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Bills 2-0: Josh Allen Is Rolling + Chargers Preview ft. Electric Edge Podcast · Bills Mafia Carolina TAKEOVER

• Owen Wilson: Bills Mafia. Are you ready? From North Carolina to Buffalo. Mafia is united. This is your home for the passion, the power, and the pride of the Buffalo Bills. Welcome to Bills Mafia Carolina Takeover. Alright, Bill's Mafia. Bills are 2-0 to start the season. Not sure that any of us maybe thought that the Bills were gonna start off 2-0. But here we are. And the Joe Brady era has kicked off probably the best it could have kicked off. Now, throughout the entire summer and leading into here, into this game, all we talked about was the defense. And let me say this short week last week and I was on vacation, so ⁓ wasn't able to to hop on here. So we're gonna talk a little Houston quick and then Detroit, but The season couldn't have started any better, at least for the offense. ⁓ the defense, which I have talked about all off season, I thought was going to be an extremely different defense than what we've seen from McDermott. It is, but the these past two games really not a huge difference. And and we've got some problems. ⁓ I wouldn't necessarily pull the fire alarm on it. And I do believe in Jim Leonard's defense, but we have some problems. And we're going to get into that as well. Got a great episode for you. We're going to recap Houston and Detroit. And then I've got a special guest that is going to be joining us for our first regular season, other sideline. That's Taylor Bloom. Lives out on the West Coast from Electric Edge Pod. And she is the Los Angeles Chargers Podcaster. So I'm excited to have her as our first guest of 2026 in the other sideline in the regular season. So look forward to chat with her a little bit later in the show. Let's talk a little bit about what we saw these last two games. So let's let's hit Houston real quick. The house of horrors, as some people call it, with Josh Allen. But boy, did he put that to bed. Man, did Josh Allen put that to bed. That was our first real test to see what kind of Joe Brady's offense is going look like. And it was on point. Kincaid. Huge. Huge. Kincaid is healthy. If he stays healthy, he's going to be a huge weapon for the Bills. Something that the Bills have been wanting from Kincaid since we got him. So I thought the offense was in rhythm. They looked like Josh Allen offense. So it's going to be really fun to watch this. You know, one of the things that I don't get is. When you have an offensive coordinator like Brady and then you go to a head coach, like what's the and we talked about in the summer, like what's gonna be the difference? Like I I don't understand all the all these new things that we saw from the Bills offense these past two games. Like, is it because Brady wasn't the head coach, so therefore certain things had to be done certain ways? That's it and it's interesting. ⁓ you know, when someone becomes a head coach, does the entire playbook open? I mean, obviously he's in charge, right? So he knows what he's gonna do on fourth downs and those type of things. But it's just interesting to see like was McDermott really holding the offense down? Now we could go back and look at Josh's career with every offensive coordinator, but if you want to stick with Joe Brady, I mean this offense was putting up numbers. It wasn't the offense, it was the defense. So it was just interesting to see Joe Brady under the helm. ⁓ as the headman. ⁓ there were definitely a lot of different looks, a lot of different schemes and those type of things that maybe we wouldn't really see right away or early in the game ⁓ if if McDermott was running the show. So that's a positive sign. James Cook looks like he's never had an off season. He just rolled into that number one rushing ⁓ yards right into the new season. He looks Dynamite. Dynamite. And the offensive line without Kromer there, there was a little talk about that, but it but it looks like from everything that we're seeing here that this offensive line is going to be dynamite as well. Houston was a great game. DJ Moore's coming out party. I mean, as advertised ⁓ in Houston. ⁓ you know, that catch on the sideline, not too many wide receivers are gonna make that catch, not too many quarterbacks are gonna make that throw. So DJ Moore is definitely what we were expecting from him, and that could be a huge advantage to to the Bills going into this. I thought the defense for the first game, obviously, I was expecting like, you know, a bl or a ⁓ a blowout and and the defense stops them, and you know, that was me being a little You know, over dramatic there. I gotta give him the first game, right? Didn't play well. Major issues, I think, in the back end. I love Damar Hamlin. ⁓ great story, all that stuff. I just not sure what the Bills are doing there. You know, I know Jim Leonard's defense requires like an extra safety there, but there's gotta be a different solution than Damar Hamlin. I just I do not know why he's still ⁓ on the team or what he's still doing on defense, I guess is the better word. I mean, if he's a special teams guy and there's a spot for him and he can play backup if something goes awry in the safety center, that's fine. But putting him on the field on third down, you know, crucial downs, especially in that Houston game, you know, I I just don't I don't get it. I I don't know what's going on there. I don't know if there's another solution there. So help me out. If it t tell me what you guys think. I mean, is Damar Hamlin the only solution for that? kind of nickel safety spot there that Jim Leonards had. But that was one thing I noticed you know, on the defense, especially in the Houston game, cornerback positions very concerning. Very concerning. And I I should mention to say that Benford is concerning early here. Not ready to pull the fire alarm, but early. The cornerback position, the secondary has been killing us the last couple of years. And I don't think it's really changed. In fact, it might have Taken a dip down by losing Taryn Johnson. ⁓ so that is going to be interesting to see as we go forward in the season, especially against the Chargers. The plus side of the cornerback position, though, is Maxwell