Lost (Extended) Weekend
Nov 18, 2008 NHL
What a terrible weekend to be a Buffalo sports fan. Two bad Sabres losses (I missed the third period of the Pens game, color me surprised when I saw THAT score later), and of course, the Bills were unable to recover from 3 picks in the first quarter last night. At least the football team showed signs of life, with a great game from Marshawn Lynch and a return TD from Leodis McKelvin (finally, he’s been close so many times).
Vote for Teppo update later.
Tags: bills, buffalo, football, Hockey, lynch, mckelvin, NFL, NHL, penguins, pittsburgh, sabres
Sucktacular Buffalo Sports Weekend
Okay, that sucked. Plain and simple. After the Sabres shuffled through both Friday’s and Saturday’s games, the Bills lose to the stupid Patriots. Some guy named Bryan Little tore up the Sabres in the Thrashers game (Vanek at least got his 12th goal of the season). Tim Connolly was one of the few bright spots last night, getting his first goal in the loss to Boston. The Sabres have until Wednesday to regroup, when St. Louis comes to town for a 7:00 pm start.
The I didn’t get to see the Bills game, but judging by the comments over at the BfloBlog open thread, it’s just as well. McKelvin had a big return to keep help keep them from not even scoring a touchdown. Next week is the Monday Night Football game against Cleveland…maybe a get-right game for them?
Tags: atlanta, bills, blues, boston, bruins, buffalo, connolly, football, Hockey, mckelvin, NFL, NHL, sabres, st. louis, Thomas Vanek, thrashers
NOBODY PANIC
The Bills lost to the Miami Dolphins yesterday, but to hear some people talk about it, you’d think the season were over after that game. I rechecked the standings just to be safe, but yep, that’s two losses now in 7 games. I realize things didn’t look great today, but they seldom do for every game of the year. Remember the Giants last year…early in the season they wanted Coughlin’s head on a platter and the other Manning out on a rail. Now there are people who think Eli is better than Peyton.
Switching to hockey, yesterday, every team in the league played. I only caught the OT and shootout of the Sabres loss to the Avalanche, but it was still a solid game. Tallinder suffered a bad cut on his leg, however, and his status for the Monday night game against the Sens is in question. Ross McKeon at Yahoo! Sports has some stats from Saturday’s games, everything from attendance (go away Islanders) to this bit on Andrej Sekera:
The biggest minute-muncher on Saturday was Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom with 32:01 of ice time. Buffalo’s young defenseman Andrej Sekera was the only other skater in the league to log more than 30 minutes (30:44).
In part due to Hank’s injury, but still. They trust him, and it (for the most part) has paid off. I’ll have an abbreviated Gameday thread up tomorrow, until then, get well Sabres!
Tags: avalanche, bills, buffalo, colorado, dolphins, football, Hockey, injury, manning, miami, NFL, NHL, sabres, sekera, tallinder
Buffalo Sports Media Appearances
Just a heads up, Lee Evans goes national tomorrow on the Jim Rome show (the radio one). He’s usually a great interview, and definitely used to all this radio business thanks to the Lee Evans show on WGR.
Also, Thursday night has the NHL network showing a special on Rick Jeanneret, in their Voices series. Should take you right up to faceoff, if you get those fancy high-numbered channels.
Tags: bills, buffalo, evans, jim rome, nhl network, rick jeanneret, sabres
Bills Rebound But Sabres Fall In Skills Competition
Due to the TV situation for the football game, and general busy-ness, I saw neither game live. Though, for the football game, sounds like quite a few had some problems thanks to the power outages at the Ralph. Anyway, the Buffalo Sabres tied the game and forced a shootout, but Lalime and the boys ended up losing to Atlanta 3-2. Vanek scored again, giving him his seventh. Patrick Lalime played very well, stopping 35 of 37 shots faced. The Sabres still have yet to allow a goal on the PK. Boston is up next for them, on Tuesday. It’s Buffalo’s first appearance on Versus (of many), so get your radios ready.
The Bills got back on the winning track against LT2 and the Chargers, winning 23-14 at the Ralph. Lee Evans caught a fade route TD from 2 yards out (apparently one handed and against his helmet). Marshawn Lynch had 92 total yards and a score also. What really keyed the win was the defense, especially free agent signing Kawika Mitchell, who had the Gordie Howe hat trick of pro football (Sack, Forced Fumble, Interception). Buffalo starts three straight division games, and winning those (or at least 2 out of 3) could very well put the division title out of reach. Especially with Cleveland and KC coming up after that.
Tags: atlanta, bills, buffalo, chargers, evans, football, Hockey, lalime, lynch, mitchell, NFL, NHL, sabres, san diego, Thomas Vanek, thrashers
Bills, Edwards Concussed
Oct 6, 2008 NFL
We weren’t sure at the time, but the Bills game at the Buzzsaw was over just 3 plays in for Buffalo. Adrian Wilson came untouched on a blitz and drove Bills QB Trent Edwards into the ground. Edwards was KO’d despite the hit not looking all THAT bad, and even when he was being carted off the field, still looked dazed (did you notice the guy holding Edwards up in the seat of the cart?). From then on, the game was vintage JP Losman, with a big play to Lee Evans, a rushing TD from Losman, but also too many sacks taken, 2 lost fumbles and an interception. The Cardinals won 41-17, dropping the Bills to 4-1. Hopefully we’ll know more about Trent today.
