This week’s loss to the Colts all but eliminated the Bills from playoff contention. I penned the recap for Buffalo Wins this week and rather than write the same thing twice, I’d instruct you to check out the piece I posted for Buffalo Wins.
Author: Chris Ostrander
Bisons new logo leaves something to be desired
In case you haven’t heard, old is new in Western New York. All new construction bids must be accurate to the Canal-era, historic preservation is the hip thing to do and sports teams are reverting to their past with uniform designs.
The Bisons joined the Bills and Sabres on the retro train with today’s logo unveiling. The new logo is a new take on the original batting Bison logo which has recently stepped in as the team’s alternate logo. As the picture shows, the new logo is the same batting Bison but with softer details and more of a royal blue than the navy from the throwbacks. I am, however, a fan of the wordmark. It isn’t close to being superior to the classic script of the throwback, but it is bold and an improvement over the last wordmark.
The understated baseball stitching is a nice touch and compliments the logo quite well. However, Buster looks almost devoid of any sort of detail aside from his snout and eyes. The throwback logo – which this is obviously based on – gives far more detail in every portion of Buster. That alone makes this logo inferior to the original. The lack of general detail looks weak and somewhat cheap. While the direction was clearly spot on, the execution wasn’t. Continue reading
Disappointing changes made to Pond Hockey
The Labatt Blue Pond Hockey Tournament has been a welcome event in the middle of the last few Buffalo winters. Taking notes from it’s older cousin in Eagle River, Wisconsin, the Buffalo tournament has truly become a must-play for any beer leaguer in Western New York.
As is the case with sport in Buffalo, things have rarely gone according to plan. The tournament has been plagued by bad ice, warm weather and many hiccups. 2012 was the climax of various hurdles over the first five iterations as the Inner Harbor didn’t freeze and the tournament needed to change over to a street hockey format.
The tournament organizers are obviously trying to combat that by building in additional fail-safe methods for the upcoming tournament. However the changes being made have a very disappointing tone to them. The tournament will change from a weekend long event to a one-day marathon of hockey and the registration process has also changed from first-come first-serve to a lottery process. Continue reading
Extra Point: Squishing the Fish
Winning affords teams a number of things. Namely, it absolves them of many of their mistakes made along the way. For one night, at least, the Bills can be absolved from some of their misguided decisions.
Buffalo managed to secure their first division win against Miami thanks to a sound defensive effort and another phenomenal return from Leodis McKelvin. C.J. Spiller had another productive evening on a night when neither offense was capable of building much momentum.
However, the one thing that stood out to many fans were the dubious playcalls made in specific situations by Chan Gailey. His third and short playcalling was particularly questionable on drive ending plays:
– 3rd and 1 from the BUF 33 – Tashard Choice wildcat run, no gain. Punt
– 3rd and 3 from the MIA 14 – Empty set, incomplete pass intended for Donald Jones. Bills FG
– 3rd and 1 from the MIA 16 – Empty set, incomplete pass intended for Scott Chandler. Bills FG
– 3rd and 3 from the MIA 17 – Fitzpatrick sacked. Bills FG
– 1st and goal from the MIA 4 – Three pass attempts, one defensive pass interference penalty and three incompletions. Bills FG from the MIA 1.
– 3rd and 1 from the BUF 44 – C.J. Spiller run for -1 yard.
The final play listed came in the fourth quarter when the Bills were milking the clock. Now, that was probably the right playcall and it just didn’t get the job done. But it is perplexing to think that Gailey would call six pass plays on short yardage situations in the red zone. Maybe the specter of Spiller’s goal-line fumble against New England still haunts the coach. Maybe Fred Jackson’s absence caused Gailey to go in a different direction. However, these are exactly the situations that fans and media have pointed to as shortcomings with Gailey’s attitude towards the run game. Continue reading
Extra Point: Groundhog Pick
Sunday must have felt like Groundhog Day for Ryan Fitzpatrick. Just as he did against Tennessee, Fitzpatrick played a sterling game only to unravel late in the fourth when the Bills were trying to lock up a victory.
Just like against the Titans, Fitzpatrick’s late miscue will receive just as much blame as the defense should for another 35+ point performance. That makes five games in which the defense has allowed 30 or more points. Shocking stat of the week: The Bills have lost all five games in which they surrender more than 30 points.
Danny Woodhead’s touchdown scamper was another astounding lack of run support from any of the 11 players on the field. But the rest of the performance wasn’t nearly as bad as the travesty that made up back-to-back losses to the Patriots and 49ers earlier in the year.
Buffalo outgained the mighty Patriots by nearly 140 yards. Yet they lost the game due in part to ugly penalty yardage and an early fumble that gave the Patriots a short field.
Chan Gailey still underutilized his most prolific weapon, CJ Spiller. But that won’t be the case on Thursday, as Fred Jackson will not be available for the Bills. Spiller finished with an average of 10 yards per play (9 carries, 70 yards and 6 catches, 61 yards). Once again, Spiller averaged a first down every time he touched the ball. Continue reading
Questionable roster choices have hurt the Bills depth
Terrence McGee’s career developed an extremely unfortunate trend the past few years. He has, quite literally, been limping towards oblivion and landing on the IR this week might just seal the deal for the longtime Bill.
