Sean McDermott Show, Week 15

thanks as always for joining us. You're coming off a huge win over the Steelers, who are one of the top two teams in the National Football League by way of their record, and a lot of critics are calling this a statement win. But what did you learn about your football team? Well, you know, I'm not sure what a statement win is, honestly, Steve. I think that term has been being thrown out there about our games this past season, and that's fair, I know. I think the

bigger thing is it's number ten. It was number ten and now we're focused on number eleven. Give their players and coaches and staff for a tremendous amount of credit for the plan that was put in place and executed at a high level. Oh, the offense got off to a really slow start against Pittsburgh and then tarn Johnson snagged to pick six right before halftime. What did that interception do to energize your team knowing that they were

going to get the football right after the half? Yeah, I thought it was a pivotal moment in the game. You know, great called by Leslie Fraser, well executed by the entire defense, and you know those players don't happen by themselves. A lot of times the rush has to compliment the coverage and vice versa. And I thought that's what happened really on both of our takeaways. You know, well right after the halftime, you got Steph Diggs involved,

and really that ignited your entire offense. Diggs had six catches for eighty three yards and a touchdown in the third quarter. What adjustments did you make at halftime to get him and your offense going in the third quarter. Just great community, location and collaboration overall, Steve at halftime with the offensive staff players, and it just different. Came

out with the different attitude. You know, Josh was able to get into a rhythm that our offensive line did a better job in the second half, right from the start, establishing the line of scrimmage, which is what you need to do to play winning football. Well, Steph Diggs can't

get going if Josh Allen doesn't get going. Josh was ten of ten for one hundred and sixteen yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter alone, and after he found Diggs for the touchdown, then he came back and found Gabe Davis for a touchdown on the next drive. How did josh is bounce back from the first half and turn things around, arguably against the top defense in

the National Football League? How did that happen? I think that's really the cool part about the way we played in the second half is that things, Yeah, things didn't go our way. We were a little bit more challenged and we wanted to be or not in a rhythm offensive in the first half. But when you can make those adjustments, when you can play yourself through it, I

think that says a lot about our group. And the communication obviously was there, and you don't want to hold those adjustments and you don't want to turn on the film on Monday morning and say, oh, man, I wish I would have seen that. We saw what was going on. We adjusted in the players executed, and another player, Levi Wallace, had one of the biggest plays of the game and somewhat sealed the victory for you with his interception in

the fourth quarter. He made a great play on a deep ball and one on one coverage against James Washington, who had beaten him earlier in the game for a touchdown. What can you say about the way Levi stepped up big for you in the fourth quarter. Well, I think it goes back to his week of practice, Steve. He really had a great week of practice and I was focused on really growing throughout the week and love that

attitude in that mindset that he embraces. And he went out executed his technique and played at a very high level. And he was certainly being tested, as was Josh Norman. But I thought that two of them combined did a really good job. Levi making that big play at the end for us. After the Levi Wallace interception, your offense went to work and he didn't let Pittsburgh touch the ball for the final seven men and eleven seconds. You threw the ball, you ran the ball. It really couldn't

be stopped. How did it feel to see your offense put together a game closing drive of that magnitude. Well, it was fun to watch, it really was. That's why we practiced the way we do and sometimes people wonder why, Well, that's why. That's why we go on pads and work against each other ones versus ones and do our run drill like we do or like we've been able to do most of the year, and that's got to continue down the stretcher for us. Well, coach, your defense held

the Steelers in check on third down. They were just one of ten in the game. It's pretty incredible. What was your key to slowing the Steelers down on third down? How did you plan to carry that into your upcoming game plans? I just think overall, our players took a good game plan sculpted by our defensive staff Leslie Frazier, and they added their signature to it. You know, they played physical, they played fast, they complimented one another, as

I mentioned before. And to get a Hall of Fame quarterback to go one for ten basically on third downs, it's tough, but give our guys a lot of credit. Man. They came out and they understood what we had to do to win the game and they execute. Now, your offensive line did a great job handling the pass rush of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are arguably the best team getting after the quarterback. You only allowed one sack and

Daryl Williams neutralized t J. Watt. What did your coaching staff do to prepare for a team like the Steelers and their pass rush and what adjustments did you have to make to slow them down? Well, Number one, it starts with us. I thought, our offensive staff always starts with a good plan of Hey, you know what do we do best and let's start with that. And then you know who do they have that can that can

ruin the game plan? And certainly t J. Watt and Hayward and their group on that defense, very talented defense to ruined game plans that are hurrying, and that's where the adjustments come in. It's it's one thing to have a plan, and it's another thing to be able to adjust to the course of the game. Thanks coach, We'll catch up with you later in the show and get your final thoughts on your upcoming match with the Denver Broncos.

Shopping Wood is presented by Saint Bonaventure University, the official education provider of the Buffalo Bills. Welcome back to the Sean McDermott Show. In his time now to break down the film in another edition of Chopping Wood with our good friend Eric Wood. Eight. The Bills got off to a slow start offensively, but the defense got them their first touchdown and then the offense got rolling in the second half. What were the biggest difference makers for the

Bills against the Steelers. Well, I'll say early on in the game, when you're facing the best defense in the NFL, the offense is going to need a little time to get some traction. Well, the defense provided a bunch of stops in the first half, and they also provided a touchdown, which you know, half that you only score three points as an offense, it's great to go into the half of the league. Yeah, Well, let's start with this pick six by Taron Johnson before or a half. Taron Johnson

does a great job here. It keeps his eyes on Ben the whole way. A bunch set, which is what the Steelers had to start this play. It's a tough formation for defensive backs to always diagnose. There's a lot of moving parts in front of him. He does a great job of jumping the route, catching the football which both sets of receivers earlier in the game had trouble doing, and then he takes it to the house. Later on, we got a glimpse of Stefan Diggs in this first half.

