Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of Bills by the Numbers, where
Speaker 1: we let the stats tell you where the Bills are at.
Speaker 1: We're presented by fan we will make every moment more
Speaker 1: coming up while the Bills search for a new head coach,
Speaker 1: we examined the areas in need of improvement for Buffalo's roster.
Speaker 1: Will the bills current roster impact the coaching candidate they
Speaker 1: ultimately hire in an effort to minimize change, And we'll
Speaker 1: have our one burning question. Let's get the off season
Speaker 1: train rolling. Glad to have you with us here on
Speaker 1: Bills by the Numbers. He's Bill's Wall of Famers, Steve
Speaker 1: Diaskround Bills play by playman Chris Brown, and with another
Speaker 1: season over a bit too soon, we focus on Buffalo's
Speaker 1: roster and where it didn't reach its full potential. Now,
Speaker 1: the Bills were still a very successful team as we know,
Speaker 1: twelve and five record, fourth in total offense, seventh in
Speaker 1: total defense. But in the postseason, as we know, they
Speaker 1: didn't play their best, but also may have not had
Speaker 1: all the answers. Buffalo, like many teams, even those in
Speaker 1: the playoffs this year, had their share of flaws, and
Speaker 1: that's where we begin. What part of this team sits
Speaker 1: at the top of the list in terms of fortifying
Speaker 1: or in need of fortification going forward and improving with personnel.
Speaker 2: Well that with the situation of the contracts and the
Speaker 2: cap and all that stuff. Obviously there's a couple of spots.
Speaker 2: You're losing two starting offensive line and one of the
Speaker 2: things that has been you know, to free agency to
Speaker 2: create kind of foundational for the success of the offense.
Speaker 2: To me, that that's where you start. I know, the
Speaker 2: wide receiver is gonna they're gonna fill out the roster
Speaker 2: with wide receivers and all that. But this offense, as
Speaker 2: you said, fourth and total offense, with a revolving door
Speaker 2: and absolute mess at wide receiver. Don't let what's good
Speaker 2: about it go. You've got the number four offensive league.
Speaker 2: Keep it there at least, and then anything you can
Speaker 2: add on on the outside at wide receiver will be grave.
Speaker 2: Your tight ends are still in the room. Khalisha Kiir
Speaker 2: is still in a contract. James Cook just signed an extension,
Speaker 2: you know, So don't let the offensive line erode. Because
Speaker 2: whether you've got you know, a Hall of Fame wide
Speaker 2: receiver out there or not, Josh, you're going to be
Speaker 2: running for his life before he can get the vault there.
Speaker 2: You've got to start with the foundation. He can't lose that.
Speaker 2: To me, it starts and ends with the offensive line
Speaker 2: on offense, and the same thing on the defense. They've
Speaker 2: still got to bolster the defense and try and get
Speaker 2: find a pass rush.
Speaker 1: Yeah, looking at the offense, I would tend to agree
Speaker 1: with that. How they decide financially to refortify the line,
Speaker 1: whether by resigning their own or by promoting from within
Speaker 1: with maybe a young player in the pipeline at one
Speaker 1: of the spots, and maybe only resign one of the
Speaker 1: two those being Connor McGovern and David Edwards, remains to
Speaker 1: be seen. And you know, once again the Bills have
Speaker 1: to get under the cap first and then decide if
Speaker 1: they're going to make some other fiscal decisions to create
Speaker 1: more cap space, be it restructure, be it outright release,
Speaker 1: whatever the case might be. But I don't think there's
Speaker 1: any getting around the fact that the receiver production, due
Speaker 1: partially to injury and to other factors, was not there.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing is, if you look at the numbers,
Speaker 1: and that's what we do here, they weren't that far
Speaker 1: off from last year. So Here are the receiver totals
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four compared to twenty twenty five by receivers only.
Speaker 1: We're not talking tight ends, we're not talking backs here.
