OBL 10/1: Offensive Adjustments, Ty Johnson On Returning To Action, Greg Cosell Previews Bills-Patriots

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Love y'all boys. He is a beast with a capital B. The cook is in the kitchen. Looks down the sideline. He's got Kincaid for a 23-yard touchdown.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: And it's intercepted.
00:00:22
Speaker 1: Jumping up in the air is meant for.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: This is One Bills Live.
00:00:34
Speaker 1: All right, welcome into a Thursday edition of One Bills Live. Chris Brown, Steve Tasker with you. Art Stadium. Got an overcast day here. Some drizzle. Although it's tapered off now. I saw it was supposed to stop right around 930, and it's not raining now. But it's kind of a damp, wet day. Not cold, though. It's going to get up to 74 here, so I'm pretty happy about that.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's supposed to be nice for the weekend, though, right? Yeah. Is it still looking like that?
00:01:05
Speaker 1: And then next week, we might be getting into it a little bit. Frost warnings and stuff like that. So, we'll see where it goes, but the Bills will be on the road by that point and headed to L.A.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: Right.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: Where it's 85 right now.
00:01:18
Speaker 3: It's insane.
00:01:20
Speaker 1: That does not compute for me. I'm such a northeast, east coast person, it's not even funny.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:01:27
Speaker 1: I go to L.A. and I I don't break out in hives, but I get a little itchy. It's not for.
00:01:33
Speaker 2: Me, man.
00:01:34
Speaker 1: I just can't do it.
00:01:36
Speaker 2: I'm okay with it myself. Because I know it's temporary. I mean, I'm just not that kind. And that's why I can deal with it. But just something always feels off.
00:01:46
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm missing something because I feel like I'm three hours behind the rest of the universe. Because, again, I'm like an East Coast person.
00:01:52
Speaker 2: I get it. I totally get it. You're amazing. Yeah, but you're like a Long Island, kind of New York, kind of give me a minute, New York minute kind of guy.
00:02:01
Speaker 1: You did see those Yankees last night, didn't you?
00:02:03
Speaker 2: I did not. Did they play last night? How'd that go? They won again.
00:02:06
Speaker 1: They're on. Now they've got to play the Rays, which is a different animal.
00:02:09
Speaker 2: The Rays?
00:02:10
Speaker 1: They dispatched of the Red Sox in short order.
00:02:13
Speaker 2: Two games?
00:02:13
Speaker 1: They won 9-0 and 9-2.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: What happened to the Red Sox?
00:02:16
Speaker 1: Thanks for coming.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: What are they doing?
00:02:20
Speaker 1: They're being horribly average. I don't know.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: How'd they get in the playoffs? They did.
00:02:25
Speaker 1: They got the last wild card spot, so... Did they play in for the wild card? Well, that's what this three-game series was.
00:02:31
Speaker 2: Oh, that's what this was. This was to get into the playoffs.
00:02:32
Speaker 1: The three-game series, and then now it's division series.
00:02:36
Speaker 2: Okay, so the Yankees are playing the Rays? Yeah.
00:02:40
Speaker 1: What I didn't like, and I think that Major League Baseball should change this.
00:02:47
Speaker 2: They.
00:02:48
Speaker 1: The way they worked the bracket was they had all three American League East teams on the same side of the bracket. And I realize the seeding and record and all of that, but now you're playing all the same teams. Like, there's nothing unique about it. Because now the White Sox are playing the Guardians, and they've played them all year. Like, same division.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: So.
00:03:17
Speaker 1: So you've got the final four in the American League, and it's two division teams playing each other, two division teams playing each other.
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Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: We'll see how it goes.
00:03:30
Speaker 2: I'm a little nervous.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: The Yankees did a better job of playing the Rays in the second half of the season. They got their doors blown off in the first half, but then were more competitive. I think they won four of the last six against them, but it's going to be a tough series. But I'm just glad they Dispatched to the Red Sox in two games. Didn't play an extra third game there, so save your pitching staff, save your bullpen, and hope Aaron Judge comes back sooner rather than later. We shall see.
00:03:56
Speaker 2: All right.
00:03:57
Speaker 1: So that's your baseball note.
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Speaker 4: Okay.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: I'll allow it. Steve, not the biggest baseball fan. Yeah.
00:04:05
Speaker 1: We are going to tell you that this week's presenting game sponsor is Kaleida Health, the official health care provider. of the buffalo bills and we go right from that to bills practice updates which are presented by labatt an official beer of the buffalo bills and there is a lot to tell you on that front um i know social media was in a tizzy since sunday's game about the condition of josh allen perfectly fine he's not even on the injury report right i know he took some big hits last week's game and We probably don't want to see him doing that on a weekly basis because even someone like him, who I am convinced at this point in time is a vampire, like... He's like Wolverine. Yeah, he's like Wolverine. Yeah, that's probably better. He's an Avenger. He's like Wolverine.
00:04:54
Speaker 2: He's an Avenger.
00:04:55
Speaker 1: It's crazy. But the hits he's taking, like, what bothered me, and I didn't say this on the broadcast, was it was clear to me that there were some players, like, purposely going at his knees when he became a runner.
00:05:10
Speaker 5: Like.
00:05:10
Speaker 1: diving at his knee with a shoulder pad. Like, they were trying to... It looked malicious. I guess I'll just say that. I can't prove that they were trying to injure him, but it looked malicious.
00:05:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, as much as we love Josh, that's the way the world is. When your quarterback goes out, guys take shots at Lamar, guys take shots at Joe Burrow, guys take shots at Mahomes. They want a piece of those guys. And Josh, because he's so big, you know, guys... They don't want any part of taking him on up top, so they're going to go low. I mean, they're going to go low, and they're going to ride him out of bounds. We saw that in the Detroit game where he got ridden out of bounds. The guy kind of tried to land on him. They tried to do everything they can to hurt the guy because they want him off the field because he's the absolute ultimate weapon. So that's just the atmosphere of the league, and that's why back in the day quarterbacks never would run, man, because, first of all, they weren't protected. Even if they slid, they were going to get speared.
00:06:08
Speaker 6: Yep.
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Speaker 2: You know, it's just now things are a little different. They can't, you know, take extra shots at the QB. Even in the Detroit game when he got ridden out of bounds in the end zone, when he crossed the corner of the end zone, the guy rode him out. Even then, the offensive linemen like Spencer and Dion and Anderson, they didn't come in swinging. You know, so it's just the atmosphere in the league. And Josh's Yeah, he's been ultra fortunate. Well, you say fortunate. He's playing with a– we know this. A couple of years ago, he was playing with a busted bone in his hand. Last year, he was playing with a broken foot. The last time he missed a game was when– 2019 when he was with– 2018. 2018 with his UCL. Missed five games. Yeah, he missed five games with an elbow. So the guy never misses time. But let's not fool ourselves. He's got an enormous– target on his back.
00:07:11
Speaker 1: So not practicing on Wednesday were Joe Andreessen, Christian Benford, Keon Coleman, and TJ Sanders. Limited, DeMar Hamlin, DJ Moore with rib and shoulder injuries. Both wore red non-contact jerseys at practice and defensive tackle Deion Walker popped up on the injury report. Limited with a quad injury, which begs the question, Steve, Is Fedarian Mathis a practice squad elevation consideration this week? Dion Walker has played a boatload of snaps. And they really don't have, on the active roster, another big body like Dion. I mean, he's pretty unique to begin with. But Fedarian Mathis is probably the closest representation body type-wise. He's not... He's not quite as gifted as Deion Walker is, this much we know. But I'm wondering, and this is just me wondering, I don't have any knowledge of what the Bills' plans are this weekend. Supposition that the Patriots are going to try to run the tar out of the ball to take the load off of Drake May at the beginning of this game. And Deion Walker, probably not 100% with the quad injury. Do you elevate Fedarian Mathis to have that girthy nose tackle to spell Deion Walker so he doesn't have to play 60 snaps, he can play 40? You know what I mean? On obvious run downs. I mean, still turn Deion loose, you know, in passing situations, passing down in distance, that kind of thing. But you got second and one, put Fedarian in. You know what I mean?
00:08:59
Speaker 5: Yes.
00:08:59
Speaker 1: Like that kind of stuff.
00:09:01
Speaker 2: It's certainly on the table.
00:09:03
Speaker 1: I mean, Austin Johnson's another consideration, too. He got on the practice squad last week.
00:09:07
Speaker 2: If Fedarian's ready, and we don't know this stuff. I mean, Fedarian might not even feel 100%. He may have come off the suspended list. He might have hurt himself staying in shape. Who knows? But if he's ready and wants to play, and it depends on what they thought of him to begin with before he went on the list.
00:09:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
00:09:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, he seems the obvious candidate to come in and give them another piece to rotate in. And if you do anticipate what the Patriots are going to do, I mean, you and I both, you try and get a handle on it by going to both extremes. Are the Patriots going to come in and pound the rock because they want to take the pressure off Drake May? Or are they going to come in and say, you know what, the Bills defense has been playing okay, but we like our chances on the outside, even without A.J. Brown. and we're going to get Drake May back on track. Here we go. We're going to come in and air it, and we're going to spread it out and go. I have a hard time getting my mind around that, especially with no A.J. So the roster moves you make are all about anticipation of what their game plan is going to be or where you feel vulnerable. If Deion's not 100%, you're thinking, I don't know. Well, yeah, you're going to get an extra guy on the roster.
