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Ep. 16 - The Tale of the Hammer and Nail
55 Plays1 year ago
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 and Social Media
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything, bills and sabers.
00:00:22
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? You are listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast, your favorite podcast for everything, bills and savers. We got the pals Jake and Tom here today with episode 16 coming at you. And that's a quick reminder to follow our social medias at Let's Go Buff Pod.
00:00:43
Speaker
That's buff with two F's and that is on Instagram and X So let's say hey to well the fella Tom Tom how
Nigel's Fanhood Renouncement
00:00:52
Speaker
we doing today? And do you know where Nigel is? Do you want to want to cue us into that? Pretty sure that we Nigel can be seen renouncing his Buffalo fan hood Down the I 90 the other day just Jersey after Jersey buff Sabre and Bill's Jersey just flying out his back window and
00:01:10
Speaker
Yeah, no, he's he's giving it up. He's giving it up for Lent at this point. So I heard about that in the news. I think I think the authorities eventually brought him to justice. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They gave him a little fine, a little step on the wrist. And then he's kind of clothed the you know, all the different little animals that are running around this fall getting ready for hibernation. So, you know, hopefully you see it in a big eel's nest, some little, you know, they'll tear it up, torn up little Duncan Cajers. He's just hanging out of an eagle's nest.
00:01:39
Speaker
And that would be Nigel. That's him. Yep. That's him. He's doing his part. He's doing his part. We're going to have to find a new segment for him. I don't know what it's going to be, but it's going to have to be like something really boring. Like, I don't know, stocks or something like that.
00:01:50
Speaker
You know, he's going to still be back on the pod, but I don't know if he's going to want to talk anything buffalo.
Crafting the Perfect Podcast Beverage
00:01:56
Speaker
Well, this week's gone. Yeah, for sure. Well, we'll we'll get into that for everybody. We'll toss it around. We'll talk about the bill's missteps. We'll talk about the saber's missteps. But first, man, I think we have something important to do to find this conversation. All right. Let's crack him in three, two, one. I have a bottle today, so I was not participating in the
00:02:19
Speaker
But I hope everybody heard that at home. The sound's still there. What are you drinking today, bud? I so in light of the disgusting plays that we saw on the field and on the ice, I grabbed what arguably, in my opinion, is the grossest beer in my beer fridge that's been sitting there for some time because I haven't wanted to crack it open. I'm not going to name the brewery because that's not what we're about, but it's a coconut lime sour ale. Oh.
00:02:46
Speaker
I look, look, there's people out there that might like that. I don't like coconut in anything. And to put it in beer is is a reprehensible sin. It came in a pack that I just like. Oh, OK. I was like, did you do this to yourself? Like, I know you're a little bit of a masochist sometimes for just like trying new things, but I would be impressed if that's like you spent money on that actively. It's true. No, it I may have spent money on it, actually, if I'm being honest, but I didn't know what I was doing. Coconut lime, you said. Coconut lime. But I do want to say I do.
00:03:16
Speaker
have a second backup, which is just a regular old labat blue to prime me for the Bill's game that we're going to on Sunday against the Jets. At this point, we're on vacation, so it's just a steady drip of blue light. All of our state trooper friends, please don't listen in now. No, listen in. Come and arrest me, you cowards. Come and get me. You'll find me between exit 31 and 35. Anyways, bro, what are you drinking?
00:03:45
Speaker
Um, I have, um, an old favorite. I actually saw this on the rack the other day and I like, I haven't had this in forever. I got a dogfish head, the 60 minute IPA. Oh, they brew great beer, man. They're great. This was like the first IPA that I was told like, Tom, like if you want an IPA, like the dogfish 60 minute, like that's a good IPA and you'll like it. And I did. It's really good. It's fantastic. Do you know what the 60 minute refers to? Uh, how long the hops were something, the hops were steeping, the hops were,
00:04:15
Speaker
Um, told little stories. What, what is it? It's the boy you're right on. It's the boil time. Oh, all right. Good. Yeah. Now they sit there with a little timer, you know, and just like, and race it. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, they're definitely timing it. All right. That's enough. That's enough banter. Let's get depressed. Let's talk about the Broncos game, but we're good at banter. That's more fun than this.
Analyzing the Bills' Loss to Broncos
00:04:40
Speaker
This isn't fun The bills fell to the Broncos last Monday nights and just a beautiful billsy faction 24 22 What more could have gone wrong dude, I don't I don't know I honestly don't I honestly don't I've kind of blacked out
00:05:00
Speaker
Um, and blocked it out of, it's been a long week anyway, and thankfully it's kind of been able to separate myself from it. But man, like that was, yeah, it was the most billsy, billsy game we've seen. It felt like a drought era. It felt like it was 2012. And man, we are, you know, we're in the thick of it and dropping a game to a team that we absolutely should have won at home with for silly reasons. And not even like they played that much better. The Broncos tried to lose as much as the Bills did, right? Yeah.
00:05:32
Speaker
Just mistake after mistake after mistake and. Yeah, just couldn't couldn't put good things together. Again, they did put a good drive together towards the end of the game when they needed to. Yeah, I got the lead. Took the lead for the first time all night. Yeah, twenty two fifteen. And and just didn't. Yeah, twenty two fifteen. I can't remember the score. I got it. Like I said, I blocked this out.
