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All right, welcome back to the Buffalo Bread podcast. This is week four and we're looking

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at the Bills vs. Dolphins after each of those respective teams won their week three matchup.

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We have a guest co-host with us here today, Steve, our resident Dolphins fan has graciously

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agreed to join. Unfortunately, Dan is under the weather and has no voice and even reported

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that his wife has stated that this is the most unattractive he's ever sounded. So was

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not in podcast shape on the injury report as out. How you doing, Steve?

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I'm doing good. Thanks, Gigi, for having me.

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Of course. So for tonight's show, we're going to talk, it's Saturday, it's the day before

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the game. Everyone's anxious. We're going to talk about each of our teams prior week,

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you know, drubbings of their opponents, the dolphins a little bit more than the Bills.

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And then talk about maybe, you know, this coming matchup, things were excited about,

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things were worried about for each of our teams and then get some predictions. How's

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the sound? I'm ready to go.

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Let's start with you, my friend. Well, first, a little bit of background. Steve and I, I

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think we said this on the last pod where you were a guest, we worked together for some

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time during it during that time, both and we sort of commiserated because at that time,

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neither the Bills nor the dolphins were capable NFL teams really. I mean, we were you were

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in the era of Tana Hill, you know, up and down play. I was an era like Ty Rob Taylor

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and various other people journeymen coming through his quarterbacks. And so both of us,

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you know, we looked forward to our Bills Dolphins matchup to talk a little smack in the office.

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But it was, I mean, in fact, in fact, popped up on my Facebook memories of a bet we made

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and I had my Buffalo Bills tie on. Yes, high Buffalo Bills.

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Your Buffalo Bills tie on. So yeah, that was one of the few times I've bet, you know,

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clothing or like shaving your mustache or some, you know, some random stuff like that.

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And I actually won that one. And but I mean, that was that was drought era bills and like,

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you know, dolphins, the dolphins claim to fame during that time was that they were like

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bane of the Brady and Patriots, you know, distance. We thrived at mediocre at 500.

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That's where we lived for better part of a decade. Yeah, those rough times. But I mean,

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here we are, both of our teams seemingly I'd be shocked if at the end of the year, they're

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both two of the seven seats in the AFC playoffs are not Bills Dolphins. I think that's that's

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likely. And so kind of let's get into it. You know, our history is that we're long suffering

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fans of teams that have not been very good for for a few decades, but are now on the

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rise and and looking good and nothing looks better than nearly setting an NFL record for

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scoring in a game like the dolphins did against the I'll say lowly Broncos. Yeah. Yeah. You

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know, and and having lived in mediocrity for so long, the the start that the dolphins

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are at right now, I'm always very tempered with my expectations, my hopes, because it's

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like, all right, what's the catch? What's the catch? But, you know, just seeing this

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team play on the first three weeks, I mean, there are certain to draw comparisons to the

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greatest show on turf. You know, just between Tyreek and Waddle and to even Raheem Oster

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is, you know, prove at his worth yet again. And then last last week, I mean, just an

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anomaly, you know, it's hard to look at stats and comparisons against the bills. And it's

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hard to take last week, putting up 70 points and saying that's going to be normal, because

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we all know it's not normal. Those stats are not going to be normal. But when you look

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at them side by side, man, does it look good? Oh, yeah. Tyreek over 400 yards receiving

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already two was over 1000 yards passing. You know, both Moster and a chain are both over

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200 yards rushing. So like, times are good in the offense of Miami. Oh my God. 10.2 yards

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per play. Yeah, every single play they snapped. Yeah. And you know, things, you know, and

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you knew things were going their way. When Mike White comes in, I think it was first

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pass of when he came in to Robbie Choson, 68 yards, I think it was for a touchdown. And

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it's like, yeah, what do you do? You know, they're just in that zone, everything's going

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right. It was it was a game for the record books.

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Well, and I think of course for the record books, and I'll say this, you know, McDaniel

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is a better human being than I think I am, because I would have definitely kicked a field

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goal for the NFL record of scoring. Like I just how many times you can have that opportunity

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in your life? It hasn't happened in like 60 years or 70 years or something that had many

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points have been scored. You know, let let your players and yourself go down in history,

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even if the Broncos, you know, maybe feel bad about that. Or but I mean, I heard the

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media bit where it was like, I believe in karma. And I feel like maybe that would have

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bit us. So it seems like Mike McDaniel is a little bit like my Dolphins fans in the like

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waiting for something bad to happen because it's been so exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

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So yeah, but and then the bills, I mean, the bills are right there. You know, they it was

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weather wise. It was a pretty awful game in Washington last week was drizzly the whole

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game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'll get into kind of the bills and Washington matchup. And I

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think that coming into this year, the story of the Buffalo Bills offense was, you know,

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okay, rinse and repeat with Josh Allen, Stefan Diggs, get James Cook going as the new like

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RB one in the backfield, see how he does. And, you know, really lean on a rebuilt offensive

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interior line. Because as you know, I'm sure you saw in the bills, three matchups against

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the Dolphins last year, that the middle of the line, the guards, maybe not the center

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so much, Mitch Morris has always been pretty solid. But the guards and interior pressure

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on Josh Allen was always there because they had super subpar play, you know, at the guard

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position. And so they upgraded both positions. They've Connor McGovern at left guard and

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they have the rookie Osiris Torrance has been a lovely, lovely surprise. Took took the job

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right away from Ryan Bates, who is the incumbent starter and has been playing really well.

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But I think that the they did not get they gave up maybe one sack on Josh Allen last

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or no, no, no sacks last week against the Voluntid Washington defensive line, which

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is all first rounders. They didn't sniff them that I think they hit him one time, but they

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didn't bring him down. And it was an amazing, you know, display, because that that's been

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the story is if the bills, you know, against the jets on Monday night, even without Aaron

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Rogers, because he only played four snaps, which is just like a whole other another thing.

