B (3:36)

Yeah, he was cramping up. He was another guy that just. I was hot on the sidelines in a short, in shorts and a T shirt, and I just can't imagine. It was 120. They were saying on the broadcast, the field temperature with a helmet and shoulder pads on, it was a lot. It took the toll on them. And we talked to Greg Russo after the game, who grew up here, played here in my. At Miami, said it was probably the hottest game that he's ever played in, and it felt like it.

A (4:06)

Yeah. Even Dawson Knox, we were asking him. He had to go in and get hydrated. He had to get the iv. And he was talking about, like, I asked him, like, do you feel it all the time? He's like, no, but when it comes, you know it's coming and there's nothing you do. And he's like, I did all this stuff this week. I got myself ready. He goes, what was I supposed to do? Like, take three IVs? I would have felt like I was. What'd he say? £300? Going out on the field. Because it just. It just bloats you, and it's just a different way. I know they prepare.

B (4:36)

Yes.

A (4:36)

But there's only so much preparing you can do.

B (4:39)

Yes. And I think that that goes into it. I think when we see Spencer Brown go out at halftime and not return, I think the first thought that most people have is wasn't hydrating.

A (4:53)

Yeah.

B (4:53)

And they all kind of said, like, here, Dawson Knox had to leave. Had to leave the game to go get a second iv because he said he got one pre game, and then he said he got another one. He goes, he's cramping up so bad. And he goes, I was drinking pickle juice. I was. I was Drinking water. Like, I think it's easy to say, guy wasn't hydrating. And sometimes at that level of extreme, it didn't matter what you did all week.

A (5:16)

Hey, it impacted the Dolphins.

B (5:18)

Yes.

A (5:18)

You know, they had guys. Was it Howard that left the game? And they had other guys, offensive linemen, like. And these guys live down here and they're dealing with it all the time. But that's specific to this game. What did you see from the safeties? I mean, what a spot they're in. Poyer and Hyde both at the game, both on the sidelines, both encouraging them, talking to them beforehand. I. From my perspective, where I'm in the press box, you're. We're getting more of like the all 22 look at it. I thought they did a pretty good job. I mean, it's. You know, they gave up the big play and it was. And that's the one you say to yourself, if Poyer and Hyde are out there, maybe that doesn't. And maybe it doesn't.

B (6:03)

Correct.

A (6:04)

But I thought they accounted for themselves pretty well.

B (6:08)

Yeah.

A (6:08)

During the game, I thought the Bills.

B (6:10)

Defense as a whole really stood up to the challenges that they had of being without Poy or Hyde or. We've gotten into this podcast. We haven't even talked about Ed Oliver not playing and Jordan Phillips not playing and Dane Jackson obviously not playing, all these things. I hope the defense held their own against this offensive attack that we saw. Put up 35 points in a fourth quarter, thinking like, oh, this is going to be a total shootout. And it wasn't that you needed to pitch a shutout, but you just needed to keep them close, kind of contain them. And I thought they did exactly that. If you would have told me before the game that Dolphins are only going to score 22 points. Yeah, they were 20, 20, 21. 21 points.

A (6:52)

Yeah. Yeah. She would have taken it. And by the way, what were they doing? They targeted Tyreek Hill four times in the whole game.

B (6:59)

They ran the ball as much as they threw the ball, and that was with Christian Benford also being out.

A (7:06)

Yeah.

B (7:07)

And I feel bad. I don't know his first name, but. Ingram.

A (7:13)

Right.

B (7:13)

Undrafted out of ub.

