Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 27 - Buffalo Bills 2023 Season Autopsy
43 Plays1 year ago
Break out your scalpels! We are DEEP diving into the full autopsy of the Buffalo Bills 2023 season. Join us on our journey as we carve out the highs and lows and in-betweens of the journey. We appreciate everyone being along for the ride - please give us a share or like if you like what you hear!
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.
#bills #billsmafia #buffalo #buffalony #buffalove
Follow us on:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/048vArjFOc8j6vznx77xRV?si=8bb273a317ac4239
YouTube - https://youtube.com/@LetsGoBuffPod?si=MhCpkbMaUrj8D8Pk
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Social Media
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything bills and savings.
00:00:23
Speaker
what's going on everybody you're listening to the let's go buffalo podcast your favorite podcast for all things bills and sabers with the pals nodule tom and jake episode 27 coming at you
00:00:41
Speaker
Don't forget to follow our social medias. You can find us at Let's Go Buff Pod. That's Buff with two Fs on Instagram, X, YouTube, and Jake, are we live on the old TikTok? We're live on talk, baby. Yeah, same handle. I gotta add that to my opening spiel here. So yeah, TikTok as well. Again, that's Let's Go Buff Pod, Buff with two Fs.
Humorous Anecdotes and Banter
00:01:06
Speaker
And let's say hello to the fellows. Tom, how we doing, pal?
00:01:11
Speaker
Good. What's up, buddy? Hey, well, we're doing really well. Just just hanging having a good little week. Yeah, I'm good. Thanks, buddy. How are you, buddy? I'm good. I'm good. I went to the dentist today. I tried to do that. I got scammed by the dentist. Nice. And it charged me like a thousand dollars for some laser reductive hip dysplasia. Fucking. Oh, well, I'll do that for five. I'm like, I've been to the dentist every year since I was a kid and every time it's been fine. So I think I found a sham dentist, not a.
00:01:40
Speaker
not not an issue with my teeth but maybe you know look in the camera and tell me otherwise i've been telling you since 2018 bro you gotta stop going to the dentist for your hips it's not the place to go bro that's why they're charging you so much i knew there was a reason you're seeing the wrong you're seeing the wrong person for the wrong ailment my guy well fuck dude you you invoice me i'll let you take a look at my gums i dude i'll look at whatever you want me to look at dude your gums your knees your freaking butthole dude i don't care
00:02:11
Speaker
They all probably need to be checked out. They're all equally dirty.
Enjoying Beers Together
00:02:15
Speaker
Well, let's get a one stop shop. You know, your oil change in the same spot to add home medical clinic. Yikes. All right. Well, fellas, I me personally, I am insanely, insanely overdue.
00:02:34
Speaker
to enjoy a beer with you guys on this podcast. I'm finally home. I have my new little setup here in Mikasa. And with my home comes my fridge.
Buffalo Bills' New Coordinators
00:02:45
Speaker
And so here we are, boys. So I'll give us a nice little countdown here and let's have one, shall we? Ready? Three, two, one.
00:02:56
Speaker
yes sir cheers boys well i uh i do have one um but it's it's not a new one for me i'm back to my roots baby it is the three heads kind in a can though if that's counts for anything that's new that's new that's a very normally it's a bottle for me so uh yeah nice little ipa here for myself tom what are you drinking
00:03:20
Speaker
I have little fluffy clouds from Pro Pig. Well, it's out of Burlington, V.T.. Yeah, baby. That's adorable. Yeah, I love that. They're not little clouds, the little pigs. What kind of what kind of beer is it? It's a pallet. It's really good. Yeah. Nice. Torpedo tasty. What do you got there, my guy? I got a hermit, fresh ale. It's called the Po Tweet. It's a kettle sourdale with local hops. And, you know, we're
00:03:49
Speaker
It's a little sour tasting, but it's very delicious in the end. And I think that's a good segue into our conversation of the bills. Yeah. I, wait real quick, Tom, I just had a thought for future pods, like during off seasons, we should do for our beer corner. Let's do like a monthly beer corner. So like, maybe we all have to get beers from a different brewery or excuse me, the same brewery for one month. So we like feature a brewery for one month. Yeah. I'm down with that. All right. Cool. Get them to future us.
00:04:17
Speaker
Hey, how about that? Any brewers out there who would like us to drink your beer on air, we will. Oh my God. We'll pay you money to do that. We'll buy them. Just tell us you're interested. Yeah, just let us know that you want us to do it. We'll absolutely buy them. Oh my God.
00:04:36
Speaker
Well, speaking of new ideas and new beers and all that fun stuff, the Buffalo Bills have their hands on officially on paper some new coordinators on both sides of the ball. No big surprise here, but Joe Brady has officially been named the Bills offensive coordinator. So we go ahead and remove that interim tag.
00:04:59
Speaker
This is exciting for me because for taking over an offense in the middle of the season, I thought he did a remarkable job in terms of putting his thumbprint on this offense, which I would imagine without an entire
00:05:15
Speaker
off season to do has got to be difficult. And I thought he did a really nice job of kind of removing Ken Dorsey's thumbprint and putting his own on there. And I'm excited to see what he can do with an entire off season. So I think that'll be cool. Do you guys have thoughts on the jubilant?
00:05:35
Speaker
I'll wait before Tom gives his thoughts because I know he has some intelligent ones. I have a dumb question to interject with. So when OC takes over during the year, there's, I mean, you're dealing with quick turnarounds between games. Are you using kind of the same blueprint playbook as the previous OC? So Joe Brady came in using Ken Dorsey's playbook. Oh yeah.
00:05:55
Speaker
intensive purposes, right? Because they literally have a playbook. They have a iPad with plays on it. That is their playbook, right? That they've been studying and been working through. Um, Joe Brady's been part of it, right? He's the, he was the quarterback's coach before this. So he at least has been part of this plan. So I'm sure he had some flair in there at least definitely was incredibly familiar with it. Um,
00:06:16
Speaker
But you're right. Going in, he didn't wipe the iPads clean and send him a new thing to figure out in a week. That's not happening. So he did pick up where Ken Dorsey left off. And honestly, I was kind of with Nigel. I didn't think that he was going to be able to do all too much. I thought it was going to be okay. It's going to be Ken Dorsey's offense, but he's going to maybe use it in a different way.
