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CheezeTalk S1 Episode 28 #CheeseHead 🤝 #BillsMafia
29 Plays5 months ago
Tonight, I talked with Ben ( @MafiaMembersPod ) about the Buffalo Bills, his favorite player, favorite coach, his thoughts on Jordan Love, Bill's draft, favorite memories of the Bill's, etc... It was definitely a good time, and I look forward to having Ben on again!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:43
Speaker
what's up everybody happy friday welcome to the cheese talk podcast today i'm joined with ben aka mafia members pod on twitter um today we'll be talking in football sports and maybe get some life questions snuck in here a little bit Um, I want to give a shout out to the open network for giving me the chance to podcast under their umbrella, the old network. They are 45 followers away on Twitter from giving away a Jair Alexander autographed eight by 10 photo. Ben, what's up?
Podcast Background and Current Events
00:01:19
Speaker
Hey, Hey Brian, how's it going? Thanks for having me in a problem.
00:01:24
Speaker
So tell us a little bit about yourself. Uh, so my name's Ben. I do, uh, my show's called the, the mafia members podcast. Um, proud member of the bills mafia. Um, I'm from Ottawa up in Ontario, Canada. Um, and yeah, I do, uh, I try and keep my, my shows are roughly 30 minutes. I try and keep them to half an hour, but. you know sometimes I can get talking a little bit too much um but I do a show once a week um every Sunday night usually they'll they'll they'll come out on Sunday night so it's there for your first thing on your on your ride into work on Monday morning um yeah I do
00:02:04
Speaker
try and talk about NFL, but it's pretty much just Bill's talk for half an hour. yeah every Every once in a while I will cover if there is some some other breaking news or big stories. um I'll talk about that, but it's mainly just to focus on on the on the Buffalo Bills. Everything new is about the Bills that you want to tell us about? Anything going on? or Uh, no, pretty, we're, we're happy that it's pretty quiet in builds land. Um, usually this time of year, we're, we're talking about if Stefan Diggs wants to, wants to still be on the team or not. So, uh, we're just enjoying a mini camp that everybody showed up. Everybody there was no Aaron Rogers, uh, ayahuasca trips for anybody on our team. So we're happy to just kind of stay under the radar for now and, uh, wait, wait till the season gets going.
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah, we didn't have that this year either. We don't have to worry about it. So that that's kind of nice. um Majority of our players showed up for the OTAs. A lot of the veterans came in for the you know to be there make a presence for the for the young guys. And we got rid of Joe Berry and Jair Alexander actually showed up for the OTAs. And so it's a thing. It's a good feeling. We had we had one of our one of our corners didn't show up for the OTAs. but It was, it was an excused absence. I think there were some, some personal matters that he had to take care of. So it was, it was okay. It wasn't, it wasn't a, it wasn't newsworthy. So we're, he wasn't sending out cryptic tweets on if he's going to go join the Dallas Cowboys or not.
00:03:40
Speaker
Yeah, or he's going to take a dark. He's going to do a dark yeah yeah a retreat. Yeah. What are your thoughts? Well, how long have you been a bills fan for your
Becoming a Bills Fan and Team Expectations
00:03:51
Speaker
whole life? Yeah, I'm 35. And I got into being a bills fan when I was probably like eight, nine, 10 years old. And some family, friends of my my parents were asked if for if i if we wanted to go ah down to Buffalo for the weekend to go watch a game. And the atmosphere in there, the the the party out in the parking lot, the tailgating, the the whole atmosphere. At 10 years old, I was walking around like, holy cow, like where else would you rather be than, you know,
00:04:26
Speaker
i come to find out that there's not much going on in Orchard Park except for Buffalo Bills. But um in that that that one weekend trip, I was like, okay, i I was getting into football. I was playing football and I was like, I'm going to start cheering for these guys. They were good back then. And so, you know, it and was it was fun. So 92, so you were around, you were probably still a little bit young for Scott Norwood. Yeah, i was I was like, I missed the whole ah four Super Bowls in a row. Like I was alive for them, but I didn't, thankfully I didn't, like, I don't remember them. um But I do remember the Music City Miracle and that one is one that haunts me. So it doesn't matter what generation you're from. If you're a Bills fan, there's a little bit of misery involved with being a fan of the team. Sure. ah That can go for the Packers too. It can go for any team. um What are your thoughts on the Bills as far as last season? How do you think they did and how do you think they're going to be this year?
00:05:26
Speaker
Um last season last season was a disappointment. I mean um where I feel like we're at the stage now where it's okay for us to you know accept The expectations of making it at least to the conference championship game Um, you know the first like two or three seasons that we were in the playoffs We were just happy to be there like but that wears off quick. I feel like as a as a fan um, so we're definitely looking at conference championship games is kind of like the bare minimum of what you would accept as a as a successful season. um So that was a bit of a disappointment last year. The offseason I think is, I think we're happy. I think it hurts our receiving core. I think we're happy to get rid of both Gabe Davis and Stefan Diggs.
00:06:14
Speaker
um Gabe Davis dropping catches was a, was the bane of my existence last season. And, um, Stefan digs with all the outside noise was a little bit much. So I think this year it's more of like a. If we don't do as well, like we're, we still have to win the division and, you know, win a playoff game. I think that's, that's what we're expected to do. And that's what we should do. Um, but I think, I think overall we're, it's more of a ah breath of fresh air kind of season and just kind of getting everybody back to enjoying her football and, you know, take, you know, have having fun with it at the same time. You know, Josh Allen is a.
