Speaker 1: Glad it can be with us here on Bills by
Speaker 1: the Numbers, where we let the stats tell you where
Speaker 1: the Bills are and coming up in our final edition,
Speaker 1: before training camp, Buffalo's defense and where it is headed
Speaker 1: under Jim Leonard. How different will it look? Will the
Speaker 1: pass rush be its identity? And will there be a
Speaker 1: greater reliance on youth and athleticism. Steve will be given
Speaker 1: his last training camp quiz and we'll.
Speaker 2: Have our one burning question.
Speaker 1: It's time to report to camp. Welcome into Bills by
Speaker 1: the Numbers. He is Bill's Wall of Famer Steve Tasker
Speaker 1: on Bill's play by playman Chris Brown. And after focusing
Speaker 1: on the offensive outlook in our previous episode, we now
Speaker 1: take an overview of a defense that is undergoing its
Speaker 1: most significant change in a decade.
Speaker 2: That side of the.
Speaker 1: Ball has a new coordinator in Jim Leonard, and a
Speaker 1: new scheme comes along with him as the team moves
Speaker 1: to a three to four base front. There are also
Speaker 1: a lot of new faces, which tends to happen when
Speaker 1: there's a head coaching change. But where do you see
Speaker 1: this defense headed Steve under defensive coordinator Jim Leonard.
Speaker 2: It has it's needed a facelift at least, and I
Speaker 2: think I echo a little bit where Bills fans are
Speaker 2: at this point. I don't care what it looks like.
Speaker 2: We needed to play better. It has not been good enough.
Speaker 2: You've got a super Bowl caliber quarterback, You've got a
Speaker 2: super Bowl caliber offense, and you have had for more
Speaker 2: than a handful of years. And it's not for lack
Speaker 2: of trying. Brandon Bean and the scouting staff have made trades.
Speaker 2: They've brought in big name guys, they have drafted heavy defensively,
Speaker 2: They've tried to get as many playmakers as they can.
Speaker 2: When they get side of the ball, it has never
Speaker 2: come together. And so the defense is gonna look different.
Speaker 2: It needs to look different, and that may be in
Speaker 2: and of itself, will be enough to shake something loose
Speaker 2: that they can get some production consistently on that side
Speaker 2: of the ball. But for most Bills fans three four
Speaker 2: four three do not care. Get the ball back to
Speaker 2: Josh more often and get that other team off the
Speaker 2: field when you should be able to get him off
Speaker 2: the field. Yeah, as far as so, I agree with
Speaker 2: all of that.
Speaker 1: I'm going to focus more maybe on the tenor the demeanor,
Speaker 1: the style in which this defense is going to play
Speaker 1: under Jim Leonard, because based on all the indications we've
Speaker 1: gotten from Jim Lennard through the course of this offseason
Speaker 1: in press conferences, he wants a defense that plays with
Speaker 1: an edge that borders on physical intimidation, and he wants
Speaker 1: to dictate play to an opposing offense. I want to
Speaker 1: see that in action when we get to the regular season,
Speaker 1: taking into account that getting it all humming and working
Speaker 1: like a well oiled machine could take the first third
Speaker 1: of the season. Taking into account new scheme, new players,
Speaker 1: and young players that have less experience in this scheme
Speaker 1: than maybe some others, I believe that Jim Lennard is
Speaker 1: gonna be able to round this group into form where
Speaker 1: it's a defense that plays in a way that's gonna
Speaker 1: have offensive players looking over their shoulder, particularly receivers crossing
Speaker 1: the middle. So I welcome that because I think there
Speaker 1: wasn't enough of an edge on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. Not to say that the defense over the
Speaker 1: years hasn't been able to play physically and you know,
Speaker 1: bring the wood on occasion, but I think there is
Speaker 1: there is a thought that Jim Leonard wants his defense,
Speaker 1: putting in the heads of opposing offensive players that makes
Speaker 1: them cringe a little bit, maybe makes them turtle a
Speaker 1: little bit. I want to see that in action.
