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Ep. 20 - Sabres Check-in & Bills v. Cowboys Preview
52 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to episode 20! Tom, Jake, and guest friend Dana chat over coffee about the whereabouts of the Sabres, the Bills win over the Chiefs, and the game against the Cowboys looming ahead on Sunday.
3 buds. 2 teams. 1 city - The "Let's Go Buffalo" Podcast. Your new favorite podcast for all things Sabres and Bills. Our mission is to be your guide through the ups and the downs of being a Buffalo Sports fan. We are not members of the media nor are we experts - we’re just 3 friends who love our hometown teams and want to bring you along for the ride. This podcast will be for both veteran and newly ordained fans. We’ll have in depth conversation and debate with a few “newbie” questions sprinkled in to keep everyone afloat. Thanks for being here!
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Promotion
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything, bills and sabers.
00:00:23
Speaker
what's going on everybody you are listening to the let's go buffalo podcast your favorite podcast for all things bills and savers with the pals myself tom and dana what's going on boys we got 20 coming at you today two two zero two zero that's wild that's great
00:00:48
Speaker
Look at us, we stuck to something. Look at us. Minders, everybody, if you're listening, follow along on our social media accounts on Instagram and X. It's at Let's Go Buff Pod. That is Buff with two Fs. Let's say hey to
Co-host Dynamics and Humor
00:01:04
Speaker
the fellas. We're one down today. Nigel is under the weather today. Hope you feel better soon, buddy. But stepping in is Dana. Dana, how you doing today, man?
00:01:12
Speaker
Oh, I'm doing beautifully. I'm still getting this coffee to work through my system, but I'm super happy to be here. And I just also wanted to say thanks so much last time for letting me come on and talk bills and savers with you guys. So this hang is always awesome and glad to be back. Yeah, man. We had a blast. Good to have you back on. Tom, how are you doing this morning? I am great. Yeah. Another morning pod. This is becoming a little bit of a tradition. Maybe we're going to have like,
00:01:40
Speaker
Uh, let's go buff pod after dark and like, you know, before caffeine, maybe that'll be the two different renditions of it, you know? Well, please everybody bear with, with us, me in particular. Cause this is the pre caffeine version of the show. We just, we just get faster and faster as we, uh, as we go progress through the show, everybody starts picking up speed. I like, I like.
00:02:04
Speaker
That's, that's your speed up the audio with the Benny healthy music behind it. Oh, that'd be good. Yeah, that'd be good. Yeah. Uh, nice. I know you're going to listen to this eventually. So we're, we're sending a big hug. We'll send you to any kind of immune system. Um, hope you can install it and stay healthy, but, uh, we'll get, we'll get Nigel back here soon. Um, getting ready for the holidays. He's just, he's getting prepped.
00:02:30
Speaker
Yes, sir. So like we said, no beer corner today, because we're not alcoholics. It is nine in the morning. So we'll sip our coffee and dive right into it, I think. Gladly.
Buffalo Sabres Performance Discussion
00:02:42
Speaker
Gladly. So, boys, we've had a bit of a roller coaster that we've been riding lately with the Savers. No time. You've been watching some highlights. What have you been thinking? Man, it's been fun to see, like, OK, wait a second. We went on the road going into last week at the end of last week's pod.
00:03:00
Speaker
It looks, I mean, it looked kind of bleak, right? It was like, Oh man, we're going into a tough, a tough set of sledding here of we, these are gonna be some tough match ups for on the road. And it seemed like the, the Sabers came away with almost the best possible scenario, right? We got majority of the points that they could have on, on this last week or so. Right. Um,
00:03:22
Speaker
And I think, especially in a tough spot, part of the, part of the schedule, I think that's a big deal, especially for a team who needs to kind of get their butts in gear and start making a move to get into playoff contention. I thought that was really cool to see. I, in particular, I was watching last night's game against the Vegas Knights.
00:03:40
Speaker
And it just was, it was kind of crazy because it was quiet. It was quiet back and forth. And then the third quarter explosion was wild. Yeah, erupted back there for sure. That's the way it goes sometimes. Just when you break through, you break through. It's periods, Tom. In hockey, it's periods. Even I know that. Thank you.
00:04:03
Speaker
But yeah, 5-2 win last night. They hung on to win. Thou played Vegas. I wasn't able to watch fully, unfortunately. But great to see them come away with a win on the road in Vegas. That was a game that Nigel and I threw around the other day. Hold on. Hold on to your butts. Let's see if we can even look competitive in this one. Right.
00:04:27
Speaker
But yeah, like you said, a couple of games since the last pod, they won against Boston, again, one of the better teams in the league. The game hosted Montreal and lost at a shootout, but still a collective point. And then you play Arizona, win 5-2, loss to Colorado, 5-1. That was an ugly game. We were texting a little bit after that one about the
00:04:52
Speaker
struggles on ice uh that we were seeing from that one but then follow it up with a nice win uh on the road in vegas five two so that's what is that six seven seven points out of a possible ten for the last five games you take that over a five game stretch any day of the week that's pretty good yeah yeah
00:05:14
Speaker
question about that Colorado game, was it another case of the boys just not looking like they're ready to play? Yeah. Because that's happened quite a bit this season, right? Whenever it's like, OK, man, we're getting into the face, it's usually because we're not ready to play.
00:05:30
Speaker
A hundred percent. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. They let up an early goal. Mikko Rantman wraps it around and tucks it in five minutes into the game. That building goes bananas and then they just pile on. They were down three goals within the first 12 minutes of the game.
00:05:49
Speaker
You can pretty much write the rest of the game off after that. It was ugly. The other fun stat is that it was three-nothing Colorado on the scoreboard. On the shot clock, the Sabres were going to shut out shot-wise. They had zero shots on goal through the first 14 minutes of play or something like that. You can't do that against Colorado. They're going to make you pay, and they absolutely did.