00:10:28
Speaker 1: The other thing we've got to keep an eye on is the Bills' receiver situation, chiefly with Keon not practicing. Keon is your best run-blocking receiver, and I don't think it's close. That's not to say that the other guys... Don't try. I think Khalil Shakir has actually improved as a run blocker, and he's not the biggest guy in the world. But Keon, a lot of times in those 13 personnel looks, when they run the ball, Keon's the one receiver who's on the field. And he's, I mean, even Dan Orlovsky said it on our show yesterday, Keon's blocking his took us off. He's doing a heck of a job. If he's out of the equation, you lose that blocking element your receiving core and so you may look to the practice squad there too where I think your best option to mimic Keon is Trent Shurfield because right you can line him up and he can block in the run game on 215 and he can also help you on special teams right so that's something to just keep an eye on Keon's availability dj moore's availability too although i would expect him to kind of have a similar week to the one he did last week and play but you know keon had the ankle injury and had a mini buy and was able to play this past week with extra three extra days of rest then he played a whole game and he's like oh the ankle feels like garbage again And now he's only got six days to get ready. Can he get back in time? Maybe he can, but I'm just saying these are the things you have to consider because he wasn't even on the practice field yesterday.
00:12:14
Speaker 2: You're not trying to predict the future. You're just trying to guess what the next couple of days are going to be like. What are the next few days going to be like? Keon can probably give you an idea about that, about how he feels, how it's going, as will every other guy on this list. Bernard being full, Chubb being full. Dorian Williams being full, you know, you're getting some guys that are like, okay, they're going to be all right, unless one of these guys was a test and all of a sudden Dorian Williams or Chubb or Bernard or tomorrow or today they're out or whatever.
00:12:49
Speaker 1: I don't foresee that.
00:12:52
Speaker 2: This is all– it all dovetails into something we don't know. What do they see in this Patriot offense and who do we really got to have? What position group has really got to show up? Is it going to be the D-line, which they always have to show up? But you know what I mean. What kind of guys have we got to put out there?
00:13:10
Speaker 1: Patriots offensive line has been struggling mightily.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: Right.
00:13:12
Speaker 1: And it might be an even harder task for them this week, which we'll get to in a second.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: Don't kid yourself, too, because the D-line, like Deion Walker's in there going, man, I've got to get ready for this one because I might get like, you know, Rousseau's over there going, man, I might get another two sacks this week.
00:13:25
Speaker 3: Right?
00:13:25
Speaker 2: So it's that kind of thing, too. Guys want to play. And sometimes they want to play in spite of whether they should play.
00:13:37
Speaker 1: Let's go around the NFL. And we'll begin with the Patriots because they have been dealing with a lot of injuries to start the season. We told you yesterday they have 17 players either on injured reserve or an injury settlement. And it looked no better on their injury report. Three starters were non-participants Wednesday. Right tackle Morgan Moses, cornerback Christian Gonzalez, and defensive tackle Christian Barmore with foot, shoulder, and shoulder injuries, respectively. So those are three more starters not practicing at the beginning of the week here. Limited in practice for the Patriots, starting linebacker Christian Ellis, fullback Reggie Gilliam, edge rusher Draymond Jones, who missed last week's game, tight end Eli Raritan, who missed last week's game, starting safety Craig Woodson, and special teams ace Brendan Schooler, who went on the non-football injury list. Quarterback Drake May was listed for as a full participant with his right shoulder listed as the injury, which was interesting. May was asked specifically about his throwing shoulder by the New England media and whether it's healthy or responsible for any of the errant throws that May has made through three games this season. May said the physical condition of his right shoulder hasn't affected his throwing ability. He instead pointed to the need to make better decisions to reverse his early season struggles in the New England Patriots' 1-2 start. Quote, breaks play for quarterbacks, May said, after their first practice on Wednesday. So, he said, I don't feel like we're struggling to move the ball. I think we're turning the football over, doing things that are preventing us from scoring touchdowns, and I think that's one of the biggest things for me. Last week, when they lost 35-6, it was the first time in 34 games they did not score an offensive touchdown. They have two offensive touchdowns through three games.
00:15:25
Speaker 2: They've scored, what, 36 points on the season?
00:15:27
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:15:29
Speaker 1: Which is about the Bills per game average.
00:15:31
Speaker 2: Per game average, yeah. I think this Patriot defense is going to be hard to score on, even in your own building. They're just too smart, too well disciplined, and Gonzalez takes away somebody. I mean, you're going to be playing 10 on 10 offense.
00:15:48
Speaker 1: He's that good.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: Now, what Which guy he takes away, okay, maybe you can try and do that with formations and shifts and get them into a check package where Gonzalez is guarding Deion Dawkins, you know. It's hard to do, though.
00:16:11
Speaker 1: I'm very curious to see what happens with their right tackle, Morgan Moses, because he injured his foot on the second play in last week's game. And as the game wore on, it looked like that foot got stiffer and stiffer. He could not protect Drake Maye. And he didn't practice yesterday, so we get through today and he's still not practicing. It could mean that their rookie first-round pick, Caleb Lomu, starts at right tackle, a guy who couldn't unseat Morgan Moses for a starting job as a first-round draft choice. So, Greg Russo.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: You don't get to, well, I don't know, maybe we've seen other things happen. along the years with the Patriots picking guys who nobody else wanted in the first round kind of thing.
00:16:55
Speaker 1: Right.
00:16:56
Speaker 2: I don't think they'll do that under Vrabel. But it might be one of those things. Vrabel is of the defensive coaches kind of thing where you don't want to play young guys no matter what. And maybe he's nice.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:17:09
Speaker 2: Finally being forced. I'm not saying. The kid might be able to play. Yeah. Is all I'm saying. Yeah.
00:17:16
Speaker 1: What's interesting is Lomu. was a left tackle in college at Utah, and they worked him primarily at right tackle, presumably because they knew Will Campbell was their left tackle, but it was an interesting flip, and maybe that's the reason he wasn't quite game ready at the start of the season, but we'll see what comes of it on the weekend. Patriots, with their offensive line shorthanded, also added some depth on their practice squad, signing offensive tackle Demetrius Weatherspoon. He was an undrafted rookie on the Bills roster in training camp, but did not make the 53-man roster. The Joey Porter saga, Steve, is over in Pittsburgh. That's because the Steelers traded the cornerback to Dallas for a sixth-round pick in 2027 and a second-round pick in 2028. Porter Jr. and the Steelers were at odds on a contract extension, and Porter Jr. had a mysterious back injury that kept him from playing the first three weeks under his existing contract. Reports say that miraculously he should be able to play Sunday for the Cowboys when they face the Texans. One of the main reasons Dallas offered the best compensation for Porter was because they are very shorthanded in their secondary. They lost two more players on the back end in last week's game against the Ravens. So they need him and they need him bad to play. So he's expected to play. Thursday night football, an AFC North matchup of a pair of 2-1 teams as the Steelers and Browns tangle in Cleveland. Browns are coming off an inspiring win over the Panthers, while the Steelers hand to division rival Cincinnati their first loss of the season last week. Falcons signed defensive tackle Jervon Dexter to a four-year, $ 78 million extension, 46.5 of which is guaranteed. Dexter, just 24 years old, has been one of the best interior linemen In the league, in the early part of the season, eighth in the league in quarterback pressure rate among defenders with at least 50 snaps. Dexter has just a half a sack, but has affected the quarterback. Falcons are third in the NFL in quarterback pressure rate, despite blitzing only 19% of the time. And if you remember, Steve, that's without their two first-round draft picks from the 2025 draft. One is suspended, and the other is out for the season with a season-ending injury. So still getting it done up front, and Dexter has been a big part of that And the Falcons just acquired Dexter in a trade with the Bears back on August 30th. So, he has been a welcome addition for the Falcons.
00:19:44
Speaker 2: Why would the Bears get rid of Dexter?
00:19:47
Speaker 1: Steve, that's an excellent question because the Bears... are not blessed with a bounty of depth on the defensive side of the ball. My suspicion is this. They knew that if they kept Dexter, they would have to pay him. And I'm not going to pretend to know what their cap situation is, but they have They have thrown high-priced players overboard. They cut Tremaine Edmonds in the offseason. He had signed a big contract with them, as we know. That's why he left the Bills. They've got to sign Caleb. In the next year or so, they've got to sign Caleb to the giant quarterback money. And maybe they deemed Javon Dexter and a new contract too expensive for them to stomach.
00:20:31
Speaker 2: Well, it seems to me. with the Bears. They've got Grady Jarrett, who's making 18, 19 in a year.
00:20:38
Speaker 1: And he's long in the tooth.
00:20:40
Speaker 2: He's 33.
00:20:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, long in the tooth. That's the guy they should have thrown overboard. Right? Yeah.
00:20:44
Speaker 2: Wouldn't you kick him? I mean, I don't even know.
00:20:46
Speaker 1: Well, Steve, you know how the Bears are run better than I do.
00:20:50
Speaker 2: I couldn't pick Grady Jarrett out of a police lineup.
00:20:53
Speaker 1: Well, ironically, he is a former Falcon, and he's been a very good player for a long time. Yeah, yeah.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: But, okay, the time has come.
00:21:02
Speaker 3: Right? Maybe.
00:21:03
Speaker 2: And they've got Yeah, all right. Okay. Big guys are gold.
00:21:12
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:21:12
Speaker 2: They're worth their weight in gold. And those are the guys you pay right behind the quarterback. Yes.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: We know this. All right.
00:21:22
Speaker 2: I'm just saying.
00:21:23
Speaker 1: Well, you've pontificated on the Bears and Lions and the NFC North for a long time.
00:21:31
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:21:33
Speaker 2: It is what it is, I suppose. It is what it is.
00:21:35
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers receiver Jaden Reed will be placed on injured reserve. His season is over because of the neck injury he sustained in Week 2 against the Jets. Coach Matt LaFleur confirmed that Wednesday. LaFleur said Reed will undergo surgery, but it is not expected to be career-ending. Don't want to mess with necks. That's always a big deal. So we wish him well. Hopefully surgery is successful and he can continue his career. You can't tell me that any Green Bay Packer fan, after they saw that happen, didn't think of Sterling Sharp immediately, whose career was ended by a neck injury. And that guy was a dude.
