The ULTIMATE 2025 Buffalo Bills Preview

The ULTIMATE 2025 Buffalo Bills Preview

The Buffalo Bills coming off a 13-4 season, AFC East champions again for what, five straight years now, whatever it’s been since uh Tom Brady left the AFC East and another disappointing finish in the AFC Championship, just missing that opportunity to get back to the Super Bowl. Uh Josh Allen coming off of his MVP season and as we’ve been doing on this show, we’ve been going through FanDuel, our friends over here, our, you know, future partners here in the next couple weeks. uh overunder at FanDuel’s 11 and a half wins here for the Bills. Very much hope they uh they continue that otherwise we’ve got some remodeling to do in the studio. Yeah, they you know hope they don’t back out in the next couple weeks. That would be embarrassing. Sorry, what was the question? Bills uh Bills discuss um they like the Baltimore Ravens like a couple of the other teams we’ve talked about so far. I mean you expect Buffalo to be one of the contending teams this season um and be you know basically as good as any team in the NFL. They have already dodged a bullet in terms of training camp injuries. Uh first round pick Maxwell Haristston went down what looked like a nasty serious injury and and was feared he was down long term. Turns out it’s a a more minor knee injury. Uh and they they expect to have him back uh in a few weeks. But, you know, this is this is always the X factor that’s out here for the next few weeks is practices are happening, training camps going live, and every single day is an opportunity for somebody important, unfortunately, to go down and change change the math leaguewide. Um, high level, when we talk about the Bills, and have mentioned this a few times this offseason, as we always do, I I think it’s important for a team that comes so close every year, has these heartbreaking losses in the playoffs. I I always want to see how they react to it. If it’s something drastic, if there’s a a massive overhaul to what they’re doing and and I don’t think we’re seeing that. I think the only reaction the Bills may have had and and I don’t know that this was conscious or not was to just stock up on defensive linemen and corners for that. And and now that you mentioned, okay, Haristston has an injury. I mean, they spent almost all their draft capital on defensive linemen and cornerbacks, you know, a lot of slot corners. And those are the things that have really hurt the last couple years. For fear of going side getting sidetracked too much, I’ll just bring this up quickly. The Red Sox. I was watching their documentary from the 2004 about the 2004 Red Sox. It it reminded me so much of the Bills and maybe even the Ravens. The whole documentary is about how the Red Sox spent all those years trying to beat the Yankees and how did they do it and how do they reset the culture to try to try to do it and they had all this heartbreak and heartbreak and heartbreak and they just kind of kept at it and just got better and better and at some point they got over the hump and since that point they’ve been better than the Yankees. I I couldn’t help but think like Brandon Bean, uh Shawn McDermott, like they should be showing this thing in the locker room to the Bills. There’s so many to me there’s so many parallels to the Bills and to the Ravens. Like Harbaugh should be doing this with the Ravens. There’s these parallels of how do you get over the hump against this team that continues to just have your number in the biggest moments and and always seems to get the break and always seems to make that one last play. And I don’t know if there’s something tangible the Bills can do like how how do you convert the QB sneak on fourth and one? How do you make that one last play? How do you make that one stop against Mahomes and the Chiefs? But I think they’re still in position once again the Bills to make that run. But there’s got to be something that gets them over the hump in the playoffs. Yeah, there does. Um, Buffalo I think is has been in a tricky position recently because they’re the f the best example of that I can think of in recent years where you know they they are confronted with this decision every offseason like do we change something significant to get over that hump as you said or have we just been kind of unlucky you know and we tend to think well if you’ve been three or four times in the same situation you lose all the time that’s that’s not luck but it could be I You know, if you flip a coin four times, it wouldn’t blow your mind if it came up heads four times in a row. Like, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that you can just end up coming the wrong side of like four consecutive close calls. And I think that’s basically what they’ve determined is no, we don’t need to do anything crazy. We’re not going to blow it up. We’re not going to, you know, do something radical. We’re just going to keep knocking on the door. And I think from their point of view, I think that is the right call. I I do I don’t think that their failures quote unquote in the postseason are indicative of some critical flaw in the roster or the coaching staff or the quarterback. I honestly think they’ve just been close and you know maybe you can say beaten by better teams but you know the the correct thing for them to do is to just keep getting there again and hope that this time you know 13 seconds goes their way. From a personnel standpoint, what you’re saying, this team looks well stocked once again, right? There’s not much turnover. The one starter going into the draft that they that they may have needed to look at was corner and they did draft Maxwell Haristston in the first round. Luckily, again, he did not tear that ACL and should be back within a few weeks as we record here. Um, but the entire offensive line