00:05:58
Speaker
Uh, no, it was 20 to 20 to 20, 20 to 20. So they went up. Yeah. That's the field goal to 22 to 21. Excuse me. 21. Yeah. Yeah. This is great reporting we're doing here. We're buzzing around today. That's for sure. And, and you know, it was that ugly tape. We took two timeouts and we, for whatever reason,
00:06:23
Speaker
They, they NASCAR their way, get their field goal unit onto the fields. And, and we ended up with an extra 12th man. They kicked up, they kicked a field goal and they missed. We would have won. We would have snuck away, stolen a win that we didn't deserve.
00:06:38
Speaker
But but one anyway, which is fine. That happens all the time. And no, no, we had twelve. We had twelve guys out after a time out. And not to mention that's that's what good teams do. Find a way to win, even if things aren't going your way. Yeah. Not not to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Yeah. Yeah. So and it was just an ugly game all around. Started off with that fumble by James Cook on the first reception of the game of all the bills. First possession. Like I play one.
00:07:07
Speaker
And then, honestly, I don't even know what's more reprehensible, but then Sean McDermott benching the kid, one of our best running backs and most athletic and explosive offensive weapons, benching him for 16 plays. He looked pissed off when he came back in. He did. He did. But did he learn his lesson? Did we teach him something? That's such, in my mind, that's such a backward, like it's such an old school. Ah, you messed up. Sit on the bench. What are we doing? What are we doing? We need every hope we can get.
00:07:35
Speaker
And James Cook is a hope. James Cook is a spark and he can get us something. So I don't know. That was stupid. But you're right. He came back and man, he had a tip on his shoulder so much so that he continued to fumble the ball. Yeah. No, I'm not saying it was good that he was benched that long. It's probably in the he came back and performed well in spite of being benched for his mistake. You know, yeah, man. He's yeah. So I don't know. And then, yeah, I mean, I mean, everybody saw that, but his little dribble down the
00:08:03
Speaker
around the green there later in the game where he had, yeah, he fumbled again, right? But it fumbled and they caught it right back in his hands. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The one time this year that a bounce has gone our way kind of kid, Josh Allen through another ugly interception, like just left and right. Our poor defense, man. I'm not telling you right now, like they are playing out of for what the injuries that they have sustained. They are playing out of their minds and desert every flower, everything we can give them. They are putting our team.
00:08:33
Speaker
in an opportunity to win. Yeah, you can't ask them to do any more than they're doing. You can't. You can. The healthy offense, is there anyone that's injured right now in the offense?
00:08:43
Speaker
Dawson Knox is on IR, right? Dawson Knox is dealing with that wrist injury, so he's out. But we have Dalton Kincaid, who's looking like a stud. I think the Dawson Knox injury on IR is affecting the run game more than the passing game, because I think we're not giving him his blocking credit that we should. I think he's a much better blocker than maybe people realize. And honestly, better than Dalton Kincaid is. Kincaid may eventually become a good blocker, but that's not his strength. Dawson Knox is a good blocking tight end in the NFL.
00:09:13
Speaker
Is that specific to those players and their games or is that something that takes a year or two in the NFL to kind of establish being a good run blocker? Both. Right. So it depends on your size. It depends on your athleticism and your experience. But it also depends on your training. Right. Did you participate in a college offense that asked you to block quite a bit? Oftentimes not. Right. Oftentimes tight ends are not used in that way.
00:09:42
Speaker
So that's like a it's a big deal when they are and they had come in with experience and when NFL or sorry when tight ends enter the NFL They're learning two positions. They're learning the wide receiver part of their game and they have to learn how to be an offensive lineman
00:09:55
Speaker
Both are incredibly difficult things to do and they were asking these young kids to do both, which is why most of the time tight ends come in and develop slowly. You don't usually see a rookie tight end come in and play a huge role and splash. It's just helped that Duncan Cade has this amazing athletic and wide receiver skill set that is helping him become a very impactful
00:10:18
Speaker
part of this offense early. But learning the learning to block and learning those schemes and learning that rhythm, it takes time. And it will hopefully you'll get better at that, too. But anyway, I think I don't think we hit this hammer too far in the head because we're we're. Maybe that's is that the episode name? I think that's episode name, right? I think that might be the episode named Tom. I don't even know where that was going. Yikes.
00:10:47
Speaker
What was I saying? Oh, bring it back. Bring it home. We're going to land this ship that it's Friday. And we the game happened Monday. A lot has happened since then, particularly.
Coaching Changes: Dorsey Out, Brady In
00:10:57
Speaker
the firing of Ken Dorsey, offensive coordinator, Ken Dorsey was released of his duties come, I think it was as early as Tuesday, right? I think it was like pretty quickly the next morning, a press release was announced and Ken Dorsey was relieved of his duties and Joe Brady, the quarterback's coach was promoted to interim offensive coordinator. So- Yeah, how are we feeling about it? Man, up and down, right? I think at some point,
00:11:28
Speaker
The blame goes a lot of places. There's no one person to blame here. You have to blame Ken Dorsey because you have to blame Josh Allen. You have to blame the rest of the offense and the rest of these veterans on this offense who are just not having the juice and the spark and figuring this out. You have to blame Sean McDermott. This is still his operation. He is still complicit or complicit in the mishaps that have happened over the last six weeks. But at some point,
00:11:57
Speaker
something has to change, right? Something has to change. And I have a couple of theories here. First of all, I think everybody upset that, oh, it should be Sean McDermott. They had 11 men on the field, and they missed that field goal, and we won anyway. Would Kendoor CP fire? Like, yeah, maybe. I don't know. He's still been falling apart. But at some point, Sean McDermott can't fire himself, right? Like, he can't. But he can fire Kendoor. That is a move that can be made.
