Welcome back to the Buffalo Bread podcast. We are celebrating in a quick reaction podcast the
Buffalo Bills here on December 10th beating the Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas City, their house,
in a very, very close affair. And as it was best summarized by somebody that, you know,
failing to name on X right now, holy crap, the Bills won one of quote, those games.
And it really felt like that, right? One of those close games that have been all the rage this week
to talk about, they pulled one out and it was that the defense that actually sealed the deal for
the Bills. How are you feeling, my friend? How are you feeling? You know, we don't do a lot of
reaction pods JJ. I think the only reaction pod you and I have ever done immediately after the game
was I want to say it was back in 2021 after the it was after 20, no, it was 2020, the lead into
the 2022 season when the Bills beat the Rams, I think is the only time that we did that because
we were like the Bills have announced the rival. They are a true Super Bowl contender.
17 and 0 all the way. Right. Right. They're gonna they're gonna make history. And then we'll,
we know how that went last year. But um, but this game warrants a reaction pod for a few reasons.
One, the nature of the victory, which it was an ugly win. It was an imperfect win. But these are
ugly and perfect games that the Bills have found themselves on the losing side of more often than
not. Secondly, it comes against a I think we can say this a rival, the Bills have absolutely
owned the regular season matchup for whatever that's worth against the Kansas City Chiefs
winning three out of the last five since 2020. And then third, and I think most important,
this agonizingly keeps the Bills playoffs hope playoff hopes alive. They are now what feels like
they're in a a dozen team way tie with a bunch of other teams at seven and six,
still on the outside looking in of the playoff picture. But this was a massive hurdle they needed
to get over JJ in order to keep their playoff hopes afloat. So I there's a couple of different
ways that we could go with this. And we are again, unpracticed in the way of reaction.
But I think other than the general stress of watching how the bills close this out,
there were a couple of things that jumped right off the screen at me during this game.
You mentioned one, it was the performance of the defense. Now, I think a lot of McDermott haters
and a lot of folks that have been talking about their aggression of this defense like me and you,
due to age and due to injury, are going to say that, yes, the defense did good, but against an
inferior, an inferior offense, this Chiefs offense, I think we can all agree, is not what it has
been in the past. And we covered this on the pregame pod. They don't have the wide receivers
that they used to. And I think, you know, one of the things JJ, you and I did not discuss
at enough length about the variance between this year's group, and last year's group for Kansas
City, speaking of this offense, is the departure of Eric Biennamy. If you look at it, all this team
really did in the wide receiver core was lose juju Smith Schuster, and gain Rashi Rice, who I think
we would all say Rice, even as a rookie right now is maybe the superior product. But they lost
one of their absolute cornerstones that helped, and I think in an underrated way, build this Chiefs
offense to what it is. You know, there used to be a time JJ where you could throw any defense
imaginable at the Chiefs, and they were kind of like the Borg from Star Trek, where they would
always eventually assimilate. And it could be because of the downgrade from Biennamy to Matt
Nagy, nothing against Matt Nagy, he's a nice guy, but Eric Biennamy is one of the best to ever do it.
So you could look at the downgrade from Nagy to Biennamy and say, maybe this team is not as well
equipped from a coaching and personnel standpoint as they have in the past, in order to assimilate
to what teams are throwing at them. And McDermott gave them a lot of different looks, he threw
some of those multiple looks, some of those odd man fronts, some of those all out blitzes
against Mahomes to try to generate as much pressure as he could, and forced Mahomes to
hang on to the ball just a little bit longer every time. And I think it worked to great effect.
