It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I love summer more than the next guy but autumn is even better. Football season. Hockey season. Need I say more?

Football Season..."!" or ":-("??

The Buffalo Bills....ugh. So much to say but it's been heard everywhere else. The defense can't stop the run. 3 starters out in the secondary, one being a top kick returner in the game hurts twice as much. The wideouts can't find space downfield, supposedly (this is yet to be confirmed since I can't see downfield during the play).

The one bright spot in the defense, at least to me, were the linebackers. But Keith Ellison starts the season with the infamous High Ankle Sprain. Coy Wire, who showed much promise and desire at LB, tears a knee ligament. And the worst of all, Poslusnzy breaks a foreman, originally speculated to sit the minimum of 8 weeks, and is now on IR to successfully end his season.

Now we get to J.P. Losman. Fortunate or unfortunate that he receives a cheap shot (more on this later) from Vince Wilfork? Losman has been nothing less than abysmal this season. Sacked 6 times in the first 2 games. Once against the Pats. Losman is supposed to be this mobile quarterback who can take off on the run when a sense of urgency is felt in the pocket. The problem? Losman fails to feel the sense of urgency. The internal clock doesn't tick in Losman's head. If Losman is supposed to be this mobile QB, and Trent Edwards is supposed to be a pocket passer, then why was Edwards sacked only one time against a top 3 defense in the league?

Edwards was put in the worst situation possible for a rookie...if he was relied on for a win. Otherwise it's just a bad situation. The coaching obviously wasn't interested in a win though. Changing the game plan to "fit" Edwards was stated by Dick Jauron in post-game. WHY?! See what he can do!! You've got a rookie who shined in garbage time in preseason. His primary receiver was Freddy Smith. His line consisted of nobodies. He successfully ran the K-gun. I was sitting there on Sunday thinking to myself, "Hmm, I wonder what Edwards can do with some legit weapons," of course this was attached with hoping the Pats don't wreck his confidence. When he drove the team down and Marshawn Lynch pounded his way into the endzone, optimism filled the air. Only to find out the plays we used on the drive were tossed in the recycle bin and not used the rest of the game.

I'm interested to see what Edwards will do this week against a poor NY Jets team. He'll have a full week of game planning and working with the first teamers. If the team can find a way to neutralize Jon Vilma by keeping him in coverage and getting secondary help to pave the way against the 20th ranked team against the run, Lynch could have a big day.

What I like about Edwards is his perfectionist attitude. To me, it sounds Peyton-Manning-esque. Now I am not comparing him to Manning what-so-ever but Edwards is a student of the game, like Manning, digests film well, like Manning, doesn't have elite arm strength, like Manning, but has top notch ball release, like Manning. I'm not comparing him to Manning because I think the Bills have the next top QB of the NFL; I am simply comparing him to the benchmark of the QB position.

If Edwards can progress on these skills and equip himself with the ability to put players in position to succeed, the Buffalo Bills will have one helluva quarterback.

As for the argument that replacing Losman sends signals to people that the Bills can toss the season (John Clayton), haven't they already? The laundry list of injuries. The lack of confidence at QB. The lack of confidence in the offense to execute.

If Edwards excels, Losman is on the bench following the bye week. None of this bologna about the back-up quarterback is what he is and rides the pine when #1 is healthy again.

Why I love Hockey more than Football

Last week, Vince Wilfork took a cheap shot on Bills QB JP Losman. Wilfork stuck out his elbow to clip Losman's knee. Say what you will on whether it wasn't a cheap shot but you do not brace your fall with an elbow at a 30 degree angle. What happens to Wilfork? A 15 yard penalty which becomes obsolete because Losman loses the football later on the drive.

Last season, the Buffalo Sabres took on the Ottawa Senators. Chris Drury was labeled with a cheap shot by none other than Chris Neil after the puck clearly left the stick of the captain. Drury suffered deep lacerations and two black eyes. What happens to Neil? Immediately, and I mean immediately, rookie Drew Stafford, who’s only 20 games into his career, stands up and tosses punches with Neil to stick up for his teammate. This is followed by a series of fights with Mair, Peters and Pat Kaleta, playing his first career game might I add.

Stick up for your teammates. Vince Wilfork should have left the field on a cart after the second play of the game on Sunday.

The league obviously is not going to police this incident anymore than a 15 yard flag. The Bills need to send the Pats a reminder on November 18th.

Hockey Season!!

The Buffalo Sabres stand at 1-2 in preseason play. Oh well, it's preseason. Miller was a stud in the Shoot Out against the Jackets and the Powerplay has been better.

Not much coming out of camp other than this year's top pick T.J. Brennan has been sent back to juniors, which was expected.

Other big news is the separation of Toni Lydman and Hank Tallinder. They were a staple together the past two seasons when Tallinder has been healthy. I like how Lindy Ruff is trying to find new combinations, putting Jaro Spacek with Lydman and All-Star Brian Campbell with Tallinder. This gives an offensive threat from the defensive standpoint on both pairs if Spacek can play up to his $3 million contract. And if all goes array, it's a quick fix.

