#(wow imagine playing a playoff game with no o-line and winning!)

[cementcornfield]

the thumb....

[thepresspodcast]

The Press - Week 3 vs Dallas

The Press w/ Chris[tian] and Spense[r] Week 3 - Cowboys Well, that’s one way to open the season at home. Making a goal line stop on the final play of the game against the Patriots is the type of victory to get the young guys “big game” experience and the old guard amped for a return to the Super Bowl, and without the 12s filling the stadium to give our guys that extra boost in those moments, it was nice to see a miracle happen when all seemed lost. The offense is rolling, and that’s mainly due to efficiency more than anything else. Russ might have eviscerated a ho-hum Atlanta secondary, but New England is always prepared for their opponent--that should inspire that weird, spiritual confidence this team can bolster with iconic performances against great teams in prime time. It’s hard to imagine the offense being better than it is right now. The defense, however, is still sort of up in the air. Jamal Adams is great and Quinton Dunbar seems to be stepping into his role effectively, but the Quandre Diggs ejection early makes it hard to properly evaluate the ceiling of this defense. Maybe that’s a good thing? The secondary without Diggs was shredded by a very dominant Cam Newton, and with a depleted pass rush, it’s hard to imagine facing a similar juggernaut and expecting a different result. This team will rely on winning the turnover battle and making big plays like usual, and that’s why Seattle escaped Sunday night with a victory--a clutch goal line stop from guys stepping up to help out a diminished defensive line. Dallas is another team difficult to truly evaluate this early into the season. Key injuries and a new head coach in Mike McCarthy have muddied whether the talented roster can actually get the job done against potential playoff competition--at least this week. After barely managing to beat the collapsing Falcons as the clock hit :00, the Cowboys are coming to Seattle with as much momentum as the Seahawks, hoping to ride Dak’s high-volume passing attack to another unnecessarily close game (don’t they know that’s our specialty?). Although Zeke is their most talented skill player, the WR corps will test Seattle’s secondary in a way New England’s WR corps couldn’t, even without Quandre Diggs on the field. If Dak has all day to throw the ball, this game is going to be a shootout whether we want it to be or not, though it will be interesting to see whether or not the Cowboys attempt to slow the game down through Zeke. So long as the team can play clean, Russ should have a chance to close out the game late, like usual, with the additional upside to actually have a cushioned lead for a change. 2020 continues to surprise us all, huh? I’m gonna go L.J. Collier for the first sack, Chris Carson for the first score, and a final tally of 42-26 in favor of Seattle. Health seems to be the only thing standing in Seattle’s way at this point, but maybe last year ended in misery so this year could end in mania. Let Russ Cook. -C

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Last week was joy, misery, and a typical big time Hawks game. Wow o wow. The amount of entertainment and joy these guys have provided us is crazy over these past few years. The defense still has a lot of questions, and we’ll keep asking them going forward. However, a big stop here and there, and a big turnover was enough for the Hawks to escape a close game at 2-0. This weekend is our first “house money” game of the year. You win it and you’re in a GREAT spot at 3-0, but 2-1 isn’t the end of the world. The offense continued their dominance this season, as Russ looked as good as ever. Good performances from Swain, DK, and Lewis are encouraging as the floor for the offense keeps going up. Also, let’s note that Jason Myers hasn’t been asked to do much with how well we’re scoring, but he’s been lights out, even if the kicks aren’t the prettiest.

This week Dallas comes to town. Their first game of the season was a rough one as they lost to the LA Rams. It’s hard to say this is an ugly loss when the Rams have beaten us at least once a year for the past little bit. Last week however, Dallas looked very bad for 30 minutes, and not-so-bad for another 30. They squeaked out a win against Atlanta, and come up the PNW at 1-1. This Dallas team is banged up on defense, but still dangerous on offense. They could unravel a little bit and struggle to find their place as they manage their defense, or they could shape up and become a top 5 team in the NFC like many thought they would be. If anyone knows that early season records don’t dictate how good a team is, it’s us Seahawks fans.

