Latest / Disguised Coverage / Inside Bills vs Steelers: Preview, X's & O's, Breakdown, & more | DC

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Inside Bills vs Steelers: Preview, X's & O's, Breakdown, & more | DC · Disguised Coverage

0:00
It's thirty eight. All bills can win in here, Wake puts it down.
0:03
The kick is on the way and dock m the bell good one?
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How the hell that one home? How one? They were a party one
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not party way? Incredible? Why not combat by my bell? Jacksonville's perfect
0:21
record on the line right here, quick kicking, look excited. Touchdown Kyle
0:43
Williams touchdound amazing, unbelievable. They puttied william who's hats to full back and
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he scores a touchdown. It's wealthier to face tackle. What's good? Folks,
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Family, friends, loved ones, enemies, friendemies, wizards, which
1:21
is Muggles, mud bloods, people of Middle Earth. To another episode of
1:23
disguised coverage. The only podcast in existence that gives you an equal amount of
1:26
blueberries in each muffin, and that is presented by the best pizza in Buffalo,
1:30
New York, and that is one PI Pizza. Find me online menu
1:33
in the episode show notes. So they're here on YouTube or whichever podcasting app
1:36
and or platform you are listening to this show on. I am your host,
1:40
Anthony Prohaska. Find me on Twitter at pro underscore underscore and that's pro
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two underscores a n T. In tonight's episode of Disguise Coverage, it is
1:49
playoff time for the Buffalo Bills. They clinched earlier in the afternoon on Sunday
1:53
with the loss by the Jacksonville Jaguars. But then they follow up that initial
1:57
clinching with a nice satisfying victory against the Miami Dolphins to cap and end the
2:02
regular season, not just for the Bills, but for the entire NFL,
2:06
giving them the number two seed in the AFC, clinching the AFC East Division
2:09
crown for the fourth year in a row, and that propelled them into the
2:13
playoffs to face the seventh seed Pittsburgh Steelers. And that's gonna be the focus
2:16
of tonight's episode. Myself and my guests are going to dive into the x's
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and o's of Bills versus Steelers. What will decide the game? Matchup pieces,
2:25
variables, anything and everything that you need to keep your eye on in
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terms of what will decide this game and why? What are the wisess In
2:35
case I sound a little weird, I feel pretty sick, pretty under the
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weather. Not great, but you know, it's playoff time. Everybody's hurt
2:39
this time around A lot of people are injured. You got to play through
2:43
it, you got to gut through it, and I'm trying to do that
2:45
right now. And yeah, so bear with me if I sound crazy or
2:49
I have to mute a bunch when I go solo later because I have to
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cough and I can't stop. Who knows, But that's part of the fun
2:53
for everybody. Also part of the fun is my guest for tonight's episode,
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mister Joe Marino, host of course of Locked on Bills and co hosts of
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Locked on NFL Scouting. Joe, I appreciate you taking the time to join
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me for yeah, some good playoff bills talk and some happiness I hope listen.
3:12
Anthony, good to be on with you. Always fun talking football with
3:15
you. We've got a chance to do this a few times over the last
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six seven months, and I've enjoyed that. I'll be bugging you pretty soon
3:22
here, hopefully not that soon. Four more, right, that's the whole
3:24
thing for more and then we can get into off season stuff. But always
3:29
enjoy being part of your podcast and part of everything that's going on to cover
3:32
one. Really appreciate you, guys, and I love what you guys.
3:35
Do for Bill's Mafia. I appreciate the kindness in those words, and yeah,
3:38
right back. Actually, you know, I don't think enough praise can
3:40
be heaped upon you for what you do from a Bill's perspective and from a
3:44
draft perspective. And I'm excited to hear you say, you know, some
3:46
collaboration stuff. I'm sure I'll be calling on you as we go forward.
3:50
I had a good time with you last year. You'll bringing you on the
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show, and we did kind of like building the ideal Buffalo Bill's draft.
3:54
I'm always so torn because I love college football and I love like the so
4:00
obviously like I want the Bills to continue. But the silver lining that's been
4:02
in the back of my mind is like, all right, well, if
4:04
things go sideways, it's just full on into draft mode. I don't just
4:08
start watching college tape and then go from there. But you know, that's
4:11
the only thing that kind of keeps you know, keeps me a little happy
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if things go sideways. But to your point, four more potentially for this
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Buffalo Bills team as they also again like another year where they get the two
4:21
seed and like there's no more buy for the two I was thinking of that
4:25
earlier, like of course, like now they're just rolling like consistently as the
4:28
two not getting to buy. But at least they made it, and like
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I said in the intro, they clinched the AFC's Division title. And Joe,
4:32
this team this year man like trials and tribulations that they have faced on
4:39
the field, off the field, even really going back to like how last
4:43
year's season ended getting waxed by Cincinnati. You've got the Digs and Allen stuff
4:47
on the sideline, and then like Digs, you know, being a little
4:50
disgruntled after that game, and then some stuff carrying into the off season Digs
4:54
related, and then just the poor performance to start the year against the Jets,
4:58
the ups and downs, the firing your Ken doors, see the story
5:00
that you know, mister ty Dunn put out about Sean McDermott and all that
5:04
kind of stuff, even going back to I guess the end of twenty twenty
5:08
two with the DeMar Hamlin piece, Like this team in a full calendar year
5:12
has just been up and down in a multitude of ways, and then also
5:16
injuries and things that they've experienced this year. But you know, I say
5:19
all that to preface this question to you, this Bill's team again, they
5:24
win in Miami, they win five in a row, they clinch that two
5:27
seed in the AFC's Division title. How do you feel about this Bill's team
5:30
heading into the playoffs to potentially make a playoff run as opposed to other years?
5:35
You know, this year for so many years, I feel like the
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conversation has been had, or at least going into this year, I saw
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a lot of people saying, you know, who cares what happens in September
5:45
through November. Just get hot come December and get in. And the Bills
5:47
seemingly have done that to get in. So with all that being said,
5:51
again, they still have injuries and all these things, how do you feel,
5:55
you know, with this team in general coming into the playoffs here?
5:58
It's quite the setup there for the question, and a good reminder that it's
6:01
never a straight line, right, no matter what the season is, It's
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just never a straight line. And if we told you before the season that
6:10
the Bills would be the number two seed in the AFC East Champs, you'd
6:13
be like, yeah, that checks out. But if I told you that
6:15
after Week twelve, when the Bills were six and six, you might have
6:19
tried to, you know, tell me that I needed some type of new
6:23
prescription, right, based on just how crazy that sounds. But here we
6:27
are, right and the Bills are hot. They've won five in a row,
6:30
they've won six of seven, they're playing really outstanding defense. Their passing
6:34
game the last couple of weeks has really flipped a switch. And I said
6:40
the last couple of weeks on purpose. I know that the Patriots wasn't a
6:44
great day of statistical production in the passing game. But you know, Anthony,
6:47
you're a tape guy and I'm a tape guy, and I'm sure you
6:50
saw the opportunities that existed in that Patriots game. And I had a level
6:55
of comfort going into this Dolphins game that they were going to execute better.
6:59
And they did. And Josh Allen have a crazy historic game, the first
7:03
quarterback in the history of the NFL regular season to pass for over three hundred
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and fifty yards, to rush for over sixty five yards and complete seventy five
7:11
percent of the passes. I mean, we just saw a really special performance
7:14
by Josh Allen. And it's hard to appreciate that because of how it started
7:17
with really some crazy missed opportunities with the first two drives, and of course
7:21
the sequence before the end of half, right that cloudies everything. But if
7:25
you really go back and watch that game, Josh Allen was vintage elite special
7:30
Josh Allen, and that coupled with his comments about how the ball was coming
7:36
off his hand as good as it ever has towards the end of that game,
7:40
that should get you a pretty dog on excited. Coupled with the defense,
7:44
and coupled with the efficiency this team has found running the football, and
7:47
so I do have a fair amount of confidence for the Bills going into the
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playoffs. I think the path is really good. We're going to talk a
7:55
lot about the Pittsburgh Steelers today and candidly, and I respect every team in
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the NFL, right, I mean, anyone that's listening to me talk.
8:01
I don't sit there and I never expect the Bills to mop the floor with
8:05
any opponent. I really don't. But if you were to put the entire
8:09
playoff field out there, AFC and NFC and say who would you like to
8:13
play in the first round, You're probably picking the Steelers. I mean maybe
8:18
the Bucks, but probably the Steelers. And so you've got a good draw
8:24
and then you play I mean, if the Dolphins and Chiefs game goes away,
8:28
I think you're gonna play the Chiefs. You're gonna play the Mahomes in
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Western New York, right for the first time in the playoffs. That feels
8:35
pretty good. And then what the Ravens probably because they got to play the
8:41
winner of Houston in Cleveland. Let's face the Ams championship game, and the
8:46
Bills have played Baltimore and Lamar Jackson as good as any team right outside of
8:50
probably some of the divisional dynamics, and so let's go, right, I
8:54
think I think the path is is fairly clear. I like a lot of
8:58
the dynamics of this team, and I do that they're battle tested. There's
9:01
a deep inventory of history, not only throughout the regular season, but in
9:05
the playoffs. The Bills have been to the playoffs was just a fifty year
9:09
in a row, Like it's just normal to us, right, it was
9:11
the craziest thing in the world for the longest time, Like the playoffs.
9:13
You had the seasons over in Week seventeen. Now we just yeah, we
9:16
go to the playoffs every year. It's just something we expect at this point
9:18
in time. And they're battle tested. They've won at least one playoff game
9:22
in each of the last three seasons, one of only two teams in the
9:24
league to do that, along with the Chiefs. So you have a battle
9:26
tested team that's playing good football, you have a clear path, like let's
9:31
go, let's do this. So I like it. I like where they're
9:35
at, and you got to play them all. You got to see what
9:37
happens. Anything can happen in the NFL. The Steelers are I mean,
9:41
kind of a hot team in some regards, but I like the Bills and
9:46
their chance as good as any I mean, probably second only to Baltimore.
9:50
Right who has the buye is gonna host either Cleveland or Houston and then a
9:54
host probably the AFC champion team. You'd like to be them, but if
9:58
you can't be them, you'd like to be the Buffalo Bills. You know.
10:00
That's it's such a good point with how things kind of played out.
10:05
I was sitting there Sunday thinking like, man, like I kind of had
10:11
forgotten what it was like to worry if the Bills were going to make the
10:15
playoffs, and then that hit me and I was like, WHOA, that's
10:16
actually kind of like wild because exactly your point, it's just kind of ho
10:20
hum happenstance, like those are making the playoffs, like that's it. It's
10:24
been more of a conversation of how far can they go in the playoffs instead
10:28
of Man, I wonder if they're gonna make it, and so much with
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the Josh Allen conversation, I feel like it's such a good microcosmo and like
10:35
representation of this team because he's been a roller coaster at times this year.
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This team has been a roller coaster at times this year, and honestly,
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so is really the AFC conference as a whole. Like you can legitimately maybe
10:46
obviously not some of the teams that made the playoffs, but you can make
10:50
a case for Baltimore going to the super Bowl. You can make a case
10:52
for the Bills, you can make a case for the Chiefs. Hell,
10:54
you could like even make a case for Miami even though they're they're scuttling and
10:58
like looking real sluggish right now on both sides the ball, and it's so
11:01
wide open, and that's encouraging if you're a Bills fan, and I think
11:07
you know, to your point, any team that's in the playoffs right now
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on the AFC side, I can see the Bills beating any of those teams
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and going to the Super Bowl. I can honestly really see them like having
11:16
a bad day and losing to any of those teams, which is how like
11:20
this season is gone, and yeah, the way it's shaped up, I
11:22
was sitting there hoping, you know again, I'm as similar boat as you,
11:26
like, there are no like really bad players or bad teams like in
11:28
the NFL, despite how you know, everybody kind of likes to put things
11:31
out there, but this is the path that I did prefer. I was
11:33
hoping, Okay, you get the Steelers in that first round, you're playing
11:37
against Mason Rudolph, like you should be able to beat Mason Rudolph. And
11:41
then that second round potential matchup of Kansas City beats Miami. Man like that
11:46
would also be Mahomes's first game ever on the road in the playoffs, which
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is just nuts to think about. Like even in the years where they haven't
11:52
been the one seed, things have always kind of fallen into place for them
11:56
to still play at home, and it would be maybe a little, you
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know, at a justice if his first game on the road is in Buffalo
12:01
and the Bills finally slay that dragon. There so many storylines and so many
12:05
pieces, and again it all kind of brings together and ties together what this
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team has gone through this year. And I like that battle tested piece.
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I had Alex Braski on the show several weeks ago and we talked about that.
12:16
It's just, you know, for again, for everything that they've been
12:18
through positively but honestly really negatively, the injuries, the off the field stuff,
12:22
on the field failures, execution, storylines, drama, all this stuff.
12:28
They've kind of weathered the storm and maybe, you know, you try
12:31
to put a silver lining to it, a little baptism by fire and battle
12:33
tested piece. And they get into the playoffs and face the Pittsburgh Steelers,
12:37
and that is where we shift our conversation. For those playing at home or
12:41
those who don't know how this show is going to go. Myself and Joe
12:43
are each going to give three matchup pieces and or variables that we think will
12:48
go a long way towards deciding this Bills and Steelers game. It could be
12:52
very large scale, like casting a wide net. It could be very granular.
12:54
It could be a side of the ball versus another. It could be
12:56
players specific, coach specific formations, whatever, whoever, anything goes. I
13:03
don't know Joe's answers, he doesn't know mine. We're gonna kind of go
13:05
back and forth, each give our answers, talk about each other's answers,
13:09
have some organic ball talk, and then go from there for again. For
13:11
those Joe who are joining us live, whatever you got, whatever you think
13:15
is most important, whatever matchup you are watching for, throw it up into
13:18
the chat. I'm gonna star as many things as I can, and then
13:20
once we send Joe on his merry way, dive into that and do a
13:22
bunch of live chat pieces to close out the show. Also, feel free
13:26
to tell myself and Joe how awesome our points are or how terrible our points
13:31
are. Whatever floats your boat. Either way, the choice is yours,
13:33
Joe, the floor is yours. I don't know if you have anything everything
13:37
ranked, or if you have one you want to you know, fire off
13:41
the hip first, but the floor is yours. Do as you wish.
13:43
Yeah, I've got two that I think are more important than the third one.
13:46
But and I can't. I can't decide of my top two points which
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one is more important. So I'm gonna just pick one and we'll show that
13:58
all the time. I'm horrible. It always ranking on my I can't do
14:01
it right, dude, I do that. My co host for Lockdown NFL
14:03
Scouting, Kyle Crabs, he hates it because he'd be like, what's the
14:07
number one thing here? And I'm like, well, I don't know what
14:09
the number one thing is here, but three things that I think are important.
14:11
You know I'm that guy. So let's go. Yeah, so let's
14:16
start here. Protection. I think offensive line pass protection is going to be
14:20
absolutely critical in this game. And people are probably thinking, Joe dj Watt's
14:24
not playing. Yeah, I'm aware dj Watt's not playing. I'm still concerned
14:28
about what the Pittsburgh Steelers can do with their front seven rushing the passer.
14:33
And I know this is gonna this. People might laugh at this, but
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I remember a preseason game against Pittsburgh Steelers, and Sean McDermott does too.
14:41
Brother. Sean McDermott brought that up in his press conference this week, and
14:46
what's crazy is like, one of the most controversial episodes of Lockdown Bills that
14:50
I've ever done was my reaction to the Pittsburgh Steelers preseason game this year where
14:54
I went in on Josh Allen and the protection. I'm like, he's escaping
15:00
clean pockets, he's not seeing free runners, he's not getting to his hot
15:03
reads. Like this is disjointed. It looks like a mess. Like I'm
15:07
concerned about it, right, Yeah. And then like I don't know,
15:09
I was kind of validated to an extent with how he looked against the Jets.
15:13
You know, it's a lot of a lot of similar type stuff,
15:15
and you know, I think that's I mean, that also feels like one
15:18
hundred years ago, right, I mean it was basically we're talking was a
15:22
preseason like Week two or three or something like that. Sea, Yeah,
15:26
late August at least, it feels like forever ago. But those are the
15:30
things that do creep up still, like not in as heavy of a dose.