00:12:25
Speaker
The decision to get rid of McDermott is going to be a terra bigula decision, right? That's an ownership opportunity there, a decision. So we can't put that on Shaw McDermott. Maybe he should be fired, but I think it's a separate conversation than, oh, can Dorsey been fired or Shaw McDermott? That's not McDermott's call.
00:12:48
Speaker
Regardless, this this puts McDarmen on the hot seat. Right. Like this is kind of his opportunity to say, look, this wasn't going well. Let's correct this. And if it doesn't, then the hammer might fall on him next. No. Yeah. Right. Watch out for that hammer and hitting things. Yeah. No, I think that definitely is a shot across the bow. I also think it's a shot across the bow to Josh Allen. Like this Ken Dorsey was his hand picked his his boy, his hand picked offensive coordinator.
00:13:15
Speaker
And, and like, this is their way of saying, look, dude, you're right. You are a top three, two, three, four, five quarterback in this league. But man, you cannot continue to play the way that you have, but we're not going to bench you, right? You don't bench Josh Allen. You don't, right? You can't see when all we have is Kyle and Kyle Allen behind him. And it's not a huge injury thing. You can't bench him, but I think this is,
00:13:40
Speaker
the, um, the teams and organizations way of saying, dude, like this has to change. Hopefully it is. Hopefully it's a spark. I think, um, going forward and I'm honestly really excited. Jake and I are going to be going to this game along with a bunch of buddies and a bunch of friends and family. And it's going to be awesome. Um, hopefully we might walk in and maybe this breathe some new life, right? Maybe, um, oftentimes teams do get kind of a little bit of a bump
00:14:03
Speaker
from a firing of a coach. There's a little bit of a, okay. Right. This is a return on the page. There's a new, new energy. Um, hopefully we see it. Um, we'll talk about it kind of against the matchup. It's going to be a tough match for that to be happening. But, um, I'm hoping that this, uh, this opens up some doors here. Yeah. In general. So he's, he's been
00:14:24
Speaker
He was a coordinator somewhere else, Joe Brady, I think. So there's some history. From what you know about him, is there anything that you're expecting or hoping to see that he does with the pieces that he has here in Buffalo? So I think the big thing that people need to pump their brakes on is we're not going to see a whole new offense. For him to install a completely different offense would take an offseason. It would take a whole OTAs, preseason, minicamp, training camp, all of that.
00:14:52
Speaker
So we're not going to see a completely new office. However, I'm hoping we see the tweaks that we do need. Um, this, it's been said, uh, multiple times this week, um, and a bunch of different places that the bill's offense, um, is one of the, the easiest offenses to plan for because it's simple. There are, and it puts a lot of emphasis on the, this, the wide receivers and the quarterback to make the correct decision as opposed to.
00:15:18
Speaker
giving them easy quick completions and easy quick decisions and taking that out of their hands. This offense requires everybody to be firing it on the same page at the same time, every single time. So what I'm hoping is there is a way that we can dress things up. So maybe that's more a preset motion that is actually meaningful and gets Josh information, moves the defense and muddies things up for them. So that way, these are plays are more effective. I'm hoping that it means
00:15:48
Speaker
that these that, that Joe Brady emphasizes. One of my big problems with Ken Dorsey's offense was that it was trying to beat everything all the time. They were trying to beat man coverage. Most of many of those plays had man beaters. So there's a single route that would be good against man coverage where a defender is playing right up on one offensive skill player and is staying right with them. Then there's another
00:16:15
Speaker
route in that same exact play. That is a zone beater that is trying to, uh, when a, when a player plays a little bit more off and they're passing a player has, um, an area of the defense that they need to defend. And they can, that then the offensive players travel through those areas that are being covered. Uh, then there's a big beater for that. Right. So I, I, I'm hoping that Joe Brady simplifies that. And instead of trying to beat everything all the time takes.
00:16:40
Speaker
Makes it a little bit more directional. Takes like, takes, makes plays that are designed to get the ball into James Cook's hands and the Dalton Kincaids and just to find digs his hands and to making them easy decisions. Get things, get things rolling and, and, and put it less of an emphasis on everybody having to be on the same page all the time. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great point, dude.
00:17:03
Speaker
Um, so one of the, one of the criticisms against Ken Dorsey's offense, it was, was execution, right? I mean, miss dropped balls, failed passes, that kind of thing. Obviously that's not the coordinator's fault. He's not out there grabbing the ball, but when they keep stacking up like that, do you think that is a systemic issue? And like, like how, how does Joe Brady come in and say, Hey Gabe, like put your fucking hands around the ball and catch it, you know?
00:17:31
Speaker
Right. You're right. It gets at some point like it's the coordinator can call the plays and the players have to execute. But I think I think you're right. I think you hit the nail hit the nail on the head. I think it hit the hammer on the nail where. Where the player like the coordinator at some point, if it's one game of that, yeah, that's on the players. If it's two games on that. Yeah, man, guys, you're in a slump. Figure it out. It's six games of that. Something's different. Right. Like that's got to be.
00:18:01
Speaker
That's gotta be leadership and how things are emphasized in practice or things like that. I've seen a few of Bill's beat writers and other Bill's podcasters and things have been talking this week and some notes about Joe Brady from his time and when he was an offensive coordinator in Carolina.
