Previewing Cincinnati Bengals vs. Buffalo Bills! | UR - Under Review

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Another week, another Bills win, which we needed because the
morale was not that high on last week's show, and
it certainly wasn't high amongst this fan base. The team
is now eight and four, coming off an absolute dominant
performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they move on to
meet another AFC, another AFC rival, one that we haven't
seen in some time, one that the team has definitely

(00:32):
struggled against, and one that you can't take lightly, especially
because they're quarterback's back and this is no easy feat.
It's going to be an exciting showdown on Sunday, and
it's going to be an exciting show tonight tomorrow. Whenever
you're watching this, I appreciate each and every single one
of you for tuning in to this week's episode of
Under Review. And without further ado, let's play that intro.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Let's go previous play, We'll go under Review. Good folks,

(01:24):
citizens of Earth.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
It is Thursday night as I record this, but for
you it could be a different time. But regardless of
the time difference, I say welcome once again, thank you
so much for tuning into this week's episode of Under Review,
And if you're tuning in for the first time.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
I appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
If you're interested in Cover One's concept, feel free to
click subscribe, feel free to click like everything you do
is greatly appreciated by myself and fellow members of the network.
As I said in the intro, the Bills are playing
the Bengals. It's an exciting matchup and while it might
not be a must win for the Buffalo Bills, it
certainly is big when you talk about playoff seating implications

(02:00):
as well as just again morale for the team. And
in this matchup preview, I am not going to do
this alone. I am bringing back a guest at the
show who joined me during the summertime to do an
AfD North preview that was a lot of fun with
a lot of predictions that pretty much ended up being
spot on. So I appreciate this person's analysis someone that I,
you know, think very highly of when it comes to

(02:20):
football discourse, and that is mister Max Toscano, Bengals representative
for the Evening.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Max, welcome back to the show.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I appreciate your time as always, and I want to
ask how you doing tonight, my friend?

Speaker 3 (02:30):
You know, not as bad as uh I as I
was doing for the last what six seven weeks whenever
since Week two was Yeah, teams alive, teams alive. This
game is huge, and that's I guess that's especially when
you have a catastrophic injury that seems to have derailed
your entire season. It's all you can ask for is

(02:52):
these games to matter and and kind of going into
them and hanging on every play and being excited about
what happens. And so I'm going to be grateful for
that and take whatever happens next as it comes.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Well, that was gonna be my next question for you,
because seeing where the Bengals are right now, they're sitting
at four and eight, but with the way the AFC
North is shaping up, you got the Steelers that seem
to just be doing their yearly real where they kind
of regress to a very harsh reality and they'll probably
win one or two more games, three more games, get
themselves to nine and eight and get the seven seed,

(03:25):
or it could be even worse and they drop off
substantially and change comes. But you have that, you have
Baltimore with Lamar Jackson playing basically on one leg, not
looking as explosive, not looking as mobile, and very clearly
hampered by his injury. You have the Browns and then
you have the Bengals, who right now are four and eight,
But it feels like, for whatever reason, they have all

(03:49):
the momentum for not even just a playoff spot for
the division, and it's still a tall mountain to climb
for them. But in your eyes, I mean, based off
what you said, I think I might know the answer.
But how do you feel about just like the possibility
of this team winning a few more games, maybe going
on a run, maybe making the playoffs, And where do
you sit on that side versus maybe they should have

(04:10):
just avoided bringing Burrow back and tried to get the
better draft spot. I mean, how do you feel about
the current state of the Bengals and the outlook for
the rest of the year.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Yeah, I mean, I don't think this is a league
in which you surrender. I think if your team is
truly like bad or eliminated, it's it's one thing. But
you know, I don't I don't think that. And there
was certainly a time where I wanted them to just
lose as many games as possible. But I didn't want
them to lose as many games as possible because they
quit and wanted them to lose as many games as like,

(04:41):
you know, as a as a fan and a writer
and whatever. Outside the building, I'm allowed to want them
to have a better draft position and lose games. But
if in the building that attitude sets in, the entire
operation is going to fall apart. It just is because
you just if you, if you are capable of having

(05:04):
that kind of mindset, you're just never gonna do any
of the other constant, daily difficult things it takes to
be even close to competitive in this league. So I know,
I didn't want them to surrender. And I think if
Joe Burrow can play, it's important that Joe Burrow plays
because he's he's an NFL player and and you know,

(05:24):
as he said on the broadcast on Thursday, this is
what he does and you only get so many chances
to do it. We only get so many chances to
watch him in that uniform play at a high level.
And I think just how we all felt, both in
the fan base and outside of the fan base as
fans of the league. I think with respect to how

(05:48):
we felt when he went down and the fact that
we were potentially looking at another season without this guy,
you know it's no, it's of course it's worth it.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
It's always worth it.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
See.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
I like that answer because that's real fan shit. And
I love it because when you talk to a lot
of people and they talk about their team, especially people
that root for middle of the road teams, they always
talk about the kind of ler or the glamour of
bottoming out. And I kind of kind of equal that
to like when you think you hate your job and

(06:21):
you want to just outright like leave, and there's just
like you know, like maybe something's on the horizon, maybe not,
but in your eyes, it's like like I've done that
in the past. I used to work a fast food
job and I remember I wanted to just quit with
no play because I hated it so much. But then
you get to that bottoming out and you're kind of like, shit, man,
this isn't really where I want to be. And like
in the case of watching football, I always feel like

(06:42):
when a team or a fan of a team roots
for bottoming out and then they actually start seeing that,
it's miserable. It's just a miserable experience I made for
Bills fans in twenty eighteen. You saw, you know, that
was the year they get Josh Allen and all we
wanted was results. But then Josh Allen gets hurt and
they're playing freaking Derek and for starting reps, it was

(07:02):
just unwatchable product on the field. I mean just genuinely terrible.
And when you have a guy like that playing for you,
especially when you bring up the really good point of
how many seasons are we gonna get nothing is promised
in the future, you want to watch I mean, you
want to watch him play well. And I guess it's
one thing if you know, like your team is telegraphed bad,
there isn't a Dough Burrow or a Josh Allen on

(07:23):
the roster. It's some you know, undrafted free agent or
a veteran quarterback that's just playing terribly.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Like we could talk about the Raiders.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Right now with Gino Smith, where they have a vet
but that vet isn't delivering and you're just like, at
this point waving the white flag. I can't watch this anymore.
We're not gonna have a future with this guy. But
when you have a franchise guy and you have any
assailable position to have not only meaningful football because it's
fun to watch, but a playoff position potentially on the line,

(07:50):
considering what your division looks like, you're not gonna take
that for granted. So I do appreciate that you, being
a Bengals fan, aren't just trying to wave the white
flag and say nah, like should have come back. This
is a waste because there is a possibility that they
do get to a point where it's legitimate playoff football.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
And while every week.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Again is do or die for them, they've done something
like this before, just last year, and while it didn't
end up as a playoff spot, it took another team
losing for them to not get the playoffs. They won
every game they were supposed to win. So I do
get that one hundred percent and I appreciate the take.
And for the Bengals, yeah, it's another year. Just kind

(08:27):
of recapping their whole season from an outside perspective where
you just see Joe Burrow go down, You're like, damn it, man,
like I can't believe this, And I guess I just
have to ask you this question before we get deeper
into the preview, your thoughts on Joe Burrow's longevity Because
I've sat here with you, we've talked on Twitter back
and forth. But I firmly agree that Joe Burrow in
my eyes, as the top five quarterback in the NFL.

(08:49):
I know there's refuting for that if you want to
talk about availability your talent. No, I think he is
absolutely a top five quarterback in the NFL. But do
you have concerns at this point in Joe Burrow's career
that another season like this is on the horizon or
at the very least it makes you a little bit
more nervous for like, seeing another injury happen on this

(09:11):
scale when you saw what happened a couple of years ago,
that kind of just makes you like, when is this
window going to be closed? Or how urgent does this
franchise need to be now that we've seen this happen again.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Yeah, I mean it sort of depends because I think
you have to sit and look in the mirror and
ask what you can actually do about it, And yeah,
you can make the offensive line better, and that's absolutely
something they should always have an eye on. But I
thought that before this injury. I thought that before the
last injury, and I thought that before the first one.

(09:43):
It's you know, it just is what it is. And
to their credit, the offensive line is playing better with
young with a couple of young pieces that have been
really quite good.

Speaker 4 (09:54):
So that's great.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
That's great, and I think that there are steps being
taken along those lines for the first time with the
development of a couple of young players in that direction.
Obviously it needs to continue, it needs to be kicked
into another gear. They have other older pieces that need
to be replaced. But as far as the returns go

(10:15):
for this year, I can't sit here and then and
get mad at him for it, because Dylan Fairchild looks
good at guard and Marius Mims looks really solid at tackle,
and they're both young, both on rookie deals, so great.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
Great.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
Besides that, I mean, you can tell him I wish
I wish you would kind of do the Brady thing
that he used to do, which just go down when
the pocket gets crushed, because he does. He does have
such elite judgment of different quality and the nature of
different pressure. He knows exactly when he can escape, he

(10:56):
knows exactly when he needs to just dump the ball off.
He knows exactly when he is going to go down.
But it's it's not it's not a matter of extending
because he really only does that in situations where a
sack would not be a negative, Like he picks his
spots and changes his style with that by situation, which

(11:20):
is great. But in the situations where the pocket just
gets crushed, he just you know, he doesn't just hit
the deck. And nobody does it. I mean nobody does really.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
But I would.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
I would definitely doesn't, right, I.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
Mean, there really is nobody who did it, who does
it the way Brady did it. But it's it doesn't
look great, but it's it's brilliant. It's brilliant because it
saves you not just exposure to injuries, but general wear
and tear that you don't notice that adds up into
a later injury. So I wish you would do that.

(11:57):
I guess that's the the other change. But besides that,
I mean, there's not much you can do about it.
So as far as worry goes, sure, I'm worried about it.
But what do you know, Yeah, what are you gonna
do for like, retire? He's not He's not gonna do that.
You'd have to kill him. You'd have to kill him
on the field. He's not like Andrew luck who is

(12:18):
a little bit too normal to subject themselves to that,
like Burrow Burrow will Yeah, so you know, just you
just got to hope, just gotta hope and and do
what you can.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
It's it's funny you brought up Andrew Wuck because I
remember reading just when the injury happened that a lot
of people were kind of comping the two situations. But
I didn't think it was a one for one comparison.
I mean, especially just because with Indianapolis it felt like
they never made stern real attempts to try and protect
Andrew Wuck, which is so ironic that when he retired
and then you get the next year where they start
building up one of their best offensive lines, it's after

(12:53):
he leaves. I think that there have been concerned efforts
from Cincinnati to try and protect Joe Burrow, and at
this point, like you say, there's only so much you
could do.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
It is what it is.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
And I think it's funny because we were talking about
play extension a couple of weeks ago, and like the
way Joe Burrow does it is really just with his
eyes and manipulation and trying to keep things going from
just like a pocket presence. But It's so funny that
play extension comes in so many different ways, and in
the case of Burrow, something he's so good at could
also be something that you could say, based on the
injury history, it's something that kind of makes you a
little nervous because if he has to try and redirect

(13:24):
somebody or step up or move around, he's putting himself
in a position to kind of get trucked or get
hit harder.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
And it's like, I don't want.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
To keep seeing that, but that's also one of his
biggest strengths, So how do I balance it too?

