So, I’m supposed to be furious about this… … but okay with this? Yeesh. I know we’re all envious of the club Boston’s got but anyone offended by short Brad Marchand getting too low needs to hate hip checking, too. Marchand does not go at Salo’s knees, which is supposed to be what constitutes clipping, right? I’m sure the NHL is preparing the white-out for the annual midseason rulebook change.

Email: nick@fcbuffalo.org

1) It’s no surprise that Lindy Ruff keeps trying to prop up Ryan Miller — who again was ordinary-at-best tonight — because the only way to consistently win hockey games without good center play is with an A-plus goaltender.

2) Really, you can’t even adopt the “Where’s the leadership?” line because Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville continue to produce on the ice with quick counter goals when it matters.

3) This team needs a No. 1 center or better goaltending, which means we could be reaching the end of the “Ryan’s infallible as the clear No. 1″ era (yes, even with Lindy Ruff), because Darcy only makes trades that floss other GMs.

Email: nick@fcbuffalo.org

Had to laugh as I checked Twitter before leaving work for the night only to see a Tweet from Marshawn Lynch that is sure to be removed once his agent finds out or his mom gets home from Bingo.

Precious. It appears one of the most unpleasant people I’ve ever covered is still living the dream of blissful ignorance. Yes, Marshawn, given your porcelain record, we’re sure it’s a case straight out of the “Doing 55 in a 54″ playbook and not something similar to carrying firearms in a illegally-tinted vehicle without license plates. Tell us more, Felony Mode.

(Certainly police abuse and/or discrimination is nothing to laugh about, but MarshawnLynch doesn’t exactly inspire images of innocence nor honesty) Email: nick@fcbuffalo.org

I was asked to write a long-form article in the vein of my “Big Picture Posts” for a non-sports publication on what it means to be a Buffalo sports fan. This is what came out (starting on Page 32). My friends at Block Club Magazine are doing a wonderful job, so pickup a hard copy and patronize their advertisers.

Cheers,

-N

1) The Sabres won by seizing the control young Edmonton laid for the taking after Buffalo took a 3-2 lead and credit Drew Stafford for being everything the Sabres thought he became last year… at least for a night.

2) Thomas Vanek is having such a good season that he could’ve been a star on a night like this where he didn’t even get a point.

3) Ryan Miller didn’t let up a single goal I felt like crediting to the opposition, even Sam Gagner’s nice-enough tally.

Trace your finger down the list of quarterbacks to play in every game for the team this year and when it stops on Ryan Fitzpatrick, note the sacks. Regarded as a mobile player, Fitz was sacked less than every one of the aforementioned 14 peers save for Matt Hasselbeck.

You may finger this as more me-led support of Ryan Fitzpatrick and to be sure the Amish One is a pocket-mobile guy working in a “get the ball the heck out” offense. That’s fine, but what quietly emerged from this season is an offensive line capable of actually protecting the quarterback.

Even after Eric Wood was lost for the season with an injury, the big uglies found consistency despite not having the same group of players starting each week (aside from Andy Levitre and Erik Pears). If you’re making a list of coaches that deserve to be booted out of Buffalo, offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris should be quite far from your mind.

It wasn’t just the passing game. Bills running backs (including Brad Smith for this piece’s sake) gained 1690 yards at an average of 5.1 yards-per-rush. Their two leading rushers, Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller, carried for a remarkable 5.5 and 5.2 ypc respectively. That’s good stuff.

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Usually, I write an overview. This color-coded scheme is a pretty good overview.

Our Bills were embarrassed.

– So the guts of this game was the guts of the season and will be the guts of the offseason: Stevie Johnson. No. 13  was benched after costing his team 15 yards with a “Happy New Year” undershirt touchdown celebration.

Was the benching warranted? It’s not possible to know “immediate reactions” style because we need to hear from Chan Gailey and Johnson. I do know this: Johnson knew he would be penalized. The way George Wilson talked to Johnson on the sideline afterward sure looked like, “Dude, come on,” but is it a “Dude, come on, we don’t need that” or a “Dude, come on, you know Chan said he’d sit anyone who did that.”

Fact of the matter is I think the rule is a silly one. Johnson can’t write on his undershirt but Aaron Hernandez can show up the Bills defense with a goose-step into the end zone and Sterling Moore (?!?) celebrated his pick-six for approximately two hours. He may have been recreating “Fantasia.”

