Weekend Thoughts

-Well..well..well. It looks like these Sabres are going from being good to maybe being “scary” good. Another three goal deficit results in another two points. Besides the comeback storyline, the one thing you can take out of the last two games is that the top two lines are showing signs of life. Stafford had three points against the Penguins, while Connolly and Roy had a goal each against the Thrashers. If the Sabres top six forwards can get results like these almost every night, then maybe I won’t have to put all my eggs in one basket for the trade deadline period-

-I’m not being all rosy about the Sabres though. Being out shot by a three to one margin in the opening period of the last five games is something the team has to fix in a hurry-

-Look, I know that most Sabres apologists feel great when Chris Drury is struggling like he has this year. But make no mistake about it, he deserved to make the Olympic team over Paul Gaustad. This is the Olympics. This isn’t making an all-star game based on what you have done the first 30 games of a season. It’s about what you have done in the last four years. Sorry, but Drury has been a better player than Gaustad over that time-

-So let me get this straight. One of the reasons Ralph Wilson and Russ Brandon decided to hire Buddy Nix was because they didn’t really know anyone else. Um, OK. So you mean to tell me if you’re Wilson’s driver in Detroit or Brandon’s personal assistant, you have a better chance at getting a GM job than Floyd Reese, because the powers that be know you. So what would have happened if Shanahan wanted the Bills job? Would Wilson say no because he didn’t know him? This is going to be another fun decade-

-The Buffalo News reported that it looks like the Bills will be bringing in Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas as some sort of consultants for the team. Look, I know I’ve been beating the drum on NOT bringing back former players. My biggest reason against it is that fans get so into the memories of duo, and think their the answer to their prayers. How many times have you been in chats or listened to the radio to hear fans clamoring for their prodigal sons to return and coach, own & design uniforms for the team. The Bills aren’t stupid, they know that the fans want this move to happen in a big way. I also wouldn’t put it past the Bills brain trust to think that the signing of the duo would take the pressure off the organization to fire Tom Modrak and John Guy. Kind of like what the T.O. signing did for Dick Jauron–

-So where did all these Buddy Nix’s fans in the media come from? All I’m hearing on WGR and some of the local affiliates was how smart of a move this was. Why didn’t I hear these same talking heads clamoring for the guy to take over the Bills a month or so ago? Nix was working for the team for the last 10 months. Maybe if media personalities were reading the media guides instead of whose won the most Oscars, they could of floated the name a tad bit earlier-

-Fans, if you think the promotion of Buddy Nix means the Bills will be more active in free agency, think again. I can’t think of a free agent the Chargers have signed in the last 8 seasons that made an impact on their team. The Chargers have built their team exclusively with the draft. Even though the Chargers didn’t make a lot of free agent signings, they did stock pile a ton of picks by trading down in the draft. Remember, the Chargers were able to get Phillip Rivers, Nate Kaeding and Shawn Merriman in the Eli Manning trade in 2004-

-Now that I think about it, maybe Nix would pull what John Butler did in 2001. In his first year as the Chargers boss, Butler’s biggest two FA splashes were former Bills, Doug Flutie and Marcellus Wiley. This offseason the Chargers have two big time free agents in Merriman and Vincent Jackson. Maybe lightning would straight twice again. Yeah..I doubt it too-