Speaker 1 (13:34):
And honestly, it's just hoping for the best.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
And maybe it really is something where if it's a
change in offseason regiment or change in something minor, it
could be a massive difference. He has stayed on the
field before, and I'm a football fan. I'm a Bills fan,
but I'm a football fan too, and the game is
better with Joe Burrow, and I hope he can stay
on the field long term because you just need more competition,
especially with some of the risers in this league and

(13:56):
seeing some of these franchises like improving year to getting
their quarterback have another seat at the table for him.
It just makes the game better. But I'm excited for
this game, Max, I'm really looking forward to it. I mean,
it's the first time we've played to you guys in
a couple of years. I think the last time was
we went into Cincinnati and it came down to final
drive von Miller getting completely destroyed on a run defense

(14:18):
rep on a fourth and I think it was either
one or two that ended up being the game.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
I remember that fondly, just kidding, I hated it.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
It's a matchup that this time around, though, might look
a little different because it feels like these offenses, despite
having in the case of the Bengals, some familiar faces,
and despite in the case of the Bills having Josh
Allen and the arm he has and the explosive nature
that you're used to with him, I have a funny
feeling that this is going to be very much time
of possession, trench control type of game where these offenses

(14:47):
are really trying to play into game script to dictate
really the outcome and put more stress on defenses that
share similar weaknesses. So I want to first flip it
back to you as we get into our preview of
the Bengals offense versus the Bill's dep First, Bengals offense,
it's hard to evaluate by the metrics because their starting
quarterback has missed most of the season. So I decided

(15:09):
to just try and look at their last four weeks
because while yes, you're going to see things about their
offense that are less than desirable, the one thing that
stands out to me is the literal worst thing you
would want to see if you're a Bills fan and
have watched the Bills defense play reps this season, and
that is the Bengals efficient rushing offense because currently over
the past four weeks for running backs don't matter by

(15:30):
Ben Baldwin eleventh in rushing EPA, their eighth and rushing
success rate. Chase Brown is a very efficient runner, and
I think of an explosive one with backfield catching capability
that we have seen on display times over now with
Joe Burrow to direct traffic to help him get the
ball quicker and really enhance his game. That to me
is everything I this offense, beyond the obvious Jamar, Chase

(15:53):
and T Higgins coming back. I think that really this
is where a Bill's defense that has struggled against the
run coming off what I would argue it's best run
defense performance of the year. Has to bear down and
keep it going to keep this game in check. But Max,
how are you looking at this game from a Bengals
perspective their offense versus the Bill's defense.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (16:11):
From a run defense perspective, You're not allowed to do
anything about it. If you're the Bills, you can't because
if you if you do anything about it, the game
is over. You can't leave Jamar Chasen t Higgins consistently
in one on one situations. It's just going to be
go balls, digs, comebacks over and over and over, and

(16:31):
you can't do that. You have to play enough bracket
and cloud coverages, which is you know, bracket quarters or
cover two.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
You have to play.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Another You can't obviously, you don't play them every single snap,
nobody does, even against Bengals.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
But you have to.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
Play them enough so that Taylor and Burrow at the
line don't know that they're going to have a one
on one like.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
They have to.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Strongly be thinking that there's a chance that they're going
to be bracket or clouded, because otherwise they would just
dial up shots. You have to you have to get
them in a position where they don't know the coverage.
They have to call four or five out pass concepts
that have answers to different things, and then Burrow can
id the coverage and then try to get to his

(17:18):
read and then you hope that the pass rush can
get there before he has time to go through all
of his options. That's that's how you beat the Bengals,
and it's that that's how you beat any quarterback like
this guy. And this used to be the case with
with Brady and Manning as well, back in the day
guys like that. But you also you didn't have the

(17:39):
the too high versus loaded box dynamic that we have now.
I think that's that's sort of a post spread meta
because back then, like there were so many snaps with
full backs that you know, you could, you know, and
that doesn't matter as far as two high versus one high.
That's more of a nickel bas conversation. But at the
same time, you didn't.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
It just wasn't.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
It just wasn't part of your your your thought process.
You were gonna put bodies in the box a lot
against the run game and then your third down game
plan is gonna be your third down game plan. And
it's fine because they're not gonna throw it enough necessarily
on first and second down to really kill you. Now,
those teams would, which is why they put up such
great numbers and destroyed everybody all the time. But you know,

(18:27):
great offenses are great offenses. Now, if you get in
a situation where the Bengals are able to hit you
at five six yards pop in the run game and
you want to put that extra body in the box,
you are screwed because that's not where their strength is,
no matter how well they run it, that's not where
the strength is. The strength is Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow.

(18:47):
So you can't do anything about it. So at that
point you have to really hope that and this is
the nice thing about the two high world is that
you have these these light box runfit frameworks where you
can have your defensive line control gaps, have your linebackers
track the ball, and so what you're able to do
is you're able to cancel that that lack of a

(19:08):
number being short of body by covering up multiple different
things with the guys that you do have. So that's
gonna be critical if the Bills can't do that without
getting gashed. They're they're done. They're gonna give up a
lot of points. And but the Bengals run game, I
will say, as good as it is statistically, has been

(19:29):
the beneficiary of playing some very unsound run defenses, which
when they try to win a defense that's unsound in
the wrong game, like really really unsound, and I don't
mean gets mashed, I mean like is in the wrong gaps,
blows assignments, plays the wrong technique, stuff like that. When
they're doing that and they're playing too high, they they
get really they get really really gashed, no matter who

(19:51):
they play.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, the bodies to compensate.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Right, right, So a lot of times when you do
that and you have a loaded box, you'll get like
a set an eight yard carry, But when you don't,
like you might give up a thirty yard carry. And
so that's what we saw the Steelers and the Jets
when they played, and those games really helped their numbers,
and the the Bears as well. Bears defense is awful,
So definitely the beneficiary of three of three nice, three

(20:16):
nice matchups. But they against the Ravens, who you know,
they they don't have nom de Matta BK. But they
still have Travis Jones, they still have good systems, good structures,
still Kyle Hamilton, who is such a serve breaker, both
playing big and light at the same time. They were
able to hit some singles and not really any doubles,

(20:38):
but they were able to string together singles when they
needed to in the run game. And that's that's not ideal.
That's not going to force you into loaded boxes and
get the huge chunks that eat huge easy chunks that
you want. But when you're the Bengals, like they were
able to hit. They were able to hit single after
single after single in the run in pass game against
the Ravens, and to their credit, they took everything else

(21:00):
away and Burrow was also a little rusty, especially in
the first half come back from the absence, but they
just hit single after single after single and move the
ball difficult and that's what they do. And that's the
nice thing about having a quarterback like this. And so
I think the nice thing about playing the Bills from
a Bengals perspective that I've always enjoyed is that, at

(21:21):
least in coverage, Sean McDermott has always been about soundness
and making sure that you know that things are covered
before being flashy. And I think in a lot of
ways that's good and against a lot of teams that's good.
I think it's really bad against the Bengals, and I
think it's really bad against Kansas City because the quarterbacks
and the drop back pass games are so tailored and

(21:44):
complex in ways that a lot of modern pure progression
shanahany pass games are not. That if they know the
structure of the coverage, they're just gonna shred you because
they'll get answers to it and that'll allow them to
get the ball out quick and completely negate the pass rush,
which is why Burrow and Mahomes have always had so
much success, even above what they've done against other teams,

(22:06):
against Buffalo, even when Buffalo's defenses have been very good,
because of that. Because of that factor, it's it's gonna
have to be a game where they do shift those
coverages and they do try to disguise, not because Burrow
or Mahomes are vulnerable to disguises, they're less vulnerable than

(22:27):
anybody else, but because it's your only chance, because you've
got to get them to hold the ball and you
got to get them to have to figure out the
answer post snap and get through stuff and make them
sort through three four options before throwing the ball, so
that you buy your pass rush a little bit of
time to get there and effect the play. Now against
the Bengals, that has historically been more effective than it

(22:49):
should be because of how bad their pass protection has been.
But the pass protection has been much much better this year.
It hasn't been great, but since Week seven or eight
or so, it's been decent. It's been passable. Again a
lot of bad defenses, but they were they were getting
torched by bad defenses and they were under pressure regardless.

(23:13):
So the fact that I thought Joe Flacka was gonna
get hurt, I really did when he signed here, and
they kept him pretty upright now. Again bad defenses, but Burrow.
They kept Burrow upright against Baltimore two, and that was
that was really encouraging. And the Bills are devoid of
pass pressures right now because of injury.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
So the static coverages and the lack of pass rush,
I think, provided you know, there isn't continued rush, which
you know I don't necessarily expect because Burrow was awesome
in Week two against Kansas City last year, and he
was awesome in the second half against Baltimore. There's a
real chance for the Bengals to to put up some numbers.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, I unfortunately expect that, but I expect it in
the way of if they don't decide to lean on
their rephrase, I still think that this is going to
be a controlled game where they're going to try and
emphasize like efficiency off their run. I don't think it's
the core identity of their team, but I think when
you think about how Joe Burrow came back into the

(24:12):
season coming from injury, and how efficient they've been able
to move the ball, and the manipulation you now get
with having Joe Burrow from the pocket, and how they
can layer off whether it's certain rung looks but maybe
turn into a pass and pass it to Brown quickly.
I just feel like they're going to try and do it.
But you'll never surprise me if you tell me Joe
Burrow is going to just try and really tear apart
your coverages and hit Jamar Chas and t Higgins as

(24:33):
often as he can for just really demoralizing gains on
whether it's third down or even second and ten or
something like that. I think for the Bills defense, where
my biggest concern lies is exactly something you pointed out,
the lack of a pass rush in both the perspective
of the individual personnel that they're dealing with, because they
do not have Joey Bosa right now.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
He is not going to this week. Very likely.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
They have Greg Russau, who I like, but Greg Russou
has kind of shown that he is more of like
an all round technician edge and not really a true
pass rushing threat unless he has a complimentary piece to.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
Make the lane for him.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
And you're talking about Devon Solin, who in my eyes
is a true hunter, more of like a true pass
rush specialist with some run defense chops, but he excels
more in that like wide third down pass rush role,
which in this defense I feel like seldom you've gotten
to see in its true form, for both the reason
of injury and because their run defense has been so
bad that they really haven't gotten in opportunities to get

(25:29):
long fields to be able to consistently hunt, and when
they have, which are only so few examples in the year,
it's been inconsistent, so I feel like where I get
really worried is the fact that they're dealing with injury
in the pass rush and they're not going to end
up in true pass rush situations anyways. But even if
they do, if they don't dial up any sort of
extra pressure, if they don't dial up a five or

(25:49):
six man blitz, the pressure's not going to hit at all.
I have to be honest about what this and I
it's bad. It's bad right now. The injuries are a
part of it. And what makes me so frustrated is
I genuinely I stand on the take. I had a
few weeks back when at Oliver didn't have a torn
by sep and when they were getting Michael Hoyt back,
that this was going to be the best pass rush
we ever saw in the Sean McDermott era.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
It should have been.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
But losing Michael Hoyt, losing at Oliver, forcing TJ. Sanders
to play an edge role when he should be playing
a three technique role, like, it's been very, very frustrating
to watch. So I don't think the Bills are going
to sell out to stack the box in this game.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
You're not gonna do that when you're playing Joe Burrow.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
Even with as good as I think Chase Brown is,
the Bills are very balanced and how they approach stack
boxes and light boxes. I think their stack box count
is about twentieth in the NFL, and light box are
about fifteenth in their rate, so it's not a far
apart spread, but this game it's going to be lighter boxes.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
Where I have some optimism for the run defense component.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
Is Shaq Thompson, who has been a plus run defender
for them every time he's played, and has made a
marketable difference from Terrel Bernard's play this season, who I
still love Torel Bernard. I still think he's a great linebacker.
It's been commonly set on this channel. Anyone who's watching this,
who's watched the film room knows probably playing on one

(27:06):
foot this year and has not looked good as a result.
It's messed with everything in his game, from his trigger
to his literal processing and coverage. Shaq Thompson, healthier veteran player,
has just looked more sound, look more poised, and I
think that presence in their front seven, with the addition
of how much more base they're playing because they have
ramped up their four to three tick a lot more
this year, and that has everything to do with how

(27:28):
bad their run defense has been and needing the more
physical shirt tacklers with Dorian Williams and Matt Mlano, I
think their run defense is poised to continue to play better.
I don't mean that that means they're not going to
get gashed or give up an explosive run here or there,
but a more composed game. And I think that's all
you can ask for, realistically from them right now. But
it is enough to keep you in games, even against

(27:48):
teams like the Bengals. But the back coverage for the
Bills has been very good this year and it's transformed
because the first few weeks of the season, mainly I
would call the Nexus event the half halftime in Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
It was poor.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
It was inconsistent, Corners were out of their spots, third
and lungs were being given up routinely, and it was
really really ugly to watch. They weren't generating turnovers, they
weren't really doing anything. After that half, it improved, and
while there have been lapses and coverage still and we've
seen moments of it. Trey White, Max Harriston, Christian Benford
being on the field, They're being able to get rotation
snaps and the stabilization of Cole Bishop in addition to

