Who are the defensive pillars of the 2025 Buffalo Bills defense? | DC - Disguised Coverage

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(01:39):
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In this episode of Disguise Coverage, we will be diving
into the defensive pillars of the twenty twenty five Buffalo

(02:02):
Bill's defense. If you didn't know by what I just said,
or by the title, or by the episode description, or
by maybe one of the posts on social that led
you here, and you know, I think this conversation could
be had for the offense, but I don't think it's
as fun or as conversation driving, because so much of

(02:27):
the offensive success is tied to Josh Allen, the really
good offensive line they have, and then the schematic usage
and what Joe Brady has done successes that different offensive
coordinators have had, And so I don't think the offense
is too much of a story going into this year
other than what wrinkles do they add, what tweaks do

(02:49):
they add? You know, wink wink, nudge, nudge more pistol, Please,
more pistol, and some other gap scheme stuff, and you know,
some six offensive line and continuation and some blast motion
and some of the little tweaks that they showed at
the end of year but didn't really lean into conversation
for another time, but I think for the most part,
this offense is built to succeed in this league. You
have the MVP quarterback, or even if he isn't the MVP,

(03:09):
one of the best quarterbacks in the entire league. You
have a very very very good offensive line, you have
a very very very good run game, and you are
built to succeed the way that good offenses succeed in
today's NFL with condensed formations, marriage of the run. In
the past to a degree they could use more play action,
but really putting defenses into run pass conflict consistently and

(03:30):
being able to access a good amount of the offensive
menu while being in different personnel groupings, formations, and alignments.
The defensive side of the ball, I think is a
bit more of the story for me going into this year,
just because of what they continue to be year in
and year out from a playoff standpoint, and what that

(03:52):
looks like in the fans eyes. Now, I want to
say or kind of preface all of this by saying
injuries have significantly impacted the Bill defense the past several years.
In the come playoff time. It really seems like when
we get down to the end of the year. Not
only are they missing guys, they're missing like some of
their top guys. Some of these pillars actually that we're
going to talk about in this episode have been banged

(04:12):
up in these big games when they've needed them most,
sometimes and through no fault of their own. I know
it's hard to kind of place blame on a guy
for an injury, but I know some will. But so
injuries have definitely played a role. But I think the
defense is more of the questionable unit going into this year.
There are some questions on offense, right like, let's not
kind of put that past anything. Does James Cook build

(04:35):
on his year from twenty twenty four? What does Kean
Coleman look like going into year two? Do we get
a jump from Dalton Kincaid? Is there more Ray Davis?
What does Josh Palmer look like? Is Elijah Moore a
regular contributor? Does Collier Security continue to uptick? But I
think those conversations are more individual driven and more I
don't want to say not as consequential, but I'm gonna

(04:57):
say that not as consequential because the offense has a
winning formula. You know, no pun intended there and they're
gonna be able to replicate it and build upon it
in theory for twenty twenty five. But the defense is
a unit that, again, unfortunately at times, has really come
under fire from the fan base. It seems like year
after year it's the defense that's letting down this team
and a lot of the fans' eyes. And so I

(05:19):
thought this would be a fun episode to do one
to kind of talk about kind of a line on
who the better players are on this Bill's defense, who
kind of sets the tone, Who are the players that
are in position to be difference makers kind of so
to speak, as the pillars of the defense, but also
juxtaposing that with their peers at their position groups league wide.

(05:45):
I think that's a very important conversation to have for
This Bill's defense, but especially for This Bill's team as
a whole, which is a good team obviously, you know,
with where they've been the past several years, the success
that they've had, and again you can say we could
losing to the Chiefs or they have one Super Bowl.
They've had a lot of success in the McDermott and
Bean era, but I think this year and even some

(06:08):
of the past several years there's been a lot of
like upper tier, A tier S tier talent on this
Bills team. They've more so been a quality unit with
a lot of depth and a lot of b's or
a lot of B pluses, And where other teams have
an ans and then a C plus, the Bills are
just like, no, We're just gonna sit here with B
pluses and bees and a lot of depth and you know,

(06:29):
a lot of middle is to above average to good quality,
but not necessarily this elite type of talent across the
board like some of these other championship caliber teams have.
And I think the defense is a really nice microcosm
of that, because there are very good players on this
Bill's defense, both in a vacuum and also kind of
compared against their peers league wide, but also some of

(06:52):
the better players on this Bill's defense, it's interesting to
kind of place them into the larger position group conversation
within the league and see like, Okay, if you know
player A plays position X, you know, hey, they're one
of the better players on this team, But where do
they rank in the league amongst that position? Because it's

(07:14):
one thing to be good for the team, which again
all carries value, of course, but how good are you
at that position kind of amongst your peers league wide
and some somewhat putting that into perspectives, I thought this
would be a fun conversation to have got some pillars.
I've also got some honorable mentions that I think are
somewhat variable filled, but we'll get into that in this

(07:37):
episode as we go along. For the regular watchers and listeners,
apologies for more inconsistency in my schedule the past couple
of weeks that is starting to come to an end.
We will be back to our normally scheduled Tuesday nine
pm Eastern live stream starting next week Tuesday, July fifteenth,
audio listeners, those episodes will be uploaded to the audio

(07:58):
platforms immediately following the live show. We will be into
that Tuesday regular rhythm through the rest of July, through
the rest of the regular season. I appreciate everyone for
bearing with me. A lot of busyness going on in
a multitude of ways, in good ways for myself. But yeah,
so apologies for the inconsistency. Thank you to those of

(08:18):
you joining me live here on a Thursday night or
listening on Friday Saturday, whatever have you. If you are
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(08:39):
Who your pillars are, what your expectations are for this
Bills defense in twenty twenty five, Anything and everything that
you may have on your mind, Feel free to put
it into the chat comment whatever you got. I will
bring everything up as much as humanly and physically possible
as we go forward having this discussion on the pillars

(08:59):
of Bill's defense for twenty twenty five. Let's get right
into it. There's no particular order. I started just kind
of somewhat by position group, working from the back. But
there's not really any rhyme or reason to it. So
I don't want anybody to think, like, oh, the first
guy that he talks about is the most important pillar,

(09:20):
or is the top guy, or is the best guy
in this defense, although I think you can potentially make
that case that might be a conversation for another time
or this episode we'll see. The first pillar I want
to start with in this episode is Christian Benford, Buffalo
Bill's cornerback CB one on this team and someone who
I think is on the precipice of becoming one of

(09:42):
the top corners in this league. I think he's one
of the most underrated players in the entire NFL. And
I say that from the perspective of you know, if
you ask most fans across the league, even actually, honestly,
even a lot of analysts, like not really many people
are talking about Christian Benford. I don't even know how
many people know Christian Benford aside from the fact that

(10:03):
he's got like a weird number, which is a forty seven,
Like usually good dudes don't rock that kind of number.
So I don't know if that doesn't track for people
or it's because the Bill's defense is and the sexiest
from a name recognition standpoint, but I think Christian Benford
is one of the most underrated players in the league
in terms of how much he gets talked about versus
how good of a football player he is. He was
my top breakout candidate for twenty twenty four. You just

(10:26):
saw the progression that he was starting to make. Ooh
strong comment here from Andy. Andy think it for being here.
Think of the comment. Andy says, agree, but he's already
top five in the league for me. Oh so, Andy
thinks Christian benfor it's the top five corner in the league.
I've gone back and forth, and I'll say this with
this compent with relation to Benford and corners in general,

(10:48):
the corner conversation in ranking corners is so difficult for
me because so much of the conversation is like scheme
specific and almost arbitrary in terms of like what you
value or for For me, at least I should say
like how much mayn is a guy playing? What are
his responsibilities? Does he only line up on one side?
You know? How often does he match up with the

(11:09):
number one? What kind of competition is he facing? And
then even the numbers in the metrics like reception percentage
isn't necessarily the best way to judge it. Are you
judging you know, snaps per target? Are you judging you know?
Yards per reception? Metrics can be a bit misleading and
not really tell the whole picture. I think tape study
is the best for evaluating corners. But again, a lot

(11:30):
of it is so scheme dependent. If you think Christian
Benford is that, I'm not saying you particularly any but
you is in anyone in general. If you think Christian
Benford is a top five corner, god bless you for it.
I think I fluctuate. Again, it's hard for me to
like give a set list knowing how much scheme matters.

