Latest / Bills Mafia Carolina TAKEOVER / Mafia Mail, Training Camp & Dave from Fins Nation
Transcript
- Owen Wilson: Mafia. Are you ready? From North Carolina to Buffalo. The Mafia is united. This is your home for the passion, the power, and the pride of the Buffalo Bills. Welcome to Middles Mafia Carolina Takeover. Welcome back to another episode. Appreciate hanging in there. Thank you to all of you that have commented. Man, I got a lot of awesome comments on my YouTube videos there and pages. Really neat to get other fans involved in this year. So super excited. And man, we are in the start of the season. We are pre-season. Training camp has begun and started. And we are just over a month away from making this thing really count. And you know what that means for Bill's Mafia? That means we are going to get into Mafia Mail. We have our first Mafia Mail this episode. I'm so cool about that. The first one of 2026. Really excited to get into that. And we also have the other sideline. It's coming back, and we've got the preseason edition of the other sideline. And I've got a special guest coming in to kick off 2026. That's right, Dave from Finn's Nation, season ticket holder, lives here in North Carolina, flies down every year. He was on last year, and he's graciously. Accepted our invitation to have him come back and kick off the other sideline, the preseason edition this year. Great to have him on there. Let's talk about the kind of first part of training camp and the big storyline coming out of training camp so far right now is Josh Allen and the Bills offense looks as expected to look. Dynamite, maybe the right word, but Chemistry is there. It looks like DJ Moore is what we expect DJ Moore to be with Josh Allen. Now, obviously, in shorts, not pads. I mean, that's you know the obvious thing here. But so far out of camp, it looks like the Bills offense is humming right now, and it's going to be Interesting to see going into preseason. It's interesting to look at that wide receiver battle. I had mentioned a few weeks ago I thought Skyler Bell would take that spot over Keon Coleman, but Keon Coleman has had a great camp so far. So he may prove me wrong on that piece. So it's going to be interesting to see. I know there's going to be a joint practice coming up here. And so I don't know how much that's really gonna show us a lot about the offense, but Josh Allen is heating up in preseason form. Also, love the fact that ⁓ that ⁓ Joe Brady switched it up a little bit with the pads. Very interesting that the pads come on for portion of the practice, pads come off at the other portion. So interesting dynamic. We talked a little bit about this a few weeks ago. Like things are gonna look a lot different on Joe Brady's kind of training camp process. ⁓ James Cook looks dynamic. I know I sold him on a hundred and tw ⁓ twelve hundred yards this year. I'm still selling that, but You know, he does look good and and so we'll see where that process takes us. Look, the other thing I'm looking at here during training camp is the pass rush. Man, this has been talked about all season long regarding the pass rush, what the three four defense is gonna look like. And boy, the pass rush looks very, very good. Something Bills fans have not seen in a while. We've been Begging for it with the addition of Vaughn and Joey Bosa, but they look explosive. The defensive front and ⁓ Chubb so far has played out exactly how we want him to play out. Now, again, this is shorts and t-shirts, but certainly Chubb has really shown the missing piece for the Bills that they've experimented with Vaughn and Bosa. We may have hit here. And so It's gonna be interesting to see kind of how this evolves. And we'll get into talking ⁓ with Dave about Chubb and what type of difference we're gonna see from him and what type of player he is. So I'm interested to hear there. I had mentioned ⁓ all camp that this was the Bills best defense ⁓ since Josh Allen has gotten here, and I still believe that the defense is the best defense. CJ Gardner, still my top free agent signing, although the way that ⁓ Bradley Chubb looks, that that could change. But CJ Gardner, ⁓ you know, certainly his start of camp, you know, he's streaming, and then you're thinking to yourself, man, is this gonna be old off the field CJ Gardner? And ⁓ there was a little bit of that, certainly, but you know, I love Brady came out and and he's kind of played the part of Hey, look, we I let the guys be the guys, there's rules we put in there, there's no issues going forward. And there really hasn't. Deion Dawkins has stepped off there as well. Linebackers is one thing I didn't I have not talked about all kind of offseason. So I have not been paying attention and