A (7:15)

Jamarcus. That sounds Jamarcus. Yeah. I mean, this is a guy that. He was on the practice. This is somebody that, honestly, we try our best to keep up with everything, but this was not a guy on anybody's radar. He's a guy who transferred to ub. I think, for his final year. He's out there a lot because it was Interesting to see Benford playing special teams, running down with that big thing on his hand. Yeah, but he wasn't playing on the defensive side of the ball. So they were so shorthanded. So it's not even like one of those guys went in the game. Just say all the corners, everybody's playing and Poyer's out or hides out, right? No, they were both out. And so it was, it was tough in that way. You mentioned that about not having Ed Oliver and not having Jordan Phillips. Those guys bring a physical presence to the defensive line. And I thought there were times today where in the limited time that the Dolphins had the ball, you really wanted to see, you know, Jordan Phillips would have made a play in this game, 100%. And, and they just, they didn't really get that push. But the Dolphins, I mean, they had the ball for 20 minutes. They did give them credit. They scored 21 points. Seven of them the Bills handed to them on the fumble. But they had one really impressive drive, I thought, and then the other one was good. But the one really impressive drive and the Bills just couldn't.

B (8:36)

It was the second drive.

A (8:37)

Yeah.

B (8:38)

Because the Bills forced the three and a half thing to start.

A (8:41)

Yep.

B (8:41)

And then they had a nice drive down the field.

A (8:43)

Yeah. Yeah. Josh Allen, look, we got to grade him on the Josh Allen curve. I think he does so many things to put himself in a position to not come through at the end of the game, if you're following what I'm saying. There's a lot of quarterbacks with those circumstances that wouldn't have even been in the game. He made some incredible plays today. Moving out of pressure, getting the ball out of his hands. He put it up for grabs a lot too. He was doing a little hero ball, Josh, but he kind of needed to in this game. They weren't getting the normal things. But I think the thing it's going to bug him is, I mean, he had a 20 play drive that didn't result in a touchdown. Normally the Bills find a way to get the ball in the end zone. They just didn't do it today.

B (9:29)

Yeah, I think it's a tale of two halves for me because in the first half you still had Spencer Brown, you still had Van Roten in, you still had Ryan Bates in. And Josh just looked so in control. So even when it is a little chaotic, he was still that duck on the water. Like maybe his feet were going, but you were just. He felt like he knew where the chaos was coming from and his preparation, you know, the, the check in the audible to the Mackenzie touchdown was phenomenal. But then I feel like when pieces started to fall apart, there were a couple of miscommunications. Mishandling of snaps.

A (10:13)

Yeah.

B (10:13)

One that led to the debacle at the end of that first half. We asked Josh about that because I think some people are going, did he try the fake spike play? Yeah, Josh said that he fumbled the snap for a second. So you can't spike it. If you bobble the snap, it'd be intentional grounding. It would have been a 15 yard penalty, a loss of down and a 10 second runoff. It would have ended the half. So Josh just tried to go, okay, I'll just fling it out to Diggs and see what happens. Mike, you think he panicked a little bit, which he did.

A (10:44)

He knew the rule.

B (10:46)

Yes.

A (10:46)

But in that moment, he's got to just sail the ball over Diggs, his head, throw it out of bounds again. That's hard to prepare for. But it cost him three points. You know, look at the little stuff. It cost him three points there. Tyler Bass, who's close to automatic, misses that short field goal badly. It really wasn't a good kick at all. And then you add to that Gabe Davis doesn't catch the ball in the end zone when he should have had a touchdown.

B (11:10)

Matt Milano.

A (11:10)

And Matt Milano's got his second pick, six in a row, honestly, he's got one and then he's dropped two since then.

B (11:17)

Yeah.

A (11:17)

I mean, is he working out with Jermaine Edmunds on catching the ball? By the way, I like the way Edmonds played today. I thought he was aggressive again.

B (11:26)

Yeah.

A (11:27)

Thought he was running. I mean, he had to make some plays.

B (11:29)

But you know who I didn't really notice. I didn't really notice Vaughn.

A (11:34)

No. Early on he had good pressure and he blocked a pass, deflected a pass very early in the game. Then I didn't really notice him very much. But again, the Dolphins only had the ball for 20 minutes. Yeah, they only. They ran less than half the plays the Bills did on offense, so it was bad. So the reason I said that about grading Josh is a little bit of like, we look at him this way, he put up empty passing numbers today. Not that he didn't make good plays, but, you know, he's usually really good at finding into the end zone. What I'm worried about is, so we see him after the game, he walks right by us. He's going with a staff member and they're heading down towards what we think is the X ray. Had hurt his hand. Then he came back and he was asked about it and he said, it's okay or I'm fine or whatever phrase he used. And then he also said, it is what it is. I think he banged up that hand. I think it was hurting him. And I hope it's not just something he's got to play with because it's his throwing hand.