Speaker 2: That would be nice, no question about it, though. This
Speaker 2: shakeup on the defensive side has needed. They have tried everything,
Speaker 2: and you can go down the list from the list
Speaker 2: of players that are played on that side of the ball,
Speaker 2: the moves the general managers made on that side of
Speaker 2: the ball, the philosophies that have changed and evolved even
Speaker 2: under McDermott on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1: To your point, we do know Buffalo's defensive front needs
Speaker 1: to improve considerably from what it was last year. Yes,
Speaker 1: they were without two of their better pass rushers for
Speaker 1: most of the season and Michael Hoyt and At Oliver,
Speaker 1: but finishing twenty second in the league in total quarterback
Speaker 1: pressures with one hundred and twenty seven over eighteen games
Speaker 1: and twenty first in total sacks with thirty six is
Speaker 1: not a playoff caliber defense from a pass rush perspective.
Speaker 1: Couple that with the ranking of twenty eighth in run
Speaker 1: defense over one hundred and thirty six yards a game
Speaker 1: and thirtieth in yards allowed per rush attempt. At a
Speaker 1: fat five point one, and you understand why schematic ch
Speaker 1: changes were made. How different do you expect this defense
Speaker 1: to look to its previous iteration and where do you
Speaker 1: think the changes will be most notable?
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna I think it's going to be
Speaker 2: a vastly different defensive roster from top to bottom. There'll
Speaker 2: be some guys that Christian Benfort will be in there,
Speaker 2: Terrell Bernard will be in there taking reps at all.
Speaker 2: Hopefully at Oliver can stay on the field. Greg Russou
Speaker 2: and that's about where it ends. I mean, Cole Bishop
Speaker 2: is fairly new still, he's going to be one of
Speaker 2: the guys who you're going to be looking back. Okay,
Speaker 2: I recognize him. Gardner Johnson's going to be brand new,
Speaker 2: Michael Hoyt is still brand new, TJ Parker, TJ Sanders,
Speaker 2: Dwayne Carter. We don't know Cheb Bradley Chubb know nothing
Speaker 2: about these guys. I think the roster is going to
Speaker 2: be vastly different, let alone Davison, Igbinosen who may be
Speaker 2: cornerback too, Max Harriston. We barely got to know last year.
Speaker 2: The roster is going to be completely different. That coupled
Speaker 2: with a brand new defensive philosop and a new defensive coordinator. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be almost like you're watching
Speaker 2: somebody else's defense play for the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: There's a very good chance looking at last year starting
Speaker 1: eleven on defense to this year starting eleven on defense,
Speaker 1: you might have five or six different new players. Yeah
Speaker 1: in the starting eleven, right, which is that's a stark
Speaker 1: contrast from last year. But I think where this defense
Speaker 1: is going to be most noticeably different is in the
Speaker 1: volume of packages that Leonard deploys with a multitude of
Speaker 1: different players. People kind of in the first year of
Speaker 1: a defense say, well, hold on a second, you can't
Speaker 1: be that voluminous with your play call package and personnel
Speaker 1: packages in year one of a defense. But I think
Speaker 1: Leonard has so many different players at his disposal that
Speaker 1: he's going to want to get on the field in
Speaker 1: some capacity. Like Jalen Kilgore, for example, it is a
Speaker 1: six to two, two hundred and ten pounds safety slash
Speaker 1: nickel corner who runs a four to four if he's
Speaker 1: got it between the ears, and it sounds like he does.
Speaker 1: Having talked to him on a couple of occasions they're
Speaker 1: gonna want to get him on the field even though CJ. Gardner,
Speaker 1: Johnson and Cole Bishop might be your starting eleven starting safeties.
Speaker 1: So to that end, I think he's gonna have extra
Speaker 1: players at his disposal to use in a varied number
Speaker 1: of packages to make this defense more difficult to figure out.
Speaker 2: So I think there's.
Speaker 1: Gonna be people running on, running off based on down
Speaker 1: and distance, where you are on the field, time and score.
Speaker 1: I think that's where it's gonna be most notable. We're
Speaker 1: gonna say a number of different personnel packages because I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna want to get upwards of fifteen to
Speaker 1: sixteen eighteen different defensive players on the field through the
Speaker 1: course of a game.
Speaker 2: Right if you've got twenty four guys listed as defensive
Speaker 2: players on your fifty three man or forty seven man
Speaker 2: roster of game day roster game day roster, ninety percent
Speaker 2: of those guys going to state see snaps not Those
Speaker 2: last couple may be special teams eyes, but it seems
Speaker 2: like the entire what twenty two guys that they've got
Speaker 2: listed for defenders, they're all gonna get on the field.