(11:51):
I don't think he's top five. I don't. I don't
think he's not top five for me, but he is
in I think anywhere from like a six to eleven,
seven to twelve type of range for me, with the
medium probably be like nine or ten or even eight
at this point given his all aroundability, but really strong player,
I think somebody who again is starting to get into

(12:14):
that area of being one of the better players at
his position. I think if he's not solidly in the
top ten now, I think he has a very good
chance to play him into top ten or even top
five consideration, depending on where people already have him ranked.
And a lot of it is for me with Christian Benford,

(12:35):
it's his coverage ability and his run defense ability, and
I think both of those are so tremendously important in
today's NFL. Obviously, as a corner, you have to be
able to cover. We know this aspect. You know you
are a pass defender first and foremost. But in today's NFL,
with how the run game has come back in vogue
condensed formations, you have to be able to play the

(12:56):
run as both a force player and a tackler. And
again that matters a ton in today's NFL. Just some
of the basic right, Like we talk on the show
all the time about duo, how the Bills run duo,
and I talk all the time about James Cook and
his ability to bounce those duo runs outside. Usually on
duo there is a purposeful you know, or no purposeful

(13:20):
I don't know if that's right verbiage there, I'm falling apart.
It is an unblocked defender on the defense, usually on
purpose or purposefully. It is a defensive back. It could
be the outside corner, it might be the nickel. Maybe
sometimes it's safety, depending on alignment. But you will see
the Bills at times leave that outside corner unblocked. Think

(13:40):
of Riley Moss for the Denver Broncos in the wildcard game.
Bills run duo Riley Moss is unblocked. He comes down,
James Cook bounces it, beats him around the corner, gets
up the sideline, gets a nice chunk play right. The
Bills will do that by design because James Cook has
the ability to bounce and he can run through a corner,

(14:02):
or he can run around them because of his skill
set and his traits and how good he is. But
even if you aren't the Bills, even if you don't
have James Cook in theory, usually the outside corner is
one of the poorer tacklers on a team. So defenses
have to be very cognizant of offenses trying to put
their corners into run conflict by design, making them have

(14:27):
one on one scenarios, or having to fight through a
tight end for a block, or fight through you know,
an offensive lineman out in space in a variety of ways.
You've just got to account for the run, not as
much as the pass, but close to it nowadays, from
a responsibility standpoint and from a finishing stampoint, you have
to come up, you know, in crack replace act as

(14:47):
a forced player, be able to turn that run back inside,
take good angles, not let guys get outside you, but
then also be able to finish at the tackle point.
That's such a strength for Christian Benford. His ability as
a run fitter and run finisher, in addition to what
he brings as a coverage player. I think it makes
him so tremendously important to the Bills defense and such
a good player in today's NFL at the cornerback position,

(15:10):
and just looking at him, I don't think he's elite
in any one area. He's got some size, he's got
some speed, he's got some frame, he's got some burst.
He can play physical, but he's also sound technically, I
don't think. Again, I don't think he's elite anywhere, but
he's just not deficient anywhere. He's pretty good. He's good

(15:30):
to pretty good almost across the entire board. If we're
ranking like every aspect of a corner on a scale
at one to ten, ten being amazing and one being terrible,
I think he's like a seven to an eight and
a half in everything. And that might not seem super sexy,
and it's probably not. But when you don't really have
any deficiencies and you're just good to pretty good in
almost everything, again, from a run standpoint, and a pass standpoint.

(15:55):
That's what it is like. You get some really good
cover corners who aren't good for players or who aren't
good tacklers, or he gets some really good cover corners
who might struggle with size, or some dudes who might
struggle with speed, because Benford is just pretty good, good
to pretty good in almost everything. He can combat a
lot of a variety of body types. You can watch
him play up against bigger bodied receivers, you can watch

(16:17):
him cover speed guys like Brian Thomas or Tyreek Hill.
He knows how to position himself, He's got good feet,
he's got good hips, he's got good route recognition and
eyes and hand usage. Just a really, really good player,
one of the pillars of this defense, one of the
pillars of this team. With the contract that he got
this year, and I think he has a really good
chance to make that contract look absolutely tremendous by continuing

(16:41):
to move in an upward trajectory. And I think that's
what's really exciting with Christian Benford is I don't think
I don't think he's plateaued yet. I think he has
a chance to continue to get a bit better and
really again push himself to solidly, you know, solidifying himself
as a top ten corner or maybe even a top
five depending on where you have him ranked now, but
definitely one of the pillars of this team. Plays a

(17:04):
premium position and is very good at it in almost
every way. And a good point here from James, you know,
saying a sauce Gardner gets all the praise. Benford is
a better tackleer than Gardner one thousand per Benford is
a legitimate force multiplier against the run because of his physicality,
his willingness, his sound tackling ability, but just not being
assignment sound. I posted a clip the other day of

(17:27):
Taylor rat making a really nice tackle from depth against
the Rams on an inside run against Kien Williams. Uh
I don't remember what kind of run it was, but
it was condensed formation and Benford is the forced player
on the outside. And the reason Kyrien Williams hits it
up inside and rap is able to make that tackle
is because Benford just takes a really good angle closing
down the space from the outside. Is that force player.

(17:48):
Kyroen camp bounce it outside, doesn't have a ton of speed,
so he's not really a bounced guy anyway. But he
takes one peek at Benford is like, no, let me
slam it up inside like you just see that with regularity,
And even if the running back does bounce out that way,
there's a good chance Benford's going to make that tackle
again because he's a sound tackler. He's willing, but he's
also got some size and some frame and some physicality
in addition to having some athleticism. Really nice piece there.

(18:11):
I want to grab some of the comments that started
to roll in What's Up? Roy Roy says the defense
has too many unanswerable questions as of now, new and
unproven pieces. Hope it works out well, but still a
bit skeptical. Roy. I echo those sentiments and we will
talk about some of those in an episode next week
when I'm joined by Jpacosta from esp Nation to have

(18:33):
a large scale Bills conversation in terms of the AFC
landscape and what could or will hold the Bills back
in twenty twenty five. Very excited for that, Charles, thank
you for being here. Charles says, what's up? And what's up? Charles?
The Bills have been top ten defensively and EPA per
play under McDermott every year despite the lack of star
power hashtag coaching. I think it's a fair point. I

(18:54):
think for as much as the defense has been a
letdown for fans in the playoffs, I think what gets
lost every year is how the Bills are able to
consistently have a good unit and a well coached unit
despite not having the most talent or the lack of
star power like you said, or being able to overcome injuries,
being able to take second and third and even sometimes

(19:15):
four string guys and get them to play above their
pay grade or above their depth chart level for one game,
two games, three games, four games. It's a real testament
to the coaching staff, and I think that type of
coaching ability and the ability to be able to get
this team to the finish line gets lost every year

(19:39):
because of their performance at the finish line and overall,
they do a good job of getting the most blood
from the stone that they can. I think they raise
ceilings and raise floors, especially especially from a secondary perspective,
I should say, but yeah, I think that aspect gets lost.
The development piece because of the lack of development at

(20:00):
certain positions and kind of how the season ends every
year puts a bad taste in fans mouth, even just
their ability to consistently generate turnovers, like that aggressiveness and
that ability to attack the football and create negative plays,
something that is traditionally hard to sustain and create year
over year. Yet the Bills seemed to be able to
continue to create it and sustain it year over year.
Good point there. What's up hard Jay John Robert coming

(20:24):
in talking about some offense and our offensive line was
rated third best. Yeah. I think PFF put out some rankings.
I think the Eagles and Lions are one and two.
I don't know who was one and who was two,
but I think the Bills was three. It was nice
to see them get that recognition because I don't think
that was really happening during the year last year, despite
them being a very good unit. Cynthia's here saying go Bills,

(20:45):
Go Bill, Cynthia appreciate you are just saying. Sauce wasn't
good the last couple of years. Really, Yeah, he started
to fall off a little bit, really only plays one
side of the ball. I think he kind of checked
out a bit with the lack of success, which is
understandable but also really disappointing. I'm interested to see if
the Jets are more competitive this year. If he goes
back to being a bit more competitive, especially from a

(21:08):
coverage standpoint, but also not having DJ Reid there anymore
is very interesting. He's playing opposite of Brandon Stevens, so
he needs to kind of step up because they've gone
from having one of the best corner tandems in the
league too not having one of the best corner tannems
in the league. Connor says the twenty twenty five Bills
will be on par with the nineteen eighty five Bears.
I have a hunch that's that's very high praise. We

(21:31):
will see about that. Not doubting you, but that's extremely
high praise, extremely high praise. Oh har Ja saying I
marked out big time when JP was on Mina Kimes
the show a couple months ago. I think that's his
second time being on the show. I think he's been
on it before if I'm not mistaken. But yeah, JP
does great work and Mina does great work. Maybe you'll
see Mina Kimes on this show again later this summer

(21:53):
for her third time. Who knows. Maybe Kay Moore, he says,
Eagles Broncos than Bills for offense of line. Cay Morris's
Lions dropped a lot, probably due to the departures. Oh
good point. Oh that's right, ragnow retired. Yeah, Bear Broncos
are number two for O line in that ranking. Interesting,
What teach Tarn next pillar that we're going over here?

