What They're Saying In New England w/ MIKE GIARDI: BILLS vs PATRIOTS, STEFON DIGGS + Drake Maye

Summary

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Buffalo Plus: Bills vs. Patriots, Stefon Diggs & Drake Maye — What They're Saying in New England with Mike Giardi

Date: September 30, 2025
Hosts: Mike Catalano, Dan Fates
Guest: Mike Giardi (Boston Sports Journal, All32 Pod)
Theme:
A deep-dive into the New England Patriots' current state heading into their matchup with the Buffalo Bills. Topics range from Drake Maye’s development, Mike Vrabel’s influence, Stefon Diggs’ impact and off-field narratives, matchup analysis, and the pulse of the Patriots fanbase.

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Episode Overview

This crossover episode of Buffalo Plus brings in Patriots insider Mike Giardi for the weekly "What They're Saying In..." series, focusing on Buffalo’s divisional rival. The crew covers Patriots' progress under Mike Vrabel, the rise of quarterback Drake Maye, Stefon Diggs’ rocky but productive start in New England, gameplan matchups, personnel issues, and fan perspectives as the Bills and Patriots prepare to square off.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. State of the Patriots Heading into Bills Week

Initial Impressions & Season Trajectory

• Giardi: "I still think we're kind of in that stage: are they good? Maybe. Question mark. Not sure, but definitely building in the right direction." (02:09)
• The schedule has been tough, but there have been more good than bad plays recently; team is improving but still inconsistent.

2. Mike Vrabel’s Impact as Head Coach

• Vrabel has brought energy, attention to detail, and hands-on involvement across positions, something lacking in the latter Belichick years.
• "He really put his imprint on all things… Practices were crisp. Everything was great. And then you start the season and you're like, slow starts, sloppy, a lot of penalties. I guess I expected more." (03:31)

3. Drake Maye’s Development & Leadership

• Maye, once nicknamed “Drake Maybe” because of turnovers, is now showing significant improvement, completing over 75% of passes in his last three games.
• Giardi recounts Maye’s step forward: "He's put together 12 really good quarters. And you're starting to see him take that year two leap." (05:45)
• Mike Vrabel pushing Maye toward being a true leader: "Vrabel wants him to be a lot further along than he is… He's been on him about that from day one. Every time you see a Patriots miked up segment with Vrabel, invariably there's a cut in there in which Vrabel’s saying, go celebrate with your guys. Go talk to your guys." (09:11)
• Comparisons to Josh Allen’s own maturation and leadership path come up, noting how leadership traits must develop alongside NFL performance.

4. Stefon Diggs’ New England Era—On-Field vs. Off-Field

• Catalano: "He had 100 yards, which seems to be nice for a player to get to 100 at wide receiver. What's this Diggs fella been like?" (16:42)
• Giardi details Diggs’s productive but “quiet” integration, noting fan/media avoidance of his controversial past and lack of full transparency ("never mind that he didn't talk for a month").
• "Since he’s been back… he has been professional, he has helped the younger players… but he’s only at a 5 on the 10 scale in terms of feeling comfortable with the offense and with Drake." (19:10)
• Diggs is less explosive than in years past but remains an elite route-runner and chain-mover: "He still knows where the chains are. He knows how to set guys up." (20:43)
• His 2026 contract situation: "His money jumps significantly next year… he would have to be pretty much flawless for them to pick that up." (23:45)

5. Patriots’ Offensive and Defensive Identity

• Offensively: Emphasis on moving the pocket, quick throws, and running game; but success running the ball has been inconsistent despite a decent O-line.
  • "They’ve tried to play big boy football and haven’t been great at it thus far. Didn’t move Vegas at all in week one… better against Miami, but not great. Had a couple good runs but generally struggled to sustain it." (25:55)
• Defensively:
  • Christian Gonzalez’s return from injury is a key point; he played well in his first game back.
  • Free agent DT Milton Williams has been “great,” bringing physical inside presence (34:04).

6. Special Teams Strengths

• Marcus Jones is a top league punt return threat ("He is awesome in that he is completely fearless, but yet in his fearlessness, he makes the right decisions.") (30:47)
• Patriots have had explosive special teams plays, something the Bills have struggled to generate, and an area cited as a "big advantage." (30:04)

7. Fan Base Sentiment & Regional Energy

• Patriots fans have a renewed sense of excitement, not felt since Mac Jones’ rookie year.
  • "There’s a different energy, there’s a different expectation… this year has changed. Even though the roster still needs work, there’s better players here now than there have been in the last few years." (38:11)

8. Game Preview and Predictions

• Giardi calls for a high-scoring affair:
  • "I think it’s gonna be a lot of points. I think Josh… finds a way to get to 30. I don’t know if they’ll get to 30 in this one, but… 28-24, something 27-24." (39:45)
• Bills are 8.5 point favorites; panel agrees that's a bit high but expect a tight contest.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Maye’s Evolution:
  "He’s put together 12 really good quarters. And you’re starting to see him take that year two leap.” —Mike Giardi (05:45)
• On Vrabel’s Approach:
  "He’s coaching Drake more like say Belichick coached Brady… like, the behind-the-scenes stuff or like, you know, Johnny Foxborough could have done that." —Mike Giardi (16:07)
• On Diggs’ Fit:
  "I don’t see the explosiveness… He’s still a very detailed route runner… but I haven’t seen that part of his game yet." —Mike Giardi (20:43)
• On Patriots Fans:
  "Most enthusiasm for this football team since Mac’s rookie year." —Mike Giardi (00:00, 37:27)
• On Special Teams:
  "[Marcus Jones] is awesome in that he is completely fearless, but yet in his fearlessness, he makes the right decisions." —Mike Giardi (30:47)
• On Bills’ Defensive Line:
  "They signed Bosa. Bosa's had flashes. No doubt… They still don't get enough out of this D-line at all… They need more." —Mike Catalano (28:10)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Patriots overall state & Vrabel's impact: 02:09–04:48
• Drake Maye’s development & leadership: 04:48–10:43
• Stefon Diggs’ impact/controversy in NE: 16:42–21:40
• Patriots run game/OL issues: 25:55–27:27
• Special teams edge (Marcus Jones): 30:04–32:18
• Fan base mood and stadium energy: 37:27–39:43
• Game predictions, point spread & closing: 39:43–end

