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Ep. 6 - Aged Sour Air
97 Plays2 years ago
The boys have a therapy session post the devastating loss to the Jets Monday night... lots to think about and laugh about! Thanks for joining us!
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
Podcast Introduction & Social Media
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything bills and savers.
00:00:24
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast, your favorite podcast for all things Bills and Sabres with the pals Tom, Nigel and Jake. Episode six coming at you. Quick reminder to go ahead and help us out and follow our social medias. You can find us on Instagram and X or Twitter, whichever you want at Let's Go Buff.
00:00:52
Speaker
pod that's buff with two Fs. Let's go buff pod. And why don't we kick it over and say hello to the fellas. Tom, how are we doing, buddy? Boys, here we are. I'm good. I'm good,
Personal Anecdotes & Beer Discussions
00:01:05
Speaker
man. Then what a week, huh? That was not the way we wanted to start this season. We'll get into it eventually. But yeah, yeah, I work. I work in New England for all those fine folks out there and walking into New England's place of occupation.
00:01:20
Speaker
And the next thing is not the most entertaining thing to do after we go do that in prime time. But that's right. It's all good. Jake, what's up with you, bud? Yeah, same here. Not much. Good week, busy week, but not a great way to start it. But I'm good otherwise. Weather's getting crisp after my meltdown on you last week. So I'm happy about that. Yeah, the air's feeling nice. How about you, man? How you doing?
00:01:47
Speaker
I'm good, man. Yeah. Just getting, you know, going through the going through the things at school and getting ready. I'm actually not even technically like teaching kids yet. These first two weeks have just been like boatloads of busy work, like I talked about last week. But, man, I'm good. Just just ready to get to week two.
00:02:08
Speaker
Well, fellas to ease our sorrows a little bit. What do you say we all take a moment and snap a beverage here? Yeah, absolutely. Three, two, one.
00:02:24
Speaker
You got to spray me a little bit. I got some schmutz on my my mic here. I did too. Excitement. I got so excited. Nigel, I heard you picked up a six pack at Wegmans that you were excited about. I finally. Yeah, I'm finally at least less of a piece of shit now. I yes, I did go to Wegmans. I did craft my own six pack. So we're kicking things off here.
00:02:52
Speaker
I have a, I have a beer from industrial arts brewing company. Don't know where it is. Um, this beer is called is it that's embarrassing. This beer is called pocket wrench. Um, it is a hazy pale ale four points. What is that? 9% ABV. And it says tropical and misty.
00:03:15
Speaker
Pocket Wrench is what I call our friend Jack. He's so nice. Pocket Wrench job. That's what we call it. I have I have I'm gonna hold up this can for you boys. It's a Hermit Thrush beer out of Brattleboro, Vermont.
00:03:33
Speaker
called Brattle Bear. And it is a delicious aged sour air with local apples. And like I this hermit thrush, I don't have many other beers, but every time I do it's a sour and it's like the best I've ever had. It's awesome.
00:03:50
Speaker
That's a, that's a killer name there for sure.
Podcast Branding & Team Appreciation
00:03:53
Speaker
Yeah. Now let me, so I, one of the beers I was looking at today when I was crafting my six pack looked like it was made with honey. And I ultimately decided to bail. But what do you, what do you guys think about that? Is that something you would have gone for?
00:04:10
Speaker
Yeah, I would have gone. I would have tried it. It's, I mean, honey's sugar, it's fermentable. So I'm assuming it's not the only thing that they were fermenting or else it'd be a mead instead. But yeah, I'd go for a beer with honey in it. Our scientist over here is he's the one who's going to walk us through it with his beakers and graduated cylinders and Bunsen burners.
00:04:36
Speaker
I did just brew my first beer in a year last week. Did you? Let's see how it turns out. How long is that going to take? Two weeks fermenting and then two weeks in the bottle. It's a labor a month for me to get five bottles out of a gallon batch. Yeah, but I imagine it's got to be pretty dope to enjoy a beer that you made. That's got a cool feeling. He's gotten pretty good at it.
00:05:01
Speaker
I appreciate it. I appreciate it. He's come a long way, but he's gotten pretty good at it. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Those first couple were nearly, like, spit it out of your mouth, undrinkable. Well, speaking of beer, fellas, we've got a cool little piece of news to... Jake is still... No, no, we have to... Jake has to share.
00:05:20
Speaker
Okay, he's gonna do it. All right, go ahead, Jake. I'm sorry. Well, no, I haven't. I haven't announced his beer. I'm so sorry. I got to host you. I feel like we were talking for so goddamn long. How do we not get through all three of us? All the honey and fermenting and all that. So my beer is from the lovely Queen City in Buffalo, Thin Man Brewing, the Pills Mafia.
00:05:42
Speaker
There's a good reminder, a nice crispy Pilsner that makes you think of fall. No matter what the score is, we're still part of the Bales Mafia. Cheers to that. So yes, now's the time. We do have exciting news. Yep. Nice little piece of news here for us. At least we're excited about it.
00:06:03
Speaker
Our awesome friend Lisa, who is a killer graphic designer, put together a really great logo for us that does come in the form of a beer can. We're beer guys, if you couldn't tell. So we are super excited about that. We are going to start to post that on the socials and all that fun stuff. Just a reminder, let's go Buffalo Pod on Instagram and X.
00:06:25
Speaker
Uh, you can catch the picture of that logo on the platforms after this episode drops, which should be, oh, you know, in the evening. It looks incredible. Lisa, Lisa did an incredible job. I mean, I knew she would. She is so talented. So yeah, we're appreciative. Yeah, absolutely. We are super, super appreciative. Sorry, Jake, go ahead.
00:06:49
Speaker
No, you're good. As you're listening to us on the airwaves, you'll get to see her art and, uh, just stare at it for the whole time that you're listening to us. So unless you're driving, unless you're driving, even then you can sneak a glance every once in a while. Yeah, fleeting. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. So shout out. He's like the boys. Thank you. He says super kind of you. Um, did we pay her any money? I don't think that we did.