(22:16):
I'm just stay in the secondary, Taron Johnson. I think
Tarn has become has started to become a bit underrated
within the Bills fan base, but he's still one of
the best nickels in all of football, and I think
he's tremendously still tremendously important for what he allows the
Buffalo Bills to do schematically. The you know, we talked

(22:38):
about it a bit when we talked about Benford in
condensed formations. We talked about it a ton last year.
If you watched the show last year, all I talked
about w or not all I talked about. But actually
it was a lot of what I talked about, the
Bills moving towards condensed formations, Bigger bodies at wide receiver,
you know, moving in the vein of the Lions. Teams
like the Lions and the Rams who used body types

(23:00):
to put defenses into run pass conflict and using condensed
formations and weaponizing them out of twelve personnel eleven personnel
bills that it with the jumbo sets with six offensive linemen.
But these offensive formations and the condensed formation world, combined
with being able to lean the run a bit more,

(23:21):
it's all designed to put the defense into run pass
conflict and try and dictate the defense and make them
think A when you do B, and then when they
think you're going to do B, you do A. Because
so much of the menu is more available to you
because of the body types you have, combined with the
formation and alignment that you are using them with. Taron

(23:42):
Johnson allows for the Bills to fight fire with fire
a little bit in that regard. Again, with the league
moving towards, you're moving more towards putting defenses in a
run pass conflict. Taron Johnson allows you to mitigate that
conflict a bit because of his coveragebility and his ability
to play the run. Now, I want to get the

(24:02):
same before anybody yells at or yells at me. This
doesn't mean that when teams or certain teams go with
really heavy personnel that you shouldn't sub tearing out from
time to time for a third linebacker. You know, I'm
not saying I'll leave him on the field no matter what.
But Taron Johnson is at the center of everything that
the Bills defense is able to do. Schematic his ability

(24:23):
to trigger against the run, to set an edge, to
shoot gaps, to take on linemen, to finish in the
in gaps, and in the whole against different body types
at the running back position. He plays with no fear
and also plays with physicality. He again, he doesn't have
the size for it, but he plays like a third
linebacker at that second level, and there's times where he

(24:45):
is like defenses or offenses. I should say, we'll use
motion to get the Bills to shift, and all of
a sudden, Taron Johnson is in the box with Matt
Malono or Terrel Bernard and now you're essentially playing him
as like a weak side linebacker. And from a size standpoint,
a body type standpoint, it's not ideal to make him
live in that world consistently, but he can hang in
that world a bit. He can avoid climbing offensive linemen

(25:08):
and still shoot. He'll take guys on and he'll kind
of shut down a gap or squeeze things because of
his physicality and tenacity, and then you combine that with
his coverage ability. For him not being the best athlete,
he is a sound cover guy in zone in match,
can play some man as well. Go back to the
performance he had a couple of seasons ago against Ceedee
Lamb when Dallas came to Buffalo, and you just you

(25:33):
look at what he's able to do. He matters so
much schematically because he allows the Bills to fight fire
with fire when it comes to personnel dictation with offenses
trying to use bigger bodies or more physical type of
wide receivers or condensed formations. Because you don't have to
take Taron Johnson off the field all the time. It's
not like, oh cool there in twelve. Because Taron Johnson

(25:53):
can bang with a tight end or he can bang
against eleven personnel with some bigger bodied wide receivers. He
can shoot gaps, he can play the run, and he's
got some coverage ability too. You can blitz him, you
can let him trigger and read, you can cover down
and the hooked pearls to flats like there's a He
plays good from the top down. Just a really solid
player for the defense. An all pro a couple of

(26:14):
seasons ago, and I think that's part of what makes
him such an important piece for this defense is not
only does he manage so much schematically, but he's one
of the best players at his position across the league.
I think for years it was him, Mike Hilton, and
Kenny Moore as the best slots and nickels in the league.

(26:35):
McDuffie for the Chiefs, I think is amazing. He plays
outside and inside, and I still think he can live
like outside. So it never considered him like a true nickel.
You know, we'll see what Cooper Gene becomes in year two.
McDuffie might move back into the slot full time. He's
definitely up there. In that conversation, he's probably the best
slot in the league if we're considering him like a
slot only caliber type of dude. But tearing at worst

(26:58):
is a top five nickel in this league, but he's
likely top three. You can make a case that he's
the best, depending on your flavor and how it's swinging
for you that day. But an All Pro former All
Pro with the position, one of the best at his
position and a position that's sneaky premium in this league.
With how offenses are trying to dictate to defenses with

(27:18):
personnel and formation and alignment. Bum bum bum bum. Connor
follen up on his comment from Marillions as an earlier jest,
but I do feel good about the Bills defense going
into twenty twenty five. There are a number of new players,
but the defense is going to be better than last year, right,
I hope. I don't know. My biggest concern for the defense.

(27:41):
We're going to talk about this a lot in next
week's episode. My biggest concern with the defense is the
areas where I thought they needed improvement or tweaks from
a philosophy standpoint or a schematic standpoint. They didn't really
tweak and they didn't really changed. They kind of just
leaned harder into the stuff they were already leaning into,

(28:06):
which is alright. Like, so if there's two categories, you know,
they were like a seven in one and like a
two in another. Now they're like a nine in one,
but there's still a two in the other. So I
still think there's some deficiencies on this defense, especially from
a run defense standpoint, but a lot of it it
kind of who said it earlier, As Roy said earlier,

(28:30):
you know, with the new But I'm proven pieces hope
it works out well, but still a bit skeptical. I
think that's what it is, right, You're just you got
some rookies coming in, You got some new faces. What
does Michael White look like? How do they use them?
What does Larry ogun Joey look like? How do they
use them? Both those guys have six game suspensions. How
much you're getting out of t J. Sanders as a rookie.
How much are you getting out of land and Jackson
as a rookie? How healthy is Joey Bosa? How healthy

(28:52):
is Matt Milano? How well does the safety tandem work?
Is Max Harriston ready to start amongst other things that
are going on with him? If not, who's CB two.
I think this defense can be a solid quality unit.
I also think you can make the case that the
defense is a week could be a weakness and things
don't work out like I really do think there's a

(29:12):
wide gamut of possibilities for the defense across the board really,
from the front to the back, from the back to
the front, at a multitude of spots, So I think
it could be a little scary. I am I'm a
bit worried, but I was more worried last year than
most folks. But I just think game script mattered a

(29:33):
lot to this defense. And I think the concerns I
had last year about run defense and getting displaced on
the interior and getting displaced in their spine, I think
they're still at risk for having that happen again, and
they're still going to need to stop the run with
bodies and run blitzes and stunts, which is very risk reward,
which is what their defense already was very reliant on
negative plays and takeaways instead of just getting stops and

(29:54):
kind of stonewalling offenses. But we'll see in a larger
part of that commerce again, not to you know, pass
this off, but a lot of this conversation will be
the focus of next week's episode with JP, which I'm
very excited for. OK. John says, who do you think
will be Terrence backup? Part of me wants it to
be Jordan Hancock from Ohio State, their rookie, but you know,

