Welcome back to the Buffalo Bread podcast. We are talking week seven bills tight ends and how exactly they were able to turn things around. Just when Buffalo bills mafia thought that there was going to be another abysmal outing with rough inconsistent and accurate throws and and you know just absolutely no no first downs no performance at all. They somehow redeem themselves. Dan what was the journey like for you.
I will say this while it is an unsettling theme for these bills to start so slowly at the beginning of games. I think as we get into this game more of this was explainable to me. I think for example that third and one on the Amari Cooper drop. I think if he catches that ball right off the bat the complexion of that drive changes dramatically. I mean listen they were getting coverage looks they like JJ and at the end of the day they just
didn't execute until the second half of the game on both sides of the ball. So I was actually pretty Zen watching this one because I'm like I've seen this before. This looks different. These players will write the ship and they did against an inferior team. And I think that that might be the thread of this entire game is that this was an inferior team. This was a Mason Rudolph. The Red Nose failure led tight Tennessee Titans. No Christmas jokes before Halloween. Man give me a break.
I'm sorry. No. So you know this this team the Titans offense was inept going into this game with Will Levis leading them and with Mason Rudolph who actually was he playing
quarterback against the bills in the playoff game. He was. Yeah. So they had a lot of familiarity with shutting down Mason Rudolph who I thought actually looked as good as he could have looked against a reasonable NFL defense in the first half of this game until the bills sort of figured out what they were doing which was basically just misdirection play action get a tight end open in space dump it down. They were not able to stretch the ball down the
field very much. Once the bills tighten up the kind of levers on that approach to offense the Titans really had no answer. And that's why you saw you know in the first half it was a reasonable kind of match up for the first two quarters and then from there forward you know second half no score at all from the Titans and the bills defense really took over in a lot of ways once they figured out protection schemes what they were doing with
misdirection. So why don't we start there Dan with bills defense Titans. Oh what were some standouts and things that you noticed that you really particularly loved. Greg or so got out of the Jerry Hughes zone for me like right off the bat. Okay. His sack production has mostly come in one game up until the Titans game. And this is not a great offensive line. He is getting pressure on opposing QB's and he got pressure on Mason
Rudolph here in this game against the Titans. So it was nice to see him granted and I'll be it and I feel like we're going to say this caveat a thousand times against an inferior opponent and an inferior offensive line. But that's the type of game you would expect a guy like Greg Russo who is above average to have against a team like this. So that JJ right off the bat was very comforting to me. And I was really happy to see it overall.
And listen we have had qualms with with the situational game management of this coaching staff for years now. But they just know how to extract the most value out of everyone in the field. And it felt like everyone in that defensive line rotation from smooth to Carter to Epineza. They were just eating especially in the second half of this game against this Titans D. They did a good job shutting down Tony Pollard in the rush game in the second
half JJ. And to me this was a show out game for every member of that defensive line rotation. That's what impressed me the most. No I think I think you're absolutely right. I was I was also impressed with them. I think even early in the in the game more of the problems that the bills defense saw on the first kind of three or four drives were really about coverage
linebacker. It was second and third level challenges. It was really the you know the Titans approach was to run away from Greg Russo and to try to stretch the field to the edges as much as possible in order to take advantage of you know the bills playing with a light box the bills are top two in the league in terms of playing every down with six or fewer players in the box. They do not bring extra linebackers they do not bring extra
safeties down. They focus purely on coverage on stopping the big play on stopping things over the top. And they invite teams to run anytime bills fans you know get after Sean McDermott about him being soft on the run. And we've both done it at times too. It's by design late. That's actually the defensive design is that it's unlikely for teams to break 40 yard plays with a running back coming out of the backfield. It's way more likely
for them to hit those you know seam balls or deep stretch balls down the sidelines. And so Sean McDermott coaches his players to protect the that at all costs and the cost oftentimes is running the ball effectively. And even still Tony Pollard only had you know 61 yards on 16 attempts which is a 3.8 average it's not super great. And it got even worse later in the game as the Titans weren't able to kind of have any they kind of ran out of unique
run fits in their in their scheme. And we're just doing their vanilla offense which even Greg we're so commented on in the post game that eventually every team has to play their normal offense against us. And eventually our film study will come through. And so I really liked what the defensive line had to present. A.J. Epinezza. Dude you got to bring that
