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Ep. 67 - Surging Bills and the Sabres Rollercoaster
30 Plays5 months ago
This week on The Lets Go Buffalo podcast, we dive into the Bills' epic 8-2 start—Buffalo's charging forward, but can they keep up the momentum against the Chiefs in this highly anticipated showdown at Orchard Park?! Plus, we kick things off with a look at the Sabres’ rollercoaster week, with highs, lows, and everything in between. We're here every week to bring you EVERYTHING Buffalo sports. Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Updates
00:00:24
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? You are listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast, your favorite podcast for all things bills and savers. With the pals Tom and Jake this evening with episode 67 coming your way. Quick reminder, before we get into it, go follow our social media accounts. They are all at Let's Go Buff Pod with two Fs. We're on Instagram, X, YouTube. So let's say hey to the fellas.
00:00:53
Speaker
Tom, fella, number one, how are you doing tonight, man? fella i'm I'm good, dude. I am. I'm really good. It's been a nice little evening and I'm pumped to talk about some, uh, Buffalo sports. We actually have, I think some good things on both sides to talk about now, which is kind of a nice, refreshing little way to start our week. Everybody wins. Yeah. It's a feeling good to say that for sure, man. How are how are you?
00:01:18
Speaker
It's good to be back. I've been on a little hiatus here for the past month or something like that. So I'm happy to be here. New new environment around me. Just bought a house. So moved in. Dealing with all sorts of house bullshit that comes up that I don't have to explain to you. ah So that's good. Yeah, dude. Got it. Got a new cat, too, that we're just kind of thrown into the mix. So I mean, it's it's chaos around me. But a little bit of everything. yeah Yeah. Yeah. At that point.
Buffalo Sports Optimism and Game Highlights
00:01:48
Speaker
We're making it happen, you know? Would you like to go on a month-long trip for a dolphin safari? Just to add something in? That sounds incredible. I'm in. Are you selling packages? Are you my tour guide? I might be, yeah. he has a new It's a new side hustle. Hell, yeah. Dude, sign me up. I'd swim with some fucking dolphins. Sounds great. I think that's a great segue. Let's drink beer, shall we? Yeah. Kind of stands out. Let's pop this. Ready? Three, two, one.
00:02:20
Speaker
can You go first, pal. What are we sipping on this evening? I'm drinking the same thing as last week, except now it's in a can. Final on Friday. I went looking for other things. I honestly did, folks. I really tried to find a different beer, but um this 12-pack of cans jumped out of me ah from the the refrigerator and just hopped into my hand, and there was nothing I could do about it. Sorry. Tom, the 12-pack of beer hopped out of you?
00:02:44
Speaker
Where were you hiding it? Out of the refrigerator, sir. Yes. Excuse you. Yes. Well, Tom, I don't blame you. It's a delicious beer and you should drink that. And nothing but that from like August 29th until December 1st. Until it stopped being carried in stores, it's probably going to be in the in the rotation. It should be. It's it's deserving to be. Well, for me, I have a ah local beer to me. I'm planning an escape.
00:03:14
Speaker
from Union Street Brewing. Hey. Oh, not sure where we're going. Maybe I'm swimming with dolphins, but that's what I'm doing. I'm planning an escape. So it's nice little hazy IPA. It's tasty. No complaints. No notes. Yeah. All right. Hell yeah, dude. That sounds great. Well, dude, you alluded to it. We got good news on both sides. Yeah. So let's jump into the savers. Yeah. So you guys recorded last week. And since then, there have been four games. So we got a lot to a lot to pick apart with some some good, some bad, and some ugly in there.
00:03:44
Speaker
Well, at least the roller coaster is going a different direction than the ones Ben, you know? Like, that's it's an actual roller coaster as opposed to just a plummet. Exactly, yeah. which Which is good. I mean, there hasn't really been a whole lot of plummets yet so far this year, so I'm hoping that continues. But since since last week, you know, faced off against division rival Ottawa, beat them handily five to one.
00:04:08
Speaker
Uh, stormed into into New York, played the Rangers at MSG, wanted six to one and more on that game in a minute. Uh, and then Saturday hung on against Calgary, went up two goals. Calgary stormed back in the third. Uh, Buffalo was on their heels, but they ended up hanging on for a shootout win. UPL I thought looked great in the shootout that game. Um, solid win against ah a team that nobody really expected to do much, but is is surging early in the year.
00:04:35
Speaker
And then finally, a Veterans Day Special. Buffalo disrespected all the veterans watching on Monday. a Horrible game against Montreal. A lot went wrong. ah We'll get into those, but let's let's focus on the positives first. Five to one win against Ottawa and six to one would win against the Rangers. Two good teams, one in the division. Great to come out on top of that.
00:04:59
Speaker
huge, right? I mean, the Rangers, like last year, they were vying to go deep into the playoffs, right? Did they get to the Stanley Cup? Am I remembering that correctly? They did not get to the Stanley Cup. No, they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals, though, to the eventual Cup winner, Florida. like Like a very good team, right? And and a team that was not, we Buffalo was not expecting to go in and, you know, and and trounce six to one.
00:05:24
Speaker
No, they i mean if I remember correctly, they won the president's trophy last year. They were the best team in the league. They brought back a lot of the same pieces. they're They have one of, if not the best goalie in the world in net. And Buffalo chased them. They ended up switching goalies partway through the game. just just Just kind of dominated the Rangers. It was it was shocking to see. They weren't Nobody had high hopes for them to win that game. Joel and chalking one up. We're going in for right. Yeah. Yeah. That one's maybe when you circle and say, OK, maybe we maybe we lose that one. Right. Yeah. Now, you got to see him out on top in person, which is pretty cool. I might be talking shark here a little bit. and You might have had a punch line, but I want to hear about this. You were in you were in the house when ah they trounced the Rangers like that.
00:06:15
Speaker
You're on a real aquatic theme tonight. We got dolphins and sharks already. We're we're having a whale of a time here this evening. ah Dude, yeah, it was... Oh, no. Dude, it was awesome. yeah shout Shout out to my good friend Peter. He he brought me and a couple other friends to the game.
00:06:35
Speaker
flexing his work perks. So we we it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, dude. I feel really grateful to have gone. But we saw the game at MSG. We were in a box watching watching the teams play. It was it was incredible, man. I mean, it's what a way to watch a game. yeah that's Such a good time. what What a game to go to, too. So I've been to i've been to three Savers Rangers games with Peter.
00:07:02
Speaker
they've won all three of those games. The Buffalo sailors have, which is state like pictures are are an excellent team. And Buffalo has been middle of the pack at best. So as far as he's concerned, Buffalo is the best team in the league. They can never lose. They can do no wrong. Yeah. Yeah. They're going all the way, baby. Let's take it. Yeah, dude. but Yeah. Such a cool experience. I mean, shout out to him. Thank you, Peter. Like it was, it was such a cool thing to to go to. Um, so had a great time.