00:06:38
Speaker
But there was much more of a Joe Brady thumbprint in what they were doing, which was cool. So I'm really excited to see what they do in a full offseason, like give the guy a full offseason to work with the entire team, get these new rookies in.
Bills' Season Start and Expectations
00:06:56
Speaker
My only thing I want to see him to be able to do, use that.
00:06:59
Speaker
axe factor use that weapon step on digs because he fell off the face of the earth at the end of that year and under his watch so you we we had diggs is going into four years of a contract here so let's let's see let's see joe brady used use that weapon because that was a part of the game that was missing and i think we we would have been better for it if we had the digs humming at the end of the year
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. Absolutely. Now this one is to me, I'm not going to say more significant, because this is, of course, significant. But the one that we weren't quite as confident about. Finally, today, Tuesday, January 30, the bills officially hired Bobby Babbage as the new defensive coordinator. Oh, baby.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah, huge, huge. This guy, he's so the cool thing about Babs, that's I'm officially starting the Babs train. The cool thing about Babs is since he has been with Buffalo, which I want to say is like 2019 was his first season here. Tom, you have a thought there.
00:08:06
Speaker
I'm going to do some producing. I'm going to get you a date. Thanks buddy. I'm going to say 2019. Um, but when he first became a part of this team, everything that he touched, he was like Midas dude, you touch that shit. It's going to turn to gold. Jordan Boyer and Micah Hyde had all pro seasons under Babs as the safety's coach on this team. Um, Matt Milano at an all when, when Babs became the linebackers coach.
00:08:31
Speaker
Matt Milano had an All-Pro year, Tremaine Edmonds had the best season he's had as a Buffalo Bill, and then I think we're all pretty familiar with what happened with Terrell Bernard this season. So everything Bobby's been doing since he's been in Buffalo has been just awesome. So I'm excited to see what he can do now as the guy in charge of the whole defense.
00:08:55
Speaker
I'm sure there will probably be some growing pains here and there like there is with any first time coordinator. But he's got a great support system around him and Sean McDermott. Al Holcomb is there. John Butler, who is the secondary's coach right now is well respected in this league. So I think I like how well supported he is. And I think it's great that we kept him because he was drawing a lot of interest from a lot of different teams. Tom, you got a day for me?
Mid-Season Performance Analysis
00:09:20
Speaker
Agreed. Yeah, no, it was 2017 when he came to Buffalo. You're a hundred percent right. He was assistant 19. You said 2019. Oh, yeah. So he came in. That was when that's when Poyer and Micah came in and they were starting to get developed. Right. And he was defensive backs coach first, then safeties coach, then linebackers coach. And now he's now he's a DC, which is awesome. His comes from the pedigree of NFL coaching as well. His dad
00:09:42
Speaker
Also Bobby Bob, I think Bob Babbage was the life back coach in Buffalo too. They were on the, they were on the same coaching staff together for a little bit before, um, Bob senior, uh, retired in 2021, which is, I always, I was kind of cool. So, um, family affair. I, um, I, I agree that I'm super pumped that he's in like he's here. I think this is significant that there's all this hullabaloo about Sean McDermott chasing away coaches. He's keeping these young stud coaches who want to stay in Buffalo and work with him.
00:10:12
Speaker
like that's significant to me, right? And I think that Babbage is going to have a really, I think he's going to have a really significant impact on this entire defense because of what he's able to do in specific
00:10:26
Speaker
position rooms. Like I think I'm excited for him to be able to have his, his fingers on everything now. Right. I mean, we have Sean McDermott, arguably one of the best defensive back coaches in the game. Bobby Babbage, arguably one of the back, the best back seven coaches in the game. Like let's get somebody in, um, Eric Washington left to go be, um, DC in Chicago. So we need, we're going to bring some new fresh blood in for, um, D line, like hopefully it's somebody who can come in and, you know, bring a new perspective and that's, that's role boys.
00:10:54
Speaker
Yeah, I want to read a really nice tweet here from Tyrell Dodson after the hiring was announced. So quote from Tyrell Dodson's Twitter account. If I wanted to say everything I have about Bobby, I would run out of space. Best coach I've ever had hands down believed in me before everyone else did rose the bar for myself. I'm not surprised one bit. You not only earn this, but much deserved love. So, I mean, when you have that kind of endorsement from players, it's, I mean, what else could
00:11:24
Speaker
What else could you possibly ask for as a fan? You know speaks volumes, bro Like that's that's a guy who clearly cares about his players and you know, it's cool to see players root root for their coaches. So Yeah, man, go bills, baby a whole offseason for them to go sit in the sit in the lab and plan boys
00:11:42
Speaker
who was the so bevitch drew interest from green bed from miami there's a third team that i'm forgetting do you remember tom i don't remember no i would be there was it wasn't but yeah it's it's on there somewhere but he drew interest from three different teams now
00:11:59
Speaker
The big one that I needed to remember was Miami. And for Miami to be going after a defensive coach on the team and to not get them feels extraordinarily significant to me. I'm not positive, you know how many guys would be better at stopping Josh Allen than a linebackers coach on the team.
00:12:22
Speaker
Um, so really, really, really glad that he didn't do that. Um, so yeah, I feel like that was for sure. Please don't go to Miami, dear Lord. Um, uh, Leslie Frazier is, um, I was gonna say auditioning. That's the musician in me is, um, interviewing for the, uh, the DC job down in Miami too. So, um, this, uh, they're, they're after, they're after some of that, that, that Buffalo sauce. They're trying to figure out what to do here. What's going on up this up north here.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah dude for sure let's see here. Tom you want to move us into our next thing? I'm doing a little bit of producing here myself.
00:12:55
Speaker
I would love to.
Playoff Positioning and Final Games
00:12:57
Speaker
So our big focus this episode is to kind of unpack this season. This 2023, 2024 season was tumultuous, to say the least, right? Lots of ups, lots of downs. We got the full Buffalo Bills, Buffalo sports fan experience. And yeah, we took it to the face. So we wanted to kind of spend time, break it down. What were we thinking kind of in a couple of different chunks of the season? We broke it up into four chunks here. And I'll kind of walk you guys through.