00:06:56
Speaker
he's a very big character and like, you know, you always see him running around joking and smiling and that kind of went away last year a little bit. And so we're looking to kind of get some freshness back into the, back into the team. Yeah, that's good. I mean, you kind of, you kind of see that, you know, if you kind of look at last year and look at the off season this year. And we were kind of in the same boat as far as like, isn't even though Aaron Rodgers did a lot for us, I think, Trained him, took a huge weight off of our shoulders. And we were able to like start fresh knowing that the front office had faith in our quarterback. And we've seen for the last 30 years how it works when you come in behind.
00:07:37
Speaker
a star like like Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers you're bound to if you're been behind it for three or four years you're going to learn and you're going to be a decent when you step on the field for your first time starting the game and I think the the Packers trying to offer saw that they knew it the whole time and they just they had to get rid of Aaron Rodgers and I mean, ultimately you worked out in our advantage, I think. Yeah, I would say so too. I think, um, I think love, love, like, I think it was kind of like the second half of the season. That's kind of given the promise for, for the season coming up, right? Like, yeah, cool especially that, that playoff performance against Dallas, I was, you know, that gives you a little bit of confidence going into the season for sure. Absolutely. Um, what are your thoughts on the Bill's draft and who was your favorite pick?
Draft Insights and Team Changes
00:08:27
Speaker
Uh, I think the bill's draft was good. I think they, they, they got, um, some players, they filled some positions of need with the, with the, uh, with their draft. Um, And I think the the player I'm most excited to see is Cole Bishop. They drafted him in the second the second round of safety. From what I've heard, he sounds like a day one starter. um That's definitely what we're hoping for. I think this the defensive backs in general are kind of what we need the most amount of help in as a team where we're kind of deficient the most.
00:09:02
Speaker
Um, so I'm really excited to see how he pans out. And, you know, if he is as good as the hype that that's around him is, then, then I think, um, that he's, he's definitely the player that I'm kind of watch keeping my eye on the most. Yeah. For, for me, I think the Packers drafted a pretty solid class. Uh, when you pair Jevon Bullard next to Xavier McKinney at safety, that's going to be a good, good, uh, combination. You got Adrian Cooper. I mean, it's, I like how he drafted. I mean, I just can't wait for the season to start, you know? Yeah, exactly. And Buffalo just had, you know, they had Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer.
00:09:44
Speaker
that duo was, was like the backbone of our defense for so long. So now we're kind of in scramble mode of trying to figure out, first of all, if Micah is even retiring or not or what his plan is. So just getting any kind of help we can in that, in the defensive backfield, I think is going to be, going to be huge. Right. How much, I mean, I know you kind of hit on this earlier, how much does losing digs affect the team? Um, the way The way I said it and the way way I talked about it on on my show was we don't have the top end talent that we have anymore obviously and that obviously hurts hurts us. it hurts
00:10:23
Speaker
Josh Allen, when he's in scramble mode, that safety release valve that Stefan Diggs has been for him, you know, anytime Allen scrambles, you see him just looking for wherever Stefan Diggs is. And that's who he throws the ball to. um But I think overall, our wide receiver room got a little bit better because it's going to be a more spread out style offense. I think we're now forcing defenses to cover you know four five six players at a time versus just focusing on Stefan Diggs and you know kind of now we have we have Kincaid on a tight end cook coming out of the backfield still have Dawson Knox and you know if Keon Coleman turns out to be good then we have like a whole bunch of these Curtis Samuel Khalil Shakir like we got a whole bunch of guys that can kind of
00:11:12
Speaker
spread the field with and it's going to be a slice and dice, death by a thousand cuts kind of style thing. So I think overall our wide receiver room got better. We just don't have the top end talent that we used to have. Right. It's, it's kind of funny how ah like the bills and the package are kind of mirroring
Packers Transition and Future Outlook
00:11:29
Speaker
each other. Granted, you guys didn't go through the quarterback change, but you know, we, we lost our quarterback or we traded them. Um, before that we were without divine. We got, we traded divine to the Adams and then we'd lost Elm was hired and Cobb and, uh,
00:11:45
Speaker
Robert Tonya and I mean, all the people that Rogers Rogers is going to ah me Mercedes Lewis. So you have teams come up against us. Like, who is love going to go to? I mean, you saw how he passed the ball around last year. Musgrave, Kraft, Dubs, Christian Watson, when he's healthy, then you got Jayden Reed. And I mean, it's just, you know, everyone was calling it a rebuild year. And I mean, for for rebuilding, i'll I'll take that. If that's a rebuild year, I'll take it, you know. Yeah, 100%. I'd love that. Bill spent 30 years rebuilding and never saw that success. But is this crazy to see like what people on the outside looking in
00:12:28
Speaker
thing versus what the people on the inside looking out put on the field, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I think it makes me feel like I'm like delusional or like have like too much faith in my team. But I'm like, we should be still, we should still be good. It sounds like you sound on social media. You sound crazy saying that the bills should still win 12, 13 games. Everyone's like, they're a nine win team. I'm like, We're still going to be good. Like we still have a good defense. We still have Josh Allen. Like we're still fine. It's just going to look different. That's all that it is.
00:13:01
Speaker
The thing is, too, with all these young receivers, they don't know their ceiling yet. That's the thing. They don't know how good they can be. who And us either. like we and We've seen Christian Watson not 100% for most of his career so far in Green Bay, but they went to the UW-Madison with a hamstring specialist and got things figured out. And hopefully he can be our, if he's 100% healthy, I'd definitely put him as our as our first wide receiver. Yeah. You know, because he can blow the top off any defense with his speed. Then you can double him. Then you're going to have muscular craft. You're going to have Jaden Reed wide open. I mean, it's just crazy. You don't have a quarterback with, you know, Lazard or Adams. And you know where the ball is going to go. Exactly.