Ruff is attempting to regain the top play of Spacek by laying the hammer down and conditioning him with extra work and skating.

Final Thoughts

Unleash the QB!

Why isn't Roscoe Parrish returning kicks when McGee is out?

Let's Go Buffalo!!
Go Lakers!

Bring on the Off-Season

May 29, 2007

After deciding to take the wait-and-see approach on how I feel about the Ottawa Senators trouncing the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference Finals, I believe now is the time to get the the emotions off my sleeve and into words.

I'll admit it. I was just about in tears when Daniel Alfredsson split through three Buffalo defenders and ripped a shot that ricocheted off the stick of Brian Campbell and past Ryan Miller to ascend the Sens to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their recent franchise history. Reliving it right now puts myself in a similar situation. The Sabres lost in pure Buffalo fashion, breaking the hearts of fans in the Western New York sports scene.

The problem I have with the series that sent the Sens to the Cup finals isn't the appeared-to-be harmless play by Alfredsson who didn't have a stick on him as he skated by three skaters and ripped a distant shot that broke the back of the Sabres, but the mental mistakes by certain team members, particularly Hank Tallinder and Lindy Ruff, can not go unnoticed.

On the 2-on-1 goal by Spezza late in the second period, Tallinder misplayed the rush terribly. He didn't take the shooter, didn't play the pass and by the time he made the decision, it was much too late. His half-hearted attempt to block the shot was easily telegraphed by Alfredsson as he slid the puck across to Spezza who put the puck past an out of position Ryan Miller. Play the pass and let Miller, who has been your best player, make a play because he can, and he will.

Lindy Ruff led the Sabres to 53 wins and the team scored 308 goals on their way to the President's Trophy. The team was 40-0-0 in the season, 6-0-0 in the post season when they held 2 goal leads and blew it for the first time in game 2. Ottawa, for the first time in team history, won the first 2 games in a series. Ruff needed to make adjustments and did not. This holds true through the second and third rounds. He was line matching, getting the Drury line out there against Alfredsson-Spezza-Heatley, and the Jagr-Nylander-Insert Useless Forward Here lines. Why? He lost control there. The team fired on all cylinders when he would put out a line and say "You try to stop my guys from scoring" rather than "I'm gonna shut your top line down." Make the opponent's top line backcheck. Ruff let the opposition's coach dictate play with that sediment. Ruff's refusal to stop line matching may have also taken a bit of confidence away from younger players like Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville, who were absent for much of the Conference Finals. And finally, not juggling the lines to stir up the chemistry was another mistake.

The offense sputtered in the playoffs. Goal scoring around the league in the playoffs was down. Whether it's because of the dinosaurs of the league influencing the game to go back to clutching and grabbing or the offense going dry or even Ottawa's defense upending the Sabres, changes were inevitable but nonexistent until it was too late.

Ruff made changes in Game 4, which was the lone win, but they should have been done sooner to earn the possibility of a longer series. Nonetheless, Lindy Ruff is a future Hall of Fame coach and hindsight is always 20/20. The talk of Briere or Drury in the offseason is overshadowing the fact that Ruff and Regier's contracts are up, and Larry Quinn needs to lock up that duo for many years to come, as he will bring home the Cup for Buffalo.

The idea of pinpointing a time in the series where it was won or lost for a team is somewhat idiotic, but relevant at times. I believe the back breaker of the Sabres "Power"play was early game one when giveaways stranded Miller twice, and Mike Fisher buried his second opportunity. When Fisher slipped the first goal of the series past Miller on a shorthanded break, the Sabres lost all confidence, and they didn't have much to start with, in their man advantage play. With their inability to score on the powerplay, the chance of winning the series went up in smoke. Declaring the first goal of the series to be the clincher sounds ridiculous, but don't most knowledgeable hockey fans say scoring the ever-so-important first goal as a key to a game? Oddly enough, their first PP goal came in game 4, when all the changes were made. Coincidence?

Drawing connections from last year's run-in with the Sens with this year's downfall is simple. Last year, Alfredsson and Emery were made fools of by Jason Pominville. This year's playoff brought a determined Alfredsson and he charged his team in this year's post season. This time Pominville, along with Jochen Hecht, was floating and made a lackluster effort to stop Alfredsson. Hopefully next year, Pominville takes a page from Alfredsson's book and reaches his full potential to become a force in next year's playoff.

Despite underachieving in the post season, the Buffalo Sabres had a phenomenal year. They were the best team in the NHL from January 2006-January 2007, unfortunately that is not when it counts. I am proud to be a die-hard Sabre fan and I love this team. The Stanley Cup inches closer to Buffalo with 4 Eastern Conference Final appearances in the last nine seasons. The Stanley Cup is only handed out once a year, and 29 teams will miss out on it. But the same goes for the President's Trophy. Thank you for an amazing season.