00:06:16
Speaker
you can't do that against anyone right like no yeah definitely you need to be making attempts to make points to score points that's that's a good point yeah it's it was it was bleak i i couldn't watch that one unfortunately but i was just following along on my phone and uh i was kind of thankful that i didn't stay up late to watch that one
00:06:38
Speaker
But anyways, so yeah, we'll see. I mean, they're currently, currently sixth in the division 13, 15, and three is their record. And they are, last week I said they were, how many points out of a playoff spot? Six. Today, after saying that they went on a nice little run, got seven of 10 points.
00:06:56
Speaker
They are currently five points out of a playoff spot. It is so goddamn hard to make up ground and pass teams in this league. Uh, you got to keep, keep, keep outplaying everybody through the end of the year. And that's hard to do over such a long stretch, but it's not impossible. But we'll see if the boys can dig themselves out. They have another chance to do so this evening, Saturday.
00:07:21
Speaker
against Arizona in Arizona. Another tough matchup. They beat them just a few nights ago, but it's a good team. It's going to be tough to beat twice in a row. Then Tuesday, the Sabres host Columbus at home. Thursday, they host their Canadian rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and then close out the pre-Christmas slate by traveling to MSG to take on the Rangers.
00:07:47
Speaker
So we'll see where the road lies ahead. Any questions from you boys? What have you been noticing or liking or curious about in the Sabres world? Yeah, I had a couple of questions. The first one is, I know maybe a week or so ago, the Sabres had played a considerable number more games than a lot of the other teams in their division, or maybe it was just conference, but has that started evening out?
00:08:15
Speaker
Uh, yes and no. Um, it's that six game differential that we talked about between Ottawa and Buffalo is still there, but, uh, you know, other teams around the league have played a similar amount of games. It's not, it's not uncommon for a team to have played a couple more, a couple less, uh, just, just evens out the schedule in other parts of the year. And gotcha. Everybody gets ground into the ground, uh, by the schedule at some point. So.
00:08:41
Speaker
So does it, does that mean if the Sabres have played more games than, you know, the other people, the other teams in front of them in the standings, that means that the Sabres are actually even further back than it looks. Exactly. Yeah. Great point. Yeah. They got, they have an uphill battle for sure. I'll hold my next question. Maybe you want to go Tom.
00:09:06
Speaker
I have been seeing quite a bit and it was really fun watching last and last night's game in particular Zach Benson just like he's looking legit and it's like I kind of because the way you guys always talk about young players coming into the league and needing to play hey can you play up to league speed can you play with these you know professionals and not that okay let me rephrase that
00:09:30
Speaker
Can you play in the league? And at some point, I was kind of waiting for that shoe to drop for him of, hey, man, that rookie look is going to show up. But it doesn't really seem to be happening too often for Zach. Is that what you're seeing too? Yeah, dude, I think that's a great point and 100%. I mean, he's 18. He's not turning 19 until after the season. That's insane. What a guy. Children out there.
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, he's a little baby boy. He gets what he wants for Christmas. I bet he will, yeah. But yeah, you're right. He's looked better and better as the season's gone on. And it's great to see. The numbers earlier on were
00:10:15
Speaker
I mean, he's 18 years old, right? He's not putting up crazy numbers, but the scoring stats have started to come. He's looked more confident. He's a dog on the puck, dude. He just has a nose for it, like that goal that he, last night, picked off a pass in the neutral zone and fed Alex stuff for a phenomenal goal. I think it was the tying goal.
00:10:41
Speaker
Yeah, he's just tenacious. He's got a motor. He's going to be a pest to play against for a long time. It's shocking that he fell to where he did in the draft. And he's not done growing, right? With a little bit of, OK, if he grows an inch or two and then puts on a little bit more muscle, will that help his game? It could.
00:11:03
Speaker
It depends. I mean, it depends like how you put it on and what your strength and other facets of your game are. I mean, because a lot of, he's a speedy guy. So if you bulk up a bit more, you throw a rhinoceros on skates, they're not going to be a very good skater. Are you calling him a rhinoceros? No, no, no, no. Far from it. Far from it. What I'm trying to say is like, he's a smaller guy. He's a smaller guy, right? And so his,
00:11:31
Speaker
Yeah, bulking up a little bit. He's 18 years old. I'm putting Tom on skates versus Zach Benson on skates. That's a better comparison. All I was trying to say is that there have been some guys in the league that talk about in the offseason how they were really looking to bulk up and like get stronger and then they come in and the skating suffers because of it. They're just slow. Yeah, it's a fast league. You got to be able to skate. Right.
00:11:56
Speaker
interesting yeah cool well hey it's been fun to see he's uh he's getting closer and closer to being the the the t-shirt jersey i'm gonna get so yeah uh dude yeah it's a good choice it's a good choice the other one you could consider is our our young friend devin levi who's looked incredible since getting called up that's true week or so ago
00:12:17
Speaker
The Jedi. The Jedi. Yeah. That two game stretch in Rochester, uh, looks like it gave him a little bit of a pissed off attitude and came back and has stormed the net. He's three, oh, and one in the starts that he's had since getting called back up. Uh, he sees 941 save percentage and there's a stack called gold's goals saved above expected.
00:12:42
Speaker
Basically taking the the probability that a certain shot will or will not be a goal from zero to one and then Taking every shot that he's faced in Aggregate and that's that's your how many did he save above what he was expected to save and so he's five and three quarter goals above expected that's like it doesn't
00:13:06
Speaker
It's a stat that kind of creeps up slowly. Like 5.7 goals save expected is a big amount, especially in four games. So he's been keeping the team in games and look, I mean, they need, they need the help right now to get back into the race. So yeah, we'll see. But yeah, credit to Levi for looking, looking the part as he came back up.
00:13:28
Speaker
That's awesome. Sweet. That's actually going to be my next question. Where was, uh, how does the whole goalie rotation look between the two of them? Uh, well, there's, there's, there's three, right? Or three of them. So right, right now, I think Devin Levi is kind of the guy you ride. And I think that's kind of what their plan will be is to ride the hot hand. Um, Devin Levi, UPL, I think those two have looked better than Camry. I don't think Camry's looked.