15:35
But when I think this passing game has its troubles, it's when there's
15:39
pressure in the face of Josh Allen, when there's some blitz looks and he
15:41
can't id the free rusher and he holds the ball and maybe there's not a
15:43
sight adjustment that you're looking for to get the ball out quick, and you
15:48
just get some goofy passing moments. And Pittsburgh has been a good team rushing
15:52
the passer this year. And they blitz. They blitz thirty four percent of
15:56
their plays, a's six highest in the National Football League this year. And
15:58
it's it's kind kind of that recipe that's given this team some challenges. And
16:03
part of my optimism last week against Miami was because Miami isn't that. Miami
16:07
is not a blitz aggressive team. You know, they play a lot of
16:10
zone. They don't want to have a plus one player in the box,
16:12
and I felt like it was a good matchup for the Bills. Now,
16:15
what I was what I thought Miami would do and what I hope that they
16:18
would do, is that they would reinvent themselves a little bit for one week
16:22
and try to blitz and do that type of stuff. And they did,
16:23
and the Bills made them pay. Right, Like, you can't reinvent the
16:26
way you play football based on your opponent. You have to cling to your
16:30
rules of what your scheme is in play ball, right Like, you can't
16:33
just suddenly try to become a different team for one week. That's why option
16:36
offenses work, right, because all of a sudden, you know, you're
16:40
not playing as a team that's as talented as you, but you're gonna have
16:42
to play defense a completely different way, and it's hard when you only have
16:45
to do it once in a while. And I know that's kind of maybe
16:48
a weird parallel, but the point I'm trying to make is that the Miami
16:51
Dolphins trying to become a man coverage blitz aggressive defense was a poor decision in
16:56
my opinion, because that's just not how they play. But that is how
17:00
the Pittsburgh Steelers play. And no, they don't have TJ. Watt,
17:03
but they have some really talented players still. Alex Heighsmith outstanding edge player,
17:10
Cam Hayward on the interior. That dude's a monster. I know he's getting
17:14
a little bit old and stuff like that, but he can still ball man
17:17
and playoffs, and you know they're playing with house money. You know,
17:19
they back toward into the playoffs. You know, they had to get hot
17:22
at the end. They had a terrible streak of like losing to the Cardinals
17:26
and the Patriots, you know, to kind of get into a little hole
17:30
and then back out of it. You know, Cam Hayward fired up back
17:33
twilight of his career, Larry Young Goodjobi's a good interior rusher, Nick Herbig's
17:37
a super athletic young player that gave the Bills a ton of problems in the
17:41
preseason. And then they have a savvy Vet and Marcus Golden. So no,
17:44
they don't have TJ. Watt, but they got all of that,
17:47
you know what I mean. And so there's some ways that they can stress
17:48
the protection schemes for the Buffalo Bills. And I think Josh Allen is going
17:52
to have to play smart football. And the reality is I mean, like
17:56
go back to that Week one game two year years ago where the and I
18:03
don't want to get to my next point because it's gonna spoil like what I
18:06
want to get to. But Pittsburgh has relied on a certain formula to win
18:10
games, and you can fall into their script, right, So my biggest
18:14
concern here is the Bills, you know, just kind of falling in line
18:18
with how Pittsburgh needs the game to go because it's happened before, not just
18:21
against other teams, but against Pittsburgh. So yeah, I think I don't
18:25
want to get too far ahead of myself, But first and foremost for me
18:29
is the protection dynamics and how the Steelers play football defensively and the challenges that
18:33
that's presented the Bills offense this year. I love that point, and I
18:37
love the comment from you about, you know, the Steelers getting teams to
18:41
fall into their trap. I literally was thinking of this last night. I
18:45
was watching. I'm a Clippers fan, so I was watching Clippers suns and
18:49
one of my favorite things about kaw Kawhi Leonard, and it's been said for
18:52
like so long with him playing, is the pace that he plays at.
18:56
He makes other teams and defenders like play it his pace, And I was
19:00
thinking to that in the relation to the Steelers, like it just seems like
19:03
no matter who the Steelers play, you end up playing Steeler football like you
19:07
fall and that doesn't always work for them. They're not always like going undefeated
19:11
and winning every game, but for whatever reason, they seem to always get
19:14
you into the type of game script that they want to get you into,
19:18
regardless of what type of offense you are or defense you are. So I
19:22
love that point. That's very well said, and yeah, your point,
19:26
I'm gonna I'll stick on that side of the ball and kind of tie in
19:27
some things with my first point here. But yeah, obviously teaj walk going
19:30
down is a huge loss. But you're sitting there looking at the rest of
19:33
the dudes on the offensive line. I actually want to start with Nick Herbig,
19:37
who he had some You're a college scouting dude, you know. I
19:41
like to paint myself in that vein as well. I liked a lot of
19:44
what her Big did at Wisconsin, and I also fell into the It was
19:47
the opposite of on the offensive side, I was banging the drum for tanked
19:52
out. I didn't care about the size. I didn't care about anything.
19:55
And on the other side, I was like her BIG's size, Like where
19:59
does he play and what does he do? And he came out of the
20:00
gate hot in the preseason, especially against the Bills. He's no slouch.
20:04
Marcus Golden is no slouch. You're sitting there looking at Alex Highsmith. He's
20:07
thirteenth amongst all edges in total pressures. He's thirty eighth out of one hundred
20:11
and twenty in pass rush of productivity. And then you mentioned Cam Hayward,
20:15
third amongst one hundred and forty three defensive tackles and stop percentage. He may
20:19
not be the pass and run threat that he used to be, but he
20:23
is still stout on the inside. And then the rest of the dudes up
20:27
front, he mentioned Ogunjobi. I loved that they. I love Keanu Benton,
20:32
and I thought it was a great pick by them. He's flashed a
20:33
bunch, like with what he can do standing strong at the point of attack
20:37
on the line of scrimmage or also getting penetration like they have dudes up front
20:41
that can still get the job done, and then even on the back end,
20:45
you know, having we'll see how healthy he is. But welcoming back
20:48
Minka Fitzpatrick to that lineup and KZ maybe that makes him feel a little more
20:52
confident and comfortable with what they do with their fronts. And yeah, so
20:56
I respect that defense. And I'll go with my first point here because it
21:00
ties in, you know, your point ties into mind. My first point
21:03
is just the yin and the yang of Josh Allen, Like which Josh Allen
21:07
do we get in this game? Because it's been and you know, honestly,
21:10
this that past game against the Dolphins was a bit of a microcosm.
21:14
He makes some plays that you are so pissed about, like just whether it's
21:18
decision making or not pulling the trigger, or not recognizing a hot router or
21:22
seeing the hot route and not throwing the hot router thinking that it's a coverage
21:26
that it's not, and not recognizing the front. He does so many things
21:29
that make you go like, what the hell is going on with this guy?
21:33
And then he misses a deep ball shot and you're like, dude,
21:36
he's got to get it together. And then he makes an off platform throw
21:38
to Stefan Diggs that's on a dart and a dime and it makes you forget
21:41
kind of about everything else. And then he furthers that by running through four
21:45
defenders on third and thirteen to get a first down, and that pendulum swing.
21:49
That nature of how Josh Allen plays every game for me, especially this
21:56
year, He's always played that way. You've had those high variance plays,
21:59
like the horrible, god awful boneheaded plays and then the god tier alien type
22:04
plays that he makes, but usually he makes more of those god tier alien
22:08
type unicorn type plays and they drown out more of the riskier ones or the
22:11
boneheaded ones. This year, I feel like the ratio has gotten closer,
22:15
and each game it just seems like this team is always going to always going
22:19
to go as far as Josh Allen takes them, especially this year with the
22:22
injuries that they've had on defense. But it seems like even more so with
22:26
how he's playing that pendulum swing type of game, if he has a bad
22:30
day or an off game, they're dead in the water. And if he
22:33
has a superman Josh Allen moment, they succeed. And again even that can
22:37
vary play to play, drive to drive, quarter to quarter. And you
22:41
look at his numbers, like on the year, he's third in EPA per
22:45
play, he's third, and success rate, he's second in completion percentage over
22:48
expected. But since the bye week, you know, so the last five
22:51
games, he's thirteenth in EPA per play, eleventh and success rate, ninth
22:55
in completion percentage over expected. And we've continued again to see a lot of
22:59
the things that I think, whether rightly or wrongly, people attributed to Ken
23:03
Dorsey. Well, these are this is Ken Dorsey's fault, and Ken Dorsey
23:07
broke Josh Allen, like a lot of people were kind of giving him the
23:10
benefit of the doubt for anything. We're seeing a lot of those errors and
23:12
those issues still present in his game, but again at the end of the
23:17
day, these past several weeks when he's had these wins, he's made play
23:22
Situationally, he doesn't have a good game against the Chargers, but when they
23:23
needed it, he's making pinpoint throws on third downs. He's getting those drives
23:27
at the end of the game to either get a touchdown or execute those four
23:30
minute drives or hit that game winning field goal. He's been so good situationally,
23:34
and then bringing in those high variance plays that again, it drowns out
23:40
a lot of what's happened. Steelers defense comes into this game. They're seventh
23:42
in EPA per play, their eighth and success rate, their eighth and passing
23:47
EPA. They're ninth and passing success rate. They're eleventh in rushing EPA.
23:51
They're fifth in rushing success rate, sixth overall in DVOA, sixth against the
23:56
pass, ninth against the run. They're gonna miss TJ. Watt, but
23:59
they still have dudes up front. I my first matchup piece really tying into
24:03
that Steelers defense against Josh Allen. Can they force Josh Allen into the bad
24:08
version of Josh Allen, the Yen which is and yet Yeah, Yen is
24:11
the bad one, Yang is the good one. Can they force him more
24:15
into that Yen world. Can they force him into a mistake early on and
24:18
then cause that to snowball a little bit and make him think, Okay,
24:21
I got to make up for it. And can they put the pressure on
24:25
him from a mental standpoint and even potentially physically tying into your protection piece,
24:30
because we know when he gets pressured early and things break down up front,
24:33
he starts to evade pockets earlier than he needs to. He starts to think,
24:37
Okay, you know, I'll let me do all this on my own,
24:40
and I'll make something happen on my own. And granted to his credit,
24:42
a lot of times it's worked, but this year we've seen a lot
24:45
of times where it hasn't. I think Pittsburgh comes in, aims to stop
24:49
the run, and then they look to play Russian Roulette with Josh Allen in
24:52
hopes that they get that dark, negative side of him and kind of force
24:56
him and the Bills to play into their hand. Slow the game down,
25:00
make it ugly, make it nasty, make the Bills offense inefficient, and
25:04
then try and sneak out of a buffalo with a win, Anthony, We've
25:07
heard a couple of different teams come out and say that their game plan defensively
25:14
is that they want Josh Allen to put the cape on and then fall into
25:18
his mistakes. Right, Robert Salas said it. Yep, they said it.
25:22
Somebody on the Dolphins said it this past week. He'll eventually he'll put
25:25
his cape on it. He'll make mistakes. But here's what I'll say about
25:27
all of that. There's been a lot of bozo Josh Allen this year,
25:32
more than we've seen in a while. How many times that he walked off
25:36
the field this year and didn't have the lead. Oh, this is a
25:41
good one. Yeah, twice, twice. Two times he's cleans up for
25:45
even when he makes those mistakes, he makes a mess, he tends to
25:48
clean up that mess. He does. Jaguars game, in the Bengals game.
25:52
Jaguars game was goofy, they were in London, just a goofy game.
25:55
And then the Bengals game, and I don't know, I hated Sean
25:57
mcdermot's defensive game plan with the Blitzegrev stuff. He made it really easy on
26:00
Joe Burrow. Yeah, so I don't I mean, I don't know.
26:03
I don't. I don't look at Josh Allen when I think about the the
26:06
reasons the Bills lost those games. I thought Josh was great against Jacksonville.
26:08
I really do so. I mean, yeah, here, you right,
26:11
totally valid, concerned about what you're saying. But as I was thinking about
26:17
the Dolphins game last week, and I was having like a very condid,
26:21
candid conversation with my brother, and I'm like, hey, man, no
26:23
bs, let's talk about this game, Like what's what's your what's your biggest
26:26
concern? All right? Well, and my answer to that was I'm concerned
26:30
that I'm concerned that I don't know how Josh Allen's gonna play in this game.
26:34
And then that put me on this mental exercise. Well, I'm like,
26:37
man, Josh has had bozo games this year, but I'm pretty sure
26:40
he's left the field with more points than the other team every single time and
26:42
then the defense couldn't couldn't figure it out at the end. Yeah, twice
26:47
twice this year he didn't leave the field a winner, right, Like,
26:52
so that gives me a level of confidence that like, like we kind of
26:55
got into here, like, yeah, he's made some messes but man,
26:56
he does clean them up. And I think I think for as much as
27:03
there is some variance in the possibility of some bozo, Josh gotta have some
27:07
confidence he can clean up the mess. Oh yeah, And that's very fair,
27:11
I guess. I guess this is too for me with like the paranoia
27:15
that always exists in the back of my brain, Like in a in a
27:18
one game playoff, all it takes is that one time for him to not
27:22
be able to clean up his mess and you're done. Yeah, and against
27:26
the team like Pittsburgh with their defense to again like TJ. Watt as we
27:32
both talked about, like that is that is a big miss. But this
27:36
defense, it seems like year after year, whether it's Mike Tomlin or the
27:40
core pieces and players and leaders they have on that side of the ball,
27:42
every year, it's like the same group no matter who they plug in.
27:45
They play fast, they play physical, they play with confidence. It doesn't
27:48
matter if they're trotting out all their starters or they're playing some fourth or fifth
27:52
string guy. Everybody's got bite and like swaged to the type of style that
27:57
they play and they're not gonna in a buffalo with any type of fear and
28:00
also tying into you know, one of your points there that preseason game the
28:03
Sean McDermott remembers. Maybe I don't know if the Steelers saw that preseason victory
28:07
as any type of revenge. But how many of these dudes remember going into
28:11
Buffalo last year and just getting absolutely embarrassed by the Bills, Like how much
28:15
does Micka fitzpatch or remember Gabe davis joint getting that ball away from him on
28:18
a massive day and a monster day for Gabe Davis. And I want not
28:22
that anybody needs more motivation come playoff time, but does that play a role
28:27
at all? And yeah, they've got dudes. If they can hunt up
28:30
front, if high Smith and Hayward and Herbig and Golden and Benton can get
28:33
some things working early, if they can styn me the run, get some
28:37
pressure early, how much does that swing the pendulum into their favor? And
28:41
then can they get the Josh Allen who missus Reed's makes poor decisions, doesn't
28:45
pull the trigger, poor ball placement or you know how much off platform,
28:49
poor mechanic Josh do we get and how many completions and amazing throws does he
28:55
make versus throwing it into a bad spot and somebody's taken advantage of it,
28:57
and yet to your point, bit to mine as well, then you're playing
29:00
into that Steeler's hand and you're playing that Steeler football that they want to force
29:06
you to live and die with. It's a good segue into my second variable.
29:11
This isn't necessarily a matchup, but this will be a variable of the
29:12
game as we're trying to consider what the key elements are for this game,
29:18
and it is that Steeler script, and that Steeler script is really about takeaways
29:25
and giveaways. Pittsburgh. You're not going to look at this team up and
29:29
down and be like impressed with how good their offense ranks or how good their
29:33
defense ranks. But there is a certain area where that they do exceed.
29:37
They don't give away the football, and they take it away a lot.
29:41
Pittsburgh has the second fewest giveaways this season with sixteen. They have the second
29:47
best turnover differential in the NFL at plus eleven. And they didn't get here
29:52
because their quarterbacks are amazing, they've been through three of them. They didn't
29:55
get here because their offense is amazing. Like they were celebrating scoring thirty points
29:59
for the first time in like one hundred years, right like this is this
30:02
has been a real like like it's it's not a high flying football operation,
30:07
but they're here. They're ten and seven, they won their last three and
30:11
they were six and three at one point with Kenny Pickett like literally just not
30:15
being able to He was like JP Losman Kenny Pickett where he just couldn't hit
30:18
like throws that are five yards in front of him. Was embarrassing. But
30:21
they're winning football games because they give themselves a chance, because they don't turn
30:25
it over and they take it away, right, Like that's for the NFL.
30:27
We get so interested in like dynamic players and in physical traits and dude,
30:33
I love all of that, but you want to give yourself a chance
30:37
to win every game. Don't turn it over and take it away from your
30:40
opponent. And that's what the Pittsburgh Steelers have done. That is the Steelers
30:42
way right now. And on top of that, they don't commit penalties.
30:45
They have eighty five penalties this year, six fewists in the NFL. So
30:48
they have a simple formula where they invite you to beat yourself and guess what
30:53
the Buffalo Bills are happy to do from time to time beat themselves and so
30:57
you can't fall into the Steeler script. You can't live in this world like
31:03
you What was the percentages with the Chargers game? The Bills were with a
31:07
minus three and turnovers in that game that was three to nothing if I'm not
31:10
mistaken, was it? Was it like a less than ten percent of the
31:12
teams in the history of the NFL win games with that type of turnover differential.
31:18
You can't do it again. If you have a three to zero turnover
31:21
differential in favor of you, you have a ninety point seven chance of winning.
31:26
So yeah, basically, don't fall into that script. And so what
31:30
was that? There was a Ken Dorsey quote that I actually kind of like
31:32
you used to always say, uh smart not conservative, right, Yes,
31:37
you got like good, it's a good mindset, right, Like you've got
31:41
to be aggressive, you got to go make plays, but you can't give
31:45
away the football. And like, this is the type of game where you
31:48
have to be willing to say drives at ending kicks are okay, it's gonna
31:52
be okay, right, Like you're gonna have another possession. And so this
31:56
isn't a try to do everything on every single drive just play the damn game
31:59
and don't fall into the script. I love that point, and so my
32:04
third one it ties right into that. My third one, I gave it.
