Is Bills WR room a major problem + Should defense be focus at trade deadline?

Is Bills WR room a major problem + Should defense be focus at trade deadline?

Welcome on in to BKL Makes Me Want to Shout. I’m Josh Reed alongside Carl Jones and Matt Parino and Ryan Talbot. We’re going to take the next 20 25 minutes and look back at what happened in the Bills loss to the Patriots. take a chance to look forward to the next prime time game because you know what’s a what’s a week without the Bills playing another night game as they get ready to head down to Atlanta to take on the Falcons. Let’s start big picture, Matt, and that’s with the probably the biggest topic going into this season was the wide receivers. And it still is, and it’s still a major question mark with this roster because quite frankly, I think you agree, the wide receivers just are not getting the job done right now. Yeah, it it’s a a situation. To me, the biggest talking point around this receiver group is just the vision for it, right? Like the the mantra in the building is everybody eats. But it it it feels like a lot of times I I saw a great fan post about this is like everybody nibbles most of the time, right? Like nobody really truly eats in this offense. And so much so that you you’re spending $8 million per season u on Curtis Samuel who was inactive for the first couple of weeks. He comes back, shows a little juice actually, and you’re just wondering like could this be a little bit more if they had a more pronounced role for him. You go out and you spend $13 million per season on Josh Palmer and there was one game where I think he had less than 20% of the snaps. He had a big play in the opener against the Ravens and then since then it’s it’s kind of been crickets with him. Elijah Moore was a fun uh late addition in free agency. He hasn’t really done much outside of the big game against the Jets when they got him going on a little bit of the Jets sweep action. I just think this group as a whole is definitely missing a wide receiver one. And Ryan, I was on the record this off season talking about how much pressure the Bills put on Keon Coleman, how I thought there was potential for him to take the next step. And I even thought at times during training camp, we talked about it. He looked like wide receiver one, but he’s not wide receiver one. He’s not a wide receiver one in the NFL right now. Now, the Bills don’t have that. The closest thing they have is a slot guy in Khalil Shakir, who’s as good as it gets in the slot, but he’s not really that number one wide receiver. And oh, by the way, we’re five weeks into the season and there’s another disciplinary action for Keon Coleman. Right now, this wide receiver room, there’s just continues to be a lot of questions. It’s an interesting conversation. Yeah, 100% interesting conversation. But here’s the problem. This is what the Bills envisioned with this room. They went out in free agency as you mentioned and they’ve added guys the last two years. Uh they added Keon Coleman in the draft last year when they had the opportunity to add a great route runner in Lad McConi, add a speed receiver in Xavier Worthy. And they have this vision in their mind of what the wide receiver room should look like, willing blockers, bigger players. A and it’s left a massive hole on this roster at wide receiver one. And you you sit here and Bill’s fans are clamoring trade deadline, who can they add? you’re not going to really be able to get much. The Bills cap situation is what it is. Uh there’s only so many levers you can push. Could you get a Rasheed Shahed from the Saints? Absolutely. That’s an option. But is he a wide receiver one? No. He just is another element, a speed guy that you throw into the mix. And as you said, if they had a wide receiver one, then I think everybody could eat because that takes the pressure off of Keon Coleman and Joshua Palmer. problem is they’ve invested a lot of assets draft and capwise in these players that are underwhelming. When I look at this Bills wide receiver room for like, let’s say, 75% of the league, I don’t think it’s a problem. When you go up against defensive backs, particularly like the New England Patriots, I think back to that Houston Texans game last year. When you got two alphas at cornerback, which they’ll say, “We have Derek Stingley, we have Kamari Lacier this past weekend. They had Christian Gonzalez and Carton Davis.” So, they’re basically saying, “We’re going to play Non-9, and we dare you guys to beat us elsewhere.” The Bills did have some some success with Dalton Concaid, but a lot of that was like offscript, broken plays. It wasn’t necessarily Josh Allen’s first read. I think that was maybe like two of his catches. I don’t think the receiver room was bad by any means, but when it gets to the postseason against some of the better defenses in the National Football League, I do wonder how consistent can the passing game be down in and down out without relying on Josh Allen going to booth and put on the Superman cape. It it’s pretty telling when the coaches go out of their way to praise wide receivers for their blocking in the run game, right? I mean, these guys are supposed to be the playmakers on the outside. I don’t want to hear how great of a blocker you are. To me, that’s just icing on the cake. If you’re a really good blocker in the run game, cool. You know what I want to see? I want to see six catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns. They don’t have that guy right now. They just they just don’t. If they do, to your point, Carl, it’s Daltton Concincaid, who I’ll go I got to go on the record right now and say I I was dead wrong about him, at least the first month of this season, because I thought it was a make or break year for him. And he has been excellent. Anytime Josh has looked his way, pretty much he has always he’s just made plays in this offense. He’s