I am on the side JJ of I want to credit McDermott, and I might credit this defense with what was a
really gutsy performance against whatever you want to say about how this team how the Kansas City
Chiefs are coached and the personnel they have, it was Patrick Mahomes led attack. And this
Buffalo Bills defense held that unit under 20 points, and did something to Mahomes that no
one's ever done, handed them a second straight loss. Yeah, no, I think that those are both great
points. And I think that the Eric Biennamy one is one that's lost a little bit. You're right,
you're right. It felt a little different watching this Chiefs attack, because they seemed more like
the average team that's a good team that the bills have played this year, right? Like, the
bills have lost, you know, have let other teams sort of plod down the field and get in scoring
position and score, because of some of those, you know, old slow factors of the defense that we
talk about so much. And it felt like that too. In previous years against the Chiefs felt lethal,
it didn't seem that way. And again, I don't think that the change of, you know, talent,
whether we're talking about the tackles on the outside, or the outside talent, a wide receiver
was such a stark change that it would account for that contrast. And so I would agree with that. I
think that you can also look at, you know, the Washington commanders and what Eric Benamy has
been able to do with Sam Howell, to see that there's a pretty potent attack that he's capable of
putting together. And the Chiefs are missing that a little. I will say, though, to play Devil's
Advocate, just like so many games, the bills have played and lost close this year. There's
so many small factors that can be counted for this. And one factor that I'm sure everyone's
going to be talking about is Kaderious Tony lining up off sides. It's going to be the play of the
it's going to be the play that this game is remembered by, absolutely. Right. And, you know,
I think that, you know, certainly Chiefs fans, even Patrick Mahalans are chirping about how
this was like some sort of gift that the bills were given. But if you look at the film, you know,
the sideline angle, that line judge, it was so horrendously obvious. It wasn't even one of those
gray areas where you're like, I'm a little forward, but I'm going to let this one slide because
they usually do. It's a rare penalty to call because rarely a player is so obnoxiously out of
position that you could be counted off sides ahead of the ball. But Kaderious Tony was and it was
a self inflicted wound. And what I think that said to me is, yes, the defense did a good job
in those last couple of drives, but also they without that penalty gave up a touchdown to go
behind by four. And on top of that, it looked like the Chiefs are able to lose in a very
billsy fashion, which is a nice thing to see. We haven't seen that in a long time.
Absolutely. And Patrick Mahomes, you know, if they continue on this trend, he's going to play
a playoff road game for the first time in his career if it keeps going this way. I mean,
although listen, the Broncos, what are their one game out now? I think they're one game out. Now
they've now they have played all of their games against the Chiefs and they've split. But I mean,
the Broncos are Broncos are hot on their tail at this point, too. So things could get interesting
in the AFC West. We'll ultimately see how that all pans out. But but I mean, to keep the focus on
the bills, JJ, this was a this was a game that they needed. And as agonizing and as is sweat drenched
as I was watching that, I feel like in this moment, that is exactly the way they needed to win this
game. They needed the offense to turn the ball over to that defense with under two minutes left
in the fourth quarter, and sort of exercise these demons of giving up all of these late game leads.
JJ, this is the fifth time the Buffalo Bills have been ahead of an opponent with less than two minutes
in the fourth quarter of the season. And they are now as a result of this win, one in four in those
games. This is absolutely I think the way the bills needed to win this game. And I think to Steve's
Bagnola, as he often does, had a great game plan against Josh Allen, brought a lot of heat, brought
a lot of pressure. And as we talked about in the pregame, Josh Allen against the Blitz generally has
been excellent in his career. Josh Allen, his last five games against the Kansas City Chief splits,
has completed under 50% of his overall passes. And it's where he throws the most of his picks.
And the pressure on Allen tonight was hot and heavy throughout the course of the game. There
were a couple of imperfections. And I think this is really the first time I think we saw Brady,
Joe Brady lacking as a play caller. And the big thing to me, JJ was the the variance in play in
play sequencing from first half to second half. In the first half, they seemed very committed to
the run, and very, very committed to getting their wide receipt, getting their running backs involved
in the game plan. Flash forward to the third quarter. And they seemed to almost be forcing the
forcing the issue to digs and some of these outside guys that had not gotten involved in the game.
This to me feels like a young play caller trying to get all of his stars and all of his weapons
as equally involved as he can. But in that moment, Brady should have stuck with what has been his
strength over this, this run as play caller for the Buffalo Bills. And that is throwing against
the opposing team, the thing that they cannot defend or defend poorly, until they prove they
can stop it. And the Chiefs did not prove they could stop the run. James Cook was a man of
fire in the first half, he should have had 250 total yards and 30 plus touches in this game.
