Nov 13, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula prior to the game against the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports
The Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills have a lot in common for playing drastically different games. They share the same owner, they draw from the same rabid sports fan-base. They are both likely one or two key players away from having from seriously competing for a title.
You can’t compare the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills against one another; you will have people that like them both and happily carry the #oneBuffalo banner. There are some that claim that we are a football town, some a hockey town (others will say we are a drinking town with a sports problem).
So it was once again time to clang the collaborative heads here at SabreNoise and figure out who might have the better season this year, the Buffalo Sabres, or Buffalo Bills. Regardless of where your allegiance lies, both teams should be better this year.
Can the Buffalo Bills challenge the strengthening AFC East and make the playoffs breaking the playoff drought? Can the Buffalo Sabres take the Eastern Conference by storm and play the role of spoiler, maybe even become a dark horse candidate for the playoffs?
Next: Joseph DiBiase, Staff Writer - SabreNoise
Oct 4, 2013; Buffalo, NY, USA; A general view of the pre-game light show for the game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Ottawa Senators at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
Buffalo Sabres Staff Writer, Joseph DiBiase
Both the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills have had loud and impactful offseasons. Both teams have improved their current roster, and their playoff chances for the upcoming season. However they are still built differently.
The Sabres are built for the future. While they may turn out to be a playoff contender this season, the majority of their key players are years away from their prime like Eichel, Reinhart, Girgensons, and Ristolainen. Even their older key players like Ryan O’Reilly, Zach Bogosian, and Evander Kane have still yet to reach their primes as well.
The Buffalo Bills are built to win now. It’s harder to keep a great team together in football than it is hockey. Marcell Dareus is only 25, but the Bills need to lock him down with a long term deal. Mario Williams is 30 and Kyle Williams is 32, so they don’t have a lot of great years left. Even newly acquired running back LeSean McCoy is on a timeline. McCoy is 27 years old, so by today’s standards at running back he has maybe 3 good years left. The Bills need to win now.
Looking at this season I believe the Bills will have a better season. Despite their woes at quarterback the rest of the team is tops of the league. With Rex Ryan and company the Bills should be competing for the best defense in the NFL. We’ll still have to wait and see how guys like Duke Williams, Ronald Darby, and Preston Brown do in a full season playing significant time. This offseason they built up their weapons on offense in McCoy, Percy Harvin, and Charles Clay. If the Bills can get even decent quarterback play, they should no doubt be a playoff team.
The Sabres have more holes than the Bills. The forwards look great on paper. They have five centers that any fan would feel comfortable playing on their top 3 lines in O’Reilly, Girgensons, Eichel, Reinhart, and Larsson. Defense and goaltending is the question mark. The Sabres better hope Rasmus Ristolainen takes a big step this year, because the amount of guys they can play big minutes is small. Zach Bogosian and Josh Gorges are reliable veterans, but they are both injury prone.
Mark Pysyk is promising and I believe he’ll have a really good year, but he is still unproven in a full 82 game NHL season. A big X factor is if they can get anything out of rookie Jake McCabe this season. McCabe looked phenomenal at developmental camp and to me he looks NHL ready. In goal Robin Lehner is a guy with lots of potential, but he is unproven and has had concussion issues. Backup Chad Johnson is the farthest thing from a quality backup plan as a starter this year.
My predictions would be that the Bills go 10-6 and grab a wild card spot, and that the Sabres finish with around 90 points and miss the playoffs by 5 or 6 points. My hope is that both teams make it for the first time since I was 4 years old.
Next: Billy Weltzer, Staff Writer - Staff Writer
May 25, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; General view of playing surface before the Anaheim Ducks play against the Chicago Blackhawks in game five of the Western Conference Final of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Buffalo Sabres Staff Writer – Billy Weltzer
The Buffalo Bills are definitely the team poised to have a better season.
The Bills are coming off a season where they just missed the playoffs going 9-7. They improved in all aspects of the game except one. They brought in even more talent to add to their roster and most importantly, a new and established head coach. It is unfortunate the quarterback position is such a mess or the Bills would be feared around the NFL as a top-notch team on the rise.
While the Sabres may have a decent year, they are coming off being the worst team in the NHL for the last two seasons. They too brought in talent and a new coach, but the Sabres are not quite there yet. While Bills fans are considering the season a bust if they don’t make the playoffs, Sabres fans know that it might take a little bit longer to make the playoffs and start becoming a championship contender.
If the question is who will improve the most, it is all Sabres because they were so bad that the only thing they can do is improve. The Buffalo Bills have one of their best rosters since the 4 straight Super Bowl era, while the Sabres are looking to drastically improve and climb out of the bottom of the NHL.
It is a fantastic time being a Buffalo sports fan with both the Bills and Sabres on the rise, but the Buffalo Bills are poised to have the superior season starting this fall.
Next: Adam Savard, Staff Writer - SabreNoise, Too Many Men
Buffalo Sabres Staff Writer – Adam Savard
Fans of both the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills are dealing with something both fan bases and teams have avoided for some time: expectations. The Bills seem to have a legitimate shot at the playoffs while the Sabres may still be one year away, though Tim Murray isn’t done shaping the roster.
