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Ep. 21 - Tom IS Santa Claus
48 Plays1 year ago
Episode 21 coming straight at ya! Jake and Nigel lament over the Sabres struggles and weigh the decision to make a coaching change. From there, the boys move onto happier topics to discuss the Bills drubbing of the Cowboys and give an in depth analysis of the playoff hunt entering week 16.
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 Shoutout
00:00:10
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 just Nigel and Jake this evening episode 21 coming at you quick reminder to everybody to follow our social medias that's at let's go buff pod buff with two F's
00:00:47
Speaker
You can find us with that handle on Instagram and X.
Hosts' Holiday Plans
00:00:51
Speaker
Let's say hello to my partner in crime this evening. Jake, how you doing brother? Hey, I'm great. Getting ready for the holidays. Feeling good. Things are slowing down. Yeah. Can't wait to spend some time relaxing next week. How about you? You coming to, uh, you coming to Rochester next week? No, going down to Jersey to spend it with my wife's family. Ah, nice dude. Very cool.
00:01:11
Speaker
How about you? How you doing? What do you got going on for? Good bro. Just trying to, uh, as a teacher, get through this the week before break, dude is like just the most throwaway week of all time, dude. Like the kids are, the kids are ready for break. All the teachers are ready for break, but like the behavior just gets like that much worse, dude. And it is just like, like we're all struggling guys. Let's just, I'll try and be in our best behavior and get through this together.
00:01:39
Speaker
And for the kids, it's just like they're like, no, we're going to be we're going to be terrible the whole time. Absolutely. Tyrants. Yeah, it's pretty brutal, dude. We're just we're just Nigel and Jake tonight because Tom, as a as a teacher, is really, really in the thick of it this week.
Tom's Absence and Busy Schedule
00:01:56
Speaker
He's got.
00:01:57
Speaker
concerts with his middle school bands and stuff and i believe tonight he's planning to speak very eloquently no doubt to the board of education at his school so good luck with that tom um and yeah he's he's got a he's got a busy one this week so jake and i are going to hold down the four
00:02:13
Speaker
That is one theory. In my mind, though, I think Tom might actually be Santa Claus. He's out beavering away wrapping presents and all that shit before he delivers them. Could you imagine like this whole time? Tom is he's the one he's Santa. He gets suspiciously quiet the week before Christmas. He does get a little M.I.A. You're not kidding. Not to put my tinfoil hat on, but the evidence is there. Yeah, dude. I'm in agreement with you 100 percent. And I mean, Katie would make a killer, Mrs. Claus, dude, like.
00:02:42
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I hear you. It's all right there before us. We're onto something, dude, for sure. All right,
Buffalo Beer Scene
00:02:51
Speaker
homie. We'll show what he says. Should we crack a beverage here? I think we should. I think we should. I'll count us down. Ready? Three, two, one.
00:03:01
Speaker
Nice. I had to get a good crack in there. Yeah, you sure did, buddy. What are you drinking there? I have from Pressure Drop Brewing in Buffalo, a West Coast inspired brewery. It's called Not a Football Beer, wink, wink, because it's decked out in Bill's imagery. Nice. It's a nice crisp lager. They're a great brewery. Check them out. What is it called?
00:03:25
Speaker
pressure drop brewing pressure drop man there's buffalo is so many breweries over there dude i can't even keep track there's some great ones man yeah there really are i haven't even had that i haven't even heard of that one either which is upsetting to me well i am drinking uh a pretty a pretty standard beverage here just a good old fiddlehead ipa you gotta love them dude just a
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, just the Fiddlehead flagship IPA. My girlfriend's brother digs these a lot last time we were hanging out. These were what we were drinking, and it's a nice beer, dude, so yeah. Yeah, they're a great brewery. They got some good stuff up in Tom's neck of the woods. Yeah.
Sabres' Performance Woes
00:04:05
Speaker
cool awesome dude alright folks well we are gonna do we got a bunch to talk about and we decided that we're gonna start with the less good vibes in terms of the hockey team from Buffalo holy shit do the Sabres absolutely suck games that they've played since the last podcast two losses lost to nothing to Arizona you
00:04:30
Speaker
and then lost nine yep you heard me nine to four to the bottom five columbus blue jackets current record on december 20th puts them at 13 17 and three they are seventh in the division they are currently six points out of a playoff spot money puck currently has the savers with a 7.4 that is a single seven
00:05:00
Speaker
0.4%, so less than 8%, chance to make the playoffs. Hey, Jake, you got any prevailing thoughts that you'd like to bring to the table with the Sabres right now? Well, it's not great, that's for sure. And it's funny how quickly things can change. We recorded just a couple of days ago, they were coming off a 5-2 win over Vegas, and
00:05:25
Speaker
We were talking about the past five games during that podcast where they had three wins, one loss, and one overtime loss. So they're collecting seven of a possible 10 points. You take that every time. You take that every time.
00:05:42
Speaker
The troubling issue there is they kind of blew the game against Montreal, a team that they really should be beating at this stage in their progression. And then an ugly loss in Colorado kind of stuck out there. That game against Colorado was never particularly close. And it made it seem like the Vegas win was kind of a fluke almost, not to say that they didn't play well, but from the grand scheme of things.
00:06:08
Speaker
did not look, you know, it kind of, that's the outlier. And that's not where you want to be. Cause these last two games were just downright ugly, ugly, ugly games to watch. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, no, it's like you take the seven points out of 10 every time, but then it just, it's just a dagger to come back off of that with two losses.
00:06:29
Speaker
in ugly fashion. So things are a bit dire in Sabre Land right now. It's feeling like it, dude. And so the prevailing, like if we were going to summarize everything you just said with one word for me, it's just inconsistency, right? Like how do you have a 3-1 winning against Boston and you have a 5-2 win over Vegas in your last five wins? Those are two of them.
00:06:55
Speaker
And it's just like, or in your last three wins, that's two of them, excuse me. And it's just like, I, it's, it's absolutely, it's maddening dude, because like, how do you, how do you look or how do you come out with W's against Boston and the defending Stanley cup champs, right? And then like look really good in those games, but then lose the way that you're losing. I mean,
00:07:20
Speaker
Dude, the game last night against Columbus. I mean, I texted you, dude. I'll be honest, man, it is currently four fifty four p.m. I am surprised that Don Granado has a job right now. And that might be that might be drastic, dude. But when you like you just you lost to Arizona to nothing. Right. The game prior like, OK, we've been doing that all year. Alternate win, loss, win, loss. Yeah. And split the season series with them. Right. Like they got the win against Arizona. Right.