(30:17):
known quantity perspective, and you know it's better to go
with the devil that you know. Cam Lewis performed very
well last year as Terrence back up and he's also
got some safety ability. I think it'll end up being
cam Lewis, but I think there's a good chance, uh
Hancock potentially makes some noise there. Charles says, Oh, this
could be a whole episode. Charles says the top five

(30:38):
players on the defense specifically that need to take another
step forward in their play for the defense to thrive
this season. Wow, oh boy, Cole Bishop, this is necessarily
in order, cold Bishop. Honestly, I could leave it to

(30:59):
the defensive line and actually part two of the guys
that I'm going to talk about here kind of fall
into that conversation. Let me do these next two guys
and I'll circle back to this question. That was really good, Charles,
I'm gonna start this.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
This was good.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Oh. I like this comment. Happy blueberry season to you.
I appreciate it. Thank you, equal want of blueberries in
each month, th thank you very much. Negativity for Sean McDermott.
Here comment is when is Sean McDermot gonna get fired?
He's given up twenty three point four points per game
and is the primary reason why Josh Allen hasn't won
hasn't at least won two by now, I don't know

(31:29):
if he's the primary reason, I think there's a conversation
for another time. There's a lot of things to unpack here,
but I think it's fair to put the shoulder, to
put the blame on the defensive side of the ball,
or even McDermott at times. But I think to give
him all of the blame and to say he's given
up twenty three point four points per game again essentially

(31:49):
like ignoring all the injuries they've had in season from
a regular season standpoint, from a playoff standpoint, again, I
think there is blame to fall as Sean McDermott's feet.
I think this statement is a bit dramatic, but teach
their own. The next player that is a defensive pillar
of the twenty twenty five Buffalo Bills and kind of
falls for me, Charles your question of the top five

(32:12):
players on defense specifically that need to take another step
forward in their play for the defense to thrive, This
person falls in here, and this is why I kind
of tabled that conversation. So the third defensive pillar for
the Bills, again not third in any order, but the
third person I'm talking about in this episode is Greg Russo,
but he also falls into what Charles just said again

(32:35):
in terms of one of those top five players on
defense that need to take another step forward. And this
shouldn't come as any surprise anybody who watches or listen
to the show. What I'm about to say I back
out a lot this offseason. I think Greg Russo is
one of the best run defenders in all of football,
not just amongst edges, not just amongst defensive linemen, one
of the best run defenders in all of football across

(32:55):
the league. I think he needs to take a jump
as a pass rusher. I Reckon regnized that his pressure
numbers have improved year over year, as has his pass
rush plan and technique. He really has started to take
advantage of his length and knowledge of the game as
a rusher, being able to go through guys, being able
to develop an inside move, being able to rotate through

(33:17):
things a little bit. So I do think he's improved
as a rusher year over year. Currently, I still think
he's more of a Robin than he is a Batman,
but he's on an upward trajectory, so he could become
a Batman potentially this year. I just think as a
rusher he's just not there yet. In terms of a
guy who can get you a bucket at any time.

(33:37):
As a true edge one, I think he's more of
an edge two, again a robin to a batman, but
as a run defender legitimately an edge one, one of
the best run defenders across any position defensively in all
of the football. Also, just I mentioned this before, and
some of the shows like seventy pressures last year regular season, postseason,
very nice. Twenty eight of them came in three games.

(33:58):
Two of those games were against very bad offensive lines
in Jacksonville and Tennessee. So he really eight in three
games that really inflated those numbers. But again, dominate bad guys.
That's fine, eat against bad teams, that's fine. Be able
to impact the game. I'm not saying he's bad to
add some context for some things. But part of the
reason why I think he's so so much in that

(34:23):
conversation of like a guy who needs to take a
step forward. And again I've said this before, and I
said this to the Joey Bosa focused episode that we
had about a month or so ago. I think the
Bills need group to make a jump to a true
overall edge one versus the run and the past because
Joey Bosa is a wildcard, Dudu's injury concerns, and if
the Bills are going to have a true edge one

(34:44):
as a pass rusher, it's either going to their best
shot at that is either Joey Bosa or Greg Russo.
And if Joey Bosa keeps getting banged. If Joey Bosa
is healthy, he is edge one from a pass rush perspective,
he can still get it done. He's actually a good
run defender too, but they don't need him to play
the run. And why I bother putting him out there
for extra snaps to get beat up when you don't
need him to get beat up. If Bosa's healthy, he

(35:06):
is a true edge one as a pass rusher. I
think he will be better in this defense than von
Miller would was last year and would be this year.
So if Bosa's healthy, I think he's their edge one
as a pass rusher. He can be the batman to
groups Robin. The problem is the injury concerns and the
inconsistencies inconsistency that comes along with it for Bosa, So
I think they need Rousseau to take that jump to

(35:29):
the edge one as a pass rusher, because at some point,
maybe a lot, maybe a little, maybe only a little
in a really important game, maybe only a little in
a game that doesn't matter, Bosa is going to get
banged up. He's either going to be out and unable
to play, or he's going to be playing banged up
and he's going to be diminished. I think Groot needs
to take that step up. He is probably the most

(35:52):
important person that I think needs to take another step
forward in his game just because of where position that
he plays and the questions amongst that defensive line and
amongst that edge grouping and how many guys need to play.
I think he needs to take another step forward in
his game for the defense, for the defense to thrive

(36:12):
this season. So again, Charles, this is one for that
buck in that question you mentioned earlier, and even aside
from that from you know, Charles's question there, which I'm
gonna continue to reference here because it really it really
fits for these next two guys I'm talking about, one
of them being Gregoru, So it just matters a lot.
I still think one of the biggest questions for this
defense for me this year is who provides the pass rush?

(36:34):
Is it, you know, kind of do they do it
in the aggregate and they just have several dudes that
can go after they have Do they have several guys
that just play at like a B to a bleed
B plus level as rushers, which will be fine, But
I don't know if they're gonna have that, Like aj
Panessa took a bit of a step back as a
pass rusher last year, even though he took a step
up as a run defender. How are they gonna use

(36:54):
Michael Hoyt and again he has that six game suspension.
Are you getting anything out of Javon Solomon? What do
you getting of land In Jackson? Like there's just I
just think there's questions at this grouping. You know, we
talked about boths already, so their best or most realistic
I think scenario in terms of getting a lot of
top tier production at the edge spot is Greg Russo

(37:15):
taking a jump and again he got paid this offseason,
which is very nice. Oh comment following up here from
Garris Jerris, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly.
Apologies from I'm pronouncing that correctly, but he says I
love in regards with Sean mcdermcmmon from earlier. I love
them in the regular season, don't get me wrong, But
in the playoffs he turns into Mike Tomlin. I mean
Mike Tomlin. Mike. You think Mike Tomas a bad playoff coach?

(37:37):
Is that a common thing? Am I out on the
loop on that? I think Mike Tomlin's a good coach.
I don't think he's m I think that some of
the shine has left him the past couple of years.
But dude's got a ring. He's got some pretty good success.
I would take a ring, but that's fair. Connor saying thoughts.
In the additions of Ryan Nielsen and Mike Pelagreno, I

(37:58):
think new coaching higres can make it difference. I like
the Nielsen higher. I think it means we'll see more
games up front, more slants and stunts and twists and
five man pressures, which I'm very excited for. I think
that'll also unlock to rel Bernard. I'm excited for what
it means from a pressure standpoint, which I think is
very helpful because I don't want to bank on them

(38:19):
having a true edge one and a guy who can
go get them a bucket off the edge and win
one on one at any point. So I think they're
gonna have to do it schematically, and I think Nielsen
is a really big help in that way. So I
also have where are my notes on it? Ah? Uh
bomb bum No, where is it?