Harrison. Haven't seen too much of him. And that's a good thing if you're a cornerback, because that means they're either they're not throwing you the ball, right? So they're not throwing your side. The concerning part is Benford. They're throwing Benford's way, and Benford has not looked good early. So very interesting to see. Chubb and Russo studs. The defensive line, studs. That front seven is as advertised as we thought it would be. ⁓ they are going to bring a lot of pressure. They're going to ⁓ be a menace in some games. And this I believe after week two, these for last two games, this is kind of the defensive structure that the Bills were wanting when they tried the experiment with ⁓ Von Miller and Bosa. So really happy to see that. The ⁓ you know, it just really came down to Josh Allen being Josh Allen to win that game because the defense did not hold up and ⁓ Josh's piss missile ⁓ right to Palmer to win that game. Just incredible. Josh is just an incredible human. We are watching, witnessing, honestly, not just a quarterback, but one of the greatest football players of all time. All time. And I know I'm going to get some heat from that, but if if you are a fan of another team and you really sit back and look at Josh Allen and all the things that he can do, it's incredible. It's incredible. So Houston's in the book. Detroit Lions next up there, Thursday night short week. Man, High Mark Stadium looks amazing. Amazing. ⁓ really cool goosebumps kind of atmosphere. Really great. Bills came off firing offense once again, lighting it up. ⁓ but again, the the the story of the these past two weeks is the defense. The defense has not held up. We are not going to be able to win games if we're giving up thirty plus points. I don't care what team you are. You can be the Tennessee Titans. If they're going to drop 30 on you, even though we have Josh Allen, that's going to be a tough battle there. So again, the defense, although they stepped it up in the beginning of the game against Detroit, you get towards the back end of the game. I know the score was closer than what people are the score was much farther than what people think. But overall, the Bills came off firing and you really got to bury them. Gotta bury the any team when you've got that offense human. Now, we did see DJ ⁓ DJ Moore get hurt. ⁓ all indications is that he's gonna be day to day, and and there is a good possibility he'll play against the Chargers this Sunday. But I gotta give praise to Keon Coleman. He had he was my guy in the offseason that I had mentioned that Skylar Bell would jump over Keon Coleman. Once again, I'm wrong on that. And I gotta give Keon Coleman a lot of props. When he came in that game for DJ Moore against Detroit, that offense kept humming. And that was a concern of Keon. Can Keon produce? Can Keon be there for Josh Allen when it needs it? And he has proven that against Detroit. Now, let's see going forward what Keon Coleman is, especially if DJ Moore can't go on Sunday against the Chargers. Then that would be a real test. But it is encouraging to see. Keon Coleman be able to produce the way that Brandon Bean and really Sean McDermott had drafted him for. So I'm encouraged to see that. Am I jumping on the Keon Coleman ⁓ bandwagon here? Not yet. Do I still think Skylar Moore is an upgrade? I do, but at this point, let's see what Keon Coleman can do for the rest of the year, or at least until DJ Moore gets healthy. And one last thing before we wrap up the Houston Detroit game. ⁓ I saw this on the NFL, you know, somebody had tweeted this. ⁓ and I just mentioned it er earlier here. ⁓ if you s if you take off your Chiefs hat, you take off all these other hats, Pat's hats and all that, and you really just focus in on Josh Allen, forget about the Bills, just Josh Allen himself. I mean, we are witnessing something that is incredible, ⁓ especially for a quarterback. It's a gener obviously Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are a generational quarterback. I mean, there's no no doubting both of those guys. But this honestly could be one of the greatest football players to ever play the game. And the reason being is the amount of stats that Josh Allen has either climbed up the ranks or has beaten single-handedly himself. One of the things that I saw, which is amazing, is currently Josh is 18. He's 18th ranked out of NFL history when they started this. Okay. He's he's 18th in rushing TDs. Now, if you go and look at rushing TDs, all-time rushing TDs, you'll see Cam Newton on there at 75. Josh Allen, I think he's like 80 something. He's 18. And other than Cam Newton, as far as I could see, I didn't see any other quarterback. At least worthy of the top 30. So Josh Allen is right now 18 in rushing TDs year 10. Last year, I think he had 14 rushing TDs. I think that's what he had. 14 rushing TDs. Okay. So if he were to get 14 rushing TDs again, again, this is rushing TDs. So that means the list is compised of all basically all running backs except for Cam Newton and Josh Allen at this point. Okay. So Josh Allen is 18th in rushing TDs. If he gets 14 again this year, that would put him at roughly 92 rushing TDs on the NFL all time rushing T D list. Check this out. He would only need eight more rushing TDs to surpass Barry Sanders to get to one hundred tutties. Okay. Then he would only need seven. That's right, seven more rushing TDs to surpass Jim Brown as the seventh NFL history. He will surpass Jim Brown and be ranked the seventh in NFL history of rushing TDs. Just think about that. A quarterback is More than likely, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't. He is currently 18th in rushing TDs, and he just needs he only needs eight more. So if he were to get 14 this season, he would only need eight more rushing seasons next year to pass Barry Sanders. And then the following year, he would only need seven to pass Jim Brown and become the seventh all-time rushing TD. As We have never seen a quarterback as dynamic as Josh Allen is. Never. What makes him one of the greatest of all time is the ability for him to be able to do all things except play defense and catch balls, right? But this man is about to become the seventh overall rushing T D athlete. Not quarterback, rushing TD athlete