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Ep. 13 - Very Weak PP
68 Plays1 year ago
Well, the title says it all. The boys discuss this week's Sabres matchups, the ups and the downs. They get into the flop of a game against the Patriots and preview TNF against the Bucs.
3 buds. 2 teams. 1 city - The "Let's Go Buffalo" Podcast. Your new favorite podcast for all things Sabres and Bills. Our mission is to be your guide through the ups and the downs of being a Buffalo Sports fan. We are not members of the media nor are we experts - we’re just 3 friends who love our hometown teams and want to bring you along for the ride. This podcast will be for both veteran and newly ordained fans. We’ll have in depth conversation and debate with a few “newbie” questions sprinkled in to keep everyone afloat. Thanks for being here!
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Transcript
Introduction to Let's Go Buffalo Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
you
00:00:10
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything, Bills and Sabers. Ooh, what's going on, everybody? You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your favorite podcast for all things Bills and Sabers, with the pals Nigel, Tom, and Jake, episode 13 coming at you.
Hosts' Busy Week and Buffalo Sports Blues
00:00:39
Speaker
quick reminder to follow our social medias at let's go buff pod that's let's go buff with two F's pod pod on instagram and x and let's get around and say hello to the fellas tom how we doing pal
00:00:56
Speaker
Boys, I'm good, I'm good. Been a hell of a week and a lot going on, but man, I'm super pumped. I've been buzzing about this conversation today, because obviously there's a lot to talk about, but yeah, no, I'm super pumped. And Jake, I know you're really excited too, because you went through an odyssey to get here and just had the best of times trying to log in tonight. Sure did. The ups and downs were there, but I am here. I'm ready to go. I feel like it's been a while since we talked. Maybe it hasn't, but it just feels that way. So I'm excited to get into it here tonight.
Beer Corner Segment
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, man. Absolutely. Been a week for sure. But tell you what, boys, I've been I've been bummed this week, mostly just because of Buffalo Sports. If I'm being honest, I haven't been making me feel great, but it is going to be what it's going to be. Right. So I guess if we want to. We were born in this. Right. We'll get into it in a little bit and we'll get into that. I got I got a quote for you in a little bit here, but I could use it.
00:01:51
Speaker
Let's let's do some beer corner, right? Yeah, I will be the first one. So, folks, I was actually supposed to go out. It's Thursday night. We're about to watch the Bills game in like a little over an hour from now. I was supposed to go out for the game tonight and I just texted my buddies and I was like, dudes,
00:02:08
Speaker
I don't have it anymore. Like, I'm, like, already tired. The game's gonna go until 1130. I gotta be up at five for work. And as I'm in my studio, I taught a lesson that ended at five, and it's now seven, and we were gonna record the pod. And I prepped for a while, and I should have gone home to get a beer, and I was like, you know what? If I get home and I'm near my couch, it's over for me, and I'm not coming back to the studio. So, I'm beer-less. Tom, what do you got?
00:02:36
Speaker
Oh, we got a click. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh God. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. That's all for a week. You guys won.
00:02:46
Speaker
Hey, Yahtzee. I am drinking this evening. Be happy in IPA from Wormtown Brewery in Wurchester, Massachusetts. Wister, Wister, Tom. No, Wurchester. No, Tom, it's pronounced Wister. Wister. Well, you know what? I think just for what they did to us last week, I'm going to mispronounce every city they want me to. Wurchester and Massachusetts.
00:03:14
Speaker
How about that? Long live the... Who cares? Paul Revere. Yeah, Paul Revere, the top's coming. Heads up. Jake, what are you slugging there, my guy? I'm slugging a beautiful amber ale from a brewery called Daddy's Hop Juice. Hell yeah, dude. It's mine. I brewed it. I get to name it. I was gonna say, dude, if I ever brew a beer, I'm calling it Daddy's Juice, period.
00:03:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's a nice amber that I brewed a couple weeks ago, and it's ready, and it is mediocre at best, but that is the quality I'm working with. You actually did brew it. Yeah, no, it's one that I brewed, yeah. I thought you were just making a joke and calling yourself. No, I don't know. Here's the bottle, yeah. Nice, bro. When we slap it, a let's go buffalo sticker on that bottle. Ooh. That cheer's coming, folks. You wait. You wait. We're going to get that. Oh, my god. Distributed to a porch near you. Come on, Tom.
00:04:11
Speaker
Let's go Buffalo Lager. We don't know. We got to be better about that. Yeah, we'll bring that to the drawing board. But I can only brew ales. Any ale, I got you. But no, no, no loggers. I don't have I don't have longer capability. The Al, the Josh Allen Ale next board meeting.
00:04:27
Speaker
All righty. I gotta keep us moving. Otherwise we'll be here until way past kickoff. Yeah. We went into this podcast saying, Hey, we got to keep it succinct. And then we know, we know the three of us. That's the issue. I think many of our listeners are beginning to know the three of us. Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:43
Speaker
Alright, let's start the night with some savers chat fellas.
Sabers' Recent Games and Performance
00:04:47
Speaker
So recap the last couple of games since the last podcast that dropped the savers went to and to a four to three loss to Calgary, a three to one win over the Islanders.
00:05:00
Speaker
Excuse me air bubble three to one loss against the Canadians and then a nice 6-4 win against the Senators that brings the savers current record up to three and four Which also puts us at last in the division, which we don't love side note
00:05:18
Speaker
how the actual fuck is Boston still in first? I don't understand. They don't they lost their best player, whatever. So that puts us at last in the division and four spots out of a current wildcard spot. What's the good news with all that? Yeah, there's 82 games in the season. We've played seven of them. So we got time.