00:13:47
Speaker
And like, like as much as yeah, Alan needed digs in order to, you know, to kind of see his potential in his ceiling. Stefan Diggs wasn't, uh, an all pro wide receiver before he came to Buffalo. I like Stefan Diggs also thrived off of having a good quarterback throwing him the ball as well. You know, but like it was, it was, uh, as, as much as it hurts our team, like we still have the quarterback who brought Stefan Diggs up to that level. So we're just kind of looking for, to see who else he can bring up to that level. And that you see that too, ah when.
00:14:25
Speaker
Well, I just had Greg Jennings and Greg Jennings left to the Minnesota. Yeah. The dolphins or whatever. You can't disappeared. Yeah. You know, yeah you got to think about who's getting you the ball. Who's getting you paid. You know what I'm saying? Exactly. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, digs had what, Kirk cousins. Yeah, Minnesota, you know, I think was the one who threw that Minnesota miracle. pass was case ah Do you think Josh Allen wins a Super Bowl? I pray every day that Josh Allen wins a Super Bowl. That's in my prayers that I say at night, it's that Josh Allen who wins a Super Bowl. I think I think realistically, I do think that he will win one.
00:15:11
Speaker
um I think, I don't think it's this year. Um, I think once key on Coleman kind of develops into that wide receiver one role. So I think realistically, I think not this year, probably not next, but in that three to five year window from now, I think that really, when we'll be sure and we'll be there and you know, people people, people hate on Josh Allen or critique him for not being able to beat Patrick Mahomes in the, in the playoffs.
00:15:43
Speaker
But in the, the only time that he's played in the AFC championship game with a minute left, he drove down the field, scored a touchdown with 13 seconds left to go to the Superbowl and then never saw the ball again. Never got it back. They, they went down, kicked the field goal for overtime, scored an overtime and like, so he did the things in order to beat Patrick Mahomes. But, you know, it was kind of let down by by, I think coaching, but that's besides the point. But so he's proven that he can do it. So I think he will be able to to get there and actually do it. Yeah. Do you think as he gets older in his football career, he quits running the ball and taking the hits? I i think so. I hope so.
00:16:31
Speaker
um the My only issue really is that like, right now, you don't want to do anything. That's what makes him like, he just goes out on the field and he's a beast, right? So you don't want to kind of try and wrangle him in in any kind of way, because then you take away from what makes him so great. Right. The reason why he's such a good passer is because he can run the ball so well. And why he can run the ball so well is because he can throw the ball so well. So like if you take away those like one of those two things, then it's the same thing we were just saying about the wide receivers. like If you can just focus on one aspect of his game, then it becomes easier on the defenses.
00:17:12
Speaker
I think six, seven, eight years down the road, yeah, he's probably going to have to stop the running as much, or at least try and slide. Like right now I'd like to see him slide a little bit more, maybe step out of bounds once in a while. Like you don't have to hurdle and stiff arm and, you know, try and truck people as you're like, you're the franchise quarterback, man. Like it's it's okay if you run for 10 yards and slide versus trying to power for 13 yards. Right. Yeah. I always, uh, held my breath. I always think of that run that Aaron riders had against the, uh, not to run the uh, the piggy through against the saints. And he ran all the way. I mean, he dequeued the guy out of bounds. Yeah. I don't know ifre if if you remember that at all, but it's just, how do you always hold your breath when your quarterback takes hits? Cause you never know if he's going to get up hurt or hurt her shoulder or whatever. Everyone gets mad at it, but I, I.
00:18:10
Speaker
a hundred percent appreciate when a quarterback throws a pick and just snaps his helmet off and starts to walk. Like I don't want you to go make a tackle, man. Like that is not what you are paid to do. It's just walk to the sidelines and go look at the little iPad. Like that, we don't need you out there trying to take people out. Like it's fine. Well, you mentioned, have you been the, youve how many bills games have you been to quite a bit? Um, yeah, I went a lot more as a kid, obviously once you're, once I'm grown up and with the kid of my own, it becomes a little bit more difficult to travel. um right I have more fun as an adult, that's that for sure. But um yeah, I went to a handful as a kid and I've probably been to about, I'd say maybe 10, 15 games total.
Tailgate Stories and Memorable Games
00:18:59
Speaker
What's the craziest thing you've seen at a Bill's tailgate? Okay, so I have i have two. i haven't i had
00:19:07
Speaker
I have one that I can say and then I have like an X rated, which is a different story. Um, but, um, one time I was, I was added, I was out of Bill's jets game. And this was when Rex Ryan was the head coach of the jets and they had beaten the Patriots in the playoffs and back to back, like the jets were good and the bills were really, really, really bad. And. I was I was sitting in my section and like three four rows up in front of me. um There was a guy who was wearing a San Antonio Holmes, New York Jets jersey.
