November 6, 2025 • 39 mins
On this week's episode of Bills by the Numbers presented by FanDuel, Chris Brown and Steve Tasker take a look at the landscape in the AFC and discuss the Bills current status, the upcoming stretch of games, and where Buffalo might get some help in the standings. The two dissect the rival Patriots upcoming schedule and what's ahead for the two teams prior to their Week 15 matchup. Steve is quizzed on Bills second half of the season success in The Numbers Game. Finally, the two give their answer to this week's One Burning Question, will the Patriots be battling with the Bills for the top seed in the conference come season's end?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Bills by the Numbers, where we let the
stats tell you where the Bills are at. We're presented
by FANDU will make every moment more coming up. What
is at the top of the to do list for
the Bills on the bye week? Can all that needs
fixing be fixed in time for Week eight? Did the
Bills dip into the trade market mid season for the
third year in a row? And we'll have our one
(00:23):
burning question. Who said we had the weekend off? We're
here for you during this bye week for the Bills. God,
we provide such a public service here. Glad to have
(00:45):
you with us on Bills by the Numbers. He's Wall
of FAMERU Steve Tasker on Bills play by playman Chris Brown,
and after a set of back to back lasses, Buffalo
has now had at least one of those occurrences in
every season under coach McDermott. The Bills outset about righting
some of the wrongs that have cropped up over the
last few weeks to get back to winning football. Steve,
(01:06):
what sits at the top of the priority list for you?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
The first thing is obvious, it's try and get guys healthy.
You spend the first month of the season trying to
find out who you are, what you're good at, and
all that. I don't think the Bills know that yet.
They've had the roster churn on the defensive side, in
particular of guys in and out of the lineup. At
Oliver Is played in two games. Daikwan Jones is now out,
(01:32):
was out for this last game. Max Harriston, you have
no idea what his status is. Dorian Strong looked like
he was going to emerge as a helper. He's disappeared
on the ir this last game. At one point he
had Jordan Poyer on the field, which it was for
Jordan Poyer to be on the field. It was a
break glass in case of emergency situation for a month.
(01:55):
For a hot minute, it looked like you were going
to use Christian Benford. For a minute. You had Connor
McGovern go down. In this game, you had dayk one
was out, Josh Palmer went down, Dalton Kincaid was out.
So the list goes on on. Try and get healthy
so you can find out who you are, and try
and stay healthy so you can get better. There have
(02:18):
been some positive signs. Dion Walker flashed in the second
half of this game, it looked like the reps are
starting to show up, and he's starting to be more
consistent for longer stretches. He still has some spots where
you can't find him even at six seven three and
fifty pounds, but there are times when he is in
(02:39):
the middle of it and he's making a play, and
that is happening more and more as we go on.
I thought Dorian Strong and Jordan Hancock, the two rookie
defensive backs, I think we're going to see a little
bit of them in the second half of this season
after this bye week, as they get helped.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
John get ir.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, we don't really know his Hoyt and Ogunjobi will
be back in the building. They'll be able to contribute.
That gives them some depth on that side. You know,
you got Damar Hamlin's on IR, TJ Sanders is on IR.
I mean, you've the list goes on and on. When
we yeah, when we started this season, we really, i
(03:20):
mean almost universally this roster was like, Wow, it's better
than it was last year when they went to the
AMC Championship. The only thing that really could derail us Gosh,
you know, if something happens to Josh or if the
injury bug gets us, well, here we are. It has happened.
They're four and two in spite of it, so their
roster was deep enough before they started getting injured. But
(03:44):
this two weeks, sitting four and two, going into this
and having two weeks to get ready and refresh, that's
the number one priority. Get the guys you've got as
healthy as you can get, and then evaluate where you
really need to make a move. But you won't have
much time after the next week.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, I will say my priority list is maybe a
little more granular than yours is because I think tackling
has to get addressed and repped. And look, this is
the coaching staff that reps the fundamentals to high Heaven.
They practice tackling every single week, whether it's with those
giant rolling donuts, the low bags that they tackle onto
(04:22):
a padded matt, whatever it is, it's got to get
repped and it's got to get emphasized because the mistackle
rate is just too high and the extra yards after
misstackles are killing this defense. The most recent example the
Beijon Robinson eighty one yard touchdown run after two misstackles,
one at the line of scrimmage and then one deep
(04:44):
in the secondary down. The sideline tackling has got to
get addressed fixed and be more consistent on the defensive
side of the ball. The other thing is better starts
to games like these last couple of weeks. They just
cannot get on tra early, and I think it's largely
(05:06):
urgency energy fight. For some reason, this team does not
look amped up for games at the beginning. There are
times over the last several years where we have seen
this team charged up at the beginning of a football game,
and for some reason, it has been absent the last
(05:27):
three weeks. And Steve can speak to this far better
than I can. You have to bring a certain measure
of emotional constitution to every game you play in the NFL.
If you want to give yourself a chance to win.
It's not just physical, it's emotional as well. And I
think the emotional element has been lacking for this team
(05:48):
the last three times they've stepped on the football field
at the beginning of the game, it's put them in
early holes and then they've been forced to try to
climb out of them, and two out of three times
they have been unsuccessful in their last three games, so
better starts to games ties in with the lack of urgency,
emotional energy. We're just not seeing it from this football
(06:10):
team at the start of games. And I think it's
made it's made winning games that much harder each and
every week. You want to stake yourself to a ten
fourteen point deficit, even if you're the high octane offense Bills,
good luck coming back from that every week and winning
more than you lose.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, it's a team that, even in the early four
game winning streak, at times seemed like they were playing
with their food. They were disinterested, you know, they just
it was you know, you go back and look at
the second half of that Jet game and it was
a snooze fest. Now, certainly they had a big lead
and all of that, and the Jets were foundering, but
they were just disinterested. And I think that carries over
(06:52):
they feel, and maybe it's and it might be a
carryover from, you know, from division title fatigue. They win
it every year and it hasn't it hasn't been closed.
In the first month of this season, looked like it
was gonna be another laugher of a division race, not
so much anymore. So perhaps that's enough to get them
(07:14):
to put some emotional content into their preparation and their
game time. But you're right, Brownie, you in this league.
I played in the NFL, then I covered it for
two decades, and I watched a lot of games from
the booth, very engaged in every game when one team
stops to take a breath because they've got a double
(07:35):
digit lead in the second half, when they stop to
raise up and just take just turn it off for
just a minute because of the stress, because the injured,
because they're deep into the season, because they need a rest.
The moment one team does that and the other team
does not, the scoreboard shows it almost immediately. Almost immediately,
(07:56):
you could have the eighty five Bears of the Legion
of Doom or the two thousand Ravens as a defense.
The minute they let up and take a breath, the
Cleveland Browns go bang bang bang touchdown, Bang bang bang touchdown.
It happens that fast. I have seen it literally one
hundred times. And if you start a game like that,
(08:19):
it's really hard to turn it on later. Now, certainly
when you got to lead athletes and all that, and
there's some guys on the Bills squad who can do that,
but not fifty three of them. And that has shown
over the last couple of weeks, and it showed in
the games they were winning too. Let's face it, let's
be honest. It was showing in the games they won
and they got away with it. It showed in the Saints game,
(08:41):
it showed in the Jet game. So yeah, it's when
you get against a team that with a pulse like
the Falcons and the Patriots, it shows.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
They didn't match the energy of either of those teams
at the beginning, the middle, or the end. What in
your mind is in a week's time, technically two weeks time,
but they're not playing right here in the bye week,
What in your mind is fixable in a couple of
weeks time that can improve as soon as they're back
on the field in Week eight at Carolina.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, I think I think the starting lineups need to
be a little shaken up, either to send a message
or to reward hard work or reward effort. You know,
if there's somebody out there who's not playing or not
playing well enough, they need to sit down. I don't
(09:36):
know if there's I don't know if you can single
a guy out, and I don't know what they've been at.