But he was an absolute non factor in the second half until until the bills final field goal drive
of the game. So there are definitely I think, some things and listen, Brady is not the experience
play caller that spags is on the other side of the ball. This might have been sort of the old
master teaching the young kid a lesson or two. And hopefully, the bills are Brady will take some
things that he can learn from this game as well. But offensively was not I think the effort, the
gutsy effort outside of Josh Allen that the defensive side of the ball put out.
Well, and I think that what what I saw in the, you know, in the second half that Spag was doing
so effectively that really kind of foiled Joe Brady scheme was he was doing a little bit more of
showing loaded stuffed boxes, and then either backing out, or just basically he was lolling
Joe Brady into the belief that there was over the top opportunities, and then bringing so much
pressure, or clogging so many of the passing lanes by late, you know, drops into middle zones and
robber coverages, that really was a situation where Josh Allen's only open option, he could
have had things over the top. But Spagnolo knew that there was not going to be a four second clean
pocket for Josh Allen to be able to see all of his over the top options. Like Gabe Davis, you
know, on the field goal drive, he completely missed Gabe Davis wide open in the end zone,
a blown coverage, because the pressure was too heavy that he wasn't able to get an angle on it,
and see that you know, Gabe Davis was there. And so that's the kind of thing that, you know,
hopefully Joe Brady is able to study this film after he goes back and see, okay, this is how
Spagnolo was playing me was was trying to lull me into shooting for the outside the number throws,
or over the deep over the middle third throws. But knowing full well that none of those passes
would ever develop because of the pressure that the bills were giving up up front. I think that,
you know, some of that was on a couple of times I saw it look like Josh Allen made the wrong
protection slide. But that's what you expect against this defense the Kensley chiefs are
well like seventh in the league and Zach rate. They're right up there with the bills is one
of the best teams that bring in the quarterback down and getting pressure consistently.
And they showed it fourth and total sacks to yep, yeah, seven seven, seven, sex rate,
fourth and total sacks. Yeah, they they absolutely did it was a and I might not be talking so
so respectfully of this unit had the bills not won this game, because I think similar to that
similar to that 2021 AFC championship game that these two teams played these DBs for the chiefs,
they were getting a lot of love by Romo for their coverage, they were basically draped all over
these bills. They were just doing penalties. They were that's it right and I'm like, I'm like,
okay, now I get why teams like sauce Gardner because like all all you need is a DB that holds
guys all the way down the field. So my question is why is Kyrie Lum not getting playing time
right because he's good at that we've seen really good at that right he's really good at doing penalties.
Yeah, and it's the modern NFL waited to cover, you know, wide receivers just penalize them.
Absolutely. And listen, we're we're fans, like we we we are going to complain about the rafts,
I think no matter what. So I don't want to make this one about, you know, the bills got so many
calls and the chiefs got so many calls because I think overall, the the refs called a very consistent
game. Like there were points where Taryn Johnson, there were points where Christian Benford because
he couldn't seem to keep up with anybody, anybody today. There were times where they also got away
with some holds and some DPI down the field and stuff like that. I will say the refs called a
consistent game, if not an aggravating game for the amount of stuff that they ultimately missed.
But they got it right against Tony, which I really appreciate for once. Yeah, for once it does. It
feels like it feels like in this game. Patrick Mahomes got a taste of what it was like to be
Josh Allen with your wide receivers dropping balls, calls not going your way on every single
play and every single down. Mahomes had to work through a little bit of adversity tonight, I think.
