NFL Week 1 - Forget The Script
Sep 8, 2008 NFL
I was “camping” all weekend at Jellystone, so I hope that you enjoyed your weekend news like Peters reporting to the Bills. The wi-fi was lame so I couldn’t check in with you guys at all.
The Buffalo Bills looked dominant at times in beating the Seahawks 34-10. The special teams in particular had a great game, with Roscoe Parrish returning a punt 63 yards for a touchdown, a fake fieldgoal turned TD pass from Moorman to Ryan Denney, and finally forcing a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up another score. The offense was efficient, with a Beast Mode TD on a 3rd and 11 draw play. Evans caught 4 balls for 102 yards, and Robert Royal had a TD. The defense was in the Seattle backfield constantly, with Kavika Mitchell and Marcus Stroud showing why they were added. Youboty actually made some plays, and Posluszny was involved a lot as well.
The Bills’ excellent play makes the AFC East interesting now, as Tom Brady may well be out for the year with a torn ACL. Bernard Pollard of the Chiefs hit Brady’s knee with his helmet, and well, I’ll let him tell it:
“He was in a lot of pain,” Pollard said. “When you hear a scream, you know that.”
Matt Cassel finished the game out, a 17-10 Pats win, but it definitely was not the Pats of last year, when Brady threw for 50 TDs. There is still and MRI yet to happen, but it’s telling that Chris Simms and Tim Rattay were already rumoured to be on the way to get a physical. Of course, it’s Belichick, who will probably just declare that Brady has a ‘lower body injury’ and is day to day.
Anyway, it’s interesting to look at the quarterbacks now playing in the division, as Trent Edwards doesn’t look so bad compared to Pennington and whoever the Pats end up rolling out. Favre is still Favre but I’d still take the Bills’ situation over the Jets.
Did Kyle Orton’s Bears just beat Peyton Manning’s Colts? Eli’s brother sure looked to be laboring out there, maybe he needed the preseason work more than he thought. That Matt Forte looked very good as well, for guy I hadn’t heard of until I started my fantasy drafts.
Michael Turner helped Matt Ryan out in Atlanta with a 220 yard rushing performance in the post-Vick era. Good to see Turner make his mark how that he’s no longer backing up LT.
I’m ready for more football, glad the first game starts early tonight, what with my new 6am start time.
Tags: bears, belichick, bills, buffalo, cassel, chicago, chiefs, colts, denney, evans, favre, football, forte, indianapolis, kansas city, lynch, manning, mitchell, moorman, new england, NFL, no the other simms, orton, patriots, pennington, pollard, posluszny, rattay, royal, ryan, seahawks, seattle, simms, stroud, Tom Brady, turner, youboty
Man-Games Lost to Injury
Mar 18, 2008 NHL
If you were wondering just how many games have been lost due to injury for your favorite team this year, James Mirtle has compiled the list (from data at one of the NHL’s sites) here. You can see that teams like Boston and Carolina do have a leg to stand on with their playing of the injury card, though it doesn’t take into account how important certain players would be. Games lost by Michael Ryan count the same as games lost by Jaro Spacek.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, boston, bruins, Carolina, Hockey, Hurricanes, mirtle, NHL, ryan, sabres, Spacek
Gameday - Sabres at Penguins (updated)
Mar 12, 2008 NHL
The Buffalo Sabres travel to the Igloo to face the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight, and they do so without Andrew Peters. Peters was suspended for one game for hitting Colton Orr while he was on the bench. Peters was retaliating for a hit that Orr put on a Sabres player that put him into the bench as regulation time expired. On the injury front, Steve Bernier and Michael Ryan both practiced but at this point their status for tonight is uncertain. Kalinin is out for 1 to 2 weeks, and Spacek longer, so Mike Weber will be on the ice.
Buffalo currently sits 4 points behind Philly in the standings, and Philly plays the Maple Leafs again tonight for the back-end of a home and home. You can just go ahead and fill in al the typical sports cliches about it being ’crunch time’ or ‘must-win’ on your own, don’t need my help with that by now.
Update: No Sidney Crosby tonight, he is sitting with that ankle injury that kept him out the past several weeks. Connolly may sit with the continuing hip soreness, getting The Kaleta back in. Bernier will play.