I don't know who the coaching staff would be happy
with and who they're not happy with, But certainly getting
guys healthy and plugging them back in will help. But
I also think there's there's space in in the way
they're working this team and feeling this team to improve it,
(09:56):
maybe with some youth and maybe with some energized younger
guys at certain spots. You can take your pick of
where that might be. But I think there's plenty of
room for that, and I think they should. I don't
think there's anything wrong. Yeah, you look at the way
this defense played in the first half against the Atlanta Falcons.
You can change out a lot of guys three.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Hundred and thirty five yards in one half. Yep.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
That's unacceptable.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yep. And there has to be accountability for it, and
some people may have to pay the price for it
as a playing time.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I'm not saying you look at the stat sheet and
look at the first half and.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You evaluate the film.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Now you look, you look at the film and you see,
you say what you know, You lay it out. That's
how it's got to work. And I'm sure that's how
it is gonna work.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Oh yeah, I don't have any doubt about that. I
think you can. I think the player driven leadership on
this team can rally the troops and bring more emotional
energy and urgency to a game at the start. I
believe that can be fixed like that, especially with the
(11:05):
veteran leadership you have on this team to demand it
of the players. That's one I want to believe this
team can improve their tackling. But to Steve's point, you
may have to switch people out to get it to happen.
Maybe some people have to lose their time on the
field to wake them up and get them to realize
(11:28):
my best isn't good enough right now. And that's why
I'm on the sidelines watching with the coaches. And maybe
that's the price some guys have to pay to get
better results on the field. We've heard for a long
time how that player driven leadership has been instrumental in
this team's year over year success. Seemed last season like
the new young core of leadership had capably taken over
for the old guard that had aged out, but the
(11:51):
failure to apply the fundamentals to their play and the
mental errors have been far more extensive than we're used
to seeing from this club. I touch on it there,
but how much do the leaders in the locker room,
Steve need to step forward so it's not the coaches
all the time harping on what the standard needs to be.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Absolutely that veteran leaders the best it has come. It
works best when it comes from the best players like Josh,
like Ed Oliver, Greg Russau, Christian Benford, Tredavious White, even.
You need to get it from your best players, and
you gotta do it a couple of ways. You got
(12:28):
to say how it needs to be. You gotta tell
them point blank what's got to change. If anything, you
gotta tell them. Then you gotta go out and you
gotta you the best players have to put full put
forth the full effort of making that happen. Practice hard,
prepare hard, go the extra mile. Do that. The best
players have to do that, so the lesser players know
(12:50):
that's the bar they have to clear, so they up
their game. Then you gotta communicate. Then the best players
have to communicate where they're not doing it. Hey, you're
not You're still not getting it right. Let's go and
you got to hold them accountable for that. That's what
it's gotta be. You gotta say how it's gonna be,
(13:11):
show them how it's gonna be, and tell them when
they're not doing it, and hold them accountable when you
do that. That's how. That's how player driven leadership.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I think it goes beyond just pushing guys during the
practice week and making sure guys are up for the
start of the game. I think the player driven leadership
has to be checking in on guys between series, second quarter,
third quarter. I watched Pooka Nakua in the third quarter
(13:41):
on the sideline for the Rams, circle up the entire
offense and basically tell them, hey, we love dancing in
the end zone at the end of a scoring drive,
but we got to earn the right to dance, and
that starts with first and ten at the start of
the drive and second and twelve when we're behind the
(14:02):
sticks and we need all eleven of us pulling on
the rope. Like he was inspiring and he talked to
them for like a minute, and that was in between
series in the third quarter. So I don't think the
leaders on this team can just assume that the message
is received. I think it has to be repeated and
(14:22):
reiterated beginning of the game, middle of the game, end
of the game, to make sure that some of this
youth understands that it's not a some of the time thing.
It's an all the time thing. If you want to
be a twelve, thirteen, fourteen win football team, it's as
(14:44):
simple as that. To your point earlier, you can't take
your foot off the gas ever, not in this league.
The margins are too narrow.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You don't ever do that. As you can't ever do
that as a player. Coaching staffs do that that for you.
When it's time. Josh sits down the fourth quarter against
the Jets, or the fourth, third and last half of
the third and the fourth quarter, that you sit him down,
you put Ray Davis in as a running back and
(15:13):
you go downhill, and that's what you're gonna do for
three downs while he's in the game. You got all
three year backup off. That's what happens. That's the only
way you take the gas. You foot off the gas.
You're out of the game. You're out of the game.
You sit down and your rest.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And you're sitting there and you're pushing the guys that are.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
In that's right, and you're cheering for him, so yeah,
you never disengage. So that's how that's how it works.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
And I.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I've seen a lot of good There's been a lot
of good stuff that this team has done. And with
Josh this offensive line and James Cook getting off for
the start he has gotten off to this year, there's
a lot of good things going on. And it's not
like they don't have it in the tank. We've seen
it too often to believe that it's not like this
(15:56):
talent This roster is talentless or law lost, has lost
its way, but they gotta do better. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
As much as the players bear the brunt of this
responsibility to get things rolling again, the coaches know full
well they bear some responsibility to be the facilitators. Putting
their players in position to succeed is critical, especially with
a roster that I think we can all agree does
not have elite physical talent across the board. This team
(16:27):
has been successful because of the sum of their parts,
but much how much more do the few elite players
they do have need to be on the field to
try to make a difference and keep games from looking
like such a heavy lift?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, no question it falls on your best players, the
James Cooks and the Josh Allens and the Dalton Kincaids
of the world, and the offensive line, and defensively, it's
on those guys up front, the guys who you know
cash checks, like the Rousseau's and the Ed Olivers of
the world. It falls on those guys to do as
much as they can do. But let's be honest, is
(17:03):
a team game, and you need guys out there to
help the star players and those star players and then
this we've seen it. These guys. It's not like Ed
Oliver and Greg Russou are picking up all the sacks
or Josh is doing all these guys need some help.
Everybody else on the roster has got to do more
(17:24):
as well. You've got to be there when the great
players need, especially on the offensive side, when Josh needs
somebody be available. You know you've got to and you've
got to do everything you can to get on the
field and stay on the field and help in any
way you can. Even if it's a wide out and
it's a run play, you got to get on somebody.
(17:46):
I think the real symptom that we can all agree
on that lets you know, that mentally they're just a
little bit casual. Is the penalties. That is the total
symptom of being of having it out of gear.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Right thirty in the last three games.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
You've got penalties. They're just take it out of gear mentally,
and that's when those start to creep in. That is
the biggest and most telling symptom of why you and
I are having this conversation.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And that's why your leadership has to police that as well.