00:07:50
Speaker
in that stretch that we talked about too. Yeah. But dude, Columbus, Columbus is a, is a bad hockey team right now. Like legitimately, they are bottom five in the league and you lose to them nine to four after a two nothing loss to Arizona, where you also looked very uninspired dude, losing nine, four in your own barn, wearing the goat head jerseys to a team like Columbus, who again,
00:08:19
Speaker
bottom five dude like I don't know bro that to me and I texted it to you I was like this feels like a fireball loss like someone someone's head needs to be on the chopping block after this loss and nothing happened nothing happened today we watched more of the same press conferences from Donnie meatballs
00:08:38
Speaker
I thought Kyle Agposo last night completely missed the mark on his post game press conference, dude, like saying that like the booze were directed like at the last 12 years, not just this season, which I completely disagree with. I think it is purely frustration with this season, which was supposed to be a season where you make the playoffs. Like, I don't know, dude, like I just can't. Like if something doesn't change,
00:09:07
Speaker
within the next week for me, like pretty much immediately. This season's down the toilet. I don't see you coming back from this one. It's already dire. They need to go on a
00:09:23
Speaker
monumental borderline historic streak to claw back into the playoffs. 100%. It's no longer, well, you win a few games, you string a few together and then you're back in the race. They need to do that for the rest of the season and the way they're playing. It's just not going to happen because of the inconsistencies that you mentioned.
00:09:44
Speaker
Yeah, and it's frustrating because last year when they made meaningful strides towards being a competitive team, there was compete every game. I don't care if they went down by a goal, two goals or three goals. I didn't count them out of pretty much any game last year. And God, man, often, not just a game here or there, often this year, it's
00:10:10
Speaker
Well, they're down two goals. This game is pretty much over. The life has been sucked out of them.
Sabres' Inconsistency and Coaching Critique
00:10:16
Speaker
There's no easy fix. I don't know what the fix to that is. Go ahead, sorry.
00:10:23
Speaker
No, no, hit me. I think the shitty thing is, dude, like I think when you're in a situation like this where your team is just drastically underperforming, it is it is the exact same situation with Ken Dorsey, dude, or I'll say the exact same situation with the bills. Something drastic has to happen to give everyone that slap in the face.
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah. And that's why like in football, it's a little different because like you definitely can fire a coordinator. And that is the same thing. The equivalent to that in hockey is like, like is firing Matt Ellis, the kick that everybody needs? Like, I think typically no, you're wearing your assistant coach probably isn't enough. I think it's typically the head coach, dude. And I'm sorry, man. But like,
00:11:12
Speaker
It's like the word that I think is the most important ingredient to a successful hockey team is compete, right? You have to come in, like you can be a less talented team and come in and outwork a team and win hockey games. It's happened so many times, but the team coming in playing the Sabres, like the Sabres have a talented roster for the most part.
00:11:37
Speaker
And they get outworked often, often. And you see it the opposite, too. When they go into another team's barn and outwork the opposition, it happened against the Bruins, happened against the Rangers. Like they beat good teams on the road. When they go in there with that kind of fuck you attitude, the results speak for themselves. They come away with wins against tough matchups.
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah. But if you're if you're not competing hard, every shift, you're not going anywhere in this league. And that that is what's happening right now to a tee and to a man. And I think what's really, really upsetting for me, dude, is and maybe maybe I'll pose this question to you and see just to be curious if you have a different opinion. But like if you had to if you had to pin the guy on the team right now who shows the most consistent level of compete, who would it be? Would you have anybody in mind?
00:12:29
Speaker
It's a good question. Can I give more than one? Yeah, go for it. I think that the two right now that show the most compete and desire to battle it out, the two names that come immediately to mind are Tage Thompson and Zach Benson.
00:12:45
Speaker
Zach Benson is the one for me. 100%. And it's unfortunate that you and I on this hockey team, we both mentioned the goddamn 18 year old rookie. Yeah. Right. But here I see this guy. What is he whopping? Five nine or whatever he's in. But do like he's in the dirty areas. He's in front of the net. He's getting the shit kicked out of them.
00:13:06
Speaker
But he's he's just in there, dude. And he takes it on the chin over and over every game. And he bounces right back up when he gets hit. He gets hit a lot and he gets put on his back a lot. But every time he does, dude, he fires right back up and he's right back being an absolute bitch to play against for somebody. Yeah. And he makes makes life difficult. Yeah, dude. And I'm looking around and I'm like. Like, why am I only seeing it from the from the baby on the team?
00:13:34
Speaker
Yeah. And it's, you know, I'm not I'm not trying to say every player is is, you know, limping it out there and not not competing. But but I'd say those two guys are the ones that stick out to me as far as like putting their balls on the line every game game out. These these guys just look from top to bottom in this organization, dude. And I guess when I say top like.
00:14:10
Speaker
You know, send somebody a message, bench somebody. You have like the coddling has to stop, dude. And like, I know it's it's got to be a borderline impossible line to walk. Like you don't want to bench guys for mistakes. But like, I don't know, dude, like this, this, this coddling, we're going to learn from our mistakes and yada yada. Like it's just not it's not working, dude. And I'm not seeing I'm not seeing any passion from somebody.
00:14:17
Speaker
that it is that
00:14:37
Speaker
And I think that so it worked well for them last year of don't worry about the mistakes you make, go out and play your game, play hockey. And that mindset is still there. But the
00:14:49
Speaker
context behind it has changed this year. Last year, you make a mistake. It's because you're trying to create offense. You're pushing the pace of play and you might get burned. That happened often. We talked about it on this podcast, but the number of odd man rushes and breakaways against last year, huge, massive. They were born by
00:15:11
Speaker
the team trying to push and create offense, and it fucking worked all year. This year, there's been a decided shift into trying to be more conservative. And so the mistakes that are made, they're not as much a reason because of aggressive offensive transition play. They're a result of, yeah, like trying to stifle opportunities at both end. And when you do make a mistake, it's ending up in the back of the net.
00:15:40
Speaker
Columbus scored nine goals on you last night. That's not an accident. That's not the goalies. That's not the stars aligned. The play that they showed last night was systemic to the year so far.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah. So I, I agree with you. Like start, you gotta start holding people accountable for sloppy uninspired play. And that has not happened to date. No, but I want to go back to what you said about Kevin Adams. Like it's, it's certainly, it's certainly an indictment on him that the team is where it is. Like he's the general manager. There's no, there's no way around that. You can't, you can't take the blame away from him. He, he, he goes as the team goes for sure. But.
00:16:25
Speaker
I don't, but the way they played last year, I don't think there was, they had needs for sure, but I don't think it was an overwhelming, we need to overhaul anything. And you need, you can't force it, right? Like, like I get not forcing it. And, and in my eyes, like they should have come back and been a comparable team to where they were last year. Maybe the offense takes a step back. Maybe the defense stays where it is. What maybe the goaltending stays where it is, whatever. You still were a point out of the playoffs last year.
00:16:55
Speaker
one point one measly goddamn point this year they're on they're on pace for 73 points right now they are oh my god they're seventh in their division they're on pace for 73 points for anyone that's unaware 73 points is like
00:17:11
Speaker
borderline rebuilding status. In the NHL, you need anywhere from 93, 94 points to 98 points to make the playoffs. 73 points is just not going to cut it any way you slice it. I think last season 96 was what you needed to get into the playoffs. No, it's 92. They missed by one point. One point. Okay.