32:07
Your point is one of the sub points in my point here, which
32:12
is make Mason Rudolph beat you. And one of those points is, yeah,
32:15
don't turn the ball over. Do not fall into that Steeler game plan
32:19
where you're slugging it out with this team. You should not be slugging it
32:22
out with. Part of that again connects into the Josh Allen piece. You
32:25
don't need to be a hero in this game. It's okay to have like
32:29
a third and six and not like something and be like, all right,
32:30
cool, let me throw it away and live to fight another day. I
32:32
do not care if the Bills win this game by fifty or they win it
32:37
by five. The dub is the dub survive in advance. It does not
32:40
matter how No one's going to if the Bills win the Super Bowl this year.
32:44
No one's going to look back and be like, remember when they only
32:46
beat the Steelers like fourteen to nine. No no one's gonna care, you
32:50
know why, because they won the Super Bowl. And that's all that matters.
32:52
At the end of the day. And so I love that point,
32:54
like not falling into that Steeler game plan, and for me, that ties
32:57
into the bigger piece of making Mason Rudolph beat you again. That's the overarching
33:01
theme, but it's made up of these subplots. And make him go through
33:07
his progressions, make him make tight window throws, limit chunk plays. Don't
33:12
let the Steeler run game get going. That's part of it too. They'll
33:15
get turnovers on defense. Slug it out with you, They'll give it to
33:17
Naji Harris and Jalen Warren or when they used to do it for forever with
33:21
like every single with the Willie Parkers of the world and Rashard Mendenhall's of the
33:24
world playing that Steeler ball. Don't let them get the run game going.
33:28
Don't get gashed on screens. Change the pre to post snap picture on Mason
33:31
Rudolph on the back end, but also with your fronts. I want to
33:35
see simulated pressures and creepers dictating protection pre snap by putting guys on the line,
33:39
covering up that center. See if you can get some five to zero
33:43
protection from the Steelers and play games with them, challenge their wide receivers at
33:47
the line of scrimmage and again, don't give the ball away. On offense,
33:52
they need to make Mason Rudolph show he can consistently read the defense pre
33:57
to post snap, make him diagnose pressure, hit his hots. Put the
34:00
onus on him to beat you. The only way the Bills should lose this
34:04
game. They shouldn't, but if they should, it's because Mason Rudolph put
34:08
on some masterclass and you tip your cap to Mason rudolphus say, hey,
34:12
good job. I don't want to see one of those games where yeah,
34:15
the Bills turned it over three or four times and Mason Rudolph was ten to
34:20
twenty one for ninety three yards and two touchdowns. Or he dumps it down
34:24
to Jalen Warren on a screen and Jalen Warren takes it fifty five yards for
34:28
a huge chunk play. Or he completes a little drag or seven yard slam
34:31
or something to George Pickens and you're you miss attack, or you're off on
34:35
your angle and Pickens house. Is it none of the easy plays for the
34:38
Steelers offense because despite the fact that Rudolph has been better these past several weeks,
34:44
like he's got a good QB rating, he's got a good complete percentage
34:46
over expected. He's doing decent from an overall standpoint, especially considering to your
34:51
point, like what they had gotten earlier in the year, which was not
34:53
great stuff from Mitch Trubisky and also not great stuff out of Kenny Pickett.
34:57
It's very telling that Pickett is available for this game and Mike Tomlin is you
35:00
know, quote unquote riding the hot hand and going with Mason Rudolph, which
35:05
no disrespect to Mason Rudolph, but if Mason Rudolph is your hot hand or
35:07
the hot hand that you're riding, it tells you something about the quarterback room
35:12
on your team. He has to be the one to beat them in this
35:15
game. And that's why I think it goes really in lockstep, you know,
35:17
with your idea of not getting sucked into that Steeler like game plan.
35:21
Don't turn the ball over, don't think you have to get everything on one
35:23
play, don't think every single play has to be a home run shot on
35:28
either side of the ball. You are the better football team from an on
35:30
the field standpoint, and as much as scheme and structure matters so much,
35:35
and you can win with scheme instructure, but you can also win with talent.
35:37
And at the end of the day, a lot of football just comes
35:40
down to which guy is better than the other guy, which team has better
35:44
players than the other team. The Bills have that advantage from an on the
35:46
field roster on paper talent perspective. Lean into that play within yourselves from a
35:52
scheme instructure standpoint, but the advantages with you do not let yourself get sucked
35:57
into that game plan that you have against lower tier teams this year like the
36:01
Patriots, like the Broncos. Don't get caught playing into that lower quality type
36:06
of football game, especially against a team like you said that is very adept
36:10
at sucking teams into that black hole of making them play there that game.
36:15
The only way this game gets away from the Bills is if they make life
36:19
easy for Mason Rudolph and like the run games cooking, or they start with
36:23
multiple drives like Inside the Buffalo forty because the Bills are turning the ball over.
36:28
You don't have to get cute, just don't get sloppy, play mistake
36:30
free, sound technical football, and you come away with the victory in this
36:34
game. I really agree with that and Actually, my last point is about
36:37
Mason Rudolph as well. And I like your angle of making Mason Rudolph beat
36:44
you and that dynamic. I think that's really good. What I want to
36:47
lean into from my Mason Rudolph angle is the Sean McDermott versus Mason Rudolph dynamic.
36:55
And you know this team was sparked by Mason Rudolph. They were and
37:00
seven, We're all nervous, Mike Damn Towin's gonna have a losing season.
37:04
Well, Mason Rudolph comes in. They win three in a row. And
37:06
in those first two games they score thirty four points against Cincinnati, they scored
37:09
thirty in Seattle, and then of course the last game was the Ravens game
37:14
in Baltimore. That was like just raining the whole time. They scored seventeen
37:17
points. But offensively, Mason Rudolph gave this team two of its best performances
37:22
in years. And he's really sparked this football team. And I don't think
37:28
much of Mason Rudolph. I don't, right I think he's a backup quarterback
37:30
in the NFL. But for this team right now, he's given them a
37:35
spark and I think part of that is his skill set in terms of what's
37:37
the what is he what did he do with Oklahoma State? He threw routes
37:42
on the on the line you're playing, and he's got a good linear playing
37:45
receiver in George Pickens. It kind of works, right, and so that's
37:49
that's kind of what's what's happened, and that's not what Traviisky or Pickt is
37:52
and so that that's part of what has worked for them. And he kind
37:58
of went up against a couple of bad defenses and Cincinnati and Seattle. But
38:02
the Sean McDermott dynamic, you know it. Sean mcdermot's in his bag right
38:07
now, dude. He is coaching his ass off. Over this five game
38:12
win streak for the Buffalo Bills, opponents are averaging sixteen point eight points per
38:16
game two hundred and seventy seven total yards per game. They face Kansas City,
38:21
Dallas, and Miami, three of the better off two I mean Dallas
38:24
in Miami, you're really your top two scoring offense in the NFL. Held
38:27
them all under twenty points. You've held four of your last excuse me,
38:31
your last four and seven of your last eight opponents under two hundred passing yards.
38:37
All right, like Sean is dialing it up, Keep it up,
38:42
keep it up, right. I mean, this is Mason Rudolph at your
38:44
place in the playoffs. I'm surely Mason Rudolf hasn't started a playoff game that
38:49
matters, right he's I mean, yeah, he's played the last three,
38:51
but a playoff football is different. Josh Allen has plenty of experience doing that,
38:54
at least two playoff starts in each of the last three seasons. So
39:00
it's riding the hot hand of this defense, and yet there could be some
39:02
short handedness. You're probably not gonna have Dots in this week. You're probably
39:07
not gonna have Russeill Douglas, but you do have Dan Jackson, who's played
39:10
a lot of football for you. Was great against Miami Dolphins last week.
39:14
I mean huge, like game ceiling plays in that second half there to end
39:19
those drives. I mean the Dolphins five possession seventeen plays. Dame Jackson was
39:25
the reason that two of those drives ended with the pass break up in the
39:28
middle of the field against Edric Wilson and then that tackle against Dane Jackson,
39:30
Like those were the drive endors. Why didn't they have more production in the
39:34
second half. Well, it's because Dane Jackson ended drives. So I feel
39:39
a little bit comfortable there. I thought Balen Specter kind of held his own,
39:42
filling in for a Tyrell Dotson. Like the big thing for me with
39:45
Balen was that his head wasn't spinning. He did his one eleventh. He
39:47
was fine against the defense, or me against the Miami offense. That puts
39:52
a lot of stress on you as a linebacker with all their motions and how
39:55
they flood zones. And he held his own And that gives me a level
39:59
of couragement compared to like Dorian Williams, who's fast and physical, but he
40:02
makes a whole lot of full speed mistakes. You know, you can't you
40:06
can't even die with that. The Patriots knew it, man. The Patriots
40:07
saw Dorian Williams out there and that start and said, as long as he's
40:10
out there, you are not gonna stop us. The Giants did it too.
40:14
The Giants are just like, where's Dorian, We're just gonna mislead him
40:15
in attack. He was the where's Waldough? Right? He just was.
40:19
It's unfortunate, and so so with Specter, I think he'd gold his out
40:22
a little bit better in that capacity. So yeah, you might be a
40:24
little bit short handed, but stay in your bag, Sean McDermott. You've
40:29
been limiting Dak Prescott Intua. Who's might Those are the statistically the best two
40:32
quarterbacks in the league this year, right Like you held them both under two
40:36
hundred yards passing. Uh, you know, so keep it up, man,
40:39
Like, lean into this hot hand that you have defensively, and damn
40:45
it if Mason Rudolph goes into Orchard Park and beat you in the playoffs,
40:50
I don't know what to say, you know, Like that's gonna be a
40:52
tough pill to swallow. This defense is hot, Let it stay hot.
40:55
I love that, and he's done such a good job. You and I
41:00
talked about it the second time I was on Lockdown Bills with you. I
41:06
think the first time we talk about twelve personnel and Kinkaid and stuff. In
41:07
the second time, yeah, we talked about Bills defense under McDermott, and
41:10
part of the things we talked about were, you know, him getting into
41:14
a little bit of that Carolina Sean McDermott. And we've seen that more down
41:16
the stretch, like even just the simple cross dog blitz that he's bringing with
41:21
Bernard and Dotson, like those were Carolina staples with Keith Ley and Thomas Davis,
41:24
and he starting to incorporate that more. I like how he's using We're
41:28
seeing more tight front we're seeing more odd fronts overall. He's covering up centers
41:32
and he's mugging gaps and he's dictating protection. We're not just seeing the same
41:37
old four to three over front knowing what coverage is going to be behind,
41:39
you know, playing I never thought how much two man I would see the
41:44
Bills playing lo and behold here they are playing it on the last drive.
41:47
Yeah, I love it. And it fits too with how big and strong
41:52
Benford is, similar to with what Rasoul Douglas is, but also Dan Jackson's
41:55
skill set, like he's not the most athletics. So let them get up
41:58
into dude's faces, get into their ca reroute them. You know, Taylor
42:01
rappints interception with the Bills playing two man, They're varying coverages. He's he's
42:06
done so many cool things this year, playing Tampa to Robber where you know
42:09
he's got you know, a split hot or it might have a single high
42:13
look or a two high look pre snap and he's spinning a safety down to
42:15
be the robber, and that he's dropping Tarren Johnson is one of the split
42:17
field safeties like he's really especially down the stretch, started to add more a
42:24
little bit of like a mad scientist type feel to the defense because they haven't
42:29
had you know, Trey White is out, Matt Mulano is out, Daiquon
42:32
Jones was out for a while, and then even in this past game,
42:36
you know, you talk about that second half performance against Miami. Five drives
42:39
forty seven yards, three three and outs, four punts, one interception,
42:45
seven total minutes of possession for the Miami Dolphins offense. And I know Jalen
42:50
Waddle being out hurts them where he moster being out hurts them. Maybe Tybreek
42:53
Hill is still kind of banged up. They got injuries on the offensive line.
42:57
The Bills have a ton of injuries on defense as well, and that
43:00
entire second half performance came without Tyrell Dodson and without Rasoul Douglas. To your
43:05
points, that's why we saw Dan Jackson, that's why we saw Baile inspector
43:07
and for him to do that against honestly, like I know nobody wants to
43:12
give Miami credit for everything. I caught a whole bunch of flak from the
43:15
live chat on this show last week because I was talking about how I thought
43:17
Devin Hang was great and talking about how wild his numbers were this year.
43:22
But Mike McDaniel's a real quality schemer and designer on the offensive side of the
43:25
ball, and Sean McDermott out schemed him, out coached him, and he
43:30
did it while missing critical pieces and multiple levels of the defense. And yeah,
43:35
even the Spector piece. I love that from you. You know,
43:37
I'm gonna give kudos to McDermott. Also to Bobby Babbage. I was very
43:40
worried, especially I think it was maybe his first full drive or second full
43:45
drive. At the end of the first half, Miami runs that their RPO
43:49
seam wheel flat combination and they suck up Bailen Spector and they hit it right
43:53
behind him. And as soon as the play has done, Bernard is giving
43:55
him hand gesterures and the body language indicates like, yo, bro, don't
44:00
do that, you need to do this instead, and they're communicating, and
44:01
my thought was, are they just gonna attack Bailee Inspector and put him in
44:07
hell and make him have to live and die mentally, And that's one that's
44:09
not what happened. And I think it's a credit to Bobby Babbage coaching him
44:13
up McDermott, using him in a way that wouldn't make his head spin,
44:15
and being able to stay in an advantageous situations with the defense so they could
44:21
stay in those dime linebacker looks and bring in Poyer for Spector and then have
44:24
rap and hide on the back end. Yeah, he's just been Ever since
44:28
that Philly game when he kind of choked things away in the second half,
44:30
this defense has been rolling well. I think an important note on Bailenspector this
44:35
week is there's a big difference in preparing all week to be a starter,
44:40
good point, and then all of a sudden having to go into a game.
44:43
You think Baile Inspector got a single first team rep in practice this past
44:46
week in preparation for the Miami Dolphins. Not a single one, right,
44:51
and so he had to do all this play literally half the game, like
44:54
without a first team rep. To go in there and do it like that'll
44:58
be different. They're gonna know that this week that he's going to be their
45:00
starter, and he's gonna get every first team rep and prepare to start the
45:04
game right. And I think that's gonna be a big, big difference where
45:07
you know, he wasn't the slug this past week under those circumstances, it
45:12
should be better this week. That's a great point. Yeah, he's They're
45:14
gonna coach him up all week. He's gonna be getting stuff from Bernard and
45:16
the rest of the defense, especially from like a coverage standpoint in terms of
45:20
here's what we do with this and really getting him on point. I'm a
45:23
little less concerned with him from a run standpoint. He flashed a bit in
45:28
this game against Miami, and you know, I think that's more of a
45:30
natural feel for him, given what he did at Clemson. In that type
45:34
of role, obviously, you still have to have, you know, the
45:36
the proper run fits and so on and so forth and diagnosing, but this
45:39
game striped against Pittsburgh also kind of helps him get acclimated a little bit.
45:44
In addition to that, you have an entire full week of practice out they're
45:49
coming out and playing some pass heavy spread team that's going to try and put
45:52
him into hell and make him. You know, have to live and die
45:54
on every single play. So that's a good point as well. My last
45:58
point to kind of tie it all together, I'm wondering which pass catcher or
46:01
pass catchers produce for the Buffalo Bills offense. Looking at the Steelers defense and
46:07
their ranks versus specific positions from a debailway perspective, they're eighth versus wide receiver
46:13
ones. They're eleventh versus wide receiver twos, they're twenty seventh versus wide receiver
46:17
threes, they're sixth versus tight ends, and thirteenth versus running backs. The
46:22
disconnect between Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs has been talked about for a heavy majority
46:27
of the back end of this season, although you know, and I broke
46:30
down a bunch of it with Eric in the film room last week. If
46:32
Allen just completes a couple, like literally two or three of these deep balls
46:37
to Digs down the stretch here throughout the season, these numbers look completely different,
46:39
and a lot of this conversation isn't happening. But to the point,
46:44
Diggs has struggled, especially since Joe Brady took over as offensive coordinated but we
46:47
saw them get back on track a bit versus Miami. We saw that deep
46:51
ball completion after missing one earlier. We saw there's been the you know,
46:55
the clips from NFL films of them Viben on the sideline and Digs talking to
46:59
all and looks like they're you know, I don't think their relationship was ever
47:01
in doubt, but the on the field chemistry piece wasn't up to snuff like
47:06
we had seen prior in prior years. Does that type of disconnect continue in
47:09
this game or do they get a bit back on track? And how many
47:14
resources do the Steelers have to allocate in order to limit Stefan Diggs. A
47:19
lot of the limitations for him down this stretch hasn't been anything, you know,
47:23
otherworldly from defenses. It's not teams going with these crazy brackets or a
47:28
lot of these double teams. You're seeing that here and there, especially from
47:30
the Patriots. But a lot of teams are just taking their corner and lining
47:34
them up inside with inside leverage and taking away like the easy dunk and dunk
47:37
stuff that Allen loves to live with, and then changing some things on second
47:40
down because they treat second down like third down, and so if they do
47:44
take digs away and if Gave Davis is out, I know where this might
47:47
go for some people in the chat. I don't want to hear everybody starts
47:50
saying, well, Gabe Davis sucks anyway, and he's terrible, YadA YadA.