Your player driven leadership has to police that, like, dude,
you're killing us. You are killing us right now. We
can't have that. You're killing us. Like that message has
to be sent. It seems obvious, but maybe to a
young player it isn't.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I get Greg Rusou to lining up off's at first
play of the game, let's go out, let's get it,
and you're amped up and stuff. When he makes that
mistake and gets called for an off size after and
brings a fumble back, there's no way any other guy
on that line should not have learned the lesson from
Greg Russeau's mistake at Oliver? Is he not watching Greg
(18:59):
Russou lose a big play by lining up off sides
and then a quarter and a half later, a quarter later,
he does it and causes us Joey Bosta to lose
a sack.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And the defense you have a second and sixteen.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Situation that is a that is doubling down on mistake. Yeah,
and that's that's the death now, right.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But you know the coaches are going to be combing
through everything over the next week plus to try to
find some of what has been ailing the team. And
then I think secondarily, I would expect them to examine
where they can enhance the talents on this roster, even
(19:41):
beyond the elite talents who can perform for you in
just about any situation. I'm thinking of somebody like a
Keon Coleman, a guy who had enormous success in the
slot in college. Do you experiment there and say, hey,
let's try to unlock him and put him here in
the slot and let's work him there, especially if you
(20:03):
don't have Kincaid coming out in week eight, Like, let's
experiment with a big target in the slot. Since we
don't have Kincaid, let's use him there. See if we
can unlock him. We'll put somebody else outside. Maybe it's
Shavers that lines up outside instead. The bigger receiver. So
I think there's gonna be some some time spent in
the lab to see with the talent that we have,
(20:23):
and maybe not the highest end talent because we know
what they can do, but let's find some of those
role players at the second and third levels and put
them in a position to a maximize their strengths and
even enhance some of their weaknesses that maybe they can't
do well because it's not part of the strength category
(20:44):
for them. I really expect the coaches to drill down
on a lot of those things and find some answers,
because that will level up the offense, or level up
the defense, or level up special teams across the board.
Because when you can get your second and third tier
performers to level up their game because you're putting them
in a better position to help you, it raises all boats,
(21:09):
like you know, high tide raises all boats. I think
the coaching staff, just knowing how they operate in the
bye week, they're gonna find some things to utilize some
of that second and third tier talent on the roster
to make the whole product better going forward. It's a
big reason why Sean McDermott is eight to no after
the bye. As Bill's head coach each of the last
(21:30):
two seasons, GM Brandon Bean has made a veteran player
addition before the trade deadline. Two years ago, it was
cornerback Raswell Douglas. Last year it was wide receiver Amari Cooper.
First part of the question, Steve, do you think Brandon
Bean pulls the trigger? Second part of the question, do
you think he has to pull the trigger?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
First part's the real question, YEP. I don't think he'll hesitate.
I think it comes down to this, and we've been
talking about it. How healthy are they going to be
coming out of this by and before the deadline and
are they going to be able to find out how
good they can be now? Certainly going four to oh
and not never playing your best football says something about
(22:11):
where they are. They feel like they probably have to
feel like they've got the juice to do it if
they can stay healthy. Secondly, if some of these guys
coming back aren't gonna get there in time, like Max Harrison, TJ. Sanders,
Dorian Strong name the one you want, Milano. If those
(22:32):
guys aren't gonna be able to get back and help you,
do you have enough juice to get there, that's the question.
And then again, can you got to fit it under
the cabinet. It can be one for one and do
you want to part with the assets for what is
a maybe help? If you get a guy that you say, wow,
I can't believe we got the guy. If it's that
(22:53):
kind of trade, yeah, give them, give them a whatever
draft pick, right if it guy that's like, well, I
don't know, he might help us, and you know, yeah,
it's got to be an absolute slam dunk. I think
to make the move because they've shown early in this
season that when they're healthy and when they're clicking, when
(23:14):
they got things going on, they've got the juice to
beat about anybody.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, I think a shakeup on the roster needs to
be made. To your point earlier, it doesn't necessarily have
to be a trade. It could be somebody losing their
starting job to somebody on the bench. Sometimes that can
be enough to spark a wake up call, because Steve's right,
this team needs to shake up. Sometimes when you've been
(23:39):
as successful as the Bills have been over the last
six seasons, players can get complacent. Let's just be honest.
It can happen. They don't sweat the details. They lack
the urgency, they lack the hunger, and it shows up
on the field. You could see how much hungrier the
Atlanta Falcons were in that game than the Buffalo Bills
on Monday Night in Week six. Some personnel changes could
be made to wake the team up, get them squarely
(24:01):
focused on the details. You know, or it could be
your job. You could be next that can wake a
team up out of a complacent slumber if you will.
I think for being though, there are two things at
play here. His ability to add to the roster is
limited by cap space. In all likelihood, if he's going
(24:22):
to make a trade of any significance, it's probably going
to have to be a player with dollars going out
to get another player with dollars coming in. And that
could complicate things because a lot of teams willing to
trade at this time of the year are teams that
are either at the bottom of their division, they're going nowhere,
(24:43):
and what do they want? They want draft capital. They
don't want your veteran player with a high price tag,
because you've got to push dollars out to fit the
guy you're bringing in. Under the cap, so that might
complicate things in order for being to get a deal done.
I suppose you could always send draft capital out, bring
(25:04):
that player in, and then cut somebody to save money.
That's another option. So it's not like he's not without
options to make something happen, but you could quickly come
up with positions where they need help. It was nice
to hear this week from coach McDermott that Max Harston
his practice window could be open next week. That at
least leaves you hope that the corner position is getting
(25:27):
some help there because they're thin right now with Dorian
Strong and Harston on IRR, you know, and Benford a
little hobbled coming out of the Atlanta game with an
achilles injury. So we'll have to see where all of
that goes. But I think to your point, player health
right now on the roster is going to predicate whether
(25:48):
or not Brandon Bean feels he needs to pull the
trigger somewhere, whether it's corner linebacker where they have injuries,
you know, or somewhere.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Else right, And that's a hard trade to swing, and
it's sometime there's just never a team or not a
team that fits they need a player that they need,
a player where they've got a weakness, where you've got
a player where you've got a strength, and you can
trade both sides, right, You can get a player from
them and their strength, and they can take a player
(26:15):
from you and your strength, and you both get stronger
at your weaker point. It's hard. It's a hard puzzle
to find, plus the and you add in the cat
the financial aspects of it, and it's really hard puzzle
to make fit. But don't think that they're not working
on it. I because I think I think they are.
(26:36):
And every time the general public finds out about a
player who's available or whatever, and particularly a player at
a certain position, they're like, go get them, Go get them,
go get them. And believe me, before we heard about
it as a public piece of news, Brandon Bean's already
talked to the guy. That's the way it works.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Just think about it last year or even two years ago,
the Rasul Douglas trade. Every when Brandon spoke to the
media about it, he said, we had been working on
this for three or four weeks. Yeah, Like it's a process. Yeah,
And there's a lot of conversations, there's a lot of
back and forth. There's offers and counteroffers and more counter offers,
so those things don't just happen haphazardly or in a vacuum.
(27:18):
They take a lot of work, a lot of negotiating
before they're finally consummated.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
As a side note, one of the reasons it works
here in Buffalo and most teams who have a really
good cohesive front office. The reason it works is because
the head coach is also aware of what the GM
is doing and he has some input. And the coach
and we have this guy or this guy. We're talking
to this guy, and the head coaches say, I'll take
(27:43):
either one, but I prefer that one because we're doing
this and this guy's better at it. There's conversation, conversation
about which guy he would like to do it, and
he has if he has experience with him. The coaching
staff is fully informed about the possibilities and they probably
Then there's another layer of this, to the pro personnel.
(28:04):
Each coach will have a pro personnel guy he likes
better than he say, Hey, what do you think about it?
He says, but I think that I think he's right.
I think this is that you know what I mean?
So it's a it's a group think and they as
with the Rasoul Douglas and even the Amari Cooper thing,
they get it right. I mean Mari Coopy. It didn't
work out. Marie Cooper didn't work out because of you know,
he got injured and all that, but the guy helped
(28:25):
and the Bills wouldn't have beat the Chiefs last year
without Amary. That's the kind of thing you get.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
He pulls it. He was pulling attention away from.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
He also caught on the first third down and caught
one with a busted hand down the sideline. Then he
made that catch over the head in the back. I mean,
Amari Cooper helped this team. And of course Rasul Douglas
was an absolute home run. He came in and got
a turnovers games. So yeah, that kind of group think
leads to good situations like that if you can fit
(28:54):
it under the economics and you can get the other
team to say, yeah, we're we're done with this guy.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Let's in and over to the numbers game, where Steve
will be quizzed on Bills versus NFC South history. The
Bills have two games against the NFC House South already
in the books beat The Saints lost to the Falcons,
and they have Carolina on deck, so this seemed very timely.