00:22:15
Speaker 2: Yes, he was. Yes, he was.
00:22:18
Speaker 1: The disappointment from the Tennessee Titans 0-3 start to the season is mounting to the point where fans have started to send threatening messages to quarterback Cam Ward's family. What is wrong with people? Ward spoke about the issue for the first time since his sister, Chantel Ward, took to social media earlier this week saying she's tired of the threats. Ward said, quote, at the end of the day, people are weird. They can say whatever they want, but I think football will take care of a lot of it. My family knows the position I'm in and what I've wanted my whole life. They're in this position as well with me. Kind of feel bad for the family. It's out of bounds. Yeah, like, what are you doing?
00:22:55
Speaker 2: That's way out of bounds. That's way out of bounds. You know, come on.
00:22:59
Speaker 1: What are we saying? Does this say something? I mean, where are we at at this point in the world?
00:23:06
Speaker 2: We're half-wit people.
00:23:09
Speaker 1: Look, we all love football. Steve's made a livelihood out of it.
00:23:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
00:23:14
Speaker 1: I have as well in an ancillary fashion as a broadcaster. But, like, football has got you so incensed as a fan of the Titans that That you've got to go after the dude's family?
00:23:29
Speaker 2: Where are we? What are you thinking? Get your head on straight. Believe me, think about this. Just for one hot minute, how is that going to solve any of your problems? How is that going to solve any of the problems that you purport to have because of Cam Ward? What is that going to do?
00:23:48
Speaker 1: The amount of false bravery that people have on social media where they can hide behind an avatar and a nickname.
00:23:56
Speaker 2: Nickname.
00:23:57
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
00:23:58
Speaker 2: Crazy. Crazy. Absolute crazy.
00:24:03
Speaker 1: I hope for Cam Ward's sake he starts playing a little better to kind of take the heat off of what he's experiencing.
00:24:09
Speaker 2: Right.
00:24:10
Speaker 1: We shall see where that goes.
00:24:14
Speaker 2: Well, there you go. Yeah.
00:24:16
Speaker 1: So that's around the NFL. Topic of discussion for you today, in what way do you see the Bills offense getting back on track against the Patriots? Whether you want to explain how you think they will do it or a player that you believe steps up and delivers a major performance, however you see it unfolding, let us know. In what way do you see the Bills offense getting back on track against the Patriots and looking more like they did the first two weeks? 716-427-0989, the number to get on board, 716-427-0989. Or you can hit us up on social media at One bills live on X. And I don't know. I'm kind of curious to see how it's going to go. The one thing that is readily apparent to me, Steve, just watching some of the Patriots' first few games.
00:25:11
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:12
Speaker 1: Last week in particular.
00:25:13
Speaker 2: Right.
00:25:14
Speaker 1: They got dominated on both sides of the line of scrimmage. And the Jacksonville offensive line is a good line.
00:25:21
Speaker 2: Right.
00:25:21
Speaker 1: But it's not a top eight line line. in the NFL, and they just manhandled those guys. I don't know what happened.
00:25:29
Speaker 2: Every week's a new week, though. You can't expect them to.
00:25:33
Speaker 1: But that was unexpected. I mean, we were just talking about how this Patriots defense is a solid defense.
00:25:38
Speaker 2: They are.
00:25:38
Speaker 1: It may not be spectacular, but it's a solid defense.
00:25:40
Speaker 2: Well, the back end gives them a chance, and when Gonzalez is playing, they're a problem. That was their formula, and that's every team's formula. If you've got a locked-down corner, which everybody's looking for one.
00:25:52
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:25:53
Speaker 2: It gives you some freedom up front, and they can take advantage of that. And the defensive line has an extra half second, has an extra little bit, and they can be a little more exotic up front. But the problem is this. Yes, New England struggled with Jacksonville's D-line. That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to struggle with the Bills because it's five new guys you've got to deal with. And those five guys are different than the five you faced last week. Even if they're supremely gifted, even if they've been playing well, something happens where– No, we've got a handle on this. We can give Drake an extra half a beat that we couldn't give him last week for some reason. You've got to play. Every game is different. You've got to play. The Bills can't go in there thinking, oh, we're going to dominate. Here we go. It just doesn't work that way. That's what happened here against the Chargers. You come into a team that can't get out of its own way. You turn it over five times. They're so bad. You turn it over five times, and all of a sudden, now you're in a dogfight. Right.
00:26:48
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:26:49
Speaker 1: And watching that game back, the Patriots-Jags game, it felt like May was under constant pressure. And then I went and looked at the numbers, and that proved to be the case. First of all, New England was blitzed on 53% of Drake May's dropbacks, and the Jaguars generated pressure on 58% of his dropbacks. Third highest pressure rate he has seen in his career. So, the Jags were bringing it. Um, So I'm not saying the Bills are going to enjoy the same amount of success. First of all, the Bills are blitzing at one of the lowest rates in the entire league. It's under 17% so far this season. So their approach might be different than what we saw the Jags do last week. Of course, maybe they watch the Jags tape and say, well, could be some opportunities here.
00:27:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe we'll try it.
00:27:45
Speaker 1: We'll see.
00:27:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. Here's the thing, too, and this goes back. 50 years, this philosophy. And I had guys say, alright, we struggle with this. Last week, man, they couldn't stop the run. This week, they work on it. They shore some things up. All of a sudden, you can't run on them the next week. What goes from a weakness one game turns into a strength the next game. Because they plug that hole and all of a sudden there's no other hole. Or they can't get it. Or they stop turning it over. The Bills, they stop turning it over, all of a sudden it's like, oh, jeez, they're pretty good, right?
00:28:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:28:23
Speaker 2: What appears as a weakness one game, at least statistically, turns into a strength the next game. It happens because you're dealing with human beings who can correct mistakes and have a different mindset, and it affects the two guys on either side of them.
00:28:38
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:28:39
Speaker 2: So nothing's guaranteed. But the simple fact of the matter is you're going to go into this game and The Patriots are going to test the Bills in where they stunk last week against the Chargers. And the Bills are going to do the same. They're going to test the Patriots in what they didn't do well last week. Say, well, did you fix it?
00:28:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:28:57
Speaker 2: So we'll see.
00:28:58
Speaker 1: Got to take a break here. 716-427-0989, the number to get on board. In what way do you see the Bills offense getting back on track against the Patriots? When we come back, though, I caught up with Ty Johnson after practice yesterday. We're going to play that interview for you next as he's finally back in the lineup after a bad hamstring injury in the preseason. I talked to him about that, among some other things offensively. He's up next here on One Bills Live. Back here on One Bills Live, Chris Brown, Steve Tasker. It's time for our weekly player interview, and player interview appearances on One Bills Live are presented by Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons is a proud partner of the Buffalo Bills. We now turn to an interview I did yesterday after practice with Bills running back Ty Johnson. All right, Ty, good to see you back on the field last week. You had a lengthy rehab there. How arduous was that for you coming off the end? It's a part of this game, as we know, but it seemed like that one took some doing to get right.
00:30:00
Speaker 5: Yeah um definitely took some time um i'm more than anything i'm just more appreciative of uh joe b and bean and staff just telling me hey like this is going to take some time so take your time get right um because i was really pressing for game one but there's like hey like probably not yeah but um uh it was just a lengthy process you know getting in here before the team gets in here running lifting doing treatment uh doing extra stuff after people are leaving um so it was just one of those things like i just wanted to do everything possible to put me in the best position possible.
00:30:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, and get to a place where, like, mentally you're like, I'm good, I can just let it go and not worry about anything. Like, how do you know when you're there?
00:30:38
Speaker 5: Honestly, Sunday was when I was like, I had full conviction and full confidence. Leading up last week, finally practicing with the team, it was one of those things I was like, okay, like, let me open up a little bit. And every single day, the trainers and Coach Skip, he was there rarely, communicative with just, hey, like, we're going to do a little bit more today, a little bit more today. And then, honestly, by Saturday, I was like, okay, like, I'm feeling good. And I was like, you know, we'll see how it is when it's live bullets and everything. And then Sunday was like, okay, like, it was just like riding a bike, honestly. After I got that first hit, first catch, it was nice.
00:31:09
Speaker 2: You're a vet.
00:31:10
Speaker 1: We know how it goes. I think fans often wonder when things unfold like they did last week against the Chargers with turnovers and it just seemed like they kept happening. They really wonder about the team's psyche. So... Can you take us either into the huddle or on the sideline between series, what the conversations are like to keep the right mindset to just worry about the next play or the next series and not worry about a negative here or there that has happened? How do you guys collectively handle that?
00:31:42
Speaker 5: I think everyone has a great sense of be where your feet are. Obviously, the turnovers, things like that, bad things happen. You can't dwell on those things because you want to get the ball back again. And it was really one of those things, just put the ball down like Coach Dobie says and just keep moving forward. That's really all it is. No matter what it is, the preparation, the process, the opportunity, it just meets execution. So it's just keep moving forward.
00:32:06
Speaker 1: Your fourth down play was obviously a big one late in the game. I know they pulled the touchdown off the board on you because of the penalty, but it still led to a critical first down. I heard in your post-game interview you were talking about how you're always trying to make sure there's an angle where Josh– can see you because as we know plays and routes and everything is drawn on paper but it doesn't always look like that on the field so my question to you though is how do you know when to change the look of that play with how you're executing it because Josh isn't exactly standing still in the pocket either so how do you decide like nope I gotta move here or like how does that process unfold in real time in the snap of a finger for you?