Speaker 1: So in twenty twenty four, the receivers had one hundred
Speaker 1: ninety receptions. This past season one hundred and eighty, so
Speaker 1: ten fewer catches by the receiving corps in total yards
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four twenty four hundred this year twenty one
Speaker 1: hundred seven, so about a three hundred yard difference there.
Speaker 1: Down and then receiving touchdowns seventeen in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: just eleven this year. They did have one rushing touchdown
Speaker 1: from Elijah More in Week two against the Jets.
Speaker 2: This total regular season and playoffs.
Speaker 1: This is regular season only, So the production was down,
Speaker 1: but not dramatically down, maybe with the exception of yards.
Speaker 2: And I think too one of the things that we
Speaker 2: always notice here, particularly with this crew and in the
Speaker 2: era that we were in with Josh, you see it
Speaker 2: on the field, these small, subtle differences. There are moments
Speaker 2: in the games where you're missing the X guy, that big,
Speaker 2: big time guy. Not all the time, because they have
Speaker 2: they get good production from the tight ends and the
Speaker 2: running backs, and the running game was a huge factor
Speaker 2: this year. We led the league in rushing the whole thing.
Speaker 2: But there's no doubt that every so often you're looking
Speaker 2: for some receiver that yeah, but you know he needs
Speaker 2: a target. They didn't have that this year. Kali Secure
Speaker 2: was very late to the party this year and starting
Speaker 2: to get it. He saw it in the playoffs where
Speaker 2: he got twelve to twelve in the wild card round
Speaker 2: and another seven against Denver. So he emerged, you know,
Speaker 2: at the time when it was the most important, but
Speaker 2: during the regular season and at the time when this
Speaker 2: team kicked it off in Week one with a chance
Speaker 2: or designs on getting the one seed, those small margins
Speaker 2: become big differences.
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day, the NFL
Speaker 1: is a matchup league, and I think in the regular
Speaker 1: season you can overcome maybe some one on one matchup
Speaker 1: deficiency at the skill positions and still find a way
Speaker 1: to win the game, especially if you did, especially if
Speaker 1: you have the number one rushing offense in football, and yes,
Speaker 1: that's what the Bills did. When you get to the
Speaker 1: playoffs and you're playing against the best defenses in the league.
Speaker 1: Not to mention the fact that the Bills in succession
Speaker 1: faced the number one run defense and the number two
Speaker 1: run defense in football. That's the point where maybe you
Speaker 1: need to be able to pivot and have a winning
Speaker 1: matchup or two in the passing game. And I think
Speaker 1: on the outside on the perimeter that hasn't materialized yet,
Speaker 1: whether you thought a young player like Keon Coleman was
Speaker 1: going to step into that role, or whether you did
Speaker 1: not acquire maybe the right free agent to step into
Speaker 1: that role. Now, Joshua Palmer was on ir by the
Speaker 1: time they got to the postseason. But Joshua Palmer did
Speaker 1: not have a single receiving touchdown this season, not one.
Speaker 1: What for a ten million dollars a year receiver, I
Speaker 1: think the expectations were significant higher than that.
Speaker 2: What gets lost in this when you when you look
Speaker 2: at the schematics and the and the extra knows what
Speaker 2: it means in the big picture when you've got a
Speaker 2: big time X receiver. Yes, certainly there's a guy that
Speaker 2: you can go to and throw it to. But more
Speaker 2: than that, it forces a defense to play you a
Speaker 2: certain way. The defense is not gonna one on one
Speaker 2: him with some just a guy they've got to put
Speaker 2: their number one corner on him, and then if that
Speaker 2: and give him some help in certain situation, a big
Speaker 2: X receiver, you're gonna double team him all the time,
Speaker 2: and some teams will double team him with your number
Speaker 2: two corner and help. So hopefully those two guys are
Speaker 2: good enough to stop your number one guy, and then
Speaker 2: our number one guy is really good enough to stop
Speaker 2: your number two guy. So then you've that's how a
Speaker 2: defense attacks your personnel, and it's a trickle down effect, right,
Speaker 2: So if you've got a guy that can't be covered
Speaker 2: it or is harder to cover, the amount of assets
Speaker 2: and attention a guy gets from a defense affects how
Speaker 2: good everybody else can play, and where you all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, your number one rushing offense becomes unstoppable because
Speaker 2: the defense will not take two guys off that guy,
Speaker 2: and they're stopping you with seven guys in the box
Speaker 2: instead of eight or nine because you got two guys
Speaker 2: or two and a half guys watching the X guy.
