Jets-Bills Game Preview (12/6)

And as fans will soon find out, during my interview with Chris Brown and Buffalo Bills dot Com, he told me that there is a little bit of white stuff for waiting us in then six. Yeah, So basically, e A spoke to Chris Brown of Buffalo Bills dot Com and we'll see what he had to say. What did Chris have to say? Well, what did you guys hit on? I figured that you guys on the quarterback? I talked

a lot about the quarterbacks. Actually, um, you know, typically we're not promoting a ton of content outside the Jets because we have so many miles to feed here. But Chris actually asked me a series of questions about Sam Donald, and then a few questions about Josh Allen because he is writing a story this week where he's going to talk about both these guys potentially facing off for the first time in their NFL careers. As we tape right now,

it's Wednesday morning. Donald was limited at practice, didn't play last week. Let's see if they can ramp them up a little bit today. UH, have him shake off some of that rust and maybe I'll be ready to go. But that's how it started this week with me and Brownie and I said, hey, can you come on the podcast. Most of my questions were focused on the freak who is Josh Allen, and also a little bit about a potential matchup of Donald going against a very good Buffalo

Bills defense. Back in April, when Sam Donald was drafted third overall and Josh Allen was drafted seventh overall, everyone thought that this was going to be the matchup of the a f C East for the years to come, the post Brady era, and they didn't play against each other in Week ten. None of those guys played in Week ten. Josh Allen was still dealing with an elbow injury.

Matt Barkley played in his place, Josh McCown. His first start of the season came against the Buffalo Bills because Sam Donald had strained his right foot the week before in Week nine. So if these two guys play Sunday in Buffalo in the seven one six, the home of the A, what are you expecting out of these two guys? And on from a macro level is this I have to imagine Jets and Bills fans are excited about this

potential matchup for the years to come. Well, listen, I think over the last few weeks, I think if you're a Jets fan, uh, you want your team to win. And I know a lot of people the other end of the spectrum are thinking about the draft and I get that too. Listen, we we can't completely ignore that, especially if you are a fan, because you definitely want the top overall pick, because that means you would have the choice of the most talented guys in the country.

But that's not the way you think inside an organization. But you want to see Sam Donald play. He hasn't played more than a month, and that's tough if you're a fan. Just like the Bills went through something similar where you mentioned Alan strained elbow, so he was out of the lineup for three or four weeks. You know, you want both these guys on the field because these guys are your respective futures. I mean, I think they're

both big time talents. I told you this before the draft, and I went back and forth on Allen for a while. But by the time we spoke to a lot of people. Yeah, if I if my memory serves me correctly, once you came back from the owners meetings, you are in. Yeah. I like, these were my top two in the two thousand and eighteen draft class, and nothing that has been done this season has changed my mind. I know Sam Donald's leading the NFL and interceptions and he hasn't played

more than a month. I know Josh Allen his accuracy um. He continues to come up because people are talking about he's completing what fifty of his passes and things like that, and he's got some playground um to his game. But I like both of these kids, and I think they're

gonna be very good players. I'm very interested to see how Sam Donald comes back from his time away from the starting spot, because you talked about Josh Allen, and you see what he did since coming back from his injury, and regardless of the result of the games, I feel like Josh Allen has been making more plays and last week you look at it, he ran for a hundred

thirty five yards on nine carries. I'm just curious to see how much the game slows down for Sam Donald after coming back from injury, after watching Josh mccount operate the offense, not only operate the offense and on game day, but in practice and how he goes about a game

week as the starting quarterback for the team. So I'm very excited to see Donald play because we've talked about it numerous times that any reps a rookie gets are important reps because you start to develop quicker, you start to learn a little faster, and maybe maybe you never know, this time away will really expedite Donald's learning curve greens.

I'm not a quarterback. I hope you know that by now, but you could watching the last time Donald's out there in the field Miami, his feet and his eyes were off. If you just watched the film, his feet weren't where they needed to be, and he probably had his worst performance of his rookie season. And that's not a knock on Donald. I expected ups and downs, but you were seeing him hit a little roadblock in the season. He

had struggled the previous three games. I would mention though, that McCown, the consummate pro, the consummate vet who knows this offense inside it out, has come on the field the last three games and the Jets offense hasn't really changed too much. That maybe the turnovers haven't been as high because I think Donald had seven interceptions in the three games prior. He had four in his last meeting in week now. Yeah, yeah, against Miami, but he also

had I think it was three against Minnesota. You can correct me if I'm wrong. He didn't have any against the Bear. I thought it was. Yeah, it could have been definitely too. So here here's my deal, though, is that the Jets offensive struggles that can't not be blamed on Sam Donald alone because we saw Josh McCown come out there the last couple of weeks and again, not a knock and McCown. It's eleven guys as we're seeing because the Jets easily could have beat the Tennessee Titans.