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I'm sure you have feelings about the AFC East, the AFC East fan. But yeah, even without,

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you know, Aaron Rogers playing more than a single series, the bills suffered because

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the jets defense was getting into Josh Allen's face. And when you get into Josh Allen's face,

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that's a recipe to ruin his game. He'll start throwing interceptions and try to, you know,

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play hero ball. And the dolphins were able to Christian Wilkins, Jalen Phillips, who

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I'm actually somewhat relieved is not going to be playing in this game. Because he he

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tended to eat, you know, Brown's lunch, Spencer Brown's lunch every single time every snap

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unless there was a chip or help on the edge. So I'm really excited to see that he's I hope

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he's good. I hope he heals up, you know, take a rest, you take a beat, it's okay, get that,

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you know, oblique muscle all repaired. And we'll see you next week.

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So yeah, I think that's been the story. The bills and the Washington commanders, I think

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it was, you know, can this the Washington defensive line get pressure on Josh Allen,

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make him make mistakes and they can't. And that's been the story for two weeks now against

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the Raiders against the commanders is good clean pockets, Josh Allen making smart, smart

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plays with the ball, really taking what the defense gives him, everyone playing him with

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the two high shell, which they have for three years now. But him being much more meticulous

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with propagating the ball down the field. And I think that that's, you know, if he can

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do that, I think that's where where they can compete with the dolphins, insanely high

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powered offense is, you know, the bills to this point have had multiple nine or 10 minute

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drives spanning 11 to 16 plays. And they are really tough to get off the field. Unless

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the pass rush is really effective, they're able to find options in the middle of the

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field around the edges. They have some pretty unique play design, nothing like this crazy

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arena league stuff we're seeing from the dolphins. But you know, they've been good at getting

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people open in space. So it's good, I think it's going to be a good matchup. And yeah,

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like I said, they you know, the end score of that commander's game was far more looked

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far more like a beatdown than the actual game. It was entering the fourth quarter was like

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16 to three or something like that. So it was not out of it was not out of hand until

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late in the late in the game.

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Yeah, yeah, looking at I actually sat in fantasy football, the bill's defense last week. Oh,

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that's a mistake. Yeah, you know, and because I'm like, I don't know what the weather I

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don't know what's going to happen. Sam Howell was looking Sam, right, you know, and I made

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the mistake and I'm like, Oh, Jacksonville is playing at home because I'm kind of streaming

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some defense this year. Jacksonville at home against the Texans. And that did not happen.

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But the put up 31 fantasy points tells me that towards the end of the game is when they really

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poured it on defensively when, you know, Washington had to go to completely to the past, you know,

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and kind of played into their strength a little bit for the bells, their secondary.

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Well, yeah, that's accurate. I think that, you know, for the bills and that gaming against

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Washington in general, certainly against the Raiders and then the commanders. The biggest

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surprise for that bill's defense has been replacing Tremaine Edmonds, who is always

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seen as this like athletic talented, amazing, you know, physical specimen in middle linebacker.

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But the problem amongst bills mafia was always that he never did anything with that amazing

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talented, you know, those gifts like he I mean, never did anything that may be unfair.

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I've always been a Tremaine Edmonds supporter and defender to fellow bills mafia to say

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like, Well, you know, there's no stat for quarterbacks not throwing a sling to the middle

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of the field because there's a condor sitting in that zone, right? Like there was always

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kind of hidden stats that he was making by just erasing parts of the field. And that's

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all fine and good. But you still want to see like sacks, fumble recoveries, interceptions.

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And Terrell Bernard picked in the third round last year and sort of buried on the desk depth

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chart and yeah, I think he had 12 snaps or something on the field on the starting offense

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last year. Had a great off season, seemingly good training camp, got injured and training

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clamp camp didn't play a single snap in the preseason, and then started week one looked

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okay against the Jets definitely had something to do with the alignment that that gave up

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the 80 yard, you know, rushing a single snap for breeze hall. But then in week two week

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three, last last week, he had two sacks and interception, a fumble recovery. He's the

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first player to do that since a black and url locker home and in a single game. And he is

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he's looking very good. He just seems to have a natural nose for the ball. He's much more

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athletic than many of the middle linebackers the bills have had for a while, include Tremaine

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Edmonds, he's not he doesn't have the size of Tremaine Edmonds, he can get bullied in

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the run game and I worry about that against this dolphins rushing attack because I think

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that's the biggest difference from last year is dolphins look extremely good running the

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ball and run blocking. They're averaging like 2.7 yards before contact for the running

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backs which is like third or fourth on the league might even lead the league. So they're

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basically able to keep their running backs clean until they're already in positive yardage

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which is excellent. Yeah, you know, and I attribute that, you know, I know we talked about Mike

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Giusecchi, you know, in the off season, what was going to happen with him, he left for

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New England. And, you know, they kept a couple guys running a few guys that can actually

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help with the block, right? That was always his downside. And so between him, Alec Ingold,

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you know, being a fullback being able to give that, you know, first layer of support for

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the running backs, you know, that just seems to be, you know, seems to be doing the trick,

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you know, and plus the fear of two inches dropping a dime right to Tyree has the defense's

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playing on their heels which allows them to run just a little bit better. So yeah, I'm

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excited. You know, and I think this game coming up against the the bills, it's going to be

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one of the trenches, it's really truly is, you know, you know, both have excellent wide

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receivers. James Cook is doing phenomenal as a running back for the bills. And so it's

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really going to be, you know, which which line is going to win, you know, in the trenches,

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I think, and that will determine it. Yes, I'm just getting it has that has that play

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on vibe to that field to it already. Oh, for sure. And I think like I said, you know,

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these teams are likely going to play three times this year. And this is step one, right?