That said, Johnson knows the rules. If he was told there would be repercussions for doing it again, it’s on him (and I’d bet he was told just that). Also, I doubt Thomas Chandler Gailey is playing the role of harsh disciplinarian if the game is more meaningful, which leads us to…

– Had a mini-Twitter scrum with some fellow media members after WGR’s Mike Schopp tweeted something about keeping in mind that the Bills wouldn’t have gone-for-it on two fourth downs if they were 9-6 and not 6-9. My take is that that’s ridiculous, but Jeremy White and Howard Simon — good friends of mine — disagreed. My thoughts are this: I can count at least two scenarios in important games where Gailey’s mind was aggressive despite the odds and even common sense:

1) Week Three. Second-quarter score: Pats 14, Bills 0. Fourth-and-14 from Pats’ 34. Bills go for it. Picked off.

2) Week Nine. Second-quarter score: Jets 3, Bills 0. Fourth-and-2 from Jets’ 38. Healthy Rian Lindell. Bills go for it. Incomplete (in fact, Bills had 2nd-and-2 on drive and passed thrice).

– Whatever you do, don’t touch Tom Brady. In fact, I would pantomime sacking him if you get close to him, because touching him is not okay, as we learned when Drayton Florence popped Brady on Nick Barnett’s interception return.

– In my book, Drayton Florence was a pretty big disappointment this year but he’s responsible for the pick-six that put Buffalo on top 31-24 against New England in Week Three. He’s also responsible for looking like a turnstile after Aaron Hernandez gave him a single wiggle in the second half of this match-up versus the Pats. I find it hard to be too critical of the secondary when the pass rush was almost non-existent save for the Skins game this year, but I look forward to the day the Bills can afford to snag a better corner than Florence without sacrificing a needed upgrade somewhere else on the defensive unit.

– The Bills need an elite outside linebacker/pass rusher. If they stay 3-4, he needs to at least be able to forgivably cover a tight end as a rookie. Arthur Moats is a nice story, but I find it remarkably difficult to imagine him as anything but a pass-rushing linebacker who would get exposed in a 4-3. Problem is the best prospect available is a guy who lifted up his girlfriend by her hair and tried to throw her to the ground after she slapped him (Courtney Upshaw). The next best is the guy I have the Bills picking in a mock draft: Quinton Coples of UNC. Problem there? I haven’t found an unbiased Youtube video of him where he doesn’t look too slow-to-react for a Top-15 pick. Other guys I think will sneak up by the draft: West Virginia’s Bruce Irvin and Southern Cal’s Nick Perry. In free agency, Anthony Spencer of Dallas seems an interesting pull but I expect he’ll be overpaid by someone else.

– SPILLER WATCH: 17 touches for 100 yards. Finishes season with a final three games combining for 57 touches for 402 yards and 4 TDs. Over the course of 16 weeks, that’s 304 touches for 2,144 yards and 21 touchdowns.

– Two more sacks for DT Kellen Heard, who quietly distinguished himself as a roster player this season and another sack for Dwan Edwards, who I’ve been high on for a while. The Bills look pretty decent up the middle on the defense, future-wise. They should be able to get a franchise corner or OLB out of the draft’s first round, which works for me.

– Some good news? I don’t think the Patriots have a real look at the Super Bowl, even though that means they’d have to lose inside their giant mall. Some better news? The Jets missed the playoffs.

Stat line I liked…

Derek Hagan, 7 catches, 89 yards

– Finishes his four-game audition with 13 catches for 138 yards and a score.

Stat line I didn’t like…

Patriots tight ends, 15 catches, 246 yards, 3 TDs

– Honestly, I’d rather watch the Bills get torched by wide-outs than any of this. Every holiday season it’s like the Ghost of Seasons Past comes back and it’s Ben bleeping Coates.

Game ball(s)…

Nick Barnett

– Despite a bad missed tackle late, Barnett continued his strong-enough 2011 season. I’m confident it’ll be Kelvin Sheppard and Barnett in the middle of a 3-4 should the Bills go that route post-George Edwards (It’s going to be post-George Edwards, right?)

Lastly…

6-10 is three wins better than 3-13, though the Bills had a relatively easy schedule. Gotta think Chan’s fire without 8 or 9 wins next year.