is back. You’ve got the MVP and Josh Allen. The offensive line, by the way, Brandon Thorne ranked them second in our offensive line show. Former MVP, right? didn’t win. Well, he won it this year. He’s the reigning getting the years mixed up. Just cut that out. Lamar Jackson. I understand. It’s been a long offseason. Yeah. Um reigning MVP. Once it’s like being a president, though, like once you’re an MVP, you’re always an MVP. So, we could say MVP Lamar Jackson because he’s MVP Cam Newton, MVP that kicker one time in 82, whoever that was. Um so, anyway, um I know we’ve talked a lot about the Bills exceed that it matters a ton. Remember last year we said look I feel like they’ve built this receiving core with a whole bunch of inside tight split slot type of weapons. Khalil Shakir, Dalton Concincaid, Keon Coleman probably excels there the most. Um but they bring in Josh Palmer now to play on the outside. I think they have enough weapons given the way Allen is able to play. And my favorite part about the way the Bills have evolved these last couple years is I think the run game is getting better and better and there’s more games that the Bills play every year now where it’s less on Josh Allen. I know he just won the MVP, but there’s more games where he doesn’t have to do as much over these last couple seasons and that’s better for the overall uh team and their ability to win in different ways. Yeah. And I think part of that is the offensive line getting better and better year. Um, and you know, we covered this a little bit with Brandon Thorne on our offensive line ranking show that you can find out there. Uh, if you haven’t watched or listened to that already, go check it out. But, you know, remember at the start of this whole Josh Allen thing, the Bills seemed to take the the real creep back toward average approach in the offensive line. Didn’t invest huge, but threw a lot of bodies at it. And for a while, it was an average offensive line or a line that was, you know, going to be in and around that area. And then Aaron Chromemer comes over. Um, you know, one of those offensive line coaches that has an incredible reputation and Brandon Thorne made this point. That line has gotten better and better every year since he’s been there. So, I think you’re seeing some of the the benefits of that, the dividends that’s paying, Josh Allen having his best seasons, but also that run game more and more potent as that line gets better. Hey guys, real quick, only 40% of our viewers are actually subscribed. So, let’s change that. Hit that subscribe button. And now let’s get back to the action. So that’s when we do our previews and reviews throughout the season. I mention that a lot, right? Can the can the Bills win without relying on Josh Allen, you know, break glass in case of emergency on third and four and, you know, some some key downs? But the more that they can rely on James Cook, those playmakers, and the offensive line, as you say, I think the better for the long term of the Bills. The one last thing I’ll say, too, remember they they keep beating the Chiefs in the regular season and losing in the playoffs, right? I I don’t know if there’s something in football that you can do. Like we’ve got this perception that the Chiefs don’t try as hard and then they turn it on in the playoffs. I don’t know if there’s a way to explore that for the Bills in those big games. I if there’s a way to save your best for the playoffs, I think we should consider that if you’re Sean McDermott in Buffalo. It’s it’s a it’s a tricky one that they keep, you know, running up against. And then defensively, I mean, when we were talking about the Bills around draft time, right after the draft, I’m like, they’re 12 deep on this defensive line. I know some of their offseason additions are suspended, right? But they’ll be back. Michael Hoy and Larry Yogen Joby, but uh Joey Bosa, another guy, bubble wrap him until January, but they’ve loaded up on depth on that defensive line. And I would say that was the one team building move that I think Brandon Bean did, which was say we don’t want to go with a depleted defensive line, with a depleted secondary into the playoffs like we have in past years. Yeah. And that’s an area where they kind of need luck to just bounce their way a bit, right? Like they’ve had defensive linemen injured going into the most critical games. They also remember last year the the effect that losing corners had on them, right? they they had to change game plan because Kyrie Imam has to come in, can’t run the defense that they want to run. Suddenly the whole game plan goes out the window. Like things like that have, you know, detrimentally harmed the the Bills in the playoffs in the last couple of seasons. And again, look, this happens to a bunch of teams. It’s it’s all about how you overcome that kind of thing. But it also just shows how dependent sometimes you are on a little bit of luck bouncing your way. like Buffalo, they’ve sort of earned karmically earned a season where Joey Bosa doesn’t get hurt. You know what I mean? Like that that’s the kind of history they’ve got in the last couple of years that they’re owed one. They they’re owed like Joey Bose actually hitting his best form week 18 and rolling into the postseason looking like the old Joey Boza. Um the defensive line I I have a soft spot for defensive lines that are built with depth and different body types. This might be the best out of all those. Gregory Rouso who’s as long as I mean nobody wins with length in the NFL as well as Rouso. Um you have the undersized pass rusher. Uh TJ Sanders rookie out of South Carolina. You have Dion Walker at 340 50 60 pounds. Uh dancing bear type and is you know 6’6. I love the different body types that they’re throwing at the offensive line. This is uh Landon Jackson and his length off the