All-22 Analysis: Bills’ D-Line Overhaul: T.J. Sanders & Landon Jackson Breakdown! | Film Room - The Film Room - Bills Breakdowns and Analysis

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:30):
What's good, folks, Welcome to another edition of the Cover
one Film Room, the show that gives you the hows
and the whys behind both the good and the bad
of the Buffalo Bills. I'm one of your two hosts,
Anthony Prohaska, joined us always by Eric Turner and Eric.
Our random not random because it's planned, but odd recording
schedule continues as we sit here on a Saturday morning,

(00:52):
nine oh six am to break down some tape in
continuation of the twenty twenty five NFL draft, The Bills
a little moving and shaking last night in round two,
went into the night with two second round picks, ended
up making a trade to move up in round two,
still got themselves a third. So at the end of
the day, still the same volume, made two picks on

(01:13):
the day, two guys who we tabbed earlier in this
draft process.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
After the combine.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
We are three for three so far with who they've drafted,
and so we've got some some schematic things to talk about,
some high not highlights, some clips to break down to
really put these players into perspective.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
But how you doing, how you feeling? How's it going?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Good man? As you said, these episodes have been pretty
easy because we've done so much research on the draft
picks so far, so it's kind of like a refresher,
get our notes, compile all of our film. Thanks, Ron
appreciate that, and so it's been kind of just like
a refresher for us. And you know, we have full
time jobs, you know, and so we do this on

(01:52):
the side as a hobby, but it is a full
time job. And so when these type of players are
drafted or selected and these type of transactions happen after
all the work we put in because we have to
be very zeroed in and focused on at work, because
we have to be efficient with our time because we
have a life outside of the Coverlein Sports Network. So

(02:13):
when these type of you know, actions happened by the
team and they pick up guys that we zeroed in on,
it is a good feeling. And it also it's a
sigh of relief because then you don't have to try
to compile all this film and you know, stay up
super late to get all this film together for these shows.
After day two, So yes, drafting of TJ. Sanders and

(02:35):
defensive end Landon Jackson, we saw some of that coming.
Go back and watch as soon as the Combine ended,
we did a Combine Winners episode and we picked a
couple of players at each position and these all three
of these draft picks, Harriston, Jackson, and Sanders were in
that episode. But again we're refreshing it. We're picking some
different clips. We're gonna run down some good and bad

(02:57):
for these players over the next hour or.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
So, and we also got some I pulled this up,
but I'll I want to acknowledge you to thank you
very much Steven, Steven joining us early this morning. Thank
you for the super chen and he says.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Shout out from West Texas. Bill's Mafia, Go Bills.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
It's always cool when I like when people throw in
like the locations. Yeah, yeah, Like one of my favorites
is always he's in the Discord and in a lot
of the live episodes, but Kamory is always like, oh,
a shaut out from Japan, and I'm just like, oh,
that's like so sick, Like that is such a cool thing, so.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Cool, And again one of those humbling things too that one, Yes,
Bill's Mafia is everywhere, but the fact that you know,
we get support from all over the world is pretty
freaking cool.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, it's a cool thing. Yeah, so thank you very
much for that, Steven, think you for joining us with
the super chat. And yes, so we got some cool
nuggets from Brandon Bean last night. Oh oh man, Yeah, so,
Robert says, shout out from Austin, appreciate you. Robert Roberts
out there in Texas too. And then yeah, TP says
oh in New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Draft he kicks off at four am.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Off man. I always that's kind of right there.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's legit, that's the you gotta do what you gotta do.
That's crazy. I've always used to think.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
I used to think of that, like when when I
started realizing that time difference in like Hawaii and other
parts of the world, and I was like, I used
to play like in my head when I was little.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
I'd be like, so if I wanted to watch football on.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Sunday, like I'd have to get up at this time
if I lived in Hawaii, or this time if I
lived in like Europe, Like, yeah, it's just wild the dedication.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
That's cool.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
But yeah, we got some some interesting nuggets from Brandon
Bean last night. Well, int it depends on how you
look at it. Yeah, it might be interesting, but not
interesting yes, it's interesting, but also not interesting and very
part for the course, also might be pretty frustrating for some.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
That's probably what it is, right, It's probably.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
It's mainly that a lot of this weekend has been frustrated.
We've had a yeah, a lot a lot of times
for people. It's a good time with draft time. But yeah,
the the insight that being offered us, I think was
really in lockstep with what we've seen, what we've talked about.
I mean, there was a reason even with Hairstin, but
the guys we we we targeted and spoke about in
that post combine episode that you mentioned, it wasn't just

(04:59):
guys who had a good combine. It was, but it
was guys who fell in line from a need an
archetype or positional standpoint with the bills. And it just
gets to this point where it's really not surprising with
the type of guys they go for. And we'll get
into the specifics with each with TJ. Sanders and Landon Jackson,
but yeah, there's some outlying aspects for Maxwell Harriston, but

(05:24):
Sanders and land and Jackson were very much like, Okay,
that makes sense, Oh okay, that makes sense, and Honestly,
they're both good players. I know you can debate the
value a little bit for some if you didn't like
the trade up, even though on the trade charts it
was decently equal, even a slight advantage to the Bills
in some former.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
But two guys that ticked the boxes for what they like.
But also some guys, especially.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Sanders, who have a lot of fun things to look at.
And I know Sanders was one of your favorite guys
early on.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
And yeah, he immediately when I popped on that first
game of his, I immediately like notice and realized he
was a Buffalo Bills type of guy. Just the way
he is violent, the way he attacks the line of
scrimmage in the blocks, and just his style play which
we're gonna go over a bunch tonight or today this morning,
I should say, jeez, tonight. And so I started him immediate.

(06:13):
I was like, this is a Buffalo Bills fit and you.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
And yeah, I remember you and Jordan Reid.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
I think we talked about it a little on Twitter
because he was like, Yo, this is a bit. It
was just like, yeah, the stars are aligning.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
When he saw I posted about him being a fit,
he messaged me He's like, Hey, that's you know, great minds,
thinking like he's a guy that I'm going to tie
to the Bills the entire draft process, and so he
nailed that as well. So, uh, I'm excited because I
think recently the last couple of months, we've been so
focused on stopping the run. You know, we've asked several

(06:44):
Bills players on how stopping the run, how improving against
the run on early down is going to help you
get the third down and you know that relationship and
how you know, again getting bigger inside, getting stronger against
the run inside can help them get the third down,
but also help second and third level guys in coverage
and things like that. And so I think we kind

(07:05):
of got tunnel vision and we get so heavily focused
on getting a two down type nose tackle plugger to
keep you know, the linebackers free, and I think we
lost sight of something we talked about the entire season,
and that was the bills inability to get pressure on
the quarterback from the inside out, all right. And so

(07:27):
and I think that the picks, especially the TJ. Sanders pick.
We'll talk about Landon Jackson later, but that TJ. Sanders
pick makes so much sense because, as you said, they
prioritize getting after the quarterback, they prioritize creating havoc. They
prioritize just being an attack oriented defense and signing and

(07:49):
drafting attack oriented players. And I think TJ. Sanders does that,
and his attack oriented style and chaotic style creates havoc
when attack the quarteck. But it also does as you'll
see in the film today against the Run.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, absolutely, I gotta stop. We got super chat. Thank
you very much for being here. Justin, thank you for
the super chat. I'm still not in the rhythm of
being alive again. And like super chests, we gotta stop.
Justin says, can we draft defensive line and not change
their positions? And he references Carter and AJ with AJ
made to drop weight, and then he said, oh, a
nice fun fact. He said, it's tonight here in Australia,

(08:25):
it's eleven pm. Oh and then a nice disguy's covering shadow.
He says, like here I have my bluebird moths.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
I love that. Thank you very much for Justin.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
But think that's a I think that is an interesting
point with the change embody composition for Apanessa Carter I
think is an interesting one in that I thought Austin
Johnson was more in that, even though he's not a
drafted guy like I felt like they had him shaved
down a little bit and get a little leaner. Sanders
could potentially be in that boat, though.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
He's at either way.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yes, he's had a lot of different playing weights, and
he's comfortable at a variety of them. But he's somebody
who if he played at two ninety five, I'd be like, okay,
if he played at three oh five or three oh eight,
I'd be like okay. So he's an interesting one for
this kind of bucket that Justin's kind of talking about.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, and I understand that, you know, this is something
that I think we've been made aware of as fans
because of the regime, because of the players and how
transparent they are about their playing weights, especially when they
come on with it's like one of the first questions
we ask, because I don't think people realize how often
this happens. I think this is the norm across the league,
and that I mean so much. So you heard players

(09:29):
coming on a show and say every Friday is waiting
and it could fluctuate and so kind of McGovern said
he loses ten to fifteen pounds in a game, which
was crazy. I mean, think about that. If you're a
defensive lineman, you come in at three oh five, by
the end of the game, you're under three hundred pounds anyways,
because a lot of that water weight. So I think
I think as Bills fans were like super focused on

(09:52):
that because of how transparent and the information that we get,
but also because how it plays into The Bills are
a nickel to They're always lighter across the d line.
Their style and philosophy highlights that, and so I think
that's more in our face than other franchises. But this
is pretty normal across the league.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, that's a fair point. I like where Justin's come from.
I'm still always in. I always not to give him out.
I always just feel bad for a jamp. And so
they were like, hey, man, get drafted during COVID, we
can't really see you in person, change your body composition
and type. And I think that's really stuck with a
lot of fans.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
But has it has it helped him though?

Speaker 1 (10:28):
That's a fair point, Like it changed yeah, Like, yeah,
it just took him a little bit to kind of yeah,
get to that spot. But yeah, he's he's done well,
I mean relatively depending on how hold him in the conversation.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
But yeah, Sanders, just.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
The violence inside juice, penetration, like upfield, everything that they
traditionally like and inside Russia is very valuable. We've heard
Brandon Be talk about it, and like you said, especially
when you juxtapose it with their lack of insight rush
on the interior and so much of what we talked about,

(11:04):
like he said this offseason, and not just coming from
the from speaking with the players, but in just what
our analysis was being able to combat the run from
the light box perspective and with what their second level
is and win on early downs and not having to
do it with you know, run blitzes or gapping out
or using numbers. But you can still do that with penetration.