00:13:56
Speaker
awful but these he's had a couple stinker games for sure but uh we'll see i mean it's one injury one bad game away from a different look so you never really know it cycles throughout the year but right now i'm riding Devin Levi for sure great good to see from the youngster
00:14:18
Speaker
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, that's
Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs Recap
00:14:21
Speaker
Sabre's land. Unless you guys had anything else that you wanted to bring up, I think we should move on to Arrowhead. Works for me. Yeah. The last week, Sunday, the Bills 4 o'clock game took down the Chiefs 20 to 17 in Arrowhead. 3-0 against Patrick Mahomes in Arrowhead, by the way. No team has ever done that.
00:14:43
Speaker
Just saying. And yeah, it was quite the game. There's a lot to talk about. And I think we should start at the top with the scandal. Bum, bum, bum. How fun was it to be on the other receiving end of a, of a billsiest bills kind of play where something was turned around and should have gone the other way, but it was a stupid mistake and we actually got the benefit. That was pretty fun. It was unbelievable. I couldn't, I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.
00:15:14
Speaker
It was a nice play that got, uh, scrapped, but it was greatness. I think you should, you should call it greatness guys. I have a question. If he, if let's say the play counted, would that have counted as a passing touchdown or does, does that only mean like passing is a forward pass? What does a lateral considered? A lateral is considered a handoff. I'm pretty sure. Yep. If it's, if it's behind and he couldn't pass it forward.
00:15:42
Speaker
like passing, passing it forward would be illegal. And that would be, so he has, once he has the ball and it's left the quarterback's hands or the person, the thrower's hand, I suppose. Cause I guess, you know, somebody else could throw it from behind the line of scrimmage. Um, it, it then has to be laterals. Um, yeah, it was a wild play. It was very cool, but I think the reaction was embarrassing for Patrick Mahomes. I thought that was, I do, I have to give him, I'm going to give him, I'm going to walk that back a little bit because
00:16:08
Speaker
He has made some comments in other interviews this week where he apologized and said, Hey man, like I shouldn't act like that. That's not acceptable. I apologize to Josh. I should not. I walked up to Josh and complained and, you know, moaned like I did. So he did walk it back. I'll give him that. But in the moment, man, he looked like a cry baby as cry babies get.
00:16:27
Speaker
You know, like it was honestly embarrassing. Did that on, uh, on the sideline, like people would, would light the pitchforks and go after him. Like I just, I know he's the poster boy of the NFL, but man, that wasn't a good look. So no.
00:16:45
Speaker
You're more forgiving than me, Tom. I think you saw the real Patrick Willems on the broadcast, and then you saw the chief PR person speaking through a Patrick Willems-sized human during the aftermath. That's just my two cents.
00:17:00
Speaker
No, no, I'm there with you. I don't think yeah, you're right. That's what he truly felt. It's just I do appreciate that he went and apologized, you know, there's players who wouldn't have So I think that was a you walked it back, but it was hey that yeah, two colors showed up. But anyway Let me just interject if you don't mind in the moment watching it it to me is
00:17:25
Speaker
Well, I mean, Patrick Mahomes, as an NFL player, he's sort of gotten used to winning a lot. And it felt in the moment that he was like, wait, this can't happen. What is going on? Like, we made the play. I made the pass. Kelsey's called this unbelievable play. And it should be a touchdown. What's going on? This is rigged or whatever. But in reality,
00:17:52
Speaker
you know, the reffing is so unbelievably inconsistent. When they finally do call a penalty that is actually legit, players at times are confused. And I think that just adds to another whole problem with the entire
00:18:10
Speaker
officiating of the NFL, so which maybe we can get into later. But to me, witnessing it at the time, it just felt like a very entitled sort of response from him. Oh, absolutely. What are your I mean, no, let's go into it now. We can we can pump back into kind of the bills recap and go into the Cowboys next. But I agree that it's been it's incredibly inconsistent. And that's the frustrating part.
00:18:39
Speaker
We can see in one single week multiple examples of the very similar plays being officiated in completely two different ways. For the amount of money and the amount of spectacle that the NFL gets, it seems unacceptable for this amount of disparity to be there.
00:19:00
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you see the inconsistency in the level that it's gotten to, like even with the whole, nobody knows what a catch is anymore. And now we have this outside operating system in New York that's gonna just decide what a catch is on a play-to-play basis. I feel like regular fans like myself
00:19:26
Speaker
could easily fall into some weird thinking, you know, thought processes about that, especially considering the NFL is a business. But the thing that's
00:19:41
Speaker
that's very weird and often could be exploitable is if it's not called consistently or certain penalties are called at certain times or moments in the game and then not in other times and then the players and coaches know that
00:20:01
Speaker
you start to need to develop a different strategy based on what the situation is in the game, what time it is in the game, and what you can either get called for or get away with at the time. 100% showed up in the Super Bowl last year. With Patrick, my home's there, right? Like the holding call with 30 seconds left or something. I forgot the details, but
00:20:26
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's exactly it. And honestly, like, do you blame? I don't blame the players either. You play within the rules that are given to you. And if the rules start to look like they're bendable, go bend them, right? Yeah, right. Why not? Like, go bend as many rules as you can until you're told, hey, you broke the rule. And now you're getting a penalty, right? Like, you're not cheating. You're not trying. It's a professional league. Yeah, you do anything to get a leg up. Right.
00:20:51
Speaker
because it's a week-to-week league and you need every bit of luck and help that you can get, but it's incredibly frustrating just to see it inconsistent. Yeah, I mean, I'll give the NFL
00:21:05
Speaker
officiating crew some credit in that, you know, it's never an easy, well, it's not often an easy call. It's just so funny when it is blatantly, you know, a penalty, there's still backlash because of the inconsistency of the, of actually the official calling it.
