The Sean McDermott Show, Week 8

Your bye week came earlier in this season that it did last year, but similar last year, your first place in the division, but you're coming off a tough loss. What was your message to your team headed into the bye. Yeah, I think it was really just to try and take where we're at, learn from the experiences we've had this season, and then also try and get some rest. Never want

to go into the bye with a loss. But having said that, there's a lot of lessons that can be learned that can help us as we moved forward through the rest of the season. Now we're looking back at your first six weeks of the season. You're sitting at four and two, You've got a couple of shutouts under your belt. How's your team overall performance compared to the

expectations you had for them leading up to this point. Yeah, I mean, I think, really it's just about us growing as a football team every week, and we certainly understand the expectations, and no one has higher expectations and we have of ourselves, And it's really us growing every week as a football team, getting better every week, knowing that each week is a new challenge and that we're circling on everyone's schedule, which is the result of our sustained

success to this point. So that's what we want. Yeah. So Josh is coming off back to back games which he had over three hundred yards three touchdowns, and against the Titans he became the only quarterback in NFL history to have eight or more passing tds and twenty five or more rushing tds in his first fifty games. He also set career highs with thirty five completions in Tennessee. How have you seen him improved throughout the course of this season in particular, Well, it's been fun to watch.

I thought we got off to a little bit of a slow start in that first game at home against Pittsburgh. Since then, Josh has really played really good football. You watch what he did in Kansas City, you watch what he did this past week previous to the buy in Tennessee against two good defenses, and I think he continues to show why he is who he is. Well, your offense has been rolling, with over four hundred total yards in four straight games. That's the first time in franchise history.

You also have one of the top scoring offenses in the league, putting up almost thirty four points per game. What part of your offense have you seen the biggest improvement from since last season. I really think that there's more of a balance involved since Week one, in particular in what we're doing, how we're going about running our offense.

We're spreading the ball around. The profile of the offense has changed enough to allow us to be more productive and keep defenses off balance perhaps, And so I just I like what we've done. I like what Brian Davile has done. And then defensively and special teams as well, we've been able to get some takeaways, which has helped set our offense up scoring position. Also. Yeah, speaking to the defense, you still got the number one defense in

almost every category. You're only allowing two hundred and seventy yards per game, the fewest in the NFL. You've got the best turnover differentials, as you mentioned at plus eleven. You're coming off a tough futing against a tough Tennessee team. What's your defense need to do to maybe take it to another level? If there is one, Well, there is, and I believe it's playing more physical. That's where it

really starts. If you want to be a good defense, it's got to start with the mentality and an attitude of physical football, and then fundamentally getting better using our hands, getting off blocks, and then playing better just at the point of attack. Over also some things we need to get better for sure. All right, So I don't want to jinx this thing, but you've never lost a game coming off the bye not since you've been a coach. Day coacher buffle, right, way to go? All right, I'm

just calling I'm just I'm diffusing it right now. But last year, you want after coming out of the bye week, what do you think the key is to being successful coming off a week off? Yeah, I don't know. I think if you spend the week the right way, the bye week, that is, you look objectively at what you're doing and which you could be doing better, and then you take those adjustments that we make as a staff into the meeting room with the players, and they're intentional

about making those corrections. I think that's the start and a step in the right direction. But as you know, Steve, every week, it's it's really hard to win in the National Football League, and that's all we're trying to do. Yeah, well, you know a lot was said last year after you lost a heartbreaker at Arizona headed into the buy, then he came out with a stronger team. Your players often talked about that as a turning point in the season. Can you kind of use that same thing after this

Titans loss to turn your team in a better direction? Now, well, that's what losses should do. Either you either lose or

you learn, and in this case, we certainly lost. But my hope is that we learned a lot from that loss, and whether it's defensively in this case, that we just talked about offense and special teams included for us overall, to become a better team with both your offense and defense among the best in the league, you must have guys playing integral roles who aren't always getting to know it a from the media or the fans. So in your opinion, is there anybody who's been your unsung hero

six games into the season. Well, I really like what Star is done, and now he's been talked about, but not one of the call it newspaper names, if you will on the defensive side. On the offensive side, I think you turn it around and you look at what Dawson Knox has done. I'll be getting banged up the previous week here, and I think a lot also could be said about what our offensive line has done. In