00:07:10
Speaker
We absolutely will. Lisa, on your way. Yep, Lisa. The checks in the mail. We don't have deep wallets, but we have deep appreciation. The check is in the mail, but don't hold your breath anyway.
00:07:24
Speaker
Um, awesome. I just love that we like this. It's so cool that like, I mean, this podcast is just all about just us hanging out. And I love that we get to include another friend in that with like Lisa and in a light, like a lifelong friend of ours. And like, I just, I don't know, we're just figuring this out as we go. And I love that it's just, it's more of that. So yeah, no, that's, that's well said pal. I agree completely.
00:07:48
Speaker
Awesome.
Sabres Prospects Discussion
00:07:49
Speaker
All right, folks. Well, for the episode this evening, we're just going to touch real quickly, briefly, very not a long time on the Sabers Development Camp roster, just like that. So they did announce the roster for not Development Camp Prospect Challenge. Same thing, I guess.
00:08:11
Speaker
There's a bunch of names on here that don't really matter, honestly, but there are a bunch that do as well. I might say the biggest name is probably Zach Benson, who's going to be featured at camp. Some other ones that I think are a pretty big deal. Some of these Russian guys that we drafted a couple of years ago, Alexander Kisekov, Victor, I'm probably going to say this last name wrong. Noichev? Noichev? Any idea, Jake?
00:08:34
Speaker
I think no. Yeah, I think you're right. Victor. No, Jeff. It's not Roseanne. Matt Savoy. So a bunch of forwards. There are a couple of defensemen to Jake. You want to tell him about the defensemen? Yeah, sure. I think that the two that I'm most excited about, Ryan Johnson, I'm sure if he would sign, he ended up signing. So I'm curious what his game looks like outside of college playing against other NHL prospects. And then the other one, like you mentioned, the Russians coming over the key to Novikov. He's a big mean defense man. I think he's six four or something like that.
00:09:04
Speaker
First, he played in the KHL last year, so he's coming over now. He'll probably end up in Rochester, and I'm just excited to see how his game translates to the North American ice. And ideally, he develops into kind of a big kind of defensive defenseman prospect for the bottom pairing in the next couple of years. So excited about those two.
00:09:22
Speaker
for those of you that don't know jake mentioned a different size uh set of ice europe they i think they're using the khl too which is russia's excuse me russia's top league um european ice is bigger than american ice by a pretty decent amount um 10 10 feet i think it's two it's the same length so it's 200 feet long but it's 100 feet wide instead of 90 90 feet i think in north america is it a metric so on tv it looks like a
00:09:50
Speaker
On TV, it looks like a lot more than that, but I think you might be right, Jake. I don't think it's as much as it looks to be. It doesn't sound significant, but the play moves that much faster. You have that much less time before there's a big, burly Canadian bearing down on you to put you into the board. Correct. It makes a big difference transitioning. Usually that big, burly Canadian is Tom. He's not quite in Canada, but he's in Vermont, which is pretty close. I'm awfully close, yeah. I'm not good for much, but I could make a good goon, I think. For sure. Absolutely.
00:10:20
Speaker
So, yeah, just a quick update on the notable names there. I think for those players, the biggest thing I'm looking for is stand out. Be better than the guys that, like I said, more or less don't matter, right? Look like you're better than them because you should be. A hundred percent. And I'm excited to see Benson and Savoy. I mean, you've seen a lot of them in the WHL. They were line mates for much of the year, throw Buffalo unis on them. And I hope they dominate the tournament. They have every right to considering their
00:10:47
Speaker
talent level, so boys a year out from being drafted and the competition they're going up is lesser prospects. So yeah, I'm excited to see them. Hopefully just any questions on that, Tom. Um, so are there any of those guys who are possibly going to be going down to like playing in Rochester? Like, are they, are there any of these players that are working like a, we're not really going to see or like,
00:11:10
Speaker
Yeah, I guess that's my question. Who are we going to be seeing play as a Buffalo Sabre and who might we see go and do some development somewhere else? The only, oh, you mean like a Sabre this year? Yeah. Or of those new signings, right? Of who made that roster and the people you just, yeah, those players you just talked about.
00:11:27
Speaker
So of these guys, the only one that I think really stands a chance to make the team. Well, there's two. I would say, at least in my opinion, Jake, I don't know if you feel differently. There's really only two that I think have a shot to make the Sabres roster this year. And that would be either Yuri Kulik or Matt Savoy. I think Zach Benson is probably still too young. He'll go back to the WHL. Although I think I think truly he is the best prospect in the pipeline right now.
00:11:55
Speaker
But yes, probably just those two guys that have a chance and even they are long shots. Do you feel differently?
00:12:00
Speaker
No, I agree with what you said. The only slight disagreement I would say is I don't think and kind of hope Kulik does not make the team. I think he had an excellent year in Rochester, but I think it's important not to rush him given the forward crop that we have. So I'd love to see him have a great camp and make it be a really difficult decision. But ultimately, I'd like to see him in the AHL tear it up down there, pot 40 goals, and then come up when he's
00:12:27
Speaker
proven that he belongs nowhere else other than in Buffalo. Is he a player we could see get called up like in the season? You know, knock on wood in case of an injury or something like that happens. Like you could see him. He depends on. Yeah, depending on who gets hurt, he could be the first one. Like if a fourth line guy goes down, it's probably more like a Sean Malone that would get called up.
00:12:47
Speaker
Um, Brandon, he's been up and down a few times. Yup. True. My guess would be that if anybody in the top six on the savers gets hurt, cool league is probably the first call, but I'm usually wrong about most things. So I think no, I agree with you between him and Rosine, Rosine, um, I
00:13:04
Speaker
He had a good, a good year in Rochester last year and a great playoffs for Rochester. So I could depend again, it depends on how they're playing through the year, how their off seasons were. I could see either one of those being a very happy argument for which one comes up first. All right. And I'm excited injuries. There will be call ups. It's going to happen. Yeah. Right.
