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Buffalo Plus: A Buffalo Bills podcast
Buffalo Bills are in trouble. Should Ken Dorsey stay as OC. 10 Takeaways from losing to MAC JONES
00:22:26
10 Takeaways from Buffalo Bills losing to Mac Jones and Patriots
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- [00:00]
A
I'm sick of it. It feels like every drive, there's so many third down. Everything is such a slog. The first half was abysmal. It felt like they couldn't do any. They couldn't do anything. All right, welcome Back to the Buffalo plus YouTube channel. Mike Catalana, I am Jenna Cottrell. Please be sure to, like, comment and subscribe to the channel if you enjoy our content.
- [00:29]
B
Yeah, I don't think people are gonna like what we're going to say.
- [00:31]
A
Well, I think people are going to like what we have to say because I think a lot of people are very frustrated. The bills, with a 2925 loss to the Patriots on the road, their second divisional loss of the season. Buffalo now four and three on the year. Mike? Yeah, there's a lot to digest with this game.
- [00:50]
B
My concern is that this is who the Bills are. They're four and three. I hate that they are not special at all on offense. In fact, they've been poor defensively. They are banged up. But even with that. It's Mac Jones. It's Mac Jones. And Sean used the word afterwards. Sean McDermott. They controlled the game. Yeah, New England did. They did exactly what they wanted to do and controlled the game until, you know, they had a couple of hiccups when the Bills got the turnover and got the ball back. But you let Mac Jones control the game. You've let Zach Wilson beat you, Tyrod almost beat you. I mean, come on, fellas. I know you're banged up, but there's still starters out there, and they got to be better than this Mac Jones.
- [01:34]
A
At the end of that game, I was like, all right, look, the Bills defense will do a good job. They'll have to kick the field goal. Maybe we'll go to overtime. And then with how Mac Jones drove the Patriots down the field, that screenplay, that huge chunk play, seeing stuff like that, it was just jarring. And I will say, during the sidelines before half, I kind of was looking around just because the Bills obviously were struggling earlier on. Patriots kind of walked down the field to start offense, couldn't get going. There was no juice on the sidelines. There was just no energy. I think it obviously the break, they made some second half adjustments, things came together. But the. This team has so much talent. But it's upsetting because, well, we say you have Josh Allen. You have.
- [02:24]
B
Yes, Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs. There's a few players that are elite talents. I start to question everything when I see games like this because Jacksonville. Oh, you Know, it's traveling, and then you come back and the Giants. Well, Dabel knows you well. Yeah. Belichick knows you, too, and they blitzed him at times. They've destroyed the Patriots defense, and they didn't do that today, so. And then again, defensively, I'm sorry, you still have Hyde and Poyer, and you got Bernard, who's your starter, and Von Miller, who's been invisible. And. Okay, he's. The guy at least has something. He's coming back the knee, but he's been invisible. I didn't see anybody make a play on the defensive line today. Not. Not a single one. I didn't see a single impactful play. Am I missing something? Am I missing a play? I'm trying to think nothing out of Russo. Nothing out of.
- [03:20]
A
It was a very quiet day for them. Oliver did not play, but still.
- [03:23]
B
Oh, no. They miss him. But come on, somebody step up. And then. I'm not saying Matt Jones is Tom Brady, but he went down the field like it was Tom Brady against the Bills in total control, moving the ball around and then getting the touchdown at the end. My God, at least keep him out of the end zone and you still have a chance.
- [03:41]
A
It was wild because at one point I was like, wait, which team is 1 and 5? Like, it was. It was unbelievable.
- [03:48]
B
Bad. 1 and 5?
- [03:49]
A
Yeah.
- [03:49]
B
We're not talking about a team that was. You know, they had lost some ones early that way, but they've been brutal as of late. They got blown out by, like, the Cowboys and the Saints, and here are the Bills. Honestly, if you just walked in and you hadn't seen these two teams play, would you think the Bills were a better team? No way. Not in this way. And they are, but they weren't.
- [04:11]
A
Yeah, they were not out here today. And I. I don't know what is going on. I think that for this, we can talk about the offense as well. Like, everything seems like a struggle, and if I have to hear the one more time. The boat horn on third down, I'm sick of it. It feels like every drive, there's so many. Third down, everything. Such a slog. The first half was abysmal. It felt like they couldn't do any. They couldn't do anything.