Next week…

Locker clean-out is tomorrow. I imagine there will be a lot of partying next week.

Email: nick@fcbuffalo.org

1) Jhonas Enroth had an extremely strong night save — pun intended — for the two weaknesses I’d hammer home before his summer vacation: breakaways and high-glove side.

2) Jordan Leopold has the ability to have nights like tonight where he’s a truly special offensive defenseman, but Ottawa’s Eric Karlsson does it nearly every night.

3) Brad Boyes is the new shoot-out Ales Kotalik, featuring a career 27 shoot-out goals (tied for second among active players with Zach Parise and Pavel Datsyuk).

The best to yours in 2012: nick@fcbuffalo.org

It’s late April 2010 and the atmosphere is grim in the Buffalo Sabres locker room. Two centers have been interviewed back-to-back about the fan disdain for their performance in Buffalo’s six-game loss to the Boston Bruins. One, Tim Connolly, isn’t close to saying any of the right things but the other, Derek Roy, is crushed like a man in his first marital spat. The honeymoon is over.

Roy was left in pieces that day by the sentiment that existed amongst fans and analysts: Roy’s two assists in six games were a monumental disappointment. That the points came in the Sabres’ two wins may be irrelevant to some, but the fact was not lost on me. Lindy Ruff had called Roy the engine of the team going back to the team’s upstart campaign after the lockout, and that team had Danny Briere and Chris Drury (heard of ‘em?).

Roy’s next season was a revelation, or so it seemed. He scored in the first three games of the season on the way to averaging a point-per-game heading into Christmas, only he didn’t get there. With 35 points in 35 games, this was the Roy that fans saw glimmers of during the previous five mostly-inconsistent seasons. He was distributing the puck, facilitating the power play and cutting down on his horrendous knack for minor penalties. He was “on it,” as the kids say.

Then he got hurt with a capital ‘H’: a torn quad tendon. He was out four-to-six months, but he barely fit into that time frame: Roy returned in four months and three days, showing little burst but posting an assist in the Flyers’ elimination of the Sabres in the first round.

With Connolly gone, this was to be Roy’s year. It’s hardly even resembled one of his lesser campaigns. Roy’s .64 points-per-game is his worst since his rookie season when he notched 19 points in 49 games. He was 20 years old.

Has he fully recovered from the injury? It’s impossible to say, but something’s not right with Roy. The most frustrating thing about No. 9 is that he may very well be the engine of this team. Laugh if you will, but look at the facts:

– When Roy records a point, the Sabres are 12-2-3.

– When Roy fails to mark the scoresheet, the Sabres are 5-15-0.

It’s maddening. Perhaps it would be better stated if I went with he’s maddening. Roy doesn’t seem to be vacationing during losses, something that looked rather damning during the early absences in his career. In fact, he seems to be pressing. At his worst he channels the worst of Maxim Afinogenov in blue-and-gold; Bad giveaways and fluffed chances are the bane of his season. At his best — this year — he simply looks like an average NHL player.

That’s a major regression for the engine of the Buffalo Sabres, an engine that needs a major overhaul. The Sabres have the NHL’s ninth-leading scorer in Thomas Vanek and its 11th in Jason Pominville. Imagine the season Nos. 26 and 29 could be having with a productive middle man. Roy’s 23 points are 102nd in the league, behind seven defensemen and tied with four others. And despite the major production coming from Vanek and Pominville, Roy sits 37th amongst players deemed centers by NHL.com. That’s behind guys like Rich Peverley, Tyler Bozak and David Legwand and it is not for lack of ice time: Roy is averaging the same or more minutes per game than Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Sedin.

To borrow an adjective from BBG, those statistics are even more vulgar than the Sabres play of late. Where are you, Derek Roy?

Email: nick@fcbuffalo.org

1) When three players — Zack Kassian, Jason Pominville and Luke Adam — account for 65 percent of your team’s shots in a game and not one of them manages a point, the result is generally not going to go your way.

2) Ryan Miller made a number of remarkable saves in the game, but it’s another game you want an all-world goaltender to steal and No. 30 wasn’t able to do that.

3) The Sabres sleep-skated through the game like they were either comfortably in the playoffs or 20 points out of the Top Eight and there was no reason for New Jersey to awake them once the Devils held a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.

Email: nick@fcbuffalo.org