00:18:22
Speaker
he definitely emphasizes ball security. That was a big emphasis from some beat writers from Carolina who studied them and watched his, you know, were following that team when he was the offensive coordinator. So, excuse me, I'm hoping that this week that he's kind of instilling that and hopefully there's a new juice, some new energy. Like I hope that something changes where this offense can put a new emphasis on ball security
00:18:52
Speaker
making plays, making the plays when they need to happen. So yeah, man, who knows? Or who knows? Maybe they come out and they're making the same problems and we're just this is this is what this year is. You don't know. You really don't until we see it. Yeah, they got a tough matchup to do that against this week against the Jets. I mean, it's a defense that has given the bills.
00:19:11
Speaker
fits over the past couple of years. And there's some talent on that on that defensive side. Oh, dude. Yeah, it's going to be a it's this is talk about a test for a new offensive coordinator to go in on a short week. Right. Monday to Sunday game. And you got to go play against the Jets. Dude, I don't know. I don't know. I don't envy that. But thankfully, hopefully he's you know, he's paid to do that. So.
00:19:33
Speaker
At least they're at home. And I don't think you're considering the fact that they'll have the let's go puff flow podcast bump from us being in the stands. Oh, dude, I know. Just saying. Yeah, just say you're going to get a little juice, little deuce. What? So what if if I'm curious, what if the bills come out and we're in the stands, we're having a great time and man, they light it up. Josh Allen has a Josh Allen game. Digs goes for more than 100 yards. We're rushing really well. Everybody's involved and they come out and look good.
00:20:02
Speaker
Do you feel does that completely change your opinion of this team or does it not? Ah, that's a good question because it's because they've had games where they've done that, right? So it's it's not like that's out of the realm of possibility. I think it it would give me hope, but I don't think it would, you know, hit the hammer on the head if we can continue going back to that well.
00:20:26
Speaker
I don't think it will really drive the point home until I see that with some consistency and some rhythm and where it's not a game here and a game here, I want to see that drive in and drive out and
00:20:42
Speaker
Just feel a little bit more confidence and rhythm from the offense. A new identity. That's where I'm at. I'm right with you. I need to see them have a renewed sense of identity and back to the offense that they know they can be. And one game isn't going to change your identity. Yeah, 100% dude.
Future Identity of the Bills
00:21:03
Speaker
I agree. One, two, three, four, five games of good offensive productivity and staying in games and looking effective, not making silly mistakes.
00:21:12
Speaker
that will re-instill my confidence, but it's going to take some time. Yeah. A hundred percent. Well, and the, if this team goes anywhere this year, it's because of the offense, like the defense is so banged up. They're playing well despite it. If the team's going to succeed, it's got to live and die through that offense. So if they can get their heads out of their ass and
00:21:39
Speaker
outscore some of their issues. I hesitated there because we had a conversation last week about how they're being efficient. They're one of the better offenses at getting first downs.
00:21:50
Speaker
Red zone efficiency, things like that. But it's clearly not translating to the scoreboard all the time. So situationally effective, situationally consistent. And when they're not waiting till their back's up against the wall, go out and take care of business when you need to. Don't wait until you're down by a score or two scores. Don't wait for the invitation, right? Exactly. Just go do it. Just go freakin' do it. Exactly. Yeah, dude. I mean, I'm hopeful. I'm also hesitant.
00:22:20
Speaker
Because man, this at some point, we this build team has told us who they are. They told us that they're a sloppy, inefficient team. Well, scarily, weirdly efficient, but not efficient team and who make mistakes at the wrong time and drop games that they shouldn't and go. But I mean, it's still the gig is not up, right? Like we can we still have we have still time with things can change. And it's just they just need to happen. But dude, I don't know.
00:22:49
Speaker
I will have to wait and see. We have to wait and see. What what are your thoughts on scores this weekend? Score predictions for the Jets game. Yeah. Oh, dude. I like the the Jets defense has been so good against Buffalo. I am hesitant to even if there is a bump in the the bill's offense looks great. I don't know if I'd go higher than. I think there's the bill score somewhere in the 20s, even if the offense looks great kind of thing. So I think
00:23:20
Speaker
But I also think they have a pretty stoppable offense as well. Zach Wilson is not a game-changing quarterback most weeks. So I think I'd go a fairly low-scoring game. I think they do get a little bit of a bump. I think they're probably pissed off about the way the Broncos game
00:23:42
Speaker
the taste that left in their mouth. So I would predict them to win, also because I want to see a win if we're going to the game. I'll predict them to win 26.
00:23:55
Speaker
to 18. Okay. All right. I'm going to be right about there at the same. I think I'm going to give two just cause I want to, my realistic one is, is in that same range. I think it's going to be 24 17 is my guess of 24 17 bills. But man, I'm going to give a little homework one. I do think there's a possibility that things click and the boys come out humming and it's like 42 10.
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah. There's an option, right? That's out there. That is a possibility. And that would be sweet to see. So I'm going to put my little caveat. I'm going to take Nigel's spot, because he's not here. And we're going to say that Nigel picked them to win 42-10. I like it. I like it.
00:24:40
Speaker
So going back to it, because it is news of the week, but I feel like you see teams where things aren't going well. They fire a coordinator and then the team explodes. But I feel like that's usually the case when the team isn't driving with the offensive coordinator. And what I'm getting at here is, like you said, Ken Dorsey was handpicked by Josh Allen.
00:25:03
Speaker
Does that change your opinion of that at all? Is this guy bummed out because his buddy is no longer talking in his ear? Could be. Thankfully, it's Joe Brady, who is his quarterback's coach, he also has a very good relationship with. And some quotes from Josh Allen this week, I don't have them in front of me, but he definitely said, hey, man, look, I'm upset and I'm sad to see Dorsey go. But we wouldn't be here if the offense could have operated better.
