BILLS SQUAD SHOW: RESPECT on Sean McDermott’s name; Bosa hurt; BUF/CIN preview

BILLS SQUAD SHOW: RESPECT on Sean McDermott’s name; Bosa hurt; BUF/CIN preview

I’m Jeremy White and it’s going to be about having a better start against Joe Burrow. I’m Joe Marino and with games against Joe Burrow and Drake May, the next two and a slumping pass rush. I’m pretty concerned. I’m the big Jerry Estroski. Do your eyes match what the EPA says about the Bills defense? This is the Locked on Network and you’re watching Bill Squad. Who’s ready? Bills Mafia. It’s the Bills Squad. Everything Buffalo Bills every week. Breaking down the big hits and gamechanging plays the way only the Locked on Podcast Network can. Nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills. So gear up and squad up. The Bill Squad Show starts now. Welcome in Bills Mafia. Good afternoon. Jeremy White, Joe Marino, and the big O, Jerry Ostroski here as your midweek Bill Squad episode is underway. Today’s episode is sponsored by Price Picks. Download the Price Picks app today and use code lockdown NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Today, of course, we’ll preview the Bills and Bengals and get to some other things as well, including the news that uh Darius Slay is not going to report to the Buffalo Bills. That actually has just happened. We’ve learned that in the last hour or so. So, something to consider that Darius Slay will not report to the Buffalo Bills because he’s either going to retire or maybe thought he was going to go to the Philadelphia Eagles. So, Joe, did you already put out a lockdown episode about Slay’s impact and now you got to walk it back. Listen, this is the rare win that I’m going to take. I didn’t do any of that because it was crossover Thursday and so that would have been something I captured in the Friday episode, but uh I’m saved. I don’t have to deal with it. All right. What? he he still might play for them. Like, should we get a cliffnotes version of it just in case he does decide not to retire? I saw Shawn Marramman is already pleading with him like, “Hey, man, you should go to the Bills.” Well, the Bills hold his rights. So, that’s the the thing. No matter what he wants if he wants to go play for the Eagles, which is what I think everyone suspects. Oh, the Bills hold his rights. And, you know, I’m be very curious to see how Brandon Bean leverages that because I’m guessing he claimed him because he wanted him and didn’t want him to go to the Eagles. And so, uh, there’s that dynamic, but just in considering the potential of that move, I was initially thinking, well, what’s the point? I mean, they have Trey White and Max Haristston platooning on one spot. Christian Benford’s really coming into his own as the the top CB. And it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. And then I thought to myself, well, the Christian Benford annual injury in the elimination game or the game before the elimination game is no fun. And we’ve seen Dane Jackson and uh Russell Douglas trying to play through injury and playoff games. And so what what does it hurt to have that type of depth? You know, a guy that won a Super Bowl last year. He’s not he’s not what he was. But in in Pittsburgh, I think a lot of the reason for his failure is that they played a lot of man coverage. He’s not a man coverage corner. Never has been. And so in this type of defense, it’s probably a better fit. And it doesn’t hurt to have the depth. But it was kind of complicated, barring an injury, to see how he would actually get on the field. This is right in line with what I’ve always thought about Darius Slay. I mean, this does not shock me that he’s not going to show up and that he’s being a problem. He hasn’t he’s not even on the team and he’s being an issue, which doesn’t shock me, but I what I want to know is does Brandon Bean call up uh Ingram and go psych, we’re bringing you back, right? Um, which, you know, that’ll be interesting to see how that whole thing’s handled if now Ingram comes back on the roster if they put um, you know, Slay on the will not show up or whatever list that they have and they got 19 lists in the league as far as that goes. But yeah, not a shock to me. It’s what I’ve been saying since uh, the Bills claimed him off of waiverss. Um, he’s a problem and I hope he stays away. Not a reliable guy. Drew Rosenhouse had a statement. So, he told ESPN about the decision. Slay is honored that a first class organization like the Bills claimed him, but he’s going to take some time away from football right now and decide in the next few days if he wants to keep playing. And I’d just like to take a moment that it’s nice to live in an era of Bill’s doom and Bill’s fandom where we don’t have to freak out about this that he didn’t want to come here, right? Like most players are good with it and would be very excited about it. And it’s not this um it’s not Antonio Brown saying I would never go to that Siberian franchise or anything like that. You don’t want to come. All right, maybe you want to retire. Fine. That that’s fine. Uh, so I just appreciate that we don’t have to freak out about it, but Darius Slay will not be coming. And Drew Rosenhouse, uh, you know, Jerry, you know how that works. The agent says it in a nice way. Is that what this is? A little bit of a cover from the agent because the player maybe thought he was going to go to Philadelphia, go back home for one last kick at the camp. This is the agent doing what he’s supposed to do so he doesn’t screw up future negotiations with the Buffalo Bills when he has other players that he represents coming to Buffalo. That’s what this is. Um, this has nothing to do with with trying to be nice and and all that stuff with with Slay. He’s trying to make sure his future players are okay in Buffalo because we know how relationships can sour in that area. But yeah, I’m what I’m excited for is if if Bill’s Mafia gets after Darius Slay in social media. I I’m just waiting with baited breath for for Darius’s wife to show up on social media because she’s she’s top-notch as far as entertainment goes with some of the stuff that she puts out with. So, I’m I’m I’m excited for that. Big play sleigh is now no play slay for the Buffalo Bills. Stay away slay. Stay away sle. Yeah, we can have a lot of fun with this. Um the Ingram piece does feel kind of weird, but also at the same time, you’re talking about a guy that was a healthy scratch the last three weeks and what did the Bills have like five guys ruled out last week and if you were one of the two guys that was chosen to be inactive. I think that says something. And I I have a lot of respect for Jamarcus Ingram. A lot of versatility, can help on special teams. Um but I don’t think he’s a guy with a lot of options. And so I think he’s gonna be really happy if the corresponding move is for him to return to the active roster. I always thought he’d get back to the practice squad as well. So, there’s probably something awkward about it, but at the same time, I don’t think teams were lining up for Ingram, and I’m sure he’s going to be happy to be back back in the mix in Buffalo. Yeah. So, we’ll get into Shawn McDermott and the defense and the job he’s doing with this defense. They’re looking for help. I do want to call out something. We’ve got someone that uh pointed something out in the chat in the YouTube chat. I want to get you right away cuz it’s a great comment and it’s a call back Joe to something you said last week on the show or maybe two weeks ago on the show when you’re you’re asking for the where’s the old Brandon Bean that takes a guy off a practice squad and turns him into something. This is an unexpected roster spot all of a sudden, right? You you waved Ingram Slay’s not going to report. All right, maybe you call Jammarcus Ingram back or maybe you say, “Well, how about somebody off a practice squad? You need help at defensive end. Joey Bosa is going to miss a couple weeks or maybe you like a young corner. I I don’t know. Like the fact that they were going outside the organization. He’s a veteran. He’s probably done a lot and can can do a lot. So the idea of reps in this system wouldn’t really apply to him. Maybe they wouldn’t need to. But you do have an unexpected roster spot. And if it’s anything like me finding 20 bucks in my pocket, then I think we lost you just a little there at the end, Jeremy. But I the point being is open roster spot, an opportunity for Brandon Bean to potentially do something against the grain. And certainly, I mean, this defensive end situation is not looking good. Joey Bosa hamstring, I think he’s going to miss a couple games, which is not great when your next two games are