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (38:41):
I had the five man pressure rates? Ah? Yes, the
the twenty twenty four Jags, Ryan Nielsen was their defensive coordinator,
they had the third highest five man pressure rate in
the league, and in twenty twenty three, when he was
defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, they also had the
third highest five man pressure rate in the league. So
I think it's safe to say we will see more
five man pressures. I just don't know how much, because again,

(39:03):
the Bills traditionally have been a you know, rush for
type of group, but when healthy two seasons ago, they
were throwing more simulated pressures, more creepers, and some more
five man stuff. So with Bernard and hopefully a healthy
Matt Milano and the injection of Nielsen, I'm hoping we
get more of that. As far as Pellegrino, I think
it means we'll get some more single high stuff, and

(39:24):
I think we'll get some more man coverage, not necessarily
to a Patriot level where they were like league leaders
in man coverage and single high. But I think from
a high leverage or a higher leverage standpoint situation, like
maybe more on third downs, maybe more in the red zone,
maybe against some more certain looks. I think they're just
bringing in Pellegrino to help coach up guys and restrict airspace.
And more man coverage is something that I want to

(39:46):
see within this defense. And more press both in man
and you know, it could be pressed, bail, whatever, but
I want more actual press man jam guys at the
line could be a soft shoe where we're just you know,
taking away space with our body and with our feet.
But I want to reroute guys. I want to disrupt
timing and I want to restrict airspace.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
So I.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
Am a fan of both of those moves. Another follow
up here from Garris. Jarris, again, I'm gonna keep saying it,
and maybe you corrected me down at the bottom, but
I haven't reached that yet. Who says, don't get me confused.
I don't want to be a negative Nancy, but I
have the same feelings towards Mike tom And and Todd Bowles
that's fair and understandable. I also, I think for me,
it's just so hard to win a Super Bowl, like
the odds of one team winning it versus the entire field.

(40:32):
The odds are with the field unless you're the Chiefs
seemingly get to the Super Bowl every year. But and
again I say this as a person, there are schematic
problems or schematic issues that I have with Sean mcdermot's
defenses in Buffalo for the past several years. And I
think a lot of those issues rear their head come
playoff time and from a matchup standpoint. So I'm not

(40:54):
some huge proponent of him, but I just don't know.
I just firing him could lead to worse results just
as much as it could lead to better results. So
that's why I'm just not on that, like when is
he going to get fired? He's terrible type of deal.
And again the variables of injuries and talent and lack thereof,
but you could also tie into development, YadA YadA. I

(41:16):
think there's so many variables in so much context there.
But I do think your thought process isn't isn't crazy,
and I do think it's fair. I'm just not on
that kind of fire McDermott wagon At this point, Connor
says Group twenty eight SAC Defensive Player of the Year
twenty twenty five season.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
That's fine.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
John Robertson, I read Greg Russome play inside more he could,
you know, you could see him inside, You could see
Hoyt inside, you could see Epeness inside, you could see Bosa,
you can see Landon Jackson. I mean they've got a
lot of flexibility once Ogun job and Hoyter back from
suspension in terms of who they can line up where,
even with Ed Oliver and Sanders like, they have a
lot of rush flexibility on the interior. Not so much

(41:56):
from a run defense standpoint, but from a rush standpoint. Sure,
Charles saying Groot is paid like an edge two to
be fair, is I feel like, let's see, from a
total value standpoint, he is one two three four, five, six,

(42:16):
seven eight nine, he is the ninth highest paid edge
in the entire NFL from a total contract value standpoint,
and from an average annual value standpoint, he is one
two three four, five, six, seven, eight nine, ten eleven twelve.
From an average annual value standpoint, I was gonna say,

(42:38):
I wanted to confirm that similar from a total guaranteed standpoint,
similar from a fully well from a fully guaranteed standpoint,
he's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven eight. I
wanted to confirm. I want to get the numbers just
before I spoke on it. I think he's paid more
like an edge one. I think he's paid. I think
they paid him now with the thought that he will
continue his upward trajectory and a year or two from

(43:00):
now he's a true overall edge one because he is
still getting better, like the ceiling. I don't think he's
hit the ceiling yet. I don't think he's gonna plateau.
I don't think he has plateau. It's just a matter
of does he keep going up at this level or
is it more of a flatter type of line that
he goes up. But yeah, I think he's paid more

(43:21):
like an edge one. Just from the actual monetary standpoint,
he's paid like a top ten edge in the league.
I don't know if he's in a top ten edge
in the league overall, and if he is, it's more
because the run defense standpoint. But fair point Royce saying,
sitting here wondering if Ed Oliver is on your list too,
to go see John Robert saying Greg is only twenty five,
he should have a long career. I agree James saying

(43:41):
defense has to get off the field on third down
one of the worst in the league and two reliant
on turnovers. Oh, I don't know where they stood from
a league wide standpoint, but yeah, I really feel like
they got gutted on a lot of third downs last
year in not great ways. Yeah, I kind of want
to look that up. Can never find that, Kay Moore,

(44:11):
he says, speaking of coaching Highers, what's your opinion on Rebovic?
Green Bay fans seem and not like him, but he's
been in charge of some really good d lines in
the past. You know what, I haven't watched a ton
of Packers tape from a defensive standpoint. I've watched a
ton of Packers offense. I love what they did from
a run game standpoint last year, the pony personnel stuff,
the gap scheme stuff, the motions that they were using.

(44:31):
I really really really liked their run game and Jordan
Love and Tucker Craft and Josh Jacobs. So I watched
a ton of Packers offense, I haven't watched a ton
of defense. My thing with him being there. Again, he's
an assistant defensive line coach. I still think Marcus West
is going to have the largest voice there or the
loudest voice. But Nielsen I think matters so much, so much,

(44:53):
so much more. I think Nielsen is more of the
straw that stirs the drink and is more of the story. Yeah. Again,
I think he'll have a voice. But I can't really
speak to a lot of the Packers defense stuff. I
haven't watched a ton of their tape in the past year's.
When I did, it was more like secondary focus and
watching jay R Alexander. But yeah, I remember. I think

(45:13):
he's been with the Packers from like twenty twenty two
or twenty twenty three, all from like a rush standpoint,
like a pass rush guy, defensive line guy, and they've
had some talent there and some dudes that have gotten
after it. I just don't know much of how much
of an imprint he's gonna leave or have here, given
the presence of Marcus West and then Nielsen as well.
Bum bum bum the Tommy Irrang Garrison. Yeah, without a doubt,

(45:38):
Tomlin as far as defensively he's been in the playoffs,
I'm a Jags fan, So imagine how surprised I was
when we beat them in twenty seventeen with portals at
QB and our only weapon being Fournette. Bro that year,
the Jags were what it was like what third and nineteen,
like a third and nineteen or whatever completion from Tom
Brady to Julian Edelman that if that completion doesn't happen,
the Jags are going to the Super Bowl. Jags almost

(46:00):
went to the to the Super Bowl that year, like
they realistically could have beaten that They're not even could
have like should have beaten the Patriots in the AFC Championship.
They went from barely getting by the Bills in the
wild card to beaten and stomping the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
And then yeah, they had they had the Pats right there,
and I think it was like it was definitely third
and long, and I think it was a completion from

(46:22):
Brady to Edelman in their own end and that swung
it towards the end, like literally, if the Jags would
have gotten that stop, the Patriots punt, and I think
the game would have been close to being over if
I remember correctly. But there cool, Charles, says Blitz Terran
and Bernard Moore. Also, let's go back to this Jags
fan comment, the Jags need to bring back their retro
jerseys and stay with them. I need more of than
Mark Brunell, Jimmy Smith, Keenan McCardell, Tony Boselli. Jags unis

(46:46):
that they started a rock as an alternate last year.
Get rid of these new ones, go back to the
old school ones and commit to it. Same thing with
the logo on the helmet, all of it, Charles says
Blitz Terran and Bernard Moore. Yes, absolutely, also a good
point here on Mike tom And Yes, given credit for
Super Bowl, but he did inherit a team from Kower.
That is a very fair point. Pete says, we just

(47:06):
need one of our new additions on defense to be
good good, and we're already much closer. I think that.
I think that's somewhat fair. The question just is like,
who is that gonna be? Like Larry Ogunjobi I think
has deficiencies as a run defender and holding up against
double teams. Michael Hoy I like a lot. I think
he's gonna be a good chess piece. I don't know
if he's the good good guy. Landon Jackson, it's tough

(47:29):
because he's a rookie. T J. Sanders is tough because
he's a rookie, like who again. That's why I think
the best bet is like you make the case like
what's better like a like I don't think ogen Jobi's
gonna be I think ok Jobe's gonna be good. I
don't think he's gonna be good good. I think Hoyd
has a chance to be good good, but I don't
necessarily see it happening. It's gonna depend a lot on
scheme and how they use him, which I really hope