00:25:32
Speaker
So I think he's definitely understood that this is a big deal. This is not an OK thing. And hopefully, they're moving forward. They're ready for a new page. I'm excited to see. Yeah, it is cool, right? So Joe Brady came out and did his interview, his first interview as offensive coordinator, wearing a Buffalo versus everybody hoodie. So that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Let's go, buddy. That's up, right? That's up the people.
00:26:01
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. We love to see that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, and this one last thought before we hop in over to Sabers, cause I'm actually really curious. I have, um, I mean, there's a lot going on in Sabers world too. And I'm really interested to hear your thoughts of where we're at there. Um, I just want to go out and say, man, Stefan Diggs has come out and time and time again, proven to be, to be like one of my favorite bills ever.
00:26:25
Speaker
this guy, A, he's, he's putting it up on the field, right? He is an absolute stud. He is a, he has changed Josh Allen. He has changed this offense. He has changed offensive output in Buffalo. And, um, but he's, he's, he's kind of been put on blast a lot over the last
00:26:41
Speaker
1216 months, right? And maybe a little bit deservedly, but I think it's been over overblown. He clearly was upset at the end of the Bengals lost in the playoffs last year, but you should be honest with you. I'm honestly I'm OK with that. Like that's get that get the boys needed to be upset. But after this. After this loss to the Bengals, there was a whole bunch of conversations. Stefan Diggs, his brother Trayvon was tweeting about, you know, 14 gotta get out there and
00:27:12
Speaker
you know, all this other stuff. And people kind of took that and ran. And oh my gosh, Diggs is going to be a diva. And he's going to be a problem. And it came up in his press conference this week. And Diggs was just so even keeled. He was not confrontational. He was not upset. Well, he was upset. He was upset because he felt that he was being misrepresented. And he was right. He came out and had just a very, I don't know, like very wise press conference
00:27:42
Speaker
responses, talking about, Hey man, like all this is being said, but what have you seen me do to prove that? Just to live up to that. He's like, I'm here every day. I'm working at all. My teammates know that I'm here to work. All my coaches know that I'm here to work. Everybody who is, who's needs to know that I'm here to work is knowing that I'm here to work. Yeah. You guys are making this up. Like this is, this is a, this is a media little trail.
00:28:08
Speaker
that is being fed and just being spun and woven. And the poor guy has just been on the shit end of that stick. And it was cool to see him come out and keep a very even keel and responds in honestly, a very admirable way. It was cool. It was like, man, this guy, he's right around our age. It's cool to see a guy be very mature who we can root for and feel good about being in Buffalo.
00:28:36
Speaker
Yeah, God knows we're not, so thank God he is. I don't have any proof or basis for this, but if you'll allow me to put my tinfoil hat on for a moment. A lot of the negativity and frustration that seemed to come from Stefan Diggs, like you said, was like 12, 16 months ago, which was
00:28:58
Speaker
in and around Ken Dorsey's first season as the offensive coordinator. He comes out now after some horrific games that the Bills should have won or could have won, whatever you want to say, and now is even keeled and seems excited about the prospect of moving forward.
00:29:16
Speaker
Doesn't do you read into anything there? I mean, I didn't even think about that. Honestly, maybe. Yeah, maybe he didn't jive as much as Josh did with Ken Dorsey and didn't think that the decisions were being made. And he was those are the routes he was being asked to run. You know, like maybe he knew that or he had a better idea of a man like I think there's a different way to do this. Maybe could be. Who knows? I don't know. So now I want because, hey, man, let's go see a 200 yard digs game. Yeah, right. Absolutely.
00:29:44
Speaker
Well, we'll see. We'll see, dude. I hope our excitement comes to fruition on Sunday. We'll see. We'll see. That'd be really fun, wouldn't it? That'd be so cool. It would be super fun. Absolutely. A must win game for playoffs. Like you got to win this one. But the way to even like keep pace in the playoff. And we got this is because this is a divisional game. It's a it's a home game. This is a this is a big deal. There's been a lot of injuries. Right. The teams that are ahead of us, poor Joe Burrow is done.
00:30:12
Speaker
Joe Burr's done for the year, right? Yeah. And so the Bengals are ahead of us. The Texans are ahead of us. The Steelers are ahead of us. There's a lot of teams here that the Raiders are ahead of us. Like like there's there's some teams here that I think that we we absolutely need to outperform and we have a chance. Right. The door is not closed. No. Yeah. I mean, the rest of the the rest of the season starts today. You know, fuck what's happened before you.
00:30:40
Speaker
pull your bootstraps up and go win some games the rest of the year. Who knows what happens? I don't know.
Sabres' Struggles and Ocposo's Milestone
00:30:46
Speaker
Well, but what's happened with the Sabres? Let me finish my beer before I get into that. Yeah, look at this record. It doesn't look all that great. So, Tom, since last we talked, there's been three games. They won against Minnesota three to two on Friday night. Then they go on the road to Pittsburgh Saturday night and get shut out.
00:31:06
Speaker
4-0 against the Penguins. And then finally on Tuesday, the one that was the most heartbreaking to me, it was Kyle Ocposo, our captain. It was his 1000th game in the NHL. So that's a huge, huge honor. That's a big milestone. Not a lot of players get to that mark. And Buffalo came out and just did the equivalent of taking a shit on center ice and then going into the locker room.