00:19:44
Speaker
And we were sitting in the end zone and San Antonio home scored in that end zone, like right in front of us. And that made the score like 41 to nothing for the, for the jets. And this guy stood up and started going like pointing to the name on the back of his Jersey and started flipping everybody off around him and started screaming and hollering. And the whole section just like he turned, he turned one way and met a fist coming back the other way. And like the whole section just. Piled onto this guy. I got a phone call from my brother said that you were on TV You're on TV because I guess CBS showed this huge melee in the section and I was just kind of standing there like what is what is going on So that was the craziest for sure one of the things when I was a kid um Doug Flutie had ran it for a touchdown um to win the game and
00:20:37
Speaker
and we came back out into the into the parking lot and people had the flutey flakes going all over the parking lot and It's very common. They have like the the party buses come in to like take fans to the games and There was girls up on top of those Party buses lifting their shirts up going like whoo-hoo. So that was the x-rated story but like they and I would had a as Being a 13-year-old boy, when you walk around and you see that going on, you're like, this is this is where i this is where I need to be. I need to come here more often. um Have you ever seen somebody jump through a table on fire? Not on fire. Not all on fire. I've seen them jump through the table. I haven't personally jumped through the table yet. um The next time I'm in Buffalo, I'm going to try and get to jump through the table.
00:21:30
Speaker
um But no, I've seen people jump through the table, not not while it's on fire, though. Sometimes sometimes they can they can be a little bit crazy over there in Buffalo, that's for sure. Yeah, that's so funny. Like when you see these, almost like on TikTok or this Facebook clip, whatever clips, you know, short short clips of tables are on fire and you got people jumping from the top of a vehicle or from a, you know, they were in build gears like, yeah, they're crazy. The worst is when they miss the table altogether and they're just like face planting the grass. That's even better.
00:22:07
Speaker
yeah What's the most memorable game that you have witnessed? Um, I think it was that, that Doug Flutie game. It's like, anytime you look up like Bill's highlights overall, it was against the Jaguars and like at the very, it was like the last play of the game. He, he ran and just, just squeaked into the front corner of the end zone. And it was like a, it was a Sunday night game. It was, it's a. it's ah It was a very popular game. As far as Bill's go bill's games go, um it was it's like one of the a very popular Bill's highlights. I got a quick comment here from one of the head people. at op I'm going to display it here.
00:22:56
Speaker
Flaming cheese curds. Nice. the good I don't think so, Joe. My wife wouldn't approve of that. cheese curds are too valuable to do that. You can set them on fire like that.
00:23:13
Speaker
Oh man. That was funny. Joe, Joe was always known for chiming in and leaving comments. Who is your all time favorite bills player? um For me right now it's Eric molds is my favorite. He's kind of the kind of the guy that got me to, he was the first player that like I've ever liked, liked and followed. And, you know, um one of the games I was at when I was a kid, they, they ran this like a fake field goal where he, he kind of pretended like he was going to the sidelines, but stopped short. And when they snapped it, they threw the ball over to him and like, you scored a touchdown on a, on a fake field goal. um And he was, he was a,
00:23:59
Speaker
Like I think he's one of the top four bills wide receivers ever. One of my favorite players to watch growing up. um And obviously now it'll probably be Josh Allen when he when when it's all said and done, it'll probably be Josh Allen. But for right now, it's it's Eric Mould. I just like watching him play. What do you think of Lee Evans? ah Lee Evans, I really like Lee Evans. The Bills, I think they have lots of like underrated players. like I like Lee Evans, I like Stevie Johnson, it was always fun to watch as well.
00:24:31
Speaker
um They were like all that. They just had JP lossman throwing them the football. You know what it like? That was our problem for it. We had Trent Edwards, JP lossman, EJ manual. Like these are just forgettable names, you know? And i it sucked that these guys wasted their careers were their careers were wasted because we just weren't a good team. Yeah. This sucks. Like when you go through a quarterback carousel, You don't have any really consistency, you know? Yeah. Brutal. Brutal. I mean, Packer fans don't know how it is, but at least when I can remember, imagine I remember I, my earliest memories are from the early nineties in Brett five and you go from Brett five to Rogers and then you go from Rogers to love. So I have 32 years of.
00:25:23
Speaker
you know you've seen three quarterbacks yeah right i have quarterbacks in three weeks like that's i had a bearish fan on let me see if i still have it my little notebook here and i was giving her a hard time i had written a page of all different Bears quarterbacks through the since like 1990 and it's just that is it's crazy. It's like Jim Harbaugh, Eric Kramer, Steve Walsh, Dave Craig, Kramer, Kramer, Shane Matthews, Cade McCown, Jim Miller, Cordell Stewart. It's just up. It's like it's like
00:26:04
Speaker
Well, I think even before fire, have you guys had that? Makowski. Yeah, Makowski. That Makowski. Yeah. And then I like, so even, even but like people always say fire to Rogers, Rogers to love, but like it goes even further back than that. You know what I mean? Like it's crazy. The, uh, how lucky they've been at quarterback or how good they've been at drafting quarterbacks at least. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. That's something that I've always been. It's one thing that we can always, and they're like, oh, you only got two Super Bowls and, you know, whatever yours. Yeah. But, you know, it's, you know, it is what it is, you know, how many, how many championships does your team have? You know, Packers have 13, you know, yeah if you add in before they've been, they started the Super Bowl, they have, you know, 13 championships. So, you know.
