Latest / Bills Mafia Carolina TAKEOVER / Bills vs Texans Week 1 Preview: Can Josh Allen Break the Houston Curse?
Transcript
- Owen Wilson: Bill's Mafia. Are you ready? From North Carolina to Buffalo. The mafia is united. This is your home for the passion, the power, and the pride of the Buffalo Bills. Welcome to Bill's Mafia Carolina Takeover. Welcome back, Bill's Mafia, to another episode of Carolina Takeover. I am your host, Owen, and folks, we are into this. Week one is upon us. Man, we made it. No more training camp. No more off season talks. It's real, real, real. And I'm super excited and I cannot wait. And I'm looking forward to this episode as this is week one of the episode. Got my notes here. So let's dive into this. So much expectation here with every team. Every every podcaster right now that's sending out ⁓ content right now right now ahead of week one is saying that they got a shot to win the Super Bowl and rightfully so they should, but The reality of the situation is here is our Buffalo Bills once again are on the block to represent the AFC East. And I couldn't be more excited about this season. It's been a while since I've been this. I don't want to say excited, but it kind of feels like when Josh Allen started his career officially and we're in it. Probably twenty twenty, the twenty-one season. We knew what type of player we got. That's what it kind of feels like here. Josh Allen coming in and doing what he needs to do to get us to the promised land. And that is what I'm excited about this year for Bill's Mafia. So let's get into this. Couple things that I'm looking at. First one here is gonna be Joe Brady. We've talked about it all offseason, what that's gonna look like. We looked at the preseason. I mean, I'm not I don't take a big stock in preseason when it comes to, you know, certain things like that. ⁓ you know, obviously the play calling and those type of things was definitely interesting. A lot of nice wrinkles there. But this is really gonna be the first test, not only with Joe Brady, but really the entire offense as far as what that's gonna look like and how that's gonna operate. So I'm really excited looking in there. Does Brady look different? As a head coach than he did as a coordinator. So that's one thing that's gonna be really interesting. For me, and we've talked about this. I I'm not really sure Brady's like a huge is gonna be a huge change. I mean, you know, he's been with the system forever and been with Josh forever. But one of the things I do want to look at here is I do wanna look at whether or not Josh Allen and the offense it looks more aggressive, if that's even possible. ⁓ and then also I want to know what the game management is, right, from from Joe Brady. You know, is Joe Brady someone that's gonna be aggressive on fourth down where maybe McDermott wasn't in certain spots? So that's all gonna be really interesting. Look, a lot of people when there's a new coach, they talk about clock management and all that stuff. So, you know, week one, I'm not necessarily looking to see what kind of clock management Joe Brady does, but There's going to be a situation down the road where that clock management's going to come into play. And that's going to be an interesting piece to see how Joe Brady goes about doing that. You know, preseason told us a ton about the personnel, but Sunday's really going to tell us a lot about Joe Brady and and how this offense is going to look. So I'm looking forward to that. Number two, storyline that I've written down here: Josh Allen versus Houston. And I put down here, kill the curse. That's right. Josh Allen is 0 3 as a starter in Houston. And that has been Houston has been Josh Allen's Kryptonite. Now there aren't many stadiums left really in Josh's career where walking in, Josh Allen could could come up with a win or not, but Houston is one of them. Not sure what it is, but 0 3 in that building. ⁓ that kind of is a little bit nervous for me on how Josh plays in that building. Now, obviously, the infamous playoff game in Houston, but with Sugar High Josh. But even if you go back recently, he's really hasn't played well. Last year did not play well at all. However, the game was close towards the end just because the defense stepped up. So if Buffalo's really serious about being A contender, a different season this year. Josh has got to go out there and he's got to exercise his demons and get that one win that we're looking for in Houston. Number three, the matchup that I'm looking at this ⁓ this game is not Josh Allen, not the wide receivers. It's really going to be the offensive line versus the Houston defensive line. So part of number two was Josh's 0-3. If you go back and look