(11:24):
You can still do that by causing havoc and chaos.
I also think too with t J. Sanders, regardless of
what I mean, well, the weight, it'll probably affect it
a little bit. He is ideal for like a one
gapping upfield penetrate, but like he can do some two
gap and stuff. You can watch him extend and peak
a little bit and shed and play the run. So
he does fit their archetype. I don't want now. I
don't want him living as like, hey man, you're gonna

(11:47):
play a ton of one tech. We want you eating
double teams and doing all this. I don't think that's
the best uses of him. But he's not pure. I
don't think he's you know Norman Lot from Tennessee who
is all gas and no breaks and it was just
pure field. R.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Sanders does offer you some sand and some grit against
the run and all of it, whether it's the run defense,
whether it's the pass rush, it all just ties to
the violence and the juice that he plays with all
over like he sheds guys, and it's I've had I've
had to rewind and be like as am I playing
the video at one and a half speed? Is there
something wrong here? Because that's how quick he is on tape.

(12:23):
It's really impressive. Again, I thought and even hoped a
little bit after Ogin Joby and them saying Ogan Joby
will play three tech.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
They might look more towards a run defense piece.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
But good football players, a good football player, Yeah, he's
in line with what they want. And I don't mind
having a bunch of juiced up assassins on the interior
if it means you have to gap out a little
bit more.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
You know.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
We'll say that conversation in schematics as we go down
the road. But just from a peer individual standpoint, there's
a lot that TJ. Sanders offers in a fun way.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Like I said, I think we lost sight of the
issue that we had as a pass rush unit for
the Bills last year. I mean last year from the
dtackle position alone, the Bills were ranked eighteenth in pressure
percentage at eight percent eighteenth. The year before they were
fifth over eleven percent. So again you to think about

(13:13):
the guys they brought in mid season, it's like I'm
done with that. I'm done with that submit long term.
And it's no surprise that being went with a pass
rush first type guy. And like you said, I do
think while he is primarily a very good pass rusher
and probably one of the better ones that went in
that second round, which is probably why they were willing
to make that move to go get them, I think

(13:35):
that he fits their schematics and things they ask of
their D Tackles and D Lineman when it comes to
stopping the run. And yes, he played one tech, he
played three tech. He played some five tech when at
South Carolina. Very versatile, twitchy again, attack oriented, penetration type
style player. But his lateral step, his first lateral step said,

(14:00):
he kind of transports right from one gap to another,
whether it's a run, spiker, stunt or a blitz. He
can get across the face of two offensive linemen in
the blink of an eye. So much explosion, very valuable,
whether you're talking defending the run or rushing the pastor
And that's what excites me about him. He's gonna help

(14:20):
the Bills go from eighteenth and pressure percentage at DTACKLE
this coming season, and especially if you're talking about obvious
pass rushing down second and third and long when they
can take Daikwan off and have Ed and TJ. Sanders
in there, Like, I don't understand what people are mad
about this. I mean, being and McDermott have told us
this for years, that they prioritize getting after the quarterback,

(14:43):
affecting the quarterback. So I think that we are a little,
a little into that tunnel vision recently of hey, we
gotta stop the run and guilty I'm guilty of that
as well, But I think people forgot that what happened
to the Super Bowl, what the Eagles did, and we
got too much focus on just getting a nose tackle.

(15:04):
We forgot about what the Eagles did in the Super Bowl.
And I love overall, from the grand scheme of things,
what the Bills have done on the defensive line altogether.
When we're talking free agency, when we're talking the draft,
obviously Ogunjobi, Michael Hoyt. They'll be out for six games.
That's what makes these two picks yesterday so much fun
because we're gonna see them early. They're gonna get early

(15:27):
season experience. And then once Ogunjoby and Hoyt get back,
I mean, the rotation is gonna be beautiful. Everyone's gonna
be fresh, and so by the end of the season,
hopefully things are humming. So I like the addition to
Tgs and obviously again a pad on a back for
us because it's it's someone that we targeted. But I
like his ability to disrupt the run lanes, disrupt the passer,

(15:50):
and I think he's gonna be a really good piece
for that D line, the interior D line that for
the last few years has not had long term commitment
to its, especially if we're talking about getting after the passer.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Yeah, and you know this is to put in some
passwords productivity metrics into perspective. So Pastor's productivity essentially just
pressure's relative to how much you rush the quarterback. At
Oliver led the Bills with a score of five point nine,
which if you grade that out for the one hundred
and twenty qualifying defensive tackles in the league last year,

(16:23):
that puts him at tide for twenty eighth, and then
the rest of the guys on the interior for the Bills,
like Jordan Phillips didn't qualify, but he was at four
point four. Quentin Jefferson was at five point one, but
that was just again because they didn't they had a
good amount of pressures that got schemed up or worked
out relative to how much they rushed the quarterback. But
then Daikwon Jones was at four point two, Dwayne Carter

(16:44):
was at two point seven, Austin Johnson was at two
point six, and that two point seven for Austin Johnson,
I'm sorry that two point six for Austin Johnson was
one hundred and first out of one hundred and twenty
qualifying defensive tackles, and that two point seven for Dwayne
Carter was ninety ninth out of one hundred.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
And twenty qualifying defensive tackles.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
So they just didn't from a rotational perspective, didn't get
that from the interior. And I think it was that.
Plus you also weren't getting the run defense parts from
Austin Johnson and Dwane Carter. They were getting displaced against
the run and also not penetrating. So I think, like
my hope is, okay, if you add more juice inside

(17:23):
with Ogan Jobey and Sanders, you add more violence, you
add more penetration.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
We're added and we're doing run stunts.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
We're doing rum blitz as we're attacking, we're jumping gaps,
we're shooting. It might not be the anchoring and displacement
mitigation that I kind of wanted add it a little bit.
But that doesn't mean you still can't combat the run.
It just changes a little Oh, I didn't even see that. Wow,
CT Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you for the
fifty bucks. Anytime I see certain the darker colors like
the purples and the reds, like someone last night, gave

(17:51):
Greg and I a hundred and I saw the red.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
WHOA, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
Ct thank you so much, he says, thanks again for
the balance and well thought out analysis.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
As always, that.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Means a lot after that, especially and that does insults
like it's been crazy. Yeah, thank you very much for that, CTO. Actually,
you know what I think I also missed. Uh, we
have two more super chats go to certain when Steven again,
thank you for being here. In the super chat, Stephen says,
what's your thoughts on today? I'm thinking wide receiver, another
corner in safety. So Eric, real quick, what are some
positions you're targeting today on day three?

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, you gotta go wide receiver. You gotta look for
that speed element, and I do think they will, whether
it's later in the draft or undrafted free agency, they
will look for that that nose tackle, roll that with
two down run stopping nose tackle, whether it's late in
the draft or in free agency, because you don't you
don't want to get a guy that is going to
just immediately step in there and play you know, that role,

(18:44):
because if he's good, you can't sneak him on the
practice squad. And so you want someone late in the
draft that you need to develop, but also isn't like
a world beater as a run defender because then he
could get scooped up and not make it through to
the practice squad. That's that's my thoughts with that. He
you know, Eli Anku, that type of guy. I like

(19:04):
have him in that role and develop him, get him
into the program and work that way. So I do
think that, I mean all these positions. Yeah, I'm okay,
I'm okay going receiver, I'm okay doubling up at corner safety. Yeah. Again,
it's just special teams, like there are a lot of
different areas and roles that they still need to fill
even though a lot of their starters are locked in.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
Very fair and yeah, I think all three of these
are there. I would like a wide receiver today. I
would like another corner I wouldn't balk it an into
your offensive lineman just because McGovern and Edwards are UFA's
next year. And then so even if they both go
and you're confident in Van Prank, Ranger and Alec Anderson,
you still need depth for Van Prank, Granger and Alec
Anderson if they were to step in two roles so
we could see something on the interior offensive line. Yeah,

(19:47):
I would like to nose still. Jay Tooya from UCLA
six to two, three hundred and forty two pounds, former
rugby player who moves awesomely, is a guy I really
like on day three. And then Marcus Harris Corner from
Cal is one who stuck out to me, and I
wouldn't talk into safety as well, like someone like Craig
Woodson from CAL. I know folks like Billy Bowman from Oklahoma,
but I think he's gonna go a little earlier today

(20:07):
and isn't really in that type of role. And then
we'd have another super chat from Justin. Thank you very
much again, Justin, Eric, you and I were talking about
this last night on the phone a little bit. Justin's
question is will Dwayne Carter have a role after the
first six games? And again this ties into a little
bit of what I was just saying, you know, Dwayne
Carter getting displaced against the run and kind of knocked

(20:27):
around a little bit. And then from a passwords perspective,
a two point seven pass rust productivity which again ninety
ninth out of one hundred and twenty qualifying defensive tackles
last year, just not really getting anything from him one
way or the other. And even if even if you
don't love Ogan Joby or Sanders completely because you wanted

(20:49):
more of a true one tech, you know, they can
still hang their hat on penetration and some pass rush
church from the inside. So even if it's not the
run defender piece that you don't love, they still have
something to hang their hats on. Dwayne Carter doesn't really
have anything to hang his hat on right now, and
that's potentially scary if you're him or a fan of his.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
It was a rough first season, there's no doubt. You know, uh,
you didn't get to really see any of the positive
stuff from Dwayne Carter that we saw when he was
in college, and then of course the injury and then
he just couldn't get it going. I mean, I will
say later in the year against what was it the
Patriots I think, or no, the Texans?

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Right, he played against the Texans are allowed.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, a really solid game.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
Something there, there's something to build on. But I will admit, yeah,
it was very disappointing. But again I don't think that's
the end of it. Will he have a role after
six games. We're gonna see he's gonna have opportunities obviously,
you know, probably pretty early, and we'll see how he
adjusts to being saying, hey, he's probably getting now kick
over to know his pathook and and again that's that's

(21:49):
gonna be an adjustment. And but again, these are professionals,
and you know, I can't wait to get him in
the film room because we were supposed to do a
film room with him last week, but they had just
gotten back to Buffalo, so we had a postpone a
little bit, which was fine with me because we had
all this drafts. But now this is something we can
address when we get him in the film room here
in a couple of weeks, to ask him about what
he's going to do to adjust and you know, different things,

(22:12):
and how he's gonna change his focus because he's on
a hot seat in many ways this year with the
way that Brandon Bean has reconstructed this defensive line, D line,
d tackle and d NS because there's some talent in there,
there's some versatility and a lot of these guys have
shown flashes and we just haven't seen enough from Dwayne
again because of injury, because of some of the guys

(22:34):
they brought in late in the year. He just didn't
get it going like a lot of fans expected him too.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
And what's also interesting too from Bean's presser, he said, like, oh, yeah,
you know, Carter's gonna you know, based on TJ coming in,
Carter'll kick over to you know, more of a one tech.
But he said if we had gone with more of
a two down nose than he would have kind of
stayed more at the three, which is really interesting from
the player's perspective of like you're kind of sitting in

(23:00):
blimbow a little bit waiting for them to do what
they gotta do, and then they're gonna tell you what
you need to do primarily, and that leads to body
composition stuff and play style things. It's all very like
waiting in the wings almost, which it can be stressful,
so it'll be cool to.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
Get But again, I think the guys they have Ogan,
Jobi and TJ. Sanders, they're gonna be going through the
same thing. So I mean it's all relative.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
You know.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
It's put up a shut up for everyone in the
D line, you know that is the team always talks
about building from the trenches out. Well, guess what these
guys need to step up. And that's why we're talking
about TJ. Sanders and this d line because they were
not good enough, especially against the pass from creating pressure
up the middle, and with this scheme is very important.

