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Ep. 14 - Spooky Season!
70 Plays1 year ago
Happy Halloween! Welcome to Episode 14. The pals hang and chat Bills v. Bucs, Bills trade deadline moves, and prepare for the Bills v. Bengals. Jake leads off Sabres conversation with a game of trick or treat! Lastly, they recap the loss to the Devils and the win over the Avalanche and take time to look ahead.
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
Episode Introduction
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything, bills and sabers.
00:00:23
Speaker
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 14 coming at you.
00:00:39
Speaker
Quick reminder, whoa, quick reminder to everyone to follow our social medias on Instagram and X at let's go buff pod. That's buff with two F's and pod pod. Let's say hello to the fellas, Tom.
Halloween Fun and Stories
00:00:55
Speaker
How we doing, pal? Hey, happy spooky season, boys. Happy Halloween. Tom, will you be treating this evening? Yes, I will. And I expect to be turned around. And what?
00:01:08
Speaker
And what is your costume, Tom? Excuse me, sir. You are far too old for this. Tom, what will you be dressed as? What's my costume? I don't have long and quick and snappy. A tired 30-year-old. Welcome to my life. Jake, how we doing, pal? I'm great. Happy Halloween.
00:01:29
Speaker
Nice dude. Yeah. I will not be trick or treating either. I don't get, do you guys get trick or treaters where you are? I don't, I don't get any living downtown to my house. I live in the middle of the woods. That's right. Everybody, everybody drives down the mountain and goes into town and right. Nice. Nice. Jake, what about you? Do you, do you and your lovely wife get any trick or treaters where you are?
00:01:50
Speaker
first year here. So I don't know. I will be fighting with her where she'll be trying to usher children in the door to come get candy and I will be turning lights off and trying to keep them out. So we'll see who wins. We'll be pouting them with candy from the. You like Skittles, you asshole. Get out of here. I'm on the same way, dude, like ever since I got into my own place, shut that shit down.
00:02:14
Speaker
turn the lights off, like nobody's even alive in that house. No one home. Exactly. Nope. Get your candy. No foreclosure notice on the front door or something like that. Just drive the whole point home. And Tom, you can probably relate to this dude as a teacher. Halloween's like the worst day ever. Because like as a teacher, you're like, it's like practically in your contract. You're supposed to like give the kids candy. And then they're just absolutely crazy all day. It's the most unproductive day of like outside of like the day before Christmas break.
00:02:43
Speaker
It's one of the most unproductive days of the year as a teacher. It's terrible. The day before Christmas break is exciting for me, too. So at least that was fun. I had a kid walk into class today. I have a beginning band class. This kid plays trombone. They came in and they had one of these giant inflatable costumes where it looks like the aliens picking them up and abducting them. And this girl is looking at me as if she's all upset that I'm asking her, can you play your trombone with that on? And she's like, no.
00:03:13
Speaker
No, no, I cannot. And I was like, OK, well, then how are we going to problem solve this? Because it is band class and you need to play. You're trying. Oh, my God. Just just just as if I was like asked her to, I don't know, you know, go to go to North Korea or something like like what?
00:03:28
Speaker
I'm also I'm also reminded daily with these kids that I'm I'm I'm old, bro. Like, because like apparently one of one of my kids came in and was very wearing like a very obvious like Taylor Swift outfit. And she was like, Who am I, Mr. C? And I'm like, I don't know. Like I have no idea. She's like, I'll give you a hit. I'm a famous female singer. I'm like, well, that narrows it down. There are many of those. So, yeah, dude, it's just it's just a reminder that
00:03:58
Speaker
We are getting getting old here. Well, but the next more important question is when do you guys start listening to Christmas music?
Holiday Music Debate
00:04:05
Speaker
It's tomorrow. It's for me. I need to get through Thanksgiving before I can totally switch into Christmas mode. But the day after Thanksgiving for me.
00:04:15
Speaker
That is when like automatic Christmas music. That's the rules are. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm I think I'm there with you. I will definitely sprinkle in some Christmas music if it's a nice snowy day and it's starting to feel like it. But yeah, you're right. And right after like Black Friday is a big Christmas day in the house. Yeah. Big time, dude. Big time, big time, big time. All right, boys. Well, shall we shall we get ourselves into a little bit of a beer corner here?
00:04:43
Speaker
Yeah, let's do it. Let's snap. Give us a little countdown. Three, two, one. Nice, fellas. Jake, let's start with you today. What are you drinking today, bud? In the spirit of Halloween, I have a pumpkin ale with real pumpkin, it says from Smutty Nose Brewing. Nice. I don't usually like pumpkin beers all that much, but it's Halloween, so I'm going for it.
00:05:08
Speaker
I absolutely love pumpkin beers, Tom. I could just, I could just, yeah, subsist on pumpkin beer. We drank a fair share of those back in our day.
00:05:17
Speaker
Yeah, well still is still in. Still in. I think this might be a repeat. Minky Boodle. I have a Minky Boodle. Somebody had that from Tin Man, Buffalo, New York. Nice, dude. Nice. This one was left in my refrigerator by my mother. So thanks, mom. Nice. We love that. Well, I also kind of have a bit of a repeat here. I am
00:05:40
Speaker
drinking a two kind IPA. So that's like the double IPA version of the kind that I drank like for the first six weeks of the podcast. Now it's just a double with higher ABV and we'll see where this podcast ends up in about 20 minutes here.
00:05:57
Speaker
I love it. It looks it looks delicious, I gotta say. Yeah, dude. Well, you know, I can see I can see the condensation going down the can. It looks like so good. It's good, right? Yeah. All right. Well, I guess let's get into some bills talk to start. And there's obviously a lot to talk about with the trade deadline taking place
Bills vs. Bucks Recap
00:06:15
Speaker
today. We're recording this on Tuesday, the 31st at five twenty one p.m. So good timing, good reporting timing, right? Yeah. So we'll get to the trade deadline stuff, but we're going to start with the recap.
00:06:26
Speaker
of the Bills Bucks game. Should we go around and do a positive takeaway from the game real quick, boys? Yeah. Can we come back real quickly? Yeah, go ahead, Tom. I would like to start pick on me, Mr. Croston. Guys, the Bills won a game. The Bills won. Oh, my God. The world did not come crumbling down. We were able to continue on with our week. Yes, there may be concerns, but the Bills won. We're OK. We're OK. Jake, you got one, buddy?
00:06:52
Speaker
That was mine, that the Bills won. It was less gut-wrenching and heart-shaking than other wins that we've had the pleasure or displeasure of watching so far. So yeah, it's got the W. That's the takeaway. Yeah.
00:07:08
Speaker
For sure, man. I think the biggest thing for me and I don't want to I don't want to take the easy way out and just say Josh Allen. No, because he was he was markedly improved this week. Right. Like great with his checkdowns and everything. He really did. Yeah. But to go like one sort of layer deeper, Dalton Kincaid, baby.