at the stats, Josh's The offensive line has had a really tough time there, ⁓ keeping Josh upright, sacks, interceptions, get him off his spot. So that's gonna be a huge thing that I'm looking at here. What is the offensive line look like? Cromer's no longer there. He's got a predecessor who's, you know, right under Cromer. So I don't think that's gonna a lot of philosophy change is gonna be there. But it's gonna be interesting to see the Buffalo's offensive line versus the Houston's defensive line. And if Houston can continue with the same game plan as what they've done in the past, this this could easily be an 0 4 Josh Allen stat here and the Bills could go 0 1. I don't think that happens. So the offensive line has really got to step up here. If Houston could do what it's done to Josh Allen in in the past and and get sacks and turnovers, then it's going to be survival mode for Josh and we could be looking at 0 4 in Houston. Number four, James Cook. So one of the parts of helping Josh Allen against his so called nemesis in Houston. And and really Houston has done a great job these la especially last year shutting down the run. So you the focal point in this game has gotta be gotta be James Cook. Gotta run the rock. Make James Cook run the rock is going to open up the pass. Don't need to tell anybody that. That's pretty basic. Obviously, he's coming off a huge year last year. And with with Houston's Will Anderson and Hunter flying off, going after Josh Allen, because that's the gonna be the defensive MO for Houston, is those two guys. We don't let ⁓ How do you not let ⁓ Run the ball. Give James Cook the rock. I don't want Josh Allen throwing the ball forty five times in this game. If he has to throw forty five times ⁓ on Sunday, that's a Big issue, a big problem. So James Cook has got to be the man on Sunday. Okay, number five here. Obviously, Josh Allen's gonna throw the ball. So it's gonna be really interesting to see ⁓ the new wide receiver combination here. Early depth charts actually has Keon Coleman ahead, Palmer, which is not what I anticipated. I've been saying all offseason that Coleman would be down the slot there. I don't know if this is simply just, you know, ⁓ We drafted him, invested money in him, and ⁓ you know, we want to get him out there, or if he's really worth that spot. Now, Palmer, I'm not too big on Palmer right now anyway, just because he hasn't really played, so I can see where that slot is. But that's gonna be interesting if Coleman gets out there. The first couple weeks is really going to determine what Coleman looks like with this offense. Is Coleman the reliable wide receiver we picked up? ⁓ in the draft a few years ago. If that is the case, then that is a big break for the Bills. If it's not, not the death of the Bills on the wide receiver spot, but that's going be really tough on that situation, especially if the Bills right now have Coleman over Palmer. Really excited about DJ Moore. Is he what we think he's going to be? Is he going to be the difference maker that the Bills have been looking for for the last couple years since Stefan Diggs? So I'm really excited about that. Are the wide receivers good enough to help if they take James Cook out of the game? Is the wide receivers good enough to do that? That's going to be a big key in week one going against Houston as well. Okay, number six here for the game coming up on Sunday. Talked about it all season, all offseason. Jim Leonard's defense. Super excited. Any any Bills fan out there has got to be super excited about this defense. We've talked about Anausea about Sean, this is not Sean McDermott's defense, and it's not. Everything we've seen in the preseason indicates that this is going to be a completely different look, attitude, everything. Blitzing, whole nine yards. So I'm super excited. Also, for the 0 3 that Josh Allen has walked into Houston, Houston hasn't seen this type of defense from the Bills. So that is also a huge denominator there that we're that people should. Take in consideration when they're talking about Josh Allen being 0-3. That's going to be a difference maker of the season, and we get a preview coming up on week one this Sunday. CJ Gardner, especially. I said that he would be the free agent off-season, my free agent offseason pick. And he gets right in there with Houston. Not a necessarily high-powered offense. They're 18th in the league right now, but. This is a great test for CJ Johnson. Bradley Chubb, looking forward to see what he is. We've talked about this as well. We went Vaughn Miller, Joey Bosa. Now we've got Brad Bradley Chubb. An upgrade from the two of those guys. Younger younger guy as well. So I'm really excited to see what