00:17:34
Speaker
Well, I, yeah, dude, it's just, so yeah, to, to answer your, or to touch on your point there, I just, this team right now to me, and like, I can't, I can't dispute anything you just said. It was all factually correct. But to me, what this team.
00:17:51
Speaker
was and is still lacking, or I guess what we actually have, we have too much of the same player. We've got too many guys where their thing is skill. You're in an era of hockey where your days of the guys that can only hit are over.
00:18:12
Speaker
At this point, everybody who's in the NHL has a has skill. What we're seeing, though, is the disparity is probably bigger than it ever has been. Like when you've got, you know, your McDavids and then your King Kolesars, you know, like so you have there's a lot of disparity and the elite is more elite than it has ever have ever has been.
00:18:35
Speaker
And the amount of people, the amount of players you put in that elite category are more than it's ever been. I think what this team is still missed, like I said, we have too many of the same player, right? Too many of a Jack Quinn, Victor Olafson, Casey Middlestadt type guy, where it's just, you know,
00:18:53
Speaker
a skill player and not a guy whose game is circled around jam and tenacity and being a prick to play against, like Akitin Gozar, like a Nick Deloria, like Orion Reeves. I don't feel like we have a single one of those guys. You can make a case for Zemgis Gergensons, but I don't think he has the skill that those guys have.
00:19:19
Speaker
Like, and like, you could maybe throw an argument of Kylo Pozo. Like, I just think he's too fucking nice, dude. Like, none of these guys on our team right now.
00:19:29
Speaker
I can actively feel like when I look in the mirror, are guaranteed a lock to be just a bitch to play against. I don't think there's a defenseman in the league that fears playing the Sabres because he knows that every time he goes to get the puck in the corner, he's going to get fucking waxed into the boards.
00:19:53
Speaker
like that's what i'm missing on this team and those are the kind of players that i'm looking to add i don't you can't win a cup without them look at the last several cup winners dude they've all got a fourth line maybe even a third line of guys that a can put the puck in the net
00:20:09
Speaker
but be Opposing teams don't want to play because they are just a nightmare to play against and That's what I was looking for right get rid of a Victor Oleson get rid of a Tyson Jost Bring in some of these guys for the bottom six that will score you you know, I don't know
Potential Coaching Changes for Sabres?
00:20:28
Speaker
a handful like every ten games you're looking for I Don't know three four goals out of this line
00:20:35
Speaker
Right. Maybe that's not too crazy. But every night are just a nightmare to play against that guy's, you know, Charlie McAvoy has to go, fuck, I got to play against that guy tonight. He's going to beat my ass in the boards. He's going to be a nightmare in front of the net. And that's what I that's what I mean when I talk about the roster, like just coming back and being the same. We have none of those players, I feel like.
00:20:58
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree with the premise for sure. The players you named specifically, I don't know if I agree with. I would not want any three of those guys on the Sabres. But that and but but, you know, like the the guys that I am thinking of that are nasty, mean, competitive and can still chip in some goals, those guys don't grow on trees. Nope.
00:21:24
Speaker
But yeah, I agree with you. The mindset of the team is soft right now. They're easily shaken, and there's no coming back from that right now. They cannot outscore their problems like they have done in the past, and it's showing in the win-loss columns.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah, you need you need depth and you need size and you need to compete to win hockey games in the regular season and everything triples when it comes to the playoffs. So like if this if this if they started the playoffs tomorrow and the Sabres made it, I would I would put my life savings on them getting swept the way they're playing. Oh, yeah. And then second thought like right now, dude, the only couple of players that I feel like their style of game is going to translate beautifully to the playoffs are Rasmus Dali and Zach Benson.
00:22:10
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's honestly it. I honestly do like you want to know what I would love to see. You mentioned Tage Thompson, Jake. And I feel like he is he's pretty aggressive in his forecheck. And I think he's a good penalty killer. But man, like, would you agree he's a leader on this team right now?
00:22:25
Speaker
100% yeah, I like dude I and and you know don't take a penalty It's easier said than done, but God dude like in the first shift I would just pay any amount of money to see Tom or go out there and just fucking blow someone up
00:22:42
Speaker
to just get the boys going, man, like, yeah, like. And I say I pick a guy like Tate Thompson because it doesn't mean as much when it's a Kyle Clifton, you know, whatever. Yeah, like it just like like he's aggressive. He's got two, three, four solid hits every game. Absolutely. He's physically who gives a shit. He's bad defensively and he's horrible in transition. Exactly. Nothing happens to the neutral zone that's positive in the saber's favor when he's when he's on the ice.
00:23:10
Speaker
100%. So like I'm dying for a guy like Tage Thompson or a Casey middle stat, right? Make a point to go out there and fucking level someone first shift, send a message, not only to your teammates, but to the opposing team.
00:23:23
Speaker
Yeah, like that's the kind of shit that I'm looking for right now. I think Clifton and Johnson were both brought in over the offseason for that reason to kind of get some grit in the back end and and and do exactly what you're talking about. Kind of set a physical tone for the team. But and they've done that to a degree, but it's just it's not translating to any positive results at all. No. And the other problem with that is. Like the other problem with with that there
00:23:52
Speaker
I just totally lost my train of thought. I tried to repeat it to bring it back. It's it's gone. It's gone back to whatever you're saying. No, it's all good. It's all good. Yeah, those two players just haven't been a difference maker for the team with the regression of the forwards. Oh, I teach Thompson. Oh, hit it. Hit it. So it's it's great that those guys are physical, but the physicality can't come at the cost of just being pissed for defensively and in transition. Like you said. OK, go ahead. Yeah.
00:24:22
Speaker
I completely agree. Yeah. And it, it unfortunately has been the case. Um, yeah, I just, just, it, it, it comes back down to are these guys ready to play it night in and night out? And it just does not seem like it. It seems like there's flukes where they are showing their full range of talent, but it's few and far between. Um, so it, I mean, it leads to the discussion of are we going to see a coaching change in the next week or so? Um,
00:24:52
Speaker
Who's better to replace? There are some one in particular, but some other recent firings of who might be out there. But look, Donnie Granado is the ninth longest tenured coach in the NHL. Like it's a it's a league that moves quickly through coaches. He was just hired in 2021. Yeah, it's it's it's it's very much a league, especially with coaches. It's it's always what have you done for me lately? Recent bias in hockey is
00:25:21
Speaker
is probably to a fault, like crazy bad. Um, but it is the way it all goes, man. Like, I mean, you just watched a guy like Craig Barubi get fired as a Stanley Cup winning coach. Yeah. Um, I, so he didn't get fired today. Right. So he's probably safe for the time being. I Jake, how many more like
00:25:43
Speaker
So because because you're you're way more tame on this than I am. I'm officially in the like, thank you for getting the guys to where they are, Donnie. But this is unacceptable. I'm firmly right now in the fire dongronado camp. I know you're more tame on that, though. What more would you need to see to to join me in that in that bucket?