he’s one of the few guys you feel like when Josh drops back he looks down the field and goes, “Okay, I can trust that Dalton Concade is going to be where he needs to be and he’s going to make the play.” It’s kind of him and Khalil Shakir at this point. Matt, what do you do with Tyrell Shavers? Because he’s getting a lot of playing time. He’s getting a lot of snaps. I Is he making that big of an impact though in this game? I I I don’t think so. And and I think that, you know, if you look at the Bills track record with these kinds of players, guys that are fringe roster guys that have themselves a really good summer, you know, fans are clamoring for them to make the team and they make the team and they’re not very involved. I mean, Duke Williams was probably the best example of that in the Shawn McDermott era and they just got to a point where they moved on from him where I think you could probably get off of Ty Tyrell Shavers and get him back on the Prague squad. He is a great player to have in that scenario. Um, they have a lot of those guys. I mean, Jimmy Charlo is the great example of it this this week. Everybody thought, “Oh, he’s got to make the 53.” They cut him, they bring him back on the practice squad. Now they’re elevating him to the the 53 again. I mean, you can do that that dance over and over again. To me, I think Tyrell Shavers in a lot of ways is probably keep and Bills fans are not going to like this. He’s probably keeping Gabe Davis’s 53man roster spot warm because once he gets back to health 100% they know they can rely on on him in that black blocking role. And if you take this collection of wide receivers right now, Gabe Davis would have the most the biggest performance at one point in his career that any of these guys can say that they’ve had in the NFL. And I I think this Bill’s regime will continue to go back to the the players that they’re familiar with, the players that have gotten there. And to Ryan’s point, and Ryan, you can chime in on this. I think that that probably takes wide receiver way down on the priority list when it comes to the trade deadline. And by the way, on defense, they have a lot of priorities. I mean, corner, safety, linebacker, potentially a pass rusher. There’s probably other things they can do that make more sense at the trade deadline. Yeah, defense has to be the number one priority for this team come trade deadline. Uh Josh Ellen showed he won MVP last year with a hodgepodge group of wide receivers. Gabe Davis is waiting in the wings. Once he’s healthy, he can come back into the fold. It’s enough to get the job done on offense. It’s not great. It’s not ideal. They have to go back to the drawing board this off seasonason and figure out something there. But come trade deadline time, there’s a much bigger priority in my opinion at quarterback two and linebacker. Yeah, we’re we’re going to hit on that here coming up a little bit later on in the show, but I want to wrap this wide receiver talk up a little bit with Carl. How much is the how much of this is knee-jerk reaction coming off of what Stefon Diggs did? Because it is a little bit of that, right? I mean, look, if they find a way to win the game, there were concerns going into the season and into this game and into every game about the wide receiver group. Stefon Diggs did not help this conversation. Especially when you think about the fact that Stefan Diggs in 2023, the first half of the year, he was excellent under Ken Dorsey. Ken Dorsey gets canned. Joe Brady comes in and then he I I know we all remember the conversations in the back half of 2023. Where is Stefon Diggs gone? Has he fallen off a cliff? Is he washed? Come to find out, he is still a pretty darn good player. Just his fit in the Joe Brady offense didn’t work. So, if you’re a Bills fan, you’re sitting here like, “Wait a minute. He’s been good this entire time. Like, what what’s going on here? Is this an OC problem? What What I understand the frustrations of it. Like I mentioned at the top though, there are very few defenses that can do this to the Bills because there aren’t many defenses in the National Football League that have two alphas at quarterback. Matt, one thing real quick, Josh, that I want to add on to onto this. Like if you think about the Stefon Diggs and his performance in this game, to me what we should be talking more about than the Bills wide receiver room based on that performance is the Bills secondary, which I think is is getting a lot of attention. But to me, Diggs is probably not having that kind of performance against 75 to 80% of the secondaries in the NFL right now. And I think we all had concerns going in about Tradavius White. What’s happened with Christian Benford and Taylor Rap is something that the Bills are going to have to get figured out. And I asked Bobby Babage this week about looking at that position group, including Taran Johnson, uh that group of five in the secondary, where is their sense of resilience? And he basically said they’re going to get it fixed. They’re determined to get it fixed. And I know Maxwell Haristston is hanging out there as a potential saving grace, but the guy’s not played an NFL snap. and he hasn’t played an end a football snap since end at the end of July. So, I think counting on him to come in here and fix everything. While it’s not out of the realm of possibilities, I think it’s a little bit of a long shot. Uh but maybe they can get him back to health and get him back involved. And honestly, I don’t know if it could be a whole lot worse than what we saw cornerback on Sunday against the the Patriots. Yeah, Ryan, you you hinted at it a little bit. My my concern is more on the other side of the ball in this defense because you brought up an excellent point. Jo Josh Allen won the MVP with a very similar cast at wide receiver. James Cook is now an established elite running back. The offensive line