Tampa's a little bit later in the season. Question Number
one in the Sean McDermott era, what is their best
(29:23):
record in a season in which they faced the NFC South.
It's happened two times. This is the third go round
this year.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
They're one and one right now? Is that counts the season? Now?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
We're not counting that one? Oh, so there's only half ones.
You would not expect one and one to be the
best record against the NFC South right.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Over time to Tampa Bay that year, I think they
beat Atlanta that year they got crushed by the same
Stead year.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
So I just need what you think the record would be.
I think three one, three and one is correct, and
that was in twenty twenty one. Nice job is one
for one. Question two, the Bill's best turnover margin against
the NFC South under McDermott in a season is a
plus five. What year of McDermott's tenure did that happen
(30:12):
twenty seventeen, twenty twenty one, or twenty twenty five against
the NFC South.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
I'll say twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
It was twenty seventeen. That Falcons game. That Falcons game
was a big one. There's three takeaways there for Davious
with that fifty two yard fumble return, Micah Hyde with
a pick. Yeah, and don't forget they come home to
play Tampa and Trey forces the fumble at the end
of the game and they kicked the game winning field
(30:43):
goal twenty seven to twenty four. I think that slot
receiver was Humphreys. I want to say they punched it
out there, so yeah, they were getting takeaways twenty.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Seven en psycopedia, I don't know if it can't.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Remember what h Question three, what current Bills player I
haven't known this. I know this, what current Bills player
has the most tackles since twenty seventeen against NFC South opponents?
And I will acknowledge this is a little bit of
a trick question. So you need to do some thinking
(31:15):
here about the Bill's current roster and the Bills player
that would have the most tackles against the NFC South.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Trey White.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
It's not Trey White. It's an excellent guest. Oh, it's
an excellent guest because that would have been my guest.
It is not Poyer I'm gonna help you. It's a
new arrival to the team.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Who's Shack Thompson.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
There you go, Shaq Thompson, who's spent a good portion
of his time in the NFC. That's why I said
it was kind of a trick question. Question four got
a pretty good kind of you're doing well, you're doing well,
a chance to go three for four right out of
the shoot? Which current Bills player has a defensive touchdown
against an NFC South opponent and the Sean mcdermoan era,
(32:01):
Trey White, You are right, Trey White. I kind of
gave it to your earlier.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
To me earlier I would have gotten that, though.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
I know Bubble returned for a touchdown against Atlanta in
twenty seventy Steve Batton seven in the Numbers game. Very
well done. Bill's fans. Get in on the action with FanDuel,
America's number one sportsbook. Just download the app today to
play any way you want. Plus, with live betting, you'll
get updated odds on games that have already started. Best
of all, you get paid your winnings fast. Make every
(32:28):
moment more. With FanDuel Official Sportsbook partner of the Buffalo Bills,
we now ask our one burning question, Steve. If you
could add a reliable, productive starter at any one position
right now for the Bills, where would you do it.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
It's an interesting question because they are getting a product.
They're getting two productive starters on the defensive front in Hoyton,
Ogan Jobie. I think you you could say wide receiver,
because I just think they need some juice out there.
I think they've become a little bit stagnant. And we
(33:09):
saw too the Bills struggled in pass protection against the Falcons.
But I'm not going to say an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Oh yeah, I might have screwed it up. Yeah, what
I didn't delete it. I think I copied and pasted
the fan duel, read and asked, and I did the
same question. All right, So let's do a redo there. Sorry,
(33:41):
time now for our one learning question. Buffalo has won
five consecutive division titles, Steve. They've played at least two
playoff games each of the last five years and have
played a first play schedule the last five years as well.
It is is it at all possible that the Bills
as a team have experienced contention fatigue?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Absolutely. We've talked a lot about the emotional This is
an appropriate question for you because your team, year after
year in the nineties went back and went back and
went back and went back, and that can wear on
you play When you play in a lot of big
games at the end of the season, important games like
we did back in the day, these regular season games,
(34:29):
you just feel like, just get me to the ones
that matter. I think there's a little bit of that
going on.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
We saw Kansas City kind of experience that last year,
eleven one score victories. They found a way to pull
a lot of those out.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yes, but it looked.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Hard for them and they looked disinterested.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, and they made it to the Super Bowl last year.
I mean they turned it on when it mattered, and
there's a little bit something to that. Maybe this team
can do that, but you really need to win these games.
You can't count on on going on the road in
the playoffs because by that time, no matter who you're playing,
whether it's the Chiefs, the Ravens, the Chargers, the Colts,
(35:09):
all these teams are it doesn't matter who you're playing,
they're going to be playing well and you've got to
be ready for that. So, yes, I think that is
an absolute real thing for this club. I think it's
a battle they have to fight to get emotionally up
for these games.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
I think it's one of the reasons we have seen
the last three weeks they have not come into games
with energy juice.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
You know, you're playing you're playing out of conference, out
of division games, teams you don't normally see. They're two
and two coming in. The Bills have been playing teams that.
I mean, the Patriots are the only team that had
won a game before they played the Bills. I mean,
they're playing all these teams that can't win a game.
It's just like it's it's rough.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So I do think there is some contention. I call
it contention fatigue. You're you're an AFC contender again and
you have to play a first play schedule again, but
the regular season seems almost secondary when you go to
the postseason every year. Right It's like, this isn't a
big game. And I think they've got to They've got
(36:15):
to squash that and squash that fast, because right now
you're sitting here on the bye week looking up at
the New England Patriots, the first place in your division.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
A quick story of my old coach, Marv Levy, who
was one hundred years old. This year, he told our
team a story for this exact situation. You know, you're
into these games where these teams that are struggling, and
you're the team that's gonna you know, at the end,
you're going to be a division title or you're going
to be a wild card, even if you stumble and fall.
He said. Listen, he goes. Back in the day, they
(36:44):
asked one of the great pitchers in them in baseball
about his pitching style. It was Sandy Kofax, and they said, well,
what you know, when do you really you know, when
is it really important to pitch well? And he and
the and the he said, really breed down. When do
you worry the most about a batter? He goes, I
worry when the pitcher comes up. He goes, the picture
(37:05):
they can't hit. Is why are you worried about the pitcher?
And he goes, because the pitcher is the one I'm
supposed to get out the picture, the guy who can't
hit is the one they're depending on me to get
him out. That's when I've got to do my job.
And when you face a team that is struggling, it's
just trying to rebuild and find find Carolina, like the
(37:27):
Carolina Panthers. That's the team you're supposed to beat. That's
when you're you know, there's a question whether, hey, you
the Chiefs coming in here, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming
in here, the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles coming here.
You can hey those teams. Hey, that's a that's a tot.
I get it. You lose a close one of those guys,
that's a tough game. You're supposed to beat that team.
