BillsVet

This thread makes me think Step Brothers all over again. Specifically, the scene where the night vision goggles are used. Question is, which one is Brennan and which is Dale?

My prediction is we're going to find out Sunday and then learn more every subsequent game day. I also predict Daboll will scheme up plays where Allen throws it to both of them and eventually one or both will make a TD catch. That's what it's probably gonna be like to play with Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders.

Sal sounds like he's had about 3 espressos before coming on the show some days. At 8am I'm not ready for that because I haven't had my coffee. I also struggle with him being a massive homer. Just give it to me straight and put the pom-poms away.

Mike comes off as a guy who's bored with life and the show. He retreats into analytics and, as a result, betting to spice things up. For whatever reason, he sounds like someone winging it and doesn't care. I tire of hearing him simplify everything down to metrics when the human component to sports is always in play. Another thing I've noticed...I tuned in a few weeks ago after something Sabres related had happened only for him to talk 10-15 minutes about an experience at the vending machine. What program director or station manager listens to that and doesn't make a point of ending the incessant banter about nothing. The afternoon show needs some energy, but they won't alter their hosts because there's no competition.

2007 game, but for all the wrong reasons. I've never heard the stadium more quiet than when Everett was down on the field. Only real highlight was Roscoe Parrish returning a punt and jumping into our group. Then in the final seconds Denver has zero timeouts. Then run their kicking team out, make the FG as time expires to win 15-14.

If Terry wants to make the case he's the least valued team, per a second hand source, to leverage taxpayer dollars it's a weak argument. He invested in the team knowing full well they'd need a new stadium within 10 years of that purchase. That 1.4B spent to buy the team was made knowing the stadium's condition. Need to understand the political part of this debate. Upstate NY (area above Westchester County) has about 35% of the state's population per recent (2019) estimates. Downstate runs the political theater here and their willingness to put more money in upstate when NYC/LI is the economic engine of the state must be considered. The people who decided those expenditures on New Yankee Stadium and Citi Field are pretty much long gone. And, more importantly, downstate doesn't need upstate's votes to maintain the Assembly, Senate, or Governorship. Why would they itemize in the budget 750M or some figure in that area for the Buffalo Bills? Downstate pols aren't handing handing out money proportionally between upstate and downstate.

Hard for ownership to have a worse month than the Pegulas without moving their teams. Their PR department is woefully unprepared for the onslaught that's coming from the fans.

I can almost guarantee you will be seeing PSL's for the Buffalo Bills with this stadium. If you're looking for how that impacts the fans, that's it. The cost of tickets will skyrocket...just ask Jets and Giants fans at their new home. As to the economics debate, I get that many fans don't want to talk about it...because they don't understand nor want to research this aspect to the debate. Anyone has the right to stick their head in the ground and pretend nothing's wrong. Still doesn't make sense from an economics and civics perspective for the State and local government to provide major funding to billionaires who, regardless of their local investment, don't strike me as very intelligent pro sports owners. EDIT: Never has the phrase "panem et circenses" been more appropriate than now. Works every time.

The Sabres right now are essentially where the Bills were circa 2006-2010: stuck in a never-ending cycle of stupid. Ralph hiring/promoting people he knew as GM who wouldn't work in the same role for 31 other teams. And that only happened when he saw an outside the organization hire fail. And now with the HC, hire, it's clear the Sabres went down the path of least resistance and hired someone no one else considered. Similar to Chan Gailey in 2010. Now they're trading/letting your best players hit UFA only to talk about draft picks under team control for a few years. Not to mention, the late Wilson years of cutting costs, albeit for different reasons. At this point, as @BADOLBILZ notes, they either give up control or luck into success. I have a hard time seeing the former happen with the meddling that happens in that front office. And I don't see Kevyn Adams being the type to tell ownership to stay out of his way.

Is Doug Whaley's dad an NFL Executive to hire his son? Because that's about the only way Dugout Doug's coming back now. Blaming a now 81 year old for a draft pick when it was clear Nix was being moved out guarantees he'll be persona non grata in NFL circles. In 2014, I always figured the trade up for Watkins was Doug playing with house money with Brandon's urging. RW had died, the franchise was going to be sold, and Brandon and Whaley weren't sure they'd have jobs. So, they made the bold move to trade future draft picks they may never get to use for Watkins in what was probably at a minimum a need to win year with new ownership coming aboard. Everything was about what was best for them and maybe for the team. Then again, If it wasn't for EJ, his most infamous NFL moment would have been forwarding emails throughout the NFL, including the commissioner. Not the brightest bulb in the box.