(23:46):
It helps guys on the edge that much more. And
so you know, emman At Oliver, all of those guys
need they need to step up it getting after the quarterback.
So well, Carter have a roll after six games, We're
gonna have to see. That's to be determined because there's
gonna be competition and there's guys that have played in
this league that are very good in Ogunjobi and TJ.
Sanders is a hell of a talent. He's super young

(24:09):
and he's a high commitment. So you know he's got
a roll pretty much immediately, and so everyone just needs
to buckle the chin straps up and go get go,
get the quarterback. Honestly, that's what it comes down to,
and that's why we let out the show with you know,
what the Eagles did in the super Bowl and that
blueprint and everyone was talking about. Then we lost sight
of that, and so getting a guy like TJ. Sanders

(24:30):
and what the Bills did in the offseason as far
as adding defensive line talent, the Bills know that they
need to do a better job getting after the quarterback,
especially when Josh is out there scoring thirty points a game.
He's giving in them opportunities. So you know last year,
let me bring up the stats last year. You know,
the Bills, obviously they see a lot of passes. That's
that's that's the league one of first of all, but

(24:52):
they saw like the second or third most pass attempts
as a defense last year. So prioritizing pass rushers like TJ.
Sanders make too much sense to me.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, and I think also too Just because you are
a pass rush first person or you're not a huge
mountain of a man, that doesn't mean you can't be
impactful against the run. It doesn't mean you can't be
good in run defense. And either way you just again,
there are some things if you're a plus pass rusher
inside but maybe not the best run defender as a
group or a unit, there are some ways to combat that.

(25:23):
I think to your point the blinders thing, we focus
so much about the displacement that was created in the
spine against the run, we forgot about the ineffectiveness of
the pass rush on the interior as well, So it
was it was a collective overall.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
The interior was just very ineffective against the run and
the pass.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
They have combated the pass rush asset, yeah yeah, but
also those the play style of those pass rush guys
mainly Ogunjoby and Sanders allows you to still create some
chaos against the run and do some different things. So
it's all again it's resource allocation and all those pieces.
But it's gonna be an interesting common and they definitely
got better on the interior as a pass russ like

(26:02):
he talked about, and we again admittedly put that on
the back burner focused more on the run. But it
was a collective ineffectiveness, yeah, on the interior, and they
tried to remedy one area of it.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
And it also it's also in line with what they like.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
Again, yes, we lost sight of the pass rush twenty
first in pressure percentage last year. Twenty first guys for
a defense that was playing a lot of too high
type looks, you know, and that light front that's not
good enough, and so adding talent to the front is
just makes too much sense. Again, I think we just
got our priorities kind of like he came out and

(26:35):
was like, you guys, do realize that pass rush is
the priority. Go look at the contracts the interior defensive lineman,
go look at like, come on, he dropped the mic
right off in that presser, and we're like, well, damn,
he ain't wrong.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
He's not lying. And again too, I think, I think,
And we'll get into this. Obviously schematically is go forward
in the offseason, but maybe we'd just see more run
stunts and run flits is on early downs to try
and set that up. And it's you know, if you
wanted them to get a big bodied one tech to
eat blockers so you could they could play light boxes
and too high on early downs. You didn't get that,
but there's still other ways to still win on early

(27:10):
downs to then set yourself up for success on pass
rushing downs. And it starts with some of what TJ.
Sanders does here again just violence, juice, penetration, explosion laterally
vertically a lot to like for him as a rusher,
but even just playing the run, just his tape is
filled with flashes of like just juice and explosion in violence.

(27:33):
Those words just keep coming back to me over and
over again for him.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Yeah, you're gonna see again. You're gonna see those traits
and what he does well his first step, lateral quickness,
explosiveness and violence in the run and in the past.
So here's a great rep from the Georgia game and
I think this was from twenty twenty three against a
Bill a Bill Center and SVPG here. So watch the

(27:56):
quickness on this place.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
His name is so hard, even with the additionals they.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Always it's like you have to think about it consciously.
Look at the lateral step. You guys, remember when they
had the interview at the combine of aj Apanessa and
they asked him about what his first step is. This
is what they were talking about. Look at the d
tackles and that first lateral step, that quickness. These are
those run stunts. These are those spiking type movements that
you see from the Bills defensive lineman when they're running stunts,

(28:21):
they're running run blitzes, they're running pass blitzes. That first
step quickness to backdoor. This play from the nose tackle
position stands out every other play on TJ. Sanders film.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
And so this is a really good play to start
off with because if you look at TJ.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Sanders' initial lineman.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
So he's in that a gap, he's in a one
tech and this could be like what you could happen?
What could happen post snap or is one of two things?

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Well, there's more than that.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
But he could stay in that gap and try and
attack this double team that is coming his way. The
left guard and the center, their steps are both inside.
They're looking to double him and then climb and Sanders
he could go at them. He could try and anchor,
he could drop the knee, he could give work, ye, occupy,
mitigate displacement. Like I'm not saying any of that's bad.

(29:10):
So he could do that. Or you can beat that
double team with the explosion and the stunt that he
has on this play and just rub this whole play.
And that's part of what we're talking about, right, Like you,
if you're Alfred Collins, you're staying in that gap and
you're just gonna eat both those duties. Yes, yes, and
try and let fifty two or somebody else make a

(29:31):
play or zero make a play instead. Sanders shoots it,
he penetrates, he gets a field. That's the difference, right,
So it's not saying one's better than the other. They're
just different. There's more than one way to kind of
attack this thing, and Sanders gives you his way of
it here, and this is what he adds to this
defensive line.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
And this fits the Bills. This fits the Bills. You know.
You see these gap exchanges. You see these back door
reads of blocking concepts. Again, they're expecting his own run
here based I'm sure, based on the game plan. And
so once he reads that they are stepping zone, stepping
towards him, he can back door and both the d
tackles read it beautifully, and so as the track of

(30:09):
the offensive linemen are going this way, you see both
the tackle shoot back door. Again, that is processing pre
to post snap, understanding blocking concepts and then executing with
that lateral quickness to blow up the play in the
backfield against Georgia. Just awesome stuff. You're gonna see that
a bunch on his film. Here's another one from the
same game again, no tackle alignment. Now he goes into

(30:30):
that b gap. He gets picked up by the guard
and the tackle here and you see him initially, you know,
stalemate at the line of scrimmage. You see his eyes
are on the ball, right there and then as the
running back commits to the line of scrimmage, he disengages
and goes and makes the tackle by holding and anchoring
at the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, this was a pleasant surprise for me.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
The more I watched his tape, I think the first well,
what was the first game I watched from twenty twenty four,
I don't remember. I think it was LCU or the
Old Miss game. And so much of it is just gaps,
shoot and penetration.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
I was like, all right, cool, And.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Then you start to watch more and there are some
plays where he limits displacement and he can anchor a
little bit and hold up, and you'll see him kind
of get wrenched back a little from time to time,
but he's able to maintain leverage. And some of that
is just with the core strength he has, the power
that he has.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
But this ricochet back in, right, he could get bounced,
but then he'll rickochet. We'll see one here in a minute,
ricochet back into the play.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yes, And I think a lot of it is tied
to I hate saying things like these because I feel
like it makes people think it's a cop out, Like
he has a great motor and great effort, so he's
gonna work like and you even see it on this one, Like,
look at the effort he's giving playing through seventy one.
He's peeking inside seventy one is into his body. He's
being grabbed, there's contact, but like you said, he's reading
the running backs track. He's leaning in. Let me try

(31:47):
and disengage. Here make a play on the ball.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Which he does. Like, this is muddy. This is dirty.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
And it's not just the violence and poth that he has,
but the motor that he plays with as a rusher
and as a run defender serves him well in being
able to combat it's being done to him at times.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, it's this was a good game to watch again
because of the talent competition right right here and nose
tackle again. You see him get his eyes on the
back side cut off blocked by the left guard stack
and shed look at the hand placement, look at the anchor.
This is textbook stuff. Watch him peek into the front
side gap and as a running back cuts back against

(32:21):
the grain, he disengages and makes the tackle at the
point of attack.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah, this is you know a bit of what I
mentioned earlier with you know he's ideal for like a
one gapping penetrating team, but there are reps where he
stacks in sheds and shows that he can two gap,
and its sprinkled in throughout the tape.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
But this is quality. He's up against the left guard.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
The box numbers too, and look at the numbers, thank you.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
What do we got, folks? Ding ding dang, We have
a light box.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
Safeties start to come down a little bit, but we
got four on the D line. We got fifty two
and zero at the second level. So we're rocking a
light box there with six defenders in there, even really
it's almost kind of like five because zero comes in
right at the last minute as brock Bowers comes in.
You need guys that can two gap or at the
very least gap and a half and play responsibly. And
you get that with Sanders. He again peeking in the backfield,

(33:10):
reading the running backs track, and then watches he sheds.
You get a sense of that violence. It's just once
he sees the declaration of the running back bank snaps
his body back into that gap, and you see it.
He's either violently shedding or violently moving his back or
moving his body back into the gaps, and some of
that is also tied to his length, right, you know,
forty nine percent out for arm length, sixty fifth percentile

(33:32):
for wingspan. So he's got a guy with some good
length that also lends itself to the violence and pop
it plays with throughout his body and his hands.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
And you talked about winning ugly, I mean even as
he violently changes the leverage there and wins the leverage
back inside when the running back cuts it back. Look
at the left hand of that offensive line. When you
get offensive line, he's still getting held and so that's
showing off some of that strength and power to still
make a play with a blocker still attached to him
with really good hand placement inside on him. He's able

