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All right, welcome back to the Buffalo Bed podcast. I'm JJ and with me as always is Dan.

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I'm back off of IR. Thankfully, you know, I'm on the mend. Nothing bad planned plans

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surgery to repair, you know, 20 plus years of self-inflicted wounds in my shoulder before

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I become a dad. So really excited about, you know, being better incrementally. How are

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you doing, Dan?

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I am good, JJ. I like the message you're you're opening what up with this on this coffee pod

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a Saturday morning. It is progress, not perfection that we seek. And I'm glad that you are making

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some progress in your recovery at this point.

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And that's what we seek from ourselves and from our team. It is week nine, the Buffalo

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Bills last week, Thursday night football played against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by first

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overall pick in the same draft as Josh Allen Baker Mayfield. They somehow kept it close

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right at the very end. Coming down to a, you know, a bomb Hail Mary that landed in the

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end zone about a foot away from a Tampa Bay receiver who was uncovered at the same time

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that everyone in Bill's secondary was actively tackling somebody. So, you know, there could

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have been 100 flags on that play and it could have gone the wrong way. But thankfully, the

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ball was pulled out. And we're on to week nine and the Cincinnati Bengals probably,

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you know, as we're talking pre pod, the biggest measuring stick game of the bill season post

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dolphins. Would you agree?

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Yeah, JJ, I would totally agree. I mean, listen, that playoff game. And listen, I'm gonna I

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want to contextualize all this by speaking with respect to the Cincinnati Bengals. The

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Debar Hamlin stuff is stuff that we're going to have to acknowledge is also kind of hanging

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over this game. It's been very apparent in a lot of the pregame press conferences that

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the Bengals and the bills had like that moment last season for as tragic as it was really

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linked, I think these two franchises in a very positive way. That being said, the Bengals

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absolutely as we know destroyed the bills in the playoffs last season to the point where

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that loss was so severe as an organization, they retooled their the entirety of their

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interior offensive line. They invested premium draft capital and OSIRis Torrance, they brought

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on Conor McGovern, they brought on David Edwards to create depth of position where they had

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a real vulnerability that was exposed by the Bengals. And that game is the reason why Leslie

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Frazier is no longer the DC for the Buffalo Bills as well. As an organization, if you're

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the Buffalo Bills, this game coming up on Sunday night against the Bengals, this is

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the prove it game so that you can say that everything that you have done since that devastating

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playoff loss last season has been worth it. So this for a lot of different reasons JJ

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is a big game, not just in the standings, but I think for the I think for the the validation

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of the franchise and the moves that it has made over the past eight to 12 months, this

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game is the game where it either pays off, or it doesn't and you see exactly how far

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behind the bills could potentially be when compared to some of these other AFC contenders.

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So this is a big game for a lot of different reasons and I know it's easy to talk with

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hyper hyperbole and the NFL because it's week to week and it's easy to to overemphasize

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and exaggerate things. But if you're the Bills franchise and a Bills fan, this game is a

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prove it game because everything that you have done leading up to this has been to make

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this moment right from last season. Well, that's that I mean, even Brandon Bean in his in his

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postseason press conferences every year has said that they use the reason that they left

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the playoffs as the you know, as the the measuring stick for exactly what they need to fix like

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what what were they incapable of overcoming in terms of roster in terms of scheme that

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that is the blueprint for how they run their offseason and to get better and in different

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years that's been fixing the offensive line that's been adding a weapon like Dalton concave

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when all the good wide receivers were gone from the first round. It's different things

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like that in order to kind of give yourself the chance the next time that that opportunity

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comes around to not kind of fudge it up. Before we kind of move on to that as a whole, do you

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want to just very quickly I know it's been over a week now at this point from the Bucks game but

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any any observations you have about the team offense defense, how they operated?

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Offensively the Bucks game was fan service that that game was like the rise of Skywalker,

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you know, after the last Jedi and Disney feels like feels like they need to course correct for

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whatever reason the last Jedi was a great movie and I don't care if you stop listening to the

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pod as a result of this. But like for whatever reason, Disney feels like they need to course

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correct. They give way more fan service in the final movie and it was an okay but not great

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experience. That was my experience watching Thursday night. It was an okay but not great

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experience because the bills finally started to do stuff that all of us couch and Twitter coaches

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have been telling us to do the telling them to do they get concaid more involved. Josh runs the

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Balmor. They stop the target funnel to digs who still had a really good game and still got his

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looks, but got them at different points after other guys like Coleal Shakir and Gabe Davis got

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going. And they used Gabe Davis in route trees, other than clear outs for maybe the first time

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all season. So as a bills fan, and as someone who watches these games closely, all of that

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stuff was very validating to see on screen. But you're left with a little bit of emptiness

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and that where the f has this been for the previous seven weeks of the year, right? And then you wonder,

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is that game a representation of a commitment to continue to do those things? Or are we going to

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see the bills regressed to some of their former bad habits? So from a play calling standpoint

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and a scheme standpoint, best game is a stretch. But it was the most comfortable. I saw Dorsey

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calling plays. And when they introduced the the J Gun offense with with Josh Allen, this

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no huddle all tempo thing for key pieces for key pieces of the of the first half, I thought it was

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a really nice wrinkle that all of us have been begging for. Is it going to be sustainable? I'll

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be very interested to see how it plays out against the bangles because the bangles are a defense that

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likes to be multiple. They don't sub in their D line a whole lot, they pretty much stay with the

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11 starters on the field for the most part. So it'll be interesting to see if any of this up

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tempo, no huddle stuff will be used to kind of affect how the bangles are going to style their

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defense from play call to play call. So a lot to like, but still a feeling of like, is this going

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to be how how we're going to experience this team moving forward? And if not, kind of what's it all

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for? Well, thinking that what's at all for category, you know, part of the reason that the big game

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against the Buccaneers was so much closer than it should have been was that the bill stalled out in

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the third and fourth quarter, end of the third and the fourth quarter on offense multiple times.

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Sean McDermott got got roasted online for playing too conservative and punting on fourths.

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I don't know if I hate that though, because the defense was playing very well. And Sam Martin was

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cough and corner, punting everything like your punters that hot, I guess I don't, you know,

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lament them. Letting some of those like fourth and seven fourth and nine plays go go to punt.

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But I think that part of the reason that it stalled out was that Dorsey's plan,

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it was all about a simple scheme, expertly executed. And I think that that's that won't

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necessarily work against even above the above the fold top half of the league defenses in the

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NFL, because even the Bucs started to figure it out near the end, right? Like they started to

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figure out what what 10 RPO plays the bills were trying to run against them, and just stuffing

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the the passing lanes for those or getting up on the line if they or giving a look that they

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knew Josh would would hand it off into but then like immediately run blitzing those those gaps.

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So I'm sure that Cincinnati saw that film, I'm sure that since he's not going to give Gabe

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Davis a five yard cushion on the line or in the slot, because that was where the bills made a

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lot of hate. I'm sure that the the Bucs are gonna are not going to ignore Kincaid or Shakir, like

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I'm sorry, the Bengals are not going to ignore Shakir or Kincaid like the Bucs did a little bit.

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Because the Bucs sold out the stop stuff on digs, and only he only got his production after

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they started shifting coverage over to the other players on the offense. So correct. And that that

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I think is a strategy that can work for the bills all season, because they've shown through the

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through the first half that they they will try to feed stuff on dig. So if teams are shading to him,

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Josh has to go to the other options. Because otherwise it's stalled just like we saw we saw

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on so many other things. So I thought some things were nice. I thought one thing I definitely want

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to talk about is that, you know, Alan shoulder is sort of still a big time concern. I'm glad they

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had this mini by but he clearly he seemed to throw the ball really well. The touchdown past the Gabe

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Davis across the back of the end zone was like a laser beam. So I'm not so worried about arm

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strength. I just you know, don't want him to be uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable throwing, you

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can kind of try to pull some heat off stuff and end up or putting too much heat on things.

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And then I'm being inaccurate. So I hope that you know that had some time to recover and calm

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down a little bit. I think that feed James Cook is an answer. They I think they gave the Tavius Murray

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too many touches in that game. Because it's a continued trend. Yeah, because even even when

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they're like, Oh, this is a set or this is a series of plays where we want a big back like the

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fourth, you know, four minute offsets at the end and things like that. The Tavius Murray is older

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and slower. That's just a reality. I really like the Tavius Murray, I think he has a lot to offer.

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But as soon as he comes in the game, in a running situation, the other team just loads up against

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him. Right. And so it's it's sort of like the first season that motor single Terry was with the

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bills. And they had Frank Gore, right? Like Frank Gore looked absolutely abysmal. But it was because

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as soon as Frank Gore touched the field, they just stacked the box. And then when motor single Terry

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came in the field, they would usually use a lighter box as they anticipated to pass. And he

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was able to run against light boxes. His whole rookie year looked amazing. And, you know, I think

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that that's something that they could do with Cook, because he is such a receiving threat.