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And the thing I was like chatting with some of my bills fans, friends about that's like,

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I'm worried about is like, we both have pretty insufferable fan bases when it comes to like

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trash talk, right? Like, I'll say that like bills fans can be super annoying and kind

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of ridiculous. And no matter who comes out victorious tomorrow, the other team is going

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to have all the way till week 18 to rub it in the face, right? Like that is, that's going

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to be that I think that's a big thing is like the next time these these teams play is the

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very last week of the year. And so it's a long season from tomorrow until the end. And

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so it's January before they actually see each other again. And like that's going to be the

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thing of like the revenge match isn't going to come for a long time. And then it might

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be the kind of thing where they play week 18, then they play again the following week.

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Exactly. Yeah. And what'll be real interesting to that is unlike in many years past, Miami's

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playing October 1st in Buffalo. Normally they're playing in December in Buffalo, you know,

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and Buffalo travels down to Miami in September, October, which we hate, which everyone should

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hate. Everyone hates, right? And so it's interesting how the weather is going to potentially change,

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but not because it's, you know, insanely cold against, you know, when they play each other,

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but because it's going to be kind of warm for both teams. It's going to be pleasant.

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Yeah. Like it's going to be nice, a nice cool fall day for the team coming up from Miami.

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And for the bills, it's going to be what they expect, you know, 70 degrees and sunshine.

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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's one, I will say this too, I think that that's the thing is

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like for both of the games in the regular season last year, there was like sort of this

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thing where it's like, well, you know, the bills lost six players during the course of

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the game to heat stroke in the first met meeting and lost by a field goal. And then or two

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points. And then in the second meeting, Blizzard started when Tua had the opportunity to bring

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the team back. So like the snow played a 12th man on the field for the last couple of drives,

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protecting the bill's lead. And so like, I think that you're right, it's a another storyline

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of this game is there should be no excuses, right? Like, right, both teams are missing

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one key starter on defense. Both teams have like a potentially dinged up, you know, player

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here or there that is trying to work through something around, you know, I think Mike Ahide

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had a little bit of a back thing going on. Jordan Porter is out, of course, that's a

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defensive starter I mentioned. Jalen Phillips, your best pass rusher is out.

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I just saw Von Billers is out as well. Yeah. Well, he's been out. So he is. Yeah, they

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started he started the the year on pup. So he wasn't he was never going to be expected

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back for the Jaguars game. And my guess is that they'll keep him out for the Jaguar,

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like they won't make him play in London. They'll probably wait till he you know, they'll wait

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till the night game against the Giants the week after to bring Von back on the field

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to give him a chance. But we'll see. I mean, we'll see. But yeah, there he was never expected

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for this one. But that that is a bring that up. And that's an interesting thing. The Buffalo

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Bills have a couple of things going for them. One, they're they're tied for the lead league

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in sacks. And two, they have the highest per sack percentage and the lowest blitz percentage.

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And when you have a team that has the highest sack percentage on a person at basis and the

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lowest blitz percentage on a speed person at basis, that means that their front four

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are getting done, like they're beating their one on one matchups because they're not sending

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extra pressure. Right. And they're getting home. And so that's going to be a curious

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thing here, because I think that what we've seen from to is that his average time to release

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is like it was like 2.4 seconds, which was like one of the fastest in the league last

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last year. This year, it's 2.2. Like he's somehow gone from fastest in the league to

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fastest in the league, like he and that is the kind that that's the best way to negate

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a pass rush. That's a lot of what the bills have been doing to is against the Washington

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commanders. Josh Allen was not holding on to the ball. Like we've seen Josh Allen do.

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He wasn't extending plays and run around the backfield. He was basically like delivering

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it, throwing it away or like getting a couple yards with his legs. And that was that right.

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They also handed it off a lot. And that's the other thing is that the story, I think

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you said the story of the trenches, I think the story is absolutely always the trenches.

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And then this game more so than that, because I think the dolphins are the best rushing team

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in the league. The bills are the third or fourth best rushing team in the league. Both

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teams have been susceptible to the run. And so that might be a thing, you know, that might

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be a thing. And honestly, like the defense is what worries me the most is, can they do

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enough to contain the bills offense to ensure that the Miami offense can score enough points?

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Right, right. You know, that really like the first two games, it was really like that is

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like, all right, can we do enough against the charters? Can we hold Echler back enough?

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Can we contain Herbert enough to win? And we just did. Yeah, you know, 36 34 isn't, you

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know, that's the way you want to start the season. But it's a win, right? Right. And

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you know, and then last week, like I said, it's just it's hard to talk about last week

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as if it's norm, right? Because we all know it's not. And so I think back to week one,

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week two, and it's like, all right, they did just enough, they did good enough against

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New England. You know, the storyline week one was Miami's offense. storyline week two

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was they went up to England and contained New England defense, you know, the defense

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stepped up. You know, perhaps week three is what happens when everything comes together,

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right? Yeah. So it'll be very interesting to see which defense shows up. Is it the San

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Diego Charger defense? Is it one Patriots? Yeah. Yeah, and I think for the bills, I think

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the question is, can they, you know, will they have consistency? They had the advantage

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against the Raiders and the commanders of playing with the lead enough that the other

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teams didn't feel like they could run the ball. Because when they did run the ball,

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even Brian Robinson last week against the commanders on like one drive, the commanders

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were moving the ball down the field, almost no problem at all, because they were running

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it and he was getting like seven, eight, 12 yards on each rush. That I'm terrified of

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a chain because he's ridiculously speedy or anybody when they do kind of those orbit

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motions, they'll do some stuff with reverses with waddle with hill like, I think that around

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the edges, especially with the bills team, especially with a brand new middle linebacker

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who has to do their alignments, their gap responsibilities and communicate. I think

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that's the problem is that that you saw a defense with the Patriots against the dolphins

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who was able to like try to slow down to and that attack by cluttering the middle of the

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field, being physical and the, you know, with hill at the line and different things like

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jamming, they use three safeties a lot. The bills can do that stuff, but it's not there.