00:26:06
Speaker
I'm more tame perhaps, but not by much. And the reasoning is just like I said, they're on a 73 point pace right now to finish the season. Two years ago was Donnie's first season as a head coach. They finished fifth in the division with 75 points. The next season, they jumped up to 91 points, missed the playoffs by a single point.
00:26:29
Speaker
The difference here, and then now this year, projected to finish with 73 points. The difference between this season and two seasons ago, there is so much more talent on this roster today than there was on that team that finished with 75 points two years ago.
Sabres' Performance Comparison
00:26:44
Speaker
Jacob Bryson, Cody Egan, Mark Pisic, Vinny Hinnistroza, Anders Bjork, John Hayden. All of those players played 55 or more games for Buffalo in that season, and they still finished with 75 points.
00:27:00
Speaker
only one of those players still plays in the National Hockey League. Like there is just, it's an objective fact that there is more skill and talent on this team now and they're performing worse. And so to me, like that spells coaching, absolutely being ready to play against your opponent. It sounds simple and it is, it's a simple fucking game. Put the puck in the net, keep it out of ours. So
00:27:29
Speaker
To go back to your question of what more do I need to see, I think the game Tomorrow Night is going to be telling. That's Thursday, December 21st, the Sabres host Toronto at home, which is essentially a road game. You know what's going to, you know, you know, you know what's going to happen, Jake. Tell me right now, what is going to happen in that game tomorrow? The app, the knuckleheads are going to come storming south and fill the Buffalo Sabres Arena with Toronto Maple Leaf fans.
00:27:59
Speaker
I'm fully expecting... I think Buffalo will step up, and I think this is what you were getting at, because they really like playing against Toronto in a division matchup and sticking it to them, which I love to watch, but I think it gives them more legs to go with Don Granado as coach. I think if they lose the game in anything other than a close game tomorrow night, I think that could be the final
00:28:29
Speaker
Bell toll, whatever. I don't know what I'm trying to say, but I think that might do it. I'm calling it certainly for me. I'm calling it right now, dude. We're going to beat the fucking Maple Leafs like six to one. That's what's going to end up happening. And then everyone once again, and it's not going to be me this time, I did it again after Vegas. I am not going to bite the hook when they kick the shit out of Toronto tomorrow night, because do you know who we play next after that? I sure do. The New York
00:28:56
Speaker
Rangers leading their division. Perfect. We're probably going to beat them, too. When's the when's the whatever the next mediocre to bad team is? That's who we're going to lose like seven to one against. Well, hold on. So they play Toronto tomorrow night. Then they play the Rangers. Then they play Boston right after Christmas Christ. And then the next mediocre team, the Columbus Blue Jackets who just dropped nine on you at home.
00:29:23
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, God, maybe my thought process is wrong then. Maybe they're looking at that schedule and they're going, fuck, and then Toronto just waxes them tomorrow night. You're right, though, dude. It doesn't even have to be a win. They're in hockey, man. Hockey's so fluky. So is football, but hockey's so fluky. There's a good and a bad way to lose. I truly mean that. If we had the same record right now,
00:29:51
Speaker
But we were losing games the right way. I'd still be in, dude. I'd still be like, we're going to turn this shit around. But it's the way that we're losing that is so horrendously bad. So I agree with you, man. As long as we can show some compete and we are skating with Toronto, the eye test in hockey is so huge. You can't always look at the scores.
00:30:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's like, yeah, you just got to follow the, follow your, your eye test there. I don't know, man, but a hundred percent. I mean, stats are great. They don't always tell the full story. I think in this case that we're talking about, I think they do tell a telling story. Um,
00:30:33
Speaker
just because it's not like they're losing games in a good way. They're losing a lot of games in a bad way. They can't string a win streak together to save their lives. I think they have two win streaks this year, each of two games. It's not a sustainable way to make the playoffs as a team. Jake, you've got some really great discussion points here that are comparisons from this year to last year. Did you want to touch on any of those?
00:31:00
Speaker
Let's do that and then let's move on to the Bills. So through 33 games last season and this season, a little bit of a comparison. Last year, second in the league in goals four with 132. This year, they're 20th in the league with 94. That's 38 less goals through 33 games. So about a goal plus per game that they are not scoring and pretty much
00:31:28
Speaker
tied in the amount of goals that they've given up. However, they were 18th in goals against last year. They're 29th in goals against this year. So a similar number of raw goals against, but relative to the league, they're giving up a lot more goals than other teams. We've talked about it all year, but the power play has been putrid through 33 games last year. They were second in the NHL with 29.4% power play conversion this year.
00:31:56
Speaker
have that it's down to 14 and they're 27th in power play percent with all the talent that's on the roster. That's crazy inexcusable inexcusable bro. I wanted to touch on goalies real quick last year Craig Anderson, UPL and Eric Comrie were your three goalies this year it's UPL, Devin Levi, Eric Comrie. Look, Craig Anderson was a
00:32:23
Speaker
great goalie throughout his career. He was performing well last year that definitely propped him up in a few games, but I wouldn't say that he's been the number one difference maker, but I wanted to call out that essentially, goaltending hasn't changed too much for Buffalo. I'm not pointing the finger at the Sabres' lack of success at goaltending at all.
00:32:44
Speaker
It's team play that's condemning the goalies to poor stats in my mind. Yeah. And if people are blaming the goalies, if you're listening to this, first of all, if you are blaming the goalies, you're unintelligent. And B, if you're listening to people blame the goalies, you need to assume that they are unintelligent. Totally agree. And then last thing, just on like,
00:33:08
Speaker
the offense and scoring. Um, 11 players last year and 11 players this year have 10 plus points through 33 games. Decent depth scoring. The issue is that last year we had five players that had 30 plus points through 33 games. Uh, and, and Tate Thompson had 50 points alone last year. Fast forward to this year through 33 games, zero
00:33:37
Speaker
Zero players are at a point per game pace. No one on the roster has 30 plus points. A defenseman, albeit a very good defenseman, Rasmussen is leading the team in points. I need the forwards to step the fuck up. The top line of Tuck, Thompson and Skinner has not looked the same this year at all.
Sabres' Roster and Player Contributions
00:34:02
Speaker
So I want to talk about expected
00:34:06
Speaker
Sorry, I want to talk about goals for percentage, which is basically a measure of when you're on the ice, which team has a better chance of scoring a goal? That's an easy way to look at it. If you're at 50%, then there's an even chance of both teams scoring a goal. If you're at 100%, then your team is only scoring. The other team is absolutely not. So anything above 50 is good. Last year, the top five players on the team, Tuck, Skinner, Thompson, Samuelson, Dalene,
00:34:35
Speaker
That's your top forward line, and that's your top defensive pair. And each of those players was above 60% for on-ice goals 4%. Two guys, almost at 70%. Yeah. This year, no player tops over 60%. And every player that I just mentioned is not on this list. So the top line and the top defensive pair have completely fallen off the map for whatever reason.
