The Sean McDermott Show - Week 1

see if thanks as always for joining us. With a success you guys had last year followed by a great offseason, the city's buzzing with football fever, tons of bills, fans are excited to be back here on Sunday's tailgating, and others can't wait to resume the traditions like watching at home with family and friends. What are you most excited for this season? Well, I'm excited to see our team play. We've worked hard this this camp, the guys have worked

hard in the offseason. I'm also excited to see the fans again in our stadium. It's been a long time coming and it feels like forever ago that they were in our stadium, and we're just hoping that all the work that we've put in, all the work the players have put in, and that everyone's really put in, it pays off. Starting the Sunday. He made it to the

AFC Championship Game. Last year, you capped off a fantastic season where you matched a franchise best thirteen wins, You went six and oz in the division for the first time in franchise history, and had the highest scoring offense in franchise history. If you had such a prolific year, what are your expectations for this year and how do you balance those expectations with the expectations all of us

are putting on you. Well, I think you try and keep it simple as simple as you can, and certainly appreciate all the expectations, all the support that said that we got. We gotta do us. We gotta be the Buffalo Bills and do the things that have gotten us to this point, and in some ways also start over. It's a new season every year. Every year. We got to take it one game at a time, and we plan to do that this week. Well, you can't talk

about expectations without talking about your quarterback, Josh. He set franchise records in virtually every category last year. Then he signed a six year contract extension in the offseason's going to keep him in Buffalo through the twenty twenty eighth season. Statistically speaking, it's hard to see how much he could improve. So what's the next step for Josh Allen. Well, you know, we're first and foremost. I think it's great that Terry and Kim Pegoula have allowed Brandon and myself to do

that with Josh. Obviously, you know, those players in particular that position are hard to find, and when you've got one, you've got to make sure you invest in the right way and you have him in the organization for a long time. And that's what the Pagoulas allowed us to do. And Josh is just a fine young man, a special person on and off the field, and a great teammate. And I think that's really what he showed us over

the years. And yet he's so hungry to improve, and that goes back to his family, the great support he has, and the support he has of his teammates, and I think that really the sky's the limit he's got. He's just got to continue to be Josh Allen, take it one game at a time, do his part, not trying to do too much, and he'll be just fine. Yeah, and for the first time in your tenure, you've got almost every one of your key players returning for the

twenty twenty one season. You must be thinking you did something right, whether it was resigning a guy like Matt Milano that you drafted and developed, or bringing back key pieces in your offensive line like Feliciano Daryl Williams. He also had guys like Isaiah Mackenzie, Levi Wallace who wanted to stay here to finish what they started. How much do you think your culture that you've built here helped you and Brandon and the front office retain all these

key guys. Yeah, that's you hit a great point, and that's been one of the biggest goals since we've came here five years ago now, was to build a culture. Steve to your point of that's transformational rather than transactional.

That that's the nature of the NFL. It's transactional, but we're trying to make it as transformational as we can and make Buffalo a destination for people whereby they can come to Buffalo and become the best version of themselves that they've ever been on the field or off the field for that matter. And I think you're seeing players start to circle Buffalo on their list of places that they want to be. And I think the culture speaks

for itself. You watch our players and how much fun they have during the games, how close they are on and off the field, and that's just fun to watch, fun to be a part of it. Yeah, while in the draft you focused on your d line in the draft of the top couple of picks, you also added pieces to almost every position group on your roster this last offseason. Regardless of the success you had last year, you always talk about that growth mindset and getting better

every day. With that in mind, which position group are you expecting to make the biggest improvement from last season? Well, I would hope we'd improve as an overall team. That said, I know Brandon did a phenomenal job of allocating resources to the defensive line position group this offseason, in particular in the draft. In order to do that, we had

to make key moves. Brandon had to make key moves to solidify other positions prior to the draft, and I think, as you mentioned, resigning some of our players and that's that's big. It It sends the right message to our locker room that we try and resign our own, we try and grow our own and that's important for continuity as well as consistency. So the defensive line is a group that we were very intentional about this offseason and we look forward to watching them grow through the course