00:07:32
Speaker
If there's a downside, you know it's it's you you're you're in this you're in the environment, things are flying, there's so much going on, it's hard to like watch individual players. so like Nigel texted and asked about a certain player after the game, and I was like, dude, I i i couldn't even tell you that if I watched like a single second of that guy specifically. Just an unreal night. Great to be there for that one, especially that's actually the result. i mean even if they lost six to one still be incredible but Man, what a special thing to see them go up 6-1 against the Rangers at the Garden. Do you do you now know what like Julius Caesar feels when he's like watching the Gladiators fight in the Colosseum? A little bit. Now he understands. The power wielded. Yes. yes i don't I don't think Julius Caesar had quite so many tequila sodas while he was watching the Gladiators, but maybe maybe. I don't know. Maybe that was his problem. Maybe that's what he should have done.
00:08:30
Speaker
it may maybe it' little bor cut you know i ah too up to that Exactly, exactly. That's what I'm saying.
Sabres' Defensive Challenges and Upcoming Games
00:08:37
Speaker
But anyways, dude, so yeah, those those were great games, but I think we need to look at the other more recent games du to kind of get the full picture of the roller coaster. So we got the highs. Yeah, we have the peak against the Rangers and then I'm not going to call it a decline against Calgary because they they came out with two points and that's all you can really ask for. ah You know, Calgary is a good team so far this year.
00:09:00
Speaker
two good goalies that have been playing well for them. And I think I'm going to divert where I'm going a little bit. But the early, early leads and early scoring off in the beginning of the game, at the beginning of periods, right after the other team scores, that's a trend that's been established here for the last couple of games that is really, really encouraging.
00:09:26
Speaker
Uh, you know, I think Zach Benson scored a minute and 20 seconds into that game and that set them up for success. You know, you're forcing Calgary to play from behind and boy, did they in the third period, they were, they were buffeting the savers with shots and yeah they stormed back. I mean, they, they deserved to storm back honestly and get the point to go to overtime. Um, but you know, they held on one in the shootout. So two points there. Hell yeah. Good to win those games. Uh, and then let's talk about the Montreal game on Monday.
00:09:56
Speaker
It was a matinee game in Buffalo. Montreal came into that game on a five or six game skid. Montreal has been hemorrhaging goals. They're one of the most scored on teams in the league. And they they haven't particularly been able to score well themselves. And they they hung seven goals on Buffalo in that afternoon game. Buffalo have scored five themselves, which is good. I mean, they've been scoring lately, and that's some but if the other team puts in seven against you, there's not much. you You can't really outscore that problem, you know? Right, right. It was just ugly. I mean, I'm not a pro analyst. proanalyst i amm not going to sit here and tell you why it was such a defensively poor game. But just see, like, like the the thing that kills me the most, too, is I thought Buffalo played really well for stretches of that game, particularly offensively. I mean, they put up five goals. They looked good doing it. I thought they could have had a couple more with some of the chances that they were generating.
00:10:54
Speaker
But then just just you know ah ah a sloppy break and then all of a sudden a Montreal player's in on a breakaway or a breakdown in the offensive zone and Cole Caulfield is sitting right there ready to pop a puck in. um you know Things like that just kind of added up and and they couldn't they couldn't stop the bleeding. It was a weird game, goaltending wise. you know can't say You can't say that the the loss was on the goalies, but both teams ended up swapping their ah goalies in the third period. Devin Levi started the third period for Buffalo, and Montembeau came in in the third period for Montreal. um You don't see that often. It's just kind of weird. right
00:11:37
Speaker
but yeah you
00:11:41
Speaker
it's It's tough for me to sit here and say, is that ah is that a reason to point to why they why they lost the game? Because Devin Levi has not really been superb this year. He's been average at best. So I questioned why he went in to start the third period. Was UPL playing phenomenally? No, I don't think so. But I also don't think some of the goals were his fault. um So if if if the mindset was to give the team a jolt and wake them up,
00:12:10
Speaker
I think you could argue that it did. They scored two quick goals early in the third period. But Devon Levi gave up gave up two goals, I think, in the third as well. So I just didn't see the logic behind that when UPL has been playing really well in other games. Sure. Just kind of won. I don't think Montreal is going to battle back to be relevant in the playoff discussion. um But this is a game where you could point to and say, man, if if they could have hung on against montreal maybe those two points would really, really matter. so sure We'll see. the other The other negative bits from that game. T.S. Anderson went down with the injury, and the more impactful one, T.H. Thompson also went down with the lower body injury in that game. It was in the second period that he left, I think early in the second period. All we know is that it's lower body, or so they say, it could be
00:13:05
Speaker
and NHL teams will say a lower body injury and it can be anything from the tip of his toe to the top of his head. So it's it was it was weird. It wasn't like a ah play where you saw something happen and you can say, oh, yeah, he's hurt. All of a sudden he kind of wasn't on the ice and I've seen people looking for the play and not really been able to find it.
00:13:28
Speaker
Um, yeah, we're not really sure what happened. Those are sometimes a little more concerning because if you, if you see it, you're like, okay, yep, we know what happened. We don't really know what happened. I mean, it could have been anything. So we hope it's not long-term. He's been a beacon of, of offensive prowess for this team so far. So hopefully he's back this week sometime, but we'll see.
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah. Hope that's yeah. Hope he's, hope he's healthy and he can come back and, or at least you have a more explanation here, right? We should at some point get some, some kind of explanation. Ideally. Yeah. Injuries suck dude. They're no fun. It's the worst part of Washington sports. They're the worst. Yeah. Um, so yeah, those are, those are the things, but before I talk about the road ahead, I just wanted to real quick hit on some like early season trends that I've noticed easily. The first one they're scoring.
00:14:19
Speaker
Yes. They're ninth in the league in goals for right now in all situations, hey but they are not bad, but also hemorrhaging goals against their sixth worst in the league for letting bucks in the net. Um, you know, it can, you can have success that way. They did two years ago when they were top three in the league for scoring, but let in a ton of goals. So one of those needs to either really, really come up or They could be a little sunk. um We'll see. and And on the scoring note, yes, they're ninth in the league for goals four. there's some There's some shooting percent vendors that some players are on that I'm not trying to say that they're talented or lucky because that's not true. But with with any statistic, things are going to regress to the mean at some point.
00:15:12
Speaker
So there are a handful of players that are putting in a lot of pucks for Buffalo that are shooting above a 20% clip. And Tom for reference, the average kind of reference point is usually, usually a good NHL player will shoot around 10 to 12% somewhere in that range. Really good players can sustain 15, 16% shooting. If, if their shot is that good, someone like Paige Thompson, I would say is in that camp.