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It is not there like bread and butter. Their bread and butter is nickel, right? They have

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standard alignment for two with the nickel and we'll see how that looks because they're

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susceptible around the edges. We're going to see some rushing and it might be, it might

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be way more a story of the running backs on both sides of the ball versus, you know, the

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linebackers, the opposing defense than it is to versus the corners or Josh Allen versus

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your corners. No, I agree. I agree. So yeah, it's, it's,

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I'm excited, you know, it's, it's not often as a dolphins fan that you get excited about

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stuff, you know, and, and to see this offense coming together and, you know, you look forward

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to next, you know, every week, you know, oh, what's going to come next? Are they going

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to try something new, something different? You know, I'm excited to waddle's back after

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missing last week. The fact that your team scored 70 points without waddle is just, it's

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criminal. Like, it's ridiculous. You have five rushing touchdowns between your two,

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lead running backs. Yeah, it's, it's just, it's incredible. So yeah, I think no matter

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what Miami does, even if they do win, it's still going to feel like a little bit of

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a let down because it's like, ah, they didn't score five rushing touchdowns, you know, and

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two didn't throw for 350 yards again. Well, and this is the kind of thing that like Dan

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and I talk about on the pot all the time is when your team starts to have success, you

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become a spoiled little brat about everything, right? Like with a good football team and

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a football team who can win in like confident, dominating fashion, when they don't, when

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they squeak something out like a 36, 34 win, you're like, well, they left so many plays

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in the field and they really need to tighten this up. And it's you talk like as if they

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lost because, you know, when you have a team that you're expect to win, how they win style

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points matter and become so, so incredibly spoiled. Yes. You know, as you say that,

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I feel that way actually with baseball, you know, watching the Phillies play, you know,

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just that expectation every week as a spoiled Philly fan, right? It's got to just be like

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a crushing victory. Exactly. You know, if Shorver doesn't hit two home runs, if Harper

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doesn't hit a home like it's a disappointment. Yeah, you're like, even if they do get the

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win, right? You won normal baseball. Exactly. Right. Right.

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It's like, I get that. That's the same thing, you know, we for you, it's like if Hill doesn't,

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I think it's like 540 yards and three games this season, like it's bananas. It's disgusting.

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Yeah, it's disgusting. Like for a Dolphins fan, like their disappoints, Hill doesn't,

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you know, go for over 100 and at least a tutty, you know, exactly. That's like not that is

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top tier best in the league wide receiver numbers for a single game. And it's the same

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for Bill's fans. I think it, you know, you hear from Bill's fans and like Josh Allen

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had like 80% completion rate in the Raiders game. And they're like, well, he didn't throw

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any bombs. It's like, what do you want from him? Like he had like two touchdowns. Exactly.

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Probably get the ball down the field. He was 80% plus accurate. Like and he ran for

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one. Like what what what more can you do? But yeah, we start to get real, you know,

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real spoiled. All right, so let's let's transition to a little segment. I'll ask you what is

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one thing that you are worried about? What's the one thing you're most worried about?

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Matchup or it could be part of your team, part of the Bill's team. You know, which

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which Josh Allen shows up? I think is it the MVP Josh Allen shows up or is it the I get

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you know, you get under pressure a little bit and they're just going to like start chucking,

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you know, balls down the middle and get intercepted or get super flustered, you know. And I think

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one of the reasons why he's had success so far this season has been the ability to hand

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the ball off. You know, looking through last year even like every time it just felt like

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he was trying to be too much of a Mahomes, right? Just like tuck the ball and run. It's

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like you got to trust your running back. Yeah, yeah. You know, and now that, you know,

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James Cook is there, he's hitting that ball off. Cook's having a great season so far

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or search the season. You know, and so that that has to help, you know, Josh Allen out.

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And so that's that's who I'm worried about the most honestly. Is just but also Josh Allen

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is that is MVP Josh Allen, right? Home game against the dolphins playoff feel like who's

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going to show up, right? You know, and it's funny you say that because on the pod I've

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been referring to the other Josh Allen, the one who throws interceptions and get frazzled.

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I refer to him as gosh Allen. And because there was somebody produced a meme and it

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was the superimposed Napoleon Dynamite's face on Josh Allen's body under his mask.

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And he's got like tater tots and his like play sheet on his on his like wrist. And it

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says I'm gosh Allen, I'll throw as many interceptions as I want gosh. So that's a dated reference.

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I'm sorry for anyone who's less than 40, 35. But but yeah, so that that's the gosh Allen.

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I hope Josh Allen MVP candidate shows up not gosh Allen, but you're right. That's it. That's

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something to be worried about for me. I have a similar worry about gosh Allen. My actual

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great my biggest concern with this game, though, is the Buffalo Bill secondary is slow. They

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are incredibly disciplined technicians. And they play a scheme that Sean McDermott's calling

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these plays, you know, and so it's, it's going to be there's going to be wrinkles there that

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that McDaniel hasn't seen because Leslie Frasier is a different play caller. We can tell that

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now with three three weeks of evidence. Sean McDonough, Sean McDermott is a little bit

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more aggressive, but not with blitzing. He's aggressive with simulated pressure. He will

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sugar the A gaps. He'll put both linebackers, mit Milano and Torrell Bernard right up either

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side of the center. And then one of them's backing out one of them's potentially coming

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or looping. And at the end of the you know, after the snap, only four guys are rushing

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so it's not a blitz. But the offensive lines for each of the teams the bills have played,

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including the Jets have had a real hard time knowing who's coming and getting the angles

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right, which is why you've seen Leonard Floyd go for I think three or four sacks this this

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year so far. AJ Epineza has a sack. AJ Epineza has been the bane of your think it's your

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right tackle's existence. Since his college days, they were in a bowl game together and

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Epineza had three sacks on him. And so and then Epineza actually knocked two out in their

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first meetup two years ago, in his rookie year. And so that's, you know, that's a matchup

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to watch. But yeah, so my biggest concern with the with the bills of their their slow

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defense. So they're, I got kind of off in a tangent talking about McDermott coaching

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and the pressure. But they're incredibly technique sound. They play an excellent form of zone.

