JohnC

You are not the only one who thought that Rob Johnson would be our long term franchise qb. If you break down his physical attributes he checks all the boxes. What he couldn't do is overcome his stubbornness to hold the ball too long and unwillingness to throw the ball away and live for the next play. Because of his reluctance to tactically yield the play he took an unmerciful beating. And it was mostly his fault! If he would have had the moxie of Flutie I do believe he would have been a very good qb. Most players who come from coaching families have an understanding of the intricacies of the game and the game within the game. He lacked that mental dexterity on the field to adjust. Sometimes being stubborn is what makes one a success; and sometimes being stubborn is what makes one be a failure.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that Tua is going to a good qb assuming he stays healthy. But that qualification about staying healthy applies to every qb. Ask the Colts if they would do things differently after their drafting of Luck. The first thing they would tell you is make it a priority to construct a good OL line to protect the investment.

Washington recently traded with Carolina for Kyle Allen. The Skins have little interest in trading their second round pick unless the offers are too generous to refuse. They are in a position to select Chase Young the player they covet. And that is what they are going to do. I don't see Miami giving up a boatload of painfully earned and valuable rebuilding picks to move up a few spots. They should be able to get Tua at the five spot, the position where they currently reside. If another team jumps ahead of them then they will probably take Herbert at that spot or draft Love in a lower first round.

This clip on Dawson Dipietro was taken from Sabres.com. If you watch the short clip (7 seconds) from the last development camp you can see that he can turn on the jets. He is 24 yrs old so I expect that he will directly go to Rochester. His college coach (a former NHL coach) believes that he has a chance to make the big club. I doubt it unless a number of players will be moved. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-sign-dawson-dipietro-western-michigan/c-316256530

I agree with you that you can get a back in the third or even fourth round and still come up with a contributing player. This team is set with few glaring needs. So unless there is an elite back available with the second pick then just stick with your board and get a good player regardless of position. This front office has put this franchise in a good position entering into the draft with plenty of flexibility heading into this draft. What is very encouraging is that this staff has done very well getting good players in the middle rounds. So there is no need to force things when working this draft. Another advantage with having most positions covered is that the organization can trade some picks to move up in a round because not all of our picks will have a reasonable chance to make the roster.

The below attached link is a column by Ryan Kennedy from the Hockey News about how to fix the Sabres. It is overly generic but it does offer some suggestions that are apparent to most of us. My sense is that Botterill is a strong believer in internal development in order to build a roster. So I don't see any drastic moves that will mortgage the future for short term benefits. However, I do see Risto or another defenseman with additional assets moved to enhance the second line and scoring potential. If one reviews this disappointing season it is not unreasonable to believe that with a better PK and better goal tending this team could have earned an additional 8 to 10 points. That in itself would have led to a more positive perspective and outlook on the season and near future. https://www.si.com/nhl/2020/03/03/how-to-fix-the-buffalo-sabres

I'm not crying over spilled milk (as you put it). The issue of testing that has hurt our ability to contain the virus in the first place is still an issue as it is spiraling out of control. If you want to mitigate this outbreak you have to resolve the issue of not having the ability to test the areas where there are hot spots. It's hard to fight when you are blind to the nemesis.

The problem wasn't that we didn't have the capacity to test everyone. That wasn't the dereliction. The problem was that we didn't do what was necessary to test in order to handle the hot spots. By targeting the hot spots instead of the general population we would have had a better ability to contain the breakout.

I guarantee it that if there is a breakout near one's circle of living (vaccine or not) there won't be a normal for those through no fault of their own are caught in the vicinity of that contamination.

One of the things that I admire about Josh is that he is self-motivated and a worker. As this link indicates you don't have to worry about him when he is on his own. I don't know for sure what his potential is but what I do know for sure is that he is going to maximize it to the best of his ability.

Can someone translate what he said?

Forget about the vaccine. We are a year away from that remedy. How and when do we get back to normal (attending games, concerts, socializing, restaurants, schools etc.) when there isn't a vaccine to deal with this currently infectious virus?

How can you systematically expose a population when the authorities in charge don't have the capacity to test for it? A big fear as noted by Dr. Fauci is that the virus becomes dormant and then re-ignites at a later time. As far as the vaccine goes even if it proves to be successful how do you deal with a large portion of the population who refuse to get vaccinated? As it stands 50% of the people don't get flu shots even when it is available.

What do you mean by controlled exposures? As it stands we don't even know what percentage of the population is infected with the virus. If people behave responsibly and follow the guidelines the curve certainly can be flattened. But what happens if someone is asymptomatic and the virus is dormant and for some reason it is activated? What makes this virus more frightening and dangerous than the generic flu is that it so highly contagious. You can go from containing this virus and then in quick order have it re-ignite and exponentially infect others. This is a complicated and inflammable issue that can alter the way we live for a very long time.