interception in what are you doing like I know right. He also he and I think there's another you know media person in Buffalo Buffalo Bills media that comment on this I can't remember who it was. But he's a Benezza when he had the stack strip late in the game. He started celebrating while the ball is still live and in play. That was super frustrating. I mean granted that is super frustrating to see. But also he hasn't had a whole lot to
celebrate this season. So I mean let's give the guy a break. Let him have some emotions. I know just just just let it just let him be in his feelings
man. But I want to go back to something you said about Tony Pollard in the run game because there has been a difference in like the eye test with this Buffalo Bills rush defense versus what is actually playing out in the stats because it felt like in the first half Pollard was having his way with this defensive unit and then in the second half absolutely clamped down and I feel like with the exception of the Baltimore game that has been the story
in both winning and losing efforts for the Bills this season. J.J. I mean I feel like when I watch our run defense I've seen them gashed a lot but they're almost like wearing down opposing teams to the point where it becomes so inefficient and so cumbersome late in games for teams to run the ball that it is in fact working in the Bills favor because as we know they stubbornly run light boxes. They are J.J. the Buffalo Bills 26 in the
NFL right now and light box rush defense efficiency per NFL next gen stats. But when you look at their when you look at their DVOA they are ranked their number eight. It doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever that this unit is this good against the rush defensively. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
Yeah and I think you're right and that sort of goes back to kind of what I said that that is the scheme is Sean McDermott presents a light box but I do think that you cannot you know even the detractors against him as a head coach can't deny that he coaches his units to play together as a team to fly to the ball to rally and tackle to kind of you know get
more hats and the point of attack. There's I don't think you'll ever see a Sean McDermott coached player kind of give up on a play and jog to the sidelines when he's still in the in the field of play and ready to make a tackle. I think it's a pretty largely one of those culture based things for this team to to rally to tackle to group tackle to swipe at the ball to do all those things that are kind of hallmarks of a really well coached defense. No I think
I thought they did good. I liked kind of moving back to the second and third level to relearn artists so critical. Gosh I hope he I hope he's not on the injury report this week I hope he's able to kind of he got he went down three times in the game head chest and then ankle he kind of worked all three levels of his body with injuries throughout the game and went out came back in went out came back in and then the third time he went out with
the ankle he stayed out looked like somebody got rolled up on him. So hopefully he's good but I think that he is critical. Dorian Williams was struggling early in the game in sideline to sideline coverage he was the one is he was getting pretty well played in those you know misdirection plays where they got tight ends open to quick dump offs that was sort of Dorian Williams his coverage was failing here and there and then you know I think that
the back end still Russell Douglas Christian Benford amazing. I still love what Taylor rap is putting out there. Damar Hamlin got the int but I think that he had sort of a weak game otherwise. And so that's sort of what I think of the defense generally and at each level of the in each position. I would like to see so much more of Cole Bishop. I really hope they give him a series or two here or there because I think he could work
his way into replacing Damar Hamlin. I would too. I really would. He just dude he just seems to be a really quick learner. He seems to be absorbing this defensive scheme at a rate that would lend itself to one thinking that he should be in the right rotation a little bit more regularly. You've been rewarded with Dwayne Carter in his early season play. Dwayne Carter currently in a rush stop win rate is number seven in the league and has
been so for two straight weeks. So you're getting rewarded with guys on the rookie deals. This is the formula we know that the Buffalo Bills need to win when you have an expensive QB. Let's take the next step and let's see what Cole Bishop has man. Absolutely. Yeah no I think that's a good point to switch over. You want to talk about the Bills offense
versus this Titans defense. I do and I'm dying to talk about a Mario Cooper because we didn't have a chance to unpack the trade with all the craziness that happened in our lives last week's but I think you got to start with Keon Coleman right. Yeah. Yes you got to start with over a hundred yards receiving and almost a touchdown. Dude I loved it. I loved it. And you know it's interesting because on broadcast and on the all 22 his limitation show up so
clearly like he is a dude who I know exact. I feel like I know exactly the type of situation he's going to be successful in and the type of situation he's going to fail in and he does disappear and press man a lot and he needs a lot more moves to get a release off the line of scrimmage when guys are up on him but you can see him trying to work these things into his game. And what I loved about what they were able to do is they were able
