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Ep. 62 - Boy oh Boy oh Boy
35 Plays6 months ago
Join the boys for group therapy after a dismal Buffalo sports weekend. Not only did the Bills stomp on our hearts Sunday, but the Sabres opened their season in troubling fashion on Fri/Sat. We dive into the Sabres woes and how they can rebound for their home opener this week. We slice and dice the Bills mishaps against the Texans and then look ahead to an important match-up against the division rival Jets. Thanks as always for listening!
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Transcript
Introduction and Social Media Plugs
00:00:33
Speaker
Welcome in folks. How we doing? Welcome into the let's go Buffalo podcast, your favorite podcast for all things, bills, and savers with the pals, Tom and Jake tonight, episode 62 coming at you. Quick reminder to follow our social medias
Jake's Personal Updates and Buffalo Sports Loyalty
00:00:50
Speaker
at let's go buff pod with two F's on Instagram X and YouTube. Let's say, Hey to Jake, but I think he might be, there he is. All right. Fantastic. Jake, what's going on, dude? I'm here. Yeah, hopefully you can hear me. I'm I'm good, dude. Yeah, it's ah ah we're we're ironing the kinks out. We still are. But, you know, yeah, man, I'm good. I'm I'm good. Got a nice fall beer in front of me. It's crispy and cold outside, dude. I can't complain. Closing on our house next week. Yeah, that's huge, man. That's a big deal. Yeah. So now I'm good. So I'm i'm moving. So I'm just fucking blank wall behind me. But you're not giving up your fandom. No, not yet.
00:01:32
Speaker
You're down to one little pennant. Yeah, I took one thing off the wall every time I swore up my TV. Oh, dude, you'd be walking around naked at that point. Oh, boy. Nobody wants that.
The Emotional Rollercoaster of Being a Buffalo Sports Fan
00:01:47
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Well, you know, what's it like being a Buffalo sports fan if we didn't have some ah tumultuous ah ah emotions here, right? ah Exactly.
00:01:57
Speaker
How are you though, dude? Should we should crack a drink? Please do. Yeah, let's do it. Let's give me a countdown. Three, two, one. All right, bro. I got a... Yeah, hit hit it. wouldn't What are you drinking? I was going to say, you got the kadoosh so good on that. It's so great. you you you You nail it. You nail it. I'm ah doing a little bit of a sober October this this month. So I have... I'm trying these athletic brewing companies um and I've heard great things and I'm really excited. I had one the other day. Super good, but no alcohol. so um still get that beer ah sensation without the alcohol. Yeah, dude, they're they're a good beer. I like them. They're they're tasty. Even though there's no no alcohol in them. Some some alcoholic beers just kind of leave like a smacking bad taste in your mouth. But those those are nice. Yeah. I got a sudden chill from return brewing this evening. Oh, hell yeah. i Look at that line on there. I think I repeated this one. I think I've had this one on here before. But it's a nice sour ale.
Sabres' Weekend Performance Overview
00:02:54
Speaker
How dare you
00:02:55
Speaker
And I grabbed a sour beer because a little segue had a sour taste in my mouth from Sunday evening until now. Yeah. Just walking around pucker in your lips. Exactly. So I think what we're going to do folks is we're going to, we're going to dive into the the good, the bad, the ugly of everything from the weekend. We had three days in a row of misery. Sabers played Friday, Saturday, and then Bill's played on Sunday. So we're going to kind of go in order of those games there. Yeah. Sound good, Tom? Yeah, why not? Right. Let's do it. Walk me through. I know it wasn't good. I was following along and I was very excited to kind of like keep some tabs and it was not as as fun. I did not make me go click on the link. You
00:03:40
Speaker
You said you did yourself a favor, not not clicking that link. Yeah. So Sabers were in Prague over the weekend, Friday and Saturday. They played the Devils both games. They lost four to one on Friday and lost three to one on Saturday.
Sabres' Roster Changes and European Trip Impacts
00:03:52
Speaker
Before we before we dive into those games a little bit, a couple roster moves I just wanted to touch on. After the trip to Europe, they sent down a handful of players to get down to the 23 man roster limit.
00:04:01
Speaker
Uh, James Reimer, goaltender, Lucas Russek and Kale Clegg all got put on waivers. James Reimer got claimed by Anaheim in that transaction. Um, so John Gibson, they're starting goalies out for the next six to eight weeks. He had his old appendix popped. Uh, so he's, he's fine, but he, he's out for a number of weeks. yeah So yeah I think that's probably why a little short-term stop gap for them.
00:04:26
Speaker
But now, just to just a quick question. Why didn't they have to get down to that number before these games like weren't these games regular season games? They were. But teams that go on these European trips, they allow to have expanded rosters in case there's injuries. It's much more difficult to get a player over from North America. So they give them a few extra players. I think it was twenty six, twenty seven, something like that that they carry until after these games. So that's why NFL you listen. and is that Is that really not a thing they don't they don't get extra? No, you get the same amount as always. yeah oh interesting Just suck it up and figure out how to get across the across the pond.
00:05:03
Speaker
But yeah, the so James Reimer, not a big loss. i was I think everybody was hoping that he wouldn't be one of the two starting net minders in Buffalo anyways. It does it does make the situation a touch more precarious if one of the two, UPL or Levi struggle, you you really don't have another option to turn to. so God willing, they're both ah ri up for the challenge this year of playing behind Buffalo. So anyways, on to the bad and the ugly from those games.
Injuries and Power Play Struggles
00:05:34
Speaker
First off, injuries. Injuries suck. A couple of them in these games. Nick Abe-Kubel, new addition this year. he i Injuries in the and NHL are very vague. So um all I can tell you is it's a lower body injury. He's out for three to six weeks. He went on IR.
00:05:49
Speaker
We'll miss him for about a month. It looks like Zach Benson. Also lower body injury. He's day to day. He practiced today and looks likely to play tomorrow for the home opener. So good news on that front and same with JJ Paterka. He he that.
00:06:04
Speaker
vicious predatory head hit in game two against the Devils in Prague. ah Ruled out with a concussion that day, didn't come back to the game, but he got back into practice and was skating with the team. So the hope is that he plays tomorrow. Gotta hope those guys are.