and per and surpassed the great Jim Brown in about two seasons. That's incredible. We've never seen that. Unbelievable. ⁓ one of the one of the greatest NFL players of all time. And we did a Mount Rushmore ⁓ a few months ago in the offseason. And ⁓ I had mentioned that Bruce Smith was number one in Mount Rushmore, but Josh Allen for sure will be taking over Jim Kelly's spot and arguably any other spot other than Bruce Smith. Just an incredible athlete. All right. Enough sucking up to Josh Allen. I know, you know, people are going to be commenting, but a true NFL fan of any other team would agree with me that this is something that we've never seen. And if you can't get past your team and realize that, then, you know, you're not really an NFL fan. Because I I sit here every Time we do this podcast, I'll do it when we meet with Jesse. You know, Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of my generation prior to Josh Allen. So until Jos ⁓ when before Josh Allen got into the NFL, Tom Brady was the greatest. And he may still be with the with the rings that he has. But Josh Allen is the best overall athlete in the NFL, period. All right. Let's get into some mafia mail. I know it's off ⁓ Last week wasn't able to get it. My inbox while I was on vacation was blowing up, so I'm looking forward to getting into this week's Mafia Mail. The family spoke. All right, this one comes from Mike in Rochester, New York. All right, so we got a local one here. Owen, the Bills are 2 0. The offense is putting up plenty of points, but the defense is also giving up 31 points in both games. Going into the Chargers game, what worries you more? The defense continuing to give up long drives or the Bills becoming too dependent on Josh Allen and the offense having to score 30 points each week. And do you think this week we'll finally see? Buffalo put together a complete game on both sides of the ball. Great question, Mike. Thanks for listening. And Rochester. And I'll we'll dive into this a little bit with Taylor in the other sideline. But ⁓ yeah, I mean, it like I mentioned earlier, it's not a it's not a fire alarm concern here, but if if the defense was to get back on track, this would be the game to do it. I just the Chargers are reeling right now, they're 0-2. They really don't look like, you know, they don't really look like they know what they're doing in the sense of like their identity and those type of things. Like I am more worried about the defense. ⁓ you know, can the Chargers put up points? Justin Herbert's a good quarterback. If they if they're if they get it figured out before Sunday, they, you know, Herbert can definitely put up twenty, thirty points. So yeah, concerning absolutely. I think this is one game that the defense can probably settle in and figure out what their identity is going forward. And look, your question about Josh Allen have to rely on the offense. We've been doing that for the last nine years and we've been talking about this offseason. And that's why we're all excited about having ⁓ Jim Leonard's defense, a new defense, not Sean McDermott. So no, I d I don't think that we can survive on Josh Allen alone. And so I do think that the defense has to come around. And I do think that the Bills are capable of putting thirty plus on any team, even Kansas City. ⁓ it's just can the defense hold Other teams to under 30. And that's really the big question there. So I am hoping that the Bills, I believe the Bills will put a complete game against the Chargers, but certainly ⁓ this is a this is a tough game ⁓ f ⁓ for the Bills for a team that's reeling 0-2. And ⁓ and hopefully the defense can can get this straightened out against that team. So appreciate it, Mike from Rochester. Thanks so much for reaching out. If you want to get into the ⁓ Into Mafia Mail, you can reach me out at Bills Mafia CTO at gmail.com. And until next time, thanks a lot, Mike. That's a wrap on Mafia Mail. The family's Alright Mafia, it's time for the other sideline where we bring in fans from the teams the Bills are facing this week. We get their perspective, their passion, and maybe even a little trash talk. So buckle up because it's not just Bill's Mafia in the house, it's game week and the spotlights on both sidelines. Let's go, Bills. All right, guys. Welcome to the other sideline. And I got a special guest hailing from the West Coast. I'm I can confirm that just based on the times that we were communicating on when to go here. And this is Taylor ⁓ from the electric. I'm gonna say this wrong throughout the entire podcast here, but electric edge podcast. Is that right? That's correct. All right, welcome to the other sideline, Taylor. We're excited to have you here. Yeah, I'm excited to talk to a Bills fan and get your perspective as well because it has not been a good two weeks to be a Chargers fan, that's for sure. Yeah, we're gonna get into that because ⁓ I know Bill's mafia is interesting to hear that. And and as I mentioned earlier in the podcast, I think this is a dangerous matchup, but we'll get into it. But I really wanna start off first with you, Taylor. Like so You know, I don't I don't know how many years ago the Bills were gonna get sold and or they they did get sold and there was the talk of the Bills moving out of Buffalo and possibly going to Toronto and some other places. So I I kinda wanna I'm I'm I'm assuming you've been a Chargers fan all your life, and it may be a little bit different being that it's all in the same state, but what was kind of like the mindset from like, you know, San Diego Chargers to the LA Chargers? Yeah, so I actually, ironically enough, I grew up on the East Coast. So I grew up in New Jersey. ⁓ and I've been a Chargers fan for about twenty years. ⁓ so I I originally grew up, you know, LT. I saw the power blue LT jersey and I'm like, I want to roof for the Chargers. So ⁓ you know, I wasn't invested where like inside of San Diego when they did move from San Diego to LA, but there's still a part of the fan base that just won't acknowledge them. They don't want to be fans of the Chargers anymore, moving from San Diego to LA. ⁓ but there's been a lot of talk this week, especially after the Raiders game on Sunday, where you know, I was there and it was probably eighty percent