to ISO him on one side of the field in single coverage against a DB. A lot of times it was a what's his name Jarvis Brownlee Jr. Was that the guy he was lined up a lot. That was the one he was targeting. Yeah. Yeah. They did a Brady especially in the second half did a great job of finding ways to get Keon that favorable match up to where Keon was so obviously an overmatch for Brownlee Jr. and and made it work to perfection. I mean that that I
think it was the second to last catch of the game. I can't remember what it was. It was either a second to last or his last catch the 57 yarder where he finally quadrate digs brought him down Brownlee pressing him at the line. Keon doesn't give the greatest move in the world but like faints enough to outside leverage before cutting in. And he just squares up to Josh gives him a great target and then boom his contact malice and athleticism take
over Brownlee swings around him on a mistackle and then Keon is off. That's the type of explosiveness that the bills are banking on with such a high variance prospect like Keon Coleman. We've joked before that Keon is the Josh Allen of wide receiver prospects because all the tools are there but it looks so raw at times at this stage of his development. But you saw it in this game JJ and you saw with smart scheming what a weapon he could potentially
be in this offense. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that I think that you cannot understate how important it is that Amari Cooper was on the field for some of those snaps that Keon Coleman was producing. Everything else fits now because of him. Gravity. Gravity towards your brand new number one receiver who only played like 18 snaps. You know. Yeah. Like
19. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. But still with enough you know again with enough gravity to pull coverage because they cannot you know teams can't look at Amari Cooper lining up
and just shrug and be like it's fine whatever corner we have can just cover him. It's fine like they do with Mack Hollins because that's the reality of Mack Hollins game is that you know you your biggest worry as a defensive coordinator when you have somebody lined up across from Mack Hollins is that they're going to run to your side and if you have an undersized corner because that's really the concern is that my corner is not going to
be able to get involved in the run game if Mack Hollins is lined up over him. Yeah. Absolutely. He doesn't even Mac. I like Mack Hollins. We've stated that I like Mac out. I love his social media presence. I think he's a great wide receiver three four four likely three maybe in a pinch and an excellent special teams ace. Weird dude. Everybody seems to love him. But I just he needed to move down in the target distribution. He needed
to move down in the snap counts and for this offense to be a functional NFL offense. And likewise I think one of the one of the kind of the fire plugs or lightning bolts for this offense was also Curtis Samuel getting hurt and they were forced to play Keon Coleman. They were forced to play Khalil Shakir. They were forced to you know make sure that Amari Cooper's pitch count was fully you know was fulfilled out for him. And in doing so they
were able to get productivity from all of those guys and Dalton concade. This was the best Dalton concade game in a lot of ways that we've seen. And really the thing that they did in the latter half of the game is they found their guys. It's Amari Cooper, Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir, Dalton concade. Sprinkle in either Ray Davis or James Cook and you're good. You got it. Like that's an offense.
Absolutely. And they were finally trusting to go back to your Mac Hollins point. They were finally trusting Keon and a lot of those jumbo package situations where he was one of two wide receivers maybe with Hollins or he was a solo wide receiver out in a super heavy set. And they were trusting him in the run block game where he's made just amazing
strides when you look at it on film how good his run blocking has gotten so quickly. But they were also giving him more of that Mac Hollins role which you and I have been saying like needs to happen. Listen on that on that play that we just talked about the reception for 57 yards off Brownlee Jr. It was him and Mac Hollins and then it was our jumbo set.
We were playing three guards David Edwards Alec Anderson Osiris Torrance and they they let Keon win one on one against an inferior corner and let his skill set do the trick. And a lot of his reception stage came out of that jumbo formation. This to me is the path to success for the bills where I felt like the offense really stalled out particularly
on the first half. They had Josh and shotgun. They were lined up an 11 personnel and they were running back those dorsi shotgun runs with James Cook that absolutely need to be ripped out of the playbook like I don't know why they still exist right. It was when they went heavy and they forced Tennessee into their base where their guys were a lot more adept
at winning on the outside one on one. And listen defense the Tennessee the Tennessee Titans defense say what you want about the team is pretty legit in the second half Brady in the scheme were just dictating what the personnel packages the Tennessee Titans wanted to run out needed to be. And they were a very adept at taking advantage of it. Overall it was a great kind of it was a great kind of redemption arc in the second half. But dude everybody
eats to your point is Cooper Coleman concave Shakir Cook. That's the list. There's the only ones that should be led in the restaurant. Like don't you know there's a table and it should be reserved in the restaurant for those individuals. Everybody else can come after the rush like everybody else can show up when Mitch Trebit sexy Mitch Trebisky's spin in the ball like nobody needs to be out there catching the ball from Josh Allen if their name is not concave Cook Shakir Coleman or Cooper.
