Dan Orlovsky: “I Think Josh Allen Is Right There” To Repeat As MVP | Buffalo Bills

Dan Orlovsky: “I Think Josh Allen Is Right There” To Repeat As MVP | Buffalo Bills

Chris Brown, Steve Tasker with you on a Tuesday edition of One Bills Live on location at New Era Cap World Headquarters, 160 Delaware Avenue here in downtown Buffalo. Stop in and see us if you're in the neighborhood or you're taking a late lunch. Uh, but we're joined now by ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orloski whose appearance is here on One Bills Live are presented by Caesar Sportsbook, an official mobile sports betting partner of the Buffalo Bills. And uh Dan, I was I was quite taken with uh your instant reaction social post when uh you provided your own personal opinion update on the NFL MVP race and how Josh Allen uh has taken the whip down the stretch here and has climbed in to the race uh with three regular season games to play. Your thoughts? >> Yeah, he's just been very impressive this last stretch. Um, and you guys know I've said this, I there were moments I just didn't think Josh was playing good enough to really warrant being in that conversation. I didn't think he played good in some games. But I'll go back to the context of what's going on and this run that they're on. And obviously 21 nothing down on the road versus a good football team, a division rival who's having a great season. And of course going down 21 nothing, it takes a lot of people, but there were some big time plays. I mean, I don't know if there's any bigger than that touchdown pass to Knox, but the ball to Cook down to really start that second half after the huge kick return, the dump off to Knox on that little ball fake. And so, it's a really big performance by Josh. And I'll continue to reiterate while very good offensive line, you can make the case it's the will worst wide receiver group in the NFL, certainly for a contender, yet they're scoring almost at will when they need to have it. They find ways to have it or make it happen. Cookie's been great. The defense was great, but what Josh is doing right now, I would say it's probably a, you know, two at the top between him and Matthew Stafford. Is Drake May still in it? Yes. Is Jordan Love and McCaffrey still in the conversation for sure. But I think with three weeks to go, it's it's probably one of those two guys. If you had to ask me today, who would I vote for today? If I had to, I'd still probably lean Stafford. Um, but I think Josh is is right there. >> We've kind of shifted our conversation because of, you know, that time of year. We got three games left and it looks like there's kind of a line of demarcation. You get to Houston at the number seven seed. The AFC, I was telling Brownie this, all four divisions in the AFC have different leaders than they did 12 months ago. All four divisions are being led by a different team this year. And it's it's wide open. Now, certainly the five and six seed in the in the AFC, it's it's the Chargers and the Bills, both of whom have uh only four losses. And then it gets down to Indianapolis with six, Houston with five. Do you think there's going to be any more shifting between Houston and Indian Indianapolis looks like they're leaking oil and Houston doesn't? Uh, so I are you how sure are you that the top seven teams with Denver, New England, Jacksonville, uh, Pittsburgh, the Chargers, Buffalo, Houston, how, you know, how set in stone do you think the playoffs are right now on the AFC side? >> Yeah, they feel pretty much set in stone for six out of the seven, Steve. I'd say the only one that probably in my eyes realistically can fluctuate would be Pittsburgh or Baltimore depending upon who wins more than likely that week 18 game. And that probably determines who's going to be that division winner. They're not going to get two in the division. But I do think six out of those seven are set. Now, could, you know, um New England fall off and Buffalo win the division? Sure. It doesn't seem likely, but um it feels like that the playoffs for the most part are set outside of the AFC South or excuse me, North. >> Yeah, North. Yeah. Um, I know you also commented on this on social media and on NFL Live. Uh, the defensive play calling in the second half really varied. Uh, huge variety of stuff. It's as indecisive as I have seen Drake May in his year plus in the NFL. Um, and to the players credit, they also executed. You can have a great play call, but you need the guys to execute as well. I can't remember the last time I saw three D lineman, three linebackers, and you know, five DBs. I I'm looking at some of these formations, and I'm saying, "Okay, that's a new one." Oh, all right. Haven't seen that. Joey Bosa is dropping out. What is going on here? So, I can only imagine what Drake May was thinking in real time. Um, what do you make of Bobby Babage, Coach McDermott really kind of spinning the wheel and and never really letting Drake May get comfortable there in the second half? huge reason why they win that game. It was a master class when it comes to rolodex. We we call that, you know, it's just flipping through the rolodex of play calls. It's a master class on being multiple. And I agree that, you know, there's moments when you can tell the youth of Drake shows up a little bit. And candidly, Chris, I was surprised because in the moment I was thinking to myself, if I was commentating that game, JJ Watt was, I would have said, "This is where having a guy like Josh McDaniels is a huge benefit for Drake May because Josh has been around and seen it for so long." And from second down to third down, the eight different times they had it, there wasn't the same look once. And there's two ways to really impact a quarterback when it comes to really his play. You can either speed him up or slow him down. And they don't have the horses to speed him up. That's a Houston style of defense. So slowing him down is making him think an extra tenth or two ten of a second. G giving that cast of doubt of what he's looking at. And the reality is this team is built to allow the coverage to help the rush rather than the rush to help the coverage. It's a very good cover unit. And I'll go back, shoot, I remember two weeks ago against Cincinnati being like, "Yo, they covered good. They just got beat with great throws and I think you saw it again. Their coverage unit is high-end. >> Yeah. To that to that point though, the one thing that perplexed me is you still had a lead in the early stages of the second half. And can you explain why McDaniels completely abandoned the run game there? I mean, they they just went away from it completely and they had success in the first half. >> Yeah. So, I think part of this is, you know, because we we got into it with Marcus Spears yesterday about that, three rushes. So, um they I think they only had three series in the second half. I believe they had the ball for like seven minutes. So, like their first series, they get a first down, they throw the ball on first down, New England does, it's incomplete. So, now you're in that second and 10 world. That would probably a time like, hey, maybe pop a run. They don't. A nice coverage rotation. Now we're in third and long. Hunt it. They get the ball again. Henderson rips off the long run. So they score. And then I believe the third time they got the ball was only like a minute or something left in the clock. And so I think part of it was because Buffalo got the ball long drive. So I just don't think they had a ton of opportunity New England to actually run the football. And there's maybe a snap or two where I could sit there and say should have tried to pop a run there. Other than that, our the main part of it was just they they did not have the football to really um try to reestablish that run game and they popped off a long run and won. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's for the entire second half they had five possessions, but only one of them was was of any worth. It had seven plays in it. They had a two three and outs and they had and scoring drive. >> They had a oneplay scoring drive >> that if you look at the big picture >> actually crushed them. >> Yeah, their defense was >> their defense was gassed. Had to come right back out on the field and it was as though they didn't hit any break. Uh it was really weird to think about, but yeah, they had four possessions in the second half that were three four plays or less. One of four plays, two three and outs and a oneplay scoring drive. They really didn't have that much information to work with. And I couldn't believe but he was I had somebody say it. They were right. That one play scoring drive crushed them. >> Yeah, that's a great point. I would love to know the plays um before that one play scoring drive and after because I think the drive right before that one play scoring drive I want to say was it felt like a 15play drive. So then the one play and then another probably 10 plus play scoring drive. So yeah, I just think it was for Buffalo it was a perfect storm of possession. >> Yeah. >> Fast forwarding to the Browns, Dan, uh obviously for the Bills offense it begins and ends with Miles Garrett. Uh first, what have most teams attempted to do to try to at least slow him down to some degree? And what do you think the Bills personnel can do that could work at least at times because nobody ever truly stops Miles Garrett? >> Yeah, every play there's four hands on them, two sets every play. Run, pass, first down, third down, I don't care. It's a little bit kind of what at least you hope the plan against a Houston would be, but it's harder to do against Houston with two ridiculous guys on the outside and very good on the inside. So, a lot of teams are just forehands on them. A lot of teams are moving, you know, they're constantly moving the quarterback. They're not having him be in the pocket and stand still. The ball's coming out relatively quickly. They're trying to kick the ball to the perimeter. And so, this is a, you know, it's a talented defensive unit that has had moments when they've played very high-end football. It's not only Miles Swinger. Swissinger, their rookie linebacker, has been fantastic. he's probably in the conversation for a defensive rookie there even though the team performance has been really poor and the secondary is good coverage unit. So, but Miles, you know, the the team that I would tell you probably did the overall best job was Pittsburgh probably two months ago. Pittsburgh doubled them every single play. Um, and they moved the quarterback outside the pocket probably eight to 10 times that game. um if you don't allow him to ruin the football game, this is a game that, you know, you should have some decent success offensively. >> When you look at the other side of the ball, of course, Shadur Sanders has gotten a lot of conversation about, you know, not where he was drafted, but the fact they had like five guys playing quarterback. They traded away their opening day starter mid-season. I mean, it I mean, you write you the a movie script would be un would be disbelievable. it wouldn't have any credibility the way they've run their quarterback room, but Shadur's in there now. He's had flashes of pretty good play. What is their offense trying to do around Shadur to give him some success? And and you know, where are their strengths? >> Yeah, Steve. Number one, I'll tell you like the strength is him throwing the ball down the field. He's a really good deep ball thrower and they that's something that they want to try and consistently do. He's confident in it. Isaiah Bond is a guy that he's got a good connection with when it comes to kind of seeing it the same way and tracking the football. That's what they want to do. Now, Tommy Reese has taken over as their play caller. A little bit more creativity with some of their pre- snap stuff, but from a pass game perspective, that's kind of what they want to do. The other part pass game wise, rookie tight end Harold Fannon is a little bit like a concaid for Bills fans. Very good athlete. They like to try to create matchms with them. They're constantly moving him to create those choice routes. I can go out, I can go in, I could sit. He's a very smart player savvy, really good route runner. So, like matching him up is going to be a big deal. But there there's also a rookie running back in Quinnshan Judkins who's fantastic. He's got great balance. He's strong. Outstanding burst. It's touches. They'll throw him the screen game. They'll hand them the football off. You're going to have to tackle well both in between and out on the perimeter. in between the tackles and outside the perimeter. It's a very good young class in in Cleveland and those are some of their rookies. So, yes, Shadur is part of it, but you got to pay attention to Judkins. >> Yeah, Judkins is a great tackle breaker. Yeah, if you're the first guy to him, you got to get him on the ground or at least hang on and wait for help. Uh because he is a load and Fannon's their leading receiver this season. Dan, appreciate the time as always. Uh we'll let you get out of here and we'll catch up with you next week. Thanks guys.

ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky joined One Bills Live for his weekly appearance. He talked about Josh Allen’s recent play and his chance to repeat as league MVP, the landscape in the AFC as the playoff picture continues to take shape, and the defensive play calling the Bills had in the second half vs. the Patriots. He talked about this weekend’s game in Cleveland against the Browns, the challenge in slowing down pass rusher Myles Garrett, and facing rookie QB Shedeur Sanders.

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