Whether he is simply giving an opinion or not it is not implausible that sports, all spectator sports, might have to be put on pause until this virus is contained by a vaccine. And from what the experts are indicating that might be a year or so away. There certainly is a contamination risk that can exponentially spread if only a small percentage of an attending crowd were infected with the virus, even if asymptomatic. This is a tough and complicated issue.

The below link is a 13 min interview of Mattias Samuelsson on WGR's Instigator Show. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/03-26-sabres-defenseman-mattias-samuelsson This WGR 8 min second link is Andy Murray, the college coach of Samuelsson and Depietro (sic), talking about them as players and their prospects. Murray believes that Samuelsson has a chance to make the team but most likely will end up in Rochester. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/03-27-western-michigan-hockey-head-coach-andy-murray-on-mattias-samuelsson

My problem with him is not that he didn't live up to his bountiful contract so much as he was atrocious for an extended period of time ( as you noted a season and a half) regardless what his salary was. If he were a minimum salaried player based on his play he would still be considered an underperforming player.

The issue I have with Norman has little to do with how much or how little he will be paid. The coaches in Washington last year thought he was such a liability that the team preferred that he didn't play at all. Whether you are paid a penny or a dollar a liability is a liability.

This signing was understandable. The Norman pickup was perplexing. In his last season with the Redskins the team was more comfortable with him on the bench than on the field. When Carolina walked away from him they were smart. When the Redskins signed him they ended up being duped. When a team signs a big ticket player they should be smart enough to put that player in a scheme that he is best suited to. They didn't do it.

You and I share the same exalting assessment on Gilmoure. My contention is that McKelvin and Donte Whitner were not good picks because of the position they played so much as they were poorly evaluated. Picking Whitner in the first round seemed odd to me. Leodis McKelvin was a speed demon. But he lacked football instincts and he had hands of stone. Being a physical specimen doesn't mean that you are a good football player. In my opinion the scouting department was intrigued with his physical talent and not enough concerned with his football acuity. You are astute and perspicacious.

I was aware that you were talking about the 1991 draft but your draft aversion to DBs goes beyond that one year. Mahomes would certainly have been the best pick for the Bills in that particular draft year. If you recall JeffisMagic and I were exhorting the franchise to take either Mahomes or Watson in that draft. Jeff was more of a zealot for Mahomes while I felt that either player would have been not only an exceptional pick but also a transformative pick. But let's put that draft year in context. McDermott just took over with Whaley as a lame duck GM. As soon as that draft was over and his contract ran out he and the scouting staff in toto were let go. What was apparent is that the wrestling coach had little confidence in the prior GM's judgment so he waited to draft a highly rated qb when his own staff was in place. In hindsight it was a bad judgment but to be fair an understandable judgment.

Bill, You have this perplexing obsessive aversion to drafting DBs. I don't understand it. You have for many years blamed it for the limitation of our rosters. Do you know one coach who values DBs and is not reluctant to use high round picks for his team? Bill Belichick, arguably the most successful coach/GM in modern football whose specialty is defense. Stephon Gilmore was a high first round pick for the Bills. He played well for us. When he became a free agent the organization that coveted him and paid him a bonanza salary was New England. Since he has joined that franchise he has been an instrumental player for their many playoff and SB teams. I agree with you that Levy as a somewhat GM and as a coach when involved in personnel decisions wasn't always wise in personnel decisions. But his mistakes related to evaluating players in general and assembling a roster- - - not his over-emphasis on favoring DBs. High caliber DBs in today's NFL spread passing game and qb protecting league are more valuable as ever. Sean McDermott's coaching background is from the defensive side of the ball. Most people would rate his short tenure with the Bills as a success. His first draft pick as a HC and basically acting GM was a DB, Tre White. Without question he has been one of our best players not only on defense but on the roster. The point is that you might be making a mistake in diminishing the importance of the position.

The attached link is a long segment (28 mins) with Paul Hamilton on the Instigator Show talking about the Sabres. Some of thoughts of Paul H. were: he felt that if the Sabres were going to trade Risto for a second line forward that they would have to add more to the deal to get it done. He was asked by Rivet about the individual defensive players. Although he has been a consistent critic of Risto he thought that for much of the season he was our best defensemen. However, he still believes that because of his good play his value is higher than it has been. He also thought that Joki may have been one of our more consistent defensemen although he faltered toward the end of the season. He wants to see the Sabres re-sign Reinhart while being aware that the player has the leverage over the team because there is such a dearth of scorers on the roster. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/03-25-paul-hamilton

This is a short link by a report by Paul Hamilton from WGR. It indicates that the NHL combine in Buffalo, the Draft lottery date and the draft have all been postponed. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/the-nhl-is-postponing-events