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He tends to get better looks in the run game, because they're there, you know, it's more likely

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that a play action and then a pass comes off of a set where where Cook is in. But if the Tavius

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Murray is in, it's almost guaranteed to be a run, especially the down distance time, the situation

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calls for it. So yeah, they try to get it, they try to go a little sneaky with the two and out of

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that jumbo package with David Edwards and Latavius Murray. They try to throw it out of that package

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a couple of times, just to keep the buccaneers honest. But no one believes that as an actual tool

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in their tool belt, that they're going to deploy with any kind of real success. And you know,

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oh, God, yeah. Oh, and off of that, the throwing out of jumbo, the like naked boot with Josh Allen

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with his back to the defense has been blown up three times this season. Nobody's nobody's fooled

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anymore. It's where all all those rushers are coming free. Like even the Josh did a better job

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checking at the line, I think Dorsey anticipated better where where pressure was coming from.

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But man, those naked boots leave Josh right out there. And that's where you still see the bills

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giving up a lot of free rushers coming behind the line of scrimmage. Well, those those situations,

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the protection, it's not the protection scheme is not being shifted or whatever, it's that teams

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basically go into those situations. And it's like if I'm the if I'm the free man on the end of the

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line, if I'm the CB, and the handoff doesn't go, my my job on the defense is to just run balls out

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to Josh Allen and get in his face. That's what happened on the one picky through. Yeah, exactly.

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And that's actually that's happened a couple of times that I think he's got two interceptions

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on plays like that, where he just tries to force it tries to get rid of it. But that it's just a

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bad play design, I think that the league has that one figured out, come up with something different.

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And that could be, you know, booting in a different direction, where you have some

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support in front of you, or a closer, clearer option in front of you so that the blitzer leaves,

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you replace the blitz with the ball. Boom, you have like a 50 40 yard gain. So yeah, he needs

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more better options, because in that in those plays that they get blown up with a CB rush,

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it's always the read that he's looking for is somebody crossing from the bunch side of the

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formation in front of him. And that takes three or four seconds, he doesn't have that if there's

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a free rusher in his face. Right, absolutely. So that was that was the only point I make on that one.

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And then I think both of us are in agreement that the the sprint draw play from shotgun,

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where Josh Allen literally has to wait for the shotgun snap, and then has to run two or three

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steps to his left or right to get the barrier to James Cook just burn that play never never do it

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again. You don't want an I know Josh Allen is an athletic freak. You don't want Josh Allen being

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the part of the play, the most critical part of the speed of that play, getting the ball over to

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cook and while Cook stands flat footed, and just waits for defenders to bear down on him,

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you want Cook to be moving so change that to a sweep, change that to an inside zone, so that Cook

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is moving past Josh Allen static position when the ball is snapped him. Because otherwise,

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you just it just seems stupid. It's a stupid play to have the slower of two people in the backfield

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be the one that has to move to the mesh point. And why would you not want your fastest guy and

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James Cook with a full head of steam hitting the line of scrimmage or hitting the hole, right?

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It's it's a poorly tailored play that does not work to the skills and strengths of the people

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that are executing that play. Well, especially since we since we talk about all the time how the

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bills don't have really a screen game, because they don't see man coverage that often, then

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if for the same purpose, you know, if you can't run screens, you can't run the, you know, the

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sprint draw, because the players that are rushing the passer are also, you know, you have a defensive

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backfield, you have linebackers who are keyed in to make sure they keep their eyes on Josh Allen.

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All of a sudden, they see Josh Allen running towards the running back. They have that half

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step or full step to get to the hole and plug that thing before the mesh even happens in the

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handoff even happens. Yeah, absolutely. It's it's a play that just needs to die. It needs to never

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be called again, for sure. JJ, any other highlights from this game or anything that you think will

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translate well to the bangles game, because we also got to talk about Resoul Douglas for as good as

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this defense played against a slightly below average Bucks offense. It was very clear that the

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bills were struggling in coverage and being to his credit, did something to address that at the

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trade deadline. But before we get into that, anything else here from this Bucks game that you

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think translates to Sunday night? Yeah, I think we actually see the bills ended up moving into a

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four one six alignment on a number of third down, long and late plays that were clear passing downs.

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And four one six being that they had four down line men on the defensive line pass rushing,

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one inside backer and that was just her Al Bernardo, they took everybody else off the field.

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And then six DBs. And so that was their normal nickel set with, I think it was it was Benford,

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Taryn Johnson and Dane Jackson at this time. And then Micahyde, Jordan Poyer and Taylor Wraps.

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So it was a dime look with three safeties. And the thing that was interesting about this game

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that we haven't seen before this year was that they actually had Taylor Wrapp and Micahyde

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play the deep middle, you know, the covering the top safeties. And then they brought Jordan

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Poyer down into like almost a linebacker look. Oh yeah, he was he was a linebacker. So he was a,

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you know, hunting positionless kind of DB, which I think is exactly the kind of energy you get from

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Jordan Poyer when he comes down in the box. And I thought that that was brilliant, because basically

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what they've seen through a few games now is that and we've known for years to roll or Tarrell

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Dodson is an absolute liability in coverage. I think he's a nice player in terms of early down

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stuff in the run. He can do some good things. But he is not a player you want matched up against a

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rungback or a tight end or an especially not a slot receiver ever, ever in a single snap,

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because he will get picked on and he will lose lose ground. Dorian Williams is fast enough to

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be good in coverage, but is just not disciplined and doesn't understand his assignments. It doesn't

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seem or maybe doesn't understand the assignments is not as familiar with the assignments. It's his

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first year as a rookie, just getting into the league. So he doesn't have the nuance of this defense

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and kind of where he needs to squeeze routes. And that he does need to stay disciplined and not get

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thrown off by run looks and the QBs eyes. So Dorian Williams has a ways to go. I still have hope

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because he has the athletic gifts that Tarrell Dodson doesn't have. So replacing those two

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players with poyer and knowing that they've tried to replace those two players with rap

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in games in the past and rap has looked very poor in the box. For some of those same reasons,

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you know, he's taken the candy from the QB he's in the wrong place out of position,

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but has looked better over the top. So I think that that's a smart, smart application of talent

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when you look at the scheming to say we have these are the guys we have there that can do this thing

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of the best. Let's put them in the right positions. Yeah. And that's what I like the most about how

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McDermott's been running this defense this season. He is he is not scheme agnostic, but he is more

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willing, I think, than Frazier was to tailor certain aspects of the scheme and these formations to

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the strengths that he has on the roster. Yeah. And so in transitioning to talk about the roster

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a little bit, I found this gem on the lovely interwebs. And I'll credit Reddit user teapot dash

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error dash 418. In terms of building the roster. It is beans prayer. Brandon Bean, who art at one

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bill's drive baller be thy name. Trade deadlines come, thy deals be done on the phone as it is in

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the mocks. Give us this season some healthy starters and forgive us our shitposts, as we

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forgive those who shitpost against us and lead us into dead money, not into dead money, but deliver

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us from injury for thine is the roster, the cat space and the draft picks forever and ever, Alan.

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Wow. It's profound. It is poignant. It really resonates with me on several emotional and

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intellectual levels and spiritual. I am I feel like I've had an out of body experience listening

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to that. You're very well. Let's talk about those additions though. Yeah, it's a it's a beautiful

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it's a beautiful poetic transition into talking about playoff Lenny Linvol Joseph and our trade

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deadline acquisition, Rizul Douglas, which is where I kind of want to start with that, JJ,

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if you're into it. So absolutely. So Rizul Douglas was probably not on a lot of people's

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trade deadline bingo card for the bills. We were all kind of hot on Jalen Johnson, who this season

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has been kind of the it DB at the trade deadline ends up not getting moved by Chicago, Chicago

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for the second straight year just does some absolutely crazy shit at the trade deadline,

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giving up another number two pick this time for a high high ceiling, somewhat underperforming edge

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in Montez wet from Washington. But that is neither here nor there. Jalen Johnson ends up not getting

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moved. Where does that the asking price from Chicago is simply way too high. So being pivots to

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Rizul Douglas from Green Bay, a guy who a lot of us did have on our Madden GM bingo cards in free

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agency the past couple of years. So this is a guy who in Green Bay was picked up off the unsigned

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free agent draft stockpile, ends up having some really great flash moments in Green Bay,

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had a free agent heading into this season that sends a two year deal with Green Bay,

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a lot of us in Bill's mafia hoping that Bean would be able to work something out with Douglas,

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because he is a great cover corner in zone. He also has and I would say with Trey White off

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the roster now for injury, I feel safe saying this, he immediately has the best ball skills out of

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anybody in that secondary room. And I would put hide and poyer there in that as well. Douglas has

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10 interceptions over the last three seasons, the majority of which have come in the second half

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and fourth quarter. So this guy is an absolute closer. He doesn't just know where the receiver

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is going to be, he knows where the ball is going to be. He's great at hopping routes. He is sticky

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in coverage, his footwork mirrors even some of the best wide receivers in a great way. And he's

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got a nose for the ball. And this is the thing JJ, I think, that has the potential to set this

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Bill's defense as banged up as it is on a better trajectory. Because we saw last season when they

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started getting banged up, we talked about the differentiation between the amount of turnovers

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they had produced in the first half of the season versus the second half of the season.

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In the second half of the season, there was almost no turnover production. So this high floor,

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low ceiling defense, they were they were playing with all the injuries on the roster. It was a lot

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of Ben, but don't break, but they were letting bad teams stay in games with them as a result.