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Key Takeaways

• Patriots are trending upward under Mike Vrabel, but discipline/mistakes and offensive inconsistency remain.
• Drake Maye is showing major improvement, now executing cleaner games and flirting with "Tom Brady" stat lines, though major comparisons are avoided.
• Stefon Diggs is still productive but less explosive—his off-field narrative remains a subplot and his long-term future in New England is uncertain.
• Special teams could be a game-changing edge for the Patriots—Marcus Jones is elite as a return man.
• Patriots fans have newfound hope, and this matchup with the Bills is seen as a test for how far the rebuild has come.
• Panel predicts an entertaining, high-scoring game with the Bills slightly favored but the margin is up for debate.

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Transcript

[Mike Giardi]

Most enthusiasm for this football team since Max rookie year.

[Mike Catalano]

Let's start to go through this team a little bit. You have this receiver. Tell us what this guy Stefan Diggs is like.

[Mike Giardi]

He's coaching Drake. More like say Belichick Coach Brady, the you know, like the behind the scenes stuff or like, you know, Johnny Foxborough could have done that.

[Dan Fates]

Typical mass. Yeah, look at that.

[Mike Catalano]

Hey everybody, welcome Back to the Buffalo Plus YouTube channel. Mike Catalano along with Dan Fates. You see our special guest, we're going to be talking to Mike Giardi in a second. As always, please make sure to like comment and subscribe to the channel. We are here in the Connors and Ferris podcast studio and this is our what they're saying in segment we do every week. But this week, Dan, it's special because we have friend of the podcast. Have to give him Mount Rushmore of the pie.

[Dan Fates]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Mike Catalano]

For guests there's no question. Yeah. Not for person but the amount of appearances. Mike Giardi. Mike, thanks for being with us.

[Mike Giardi]

Always a pleasure, guys. You know, it's funny, my, my daughter is a senior in college and I don't know, a couple years ago Dan sent me the hat. You know, he sent me the whole like, you know, little guest stuff and she co opted the hat. And so the other day I went into a room for something and lo and behold, the hat is there. So like she didn't, she didn't take it to college this time. She's had it for like two years. But so now I have the Buffalo plus hat.

[Dan Fates]

Is this your way of asking for another hat, Mike?

[Mike Giardi]

Maybe.

[Mike Catalano]

All right, yes. As long as you wear it to the Patriots facilities. That would be the thing, right? That's what we would ask you to do. This is going to be fun, don't you think? I mean, the way this season has started out, Patriots trying to find their way coming off a big win, the Bills somehow finding a way to be 40 initial thoughts as we get set for Sunday on where the Patriots are in terms of putting together a great effort and challenging the Bills on Sunday.

[Mike Giardi]

So I, I don't think we still know what the Patriots are just yet because the schedule has done them no favors. Right? You're talking about Raiders, you're talking about the Dolphins in Miami, which again, they never win there. So the fact that they won there was something. But it was also, at least defensively, really sloppy. A lot of penalties come back. You know, five turnovers against Pittsburgh in a game they should have won going away, they end up losing and then you know, if I were a betting man, I would have said bet the house on the points, the money line, the whole thing for the Patriots with the Panthers coming up here thinking that there's something after beating in Atlanta. But when you watch the tape of that game, you're like, I mean, their defense was good, but their offense didn't do a damn thing in that game. And sure enough, that's kind of how it played out. A little sleepy start and then they got going. So I still think we're kind of in that stage. Where are they good? Maybe. Question mark. Not sure, but definitely building in the right direction. I would say, like, there's. There's been a lot more good play in the last three weeks then there has been bad play. And that obviously has defined them for the last couple of years.

[Dan Fates]

Has that been part of Vrabel building something, starting to build something? We've talked before about that. The roster isn't very good, but Mike Vull has pretty much made a living in the NFL getting the most out of limited talent. Do you start to feel or can you already feel his influence on this team?

[Mike Giardi]

What's interesting is, so I thought throughout the entirety of the off season, you know, we're talking about the OTAs, we're talking about training camp. Like, he was the MVP. You watch how they ran things and you're like, they didn't run this thing like this at all with Mayo, which, whatever. But even before that, the last few years of Bill, it was. You saw the decline and you shouldn't have been surprised by what happened with the product. And so he really put his imprint on all things. And, like, you'd see him here on this side, and then the next play he's over here coaching the defense. Then he's over with the special teams and like, just really hands involved and really demanding a lot. Practices were crisp. Like, everything was great. And then you start the season and you're like, slow starts, sloppy, a lot of penalties. And I guess I expected more. And obviously they got more yesterday in terms of. It was still a slow start and there's still some penalties, but like, in general, putting it together in all three phases. And part of me thinks it's just this team has lost a lot. And even though they've turned over more than 50% of the roster, they're still learning each other. They're still learning what they do well, what they don't do well, how to minimize those certain things. And so it's. They're stacking them. You know, it's getting better. I. I did think he'd be a little bit further along in terms of some of the discipline stuff.