Tags: connolly, crosby, Hockey, injury, kaleta, kalinin, NHL, orr, penguins, peters, pittsburgh, ryan, sabres, Spacek, Steve Bernier, the kaleta, weber
Gameday - Lightning at Sabres
Feb 20, 2008 NHL
The Tampa Bay Lightning are in Buffalo for their first away game against the Sabres, after losing both of their home games against Buffalo. Michael Ryan and Maxim Afinogenov are out for tonight, Connolly and Peters are in. Derek Roy is battling the flu but should go. A buddy of mine who went to the practice today stated that Miller was working with the equipment guys on his pads, seeming to think that one of them was not moving quite right (and therefore leaving a gap) when he is kneeling. Also, Hecht was working with Ryan around the opposite net, practicing putting the puck top-shelf from that position.
My wife is back to getting off work at 7:30, so hopefully that won’t cause any problems with watching the game tonight.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, Hockey, lightning, Maxim Afinogenov, NHL, ryan, sabres, tampa bay
Gameday - Sabres at Lightning
Jan 29, 2008 NHL
The Sabres’ first game back from the All-Star break is in Tampa against the Lightning. Max and Tim are still on the mend, although Afinogenov is ‘days away’ while Connolly will need a few more practices before Lindy will bring him back. Connolly also has a bone spur in his hip that will require off-season surgery. He can play with it but it’s going to hurt. Michael Ryan should be back after recovering from the eye injury he sustained in the rout against Atlanta. It was a lot worse than I though, he had problems with his sight for a few days, and will be wearing a visor now (possibly permanently). Even with Ryan back, MacArthur and Kaleta are both travelling with the team to Florida.
Mike Harrington at the News has an article on Vanek, detailing the forward’s struggles this season. It does show that Vanek is working hard, and they may have figured out the main problem:
“I look at myself and I blame myself,” Vanek said after the team’s 85-minute practice Monday afternoon in the Amherst Pepsi Center. “I’ve got to be a lot better. I’m trying to be every day in practice, believe me. I’m not trying to slack off. There’s certain areas I need to work on. I’m trying to get better.”
Vanek is notoriously hard on himself and has been upfront about his struggles all season. One thing he needs to do is keep shooting more; he has four shots on goal in three of the last four games and it’s no coincidence he’s totaled a goal and five assists in that span.
The Roy/Vanek/Stafford line was awesome pre-break, so hopefully (me being the official blogosphere Sabres Optimist™) this game will be a continuation of that offensive prowess.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, connolly, Drew Stafford, Hockey, injury, kaleta, lightning, macarthur, Maxim Afinogenov, NHL, roy, ryan, sabres, tampa bay, Thomas Vanek
Shootout Changes for the Sabres
Jan 16, 2008 NHL
I was listening to Paul Hamilton on the way into work today, and it was mentioned that some surprising players may be in early for the next shootout. Michael Ryan has won the last two shootout competitions, Patrick Kaleta has done well, as has Goose. Hopefully the extra practice for Ryan Miller will help him, too. He’s stopping these shots last year, despite looking much improved during regulation and OT.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, gaustad, Hockey, kaleta, NHL, ryan, Ryan Miller, sabres, shootout
Soup to Nuts: Campbell Calls Off Negotiations
Jan 15, 2008 NHL
You can guarantee every Sabres blogger is going to bust out the soup puns. I apologize in advance.
Brian Campbell told the media that he will not be negotiating a contract extension for the rest of this season. He says that he wants to concentrate on hockey and it’s not fair to the team or him to continue at this time and possibly cause a distraction. He will be heading to his second All-Star game.
Let’s do some comparisons. Campbell is currently 8th in the league in scoring (with Zdeno Chara). Chara has a cap hit of 7.5 million per year, by the way, though he is more of a physical presence than Soupy. Others of note: Rob Blake (6mil but is 37), Wade Redden (6.5mil) and Kimmo Timonen (6.33mil). You can assume that some team that wants to make a splash in free agency (Washington has been thrown out there) will make Brian an offer in that range.
Looking ahead to 08/09, the Sabres have Paetsch, Lydman and Tallinder locked up for that year and the next, and Spacek will be in his final year. Kalinin, Campbell, Numminen and Pratt are all UFAs. Weber and Sekera are both in Rochester, and could get a shot at a roster spot. If Campbell goes, I can’t imagine them not keeping Kalinin. I’m not saying anything on Teppo until we know if he will A: ever be healthy again and B: want to come back to this team.
Outside the defense corps, Ryan Miller will be the next big deal to be done. Mike Ryan is the only forward that will be a UFA, MacArthur, Gaustad and Paille will be RFAs. I really have no problem at this time with the Sabres signing any of those guys to a longer term deal, although if losing Ryan means more time for MacArthur, I’d do that in a heartbeat.