(47:49):
they use him how he was used in LA and
they don't just make him like a four to three
edge and just diminish his schematic usage. That would be
really disappointing. But I think his good good is kind
of limited by the scheme part. And then you kind
of play the game of like what's more likely getting
good good from like TJ Sanders or Landon Jackson or

(48:10):
Joey Bosa, Like what do you bet on a rookie
being good good or Joey Bosa staying healthy? Bits. So
I think that's a fair point. I think they need
more than one of the new additions to be good
good and we're already much closer. Yeah, I think they
need I think they need multiple step ups. They need
multiple guys to go up like some kind of letter grade,

(48:31):
like they need somebody to go from a B to
an A minus, or they need like two guys going
from a B to a B plus. I think they
need multiple step ups in some form or fashion. With
how much defensive lines rotate nowadays and how much they're
gonna have to battle overs to run in the past.
Rice's power to the tree. They can very much recognize
in the tree, Roy, I'm gonna drop that comment down
right now. Yeah, we uh actually you know, drop the
banner there too. Yeah, we got a little bit uh

(48:52):
Fourth of July action here, so we'll star spangled tree
action there. Just some red, white and blue garland on
the silver tree with the lights hanging out there, so
it kind of has a little fire type of feel
to it. Appreciate you, Roy for recognizing that. Thank you
very much. And my wife didn't do the tree this time.
I did it, so I'm very proud of how it
came out, and I want to thank myself. I also
got a little American snoopy up there, even though I'm

(49:14):
not the biggest uh eah, that's a I don't want
to get into that conversation, but yeah, I did the
tree myself, so I'm proud of it. Thank you very much. Oh,
John says over under twenty three and a half sacks
by our defensive ends combined. Oh wow, by just the

(49:39):
defensive ends. That's tough. I'm gonna under under Yeah, damn yeah.
Sorry to bring up that painful memory for the jack
You guys should have beaten the Patriots. Should have been
a Jag super Bowl. Mhm mm hmmm. Pete says, realistically,

(50:01):
Bosa is the most likely stud in a lot of ways.
He was nice in the playoffs at least, and then
Pete piles by saying, I'm pulling for Sanders to find
his rhythm as the season progresses. I think Sanders is
going to be fine as a rusher and as a
penetrator and a gap shooter. My question with Sanders is
the same question I have for the majority of the
interior defensive line that they have. Is what happens from
a displacement standpoint when someone throws a double team at him?

(50:23):
Does he get blown? Off the ball or is he
able to drop the knee or anchor and withstand that
double team? Can he reduce his surface area? Can he
gum up the works if he can't? How much of
a liability is he? Is he able to win with
penetration consistently? And what does the Bills defense do right?
Are they just setting guys up forssessed by slant um
and stunting him a bunch doing run blitz? Is I

(50:45):
just worry about him from a run defense standpoint, from
a havoc standpoint, a pass rush standpoint, I think he's
got the juice and the violence and the penetration and
pop to be a factor as a pass rusher on
the inside. My question is more from a run defense standpoint.
And then with Lario and Joby, I honestly kind of
have the same questions, but with ogn Jobey beans suspended. TJ.
Sanders is defensive tackle three going into this season. You

(51:08):
got Ed, you got Daikwon, and then Sanders is right
behind him. Like Sanders needs to find his rhythm early
and to start. Also, I don't want to judge anyone
off the first game, Like I could really see the
Ravens offense just coming into Buffalo, and I'm not saying
the Ravens are gonna win, but I could see them
just beating the hell out of the Bills defensive line
and spine and people pushing him left, right and center.

(51:28):
Not just Sanders, but like everybody and then everybody from
a Bills fans standway mean the goal this defense sucks.
Sanders was a bust YadA YadA. It's just such a
bad matchup for the Bills and most teams across the league.
But I digress. All right, next on this list who
mentioned it earlier, wondering if Yeah, Royce said sitting here

(51:49):
wondering if Ed Oliver is on your list, We have
two to go. Ed Oliver is on the list. He
is the next defensive pillar of the twenty twenty five
Bills defense and also falls into Charles's comment from earlier
of like, top five guys on defense that need to
take another step forward and their played for the defense
to thrive. I want to say two things about at Oliver. One,

(52:10):
I think he's a pillar. To what's unfortunate about that
is he's the guy where I think you start to
like the way we started here on this list, right,
like Benford Pillar. I think he also stacks up well
up against other corners in the league. Right with where
he ranks, Like worst case scenario, he's like corner twelve,

(52:30):
which I think is really good, but I think he's
actually a bit higher than that. Tarren Johnson one of
the best nickels in the league. Also important of the Bills,
Greg Russou. Where does he fit? Like? What edge level
is he in the league? Is he at top ten edge?
Is he at top fifteen? Is he a top twelve whatever?
Something like that. Ed Oliver I think is such an
interesting one because he flashes true game wrecking ability against

(52:54):
both the run at pass, at pass against both the
run and pass, and then he also disappears for stretches
both like in games like he's gone from second through
the third quarter or for the second half or for
the first half. Then he also disappears like a cross games.
It's like, oh yeah, did he even play weeks like
six through eight. He didn't. It felt like he wasn't
even on the field, so he disappears a bit. I

(53:16):
think he had a better year on tape in twenty
twenty four than the stats indicate. There was a lot
of coverage and rush disconnection last year for the Bills
defense in general, and I think it hurt him significantly.
But he needs to be a game wrecker more consistently
on the inside. And he's one who man like if
you're talking about like the top defensive tackles in tier

(53:39):
defensive lineman in the league. I don't know where he ranks.
I don't think it's top ten, i'd have to fit.
It's probably he's definitely top twenty. I probably somewhere like
the median range of like top fifteen kind of maybe.
But there's times where he looks like a top five
edge in league. And his numbers two years ago were

(54:01):
tremendous and his tape two years ago was tremendous, But
then he kind of disappears. He didn't really have a
good game when they need him against Kansas City in
the Division around two years ago. Granted, there are a
bunch of injured dudes on the Bills defense, and maybe
the offense was able to give him more attention to
the Chiefs offense. Then this past AFC Championship, Bill's defense

(54:22):
plays bad and Oliver has a great game, like the
plays he made against the run and as a rusher
in the AFC Championship game against the Chiefs. He had
like like two plays or three plays in a row
where he just game wreck and he flashes that ability
like it's just Aymorey says it, like one game at

(54:43):
his top ten and then a game ED is top
ten non existent. Ed is a sad face. Yeah, you
just you just see it. And Andy says it here
too with Ed. He just needs to be consistent week
to week. That's it, right. I just don't want the
dips in the valleys. I don't want him to play
like a top five edge and then play like a
top twenty five edge. Just consistently play like a top

(55:07):
twelve edge. Just be consistently top ten and you don't
have to be inside the top ten like six or seven.
Just play like eight to ten. That's it. Just do that.
Just be consistent. No more disappearing. But I think he
is someone who needs to take a step up in
his game, and that step up is more consistency. As
you know, you guys said in the chat and as
I have here in my notes, Like he flashes that
game wrecking ability and then you're like, did he play

(55:30):
and then you look at the snaps and you're like, yeah,
he did, where was he? And then watch the tape
and you're like, oh, he needs to be more of
an impact guy. And with what that rest of what
the rest of that interior looks like. And I talked
about it a bit. You know, Larry O and Jovie
suspended for six games. T J. Sanders is a rookie.
Dwayne Carter is shown very little. We have no idea

(55:50):
what we're getting from Dion Walker or anybody else. Daikwon
Jones is another year older and is becoming more siloed
in his role. You need in an ideal world. Ed
Oliver and Greg Russeau both take a step up. Rousseau
I think takes a step up in his game. Ed
takes a step up in his consistency. I think you

(56:11):
need that from both of those guys because there's just
questions those though. These are two veterans within the defense.
I know Grut is still young, but these are guys
who have been in the system, ben in the scheme,
They're battle tested. They both need to take a step
up in their game in some form or fashion. Again,
Groots is more game related, Ed's is just more consistency related,
but they need that like and especially considering Ed is