00:15:39
Speaker
But for the most part, you're not you're not sustaining a 20% shooting stat. You're flirting with with the the universe here a little bit. it statistics Statistics don't lie. They are unflinchingly accurate. I've never lost. Undefeated. Undefeated. So, you know, Paterka, Thompson, r and McLeod have put in a good number of bucks for Buffalo. They're all shooting above 20 percent. McLeod's at 30 percent shooting clip. Holy shit. he He does things to put himself in a good position to score, which I think is why a shooting percent is so high right now. But it's it's not it's not going to
00:16:15
Speaker
Yeah. um you know And the Krebs and Byram, neither has put in a lot of goals, like two or three each. But still, the know there they're they're capitalizing on the opportunities that they have. But yeah can't you get't you're not going to rely on them to be 20 goal scorers, I don't think, this year. We'll see. And then goaltending, I kind of mentioned it. It's been average-ish. Devin Levi has not looked phenomenal. He's also not played a lot, which is a little concerning.
00:16:42
Speaker
um He, somebody, I think, I think you want to have a bit more of an even split so that he gets playing time, but he's just really not grabbed the reins and, and written off with it. So we'll see. And I think, exactly. Yeah, yeah exactly. A better way to say it. Yeah. Yeah. And UPL kind of has forced the issue. I think, I think maybe they, maybe they started the year.
00:17:09
Speaker
with the hopes that they would split duties a little bit more, but with Levi struggling a touch and UPL kind of finding his groove now, I think i think it's it's his job and it should be, but he's still concerned that lack of playing time and shakiness from Levi there. We'll see, man. I mean, hope hope it continues. They have a bit of a... No game in the NHL is easy, but they have a bit of a softer stretch here where they're not playing league leading teams. sure They've got St. Louis coming to town on Thursday night, kind of in the same place as Buffalo, roughly 500 record. They've beat some good teams. They've lost to some bad teams. It's one you got to put away. I mean, it's home ice. You just had an embarrassing loss to a division rival. You got to put that one away. Following that up, they go out to Philadelphia on Saturday.
00:18:04
Speaker
Another team that you should beat. They're beneath you in the standings. They're beneath you in the talent perspective, in my opinion. And then from there, next week, long in the future, they have a bit of a West Coast swing. So they're playing all three California teams. Two of those teams are teams that you should just beat the wheels off.
00:18:22
Speaker
anaheim okay right okay ah With that said, they're going to go like one, one and one. Right. Right. Or something like that. Just make me make me scream and do a pillow at night. But we'll see, man. Yeah. So a little little bit of a, you know, there's of those next five games.
00:18:40
Speaker
get seven, eight points out of that and you stay relevant. That's, that's really, you should, you should be treading water at this point at minimum. So, right. You gotta to be stacking points at this point to get, to keep, keep winning, right? Keep getting those points and and keep, keep getting, getting something out of this. I'm going to sound like a broken record, but that Thanksgiving cutoff is coming up. You gotta be, you gotta be in spitting distance of a playoff spot at that point. By the time the the band plays in the parade, you gotta be there. I am.
00:19:10
Speaker
that but I hope you ah you'll know that I've been your ah your proud supporter of the the Thanksgiving stat. I appreciate that, Tom. I've been asking Nigel about what yeah where we stand and how things are going and and referencing our glorified. i want i want you to I want you to coin that. We've got to get that for you, the Thanksgiving stat.
00:19:27
Speaker
Oh, it's not just me. It's I think I didn't come up with it. I got I got to be honest. Well, no, you see, that's it. That was your opportunity to take it and run. off but you You know, you're just you. I'm too, I'm too honest, ah too honest. All right. Well.
00:19:43
Speaker
think we head over to the bills because there's some good news there. Go save us. Let's see and see how they how they go. but go save I'm going to let you talk for a minute because I just spilled beer. I'm going to grab a paper towel. I'll be back in 30 seconds. Okay. All right. Well, let's see if you remember where they are in the new house, we had fun.
00:20:00
Speaker
All right, folks. Well, yes, so turning the leaf in an hour over into Bill's lands and the bills um were going into week 11 here, which is just
Matt Milano's Return and Bills' Season Performance
00:20:11
Speaker
bananas. um The last kind of going on. First off, um Matt Milano's 21 day practice window has been opened.
00:20:18
Speaker
which is just incredibly exciting. um This is big news. The guy, he um if everybody remembers, tore his bicep early in the offseason and has been sidelined. And there was a chance that, oh my gosh, is he going on IR for the year? Is he going to cut? And he was not put on season ending IR, had an opportunity to come back. And at that point, I was just hopeful that he was possibly we going to come back for the playoffs. If, God willing, we made the playoffs and we could make a push,
00:20:47
Speaker
Matt Milano could play. Awesome. so But the fact that his 21 day window has been opened on before, I mean, I think it was opened yesterday. So Monday, November 11th is just is so exciting because that's three weeks. He's got this week, next week or the following week. And at some point he needs to be activated to the um the the everyday roster, the full roster, 53 man roster. That's the way you say it. um or or then he's shut down for the year, which that there's been a part of me that has been thought in the back of my head is, Oh gosh, let's not get the three weeks from now and he's not ready and we can't activate him. And all of a sudden now we've really botched this, but I'm trusting the doctors. I'm trusting the team. I'm gonna trust that they figure it out and that we're going to be okay. Jake, welcome back. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, you know, disaster cleaned up. Uh, my clumsy ass hands spill in beer all over the place.
00:21:42
Speaker
No, I had a question on that. So that's something that I never knew. So so when a player's practice window opens up, that that means they've come off IR. So now, or no, no, no, no, no, wait. I misspoke. Their practice window, I actually don't know what I'm talking about. So when they how does the practice window no interplay with them being on IR?
00:22:01
Speaker
I believe that you are correct that he's no longer technically on IR, but is also not technically on the 53-man roster. wow he's He can go back on to Engine Reserve and if he does not if they do not activate him after his 21-day window. um So the bills at this point have 21 days, three weeks to activate him to the full 53-man roster, or they shut him down for the year and he's done, and he cannot come back. That's the nuance I didn't know about that.