I I have not focused on the linebacker, but basically through the couple days here, week weeks worth of camp for the rookie fourth round draft pick, he has been outstanding. Part of that has to do with the fact that he's getting some reps on the field with Bernard and Williams Hurt. Now, those guys are working their way back, so it'd be interesting to see what Brady does there, and then also. You know, obviously Jim Leonard, what he does, but look, Orr is explosive from all the video and tape that I looked at. he flew under my radar, but he can actually be a huge impact to the Bills. Now, mind you, this is a different defense than we're used to with Sean McDermott. So it's a three-four. So you gotta have a lot of athletic guys, but he is really, really proven, really showcase himself. big time tackler, instincts, ⁓ he positions himself on the defense. So I I'm really excited to take a look at that. But really overall for the first kind of week, week and a half, you know, it it looks like the offense is humming. Offense is always hummed in training camp. So I I don't know how much you know stock you put into that, but I think really the biggest aspect of the training camp and we talked about it is the defense. The defense has done well Really well. They have put a lot of pressure on and just the pressure blitz packages that we're seeing there just has really, really morphed into something that ⁓ every Bills fan should be super excited about. So I want to hear what your thoughts are. Leave a comment. ⁓ tell me what you think about training camp coming up and and what that's been like. Love to hear from you guys. You can also email me at Bills Mafia CTO at gmail dot com or head over to our website, Bills Mafia. com and subscribe to the newsletter and leave a comment there. All the episodes will be up as well. But right now is time and we're welcoming back Mafia Male. Let's get it. The family I spoke. All right. Well, hey, we got a new intro for this year. Stepping it up, all because of you guys subscribing. Got a new platforms, got new new shelving, new lighting behind me, and now a mafia male, new mafia male intro. I love it. So here we go. Let's get into it. This is from let me pull my email here. This is from Mike from Charlotte, North Carolina. Thanks, Mike, for reaching out. And you have made it to the Mafia Mail for the first time this year. So let's see what you had to do. Hey Owen, first off, excited the show is back for another season. I've been listening since last year and really enjoyed hearing the Bills fans' perspective from outside of Western New York. I've got a question for the Mafia Male. Do you think the Bills still rely too much on Josh Allen to win games? Or do you think this year's team is finally balanced enough that they can win even when he doesn't have to be Superman? It feels like every year we say the offense is more balanced, but when the game is on the line, it always seems like Josh has to put the cape on him. Love to hear your thoughts on whether this team is built differently this season and if the defense can carry its share of the load. Thanks and go Bills. Mike from sh from Charlotte, North Carolina. Thanks, Mike, for reaching out. Love this question to start off the the year. I talked about this a couple episodes ago. Yes, this is I I believe that Josh Allen does not have to be Superman this year, and and it's starting to show a little bit on training camp, but I think. That this is the best roster, overall roster that Josh Allen has had since he's gotten into the league in with the Bills. And that's not from the offensive side of the things, it's from the defensive side. This is the best defense the Bills have had in nine years. So, yes, Mike, I do believe that Josh Allen does not have to pay hero ball, Superman, or put the cape on. I think the Bills defense is dramatically different than McDermott's previous defense. And they're ultimately going to win games for the Bills. They are going to shut down teams and Josh isn't going to have to to you know do h heroic things in the last you know seven minutes of a game. And in some cases, it's going to be a blowout. I I think that the defense is that good this year and Jim Leonard and the pieces that are in there. So yes, I do believe that Josh Allen, for the first time in his career in nine years, does not have to play Superman, and the defense is going to carry us. To maybe the promised land. We'll see. Well, I appreciate your question, Mike, from Charlotte. If you got a question for the Mafia Mail, go ahead and send that in at Billsmafia at CTO. I'm sorry, Bill's MafiaCto at gmail.com. That's the mafia mail. Hit me up and you your mail might if you got a question for the mafia mail, go