- 2 days ago
Which team has a better chance to go further in the playoffs? The Buffalo Bills in 2027 or the Buffalo Bills in 2026? Mike Schopp and Chris "Bulldog" Parker discuss...
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00:01So, I think what we have arrived at with the Sabres is another chance to, if you are so inclined,
00:12consider, debate the Bills' chances and the Sabres' chances, or versus the Sabres' chances.
00:20The Sabres have done a lot of things already this year. I say already because it's not yet the playoffs,
00:28and that's really what it should be about. But it's not only about that for us because they haven't been
00:34to the playoffs in 14 years, which is record stuff.
00:36But for all the different milestones along the way, now they're first in the division, everything else that's happened, we're
00:44all asking ourselves if we sort of trust it.
00:47The Bills versus the Sabres has become interesting again. The Sabres started that by becoming interesting on their own for
00:57the first time in forever.
00:59And the Bills are at a point where, I don't want to say it's stale, because they've been so good,
01:06and they probably will be good again.
01:09So, stale isn't really a nice enough word.
01:11And they made the most significant change. I think even McDermott being moved is more significant than if Bean had
01:20been moved.
01:20Right? Like, the head coach, the guy that's in the room, like, whoever picks the players is not really active
01:26on game day.
01:27Right? McDermott, that's McDermott's team. So, that's not stale. I mean, that's a whole new voice.
01:33That's right.
01:33A whole new leadership. You know, forget about the scheme and how many new players will come with that.
01:38I mean, that's a significant change.
01:40You know, speaking of that, there's two things I'm also thinking about a lot recently that I feel that we
01:47have not spent enough time on.
01:49And one is giving you your deserved, righteous platform to talk about Matthew Stafford winning the MVP, which that really
02:00should have been done by now.
02:02It really hasn't happened yet. And, I mean, he was your boyfriend for, like, a decade, and then he won
02:07the MVP, and we haven't even talked about it at all.
02:09I'm still in love with him.
02:12I don't want to, you know.
02:13I'm just saying. He was, but you said what?
02:15I don't want to pry.
02:15You said that in the past tense, and I just wanted to.
02:18Oh, okay.
02:18Correct.
02:19I don't want to pry.
02:20Yeah, no.
02:20So, I mean, any time.
02:22I'm not comfortable speaking publicly on it much more than I already have.
02:27Honestly.
02:27Which is not at all.
02:28Which is not at all.
02:28Right, yeah.
02:29And McDermott.
02:30You know, like, that really is over.
02:33Yeah, yeah.
02:34And they could have made a different choice.
02:37My feeling about it has always been this was easier than the opposite.
02:43You know, replacing the GM instead of the coach.
02:47I believe that they were just not getting along anymore to the extent that it was going to go forward.
02:56And so, they made the decision with the loss.
02:58Maybe if they win the Super Bowl or even make the Super Bowl, that doesn't happen.
03:02I kind of think that would have been.
03:04What do you think?
03:04Like, if they had made, even made the Super Bowl and lost, would there have been a coaching change?
03:11Because maybe that, being the thing, there's no proverbial playoff wall, right?
03:16That's out the window, then.
03:18And that doesn't mean that they still wouldn't have been headed for a divorce and still ended up there.
03:25It just means that that, as a talking point, as a reason, right, as a fulcrum, if you will, for
03:32the decision swinging like it did.
03:34You like that?
03:35Wow.
03:36I just feel so alive today.
03:40They would have had to use something else, you know, which could have been maybe more, I don't know, more
03:47believable if you thought that there was this friction, which we, you know, I feel like we were.
03:53I was tuned into that pretty early in the season, that it sounded different.
03:57You know, McDermott was just lobbing these little clues in places.
04:02I don't know, do you lob clues?
04:03You plant clues.
04:04You lob bombs.
04:05I lob fulcrums myself.
04:11So, they still could have ended up in a, you know, bad place and wanted to make a change.
04:17They just would have had to use some other mechanism to trigger it rather than we can't get over the
04:22playoff wall.