00:13:24
Speaker
What happened in each chunk and then we're just gonna kind of spitball and talk through what were we feeling? What were you? What was the big points here? What was where were we at as fans? And where was the team at as a team in each of these chunks of the season kind of unpack what went really well and what was a Clearly concerning throughout the year
00:13:45
Speaker
Um, by the way, giants giants with a third team. Oh, that makes sense. I mean, yeah, well, they both saw Babbage work firsthand. I'm sure he would be clamoring to have him come. Yeah. Sorry. That was the, um, that was the producing I was doing.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah. Tom just said everything. I don't need to say it again. Well, that's very well said, Nigel. Thank you. Knock us into Chunk One, Tom. Yeah, let's get it. Here we go. All right. Well, before we hit Chunk One, I want just a quick two to three sentence vibe check of
00:14:20
Speaker
We just finished preseason. Bills are getting set to play Monday night football against the Jets on September 11th. What were we expecting from this team for this season? Give me two to three sentences. That one's for you, Nigel. Only two to three sentences. Playing like their hair is absolutely on fire. Just balls to the wall. Yeah, I think I agree. I think expectations were sky high. They had.
00:14:49
Speaker
They had, they had the roster, they had the momentum and the disappointment from the loss to the Bengals last year. So I think expectations were very high to prove that wrong this year. Go cleanse the palette, go reset and reestablish yourselves at the top of the AFC. Would we agree? Yeah, absolutely. Anything less than a division win would have been a, would have been a miss.
00:15:11
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And a birth into the playoffs. And they got scarier as we went. Yeah. Nice. Real quick. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Because I was absent last week from the pod, is it OK if I take a second and just get some thoughts off my chest about how I felt with the season ending? Is that OK? Give me give me 10 seconds or 30 seconds, we'll say.
00:15:36
Speaker
Sure, pal. It's hard to do. And I'm kind of glad that I wasn't there because I don't think I would have the same feelings I do now, obviously. I'm a very emotional sports fan. But I really am, like now two weeks out, super proud of the football team this year because they did demonstrate one thing that I've been dying for for a couple of years as a fan.
00:16:01
Speaker
And that is a sense of resiliency. And that was a trait that they demonstrated that they had this season that I thought was super, super significant. Obviously, I was pissed. I'm super pissed that we can't get by.
00:16:17
Speaker
Patrick Mahomes, and it's really depressing. And I'm going to say this, and people might get mad about it, but I truly, and excuses are excuses. They don't matter. But I truly think that if we have a healthy Matt Milano and a healthy Terrell Bernard, I think that game is entirely different. Because what were the two ways that Kansas City beat us? It was Isaiah Pacheco. It was Travis Kelsey.
00:16:43
Speaker
and you put in Terrell Bernard and Matt Milano, and I think you significantly decrease the impact of those two players.
Reflecting on Josh Allen and Future Outlook
00:16:53
Speaker
So those are my thoughts. I've been dying to say something about it on some kind of platform, and now I'm here, and I have it, and that's all I have to say. Thank you for letting me do that, fellas. Totally. I agree with you. I think Trey White, too, if we had a healthy secondary,
00:17:08
Speaker
I mean, when, when, when Kelsey and Pacheco weren't the option, they would, they go to receive rice. Like you shut down the wide receivers with a healthy one court cornerback. It's another way to beat him. Like it's just, it was a story all year. We'll get into that. But defense just getting hammered by injuries and that going into the season, the covers were stocked. You know, we had, we had, we had the, we had the horses in the stable. It's just like, all of a sudden the stables got awfully empty.
00:17:34
Speaker
I think that was beginning the season. I think a lot of people were like, OK, we got a lights out defense. We got all stars on every position kind of thing, especially in the secondary.
00:17:45
Speaker
hopefully they can win us some games and the offense peppers in there too. And the script flipped as the season went along where it was, okay, we need the offense to absolutely bail out this hamstrung defense, at least from my perspective. Now, Jake, your job in the next 18 weeks here, when I'm walking through, you got to tell us when you think that switched. Ooh, okay, deal, deal.
00:18:07
Speaker
All right. I'm going to reset this up just for our listeners who maybe lost track. We have four chunks this season. I'm going to walk us through each of these weeks, talk through a quick, just 10 second highlights. And then we're just going to kind of react and talk about what were the big talking points here, good or bad. Chunk one was from week one to week five. Week one was a 60 to 22 loss over time to the Jets.
00:18:33
Speaker
We're at zero and one. Week two, a 38 to 10 slammer of a win against the Raiders. Week three, a 37 to three win versus the Commanders. Week four, maybe my favorite win of the season, 48 to 20 win against the Dolphins. And then week five, week five, the infamous 20 to 25 loss versus the Jaguars in London. And we ended up with three to two.
00:19:03
Speaker
Three and two. That's it? That's it, Jake? That's the ringer? I think that's it. The Jets loft to begin the season was a heartbreaker. I think you replay that game, and the Bills probably win. Aaron Rodgers goes down. That was unfortunate to see. We don't hear for injuries, but when he goes down, you smell blood in the water. You expect the Bills to win that game. And then the fact that they came out of it with the loss was an immediate kind of kick in the gut for the season.
00:19:33
Speaker
Um, but anyways, as they go through that stretch, they rattle off three games against the Raiders, commanders, and dolphins. The, I thought the team looked lights out in a lot of those games or all three of those games. And then they go across the Atlantic to London and play the Jaguars on a terrible field. Uh, it's, it's an ugly game. They lose a couple of key defensive players. I think that was the game where they lost Matt Milano, they lost Daquan Jones, they had
00:19:57
Speaker
just lost Trey White the week before against the Dolphins. I think that was, for me at least, that was where I said, okay.
00:20:05
Speaker
we're really going to see what this defense is made of and we need the offense to kind of chip in and pull their part because they really, they had been pulling their weight to that date so far. Like they put up a ton of points against the Raiders, the commanders, the Dolphins, but then in the Jaguars game, they struggled. I remember they put together good drives, but it was too little too late. It was like in the fourth quarter when they put together really good drives.