00:21:26
Speaker
And if, if, you know, the three of us in our, uh, you know, uh, and we can tell if it's something that penalty or not at home, it just is so frustrating when it's like, it's clearly not called on the field. You know, like I'm sitting down on my couch and I can see it. It's like, that's, it's, it's frustrating. And I'm, and especially with the many fans across the, across the NFL can see that like, that's an issue.
00:21:51
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you know, camera angles and the, you know, the fake blue lines that they put on the field for the first down line and the, you know, uh, line of scrimmage. Those aren't obviously like set in stone. Sometimes they can glitch out, you know, a yard, not a full yard, but maybe a half a yard in either direction. But, you know, when you look from different angles after the fact and, um,
00:22:19
Speaker
I guess there are reviews of calls and sometimes you do hear the NFL officiating staff walk back on specific calls. But I just feel like it needs to be officiated better and more consistently at the time. Or this is just going to continue to be a talking point.
00:22:42
Speaker
Yeah, it is. And I think it's going to, I don't think it's going to be fixed. Honestly, I think it's, I think they will continue to kind of just walk down the path they're on because they're making, they're printing more money every day. Like they're just making more money. There's not exactly a large incentive for them not to.
00:23:00
Speaker
Anyway, before we go too far down that rabbit hole, let's- Stop me. Hold me back. Yeah. Let's talk about that Chiefs game. Let's start with just things we liked, just off the top of your head. Either you want to jump in and what was something you liked and you're feeling good about coming out of that Chiefs game? Oh, God. It feels so long ago, if I'm being honest. It does. Well,
00:23:29
Speaker
If I can cheat and pick the low hanging fruit, I thought Josh looked really good. Josh Allen played really well all night. And another performance where he kind of put the team eyes back, like he needs to get them into the playoffs. So I was happy with that. What did you did? Did I miss anything? What did you guys think of his evening? Yeah, I thought Josh looked great for the most part. If I can...
00:23:57
Speaker
look at the defense a little bit I thought actually Sean McDermott in the past couple games before this had started to show some tendencies especially late in games in clutch situations where the Bills kind of were leaning on the defense to make a stop to win the game.
00:24:17
Speaker
which I think McDermott sort of, he's just sort of built that way. He's a defensive coach. He's going to put his faith a little bit more in the defense, it seems, as he's shown us time and time again, which is crazy because we have one of the best quarterbacks in offense in the league, but I digress. But with this game, game on the line,
00:24:40
Speaker
Fourth quarter clutch scenarios Mahomes is driving down the field and It gets to be after that that play it gets to be third down and McDermott usually sends the heat he sends a zero blitz and is hoping that somebody's gonna get there and affect the quarterback and
00:25:04
Speaker
And he broke his tendencies. And on both third and fourth down, he played heavy coverage, zone coverage. And the front four of our defenders were able to affect him enough to work with the backfield and cause incompletions. So I was really psyched about that.
00:25:26
Speaker
Yeah, that was sick. Both those place. It was the third down one. Well, first they had the big debacle. Then they had another holding call. So they backed the back the Chiefs up again. Still third down, but it's third and long. Ed Oliver gets this big old paw up and bats a pass down. Love that. Let's go, Ed.
00:25:46
Speaker
And then fourth down, Von Miller, of all people, got some pressure and forced Patrick Mahomes into a throw that he wasn't quite ready for and the pass fell incomplete. That was huge. So yeah, absolutely. To circle back to Jake talking about Josh, I agree, dude. I think Josh was playing his backyard football all night, right?
00:26:11
Speaker
Unfortunately, that huge debacle was kind of overshadowing everything that happened on this game. But otherwise, that little falling into the sideline throw that Josh made to Latavius Murray to get a heated third and long. It was like 39 in the fourth quarter. Otherwise, we were going to punt this ball back to Patrick Mahomes and give him a lot of time. And Josh pulled a rabbit out of his hat and magically gets this ball to Latavius Murray.
00:26:40
Speaker
I think I got to find the stat, but he was like less than a foot or into the sideline. Like, yeah, I saw that and it was the, it was the closest pass completed. Closest to the sideline pass completed since like 2018 or something like that. And in that timeframe.
00:26:59
Speaker
or maybe not in that timeframe, but there was, there was some stat where like the entire NFL had one pass that close to the sideline, but Josh has five or something like that. He just, I love it. Like he gets, he gets, he put like, if he's in danger, he, he's a Rover. He moves around and tries to make something happen when he gets close to being out of bounds rather than take the loss or. And he was going left. You know what I mean? A lot of those times he's going to his right, which is, he's so dangerous rolling to his right.
00:27:23
Speaker
That's the times where we got the Dawson Knox touchdown in the Patriots playoff game, right? All these different things where he's going to the right. He did it to the left too, which is as a right-handed athlete, like that's incredibly difficult to do.
00:27:37
Speaker
Thank God. I mean, then Murray, then there was a whole Murray, like, you know, he fumbles it and it falls out of, goes out of bounds. And that was a whole thing too. But just the, Josh's play was on, on freaking believable. Was that, was that the same play? Yes, that was all the same play. Yeah. I blacked out. I have blacked out. Not to mention that, not to mention that may not have been a catch,
00:28:02
Speaker
But we won't talk about that. Right. We go back to, hey, what's a catch? I don't know. We don't know. Nobody knows. I don't know. I've watched football for most of my life. And I have no idea. If you told me you showed me 10 pictures of catches, I probably would want to know.
00:28:17
Speaker
but it's okay. Things roll our way sometimes. This is the game of luck, right? Their luck is involved. Well, it doesn't take away from Josh's insane greatness in those moments. It's just unbelievable. He's bat guano crazy and sometimes he makes dumb interceptions and sometimes that happens and it's just unbelievable. Right. You have to take the good with the bad.
00:28:44
Speaker
I think that's our next sticker ideas. Josh Allen, bat guano crazy. That's it. I like that. That's the next because, uh, again, he had another crazy play fourth and one 13, 30 minutes, 20 seconds into the second quarter, broken down play. And he had this little sidearm throw to Kincaid around the defender.