[Mike Catalano]

The quarterback we heard the nickname. Tell me if that really was a thing. Drake, maybe. Was that. Was that a thing in New England?

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, that. I mean, heaven forbid you say that to a Patriots fan because they might punch in the mouth. But it's been brought up. There's, you know, there was a parody song, you know, Love Me Two times, baby. They turned into Drake. Turn it over two times, baby. Because there have been a lot of. A lot of games with two turnovers dating back to last year. You know, whether it be fumbles, interceptions and those sorts of things. But he, over the last three weeks has. Well, he played his best game in Miami, was just absolutely flawless. He turned around yesterday and was right up there again, very clean, making the right decisions, almost toying with Carolina at various points during the game. And in that middle game, the sandwich game with Pittsburgh with the five turnovers, he had two of them. They were massive. The interception in the end zone, the fumble, I think if you're an epa, took nine plus points off the board with just those two turnovers alone. But sandwiched around all of that was a lot of good play. So basically we're talking about, with the exception of a couple drives here, he's put together 12 really good quarters. And you're starting to see him take that year to leap.

[Dan Fates]

Well, we were talking about it that, you know, it was Drake may in the comparison to Josh Allen, but in his last three games, what you're saying, I'm sure you've heard the stat or saw the stat. He's completed over 75% of his passes, 200 yards, two touchdowns. The only player to do that since 2000 for three straight games is some guy named Tom Brady. So maybe it's not that we're putting him on the, the. The pedestal of Josh Allen. We should be putting him on the pedestal of Tom Brady. Right?

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah. He should never be compared to Tom Brady. Right.

[Dan Fates]

Why, Mike?

[Mike Giardi]

Hey, you win like even Mahomes. Yeah. They win four, maybe Super Bowls. Maybe we could start having that conversation.

[Dan Fates]

Typical mass.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah.

[Dan Fates]

Looking typical.

[Mike Giardi]

When you saw that for what you. For all those years you saw it for. And then you live through the Mac Jones, Bailey zappy. Cam Newton.

[Mike Catalano]

Wait a minute. Hold. Hold on.

[Mike Giardi]

I know. Yeah, you guys have a speed for sure.

[Mike Catalano]

Yes. 17 years of that.

[Mike Giardi]

But there's. It's starting to come together. It feels like it's. The game is slowing. And I think There were some concerns about him and McDaniels, like what, what would that relationship be like? Because some people point Josh and say, look, without Tom, Josh is nothing. But then if you go back and look at the Cam Newton season, he actually cobbled together a pretty good offense with the quarterback who couldn't throw. Then he took Mac Jones and gave you the best version of Mac Jones to this point in his career his rookie year. And then of course, he, he took the head coaching job in Vegas and we know what happened there. He got Jacoby Brissette ready to play when they needed him on short notice. He got Jimmy Garoppolo help get him paid. So I felt a lot better about it than other people did. And what he's doing, I think too is the same thing as they're sort of learning each other and he's moving the pocket more and he's getting Drake in these situations where he does take some stuff off his plate. You know, when you do these boot action stuff, it's a high, low read, right? Maybe sometimes you'll flood it and you have three receivers over there, but it's like if you don't have that and you don't have that, just tuck it in, run. And now he's protecting himself better. So it, you can see it slowing down for him a little bit here and then making a little bit easier and his confidence growing and it's, you know, like it's still a long way to go. He's only made 17 starts. He's only finished 15 of those games. But it's definitely the arrows pointing in a good direction where you feel like, I don't know that I have to worry about him as much anymore.

[Mike Catalano]

Mike, you were around the Bills a lot and you've seen Josh Allen go through his maturation and, and when we go back to his like first and second year, obviously talented guy, but he wasn't the leader and the known leader that he's obviously become. Right. As more veterans kind of leave, Josh just takes more and more of a role and he's tremendous at it. Where's Drake may in that? Because it would seem like this is a either younger roster or newer roster. It's not that many guys that have been hanging around for a while. Where is he maybe even in comparison to last year and where do you think Vrabel wants him to be?

[Dan Fates]

It's a good question.

[Mike Giardi]