So that’s next year. I’m not sure what arbitration will look like, but after getting burned by that a few times, I’m sure the Sabres management will avoid that as much as possible…right?
Tags: B-Lo Sports, brian campbell, campbell, chara, Hockey, kalinin, lydman, macarthur, NHL, numminen, paetsch, pratt, redden, Rob Blake, ryan, Ryan Miller, sabres, sekera, signing, Spacek, tallinder, timonen, weber
Sabres Rally Not Enough
Jan 6, 2008 NHL
The Sabres lost their fifth straight game on Friday, getting beat by the Sens 5-3. They go down 3-0 before scoring three straight to tie (Kotalik, Hecht and Ryan with some great passing from Vanek) but could not hold on. Ryan Miller was pulled, mostly to get him out from behind a porous D. The Sabres will try to pick up the pieces on Sunday as they face the Thrashers, who they shut out 6-0 back in October.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, hecht, Hockey, kotalik, NHL, ottawa, ryan, Ryan Miller, sabres, senators, thibault, Thomas Vanek
When Last We Spoke…
Dec 10, 2007 NHL
…The Buffalo Sabres had been drubbed by the Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks. The beatdown continued into the next game, versus the LA Kings. It got bad enough at points that I switched it off. T-bo was chased, but Miller didn’t fare much better with little help in front.
Thankfully, the Sabres salvaged their western trip with a spanking of the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, with an 7-1 win. The Sharks’ Sandish Ozolinsh scored their only goal in the first period (off Nolan Pratt’s stick), but it was all Sabres after that. Derek Roy took off past the Sharks D and hit Kotalik straight out of the box for the first of 4 goals in the second period. Tim Connolly ripped the puck in shorthanded after two defenders got tangled up, followed by Adam Mair making a great pass to Michael Ryan untouched in front of the San Jose net for the next goal. The Sabres finished up the period with a power play goal by Paul Gaustad, redirecting the point shot from Brian Campbell (who just kept getting shots from there).
Nabokov was pulled for the third period, but it wasn’t his fault they lost. The score stayed 4-1 until midway through the final period. A turnover in their own end (a rip by Stafford) gives Derek Roy his 10th goal of the season. Gaustad (with his Mom in attendance) put in Maxim Afinogenov’s rebound for his second of the night next. Vanek finishes the scoring with a power play goal in front of the net, it really looked like the Sharks had just given up at that point.
Credit for the win goes to Paul Gaustad. From his first shift Goose was all over the ice, wrecking the Sharks in front of the net, bugging their goaltenders and could easily have scored more than 2 goals. Also, the Sabres’ PK was 6 of 6 on the night while the PP was 2 for 4.
The Sabres return home for a Versus game tomorrow night against the Wookiee and his friends, the Boston Bruins.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, campbell, connolly, Drew Stafford, gaustad, goose, Hockey, kotalik, mair, Maxim Afinogenov, nabokov, NHL, ozolinsh, pratt, roy, ryan, Ryan Miller, sabres, san jose, sharks, Thomas Vanek
Four In A Row!
Nov 26, 2007 NHL, They Said It
Jocelyn Thibault stopped all 24 shots he faced, including some spectacular saves, in beating his old team 3-0. Jaroslav Spacek gave T-Bo all the support he needed with a power play goal in the second period, followed up by some hard work in front of Huet by Michael Ryan and Thomas Vanek for a second goal shortly thereafter. Vanek is red hot right now, with 6 points in his past 3 games. Hecht scored an empty-netter from his own end, which is how you know things are going the Sabres’ way right now.
Jean Béliveau, the former Canadiens great, had this to say about the Sabres:
You know … this Buffalo team was having a lot of trouble this season - and what else could you expect after losing players such as Daniel Brière and Chris Drury? It takes more than five games to put together a team … to get them working the way they did tonight.
There’s still a lot of talent on that team, and maybe the other teams in the league don’t realize it. It’s always a sign of a good team when it’s working harder as the game goes on.
It sounds so sensible when laid out like that. No reason to panic, guys, it takes more than a couple of games to find yourselves after losing your captains. If this continues to pan out, the league will be fearing the Sabres yet again.
Tags: B-Lo Sports, Canadiens, hecht, Hockey, Montreal, NHL, ryan, sabres, Spacek, thibault, Thomas Vanek