I love how you called Mitch Trebisky sexy. It's an absolutely incredible really awesome stuff out of you today. I love where your head's because he reminds me of Rex Grossman. That's what I'll say. They're both Chicago. Remember sexy Rex. Yeah. I remember Rex Rex Grossman went to a Super Bowl. Yeah. Yeah. He went. He did win. But he went. No he didn't win.
He didn't win. But that's fine. He was he was the he was on the team that Devon Hester was on when he returned an opening kickoff in the Super Bowl for a touchdown. No. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's right. That's right. Let's go the way back machine. So JJ just to wrap things up here some some key numbers that I was able to pull after the game that
again showed to me that the bills were getting back on track. Josh Allen's time to throw 2.58 seconds after a get after it had been as high as 2.87 seconds in this most recent run of road games. Now granted the bills are a different team playing at home than they are on the road. So as we'll get into later on this week Seattle may be a pretty big test for them. That's a hostile environment and that's the defensive line in particular that's
getting really healthy out there. But this has been the formula for success for the bills and we know it. Josh gets the ball out quick. He is the best quick rate passer in the league only behind Aaron Rodgers this season and Jane Daniels out of Washington. When these guys get it out in 2.5 2.5 seconds or less great things are happening. Geno Smith is also that
hierarchy interesting enough which we'll talk about in the pregame. And then he targeted a bunch of dudes and a bunch of dudes had a bunch of catches and this is just the formula for them to win. And what's interesting is they could not really get the run game going. James Cook was really bottled up and they forced these wide receivers and Josh Allen to beat them through the air and listen for once this season for the first time when the
run got shut down. Brady had a nice answer and these individual players executed to find those answers. So overall it was a solid team win outside of that first quarter that I like to fire into the sun. Yeah. And the bills cannot have these slow starts against better opponents that just can't happen. We saw what happens when the Baltimore Ravens are playing
you and you have a slow start that just snowballs and you're done. So like I think that that's you know we can all be super happy about this game but it's fair to have a little bit of concern and criticism for the bills not being able to you know not be able to kind of run
out the gate and be competitive on both sides of the ball. I just want to give one quick shout out to Tyler Bass won a kicking competition in practice this week and had he not won that competition with Havr sick who they brought in it's likely that Havr sick would have been elevated and Tyler Bass would have been a healthy scratch. And so he won the kicking competition he kept his job for another week and he came on the field and hit 100% of every
kick that he tried. So if that's what it takes if they got to bring in a different kicker every week and have them compete against Terry or Terry Tyler Bass to keep his his confidence up that's let's do that. It's amazing that that is where we're at and the bills kicking saga but you know what he earned it and I'm I'm totally cool with him keeping his job for the time being again I see in a higher leverage situation will see what happens. I'm really worried. Yeah.
Well but I'll say this. I actually found it kind of heartwarming that the fans in attendance got up for him like really did. I think everyone wants to see him succeed. I expect I expect nothing less after the show support he got last season after the miss against Casey like yes. Meatheads like us have been talking on this podcast openly about challenging him for his job. But the reality is is that much of Bill's mafia they want
to see these dudes succeed. Like it makes no sense to root against guys on the roster to fail just so you can be right. And some stupid argument you're having with your buddies. And like that's what I've always enjoyed about being a part of this fan base is that we get stuff like that. Sure true story true story. So really quick man before we wrap it up here let's talk about trade candidates. We were the beneficiaries of trade already with the
Cleveland Browns bringing in a Mari Cooper. And while we have noted that Cooper played a limited snap count as he learned this offense when he was out there he was immediately taking the attention of the Tennessee Titans defense and opening things up for the other guys on offense. And he had a productive day in and of himself including his first catch as a
Buffalo Bill being a touchdown from Josh Allen in the red zone. JJ one of the things even through the rough patch that the bills had on that three game road trip that has been consistent has been their red zone production. And because Cooper is such a great mid range target for them. I'll ask Stefan Diggs and where he was at at the end of his tenure.