Vrabel wants him to be a lot further than he along than he is. And I don't think that that's necessarily A shot. I think when Mike got here, he saw someone who is maybe not willing to put himself out there, not willing to correct guys when, when corrections needed to be made. And some of that was last year. You know, you brought in Jacoby Brissette. They started Brissette for the first time. I think it was five weeks or four weeks, whatever it was. Tried to block that out of my mind. But Jacoby is very like, that's his thing. He's the Pied Piper. He leads. And I think so Drake kind of always was allowed to sort of slide behind that and not have to step up and take ownership. And then when he was put in charge was like, well, he's a rookie and they're not very good. And like, so there wasn't a ton put on his plate. Like, just, hey, correct your, you know, some of the mechanical issues. You've got. Play smart football, protect yourself doing all those things. And like this leadership thing, we'll worry about that later. VRA made it. Like, I, it's. I don't know where it is on his. On his flowchart, but it's pretty high up. And, you know, and he's been on him about that from day one. You know, every time you see a Patriots miked up segment with Vrabel, invariably there's a cut in there in which Vrabel saying, go celebrate with your guys. Go talk to your guys. Like, constantly poking and prodding. And I think he's getting a little bit more comfortable with that. I don't. I mean, sometimes we just think it's supposed to happen because you're the quarterback, but he's 23. He's in with some grown men in that huddle, you know, like, he's still. And he's still trying to figure out what works for me. How do I, you know, how can I have success in this league, let alone like, oh, I got to lead this whole group of men. But you're seeing it a little bit for sure.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah. Well, when we talk about Alan, I've always said to Dan and Jenna, like, the idea is he took those steps and I thought were appropriate times. Right when he became the starter and he hadn't earned it yet. And then he became the starter he'd earned. Then he became an All Pro or a Pro bowl level player, took him to the playoffs, and I think he, he did all those things. By the way, we got you beat on that, too. Jacoby preset for three games. How about Nate Peterman for a half before Josh started?

[Mike Giardi]

Peterman by the way, love them coming out.

[Mike Catalano]

Good, good guy.

[Dan Fates]

Good call.

[Mike Giardi]

Gary, you know what, he was spot on. He was in the league for a long time.

[Dan Fates]

Is that the bar? Well, Jimmy Clausten, he was in the league for a long time. About that.

[Mike Giardi]

Hey, the Patriots backup is Josh Jobs who was in the same draft who I liked about the same as, as Peterman. And one of the things was, was the old parcels thing. Like I want a guy who's played a lot of games and both of those guys have played a lot of games. You're like, okay, so maybe the ceiling of you know what you're hoping for but like this guy's going to be in the league for a long time and maybe he can start somewhere. And well, it did for Peterman, it didn't work for Dobbs. You know, he's had a cup of coffee here, there, everywhere, started some games. But yeah, it's interesting.

[Dan Fates]

I want to just before we start going forward and kind of previewing a little bit more of this matchup, I, I have a hard time and like you were saying, the game gets sandwiched in between what shaving.

[Mike Catalano]

So for people that don't know, you're highly critical of what that thing.

[Mike Giardi]

I can't believe that you, Mike Carolina, you know, like you're the, you're the, you're the king there. You're like he. Dan works for you. Let's be real hall of Famer. Yeah, you, you what all things are you in Giardi?

[Mike Catalano]

I allow this is what you're saying.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, like so I'm almost wondering now if I should be blaming you for letting this happen.

[Mike Catalano]

There's a little bit I have to pick my battles. So this one, his wife's okay with it.

[Dan Fates]

So I now maybe am keeping it in spite of Giardi because this started at the combine when you really went full in on it and made some rude comments like a typical that you are. But I do want to peel back the curtain a little bit because we are good friends and you, I even sent you the email. Very special all time guest friend of the channel, Mike Giardi. But if I can go back and go behind the curtain a little bit for our audience. The text message. We're going to do your pod as well, so be sure to give a plug Mike, real quick here for your pod because we'll be on it later this week.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, the all32 pod. You get it where you get all your podcasts. We just had Kurt Warner on last week, Devin McCourty the week prior and now my People from Buffalo. So you're a good company.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, that's pretty good.

[Dan Fates]

When we were trying to plan this all out, Jenna has an appointment right now, so she can't be here. And I said, do you want. We were texting, so I said, do you want me? All of us, I don't know how it works on your pod. And you said, well, I like Mike, or I respect Mike, I really like Jenna and I tolerate you. Was. Was the text message that was sent, which I think was spot on. So I like these little tangents of this. I wanted to say I really watched the first game that I really actually watched of the Patriots this year was that Steelers game. And I bet the over. So I'm livid of the two turnovers inside the five yard line. But that just looked like such an undisciplined team. Like there were like three illegal man downfields and they were on routine passes. And like there's linemen that are like backpedaling like, oops, I shouldn't.

[Mike Giardi]

Mike. You're. You're referencing Mike and wenu, which was classic because Mike. And when you don't miss Mike And Wenu, he's 350 and he's. He's 10 yards downfield. And then all of a sudden he was like, oh. And he started to walk backwards. So like his hands were up and it was, it was a great moment.

[Dan Fates]

It was an ultimate. I watch it because I'm like, okay, here they go again. They're driving. And then you're like, legal, man. Like, it was like a quick screen. It was like a three step drop and they throw it and he's just wandering out in the middle of the field. How do you compartmentalize some of those boneheaded mistakes that you don't normally see in a Mike Vrabel team with what you saw last week of scoring 42 unanswered points?

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, and that's goes back to I think, what we said at the beginning. Like, I'm not sure just yet what they are or where they're headed, although I do again feel like it's going in the right direction. Mike has been very dismissive, surprisingly so, of the penalties. Said that if you look at. He said, when I first came in the league as the head coach, I was the, you know, I was the penalty. He said, a penalty Nazi. It's like, don't have penalties. I'm taking you off the field, these sorts of things. And then they did their research. You know, they get the analysts involved. They get the nerds involved. And he said it's basically, I haven't looked this up. I'm going to take his word for it. A 50, 50 split, more penalties whether you win or lose the game. And he has sort of written it off, like, I mean, even again, I think a couple times yesterday, guys lining up off sides on defense. This is a, a weekly thing with this team and it doesn't seem there's no repercussions for it, just like there were essentially no repercussions for Rad Stevenson fumbling twice. He led the running backs and snaps yesterday and to his credit, did a nice job, held on to the football and all those sorts of things. But it's almost like Mike's figuring out who. What buttons he can push.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

Who he can push here, who can take it, who can't. Like he hasn't been overly complimentary of Drake. You know, there's been some nice things, but he's, he's coaching Drake more like say Belichick, Coach Brady, the, you know, like the behind the scenes stuff or like, you know, Johnny Foxborough could have done that. Like, more like, hey, I need. You're our best player physically, you are our best player and our, the fate of the franchise is going to rise and fall with you. So I need you to play great every week and if you don't, well, we're going to focus on the stuff that you didn't do. Right. Versus the stuff that you did.