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In Douglas, you've got a guy who can take some of that and flip the script with a couple of

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different turnovers, a couple of deflected passes. A guy like that in his turnover production

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could potentially be a key factor in helping get this beat up Bill's defense back on the

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right trajectory and off the field in moments where you you really, really need it. So he

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really could be we're hoping a clutch performer and a closer for this defense, not to mention,

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he's probably the best cover DB now that we have in that room. He absolutely is. I mean,

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you know, and that's that's from his last three seasons. I've heard of some girls mafia male

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I believe is a scrub. He was on he was on the practice squad. He you know, before a green

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bay picked him up. How do you how do you pray that like that's asinine. It's the player is who

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they are now how who they were three seasons ago is nothing yet. By that measure, you could say

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Kurt Warner before he was running the greatest show on turf is just a bag check guy at a grocery

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store. Right. Seriously, I mean, how are you telling us that this is not a good pickup?

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And let's let's cover the pickup as it was, you know, the transaction as well as they,

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you know, the bean got a little bit of heat from some of Bill's mafia. I think the people who

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understand football and know what they're getting in this player are very happy with this trade.

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I feel like we fleeced the green bay packers. We took their best coverage corner by stats. I

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know that they have a first round pick on the other side. But we took their best coverage corner

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on tape that I can see from the team who still has a year left on his deal. And all we gave up

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was a third round that might be a conditional third, which is the end of the third for Green Bay's

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fifth and Russell Douglas. And the bills are already repersume going to be picking at the end

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of the round anyway. So even if it's their natural third, it's not going to be until like the last

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few picks that the draft we hope. And then Green Bay's pick is going to be probably especially

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not that they lost for school Douglas is going to be a top eight pick in that in the fifth round.

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So absolutely, I'm very, very happy with the compensation. I feel like we took more from

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that way more from them than they're they're taking from us. We already have, you know,

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the natural third and the possible and the comp pick for Tremaine Edmund. So we're not really

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losing too much. We're still going to go into the draft with 10 picks, because we got a pick and a

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player. And so I'm very excited about that. Russell Douglas is instantly the tallest,

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thickest CB on the team, and the most natural tackler. And I think those two things really

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help out too. And it's the kind of thing where like, if the bills have Russell Douglas, and he

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has a blow up season right now, I wouldn't be opposed to Brandon being giving him more money

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and getting him on the roster for three or four more seasons. From this point in time in the

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off season, you know, restructure something, give him a he'll probably take a reasonable deal as a

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starter to continue with the bills. And he's 28 29. So if you can get him through his age 32 season,

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and essentially, you know, barring injury or other setback, have one side of your, your defensive

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backfields kind of set up, that'd be really good. Because I think the problem the bills have right

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now is that with Trey white's injury, with the inconsistencies of danger, and I think that

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Benford looks great, I think he'll probably be a decent level starter, he'll be a Levi Wallace

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level starter for probably his career, which you can do worse than. And then what the heck's

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going to happen with Kairi Grealem, hopefully the switch turns on for him as well, like it did for

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Russell Douglas after a few years of underperforming and losing starting jobs. And if so, you know,

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then the bills will be set up better. But right now, just just like you make the point always, Dan,

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they have an aging defense, and they need to find ways to patch and build up that defensive

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backfield before the inevitable loss of Micah, you know, Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer over the next

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probably two or three years, I think I can imagine they're both starting in the NFL in three years,

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because yeah, their age, they've clearly lost a bit of a step. I love those guys, they're great.

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But the NFL careers do end. Yeah, no, it's true. And you've got to you've got to gird yourself

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for that inevitable end. And it'll be tough with Poyer and Hyde and listen, even Trey white, I mean,

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who knows how he's going to come back from the security's thing. But listen, the bills can save

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10 million in cap space next season by designating him as a post June one cut. Yeah. So it

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resuel Douglas is an important pickup for a few different reasons. It stabilizes the room this

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year, but his nine million and non guaranteed salary and bonuses next year can easily be

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restructured if need be and and keep a really good above average cover corner on the roster is

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you have to make a really tough decision about Trey whites future with this team coming off of

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back to back seasons with just devastating injury. So and I am sure I shared it on a previous pod

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the return rate for Achilles injuries to top tier corners, like something like less than 20%

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of them ever returned to starting caliber, starting caliber, most of them end up second or third

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stringer if they continue the career at all. So and we knew this was coming down the pipeline,

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we've said this is this was going to be the last ride for a lot of these core bills, defensive

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pieces that have been with the team since McDermott came on board. Trey white was not necessarily

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one that we had on the horizon because we assumed he would have a healthy season. But now that he

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hasn't you could be looking at an off season where Poyer because you can get out of the second

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year if his deal pretty easily hide who is a free agent at the end of this year. And Trey white

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who represents a significant amount of cap savings, all three of those guys could potentially be

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off the roster. So it was imperative that being especially with the inconsistency of Kyre Elam's

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play, being went out and did something to secure the outside corner position. And I think, I think

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Douglas was a great fit. And for all those people arguing that his production is recent, Jalen Johnson

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hasn't started playing well until this season. So stop, he's in a contract year. Is he someone

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that is good, good, could be good down the road to sure. But Douglas has a way longer track record

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of consistent above average production than Jalen Johnson does. He's still a top 10 cover corner

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by PFF rankings. His completion percentage when he is the closest DB targeted is under 60%. And as

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we have said, he immediately comes into this, this locker room and has the best ball production skills

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out of any other DB on the squad, which is something we're going to need in key moments

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where teams are sustaining these drives against this very beat up defense. So Douglas, I think is a

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really great pick pick up. And I think the bill is also bolstered some other weaknesses in the

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free agency market as well here. We know that the one tech with the Juan Jones being out for an

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unknown amount of time has been an issue at Oliver still having a monster season by a lot of statistical

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measures, but has seen an increased rate of double teams with Jones being out because let's be honest,

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no one's scared to Tim Settle and Punefort at this point. So bringing in Linval Joseph, who is a

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as big and thick of a one tech as you're going to find at this stage in the season,

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I think was a much needed and very, very positive move for this defensive roster as well. So JJ,

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why don't you break down a little bit about Linval Joseph and tell us what you're seeing about him?

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Yeah, so Linval Joseph drafted by the Giants in 2010. You know, older, older player has been around

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for a little bit. He ended up playing eight games for the Eagles last season. You know, after being

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kind of a street free agent. Really, you know, for Linval Joseph, the story is as we see it so many

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times, probably not a Hall of Famer, but definitely a solid player through the middle of his career.

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From 2015 to 2019, he was elite, probably top three, top four interior DT in the league,

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run stuffing, had a little bit of juice as a pass rusher, but not very much. That's not his game.

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His game is two gapping at a nose position. He did that. He made that hay with the Vikings.

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Many offensive linemen, including beloved buff former Buffalo Bill Eric Wood have referred

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to Linval Joseph as the strongest human being they've ever played against. So he's got just sort

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of a pretty natural strength to his game and anchor. But what we saw from kind of 2020, 2021

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with the Chargers before he ended up off the rosters was that he had solid but unspectacular

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play and would get doubled and moved out of a gap pretty often. I think that the reason you're

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bringing Linval Joseph in even in his late and not as dominant phase the end of his career as he is,

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the reason you bring him in is kind of what you said is that by body alone, he's more natural.

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He's a more natural fit to the Dequan Jones role and will hopefully soften up the double teams that

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they're able to constantly throw it at Oliver. Because right now what we have is that Linval

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Joseph is still going to be probably a more challenging one on one matchup for a center or

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guard than Jordan Phillips or Tim Settle or Poonaford. I think all three of those players are nice

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players, but I don't think that they kind of intimidate as much as Linval Joseph does,

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even though he has not been good for a couple of seasons and then had sort of a resurgence with the

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Eagles last year. And so, you know, hopefully that resurgence equals a hungry player who wants to make

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some, you know, make some additional hey, maybe even get a one year deal after this, you know,

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we'll see. So he's here at a vet minimum, not really a what's nice is it's not really an investment

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of any kind, you're not going to lose much. If you, you know, if this if this doesn't pan out,

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the bills are in no worse condition, salary cap wise. So a decent pickup, I'm excited to see kind

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of what he can offer. Hopefully he shows some of the some of the juice that he had with the Eagles

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after having kind of worked his way off of rosters, you know, an additional fire to kind of get back

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in league for another run.

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I think it's a I think Joseph gives this team a low risk, potentially high reward type of option,

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and he played his best ball last year, because he had elite producers around him. And you can say

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a lot about this bill's defensive defensive situation with the injuries that they've seen,

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but you still have on Miller, you still have Leonard, you still have AJ up and as a having a career

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year, you still have at Oliver playing at playing at a very elite level this season. He is top five

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and both pass rush win rate and run stop win rate at this point in the season for all the at Oliver

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haters out there. So you've got guys producing at elite levels around Joseph. And I think where he

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is at this stage in this age of his career, he needs a team situation like that to really think

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like that to really thrive. So I think he could be a surprisingly productive addition for the

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Spills team. But at the very least, it's one that you've got to respect and hopefully that or other

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teams have to respect. And hopefully, as you said, this freeze up at Oliver to get a few more one

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on one matchups because his double team rate since Jonas has gone out has increased by about 7%.