Speaker 2: That's the problem that a big time wide out gives
Speaker 2: you because he's out there by himself and you got
Speaker 2: to throw guys outside the box to go cover him,
Speaker 2: or move guys or stem guys after the snap. That's
Speaker 2: what gets lost in all this. It's not just about
Speaker 2: throwing that the guy ten times a game. It's about
Speaker 2: what a defense has to do just to cover him
Speaker 2: up just because he's there, and what the fear he
Speaker 2: strikes into their coaching staff.
Speaker 1: In case you were wondering where the passing game production went,
Speaker 1: it largely went to the tight ends. Twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: seventy two receptions for eight hundred total yards and four
Speaker 1: receiving touchdowns by the tight ends in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: This past season, twenty twenty five, receptions went up by
Speaker 1: twenty three ninety five receptions and the yardage went up
Speaker 1: by more than four hundred yards, from eight hundred to
Speaker 1: twelve hundred ten. And then here's where the big spike happened.
Speaker 1: Receiving touchdowns. They went from four in twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: to twelve this past season. The three tight ends on
Speaker 1: this roster outscored the receivers, of which numbered about eight
Speaker 1: by the time you had guys shuffling in the lineup.
Speaker 1: Twelve receiving touchdowns for the three tight ends, eleven receiving
Speaker 1: touchdowns for the entire receiving corps this season.
Speaker 2: And I think that number was probably exacerbated by the
Speaker 2: fact that the coaching staff getting ready for games, knew
Speaker 2: the tight ends were going to be there. Yeah, they
Speaker 2: knew they were going to be in there.
Speaker 1: That's a part of it.
Speaker 2: And in a week to week they didn't know if
Speaker 2: if you know, this guy with Palmer was in, and
Speaker 2: you go all the way back to all the guys
Speaker 2: that were here, Elijah Moore was going to They don't
Speaker 2: know who these guys were be in and so they
Speaker 2: knew the tight ends were going to be there, so
Speaker 2: they planned for it and the production was there. That
Speaker 2: doesn't surprise me either.
Speaker 1: It looked that way to the naked eye just thinking
Speaker 1: about it, without even consulting the numbers in case you
Speaker 1: were running wondering where the running backs went. In the
Speaker 1: receiving game, they were largely flat from twenty four to
Speaker 1: twenty five sixty seven receptions in twenty four, sixty nine
Speaker 1: this year, seven hundred and thirty one yards last year,
Speaker 1: six hundred and sixty four yards this year. Eight touchdowns
Speaker 1: receiving last year six this year, so relatively the same,
Speaker 1: and it makes sense you had the same three guys
Speaker 1: to a large degree with Cook, Johnson and Davis Part
Speaker 1: two for where we'd like to see improvement. You mentioned
Speaker 1: the defensive line. Pass rush is a problem and it's
Speaker 1: been a persistent problem for this team in terms of
Speaker 1: having a difference maker off the edge that other teams
Speaker 1: to your point of about an X receiver game plan four,
Speaker 1: And we look at the pass rush totals quickly before
Speaker 1: we dive into this conversation. Twenty twenty four, thirty nine
Speaker 1: sacks ranked eighteenth in the league. This year thirty six
Speaker 1: sacks ranked twentieth in the league. Where they've been strong
Speaker 1: is passer rating allowed, and you got to credit the
Speaker 1: guys on the back end for this too, obviously eighteenth
Speaker 1: and passer rating allowed in twenty four. Passer rating was
Speaker 1: ninety three point three for opposing quarterbacks this year seventh
Speaker 1: in the league in passer rating allowed seventy nine point
Speaker 1: eight passer rating. Pass pressure percentage tenth in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: eleventh and twenty twenty five. Then you have quarterback knockdown percentage,
Speaker 1: largely the same thirteenth and twenty twenty four. It was
Speaker 1: eighth this year, although it only went up one and
Speaker 1: a half percent. Hurry percentage seventh in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: twentieth in twenty twenty five, and then completion percentage allowed
Speaker 1: that improved to a great degree. Completion percentage allowed in
Speaker 1: twenty four they were twenty eighth sixty eight and a
Speaker 1: half percent. Twenty twenty five fourth fifty nine point seven percent.