[Mike Catalano]

All right, let's start to go through this team a little bit. You have this receiver. Tell us what this guy, Stefan Diggs is like. He had 100 yards, which seems to be nice for a player to get to 100 at wide receiver. What's this Diggs fella been like?

[Mike Giardi]

It has been much like you guys experienced.

[Dan Fates]

You don't say.

[Mike Giardi]

The difference being that there are many folks in the media here and certainly the fan base. The fan base doesn't want to hear anything about previous stuff. Right. Like, oh, like he. Since he showed up for training camp, he said all the right things. Well, never mind the fact that he didn't talk for a month, which is against league rules. Never mind that he's didn't make himself available after two of the first three games. Again, after the game, which is against league rules. Nobody wants to hear about that. Nobody wants to hear about how they believed he was going to be around for OTAs and he wasn't like, just show me. Oh, we have a real receiver, Mike.

[Mike Catalano]

He, he has had a lot going on, off the field.

[Mike Giardi]

As I mentioned last week on one of the pods, I googled him. Don't, don't. Because he talked to us on Wednesday. Right. So I, I, There was nothing earth shattering from that. So I was writing Gonzalez, like, it looked like Gonzalez was going to play. He had spoken to us. So I wrote, I wrote on Gonzalez and I'm like, I'll save digs for tomorrow and the Thursday morning ready to write this piece. And I just googled and see, like, you know, like, I don't want to write anything else anybody wrote. Like, I don't, you know, like, so what was out there? And I went to Google it. I'll tell you what. Nothing popped up about football.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

And a lot of other places.

[Mike Catalano]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

Okay. I guess I'm all right to this point. They've said that he is since he's been back, since the summer, since training camp started, that he's done all the right things, that he has been professional, that he's in his playbook, that he has helped the younger players again, he hasn't talked a ton, so he hasn't necessarily put his foot in his mouth, but he's, there's been a couple comments which, you know, having covered him and obviously knowing sort of his past history in Minnesota and then of course in Buffalo, he puts out little warning signs almost, you know, the, the, you know, I'm just doing what they're asking me to do. Okay, you are. You're not getting the ball. We're asking you about getting the ball, and you're just saying, they're doing what you want me to do.

[Dan Fates]

And did he apologize to you? Were you one of the people that he apologized to for getting off on the wrong foot? Was he like, Mike Giardi, I apologize?

[Mike Giardi]

No, he, that, that was not me. That was another interesting one too, where people here locally were like, oh, that's great. They called him out. He can call them out.

[Mike Catalano]

And that's like.

[Mike Giardi]

Well, they didn't really say anything. Pain in the posterior is not, I don't know. There's been a lot of worse things said about players, but he wanted to be the martyr. Here's the thing, though. He still is their best receiver. We saw that. We've seen the relationship with Drake build and his, his uses increased. This past week against Carolina, they've struggled getting Pop Douglas getting on the same page as Pop Douglas, who tied for the league for the team lead and receptions last year. And while Diggs didn't necessarily take his snaps in the slot, Pop kind Of got pushed to the side, played less naps, they assumed more over the three receivers, more digs and you saw production there. And he says he's only at a 5 on the 10 scale in terms of feeling comfortable with the offense and with Drake. I mean, if he's being real and if that's honest, then you should. Patriots fans should be excited about what could come. I just kind of think he's not a. The thing that struck me about him as I'm going all over the place there, but the thing that struck me about him is I don't see the explosiveness. Yeah. In his game, he's still a very detailed route runner. He still knows where the chains are. He knows how to set guys up. And that has allowed him to, you know, prior to this game, 13 catches on 15 targets, but not for a ton of yards yesterday, finally get some yards. But I, I haven't seen that part of his game yet. So I wonder, you know, how much more he can do if he doesn't have the same spring in his legs that he did even, you know, last fall before the injury.

[Dan Fates]

I was really surprised looking at it today, just going through the receiving stats because I was like, who's officially leading the Bills? Mike and I were kind of looking at it, you know, Keon Coleman, who has been solid so far through four games and you really haven't heard much of digs. Obviously he had the good game yesterday. He's got more receiving yards than Coleman. Like, I was surprised to see that he's at like 213 and Keon's at 203. I, I know it's not a big disparity, but I would have thought he was at like 80 yards. The way that he has really been on the field. Not talked about a whole lot. He's been talked about a whole bunch off the field, not as much on the field.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, if you, if you looked at his receptions prior to yesterday, it's a lot of underneath stuff like simply like come in motion, settle down in a zone between the linebackers, catch an eight yard pass, fall forward for two more. Yeah, you know, that's been sort of his game to prior to yesterday. And then yesterday, you know, he gets loose on a, it was a double incut. They're playing zone. They rushed four. It was a third and 15. They got no pressure. Drake just sat back there, you know, had a cup of coffee, smoked a butt and then, you know, ripped a nice throw to Diggs. But Diggs was open. The, the best play was the Back shoulder to Diggs.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

Which again, ball placement was awesome. And then Diggs did what he was supposed to do. But I mean, they were, they were neck and neck. They were not much separation there on the, on the defensive back.