00:26:53
Speaker
To me, ah that's, that's a world championship, no matter what, whether it's before or after the, yeah, we implemented the, the trophy. I mean, it's called title town for a reason. Right. So right it's definitely not called title town in Buffalo. That's for sure. Yeah. And Vince from party trophies named after Packers legend, legendary coach, you know, yeah speaking of coaches, who is your all time favorite bills coach? Um,
00:27:22
Speaker
Like the, you have, you have to say Mark Levy, cause that's, that was our, that's our guy that he was our, he was our, our, the one to lead us to the, to the Superbowl. Um, but since I've been a fan, it's Sean McDermott as much as I hate him right now, at like, and I hate him a lot. Um, but like compared to, we had like Rex Ryan, Chan Ganey, like just a whole bunch of guys who. it's kind of similar to the quarterback conversation. Like it's hard to see how good you actually are when you're changing your head coach every two years. And there's no consistency from head coach to quarterback to players. Um, but that's why like McDermott, the credit he deserves is to get, it was getting us out of the drought and, you know, actually giving the team some kind of an identity and like,
00:28:13
Speaker
developing players, he's, he's good on, he's good on the defensive side, you know, developing players drafting and, and, and stuff like that. So I would have to say Sean McDermott, but that's with the, with a little bit of hesitancy because I haven't been too happy with him in the past two seasons. Yeah. When I think of the bills, I think of Marv Levy. Yeah. yeah So I just, that's the old, he crowned, he crowned the, the saying that is like the Bill's mafia, like mantra. And every time you're in the stadium before the game starts, it's the, where else would you rather be then right here, right now? And that's what that's what his pregame speech. And that's like what we still live and die by in, in Orchard Park. So um what's the population in Orchard Park? I have no, no idea.
00:29:04
Speaker
Is it, I mean, is it decent size? i i honestly all like There's all that kind of like blend together since it's like, it's like a suburb of. Yeah, it's a suburb of Buffalo. And then you have like, you have a whole bunch of little towns kind of, kind of all around it. And then Orchard Park is kind of out on its
Local Support and Game Atmosphere
00:29:24
Speaker
own. So I think it is like a, I think it's like a 20 minute, half an hour drive to get to the stadium. Um, But yeah, like I don't really know, know too much about the area. I kind of come in on this Saturday and I'm just happy if I remember anything from the Sunday.
00:29:45
Speaker
yeah Yeah, people, it's just, when you look at the different like history of the different teams and I mean, you think of like Green Bay, ah like it's just, it's probably the smallest market in the NFL. by far, population-wise. Oh yeah, like not in Green Bay, the the stadium? Well, it's it's in Ashwabenen, but it's, I mean, Green Bay, Ashwabenen, whatever, it's right next to each other. it's But it's it's actually in, it's in Ashwabenen, the stadium's in Ashwabenen, but they're the Green Bay Packers.
00:30:22
Speaker
but And don't ask me the reasoning behind that, but just like the history behind it and all the, you know, I mean, if you ever came to Green Bay and, you know, even if you're not a Packers fan and there's, they have the Packers Hall of Fame within the stadium, a huge Packers pro shop. I mean, it's just, you're in some small, you know, 25,000 people with that, maybe more and maybe less. you And all of a sudden there's this big stadium, like on a quarter mile strip of, you know, off the highway, you know. But you get fancy all over. I remember I was at the, they have this bronze like statue of like fans and for the Lambo leap, like you can jump up on the padding and take your picture. Like you're jumping in with the fans. And so I'm outside there and a bunch of people pull up in Minnesota license plates.
00:31:16
Speaker
and they get out, they all were in Vikings jerseys and they all run up there quick and take their picture. They get back into in their car. They must've been doing like a scavenger hunt, but they came from the Twin Cities and they came to Green Bay. They must've been on their list to like stop at Lambeau Field, take a picture here and onto your next destination. But I don't know. Well, I could go there. I live like 10 minutes from the stadium. So I could, if I yeah ever just crazy growing up, two and a half hours away. My wife is from up here. We met and then eventually moved back to Green Bay. But I never thought I'd be living this close to Lambeau field. And it's it's so cool just to be driving on something like, boom, there it is, you know? Yeah. The big old G on the top of the stadium. ah you Are you an owner? I don't tell my people I am not. No. I'm looking if they ever know the stock sale, I'm looking to buy. So. Oh, yeah. And I'll probably get ah pocket get crap for it, but I'm not.
00:32:17
Speaker
she got little i think I think that's pretty cool that they have it that they have it like that. Yeah, gold pack goal. Yes, sir. ah Who is the Bill's biggest rival in your eyes? i I think right now the biggest rival is the Kansas City Chiefs just because we know that that's who we're going to have to beat in order to get to the Super Bowl and You know, like it really sucks that like when we're at their best, it just happens to be against like a top five quarterback of all time. Um, within the division right now, our biggest rivalry is Miami. Um, just cause they're the, they're the second best team. I kind of wish that, uh,
00:33:07
Speaker
You know, the Brady stuck around a little bit longer in New England. Cause I would have liked to even that, that score a little, a little tiny bit. He was like 35 and three against Buffalo in his career. So I would have liked to, you know, get a couple more wins, ah wins against him, but cause it wasn't even a rivalry between us and New England. Like they just dominated us for 20 years and. Would it like to get a little bit of revenge? But yeah, I think the the biggest rivalry is Kansas City and Miami, Miami is a good team. um they're They're quick, they're fast. And so within the division, that's going to be our our biggest challenge this year for sure is is Miami. Yeah, I think ours, I would say Chicago.
00:33:52
Speaker
But when we've won the last 10 games against Chicago, it's not really a rivalry. That's what I'm saying. Like, I think Josh Allen is 12 and two in his career so far against Miami. So it's not really a rivalry yet. there They're just our biggest competition. As of lately, I mean, I would say the Vikings. They're like a little brother. And then more recently, I guess the Lions. We used to have the Lions number for the longest time. and that And that's within our division or within our conference, you know, the NFC North. I think. On the big picture in the NFC, I think. The people have not that they have not this other playoffs than most other Niners. You know, it seemed to be have our number and.
