Mango

I honestly think that voters got Hasek fatigue and that is why he didn't win the Hart a 3rd time. I wasn't sure about adding a second season for Hasek. The 98 Olympics are kind, sorta, maybe, but not really related to the 98-99 season. They really belong in 97-98. Hasek individually may have actually been better in 97-98. Then you add in the Olympics, Vezina, and the Hart trophy. It was stunning. Ultimately I erred on the side of the 4x OT game against NJ, and dragging that mediocre (on their best day) team 6 games against the two greatest goal scorers in league history (5 and 24). And the two best American goal scorers of all time. Those 5-7 years of Haseks peak are the greatest stretch of goaltending in league history. If you put him on the 95-96 Redwings, 18-19 Lightening, or even this years Bruins team, they set an untouchable record for best NHL regular season of all time. Heck, you put prime Hasek on this roster, and they likely skyrocket to Stanley Cup favorites. They would have beat TB 6-1 last night. It is telling that the Sabres have made it to the Stanley cup twice in 50+ years. The only player from the 98-99 roster in the rafters is 39. The 74-75 team has 4. 5 from that era overall. Tim Horton retired the year before they made the Stanley Cup.

This is where I am. I won’t strongly argue against OJ even though I’m team Hasek on this. Those two were pay per view special in those 2-3 seasons. The rest were just really really good. They don’t give you chills.

I would love to include the Bandits. They are the most under rated event in town. An absolute blast to attend. But I honestly don't know anything about lacrosse and I don't follow it, so I have zero point of reference other that Tavares is a HoF and he played/coaches for my team. I just like going to the games. drinking beer, and cheering. If somebody can name a season with any authority where Tavares was actually historically great, I would be happy to include it.

I fully agree. I don't think there is another player in Buffalo sports history that has a permanent bust on the Mount Rushmore of absolute all time best at their position. Bruce is likely the closest, and I think he is still a bit further back from Hasek. That 1998-99 team so was incredibly flawed. They simply were not good. Hasek on the current team would sky rocket the current Sabres roster to the very top of the standings. Oh I definitely wasn't. I meant to put in the OG post that I really didn't come of age until in Buffalo sports until the 90's.

Right, but nobody is calling OJ's 74 season the greatest season by an individual in Buffalo sports history. It is either 73 or 75.

I thought about that. But that’s a group over time.

OJ deserves to be part of the conversation. But as impressive as that feat was, he didn’t even make the playoffs. Hasek single handily dragged the team 6 games in the Stanley Cup. Advantage Hasek.

I think we’d be fine with Davis if Knox was targeted more consistently and/or we had a real NFL slot receiver. Diggs targets are fine. I wouldn’t move those up or down significantly. But I would be much more equitable behind him. In that environment, I don’t think fans are so down on Davis. He’ll be considered a weapon not a liability. The Bills have 1 player over 50 catches, KC has 3. We need to do a better job of making defenses cover everybody. That will help the OL, Diggs, our RB’s, and Allen. There’s some blame to go around on why that doesn’t happen including OC, QB, and the WR themselves. I won’t miss Beasley or Kumerow at all. They were both useless in the pass game. We barely knew Crowder.

I don’t know that Woods has the juice to play outside anymore. At least not in the way this board wants. He’s a savvy vet and good route runner. He could certainly have a home in the slot. I’d be open to that and keeping Davis outside at the right price. That said, we drafted Shakir who does play the slot. At some point we have to let our young guys play full time. We keep the training wheel on some of our rookies waaaay too long. I really liked what Andy Reid said in his post game after the SB re: all the rookies who started and saw playing time. He told them something like “Don’t worry about me sitting you. I don’t have anybody else. Just try hard and get better every week, that’s all you can do. If you can do that we’ll be fine” (paraphrasing)

It’s been nearly 25 years. Kids were born, came of drinking age, got 401k’s, and produced grand children between now and then. What a heart break year and that still might be the best combined year in Buffalo sports history. I was conflicted on whether or not to include OJ.