The Pegula's have a habit or nicety about them of retaining whomever they inherit for their franchises. They then give those execs rope to hang themselves. Thing about the Sabres is they were Terry's toy until the losses started financially and people started getting fired or quit. As things got worse, they began taking more control and the results spiraled downward culminating in the Nix-esque hire of Kevyn Adams as GM. Retaining Whaley and hiring Rex obviously were bad moves for T/K Pegs. They got it right the second go-round, but I've heard (take it FWIW) their delegating of responsibility to McD and Beane comes with a little regret. Because billionaire types aren't about to hand over keys to the car easily. And that's what fans don't understand about these franchises...they're businesses to ownership. They can play up being fans all they want, but if the team doesn't make money they want control. Fortunately, NFL franchises get 250-300M every year in TV/revenue sharing. But if McBeane suddenly weren't doing as well, they might make moves.

No one has discussed the possible link between a woman co-owning an NFL franchise and these hires either. Is that a factor? Perhaps, although I know some will say that McD hires whomever he wants. We don't know, but it's reasonable to establish the connection between the co-owner and these hires. FWIW, Rex Ryan hired a female coach, Kathryn Smith, who served as an assistant in 2015 and 2016. For whatever reason (and I'm not speculating about her coaching ability) she has not returned to the NFL.

They had invested 1.4B+ into a team, been duped into hiring Rex, and McD saw an opportunity because T/K Pegs were desperate and needed some structure to a massive investment. Enter McD and later his guy Beane. Even though they've made their share of mistakes, you can't deny it takes a solid plan and strategy to go 13-3. Drafting Josh Allen in a QB league was a big win. But once again, what we as fans think should be isn't the priority for billionaire types who own our favorite pro sports teams. Sure, they want to win, but on their terms and retaining control over their investment is what some owners believe is their right. Doesn't matter if they make bad decisions like the Pegula's have year after year, they want control. And that's especially the case when the team is losing tens of millions of dollars. You could have ended this post after "inept ownership notwithstanding." There's no overcoming that and if memory serves, a lot of TBDers mocked Dan Snyder years ago for mismanaging his NFL team. Well, the Buffalo Sabres are the Washington Football Team of the NHL now. A laughingstock to players, employees (many now former) and people throughout the NHL.

Ideas that make sense to fans need to be considered first in light of ownership and their priorities. There isn't gonna be a press conference where anything positive happens. There isn't gonna be a president of hockey ops hired from outside the organization. They aren't moving Kim out of the president role. Ownership isn't going to sit in the back of the room and be quiet. Ya gotta live in the real world and understand where Terry and Kim operate from. You can hate on Jack all you like, but their handling of his injury sends a message that Buffalo isn't a place you want to be as a veteran player. They have to earn respect and ownership doesn't care about that. And rebuilding? How many times does one ownership group and the people they hire have to do this before it works? Because it couldn't with a MVP candidate from last year. It couldn't with numerous high draft picks and millions spent on UFA's. And if this continues, why would any decent player who gets traded to Buffalo not eventually arrive where Jack is now - stuck in a losing culture where it seems there's no way out.

Fans can go after players all they want, but why are so many players (and now former ones) in Buffalo not happy? Is that an Eichel problem or is something deeper going on? The way you describe it, Eichel is a cancer who needs to be removed for them to move forward. He's infected that locker room and must be excised. Yet, it's high likely that Reinhart, Ristolainen and now we find out Taylor Hall know/knew there were deep issues in Sabreland. That ain't Jack's fault. The organization is a dumpster fire. You're don't finish last twice and in the bottom quarter of the league 5 times during Jack's tenure without there being significant organizational dysfunction. And if Jack is such a horrible influence, would that not mean teams don't want to trade for him? Because I'm pretty sure there's gonna be multiple teams trying to acquire Buffalo's best player.

No one's gonna force them to check their egos. The deeper this goes, the more they'll continue blaming others (Jack, local media, NHL) as the reason for the dysfunction. They don't trust anyone from outside the organization because the last few GM/HC hires didn't go well. Which means they draw upon the late RW years Bills playbook and hire only people they know and the circle repeats itself.