kind of pressure comes off the edge there. The big question is does Buffalo's have a defense capable of winning a game if Josh Allen is unable and the offense are unable to produce. And we talked about it this offseason. One of the questions was, is this Josh Allen's best roster in his career? And I said yes, not because of the offense. I said it because of the defense. And so this is a great test for the defense. If the Houston defense comes out firing and and kind of shuts Josh Allen down, can the defense Win games. Can the defense win this game? And that's what I'm excited to see. Okay, number seven part of that defense is going to be attacking CJ Stroud. If you go back and look at the three losses that the Bills have had ⁓ against Houston, not a lot of pressure. Bills at that time didn't do a lot of blitzing. They were kind of, I don't want to say bend but don't break, but just keep everything in front of them. So with this gen Jim Leonard defense, it's gonna be exciting, it's gonna be awesome. And I'm gonna see what type of pressure is going to get to CJ Stroud. I am a full believer that if there is blitzing on CJ Stroud, he will turn the ball over, expect the Bills to get one two picks this on Sunday from the defense, ⁓ from the defensive pressure. If the Bills can come after CJ Stroud, that's gonna be a huge plus for the Bills. Especially if Houston's defense has shut down Josh Allen. Now, certainly if Josh Allen in the offense is firing all cylinders and the defense of the Bills is what it what we thought it was advertised, this could be a very long day for Houston and CJ Stroud. Very long day. All right. So here are my five keys to the Bills win. I can't believe we're starting. I can't believe we're we're already in week one. This is so exciting. Fall is here. Just like all of you, I live and die. My family, although they may not publicly come on here and say they live and die for the Bills, they know it's Bill season, so everyone's fired up. So here are my five keys to the Bills win. First one, run the damn ball. That's right. Run the ball. Give Cook the rock. I know everyone wants to see these new wide receiver cores and Josh Allen throwing the ball over the place, but with an 0 3 record going into Houston. And really Josh Allen not performing that well in the and Houston's defense being one of the top defenses in the league and really shutting down Josh Allen, run the damn ball. James Cook, run the ball. James should have 70 to 100 yards rushing. And if the defense is advertised as if if and if the defense is as they are advertised, you're looking at James Cook three touchdowns. So run the damn ball. Number two. No Houston disasters. We know what we're talking about. Buffalo, Bill's Mafia. Protect the football. Don't give up late, late, late points. They're going to be sacks. Houston's going to sack Josh. I mean, that's just the nature of the beast. Limit those sacks. But more importantly, don't give away the ball. I mean, that's that's pretty much common sense there. All right, number three, fresher Stroud. CJ Stroud just talked about it a moment ago. You get to CJ Stroud, he will turn the ball over. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. This is an obvious one. This is going to be all season. Win first down. I mean, I don't need to tell anybody that. Right? You get first down, you win another first down. You stay on the field, wear them out. Especially this aggressive, especially an aggressive Houston defense and running the ball. You want to wear them down. Wear them down. Win the win the first down. Stay on obviously stay out of passing downs and stay on the field. Number five, let Josh be Josh. Now hold a second. I'm not saying Josh throw the ball all over the yard, but let Josh manage the offense. And I think that that's going to be a huge difference in what we see from Josh Allen this year with Joe Brady. I believe that Josh Allen's going to be calling more of the plays. He's going to have more insight, more on the audibles. So let Josh. Be Josh. We don't need Josh to be Superman, but just let him loose when needed and let him manage the game. So those are my five keys to the games for week one against Houston. Exciting times. And right now we're gonna get into some mafia mail. The family is. All right, so we are in Mafia Mail. First of all, I want thank everybody for ⁓ emailing us. It's really hard to decide which Mafia Mail we're going to use, but keep those coming. And I do respond back to those mafia mails, so I appreciate it. ⁓ but this one I picked out, this is from Derek in Billings, Montana. I have no idea where that is. ⁓ but ⁓ somewhere out in the middle of the country, so appreciate you watching. And he