00:05:37
Speaker
Jake and Tom at this point for me the biggest storyline is the fact that it still feels like the team defense is a concern at this point and granted I just said there's time but seven games in it does not look to me like Clifton and Johnson were significant enough additions to right the defensive ship there and then to kind of piggyback off of that
00:06:01
Speaker
It's also kind of maybe looking a little bit like, so far, not signing a veteran goalie could be a misstep. Do either of you have thoughts on that?
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah, I want to touch on the defensive structure because I don't wholly disagree, but I disagree a little bit. Yeah, please. Before the Ottawa game, I would have had a stronger opinion that the defensive plays improved. I think the Ottawa game, while they did win, the last couple of minutes were fucking hairy. They were up five to one at one point. It came back to a one goal game with 40, 50 seconds left on the clock.
00:06:35
Speaker
They scored three goals in just over two minutes to make that a one goal game with with very little time left. I was pissed. Yeah, dude, it was it was it was it's hard to watch. Yeah, it's before that, though, I want back to the Tampa game.
00:06:52
Speaker
Again, they led up a last second goal. However, during the third period, I did think they did a good job of shutting down Tampa and eliminating chances. And the defensive play, it seems a bit different to me. I think they've performed better in that regard. I think a lot of that comes down to their, we'll get to it in a minute, but their success on the penalty kill, that plays into the defensive structure.
00:07:15
Speaker
I haven't loved Clifton, but I have really liked Eric Johnson's game. I think he brings a really stabilizing force to that back end. He's just hard to play against. He's mean. He'll pin you up against the boards and think nothing of it and strip pucks from you. So I've been really happy with him.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah, he's smart too, man. His athleticism isn't what it used to be, obviously, with his age. But you can see his hockey IQ on display when he's on the ice, especially on the penalty kill. Real quick, I just wrote down here, the goals seem like they're maybe starting to come. We had that nice offensive output against Ottawa. That's been our only high scoring game, though. I'd like to try and get to see a few more of those. So it looks like maybe they're starting to come. Took a little bit of time.
00:08:01
Speaker
But they might be getting their piggybacking off of that. The power play still not exciting me. The power play is currently operating successfully at 13%, which puts them 22nd in the league. Considering the fact, for me, that you got guys like Rasmus Daliin, second highest paid defenseman in the league right now, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuck, Dylan Cousins, I would like to see that number be significantly higher.
00:08:29
Speaker
in the low to mid 20s, so increased by about 10%, which is a lot. Jake, Tom, thoughts?
00:08:35
Speaker
I have a clarifying question. When you say the power play is currently at 13%. Does that mean that the savers are scoring when they are on a power play or they are penalty killing a power power play when it's against them? Yes. So when I'm talking about the penalty power, excuse me, power play currently operating at 13%. I'm talking about when the savers are on the power play. We are scoring with that man advantage only 13% of the time right now. Great. Awesome. Not a good PP.
00:09:02
Speaker
Not very bad pee pee. Bad pee pee. Have a weak pee pee right now.
00:09:14
Speaker
from last podcast, a good power play is not 75 to 80%. Like I said, so a little correction for your boy there. I was mixing up the power, the PP and the PK. So that's my bad. But yeah, yeah. 13% is still not a good look for a team that has the offensive firepower. Like a couple of those. Yeah. Last year, the Edmonton Oilers had a historic power play and that was like 32 or 33%, I think.
00:09:39
Speaker
Um, so I think it was, I think it was the best ever. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Like it was, it was insane. So, um, that's the number that I'd like to see come up on the flip side of that, which is a gargantuan improvement for this team. Penalty kill looks freaking sick. Um, healing penalties.
00:09:55
Speaker
At a rate of eighty eight point nine percent which has them tied for sixth in the league with Calgary This is a this is a place for me Jake where I'm really seeing Eric Johnson shine But dude I and we're gonna we I have this written down a little bit lower here But Tia Samuelson is passing the defensive eye test this year. Holy shit. Is he a monster to play against? I
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. Those guys are great. They're securing the back end. Just not letting the cross seam passes get through and pushing pucks to the outside, I think, has been evident for them. And just making it a nightmare for the other forwards on the opposing team to get the puck low and across quickly. And it's working well, yeah. I've noticed Thompson killing more penalties this year than I've noticed in past years. I think he's on the top PK unit, which is crazy.
00:10:49
Speaker
A, probably because he's got all that insane offensive skill, which could lead, excuse me, potentially to short handed goals, but also due to, I mean, he's fucking almost seven foot tall on skates. Like that's a reach you should have as a part of your penalty.
00:11:04
Speaker
And he doesn't, he doesn't use a long stick, but still with those gorilla arms that he's got. Yeah. He can get, get involved in place like that. And he, he technically did get a short-handed goal against Ottawa. That's true. Yeah. Tom, any questions, comments, concerns so far?
00:11:21
Speaker
No, no, I'm soaking it in. You guys are doing great. Keep going. You look a little concerned in the video here, so I just wanted to check and make sure. Just plugging in. So all those folks listening along at home, I am along for the ride. I am very much learning, so. Yep, Tom's a Savers rookie, but he's
Goaltending Situation and Player Analysis
00:11:37
Speaker
coming along. If there are any Rooks out there, I'm with you. Here we go. We're going to get it. Let's go, Savers. Jake, thoughts on the goalie situation right now?