00:29:02
Speaker
Oh, so beautiful. God bless Kincaid. This guy is going to be amazing. And he had a crazy catch. It was a good throw, but it was also really good catch. He fully extended, got the fourth down conversion, and I believe we got points after that. Because it was deep into the Chiefs end of the field, and that was huge.
00:29:28
Speaker
The only silly thing that Josh did that game, I was gonna say last night, it's not. Oh my gosh. That game was that little interception he threw towards the beginning end of the first half. It's like, we're up 14 points.
00:29:44
Speaker
You don't need to put the ball in harm's way and get the ball at a shortened field to the Chiefs, the Patrick Mahomes of all people. They did go and score. They got points off of that. Either take the sack and that's punted away, try and rush for a couple of yards, just tuck it and run. Throwing that interception was just a silly move. But like we said, we got to take the good with the bad. But otherwise, he played out of his mind in that game.
00:30:11
Speaker
It looks like he's building some really nice synergy with this new offensive play caller. So it's just awesome to see. Yeah. And this is the time. Let's go get creative. Let's get a little wild. Thankfully we're in a spot in this season where like we're seven and six. We need some things to go our way and we have a
00:30:32
Speaker
It's like having a, when you're rolling dice and you can actually, actually have like extra sides of, you know, you need a six, but Josh Allen puts extra sixes on that dice, you know, you can go roll the dice, but, and, and, and maybe it'll, and maybe you won't get what you want, but I'm more often than like, he has better chances of getting what you want than other, other players do. Got that Mario nice block.
00:30:50
Speaker
That's funny. I like that analogy, Tom. You get like three extra sixes, but you also get like a zero and a negative three. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. It's a Mario Party dice block. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. Because this is your idea, Tom. I'm just putting the words to it. I like it. Yeah, I know. But you helped. Yeah. I'm spitting this right now. So that's good.
00:31:14
Speaker
Dana, I wanted to ask you, what is your thoughts on Dig's usage right now? Because he had lots of targets. He had like 10 or 11 targets, only four or five catches for a couple of yards, like a drop or two in that past game. What are your thoughts of what's going on with him, his usage? Well, I have my own opinion, but I'm curious of yours. Yeah.
00:31:37
Speaker
So let's look at the last couple games with the new play caller. So I like that it seems like there's still a concerted effort to get him the ball, seeing as he's the best wide receiver we have. And he's been so consistent over basically his entire career. And Josh loves him. I think this last game, well, the last couple games
00:32:07
Speaker
The defenses that we've come against have typically doubled him on most plays. There's always safety help over the top. So they're really, really picking their spots to give him a single coverage look, and it's not very often. And then with this past game against the Chiefs,
00:32:30
Speaker
It seemed like our answer for when the defense was giving us, you know, single coverage versus a blitz.
00:32:43
Speaker
The baked in answer were those digs, little wide receiver bubble screens out to the edge, which would have worked beautifully if he had not dropped the ball a couple of times, right? Even if he catches like one out of two, one out of three of the ones that he dropped or whatever, it would have been better.
00:33:04
Speaker
Against a blitz like that Getting three or four yards out to the edge is fine, right? Right you'd rather take that than a sack which or a drop so I'm not super concerned With how the offense is looking to continue to get him the ball I think there have been some untimely drops For digs in particular these last couple games, but I'm not super worried about it. I
00:33:32
Speaker
Do you guys think that is more a symptom of the Chiefs coverage and the Chiefs defense or just an off night for Diggs or both? I think the drops were a bit of an off night for Diggs. The specific bubble screen answer I think was game plan. Yeah. I didn't know if like there was something the Chiefs were doing to kind of cause more drops or not, or if, you know, just Stefan's got to bring those down.
00:33:59
Speaker
No, I don't think so. We did see early on, he did catch one and you could see a very huge effort to be physical. I don't think I've ever seen Diggs like put his head down, put his shoulder into a defender like that. It was early on.
00:34:18
Speaker
And I was like, Oh, okay. So this is, this is a plan. Like Diggs has gone into this thinking I'm going to put my shoulder down and barrel through some guys on these screens. So maybe that was in his head. Maybe he was thinking about after catching the ball. Um, and I don't know, maybe they were just concentration drops or something. I'm not sure.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah, I'm trying to see if I can find it. I don't think he has, I can't find the stat. He doesn't have many drops this season. It feels like they're in inopportune moments, but he doesn't, like he's very good with like, you know, securing the ball. You should find that stat. I think it's kind of poor this year. Okay. So maybe I'm incorrect.
00:35:00
Speaker
Yeah. All right. I'll keep looking. But I do think that it was a symptom of the Chiefs game planning against him. Game planning to remove him, which opened the door up for James Cook, who looked phenomenal. We should talk about him in a minute. Dalton Kincaid had some nice, really clutch catches. Dawson Knox had some first downs. It did open up for the options for other players.
00:35:28
Speaker
However, I have a thought of like, you see some of these other elite alpha wide receivers in the league, the CD lamps that we're playing this week, the AJ Browns. They seem to just force the 100 yard games anyway. So I'm waiting for Diggs to kind of start doing that again. He played really, I mean, he was over 100 yards a game earlier in the season, like six, seven games. And he was like, he was just, he was cooking.
00:35:57
Speaker
it would be nice to see him, despite being game-planned out of the game, still just forcing his way into creating production. However, I do understand that teams are trying to take him away deliberately. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'm going to go find Diggs Drops. Do you guys want to talk about James Cook? Yeah, Dana, I think you should handle this one. What did you think of his play? How did he get there? You know, that kind of thing.
James Cook and Offensive Strategy
00:36:25
Speaker
Yeah, well, James Cook is really developing into I think one of the top 10 running backs in the league. He has all of the necessary talent, like physical talent.
00:36:36
Speaker
He's continuing to harness his skill throughout the weeks. It seems like he's continuing to perform better and better every game. And this offensive staff is really starting to lean into getting the backs, the ball out of the backfield with short passes and just allowing more yards after catch.