00:07:29
Speaker
the the
00:07:47
Speaker
the body control the ability to get the feet down dude like that was absolutely sick dude and I do at some point want to talk about that that touchdown reception that he had because there was a lot of really great things that happened there both on the part of Josh Allen and Dalton Kincaid
00:08:06
Speaker
But Dalton Kincaid having that game for me, dude, that was the most exciting takeaway I had, for sure. Dude, yeah, it's great to see him come in, right? Dawson Knox is out on our for a few weeks. Kincaid, this was his opportunity, and he took it, which was great to see. It was cool to see him involved with a little shovel pass near the end zone. I think that absolutely could have been a touchdown. We've seen Travis Kelsey do that all the time, and now we get to participate. It's great.
00:08:35
Speaker
Yeah, that was very much very much remnants of the Kansas City Chiefs offense there with that little shovel pass. It was right out of the playbook. Oh, yeah. And I'm so excited that we get to be part of that now. Yeah, I know. That's a fun little trick. Yeah. So, I mean, the other one for me, dude, Khalil Shakir, I guess the overarching theme with that is.
00:08:54
Speaker
the the
00:09:08
Speaker
overall changed my opinion of him and, and how I feel about him as a player on this team going forward, but outstanding game from him. Um, and then step, Dick still contributed, dude. I think he still had 70 yards receiving, which is, you know, not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination. So I just think seeing the ball get distributed in the passing game a little bit more equally.
00:09:27
Speaker
was huge. Tom, anything else you want to add to that real quick? Yeah, I completely agree. It was great to see lots of people involved. And my favorite thing about Gabe Davis was that he wasn't used in the normal way that he usually is. He's usually a down the field stretcher, big bodied, 50-50 ball kind of guy, like he's way down the field. So it was cool to see both Dorsey used him in new ways and then Gabe Davis actually be able to
00:09:55
Speaker
contribute in new ways. So he was definitely a tendency breaker. And who knows how long that will be able to be successful. You know, like some teacher teams are now going to catch on to that and be ready for that. However, it was cool to see him not win in the same way he always does. So that felt felt great. Yeah, I guess the only other real big positive takeaway or something that I just really liked that I saw. We took like the one thing that seemed to be working in our previous couple of games.
00:10:23
Speaker
which was a hurry up offense. We were in no huddle for the good chunk of the start of that game. I was liking what I was seeing. And I thought that no huddle really, really, really works well into Josh Allen's favorite.
00:10:35
Speaker
I agree. Can I ask a newbie cue around that? Yeah, dude. So is that just allow the defense less time
Offensive Strategies Discussion
00:10:43
Speaker
to get set? Or is it the, or, well, in a separate question, is Ken Dorsey, the offensive coordinator, less involved in calling the play? Is it more Josh Allen picking the play? Like what are the benefits to no huddle offense? Tom, you want to go or you want me to take it? Yeah, I'll take the defensive side of that. So it keeps the defensive personnel on the field. They don't, they have less time to sub out.
00:11:04
Speaker
Um, right. Cause if there's time between all, we gotta, you know, the 40, 52nd play clock, there's time for them to sub in and get different packages, different players in to match what we are doing. But if we're going to hurry up, like we're, we're staying in a, in a, in a similar personnel, but so are they. So we forced their hands. If maybe there's a good matchup we like on the fields.
00:11:23
Speaker
And say it's, we have an 11 personnel grouping on the field, which is more wide receivers, a smaller, more speedy, more skill player kind of personnel group. And maybe they were stuck in some larger, more less athletic, linebacker heavy personnel group. It puts us at the advantage and we force them to stay in the field and have to continue to make plays in that personnel group. And that's an advantage.
00:11:52
Speaker
And so that's the defensive side of that. Now, do you want to take the offensive side of that? Yeah. Yep. And Tom crushed that offensively. So the way that works with Ken Dorsey and Josh Allen and all that stuff, Ken Dorsey will call down a handful of plays.
00:12:07
Speaker
And then from there, based on what he sees, Josh Allen picks and chooses from that handful of plays that was called down from Ken Dorsey. So I think one of the reasons that works so well for the Bills is because, you know, Josh Allen being the one down on the field, not that Ken Dorsey can't see what his.
00:12:24
Speaker
what's going on from his little perch up there in the box. But Josh is the one in the field game and everything. He's able to pick and choose what he wants to call. And that also affects the checks that are available and all that stuff. So Josh does take more of a leadership role in that hurry up offense situation. Good stuff, guys. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, dude. Good question.
00:12:48
Speaker
And then I think from there, so yeah, offense significantly improved, penalties remain a major issue, dude. That game should have been over way before it got scary on the Jordan Phillips sack. I wanna slap Jordan Phillips across the face for committing that penalty, dude. You're 300 some odd pounds. You've already got Baker Mayfield in your clutches. He's going down and your big dumbass decides to reach up that bear paw and put it on his face mask, dude.
00:13:16
Speaker
That's something I would anticipate from a rookie, not from a multi-year veteran.
00:13:21
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree. I do. I do think that place should have been called dead three seconds before that. Like Baker was wrapped up. He was. It was foreign progress was done that the ref should have called that as a sack and should have blew that dead. But yeah, no, it's inexcusable for Jordan Phillips to get a face mask there, especially when he has him dead to rights already. And he has help coming like he has him wrapped like help another player. I can't remember who it was, but coming up to help Jordan Phillips finish that tackle like
00:13:51
Speaker
just yeah, that was that was silly and especially in the situation where it was that situational football was was not was not smart there. Yeah, it just can't happen. We're having too many big significant plays being wrecked by penalties and it just it just.
00:14:08
Speaker
It has to stop. I don't know. There's no like really really really astute analysis that comes from that We're shooting ourselves in the foot and it's dumb stupid penalties So I mean when we played we have we have a tough schedule coming like when we play good teams That's well, they're gonna make us pay for that. So I agree that that needs to be cleaned up It's it's gonna be a continued issue
00:14:28
Speaker
That poor execution is what kind of slowed things down in the second half. We were up 24-10, had opportunities to go up even more, had opportunities to stop the Bucks and force them into long situations and force them to punt the ball. And we helped keep them in the game. And that was frustrating, especially that final drive. The second to last final drive for the Bucks, they finally came alive, which is okay. It is not a problem when another team
00:14:56
Speaker
starts to execute their makers making good decisions. There's good catches being made. Like the other team is paid too. So I'm not trying to be too down on that second to last drive where we eventually, they eventually got their touchdown throw off of Terrell Bernard's helmet to Mike Evans. But that final, final drive where
00:15:14
Speaker
Oh, wait, wait, wait, no, let me slow down. That that was the drive that was silly. That should not have continued. That was the drive with the Jordan Phillips penalty. My bet. I'm going to I'm going to retract that. I'm getting confused. I get it feels like. So that was the drive where there was there was just so much going against us. There was that Jordan Phillips penalty on fourth on fourth down. There was another penalty that seemed a little silly for us to be called against us on fourth down. So they converted. Great. Then fourth down in the red zone.