00:11:47
Speaker
A lot of question marks still. I mean, there are question marks before. There's three right now. Each one of them. I thought Comrie looked great. So to catch everybody up, Levi played the first four games. And then we went to Comrie. For two, I think. And then UPL. Comrie for two, then UPL, yeah. Yep, that equals seven. I thought Comrie looked good in the game against the Islanders. I thought he looked great in the game against the Islanders. He did look great in that game.
00:12:18
Speaker
I thought he looked, I didn't think he looked bad against Montreal. I think if I, if I were to give you a quick power ranking of the goal is I'd go Levi Comrie, UPL. Uh, dude, I'm not even positive right now that I'm putting Levi at one because those last few games that Levi played, I thought he looked a little shaky. Um, part of that could be the fact that they just throw them out right away for four games. That seemed like a lot to me. I was looking, I was looking for that to be different sooner. I didn't know who was going to go in. Um,
00:12:47
Speaker
But yeah, like it's probably like right now for me, dude, it's and this is I'm giving you very little leash here because of the way that Ottawa game ended. And I'm not going to sit here and say it was exclusively his fault, but there were some collapses there all the way around and he was a part of it. So.
00:13:09
Speaker
how many times did you see that in games last year where he he was just leaky for a couple minutes at a time they would they would bleed goals for a couple of minutes and yeah it was it was a lot of times it was him and net it was comedy too but uh goal tending is a product of the defensive environment in front of them however with that said like i alluded to i do think the defensive game has
00:13:32
Speaker
taken a small step. I'm not saying it's a, it's great or a huge step forward, but it's at least, it's at least a touch better than last year in my eyes. And he still, he still has moments like that where he just can hemorrhage goals. And I don't see that changing. I just.
00:13:49
Speaker
Don't know if it's a mental block something happening, but I just I don't trust him in the net right now I was holding my breath every time that Ottawa shot the puck for the entire game really and I thought he was gonna prove me wrong and then he kind of proved me right at the end of the game and That was the thing that sucked dude because I texted one of my buddies and I was like bro. Don't look now But you BL looks freaking nice and then it we made it
00:14:14
Speaker
57 minutes before he shit his pants and everything just started coming down his leg. He had some good he had some good saves like some great saves dude but like you can't like you can't be the guy in net and put this team in the situation that we were in against Ottawa like in almost you know pushing pushing this game to overtime dude like
00:14:35
Speaker
that was so frustrating it drove me absolutely nuts so you know for right now and and Levi's battling that lower body injury right now it's nothing serious he's not going to be out long term he hasn't played the last few games um but for me dude i like and
00:14:52
Speaker
God, tomorrow, Friday, we have to play the devil. So pick your poison with the goalies there. I guess I don't know. Well, the other one, you can slot in against the avalanche. So nice, easy matchup for that team. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, I feel really good about our goaltending situation going into both those games. So, yeah, the goalies are a big question mark right now. Again, it's so early. I'm not going to I'm not going to, you know, officially write off any season altering predictions, but
00:15:17
Speaker
I don't know man you just you know seven games in you like to see it look a little bit different, but it's so so so early
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah, I will say if, if Camry can stabilize and come out and be the one a goalie, I would be fucking thrilled. That would be killer. Yeah. And then Devin can just play 30 ish game, 35 games this year. And yeah, no, that would be sick. He's played four already. That's like half the college schedule. So I just get to get the kids some rest. No wonder, no wonder he's hurt.
00:15:49
Speaker
Sure, dude. Oh, my goodness. So one another thing I want to talk about here, it's starting to look to me like maybe Zach Benson. He doesn't look bad by any means, but there are times where I'm seeing him and I'm like, OK, this league looks a little big for him right now, both literally and figuratively.
00:16:09
Speaker
just times where he looks a little bit out of place or isn't making the right play. Man, I'll tell you what, against Tampa Bay, who has a big defensive court, every time this poor kid was up against the boards, I just couldn't see him anymore. Like Victor Hedman pinned him against the boards, dude, and he disappeared. It just looked like Victor Hedman had his chest up against the boards for no reason.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah, you couldn't see Zach Benson. So that's a little bit concerning. He's very clearly still got to get stronger. Again, I'm not saying he looks bad, but at the last couple of games or any indication, I'm guessing that he's going to get his nine game audition, probably get sent back down to juniors. What are your thoughts on that, Jake?
00:16:55
Speaker
Yeah. He started, he started promising. I thought the line of him middle stat and green way looked, looked, I mean, that was the best line the sabers had for the first three games or so, three, four games whenever they switched the lines up. And of course he got injured. We don't know what, how, how, how that's affecting him. But I agree with you. He wasn't as noticeable in the past couple of games. And, um, he's, he's an 18 year old kid. Any, any 18 year old kid rookie is going to go through ups and downs. So.
00:17:25
Speaker
I don't know. As we approach the nine game mark, I think it'll be telling how he performs in the next few games leading up to that before they make a decision. But they have they have shown and spoken to the fact that they're willing to leave guys in the NHL if they feel that they're ready to be in the NHL. So I don't know. It's I don't know if I've made up my mind yet of what they'll do with him after nine games. But I agree. Last few haven't looked great.
