Sean McDermott Show, Week 9

play some ball, Go play some football. It's an exciting time to be a Buffalo Bill and a fan of the Buffalo Bills. Welcome into Week nine of the Sean McDermott Show, presented by Connors and Ferris, your workers comp attorneys. Sean, thanks as always for joining us. You're coming off two big division wins and you got your first victory against the Patriots. What did it mean to get your first

win against that organization? Well, it was emotional. I know there's been a lot of work put into it, and I know also know what it means to our fan base. Great to see our players go out there. Our coaches executed a high level and to get the win. Again I've said it after the game, Stephen, and I'll say it again here that I wish our fans were able to be in the stadium with us and experience that together.

I know they were out there watching it, and I can only imagine what it was like in the in the house and the homes around Buffalo and all the all the fans across the world that root for the Buffalo Bills. Yeah. And for the second week in a row, your defense sealed the deal for you in the second half. This time Justin Zimmer forced to fumble with under a minute to play that really won the game. You've used a number of different defensive linemen this year, but what

does Justin Zimmer bring to your defensive line. Well, he's such a blue collar guy man, very quiet, does his job. He plays scout team during the week and all honesty, and he plays in his normal role as a defensive tackle. So just love his approach. Man. Just a great DNA blue Jean type guy man. And that's his style of play, which I know the players respect and appreciate as well. Yeah. Well, you finally got your running game going against the Patriots.

Zach Moss had the best day of his young career. With eighty one yards on fourteen carries a couple of touchdowns. Motor has had he had eighty six yards on fourteen carries. Both guys averaged around six yards a carry. What was the key to getting that running game going against the

New England Patriots. Well, our offensive line really began the week on Wednesday, as we work here on the field and beginning Wednesday, and they had a great I thought, a great session of practice and really developing that mindset Steve of physical nature of our offense and that starts up front. And I thought our backs did a phenomenal job as well, running the way that that they did. That was a nice compliment of using the two of them and good to see on Sunday. Yeah, and years passed.

What happened on the first play of the game, third on third down, really a first third down of the game for your offense. You lost Mitch Morse right off the bat, and John Feliciano had to move over to center and his first came back this season. How impressed were you with Feliciano's performance in this season debut. Yeah, you know, in all honesty, were we had John on a pitch count going into the game, and just thinking he was going to play guard and work in a

platoon fashion there. But that obviously that plan went out the window rather early in the game with Mitch going down unfortunately, and so we you know, look when I came in, stepped in, he was prepared, did a great job, and then we were able to move John over, and I thought our offensive line coaches did a great job and balancing that and handling that, and then the players executed again at a very high level. Well in a week and against the Jets, you were over for five

in the red zone. Then week eight, you're three for four against the Patriots. How did you improve your red zone efficiency? How does that work? Well, we had we had been experiencing success up to that Jets game, as you mentioned, and then we kind of stalled ourselves in the high red zone there. And you know, we're a tough team to stop because of different components. We had

to our offense in the red zone. And it's exciting, honestly to watch who's the next person to carry the ball, who's the next person to get the ball thrown too, whether it's the red zone or in the middle of the field. Josh Allen's numbers have cooled off a little bit since his hot started. He's averaged three thirty one yards passing and three passing touchdowns a game over the first four games, but then the last four he's averaged just two hundred and twelve yards passing and one touchdown.

Do the lower passing numbers concern you at all or have they been more of a product or the matchups. I think more than anything, it's about winning games, and whether we do it on the ground or through the air, the number one thing we've got to do is win games. And then the biggest thing, honestly that leads to that is is taking care of the football, whether we do it again on the ground or in the air. I think Josh would would tell you that all he wants

to do is win games. And listens are certainly important, but at the end of the day, that w is what counts, and we just have to use those stats to continue to evolve our football team. Overall is you look at them as indicators more than anything on what we're doing well versus where we need to improve. All overall, your defense has improved quite a bit over the last two weeks. You had two sacks against the Patriots, one from Hughes and the other from Jefferson. You also had

four tackles for a loss and five quarterback hits. Are you happy where your defense is halfway through the season. Well, I think we're rounding out a little bit here. We're getting a better field for who we are. We're starting to do some things in a more coordinated fashion upfront and gaining a little bit of an identity in that regard. And I really appreciate those guys and the effort more than anything. They play hard and physical, which is important.