- [04:39]
B
So I'm gonna go, Dan Fates here, and I'm gonna have the hot take. I'm gonna say if it. Not. If it's not better on Thursday night, which you play Thursday night, and it's a quick turnaround, but then they have. It's. Basically, they'll be Almost like a mini buy. Right. Because you play Thursday and then you turn around if it's not better. I think Ken Dorsey could get fired that soon.
- [05:01]
A
I only say that because I think this organization has been very loyal. I think Sean McDermott inherently is a very loyal person. And I, I, I mean, I don't.
- [05:12]
B
Even think it's all his fault.
- [05:13]
A
No.
- [05:14]
B
The offensive line stunk today.
- [05:16]
A
Josh was running for his life.
- [05:17]
B
It felt like they stunk, but I don't think the quarterback. He said, I asked him point blank, do you have confidence in the game plan? One word. Yes. Well, of course he's gonna say that publicly. You give him the opportunity if he's like, you know, he didn't say any of that. It was one word answers. His entire news conference was 1 minute and 25 seconds, four questions. Yeah. Adam Benigni asked two, and I asked two. And you were working. Cause you were on the camera and nobody else said anything. Half the writers weren't even there yet. They're all cranky about it anyhow. But Josh was not in a talkative mood. The reason I say this is like, look, it's not all his fault. I. But something's got to change. Something has to change. I don't think you can play this way when you have Josh Allen as your quarterback.
- [06:00]
A
It's just a weird vibe. It's a very weird vibe around the team.
- [06:04]
B
Yeah.
- [06:05]
A
And so many times it'd be like, all right, you got Josh Allen. You're going to get it back into this game. And they did. They got back into the game, but it just felt like things were so much harder than they needed to be. Josh was running for his life. And, and then, I mean, like, Dalton Kincaid, I thought having a nice game, but it just, like those plays that you knew you could count on found they weren't there.
- [06:27]
B
I'm looking. Do you, do you see Gabe Davis? He played in the game, didn't he? I mean, like, I stick up for Gabe. I said to you, I think he was going to end up having a big year and maybe get a contract extension. No, you're not impactful in the game. He's not impactful at all. And then you look at Diggs and you're like, I saw people saying, oh, Patriots, do what they do when they take out your best player. I'm sorry. Josh says he's healthy. We'll see. But he had Davis. Excuse me. He had Diggs running open again deep, and he missed him, and it really wasn't close. He had him in the Middle of the field a couple times and missed him. I don't think Josh is 100%. Plus, he took some shots in this game. They beat him up in this game. You gotta make sure 17 is upright and confident. And the reason I say this, would it be totally unfair? Would it be fair to Ken Dorsey? No, probably not. But this is big boy football, and you have your $250 million quarterback, and he doesn't look like that guy right now. I think I'm gonna say what Dan would say, and he's back home. You're coaching for your job, and I think he kind of should be. And I don't know. I don't know what they would do. I don't know if Sean McDermott would actually pull the trigger. If it was on defense, he'd do what he just done before, take over the play calling. He's not calling plays on offense, but he's got enough to worry about the defense being beaten up.
- [07:51]
A
So I definitely think Josh is. He did take some huge hits, and I think he has been affected by that, whether it's short term, long term. When we talked to him entering this week, he said it was pain management, but he's going to be in even more pain after today because of some of those hits he took and just the physicality in which he played with because they needed him to be that guy time in and time out to keep the chains moving. And look, 17, he's huge. That's a part of. It's an asset for him. But at the same point, we talk so much about, you know, Josh making these smart decisions and all this stuff. McDermott talked about it being on schedule, ahead of the chains, and it felt like constantly you had to rely on Josh doing something because the offense just runs on first down. They pick up a yard, maybe two, maybe they lose a couple. It just felt like everything was just so unimaginative, so stagnant, just such a grind.
- [08:46]
B
When they pressured Josh Allen, he struggled today. He did, and it was on him in a hurry. He constantly had to bail and get out.
- [08:54]
A
He bailed so much. Yeah, so much. It felt like, one, two, there goes.
