Sean McDermott Show, Week 15

joined Sean McDermot. Sean, we're going to talk about last week's Baltimore game. You know, you knew it was going to be one of those games. Their defense is good, Your defense is good. These offenses you need a derail. You've seen good offensive before and had the ability to do it. You did it again this week. But in games like that, the margin of air is so short, and you just came up one or two plays short. Yeah, we did. I thought our defense had a good plan

going in Steve to your point, guys executed. They played really hard. We had one play after half where we where we didn't execute and it bit us in the butt. But overall, I thought the defense gave us a chance throughout the game. Yeah, fans tend to like I was a good team, you know, kind of like, you know, we kind of measured up with those guys. It was a message to your team after that game. I'm pretty sure it wasn't like E's okay, guys, don't worry about it.

I'm pretty sure that was not. No, it was it was. It was basically, we're not going away, right, but we've got to learn from what happened in the game while we got the results we did, and then make the corrections this week as we moved forward. In a tough game against Pittsburgh. Now you mentioned it, your defense really showed up in an offense that is unique. It's powered by really great players, maybe the MVP of the league behind some great skilled players, a great, powerful running game,

some unique things about at the misdirection. It's executed well, well coached. Your defense showed up big. What's that tell you about the guys in the mindset you've got where you know, two weeks ago in Dallas, you played the number one offense, You played the most unique and maybe the most powerful offense, and you've played well against both

of them. Yeah, I think they've established themselves with a good foundation of who they are right week to week that the defense can travel whether it's been on the road or at home, and late in the year, earlier in the year, we've had our ups and downs, but we've made course corrections, if you will, along the way. And I think we've got good leadership led by Leslie Frasier, the defensive staff and then and then the player of

driven leadership has been there as well. So we've got to continue to grow on that side of the ball. It's not perfect, but we've got a good foundation. League. There's an interesting weird thing that happened in this game.

In weeks past. The one thing that has happened to your defense is once in a while they'll get nicked in the run game and you totally cut their production and have how I know, it's a week to week league, but man oh man, that's a difference in what we've seen from your defense and to a team when it really needed to show up someplace where you haven't been as strong, and wow, you really showed a big well. And that's where you make corrections. Throughout the season. Things

come up. It's how you adjust because people are going to try and attack in similar ways to the way you've been beat before struggled before. So I think that's part of coaching, is you make adjustments and you continue to drill those adjustments on the field. The players did a phenomenal job of executing, and they take a lot

of pride in that defensive room and how they do things. Well, how do you battle that frustration when you put together performance like that and you get one play that's the difference. And I know these games are closed and there's always one play you can point too, but man, how how do you fight that frustration of putting together an effort like that and still not being able to get Yeah,

I try not to. You know, I've committed myself to looking forward and not back this week because you read across the bottom of the ticker on the TV screen it says, you know, pass for three touchdowns and this and that and one was a two yard touchdown, the other think was a three yard touchdown, and then you had that, you know, so you got to be on point for all sixty five plays. So really, in a game like this and this last chance, last question I

have about your defense, how do you fight that? Because it seems to like a defense pops up out of nowhere and also bang, big play. How do you fight that? I mean, because it's not a systemic problem, it's not a chronic problem. It's not it's just something that all of a sudden shows up. How do you what's the plan for battling something like that a big place? Well,

it's disciplined throughout the game, right, it's sideline reminders. Hey, how can we keep our players downed in throughout the game and continue to make adjustments and give them their right reminders at the right time without weighing them down and so they can continue to play fast. I was going to move ask you about the bright spot offensively

this week to me had to be Devin Singletary. I mean, there's a young kid that the beginning of the year, you know, he fought through an even an injury, but even before the injury, like flash and like okay, what do we got here? Took a few weeks off with the hamstring. Now he's back and there's no doubt he's your lead guy, and he put on a very nice

performance against a very tough defensive Land. We were Devin's motivated, you know a lot of these young guys come in, it's a long season, and some of them hit the wall. And I think Devin he continues to get stronger every week, and that's a credit to him. It's a credit to his routines, to Kelly Skipper, the running bass coach, and also our offensive line. They're the ones out there blocking for him. The receivers are doing a good job, was well on the perimeter, and so it's never just one

