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Ep. 24 - The Tale of Duck Robbins
64 Plays1 year ago
The boys wax poetic about the glorious victory over the Dolphins in week 18 that cemented the Bills 4th consecutive AFC East title and their playoff berth. They also discuss the matchup against the Steelers coming this weekend. Oh yeah, they talked Sabres, too.
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Transcript
Introduction and Social Media Promos
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything, bills and savings.
00:00:23
Speaker
what's going on everybody you're listening to the let's go buffalo podcast your favorite podcast for all things bills and savers with the pals Nigel Tom and Jake episode 24 coming at you
00:00:40
Speaker
quick reminder make sure you follow our social medias you can find us on instagram and x or twitter or whatever you want to call it at let's go buff pod that is buff with two f's let's say hello to the fellows tom how we doing pal
00:00:58
Speaker
Boys, we're like in the fourth dimension now. Say hello to the cameras, everybody smile, everybody wave. You can also find us now, freshly minted, the Let's Go Buff Pod YouTube channel. Is that the correct spelling of that night? Is that correct? Is that what we did? Let's Go Buff Pod, just like our social media? It's the full thing. It's Let's Go Buffalo podcast.
00:01:19
Speaker
OK, let's go Buffalo podcast. Come find us and come hang with us experimenting. And we're just kind
Playoff Football Excitement and Birthday Shoutout
00:01:25
Speaker
of messing around. But yeah, this is cool. I'm good, guys. I am plugging away, having a nice little week. And I'm excited to chat. So I'm excited that we have another week of actual playoff football to talk about. So this is not taken for granted. We are here. This is awesome.
00:01:41
Speaker
Varpito, what's shaking, you big beautiful man? Yeah, you can see me in all my glory or lack thereof now. I'm great, man. It's playoff football season. I'm excited for it. I'm excited to see you guys on camera. And a quick shout out to Nigel, because we had a birthday in the pod last week. So happy birthday, Nigel. Oh, hey. Thanks, Bruce. Our elder statesman here. That's right, dude. 31. Can you believe it?
00:02:07
Speaker
We're going to catch up an episode, uh, iterations to, to our real quick here. Yeah. Before too long, we'll be there. Um, I already, I already fucked up. So the, our YouTube channel name is let's go Buffalo podcast, but the handle, the at like is at let's go buff pod with two apps.
00:02:28
Speaker
Oh, there we go. Hey, folks, you know what? You're helping us figure this out as we go. There'll be some growing pains. The YouTube thing might not even be something that goes great. We'll find out. But, you know, trial, trial by error as we learn to do these things and try to grow what we're doing here because we think we're really freaking good. So we feel like we need to share.
00:02:50
Speaker
I think that goes on all of our tombstones. Trial by Aaron. Figuring it out. All 31 years so far, dude. Just a whole lot of trial by Aaron. That's probably how I'm going to die, too. It's both my motto and cause of death.
00:03:06
Speaker
Yeah, right. That's why you know what?
Casual Conversations and Beverage Showcase
00:03:11
Speaker
Really? We're just going for expediency here, you know? Yeah, that's expediency. All right, fellows. Well, shame on me, dude. I go right to work and then teach a lesson in my studio. And here I am. I didn't go home. I'm fearless. But I know you two guys, you both look parched and I know you guys have beers. So if you could please snap us in here, boys, I'll count you down. Ready? Three, two,
00:03:40
Speaker
Nice. Torpedo, let's start with you, buddy. What are you drinking for? Yeah, sure. I can show the camera now. I'm drinking from Fanatic, sorry, reinvention brewing, the Super Fanatic. Bill's beer. It's a Cremail. It's just south of Rochester. Go, Bills. Go reinvention brewing. Nice, dude. What kind of beer is it? I like it. You said it's a what? Cremail? Cremail, yeah.
00:04:01
Speaker
You know, I've I don't think I've actually ever had a cream ale, which is crazy because the Jenny cream is like a big deal. It is. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what I'm thinking here. So many. What are you drinking? I have a little zero gravity beer, a little wolf. It's a pale ale. It's one of my favorites. It's got a sweet little cover, but it's very tasty. Yeah. Another Vermont beer. And I got to stock up on the Rochester Western New York Buffalo beers next time I'm in town. I'll have to do it.
00:04:29
Speaker
Yeah, bro. Be careful. You don't float away drinking that, Tom. Whoo hoo. Could be could be dangerous. All right,
Bills vs Dolphins Game Recap
00:04:36
Speaker
fellas. Well, we had a lovely, lovely, lovely week 18 W over the stupid freaking Miami dolphins.
00:04:48
Speaker
21 to 14 this past weekend and Let's go. Let's go around and take a get a positive out of this boys. Anybody anybody dying to go first? Oh I am I am I got a dunk. Are you guys ready? Remember how I was I was the crazy one. Oh
00:05:04
Speaker
to say Josh Allen, 300 for three. Yeah, I do. Well, he was pretty darn close. He was pretty darn close. The guy played out of his freaking mind. He he put us all the entirety of Bill's Mafia into cardiac arrest for the first half of that game and then put on escape. And yeah, it went to work. So Josh Allen ended up with 30 for 38 passing 359 yards, two touchdowns.
00:05:34
Speaker
two interceptions. So, you know, he ended up having to make a little mess and then clean it up himself. But I think I want to take a little victory lap because nobody was. Everybody was saying that I'm crazy that he's going to go off on this game. And if he had any if he had one of those interceptions in the end zone, go for an actual touchdown, I would have been.
00:05:51
Speaker
Perfectly correct. Yeah, you would have nailed it. Yeah, dude. We it was it was the full Josh Allen experience this week, right? Like the eye and I tell my texted you maybe what? Ten minutes before the pump returned for a touchdown being like fuck this dude. I'm going to bed Like I just I I couldn't I'm so disappointed in myself. I couldn't do it. I was just like oh my god, like we're gonna just shoot ourselves in the foot to the point where
00:06:20
Speaker
We can't come back. And I think, well, we'll get to it a little bit. Tom, credit to you because I did say I was like, I can't get myself there. So that was awesome. I'm going to play directly to you. Thank you. Thank you for taking my little victory lap. Torpedo, you got a positive? You want to share with the class from the game?
