Author: Chris Ostrander

Extra Point: Bills dismantled by Pats

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At the NFL level, a 52-point letdown is typically a systematic, four-quarter dismantling. The New England Patriots only needed a quarter and a half to hang that many on the Bills on Sunday.

Technically it was 45 points in a quarter and a half which still registers on a historic level.

Buffalo’s two best units – their offensive and defensive lines – were neutralized for the entire afternoon. The defensive line’s struggles were the most visible as Tom Brady had more than enough time to pass and the Patriots running backs ran free for the entire game.

Without an answer for the Patriots running game, the Bills were unable to keep the Patriots focused on one aspect of their offense. Not only was Brady able to pick and choose his spots when passing, the combination of Ridley and Bolden were good for at least four yards on every carry. Considering the Bills neutralized the run in all three of their games to this point, that change was particularly disappointing to witness.

The Bills had zero answers for the Patriots playcalling, no matter how vanilla it actually was. Justin Rodgers was unable to match Wes Welker, Bryan Scott and the other linebackers couldn’t run with Rob Gronkowski and the line wasn’t able to create either a pass rush or cause problems at the line in run defense. Outside of a few possessions in the first half – two of which were helped by missed field goals – the defense couldn’t stop the Patriots for the entire game.

On the offensive side of the ball, Ryan Fitzpatrick still managed to roll up four touchdowns but also added a quartet of interceptions over the course of the afternoon. The two late interceptions did little other than to provide the Patriots with a short field to pad their stats, the other two were far more costly. Granted, the first came off a deflection, so it shouldn’t be placed squarely on Fitzpatrick’s shoulders.

While Fitzpatrick showed his ability to make some big throws he also made some poor decisions and did not take care of the ball. By the end of the day, he had proven that he isn’t the answer for the Bills at quarterback. While he is more than capable of running the offense and putting up impressive numbers, he is not capable of winning a game on his own.

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Amerks (Sabres) Season Preview: The blueline

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The specter of past failures often loom large for NHL franchises. For example, the lack of defensive depth in the spring of 2006 prompted Darcy Regier to go on a drafting and free agent spree that stocked the Sabres cupboards with defensemen. Now the organization is reaping the rewards of that draft strategy.

However, as it pertains to the Americans for the upcoming season, the blueline is going to be awfully crowded. Rochester will enter camp with ten defensemen on their roster. Like with their goaltenders, at least one or two will be destined to spend some time in the Coast during the year.

Easy money on that player will be Corey Fienhage. The former third round pick hasn’t panned out at nearly every level since he was drafted by the Sabres and he even spent some time in Gwinnett last season. Nick Crawford could also be a candidate for the Coast depending on the performance of some of the rookies that are coming in this season. Drew Schiestel will also be in a sticky situation as he comes back to the organization after being loaned to Texas last season – a move that many interpreted as a death sentence for his time with the Sabres.

Get him a normal number.

Schiestel will be back for another year, but is looking up at a deep roster of defensemen who all saw serious time with the Amerks last year. Should Schiestel stay healthy over the season, he could certainly climb back up into the good graces with the coaching staff. After all, he was likely the first player who would have been called up last year had he not suffered additional injuries. The main hurdle Schiestel now needs to deal with will be the young prospects that will be playing in Rochester this season.

Mark Pysyk and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc are each entering their first professional season and will each bring plenty of mobility to a blueline that is already rich with physical defenders. Pysyk is a well-heralded prospect who fell to the Sabres in the first round of 2010. He is mobile, a right handed shot and is responsible at both ends of the ice. While he isn’t a straight ahead offensive dynamo, he certainly isn’t a stay-at-home stalwart, either. Pysyk plays a very balanced game and should get plenty of minutes in Rochester.

As for his fleet-footed 2010 draft mate. JGL is far more Gragnani than he is Campbell. JGL is a scoring machine and proved as much in his final year of junior. His defensive capabilities scare me, especially after seeing how useless Gragnani was in all but one playoff series during his Sabres career. Finding a way to develop a two-way game will likely be a key for JGL’s development.

A few mainstays for the Amerks blueline will be Alex Biega, Joe Finley and Matt MacKenzie. Biega, who wore a letter last season will continue to bring that sound two-way effort he has since his time at Harvard. Meanwhile MacKenzie will continue his development track that is basically one year ahead of Pysyk at this point. Continue reading →

Extra Point: Defense maintains in Mistake by the Lake Bowl

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Sunday had all the makings to be a full-on blow out. However, part-way through the first quarter the only thing that was blown out was C.J. Spiller’s shoulder.