47:52
He does more than you realize. Especially you know again, I know
47:55
this isn't sexy, but as a blocker in the run game or in the
47:59
past game, he was the reason, part of the reason that Shakir busted
48:01
off that big run after catch in this past game against Miami. But he
48:06
pulls coverages more often than not as that clear out route runner and that person
48:12
in this offense. It's part of the reason why his yards per route run
48:15
aren't necessarily there, because he's doing all those dirty work pieces. But all
48:19
that being said, yeah, who produces in this game? And I'm wondering
48:23
based on those numbers for the Steelers and again wide receiver one, two or
48:28
three. That data comes from FTN Fantasy where Aaron Schatz works now as he
48:32
brought his Dboa model over there after things with football outsiders on ferry sideways,
48:37
some of that in terms of who's a one to two three is somewhat subjective,
48:39
but I'm wondering if this is a Khalios Shakir game, especially with how
48:43
the Steelers are built and some of the wild numbers he's put together targets and
48:47
sample size will skew things a little bit here. But out of one hundred
48:52
and ninety seven qualifying pass catchers on the year, wide receivers, running backs,
48:55
tight ends, Khalios Shakir leads the NFL at EPA per target at zero
49:00
point eight seven. Brandon Aiyuk is second at zero point six to three,
49:06
and Nico Collins and Khalif Raymond are tied for third at zero point five to
49:09
five. Breaking it down even further into just the bills EPA per target for
49:15
bills, wide receivers and tight ends on the year, Shakira's first at zero
49:19
point eight seven on forty five targets. Deontay Hardy zero point two to two
49:22
on twenty one targets, Gabe Davis zero point one seven on seventy nine targets,
49:28
Digs at zero point one two on one hundred and sixty one targets.
49:31
Kinkaid is barely above zero at zero point zero two on ninety two targets.
49:37
Trent Sherfield negative zero point two to four on twenty two targets and Dawson Knox
49:42
negative zero point three to nine on thirty five targets. Based on how things
49:45
shape up the Steelers despite not having strong linebackers. Again, they're six versus
49:50
tight ends, they've done well in that regard, but being twenty seven versus
49:52
wide receiver threes and thirteen versus running backs, do we see Granted, maybe
49:58
the weather'll player role here too, but do we see more of the running
50:00
backs involved in the pass game, which is a specialty of Joe Brady?
50:04
Is this more of a James Cook and the receiving aspect type of game?
50:07
Do we see any checkdowns or anything for Leonard Fournette? And then, yeah,
50:09
that wide receiver piece, who is it? I do think the Bills
50:13
have the advantage from athleticism standpoint with the tight ends versus the second level of
50:16
the Steelers defense, although you know, Minka Fitzpatrick being back and what they
50:21
do with him does potentially throw a wrench into those plans and he's a significant
50:23
reason why they are so good against tight ends. But who is that pass
50:28
catcher for the Buffalo Bills? Who's option number? One who produce. Who's
50:31
to consistent go to for Josh Allen because he's had to find different players in
50:36
different games down the stretch, especially with you know, him going to dig
50:38
struggling a little bit, and for a defense that again wants to force you
50:44
into play a certain way. And if they bring the house, if they
50:46
blitz, if they're playing man coverage and doing all these things, who does
50:50
he trust to consistently beat coverage, be on the same page as him and
50:52
bail him out of situations. And it could be the person producing overall from
50:57
a volume standpoint, but even more so situationally, who's he going to in
51:00
the low red zone if it's not schemed up, Who's he going to on
51:02
third down? Who produces and provides that outlet in that easy button for Josh
51:07
Allen, hopefully the open guy. It's all to the open guy, you
51:13
know, I think that's what he should do. Yeah, I think that's
51:15
a good call out. And what I like about this Bills team is that
51:20
I feel pretty good about the depth of playmakers right where where. Yeah,
51:23
maybe it's Digs, maybe it's Shakir, maybe it's Kincay, maybe it's James
51:27
Cook, Right like there's options. Dawson Knox still plays for this football team,
51:30
you know, like there's there's people out there that can make these plays,
51:34
and I think you'll get a feel early in the game for how that's
51:40
gonna go. I really can appreciate this past week against Miami how it felt
51:46
like Fangio was more intentional about scheming for James Cook in the passing game,
51:52
and I felt like that really lifted a lot of coverage from the middle of
51:55
the field, which Josh was what seventeen to twenty one to the middle of
52:00
the field in this game, which was like pretty pretty high compared to where
52:04
he's been all year. And I thought a lot of that had to do
52:06
with some of that, at least with James Cook and some of the attention
52:09
that they gave their right. You can't spy Josh Allen play man coverage against
52:15
the running back, you know, like and have a middle zone defender Like
52:19
it's hard, yeah, And so I think you make them respect those running
52:22
backs, and if they do, you work the middle of the field,
52:25
and if they don't, you get these running backs going, and that should
52:29
open up things. Like I think that was a big X factor in how
52:32
the offense opened up in the passing game was I felt like there was more
52:36
attention placed on the running backs and Josh was able to take advantage of that.
52:40
I think that's a good point, and I wonder how much again that
52:45
correlates with their success or lack of success running the ball potentially versus the Pittsburgh
52:51
Steelers. The Bills have been one of the best running teams on the entirety
52:54
of the year, and I'm talking the Josh Allen run game is a fun
52:58
piece as well, both in designed and with scrambles, but just from running
53:00
back carries. They've been consistently top five in epay per attempt all year.
53:06
It's been them in Philly and Baltimore and Miami. Miami really because of you
53:09
know most it's been doing well, but A Chang's just been killing it.
53:13
Like They've been a good running football team. And they've got three legitimate concepts
53:16
that they can work with. They love running that tackle wrap, that dart
53:19
play, they can run duo, they can run that mid zone. Can
53:22
they control the line of scrimmage enough versus that Steelers front that especially that Steelers
53:27
defensive line, and we know again part of that Steelers script and that Mike
53:30
Tomlin's script is you don't run the ball on them, like they will not
53:34
let you run the ball. And to your point earlier, like we've seen
53:37
and heard other coaches be like, yeah, we want to force Josh Allen
53:39
to put the cape on and when they've struggled to run the ball this year,
53:45
the offense has been more sluggish than not. And do we see Joe
53:49
Brady tie in some more play action this week if they can get the run
53:52
game going or if they can't, just what are those outlets? What are
53:55
those release points, those safety valves, those breathe easy moments or Josh Allen,
54:00
how do they come if that running game can't get going, which I
54:04
really think the Steelers are gonna try and limit and try and stifle and try
54:06
and snuff out. Oh man, this is I'm very excited, but very
54:09
nervous, as I think everybody should be in every single playoff week. It's
54:13
here and after you know you said it earlier, the Bills are sitting there.
54:16
If you would really at any point like Ben like all my bills are
54:20
gonna come back on the AFC East, like people are looking at the numbers
54:22
and then from the emotion standpoint, just sitting there thinking, no, man,
54:24
this team's kind of like dead in the water. And for them too,
54:28
it hasn't been the prettiest for the entirety of the year, even down
54:30
this stretch when they're winning these games. But they're battle tested. They've grinded
54:35
games out. And the Steelers, as unsexy as they are, they're battle
54:39
tested too. And they're coming into this game not caring that they're the underdog.
54:44
They're not seeing that double digit, you know, points spread in favor
54:46
of the Buffalo Bills. They are coming in thinking they are the Pittsburgh Steelers.
54:51
They're gonna play fast, they're gonna play physical, they're gonna play angry,
54:53
and we'll see what happens in this game. Joe, I appreciate the
54:57
hell out of you for joining me tonight and riding with me episode of disguised
55:00
coverage. I'm pretty sure everyone knows who we are and what you do,
55:04
but just in case they do not, the floor is yours. Tell everybody
55:07
where they can find your work, everything you do, whatever you got,
55:08
go for it. Yeah, I appreciate it. My dude, Joe Marino
55:12
follow me on X are we doing this? Are we saying X yet or
55:15
you can say in Twitter. I'm saying Twitter. That was the first time
55:17
that I said X, And then I find out that you still say Twitter.
55:21
So I'll go over there and it just sounds weird, like I don't
55:23
like it at the Joe Marino Locked on Bills is the daily podcast and the
55:29
Buffalo Bills free and available on all platforms, and of course the Locked on
55:32
NFL Scouting podcast also daily. We talk about team building, right, that's
55:37
kind of our theme there, so two daily podcasts. Try to tweet from
55:40
time to time. Love talking to Bills mafia, and thanks for having me,
55:44
Anthony. You are one of the best Joe for anything and everything Buffalo
55:47
Bills and then especially come off season time and draft content and player evaluation and
55:52
fits and all that stuff. So I respect your work and all the different
55:54
arenas that you exist in and live in. Again, thank you very much
55:58
for taking the time to join me. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday,
56:00
Enjoy the rest of your week. I'll sure, I'm sure I'll see you
56:02
around on Twitter and God speed man. Thank you again. Thanks dude,
56:06
Go Bills, Go Bills. Joe Marino, carl I see your super chat.
56:10
I'm gonna pull that up in a minute as we start to shift focuses
56:15
here. Also see Nicki's comments saying, oh, I missed it. That's
56:19
fine, We're still rolling here on this show, Nikki, and then when
56:22
the show is done, you can go back and see the parts with Joe
56:24
again. I appreciate him taking the time to join me, especially on a
56:28
night where, like I mentioned in the intro, I am sick and I
56:30
am not feeling good. So I'm glad I had somebody who I could,
56:34
you know, if necessary, could kind of give the reins too. I
56:37
was super afraid that I was going to hit a coughing fit or just a
56:39
moment where I had to switch the camera off. But you know, I'm
56:44
powering through, and I think a lot of that was the confidence in Joe
56:45
knowing that he was my right hand in this episode. Let's pull this comment
56:50
from Carl. Also, I got a bunch of other comments that I've been
56:52
keeping an eye on, So any questions, thoughts, comments, concerns.
56:55
Of course, now I'm going to start to cough when Joe's not here because
56:59
I'm gonna have to talk more. Of course, any questions, thoughts,
57:01
comments, concerns, anything and everything that you folks have, something about the
57:05
Dolphins game, something about the Bills, something about this game against the Steelers,
57:07
anything and everything, start to throw it up into the chat. We're
57:10
gonna do a whole live chat and engagement piece towards the back end of this
57:15
episode. Again, it's playoff time, and I love to make the show
57:17
as engaging and as interactive as possible. So you know, with this playoffs
57:22
here and I know there's a lot of emotion, a lot of thoughts,
57:24
comments, questions, and concerns. Figure we'll roll with that for the back
57:27
half of this episode. Bring up the super chat here from Carl again,
57:30
Carl, I appreciate you being here and is always you know, your generosity
57:34
with the super chat, So thank you very much. Carl says, besides
57:37
a Bill Bill's win, the one thing that I really want to see is
57:40
for Josh to drop it right into the bread basket to Diggs when he has
57:45
his man beaten. Yeah. He we talked about it earlier in the episode,
57:49
that off platform throw against the Blitz drops it literally right into Diggs's hands,
57:55
like you couldn't have placed it any better, and Digs to his credit
57:59
makes a beautiful sliding catch, the balls around his knees, slides, keeps
58:04
his hand underneath it. It's a gorgeous catch. Earlier he had missed a
58:07
deep shot that Digs. So much of this digs in Allen conversation, you
58:10
know, in terms of their disconnect and the numbers not being there and the
58:14
stats not being there, so on and so forth, So much of it
58:15
changes. Like I mentioned earlier, if he just hits literally one of these
58:20
more a game, or two of these total, or three of these total,
58:22
the numbers changed significantly for Allen four digs, And honestly, some of
58:27
the games change that Patriot, that first Patriots game, if he hits Digs
58:30
on a deep shot, changes the outcome of that game. If he doesn't
58:32
underthrow Digs on the one ball against Jacksonville and doesn't overthrow him on the other,
58:37
or actually under throw them on both, one leading into an interception,
58:42
one to the leading like a fifty yard catch where Digs got stopped in midfield,
58:44
maybe that game against Jacksonville is a little different. There's such a fine
58:49
and small margin for error when you go deep. It's a lower percentage throw.
58:52
That's why it's high risk. Ky reward like you can get a fifty
58:55
yard chunk play or you're sitting there at an incompletion like it's harder to get
58:59
balls leaded down the field. And Allen has not been as sharp this year
59:02
when it comes to those deep balls. Where are my numbers? Let's pull
59:07
it up here. So yeah, so Josh Allen's numbers are down this year
59:12
on throws of twenty yards. We're seeing him struggle with the deep ball again,
59:15
especially just Stefan Diggs until he isn't like he did against Miami. But
59:19
Allen on throws of twenty yards or more this year has a passer rating of
59:23
seventy five point one. Last year he had a rating of ninety seven point
59:27
four and the year before he had a rating of one sixteen point four.
59:30
And then if we're looking at his total EPA on throws of twenty or more
59:35
yards, this is his lowest since twenty nineteen and twenty nineteen, his EPA
59:38
on throws of twenty or more was negative five point seven to two twenty twenty.
59:44
You know that offseason he gets into the lab, he's working with Jordan
59:46
Palmer doing all this stuff. Twenty twenty EPA of twenty six point twenty seven,
59:51
twenty twenty one, thirty three point eight two last year, and EPA
59:54
of thirty one point five to one this year and EPA of eleven point twenty
59:59
four on those deep balls again, throws of twenty or more yards. We're
1:00:01
just seeing those little inconsistencies from Josh Allen this year, just those again,
1:00:09
those slight misses here or there. He just hasn't been He just hasn't had
1:00:13
that overall sharpness to his game this year. And I don't think he's always
1:00:15
the sharpest guy again with a lot of what he does, and we talked
1:00:20
about it earlier, so much what Alan does is or are those high variance
1:00:24
plays like he makes a horrible and completion, or he makes an interception,
1:00:28
he makes a stupid throw and then he pulls off a throw that only like
1:00:30
three quarterbacks on the planet can make, or he scrambles for thirty something yards
1:00:36
and he ran through a defensive tackle and stiff armed a linebacker and juked out
1:00:39
a corner and just does all the nonsense that a unicorn can do. But
1:00:44
we're just seeing, we're just seeing that lack of sharpness, and I think
1:00:47
you're seeing it overall, and Allen's game this year really from a mental standpoint,
1:00:51
I don't know if he's not seeing the game as well or he's in
1:00:53
his own head, and that's part of the reason why he's not pulling the
1:00:57
trigger on some open guys. But that overall lack of sharpness, granted,
1:01:00
we are seeing it from an overall standpoint, but I really think it's being
1:01:04
reflected in the deep ball. You know, his mechanics and his footwork aren't
1:01:07
what they have been the past several years. Whether or not it's, you
1:01:10
know, due to the work that he's doing in the off season or not
1:01:13
doing in the off season, don't know, can't say. But when you
1:01:16
have those deep balls, those throws again our lower probability. They are harder,
1:01:22
and when you are off platform, or your arm angle isn't right,
1:01:24
or your motion or your torso or your shoulders aren't pointed in the right direction,
1:01:28
you don't get the right body position, it's easier for those throws to
1:01:31
go awry because again they are further downfield, they are harder to complete.
1:01:36
And that's why again my first point, you know in this matchup was,
1:01:39
you know, the yin and yang of Josh Allen and kind of Josh Allen
1:01:43
versus himself. How does he do? Does he Do we see that error
1:01:49
prone, inconsistent Josh Allen that is all over the place and is inefficient and
1:01:53
kind of kills himself and kills the team. Or do we see the high,
1:01:59
the successful, you know, more reward than risk type of Josh Allen,
1:02:01
the Yang version of Josh Allen. Or do we just see enough positivity
1:02:06
that it drowns out or outweighs the negative like we did against the Chargers,
1:02:08
like we did against the Patriots, like we did this past week against the
1:02:13
Miami Dolphins. And that's honestly gonna be like a matchup piece every single week.
1:02:16
What version of Josh Allen do you get? I don't think anyone knows
1:02:20
going week to week. I don't think Alan knows, I don't think McDermott
1:02:22
knows. I don't think Joe Brady knows. You have no idea what Josh
1:02:25
Allen you're gonna get. And I think that's been pretty true for a majority
1:02:29
of his career. We've just usually seen more good that's drowned out or washed
1:02:34
over the bad. This year, we've seen more bad, whether in volume
1:02:37
or in terms of the severity of the bad it's kind of crept into those
1:02:40
minds a little bit more. What are we Nick coming in and saying that
1:02:47
shoulder is bothering for the long ball? Yeah, there's the shoulder piece.