(37:48):
Make it happen. So that was the story Marv told
us as we were, you know, kind of in this
you know, contention fatigue where he saw it and you
have to address it.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Yeah, So hopefully that happens as well coming out of
the buy. Our closing figure deals with James Cook's success
running the football thus far this season. Among backs with
more than fifty carries this season, Cook ranks sixth in
the highest number of box defenders faced at seven point
five six. Cook stands fourth in the NFL in total
(38:23):
yards after contact with three hundred and six. He ranks
second in the NFL and expected yards per attempt at
nine point nine two, and only one player in the
league ranks higher than Cook's EPA per attempt. It's Carolinas
Rico Dowdle with a figure of twelve point three with
(38:46):
the Bills face after the buye in week eight. That'll
do it for this episode. Be sure to subscribe on
whatever podcast platform you use or watch us on the
Bills YouTube channel, because when you need to know about
the Bills, you need to jeck Bill by the numbers
for Steve tapter On, Chris Brown, thanks for listening. We'll
pat you next time.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Everybody
Welcome to Bills by the Numbers, where we let the
stats tell you where the Bills are at. We're presented
by FANDU will make every moment more coming up. What
is at the top of the to do list for
the Bills on the bye week? Can all that needs
fixing be fixed in time for Week eight? Did the
Bills dip into the trade market mid season for the
third year in a row? And we'll have our one
(00:23):
burning question. Who said we had the weekend off? We're
here for you during this bye week for the Bills. God,
we provide such a public service here. Glad to have
(00:45):
you with us on Bills by the Numbers. He's Wall
of FAMERU Steve Tasker on Bills play by playman Chris Brown,
and after a set of back to back lasses, Buffalo
has now had at least one of those occurrences in
every season under coach McDermott. The Bills outset about righting
some of the wrongs that have cropped up over the
last few weeks to get back to winning football. Steve,
(01:06):
what sits at the top of the priority list for you?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
The first thing is obvious, it's try and get guys healthy.
You spend the first month of the season trying to
find out who you are, what you're good at, and
all that. I don't think the Bills know that yet.
They've had the roster churn on the defensive side, in
particular of guys in and out of the lineup. At
Oliver Is played in two games. Daikwan Jones is now out,
(01:32):
was out for this last game. Max Harriston, you have
no idea what his status is. Dorian Strong looked like
he was going to emerge as a helper. He's disappeared
on the ir this last game. At one point he
had Jordan Poyer on the field, which it was for
Jordan Poyer to be on the field. It was a
break glass in case of emergency situation for a month.
(01:55):
For a hot minute, it looked like you were going
to use Christian Benford. For a minute. You had Connor
McGovern go down. In this game, you had dayk one
was out, Josh Palmer went down, Dalton Kincaid was out.
So the list goes on on. Try and get healthy
so you can find out who you are, and try
and stay healthy so you can get better. There have
(02:18):
been some positive signs. Dion Walker flashed in the second
half of this game, it looked like the reps are
starting to show up, and he's starting to be more
consistent for longer stretches. He still has some spots where
you can't find him even at six seven three and
fifty pounds, but there are times when he is in
(02:39):
the middle of it and he's making a play, and
that is happening more and more as we go on.
I thought Dorian Strong and Jordan Hancock, the two rookie
defensive backs, I think we're going to see a little
bit of them in the second half of this season
after this bye week, as they get helped.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
John get ir.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, we don't really know his Hoyt and Ogunjobi will
be back in the building. They'll be able to contribute.
That gives them some depth on that side. You know,
you got Damar Hamlin's on IR, TJ Sanders is on IR.
I mean, you've the list goes on and on. When
we yeah, when we started this season, we really, i
(03:20):
mean almost universally this roster was like, Wow, it's better
than it was last year when they went to the
AMC Championship. The only thing that really could derail us Gosh,
you know, if something happens to Josh or if the
injury bug gets us, well, here we are. It has happened.
They're four and two in spite of it, so their
roster was deep enough before they started getting injured. But
(03:44):
this two weeks, sitting four and two, going into this
and having two weeks to get ready and refresh, that's
the number one priority. Get the guys you've got as
healthy as you can get, and then evaluate where you
really need to make a move. But you won't have
much time after the next week.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, I will say my priority list is maybe a
little more granular than yours is because I think tackling
has to get addressed and repped. And look, this is
the coaching staff that reps the fundamentals to high Heaven.
They practice tackling every single week, whether it's with those
giant rolling donuts, the low bags that they tackle onto
(04:22):
a padded matt, whatever it is, it's got to get
repped and it's got to get emphasized because the mistackle
rate is just too high and the extra yards after
misstackles are killing this defense. The most recent example the
Beijon Robinson eighty one yard touchdown run after two misstackles,
one at the line of scrimmage and then one deep
(04:44):
in the secondary down. The sideline tackling has got to
get addressed fixed and be more consistent on the defensive
side of the ball. The other thing is better starts
to games like these last couple of weeks. They just
cannot get on tra early, and I think it's largely
(05:06):
urgency energy fight. For some reason, this team does not
look amped up for games at the beginning. There are
times over the last several years where we have seen
this team charged up at the beginning of a football game,
and for some reason, it has been absent the last
(05:27):
three weeks. And Steve can speak to this far better
than I can. You have to bring a certain measure
of emotional constitution to every game you play in the NFL.
If you want to give yourself a chance to win.
It's not just physical, it's emotional as well. And I
think the emotional element has been lacking for this team
(05:48):
the last three times they've stepped on the football field
at the beginning of the game, it's put them in
early holes and then they've been forced to try to
climb out of them, and two out of three times
they have been unsuccessful in their last three games, so
better starts to games ties in with the lack of urgency,
emotional energy. We're just not seeing it from this football
(06:10):
team at the start of games. And I think it's
made it's made winning games that much harder each and
every week. You want to stake yourself to a ten
fourteen point deficit, even if you're the high octane offense Bills,
good luck coming back from that every week and winning
more than you lose.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, it's a team that, even in the early four
game winning streak, at times seemed like they were playing
with their food. They were disinterested, you know, they just
it was you know, you go back and look at
the second half of that Jet game and it was
a snooze fest. Now, certainly they had a big lead
and all of that, and the Jets were foundering, but
they were just disinterested. And I think that carries over
(06:52):
they feel, and maybe it's and it might be a
carryover from, you know, from division title fatigue. They win
it every year and it hasn't it hasn't been closed.
In the first month of this season, looked like it
was gonna be another laugher of a division race, not
so much anymore. So perhaps that's enough to get them
(07:14):
to put some emotional content into their preparation and their
game time. But you're right, Brownie, you in this league.
I played in the NFL, then I covered it for
two decades, and I watched a lot of games from
the booth, very engaged in every game when one team
stops to take a breath because they've got a double
(07:35):
digit lead in the second half, when they stop to
raise up and just take just turn it off for
just a minute because of the stress, because the injured,
because they're deep into the season, because they need a rest.
The moment one team does that and the other team
does not, the scoreboard shows it almost immediately. Almost immediately,
(07:56):
you could have the eighty five Bears of the Legion
of Doom or the two thousand Ravens as a defense.
The minute they let up and take a breath, the
Cleveland Browns go bang bang bang touchdown, Bang bang bang touchdown.
It happens that fast. I have seen it literally one
hundred times. And if you start a game like that,
(08:19):
it's really hard to turn it on later. Now, certainly
when you got to lead athletes and all that, and
there's some guys on the Bills squad who can do that,
but not fifty three of them. And that has shown
over the last couple of weeks, and it showed in
the games they were winning too. Let's face it, let's
be honest. It was showing in the games they won
and they got away with it. It showed in the Saints game,
(08:41):
it showed in the Jet game. So yeah, it's when
you get against a team that with a pulse like
the Falcons and the Patriots, it shows.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
They didn't match the energy of either of those teams
at the beginning, the middle, or the end. What in
your mind is in a week's time, technically two weeks time,
but they're not playing right here in the bye week,
What in your mind is fixable in a couple of
weeks time that can improve as soon as they're back
on the field in Week eight at Carolina.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, I think I think the starting lineups need to
be a little shaken up, either to send a message
or to reward hard work or reward effort. You know,
if there's somebody out there who's not playing or not
playing well enough, they need to sit down. I don't
(09:36):
know if there's I don't know if you can single
a guy out, and I don't know what they've been at.