00:06:42
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. It's the tight end. Stalton Kincaid for me. He looked incredible that game. He's looked incredible a lot lately. He moves, he catches, he runs. He does it all in my eyes.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's been great. Do you guys agree? Like, what would you think of him playing? Oh, dude, I've got to. Well, I'll jump to it right now that I've got a little bullet point about him. I think this dude and I really try to take my recency bias or my bills bias and recency, I guess, out of this equation easier said than done. But like the tape doesn't lie, dude. The guy is so unbelievably fluid the way he plays and moves and runs.
00:07:27
Speaker
I think this dude is another season or two away from being regarded across the league as a top three tight end. He's just he's just flat out special, dude. He's incredible. And what's so good. It's amazing. And honestly, I think that one of the coolest part about him is that he hasn't had that rookie slump
00:07:47
Speaker
almost every rookie that we've had. And then honestly, every rookie across NFL ends up hitting a wall, right? Just, it goes great. And then the college season is not as long as NFL season. It's not as tough as the NFL schedule. It's not as tough as playing against NFL players. So eventually things catch up to them.
00:08:05
Speaker
And Duncan Caidan really has it. And you've heard it from some of the veterans on the team, Josh Allen, Stefan Diggs. People have come out and said, man, this guy has the look in his eyes and he's putting it together. So if this is his rookie year, sign me up for another 10. So what sets him apart? What makes him the athlete that he is that differs from other tight end players?
00:08:27
Speaker
Go ahead. So I'm going to take Nigel's vocab term. I'm going to take fluid. Right. So he's if you watch him play, he's not herky jerky. He's doesn't get to a spot, turn. And I have to be here. He is just he looks like a like a ballerina out there, you know, or like a like a an ice skater, right? Like an Olympic ice skater. Like he's just very flowing. Everything. Nothing is
00:08:56
Speaker
Not much motion is wasted. The guy just knows where to go, knows where to be. He knows how to catch the ball in motion and not and then continue his motion. So he's it's that's the part that's really amazing to me. And he knows where to be half the time for an rookie comes in. It's just like, where the heck do I line up? Where am I supposed to be? What round am I running? The guy like, I don't know. I don't I have I've not been a super hawk on his tape this year, but I haven't caught him very clearly being out of line anywhere.
00:09:26
Speaker
Yeah, the kid is 6'4", 240, dude. And he moves like he's 6'3", 200, or 6'2", 190, like a wide receiver build. The fluidity, like Tom and I said, his ability to catch and immediately turn around and get up field is huge too, especially on this builds team where our receivers typically are not known for yards after catch.
00:09:54
Speaker
so to have a guy who like is very seamlessly like it's all one motion he catches and immediately is going up the field but like Tom said it doesn't look it doesn't look jagged or like herky-jerky to use Tom's phrase it's just so smooth and then the route running too dude the route running is very is very very seamless he understands how to adapt his routes to the zone coverage that's taking place around him he's
00:10:20
Speaker
It's you gotta be careful throwing around this name dude, but in truth He's Kelsey s dude Kelsey Darren Waller these guys that are just really good with their route running and really good at finding the soft spots in the zone Like he's more athletic than Mark Andrews the tight end in Baltimore. He's I don't know man He's he's gonna be a problem for a long time. I'm so stoked about this kid. I
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, phenomenal. And if there wasn't Sam LaPorta up in Detroit who added this, like, broke as many tight end records as he could, like, Dalton Kincaid would be talked about so much more. Sam LaPorta is phenomenal. And just because Sam LaPorta is phenomenal, it doesn't mean that Dalton Kincaid isn't also phenomenal. It's just their usage. Sam LaPorta was just, like, hooked up by, I don't know,
00:11:09
Speaker
IV straight to Jared Goff's like just own arm. The guy just like they figured it out and just were connected. It was insane. It's also the tendency of the quarterback to write like Jared Goff is not the gunslinger that Josh Allen is like. Right. Jared Goff is going to just be better at taking like checkdowns to a tight end than Josh Allen is ever going to be.
00:11:29
Speaker
So, you know, there's that part to remember, too. But and that's not me trying to take away from San La Porta. San La Porta was outstanding this season. But yeah,
Team Depth and Coaching Praise
00:11:38
Speaker
dude, Dalton is he's going to be special, man.
00:11:42
Speaker
What's your what's your big takeaway? What's your favorite thing from the game, dude? And I guess this is a this is a tip of the cap to Brandon Bean But the the depth on this football team, man. It was stressed this game and It was stressed and it wasn't stressed in a bad way right like you had and I that's another bullet point I've got on our planning dock here and
00:12:04
Speaker
Shout outs to all the guys that had to come in and play very meaningful snaps. Dane Jackson had to come in for Rasool Douglas. Bail Inspector had to come in for Tyrell Dodson. Trent Sherfield had to come in for Gabe Davis. All three of those guys not only came in and did a good job, but made big plays, dude.
00:12:26
Speaker
Dane Jackson punching balls out of guys hands, Baylon Spector tackles for losses, Trent Sherfield. My God, that touchdown catch was jaw dropping, dude. And then you got a guy like Deontay Hardy coming in and making a huge play. So the depth on this football team being stressed and rising to the occasion, it's like I said, dude, you just got to give Brandon Bean his flowers because
00:12:53
Speaker
You don't have that depth without an awesome, awesome, awesome GM. So those are all players that everybody's like, what the heck are they doing here? Right. Even me. I'm like, I remember being very vocal about Trent Sherfield in the last few weeks of like, what the heck is that? Why are we? Why is the guy on the field? What are we doing?