Not easily, we're in position to beat the Tennessee Titans, and I couldn't get anything going inside the red zone. Zero three inside the red zone, Jason Meyer is a great game, but you gotta finish inside the twenty. The one encouraging sign offensively I thought was Jets rushed the ball for what one fifty six and four point seven yards to carry Jonathan Harrison playing center again, Dacota Dozer

stepped up at left guard. I like that. Uh, maybe the Jets can continue that path as far as you know, they having that balance, they got it going on the ground. But uh, you know Donald, long, long story short, Donald has unable to now take a step back, like you mentioned, because he was struggling at the point watch at the point he went down watch Josh McCown um. Also, you know, you get a different perspective from being on the sideline

because you mentioned Allen. I think Allen has played better since he was hurt and the Bill signed Derrick Anderson. I think probably helped him a little bit. I don't want to make any excuses for this Jets offense, but I will say that if Sam Donald starts Sunday against the Bills, I think this will be the healthiest offense offensive unit that he's played within a while. When you consider the bye week playing in and Quincy Noon were

getting fully healthy. Quincy, Robbie, and Jermaine Curse all played in Week nine against the Dolphins. But remember Robbie then missed the following week against the Hills, so I don't think he was fully healthy. And then you consider that Isaiah Roll I think had his best game in a long time against Tennessee Titans. Then you factor an Eli McGuire, You're factoring all these guys. It makes me a little excited because I think Donald will have the fullest healthy

arsenal at his disposing in a long time. If he gets the starts on that, the Bills are really going to challenge you. That's a good defensive football team. Their offense is not player playoff caliber, their defense certainly is their number one team in terms of past defense in the National Football League. The Jets have a great safety, a budding star in Jamal Adams. This safety pair that the Bills have Mica High Jordan player very good. Um,

they're gonna throw out his own at you. And I know a lot of people point that Donald struggled against the zone as rookie season. Well, maybe that's what the numbers indicate. I also watched Donald had the best game of his NFL career against the Indianapolis Colts zone defense, when he completed eight percent of his passes. That was his best game when the team was storing. All his zone coverage is at him. But this Buffalo defense, it's nasty.

They don't give up a lot of yards greens. I don't think it's gonna be another forty one to ten a fair another one side of affair. I think it will be a close game in Buffalo. Yeah, I just think that the last time these two teams met again, all players say this was the only time in the season that the Jets really got smacked and it was unfortunate. It rained, it poured, Everything went the wrong way for the Jets that day. And I don't think that will

be the case in Buffalo this week. But we'll talk about the Bills more in a bit, But I think it's time to hear from the man in the seven one six Chris Brown of Buffalo Bills dot Com. Alright, Chris, we gotta start with Josh Allen and what he did against the Miami Dolphins. How big of a step forward was that last week for the Wyomi product who the

Bills hope is the franchise passer. Yeah, I mean there's still some some work to be done by him because he still doesn't always trust what he's seeing from coverage. You know, teams are still throwing curveballs at him. But he is a dynamic, unique physical talent um who can do with his feet as well as with his legs. The encouraging thing about when he does take off and run is he has become more judicious and how he's finishing his runs now, he's not taking hits fighting for

extra yard. It he's getting out of bounds or he's sliding. The interesting thing about the game last week against Miami is the Dolphins did not have a linebacker who was fast enough to spy him. Uh. They put Kiko Alonso on him as a spy, and he was not enough to keep up with him so that nobody could run with him. Because he is so deceptively fast for a big guy at six ft five, So he was just he could run whenever he wanted to. He could have run for over two hundred yards in that game if

he wanted to. He finished with one thirty five on just nine carries. I mean he had three carries for twenty five yards or more. When he gets through the second level and all the TVs have their back turn. Now, you know they want him to progress as a pastor naturally, and I think he's taking incremental steps there. He's starting to develop a nice rapport with Za Jones, the second receiver,

second year receiver who works out of the slot. Um still not connecting as much as he wants to on those deep shots, but you know they're coming here and there, and I really just think it's a matter of time for him. What do you think about this week's matchup? And I'm gonna spend most of our time here today Brownie talking about the quarterbacks. But in terms of Lan when he faces the Jets defense, you mentioned a lon