00:34:40
Speaker
They seem to have lots of people's not li numbers. like i think that like you know I'd say that's the same for the Cowboys. They they have a ah pretty good rivalry against the 49ers. Obviously, the team's in their division as well, but I feel like lots of people have circled the 49ers on their calendar. it's It's just nice. I remember looking back to when I was a kid, the Cowboys always had the Packers' number in the playoffs, regular season. And ever since they built Jerry World, like we have more playoff wins and in the stadium than the Cowboys do. anyway And we went in there and just annihilated them last year. And that was awesome.
00:35:27
Speaker
but that my My brother's a Dallas Cowboys fan. And the joy I got watching that, first of all, Buffalo did that pretty much the same thing to them earlier in the season, in the regular season, to to the Cowboys where James Cook just ran all over them. And then to see it happen again in the playoffs this time, but it was it was it was awesome. yeah oh That's Delvin's brother, right? James Cook? Yes, yeah. yeah album brother yeah Yeah, they have the same running style. like and Yeah, and you know, I think he's going to have a big a big year this year too. And man, what happened to him? Delvin Cook. I don't know. He left, I know he left Minnesota and I thought he went to... Yeah, he went to the graveyard the of the New York Jets. Yeah, and I thought say they released. You know, yeah he used to be like...
00:36:21
Speaker
It's, it was crazy how quick the turnover, like he was like top five running back in the league to like not even playing anymore. It seemed like over a season. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. Wild. How, how quick it, you know, especially like the running back position, that's just kind of how it is these days. But like that turnaround is, it was crazy. Speaking of running backs, what do you think of the Packers, um, acquiring Josh Jacobs? As a guy who's played fantasy football, as long as I've watched football, Josh Jacobs is a very, very good running back. um I don't know if he's as good or if you replace Aaron Jones, um you know, or or you if you'll get that same. Is Aaron Jones still there? No, he went to Minnesota. Oh, no way. Okay. Yeah, yeah. like So this is how it went down. So big news, as big news. as The Packers signed
00:37:15
Speaker
Josh Jacobs like, Oh, what a combination. You got Aaron Jones and Josh Jacobs are like, hell yeah, this is awesome. Right. And then an hour later, the Packers released Jones and he went to the Vikings. We're all like, Well, you think about it. Jacobs is three years younger. You know, I don't think he's as injury prone as Jones was in the past few years. So they probably figured they can get a good couple of years out of Josh Jacobs, but then they drafted Marshawn Lloyd, who I think they're going to bring up to eventually replace Josh Jacobs. You know what I'm saying? Cause they kind of have the same running style. Yeah. I, um, I really liked that. Um,
00:37:56
Speaker
what I forget his first name there. Williams, I know it's his last name. It was Aaron Jones and and the two of them, they were like the... Jamal. Jamal Williams. williams Yeah, I really liked him. I liked watching him for sure. He's definitely a workhorse and one of the fan favorites, you know. Yeah, he's a heater character for sure. He's definitely... that't no one no He's out in the cut off, warming up, dancing to himself. He's out of he's ah he's in in his own planet, you know.
00:38:26
Speaker
Yeah. I stuck seeing him go, but, um, yeah, adding Jacobs and then adding Xavier McKinney. I still don't know how the giants let him go. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was a strange one too. 24 years old and not even hitting his prime and here he is, you know, yeah we'll take him.
00:38:49
Speaker
That's a cool thing too, is you got both both of Jacobson McKinney in their press conference when they got to Green Bay, said that Jordan Love had a part in them coming over to Green Bay. So, you know, this they see leadership in Jordan Love. And the thing too with Jacobson McKinney, they're both captains on their team. So I mean, We're bringing a captain on ah offense and a captain on defense. so its good that That's what they said about, um, when, when Von Miller signed in Buffalo, they're like, this is proof of how good Josh Allen is. Like players actually want to come and play like no player ever would sign up to play in three feet of snow, unless it was for a player that they believed in and a team that they believed in. So you're like.
00:39:32
Speaker
You know, it gives us a little bit of credibility with players are in the league to like, yeah, I mean, you know, maybe it's not so bad to come here. Yeah. Same. Yeah. The three feet of snow. I mean, the same in Lambo. It's the can have some pretty harsh winters, but you guys got rock last year, didn't you? Yeah. The bills did for sure. Yeah. They, uh, there was, I think in the city, they had, uh, I think like nine people pass away from this, from the snow storm, just cause they couldn't like get out of their house and like, people, people trapped on the side of the roads. Like it was snowing so hard that they couldn't drive anymore. And then their whole car got snowed in and like, yeah, who he's through that I'm up here in Canada and I don't like, we get snow, but not like, not that, not like that. Yeah. That's crazy. How do you think the bills will fit and finish this year? What's your prediction?
Season Predictions for Bills and Packers
00:40:27
Speaker
Um, I had them at what's it, uh,
00:40:33
Speaker
12 and five was, was my prediction. Um, I think they're still going to be first in our division. I think they're still going to win a playoff game. Um, they, they have like a tough schedule. Like if you look at who they're playing, like they're the, the, the teams that they have to go up against, but the way it kind of, the way it kind of plays out for them, it was a little bit favorable to them. Like they. They, they don't have to play in Miami. Well, when they play in Miami, it's an, it's a night game. So they don't have to deal with that, you know, 120 degree heat that they, that they, that you do in, in Miami.