Bills Game Analysis & Player Performance
00:13:23
Speaker
Right. It's such a huge season. Yeah. I'm excited to kind of get into, once we get closer to like, hear you guys talk about this roster construction, because I'm, um,
00:13:31
Speaker
It's a little, it's a little foreign to me, but I'm excited. Yeah. Here we go. It's going to be good. All right. So that's it for the saver stuff. Um, well, I guess it's time. Uh, we're going to do a little bit of recap. I think we log off here. I think this is good. Everybody knows we're good. Um,
00:13:48
Speaker
Yep, we got a game recap that we'll do a little bit of for you. And we're not going to go. And again, like folks, we said in episode one, we're not professionals. We're teachers and accountants. We don't you know, we're not sports guys professionally, not media guys. We're just buddies that love hanging out and drinking beer and talking sports. So we figured we'd try and get other people that like those things to listen to us. So we're going to try and start off optimistically. And we're going to we're going to try and do a couple of positives from each of us, things that we liked about the football game from Monday night.
00:14:18
Speaker
So, um, let's see, would either of you like to volunteer to go first or would you like me to go first? I'd like to go first to go first.
00:14:29
Speaker
You're so coordinated. Look at us. All right, I'll go first. So my couple that I a couple of things that I was really excited about was to see Stefan Diggs go out and clearly show that he is here to play. He's going to be the answer and is absolutely still the number one wide receiver we need here on this team. And he's he's a stud.
00:14:52
Speaker
He went out and had, I can't remember his stat line. We should pull that up. Couple catches, over 100 yards, that touchdown. 10 catches, over 100 yards, a touchdown. That was clearly what we needed from him. So that was awesome. I loved seeing Leonard Floyd play. That was cool. He's a dog. I'm excited for that D-line.
00:15:16
Speaker
Terrell Bernard starting opposite Matt Milano. He held his own. It was not the complete liability we thought he might be. So that was cool. It comes. I have to cut you off. You took three. Oh. And we have two more of us that have to go. And there aren't that many positives. I'll share. All right, all right, go ahead. You next. One at a time. Pass the cheer. You can't have them all. Jake, you want to go next, buddy?
00:15:44
Speaker
Yeah, sure. I mean, I, I agree with Tom Stefan Diggs. I thought looked like he, he came to play and looked the part. Um, the other one that I had that Tom didn't say, I thought the tight ends looked like a stabilizing presence. I saw, I think, I think that Dalton Kincaid had hauled in all four of his receptions, perhaps. Um, and he looked, he looked good when he, when he grabbed him, I mean, he grabbed a ball and took off and ran. So I thought.
00:16:14
Speaker
I don't have the eye to talk about their blocking game or anything like that, but I thought as far as giving Josh Allen a outlet when he was under some pressure, that's when I noticed them is when there was some pressure coming and they gave a safe outlet. The patient play to hit the right guy and not turn the ball over.
00:16:34
Speaker
Now Jake, question for you, just as a budding Bills fan, can you name the last wide receiver that we had on this team that Josh utilized as that sort of safety blanket? You think of who it was? It wasn't a long time ago, pretty recently. Slot receiver, smaller guy. Cold, easy. You got it. Yeah. Yeah. That's, Donkey Gate is just essentially becoming a bigger
00:16:57
Speaker
Cole Beasley. I'm not going to sit there like everybody else and say he's you know bigger Cole Beasley because he's not. He doesn't run like Cole Beasley but he's really good at finding the soft spots in the zone and being that safety blanket. Yeah, I think that's a great great pickup on your part.
00:17:14
Speaker
Um, for me, man, I, I think I would just say that, and you guys kind of touched on it a little bit, but the, we had those three spots that were, um, position battles in camp, CB two middle linebacker, right guard. Um, it's nice to see the coaching staff get that right. Because like, Tom, you talked about, um, you talked about Bernard, um,
00:17:38
Speaker
I think of the three of them that we had those battles, Osiris Torrance, man. And I know we talked about, like, I expressed a slight bit of concern last pod. That dude looks like he is goddamn for real. He'd be great, dude. I'm excited to see him get more experience. It's gonna be awesome. He looked nice. He had a couple reps against Quinn and Williams where, I mean, who outright wins reps against Quinn and Williams?
00:18:02
Speaker
but he I mean he held his own dude and like you saw a couple like Mitch Morris got worked a couple times by Quinnen Williams so it was expected yeah to be expected yeah I'm not that that's not because Mitch Morris is bad either it's just because Quinnen Williams is that dude
00:18:19
Speaker
But I think my most positive takeaway from the entire thing was probably Osiris Torrance. And then the other one that it's nice to see, it's nice to see Tyler Bass stay on schedule. A little scary with the last field goal there to put us into overtime.
00:18:53
Speaker
There was a Sunday, on Sunday, there was another doink off the, and it did not go, I forgot who it was too, but it didn't go in. And so I heard, I heard, I saw it and I heard it dink and I almost controlled W close the page. I'm kind of glad I stuck around. Yeah.
00:18:58
Speaker
What is going on?
00:19:13
Speaker
So we're gonna we're gonna kind of transition now into Concerns and questions and Tom I'm gonna start with you if that's cool because My question has to do with Stefan dicks. Okay, and you're right. He absolutely he was a monster his exact stat line was ten catches 102 yards a 10.2 average so averaging a first down on first down when he catches the ball Longus was 18 and he caught that one Todd. That was a great play by Josh Allen
00:19:42
Speaker
How many more games does Josh Allen have like that before Stefan Diggs does actually have a problem with being in Buffalo, do you think? Man. Tough to say. It's tough to say.
00:19:56
Speaker
I don't know. I've been going back and forth about this all day. This is going to open a different can of worms, I think. So I'm going to try and keep my thoughts here, because we're going to definitely talk about Josh here in a second. And maybe now is the time. I, as absolutely blown away and concerned I am about Josh's performance, I'm also, it's also week one, right? I, I, I'm,
00:20:20
Speaker
I'm not that, I don't know. I'm not ready to throw in the towel. I like this, like he clearly, this Jets defense has given him fits every time we see him. This is, so it's not like it's a new thing against the Jets. It's not like, Oh my God, we're playing this really, you know, easily had defense that somebody should, I don't know.