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So teams are really keying in on trying to stop Ed as games progress. And then JJ, our final

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addition to the team playoff Lenny Leonard Fornette, who much much ado was made a few weeks ago about

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his visit to Buffalo that was canceled. I don't even don't even know now if that was true, if

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Twitter was lying to us. But a playoff Lenny shows up in very, very tight shorts for his leg day

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workout with the team as he joins as he joins the Buffalo Bills, and really just bolsters with

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Damian Harris still out bolsters the running back room. The bills have always prioritized three

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running backs on this roster. They've prioritized a diversity of skill set at the running back position.

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And Leonard Fornette, even at this stage of his career, brings to the table something that the

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bills really cut it, which is a physical downhill runner with past protection capabilities that

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will again, not take over snaps for James Cook, but will help to bolster that the the role that

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Damian Harris was playing a little bit in goal line situations and third and short situations

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as well. So another tool for Ken Dorsey to play with, and hopefully another personal pass protector

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for Josh Allen to keep in the backfield. Well, and I think the other piece of that too is that

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Leonard Fornette offers the part of his game that he offers is when we talked before about

378
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:43,320
when they bring with Tavius Murray in in downs where it's likely the bills will run the ball,

379
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:48,600
and teams are just loading up the box. You actually might be able to do some screens with Leonard

380
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:52,520
Fornette in those situations, because he's a little bit better and more dynamic of a pass

381
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:59,400
catcher. And so you might be able to kind of get behind that initial run stuff rush or run blitz

382
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:05,000
and make some things happen. And that could be an added wrinkle because he's I think as good,

383
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:10,360
if not better than Latavius Murray in path protection. There's countless clips, if you

384
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:15,400
want to go to YouTube and check them out of Leonard Fornette blowing up blitzers. And so I

385
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:20,920
think that that's something he has an interest in and he has a passion for protecting his QB. So

386
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:26,840
like to see that, I know over his time in the league, he's been there's been questions about his

387
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,760
effort, his willingness to take plays off stuff like that. And I think that that's part of the

388
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:36,360
reason that he went from being a fourth overall pick in the draft to multiple teams, you know,

389
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:40,280
over his career. And now on the out on the street is still not an incredible, you know,

390
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:47,320
he's not an old player at this point. He's I think he's sub 30 right? I think he's 29 going to be

391
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:52,600
30 by the end of the season just under 30. And so and we know with Latavius Murray being the oldest

392
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:59,480
active running back in the NFL at 33, that you know, he's end of career ish, but many running

393
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:05,720
backs with his draft pedigree are staying staying on rosters through their age 30 season. And he

394
00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:11,000
could not. So, you know, there's there's some warts on that frog. But but I think also he

395
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:15,240
offers some wrinkles, he was out there, nobody else wanted him, you know, it's worth worth a flyer.

396
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:21,000
Again, low investment, he's on the practice one only, which is, you know, I don't even think

397
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:25,800
that counts against your cap, because it's not your top 53. It's not the top 51. Yeah, 51. Yeah.

398
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:32,440
So, so I'm good about it. I just thought of this thought of this Lin Voljosa staff, I think I

399
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:40,600
told you before the before the pod to go flip back to Lin Voljosa is the in a different chat with a

400
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:45,720
bunch of my Bill's fan friends, somebody was like, oh, he's like six, five, he'll be batting down passes

401
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:51,640
in the middle of the line. I was like, I wonder I wonder what Lin Voljosa's past deflection, you

402
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:57,560
know, kind of creation has been over the course of his career, found a fun stat, which is in 179

403
00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:03,080
career games Lin Voljosa has only batted six passes. So yeah, not a component of his game.

404
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:09,400
For comparison, AJ Eponaes, I think is excellent at it. 11 deflections in the last 23 games. So

405
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:14,280
yeah, yeah, it's just it's not Joseph's game. Yeah, anyway, so but yeah, I like the additions.

406
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:18,920
I think that they're you know, with the exception of Russell Douglas, they're likely low impact.

407
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:25,640
You're not betting on high impact with either Lin Voljosa or Leonard Fournette, but if you

408
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:29,560
whatever you get is going to be gravy, because I think Russell Douglas is the only one where you

409
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:35,320
like you need you need him to have an impact on this defense. Right away to yeah, because we have

410
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:40,200
a we have a game against the Cincinnati Bengals coming out. Get into it. And and I hope Brazil

411
00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:44,920
Douglas will play because if there is ever a shot we needed someone with his ball production skills,

412
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:50,680
it's probably going to be this game. So JJ, it's tough to break down the the standing numbers

413
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:56,360
between these two teams because we have seen the bills as a result of injury decline in certain

414
00:37:56,360 --> 00:38:01,960
facets on defense. And with the slow start that the Bengals got off to, we have seen them kind of

415
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:09,160
ascend. So where both of these teams still sit in total DVOA and EPA per play, the the bills are

416
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:15,880
still top top three units in rushing and passing offense. And the Bengals are middle of the pack.

417
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:20,600
But we know when we have seen especially this past weekend that dominating performance the

418
00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:26,200
Bengals had against the 49ers, we know that this Bengals team is one that seems like it's getting

419
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:30,600
it right. Well, this bills team is still one that is kind of figuring it out. So it's tough to look

420
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:36,520
at these numbers. But since Milano's injury, which also happened to coincide with this Bengals

421
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:43,320
ascendance, the Buffalo bills defense is 27th in overall DVOA right now and pass coverage.

422
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:47,960
While this Bengals defense, which had a lot of new pieces, which I don't think people,

423
00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:53,160
I don't think people gave enough grace for, because even with it as talented a defense as they had,

424
00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:58,200
they lost guys like Von Bell and Jesse Bates and Free Agency this year, who are key cogs to that

425
00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:02,760
defense that they were running. But it looks like a lot of these new pieces and a lot of these young

426
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:07,800
pieces they are integrating are starting to coalesce and come together around this multiple scheme

427
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:13,160
that they run out of Cincinnati. So since the Milano injury, this Cincinnati Bengals unit

428
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:18,040
is top 11 in overall defensive DVOA. It's going to be an interesting matchup for a lot of different

429
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:24,440
reasons. But JJ, as we have said, like this is the game that the bills have been building themselves

430
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:30,120
to. This is the game that everything they have done in the off season has been a reaction to.

431
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:35,080
And now we get to see if there is going to be a payoff to how the bills have handled all of

432
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:41,080
their roster management, all of the adjustments they have made for this franchise. Sunday night is

433
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:46,520
going to be whether or not we see credit given where credit is due to what the bills have done or

434
00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:51,240
if we find out maybe that in a loss, the bills are further behind the pack than we thought. And

435
00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:56,200
maybe this window for a Super Bowl run is shrinking a little bit. You never want to overhype what one

436
00:39:56,200 --> 00:40:01,800
game means. But I mean, listen, it's hard not to because the bills have literally aimed their entire

437
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:06,520
off season at correcting what happened in that playoff game against insy last year. And now they

438
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:11,800
get to take another crack at it. So JJ, where do you want to start offense or defense here? Let's

439
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:18,120
start with the bills offense versus the Bengals defense. I think that that's maybe the bigger

440
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:25,800
storyline for me, because very briefly, the bills defense versus the Bengals offense is the same

441
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:31,800
same thing that we saw in the playoff game, right? Like it's trying to limit the Bengals from being

442
00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:37,880
able to get get the rush game going, which is they killed us within the playoffs. And on timely

443
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:45,160
third downs, and, you know, red zone areas and stuff like that shutting down cool Joe, Joe Burrow,

444
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:50,360
who is back like I think that's the biggest thing that's the biggest story there. But yeah,

445
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:55,400
I would like to we'll get into that more deeply. But it's what we know, it's what we expect there.