00:06:21
Speaker
Not too banged up and ready to go for tomorrow. Right. Yeah. Hopefully he'll look pretty good. Yeah. That'd be good. Dude. I don't know if you saw a replay or anything, but that, that hit was, was fucking awful. It was, I mean, they know, no supplementary discipline, but he made.
00:06:36
Speaker
direct contact with the head. Yeah. Just puck was gone. It was, it was, it was a tough, tough thing to watch. Yeah. It was nasty. Yeah. Yeah. That was, yeah. Yeah. It was yeah incredibly dirty. So in, in those two games, I think you said you didn't watch. Was there anything that you heard that you wanted to kind of, kind of throw out there as far as how sloppy it looked or i jumped out to you?
00:06:56
Speaker
Well, the big thing that i that I heard was the power play was still sputtering. So we've continued the power play struggles from last year. um it's just it It just it seems a little backwards. so You would think that would be something that ah old Lindy wanted to get tuned up there, but apparently that didn't happen at least overseas in Prague.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, they they talked about it in training and camp, making that a priority. And they said they worked on all aspects of the game. But boy, it did not look like it on the power play. And it sounded like a broken record. It was all last year. We were talking about how disjointed it was. And that's that's the word I would use, again, this for these two games. They went 0 for 6 throughout those two games. They were down almost every time, I think, that they had a power play. So there it's not like they're 0 for 6 on a power play, and they won 7 to 2 each game.
00:07:44
Speaker
um And it just, it was, it was, they looked slow. And the big thing you have to do on the power play, I ah forgot who, who said it, but there's a quote out there. You, if you want to score on the power play, you better outwork the penalty killers. That's the only way to do it. You can't just rely on having an extra guy. And they did not do that. They were slow, sloppy passing, couldn't enter the zone. One of them in game two They gave up more shots and chances to the Devils in the power play than they had. They couldn't even get across their own blue line. It was it was rough. Pardon the pun. I do know a good one this year. It's low low- hanging fruit. You know i yeah I'm good for those low hanging funds.
00:08:27
Speaker
But I do know that they when they got back to North America, they were working on the power play in practice extensively. So it's you know it's i'm I'm happy to hear that. It wasn't like Lindy Ruff came out and the press conferences said, you know, power play looked fine. We'll we'll get one eventually. that you know yeah There's an awareness that it was not good. It's two games. It's it's a long season. it can It can improve, but it needs to look more improved. and and There's there's no no creation of motion out there. You have to get the defenders moving. And New Jersey is a good penalty killing team. They're speedy, speedy, speedy, speedy in general, but especially on the penalty kill, forcing the errors that the Sabres had. so
00:09:09
Speaker
Anyways, on
Sabres' Passing and Shooting Challenges
00:09:10
Speaker
to other things. I kind of alluded to it, but the passing in general was was just just looked off. Players were kind of maybe not in the right position to accept a pass or the pass was a bit off. You have to imagine that that settles in hopefully over time, but the team just looked like they had switched coaches and were adjusting to a new system. Didn't exactly have the confidence of I need to be here at this time and I'm going to get the puck. There was just a little bit of staleness and and um yeah second guessing. So that's that's something I would say, give it a few games to let it work out. The issue that I have with that is that New Jersey was in the exact same boat, new coach, new new systems you would imagine. So you know it's it's tough to make that an excuse when both teams are in the exact same position.
00:10:01
Speaker
right So we'll see. And just just in general, the Devils are such a fast team. It looked like Buffalo had a hard time matching that speed. And that is that is really the way that you beat the Devils, is is match their speed and you use it against them almost when they get caught trying to break up break that up and break it out the other way. So ah yeah, we we'll see. I mean, all can be forgiven if New Jersey does come out and and is this powerhouse team that's fighting for the top spot in the East. And Buffalo looks good in the next couple of games.
00:10:32
Speaker
A lot can be forgiven, but you need to play those games. We'll we'll see. We'll see if that actually comes to fruition. Right. Right. Now, is that a chemistry thing? Do you think where there are new combinations of lines or is there um a lot of turnover at important positions? Like it it sounds like it's a chemistry problem of them just not connecting and being where they think each other should be.
00:10:53
Speaker
it It could be that. Yeah, there there was. I mean, the bottom six of the team is is almost entirely new players yeah at this point. um So learning learning new line mates, that kind of thing. ah jj yeah yeah Yeah, I would say, yes, like the line combinations are fairly new this year. um Don Granado was famous for switching lines up constantly last year. So I do hope Lindy Ruff kind of leaves them a bit more cohesive and lets them build that chemistry a bit.
00:11:20
Speaker
right um Yeah, so, you know, it's that's not really an excuse in the NHL for, for, you know, your line mates change all the time. It's not you, you can't, you can't use that as an excuse, you got to be able to play with who you're playing. Okay. But dude, the other thing I wanted to talk about hit the net when you're shooting the pocket. I understand to get it's a game of inches, and maybe those shots are an inch or two away from the post. But still, hit the net. 46 shot attempts over those two games, missed the net. 40, 46. That's a lot. That's a couple. Tuck and Power both had six that missed the net. Greenway, Zucker, Clifton had five, and Thompson had four.
00:12:06
Speaker
make the goalie make a save. Like like I understand you you it's you you're trying to shoot for areas where the goalie is not, but also it's a wasted play if you're missing the net every time and banging it off the glass. so And it changes the flow of the game, right? If you can put pressure on the other team where, hey, they're not playing with the lead, if you're playing from a tie, they have to approach the team, the game differently, right? like So having some kind of offensive production changes how things are approached on both sides of the net.
00:12:34
Speaker
like they and they need ah they need yeah they need to capitalize on a couple of those. You put 1% in on those, right? in that right Or 2% and then we're where that's ah that's a big bump. Anyway, go ahead. No, 100%. No, you you mentioned percent. and that's that's it's It's in my good category, but this is a good time to talk about it. The the shooting percent that they do have right now, I think it's like 4% shooting. That's significantly below average. That will come up. So yes, there's some there's some offensive anemic tendencies from those first two games. But I do think that corrects and and gets back to a more average position. Most most teams shoot around 9, 10, 11%. So yeah you know that that's going to come up. They're going to get more chances. they it's it's just It has to happen. So right look look for that
Defense Dynamics and Player Highlights
00:13:21
Speaker
to correct.