00:20:32
Speaker
So I think it was that game for me. After that game, I was like, okay, the offense needs to figure their shit out because they need to bail out this defense. They're doing everything they can and they're short handed. So yeah, did you guys feel the same differently? How'd you feel after jump one?
00:20:47
Speaker
Um, I guess for me, dude, like the best way I can describe it for me is, is a lot of whiplash, right? Because like you're, you're, you're upset about the jets game. And then you rattle off. Now I didn't put a ton of stock in the Raiders and, um, commander's games, because those are teams. We should be the way that we did, but with Miami having the hype that they did and then doing what we did to them. That's the moment where I was like,
00:21:16
Speaker
this might be a really fucking crazy team that we're about to watch. And then the Jaguars game happened. The biggest thing for me out of that chunk, that was the first thing where I was, that was my first big knock on Sean McDermott this season was I thought the way he handled all that travel to London and choosing to go when he did. And I just thought that was so terribly handled. And I remember coming out of chunk one, my overarching thing was,
00:21:45
Speaker
This offense is hot and cold clearly. I'm really upset about Sean McDermott and that was my overarching thing Agreed. Yeah, I think it was the injuries in in London that 48 to 20 win versus the Dolphins I'm gonna go back to that for a second They had just beat the the the pants off and the pants off the pants of the Denver's of the Denver's Denver's Oh my god, the Denver Broncos
00:22:12
Speaker
like 70 to 20 or something like that, right? Scored more points than has ever been scored since the 1952. Um, you know, and it was insane. Just, they, everybody was calling for the dolphins to win the Superbowl week three. That's what the dolphins do. They win the Superbowl week three every year. And, um, the, for the bills to go in and win 48 to 20 was freaking really fun and great to see.
00:22:36
Speaker
So we move on to chunk two. I'm ready. Hit me with it. All right. Chunk two week six to week 10.
00:22:43
Speaker
Week six, 14 to nine win versus the Giants. I was there, that was a scary game. Week seven, 25 to 29 loss to the Patriots. We are now four and three. Week eight, 24 to 18 win versus the Buccaneers. We're now five and three. At this point, we trade for Rasool Douglas, which we'll talk about more in specifics in the future, but that was the steal in the half of the century.
00:23:10
Speaker
Week nine, 18 to 24 loss versus the Bengals without Joe Burrow, we're five and four. And then week 10, 22 to 24 loss versus the Broncos, five and five. At that point, Dorsey gets the boot. He is canned. And that wraps up chunk number two. Nigel.
00:23:31
Speaker
Which of those losses was the most concerning loss in that chunk? The Broncos. Yeah, I think that one was was the most concerning because. That now all those games that we lost were winnable, but. That was the one to me that Tom got me from wrong. That was the one where we had 10 men on the field on the field goal, right?
00:24:01
Speaker
Yeah, that was and and it was the way we lost that game in particular the Patriots one was ugly, too but Yeah, dude that Broncos game. It was just like And again, same thing. I just said before after chunk one. I was like, oh my god, Sean McDermott like you had
00:24:22
Speaker
have to be kidding me like in that moment there's 12 men on the field and that to me that's it's some people might argue that's on Matthew Smiley the special teams coordinator I put that solely on Sean McDermott so yeah it was the Broncos game for me it was it was
00:24:45
Speaker
That was the one for me, too. Yeah, it was the dagger. But it was kind of a culmination of things that we had seen over the past couple of weeks of just sloppy play, a lot of penalties, mental errors. It just kind of all came to a head in that game, I felt like. Drop passes, you name it, things were not going well. Even in the games that they won against the box, against the Giants. That Giants game, that was as close of a win as you can get. That was down to the last play, white knuckles.
00:25:15
Speaker
didn't think they were going to pull it out kind of win, right? Like it just kind of seemed like that came to a head. That was going to be my point, that even the wins versus the Giants and the Buccaneers, they weren't quality wins. They were just, oh my God, we got through with the win. And then we had stupid losses to the Pats, the Bengals and the Broncos. Like, yeah, it was, that was the slide that I was like, okay, we, um, something needs to be figured out here.
00:25:38
Speaker
And I think the firing of Ken Dorsey was in the same way that we can be critical of Sean McDermott. I'm glad that he didn't try and stay water and he pulled the plug and fired Ken Dorsey. Flushed him.
00:25:53
Speaker
blushed him, like, thank God, you know, like, and then we put in, um, Joe Brady, and we'll talk about coming up here, but things started humming again. I think the decision to get rid of Dorsey in the same way that we have to criticize Sean McDermott, we also have to say when he does something that makes the right decision. And I think that was absolutely the right decision. I think this is the first season
00:26:17
Speaker
At least for me, that Sean McDermott's decisions have really come under serious fire, right? Like before this season, it's kind of been more post-season in the past, I would say. But this is the first year where everybody was like nitpicking all of his in-season decisions.
00:26:38
Speaker
I think it, I think all that really started with 13 seconds, right? Cause everyone, I mean, like, yes, Leslie Frazier is a defensive coordinator, but you know, Sean, head coach, head coach, head coach, defensive minded guys. So I think he took a lot of the heat for that. I think it started with the Texans loss where we have a, you know, a multi-score win or sorry, multi-score lead going into halftime against the Texans in the playoffs that first year.
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah, it could be. I think your personnel on defense. I think the personnel on defense between those two examples is different enough where. And at that point, too, he's also that's his first year or second year as a coach or third, maybe I can't remember. But he's earlier in his, you know, it's the first time he's in the playoffs as ad coach, I think. Right. No, he went that way. Right. They broke the drought when that was with
00:27:34
Speaker
Then that next year they went in, they went in and played the Texans. I don't know. I have a lot more grace for that one than I do 13 seconds. Fair enough. Anything else we want to talk through here in Chunk 2 before moving on?
00:27:55
Speaker
I remember feeling super relieved that we fired Dorsey. Just because something needed to change. The team needed an injection of something. That's it. I was beginning to be curious about Douglas, but Chunk 3 starts off with a Resuel Douglas game. And that's when we really started getting really excited. So let's slide into Chunk 3. Chunk 3 is little. OK, we've slid in Chunk 2. We need to get things together.