00:17:54
Speaker
I got a quick question for you, Jake, and I genuinely don't know this. His nine games, does he have to play in nine or just be on the team for nine? Because he's been a healthy scratch once, I believe, and also dealt with a little injury himself. Yeah, play in nine if he's on the official roster for the game. OK, those are the nine games. So we'll see. We're holding our breath to see what's going to happen with Benny here. They might honestly almost even be strong armed into
00:18:21
Speaker
keeping him just because we don't have Jack Quinn back yet. I haven't liked Victor Oleson's game. I do prefer Benson's game right now to Oleson's. I think Oleson is just the last thing that I wanna see on the ice right now. The guy just plays the game with no, it's like he's just got no oomph, no jam in his game, dude. I have thoughts on Victor Oleson.
00:18:47
Speaker
Three, four years ago, Victor Olafson was not the problem on this team. He was maybe the fifth, sixth, fourth, depending on your mileage on him, best forward on the team. I was way more concerned about the scrubs underneath him. So with that perspective, it's a really good problem to have right now where he is my, he's the worst forward on the team in my eyes and somebody that I,
00:19:17
Speaker
It's a good problem to have, but yeah, I'm not cheering against the guy, but man, it's tough to watch him on the ice. It feels like the plays die off his stick often. He doesn't win board battles. He gets overwhelmed in the corners. Oh, never. He's never won a board battle, dude. His main strength is his shot, and he's not being put in a position to use it, and that's good because there are other players that
00:19:40
Speaker
If he was a healthy scratch every game, I'd have no issue.
00:19:49
Speaker
I'm ready for that experiment to be over. I wonder if Jack Quinn didn't get injured. I'm wondering if he makes the team. I bet he's traded. I think the only reason Victor Olson's still on this team is because Jack Quinn hurt his Achilles, truly, to believe that. I totally agree. Has Oofson's play decreased in the past couple of years? Because he's been on the team in the past, right? Or has he always been the player? He's back.
00:20:12
Speaker
are better players that have a good shot.
00:20:18
Speaker
This has always been the player that he's been, Tom. He's always been a guy who's got an elite shot with an insane release. Goalies talk about how hard his shot is to read. He's just got an elite shot, but he's a power play specialist who will pot you 20 goals in a season on the power play, which is legit. He offers next to nothing in the five on five games.
00:20:42
Speaker
He's small. He doesn't go into the corners. He doesn't do the dirty work. And he doesn't win battles along the boards. That's the difference between him and Zach Benson. Zach Benson will put his absolute face in the fire and not think twice about it. And Victor Olafson will skate in the opposite direction of the corner boards. So he does that. Like, does that come up in locker room?
00:21:06
Speaker
Do players be like, look, man, what are you doing? No, I'm sure it doesn't. Because you want to keep the locker room atmosphere positive, right? You don't want to be. You do. But at some point, you're here putting your well-being and your career on the line. I shouldn't touch on that. I've never been in a pro locker room. I don't know, man. I had no idea.
00:21:28
Speaker
I feel like somebody should be dogging him a little bit, you know? Like, what are you doing, buddy? It's got to be really tough to be a captain on that team and be like, hey, man, you're playing the game like a bitch. Like, you know, because that's what it is. He just plays the game soft. Are they here to play and win a championship? Or are they here to, you know, just go collect a check? I don't know how you bring that up. Like, hey, like, hey, like, come over to the side, like, hey, Tom. Yeah. You listen, man, your game, like, it looks like you're avoiding the corners. Like, why are you doing that?
00:21:57
Speaker
Bro, if you and I were playing street hockey and I was doing that I feel like you'd tell me that no problem I would call the shit out of you, right? You'd be like I'd like nice get the fuck in here, right? Like that's what I would say Street hockey. We're not getting paid well
00:22:13
Speaker
Yeah, then even better. He's getting paid. Yeah, you're right. You're right. That's millions of dollars anyway. All right. I cut you off like twice there, buddy. Sorry. No, no, no, no, not at all. You're good. Yeah, I just he. Again, if Victor Olafson is your worst forward, I really think that's a good problem to have. But he's just he's not he's not the answer. I wish I wish Jost was in over him. He's he's a power play specialist like Nigel said, but he's he's not.
00:22:37
Speaker
He's not like a prolific goal scorer. In the past four seasons, he scored 20 goals, 13 goals, 20 goals, 28 goals. Now, there might be some recency bias there, but those 28 goals last year, I think there's some misleading
00:22:54
Speaker
evidence there. I remember many times where he would be on the ice and chip the empty net in or savers would be down five to five to one and with two minutes left in the third period he'd all of a sudden pot a goal and it's like well okay like couldn't you have done that 20 minutes ago yeah buddy like so i don't know he's he he has offensive talent so i think he's he's not a wave candidate i think he could fetch something trade-wise but
00:23:22
Speaker
I would not mind, especially when Jack Quinn comes back, I would not mind seeing him off the team traded. It's not saying I'm cheering against him, but it's just, he's the worst forward on the team. I don't think there's any, any two ways around that. I'm cheering against him on this team, bro. For sure. We just have too many players that are in that similar skillset that do the dirty work as well. I think he does have a lot of trade value, dude, for sure. I think, I mean, there are plenty of teams out there who don't have enough
00:23:48
Speaker
you know, enough players that put the puck in the net. So I think he's got some value there. But I'm going to keep us moving here, fellas. I just want to shout out a couple of players here with some strong starts. Got to shout out our boy Jeff Skinner, my god, five goals in seven games, six points in seven games. That's killer. Glad somebody's finding that because overall, it's been pretty.