00:13:10
Speaker
And he stepped up, so it's cool to see. Yeah, and shout out Brandon Bean. The guy clearly, it paid off. His chances that he took paid off, and that was really cool. And to kind of dovetail on that, I'm just gonna kind of go onto our roller, onto our next point. Shout out, Sean McDermott. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Brandon Bean set up these players, but Sean McDermott was willing to actually go ahead and use them, like, in really intelligent ways. The guy has been in his bag the last few weeks. He has,
00:13:39
Speaker
Ever since that stupid article, right? He's decided maybe that's the blessing in disguise. Maybe that's the blessing in this this season. Little blemish that we needed to have because Sean McDermott has just been coaching out of his minds. Sean's held the seven of the last eight appointments under 200 yards passing. Seven of the last eight. We've played we've played big high powered offenses. Two of the most high powered offenses being the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins.
00:14:10
Speaker
Yeah, like the guy has been great. Yeah, for sure. But there's a couple more things I want to say about Sean McDermott.
Josh Allen's Performance Analysis
00:14:18
Speaker
But before we get too far away from Josh Halen, I want to talk about a couple of things with him. He was regardless of the turnovers, which they weren't great. Second, you can live with because it's more or less upon. But the fumble was bad.
00:14:35
Speaker
right can't can't do that can't fumble the ball I know Osiris Torrance got pretty worked but Christian Wilkins works everybody so you know I'm not gonna put that too much on Osiris Torrance take the sack for what you will Josh has to hold on to that football so he's not he's not like totally guilt-free in this game
00:14:57
Speaker
You got a hole out of the rock there. And then I also I mean, I'm going to push back a little bit on that. I think that's a Christian Wilkins making an amazing play. That's a that's a pro ball, maybe even all pro defensive tackle coming in and making a play like I get it. Yes, Josh should have dealt two hands on that ball. Just go down. But I also think it was I think it was a good play by a great defender.
00:15:20
Speaker
Yeah. And you can look at it both ways, right? Like, Tom, you always say the other guys get paid, too. So, you know, there's there's that element. But you just, you know, you got a lot of a ball. It's it's too important. I'm still begging for Josh to take what is given to him. Right. Like that second. I think it was the second I.N.T. He had Dalton Kincaid
00:15:40
Speaker
For the first down, it was a rub route, I believe, if I remember right. So on a rub route, one player will be looking to cross. Another wide receiver will be coming to kind of set like a mini pick for the defender. And they kind of just rub them a little bit so that their timing is thrown off and that creates some space for the intended receiver. The call from Joe Brady was great. It worked perfectly.
00:16:05
Speaker
Josh just actively chose to not go to Dalton Kincaid, which I found to be really frustrating and then heaves it up looking to make a play and it's a pick. So still looking for Josh to do a little bit more of taking what's given to him. Um, but you know, like we talked about, it's the Josh Allen experience that we're living with, you know, game to game.
00:16:27
Speaker
eyes for the end zone. He's trying to make that splashy play and he does regularly. He's capable of it. If that goes and gets caught in the end zone, we're not talking about Dalton Kincaid being open. That's why we love him. He's high risk, high reward. I didn't mind that second interception, just taking a shot at the end zone. It's essentially, it was third down. It was a punt anyways, essentially, or a fourth down.
00:16:51
Speaker
Yeah. The only reason I found it frustrating was because you saw the first down. Yeah. Almost right away. Yeah. That's why it was such a bummer. For sure. But we're just rushed. You're you're a big, gigantic giant man. Like, just go get the two yards, you know, like you're, you know. He had another insane rush that reminded me, sorry, the third and 13. I think it was late in the game. Just just like I thought he was going to get tackled with like seven yards to go. And he just barreled through three Miami defenders.
00:17:21
Speaker
Yeah, so I well he barreled through three and one make a make a freakin Business decision What's his name? Yeah, yeah the other guy does get paid but he might not after that one this guy we're on video I'm gonna do the little dance he did this Oh
00:17:46
Speaker
like a turnstile he jumped right out of the way dude I hope someday he hears this I get her go who I recognize your professional football player and I'm a chubby band director but I'll tell you what dude you're a bitch you're absolute bitch that was that was that was the stuff that wimps are made of
00:18:06
Speaker
No. Oh, yeah. In the game, especially the game that they needed to win. They needed to win just as bad as us. And you're not going to go try and tackle this quarterback who's coming at you. I don't know. Yeah. What are you doing on that team? I hope you get ripped apart. That's that guy's on my team, dude. I'm grabbing him by the face mask and I'm going, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah, like, yeah, that's great. You're a wimp. So it was also Josh Allen just making a freaking play and just putting that putting the cape on and going. And, you know, again, why we love the guy.
00:18:37
Speaker
Yep, yep. Um, going back to Sean McDermott real quick, the second half adjustments, dude, like from, from the gods themselves, his second half defensive adjustments, because we, excuse me, we were getting absolutely.
Defensive Adjustments and Key Plays
00:18:53
Speaker
shredded by the run game by Miami like like we talked about in the podcast going into the game that outside zone toss was shredding us now one thing that we didn't I didn't see coming and I should have because it's the way football works the wrinkles that Miami threw in on that toss dude I think Tom I might have been texting you dude I did I just didn't see
00:19:18
Speaker
how we were going to be able to adjust to that. Like there were so many fakes and misdirections, like, excuse me, to a fake one way and then like immediately toss it to Devon H.N. in the opposite direction, which was not what they did against Baltimore. It just went the first way every single time. But oh, my God. And Tua was to Tua's credit, dude, he was selling the shit out of those fakes. Every time they were going on, I was like,
00:19:47
Speaker
I don't know where the ball is going. What? Yeah. And yeah, we're watching it from the from our couch and didn't know where the ball was going. Exactly. With that with that over like that bird's eye view camera. I was I was beside myself, dude. I was like, oh, my God, I don't think we're going to be able to adjust to stop this. And by God, dude, Sean McDermott. And it seemed like I'm sure there was more, but it seemed like the main thing that he did. We were playing to high safety looks, assuming to take away Tyreek Hill.