00:28:22
Speaker
Oh no, we don't feel too much better. Um, week 11 32 to six win versus the jet six to five. Jake and I were there. That was a freaking great game. We'll talk about this. Sorry. I should say my thoughts week 12, 34 to 37 heartbreaking overtime loss versus the Eagles. And we go into the week 13 by six and six. And, um, everybody has written off the Buffalo bills. Yeah, they have. I think just to, just to
00:28:50
Speaker
You know, pull the conversation from chunk two to chunk three after that Eagles game was a big conversation about Sean McDermott. He going into overtime, he decided to kneel down and say, no, fuck it. Let's just push this game to overtime. Meanwhile, your superstar quarterback is feeling himself has like two timeouts and time on the clock to go down and try to win the game.
00:29:12
Speaker
and then he decided to kneel it out. I think that was a big decision point for Sean McDermott there. We even released an episode of U2 chatting about the case for Sean McDermott. It's episode 18 and released on December 2nd if you're trying to listen. But I think that was big. That was huge conversation during that bye week is what is Sean McDermott doing with this team?
00:29:33
Speaker
Yeah, dude, I know for me at that point that is when I felt the most negative about the team. And again, similar to the Broncos loss, it was just the way that we lost. Yeah, we had the great win against the Jets. And I think the biggest thing for me coming out of that game in particular
00:30:01
Speaker
It was just Joe Brady's dominance against what was still a very good defense. So that was exciting. You didn't put Sean McDermott under the microscope at all with that game because God knows who the quarterback even was for that game. I think it was Zach Wilson, but also who gives a shit because no quarterback on that team had a pulse all year.
00:30:22
Speaker
So you're going into the Eagles game feeling like, OK, this is a big, big, big turning point opportunity to put the league on notice and take advantage of an Eagles team that at that point wasn't looking as dominant as they did earlier. They had a couple of shaky wins. And in my opinion, really did feel vulnerable.
00:30:44
Speaker
And yeah, just Sean McDermott taking the knee or choosing to take the knee, it felt cowardly to me. And again, just the way that we lost, it just felt like this team had no spine. And that resiliency thing I was talking about, which we'll get to soon, it felt incredibly absent at this point.
00:31:06
Speaker
Agreed. Yeah, that was just, yeah, that was, that was when I was like, okay, this season might be over up until then. I still had hopes. I had hopes that we could figure something out. We could put something together in that overtime loss was, was a real just, just kicking the nuts. Um,
00:31:25
Speaker
It was fun to see that Jets win or Sewell Douglas with this. He had like two interceptions and a fumble, a forced fumble. Like the guy was was crazy. And it was great to see that he came in and was really excited about him. That was something else I remember about this joke. All right. Sure. Looking forward. Now, this is where things get fun. Bill's mafia.
00:31:45
Speaker
the the
00:31:56
Speaker
three, four, five games to get in. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, they needed to win out. Like if you need, if you were, you're hoping, if you wanted to go and, um, you have a chance at the playoffs, you had to win the next five, you had to, and there were some of the hottest teams, um, in the NFL coming up here, um, divisional rivals, um, coming up here. And I remember like trying to get any bit of positivity looking forward was you're kind of making it up and just hoping and praying. It wasn't actual really fueled and much.
00:32:25
Speaker
Week 14. This is also that stupid article got released right before this game about Sean McDermott. Great point. Right before this Chiefs game. Great point. Bye week. Everybody got to talk about it for a week and then Sean McDermott came in week 14, 20 to 17 win versus the Chiefs set in their house in Arrowhead.
00:32:44
Speaker
week 15 31 to 10 win versus the Cowboys in probably my second favorite game of the season. I think James Cook's best game of the season too. Oh clearly. We are now eight and six week 16 24 to 22 win versus the Chargers out West nine and six nine and six.
00:33:02
Speaker
week 17 27 to 21 win versus the Patriots 10 and 6 then week 18 for the division 21 to 14 win versus the Dolphins in Miami in hard rock we finished the season 11 6 AFC East champions and the number two seed going into the playoffs
00:33:22
Speaker
Oh, I remember how excited I was after that Dolphins win. And now I'm still mostly sad, but that was a good feeling. It felt so good. It felt so good. We pulled death from like the jaws of defeat, right? We broke the game is really what happened here.
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah, I need to make a goal for myself this season to be nicer to Dolphins fans. And I know that sounds shitty, but you know what, dude?
00:33:56
Speaker
The Bills also have an abusive father and his name is Patrick Mahomes. And I know how I feel about it. And we are that for the Dolphins. And I think I just need to. I think I need to be nicer this season because God invited this guy. It's such a terrible feeling, dude, like when you get around a guy.
00:34:18
Speaker
You know, who, who are you? Nigel, Nigel, who did we lose to for 20 years? Who the Patriots? Okay. How many years have we been winning over the, over the dolphins since 2018? I think. All right. Nigel is, I'm going to mute his microphone for the rest of this podcast.
00:34:37
Speaker
My lord, I know. Well, I put, you know, I want to know I have a different resolution and mine's better. Um, if we get to the middle of next season and we have a little bit of a slump, I'm no longer going to believe that the way that the counters out the last four seasons, we have been perfect after an NFC loss.
00:34:55
Speaker
late in the season. We have won 22 and 0 over the last four seasons closing out the season. I no longer want to feel too scared going into a slump towards the end of the season. That's something that I want to remember for next year, not Nigel's.
00:35:10
Speaker
idea with the wimpy baby one baby wimpy loser. Yeah, come on. So I want to go back to that Cowboys game. And Jake, I think you want to talk about James Cook because he had the game of his life right here. And this is where everybody got really excited because we're like, Oh, boy, do we have just like a just a star in the making with James Cook?
00:35:36
Speaker
Oh, I would love to talk about James Cook. Yeah, I think that was the that he had a great season up till that point. It's not like that was a turning point for him. I think the only sense that it was a turning point is that everybody started noticing. Right. Like like I think that was a nationally televised game and people started to pay attention to what James Cook was doing. He dominated the Cowboys. I don't remember stats or anything like that, but just the feeling was that like he he just throttled the Cowboys.