00:35:03
Speaker
But this year, it's JJ Paterka, Ryan Johnson, a rookie, Casey Middlestadt, Dylan Cousins, Henry Okiharu. And some of those players are barely cracking 50. Yeah, I'm really surprised to see Dylan Cousins there, if I'm being honest, because I truly felt like this season he's been bad.
00:35:19
Speaker
Me too? Yeah, he's regressed from last year for sure, but it's also discounting the fact that he had a huge breakout season last year. He was all over the place. He was tenacious. I haven't seen that from him this year. He's been neutered in a lot of ways. He's been invisible on the ice for long stretches, whereas last year he put up a lot of points, but he was also very good defensively and in transition. He's just been invisible on the ice for long stretches.
00:35:46
Speaker
I want to I want to touch on that real quick. And then I hope and then I agree with get into the bills. But what the reason I want to touch on that is because you mentioned the fact that he had a big breakout last year, as did Tish Thompson, obviously. Right. Going into this season after the offseason was pretty much done.
00:36:05
Speaker
And the only guys that the sabers that added were Johnson and Glifton. I know you're not a big after the whistle guy, but one of the things they do weekly is bring on Thomas Fannock, who is, I think, very intelligent, definitely smarter than Petey and Craig Ravet, no doubt.
Transition to Bills Discussion
00:36:23
Speaker
But one of the things that he said was, you're Kevin Adams and Don Granado are taking a huge gamble because by not changing the roster at all,
00:36:34
Speaker
They are banking on continued or even elevated breakout seasons. And he said that is a dangerous game to play. And here it is. Tage Thompson, Dylan Cousins, Jeff's like Jeff Skinner's still even been solid, but he was a freak last year. Like, you know, you were getting bit in the ass banking on those continued massive breakout seasons and
00:37:02
Speaker
both of those guys, you can take, maybe you can blame a little bit on injury. Like both of those guys have fallen tremendously short of keeping that pace. So yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. All right, buddy. Should we get into some, some lighter conversations here?
00:37:17
Speaker
Yeah, let's let's change to a sunnier topic. How about that win against the Cowboys? Yeah, dude. So week 15, the Bills kicked the shit out of the Dallas Cowboys 31 to 10 for my money, the most dominant win the Bills have had since the Bills Patriots playoff game a couple of years ago, where they literally played a perfect game.
00:37:41
Speaker
Um, but man, I'll tell you what, dude, it has been a long, long time since I watched this Buffalo Bill's team just absolutely take the will out of another team by out. Physically them. That's great English, right? By being that much more physical than the other team.
00:38:04
Speaker
Right, dude. Yeah, that is. I mean, it was it was incredible to watch, too. It was like I wanted to run through a goddamn wall, dude. And like I've never seen I've never seen a defense look as as like just broken mentally as as the Cowboys did that game. Yeah, for sure. They did. They looked dejected fairly early on, I feel like even at the end of the first half, it was like, what are we going to do against these guys?
00:38:33
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was just oh my God, it was it was so much fun to watch, dude. Obviously, you have to immediately shout out James Goddamn Cook, dude. I mean, what he's been he's been breaking out more and more as the season has gone on, particularly since Joe Brady is taking over.
00:38:55
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, my God, dude, if you're a football fan and you didn't know about James Cook, you sure as hell do now, dude. What a dominant game from him, man. I mean, how sick was he to watch? Yeah, he was incredible. The one there was one play that really stuck out to me. I can't remember exactly when it was, but he he was kind of he grabbed. He got the ball. He was looking for a lane and kind of found it, but then backtracked and took a bunch of Dallas defenders to the outside.
00:39:25
Speaker
I don't know if you remember what I'm talking about just from that horrible description, but it was something that it looked like it was going to be a dead play where, okay, maybe they gain a yard, maybe they get to the line of scrimmage. And then he fought and tooth and nail to get seven, eight yards and it just, it set up the next sequence, right?
00:39:42
Speaker
Yeah, he was incredible. Yeah, man. He is his his patience in letting his blocks get set up his vision to attack the right hole and to just his just I think this is kind of more what you were talking about. Just his pure unrelenting athleticism and speed, dude. I mean, you watch him get to the outside. Forget it, man. You I don't care. I don't care who is in your secondary.
Bills' Victory Over Cowboys
00:40:07
Speaker
You don't have someone that can keep up with James Cook in space.
00:40:11
Speaker
Like dude, he's just yeah, he's so fast dude and like Don't forget he's out there against other professional football players, dude. He's making them look slow It was I mean if you if he had one blemish that game, it was the drop touchdown pass but outside of that dude like He was just he was just inspiring to watch and I'll tell you what dude. No running back is doing a
00:40:36
Speaker
any of that without an unreal game by the offensive line oh my god dude again just like so fun to watch these guys just beat the shit out of other grown ass man dude like it was
00:40:52
Speaker
it was it was inspiring to watch that dude just like got me so hyped watching Dion Dawkins block guys 25 yards down the field like it just it just gets you going and I feel like the whole team how do you not feed off that dude yeah right like the trenches win your games hundred percent dude I and I'm so I'm thankful that
00:41:13
Speaker
I'm thankful that Brandon Bean signed Conor McGovern this year, dude. And I think a really big thing that that did, Deion Dawkins is playing the best football of his career. And I think one of the main reasons that is happening is because for one of the first times in his time as a, as a bills player, he's got consistency and solid guard play to his right in Conor McGovern. And I think when you have a guy like that,
00:41:38
Speaker
that you have good timing with, good rapport with, you trust. It just allows you to take your game to the next level. So flowers to Brandon Breen for making that signing right there. That was awesome. Speaking of administration, I guess, if you will, with the football team, you have to give Sean McDermott his flowers, man.
00:42:05
Speaker
Was there a hotter offense in the NFL, aside from maybe San Francisco, then Dallas coming into that game? No, Tom went through the the counting stats last week of the Cowboys offense. Yeah, I do. They were lights out and they held them to a set, held them to 10 points. But one of those was a garbage. Yeah, that's like scrubs. Yeah, dude. I mean, to me that I'm not counting that touchdown. You allow Dak Prescott and company three points.
00:42:34
Speaker
I mean, what an unreal game from Sean McDermott, dude. You have to like, if you were someone that was calling for his head two weeks ago, me pointing to myself, you're an idiot. Right. And you're feeling stupid right now. So, I mean, yeah, dude, like his, but it was like, it was one sample size. It's got to continue. Right. But like he never got, there was not a moment.
00:42:59
Speaker
where he got outcoached by Mike McCarthy in that game, which was awesome to see his blitzes were well timed. His stunts that he was calling, which to remind everybody, stunts are when like you have a defensive end crash inside. And then immediately after the closest defensive tackle runs to the outside. So it's just like crossing. It's meant to confuse the offensive line, but he was running stunts with linebackers and DNS dude, like his, his stunt designs blitz designs timing of his blitz calls were absolutely outstanding. He was just.