ahead and do that at BillsmafiaCTO at gmail.com and I will read yours on the air. Thanks so much. That's a wrap on Mafia Mail, the family spoken. All right, great question by Mike from Charlotte. Appreciate that. And ⁓ looking forward to that segment. It's gonna be a good one, especially if I'm predicting the defense to be as good as they are. It's gonna be awesome. Hey, now let's get into the other sideline, the preseason version. Let's do this. All right, Mafia. It's time for The other sideline, where we bring in fans from the teams the Bills are facing this week. We get their perspective, their passion, and maybe even a little trash talk. So buckle up because it's not just Bill's Mafia in the house. It's game week and the spotlights on both sidelines. Let's go, Bills! Alright, guys, welcome back to the other sideline. The first one of the new year. Super excited and the Gentlemen that you see on your screen here, you have you tuned in last year, that is Dave, who is gonna start off this year. Dave is ⁓ from the Carolinas and he is a season ticket holder. I'm I'm assuming still a season ticket holder to the Dolphins and flies down to to Miami to watch the Dolphins. And he's graciously enough accepted the invite to hop into the first ⁓ year of the other sideline. Dave, welcome back, man. Good to be here. Thank you for the yeah, great to have you. Great to have you. But before we start off and ⁓ interested to dive in a little bit of the dolphins, for those of you that tuned in last year, Dave is a huge Sabres fan, which is ironic. Got a few emails about that. But ⁓ so there is a common common interest there. But ⁓ I had to get your quick take on the Sabres run. Dude, I mean it was so much fun. Just ⁓ it started with that Tabah Bay Lightning game where they went back and forth and from that point on It was like one of the best seasons I can remember since probably the last playoff run, you know, or like the two thousand six ish season, right? ⁓ they were in the Eastern Conference Finals. Such a such a great team. Yeah. They should have won that game seven. They should have moved down against Montreal. They should have been playing in Carolina. I would have been at every single game. Yeah. It was just man, I was just hoping we got the Carolina and we kicked their butts, but Just excited about the future. We finally have something in place, it feels like. And we'll see what ⁓ Jarmo can put together with with some of the boys and ⁓ hopefully can keep that momentum going this year. That's I'm excited. Yeah, it was awesome. ⁓ I'd mentioned ⁓ for those of you that watched like the first episode this year kind of bled a little bit later than I anticipated just because of the run in the Sabres. So ⁓ so yeah, it was fun. It's been a while since ⁓ you and I both experienced that as as Sabres fans going into the season and it just felt like the It made the NFL season come a little bit faster. So yeah, really exciting time. I would have been with you there in Carolina for sure. But ⁓ it looks bright. So hopefully ⁓ you know, season's right around the corner for that as well. And ⁓ so hopefully that will turn out to be to be good there. I'm excited. Yeah, I can't wait. All right. Well, you also gotta be excited too, right? ⁓ Miami, they got a new era in Miami. ⁓ you know kind of made some changes, Mike Daniels. So kind of what's your first suppression of kind of the new coaching staff and and everything that's happening on? Look, man, I'm optimistic. You've got a fresh staff, right? You've got no Chris Greer for the first time in about two decades. Fresh I mean fresh everything. They just ⁓ actually got rid of their VP, not got rid of them, but ⁓ today top guard people got ⁓ Got moved over to the F1 and just kind of the Miami Stadium side and brought in Silman, who apparently was the guy behind bringing Troy Aikman in and ⁓ starting this whole run to pull in John Eric, Sullivan, the new GM, and then ⁓ Jeff Halfley. And I like where they're I like what they're saying, right? We haven't seen anything on the field. We just put pads on the last two days, but what they're saying and communicating to the fan base and You know, with the signings they made with with Resign and Achan and Brewer, you know, just the the core pieces of the team and the draft looks phenomenal. I mean, some of these players are looking like they're gonna step in and and probably start early on, especially as as slim as this roster is. ⁓ they're gonna have to make an impact, right? So there's a lot of optimism on my side and then I'm I'm on X quite a bit, you know, you know, with the Dolphins X on there on Twitter and Same same kind of sentiment, right? Like we're just we're ready for a fresh start. I personally