writes in Owen, I know it's only week one. But this Houston game already feels bigger than a normal opener. If the Bills go down there and lose, are we all ready to be concerned right away, or is it way too early to start sounding the alarm? Derek, go Bills, Billings, Montana. Thanks for your email, Derek. So yeah, absolutely not. I mean, Derek, it's it's week one. ⁓ the Bills are gonna lose games. ⁓ you know, they're not gonna go undefeated. No one's saying that. ⁓ You know, I I mentioned it in the top of the top of the podcast here. I mean, Josh Allen's ⁓ and three going into Houston. So it's very possible that Josh Allen could lose week one. No doubt about it. I mean, history indicates that Josh can't win there. So would I be concerned? No. ⁓ if they lose. Now, would I be concerned if it if it is a ⁓ you know, like Joe Brady and the entire offense just looks completely different than what we've seen in the preseason and it just looks like a clusterfuck out there. Possibly. ⁓ I would I would sound the alarms like what the hell is is happening here, but that's not going to happen. Joe Brady's been with Josh Allen for years, so I wouldn't be concerned. ⁓ certainly if the Bills are giving up, you know, if the Bills get blown out, that may be more of a concern on the on the defensive side of the ball because, you know, we're If that's going to be the the MO going forward, it's going to be tough for us to win the division. So I would say hold the alarms. If they lose week one, let's see what you know four weeks into this season looks like. And then we'll if we need to sound the alarm, we'll sound the alarm. But Derek, I appreciate you reaching out and emailing. And again, if you w you want to get on Mafia Mail, you can email me at Bills MafiaCTO at gmail.com in Billings, Montana. Go Bills. I'm gonna give you the player of the game. I'm gonna give you surprise player, Bill's first T D of the game game, turnover predictions, and then the final score. So here we go. Player of the game. I'm gonna go cook. I I I do believe James Cook has a huge day today. I just think like that's gonna be the the the space that the Bills are gonna be running in. James Cook's gonna going to be the ⁓ the player of the game. TJ Parker. TJ Parker is going to be sub the surprise player of the game. Maybe not to many of us Bills Mafia, but certainly national. I think he has a huge game. First Bills TD, man, this one I was going to go, James Cook, but I think Josh Allen hits a bomb to DJ Moy. DJ Moore. I think he I think it could even be the first play. They're going to throw a bomb to DJ Moore. I just think that's kind of Josh's MO. So I'm going to go first Bills T D of the game is going to go DJ Moore. Turnover prediction. I mentioned it earlier here. I think if the Bills can the Bills defense is as as advertised and gets CJ Shroud, the Bills get two turnovers in this game. Final score, Bills 28, Houston 10. That is the final score. So the Bills win by 18, and they get off a 1-0 start. And also Josh Allen gets his one victory that he's been lacking there. All right, so looking forward to week one coming up here. We have a short week. Obviously, we're back on on Thursday. So that's going to be a quick turnaround. So that that's always fun. The first night game. Week one is just a few days away. Looking forward to the start of the season from this day, this point going forward. Everything counts. So make sure you make sure you tune in to the podcast here. You can also reach me at Bills Mafia CTO at gmail.com. If you are a guest of an opposing fan ⁓ that we play this year and you want to get on the other sideline, reach out to me. You can leave a comment here, or you can reach me at billsmafiaccto at gmail.com. Mafia mail is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whether you want to complain, give praise, hit me up there. Make sure you're make sure you're also checking out our Facebook page and like and subscribe here. Website, check that out as well. That's Bill's Mafia Carolina Takeover. Riverside.com. Inside there, you can see all our episodes and sign up for our weekly newsletter. It comes out every week before the podcast. All right, I really appreciate all the subscribers, everyone that's commented, the fans from other teams that have commented. Really appreciate it. Love those. Keep those coming. And as always, be good, do good, God bless, and go, Bills. That's a wrap on today's episode of Bill's Mafia Carolina Takeover. Thanks for tuning in and repping the mafia with us. Don't forget to subscribe, drop your mafia mail, and join us next time as we bring the passion, the pride, and the power of the Buffalo Bills straight from the Carolinas. Let's go Buffalo!