(28:25):
Jordan Poyer being back, which I never in a million
years thought Jordan Poyer was going to be the anchor
that held the safety room together. He has been that
for them. Their safety play and subsequent rotation and being
able to play their deep thirds and being able to
play off death from that has been better. It's been sounder,
and I think if you're talking about if you have
to win this game, it's got to be getting Joe

(28:45):
Burrow to hold. They've been able to get Patrick Mahomes
to hold the ball. They were able to get granted,
he's not the same player as you see my dog
walking in the background, it looks like a squirrel from
this distance with this tail Aaron Rodgers not the same player,
but getting him to hold because the coverage was really,
really sound. I do think that the coverage has improved,
but this is going to be their biggest test. Obviously,

(29:05):
when you're facing what I would debate is the best
Wed receiver in the NFL and Jamar Chase and T
Higgins returning, you can't man him up consistently, you're gonna
have to play a lot of three. You're probably gonna
have to play a lot of quarters too, if you're
trying to really take explosive plays away and keep things
in check. That to me is where this game is
won or lost. If you with light boxes, because you
can't really stack it, often are getting gashed on the ground.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Joe Burrow is not gonna have.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
To throw more than twenty five balls and they're gonna
win the game, or at the very least they're gonna
put up over thirty points because there is just simply
nothing you can do to stop them. If Shack Thompson
proves to continue to be that difference and he can
fortify the front seven, you know, be able to aid
the interior defensive lineman. Dion Walker has been put in
a two gapping role and has been doing pretty decently.
And you know, Larry Oganjobi is a penetrator.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
If you can just.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Allow yourself to avoid the run game being a true problem,
akin to what Tampa Bay was doing with Sean Tucker,
I think you have a chance to at the very
least make get serviceable. I am not saying that the
Bengals are going to get shut out. I am saying
that it's the difference between the Bengals scoring thirty five
and maybe twenty four. The Bengals are going to get
theirs and that's where I'm hoping the defense can live

(30:12):
because if they can do that, then when we get
to the opposites part of this show, I feel a
lot better about what the Bills might be able to
do for their offense and game script's sake. With all
that in mind, but that's really my perspective on it.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Max. Any other thoughts you got.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Yeah, no, I was gonna say. I was like, well,
good thing. You know, when you're saying all that good thing.
The Bengals defense is so damn good, right, Like we're
we have nothing.

Speaker 4 (30:34):
To worry about.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Well it's been better, yeah, you know, I mean no,
but but I mean yeah, it's just it's just really tough.
It's really tough because like if you have true run
game run defense issues and you can't get pressure with four, like,
I just don't know how you unless you, like, maybe

(30:58):
you just hope the Bengals play poorly, which could it
could always happen. I mean, this is this is the league,
right the teams lose games or or at least struggling
matchups that they shouldn't for any reason, because the margins
are between one and thirty two are tight enough that
if you play like crap, you're gonna get you're gonna
get in trouble no matter who you're playing. And but

(31:21):
like I mean, from an from an ex's and OOS perspective,
I think this is just, this is just it's such
a great opportunity for the Bengals offense to finally blossom
and unleash itself in a big spot, which feels like
the first time that they've really had the chance to
do that. I mean, you could say last year's game

(31:42):
against Denver that they had to win that Saturday night
game that if they didn't win it, they were eliminated,
and it kept them alive and borrowed through like four
thirty and four touchdowns against the number one sense the
league on the road or no, that game wasn't. I
don't remember where that game was that it was in Cincinnati,

(32:03):
I don't know. I was watching on a plane, so
I was not there for sure. But regardless, like it
was the number one defense in the league last year
in EPA per play they're obviously lead again this year,
and you know they they they just they shredded obviously,
it was it went down to the wire because of
the other side, Like there's every chance this one will

(32:24):
for the same reason. But I mean it's it's a
huge opportunity for them to to really flex that and
I and no matter how sound they are in coverage soundness,
you you cannot cover these guys with soundness.

Speaker 4 (32:38):
That's the thing. It's it's just.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
You have to you have to truly mix your coverage
is well enough that and get them doubled and bracketed
and clouded enough that you forth burrow to hold it
for two point eight seconds instead of one point nine,
and then you have to crush the pocket. And if
you can't get any even if you do cover him,

(33:01):
if you can't get pressure with four, it's just it's
not gonna matter because they'll find an answer. It's like
it's like playing Brady used to be.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, I think he's the closest thing to it in
the league.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
I mean, when you talk stylistically, I just feel like
when it comes to the answers he has for what
he's pressured or really how quickly he gets the ball
out with the precision, but the dynamic ability because of
how good he is as a processor to hit three
levels of.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
The field and not be a one read pony.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
To me, when you talk about the pantheon of quarterbacks
in the NFL right now, I do think Burrow is
the closest to Brady in that regard. When you talk
about actual accolades, we'll talk Mahomes, But I think stylistically
Burrow plays a very similar game and that's what makes
it so damn annoying to play him, because even when
you're right, you could still be wrong.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
But it's also like, from a defensive coordinator perspective, it's
the guys like this that give you nightmares because if
there is any opening, no matter how tiny small, flashing
and closing quickly, no matter how not on paper it is,
maybe your safety is three.

Speaker 4 (34:05):
Yards inside the hash instead of on the hash.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
It's just like it's any little thing goes slightly wrong
that the balls are buzzing right into it.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Right, Yeah, it's gonna it's really gonna boil down to
how creative the Bills can get to be able to
keep that ball in Burrows hands.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
But again without Joey Bosa in this game.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
I just don't I'm not optimistic about that pass rush
with four man, and I don't think they are either.
But I don't know if they're gonna break their formula
because they're not a blitz heavy team.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
They're far more into Sims and Crea.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Anybody not this team.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
You do not blitz the.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Bank, yep, Arms up, gentlemen, walker, put them up as
often as you can. Maybe never put him down. Just
try to win with your body. Just arms up constantly.
Don't let him see the middle of the casette. I'm
dead serious. I just I like Greg Russela, and I
really like my point on this edge rushing room really
just a pass rush in general had always been like
I love the complimentary pieces, I love the flour. I

(34:55):
think the four can actually be really nice, especially when
you have a top end guy like Bosa who this
year you know, had a rebound season and still probably will.
He's gonna come back at some point. It's probably gonna
be a few weeks, but rebound ear. And then when
you get that guy like Hoy who can play that
you know, a get mugging role and just rush you
really from wherever you want him to. With these guys
in hand, it's awesome, and the death pieces you have

(35:15):
can be great contributors. But if you're playing this game
without Bosa and possibly Ajfanessa, who was on the injury
report today with a foot phantom foot injury that came
out of nowhere, So I have no idea what's going
on with that. I just don't see how you have
success without trying to send a blitz. It's just you're
gonna be asking a lot of I don't want to
say inexperience, but like you're asking Morgan Fox, who was

(35:37):
on the practice squad coming up to be on the
active roster, you're very likely asking Shaq Lawson to rush
the passer, and you're asking TJ Sanders to once again
play a role that's not his role. TJ Sanders was
meant to be a pass rushing hunting three technique and
he's not living in that world because he can't. And
it's very frustrating. And I just don't know really what

(35:59):
you do. But you gonna have to roll the dice
on that and see if you can get anything at all.
I don't think they'll get zero pressure, but I have
a feeling. It's just gonna be another case of even
when the four man rush is in the ideal scenario,
even if they generate that third and long, you're gonna
be holding your breath because Burrow's gonna have time to
see the field. And the thing that I will say
too about this cast he has, I mean, apart from

(36:20):
Chase and Higgins, Mitchell Tinsley has been a revelation for
the Bengals. He is a ton of fun to watch.
He is a great contested catch guy. I think he
is something of like, well, he's not gonna ever be
on the pantheon of a Jamar chaser Retie Higgins for
a third option, fourth option. He's a ton of fun
and I've always liked Yoshi Bash's game. Mike is sicky
despite being basically a big wide receiver effective. I just, man,

(36:41):
I I want to be optimistic about this defense at
bass coverage and run defense. They're gonna have to prove
it to me because it's a very tall task. It's
one thing when you're playing Aaron Rodgers who has no
mobility left, Jalen Warren, who I like but isn't really
that like upper tier running back, and then dk Metcalf,
who I like, but outside of him, there there's nothing
in that Steelers wide receiver h like, absolutely nothing. In

(37:04):
this case, it's there is everything in the wide receiver room,
and the running back is talented, and the offensive line
is improved, and the quarterback has a quick trigger end
processor and could throw all three levels of the field.
So it's playing a championship offense and it's a tall task.
Ken am I saying that it's impossible for the Bills
to actually have success now, of course not. I think
there is a realistic path where their coverages sound enough

(37:25):
and good enough, where they can keep the ball inbarros hands,
maybe force him to check down, maybe keep things in
front of them, and wind up making it a twenty
to twenty four point affair. I just have to see
that because I'm not optimistic about the results there, or
that at least the potential results there.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
And it's unfortunate to say that.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
But this is a Bills defense that while the metrics
for the past four weeks are very favorable for them,
it's still very injured and very unproven against like upper echelon,
like firepower offenses. I mean, they played the Patriots well
when they played them a few weeks ago, but they
were a healthier team than I think the secondary now

(38:00):
is still healthy, but it's it's gonna be tough to
defend Jamar Chase and t Higgins versus defending Stefan Diggs
and Kashawan Boody, who are good in their own right.
But this is a different level of receiving core. And
that's when we where I'm gonna be watching. But maxt
any of final thoughts on Bengals offense versus Bill's defense
before we pivot to the next topic.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yeah, I mean I would be if it weren't for
them playing pretty damn well against the Chiefs offense, I
would be like waiting for just getting ready for like
thirty five points automatically. That was a great game plan.
So I wouldn't be shocked if they really try to

(38:39):
spend some extra focus on that game plan, make a
playoff style game plan the way they did the way
they always do for Kansas City, and they've always had
success with those game plans against Kansas City. But the
Bengals offense is a little different in this sense that
if you play man coverage against Chiefs or at least
just tight matchup zones, you'll probably be able to cover them.

(39:01):
And I think the pass rush is a little bit
better and healthier then than it is now, which which
is tough, because that was.

Speaker 4 (39:08):
A huge part of it.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Is that they were able to do this and get
them to hold it and then crush the pocket around him.
That's how you deal with these quarterbacks. It's how you
always dealt with these quarterbacks. It's why it's why it
Spagnolo and lou Ana Rumo when he at least when
he has players are so much better against the league
quarterbacks than everybody else is because that's their nature is

(39:29):
to is to is to do that.

Speaker 4 (39:33):
But you know, it's.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
It's nice because like at least the same thing goes
the other way.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
The same thing goes the other way.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Let's pivot to Bill's offense versus Bengals defense, and again
it's a Bengals defense that for the past I would
say a couple of weeks, I don't know why my
banner has a timer on it. I've never seen that before.
I fixed stream yard just change that out of nowhere.
So I'm just going to turn that off and then
throw this up. So give me one second but it's
definitely a group that we previewed the AFC North preview

(40:10):
in the summertime and talked about the Bengals defense, and
you were very positive about the Bengals offense with Joe
Burrow playing. You were the exact opposite when we talked
about the defense, and the numbers, unfortunately for them, from
a season long standpoint, very much reflect that. Just charting
what I found on next Gen stacks for the entire season,
the Bengals are ranked thirty second in EPA per play,

(40:30):
with thirty first and passing EPA per play thirty first.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
In rush.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
It's a rough. It's been rough. They've played better over
the past few weeks. How many teams I'm gonna say
thirty two.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
That's my guest too, Man, I was hoping they were
like seventy.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
That's good.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
I was hoping there were two hundred and fifty. Yeah,
it's not that.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
Listen, if you just take like, if you back up
a really long way to like a completely different league,
it's great, right, But listen, it's been tough for them.
They've played well the past few weeks, but in the
case of what the Bills are going to want to do,
this game, it's probably going to be extremely similar to
what they just did against Pittsburgh and really try to

(41:14):
control the game on the ground with again a combination
of zone and power running scheme, using James Cook and
his field vision to extend plays, get chunk plays, and
then allow Josh Allen to just be able to make
do with shorter fields. I would say that the Bill's
return game needs to improve drastically. I've said it all year.
The best they looked was against Tampa Bay and when