And and he didn't react well to it, JJ. He didn't react well to it at all. At all. Yep. I'm looking
up my phone here because I'm curious as well. The press post game conferences are going to unveil
and Mahomes was very honest. The headline is, you know, Mahomes rips refs for that that Tony
off side call. And I get it. But like Pat, go back and look at the film, my friend, like he was
just so obvious. Yeah, right. It was a very clear penalty. I'm sorry that Travis Kelsey can't bail
you out of yet another bad performance. But like, yeah, I mean, just just take it and live with
it, man. I'm sorry that none of these refs are big Taylor Swift fans. Seriously. Oh my god,
mercifully, mercifully, Kelsey was. And listen, we're huge Swifties in this house. My daughter loves
Taylor Swift. For now, three years in a row, Taylor Swift has been my number one artist on my
Spotify end of year, wrapped, right? Yes. Just for that message that she sends all her fans,
my daughter eats that stuff up, right? That's awesome. So yeah, listen, no shade at the Swifties,
but I was it was merciful how poor Kelsey played in this game that there were so few cutaways
to Taylor Swift, because my daughter was watching the game. And I don't need my daughter becoming
a chief's fan. Right. Oh, Taylor Swift. Can you imagine? I didn't give her for adoption, but she's
also like, she's also my favorite one in the house. You like that kid. She's pretty good. So
so um, but yeah, I mean, that was that's something but like that's something that I think is is a
talking point that I want to do like 30 seconds on. Travis Kelsey, I know he had like a like knee
contusion thigh contusion. He had some sort of early preseason injury that held him off for a
couple of games. He don't he don't look right. He doesn't look right. That's the whole that's the
only point I want to make is he doesn't look he does not look fast or agile like usual. And that's
something that's noticeable. And that's probably a major piece of why the chiefs have been productive
on offense aside from Isaiah Pchenko. Losing Pchenko in this game for this game, I think was huge
because the chiefs were making hey, I am in the run game even without him. And again, like the
bills that they kind of went away from it. I think they stuck a little bit more consistently to it
in the third quarter, which is what got them back in it. But they went away from it in the fourth and
JJ to I can't believe why both of these teams were absolutely running the ball down each
other's throats. And I get they've we both have both of these squads have all world QBs. But I
mean to back away from the thing that's working in this game was never, never such a such a point
differential between these two teams where you needed to go so past heavy. It really wasn't.
Yeah, at no point was either side in a position where they needed three quick scores, right?
Like it was always close. You know, and I think the chief is surprisingly especially because the
chiefs were down two scores and use the run to get close the gap and tie the game like that was,
you know, their method for doing it. So I was more surprised that they went away from it.
And less surprised that Joe Brady went away from it because of what you said, I think it was the
kind of thing where he he Josh Allen certainly stuff on digs maybe even gave Davis was like
calling for the ball right like get get let's hit him or the top let's do some things because
Spagnolo was was he was keeping one single high safety and playing a lot of man coverage
and sending the house. He was baiting Josh. He was beating Josh. Yeah, he was baiting him into
throwing it outside the numbers knowing that his DBs were holding basically the whole time and
probably the ball wouldn't be able to get in there. And so it worked for you know, that defense
worked for them and Joe Brady you know his his plan for the second half kind of he fell right
into a trap it looked like. Yeah, absolutely. And again, I think something like you said he
can watch the film and can hopefully learn from it because we are about to go up against another
really aggressive defense and aggressive defensive play caller and the Dallas Cowboys and their DC
Dan Quinn in Buffalo this upcoming weekend to try to keep this playoff this playoff run alive my
friend. So JJ I think in summation here, you know what were your two or three big takeaways from
this game? So first of all, Josh Allen is still Josh Allen. I think that he he looks like I expect
him to look for the rest of the season. And I think that he's the reason the bills will have an
opportunity at the end. He and James Cook look amazing, right? So as we'll see what kind of the
game shakes out in terms of injury wise to see what the roster looks like going into the Cowboys.
But I think that Josh Allen is Josh Allen, and we can all kind of count on you know,
as long as he continues this level of play, we're going to be in it to the end.
That's one of my key takeaways. The other key takeaway is that the defense showed up and was
a little bit more plucky at times when they needed to be nice to see at Oliver make a game
impacting play other than just being consistently pressuring up the middle he made a like a real
game turning play with that tip ball. So that was wonderful. Yeah, I think it was a good it was a
gut check game. And you know, I think you could see in Sean McDermott has had a heck of a week.
His reaction on the sideline when that fourth and 15 ball fell incomplete.
He looked like the big exhalation that you hope gives him, you know, the confidence going forward
to really put the game in Josh Allen's hands and do some other things because he got one.
He finally got one. Yep, he did. And he got one in the way that he needed to. No, JJ,
I think that's really well said. I think my takeaways are defenses in the NFL are not built
to stop a guy as dynamic as James Cook. I think the league overall is written off running backs.