00:31:32
Speaker
Nice. They lost five to two against a division rival, Boston, and it was an ugly game. Yeah. So with that said, the win against Minnesota, love to see it. Tack it up as a win. The loss against Pittsburgh on the road
00:31:51
Speaker
willing to forgive it. Pittsburgh's a good team. They started the season off not so great, but they've changed the way they play a bit as the season's gone on, adjusting the forechecking pressure that they send and playing a bit more reserved, but then counterattacking a bit more effectively. And that's been noticeable and helps them because they are the oldest team in the league. Their stars are aging.
00:32:18
Speaker
Um, so, you know, that, that game, whatever, chalk it up as a loss, move on from it. The game Tuesday night was much more heartbreaking. Uh, like I said, a milestone game for their captain and they just came out flat and got outclassed by Boston. Um, it was an ugly game all the way around. I watched it. I had to turn it off at a certain point, if I'm being honest, because it was, it was hard to watch. Um,
00:32:46
Speaker
Your, your number one center, Tage Thompson goes down with injury during that game. So he'll be out for the next month to two months. From what I understand took a slap shot off the wrist wound, right? Yeah. So just, just a piss poor game. So that's two in a row that were.
00:33:05
Speaker
you know tough tough to get through watching it and that's just not the identity that I'm hoping to see from the team that's not the identity that we saw through much of last year last year it was they always had a chance they could always get back in the game and I'm I'm not seeing that right now I'm seeing they go down by two three goals and that's that's kind of reminding me of the bat like the you know five four five years ago where
00:33:29
Speaker
go down by two goals you might as well turn the game off it's it's over so i need to see some fight back from this team like they're not they're not really clawing back into games like they should be able to and can uh and that's that's troubling yeah is is it something that you have you seen them do that earlier this season or has it been okay since the beginning of the season this is you you have it they've either taken the lead and held it or
00:33:55
Speaker
Or they're just out of the game. Has that been something systemic throughout this season? I think it's been indicative of the rest of the season for the most part. I can't really remember often games where they've kind of clawed back into maybe one or two here or there that I'm forgetting. But it's kind of been. It's either they've been on or they've been off. There hasn't been a lot of pushback in games. And some of the losses that they have have been ugly.
00:34:24
Speaker
Scoreboard or not, they've just not looked good. Good. Yeah, doing it. The quality of a win or a loss is definitely a big deal. Right. How do they look doing it is changes things for for any kind of team, any sport. So yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And over those last three games, they scored a total of four, four goals. You're not winning games doing that. So the team offense in general is has been sputtering. They started off the year
00:34:54
Speaker
producing goals in spite of the quantity of chances that they get, and that's cooled off a bit. Their shooting percentage has been down. They haven't been getting as many finishing shots, and so that's led to losses in the record book. So that's a conversation for another day. We'll deep dive into the cost to the offense that improving the defensive game
00:35:25
Speaker
has resulted in. Yeah, because you're giving up something, right? You're giving up different, yeah. Absolutely. They're playing differently. They're playing more reserved. They're playing back more. And that's good. It's been helping them improve their goals against and their team defense. But at what cost the offense? Because it's clearly neutered the offense too much. Is that a personnel change? Like we have a different group of players? Or is it a schematic coaching change?
00:35:52
Speaker
No, uh, yeah. Schematic coaching change. I would say we, we brought back every forward that played for the team last year and added in Zach Benson. That's that's, uh, so, so I should say Jack Quinn is out with injury since the off season. So, but he's, he's not the one to driving our entire offense, you know, um, he's not the keystone there. Yeah. He's, he's not, no. Uh, so yeah, no, it's, it's not personnel. It's it's schematic and.
00:36:21
Speaker
You know, I, I, there has been injuries for sure. Not to discount that, but it's, it's schematic. Yeah. It's, it's, it's the way they're playing and it's, it's not leading to as many goals. And that's, that's an issue. Yeah. They, they got to figure out a way to fix that. Okay. Well, speaking of personnel, I did want to touch on Patrick Kane. Um, Oh, Patty Kane. Yeah. Is he, is he going to get signs? Like, what do you think? Is that something? So.
00:36:50
Speaker
from what I know about him, right? He's an older player. He's been rather successful. Um, but, but he's coming off this injury, right? This hip injury, that's a big deal. And is he a player, even if he comes in, could he play and be effective or, or is his locker room presence? Like, is that a big deal too? Is his, could his locker room presence as a leader?
00:37:11
Speaker
Um, come make a difference for this long, young Buffalo team. That's, that's the golden question there. So he has begun meeting with teams. He, so for anyone that doesn't know, he had off season hip surgery, uh, to his hip bone was like shaved down or something like that. So it's just a little off the top kind of surgery.
The Patrick Kane Signing Debate
00:37:32
Speaker
Well, it is terrible. Not players don't typically come back and perform.
00:37:39
Speaker
to the same standard when they come back from that. Not from hip shaming. Yeah, hip shaming. Yeah. So he's meeting with teams currently to figure out where he wants to sign and what his deal will look like. And Buffalo's been rumored to be in that mix. He's a hometown kid. He grew up in Buffalo. So you have to think that there's some sway there. And I guess I'm open to it and would be excited for him to sign in Buffalo.