00:24:07
Speaker
infrequent um love this one dude Casey Middlestadt six points and seven games one goal five assists looks like this kid has been ready to he's ready to break out dude like and i'm knocking on wood but he looks so nice man and
00:24:22
Speaker
it took him a while he was getting dogged by this man base for a while but he has tied together a really really really last or nice last third of last season and the beginning of this season he looks freaking sick um and jake if there are tom if either of you want to interject on a player dude just just interrupt me
00:24:42
Speaker
I just want to say for my money. He's the he's the best player on the ice right now for the savers. He looks so good, dude. His vision is unreal. He's setting up players. He's making people around him better. He just looks awesome. Rasmus Daliin, baby, no goals, but seven assists and seven games. That's seven points in seven games. You love that out of your new, not new, but defense would have just signed a huge ticket.
00:25:05
Speaker
Freshly minted. Freshly minted, exactly. Dylan Cousins, six points in seven games, two goals for assists. You like that from the kid to just keep it rolling.
00:25:14
Speaker
Quietly, though, in my opinion, none of them have been flashy. He hasn't exploded in a game. They've just kind of been under the radar. He had that huge overtime win that was sick. But yeah, outside of that, pretty quiet. That's interesting. You're right. And then I said it earlier, man, I don't have his stats here. But dude, Mattias Samuelson just passing the ever-loving hell out of the eye test right now.
00:25:37
Speaker
He just looks so difficult to play against, which is what this team needs right now. So the, if we could touch on the defense, I know, I know we're trying to move quick, but Yoki Haru too has impressed me. I think I just, he's looked good. He's looked, he's with Daliin and power and Samuelson, you're not looking for Yoki Haru to be a game breaker. You're looking for steady, predictable defensive play. And he's done that. I've been really happy with watching him. I've.
00:26:07
Speaker
Power has not looked great to me, to be honest with you, if we can touch on him for a second. I think he's made some questionable decisions. He is god awful in the defensive zone. His strengths show when they're on offense, and he's phenomenal at it and in transition. But in the defensive zone, dude, he is a wet blanket getting ready to get pushed over.
00:26:29
Speaker
Yeah, he's looked a little I agree with everything you just said, dude, he's he's his two way game is starting to develop pretty significantly. I, you know, it's yeah, he doesn't look awesome in the defensive zone right now. I feel like he looked better last year.
00:26:46
Speaker
the the
00:27:05
Speaker
the
00:27:23
Speaker
Agreed, yeah. Not a concern, but just something I've known as the first couple of games. Yeah, absolutely. One thing that's kind of a bummer, and this ties into the defensive game. Seven games in, the team overall is an ugly minus 19 to start the season. We've only got seven players in the plus column. That is actually led by Owen Power with a plus three. So Jake, maybe you and I are just bad at using our eyes.
00:27:47
Speaker
No, plus minus plus minus is a bad stat. I don't like plus minus. Oh, I love that stat. Really? Tell me why you don't like it real quick. First off, start with what the heck is it? Oh, OK. So plus minus. It's a great question, Tom. So plus minus every player that's on the ice. When there is a goal scored, it's either a plus or a minus for you. If you and I are on the same team, Tom, and whether whether or not.
00:28:10
Speaker
We had assists or scored the goal because we were on the ice when our team scored a goal. We get a plus one. Oh, when the other team scores, everybody that's on our team gets a minus one. So really, it's just, oh yeah, it's you too, buddy. It's just a, nope. It's just a measurement of, okay, when this player is on the ice are more good things or more bad things happening, basically. Okay. All right. Yeah. Plus minus stat. All right. Keep going.
00:28:37
Speaker
So you don't like that one Jake, can you tell me why in a brief manner? I will, I will. Real quick, special teams plays, power play goals and penalty kill goals, whoever scores them, do not count towards plus minus top. So it's only even strength goals. With that said, I disagree with you. I don't think it's an indicator of who's on the ice when good things happen and when bad things happen. I think it's an indicator of
00:29:07
Speaker
Let me back that up. I don't like it as a stat. I think there are far, far, far better indicators of who is on the ice when good things happen and when bad things happen. And I think plus minus is subjective to the team that you're on and the defensive environment that they play and just luck. I mean, there's so many goals that happen.
00:29:30
Speaker
from a bad bounce, from a tough angle, or somebody on the other team makes an incredible play that you just can't stop. There's a lot of factors. I'm much more interested in the coursey stats, the goals for, the goals against, the high danger chances for and against, just things like that that give a better indicator of
00:29:54
Speaker
When you're on the ice, are there high danger chances going your way or against you? I'm much less concerned about the actual goals that go in because there's so much volatility in.
00:30:08
Speaker
When a goal, when a goal goes in past the goalie, I mean, that, that, that does the goalie make the save or not. It's just, there's, there's more indicators. There's more indicators, the plus minus to me. It is a, it is a volatile game for sure. Okay. So Jake, so here's what I would love in the next few weeks.
00:30:24
Speaker
can we have you give us an episode where you dive into like coursey numbers and stuff like that because hand up I am if my watch is right oh I don't know like 26 years into being really into hockey and I don't understand coursey stuff at all could we have a could we have a coursey master class
00:30:45
Speaker
I will prepare myself for next week or whenever. That would be a school of hard pucks. Yeah. Oh, I love it. If we were just a hockey podcast, what a great name that would be. Hey, we're good at branding here. That's true. We'll see how the best you tonight. We might switch.