00:22:30
Speaker
i want I assume it's rare. When a player's practice window ends, they're shut down for the year. I didn't know that that's how it works. Yeah, I think what happens is it kind of helps save you the fact that you can because otherwise, if you could activate a player off I.R. and bring it back whenever you want, it's essentially like giving you more practice squads like slots. Right. Because you can say, oh, well, nope, sorry, he can come play this game, but now he's not quite ready. We're going to put him back. Right. And so it a kind of defends against that and probably also stops for teams from toying with players of like, oh, we're going to be about no, we're not going to bring you back. oh no come back to this game and then you know okay so I think it also kind of defends the players a little bit of like hey no we are committing to having you on the roster and here we go you're good to go or man it's not gonna work and we're shutting you down for the year yeah that makes sense that makes sense but he has to he has to clear and be ready to play right so he they couldn't bring him you know hey you're ready but you're also gonna sit this week kind
00:23:30
Speaker
I think they could, but then they're taking a fifty um ah one, a very valuable spot on the 53 man roster. So I think technically they could, but the, the negative for the team then is then, Hey, like now we're playing with 52. If we know that it was right, not going to be, it would be available. Right.
00:23:45
Speaker
so I'm and especially knowing how the bills have operated with this. um This is this is a good sign, this is they, they believe for firmly that he will be ready within that window at some point. um He is not going to be activated for Kansas City, and then the following week is a bye week so we know that he's out for at least 14 days.
00:24:03
Speaker
um And then I think then he could be activated for San Francisco or the 21 day window might go beyond that game. So technically he could still be in his window for the the San Francisco game and then brought back the following week.
00:24:18
Speaker
So we have some options. So I think we're either going to see him during San Francisco or the following week after that. So it's exciting, though, right? I mean, the seeing the way that Terrell Bernard's been playing, we've been dying to see Matt Milano play next to Terrell Bernard. That's all i vo I was so excited. I bought a book. So excited to see those two play next to each other. And I didn't get to see it. And there's a possibility we get it. So it's just exciting. And then what that puts in we Dorian Williams. We've been honestly very surprised with. And he's filled in.
00:24:47
Speaker
on better than expected. He's improved every week. He's doing a great job and the fact that we can now have him as LB3. Fantastic, right? Especially knowing where we've been at in the past of, holy shit, these players, we can't get linebackers on the field. We brought AJ Klein out of retirement before he was on vacation with his family last year to play the Chiefs in the playoffs, right? Like having that fear will be incredible. So very exciting. um Before I move on, any other thoughts there, Jake, or questions so about Matt Mullen's 21-day practice window? I think that's huge. Now I'm just excited to hopefully have him back.
00:25:22
Speaker
Yeah, now um I have a little bit of a big picture question before we get into a little bit of breakdown of the Colts game and then prepping for the Chiefs game. The Bills, our Buffalo Bills, our hometown Bills have started the season eight and two for the first time since 1993, which is just crazy, especially knowing how well the Bills have played the last few years, right? We've always been like, oh man, like these guys are going for a Super Bowl run. Yeah, let's go. They they haven't started this well. This is better than that.
00:25:51
Speaker
you i ti I thought they lost too many impact players. Who cares? Who cares? I thought the gents were going to win the division and the super bowl. And yeah, Aaron Rogers was taking it and going, right? yeah Yeah. I just love to see them just.
00:26:10
Speaker
Crash and burn. It's so great. But anyway, this isn't about them. This is about us. um We were labeled as washed up and knew this is going to be a rebuild year for the for the bills. And to be honest, admittedly, I thought so too. I was ready to admit like, hey, we got Josh Allen. So who knows? You never know. But let's maybe we're going to make a wildcard berth and we can you know win a playoff game. But I don't know if this is it. We're eight and two.
00:26:34
Speaker
um We were able to make some noise. We've won games that we needed to. We've made some we've made some impacts. it's it's It's pretty cool. For Jake, so my big question here I want to discuss with you out loud is maybe what's different about this year? And then does this actually help forecast anything towards the future? Or is this kind of more of the same, right? what's Is this truly a big a big chain game changer for us as we're trying to get over the hump? Or does this about kind of set us up the same? What what are your thoughts there?
00:27:05
Speaker
Man, that is a big picture question. I mean, i think I think you kind of said it already. We have Josh Allen. Let's see what happens. And this is the least surprising statement I'll ever make. But like yeah, he is the cornerstone of the franchise. that We've said this for you for many seasons, too. The Bills go as Josh Allen goes. And he's playing really, really well this year. So I think I think it's a testament to him kind of reshaping the way that he plays to be more effective, even if he's maybe not as flashy as he used to be. um But he's just playing smarter to me while still maintaining some of that shine that that makes him who he is, right? So I think it is i think it's a ah i think it's ah an argument that they've done things the right way to kind of build around him
00:28:00
Speaker
in the in the depth of the roster and and how well they draft. um But I think it also is exciting for the future that they do have this boat anchor of dead cap space right now that they will be able to leverage into improving the team in following years.
00:28:18
Speaker
So I think I answered that in an incredibly political way and said nothing. But yeah what do you think? um no I think no, no, you did. You did. I agree with you. And my thing that I want to take and kind of take what you said and take and run is that Josh Allen's playing difference. I also think that the the setup around the team and the the philosophy around the team is difference.
00:28:40
Speaker
we're We've tried for probably, I would say, 21, 22, and 23, essentially the very similar way. A lot of 11 personnel, very wide receiver centric. Let's throw the ball. that Let's play good defense and kind of you know in the in the same way. But let's throw the ball. and Let's score points. And let Josh Allen's arm win this game.
00:28:58
Speaker
I think this year we've took a different route, and I think that's good. We're no longer the guys holding the bat around trying to knock down the castle door in the same freaking way, but it hasn't worked three times in a row. Let's try something different, and it's still being successful. So I'm excited that Josh Allen isn't asked to always be the guy and the superhero.
00:29:17
Speaker
even though he still has got that ass under ah underneath that suit he's wearing on, right? like it's It's still there. It's still going to come out. And um he's still got better ball to play. This whole team still has better ball to play. And we're eight and two. And the fact that we're no we have ah we do have this everyone eats mentality, where we have other players that can come and help us win. And I think that's important. So I do think that this is a different twinge, right? Maybe not bad of a bad word, a different spin on what's of how the Bills can approach their season and especially different from the past. And I'm not sure if it's going to forecast anything different towards the future, because we still just got to get over the hump. But I'm excited the fact that it's a different approach. So that that's what I'm excited about for this year. And clearly it's working so far. Yeah, well well said.
00:30:12
Speaker
I think you make great points. It is about getting over the hump. You can you can make the playoffs, win the division as many times as you want, but it doesn't mean a whole lot until yeah until you get to the dance and and take it home. so Exactly. And that's going to be it. We're going to come back to that theme in about the seven minutes once we get to those sheets. Wait, when I had a question. So i'm on that theme, as far as as far as them you know losing a lot of impact players, people writing them off a bit,
00:30:40
Speaker
I want to talk about the the game one of the games that they lost was to to the Ravens. yep A lot of people are saying the Ravens are steamrolling people, and they are. They're playing incredible, I think. Yeah. No, so good. Lamar is playing out of his mind. So with so taking pulling the picture back further, looking not just at the Bills, how do they with with the roster that they have and the way that they've been playing, how do they stack up against the top teams in the division? And maybe this is a good segue into talking about Kansas City.