against Burrow and May. And you’re playing TJ Sanders at defensive end to begin with right now, which drives me insane. It’s just not a spot for him that makes any sense to me, but it’s out of necessity, but I don’t think it helps TJ Sanders or the Bills defense. And so, yeah, I’d love to I’d love to see the Bills PR put out a post on tweet on Twitter that says they signed some player. The next thing you know, we’re we’re googling seeing what this player is about. We find out that they’re athletic and has some upside and we can get excited. But, um, you know, I I guess I kind of feel like it’s just going to be Ingram back, but I I guess I’d be hopeful to be surprised. Well, another another place that you could look at, and I saw this recently, is is this something where if now all of a sudden Kade with the knee injury and that whole thing lingers, is this maybe where you try to go find, you know, I know Zach Davidson’s on the Giants, I believe, practice squad, maybe bring him back as far as that pass catching tight end. We know he’s not a great inline blocker, but he does have pass running route running abilities. Maybe bring him back. Um, I don’t know. I mean, I’d like to see us try to go find a defensive guy that’s young that maybe we could develop, but everybody else wants to, too. And those guys are protected. So, it’ll be interesting to see how that all works out. One of the initial thoughts that I had when waiting for the corresponding move, so we find out that the Bills claimed Darius Sllay. I’m thinking, okay, well, where are they getting the roster spot? I was nervous that somebody was going to go on injured reserve and there’s a lot of candidates. And I thought the fact that nobody did go on injury reserve was a bit of a a good sign for some of the availability of guys that were hoping to get back soon. Was your biggest fear Bosa for that after hearing like one to two weeks maybe hoping it’s not four to five and they got more information? Bosa, Spencer Brown, Josh Palmer. Yeah, I think there even Terrell Bernard. Um I mean I’m I’m happy that Shaq Thompson’s in the lineup and I like what he brings, but I think the fact that none of those guys went to injured reserve is is a good sign. Well, let’s get to Bosa. So, the timeline is week to week and McDermott wanted to make a point where he didn’t know if that meant to one to two or four to five and that they’ve got their hopes. So, a hamstring injury. Jerry, how about how delicate this could be? If it’s if it’s Bosa’s hamstring that’s going to keep them two weeks, that’s something. If it’s five weeks, um, healthy for the playoffs is the goal. I would think you’d love to have him back as soon as possible, but healthy for the playoffs. What does a hamstring mean for a defensive end or for a lineman there in terms of timelines and how when you do get back to feeling like you can play again, how hampered are you? How how much are you at risk of reinjury? Well, I think the biggest thing for Bose is getting him ready for the playoffs. Uh at his advanced age and the fact that you don’t heal up as quick and he does have injury history, you make sure he’s ready for the playoffs. one benefit from this hamstring injury. If there is a benefit, it gives the wrist now time to heal and hopefully that thing heals up longer, you know, better as he gets towards the playoffs. But when you look at hamstring injuries, you got to see where it is. The higher up on the hamstring, the higher up more towards the towards your glute, the worse it is. I would have to think with him being out, you know, supposedly multiple weeks, it is a higher type of uh tear or pull in the hamstring, which takes a lot longer. For Bosa, it’s extremely detrimental. It’s like last year when we watched Ed Oliver try to drag a leg around most of the season. These guys are power guys and they get their power from their posterior chain. You know, those those muscles on the back side of you, that low back, the glutes, the the hamstrings, and with that thing being compromised and Bosa being such a power oriented rusher, that will that will hamper his pass rush. So my thing is I would rather him ready for the playoffs, piece meal it together somehow some way to get through these games and have some sort of success and then have a healthy Joey Bosa in the playoffs. He leads the league in forced fumbles. He hasn’t been maybe the sack machine you wanted. I feel like he’s done Joe everything you could have hoped he would do as a part of this defense at this point. Oh, absolutely. And and I think if he never had the wrist injury, the sack totals would be even higher. I mean, I I I love the way he plays. I love what he brings to the defense, the energy. Um, he’s a guy that can legitimately win one-on- ones. And even with the wrist injury, you saw other teams concerned about him. Like, they were helping to that side continuously. And that’s a pretty big deal. And so, um, I guess this is kind of what you signed up with with for Joey Bosa. You know, he’s been injured quite a bit. And so I I think Jerry’s spot on where the the goal has to be getting him optimized for the postseason. And I think what helps about kind of the current status of the team is let’s be honest, the one seed’s not in play. They got a really really really outside shot at the division. Who cares if you’re the five, six, or seven? I I don’t really I don’t really care too much. And you’re going to you’re going to go to what? The the the winner of the AFC South, who cares? Uh the winner of the AFC North, who cares? The winner I mean Denver. Okay. They might have the one seed or the New England. I don’t know. I don’t think it matters that much. And so that takes some of the pressure off, I think, to put him out there any sooner than you need to knowing that just get him right for the playoffs and try to get the best version of Joey Bosa. Then I think that’d be a big deal for your defense and help overcome what I think has been the Bill’s biggest problem in the playoffs, which has been the pass rush. So that big problem in the playoffs, Joe, you had some numbers you tweeted out. I’ve got them here. I want to read them for everybody. that pass rush has been a problem the last month or so in in a very big way that weeks one through nine in sack rate, pressure rate, uh pass rush over expectation, average time to pressure, average time to sack, like they were a top 10 unit in a lot of those numbers and top five in three of them. And now without running through the names again, the ranks are 31, 30, 31, 22, and 30. Like this this pass rush has completely evaporated. And what what’s the biggest reason for this? I mean, Michael Hoy gave you a game and a half of it. So, it’s not all like nine games of Michael Hoy and then he left. What changed about this pass rush? The Bosa injury is a part of it. Is it that I guess Epanessa was hurt? They got guys playing out of position. Like they’re in real trouble. Feel like Jerry’s chomping at the bit to say something here. No, I think some of it has to do with and and and we talked about how great they were against Kansas City. I think some of it had to do with stylistic play against who you were playing against. I think this is a really good group when you had Bosa, you had a three-man rush. They’re able to play the spy in the middle. They kind of played that deal where they went the dime and um and Dorian Williams became the extra rusher. They did an excellent job against Kansas City where they penned Mahomes in and then they got him down late. It wasn’t like quick wins. When you’re playing against some of these quarterbacks they played against recently like Mills and Houston and and some of the others, they’re not winning pass rushes right away. It’s not a one-on-one win. I mean, Bosa’s done the best job of it out of anybody. But where they’ve had their success in rushing the passer to me, besides Bosa, has been when it’s that package style of pass rush where you’re trying to cage rush, contain that quarterback, when he tries to get out, you get him on the ground. So, um I think that’s where the success was more than just immediate win rate. And now the guy that did have the immediate win rate because Russo’s been good, but he hasn’t been as good as he was last year or whatever for whatever reason. Um they have very seldom one-on-one automatic wins. It’s more, you know, pressure type stuff or package type rushes as opposed to just one-on- ones. I think you make a great call out, Jerry, that there’s a lot of opponent dynamics that affect this over the last four games, which is the sample of real concern where there’s really no production. It’s Miami, Tampa Bay, Houston, and