00:20:16
Speaker
We just, all we did was bring Jordan Poyer down in the box, dude. I'm sure there was more, but man, the second half adjustments to take away that run game. They, I don't think they ran for more than 20 yards. The second half, the second half ready to get this. Well, what's your over onto the number of total yards they had in the second half. And I do know the exact number. Totally yards over under. What's what can you set the over under at something and I'll guess over under. Uh,
00:20:45
Speaker
52 over under I think they were under 52
00:20:52
Speaker
Yep, 45 yards in the entire second half. The number one most productive offense in the entire league. Yeah, dude. Oh, my God. So in a game they needed to have, I think, regardless of injuries, regardless of situation, like they needed to have it. They needed to put it together and they couldn't against. And honestly, we had tons of injuries. We're going to talk about them later. But we had players drop out. We're still Douglas left Tyrell Dodson left.
00:21:19
Speaker
Like Taylor Rapp, I don't think he finished the game. Like it was we had problems, too. And we were playing backup, second line players. And they came in and took care of business, took the ball away. I don't think they even got a first down. I think there was three and out, three and out, three and out. It was they had I think they had three, three and outs to four and outs. Yes, the defense in the second half was flat out fucking crazy. And you know what? So well coached.
00:21:47
Speaker
That's, I'm so glad they're playing well because that's what's going to serve us well come January here. This is the kind of ball we need to be playing. Being able to win on both sides of the ball and not just rely on Josh Allen having to put the cape on is a pretty big deal.
00:22:03
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely now, let me pose a question to you guys If Deontay Hardy doesn't run that pump back for a touchdown What's your confidence in in the bills coming out with a W in this game? Not as high that was a huge turning point
00:22:21
Speaker
I do like straight up, depending on how far we own the playoffs, right? Deontay Hardy might have saved the season with that. And I think as you guys see on that play, it was a $25,000 play for him. He had the same day. I think it was $250,000. Let me do some research. I think it was a quarter of a million dollars for that play for him.
00:22:45
Speaker
Dude, either way, well, not either way, your number is way bigger than my place values matter. But like, dude, I think his incentive was like, if he was averaging over 10 yards of return, go ahead, Tom, what do you got?
00:22:59
Speaker
Deontay Hardy's 96 yard punt, this is from Spotrack on Twitter. Deontay Hardy's 96 yard punt returned for a touchdown, raised his yards per return to 12.4 for the 2023 season, securing him a $250,000 bonus from the Bills. I agree. I think it was nine point, like something beforehand, and then he needed to be over 10 to trigger that bonus. And yeah, boy ho, did he have a nice day.
00:23:24
Speaker
Yeah, but do like and take every penny of that two hundred fifty thousand dude because please do. Truthfully. Yes. You know what? I was probably for one of my beers I buy in the stadium. I think I got them halfway there. Very true. Very true.
00:23:43
Speaker
One thing I did want to point out, so I don't know if you guys ever saw it, the Vic Fangio presser prior to this game, dude, he talked a lot about James Cook, which I have yet to see a defensive court, an opposing defensive coordinator do. And his game plan reflected that, dude. He was very keyed in on James Cook, that defense was very keyed in on James Cook. And he didn't have a great day running the ball, dude.
00:24:09
Speaker
I what what that makes me hopeful for is if teams are going to have to worry about James Cook, in theory, right, it should open up that passing game more. I didn't see it quite as we hoped in this in this game. But like it's one thing to say that you're worried about a player. It's when your actions back up what you're saying. Right. And Vic Fangio as the defensive coordinator for the Dolphins, his actions backed up that sentiment.
00:24:36
Speaker
Which is just wild to me because when's the last time we had a running back that teams had to do that for? Right. Probably shady McCoy. Yeah. So craziness, dude. I just thought that was very cool. But going forward, if that continues to happen, hopefully that will open up more of the passing game. Yeah. And that brings us to your big stat of the night. Tom, go ahead and share it with us.
Playoff Streak and Resilience
00:25:02
Speaker
You know, before we roll into this upcoming first, you know, wildcard weekend playoff game, I just wanted to take a quick second and have us just soak in what's happening around us. The Bills have made the playoffs four years in a row, four years in a row, five out of the last six, winning the five out of the six for one division, four years in a row, four year reigning champions. Only the only the chiefs have done it longer.
00:25:29
Speaker
And, and I think this is important, right? Like we are, we as Bills fans suffered for so long to have this exciting, exhilarating roller coaster of an alien leading our team, um, to multiple playoff berths in a row, multiple division leads in a row, taking us from, I mean, week 12, we were six and six. We were in dire straits. I could have sworn that we were going to hang up this podcast. We were going to be done because there's going to be no fun. You know, like it was, but here we are. They pulled it out of their butts.
00:25:59
Speaker
And they won out after that loss to the Eagles. And they haven't been only doing that this year. I didn't realize this until finding this fact kind of flying by on Twitter. And so many of you guys may have already heard this, but I think this is insane. The last four years, the Bills are 22 and zero after losing a mid-season heartbreak.
00:26:19
Speaker
22 and 0 to end the season. This year, they lost week 12 to the Eagles overtime. Heartbreaking loss. We all watched that. We all reacted to it. Heart wrenching. 2022 week 10 overtime loss to the Vikings. Our poor asses were in that stadium. That sucked. And we won out. It sucked so much. It was terrible.
00:26:40
Speaker
It was awful. And they won out. They won every single game the rest of that regular season. 2021, week 14, overtime lost to the Bucks. They lose out, or sorry, they win out. They win out the rest of the way. 2020, week 10, that stupid Hail Mary game, lost to the Cardinals.
00:26:58
Speaker
the bills went out the rest of the way. For them to be able to just take care of business at the end of the season is remarkable. And I want to bookmark this and you guys have to hold me accountable. If we have a slump in the middle of next season, tell me I'm a freaking idiot. I'm not believing it for one minute. I am not believing it for one freaking minute and we're going to win. We're going to be just fine getting into the end of the regular season.