00:32:50
Speaker 5: Really just know my area and know where everyone else is on the field and find open grass. I mentioned in the interview post-game, like you don't want to cover the same area because then, you know, that's where tip balls happen, pass breakups, interceptions, anything. So it's really find open grass, know where your teammates are, and then obviously find Josh's eyes too. You know, Josh is going to scramble. He's going to extend plays. And one of those things is like, okay, if he turns his head towards you, eyes on him. And if you make contact, he looked at me, I looked at him, he threw it. I was like, all right, cool.
00:33:18
Speaker 1: Third down is obviously your down on offense. And you guys, out of the gate here from the start of the season, have been very, very efficient. You guys are third in the league. You're converting over 54% of your third downs. And while I realize distance is a huge factor in how effective you guys are going to be on third down, what has been critical, do you think, in your unit's ability to keep drives going?
00:33:43
Speaker 5: Just the mindset, you know. A lot of times, depending on field position and everything, you know you might have four downs. But it's really just the mindset of, like, to hell with it. Like, we're going to get this no matter if it's third and long, third and short. All the guys have a full conviction in themselves that we're going to execute the play to get the yards we need, whatever those yards may be.
00:34:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. And then first division game coming up this week, you've got an awful lot of experience in this division. I think six of your seven seasons have been in the AFC East. What is it that makes– division games in this division just different from facing other opponents like the chargers for example last week because they always seem to be tight nip and tuck yeah it's really hard for division teams to pull away from one another in this division for some reason what do you think.
00:34:30
Speaker 5: It um i think it's just uh teams know each other you know i'm saying if you're in the conference you play teams twice a year yeah and um i think you know it's that thing of they count as two you know i'm saying in terms of you know you're ranking in the conference and everything um but it's you know the team you know I'm saying like you know what they're going to bring you know it's not going to be some crazy shootout or anything you know it's going to be it's going to be grungy it's going to be dirty it's going to be you know a tough game no matter what and you just got to keep pushing through and then you know by the end of the game that's when things start to unfold for sure.
00:35:02
Speaker 1: I saw that Walter Payton was one of your favorite players yeah but I he was one of mine too but I actually saw him play.
00:35:10
Speaker 2: I'm old.
00:35:10
Speaker 1: I'm a lot older than you. You were born like almost a decade after his playing career was over. So how did you kind of come around to admiring sweetness and, and who he was as a football player and even off the field?
00:35:24
Speaker 5: Um, honestly, my mom, um, she told me once I got a little bit older, like she wanted like either my first name or my middle name to be Peyton.
00:35:32
Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
00:35:32
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:35:32
Speaker 8: I was like, who the hell is that?
00:35:35
Speaker 5: And then she told me and I was like, Oh damn, that's pretty cool.
00:35:38
Speaker 1: So, um, That's how I got, you know, aware. Now, have you since, like, gone back and, like, watched, like, old YouTube clips and highlights of him at all?
00:35:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I used to right when I found out.
00:35:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:35:48
Speaker 5: And then, obviously, like, you find all these other players and everything. Like, I was watching a lot of LT and AP, you know, whoever it may be.
00:35:56
Speaker 3: Right.
00:35:56
Speaker 1: It was just one of those things. I was like, yeah, man.
00:35:58
Speaker 5: Like, I was watching a lot of USC highlights, Oklahoma highlights. But, yeah, it's always go back, shoot, even two years ago on, later in the season I was watching a lot of Thurman Thomas you know what I'm saying shout out because of his hands and everything he had a crazy crazy diving catch and I was like man.
00:36:16
Speaker 1: Full extension down the sideline.
00:36:18
Speaker 5: You know exactly what I'm talking about so it's like seeing things like this as a running back especially back then it's just like damn it's crazy to see so it's always just going back and watching those dudes.
00:36:27
Speaker 1: That's really cool time now for this week's Tim Bitts time out presented by Tim Hortons where a fan asks a question of our guest of the week So, the question this week, Ty, comes from JesusLife12. It's clearly a handle. It's not his real name. But he asks, what is it like with Josh Allen in the scramble drill? Like, everybody's got a role, and you guys practice it, I know. But still, when you're on the field and he's running around like that, what is it like out there?
00:36:57
Speaker 2: Honestly.
00:36:58
Speaker 5: I have no clue what the hell's going on. I'm just, I see him running and I'm running. Um, again, it goes back to knowing your area. Um, everyone's taking an area of the field. Um, don't cover up the same area as someone else. So, um, obviously it's something we practice. It's become one of our best plays essentially. Once a play gets broken, um, and it's great. Like seeing him do what he does is, it's amazing.
00:37:19
Speaker 1: I've said it before. He's like a unicorn, man.
00:37:20
Speaker 5: Like what he does, you know, getting tackled and still throwing the ball downfield, um, or he's stiff on.
00:37:25
Speaker 8: People, whatever.
00:37:27
Speaker 1: I think, um, what was it, two seasons.
00:37:30
Speaker 8: Ago against the.
00:37:33
Speaker 1: Sorry if I'm wrong. Yeah, it's all right.
00:37:34
Speaker 5: I believe it was against the Chiefs. He started scrambling downfield, and I was on the sideline. He just threw it back towards me and everything. And I was just like, man, I did not expect this at all. I'm just following the ball just in case anything happens. And the next thing I know, the ball's coming to me. So you keep your wits about you, keep your head on the swivel.
00:37:51
Speaker 1: It's like true schoolyard football. Oh, absolutely.
00:37:54
Speaker 5: And I think– And I think that's what makes it fun, too, because you don't know what's going on.
00:37:58
Speaker 1: It might be a little stressful, too, though, at times. At times, yeah, yeah, it is. But that's part of it. Yeah. You know, so it's a good time.
00:38:04
Speaker 2: All right, cool.
00:38:04
Speaker 1: Well, listen, thanks for the time. Good luck getting a win on Sunday and stay in one piece, all right? Appreciate you.
00:38:08
Speaker 9: Thanks.
00:38:11
Speaker 1: All right, that's Ty Johnson joining us yesterday after practice. Kind of a cool conversation there. Walter Payton fan. The guy was born 10 years after Walter stopped playing.
00:38:21
Speaker 2: Right. But it was his mom.
00:38:23
Speaker 1: His mom died. Salute to Ty Johnson's mom.
00:38:25
Speaker 8: Very nice.
00:38:26
Speaker 1: Pointing him at Walter because that was Walter. He was my favorite player growing up. I know you had the opportunity to meet him, play against him maybe even.
00:38:33
Speaker 2: A little bit.
00:38:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:38:34
Speaker 1: Did you guys ever play the Bears when he was still playing with them?
00:38:36
Speaker 2: Yeah. I didn't play in the game. I was hurt.
00:38:38
Speaker 3: Oh.
00:38:38
Speaker 2: But yes. And then I told you the story. I met him as a college kid. I was in Northwestern Chicago and the Bears played, you know, and I crossed paths with him. Yeah, it was a one-of-one story. It's great.
00:38:51
Speaker 1: Wade Phillips, when he was coach of the Bills, told a great story about his interaction with Walter. So he was on his dad, Bum Phillips' staff in New Orleans when the Saints played the Bears and Walter passed Jim Brown on the all-time rushing list against the Saints in that game. So Wade went to the Bears' locker room after to just congratulate him. And, um, So he walked in there and he said, Walter shook his hand, he said, and almost crushed the life out of it, then hugged him and picked Wade Phillips off the ground. like he was a six-year-old yeah so wade's like i knew he was a strong human being but i clearly underestimated.
00:39:39
Speaker 2: It's strange too because i shook his hand too and walter had big hands his feet were little yeah he had like size six shoes oh really Yeah.
00:39:48
Speaker 1: I did not know that.
00:39:49
Speaker 2: But his hands were enormous.
00:39:50
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker 2: And just a sweetheart of a guy. Yeah. I've told the story a ton where I just walked down. He couldn't have been nicer, and that's where I met him. And the next time I saw him, and that game had happened. I didn't play, and I didn't get a chance to interact with him. But then later, the only other time I ever saw him, he was flipping the coin at the Pro Bowl. He had just retired. Yeah. And they had him out to the Pro Bowl and stuff, and he flipped the coin at the Pro Bowl, and I was a team captain. And the last time I saw him was when I was a kid in college, you know, just some kid. And then I was a pro bowler, and he was the guy flipping the coin. It was pretty cool. That's cool. Pretty full circle moment for me.
00:40:29
Speaker 1: We are up against the break, so we will step aside here. But we will get to your phone calls when we get back. David Myrtle Beach, Bush on the east side, will lead us off when we return here on a Thursday edition of One Builds Live. All right, welcome back to One Bills Live. Chris Brown, Steve Tasker with you. And we are asking you today, in what way do you see the Bills offense getting back on track against the Patriots? To the phones we go. And leading off with Dave in Myrtle Beach. What do you got for us, Dave? You're on One Bills Live.
00:41:12
Speaker 7: Yeah, I got a question for Steve and then a comment about the Chargers game.
00:41:21
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
00:41:21
Speaker 1: Hello?
00:41:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, go ahead, Dave.
00:41:26
Speaker 7: Steve, you being a Kansas fan, Kansas native, when you were growing up, were you a Kansas City fan?
00:41:34
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
00:41:36
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:41:40
Speaker 7: So you were a Kansas City Chiefs fan?
00:41:45
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:41:51
Speaker 5: Okay.
00:41:52
Speaker 2: Dave, are you there? Yes, I'm here. This is excruciating. Okay, Dave, you say everything you want to say and then I'll reply.
00:42:04
Speaker 7: Okay, okay. Second comment was on the Chargers game. There was a play in the First half, I think it was, where Josh ran, you know, I can't remember how many yards, but he gave himself up. And my understanding is that when a runner gives himself up, the play is over, the whistle blows, and there's no contact. And I remember a charger or two chargers hitting Josh pretty hard. um i don't know if uh i know tom brady was doing the game uh if he had any comments i was in a bar watching the game so i had no audio so did tom brady make any comments about oh that should have been a penalty for or.