00:31:10
Speaker
So they, everybody's got a chance. I think the Bills absolutely, if you play, go play that Ravens game 10 times, I bet the Bills win five out of those, right? ah Yes, the Ravens are so good right now. They're playing lights out. Lamar is set up to be perfect.
00:31:28
Speaker
And I think at the fact that this Lamar Jackson, Derek Henry experiment that they've been trying, honestly trying to knock on the door, they but they went, they tried to get Derek Henry multiple times at the trade deadline, multiple years in a row. They finally got them. It's clearly working, right? Teams, you you're making teams have to pick their poison and that poison is deadly upon any times it touch your lips, right? So Lamar and Derek Henry is working.
00:31:51
Speaker
If the bills can get a different game script and you know, all credit goes to the Ravens. They played so good. They punch the bills in the mouth with that Derek Henry run right off in the very like second play, maybe first play. I can't remember what it was. I kind of block it out at this point, right? So early and boom, the bills are playing from behind. That's not where the bills like to play offense or defense.
00:32:13
Speaker
The defense is set up to like to do really well when the offense puts up points. and When you only put up 10 or whatever he did that game, it doesn't set the defense up really well to do what they do best either. And all of a sudden we're playing from behinds and it just got out of hands. so So um I think if the bills, however, if we can get teams to play what how we want to play, I think we got a good chance any any day of the week. If we can get ahead, we can put points on the board and let our defense all of a sudden go in and start wreaking havoc. And the way that they have with this plus 12 lead best turnover differential in the league, like that's the way that we win games.
00:32:54
Speaker
And it just didn't happen that time. Thankfully it happened in a regular season game early on where the Bills could turn it around and still be 82 10 weeks in. It's not the playoffs where it's one and done and you're going home. I think that's the experience and that. um That experience of playing and losing in that fashion. I think this coaching staff and these players will take to heart and and kind of keep in mind as we go forward and possible other teams that might place the same way or hat you know, maybe we meet the Ravens in the playoffs.
00:33:24
Speaker
Yeah, I hear you. Great point about how the defense doesn't like to play that way because because we set up a lot of light boxes where we kind of invite the run a little bit and it burns us. Clearly it burned us in that game. But then then they're able to just kind of lean on the lead that they have and just kind of run the ball down our throats. And that's exactly what happened.
00:33:43
Speaker
we're We're set up to really kind of min max both sides of the ball that will help each other if it goes well. Right? If it goes well. And it needs to. and it And it didn't in that game. And I think, like, all the credit goes to the Ravens. They played awesome. They played lights out. And we didn't. And we lost that game. So, um you know, but I do think, excuse me, that I think the Bills could have, you know, and a very good fighting chance against the Ravens if we were to play again. Yeah, fair enough. That's great.
00:34:12
Speaker
Transition if you're unless you have anything else to add on that that bullet point because that's a great question I like I like ball the microscope back Yeah, especially, we're I mean, we're halfway through. We're going to get to um um a bye week, the following week. So we're going to do a little bit more kind of big picture stuff. But it's just been on my mind of like, hey, does what what does this actually mean for us? is Is it truly meaningful or is it cool? It's absolutely cool. Being eight and two is amazing, especially the first time since 1993. Heck yeah. I'll take it every time. If you asked us, if you asked us when we were doing our schedule predictions back in August,
00:34:45
Speaker
you You said we're gonna be eight and two, 10 weeks in. All three of us would take it and and run and be so happy. For sure. one A lot, to see a lot of so sorry to drag on on this, but like a lot of their wins have been convincing. I'd say maybe yeah six of those eight have been pretty convincing wins. And the two losses, yeah, we we got our we took our lumps against the the Ravens. The Texans game was a three-point game. It was a close game, dude.
00:35:11
Speaker
ah You know, like like they could be nine and one. I don't think anyone would be terribly surprised. Nope. two and be jake But speaking of convincing wins. I don't know if it was convincing, but it was a good win by the end. It was my failed attempt at a segue. That was good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah That was a sick. ah so tell Tell me about it. what What made it not so convincing? and So the Bills beat the Colts 30 to 20, right? um Came out on top, won by 10 points. I absolutely think that could have been a three a three score win because the Colts scored a garbage time goal at the end, um going up from 13 to 20 points right at the very end of the fourth quarter. So it should have been a three score win. um I just think that it was a little herky-jerky, right? I think it relied on the Bills defense playing
00:36:07
Speaker
lights out. They played out of their minds. It was so good. um And I like to go back and highlight the stat I just referenced a second ago, but the Bills now hold the best turnover intervention differential in the entire league at plus 12. Meaning they take away the ball more than any and more than they give away the um the ball than better than anybody in the league. And that's the way you want to play this game. You want to take the ball away and not give it up. Go score points. Go get go. Go um capitalize on those turnovers. Taryn Johnson leading leading the way. First throw of the game from Joe Flacco. Taking it home. Pick six. You've got to love it. You've got to love. I feel for Joe Flacco, the dude here in the here in the reins of booze coming down on him as he as he left the field a couple of times. ah yeah no it felt It felt good hearing it from from a building
00:36:58
Speaker
and You're not a Joe Flacco fan, huh? Well, no. I mean, I just hate, you know what? like the bills The bills travel, man. those bill That Bill's Mafia travels. And it was very, a talking point this week was like, oh, you're coming to Indianapolis. You're coming to Loud House, right? Eh. Eh.
00:37:14
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Which which direction is that with noise being directed? Exactly. The bills over the game force three total interceptions in a force fumble. So four turnovers is just you go and you win those games. If you can do that, you're setting yourself up for and a cakewalk. And thankfully, that's what it ended up being. Our friend Joe Marina say that on the Lockdown Buffalo podcast say that a lot of times win the turnover battle, win the game. Yeah.
00:37:44
Speaker
Makes sense, right? Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. get Put the ball in Josh Allen's hands. um Jonathan Taylor um had great production. He's an elite running back, a dangerous player. He had great production in the first half, but the Bills bottled him right up in the second half, like very minimally. Part of that was because of the game script, meaning that the Bills were ahead and could play from ahead and that and the Colts were not ahead and could have had to play from behind, right? So that was a great example of the Colts not being able to lead on their strength with Jonathan Taylor, one of the best running backs in the league.
00:38:17
Speaker
Well, the the bills also closed the door on that. That was was not an option for them. So I think the defense really kind of took things home and and really took this game away. that That's really what made it look look so good, even if the the offense maybe was not firing in all cylinders.