Tags: arizona, bills, buffalo, cardinals, edwards, evans, football, losman, NFL, wilson
Evans Signs, Edwards A ‘Superstar’
Oct 2, 2008 NFL
In the space of five minutes of watching tWWL, I heard Mark Schlereth declare Trent Edwards an emerging Superstar, with one of the best, most accurate deep balls in the game (ooh, does that burn JP??), and then saw on the scroll that Lee Evans signed a 4 year deal. According to the AP, the deal is worth $37.25 million ($18.25mil guaranteed). Great deal for Evans and the Bills, who actually opened the wallet. And it’s to an African-American, which I’m sure that one guy who calls WGR once in a while to say the Bills treat black players like crap will choose to ignore.
Buffalo Sports Recovery Day
The Bills trailed the Rams 14-6 at one point, but came back to win 31-14. After struggling through the first half, the Bills showed their skill at second half adjustments, driving down for a Fred Jackson TD midway through the third quarter. It should’ve been tied, but there was a penalty on a successful 2 point try. Buffalo took the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter, with Jabari Greer returning an interception for a TD. A Bills field goal and a Lee Evans TD pass rounded out the scoring. Most troubling was Terrence McGee going down with a sprained MCL. However, as has been the norm for the Bills of the past 2 seasons, the next guy stepped in and played well. In this case, it was Leodis McKelvin, who had a forced fumble when he crushed Dane Looker. The Bills are now 4-0, with the Buzzsaw coming in, a team that just gave up 56 to Favre and the Jets.
Jochen Hecht has the Sabres’ only goal as the Wild beat Buffalo 2-1 in the shootout. Patrick Lalime was solid in the start, stopping 18 of 19 in regulation and OT. By the way, what happened with Gaustad/Paille/Bergeron? I only heard that part on the radio so I’m not sure how bad the hit on Key Lime was, but I’m glad Goose and Rivet are stepping up to protect their teammates. I wish Tim Kennedy had been able to score a shootout winner for the home crowd, but what can you do?
Tags: bills, buffalo, evans, football, gaustad, greer, hecht, Hockey, jackson, kennedy, lalime, looker, mcgee, mckelvin, minnesota, NFL, NHL, paille, Patrice Bergeron, rivet, sabres, wild
Bills Gut Out A Win In Jacksonville
Sep 14, 2008 NFL
It was a solid road victory for the Buffalo Bills as they beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 4th Quarter, 20 to 16. Trent Edwards was outstanding, completing 80% of his passes for 1 TD and no picks. Lynch had another TD to go with 59 yards against the Jags D. Fred Jackson was excellent catching passes out of the backfield, and rookie James Hardy had his first two receptions, one of them was the TD pass from Trent Edwards.
Buffalo was down 16-10 a few minutes into the 4th quarter, but came back with 2 scoring drives to take and extend the lead on Jacksonville, and the defense held from there. Oakland is up next, who managed a win against the also-terrible Chiefs this week. BRING ‘EM ON.
Tags: bills, buffalo, edwards, football, hardy, jackson, jacksonville, jaguars, lynch, NFL
Catching Up
Sep 11, 2008 Life, Media, NFL, NHL
I haven’t been able to post much, but here are a few things I’m reading:
Saying Goodbye to the Aud at Sabres.com, I can see the process of dismantling the building beginning outside my window at work. The outer walls are being torn down as we speak. The article has a great history of the Aud if you are (like me) unfamiliar with it other than as the place the Sabres used to play.
Bills news, minus all the Brett Favre crap for week 1. Thanks to the Dukes of Awesome.
Dr. Z moved the Bills from 16 to 9 in his rankings. The out-of-date movie references are free.
Media Day trash talk involving Marcus Stroud and the Jags. Like they needed to get him more amped up for this game with their patchwork o-line. Good luck with that.
Some guy named Brady got hurt, leaving sports punditry all aflutter at the thought of busting out their ’storming the Cassel’ puns.
Basic Instructions - How to Cope When You’re Feeling Old
Richard Zednik’s return is covered by James Mirtle…hopefully his mind is alright after the injury. What a year for sports injuries in Buffalo.
Oh, and before there is too much complaining about Quinn being a minority owner, check out this bit on Henry Samueli of the Ducks. Hopefully it’s the only time sex caves, Ecstasy and the owner of a hockey club are mentioned in the same place.
Tags: anaheim, bills, buffalo, cassel, ducks, ecstasy, favre, football, henry samueli, Hockey, NFL, NHL, sabres, sex cave, stroud, Tom Brady