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They tend to squeeze routes, they tend to not give up a lot of space. But they are fast,

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the fastest player you know, Tredavious White is a fast corner. But he's not a really fast

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corner. He's not sauce gardener. He's not going to run step for step with anybody that

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you have out there catching passes for the dolphins. He's going to be in good position.

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He's going to use the sideline as an extra defender. He's going to like leverage, right?

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Because that's how that's what he's excellent at. And I'd say he's probably one of the better

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corners in the league in those things. But he's not a burner. The opposite corner, whose

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name escapes me right now. So I'm going to look at my death chart real quick. Who is

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a Christian Benford. I get Terrell Bernard and Christian Benford. I think I might have

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said Terrell Benford. Christian Benford is a sixth round rookie or second year corner

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that won the job over their number one overall pick last year. Coyer Elam Coyer Elam can

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literally run with nobody can run with him. He could probably run with Waddle. He's the

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fastest corner naturally gifted corner on the team. He's been an active every one of

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first three weeks because he does costly penalties at times when he absolutely shouldn't you

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know, third and 10, third and 12, he'll do the PI that they're looking for. He makes

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yeah, he makes bonehead plays, he gets burned and torched on double moves. So he hasn't

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been great, but he's the only player on the roster, I think who could probably have the

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kind of speed they need. And then we have Jordan pours out, Mike, a hide is old and

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coming off of a neck surgery injury loss season. And so he's just got a interception

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last week. But both he and Poyer looked very old in their first two weeks. So they're

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30 plus. Yeah, I'm so worried about that. But that's the thing. I'm terrified of the

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dolphins just absolutely violating this Buffalo Bill secondary because they are they're slower

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there. So I think that they you know, to a passes successfully to his first read over

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the 10% of the time. And some people would say, Well, that's because you know, if you

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don't, if you don't give him his first read, you know, you can beat him. No, don't think

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that way. The way I think about it, because I've watched the film is that to knows exactly

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who's going to be open and when and where before the ball is snapped and immediately

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after the ball snapped. If the bills want any hope at all in this game, they have to

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make sure that that first read is unexpectedly covered, right, which they were they can do

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like they're one of the better secondaries in the league at disguising coverage and

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those sorts of things. But if they don't, because that's how to two has been beating

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people with his mind before he even throws a ball on these snaps. That's why his first

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read is there 80% of the time plus. Yeah, yeah, you know, I was looking at the

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bill's team stats and individual stats earlier today. And hearing you talk about how slow

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the secondary is, but they're very sound, you know, technique wise, makes a lot of sense

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when you look at the team stats and many ways that your top tacklers are all your linebackers.

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Your middle defense guys, not your true secondary, but when you look over at, you know, interceptions

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and everything like that and different knockdowns and whatnot, you see that come through with

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the secondary where they're not getting the tackle, but it's because they knocked the

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ball down or forced an incomplete pass and, you know, all those different things. So yeah,

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it'll be interesting to see how that all rolls out, you know, and will as long as Tua has

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enough time, yeah, we can beat that secondary. But it's a matter of the offensive line for

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the dolphins keeping the defensive line and check for the bills to give to that time to

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if that first read is not right to then pivot over to make that second option, which is

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probably be hill first option, waddle second option, go from there.

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I mean, absolutely. I think that's the, you know, I'll start with the next the next question

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in the segment, which is what am I excited about? What am I hopeful for my team? And

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that is exactly it's it's defensive line pressure. It's I am so hopeful that they can cover for

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more than two and a half seconds and cause to it to go to a second read. Because when

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to is pressured this season, just in these three games, when he's when he's not facing

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pressure and gets the ball out kind of on his own time, and his time is very fast. When

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he is not pressured is QBR is like 134. It's like almost perfect. When he is pressured,

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it's 50. So we know this like this is the most quarterbacks, right? It's not like I'm

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not great, you know, breaking the internet with, hey, if you get pressure in the face

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of quarterback, they tend to do poorly. But his is kind of more poorly, because if you

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look at somebody like Patrick Holmes or Josh Shalin, theirs is definitely not 134 on their

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own time because they're I mean, I will say not even Patrick Mahomes has the kind of release

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point accuracy and leading his his wide receivers into space that to has. And we know this this

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is statistically represented by to a season last year, like, without the injury loss games,

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he you know, crushed that statistic, he tends to put the ball in the best possible place.

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And so neither Josh Shalin or Patrick Holmes is that person, but they do the second reaction play

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a little bit better than to write. And so they drop from, you know, not 130, of course, but from

384
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:35,760
112, which is where they kind of live to like 80, to it goes from 130 to 50. And so that's that's

385
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:40,720
the thing I'm hopeful for the bills had nine sacks on Sam Howell last week. Sam Howell is an

386
00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:44,480
incredibly sackable quarterback, though. He's this is his first season starting.