00:36:04
Speaker
Yeah, that was that was so much fun to watch. It was it was the most dominant win. And I say dominant like in the sense that like, okay, when your quarterback is Josh Allen, and he's as incredible as he is. And your receivers are, you know, Stefan Diggs and Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox and
00:36:26
Speaker
whoever else, right, even if you go back, Cole Beasley and John Brown and all these cats, right? It's easy to get to a point where, like, you're just faster and better than the other team, right? And you can win like that. But when you are
00:36:44
Speaker
When you are running the ball down an opposing team's throat and there is nothing that they can do about it except sit there and take it, that to me is like the most dominant soul-snatching way that you can win a football game because it is the most physical sport on the planet
00:37:06
Speaker
And when you're getting out physical to that point, it just robs the will out of you. What can you do?
00:37:15
Speaker
The answer is nothing. Yeah, nothing. Nothing. It was amazing. You just have to get through the game. You have to get out of that game. And OK. I know I always feel stupid doing this, but having played sports growing up, I remember playing in those football games where the opposing team was just bigger and faster and stronger and better. And it's just like, just keep running the ball so we can all go home.
00:37:43
Speaker
Right. And like, get that clock running. You have to imagine the Cowboys felt that a little bit in this game. Oh, you got it. Right. They came to Western New York. They came, they were, they were a hot team. They were okay. They're going to go try and win the NFC, when the NFC East be dominant and they did.
00:38:02
Speaker
Didn't help them, but yeah, yeah, I think another significant game in this chunk was that went against the Chiefs. I know we cannot beat them again in the post season, but man, we've done pretty well in the regular season, so it's nice to know that it it's they're not. They're not, they're vulnerable, right? It's not impossible. It's really a timing thing and we have to figure out the bills, have to figure out how to how to get those wins in the postseason. Go ahead.
00:38:28
Speaker
Yeah, I am. I got to be honest, man. I push back on that one because we should have lost that game. And we didn't. But if there is Tony isn't an absolute moron, we lose that game 100 percent. And I think, you know, it's a crazy, crazy, crazy play that we would have lost on. And it would have been a situation where it's like. This is just the season for the bills, right? Like, but in addition to that game,
00:38:59
Speaker
I hated the Chargers win. I didn't feel good after that win. Nope. I hated the Patriots win. Yeah, both of those. So three out of five of those wins.
00:39:12
Speaker
I truly felt not good about, and it was, even though we were winning, it was hard for me to find a way to have any competence because, you know, we should have lost the chief's game. We're scraping by East and stick in the chargers. You know, like that, none of that shit screamed. This is a championship football team to me. You're right. The way the NFL goes, it's your, you're walking on a knife's edge. Like some of them go your way just slightly. And some of them don't go your way just slightly. Like.
00:39:41
Speaker
kind of corrected familiar in the season where some games that we probably should have won, but were really close did not go our way towards the end of the season. It kind of.
00:39:50
Speaker
went the other way and corrected if corrected is the right term. I'm with Jake. And I think part of that is this team wills that into existence, right? This resilient team that you're talking about wills that into something that can happen. Because you're right. Look at any of these playoff teams. The playoff game is the last two weeks. It's on these crazy margins that, unfortunately, we were on the losing edge of. But man, if two things go our way and that Chiefs playoff loss,
00:40:17
Speaker
I think we're we know where we moved on at least you know maybe we're going to play in the Ravens in Baltimore like it's just man it just what we're it and this is kind of I had I just thought watching the Chiefs the freaking Chiefs going to Super Bowl again great awesome you know and maybe we have maybe we saved that conversation for next week before the Super Bowl but yeah my my thought there though is like man they keep getting there right they keep getting themselves themselves in a place to get lucky and be good
00:40:47
Speaker
Yes, they're very good. Fashion wear homes can play out of his mind in the playoffs, but they also have a lot of things that go their way. And you gotta just continue to have darts thrown at the board. And I like to say that the Bills have been able to throw darts at the board too. Unfortunately, ours are going, maybe aren't even hitting the board and flying all over the place, but we still have darts to throw. So I feel good about that, knowing that we have a chance
00:41:12
Speaker
We also have a chance and it's unfortunately been really shitty because it hasn't been the right chance, but I don't know. We've at least been able to make, take stabs at this thing. I think the, the built needs to start marketing Haley Haley. Yeah. They didn't start marketing her in the same way as Taylor Swift. We need to start pumping some, some dollars into the NFL's bottom line. No, because leave it at that.
00:41:37
Speaker
Say no to that because I would I would never wish that on another Football fan ever dude. I'm so stoked that Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift are in love The three of us are in love. I know it's it's the greatest feeling on the planet Everyone deserves to feel that I am thrilled that they're so into each other. I don't need it shoved down my throat
00:42:03
Speaker
Yeah. I totally agree. I totally agree. That's all. I just, I don't care about Taylor Swift. I, I, you know, music does nothing for me. I, it's great that they're in love. I truly am happy. They're in love. I think Travis Kelsey, I can't stand him just, and that's just cause I'm a bells fan. I think he's a great dude. I'm sure he treats are great. They deserve to be in love. I just don't need it shoved down my fucking throat.
00:42:29
Speaker
I love, I love that. I think he's hilarious. I think he's fun. I think he's a great dude, but when he's on the field playing against the bills, I fucking hate the man. Yeah. No, I don't, I don't give a shit if he's happy. Let me hold on. Hold on. I don't give a shit if he's happy when he's playing the bills. Otherwise in his life. Yeah, of course. Absolutely. Yeah. But anyway, man, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's tough to watch. We don't have to get into the whole conversation about
00:42:57
Speaker
If they're scripting or not in the NHL NFL, but man, if, if there is, it's fucking blatant. I mean, I saw, I saw a stat and I saw a financial stack go by that, that the Travis Kelsey Taylor Swift relationship has added $330 million to the NFL's bottom line for the year. Of course they want that team to go to the Superbowl. Of course they want that team to go to the Superbowl. There's no way they don't.