446
00:40:55,400 --> 00:41:02,040
They have a high flying offense, Joe is back, he's 28 to 32 for three touchdowns had 40 yards rushing

447
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:08,760
his cat has healed for all intents and purposes. So that's what we know about. What I think is

448
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:13,560
interesting is the Bengals defense this season, like you said, has increased and improved over

449
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:20,280
the course of the last few games. And part of that is Lee and Arumo, their DC being willing to

450
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:26,680
change their entire defensive philosophy week to week, you know, in sort of a bellachicke in way

451
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:31,960
of attacking the team's, you know, greatest strengths against the 49ers who sort of look

452
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:39,560
like a team lost the past number of weeks. And Arumo went with a 515 five down line men,

453
00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:45,000
a one linebacker and five and DB's and coverage to erase the run pass option that

454
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:52,200
the 49ers and Brock Purdy have have used to such great effect. You know, other than one early

455
00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:58,120
touchdown, they held Christian McCaffrey and check the rest of the day. Well, they didn't

456
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:01,480
necessarily hold them in check. I think the story of that game was that there was a bunch of

457
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:05,960
timely turnovers, but they were able to generate those turnovers. And that's something the Bengals

458
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:10,360
defense is excellent at. And that's something that the bill's offense is very poor, is giving

459
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:16,360
turnovers specifically on the road. They have a three to one turnover to take away differential

460
00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:21,000
on the road this season. And so they give will give the ball away way more than they take it away

461
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:24,760
on the road. And hopefully we can change that trend because they're going to need some turnover

462
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:29,080
luck if they want to have a hope, like this team, because the Bengals look like they're back back

463
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:36,200
to the playoff caliber Bengals. And so the bills offense against that defense, the things they

464
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:44,120
need to do is they need to not be baited into running the play selection that aneromo wants

465
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:49,000
them to run by giving them a defensive look, they need to stick to whatever concepts they want to

466
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:55,640
run and just run them. Because basically he's going to bring six guys up on the line and make you

467
00:42:55,640 --> 00:43:00,920
check to a pass, and then he's going to drop all but two of them out into coverage cluttering the

468
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:06,600
underneath lanes and making a pass impossible or getting a turnover. And so I think Josh is going

469
00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:10,840
to have to use his legs again this this time, because if they're doing that, that was the

470
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:15,480
thing that was so effective against the 49ers that is, you know, plugging and simulating

471
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:19,240
pressure, like an all out blitz look and then dropping everybody into coverage and having a

472
00:43:19,240 --> 00:43:25,400
very light blitz, or a light pressure. If they do that, Josh Allen can use that to his advantage,

473
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:29,800
grab four or five yards and run out of bounds, do that every single time they drop into coverage

474
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:35,080
if there's no passing lanes available. Every time just run to the closest, you know, sideline to you,

475
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:39,640
get three or four yards, just keep doing that until until they won't, you know, they won't be able

476
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,720
to do it do that look anymore, because that's what that's what was so effective you have to

477
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:50,120
dictate to aneromo what you want to do with your offense, or try to run against some of those heavy

478
00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:56,600
looks and use inside gap power. Deion Dawkins is I think the most lethal pulling tackle in the

479
00:43:56,600 --> 00:44:02,120
entire league. He blocks better on the move than any tackle I've ever seen for the Buffalo Bills.

480
00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:08,280
Absolutely. And there's the added benefit to and and I mean, the Cincinnati Bengals defense is not

481
00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:13,320
unbeatable. We have seen them struggle at times this year. But their second half and fourth quarter

482
00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:19,800
production in particular, JJ drops off substantially from their first half production, it has nothing

483
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:24,200
to do with in game adjustments, because the Bengals are amazing at making those in game

484
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:29,240
adjustments, they might start out the first half in a four three realize it's not working come out

485
00:44:29,240 --> 00:44:33,800
in a three four in the second half and change everything on the fly because how well coached

486
00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:40,040
they are. But as we said, this is a defense that purse snap share subs out, particularly on that

487
00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:45,480
defensive line at the lowest rate and all of football. So this isn't the jets where they're

488
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:49,880
running out eight guys on that defensive line and constant rotations. And this isn't even the

489
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:54,280
this isn't even the bills who try to apply the same philosophy, they're going to play with basically

490
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:59,480
the same four guys on that defensive line. So if you can beat them up a little bit in the first

491
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:06,120
half on the run, this is a defense that statistically does wear out as the game goes on, they rely on

492
00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:11,480
that ball production that turnover production in the secondary to kind of make up for that. But to

493
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:16,520
your point, if the bills can successfully run against some of those heavier looks where you feel

494
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:21,320
like the Bengals are actually just decoying and are going to drop back, or if Allen can use his

495
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:25,160
legs responsibly, you're going to wear that defensive line down, that's going to open some

496
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:29,080
some things up in the second half of the game, which is going to be absolutely key for these

497
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:35,800
bills if they're going to win. If they're able to get I think they're able to get concaid going,

498
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:39,720
I know we mentioned earlier that they're going to the Bengals are probably going to key on concaid,

499
00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:47,160
and onto some of the other secondary pass catchers for the bills after what they showed against

500
00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:50,760
the Buccaneers. But George Kittle, I know he's one of the most elite in the league,

501
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:57,960
went nine for 149 with a 16, you know, 16 yard per reception average against the Bengals. So

502
00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:01,800
there's some soft spots in that zone, even when they're cluttering those those short passing

503
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:06,040
lanes, George Kittle did some nice things. And so I think that if you can get concaid going,

504
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:10,680
that's going to be useful. And honestly, you know, I think the story of that game is that

505
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:14,920
everyone's like, Oh, my gosh, they brought down the the high flying 49ers, the 49ers have again,

506
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:19,640
lost three in a row, this is a third of loss in a row. They did not look great, you know,

507
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:25,080
lost 31 17 to the Bengals at home, which I think is another component of this, like the

508
00:46:25,080 --> 00:46:29,480
bills have looked so much better at home than on the road, which is you expect that from teams,

509
00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:35,160
but I think it's even farther outside the normal variants you see, they've looked bad on the road,

510
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:39,480
they've looked excellent at home. So or much more competitive at home. So,

511
00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:43,800
you know, I think that the story of the game, though, is on timely turnovers,

512
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:49,800
Rock, pretty through two interceptions in the red zone during that game. And that was a seven

513
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:54,040
point swing at least, right? Like, at times where they are three points, we're at least likely a

514
00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:58,920
seven point swing, given how good San Francisco is in the red zone. But the same physical boarding

515
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:06,280
there still had 460 yards, 347 passing yards, you know, 8.2 yards per play. So the Bengals were

516
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:11,480
very much giving up yardage, but they were just very opportunistic when they needed to be they

517
00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:16,520
were taking the ball away. Yep, absolutely. And I think that has a lot to do with Perti's

518
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:21,560
Perti's development where he is at, we have anointed him as like the next Tom Brady, because

519
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:26,200
he had a really good run of 12 games. But now teams have a full season of tape on Perti,

520
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:31,640
and they're starting to adjust a lot of their schematics for what he is so comfortable doing.

521
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:37,000
And like every other young QB, like Josh, his face, this and his development, Jalen Hertz is

522
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:41,000
going through it right now with how teams are scheming for his skill set. If you're a young,

523
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:45,800
successful QB teams are going to find a way to take away the stuff you're most comfortable in doing.

524
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:50,680
And that was the difference in that 49ers game, because the Bengals were able to do it at the

525
00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:56,280
moments where it mattered most. And they were able to do it at a consistent rate last year

526
00:47:56,280 --> 00:48:00,360
against the bills in that playoff game too. So it'll be interesting to see because Josh's

527
00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:06,200
tendencies are very well known. It'll be interesting to see offensively how they come out and scheme.

528
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:12,040
I actually like the idea of running tempo against this Bengals defense. It gives them less time to

529
00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:17,880
set up and some of their exotic decoy looks, some of their simulated pressures, but it also gives

530
00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:24,440
more control at the point of attack for Josh. Now, it is harder to run that type of offense on the

531
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:30,120
road, because you're going to go probably to a lot of silent play calls that Bengals, that Bengals

532
00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:35,640
fan base is going to be absolutely jacked up prime time game who day nation. Yeah, I know, right?

533
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:41,640
Yep. Absolutely jacked up, but you can still run a lot of those concepts that were so successful

534
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:48,200
against the Buccaneers to help put some things in your in your favor against this defense. Again,

535
00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:54,440
this is not a perfect defense, but it is a defense that takes advantage of a lot of the tendencies

536
00:48:54,440 --> 00:49:01,000
that QBs like Mahomes and like Allen seem to represent or seem to like to delve into. Like,

537
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:05,480
there's a reason why Mahomes struggles against the Bengals. There's a reason why Lamar Jackson

538
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:10,840
struggles against the Bengals and Josh Allen. These are guys with similar levels of creativity

539
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:16,440
that like to improvise. And the Bengals are just so good with the personnel that they have and the

540
00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:23,000
speed that they have, and baiting you into indulging in those tendencies to create a fact for them.

541
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:29,160
So it this is going to have to be a disciplined game from Josh, not just from a from a don't chuck

542
00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:34,200
it down the field into double coverage standpoint, but he is going to have to consistently spread the

543
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:41,240
ball around and spread the Spingles defense very, very thin. We've said it ad nauseam that when Josh

544
00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:47,000
is playing point guard and getting the ball out in under 2.5 seconds, this bill's offense is absolutely

545
00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:52,200
at its best. And I would add one more thing. I think there's got to be real volume to the way

546
00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:58,680
he's spreading the ball around like a dink and dunk here to Regigillium or a one off 10 yard

547
00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:03,880
reception to Kahlil Shakir is not going to be enough to get these opposing defenses out of

548
00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:09,160
their tendencies. Like the Buccaneers game, there's got to be a consistent commitment to getting

549
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:15,160
multiple targets to gave Davis multiple targets to Kahlil Shakir multiple targets to Dalton Kincaid

550
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:20,280
so that you can eventually free up digs to perform in clutch time. If you're funneling a lot of

551
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:24,200
targets them in the first half, quite frankly, that's what teams want you to do at this stage

552
00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:29,160
when you're playing the Buffalo Bills. What I do think that the the Bengals did a decent job of

553
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:35,000
replacing both of their starting safeties from last season. But that's a change. That's a vulnerability,

554
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:38,920
I think, because those safeties are playing together for the first time. And, you know,