00:42:57
Speaker 1: Not yeah dave there's there's yeah i'll cut you off there there's no way for us to know that because we're kind of busy too we're broadcasting the game on the radio so we don't hear the tv broadcast because we're doing the radio broadcast at the same exact time um Josh, I don't remember seeing Josh slide at any point in time. The only time he gave himself up was late in the game on a first down, and he took, he willingly took a knee. on a seven-yard loss, which went down as a sack, but he did it on purpose to force the Chargers to burn a timeout late in the game. He would rather take the sack so the clock would keep running rather than just throw it away, so he took the seven-yard loss rather than stopping the clock to force them to use a timeout.
00:43:41
Speaker 2: And their guy came up and kind of punched it out, and it was a little innocuous.
00:43:47
Speaker 1: I think that's the play he's talking about.
00:43:48
Speaker 2: That's probably the play you're talking about. I don't remember any early in the game, but They protect these guys. If they would have thought it was malicious, they would have thrown the flag. I thought it was okay non-call. It was a little chippy, but you can understand the Chargers being down by eight and not having a chance to get back into the game was going to run out. They were losing. Tempers were starting to flare. They were getting a little frustrated. That kind of stuff happens. You kind of got to shrug your shoulders. As for the other thing, yeah, I grew up a Chiefs fan. I was eight years old when the Chiefs won Super Bowl III. I think it was Super Bowl IV. Lenny Dawson, Otis Taylor, Elmo Wright, Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Bobby Bell. I mean, you can go down the list of all those. Kerry Reardon, Ed Podolak. I'm on a football card with Ed Podolak because he was my favorite player. He was a running back for the Chiefs back then. Jan Stennerud. I mean, I can go down the roster back when I was a kid and go through all of those guys, and it was a big deal for me, you know. And that was when, just a few years later, they were in Arrowhead, you know. So it was a big deal. I'll give you an example, and most people can relate to this. We've been talking. Two of my three older brothers have been visiting us, and they just left and went back home. They've been here for a couple of weeks watching games.
00:45:08
Speaker 1: They still live out there in Kansas.
00:45:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, they still are out there. We're all Chiefs fans, right? I go up, I go to Northwestern University. I get drafted by the Houston Oilers back in the day. All the Chiefs stuff went in the garbage. And they all started getting Oilers stuff, right? So they were all Oilers because I was playing for the Oilers, right?
00:45:28
Speaker 7: Okay.
00:45:28
Speaker 2: So they're big Oilers fans, right? Let's go. Let's go. Love you, Blue. That kind of stuff. I was there just after Earl Campbell had been there and stuff. Some of the guys who were youngsters with Earl and all those guys were now the old guard when I got there. So I was with Mike Munchak, Bruce Matthews. Mike Rozier was on that team. Warren Moon was in his second year when I got there. So I knew those guys. Great bunch of guys. Loved being on that team. And then halfway through my second year, we're all Oilers fans. And I was, you know, the whole story, I got picked up off the 24-hour waiver wire.
00:46:00
Speaker 1: By the Bills.
00:46:01
Speaker 2: I'd turn up.
00:46:02
Speaker 1: So all the Oilers stuff.
00:46:03
Speaker 2: All the Oilers stuff right in the garbage. And ever since... Not only are my brothers and my mom and everybody Bills fans, all their kids, my nieces and nephews, I got a big following out there, and they are the original pilgrims in an unholy land. And you can imagine the stuff that goes on with my family and all their friends and all their Bills fans, Chiefs fans, and the Bills flags and the Chiefs flags. I had, a couple of years ago, my niece and her husband wanted to come up for the Chiefs game two years ago. It was one with the Josh on the fourth and.
00:46:39
Speaker 1: Two runs in it. Oh, yeah, the 26-yard touchdown run.
00:46:41
Speaker 2: That game, I had four adult couples in my house for the weekend. So we had eight people in the house. Three of those couples were Chiefs fans. They were wearing Mahomes jerseys in my house and stuff, right? So it's that kind of thing. Of course, we won the game, and I made them. We all did a shot. for the Bills victory they owed me and then it's funny too because I went back and visited my brothers in Wichita to see my mom and who's elderly and we were in a restaurant eating and one of those couples happened to be in there and they bought us a drink the Chiefs fans bought us a drink who had stayed in the house and stuff so yeah I grew up a Chiefs fan but that is long long gone those days so yeah I'm sure every Bills fan can relate to that story and having friends who are Patriots fans, friends who are Dolphins fans, friends who are whatever fans. It's the world we live in. But you've got to have the right attitude about it.
00:47:45
Speaker 1: We're up against the clock here, so we've got to take a break. When we come back, we're going to be joined in his weekly appearance by senior producer from NFL Films, Greg Cosell. We'll see what he's seeing on the tape with Drake May and whether he thinks he can pull out of it because it's league-low quarterback type of play. We'll see what he thinks is wrong with Drake May next. Love y'all boys. He is a beast with a capital B. The cook is in the kitchen. Looks down the sideline. He's got Kincaid for a 23-yard touchdown. And it's intercepted. Jumping up in the air is meant for.
00:48:38
Speaker 1: This is One Pills Live. All right, second hour of the show here on a Thursday edition. And pleased to be joined now by a senior producer from NFL Films and co-host of ESPN's NFL Matchup Show. It is Greg Cosell making his weekly visit with us. And the dominant topic of conversation, Greg, I'm sure you've probably been asked about it somewhere along the line here, are the struggles of Drake May through the first three weeks of the 2026 season. He has seven turnovers in the first three games, most by any player in the NFL and most by a Patriots player in their team's first three games in the last 30 years. There's a lot of Brady in there, we realize. And the Patriots last week did not score a touchdown offensively for the first time in 34 games. Some people feel he's got the yips. Some people wonder if his shoulder injury from last year is having lingering effects. He has said it is not that. It is decision-making. What is the film telling you about Drake May's struggles to this point, Greg?
00:49:45
Speaker 8: You know, it's funny, guys.
00:49:47
Speaker 9: We live in a world where if a team wins, the quarterback's great. And if a team loses, it's because the quarterback stinks. And we know that that's a totally unrealistic evaluation of the way teams are. But I've watched May pretty carefully. And obviously, I knew that not only were you guys going to ask me about it, but I'm going to be asked about it by a lot of people.
00:50:07
Speaker 2: So.
00:50:08
Speaker 9: You know, to me, there's multiple issues with the Patriots offense that cannot be summed up by just taking the easy way out and saying it's all Drake May. There's a lack of a consistent, sustaining run game. They've got pass protection problems, especially with individual matchups. With the loss of A.J. Brown, they really don't have receivers who separate and win very often in individual routes. There's been issues with spacing in their route concepts, receivers too close together. And all this impacts May. Now, obviously, are there plays in which he makes a poor decision? The interception he threw in the end zone last week was absolutely terrible. But the second interception, you know, he's throwing to a one-on-one on the outside to Williams, the receiver, and the corner, Jones, basically ran the route for him. I mean, I remember Troy Aikman telling me years ago that when it's one-on-one and if your receivers can't win, you don't need a new quarterback, you need new receivers. And the loss of A.J. Brown is big, because as Steve can certainly attest, when you have a true boundary X, who you can line up as the single receiver to the boundary on the backside of trips, if you know that guy can win and you're comfortable with that, then that changes just the mindset of the quarterback, because he almost knows that he can go. I mean, look at Joe Burrow with Higgins and Chase. He sees one-on-one, he throws it. He's not thinking about, well, what's the route concept of trips or whatever. He's throwing the one-on-ones, and he feels pretty darn good.
00:51:39
Speaker 8: About doing it.
00:51:40
Speaker 9: When you don't have that guy at all, it becomes harder. I'm not saying you can't play, but it just becomes harder.
00:51:48
Speaker 2: So what do you think about Drake May's decision-making? Certainly, I mean, every quarterback's going to throw a ball they wish they want back. But the problem is, is he doing it? once a series or is he doing it once a game? Is he doing it? You know what I mean?
00:52:02
Speaker 3: Right.
00:52:03
Speaker 2: I mean, he's not, he has not fallen off a cliff, I guess is my point, correct?
00:52:07
Speaker 8: No, I don't think he has.
00:52:08
Speaker 9: And by the way, there's times quarterbacks make poor decisions that don't result in interceptions.
00:52:13
Speaker 8: Steve, you know that.
00:52:14
Speaker 4: I mean, not every decision by a quarterback, you know, in a game is the perfect decision, but not every play results in a turnover. I mean, you know, that's, When things are bad, that seems to be what happens.
00:52:27
Speaker 9: I mean, you can obviously go back to week one when he threw that three fourth-quarter interceptions. I remember one specifically to Julian Love, which was probably a poor decision. That throw was there if he had thrown it earlier, but he threw it later. So yes, is he playing well? Of course not. But I would think it's unrealistic based on tape study, and I watch every play. I'm not just watching bad plays or highlights. or seeing a score of the game, but it's not realistic to place everything on May. This is not an offense right now that is functioning anywhere at a high level. And if you get behind and you're forced to throw, they may.
00:53:12
Speaker 8: Not have the offensive line that can handle that.
00:53:16
Speaker 1: Right, and that offensive line just underwent more upheaval because Greg Van Roden, who stepped in for Michael Wenyu, who broke his ankle in Week 2, is now on injured reserve, and so there's a very good chance they could be looking at Ben Brown or Walter Rouse, who filled in for Van Roden last week and did not look good at all.