00:13:22
Speaker
uh finally and this this will be a good segue into the good but another bad point the bottom pair clifton samuelson didn't inspire a lot of confidence they looked like they were swimming out there sometimes both of those guys are fairly hard nosed difficult to play against but they were getting walked by the devils again could be a speed thing that they just couldn't match up with the devil's speed but this This is a team that's built from the back end of it. So you really need to rely on your defense to play soundly. And especially with how much Lindy Ruff deploys third pairings, he he likes to kind of spread time out over his defense pairings. So I need to see them settle into their roles a little bit and perform a bit better.
00:14:05
Speaker
But on the flip side, I'll move into my, we're we're looking up here, folks. We're looking positive. It can only go up from here, right? Hey, yeah. Oh, God. No, but but other other defense pairs. The Pyram power pair looked great to me. Pyram can fly, and he looked a lot more comfortable on the team in these two games, I thought, than he did most of the time that he was in Buffalo last year.
00:14:33
Speaker
So that's really exciting to see. I hope power can develop a little bit more in his own end. And you Owen Power is not a stay at home defenseman, but hopefully he can kind of shoulder a little bit more of the I'm going to stay back role and still contribute offensively like he can, but let Bowen Byram fly a little bit out there because he's tremendously fast and is really smart with the puck. so I liked what I saw from them. Yeah. And Owen Power looked great in the offensive zone. score ah Scored the only goal Buffalo had in game one. And it just looked like he had a little bit more confidence. you know He's a new contract, getting a bit more established in the league. So I hope that continues.
00:15:14
Speaker
Sweet. And the goalies.
Goalie Performances and Future Prospects
00:15:17
Speaker
UPL didn't look phenomenal. I don't think anyone would say that he did. But I just want to pump the brakes a little bit. I've heard people kind of say like, oh my god, dude, same same old UPL. Last year was a fluke. This was one game that he played. One game. He was not great to start last year either. Goalies take. You need reps. You need game action, game speed.
00:15:38
Speaker
yeah I'm very willing to give him five, six games of Runway before I start making judgment calls on his performance. you know so With that said, Devin Levi in a one game sample, I'll talk about both sides of my mouth, looked fantastic and I hope that continues. Yeah, he he really capture kept them in that second game for a long time when they really had no business being in it still.
00:16:04
Speaker
so Hope the kid sticks, and it is a true tandem where they split the games a bit. And it's that's looking like where we'll be, so. Sweet. Finally. Do you think that Levi is going to play more up in Buffalo this year than he did last year? Because he spent a good chunk of last the end of last season down in Rochester. Yeah, I think he played 10 games in Buffalo last year. So I imagine, especially with Reimer getting claimed, I imagine that he'll be up and in the NHL this year for for hopefully better, but maybe worse.
00:16:33
Speaker
um I think they'll probably split games 50, 30, something like that. But <unk>ll we'll see. But yeah, I think this is your tandem for the year. Cool.
00:16:45
Speaker
Last thing, Yuri Kulik got in. He's a check-borne player. So he got into the lineup in Prague. So that was exciting for him. And because of the injury to Abe Kubel, it looks like he's going to make the team, at least in the short term. I hope they rotate him in and get him game reps in the NHL. He's he's proven that the AHL is maybe a bit behind him, and that's great. I just hope he's not sitting in the press box in Buffalo for a long term. So anyways, yeah, that's that's the games in Prague.
00:17:15
Speaker
can afford an 0 and 2 start. it's it's It's an uphill climb from here. You got to dig in and win. I got to see them win like the next six of their next eight games, something like that, to to to not fall behind. Because we've talked about it last year. We've talked about it before. You can't fall behind early. They matter just as much now as they do in March.
00:17:38
Speaker
smart man once told me you gotta to be in playoff position by Thanksgiving, baby. that give its the date Thanksgiving is not that far away with the mashed potatoes come off the stove. You gotta to be in playoff position. Yes, sir. Yes, you do. So how do they get there? A couple of games this week. They are home opener is tomorrow, Thursday against l LA and then another home game on Saturday against Florida, Florida.
00:18:02
Speaker
no No Stanley Cup hangover there. they They blew by the Bruins last night. they're they're legit They're legit. They're not taking their foot off the gas. So that's going to be tough. LA has some cracks. I think they're that's a beatable game, beatable team, especially without Drew Dowdy, who's out for at least a few months.
00:18:20
Speaker
so ah it's it's game three it's it's too early to call ah a game a must win but fuck dude for for this early in the season tomorrow night against l LA is as close to it as it comes so you can't you can't start this season again on home ice in front of your fans you can't go down oh and three against a team in the west that is I would say probably worse off than you right now. So yeah, you got you got to make it happen. You got to. Yeah, dude, that's that's the that's the stage we've set for ourselves is a must win game on the third game of the season. So anyways, long, long year. A lot can happen. But.
00:19:01
Speaker
yeah Anyways, pal, let's let's move
Bills' Inconsistent Performances Overview
00:19:03
Speaker
on. Let's talk about our other Buffalo team that broke our hearts in different ways on Sunday. Yeah. Bro, dude, what ah what do we what did we do? Somewhere, sometime, our ancestor did something in like on the like the like the the grounds of Buffalo, and we have just just just cursed ourselves, man.
00:19:22
Speaker
The bill's lost on Sunday afternoon, 23 to 20 to the Texans. And boy, oh boy, did it got just got worse. It just got worse. I i got to be honest, I'm not sure how organized this conversation will be because I just got a lot of thoughts that we just got to go through. um In my first one, I just got i want to How can we be so starkly different? We came out of week three, beating the Jaguars. We were like as pretty much as high as high could be, right? Like, could we have felt any better about this Buffalo's Bills team after that Jaguars win? I don't, I don't think so. I think it was everything we always wanted. And then just, just two haymakers straight to the face the Ravens and now the Texans and boy, oh boy. I don't know what to think about this team. Where are you at with this team, pal?