1:02:52
Might be the finger injury too that he's had. Like there's all these little
1:02:55
like variables and questions around Alan It's yeah, it's it's unfortunate Porte coming insaye.
1:03:02
Does the snow benefit the Steelers? I don't know. You know,
1:03:07
I know the Steelers want to mash the ball, But I think if the
1:03:10
Bills know that they're gonna mash, then they can just stack the box and
1:03:14
they'll be fine. I think with Daiquan Jones back, I think the Bills
1:03:16
have the physicality and the guys up front to kind of control the run game
1:03:22
and get penetration. The only way I see it helping the Steelers more than
1:03:25
the Bills is the Bill's pass game is so much better than the Steelers and
1:03:30
if there is snow or wind, wind is my bigger concern. But if
1:03:34
there is snow and wind, how much does that limit the Bills passing game?
1:03:37
That's the bigger question for me, because it'll limit both teams passing games,
1:03:40
but the Steelers passing game is in anywhere close to what the Bills passing
1:03:45
game is, So it would help the Steelers in that regard. I think
1:03:47
for that piece, Cecilia is saying, all the good defensive coordinators have a
1:03:53
play for James Cook. Yeah, they kind of need to. Now,
1:03:57
the yardage totals that he's put up in the run, the pass, hold
1:04:00
on. I gotta take a drinker about the cough all over myself. Oh
1:04:05
yeah, the numbers that he's put up in the run and in the past
1:04:09
game. And that's even with some of the drops that he's had, you
1:04:12
know, the drop against Philly, the drop against Dallas, the drop this
1:04:15
past week against Miami. He's really had a good season now, and I
1:04:20
don't put any weight in the Pro Bowl, but the fact that he was
1:04:23
voted for the Pro Bowl outright is pretty honestly pretty cool, Like for a
1:04:27
Bill's running back, and especially one in his second year, and especially one
1:04:30
that doesn't get a lot of touchdowns and doesn't get a lot of like the
1:04:32
overall hype and credibility because he doesn't get those low red zone goal line touches
1:04:38
that other running backs do so to see him produce the way he has has
1:04:42
been a nice piece for this offense. And there was stretches for this Bills
1:04:45
team where James Cook was the second best or best weapon for this offense after
1:04:51
Josh Allen. Just again what he's been able to do on the ground and
1:04:54
in the past game, Joe Brady's kind of unlocked him a little bit more.
1:04:59
And again something that you know I predicted on the show myself and Eric
1:05:01
talked about in the film room. Joe Brady again very adept like getting his
1:05:05
running backs involved in the past game by design, and when I say by
1:05:09
design, I mean having them be you know, first or second in the
1:05:12
progression, being primary or secondary options naturally in the route distribution, not just
1:05:17
being like okay, like you're gonna pass protect if nobody blitzes, go ahead,
1:05:23
release and then we'll check it down to you. No, he gets
1:05:25
his guys involved, whether it's that super mesh play that you know, mesh
1:05:28
traffic in the low red zone or you know that slither concept that Brady likes
1:05:32
to refer to it as where you're just kind of throwing everybody one way and
1:05:35
having James Cook leak out back across the flow and kind of hoping the defenders
1:05:39
get caught in the traffic, are caught in the wash. Yeah, the
1:05:44
defenses have to account for James Cook now, which is all I ever wanted
1:05:48
from the running back position, when you have Josh Allen, when you have
1:05:50
Stefan Days and then the rest of the weapons that I know they could upgrade
1:05:55
at several of the weapons from a pass catching standpoint, but they, like
1:05:58
Joe said, like they've got good enough depth or good depth. So if
1:06:00
you have another piece that can play in the run game or at that running
1:06:04
back position, it just gives you another option that you have to account for.
1:06:08
So if you're a defense, you can't just come in and holistically sell
1:06:11
out to stop Josh Allen because you have to account for that run game.
1:06:15
Even in this game. One of the points I was talking about, like,
1:06:17
I do think the Steelers are gonna come out and try and make Josh
1:06:21
Allen play hero ball and beat them. And part of the way I think
1:06:25
they're gonna do that is by trying to take away the Bill's run game.
1:06:29
But the difference between that this year versus years past is one it's harder to
1:06:33
take away the Bills run game because of how good it is and how varied
1:06:36
and multiple it can be. But also they actually have a real run game.
1:06:41
It's not just like okay, like we can commit lighter bodies or just
1:06:44
play like this and we can stop the run like. No, you have
1:06:46
to genuinely scheme for the Bills run game. It's not just the thought this
1:06:50
year. You have to spend time in the lab, on the field,
1:06:54
in the film room, gaming and scheming against this Bill's run game. It's
1:06:58
a very real piece. And then you have to plan for James Cook in
1:07:01
the passing offense as well, if they split him out, if they release
1:07:04
him out of the backfield, if teams want to play man coverage because they
1:07:09
don't think the Bills receivers and pass catchers can separate versus man, Okay,
1:07:13
that probably means you're getting a linebacker one on one versus James Cook. And
1:07:16
that's big time advantage Bills because of what James Cook can do against linebackers,
1:07:19
especially against the Steelers linebackers. Yeah, he's been a real nice surprise this
1:07:26
year. And might I say surprise, I mean the level at which he's
1:07:29
played at, and I think a lot of that is a testament to Joe
1:07:31
Brady. You know, the Bill's run game has been cooking since the beginning
1:07:34
of the year, and that's a credit to Ken Dorsey and Aaron Cromer as
1:07:38
well. But I think what Brady did was continue that success with the run
1:07:42
game, but also, like we talked about, just more design touches for
1:07:45
James Cook in the pass game. Again, that's another chess piece advantage that
1:07:48
I think I wanted to see more from Dorsey that we didn't, and Brady's
1:07:53
been able to tap into that kind of Georgia version of James Cook this year.
1:08:00
Elizabeth coming in and saying this game, I'm concerned about the time of
1:08:01
possession if we have mistakes. Our rundee is better this season, obviously,
1:08:05
especially with Day one Jones, but hoping that d can get the ball back
1:08:09
to Josh when the Steelers pound the rock. I think that's very well said,
1:08:13
and I think that also goes into what Joe and I were saying earlier.
1:08:15
That's part of that Steelers game script, right, Like you you don't
1:08:18
want the Steelers to run the ball successfully on you, because one, it
1:08:23
just makes it easier for Mason Rudolph, And like I talked about, you,
1:08:26
you want if you're going to lose in this game, it's because Mason
1:08:29
Rudolph balled the f out and beat you. Like, you do not want
1:08:31
to lose a game to the Steelers the way you lost to the Patriots in
1:08:35
the first game, where you just allowed Matt Jones to stay in rhythm,
1:08:39
stay on time, throw the ball short at the top of his drop,
1:08:42
and then allow them to run the football with Ramandre Stevenson Ezekiel Elliott, Like,
1:08:45
you do not want that to happen with the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you're
1:08:47
going to lose to the Steelers, it's because Mason Rudolph had a game that
1:08:51
where he kind of like planted his flag as a real quarterback in the NFL.
1:08:56
And so that being said, you don't want the Steelers run game to
1:08:58
get going front in that record. But also to your point here, and
1:09:00
it's a good point. If you can run the ball, you know you're
1:09:03
turning out yards and turning out first downs. Not only are you churning out
1:09:06
yards and turning out first downs, you're keeping the ball away from the Bills
1:09:12
offense the time. You know the clock isn't stopping. There's more time that's
1:09:15
getting chewed up. It's part of the reason I've said it. I've given
1:09:16
the example so many times in the show. Part of the reason for years,
1:09:19
you know, with the Greg Roman offense, but even this year under
1:09:23
Todd Munkin, why always thought the Ravens were a good foil for the Chiefs
1:09:26
was, you know, went healthy, they had a good defense, but
1:09:29
their style of offense allowed them to churn out yards and points while also keeping
1:09:33
the ball away from Patrick Mahomes. And so that's a game you do not
1:09:36
want to play with the Steelers. You don't want to you do not want
1:09:39
to play into that Steeler ball where you are not taking up time on offense,
1:09:43
you're turning the ball over, you're kicking, you're you're punting you know,
1:09:46
three and outs, or you're only you know, having five plays here,
1:09:48
six plays here, where you keep giving the ball back to Pittsburgh where
1:09:51
it's a field position game, or you know, you're making life easy on
1:09:56
Mason Rudolph and or limiting your own possession. So that's a very very very
1:09:59
very good peace. Daniel coming in saying Josh's physical mechanics have gotten a bit
1:10:03
sloppy this year. I agree, arm angled stuff, shoulder direction placement stuff,
1:10:11
footwork, platform stuff, and again some of this is you know stuff
1:10:15
We've seen a bunch throughout his career. You know, he makes these off
1:10:19
platform throws. He makes these ridiculous arm angle throws. I mean, the
1:10:23
hell the completion to digs against Miami, the nice one, the deep one
1:10:27
is off platform, kind of falling away and he just drops it in the
1:10:30
bucket. We've seen him do that a bunch. But it feels like this
1:10:31
year, not even feels like this year we're seeing more errors or more misses
1:10:39
with when those mechanics break down or when he does go for those instances and
1:10:42
does go for those shots. We're seeing more misses than we are kind of
1:10:45
hits like we have in the past. M mmmmm. I like this comment
1:10:51
here from Zach of ball Trees, saying, and let the tree heal you.
1:10:54
The tree is the giver of life. Man if if the tree could
1:10:57
heal me from the sickness I feel right now, I wouldgree appreciated from either
1:11:00
tree. I would take what I could get. I would take what I
1:11:02
could get. Dan with the question here saying do you think this with the
1:11:05
success of the offense with Sherfield and mainly Shakir, do we start to see
1:11:10
less of game. Also, I want to see Hardy get reps. He's
1:11:13
so fast and shifty, perfect for screens and drags. I don't think the
1:11:18
quote unquote success of the offense this past game was necessarily because Gabe wasn't out.
1:11:24
Even with Gabe Davis going out, like, this offense didn't really ball
1:11:26
out against Miami, Like, yes, they played better, but they still
1:11:30
weren't great. I know what the raw numbers were for Alan and all those
1:11:32
pieces, but this offense still had some issues and some missteps. And Gabe
1:11:38
again, he does the dirty work that does not get credit. And I
1:11:41
know people don't like that answer, and then answer sucks because people see a
1:11:44
wide receiver and they want to see catches and yards and touchdowns and big plays
1:11:47
and all that stuff. But he's a really good blocker in the run.
1:11:50
He's a really good blocker in the past. He opened up that run after
1:11:54
catch for Khalil Shakir this pass game, and he does do a good job
1:11:57
going down field clearing out space for other wide receivers. And again, as
1:12:01
a person who watches a ton of the tape. He's open more often than
1:12:05
he gets credit for, and he has not gotten the ball from Josh Allen
1:12:09
this year as much as he should have. Now you could Devil's advocates say,
1:12:13
well, Allan doesn't want to look towards him, or isn't looking towards
1:12:15
him because he doesn't trust him, because he has had some drops, so
1:12:16
on and so forth. But I don't think with the with the success of
1:12:21
the offense with Sherfield and Shakiro, I don't think it means we see less
1:12:25
of Gabe. I think Gabe Davis is still an important piece, for better
1:12:28
or for worse of this offense. I'm not ready to input, you know,
1:12:32
Trent Sherfield into more of a wide receiver wide receiver, you know two
1:12:36
or three roll and limit Gabe Davis more. I do think we should see
1:12:41
more Secure in the offense. I felt that way since last year. I
1:12:44
wanted to see him get more of those slot wraps, more inside outside stuff,
1:12:48
and so I do think we should continue to see more Colier secure,
1:12:51
not just from a snap perspective, but from a target share perspective. And
1:12:55
then as far as Deontay Hardy Yeah, I felt this way about Hardy all
1:12:58
year. It just doesn't click. Sometimes his routes are really lazy and he's
1:13:01
not separating as much as he should. I keep waiting for. You know,
1:13:06
this game was awesome against Miami because he had the partner turn for a
1:13:09
touchdown. I keep waiting for, like the big breakout game for Deontay Hardy,
1:13:14
especially as the Bills receivers and pass catchers have had some issues separating versus
1:13:16
man coverage. Or I keep waiting for more of a manufactured touch game or
1:13:23
design game, you know, whether it's a screen like you said, or
1:13:26
it's you know, some kind of reverse or pop pass or jet motion something
1:13:29
to kind of take advantage of his speed. I keep waiting to see more
1:13:31
of that. Maybe they've been keeping it in the vault for the playoffs.
1:13:35
I still do like Deontay Hardy. I like this signing this offseason. I
1:13:39
didn't think it was going to be a world beater, but I thought he
1:13:41
would be a good piece for this offense, and we just haven't seen it
1:13:45
this year. I would like to see more of him because I still do
1:13:48
believe in him. But time will tell. Question here, do you have
1:13:53
any thoughts on Dable with Wink leaving the g Men. Yeah, I keep
1:13:56
seeing a lot of the drama and disagreement stuff between Wink and Day. I'm
1:14:00
not too keyed into it as of now. I know a bunch of like
1:14:02
some dudes who I really cover or that I respect to cover the Giants are
1:14:06
kind of just being like it so like it's done with, Like it's kind
1:14:09
of it's a dead story. Let's you know, kind of not sweep it
1:14:12
under the rug. Woul kind of be done with it and move on from
1:14:14
it. But I think there's a scenario where it was a frustrating year for
1:14:16
the Giants. All the injuries, the success they had last year, the
1:14:19
lack of success they had this year. So many things did not fall into
1:14:24
place for them. I think it was a frustrating year overall for the entire
1:14:28
organization. I think Dable and Wink kind of clashed and but it heads a
1:14:30
little bit, and that's why Wink pieced out and he's gonna get another job.
1:14:34
Like Wink is a quality defensive mind in football, He'll he'll be good.
1:14:45
Dobbs saying, I wonder if we see more misdirection motion pitch ups to
1:14:47
Cook to get him on the perimeter copy of Miami from Sunday. He can't
1:14:49
drop it, though, Yeah, I wonder if we get that in the
1:14:51
past game. I thought we ran too many tosses and pitches, mainly tosses
1:14:56
against Miami, trying to get the edge and it did not work. I
1:14:59
was extremely a with the amount of it was just like toss after toss and
1:15:03
it was not working. Brandon Jones, safety for the Dolphins, did a
1:15:06
really good job on several of the reps and turns, boxing things in and
1:15:10
closing things down with the sense of urgency that he clicks and closes with.
1:15:14
But yeah, I'm interested to see what kind of game plan we get from
1:15:15
James Cook. Is he evolved in the past. How is it a run
1:15:19
game? How is it a gap scheme type of game with tackle wrap and
1:15:24
dart is it and duo? Is it a zone game with mid zone or
1:15:27
outside zone? Very interested to see because I do. I think that is
1:15:31
an important piece. Adam coming in saying why don't the Bills run play action
1:15:38
bootlegs with the run pass option considering Josh's ability to run. I don't know,
1:15:42
Adam. We've been clamoring for play action, more play action for a
1:15:45
bunch of this year. Myself and Eric have talked about it in the film
1:15:48
room. Just quarterbacks in general do better with play action, but especially Josh.
1:15:53
It seems like the rhythm of play action passes kind of get his mechanics
1:15:59
back in line. You see him have good you know, posture, good
1:16:03
platform, good base when he is in play action, and it gives the
1:16:09
opportunity to suck the defense in and then scare them and force them to bail
1:16:12
out, maybe get some opportunities underneath and creative stuff. But I've always thought
1:16:15
that they could lean into more of the play action game, especially with the
1:16:17
struggles of the passing offense down the stretch that we've seen since Week eleven and
1:16:23
really in the past, you know, five weeks since the buy. I
1:16:26
don't know why they don't run more play action in general, and I don't
1:16:29
know why they don't run more play action boot legs. Maybe this is a
1:16:30
Week two where you do see more boot legs or attempts to kind of move
1:16:33
the pocket given you know. Again, I know TJ. Watt is out.
1:16:38
That's a huge blow to the Steelers defense. But Marcus Golden is no
1:16:40
slouch. Alex high Smith is no slouch. Keanu Benton, Larry Ogun,
1:16:44
Jobi cam Hayward, Like they can push the pocket, they can penetrate.
1:16:46
They've got a bunch of dudes who can win with a combination of power,
1:16:49
penetration and or technique. So you know, maybe we'll get some more bootlegs
1:16:54
this week and attempts to move the pocket and kind of keep keep them out
1:16:57
of getting comfortable on that defensive side of the ball. Good comment here from
1:17:01
Spin saying an early lead is key to beating lesser teams. It forces the
1:17:04
teams to go outside of what they want to do. I'm very much on
1:17:08
board with that. Again, I think it ties into what Joe and I
1:17:10
were saying earlier, like you don't want to fall into that Steelers game script,
1:17:13
into that Steeler ball type of recipe. And I think part of that
1:17:16
recipe is the longer this game is close, the more confidence or the further
1:17:20
confidence that the Steelers gain, and the more you continue to play into their
1:17:25
hands. So if you can get out to you know, hot out of
1:17:27
the gate and it's ten to nothing or fourteen nothing, you can build a
1:17:30
double digit lead on the Steelers early it'll force them to play a vision of
1:17:34
football they do not want to play, and a lot of that. Again,
1:17:38
the more points you put on and limit them, the more that ball
1:17:41
has to go into Mason Rudolph's hands, the more you get to get into
1:17:45
your bag if you're Sean McDermott, and really start to play with coverages and
1:17:48
play with fronts, and play with pressures and blitzes and games and protection schemes.
