They're just too young and they're still trying to figure it out.

Yeah, the, the secondary's the problem, guys.

Um, that wasn't a very good game for the inside linebackers either.

Some communication issues, some, some confusion, some chasing some plays in different situations.

But the secondary is the issue in this defense right now.

You know, Cole Bishop was one of the best players on that Bills defense a year ago.

He's even fighting it right now.

Uh, Ed Oliver goes out with another injury, so I mean, the defense is getting banged up as well.

Where is their run defense vulnerable? 'Cause I can't imagine it's truly at the defensive tackles with Oliver and Walker in there.

Yeah, yeah, you hit the nail on the head.

It's second and third level defenders, and a lot of it is guys just trying, trying to do somebody else's job is the way that Jim Leonard explained it.

You really see it on tape.

Like, the Chargers give them credit.

Like, they saw vulnerability, and they tried a lot of sweeps.

They tried to get Keith Mitchell to the perimeter, and that's where you can get the Bills, especially, like, if Christian Benford's not playing in this game, he's a good open field tackler.

Do you think last week was an anomaly, or that, was that kind of regressing back to the mean and those turnovers are still a problem?

Uh, what are you hearing about Ty Johnson's injury and where he's at?

Seems to be making progress.

I mean, we haven't gotten much access in terms of practice time in the last two weeks, 'cause that's the nature of the schedule.

They've done walkthroughs, you know, media.

We've, we got to see two, par- parts of two practices last week, and there's clearly been some progress from Ty Johnson.

I would, from my estimation as we sit here today, I would say it's gonna be a close call whether he's gonna be ready to go for week one, especially when you consider that week two game is on a Thursday night.

We'll see.

Um, so when you guys roundtable it at The Buffalo News, and you've gotta give your prediction, how are you going on this game?

The one thing that I keep coming back to here... You're right there, so you can color this one in for me. I look at management and I see what feels like Kevin Adams on an island. This is Kevin making decisions, period. Um, I don't see... I know that Jason Karmanos is part of the management group here, but I don't see senior advisors. I don't see people, you know, that Kevin can have conversations with. I don't see anyone who's had hands on the wheel before, assisting a general manager through an incredibly delicate process here of trying to turn an entire hockey team around. I just kind of see, this is Kevin Adams waking up, looking at his phone and saying, "Okay phone, it's you and me. Let's fix this." You know what I mean?

Lack of experience around Kevin Adams, and it's partly his fault, Jeff. He didn't want it. There were people, there were experienced managers who were working for successful teams right now who were interested in working with Adams in Buffalo, and he resisted that management structure. He wanted to be in charge and he hired a lot of inexperienced pro scouts. He hired inexperienced amateur scouts. He hired inexperienced people in the analytics department. And Sam Ventura, he built out the analytics department, highly respected, I get it. But so far, the players they brought in because of analytics, it just hasn't worked out. Jason Karmanos, yeah, you mentioned him. He's experienced, but he's rarely in Rochester. He is based in Pittsburgh. He's not even based in Buffalo. So your most sen- your most experienced manager is not even there in the day-to-day to really work with Kevin Adams. So he's working in a silo in many ways. And yes, Lenny Ruf is starting to have influence on roster decisions. I think that he did have influence on the decision to trade Dylan Cousins. So (laughs) and you have Terry Pegula who wants to be heard, wants to be listened to, who wants to have a say in how things are going and some of the decisions that are made. He wants his opinion to be weighed in on. But yes, I think that is one of the biggest missteps in the Kevin Adams regime, was his resistance to bring in experienced people. And you look at their amateur side, they've had some really smart drafting because they've got... Their most experienced people, Jeff, are in amateur scouting.

Let me ask you about something that I should have asked earlier because it's one of, if maybe not the most important question, that's the fans, the people that have the nerve to buy tickets. I've always maintained that you're not in trouble when fans stop buying tickets. You're in trouble when fans buy tickets, but choose not to go. That's real trouble. Are we there yet? I look at some of the crowds, the costume parties, um, dressed as an empty seat. We've all seen them. Like I was still, I was shocked. I know it's like, it's been a, it's, it's been a throwaway season, but like Connor McDavid's in the building and still nothing. Is, are we at the point where, "Yeah, I have a Sabers ticket, but nah." 'Cause that to me is alwa- that, that to me... Not, not. That to me is the signal of we're in real trouble here. Not refusing to buy a ticket, 'cause you can get people back, but once you've bought that ticket and you choose not to go, that to me is the real sign of trouble. Are we there yet in Buffalo?

We're there yet at this point of the season. It's been interesting because at the start of the year, there was a lot of excitement with Lindy's return, um, some of the moves they made in the summer, but then, uh, they started, (laughs) they started poorly, the winless streak happened, some interest really increased once the Bills season ended. They, they had some good attendance numbers, but we're ba- I mean, they're, with the way they're playing right now, fans are, they're tired of it. They're, it's, you know, you look at that game they played in Florida last Saturday, it was ugly. Really good game, um, to their credit on Monday against the Oilers, but the inconsistency just drives fans crazy. Um, you know, there's only a couple of players on, on this team that are having good seasons right now. You could probably point to four or five. The rest of it's just guys are underperforming and, and a lot of it is just, it's the lack of change, all right? It's nothing happening during the winless streak. Nothing was done at the trade... Yes, you traded Dylan Cousins for Josh Norris to change the dynamic of the team, but you didn't improve the team. Like y- the, the team is not better right now. It's very difficult to, to sit here and say that.It's only a couple of games, we'll see. But it's not like the Sabres went out a- and swung a big deal to, to get... to make the team better, right? I mean, O- Owen Power still needs a D partner.