Speaker 2: It feels now you may be right.
Speaker 1: Leonard has talked a lot about dictating play to the opponent,
Speaker 1: particularly when down in distance favors his unit. How likely
Speaker 1: is that that Buffalo's pass rush becomes the identity of
Speaker 1: this revamp well defensive unit, because they've been searching. They
Speaker 1: were searching for that the entire McDermott regime. I mean,
Speaker 1: you could argue that the pass rush has not been
Speaker 1: the identity of this defense since Jim Schwartz was running
Speaker 1: it and they led the league in sacks with fifty seven.
Speaker 1: That's correct, right, I mean you're talking upwards of a
Speaker 1: dozen years.
Speaker 2: That's what every defense wants for its defense. They want
Speaker 2: their pass rush to dominate the whole game, like we've
Speaker 2: seen a couple, you know, on occasion teams be able
Speaker 2: to do in a Super Bowl against Peyton Manning, the
Speaker 2: Legion of Boom last year, the Seattle Seahawks against the Patriots.
Speaker 2: That's the kind of defensive front you want to see.
Speaker 2: The Rams with Aaron Broncos the Broncos. So that's what
Speaker 2: you want to see in Everybody wants it, but it's
Speaker 2: hard to get without elite defenders. The Bills have yet
Speaker 2: to have anybody emerge as an elite defender in the
Speaker 2: defensive front or pass rush of this group. We saw
Speaker 2: moments of it last year with Michael Hoyton at Oliver thought, okay,
Speaker 2: we've got something. Have an elite edge guy and a
Speaker 2: defensive tackle who could really move some people, and we
Speaker 2: lasted a half a game. So that's the biggest question mark.
Speaker 2: This defense, when it was at its best under McDermott,
Speaker 2: was a turnover generator. That was their identity when they
Speaker 2: got to their first playoff game or their playoff run
Speaker 2: with Josh Allen in his second year in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 2: here's the problem that I see it, and I'm going
Speaker 2: to get back to this as a ton. The big
Speaker 2: question for this defense is, yeah, it's all nice to
Speaker 2: go out and dictate play, go out and blitz them
Speaker 2: and go after them and really attack them. The problem
Speaker 2: is the Bills consistently play a first play schedule. First
Speaker 2: play schedule. Quarterbacks aren't bothered by blitzes. They got a plan,
Speaker 2: they can beat it. In twenty seventeen, when the Bills
Speaker 2: were blitz happy and Sean mcdermal was, wow, this is great.
Speaker 2: They were playing a fourth they were playing a tenth
Speaker 2: place schedule. They were the worst team in football. They
Speaker 2: couldn't get in the playoffs, they stunk, and they played
Speaker 2: the bottom of the NFL. Yeah, you get away with
Speaker 2: it because those quarterbacks are struggling as bad as your
Speaker 2: quarterbacks that you were running through every three or four
Speaker 2: years during the drought. You were playing the fourth place schedule.
Speaker 2: Bills don't play fourth play schedules this year. This year
Speaker 2: they get a second place schedule. Guess what, So to
Speaker 2: the Chiefs, you got the Chiefs. So to the RAM,
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, you can dictate play like that
Speaker 2: defensive least, particularly without elite defenders against a fourth place schedule.
Speaker 2: You look at the Bill schedule this year. You think
Speaker 2: you're going to fool Matt Stafford out of in La
Speaker 2: at his home stadium. No, you gotta beat some guys
Speaker 2: one on one. Yeah, that's the big question mark for
Speaker 2: the Bills defense, right, And.
Speaker 1: I will that we haven't seen that, And I will
Speaker 1: dovetail off of that because I still harbor the concern
Speaker 1: that while you have accumulated more pass rushers than maybe
Speaker 1: you have in recent years, both young and inexperienced and proven,
Speaker 1: most notably TJ. Parker and Bradley Chubb in free agency.
Speaker 1: In this system, you still don't have a pass rusher
Speaker 1: whose game is predicated on speed. You don't have a
Speaker 1: quintessential speed rusher off the edge on this roster. Javon
Speaker 1: Solomon's a nice player, power rusher, Greg Russo power rusher,
Speaker 1: Bradley Chubb power rusher, TJ. Parker largely a power rusher.