00:15:42
Speaker
fourth and long and they bounce it off of Drell Bernard's head. Unlucky it right into Mike Evans arms and he gets a touchdown like at some point the Bucks offense needed our help to get there and we were happy to dish that up.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I, Tom, I would love to be along the ride free along for the ride with you on the second half of football discussion. I absolutely fell asleep part of the game. I saw the Bill's touchdown drive coming out of the second half was absolutely elated, super excited, and immediately fell asleep. Did not see another snap in the rest of the game. So that's a really
00:16:21
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Absolutely passed out. He went radio silent on the text thread. Yeah, I woke up at like midnight to a text from Tom being like, Nigel, acre. Yeah, you're still there. You can't be that upset. It's not going that badly.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah. Like I said, it was just execution in the second half, and the Bucks came alive for a drive or two. And holy cow, we had to hang on for a nail biter at the end there for a Hail Mary throw that, thank God, fell dead. Shouldn't be caught.
00:16:53
Speaker
should have been caught. Yeah, should have been caught. But you know, and and anybody who's saying that there should have been penalties called that there absolutely should not have been penalties called. Both sides were committing penalties that everybody made the right play and let the Hail Mary happen. Like that needs to happen. Everyone is assaulting everyone in that place.
00:17:10
Speaker
Yes, it was on both sides. So I don't want to hear anything from Bill's players, from Bucks players, from anyone else. I don't want to hear anything. That was exactly how it should have been called. The refs made, in my mind, poor refing decisions throughout the game. That was the correct one. Yeah. And then my last little shout out before we go on just to continue on.
00:17:29
Speaker
is we got a shout out Sam Martin. That guy was hunting out of his mind. I think I think every one of his punts was inside the 10 yard line or four or something like that. He had another one that was very close. If whichever Bill's special teamer was there, it was true was trying to tip it back into play. He was very close and that could have been another just
00:17:50
Speaker
just paid him deep and oh my gosh, so good. Yeah, so good. That guy's a weapon, dude. I mean, what I mean, like you in truth, you don't want to see that guy on the field, at least not kicking. You want to see him holding for, you know, extra point attempts. But in his in the role that he's, you know, signed for, you don't want to see him. But man, dude, like when he's got to come out and punt, I feel so good about it. And I just know that knock on wood.
00:18:15
Speaker
the right play is gonna be made, right? He's gonna make, he's gonna put the ball in the right spot or at least very close to it, so. Yes, in good weather, bad weather, in, yeah, no, he's been awesome. And he's a great holder for Tyler Bass, like, been very consistent, knock on wood again, because we're definitely very stiches here. And, but no, he's been looking good. So yeah, I'm really happy. I'm all good to, should we roll on over to some free agency signings? Not free agency signings, trade deadline signings.
00:18:45
Speaker
Well, Tom, you're half right, because one of them technically was
Bills Roster Updates
00:18:48
Speaker
a free agent edition. But before we do that, I just have to say one thing. Yeah. Found out today that Jets signed Roger Saffold. So Jets, good luck. Have fun. Yeah. I will be sending a text to Ed Oliver to make sure he knows that Roger Saffold is now playing guard for your team. So have fun with that situation.
00:19:12
Speaker
Yeah. So we'll deal with the the less if for me for my money, the less significant of the two recent bills additions. Leonard Fortnite is signing with the team. He's signing to the practice squad. Comes as a free agent most recently with Tampa Bay, I believe.
00:19:27
Speaker
Um, six foot, 228 pounds. He's 28 years old, almost 29. We all know. Which is wild. I always thought he was older. Yeah. I thought he was older. Um, he's a between the tackles runner. He's not going to be someone that's going to gash you with speed on the outside zone runs. Um, he does offer significant improvement on the team right now in terms of pass protection. Um, Latavius Murray is pretty good at that. James cook is an absolute liability.
00:19:56
Speaker
And the best player that we had for that was indeed Damien Harris, who is now out for what's looking like a significant remainder of the season, considering the fact that we did sign Lenny Fornett. So offers a lot in pass protection, also offers more in the receiving game than Damien Harris does, which I like.
00:20:17
Speaker
Um, and I mean, you know, I say this is insignificant. I think it more or less is, it seems to me to be a move to keep some beef in the run game. Um, that isn't only the oldest player in the league in the tavius Murray, Tom, Jake, you guys have things you want to add to that.
00:20:32
Speaker
I completely agree. I think that that's exactly what it is. You nailed it. I also think it's a sign that Damon Harris is not expected back anytime soon. So I think this is him filling that role because that was having three running backs that are all have startable contributions is important, especially in Bill's offices. So now we have James Cook, Latavius Murray,
00:20:53
Speaker
in Leonard Fournette. So he's also known as playoff Lenny. So he has produced. He had quite a few yards from scrimmage last year. Like he has contributed. I think there's definitely a reason he was a free agent until week eight of this season. So I don't think we should have high expectations for him. But I do think in the limited role that he's going to come into, I think he's very similar to a Latavius Murray who can come in and contribute and has the veteran presence there. So I think that's really, I'm fine with it.
00:21:23
Speaker
especially for the role that he's coming in. He's not coming in to be the number one back. Yeah. Yup, I'm with you. I'm just fine with it.
00:21:30
Speaker
And that's about where I get to with that. It's nothing that really gets me interested. Have you seen any compensation on that? No. It's practice squad, so it's got to be minimal. Right. So I don't know what it's going to look like when he gets to the team. It's a no-lose situation. Right. We're not paying out the nose for him. Yeah. If he sucks, we just don't play him. Exactly. I think we're all good. So I'm fine with it. We needed a player, and I'll take the veteran presence, and I'm OK with that.
00:21:56
Speaker
Yeah, a guy who's been through the process has won a Super Bowl recently. It can add a little bit of a veteran presence. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. Yeah. And then the more significant of the two just happened a couple hours ago here. The bills are trading for cornerback Rasool Douglas out of the Green Bay Packers defensive squad. So the bills are sending a 2024 third round pick in exchange for Rasool Douglas and a fifth round pick from the
00:22:26
Speaker
Packers, excuse me, which is also a 2024 pick. Russell Douglas is 29 years old, 62, 209. For me, this is a guy who is good. He's a good player and is a significant improvement over Dane Jackson.
00:22:42
Speaker
I think with Trey White injured right now, Rasool Douglas immediately becomes CB1 on this team. However, 29 years old, to me likely a serviceable band-aid until the team gets more clarity on the health and future of Trey White, which to me also will probably impact the length of time that Rasool Douglas is a bill. Tommy, I'm going to keep going here in my bullet points or do you want to chime in?