really like McDaniels, but ⁓ we talked about it last year. Just it it he wasn't growing, right? Like you'd like to see, all right, the first year he comes in, he'd like just hits it hard, second year even better, and then there's just kind of this progression of of the offense is getting any better, the the team started to figure out what he was doing. You have guys like Hill and Waddle and you know, Tua can't get the ball to him. So now we just I mean, talk about a fresh start. You go from one of the best wide receiver cores arguably, the the top two, to to a Atwell and Jalen Tolbert and Malik Washington. And, you know, rumors are and I haven't seen enough, you know, I haven't watched the camp videos, but apparently Atwell isn't doing great so far, so he he's already on the bubble apparently, but you know, we'll see. That's all just rumor mill right now and until we get to see some of these guys in gameplay. We'll see, man. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I'm excited for you guys. Like I you know, I thought and we talked about it, my I thought Mike McDaniels was an interesting hire for sure. ⁓ but yeah, so I mean I think it's always good. It's all it's always uneasy, right? Bills fans went through with Sean McDermott shocked, but you know, as time goes on and you know, things change and you get a new new sense of kind of a new way of things going, I th I think it helps out. And you I I wanna hit on the wide receiver thing first, but I I wanted to This is interesting to me here. I wanted to talk about Malik Willis for a second here. So, you know, obviously we've seen two ⁓ you know, good games, bad games against the Bills, but sixty seven point five million dollar contract three years and forty five million guaranteed, fully guaranteed for someone who, you know, has played a handful of games for each of the game he's been on. Yeah. ⁓ so what what is the like what is from your opinion, like what is the you know, is this a bridge guy? It's a lot of money f me personally, forty five million is a lot, but is this a realistic starter for you guys, or is this kind of like a bridge, get through the next couple of years and and see what happens? I think it's a lot like the coach and the GM. We need to see him play. I mean, he was serviceable last year. He went in and until then for Jordan Love very nicely. ⁓ half Lee and Sullivan, obviously they know more about him than anybody. So like just knowing being in that franchise with with the Packers, the Packers always seem to raise good quarterbacks. So I'm I'm excited about that. I don't know. ⁓ look, he gives us some hope, right? Like we had two over the last, you know, four or five years starting and not very mobile, obviously. And then the last two years, every time he ran out of the pocket, he'd get scared. Like, is he gonna have another concussion, or are we gonna lose our quarterback for the season? So you got Willis now, he can run, he can throw. He's gonna be an interesting player, especially with H Hand back there. Just the the different looks now he's gotta get some weapons around him. We'll see if if Caleb Douglas can kind of step in and hopefully be a decent receiver. ⁓ we've got Chris Bell, you know, rookie that looks like he could be something once he gets healthy. I just think it's gonna be it it's It's hard to just call him a bridge and it's hard to call him a starter until we see what he puts on tape because we've only got what four four or so games. Now you talk about guaranteed money. I mean, this organization just shelled out money to Tyreek, ⁓ Jalen Ramsey and Tua and all these players that Jalen Waddle are no longer with him. So we got what, a hundred million dollar cap hit just with two alone? Right now, gave him two hundred million guarantee, two twenty five, whatever that number was. So I'm not too worried about that, especially for a potential starting quarterback. I think that's ⁓ it's a value and he could work out really well. What's the downside, right? So the downside is he doesn't work out well. We get a quarterback, he bridges the gap for the next few years, or we've got a starter for the next decade. I mean, I I think it's worth the risk. Quarterbacks is one of those positions ⁓ for me, like, you know, in the seventeen year drought where and I understand where you're coming from as far as like, you know, let's see, let's figure it out, kind of a thing. I get it. But you go back and look at teams, even the Bills when they didn't have Josh Allen, like they they tried it. They they had bridge quarterbacks and it just sets you back three, four years each year. You know, so that's that's the one thing that I think when it comes to quarterback, you know, like one year bridge gap