00:31:04
Speaker
All right, so the road ahead for the Sabres. Tomorrow night, Friday at 10 27, we are playing the New Jersey Devils, which is concerning because get this stat. Jack Hughes currently leads the league in points. He has played six games and has 17 points. That is, I don't have the words. That doesn't shock me at all. That shocks the hell out of me, bro. That's over two points a game. Connor McDavid's not even sniffing that right now.
00:31:33
Speaker
No, no upper body injury. Jack, Jack Hughes is, is an incredible talent. I know. I think he's the conversation ends with top five. I don't, in the league, there's, there's no way I'm putting him at six or below in top five players in the national hockey league. He's incredible. He's, he's dynamic.
00:31:56
Speaker
And then Sunday, 1 o'clock, 10.29 against the Colorado Avalanche. And then Wednesday, kicking us into November, November 1st, against the Philadelphia Flyers. Jake, you got a little three game score, or not score prediction, but record prediction coming out of those three games.
00:32:16
Speaker
Which one of these is not like the other? Sorry, Philly, but yeah, you fucking suck. Watch them lose that game against Philly. Yeah, I feel like in Buffalo Sportsland, Bad Juju is not going our way right now. Slow down there. I'm not going to give you a score prediction, but I... No, just a record prediction for those three games there. One and two, honestly. I mean, I think they...
00:32:45
Speaker
It's the, both of those games against the devils and the avalanche are if they, if they lose them, I wouldn't be surprised. However, I, I want to be pleasantly surprised despite my pessimism, because if they, if, if the team wants to go anywhere this year, they have to learn to win against teams like New Jersey, like Colorado.
Upcoming Sabers Games Preview
00:33:09
Speaker
And they've talked about that. They talked about being able to compete with anyone in the league at the end of last year when they missed the playoffs by a point. So you got to buckle down. You got to get one of those. They have a couple of days of rest. I'm not sure what New Jersey schedules like, but hopefully, you know, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, come into the game hot on Friday night and try to steal something against a very hot Devils team.
00:33:36
Speaker
I'm going to predict two and one in that stretch. And I think the second win is going to come against Colorado. I think it was prediction. I think we're going to get smoked by Jersey tomorrow night. For whatever reason, though, this savers team loves to play at one o'clock in the afternoon on the weekend. We always seem to play pretty damn well.
00:33:52
Speaker
I'm going to use that to our advantage on that Sunday game and take into consideration the fact that Colorado is on the opposite coast. So I'll give us winning that game. They scare me less than the Devils, though there are still a problem. So I will say two and one in that three game stretch there. Yeah. All right. Bills versus Patriots.
Bills vs. Patriots Performance Critique
00:34:16
Speaker
I'm just going to disassociate for a few minutes here. Just don't mind me.
00:34:22
Speaker
I have in all capital letters here bad. The offense is broken. Tom, thoughts on what's going on with the offense?
00:34:35
Speaker
I mean, I gotta start here. I got a shout out. If there's any of my New England friends listening to this, they definitely had their way with me this weekend, this past week, which was not fun. I'm gonna tell you right now. But I want you all to know that the great philosopher, Bane from Batman, says it best. Great philosopher. Tom, you know he was the villain in that movie, right? Were we watching the same movie?
00:35:03
Speaker
Oh no, oh yeah, let me start again. The great philosopher, Bane. Oh, you think your team disappointing you is your ally? You merely adopted your team disappointment. I was born in it, molded by it.
00:35:22
Speaker
Get out of here. This is what we do. This is what we do. The bills are here. This is what we do. We're just disappointed all the time. Man, I think it goes back to, right? I mean, Jake, Dana and I talked about last week, it's like it's expectations minus reality, ego's disappointment. And where my expectations were going into this season is like, okay, we've been like nipping at the heels of a deep playoff run and maybe hoping God, like God willing a championship run.
00:35:51
Speaker
And I thought we were gonna have it again. And I think that's still possible. I'm not saying it's out of the cards, but man, I went in thinking, especially the way when we had those games against the Raiders and Washington and Miami, like those feel like they were 18 years ago. And I think my expectations have to change, right? My expectations have to change. And I have to understand that this team needs some things to go its way. I think we've discussed together, the three of us,
00:36:20
Speaker
we can expect this team to withstand this kind of injury problems. But unfortunately, that's only on the defensive side. It does not explain the offense. What I'm thinking and what I've been seeing is I think that this defenses and opposing defensive coordinators have figured out
00:36:37
Speaker
what the easy button is in this Ken Dorsey offense, and it's an issue. Yeah, I think it's clearly become something that has been figureoutable and that we need to become more multiple. We need to be able to win in more ways and be able to keep Josh humming in more ways. And I think that involves Josh. I absolutely do. However, I don't know. I'm not at any point. I'm definitely ready to point the finger at him and say, Hey man, you did not play well.
00:37:07
Speaker
You did not play well at all against the Patriots. However, I'm still not concerned because we still have a top four quarterback in the league, top three quarterback in the league. I'm not going to take that away from him until I see it for three seasons in a row. You know what I mean? Like, we can't do that in a game. We can't be that reactionary. So, man, but like, but no, but no, at some point, Bill Belichick, the greatest defensive minds ever would coach this game is going to figure you out, right?