00:23:06
Speaker
No, you're doing great. I will chime in, though. So no yes is how that was. Yeah, that was good. You got it, buddy. Yeah. No, crushed it. Crushed it. I agree. But I think he's a serviceable back. I really do. Yes, he absolutely is. This is significant, especially because we've always been screaming and kicking and crying for Brandon Bean to make a trade deadline move. This was huge.
00:23:33
Speaker
I think he's going to be able to come in, be part of that rotation, and Dane Jackson, honestly, I've been happy with. My biggest concern was that, okay, oh boy, after Dane Jackson, if heck, oh my gosh, we need depth beyond that, who do we have? Well, now, I agree. I think it's going to be Christian Benford and Resuel Douglas, eventually. I don't know. We'll get to the Bengals game here. I don't know if Resuel Douglas will be starting in that game.
00:23:55
Speaker
just because it's been a week and, you know, that's hard to do. But I definitely think he'll be on the active roster. He'll be playing. And I think eventually it becomes Christian Benford, Rasool Douglas with Dane Jackson behind him, Kyra Elam behind him, because clearly he wasn't moved, which we can maybe get back to that, but I'm relatively okay with that. Let's keep the Rook, that little second year player and let him continue to develop, but not put him in that starting role.
00:24:20
Speaker
Um, I think the fact that Russell Douglas is, has experience and is known for his role as a zone and zone defenses is huge because that's what he's going to be asked to do in this, um, Sean McDermott defense is play zone. Um, not like, uh, Elon, who was more of a man specialist.
00:24:35
Speaker
Have to fill a role that he wasn't comfortable with versus will Douglas's has played in defenses like this. So I think that'll be huge he's a He's a good tackler. He has good on ball skills. Like he's kind of a ball hawk He has multiple interceptions in the past few years. Yeah, you know what? Like let's let him go play Especially when we have this this defense that is designed to be a little bit more aggressive. Like, you know what? Maybe comes in and makes an impact
00:25:01
Speaker
So I'm excited. I um, I had um, well go ahead and then I have I actually have one more comment on the The compensation for the exchanges of picks and things. Oh, okay. Great. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, I mean you pretty much you pretty much covered in their time just a couple numbers things as far as this year goes He's dirt cheap for the rest of this season. He counts for less than 900,000 against the cap this year Yeah, it's actually way closer to 800. So yeah, it's absolutely nothing next year that skyrockets a bunch He's owed
00:25:29
Speaker
$9 million. However, it is not guaranteed, which I think is a significant piece of this whole thing getting done. Brandon Bean, according to everybody on Twitter, made a massive push to get Jalen Johnson out of Chicago. And by all accounts from again, the same people on Twitter, Chicago's asking price for him was just absolutely outrageous.
00:25:54
Speaker
I get that he is a young cornerback one that was drafted in the second round and is out playing his draft value, which is always going to make teams freak out a little bit. For me, dude, and we didn't really talk about this much, but for me, I guess I would love to know
00:26:12
Speaker
what they were asking for him like if it was like multiple first round picks then then yeah get out of here but I mean this is a guy dude that like if you're concerned that Trey White is done this is a guy who you immediately replace that with with way more youth a ton of athleticism and a guy that is operating as a full-on bona fide cornerback won the season I would love to know what they were asking if it was a first and
00:27:07
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
00:27:10
Speaker
It is what it is. I think Resuel Douglas is a great compensatory yet, not the youth, not the athleticism, but a more than serviceable player who should positively impact the team pretty quick. I agree. Yeah. And my thought on that is I wonder if Bean had this Resuel Douglas deal set up lined up as well, and just thinking opportunity cost. If he can get Resuel Douglas and a fifth for a third,
00:27:40
Speaker
as opposed to going to go to the Bears and trying to send in a huge amount of picks and have to sign him eventually to a big deal. I wonder if he just thought, okay, this is going to get me 80% of the way there for much less. I'm wondering if that's what came to mind for him. Yeah. Go ahead. No, no, no. I'm just agreeing. Yeah, you're right.
00:28:04
Speaker
And so the big thing for me is we actually have an extra third round pick this year because Tri-Man Edmonds was signed to such a large free agent deal. Oh, that's right. We got, so this is essentially a, we're playing with house money, right? Being sent a third round pick that we had extra, we still have a third round pick for this upcoming draft. Yup. And then we get Russell Douglas and a fifth, like.
00:28:25
Speaker
That doesn't, I'm happy with that, especially for what we're paying them this year. We have a non-guaranteed contract next year. Bean's going to definitely do something with that. And I think that's great. So I'm happy with this. I'm glad that we made a move, especially on defense. Like we needed, we needed the bodies. We needed the depth. I was hoping for a D tackle as well. So who knows? I don't know if there's any free agents are out there or anything else we could go do, but I really liked that. What do you think, Nigel? Are we ready to move on to Bengals?
00:28:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think so, man. I I think we I think we recap that pretty well there. I totally forgot about the compensatory third round pick for Tremaine Edmonds. That's all by you. Right. Like, hey, this is we're not giving away the only third we have. Like, right. So I totally forgot about that. Let's go get a player now. Yeah, I know. I would like to see us sign one of those maybe veteran D tackles that are on the market. But we'll I heard it. I'm going to sue rumors and I was starting to salivate. How do you say his first name?
00:29:21
Speaker
uh mr sue in domicom in domicom too i think is i would say maybe i'm good for you yeah you're confident about that yeah yeah i'm probably way off
00:29:33
Speaker
All right. Let's get to the bills and Bengals preview. So the bills will play the Bengals Sunday night football this coming Sunday.
Bills vs. Bengals Preview
00:29:43
Speaker
The Bengals are finally figuring it out one week before they're going to play. Yep. So I'm like, what the hell is going on there? Yeah, they're getting healthy, man. They're getting some players back on the offensive line and all that stuff. Now, this is where it becomes really interesting for me. Is is Russell Douglas going to play?
00:30:03
Speaker
Because I have written down here, I don't know how this defense is going to stop Jamar Chase. We just simply don't have the personnel in terms of size and speed to keep up with this guy. So Douglas very much helps with that size component at least. So it would be awesome to see him play. But I don't know, Tom, go ahead.
00:30:24
Speaker
I think he does. I think he at least plays. I don't know if he starts. I think it's going to be Dane Jackson and Christian Benford. That's I'm calling it now. We'll see what happens later this week, but I think he's going to be on the active roster. I think he comes in and he's playing a limited number of snaps, but he's going to be in there and important situations. And yeah, I agree. And I absolutely you nailed on the head. Like we're going to need to go. This is going to be a high powered game. If we have a chance, if we need to have a chance, we're going to have to go put up 30 plus to have a chance to get the Bengals.