Speaker 1: There is no speed element out there, and so I
Speaker 1: think Jim Leonard is going to have to find other
Speaker 1: pieces within his defense to create that speed and hurry
Speaker 1: up quarterbacks to the degree that he wants. So maybe
Speaker 1: it's a blitzing Dorian Williams, maybe it's a blitzing calebb Alarms,
Speaker 1: or maybe it's a blitzing safety or corner. But I
Speaker 1: think that's where the speed of the pass rush is
Speaker 1: gonna have to be manufactured from, because I don't see
Speaker 1: it in the primary skill sets of the primary pass rush.
Speaker 2: They have tried it a ton of ways. Leonard Floyd
Speaker 2: was in here, Von Miller was in here, and they
Speaker 2: had different players up front. Jordan Phillips is a power rusher.
Speaker 2: Tremade Edmonds was here, Poyer and not all these names
Speaker 2: have been churned through the Bill's defense, and while Poyer
Speaker 2: and Hyde were elite safeties together, they weren't pass rushers.
Speaker 2: And you know, you had a guy in here for
Speaker 2: one year who has been the only guy in the
Speaker 2: last six or seven have double digit sacks, and that
Speaker 2: was Leonard Floyd, right and a half twenty twenty half.
Speaker 2: He barely got there. It it's been a rough go.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, knowing that because Floyd
Speaker 1: was the only double jude to sack season in the
Speaker 1: mcdermot'd era for nine years, do you believe there will
Speaker 1: be a top sack specialist on this roster who far
Speaker 1: and away leads the team in that category, or do
Speaker 1: you expect more of the same group effort apro.
Speaker 2: I think it's got to be more the same group
Speaker 2: unless t. J. Parker comes in and it's like, wow,
Speaker 2: this is Chubb has a career. Chub has a Chubb
Speaker 2: has some gas in the tank, and he finds himself
Speaker 2: in a culture that's like, wow, I can thrive in this.
Speaker 2: Or Michael Hoyt comes in and and gets out of
Speaker 2: the blocks a little bit faster than we thought he
Speaker 2: would and he has a strong second two thirds of
Speaker 2: the season. That kind of thing. Maybe, but that's all
Speaker 2: that's a coin flip. Yeah, I don't. I don't. I
Speaker 2: think it's going to be more of the same and
Speaker 2: hopefully a little better with a more aggressive philosophy and
Speaker 2: maybe better timed calls. I don't know, but I have Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's the only thing on this roster that says, well,
Speaker 2: maybe they got a chance is Ed Oliver and Michael
Speaker 2: Hoyt being able to recreate what they had for a
Speaker 2: short time last year and never got a chance to
Speaker 2: see it. And TJ. Parker is what he thinks, what
Speaker 2: the Bills think he is, and Bradley Chubb has some guests.
Speaker 2: But all of that, you start to mentioning all those names, Well,
Speaker 2: that's a lot of four names. That's four names already.
Speaker 2: So it's gonna be a group effort. Yeah. I think
Speaker 2: it's going to be a group effort as well.
Speaker 1: And then I think if you take it a step further,
Speaker 1: you say, well, how much are they going to be
Speaker 1: able to climb that team sack leaderboard in the league.
Speaker 1: They were twenty first last year with thirty six, as
Speaker 1: we mentioned, can they get ten more? Can they get
Speaker 1: twelve more? I think some of it's gonna have to
Speaker 1: do with getting teams in vulnerable positions, which means your
Speaker 1: run defense better be better on early downs to create those
Speaker 1: pans rush opportunities. And then if you look at the schedule,
Speaker 1: here are some mobile courts. They're facing a lot of
Speaker 1: mobile quarterbacks this year, Justin Herbert Drake, May, Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: c J. Stroud, Caleb Williams, Kyler Murray, Like, these are
Speaker 1: guys that flush out of the pocket and they're hard.
Speaker 2: To run down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially if you're over two hundred and fifty pounds
Speaker 1: chasing one of those guys.
Speaker 2: Right, So I think it is.