guy in this case, it's it's a whole unit. All right. Thanks for those insights, appreciate it. We're gonna be back for more or later in the show for your final thoughts. Chopping Wood is presented by Saint Bonaventure University, the official education provider of the Buffalo Bills. Welcome back to the Sean McDermott Show. Steve Tasker once again joined to chop some wood with Eric Wood, the analyst for the radio broadcast. Eric tough matchup. You knew it was going to be

a hard fought game. Came down to a single possession at the end, but the Baltimore Ravens really showed why they may be the best team in the National Football League. Yeah, they're now on a nine game winning streak and they're playing incredible football, likely the MVP of the NFL playing quarterback for them. The encouraging thing is the Bill's defense played great. The offense unable to hit some of those shots down the field against all those cover zero blitz

looks by the Ravens. But you gotta like the Bills progression this season getting better and better, and you played down to the wire likely the best team of the National Football right now. Yeah, you talk about that Bill's defense putting it together such a great effort. It starts really in the middle there with Tremaine Edmonds. He's made some plays throughout this season that have really been difference makers and another one showed up in the game against Baltimore. Yeah,

it did. And as we go to the film, Tremaine has been great in coverage all year. He's great against the run, and here this is a look that Sean McDermott and Lason Frasier will often use six guys at the line of scrimmage and they utilize this a number of times against the empty sets of the Baltimore Ravens. And on this play, Tremaine Edmonds is coming on a pressure well as he gets blocked, he simply retreats because he's not going to get home, but he occupies the blocker.

He then gets into the passing lane and the ball is tipped up, and because he didn't just continue to aimlessly rush, he's able to get back and after the ball is tipped up in the air, he makes the interception. Huge play in the game for the Bills. Jremaine Edmonds in Virginia Tech, he played with his hand on the ground and now he's a stand up middle linebacker here in the NFL and really shows up in pass coverage

as much as anything because of his range and athleticism. Yeah, super athletic and super long, and what he's able to do this is another six guys at the line of scrimmage, a look. We mentioned it before. Again you see the same look. And this is a huge crucial play in the Titans game earlier in the season, and because of his length, because of his athleticism, he's able to get into the passing lane and tip the ball away. And

those past deflections. You know, we talk about how great the Bills past defense is and a lot of the credit goes to the secondary, but the Bill's defensive line and linebackers have been extremely valuable this year getting their hands in the passing lane, and once they tip that ball, anything can happen because defenders are kind of aware of it and receivers are not flipping over to the Bill's next opponent, it's Pittsburgh Steelers, and they lead the NFL

with thirty three takeaways, thanks in part to a guy they got midway through the season. Make a Fitzpatrick. Five interceptions on the season, two touchdowns, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles. I mean, that's stat line's ridiculous. Yeah, And then here we get a chance to look at a long pick six. And this is a kind of play when you take points off the board for your opponent and put them on for your team. It's hard to bounce back if you're the Indianapolis Colts from a play

like this. Absolutely, And one guy I want to talk about, and you don't often see it, but Quentin Nelson one of my favorite players watching the NFL for the Colts. I know this is the Meca Fitzpatrick highlight, but I like my man hustling fifty six. He's got no shot to catching them. But you know what I'm gonna lay out ninety two and the next time we get on the field, he's gonna remember that. I like that. But getting back to Meca Fitzpatrick, good players, the ball seems

to find their hands. And here you see Micka Fitzpatrick getting an interception off of tip ball and these are huge plays and for a Steelers team that is without Ben Roethlisberger, well now they're getting it done with their defense again and Mica Fitzpatrick is making a lot of plays. Mica Fitzpatrick coming out out of that and some of those so many of those guys have the high football IQ that you know, they just play to the end of the play. And this scoop and score right here

is an example of that. Mica Fitzpatrick always around the ball, ball hawking safety when the ball is losing on the ground, he always seems to be in the vicinity. And this time it turns into a scoop and score as this was rule to fumble and upheld and replay. Yeah. So, like we mentioned two touchdowns on the year, and this one is a play where he's just out hustling people. He's going towards the ball and a lot of people stop from this play and he ends up with a touchdown.

And like we said, when you have so many injuries on offense, for them to be leading the league in turnover forced turnovers, that is absolutely huge for this team. And it sets up this huge Sunday Night football matchup that we have coming up this week. You have Sunday Night Football the Buffalo Bills in Pittsburgh to play the Steelers. It's going to be quite quite a scene primetime in Pittsburgh. It's always a difficult matchup. Good luck with that broadcast.