00:30:53
Speaker
It's funny that you say that, dude, because I'm looking at the score prediction bullet and I'm thinking in my head, I for whatever reason, I'm anticipating a low scoring game. I don't know why. Yeah. Yeah, I have no idea. I think I don't think our defense is going to be able to keep the Bengals back. It's probably true. They're going to get 24, 28, 30 plus points. So for us to win this game, we're going to need we're going to need points. So I think it's going to be high scoring. And I agree.
00:31:18
Speaker
Should be really tough. Joe Burrow is coming back alive. He's looking good. And he even like, I mean, he had some rushes last week. His calf is clearly much better, much more healthy than it was early in the season. He's looking good. Joe Mixon, it's going to be a problem. I don't know how we're stopping. I mean, we've been just like a sieve trying to stop the run game against any opponent. So that'll be great. Yeah, dude. Especially when we have, I mean, thankfully, I'm pretty sure we're fairly healthy coming on that Tampa Bay game, right?
00:31:46
Speaker
Yeah, we were completely healthy. Yeah, completely. So that's great. So yeah, dad, you play every play. Yeah. Don't come off the field. For me, dude, I and I have written down here Phillips and settle. They just look like they're playing defensive tackle on ice skates these last couple of games. Settle especially. He is getting Tim Settle is.
00:32:07
Speaker
Fire that guy to the moon, dude. He cannot stop getting blown off the ball immediately. I don't know how he started over Puna Ford all that time. And I don't love the beginning. So I don't know. That's what I was going to say. I mean, for me, dude, Puna Ford is the one that deserves to get these snaps opposite of Ed Oliver. Yeah. He should be the number two right now. He looked good. I thought against the box. At least the first half when I was awake.
00:32:33
Speaker
He did. No, he had a much better game than when he looked against the Patriots. The Patriots, he looked terrible. And I was very concerned and could see why he wasn't on the active roster or the starting for active 48. But yeah, so that's going to be a big deal. We need to come out and have a plan because, man, what's the name of the Bengals defensive coordinator? It's escaping me.
00:32:55
Speaker
Oh, Zach Taylor's the head coach, right? Um, Lou Amarumo, right? And Aromo. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Man, Lou, he has a very cool defense folks. He, um, he, his defense looks different every, every draft. It is so multiple and it's insane. And it's insane that he can get these players prepped and ready to do that. And he's able to coach that. It's very impressive. So, um, I don't know what we're going to see. It's going to be different and it's going to be something crazy. They're going to try and get the Josh.
00:33:25
Speaker
and make him have to move off his first read and make him really think. So I'm hoping that Josh gets all his sleep this week, eats his Wheaties, and his brain is ready to go, because he's going to have to think to beat these Bengals. Yeah. I'm just hoping for more of the same that we just saw. Be willing to take the checkdowns when the free runner is coming on the blitz. Get the ball out quick. Get it out hot. To Kincaid Shakir and Cook.
00:33:48
Speaker
Um, yeah, I'm just hoping to see more of the same dude continue to utilize Gabe Davis in different ways. Don't just keep like Tom was saying, sending him down the field to win 50 50 contested catches. Um, and still do I still, and I know people are probably going to be sick of me saying this still looking to see a little bit more involvement from James cook in the passing game, get that ball without a screen. Right. Cause we don't, for whatever reason, we just can't do that. Nope.
00:34:17
Speaker
We need to facilitate this guy with the ball in space a different way. I don't know what the answer is. That's why I'm not an offensive coordinator. That's why I'm an elementary band director. I get paid to do what I know how to do. I don't know what the answer is for getting him involved more outside of screens in the passing game. But the guy is too damn quick to not have the ball in his hands for. I don't understand why it's not more of a focal point. I hope more of the same would be good.
00:34:45
Speaker
I hope we scheme him up. Yep, I think it's going to be up. They're going to have to come out and play a very good game. This is probably the toughest test we'll have all season. Well, so far this season.
00:34:57
Speaker
maybe minus the Dolphins, but thankfully they came out and looked really good against that. So here we'll see. What do you guys say? Should we do some score predictions? Yeah, Jake, I haven't heard your voice in forever. You go first. By the way, Jake, I was I thought of you this past this past weekend. I don't remember the score. I don't remember the teams. There was a score agami this past weekend, though, in the world of the NFL. No way. I missed. Oh, nice. Do some do some Google in here. Yeah, Google it.
00:35:25
Speaker
You know, I love a good score. It's it's it's one of my favorite parts of scores in the NFL. So with that said, this weekend, I'm going to go for another score. It's a twenty five eighteen. I think the Bills have a tough time stopping the Bengals offense. I must say twenty five eighteen Bengals. Oh, Jake, taking a page out of my book. Well, I'm a follow right to him. I'm in the next chapter. I'm going to say it's going to be a high scoring game and I don't think we're going to be able to keep up.
00:35:52
Speaker
We're going to the Bengals. We're going to Cincinnati. I think we lose thirty four twenty seven. Holy shit, you guys. Well, first of all, the score got me Dallas Cowboys defeated the Los Angeles Rams by a score of forty three to twenty. Being the one thousand seventy nine distinct score and the fourth score got me of the twenty twenty three NFL season. Oh, right. Yeah. That's crazy. That's crazy. Oh.
00:36:27
Speaker
3528 bills. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah. You heard it here first, Nige. I know. Yup. I'm going to lean on the boys. I'm going to, I'm going to, it's, we all keep saying, oh, we don't want the bills to start playing their best ball now. It's time to start thinking about getting there.
00:36:44
Speaker
Right. We're halfway through just about. We need we need some wins, especially some conference wins. We win over the Bengals would be huge. We need some of these inter-conference wins, the divisional wins. We like it's OK to not be playing our best ball right now, but we got to be on the cusp of starting to play our best ball. And I would love to see us like there's a lot of lot of you know, there's going to be some weird emotions with this game, dude, right? Like, yeah, the last time that we were in
00:37:12
Speaker
Cincinnati was the Demar Hamlin injury. So I think it's going to be kind of an ominous, weird feeling. I think with that, you're going to see the boys come out, come out swinging. And as long as we can just keep the same Josh Allen, we saw this past Thursday night meeting, taking the checkdowns, keeping the ball hot, spreading it around, no sugar high stuff. We're right there. We're right there with this Cincinnati team. So I agree. Yeah.
00:37:41
Speaker
All right, so we switch some gears here over to some sabers. Richard, are you all over? Yeah. Jake, you've been brainstorming a bit of a Halloween special for us with the sabers this evening, yeah?
Sabres Stats Trick or Treat
00:37:54
Speaker
I thought we'd do a little trick or treating in regards to the sabers so far and see what early spooky trends will continue throughout the season and what will turn into some treats, perhaps. So with that said,
00:38:09
Speaker
I'm going to read off a couple of stats from the season so far. This is the sickest drop ever, dude. I'm going to keep playing it. I'm turning it down. You got to talk over it. But we're all like swaying our heads and shoulders a little bit in our video chat.