00:41:13
Speaker
um They play the Chiefs and the 49ers, but the bye week is in between so they can, you know, they can kind of go all out against Kansas city and you get the week of rest to prepare for San Francisco. So that was a good one. Um, you know, so I, I still think they're, they're 12 and five. Um, but yeah, the the schedule will be tough, but I think, I think it plays out kind of, kind of in their favor. Yeah, I got the Packers finishing at 12 and five too. Yeah. but and five thirty you think it your toughest What's your toughest matchup this year? um Honestly, I think I had a schedule in front of me, but I mean, the Lions are going to play us tough. I think the Vikings are going to play us tough. I'm not sure if I have. um Philadelphia. Let's see, we got Philly, Indy, Tennessee, Minnesota, the Rams, the Cardinals.
00:42:09
Speaker
Texans are going to be, they're going to be a tough one. I think Detroit, San Fran, maybe Seattle, New Orleans. So I mean, it's, yeah, some of those games could be trap games too. The games that we're supposed to blow out the team. We ended up getting beat, you know, cause we put you to their level and you know, but hopefully with this new defensive coordinator, he lights a fire under the defense's button. They get, you know, they put the game away early. That's what I'm hoping for. Yeah. Like if they just, they just got to keep doing what they did against Dallas in the playoffs. Like I don't see as much as the league moves into passing all the time and you know, quarterbacks, you know, with 50 throwing attempts, like at the end of the day, just run the ball down their throat until, so that they can't get the ball at all. Like that will always be a good strategy to use. Yeah. And I like, you know, I've said it before that.
00:43:07
Speaker
I think Jordan Love is more fit for Matt LeFlore's offense. I think Aaron did a lot of auto bowling and changed the plays in the huddle. Well, he's, you know, he's a, he's got all the answers, right? So that's what I'm saying though. It's like people had, had LeFlore under fire, but then all of a sudden Aaron's gone and Davante has gone and a couple of riders buddies are gone that he always went to and boom, we have a fresh core wide receivers. They're all on the rookie contract and Jordan loves spreading the ball evenly. They're all getting along and the floor is offense is one to be reckoned with. As you saw against the Cowboys, if yeah you can draw it up and it gets executed, it's, it's scary. And that's, I think Jordan loves a perfect quarterback for that, you know? Yeah. ye
00:43:56
Speaker
One question I always ask is what's your favorite type of cheese? I like the cheese that ah like I like the spicy food. I always like the cheese that has like the habanero and like the jalapeno peppers in the cheese. So I know I know Wisconsin is big on cheese. Do you guys do that? with the Or do you guys just have like the straight up like? No, we there's a cheese shop like not even a mile from my house. I'd say about a half mile from my house that they have. a ghost pepper cheese. Oh, nice. And it's really good. And then there's a, there's a cheese shop, probably about 15 minutes west of Lambo called Maplewood Meats that has a Carolina Reaper cheddar. That's really good. yeah well right Yeah, we are known for our cheese and they like to experiment with a lot of cheese too, but this place has like
00:44:51
Speaker
When I say cheese curds, people don't, a lot of people don't know what cheese curds are, but they're really good and they're really good when they're fresh. Oh, I love, I love a good, I love a good cheese curd. This place on me, they have them fresh like four or five days a week and you can walk in there in the morning and they're, they're squeaky on your teeth. And oh yeah we, we sell them, um, there's a, there's a big cheese curd factory, just like it's maybe 45 minutes outside the city. Um, So all the, all the gas stations kind of in that area, if you stop in and there, there's just a stand that like this company will come in and drop off the, uh, the curds kind of on a weekly basis or whatever it is. And for like 599, you can get like a ah ah bag of these cheese curds and I'll just eat cheese curds on my drive back home for like,
00:45:48
Speaker
There's, there's nothing better than a good squeaky cheese.
Cheese Talk and Wisconsin Delights
00:45:50
Speaker
cooker but I love cheese. I have a cheese life sticker on my car. yeah's It's uh, I'm definitely one and of course, of course we have Putin up here. We have it to put the cheese curds on it. And that is, that's where the, that's where you get the, the love of the cheese curds. Yeah. I think I did a poll one time on on Twitter who had better cheese curds like that. And. yeah Of course, people can probably go with what you said, but people like that have Wisconsin cheese curds would probably go with Wisconsin. So yeah, I don't know. It's like so sometimes I see them. They're like, um, they have like the cheddar curds. They have like different styles, but I like to just a straight up like the, uh, the original white cheese curd white cheddar. I don't like the orange of one. I like cheese. Um,
00:46:46
Speaker
So what are your thoughts on Jordan Love? I think i my thoughts on Jordan Love are kind of similar to my thoughts on CJ Stroud, where like very promising but I feel like sometimes people are like giving him a little bit of too much praise too quickly like let's give him another year let's let's see what he you know if if he has just as good of a season as he had last year then sure let's all let's put him in the you know top five quarterbacks in the league right now or or whatever but I think to to rank him
00:47:25
Speaker
in anything, you're like, okay, well, what if, what if he's not that good? You know what I mean? Like, I think there's, I think he's showing all the signs that he will be, but I think he needs a little bit more time to, to prove it. Sure. And my worry is that like, when teams do that, they, they think that they already have their, their franchise quarterback and like, they think they've got her all figured out. But maybe, you know, maybe, maybe it just wasn't meant to be or, or whatever the case might be. But, you know, let, let him, let him prove it one, one more year, at least at least give him the chance to, you know, show, show what he's made of. Yeah. Let him, let him kind of replicate is his year from last year. Is he if, you know, did he get better? You know, when you were here at Green Bay, what comes to mind?