deal. Like, hey, we'll get you on a one year deal, see w see what it takes. But the commitment there for for a a four year deal is it four year ⁓ four yeah the the commitment there for a three year deal, if things don't work out, Dave, then you know that that could be two, maybe even three year setback. So yeah ⁓ interesting to see there. I I mean I don't know the market nor am I, you know, deep into Finn's nation to see what else was out there for you guys. But Does he bring like I know obviously Tua w can run around, but do you do you guys feel like that this guy brings you more of a dynamic one two that Tua used to have back in the day that maybe Yeah you know, they liked him for that? That's it. Yeah. I mean, one, he can extend a play, which we haven't had with Tua for again the last five years. Also, like Tua just been sliding on the ground the second somebody gets a foot away from him, you know, so it's like And I get it, that's what he was coached. Like, don't take any big hits, just get down. So I think he's a high risk, high reward guy. And he's got all the intangibles, he's got the skill set, the coaches know him, the GM knows him. So to me, it's it's there's a lot of potential there and you get to find out. And to your point, I mean, you never know if a guy's gonna work out, right? You could we could get we could tank and get Archie Man or Arch Manning and ⁓ he could just not be good, you know, you don't know. So yeah, it's like give this guy a shot. Let's see what we got. The the GM and the coach are fully behind him. I mean it's his team. It's his job. So it sounds like, you know, that's that's where we're headed and I'm I'm optimistic. You know, I I I'm optimistic every year. I always think we've got a shot to hey, we can at least crawl into the playoffs and see if we can be the Giants in ⁓ nine, you know, and take down the seventeen and ⁓ Patriots. But yeah. But yeah, I I like it. I I there wasn't what else was out there when you think about quarterbacks and who you could sign and then their draft position because they always end up in that middle of the pack, you know, they didn't have enough s cap space to go and get anybody like well known on free agency, but who was even available, you know, like Kirk Cousins, you know, what do you what are you gonna get out there? So I think I think it's a good it's the best we could do in a bad situation. eating that much of a salary cap from from Tua. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. The best you could do, you know, with with salary cap. You had mentioned Waddle and Tyreek finally, you know, ⁓ those guys, you know, were reckless when we played them. ⁓ what Malik Willis really first year run the ball kind of thing, hand it off in the backfield. Like what what's that all looking like as far as wide receiver and passing game? That's what it feels like. There's been a lot of talk too of Greg Dolchik, the tight end, ⁓ looking good. I know he's dealing with a couple of nagging injuries, small stuff, but when he was on the field, so think of that West Coast just tight, you know, ten, fifteen yards. I don't think anybody's stretching the field in this offense. I mean, maybe we'll get lucky with that, but I think it's ⁓ control the ball, don't make mistakes and hopefully the defense can can keep us in games. I think This isn't the the offense of the Mike McDaniel era. Like that's just not gonna be the reality of it. ⁓ and the coaches are talking, like, this isn't we're gonna be a tough football team. We're gonna run the ball. We gotta win in cold weather. We can't just be running gun and and playing it warm weather and be a good team. We've gotta be able to win in the cold. You know, so they keep on saying the Packers of the South, right? Like that's what this team is building towards. And, you know, based on what they drafted and the guys that they re signed, it does feel like That's where we're headed with it. You know? So it's I I like where they're going with it. I mean, I don't like that we don't have Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddell. I mean, who wouldn't not want to have those guys? But you know, it's one guy got injured and then you trade another guy and you got Caleb Douglas who who the heck knows? I mean, he's got all the intangibles of a great wide receiver. So Yeah, no, it's it's it's interesting and it's gonna be an interesting season. Like ⁓ I'm really interested just to kind of see like how the first couple of games go and and what that looks like. And you know, I mean I I might be surprised by by Willis. Like he may be, you know, like they all they always say you just gotta, you know, somebody's just gotta give him you know, be in a different position, be in a