of the year. Force here. Thanks, coach. We're gonna catch up with you later in the show to get your final thoughts on the Steelers game this Sunday. The game plan is presented by Energy Marketing, the official energy supplier to the Buffalo Bills. Game preview is presented by Independent Health. You deserve the red shirt treatment, Mattie glab here this week's game preview. The Bills begin their twenty twenty one

season with the home opener against the Steelers. Buffalo's coming off of a season where they made it to the AFC Championship Game, whereas the Steelers are off of one where they lost their last five out of six games, including a playoff game. The Steeler's quarterback Ben Roethlisberger returns for his eighteenth season, but this year he has a

new offensive coordinator in Matt Canada. We will see if he can revamp an offense that was ranked twenty fourth overall last year, averaging three hundred and thirty four point six yards per game and ranked last in terms of rushing, averaging only eighty four point four rushing yards per game. Pittsburgh addressed the run game in the draft by selecting former Alabama running back naj Harris with the twenty fourth

overall pick. On defense, the Steelers want to return to last year's form, where they led the league with fifty six sacks and ranked third, allowing an average of only three hundred and five point eight yards per game. Buffalo returns twenty one of twenty two starters from last year, and that continuity is one reason why many believe this team could have a special season. Another reason is because of quarterback Josh Allen's leap and improvement from twenty nineteen

to twenty twenty. He quarterbacked an offense that ranked second last season. If we're doing thirty one point three points per game, Alan also shattered several single season records in his third year, and we'll look to put a similar season together with his familiar weapons. The Steelers leave the series all time against the Bills with sixteen wins and eleven losses. That's this week's game. Preview, Steve back to you. Thanks as always, Mattie, Coach, we talked about expectations surrounding

your team this season. I was hammering you with that word early in the show. The fans are excited. I'm sure your players are too. So what has been your message to your team to start this season? Get them off on the right foot. Yeah, we're going to be excited. I know the players are excited. They're listen, they're out in the community like I am, and you can just feel the electricity in the air. The support that we

have is second to none around the NFL. That being said, we've got to put a great week of practice in place, and we've got to focus one day at a time, get into our process, kind of our internal focus, and make sure that we're ready to go. This is going to be a tough football game with a good opponent, well coached, and an AFC contender. We've got to prepare that way and respect every piece of our preparation so

that we're ready to go. You said it, Coach. You've got the Steelers rolling into Buffalo for the second time in two seasons. Last year you knocked him off on a Sunday night football in a game that really had some say in what the playoff race was going to look like. How can you learn from the success or can you learn from the success you had against them

last year and build on it for this year's matchup. Well, they have continuity on their side as well, So some of that, you know, leads to awareness of them knowing us, us knowing them a little bit, and we're gonna have to do our best to have ourselves ready to go and really focus on our fundamentals and usually what wins games and taking care of the football. So it'll be a good game. It's going to be a tough, hard nosed game in a game that's going to come down

to who takes care of the football. You said it, coach. There's some continuity on both sides, but there's also some faces, some new faces in this game. Big Ban is going to be there, All the return receivers are going to be back this year, but the Steaters have added a new offensive weapon with their first round pick, running back Naja Harris. How do you prepare to face a rookie who you know is going to be a prominent player in their offense, but you really haven't seen him playing

in a regular season game yet well. In addition to Naja, they also added Fairmouth at tight end from Penn State, who's an elite player at a young age, and so they already had weapons. You mentioned Ben in the receiving corps in addition to Ibrawn the other tight end they have. They're well stocked on offense and across the board on defense. They've been a good defense for years in Pittsburgh, and

I think they're special teams unit. They do a great job of keeping enough linebackers on their roster through the three four defense. Again, a good football team and a well balanced football team and a well coached team. Thanks coach, good luck this week against Pittsburg. We're gonna be back next week to recap your game against the Steelers and preview the week two matchup against the Dolphins. Thanks everybody at home for watching. The Sean McDermott Show presented by

Connors and Ferris. We'll see you next week. Can until then, Go Bills. Final Thoughts is presented by Toyota, the official vehicle of the Buffalo Bills. Let's Go Places. The Sean McDermott Show is presented by Connors and Farris, your workers' comp attorneys. By Independent Health You deserve the rich sher treatment by Toyota, the official vehicle of the Buffalo Bills, Let's Go Places, by Kalida, official healthcare system of the

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