00:43:29
Speaker
He was a treat to watch go to work last week. It was it was awesome. Yeah, props to him. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Go ahead, Jake. I would say like I think he even admitted it himself, but but Josh Allen probably not his best game. This one's not going down in the Hall of Fame. You know, catacombs for Josh Allen best games, but still that's that they found a way to dominate almost despite that. Like obviously he played a huge part in the win.
00:43:59
Speaker
But it wasn't like he took over this game and made it his own, right? So, one, do you agree with that? And two, talk to me about Joe Brady. Like, what's going well in the offense that he's contributing to? And why were they able to win with Josh Allen's not putting up hero numbers? Right. So, first of all, yeah, totally agree with you, dude. It was not a good, his stat line was, you know, like,
00:44:25
Speaker
I think it was like 9 of 15 or something like that and he threw for 94 yards and a touchdown. If you had told me that that was his stat line, I'm predicting that the Bills lost that game by 40. Truthfully. Yeah, I hear you. But so it was it was really great. It was great to see us win without asking Josh Allen to be a hero because
00:44:46
Speaker
I feel like all we do is demand that Josh Allen as a hero week in and week out. And that's, I mean, that's I, to me, not a recipe for long-term success, right? And I'm not sure it's a recipe. They can get you a championship. You have to be able to win in other ways. You can't just become a one-trick pony. So to watch the offense win the game the way that they did this past weekend was just awesome. And yeah, dude, like.
00:45:13
Speaker
couple rough moments for Josh Allen even like missing wide open guys that could have been touchdowns you know there was a couple instances of that so to piggyback off of that I want to this is the one negative that I have written down about Joe Brady and it's that there does still seem to be some disconnect in the past concepts right now
00:45:30
Speaker
They're like, we saw what happened with Josh Allen and Gabe Davis a couple weeks ago in the Eagles game, right? Like just that miscommunication there. Josh Allen, it looks like when I watch film, it looks to me like he sees the guys that are open and is actively making a decision to not throw to them. And I'm imagining there has to be a reason for that.
00:45:49
Speaker
And I want to know what it is. And more importantly, I want him and Joe Brady to find a way to iron it out. We've seen it a couple of times in each game that Joe Brady has called. And the stakes are getting too big for that to continue.
Upcoming Games and Playoff Hopes
00:46:02
Speaker
And I really, really, really just want to see those passing concepts get cleaned up a little bit.
00:46:07
Speaker
So he was hoping. Yeah. Yeah. Shuffled into a new role halfway through the season. Hopefully. Yeah. The shit that we're seeing is shit that's supposed to get worked out in training camp, you know? Yeah. So you just have to hope that it gets fixed on time. I guess it's a big thing. Not to mention against the Dallas Cowboys defense. Exactly. Yeah. Which is a good defense. Like let's not forget about that too. Like that, that secondary is a good secondary. It's a good defense. Um,
00:46:33
Speaker
But dude, like Joe Brady still the biggest thing that I loved from this game, he did not try and fix what wasn't broken, dude. There's plenty of clips going on on Twitter showing he ran the exact same fucking run play five times in a row because Dallas showed no signs of being able to stop it.
00:46:56
Speaker
Right. So like, just leaning into what's working. Right. He said in his presser, did he anticipate running the ball 50 some odd times, whatever it was? No, but it wasn't. It was working. And there wasn't a reason to move away from it because for whatever reason, Dan Quinn decided to do his best Sean McDermott impression and make no kind of adjustment. So like if it was working, there's no reason to stop. And that was shit that drove me fucking crazy.
00:47:25
Speaker
about Ken Dorsey. When shit was working, he wouldn't go back to it, particularly with James Kirk. By the way, you think Ken Dorsey is saying that a home going G man, maybe I should have.
00:47:35
Speaker
schemes number four to the game a little bit more this guy's pretty fucking good why did no one tell me my god dude so um one of the things that i want to touch on here is the the bill's bread and butter running play is is is a run to the outside is called tackle rap right the reason it's called tackle rap is because the tackle pulls and raps to the outside and kicks out whatever defender is immediately in threat of tech with the ball carrier
00:48:01
Speaker
Right up to this point in the season, nine times out of 10, Dion Dawkins is that pulling tackle and that play is just running to the right no matter what this week. And I think this is a brilliant call because what is Spencer Brown's best attribute as a football player? It's his off the charts insane athleticism. We ran a tackle rep to the opposite side, which was important in this game. Why? Because Micah Parsons, who's probably a top three defensive in the league,
00:48:29
Speaker
always not always, but most often was lining up over Spencer Brown. So what were we doing? You leave Michael Parsons completely alone. You run to the opposite side and you take the athletic freak that is Spencer Brown and you make him be the rapping tackle and beat the shit out of whoever's over there. And oh my God, did it work tremendously, dude? It worked so well. Such a great call to use Spencer Brown's strengths to his advantage, to the team's advantage.
00:48:59
Speaker
Right. Like, and it's, and I'm sitting here going like, why the hell didn't Ken Dorsey do that? Like what a no goddamn brainer play. And the cool thing with that is it opens the door for more things. Right. So one of the other things I have written down here is the run schemes were married to the past schemes. And what I mean by that is we were running out of the same formations that we were passing. Right. So there wasn't a formation or a personnel grouping that gave away what we were planning to do.
00:49:27
Speaker
which is so, so, so, so important. We had running plays out of 10 personnel, which is one running back, no tight ends. We had running plays out of 11 personnel, one running back, one tight end. Running plays out of 12 personnel, one running back, two tight ends, and 22 personnel, two running backs, two tight ends. So there's nothing that you can put out there that gives away what you're about to do. And oh yeah, we ran passing plays out of all those as well.
00:49:57
Speaker
So it's just Joe Brady doing intelligent things, making it difficult on the opposing defenses, dude. Some of it is so cool to watch, but it's also like, duh? Isn't this exactly what you're supposed to do as the OC? Still using motion to Josh Allen's advantage, Josh Allen's able to see
00:50:24
Speaker
If the defense is going to be in some kind of a man, some kind of a zone and a just place based on that, which is free with freedom. He didn't seem to have with Ken Dorsey. It's just, it's just awesome right now, man. It's awesome to watch Joe Brady go to work. And I hope he, I just hope he can keep it going. Right. Cause each week there's more film that comes out, right? And the teams just get a bigger sample size of how to stop Joe Brady's offense. So.
00:50:49
Speaker
You know, he's been great so far. The secret now is you have to keep it going, right? You can't let it stop. Yeah, it's as important as ever in the thick of a playoff race here. Yeah. Anything that you wanted to touch on there with, with the game and Joe Brady or McDermott or anything there, Jake?