edge at AR from Arkansas. For the people tracking Steve’s ideal roster composition, your defensive line wants to look like, you know, UFC 1 where it’s like a 6’1, 210 lb kickboxer going up against a sumo wrestler. Yeah, that’s that’s what you want your defensive line to look like. Every single possible body type thrown in there. Yeah, that’s what they have. Ed Oliver on the other size. They just have a whole bunch of different types. AJ Epanessa. Um, so I’m just I’m rattling off all these defensive linemen. And I do think even if some of those get guys get hurt um or and it’s not that they’re all great, it’s just the depth and their ability to rotate and then hopefully stay fresh by the end of the year. I think that’s a big part of their strategy this year. I mean, clearly that’s what they that’s their sort of plan, right? Like the do what do you do in the offseason to try and get over this hump? What they’ve tried to do is to insulate themselves from those injuries that have derailed postseason runs like losing, you know, a quarterback for a game in in the playoffs. They loaded up on that defensive line so that theoretically no one or two injuries should derail them. They tried to do it a corner. You know, it’s a little bit tougher, but they bring in a collection of corners. Harrison, they also drafted Dorian Strong lower down in the draft as well. So, they’ve they’ve tried to um you know, ensure themselves against that kind of not catastrophe, but that kind of body blow late in the year. Uh let’s wrap it up with this. The Bills had incredible, you know, turnover rate last last year and and defensively they’ve they’ve forced a lot of turnovers the last couple years. It’s general analysis is like that’s difficult to maintain. But you were sending me something this offseason like they’ve they’ve done a pretty good job at least on the defensive side forcing the turnovers. I think Allen and the offense, they were great at taking care of the ball last year. That is usually something that reverts back to the mean, but the Bills have been on the the positive side of this the last couple years. Yeah. And it it’s not to say that it that’s never possible. I mean, Lovey Smith had an incredible track record, particularly with Chicago where that Bears defense always overperformed a sort of standard, you know, can you force turnovers type of deal. So, usually if you if you play more zone, that old school cover two type of scheme, you’re going to have your eyes on the ball. You’re going to be able to turn it over more. And you had a guy like Charles Tilman, you know, a guy literally a sort of specialist of forcing the ball out. So you can force turnovers at a greater rate than other people if you make it a genuine focus and you play certain types of defenses. It is generally a fairly noisy um statistic and I think it is always it’s always at least vulnerable to going back in the other direction in a way that’s outside of your control. So even if you do the same thing every year, you’re like well some one year you’re just not going to get those turnovers. Um, but yeah, I think it is fair to say that this Bills defense has become extremely good at forcing turnovers. All right, man. Let’s wrap it up here with uh a pick over under 11 and a half wins here for the Bills and we’ll have our official predictions for the season. In a couple weeks when we go to circa, we’ll do a special show uh kicking off our division winners and Super Bowl winners and everything. But I’ll ask you here though, like is this the year that the Bills get over the hump and do they go over under the 11 and a half? And this is tied for the highest mark in the in the league, right? Yeah, I don’t think anyone’s above 11 and a half. Bills, uh, Ravens, I believe, are up there. And if you look at them the last few years, they’ve sort of bounced either side of this. They’ve been 11 or 13 in each of the last what, five years straight. Um, I will go with this being a 13- win year as opposed to an 11 win year. There you go. So that’s over. I’ll take the over again as well. And a big part of this like depends on how strong you think the AFC East is. We’ll talk about those other three teams right now. But with the Dolphins taking a step back on paper, maybe the Patriots look a little bit better. The Jets are in transition. I think you know the Bills might be remember they they locked up the division before they even played the Patriots once last year. One of my favorite stats of all time. That’s how dominant they were in the way the schedule worked out. So, I’m expecting them to, you know, win it by December again, most likely the AFC East. Thanks for watching all the way to the end of our video. Check the mic is live every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So, be sure to hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss a thing. The all knowing algorithm is convinced that you’ll like these videos as well. And frankly, who we’d argue?

Steve Palazzolo and Sam Monson are back in the studio to preview the ENTIRE 2025 Buffalo Bills season! 💙❤️

After another heartbreaking playoff exit, the Bills head into 2025 with plenty to prove. Josh Allen remains one of the league’s elite quarterbacks, and now he has a new-look offense after the arrival of rookie playmaker Keon Coleman alongside Stefon Diggs. Buffalo’s defense, led by Matt Milano and a revamped secondary, will look to stay dominant after an injury-filled 2024.

With the AFC loaded with contenders, can Buffalo finally break through and reach the Super Bowl? Or will the window start to close in a competitive AFC East?

Steve and Sam dive into it all — from Allen’s MVP potential to key defensive X-factors, breakout candidates, and how Sean McDermott’s squad stacks up against the AFC’s elite.

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