is established and elite. That defense though, I have a lot of questions and concerns about that side of the ball. Yeah. Uh you know, let’s start at linebacker. Today they they add to the practice squad Bale inspect and it’s a practice squad move. He has knowledge of the defense but that’s not really a very inspiring move. Maybe AJ Klein didn’t answer his phone. Balen Specters is he’s down in Disney again. Yeah, he’s on he’s somewhere on the RV out of service. But you know Bale Inspect is injured every other day it feels like. So there’s a lot of concerns in that linebacker room. You hope that Dorian Williams is getting closer to her attorneys listed as dayto day. You have Matt Milano who reagravates the pec injury. That’s very worrisome. Uh and then it’s so much unknown there with Jimmy Charlo and even Joanne Drees who’s ahead of him obviously on the depth chart. But cornerback too, that’s where I keep going back to. That is the biggest concern for me on this defense. Trey White is showing he just does not have that anymore. And Dorian Strong when he was out there, he looked he looked the part, but now you have a neck injury. And neck injuries are always such a major concern. I don’t care what position you play. Uh we don’t know the severity of this, how long he’s going to be out. There’s a lot of questions to be had there, but I can’t count on him coming back this season. We don’t know when they’re going to open the window on Maxwell Haristen. They’re running out of names on this roster, and that’s going to be one area where they have to figure out who can we add to this quarterback room either via free agency or or uh trade. Yeah, to me the defensive line is a little bit less of a concern because they’ve been without Ed Oliver who’s such an important part of what they do up front. You got Michael Hoy coming back. You’ve got Oen Joby coming back, you know. So, we’ll see how that mix kind of helps. You’d like to think that the young guys, the rookies continue to grow into what they can become and what they can do later in the season. You guys have talked a lot about the cornerback too spot. I my concern is at linebacker as well, Carl. Matt Milano just can’t stay healthy. You know, we we’ve talked about it. I don’t know that we’re going to see that version of Matt Milano was who he was a couple of seasons ago when he was an allpro. I don’t know that it’s there anymore because he just can’t stay on the field at this point. this Bill’s defense as currently constructed even with a so let’s throw Ed Oliver Molano in there they don’t have anyone that they can any strong point that you be like yes they can rely on this to be elite on paper it’s supposed to be the linebackers unfortunately with Matt Milano in and out of the line lineup they don’t have anything where it’s like you know what all else fails I know these guys this group is going to be able to win us football games the defensive line right now they are banged up but even with Ed Oliver I think you’re just shooting for more good than great. The linebackers, guys in and out of the lineup, but then the secondary we just talked about is is going through its own issues. So, I think everything is getting magnified a little bit because they don’t have anything that they can hang their hat on. They can’t just blitz whenever they want to because they trust the safeties. They can’t rush for four passes the entire game because they don’t trust four to get home. They just have to figure out something, some calling card that Shawn McDermott on second and third down can be like, “Our guys are better than yours. We don’t care about what you’re doing on the other side of the ball.” Matt, if these concerns remain that we’ve talked about, what’s what’s the biggest need? I think the trade deadline’s coming up in about a month and we talked about it. There’s not a ton of cap space to work with here. So maybe limited at the options that you can the the maneuvers that you can make, but what what’s the position that you go? They they’ve just have to they have to add to that. So unless you can add a even a rasool Douglas level answer at one of these positions like I don’t think a Nhem Hines type of trade is going to move the needle enough like I think what Brian Ryan brought up earlier about a Shahed a speed option on the outside that maybe opens up the deep part of the field a little bit more because you know Samuel we talked about that a little bit when they brought him in but he’s much more of a gadget guy and a a rack guy in in the short and intermediate area and even behind the line of scrimmage. The touchdown pass that he had, they sent him on kind of like a quasi orbit motion in the back field. And like that to me is his strength. Moore is more of a a separator, but he’s not going to like and I mean I don’t know how much he’s separating. The Bills as a group have struggled in that department. There’s just not that speed threat. So, I think if you can go out there, and you’re right, you’re kind of hamstrung with the Cav situation with how high can you shoot to go get a difference maker on offense. I I still would love if the Bills could I I know that probably edge rusher is is low on the the totem pole when it comes to additions, but if they could somehow pull off a move for Trey Hendrickson, I know it’s complicated this that to to find a way, you’d probably have to give up a lot of draft capital. probably need the Bengals to take on most of that contract, whatever the situ and they just traded for Flacco. They’re probably clinging to uh their light. I mean, they win a couple games here with Flacco in the mix, that probably changes their willingness to make a trade. Um, but I think they got to try to find a dynamic playmaker ideally on defense, but if you strike out on all those spots, I mean, adding another wide receiver, you know, maybe T. Higgins is somebody I know he just got that