00:38:40
Speaker
Yeah, du dude, he's he's an incredible running back. But just flowers to the defense, they they really they really turned the tide in that game it was it was powerfulp i lot from my layman's perspective. Yep. Um some other kind of uh shout out some some of the good Josh Allen is now tied for second most rushing touchdowns in a franchise history at 57 with mister OJ Simpson from the 70s. So um that's pretty cool. but He's only behind Jake. Do you know who leads?
00:39:13
Speaker
I believe it's Thurman Thomas. Am I correct? Hey, very good. And do you have an idea of the numbers? And it's okay if you don't. it's He's close. within spitting said You said Allen is at 57, I believe. So I think I'm going to go with, I don't know, 72. 65. So within s spin distance, there's only eight. Oh my God. Dude, he could get that this year. He could get that this year. yeah yeah Josh Allen.
00:39:41
Speaker
It's not crazy to think that. Does that include playoffs or no? That's a great question. I think so, yes. I'm assuming yes. So I think it's very easily that Josh Allen could lead the franchise in rushing touchdowns.
00:39:52
Speaker
And he's what, 26, something like that. ah Yeah. 27, I think 28. Um, like, like, what are we doing? You know, like this is so cool. We we got Josh Allen right now. So I love it. Um, yeah. Take a step back and like enjoy the fact that he is doing what he's doing on Buffalo, dude. It's, it's, it's enjoyable to watch him play football. You throw a red zone on and you see some of the other quarterbacks doing what they do and it just, it, it highlights.
00:40:21
Speaker
Just how dominant he can be and how much he can do passing and rushing, honestly. Yeah, we are so lucky. I can't wait to be. I can't wait for my daughter to tell me, hey, dad, stop putting on the Josh Allen highlights. So, yeah, it's going to be so good. So anyway. It makes you say, like, hey, throw on the Josh Allen highlights. Yeah, I'll be the way.
00:40:45
Speaker
Yeah, that'd be awesome. I'd love to. So anyway, I think I mean, there's a little bit of a bad and the
Josh Allen's Performance and Strategy Against the Chiefs
00:40:51
Speaker
ugly. The offense was stagnant. Josh Allen threw another two interceptions. So don't love seeing that not helping each other, not playing complimentary football, especially when the defense is turning over the ball like they are. You just got to take care of the ball and not give it back. Right. The defense went and got it for you. Don't give it back. What are we doing? One of them was quick to it was like we got an interception and then immediately he threw an interception. Right.
00:41:13
Speaker
yeah did did you so on on those two intercepttion So, I mean, first of all, it's a privilege to say how long it took for him to throw an interception. So we talked about regressing to the mean earlier, like it's going to happen. did Did you think they were particularly egregious or just kind of take your lumps? Like, yeah, he threw an interception. like Let's move on from it.
00:41:32
Speaker
middle of the pack middle I would say yeah that they're not terrible like oh my god he made a terrible decision um and also they were not like the first two the first two of the season they were definitely I would not but ah say they were Josh Allen's fault whatsoever. They weren't they were not his fault. um But ah these two, these these were, these were just, so sometimes the first the first one, he was trying to throw a ball to ah an open player, but he got hit in the pocket and somebody pulled on his left shoulder as he was throwing with his right and he just couldn't put what he needed to behind him, right? Again, there's nothing, it's not necessarily his fault other than, man, if you could have gotten it out a split second sooner, that wouldn't have been a negative play in the way it was.
00:42:12
Speaker
Um, and then second, the second interception, he was yeah being a little greedy. He was trying to get, he thought he had, um, some access to the other side of the field and throwing across his body and, um, didn't necessarily have what he put yet. So, um, yeah, I would not, I would not, he's not innocent at this time. Fair enough. Fair enough. yeah He was too, you know, they won the game. Can't, can't put too much.
00:42:39
Speaker
stock into it right every game right right right so anyway i want to save time for a good discussion here for the next week's game where the chiefs are coming to orchard park baby their bills are hosting kansas city sunday afternoon at 425 i'm i'm super pumped Sir Jake here right here is coming up and hanging out with me. We're going to watch this together. So this is like that's the way you want to watch football is with friends and with family and do all that. So I'm pumped. It's gonna be awesome. And boy, is it a game. Sir Keyon Coleman has already been ruled out. So we will not have Keyon. Thankfully not put on IR. So hopefully that's still some some positive news of maybe it's not longer than we think. But maybe he'll be ready to go after the bye and ready for San Francisco. Did you have a thought there?
00:43:28
Speaker
Not a thought more a question. Do you know there was that kind of ugly hit? No, I'm sorry. No. Do you know what caused the entry? It was the hit from Jordan Poyer um in the Miami game. It was helmet helmet to his forearm. He ended up like hurting something in his forearm elbow area. Okay. got list area Yeah. No, no timetable though. I mean, look no timetable, but not IR. So I think that IR is good. That's less than four weeks. Right. And especially having the buy occupy one of those you know Right. And we he didn't play last week. So that's like kind of like, okay, we know it's, I'm assuming he's going to be back for San Francisco at this point. yeah That's what I'm assuming. All right. That's great. What about the other the other major one was Dalton Kincaid. I think he'd left the game for a bit, but came back. did Do you know how he's progressing?
00:44:17
Speaker
Um, it's right now day to day. We haven't got much more information. It was a knee injury and you correct. He he he was um out pretty early in the, um, the Indianapolis game. Uh, so I hopefully we're gonna get some more information this week as we progress, but marked day to day is better than a week to week and especially bark better than already ruled out like he is. Right. So, um, hopefully we get them because man, we're going to need, Josh is going to need some options this weekend. so Um, hopefully Amari Cooper can go this week. Um,
00:44:45
Speaker
He's been out for some wrist issues the last two weeks. So hopefully we can get Amari going and have Duncan Cade and Josh can have a couple of these weapons at his disposal because that'll be really important. Can I ask you a question about Amari Cooper and his situation? So yeah we traded for him fairly early before the trade deadline. And the the rhetoric around that was it's good to trade for these guys early that you can get them integrated with the team and and kind of clicking before you get to the the tail end of the season.
00:45:15
Speaker
him he hasn't really had a huge impact because of being brand new and then being injured do you still think like that holds water for you still where where he's been with the team and able to kind of learn the processes the plays that kind of thing and just be around the team is that still that's still a big factor for you or or are you a bit worried that he's gotten here and been immediately injured Um, I mean, I'm, I'm definitely worried because you'd rather him not be right. You'd absolutely rather that he was fresh and good to go and playing. I'll do it in all those practices and getting all those practice reps from Amari. I'm sorry from Josh Allen. Um, so, but no, I think I'm okay with it. This is, this is again, we're looking to push forward and. We need him at the close this season out and push into the playoffs at this point. That's when we need him to really come alive. Honestly, that's when we need all these guys to come alive, right? We need to just get through these next couple of games, push into December, push into January, and get ready for the playoffs where we can play our best ball. So I'm okay, especially meaning that because he's not, he's still in the facility. He gets to be in all the meetings. He gets to be in the planning. So he's learning the playbook. He's learning the lingo. He's getting all that.