However, the Bills maintained and fought back against the ebb in momentum they experienced to hold on for their second win of the season. The 24-14 win was, in many ways, impressive against a team the Bills couldn’t afford to lose to.

Prior to his exit, Spiller showed that his dominance is certainly no fluke as he danced his way through the Cleveland defense on a number of plays, including a lengthy TD reception on a swing pass. Without Spiller, the offense began to sputter before re-devoting to the run game with Tashard Choice.

Maintaining a consistent running attack was something that started to disappear immediately after Spiller’s injury, but the coaching staff reverted to the original game plan when Choice showed an ability to hit holes and grab chunk yardage on most carries. The success on the ground allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to grab three more passing touchdowns against a Browns defense that looked out of their element on a number of plays.

Kudos should also go to the Bills defense that managed to contain a top-five pick out of the Cleveland backfield and forced the Browns to the air far more often than they likely would have preferred. The dominance of the Bills front four has been one a constant this season and there are now numbers that point to this success.

While week one was an ugly blowout, the front seven remained stout against the run. Weeks two and three showed continued success in the running game while also providing a handful of sacks from every member of the line. It is pretty clear that the front four will be capable of creating havoc and mismatches on a weekly basis, the key will be for the rest of the defense to capitalize off the opportunities created by the front four.

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Amerks (Sabres) Season Preview: Betweeen the pipes

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Buffalo Sabres training camp was supposed to have opened last Friday. Instead, Tyler Ennis agreed to hop over the pond to Switzerland, Christian Ehrhoff was beginning his stint back in Germany and other Sabres were pondering European deals as well.

While it doesn’t seem as if the Sabres will be starting up any time soon, the Amerks have been injected with some extra talent (from their parent club) and have a deep, overpopulated roster to sort through before the puck drops on the AHL season.

The most difficult decisions for Ron Rolston and his staff will be at forward and defense, where the surplus of players is significant. However, the most delicate situation that Rolston and the organization as a whole will need to deal with is in net.

David Leggio is back for another season with the club but will have some interesting company this season. Rookies Nathan Lieuwen and Connor Knapp will each be entering their initial professional seasons but in a situation where two’s company and three is typically a crowd.

Leggio is the unquestioned starter after finding his way into Rolston’s good graces with consistently solid play last year. This was a pleasant surprise for the WNYer because of the contract given to AHL journeyman Drew MacIntyre who was signed to provide more stability as Buffalo’s third goaltender. However, one year removed from outperforming Jhonas Enroth in Portland, Leggio did it again to another goaltender who was tabbed as the superior talent.

The big step here is that Leggio is just one injury away from stepping in as the Sabres backup. This is likely something that the Sabres are at least somewhat concerned with because of the massive question mark that is Leggio’s ability at the NHL level. While he is a very good AHL goalkeeper, there is nothing that indicates how strong he would be filling time in the show.

Leggio’s presence will stabilize the Amerks crease and give the team a reliable starter for a majority of their regular season contests. He should also serve as a tutor of sorts for Lieuwen and Knapp. Where the situation gets sticky is the way in which the two rookies will be rotated. Continue reading →

The idea of a second Toronto date is foolish

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Rumor had it that the Bills next agreement with Rodgers would bring about more games being played in a baseball stadium north of the border. The Bills, however, put a stop to the rumor quite quickly.

Of course, you can never confirm much until all the chips are on the table.

With an agreement expected to be finalized within a few months, official word on the next few seasons of Bills in Toronto will be confirmed by both parties. While Russ Brandon’s proclamation will likely hold true, there is always the chance for amendments and additions to this sort of series. Maybe it won’t happen with this next set, but what about the set of games after that?

The Toronto series hasn’t necessarily taken off just yet. While the Bills have little interest in the fan turnout and experience – they’re getting paid either way – Rodgers Centre has yet to be packed to the gills for one of these contests. In fact, many have reported that the visiting teams are often the ones getting the most support. The Bills struggles have certainly played a role in the poor support in Toronto to this point, but there is little that would indicate any change in many trends at Rodgers Centre.

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When the QB of the future arrives, Bills should let him season

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Sometime in the near future the Buffalo Bills will need to acquire a player that can be pegged as the quarterback of the future. While it is certain that Ryan Fitzpatrick isn’t the quarterback of the future, when his replacement will be brought in is far less certain.

Discount Double Check was able to season behind a veteran before taking the reigns in Green Bay.

