#HOT #TAKES with Cory Z. – International Edition

Cleveland Browns

Alright folks, I’m writing this from a tent surrounded by America’s favorite misguided children so bear with me while I get my feet back under me.

It’s been a strange few weeks here in Sabres and Bills land. Eichel is arguably the most productive player in the league and trolling Leafs fans, the Bills are making good depth moves,  the Beauts brought home their first Isobel Cup (Congratulations ladies! Way to beat Boston!) and the Bills front office is a complete fustercluck. Ok that last one is normal. So with that out of the way, let’s get to the comments.

Regarding Doug Whaley on the hot seat:

“So Whaley is inexperienced, doesn’t know what he is doing…he should have never been hired in the first place…blah blah blah. I have heard that before many times..in the political and corporate world. Well let me ask you this; why in the hell did we not make the playoffs for all those years before he got there!!?..Who was the screw up before him?..We’ve always been spouting off thinking that WE know how to run a Football Organization. Although WE have zero experience …..and with all our suggestions , we still never made the playoffs”

I actually really like and appreciate this comment, mostly because I can’t stand armchair (insert position here). Whaley inherited a dumpster fire and an empty extinguisher. Granted he’s made his share of mistakes and he does need to accept some of the blame for the drought. But he’s built in my opinion the most talented roster we’ve had since 2000. He’s given us the top rushing attack and a top 5 defense (Screw Rex and Rob). Now we just need to find a couple secondary defenders and a second WR to take the heat off Sammy while he gets his Adamantium skeleton installed, then we won’t be saying “next season”.

Speaking of fragile musculoskeletal systems…

Regarding Kiko Alonso’s extension in Miami:

“How many former bills end up shining elsewhere? It’s no coincidence.”

First off, congratulations to Kiko on his extension, I was a big fan of his and hated to see him go, but there’s no doubt Buffalo won that trade.

Kiko signed a 4 year deal for almost 29 million with 18.5 guaranteed. He has a cap hit of 2.8 million this year for the Fins which then jumps up to 9.6 next year then drops to a rounded 8.2 the next two seasons. This is a decent gamble by Miami as you’re risking a lot for a guy with a history of knee problems.

On the counterpoint for the Bills, we brought back Lorenzo Alexander. Granted he didn’t have as many tackles as Alonso, but Lorenzo brought the heat on the pass rush to the tune of 12 sacks last season. Not bad for a 32 year old.

Now I realize he’s far from the best LB in the league, but he’s also one of the best cap values we have. 2 years at an average cap hit of 2.9 million is a long shot from his expected payday of 5 million a year. Let’s just hope last year wasn’t a stroke of luck, and he works well with McDermott, but looking at Carolina’s setup, I think he’ll be fine.

And lastly, we have this peachy gentleman from Gloversville, who really wanted to give Papa Pegula his two cents as a birthday present.

“Who gives a flying crap that its his birthday…….youve owned the team long enough…..wheres the playoffs??? Where is the winning team? Time for a new gm…….how many draft picks are still on the bills…..wasted picks like cj spiller…….wheres the qb of the future? Keep reaching  for players im the draft so they can leave im 2-3 years……you think sammy Watkins is staying in buffalo???? Rex ryan ruined the defense…..we have no qb and nobody to catch the ball either….. robert woods was very underrated…..”

Let’s break this down one sentence at a time. Who cares if it’s his birthday? Well, for starters, if you’re writing a novel on his birthday post, it looks like you do.

Now that we’re clear of that, we all know T-Pegs likes to get a feel for the situation before he makes changes, and when he feels it’s necessary he’ll drop the hammer as we saw with Lindy, Darcy and Rex.

Now we move on to the wasted draft pick of CJ Spiller. Drafted in 2010 with the 9th overall pick. So let me do some math real quick (dusts off calculator, takes dirty clothes off my abacus, takes off shoes in case I have to count to 20) Terry bought the team in September 2014, so that’s a difference of roughly 4.5 years between the drafting of CJ and Pegula day 2.0. Maybe he was referring to Whaley? Whaley became assistant GM in February 2010, so that pick still reeks of Buddy Nix. He officially took GM in August of 2013 so you’re still looking at a difference of around 3 1/4 years. At least try to look this stuff up before you post, man. As I said before, Whaley needs to accept his share of the blame, but this is just a reach.

Where’s the QB of the future? Probably not Tyrod, but he’s still better than anybody else on the market right now.

Keep reaching for players so they can leave in 2-3 years. This isn’t just a business for the owners, these players need to earn all they can in a small amount of time. It happens to every team, not just us rust belt teams. In all honesty, I also get pissed when they go to greener pastures, but I can’t fault them.

Rex ruined the defense? Nope, can’t argue with that. It was a failed experiment that blew up in our face like a crappy chemistry set.

We have no QB and no one to catch the ball? Yup, tough to argue that too, especially when our QB is throwing to a receiving corps that is more decimated than the Sabres blue line in the 06 playoffs. There’s only so much polish you can throw on a turd.

That’s all for this week my fellow red, white, blue, and gold blooded friends.  To my boys in Syria now, keep your honor clean, and come back safe!

Stay hungry and semper fi,

Cory Z.

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