00:20:38
Speaker
So man, from what we saw to Diggs from on the field and then on the sideline, he was there supporting Josh. I'm not concerned. I think all of this actually is blown out of proportion. We still don't know if he was actually upset with Josh. We still don't know if he was actually upset with the scheme. We don't know. And so for me,
00:21:03
Speaker
I don't think so. He's he's he's paid as one of the best wide receivers in the league, playing with one of the best quarterbacks in the league and one of the best rosters in the league. If he has a problem with that, then. I'd be actually surprised. OK, that's fair, and you make you make some good points there. I just. Whoo, I don't know, man, I. Tom, I think I think that thing that you posted last night to our group, our group chat of Dan Orlovsky,
00:21:31
Speaker
Talking about how he would talk to Josh Allen and it's a great clip if you know anybody cares to To look it up. I'm sure you can just punch in Twitter Dan Orlowski Josh Allen. It'll pop right up. Yeah It was spot-on and basically what he said Was that one of these coaches probably Shawn has to has to you know? Grab Josh by the face and go dude. You got to grow up and
00:21:56
Speaker
You know and and that's like I and you said it last night man like when you sent it you were like this is it and I think that was That was like
00:22:07
Speaker
the most accurate way to describe it, man. Yeah, it's just playing immature. The cuteness of it is losing its allure. I think Mina Kimes tweeted last night, who's a killer. I think she works with ESPN if I'm not mistaken.
00:22:27
Speaker
But she tweeted our she was like all excited. She was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yes. King is back. Right. Like that cute thing that everybody just paint like everybody paints Josh down under that umbrella. It's losing its allure, man. It's not cute anymore because.
00:22:44
Speaker
We're starting to miss the heroics that make up for the cuteness. It didn't happen in Cincinnati. It didn't happen last night or excuse me, Monday night. So I'm like I'm like you, Tom, not throwing towels or anything. But man, he spent all offseason trying to work this stuff out and it didn't. And it didn't happen. And if anything, it got worse. Jake, what are your thoughts? You had your hand up first.
00:23:12
Speaker
I appreciate the teacher in you. One of the things that we've come to love about Alan and his play is his ability to pull off heroic plays when he's under pressure. That is a strength of his. And you saw it a couple of times last night. What I thought was disappointing was he was making some of those hero ball plays
00:23:36
Speaker
when he had a safer option, when there was a better choice to be made. And it just seems selfish. It seemed like, I need to put this team on my back. But he's not the only weapon the Bills have. They have good receivers around him. They have good tight ends around him.
00:23:52
Speaker
whatever you want to say about the offensive line, he puts himself in trouble in spite of the offensive line sometimes. So it's just him, he needs to take a step back and be more of a team player and not try to push and make that hero play every time. Do it when you need to, but make the smart play for Christ's sake. Tom, what do you got buddy?
00:24:13
Speaker
So I completely agree with you guys. This is the game. Because what's so disappointing here is we can see if he could make half of those bad decisions and turn them into good or at least reasonable decisions.
00:24:30
Speaker
how good of a player he would be, right? That's this frustrating part. If we could tweak just a little bit of those mistakes, it doesn't have to be all of them, because you can't expect him to be perfect. He's not going to be, and we can't expect that out of him. But if we could get 50% of them to be switched into reasonable, more positive plays, we could do that. I'm going to push back, and I'm going to say, how many more games of Joe Burrow playing the way he did until Jamar Chase is upset?
00:24:59
Speaker
You want to hear Joe Burrow's set line, 14 completions for out of 31 attempts, 82 yards, zero touchdowns. Yeah. I, you, you're the bed too. So I just, it's like there, there are.
00:25:14
Speaker
There are, there's, there's, there, it's not uncommon for good quarterbacks to shit the bed. So I'm, I'm not ready to, I don't know. I just, I don't know. I spent before a couple, I spent Monday night and Tuesday pretty upset about like Josh and like, this is, this is it. This is what the life we live. And I came back down.
00:25:33
Speaker
Yeah, I mean the team lives and dies through Josh Allen. If he's not on, the team's not on. Correct. He has to be better, but it's week one. He has proven over the past few years that he can be one of, if not the best quarterback in the NFL on a given night. So yeah, it's one game. It's a war for sure, but it's not a the house is on fire type of game by any means.
00:25:58
Speaker
Bruce Nolan, another prominent well, much more prominent bills podcaster than we are as as a formula ready that is
00:26:07
Speaker
expectation minus reality equals disappointment. We went into this game. We hadn't seen this team play a regular season game. We came off the Bengals. It was a terrible Bengals playoff loss. We were pumped. We're going to go play against the Jets, Monday night football. Let's go. Then right at the beginning of the game, Aaron Rodgers goes down. Oh boy, here we go. This game is ours. This expectations rose even higher. And then we got this.
00:26:36
Speaker
So I think that's part of this issue is our expectations were through the roof, at least mine were. I'm guilty of that, right? So then once reality actually happens, holy shit, that's why this felt so, so bad. If our expectations were like, oh my God, this is gonna be a tight game. This is gonna be a 10 to 10 defensive battle. I don't know if I would have been as disappointed as I was.
00:27:07
Speaker
Understand what you're saying and I think I think what I what I share there with you is is an excitement because I I personally did go into this game Assuming it was gonna be tight. I did not think anybody was gonna blow anybody out or anything like that But my expectation is always gonna be higher than turning the ball over four times That's not a high expectation
00:27:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's you simply cannot do that and win games. The first interception, it's an outstanding point. I'm fine with it. Truly. I don't care. The second to the first one he had, like Jake was saying, he had a perfectly clear, easy check down to James Cook. The second one that he forced to Gabe Davis, he had step on digs practically with enough time to sit down and make himself a turkey sandwich.
