1st round of some playoff?

Agreed, good work millbank. Several years ago, I recall young Russian Maxim Afinagenov winning an award as the best forward in the tournament, and a young Canadian named Brian Campbell was named the tournament's best defensman. I remember being all fired up that the Sabres had the rights to both of them. I flew JetBlue out west to see the Bills-49ers game in December 2004, and I watched a game on ESPN on the flight (not sure if it was World Juniors, but it was junior national teams playing.) It was USA vs. Russia, and the star for USA was Drew Stafford (yes, the Sabres' Drew Stafford,) with Ovechkin running wild for the Russians. The game was awesome. Bigger ice, nonstop action. It happens all the time...Howard Stern threads, Jim Rome threads, etc...People reply making sure that everyone knows they don't care about the thread, and it sucks, and you suck if you do care about it. For whatever reason, it makes them feel good. Don't sweat it.

I don't know. Obviously, with Alfredson, Heatley, and Spezza (who is out for 4-6 weeks) Ottawa has three of the most supremely skilled players in the league. But it seems to come down to special teams when we play them. Game 1- Sabres win 4-3. Buffalo 1-7 on the PP; Ottawa 0-8 on the PP Game 2- Senators win 4-2 Ottawa 2-6 on the PP, and scored 1 SHG; Buffalo 0-6 on the PP Game 3- Senators win 4-1 Ottawa 2-9 on the PP; Buffalo 0-5 on the PP Game 4- Senators win 3-1 Ottawa 2-4 on the PP; Buffalo 1-6 on the PP Game 5- Senators win 6-3 Ottawa 3-4 on the PP, and scored 1 SHG; Buffalo 1-5 on the PP In all of those games, the special teams goals were the difference. Clearly, playing at even strength, the teams are very evenly matched. Of the Sabres four wins in the playoffs last year vs. Ottawa, three were in OT, and the other was a 2-1 victory. When you match up with a team so evenly, a lot of times, special teams makes all the difference.

Harold Lederman scored the round 10-9 in favor of Lampley.

Our PP can't do schit against them (it's a struggle to even get set up) and their PP is automatic against us. Emery has been better than Miller. They play balls-to-the-wall, probably because of the unceremonious playoff exit last year (similar to Buffalo going 4-0 against Carolina this year.) And they aren't scared of us. That seems to be about it.

Good work as always XB- HBD man!!!

You'd hope a guy named Terd could really clog things up.

I'm very pleased and feel partially responsible for the PAC 10's .500 bowl record. Apparently my thread woke them up, and Oregon St, Cal, and USC all responded with big victories. This much we know is true: Notre Dame can't hang. (Sorry Bart, 9 in a row, had to be said...)

I believe Dick Smehlik is looking for a game...

Cocaine's a hell of a drug...

But it can sometimes be necessary to help with serious health problems...

Seriously? Manning in playoffs = 2005 Losman I guess he was watching.

You focus all your time thinking about what McGahee doesn't do that you pay no attention to what he does do. You are not going to just throw a dart at a cheap free agent or mid-to-low round draft pick who will gain 1200 yards. Can it be done? Of course, with a TON of luck. You're a fool if you think it's likely.

With who? A-Train? Are you nuts? This is similar to the thinking that Pat Williams was just some fat guy who clogged the middle and could be easily replaced by Sam Adams and some other fat guy.

Linky Canada tied it about halfway through the 3rd on their ninth power play of the game. USA took it to Canada in the 10-minute OT period, outshooting the Canadians 12-2, but they couldn't beat the goalie. Canada then won in a shootout on the 13th shot!

Definitely Meagan. The nose.

Not sure how long this will be up before they change it, but ESPN's 'NHL Front Page' has a picture of Miller with the old goat head uni on. No new photos ESPN?

Perhaps a more seasoned politician would've spent that $150,000 on hookers. But Eliot has time to learn.

Link with photo of the woman back at her hotel after being released... possibly nsfw

I'm REALLY pulling for a San Diego - New Orleans Super Bowl.