- [08:59]
B
Josh running out because there was a guy in his face. Now, I made this observation during the game. They played against Brian Daboll last week. They played against Bill Belichick this week, and they both coached. I thought a little bit in the past, I would say you're coaching scared, kicking field goals, not going for it on 4th and short, not throwing the ball. It's kind of like, are you coaching to stay close? Honestly, I think they've coached that way the last two weeks because they're not afraid of the Bills offense. You would not coach that way against an elite offense. They're coaching like, we can hold this team down, and then that's what happens. They have no reason to be afraid of this offense. And so they're. They're saying, let's take the field goal, let's play field position, let's make them drive down the field. And that's what they did to them. And it was. It was. It's going to continue, too, because they haven't even gotten to the tough part of the schedule.
- [09:54]
A
This was supposed to be the easy stretch. This was supposed to be where the Bills could build up their confidence, you know, see some creativity out of the offense, score points, feel good, and then have all that rolling into a tough stretch of their schedule. This is. This is bad.
- [10:10]
B
Yeah.
- [10:10]
A
I will say, too. You bring up field goals. Tyler Bass today missed another and.
- [10:16]
B
Okay, so you're. How was the wind?
- [10:19]
A
I will say it did pick up. Like, I. It was actually funny. It was like right before he. He got out there, I was like, oh, the wind started picking up a little bit, and. And I just. Right after the snap, you know, the kick, you could tell it wasn't good. Immediately, he's like. I don't know if he was having a conversation with Sam Martin or who, but he was like. He was very visibly pissed off at something.
- [10:39]
B
Yeah. Something's been different the last couple of weeks. McDermott has been almost reluctant where Bass has been a weapon.
- [10:46]
A
Yeah.
- [10:46]
B
He's been reluctant to put him in there on the longer kicks. I mean, last week he. He kept him from one longer one. Said it was about the wind. There really wasn't a lot of wind. And then he missed a big one late.
- [10:58]
A
Yeah.
- [10:58]
B
And then this time he misses. And that was obviously a huge play. You know, it was one of the decent drives, and he doesn't get him any points, so.
- [11:06]
A
Yeah.
- [11:06]
B
Yeah. And then they gave up a long punt return, too.
- [11:09]
A
Yeah.
- [11:09]
B
So special teams needed to chip in and they did. Yeah, they did. They were lousy, too. Yeah.
- [11:15]
A
Sean talks so much about complimentary football, and I. He said today none of it was complimentary. All three phases.
- [11:22]
B
They do not deserve any compliments. And the way they play.
- [11:25]
A
Oh, my God, I love that we might feel that. I'm trying to think if there's anything else. James Cook.
- [11:31]
B
Yeah, I like Cook. I like that he made little plays, like, got outside sometimes. When there was no room to run, ran tough, made a really nice play. Josh made the adjustment when he threw down the field to him, caught the ball down the field. He and Kincaid were two big pluses today because Kincaid, eight targets, eight catches, 75 yards is what we've been waiting for. But the funny thing was he wasn't really the second guy because Diggs only had six and in the 50s, so they didn't get the normal big game out of digs.
- [12:00]
A
Yeah. Dawson Knox.
- [12:05]
B
Look, that was not an easy catch and it was a good hit. The ball was slightly behind him. Okay. So I'll get that all out of the way. You got to catch the ball. Dawson is your buddy. They're tight. He and Josh together all the time. Your quarterback needed you on third down. You didn't come up with that. You. Now you got to protect the ball. You know somebody's coming up behind you. He's got to make that catch.
- [12:26]
A
And I think about even last week when the Bills had the opportunity to put the ball over or put the game away, and it wasn't the best throw by Josh Allen, but it, it slides through Dawson Knox's fingertips. I don't know how much that wrist injury is impacting him, but when you have a guy that's the seasoned veteran supposed to be in that position, you need him to show up in those big moments. We've talked about it. That's what big time players do. And you have not seen enough production out of Dawson Knox and it's frustrating. Dalton, Kincaid, nice bright spot. But there are players on this offense that are. They feel like they're the bonafide starter. You know what I mean? Like, they're, they're the guys. And you have Diggs who's earned that, and then guys like Dalton and as well as Gabe Davis. It's just.
- [13:12]
B
They're passengers right now. They're passengers.
- [13:15]
A
We talk so much about A and B players.
- [13:17]
B
Yeah.
- [13:17]
A
And I think those guys look at themselves as A players, but I think the statistics would show a different story.
- [13:26]
B
Yeah. And there are times and I hate.
- [13:28]
A
Being this, like, honest.