00:51:05
Speaker
No, man, you covered it. It was an exciting game to watch. Kept the playoff hopes alive, and they're looking to continue that traveling west this weekend, right? Yeah. So let's, let's, let's touch on the playoff situation real quick, because I still feel like majority of people are under the impression that the best way for the bills to make the playoffs is
00:51:27
Speaker
through the wild card and i couldn't disagree more dude like the standings right now around that wild those wild card positions are so log jammed that like i don't want to see us have to like that route just requires so much out of the bill's control to go right right and that's what i don't love truthfully dude i think oh man i'm getting like hyped thinking about it
00:51:53
Speaker
I think the best way is through the division by winning the division. And so let's map a couple of things out here, dude. The Dolphins, they're remaining three games. They have to play the Cowboys. They have to play the Ravens. They have to play the Bills. Those are the three remaining games that they have, OK?
00:52:19
Speaker
pity the fool that has to play against Dallas after we just kick the shit out of them, first and foremost, right? I think objectively, Dak Prescott is the better quarterback than two at Tonga Valoa. And I think, oh, yeah, here's the icing on the cake for me. I saw several tweets today out of Dolphins practice, not a single starter on the offensive line was able to practice today.
00:52:45
Speaker
So good luck stopping DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons with your backups, dude. This game right now is shaping up to be a problem for Miami. And oh yeah, if this one isn't, good luck beating the goddamn Baltimore Ravens next week, dude. Week 18 is shaping up to be a win and in, lose and go home matchup between the Bills and the Dolphins, dude. Because, and I'm knocking on wood,
00:53:15
Speaker
Right. The bills have we got through what I thought was going to be the toughest point, which is the Cowboys. Right. You've got the Chargers, which we're going to talk about that because I have some concerns about that game. Have the Patriots. OK, yeah, we lost to them this season, but it was, you know, a bills team that I didn't that I don't recognize. Right. It's not the bills team that exists right now. And again, knocking on wood one more time. But and then you have you're the Dolphins week 18.
00:53:45
Speaker
And is that in Miami? It is in Miami. Yes. But it's I mean, yeah, it's in Miami. That matters. I'm not going to dance around that. That matters. That that crowd's not going to be no joke in that game. But Bill's Mafia travels. You know, I'm not of course not going to be. It's not going to be like 90, 10. But I don't know, man, like we went out and the Dolphins dropped one of those games, which I'm going to be honest, dude, they could drop to. Like they could drop to.
00:54:13
Speaker
So in the scenario that they drop one of those games, say, say they lose to the Cowboys, beat the Ravens and then go to play Buffalo. Buffalo needs to beat the Chargers, beat the Patriots in order to have that be a meaningful game. Right. Yeah. Buffalo drops either of those games against the Chargers or Patriots. Then the whole argument kind of becomes void. Right. Well, if we drop one of those games, we would just need to pray and hope that the Dolphins also lose to both Dallas and, um,
00:54:42
Speaker
actual Ravens. I don't even think that would matter because there's still two games ahead of us right now. So we have to make up
Bills vs. Chargers Preview and Strategy
00:54:50
Speaker
ground. Yeah, so we know I'm still right. If we drop one of those games, Miami can still lose both. And then week 18 is the exact same scenario.
00:55:00
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Yeah. But, but when, and you have less of a need to rely on other teams to help you get there. Exactly. The bills, let's let's, the bills just have to fucking win. You have to take care of your own business, right? Yeah. You lose to the chargers or the Patriots. You don't deserve to go to the playoffs anyway. That's a fair point. Which is going to be a horribly tough pill to swallow if that happens and I'm knocking on one again.
00:55:24
Speaker
which will ignore that game earlier in the season. Yeah, I'm willing to. With the way this team is playing right now, it seemed to be that Ken Darcy was the problem. So far, the evidence is pointing that way. It seems to be, right? So things are like the vibes are just better. Josh Allen's smiling. Stefan Diggs is smiling. You know, the vibes are just the vibes are just better. So, you know, these these next couple of dolphins games, man,
00:55:52
Speaker
We are, we immediately became massive Cowboys fans and we are soon to become massive Ravens fans. We just need them to drop one of those games and we have to win out, dude. And then we control our own fate, which is a fucking awesome place to be. That's where you want to be. Yeah. Don't need to rely on other teams. Um, so, so talk to me about our own fate. What do the bills face as they go into LA on Saturday evening at eight PM? Yeah. So I'll start with my, I'll start with my kins. Well,
00:56:21
Speaker
I'll just mention a couple other things first. Good things for the Bills. No, excuse me. No, Justin Herbert. He can't go. He's hurt. Easton Stick is starting. He's not great, to put it lightly. Also currently, without their starting center, he got put on IR this week. So their starting center is not going to go. Hello, Ed Oliver. However, this does feel
00:56:50
Speaker
a little bit like a Bill's trap game to me. And here's why. Brandon Staley got fired. An interim coach is going to be coming in. I can't imagine Brandon Staley lost that team so many games in the last handful of years just based on terrible game management decisions. I can't imagine there's a single player in that locker room that is actively heartbroken that he's gone. Teams typically get a little bit of a bump in their
00:57:20
Speaker
in their mojo when you fire a coach like that and you bring an interim guy in. So we have to consider that. Like the Cowboys, and I just mentioned it with the Cowboys going into the Dolphins, they got the shit absolute. Excuse me. They got the shit absolutely kicked out of them.
00:57:41
Speaker
So they're going to be looking to come back a little bit. So you got the fact that they got spanked last weekend and they got their coach that they probably didn't have a ton of love for fired. OK. And you add into that mix. Buffalo has to travel. Buffalo typically doesn't love to go west.
00:57:59
Speaker
So there's a couple of ingredients here that have me concerned. I'm not panicking. I'm not predicting the bills to lose, but it's on my radar as things that like, and this is, this is my jaded drought fan ship coming out. Like during the drought, dude, those things would spell an automatic loss.
00:58:16
Speaker
for the best. They're not, they're not that team anymore. I don't think that's going to happen. Knocking on wood. Um, but there are things that are on my radar and they're concerning me. Put that aside. Khalil Mack is a problem, right? Derwin James for my money is the best safety in the league. Austin Eckler is a top five running back.
00:58:35
Speaker
And a Sante Samuel junior is a insane cornerback right now. So there are some players that we need to be concerned with, right? We can't get complacent with the run game, right? We just stuffed Tony power for the most part this past Sunday. Have to keep that energy up against Austin Eckler because he's been struggling a little bit lately, but that dude can absolutely break a game wide open.
NFL Matchups Impacting Bills
00:59:01
Speaker
He's insane. Don't let him off the mat. Nope.
00:59:04
Speaker
You handle Khalil Mack just like you did Micah Parsons. Derwin James is a ball hawk and hits like a freight chain. You have to be careful of him. And Asante Samuel Jr., like I said, no joke, very good player. So there are some players on that Chargers team that are no joke and are upper echelon in the league for sure. Is it going to be enough to stop the bills? I don't think so. It shouldn't be, shouldn't be enough. You go in there and you just play your game.