Speaker 1: Going to be more of a group effort going forward. Okay,
Speaker 1: knowing the previous regime was reluctant to put young players
Speaker 1: on the field in significant roles, how much do you
Speaker 1: anticipate the approach changing where young and athletic players are
Speaker 1: put on the field sooner rather than later, and in
Speaker 1: some cases immediately.
Speaker 2: We talk about this a lot on the Daily Show,
Speaker 2: and it's my thought that I think it will change
Speaker 2: in a very noticeable way. I think we're going to
Speaker 2: see a lot of young players on the field. I
Speaker 2: think we're I think it has to be that way
Speaker 2: on the day defensive side, they've got no choice. They
Speaker 2: got Davis nig Binosen and Max harriston those but those
Speaker 2: are both young players. You've got TJ. Parker, TJ. Sanders,
Speaker 2: TJ Sanders, Dackson, Dwayne Carter landon Jackson. All those guys
Speaker 2: are gonna be up there and they're gonna have to contribute.
Speaker 2: You're just not gonna get around it. Anither Way, Cole
Speaker 2: Bishop is still a young player. Yeah, third of year
Speaker 2: player Gardner Johnson, maybe he's a veteran. He may be
Speaker 2: in there and maybe he earns his spot. But Jalen Kilgore,
Speaker 2: uh is a great answer to that. And also from
Speaker 2: from last year, Jordan Hancock, great athlete. I'm so, I'm
Speaker 2: There's just no question the defense is going to be
Speaker 2: vastly different. It's gonna for those who are junkies about football,
Speaker 2: you're gonna notice it looks different upfront. But you're also
Speaker 2: if you're just a casual fan, you're gonna have to
Speaker 2: learn names and what those guys look like and what
Speaker 2: numbers they are. It's gonna be a vastly new roster.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I would, And since we're focusing this episode
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball. I would agree
Speaker 1: with you, yes, because, for those that don't remember, last year,
Speaker 1: this defense collectively was agonizingly slow, lacking speed on the
Speaker 1: field to the point where they could not play man
Speaker 1: to man coverage on the back end with any kind
Speaker 1: of regularity.
Speaker 2: Across the board.
Speaker 1: Maybe you play man on one side with Benford and
Speaker 1: you zone off the other half of the field, But
Speaker 1: with Harston out of the lineup for most of the season,
Speaker 1: it was very hard for this team to play man
Speaker 1: to man coverage because Taron Johnson had lost a step
Speaker 1: and Tredavie is white. Though he had a nice, a
Speaker 1: good season, a renaissance season of sorts from where he
Speaker 1: had been the previous year and a half, the effectiveness
Speaker 1: of their man to man coverage was severely compro And
Speaker 1: so now when they got to the offseason, I think
Speaker 1: they made the ultimate determination whether they had changed the
Speaker 1: coaching staff or not. They had to turn the page.
Speaker 1: Matt Milano wrong side of thirty day, Kwon Jones wrong
Speaker 1: side of thirty, you know, And so they had to
Speaker 1: turn the roster over. And now the result is you
Speaker 1: have to rely on that youth to play significant roles
Speaker 1: here going forward, and I think we anticipate that to
Speaker 1: be the case, but I think there's also a willingness
Speaker 1: and a want to to hand it over to the
Speaker 1: younger players, believing that even if they don't recognize things
Speaker 1: maybe as quickly as a veteran might on the field,
Speaker 1: they're athleticism and God given speed may get them in
Speaker 1: positions to still make plays. And then as they learn
Speaker 1: through the course of the season that speed and athleticism
Speaker 1: will end up giving this defense.
Speaker 2: Far more rewards in the form.
Speaker 1: Of takeaways, forced fumble sacks, you know, batted passes, things
Speaker 1: of that, pass breakups. I think they see that the
Speaker 1: dividends will pay off, hopefully by the second half of
Speaker 1: the season, if not sooner, and then to take it
Speaker 1: a step further, even on offense, I can see this
Speaker 1: team leaning towards youth, provided it shows itself and reveals
Speaker 1: some encouraging potential. But they're not waiting on the Curtis
Speaker 1: Samuels of the world. I know he's not on this roster.