Pittsburgh. Well, you got Tua and you got Aaron Rogers, the two fastest trigger quarterbacks in the NFL. You know, they don’t get pressured and two of the lowest pressured quarterbacks in the league. And you have Houston and Davis Mills who when he was in there was throwing the ball to his first read at the highest rate of any quarterback. He he knows his limitations. They knew the offensive line issues that they have there. And then Baker who was kind of playing through that oblique. And uh I think he was kind of stylistically different than he normally is. And so I think you make a really good point in that your pass rush package that was so effective, you didn’t need it as much against these opponents. And you know, we even got into some conversations about like how much of that should they save, right, for for the bigger moments in in the postseason. And so there there probably is some of that, but it’s got to wake up quick. We’re talking about I mean, this is not the same thing here with Burrow and Drake May the next two. The these are huge games and these are quarterbacks that are that they’ll take sacks. Both of them will take a ton of sacks, but you got to get there. And um I I want to see I want to see it come to life this week, but who who’s going to who’s the guy that you feel comfortable going out there and winning one-on- ones? I think it’s they’re going to have to relying on scheme in some ways to to get home. I want to bring up this point as well. Don’t fall into the trap of blaming it on Ed Oliver and Michael Hoy not playing that. The pass rush was better before they got hurt. Ed’s availability this season was what about three games maybe, right? And then he was out. Michael Hoy played a game and a half. So you can’t really say well because Hoyon and Oliver are out that’s why the pass rushes dropped off. They weren’t on the field very long as it was. So this that that’s something you got to look at and not really, you know, try to go to because it’s just not true because of their limited availability this season. What I do think is fair though is when you couple that with Dayquin Jones in a calf missing a bunch of times. DJ Sanders has been on injured reserve. We know that Bosa at times is playing with one hand. Um F Matis injured reserve. AJ Aanessa miss this time who he didn’t it doesn’t look like he practiced today. So there’s been Russo was playing. Yeah. Was he was playing was something earlier in the season and me. Yeah. So like maybe it’s not necessarily Hon and Oliver but who’s been Deion Walker’s been the only one and Javon Solomon. That’s it. Bill Squad Show here. We’ll uh get a break in and when we return the title of the episode is about McDermott and whether or not he’s getting enough pressure and this pass rush conversation does kind of weave right into that. Who is their defensive line? Who do they have they can count on? How about the secondary and how they’ve gone through changes? Same at defensive uh or same at linebacker. So when we return, is McDermott getting enough credit? Which uh I think I can say in our in our group chat, we’re wondering if uh the the commenters will be spicy on this one. Mcder’s got his detractors for sure. Uh, all of us at some points during his time here, but is he sneaky having a great year? We’ll get to that next here on the Bill Squad Show. This episode of Bill Squad brought to you by Prize Picks. You and I make decisions every day on Prize Picks. Being right can get you paid. Don’t miss any of the excitement of this sports season. Whether you’re following the NFL, NBA, or both, there’s no better time to jump in on the action. If you haven’t tried it yet, Prize Picks, a simple way to just pick more or less on at least two player stats. If you get them right, you win. Takes less than 60 seconds to make your lineup. You can play anywhere Prize Picks operates, including California, Texas, and Georgia. And if you’re using Prize Picks, you know how it works. They’ve got the stacks feature. Love it. It’s a game changer. You can pick more on Steph Curry’s points, threes, and assists in the same lineup. Maybe throw in some uh James Cook stats for this as well because he might have a big game come Sunday. Plus, if your one player leaves early with an injury, the injury reboot can save you and your lineup from a loss. So, download the Prize Pix app today and use code lockdown NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code lockdown NFL for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, it’s good to be right. It’s the Bill Squad Show. Jeremy White, Joe Marino, and the big O Jerry Ostroski. All right, Tim McDermott and whether or not he’s getting enough credit here. The good news is it’s I guys, it’s good to have this conversation right before Joe Burrow and Drake May, two of the best pocket passers that the Bills will face this year. But the defense, the numbers are that it’s pretty good and it’s definitely really good against the pass. I saw EPA per drop back, the three teams ahead of them, it’s the Rams, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Houston Texans. And then it’s the Bills on drop back per EPA per play. Those other three teams, guys, I think of as elite nasty pass defenses. And I don’t think the Bills get that reputation yet in the numbers, they’ve been pretty darn good against the pass, which is always like the hallmark of a Shawn McDermott defense. That’s what they want to be. So, is it his best job? Does he deserve more credit than he’s getting for what they’ve done? He he and Bobby Babich, of course. I think I’d like to start by just saying it’s a hard conversation. Um, not necessarily because of the the nature of the the subject matter. It’s just I think it’s hard to come away with the perfect perspective on it because I think you can look at you can zoom out and look at the tenure, right? and and feel like he’s responsible for so much of the success and all the good things that have happened, but at the same time, he’s responsible for why they haven’t gotten it done in the biggest moments. And it’s him and his defense. And, you know, I I give him some level of grace for the amount of injuries that have happened defensively, especially late in the season, that take away from what you want to be in those big moments. And you also look at a lot of the criticism that exists for Brandon Bean and maybe how he’s failed to build up certain parts of this roster. And then that’s the hand that Shawn McDermott’s dealt and the results are typically pretty good. And so does that mean that he’s getting more out of the investments that a lot of people don’t like that Bean has been making? I think it’s very very challenging. If you want to just laser it in on this particular team, I think he is kind of overachieving based on the talent. I mean, we just talked about all of the players up front that are not there. Linebackers have been in and out all What position hasn’t been in and out all season long on this defense? There’s not a single one. Cole Bishop, it’s like the only guy that’s been there the whole year. Um, and so I I do give him a lot of credit for that, especially when I don’t think there’s been very good complimentary football from the offense. I think the offense continues to put the defense in very very bad spots. And so, if we’re just lasering in on that, I I do think that Shawn McDermott does deserve quite a bit of credit for how this has performed. His his involvement has mattered a ton coming out of the buy. And so I think there’s a lot of of good to to point to there, but like the big picture conversation’s tricky and complicated. Uh I just want you to know I knocked on my desk after that Cole Bishop comment you just made. Um made sure I knocked on wood real real real real good. But but anyway, you know, the way I look at this is, and you’re right, Joe, I mean, it is a very tricky conversation, but when you look at this Buffalo Bills team right now through week 13, they’re ranked third in the league in most games lost due to injury. 