big contract. I don’t know if that would necessarily fit into their cap, Brian. Yeah, wide receiver just seems unrealistic to me in terms of any premier names. Shahed makes sense. Olave doesn’t have a lot left on his rookie deal. So, two guys from the Saints, a team that uh reports already out there that teams are expecting them to kind of sell some players. So, you you could go that route, but it’s about finding a guy on defense. And whether that’s at corner, whether that’s at linebacker, it’s what this team needs. It goes back to Carl’s point. The Bills don’t have any group or any elite player on this defense. And you know, Shawn McDermott comes over from Carolina and his defense, man, we talked about this on our show. All three levels had guys, head studs. Uh Kawan Short and Star Lule and then obviously Luke Keequley was the big guy at linebacker. They had Josh Norman. They had good safety play. He comes to Buffalo, he has elite safety play. A young Matt Milano, a healthy Matt Milano was a guy. But now, right now, at all three levels, they just don’t have that. Where do they get the difference maker? What what’s what’s the spot, Carl? Oh, it’s going to have to be in-house. I don’t think that you’re going to find that guy on the open market this late in the year. So, you are hopeful praying. You’re going to go to church on Sundays. And I know they got a lot of prime time games, so they can make this happen in terms of the praying and getting done in church. You’re going to have to be hopeful that Max Harrison by, let’s say, mid to late December takes that step and becomes a differencemaker at quarterback. You’re going to have to be hopeful that Cole Bishop turns into a player that can combine his instincts with his athletic ability and become a differencemaker at safety. Be hopeful that Joy Bosa can turn back the clock and become that player we saw in 2019 because I just don’t envision that type of trade in terms of a difference maker this late in the year. You can get guys who can plug some holes, but S tier players don’t become available in November. I like what they did last year with the Amari Cooper deal. And I know that it didn’t it didn’t necessarily pan out the way that they had hoped. You know, I think they had hoped for a little higher end Amari Cooper than what they ended up getting. And there were times when he showed some playmaking ability and then there were times where he just disappeared. Um to me, I would like that level of player but at linebacker because I just once again I just think that side of the ball that is the reason they got knocked out of the playoffs last year. I still think that is the concern this year. And when I look, I’m with you. I think Max Harrison maybe helps your secondary. Maybe Cole Bishop continues to grow on that. I’m I’m okay with the Dline. They get these guys back and can stay healthy. Get Ed Oliver back. The young guys grow. To me, linebacker is I I need somebody that I can put in an Amari Cooper level kind of guy that I can put in next to Terrell Bernard and go, “Okay, guy, you go out there, make some plays, and um but you know, who knows? We’ll see if there’s anybody available.” I would think that you wouldn’t have to give up, you know, your your Trey Hendrickson, he’s going to cost you at least one one, probably two ones. You know, some of these bigger name wide receivers, you’re not going to get for anything less than at least one one. A linebacker may be a different story. You may be able to plug that hole with just having to give up maybe a second or a third round draft pick. Hey, they’re coming off this loss to the Patriots. And and that immediately my immediate reaction after that game, Matt, was objects may be closer than they appear in the side view mirror because, you know, that gap doesn’t seem too big all of a sudden. I still think it’s a gap. I think it’s still a considerable gap. That was a Super Bowl kind of performance by the Patriot. They played about as good of a game. Like I I know they had the one turnover. The Bills played super sloppy. It was to me Mike Vrabel had them really dialed in and ready to play. I think the the rematch in December is going to look a lot different. And you know the thing with Drake May is too he’s he is a great young P. I think he’s the best secondy year player. I think he’s probably if we’re projecting quarterbacks over the next 10 years if you wanted to start your team with one, you know, he’d be very high on the list. Like he’s talented. He can make all the throws. Some of the throws he made that Dayquin Jones hanging off of him. Ability to get that ball off with Bosa also kind of pressing down and getting out to the flat and ends up being a first down. Like that is a special kind of throw. He’s a good player. I don’t think their offensive line is good as it played. Um, I also think the Bills defensively or offensively have to have a better plan against that defense next time around. Um, they do have an easy schedule, so I think that might keep them kind of with within striking distance of the Bills, but I think the Bills have a chance to go on a run here. What’s going on in Kansas City right now? I mean, I tweeted early in that game. I saw the Chiefs are back here. By the way, let’s pause for a second. Okay. Yeah, I like that. Everybody that likes to comment 24 hours later on a tweet from inside a game, log off. You’re not allowed to participate in internet conversations anymore. That’s not how it goes. You can you can dunk on somebody, but don’t dunk on them like they just tweeted it this minute, everybody. But yeah, I got dunked on quite a bit. Yeah. Hey, you know, let’s kind of go down that path a little bit here, Ryan. You know, you look at the Chiefs, the Ravens, and the Bengals. The I mean, the Ravens have one win. The Bengals at their point now where they’re trading for Joe Flacco to go save their to go save their