04:24And who knows, maybe that would have ended up being even more honest.
04:27Because I don't buy, I just don't buy the playoff wall.
04:30I don't buy that Terry Pagula walked in there and saw Josh crying and thought, I got to make a
04:35change.
04:35I think it's way more likely that Josh and other players on the team sensed that they knew what this
04:41loss meant and that was why they were crying or why he was upset.
04:45I agree.
04:46I think I just cost my coach his job.
04:48Like, I think that could make you emotional.
04:50So, anyway, I think that story would have gone by the wayside.
04:52But they still could have done something.
04:54It would have been weird with them getting as far as they've ever gotten and then making a change.
04:59But if there was a philosophical problem between the two, when that happens, you can still end up there no
05:08matter how good your season was.
05:11And I think it's very possible that that's where we would have ended up anyways.
05:14Yeah, that's an interesting one.
05:16That's what I mean with, have we really sort of processed this yet?
05:21That it will not be Sean McDermott on the sideline for the first game at the new stadium.
05:26That was part of it, too.
05:29Last year.
05:30Almost every, I would say every time, often enough when it would come up and if there was enough time
05:35on the clock in the segment.
05:37And, like, you know, one other thing.
05:39And I was sort of like, I don't like that I really feel this way, but I feel like this
05:44is a factor, too.
05:45I love that you care about how much time is left, unlike those morning guys.
05:50That's another reason why I respect you so much.
05:54Yeah, I mean, were they really going to have a good season and pretty much go as far as they've
06:02gone, even if it's not less far?
06:04I mean, they did win in Jacksonville.
06:07Maybe if they lose, what did we say at the time?
06:09But if they lost the wild card to Jacksonville, sorry, but quote Jacksonville, then that's a different look than what
06:19happened.
06:19I will admit a part of, I know I said I'm way more relaxed going into the Denver game than
06:27I was the Jacksonville game.
06:28And I think in some way, not that it really mattered to me emotionally, I just think it felt like
06:36the pressure of change was gone after they beat Jacksonville.
06:44That's why it was still so surprising to me that they made the move that they made.
06:49Because I sort of felt to me like, yeah, you can't get past Jacksonville in a wild card game, really
06:56anybody in a wild card game, what are we doing?
06:59We're going backwards, okay, we've got to make a change.
07:02And now I recognize the divisional round is backwards from the year before when they were in the AFC title
07:07game.
07:07So I guess, you know, maybe that still plays a part, but I thought they were kind of in the
07:12clear, status quo, after they won on the road in the playoffs.
07:17Yeah, we did not spend, I mean, we wouldn't normally have done this anyway, because it's just like weird and
07:23morbid, but the week of the Denver game, we were not spending one second on, would there be a coaching
07:29change if they lost?
07:30Right, and Jacksonville, I don't think we talked about it directly, but the pressure point was there.
07:37What if they lose this game?
07:39Like, I remember you phrasing it and sort of apologizing at the same time.
07:45That sounds like me.
07:46Like, I hate to say this, but what if, you know, everything was, what if they lose this game?
07:51What if they lose this game?
07:53I mean, not literally everything, but there was a lot of that.
07:56And that was gone the week leading up to the Denver game.
08:00So, I don't know, bad read by us, but it just didn't seem like the same scenario.
08:07I'm not beating myself up over that, because it was, you know, there are eight teams left, and you're trying
08:15to win one.
08:16Like, I think in any context, thinking about next year, that week was weird.
08:22Yeah.
08:22It would have been weird.
08:23But, plus, on top of all those points, McDermott got all the praise for the Jacksonville game.
08:31Like, they gave, he got more credit than anyone else for that win, and then still, right?
08:37I mean, it wasn't so much Denver where people wanted to talk about, you know, defensive schemes.
08:44But, Jacksonville, that happened.
08:47And if it was not put to bed, this topic, before that game, it was after.
08:56Then still, you know, we didn't even make it to Monday morning.
08:59Right.
08:59Well, we made it to Monday morning.