The safe assumption for the Bills will be to draft a quarterback in order to make a proper investment in the position and the future of the team. The free agency or trade option is always there, but a majority of the league’s elite quarterbacks were acquired with a draft pick. The question that will eventually need to be asked is; how long should this player be given to blossom?

In a league that has created a “what have you done for me lately?” culture, there isn’t much room for error for quarterbacks. Typically the higher a player is drafted, the shorter the time is for them to meet expectations. Just ask David Carr, Tim Couch or J.P. Losman. All first round picks who never found their way as starters in the league, now they’re either serving as a backup, winning UFL championships or on TV. However, are top prospect quarterbacks given too little rope to hang themselves with?

Alex Smith was all but declared a bust up until last season.  Suddenly, thanks to a QB friendly coach – and defense – Smith has begun to enjoy success and show some of the strengths that made him the first overall pick in 2005. That is seven years worth of ups, downs, trade rumors and other starting quarterbacks with his team only to arrive at the point the 49ers expected when they picked Smith first overall.

Obviously the Nines are being rewarded for their diligence, no matter how long it took. Seven years is probably far too long to wait if a quarterback is expected to blossom into the franchise cornerstone that comes along with a high draft pick. For most teams in the NFL, it seems as if three seasons is usually the magic number when it comes to quarterbacks, coaches or just about anyone else. Continue reading →

Extra Point: Bills rebound for win in opener

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You might say that Bills fans still have no clue what their team is capable of. Seven days after a no-show, blowout loss to the Jets, the Bills rolled up a number of big plays and trounced Kansas City 35-17. Which team will show up for the rest of the season remains to be seen.

Buffalo hitched their wagon to C.J. Spiller and let him carry the load and he did a fine job. Spiller scored two of Buffalo’s first half touchdowns and was a major player on the drive that led to the third. In all, Spiller accounted for 170 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, the Bills defense looked more like the unit most were expecting to see this season.

Yesterday’s win was very much a mirror image from week one for the Bills. The pass rush was effective, they were successful with blitz packages, the secondary was stout and their quarterback took care of the football. However, the constants through two weeks might be more noteworthy; the offensive line continues to play impressive football and Spiller is proving to be capable of carrying the offense.

In fact, this victory could quite possibly turn into one of the most well-rounded games the Bills play all season. Defensively, they didn’t give up anything big until very late in the game and they nearly had wire-to-wire control offensively.

Even the special teams looked solid as John Potter continued to bomb kicks through the end zone and even had a solid directional kick to the corner of the goal line on another occasion. I’m still a little iffy on the punt coverage after a few more kicks that the coverage team seemed to struggle with. What is difficult to ascertain is if this is a kicker issue (Moorman kicking punts that are difficult to cover) or a coverage issue (cover teams that aren’t filling lanes). Reagrdless, they prevented big plays on their end and produced one of their own.

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Sabres lock up Ennis, assign players to Amerks as lockout nears

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As official word on a lockout gets ever closer, the Buffalo Sabres made a few final roster decisions before the inevitable becomes official.

The biggest news is Tyler Ennis’ new two-year contract. Ennis will make just over $2 million this season and just over $3 million next year on the deal. This will lead to another summer of negotiations for the Sabres and Ennis in 2014, but it comes off a moderate contract that should work well for both sides.

The only true loss here is that the deal isn’t any longer. However, with some of the jury on Ennis still out, it doesn’t shackle the Sabres to the player for a ridiculous term. Otherwise there isn’t much else to say about the Ennis contract. It was an agreeable deal between both sides that will let each party reconvene under the new CBA and what will hopefully be two productive seasons from the center.

In the end, Ennis probably comes out as the winner. He receives a raise and will be back at the bargaining table in two summers for what should be a sizeable new contract. On the bright side, the Sabres didn’t need to sacrifice dollars to buy up UFA years with this deal. So it is a win-win.

The Sabres took Friday to assign 20 players to Rochester along with returning three additional players to their junior clubs. Well, Joel Armia is playing professional hockey with Assat. In addition, the Sabres made a somewhat surprise signing by inking Andrey Makarov to an entry-level contract.

The decision to loan players to Rochester was an expected move for teams across the NHL. A number of the players were going to be playing in Rochester next season, but there are a few names which should draw the interest of Sabres fans for the 2012-13 AHL season. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 2.1 – Collective Bracing

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Back for a new season, Eric and I talk a bit about how awesome home World Cup qualifying matches are (Eric just returned from Columbus), how terrible things are starting to look regarding the impending lockout and play a bit of plus/minus.

As always, catch me at @2ITB_Buffalo and Eric at @3rdManIn