00:27:20
Speaker
That is, that's a bonkers stat, dude. Like that, that's absolutely crazy. That's so many games. 22, 22. An important time when other teams are also scrambling, trying to make up for their, like make their season count. Yeah. I think that's remarkable that they're able to put it back together and figure it out.
00:27:39
Speaker
late in the season when there's, there's a lot of tape on what your team can and can't do. Like they're, they're still just steamrolling. Yeah. I think it's so exciting and we're so lucky to be Bill's fans right now right here. And I think that's awesome and I love you boys and I'm glad we're doing this.
00:27:53
Speaker
Yeah, well, we earned it as fans, dude. We earned every bit of gloating, every bit of celebration, every post-touchdown shot. We went through a tough stretch, dude. So you're right. It's really good to sit down and reflect on it because the recency bias is so extreme. I know, especially for me, as a sports fan, I'm full on, what have you done for me lately?
00:28:19
Speaker
right which is why five weeks ago i was the leading the parade for fire sean mcderman but you know it's it's you're right um it's important to step back and just
00:28:31
Speaker
Be thankful that we have something to hang our hats on. I got to quote Josh on this one. It's nice. You never say no to a division hat and t-shirt, but all that does is secure you the next game at home. It's like, you got to go take care of business now, man. We can't keep losing in the same spot.
00:28:55
Speaker
Like and to kind of set that up, I think the bills have set themselves up to have the best possible path they could have. Right. Well, other than getting the one seat and winning those stupid games, they should have. They could have been in the line for the one seat earlier on. Who cares? That's not a possibility anymore. This is the next best step. And they. Sorry. For those of you don't know me, I have an extra step. I'm sure. Yeah, I got video now. Right. Yeah. How do I get the right angle?
00:29:24
Speaker
Next best. It says next best step. That's the next best thing that we could have. Yes. All right. Bear with me. Yeah. And we get the Steelers, the number seven seed in the AFC Steelers at home in Orchard Park coming in hot on Sunday at 1 p
Upcoming Bills vs Steelers Game Strategies
00:29:42
Speaker
.m.
00:29:42
Speaker
looking like a crazy Western New York weather day. Probably lots of winds, probably lots of snow. And you know what, but it's also the Pittsburgh Steelers are another Western, you know, Northeast team. So I don't think anybody has an advantage there. It's just who's going to be able to come out on top.
00:30:00
Speaker
Yeah. 20 to 30 mile an hour winds. It's going to be cold mid 20s and it's supposed to snow a little bit anywhere from one to three inches is what they say. And everybody in Western New York knows that could mean seven inches and nobody bats an eye.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, there's the weather is concerning because in a game like this, where you have a quarterback like Josh Allen versus a quarterback like Mason fucking Rudolph, the weather could be the great equalizer now. Yeah, it definitely benefits to see there's a lot more than the bills.
00:30:34
Speaker
Yeah, Josh is still going to. They're still going to have Josh throw the ball. You know, we saw these these wind gusts that we're talking about right now are still going to be nothing compared to that Patriots game that we lost. What is it? Two years ago, I think that monsoon type. Yeah. Where like like Josh was still able to throw the rock.
00:30:52
Speaker
what we have to be careful of with this game is you can't beg on him throwing deep right because the moment you throw that ball deep if one of those gusts comes through it's either a pick or it's going into section 300 so like you got to be really careful with that before we get too far into this matchup with the Steelers
00:31:14
Speaker
there's a really, really, really, really, really good chance we're one week away from seeing Miami again. And I just want to keep that in mind with everybody. Like Bill's mafia, we had our couple days of gloating. It's time to humble ourselves again. Humility is only one week away in the NFL.
00:31:32
Speaker
all right so whoever listens right the gloating needs to stop now we're on to pittsburgh we could see miami again you know like and you know they're going to be pissed and don't forget they're going to have wattle moster and zavian howard back when that happens
00:31:49
Speaker
So we had our couple days, but it's time to dial back focus on what's in front of us. I don't know. I don't know how any. All right, dad. Yeah, right. I know. Sorry, kids. I don't know how any player chief or dolphin is going to come out of that game with all their limbs, not frozen. Well, you know what? Who cares? That's their problem. Yeah. Have fun with that one.
00:32:14
Speaker
Yeah, so 49 points on the Patriots in zero degree weather too. So let's see if they put up 49. Yeah. Yeah, Jake, you talked about like mid 20s and I'm like, shit, that sounds honestly so much better than what Kansas City and Miami are going to be dealing with. Oh, yeah. That's how you call me. Yeah. So be great. Just keep in mind, we could see those guys again very soon. There's a world where we could get humbled quick.
00:32:36
Speaker
But that that game is even more important. They got to come to us if they do make it through Kansas City. True. And Bill's mafia. By the way, shout out Bill's mafia. We outnumbered them in Miami, which was. Oh, yeah. Fucking crazy. Like it was a home game. You guys are a joke of a fan base. So. Oh, yeah. Well, I thought we were done. Wait a say. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought we were done right now. Oh, oh, oh, just now. And right now. OK, these are statements of fact.
00:33:04
Speaker
Yeah, right, dude. I'm not gloating. I'm just calling it like I see it. Y'all are a joke. No, I like it. I like the fun. So if we're going to have fun, let me have it. I'm going to come and keep going post post game, watching like Josh out and walk around and salute the fans a little bit. It was it was still packed. The lower bowl was filled with bills. Fans still.
00:33:22
Speaker
the the
00:33:45
Speaker
He's looking solid. He's not an elite quarterback by any means, but he's managing the game for them really well right now. He had a throw last week against Baltimore, granted, mostly Baltimore's second-string players.
00:34:03
Speaker
But he had a throw to Deontay Johnson that was an absolute dime dude. We can't take this lightly, right? Like, Mason Rudolph is not Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, to a type guy.
00:34:23
Speaker
He's he's playing good ball right now. He's playing good ball at the most though. So I'm going to. So, yeah, he's playing good ball. I agree. He's playing better than he was. But he played well. He scored 17 points against second string Ravens. He scored 30 on the Seahawks. OK, he scored 34 against the Bengals, who have been a shell of themselves. Like, I don't know. I don't know. Yes, but I think context matters.