09:00We didn't make it to Monday afternoon.
09:01Right.
09:02After the Denver loss with McDermott.
09:05So, and now the Sabres are what?
09:07The picture of stability?
09:08Well, this doesn't have to morph into a Sabres topic like it was intended to be.
09:13But, I do think we have not, when will we do it?
09:17You know, when will, over the offseason, you know?
09:21I mean, it's already, I don't say mid-March.
09:24I don't want to say late March.
09:25Tomorrow's the 20th.
09:26Is tomorrow late March?
09:27Tomorrow's the first day of spring?
09:30You get to the third week of March, it's late March.
09:33Anyway, so, we're past free agency mostly.
09:36The draft is in a month.
09:37You know the NFL.
09:38It's kind of all the time.
09:40We'll have the schedule.
09:41And then we'll have mini camps and whatever else.
09:44Like, by the time we get, when do we get to what it's actually going to be like in the
09:50stadium?
09:51Like, that'll be soon.
09:53The stadium piece makes this year different than other years.
09:58Yes.
09:58Because we'll talk about how much it costs, where we're going to sit, where do you want
10:03to sit.
10:04We just don't know anything yet.
10:05It's a more, it is, I think, a more impactful change.
10:09Every fan wouldn't sign for this.
10:11I think it's a way more impactful change for the fans than changing the head coach.
10:15Well, you know, it's so different.
10:17It is a different, but it is like your experience with the team has been one thing going to the
10:24games for your entire life, and that has changed.
10:30Even ours.
10:30Yeah, right.
10:31We've had, you know, lots of coaches while going to games in that stadium, but even though
10:37it's just across the street, yeah, it is, it's a big, it's an extremely big change.
10:44Not that anyone is saying it's not, but it, yeah, it is, I don't know, it's a lot to unpack.
10:50I guess I want to say, in a way, I'm not going to like how this is going to sound,
10:55but I'm
10:56impressed they would do the thing going into the new place, because it makes you think that
11:03the stadium element didn't matter.
11:06Right.
11:06I mean, it would be a reason to not, to almost, what would it be?
11:10It'd be a reward to McDermott, wouldn't it?
11:13Yeah.
11:14To give him that night, that day.
11:16Thanks for helping us get here.
11:18Because, you know, I don't want to say there wouldn't be a stadium without him.
11:23I think much more of the Bills' success is Josh Allen than anybody else, but you can't
11:29deny what, 98 and 50.
11:32However, if their success mattered at all to getting the funding, just making the whole
11:38thing happen, then maybe he has a case that deserves some level of reward.
11:44But I don't know that, you know, I know how it can sound, you know, this team is languishing.
11:50If the playoff drought had continued and they were, you know, the league was putting the
11:54heat on for the new stadium, I don't know.
11:58It's always a lot easier to get public sentiment and therefore government sentiment on the side
12:05of something that is, looks extremely successful.
12:10And being 500 and missing the playoffs for an 18th, 19th, and 20th year in a row is not
12:15highly successful.
12:16I would agree.
12:17I don't know that it wouldn't have happened without them winning, but at the very least,
12:24it had to help in some way, I think.
12:28But again, I wouldn't want to say it wouldn't have happened without them being good.
12:32Well, the Bills, the Bills have evolved or elevated to a point where this has been true
12:41for maybe three years now.
12:44Getting to the Super Bowl is all that's left.
12:47I mean, that's, they made the AFC championship six seasons ago.
12:53And really, you could go back, you could go that far, you could go to 21 and say, that's
12:58really, that's all that's left to count as progress for them.
13:02And they have not done it.
13:04They've hit their heads on the ceiling in the AFC playoffs every year since.
13:09So it's seven years in a row.
13:11There's a playoff wall or I like playoff ceiling more, I think.
13:14But that's, you know, what's happened.
13:17And the only thing left to matter, right, is to break through that.
13:26And here are the Sabres, and they've got it good.
13:28Because I think all they have to do this year to put smiles on faces is get in.
