Volume 2: Bills, takes, and Dad Mistakes

Jim Leonhard a Rex Ryan Protégé?

I know… the name of this section might have you flashing back to a bad acid trip like it is 1996, sitting in your cousin’s room staring at a strobe light while listening to Bush, and then your parents knock on the door and barge in. Totally made-up situation. [Shifty eyes]

OK, back to Leonhard and Rex.

During Jim Leonhard’s press conference, he hit all the usual tropes: attack, attack, attack. Aggressive. Multiple. Hybrid 3-4. Different looks. Guys moving all over the field. Autobots in disguise.

On the surface, it sounded a lot like Rex Ryan. But to be fair, those verbs are used by every defensive coordinator in America.

Still, I started thinking about the coincidences when you connect Joe Brady and Jim Leonhard’s history.

When you Google Rex Ryan and Jim Leonhard, this pops up:

“Rex Ryan has long been a major proponent of Jim Leonhard, frequently praising him as a highly intelligent football mind and a ‘master’ play-caller, often highlighting how Leonhard implemented Ryan’s defensive philosophies successfully. Ryan has described Leonhard as a mentor figure and lauded his toughness as a player.”

Leonhard played three seasons under Rex during Rex’s best years with the Jets. I always remember Rex acting like Leonhard was the defensive coach on the field. You know the guy… not the most physically gifted, but his knowledge makes him overachieve. The coach’s guy. The one who gets brought everywhere when that coach gets canned.

If you played in a system and understood it that well, it would make sense to implement parts of it once you became a coach.

As for Joe Brady, he’s been mentioning Sean Payton’s influence a lot lately. Sounds better than citing Matt Rhule, right? I believe young coaches lean on their mentors when building staffs. Look at who Payton had running his defenses in New Orleans: Gregg Williams, Rob Ryan, and Steve Spagnuolo. Rex’s brother, huh? All known for heavy pressure, blitzing and multiple looks.

A lot of that DNA traces back to the 1985 Bears and the roots of the 46 defense. Rex Ryan included. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe it’s football incest at the highest level.

But here’s the bottom line: those systems only work if you have the horses. You cannot ask players to be something they’re not. Just ask the 2015 Bills front four how that went.

If this defense is going full chaos mode, you better have guys built for it.

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Confirmation Bias

​​I said people would stop talking about USA Hockey.

I lied.

After Hughes and Tage Thompson got a standing ovation before Sabres/Devils, someone messaged me: “See? Social media isn’t real.”

At first, I agreed. Social media is a fringe. Not everyone is on it, but the loudest voices get amplified, especially by people in high places.

Then I reconsidered.

It’s a hockey arena. Filled with hockey fans. How many of the people outraged online are actually watching hockey on a random Tuesday night? Who knows. I doubt Keith Olbermann or Clay Travis are critiquing the line combos on Center Ice.

An arena full of hockey fans is going to react favorably to hockey players, especially in a hockey world that leans more red than blue.

I heard Chris Parker — whose son played all over the country as a teenager — talk about this. He mentioned how hockey parents tend to lean right politically. It makes sense when you consider the demographics of the sport. Hockey is expensive. It’s suburban. It’s not exactly a melting pot for diversity.

Getting a standing ovation at a hockey game doesn’t prove anything nationally. That would be like surveying everyone at a Baptist church and declaring America is pro-life.

Social media isn’t reality. But neither is a hockey arena. Both are bubbles. Just different ones.

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Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I’ve been thinking about Alex Tuch a lot.

I own an Alex Tuch jersey. It was a drunk purchase at an NYC Sabres bar with my friend Nicole. I saw the black goat Adidas jersey and hit “buy” without thinking.

Of course it didn’t fit. Turns out hockey jersey measurements changed and what used to be a large is now… not a large. It sits in my closet waiting for either:

1. Me to lose weight

2. Me to frame it in the TBD man cave when we inevitably move to Connecticut like every tri-state family that outgrows a shoebox apartment.