(34:01):
to play through that and almost as if that guy's
not there, and he's able to make a play at
the point of a tech.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Say, look how he gets low with the tackle too,
Like he's not just high and stood up, like he
manages while he's being held to get low. And if
he's a little too high, maybe that running back runs
through the arm or runs through the shoulder. Yeah, look
at him, like lower the pad level again and get
back down just like a tenacious player inside. I know
a lot of these might be all of these are
buzzwords if you don't like to pick, but he really

(34:27):
is just mean inside. He's another move towards like sandpaper
and grit inside.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
Here's another rep from that game, nose tackle alignment. We're
trying to show you that he didn't play it. First
of all, he did play nose tackle at times, of course,
three tech and some five tech in some of those
five man surfaces. But these are the things that just
translate to the Bills scheme. Look at him on the
as that guard pulls, you see him get into this gap.
And then as the gap run goes away from him

(34:53):
and he clears his gap, you know the running back's
not going to go in here. He bounces out. Look
at him, get by Van Pran Granger there and goal
make the tackle in the backfield. Very disruptive. He makes
a lot of plays in the backfield of the offense.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah, and again another one that kind of speaks to
what the Bill's like on the interior, and a calling
card of his You are getting him for penetration upfield.
I like on this one too, where he fights back
against SVPG. I was gonna try and say the full
last name, but I know, but going with the initials.
I respect you for doing it though so well done.
So how he fights back against SVPG. I think this

(35:29):
is also an area too where he can improve, like
the not necessarily on this play, but not getting washed
down and maintaining that wide base, not getting too narrow.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
A level yes to main narrow based high pad level
at times.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, and both of those contribute to him kind of
getting washed down at times and moved a little bit.
But how he fights through here, Like you mentioned that upfield,
he doesn't get pushed horizontally, he fights off, stays in
that gap and then pushes through that inside shoulder and
moves towards making a play on the ball. But again, disruption,
chaos on the inside another highlight of what he brings.

(36:07):
You can defeat the run by being stout. You can
defeat the run with penetration and causing chaos and disrupting.
And then also what's cool too if we tie it
in having a guy on the inside who can disrupt
like this. When you've got long armed edges like the
Bills have, they can clean that up when you and
when you've got linebackers who are good at you know,
seeking and destroying, and you've gummed up the works and

(36:29):
just created chaos and you got good linebackers who can
find the ball. It's also kind of a bit of
a force multiplier where maybe he doesn't have a ton
of tackles for loss or stats, but he's the one
who was kind of the patient zero for causing the
hell that allowed Bernard to shoot and make the play
or Russota clean it up and things like that, which
we saw it something.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Right, And so we're gonna see some more chaos and
havoc creation here, some more pass rush reps here. You
see some of the again quickness and lateral explosion on
some of these reps getting across the face of blockers
and chain challenging guards and centers. Look how he jumps
essentially starting off the outside shoulder of the left guard.
He doesn't go into this a gap. He goes across

(37:08):
the face of the center here to get into the
lap of the quarterback. Jackson Dart again doesn't get hel no,
but look at him. He is affecting the quarterback and
you can see the throw goes incomplete. I don't let
it roll but it goes in complete on the back
and so you're seeing some of that first step quickness,
that lateral explosion show up as a pass rustaurant on
this play.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
What I like on this one too is as the
center gets into him, he has the core strength to
stay vertical to the quarterback like he's online to get
a pressure on Jackson Dart. He does not get ridden wide.
And the center's trying right The center's trying to ride
him wide to either push him around Dart to allow
Dark to side step it, maybe step up, and Sanders

(37:49):
just stays right on that B line right to Dart
and he's getting held.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
And what does he do. He swims through.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
You see him hand fight yep, arm over, try and
create that better leverage for himself and then kind of
positions himself with that arm over to kind of disconnect
the hands a little bit, maintains leverage, has the core
strength to stay vertical and not get ridden wide. That's
a nice rap again, especially for a dude who is
quote unquote small around the interior. He's got that strength
to play through in contact.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Here's another rep from that game doing the same thing.
This one's a little cleaner. He doesn't let the center
you know, grab cloth. Here you see him outside the
shoulder of the left guard looking at him, jump gaps, boom.
Look at that clean wind. If this offensive lineman that
is going against Sanders, if those guys are aggressive and
trying to punch or jump him at the line of scrimmage,
he's got quick hands. And then that lateral again, that

(38:37):
lateral explosion. We're gonna say all day when we're talking
about TJ. Sanders, that lateral explosion just pops. Whether he's
rushing the passer or defending the run.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Yeah, that's a big one. We talked about in his
initial evaluation. We talked about it in February. You showed
it a little and then talking about here showing it here.
Just another one where just in the blink of an eye,
like let me jump one gap, let me jump two gap.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
And in the hands and seats together right, yes, yes,
that's exactly it.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
The feet and the hands being in sync, like to
be able to step and then step and after boom
as he goes from the B to the A right there,
and now the foot is about to hit the ground,
and right is the foot hits the ground, he hits
that swipe and then look out yes and clean and
slips through to that other a gap and bears down
onto the quarterback. You see that time and time again.

(39:24):
It's that agility and that explosion. And I mean South
Carolina did a ton of this. They were just shooting
gaps and stunt. They had a really good defensive line
with three draft eligible players this year and then a
really talented freshman and Dylan Stewart, who is going to
be a name to watch and come in years.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
Here's a run defense rep light box, five man box.
He's that nose tackle two I position just inside the
left guard against Ole miss You see him play into
the guard here and again stack and shed anchor at
the point of attack. Eyes in this gap right here,
running back cuts it back and as soon as he does,
look at the disengage quickly, violently and trip up the

(40:02):
running back in the whole Very nice stuff. Again in
a light box at a nose tackle alignment, very good
stack and shed peekaboo right there by TJ. Sanders against
Ole Myth.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
This one is my favorite one of his because of
the violence and the quickness of which he sheds. It
is just bang and he's being held on this one
a little too. Like you can see seventy one has
his left arm, yeah, grabbing the jersey, pulling it across.
And to have that type of explosion in your movements,

(40:35):
to shed that quickly and make a play on the
ball while still being held like, that's just some real
juice to your movement. And it's nice to have the
technique side of it, and good highlight there on the
back end. What's that safety doing. He's dude, he's got
to have safety's drop into a deep path. It looks like,
so what do standers have to do? He's covering that

(40:56):
A gap and he's covering that B gap and if
he doesn't make that tackle, you know, maybe forty six
gets there or seventeen makes a plan up, but that
gap is wide open and there's no one to fill
it from the second level or third level because thirty
one was starting to drop into.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
His deep half a bit.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
And here's another one, and we talked about he does
get bounced around at times. You see a feed block
from the left tackle sixty one here kind of bounce
him down the line of scrimmage on this gap run
at the point of attack. But again the arm length
right there. Look at the extension right there. He absorbs
that hit and then watch him ricochet back into the
play right here, move his feet and get across back

(41:34):
across the face of the blocker to go make the tackle.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, that's the nice piece, you know, whether he just
ricochets directly in, pinballs back in, or it's the effort
to kind of fight through and he again, he needs
that because, like we said, he will get displaced from
time to time, more so horizontally than vertically. But he
will work and do what he can to try and
get back and mitigate that. And you know, Kyle Canard

(41:58):
there a number five makes a bit of a play,
but the running back breaks it and who's there to
clean it up?

Speaker 2 (42:03):
TG Sanders because he worked back across, did what he
could and then makes a nice play.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
Here's another cut up from the old Miss game. You
see that lateral quickness, that back door or shooting the
back door of the left guard here right there, That
quickness is just it's so pretty man like. That is
exactly like when Daikon first came over to the Bills
and he was common like, this is the type of
stuff he did, and you know what he did in
Carolina before he came over. But then when it's something

(42:30):
that we studied with him and we haven't talked about
with him in the film room, like that first step
lateral quickness is incredibly important when you're talking to traits
and skills that the Bills look for in defensive line.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Yeah, and being able to take that first step laterally
and then being able to transition into getting up fielding
and and not having it take too much time or
not having it be clunky. You see some of that
fluid movement from Sanders, So it's not only like explosive
and snappy, but it's also fluid with how he moves,
and that's a huge selling point to be or kind

(43:00):
of to chain the athleticism together and not just have
it be like, oh, he's got a great step here,
but then there is no like but then he's able
to transition it into real effectiveness.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
Here's another rep that really highlights again his ability. This
stack and shed plays into the guard. Look at the
hand extension, look at the hand placement and how he
anchors down the kind of the right half side of
his body there, and as soon as that running back
makes a commitment and bounces it outside. He's in position,
he's got the leverage, he's able to just disengage and
go make it.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Yeah, you see a little good peek at the arm
length on this one, kind of just being able to
keep his man literally at arm length. You see the extension,
read the track. Simple disengage. Zero fills from the other side.
So the running back has to make a decision either way.
It's not a great decision. He's either running into zero
or he's running into TJ. Sanders tries to maybe follow

(43:52):
his tight end a little bit, thinking, you know, maybe
can get back inside my left tackle and get up field,
and Sanders says, nope, disengaging and again an explosion once
he disengages.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
To make the play. Here's a pass rush rep from
the same game. He's a four eye just inside the
left tackle. Hands and feet in unison, violent hands at times,
double handed swipe here against again an aggressive offensive lineman.
You don't want to do that, especially if it's an
obvious pass rushing down, because he's got the hands and
feet in quickness to beat the hands, to beat the

(44:22):
man and to get the sack.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
Say that's all I had on this would beat the
hands beat the man like I just love that adage
and when it plays.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
That's really the headline for this episode. We're talking TJ.
Sanders and lending Jackson.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
That's super fair. If that's super spot on should rename it.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
You know what's nice too, is he compare this from
time to time with some speed to power and being
able to go through guys a little bit. So if
you're thinking of just okay, let me just get deep
in my set and take him on and I'll anchor
a little bit, he's got enough in that regard to
make you question it. And so if you try to
get out in front of him and throw your hands,
you're also not in a great spot because he can
just beat him again. That violence and juice that he
plays with it's in the lower body, upper body, but

(44:58):
it's also in the hands, and so there's a multitude
of ways for him to win together, and he'll flash
these immediate type of instantaneous wins and then bear down.
And also because he's a fluid mover, as he beats
the hands, he's able to kind of turn a little
bit and then take a direct line to the quarterback.
He doesn't get too far upfield, so that cook number
twelve can kind of step up and do something. He

(45:20):
just swipes those hands and how fluid swipe the hands,
get into the gap, turn and kind of accelerate in
the apex of that turn that bear down.