00:37:04
Speaker
you know, he also with a lot of the pre-snap motion that the bills are running, you get these kind of weird mismatches with either, you know, the safety doesn't know if they're supposed to take the tight end or the back coming out or if it's the linebacker's job. So I think
00:37:25
Speaker
Yeah, it's two-fold. He's so good because of his talent and skill. And two, the scheme has changed quite a bit to have more of an emphasis on getting the backs, the ball. Yeah, and opening things up for him. You're right. He's looked incredible. It's been fun watching him. Nothing against other Bills' backs from past seasons, but I feel I've never felt more confident in Bills' running back, I'd say.
00:37:56
Speaker
feel like every time they hand off to him like okay he could get a big chunky run here and oftentimes in the past i would say like all right well we're getting negative one to two yards we'll see right oh yeah that's been fun to fun to see yeah it's cool yeah yeah definitely he's so shifty also we cannot forget just
00:38:19
Speaker
kind of how elite the offense has been blocking in the past few games. I feel like that gets unnoticed, but they're a huge part of that running scheme. Yeah. Is that the new O-line guys, McGovern and Torrance helping out there? Yeah, I think it's partially that and also our offensive line coach just bringing them all together from different schemes.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that in the past, they've tried to do it all. They've tried to be a good gap scheme run offense, and they tried to be a good zone scheme run offense. And this year, it seems like we're just watching them do the plays that they're good at. This swing tackle thing, you're going to see Dion Dawkins come out and just take souls all the time, all right? They're like, this is good. He's good at this. Let's keep doing it because it's working.
00:39:13
Speaker
this putting Mitch Morse out in the realm in motion as well as a lead blocker that's been going working really well. I think they're committing to what's working as opposed to trying to do it all and playing the matchups versus of like, hey, all this team is not as good at defending this one. So we're going to try this this week. It's like, no, we're just good at this. And we're going to stick with these couple of plays. I'm sure it's more than a couple. I'm sure it's a whole packet of plays. However, it's they're sticking with what they're good at.
00:39:43
Speaker
Isn't Mitch Morrison's the center, right? Correct. I see. I don't have the eye for this. I thought he always snapped the ball, but it sounds like he's in motion and blocking. Who snaps the ball when he's doing that? Oh, him. And then he scurries. He's an athlete, dude. He snapped the ball and then boom, he's out and around. Jake, what does the center do on the NFL team? Snap the ball. Yes.
00:40:10
Speaker
So that's what he does. But can no one else snap the ball? Why don't you just hand it between your legs? Have you watched any time that any team has a backup sensor? Have you watched it? It doesn't go well. That's when, that's like, he's one of the players of like, your butt starts to pucker. If your center goes down and you're like, this isn't going to be pretty.
00:40:35
Speaker
Damn, interesting. Yeah, just to put it in perspective, Jake, there are two only two players on the offensive side of the ball that always touch the ball for every play. What two players are they? I would guess center and quarterback. Absolutely. So there is the importance of being a center. I just I thought there was a
00:40:59
Speaker
It just surprised me when you said he snaps the ball and then like swings out and is a lead blocker. I feel like there's four to eight tanks of humans on the other side of you ready to
00:41:13
Speaker
smash into you. I'm just like, how does he have time to back up and like swing around? If you see a play where it happens, I'm really curious. I'll find you some more highlights, dude. He's because he's good at it, too. He's this. Yes, he is. He is one of the best in the league at this being an athletic in motion in space blocking linemen. So I'll find some. Yeah. No, he's really good. I cannot find this this step on big stat. But that's OK. Nonetheless. Yes.
Social Media Engagement and Upcoming Games
00:41:42
Speaker
Send it to us on our social medias if anyone finds it Exactly. There we go. We'll get the people involved Um jay else on bills. Oh, go ahead dana. Go ahead. Oh, yeah, I was just gonna say one uh on those swing plays Let's just say you're mitch morris and your your goal for the play is to swing out to the right And run and lead block for uh, the running back
00:42:08
Speaker
One of the things that allows you to get off of a defensive rusher like a nose tackle is usually the guard on your right will block down to his left and to the nose tackle. And then everyone on his right continues to block down to their left. So you get these guys on the right blocking down to the left and then it allows Mitch or whoever's pulling to run around and guide the play to the right.
00:42:38
Speaker
Okay, interesting, yeah. Yeah, give them some space to do it. These guys are freaking ballerinas in motion, dude. It's really crazy what these guys can do at their size. And with people on the other side trying to absolutely destroy them, who are just as strong and just as big as them. Yeah. It is impressive and also terrifying. Yeah, I wouldn't want to be there.
00:43:04
Speaker
All right, are we ready to move on to this week's matchup? Yeah, who we got coming up? Bills beat Cowboys, boys. This is a big matchup. This is a big one. Bills are coming to, sorry, excuse me, the Cowboys are coming to Buffalo, 4.25 on Sunday afternoon. And the Cowboys are hot. They're one of the hottest teams in football right now. They've won the last five by, what I think by my calculations is approximately a gazillion points.
00:43:33
Speaker
And this is a must have a game for the bills if the bills win this one and continue and then we have Chargers and Patriots which Who knows with this team, but you've got to think that we could win those ones who knows those are not guarantees But who knows we can set ourselves up for being in contention for the division Which is a big deal, right? Cuz we have Miami and week 18. So, um
00:44:01
Speaker
The Cowboys have locked up a playoff spot. The Cowboys are leading their division right now. I think, yes, they're a really good team. They're a hungry team. I think the Bills are backed up to a corner, and they're going to want it more. So I think that's going to be a big deal for them. But let's talk through some of the kind of leading headline stories for this game. The last, well, since week eight, the Cowboys have scored the following points.