555
00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:43,720
beating them over the top hasn't been a thing that teams have been able to do. I think that the

556
00:50:43,720 --> 00:50:50,200
Bills can do that if they're able to soften up that over the top coverage by punishing them

557
00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:55,240
enough underneath. Well, and that's where that's where Dalton Kincaid becomes such an important

558
00:50:55,240 --> 00:51:01,320
piece of this offense because real I mean, listen, Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt, the the two line

559
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:05,320
backers of the Bengals play with the Bengals basically play nickel. It's like a mirror mirror

560
00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:11,560
image of the Bills defense. But those two guys you could argue are the best from a production

561
00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:17,960
standpoint linebacker duo in the league when it comes to pass coverage. But neither of them have

562
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:23,960
the athletic skill or speed to stick with Dalton Kincaid. That means yeah, that means you're

563
00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:30,280
probably pulling down Dax Hill to go one on one with Kincaid, which could open some very nice

564
00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:36,280
things up off over the top. But if you are not establishing Kincaid as that threat early on,

565
00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:39,480
and you're just trying to pound it over the top, you're playing right into the Spangles

566
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:45,000
defensive hands, you want to establish some of these other producers and Kahlil Shakir, to me,

567
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:51,880
is clearly wide receiver three on this team. He has caught all 11 of his targets over the past

568
00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:58,280
two games. And dude, his routes and releases, they are always on time. They are always and under

569
00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:04,120
that 2.3 second mark where you needed to be. And he is always creating a throwing window for Alan

570
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:09,480
to get him the ball. He is so polished at this stage. He adds a lot of value in the run blocking

571
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:15,480
game as well. But more and more, he is becoming other than digs, potentially the best route runner

572
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:20,040
when it comes to timing and release on this bill squad. And that's something you absolutely have

573
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:24,200
to exploit because he's probably going to see a lot of Mike Hilton. Mike Hilton is a physical

574
00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:30,520
defensive back, but he's not a fast defensive back. And he's a little bit undersized as well.

575
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:36,680
So Shakir, if he can establish himself, if Kincaid can establish himself, you've got no choice but

576
00:52:36,680 --> 00:52:39,960
to pull in some of those safeties for a little bit of help. It's a lot like what happened when

577
00:52:39,960 --> 00:52:45,400
Cole Beasley was such a threat for this team early on. The reason digs could eat so much is because

578
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:50,760
Beasley was also demanding double coverage to some extent on those third and fives that he

579
00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:57,080
specialized on. The bills haven't developed that guy to replace Beasley yet. But if Shakir and Kincaid

580
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:01,240
can actually warrant some attention, you're going to see things open up over the top for digs and

581
00:53:01,240 --> 00:53:08,200
Davis in a really big way. Yeah, I think so too. And I'm very worried about the Buffalo Bills ability

582
00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:14,040
to protect Josh Allen in this game. I think that what you see from this, the Bengals front is that

583
00:53:14,040 --> 00:53:19,720
they are not massive, you know, they're not massive producers on the past rush win rate scale,

584
00:53:19,720 --> 00:53:25,400
but they do have individual, you know, elite players like DJ Reader, BJ Hill inside are both

585
00:53:25,400 --> 00:53:30,920
excellent animals. They're nasty. And that's where I think the bills have really suffered some

586
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:35,560
losses. And the games that the bills have looked the worst, it's when their guards and Mitch Moore

587
00:53:35,560 --> 00:53:40,440
are getting absolutely worked inside, because then Josh Allen cannot step up in the pocket,

588
00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:44,120
which means his tackles cannot ride their defense events to the to the wide side.

589
00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:50,920
That's how they protect the best. And so I'm not as worried about, you know, Sam Hubbard versus

590
00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:55,320
Dion Dawkins, I think Dion Dawkins can handle that one on one match up pretty easily. I'm extremely

591
00:53:55,320 --> 00:54:01,400
worried about Trey Hendrickson against Spencer Brown, because Trey Hendrickson has eight sacks

592
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:05,160
this season. He's having a career year for a guy who we thought could only do cover sacks

593
00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:11,960
coming out of New Orleans. I know that's one of my coldest takes ever. It's aged like spoiled milk.

594
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:15,960
I said the Patriots were going to have the second best offense in the division this year.

595
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:20,600
You're not alone in the preseason predictions. I'm like, wow, he was so wrong about the Patriots,

596
00:54:20,600 --> 00:54:23,880
they're absolutely trash. And it's week nine. That's the only thing we know for certainty is

597
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:28,600
that that team is bad. Yeah. And you still beat the bills. So, you know, right, seriously, I don't

598
00:54:28,600 --> 00:54:35,720
know how. So yeah, DJ Reader BJ Hill great inside Trey Hendrickson, I think has proven me wrong. He's

599
00:54:35,720 --> 00:54:40,840
excellent. And but he has eight sacks, the rest of the team has like the team as a whole has 12.

600
00:54:40,840 --> 00:54:45,640
So there's only four amongst all other, you know, pass rushers, which I think, you know,

601
00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:50,360
indicates that maybe DJ Reader BJ Hill are not having as dominant seasons as they usually have.

602
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:54,200
Both of them are a little bit long in the tooth. And so we'll see, we'll see what that

603
00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:58,840
pressure looks like if the bills cannot handle the pass rush, it's going to be a long miserable night

604
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:03,960
for Bill Mafia. It really is. This is where the bills need to dictate pace of play. Because again,

605
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:10,280
you can you can wear down this defense teams have done it successfully. And as imposing as that front

606
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:17,480
four is, it is a it is a unit that other than the Hendrickson can be got later on in games. And listen,

607
00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:22,680
I know the Bengals are the Bengals are here's a stat. They're the only team to beat the Buffalo

608
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:30,520
bills by more than six points since 2020. Since 2020. Yeah. So over the past two and a half seasons,

609
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:35,880
almost all of the bills losses have been by six points or less. And we know this because we

610
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:40,760
agonizingly sit through a lot of those, a lot of those games as bills fans. The Bengals are the

611
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:45,000
only team to effectively dominate and blow them out over the past two and a half seasons.

612
00:55:45,720 --> 00:55:49,480
But traditionally, the bills keep it close. And if they're going to keep it close, wearing down

613
00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:54,200
this defense is going to be a really, really big key for them. Well, this is the first time in 27

614
00:55:54,200 --> 00:56:00,440
games that the Buffalo bills are the Vegas underdog, which I think is fair. The spread on this game

615
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:06,840
is one and a half points. I think that's fair. And home gets three. So yeah. Yep. Yeah, it's more

616
00:56:06,840 --> 00:56:11,720
like two and a half these days, because home field advantage has been has been deluded to some extent.

617
00:56:11,720 --> 00:56:15,960
But you're basically saying that on a neutral field, this is going to this would be a pick them game.

618
00:56:15,960 --> 00:56:21,080
And I don't think that's wrong, even though the Bengals feel ascendant and the bills feel like

619
00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:27,160
they're still figuring stuff out. But the bills also play up to their competition. And this is

620
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:32,760
easily the best team that they have faced in a few weeks. So it'll be interesting to see what

621
00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:37,880
kind of ferocity and what kind of a, especially with Hamlin's return to Cincinnati, what kind of

622
00:56:37,880 --> 00:56:41,640
emotional state this team is going to be in. I think both teams are going to be elevated. But

623
00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:45,480
I was just going to go there with the Hamlin thing. This is that they're back in the same field.

624
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:52,280
It's a night game. It was in that January game as about 45 degrees clear, calm. It's the exact

625
00:56:52,280 --> 00:56:58,600
same weather, exact same lights, exact same time. So I think that this could go one of two. It's

626
00:56:58,600 --> 00:57:02,280
sort of like my wife's take on Josh Allen. He's either going to light the league on fire and be

627
00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:09,000
an MVP or he'll claim out in an epic dying star fashion. That's how I feel that this the intensity

628
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:13,480
and emotional content of the game for the bills will go. It's either going to be they come out

629
00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:18,840
absolutely lit up and ready to go because they have extra energy from the fact that they want

630
00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:23,960
to prove something to a team that knocked them out to a team that they had the greatest sadness

631
00:57:23,960 --> 00:57:27,640
of their season on that field at that time. They want to turn the negative into a positive.

632
00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:33,400
I think that that's one way or they're going to come out completely flat because none of them have

633
00:57:33,400 --> 00:57:38,280
prepared with the emotional energy for how much it's going to affect them to be in the same situation

634
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:41,080
as probably the scariest thing that's ever happened in their football life.

635
00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:48,680
So correct. Yeah. And it's hard to quantify what kind of impact that is going to have. But we have

636
00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:54,600
seen this Buffalo Bills team feed on emotion, but also also be swallowed by emotion as well.