(56:35):
locked into a contract through the twenty twenty seven season
at a position in interior defensive line where the Bills
have questions seemingly every year. Like Larry Ogunjobi's on a
one year we don't maybe Dwyane Carter is even on
the team next year, Maybe Dean Walker does work out
at all, Like dayk One is older. I think this
is his last year on contract, so you're looking at
the team next year, and it's just it could be

(56:55):
just at Oliver and t J. Sanders, like you need
Ed Oliver step up and rightly or wrongly, he is
one of the better players on this Bill's defense, and
he flashes like one of the better players at his
position league wide. But then you also get those dips
and those valleys in his game where man, you just

(57:16):
don't see him. And I think that's where it like
averages out, like sometimes he's up here and sometimes he's
way down here, and this kind of averages out to
like here. But the dips and valleys, the ebbs and flows,
they are concerning. He needs more consistency to his game. Regardless,
he is a pillar. He is one of the more
important players on this Bill's defense. He just needs consistency
and they need that from him. Man, it'd be really

(57:38):
interesting to kind of I don't want to rank him
amongst defensive tackles, but I was looking at contracts earlier
and it's this is a little scary. RJ says, Ravens
are going to destroy And I meant looking at contracts
in terms of like ranking everybody kind of just not
necessarily like where he's paid, because he's his contract is paid. Fine,
he's like, I think it's like fourteenth or fifteen something
in that range, but like ranking them from a contract,

(58:00):
but from like a play standpoint, a skill set standpoint,
and production standpoint. It's a conversation. Urie says, the Ravens
are going to destroy us that opening game. They will
be game planning for us the entire offseason. Yeah, they
might be very motivated. We will see. I'm very interested
to see that. Argi just says, but it's a regular
season game and not the playoffs. I think we will
beat them again in January, yeah, or the Ravens will

(58:23):
keep beating themselves like they have for the last like
four or five years. They just can't get out of
their own way in the playoffs. Like it's not even
just Lamar, it's like everybody, which is weird because they're
like a playoff tested organization and coaching staff, but they
just cannot get out of their own way. And the
playoffs we'll see kind of what they become. Andy says,
I'll take eighty percent of Ed's abilities every week over

(58:44):
one hundred percent and fifty. That's exactly it. Yep. Just
be an eight out of ten consistently, don't be a
ten and then don't be a five. Just being eight
out of ten consistently, and that's awesome. Jason says, not
only a July fourth three, but a July fourth Snoopy,
this is an elite level background game. Thank you very much,
very much. I guess again again. I want to point
it out that I did this background myself. This is

(59:04):
all me. Normally my wife does it. I did it
this time. I just want to shout myself out there.
Thank you very much. Claude says, Hey, is this a
new day for you? Just or just a one off?
Just a one off. I will be back to Tuesdays
Live at nine pm Eastern this upcoming Tuesday. JP Acosta
joins me, and then I have another guest the following
week after that to kick off training camp week. So

(59:26):
it'll be good. It'll be good. It'll be good. It'll
be good. Okay, so at Oliver last one here? Who?
And then I have two honorable mentions. But my last
defensive pillar of the twenty twenty five Buffalo Bills Treu Bernard.
I just I hate using this phrase. I think it
gets overused, but quarterback of the defense like the air

(59:47):
traffic controller ability. His ability to get everybody adjusted and
set and aligned, and his progression in the past couple
of years has been awesome to see. And if Matt
Mlana was healthy, I think Bernard and Matt Milano can
be one of the best linebacker duos in the entire league.
From a mental standpoint, from a covered standpoint, from a
run defense standpoint, I think if Mlonald's healthy, Bernard and

(01:00:09):
Milano have the chance to be like a top five
linebacker duo, maybe even top three. But sticking with Bernard
coverage ability, pattern recognition. His size is a bit of
a limitation, but he knows that and he knows how
to mitigate it. When Eric and I talked to him
in the film room, you know. That was one of
the things we talked about, like sometimes having to take
on blockers, but also kind of being able to avoid
him and dip and dive and duck and dodge and

(01:00:33):
whatever the fifty is. That's a repeat of one of
the others. He knows how to play to his limitations
and how to work around them. I do think part
of his success is tied to the front and the
defensive line, so he needs help, like he needs to
keep offensive lineman. He needs help keeping offensive linemen off
of him, like climbing guards and offensive linemen being able
to get to him clean and have good angles against him.

(01:00:54):
He needs the interior up front to gum up the
works more and allow him to play free. I don't
think he's like the sexiest type of player, but he's
just a really, really solid player. And tying some of
this into the Ryan Neilsen piece. If the Bills can
get more creative in their fronts with simulateds and creepers
and five man pressures, I think Bernard can have a
difference making kind of year with splash plays and negative

(01:01:16):
play creation. As a force multiplier, he is a tremendous
blitzer in terms of his timing and in terms of
his violence. I would like them to use him more
in that regard. Oh as I see this down here,
Charles says, Bernard's a sneaky good blitzer. Absolutely. Some of
my favorite plays of him when he was at Baylor,
when I was watching his college tape coming out, or
his blitzes, like he's blowing up guards, he's blown up

(01:01:38):
running backs, like he's getting to the quarterback, or he's
just detonating on somebody and letting someone else come free.
Like use him on cross dogs, use him on stunts
and games, like he could be the spiker, he can
be the looper whatever. Like he's just such a good
heat seeking missile coming forward. He's a guy who got
paid this offseason. He I think has started to inherit.

(01:01:58):
You know, so much of this defense from a brain
trust standpoint, was, you know, hide employer and Milana a bit,
and Taron Johnson a bit, Tremaine Evans a bit, you know,
Trevious White a bit, and then there's those guys kind
of stepped away and Milonald got injured, Trey got injured.
It was just kind of like hiding Poyer and tarn
and then hide and Poyer go away. Milano gets injured

(01:02:19):
and it, you know, so much of the adjustments for
this defense and finding of falling on to Bernard and
Taron Johnson and Taylor Rap to a degree, but Milonal
coming back I think is a boon to Bernard and
a boon to Milano. But anyway you slice it, especially
with the questions at the linebacker position next year, you know,
with Mlonald's updated contract, is he a bill next year?
We'll see is he? How healthy is he? This year?

(01:02:42):
Bernard becomes an important piece on that second level of
the defense at a position that kind of has some
questions about it with you know, a former All Pro
and Matt Malonald being banged up and being a little
longer in the tooth, then maybe having some questions about
his performance this year and then contract in future going forward.
But yeah, I think Bernard is one of the pillars

(01:03:04):
as well, somebody who's really stepped up league wide. I
think is an interesting conversation. I know a lot of
I don't even want to speak on it because I'm
not trying to get yelled that, but I know a
lot of Bills fans think Bernard is like a top
five linebacker in the league at times, or make it easy,
top ten. I don't know where i'd rank him, so
don't ask me. But he's a very good player, very

(01:03:25):
good player within this defense. Fits what they do so
well mentally and physically. I'm still not used to the
number change from forty three to eight. It's going to
take me a while to get used to that. But
definitely a pillar of this defense. Two honorable mentions again,
just for twenty twenty five, I mentioned one of them.
I'm going to talk about him again. Matt Milano. I've
contemplated doing a full Matt Mlonald based episode. I just

(01:03:49):
haven't had the time to cut up all the film
and do kind of what I would I would want
to do for that from a thorough perspective, But with
each game that passed. Last year's first game was against
the nine in the snow, so a little wonky in general.
But with each subsequent game, going all the way through
the AFC Championship against the Chiefs, he got better. Each week.
His timing got better, his speed got better, the physicality

(01:04:12):
got better, his angles got better, and by the time
we're in the AFC Championship, and he is running down
Mahomes in space and finishing him in space on you know,
a third and long when they're running odd mirror and
he's the aggressive spy. It was really encouraging. You saw
the shades and the flashes of that All Pro Matt
Malonald that was in there. If Milano can stay healthy,

(01:04:34):
I think that's it's it's two f of Milana, right,
like Ken if he stays healthy, right, and how much
of his former self does he play too? Like? So
can he stay healthy? Cool? And then if he can,
is he eighty percent of the All pro that he
was a couple years ago? Is he seventy percent? Is
he ninety? Is he one hundred? If he is any