00:53:34
Speaker 9: And they played very well, by the way, at Pass Pro, and they actually played Caleb Lomu, the rookie at right tackle for Meaningful Snaps Brownie, as you know, because I'm sure you've studied, and he struggled as well in one-on-one pass protection. So I don't know what Morgan Moses' status is for this game, but... you know, if they had to go with Rouse and Lomu, you know, that, that becomes an issue unto itself.
00:53:57
Speaker 2: Right.
00:53:58
Speaker 1: And Moses did not practice yesterday with the foot injury. So that bears watching here through the rest of the week. Um, and so let's flip it to the other side because Greg Russo has been outright elite dominant. You might even say, um, leads the league in tackles for loss leads the league in sacks and is at the top of the league and pass rush win rate. Um, I mean, he's ahead of people like Will Anderson, for goodness sake. He is getting help from the rest of the guys across the front. I mean, if you watched the game last week, you saw Dwayne Carter force Justin Herbert up into the pocket, right into a sack of Rousseau, who was retracing. And that's happened a few times through the course of the first three games. So what can you say collectively about this Bills defensive front in this scheme thus far? Because it hasn't been... I don't think series to series consistent, but I think they've made enough plays to impact games through the course of them and the first three weeks.
00:55:00
Speaker 8: And I would agree with that.
00:55:01
Speaker 9: And one other point I'd like to make about Russo, I think he's played the run exceptionally well. And because he has all these sacks, I think that that's what people focus on, as they should. I mean, six sacks in three games is obviously great, but I think he's played the run extremely well in addition to that with his arm extension and keeping his legs clean, controlling and displacing blockers. He's just played really good football. And you mentioned Carter, and I think Carter's really been a little bit of a revelation. I mean, usually you don't look at tackle numbers because they don't necessarily get a lot of tackles, but I think he's been a really important part of the D-line rotation. And just one final point about the Patriots, and if they have to play with a different right side of their O-line, That impacts quarterbacks mentally before they even play the game. Maine knows going into the game that he has to speed up his process. And if you have to speed up your process as a quarterback and you start to almost perceive that you're going to get pressure and anticipate that you're going to get pressure, that totally changes the way you play.
00:56:05
Speaker 8: But I agree with you, Brownie.
00:56:06
Speaker 9: I think, you know, the defense has not been dominant snap after snap, but, you know, Obviously, the first two games, they often scored a lot of points. This week, they didn't. So while the defense played well, and by the way, I don't rip coaches ever. That's not what I do, as you guys know. But I'm just really surprised. I'm not sure if the match between Mike McDaniel and Justin Herbert is a good one, and we'll see how the season plays out. But that just struck me watching that tape.
00:56:38
Speaker 2: And you get down to it. It is a little bit about The matchups, New England going down to Jacksonville. Jacksonville had some success, and it seems like they blitzed May a lot.
00:56:55
Speaker 3: 53%.
00:56:56
Speaker 2: Is that an issue? Are they trying to take advantage of an offensive line that's kind of hodgepodge and they don't work well together? Are they trying to confuse them? Or do you think it's about the quarterback? Is it about the offensive line when they blitzed in Jacksonville, do you think? Or do you think it's about the quarterback more? Obviously, it's a little bit about both.
00:57:13
Speaker 8: I think it's both.
00:57:15
Speaker 9: Well, first of all, I think Anthony Campanelli, who's one of the bright, young defensive minds in the league, who's the Jaguars' D coordinator, that's part of what he does, I think, regardless of who he plays. Because Campanelli sort of, and I know this for a fact, he sort of has two beliefs that seem like they're contradictory, but this is what he believes. He's got a little Brian Flores in him, and he's got a little Vic Fangio in him. So he's a big believer in pressure, but he's also a believer in playing sort of that zone coverage where you match and carry. And, you know, so he does both. He'll do that no matter who he plays. Now, I think at this moment in time, it works well against the Patriots because May is, I think, anticipating pressure and is not comfortable. And the O-line is a bit of a question right now. So I think against the Patriots, it's very effective. You know, that's will Jim Leonard do that? I mean, Jim Leonard's not been high percentage blitz through these three games. You know, people automatically assume because Rex Ryan's part of his background that he was just going to be a blitz happy guy, but that hasn't really been the way he's played through three games.
00:58:22
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:58:22
Speaker 1: They, I think they're blitzing it. Like the second lowest rate in the league, it's under 17% of snaps. So it's been a low number. I want to get your thoughts, Greg, on what you feel about, the New England offensive approach could be. We've mentioned their struggles in pass protection. Some people believe Drake Mays got the yips and is struggling from a confidence standpoint. So logic would tell you they would try to lean on their run game, but you just mentioned earlier that getting traction in that area of their offense has been a struggle as well, at least from a consistency standpoint. And, you know, couple that with the fact that Travion Henderson is While he is truly a breakaway threat with 4-4 speed and can take any run to the end zone at any point in time, they clearly don't trust him on third down. because he's not on the field then. He has pass protection, you know, diagnosis issues. So it's usually Ramondre Stevenson. And while Stevenson is a power back, I guess for lack of a better term, how do you feel their run game has performed? Maybe just dive into that and elaborate on that a little bit more. And is it something... they can lean on in the early stages of this game against Buffalo.
00:59:34
Speaker 9: Well, it's been very– it's been not what they would want. Look, Stevenson is a sustaining grinder. Henderson is the breakaway back, as the Bills know, because he did that against the Bills last year.
00:59:47
Speaker 8: Their offense needs a sustaining element to it.
00:59:50
Speaker 9: Now, in all the years I've talked to coaches, and again, this is a division game, and you know division games– Anything can happen no matter what the records say or no matter how teams are playing prior to the game. But let's just look at it this way. I think that when a team is not playing well, and I did see, I usually don't see press conferences, but I heard about, I did hear a little bit of Rabel. Normally what happens when teams are not playing well, and Steve can attest to this probably better than I, having been in this situation, I'm sure. Teams go back to what they want to be and what they think they are based on how they built the team all through OTAs, minicamp, training camp. You know, in other words, I'd be surprised if the Patriots came out and did crazy stuff, especially with a coach like Vrabel. I would think that he wants his team to be physical. He wants his team to be tough. And I think I would think he would want to come out in this game with the idea that, you know what? We're going to run the ball, and we're going to be physical, and we're going to show that we can play that way. Now, will he do that? Obviously, none of us know. None of us have a crystal ball. But that would be my sense over the years talking with coaches, that they go back to their staples. They go back and say, you know what, this is what we do, and we're going to have to do it well, and that's the way we're going to come out and play.
01:01:11
Speaker 2: That's exactly what we thought the L.A. Chargers would do this last week, get back on track. And they did, actually. They came out in the first part of this game. We watched it very closely. They had done so much shifting, so much pre-snap motion, so much eye candy. They did not do that early in the Bills game here in Buffalo because you thought, okay, they're going to batten down the hatches.
01:01:36
Speaker 1: Strip it down.
01:01:36
Speaker 2: They strip it down, and they can get back to the basics, which is what you're talking about the New England Patriots doing. Now, the Chargers did that. It ultimately didn't work.
01:01:44
Speaker 9: But they did some of that because, look, when they got in the high red zone the first time, they went with six offensive linemen and ingoled. So, I mean, that's the Mike McDaniel approach. So, you know, they go in the high red zone, and that's what they do. you know, because that's what McDaniel believes. And, you know, this is clearly his offense. So, yeah, I mean, they may not have had the same percentage of motion that they had in the previous two games, but they still played Charger football in terms of the use of personnel. I mean, Ingold played over 30 snaps. You know, like I said, they played six alignment, nine snaps. This is all Mike McDaniel. So they did play Charger football, which, again, this is a different conversation because Bills fans don't care about the Chargers, but To me, that's not the way you want to play with Justin Herbert, but that's just my feeling.
01:02:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the point was they were trying to strip it down a little bit, like you're talking about the New England Patriots doing in the Buffalo.
01:02:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, just to be functional. Yeah, just to be functional, right.
01:02:41
Speaker 3: Greg.
01:02:41
Speaker 7: Go ahead.
01:02:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:02:45
Speaker 1: I was just going to say I wanted to flip it over defensively with the Patriots here on the back end. And we know Gonzalez did not practice yesterday due to a shoulder injury. We'll have to see how that plays out the rest of the week. but first, have the Patriots used Gonzalez to travel with the other team's A1 receiver through the first three weeks? What has the film told you on that? And then two, we saw that the Chargers had a good coverage answer for Dalton Kincaid in the form of Derwin James last week, held him in check. They closed the middle of the field down for the vast majority of that game. Do you feel the Patriots have a good coverage coverage answer for Dalton Kincaid whether it's man or zone.
01:03:32
Speaker 9: Yes and again that doesn't mean they will but I think that this is where the Patriots have their best chance to be honest you know Brable's a defensive guy uh they have a good defense I mean let's assume Gonzalez plays um uh yeah I don't know about Craig Woodson who's a very good second year safety I think he's questionable um so I don't know what the status.
01:03:54
Speaker 1: Is there yeah he's dinged up too Yeah.
01:03:57
Speaker 9: But, um, you know, that's the one part of this game where, you know, division game, really good coach in, um, in Vrabel and defensively. I mean, obviously they didn't have a great defensive performance last week, but normally teams that are good in an area aren't bad two weeks in a row, you know? So, uh, you know, will, will Gonzalez travel in this game? I don't think, you know, my sense would be no. Um, And that's no knock on someone like DJ Moore, but I don't know if with the formation variation, the use of multiple tight ends, I'm not sure that they'll do that. But again, I certainly don't know what's in Vrabel's head. But, you know, this side of the ball to me is a really fascinating matchup because they, you know, on Dallas plays, they have two good corners. If Woodson were to go, I think their safeties are really solid. Woodson's a very good player. Marcus Jones is a good slot corner. The question is, in the two and three tight end sets and personnel packages of the Bills, how do they play? You know, that's that to me. And I don't know the answer to that because, you know, maybe Marcus Jones then isn't on the field because he plays, you know, he's a nickel player. So, you know, I don't know how they would feel about that matching up to a Kincaid in a 13 personnel package.