different spot. They may have been not really that great here, but you get ⁓ into, you know, Miami's situation there and then all of a sudden, you know, there's a there's a You know, a Miami Dolphins team that is going to compete for the East. I wanted to ⁓ because I know our listeners want to know, tell us a little about Chubb. Well, Bradley Chubb. ⁓ so I the past couple weeks, I have talked about how this is the best roster that Josh Allen has ever had, not because of the offense, but because of the defense. And part of that is the experiment that Brandon Bean has been doing with Von Miller and then Joey Bosa. And now he went to Bradley Chubb. Which is obviously I think an upgrade. So tell a little bit about Bill's mafia. Like what what could we expect from Chubb? Is he ⁓ you know, is he gonna be able to be impact? Like what are we looking at? Yeah, I think like you said, definitely an upgrade over Bosa, in my opinion. When he's on the field, he's fantastic. I mean, such a hard working player and was always great to to the other team to the teammates that you could tell, right? Always left the people up, coaching on the sidelines. You know, you're kind of over there and you're seeing him, you know. bringing people up on when they needed it, but ⁓ you know, just often injured. You know, you don't know if you're gonna get him for a full game. You don't know if he's gonna be out for a couple of weeks here or there. You know, we missed him for half the season in twenty three when we were making that run, you know, so it's like is he gonna stay healthy in and be in the game? That that's the biggest thing with Chubb and that's been his thing his whole career. But man, he can he can wreck a game and the guy doesn't stop. That motor doesn't end, you know, so I think you got a great player there. I was actually looking at this something on Instagram or X. It was like Bill's roster versus Dolphins roster and apparently they do these for all the rosters. And I forgot Chuck went to the Bills. I like, we gotta play the year. Like, you know, they were just comparing like every player, you know, and the the potential depth chart starting lineups and yeah, going Bills versus Dolphins wasn't fun because they were like Han and Brewer and Jordan Brooks. That's about it. ⁓ you know, and the Bills roster or three in the rest of the way. But ⁓ yeah, ⁓ you got a great player and jump. There's no doubt about it. He's ⁓ he's a game rocker. Yeah, I'm I mean, I'm excited about him. Like ⁓ when I ⁓ this year, like a couple episodes in, maybe the first second episode ⁓ I I had thought CJ Gardner would be the ⁓ free agent signing of the year for the Bills. I think he's gonna be lights out. I mean, that's a completely different dynamic than we have seen in the Bills, but As weeks went on and training camps and stuff, I've kind of leaned more towards Bradley Chubb. I mean, just from what I'm hearing out of camp at St. John Fisher, just like an explosive wrecker, and really someone the Bills have been wanting have been talking about really since thirteen seconds against Kansas City and just have not found that. So that's good. ⁓ the Bills Mafia's gonna be excited excited to hear that. Season what i what is ⁓ Finn's season expectation here? Man, cautiously optimistic. Right. Like, you know, could we get on a little bit of a run? Could we get lucky? I think Vegas has them at like four and a half win losses, you know, so I I see them more probably a seven seven wins. I mean I I think we're gonna hit there. I I don't think we're gonna be the worst team in the league. We're gonna end up somewhere top ten probably. Unless again this team just shows up and is somehow lights out. You just don't know what this rookie class is gonna do and If Willis does become a call top ten quarterback, which we don't know what we have there yet, I mean pretty much every team rise and dies with their quarterback play. So the rosters is thin when you look at it. A lot of lot of no names, but everyone starts at a no name, right? So it it's I'm looking forward to this year. You know, I'm I'm looking forward down to go down there. and see the games and ⁓ last year was a bit of a struggle towards the end 'cause it was like, man, I th there just wasn't much to to be excited about, you know, and that could happen again this year. But ⁓ nonetheless I'm looking forward to to kicking off the season and just seeing what happens on the field. You know, it's we can predict and we can put everything we want, you know, and and what we think is gonna happen, but never happens that way. You know, so injuries and you know, what the what the heck goes down, bad call here and there. I mean, these games are so damn tight most of the time, even