[Dan Fates]

You talked about it before last year that Houston was not going to be a big game because it was week four, it was in Houston, all these things. I'm now starting to talk myself into this being a very hostile environment for Diggs in this return.

[Mike Catalano]

Different settings here. These are division rivals and he's coming back to Orchard Park. That game was in Houston. My point last year was nationally. I didn't think it was that big a deal. Digs back against the Bills was the weird setting where we were waiting for Josh to come out before the game and all that weirdness that went on and then it was done. I, I think you're right. I think fans are going to be on him, even though he was, we can pretend all this stuff. He was extremely popular in Orchard park.

[Dan Fates]

And in Buffalo and very productive.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah. And he was a lot of those things. Which brings me to my next thing I was going to say, Mike, do you think the Patriots plan is to have him and for the NFL, two, three years is, you know, planning terms? Do you think they won him around for this for May, or is he more of, hey, help me out this, this year. He's a talented guy. We get him kind of on the cheap this way. Not the cheap, but they get him for, you know, the money and, and, and he won't be that guy for them.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah. So his money jumps significantly next year. And to me, like, he would have to be pretty much flawless for them to pick that up. You know, I think that the, the, the, the contract is three years and 70 million or 60, 69, whatever it is, 18 million this year guaranteed. So it, it takes that leap and they have the out. I would think that he'd have to be an 85 catch, 1100 yard receiver and be absolutely flawless in the meeting rooms and all the other stuff that, that he needs to be and then probably even promise to make sure that he's going to be there in the spring a little bit more than he was this past year for them to say, you know what, we're going to pick that up. The other part of this too is who's going to be available. Like, yeah, what free agents are going to be out there, you know, this year they wanted, mean, he was so far down their, their, you know, the list of guys that they wanted and Godwin could, wouldn't leave Tampa even though they basically gave him a blank chap check. DK Metcalf. They would have done that for dk. DK didn't want to be here last year was iuk, you know, before the injury. So they'll want to find someone to replace him. And I don't think that someone's on the roster. You know, they drafted Kyle Williams in the third round. We just haven't seen very much from him. So that'll be the other part of it, you know, like, do we have to hold our nose and say we'll sign up for another year of this because we don't have any other options that that matter. And okay, we know this guy. We, you know, we managed him for the entire year and he gave us X amount of production.

[Dan Fates]

I think that when you look at this, looking at this game, we saw what the Saints did. Is it kind of copycatted what the Dolphins did, which was move the pocket. Simple quick throws, get the ball out quickly and then run the ball down. This very porous Bills rushing defense, as we have seen the last few weeks, is like Rabel just salivating at the thought of like we're just going to try and play big boy football and do the same exact thing that the other two teams have had a lot of success against this Buffalo defense.

[Mike Giardi]

He's definitely going to want to move the pocket. I mean that's just. I think they find that Drake's pretty comfortable in that regard. They've tried to play big boy football and haven't been great at it thus far. Didn't move Vegas at all in week one. Okay, you want to just the week one thing and you know, you don't know what you don't know and you figure that out. Better against Miami, but not great. Like had a couple like good runs but generally struggled to sustain it. Same thing this week, like how to drive where they ripped off a jet sweep for 21 to Antonio Gibson. We lined up in a different spot than normal, kind of caught him sleeping, then ran a fake off the jet and Ramon Ray had a 21 yard run off of that. But if you look at like down to down, not, not awesome. So they haven't quite figured that part out yet. And it's funny because I thought coming into this year if I knew anything about the offensive line, I like they'll be able to run block and to this point they've been better at pass blocking than they've been at run blocking.

[Mike Catalano]

Even with the short arms of your Tackle.

[Mike Giardi]

You know, to his credit, he. He has played pretty good football. There's some metrics that have him higher up, and then there are some that don't have him as high up, but by and large, where they were last year with what they were dealing with. The Darian Lowe, Dimontre Jacobs, that whole just litany of. Yeah, nice guys. All nice guys, none of them NFL players. He has given them competency at the position.

[Dan Fates]

Do you think Mike's GRDS short arm guy will be able to block your long arm guy?

[Mike Catalano]

I was big on Greg Russo giving them something big this year. They signed him.

[Dan Fates]

He's been saying it for three years. This is going to be the year.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah. Hey, look, we have a similar guy, not the same draft status. Keon White was the second rounder, but Keon White, his first two years in the league, has had these bouts of brilliance and. And if you see the dude much like Russo, he's like, he's chiseled out of granite. They shouldn't make guys like this. He should be illegal. And he's struggling to get on the field this year in year three, like, it's just now that's not Russo's problem. But, like, Russo's never with. Like, I kind of expected it too. Like, he's due to take the leap and it just hasn't happened. So maybe this is just who he is.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah. Well, in the big picture, on the Bills, they signed Bosa. Bosa's had flashes. No doubt he's had more. They still don't get enough out of this D line at all. Dion Walker looks like he could really be a player for them that they got out of Kentucky, but they need more. And these guys give me a hard time because I'm more of a positive person than. Dan and Jenna are very negative about everybody. They need more. He's better against the run because that's.