00:27:57
Speaker
He was so open. So it's just this, like, I don't know, man. Maybe I just, and we know that I'm always the one who's
00:28:09
Speaker
to a very way more emotional everybody about
Offensive Line & Run Game Evaluation
00:28:12
Speaker
it. And I, you know, I I bug out over shit. But I'm I'm labeling myself as concerned, man, because it's too similar to the whole second half of last season. And I know last season he had the UCL, but that was supposed to be fine forever ago at this point. And the decision making, you know, compared to last season or at least the second half of last season,
00:28:38
Speaker
shows me little to no improvement so far. And I recognize the Jets are a good defense. But then I know the Jets defense gave us fits last year, too. But there were a lot of teams last year that did give us fits that should not have. And it was based on decision making, I felt like. So I'm labeling myself as concerned. I'm riding with Josh Allen. I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm not suggesting we putting in Kyle Allen, anything like that.
00:29:06
Speaker
But I am concerned because the sample size now is simply too big of him not fixing this for me to feel comfortable.
00:29:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's a growing trend. I mean, it's week one, but it's a growing trend from last season. And I hope this time next week, I hope we don't even have this conversation. I hope he comes back, looks like Josh Allen against the Raiders. And we say, oh, okay, he's back. But he needs to prove that. I mean, it's on no one's shoulders but him losing the game. And he needs to come out at home and prove why he is who he is.
00:29:41
Speaker
Yeah. We should probably leave Josh alone now. Were there any other big concerns for anybody?
00:29:50
Speaker
Not concerns, but I actually thought of another positive if we can spin the conversation another way for a second. Yeah, go for it. I thought James Cook looked pretty good as a pretty good. He looked way better than Devin Singletary. No offense to Devin, but it's also not a high bar to clear, I think. But his speed was good. He had one play in particular. I think, forgive me on my naming of plays, but I think it was a sweep where he's parallel.
00:30:19
Speaker
parallel to Josh. And he beat the defender to the outside to pick up a first down instead of just losing a yard or two and getting beat to the sideline. So overall, I thought he looked
00:30:34
Speaker
Speedy, explosive. I'm curious what you guys think. I want to toss it back to you both about him, but also some more nuance that I don't pick up on as far as how the tight ends did blocking, how the offensive line did to set up run plays. What did you guys think of the run game overall outside of just James Cook?
00:30:54
Speaker
I thought it was awesome. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And honestly, I wish they went back to it more, especially when Josh was clearly unraveling. Like, right? Like, why didn't we just? OK, we got James Cook. We still have Damon Harris and the Davis Murray, who are both very good runners. I wish they had more touches and they got involved in this game and that the coaching staff took this out of kind of Josh's hands and didn't let him go and, you know, poop his pants the way he did. But anyway,
00:31:22
Speaker
Yeah, no, it was it was phenomenal there. The run blocking, I think, was good. That that Jets interior defensive line is they wreak havoc, right? So it's it's not going to be the best of running run blocking games we're going to have, especially because we're not necessarily I would put as a middle of the road run blocking team at the best.
00:31:49
Speaker
Um, so no, I was really happy with it. I thought James Cook looked good. He was active in the passing game too, which is exactly where I want to see him. Um, another safety blanket, kind of like a Dalton Kincaid thing. What do you think?
00:32:01
Speaker
Yeah, I again, man, this is my this is more praise for Osiris Torrance, man. I thought he was I thought he was the best run blocker for sure. Oh, yeah. Combos from what I saw based on I was I didn't watch the all twenty two, but trying to watch just all the highlights that I can and, you know, breakdowns and stuff like that. His combos with Mitch Morris moving to the second level when you need to were excellent.
00:32:27
Speaker
Not so much the case with Mitch Morse and who left guard, Conor McGovern. So there's a little bit of stuff to work out there, but I think you make a really good point, Tom, considering who we were blocking, especially on that interior defensive line for the Jets. I think overall, I'm happy with the run blocking. Jake, what do you got?
00:32:49
Speaker
Even I know the Jets defense tears people to shreds as a as a yeah not very knowledgeable fan I wanted to ask you a follow-up question because you said something I didn't understand you said something something moved to level two
00:33:00
Speaker
Yeah, so combo blocking. So a lot of the time on run plays, so the bill's mostly this year, and this is slightly different from the past, but the bills run what's called a gap running scheme, meaning the running back is supposed to attack a particular gap as opposed to a zone running game where everybody just kind of gets to an area and your running back takes off.
00:33:24
Speaker
So within that gap blocking scheme, a lot of the time, you're going to have what are called combo blocks between your guard and your center, or you're tackling your guard. And those combo blocks are when you both double team a player, defensive lineman, and then usually the guard or the center, depending on how things line up, will peel off that block and move to, like I said, the second level, which would be the linebacker, or if there's a strong safety that's down, that next level beyond.
00:33:52
Speaker
Excuse a lot of levels from beer the defensive line. Yep. Okay, so you're you're overwhelming You have two guys on one so you're pushing making a gap you're running block You're running back goes through the gap and then the second player takes off to support
00:34:06
Speaker
Yeah, he probably even sooner than that your your your peeling player will go like if if you know once that ball was snapped before the running back like actually crosses the center's butt that guard should be if if he's doing his job correctly peeled off to get to that linebacker because by then these guys recognized so quick that linebacker will have already filled the hole if it takes the guard that long.
00:34:30
Speaker
He's almost leading the way kind of thing. Yeah, it happens so fast. It's quick and processing speed is only getting faster. So yeah, before we move to the defense, anything else you guys liked on offense? I know.
00:34:44
Speaker
No. Deontay Hardy was Deontay Hardy was used quite a bit. Right. He had some fun, gadgety plays. I was I was cool. All right. Good night. Why aren't you pressed? I just I mean, they were gadgety, but he like. I would like to see what his stat line was. Let me float around here for a second. Yeah. Shoot. Got a party stats.
00:35:11
Speaker
Three receptions, nine yards. So three yards average, as long as it was five yards. And when he carried the ball, he ran for four. So yeah, it just wasn't like I like the idea. I like trying to get him involved. I'm glad we paid him the money and we're trying. But his performance was underwhelming. And now that you're saying that I'm also underwhelmed, I think about it.