212 games missed due to injury by players. Um they attribute that to through advanced analytics about 123 missed points um that the Bills don’t have because of injury. Um and this number is going to go up exponentially after the Bosa news and everything else. I mean it’s going to go up higher to where at some point this team might be number one in the league. But when you look at this team and you can only use with what you have available, right, as a coach and it is, you know, we’ve all known and made it a point that, you know, when McDermott took this defense over and the defensive play calls this season, it got better. Um, and the defense performed better. And while I think last week was a, you know, a performance we’d all love to see, you know, you give up 58 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers team, we know that’s not the norm and probably won’t be the norm. But still through all these injuries, through all the the switches and who’s calling defenses and everything else and what he has to work with, you know, defensive EPA is minus 0.01, which is 16th in the league um out of 32 teams. So, they’re right in the middle. That’s factoring the bad run defense, right? Yes. That’s factoring the bad run defense. That’s that’s overall their pass their pass rush uh EPA is minus0.09 and their rushing EPA is plus 0.08. So if you don’t know much about EPA, you want those numbers on defense to be minus as opposed to plus like you do on offense. So they’re overcoming a lot. McDermott’s overcoming a lot. And so while it is delicate, you have to say yes with what they have, they’re overachieving. And if this trend continues, you know, is it good enough to to be successful in the playoffs? We will see. But, you know, one thing about McDermott I I and I guess I haven’t really seen him yet with a fully stacked roster, guys. I haven’t seen him yet with a a roster of players that are just, you know, like the ones we have on IR right right now. And the guys not playing like Bosa, Hoy, Ed Oliver, all of them playing at the same time and playing healthy at a high level. One thing about him is he finds a way to make do with what he has and never complains. You never see him in the in the press complaining about injury or anything else. They line up every week. They play hard. they do the best they can and I I do believe this is a success with what he has to work with and where they are. I think it is a success because this is about as good as you could expect and um hopefully that trend continues throughout the the rest of the remaining games and maybe you know we don’t know where the season ultimately goes but in the postseason is where we end up judging how the Bills defense has done and the two teams that have knocked the Bills out of the postseason with their electric offenses are in great danger of both missing. The Bills could deal the Bengals a pretty big blow this week, even though they’d still be alive for the division, even at like nine losses. I know it’s nuts, but still. But Kansas City on Sunday night, they play the Texans without like half their offensive line. You you It’s a matchup league, right guys? Joe, it’s a matchup league, and the Bills have been the second best team able to beat anybody except for Mahomes and Andy Reid in the big moment. Maybe if the big moment is not Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, but it’s Bo Nicks and Shawn Payeyton. Yeah. Then then the defense might be up for it. and you know, you’d have to apologize who you beat on the way there. You just have to win the games. So, um, if he can get the answers and they can get healthy, you really wonder how far they could go with this defense and if they would have the answers in the postseason might be different this time. Yeah, I think I think you make a great point there. The Bills not winning a Super Bowl has a lot more to do with the existence of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes right now than it is anything that is or is not happening in Buffalo. If if the Kansas City Chiefs don’t have that like a one of the greatest six-year stretches in the history of the league, I think I think this I think trophy cab looks a little bit different at one Bill’s drive. And I think that’s just the reality of it. Now, that’s unfortunate, but that’s that’s simply the reality. And that’s an Everest they might not have to climb this postseason run. And and I think when you do look at the potential playoff field, what what’s what’s the game that you’re just like, “Oh man, I hope they they can avoid that team.” I don’t know that it exists. Maybe the Colts, but with Daniel Jones on one leg, I I’m not really that concerned there. And so I look, I I I just get in there. Just get in there and see what happens, you know? But I I also think it’s like college football and and you know, you can’t it’s not just about the postseason. It’s also about the regular season. If the regular season doesn’t matter, why play the games, right? I mean, you got to play them. And I mean, I know you want to have success in the postseason. We all do. I agree with Joe 100%. It’s about matchups. I mean, think about how many more probably Super Bowl titles Pton Manning would have had if Tom Brady and the New England Patriots weren’t around, right? Um you you got to look at these things. Sometimes other groups are just better no matter what you do. But yeah, I mean I don’t fall into the trap either of just like ah it doesn’t matter what’s going on in the regular season. It’s all about the postseason. Well then why play the games? Why why have a regular season? Just just try to seed and go to the playoffs. I think I think the challenge with that is Jerry I agree with you. But when we’ve looked at the Bills defenses throughout the years metrically during the regular season, unbelievable. and then they get to that game against Cincy or KC in the playoffs and it’s like where is it then? And so I I don’t I don’t think Jeremy’s saying that the po play post the regular season doesn’t matter. It’s like the translatability of what made you successful that we want to see it show up there. And I’m not saying he he is saying that but I’m also saying that you know you made the comment as well and I’ll reiterate it. Sometimes matchups are are tough and I get it. we we have success against Kansas City in the regular season and you know second time to play him it’s tougher and again it’s another delicate situation but um but yeah I mean I think this this team would do much better if there’s a couple of teams hopefully you don’t have to play obviously so to that point had a Twitter poll about this and 1,500 people voted because the Chiefs and Texans play on Sunday Night Football and the loser will be in rough shape the Chiefs would be in worse shape Chiefs would be like 14% to make the playoffs and the Texans if they lose 37% according to the New York Times playoff machine. I asked the question, what team would you most like to avoid in a playoff matchup? You want to give me your answers before I tell you what the uh 1,500 people voted, Chiefs or Texans? Which team would you most like to avoid in a playoff matchup if you’re the Bills? Me personally, I don’t want to play the Texans. I’m sure the poll probably said the Chiefs. I I you we spoke about this on Wednesday on WGR. I I said the Chiefs. I talked myself into some circles on it, but ultimately I just feel like I don’t want to deal with Mahomes in the playoffs. I just don’t want to. Y it was 6040 Texans to to avoid. Texans won because we watched what they did on that Thursday night game and you know the Bills didn’t have answers. I think it spooked a lot of Bills fans where you know the Bills beat the Chiefs every year and this is not a year where the Chiefs lose one game and it’s the Bills. This is a year where the Chiefs are losing all the time. So, six losses for them. Whether that makes them more beatable or not exactly the same kind of matchup, like they’re losing a lot of games and to me that makes them obviously look more mortal. But I want to go ahead. Go ahead. I understand that thought, but for all the things that went wrong against Houston inches away from winning the game, I mean, if Prader makes the extra point, who knows how that thing finished. I mean, that game was on the brink of being the grittiest, guttiest win of the McDermott era. And because of like literally inches don’t work out. Well, now it’s this disaster class where, you know, the Bills are complete idiots that don’t know how to manage their own operation. I also that’s how thin the margins are. Yeah. And I also think too, Jeremy, you brought up a great point on the show this morning about Kansas City. We always Everything’s Mahomes, you know, Andy Reid. Mahomes, Andy Reid. Offense, offense, offense. The point you made about the defense this morning I thought was really good. If you wanted to touch on that about about the blitzing and all that. ESPN’s Mina had that from 2022 to 24 when blitzing the Chiefs were like number one in EPA and sack rate and anything you want to happen when you blitz the Chiefs were number one two or three from 2021 20 wait sorry 22 23 24 seasons. This year they’re like 31st. They just don’t get home on blitzes. So, it’s almost like the Spags superpower has somehow disappeared. All these exotic blitzes