00:59:30
Speaker
You're going to you're going to beat the Chargers, but you have to be careful of that trap stuff that I called. Absolutely. Just like you said, take care of business. Yeah. Just handle your business, man. Play your game. If I'm if I were to throw out a prediction for that game, I still think Buffalo's in a let's make a statement mode. I'll say 3513. OK, 3513 bills. I'm going to I'm going to take the vote of confidence in the boys and just assume that they're going to keep
00:59:58
Speaker
handling business the way that they have these last several games that Joe Brady's been calling the players. You got a prediction? I'll go. I'll go. I agree with you. I think they take care of business. I agree with you that it might be a trap game. I'll go 31, 31 10. 31 10. Cool. Awesome. So we're pretty similar there.
01:00:17
Speaker
What about not taking care of their own business? Who do we need a little bit of nudging from in the matchups this week? Take me through that. So I picked what I believe to be the most prevailing matchups that influence the Bills this week. So obviously, Bills versus Chargers, we want us to win. We're dying for the Cowboys or the Dolphins. This is a weird one, Bengals and Steelers. The Steelers lost, they have the worst record. We want the Steelers to beat the Bengals.
01:00:46
Speaker
It's gonna be a tough go. The Bengals, even with Jake Browning, look pretty hot right now.
01:00:52
Speaker
Colts Falcons, we would probably want to see the Falcons win that game. Browns versus Texans, want to see the Texans win that game if I'm me. Seahawks and Titans, you want to see the Seahawks beat the team in the AFC. Jags and Bucks, you want to see the Buccaneers beat the Jags. Patriots Broncos, we want to see the Patriots beat the Broncos. Raiders and Chiefs, we want to see the Raiders beat the Chiefs.
01:01:17
Speaker
just because fuck the Chiefs, Giants and Eagles. We'd love to see, actually, I think we'd love to see the Eagles win this game only because we want to have that strike to schedule look. Since we lost to the Eagles, we want everyone to think the Eagles are really good. Danny Cold Cuts is hot, though. Yeah, he sure is, dude, sure is. And then Ravens, 49ers, probably want to see, this game doesn't matter a ton because both teams have such better records than us. One of the big points with this one,
01:01:46
Speaker
You could get some decent film out on how the 49ers choose to play against a mobile quarterback. And there's absolutely a world where the Super Bowl could be the Bills and the 49ers. So that film could come in handy down the road. So those are the big rooting interests for the Bills this week. That's not all the games, but there are some games I just didn't even bother to talk about because I don't think they matter at all for the Bills. I think that about covers it, bro. Just, yeah, for the matchup against the Chargers, take care of business.
01:02:16
Speaker
Be careful of the trap shit. Watch those players that I mentioned. You know, keep the running game hot. I'd love to see us not just go right back to relying on Josh Allen to win everything for us. And yeah, dude, go handle your shit. Take care of business. Take
Bills Trivia Challenge
01:02:33
Speaker
care of business. All right. What do you think? Do we have time for a quick game or should we get out of here? How long is the game going to take? Five minutes or less. Fuck it. Let's do it.
01:02:42
Speaker
I got a game for you. You're going to guess the Bill's player from any point in history. Okay. And you can ask me 10 yes or no 20 question style questions about that player to get to the right answer. Okay. And no, I did not pick one from like 1972 that you've never heard of or anything like that. Okay. I think you'll be able to get there. But yeah, you're giving me a lot of credit, dude. I am notoriously bad with the trivia stuff. So we'll see.
01:03:08
Speaker
So I got, I got stats and bios open. So ask me any question you want about this player and try to narrow down to who it is. Okay. Okay. Um, is it a Bill's player? I'll start offense or defense. Offense. Offense. Okay. Um, a player that's currently on the roster. No.
01:03:29
Speaker
OK. Let's see. I'm trying to think of how I want to phrase my questions in a clever way here. Skill player or lineman? Skill player. OK. Let's see. Have they been on the team in the last five years? No. OK.
01:03:56
Speaker
That's gonna be a problem. All right. Wide receiver? Yes. Okay. Is it a wide receiver that was a part of the four falls of Buffalo? No. Okay. You're honing in on the time range. Wide receiver during the drought.
01:04:24
Speaker
Yes. OK. You got three more. You have three more. Would you say this wide receiver was considered? This is this might be a bit of a subjective question, kind of tough to ask. I'll try it anyway. Would you consider this wide receiver one of our better wide receivers during the drought? Yeah, not not horrible, but not not.
01:04:51
Speaker
not like yeah he was decent I would say he's got some decent looking numbers that I'm seeing but he's not like yeah yeah he's yes sorry I don't want to mislead you yeah he was he was pretty solid okay I thought I knew who it was then that one kind of threw me off a little bit do I have two questions left you can ask me yeah two questions left you can ask me anything you want about this player to help
01:05:14
Speaker
I'm trying to think of what would help me limit it down. That's the problem. I can't even think of, I can't even think of that many drought wide receivers, which is going to be the problem. Um, you haven't asked me about Jersey number or draft position. If that would help you just not trying to lead the witness, but can I just, can I just ask what his number was? Yeah, for sure. Okay. What was his number? It's just probably isn't going to help me actually. 83.
01:05:43
Speaker
One more question, one more to help you narrow it in. Even the great ones like Stevie Johnson, I don't remember their jersey numbers. Was it a first rounder? It was. I'll even give you the year to help. It's probably not gonna. It was a first round pick, 13th overall in the 2004 entry draft. Sammy Watkins.
01:06:12
Speaker
Oh, close, but no. Shit. Fuck. Okay, who was it? We are talking about Mr. Lee Evans. Lee Evans, god damn it. I should have known that. Fuck. Oh, that's no good, too. Yeah, right. No, I didn't want to mislead. He had some good seasons, for sure, he was a pro-seller. Sammy Watkins was also like 14, I think. That was a dumb guess. Fuck.
Closing Remarks and Holiday Wishes
01:06:31
Speaker
God damn it. Well, anyways, thanks for playing. Who's that, Bill? Yeah, dude. Oh, fuck. Tom will be good at that one. I'm going to lose that one every time, dude.
01:06:40
Speaker
My trivia with the bills is so like as big a fan as I am, there are probably people that will never listen to this podcast ever again after that.
01:06:48
Speaker
Well, we'll play again with Tom next week, but to wrap it up, thank you everyone from the bottom of our hearts for spending a little bit of time with us. It would mean all technical difficulties, technical difficulties. We don't have exit music. Um, anyways, it would mean a lot to us if you would share an episode, give us a like, give us a follow on Instagram and X at let's go buff pod with two F's. This is my pal, Nigel. I'm Jake.
01:07:13
Speaker
Shout out to our Tom Pal for preparing for Christmas. And you're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast. We're sending you love wherever you are. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Go Bills. Go Savers. Let's go Buffalo.