387
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:50,880
Sean McDermott improved as a head coach to seven and oh against quarterbacks, making their first

388
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:59,600
season starts. And so are their first full season of starting. And so it's really, you know, it's

389
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:06,080
something that I'm hopeful for that the bills can can really the new new look defensive line, which

390
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:11,680
in want to say new look, I mean, at the addition of Leonard Floyd, who's filling a gap while

391
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:18,480
von Miller still out. And then Greg Russo and AJ Epinezza have looked a little bit better and more

392
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:26,720
refined in their year two and year three seasons. And finally, Ed Oliver has the highest pressure

393
00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:32,480
rate of an interior defensive lineman on pass rushes, pass rush snaps in the NFL to this point.

394
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:39,120
And that I think is it is surprising to me. I mean, I have I lived through the Marcel Darius era

395
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:46,000
where the bills Marcel Darius, who was statistically by the eye test good,

396
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,560
good, got his contract literally stopped playing football as soon as he got paid,

397
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:56,080
started just drag racing and screw around and eventually left the team. I think he was he

398
00:36:56,080 --> 00:37:03,440
a dolphin for a while? Marcel Darius. I thought he went south somewhere. I don't know if it was

399
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:10,400
the dolphins or like the years or somebody. But anyway, Marcel Darius was was was a great player

400
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:17,280
until he got paid and that wasn't at Oliver was a good player. And then he got paid. And is what

401
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:22,080
what I think is kind of rare sometimes has elevated his game to prove he's worth his money,

402
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:27,600
which is really, like really, really nice to see from the bills, because he was 11th overall pick

403
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:32,800
when they picked him. And he has underwhelmed to this point had a couple flash games here and there.

404
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:38,880
But the the pass rush is what I'm really excited about to see. And I think also you have who's

405
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:44,480
your center Connor Williams? Yeah, had a little bit of a groin thing going on left the game last

406
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:50,320
week. And so Brock goes looks like he's gonna gonna play this week. Right. But that's a tough

407
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:55,680
injury to play through for an alignment. It was a squat stance all the time. Yeah. Yeah. So hopefully

408
00:37:55,680 --> 00:38:01,120
it was just kind of a little tweak and you know, and you're already up, you know, whatever it was.

409
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:08,960
So why force? Oh, yeah. Why force a play? That's true. That's true. Yeah. So, you know, and I'm

410
00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:22,240
most excited about just to see everyone together healthy, wattles back hill to Raheem, like,

411
00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:30,720
everyone just it's amazing what happens when everything clicks together. And so I feel like

412
00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:38,400
week is going to be the real test, you know, against a playoff tee against the division rival

413
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:43,520
away. And so I'm just really excited to see what they can do. Yeah, you know,

414
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:49,280
spite putting up 70 points last week, they're two and a half point underdogs, at least the last I

415
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:53,680
saw right? Yeah, that's you know, which is really just a push game because that's the home team.

416
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:58,400
That's the home team. That's a home team. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm just I'm excited to see the just

417
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:06,000
the offense all together and see what they can do truly against the playoff tee. I feel like

418
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:12,800
the chargers are just the chargers, right? They're they're always that hey, playoff hopes this year,

419
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:19,280
you know, Herbert's our guy, Eckler, you know, Kenan Allen, but then they always fall flat. Yeah.

420
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:24,800
You know, Phillips were over hangover. Yeah, the Phillip River is like effect, which is like so

421
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:29,920
bizarre because you think that they're like, for the longest time in the AFC, everyone's like, well,

422
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:34,560
the chargers, you know, if Phillip Rivers just was a little bit better in the playoffs or leading

423
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:40,320
up to the playoffs, they could go all the way. And then he he retires and they get Herbert. Okay,

424
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:45,520
finally, finally, they're going to be like one of those upper echelon teams. But they just always

425
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:56,000
charge her down. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So real quick, I'm curious to get your quick takes with

426
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:01,680
Stefan Diggs, you know, he just seems just to kind of be doing his thing. But like,

427
00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:09,440
is he really happy in Buffalo? Like, what's what's going on? You know, yeah. So, I mean,

428
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:13,840
this is all speculation. And it was like all kinds of speculation over the summer. I think that the

429
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:20,400
the media made Stefan Diggs kind of sitting out the first day of mandatory mini camp.

430
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:25,920
They made a lot. They made a mound out of a mole a little bit on that. In some regards, I think

431
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:31,200
that the truth behind it was that he had meetings with Josh Allen with Ken Dorsey with Coach McDermott

432
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:39,600
was upset. And like really disappointed in like the base, the way that he sounded in interviews,

433
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:45,040
it sounds like he's really upset with the way the team's ended each year that he wants to get a ring,

434
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:50,880
of course, he's a massive competitor. The whole whole front office, everybody on the team respects

435
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:56,560
that. And that's like, that's the stuff that they've talked about, right? Like, Brandon Bean,

436
00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:01,440
Coach McDermott, they've both talked about how stuff is a competitor, we communicate really well,

437
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:07,680
we have those conversations. He tells us what he, you know, wants to see and wants to do. We tell

438
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:12,640
us to do we tell them what we need to see need to do. And they they've openly said that they've

439
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:18,640
worked through that conversation. I will say that if Stefan Diggs does not make it deeper into the

440
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:23,680
playoffs this season, I don't think he's like Super Bowl or I'm going to like hold out or something

441
00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:29,280
like that. But I do think that he expects the bills to make a super deep run. AFC championship,

442
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,760
anything less than an AFC championship. And I feel like Stefan, there's going to be a Stefan

443
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:39,040
Diggs problem in Buffalo. Right, right, right. Yeah. I'll say this too, I think part of it. There

444
00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:44,640
was a lot of off the field drama with Josh Allen last year. There's a lot of just general, you know,

445
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:49,440
overcoming adversity that the Buffalo Bills team had, they had DeMar Hamlin that incident that

446
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:54,800
the soul of the team was kind of sucked out on that Monday night against Cincinnati. And it showed

447
00:41:54,800 --> 00:42:00,480
in the year in the weeks past, right? Like they were just that they did not look the same team.