So in Miami attempting to spy with him. Do you think the Jets might opt for a similar plan but with a faster guy. In terms of Darren Lee, yeah, I think the Jets have a better answer quite Frankly, I remember Darrenly, I think you're in a four or four or three at the combine. Uh, that's more the type of linebacker you need to shadow him, uh and at least corral him or cut him off. I mean, if if Keiko Alonso did not take the perfect angle,

he was flat out screwed. Um. With Josh coming at him and he was making him look silly out there trying to run him down, he just couldn't do it. Uh. There were a couple of plays late in the game where they actually had Manka Fitzpatrick spying him because because Kiko couldn't keep up with him and Manka, you know, while he is a big safety, he's not big in comparison to Alan. So you really better have a linebacker who can run, who's big enough to bring him down.

I mean, just two weeks ago against Jacksonville, Josh Allen on a quarterback draw from the fourteen yard line, stiffed armed defensive and Yannick in Gokway knocked him to the ground and then ran over a linebacker to dive into the end zone for a touchdown on a QB draw play. Um, he's just such a big human being. I mean, he's Cam Newton's side, that's how big you um. And I don't think a lot of people realize that until they see him in person and then they're like, holy cow,

he's a giant and oh, by the way, he can run. Um, you know. But again, I think everybody wants to see him develop more as a passer, and you know, I think he's finally in the handle on this offense. I mean, he's missed. He missed three games because of the elbow injury, you know, much like Sam Donald's been sidelined. But I think he really benefited from that watching a veteran like Derrick Anderson and even Matt Barkley run walked through in practice,

run first team in practice. How they watch and digest film and you know, get ready for the upcoming opponent. I think seeing a veteran doing it really helped him in the time that he was sidelined, and so when he did get back into the lineup, I think he was that much more prepared because he had a better means of procedure in getting ready for games. How's he developing in terms of being that passer inside the pocket? Like you said, you think it's a matter of time

before he hits on some of these deep ones. But the knock on Allen coming out of Wyoming, as we know very well, was he wasn't an accurate thrower of the football. There are a lot of different takes on both sides of that. You know that more than anybody. What have you thought about him, not just the arm strength, but making those throws that you have to each Sunday in the National Football League. Yeah, I mean he's certainly got the armed talent to do it. But yes, accuracy

and ball location is a big deal. I think he's improved with his ball location. He's worked for a countless number of hours with quarterbacks coach David Culley on his base. I think they tied his accuracy issues too, inconsistency with his feet in terms of base and balance, and so they've worked a lot on his feet, uh, to make sure he's got his feet underneath him when he delivers

the football. Obviously, they are going to be improvisational plays where there is not time to do that, um, But in most cases when he can set up in the pocket or even step up in the pocket, they are drilling him on a firm base. So his accuracy with his arm follows, and we've seen improvements in that area. Again, still not where they wanted to be, but it's certainly

better than it looked his last year of wyoming in college. Well, let's go back to April, and I know you don't have the draft grades, but do you think the Bills had interest in Sam Donald as well? Obviously they had to move up just to get to number seven, And to Josh Ellen, it's hard to really entertain who they like the most. They had all of those guys in

for personal visits. Sean McDermott is huge on having guys that he says has the Bills d n A. And what he means by that is guys who are team first, grinder type guys that you don't have to wonder what you're gonna get from them on week one or Week seventeen, no matter what your one lost record is, you're gonna get the same work ethic from those guys every single day.

Those are the people he wants in the building. And it's why a guy like Kelvin Benjamin was just released by the team this afternoon, a guy whose effort was questioned from time to time by fans and by teammates, wasn't pulling the rope with everybody else in the same way. Uh, They gave him every opportunity to change his tune. It didn't happen, and you know he's released this week, you know, and God off this roster because younger receivers are stepping up.