or the look in that moment, they’re not getting what they usually get out of those plays. So, you know, take it for what it’s worth. While we’re on matchups, we’ll get a breakin. When we get back, we’ll we’ll preview this Bengals matchup, guys. Here’s another matchup, right? It’s a matchup league. And Joe Burrow and Josh Allen have only played three times. They’ve only completed two games because the Hamlin game’s in there. But in their three matchups, Joe Burrow has taken the opening drive for a touchdown all three times. He always seems to have the answers. And I know you got some takes on this, Joe and Jerry. So, we’ll get to this matchup. How do the Bills finally solve, if they can, Joe Burrow? It’s coming up here on the Bill Squad Show. Hey, Bills Mafia. Jeremy White, Joe Marino, and Jerry Ostroski here on the Bill Squad Show. If you’re streaming us on YouTube, give a like and a subscribe if, of course, you’ve got us uh wherever get your podcasts, you can uh well, say hi in the YouTube chat at some point. And also later in the show, we’ll get to a Q&A, a little bit of questions, comments, whatever you can throw our way, we’ll be sure to uh make that happen in our final segment as we continue previewing Bills and Bengals. So, I mentioned the Bengals have scored on the opening drive of this matchup all three times that they’ve played. Burrow never thrown a pick against a McDermott defense. He always seems to have the answers. He will likely have, I think, Higgins and Chase. Higgins is limited in practice, working his way back from concussion protocol. So, how do they slow down Cincinnati’s attack? There’s not a lot of film on this offense with Burrow this year, and he got to shake out the rust against Baltimore. So, we might see, you know, that three-headed monster in full force. Joe, what do they got to do? Especially with no Joey Bosa, no pass rush. What do they got to do? Yeah, I mean I that’s I would point to pass rush. I would say how do you manufacture pass rush without having to send five or six guys at a high clip? How do you manufacture it with four? What type of simulated pressures can you dial up? How do you how do you get that done? I think that’s what you have to figure out. And I’m concerned about that. Um and I’m concerned about just generally the the matchups like the T. Higgins piece and Jamar Chase. I mean, I really like the way that Christian Benford’s playing, but Jamar Chase is like one of one with the way that he plays. And I I think that he’s going to he’s going to get his production. Tegan is going to get his production. And so I for me, I think the best way you’re going to help your defense is to to play good offense. I think that’s what it’s going to come down to is finishing drives, being two dimensional on offense. The the Bills should be able to kind of be what they whatever they want to be against this Bengals defense, which is really really struggling. they should be able to run it and throw it, especially in Buffalo where the Bills have just been a better team, especially offensively. And so, I think your best way to help your defense is going to be the way you play offense by finishing drive, not beating yourself, not turning over the ball, not settling for field goals, and keeping the pressure pressure on them to keep scoring on the road in Buffalo. I think you look at the defense of the Bills, they’re going to have to come up with some some what we’ve done in the past with some too high man underneath of it. they’re going to have to play more man than they probably want to. Um, and honestly, I think it’s a good idea considering the history of this Bills team playing the Bengals and their lack of playmaking ability in the defensive secondary doing the the stop, you know, the drop spot zone defense that they’ve done in the past. I mean, Burrow has a feel for it and tears it up. So, they’re going to have to play more man than they probably want to, but they they need to get after that. They got to play too high over top of it, protect them there, not give up the explosives and and find a way through some creative pressures and sin pressures like Joe talked about to get to Burrow. Because here’s the thing, and Burrow’s been elusive, but he’s not a guy that’s going to kill you with his feet. Now, if you read all the articles about the shoe that he’s wearing, the foot doesn’t bend. He came out and admitted he can’t bend his toe yet. all of those things. You have an opportunity if you can get him moving, you can make some plays on him. He’s not going to be elusive in the pocket. I don’t even see him sliding around very much. And um you know, how do you get to him? I think also too, like Joe said, you know, control the controllables, which on offense is running the football, running play action, scoring your points, and then this bu this Bengals offense, um you know, without Burrow hasn’t been great in the passing game, but it will be better as he plays. But they have found a way to run the ball a little bit and be pretty efficient in the run. So while you’re worried about the pass, the defense needs to make sure they keep the backs where they’re supposed to be as well. Chase Brown’s had a heck of a month. Chase Brown all of a sudden he ripped off five yards per carry in one of the Steelers matchups and 10 yards per carry in another one. Went a 108 on 11 carries. So he had big numbers against the Steelers just like James Cook just did. I I want to I like this question in terms of a matchup thing. It’s something we don’t ever really think about the Bills changing what they do. And that’s would you give up the idea of the double dip by deferring? Would you give that up to say game script matters a lot in this one? I want to play with the lead. You if you win the toss, do you change what you normally do? Take the ball thinking I’m going to score on that defense. I’m going to make sure that I can get my points early if I can. Any interest in in changing what they do? I wouldn’t be mad about it. Um, I’m I’m really pro defer. I’m definitely that guy. So, this is a rare kind of instance. You I think so. Especially because if I’m not mistaken, the last time these two teams played, the Bengals won the toss and took the ball and scored and it’s like, oh god, here it is and you feel like you’re you’re already in a hole. And so avoiding that, I think, is important. Um, I would be willing to deviate in this one for sure because I think I think Cincinnati’s taking the ball. I think they’re taking the ball. I don’t want to give them what they want. That is true. But when you look at the weather report and it’s going to be snow showers developing in the afternoon, high of 31, winds out of the southsoutheast at 5 to 10 miles an hour. Not too bad wind-wise. I mean, I could see maybe not going away from that because you want to try to control the wind and whatever quarter. But no, I think it would be a good uh a good idea to not defer and take the ball because, you know, you want to try to get points on the board, get ahead, and especially since what you said earlier, Jeremy, bro scored on every first drive. The last thing you want to do is start in a hole, seven nothing, right? So yeah, take the ball, try to get points, but but let’s not go to we take the ball and we run it once for three and then we throw a Shakir screen behind the line of scrimmage and then we try to pass it and you know, let’s let’s try to be aggressive and and not be our normal pattern that we’ve had the last last four or five weeks. You you do that, you’re you’re the Bengals are plus one in possessions the rest of the game. So that’s the danger of it and they’re going to have their possessions when there’s more information available. So, I think with anything in football, it’s give and take, but I think you got to trust your script, trust Josh Allen at home to lead a touchdown drive against a bad Bengals defense. The the whole vibe of this game, guys, it feels like we’re are we all expecting a similar Bills Bucks kind of script where it’s going to they’re going to be points scored and you need to make some plays defensively and put a lot of points on the board. Because if that’s the case, I want to lean back into something we talked to when it was Bills Bucks, which is, is Joe Burrow about to bring out the best in Josh Allen? I I think that’s true. I also think that we should maybe pump the brakes on assuming that the Bengals are going to go out and score 40 points. I mean, the the the Ravens handed them the ball like five times. I mean, you know what I mean? Pretty goofy stuff in that game. Can I give you one counter point? Sure. Yes. The Bengals were one of six in the red zone. You’re