00:20:12
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's the switch from feeling so high to feeling so low is is stark. um Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think when we started the year, kind of taking a step back, we we we kind of maybe penciled in the Ravens. Oh, boy, that's a toss up. The Texans, oh, man, I don't know about that one. So I don't think it's necessarily bad that they lost those games. But kind of the the how they lost those games is the more concerning part.
00:20:41
Speaker
uh there's always there's always it seems to always be a lull at some point in the season where they are not playing their best football and boy i'd rather have that be in early october than early january good but still yeah man it just it looked disjointed i've said that word 16 times on the podcast today but fuck it's it's ah it's an apt descriptor of what we saw from both the bills and the savers like yeah Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about him right now. It's I did two weeks ago. We were saying I'm not going to bet against this team until they give me a reason to. Well, we'll shit. We have a reason. I have every reason. I have every reason. Yeah. It's like they're all playing telephone out there and nobody's talking to each other.
00:21:18
Speaker
Right. And it's just right. It's just the entire team, the entire roster, entire coaching staff. I don't care who it is. Nobody was on the same page. No, it's not complimentary
Analyzing the Bills' Offense Struggles
00:21:28
Speaker
football. So we saw in the first three weeks against the Cardinals, against the Dolphins and against the Jaguars. The Bills were able to um put things together and put points on the board.
00:21:39
Speaker
I think that this team is going to have trouble playing from behind. We talked about that last week with Greg Thompson and shout out. If you did not catch that episode, go back to our YouTube feed or our Spotify feed or wherever feed and listen to that episode because it was really fun. And we had Greg Thompson on for the first half hour or so. So go check it out. It's episode 61. Um, but we talked quite a bit about how this team We'll probably struggle from playing from behind because we're not really built to do that. the If the offense could put points on the board, the defense can play differently and approach things differently. And then the offense can continue to function in the way that they need to. And we just didn't. We went three and out so many times on Sunday, did not convert third downs. It was terrible. um Josh Allen was probably playing arguably his worst game that we've seen in the last four years.
00:22:30
Speaker
um And it was just gross. It was disgusting. so I saw he went nine for 30. That's even rookie year. Josh Allen would would shudder at those numbers. It's rough. Yeah. Even the freaking I teach middle school, the middle school football team had a game to tonight. If they got that, that'd be terrible. like I don't know what to do. Like, you know, like it was it was bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. So somehow we got into this game. We got behinds and then the defense clawed our way back. We did not deserve to be in a spot where we had tied this game up.
00:23:05
Speaker
And I think we need to just kind of talk about this end of game sequence. I think, right, it's the hot topic this week and I'm sure everybody's had their own thoughts and own own conversations about it. And I think it's important that we kind of break it down too. We get to that point where we have tied the game. It's only a like a minute and a half left. We have the ball. We have no timeouts. Texans have three and we're like on our three yard line, whatever it was, right? We wait way down deep. And for whatever reason,
00:23:32
Speaker
We go, long pass, long pass, long pass, hunt.
00:23:41
Speaker
and Troubling. Yeah, I don't know what to say. We play freaking Madden football, and I would no doubt would have a better strategy than that. We used to play freaking PlayStation controller. I don't know what to tell you. and So it's the issue, we did we took barely any time off the clock. We did not force them to use a single timeout.
00:24:02
Speaker
And then we pushed poor Sam Martin, that guy, he he played as well as we could have asked him to that game. Like he, he flipped the field a few times. And even on that, uh, you know, that, that last punt that he had, uh, you know, get the ball down um out of his own end zone, um, he had a decent punt and, um, and then we set them up where they can, you know, got a little couple of extra yards and then kicked a 59 yard field goal. Um, I, so the process is what's bothering me.
00:24:29
Speaker
it was clear that we, I mean, from the sideline and from the couch, I could have sworn that we just needed to get to overtime, right? We didn't deserve to be in this game. We didn't have any, any, there was no sign that, Hey, this offense could go down, so you know, go 97 yards and score and we are getting us in the field goal position. Like that wasn't clear or evidence. So we just needed to get to overtime, get to overtime. yeah It goes back to zeros and boom, let's try again. You know, maybe Josh Allen can pull something out of his butt and I don't know whose whose decision it was if it was Joe Brady's if it was Sean McDermott's if it was Josh Allen's maybe Josh Allen went rogue and he just decided you know what he's he's gonna be he went sugar high Josh Allen and took the ball into his own hands. I don't hate the idea of putting
00:25:14
Speaker
the ball into Josh's hands and having him throw for a first down. But I do have a problem for having him throw on two downfield passes to Kian Coleman and then Matt Collins where we haven't connected all freaking game.
00:25:28
Speaker
and oto i mean the The deep ball hasn't worked all season outside of maybe a handful of plays. But like it certainly wasn't working in that game. No. And you didn't need it. Like you said, the the the offense wasn't going down and scoring. all All you needed to do was just not put them in a position for them to make you ah hurt. And that's exactly what happened.
00:25:49
Speaker
that's Yeah. So even if you ran, if you ran the ball three times, again, you're taking the ball out of Josh's hands and maybe that's not the best answer, but still you're, you're forcing them then to burn timeouts and and putting them in a e even slightly more of a precarious situation than the gift that was just given to them at the end of that game.
00:26:10
Speaker
They were cool as a cucumber. they they They were they were fine. You know, and Fairbourn's an awesome kicker. So I'm sure kicking for 59 yards was that's a doozy, but it's in a dome in his home. Like he's done that, you know, thousands of times in practice. He knows what that kick feels like. He knows what it needs to be. And of course, he he he sunk it. So, yeah, I don't know. So it's it's another example of this team floundering at the end of a game.
00:26:36
Speaker
in important moments and it's just all of us sitting from our our our couches looking at just wondering throwing our palms up in the air and not knowing what to do not worrying what to think and especially because it just happens so often.