I don't know who the coaching staff would be happy
with and who they're not happy with, But certainly getting
guys healthy and plugging them back in will help. But
I also think there's there's space in in the way
they're working this team and feeling this team to improve it,
(09:56):
maybe with some youth and maybe with some energized younger
guys at certain spots. You can take your pick of
where that might be. But I think there's plenty of
room for that, and I think they should. I don't
think there's anything wrong. Yeah, you look at the way
this defense played in the first half against the Atlanta Falcons.
You can change out a lot of guys three.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Hundred and thirty five yards in one half. Yep.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
That's unacceptable.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yep. And there has to be accountability for it, and
some people may have to pay the price for it
as a playing time.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I'm not saying you look at the stat sheet and
look at the first half and.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You evaluate the film.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Now you look, you look at the film and you see,
you say what you know, You lay it out. That's
how it's got to work. And I'm sure that's how
it is gonna work.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Oh yeah, I don't have any doubt about that. I
think you can. I think the player driven leadership on
this team can rally the troops and bring more emotional
energy and urgency to a game at the start. I
believe that can be fixed like that, especially with the
(11:05):
veteran leadership you have on this team to demand it
of the players. That's one I want to believe this
team can improve their tackling. But to Steve's point, you
may have to switch people out to get it to happen.
Maybe some people have to lose their time on the
field to wake them up and get them to realize
(11:28):
my best isn't good enough right now. And that's why
I'm on the sidelines watching with the coaches. And maybe
that's the price some guys have to pay to get
better results on the field. We've heard for a long
time how that player driven leadership has been instrumental in
this team's year over year success. Seemed last season like
the new young core of leadership had capably taken over
for the old guard that had aged out, but the
(11:51):
failure to apply the fundamentals to their play and the
mental errors have been far more extensive than we're used
to seeing from this club. I touch on it there,
but how much do the leaders in the locker room,
Steve need to step forward so it's not the coaches
all the time harping on what the standard needs to be.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Absolutely that veteran leaders the best it has come. It
works best when it comes from the best players like Josh,
like Ed Oliver, Greg Russau, Christian Benford, Tredavious White, even.
You need to get it from your best players, and
you gotta do it a couple of ways. You got
(12:28):
to say how it needs to be. You gotta tell
them point blank what's got to change. If anything, you
gotta tell them. Then you gotta go out and you
gotta you the best players have to put full put
forth the full effort of making that happen. Practice hard,
prepare hard, go the extra mile. Do that. The best
players have to do that, so the lesser players know
(12:50):
that's the bar they have to clear, so they up
their game. Then you gotta communicate. Then the best players
have to communicate where they're not doing it. Hey, you're
not You're still not getting it right. Let's go and
you got to hold them accountable for that. That's what
it's gotta be. You gotta say how it's gonna be,
(13:11):
show them how it's gonna be, and tell them when
they're not doing it, and hold them accountable when you
do that. That's how. That's how player driven leadership.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I think it goes beyond just pushing guys during the
practice week and making sure guys are up for the
start of the game. I think the player driven leadership
has to be checking in on guys between series, second quarter,
third quarter. I watched Pooka Nakua in the third quarter
(13:41):
on the sideline for the Rams, circle up the entire
offense and basically tell them, hey, we love dancing in
the end zone at the end of a scoring drive,
but we got to earn the right to dance, and
that starts with first and ten at the start of
the drive and second and twelve when we're behind the
(14:02):
sticks and we need all eleven of us pulling on
the rope. Like he was inspiring and he talked to
them for like a minute, and that was in between
series in the third quarter. So I don't think the
leaders on this team can just assume that the message
is received. I think it has to be repeated and
(14:22):
reiterated beginning of the game, middle of the game, end
of the game, to make sure that some of this
youth understands that it's not a some of the time thing.
It's an all the time thing. If you want to
be a twelve, thirteen, fourteen win football team, it's as
(14:44):
simple as that. To your point earlier, you can't take
your foot off the gas ever, not in this league.
The margins are too narrow.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You don't ever do that. As you can't ever do
that as a player. Coaching staffs do that that for you.
When it's time. Josh sits down the fourth quarter against
the Jets, or the fourth, third and last half of
the third and the fourth quarter, that you sit him down,
you put Ray Davis in as a running back and
(15:13):
you go downhill, and that's what you're gonna do for
three downs while he's in the game. You got all
three year backup off. That's what happens. That's the only
way you take the gas. You foot off the gas.
You're out of the game. You're out of the game.
You sit down and your rest.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And you're sitting there and you're pushing the guys that are.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
In that's right, and you're cheering for him, so yeah,
you never disengage. So that's how that's how it works.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
And I.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I've seen a lot of good There's been a lot
of good stuff that this team has done. And with
Josh this offensive line and James Cook getting off for
the start he has gotten off to this year, there's
a lot of good things going on. And it's not
like they don't have it in the tank. We've seen
it too often to believe that it's not like this
(15:56):
talent This roster is talentless or law lost, has lost
its way, but they gotta do better. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
As much as the players bear the brunt of this
responsibility to get things rolling again, the coaches know full
well they bear some responsibility to be the facilitators. Putting
their players in position to succeed is critical, especially with
a roster that I think we can all agree does
not have elite physical talent across the board. This team
(16:27):
has been successful because of the sum of their parts,
but much how much more do the few elite players
they do have need to be on the field to
try to make a difference and keep games from looking
like such a heavy lift?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, no question it falls on your best players, the
James Cooks and the Josh Allens and the Dalton Kincaids
of the world, and the offensive line, and defensively, it's
on those guys up front, the guys who you know
cash checks, like the Rousseau's and the Ed Olivers of
the world. It falls on those guys to do as
much as they can do. But let's be honest, is
(17:03):
a team game, and you need guys out there to
help the star players and those star players and then
this we've seen it. These guys. It's not like Ed
Oliver and Greg Russou are picking up all the sacks
or Josh is doing all these guys need some help.
Everybody else on the roster has got to do more
(17:24):
as well. You've got to be there when the great
players need, especially on the offensive side, when Josh needs
somebody be available. You know you've got to and you've
got to do everything you can to get on the
field and stay on the field and help in any
way you can. Even if it's a wide out and
it's a run play, you got to get on somebody.
(17:46):
I think the real symptom that we can all agree
on that lets you know, that mentally they're just a
little bit casual. Is the penalties. That is the total
symptom of being of having it out of gear.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Right thirty in the last three games.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
You've got penalties. They're just take it out of gear mentally,
and that's when those start to creep in. That is
the biggest and most telling symptom of why you and
I are having this conversation.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And that's why your leadership has to police that as well.
Your player driven leadership has to police that, like, dude,
you're killing us. You are killing us right now. We
can't have that. You're killing us. Like that message has
to be sent. It seems obvious, but maybe to a
young player it isn't.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I get Greg Rusou to lining up off's at first
play of the game, let's go out, let's get it,
and you're amped up and stuff. When he makes that
mistake and gets called for an off size after and
brings a fumble back, there's no way any other guy
on that line should not have learned the lesson from
Greg Russeau's mistake at Oliver? Is he not watching Greg
(18:59):
Russou lose a big play by lining up off sides
and then a quarter and a half later, a quarter later,
he does it and causes us Joey Bosta to lose
a sack.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And the defense you have a second and sixteen.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Situation that is a that is doubling down on mistake. Yeah,
and that's that's the death now, right.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But you know the coaches are going to be combing
through everything over the next week plus to try to
find some of what has been ailing the team. And
then I think secondarily, I would expect them to examine
where they can enhance the talents on this roster, even
(19:41):
beyond the elite talents who can perform for you in
just about any situation. I'm thinking of somebody like a
Keon Coleman, a guy who had enormous success in the
slot in college. Do you experiment there and say, hey,
let's try to unlock him and put him here in
the slot and let's work him there, especially if you
(20:03):
don't have Kincaid coming out in week eight, Like, let's
experiment with a big target in the slot. Since we
don't have Kincaid, let's use him there. See if we
can unlock him. We'll put somebody else outside. Maybe it's
Shavers that lines up outside instead. The bigger receiver. So
I think there's gonna be some some time spent in
the lab to see with the talent that we have,
(20:23):
and maybe not the highest end talent because we know
what they can do, but let's find some of those
role players at the second and third levels and put
them in a position to a maximize their strengths and
even enhance some of their weaknesses that maybe they can't
do well because it's not part of the strength category
(20:44):
for them. I really expect the coaches to drill down
on a lot of those things and find some answers,
because that will level up the offense, or level up
the defense, or level up special teams across the board.