Speaker 1: Big jump there, you could feel that. Yeah, and then
Speaker 1: QB hits sixteenth in twenty twenty four with ninety four,
Speaker 1: twentieth this year with ninety two. Is what is It's
Speaker 1: been an elusive problem for the Bills to solve and fix.
Speaker 1: It's not like they have not tried. I mean they've
Speaker 1: tried year over year over year to address it. And
Speaker 1: this past offseason they signed three defensive linemen in free
Speaker 1: agency and drafted three defensive linemen in the draft class,
Speaker 1: although not all of them were edge rushers. There were
Speaker 1: defensive tackles obviously drafted and signed in free agency. But
Speaker 1: if you look at it, Michael Hoyt not really a
Speaker 1: part of the equation. Played a game and a half
Speaker 1: and that was it. Joey Bosa after he injured his wrist,
Speaker 1: was a non factor the rest of the season playing
Speaker 1: through that. And to your point about free agency. On
Speaker 1: the offensive line, You've got Bosa and aj Epanessa as
Speaker 1: free agents, so you'll have presumably some subtraction there. The
Speaker 1: problem here, I see it. Steve is sure you could
Speaker 1: get a Tier two free agent to sign here. I
Speaker 1: think you have to invest in the draft here and
Speaker 1: find a way to get elite pass rushing talent, even
Speaker 1: if you need to trade up in round one where
Speaker 1: the Bills are picking twenty fifth. I know the draft
Speaker 1: is a long way off, but you're right.
Speaker 2: The problem is those guys that can really rush the passer,
Speaker 2: that have those double digit sactions year after year after year.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously the Miles Garretts of the world and
Speaker 2: the Max Crosby, although Max Crosby was a lower round
Speaker 2: draft pick, they're one percenters. You've they have to have.
Speaker 2: You've got to have elite physical traits. You've got to
Speaker 2: be big, tall, long, fast, strong, athletic, all of that,
Speaker 2: and you've and you've got to have something between your ears.
Speaker 2: Those guys are hard to find. The Bills are. You're
Speaker 2: not gonna get the one of those guys in free
Speaker 2: agency because teams will not let them go. You could possibly, yes,
Speaker 2: you could possibly trade for one, but it's gonna your
Speaker 2: cap is gonna be out of whack if you do.
Speaker 2: And the only way to get one is high in
Speaker 2: the NFL. Not just a first rounder. I'm talking in
Speaker 2: the first ten picks of the first round, at least fifteen.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've got to get in the top half of
Speaker 2: the first round, and there has to be a guy there. Well, yes,
Speaker 2: there's not gonna be six of them. There's gonna be
Speaker 2: two maybe, maybe two, three possibly. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna pretend you have looked at the draft
Speaker 1: class yet.