And when you look at how modern defenses are constructed with light boxes, basically everybody
playing nickel, everyone wanting to play three cornerbacks and two line backers in this league.
I think there is a world where a guy like James Cook can do a lot of damage and keep
this offense moving at times where it stalls out because everyone is focused on locking down your
outside weapons. JJ, I would be so bold as to say that right now in this moment and again,
this is reaction pod. So don't hold this against me. Outside of Josh Allen, our most dynamic
playmaker on the offense is James Cook. And Cook needs to be the needs to be featured in the offense,
not just in this crazy rotation they've got with Ty Johnson, who I thought Ty Johnson had some great
burst, great acceleration, turn the corner a lot of these outside zone runs a lot quicker that I
expected him to. But enough with this, enough with this platoon between Murray and Ty and Cook,
you've got to give the bulk of these snaps to cook. He needs to be touching the ball at least 25
to 27 times a game in both the passing game and the run game, because modern NFL defenses
are not built to commit a guy to stop someone as dynamic as that. So that was my first takeaway.
I was that impressed with James Cook. And not to mention also, James Cook is not a frail running
back. He's kind of late in the late in the lower body and kind of, you know, lanky a little bit.
But he seems to hold up in contact way better than I expect him to. His contact balance is
incredible. People come in and crack him and he somehow always spins it into an extra two or
three yards when you'd expect him to just get gobbled up. So, you know, and I do agree with
you, I think that a rotation if it's a rotation should be kind of scrapped and just give Cook
those touches. I do know at least three or four plays in the game when he was rolling, he called
for somebody to come from the sidelines. You know, you saw him running off the field after
a 16 or 17 yard gain and grabbing some somebody come in for him. So after five, five straight touches
and straight touches sprinting, five games of 10 yards or more. Yeah. So yeah, I was tired too.
I was tired watching them. Well, and it's funny because at that point in time, I remember him
like waving for, you know, relief and somebody coming probably Ty Johnson coming in for him.
He like sort of wasn't back in the game for after that. Like I wonder if there was something
then what if he dings something up that we don't know about because it wasn't he didn't
get on the field. So there's a possibility that that changed things for Joe Brady because I don't
even remember him being in a lineup for a couple of series. Yeah, he was out of the lineup for a
couple of series and you could be right. I just chalked it up to this this offensive staff does
not know how to platoon these guys like and I don't understand the logic behind it. And we
encountered some of this too with the Zach Moss Devon Singletary era where it never seemed like
they knew who to keep in, you know, for certain stretches. And I'll say this too. I think I
might have the answer for you. Even if Cook is healthy, they might have pulled him and put in
Latavius Murray because of the blocking pass block. If they wanted to lean into the pass and they
wanted to have a personal protector back there for Josh Allen, that's Latavius Murray. That's
person you want there over James Cook. Yeah, that changes the dynamic of the offense in a bad way.
I agree. I agree. It takes away it takes away another route tree, another pass catcher,
another offensive threat. Not that not that Murray is is wholly ineffective. I mean, he had he had
probably the game. Right. And then fumbled it and then fumble and knock it out of bounds. Yeah.
Yeah. Right. So that's no shade of Murray. But he but again, Cook was almost single handedly
negating the pass rush because they had to account for his running and his ability to get yards
after the catch. So I he to me. And again, I know Stefan Diggs is still on this this roster.
And I think Diggs deserves a lot of credit too. Because when you look at the broadcast cameras
cutting to the sideline, he's always chirping at guys in a good way to keep them energized,
keep them focused. He's always in Gabe Davis here about the next thing that they should be doing.
And credit to Gabe gave his Gabe Davis to those are to those are the two primary receiving options
on this team. And Stefan Diggs is a bona fide superstar. Not neither of them were getting
the touches they probably wanted in this game. Yet they were on the sideline keeping the team
invested keeping everybody's energy up. That's what leaders do. That's what team captains do.
So credit to them when on the field, things weren't necessarily falling their way off the field,
they were able to keep this team juiced up and in it. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah.