[Dan Fates]

Why they paid him all that money. But here's what I said.

[Mike Catalano]

But that's what I want to ask.

[Mike Giardi]

Not so good against the run. Yeah.

[Mike Catalano]

Well, with Stevenson and Henderson now, is this like a 50, 50 deal with the backs?

[Mike Giardi]

So Henderson looked good yesterday, and I think we were all kind of expecting more. I just figured Stevenson's stats are going to get reduced yesterday after the two fumbles. And as I told you earlier, he led them in running back snaps yesterday. Henderson has been. Disappointment's a strong word, but he had such a good summer and he's so freaking explosive that everybody's been waiting for him to pop off. And part of His. Well, part of his problem here has been not being patient enough and not letting things develop. And he's running, he's run into a lot of contact. Like he's had holes, but he hasn't waited long enough to get to the hole. He was better at that yesterday. Carolina also was complicit. Carolina pretty much at 21 to 6. I think Carolina was like, we're done playing. Like, can, can we leave now? So there's that part of it too. But it was better from him and hopefully, I mean, they're hoping that it's, they can get more of that where he shows the patience because he's, he's got surprising power for a guy he's only about 200, 205 pounds, but like he moves people in a way that like Ramandre does and Ramon Dre's got him by £20.

[Dan Fates]

One last thing for me, special teams, it seems like they have an edge with this return game. They had a punt return for a touchdown last week. They've gotten explosive plays. The Bills haven't been great on special teams. Their punter now is injured. We don't know about the status of this as we're recording this on Monday afternoon. Is this. It's one third of the game, Mike. You know, it's one third of the game. Special teams, where do you see, is that a big advantage? Because I don't even know exactly the name of the return guy, but he had like three returns for 180 yards. There's my next level analysis.

[Mike Giardi]

Sweet. Marcus Jones corner. He's the nickel corner. Fastest can be little fella, you know, five, eight maybe.

[Dan Fates]

You tower over him.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, totally post him up. He knows not to mess with me just because that size advantage. Yeah, he, he is awesome in that he is completely fearless, but yet in his fearlessness, he, he makes the right decisions. So like he, he's one of those guys like, you know, you see guys back up and catch the ball at the five and like, oh, why did he do that? The kid for Carolina did yesterday. Caught the ball at the four, then went backwards two steps and got tackled at the two. And you're just like, Carolina football isn't the rule, like past the eight yard line, you're supposed to let it hit and bounce in the end zone. And he, you know, he felt this kid seems to make the right choice on that all the time. His, the touchdown was ridiculous in that they thought he was probably going to fair catch it and he didn't. But they were still all over Him. Three guys had shots at him, and he ran through arm tackles. And I think the last one, it was like the guy kind of almost turned his body towards the sidelines, and he's like, oh, space. And then, see you later. You know, it was like nothing but green grass or turf. In this case, for 80 yards. He's a really dangerous player. They've been hit or miss on the kick returns. You know, like, they had the kick return for a touchdown against Miami, which was huge after giving up a punt return for a touchdown. Then the following week against Pittsburgh, their return game was. The kick return game was terrible. So I still think they're kind of figuring that part of it out. But the punt return thing is no joke. They've been good at it for a while. He's as good as there is in the league at it. And, you know, yeah, if I was the Bills, I'd be probably kicking away from him.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah. For the Patriots defensively, because the Bills, however they do it, it's 30 points every week. It's, you know, it's kind of like that's just what they end up. I want to know, where is Christian Gonzalez now physically? Like, where is he? And how has Milton Williams been a guy paid a lot of money to come in.

[Mike Giardi]

How.

[Mike Catalano]

How's he been on the D line? And what are we seeing out of Gonzalez?

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, a lot of consternation about Gonzalez and the. The hamstring injury got hurt on July 28th. They immediately. They. Whoever talked to Jordan Schultz, the insider, was like, oh, no worries. They'll be ready for week one. They're not worried about it at all. Well, week one came. Still no Gonzalez. Week two, no Gonzalez. Week three finally starts practicing, barely does anything. Ruled out the day before the Steelers game this week, decent week of practice plays. The game was full go. Didn't come out until they decided the game was over. I think 48 snaps and was one play where he gave up a catch, but otherwise solid. I mean, Carolina's passing attack doesn't scare anybody, nor did their receivers other than McMillan. But Frable thought it was a good sort of re, you know, reintegration into the system. And, you know, now we'll see how the leg and the body feels after his first real contact and workout in essentially two months. But obviously with him and Carlton Davis, as Frable said when they signed Davis, I want to play cat coverage. As in, you got that cat and he's got that cat, and we don't have to worry about it. And yesterday was the first chance for that and, you know, pretty successful. Williams has been great. Like, the numbers aren't probably going to show some of the stuff, but he has been an absolute boy. Yeah, he is.

[Mike Catalano]

He was just a heck of a player with the Eagles.

[Mike Giardi]

He's Mikey's, you know, like he was a 45 snap guy with the Eagles. He's, I think, 70 something here.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

And he's. To me, he's looked every bit as good as he did on the Eagles tape as he, as he has here. Like, again, not, not having all the.

[Mike Catalano]

Numbers, but he made that big play. Was at the end of the Miami. Was it the end of the Miami game? He got the sack late. Yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

Walk off sack, if you will, in that game. But even against the Steelers, like he was in the backfield a ton. It just. Aaron throws the ball in, you know, 1.5 seconds. So you look at the, you look at the statute afterwards, like he didn't, he didn't hit the quarterback.