00:38:29
Speaker
So I'm going to read off a couple of stats from the season so far. You tell me if it's a trick or a treat. That should be pretty obvious. But what I want you to really tell me is, is it indicative of a season long trend or is it something that will see correct itself or come back closer to what you would expect? Okay. So with that said, Victor Olafson, zero points through the first nine games of Buffalo season, trick or treat?
00:38:53
Speaker
I don't think that's a trick at all. I think Victor Olson stinks in his current position with the savers. And the only way he's going to get goals is on the power play, which he isn't even always on right now. And to play back off of that, he's not even dressed for every game right now. He's a healthy scratch every other game.
00:39:10
Speaker
So for me, it's definitely not a trick, certainly not a treat either. We would like to see him be impactful, but in terms of the game here, it's, it's a treat, dude. He's, I don't see him taken off by any stretch of the imagination. And I once again think once Jack Quinn is back, you're going to see all of some traded.
00:39:28
Speaker
Yeah, completely agree. How about two players that are at a point per game pace so far? That's Rasmus, Daliin, and Jeff Skinner. Trick or treat. Keep that going. Yep. Treat, treat, treat, treat, treat, treat, treat, treat. Yep. Treats all the way. Dolls, man. Freaking off to a good start, was off to a great start last season. Keep it up. I'm waiting to see, waiting to hear the Norris conversations. It won't start for a couple of months, but
00:39:53
Speaker
I hope he's in that conversation. He keeps this up. He definitely will be. Skinner is keeping our offense afloat right now. Keep it rolling, Jake. And you want Darlene to beware in the Norris voting?
00:40:05
Speaker
Um, I, well, I want him to be first. Hey, very good. Yes. All right. I'll get my clocker ready. JJ Paterka has got four goals through the year. He's scoring at a 36 goal pace. Granted he's shooting at a 20% clip. Trick or treat. Does that continue? That's going to be a trick, dude. And I don't, I mean, by all means JJ Paterka, if you ever hear this pod shove it straight up my hoop. I hope you do, but
00:40:34
Speaker
I don't see this continuing to be a trend for him. 20% shooting clip is absolutely freaking outrageous. Not something that I think can be kept up over an 82 game pace. I expect to see this slowed down in the next couple of months. I agree. I agree. I don't think it'll slow down too much. I imagine he'll get more chances that'll just drop in shooting percent. I still think he pots 25, 30 goals. Yeah, absolutely.
00:40:59
Speaker
uh the sabers penalty kill is sixth in the nhl currently at a rate of 89.2 successful kills trick or treat i'm gonna go a treat on this one dude yeah yeah i'm gonna gauge yeah i'm gonna go i'm gonna go a treat and it comes back to the additions of um
00:41:20
Speaker
Oh, God, who do we add? Eric Johnson and Clifton. So Clinton didn't even play the last the last game or so. So, no. Yeah. For me, dude, I think that's I think that's going to be a treat, dude. I don't think I don't think there's any massive reasons why that should slow down, barring significant injury. Yeah, I've been pounding the table for Eric Johnson. He's such a good penalty killer. And I think that's one of the reasons we brought him in. Yeah, it's he's awesome.
00:41:44
Speaker
Now, the flip side of special teams, the power play scoring only one goal more than they've allowed. So they've scored three power play goals and given up two short handed goals. And they're operating at ten point seven percent, which is twenty ninth in the NHL trick or treat. Yeah, dude, in order to help me sleep at night, I have to hope that this is a trick. This this especially the first power play unit and the second one's potent too. But particularly the first one
00:42:14
Speaker
That first power play unit should be operating 23 to 25% success on that power play. I think what I'm seeing right now is either a lack of willingness or a lack of knowing what to do in terms of an adjustment. Teams are taking away Dave Thompson on the power play now. They know he's got an unreal shot.
00:42:35
Speaker
they need to find a different way to put the puck in the net that isn't just Dave Thompson. I don't know where that goes, but I have to pray that this is a trick. I totally agree. They've been trying to funnel the puck into the bumper. So in the, in the slot to try to get traffic in front of the net. And it's been
00:42:54
Speaker
It hasn't been incredibly successful, but I could see a scenario where that can create more offense, but I totally agree with you. Teams are taking away the shot from Tage, taking away the pass to Tage, and that was so lethal last year. You have to expect that teams are going to take that away, and they look crippled because of that. It looks static. I really wish they would
00:43:18
Speaker
try to produce more off of zone entries on the power play and just take the quick shot rather than setting up and cycling because that's not a strength that they have. So anyways, we'll hope that turns around. I got two more for you before we move on. The Sabers are the sixth most penalized team in the NHL. It feels like they're often killing penalties, which given their penalty kill success is okay, but you can't rely on that. So is that penalty clip a trick or a treat?
00:43:46
Speaker
Um, I think that's, I think that's eventually going to turn out to be a trick. Um, we can't forget. This is the youngest team in the NHL. There's a lot of immaturity on this team. They're not going to get, you know, the benefit of the doubt from referees. You know, a Sidney Crosby is probably going to have less penalties called against him than, you know, a Dylan cousins just because Crosby is established. Everybody knows who he is. No one wants to piss him off. Yada, yada, yada, yada.
00:44:12
Speaker
I have to assume that eventually these guys are going to figure that out and the penalties will start to drop. I'm going to blame it on immaturity at this point, but this is a losing formula. Can't take this many penalties regardless of how good your penalty kill is. This is a this is a recipe to miss the playoffs by four to two points for me.
00:44:35
Speaker
Last one, expected goal for percentage, 45%. So just real quick, that means that of the chances that are happening at both ends of the ice, the percent that you would expect to be goals based on models is 45% for the savers. So ideally, you want the team above 50% to increase that goal share, but right now they're sitting at 45%, trick or treat.
00:44:59
Speaker
I'm going to say trick on this one too. I think that's going to go up. We've seen this team. We've had a couple of games now where the offensive output has been good. But I think that's going to start to continue to ascend as the season rolls along. There's just too many good goal scorers on this team for that to not happen. So I'm going to say trick for that one personally.
00:45:18
Speaker
Yeah, fair enough. I agree. I think that comes up. It started to awaken the offense. The goals have started to come a little bit more. I thought they looked really good against both New Jersey and Colorado. So since our last podcast, they lost 5-4 to New Jersey, won 4-0 against Colorado.