- [13:31]
B
Yeah. Look, look, this is big boy football. These guys are NFL players. Knox got a contract. Like, do I think he's a good guy, good for the team, all those kind of things. But, sorry, you've got to make some plays for your quarterback. Josh makes so many plays to try to keep them alive and to do things. Catch the ball. Look at Diggs. Look at the play he made. He was having, not having a good day. Josh missed him on some. And then here he makes that play where he slides down and gets up and gets to the end zone.
- [14:00]
A
Second effort from him.
- [14:01]
B
Great. Got him back in it. And then Poyer makes the play. You get the ball back.
- [14:05]
A
Terrell Bernard jumping on that like, it felt like, oh, my God, this is the swing everyone was waiting for. And then obviously the game did not end like that. But honestly, if we take a look at where this team is at, they squeaked out the win against the Giants. But realistically, we knew there were these flaws in this team. And when you play games the way you play and you. It doesn't seem like you address what's wrong, you're gonna lose football games. It just sucks, though, that it's another divisional loss.
- [14:32]
B
Oh, yeah. I mean, they've put themselves in a spot. The only plus, the only plus with the division is you beat Miami. So you have the opportunity to beat them twice.
- [14:40]
A
Yes.
- [14:41]
B
So. But you got your own mess to work at. Seven games in, you're four and three and you just, by the way, look, pretty soon you're gonna have Cincinnati and Kansas City and Philly, and you've got Dallas. Like, you got a lot of big time teams that you're playing. And they've lost to the jets, they lost to the Jags, who were okay, and they lost to this team team. And they've lost today. New England was good.
- [15:08]
A
Zach Wilson, Mack Jones almost lost to Tad Taylor, and they lost to Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence, I'll give you that. But those other guys and those teams.
- [15:17]
B
Had struggled mightily in other games, too. So look, this is a failure. It starts with Sean McDermott, whatever he's doing as a team. I don't get the. You know, I was standing in the tunnel when they went out. Hey, they look fired up, like whatever it is, they go out and right away Josh throws an atrocious pass.
- [15:36]
A
Did that look as bad as it seemed from my view?
- [15:39]
B
Well, your view is on the field, so you're seeing more of maybe, realistically, maybe what the quarterback sees. We're sitting up here in the press box. I am looking directly down that line and he starts to throw it and I'm like, huh? And it's picked. It looked like an easy. Like he misread the guy being in zone coverage and peppers. And he picks it off and it's just a little deflating. By the way, I said to you yesterday, I want him to win the toss. Win the toss and take the ball. Now they defer because that's what the Bills Do. They did score to start the second half, but before you know it, they start. They start the game down. It was only three. It could have been worse because they were driving. They let Mac Jones drive down the field to begin and end the game.
- [16:21]
A
Well, I literally was like, oh, it's going to be like that today. Like. Like, I had people texting me, being like, oh, you know, and I'm like, all right, you know, let's. Let's settle in. It's a long game. And then when it continued, I was like, oh, shit.
- [16:33]
B
So I'm gonna go back to the Dorsey thing.
- [16:35]
A
Okay. No, no, no. I have something.
- [16:37]
B
After that, I'm gonna go back to the dorsey thing. Sean McDermott replaced Leslie Frazier. I still think it's a better defense. It's tough to play without these guys. That being said, you got to cross it out today. You got to finish the game today. They didn't do that. Failure was the word Micah Hyde used, and it was a failure. But he's got one play to make at some point, and it's with his offensive coordinator. And I don't know. Josh picked the guy, right? Josh wanted the guy.
- [17:08]
A
Yeah.
- [17:09]
B
But it's not working. And it is not. And I. Again, I don't know what they would do. I really don't. But see, that's.
- [17:17]
A
Where do you go? Where. Because if you're gonna do. If you're gonna choose Joe Brady, obviously he doesn't have experience in that role. In terms, he.
- [17:25]
B
Does he for a little bit with Joe Burrow.
- [17:29]
A
I was gonna say a little bit in Carolina, but I'm talking about for him, like, with this offense taking over, like, I just. It's very limited experience.
- [17:39]
B
It is, but I guess I start to look at it and say it's not working. Like, definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. You watch him. It's a slog. And again, the offense is healthy.
- [17:53]
A
Yeah.
- [17:53]
B
Maybe Josh would be banged up, and I do think it's impacted him. I'm sorry I interrupted you to fire Dorsey again.
- [18:02]
A
Going into this season, there was some Talk about Sean McDermott being on the hot seat considering the team struggling to get over the hump. Where do you think the temperature of that is right now? Because this team is underperforming. I want to hear your take, but I have my own.