with bad teams, it's like which team figures out a way not to lose, you know, is like almost always the the winner, you know, and that that's how the good teams come out. They just one or two plays and it goes their way and that's the that's the league right now. So you get lucky, you never know. Just gotta get in their playoffs, man. That's it. That's all. You just gotta get to the dance. Just gotta get to the dance. So that's ⁓ yeah, I mean, ⁓ I agree with ya the excitement. ⁓ you know, certainly I ca I can feel the excitement from Finn's fans on X and Instagram and all that. And they and you guys should be. I mean, anytime there's a really upshift and a change and you know, it gives you gives you hope and we're kinda feeling that on the defensive side with Sean going. So ⁓ Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. It's always interesting the AFC East, I think, Dave, and you probably agree with this. Like before the season starts, it's always like every you know, even the Jets, they could be good this year, but then you know, towards you get like October, you know, Halloween, November, it really kind of separates itself from you know the AFC East. It plays out pretty quickly. You get a good feel by, like you said, mid October where the teams are gonna be, assuming nothing major happens injury wise. You know, but yeah, absolutely. So let me ask you ⁓ Bill's Mafia and McDermott versus Brady. I mean, how you feeling about that? I mean, you got it's a big change for you guys. Yeah, yeah. It's ⁓ so when it happened, shocked, ⁓ for obvious reasons. Stun couldn't believe it, upset, ⁓ really upset because you know, he came in and really revolutionized the Bills, like, right? So nervous, like what the hell is gonna go on. Well the other part too is like when when McDermott got fired, I was like, shit, now like they're gonna hire somebody, Joe's gonna be gone, Josh, although he can you know, Josh is future Hall of Famer, like he could get paired up with any offensive coordinator and probably be fine. But then when they hired Brady, I was okay. Yeah, I was okay. Like I felt like, you know, man, that offense is gonna just be the same as as it was last year. And really the difference in the teams, I think, is that it wasn't just about it wasn't about the offense. It was about the defense. And then and then we got Leonard. And and then reading up on Leonard and obviously a former Bill, like completely different style defenses. So I was like, hey, you know what? This is good. Like to your point, like, you know, start something good. Start something new. We've, you know, went down the this nine year process, eight year process, and never got to where we needed to be. We have one of the greatest quarterbacks, I believe, to play the game. Not as good as Brady for you Pats fans, but still one of the greatest. And, you know, at some point you gotta you gotta make it there. And so yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited just for the whole atmosphere and and all that. The the East is fun, man. The East, especially if the Jets figure out a way to to get out of their hole. I mean, you got the Patriots, obviously, the Bills and who knows, man. That's they're always on the verge of being or the East is always on the verge of being the best division, but It's always one of us one of the teams pulling us down. Yeah, I mean I mean arguab people could argue that the AFC East might be one of the best divisions in the league prior to s the start of the season. I mean, you know, I don't I I think I shouldn't, you know, you may think different, but I think, you know, the Bills are probably the favorite in the East. I don't think any you know, maybe a Pats fan may not agree with that, but I I mean, it's hard not to put Josh Allen at on top there. But you know, when when you look at like paper and all that, I mean, yeah, Dolphins, for sure. Patriots, you know, for sure. And then, you know, then then there's the Jets, but they're going through kind of like their own thing as well. So I mean, it could come down to to those four teams. I don't think it's gonna be there, but ⁓ but yeah, every year I think it's one of the tougher divisions on paper for sure. Yeah, it it sucks having to be in it and play each of these teams twice. You wanna be in the the Saints and the Buccaneers and you know you sneak in the eight and nine and you make it to a playoffs. Yeah, that's that's right. That's the problem of the East. You're you know, with Kansas City, you you know, you're gonna get you know, again, I'm not trying to be biased here, but I mean, you know, the bills are gonna be one one through three seed if everything works out. So, you know, that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for