Raiders fans and you know, the the talks are coming back out. Well, the Chargers sell the team, get out of LA, go back to San Diego. but I know that there's a good portion of the fan base that just won't roof them anywhere because unfortunately they left San Diego and there's a lot of hatred in in some parts of the fan base for the Spanos family for for leaving San Diego. But you know, a lot of the Chargers fans that I interact with and I talk with, ⁓ they're rooting for the Chargers. Like no matter where the Chargers go, they're gonna root for the Chargers. But, you know, unfortunately, and I think that's with any team too. ⁓ I'm sure there's Raiders fans that because they left Oakland, they don't want to root for the Raiders anymore. So I think it just depends, you know, how you feel about a team if if they decide to go elsewhere. But yeah. Yeah, I I the Chargers are gonna be in LA for this foreseeable future. ⁓ I don't see them going anywhere anytime soon. ⁓ especially since they just built the bolt, which is an Elsa Gunnos is about ten minutes outside of SoFi. Beautiful facility. I think they spent like quarter billion dollars on it. So the ⁓ the charters are gonna have their roots in LA for for quite a long time. Yeah, it's a it's always interesting and you know, I always it's it's always something that was always a in the Bill's mafia mindset of like, you know, can can we be Toronto? And and obviously by my podcast, ⁓ I you know, I'm in the Carolinas, but ⁓ you know, the Toronto Bills or something like that. So I wanted to wanted to just kinda was curious to see what that is, but it probably was a lot easier for you. Yeah, yeah. Not like being in San Diego. Yeah, I'm like, all right, they're moving to LA. Okay. I'm I'm still gonna root for the Chargers. If they move to Oklahoma City, I'd be an Oklahoma City Charters fan. So you know, that that piece to me doesn't doesn't matter. And you know, when I was growing up I was a New Jersey Nets fan. New Jersey Nets moved to Brooklyn and just it didn't matter to me that they moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn. I was still gonna root for them regardless. So ⁓ that that's that's just kinda how I feel about any of my sports teams if if they decide to pick up and move. Yeah, I kind of feel that way too. So ⁓ but I appreciate you sharing that there. So let's ⁓ let's dive into Sunday. So I I mean, like you mentioned, I know we talked a little bit before we started here. There's a lot of talk about about the Chargers, but Yeah. You know, I I guess I wanna start with Harbaugh here. He's ⁓ and two. I read a stat. He's never been ⁓ and two. He's probably never been ⁓ and two as like, you know, peewee football and and those kind of things. So what's kind of like the pulse of ⁓ you know the Chargers right now being ⁓ and two and and going into this week? Yeah, so I think on that ⁓ and two stat, I think the last time Harbaugh was ⁓ and two was I think in two thousand or two thousand one we was a backup for the Chargers as a quarterback. So It's been a it's been a very long time. ⁓ but there's there's quite there's a bit of panic right now, especially around the fan base. So coming into this season, the the Chargers were a Super Bowl favorite. I mean, I think they had the eighth best odds heading into the year. You know, you look at what the Chargers did last year with so little. Thirtieth rank offensive line, you lost your two bookend tackles for the year. ⁓ Marion Hampton goes down mid year last year, and they just found a way to piece things together last year and get to eleven and six record and make the playoffs, you know. Unfortunately they they lose in the wildcard round. So coming into this year, there is a much higher level of expectation, especially considering they fired Greg Roman, I think, a week after that loss to bu ⁓ to the Patriots. They bring in a guy like Mike McDaniel who during this offseason a lot of it revolved around Mike McDaniel. He was the big name quote unquote free agent for the Chargers, right? Yeah. Because he was gonna bring in the pieces he wanted to to build this offense and, you know, elevate Justin Herbert to the next level and If you a as Charger fans, we watch all these games and we know what Herbert is capable of, especially considering last year with how many times he had to put on a Superman cape and wool this team down the field, you know, you know, avoiding sacks, avoiding pressure to make things happen on offense. So there was a very high expectation heading into the season that that this team was gonna start two and ⁓ They had an easy opening between the Cardinals and the Raiders, and then as a lot of people talked about, the gauntlet starts week three against Buffalo. Now everything has gone off script. The Chargers lose lose both games at home. ⁓ bad losses. Week one, there is it was disjointed in all three phases. The defense looked really bad, the offense bad was bad, and special teams was bad. Week two against the Raiders, the defense looked a little bit better, the run defense was a lot better, but the offense still just doesn't feel like it's gelling. Special teams, Cameron Dicker, who's been lights out for the Chargers, misses a field goal. ⁓ so it's just like everything was everything's been going wrong in the past two weeks, and a lot of it's self inflicted wounds for the Chargers. So there's been a lot of talk ⁓ about Harbaugh this week. You know, is it is he on the hot seat? What happens if this team underperforms? What do they do? I've heard probably every different rumor you can imagine this week ⁓ because of these two losses. Now, do I think that there's panic in the building? No. I mean, I heard Harbaugh's press conference Monday and he had one today, and then Justin Herbert spoke at the podium as well. And and the the the sentiment is like there is a confidence that they're gonna figure this out ⁓ and get things right and you know potentially get a win on Sunday. But I don't think Harbaugh is going anywhere. You know, he signed a five-year deal with the Chargers. I think he makes like sixteen, seventeen million dollars a year. So there's no way that he's getting fired if this all goes bad this year. ⁓ but there definitely is some pressure because there is a ton