1:17:54
So that's a great point in general, Smith, but especially especially this
1:17:58
week. Spin says, and how long you're gonna get away with having two
1:18:06
trees? As long as I want? Spin, I don't know. Usually
1:18:12
this the big tree, the Christmas tree, quote unquote. Usually I keep
1:18:15
it up from November through January ish. Maybe I'll keep it up through February
1:18:18
ish. I don't know. Hurts my eye. I feel too sick to
1:18:23
think about it right now, but we'll see. But I'm going to get
1:18:27
away with it for as long as people let me get away with it.
1:18:30
I appreciate the recognition, though, Dan saying, I just think we need
1:18:34
more than blocking from wide receiver two. Shakiro has proven to be better and
1:18:38
more reliable a wide receiver two cannot be a coin flip to have two or
1:18:41
more catches. I think part of it though too Again, don't get caught
1:18:45
up in the production piece like I do think. And again this is a
1:18:49
bit of a chicken egg scenario. Like I said, you know, I
1:18:51
do think Gabe is getting open more than he gets credit for, and Alan
1:18:57
is not going towards him or is making wrong reads and having that miscommunication with
1:19:00
him. And again miscommunication is on both of them, but I think a
1:19:03
lot of the miscommunications that we've seen are more on Allen than they are on
1:19:06
Gabe. That being said, I do think part of the reason that he's
1:19:10
not looking towards Gabe more is, you know, it's not just because he's
1:19:13
not seeing the field greade or he's not processing great, which I do think
1:19:15
that is some of it. But I also think it's because he doesn't have
1:19:18
a ton of you know, faith in Gabe Davis. But I would like
1:19:21
more from a wide receiver two. I would like a true wide receiver two
1:19:26
for this bills. I would like a wide receiver two that, if Stefan
1:19:30
digs is out ken function is a high end two or ideally more of a
1:19:33
low tier wide receiver one, So I am in lockstep with you there,
1:19:38
like I do think they need more than just a blocking piece as wide receiver
1:19:42
too. That being said, I think Gabe is more than just a good
1:19:45
blocking wide receiver two. I just think the numbers aren't reflecting that. And
1:19:49
again a lot of it is also tied up into the role. Like his
1:19:51
production isn't just because he's not good or he's only good at blocking, or
1:19:56
because he has drops. A lot of his production is tied to what is
1:20:00
asked of him as being that deep threat, clear out kind of guy to
1:20:02
open things up underneath. And again that production is also tied to Alan just
1:20:08
not hitting him when he's been opened a bunch like I could. We could
1:20:10
literally do a full episode or a half a segment every week, or a
1:20:14
full segment every week. I'm Gabe Davis getting open and just not getting the
1:20:17
ball. And I'm not saying getting open like well, the play took five
1:20:20
seconds and he finally got open. I'm talking routes where he's the primary secondary
1:20:25
guy and he's open and Alan just either isn't going towards him or there's pressure
1:20:29
and it forces Alan the other way. So don't just tie it purely to
1:20:32
production when you're looking at what a wide receiver two is. But that being
1:20:35
said, I do think they need more from a wide receiver too, so
1:20:39
that is a fair point. What else? What else? Oh? Good
1:20:48
question from Jared. Do we find out how Dawkins's hand got cut? He
1:20:51
said it, but I don't remember. I think his hand got caught on
1:20:56
a face mask or jammed up somehow. It was gross. I can't believe
1:20:59
they show with all that blood on TV. I was hoping it was.
1:21:03
I didn't really look too much because I was afraid it was like a broken
1:21:05
finger or a really bent Gnarley finger. And I don't like seeing digit injuries
1:21:10
like that. I saw the Jalen Hurts one and I didn't like that.
1:21:12
Dawkins said how he heard it, so it is out there. I just
1:21:15
don't remember, but it is there. RJ saying it's been two straight calendar
1:21:23
years. I have been pleading for more play action. It is very interesting
1:21:27
that we haven't seen more from really anybody, Dorsey Brady. I also do
1:21:31
think it's funny though, that everybody and their mother was torching, including hugar
1:21:35
J. It was torching Dorsey for not using play action, but no one's
1:21:41
really saying about it with Brady, and the play action numbers have actually gone
1:21:44
down under Joe Brady than they were with Ken Dorsey, which again to the
1:21:47
point like I don't I don't know why play action is an easy recipe for
1:21:53
success for offenses in general, even more so when you're a good running football
1:21:58
team. No, you don't need a run game to have a good play
1:22:00
action game. Yes it does help. And then also with the added explosives
1:22:03
built into it, like you can generate explosives from a play action game,
1:22:06
it's nice to just go play action. It hit somebody on a deep comeback
1:22:10
or a dig or if you're working the ball downfield, you know, throwing
1:22:14
some deep shots and kind of making something happen. I am surprised that we're
1:22:17
not seeing more play action. I know RPO stuff kind of works into that
1:22:23
realm of play action, but just like straight up kind of drop back five,
1:22:27
step seven, you know, step drop back play action. I do
1:22:30
wonder why we're not seeing that. Mm hmm. I like this. It's
1:22:36
the rally tree. Ah, Yes, I like where Zach's head is at.
1:22:40
Zach says, not get more trees, assert your dominance. I like
1:22:45
that. I like it a lot. I like it a lot. Bob
1:22:48
saying I grew true trees this year. They're a great taste. Yeah you
1:22:50
got, I mean, more trees, the better. I just uh,
1:22:55
I just you know, I'm down for it. Nikki saying, in reference
1:22:58
to game Dave is the clearout guys wide receiver three role, not the number
1:23:00
two's fair, but he can only run what's being asked of him. I
1:23:05
think some of the clear out or I think some of what is being asked
1:23:10
of Gabe is due to his skill set, for sure, but it's also
1:23:14
just being what's asked of him in this system and in this scheme. And
1:23:16
granted, Joe Brady is still running mainly Ken Dorsey scheme. Like you can't
1:23:20
uninstall an offense and install a new one at like week ten, eleven or
1:23:26
nine, wherever they were in the year when Dorsey got fired. So this
1:23:28
still is Ken Dorsey's offense for intents and purposes. But again, this is
1:23:33
what's asked of him. He can only run what is being asked of him.
1:23:36
And again I do think what is being asked of him is tied to
1:23:41
his skill set, but he's he's doing what is asked of him more often
1:23:46
than not, and it's the reason he's out there a whole bunch, you
1:23:48
know, like it or not. I like what Troy says hit that like,
1:23:53
but yes, absolutely we got a good chunk of people in here.
1:23:56
If you are enjoying this content, whether you're watching live or listening later,
1:24:00
please please please think you drop ake on this video. It goes a sincerely
1:24:01
long way towards helping myself and the entire Cover One team to track and trend
1:24:05
in front of more eyes and ears likes of the lifeblood of these streams.
1:24:09
So please, please, please thank you. If you have not already,
1:24:10
please drop alike on this video. Are you saying Davis being a clear out
1:24:15
guy isn't great either because other guys are not being clear and open by him.
1:24:18
See that's not true. Like, that's not true. Gave Davis is
1:24:21
running these routes that are getting man, this is been coming to Gave Davis
1:24:25
episode. He is running these routes that are pulling coverage and bringing guys open.
1:24:30
The throws just aren't getting there. Or there's times where Allan's getting pressured
1:24:33
and he has to evade and he can't hit the throw Like I'm not saying
1:24:36
he's always you know, clearing out coverage and dudes are running wide open.
1:24:40
But I disagree. I don't. I don't think that's true. Carl saying
1:24:44
one of these shows and it's gonna have a line of like five trees behind
1:24:46
him. I've actually never never thought of this, but now I kind of
1:24:51
just have the awesome idea of like going live and yeah, from like next
1:24:57
to this tree here, all the way here, it's just tree, maybe
1:25:00
different sizes, where maybe I just get a whole bunch of big trees and
1:25:01
my entire backdrop is trees. I like it. I like it a lot.
1:25:09
This is awesome. Not Dawkins bladed. The NFL is rigged and fake.
1:25:12
I like it. I like it. We got some wrestling action here
1:25:15
in the NFL. No, I'm not gonna keep going with with dig Gabe.
1:25:20
But are you saying it's mainly because no teams respect Gabe Davis as a
1:25:24
good wide receiver. That's not true. That's not true. He's open a
1:25:29
bunch. I posted some stuff on Twitter. I kept a lot of it
1:25:31
in the back pocket, but I posted some stuff on Twitter, especially in
1:25:33
that Philly game. He's wide open, Like, it's not that teams aren't
1:25:36
respecting him, it's you know, poorly coincidental stuff. It's Alan not going
1:25:42
to him, some of which is because of Alan, some of which has
1:25:44
become because of Gay. But you can't make a blanket statement and saying it's
1:25:47
mainly because no teams respect Gabe Davis, Like that's that's just that's a big
1:25:51
assumption RJ. Although you are happy that, Hey, I got the motion
1:25:56
I asked for with Brady, So yeah, you got one out of two.
1:25:58
Very fair, very fair. Oh and Spid says you can't take the
1:26:01
tree down while the Bills were running. Absolutely. I even thought before the
1:26:03
show I was gonna shave and trim the beer, and then I was like,
1:26:09
I can't because of playoffs. So I'm not gonna do Uh, I'm
1:26:13
not gonna do anything. Can't change you. Gotta stick with you, Gotta
1:26:15
dance with the girl that brought you. Gotta dance with the girl that brought
1:26:17
you. Yeah, tree has to stay up ed soil after the super Bowl
1:26:19
earliest. That's fair. The tree won't come down until the regular season ends.
1:26:23
I like where your head is at, and if it ends early out
1:26:26
still keep it up. But I don't even want to say that and go
1:26:28
for that piece. Yeah it's and I guess we'll stick on that Gay Bavis
1:26:30
conversation for a little bit because I know he did tie into you know,
1:26:35
the points for one of the points for myself earlier in the episode. I
1:26:39
with Joe to a degree like, I don't think he's this stud can't miss
1:26:44
wide receiver too. I do think you would like more from your wide receiver
1:26:45
too, especially from a skill set standpoint. For me, at the very
1:26:47
least, I know he's good enough going deep, and he's been far more
1:26:53
successful vertically than he really should given his speed. I'd want more from a
1:27:00
wide receiver two for the Buffalo Bills, preferably someone with a speed element.
1:27:03
I want somebody who's got some juice to his game. I'd like some more
1:27:06
precision and deception as a route runner, a little more shake, a little
1:27:11
more wiggle. I think Gabe Davis is more of a nittroll guy or a
1:27:15
guy who fits into a really good, you know, power running type of
1:27:19
offense. Like taking Gabe Davis and putting him into or not even power running
1:27:23
offense, just more of a run based multiple offense from a run game standpoint,
1:27:28
like putting him putting him in Atlanta or putting him in Chicago, the
1:27:32
opportunity to kind of play off that run in pass game where his size is
1:27:35
more of a factor as a blocker and as a chess piece. I think
1:27:40
he can be more successful there. Again, I'm fine with what he's done
1:27:44
for the Bills, and I wouldn't even mind him coming back, depending on
1:27:46
the type of contract that he's going to get. But I do think he'll
1:27:48
get offered a decent enough chunk of chains that it'll price himself out of Buffalo.
1:27:55
But I would like more from a wide receiver too. In that pet,
1:28:00
Jared says, do I book a hotel for the parade or is that
1:28:03
at Jakes? That is an absolute jinx, Jared, you cannot book the
1:28:06
hotel. Although I do appreciate someone being proactive and trying to get a good
1:28:10
deal, but it is also a jinx. Like I don't know, I
1:28:15
get worried. Dave saying, who's your ideal wide receiver? Two? Aunts
1:28:19
ooh ideally, my, some many of these guys are like viewed as like
1:28:28
wide receiver one's two a degree, though my ideal wide receiver two is I
1:28:30
don't want to necessarily want to go with a person or make a comp but
1:28:32
it's just somebody who schematically you can do enough with that. If your wide
1:28:39
receiver one is down, you don't feel the effects too much. So like
1:28:43
with Grant Against, some of these are wide receiver ones, but like what
1:28:45
the Bengals have with T. Higgins, like what the forty nine ers have
1:28:48
with Iyuk and Debo, which technically I don't even know who wide receiver one
1:28:51
is now in San Francisco with the year that I you can or you know
1:28:55
AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, like what you've had from that regard somebody my
1:29:00
ideal wide receiver too. If I'm looking at from a skill set perspective,
1:29:03
precise route runner. And when I say precise, I mean like they have
1:29:06
deception, they have pace, they have nuanced they got good body language,
1:29:13
they can stamp off routes, good hip flection, good are good ankle flexion,
1:29:15
good hip fluidity, reliable hands, a vertical element, and some size.
1:29:21
They kind of put it all together. It would be a big piece
1:29:26
for me. Again, is looking at the overall skill set for a wide
1:29:28
receiver two For me, is somebody who, if your wide receiver one is
1:29:31
down, your wide receiver two mitigates that loss enough, like if Stefan Diggs
1:29:38
is down in a week. I don't think the Bills have anybody that mitigates
1:29:43
that loss enough. And granted, some of the guys I named are more
1:29:46
like wide receiver ones, but even with what you know, Pittsburgh has,
1:29:50
like you've got Deontay Johnson and then you've got George Pickens. Those pieces there.
1:29:56
I like that aspect again, someone with a skill set that allows you
1:29:59
to mitigate the loss of a wide receiver one. Oh, Chris comes in
1:30:01
and says, Malik neighbors. Man, if the Bills could get neighbors,
1:30:03
that'd be awesome. I don't think they will, but yeah, man,
1:30:12
I like Aspin says a good thing. There are no YouTube adversaries. Ant's
1:30:14
enemy would prank by taking his trees. I would just wouldn't do the stream.
1:30:16
I would be distraught, and then until one of you from the chat
1:30:19
did the detective work and figured out who took the tree, I would just
1:30:23
like hold the stream hostage and not do anything. Dob's saying Aunt is Gabe
1:30:27
Davis running option routes where Josh is picking the opposite break as Gabe. Sometimes
1:30:31
I'm seeing a little bit of it less under Brady, but yeah, you're
1:30:35
still seeing some of that option piece, which is another good element that I
1:30:39
didn't speak about earlier. Earlier, Dobbs like that that option piece means you
1:30:45
do have to be on the same page. So if Gabe sees A but
1:30:46
Josh sees B, you know, you guys aren't gonna be on the same
1:30:50
page. The Philadelphia example, it is a good one, right, that
1:30:54
overtime and completion. Gabe reeds, the leverage goes one way, Alan thinks
1:31:00
he's gonna do something else, and we get that miscommunication and we get the
1:31:02
incompletion. But I so there is some of that. Again, it's a
1:31:06
multitude of things. There's never This is a good microcosma of what I'm about
1:31:11
to say as well, like there's never, very rarely is there ever one
1:31:15
cover all, cure all answer for what has happened in the NFL, whether
1:31:17
it's player related or scheme related. So you know, Gabe's lack of production
1:31:21
this offense is a little bit because of what's asked of him, which is
1:31:25
a little bit because of his skill set, it's a little bit of Josh
1:31:28
not seeing the field well at times. It's a little bit of Josh not
1:31:30
having faith and Gabe it's a little bit of the option route aspect. It's
1:31:33
a little bit of sometimes him getting open and pressure coming from that side,
1:31:38
so Josh has to go somewhere else. It's a multitude of pieces. But
1:31:42
to your point, Dobbs, that is one. You know, we've seen
1:31:45
less option stuff to a degree under Brady, but it's still a present element.
1:31:49
Collier Secure is tremendous with it. A lot of the times what you're
1:31:51
seeing from Kalio Secure, especially when they're in those stacked alignments, those two
1:31:57
by twos. He does a really good job on option routes, his feel
1:32:00
for leverage in space. He and Allen have actually been developing a really good
1:32:03
rapport on that piece. But yeah, some of Gabe Davis, you know,
1:32:09
where Josh is picking the opposite break or he thinks Gabe is going to
1:32:11
do something else, or again he has to come off that read and go
1:32:14
somewhere else. That's a good point. That's a good point. De Looks
1:32:17
is glad to know I'm not the only superstitious fan. I'm extremely superstitious.