(41:36):
they were getting such great field position for the Bills offense.
Is when you saw a Bills offense that again didn't
have Dalton Kincaid, didn't play Keyon Coleman, look really good
and score over forty points against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
You need good starting field position to really execute the strategy.
I'm kind of amazed they were able to do it
as well as they did against Pittsburgh with terrible field position,

(41:58):
but their rushing offense had an immensely successful day. James
Cook over one hundred yards, Ray Davis was hitting holes
hard and looking extremely polished and powerful, and Josh Allen
was thriving off that. In my eyes, given the limitations
of this office. Right now, we don't know if Dalton
Kid's going to play. He came up with a knee injury.
He did practice to a limited capacity, but he does

(42:18):
not look fluid at all. It would not shock me
if they decided to sit him another week because the
Patriots are next week. I do see it as him
not playing at the moment, but them still going with
those heavy personnel, but also going with those two back looks,
a little bit of pony and trying to really just
control this game with their running backs and layering all
their passing off of those two back looks and make

(42:39):
it as deceptive as possible, because the big thing for
them is when they have the game script in their favor,
when they can play ahead, that is when they are
at their best.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
Defense.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
Be damned if they can get an early lead, if
they can have any momentum whatsoever to hold on to
a seven point score, at the very least not be
playing from behind. I do think that the Bills are
going to have a lot of success on the ground.
Even with some of the improved players on the Bengals
defensive line, it's still something where I think their offensive
line getting Dion Dawkins back and having really good interior

(43:10):
push and really stellar blocking work from their tight ends
and Jackson Halls and Dawson Knox. Those heavy looks are
just going to generate a ton of push. They're going
to be able to gash the Bengals on the ground consistently,
and we're gonna just see Josh Allen build off the
rushing momentum again and hopefully given the fact that he's
not playing Jalen Ramsey but rather no disrespect at all,

(43:30):
but a less than stellar secondary besides Dax Hill, I
think has played well. I think they can have more
success through the air too, and maybe ramp up their
play action attack as well, knowing that it's very likely
at this point that Trey Hendrickson is not playing and
they're not going to have to worry about him hunting,
but rather just kind of the improve Miles Murphy, who
is good, but if you're asking him to carry the

(43:51):
weight in true passport sets, I feel like Alan will
be able to find the time to throw the ball
if he has to, And that's kind of how I
see a approached by the Bills offense, very similar to Pittsburgh,
but maybe with more air yard opportunities. Max from the
perspective of the Bengals defense, lay it on me, let
me hear it.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
I'm very interested to hear your perspective.

Speaker 4 (44:11):
Yeah, it's tough.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
It's tough, especially because of those those tight ends. And
you know, I don't think that The one nice thing
about the playing the Bills right now is that they
don't have any box count threatening receivers, so there's nobody
you need to roll a safety over, which is really
nice because you can kind of load the box a
little bit more and play man coverage at the same time,

(44:35):
which because you can't have your desired well, I mean
you can, because the whole league is becoming built around
this offensively, but you don't want your coverage interests and
your run defense interests to be divorced and an idea,
and they inherently are. They're inherently at odds because they're
obviously opposite things, right, run defensive, pass defense. But when

(45:00):
when you play a team that doesn't have receivers who
can separate, that's kind of the one situation in which
they can kind of be closer than ever because you
can play single high man coverage a lot a lot,
and the especially in the NFL. The answers to that
are slot fades and goes and posts and ship over

(45:21):
the top and attacking vertically and double moves and winning
and winning one on one. It's it's not. I mean,
even in college this is the case. But the NFL
is too complex in how it deals with with rubs
and bunches and picks and all this stuff. Like they're

(45:41):
able to switch things. They're able to they have all
these checks and adjustments to different formations, to different actual distributions.
Right if somebody heads under, they can pass their man
coverage guy underneath to a free defender and he can
cut it off from an angle. This is why mesh
is not is just not in the NFL. And you

(46:02):
you guys know this more than any fan base right now.
Mesh is not a silver bullet against man coverage.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
It isn't.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
There is no silver bullet against man coverage in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (46:13):
That's not. Guys.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
You can't scheme, you can't ski, you can't because you
can't hide at the end of the day. If you can't,
If they know that, you can't beat their guys. And
you know, the Bengals, it's not like the Bengals have guys,
but the Bengal the Bengals issues, and the Bengals do
play a fair bit of man coverage, just because that's
al Goalden's DNA. It's what he did with with Freeman

(46:36):
so well last year at Notre Dame. Is is living
in that world of cover one and having all the
checks and adjustments and and you know and all that
and all that complexity therein that you have to have
when you live in it, and they play it really
well and their technique is good. They don't the Bengals
don't really have the guys, but their issues in man

(46:59):
coverage matching up have come at linebacker in safety, which
is why everybody in the fantasy football world is trying
to figure out whose tight end is playing the Bengals
because they can't cover them because their safeties are awful, awful,
like worse than the league bad. They're they're atrocious. So

(47:19):
that's been the issue in man coverage. And that's why
I'm so nervous about Dalton Kinkaid playing at full capacity,
which I mean that is hard to imagine whether he
plays or not, it's hard to imagine him being himself because,
like you know, and again you can't really do this
on first down because he can't play actual tight end,
and he'll get matched up on a nickel, which is

(47:39):
still potentially favorable because Bengals nickels aren't.

Speaker 4 (47:43):
Very good either.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
Although Khalil Shakiir is pound for pound like maybe adjusting
for position is worse than Kinkaid, but as far as
actual movement and athleticism, like, it's it's a totally different position,
it's totally different body, so he's still better in that role,
but especially on third downs or second and ten, when
you can get into eleven personnel with Kinkaid and sacrificing

(48:08):
the run game altogether no longer carries that same cost
because it's basically an obvious pass situation. The Bengals don't
have enough dvs to ever get in a dime and
dimebackers aren't really good anyway. So regardless, Kinkaid has that
matchup in those situations, and that's what the Bills are
so badly missing with him, even if it's on that

(48:28):
forty percent snapshare, and that's the only time it's really
useful is in those obvious past situations. They have a
matchup winner in those situations and it gives them an
answer against man coverage, and a lot of times it
prevents teams.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
From playing man coverage.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
So then from a play calling perspective, you can get
into all of your your zone beating concepts, which is
the bulk of your offense anyway, but it's all of
your passing game when you're when you don't have things
that can beat man coverage because get mesh alone. When
teams like MESH works, when especially when teams send pressure

(49:06):
and they don't, they lose that free underneath defender. But
I mean, if you play a lot of standard band coverage,
just guy on guy, we'll not really guy on guy
because there's adjustments, but that seven.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
And coverage cover one.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
It's the NFL knows about MESH. It's not that complicated.
High school high school dcs know about MESH. So I mean,
that's that's that's just not enough. And so they have
nothing that's not run game and underneath and underneath zone
beaters and they can't get into those underneath zone beaters,
those sort of static spacing type concepts stick.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
Snag uh.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
And then of course you're like choice type concepts as well,
and you're high lows all that stuff.

Speaker 4 (49:49):
That's it's the zone beating they.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
They need to get. They need to be able to
get into that and what kin Kid gave for them
on second and long and third down and in two
minutes situations with somebody who can either get teams out
of man and get them and open up the whole
rest of their passing game, or could punishment coverage.

Speaker 4 (50:09):
And so if they don't.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
Have that, that's that's just that's why it's just been
so suffocating lately for the Bills. And from a Bengals perspective, yeah,
we would get torched by that guy on third downs, destroyed, destroyed,
he would, you would, you would go for one hundred
and twenty yards and I wouldn't be and I wouldn't
be surprised at that point if they, you know, if

(50:31):
they had. Kincaid called off the dogs on plenty of
neutral downs even and said, we're yeah, we're not running
the ball, but you can't cover him or you get
into your zone beaters, and you can't really rush us
enough to stop us from getting answers. And so we
are going to play a little bit of an raid
game against you, which is anathema to the modern meta,
But you know the Bengals. The Bengals aren't some team

(50:53):
you desperately need to get into loaded boxes to pass
on because they just don't have the coverage bodies up
the spine. At linebacker they're terrible, or at safety they're
even worse somehow because those linebackers are real bad.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
But without Kinkaid that a lot of that goes away.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
So yeah, they will have to get under center condensed
and just mash them, and I think I think they can.
The the Bengals interior run stuffers are the only part
of the defense that I think is not that bad.
But at the same time, you know the against condensed sets,
especially if you do and I wanna not load the

(51:32):
box now. The nice thing is they can afford to
because they're gonna play man coverage. But you know it's
if you don't want to do that, and you're gonna
play a lot of cover three in there too, because
you're not just gonna play man coverage all the time.
A lot of times your heavy box run looks are
covered three because one of that safety as a man
who would have a man assignment is in the run fit.

Speaker 4 (51:53):
So you will play a lot of man coverage. But
you're still gonna play.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Plenty of cover three too, and that's just gonna expose
you to your play action crossers too.

Speaker 4 (52:02):
Tight ends.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
Knox will get him. Knox will get him, He'll get
open on him. Uh yeah, and it probably will get
to man coverage too.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
This Knox is definitely an X factor for this game
if n K can't go for those exact reasons. He's
always been their money guy on play action too, at
least with Kincaid being hurt last season, Knox was one
of their primary guys for the downfield shots those deepens.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Also why like it's harder to cover him because he
doesn't have a his coverage defender is in the run fit,
whereas the nickel. If you're the f which is the
slave receiver or the fullbacker in the second tight end
or whoever, if that guy is a nickel, there's a
decent chance that he's either not in the run fit
or he's not seriously in the run fit, so he's
playing coverage first. And you know a lot of times

(52:45):
that guy's that. If you're in cover three and you're
playing like you're playing like a zone, it's not the
safety on the tight end, the linebacker's got to roll
back on him, and that guy's getting sucked up by
the playfake, and there's a huge void behind him because
the safety is so deep because he's playing the post.
And so that's why tight ends get so open on
play action when you have a scary run game.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
For for sure.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Yeah, and you know the thing for the Bills too,
is it's been I say it every single week on
the show.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
I will say it again. I will never stop saying it.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
But I don't think they run play action enough because
for the deficiencies they have and the run game that
they have, it is truly the most useful weapon in
their arsenal that I don't think they take enough advantage of. Specifically,
when you talk about having normally in your lineup Dalton Kka,
but even Dawson Knox and even Jackson Hawes, because when
you talk about what these guys are, when you have
Kincaid in the lineup, Kincaid's usually spread out wide and

(53:36):
you'll have these guys be your inline blockers. But with
Haws and Knocks, even without Kincaid, I still find it
incredibly valuable for any sort of ball fake and getting
these guys detached from the line because I think they're
just going to have the space to vacate, mainly because
with a guy like Haws, he'll get a couple of
receptions a game, maybe a couple of targets a game,
but nothing near the volume of someone like Kincaid. When

(53:57):
we talk about a true passing threat in this offense,
and I feel like you're kind of break glass and
press the red button in case of emergency are concepts
to him, because I don't think he's going to command
the direct respect of a defensive coordinator to say we
need to make sure we have a nickel defender on him.
And the Bills know that and are probably going to
be able to put him somewhere in the formation where

(54:17):
he's going to take up vacated space and get open.
And there were times even when they played Houston, where
they had that and Josh hit him once, but I
felt like they didn't capitalize on that enough. But that
game is an entirely different beast of me complaining it
inspired an entire rant on this show that you probably
wouldn't agree with because it was very anti Joe Brady,
but not for like completely outlandish reasons. More things that

(54:39):
I have been frustrated with separate conversation. I do think
that though when we talk about stack boxes for this
Buffalo Bills offense, they face them tenth most in the
league and they've still had incredible success against them.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
I think the whole thing for them is.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
They're a weird unit in the sense that they almost
thrive on the opportunity to have a stack box because
I think in their eyes, apart from the play action layering,
which can give them the time to actually throw on
top of defenders that may be in run fits, it's
also the opportunity to have just such physical downhill blocking
that if you can get any of your O line

(55:13):
to the second level and all these defenders are washed
up close, that's giving a lane and a big potential
run for James Cook. And I think that they might
want the Bengals to be in that stack box world
one because if you're getting a defense to sell out,
and it's the type of defense that hasn't really proved
that them selling out is an effective cover up for
their deficiencies, then the Bills might be able to layer

(55:34):
passing off of that in itself and just have success
through the air regardless. But even so, if you're telling
me that you have concerns over how poised these linebackers
or even the safeties are in their run fits, and
you have an offensive line with Osiris Torrance, Connor McGovern
and David Edwards mauling you on the interior and moving
down the field, even Dion Dawkins doing the same, it

(55:55):
to me creates a lot of opportunity for run lanes
for James Cook, Ray Davis, and even Ty Johnson, who
I think will be imperative for them sustaining drives in
this game. Because Ty Johnson's ability as a runner I
think is just an untapped source of potential for this offense.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
I don't think they use it enough.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
You can't use him every play, you can't, but as
a true scat back with a little bit of an
uptick in rushing snaps, that would be something that I
think could hit the Bengals by surprise and really take
advantage of, again exploiting some of the wines you might
create even with the extra bodies. But again, layering your
past off of these rung loooks with a guy like
him is something they've used so much in the past
that has success almost all the time. Very rarely do

(56:34):
you see a scheme to ty Johnson route that isn't productive,
that isn't a minimum of five to six yards. And
I think that that is where they can get their
money made on offense this game. And again, if this
Bengals defense and coverage isn't sound enough, even if the
Bengals say we're going to respect the hell out of
Josh Allen and we're not going to stack the box
and we're just going to try and play a balanced game,
I do think that they can still have success in

(56:55):
the air. While I do think that Hill has played
really well, I think it's just an unproved and secondary
and guys like even Keon Coleman gave Davis Tyrrell Shavers
can give you a bit of a vertical component in
those matchups enough to just get something going explosively through
the air. But I do think, like I said earlier
and how I'll kind of close the loop on this
offensive conversation, I think the money's made in the trenches.