01:05:18
Speaker 8: You know, they don't have a Derwin James.
01:05:21
Speaker 3: Right.
01:05:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, and one of the questions is, it may be all of those things, depending on down and distance, time of the game, personnel. I mean, I'm sure, knowing what you know about the New England Patriots, they can do anything they want defensively. They've got that in the arsenal, and they're going to pick and choose where they unfurl it. For Josh, the question is, do the Bills have enough in every aspect of their offense to get it done if the Patriots are in the right defense? You know.
01:05:52
Speaker 2: We've seen, Brownie and I have seen so many defensive coordinators over there call the perfect defense against the perfect play offensively, and you should get an enormous defensive play out of it, and it ends up Josh is standing in the end zone. He does that to people. The question is, do you think that New England Patriots have enough defensively in their arsenal, particularly if, even if, and I think Gonzalez is going to play defensively. Do they have enough in the arsenal to combat everything the Bills have shown the ability to do offensively? Now, they had an off week against the Chargers. I don't know that that was as much about the Chargers' defense as it was about the Bills' offense, putting it on the ground five times. So, do you think the Bills' offense still has enough?
01:06:37
Speaker 9: Yeah, and obviously the first interception by Josh, he didn't read it. You know, that happens every once in a while where he doesn't read it right. That happens to every quarterback. Sometimes it's an interception and sometimes it's an incompletion. That turned out to be an interception. And every once in a while, he does that. And as a defense, you try to create a situation where what he sees pre-snap is not what he gets post-snap.
01:06:57
Speaker 8: And, you know, maybe he doesn't see it the right way.
01:06:59
Speaker 9: And that's what you try to do, particularly in those kinds of situations on third down. You know, then the run game, you know, the run game is one of the most fun games to watch in the league. What they do with creativity in the run game, I love it. I'm doing a piece on that in the matchup show this week, guys, by the way, on the Bills run game. from a run two weeks ago against the Lions, which ended up being a totally unconventional way to run a gap scheme run, and it was just beautiful. I mean, they do so many good things in the run game, and that's a big part of this game. If they can control the ball on the ground, and again, that doesn't mean Cook has to go 25 for 170, but if they can have success running the ball, that changes everything about the game. You know, and we'll see how the Bills decide to come out, because I think under Joe Brady... It's not like it was, as head coach that is, Joe Brady head coach, it's not like it was necessarily in the last couple of years. Their first down run percentage is nowhere near as high as it was, let's say, last year. They've been much more, you know, they throw the ball on first down more so.
01:08:03
Speaker 3: Yep.
01:08:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:08:05
Speaker 1: And look, James Cook, I know he went for 154 last week, you know, against a pretty good run front.
01:08:12
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:08:14
Speaker 1: Not one of his 24 carries went for no gain or negative yardage. Everything was positive. I mean, you don't see that a lot, even with the elite backs in the league. They're going to have a few that go for loss or something. That did not happen last week on any of his 24 carries.
01:08:31
Speaker 9: And they were an under center running team. 85% of Cook's runs this year have been as an eye bat. So, you know, they put, they put Josh under center and they're an eye, they're an eye formation running team, you know? So, and they're so creative with it. And, you know, that makes it a little harder to defend. You know, and obviously the tight ends, you know, it's a really interesting– they do a lot formationally with motion. I mean, they're one of the highest percentage pre-snap movement.
01:08:56
Speaker 8: Teams in the league.
01:08:58
Speaker 2: Yep. Yeah. Thanks, Steph. Good stuff, Greg. Thanks.
01:09:02
Speaker 8: Oh, no, this is a good one, guys. You know when teams are at the bottom of the barrel, you never know. You never know.
01:09:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Well, we knew it.
01:09:09
Speaker 1: We found out last week. So, yeah, it could be the same thing again this week.
01:09:12
Speaker 2: You never know.
01:09:13
Speaker 1: Another tight game. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Appreciate it.
01:09:16
Speaker 2: You bet.
01:09:17
Speaker 1: We'll catch up with you next week. That's Greg Cosell joining us. Be sure to check him out on the ESPN NFL Matchup Show because, as you heard him say, he's going to dice up the success of the Bills run game and what has made it so effective. Talked about how they used a gap scheme in a unique way. I'm curious to see what his dissection of that is. It's a hell of a thing to have in your back pocket. James Cook is your back pocket you know alternative go-to if things aren't working in your passing game i mean that's that's tough.
01:09:51
Speaker 2: This offense and we saw in the first couple of weeks and certainly the chart well i say that the chargers defense played really the bills coughed it up five times yeah bad read by josh um two interceptions yeah and.
01:10:05
Speaker 1: Not a great post route by dj on that second one.
01:10:08
Speaker 2: Right and and First play of the game, they cough it up. They're playing from behind. They can't get on top of it. Three first half turnovers. Yeah, I don't know how much of that was about the Chargers defense as it was about the Bills just taking a day off mentally.
01:10:26
Speaker 1: Right.
01:10:26
Speaker 2: I mean, you've got to bear down.
01:10:28
Speaker 1: But what are the Patriots going to do? They're going to be punching every single ball on every single play.
01:10:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's the thing. You've got to expect that as an offense.
01:10:35
Speaker 1: That's the atmosphere.
01:10:38
Speaker 2: Of the league now. The defenses aren't allowed to knock you out, go high, target you, do all that stuff that they used to do back in the day. Now they tackle the ball. That's why you see the ball carriers spinning around, holding it and twisting and turning and getting more yards. That never used to happen. Now it happens because the defenses now are trained and they use it to their advantage. They're wrenching the ball out. They're not trying to get you on the ground. They're trying to get the ball out. Or diving at somebody's knees. You've got to be ready for that as an offense. And if you show up a little bit casual mentally, you'd put it on the ground three times.
01:11:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. Got to take a break here. We will get back to the phone calls, though, when we return here on a Thursday edition of One Bill's Life. In what way do you see the Bills offense getting back on track against the Patriots? Well, I'm 716-427-0989, the number to call. We finally have time to get back to the phones, and we're going to do that by going to Butch on the east side. What do you got for us, Butch? Is Butch potted up?
01:12:02
Speaker 2: Oh, I got a Butch.
01:12:04
Speaker 1: I got a Butch on hold. I'm not sure where he is. We go to Mike in Syracuse next. What's up, Mike?
01:12:12
Speaker 2: Chris, Steve, good morning. How you guys doing?
01:12:15
Speaker 3: Good.
01:12:19
Speaker 10: I hate to state the obvious, but there's a lot that can obviously go better with the offense this week because I feel like they struggled last week. I definitely think that for starters, just eliminating a lot of the penalties, I think that some of those were to blame last week on poor refereeing, in my opinion. I didn't think it was the worst I've ever seen, but I wouldn't definitely call it good. So that's definitely a start is just to eliminate a lot of the penalties because that was a drive killer for a lot of our play last week, especially on offense. Next thing I would like to see just keep going, which I know I think Mitch Morse and Eric Wood both kind of touched on this, It's just that if the offense does sputter like we did last week and kind of struggled and things in a lot of different aspects, it's just to keep pushing hard with it and keeping their good attitude towards each other. It's one thing I was happy to see at the game last week was even though things weren't going their way, I don't feel like anybody on the team– got on each other's back and started getting frustrated with one another and whatever. They just kept pushing forward, just kept pushing forward, kept pushing forward to get the job done, which I think is admirable, which I also think reflects upon the coaching that he has his team in a good headspace as far as trusting each other to do what they need to do to win the game. And my last question I just had for you was about Drake May because he came up today. Other than I think the Patriots are a sketchy team, based on their past and how they do things. With this rumor going around that Drake may be injured, how come that hasn't hit any kind of injury report? And it seems as though Rabel says he's fine, but there's a lot of small clues in the lead-in that he may be struggling with that shoulder. I was just curious of your opinions on that, and I'll hang up and listen.
01:14:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, Mike, as I mentioned at the top of the show, he is listed on the Patriots injury report as a full participant with a right shoulder. So that's how they're covering their CYA move, for lack of a better use of words. He's on the injury report as a full participant. And Belichick did this for years with Tom Brady. He was always listed with some kind of right shoulder deal. And not surprisingly, Vrabel, one of his disciples, is following suit here. There is a lot of speculation. And Drake May, first of all, Vrabel dismisses it as impacting his play. to protect his player from being targeted in that area. Because as soon as you say it's a problem, opponents in this league will target that and try to get as many knocks as they can on his shoulder. That's what opponents in the league will do. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's partly the reason why they're dismissing it. May insists it's not an issue affecting his play. He points to his decision-making more than anything else. I got to tell you though, Steve, if this goes another couple of weeks and May continues to look bad, And maybe there are examples of where you wonder about the arm strength. Where does it go?
01:15:23
Speaker 2: I don't know.
01:15:25
Speaker 1: We don't know the severity and whether or not it is a bonafide injury impacting play. But the Patriots are thinking enough to put it on the injury report. So it's not nothing. And it might be just.