Because when you can get your second and third tier
performers to level up their game because you're putting them
in a better position to help you, it raises all boats,
(21:09):
like you know, high tide raises all boats. I think
the coaching staff, just knowing how they operate in the
bye week, they're gonna find some things to utilize some
of that second and third tier talent on the roster
to make the whole product better going forward. It's a
big reason why Sean McDermott is eight to no after
the bye. As Bill's head coach each of the last
(21:30):
two seasons, GM Brandon Bean has made a veteran player
addition before the trade deadline. Two years ago, it was
cornerback Raswell Douglas. Last year it was wide receiver Amari Cooper.
First part of the question, Steve, do you think Brandon
Bean pulls the trigger? Second part of the question, do
you think he has to pull the trigger?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
First part's the real question, YEP. I don't think he'll hesitate.
I think it comes down to this, and we've been
talking about it. How healthy are they going to be
coming out of this by and before the deadline and
are they going to be able to find out how
good they can be now? Certainly going four to oh
and not never playing your best football says something about
(22:11):
where they are. They feel like they probably have to
feel like they've got the juice to do it if
they can stay healthy. Secondly, if some of these guys
coming back aren't gonna get there in time, like Max Harrison, TJ. Sanders,
Dorian Strong name the one you want, Milano. If those
(22:32):
guys aren't gonna be able to get back and help you,
do you have enough juice to get there, that's the question.
And then again, can you got to fit it under
the cabinet. It can be one for one and do
you want to part with the assets for what is
a maybe help? If you get a guy that you say, wow,
I can't believe we got the guy. If it's that
(22:53):
kind of trade, yeah, give them, give them a whatever
draft pick, right if it guy that's like, well, I
don't know, he might help us, and you know, yeah,
it's got to be an absolute slam dunk. I think
to make the move because they've shown early in this
season that when they're healthy and when they're clicking, when
(23:14):
they got things going on, they've got the juice to
beat about anybody.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, I think a shakeup on the roster needs to
be made. To your point earlier, it doesn't necessarily have
to be a trade. It could be somebody losing their
starting job to somebody on the bench. Sometimes that can
be enough to spark a wake up call, because Steve's right,
this team needs to shake up. Sometimes when you've been
(23:39):
as successful as the Bills have been over the last
six seasons, players can get complacent. Let's just be honest.
It can happen. They don't sweat the details. They lack
the urgency, they lack the hunger, and it shows up
on the field. You could see how much hungrier the
Atlanta Falcons were in that game than the Buffalo Bills
on Monday Night in Week six. Some personnel changes could
be made to wake the team up, get them squarely
(24:01):
focused on the details. You know, or it could be
your job. You could be next that can wake a
team up out of a complacent slumber if you will.
I think for being though, there are two things at
play here. His ability to add to the roster is
limited by cap space. In all likelihood, if he's going
(24:22):
to make a trade of any significance, it's probably going
to have to be a player with dollars going out
to get another player with dollars coming in. And that
could complicate things because a lot of teams willing to
trade at this time of the year are teams that
are either at the bottom of their division, they're going nowhere,
(24:43):
and what do they want? They want draft capital. They
don't want your veteran player with a high price tag,
because you've got to push dollars out to fit the
guy you're bringing in. Under the cap, so that might
complicate things in order for being to get a deal done.
I suppose you could always send draft capital out, bring
(25:04):
that player in, and then cut somebody to save money.
That's another option. So it's not like he's not without
options to make something happen, but you could quickly come
up with positions where they need help. It was nice
to hear this week from coach McDermott that Max Harston
his practice window could be open next week. That at
least leaves you hope that the corner position is getting
(25:27):
some help there because they're thin right now with Dorian
Strong and Harston on IRR, you know, and Benford a
little hobbled coming out of the Atlanta game with an
achilles injury. So we'll have to see where all of
that goes. But I think to your point, player health
right now on the roster is going to predicate whether
(25:48):
or not Brandon Bean feels he needs to pull the
trigger somewhere, whether it's corner linebacker where they have injuries,
you know, or somewhere.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Else right, And that's a hard trade to swing, and
it's sometime there's just never a team or not a
team that fits they need a player that they need,
a player where they've got a weakness, where you've got
a player where you've got a strength, and you can
trade both sides, right, You can get a player from
them and their strength, and they can take a player
(26:15):
from you and your strength, and you both get stronger
at your weaker point. It's hard. It's a hard puzzle
to find, plus the and you add in the cat
the financial aspects of it, and it's really hard puzzle
to make fit. But don't think that they're not working
on it. I because I think I think they are.
(26:36):
And every time the general public finds out about a
player who's available or whatever, and particularly a player at
a certain position, they're like, go get them, Go get them,
go get them. And believe me, before we heard about
it as a public piece of news, Brandon Bean's already
talked to the guy. That's the way it works.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Just think about it last year or even two years ago,
the Rasul Douglas trade. Every when Brandon spoke to the
media about it, he said, we had been working on
this for three or four weeks. Yeah, Like it's a process. Yeah,
And there's a lot of conversations, there's a lot of
back and forth. There's offers and counteroffers and more counter offers,
so those things don't just happen haphazardly or in a vacuum.
(27:18):
They take a lot of work, a lot of negotiating
before they're finally consummated.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
As a side note, one of the reasons it works
here in Buffalo and most teams who have a really
good cohesive front office. The reason it works is because
the head coach is also aware of what the GM
is doing and he has some input. And the coach
and we have this guy or this guy. We're talking
to this guy, and the head coaches say, I'll take
(27:43):
either one, but I prefer that one because we're doing
this and this guy's better at it. There's conversation, conversation
about which guy he would like to do it, and
he has if he has experience with him. The coaching
staff is fully informed about the possibilities and they probably
Then there's another layer of this, to the pro personnel.
(28:04):
Each coach will have a pro personnel guy he likes
better than he say, Hey, what do you think about it?
He says, but I think that I think he's right.
I think this is that you know what I mean?
So it's a it's a group think and they as
with the Rasoul Douglas and even the Amari Cooper thing,
they get it right. I mean Mari Coopy. It didn't
work out. Marie Cooper didn't work out because of you know,
he got injured and all that, but the guy helped
(28:25):
and the Bills wouldn't have beat the Chiefs last year
without Amary. That's the kind of thing you get.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
He pulls it. He was pulling attention away from.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
He also caught on the first third down and caught
one with a busted hand down the sideline. Then he
made that catch over the head in the back. I mean,
Amari Cooper helped this team. And of course Rasul Douglas
was an absolute home run. He came in and got
a turnovers games. So yeah, that kind of group think
leads to good situations like that if you can fit
(28:54):
it under the economics and you can get the other
team to say, yeah, we're we're done with this guy.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Let's in and over to the numbers game, where Steve
will be quizzed on Bills versus NFC South history. The
Bills have two games against the NFC House South already
in the books beat The Saints lost to the Falcons,
and they have Carolina on deck, so this seemed very timely.