Speaker 2: But that here historically speaking, right, it's not gonna be
Speaker 2: a handful. It's not going to be a handful. So
Speaker 2: you've got to go up and get one if you
Speaker 2: want one of those ones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Because here's what I come back to. We heard
Speaker 1: Brandon being in his press conference this past week when
Speaker 1: he talked about tweaking the roster and upgrading it, and
Speaker 1: he was explaining how when you're paying a quarterback top
Speaker 1: of the market money, which they are obviously with Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: you have to make sacrifices elsewhere in my estimation, which
Speaker 1: with as hard as they have been chasing improving the
Speaker 1: pass rush, I think the formula, and the sacrifice you
Speaker 1: have to make is draft capital. I think you have
Speaker 1: to sacrifice draft capital and maybe significant draft capital to
Speaker 1: get to a place where you can get a premier
Speaker 1: pass rusher in the draft, because to me, that's the
Speaker 1: only way you're going to get elite talent at a
Speaker 1: price you can afford. Right, So cough up and sacrifice
Speaker 1: draft capital to acquire the elite talent you need on
Speaker 1: your defensive line to change the fortunes of your pass
Speaker 1: rush productivity. Now what do you say to that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, you can sacrifice it to get it. If
Speaker 2: if the guys are if you feel he's a sure thing, sure.
Speaker 1: You have ye won't have to be over the moon
Speaker 1: about the talent that.
Speaker 2: You cant is lean And because it's because Josh is
Speaker 2: on the team, they are they are lean heavily on
Speaker 2: drafting on the defensive side of the ball. They did
Speaker 2: this last year. Uh. And when they draft on the
Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball, it's much easier uh to
Speaker 2: draft big dudes up up, you know, in the draft
Speaker 2: for the offensive line. Say, but I think they have
Speaker 2: spent a lot of some draft apple, at least on
Speaker 2: the defensive secondary trying to bolster the defensive pass rush
Speaker 2: by covering guys up a little better. Cole Bishop, Max
Speaker 2: Harrison to be just to name a few, Christian Benford,
Speaker 2: you know they they have sprinkled Jordan Hancock, Jordan Hancock
Speaker 2: and of course tarn was a long time ago a
Speaker 2: draft pick. But that's kind of where they go if
Speaker 2: they can keep those guys top notch.
Speaker 1: Because small guys are more plentiful in number.
Speaker 2: Athletes are. Athletes are a dime a dozen. Not all
Speaker 2: of them can play football. But you get a guy
Speaker 2: that's good enough athlete for sure in the draft, and
Speaker 2: that's where they've been able to draft and develop guys.
Speaker 1: Knowing the Bills still have some work to do to
Speaker 1: get under the cap, do you envision more of the
Speaker 1: best new talent added to the roster this coming offseason
Speaker 1: coming to this team via the draft.
Speaker 2: The best new talent probably not. No, you can't count
Speaker 2: on that because they're young. You don't know how they're
Speaker 2: going to adapt. There's a lot more question marks than
Speaker 2: there are if you signed free agents on the open
Speaker 2: market who are proven. Certainly, it did not turn out
Speaker 2: that way this last year with the free agent market
Speaker 2: and wide receivers of course, all those guys got nicked
Speaker 2: up and they were sidelin in and out of the
Speaker 2: line of it turned into a revolving It was kind
Speaker 2: of a mess because of the health aspect of the roster.
Speaker 2: But for the most part, you kind of know what
Speaker 2: you're getting in some of these guys, and this this
Speaker 2: crew with Brandon and their scouting, they've done a really
Speaker 2: nice job at finding guys who who emerge in Buffalo's
Speaker 2: system much better than they have appeared other places, particularly
Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the ball. Dion Walker was
Speaker 2: a guy they drafted last year and fell fourth round,
Speaker 2: and he was as good and a consistent of defensive
Speaker 2: tackles the Bills had on their roster last.
Speaker 1: Year and he had made some made some All Rookie
Speaker 1: teams this year.
Speaker 2: He was a really good player that had a very
Speaker 2: good season, and I you gotta have high hopes for
Speaker 2: him going forward. Yep, stuff like that in the mix.
Speaker 2: I do think.
Speaker 1: Though, that at important high priced positions like edge rusher,
Speaker 1: like wide receiver, where the Bills aren't going to be
Speaker 1: able to pay a premium in free agency because of
Speaker 1: their cap situation. To improve those positions, those have to
Speaker 1: be acquired in the draft. So I think, look, we
Speaker 1: know Brandon being and how he operates. He tries to
Speaker 1: fill as many of the perceived positional holes as best
Speaker 1: he can in free agency, so he doesn't feel backed
Speaker 1: into a corner in the draft when he's on the
Speaker 1: clock because there's a glaring positional need. That's how he's operated.