00:34:50
Speaker
Well, the Cincinnati like that there's their defense. Those weren't second string players. Yeah, but they're not against the Bengals defense. Yeah, I'm not. Yeah, I know what you're saying. I just and I guess he's definitely more dangerous than the last time we saw him on that Thursday night game. And when we played into Pittsburgh a couple of years ago, like I I remember that game and it was a joke. Everybody was saying
00:35:13
Speaker
Duck Robinson was better than Josh Allen here, but... Duck Hodgins, dude. Duck Hodgins. That was what it was. It was Duck. Duck Robinson. Exactly. Like some guy... Clarence McNulty over there throwing the ball. So sick of Clarence McNulty. I don't know. I don't know. I just don't know. Yes. They celebrated that they scored over 30 points for the first time in years. I know. I don't know. I don't know.
00:35:42
Speaker
And in bad weather, I'm taking I don't know. Let's if we lose to Mason Rudolph because he has a godlike game and he's a thousand times better than Josh Allen, then you know what? Hang me up. I don't know. I I don't expect with the weather, right?
00:36:01
Speaker
they're gonna lean immensely heavily on the run game, right? Which has been working super well for them recently. The big change that they made was, oh god, what's that tackle's name? Shoot, Broderick something? Broderick, ah, crap, it's producing. Jones, Broderick Jones. Broderick Jones, thank you so much, yeah. He, moving him to the tackle position, didn't seem to do a lot.
00:36:30
Speaker
for them in terms of running the ball. Najee's the really physical presence. Jalen Warren is a little bit more athletic, has really, really, really good vision. They're going to get him involved in the zone running game, similar to what HN did with Miami last week. So going into this game, I'm hoping to see right off the bat more of that single high safety look with Jordan Poyer down in the box. Right. Yep. I think that's that's where I'd like to see a start.
00:36:58
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. That's the my formula for this game is let Mason beat us. Yes. If he's the one that we we lose to, then we don't deserve to go on to the divisional rounds. Exactly. But let's take away that run game. Force Najee and Jalen Warren to just keep spinning their wheels. Give them some some. Let them take their rushing attempts, but just like stifle them at the line and let's see what Mason can do. He's probably going to take a couple of shots down to George Pickens. He and Pickens have been
00:37:27
Speaker
making some good connections lately. So I'm sure that they will make the attempts, especially if they get some single coverage looks. Yeah. So with the weather kind of maybe negating some of the past game, if you guys had to pick right now, Bills or Steelers, who has the better run game overall and who has the better running backs?
00:37:47
Speaker
I think right now that Steelers have the better running game. In truth, I think I think the running bands are probably a wash. They probably have the better one, too. I would take James Cook over any of them. But include when you put Josh Allen in the formula, then.
00:38:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. And that's the X factor. Like, do you want to include Josh Allen in that? If we're talking strictly running backs, I take James Cook over all of them, but they probably have the better 1-2. Our 1-2 right now, if he can go, he's in concussion protocol, is James Cook, Ty Johnson, right? Leonard Fournette's mostly serving as the third running back. Yeah. So their 1-2 is more formidable.
00:38:26
Speaker
However, you add Josh down to that equation. Now the bills might honestly have the better running game just because there's so much more variance. Yeah. Right. Like we can run so much more dangerous. Yeah. Run run options where you know they're not going to have Mason Rudolph on with the ball. Right.
00:38:42
Speaker
Josh Allen will have design run plays for himself. And I've loved how much more he's gotten involved in the running game and how they're designing more plays for him to just take it. I remember hearing one of the announcers during the game talk about how Josh and Joe Brady have spoken and Josh has said, look, give me a run play. I want to get involved. I want to get into this. This helps me get into my groove. So I just love that he's been doing that more.
00:39:06
Speaker
that like
00:39:22
Speaker
It like builds Josh Allen's game breaker meter, right? Like him taking a couple hits safely, knocking on wood, him taking a couple of hits, dude, it like, like you just said, Jake, it like gets him going. It gets him into his groove. It turns on his competitive juices. And when that Josh Allen comes to play, dude, y'all better watch out. Cause that Josh Allen is the scariest player in the league, bar none.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah. Josh Allen is has. Well, you know, I'm not going to say this stat out loud. Never mind.
00:39:54
Speaker
Yes, continue on. My superstition meter is just going right off. I'm not saying this. I totally get it. Moving on. Another another potential thing for this game this weekend. AJ Klein signed to the practice squad. This to me does not indicate anything positive for Tyrell Dotson, who is injured. So he had a shoulder injury left the Miami game. This doesn't feel good for me. So I imagine we're going to start with
00:40:21
Speaker
single high-safety looks with Jordan Poir down in the box with Terrell Bernard and Bailon Spector as your starting linebackers. I think depending on how well we defend the run, there's a world we could live in where we maybe run a more traditional 4-3 and have Spector Bernard AJ Klein in his linebackers. I don't love that because who does that mean comes off the field? It's Taryn Johnson, who is probably one of our two best defenders right now.
00:40:51
Speaker
So I don't know how much we'll see that. My guess is little to none, but it's something to be aware of just based on how well Pittsburgh has been running the ball recently. Yeah. No, I think it's absolutely something to think about. And I think it was cool to see Bayland Specter come in last game and play well. Like he was not a liability.
00:41:10
Speaker
As soon as I saw him come in, I was like, oh boy, like this is this guy's going to. And he played well. He honestly did. He did. He was asked. Thankfully, he set up in this defense and by Sean McDermott to not have to be asked to do everything. He's playing forward on his toes. He's going forward. He's leaning. He's leaning. We're defending the run and comes off the field in third and long. Any kind of long situation. And they brought in that extra safety.
00:41:34
Speaker
So that's where Taylor Rapp was in quite a bit this last week. So I think we're going to see more of that. And it was exciting to see Band Inspector come in and play well as a deaf linebacker. 100%, dude. Another thing to keep in mind here.