B (12:40)

It's interesting because the Mackenzie pass on the second to last series was just such an uncharacteristic bad throw right into the ground, like zero chance of completing that ball. And honestly, Mackenzie's open and a good throw, a Josh Allen, like, throw that we're used to.

A (13:01)

It's a touchdown.

B (13:02)

It's a touchdown.

A (13:03)

Yeah.

B (13:03)

Um, so I know people were saying, oh, like his hand was hurting him. He looked okay on the last drive. He did scramble and throw.

A (13:11)

Yeah.

B (13:12)

But again, I know you're a little more concerned. I, I don't think he goes to the podium after the game if it's anything more serious.

A (13:21)

I, I hope, I hope I'm just being a little paranoid here because. And I'm not saying that something's going to keep him out. I'm saying it's going to be something that's going to be bothering him. Okay, so where are you with these guys? I mean, we joke in the beginning they're frauds and we know that's not the case. They lose to the Dolphins.

B (13:37)

Yeah.

A (13:38)

Where are they with the Dolphins? They lost to them. So right now the Dolphins are ahead of them. Where do you think they are with the Dolphins?

B (13:43)

Way better.

A (13:44)

Yeah, right. I mean, I think this Dolphins team is a 10 win wild card team.

B (13:51)

You said it best. This game felt on the opposite end of the extreme of the New England wind game last year, where unusual circumstances, weather, weather, literally 120 degree difference and weird game where you had chances and didn't, you know, weren't able to capitalize them. And he's at a best. And the team, the team that won walks away thinking they're. They're great.

A (14:23)

Oh, yeah, yeah. They thought. And that was in December.

B (14:26)

Yep.

A (14:26)

That was in December. This is, you know, this is September. I mean, I know everybody's upset. You're listening to this in the morning, you're upset. You're thinking about that game. They should have won, could have won. What did Vaughn say? I'm thinking we're going 17. Oh, yeah. You know, that's the way he's thinking. But when I look at it, I go, here's the plus side, Bills Fans, you're going to get Poyer back, you're going to get Jordan Phillips back, you're going to get Ed Oliver back, you're going to eventually get Trey White back. You're going to get all those things added to this team. And when that's the case, they are a superior team to the Dolphins.

B (15:00)

It's nice to know that at some point you're going to have an all pro corner coming to help you help.

A (15:06)

Your defense, to help on the defense and all. But on the offensive side, I think they'll be fine. That offensive line, those are circumstances. Like next week in Baltimore, it's not gonna be 90 degrees and 100% humidity or whatever it was.

B (15:18)

Why is that, Mike?

A (15:19)

Because we're in another part of the world here. Oh, because Dan's not at the game. Yeah. Jenna's going to the game. Cause when Dan goes, weather follows. The hottest games, the coldest games. We go to Jacksonville, Florida, it pours like crazy. Well, actually, it wasn't too bad for the game.

B (15:35)

It was just cold.

A (15:36)

Yeah, it was cold in Jacksonville. It was warmer in Rochester. That's the kind of thing I'm looking at. I'm saying to Bills fans, like, look, there's things to worry about. No, Micah Hyde, they're a little banged up, all those things. And you've now lost head to head to the Dolphins and you got to beat them the next time and you got to make this comeback, but come on, they're a better team than adopts.

B (15:57)

Yeah, I think. I think Poyer and Morris coming back will be enough of a lift that they need to kind of, again, not let this injury bug that has bitten them turn into a slide and just make this a one game. Hey, weird game. We had our chances. We shot ourselves in the foot. Mother Nature tried to light us on fire and. And just kind of move on.

A (16:25)

Yeah.

B (16:28)

One last thing I was gonna. What do you think about Ken Dorsey's game plan?