13:35And they've almost already accomplished that.
13:37Is that different now?
13:39Are they too good for that?
13:41I mean, I wonder about that.
13:44I really do.
13:45I don't know about the average, you know, people listening.
13:50If they're, because I.
13:52People?
13:52You know, I got, I got, I believed that this team was definitely going to make the playoffs
13:57around, you know, when the 10-game win streak ended.
14:00I thought, like, they're good, good.
14:02Like, I think they can do it.
14:04I did not expect them to be where they are now.
14:09Which is, you know, two points off the lead in the conference, right?
14:12Carolina won in overtime last night.
14:14They did.
14:14You see, and everybody knows that, probably, because you're paying attention to what Carolina's
14:19doing and what everybody else is doing.
14:20If I knew it, everybody knew it.
14:24But it all, yeah, I don't know.
14:26I feel like losing in six games to your name here in the first round as a division winner
14:32or even as home ice as a two if they end up there in the division second place would kind
14:38of be a letdown.
14:39And I know that's crazy because three months ago we would have just taken, you know, just
14:44get to 89 points if that qualifies, right?
14:46Or whatever the number, it's really low.
14:48We would have taken a first round sweep loss.
14:52Yeah.
14:52Just get in.
14:53Just get in.
14:54I just want to...
14:54Change the conversation.
14:55Yeah.
14:56Change the subject.
14:57And instead, now, I mean, I'm watching Ottawa, Washington last night on Sportsnet, the national
15:02broadcast in Canada, and pregame show or maybe first intermission, I don't know, the panel
15:07there, you know, it's David Amber and Jen Bottrell and Colby Armstrong and Luke Gadzik,
15:13I think.
15:14You mean Bottrell?
15:16Is the guy who said, they just had a...
15:18I wasn't paying, like, close attention, but I think they went around the panel, like,
15:23who do you like in the East, right?
15:26And his answer was Buffalo.
15:27Who's?
15:28Gadzik.
15:29He's a former player and he's on that.
15:30He's, you know, nice looking guy, nice suits, and he's a regular there, and just, like,
15:36not being...
15:37And no one was like, oh my God, it's like, it's a credible idea on a national Canadian
15:42hockey show, like, yeah, I think Buffalo could make the final.
15:45The clothes make the men.
15:47I'll tell you, it's a sharp, sharp dresser, this guy.
15:50And, like, that makes me feel like you can't just go lose in round one.
15:56Let's call him.
15:56You gotta get there.
15:59I know.
16:01But, they'll get in and maybe host, maybe even win the division.
16:09What is...
16:10You speak the language.
16:11What kind of favorite are they against anybody in the first round?
16:16It's hockey.
16:18Yeah.
16:19I mean, are they even a minus 160 against anybody?
16:22For the series?
16:23Yes.
16:25Who's the team that would make...
16:27Detroit is who we talk about for this.
16:28Detroit would be the team.
16:30They have Montreal tonight.
16:32All right.
16:33Don't they?
16:34Montreal-Boston was two nights ago.
16:35Tonight's Detroit-Montreal.
16:36I'm not sure I know...
16:37I should know the schedule, but I don't.
16:39I think they do.
16:41Anyway, they've been the team we've used for this point.
16:44Who's the easiest first-round opponent?
16:47The Red Wings.
16:47Not that it's that different.
16:49If, right now, the Sabres opened Saturday, they kicked the tournament out of the building
16:56so they could use the building for hockey, or they play, like, super late at night after
17:01the tournament has left and host Detroit.
17:0311 p.m., whatever.
17:04I don't think there's any way they're no minus 160.
17:07Lower.
17:08Yeah.
17:08It's closer to, like, 105, 115.
17:12Really?
17:13You know what I mean?
17:14It's hockey.
17:15Especially if it's Detroit.
17:16Detroit hasn't been there in 10 years.
17:18I haven't been there in 14.
17:21You know, in this scenario, what, do they end up with, like, six fewer points than me?
17:27I don't know.