00:41:51
Speaker
Even so obviously the big big big big big big thing for Pittsburgh is no TJ Watt Yeah, right. He can't go this week, which yeah, that's never root for injuries But you know when you're gonna make a run dude You got to get a little bit lucky and I'll chalk this up into the luck category for the bills I'm lucky for the Steelers that being said this defense is still
00:42:14
Speaker
Freaking stacked, dude. There's a lot of really, really, really good players. I'm talking about Minka Fitzpatrick. Right. Probably one of the better safeties in the league. Excuse me, Cameron Hayward is insanely good. Right. So good. He's old. Yeah. And that guy has some juice.
00:42:32
Speaker
Yeah, you've still got like these guys have so much depth on defense too. Dude, Nick Herbig, Marcus Golden, really, really, really good edge rushers, Joey Porter Jr. at the cornerback position. Now here is where I would like to see us look to attack a little bit. If I'm Josh Allen.
00:42:50
Speaker
I am going at Levi Wallace all goddamn day. I know that name. Yeah, you do know that name. Former Bill played pretty well for us is still holding on to a starting job, dude. But like if there's somebody that knows how to take advantage of Levi Wallace, it's probably 17 in Buffalo.
00:43:11
Speaker
So, yeah, that's where I would look up any day. Right. Me too. And then similar to was it? Yeah, it was Miami, New England or New England. Thank you. Unathletic linebackers. Right. Kind of a similar situation. We could see another big game from Dalton Kincaid. But if you can't go at Levi Wallace, I'm looking to take advantage of these linebackers, dude. Kincaid Knox, James Cook, Ty Johnson.
00:43:57
Speaker
go with those guys, right? They don't have a single guy in that front seven that can keep up with James Cook or Dalton Kincaid or Dawson Knox. Right. So if you can put those guys in conflict, I mean, get after it, you know. Hey, you are possible sports betting sponsors out there. I will be smashing the overs on receptions for Kincaid and James Cook. What are they at right now?
00:44:04
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:44:23
Speaker
I have no idea, but you know what? Prize picks are a whole sponsor for this podcast who pays us no money yet, but hopefully lots of money in the future. I will find it out.
00:44:39
Speaker
Do, do, do, while you're doing that, Tom. So I've got a couple key of the game here, right? Defensively, for the bells, stop the run, right? Be ready to stop the run. Like Tom said, make Mason Rudolph beat you with his arm, right? You take away the run game, run game. You make that guy have to throw the ball in this weather. I don't like Pittsburgh's chances. And then make sure you can generate organic pressure.
00:45:04
Speaker
I know we're talking about stopping the run game, but be able to get pressure with just your front four, right? Those defensive ends that we have, go to work. Side note real quick, hoping that Von Miller is not active. Just as a quick side note, Tom. Yeah, I agree. I bet he will be though. I do. So Duncan Cade on price picks are hopeful sponsor on this podcast is at 36 and a half receiving yards. And James Cook is at 20 and a half. So yeah, please. Thank you all day.
00:45:34
Speaker
Yep, yep, I would take those two. Offense keys to the game. Continue to establish the run. You're going to have to in this game because the weather is going to be shitty. So you can't bank on the passing game. Continue to win on the run game. Continue to let James cook. I just said, don't bank on Josh being able to throw it deep. We have potential for 20 to 30, whoa.
00:46:00
Speaker
20 to 30 mile an hour sustained wind gusts. Right. Which makes throwing the ball very difficult. And then like I said, dink and dunk on those linebackers until you're blue in the face. And that's my big keys. There's been a little bit of a trend this year of the offense coming alive towards the end of the game. I mean, it kind of happened against Miami. It was a fourth quarter come back and then take the lead and win. Right. And that's happened a couple of times. So I hope what we see is the offense come out
00:46:31
Speaker
playoff game at home, ready to play, put up a couple points early. That makes establishing that run game and doing those things and dunks just to chip yardage away. So much easier, right? Yeah. Right. Let's go. Nigel, look at our baby boy. He's grown all up. I love it. What an analysis. What do you got? What's, what's, I love that. Yep. You're a hundred percent right, dude.
00:46:55
Speaker
No, yeah, that's a great. That's a great. Like Tom said, do just a great break down there, Jake. Super correct. And I think it's also interesting to think about that. Josh Allen coming out in his last game presser saying the ball came off his hands better than any time it has in the last couple of games and the end of that dolphins game. So hopefully he's able to ride that high.
00:47:15
Speaker
continue just dealing and dicing and come in and just take care of business. At the end of the... Well, I have an end of the day point, Nite. Do you have anything else that you want a little specifics here? Or are you ready for my end of the day point? No. I want to talk about the bills for as long as we can because I know our savers talk is going to be short, but I don't even want to have it.
Sabres Performance and Playoff Chances
00:47:32
Speaker
My thing at the end of the day is go for a win. It doesn't... We're 0-0s, right? Record doesn't matter. I don't care how we win. I don't care if we win by half a point. We got to win and all that matter. Win and go home.
00:47:45
Speaker
No treacherous injuries and let's get out of this game alive Amen. Yes, sir. Go bills, baby. You guys got a score prediction. We haven't done one of those in a couple weeks I know we have not we've been on that we got to get it back on um Come on, but now we're on tape. So we got so yeah, we should Okay, mine. Yes, I do. I'm gonna go 24 13 bills. I
00:48:10
Speaker
You almost took mine verbatim. I'm going 24 10 24 10 bills. OK. She's looking up a score. I know it. No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not a promise. I have to. It's hockey so simple. It's three to two. I have to like think, OK, a touchdown's worth seven points. Seven points. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, you're a finance pro. I'm not going to lie to you guys. Usually I just pick two random numbers, but I'm going to think about it. I think I think that I think the Steelers score
00:48:39
Speaker
14 points and the bills score, oh my God, 27, 27 points, 27, 14 is my vote. Okay.