448
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:05,840
They did not. They didn't seem fired up. And so there was a lot off the field stuff. And

449
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:11,360
some of that off the field stuff was like Josh Allen, you know, ending a long term relationship.

450
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,880
And maybe he didn't have his head in football. And he's big time Josh now he's on the cover of

451
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:20,880
Madden. He's on like all these, you know, Verizon ads and whatnot. And so I feel like, and this is

452
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:24,800
just speculation at this point, the stuff about, Hey, we talked, you know, he's a competitor,

453
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:30,000
he wants to go far, etc. etc. That was all they stated that this is what people in Bills

454
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:34,000
Mafia are speculating. We're speculating that big time Josh, maybe he wasn't paying enough

455
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:38,080
attention to football at the end of last season. And Stefan Diggs is pissed about it.

456
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:44,640
And so Hollywood Josh is what my wife calls him. There you go. There you go. Yeah. You know,

457
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:49,600
I had Stefan Diggs on my fantasy team last year. And towards the end of the year, yeah,

458
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:53,120
it just frustrated me. It's like, do I bench him at this point? Because I can't trust them.

459
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:58,320
It four or five receptions for 40 yards. Right. And one of the things that frustrated me,

460
00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:05,200
and I don't know if it's a frustration point for him or not, but the red zone usage seems to be

461
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:11,520
very low with him. You know, it always seems like it's a Josh Allen run for a touchdown.

462
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:15,600
Yep. You know, so it's just interesting. Well, I'll tell you from a bill standpoint,

463
00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:20,480
that when you bring up the red zone and stuff on Diggs, I think that the problem they have is that

464
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:26,320
teams, and this is a general problem for the bills, not just in the red zone, but from tip to tail,

465
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:33,600
the whole field, the bills still do not have a super reliable wide receiver to Gabe Davis,

466
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:37,600
I think is a good player. I think he's a good player. I think Dawson ox is a good tight end.

467
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:43,920
I think that Dalton is on pace to break a rookie tight end receiving record in terms of receptions.

468
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:48,800
Like he's had a couple each game. And that's the bar is surprisingly low for rookie tight ends,

469
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:54,320
apparently. But like, it was because he has not been a world burner, but he's like on pace to

470
00:43:54,320 --> 00:44:00,320
like be a prolific, you know, rookie tenant. So the problem I think that they have is that

471
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:04,240
when the bills get down in the red area and the, you know, field tightens down,

472
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:10,000
teams just focus on stuff on Diggs. And then, and then it's Josh Allen, like stuff on Diggs

473
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:13,280
double covered, that's two people that especially if they're on the opposite side of the field,

474
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:17,840
they're going to tackle Josh Allen. So he has a little bit of an advantage can make some things

475
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:23,920
happen. And so, you know, it's really that the bills don't have enough of a threat from their

476
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:31,200
other weapons to give Stefan Diggs one on one matchups. And the thing that's wild about that is

477
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:35,600
like Stefan Diggs doesn't even need a one on one matchup. He'd be contested catches against two or

478
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:42,240
three DBs at a time, because he's just such a technician, surprisingly big for his small frame,

479
00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:48,800
like when it comes to the catch point. So yeah, yeah, no, as a I'm also, I think I'm in four fantasy

480
00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:53,680
football leagues and two of them stuff on Diggs is my wide receiver one. And he's on pace right

481
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:59,040
now. I mean, he's he's averaging like 100 yards a game over the path, even in the Jets game,

482
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:04,800
I think he topped 100. So he's he's doing well. But I'm also worried, you know,

483
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:08,800
I'm worried about a Stefan Diggs problem this off season. I'm not worried this season. I think he's,

484
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:11,600
you know, unless things really come off the rails, he'll he'll be there.

485
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:18,000
Yeah. Last question I got to ask you. And I'm surprised it hasn't come up yet in the 45 minutes

486
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:25,360
we've been on Taylor Swift. She gonna help the cheese or gonna hurt the cheese distraction

487
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:33,760
or not distraction. So I will say this, you know, Tete has a checkered past with with her,

488
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:38,480
you know, relationships. I guess she was just with a previous boyfriend for like 70 years. So I

489
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:43,360
don't want to say that. But like, she's she's built an empire on breakups, songs, right? Like,

490
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:47,920
exactly. Yeah. So that's the thing that's like so curious to me is like, I think that I'll say

491
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:56,320
this, I think that Travis, Kelsey and Taylor Swift's courtship is adorable. I like a romantic

492
00:45:56,320 --> 00:46:00,400
comedy as much as anybody. And how they ended up getting together and the fact that she like

493
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:05,120
basic, I don't think she knows anything about football. That's just all I just that's cute.

494
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:11,200
I think it's a media storm. I don't think it's actually gonna negatively impact the chiefs

495
00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:17,280
whatsoever. Unless she decides to break up with Travis Kelsey, which I'm really hoping for sometime

496
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:25,840
in January. Exactly. I want a heartbroken Kelsey, despondent and incapable of get, you know, hitting

497
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:31,440
his blocks or catching the ball. And I think that I can speak for both Bill's fans and Dolphin's fans

498
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:37,040
that that would be a lovely addition to the chiefs playoff. It sure would. If Kelsey all the sun was

499
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:42,720
ineffective because of a broken heart. So I mean, that's my opinion of it. As it stands,

500
00:46:42,720 --> 00:46:47,120
I don't know that it's going to add anything to the team. And I and unless, you know, like I said,

501
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:51,360
unless we have a heartbroken despondent Kelsey, I don't think it's going to subtract. Yeah. Yeah.