1:32:20
I am extremely superstitious. I am super superstitious. I like where next side
1:32:27
is at. I started my beard at the beginning of the Playoffroun, I'm
1:32:29
not shaving till it's over. Nick gets it. Nick, you get it,
1:32:31
my man. I appreciate you. Dave. Yeah, that's a good
1:32:34
question of what you asked for in a wide receiver two. Again, there's
1:32:36
a lot of it. Think how you define a wide receiver two versus a
1:32:41
wide receiver one again is somewhat arbitrary. I think most people are just going
1:32:44
to point to certain dudes like, oh, I want Jalen Wattle as my
1:32:47
wide receiver two world, I want t Higgins. But those dudes really could
1:32:50
be like wide receiver ones for their teams. Honestly, even like a rookie
1:32:55
Tank Dell is like a good wide receiver two to me, or even Nico
1:32:59
Collins. I know Nico Collins has been balling out, like I think he's
1:33:01
starting to maybe get into the wide receiver one conversation, But I think the
1:33:04
Nico Collins is really solid too, and then tanked out can be a really
1:33:09
solid too. Someone again, who has multiple skill set pieces that stress a
1:33:12
defense size could be sized, but tanked Doll doesn't have that. But what
1:33:15
does tanked el have. He's a tremendous route runner. He's got speed,
1:33:18
he's got very good hands, and that route running plus speed allows him to
1:33:21
do a variety of things. So you just need to have a skills For
1:33:25
me at least, this is how I define it, like a skill set
1:33:27
that just allows you to do multiple things schematically and mitigate the loss of a
1:33:30
wide receiver one. I like that. Zachavall Trade says all roads lead to
1:33:34
what ant It's a Twitter joke. All roads lead to Rome aka Romodunze,
1:33:40
who I really think has no shot of becoming a Buffalo Bill. He's gonna
1:33:43
go probably in the first half of round one, depending on how many quarterbacks
1:33:45
we see. But again it's super early, like playoffs haven't even started.
1:33:48
We'll see how everything kind of shakes out, but we will see from there.
1:33:55
Supremum comes in and says Jalen Polk, Yes, the other Washington wide
1:33:59
receiver with Jaylen McMillan number eleven, they're slot receiver. But yeah, Jalen
1:34:01
Polk does some fun stuff. I think Bills fans should get a familiar with
1:34:06
Jalen Polk, whether he creeps into the first round, back into the first
1:34:10
round, or you know, it's maybe a second round target, depending on
1:34:15
what the Bills do. I would get familiar with mister Jalen Polk. Where's
1:34:23
that com man here from Francisco saying receivers seem to recognize the blitz and make
1:34:27
themselves available on the hot route sooner in the second half. Need them to
1:34:30
keep that anticipation throughout the postseason. Yeah, it seemed like the Bills were
1:34:32
a little flustered by the cover zero piece and the blitz piece from Miami.
1:34:38
I haven't gotten through all of the offensive film from the Miami game because I've
1:34:44
just been out of action yesterday in the majority of today. I'm finishing up
1:34:49
the defense later tonight'sash tomorrow and then finishing the offense tomorrow as well. But
1:34:54
I would agree from that from a broadcast perspective, But again I could be
1:34:58
wrong from that per perspective. What else do we get? Dobbs saying,
1:35:01
I think that first Miami interception looked like communic miscommunication, maybe on Josh's part.
1:35:05
Again, I haven't watched the offensive tape, but my initial thought with
1:35:09
it was he throws it before he looks, so the blitz comes again.
1:35:15
This is the first interception, the one that eli Apple makes, and of
1:35:17
course he went to eli Apple, who's like the worst. But he's looking
1:35:21
right, He's looking at Kincaid. He turns left, but he doesn't turn
1:35:29
left and then throw. He looks off of Kincaid and then starts throwing as
1:35:35
he's turning left, Like I don't think he I think miscommunication is a fine
1:35:41
way to put it. I don't even know if it's miscommunication, And I
1:35:44
mean, I guess it could be. Maybe he thought Gabe was going to
1:35:45
be somewhere that Gabe wasn't, and Gabe thought something else, But it just
1:35:50
looked like he just threw it before he even looked. And I guess it
1:35:55
probably again to the point he probably thought Gabe was going to be in a
1:35:57
certain spot and Gabe wasn't. But I don't think this would like the Philly
1:36:00
one. They saw the leverage differently and made different reads the first Miami interception.
1:36:09
I don't think Allen even saw the leverage or saw the positioning or anything
1:36:12
like he can even see it, like even if you're just watching on the
1:36:15
broadcast. They show that end zone angle. I'm gonna end up posting it
1:36:17
on Twitter tomorrow once I cut it up. But he's not. It's not
1:36:21
like all Kinkaid's covered, Let me look left cool, let me throw He
1:36:26
sees Kinkaid is covered, and he gets into his wine if he's already loading
1:36:29
and starting to follow through before his eyes even meet Gabe. And that's part
1:36:33
of the reason why he just chucks it right to Eli Apple like. The
1:36:35
ball doesn't even go too far inside or too far outside. He just throws
1:36:41
it like I And again, it's probably because he thought he was going to
1:36:43
be in a certain spot and he wasn't. But or maybe Gabe did something
1:36:45
differently. But he throws that ball before like he's even looking, which sometimes
1:36:51
it works, sometimes it doesn't. Carl's saying that he trusts a big ball
1:36:56
er being to select us a good wide receiver in the twenty twenty four draft.
1:37:00
I like it. I like it. I like it. Oh Dobb's
1:37:04
saying, I think Shaki will be the Bills number two next year. Steve
1:37:06
says the ideal wide receiver two needs to be enough of a threat to keep
1:37:10
the other team honest, enough to not just take away your number one one
1:37:13
hundred percent of the time. I like that definition. Ooh Aiden saying,
1:37:15
I'm incredibly invested in potentially drafting Brian Thomas Junior. I've seen some flashes of
1:37:20
him in watching Malik Neighbors. But yeah, there's a bunch of people that
1:37:27
are high on Brian Tomas. I'm gonna get to him at some point on
1:37:29
the film, but I'm excited to see that piece. Jay Dubbs says,
1:37:33
depends on your QB. Josh needed a guy like Mandy Sands when he was
1:37:35
coming up. I love that you're saying, Mandy Sans, that's awesome.
1:37:38
Now with Diggs getting up there, we need a young wide receiver too who
1:37:41
can send. I think that's a good point as well in relation to Diggs.
1:37:43
Now like the wide receiver two you need to get. Should have wide
1:37:48
receiver or could should have wide receiver one upside because Diggs is getting a little
1:37:54
long in the tooth, not too long, ad He's just like hitting do
1:37:57
as they're actually I'm me look at her up right now. As if I
1:38:00
don't have the power of the internet. Stefon Diggs is how old? Why
1:38:06
is the internet not working for me? Steven Diggs is thirty years old,
1:38:14
so yeah, not too old, but he's getting up there. At some
1:38:15
point you'll need to kind of break into that new wide receiver one terror,
1:38:20
So I think that's a fair point. Chris chris Key, chris Key,
1:38:25
I'm falling apart. The sickness is like taking on me. Chris Key says,
1:38:28
any thoughts on Xavier Lagette, wide receiver from South Carolina. I've only
1:38:31
watched one full game on him as of right now, but I can read
1:38:35
you a scouting report on him right now. Physical tools and traits. He's
1:38:41
got size plus athleticism, he has gears to his speed. He's got good
1:38:45
hips, he can sink lack. Again, this is only one game.
1:38:48
I get a three to four game sample size. I just haven't finished everything
1:38:51
yet with all the bills stuff still going on. Lacks precision in his routes,
1:38:56
more rounded cuts and paced routes that rely on speed. He runs nines,
1:39:00
deep comebacks, deep outs, posts and deep overs and some you know,
1:39:03
short little hooks and stuff. He's got a good catch radius. He
1:39:05
plays big at the catch point, and he's a stretch the defense guy.
1:39:10
He does a lot of clear out routes for South Carolina, but because of
1:39:13
his plus long speed, he gets open on those clear out routes and he's
1:39:16
a legitimate threat. Oh Oh, Trek reviewer is down on Exavier log at
1:39:23
ooh, Carl's saying, what wide receiver is gonna is gonna be first on
1:39:27
our board when we selected pick thirty two. I am not fully enough into
1:39:30
draft mode yet or I can confidently make a statement, and I don't want
1:39:34
to just throw some crap against the wall and hope something sticks. I will
1:39:36
get there at some point, though, Carl, I appreciate you. Spin
1:39:40
says you're supposed to look where you're throwing before you throw passes into the end
1:39:43
zone. That is correct, and Roy says, yeah, Josh threw it
1:39:45
up just simple or right, just threw it up simple? Zach saying,
1:39:49
how do you feel about a d Mitchell oh wide receiver from University of Texas?
1:39:54
And my buddy at Espianation, Jpacosta, who's been on the show a
1:39:57
bunch throughout the season, he did a mock draft for Espignation today and I
1:40:01
believe he had ad Mitchell mocked to the Buffalo Bills. Again, haven't fully
1:40:05
watched his tape, but he him and Xavier Worthy, the other wide receiver
1:40:09
from Texas and Whittington. There are other wide receiver number thirteen with the dreads.
1:40:13
Who's going to be at the Super Bowl? All intrigued me a bunch.
1:40:16
Mitchell's got good size, He's a good ball winner, downfield piece,
1:40:20
red zone piece. I'm excited to get into his tape and see what he
1:40:24
offers from a precision standpoint. Thank you r J telling me that Diggs is
1:40:30
thirty. Ooh Arjaine Diggs having that back issue scares me. Thirty with a
1:40:33
back issue isn't great since back issues don't really ever go away permanently. That's
1:40:38
actually a good point. I jacked up my back when I was like fifteen
1:40:41
sixteen and it still hurts me to this day. Oh Spin saying what about
1:40:45
devontees Walker from North Carolina. I will be watching him soon and or shortly.
1:40:49
He will be at the Senior Bowl, So I'm going to see him
1:40:51
liveman in person when I go down to Mobile at the end of January the
1:40:56
twenty ninth through February first. But I haven't watched this yet. Obviously,
1:41:00
the athleticism and like the stuff that jumps off the charts, but I haven't
1:41:02
watched his tap, but he's possibility to see that. Ib's saying, I
1:41:08
would like to see a speeds to wide receiver with good hands and Chris sprouts
1:41:11
a faster digs. A lot to ask for, Yeah, it's very a
1:41:13
lot to ask for, but you know, the good thing is this this
1:41:18
offense, for this offense, this draft class offers you a lot from the
1:41:21
wide receiver perspective, so you can get and you can make the case for
1:41:26
going wide receiver early or a little later. Right, Like, the class
1:41:30
is so strong that you can get a wide receiver one at the end of
1:41:32
the first round, or a high end wide receiver two, or you can
1:41:35
take another position in need at the end of the first round and still get
1:41:40
a wide receiver two in the second round potentially, like like the year when
1:41:43
the Bills took Cody Ford and Terry McLaurin went in that second round, Deebo
1:41:46
Samuel went in that second round, DK Metcalf went in that second round.
1:41:49
So this class is is super deep. Oh Trek reviewer saying, I think
1:41:54
wide receiver Brendan Rice from USC or Johnny Wilson from Florida State who was six
1:41:59
seven two would be good for fits for the Bills. Both of them will
1:42:01
be at the Senior Bowl. I know Wilson is. I think Brendan Rice
1:42:04
will be as well. So I'm gonna be digging into that tail their tape
1:42:08
as well. Oh nice, is Zact saying, that's where I seen it
1:42:09
from. It was from JP. Yeah, the Texas wide receivers are cool.
1:42:13
Mitchell and Worthy. They got some dudes with juice who can really play,
1:42:16
so it'll be nice to see what they can do. Nick says,
1:42:20
what about Shorter, we already have him. I would hate to see him
1:42:24
get away like Hodgens. I mean, he's more of a project project.
1:42:28
You know. He's got the size, he's got the speed and and and
1:42:32
the frame like he looks the part. I just don't know what we've seen
1:42:36
from because we haven't seen him in a game this year. I don't know
1:42:40
what they have in him. He needs to be worked on from a route
1:42:43
precision standpoint and a nuanced standpoint again, like being able to run the whole
1:42:46
route tree, the deception within it, the sharpness, the suddenness, those
1:42:50
type of things, like what type of quality routes can he run? At
1:42:53
his size, with that high cut frame and long legs, and we haven't
1:42:57
really seen him this year, so we don't know. So the only people
1:42:59
who know what the people were seeing him at practice every day, and I
1:43:02
haven't seen or heard anything yet. So Justin Shorter could potentially be a guy
1:43:05
going forward, or he might just you know, in a negative way,
1:43:09
just be a guy. We're not really gonna know until we see him in
1:43:12
camp next year and in the preseason next year or this year. I should
1:43:15
say him this offseason because they're in twenty twenty four. We just don't know
1:43:18
at this point. Oh Roy saying Shorter will be a special teams player,
1:43:24
no more than a wide receiver. Six. I'm saying, if we lose
1:43:29
out in the playoffs, I have a feeling we might have to get a
1:43:30
first round wide receiver, if you know what I mean. That's fair.
1:43:34
That's fair, That is fair. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what
1:43:38
the Bills do with with the roster as a whole, regardless of what happens
1:43:42
these playoffs. Like that, that's a fun conversation to have going forward.
1:43:45
You potentially can make the case for the Bills maybe needing two safeties. You
1:43:50
know, does Michael Hyde come back? Do the Bills want him back?
1:43:54
What does he want to does he even want to come back with again him
1:43:57
having the stingers and the neck injuries. The stingers are relate to the fusion
1:44:00
he had in his neck, So is this his last ride? Jordan Poyer's
1:44:06
looked a little long at the tooth in time at times this year? Do
1:44:09
they move on from Poe? I have to look at his contract see if
1:44:11
that's even possible or even realistic. But do they need one or two safeties
1:44:15
this offseason? What happens at the edge position? Like do they bring back
1:44:18
Ajpanessa? Do they bring back Leonard Floyd? With the question marks around von
1:44:23
Miller, I know nobody wants to hear this edge could be a legitimate need
1:44:27
for this team because right now, the only known quantity you have under contract
1:44:30
next year is Greg Russo. Again, you have von Miller under contract,
1:44:33
but we don't know what we're gonna get out of von Miller. And then
1:44:36
even on the interior defensive line, cool you got at Oliver, you have
1:44:40
no other defensive tackles, Like there's no Tim Settle, there's no Punafod,
1:44:43
there's no da Que Jones, So you could also make a case the defensive
1:44:45
tackle is needed on the interior. They also might need a running back in
1:44:50
the draft at some point, just because of what's gonna happen with Murray and
1:44:53
Harris and Ty Johnson, although I would welcome back any of those dudes,
1:44:57
like I like the rotation they have this year, but you could also suspected
1:45:00
running backs you can always get like a solid one, even on Day three.
1:45:02
So it'll be interesting to see what happens with this team from a roster
1:45:05
standpoint, a free agency standpoint, and then how that funnels into the draft
1:45:10
from a needs perspective, and how that shapes the board for the league as
1:45:13
a whole. So we're going to see a lot of those pieces and RJ
1:45:18
coming in and saying, I have a funny feeling that Hyde is done after
1:45:20
this year do that neck issue. I also think Poyer may be done.
1:45:24
He's looked shot all year. Trying to get two new safeties to start will
1:45:27
be tough, yeah, especially if like you don't want them to both to
1:45:30
be rookies. There's two safeties who I love in this draft, cam Kinchins
1:45:33
from the University of Miami and Tyler Nuban, safety from Minnesota. Right now,
1:45:39
I have cam Kinchins as number one. I think you can make a
1:45:41
case that Nuban could even be number one. Both are two good safeties,
1:45:45
but it's tough to have two rookie starting safeties. There's also going to be
1:45:48
some really good safeties in free agency. Antoine Winfield Junior is a free agent.
1:45:55
Jeremy Chin is a free agent, I believe, but Chin has been
1:45:58
playing more of an Apex box roll for Carolina, So I don't know what
1:46:02
that transition back potentially looks like. We'll see, but yeah, it'll be
1:46:08
It'll be tough to get two new safeties to start, but the Bills did
1:46:11
it before. You know. They got Hide and Ployer in the same offseason.
1:46:13
Both were you know, Hyde was more known, but both were kind
1:46:15
of man free agents in the larger landscape in the NFL, and they both
1:46:18
turned out to be all pro quality and arguably the best safety duo in the
1:46:23
league for a lot of years. Magic Catfish says is Rap under contract.
1:46:28
No. Taylor Rap is on a one year deal for the Buffalo Bill,
1:46:31
So it could be like a handshake type of deal where he came here with
1:46:34
the opportunity to earn a spot next year, and you know, maybe he'll
1:46:38
resign in the off season. But yeah, it's uh, they it's rough
1:46:44
there. It's rough. Ooh. RC three coming through and saying Cam can't
1:46:46
you cam kinsches in the first round? If he's still there, Johnny Wilson
1:46:49
in the third or fourth, then I don't care what they do. Yeah,
1:46:53
it'll be interesting to see what what the needs shakeout like for this team.