Tampa's a little bit later in the season. Question Number
one in the Sean McDermott era, what is their best
(29:23):
record in a season in which they faced the NFC South.
It's happened two times. This is the third go round
this year.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
They're one and one right now? Is that counts the season? Now?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
We're not counting that one? Oh, so there's only half ones.
You would not expect one and one to be the
best record against the NFC South right.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Over time to Tampa Bay that year, I think they
beat Atlanta that year they got crushed by the same
Stead year.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
So I just need what you think the record would be.
I think three one, three and one is correct, and
that was in twenty twenty one. Nice job is one
for one. Question two, the Bill's best turnover margin against
the NFC South under McDermott in a season is a
plus five. What year of McDermott's tenure did that happen
(30:12):
twenty seventeen, twenty twenty one, or twenty twenty five against
the NFC South.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
I'll say twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
It was twenty seventeen. That Falcons game. That Falcons game
was a big one. There's three takeaways there for Davious
with that fifty two yard fumble return, Micah Hyde with
a pick. Yeah, and don't forget they come home to
play Tampa and Trey forces the fumble at the end
of the game and they kicked the game winning field
(30:43):
goal twenty seven to twenty four. I think that slot
receiver was Humphreys. I want to say they punched it
out there, so yeah, they were getting takeaways twenty.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Seven en psycopedia, I don't know if it can't.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Remember what h Question three, what current Bills player I
haven't known this. I know this, what current Bills player
has the most tackles since twenty seventeen against NFC South opponents?
And I will acknowledge this is a little bit of
a trick question. So you need to do some thinking
(31:15):
here about the Bill's current roster and the Bills player
that would have the most tackles against the NFC South.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Trey White.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
It's not Trey White. It's an excellent guest. Oh, it's
an excellent guest because that would have been my guest.
It is not Poyer I'm gonna help you. It's a
new arrival to the team.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Who's Shack Thompson.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
There you go, Shaq Thompson, who's spent a good portion
of his time in the NFC. That's why I said
it was kind of a trick question. Question four got
a pretty good kind of you're doing well, you're doing well,
a chance to go three for four right out of
the shoot? Which current Bills player has a defensive touchdown
against an NFC South opponent and the Sean mcdermoan era,
(32:01):
Trey White, You are right, Trey White. I kind of
gave it to your earlier.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
To me earlier I would have gotten that, though.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
I know Bubble returned for a touchdown against Atlanta in
twenty seventy Steve Batton seven in the Numbers game. Very
well done. Bill's fans. Get in on the action with FanDuel,
America's number one sportsbook. Just download the app today to
play any way you want. Plus, with live betting, you'll
get updated odds on games that have already started. Best
of all, you get paid your winnings fast. Make every
(32:28):
moment more. With FanDuel Official Sportsbook partner of the Buffalo Bills,
we now ask our one burning question, Steve. If you
could add a reliable, productive starter at any one position
right now for the Bills, where would you do it.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
It's an interesting question because they are getting a product.
They're getting two productive starters on the defensive front in Hoyton,
Ogan Jobie. I think you you could say wide receiver,
because I just think they need some juice out there.
I think they've become a little bit stagnant. And we
(33:09):
saw too the Bills struggled in pass protection against the Falcons.
But I'm not going to say an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Oh yeah, I might have screwed it up. Yeah, what
I didn't delete it. I think I copied and pasted
the fan duel, read and asked, and I did the
same question. All right, So let's do a redo there. Sorry,
(33:41):
time now for our one learning question. Buffalo has won
five consecutive division titles, Steve. They've played at least two
playoff games each of the last five years and have
played a first play schedule the last five years as well.
It is is it at all possible that the Bills
as a team have experienced contention fatigue?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Absolutely. We've talked a lot about the emotional This is
an appropriate question for you because your team, year after
year in the nineties went back and went back and
went back and went back, and that can wear on
you play When you play in a lot of big
games at the end of the season, important games like
we did back in the day, these regular season games,
(34:29):
you just feel like, just get me to the ones
that matter. I think there's a little bit of that
going on.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
We saw Kansas City kind of experience that last year,
eleven one score victories. They found a way to pull
a lot of those out.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yes, but it looked.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Hard for them and they looked disinterested.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, and they made it to the Super Bowl last year.
I mean they turned it on when it mattered, and
there's a little bit something to that. Maybe this team
can do that, but you really need to win these games.
You can't count on on going on the road in
the playoffs because by that time, no matter who you're playing,
whether it's the Chiefs, the Ravens, the Chargers, the Colts,
(35:09):
all these teams are it doesn't matter who you're playing,
they're going to be playing well and you've got to
be ready for that. So, yes, I think that is
an absolute real thing for this club. I think it's
a battle they have to fight to get emotionally up
for these games.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
I think it's one of the reasons we have seen
the last three weeks they have not come into games
with energy juice.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
You know, you're playing you're playing out of conference, out
of division games, teams you don't normally see. They're two
and two coming in. The Bills have been playing teams that.
I mean, the Patriots are the only team that had
won a game before they played the Bills. I mean,
they're playing all these teams that can't win a game.
It's just like it's it's rough.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
So I do think there is some contention. I call
it contention fatigue. You're you're an AFC contender again and
you have to play a first play schedule again, but
the regular season seems almost secondary when you go to
the postseason every year. Right It's like, this isn't a
big game. And I think they've got to They've got
(36:15):
to squash that and squash that fast, because right now
you're sitting here on the bye week looking up at
the New England Patriots, the first place in your division.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
A quick story of my old coach, Marv Levy, who
was one hundred years old. This year, he told our
team a story for this exact situation. You know, you're
into these games where these teams that are struggling, and
you're the team that's gonna you know, at the end,
you're going to be a division title or you're going
to be a wild card, even if you stumble and fall.
He said. Listen, he goes. Back in the day, they
(36:44):
asked one of the great pitchers in them in baseball
about his pitching style. It was Sandy Kofax, and they said, well,
what you know, when do you really you know, when
is it really important to pitch well? And he and
the and the he said, really breed down. When do
you worry the most about a batter? He goes, I
worry when the pitcher comes up. He goes, the picture
(37:05):
they can't hit. Is why are you worried about the pitcher?
And he goes, because the pitcher is the one I'm
supposed to get out the picture, the guy who can't
hit is the one they're depending on me to get
him out. That's when I've got to do my job.
And when you face a team that is struggling, it's
just trying to rebuild and find find Carolina, like the
(37:27):
Carolina Panthers. That's the team you're supposed to beat. That's
when you're you know, there's a question whether, hey, you
the Chiefs coming in here, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming
in here, the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles coming here.
You can hey those teams. Hey, that's a that's a tot.
I get it. You lose a close one of those guys,
that's a tough game. You're supposed to beat that team.
(37:48):
Make it happen. So that was the story Marv told
us as we were, you know, kind of in this
you know, contention fatigue where he saw it and you
have to address it.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Yeah, So hopefully that happens as well coming out of
the buy. Our closing figure deals with James Cook's success
running the football thus far this season. Among backs with
more than fifty carries this season, Cook ranks sixth in
the highest number of box defenders faced at seven point
five six. Cook stands fourth in the NFL in total
(38:23):
yards after contact with three hundred and six. He ranks
second in the NFL and expected yards per attempt at
nine point nine two, and only one player in the
league ranks higher than Cook's EPA per attempt. It's Carolinas
Rico Dowdle with a figure of twelve point three with
(38:46):
the Bills face after the buye in week eight. That'll
do it for this episode. Be sure to subscribe on
whatever podcast platform you use or watch us on the
Bills YouTube channel, because when you need to know about
the Bills, you need to jeck Bill by the numbers
for Steve tapter On, Chris Brown, thanks for listening. We'll
pat you next time.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Everybody
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