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah, we've had our way with them. We have we know it like we've let we've like, Josh has clearly won his way. And I think I mean, that's where I stand and you can absolutely disagree with me. But I think at some point, Bill Belichick was gonna figure out something that was gonna like give Josh problems. And he did. And I think that was it, especially seeing that we were already having issues. I think he just he just stuck his finger in that wound and just like, oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna come in. And I'm just gonna make this worse.
00:38:05
Speaker
I am not I'm not on the same page as you. I am concerned about Josh Allen because I don't think Bill Belichick beat us. I think Josh Allen beat us because I don't know. I don't know if it's if it's arrogance, if it's immaturity or if shit, dude, if he just actually doesn't know the goddamn offense that well. But oh, my God, I was able to count seven.
00:38:35
Speaker
That's this many in the video for you to seven plays where the blitz came in hot untouched, by the way, meaning that offensive line communication wasn't there and Josh didn't check out or check into a different protection scheme. Seven plays where at least one guy came completely untouched and behind at least one of those guys was a Khalil Shakir.
00:39:01
Speaker
A Stefan Diggs or Dalton Kincaid that read the blitz stopped sat right down on the first down marker like this looking at Josh and he chose to not throw the ball.
00:39:15
Speaker
So that, for me, falls entirely on Josh Allen. You want to send the house bill fine. Send the house, bro. But Josh has to know where those hot reads are. And every time the house came, I shouldn't say every time at least seven times were that when the house came and the ball was either incomplete or whatever.
00:39:39
Speaker
the first down was there to be made I counted seven first downs that were left on the field that day which that for me dude like it just simply can't happen not in year six or whatever it is for Josh not at this point in his career you want to do that the first and second year of your career
00:39:56
Speaker
fine I'll chalk it up to Bill Belichick but like you said he ran circles around Bill Belichick and Bill has always been somebody who's been creative to the blitz okay so you know you can't you you're just gonna assume that's not coming like I just don't I don't know man it that game to me was a little bit on Ken Dorsey
00:40:20
Speaker
a little bit on well I guess maybe a little bit more on Ken Dorsey then I don't know why we went away from the run game it was working in the first time I have no idea no idea why we just decided to leave that completely behind yeah you know Bill Belichick is he is historically great at taking away your first read should have been a game where Gabe Davis absolutely pops off he was nowhere to be found
00:40:44
Speaker
He's he's an issue that real quick side tangent at this point for next year I'm not paying Gabe Davis a dime more than seven and a half million He's not worth any more than that. So no not at all. No, he's he's gonna be a great hopefully as somebody's great fourth wide receiver
00:41:01
Speaker
That's where I stand right now. And I'm sorry, man, but I have nothing going into this game tonight that makes me feel like there is reason for me to feel optimistic that this offense is suddenly gonna figure out against a similar defense that has been giving us fits the last few weeks.
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm there with you. I'm there with you. And I was much more upset earlier in the week and I've kind of mellowed. I still have to have faith that the leaders of this team have, like the veterans in this team, the Mitch Morches, the Jordan Poyers, the Micah Hides, the Josh Allens, the Steph Diggs, like they need to be able to step up and need to right this ship, right? Where this is where we're at. Thank God that we,
00:41:47
Speaker
We, uh, like we, we have all these players, right? Like, I think we, I think we're going to be able to wait. And we're also, we have the rest of the season to figure this out. We do not need to be playing our best ball right now. However, we do need to be playing a ball enough to be able to win in a habit playoff seating at all. So that's an issue.
Preview of Bills vs. Buccaneers
00:42:06
Speaker
So I think, um, I honestly, I think we gotta, we can maybe talk more about the offense as we talk about tonight's match up briefly, but.
00:42:15
Speaker
My big concern is the defense. I don't think that we can sustain the injuries that we have. And I think Sean McDermott is gonna have a challenge. And I don't know, I feel so bad because man, I was so excited to see this defense coached by Sean McDermott and with all these stud players. And now, I don't blame them that it's not going well, right? I don't know who to blame other than the universe, I don't know.
00:42:43
Speaker
The defense gets a pass from me, dude. The defense you're missing, especially last week, four starters. That's almost half of them, dude. Sean McDermott, he's not Albus Dumbledore, dude. He can't just whip out some magic. Dumbledore. Yeah, right. Can't just whip out some magic to fix that, dude.
00:43:06
Speaker
I the defense gets a bit of a pass from me. This offense is except now for Dawson Knox, which low key might be a slight blessing. Sorry to say it. This offense is held. So, you know, I don't know, man, they got to figure it out. This is the time I need the offense to be able to bail the defense out this year.
00:43:26
Speaker
I just I agree. We need to go score. We need them to figure it out. And I'm really hoping that I honestly think that's a nice segue into tonight. Bills are playing box tonight in about 20 minutes. And let's go bills. But man, I need to see some consistency. I need to see some rhythm. I need to see a plan. I need to see some logic. I need to see some good decision making by Josh Allen.
00:43:50
Speaker
And I need to be able to see some flow. That's what I want. And it doesn't, even if it's a tight game, I would love a win. Cause we, I mean, at this point, right? Like we're sitting four and three, like this, this is the time where we need to start stacking some wins, especially cause this is supposed to, this was supposed to be the easy part of the schedule.