you know, the rest of the AFC East. So it is a it's a tough it's tough. It it's gonna be tough. Before you go here, do you do you think the Bills are you know, you could say Miami too, but do you think the the the Bills would be the AFC East on top right now when we're shooting this in August? Are you think the the Bills would be the top of the AFC East or do you think it's the Super Bowl Pats? Look, the Pats were the winner last year, so I until you can unseat them I mean, you gotta give it to the Pats. They added AJ Brown. I like Ray Bull. I was not happy that they got Ray Bull. He's such a good coach. And for Tennessee to let him go, I think any team with Rabel has a good chance to be a playoff team. And they're just a disciplined team. You can just they're such a better team just with him. And just they've made some really good offseason additions. They're gonna be a tough team. They've got that identity back, they've got that swagger back. Obviously the Bills could go and and be undefeated this year. I mean, Josh Allen is I would put him talent wise as the best quarterback to ever be in the NFL. I mean, just because what he can do with his legs, right? And ⁓ I just he's an impossible person to bring down. He keeps every play alive and it's just if if that defense can hold from them, so Josh Allen doesn't have to put up five touchdowns a game, I mean, how are you gonna beat the Bills? So But I'm gonna give it to the Pats. I don't want to. I don't like the Pats. Can't stand the Pats. ⁓ you know, they're they're my least liked team and my fiance's a Pats fan. So it's it's that is true. It's a tough that is very tough household in the in the the NFL season, but ⁓ you know, I I think I do obviously I I think the Bills could be there, but I'm gonna say the Pats Pats right now. Yeah, I I agree with you. I think you know, you gotta go obviously you're going into the season with New England being on top there. It's gonna be interesting to me and we're gonna we're gonna have ⁓ Jesse from Pass Nation on here in a couple weeks to talk about the Pats. ⁓ just interested to see what you know I believe the Pats overachieved there last year. I I don't think any reasonable NFL fan would not agree with that, but ⁓ but ⁓ so it's gonna be interesting to see what this year looks like for them and and all those pieces. So yeah, it's gonna be wild, it's gonna be fun, and it's gonna be here before we know it, Dave. Yes, sir. I can't wait. Yes, sir. Well hey Dave, I appreciate you dropping in for the first ⁓ first one of the year and we will definitely have you back on for ⁓ Dolphins Week. Finns fans out there, you got a charity, right? Tell me a little bit more about that charity. Yeah, we work with ⁓ Freedom Ride Rescue here in ⁓ Raleigh, North Carolina. They foster dogs, they do a great job with it. ⁓ you know, we fostered over twenty five puppies at this point with them over the last four or five years and ⁓ They're just they're a great organization. They're non profit and they're just they do a really good job of making sure the dogs go to the right homes and and the support for the fosters are great. So always like to give a shout out to them. ⁓ we've actually got an event with them on Sunday coming up. Can't remember where it is now. I should have had that. But ⁓ look ⁓ up. They're a great organization and they have events like every week in the rally area. So you can always find ⁓ somewhere. Yeah, that's awesome. So hit hit them up there and Yeah, man, it was great to see you again. Good luck to the Dolphins. And ⁓ we will touch base later on this this year. Sounds good. We'll see where we're setting. All right, man. Thanks for having me on. Take care. Bye-bye. All right. Want to thank Dave from Finn's Nation for coming in to the other sideline to kicking off this new year. Appreciate it. A lot of good insight there, and we will definitely have him back on the show. But that is gonna be it for this week's episode. And as always, if you need to reach out, you can do that at Bills MafiaCTO.riverside.com. That's the website. Sign up for the newsletter. All of our episodes are uploaded there. Make sure you subscribe and hit that notification bell on all the platforms. We are on all the platforms now. And if you need to get in touch with me, BillsMafiaCTO at gmail.com if you want to get in on the mafia mail. And as always, be good, do good, God bless, and go Bills. That's a wrap on today's episode of Bill's Mafia Carolina Takeover. Thanks for tuning in and repping the Mafia with us. Don't forget to subscribe, drop your mafia mail, and join us next time as we bring the passion, the pride, and the power of the Buffalo Bills straight from the Carolinas. Let's go Buffalo!