A few matchups I’m interested in during this game… Lamb vs the slot. Will Jamal and Amadi mainly cover CeeDee? Zeke vs the LBs. Is Dallas content to let Zeke eat up the game? Hawks TE’s vs Dallas LBs. When will the Hawks feature Uncle Will? And is this the week we’ll see a 50/50 attack with Dallas struggling to find healthy linebackers, and the Hawks offensive line playing relatively well? The way I see this game going is the team that turns it over more will lose, as both offenses should be able to move the ball well, the team that forces the FG attempt, and gets a take away may be the one that pulls through. I’d be semi-happy if Dallas leaned on Zeke a little, as it’ll slow down their overall movement a bit, and give the Hawks more opportunities to produce a big play. I’ll pick 1st round pick Jordyn Brooks for the sack (he might nap an INT one of these weeks), and Hyde for the touchdown. Hawks win 27 – 23.

-Spense

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 22 - PHI - Thanksgiving Playoffs

If you have participated in any of the sorrow that was the last five years of this Buffalo Sabres organization you probably are acutely aware of how special this team is right now. Set aside the last six games of non-stop victorious results and what do you get? A team hovering around .500 hockey is what you have. That gets you roughly where Ottawa is now hovering around the middle of the division. Instead, six straight wins has put the Sabres at third in the division and fifth in the league as of last night. That kind of success has not been seen from the Sabres in damn near a decade and it’s got us competitive-hockey-starved fans whispering, if not openly talking about the playoffs. It is November and Ryan Stimson at the Athletic did a great job in his recent piece showing that statistically this Sabres team still has a lot to prove if it’s to actually be a playoff team in April. But let’s for a second pretend that (and no I am not going to offer any prelude on the trash Flyers or their monstrous mascot… hmm I may offer some thoughts on Gritty later) the 20-25 game Thanksgiving mark in the NHL is an indicator of 100% certainty of whom makes the playoffs. In this world of the Thanksgiving playoffs the picture is more charitable than it looks: a Leafs team that has essentially become the Borg, able to add and subtract limbs as if they’re nothing and still win; a Tampa Bay team that minus well be a walking salary cap cheat code but is not invulnerable; and a Boston team that is good enough to kill but a little imprecise with their weapons. A surging Montreal also trails up the rear but in actuality fits in just find there because they actually stink like a behind. I paint this picture because while the Sabres are not a playoff shoe-in by any stretch, the roadmap for them clinching their first berth in the big dance in seven seasons is laying out before them. You probably still don’t get in playing .500 hockey from here on out, but with a few more of these steals here or there it’s not an absurd proposition or even that much of a reach anymore.

Want to hear an absurd proposition: the Philadelphia Flyers. They’re a shade under .500 hockey and emblemize what the Sabres need to be better than over the next four and a half months; as the old saying goes: you don’t need to be the fastest runner to escape a Gritty, you just need to outrun the slowest runner. I went to this game and after this win streak the billing was that the first home game back was going to be lit. It was nothing short of pandemonium. The cheers were deafening as the Sabres took the ice for warm ups. The place was packed for the anthems and there were rolling cheers, even up in the 300 level where I was before any goal was scored. At 3:38 of the first the fun began when Jeff Skinner shot right down the center barrel on a rush on Flyers goalie Alex Lyon. Key Bank Center erupted but Buffalo just kept rolling. Under two minutes later at 5:20 of the first the fan favorite black sheep Tage Thompson put in a second one for the home team real sausy up in front of the net. Tommer as they call him reminded us what you can do with 6’5” on that goal. The coaching staff’s black sheep scored next: Evan Rodrigues cleaned up a rebound in front of the Flyers goal at 8:55 and the Buffalo Sabres are now up 3-0 before we’re even halfway through the first period. Powerplay goal? Powerplay goal! Yea, these Sabres leading first is quite novel isn’t it?