Oh, I was just gonna say one more thing about Stefan Diggs. You know, somebody else posted
like the photo of Pat Mahomes losing his mind of the refs. And they were and it just said like,
imagine if Stefan Diggs had this reaction on the sideline, what the what the stories would look like.
Trade him. He wants out of Buffalo. Mahomes wants out of Kansas City. Kelsey's too distracted to
Taylor Swift. He wants out. He hates the coach. He wants Andy read out. Oh my god. Can you imagine
Jesus? And then JJ, I think my final takeaway from this game, you already you already took the
Josh Allen one, which I I appreciate because someone's got to go there. I think outside of James Cook,
the defense while it held today, we definitely have a CB two problem. I think that that was very
clear. Benford did not have a great game. Rizul Douglas. I mean, he was almost he was he was the
personal bodyguard on Travis Kelsey for a lot of this game. I had no idea that dude could play
that physical. But he's he is a he continues to surprise and delight to me as someone who can
cover your best wide receiver, though that will be tested against CD lamb and Kenan Allen and and
and Tyree kill. But he seems to be a guy right now that can cover your wide receiver one, but has
some athletic chops in order to cover whoever your primary weapon might be, might be, which I think
is great. But to me, it creates an even starker contrast with the drop off from Douglas to whoever
it is is going to be playing on the other side of him to anyone else like, you know, whether it's
you know, whether it's Dame Jackson or whether it's Christian Benford or whether it's in who maybe
it's kind of you know, I think that you know, the the practice window is back open for him coming
off IR. He wasn't ready to go to day. But if if it really was an injury that was holding him out,
maybe it may be, then I'm interested to see if they they lean into him and bring him on the field,
because I agree. If you have a situation where you need more, more capable corners on the field,
then just Rasool Douglas and Taryn Johnson, you're in trouble. Like if you need to cover
three targets with some level of athleticism, you are absolutely in trouble. Well, they're
going to need to figure out a way to cover CD lamb and Brandon cooks coming up this week. So
that is that is going to be very interesting. Also worth worth keeping in mind the health of
my cahide. When you're going into a game not to get too much into the Dallas game, but when
you're going into a game with two legitimate deep threats and lamb and cooks could be a long day
if my cahide is not fully ready to go despite the decline in play that he's seen this year.
So, oh yeah, I was gonna say what do you want to do?
Well, let's let's jump to a quick recap of the day before the Bill's game just like the Patriots,
of course, come up come up big and winning against the Steelers. We saw that one. The Bengals beat
the Colts, which is what we wanted to do. But then the rest of the games didn't land the same way.
We wanted the Jags to beat the Browns. The Browns won that one. We wanted the Broncos to lose to
the Chargers, but the Chargers lost that and they possibly lost Justin Herbert, who went out of that
game with a injury to his throwing hand. So that'll be interesting to monitor for the next two weeks
because the the bills have cowboys and then Chargers. Yep. And and you wonder too, are they
are they gonna let Brandon Staley finish out the season there? Like their season is pretty done in
LA. If Herber is also done, you might as well pack it in and start the off season off season
scheduling now and move on from your head coach and put everybody out there that I noticed that,
hey, we are looking for someone to come develop our stud QB. So yeah, LA just in generally just
is a situation that is interesting to still keep an eye on JJ. Jacksonville, man, like they seem
like such frauds at this point. I think back to that London game, and I'm like, man, we should
have had that one. But moreover, like is Trevor Lawrence good? Like, are we are we sure about
this? Is he good? I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure. I like because it's weird, right? Like he,
he Trevor Lawrence was he in his third year? He's not his third year. Okay. And he's had a plateau.
Yeah, well, what that's what I mean is like the best Trevor Lawrence we've seen is all like
Josh Allen's rookie season. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, it's a situation where you're like,
wow, only like one guy or four guys in the world can make that throw. It looks amazing. Then it's
like five consecutive plays where you're like, why would you do that? Like that's a terrible choice.