(01:04:56):
significant semblance of his former All pro self, he is
one one thousand percent a pillar of this defense and
one of the better players on this defense. Again, there's
two former not including Bosa, two former All pros well,
and not including Trey White because he's a deaf guy,
but he can kind of include him in what if
you want. But Milana was one of the former All
pros on this defense, and again it was just a

(01:05:18):
couple of short years ago. I know a lot is
transpired in that time, but he was one of the
top linebackers in the league, like two years a couple
of years ago. You can make the case he was
like a top three like linebacker. It was like, oh man,
there's Rokwan and Fred Warner and then it was Matt
Mlano or like Fred and Brokuan and Milano. However, we
wanted to put him up there, but like worst case Snario,
like Milana was like a top five but a borderline

(01:05:39):
top three lock at the linebacker spot and had an
all Pro season to watch to match on tape and
with the advanced metrics. If he's healthy, that step one
and then two is how much of his former self
can he be. He's an easy defensive pillar for twenty
twenty five. We don't know if he's gonna be on
the team in twenty twenty six. We don't know. That
means obviously, a good and health healthy twenty twenty five

(01:06:01):
could lead to him staying around. I do think he's
one of the more important players on this defense because
when Matt Mallana was on, he is just a chaos
creator and him and Bernard I think it was gonna
be such a good pair because they both can create
chaos and they both can clean up and finish. And
being able to have two guys that can do that
and play off with one another with the schematic potential
of what Ryan Nielsen has been in the past and

(01:06:23):
what I think that what I hope this defense realize
they need to be this year could be really fun.
So again, Milana is an honorable mention for defensive Pillar
for this year. And then we talked about him a bit.
Joey Bosa. I think if Bosa's healthy, he's an easy
defensive pillar for twenty twenty five and the best pass
rusher on this team. It's just a matter of if
he's healthy or not. I did a full episode on

(01:06:44):
him when the injury news broke, what a month or
so ago. I don't want to bang that drum too much. Again,
we talked about him a bit earlier. But if Bosa's healthy,
he's the best pass rusher at the edge spot, the
best pass rusher on this team, and a true at
one who can get you a bucket. It's just gonna
be a matter of if he's healthy or not, which
is already a significant if. And then he got hurt

(01:07:07):
this offseason already, so not not great. But Pete says,
Bernard has that Johnny on the spot thing about him
that shows up a timely moments. He turns the tide
and closes a lot of games to splash plays. I
think that's fair. I kind of knew what you're going
at with them. He corrected and made say just in
case somebody's reading was like, that doesn't stay tied, it

(01:07:27):
says tie. He corrected it and said tie. Jason says,
and then reference to Milana what the team did with
his contract. It makes me feel like they don't think
he is going to consistently stay healthy anymore. They love him,
but don't think he will be reliably healthy anymore. And
and he says, and it does kind of feel like that. Yeah,
I second that notion. James mentions that he ran down Bonix.

(01:07:48):
Not an easy feet Bonix, sneaky athletic, good on the move,
good mobile quarterback. Yeah. Again, with each subsequent game, he
got better and better, taking on blocks, shooting gaps, finishing
making plays. Hopefully doesn't have to play with a brace
on that elbow this year. He gets better mobility, He
gets better movement. It was really restricting him. Early on,
he was going to make tackles and he couldn't really
extend because his arm was kind of bent and in

(01:08:09):
that position with the brace, so he couldn't really get
full extension and make plays with his leg with his
arms and kind of reach for guys, and his feet
weren't under him yet. So if he again, the flashes
were very encouraging for me. I just don't want to
sit here and say, oh, you know, he's going to
be back to all pro form, because he could get
banged up again. I'm less concerned with the injuries and

(01:08:31):
more concerned. I'm less concerned with him getting injured again
and more concerned with the injuries and just general miles
on the tires and age catching up with him a
bit and seeing how that impacts him. So I'm less
concerned with he might get hurt again. I'm more concerned
with how healthy is see from his previous injuries and

(01:08:52):
you know, the miles on the tires and the wear
and tear and all that kind of stuff. But I
am very encouraged with his play down the stretch last year. Man,
he can get back to that. Oh that's really exciting,
really really exciting. You know what else is really exciting.
The sponsor of the show, One Pie Pizza the best
pizza in Buffalo, New York. And I don't say that

(01:09:12):
because they sponsor the show. They sponsor the show because
I think they are the best pizza in Buffalo, New York.
Sweet sauce, pie cup and char pepperoni, homemade blue cheese.
They do an awesome breakfast pizza. They do a multitude
of different pizza options. They have a pizza named after
us and Josh Allen in tandem. It's pretty awesome and
it's delicious. And they also have a catering division called

(01:09:35):
Elevated Catering a Buffalo. Both the online menu for One
Pie Pizza and the website link for their catering division
can be found in the episode show notes. So they're
here on YouTube or whatchever podcasting a platform you are
listening to the show on. The catering division is great.
I talk about all the time, Like I had them
cater multiple events for me. They do this awesome like
coconut chicken and rice dish. Like with this sauce, I

(01:09:56):
forget this big ingredients, there's more. It was delicious. They
also do like different kinds. Mac and cheese is also great.
I'm also not a salad person, but they do really
good salad, and for me, that's really saying something because
I think salad is just leaves and I'm not a
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and I talk about all the good they do for
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(01:10:18):
and initiatives and partnerships to try and better the city
of Buffalo and the community and the people within it.
They're really good people making really good food. Go get
yourself with One Pie Pizza. Check out there online menu
in the episode show notes, and check out the catering
division website and link all that stuff all in the
episode show notes. Whether here on YouTube, orgs or podcasting

(01:10:39):
app or platform, you will be listening to this show
on artist is Excited. Next week I will be in
Buffalo announcing and getting some one Pie pizza. Yes, r Jay,
when you get the pizza, I need this. I need
this from you. When you get the pizza, I need
you to get at me on Twitter and tell me what.
If you want to do pictures, that's fine, or you

(01:10:59):
could just DM me or tweet at me whatever. I
want to know what kind of pizza you got and
how good it was and what you're rating it on
a scale of one to ten. I need to know that.
And if you have any specific if you like want
me give you recommendations, feel free to hit me up,
but feel free to trust your gut. You cannot go wrong.
But yeah, I need another specifics and if you enjoy

(01:11:20):
it or not, because it's a moment, I'm excited for you.
I think that. Yeah, I get I'm torn because I'm
I'm I'm not a like a give me just a
good like good piece of pepperoni pizza and the pepperonizza
so good, and the cup of char is great, and
then the blue cheese is great. But the cover one pizza,
the cover one, Alan Goat. Oh, and then that with

(01:11:41):
the blue cheese, it's just like a flavor explosion and
it's fantastic. Yeah a oh, they're both so good. Actually,
I think you can also mix and match. I don't
know if they did that for me, especially one time,
like I did, like I did a a half sheet
and like half was cheese and pepperoni and half was
the cover one Alan Goat. I don't know if they
did that for me because of our partnership and because

(01:12:05):
i'm you know, we talk so much more together now,
or if that's a regular thing, but that's also an option.
Maybe shouldn't have said that because I don't want to
get your hopes up. He can't go wrong, but yeah, yeah,
and hit me up. Absolutely excited for you. I'm very
excited for you. Now. I'm hungry and I want pizza,
but I can't get pizza right now because I gotta
say goodbye to everybody. We gotta wind down. If you
have not already, if you're joining me here live before

(01:12:25):
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(01:13:13):
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(01:13:34):
go Bills, see you, Pete, thank you very much for
the collapse. And yeah, I hope everybody enjoys the rest
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this upcoming Tuesday. Excited to get back into the rhythm
and routine with that. Thank you very much RJ for
the kind words there. I hope you enjoy a one
PI pizza next week. Hope everybody enjoys the rest of

(01:13:59):
their week. Tomorrow is Friday. It's almost the end of
the week. If anybody is a wrestling fan, enjoy all
In this weekend. I know WWE is trying to counter
book it with some stuff of their own, but I
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(01:14:20):
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(01:14:43):
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(01:15:06):
like all in with Goldberg and I think what was
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(01:15:26):
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Who are the defensive pillars of the 2025 Buffalo Bills defense? | DC

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Who are the defensive pillars of the 2025 Buffalo Bills defense? | DC