00:43:27
Speaker
But are the decisions that the NFL makes as far as who's reffing those games play into that? Probably. I'm not saying that they're not great athletes or have great games and they show up to play in the playoffs. They do. And it's shameful that the NFL's script, if
00:43:46
Speaker
If that is a thing, again, not saying that it is, but if that's the case, I think it takes away from how good of athletes they are that that is even in the back of all of our minds.
00:43:58
Speaker
I think we're just a bunch of paranoid fans that want things to go our way. I don't think there's no way. There's no way. It's ours. We're grasping at straws to try and explain why the bills can't freaking figure it out in the playoffs. Stop, this is how you grasp straws. I go to the straw basket in the cupboard and I go, ha, he, ha, who. Well, thank God doctors do mammograms and not at home treatment. So we'll move on from that.
00:44:30
Speaker
Well, on that note, Jake, can you roll us in to the bold basis, bodacious season predictions on what stupid things did we predict? And did we get anything close to right? Tom, you know, I love you. I'm so sorry, but anyways, yeah, let's get it. All right. So folks earlier in the year, before game one of the NFL season, the three of us did a few
00:44:50
Speaker
big overarching season predictions and we called them the bold, baseless, bodacious season predictions. So what we wanted to do is look back on those predictions and figure out how we did. And we wanted to do that in a fairly unbiased way. So what I've done, only me have looked up the exact predictions and the exact actual stats that happened. Tom and Nigel have no idea
00:45:17
Speaker
what the predictions were other than a foggy memory and what the actual stats were. So with that being clueless, this is great. With that said, we're going to go through. So Tom, I'm going to start with you. We're going to start with one of your predictions and that revolved around Dalton Kincaid.
00:45:32
Speaker
Hmm ring a bell ring a bell. Yeah, I do. I think I predicted him very highly you did you did you had some you had some some You know lofty expectations for our boy Dalton. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read you his step his
00:45:49
Speaker
predicted stats, which was 60 plus receptions, 700 plus receiving yards, and five plus touchdowns. And now what I want you to do is give me the over under on both of them on all of those stats, over 60 receptions, over 700 yards, over five touchdowns or other.
00:46:09
Speaker
I'm going to go over 60 receptions, over 700 yards and under five touchdowns. Okay. You're close. You're close. He went 73 for 91 on receptions. So maybe 13 over your prediction under 700, right?
00:46:25
Speaker
You're correct, Angela. Yes. 673, 673. It's better than the margin of error. I'm taking that. But as a tight end, 9.2 yards on an average reception. Love to see the stats there. And then he finished the year with only two touchdowns, which I thought sounded low, but that's, that's what happened.
00:46:47
Speaker
But still what an incredible season from him. Yeah. I'm so excited about Don Cade. I cannot wait. Let's give Joe Brady a whole off season to go work with him. Let's give honestly, right. Let's give Don Cade a full off season. He was a rookie. He did not get a full NFC, NFL off season. He was doing draft things. He was getting drafted. He had to go do what he didn't get the full effects. Like let's get him in a full.
00:47:10
Speaker
I hope him and Josh find us some beautiful spot in California out by the cantaloupe farm that the Allons have. And let's just let them throw just every day. Get up, have some coffee, throw some balls around and then get a cantaloupe or to go play some golf. Like let's do that for five weeks of the summer. And oh, my lord. I'm excited. Yeah. Yeah, this day, man, he's got the sky's the limit for that guy. I feel good about my prediction about that one. What's the next one?
00:47:40
Speaker
I don't mind. All right, Nigel, we'll go to you. Ed Oliver, our man, Ed, you predicted that he would have seven stacks in the 2023 season over or under that number. What was the actual result? Over, baby. Yes, sir.
00:47:56
Speaker
no okay nine and a half nine and so the leader of the team did have ten and a half can you name the player Leonard Floyd yes sir you're on it you're on it um yeah Ed Oliver had nine and a half sacks for a total of 64 yards loss the man had an incredible season I thought seven sacks was a uh you know a
00:48:19
Speaker
a good prediction, but maybe a little high. He went above that. For a D tackle, seven sacks is a very high number. That's a very high number for a D tackle. And edit out, yeah.
00:48:30
Speaker
go ahead and talk about your little baby boy here. No, dude, I just, I think the biggest thing right now with Ed is and Brandon Bean. Thank you. Because I think if, if they chose to pick up the fifth year option and not just extend him, I'm confident right now that deal. So he's making, we're paying him 16 million.
00:48:53
Speaker
a year right now I feel pretty confident saying that deal had we not done that we'd probably be paying him 25 million a season maybe 24 if Ed was feeling generous um so an absolute steal and a half at this point um but yeah dude I mean yeah that many that many sacks from a three tech defensive tackle is absolutely outstanding
00:49:24
Speaker
It's big. Yeah. All right. You guys each have one more prediction that I want to get into because they're actually interesting, but I'd like to rip through mine really quick because they're really not that interesting. First of all, my first prediction was James Cook is outperformed by Dalvin in game one, but overall James has the better season.
00:49:44
Speaker
obviously James Cook had the far better season, but he actually outperformed his brother in game one too. So a little bit wrong on that front. And then the second one, this one was mostly for fun, but I said that the bills would be involved in games that contained a safety two times. And that happened exactly zero. So let's move on. Anyways.
00:50:14
Speaker
Tom, I think back to you here for your next prediction and second prediction is that the bills secondary. Cornerbacks and safeties as as the new I can confirm that real quick. Cornerbacks and safeties. All right, sweet. You predicted that they would have 15 interceptions. Do you think they went above or below? I know it's fucking close. I'm going above because I feel good.
00:50:42
Speaker
Oh, you're both saying above. I thought above, too. You're both wrong. Oh, I wanted you to be right. The bills as a whole had 18 total interceptions throughout the season. OK. Only 10 of them came from the secondary. Oh, man. But I think 18 resets the bills interception record from a long time ago. Like, I think it's been many years since the bills have had more than 15 interceptions, which is why I think I said that.
00:51:09
Speaker
Wait a second. I think, hold on, Jake, pop quiz. What positions make up the secondary? Corner back and safety and linebacker. Oh shit. This is a learning and teaching moment. I thought it was. Yeah, this is good. I thought it was only those two considered linebacker. No shit.