00:26:53
Speaker
multiple times a season, you can chalk up these Buffalo bills and show McDermott to just gaff their way out of a game and loose in some silly, embarrassing way. And it's, it's, it's, it's wild. It's, it's wild. It's troubling, dude. Yeah. So, so i I'm gonna put you on the spot, but pick, pick who you like, who is most to blame or where, where does your, where does your heart go as far as blaming somebody? see That's the issue. That's the issue. I mean,
00:27:21
Speaker
the The blame to me goes to the offense for putting us in that position to begin with, right? If they had been able to put anything together, even just ah you know a couple ticks better than what they did, I think that's what might've been a different game.
00:27:35
Speaker
because the defense just played their, played their butts off. And even though they gave up like 450 plus yards of offense, they only gave up 20 points. So it's the bend, but don't break defense. I'm fine with that. It's the points that matter. Doesn't matter how many yards they get, but the defense figured it out and kept the offense in this game and they didn't get there. So to me it kind of like if you kind of go up the tree and you know the effect the little dominoes of causation it's it's kind of starts with the offense for me but in that particular situation at the end it's got to be Sean McDermott I think the buck has to stop with him you know he's even if he's a defensive head coach he's not the play caller he's um
00:28:14
Speaker
He's still the CEO of this team, and he needs to make that decision, right? He needs to do something, or this as has to have been practiced a dozen times, right? This situation is not a ah weird, wild, wacky situation. This happens, right? this that They need to be prepared for, hey, this is what we're gonna do in this situation and how this needs to feel. And they it was clear that they it felt new. It felt like, oh my God, what do we do? What do we do, right? That's what it felt like.
00:28:40
Speaker
And it didn't help that this offense wasn't really operating in a clean way. So I think that that definitely had their playing with their you know right hand tied behind their back and because because they kind of done it did it to themselves. so But i I don't know. it's it's i I don't know, dude. I don't know. This has been squandering all week about what who's actually to blame. You're right.
00:29:04
Speaker
It's week five. This is the not the time of the year where they need to be playing their best ball. This was not a playoff game. We get to play next week, right? It's not like, right. There's still, there's still, uh, what, 12 more games to be played. So like, there's still lots of time for this team to figure it out, but man, oh man, it's just, it's just heartbreaking and it's tough and it's, and it's, it sucks to lose in that way. I'm going to go with Sean McDermott. That's my, my who to blame.
00:29:31
Speaker
fair enough, yeah, well, blame lies at your feet, Sean. Was there and anything else bad or ugly that you wanted to touch on or or should we move on to the the good things we saw? Oh no, let's let a rip peel it off, John. Pull up a seat, folks. Crack another non-alcoholic beer with me,
Critical Look at Bills' Play-calling and Strategies
00:29:49
Speaker
would you?
00:29:49
Speaker
um The offensive line of blocking schemes. I don't know what, what's happened. The defense defenses have been able to figure out how to rattle this team in ways that they can't handle. And it's a, there's a whole lot of new, I think we have to go back and remember that there's a whole lot of new on this team. And maybe we got lucky and we got graced into some nice situations where the offense could feel comfy in weeks one, two, and three. And they could not be kind of rattled and pushed off their block. But holy cannoli, this team can't figure out how to deal with some kind of pressures and some kind of blitz packages. All of a sudden, Josh seems to be on his own again. This O line that we were lauding as fantastic in Spencer Brown and Dionne Dawkins. And oh my God, we had such great quotes of week 123. What are we doing, boys? What are we doing? They're setting Josh up for failure because
00:30:44
Speaker
He's pressures in his face and he's left to deal with it. um So the the blocking schemes right now are not working now. The nice thing is, I think that could be remedied. I think that's a time thing. I think that's a time on task. That's a go to this film, go to practice. Let's figure out communications. That's right. Who's paying attention to what this needs to be figured out. But I mean, it makes you play, again, with your right hand tied behind your back because all of a sudden you're not playing the way that you want to. You're reacting to what the defense is forcing you to do.
00:31:23
Speaker
Yeah, well, it it seemed to be working earlier in the year. Like we talked about how good the online was and the the blocking was and why that opened up the run game more for James Cook. So you touched on it. You said you said maybe they just had situations in those games where it allowed them to do that. And now situations are different and tougher. Do you think it is just that or is there more of a a difference or ah ah kind of an ungluing that's happening that you thought you're seeing? Well, I think that's a couple of twofold. I think it's um I think it's the defenses are figuring out how to play this Bill's offense and the Bill's offense isn't reacting in the right ways. The Bill's offense plays best when we can play a run heavy rosar, not run heavy, run slightly leaning, run heavy, 55, 60 percent run versus 45, 40 percent pass.
00:32:16
Speaker
um And play action short, um intermediate passes that can keep the ball moving and keep the offense on the field. defenses, at least last week against the Ravens, and then this week against the Texans, they've played us where they forcing us to play down the field and outside of the numbers. So they've been playing a lot more one high looks, meaning that there's a safety in the middle of the field, leaving the outside of the field open. And they're just daring Josh, who is right now 30 seconds amongst qualified quarterbacks passing 20 yards down the field. um Jake, just for the map petitions in us, that's not good.
00:32:55
Speaker
Um, so they're forcing Josh to play with ride receivers who can't, aren't capable of playing and aren't successful down the field. And in taking away the short easy passes didn't help that we didn't have Shakir this past week. Um, man, oh man, that looks like that guy is this, the generator, this offense, and he's the only one who could do anything. Um,
00:33:17
Speaker
We boil boy Shakir figure out how to get that ankle together buddy um But so that so that's what's happening is the offense is defenses are playing the offense differently forcing the them to take longer developing plays which then opens up the o-line to have to block for longer what they're already can't do because they're struggling and It's just a it's exacerbating the same problem, you know Yeah, yeah, just compounding. And the Bills offense and Joe Brady can't force the defense out of that right now. So we're just playing not playing the game the way that they that the Bills want to play the game. they For whatever some some reason, Josh Allen and Joe Brady can't get them get the defenses out of taking away that and make them pay for giving us down in the field outside of the number of passes. it's We haven't been able to capitalize on that. So we can't force them into, oh, maybe we've got to go cover that, right?