00:35:40
Speaker
put them back in the negative. Yeah. Yeah. So, go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm sorry Nash. I thought of one more question on the offense before we move to the defense. Around play calling and Ken Dorsey himself, I don't know if this is out of line to say, but I missed Brian Dable last year and that didn't go away in game one this year. What are your thoughts? Do you think that's the issue? I mean, it seemed like there were some
00:36:08
Speaker
third and long plays, second and long plays where it was like a sweet play and we got a yard and then it just backed us into a hole. Am I right to be worried? I don't know. What do you guys think? Are you trying to tell me you didn't like when Ken Dorsey called a draw on first and 15 or second and 15 in overtime? That would be correct. And can you very quickly educate me on what a draw is?
00:36:37
Speaker
Draw play is when, so it's a shotgun formation. Actually, well, it doesn't have to be. Sometimes it is. Quarterback receives a snap. Looks like he's about to pass. So ideally, your linebackers and everybody are dropping into coverage. And then he just turns real quick and gives it to the running back. And hopefully, by the time the running back is hitting the line of scrimmage, the linebackers haven't been able to recover in time.
00:36:59
Speaker
I see okay so no I did not like no it's it's it's it's it's not even it's not a play call that I would even try if I was up by 60 points in Madden Jake so I don't understand the logic there I can't I can't even get into that right now Tom what did you
00:37:15
Speaker
I am not impressed. I don't know. The blame 100% falls on Josh Allen's shoulders because his decision making caused most of the problems. If you go back and watch any of these highlights, you're going to get real depressed because Josh had easy buttons that he could have either ran for yardage, he could have hit somebody close,
00:37:36
Speaker
and could have had better solutions. So I think in this scheme, I think the scheme is opening better solutions. I do. So I don't know if it's that it's a problem between Josh and the scheme not linking, or he's not running it correctly. I don't know. But no, I'm not excited that we have Ken Dorsey. If you were to tell me that, oh, man, maybe we're bringing somebody else in right now, I would be like, OK, let's see it.
00:38:06
Speaker
At this point, I am not putting blame on literally anyone other than Josh Allen. Truly the correct thing to do. Yeah, that's fair. Truly do for me. The only play that I saw that I actively despised and made me sick to my stomach was that draw play at overtime. I by myself screamed what the F at my TV.
00:38:28
Speaker
Like, I'm sure neighbors down the road heard me, I was pissed. But outside of that, dude, there were other, you know, second and long, first and long run plays that I thought were terrible. Outside of that, dude, there was really nothing that jumped out to me as like, this is terrible. I it's hard to gauge because the offense is clearly not being run properly because Josh Allen can't stop getting a chubby for being a hero.
00:38:53
Speaker
Yeah. Not to mention, one more quick note, the first and 15 in overtime there, what is Spencer Brown doing there? This team puts such an emphasis in training camp on eliminating bad penalties. Can you think of a worse penalty than in overtime taking a false start penalty? No, come on.
00:39:14
Speaker
No, I am on team first round's right tackle pick right now. Yeah. That's for sure. That's the team I'm on. And I would love to be proved otherwise. But we need a different solution and we need somebody who's going to go lock that down and push for a huge contract. And once they're working deals up, that's what I need. I need that. The rate in which that man gets blown up backwards, like like pushed on his heels is shocking.
00:39:41
Speaker
Yeah. Wet tissue paper. Yeah. Just way too many of his best impressions of wet bread. So I just, yeah, that stinks.
Defensive Highlights & Player Competition
00:39:51
Speaker
Um, I do want to switch to the defense and I'm going to start here. It's Matthew, goddamn Alano. Holy shit. This guy is, is though this guy is so fucking good, dude. For my money, dude.
00:40:08
Speaker
Who's better than him right now? Fred Warner in San Francisco. But same conversation, right? Absolutely, dude. Same conversation, which is so cool to see for Matt. Like, ah. For me, that conversation starts at top five. And right now, I think the interesting one is top three. He is, dude, that like, and he does it all, man. He had the interception. He had that backside gap shoot for like a five yard loss in the first half that made me. Reads it.
00:40:37
Speaker
Like I want it. I want it to run through a wall myself, dude. That made me so hype. And the guy like this, this cat seems to somehow and other like, I know Jets fans think he's a piece of shit, but this guy only seems to get a little. Why is that nice? Because he snapped my white nap.
00:40:56
Speaker
Because he saw his quarterbacks in half? Yeah, exactly. We talked about a bad penalty. Let's talk about a great penalty. Picking off Zach Wilson and then just getting in his face. Yeah, you can take that penalty. Because Zach tried to tackle him. Zach tried to go tackle Matt Milano and like, let's make some business decisions here, buddy. Yeah.
00:41:17
Speaker
So yeah, that's the big one for me The other one that I have I I thought sure Davis white was fucking outstanding in coverage Yeah, I think his tackling was bad. He had that one really great open field tackle on Garrett Wilson But there were a couple of those long Breece Hall runs and I recognized that it was Lined up incorrectly and that's why a couple of those broke especially that first one
00:41:42
Speaker
But I mean, you can watch that replay all you want to. And he's always had tackling problems. I recognize that. But he had both of Breeze Hall's feet in his hands as he was wrapping them up. Yeah, you got to let him get out. Right. Can we just just make a little bit better trade? Just a little bit. You don't even have to bring him down right there. You just don't let go of the foot so that somebody else can get him.
00:42:06
Speaker
Is that a positioning with your body thing, a positioning of your hands, grip strength? What is he missing that would make him a better tackler? Willingness? I don't know. Let me back up here because I'm not about to compare my high school football days to Tradavius White in the NFL.
00:42:28
Speaker
But I do. I do my best to try and empathize a little bit. It's all a mentality, dude. Tackling like when you know when you know you're about to hit it, dude, that you can fucking hit. You go at it full force when and then this was in this case for me and I hope NFL players don't have this issue because they should be pros. But when there was a big dude that I had to tackle, I was like, I was meek about it, dude. I was like, this is going to suck.