Joining McGee on the IR is right tackle Erik Pears. John Potter was also released, making room for three players on the 53-man roster. Buffalo has since filled the three vacant spots and head into the rest of the week’s practices with a full roster.
Marcus Easley has finally found his way to the active roster after three seasons of hardships. Easley, elevated from the practice squad fills the spot that the Bills had allocated for their additional specialist at the beginning of the season. The Bills filled the other two spots with tackle Thomas Welch and CB Crezdon Butler. Continue reading
Extra Point: Bills run away from winning combination
Before the final drive of the game for the Bills, CJ Spiller only had nine total touches. He picked up a pair of receptions on that drive to bring his overall number of touches to 11 on the day. Fred Jackson also had 11 touches. Of the 54 plays the Bills ran, Jackson or Spiller had the ball on 40 percent of them.
Nine of the 22 touches the backs had come in the passing game, leaving only 12 total rushes between the two. That is 22% of the offense that went through the running game (excluding runs by Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brad Smith). Yes, less than a quarter of the offense went through a running attack ranked in the top five of the NFL.
That isn’t to say that CJ Spiller didn’t produce. Outside of getting stuffed on a few runs, he still averaged 6.5 yards per carry and has 102 all-purpose yards. That is a whopping 9.2 average per touch. So, while the rest of the offense sputtered, Spiller was capable of nearing first down yardage every time he touched the ball (on average). Continue reading
Inclusion of Afinogenov in Alumni Plaza mural has caused a stir
A fairly innocuous observation between Eric and myself on the last Instigator Podcast has suddenly become a big story in hockey circles. Maybe if there was hockey being played this wouldn’t even matter. But since this ridiculous lockout continues, Max Afinogenov’s inclusion on the Alumni Plaza mural is a story.To offer a recap, Afinogenov was included on a photo mural of former Sabres that adorns the walkway in the newly anointed Alumni Plaza. The decision to cover the walkway with former Sabres was not only a decision likely forced by the lockout (and inability to use current players for promotions) and the convenient fact that the creation of the Plaza would make the black and white headshot mural quite out of place. For what it’s worth, the team picture mural concept was getting old fast and I commend the Sabres for having a new option that they can renew each season, if they so choose.
Afinogenov is one of the last players pictured and is sandwiched between Chris Drury, Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller. Both Drury and Afinogenov are featured in “slug” jerseys and tie together the current era of team history on the mural. The question surrounding Afinogenov’s inclusion asks not only how deserving he is of the honor and how many other Sabre greats were passed over for him. Continue reading
Canalside should piggyback on Perry Street proposal
The proposed Perry Street streetscape project really got some wheels turning for me. The proposed improvements will not only directly impact the businesses in the Cobblestone District, but it will serve as an aesthetically pleasing entryway to the Ohio St. corridor and, more importantly, Canalside.
A point made in my post on the Perry St. proposal included the need for Canalside to eventually get permanent, significantly eye-catching signage for the district once the major construction projects are completed. While there is no doubt of where you are upon arrival to the neighborhood, replacing some of the temporary banners with permanent and dynamic signage should be first on ECHDC’s to-do list. Continue reading
Dynamic Perry Street project should be fast tracked
A super group of business entities that occupy various areas around Canalside and the Cobblestone District have joined forces in hopes of adding streetscape improvements to Perry Street and the area around Canalside.
As reported by Buffalo Rising, Seneca Gaming, the Sabres, Savarino Companies and HSBC have all voiced support of a project that will connect Canalside with its neighbors around the larger arena and entertainment district with an impressive set of streetscape upgrades.
From the Buffalo Rising report:
The primary goal of the project is to enhance the visual appeal and experience of the corridor and to link the areas entertainment and retail connections. Design highlights:
- Widen the pedestrian corridors by shifting parking away from the sidewalk in some locations and using unique and sculptural screening elements to buffer the lots. The screening elements would be reminiscent of the area’s industrial past.
- Provide unique and consistent catenary street lighting to visually reinforce linkages between destinations.
- Use artistic lighting accents and aerial lighting canopies over crosswalks to highlight key nodes.
- Install curving and colorful pavement design to evoke a waterfront theme and allow for seating opportunities, landscape buffer treatments and trees.
- Plant a double rows of trees on each side of the street to create a canopied walkway with permeable concrete and structural soils beneath to establish desirable growing conditions.
- Use cobblestone materials for benches, planter curbs, and other features to unify the look of the street with the rest of the Cobblestone District.
- Improve street aesthetics and safety with new safe pedestrian crossings, line-striped crosswalks, and pavement overlays, including well-defined and buffered bicycle lanes.
- Utilize wayfinding signage to provide directions to pedestrians, drivers and cyclers. Continue reading