01:15:39
Speaker 2: He might have walked into the season not 100% or tried to rehab it from the, you know what I mean? Yeah, because it stemmed from last offseason, the AFC title game. And they're going to try and go through it. It's not he wants to rehab it and that kind of thing. And probably the rigors of the training camp and the regular season get in the way of his continued rehabbing of it and probably fell behind that. It could be all of that stuff. It could be nothing. We don't know. Certainly he had something to get better from. From last season in his shoulder. Who knows? There's no telling. And, yeah, if he's not right, it's on him. It's on them. And it's common. And it's not even considered gamesmanship to poo-poo injuries that may be or may not be substantial. Because guys don't want to let it out. They don't want anybody to know, and it's their career. It's their body. It's their injury. They can do what they want. And we can conjecture all we want as well. But practically speaking, it makes no difference. The guy's playing bad, and whatever the reason is, they've got to overcome it.
01:16:55
Speaker 7: Yeah.
01:16:56
Speaker 1: Let's try a second time with Butch on the east side. Do we have you now, Butch?
01:17:02
Speaker 3: My brothers from another beautiful mother, I love you guys. I love MSG. I love 98.5, 1120 AM. I appreciate you taking this call, and I love seeing my family, my regards to your family. Let me get right to this point. The way I'm looking at this thing now in the midseason, the beginning of the season rather, we always like to look back. at the back part of a season before trade deadline. And we try to pick up players, add to our roster to build it. My thing is this. We got a brand new stadium. Steve, Chris, I talked to you last week, and I asked Steve, I said, Steve, you've been on the other side of cashing checks with the logo on it. I said, are we about the money or are we about winning a championship? And I brought up and I said the weakest link I told you before was Christian Benford on the defense. That was my opinion. This past game, we were struggling in the secondary. Jim Leonard at that time during preseason had a lot of young players playing in the secondary more than what we had. What happened was, unfortunately, Christian got injured. Once Christian left the game, I told you before I wanted IBG and Harrison at corners. Harrison is not really a lockdown, but he has a 4.240. We can close real fast. And IBG's game was being a press corner. It worked for us. The secondary took off. The defense responded. And I hope that they keep that moving forward. Now, I'm not going to be long-winded. I thank you for coming back for me because I had some technical difficulties on my phone.
01:18:56
Speaker 1: But the thing.
01:18:56
Speaker 3: About it is now it's nothing to play with. And this is for my guy who I love so much, Brandon Bean, even though he catch a lot of heat. I want Brandon right now to solidify his Freely, freely. You've got a chance to get the dynamic in your suit, defense and tackle, put him on the practice squad. You've got a chance right now to get Cody Ford, a guard, freely, put him on the practice squad. That way they can go ahead and get implemented to know the system instead of wait until the trade deadline, wait until the end of the season, quote, playoff time, to get somebody. My thing is now it's time to move. I like the way we're moving. I understand that we had a hiccup last week as far as the perfect pitcher as far as Josh Allen. But it's okay. I'm not worried about that. But I just wanted to say that. But before I go, and thanks for taking my call, I have my son Dion, all the Bills backers down in Birmingham, Alabama, down at that one club that they go to the bar down there. They love you, Brownie. They love you, Steve. And if you get an opportunity, whenever you get an opportunity, get a shot. Steve, do me a favor. Send my regards to Luke and tell him that the Delano family again says hello. And, Brownie, you already know, just complain for me. I love you guys, and thanks so much for taking my call.
01:20:17
Speaker 1: All right.
01:20:19
Speaker 4: Thanks, Butch.
01:20:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a little early to start talking, you know, free agent pickups or trade deadline stuff.
01:20:28
Speaker 2: That's early November. We're still a month away from that. The offensive line, he's talking about Cody Ford. I think they like their guys.
01:20:36
Speaker 1: Worked out Cody Ford.
01:20:37
Speaker 2: They worked him out. I think they like the room they've got right now with their offensive line.
01:20:43
Speaker 1: And do not forget, they have Jedrick Wills, the veteran offensive tackle on the practice squad right now. He's healthy again. And I think that that guy could potentially be part of the swing tackle conversation the further we go into the regular season. Tylan Grable's the swing tackle right now. But if Wills keeps coming on, I think he could challenge for that. As for Ndamukong Suh, look, I know he had an exchange with Josh Allen in an interview where he said he would love the opportunity to play for the Bills. The bottom line is this. I don't know that you can definitively take him at his word. First of all, he's 39 years old. Second, he announced his retirement from the NFL officially in July 2025. On the anniversary of his father's passing. And he did that because he said he was honoring his late father's wishes to have him step away from the game. He hasn't played in a regular season game since 2022. So I don't think that's a viable, realistic option. He's 39. Calais Campbell can do it at 39. I don't know if anybody else can at a position other than quarterback or kicker. So I don't think it's a viable plan. So all of that being said, we know Brandon Bean kicks every tire, turns over every rock to try to find upgrades for the roster wherever and however he can. I don't think they're at that place just yet. And fortunately, knock on wood, They haven't had a rash of injuries at any one position specifically where he is pressed into action with his personnel department. So I think they would rather, at least at this point, give the young players playing time, let the season unfold, see if players can ascend into more prominent roles and take it from there. That's where they are at this point in the season.
01:22:49
Speaker 2: And also, Butch, when IGB came on the field... when Benford went out with his toe injury. IGB came in. IGB held up pretty well against the Chargers. I was pretty happy with the way Max and Igbenosin played to finish out that game. Now going into a game, you're a really good player down, which is Benford. You may not think the world of him, but he's an NFL corner that you want on your roster and if not starting, you've got to have him. He may or may not be in this week.
01:23:30
Speaker 1: It's not like the cornerback position is fortified with tremendous depth.
01:23:36
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be an issue going forward. You're going to have depth at that spot is going to be a problem.
01:23:42
Speaker 1: If Benford can't play this week, you're one injury away from being really shorthanded.
01:23:46
Speaker 2: Very shorthanded. Yeah, so But I'm with you. IGB played good. They threw at him. You knew they would. When he came on the field, he was going to get targeted, and he held up. So you've got to like that about what happened this last week, if nothing else.
01:24:03
Speaker 1: We have to take a break here, but we will return and get to Diane and Clarence. She'll lead us off when we get back here. As we are asking you, in what way do you see the Bills' offense getting back on track this week against the Patriots? Your call is next here on One Bills Live. one bills live one segment to go on a thursday edition and we're asking you in what way do you see the bills offense back on track this week against the patriots after a slow and careless ball security afternoon against the chargers and we go back to the phones and to diane in clarence as promised what's up.
01:24:47
Speaker 6: Diane Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. Happy to be back on. First want to make the comment about the Chargers game. As painful as that was to watch, I believe it was somewhat of a good thing. It shows the grit that this team and the coaching staff has. I think it was a good momentum booster, good confidence booster to know that this team is better than what they were playing. And secondly, to answer your question, I know that our, oh, Kincaid and Knox have been playing a great game, but I'd love to see a couple plays in there sprinkled with Palmer and Shakir a little bit more. Nothing too fancy, but maybe something unexpected to throw the Patriots off a little bit. So that would be my comment on that. Secondly, I was wondering, I've always known Greg Rousseau to be a good player, but obviously we're really seeing it this year. He is playing a different position. Maybe you can explain to me and some others what is the major impact to propelling him into how he's playing right now. And lastly... No more new uniforms. They are a bad omen. Nobody likes them, and I don't want to beat a dead horse. Let's stick to the white, the blue, and the red. And I will hang up and listen to your comments. Thank you.
01:26:25
Speaker 1: All right. Thanks, Diane.
01:26:28
Speaker 2: Thanks, Diane.
01:26:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, there is a very vocal minority that believes that any time the Bills wear alternate uniforms, the team doesn't perform as well. They're going to be wearing them again. They're going to do it in Week 15 against the Bears in that Saturday night home game. So the Nickel City uniforms will return then, Week 15. And I believe they're wearing the rivalry uniforms once as well. I want to say it's against Miami. I think I have that right.
01:26:55
Speaker 2: You might be right.
01:26:55
Speaker 1: So the rivalry uniforms will return again as well.
01:26:58
Speaker 2: I haven't been keeping track of it since we got on.
01:27:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, I haven't either. I can't pretend to know what the one loss record is when they wear alternate uniforms collectively.
01:27:06
Speaker 2: There has been some talk, though, about your other points, Diane, about– Palmer and Shakir. Shakir in particular hasn't been getting too many targets. Palmer, most notably, two targets, two touchdowns. He's come through when they've needed him. But this offense, I think in the current state that it's in, it's humming so big. And DJ Moore is soaking up some targets. That's what happens to the guys that are down the pecking order, particularly when you've got Kincaid, Cook, is running the football well. Kincaid is the number two target behind DJ. If you put DJ one or Kincaid one and DJ two, take your pick. All of a sudden, you're down. You're only talking about a handful of targets left over for everybody, let alone Shakir and Palmer and Hawes and Knox and Ty Johnson when he's in there on third down. So there's only one ball to go around. That's where you're at.
01:28:02
Speaker 1: Thanks to all the callers who called in on the Duntire Fan Hotline presented by Duntire, a proud partner of the Buffalo Bills. Want to check in quickly on the social sheet via our social media platforms presented by Utica National Insurance Group, official home, auto, and business insurance partner of the Buffalo Bills. That's where Cooper said, hey, just less turnovers, not much else to it. Dinah says hoping they will focus on what they did right the first two weeks while having a plan to keep the Pats from following the Charger playbook. Andrew says, I see them protecting the ball more. They got too careless. Avoid the punch out. Be smart. Once you have the first down, just go down. Fighting for yards increases the chances of a punch out. He's not wrong. Dean says, sustained drives, ending in touchdowns. No need to shoot the deep ball unless you get a shot off a play action or double move. Don't force it. And number one, ball security. And then David says, divisional games always bring out the best. I think Buffalo will negate their rush with the short passing game. Look for Shakira and Coleman to have big games, 4-0. Thanks for all your comments today. Steve and I will be back tomorrow. The OBL Fan Friday mailbag is open. Ask your questions at OneBillsLive on X. We'll see you tomorrow.