00:42:56
Speaker
It's a business decision, right? It's a business decision. You're like, I don't want to get up tomorrow and feel every hit. Exactly. But I don't know, man. I also wasn't getting paid $20 million. That would change the equation for me. Yeah. And it needs to.
00:43:17
Speaker
So I need Trey White to be a little bit better with his tackling. He did have that one outstanding one. And I think it was Garrett Wilson, which is not an easy open field tackle. Jake, sorry. Yeah, you were going to say something else. No, I just I I was pleased with the defensive.
00:43:37
Speaker
output from the game. I don't think they're the reason we lost. I thought they looked solid. I thought Christian Benford looked like a reliable CB2. He saved us four points chasing down Breece Hall like he did. That was a touchdown otherwise.
00:43:52
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, disappointing that Kyrie Elam was not playing and inactive, but I mean, I think he it it's found money that I think he was like a late round pick, found money that he's a starter for the team and looked looked pretty good doing it from my eyes. Yeah. Yeah. That whole thing. That whole thing, man, is just it is
00:44:14
Speaker
It's so much more, it says so much more about Christian Benford than it does Kyrie Elam. I wish that narrative would stop because we've seen Kyrie Elam play good football in playoff football games. Like he can play, he's a good player.
00:44:27
Speaker
Maybe like should we have drafted somebody else in the first round? Probably. There was a guy named Creed Humphrey still on the still on the board. And now he's like a top two center in the league. But I mean, he's not a bad player, dude. I think he just hit. You struck gold with a guy like Christian Benford in the sixth round. You know, Tom, your thoughts, buddy.
00:44:46
Speaker
Great way to reframe it. I like it nailed it. That's it. Right. Like I think it's all it's an awesome problem to have, especially considering like how much we put some just a guy's right. Just a couple guy, just a guy out there jags for years. And now we have too many CB2. So you know what, I'll take it.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yeah, dude, I'm never going to I'm never going to be upset about having three starting caliber cornerbacks compete for my CB2 job. You know, that's so many teams would kill for that problem. Yeah. So.
00:45:20
Speaker
Man, my big thing takeaway from this week's game is that I gotta remember it's just week one, right? It's just week one. We dropped a game, a divisional game, so that's not good. But it's just week one. I can't wait for Sunday to sit down and watch some more Bills football. I need to see some rhythm. So, well, before we go on, do you guys have anything other kind of wrapping up points about the Bills at Jets?
00:45:46
Speaker
I don't even, I personally don't even get to where you are with that stuff, Tom. I wins losses division or not. I got to know that 17's good in the head before I'm going to feel good about any of this dude. None of it, none of it matters until whatever's going on in his brain.
00:46:05
Speaker
is sorted out. None of it doesn't matter that we drafted Dalton Kincaid, doesn't matter that we signed Leonard Floyd, won't matter when Von Miller comes back if 17 doesn't start it out. That's my prevailing thought. Yeah. Doesn't matter who's calling the plays up top. I hear you. I agree with you. That is, that is
00:46:24
Speaker
As the Bills live and die, it's Josh Allen, 100%. That's just the makeup of the team. That's the kind of player he is. If he's on his game, I don't think there's a team that could beat the Bills and maybe that's a Homer opinion. No, it's not. He's proven it. He is a game-breaking athlete. I just want to see him get settled in, get in the rhythm, be patient.
00:46:50
Speaker
Yeah. All righty. Well, I think, I don't know about you boys. I will drink to putting that game behind us. So literally away. Here's to that. Yeah. Cheers to that. Cheers.
00:47:03
Speaker
Let's look ahead,
Raiders Matchup Preview & Predictions
00:47:04
Speaker
boys. Let's start to one p.m. Home opener. Because the Raiders are coming to Buffalo, baby. So one o'clock. Right. I think one p.m. one or two park in the Ralph. Here we go. So can I say that go to? No, no, I'm not going to. No. Always the real place in the Ralph.
00:47:27
Speaker
I've started I do like calling it the mark. I've started calling it the mark. That's better. Yeah, I'm trying to get that to stick. I'm like Gretchen from Mean Girls. Fetch is just never going to happen. But yeah. So to kick off the Raiders discussion, I know that they have a workhorse running back in Josh Jacobs. Yes, sir. I know they have a stallion wide receiver, the Vonta Adams. It is like you cover an actual Mustang.
00:47:55
Speaker
And I know they brought in Jimmy Garoppolo, who I don't know that much about, but I know he's kind of had a mannequin. So but beyond that, I don't really have a good grasp on who their team is or what their challenges are, where you see the bills matching up well and not. So I'd love to hear from you guys. What do you think about the matchup and where do you see there are opportunities and challenges? Pick a guy to talk about, Tom. Let's talk to Jacob's. Let's go right up front. He's the biggest threat. Yeah, go ahead, buddy. So yeah, you want to start some?
00:48:26
Speaker
So he's a clear workhorse running back. He's going to be on the field a lot and he's just a stud. So the biggest thing that we're going to need to do to kind of eliminate and take away his
00:48:41
Speaker
his, uh, his contribution to the Raiders is going to be a tackling. We need this, this team to kind of step up their tackling ability. We need to get a lead and force them out of these run favored, um, situations and force them to be throwing and not be relying on him as much. If they can, if they get a lead, they get a two score lead and they're able to kind of milk him and just ride him into the sunset. Like that's going to be bad news. Um,
00:49:08
Speaker
So, um, that, that's my th he's gonna be good. I thi also seen this, this bill well, we had a couple, I
00:49:23
Speaker
If you can't take away the big one, you can't, it still existed. It was there, but otherwise the team did pretty well against the jets, um, holding off their runoff. And so I think this team has a capability to go in and stifle. We've stifled Nick Chubb. We've stifled their Derek Henry. Like it's happened.
00:49:40
Speaker
Yeah, for me, my first thought when I think about trying to stop Josh Jacobs is, what's the personnel grouping going to be like? Because there were a lot of running situations against the Jets where we had almost that dime package out there with Taylor Rapp and two other safeties in my guide and Jordan Poyer.