playoff life. I mean, here’s the thing. It may be one of those years where you don’t have to be elite to make it out of the AFC. That’s valid. It’s very valid. You look at Kansas City sitting at two and three. Uh, I still think they’re going to be a lot better once Rashi Rice comes back because he really unlocks that offense. But they have their own set of issues on both sides of the ball. Uh, the Ravens, depending on how long or how many more games Lamar misses, they could really dig themselves a hole. Uh, that could be difficult. I get that division. I I’m not a huge believer in Pittsburgh running away with it, but they could make things very interesting in terms of just making the playoffs in general. And, uh, the Chiefs have a tough schedule, too. So, it’s it’s fascinating because I don’t buy the Colts just yet as an elite uh AFC team. I think that the Patriots are there’s a gap there with the Bills still like Matt said, but the schedule makes it so intriguing because they have the Saints, uh the Browns, I think it’s the Titans in in their next three, Atlanta after that. So, they have a very favorable schedule at least stay in that race. It’s a wideopen AFC though and that’s what gives you hope if you’re a Bills fan for all the issues that this team has. If they can get some rookies stepping up like the Chiefs did a few years ago when they won the Super Bowl, that being Haristen, that being Deion Walker continuing his ascension and and a non- rookie like Hoy coming in because he looked like he was going to play a big role on this defense this summer. If they can get those pieces and the offense starts clicking that, the Bills can definitely run through the AFC. Yeah, I think to your point, if you look around at the teams that were expected to be the top end teams in the AFC right now, as bad as it feels for the Bills, you wouldn’t trade places with the Ravens, the Bengals, or the Chiefs, you you’re still okay with yourself and where you are when it comes to the fit amongst those four teams. One final topic, guys. Carl, let’s start with you. Up next, the Atlanta Falcons. um on the road, another prime time game. We all sat here last week when we tried to guess, look into the magic eightball and go, when does the Bills first loss come? And I think unanimously we said maybe in Atlanta. Well, Patriots decided to change that uh that dynamic. What um what do you see with this Falcons team? I see a team that has two S tier top five 10 players at the position on offense in terms of B Robinson and Drake London. The old adage is that defense is not travel and the Bills don’t have a good defense probably C minusish right now and you’re going to the not the Georgia Dome no more is it what is Chick-fil whatever the dome is the Mercedes Benz unless they’ve changed it you probably got a Mercedes-Benz that’s why big money over here but I say that I don’t know if their defense is going to travel and although on paper statistically the Falcons defense has played good this year they haven’t seen a team like the Buffalo Bills I think they’ll get back on track Michael Pennix although I think He can do some creative things in the pocket. He won’t leave the pocket. He’s not that type of player. Sean McDerman will have this team ready to play, but you can be as ready as you want. I still think this is going to be a track meet to a certain extent because you can write all stuff you want on the whiteboard. Drake London and beat John Robinson on the other side. Yeah, Matt, when you look at the struggles the secondary had against the Patriots and Diggs, how concerned are you going that they’re going to face now? like you mentioned Drake London and Mooney and some guys who can make plays on the outside in Atlanta. Yeah, definitely. But I I I think I’m not really worried as much about the receivers in this game because I have questions about Penn. I I thought Bobby Babage brought up a great point yesterday about their familiarity with a left-handed quarterback because they played Tua twice twice a season. I think Greg Russo getting back on track a little bit last week puts him in a prime position to to put some pressure on the quarterback this week against Tua in week three. Greg Russo had six pressures. That was his best game of the season. And I could see him having another big game. To me, the fear has to be for this defense who struggle against running backs in the passing game in general. The screen play over the years has been a problem. Bean Robinson is an equal opportunity destroyer. He will run at you. He will. He I mean he had like a 60 yard pass play that almost went for a touchdown last week or two weeks ago. He is a special special player and you know I I got to pat myself on the back. I drafted him in Dynasty a couple years ago and he’s been carrying the team and actually this year breaking news we renamed the team a big Disney guy to Infinity and Bejan. Well, that’s a that’s a top tier uh fantasy football name. I’m just throwing that out there. Ryan, we got 30 seconds. Uh some thoughts coming up on Bills at Falcons. Yeah, I I think we’ve seen Josh Allen when he comes off of a sloppy game, the offense comes off of a sloppy game. They’re pretty laser focused. Uh I think the Bills are going to pump a lot of points. They’re going to need to because Atlanta has a lot of talent, but I don’t just trust Michael Penn yet. O line though has to have another great game. All the talents there, but I like those young guys that Atlanta has up front and some really talented guys in the safety room. So I expect the Bills to eventually win this game, but it’s going to be tight. Yeah, I’m with you. I think the Bills look to get that run game. They put an emphasis on getting James Cook on track and getting that run game going full speed ahead. For Carl Jones, for Ryan Talbot, Matt Parino, I’m Josh Reed. Thanks for watching. BKL makes me want to shout.