I think overall as a team, we're learning how to play fundamentally sound football and the you know, the elements of throwing and catching and running and blocking and tackling and getting off blocks. All of that will be necessary as we continue to move down the stretch. Well, thanks, coach, We'll catch up with you later in the show to get 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, and it is now time for another edition of Chopping Wood with our good friend Eric Wood. It's been a tough season for the running backs, but they finally got a rolling against the Patriots in Week eight. How did the Bills get their running attack going. Well, the run game came on just when they needed it to tough conditions because of the weather in Buffalo on Sunday, and they needed to get the run game going. So what did they do.

They went back to a lot of what they did in twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen with the ground game, and that was going back under center, and that seemed to keep the running backs on great tracks throughout the game and really got the run game going. Well, let's start by looking at Zach Boss. He had his longest carry of the day in the first quarter. What happened on this play? Yeah, so this is an outside zone concept to the left side of the field, and all

the blocks up front were excellent. And you know the first thing that sticks out to me is Ryan Bates playing center on this drive. Mitch Morse was out with an injury. It's tough being a backup and coming right into the game you're not warm. And I thought he had two really good blocks on the drive that he was in there. But Zach Moss has proven right now coming off the injury that he looks to be worth the investment that the Bills made for him, drafting him

in this year's draft. Yeah, they came back to that zone blocking on the next play for Moss's first rushing touchdown of the year. Yeah. Pre snap, the Bills will bring Gave Davis back across the formation. Then on the snap they bring him back the other way in a slice motion. This brings the defender that has him man away. It also makes it really tough for the Patriots defenders, especially the second level defenders to fit this properly. And this is a walk in touchdown in the red zone

for Zach Moss. Those don't come too often in the NFL. This is a great play designed by Brian Dave All hell, Zack Moss wasn't the only one who've got it rolling. How did the Bills get Devin's single Arry involved as well? So on this play for the Bills, it's another outside zone to the left side of the formation. This is becoming a theme. But what the center and the guard do on the left hand side is they block down

with Ike Butcher and they pull Feliciano around. What that can do is it pins the defense right there at the nose guard. If everybody just simply zones off the ball, then everyone can run laterally. So you'll use at times this pin and pool scheme versus a play side nose guard, and John Feliciano does a great job covering up the Patriots defender actually a defensive back playing at linebacker level.

Pretty easy block for Big John there. On that same drive, they came back to Moss in the red zone with a different look, and this time it was in a pistol formation. So again the Bills attack the Patriots defense with wide zone. And when the Patriots played with such big defenders on the field, especially across the line, oftentimes you'll go to this wide zone. You want to get them moving laterally and really take advantage of maybe just one of them misfitting the gap. And here you do it.

And this is just great strength by the rookie running back and everybody pushing with him to get him in the end zide. This is just Gray will in a great cap off to a drive. They came back to the under center running game a little bit with Singletary later in the third quarter. Tell us about what you see here. This is an excellent check by Josh Allen at the line of scrimmage. On the TV copy, you could hear him saying alert, Alert. He points to his helmet,

so he's switching the play. He sees that there's going to be pressure off the right side of the defense, so he checks to a run play to the left. Without a fullback, they're going to be outnumbered on the week side of the formation. On the right side, Darry Williams just gets enough at the backslide blocker, which is a tough block for him considering all the defense is going to be slanting away from the pressure coming off

the Bill's right hand side. This is a great cut by Singletary put his foot in the ground and getting straight up field, and that's what being under center can do. It allows for him to put his foot in the ground and really get up field quicker than it would be out of the gun, where you're moving more laterally across the formation. The Bills came back to Zach Moss on another outside zone to set up Josh Allen's touchdown run.