Those are the kinds of people he wants on his roster. Work ethic guys, and if you're not that guy, you're not gonna be here. Josh Allen passed that test, and I believe I don't know this for sure, but I believe Sam Donald got check marks in those boxes as well. You know, some of the other guys not sure. I know Josh Rosen had some personality questions coming out. I don't know if he checked all those boxes. Uh So, I don't know if he would have been on their

list per se, but I believe Donald was. If Donald indeed gets the ball the Sunday afternoon, as we're all anticipating VI his tod Bowl. So last week he could have played, but he just wanted to get him more reps. And by Sunday it will be more than a month since we've seen Donald in action. What kind of challenges

will this Bill's defense present him? Because Chris, I know the Bills are just four and eight, but that defense is playing in at a playoff caliber I would say, yeah, I mean number two in the league overall, and then number one against the past. I mean, do you want to talk about a formidable challenge for the Jets passing game, it's the Bills pass defense. I mean, the last four opponents in a row have not put together a hundred and fifty net passing yards against the Bills. And it's

not because they've been running all over them. Uh you know, Jacksonville. You could say, Okay, they're a running team, They're not gonna throw it a lot anyway. You could understand why they might not get to a hundred and fifty net passing yards. But you know last week against the Dolphins, yes and Nicol and dime passing attack, but they had a hundred fifteen net passing yards. They've just really been locking it down on the back end, and their pass

rush is improved from what it was last year. Leslie Fraser has done a good job of scheming new wrinkles in each and every week with the pass rush. They have a new package this year with their free agent signing Raphael Bush, who is a backup safety, but he's been so good at such a great training camp that

they wanted to get him on the field. So they have this three safety package, which is kind of gut Bush is a hybrid linebacker and he was blitzing off the ends last week in a new wrinkle that really had the Dolphins crossed up. Uh. So, you know, with all of that role together, you know, and two safeties

who can disguise coverage with the best of them. I mean, Bill Belichick got a conference call last year, could not say enough about Micah Hyde and Jordan poy Are saying what they do before the snap most teams cannot do. They literally wait until the absolute last second before they get it. He says. Sometimes you snap the ball, they're

out of position. Um, but somehow they get to their spots and oh, it's this look that you weren't expecting because they hide it for they hold their cards to the vest for so long that they make it even difficult sometimes for Tom Brady to discern what's going on. So for a rookie like Sam Donald, you know, especially first game back, it's going to be a challenge. Rightfully saw them top narrative this weekend. Will be the first time in their careers where it appears Josh Allen and

Sam Donald will go toe to toe. But how about the L s U products taken in the first round last year by these respective teams. Jamal Adams goes number six overall and then the Bills traded back and they pick up a guy trade Davis White at both L s U products. What do you think about both of those guys, because you've seen Adams a number of times so far early in his career as well. Yeah, I mean, I think they're cornerstone defensive players for their respective clubs.

I don't think there's any question about that. I think Adams is more of a true leader type, at least from what I've heard and seen from him, you know, so not only a dynamic player at the safety spot, and I know he's probably I know, I believe he's the number one blitzer also, I mean he is their blitz back its essentially. And White, you know, is a dynamic,

lockdown corner. Not quite the vocal leader um that maybe Adams is, but you know that nose to the grindstone, loves the work every day, genuinely loves playing and wants to be the best. I mean, Trudeavias White has a picture of a Hall of Fame gold jacket above his locker, just to kind of remind himself every day of where he wants to end up when his career is over.

I know Adams kind of grinds the same way. There are two players that look like they're cut from the same cloth, and I think everybody's talking about Donald and Allen facing each other for the next ten years, hopefully if all goes well for both clubs. I think those two guys are ten year players on these teams as well. Well. Chris, I'm looking forward to coming back home. And thanks so much for coming on the podcast this week. Yeah, I mean,

we've got some snow ready for you now. I don't know if it'll be here on the weekend, but maybe i'll throw a shovel in your hand. Thanks buddy. All Right,

that was Chris Brown. Many thanks to Chris, and Yeah, I think it's interesting because we get so wrapped up in Alan and Donald and Alan and Donald, we forget that there's actually two great friends on the opposite sides of the ball here in Jamal Adams and Tradevious White seen first round picked for the Jets and Bills, respectively, And both of those guys we know about Jamal Adams this year one of the stars for the Jets. Well,