637
00:57:54,600 --> 00:57:57,640
Right. And I think they had a lot to do with their fault off last year. So

638
00:57:58,520 --> 00:58:02,200
it's going to be interesting. Did you want to talk briefly Bills defense versus the

639
00:58:02,200 --> 00:58:07,640
the Bengals offense? I agree. This is the least interesting matchup. I know they don't

640
00:58:07,640 --> 00:58:11,560
ever take the field at the same time, but this game really is burrow versus Allen. This is about

641
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:16,440
what these offenses are going to do because I think both of these defenses will be limited

642
00:58:16,440 --> 00:58:20,680
in what they can do to actually stop the opposing team. Well, I think the only notes I have on

643
00:58:20,680 --> 00:58:25,880
you know, Bills defense versus this offense is, you know, the Bengals, the Bengals offensive line

644
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:33,720
revamped last year, slightly adjusted this year has it has decent talent. And but I don't think that

645
00:58:33,720 --> 00:58:39,160
the the Bengals offensive line is not the Cowboys offensive line. It's not an offensive line that's

646
00:58:39,160 --> 00:58:45,080
that's capable of completely taking over a game. And we know that from Joe Burrow's sack numbers

647
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:49,240
for the past few seasons, right? Like very average, it's very middle of the very average,

648
00:58:49,240 --> 00:58:54,200
very middle of the pack. But the Bills defensive line has shown sometimes that it plays down,

649
00:58:54,200 --> 00:58:59,160
right? Like, and so if the Bills defensive line can bring juice, if we see von Miller,

650
00:58:59,160 --> 00:59:04,840
who's even a shadow of the von Miller, we know we should see, I'm expecting him to start on it

651
00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:10,200
actually looked he did some more speed to power stuff, some more bend in the edge stuff last

652
00:59:10,200 --> 00:59:16,440
week against the the Bucks. So I like to see that week to week improvement. And I think he is

653
00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:19,720
planning week to week improvement at this point. So it's going to take him some time to get back

654
00:59:19,720 --> 00:59:26,680
to dominant fashion, of course, late in his career, big time knee injury, so we'll see. But I think

655
00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:30,680
that if the Bills defensive line can really get some pressure, that's going to change the

656
00:59:30,680 --> 00:59:33,880
that's going to change the complexity of this game. Same as the same as the Bengals, right?

657
00:59:33,880 --> 00:59:39,560
Like whichever team wins the physical battle upfront is going to win this game, which is

658
00:59:39,560 --> 00:59:43,800
almost always the case. And the most important thing for the Bills defense versus offense is to

659
00:59:43,800 --> 00:59:49,080
shut down Joe Nixon. Because if he gets going, then there's nothing that can stop them. They have

660
00:59:49,080 --> 00:59:54,280
too much talent and play action. Joe Burrow is back under center after being injured. You know,

661
00:59:54,280 --> 00:59:58,920
for the first three or four weeks, he's like back to his normal kind of capacity, which means

662
00:59:58,920 --> 01:00:03,000
play action is on the table, which means, you know, if one of those young linebackers or

663
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:08,600
Tarell Dodson's in the in the game, short crossers to Jamar Chase, Tia against Tyler Boy,

664
01:00:09,240 --> 01:00:13,320
Slantz are going to just completely murder this team. The Bills defense has to tackle,

665
01:00:13,320 --> 01:00:18,360
they have to be, you know, they've been for every year since Sean McDermott has been been the coach

666
01:00:18,360 --> 01:00:23,400
to the Bills. D has one of the biggest miss tackle rates, except for this season, the season,

667
01:00:23,400 --> 01:00:27,800
they're like much, much better at that. And so hopefully that continues because that's going

668
01:00:27,800 --> 01:00:33,560
to be critical. These they can really, this offense can wreck you. So the Bills defense has

669
01:00:33,560 --> 01:00:39,480
got to bring it on with you. I know Russell Douglas might not have, you know, all the calls and

670
01:00:39,480 --> 01:00:46,920
everything in lockdown just yet. He's spent a number of days. But I think that whatever you

671
01:00:46,920 --> 01:00:50,680
can get out of him, you get out of him, you get him on the field, you get him on the field, even

672
01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:54,760
if it's on a rotating basis with your other corners and say, all right, on this, on this,

673
01:00:54,760 --> 01:00:58,680
you just need to get on Jamar Chase, you know, jam him at the line and stay with him.

674
01:00:59,240 --> 01:01:02,200
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And maybe turn it over.

675
01:01:02,760 --> 01:01:04,760
Exactly. Maybe pick six.

676
01:01:04,760 --> 01:01:09,880
You know, yep. Yeah, maybe just some heroic effort. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. No, because I mean,

677
01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:14,280
listen, we know what Dane Jackson is. Dane Jackson has been smoked by this team before. So

678
01:01:14,280 --> 01:01:20,760
Douglas may be an unknown, maybe an unknown for what he can do in the scheme right now. But you

679
01:01:20,760 --> 01:01:24,280
know, the tools he's bringing to the table and what he can and what he could potentially bring

680
01:01:24,280 --> 01:01:29,880
in a game changing and closing capacity. So I want to at least see Douglas out there in key moments,

681
01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:35,400
closing out drives in the second half of the game, you know what I mean? So let him get a sea

682
01:01:35,400 --> 01:01:39,640
legs under him in the first half, and then put him in with that closing NASCAR package that you

683
01:01:39,640 --> 01:01:44,360
like to run out there when you're trying to hopefully bring home a win. So speaking of bringing

684
01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:48,280
home a win, JJ, you want to talk about prediction, sure to go wrong and close this thing out?

685
01:01:48,280 --> 01:01:52,920
All right. So let's talk about score. So I'm going to preface this by saying that I have listened

686
01:01:52,920 --> 01:02:00,760
very intently to the cover one guys, to the shout guys, to circle the wagons. It feels like even

687
01:02:00,760 --> 01:02:06,520
a lot of local bills media are picking the bangles to win this game. And for all the bangles nonsense

688
01:02:06,520 --> 01:02:14,120
about no one believes in us, 75% of the public money and 65% of the Vegas money is going on the

689
01:02:14,120 --> 01:02:19,960
bangles. So the bangles from whatever metric you want, clearly the betting favorite in this game,

690
01:02:19,960 --> 01:02:26,600
clearly by a lot. So are we gonna are we gonna kowtow to group pressure JJ? Or are we going to

691
01:02:26,600 --> 01:02:32,200
dare to be different and pick our beloved bills to win? Let's start with you. Oh, God, I, I,

692
01:02:32,200 --> 01:02:39,080
I don't remember the pods history. Other than you've picked the bills to lose once. I have.

693
01:02:39,720 --> 01:02:43,880
You have I've never picked the bills to lose. You've picked to lose them once. And it was

694
01:02:43,880 --> 01:02:51,640
the chiefs. It was the chiefs 2021 regular season game after the law are lost on the

695
01:02:51,640 --> 01:02:56,360
AFC championship game the previous year. And then the bills ended up winning by two scores in that

696
01:02:56,360 --> 01:03:02,280
game. They they was a very impressive win. They wanted that game. So I'm going to say bills lose.

697
01:03:03,400 --> 01:03:08,920
I'll because like here's the thing. I'm very worried about what I mentioned before the emotional

698
01:03:08,920 --> 01:03:14,280
energy and the emotional capacity of this team in that setting. I know a lot of them have said

699
01:03:14,280 --> 01:03:17,720
that this is going to give them juice. They're so happy tomorrow is okay. Like, you know, and then

700
01:03:17,720 --> 01:03:23,240
he's still in the is still in the league. He's still on his career. He's on the team. But I think

701
01:03:23,240 --> 01:03:28,200
that, you know, it's one of those things that they might not know how it's going to affect them

702
01:03:28,200 --> 01:03:32,280
until it affects them in the moment. So I could see the bills coming out a little flat or having

703
01:03:32,280 --> 01:03:36,920
some different points in the game where they make some mental errors. But I like like you said,

704
01:03:36,920 --> 01:03:44,520
the bills play up to their competition. So I see the bills in a tight one losing 28 to 31.

705
01:03:46,360 --> 01:03:53,080
Big time scoring. Yeah, I agree. And it's so hard to take overs on the on the on the over

706
01:03:53,080 --> 01:03:58,200
under total points this season, because the under has been absolutely ruling with the way defenses

707
01:03:58,200 --> 01:04:03,240
are playing some of these modern NFL offenses. But I agree with you, this feels like an over game as

708
01:04:03,240 --> 01:04:09,000
well. I have never picked against the bills to lose. I've never picked against the bills on this

709
01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:16,440
pod. In any iteration of the pod, I have never done it. This feels like a really bad time to

710
01:04:16,440 --> 01:04:21,560
catch this team, though, because the bills are still figuring it out on offense. Dorsey is a

711
01:04:21,560 --> 01:04:26,360
second year play caller is still trying to find the best version of this team somewhere. And the

712
01:04:26,360 --> 01:04:32,120
injuries and defense are very real. And we it's a lot to expect that some of these new pieces are

713
01:04:32,120 --> 01:04:37,880
going to come in and have an immediate effect. So I am for the first time in the pods history,

714
01:04:37,880 --> 01:04:42,760
I'm also going to pick against the bills in this game. It just it feels like there's too many odds

715
01:04:42,760 --> 01:04:47,880
stacked against this team at this phase of the season. Now, do I think if we see the bangles

716
01:04:47,880 --> 01:04:51,960
again, potentially in the postseason, it's going to be different, even if it's in Cincinnati,

717
01:04:51,960 --> 01:04:56,760
absolutely. But for where these teams are right now in the arc of their season,

718
01:04:57,400 --> 01:05:02,040
the bangles feel like the Ascendant team. And I agree, I think it's going to be a close game.