Watching this play live, I was a little confused at what Cole Beasley was doing, and this was right at the end of the quarter, and I think Josh Allen saw that the Patriots were exposed on the edge of the defense they get into condensed formation here the Bills do, and it allows Tyler Croft to wrap around and get a block on the outside there. And I think Josh Allen simply just didn't send Cole Beasley across because he knew they had such a good look and he wanted

to get it in before the quarter. And this was another great run by the rookie running back out running the unblocked defender there in the hole and getting up field. And I just thought the Bills running backs all day finished their runs extremely well. Well. Zach Moss had a career day. And here's another big game that he had on another zone read run. Yeah, this is just outside zone again, and this seems to be a theme for us.

But when you have something going in the run game him and you're doing it over and over, gives the offensive line and the backs time to get in a rhythm. And here the defensive tackle goes under Ichbucker. He does a great job and just staying on his track up to the linebacker covers him up through the entire play. And that's just great blocking up front. It's a great

job by the Bills offensive line the entire day. Also, like the hustle by Brian Winners on the backside cuts, the linebacker gets just enough of Brinkley to spring Zach Moss so that he can get up the field so far untouched. It certainly what's gratifying to see the Bills get their running game rolling against the Patriots. Eric, thanks for this. We're gonna talk to you next week. Sounds good, Thanks Steve. Mattie glab here with this week's game preview.

The FC East leaders, better known as the Buffalo Bills, are home for the second straight week to take on the NFC West leaders in the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle is six and one and leads the lead averaging thirty four point three points per game. With Russell Wilson at the helm, the Seahawks have the most passing touchdowns with twenty six. Wilson leads the NFL with passer Rating and ranks third, completing seventy one point five percent of his passes for

two thousand, one hundred and fifty one passing yards. The Seahawks defense has struggled in different ways, allowing the most yards per game at four hundred sixty point nine. They are also tied for first with fourteen total takeaways. The Bills are four and oh in the AFC East for the first time since nineteen ninety one. With a win against the Seahawks, they have the chance to go seven and two for the first time since nineteen ninety three.

Buffal has been successful at extending drives, converting third downs at the highest percentage in the NFL, doing it fifty one point six percent of the time through eight games. Josh Allen is completing sixty seven point one percent of his passes for two thousand, one hundred and seventy two yards, which ranks fifth. The Bills defense is allowing twenty four point nine points per game and three hundred and fifty eight point one total yards per game, good for sixteenth.

The Seahawks lead the series against the Bills with eight wins and five losses. That's this week's game preview, Steve back to you. Thanks as always, Maddie. Coach, you've won two in a row after losing two in a row. How did you get your team back on track and how will you build off that little streak of success? Here?

In the second half of the season. Well, it's a it's a sixteen weeks of one week seasons, right, So you know we've got to embrace that mentality, get back to our process this week and earn the right to win like we try and do every week, and do what it takes to win a football game. It's a

great football team coming in here in the Seahawks. I'll respect for what they do, and you know, we've got to improve on our end, you know, going forward for us to continue to improve as an overall football team, and you know it'll be a big challenge for us, but we're excited about the opportunity. Well, Russell Wilson comes

to town. He leads the National Football League with twenty six passing touchdowns only seven games, and he has a league best one hundred and twenty point eight passer rating. He's on record breaking pace and the early leader for MVP. How does he compare with other quarterbacks you faced this year? Obviously he's playing at a high level. Yeah, I believe he's playing at an all time high. I mean, he's playing at an MVP level. And you know he's a

big part of what they do. And you know, just because of that, you've got to play sixty minutes or forever how long it takes. And and so we've got a lot of respect for him, you know, coached against him before, and there's a reason why they've they've been able to win a super Bowl in a world championship. Well, thanks coach, good luck this weekend against Seattle. We're gonna be back next week to break down the game with the Seahawks and preview the week ten match up with

the Cardinals. Thanks for watching The Sean McDermott Show presented by Connors and Ferris, and we'll see you next week. Go Bills, Final Thoughts. It's presented by your local tell Yo to dealeres. The Sean McDermott Show its presented by Connors and Ferris. You're a Workers' comp attorneys, by Independent Health you deserve the red Shirt Tree treatment, and by your local Toyota Dealers.