BuffOrange

Yeah I'm no hockey expert but it did kinda look like they sat on the lead, and I didn't think that about the other leads they've blown this postseason. In case anybody missed it, Keith Jones declared the game over already at the 2nd intermission saying "next goal wins". Not terribly optimistic right now but I look at it this way - if we get it done, great. If we don't - and can't finish more than 1 goal against Cam freaking Ward - how would we do vs. an Oilers team that has better defense and goaltending than Carolina?

You didn't hear about the "illegally watch a guy trip over himself" minor? Is it just me or are all our power plays of the crappy "overlapping periods" variety? Of course it only lasted 20 seconds anyway.

Bill, In my view it's pretty simple really. Good QB's make the guys around them look better. Bad QB's make them look worse. Average QB's are just kinda "there" - as good or bad as the players around them are. I find it hard to believe that anyone would argue he's been anything but average based on the 12 years of evidence that is available. Sure, he has had a few nice seasons statistically - particularly in '94, '96-98 with good supporting casts, and possibly '02 if you neglect the fact that he tanked the 2nd half of the year. OK granted - that's 5 solid seasons - nothing to be ashamed of. OTOH, he has had equally below average seasons circa ' 99 and '00, when all signs point to that New England supporting cast being much better than people thought at the time. '03, even if you're playing with replacement players or the '76 Bucs...zero offensive TD's in 7 games? That's pathetic by any standards when you're in the prime of your career and healthy. I won't even mention his dreadful postseason history AGAIN. I know Fez & everybody likes to take shortcuts with the 'fastfood' approach and pretend like the '05 Bills defense or schedule was anything like '04 - and even if this were true - I don't see what JP sucking last year has anything to do with rating Bledsoe as a QB throughout his 13 year career. I mean do you really want to play the "look how team X did after Bledsoe was out of the picture" card given who won the freaking Super Bowl in 2001?

rofl, you forgot Izelle Reese. Then there's 2003. Being completely healthy in the prime of your career and failing to generate a single offensive TD in 7 out of 16 games is the kind of stuff Canton QB's are made of.

Well yeah, I figured I'd cue somebody to frisk the net. But no, the idea that I'd never heard it discussed outside of here is not 'untrue' at all.

OK, I've just never heard "Bledsoe" and "HOF" mentioned in the same sentence outside of a Bills message board. Bring it up anywhere else and it's a joke.

PG, Bledsoe has a 0% chance of making the HOF. It's not a stats compilation contest like baseball. If it were, Art Monk - who was relatively better at his position - would be in easily. His awful playoff track record has been brought up numerous times here and even the most loyal DB fans haven't been able to refute this fact. I'm don't have the energy to explain it again, but go look up what the Patriots passing game actually produced (or didn't produce) in 1996, which was sadly his best postseason. It was very "1999 Steve McNairesque".

I think it's funny that people still argue that Bledsoe is good given the mountain of evidence that says otherwise. Fortunately for Dallas, they have a good D, a great coach, and there aren't many good QB's in the NFC. I think it'll be a lot like 2002 where DB puts up huge numbers early with the help of TO and fades down the stretch.

Hate to say it but Brad Riter's man crush came up small. Only time I thought the Canes were going to score and they didn't it was because they fanned on shots.

Can somebody who watches reg. season games tell me how he scores all his goals? The guy blows.

I have to mostly agree with this. As for the promising 'young veteran' type of player outside of the 5 guys you mentioned, I can't really think of anyone outside of McGee; and maybe Crowell? It's possible Parrish or Whitner or Losman can become one of those guys, but they still have everything to prove and as you said every team has guys like that on their roster. The only positive I can come up with is that we're not clearly worse than last year at any position besides WR, so I think 2-14 is a bit pessimistic. I think we'd be favored at home vs. Tennessee. Between Minnesota, Miami, Jacksonville at home; Jets, Texans, Lions on the road - I think they win a couple of those games as well so probably 5-11 again.

I agree, been missing one for so long. Why didn't we take one in a supposed deep TE draft? What's the deal with Everitt - is he 100%?

You mean the biggest impact, or biggest surprise?

Well it's pretty rare that I agree with everyone in a thread but: A) Yes, Adam Schein sucks. B) Yes, the Bills suck.

Joe, you're making this thread as ugly as the game. Christ, you can be negative without being such a whiney troll. You're upset with the team, I get it, I got it the first 14,000 times. Anyway, I didn't see effort as a big problem tonight. The first couple periods was the Ottawa series in reverse. Fairly evenly played, they got better goaltending. Miller has proven he can play on the road - I like his chances of playing a B+/A- game in Game 5. Couple that with possibly Numminen and/or Connolly coming back, and I don't see this series as over. Gerber getting hot is certainly disturbing; we have to get to him early next game.

Should be a great game. I've always thought that when you earn a split on the road, Game 3 is absolutely crucial to hold serve because it's usually harder to win compared to Game 4. In 99, they won dogfights vs. Boston & Toronto in Game 3 to go up 2-1 and went on to win Game 4 rather handily. Dallas they lost G3 and won G4. This same thing seems to be true in basketball as well. Maybe the road team feels they have to regain control in the third game by playing balls to the wall and if they lose they're emotionally done. With the injuries it's going to be tough. As Silver&Red pointed out they're going to play desperate again and there's no reason for a letdown circa Game 2. OTOH, I don't think the Canes are going to be too demoralized about losing the last game because they should smell blood with all the Rochester kids in there. I expect a well played game on both sides, could very well go into OT, where I'll take my chances with Miller.

IMO the team lacked talent outside of every position save from CB, WR, and RB and that's the primary reason they sucked. Of course McGahee quitting after the 1st Pats game didn't help.

Yeah I think Ward will start but get a quick hook if he gives up a couple goals early. We'll see - lots of Sabre fans (me included) wrote off Game 5 in Ottawa after losing Game 4. But ya know, home ice is overrated in hockey, especially when the home team is facing elimination late in a tied game - pressure really starts to build - you saw that with Ottawa as well as Dallas and Calgary this year. In any case it's nice to see a chink in Rolleson's game prior to the finals series should we play them.

Yeah getting Teppo back is the key. If they do then they're not in terrible shape if Jillson plays like he did the other night - Fitzpatrick is basically the only question mark. Would be great to win Game 4 but i don't think it's a must-win as some people are saying. If Teppo is ready to go at 90% for Game 5 I don't feel terrible about a best of 3, home ice or not. I'd say we have a 50/50 shot in this series if Miller continues to play solid. Of course if he can steal a game circa Game 2 in Ottawa then it's more like 80/20.

Well it's still over and it won't affect Carolina's decision. Good to see the Ducks extend the series though.

Seriously, I'm not a huge fan anymore, but I don't understand this need people have to tell everybody they don't care everytime an NBA thread is started...nobody cares that you don't care. I doubt anybody cares that I don't care about American Idol, so I don't open the thread.

Doesn't Curry also have a history of heart problems or something? Yeah Isiah is soooo bad it's funny. If they keep him and get rid of Larry Brown that would be awesome. I believe the Bulls get next year's 1st round Knicks pick as well, which should be another top 3 pick.

I didn't think Gerber really had to do much outside of the one stop on Greer. There were a couple other breakaways where Sabres just mishandled the puck.

I'd give him a better score than that seeing as how the color commentator seemed to buy it in slow motion....and people were complaining about John Davidson?

?? I thought they did a pretty decent job in the territory battle. The problem in my view is the lack of quality chances in the opposing zone at even strength. Maybe Connolly is just that good, or maybe the Canes defense is better than everyone thought. At least the power play is doing better though.