Is going to be a fun game. Yeah, we'll be appreciate it. Thanks for joining us. We'll be right back. Game preview is presented by Independent Health from here every day, You're unexpected. That's the Red Shared Treatment. Maddie Glaviner. This week's game preview. The nine and four Buffalo Bills are on the road this week as they take on the eight and five Pittsburgh Steelers. It's Buffalo's first Sunday Night

football appearance since two thousand and seven. The Bills now nine and four, and next week the Bills go to Hines Field in Pittsburgh for Sunday Night Football eight fifteen kick off. The Bills will go up against the Pittsburgh team who's won their last three games with Devilin Hodges as their starting quarterback. Over the last three games, Hodges is fourth in the league averaging nine point five yards

per pass attempt. He is the first undrafted rookie QB to win his first three starts since nineteen eighty seven. Pittsburgh has a strong fifth ranked defense that thrives up front. The Steelers have also registered at least one sack in fifty four straight games, which is the longest active streak in the NFL. The Bills will be looking to score more than seventeen points in this game because they are a perfect eight oh when they put more than seventeen

on the board. Going into last week's game against the Ravens, Baltimore was second in the league converting forty nine percent of their third downs, but only converted twenty seven percent against the Bills. There is no drop off for the d defense when they are on the road. They ranked third and limiting opposing passers to a seventy two point six QB rating. Opposing quarterbacks have completed only fifty seven point eight percent of their passes for six touchdowns and

six interceptions in six games. The last time the Bills beat the Steelers was in nineteen ninety nine. The final score was twenty four to twenty one and it was a home game for Buffalo. Steve, back to you, thanks as always, Maddie appreciated. We're back with Sean McDermott. Sean, this Pittsburgh team that you're going to face this weekend is built a little bit like your team, stout defense and an offense that you know, you just want to make enough place to win, you know, kind of condensing

it down. But what's your message your team about that squad and how tough this is going to be in Pittsburgh on Sunday. Yeah, Well, we're going on the road. We're going to a hostile environment. And it's a good football team with good continuity, a long tradition of playing good football, and they're well coached, physical football team. They've got good lines on both sides that are established veteran

lines with good personnel. So we're gonna have to play our best game of the year, there's no doubt about it, Steve, and take care of the football on the offensive side and special teams if we expect to win this game. Now, I know what you're gonna say, but you know, you say take care of the football. As Steelers lead the league with thirty three takeaways, it has really powered their ability to get passed down to the third or fourth

string quarterback in the game. What's your message to your own team about you know, once it's hard to say, be extra careful with the ball, don't you know? You don't take any risks with the football. You gotta do something offensively. But this is a game where turnovers could be the engine that you steal from them. Yeah. No, the ball is big, you know, and it's always big. But late in the year the football and fundamentals. People overlook fundamentals as well, late in the year, in particular,

thinking it's a magic formula here or there. No, it's it's it's it's what wins early in the year, wins late in the year, what wins through pop one or wins at our level, it's fundamentals and take care of the football. Yeah, all right, so you mentioned late in the year. Okay, so certain words start creeping in the vocabulary. Playoffs, tiebreakers, seeding, If you win and you're in, you're in the driver's seat. You control your dad. All this stuff creeps into the vernacular.

What's your message to your team? What does it mean to be playing in significant games in December, which is what you've always worked for, but still now that you're here, what's your message to the team about keeping on keeping on? Yeah, we've got to continue to grow as a football team. You're looking and say, hey, listen, what we can control. Let's control. We can control whether we win or lose.

Right in terms of we can't control what happens around us in the division, outside of the division where we play, the weather. We control what we can control and that's what we have to focus on this week in terms of our preparation. Thanks Sean for your insights, appreciated. Thank you at home for watching. We're going to come back next week and recap the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night football game and look ahead to the New England Patriots in

week sixteen in Foxborough. Thanks for watching. Everybody, have a great weekend. The Sean McDermott Show is sponsored by Independent Health from here every Day to your Unexpected That's the Red Shared Treatment, and by Yancy's Fancy New York Artisan Cheese. The official cheese of the Buffalo Bills