(57:18):
I think whether it's stack box, light box, the Bills
are going to try and go heavy, and they're going
to try and dictate gamescript control the game on the ground,
run with the balance of James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty
Johnson layer passing off of it, and ultimately see if
they can control the game.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
Because if they can and you could.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Keep give Joe Burrow less opportunity, that's the world they
want to live in. That's the world any team wants
to live in when they play the Bengals, all right, the.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
Special that's sort of the other part of this is
that if you get in a situation where the Bengals
score a high volume of points, you got to pass
to keep up with it, and you got to drop
back to keep up with it. And that's just that's
not where you want to be in.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Yeah, of course, and that's how teams have schemed. If
you like, every single Bills game, or at least every
single loss this year, been two common factors. It's field
position and how teams are pinning the Bills back and
forcing them to try and return.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Their return game is not good.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
They're generally averaging I think the last time I checked it,
I have to look at the updated stats, but they
were averaging twenty six. So it's not good enough when
you get them in that position and you don't have
the volume as passing attack that they did when we
played the Bengals last time, where you had Stefan Diggs
and a budding Khalil Shakir in an early Dalton Kincaid
at a passing offense that while it's steimied itself, a
bit could move the ball through the air. What you

(58:28):
end up getting is way less opportunity to get into
game script that favors you, because you have way more
plays with the I guess attempt at trying to get
explosive runs. And when a team shows that they know
you're going to run and they can match you and
shut it down, they are not comfortable living in a
pure drop back world. I think in this game they
can at least not look like a Houston result.

Speaker 4 (58:51):
And not end up in that same mind.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
Houston destroyed them, but Houston has the bandwidth to do so.
I think Cincinnati is going to get their wins if
they end up in those situations. But I just feel
a little more comfortable, mainly in the pass protection for
Josh Allen and also the escape lanes for Josh Allen
in this game, because when you're not facing Daniel Hunter
and Will Anderson who are closing off the edges collapsing
the pocket, but also just strong and athletic enough to
prevent those outside rush lanes from developing. While I'm not

(59:17):
saying it's impossible for the Bengals to do this, and
it's not a slight of disrespect at all, I feel
more comfortable with Josh Allen's ability to create offscript in
this game and escape in this game than I have
in the past, and I think last week kind of
reaffirm my belief that he could still do it this
season because he had a couple of off script plays
where I was like, Okay, this should have been blown up.
Josh Allen created something and we were able to get

(59:38):
a couple of yards out of it, stave off a loss,
or in the case of the goal line, get a
touchdown off of it.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
And I think we'll see a bit of that.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
We're gonna have to see Josh improvise because that's just
the nature of the Bill's passing attack.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
But that's where the Bengals want to live.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
They want to get them in those short fields, and
they want I'm sorry, they want to get him in
those bad field positions starts, and they want to get
him in third and long, because that's how you're going
to that's the Bill scryptnite. If it's a third and
ten and Josh Allen can't create, it's a wash unless
you get someone to prove that they could separate.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
And unfortunately for the Bills, a lot of their.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Attempts at getting out of those spots are crossing field
patterns like mesh and it's very frustrating because the whole
league knows they're gonna do it, and they still telegraph
it and it still happens and sometimes it works, but
it's if a team's sitting on it. It could be
any team, any defense. It's gonna get solved at some point.
They need to not live in that world in this game.

Speaker 3 (01:00:26):
Yeah, I mean, that's the tough thing is they're in
that situation that like college, like a bad college, like
a bad ARAID team is in college, where all they
all they get is man coverage over and over and
over and over, and they can throw a slot fade,
but it's it's performative. It's going to be in complete
or picked off. They can throw a gold ball, but
the receiver is gonna get thrown into the bench, and

(01:00:49):
or they can try to like you know, pick something
and then like a like a you know, a rubb
route fast into the flat. But they'll just, you know,
they'll just they'll make a they'll make a bunch check
in an out check, and then the guy will get
blown up by the corner squatting there. Like it's just
that's the Bills right now. And the nice thing about

(01:01:13):
playing the Bengals is that you can really, I think,
be consistently in second and two if I think they
will hit some chunks. The Bills run game really shouldn't
be explosive from a schematic perspective, but Cook is so
slippery that when it does come time to to get

(01:01:36):
to that second and third level and then make a couple.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
Guys miss, he can do it. He can really do it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
And that's why that's why the Rams as sound as
their run game is, it just it doesn't generate chunks
because Kyram Williams can't do that. He's so efficient with
his reads and his aiming points and all that stuff,
but he's not gonna do that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:54):
James Cook will.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
So, so you take a team that's that's so heavy
duo and makes you know, can make some explosive plays
out of it. And the nice thing is Bengals can't tackle.
They can't tackle at all. The safeties are atrocious, atrocious tackle.
I mean, like you saw the Colson Loveland touchdown that
one then that yea and yeah and Colson Loveland. Everyone

(01:02:18):
is complaining about Colson Loveland only forcing like seven mis
tackles or something last year. It's like he doesn't force
miss tackles. He doesn't force me tackles and like he
does against Bengals. So James Cook, who's actually pretty elusive
and good, is is scary. And I think that Ty
Johnson as well, not just as somebody who can carry
the ball, but as somebody who can actually maybe.

Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
Give them a time. And this isn't much, but.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
Working weekside choice routes against man coverage to Ty Johnson
is probably going to be a winner because you get
him on the will linebacker who sucks. So that's that's
something that I think can be done to.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
It.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
Yes, but it doesn't even matter of who I'm talking about.

Speaker 4 (01:03:03):
Everybody on the.

Speaker 3 (01:03:04):
Depth chart, it's it's it's rough and and so like
I think if you're trying to squeeze a little bit
of blood from a stone against man coverage when you
need to. That's gonna be a good one, especially on
like second and nine, because you that can whether you'd
get a first down or not, that's a great way
to get back into third and three and then you're
in two down territory or you can just run it period.

(01:03:26):
And I think a great thing for them to do,
and they should have done this weeks ago, and they
definitely need to do it is get back to a
lot some of their creative gun run stuff that they
put on tape last year. A lot of the like
there was I was watching it this morning, just some
of the clips that I had saved on my laptop,
and there was.

Speaker 4 (01:03:45):
Like this pin poll read from gun.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
This same side pin and pull that was really creative,
Like I have I have it labeled just as question
marks in my laptop because I didn't really you know,
I didn't really know what to make of it.

Speaker 4 (01:04:02):
I don't even know what to call it. Honestly.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
It was very creative, and you can get like that's
the thing that gets these Bengals linebackers so bent out
of shape, particularly polers, just because their eye discipline is bad.
They're late, they don't track the ball well they don't
track pollers well, they'll hit the wrong shoulder, they'll spilled nothing.
They've been much better in the last few weeks, to
their credit, and the whole defense has whole defense has

(01:04:26):
gone from historically bad to extremely bad. But I mean,
and part of it is that just Lamar Jackson played
horrific football on Thursday, horrific football. There were openings that
they missed, they played, they did play, but they did
play well. The run defense was concerningly good, I think

(01:04:47):
on your end, but it's also a different beast with
the Bills offensive line, where the Ravens offensive line has
struggled all year and the Bills haven't. They just I mean,
the Steelers run defense is bad, but that's what it
should look like. When you have an elite run game.
It gets a rundeees. You just you rode rate them
and you do it over and over and over. And
I think if they can do that consistently being second

(01:05:07):
to two, he's a little bit out of those out
of those you know, weak side choice routes to.

Speaker 4 (01:05:15):
Both running backs.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
Frankly, to get a little bit of an answer in
the dropback game. There maybe some stuff on the nickel
with Shakir like you know, pivots or juke routs, like
getting too empty and run some juke routes on whichever
defender ends up in there. I think that's a good
way to deal with man coverage, just because I think
Shakir can beat the Nickel, even if he struggled so

(01:05:39):
much against mand coverage this year. And I think one,
of course, that's not his game. He's such a zone
beating slot. But I also he just doesn't look right.
And I know he was hurt earlier in the year,
and I wonder what's gonna come out after the year
about playing through that potentially speculation. But you can piece
all these little things together and get something and base
it with your bread and butter. That's the heavy run

(01:06:02):
game and of course the play action stuff we talked
about to Knox and potentially hauls earlier. And you got
the ingredients to something, and when you put a puzzle together,
and I mean, this is all game planning is, and
offensive construction is putting this puzzle together. When you've got
a complete enough puzzle against a unit that's bad, you're
gonna put up points on them.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
And I have enough confidence in their run game mainly
because there hasn't really been a week where it hasn't
been effective to some degree, I think probably the least
like people would think Houston, but they still got their
chops off on Houston, and it really just boiled down
to Houston. Never ended up in situations where they could run,
like where they could have to feel a threat of
a run, because it was always third and long, it
was always second and along. It was just a very

(01:06:45):
tall ass to try and maintain your rushing efficiency when
your pass game had nothing for you. But I think
in terms of truly containing their run, the Patriots did
it decently when they were in Buffalo, and I think
that's just the bread and butter of their defense, and
the strength of their defense is shutting down the run.
But apart from that game, it's been able to crack
every defense they face. Their front has been able to

(01:07:05):
again generate push against every front that they faced, and
I think that this game won't be any different. But
I just wonder because this is the thing that also
concerns me, mainly a Joe Brady thing this season. But
when we talk about that Pittsburgh game and the TJ.
Watt post game comment and they ran the same play
twenty times, which wasn't actually true, but they ran similar

(01:07:26):
concepts and very similar things over and over and over again.
I think that that was really cool to hear, but
it also made me really nervous because when you could
do that in one week, that's awesome. But when a
defense knows exactly what the looks are and you are
an offensive coordinator who has proven to the rest of
the league that you will call the same thing over

(01:07:47):
and over again until it doesn't work, I have worries
about what that means in the early game where maybe
you come out in what is probably going to be
a duo run and Josh isn't going to check at
the line of scrimmage because maybe the Bengals present a
look that makes it seem like they're going to have
the lane for the duo to be successful, and the
Bengals post snap just end up crashing on it, getting

(01:08:07):
enough push to make it a more modest call it
a two to three yard game on first down, and
you live in a world where they've really sold out
on recognizing those wrong looks, and you go back to
them and they're not working. To me, where the Bills
kryptonite has also been is the kind of panic that
ensues because when they don't have that push on the

(01:08:28):
ground and they don't have their pivot, they kind of
box themselves in. And that's when Josh Allen begins to
press because he feels the pressure. The thing that always
frustrates me about Josh Allen, who I've told you anyone
who watches the show knows.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
I'm not trying to say he sucks.