Full offseason mode. What’s the greatest single season by one player in the cities professional sports history. I’ll create a poll if this picks up, but thought I’d get feedback from some people a bit older than me. I certainly came of age for Buffalo Sports in the 90’s. For me it’s easy and not close. Hasek in 99. 98-99 Domink Hasek: Carried a flawed roster 6 games into the Stanley Cup Final. Won his 3rd Vezina with a .935 S% and 1.85 GAA. There’s an argument that 97-98 might be a better individual season, but he carried the entire team to the show. I think Hasek voter fatigue is the only reason he didn’t get the Hart trophy three years in a row. As I write this and think of all the other players that have come and gone, Hasek is likely the greatest athlete in Buffalo pro-sports history. 1990 Bruce Smith: Bills make their first run to the Super Bowl. Bruce records 19 sacks only overshadowed by Derrick Thomas 20. 7th best season of all time all from the 3-4 DE. 1991 Thurman Thomas: 1400 rushing yards at 4.9 ypc. Plus 600 yards receiving. NFL MVP and OPOY. 7th best season by a RB at the time. 92-93 Alexander Mogilny: 76 goals, 51 assists. 127 points. Tied Selanne in Goals. 7th in total points. 5th best season of all time. He is the only player in the top 30 not in the HoF. Rudy Pikuzinski: Mullets and Mustaches 1975 Bob McAdoo: NBA MVP 34.5 points, 14.1 rebounds. and 2.12 blocks per game, while shooting 51.2% from the field and 80.5% from the free-throw line 1973 OJ Simpson: 2003 yards in 14 games 1975 OJ Simpson: 329 carries for 1817 yds (5.8 ypc) and 16 TDs. 129.8 ypg average; 28 receptions for 426 yds (15.2 ypc) and 7 TDs. 30.2 ypg average. In 14 games he generated 2243 yards and 23TDs. That's 160 ypg and 1.65 TDs per game.

Not to mention the team has their best players under contract until 2025 and they’ll easily be extended into 2030 after the next season or two. It’s so hard to compare the two. Sure Hasek carried a bad team to the Finals but there is no equivalent to the importance of the QB in the NFL. A 17 week season and one off playoffs means you can play above yourself in 5-6 games in a row and win a SB. You just can’t do that in an 82 game season and 7 game playoff series. I give the Bills a chance every year they have Allen. But I don’t like the direction of the team outside of QB. I found them frustrating to watch as the season went on. The Sabres are a lot more fun at the moment. And yes that includes the Leafs game. They got much better as the game went on. I think Haseks 99 season is likely the greatest single season by any player in Buffalo sports history.

I think we have a 2-3 year reset. We have to clear some cap and reassess where and how we allocate our resources. That’s not to say the Bills still can’t be a good team during that time. They can. Hopefully they will. But we wont get the hype or vibe out of OBD for another few years. Stuff like this is what makes the tenures of Tomlin and Harbaugh so impressive. A lot of times really good teams burn so so hit as they chase a trophy, if (when) they inevitably take a step or two, or three back, coaches can lose the locker room. McDermott will be tested.

Hodgins was always quality. He just had some poorly timed injuries at camp. I think the Bills got cute with his roster status. He didn’t “need a chance” I believe he was totally mismanaged, the Bills just thought they could hide him. FJ flashed. Gentry hasn’t. Fred made an NFL roster in 2006 after graduating in 2003. Gentry graduated in 2017. It’s been 6 years now. Jackson made the Bills at 25. Gentry will be 29 before season end this year. I am pretty confident he is a favor to Josh Allen and that’s why he has stuck around for a few seasons. I wish him no ill will, but I would absolutely stunned if he turned into Fred Jackson at the WR position.