00:51:38
Speaker
Was my prediction secondary, or did I say cornerbacks and safeties? No, you said secondary. Okay, so did I get it? Hold on, hold on. Let's see. Oh, folks, this is a... Oh, the folks at home finished that.
00:52:01
Speaker
Yes, it's good. Maybe you guys should discuss Nigel's next prediction while I look this up. Wait a second here. Unless you've got it. Unless you've got it. Now, I might be wrong. I was very positive about this. Hold on. This is fun. Oh, boy.
00:52:24
Speaker
Oh, this is a nightmare. This is a disaster. I'm glad this is the audio based podcast. Wait, are we, are we, are we now waffling about what constitutes the secondary? Yes. Oh, if I was right, it was a complete sham and I had no knowledge to, to, to feed into it. It was just a lack of opinion, but okay. So.
00:52:48
Speaker
Jake, I think I might be wrong. This is what's secondary about the secondary in American football. Why is it called that includes the cornerback and save these as well as the nickel or dime backs that are in cover positions? Who's the newbie now? I think I think Jake gets to take the mantle and I think you have to ask. I have to. I have to be.
00:53:15
Speaker
All right. Well, that stinks because that means my my my prediction did not go. But I'm very excited that the bills reset their interception record for many years back. So let's let's look at it both ways, just just for clarity. So a defense event, AJF, Vanessa is in no part of the secondary, correct? Correct. OK, but if we count linebackers, Tom, that's seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
00:53:44
Speaker
15. If you count, if you count linebackers, you nailed it. I love revisionist history. This is great. Perfect for me. Let's not go any further back than the beginning of 2023 or else we're going to get ourselves in trouble. But yeah, revisionist history is the move. I have seen enough verifiable sources to hand up admit that I am absolutely incorrect.
00:54:10
Speaker
It is only cornerbacks and safeties. It is only cornerbacks and safeties. Linebackers are not considered part of that. This linebacker here has been safe. This guy, he's been thinking he's been in part of the coverage this whole time. He should have been rushing the passer. Maybe that's why I never started. No, I'm so sorry. I don't mean to, I don't mean to, uh, I deserve every single bit of that.
00:54:38
Speaker
Well, anyways, that's fuel for the fire. Tom, your prediction was wrong. The secondary only had 10 interceptions with the bills having 18 total. And I think we go on to Nigel's second prediction. Are you boys ready? I don't remember what the second prediction was. So your second prediction was that Josh Allen, our boy, our quarterback hero would lead the league in passing yards, which I thought was a bit of a hot take. And he would lead the league in touchdowns, which I thought was a pretty good bet.
00:55:09
Speaker
So, the touchdown point is probably easy, right? Where do you think he landed there? Well, now, wait a minute. We have to double check. Was it total touchdowns or passing touchdowns? You didn't specify, so I interpreted that as total touchdowns. I do have the stats on passing touchdowns, too. Yeah, I know the passing touchdowns were not first, but I believe 51 was absolutely the most.
00:55:34
Speaker
Total touchdowns. He had 44 total. Did I just pull 51 out of my ass? I thought you just said 51. Did I say 51? I don't think I did that. Okay. Whatever it was. I believe it was the most Josh Allen. Let me, let me, let me clear the air. Josh Allen did lead the league in total touchdowns with 44. He had 29 passing touchdowns and 15 rush touchdowns.
00:56:00
Speaker
Maybe that's where I got the 51 from. I just had 15 in my head and just decided to do the little sticks. Who had the second most touchdowns, total touchdowns in the league? And what was the difference? Oh, man. They're both quarterbacks. My guess would be jail or jail and hurts would be my guess. My guess would be Dak Prescott.
00:56:27
Speaker
That's incredible, because they were tied for a second with 38. No! That's great. That's good shit. That's awesome. Hey, bro, we're so freaking smart. We know how to football. Just don't ask about the secondary. Correct. Because I don't know what it is. But yeah, on the flip side, Josh Allen did perform
00:56:52
Speaker
in my opinion, great on passing yards, but he finished fourth, not first. He finished behind Tua of the Dolphins, Gough of the Lions, and Dak Prescott of the Cowboys. The margin was pretty slim, but he generates so much offense with his legs.
00:57:14
Speaker
I don't know about you guys, but I'm not mad that he's, he's not top of the league with passing yards. That's fine. No, we have the cheat code. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately that cheat code doesn't get us very far. Well, as far enough in the playoffs, but we'll work on that. Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay. I'm going to take that, that take back. He absolutely did everything he needed to. It was other things. We'll talk about that. That's going to be another podcast probably. Huh? Um, was there a second part of that prediction there, Jake?
00:57:41
Speaker
No, sir. That was that was it that he would Josh Allen would lead the league in passing yards and touchdowns. That's all yeah, but not passing yards. Okay, cool Well damn Tom we didn't do terrible And I feel like I was close and I had the right idea for what was happening on my on my prediction so I feel good about
00:58:03
Speaker
Yeah. Well, folks, before I hand it over to Tom here, normally we do a quick touch on the savers here, but we're coming up on our we try to keep it around an hour for everybody. And we're coming up on that. And I am just dying. The desire that I feel the ache, the aching need that I have to just lay in about Don Granado is going to take more than a minute and 30 seconds. So we're going to save that for a different pod. Oh, yeah. But
00:58:32
Speaker
Tom, you want to take everybody home, buddy? I sure would. Everybody, thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for spending some time with us. I know we're not always the most educational or informationally accurate, but
00:58:47
Speaker
We're entertaining, I think. At least we entertain ourselves. That's the important part. It would mean a lot to us if you could please share this episode, give us a like, give us a follow on all of our social medias. We are trying to grow this podcast over this offseason and get ready and go flying into the next season. So any help, and it starts with an end with you guys. So any help you could, please sharing and liking and
00:59:11
Speaker
any form of our social medias or our content, that would be really incredible. You can follow us on Instagram, on X, on TikTok, on our freshly minted YouTube channel, all at Let's Go Buff Pod with two Fs. 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 Stakers! Let's Go Buffs!