Speaker 3 (45:29):
Yeah, I just I keep saying the later explosion, but
the agility to watch as he has he rushes here
and he's setting up to plant off that left foot
so that he can get into this gap and the
hands again in unison with it. But watch as he
explodes right there latterly, and then you see like a
little crossover like a Karaoka step right here, and you
see him do that, and then that's what keeps him

(45:51):
in line to the quarterback. You know, he doesn't have
to turn his body. His feet are doing the work
to keep him in line with the shortest line to
the quarterback. So hands and feet in unison, that lateral
explosion that latteral agility, very nimble footwork, so he has
a direct b line to the quarterback. Just awesome stuff
from him as a pass rusher. And the final clip
is against Alabama and a very highly rated offensive lineman

(46:15):
from this draft. Again, the power at the point of attack,
the ability to play fire with fire, you know, force
with force once again at the line of scrimmage, kind
of peeking outside and then as running back goes back inside,
he disengages and makes the tackle at the point of attack.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Yeah, Booker is an ass kicker in every way, shape
and form, just bar these guys with regularity. Not the
best mover, but a very physical guy. And for a
defensive tackle that is quote unquote like on the underside
aspect and is more of a three tack and is
more inside rush and all that, this is a really
nice rep against a good, powerful rum blocking guard. Again, disengage, shed,

(46:57):
muddy it up, make it tough. I think that that
that's such a.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
Good thing too.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
Like he we shown a lot of these and they're
like flashy and exciting. He's just annoying to play against.
Like he's a pain in the ass, like he yeah, yeah, yes,
guys are still attached to him. Yeah, he's still making plays.
That's crazy. Like that's just annoying. And I think that
that's a huge piece. Like we talked about the specific
aspect of pass rush and run defense and all that stuff.

(47:23):
At the end of the day, like the Bills just
needed to become more of a pain in the ass
to play against on the interior and on the defensive
line as a whole. And that's really what they've done
this offseason. Yeah, Hoyt and Oguin, Jobi and Sanders and
the Land and Jackson. When we talk about like, these
are guys that just wear on you. They're physical, they're pesky,
they're annoying, they muddy things up. They might not have

(47:46):
the most talent or they might not be and I'm
not saying they're not talented, but I'm just saying like
they're not Oh man, you sign a guy for four years,
one hundred and twenty million dollars type of guys. But
in individually and in conjunction with one another, it just
makes for a tough group to play against. Like they're
gonna grind and wear on you, and it s as

(48:06):
a unit like those five offensive linemen they're not rotating out,
but the Bills are gonna rotate, rotate. That defensive line
and everybody they're gonna rotate in is just annoying to
play against in some shape or form, and that's awesome
for the defense.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
We talked about it when we did the free agency
podcast about ogin job obviously Joey Bosa. How they're adding
obviously guys that can get after the quarterback, but guys
that are you know, physical players that are violent, players
that are, just like you said, annoying to play against,
that have motors that have that blue collar, lunch pale
type of attitude that hey, I may only get twenty

(48:43):
five snaps as a defender in this defense, thirty snaps
in this defense every rep that I'm on the field,
I'm gonna be a pain in your ass. Like that
is the type of mentality that Brandon Bean appear to
want to bring in and bring that physical and winning
at the point of attack and just being pesky at

(49:03):
the point of attack. It's it really it falls right
in line with their core philosophy. You're talking this defense
in this regime since they've come here. And so I
like the pick. I love the pick. I think he's
gonna be I think he's still he's still so young.
He's played in what like forty games.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Sanders is he can add weight to the frame, he
can lose weight from his frame, Like, I think he's
he's someone said it in the chat. I think he's
very multiple still and I still think that he's got
such a high ceiling and unlike you know, in the
first round when the Bills got Harrison, stayed at thirty
and got Harrison, you could tell that Sanders was a

(49:43):
priority by them going packaging, you know, some picks to
go get their guy. And again, in the grand scheme
of things, is someone that it's we were not surprised
that TJ. Sanders was that guy they you know, moved
around some resources and now sets to go get.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yeah, he's just it's just a different level of juice
and explosion and he's the type of guy that again
and I say this as a person who, well, one,
I liked TJ.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Sanders. I wanted TJ. Sanders.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
I mean I still like him now. I wanted him
more before they signed Ogan Jobe because I prioritized and
wanted you know, more of that, you know, prioritize run
defender type of deal. But so I say all that
to say what I'm about to say is I say
that as a person who prioritized and.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
Wanted something else.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
I like the idea of, like, you know what, we
are just going to gap out and rumblitz on early
downs and we're gonna play TJ. Sanders twenty five to
thirty snaps and when he's on there, it's one hundred
miles an hour, one hundred percent of the time. And like,
I just think of maybe this might be dramatic for
some folks, or they'll think we're being homers who would
be funny because were.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
Too negative yesterday.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
The like a fresh TJ. Sanders just continuing to roll
in like that type of juice with regularity come like
on third downs or seconds or anything like that type
of penetration in the third quarter and in the fourth
quarter after Daikuon is leaned on you and Ed is
causing problems and what Grud is doing and the run

(51:13):
blitz things or numbers whatever, Like it's I'm okay if
he gets fifty to sixty percent of the snapshare or
if it's like a thirty to forty assassin type of role.
I'm not saying that it'll be like there's just there's
a lot of fun just matchy kind of things that
you can pair everything together with it may I'm excited
too for what it means for you and I schematically
with some stuff that we get to talk about in
the film room. Because there's a lot of possibilities.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
And guys, again, think about the players that they were
asking to play considerable pass rush snaps from the tackle
last year. You know, whether it's you know, Dwayne Carter early,
whether it's Austin Johnson, Jordan Phillips, Quentin Jefferson. Guys, this
is the long term commitment that we needed to see

(51:58):
and they went out and got it. And so you
think about, like, look at these numbers. Dakwon Jones three
hundred and sixty two pass rest snaps last year, Jordan
Phillips one hundred and ten, Austin Johnson one hundred and
eighty seven, Quentin Jefferson one hundred and seventy four, and
Joanne Carter one hundred and sixty two. Now you're inserting
the talent, the youth, and again the ability to affect

(52:18):
the run and pass by adding TJ. Sanders in the
second round. I am not mad about this, and that's
not just a confirmation bias angle like this guy is
going to play some considerable snaps and make some big
plays on the offensive line of scrimmage.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
Yeah, and you can defeat the run by being stout
and anchoring, or you can defeat the run by penetrating
and causing disruption. And that's what TJ. Sanders is is
a move towards It doesn't mean you still can't have
success in it multitude other forms and fashions.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
But again they were they were bumping Dwayne Smooth and
on third downs to de tackle.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
It really is I'm annoyed at us, you and I
for like just missing not but just not like putting
in the back of our mind, and because we talked
about it here and there, but just it. And again
I say all this as a person who is concerned
about the run defense from a light box perspective. They
were just holistically ineffective on the interior against the pass

(53:16):
and against the run. They have remedied the pass part
and the penetration part with Ogen Joby and now with Sanders,
And what's cool with Sanders? Now he's here for fourty years.
Ogen Joby might be gone next year. So if Ogen
Joby's gone, cool Sanders maybe takes a bigger chunk and
maybe you do go get that other one tech or
maybe you rotate someone else and like whatever, Like now
you've got options on that interior to play that chess

(53:40):
match game as you go forward, it. It helps from
the pass rush perspective, and that wasn't talked about enough
because of some of the run like issues and concerns
that we had and a lot of other folks had,
but they were just holistically ineffective. They had to fix.
It's hard to fix both. And I'm thinking, I'm glad
they fixed something in theory.

Speaker 3 (53:59):
Yeah, yes, same here man. And so Day two was
a defensive line day. And so we're gonna move on
from TJ. Sanders and let's move into Lanna Jackson from Arkansas.
Sixty six, two hundred and sixty four pounds, thirty three
and a quarter arms, a one six five ten yard,
a forty eight and a half vertical, a ten to
nine broad jump. He blew up the combine. That's why

(54:20):
we thought, you know, given his size and then his measurements,
he is a Bills fit, especially from an archetype sense,
early on upside potential type guy. I think there are
flashes of what the Bills need, and we're talking especially
versatility at the edge. You know, he can. He played
a lot of like four I type stuff in that defense,

(54:41):
which kind of limited him as a player even with
his size, because usually those type of positions and those
odd front looks or hybrid looks are more of like
detackle types. And obviously he's a high cut, taller edge presence,
but he still used his length pretty well in those
in that regard. But as you'll seeing some of the film,
I think that kind of limited him as a player,

(55:02):
but at the same time probably built up some really
good reps and muscle memory when it comes to defending
the run versus guards and tackles.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
That's a good point.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
And you know, it's funny with the four eye stuff,
Like we talked about Larry Ogunjobi playing in a four
eye in the Steelers defense and how like, oh, that's
he's better suited for something else. But Larry Ogunjobi's like
over three hundred pounds and he's playing in a four eye.
So Lana Jackson's doing that same role granted in college
at like two hundred and sixty something pounds.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
And they would even too, like even on like they.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Would kick him inside into like the A gap, not
just on like pass rushing downs, like there's like low
red zone snaps on first down where they're like, hey,
go play in the A gap.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
I'm like Jesus, like he's everywhere, and he's.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
A guy who I I think one I'll also say this,
I think the value was him him still being there
at seventy two.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
I thought he was gone already. They picked him, and
I was.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
Like, he's not.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
He's still there, Like, oh okay, him still being there.
I think he fits their archetype, like you said, in
terms of mentality, in terms of play style. For me individually,
and I've said this before, is not necessarily a knock
on him. High cut guys worry me. Guys with shorter
torso and longer legs and wast and things. And I
think that you know, it leads to some tightness in

(56:17):
his lower body and in his movements. Overall, I think
he overall, he's more of a tight player than he
is a fluid player. But you talk about the explosion metrics,
you know that you read off and all of those.
So what Eric gave the specifics, but the percentile ninety
seven percentile for the vert ninety six percentile for the broad,
ninety third percentile for height, ninety second percentile for wingspan,

(56:38):
seventy fifth percentile for his forty yard dash, and you
see that on the tape, like he's he's got a
high rass score, but it's not because he's this overly athletic,
great change of direction guy. He's explosive and you see
that on the tape because he goes through people with
length and tenacity and violence. He is a compression guy.