What quantifies ‘better’ when comparing the two? Win percentage? A playoff birth? Both matter but so does how far the team may come from the previous season.
The Bills finished 9-7 last year and added weapons all over the offense. The problem with the Bills is one of those weapons isn’t the quarterback. No major sport is so dependent on the success of failure of a season as football is with the quarterback.
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In order for the Bills to be considered having the better season, they have to get solid play from their quarterback. It doesn’t have to be speculate but something above ‘game manager’. For me, that needs to result not only in making the playoffs but winning a playoff game.
The Sabres on the other hand can improve by nearly 40 points and still possibly miss the playoffs. Because so many players will suit up for the Blue and Gold for the first time – not to mention Dan Bylsma as coach – fans will be more patient with the Sabres. In gambling terms, it feels like they are free rolling this season.
Which means they can miss the playoffs and still have the better season because less is expected of them. Ninth place this year won’t be considered a death sentence. It will be hailed as progress and a promise of things to come. Next season will then see the Sabres in the position the Bills are now.
I think the Buffalo Sabres have more room to grow and more patience from the fan base. When both seasons are over, we will remember the Buffalo Sabres as having the better season.
Next: Jacob Strozyk, Editor - SabreNoise
Oct 12, 2014; Orchard Park, NY, USA; A Buffalo Bills fan holds a sign in celebration of the new owner Terry Pegula (not pictured) during a game against the New England Patriots at Ralph Wilson Stadium. New England beats Buffalo 37 to 22. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Buffalo Sabres Editor – Jacob Strozyk
After careful deliberation, I deduce that the Buffalo Sabres will have the better season between them and the Biffalo Bills. (Sorry Bills Fans, I’m a little biased).
Looking at the realities of both situations, the Sabres have the edge for three reasons.
1. The Sabres addressed every single one of their needs during this offseason. They added offense, a starting goaltender, and a number one center, thus completing the rebuild and beginning the winning process. The Bills did address some of the needs they had (like a new coach), but they still have failed to solve the every growing quarterback problem. They have not found their guy and stuck with him, but rather have the position up for grabs to the best taker. The defense can play their hearts out, but if the Bills offense is not putting points up on the board, it won’t be good enough.
2. The Buffalo Sabres have lower expectations than the Bills do by what many fans are saying. The Sabres had two terrible seasons in a row and are looking to make more moves up the ladder of success, but the Bills have been in a rut for more than a decade and year after year is the same. Last year for the Bills was promising, but with higher expectations, they may crumble yet again under the pressure.
3. Both sets of fans are passionate about their team, and the term “One Buffalo” came about last season, but in the end, the Buffalo Sabres are the ones that have added the best talent that they could have to start winning now. The Bills have been adding for years and still don’t have the right combinations down. Both teams look good on paper, but the Buffalo Sabres look just a little more unified and prepared for next year.
I wish both teams luck in their pushes for better seasons next year, but in my opinion, the Buffalo Sabres have the edge and the momentum going forwards.
That alone makes a key difference.
Next: Tim Redinger, Senior Director - SabreNoise
Sep 25, 2013; Buffalo, NY, USA; A general view of the pucks used for warm ups before a game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Columbus Blue Jackets at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Buffalo Sabres Senior Editor – Tim Redinger
This was a tough one for me. I mean, the Buffalo Bills have really been irrelevant in the picture for so many years, while the Sabres while the suffering has been bad, it isn’t that long ago (in the grand scheme of things) that the team could of, should of, would of had a Stanley Cup.
Both teams should have a better season than last year. The Buffalo Bills updated key positions, and the Sabres got a hell of a lot better. Reading some of the comments about Tim Murray and his moves, on this site and other places – some fans are not happy with the changes. Maybe Tim Murray has paid too much for his trades.
The simple fact of that matter is, he was hired to do a job, and regardless of what he paid, this team has his stamp on it for sure. All the Buffalo Sabres need to show for a successful season is goal scoring and an improvement upon last season, given the team was in dead last; that shouldn’t be too hard to improve upon.
Drawbacks for the Buffalo Sabres? I think they are several players away from really being able to contend deep in the playoffs, could use a solid veteran defenseman, and who knows what is in store as far as the goaltending is concerned.
The Buffalo Bills have more expectations. They got better this off-season, they certainly shed that whole we need to maintain our image and only sign character guys; but are still lacking a quarterback to bring it all together.
There are more expectations on the Buffalo Bills however. Despite not having a franchise quarterback to carry them, they still went 9-7 last season, and could have had a shot at the playoffs late in the season. The biggest question is – do they have what it takes to get into the playoffs? With the strength of the AFC East two teams are getting in, will one more win get the Bills into the playoffs?
Both teams could make the playoffs next season, but the outcome would be the same. The Buffalo Sabres are going to lose the city of Buffalo in a Van Miller tribute of pandemonium if the Buffalo Bills make the playoffs, because it hasn’t happened in so long.
The only thing the Buffalo Sabres could do to overshadow Buffalo Bills success this season is to win the Stanley Cup – and that for sure isn’t happening this season.