I’ve always liked Tuch. He reminds me of Chris Drury…leadership, two-way game, some scoring touch. I’m a sucker for guys who play both sides of the ice.

Earlier in the season, when the Sabres looked like a disaster, I thought he’d absolutely be dealt at the deadline. Why pay a 29-year-old big money during another rebuild? But the Sabres have made real strides. If they end the playoff drought, you can’t trade him unless you’re getting NHL-ready players back immediately.

There’s also the Terry Pegula factor. For years he’s been frugal with the hockey team. He did well extending Doan, but predicting his spending habits has been like predicting the weather. Part of me thinks he’ll pay Tuch because he was central to the Eichel trade. Ownership wants that trade to pay off long-term.

Still, two-way players who log heavy minutes tend to have shorter shelf lives.

Just ask Chris Drury.

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The “lock-step” quote

The GM and coach being in lockstep, publicly defending the WR room and doing the friendly, national spots (see: Safe Space with Pat McAfee Show) isn’t new with this regime. That’s been the playbook for a while with Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott when they were together or doing their solo tour when they were trying to kill each other off in the later years.

Now with Joe Brady, we are getting a new voice but the same unison message.

Enter the handwringing over Josh Allen’s contract.

I’ve already gone through how plenty of teams are paying top-of-market QBs and still managing to build deeper, more complete rosters. That’s the cost of doing business in today’s NFL. The contract isn’t some shocking development. It’s the reward for having a franchise quarterback.

What really drives me nuts is this: if Allen’s deal was always going to become this massive hindrance, then why didn’t they push harder in 2021 when he was still on his rookie contract? Instead, the big splash was Emmanuel Sanders, and then… basically nothing at the deadline. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Rams — the same team Beane has openly said he doesn’t want to emulate — went out and traded for Von Miller and won the Super Bowl.

Now it feels like the contract talk is becoming a built-in excuse. They’re hoping fans and parts of the media will amplify this message to deflect from bigger issues:

1. Lowering expectations when they can’t (or won’t) address every roster need.

2. Spotlighting Allen’s cap number so fans rationalize it and quietly ignoring the other bloated deals handed out to players who haven’t come close to living up to them.

3. Sending a message to Josh Allen’s agent that he needs to restructure his deal which he normally has done in the past.

It starts to sound less like a roster-building strategy and more like another narrative management.

And that’s why less talking is more.

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Ice Out

Can we go a day without reading about immigrants getting screwed over?

The news about Nurul Amin Shah Alam being left at a coffee shop in freezing temperatures was depressing. “City of Good Neighbors” doesn’t quite fit there.

This hits home for me. Living in Queens — the most diverse county in the country — made me firmly pro-immigration. Many immigrants work jobs most Americans won’t: restaurants, delivery, overnight shifts. That’s who I am dealing with just walking down the streets.

What frustrates me most is seeing relatives —legit Italian immigrants — posting anti-immigration posts on Facebook. These are the same people who came to this country with nothing and did bluecollar jobs that earned them a good living. It feels like shutting the same door you once walked through. The idea of having someone stay at a shitty motel in Hamburg seeking asylum makes them rage post and be down with the idea of spending 75 billion dollars on cosplaying Ice agents to destroy the idea of the land of opportunity.

I don’t comment. Maybe I’m avoiding drama. Maybe I’m protecting my career. Maybe I’m just a coward. Truth is I took this post off here 3 different times while being worried that someone I cared about would see this.

That’s why people go to X or Bluesky or here to vent. Anonymity feels freeing, but it’s not entirely satisfying either.

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Dad Shots

– Nate Geary and Chris Trapasso are next in the WGR 1–3 PM tryout slot. I actually like the revolving-door approach. It keeps things fresh. Interestingly they went football-heavy during hockey season when the Sabres are good and the trade deadline is this week and moves tend to happen during that 1-3pm sweet spot on deadline day when everyone is tuning in. Plus, they are going up against One Bills Lie which won’t give 2 shits about hockey. Maybe Geary/Trapasso will surprise us with their hockey acumen. Yet, football always wins in Buffalo and if you ask anyone at WGR what sells, it is football. Hockey is a distant second and this feels like another example.