00:44:07
Speaker
This is where this was supposed to be. So let's figure it out, boys. Let's go in there. I agree that this defense, this box defense is going to cause some fits because it's very similarly schemes to the same ones that we had issues with against, say, the Jaguars. Right. Like it's very it's set up very similarly. So it's going to might cause problems or let's hope that our staff and our players who have had a lot of experience together
00:44:34
Speaker
Let's hope that they can come in and have a plan to mitigate the issues that the defense may cause. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Todd Bowles is going to come in. It's going to be another defense that's going to be loaded boxes, creative, creative blitz schemes, odd man fronts. There's going to be guys blitzing from places you don't anticipate them blitzing from. O-line communication is going to have to be on point.
00:44:58
Speaker
Josh is going to have to be ready to change the protection scheme and for the love of God. Two things I need to see from Josh tonight to even feel remotely good about the game.
00:45:11
Speaker
check the goddamn ball down when the blitz is coming because you know it's coming and my god can we I'm sorry dude I don't know who did it Sean McDermott Ken Dorsey can somebody please so Josh Allen's testicles back on because there's a there's a type of Josh that we need that this team needs to win and it is not the sugar high crazy Josh that throws it 90 yards and when he's panicking
00:45:35
Speaker
And it's also not this, Josh. And I'm not talking about down the field chances. Somebody clearly looked this kid in the eyes and said, you've got to stop running. He is his right. Rushing your game this year. What happened? They're down 30. They're down almost 30 yards per game.
00:45:53
Speaker
I can't tell you how many prop bets I've lost because of that. Oh my God, dude. I got season long bets that I'm like, I'm sweating. Part of what makes him so dynamic and makes him so difficult to account for is his athleticism in his legs. Honestly, dude, for me to feel like we're getting back to normal, can we hurtle someone tonight? Let's just hurtle someone. That's fucking stiff arm somebody. Let's run a man over and and feel good about it.
00:46:23
Speaker
Yeah, dude, I just... We need somebody to fire us up.
00:46:26
Speaker
But I'm sorry, man. I've got no confidence going into this game. This team has given me no reason to think that they're going to suddenly adjust to this type of defense. You had Mike Caldwell with the Jags, Wink Martindale with the Giants, Bill Belichick with the Patriots, and now Todd Bowles with the Bucks. That's three roughly similar defenses that we totally imploded against with tonight being a fourth. I don't have any reason to see it coming.
00:46:55
Speaker
I know. Who knows? Because we've seen a team that absolutely dismantled the Miami freaking dolphins. So whenever that was, whatever that was, it might as well be three seasons ago at this point. Yeah, it does. It does not feel like it happened this season. It doesn't. We've all been in panic mode, man. Stress Mafia has just been out for and I'm driving that bus too, man.
00:47:19
Speaker
Yeah, man, like it's been crazy. I agree. I gotta, I gotta be honest. Like my expectations are down. My expectations are down. And honestly, because of my pretty little formula, expectations minus reality equals disappointment. I've been so sad. I don't want to be sad anymore. So my expectations are, man, we can maybe win.
00:47:39
Speaker
But let's see what happens. And if we don't, then maybe I'm not crushed. And that's just is what it is to be a Bills fan sometimes, isn't it? Yes, it sure is. Should we get some score predictions and get out of here, boys? Kick off some 10 minutes. I think so. Yeah, let's get it. I'll go first. $24.10. I've got no reason to think that this offense is going to figure it out. I've got no reason to think, except for Ed Oliver being back tonight, which is huge.
00:48:01
Speaker
massive that is um let's go ahead but still you watched Jordan Phillips and Tim Settle last week look like they were blocking on ice skates they looked like they might have been so i don't know man i yeah my guess is 24 10 we're gonna force the ball to step on digs because well unless because we have no two tight ends we're gonna go more 11 personnel which maybe we'll get more more Khalil Shakir opportunities
00:48:26
Speaker
which I would be all for. We're clearly not going to throw the ball to Gabe Davis. So it looks like your options are step digs Dalton Kincaid Khalil Shakir and then James Cook out of the backfield. But I'm saying twenty four ten bucks. Tom, I like it. And Andy Isabella is active tonight. So maybe it's going to be an Andy Isabella breakout game. Let's go for one hundred and seventy five. Right. Hey, hey, dude, I'm in. Let's go. Let's go take it. I'm going to go twenty four twenty one late bills field goal for the win.
00:48:56
Speaker
Um, I think, I think we do pull it off. I think it's going to be a nail biter and we're not going to be super happy about it, but it's going to be a win. Jake, I'm going 19, 18 bucks. My favorite part of the pot. What a vintage. What a nice vintage of 1918. I'm just saying, put, put your, put your bets on it right now. All right. Let's go get
Closing Remarks and Fan Engagement
00:49:20
Speaker
it.
00:49:20
Speaker
Well, everybody, I know this might be a late release for this podcast. You probably have watched this game by the time you're listening, but that's okay. There's a lot of Buffalo sports going on this weekend. Go check out the Sabres. They're playing all over the place. Nigel.
00:49:32
Speaker
detailed that earlier. The bills are playing tonight and then we have a little bit of a mini buy. So we won't see them until the following week where we're playing the Bengals, Cincinnati Bengals next week, we'll get there. So, but anyway, thank you so much for the bottom of our hearts for spending some time with us. It would mean a lot to us if you'd share this episode, maybe stick our little QR code in with your Halloween candy on Tuesday. Give us a like, give us a follow, Instagram and X at let's go Buff Pod with two Fs.
00:50:00
Speaker
These are my pals, Jake and Nigel. My name is Tom and you're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast. We're sending you love wherever you are. Go Bills. Go Sabers. Let's go Buffalo.