00:34:09
Speaker
like So it's, it's just kind of walking into it. I mean, I can't imagine the jets are going to do anything different. I bet the jets are going to dare Josh to figure that out again, because that's all they did the doing against him last year. Right. yeah Oh, yeah. Oh, I just speak ahead to this week. I think that's going to come in. I think that's good. They're going to have to figure out what to do to get this offense humming and back into some rhythm.
00:34:31
Speaker
Yeah, but before we get to next week's game, i you mentioned predictable and I see your bullet here on on first downs. what What happened on first downs if you were a betting man, Tom? Oh, they're running the ball. I'm going to close my eyes. I'm going to flip a coin and then I'm going to smack the coin and flip it back over where it's supposed to be because they're running the ball.
00:34:50
Speaker
Okay, they're running the ball 19 out of 25 first downs. The Buffalo Bills ran the ball, which is backwards, which is 1972 football. Like, what are we doing? We do not have Emmet Smith in the backfield or Thurman Thomas in the backfield. We do not, that's not the style of offense or what the, um, in the national football league right now. You gotta be more multiple. You have to be, you have to make them think, Oh man, it's Josh Allen. One of the best throws of the ball in the game. Gonna throw the ball.
00:35:21
Speaker
Yeah. But do you think so? So do you think it was that that was the scheme that they went for or was it? Holy shit. Matt Collins can't get his hands around anything. We got to run the ball. I don't know. Could it mix a mix of both levels? I mean, it was even from last week against the Ravens. They ran the ball more often on first down than passing the ball.
00:35:44
Speaker
And then it sets you up when you have a bad first down. Now, okay. Now you're scrambling on second down. You get to a third and long and then boom, you're off the field. Yeah. We are like three or four out of 12 third downs last week. Like it's terrible. Miserable. When we used to be a very good third down converting um team.
00:36:04
Speaker
Historically we are and Josh, cause you have Josh Allen who could have run the ball, right? Like the guy just figures it out and gets it to the next, the next first time. I don't know, bro. and heat It's all broken right now. He's, he's scrambled and made plays when he's been scrambling, but he really hasn't rushed a lot, at least just from.
00:36:22
Speaker
my my brain. Maybe the stats would prove me wrong, but it doesn't seem like he's really carrying the ball downfield a ton. Have you noticed that too? Do you think that's game related? It could be. Could you, while while I'm talking here, could you go just Google, see how many rushes he has on this on this season so far? um Because I'd be curious too. I agree. It feels like it's not, but I bet it's more in the middle. I bet it's more than we think it is. um yeah I think he is being smart. We are seeing him um slide quite a bit more. So I'm sure he's thinking about his rushing attempts and thinking about putting himself into harm's way. um But I agree. I think this last game, there was a few times, it was like, okay, thank God, Josh, just go get the first down. Just go go get a couple yards, right? just Just go get it, buddy. You know what to do and go get it. And and he did. So that was there um a few times. But I agree. did you If you have the number, just chime in when you do.
00:37:11
Speaker
I do. Yeah. He has 26 carries for 160 yards. So about 6.2 on average, which is, which is high. Um, yeah, that's about where I want them. So I'm okay with that. Um, but maybe in these moments when we're like, you know, we can't, we can't get anything going on ah offense. Like maybe he needs to lean on that more and just, okay, let's just get this going. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:34
Speaker
I don't know, bro. a I don't know what the answer is. I don't know. i'm i'm I am flabbergasted because it feels so starkly different from what weeks one, two and three felt like.
Player Performance Highlights and Injuries
00:37:44
Speaker
Yeah. So starkly different, completely different, completely different.
00:37:50
Speaker
Should we move on to what you found good about the game? Because there had there had to be something. There had to be something to hang your hat on. We'll throw a couple little dog treats out here. Dwayne Carter, buddy, you looked awesome, that rookie defensive tackle. He looked really good. The moment was not too big for him. He filled right in. He was behind the line of scrimmage. He made tackles. He shed blocks. He did a really great job. His snaps were up. And he and Daquan Jones were the you know two starting defensive tackles. and He looked good. He filled in for Ed Adelver, who was ah injured for his with a hamstring, who currently is still injured with a hamstring. So we might see more Dwayne Carter. um But the kid's looking like he's doing well. There was not anything glaring to me, at least of, oh my gosh, he made a big mistake and gave up a big play, which which is good, especially on the offensive line or defensive line. If you don't really notice him, that's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
00:38:46
Speaker
I also think that linebacker Dorian Williams is just improving every week. He's always been really, really good at playing the run and playing downhill and go and playing fine ball, seek ball, go get me the ball coach. He plays that type of football really well, but he's every week I'm seeing more and more out of him. um in coverage that he's starting to figure it out. I'm sure having Terrell Bernard and Matt Milano in the linebacker room with you and the linebackers coach and Sean McDermott, Bobby Babbage, like those are the people you want. If you're trying to learn how to be a good linebacker in the NFL, you want those guys sitting in the room with you every day for hours at a time. So I'm sure he's learning and he's drinking from a fire hose, but he's improving. He's forcing the the point of, man, if and when we can get Terrell Bernard and Matt Milano
00:39:36
Speaker
the God's a lot willing to play on the field together. Should we have Dorian Williams on the field at some points with you know swap out for Taron Johnson? like He's forcing the the the issue of he's a good player and I think that could be a situation the Bills may want to lean on if that ever becomes a possibility for them.
00:39:56
Speaker
Yeah, good problem to have. Well, you mentioned Bernard. He stormed back onto the field this week, no? Yes, sir. He plead made a big play. He capitalized on a stupid little mistake by CJ Stroud, who led us cut back into this game more than he should have um and and played well. It was it looked like he was kind of coming back from, hey, a pectare, right? um ah What is this first real NFL hit going to feel like in this tackle? Is this going to actually be able to put put back together? But he looked good. It was is good to have him back. And boy, oh boy, do we need him. Yeah.