502
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:59,360
I can appreciate that. That's a good question, though. Yeah. For I have one for you. How was

503
00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:06,160
like the Dolphin's fan base feeling about to to us health and like the worries about to a staying

504
00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:12,880
healthy? It's always for me, it's on the back of my mind. It's always always there. Right. It's always

505
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:20,720
there. Exactly. But I mean, coming into the pre into preseason and the training camp, I mean,

506
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:27,200
the dude put on muscle. He looks sharp. You know, with his mind, you know, he was

507
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:36,080
his training camp looked really, really good. He just he looks more comfortable in the pocket as

508
00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:41,200
well. Now, I don't know if that's someone that's due to just because of his release time or what,

509
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:46,320
but like he just seems like a completely different player this year compared to last year.

510
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:55,040
Yeah. I think, you know, I know that the whole kind of game changes if to is not there, right?

511
00:47:55,040 --> 00:48:01,680
Like that's we've seen Mike White from the bill's perspective for many games. Yeah. And we're not

512
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:08,080
afraid of Mike White. We are afraid of to and I would never wish injury. And I hope he stays

513
00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:11,600
healthy because I think he's a really special football player. So it's good to hear that he

514
00:48:11,600 --> 00:48:15,840
looks different that he looks, you know, capable because I think the whole like, Josh Allen versus

515
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:20,960
to is like, could be the new Kelly Marino. Very well. And that's that's that's I think that's

516
00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:26,720
good for football, even though, you know, I'm closing in on a heart attack every time, you know,

517
00:48:26,720 --> 00:48:29,920
the these two teams are going to go against each other when they're when they're all on the field.

518
00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:37,040
And that's I think that's a good subtext of this, of this whole game is that we each team is missing

519
00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:44,640
one key starter on defense. And otherwise, it's, you know, full boat, you know, full power, full

520
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:49,440
steam ahead. Yeah. Yeah. So how about it? You want to you want to hit some score predictions and get

521
00:48:49,440 --> 00:48:55,840
out of here? Let's go. All right. So as our guest, you know, certainly go first, what what is a,

522
00:48:55,840 --> 00:49:00,000
you know, what's a stat prediction that you think would probably come true? And then how do you

523
00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:10,400
think this game turns out? Yeah. I want to go stat prediction and say waddle Tyreek will lead the

524
00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:20,400
team in receiving for the dolphins. Yeah. That's a good one. Yep. And score prediction, I want to go

525
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:29,120
3024 dolphins. Okay. All right. That's a good one. I yeah, I I like that score. I think that's

526
00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:33,440
about where I was I was thinking to go to for a stat prediction. I'm going to say

527
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:44,480
a Tarell Bernard gets a sack because he's gotten one in two games now. And the thing about Tarell

528
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:50,080
Bernard so he's an undersized linebacker looks like a safety playing linebacker very fast has an

529
00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:55,360
excellent nose for the football and is excellent on the rush. They sent him on a simulated pressure

530
00:49:55,360 --> 00:50:01,120
and they actually dropped. Maybe those were so or Leonard Floyd so they dropped one of the ends

531
00:50:01,120 --> 00:50:07,680
in coverage and had Tarell Bernard loop and he like shot through this gap. And he like made

532
00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:13,840
his body so small that the Washington commanders like didn't even see it happening until he like

533
00:50:13,840 --> 00:50:19,040
squirted through the gap and was and hit Sam Howell in less than two seconds like it was

534
00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:26,720
that fast of a rush. And so I think that he gets a sack against to a and continues his like

535
00:50:26,720 --> 00:50:34,400
amazing splash play pace again making everyone forget who Tremaine Edmonds was. So that's one

536
00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:41,040
stat and I actually do like the the waddle out catches hill or out you know, more receiving

537
00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:44,960
yards and help because I think the bills are going to work very, very hard to stop hill.

538
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:50,640
And that's going to open things up for waddle and you know, probably the tight ends and probably

539
00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:55,760
the running backs. And then for my my game prediction, of course, you know, you're an

540
00:50:55,760 --> 00:51:02,000
Dolphins fan, I'm a Bill's fan, we're going to go go home team on this. I'm saying bills 2724,

541
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:07,200
like nail biter. I don't think it's going to be like a 42 40 type game that some you know,

542
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:12,960
some people because I think that both teams are going to both teams are going to they have good

543
00:51:12,960 --> 00:51:16,720
enough offenses, they're going to try to keep the opposing offense off the field and stick to the

544
00:51:16,720 --> 00:51:21,280
run game. So I think the number of possessions is not going to be high enough for a massive shootout.

545
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:27,440
And so yeah, I'm going to go bills 2724. Last minute Tyler Bass field goal. I'm guessing Jason

546
00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:33,440
Sanders misses one. The war, the wins in in the Highmark Stadium are swirling and he has been

547
00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:38,000
somewhat inconsistent. Whereas Tyler Bass is the AFC special teams player of the month. So

548
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:45,040
I like I like our chances in the kicking game. There we go. Good deal. Well, Steve, this has

549
00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:50,160
been the light as always. I appreciate you stepping up and filling in for this match.

550
00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:55,200
Yeah, happy to it's always great to come in and talk about the dolphins, especially this year.

551
00:51:55,200 --> 00:52:03,200
Yes, they look they look so dangerous. I'm terrified. Yeah. Well, as always, if you like the

552
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:08,160
podcast, like, share and subscribe on any of the social media platforms that you'll find us on

553
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:14,640
or Buffalo Bread. And I'll say this and Steve, you can you can close however you like. No bills.

554
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:19,680
No bills ends up. All right. All right. Take care, everybody.