(56:59):
He plays the run, he will go through you. Throws
a pretty good cross chop, got Will Campbell on it
a couple of years.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
Got very good hands and they work in the kind
of like what we talked to Al Sanders's he's very
smooth for how big he is. He's very smooth.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
Yeah, you see that.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
The for being even like tighter and higher cut in
the lower body. You watch him throw like that jumping
cross chop and it's really he gets the cross and
then he pairs it with that club and it's heavy
and he gets to him like oh like and then
you know, don't don't get ridden. You know, you got
to stay flat, which can be hard a little bit
for him because he is tighter. But I mean, for

(57:35):
a I just think he adds a lot for the
floor of an edge grouping, and there is some potential
from a ceiling perspective. But when they picked him, I
was like, oh, this is no surprise, like archetype fit, mentality,
play style, and again another dude in the mold of
violence and just a pain in the ass to play against,
like you have to work to block him as a

(57:57):
rusher or as a run defender, like he makes things
mean and ugly and nasty.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
I said it after the combine when we broke him down,
that he's very good at beating the hands to beat
the man. And what I mean by that is I
talked about the alignments he was used at Arkansas and
how they are a little non traditional, especially if you're
trying to translate it to the Bill scheme. But those
tighter alignments forced him to win in different ways than
a wide nine speed rusher arc rusher had to win.

(58:26):
And so I think that ability, that fluidness, that hands
and feet being in unison, and ability to beat the
hands of the offensive lineman really centered around him kind
of being miscast in some of those defensive structures and alignments.
And so I also love that, yes, he can beat
the hands at times, but he does a great job

(58:46):
of sometimes consciously sometimes just looks subconsciously tracking where the
quarterback is in the pocket. We're going to show one,
especially from the Texas game, where he's got that perpetual
motion and motor of trying to yes, win versus the
offensive lineman, but at the same time tracking where the
quarterback is in the pocket. And I feel like that

(59:08):
is something we've talked about for years now, but it
just looks innate to him. It looks like, you know,
he's always got his eyes on the prize even as
he is trying to beat what's in front of him.
And I think that shows up a lot in his
film now. Things he needs to work on his snap
anticipation is anticipation is a little late at times. I

(59:28):
think he can improve their strength, especially if you're talking
running the arc. When he does win the half man
relationship and he's turning the corner. There are times where
a bigger, longer offensive lineman can lean on him a
little bit and he doesn't have the strength to bear
the weight and he turns the corner.

Speaker 1 (59:44):
Do you also think some of that is tied to
the tightness in the lower body, because I feel like
that like he's it's almost like he's so connected between
that when he gets pushed it's almost like, yeah, he
can't he doesn't have the fluid yah, I asked, sorry interrupt,
but like that's a good one for me.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
I feel like he has trouble.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Running the arc and getting pushed around and can't flatten
because he doesn't have the flexibility in the lower body.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
Right, flexibility and some strength. And then of course the
core plays a huge part in that, being able to
absorb the hands and upper body of an offensive linement
as you're running that arc, and then absorbing the core
and the hips. I think it's again from the core
down that can he can improve, And of course he can.
He can still grow into that body he at two
sixty four or was at the combine. I'm sure he

(01:00:27):
can play a little heavier than that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
And still he could add a little bit to that frame,
which is interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
It would make even funner aspect out there.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
And so like little things like ability to retrace over
the top of blocks is something that he could do
a little bit better. And but again I think just
the potential, the ceiling and ability to still grow into
that body. I think he's naturally again, once he's been
in the programm a year or two, he's going to
naturally get bigger and stronger, which is a scary thought
given that frame.

Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
Yeah, I agree on Zari's opportunity, so won't add on
two much for the ones that I have that you
didn't mention or what we didn't mention. But everything for
me really comes down to just the high cut in
some of the stiffness, and then how that leads to
in being a little upright at times and what that
means for him as an overall player. I would be

(01:01:16):
very interested if he could add more mass to the frame,
because I think his frame could sustain it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
And I just like just and athletics is not gonna
it's not gonna take a big hit either, because again
he's through the roof when it comes to that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Yeah, oh man, he was gonna move for ninety seven
percent of to like ninety second. Oh no, like what
happens or maybe it even doesn't dip off. Like I am,
I'm for the idea of them being like, hey man,
you're not this bendy change of direction guy, We're just
gonna lean into you being an absolute battering ram from
like I want them to turn him into like the
Josh Farmer of Edges and just like, hey man, just

(01:01:50):
go through everybody and we'll see what happens from there,
and then also to again talking about pairing and how
things work. Some guy who can compress the pocket like Landing,
Jaction or Greg Russou. And now you've got guys on
the interior like at Oliver Lario, goun Jobe, TG Sanders
who can flow over the top and oh this quarterback
is about to step up through the A gap or
the B gap or out the back door. You have

(01:02:12):
guys who can scrape over the top and flow and
play off those compression rushers.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Sanders did that a bunch against Club Nick and the
Clemson tape. So it's again kind of puzzle pieces that
can compliment one another in different aspects.

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
And we appreciate everyone joining us right now. If you
got a second smash that like button, leave us a comment.
It goes a long way for the algorithm and getting
our work in front of as many eyes as possible.
We appreciate everyone joining us. Saturday or early morning. Again,
kind of a non traditional recording for us, but we
wanted to get some ractions in from day two for
the Bills prior to the final day of the draft.

(01:02:44):
So everyone, thanks for joining us. Let's get into some
film on Land and Jackson here. So again this tape,
this was from twenty twenty three. I believe against Alabama
like that was probably his best game and a game
that we broke down a bunch after the combine. But again,
I want you guys to focus on his alignments, whether
how wide he is, how tight he is, and how

(01:03:05):
he decides to plan to be at the man and
how he executes it. So on this we're gonna see
him stay out wide and again look at the half
usage here and how he crossed chops the left hand
the offensive lineman, that puts the weight over the toes,
over the top of the offensive lineman and off balance,
and now he's able to right there. You see him.
I know there's pressure come from the other side, but

(01:03:26):
look at him kind of buckle right there with that
left foot, turn the corner and go and get the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
Yeah, this one, this one's nice and also shows a
little bit of that you know, like he talked about,
like you can prove his get off a little bit.
Not the strongest get off here, not the like the
quickest ramp up and then bang just snaps those hands
and the precision with it too. Like, look at that
placement of that cross chop hand right on the wrist. Yeah,

(01:03:53):
perfect placement. It's so perfect, and he gets the left
tackle on his toes. It's almost like he like reverse
snatchtrapped him a little bit, like how he gets him
to fall forward there. And this is yet one of
his go tos. You get that cross chop, you get
the club. But the cross chop was so well timed
and so precisely placed that he doesn't even necessarily need
much of that club because the left tackle, like you said,

(01:04:15):
is about the face plant, because he got his leverage
just completely taken away. And this also is a good
example of what you talked about, like that fluidity of
the timing, like his hands and feet being in sync,
and how that allows him to defeat the b lock,
beat the hands, beat the man, and then bear down
a mill row.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
It all just happens very instantaneously and it's very fluid.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
Right, here's the same game. He's a tighter alignment a right,
he's kind of bumped inside with a couple with a
tight end and h backend here, so he's kind of
bumped tighter and he's still able to as a pass
rusher process, run the pass. Okay, now it's play action.
Now it's a pass, and he beats the hands of
a different offensive lineman on this one with a similar
move with the fluidity and hand usage, and then Ben

(01:04:57):
and Flatten to the finish on the quarterback is all
on display by Lindon Jackson here.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
Yeah, this one gets me really excited with him being
able to beat a man so clean and then being
able to turn and flatten like you said, and we
get a little bit of a different presentation with the
cross chop this time, almost kind of like a like
a windmill type of motion, like let me flash the hands,
and he gets seventy four to commit with his punch.
That bang, snaps that cross chop, and again the precision

(01:05:25):
this time it's a little more on the forearm. That
outside arm is done. He's able to turn the corner
and it's over relatively quickly.

Speaker 3 (01:05:32):
Yeah, and you see it from the twenty two angle.
Look how quickly he is able to beat the hands
of the man, beat the half you know, win that
half man relationship, get to the spot of the quarterback,
Ben and Flatten to make the big play against Alabama.
So yeah, that was probably you know, his best game
as as a pro player or college player. There here's
one against LSU again, tighter alignment outside shoulder guard. That's

(01:05:56):
what I love. We'll talk about it at the end.
The versatility of the guys they brought in, whether you're
interior defense alignment and edge guys from free agency and
in drafts. He's got the ability obviously with that frame
to bump inside and play against guards as well, and
use that length and use some of that athleticism power
to win. He goes speed, the power on this play
opens that door, is able to get onto the doorstep

(01:06:17):
of the quarterback, but of course the quarterback does get
rid of it. But shows that versatility and ability to
if they want maybe not year one, if they want to,
they can move him around a little bit to get
some advantageous matchups against interior offensive linement.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
Yeah, he's definitely a candidate for that. We talked about
it in that post combine episode. A guy who's just
played all over the defensive line, variety of alignments, variety
of techniques, and can compete and be effective against different
body types. And you see it on this one how
he just bears down right on that guard. The hand
placement right on the pecks and then gets that essentially

(01:06:52):
turns it into a long arm and just wrenches him back.
We get a little bit of the hop step from
that left guard. He's trying to anchor no no, and
just being wrenched back and pushed. Some of the physicality,
the tenacity, And it's nice to be able to have
this in your bag when you also have like the
precision type of hand usage that we showed on the
first couple of plays. It's a nice compliment to be
able to have multiple options. Oh, this one's really nice.

(01:07:14):
We got the euro step.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
Yeah, this this euro step against ole miss Just again,
just think about the offensive lineman, how he's kicked sliding
out wide to go meet the man and kind of
get the midpoint of that pass rusher. And then you
have a guy that can change direction, use this eurostep,
use a almost like a wide receiver, changing the pace
of his route. The ability to get the guy to

(01:07:37):
stop his feet. You see the offensive lineman stop his
feet because he thinks he's about to get threatened inside
even with help. You see how it changes the set
of the offensive lineman, and then he executes a cross shop.
Now he doesn't land it on this one, and you
see him still win the half man relationship and get
off the edge there against ole miss but and you
see him finish at the end towards a quarterback. Really

(01:07:59):
nice play man again, hands feet has a rushed euro
step like challenging the thought process of offensilignment, but also
the physical with the hands and overall athleticism by Lanna
Jackson being talked about.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
It in his pressure about you know how smart of
a player he is, and you know, references knowledge and
his ability to read the game. You talked about it too, right,
kind of like always evaluating where the quarterback is, and
he does that against the run too, with running backs,
Like he always seems like he's constantly calculating. And then
you see plays like this again, He's just he's got

(01:08:35):
a repertoire. He understands, you know, when to throw things
and how to throw them. And what I like about
this one too, is just that that transition, like you said,
like he goes to throw that cross job, he does
not get it clean.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
So what do you do if you don't get that? Man?
The hero step is so.

Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
Nice, So he just rips, rips and leans through, Like
I like that instantaneous transition. He doesn't get completely stalled out.
He doesn't panic. It's not like, oh that first moved
in the land. Let me just transition, let me just
lean in, let me see what I can get from here.
And he's able to power through after initially getting the
left tackle to drop his hands a little bit, and
he creates that that lack of certainty with that initial

(01:09:11):
step inside a.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
Right here's ane a really nice rep against un again
using the hands that length running the fee. There are
times that he does get bounced a little bit because
of how you know high cut he is. You can
see even the pad level is not great here, but
the hand placement is important. You see, get his eyes
inside and look at the track of the running back,
but more importantly running the feet with the hands setting

(01:09:35):
that edge in the way he can and then just
you know, as a running back commits the line of scrimmage,
just do what you can to get in the in
the rushing lane and make the tackle.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
That's a great call on him kind of getting pushed
down or pushed out a bit of times, and again
I think it is tied to you know, the higher
pad level or upright nature tightness in the hips. But
this one's nice, you know, against that left tackle, fulfilling
his responsibility and what do we get. We get the extension.
Eyes are immediately in the backfield and down the line.
He's reading Ali Gordon's track, the running back from Oklahoma State.

(01:10:04):
He's got eyes on him the whole way. And assuming
Gordon decides to bang that thing inside, Jackson throttles down, turns,
gets himself into the gap. He's being held by that
left tackle, but he plays through it, gets a good
chest on shoulder and is there to help make that stop.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
Yeah, and here's another one that kind of bump him
inside a little bit. Again. This is kind of that
different alignment that they used him in. But you see
him now he's against a guard and the length that
he has here in athleticism, and he plays on the
offensive side of the line of scrimmage by driving that
guy back and it forces the move of the run,

(01:10:40):
and it forces that running back and shortens that edge,
forcing that running back to cut it back, and he's
there to make the tackle.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
Another example of that place we talked about right power
and compression. This time it's less compression from the pocket
because he's not on the edge, and it's more displacement creation,
knocking that left guard back, knocking him into the backfield.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
But look at how it just just joins that offensive line.

Speaker 3 (01:11:01):
How far that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
Guard is in the backfield versus where the rest of
the line is. It cuts off that whole front side
of the run for the running back because he's not
gonna be able to get outside all this time exactly,
And they had a good spot out there. Fourteen is
about to get hit by that double team like you
have there. But Jackson created so much displacement against the
guard that the running back has to bounce it inside

(01:11:23):
and that's where more bodies are. So even if Jackson
didn't make the play here, he did a good job
of cutting off that side. But then he's able to
shed and also make the play on the ball carrier
and get a TfL.

Speaker 2 (01:11:34):
A nice play.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
Here's the rep I was talking about earlier against Texas
and another very highly drafted offensive lineman. You see him.
You see his rush up the field. He tries a
cross stop, doesn't really work. Offensive lineman Banks gets right
into his chest, but he doesn't just run by him.
He sees that the quarterback stepping up in the pocket.
So look, look at the depth. He immediately is right
down at the depth of the quarterback right there. Keep

(01:11:57):
an eye on him. Now he transitions, and then you
see the quarterback kind of as he's scanning the field
and his clock is running out, he just kind of
panics and drops his head. But that awareness of the
depth of the quarterbacks drop and then understanding that, okay,
I lost the initial rush, and now that the quarterback's
setting up and scanning the field, I can now transition

(01:12:19):
back inside with that little rip right there to go
get the quarterback. This is the type of stuff I
was talking about, him tracking quarterbacks in the pocket. It
shows up on his film so much.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
Yeah, that's a great call, and it's again the kind
of a bit of what I was talking about. It's
like he's you can tell he's reading what's happening, whether
it's the run, whether it's the pass. Like he's calculating
and he sees yours standing in the pocket. And I
like that. Again, my initial plan didn't work.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
What do I do?

Speaker 1 (01:12:47):
Are you going to stall out and just kind of
sit there right there? Also, good highlight there you got
a three man rush. Yeah, and the it's I think
it's not easy, but you see it a lot with
college players where if you're initial move doesn't work, you'll
see guys almost kind of like right there where they
initial move doesn't work, and you'll see guys kind of
just sit there. If you're like Landon Jackson, yeah, stall

(01:13:08):
out and just be like, Okay, let me try and
get my hands up, or let me wait for the
quarterback to make a move and then maybe I'll try
and get him if he steps up into the pocket.
Jackson does not do that. He takes the fight to
Calvin Banks, and two viewers is like, Okay, my first
move didn't work, let me transition, rip back inside. And
then with that three man rush, that's super important because

(01:13:28):
there's doubles essentially on the other guys on the other
that are also rushing. If Jackson doesn't get through, yours
has tons of time to just kind of sit and
survey because five is stalled out and at the line,
the other edge isn't doing anything against that double. So
if Jackson stalls or just decides to stand there, viewers
has a lot of time to scan because Jackson's the
only one that gets any kind of pressure. So that

(01:13:50):
also factors in to that rush and just the situational
aspect of it, which is another kind of nice feather
in his cap on that play.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
Yeah, he again, I like his play. I think that
was the final, yeah, final cut up for that. I
like what he's gonna bring to the Bills. Again, I
think it's more of like long term type UH play
with him, and I think against Sanders even to that
to that nature as well. I think that overall that
what the Bills did from UH A de tackle perspective,

(01:14:20):
a d M perspective, I think they set they're setting
themselves up long term on top of what you mentioned
Ogunjobi his contract and a Japanessa last year his contract.
Like I think you they set themselves up to replace
those type of guys next year if they wanted to.
They don't bring those guys back, and and so Landon
Jackson and and what Bean did top to bottom free

(01:14:44):
agency and draft bringing in guys that change the mentality
a little bit. But bring in guys that are versatile
and you know what you're talking D tackles, they can
do someone some three. You're bringing edge guys like Michael Hoyt.
You're bringing guys like Landon Jackson, Joe obviously, we'll see
where he is. Guys that can confuse offensive lineman based

(01:15:08):
on whether they're lining up. You know, Hoyt can play
and obvious pass rush downs. He can play inside like
you saw Landon Jackson do Obviously Landon Jackson did it
in college. So on these obvious pass rush downs, you
can have a T. J. Sanders as the second three
attack or second interior defensive lineman. With Adlauer. You could
easily have Ogunjobi, you could have Landon Jackson, you could

(01:15:28):
have Michael Hoyt. They can do so much with these
edge guys and defensive tackle guys that they brought in
so far, and who knows, they may not be done,
but I love the versatility that they're bringing in, especially
if we're talking about attacking the quarterback and creating different
defensive looks for Bobby Babbage to play with with the
personnel that Brandon Bean is bringing him through free agency

(01:15:51):
and the draft.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
Yeah, we talked about it so much with Hoyt, but
I really think the free agency moves and then the
draft moves so far created a lot of skim potential
impossibility up front, which is fun and exciting to talk about.
And yeah and just yeah, man, what they could do
on third down stuff with like Sanders and Ed and
Hoyt if he's like a spinner or if he's not,

(01:16:13):
Like if they are they in dime?

Speaker 2 (01:16:14):
Are they? Like how many.

Speaker 1 (01:16:15):
Defensive line and true defensive linemen are there? Like who's
lined up in what gap and whose line? It just
the simulated it's the creeper potential, like all that kind
of stuff. There's there's some really fun things. They've got
to make sure they can win on early downs to
get to that spot on third.

Speaker 2 (01:16:28):
When they can do it. But there are still ways
to do that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:31):
Either they can like as of right now, they didn't
get the personnel to be the you know, the run
plugger as far as a two down, early down run
defending defensive tackle. But it has opened up some of
the schematics exactly right, exactly so, and I think being
kind of alluded to that when he was talking about yesterday, like, hey,
getting the pass rusher interior pass rush push is a

(01:16:52):
lot more difficult. We got that with JJ Sanders, but
we can find those guys and not just in this
draft but in free agency. So I think it's opened
up overall more schematically for Bobby Babbage with the personnel
they brought in. When we're talking especially especially like talking
defending the run, but of course they could still add
that role. Sure if you're talking an early down run.

Speaker 1 (01:17:13):
Defender, Yeah, they still can do that. On day three,
they still could do it. Potentially a free agency at
some point or I don't know, camp cuts and how
things go after June first and throughout the offseason, you
never know, there's a body or two that might come through.
The Ravens did that for years, kind of just waiting
for good veterans to come off that could fill a
role and kind of take them there. And the Bills
are in a spot where they could do that as well.
So yeah, I don't think it's a role they completely

(01:17:34):
bypassed and still can't address. But even if they don't,
there are schematic ways to win on early downs against
the run if you're just if you don't have the
stout you know, stoutness in size or the size inside
that I think a lot of people myself included wanted
and I would like, but there are.

Speaker 2 (01:17:49):
Things that you can do.

Speaker 1 (01:17:50):
And then again just sticking on these guys, if you
are playing a light box TJ. Sanders, even though he
is more of a three tech, he is capable of
playing gap and half for he can two gaps or
he might shoot. You're playing, you're stunting, you're twisting inside,
You're doing different things, And there are kind of ways
to get around it and mitigate some concerns and still
be able to win. It might not look in the

(01:18:13):
traditional sense that I think a lot of people were
hoping it would be, but there are still ways to
still be impactful. You just got to do it schematically.
But also again, some of these guys can still operate
in some of those fashions, and.

Speaker 3 (01:18:23):
That's the thing. They obviously kind of doubled down on
their philosophy, getting the attack oriented, penetrating style type guys
versus the pluggers that a lot of fans are calling for.
But what I we say, like, hey, they're opening up
things schematically. Think about some of those obvious run games
last especially late in the year, when we were talking about, hey,
are they going to stay in Nickel? Are they going
to go to it?

Speaker 1 (01:18:43):
Obviously my head immediately went to Detroit and what they
did Detroit back Destroit in the run game.

Speaker 3 (01:18:47):
And so now not just adding numbers to the box,
but think about the defensive fronts that they can do now.
Sometimes years ago, two years ago, three years ago, we
talked about the cub front, which is kind of like
their odd front where they actually have like a nose
tackle guy right on the center, and then every time.

Speaker 2 (01:19:04):
They do it, we'd call it out because it'd be
like four times a year we've got.