00:48:52
Speaker
Wow. Oh, the brain fire to get there was amazing. It's a great guess, dude. Three touchdowns, two field goals. My forehead in there. Yeah. Yeah. You're poor. You're poor doodle. I've had a few concussions, guys. Bear with me. Take it. Take a sip of beer real quick. You have to walk us through our saber stuff because I just can't do it.
00:49:11
Speaker
Is it that time? Is it that time? Is there anything else we need to talk about for Bill's stuff? I think we're good. Nothing for the best, but do we want to do a quick bracket, talk about who we think comes out on top?
00:49:25
Speaker
Do we want to skip that? We'll skip it. We'll skip it. Doesn't matter. Hey, how about this? We're going to let everybody we're going to peel the curtain back. We did it yesterday. We're going to post it on social medias and you all should go do your own bracket. It's this great link. I'll send the link to the guys so it gets up on the social medias too. We did end up taking our boys in blue all the way to the end. And it's kind of fun to see what do you think might happen. So we will post that on social medias and you should as well.
00:49:54
Speaker
No Homer pics there. That's our genuine thoughts. All right. Well, I tried to give you the fun topic, but you want to go to the not so fun topic. So let's talk about the sabers. Yeah. Tom, I love the new drop you put in there. No, we'll touch on the sabers quick. And just just a heads up. We talked about this a little bit yesterday. We're all kind of disenfranchised with the way the saber season has been going. So we'll probably
00:50:23
Speaker
dial back a little bit now that the bills are in the playoffs. We hope to talk about the bills being in the playoffs for a good number of weeks here. So bear with us as we all kind of trudge through the savers season, but real quick at the end here.
00:50:38
Speaker
Yeah, just the main reason we talked about that was because right now the savers conversations are the same thing. Each each pot, right? It's the inconsistency. It's when lost, when lost, when lost, when when lost, when lost, when it just it's the inconsistency. And we decided that we don't need to keep telling you the same shit over and over again. Yeah. Right. So the only consistent thing about the season is us bitching about the inconsistencies. Yep. All right. So since the last podcast, we had a win, a win and a loss. So
00:51:08
Speaker
Credit where it's due, they got two in a row, which I think is maybe the second time this entire season. It is. It is the second time. You know, they beat up on Montreal six to one. Devin Levi played great in that game.
00:51:22
Speaker
Sure did. They play in Pittsburgh, they win three to one, and then they come back home to start off a six game home stand where. Absolutely fisted by Seattle pummeled, absolutely pummeled dude, five to two. We lost Jeff Skinner for a couple of weeks due to injury in that game. Uh, just an ugly game. It just continues the trend of them being horrific on home ice. Um, and I, they got five more at home. So I'm.
00:51:51
Speaker
Honestly, anything more than five losses is something I'd be happy with because they are just so dog water effort at home. But anyways, so upcoming games, they're playing tonight, Thursday, January 11th versus Ottawa. They host Vancouver on Saturday and then they host San Jose on Monday in a matinee. So we've said it all along. We'll see what they do, but I'm not holding my breath. There's 17, 20 and four.
00:52:20
Speaker
They're seventh in the division, still. They're seven points out of a playoff spot, and they're odds of making the playoffs, according to MoneyPuck, just continue to drop and drop and drop and drop. They're already in the single digits. Yeah, it's not great.
00:52:35
Speaker
I'm laughing at my discussion points that I wrote down. Rip them off. Rip them off, dude. Yeah. I read these verbatim. So I put down four discussion points. I guess it's cool we won two games in a row. Also, who the fuck cares? Same fucking shit. Different fucking day. I wrote down Seattle. We've never beaten Seattle. I think we're 0 and 5 against Seattle. Is that right? Seattle. Ever?
00:53:02
Speaker
Ever. I wrote down Seattle has our number and my God, that team just plays the right fucking way, which they do. We get into that at some point. And then Oki and Ryan Johnson are going to slot back in tonight. I'm not sure who's going to come in for or come out for Kylo. So probably Tyson Jost. And then at the time that Ryan Johnson was announced, Don Granado did not have a name for who was going to come out for him. So, yeah, that's the savers. The savers suck.
00:53:33
Speaker
That Seattle team is great. They're they're kind of on the playoff bubble, but they they've been playing good hockey lately. They were like seven straight coming into that game, I think. Yeah, they I watched the last game I watched them in was the Winter Classic on New Year's Day. And they I think they shot out Vegas and just looked looked phenomenal doing it. Yeah, they're a great team. Yeah. Well, yeah. Again, a team that's that is just put together way differently than the Sabres. Yeah, it's the expansion team recipe, right? Like they're just
00:54:01
Speaker
They don't have a ton of high-end superstar talent. They're just deep. They're just deep. They're so deep, bro. Will Borgen, too, former saver, shout out Will Borgen. I wish he was here. And I think even one or two points against us. Yeah, right? It'd be nice to have him. Yeah. Yeah, dude, I think their only star is Matty Beneers, right? Like, I think he will be a star. I was going to say, I'm not trying to disparage him, but I mean, he's a sophomore.
00:54:25
Speaker
In the NHL like he's he's really good though. He's phenomenal. Yeah, he deserved the colder I thought he's he's lived up to his reputation. So yeah Yeah, if that's your if that's your like star talent, that's I'm not again I'm not trying to disparage him, but I don't think that's saying a whole lot I think the next best players probably like what Jared McCann, you know something like the witches Yeah, Tom get us out of here
00:54:54
Speaker
All right, folks, well, here we
Closing Remarks and Social Media Encouragement
00:54:56
Speaker
go. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for spending some time with us. We truly do appreciate it. It would mean a lot to us if you could please share this episode. Give us a like. Give us a follow on Instagram X and our freshly minted YouTube channel at Let's Go Buff Pod.
00:55:12
Speaker
These are my pals. That's Jake. That's Nigel. My name is Tom and you're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast. We're sending you love wherever you are. Go Bills. Go Sabers. Let's Go Buffalo.