Speaker 1: But knowing that he's going to be under some measure
Speaker 1: of financial constraints, I think he's going to choose to
Speaker 1: fill some of the lower priced position hol in free agency,
Speaker 1: and maybe not to the same degree positions like edge receiver,
Speaker 1: corner that are high priced positions that right now you
Speaker 1: can't spend a premium at those spots because of your
Speaker 1: cap situation and all the money you're paying, Josh, you
Speaker 1: got to hit it out of the park in the
Speaker 1: draft at those spots, and to our point earlier, you
Speaker 1: probably have to move up the board to get a
Speaker 1: premiere edge rusher. You can probably find a quality receiver somewhere.
Speaker 1: It's a good receiver draft is.
Speaker 2: Yet up to the middle of the first you can
Speaker 2: you're gonna get a good a good wide out. The
Speaker 2: middle of the first is a hit and miss. Whether
Speaker 2: you can find a defensive playmaker. That's a difference maker.
Speaker 1: Knowing cab space Steve could limit free agent spending. Do
Speaker 1: you believe their coaching search could or would prioritize choosing
Speaker 1: a coach who might change the least scheme wise, so
Speaker 1: as not to create more work and potentially more cost
Speaker 1: in getting the roster fits necessary to fit scheme changes.
Speaker 2: That's a really good question. I don't. I don't think
Speaker 2: they will. It will affect their decision about the head coach.
Speaker 2: It'll be consideration, and it'll be a it'll be a
Speaker 2: factor going forward. But if they feel like they've got
Speaker 2: the right head coach, they won't care what his philosophy is.
Speaker 2: That's that's something you can you can adjust to on
Speaker 2: the fly. I think that's a secondary consideration. I don't
Speaker 2: think it would affect the decision.
Speaker 1: I would tend to agree it's not the top priority.
Speaker 1: I will say this, though, Let's say, and this is
Speaker 1: just purely a hypothetical, the only way I could see
Speaker 1: something like that coming into play is if they're down
Speaker 1: to two candidates and they are razor thin. The difference
Speaker 1: between them is negligible, and one of them would create
Speaker 1: less disruption to scheme and personnel. I think that might
Speaker 1: tip the scale in favor of one over the other.
Speaker 1: But that's only if you have two guys that are Deady's.
Speaker 2: Hard for me. It's hard for me to envision two
Speaker 2: candidates being that close, right, what it would being that
Speaker 2: close would probably mean there is a larger difference than
Speaker 2: just scheme, because you'll have guys we know who the
Speaker 2: handful of people are making the decision for the Bills,
Speaker 2: Terry Brandon, you know Josh, you know me, Gang, the
Speaker 2: whole gang, The whole gang is going to be in there.
Speaker 2: The guys making that decision will probably will probably be
Speaker 2: some pushback on both sides about which guy they should take,
Speaker 2: and that's going to be the more, Yeah, the more.
Speaker 1: And to your point, the most important thing is to
Speaker 1: get the right leader for the team. If the schemes
Speaker 1: have to change, the schemes have to change. We transition
Speaker 1: to the numbers game, where Steve will be quizzed on
Speaker 1: off season acquisition activity. Here we go question number one, Steve,
Speaker 1: and we go to the very near past, so we're
Speaker 1: not digging too deep into history here. Question one, you
Speaker 1: had to guess how many unrestricted free agents did the
Speaker 1: Bill sign last offseason that we're new to the roster.
Speaker 1: Give me a number.
Speaker 2: To the roster at training camp.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, March April Scirice unrestricted free team.
Speaker 2: You're close.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit lower than that. It's eleven.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you're in the ballpark, all right? Not bad.