00:46:21
Speaker
in I'm hoping that he's getting some of the practice reps. I actually that's be some some research I should do is if if he's really catching balls from Josh Allen right now in practice or if he's not because of the injury, um that would be disappointing, right? You're trying to just get reps. You just got to get what is this guy doing? Where is Josh going to place the ball? And honestly, Josh is telling him, hey, I need you to be do this. This is what I need from you so that I can play my best because that's really where it's coming from. Right. This is one the way I see the field. This is where I see these different defensive alignments and defensive formations, this is what I need from you. And so that those conversations are the things that we get in practice and and therere all the um the the the the different um rooms, the position rooms and and and stuff like that. So um it's not great. No, it's not ideal, but I don't think it's game breaking. Yeah, fair fair enough. i Yeah, that's
00:47:16
Speaker
Encouraging and yeah, hopefully you can go dude if you know Coleman's out already if Cooper can't go and Dalton Kincaid Maybe he goes but maybe he's a little banged up all of a sudden you're looking at Shakir and then options to being Curtis Samuel and Matt Collins That's that's not the depth we envisioned when we were looking at previewing week one No, and especially playing a defense like Kansas City, right? They are good defense. That's how they're winning this year. That's not from Patrick Mahomes putting on a superhero cape and beating the shit out of the other teams. It's been defenses. The Kansas City has, they're not, I don't know, somehow. Of course they are. Of course they are. That's the scary part. Patrick Mahomes can do that. We know that. And I'm not trying to sound like Chris Collins
00:48:07
Speaker
stroking him off every week on on Sunday Night Football. But he can put the superhero cape on and just dominate a game. And I don't think we've really seen that in any came from them so far. So it's it's sure he's had some weapons go down. Pacheco Rice. But he still can do that. um I don't particularly care who he has to throw the ball to. It's still dangerous. You still need to respect it. Yes. No. Yeah. thats all right Yeah.
00:48:35
Speaker
I don't know, man. Yeah, this is going to be big. i think I think a question here that we got on Twitter this week from at bump underscore Miller on X um kind of helps us kind of outline our um ah conversation here. And I have a follow up question as well. So his question goes like this. My question for this week, do you pull out all the stops to win or do you hold something back for the playoffs? More talking about Brady and Babbage versus the players.
00:49:00
Speaker
So I'll take the first swing at this pinata and then feel free to come come in and and kind of chime in as you want to. um I don't think so. I think this week... The bills that we just talked about before, we need to get over the hump. It doesn't matter if we beat the the Chiefs in the regular season. We've done it the last three seasons. or three seasons And then we've lost to them in the playoffs twice, and we lost to the Bengals in the playoff once, right? like Sure, it's good to get the the win. It's good to get the conference win. It's good to get it for playoff seating, because we have the tiebreaker over them. All that fan fantastic. However, if you told me that we gave up this game,
00:49:40
Speaker
But we know that we're gonna be able to beat them in the playoffs. Every Bills fan in anywhere across the world is gonna slam their blue light down and say, hell yeah, sign me up, take it away, right? They could do whatever they want to us on Sunday, knowing that we're gonna be able to beat them in the playoffs. so So, no, don't take all those, don't pull out all the stops, keep things close to the vest, continue to play your game, right? Go in, um get a lead, play a run game. with Our O-line has been playing lights out and then lining things up and just paving the road, the yellow brick road for Ray Davis and for James Cook and Ty Johnson.
00:50:22
Speaker
Keep that up. Be physical. Punch him in the mouth. Be physical on the D-line. Get into Patrick Mahomes face. um Let Josh play from ahead. Let the defense play from ahead. And then that's the game we want to play. But no, don't don't just do things just because, hey, we need to play cute here and and yeah ah and somehow manufacture a win.
00:50:44
Speaker
We need to save that for January, when we see them in whatever round of the playoffs, we probably will see them in again, because of course we do, right? Of course we do. um So that that's where I'm at with that. Do you have any, what what are your what are your thoughts there? yeah It wouldn't feel right to, you know if knocking on wood, it wouldn't feel right to like make a run without slaying the dragon kind of thing and and and beating Kansas City. So it's it's it's it's fascinating to hear you talk about that, because Again, i'm I'm more of a casual fan. So as far as the the chess playing that offensive and defensive coordinators do is not something that is innate to me. So so to me, I'm like, yeah, I hear what you're saying. keep Keep the bag of tricks to yourself. I guess there's some inherent risk there if those kind of cheeky plays that maybe you have tight to the vest don't work, right? I mean, is there not some risk in, in you know, to to me,
00:51:44
Speaker
I'm rambling maybe, but to me, like you should have kind of your your bread and butter that you do well, that you know you can execute week after week after week. And that's what should propel you to victory in a regular season game or a playoff game. Am I off base with that? like like do you think do Do you think most coordinators are are keeping things kind of kind of close to the vest so that they can reveal it at an important time to get a leg up? And then my follow-up question to that is, why is that so effective?
00:52:13
Speaker
what What are they exploiting? like like It's the same players on the field. It's the same general layout for the most part. like what What is the X factor that gives them the advantage in holding things back? So good question. I like it. I like it. And this is probably a lot of Bill's mafias and NFL fans questions out there. um I think we need to think about less of it as cutesy plays and trick plays. like that's That's not what it is or stunts and things like that. It's evolutions to your current scheme.
00:52:42
Speaker
So what I mean by that, and I think this is a big reason of why I like Joe Brady, why Ken Dorsey didn't work last year when we fired our old offensive coordinator, was because what we did, he showed the same looks in the same um formations with the same um player personnel packages and then didn't develop them.
00:53:03
Speaker
So what the when I say keep things hold close to the vest is don't start to show what you're planning to do and what you've already set up. So Joe, Joe Brady has already set up some different packages, right? We play a lot of um we oftentimes are bringing in a six offensive lineman.
00:53:20
Speaker
right All the time you see a offensive lineman for the Bills check in and say, number 70, Alec Anderson is ah is is checking in and is ah is is um ah eligible receiver, right? So he checks in um and we play out of those six personnel, those six offensive line packages all the time, all the time we see it. So right now we're oftentimes seeing them as run plays and being physical and just out-bodying and and using the um that kind of the the size there. Well,
00:53:49
Speaker
a wrinkle to that or an evolution to that would be. Oh man, actually, instead of playing a run play out of that personnel, we're doing a leak with Dawson Knox out into a out route to the to the post and boom, it's actually a pass play.