In the latest episode of Bills Kickoff Live MAKES ME WANNA SHOUT!, Matt Parrino & Ryan Talbot are joined by Josh Reed & Carl Jones from WIVB. The foursome break down the Bills’ offensive issues, what Brandon Beane should consider at the trade deadline, and more.

Love SHOUT? Want to buy some swag to support the show and get decked out in our official gear? Check out the brand new “SHOUT!” store for apparel, headwear and much more! ⁠https://sportslocker.chipply.com/SHOUT/store.aspx?eid=405259&action=viewall

What is the “SHOUT!” Bills text insiders? Want to join? You can get analysis from Matt and Ryan right to your phone and send texts directly to them both! Text 716-528-6727 or Click here: https://joinsubtext.com/c/shoutbuffalobills

Sign up for the NYUP Bills newsletter! Don’t miss all the Bills coverage. Head over to www.Syracuse.com/newsletters to start getting your Bills stories and the podcast delivered right to your inbox.

“SHOUT!” Buffalo Bills football podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, and wherever you listen to podcasts

Follow @MattParrino (⁠https://x.com/MattParrino⁠) and @RyanTalbotBills (⁠https://x.com/RyanTalbotBills⁠) on X

Find our Bills coverage whenever you consume social media

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/buffalobillsnyup

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/buffalobillsnyup⁠

X: ⁠https://x.com/billsupdates