Speaker 1: I'm just using him as an example. They waited for
Speaker 1: two years for this guy to show up in some
Speaker 1: capacity on a regular basis. It never happened. They're not
Speaker 1: waiting on vets anymore so Joshua Palmer in year two.
Speaker 1: If he's on this fifty three man roster and he's
Speaker 1: not showing it in week one, two, three, or four,
Speaker 1: they will not waste a second on turning to Skyler
Speaker 1: Bell and say, hey, let's see what you got.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think, don't you think? I think that's
Speaker 2: the attitude going into training camp. I think Skyler Bell's
Speaker 2: in the mix because of his speed there. And this
Speaker 2: is also a staff most of the staff on offensively
Speaker 2: think about this. This train was really the train that
Speaker 2: they were on was really hamstrung by injuries and guys
Speaker 2: in and out of the lineup. Offensively, I think if
Speaker 2: you're the head coach now and you went through that
Speaker 2: as an offensive coordinator last year, I think the train
Speaker 2: leaves the station. The guys who are available and available
Speaker 2: consistently are the guys that are going to get on
Speaker 2: the field. We're not having you rotate in and out.
Speaker 2: Either you're available and you're ready to play, or you're
Speaker 2: getting left behind because our offense. The offense can't evolve
Speaker 2: during the season if you don't have guys involved in
Speaker 2: it every week.
Speaker 3: Now, it's musical chair as at receiver last year. So
Speaker 3: musical chairs, that's right. So when a guy's out here,
Speaker 3: let me just explain. If a guy gets is in
Speaker 3: there and he's humming along during training camp and they
Speaker 3: got everything under their belt and then he plays a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks. By the time that couple of weeks
Speaker 3: is over, defenses are starting to get a handle on
Speaker 3: who you are and what you're going to do. Now
Speaker 3: he's not there, that you start from scratch offense, you
Speaker 3: can't advance it offensively now because when the guys he
Speaker 3: comes back at now he comes back, Now, you're right
Speaker 3: where you were two weeks ago, and every defense has
Speaker 3: seen it. And that's and they got a plan for that.
Speaker 3: So the offense is is a living kind of vibrant thing,
Speaker 3: and it keeps moving and changing and on the fly.
Speaker 3: Even during games, they'll add a wrinkle or they'll say, hey,
Speaker 3: run it this way. It's that kind of stuff that's
Speaker 3: going on because of the advancement of the defenses. So
Speaker 3: when you get a guy that's in the in and
Speaker 3: out of the lineup, you become stagnant in a heartbeat,
Speaker 3: and because of that, you become predictable. And that's you know,
Speaker 3: that's suicide.
Speaker 2: And now it's harder for you to execute. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We pivot now to the numbers game, where Steve will
Speaker 1: be quizzed on Bill's training camp history, Part two. Question
Speaker 1: number one, Joe Brady will hold his first training camp
Speaker 1: as head coach of the Bill this summer. How many
Speaker 1: different head coaches have overseen a Bill's training camp at
Speaker 1: Saint John Fisher prior to Joe Brady?
Speaker 2: Give me the number of coaches McDermott daily, Jerron Wade,
Speaker 2: n Wade, uh, Greg, Greg Williams. Let me say five.
Speaker 1: The answer is eighth. Wade. You did not say Malarky.
Speaker 1: You also forgot Rex Ryan, Oh my gosh, and your favorite.
Speaker 2: Of mine, Doug Moron. Oh boy, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Eight coaches have run training camps at Saint John Fisher.
Speaker 2: Joe Brady will be the ninth. Wow.
Speaker 1: Question number two, how many quarterbacks can you name who
Speaker 1: were part of training camp competitions for the starting quarterback
Speaker 1: job Saint John Fisher's or the Bills.
Speaker 2: That is, so, how many can I name? Yeah? Just
Speaker 2: start rattling off names. Cobb, Yes, Kevin Cobb. He starts
Speaker 2: with Cobb, Johnson, Rob Johns, yep, Emanuel manual ej.
Speaker 1: Manuel fit Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yes, Bledsoe, well, Bledsoe was a starter.
Speaker 1: He was never in a competition.
Speaker 2: Okay, so he doesn't count. Let's see how many is
Speaker 2: that seven? Uh? I got to name the guys they
Speaker 2: were in competition with, probably yes, Van Pelt, No, he was,
Speaker 2: he was a backup. There are some drafted quarterbacks here.