Speaker 4 (01:08:44):
I Am not trying to say that's hard, that's hard
to make.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Yeah, yeah, it's It's always like I critique Josh Allen
on the show, but I really try to be fair
with it. But I'm getting annoyed at how quick he
is to press this season, and it's very much telegraphed
early on in a game when he's going to start
doing it, and the towns are usually just the first
throw after like a failed run that either sails or

(01:09:08):
is inaccurate or is a turnover worthy throw.

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
I'm like Jesus Christ, like we're in trouble.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
I felt the Tampa game was going to be like
that too with the early pick, but to be honest
with you, I think that was also like that's also
the Josh Allen that makes cool plays, that has done
it in the same season, and he was backed up
in his old goal line.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
That's a bad field position argument right there.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
In this game, though, if the Bengals do sell out
on whether it's duo, whether it's mid zone, whether it's
really trying to emphasize the cutback lanes that James Cook's
taking to fill that void and try to stop him there,
and they aren't running the ball effectively early, I have
a lot of worry that it's going to look like
an Atlanta Falcons type game, not in the sense that
they won't put up any points at all or won't

(01:09:46):
have only two successful drives, but that they're not going
to figure it out until maybe like the end of
the end of the first half or early second half,
and the Bengals offense has already taken a commanding lead
and you're looking at like seventeen to twenty one to
ten going int halftime. They can't live in that world
because if they do, they're not coming back from it,
and that's a very big problem.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
So this running game, I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
Praying Joe Brady is being proactive and his game planning
and not just saying that this is what we're good
at and we're going to stick with it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
Only teams should do that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:15):
I'm not saying get away from your identity, but offer
something that we didn't see them run against the Steelers
over twenty times. Offer a different look or a different
wrinkle to this, a motion piece, a poller that you
didn't show against Pittsburgh, because you have to stay ahead
of the curve, especially when you're talking about the gauntlet
of defenses you're playing, because after Cincy, it's New England,
it's Cleveland, it's Philadelphia. Granted, Philadelphia is probably not having

(01:10:38):
Jalen Carter for that game, and it's the Jets who
have gained some momentum defensively, not much.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
This is not the opportunity for you to be stale.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
You need to be proactive, and it does have to
start this week because I'm telling you, nothing would kill
their morale more than all these metrics for the Bengals
being really bad and them just getting completely shut down
by what should be a defense they're successful against. That
just can't happen. And I need to see them be
better than what they were two weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (01:11:05):
Yeah, I mean it, certainly can't happen because I don't
think their margin of error as much on the other side,
so like, yeah, I mean, it's it's brutal. It's brutal,
and it's brutal to living these margins. And that's kind
of the reality you're at when you have no wide receivers.
But it's also the reality you're at on the other end,
no matter who your receivers are, if you can't run

(01:11:27):
the ball at all or at least you can't truly
think make defenses respect it. And that's sort of been
always Joe Burrow's biggest like there's it's so weird to
say it, but there's. If there's one little, little tiny
downside to Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase being as good

(01:11:49):
as they are, and it's that the bar for teams
to respect the Bengals run game is much higher than
almost every other team in the league. So if you
look at the Seahawks, who are getting base and loaded
boxes all the time when they play twelve personnel and
get under center because they have an offense that is

(01:12:10):
the system is technically based around the run and getting
under center, playing heavy and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:12:15):
Third most in the league by the way, they're at
thirty five point one percent stack box right Seattle.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
Right right, And you can't one v one Jackson Smith
and Jig but either. And there's a reason he's putting
up six hundred thousand yards per route run this year,
and he's gonna win the triple crown and break all
the records and go for five hundred touchdowns or whatever.
And like, you know, because he's been he's just been
so ridiculous. But it's like teams are letting him be

(01:12:41):
this ridiculous because they're and you know, it's nobody's doing
what the Rams did, but you know their run game
is good enough to to nickel and dime you if
you don't respect it. But and the Bengals hasn't been
over the years.

Speaker 4 (01:12:56):
But at the same.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
Time, if the if if Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase
and an offense that has the reputation of being so
you know, wide open and bombs away in the passing game.

Speaker 4 (01:13:09):
As that is.

Speaker 3 (01:13:11):
Ran the ball at an exactly the same rate against
even neutral boxes as the Seahawks, they wouldn't get it.

Speaker 4 (01:13:19):
The Seahawks would.

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
Just because of Joe Burrow Jamarch's reputation and not having that,
not having that run game and not having that what
it does to defenses and does for your passing game
makes passing so hard no matter who your receivers are,
because defenses are free to double and cloud them, even
both of them, whenever they want without recourse, because they

(01:13:43):
have both of those safeties totally free all the time.
And that's what that does is you know, it's like
we talked about earlier, course, is you to pick up
every disguise, not knowing what the coverage is going to
be at all, pick it up and then get to
your answer posting that before the pass rush cats here
and the and and what Josh Allen is going through

(01:14:04):
is almost inverted in the sense that it's it's it's
it feels similar, and in the pocket it is similar,
it's schematically, and on the chessboard it's different. But what
is it, right, It's you don't know, you don't know
what options are gonna be open. And so even if
you know what the coverage is, you're gonna have to
go deep, deep, deep into reeds just looking for guys

(01:14:26):
to be open, because I hope this guy's this guy
is getting pressed into the turf by the corner. I'm
gonna work for the crosser. No, he's getting run with
easily by the nickel. And then like then the pass
rush gets there and and that's that's when the game
literally speeds up. And this is the thing about Josh
Allen that has been so much better since they started
running the.

Speaker 4 (01:14:45):
Ball is that you keep the green goblin mask.

Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
Away because it's not like because he is, he is not.
He's unique among the truly great quarterbacks in NFL in
NFL history, and Lamar Jackson is this way as well.
He's he really leans heavily on that run game and
a big part of what's going on now is that
their run game hasn't been dominant, and.

Speaker 4 (01:15:08):
He's been in a lot more of these situations, and it's.

Speaker 2 (01:15:11):
It's I apologize, it's more in my eyes because I
do agree like the pendulum has skewed too far in
the other direction.

Speaker 1 (01:15:18):
Totally agree with that. I would argue though the.

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
Run game is has been dominant, but they just simply
don't have a passing compliment that's viable.

Speaker 1 (01:15:28):
Oh, I was talking about the bills.

Speaker 3 (01:15:29):
Read Oh No, I mean I meant, I meant the
I'm sorry oh yeah, my bad, my bad, kick ass.
But like the cause, the situation in there is the
same because you can't you can't dictate these looks or
you can't beat them even if you are dictating them.
And at the end of the day, it's just you

(01:15:51):
have to work hard to find options and work through
tight and work through a lot of tight windows and
cloudy pictures and pressure, and that's when the game speeds
up and with what you know. Josh Allen is such
an elite player, but he isn't Burrow, Mahomes or Brady
or Manning or Rogers or Breeze in the sense that

(01:16:15):
they are just like there they see they are so
comfortable in these situations that they can just string out
completions win ugly. Like Josh Allen will go out there
as much as any quarterback in the NFL and throw
eight scoreless innings with fifteen strikeouts as much as anybody,
but it becomes but he is a little bit more

(01:16:39):
vulnerable to that five run second inning or getting bounced
in the fourth, whereas Burrow and Mahomes because of how
precise they are as processors and how comfortable they are
when sped up, more than you know anybody else in
the league. They are able to dig out six innings,

(01:17:02):
five hits, two walks, a lot of dirty situations, and
a lot of jams. They give up two earned runs
and strike out like four and then live and it's
just like it's not fun and the stat sheet hates it.

Speaker 4 (01:17:16):
But those are the games.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
To me that that I love to see from quarterbacks.
And and the nice thing about Joe Burrow is that
he will he will. He's so reliable with him. I mean,
they've won a bunch of playoff games playing that way.
And and Allen's won a bunch of playoff games by
lighting up the scoreboard because he can. But that's the

(01:17:40):
thing that's that's that's been not I don't want to
say exposed, but has not been has not been kept
away by the compliments that you need in the offense.
At the end of the day, though, like I do
think if he had better receivers this would it would
still happen. Well, no, it wouldn't because of the run game.

(01:18:02):
If they have better receivers in this run game, forget it.

Speaker 1 (01:18:05):
And that's all they need, man, that's the philosophy. They're
trying to.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
Give it too that's and that's really where I'm at
with their offense as current state. I'd never like we've
had portions of the fan base that hated the thought
that John McDermott was trying to neuter Josh Allen. It's like,
I think it's not neutering if you are if it's
working and it's helping your quarterback. And last season the
first true example of them really committing to fortifying their

(01:18:28):
rushing attack as like what their offense builds off of.
The man won an MVP, and whether you think he
was deserved or not, he still had a good enough
season to win it or at the very least be
in the final vote. He was the most efficient he's
ever been. That version of Josh Allen. I don't think died.
I think what ended up happening was you had a
league that had a year to catch up, an offense
that never really took the strides to add more bodies

(01:18:51):
to the wide receiver corps. Hinge their bets on keyon
Coleman's development, and Hinge their bets that Josh Palmer was
going to really be a complimentary which I would argue
when healthy he was, but he hasn't been healthy and
that's been a big theme of the season for the Bills.
I think the penduum as a result, swung too far
the other way, and what you have now is a
team that really the identities run the ball, build off

(01:19:14):
the run, but if you stop it, we don't.

Speaker 1 (01:19:17):
Have a counter punch.

Speaker 2 (01:19:18):
And I think in the case of Josh Allen, it's
it's so frustrating because I put a lot of blame
on him the season, and rightfully so. There's been things
where he's bypassed open reads that when they're there, like
he has an opportunity. The Miami game is riddled with it.
But I think my point is Josh Allen is someone
who really does thrive off of the situation. But he

(01:19:40):
doesn't just thrive off of it where it's like stability.
He's not like a system structure guy like a Jared
Goff or maybe a two hole where the steed's working,
he's great and when it's not working, he's bad. It's
more that when the scheme is working, he isn't just great.
He is playing probably the best football of the if
any quarterback in the league. Because it's not just a
matter of the reeds being open for him to take them.

(01:20:00):
His individual game elevates too, and you can go back
to last year and see some of the throws that
man was making when he was pressured. I mean, he
was automatic, and it wasn't just the right decision, it
was the poise. It was the accuracy that he was
throwing with. I think that Josh Allen is a force
multiplier quarterback. He is star power and guitar hero. He
is the type of quarterback that when you have everything

(01:20:21):
in its right place, he becomes more than just good
in structure.

Speaker 1 (01:20:26):
He becomes all world.

Speaker 2 (01:20:28):
And that version of him I think can get back.
But they this season simply heads their bets on decisions
that did not pan out. It looks really bad in hindsight.
We all remember the Brandon Bean conversation on WGR where
he said the mean words to the radio man and
everyone got pissed off.

Speaker 1 (01:20:43):
And here we are. It's not looking good and they
have to improve that this next season.

Speaker 2 (01:20:47):
Because I will say this, the philosophy that they have
as an offense is perfect to me. It's not like
what we had in twenty twenty one with Brian Dabole
twenty twenty two early Ken Dorsey.

Speaker 1 (01:20:57):
It was fun. It was just flashy. It was explosive.

Speaker 2 (01:21:00):
But we need to be really honest about what the
sustainability was for that offense, especially looking at it now
when you don't have the weapons. It would never work
unless you had truly all world talent, and even then
it still didn't get you a ring. You still fell
apart in the playoffs, and it fell apart even midseason
with Ken Dorsey.

Speaker 1 (01:21:16):
The ability to run the football is the best thing
you could do for Josh Allen.

Speaker 2 (01:21:19):
He just needs a couple of more bodies because it
takes even one truly viable weapon with a high stat
share for him to start clicking and just like be
confident and thrown everybody. I mean, you have to look
at some of the second half of the year throws
he made to like even Mac Collins last year, we're
just good.

Speaker 1 (01:21:36):
Mac Collins is good.

Speaker 2 (01:21:38):
Mac Collins is good. Mac Collins has always been a
perfectly good receiver. And I got to say when we
signed him last year, first off, I was pissed off
we let him walk backs.

Speaker 1 (01:21:46):
I was so pissed off because.

Speaker 3 (01:21:48):
He was devastating to the Bills offense. Yes, though I
will argue he can go he can go deep and
that if they had him right now, they would be
throwing go balls to him.

Speaker 1 (01:21:58):
Yes, and it worked.