00:45:36
Speaker
Yeah, the goal started to come. I mean, scoring eight across two games is a great first step to awaken that offense. And I really think that despite a need to take a step back offensively to fix the defensive side of the game, you don't want to overstep and lose too much of your offensive output. So I'm happy to see them start to put some pucks in. Yeah, dude. It's definitely been a slow start to the season, but I'm very confident this team will start to
00:46:07
Speaker
have more consistent, you know, four games like we've had. Speaking of the four goal games, let's recap the last few games since since our last pod, which was not that long ago. There's only been two games we lost to the Devils five to four and beat the wheels off of Colorado for nothing. That was a heck of a great game for me to watch the first game of the season. Yeah, that was fun. So I'm going to send you the schedule and you need to plan your life around that schedule. It seems like because I need you watching the games.
00:46:37
Speaker
Jake, I don't know about for you, man, for me. Holy shit, that devil's team is just they look like an absolute buzzsaw.
00:46:44
Speaker
They're terrifying. They picked up right where they left off last year. Yeah, they're terrifying. Jack Hughes is legit. I'll praise him all day long. Yeah, they're a great team. With that said, I thought Buffalo hung in with them that game. They did. It sucks that you need to, that Camry went down with an injury and you need to have UPL come in cold. I'm not going to blame the loss on that switch, but it sucks that that happened. Yeah, it didn't help.
00:47:13
Speaker
But yeah, they hung right in there with New Jersey. They put up a lot of high danger chances against them and dominated play for stretches of the game. So they hung in there with one of, if not one of the best teams in the league this year, I thought. Yeah, I think the biggest bummer about that game, at least for me, was I cousins tied it at four very late in the game. And then it couldn't have been more than a minute after that.
00:47:39
Speaker
New Jersey immediately goes back up by one. That is the goal that I need to stop seeing happen from this team to feel like that they are taking the next step.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:10
Speaker
New Jersey is incredibly potent. That team runs four lines that can score, runs six nasty, quick, skilled defensemen. And VTech Vantage Heck is no joke in that. So that's a, that's a buzz off a devil's team. We'll get them a few more times this year. Um, another buzz saw team though, that we kicked the kick the brakes off of four, nothing winning against the Colorado avalanche is nothing to shake your head at Jake. Did you have any big takeaways from that game?
00:48:37
Speaker
Absolutely not. No, they were and that they just set a record for number of road wins consecutively dating back to last season into this and It ended as they lost to Pittsburgh also 4-0, but then Buffalo piled on and gave him another 4-0 loss. So yeah Yeah, great great game Tom that was your first game. You said you want to you want to pitch in any a takeaways you had from the game and
00:49:01
Speaker
It was it was cool to see the team take the lead and hold the lead right to see them not to keep that pace Especially I mean you guys like hyped up the Avalanche right like they're a decent team, right? Oh, they're sick. They're they're right I'll hype them up despite the loss. So so to hang in there with a team like that I think is a big deal it was It was it was
00:49:26
Speaker
I'm going to be honest in my my experience watching hockey is a lot of oh my gosh, there's a lot going on all at once, right? And I think it's just going to take time. So I'm excited for this season to continue to watch more and get more and more cerebral about it and know what's going on without having to think as much. But yeah, no, it was great. It was very fun to watch. It was cool to see them take the lead, hold the lead and continue to play well throughout the game.
00:49:48
Speaker
And then I mean, let's shout out that goal at UPL, right? That's that's what we're calling him. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's a big deal. First shut out of his career. Yeah, that's that's a bullet. And I'll say this. One of the first games that he's won in a long time, first games that he's played in a long time where I felt confident in what he was doing. He he he wasn't giving up crazy rebounds. He wasn't.
00:50:16
Speaker
fighting, fighting the puck. Um, and yeah, it's just, he looked confident and I'm thrilled to see that he it's, it's few and far between in the games that he has played. So, um, first of all, dude, you gotta, you gotta commend the guy for getting his first professional shutout. That's huge. I would like to hope that starts to snowball a little bit.
00:50:37
Speaker
right like like and this is this is what goalies do man like they catch a good game and then they're weird and they're creatures of habit and they just start to pile on their successes some of them also pile on
00:50:49
Speaker
their failures, too, which UPL has also been guilty of. I think you made a good point by not totally blaming him for the jersey game. I think it's it's got to be so well, I did it. I did it as a younger guy coming in cold for, you know, a goalie halfway through a game. It's it's hard to do, man. Like you're not prepped. You're not that you're not prepped, but you're not warmed up. You've just been sitting on the bench opening and closing the door for guys coming off the ice. Like it's a hard position to be in. And then for him to not play well, that game
00:51:19
Speaker
And then the next game come out and absolutely crush it. Tracking the puck. Well, decent control of rebounds. I would have liked to have seen some more of those. But man, one thing that he's got over Devin Levi that I this is this is a reason that I hope UPL turns out to be a success. He's so freaking big. You look at him in that net, dude, he looks like he's two feet over the crossbar.
00:51:43
Speaker
Like he's massive. Yeah. That guy is a mammoth dude. So like you need to see him start to continue because having a big successful goalie like that is only going to help in those times when Levi needs, needs a break. And you know, in a perfect world, these guys are competing like crazy for that one a spot.
00:52:03
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Well, so good time to talk about some goalie news. We talked about Eric Comrie lower body injury against the Devils, a similar injury to what he had last year where it was a non contact injury. So you hope you hope that's not indicative of larger issues of being injury prone. But in any case,
00:52:23
Speaker
I guess starting the year with the three goalie Carousel is not a bad thing. Looks like he'll be out a couple of weeks. The good news is Devin Levi looks to be slated to come back this week before the Flyers game. So we'll see who starts that game. I imagine they give it to UPL since he first shut out against Colorado, give him a vote of confidence, come back and take the net against the Flyers, and work Levi back in, give him some time to recuperate.
00:52:53
Speaker
Yeah, man. I, um, I agree with you completely in the sense that I think we should allow UPL to start this game tomorrow night, Wednesday. Um, I think he's earned it. And yeah, like you just said, I think that vote of competence from the coaching staff could be absolutely huge just for his mentors. So if it were me, I'm Don Granado. I'm saying, hell yeah. UPL great last game. Go do it again.
00:53:15
Speaker
This is my thought, but who knows? 100%. Yeah. Other newsy point, Dalene is on eight game point streak. A lot of assists in there and one goal the other night against, to close the game out against Colorado. Tied for the longest point streak in the NHL this year, which is phenomenal. Props to him. He's tied with Willie Nylander, Dylan Larkin, and Artemi Panarin. So for those following along at home, those are all forwards. And we have a D man doing that.
00:53:46
Speaker
And you know what? Honestly, he's looked great this year. I don't feel like he's taken over a game and really influenced it. He's just been very solid. So I think there's another step that he can take as the year goes on. And I'm I'm salivating waiting to see that. Yeah, dude. Yeah, I agree completely, dude. It sounds to me like it looks to me like Dallas is going to absolutely crush it this year. Hopefully that continues.
00:54:13
Speaker
Jake, why don't you walk us through the current record and then touch on a couple of these discussion points here and then we'll get out of here. Let's do it. Yeah. So they're four and five right now. They're eighth in the division, which is which is last.