Trenevis White equally one of the stars for that Bill's defense. Yeah, Brownie said, they just go about their business different ways. You know, Jamal's the vocal He's becoming the vocal leader inside that locker room where tree. Davious White is a shutdown corner. I like that. You know, he's got uh photos of Hall of Fame jacket inside his locker and things like and things like that. So he was more of low key, not a big talker. But he's a

very good player. And I remember asking Tomorrow after he got drafted about Tradevius White, and he said, you know, that's my dog and that's my guy, and uh, those two guys are a very good defensive players. And I think they both should be Pro Bowl bound this year because Davious White he's a lockdown guy. He's he's just the top five corner in the league. Right now, What

a what a college secondary that was. I know, it's almost like you're thinking about it like it's like that the wide receiver group l s U and a couple of years ago with Backham and Landry, right, It's crazy when you think about all the talent that L. S US produced over the year, and of course Morris Clayborne was a part of that back in the day, Patrick Peterson back in the day. I mean, the list goes on and on, Tyron Matthew back in the day, so that the L. S U bloodline runs deep in the NFL,

there's no doubt about it. Yeah, I think that's just a storyline that I'm glad you brought it up because I'm glad we talked about it with Brownie. Is that rightfully? So we're gonna talk about the quarterbacks a lot this week, but Adams and White are going to be fixed on both of these teams, on these defenses for a long time. I want to talk a little bit more about Josh Allen because we know about the rocket arms, the ad R bombs, that he can throw, the quick release that

we've seen in the multiple press box TVs. But I don't think what people realize, and Chris Brown mentioned this that Josh Allen is huge and he's Cam Newton size, which means that he's an athletic freak and he'll put you in the ground if you're in his way. The comparison you've heard a lot for Josh you know, has been Ben Roethlisberger, and Chris has said this a lot

over the past couple of weeks. He said, like you mentioned, the true comparison is Cam Newton, because he's so big, he's so agile, he's fast, he's literally fast, and he had Kikollon so out of these shoes a couple of times last week because the Dolphins tried to spy him. Now, I asked Bart Scott, which you can watch Jets flight playing eleven thirty am CBS Sunday morning, about how do you defend this guy you spy him? He said, well,

you gotta fource some left. It's interesting. One of the plays we went over, which you have, Penny, you saw Allen being rolled left, thrown across his body with a strike unbelievable accuracy twenty three yards down the field when he was going left. So um. The other thing is do you spire him? The Jets might have that guy and Darren Lee, And that's what Chris Brown said, Hey, listen Lee. As far as being athletic, keego Lions will

run and hit linebacker and he's a good player. I don't know if he is quite the speed is lee. I'm very interested in this ball game and the elements too, because if it is though, will be the first time probably Donald's ever played in a game. I think he played in the snow. I think he talked about Utah. Yeah, I think that he's tame but not positive. But it was definitely a cold. And the other thing that Donald would be able to gain experience with, it's just playing

in one of the rowdiest environments. And I know both these teams are going to playoffs, and both these teams are gonna likely be top ten picks, but uh, this environment will be quite rowdy, and this is a good defense and be a great challenge for him and um I anticipate that whole play a lot better than the last time we saw him. But the Justice gotta figure it out offensively right now. It's it's tough going right now. If you look at the numbers, and it's just not

just stats. I think it was so frustrating for them to a man that just couldn't finish, and he couldn't finish in the red zone. But there's the play late where you try to run the ball to Cannon. One first down probably clinches that game. Without a doubt, and and that locker room was you know, there were few men, as top Bowls would say, and this is big time adversity, man, because you're talking about professionals six game losing streak. They

played hard in Tennessee. Again here we go. No moral victories, no participation trophies or anything like that, but they felt like they let one get away, and it's been so long. I just think that's a lot of pent up anger right now. I agree. I think that being the locker room after the game, it was almost fumid in a disbelief kind of way. I talked to Jonathan Harrison after the game, and he didn't really have answers for anything.

He couldn't fully digest. I don't think norc a lot of the players fully digest what had just happened, because the Jets had the lead until there were forty two seconds left in the game. Yeah, fifty eight minutes, and then Todd Bowl said that the one's gonna stick with him for the rest of his life. But how quickly can you turn the page? Because again I think there's a double whammy because it's really testing your professional pride. Because Number one Buffalo came in your house and give

you a beat down. They really did it, pushed you around in the trenches. Secondly, is Tennessee your latest game? You had one within your grasp and you couldn't finish. So how are you gonna respond? I guess we'll find out Sunday, Yes we will. Do you have any anything else here? Before we close up, Brownie said, bring your shovels Okay, that's fair, spoken like a true guy from the seven six. We will bring the shovel to Buffalo again,

Jets Bill Sunday, one pm. Perhaps we shall see the first meeting of Josh Allen and Sam Donald, two best friends that anyone could have. That's all we have here on the Official Jets Podcast. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next week of eight Doctors on actors and a