00:54:05
Speaker
It looks the same. It looks exactly the same. It sets up exactly the same players are in the exact same spots the same count all that but boom, instead of it being a draw or a ah some kind of run play for James Cook off to the left.
00:54:20
Speaker
All of a sudden, it's Dawson Knox, he's peeled out, and he's out for a pass. So that is developing the same packages, the same personnel groupings, and then evolving that into something to look different and be used differently. So I don't think it's less of a cutesy or trick plays, a flea flicker, or a clear Shakir throwing a touchdown pass to Josh Allen, which would be cool. Sign me up. Let's do it. That's awesome. But that's not the sparkle.
00:54:49
Speaker
Right. The sparkle is, hey, what are the different evolutions or even on defense if we're showing certain coverage looks. The bills are notorious for showing and rotating out of defenses, right, until we have one look and then after the snap, we rotate it into something else. Well, guess what? the The evolution for that or the wrinkle to that is to rotate into something different. that theletta That is not on tape. Or maybe you stay, right? Maybe you stay and you don't rotate and all of a sudden you're kind of, you're so you're doing something to throw off and you're taking what you normally do, but make it different.
00:55:24
Speaker
And and that that's more of what I'm seeing and what I talk about when, Hey, don't pull out all the stops there. And that means don't pull out the evolutions. Don't show your cards of, Hey, what direction are we trying to go later in December and January and into the playoffs of how our, our scheme is developing and what, what how that's going to work. So that's my thought there. That's it's, it's, it's a great answer, dude. I'm glad you explained that because my, my mind does go to the fleece liquor, the, the.
00:55:54
Speaker
Curtis Samuel throwing a 40 yard touchdown, Pat, you know, like those kinds of things that they're fun. They look nice, but they're not effective most of the time. It's like, holy shit, it works. Not. Wow. Yeah. No, we executed that well. And that's how we drew it up. Um, so yeah, I think that, that is, that, that is really interesting to hear. And it, it does give me some more appreciation for the kind of chess aspect of, of, of seeing the coordinators kind of move pieces around a little bit that is so it's It's just, it's my new show. Like like a a casual fan would not really notice that. They wouldn't say, oh wow, they're lined up this way and they've been doing that, but then they did something different. You know what I mean? Like like there that that evolution that you're talking about is... is
00:56:38
Speaker
It's a nuance that I think is lost sometimes in yeah just kind of watching casually. That's fascinating. So like with that said, sorry, go ahead. Well, before we get on, we'll kind of move on. Do you want to know who's the best at that and best in NFL history and best in the world?
00:56:53
Speaker
Andy Reid. It's Andy Reid across across the field. Yeah. Oh, he's the best. That's why he's so good. That is why he is so good. Exactly of his evolution. The guy can disguise his favorite hamburger as whatever he wanted and boom, it would be something different, right? He could do it. I use the guy who could do it so um he's it. But I also imagine he also knows how other other um coordinators are trying to scheme things too. So, man, to be a fly on the wall and hear them talk about this kind of stuff would be just fascinating. Well, yeah, because that that's the wrinkle further, right? So if you if you if you have a set pattern that you have, your set plays, that then you're going to wrinkle to be something slightly different. The other team might be thinking, okay, but like, what if but if they don't? wrinkle it and they just do the at play right and then you burn that way. So I see the the dynamic of of kind of anticipating and guessing what the other team is going to do and how that can can really impact the game. And we've talked about it on this podcast before. We don't think Patrick Mahomes is head and shoulders above Josh Allen. Like a lot of the the disappointments to them have maybe been more an outcoached aspect. I think the 13 second game
00:58:11
Speaker
is testament to that. So not to get too far down the rabbit hole, but yeah, I hear you. I see it as a casual fan that he is incredible at doing that with this task. So good. So good. It's on az on, yeah, he's the best ever to it. It's, and it's very cool to see you. Unfortunately, he's playing, he's coaching the freaking Kansas city chiefs who back in their homes, but yeah, here we are. Tom, take me through this table here and then let's do some score predictions and get out of here.
00:58:37
Speaker
Alright, so just to kind of run through because I think it's important to kind of see how teams are progressing throughout the league um and throughout the season is um I have my DVOA. So um the um the variation of how you're approaching every single position right every single possible play that's ever happened in that same exact position. um Offensively, the bills are sixth in DVOA and the Chiefs are 10th.
00:59:01
Speaker
Defensively, the Bills are 9th in DVOA and the Chiefs are 4th. And then special teams, the Bills are 25th while the Chiefs are 18th. So um it's you honestly fairly evenly matched, right? There's some there's some wiggle room there, but um it's going to be an interesting kind of battle here is how how we be going to this game. It's going to be a big one, right? it's the It's the game of the week. Everybody's already seen it. It's um CBS has already probably posted up camp in Western New York, and it's going to be a big one. So should we do some score predictions here, pal? Yeah, let's do it. Well, ah writing writinging in from away Nigel.
00:59:38
Speaker
He sent in 1714 Kansas City coming out on top. So send all hate mail to him. He's predicting Kansas City to win. But I will come on the back of that and say, I also think Kansas City comes out on top here. I'm going to go 2013. I think there's some kicker action. And we'll see what happens. Action or inaction, if you can read between the lines on my 13th.
01:00:07
Speaker
fair enough what are you up you ah demand i I'm going to go against the crowd here. I'm taking yes i'm taking the bills. And you want to know why? It's because the bills of A really had their the the the Chiefs cards um in ah and the regular season.
01:00:26
Speaker
and B, it's because when we do lose in the postseason, it's because of we are just hemorrhaging something at defense or hemorrhaging something in offense. We have just not been healthy. Now, granted, we might not be super healthy going into this game, but I think our defense is. So um I'm ready for our defense to come in and they're going to, they're going to do their job. So I'm going to take bills, win 24, 14.
01:00:54
Speaker
No, we're not backed up. tos two Let's do a one score game. 24-23. It's going to be a nail biter. We're going to be just pulling our hair out. We're going to just absolutely just have a terrible time on Sunday, but we're squeaking one out. Hey, well, I can't wait to watch it with you, dude. Win or lose. yeah I think it'll be a lot of fun.
01:01:11
Speaker
So good. Well, anyway, dude, so good to see you. So good to hang and ah and kind of talk some Buffalo sports here. Anybody else who's on live with us, thank you so much for hanging out. Please come back next week. We'll be here when loser draw. We're here. So anyway, Tom, get us 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.
01:01:37
Speaker
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.