of expectation heading into this year that the Chargers Should be a Super Bowl contender having your two bookend tackles back. You brought in Mike McDaniel. The defense relatively stayed the same. Obviously, new coordinator, Chris O'Lear when Jesse Minter goes to Baltimore, but a lot of expectations that the Charters just have not lived up to ⁓ to this point. Yeah, that's int it's interesting you say that. I I think Harbaugh is a good coach for sure. I ⁓ you know, from from the outside looking in, I I mean I I don't see any You know, I would be absolutely shocked if if they moved away from him after this year. I'm interested in the Mike McDaniels, only because obviously we've seen him a couple years here in Buffalo. You know, ⁓ when he came out, he was, you know, the hot young, you know, play design caller, those type of things. ⁓ you know, Miami was a tough spot for him with two ⁓ but he gets a guy like Herbert, who I I I put him, you know, you got Patrick and Josh, and then you got, you know, Burrow and Herbert are probably the the next two there. but so he gets his quarterback that he probably, you know, has been wanting. So what's been kind of stalling that offense out, especially with with ⁓ Mike McDaniels there? Yeah, I think it's a couple of things. I mean, if you look at week two against the Raiders, you know, there was several instances where Herbert hits his guy and the wide receiver drops the ball. I mean, you can't You can't fix that. That that is that is a discipline issue and that's just fundamentals of football, right? You know, you have a Marion Hampton who fumbles a ball as the the Chargers were driving, which if they score, that turns the tide in that game and it was late I think it was late third quarter or early fourth quarter on Sunday. You know, and maybe the Chargers get a win and then and then they're one and one. ⁓ but I think that this is such a different offense than one Herbert has played in. I mean The big talk of this offseason was McDaniel's coming in. He wants to change Herbert's footwork to get the ball out quicker. But I I think it's a combination of things. I think one, Herbert just doesn't look comfortable right now. I think a lot of it is he wants to get a lot of the other players set, especially with all this motion. Because you go back to the last year, Greg Roman. Like the Chargers don't run motion. ⁓ Yeah. Mike McDaniel's big, big motion guy. Big motion guy. Yeah. So it's definitely it definitely a change for all these players because a lot of these players on the offensive side of the ball were there last year, probably with the exception of the interior of the offensive line. So different offense. ⁓ I I think the other piece too, and I've read this, is that, you know, Mike McDaniel, is he implementing an offense like he had in Miami for weapons like ⁓ Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle? And and the Chargers don't have those weapons. But I will caveat and say that in the initial press conference that Mike McDaniel had when he came to the Chargers, He said that he was going to work with the players that the Chargers did have. So I don't I don't buy that as an excuse as to why this isn't gelling right now. I I just think that they didn't get enough reps in the preseason. ⁓ you know, the the workouts in in OTAs and training camp was a much lighter pace than the past couple years under Harbaugh. You know, Harbaugh's known as ⁓ known at his as a tough coach, you know, w hard work there in training camp OTAs. And that really wasn't the case this year because I think they're trying to hedge against injuries. You know, having Rashawn Slater go down last year in training camp, I think kind of open eyes, like, hey, we need to take a different approach to get these guys to week one. So a much different approach this offseason and and like I said, and the OTAs in training camp as to how hard these guys practice. But once again, I I don't I don't think that's a a major excuse, but I think it's a factor. And then, you know, in the preseason, ⁓ in three games, the starting offense against the forty niners had three snaps. And then against the Rams, they had two series. I just don't think it was enough game reps either in the preseason to get to week one where if maybe if they did have those reps, you see a better product on the field with the offense against the Cardinals. And like I said, you get a win against the Cardinals, there's some momentum there going into week two. You're fixing some things, but it just seems like I don't know if it's a discipline problem, but it just feels so disjoint on the offense that, you know, the level play of Herbert is not what anyone has seen in his entire career. So I don't think it's on him. I just think it's this offense just isn't gelling yet. And I I think it's just because it's a very complicated offense to run considering what they had the past two years with Greg Roman. Yeah, I and and I I like I like Herbert a lot. And I I feel like, you know, outside looking in, I feel like he's kind of like the Sam Darnold. I he's better than Sam Darnold when I mean that all due respect. But, you know, you get Sam Darnold, he goes to a couple different stops and then he gets into a system out there in Seattle and, you know, and and then we know what happens after there. So I've always felt that ⁓ Herbert is is you know is he in the right system and you know the Greg Roman system who we're familiar with obviously ⁓ and then you know and then getting into the Mike McDaniels but Harbaugh's a big run guy too so ⁓ you know and I know you know Mike McDaniels although he did do the run is there any like leading up to especially Buffalo here especially after going ⁓ and two is there any talk about like Hey, let's get back to ⁓ or let's bring in a little bit of the old school run that Harbaugh's always been wanting to do. Yeah, I I that's actually been a storyline for the past three years under Harbaugh. I mean, the run game hasn't been up to the level that I think most Charger fans have expected to be, considering Harbaugh is a a run run first guy, especially with like, you know, the Greg Roman scheme, you know, power runs. And that just hasn't been the case. Like I said, if you go back to last year in twenty twenty