Speaker 2: You're not mentioning by the Bills you mentioned j Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: kid from two lane? What's his name? Name it? What's
Speaker 2: his name? The kid from too Oh? You know it's Steve?
Speaker 2: I know. Come on, spin through that roll of dex
Speaker 2: up there. Let's see man use that front. I've moved
Speaker 2: past what's his name? There was another draft choice? Yeah,
Speaker 2: third round pick Edwards Trent Edwards. Yea, and uh, guys,
Speaker 2: the the way I remember him is not airworthy. I
Speaker 2: can't remember JP Losman, J. P. Lossman.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's all I got. Okay, So here are your others.
Speaker 1: Kelly Holcombe, Okay, that's a good one. Craignall, Yeah, that
Speaker 1: that you may have that, and then you have like
Speaker 1: a movie character.
Speaker 2: I don't even know that.
Speaker 1: Tyrod Taylor, oh, Trod, Yeah, Tyron Yeah, Matt Castle that's
Speaker 1: a good one. Nathan Peterman, Oh yeah, another draft choice
Speaker 1: in a competition in twenty eighteen the competition who the
Speaker 1: competition was? Josh Allen is a rookie, Nathan Peterman is
Speaker 1: a second year and a j McCarron. Yay ah dark
Speaker 1: think about where we were, buddy, all right? Question number three?
Speaker 1: What two players got into a scuffle during a training
Speaker 1: camp practice when one of the players shove Fred Jackson
Speaker 1: from behind in the back, sending him sliding to the
Speaker 1: turf at the end of a run play in eleven
Speaker 1: on eleven and I will give you a hint. Even
Speaker 1: though he was not part of the two players scuffle,
Speaker 1: Eric Wood was heard saying to the defensive player, quote,
Speaker 1: maybe you should give back some of that bonus money
Speaker 1: you ain't earned. Who were the two players in that scuffle?
Speaker 2: Fred Jackson?
Speaker 1: So I'm Fred Jackson got shoved in the back and
Speaker 1: slid to the turf and then two players started fighting
Speaker 1: each other?
Speaker 2: Was it Tako or was it Kio?
Speaker 1: Was not there anymore? This is two thousand and nine?
Speaker 2: Was this? Uh okay? Two thousand and nine? That's post okay?
Speaker 2: Two defensive players to an offensive two players?
Speaker 1: So who would typically come to the defense of a
Speaker 1: skill position player. Right, Well, so it's an offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: but it is not Eric.
Speaker 2: Wool I would say, probably it wasn't Wyatt Teller either. No,
Speaker 2: he's not there yet. I'd say, Oh, man, who would
Speaker 2: it be on the offensive line? What year was it
Speaker 2: to two thousand and nine? Oh?
Speaker 1: Boy, So it's a veteran center that was signed as
Speaker 1: a free agent because Eric Wood was playing guard that
Speaker 1: years or I would never.
Speaker 2: Get that guy. The defensive player had to shoved, Fred
Speaker 2: had to be It's a classic London Fletcher.
Speaker 1: No, I was gonna say, it's a classic Bills bust
Speaker 1: of a draft pick.
Speaker 2: Oh Mabon, Aaron Mabon and Jeff Handgardener. Yeah, Jeff Handgarden.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have gotten I could picture him, but I
Speaker 2: couldn't have got his name. Mab Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then question four, All right, what Bill's draft choice
Speaker 1: never suited up and played in a game for the
Speaker 1: Bills because he suffered a torn acl in a training
Speaker 1: camp practice as a rookie and was part of a
Speaker 1: trade the following off season with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 2: Oh dude, what year was that? Twenty fifteen? Was I
Speaker 2: alive in twenty fifteen, you were let me think.
Speaker 1: And we had this as part of a training camp
Speaker 1: coverage segment where you audibly hear other players shouting trainer
Speaker 1: after the play because it was that bad second round pick.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hold on a minute dB out of Alabama linebacker.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I know who it is. I know who
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 1: And the initials. Do you need the initials?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Go ahead, r R Reggie Raglan, Reggie Raglan. He's
Speaker 2: the guy. They give him enough clues and nail it.
Speaker 2: Rex swore that guy was going to be the defensive
Speaker 2: rookie of the year. Yep.