defensive line collectively. Yeah, there were some moments this past game where we could have played better, for sure, but I like how we're growing in those areas, hopefully with more room for improvement and more growth to be had yet. Thanks, Coach. Will catch up with you later in the show to get your final thoughts on your upcoming matchup with the Dolphins, and we'll talk to you a little bit later. The game plan is presented by Energy Mark, the official energy

supplier to the Buffalo Bills. Game preview is presented by Independent Health. You Deserve the Red Shared Treatment. Mattie glab here this week's game preview The Bills are coming off their bye week and are set to face the Dolphins in Week eight. Buffalo is four and oh after a buye under head coach Sean McDermott and has the chance to sweep the Dolphins with the win. The Dolphins are searching for their second victory and haven't had a win

since this season. Opener to a tongue of Vloa will play in his third straight game after missing three weeks due to fractured ribs from their Week two matchup against the Bills. In the last two games, Tua has the third best completion percentage at seventy four point seven percent and has thrown for six hundred and twenty passing yards, which is also the third most. His thirty four passing first downs during that time span are the most in

the NFL. The Dolphins defense also ranks toward the bottom of the league, allowing twenty nine point six points per game, which is the second worst. They do know how to get to the quarterback, registering fifty one quarterback hits, which is good for second best. The Bill have six straight wins against the Dolphins, and a seventh would make it

their longest win streak against Miami in team history. Thankfully, Josh Allen has played great against them during his career, throwing for nineteen passing touchdowns and averaging a one hundred point eight passer rating. Buffalo has the second best offense in the league, averaging thirty three point eight points per game with an average point differential of seventeen and a half per game. The Bills also have a plus eleven

turnover differential, which is the best in the NFL. Buffalo's defense is allowing a league low just two hundred and seventy point two total yards per game and is holding opposing quarterbacks to a sixty two point one passer rating. The group is also allowing an average of fifteen and a half first downs per game and has allowed only twelve plays of twenty or more yards. Both are also

the best in the league. The Dolphins lead the series against the Bills with sixty one wins and fifty three losses, but haven't beat the Bills since December of twenty eighteen. Team, that's this week's game preview. Steve back to you. Thanks as always, Maddie coach. Last time you played the Dolphins, two left the game with an injury and Jacoby Brissette came in in relief off the bench. This week, you're going to be facing TWA once again as he got

back into the lineup. How different did the Dolphins look with TWA under center compared to Jacoby Brissette. Yeah. Man, they've really moved the ball in their last two games. Since two has been back. You can see the offense coming to the surface a little bit more in terms of what they wanted to do all along this season, and so they're they're a dangerous group. They've got weapons in their wide receiving corps, in their tight end corps

out of the backfield as well. And then what he does with his mobility and his ability to scramble and extend plays certainly gives us a challenge. That's the first time you've faced the Dolphins. This will be the second time in the season before you've even faced one of your other division rivals. What are the biggest challenges in preparing to face a team for the second time. I know you've gotten this question a thousand times, but you know you played him so recently and now you got

to play him again. What are the challenges to that? Well, you know, I think you hit one of them, which is just a few weeks ago we played this team, and so they're familiar with us. We're familiar with them, we hope, you know. And it's interesting, having not played another division opponent, we're going to play them twice before playing another division opponent, and so because of that, there's again some recency, if you will, just in terms of

what we do, what they do. And most of the times those games are spread out a little bit, but in this case it's not. And I just think overall that you've got to get yourself geared up and ready to play every week, and our football team has to approach this week with that in mind. That this is a team we beat a few weeks ago, but you know, human nature, I guess would suggests that it's going to be even harder this go around. So we've got to prepare that way. Thanks coach, and good luck on Sunday.

We'll be back next week to recap your game against Miami and preview your Week nine matchup against Jacksonville. To everybody at home, thanks for watching the Sean McDermott Show, presented by Connors and Ferris, and as always, 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 Ferris, Your Workers comp Attorneys, by Independent Health You Deserve the Richer Treatment, by Toyota, the official vehicle of the Buffalo Bills, Let's Go Places, by Kalida, official healthcare System of the Buffalo Bills, and by ECMC. ECMC bringing hope and healing to Western New York