five, it was literally every other game where Justin Herbert was the lead back. ⁓ i it some games you had the running backs, whether it's Kwani Baidal, Marion Hampton when he was still healthy, you know, being the lead back, and then there'd be other games where Justin Herbert was just taking over the game. I think Justin Herbert had the most rushing yards in his career in twenty twenty five. Okay. Yeah. Now we saw a little bit about of the run game kind of work out against the Raiders, right? Week one. against the Cardinals, I think between Marion Hampton and Keaton Mitchell, they had fifty two rush yards between those two backs. Last week, Hampton has ninety seven rush yards and a touchdown. So I know that they want to use the run and I think it's important to get this offense clicking. Like the run game has to be important because Herbert cannot be throwing the ball being Superman, trying to get this offense in sync and and in a rhythm to to score points. I just don't think it's gonna happen this year because of You know, one, there's there's injuries on the offensive line. You know, Tyler Biotus goes down in in training camp. You have a rookie at center. You're having left guard issues right now. You're starting left guard, Kyoda Oshika's hurt. So, ⁓ Trevor Penning's supposed to start in that spot. Cole Strange, who they brought from Miami, has has played poorly so far. So yeah, I the run game has to get going and has to stay going. It it can't be the same deal like we've seen the past couple of seasons, especially last year, where Justin Herbert is the lead back in the backfield because the run game just Can't get going and he's running to save his life because plays are just breaking down. So yeah, I I I agree with that. And I'm hoping that as this offense starts to gel, that run game is prevalent every single game going forward. Yeah, that's been ⁓ obviously the common theme here, you know, in Buffalo too. I mean, Josh Allen is, you know, I mean, I I get comments on on YouTube from other fans, you know, that I'm a homer, but I I think any NFL fan, if they take off their you know, their team that they support and they look at Josh Allen, I mean he's just a beast. Yeah. And but for years, l literally, you know, until like last year when James Cook came out, I mean, kinda to your point, it it sounds like that they're really leaning a little bit heavier on Herbert to kind of really get things going instead of that running game. And I think last year for Buffalo, we saw that that kind of transition. So that ⁓ that that makes a lot of sense. The defensive side of the ball, tell tell ⁓ Bills Moffi a little bit about the defense side of the ball. What what Bills should be looking at ⁓ you know, going into Sunday. Yeah, well, it hasn't been the best the past two weeks, that's for sure. Considering what Charger fans have been used to the past couple years with Jesse Minter calling the plays on defense. it's showing that Jesse Minter is definitely a loss this team heading to Baltimore, but everyone knew that he was gonna jump ship after the season and go find a head coaching job because he's one of the hottest coordinators out there to get a job last year. But the Chargers brought in this offseason a disciple of Jesse Minter and Chris O'Leary. Prior to this season, Chris O'Lear was defensive coordinator at Western Michigan. ⁓ and Western Michigan in twenty twenty five had a top twenty defense ⁓ in the NCAA. Twenty twenty four, Chris O'Lear was a safeties coach for the Chargers. So he knew a lot of those players in the building. But, you know, watching this defense the past two weeks, week one was really a struggle to watch. It just seemed like c ⁓ coverage is very soft. ⁓ Jacoby Brissett was taking what the Chargers were giving him. Trey McBride had a great game. ⁓ I think The Cardinals ran for either close to or at 100 yards rushing on the ground week one. So just nothing was clicking on the defensive side of the ball. Week two, however, I think the defense played better. They limited Ashton Genty in that backfield, I think, to about 50 yards rushing on the ground for the Raiders. So that part cleaned up, but ⁓ the secondary was Swiss cheese almost. There was a lot of miscommunication. ⁓ you know, they had the Raiders had a player. called off the practice squad, I think Saturday and he scored two touchdowns against the Chargers on Sunday. Just a lot of miscommunication that secondary. So, you know, if let's say the Chargers can contain Josh Allen, you know, from his legs, you know, they may have a a day up in the air, especially with how the sea second secondary has played so far. But I think a big piece of that is just communication issues. Like for instance, ⁓ last week they had a a rookie safe safety in in the in in the secondary in Genesis Smith and I just think there was a breakdown in communication with Derwin James up in the line. So I think that's one area definitely to watch heading into Sundays if the secondary improves and they can limit the pass game. But you know, Josh Allen is just he's a Swiss Army knife. He can do it all. So the Chargers are gonna have their hands full stopping him alone, ⁓ heading into Sunday. Yeah. So just by you kind of explaining both sides of ball, like it really does seem that you know, not only, you know, am I paying attention to the Chargers the last two two games, but really national media, I don't have to tell you this, but it really does kind of feel like maybe even on both sides of the ball, it's just you're Chargers aren't really sure who they are, where they are, what they're going, and that could be dangerous, ⁓ in in you know, in the AFC, certainly. W is that fair to say, like at this point, O and two? Yeah, I mean, I definitely would agree that it's felt disjointed in all three phases offense, defense, and special teams. I think I think the Chargers starting spot ⁓ for offense is like at the 20 yard line. Like it's been bad. Like special teams has not been good either. And that's a continuation from the issues special teams had last year. But I I do think that this team is too talented. There's too many veteran voices on both sides of the ball. I mean, you think about the coaching staff, whether it's Harbaugh, Mike McDaniel, you some