Yeah. He doesn't seem to be growing and progressing at a rate that you would put someone with his
draft pedigree and draft rating on. And yeah, that offense is just disjointed. I mean, I just I
don't know what to make of it. And how do you how much do you pack, you know, pack in on Trevor
Lawrence and how much do you chalk up to the coaching and kind of player development capabilities
of the Jaguars? Yeah, I mean, this happened with Peterson and Philly, although granted,
Peterson did did squeeze a championship out of Nick Foles and Carson Wentz. But you saw the plateau
of Carson Wentz happen after that 2017 season. It was MVP level got injured. His best season after
that was maybe 2020, maybe 2019 after that. But you've seen similar things happen. You wonder if
if Peterson is the guy to get them over the hump, it seems odd to say for a coach who has won a
Super Bowl with a backup QB in spectacular fashion. I think the Philly special will still go down in
history as one of the greatest Super Bowl players of all time. But it seems weird to say that. But
I mean, the proof is kind of there two years now in the system and Lawrence doesn't seem
any more proficient or any more comfortable in it. And I say that JJ because if the bills can somehow
wade through the quagmire of the Cleveland's, the Indianapolis's, the Cincinnati's and the
Pittsburgh's and find their way in, I would argue that other than Miami, there is not a team in the
top four that really scares me as a Bill's fan. And the only reason Miami does I know we've got
that big win against them, we are not the same defense that we were when we played that team.
And that defense granted Phillips is out has progressed. And now have they equalized it enough
to close a 21 point gap? I don't know. But that is a team that seems right now the most well
rounded on both sides of the ball. I was watching some of the Ravens Ravens Rams game today. And
Zay flowers, man, that could can play for Baltimore. But to I look at that offense at points, and I'm
like, it looks disjointed, it looks uneven, they don't look like they have a script beyond the first
five or 10 plays. So other than Lamargo make something happen. And he's great at doing that.
That defense feels somehow the Baltimore defense is performing in every major statistically
category in a top five rate. And Mike McDonald's doing a great job coaching that defense. But
then I look at the guys on the roster and I'm like, is that sustainable? Is that real? Like
today they played a real quarterback with real wide receivers and Matt Stafford,
Puka Nakua and Cooper Cup and they got absolutely shredded. Like so I don't know who's real. So
I say all of that bringing it back to the bills and that if the bills can get in, there's maybe one
team that really scares me heading into a postseason run here. So we'll say and that one
team that scares you is a team that Josh Allen has absolutely made his children in the past.
And Jaylen Ramsey still thinks Josh Allen sucks. So let's not forget about that.
Other things to keep an eye on a little bit. You mentioned Mike Hyde also AJAP and after
looking like he was going to have a man on fire game out with rib injury. So maybe out for the
next game we'll see. But yeah, I mean overall I think that it was a good one. It was tight.
We both predicted the bills to win but we both predicted to be a higher scoring affair. You had
the bill getting over 30. I had them getting 28. And both of us had them winning by more than a
touchdown. None of that happened. But they got the dub. They got Patrick Willens on the ground
one time, which was less than we thought they would. And they did get an interception, which we
both picked the over interception. So yeah, absolutely. No, it was a productive day for
the Defounds for sure. So JJ, one more thing to keep an eye on for all of our listeners at home.
This is going to be JJ's last pod for a short amount of time, an indeterminable amount of time
because our boy on the other side of this pod is expecting a baby boy this week. Very excited
for you JJ. Congratulations. Thank you, Dan. I appreciate that. Yeah, I, you know, we're going
to bring home our first child this week. And at that point, I will be week to week on the pod.
Yes, absolutely. Not IR maybe, but probably week to week did not participate.
Absolutely. What are you expecting to bring home, young Bryce?
Thursday or Friday. All right. Please sleep for the next 72 hours.
I'll do my best. You're going to absolutely need it. But congratulations to you. Congratulations
to your wonderful wife, Maya. And it is awesome that you're going to be a dad, man. I'm very excited
for you. Awesome. All right. So how that impacts the pod is almost inconsequential because nothing
is bigger than life stuff. But for those of you curious, we are going to have a guest host or two
lined up this week. And then depending on JJ's availability, we may be pulling some more of
our guest host off bench. But until then, for those of you listening at home, like, share,
and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Google, Apple Spotify, and as always, go Bills.
Go, babies.