helping my point. But the point is they got down there for them to get 32 on five turnover. The Ravens went one of six scoring cuz he got No, I think the Bengals went one of six in the red zone. They they had 32 points and they didn’t even really hammer it in when they could. Oh, I see what you’re saying. So, all I’m getting at is like yes, the Ravens made a lot of mistakes, but Cincinnati also was not sharp and still put up those points. I see that. I would agree. And I thought Burrow was a little spotty with his with his accuracy in that game in ways that I’m not used to seeing. And so, um, yeah, I can I can see that for sure. But I I think the Bills are different at home. And I just have a a smidge of confidence that they’re going to have something that that Cincinnati is going to have to figure out with their offense that Buffalo is going to present defensively that’s going to give them an edge in this game. And I don’t want to just assume that they’re going to come in and like and score 40 45 points a and this is going to be a track meet. I think there’s going to be a lot of points, but I think there might be a little bit more resistance than we think from Buffalo’s defense. Well, the other thing you got to look at, Jeremy, when you start talking about is this going to be a Tampa Bay kind of game. Um, I don’t know what Dion’s going to do yet. If Dion’s playing, I feel a little bit better. If Dion’s not playing and we’re back to having Alec Anderson at right tackle and Vandermark at left tackle, that that makes me a little bit nervous about just dropping back whenever we want and running all over the place. So, we’ll see what happens with Dion’s health. I hope he can play this week. I don’t I don’t know how it looks. I haven’t heard anything as of this point, but um with him playing and you bring Vanderbark back over to the right side, I feel a lot better there than I would if we were in the same configuration as we were last week. Dawkins was not in a uh in he was in a regular jersey today from the practice footage that we were able to see. So, that’s it’s good news. He’s not in a red jersey. Yeah. We’re also waiting on Dalton Concaid, which he picked up an additional or it was at least listed a knee. And I saw a stat about this. So, Bills, Bengals, this matchup, if you just took the tight end that had the most against the Bengals in each week this season, they’d be the seventh leading receiver in the NFL. The Bengals get roasted by tight ends. So, a big week to hopefully get Dalton Concaid back, but the picking up of the knee issue uh on the practice report on the injury report is a little bit puzzling, especially because yesterday was a walkthrough. So, what you know, he’s working on that hamstring, they had a walkthrough, and he had a knee added to the report. The interesting thing about that is going to be Ki Leu is out of elevations to the to the roster, right? He’s been he’s been elevated three times. And so if you don’t have King Kaid, it’s going to be very interesting to see, you know, if there’s any differences in how the Bills play offense. And I I do think that if Concaid can’t go, you’ve got to feature Dawson Knox. This is a team that has not been able to defend tight ends. And it’s not necessarily because they’re playing a marquee tight end every single week, you know? It’s that position and so I still think that if you don’t have concade there needs to be five, six targets on the menu for Dawson Knox this week. Well, I would imagine that that Reggie Gilliam then will take that extra spot if he can’t bring Kiki Lu up and he plays the more of the blocking style and then Haw can can take over for some of the stuff that um you know what he’s been doing um in the offense. So I would think that would be their answer without bringing another tight end in to elevate off the practice squad. Shout out real quick. Deion Dawkins, the Walter Payeyton man of the year, club winner for the Buffalo Bills. His fourth selection as the team’s nominee. Each team selects a player. Big year for Dawkins. He’s got uh key to the city here in Buffalo. He’s got now this Walter Peyton man of the year club winner. Won it again for the Bills. And uh protector of the year is out there. Don’t forget the award that the NFL kind of created as at his urging. Um you know, he might have a look at that. Maybe nobody watched the Texans game, you know, but maybe nobody watched any of the Texans games we look at. Hey, I think protector of the year. He was pretty clearly concussed, right? I mean, like obviously the independent neurologist that cleared him didn’t see that. But, you know, I think sometimes with concussions, some of those symptoms can come a little bit later. And maybe that was the case because it was an uncharacteristic game and he gets checked for concussion, gets cleared, goes in place terribly, and then he’s missing the next game due to a concussion. I think something was off obviously. Yeah, for sure. For sure. No, Dion’s awesome. I mean, he’s great. He’s great in the community. He’s been done an unbelievable job for the franchise. Uh, congrats to him. I think that’s one of the things I love about Dion. Um, not only he’s a great player, he’s great in community as well. And that’s what it’s all about to me. Anyway, you you’re your off the- field person matches the on the- field abilities and I think that’s great. Bill Squad show, Jeremy White, Joe Marino, and the big O Jerry Ostroski. Bills and Bengals this week. There’s a ton of leverage in the division and the Patriots have a buy. So, the Patriots, they did the job. I guess I got to Where’s my I need my clown nose. I need my clown hat. I picked I picked the Patriots to lose to the Giants. I said they were due. It really wasn’t built on much more than that. Um but the Patriots did not lose. Their win streak continues and now they’re at the roads for them guys to clinch the division. They’re easier and easier in terms of just explaining them. If they beat the Bills next week, it’s over. They won the division. If they lose to the Bills, they just have to beat the Dolphins and the Jets. So, and the Bills have to of course like do their part of it. Do you think New England has a chance to what what’s more likely? New England beats the Bills, they lose to New England, sorry, they lose to the Dolphins, they lose to the Jets. Like, what would you put as the most likely way that they that they don’t get there, I guess. Well, that’s the only way they can not get there is all got to happen, right? Yeah. I think it all has to I think they’re going to have to lose to the Bills and then one of the Jets or Dolphins. Yeah. I I actually have a level of confidence that the Bills will do the part that they need to do. I just don’t know that that second loss is going to come against the Jets or the Dolphins. That’s where I’m concerned. Especially that that Dolphins games in Boston if I’m not mistaken. And those boys from South Florida coming up north there late in the season has never been much of a recipe. Yeah, it is. They’re playing in Foxboro their last game. So, I don’t expect much of that. I I me personally knowing the situation at hand, unless there’s some sort of miracle they win the division, I just want to go ahead up there and get it and beat them and defeat them and get that confidence level back and understand that you can you can get the job done against them. You don’t want to give them any more success or any more motivation or credit than they need. you know, they got to get this win just for simply to get that off your back, that bad taste out of your mouth from that loss earlier in the year and get that confidence level going as you roll into the playoffs. When we get back, we’ll get to some of your comments and a couple more things on this Bills Bengals matchup as we uh roll along. It’s the Bill Squad show. Give us a like, a subscribe, drop a comment right now. We’ll get to some of your your questions as we uh gear up for sorry not Brady Joe Burrow and Josh Allen and of course a lot of other players in this game but a a marquee matchup for Sunday at Highark Stadium. It’s coming up next on the Bill Squad Show. Counting down maybe only three games left at high mark gentlemen. Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and then the New York Jets, unless the Bills do find their way to uh get to the division title, which again they are they are a long shot to do, but they can they can do their part of it. We we had a big comment uh conversation during the show about giving Shawn McDerman a lot of credit for what’s happened. We get some comments on this uh from Levi, man. Have to give McDermott credit for Pyer not being a liability and Bishop taking a step. issue is in the playoffs every year there’s been a key injury and then a comment on the training staff but the the safety tandem to me it’s not a coincidence at all that this defense started to look better once Shawn McDermott got the the umbrella together right he it we started in the preseason wondering who’s it going to be it looked like they were very concerned about it last year Hamlin wins the job because Bishop’s hurt I Joe I’m going to I’m going to pat myself on the back your your your podcast the 10 most important Bills. I ranked Cole Bishop higher than any other player, I believe, or higher than any other panelist. Yeah. Yes. And I feel like it it it did come to what I thought would happen, like you need that guy. McDermott needs his safety play. Yeah. And I think that Puyer has come in and while maybe not individually come out and made a ton of splash plays, I think he has stabilized everything back there. And I think the proof is that everybody got better when it comes to the other safety spot. Bishop elevated his play. Christian Benford got his season on track. Trey White’s been unbelievable over the last six games or so. I think he’s given up like two catches for 20 yards only the last six games or something like that. And so I do think there has been a stabilization that’s come with Puyer being back there. And I think the proof is in that every one of those players is playing better. meanwhile, you’re not necessarily getting what you want out of your front with the pass rush. And so, um, yeah, I think that is another example of why this is a defense where the safety play has got to be on point. I think so. I think also teams are kind of showing us that the safeties of the Bills are getting better because they’re not picking on the safeties like they used to in the past. Recently anyway, it’s shown that they’re going to Taran Johnson. They’re going at the nickel as opposed to the safeties. And you know, hopefully Taran continues to get healthier as it goes on and and and plays a little bit better. But yeah, I mean, safeties are important. Um, the thing that I like the most about it is my favorite player on a team besides an offensive lineman is a tone setting safety that makes receivers nervous across the middle and Cole Bishop is slowly starting to form into that type of guy where he will hit you when he gets a chance. And that’s huge as far as keeping receivers on their toes and, you know, making them nervous about, you know, I don’t want to stretch my arms out too far because 24 is going to light me up in the ribs if I do. And that’s that’s a big part of it. I still can’t believe Nico Collins held on to that football, man. Bishop smacked him and it was as clean as can be. And that sucker held on to the ball. Bishop’s the one who hit Travis Kelce, too, right? Yeah. Like he’s delivered some pretty big blows this year. All right. from Walter. We love to brag on the team’s success in December. That’s fair. But the pass rush drops off a cliff in December every year, too. Seemingly the stats on December, the Bills dominate this month. I mean, this is this is their time. And in the last 3, four years, they’re 12-1 in December. And if you extend it out all the way to 2020, they’re 23-3 in December and January. And one of those losses includes a New England game that didn’t matter. Like, this is Josh Allen’s time of year. And I had the thought he’s talking yesterday at the at the podium how he said this is the time when it feels good like the games matter and we all kind of come together and I thought not to say that you wouldn’t lock in in October but it starts to feel like the season is beginning and their backs are against the wall for the division but Jerry like once December hits you know the the players that have been around a while like a Josh Allen like they what you buckle your chin strap tighter what’s the what’s the metaphor I want here you Like it feels like Allen’s talking about how everyone’s going to start like dialing in right about now. The word you use is urgency. The urgency steps up in that locker room. You start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The playoff picture starts to uncover itself and and all the, you know, you talk, we always talk about it as players. There’s levels of the season, you know, preeason, regular season, all this. That December month is a big part of the season. And it’s almost you’re ramping up as you’re getting ready to go to that, you know, you either win or go home stage of the year. And that’s the biggest thing is, you know, football players are they’re they’re built a little bit different that when things got something to them, and I’m not saying that the other regular season games don’t, but when when there’s something bigger at stake, all of a sudden it kind of gets the hair on the back of your neck to stand up and all of a sudden there’s that urgency and you you get that motivation to maybe really play at at another level that you haven’t been playing at um up to that date. So yeah, it doesn’t shock me that Josh feels that way. If you’re a competitor, if you’re an ultimate competitor, December is is that month when it starts to turn off. Jerry, did you get a chance to listen to Josh Allen’s address to the Wyoming football team uh when he went up to get the jersey retired and he talked about how much he loved the game. He said so many things that were interesting there. He said, first of all, my why is me. I love playing football. I’m not I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody say that, right? It’s usually my kids, my mom, you know, doubters, whatever. He’s like, “No, dude. I wish I had a better answer.” He’s like, “I freaking love this.” And he started talking about loving the way he felt after a loss and the pain and like what that does to him. What was your what was your reaction to that? Well, first of all, it just solidifies that he’s a sicko because I never really loved the feeling of getting beat up and losing, but I understand where he’s coming from. When you when you have in the game of football, the the pain of a loss is almost more real than the pain of victory or not the pain, the joy of victory. That pain kind of lets you know that you’re alive a little bit. Kind of validates what you’ve been doing. It it’s, you know, you look down and you see the blood on your hands and you’re busted up and it’s it’s just that feeling that you knew you’ve been in it. And when you’re an ultimate competitor like he is, that’s those feelings that you live for. And it’s it’s funny. I mean, it’s not all joy and and victory. There’s the other side of the locker room as well. That’s why I always say, and Bill Parcels talked about this in his Hall of Fame speech when he was inducted. The greatest social experiment in the world is the locker room. you have so many different people from so many different backgrounds and everybody’s brought into this locker room uh at one time to compete and there’s only one thing that that that matters. You know, you’re going to experience joy and pain and all these things, but the only thing that matters to get acceptance into that room is are you here for the greater good and are you going to help? If you’re going to help, come on in. If you’re not, get out. And that’s part of it when you go to battle with these guys that you on on the football team and you have those feelings. I mean, it just validates what you’re all about and you got feelings and um Yeah. stirs up a little bit. Yeah. It’s it’s I’m thinking about like some guys love to win, some guys hate to lose, and it’s not exactly the same thing, right? Yeah. It’s not the same thing. And it it’s it’s it’s competition. It’s competition. If you don’t feel pain from losing and and what is what is winning? You don’t winning winning all the time. You don’t experience the joy of winning the way you do after you have lost a hard-fought game and then come back and win the next one and you know what it feels like to be on this other side, right? If you just win all the time, what is that? What is what is that? I mean, that doesn’t you don’t learn anything. You don’t feel adversity. You don’t you don’t suffer. I mean, there’s there’s some joy and suffering, you know, every now and then. Yeah. There’s also I always find it super interesting. I’m going to give you a hockey reference here, but not everybody gets a chance to get to the mountain top and win. A lot of times winning is just about getting another game with your guys, right? That’s what the playoffs is. It’s we’re I don’t want to I don’t want the season end cuz I want to play with these guys again. And I remember