A (16:33)

So it's funny, when you lose, it's easy to go at certain things. I did not like some of the play calls he made. And we've talked about this, where people would jump on Daboll for this when they would run the ball, but they were deep in their own territory. And he ran the same play to Zach Moss where give Moss credit. He did have the 40 some odd yard run, but for the most part he's one and done. And that's not in a good way. Like, he's not gaining yards when they're. They did it two times in A row, put him in third and long. And then you get that play. And I. You guys have already seen the video of him just losing his mind at the end of the game, which he's in the booth and there's a camera on you. But, you know, I didn't think he had his best day today.

B (17:22)

Yeah, it's the first time that I think he's faced some adversity, that not every button he pressed was the right one.

A (17:32)

And in fairness to him, again, third string center, whole right side of the line, you're trying to work around this stuff. And then every time we looked, somebody was in cramps and leaving the game.

B (17:42)

But that was what I had said, too. And it was funny because, Mike, we had talked about it on the Buffalo Plus YouTube channel. We had talked about it in our preview when we were on the beach. And I said, I think the coaches, because of the lack of starters, the coaches can have more of an impact or they're going to have to. We looked at. Players are going to step up. The coaches needed to step up. And, yeah, you're playing with. Not a full deck. But I. Like I said, we just spent, you know, a couple minutes ago talking about how Leslie Frazier did such a great job in this defense, really held their own with everything else that they had going on against them. And I felt like, yeah, the offense, obviously, Gabe Davis wasn't 100%. You had offensive line issues. They just. It didn't seem like Dorsey was able to adjust quickly enough on the fly.

A (18:26)

Yeah. And again, it's only his third game. Calling it. Things went very smoothly the first two. I think he'll be fine. You know, Brian Dabel goes, try to be three, and. Oh.

B (18:38)

So I had a friend text me and say, tweet, Dable wins that game. I'm not going there.

A (18:44)

No, because he's. Dorsey's done a good job. And it's. It's just funny the things that people were critical of with Dable. And it's fine. He was your coach. This guy's your coach. Like, I, you know, this is.

B (18:59)

I haven't seen. And this is a compliment, not an insult. Now, this isn't a dig. This offense looks the same.

A (19:06)

Yeah.

B (19:07)

Like it should. Well, that's what I'm saying. But everybody's like, oh, Ken Dorsey's gonna put his fingerprints all over this. It looks like the same. It looks like the same offense we watched for the last two years. Yeah, that's a good thing.

A (19:21)

It's a good thing.

B (19:22)

So it's a compliment. To Dorsey. It's also a compliment today and I'm.

A (19:26)

Sure they'll come up with some other stuff and, and look, get these linemen back. Get all that back. Last thing I want to talk about, and I should have said it earlier, I'm worried about the close game thing. You know, it's like this is six in a row, six straight losses of close games, and they've lost them all in different ways. I mean, you lost the Jacksonville game because I still, again, I said to somebody today, I still think they're going to win last year's Jacksonville game. I cannot believe they lost to that clown and that awful team, but they did. But then you lose in Nashville where the defense starts to fade, and then you get close and you lose in Tampa, where you make a bunch of plays after a bad first half and then Brady hits the one and he beat you. You losing Kansas City on the crazy game, it's all different ways, but it's, you know, Josh has got to be in the middle of it. Some of those games. He's made fantastic plays.

B (20:20)

Yeah.

A (20:20)

You know, and then other ones, it's going to come down to the quarterback. But are you concerned at all with the close game losses?

B (20:27)

I'm concerned that we're still having to have this discussion. It's one of those things that's like you don't want to speak some things into existence. And it just kind of seems like, like you said, it's not just, oh, the offense can't get it done or the defense can't. Can't close out games. It's been a combination. It has been every single which way the Bills have. It's not found ways to lose. It's haven't been able to. To win these close ones.

A (20:57)

Right.

B (20:58)

And we asked Isaiah McKenzie about it and he kind of was like, yeah, it was almost like he didn't even know how to answer it.

A (21:05)

Yeah.

B (21:06)

Like Dawson Knox said the same thing. Like, it comes down to a player, too, and all these things. It's just one of those things that I think we talked about right after the game that it's like you're a really good golfer. You have a lot of top five finishes, but you've never won a tournament.