- [18:21]
B
I would say this. It's the NFL. Like, you just lost to the Giant, to the Patriots, and you've already lost to the Giants. Lost to the Giants. Things can Go bad.
- [18:32]
A
Yeah.
- [18:32]
B
Like, you know, one of the things Dawson Knox said about, like, we're not worried about playoff positioning and all that. He was basically saying, we're not worried about any of that stuff. You got to make the playoffs.
- [18:42]
A
Yeah.
- [18:43]
B
Like, you got to be in there. And if it were to go really south. Look, he's. He's earned a long leash as the head coach because his team's won a ton of games, and they are been that team. But you got to fix things, and you got to look like you got to fix things. And what the reason they would do it would be to bring in an offensive guy. That's the reason they would do it. I don't think we're there, but you talk to me, when they're 7 and 10 this year.
- [19:13]
A
It feels like this team is just resting on their laurels. That's my opinion. I feel like this team thinks like, well, we're better. Like, we have all these players. We just need to play our brand of football. And it's like, you go to.
- [19:26]
B
Maybe they are playing their brand of football.
- [19:28]
A
Well, here's the thing. No, well, they think they can just switch into gear, and it's like that gear doesn't exist.
- [19:33]
B
It really does. And which it is frustrating that they had those three great games with the offense, or at least two of them were great, and the other one, Washington, was so bad. But I don't see that. I watch them, and it just looks. They look lost, is all I would say. They look lost. And if. If you lose Josh Allen that way, in terms of his confidence in the coaching staff in total, then you. Then that's where you would get to that point. Right. Because I said to you guys before, Josh Allen is ahead of Bean and He's ahead of McDermott in terms of, like, it's so hard to find these guys. And he's still Josh Allen. He just doesn't look like Josh Allen the last three weeks.
- [20:14]
A
I think the hot seat on Sean is premature, but I think the NFL is very reactionary. And if games continue to go the way that they have, I can see where fans would start clamoring for some changes. But I think first and foremost, it starts with offensive coordinator. That is. That is really the thing that you can circle Josh. Yes, he has some injuries, but you look at the health of the offense overall, there's not a long line of excuses there. Hey, Trent Sherfield had a catch.
- [20:43]
B
There we go. He had as many as Gabe Davis did today. And now I'm ripping on Gabe But I'm frustrated because he's not doing anything.
- [20:49]
A
No, I feel like. Well, fans are frustrated.
- [20:51]
B
I mean, I think offensive line stunk today. Wide receivers, outside of. I mean, I still think Diggs was doing his job. Everybody's talking about blanketing. He was open a lot. Josh missed him or he was getting chased and he couldn't get there. Kincaid did his job. Knox did not do his job. Defensively, no impactful plays on the D line. I thought Bernard was pretty good. He got caught for that one penalty. Dorian Williams was flying around a little bit, but he missed on some stuff, so they got him out of there. So Dodson ended up playing. I didn't think the corners were terrible because there wasn't. They just were. So take the short. Take the short. You know, they really beat them with some other stuff. And the special team stunk. Other than that, it was a great day.
- [21:32]
A
How was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
- [21:35]
B
The same one over and over again.
- [21:38]
A
Yeah.
- [21:39]
B
It really has been three awful weeks of football. It's not great, you know, Thursday and we're.
- [21:45]
A
And Thursday.
- [21:46]
B
Well, I'm glad it's Thursday. I'm glad it's done. I'm glad it's Thursday. Let's get a game going.
- [21:51]
A
Yeah. Let's hopefully turn the page.
- [21:53]
B
Okay.
- [21:54]
A
All right. For Mike, I'm Jenna. Please be sure to, like, comment and subscribe to the channel. Share with friends. This will be a. What's that called?
- [22:02]
B
Cathartic.
- [22:03]
A
Yes.
- [22:03]
B
No. Get. Get angry. I want to hear your angry comments. That's what I want to say.
- [22:07]
A
Your reaction to the game and your outlook on what the bill season is right now. That's what I want to see in the comments. Yeah, I'm. I'm expecting scathing at some moments. All right. Whatever.
- [22:17]
B
At it.
- [22:17]
A
All right. Thank you for watching. For Mike, I'm Jenna. We'll catch you next time here on Buffalo plus, presented by Connors and Ferris.