00:50:02
Speaker
where Matt Wallano was the only, or no, it was Milano and Bernard. It was Taryn Johnson that came off the field. So, and I don't, I don't love that against Josh Jacobs because like Taylor Rapp can tackle Bree Saul in terms of size. I don't want to see Taylor Rapp try and tackle Josh Jacobs.
00:50:22
Speaker
So I'm wondering if that like maybe this is a game Like are we gonna see Tyrell Dodson a little bit more? Yeah, you know You know and like are we gonna load up the box or are we gonna you know? I'm wondering how we're gonna play it I think for me what I would like to see is this team load up against the load up against the run put put a bunch of the box put seven in the box because I will choose
00:50:48
Speaker
my defensive secondary on the Buffalo Bills over Jimmy G every time. I don't care if he's throwing to Devontae Adams, Calvin Johnson and Jerry Rice. Jimmy Garoppolo does nothing for me. So he's a facilitator. He's a game manager. He's not a guy that goes out there and wins you football games outright because he's a gamer.
00:51:11
Speaker
So load up in the box, stop Josh Jacobs. I think, I think Austin Hoopers are tight end. Don't give a shit about that guy. Matt Milano was laughing himself to sleep thinking about that. He's going to have a great day. Yeah. Jacoby Myers, I believe is hurt. Concussion protocol. Yep. Concussion protocol. Okay. So he could be playing. He could be back or not. We don't know. We haven't, we haven't heard yet.
00:51:32
Speaker
I eat like outside of Devonta Adams, dude. I mean, and Josh Jacobs, you know. Yeah. I think this is a good game for us to come back and get our rhythm back. Hopefully. And right. Like knock on wood. But like I think that I think this is going to be this is a game that we can we can go in and get some things right. So that's what I'm looking forward to. No.
00:51:56
Speaker
Here's a potential avenue where I could see the day going very poorly for Buffalo. And that's Max Crosby against Spencer Brown. I don't like that at all. That is a problem. And I like, what are you going to do then there? You're just going to, you're just going to put Dawson Knox in Spencer's pocket all game. It's going to be like a three legged race. Yeah. We're going to tie. Dawson's and Spencer Brown's legs together.
00:52:22
Speaker
But then how much of that would be awesome. How much of how much of your playbook does that eliminate? Right. When you if you've got to probably more than you like. Yeah. Yeah. If you've got to have Dawson as your wide tight end in line every time because Max Crosby is making Spencer Brown look silly. Now, the one thing that does play to Spencer Brown's angle there is Crosby is a finesse guy. He's not going to be he's not he's less of a less of a power guy, which I think works to Spencer Brown's advantage because he's super athletic.
00:52:52
Speaker
It's still not great. Still gonna be a problem. But the nice thing is, so you might have to educate me, Nudge, are there other good players on this Raiders defensive line, like other players we need to worry about? Is it going to be like the Jets D line where like everybody out there is a freaking stud? I believe, is Shailor Jones still on this team? I think, I believe he is. I'm looking it up right now. I just, I just had it and I moved off the page.
00:53:21
Speaker
I think Chandler Jones is still on this team, if I remember correctly. Max Crosby, whatever. Just kidding. He's sick. Jerry Tillery. He's the guy I meant to say whatever about. That's not a name that I know. He's defensive tackle.
00:53:37
Speaker
Belal Nichols is the other defensive tackle not a name that concerns me. No But Chandler Jones is the opposite defensive end and then behind him is Tyree Wilson who's another very high draft on the defensive line So I got some guys there to worry about and then as far as the secondary Trayvon Merrick, he's sick Marcus Peters is good And then outside of that dude divine Diablo as one of your linebackers like
00:54:06
Speaker
I don't know the game we can get some rhythm back. I do. I think this is not this is not a Jets caliber defense. You can stop Max Crosby from ruining everything. I agree with you. But it's a question of can you stop Max Crosby from ruining everything? Yeah, no, that's it. That's it right there. So Jake, any thoughts, questions, comments, concerns? No, I think he has a good summary. Yeah, I agree. I hope we can get some rhythm back and open well at home.
00:54:34
Speaker
Why don't you guys start with some score predictions for that game? Will I look up what the weather looks like for that game as of this time? Oh, I haven't even thought about this yet. All right. I'm going to go. That the bills are going to get some life. We're going to get to get our rhythm back. I'm calling it here. I think it's going to be 28, 17 bills. 28, 17 bills. OK, Jake, what do you got, brother? Booked. I'm going to say.
00:55:03
Speaker
I'm gonna say 24, 20 bills.
00:55:09
Speaker
So Sunday right now in OP is cloudy and 68. So it doesn't look like any precipitation right now. Clouding 68 should play to our advantage because we have the better quarterback. Um, or at least theoretically we do, which leads me to a score prediction that might kind of bum us out. I'm not going to predict the dub for the bills. I have just, haven't seen enough to know that Josh channel is going to sort it out. I'm going to say 24 17 writers.
00:55:39
Speaker
All right. That's my that's that's my guess, dude. I don't mean to be that dark negative. P.O.S., dude. But like I just said, you know, from January to September to sort out whatever was ailing the turnover issue. And if anything, it got worse. So until I'm shown a reason to see that stuff from last season different. I don't know, dude. I don't I don't like it.
00:56:06
Speaker
fair enough. We'll see. That's why we play the games. All
Podcast Conclusion & Social Media Reminders
00:56:10
Speaker
righty. Was there anything else? Or I think I think that's our last one. Tom, you want to take us home, buddy? I would love to. Bill's Mafia. Hope you guys have a fantastic time out there at Orchard Park. Please do us proud out there. And we'll be rooting along. So go, Bills.
00:56:27
Speaker
My name is Tom. That's Jake. This is Nigel. We hope you guys have a wonderful day, morning, evening, wherever you're listening to us. Give us a follow on Twitter, on Instagram at Let's Go Buff Pod. And thank you for listening, riding along with us. Here we go.