00:44:31
Speaker
43 against the Rams 23 and a loss against the Eagles 49 against the Giants 33 against the Panthers 45 against the commanders 41 against the Seahawks and 33 against the Eagles This is gonna be a shootout If you're a betting man, take the over because there's gonna be a gazillion points in which ever team wins the Bills or the Cowboys It's gonna be because they scored
00:44:58
Speaker
35 or more points. I don't know. It's gonna be a lot of points that are gonna be needed Interesting. Yeah I Wonder if it's gonna come down to what defense can get a takeaway, right? If it's a shootout like that Those taking care of the ball and getting a turnover is gonna be real important Really important. Yeah. Yep And that Cowboys team is really good at taking the ball away
00:45:26
Speaker
Dan Quinn is like a genius at setting his players up to make plays. And the personnel they have are really good at doing that. The big one is number 11, up front, Micah Parsons. The guy is probably one of my favorite defense defender to watch in the entire NFL. He's just a freak. And he's so, so good. I'm going to have to watch my emotions because I'm going to be excited to watch him play, but he's playing against our guys.
00:45:56
Speaker
He's electric. He can line up almost anywhere on the D-line. So Jake, he will line up in front of Mitch Morse. Then the next play, he'll be on the end against Spencer Brown. And then later in the game, he'll be on the other end against Dion Dawkins. In another play, he'll back up in the coverage. This guy, you're going to see him everywhere on Sunday. Is that uncommon? I'm not trying to... Oh, yeah.
00:46:18
Speaker
evaluate what you said, but like, so, so they're moving around quite a, not, not every player is moving around like that. They usually have like, okay, you're going to stand here, buddy. And don't let this guy get past you. Yep. Yeah. Think about the bills players, right? We don't, we don't have anybody who does that. We have some players like, um, Greg Russo may usually plays outside, but sometimes he lines up inside. Um, but I mean, Shaq Lawson, I guess I've seen him line up once or twice inside.
00:46:46
Speaker
But we don't have many players who move around like that. Yeah, OK. I'll watch out for Micah. That is a big deal. He's like a generational talent, like going to go down as one of the best to ever play the game. Interesting. Wow, OK. I'll keep an eye out for him. I'm going to be honest with you. This is the first time I'm hearing his name. That's OK. No, it's all good. Number 11 on the Cowboys on the D line. You'll see. OK, OK. Yeah, I'll look out for him on Sunday.
00:47:12
Speaker
Yeah, he's amazing. What makes him so formidable is just the number of ways he can beat you. He can beat you with strength, speed, agility. It doesn't matter. And usually what? Intelligence. Intelligence, yeah. His speed is unreal at his size. That's one of the things that makes him elite.
00:47:33
Speaker
A lot of times what the Cowboys do is move him around in different situations to go after specific matchups. I'm wondering if they're going to put him on Spencer's side quite a bit, which I'm kind of scared about.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah. Spencer Brown and Osiris Torrance are going to have a day. They're going to, they're going to, they're going to be worked. And, um, I think a big determining factor for how our offense does is what kind of help does Joe Brady scheme up to get, um, Osiris Torrance and Spencer Brown help. Um, it's there's, there's going to be a lot that they do to mitigate Micah Parsons impact on this game. And if you can do that, I think the bill is offense has
00:48:17
Speaker
I don't know. I think their chances of success go up by 50%. If you can mitigate and slow down Micah Parsons, you're not going to eliminate him. He's going to make a play or two. He's going to. But if you can slow him down and try and mitigate his impact on the game, okay, we can start moving, right? So that's going to be a big deal. It's whether it's Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid helping chip blocking. If it's
00:48:42
Speaker
James Cook blocking for his life. You know, like, I think it's going to be a variety of different ways. It's scheming the ball away from Micah Parsons, right? Getting him so he's not involved in that play is going to be a big deal. Yeah, big test for the offensive line for sure.
00:49:01
Speaker
I also think that means the short quick game is going to be a big, a big, a big factor. I think James cook gets five plus receptions. I bet the tight ends get each get five plus receptions. Um, and we're going to be trying to get the ball out and moving to again, remove Micah Parsons impact on this game. Yep.
00:49:24
Speaker
You want to shift over to what our defense needs to do versus their offense?
Dallas Cowboys Preview
00:49:29
Speaker
Dak Prescott and their offense is coming in pretty hot. Maybe the hottest in the league right now. I think so. I mean, Dak has set himself up. In my eyes, he's the leader for the MVP conversation, right? He's dealing. He can't really do any wrong right now. He has given the ball away once in the past six games.
00:49:50
Speaker
He's playing clean, smart football, but not just things and dunks. He is, he's, he's taken shots down the field and his, his offensive skill position players are answering the call and CD lamb has come alive. And, um, at the beginning of the season.
00:50:05
Speaker
when the Cowboys offense was kind of looking a little bit shaky and weren't sure what was going on. I was like, Oh man, what's going to happen with CD? Cause he's in a contract year. Is he going to get one of these giant wide receiver contracts? Probably, but now he is. Yeah. He's absolutely going to be up there. Maybe breaking the bank and breaking, you know, getting a new, a new contract that breaks the new record. I don't know. He's going to be up there with Justin Jefferson and Jamar chase, I think agreed.
00:50:32
Speaker
Um, speaking about CD, I think Taryn Johnson is gonna, this is gonna be a Taryn Johnson game.
00:50:37
Speaker
If, uh, if Taron can play how we've seen him play, and he absolutely is capable of in playing in the slot, CD lamb lines up in the slot quite a bit. So that means really close to the line of scrimmage, right? So he's on either side, the right or left of the line of scrimmage. The slot wide receiver is the first wide receiver on either side usually plays inside the fields, doing these things in space, getting it cutting across the little of the field, quick, short throws. CD lamb is one of the best slot wide receivers out there.
00:51:05
Speaker
He can also play out wide and he, because he's a great wide receiver, he plays other places, but his, his bread and butter is playing in that slot wide receiver position, which is a Taren Johnson role. So Taren, Taren, buddy, eat your Wheaties, do whatever you got to do to come in and, and play your life. Um, play the game of your life. Cause, uh, this is going to be a big, this is going to be a big matchup for him.