Speaker 1: I think he only lasted three or four years in
Speaker 1: the league after he got traded to Kansas City Tour
Speaker 1: Tour his acl uh.
Speaker 2: Time.
Speaker 1: Now for our one burning question. If you had to
Speaker 1: pick a player on defense entering year two or less
Speaker 1: in the NFL that you believe could break out in
Speaker 1: a big way for the Bills, who would it be.
Speaker 1: We saw Cole Bishop do it last year in year two.
Speaker 1: Who is your ideal candidate for such a breakout this
Speaker 1: season on defense?
Speaker 2: Steve, I had not not thought about this for the youngsters.
Speaker 1: Year two or less, So you're looking at last year's
Speaker 1: draft class and this year.
Speaker 2: For all intents, I was putting I was I didn't.
Speaker 2: I read the script, but I didn't. I didn't read
Speaker 2: it as closely as I should have. I didn't do
Speaker 2: your homework picking a player. I was picking just a
Speaker 2: regular player, not a two second year or less. All Right,
Speaker 2: here we go. I gotta say, I'm gonna go back
Speaker 2: to my gut feeling. I've been talking about this on
Speaker 2: the Daily Show. Davison picked him again. I like the guy.
Speaker 2: I'm it's because of the way he got there, the
Speaker 2: way he plays, the guy he is. His physical is
Speaker 2: build his numbers and the spot that is kind of like.
Speaker 1: Up for grabs in between two very young players, very
Speaker 1: young players, Harrison and.
Speaker 2: And he was drafted by this defensive staff. Okay, I
Speaker 2: am going to go with t J.
Speaker 1: Sanders. I think he is better suited for a three
Speaker 1: four front. He'll play that end position, and I think
Speaker 1: he will be a more productive player than people realize,
Speaker 1: and so he will be my pick for a breakout
Speaker 1: candidate eight two years in the league or less. On
Speaker 1: Buffalo's defense, our closing figure takes a look at the
Speaker 1: Bill's blitz rate over the past nine seasons during the
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott era, the Bills went from a heavy blitz
Speaker 1: team to one of the lower blitzing teams in the league.
Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen, the Bills were the fourth highest blitzing
Speaker 1: team in football at just over thirty eight percent, and
Speaker 1: for the four seasons that followed, the Bill stayed in
Speaker 1: the top half of the league when it came to blitzing.
Speaker 1: But since twenty twenty two, Buffalo blitzed at a rate
Speaker 1: of just twenty one percent, a seventeen percent dropped from
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. Last season, the Bills had the fifth lowest
Speaker 1: blitz rate in the league at just nineteen percent. What
Speaker 1: should we expect from Jim Leonard's crew If Denver serves
Speaker 1: as any indication, it's likely to be higher. Over the
Speaker 1: past two seasons, the Broncos blitz did a rate at
Speaker 1: twenty nine and a half percent and twenty eight and
Speaker 1: a half percent to rank seventh and sixth in the
Speaker 1: league in blitz frequency.
Speaker 2: Without defenders, it's hard to take chances up front by blitzing,
Speaker 2: particularly when you're playing a first play schedule like the Bills.
Speaker 2: Did you talk about twenty twenty two. That was after
Speaker 2: they started when Josh emerged in twenty twenty, they started playing.
Speaker 2: After twenty twenty, they started playing that first place schedule
Speaker 2: and Presto Chaninjo. You know, they start playing quarterbacks who
Speaker 2: can handle pressure. That's the issue if they It's hard
Speaker 2: to do when you don't have elite defenders, even against
Speaker 2: good quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: So the only way you work around that is you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to create situations where blitzing becomes an option
Speaker 1: for your defense play caller, and that means you gotta
Speaker 1: stone them on first and second down.
Speaker 2: You got to catch the quarterback off guard, particularly good ones,
Speaker 2: and that's really hard to do. That'll do it for
Speaker 2: this edition.
Speaker 1: Make sure you subscribe to Bills by the Numbers so
Speaker 1: you know what our next episode is out, because when
Speaker 1: you need to know about the bills, you need to
Speaker 1: check Bills by the Numbers For Steve Tasker on Chris Brown,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: Well, catch you next time. Everybody,