00:38:07
Speaker
but with some major, major caveats and reservations. So let me dive into those. Number one, the contract and term and money has to be acceptable. I don't want to sign Patrick Kane for four years. I would like to sign him for one or two years. I don't think he should be getting more than
00:38:28
Speaker
$5 million a year at this point in his career. So if those two things are true and he signs in Buffalo for a contract that fits that, I would be excited. But again, with some caveats. Number one, I would want this decision to come from Kevin Adams and Kevin Adams alone. In the past, Terry Pagula, our overlord,
00:38:53
Speaker
has been rumored to either been rumored to or been explicitly involved in conversations regarding player personnel. And that man could not be involved in that. Yeah, that's the problem. He's he's he's he's an owner that's a fan. And so like I get it. If I owned an NHL team, I'd probably want to I'd want to sit in the room and like hear the conversations. Yeah, everything you would be involved with everywhere. Absolutely. But I
00:39:21
Speaker
I do not want Terry to look at Patrick Kane and say, oh, Patrick Kane was really good for the Blackhawks 10 years ago. We should sign him because that's not going to get the team anywhere. He's not the same player that was on those Blackhawks teams. But Terry, come on.
00:39:36
Speaker
So that's my other caveat. The decision should be a hockey decision from Kevin Adams and Kevin Adams alone. Kevin Adams has proven to me over the past couple of years that he is willing to make the team better and won't sign players just for the sake of signing players, especially if that boxes out young talent. And there is a lot of young talent in the AHL.
00:39:58
Speaker
However, he will pull the trigger and sign somebody if it makes the team legitimately better and decides that, you know, the players in Rochester need some more seasoning and wouldn't be a better addition than Patrick Kane. Right. So if that is also true, then I'm still excited. So again, we're knocking down the caveats to get to the excitement level. The third one.
00:40:23
Speaker
Is Patrick Kane still able to play like a semblance of his former self with that surgery? No one will know the answer to that until he signs and starts playing games, but it's a tough surgery to come back from. And I think that he, look, he didn't look phenomenal with the Rangers during the playoffs last year. Um, so I think he, he has something to prove himself too. Like, can he come back from that surgery? So that's fine and be a big part of a team. Yeah.
00:40:50
Speaker
That's my final caveat. If those three things fall into place, good contract, hockey decision from the GM and looks okay after coming off surgery, I would be excited for him to join Buffalo. If any of those things are not true, then I'm out. See ya. Have fun with a different team. Yeah. Playing out is, uh, you know, riding out to the pasture somewhere else. Yeah. Yeah. Is, um, so.
00:41:17
Speaker
I had a thought. I had a good question. It was a great question. I'll come back to it. I'll come back to it. But yeah, man, I think. Yeah, no, I lost it. It's gone. That's OK. Raise your hand if you think of it. Oh, yeah. So let's say let's say he does sign in Buffalo. I think he he's not a good defensive player. And I think that would hurt the team. But
00:41:40
Speaker
We'll see. Tom, you remembered it. Let's let's remember. I remember. I remember. So it's got to be an opportunity cost to signing up to because if we sign them to the active roster, who's going off the after active roster? It's a good question. Currently, probably no one there with with the Tage Thompson injury. I think there's it'll be out for the next month or two. Quinn is still out. I think when healthy it does. The conversation becomes more real of who gets shipped out. Yeah.
00:42:10
Speaker
So I think right now, if they signed him, I don't think there would need to be any major roster. OK, so there's room. There could be room, because you're right, because Tage is going to IR. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Now, I think there's room, but yeah, go ahead. I follow up question about Tage going to IR. What are the rules in the NHL? In the NFL, if they go to IR, right, then they have like a it's like a minimum of four weeks and then they can come back. You have to be activated. And if they don't come back from that window, then they're shut down for the year. Is there something similar in the NHL or is it different?
00:42:39
Speaker
Uh, similar ish. Yeah. Uh, I R so there's, there's I R and then there's L T I R long-term I R. Um, I won't get into that one as much, but for I R you must sit out for either one week or three games. I believe is the rule. It's whichever's whichever's first. I think it's a week. I think that's, I think it's a week. That's like you're recovering from a stinger, you know, like, yeah, hamstring or something.
00:43:06
Speaker
Yeah, it is short. But it's meant to just give a little bit more flexibility. Yeah, that makes sense. And then long term IR, I'd have to look up the rules for that one. But it's for players that are kind of out for the year. LTIR contracts don't count against the cap. That's one big difference. And so it gives you more flexibility in that way. Yep. And I believe with LTIR, they have to be out for around a month.
00:43:31
Speaker
minimum. So he might go on that, but in either case, yeah, there is, there's room to add another player. If they don't sign Patrick Kane, someone else is coming up from Rochester, but Rochester, their AHL team is also pretty banged up at the moment. So
00:43:45
Speaker
Injuries are going around, man. To get back to your question, if everyone was healthy and they signed Patrick Kane, I think that would likely put the nail in the coffin for Victor Olafson. I think they would try to find a different place for him to land. I'm pretty over that guy, if I'm being honest with you. Plays die on his stick. He doesn't contribute a whole lot.
00:44:10
Speaker
in special teams. He's been invisible on the power play this year, which is supposed to be his bread and butter. His shot is the one good part about his game. And the goals that he does score are just... I said this about him last year. His goals that he scores are meaningless. He scored two goals in the Boston game. Great game, you might think, but no, they lost five to two. And those goals came at a point in the game where
00:44:35
Speaker
The game was over. Yeah, they were just nothing goals, nothing at all. But he gets two points, two goals in the goal column. And so apologists for Victor Olafson are like, oh, well, look, he scored 20 goals last year. But yeah, OK, five of them were empty netters. The other another six were like garbage time goals. He's not that good. Yeah, he's not that good of a player. Yeah. Now, again, good problem to have if Victor Olafson is your biggest gripe in the forward department. But still, I think there's better talent out there than Victor Olafson. OK.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yeah, dude. Anything else you want to touch on with Sabres wise or we've got you all to worked up in a froth here. I guess the other thing we should say is they sent Matt Savoy back down to juniors.