00:51:28
Speaker
I would assume that McDermott tries not to put our defense in too many one-on-ones versus him. I'm assuming that there's going to be a lot of zone, but he does like to blitz, so there are going to be those one-on-one moments and you're just going to have to try and mitigate those.
00:51:51
Speaker
They're going to try and attack Tyrell Dodson too, I think. Yeah. And get, get CD on Dodson. And that's like putting me against CD lamp, you know? That's going to be a liability. That's going to be a instant yards. Is Ferguson their tight end? What is that? Yep. Jake Ferguson.
00:52:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, excuse me. It's not like they have nobody other than CD, like they have good other wide receivers and a tight end to go to. So it's going to be tough all the way around. It will be.
00:52:26
Speaker
If the, um, and you and I were kind of talking before the, before we recorded, I think this is going to come down to the trenches. If the Bill's D line can get to Dak and affect this game, um, that will help. If the Bill's O line can somehow mitigate Michael Parsons, that will help. So I agree. I think this is going to be come down to a trenches battle, um, which is really going to set the tone and really help. But.
00:52:52
Speaker
Right now, our boys are playing, right? That Bill's D-line played really well against the Chiefs. And Oliver was affecting that game. Greg Russo was in there. A.J. Appanessa, who was unfortunately ruled out,
Buffalo Bills Playoff Prospects
00:53:05
Speaker
had that tip ball and interception against back to her homes. Hopefully, A.J. Appanessa is not going to be a long, long-term injury from the sounds of it. It's going to be a two to three weeks. Our buddy at Banged Up Bills is
00:53:20
Speaker
Is saying that it's probably not going to be an IR situation, but just a few weeks So hopefully he's coming back. It's some something to do with rib cartilage. I don't know. It doesn't sound good So, uh, that sounds painful. Yeah sound sounds painful. Exactly. So not great. We'll see I am Kairi has been a has been activated his 21-day window from IR. He had an ankle injury earlier this year
00:53:44
Speaker
Do you think that he plays this week and what kind of impact do you think he might have? I don't think he'll be thrust right into the starting lineup, but I think he will be active. So, yeah, we'll see. God forbid we have an injury. I think he could see play. You know, a lot of people are still very down on him. I still am holding hope for him. So, we'll see.
00:54:12
Speaker
Me too, me too. I'm holding hope just because we have to. But last time we saw him on the field, it wasn't the best. But it could be just because he's been dealing with this injury too. Hopefully he's fully healed up and he took the time that he needed and he's ready to go.
00:54:27
Speaker
Let's move on to kind of closing out this episode. The, I want to talk quickly about Bill's rooting interests because the bill is being seven and six are in a whole slew. We're in like a log jam here with the rest of the AFC all stuck kind of competing for these wildcard spots where I think we're still 10th or 11th in the, in the AFC, but there's five or six teams that are all seven and six.
00:54:49
Speaker
Unfortunately, it's also like the Broncos, the Jaguars are in there, all these teams that we don't have the win over. So we need some help. We need some help. The boys and I went through today before we logged on for our recording to go through and figure out which games we need to go the bills way. Number one, we need the bills to win over the Cowboys. That's a duh.
00:55:14
Speaker
The Raiders win over the Chargers last week. It was great for the Bills. Vikings over a Bengals because we can keep the Bengals down. The Steelers versus the Colts. It's kind of a wash. They're both seven and six teams. We do not play them either team this season, so it's kind of a wash. Either way is fine. Lions over the Broncos. We need the Broncos to get another loss. The Bears over the Browns. We need the Browns to get another loss.
00:55:44
Speaker
It tightens over the Texans. We need the Texans to get another loss. The Jets over the Dolphins. Let's go Zach Wilson, because fuck the Dolphins. Ready for this? Let's go Pats. Pats over Chiefs. I'll say it once. It still feels so weird. It does feel weird. But you know, we'll go for it. Also, we want the Chiefs to get a loss and we want the Patriots to get another win so they keep climbing up to a higher draft pick.
00:56:14
Speaker
Giants over Saints, Commanders over the Rams, that's a strength of schedule kind of win because we play the Commanders and we beat them. So we want them to have a higher win percentage so that our win looks better. Same thing with the Giants, right? Because that's an out of conference game. Correct, yeah. So that strength of schedule as for those folks out there kind of following along, the playoff race
00:56:38
Speaker
You, it starts with winning your division. So division leaders get a playoff spot and then it's wildcard spots. You earn those wildcard spots by your record. However, since there are so many ties and so many teams right here, all very close to each other.
00:56:52
Speaker
Um, head to head wins are a big deal. So those one, if you, you're a team beat the other team and you're ever tied, Scott, um, tied record, you're going to have the advantage. And then after that, it goes down to, um, conference strength, conference wins, and then strength of schedule. So if you have beat more teams that have a, that are better, you, you have that advantage over the other team. It gets convoluted. It gets a little kind of, there are just so many of if this, then that, if this, then that that's one.
Conclusion and Listener Appreciation
00:57:23
Speaker
That's for a beer episode, not a coffee episode. I don't know if you'll need another second cup of coffee for that one. All right, guys. Well, hey, thanks so much. This has been really fun. Dana, thanks for hopping along again, bud. It's always good to have you. Always good to hang.
00:57:37
Speaker
It was lovely. Yeah. Thanks so much. Anytime you want to call me on, you know, 15 minutes to go, let me know. He dropped everything guys. He dropped everything for you, the listeners to come on and have a great conversation. This has been fun. Uh, thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for joining us and spending some time with us on this lovely Saturday morning. Hopefully you guys can listen to this before the bills play the Cowboys tomorrow night.
00:58:01
Speaker
It would mean a lot to us if you would please share this episode, give it a like, give us a follow. Maybe you have friends who are traveling for the holidays, send them one so they can listen to it in the car. Please follow us on Instagram and X at Let's Go Buff Pod. That is Buff with two Fs. These are my pals, Dana and Jake. My name is Tom and you're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast.
00:58:26
Speaker
We're sending you love wherever you are. Go Bills. Go Sabres. Let's go Buffalo.