– I’ve always liked the “three-man booth” format: newspaper writer, ex-jock, and radio host. Yes, its Sharp Shooters which was must-listen radio on WNSA with Jim Kelley (Former BN Columnist), Mike Robitaille (Former NHL Player/Sabres analyst), and Mike Schopp or Howard Simon. If you were to ask me for a modern day version to replicate this…

Football- Tim Graham, Stevie Johnson (Who probably won’t be leading the charge anytime soon since he tweeted a picture of Judas as Brandon Beane), and Jeremy White

Hockey- Mike Harrington, Marty Biron (He’d have to quit the Sabres) and Chris Parker. Marty would have to quit the Sabres and Harrinton I just want to see if Bulldog or Marty beat the fuck out of him live on air.

–Podcast/Radio show idea for you to steal: Book Jim Monos or Buddy Nix to hold a mock combine or predraft visit interview with an NFL player who probably won’t get drafted. I want to hear from guys who’ve been in this process to see how they’d interview these players.

– Don’t be the person who orders pizza and starts with: “Hold on! Guys, what do you want?

–Who the hell will be the starting goalie for the Sabres in the playoffs for game 1?

– Blue cheese dressing recipe: mayo, blue cheese chunks, banana pepper juice, black pepper, garlic powder.

– Random Bills free agent: Larry Centers (2001). First Tom Donahoe signed player and 80 catches in year one on a dreadful offense with Rob Johson and Alex Van Pelt. Fullbacks deserve Hall of Fame love and he’d be my first pick.

– Random Sabres deadline add: Geoff Sanderson (1998). Came in with a 40-goal pedigree. Never fully fit, but scored some pretty ones in the ’99 playoffs. I’ll always remember him finishing checks in the Sabres/Leafs Eastern conference finals and the Leafs coach saying something like “I’ve never seen Geoff Sanderson finish a check in my life.” Classic.

– Andy refuses to nap at daycare and comes home screaming at the star machine because it’s the wrong color. Send help.

–Beer of the week: Julius by Tree House brewery. Bright, Tropical beer, filled with notes of peach, mango and passion fruit. 6.8% alcohol. The tasting room is actually in Saratoga Springs.

-Sparkling water of the week: Spindrift Pink Lemonade.

– Diet since Cancun: eggs, chicken and rice, celery, yogurt, RX bars, apples. Miserable. Possibly thinner. Moral of the story: eat freely in your 20s.

– Media consolidation is bad news for workers with the latest news with Paramount/WB Discovery. I’m not just talking about the 750LB gorilla that is Trump tilting the scale for objective. It’s especially bad when the cost is 111 Billion dollars to buy and your capital is 12 Billion. People are gonna lose their jobs in departments like marketing or sales as they’ll be asked to do both entities. Less programming will result because content libraries will combine and that means less producers and shows being bought.

– Whether you are in sports, news, or entertainment…TV, radio, newspapers universe is extremely shaky. Advice for TV production students aside from doing something else: learn to edit and to shoot. Not just on Imovie or Iphone, but Avid and whatever camera your school has. I don’t care if your goals are to be on-air as that’s what everyone wants to do in college. Budgets are being slashed and you’ll have to do more for less. Plus, don’t listen to your parents on what they said to you as a kid and watch more TV. Watch shows you see yourself working on so you can have a better feel for how to tell a story. Also, as a freelancer/gig worker that the majority of the TV workforce is, get a second skill. Bartend if you have to. Survival requires versatility in these shitty times.

–I was on Pat Moran’s podcast last night. Please give it a hate listen or just fast forward Pat’s speaking parts. I know he’s reading this and will probably DM me that I’m risking splitting the audience of my blog with my politics talk. My response will be as followed with a Tony Soprano jersey accent: Blow me you drunken Irish prick.

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If you made it this far, thank you.

Share it. Comment. Forward it. I may need this as a tax write off to pay rent.