Sabres Player Development
00:54:24
Speaker
There's eight teams in the division. However, it's bunched up. There's there three points out of the final playoff spot. I don't think they've opened the season incredibly well. I think the it's all up. At least it can be.
00:54:39
Speaker
So yeah, I'm still very hopeful. Coming up here, they have...
00:54:44
Speaker
some trap games, I would say, against Philadelphia, a home and away Wednesday night and Friday night this week against Philly, and then a Saturday night game against their cross-border rival, Toronto. So we'll see how those go. We'll get to some predictions there in a second. Just one other big discussion point that I wanted to hit on is decisions that are coming up for Zach Benson and Matt Savoie.
00:55:10
Speaker
So to recap a little bit, Zach Benson has played six games in Buffalo. He can play up to nine games until he burns a year of his contract. So he's got three left that he can suit up for before they need to make the decision, put a pin in him. Matt Savoie is currently playing down in the AHL. He's played three games down there and has three points and looked good doing it.
00:55:34
Speaker
He's on a conditioning assignment down there. So coming back from injury, you're allowed to go down to the AHL for either 14 days or five games played, whichever comes first. So he's got two more games left that he can make.
00:55:48
Speaker
make the roster for before he needs to either be assigned to Buffalo or go back to junior. So some decisions coming up for those two guys. Nigel, any thoughts on what you hope happens with either of those guys? What do you think Kevin Adams does? What do you hope happens? I think for me, Zach Benson, I think he's got to go back down.
00:56:10
Speaker
I just I the more I see him play dude the more I am not positive that he's ready I think he's just got to get a little bit stronger all those things learn the game a little bit more I In a perfect world dude truth be told I'd like to see him in Rochester Well, I don't think that's gonna happen. I think he'll be back down to juniors, which is fine He's a baby, you know, it'll give him time to strengthen up a little bit so I personally for his development I
00:56:37
Speaker
I hope Zach Benson goes back down to juniors. I think that's going to be the best thing for him. Not that he's been bad or terrible or anything like that, but I would love to see him just take a little bit more time to mature. This team has to find a way to get Matt Savoy in Rochester and stay there.
00:56:55
Speaker
I don't know what that looks like. I haven't done that research to see what would need to happen beyond a conditioning stint. I don't know if you know how that works, Jake. That would be something for us to definitely touch on next pod. But he clearly fits there. He's going to be too good for juniors. Honestly, so is Zach Benson. Zach Benson is just a year younger. God damn dude. Find a way, Kevin, to keep Matt Savoy in Rochester because that is where he needs to be.
00:57:22
Speaker
We can pull it apart a little bit more next time, depending on what happens. But I don't think there's a way he stays down there. I think the appeal got denied. He's either in Buffalo or back to Juniors.
00:57:35
Speaker
So I think that, to answer the question I asked you, I think that's what happens. I think Benson goes back to junior. I think Savoy, after his conditioning stint, comes up to the big team and slots in where Benson's been playing. Really? Yeah, I think so. I think he earned it during the prospect turning in camp. I think without that injury, I think we'd be talking about Savoy being on the team right now and maybe not Benson. Yeah, maybe.
00:58:01
Speaker
So we'll see. Yeah, I don't know. I guess we'll have to kind of see how that shakes out. But at the same time, I also am not mad about Benson sticking around and burning a year of that entry level contract for roster building reasons that perhaps we can get into more in a later episode because we are running short on time. But yeah, I don't think it's a bad thing at all to burn a year of your contract as an entry level player.
00:58:24
Speaker
Yeah, no, I don't care about burning the ear of the contract at all. Burn it. I could give a shit. I just he's not passing my high test personally. Yeah. So it's the roster spot. It's a spot for it. We've got a lot of forwards that can play that can flat out play. So, yeah, which which we'll have to do. We'll have to do a trade possibility episode. Once once Jack Quinn is back, Jake, I think that would be a good thing for us to do. Agreed. And then, yeah, Jake, you want to talk us through the road ahead and then we'll do a little prediction.
00:58:53
Speaker
Yeah, sounds good. So I mentioned it before, they're playing Wednesday against Philadelphia, they're playing Friday against Philadelphia again, so a little home and home there. And then finally, on Saturday, they play against Toronto. So tough matchup there against a good team and a rival team. So what are you thinking for those three games, Nigel? How do you think they fare?
00:59:14
Speaker
I'm gonna, I'll go on a bit of a limb here. I'm gonna say 3-0 on this stretch. Philly on paper can't hold our jock strap. They do have a very similar record to us right now, but I don't know. Dude, Philly just flat out doesn't scare me even a little bit. They're in the rebuild process right now. I don't see them
00:59:34
Speaker
being able to, let me rephrase, they shouldn't be able to skate with us. The Sabres are just flat out faster than the Flyers. But this is a weird game sometimes. So I don't know, but I would like to see us take advantage of the worst team. And then as long as I live, I just don't think I'm ever going to be able to pick Toronto beating us. It very well could happen. Toronto's sick. I just fucking hate them so goddamn much. So 3-0, baby.
01:00:03
Speaker
I'm right there with you. I despise Toronto. It's not the team itself, but I hate as much as the fans. The fans coming down and buying all the tickets in Buffalo and all that nonsense. So yeah, I hate them too. I'm right there with you. I'll go. I'm gonna stay in vain. I'm gonna go 2-0 and 1.
01:00:20
Speaker
I think Philly is a bad team on paper, like you said. I feel like we've struggled against them in recent years. We have a John Tortorella coach team. They're going to be competing and playing hard no matter what. And I think we've struggled against teams that can slow us up in the neutral zone and forecheck effectively against us. And I see them doing that. I don't think they're good enough to
01:00:46
Speaker
give us too many headaches. But I see them maybe taking one in OT. I hope I'm wrong. I hope they're 3-0. And then I, of course, am on the same page. I'm picking them against Toronto. They usually play well against Toronto. They get fired up for those kinds of games. And I think it's going to be an exciting game to watch. So mark your calendars for Saturday night. Tom, that's you, too. That's you, too. Tune in. Let's go.
01:01:11
Speaker
Yeah, Tom, take us home, pal. All right. Hey, episode 14, guys. These episodes are just flying by. So this is exciting. Thank you all so much for tuning in. And we appreciate you spending some time with us. It would mean a lot to us if you would share this episode, maybe send it out with your trick or treaters tonight. Here we go. We got the music going. And hand out some stickers, some QR codes as the trick or treaters come to the door. That would be fun.
01:01:41
Speaker
Give us a follow on Instagram and X at Let's Go Buff Pot. These are my pals, Jake and Nigel. My name is Tom and you're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Pot. We're sending you love wherever you are. Go Bills. Go Sabres. Let's Go Buff.