Speaker 1: Question number two, you're half a win. I'll give you
Speaker 1: a half point for that.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 1: How many Bills free agents were re signed back to
Speaker 1: the roster last offseason?
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a good one. I'm gonna say between five
Speaker 2: and eight.
Speaker 1: It's exactly five.
Speaker 2: Five.
Speaker 1: Well done, Steve.
Speaker 2: Here we go.
Speaker 1: Question number three, how many Bills players were signed to
Speaker 1: extensions last off sea? Remember it was the off season
Speaker 1: of extensions?
Speaker 2: Oh, does a restructure cows an extension?
Speaker 1: No, we're looking for a new deal, like long term.
Speaker 2: Missay. I'm just gonna say four.
Speaker 1: You're right there, Steve, it was five.
Speaker 2: I'm taking that one too.
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, Christian Benford to Rell Bernard t Liil Shakir,
Speaker 1: Greg Russo. Question number four, who was Buffalo's most expensive
Speaker 1: free agent signing last off season? Mike Hoyle It was
Speaker 1: not my Palmer's Joshua Palmer. Three years thirty million dollars.
Speaker 1: So pretty good job there, Steve in the numbers game.
Speaker 2: Well done.
Speaker 1: I was right round it here, Yeah, you were all
Speaker 1: over it.
Speaker 2: That's a win for me.
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Speaker 1: for our one burning question. Do you foresee the Bills
Speaker 1: going young, hotshot, first time head coach when they find
Speaker 1: their guy or do you think it will be a
Speaker 1: veteran candidate who has been a head coach before.
Speaker 2: That's a really good question. I think I think this
Speaker 2: head coach, the next one is going to have to
Speaker 2: convince the brass here that they can get it done,
Speaker 2: and get it done in the next two or three years,
Speaker 2: like right, real quick. I think that's the window this
Speaker 2: if the expectations are through the roof, all right. So
Speaker 2: if it's a young, hotshot guy, okay, but he's also
Speaker 2: as a huge plus because you think you get a
Speaker 2: thirty one, thirty two or thirty something guy here, he's
Speaker 2: gonna and he can be here for a long time.
Speaker 2: And the older guy, if it's an older former head coach,
Speaker 2: you would think there'd be less of a learning curve
Speaker 2: and that kind of thing, and he would have a
Speaker 2: plan and and say, listen, we need to do this
Speaker 2: and this and this, get that in place. Let's go
Speaker 2: less of a less of a startup. That's the question.
Speaker 2: A young guy's gonna have to convince a lot of
Speaker 2: people that he's going to hit the ground running an
Speaker 2: older coach. That will be part of the deal. That'll
Speaker 2: be understood that he can do that. And I think
Speaker 2: this is I think this head coach needs to hit
Speaker 2: it and hit it hard and hit it well early.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, because the expectations are enormous, maybe higher than
Speaker 1: any other team. There's a open coach.
Speaker 2: There's a cark ticking on the quarterback. Now. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's going to be going in this ninth year. He's
Speaker 2: got another half a dozen years left. But you're you know,
Speaker 2: one super Bowl awesome? How about three? You know how well,
Speaker 2: let's not just I know that just one before we
Speaker 2: die all that stuff. You know that, But you know
Speaker 2: this is a it's let's go find the right guy
Speaker 2: and keep going, right.
Speaker 1: I think ultimately the right guy is the right guy.
Speaker 1: Whether it's young, up and coming, promising young coach who
Speaker 1: hasn't been a head coach before. I mean, that's what
Speaker 1: the Bills did the last time with Sean McDermott. Or
Speaker 1: maybe it is a guy that has been there and
Speaker 1: done that and will spend less time growing into a
Speaker 1: head coaching role because he's been one before, and spend
Speaker 1: more time getting this team over the top, you know,
Speaker 1: from a leadership perspective.
Speaker 2: And I'm not that caught up in young guy. I'm biased.
Speaker 2: They hired my head coach when I played. He was
Speaker 2: fifty nine at the time. Yeah so, or fifties at
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 1: As we know, NFL history has told us there are
Speaker 1: many different ways to skin the cat and have a successful.