He's caught a slant on a third and three, then he bounced off a big hit from Minca Fitzpatrick for a twenty three yard game. The Bills desperately needed a first down at this point of the game. They're already down seven. They couldn't give the Steelers defense the ball right back, and Stefan Diggs is the guy you got to go to in the situation. You know, he's got

two guys in that area. He bounces off Minca Fitzpatrick gets another twenty plus yards on the ground himself, and throughout the night, Stefen Diggs was too much for the Steelers to handle. The Bills got it together over halftime and they came out firing in the third quarter. Josh connected with Diggs four times on the first drive after half, and the fourth one went for this nineteen yard touchdown.

Twice on this drive, Stefan dis made cornerbacks fall in the moisture in Orchard Park might have lent some of that to it, but he was also running incredible routes. Once the dB falls here, Stefan Diggs sees the opening of the defense, splits the safeties and does a great job of capping off this drive for a touchdown. Yeah. So the defense forces a three and out and then Josh and Days go right back to work on the next drive. This one goes for twenty two yards on

a first and ten. Yeah. The Steelers were out there three linebackers heading into this game, so the middle of the field is an area they wanted to attack. But in order to attack that area with your receivers, you got to have protection. The protection wasn't always there in the first half. Well, here it was. They run a play action and as Moss sat in front of the linebacker, that created a huge opening for Diggs right behind him. Yeah.

And then on the very next play, Josh came back to Diggs again and this one went for nineteen yards as well. Yeah, this route concept, this is extremely tough for a defensive back, and this is basically Josh and Digg. It's just understanding and having trust that Diggs is going

to sit in an open zone. He makes a couple different moves trying to sell that he's going to run an over route all the way across the field, and that's what the safety thought, and he's the linebacker broke when Josh went to release, he thought the exact same thing, and sure enough Diggs is sitting behind him on the play as well. Then in the fourth quarter of the Steelers look poised for maybe a comeback, and then Levi

Wallace comes up with the enormous intersection. Levi Wallace was beat earlier in the game by Washington for a touchdown, and he does a great job of staying with this play and then making an incredible play on the ball in the air. I would I like to see him put a little bit better effort in on the return, and I'm mainly kidding there, but he does a great

job of making a play on the ball. And if they're going to get cornerback play like this across from Tredavious Wifer the remainder of the season, then the Bill's defense is going to be in great shape. It was great to see the Bills get a statement win and Eric, thanks for this with us. Thanks for chopping wood again this week. For sure. Thanks Steve Matti glab here with this week's game preview. The ten and three Bills are heading to the Mile High City to face the five

and eight Bronchos in a week fifteen matchup. With a win, the Bills would win the AFC East for the first time since nineteen ninety five. Buffalo will be taking on a Denver offense that ranks low in several categories. They averaged just under twenty points per game, which is twenty ninth in the league, and have the most giveaways in the NFL with twenty nine. Quarterback Drew Lock has thrown

thirteen touchdowns in thirteen interceptions. He also has the worst completion percentage at fifty seven point three percent, but they still manage to have big play success. The Broncos have fifty five plays of twenty or more yards. The Broncos defense allows close to twenty seven points a game, ranking twenty third amongst other teams. The Bills are coming off a win against the Steelers, were two receivers in Cole Beasley and Stefan Diggs both hit career highs in receiving

yard first single season. Figs is also the first receiver this year to make it to one hundred receptions. Buffalo ranks ninth, averaging twenty seven point six points per game and has the third best passing offense, averaging two hundred and seventy two point eight passing yards a game. Josh Allen has the sixth best completion percentage in the NFL, completing passes sixty eight point eight percent of the time. The Bills defense has takeaways in eight straight games and

multiple takeaways in four of the last five. They currently tie for fourth with twenty one takeaways this year. Over the last seven games, the Bills tie for ninth allowing only twenty one point nine points per game and ranks second allowing a third down conversion rate of only thirty one point three percent. The Bills leave the series against the Broncos twenty two sixteen and one, winning the last two matchups. That's this week's game preview, Steve back to you.

Thanks as always, Maddie, coach. You're coming off back to back prime time wins. You now have a different kind of primetime game this week against the Broncos on Saturday. How much does the slightly shorter week impact your preparation and how would you say your team is adjusted to playing in the national spotlight. I'll take the latter part

of that question first here. It's you know, the biggest thing for us is getting into a good routine, and I think our players have adjusted nicely to these shortened weeks and and and getting the rest of they have to have to have to go out there and play good football, and so it's a continual adjustment. But you know, you've got to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and that's what

that's what happens down the stretch. And so real, real, proud of the guys and listen, there's there's challenges every week and we just got to embrace the challenge and find a way to get it done. Well. With a win, you could clinch your first AFC East title and the first for the franchise in twenty five years. How important is that to you and your guys in the locker room. Well, it's one of our goals for the season. Um, you know,

it's it's important that we win number eleven. That's really what our focus is all about this week, and we're happy that we have the chance an opportunity to do that. And you know, I think the bigger thing is is what it would mean to our fan base, and our ownership and our organization as a whole. As competitors, you know, we're focused on number eleven, all right, Thanks coach, good luck this week against Denver. We're gonna be back next week to recap your game against the Broncos and preview

your Week sixteen matchup against the New England Patriots. Everybody at home, thanks for watching The Sean McDermot Show, presented by Connors and Ferris and as always, go bills final thoughts. It's presented by your local Toyota Dealers. The Sean McDermott Show is presented by Connors and Ferris. You're a Workers' comp attorneys, by Independent Health you deserve the Red Share treatment, and by your local Toyota dealers.