00:48:23
Speaker
um When I hear Green Bay what comes to mind the Lambo leap is the thing that comes to mind the most um For me personally my aunt was a huge Packers fan and I remember going over to her house was a bunch and watching Packers games and Um, so what I think of Green Bay, I think of hating the Minnesota Vikings. Um, I think of, I forget what his name, I forget his first name, but his, I remember he was Freeman number Antonio, Antonio, Antonio Freeman. Yeah. And I remember he made this play against the Minnesota Vikings where he like fell and he almost dropped it, but he ended up catching it and then like got up and ran for a touchdown.
00:49:06
Speaker
and So I think of that play. That's what I think of when I see Green Bay. Yeah, people always bring that up. So you're going to a tailgate party. What are you bringing? happy um In Buffalo, they're just happy when you bring the Canadian beer. That'll get me into pretty much anybody's tailgate.
00:49:31
Speaker
Yeah, I'm thinking about this year, maybe going to just just going to party in the parking lot. I don't This November 1st, I'll be sober for three years. a fa yes i meant to I meant to congratulate you on that. I know I've seen that on your on your one so I meant to congratulate you on that one. Yeah, it was a lot easier than I thought. yeah know i don't have the the I don't really care at all. just Just whatever it is. Only thing about drinking. So it's, I'm a water and ah and a diet sort of type of guy. So yeah. Yeah. But I mean, for, for food wise, I just like the basic, like just a good grilled hot dog is, you know, really all that, all I need. Um, um I'll get like real food from a, from an actual restaurant and I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to go expecting, uh,
00:50:28
Speaker
You know, like people make crazy food out of the back of their, I don't know how they're pulling it out of the trunk of their car, but like, you know, you can go there and get like a full three course meal of, uh, you know, ribs and mashed potatoes. And like, I'm like, you know, just give me a hot dog with some mustard and catch up on it. And I'm good, man. yeah Some, I go for mustard, some relish. <unk>ionss that Yeah, yeah i do I do onions, mustard, and hot peppers. That's the perfect hot dog for me. Yeah, some Jimmy John hot peppers. Those are the best.
00:51:05
Speaker
um One last question for you. What is your biggest pet peeve? Oh, geez, there's too many too many to pick. um I think when I'm like, like when we're having, when when I'm in a conversation with somebody like like this and they're, I was just talking about this with my girlfriend actually before before we got on and you're in some kind of, maybe it's an argument, maybe it's a discussion, maybe it's a debate, but you're standing there trying to get your point out and the other person is just like constantly cutting you off or like interjecting while you're speaking or, you know, when I tell a story and someone's like, oh yeah, that happened to me too. And they try and like one up your story.
00:51:49
Speaker
that just drives me up the wall. I can't can't handle that. Yeah, I had a guy that I work with, that you you tell a story and he always had to one up you, so we always I always made a joke like, call him like one up and. we got growing Growing up we called the, we called them Mr. Me Too. Cause every time he told the story he's like, yeah, yeah, me too, me too. This guy had all these girlfriends and this and that and it's like, yeah, whatever, whatever Gabe. We called him Gabe and we called him cause we always called him. We called him like,
00:52:28
Speaker
It has an inside joke that we we're calling him a Canadian. So like we call them like gay, blah, like added the G it was like G A B E A U A U X. Like had that, that, that accent.
00:52:44
Speaker
Yeah, I know. Right. My buddy's probably watching right now. Mark. I used i work worked with him and he knows exactly what I'm talking about. But you go to work. I don't know. I don't know what it's like in, in Green Bay, but here in Ottawa, the driving, like I could, I go insane every day when I'm driving to from to and from work, like the driving around here is just atrocious, like slow in the fast lane, fast in the slow lane. No, it's like nobody's ever seen a stop sign before in their life. So like when they get to the stop sign, they don't know who's going and who's coming. And so we all just sit there and wait and like nobody goes and like, oh, drives me nuts.
00:53:27
Speaker
Yep. The first person goes first. The second person goes second. The third person goes third. I like it. You can't count to four. You shouldn't be driving. So like, what are we doing here? And then, then you said, okay, I want to go. Then you you decided to go. Then they all, and they all creep forward. But yeah, it's the same here in Wisconsin. People will go slow in the fast lane and people go fast in the slow lane. And it's just. or they go, yeah, they go fast in this little lane and vice versa. And yeah, they don't know how to drive in roundabouts and you know, you yield to the left with the second you realize the person you're yielding to is going straight, you floor it and go and it's got to keep traffic going. So people, you know, stay safe. Yeah. But, uh,
00:54:13
Speaker
Ben, it's a pleasure having you on. um Definitely look forward to having you on in the future. Absolutely. Maybe I could hop on your show one day. For sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. Let me know. And I think once you get close to the preseason and stuff, i'll ah I'll be sending you a message seeing if you want to come back on any news out of Buffalo and you can go over that and anything out of Green Bay we can talk about and just kind of shoot your breeze. Awesome. Sound like a plan? sounds Sounds very good. Very good. Thank you very much. And just I'll say before it before we go, I appreciate all the all the help you've done for helping get my name out there. You know, like being on your show, helping me out on on Twitter. It's been awesome. I i really really appreciate it. and Not a problem, man. I help those that help me. yeah and Thank you, sir. Yep. You have a good night. Yeah, man. You too. Thank you.