When teams aren't profitable, owners begin doing strange things and letting their ego(s) get in the way. They want control like they had in their private business, and allowing someone else to drive is anathema to their mindset. The Bills were a major investment that brought with it major revenue sharing. The Sabres were Terry's toy for a few years until they started losing 40-60M per. Besides, how much does fan response matter?

False equivalency. Paul Hamilton has reported the Pegula's aren't enamored with all the power they handed McBeane. Given their track record, I could see them snatching away control if the opportunity presents itself. Today cemented that the Pegula's ownership of the Sabres is pretty much the final years of RW owning the Bills. They (emphasis Terry and Kim) made multiple bad executive hires, got bad results, and now do in-house hires because they don't know/trust anyone. Not to mention, they're hiring cronies, cutting costs left and right all the while alienating key players. They've driven people away from the organization, meddled in personnel decisions, and horrible anytime they're in front of the camera. They've taken a proud NHL team and run it into the ground. But it's the NHL's fault for recommending bad executives. They are incompetent and it will not change.

It is quite a generalization to state that courts have "pretty uniformly" decided on vaccination requirements. You've long insisted on objective evidence to support assertions, and relevant case law is essential to your position here. Please cite the cases. An individual still has the right to elect not to receive the vaccine. And let's be clear, emergency use authorization vaccines are not quite what it was to receive your MMR or small pox shot to enter kindergarten. At some point, there will be people who decide against the vaccination for religious or other reasons. There will be forced compliance, albeit not by government but by the sector those individuals work in. I would hope that the courts rule in favor of individuals (who likely cannot give up their livelihood) if private or public sector entities requiring EUA vaccination can take this route. It reminds me of legislatures trying to mandate massive insurance coverage for people to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights. It's a backdoor way to force compliance. Lastly, something can be non-discriminatory but be held unconstitutional. Whether the Courts recognize the Constitution has not been suspended is another matter we are still working through. My sense is precedent around vaccination and employer limits has only begun in light of what has most recently happened. Especially when one considers the risk posed by the virus among working age people (those under 60).

I doubt McD would give analytics types the time of day even if they were in the room during meetings to develop their draft board.

I think it was after the Houston WC loss when Beane said in the season ending PC that you're defined by how you lose your last game. The AFC CG loss was not the result of poor RB play, the lack of a 1T, or even CB2. The major personnel issue was a pass rush that could not pressure Mahomes and they've sought to improve that. Now, if only they can become more aggressive in game-plan/play-calling on both sides of the ball.

For years I had hopes Buffalo would demonstrate a cogent long term plan across the roster and they're doing just that. The plan, as good teams follow, was to rebuild with a veteran while drafting their replacement. It took a little longer, but this draft follows that strategy. I'm pretty confident the plan is for Brown to slide into a starting role within 2 seasons. because you can't keep paying the 2 starting OT's what they are with a QB under a contract Josh is sure to receive. Dawkins and Brown count 17.5M and 21.6M against the cap barring restructuring in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

It's not revolutionary for teams that are good to use the draft for what Buffalo did this year. Identify players with high reward potential who'll likely be in a rotation. What's not going to work is using the draft for need or, when your roster is thin at multiple positions, going BPA with an eye on those rookies starting. I'd rather be in the first scenario. The second is what (poorly) rebuilding clubs do year in year out...kinda like Buffalo circa 2005-2016.

The irony about today's move is that if someone had asked in mid-2018 who would develop faster into an All-Pro, I think the vast majority of TBD would have said Edmunds. After all, he played a position with a unique physical skill set, had continuity in coaching, and the scheme was set up for him. Yet, it's Allen who ascended to All-Pro status and Edmunds we keep hearing has potential, is still very young, and going to get better. Giving TE the 5th year option pushes the problem down the road, but without significant improvement he'll be a 10M+ albatross in that defense come 2022.

Hard to understand how multiple regimes eschewed being have a comprehensive plan that prioritized throwing the ball and rushing the passer. Looks like that's finally in the rear view mirror now. Beane said this draft was about the future, which is what is should be when you've ascended to being one of the better teams. All those years, particularly from 2006-2016 it was about getting guys who could play now and likely were lesser talented but more pro ready. Also helps them get cheaper when JAs contract comes due. Spending 6-10M on vet DEs has to be curtailed along with some other positions.