Speaker 2 (01:21:59):
Were in the freaking AFC Championship game. But mac Collins
proved he could do that when he played in Vegas
and he had the best year of his career. Every
year that he played football, he was playing with subpar
quarterbacks or was boxed into really just like special teams
run blocking. But when he got the chance to show
his stripes, he was good. That he went to Atlanta

(01:22:20):
with Desmond Ridder and was like the wide receiver three,
but it was also in an offense that had nobody.

Speaker 3 (01:22:26):
You're not going to catch bombs from Desmond Ridder.

Speaker 1 (01:22:28):
Oh no, you're not going to catch anything. You're not
gonna catch anything.

Speaker 2 (01:22:31):
You're not going to catch a cold like That's what
I meant though, when we signed him, I was like,
you know what, this is vet minimum one year deal.
He's going to Oh, you're good, he's going to share
he's going to share snaps with Keon Coleman, but he's
probably going to outsnap him and it's still gonna probably
work because he could block his ass off and he
could go vertical like people remember the ugly Houston Texans

(01:22:52):
game Max last year. Mac Collins was wide ass open
on the opening drive of that game for a touchdown.
Like he was getting wide ass open multiple times last
season as a deep threat, and Josh Allen as the
season went on, got his deep ball accuracy a bit
more improved and that was a huge.

Speaker 1 (01:23:09):
Factor into their offensive success.

Speaker 2 (01:23:11):
Like, I just think that that version of him is
so much like it's a real thing. It's so prevalent,
and I just I'm a big fan of it. So
I hope it comes back, but I don't think it's
gonna happen this year. I think Max might have dropped
out for a second. I think something with his connection,
So I am going to just riff in the meantime.

Speaker 1 (01:23:28):
So it is a matchup that I.

Speaker 2 (01:23:32):
Think right now we are talking about very volatile. In
my eyes, I think it's a very volatile matchup. I
think what you have with the Buffalo Bills right now
is an opportunity to take command, to really control this
game and in my eyes, be able to really implement
what they did against Pittsburgh and have success. But the

(01:23:54):
volatility is if that gets snuffed out, then all of
a sudden. You're talking about Joe Burrow, jamar Chas Higgins
and your defense having to hang with them for four quarters,
and hanging with the team like that is you're going
to give up at least three touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (01:24:07):
You just have to be able to win the shootout.

Speaker 2 (01:24:09):
I don't know if they can if they can't run.
If they can run, I think they can hang with
them in control time of possession. If the run gets
snuffed to any degree. I have a very hard time
believing that the Bills could outdo a thirty five point
Bengals effort if it.

Speaker 1 (01:24:22):
Gets to that, But I am optimistic. I do think
it is a game the Bills can win.

Speaker 2 (01:24:27):
I do think that even with the pass rush woes
good pass rushers against Joe Burrow, He's still going to
get the ball out quickly, and they would make it
an emphasis to do so when he has the ability
to so. I don't think they were going to get
that many true pass rush scenarios anyways, in this game,
even with Joey Bosa and Ajpinez, I probably still have
the same level of nerves, so really be able to
run the ball.

Speaker 1 (01:24:46):
Don't get gash in the run game.

Speaker 2 (01:24:47):
On defense, with white boxes, and I think you'll have
a chance to keep it modest and be able to win.
But it's a tough ask when you're playing Joe Burrow
and the Bengals. The Bills have yet to do it.
They haven't faced you know, they haven't gotten the better
of Burrow. They got close, but it wasn't enough. They
have to prove that they can beat them. They have
to prove that they can handle what Zach Taylor is
going to throw at them. And if they can't, a

(01:25:08):
lot of questions are going to be asked by this
fan base, by myself about what that means for the future,
because this isn't a team that even with their you know,
woes the past couple of years, like playoff woes and
how they haven't really been able to go back. They're
not going anywhere. Joe Burrow's not going anywhere. The methodical
nature in the talent of this offense isn't going anywhere.
And frankly, if this is one of the teams that

(01:25:28):
has the formula to beat you, how can we be
reassured that you're going to be able to do that
if it matters even more in a playoff game. So
this is a big game for not only the season,
but really your team arale, especially when you have to
play that game in New England the following week, which
it could be the clincher, and you can't let that
happen either. And that's kind of where this game that
I'll turn it to you final thoughts on the matchup

(01:25:51):
before we signed off for the evening.

Speaker 3 (01:25:53):
Yeah, I mean that's that's exactly right.

Speaker 4 (01:25:55):
That's exactly right.

Speaker 3 (01:25:56):
And I think for the Bengals it's a big game obviously,
just just for you know, the AFC North and everything.
But I don't think that it's necessarily an existential one.
I think it's a game they're going to play. They're
gonna play pretty loose. It's it's it's house money at
this point, right because if you you don't win the division,
it's like a quarterback missed two thirds of.

Speaker 1 (01:26:14):
The year or whatever exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:26:17):
But you know, I don't I don't think that that
those small that those small of of mental edges should
matter in a professional sports league. I think, you know,
we're it's everybody's job to go lock in and go
go take care of business. But I think, you know,
as far as where I'm optimistic where I'm pessimistic. I think,

(01:26:37):
you know, it's just like you said, on the office
side of the ball, I think I think, I think
that's it sets up.

Speaker 4 (01:26:43):
Well. I really like I really like the stat of coverages.
I just I love them.

Speaker 3 (01:26:48):
That's why I that's why Burrows always shreaded the bills.
And it really it's really that not even more complicated
than that.

Speaker 1 (01:26:56):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:26:57):
And you know, I just don't think that they have
the even when they do try to mix coverages, that
they have the same level of ability to do it
as like a Ravens who are built systemically on it.
So so it's it's yeah, it's it's exciting on that
side of the wall, But on the other one, I
just I know, and there's this is almost the worst

(01:27:19):
way to struggle. You almost would rather give up fifty
yard touchdowns over and over.

Speaker 4 (01:27:24):
But I think it's just because it's so demoralizing.

Speaker 3 (01:27:27):
But this is gonna be a game where I think
the Bengals are gonna be in second and two defensively
over and over and over, as they were last year,
and as they certainly were early in the year, and
and the builds as gonna you know, they're gonna get
in their center or grind this thing out, and I
think that it's gonna set up some chunks. I think
Alan will probably throw for like two twenty two thirty,

(01:27:50):
nothing crazy, but he's gonna, he's gonna, he's gonna hit
some chunks on play action. They're gonna get some something
with their matchups on the linebackers and the drop back
pass game. But I don't think their spread pass game
is going to do much. I don't think it's gonna
have to. And I think it's just gonna be a
game where they they just they gashed.

Speaker 4 (01:28:12):
That perimeter over and over and over and over.

Speaker 3 (01:28:15):
And James Cook slips a couple of tackles and maybe
makes one a fifty yarder because our safeties can't tackle
at all anybody, not probably not even either of us.

Speaker 4 (01:28:24):
Well, no, they could. I don't, I don't wanna. I
don't want to expect.

Speaker 2 (01:28:28):
I wouldn't want to find that out. But if you
ask me for enough money, if I would try, we'll talk.

Speaker 1 (01:28:33):
We'll talk the price.

Speaker 4 (01:28:33):
Let's just let's just say that the price. Let's just
say this.

Speaker 3 (01:28:37):
If somebody put a gun to your head and said
a pair of safeties from the NFL has to tackle you.
Which which one are you choosing? I'm choosing the Bengals
that I'm not. I don't want to choose one, but
if I had to choose one, it's them.

Speaker 4 (01:28:51):
So James Cook.

Speaker 3 (01:28:54):
So translating our normal person, uh perspective into James Cook,
he's probably be pretty excited. Yeah, So that's gonna be
really frustrating. And I think at that point, it's just
gonna be close whoever makes the play, you know, whoever
comes up with the stop. You know, all the the
the old Boomer truisms that are true, because it's just
like whoever makes the play at that point. Now, the

(01:29:17):
reason it's kind of stupid is because all the other
plays set that up.

Speaker 4 (01:29:19):
But we're gonna get to that point, and it may
may not be in the court.

Speaker 3 (01:29:25):
I mean, it'll certainly be in Burrows hands, but that
play may not be in Allen's hands necessarily, because it
may be a third and three that they just bowl
over the whole D line that the Bengals need to
stop on. And I'm already not looking forward to that
because it's gonna try me nuts.

Speaker 4 (01:29:39):
So, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:29:40):
Big opportunity though for the Bengals defense, because if they
can go grow up and do enough in the trenches
and go win this game, it's a real opportunity for
them to go make a statement that you know what,
we're growing unit and we've hit our rock bottom and
we're on the way up.

Speaker 4 (01:29:57):
So great opportunity for them.

Speaker 3 (01:29:58):
That's how I would sell it to them if I
coaching them, And yeah, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:30:04):
But I don't think that's gonna happen though. I think
they're going to struggle.

Speaker 1 (01:30:07):
So it's one of those games for the Bengals men.

Speaker 2 (01:30:10):
It's a nothing to lose, everything to gain kind of game.
And the teams I fear the most of the teams
that have nothing to lose, the teams that know, well,
if we lose this, so be it. But if we
win it, we got a little bit of like momentum back,
We got our swagger back a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:30:23):
And I think the.

Speaker 2 (01:30:24):
Bengals play, for whatever reason, really well when they're in
those positions like last year, like when they get counted out,
it seems like there's just another gear that they find
and they play really good football. But it is a
game where I have enough confidence in the Bill's rushing
attack to not see the worst case scenario happen, or
even if it does not, for the sustained whole game.

Speaker 1 (01:30:44):
But again, it's about proactivity.

Speaker 3 (01:30:46):
For me.

Speaker 2 (01:30:46):
That's kind of the model I'm subscribing to as I
become a football fan, as I get more deeply into
analyzing the game. Is just the predictability aspect is one thing.
If you know it's going to work because you've seen
it enough times and you've had the luxury to do so,
it's another one. You don't have that luxuries, So come
out of the gates hot show them some looks that
you might not have shown other teams, or at the
very least build off the really successful looks with something different.

Speaker 1 (01:31:08):
Again, those two back looks were awesome, and I.

Speaker 2 (01:31:10):
Think it is just such a good thing the Bills
do that.

Speaker 1 (01:31:14):
They just don't do enough.

Speaker 2 (01:31:16):
And I'm not saying you got to live in it
on every snap, because of course you don't. You're gonna
run your eleven, you're gonna run your thirteen or probably
twelve in this case, and you're gonna just live in
that world. But I am telling you, man, if you
can sell not only your run but the second back
as a pass, catcher and just any sort of playfaking
you can do with that look. It is the it
is the it's the helper, it's the thing you need

(01:31:37):
to galvanize yourself against the defense that has proven that
they've struggled with things like just even defending the trenches
on the interior or at the perimeter, Like this is
the way you can manipulate and put a defense in
conflict up front to win deeply. So I just hope
I could see that from the Bills, And if I don't,
I want to be disappointed.

Speaker 1 (01:31:53):
Max. If I see another.

Speaker 2 (01:31:55):
Houston Texans static game where it's just you know, your
basic five mans and they try to run the ball
out of shotgun under center and there's no real look
diversity like you had against Pittsburgh, which was a game
where they very clearly learned their lesson, and we're trying
to do something differently, I'm gonna be really mad because
I think it's a wasted opportunity. And this is a
Bengals team that, even if the record says four and
eight when Joe Burrow is playing, that's not a foreign

(01:32:17):
eight team. That is a much better team that deserves
a lot more respect and credit and one that I'll
give Flowers too, because again, Alan McDermott have yet to
take down Burrow.

Speaker 1 (01:32:26):
It's, in the case of the Bills.

Speaker 2 (01:32:29):
A great opportunity to build your momentum for the rest
of the season. If you believe that the team you're
fielding right now is a Super Bowl contender. These are
games you have to win. And it'd be the biggest
statement for them because we took down Joe Burrow in
our house and now we're going to go to New England,
and even if we don't win the division at the
end of the year, we're sure as hell not going
to let them have the opportunity to do it then.

Speaker 1 (01:32:49):
But they have to prove that and can they of
course they can.

Speaker 2 (01:32:52):
Will they will have to see because for the reasons
that you and I stated in this episode, there's reasons
to be optimistic, but also reasons to be it certain
if you're a Bills fan, and vice versa for the Bengals,
but it will be an exciting matchup.

Speaker 1 (01:33:05):
Love that it's on Fox.