It feels like now finally they have guys that can attack at every level of the field. But more importantly I mean in the red zone this is a very dynamic offense and Cooper makes it even more so. So JJ real quick thoughts here I got two questions for you as we leave here. What do you think about Cooper's debut as a Buffalo Bill and are there other players out there that you feel like being in company may target at the trade deadline.
So first of all I thought his debut was good. I think his his first target as a bill being a clear drop when he leads the NFL and drops made everybody a little bit cringe you know cringe a little bit like oh yikes myself included. But then to turn that around and have the next four targets all go for receptions and the next media next one to go for a touchdown.
I think everybody saw what they needed to see not to mention you saw this passing offense look productive and look functional like it hasn't in weeks even against the jets it did not look super functional. So I think that that that was helpful and I'm hopeful that that continues and that you know essentially with him moving up into the upper echelon of snap counts getting closer to 100% of you know snaps on offense and knowing the playbook
the just the better it's going to be. And I think that Josh Allen showed a lot more comfortability and patience having him on the field for those snaps. I mean it was a difference you could notice a difference in the way that Josh was dropping back with the
ball when a Mari Cooper was out there. Oh yeah absolutely. It's an immediate rapport that I think is only going to get better throughout the course of the season and listen he's got all the routes on his route tree just like Stefan Diggs did and I don't want to draw
too many comparisons. Diggs and Cooper both throughout their 10 years in the NFL have been really dynamic players but when you look specifically at what this team was missing it was someone who could win at a variety of levels of the field not just a deep threat not just in short area yard situations and having a guy like Cooper who's such a technician with his route tree and you can line him up in a variety of different places it just feels
like now everybody else's role on this offense makes sense. We already we already said it before but it's bears repeating. Matt Collins' snap share I think deservedly went down as did his target rate but he was out there in situations that set him up for better success. That Ray Davis touchdown the lead blocker in the touchdown Matt Collins and that's the
kind of player Matt Collins is. He's not the guy who you target on third and seventh in the red zone on a on a middling slant like they did against the Jets the week prior he's not your gotta have it play guy but he's a dirty work guy which is what Gabe Davis was. He's the guy who's going to get out there and block until his his teammate running back is in the end zone like we saw and that is what sets up Matt Collins and his skill set
for the most success in this unit. We already saw the benefits to Keon Coleman not just on the stat sheet but in some of the favorability and matchups that he got and now this allows Cleal Shakir shoot you do whatever you want with Shakir like we have been sleeping on the fact that Shakir is in fact fast and can stretch the field in ways that a lot of the other wide receivers on this unit Cooper and Coleman included cannot but he can also be
a reliable target in the slot and be a yak guy. You can now do so many so many things that play to the strengths of this wide receiver group because you've got a guy as reliable and consistent as a Mario Cooper. Absolutely. And to kind of go off of your previous comment you know about possible trade targets. I really I don't see a lot of holes in the bills defense right now or offense that they could address with a with a player by trade especially somebody
who's going to take like substantial resources. But I mean some players that might you know might be worth a mid round pick or something. They could pry Andre Cisco away who's sort of the enemy of Jacksonville right now for calling out all of his teammates for being you know lackadaisical low effort players. I think that that could be that could be somebody
bring him home. He's from Syracuse. You want Syracuse. Yep. Bring him back to you know the kind of upstate area and see if he can you know play play into a role with the bills because I think immediately he would upgrade either safety position and you know of a starting through a trio of you know Andre Cisco Taylor wrap and Cole Bishop really excites me you know for late season. Yeah. They're all sort of that exciting splash player types. Yep.