Speaker 2: The right guys the right guy, yep, and you'll I
Speaker 2: think we'll know. We'll know quick after this thing kicks
Speaker 2: off if he's we'll find out in the off season.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get an idea of it. And that part
Speaker 2: of it's always fun. The part we've been through over
Speaker 2: the past week or two is not fun.
Speaker 1: Our closing figure examines Buffalo's previous head coaching hires. As
Speaker 1: we know, Sean McDermott coached the Bills for nine seasons
Speaker 1: and was a first time head coach when he was
Speaker 1: hired by Buffalo. Of the previous seven head coaching hires
Speaker 1: by Buffalo, three were first time head coaches at the
Speaker 1: NFL level, while four had been NFL head coaches prior
Speaker 1: to being hired by the Bills. It's almost split right
Speaker 1: down the middle. And I think we would agree this
Speaker 1: one could go either way as well, because they've had.
Speaker 2: The most successful one had never done it before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are young ones in the pool and there
Speaker 1: are some veteran ones in.
Speaker 2: The don't forget you get this guy. There are guys
Speaker 2: out there. I don't know who they are. I don't
Speaker 2: have an idea, but they hired the last guy. Nobody
Speaker 2: knew who Sean McDermott was. He came in and bang
Speaker 2: right away. So there's some of that going on here.
Speaker 2: This is this team is not that team. Nope, And
Speaker 2: so what it would take to get it, the requirements different,
Speaker 2: to earn their quick respect and to say come in
Speaker 2: to step and be the leader and step in to
Speaker 2: do a role that left the McDermott left a big
Speaker 2: void for this You saw it. That's that's the challenge
Speaker 2: to me. Plus the football side of it. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: it's you gotta have that's a big job.
Speaker 1: That twenty seventeen team was just looking for focused, defined
Speaker 1: vision and leadership. I think this team is looking for
Speaker 1: a difference maker that can help them take the next step.
Speaker 2: I'll say this as well. It's one of the things
Speaker 2: that I have noticed when good coaches, guys who know
Speaker 2: what they're doing, step in and they take up and
Speaker 2: they say okay, here we go, and they get in,
Speaker 2: they start to get to know their players and they
Speaker 2: start to find out who they are and who's the building,
Speaker 2: and understand what their team personality is and get and
Speaker 2: all that. You will always see like we did with
Speaker 2: the Bills when McDermott took over, and you can look
Speaker 2: around to other franchises, there will be some surprising players
Speaker 2: that are jettisoned.
Speaker 1: Well, we saw it here under McDermott's right. Sammy Watkins
Speaker 1: and Ronald Darby their top two picks in the fourteen
Speaker 1: and fifteen.
Speaker 2: Draft, and the level.
Speaker 1: The left tackle get traded away to Cody Glen Cordy
Speaker 1: Glenn for the twenty eighteen draft a year later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, others, you know, they just that's one of the
Speaker 2: things a head coach they do not because they just
Speaker 2: want to make It's not a statement move. It is
Speaker 2: a personality and you're not doing enough.
Speaker 1: Move the right guys on the bus.
Speaker 2: Move that's right.
Speaker 1: Want the right guys on the.
Speaker 2: Want the right guys on the bus. And there's always
Speaker 2: a little bit of that. Now this is a different situation.
Speaker 2: May be that that Stark.
Speaker 1: I don't think it'll be that severe.
Speaker 2: Even going into the seventeen season when Darby and Watkins Watkins,
Speaker 2: that was right before the season, that was they weren't
Speaker 2: the right guys and that's a team that got to
Speaker 2: the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's all for this edition. Be sure to subscribe on
Speaker 1: whatever podcast platform you use so you know when the
Speaker 1: next Step episode is out, because when you need to
Speaker 1: know about the bills, you need to check bills by
Speaker 1: the numbers. For Steve Tasker, I'm Chris Brown. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 1: Everybody