00:40:30
Speaker
um Yeah, dude, let's let's circle back. i want I want to touch back on Josh Allen. this This question, is he feeling his injuries? And I think that's a good question. I mean, his his hands been banged up, his head got fucking knocked. You know, any concern on his durability? I don't think so. um I think his left hand is a non-issue at this point. I think it's you right because he's always been pretty good. The biggest thing it would it would um it would affect is just the ball transitions of either snaps or handoffs. And he's always kind of had a little bit of a kind of a creativity with that where he was doing his light of hands and things like that with the ball. So I think the left hand is fine. um The head, man, I don't know, right? right Supposedly, it's a chest injury.
00:41:19
Speaker
right that's what That's what it's reported as and that's what he claims it is. He claims that he hit the he hit yeah you hit hit the deck, hit his chest, lost like got the the air knocked out of him. That's why he went limp, which we all saw, and then went to the tent and then boom was back in. which So he was in theory cleared right not a doctor none of us here on this show are doctors so i do not claim to know and i will never say a medical fresh professional knows more than um sorry it doesn't know more than i do um he was cleared by the the um non-partial non-team concussion protocol person on the sidelines that every team has um and sent back in so i
00:42:05
Speaker
gotta believe the doctors, right? But yeah, tip dude just he hit his head and I'm like, concussion, he's got it. And he watched him go limp, right? He watched his body go and he got back up. So who knows?
00:42:17
Speaker
um So we he hasn't been there was he was probably most more than likely reevaluated once he was back in Buffalo and was never entered in for concussion protocol. So again, you got to assume that the doctors are going to do what's best, especially because they're non team doctors. They're not anybody in Buffalo who is associated with the bills who would want to do anything to you know give the bills a competitive advantage, um they're obligated to not. And right and the and so ah you got to assume that it is he's good to go, but yeah. That's how it should be. Yeah. but ah so As soon as that happened though, I'm like, all I can picture, we're already floundering. I'm like, now we have to do three weeks of Mitch Trubisky. Yep.
00:43:01
Speaker
oh Man, well, all right, let's let's let's think ahead now. So hopefully he is back for the Jets Monday night. Talk me through that game. What are what are your thoughts on the the nightmare that is the living and breathing Jets organization?
Impact of Jets' Coaching Changes
00:43:15
Speaker
it's You gotta to start with the canning of Robert Saleh, right? he We woke up Tuesday morning to the news, well, mid-morning, that Robert Saleh was sent packing.
00:43:27
Speaker
Yeah. Tom is Aaron Rogers, a coach killer. Can I get a sound bite from you? Yeah, and dude. he He claims he was not involved and he was just as surprised as everybody else. Uh-huh. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, I, I, I, um,
00:43:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm for the for the sake of the Jets being a threat to the to the division. I think this is they have now sunk every every nail in their own coffin of they are not this year is not the year they're not doing it. There's no way no team who has ever had a coaching change mid season in the past something years. I don't remember the stat um has made the playoffs.
00:44:09
Speaker
Really changes. It's it's the you have they have not made the playoffs. It's not like oh, there's been a couple. It's they haven't Wow, I thought you're gonna say when win the division Nope, well gone to the place. So I'm not concerned. um They're a dumpster fire. Nathaniel Hackett is somehow still their offensive coordinator. He's still a bozo. He still doesn't know what he's doing. And he and Rogers still hasn't been able to put anything together. um Yeah, no, Rogers absolutely was involved. I'll stay quite a bit on that, that he was involved with ah the firing of Robert Salah. Yeah, fair enough. but But I see a stat you got here that a mid-season coaching change can influence things in the short term.
00:44:48
Speaker
Yeah, there is a bump. There's that darn mid season coaching gets coach gets fired and the team gets a little bump the next week. And we've seen it happen. We saw the the Raiders have it last year with ah what I can't remember their coaches name. I can picture his face. I can't remember it. So the statistically since 2000 NFL teams who have had a mid season coaching change have a 16% increased winning percentage the first game after the fire. So um Yeah, we'll probably see the Jets have a little bit of juice this week because they're, you know, playing for the new guys. They're playing for the change. They're playing for the, um, right. Hey, hey it was it wasn't my fault. Yeah. Right. Right. They're doing a little bit of that. And so, and we got still some life to us and then they're going to just kind of continue to Peter out.
00:45:34
Speaker
but um and to be honest that sounds like one of the buildiest things ever to see the the the bills who are also floundering go to new york against the jets who are a complete dumpster fire and just throw away one to the to the jets on monday night football on prime time in front of everybody so that sounds like something our buffalo bills would do so i'm not all of that confident that this won't be a tight game, that this won't be a sloppy game from both sides. I don't think this will be a clean game. Again, at this point, I'm now on the boat of I'm not convinced the bills will be able to put anything together until they show me otherwise. That's the new boat that I found. How quickly things change. Yeah. If you've got room, I'm going to slide in, grab me a life, grab me a life. Nice, funky piece of particle board that's floating in the water. It's not even a boat. um But that's that's the boat that I'm on.
00:46:24
Speaker
um So for so what do what do they need to do to do to to not let that happen? like Where are they looking to stop? what are they looking to to where Where are the wins and problem areas for them against the Jets? Keys to this game is to make Aaron Rodgers have to win this game.
Bills' Upcoming Game Against the Jets
00:46:40
Speaker
right They have a very good set of running backs in Breece Hall and Braylon Allen. Braylon Allen, a new rookie running back who's just a tank. of a human being like 216 six foot three or something and just like 6% body fat. like The kid is just just a wrecking ball and is very good and has been kind of forcing his way onto the field next to Breeze Hall who is an elite running back. He's a absolutely just bonafide superstar running back and Braylon Allen is forcing his way in the field because he's just that good.
00:47:09
Speaker
um The bills are currently giving up a that very bad 4.6 yards per carry and 144 yards per game. um So it's very clear to me that the Jets will try and attack the bills that way. They need to stop that get that um that part of the Jets game. They need to stop the run. If they can force the run to to at least be not exactly a easy button and force, um, Aaron Rogers to have to communicate with a Garrett Wilson who he final 22 targets to him, but it was, it was a, it was, it was a sloppy 22 targets. Um, it's there. Yes. The, the, the, we need to force Aaron Rogers to have to win this game. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. But put them at a disadvantage. Take away that.