Speaker 3 (01:19:07):
Well, last year the pivot was like think about the
Patriots game where they went to a four to three
over but with their linebacker on the line of scrimmage
and Dorian Williams. Now think about from this perspective, rather
than just going out and getting a nose tackle, big,
you know, hulking nose tackle, they can now when teams
want to go twelve personnel and then they want to
run the ball down their throat, the Bills can go

(01:19:28):
to that four to three over front with their normal
base dns and d tackles, but they're throwing a Michael
Hoyt as a SAM linebacker on the line of scrimmage
versus say Dorian who we didn't mind at that position.
But now you have a true guy that played defensive
line and has the ability to play linebacker. Now you're
putting him on the line of scrimmage. So you're changing
the defensive structure more so than changing, you know, trying

(01:19:52):
to use an asset in the second round to go
get a two down nose tackle, and so you can
there's more flexibility and less resources having to be committed
when you have all these guys that they brought in
at detackle. In the end, you can change a defensive
structure more so than just throwing and strategically trying to
throw in a nose tackle that they probably only need
for how many games during the year. You can change

(01:20:14):
some of the scheme and that's what I mean. They
can tweak the defensive structure in front more so and
easier than they can then using a higher asset in
the draft for free agency and money wise financially, to
just go get a nose tackle that you need for
several fifteen reps a game, twenty reps tops to stop
the run on first and second down.

Speaker 2 (01:20:34):
Yeah, it's a fair point.

Speaker 1 (01:20:35):
Like with the personnel that they've added, you have kind
of opened up the menu without having to turn the
page necessarily, and that's again part of the schematic excitement
that I have is we get into the May and
June episodes of this show and it's like, oh, what
are we going to talk about it?

Speaker 2 (01:20:53):
It's like, Wow, this is the.

Speaker 1 (01:20:54):
Vision we think this defense is going to have going forward,
and the way they can attack, and here's how we
think they can and should and will defend the run
and what it means for coverage and all these things,
Like they've got some really interesting body types just in evacuum,
the guys that they've brought in and really have you know,
we titled this episode like the Bills Defensive Line Overhaul
and Senator around TJ Sanders and Landon Jackson, but it's

(01:21:16):
really been this entire offseason like Bosa and Ogan job
and now Sanders and Jackson and just Von Leaves and Aja,
And they could happen again next year too, like at
Beanessa's on the last year of his deal and Ogen
Joby's on a one. So maybe both those guys are
gone next year. Maybe Dwayne Carter's gone. Maybe Carter ascends
and becomes the guy they wanted to be. Maybe they

(01:21:37):
draft a one tech on day three today and he
ends up being sweet and he's gonna be in the
top four rotation next year. There's there's been a significant
amount of change already, and because of the variability in
the skill sets that they have, that means there's schematic
change that can happen, but probably will and should happen,

(01:21:57):
given what they have up.

Speaker 3 (01:21:58):
Front now and what they do and the coaching staff
that they you know they brought in with Pelgreno when
we're talking coverages, disguising coverages and rotating the things, but
also in the run game, bringing Ryan Ryan Nielsen in
and his expertise, and especially not necessarily with the Jags
or the Falcons, but even his time in New Orleans

(01:22:19):
in what they did again stacking in the box with
different defensive structures. That's gonna be interesting. That's why, like
some of the bigger DNS guys like Lannon Jackson that
the Bills have, Greg Russou, those guys, if you reduce
them into and then the Bills want to play that
cup front, that odd front, that mint type front where
they're reducing the defensive linemen d tackles and DNS bumping

(01:22:41):
them inside so you can bring a safety up or
another linebacker, a third linebacker and put him him online
in scrimmage, you're tweaking that defensive structure. The Bills have
the base dns to have them handle tackles, to have
them handle the ends as they reduce inside in these
run to defensive like type structures to stop the run

(01:23:02):
where they just don't, Hey, we're just gonna throw a big,
you know, big hulking dtackle and that. No, they can
do some thing schematically, and they're evolving by bringing in
some of those coaching staff and the personnel that Brandon
Bean's giving Bobby Babbage on that defensive side of the ball.

Speaker 1 (01:23:17):
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot on you know Babbage.
This year, I think well, I mean not that Brady
gets a pass, but I think there's less talk about
the offense schematically given what we saw last year and
how much time we spent on that side, and this
year it's a little more of okay, Like now Bobby
Babbage has all these different kind of weapons and tools
in his toolbox, Like what do you do with that?

(01:23:39):
Do you continue to roll out what's been done? How
do you maximize skill sets? What tweaks do we see
do we have? And again we haven't even finished the
rest of this offseason. We're not in CAMPI and we
haven't finished the day three, so.

Speaker 3 (01:23:49):
They have a lot of picks today. Yeah, yeah, do.

Speaker 1 (01:23:52):
They move up a little bit into the fourth round?
Do they try to exchange some of that quantity for
more quality defensively or offensively? But yeah, there's a there's
a lot of fun potential. And that's even again not
even getting into the safety conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:24:06):
Is it rap? And bishop does Derek Forrest earn himself
a story?

Speaker 1 (01:24:11):
I I right now like I'm confident in him, like
saying he could be he's safety three for me, But man,
there's a I.

Speaker 2 (01:24:18):
Don't will out him being able to win one of.

Speaker 1 (01:24:20):
Those starting safety spots, and like there's just and then
what is what is hairston? And that's again not even
tying into what we talked about a little yesterday, like
are they comfortable just playing more single high coverages because
they have two corners on the outside that they think
can rock in.

Speaker 2 (01:24:36):
Exactly?

Speaker 1 (01:24:36):
And okay, cool, We're comfortable with more you know, pre
snap loading the box a little bit, or neutral boxes
or post snap immediately spinning and oh man, there's I'm
just my wheels returning. I'm very excited for what this
could potentially be Eric any final thoughts on the day
two picks on where we are right now or anything

(01:24:56):
you know, going forward, anything and everything that you want
to speak on before we say goodbye to the people.

Speaker 3 (01:25:02):
Over the course of day one, Day two, I'm pretty excited.
You know again, maybe not even I know, initially we're like,
we like this guy better. That's fine, But overall you're
starting to see that vision that Bean is starting to
kind of map out for this team. And I applaud
him in many ways because as much as he's adding

(01:25:24):
some evolution and different things to the team on offense
and defense, he's still not straying too far away for
what has made them successful, and I think that is
something that we need to kind of understand as well.
Like they're sustaining success, they're thinking short term and long term,
but also working with the trends of the league still,

(01:25:48):
and so as much as we talked about, hey, they
need to start defending the run more and stopping the
run more and how that's coming back, they are doing
some things within their power to still you know, stick
to their philosophy, but also still combat where the league
and offenses are going. When we're talking specifically of the

(01:26:10):
Bills defense. So Day one, Day two has been it's
been fun.

Speaker 1 (01:26:13):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
Day three I think is gonna be interesting because again
a lot of the core roles in positions are locked
in and mapped out really well in short term and
long term. But there's some, you know, other areas that
you can add competition. There are some other areas and
special teams that they need some help. Some positions that like, hey,

(01:26:37):
like linebacker, I mean, are they gonna add something there?
You know, they they're gonna probably double dip at a
position or two as well, I think, I think, I
mean corner and any of the d lineman positions. I
would not be shocked whether they bring someone in late
in the draft or on draft for free agency. It's
been fun, man, it's been fun. We've had some really
good luck when it comes to bringing players in to

(01:27:01):
talk about some of these philosophies and changes that we
may see. But also we had some good luck when
it comes to scouting, nailing down some players that we
believed were fits and the Bills actually went went through
in and picked them up. So it's been fun the
first couple of days. I can't wait for Day three.

Speaker 1 (01:27:18):
Yeah, minus everybody yelling at us. It's been a great time,
that's true.

Speaker 3 (01:27:21):
Yeah, I'm trying to forget that.

Speaker 2 (01:27:22):
Man all the name call it. Yeah, sorry to bring
it out. I'm sorry, I'm passing. I'm past it. I'm
past it.

Speaker 1 (01:27:25):
Yeah, this has been it's been a good time so far,
just seeing kind of all the off season work we
put in payoff and immediately from a workload perspective of us.
For us, we a little peak behind the curtain. Eric
and I were talking last night and you're just like, man, like,
we don't have to go scouring for tape, we don't
have to do any extra work.

Speaker 2 (01:27:43):
Like we've watched these guys so much.

Speaker 1 (01:27:44):
And there's like things are nice and neat and buttoned
up already. So it's cool to see that, and I'm
excited for day three. There are you know, several positions
I shouldn't say, several players that I'm still very interested
in at multiple spots like we talked about, and a
lot of potential for them to kind of nail some
some depth chart guys, some depth players, maybe some upside players.

(01:28:07):
I would be really excited if the Bill's got Tory
Horton today from Colorado state, and there's some fun that
can be had today on day three, and I'll inched
to see how it all fits together.

Speaker 2 (01:28:18):
And it's been a good start from a schematic perspective.

Speaker 1 (01:28:20):
What it means for us going forward, So a lot
to be excited about, I think, even if there are
some questions, or if you do have questions, and it's
okay to have questions. You don't have to yell at
everybody and call people names because you point out something. Yeah,
it gets super personal, but yeah, that's a conversation for
another time. We hope you folks enjoyed this episode of
the Cover one Film Room. For those of you who

(01:28:42):
joined us live, thank you so much for getting up
early with us on this Saturday morning and watching with us.

Speaker 2 (01:28:47):
We greatly appreciate it. We know.

Speaker 1 (01:28:49):
Yeah, we've been doing recorded stuff and uploading at different
times on Mondays and then you know, Wednesdays, and we
did a live episode yesterday, Live one today. Really awesome
that you guys joined us today and even joined yesterday
as well, so thank you very much for that. If
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(01:29:10):
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Speaker 2 (01:29:24):
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Speaker 2 (01:29:38):
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Speaker 1 (01:29:39):
Thank you so much for all the support and kind
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chat for us, we appreciate it. Thank you very much
to Steven, Justin and CT for your superchats. Just awesome
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then CT gave us a big one, so really awesome
to see.

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
Thank you, folks for the.

Speaker 1 (01:29:58):
Kind words, the montary donations, anything and everything. We greatly
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(01:30:19):
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Speaker 2 (01:30:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:30:25):
So a lot of good stuff coming down the pike.
If there's anything you need, get at us. Enjoy the
rest of your Saturday. We hope you and your family
and friends and loved ones are all doing well and
staying safe. Be kind to one another, take care of
one another.

Speaker 2 (01:30:35):
We'll see you when we see you. Godspeed, and as always,
go Bills.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}All-22 Analysis: Bills’ D-Line Overhaul: T.J. Sanders & Landon Jackson Breakdown! | Film Room