former Buffalo Saber Derrick Roy said it about the Memorial Cup, which is a tournament you play in juniors. And he said, “We won. We won we won then we won the Memorial Cup and the thing I felt the most was who do we play next and it was jarring to feel like oh nobody it’s over like it’s there’s almost I wonder for for people that have won the whole thing maybe this is AJ Brown in a twisted way saying like I didn’t I didn’t have that much you know we won great when you lose your season’s over when you win your season’s over and for the guys that you know they hate to lose they want they want another challenge some want to keep who I’ll play aliens the pawn stars, anybody, you know, like line somebody up. I want to keep going cuz I’m hot. You don’t ever appreciate winning the way you should if you don’t also appreciate you also, you know, experience the other side of it. The other side of it helps you. Appreciation is the is the word I was looking for earlier. You never appreciate success unless you’re on the other side of those things. And um yeah, it’s a big part of it. I understand what he’s talking about. I really do. I really do. feel like it’s like one of the reasons so many people not only want to win, and this is true of a lot of people with that organization, but they want these guys to win. And I guess we’ll close with this because I saw Ryan Rousillo, who has a podcast, the Ringer podcast. I thought he he said something in a very uh short way that sums up what life as a Bills fan is right now, which is tell you, if I’m going to the AFC playoffs, I feel like it sets up beautifully for the Bills. The problem is it looks like they might be the weakest version they’ve had of themselves in five years. Like any other year you might feel like the Bills are a shoein and this year whether it’s the pass rush which they got to find answers or the run defense or the passing game when the script goes bad like they have these flaws but you know at the same time it is all still right there for them. And that’s kind of a a strange thing to to have the two things at the same time. Well, how do we feel when the Bills lost to the Eagles and fell to six and six in 2023 going into the buy or they were I know how I felt. I I predicted they would run the table on on GR because when they lose like that like if they if they were to lose this game I’ll say the same thing about Cincinnati. If they lose this game 3835, I feel great about those losses because that to me is the the version of the Bills that I think can play with anybody and that ends up being coin toss, luck, whatever. They lost to Philly. I thought they’d run the table because their offense found its way. And like to me in the playoffs, I I want to try to have that game script go where Josh Allen can do whatever he wants. I I felt like that was me in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, the Bills is the COVID year and and they there before the buy was the Hail Murray and the Bills fell to seven and three and that was the year I never thought I never thought that Josh Allen wouldn’t score a touchdown on every drive. If it was third and 25, I didn’t care. He was going to get it right. And so that gave me a ton of confidence. And they get to the postseason and they get to the AFC Championship game. You’re like, you know what, they’re just not as good as the Chiefs right now. Then the next year, 2021, I felt very similarly after the Bucks lost. They fell a seven and six in overtime. I said, they’re going to win the table. They’re going to win the division. They’re going to be fine. And then of course uh that’s the 13 seconds year and then they just kind of kept doing it. But I I I didn’t necessarily feel that way in 2023 because that was the year where not only did you have that goofy Eagles loss, you had the the Denver loss where there was too many men on the field. You took you gave Mac freaking Jones a game-winning drive in week eight again or week seven against the the Patriots. Um you had the mismanaged trip to Jacksonville. I was like I don’t this team doesn’t have it. And then they did that and and had a decent chance, right? They got Kansas City at home that year. And so what what when we’ve both at in different times kind of felt like they were going to go on this run. Here it is, right? This this is it. It’s December. There’s five to go. They’ve shown some warts, but like is this a situation where if this offense truly does like flip that switch, this this season could be what we all want it to be. And what’s funny is is through this adversity and the way this season has gone, if it’s what it if it’s what we all want it to be, it’ll be much more pleasing than going out and winning 15 games. And I I know I’m I’m being I’m going I’m flipping the player mode. Some of your most miserable seasons in football are when you are really good. There’s more pressure. There’s more anxiety. the teams that I’ve been on that were super super good 15-1 whatever you know or like in college those seasons were so much more miserable than seasons where you had adversity and grinding and all that because it’s just you understand what’s going on and you don’t have that that constant weekly pressure but um yeah I mean it’d be amazing feel like in the next two weeks we’re going to get an awful lot about like how we feel about this team and their chances going forward these are these are real tests I know it’s a Bengals team that’s four and But if they don’t lose Burrow, they’re probably a playoff team or at least in the mix and then Drake May like these two be big games. So, oh yeah, if they go if they go out and look a certain way the next two weeks Jets and Eagles. Yeah, we’ll we’ll be real excited going into We’ll always I think we’ll always be a little nervous, but man, it it could change the way we feel for sure. It’s the thing I’ve always appreciated about this team. No matter what the situation is, they show up and they play hard. And I’m excited about the the last part of the season. I really am. We’ll be back for a Bengals postgame. One o’clock Bengals game. We’ll catch us right here. We’ll be streaming that postgame show live. So, uh you know, if you if you subscribe, if you like us uh on YouTube, go ahead and click the buttons. Do the stuff you got to do on on the YouTube with the buttons. Listen to me. The YouTube with the buttons. Subscribe and like. And uh we’ll be back for uh you know, full coverage of Bills Bengals. We’ll see if we get a shootout. that game. Maybe that game goes till like 5:00 cuz it’s overtime and we’re all just like tearing our hair out because these two are dueling. It uh it could go that way. So, we’ll uh talk to you then. Until then, go Bills. Go Bills. Much love. Go Bills.

The Buffalo Bills face a pivotal moment as the team’s battered defense seeks answers before a showdown with Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. Can Sean McDermott’s unit withstand the loss of Joey Bosa and a slumping pass rush, or will Buffalo’s playoff hopes falter amid injury adversity? The panel tackles Darius Slay’s surprise decision not to report, late-season roster roulette, and the need for Brandon Beane to work his roster magic.

Jeremy White, Joe Marino, and Jerry Ostroski break down whether McDermott deserves more recognition for Buffalo’s resilient defensive performance—despite mounting injuries. Key topics include the emergence of Christian Benford and Cole Bishop, the critical Bengals matchup, and strategies to counter Burrow’s quick-strike attack. With Josh Allen and the offense heating up as December arrives, the dialogue explores whether the Bills can turn late-season momentum into playoff success—or if another stumble against an AFC contender looms.

Buffalo Bills, Bills vs Bengals, Bills News, Bills Rumors, Sean McDermott, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Joey Bosa, Darius Slay, Dion Dawkins, Dalton Kincaid, Christian Benford, Taron Johnson, Jordan Poyer, Cole Bishop, Trey White, Dawson Knox, James Cook, NFL News, Cincinnati Bengals, Bengals preview, NFL Playoff Picture, AFC East, Brandon Beane, Buffalo Bills defense, Bills injuries, Bills squad

00:00 Agent Strategy and Social Media
10:15 Bose’s Playoff Prep Amid Injury
14:11 “Strategic Pass Rush Success”
20:32 “Assessing McDermott’s Tenure Challenges”
24:14 “McDermott’s Resilience Amid Challenges”
31:57 “Bills vs Bengals Preview”
37:06 “Take Ball, Be Aggressive”
40:58 Bengals Struggle Against Tight Ends
48:29 Bills Safeties Showing Improvement
49:51 “Josh Allen’s Prime Season”
55:57 Bills: Struggling Yet Promising Path
01:00:35 “Bengals Post-Game Live Stream”

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