of these coordinators that have been around for a couple of years, there's just too much talent on both the roster side of things and the coaching side of things where they don't get this thing fixed. So, and like I said, the the past two weeks, a lot of the issues have been self-inflicted wounds. The Charters had six fumbles on Sunday. Six fumbles on Sunday. No, it that's that's not I mean Herbert had two picks. ⁓ Joe Alt had three false start penalties and a holding call in the end zone, which was a safety, like just uncharacteristic things that we haven't seen in the past two seasons under Harbaugh. And and Harbaugh came in as a very disciplined coach. You know, we're not going to make commit the penalties. We're not going to make the stupid mistakes. And just all of that has unraveled the past two weeks for the Chargers. And you know, you take, you know, some of those turnovers that that that maybe they don't happen on Sunday. Maybe that's a win against the Raiders. ⁓ so I really think if those things get cleaned up, you're going to see a better product on the field, hopefully on both sides of the ball, and it's a lot closer game than the seven point spread that all these sports books are given right now. Yeah, no, and and like I mentioned earlier and like I mentioned earlier in in the pod there, ⁓ you know, this is an O and two team. you know, ⁓ like I'm not a big ⁓ like trap game guy. I I just feel like that's something like I mean it's pro athlete. I mean if y you know, especially The Bills, I mean should be up for every game, but this is a dangerous game for me. I think. And so, you know, this is gonna be one where I I think that if the charters come out hot on this, ⁓ you know, especially at home in you know, in Buffalo, that could really cause some issues for the Bills. What is ⁓ like what's one area that you that you can like right now kind of lean on for the Chargers, either offense or defense, that you know, keep you in the game or you feel pretty confident. Not maybe not pretty confident, but ⁓ confident enough going into high mark stadium where you where you're like, hey, you know, this is this is the area. This is this is the guy that, you know, I feel pretty confident's gonna be able to pull it out or or have a chance to to beat Buffalo. Yeah, you know, I I don't put it on one guy, but I do think if the Chargers can exploit part of the the Bills defense, especially the secondary. I mean, I I was looking that you know two weeks in a row, you get thirty one points to both the Texans, which that was surprisingly considering I'm not very high on CJ Stroud. ⁓ and then also the Lions too. Like the ch if the Chargers can put up some points and figure out this passing game, ⁓ I I think it's going to be a very competitive competitive game on Sunday. ⁓ you know, the like I said, the run defense did improve from ⁓ week one to week two for the Chargers, but I I think it's gonna be Limiting what Josh Allen can do. And that's going to be the big test for this defense. And it and if they can't do it, Josh Allen's going to have another great game. I had him on fantasy. He got me 40 plus points. I'm like, all right, that sounds good. And then I'm watching this game and I'm like, the Chargers play them next week. You know, this this is a serious problem. So I I think if those two two things can break the Chargers' way, like I said, I think it's going to be a much closer game. than the national media is putting out, you know, I saw one prediction for this game that the the Buffalo's gonna win thirty five ten. I don't I don't think that that's gonna be a realistic score. I think it could be close, but it's limiting the self inflicting wounds that have happened the past two weeks and just cleaning some of these things up on both sides of the ball that have been really hindering the Chargers ⁓ in our f you know with that Arizona game and Raiders game. Currently right now, ⁓ Chargers offensive situation can they get into a shootout with the Bills in at at I was going to call it the Ralph which Where I grew up, but yeah. ⁓ but Hi Mark? It that's a great question. I mean, if I'm going solely off of what I've seen the past two weeks, my answer's no. Like they haven't shown me anything. I mean, just the you know, the drops, the bad throws, the fumbles, like that is not going to get you in a shootout by any stretch if you're turning the ball over. But with that being said, Justin Herbert's still the quarterback and I don't care what the national media says about him. They don't watch every single game like most of Char most of Charter fans do and and see what he can do. ⁓ I I think if they can fix, like I said, some of these self inflicted wounds that have happened the past two weeks, maybe simplify things a little bit too, maybe not have so much motion going on and get guys in the spots they feel a little more comfortable. I I don't see why not that Chargers can't put up, you know, twenty four to thirty points. Like there's no reason why they can't do it. ⁓ they have the weapons to do it, especially if the run game gets going as well. But, you know, the tape right now doesn't convince me of that until I actually see it happen, hopefully against Buffalo. Yeah. Yeah. And and you had mentioned it earlier about the ⁓ secondary. That's one thing that I've been talking about you know, really since Houston. Secondary is a problem. ⁓ you know, we expected Jim Leonard's defense to be much better. better early and I don't know if that's fair. ⁓ you know, especially when you're getting a defensive coordinator brand new, but the secondary is very concerning. And that's why I'm saying like this is an O two team, you know, coming in, you know, Justin who can sling it around the around the field there. So that's you know, the the certainly the secondary is my is my concern. ⁓ Chargers go O and three, major changes. I mean they're not gonna fire anyone. They don't want to No, but I mean what w I what is the I mean, ⁓ and three that's a big hole. Yeah ⁓ to to an extent early off. ⁓ but any any like Mike McDaniels, give him a couple more or Yeah, I mean I don't think they're gonna, you know, sh get rid of Mike McDaniel. ⁓ especially, you know, some of the comments that were made in you know, prior to training