You would think that lead satisfies all the family in town for Thanksgiving, the Sabres not only dominated the Flyers in goals in the 1st, they dominated shots, hits and just about every other category. It was a clinic. However, Dr. Larsson was in and decided he wanted a Gordie Howe hat trick. Streaking into the O-Zone with less than a minute left Johan Larsson sunk the Sabres fourth goal of the game and his second of the year. The arena was still on its feet moments later when Johan Larsson teed off on Flyer Scott Laughton. Now I don’t want to appear like I am encouraging fights but wow: that was a boost. The Sabres bench got a real kick out of it and I’ve never been to a boxing match but the punch by punch cheers are how I imagine they sound. Both of them got fighting calls at the first period ended in uproarious cheers. If this game was only one period the Flyers would have fled this game with their tails between their legs. It was exactly the kind of game you want on Thanksgiving eve through one period. I met up with a guy in town for Thanksgiving in the concessions line and the joy on his face was palpable. Having moved to Baltimore after college he was older now with kids of his own and missed the fun Sabres of his youth. He felt like a kid again.

The second period was not quite as fun from a Sabres perspective. Evidently Dave Hakstol gave one of his great college ra-ra speeches in the intermission because the Flyers came out breaking up passes and pulling back the possession game. Claude Giroux made his presence known on a pass from Couturier and the visitors were on the board. At 13:51 of the second period future Sabre Wayne Simmons cleaned up a rare Carter Hutton rebound and got the Flyers within two goals. A ghastly high sticking penalty on Zemgus Girgensons, his second stick to the face in as many games resulted in a penalty on Flyer Sean Couturier at Buffalo went on the powerplay. It was fruitless but the Sabres regained some momentum to finish out the second there in spite of the Flyers closing the gap in every metric. The Third felt like a pregnant chicken. I hate to say it felt like the Sabres were going to screw it up but laying an egg in this game would not have been a surprise given how the Sabres have actually played during this win streak. Alex Lyon had not played since the first period and his relief was Calvin Pickard who got the rare goalie penalty call. For a solid minute I thought it would be a penalty shot but it was just a powerplay and the Sabres didn’t make good on that one either; after all, they got to remind us who were watching, right? You got to play bad before you score the goals or bad after you score the goals; I supposed its fine as long as they score the goals. As the regulation dragged to a close the Sabres wanted to not just hold onto the win but give all the apron-clad fans something to cheer their way out to. Once the Flyers goalie was pulled the opportunity came when the classic combination of Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart found their way into the zone pestered by the white jerseys. Eichel’s shot went wide but he got it again behind the net and got it to Reinhart who did not miss. 5-2 Sabres win. Seven straight wins for the first time since the President’s Trophy Sabres of 2006-2007. Happy Thanksgiving!

I mentioned before going into this game that this home game was billed as a big one. It’s the year’s biggest bar night and the day before Thanksgiving so that ticket is desirable whether the Sabres are on a win streak of about to lose seven straight like this time last season. The Sabres did not clinch a spot in the imaginary Thanksgiving Playoffs in this game; they didn’t even take the division lead believe it or not, but they did take a big step forward in winning back hearts and minds. The last seven years of this team has been varying degrees of atrocious and if this Sabres team can do one thing with this spotlight its tell Buffalo at least that this isn’t the shitshow you’ve become accustomed to since 2012. They did that and against a team very few Buffalonians have any warm feelings about. Doing something similar Friday afternoon in a Black Friday battle against a division rival like the Canadiens can similarly win more hearts and minds. It feels a little greedy to ask for considering it would be eight straight but home games right now are solid gold. This team isn’t just winning games; they’re on a redemption tour now.

Friday against the Habs will be fun. I hope this New Look Sabres finds you on a warm and cozy family Thanksgiving. I hope you didn’t read this instead of hanging out with the fam… well unless they’re talking politics or the Bills, in that case I get it. I want to take this opportunity to tell you I am thankful for you the reader. I know it sounds cheesy but that “Thanks for reading” I put at the end is dead serious. I treasure anyone who spends a little time reading my rambling thoughts and I want you to know I am thankful you do on this holiday. Like this post, leave me a comment on what about the Sabres you’re thankful for and hey, retweet and share this around! A very Happy Thanksgiving to you, the Sabres certainly gave us something to be happy about! See you Friday!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. It’s almost as if the Hockey Gods sent down the mascot anti-Christ as a very Philadelphia distraction for another mundane Flyers season.