A (21:22)

And sometimes you lose because some guy, you miss a putt, but somebody else runs in. Just like Rory losing in the open when the other guy's just like making every putt, that can happen, too. I don't think it's a thing. I think the majority of those losses have all been on the road. Right. They lost at the New England game.

B (21:39)

Would be the only.

A (21:40)

Oh, the New England.

B (21:41)

Weird win.

A (21:42)

The weird game. Yeah. Because otherwise it was at Tampa, at Tennessee. Yeah. At Kansas City and at Jacksonville.

B (21:50)

Oh, my God, I'm so over the state of Florida.

A (21:54)

Yeah. As we're looking on TV and I see Brady, he had a facelift, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That thing is tightened up like a rubber band. Seriously.

B (22:04)

Yeah.

A (22:04)

Wonder if Gisele likes it. Who knows? Mentioning Brady again real quick. We always talk about the food at the games. Press box, the difference between the two. So I went upstairs to the press box. They did a nice job. They were a little weird up there about the food.

B (22:22)

Was it air conditioned?

A (22:23)

It was, actually. I got to be honest with you, while you were. It was so hot on the field, it got a little cool in the. I should have had a little sweater, little jacket for the press box. I did have a cup of coffee. Warmed me up a little bit. Yeah. Before I came back out. Good food was okay. They did this weird chicken and waffles thing for like, like the sort of pre game thing. Then they had empanadas. They were good. They were just a lot of bread.

B (22:50)

Yes. Dry.

A (22:51)

Yeah. And then something else they had with you.

B (22:54)

Did you have hemp croquettes?

A (22:56)

They had those next to them.

B (22:58)

That's what we had.

A (22:58)

You had those downstairs?

B (22:59)

We had those downstairs. Oh, so it was a little. With a little chimichurri.

A (23:03)

Yeah. Did you have key lime pie? No, no, we had key lime pie upstairs in these little cups. I don't know if somebody makes them. I'm not. I don't like, love key lime pie, but I had it because I was.

B (23:13)

At that point I was almost afraid to eat because I thought it would dehydrate me.

A (23:18)

Well, I don't worry. I had coffee up there to stay warm. Good. During the game. Good. But it was. Yeah, it's fine. And by the way, there was a lot of Dolphins fans at the game. Bills fans are great. They travel. Stop the takeover. There's no takeover. Dolphins fans are awake now.

B (23:33)

That place was loud.

A (23:34)

It was loud and it was.

B (23:36)

There's a bus.

A (23:36)

90 some odd percent dolphins fans, they were happy that, you know. And Bill's fans were great and they cheer and, you know, you could hear them. But.

B (23:44)

And again. And we, we can, we can make the jokes. And I've done it as a Braves fan with the Mets in August. And I said, well, he won the. You won the World Series. Like Bills fans can sit there and unfortunately Dolphins fans get to gloat, they get to brag.

A (24:01)

They.

B (24:02)

They earned it. But you will see them again and it'll be a different game.

A (24:07)

Oh, yeah. Bills are the better team. Just did not play like it today for multiple reasons. All right, that's going to do it for us. We're happy you're with us. We're happy you're here on this audio podcast again. We'll do an audio podcast version during the week and then after every game. So when you get up in the morning and maybe in Baltimore next Monday, you're getting up and you're all excited because the Bills took care of business or if they happen to lose and you want to hear our thoughts, just make sure, wherever you find podcasts.

B (24:34)

Jimmy Garoppolo just pulled an Orlovsky.

A (24:36)

Oh, he went out of the back of the end zone, didn't he?

B (24:38)

He went Orlovsky. Wow.

A (24:43)

Oh, my God. So you could tweet to your buddy Orlovsky, Jimmy Garoppolo is the most handsome quarterback to ever go out of the back of the end zone. Yep, he did. He definitely went out. Yeah. Tough for them. All right, please make sure to, like, comment, give us a rating, all those things. Jenna and I are heading down to Baltimore next week, so for Jenna and Dan, I'm Mike Catalana. Thanks for being with us here on the Buffalo plus podcast.