719
01:05:02,040 --> 01:05:08,200
I've got this game 27 24 bangles. And I've got the bangles having a pretty dominant first half

720
01:05:08,200 --> 01:05:13,640
and the bills turning it out in the second half to make it a game. So I don't think it's a blow.

721
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:17,400
I think the bills play well. I just think it comes down to whoever's going to have the ball

722
01:05:17,400 --> 01:05:19,720
last. And that feels like it's going to be the bangles in this game.

723
01:05:21,880 --> 01:05:27,560
All right, do you have any props? I do. I want to I want to go with Dalton Kincaid,

724
01:05:27,560 --> 01:05:32,680
because I feel like if the bills are going to win, he's got to factor in in a big way to take

725
01:05:32,680 --> 01:05:38,200
some to take some attention away from digs and some of these other past catchers. And I mean,

726
01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:42,600
listen, the Cincinnati bangles, they have a really hard time defending opposing teams, tight ends.

727
01:05:42,600 --> 01:05:49,400
So I'm going to say Kincaid over under five and a half total receptions. And I'm going to parlay

728
01:05:49,400 --> 01:05:55,720
that with Dalton Kincaid over under 75.5 total reception yards. So basically six catches and

729
01:05:55,720 --> 01:06:03,960
76 yards, if you want to take the over. I will take the over because I think that the bangles

730
01:06:03,960 --> 01:06:10,520
do struggle covering tight ends. So we'll both take the over on that. I've got just like a flat

731
01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:18,600
James Cook has a score over 20 yards overnight or has a touchdown that is 19.5 yards or a long.

732
01:06:19,400 --> 01:06:23,560
Oh, interesting. So you've got him with with an explosive play coming down the pipeline.

733
01:06:24,280 --> 01:06:29,160
God, that would be great. That would be great. I I'm going to take the under though, because I

734
01:06:30,200 --> 01:06:34,920
and this is going to be a McDermott thing. They're going to be worried about protecting Josh. And I

735
01:06:34,920 --> 01:06:40,040
think you're going to see a lot of Latavius Merley Murray early on in the game, particularly on passing

736
01:06:40,040 --> 01:06:44,840
downs as a personal protector. And I think that's going to eat into a lot of cook snaps. So I don't

737
01:06:44,840 --> 01:06:49,880
think there's going to be a whole ton of opportunity for him to actually break one because if he's

738
01:06:49,880 --> 01:06:55,160
going to break one, I feel like it's probably going to be in the past game. And I I just think the

739
01:06:55,160 --> 01:06:58,280
bills are going to hedge too much and they're going to put Murray out there way too much. So I'm

740
01:06:58,280 --> 01:07:04,040
going to go under. Okay, that's fair. Do you have a defensive or other prop? Yeah, I'm going to go.

741
01:07:04,040 --> 01:07:10,520
I'm going to go Von Miller over under half a sack. I feel like if that he has been building

742
01:07:10,520 --> 01:07:15,240
towards this game, I think the bills brought him back off IR at the time they did specifically to

743
01:07:15,240 --> 01:07:21,080
be ready for this game, because he was not in last year's playoff game. And I think that that is

744
01:07:21,080 --> 01:07:24,920
resonated with Miller Miller knows that everything he's been doing this season has been building up

745
01:07:24,920 --> 01:07:29,720
to this Miller over under half a sack. I'm gonna say he gets one. I do too. Yeah, no, I agree with

746
01:07:29,720 --> 01:07:34,440
that. And that's kind of what I was getting to before is that I've seen gradual steady improvement,

747
01:07:34,440 --> 01:07:40,120
which is the mantra of this pod. And I've seen that week to week with Von Miller,

748
01:07:40,120 --> 01:07:46,600
he looked completely crap. His first week back when he was in LA for what six or London for six

749
01:07:46,600 --> 01:07:50,600
snaps. Yeah, it was like right he was running in mud. Yeah, it was it looked slow. It looked

750
01:07:50,600 --> 01:07:55,800
like week. The next week it was 20 snaps, he looked a little bit tighter next week. And this past

751
01:07:55,800 --> 01:08:00,840
week was the third time he's he played and it looked quite a bit better. So yeah, hopefully he's

752
01:08:00,840 --> 01:08:06,200
up to his normal snap share soon. And has that explosiveness that he started to you started

753
01:08:06,200 --> 01:08:12,840
to get glimmers of. Yeah, I've got a prop and that is Rassoul Douglas, five interceptions.

754
01:08:13,720 --> 01:08:17,720
Man, that would be the dream when it is the dream and it's the kind of thing that like would be a

755
01:08:17,720 --> 01:08:23,000
statement to the bills mafia to the to the rest of his teammates if he gets in and gets one,

756
01:08:23,000 --> 01:08:28,280
it's it's I'm here. This is why you brought me. And that that could be an emotional switch that

757
01:08:28,280 --> 01:08:33,800
has flipped in favor of the bills. Listen, if all these things hit the over, like it is shaping up

758
01:08:33,800 --> 01:08:39,640
for a bills when these are the things that need to happen in order for them to formulate a victory

759
01:08:39,640 --> 01:08:45,240
against the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm going to go I am going to go under though, because Borough is

760
01:08:45,240 --> 01:08:52,360
so good at distributing the ball to all of his past catchers. And he's such a he's such a he's

761
01:08:52,360 --> 01:08:58,280
such an oxymoron because he is a dude that will throw picks. He throws a ton of 50 50 balls.

762
01:08:58,280 --> 01:09:02,760
But his interception rate is always just so low. I don't get it. I get it. He throws a lot of

763
01:09:02,760 --> 01:09:07,160
pickleball balls. It's because he's got Tyler Boyd, T Higgins and Jamar Chase. And all these

764
01:09:07,160 --> 01:09:11,560
guys win those 50. Yeah, they although win the 50 50 balls. So he you know, if you look at his

765
01:09:11,560 --> 01:09:16,360
interceptable pass rate, it's high. But his interceptions are low, because those guys make

766
01:09:16,360 --> 01:09:20,840
things happen, or they play deep defensive back. And it's just an completion of which he doesn't

767
01:09:20,840 --> 01:09:24,520
have many because he knows where to send it. That's the thing that worries me the most about this

768
01:09:24,520 --> 01:09:32,760
is like the bills don't often see teams that have two starting caliber wide receiver ones.

769
01:09:33,320 --> 01:09:37,960
Right. And like this team, you know, when when they have seen those teams, I think that I think

770
01:09:37,960 --> 01:09:43,560
of maybe the dolphins, they have to scheme away to stop them. And that's fine. The thing with

771
01:09:43,560 --> 01:09:50,280
the dolphins is once you've stopped, you know, waddle and Terry Hill, you're you're done right

772
01:09:50,280 --> 01:09:56,120
like as soon as you get no other yeah, as soon as you get to off of his first read, you've basically

773
01:09:56,120 --> 01:10:02,120
won the down. With this Joe Burrow is not that he can do some second reaction stuff. He has more

774
01:10:02,120 --> 01:10:09,240
targets he can get the ball to. I think that the extra wrinkles are, you know, having Joe

775
01:10:09,240 --> 01:10:14,360
mixing out of the backfield, and then having Tyler Boyd, like he has some options he can get the

776
01:10:14,360 --> 01:10:19,480
ball to that. It's not it's not over if you get him off his first or second read. And the bills

777
01:10:19,480 --> 01:10:25,800
don't have enough coverage talent to shut down three three wide receivers. They just I agree.

778
01:10:25,800 --> 01:10:30,920
I agree. Though I do think this team is more defensible than they were in the postseason game

779
01:10:30,920 --> 01:10:34,600
because they don't have Hayden Hurst anymore. Like Hayden Hurst, if you remember, absolutely ate

780
01:10:34,600 --> 01:10:40,040
up the defense of the bills and Erv Smith has not been that for the bank. Let's just put it that way.

781
01:10:40,040 --> 01:10:47,160
Yeah. So he does have one less target area that he can go to. But still, it's a very potent attack.

782
01:10:47,160 --> 01:10:51,720
It's hard to shut down all those all those letters. Yeah, without a doubt. All right, JJ. So we both

783
01:10:51,720 --> 01:10:56,200
have the bills take taken an L drop into five and four after this game and I don't want it.

784
01:10:56,840 --> 01:11:00,840
I don't want any other and then regrouping from Monday night game against the Broncos next

785
01:11:00,840 --> 01:11:05,400
week. So all right, JJ, as always, it's it's good to have you back on the pod. Welcome back.

786
01:11:06,520 --> 01:11:11,400
And thanks to our co-hosts or our guest co-hosts. Justin and Brandon. Great job filling in.

787
01:11:11,400 --> 01:11:16,520
Yeoman's work. Yep, absolutely. They're doing it in a pinch too. We appreciate you guys. Thank you.

788
01:11:16,520 --> 01:11:20,600
So for all of you listening at home, like, share and subscribe wherever you get to podcast,

789
01:11:20,600 --> 01:11:36,520
Google, Apple, Spotify and Zoey's go bills. Go bills.