Matt Savoy's NHL Stint and Development
00:45:16
Speaker
He played our boy Savoy. He played his first NHL game ever on Friday night against Minnesota.
00:45:25
Speaker
He played about three minutes of the game and then they shipped his ass back to juniors. So wow, that was not a great debut for him. I unfortunately wasn't able to watch that game, so I didn't really get to see much of him. And if I did watch the game, I wouldn't have been able to see much of him either. Yeah, it hasn't much to see. Clearly, they felt he wasn't ready. You know, they get him a game in the NHL to get his feet wet, I guess. And a game enough to see.
00:45:54
Speaker
Or maybe because they also see him in practice, they're kind of new. I mean, they see other things, too. I think when I said that, I meant more for him to see, not so much for the Sabres to see him. Right. So to get him involved, let him kind of be on the bench, see the speed of the game up close, get a little bit of game experience and say, all right, Matt, go back to juniors, work on your game more.
00:46:18
Speaker
The frustrating part, and we've talked about this, is that I don't think he has a whole lot left to work on his game in the Junior League. He needs to be in the AHL. He looked great in the AHL. It's a it's a damn shame that we can't have him in the AHL. So it's a bit of a lost development here for him, in my opinion. I'm hoping he goes and plays at World Juniors and can go back to Rochester
00:46:42
Speaker
during playoffs, but we'll see. It's tough for him that he's in that position. But yeah, that's just the way the rules are. OK. How the cookie crumbles, how the cookie crumbles. But no, I think that's that's kind of all I wanted to hit on on Buffalo. They got they've they've got some some winnable games coming up and they really they really need to to put some of those ugly games behind them and get back into the win column.
Sabres' Upcoming Road Challenges
00:47:08
Speaker
And that's some wins.
00:47:09
Speaker
Yeah, that starts tonight. They're on the road for the next couple of games, which is tougher for sure. I mean, playing on the road is tougher. They're in Winnipeg this evening, Friday, November 17th. They're on the road in Chicago on Sunday, November 19th. And then they're on the road against Washington next Wednesday. OK, so some winnable games in there. But which ones which ones do you think are winnable?
00:47:35
Speaker
All of them. Winnipeg has one of the best goalies in the NHL. They play a structured game. They've been on a little bit of a tear recently, so that's probably, that's a tough game. But if you can beat Hellebok, you can win against Winnipeg. Chicago is a team that's being dragged into relevance by Connor Bedard, who is
00:47:59
Speaker
the next Conor McDavid, the next Sidney Crosby, that's how he's been heralded, and he's looked every bit the part so far in this young season. He's like the playmaker that Crosby is with the shot of Austin Matthews, which I don't know if that means much to you, Tom, but that's pretty fucking good. They've been kind of a sneaky team. They've been able to stay a little bit relevant because of him.
00:48:23
Speaker
And then finally in Washington, you're up against a team without Nick Backstrom with Ovechkin using a Walker on the ice kind of thing. That's a game you should win. You should be able to find a way to beat Washington at this point in their cycle. You got to come away with two of these wins in the next three games at minimum to give me hope.
00:48:49
Speaker
But yeah, and after that, they're they've got a rematch against Pittsburgh after Thanksgiving. So we'll see if they're able to claw back from any of those. But I do. Well, I'm going to say that they go two and one. I'm going to take your take your to get your two games. I'm going to be I'm going to be optimistic that they go two and one in that stretch. I like it. I'm feeling less optimistic. I'm going to say one, one and one. But we'll see one for everybody. You want one for everybody. Yeah. We'll see. But that playoff line is coming. So they got to step it up. Shit.
00:49:18
Speaker
Yeah, dude. All right, buddy. Well, hey, mom, get to see you. I'm going to see you on Sunday. So that's cool. I can't wait, dude. I go rough and tumble up in those tailgate lots. It's always a good time. We're going to we always when we go, we always go. We get we get there in time for breakfast. Spend some time to do lunch for twenty five. It will be fun. We usually do one o'clock games. So yeah, we got some time on our hands. We get a couple extra rounds of cornhole in. Absolutely. Come see us in Section 330 if you want a sticker. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Come get a sticker. Come get a sticker.
00:49:49
Speaker
That'd be sweet. I want one of those shiny stickers I got. Did I ever give you one or the other, the plain flat ones? No, but yeah. OK, one's coming your way. All right, I'll make sure I pack one. Well anyway, a little gift swap. Yeah, I like that. All right, now everybody needs to hear our packing list. So let's get rolling. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with us. We appreciate you. We're just two goofs and one goof who's lost and on in Buffalo fandom.
00:50:14
Speaker
And we appreciate you all from the bottom of our hearts for spending some time with us. It does mean a lot. So please make sure to share this podcast anywhere with your friends, your coworkers, your dog, your cat. Hey, next week's Thanksgiving. Play at Thanksgiving while you're cooking. Enjoy the Macy's Day Parade with some Let's Go Buff pod. My name is Tom, that is Jake, and you're listening to the Buffalo Let's Go Buffalo podcast.
00:50:41
Speaker
We're sending your love wherever you are. Go Bills. Go Sabres. Let's go Buffalo.