Speaker 2 (01:33:06):
Love that it's getting called by Davis and Olsen such
a contendo.

Speaker 1 (01:33:10):
Yeah, I'm really really fun to watch this man.

Speaker 2 (01:33:12):
It's going to be a ton of fun and this episode,
Max was a ton of fun. You're a tremendous guest
with a ton of knowledge. I again appreciate your time
and our conversations. I'm sure we're going to have many
more on Twitter. But before we sign off, give the
good people who are watching this show, whether it's Bills fans,
maybe potential Bengal fans, what you got going on and
where they can find you now.

Speaker 3 (01:33:32):
Yeah, so you can find me everything I do on
my Twitter which is at Max giscano one, which was
on my previous banner before my laptop died, which is
back up now, but I had to boot it back up.
I'm on my phone now, but it's at Max giscano one.
Everything I do you can find there. I do some
stuff for Bengals Talk Sports Illustrated. I had a piece

(01:33:54):
come out today just breaking down what Burrow did last
week against against Baltimore his return, and I also run
a substack about tight ends exclusively called Remember the tight Ends,
which is like, I mean, this is like the least
I've talked about tight ends on podcasts in a while.

Speaker 4 (01:34:11):
Whi's actually kind.

Speaker 3 (01:34:11):
Of its Yeah, I mean, it's just that they're not
going to do anything but block in this game, maybe
catch a pop over like Dawson Knox is going to.
But but yeah, I mean and so so I do that.
I have, I have that sub stack. It's again called
remember the tight ends. And yeah, last week I wrote
a yeah, this was last week I wrote about how

(01:34:34):
bad the Bills need tome k Case back, which is
like my you know, kind of entered an uneasy truce
with Dalton Kinkaid because they desperately need that third down
matchup winner.

Speaker 4 (01:34:43):
They just do.

Speaker 3 (01:34:44):
And you know, whether you want to talk about first
and second down, it doesn't matter. They need that right
now pretty bad. So, uh, you know, you can go
check that out. It's it's just all about their struggles
with man coverage. And I think it the Kincaid of
it all is it gives I think a good insight
into what the Bills are struggling with, why it's not

(01:35:04):
quite so easy to just scheme around, which is what
you try to do with mesh, which is what MESH
is is in theory. Talk about that a lot, talk
about how it's impacting Allen and I talk about what
they should do with or without it, and and you know,
it's it's a lot of stuff we've talked about tonight,
and a lot of the stuff that they did against Pittsburgh,

(01:35:25):
which is change the identity, which is get under center, heavy,
run the hell out of the football behind your tight ends,
that block and that great offensive line and your great
running back and just pound the rock with you know,
with playball control, grind teams out and you know, see

(01:35:46):
what you can set up in the passing game off it.
But that's the fastball right now, and so unfortunately that
doesn't fit with what the Bengals are good at defensively,
which is.

Speaker 4 (01:35:54):
Unfortunately very little.

Speaker 3 (01:35:56):
But you know, it's it's it's the way. It's the way,
and I think when King K comes back, it's still
the way. And using him in thirteen personnel, which is
something that I talked about as well, because it's not
like there's a a you know, it's not like there's
any receivers at this point that you don't really mind
taking off the field. So thirteen personnel we've seen be

(01:36:19):
such a big, big point of success in the last
couple of years for the Cardinals, certainly this year for
the Rams.

Speaker 4 (01:36:25):
Who have used it at a super high level.

Speaker 3 (01:36:27):
So I think that that's just that's the play, and
that's what the piece is about. It's about how the
Bills use these three guys to build the offense that
they need to build without viability or receiver.

Speaker 2 (01:36:41):
Yeah, and even if you talk about what the Bills
offense is right now, I think that thirteen personnel is
their true strength when they have Kinkaid in the lineup.
But I think a lot about like how successful the
Rams are right now, and a big part of that
is because they can run THIRTYP but also have a
Puka Akua or a Devonte Adams just be that receiver
that just doests the man coverage they receive or find

(01:37:01):
the opening and be willing blockers. I mean, this philosophy
doesn't have to change for this offense to be truly
a juggernaut again, they just need the guy because I
even think the best version of this team right now
is thirteen P with Kincaid and then your receiver being Palmer,
because Palmer does give you the upfieldability, but he hasn't
been healthy and that's been a big problem too. You
gotta find the offset in the temporary short term for

(01:37:23):
these next couple of games. But when they get to
full strength, I do think they can find some semblance
of success through the air again, if they can get
those guys back in those looks and.

Speaker 1 (01:37:32):
Thirteen p man. It's just to me, it's their best look.

Speaker 2 (01:37:36):
It's what they're most effective in, and it needs to
be something they lean on quite heavily. And I don't
know if he'll be this game because they're you know,
they got their practice squad tight end coming up. But
even if it can't be, like you said, I really,
I really enjoy the way you roast the Bengals defense.
Not because I'm hating on the team, but just because
you're very like I can tell you're like a true

(01:37:59):
fan because of how pissed off you get when you like.

Speaker 1 (01:38:01):
The cadence in your voice genuinely changes when you talk
about the safeties and linebackers. It's so good.

Speaker 3 (01:38:08):
The worst part about it, like the definitely most frustrating,
drives me insane.

Speaker 4 (01:38:16):
Part about it is that.

Speaker 3 (01:38:19):
Like they took Dimitrius Knight with the second round pick
mm hm, and they could have taken they could have
taken Tate Ratlage there, and Dylan Fairchild has been great,
but Tate Ratlage has also been great, and then they
could have taken Xavier Watch with their third round pick,
and with their first round pick they could have taken
who I wanted, Johad Campbell yep, and all of a sudden,

(01:38:44):
like you know, look, linebacker takes a couple of years
to develop in this league. It's like offensive line and
quarterback and tight end to extent. But at the same time,
at that point you are better than you are now
at at guard, slightly at inside linebacker.

Speaker 4 (01:39:00):
And you have a safety now mm hm.

Speaker 3 (01:39:02):
Like, if you do those things, this is a no
doubt division winner, even with Burrow missing those missing those
you know, however, many weeks that's the thing that upsets
me the most because if they just did exactly what
I wanted them to do in the draft, all of
those things would go away.

Speaker 4 (01:39:22):
And they reached to solve.

Speaker 3 (01:39:25):
Their linebacker problem and made it worse and and somehow
made it worse with that guy. That's the thing, yeah, right,
And so you get so not only do you pay
the opportunity cost, which is so much bigger than even
the return would have been, you also pay the cost
like the pick was a negative, just not because of

(01:39:45):
the opportunity cost.

Speaker 4 (01:39:46):
But because of the.

Speaker 3 (01:39:47):
Pick and and.

Speaker 4 (01:39:50):
He was a consensus reach.

Speaker 3 (01:39:52):
Yeah, crazy, crazy that that's why, that's why it drives
me so nuts. And my voice changes because all of
that is true.

Speaker 2 (01:39:59):
Yeah, if it makes you feel any better when you're
talking about Xavier Watts. I was championing him and I
wanted him so bad on the Bills because of the
safety woes.

Speaker 1 (01:40:08):
And then they didn't take him. They didn't take us.

Speaker 2 (01:40:10):
Actually they took Jordan Hancock, but I just viewed mor
as a Swiss Army man. Granted they're playing him at
safety primarily, but when they took him, I was like, Okay,
they got somebody there. But man, Taylor Rapp was so
bad when he started the year and he was playing
hurt and had a knee injury that wound up ending
his season to a point where I was like, dude,
imagine if they had Watts with Bishop right now, and
how like sick this tandem would be. Because Cold Bishop

(01:40:31):
has in my eyes, the defensive.

Speaker 1 (01:40:34):
MVP to me is him. He's bloss and he's been tremendous.

Speaker 3 (01:40:37):
I loved in the draft, by the way, I had
a first round greade on Cold Bishop back.

Speaker 2 (01:40:41):
Really yeah, it is stud athlete man, and that's what
they needed in their secondary because they did it so
well with Michah Hyde and Jordan Ployer being just the
good minds they were, but they weren't freak athletes. But
now you're getting the combination of that football, real time processing,
communication and the athleticism to pair with it and all
feel the white because he could go to the box.

Speaker 1 (01:41:01):
But now he's proving you can play the post. He
can play deep like deep. It's so funny watched him
watch Big Nickel.

Speaker 3 (01:41:07):
When you get more dbs too, I mean you wouldn't
want to because of Taron Johnson, but if Taron Johnson
were to miss a week and you get more Sainties
that can play like you put him in there, Uh
you can you know, get like you If you have
more Sainties, then you can play three Saintis and the
three corners and play dime with either Taron Johnson or

(01:41:28):
Cole Bishop at dime, which makes that a strength.

Speaker 5 (01:41:30):
Like yeah, I love safeties. I love safeties, and I
think Satans are become about to become really really important.
Well yeah, especially to play Big Nickel as they as
they as we're starting to see, which is why I
think Caleb Down should go number one overall this year.

Speaker 2 (01:41:46):
He is unreal and it's I I'm mad because I
think someone's gonna wait to take it, like he's gonna
fall probably to the teens when he shouldn't.

Speaker 1 (01:41:54):
Because if you want to talk.

Speaker 3 (01:41:54):
About oh, great good, I'm fine with that.

Speaker 1 (01:41:58):
Well for you guys, you might wind up with him.
So I know we'll.

Speaker 4 (01:42:02):
Take We'll take some forty year old linebacker again for a.

Speaker 1 (01:42:05):
Forty year old freshman linebacker, rookie linebacker.

Speaker 3 (01:42:09):
It's it's Tad Powers with the fourteenth overall pick and
Caleb Downs goes to the next pick.

Speaker 1 (01:42:13):
Caleb Downs. Caleb Downs is just going to go to
the Ravens even though it makes no sense.

Speaker 2 (01:42:17):
Yeah, dude, It's It's like I'm looking at the Bills
defense too, and I'm thinking, like, well, when Jordan Ployer
is inevitably gone, they're gonna have to replace that role.
And I don't know if Taylor Rap's going to be
the one that does it. I want him to take
safety and I'd like them to take safety within the
first three rounds because I'm telling you, dude, I like
Jordan Hancock a lot. I think they're going to develop
him and make them a really serviceable free And when

(01:42:39):
you're talking about that big Nickel role, if it could
be Bishop, I like the idea of Hancock behind him,
but then a true post guy in the back end,
and I think that can be someone you take this year.
Even though his pro I'm we're getting so off course,
I'm gonna say this and then I'll wrap the show up,
even though it is so early on and I know
that his specialty is towards the box. I think this
kid's going to develop into a post guy, the kid

(01:43:01):
from Toledo. I don't know if you've done any in
the Yeah, this kid's okay. We'll talk about this offline.
But Max, awesome conversation, awesome episode. I appreciate that guy
of you. For all of you watching. If you are
a Bills fan, follow Max on Twitter because even though
he is a Bengals fan and I know our allegiance
with the Bengals is not there at all in recent years.

(01:43:21):
He is also a great football mind and when you
read his content, when you watch what he posts, the
threads he posts on Twitter, you will learn a ton
He breaks it down to a schematic level. It is
something that is really fun to keep up with. He
does a lot of great work, so please please check
out his content if he can. For me, you know
where to find me if you have watched this show before.
I am here every week on under Review. My handle

(01:43:43):
on Twitter is at show underscore to Rosa. I've been
having radical thoughts about maybe deleting Twitter and starting over
to just do a show based Twitter, because I feel
like that would consolidate it.

Speaker 1 (01:43:52):
But we're still working on that.

Speaker 2 (01:43:54):
But for right now, that's where you can find me,
and the show will be back next week to hopefully
have an optimistic episode after what would potentially be a win.
But if it's not, we'll talk about the other side
of it too, because the show does have to go on.
This was a ton of fun again. If you are
seeing us for the first time, drop alike, share us
with your bills fan friends. Subscribe to Cover one. Your
sub doesn't just help me, helps all the guys on

(01:44:15):
this network. Subscribe to the one Pass. You could find
it in the description of this video. For just sixty
dollars a year, you could sign up and become an insider.
It is well worth your time. If you are a
Buffalo Bills fan, thank.

Speaker 1 (01:44:25):
You all again.

Speaker 2 (01:44:26):
We will see you next week and as always, go Bills,
take care everybody,

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