Not unimaginable. We almost lost the second game to Miami too. That puts us at 3-3/ 12 wins. KC, 11. CIN 10. I am unwilling at the moment to start flirting with the .500 mark and hope that the Bills find a way against the NFCE and the rest of their opponents. I guess I’ll mark them down with 2 Division Wins vs the Pats per you above. Pats Pats LV WAS DEN TB JAX NYG (I think they win this game) DAL (I don’t get the hype) Steal a game somewhere. 10 wins.

This is silly. This is an internet message board and a huge part of being a fan of any sport is talking shop, discussing, arguing, disagreeing. One TE giving an opinion shouldn’t end any conversation around any football team. Beane liked Terrel Bernard enough to pick him. I thought it was dumb. Stupid me for disagreeing with Beane I guess. Because football professional and all….

I think YOLO has a bot set up That automatically posts breaking news. I “think” (ouch) he mentioned that when I asked him years ago how he was so quick. @YoloinOhio I am running with this as full truth until you come tell me I am an idiot.

I think less success is relative. My guess is 10 or 11 wins with a bit of drama and dysfunction.

If only worried about stuff I could control I wouldn’t be on an internet message board about my favorite sports team.

I don’t disagree with any of this. But I also don’t think it’s an honest inventory of the situation. I don’t give a Schitts Creek it Diggs goes to Terry and says everything needs to change. I don’t care if he sits down with Dorsey and tells him he needs to be better. But that’s not what we’re discussing. We’re talking about Diggs publicly undressing either Allen, Dorsey, McD, or Beane. Maybe some combination of some or all. We’re talking about him bailing on his teammates post game and locker clean out then gaslighting everybody with tweets about how he is supposed to be ok with losing. As if that’s the only other option. We’re talking about swipes about offensive vs defensive coaches. I can’t recall a player in another sport behaving like that and it leading to winning a championship. Maybe Jordan or Kobe? in order to get away with it you need to be on the GOAT conversation. Diggs is another 5-7 years of his current production away from being a HoF player let alone a GOAT receiver. Leaders of World Championship teams don’t behave this way. I want Diggs here. But I’m over his toxicity. He’ll have to shape up or he’ll be near the epicenter of a Bills implosion.

I have no doubt that Diggs believes he’s doing the right thing. Of course he does. It’s actually part of the problem.The issue is his behavior sucks and is detrimental to the players around him. His role is WR. Not FO. Not GM. Not owner. Not coach. He doesn’t have control over any of that. Creating a toxic work environment doesn’t do any good. Go publicly scream about your direct manager or SVP and see how that goes over. At every National Sales Meeting I’ve ever been to somebody inevitably acts like Diggs over a cocktail or two, the wrong person hears, and year in year out quality employees get fired for being unprofessional.

If only somebody would have given him a shot in the NFL. Imagine if this guy had access to NFL coaching in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. Somebody give this man a shot!

This was supposed to be a reset year for the Chiefs and they won the whole thing. It is a huge part of my frustration with the state of the Bills roster at the moment. In a lot of years I would be much higher on the Bills than I am now. We’ve lost a lot of distance on KC at the moment. The conference runs through Arrowhead at the moment. It didn’t have to be that way.

I have been a part of a lot of really successful teams. Ultimately competing at that level is a profession. There’s certainly a casualness to athletics, but it’s still a profession. I know about 15-20 world champions, world record holders, and Olympic gold medalists. If any of them acted like Diggs has been I would likely know zero of them. It’s just not how teammates behave over long periods of time and find success at the worlds largest stages. He has got to find a way to be a better teammate.

Great post. I came to say the same. New Orleans proved you can navigate huge amounts of negative cap space. But they also proved that the Bill will eventually come due over the course of one or multiple seasons. Ultimately the Bills have to make some moves that may make the roster worse and in 2024 KC has $85M more cap dollars than the Buffalo Bills. And no matter how much they try, they won’t be able to outspend that difference between them next off season.