1:46:57
And again, a bunch of it will be who they receed, who
1:47:00
they bring back like and not even just from a quality standpoint, right,
1:47:04
Like you can make the case, okay they need a better player at position
1:47:06
A or position B or position C. There also might be spots where it's
1:47:12
like they just need bodies because they don't have enough depth, like or warm
1:47:16
bodies period, let alone quality. So and it's going to be interesting to
1:47:21
see what we get out of this roster going forward given the cap situation and
1:47:26
where they are. Jadab says, don't you think Cam Lewis is being growed
1:47:30
for a safety spot? Hamlet could still develop? They could. I think
1:47:33
both are more depth guys than they are true starters in the league. I
1:47:38
think you can get away with starting DeMar Hamlin or Cam Lewis. I don't
1:47:45
think they're and I'm trying to find the right way to phrase it. I
1:47:47
don't think they're like quality starters. I think their quality depth. I think
1:47:53
at best they're more of low tier starters at this point. Now. Either
1:47:56
could ascend potentially, but having you know, can Lewis being more of a
1:48:00
smaller frame type of dude, which I kind of like because I like that
1:48:03
cam Lewis can play safety, but he also can play slot. He can
1:48:06
play in that nickel, so I like his versatility. But I think cam
1:48:10
Lewis is more of a deaf guy, and I think DeMar Hamlet is more
1:48:13
of a deaf guy. I think, you know, there's a chance one
1:48:15
of them, or even both could be a low tier type of starting safety,
1:48:18
but I don't think. I don't think we're seeing that. I don't
1:48:24
think the Bills have other than hide and ployer. I don't think the Bills
1:48:27
have a starting safety on the roster right now. Taylor Rap I think you
1:48:30
can make the case for it because he's been a starter before. I do
1:48:32
think he has somewhat of a limited skill set, but I do like his
1:48:34
skill set, but we'll see Roy says. At least we're not talking about
1:48:42
needing to right tackle anymore. No, I don't think spent I don't what
1:48:44
the numbers say. I don't think Spencer Brown has been a world beater,
1:48:46
but he's been a fine right tackle. And that's all I've ever wanted from
1:48:49
Spencer Brown. You don't need to be an all pro at right tackle.
1:48:51
Just don't be atrocious. Don't be this horrible roller coaster and vulnerability at right
1:48:58
tackle. And he has not been a vulnerability. I still think, you
1:49:01
know, he is having some struggles that I don't think are being talked about
1:49:05
on a wide scale basis. But he's fine for me at right tackle.
1:49:09
I'm not looking at right I would love to. I would take an offensive
1:49:11
lineman in every draft, every single year, just because I think you always
1:49:14
need to replenish offense. You can never have enough offensive line dep so I
1:49:16
will always take an offensive lineman. I don't care where, tackle, guard,
1:49:19
center, whatever, like. I will always take offensive lineman in the
1:49:23
draft. But I don't have right tackle as that premier need right now like
1:49:27
I did last year. Oh, Trek, if you were saying maybe running
1:49:30
back autric estimate from Notre Dame in the fourth or fifth round. He's fast
1:49:34
enough for a big dude, and he's an absolute hammer coming downhill. That
1:49:36
would be a fun kind of thunder and lightning pairing with James Cook. So
1:49:42
we'll see there. I like it's coming from Steve Say. McDermot gets more
1:49:45
out of the late round dbis than any coach I've ever seen. Yeah,
1:49:47
given what he did with Levi Wallace, Dane Jackson, Christian Benford and even
1:49:54
like not late round draft guys, but like kind of free agency, whatever's
1:49:58
like Michael High, Jordan Poyer. That's the fun conversation And I've said it
1:50:00
on Twitter a bunch like where you can make the argument on either side right
1:50:04
where you don't have to spend a premium pick or premium money on a defensive
1:50:11
back because Sean McDermott is so good at getting all of the blood out of
1:50:15
the stone for any dB that he gets right, So you can take a
1:50:18
Christian Benford in the sixth round and turn him into a CB two. So
1:50:21
why do you need to take a corner in round one or round two or
1:50:25
pay a premium free agency or pay a premium free agent right, So you
1:50:29
can make that case. But then it's also fun to have the other conversation
1:50:32
of So, if he's so good, you know McDermott, if he's so
1:50:35
good at getting all the blood out of these late round and free agency cast
1:50:40
off stones, imagine what he could get out of a premier free agent at
1:50:44
that position or a high round pick. But he can make the case either
1:50:47
way. But yeah, his track record with late round dbs is pretty wild.
1:50:53
Dirty Jersey is saying, what do we do with Elam? You keep
1:50:56
letting him ride? I mean, if somebody believes in it more than you
1:51:00
do and wants to offer you like a Day two pick, like I'll take
1:51:04
like a second or third for him. But I still think he has room.
1:51:09
I always thought he was going to be not as long of a project
1:51:12
as he's been. Granted he's had some injuries, but I always thought he
1:51:17
would take a bit of time to transition to the NFL because of how physical
1:51:21
and grabby he was at the college level. There is no illegal contact penalty
1:51:27
in the NFL, and he was very physical at Florida, but physical in
1:51:30
the very gravy way. There's a reason why in that first training camp.
1:51:33
They put the boxing gloves on him to make him stop grabbing dudes in drills.
1:51:38
So I always thought it would take him time to transition from that aspect,
1:51:41
but also transition from more of a man scheme to his own scheme.
1:51:45
He still is trades up, he still has tools because of that. Like,
1:51:47
I'm not jettisoning him off yet. I still trust to McDermott and his
1:51:54
staff to get the most out of dudes. I'm keeping him and I let
1:51:57
him battle. You know, next year you're looking at what's an interesting conversation
1:52:00
is the cornerback room. Next year, you have a returning for Davious White,
1:52:03
you who probably won't be ready to start the season. Maybe he will
1:52:08
be, I don't know. But you've got a returning Ford Deavius White,
1:52:11
You've got Christian Benford, You've got Rosuell Douglas. Dan Jackson is a free
1:52:15
agent, will see if they bring him back. And you still have Kyer
1:52:16
Elam, so you can do a lot of things with the Elam. I'm
1:52:19
I'm sitting on him and I'm keeping him there. See what he does and
1:52:23
see what he turns into. But if some team wants to offer you like
1:52:27
a Day two pick for him, I'd be fine pulling the trigger, but
1:52:33
Roy says, I think Torrence has struggled a bit lately. Yeah, he
1:52:35
struggled a bit against Wilkins. He's had some struggles. Overall, I think
1:52:40
he's had a fine rookie year. He's improved the run blocking, He's been
1:52:43
fine enough in pass protection. I think the floor that he set for himself
1:52:46
this year has been very encouraging. I think he's performed fine overall. I
1:52:50
do think he has struggled a bit more as the season has gone on,
1:52:54
but not enough that I'm worried about him or think he's a vulnerability. I
1:52:57
think you've got a good You've had a good rookie season from second round guard
1:53:00
in Osirius Torrence. Chris says, an't any under the radar prospects. You're
1:53:04
a big fan of oh Man. I'm not. I'm not fully into draft
1:53:12
prospects stuff yet. I will say I mentioned some of the safeties I like,
1:53:16
you know, a granted they're more top heavy, but I like Cam
1:53:18
Kinchen's. I like Tyler Nuban. Tyler Nuban is even talked about enough as
1:53:23
a safety. I like Tyler Nuben a bunch some of the running backs who
1:53:26
I like. I like. I like Marshaun Lloyd from USC. I like
1:53:30
Bucky Irving from Oregon. But I'm not I'm not there yet with like draft
1:53:36
stock conversations yet. Talk to me in By the end of February, I'll
1:53:43
be in a much better spot. But definitely, obviously March and April and
1:53:45
all that stuff I will see. So Nick says, too early to worry
1:53:48
about the draft. Worry about when the seedon is the filling officially over.
1:53:53
I'm always thinking draft. I love the draft. I love college football,
1:53:56
so I'm watching a ton of college ball in the year. No Roy,
1:54:00
I see. Roy says we're still in the playoffs. Too early for draft
1:54:02
talk. It's never too early for draft talk, even if even when we're
1:54:05
in October, it's never too early for draft talk. I love talking prospects
1:54:09
and evaluation and fits. College ball is awesome. I love it pretty much
1:54:14
just as much as I love the NFL. So it's a fair point.
1:54:17
But yeah, it's oh, it's a good time. It's a good time.
1:54:23
Steve says, with his athleticism, there any chance they try to convert
1:54:25
elim to safety, it's a different world moving from corner to safety. You're
1:54:29
seeing the game from a different vantage point. There's different things that are asked
1:54:31
of you. I also think with his struggles in tackling, I don't want
1:54:35
him at safety because I don't trust him fitting the run from depth and filling
1:54:39
alleys and making tackles and or taking on blockers. It's just a different level
1:54:44
of responsibility. It's possible. Again, it's always potentially possible, but there's
1:54:50
a reason you don't see a lot of dudes convert from corner to safety like
1:54:55
it is a tough ask or dudes that do. It's not always like an
1:54:58
easy or successful transition. Can be a bit tough, but we'll see again.
1:55:01
I like the tools and trades that he has, and I trust him
1:55:05
McDermott and this staff, so I feel like they can still coach him up
1:55:08
and if they feel like they can't, and take whatever you can get for
1:55:11
him. But I'm not getting rid of him unless like right now, like
1:55:14
I'm not getting rid of him this offseason, unless somebody gives you, like
1:55:15
a second round or a third round pick, maybe maybe a fourth given what
1:55:19
Rasoul Douglas has turned into. And I like the idea of coming back next
1:55:23
year with Trey Douglas and Benford, but again, we don't know when Trey
1:55:27
White's going to be ready. So unless they re signed Dave Jackson, your
1:55:30
top three corners going into next year are Raseul Douglas, Christian Benford and Kyrie
1:55:33
Elam, So they still kind of need Kyri Elam. I view corner the
1:55:36
same way I view offensive line. You can never have enough depth, So
1:55:42
I'm in that spot. Dobbs says. Some other channels are talking about Bills
1:55:47
and Case and Bills and Ravens. One game at a time, absolutely,
1:55:50
one game at a time, and it's going to be a fun an exciting
1:55:56
game. Speaking of fun and exciting, I always bring it up a different
1:55:58
points of the show. Onepy Pizza, the best pizza in Buffalo, New
1:56:00
York. I mentioned it or in the intro and the lead into the show.
1:56:03
Their shaw at, their episode show notes, their contact information, and
1:56:08
online men. You can be found in the episode show notes, or they're
1:56:10
here on YouTube or whichever podcasting app and our platform you're listening to this show
1:56:14
on. They make a great sweet sauce pie cup and sharp pepperoni. A
1:56:18
good sweet sauce, a good cheese, a sauce ratio. They make their
1:56:20
own homemade blue cheese. I've also talked about the aspect too, like when
1:56:24
you get veggies, like they dice them up and then sprinkle them all over
1:56:27
the pizza, so it's nice and even you're not just getting like chunks and
1:56:29
it's like where it's just like lazily put on like a topping. They do
1:56:31
great work and they do a bunch of stuff and give them back to the
1:56:33
community, Toys for Tots, partnering with Roswell, the SPCA, the Alzheimer's
1:56:40
Foundation. They do a lot of good for the city and they do a
1:56:42
lot of good for your taste bluds with how good their food is. So
1:56:44
go get yourself some one pie pizza again. Their contact and phone online men
1:56:47
you can be found in the episode show notes, whether here on YouTube or
1:56:50
whichever podcasting app and or platform you are listening to this show on. With
1:56:56
that being said, I'm gonna throw up the band and says Tootles, folks,
1:56:59
I'm enjoying this conversation is playoff time, and I kind of want to
1:57:00
keep rolling, but the sickness is really getting to me. My head feels
1:57:03
like it's going to explode. Despite the fact that I'm wearing a hoodie and
1:57:08
fleece pants and beanie. I'm extremely cold, so I'm going to go and
1:57:13
take a hot shower and drink some tea and go to bed. I appreciate
1:57:15
you folks to ride with me here in this episode of Disguised Coverage. If
1:57:18
you have not already, please please, please and thank you drop a like
1:57:21
on this video here on YouTube. Like I said earlier, it goes a
1:57:24
long way, so telling myself and the entire team to track and trend in
1:57:27
front of more eyes and ears like are the lifeblood of these streams and the
1:57:30
algorithm. So please, please, please, and thank you drop a like
1:57:34
on this video, whether you're watching live now before you leave, or if
1:57:39
you're watching later on YouTube in a non live fashion. If you're listening on
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one of the podcasting apps or platforms, that's cool too. Please rate and
1:57:45
review and subscribe to Disguised Coverage. Subscribe to the Disguised Coverage channel here on
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YouTube as well under the Cover One channel. As a whole, we have
1:57:54
you covered every single day of the week with anything and everything puffle of those
1:57:57
varying levels of depth to the content based on what show or person you are
1:58:00
looking towards and looking for. Thank you to mister Joe Marino for ride with
1:58:05
me here on this episode of Disguy's coverage. It's always a good time to
1:58:10
have him join me here in talkball, you know. And it's nice to
1:58:13
do the crossovers with him. You know, he's been on this show.
1:58:15
I've been on Lockdown Bills multiple times. He's a good dude, knows his
1:58:17
stuff, so it was awesome to have him on. So major thank you
1:58:20
to him. Appreciate you Nick and Banta for the well which is oh man,
1:58:27
if I feel for your Banta being sick going through all that at Christmas.
1:58:30
That was my one. I usually get sick once or twice a winter.
1:58:33
Usually it's only once I avoided it through the Christmas time. I think
1:58:36
this is the one that's hitting me. So I'm not as I say that,
1:58:41
my left shoulder is like achy. But yeah, oh and as r
1:58:44
J says, one pie Pizza needs to come out to Rochester, legit awesome
1:58:46
pizza. I love that. RJ. Appreciate the hell outa for that.
1:58:48
And I'll talk to him maybe about you know, expanding and you know,
1:58:50
planting the flag out there in Rochester. What Spinnon says, he hasn't been
1:58:56
sick and over five years. I actually kind of believe that, like Jerry
1:58:59
Seinfeld where he has thrown up since like nineteen eighty two or whatever it was.
1:59:02
But yeah, I appreciate you folks, whether you watched live, watched
1:59:05
the recorded version, listened, whatever your view, listen, download, whatever
1:59:11
have you. I greatly appreciate all the support that you folks show myself in
1:59:15
the entire brand and team and whatever former fashion it comes in. Thank you
1:59:18
very much to Carl for your super chat earlier. Thank you very much to
1:59:21
Joe Marino for joining me as my guest on this show. I will see
1:59:25
you next Tuesday for another episode of Disguised Coverage live nine pm Eastern. Regardless
1:59:30
if the Bills loser win against the Steelers, you'll get another episode of Disguised
1:59:33
Coverage next week here on the channel again live every Tuesday, nine pm Eastern.
1:59:41
Tomorrow Night, Wednesday, January tenth, seven pm Eastern, Join myself
1:59:45
and Eric Turner in the Cover one Film Room as we break down a bunch
1:59:47
of tape from the Dolphins and Bills game this past week in Week eighteen,
1:59:55
bang it here for that again, rate review, like subscribe. Also word
1:59:59
of mouth is allay is awesome. Tell your family and friends and loved ones
2:00:00
about this show and the channel and the brand and how awesome you think it
2:00:03
is, or if you think it's terrible, tell your enemies and try and
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ruin their day with it. Greatly appreciate you, folks, and I appreciate
2:00:10
all the uh. I don't like bringing up to like kind things for myself,
2:00:13
so I think it's corny. But I see all the well wishes and
2:00:15
the nice stuff in the chat and throughout the entirety of the episode. So
2:00:18
even though I don't pull it up or don't necessarily acknowledge it, know that
2:00:21
I see all that stuff. And I greatly appreciate you folks and the kind
2:00:27
words and the well wishes for me with having the plague here, but also
2:00:30
just in general for tuning in every week, especially the regulars that are here,
2:00:33
and just all the support, whatever form or fashion it comes in.
2:00:35
I greatly appreciate you, folks, and the entire team at Cover one do
2:00:39
as well. If you're going to the game this week, have a good
2:00:44
time, Be safe, travel safe. If you're traveling, or if you
2:00:46
know your tailgame, whatever you're doing, have a good time, but be
2:00:48
responsible, be safe, have a great time at the game. Brave the
2:00:51
elements whatever you're living. If you're on the East Coast with all the storms
2:00:56
and everything happening, batting down the hatches, you know. I hope you
2:01:00
folks are doing well, and I hope you and your family and friends and
2:01:02
loved ones are all doing well and staying safe. Be kind to one another,
2:01:05
take care of one another. I will see you next week nine pm
2:01:09
Eastern Tuesday for another episode of Disguised Coverage. Playoffs are here. It's the
2:01:15
more we've all've been waiting for. I'm super excited and super nervous, and
2:01:17
I'm sure a lot of you feel the same way. Until next Tuesday at
2:01:20
nine pm Eastern, or until tomorrow a seven pm Eastern for another episode of
2:01:25
the Film Room. I am Anthony Preaska. This has been another episode of
2:01:28
Disguised Coverage. I appreciate you folks, God's speed and as always, go Bills