camp is like This is an offense that needs two years to get up to full speed. It's like drinking from a fire hose year one. So I I don't think that they're going to give up on that. Plus, I don't think, you know, Jim Harbaugh in this front office wants to put Justin Herbert through another playbook. I mean, he's gone through so many coordinators in his career, started with, you know, Shane Steichen, his rookie year, one rookie of the year. ⁓ he had ⁓ Joe Lombardi for two years, then he had Kellen Moore, then Greg Roman, and now he's on to Mike McDaniel. So I I don't think the Chargers want to do that. and put him through another offensive coordinator. You know, I I I just think that the leadership and the players they have in the room, they just they have to just figure it out. Like there's no reason why they can't compete. You know, there obviously every team has weaknesses and one of the big weaknesses of this team is still the interior offensive line. But I don't see why that Mike McDaniel, with how smart he is, ⁓ can't find ways to get receivers open quick and get the ball out quick and get things going and and get into a rhythm in this offense. But I don't see any major coaching changes or an anything like that unless he gets really bad. Unless the Charger like O and nine, ⁓ and ten, maybe. But you know, and and to be fair too, like think about the Chargers opponents weeks three through ten. Buffalo on Sunday, then they go to Seattle, then they got two division games in Denver and Kansas City, then they play the Rams, then it's the Texans, then it's the Ravens, then it's the Jets, and then the Patriots. So, you know, it it's gonna be hard to get wins regardless of, you know. what this team looks like because of of how hard the opponents are. You a big ⁓ you kind of the last thing for me. You a big ⁓ fly w fly east, fly west, ⁓ you know, ten o'clock start, you know, are you like a big ⁓ like hey, this advantage 'cause ⁓ you know, the Chargers are playing at ten in the morning. Are you are you big on that? So I think there is something to it. And I'll go back to last season. So the Chargers start three and ⁓ and We're like, ⁓ my God, it can this team be stopped, right? They gotta go play the Giants at MetLife. Okay. And they fly to MetLife and they lay an egg. It was it was rough. It was rough to watch. ⁓ and then their other East Coast game, well, they had a couple. So they they went down to Miami, they did win that game, but that was a close game too. They should have blown Miami out and they didn't. And then they go to Jacksonville and they get blown out of the water in Jacksonville. I think they put up three points. ⁓ you know, so bad Trey Lance comes in to to clean up time. So I do think there is something to that. Okay. ⁓ but to be fair, like you play in the NFL. You know, you guys leave early enough where you can kinda get situated and get into a rhythm for that ten AM start. And if this team wants to make the playoffs, it's gonna have to start with week three against Buffalo. Like you need to find a win somewhere because the schedule doesn't get any easier. Yeah. ⁓ prediction, you wanna do are you do you want to throw a prediction out there? And and it's okay because ⁓ every ⁓ the other sideline, I'm I'm trying to think. Like last year I had a bunch of ⁓ podcast and fans that were on the other sideline. I don't think anyone ever maybe the Patriot I think the Patriots, Jesse from Pat's Nation, who we'll have on in the other sideline this year. I think he did the first week he we played the pets, he did pick against against New England, but everyone else picked. Their own team? Do you do you want to throw a prediction out? You know, the realist in me wants to pick Buffalo to win just because of of what I've seen the past two weeks. Like, prove me wrong at this point. ⁓ would I love to see the Chargers get a win on Sunday? ⁓ man, I think it would it would reignite reignite the fan base right now. ⁓ but I I I will say that I don't want to give up prediction because I don't want to jinx my team either way. I'm very superstitious about that. ⁓ I do think though that this is a lot closer game than most people are predicting it to be. I don't think it's gonna be a seven point spread. ⁓ I just think this team is gonna be really motivated to make a statement on Sunday and we'll see if that actually proves true ⁓ with what they do with with with what they do on the field. Yeah, it's gonna be fun Sunday, one o'clock, high mark stadium. I almost called it the Ralph again. ⁓ but ⁓ it would always it'll always be the Ralph to me. But ⁓ yeah, it's first one o'clock game for the Mafia, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. ⁓ Taylor, thanks so much for coming in. You can check Taylor out. Let me just pull this up here. Her website is electric edge podcast dot com. Info at electric edge podcast dot com. Her Instagram is at electric edge pod. TikTok at Electric Edge Pod. And the X is Electric Edge Edge Pod. I'm thinking saying it right right there. That's all the same. All yeah, it's all it's all the same. So any Charger fans out there, check her out. Again, Taylor, I really do appreciate you coming in to the other sideline. Maybe we'll be ⁓ doing another one here, ⁓ come playoff time. And ⁓ good luck on Sunday. That that'd be nice. Wish wishful thinking at this point for Charger fans. Sure. Let's just get that one in there. So all right. Well, I appreciate it, Taylor. Yeah, absolutely. Wanna thank Taylor again for coming in to the other sideline. You can check her out on Instagram at electric edgepod. ⁓ TikTok is Electric Edge Pod and X is elect at Electric Edge Pod. You can also catch her her website as electriced podcast dot com is where you can see all of her stuff there. Any Charger fans out there, make sure you reach out to her and follow and like her her ⁓ subscribe to her YouTube channel and follow her on all the platforms you have there. So Taylor, I appreciate you coming on the show. And as always, you can reach me at BillsMafiaCTO at gmail.com. Make sure you like, subscribe, and leave those comments. I love those comments. And ⁓ if you want to get into Mafia Mail as well, hit me up at BillsMafiaCTO at gmail.com. 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!