00:48:00
Speaker
issue that has cropped up for them in the the previous five weeks here, 144 yards per game on the ground is trouble. Yeah, no, thank you. and And to be honest, the way you also get them out of that is if you put points on the board.
00:48:14
Speaker
yeah Yeah, those offense can be up a score or two. They're not going to run as much because they're going to have to be playing from behind and they're going to have to throw the ball. So yeah, boy, oh boy, Joshua, figure it out. Get 21 points on the board, please. And I yeah hope you okay. Make them play on their Achilles heel.
00:48:33
Speaker
yeah Very good. Thank you. Thank you. But no, I mean, in injuries. how How are we looking? Like, how's the personnel for us looking to match up against the Jets? Is it is it a dire situation or are we fairly clean? yeah I don't know. Not a doctor. Who knows? um The Shakir did not practice today. So this is a practice report from Sal Capaccio as of Wednesday prior to the game. Claire Shakir did not practice with his ankle injury. And Oliver did not practice with his hamstring injury.
00:49:02
Speaker
Um, James cook did not practice with a toe or foot injury. It's kind of being speculated that he, he suffered a little bit of a toe injury than last game. Um, I haven't seen too much on that. So I'm very, actually very um interested to see what a banged up bills. Dr. Kyle, um,
00:49:18
Speaker
Kyle Trimble, thank you. I was thinking of a different Kyle and I was not going to say the right Kyle Kyle Trimble, Dr. Trimble. So I'm curious to see what he has to say. So everybody go to Twitter and see what he owe what he's saying about it. Curtis Samuel is also did not practice with a toe or foot injury. So again, right Shakir Cook, Samuel hasn't been an answer for us, but really should be. Those are a bunch of offensive weapons that yeah we need.
00:49:44
Speaker
um Taran Johnson was limited. He ah did give a little bit of a smile when he was asked if you'd be playing this week. He said, we'll see. But he gave a smile. So his sly little, you know, shy boy smile. Come on, buddy. In the wrap cleared concussion protocol. So that's good news. Austin Johnson, defensive tackle was also limited. And then just for a newsy bit of item, Darrington Evans was designated to return from the IR. He's a practice quad running back. So.
00:50:12
Speaker
um With James Cook possibly missing time. I mean, they'll be dipping into ah practice quad depth. So it could be Darrington Evans or Frank Ford Jr. or anybody like that. So I don't know, dude. I don't know. I don't see how that makes me feel. I don't know if that makes me feel good, makes me feel bad. I'm not sure. I'm sorry for anybody who's come to me with answers for this week. Oh, got him.
00:50:34
Speaker
Well, it's it's early. It's Wednesday night as we record, and the game's not till Monday night. So there is that extra day for them to kind of rest up. So hopeful hopefully hopefully we have some more answers by the time the game happens, and hopefully some of these guys are.
00:50:45
Speaker
active for the game. That's a very good point, man, but we've got to see. And what we need, we need this Bill's team to show some life. Now it doesn't necessarily have to be a must win game. If we lose, we go down to three and three. It is a divisional loss. So that's not great, but we have a little bit of a stretch here that I think we could, we could hopefully get some wins, but I think this is, this is pretty pretty close to a must win game of, Hey, you've got to get some, gotta get, turn this, turn this train back around and go in the right direction again. Yeah. Uh, agreed. Agreed. I mean, Miami being so banged up and the jets sputtering and firing their coach and the Patriots being bad. I mean, the path to the division is clear. You just have to go out and not fumble it. Um,
00:51:38
Speaker
but But boy, I mean, do you want to be the fourth division fourth seed division winner? You lost the tiebreaker to the Ravens. You lost the tiebreaker to the Texans. You're setting yourself up in a a bad light here where you're going. You might be playing a lot of games on the road and playoffs if you if you make it there. We you might. So yeah, we'll see. I think we do some score predictions, buddy.
00:51:59
Speaker
Oh, man, ah I got mine. You got yours. I want you to go first because I need to think about mine. All right. I think I think 21 points is the magic number. It's whoever gets to 21 will win this game. So I'm going to go 21.
00:52:15
Speaker
13, no, 21, 17 bills. bills. won't be pretty and won't be beautiful, but it's going to be an ugly win. Ugly looking Monday night game. I tend to agree with you. 21 points being a magic number. That seems that seems reasonable. I i mean, I said it a few weeks ago, I'm going to keep betting on the bills until they give me a reason not to. And I said it earlier tonight. I need a reason to bet on the bills at this point. I don't feel good about it.
00:52:50
Speaker
Depends on these injuries to not waffle anymore. I'm going to go, I think it's 24 18 and I'm going to pick the home team jets. Oh, all right.
00:53:03
Speaker
ah that's the I want to be proven wrong. I hope to God I'm proven wrong, but man, it's just like, it's not looking, it's not looking very put together at the moment. And I don't know if this is the game where they, they get over that hump with all the the coach change bump. Like they're going to have something to prove, especially Aaron Rogers. So even if they do kind of force the run game away and then they force Rogers to to win the game, he's going to be out there saying, look, this, this, this.
00:53:31
Speaker
Dumpster fire around me. It's not me. I'm still Aaron Rodgers. I got this I don't care that he's however old he is and is is towards, you know, twilight of his career I think he can still put it together for one night and he's got some good weapons. So I do the I don't know and Until I see some cohesive, complementary football, I'm i'm not going to pickle. Fair enough. Fair enough. All righty, folks. Thanks for hanging out with us. There's some Buffalo sports happening this weekend, so maybe enjoy. We'll see.
00:54:04
Speaker
Yeah, let's get out of here. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for spending some time with us. Please give us a like and a follow on Instagram X, TikTok, and our YouTube channel at Let's Go Buff Pod. These are my pals, Jake and Nigel. My name is Tom, and you're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast. We're sending you love wherever you are. Go Bills. Go Savers. Let's Go Buffalo.