No I agree. And on the right side age wise of their careers too. I do I feel like we I feel like we need another edge presence like Van Miller was playing well before his suspension granted. But I just feel like we need another dude and like we need another dude that is not up and as a who's going to start opposite of Russo. Okay. Can I interest you in a different AFC East target and Josh Uche. I could be interested in Uche for a
mid round for a mid rounder. I listen man. I I want Max Crosby and I'm going to tell you why how many how many ones would you send for Max Crosby because it's more than one. It's one. It's just one just one one. It's just one one. It's just one one. I feel like I feel like it's just one one like will Las Vegas want more. Yeah. I don't know that anyone
though because you eventually do need to rework Crosby's deal. This is the this is the last year that I believe he has fully guaranteed money on the contract and then he's got two years of non guaranteed after this. So you do need to bring a guy like that in assuming
you're going to work a deal. But the bills have the cap space next season to spend. And listen they're one they're probably spending on an edge because they're going to part ways with Von Miller or at least they should part ways with Von Miller at the end of this season.
And they're going to be looking for another running mate for Greg or so. Why not spend that one on a proven top two or three edge rusher in the league and Max Crosby and then figure out the money for next year because you know you can't you know you've got that bandwidth. I mean he signed through the 2026 season. I think I think the last two years there were non guaranteed. Right. Yeah. Yeah. But the last two two years have a twenty eight million and twenty four million dollar cap it. So like
that's pretty affordable for an elite edge rusher. Absolutely. I might not tear up his deal I might just find a way to get that money on the cap. Right. Or promise him a little bit more guaranteed money so you can really flex that cap for the next couple of years to sure. I think. Oh that's a dream. Why would you do this to me. You just like don't don't
you dare do this. Don't give me hope. I mean listen we know where Brandon Bean is best Brandon Bean his best first round picks have been Josh Allen and Stefan Diggs who he traded the pick for. Yeah. Like that's the reality and that's no shade at a guy like Rousseau
Rousseau to me is a B plus first round pick. He's a solid performer but he needs a running mate next to him to really be his true self and realize his potential like Greg Rousseau isn't going to be the first defensive end in and for any team to pick if they're building a roster from scratch in like a fantasy draft like he's not going to be the one that a team
is like ooh he's our cornerstone edge rusher. Exactly. Yeah. So do you fire yet another first round pick into this defensive line or do you send it with some additional compensation. I mean listen maybe it's a one and maybe it's that Minnesota Viking second round pick which now looks a lot like it's going to be a lot closer to where the bills were naturally pick in the second round based on how good they've gone but that is compensation that I would
trade for a guy like Crosby to have an immediate and long term effect on the steam. I've seen Miles Garrett thrown out there too. There's no way. No. There's no way. No it's like three ones like what's that going to be. Yeah. Miles Garrett like Max Crosby is elite Miles Garrett is on a different level. Yeah. Miles Garrett is is like Diet Coke Bruce Smith like that's
you're not you know it's it's a generational talent. Well I think the other thing about Max Crosby Max Crosby strikes me as the kind of guy who for whom Buffalo he might live in Buffalo the rest of his life after retiring. He just feels like a Buffalo guy. He does he absolutely does. Max with two X's I mean I've seen store fronts you know with that title on them. Yeah I mean listen man the Buffalo bills are the exact middle of the pack
in pressure rate and pass rush win rate this season. It has not been a poor defensive line effort but it has also not been great and the reality is is that eventually you've got
to figure out a way to contain a guy like Lamar Jackson. You've got to figure out a way to get to and bring down a guy like CJ Stroud who is very comfortable in pressure but like a lot of pocket passers when you hit him like we saw against Green Bay this past weekend you can disrupt him and then you finally need somebody who's just going to absolutely destroy Patrick Mahomes and Max Crosby has made it his mission as a raider to do that. Like I
just think the Crosby deal makes a lot of sense. It's going to be higher end compensation and you got to rework the deal probably a little bit but at the end of the day worth it for both the short term and long term impact. And then you're working an edge rotation that is Gregor so AJ Epin as a Von Miller when he comes back and Max Crosby name me a deeper four. Name me a deeper four. I'll wait. Right. No I can't. I can't. No it's a good look.
For me it's edge and I really hope Bean does something and doesn't sit pat because this defensive line is good enough against the Titans will not be good enough against the Ravens Chiefs or Texans. Yeah. Fair. JJ is always good pah-ton with you. For those of you listening at home like share and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts YouTube soon to come Apple and Spotify and as always go Bills. Go Bills.