17:28I think it'll be almost a coin flip.
17:31Okay.
17:31Well.
17:32And a part of that is because Buffalo, I think, will not get, if Buffalo ends up with 102
17:40points.
17:43I think a lot of people, I'm trying to think of how I would, you know, I know I watch
17:48a
17:48game every night, but I don't know how good every team is from watching them, you know,
17:53four times a season or whatever.
17:55I think you do.
17:55But I just doubt that the Sabres, whatever they achieve, first place, 102 points, like
18:01I said, would get a lot of gambling respect.
18:05You're like, who are you again?
18:08How do you, what, what?
18:10So I think it'd be close to a coin flip.
18:1314 games left.
18:14Almost whoever they play.
18:16102 points.
18:17It'd be 12 more.
18:19Six and eight.
18:20That's not even good.
18:22Six, six and two.
18:23Would you take it?
18:25Sure.
18:26That's not even good.
18:27Yeah, I dig it.
18:28Yeah.
18:28Let me, let me talk for 20 minutes about how good they are and then take a kind of bad
18:33record.
18:33500.
18:34The rest of the way.
18:37Okay.
18:38I mean, 102 points.
18:39This is exciting.
18:40Here in this setup at Seneca Buffalo Creek, I get, you know, we're like every other day
18:44on our laptops and I feel like I'm just going to show you stuff.
18:48I am sitting.
18:49Oh, that looks good.
18:51I'm looking at recipes.
18:52Smoky chicken and pepper's penne.
18:54Yeah.
18:54New York Times cooking is my new favorite.
18:55I'm here for that.
18:56My new favorite subscription.
18:57All right.
18:58Is New York Times cooking.
18:59Yeah.
19:00My son and I are going to make mozzarella sticks tonight.
19:03Make.
19:05I literally bought like the string cheese mozzarella.
19:09And you're just going to.
19:10We're just going to bread and fry it and freeze it.
19:11Like the whole, like egg wash, just like you would like a chicken breast.
19:15Yeah.
19:15Yeah.
19:15All right.
19:16Pretty much.
19:16Yeah.
19:16Bread it, freeze it.
19:18And then he's got taste of Canisius tomorrow and he can lug those things in there with some
19:23sauce and like here.
19:25And some may question, where did you buy these?
19:29Like, no, we made them at home.
19:30I've never thought of doing that.
19:32I mean, who doesn't love deep fried cheese?
19:35That sounds like a great idea.
19:37Super easy.
19:37Yeah.
19:38I say that now.
19:40He and I don't cook a lot together.
19:42Duke down eight.
19:44I looked at Bulldog and I saw over his shoulder Sienna.
19:47Jerry McNamara's Sienna Saints up eight over Duke with the ball.
19:53Closing in on the 10-minute mark first half.
19:55That's hot.
19:56Did I sound a little?
19:56Yeah.
19:57No.
19:57I'm glad you.
19:58Yeah.
19:59Duke down eight.
20:00Yeah.
20:01Bills or Sabres?
20:03Comparing the two organizations and, you know, the state of their lives.
20:09803-0550.
20:114 o'clock.
20:11Jeremy Kahn, Baltimore.
20:13On the Ravens.
20:14We'll talk to Paul Hamilton late on the Sabres who are in San Jose.
20:1910 o'clock game.
20:20We might mix, hope to mix, Brian Kozio in.
20:22He's downtown.
20:24Well, so are we.
20:24But he's actually in the arena.
20:26He's not at this Duke game.
20:27Duke down 10.
20:29Now, double digits.
20:31Sienna.
20:32I may have to turn my chair.
20:33A 16 and a 1.
20:35If you want a 1 to lose, wouldn't you love it for it to be Duke?
20:38Yes.
20:39I mean, they're the overall favorite, number one team in the nation.
20:42Come on.
20:42100%.
20:43I'm getting a little excited.
20:44This is March.
20:45Mike Schoep and the Bulldog here from Seneca Buffalo Creek.
20:49Back after this time out on WGR.
20:51You go.
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