[Mike Catalano]

Oh, no. Dan doesn't believe that quarterbacks get rid of the ball.

[Dan Fates]

And this is not some nuanced, like, theory that they're like, hey, by the way, let's get rid of the ball quickly. I still want Greg Russo to try and get there. If they're going to sit there and go, we're going to get the ball out quickly. Still impact the quarterback in one point.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah. But this is the. You should know this. Having faced Tom Brady all those years. I remember what was Marcellus, what was the guy's name?

[Dan Fates]

Big first round Pickel. Darius.

[Mike Giardi]

Yes. Thank you. Who was like, you know, Tom threw 45 times in a game in Buffalo. And he's like, I don't think he sniffed him. And he's like, there's nothing you can do. He said, the ball's gone in a second and a half. Like, I beat my guy and I look at the quarterback and he's standing there. He doesn't have the ball anymore. It's like, what am I supposed to do?

[Dan Fates]

Something? As Sean, As Sean likes to say, no, Mike, you don't get it. As Sean likes to say, the coverage and the pass rush needs to be a marriage. And he does this a lot. This. They need to be together in a marriage.

[Mike Catalano]

Well, it's true.

[Dan Fates]

Well, we can't have. You can't have.

[Mike Catalano]

We.

[Mike Giardi]

Whoa.

[Dan Fates]

You need to have. You can't have your corners playing 10 yards off and then expect. Not expecting to get quick throws. It's.

[Mike Giardi]

Well, yeah, I mean, that's the way they're going to play it. Then that's what you're going to get. You know, if you're going to play back, you're inviting all that stuff, you know, Patriots actually in the first quarter against the Steelers, which was a odd game plan. We're playing cover two, like protecting against getting, you know, high safeties, protecting against deep. And I'm like, this guy doesn't throw deep. Right. Ever, once a game maybe. And so all he did was boom, you know, five yards here, seven yards here, nine yards here. And by the time they woke up, it was 14 and nothing, you know, so, yeah, I think Williams would be great though. Like, great for the locker room. Productive. Their interior defensive line, Barmore played his best game, you know. So as he comes back off the, off the blood clots from last year, it was his best performance again against backups because they didn't, they were already down to their second guard and their second guard went out. So they were, they were down to the third stringer by the second quarter of the game. But, you know, something to build off of.

[Dan Fates]

Terrible having you on as always, Mike.

[Mike Giardi]

I hated it. I mean, I enjoyed talking to Mike.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah, well, it's because two adults speak.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, right, right.

[Dan Fates]

Some punk little kid with a mustache.

[Mike Catalano]

Well, that's a strong word. Yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

Pretty much the way it is.

[Mike Catalano]

Last thing you talked a little bit about. I always like to hear this and obviously you have a great perspective on this. Where's the fan base on this team? And last year had to be rough. I mean, you already hit the end of build and everybody's excited. Not everybody. A lot of people. Oh, there's a change. And it just didn't, didn't work at all. Where are they now coming into Sunday.

[Mike Giardi]

Night, most enthusiasm for this football team since Max rookie year.

[Mike Catalano]

That's when the Patriots took over the division, right? Oh, no, it wasn't his rookie year. When he made the playoffs.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah, that was his rookie year. And then they came into Buffalo and lost 47 to 7. Yeah.

[Dan Fates]

And then the Bills. Never my man.

[Mike Catalano]

After the, the, the wind game.

[Mike Giardi]

Oh, yeah, yeah, right.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah, it was over. No, I, I, I, I interrupt Dan and Jenna all the time. I just interrupted you. The, the, they're, they're high on this team. Right. There's optimism. You got a quarterback, you have a coach. And it has been for New England, that little bit of a drought there. Right. The few years where it just wasn't good at all. They're excited.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah. I mean, I can just tell you this, the last couple of years, going to the stadium on Game day and you know, my routine and I get there three hours early. And like when in the prime of the, the Brady Belichick era, it took forever to get in there. Like, didn't matter what time you showed up. It's hard to get in there. Then Belichick decline the Mayo thing, you know, like, when do you want to go to the stadium? Like, I can wait until like the last. Like, I don't have to worry about traffic. I'm. Do you have to worry about a full stadium? You didn't have to worry about leaving after the game. Like just in and out and you know, that place with relatively not much problem. This year has changed. You know, three home games, they finally win one. But like, there's a different energy, there's a different expectation. A real coach, a coordinator, they're familiar with that. They like, you know, a defense that gets after you. You know, they kind of got bored of the whole sit back and two gap and all the things that Bill like to do. This team will, you know, wants to be aggressive, wants to get up the field and yeah, there's a genuine enthusiasm for it. Like, even though the roster still needs work, hey, there's better players here now than there have been in the last few years. So it's like you see all these things coming together, then you start looking at the schedule. New Orleans is coming up, Tennessee's coming up, Cleveland's coming up. It's like, okay, you know, like if you, if you, if you separate yourself from that pack, then you're playing meaningful football in December and you hope in January, whether you're in the playoffs or not, I don't know. But like, that gives you that, that sort of potential, put you on the.

[Dan Fates]

Spot prediction for the game.

[Mike Giardi]

I think it's gonna be a lot of points. I don't. From the way Buffalo has played defensively, I think and the way Drake is playing, I think the Patriots are going to score some points. But I think Josh has, as you mentioned, whether they're playing well or not, finds a way to get to 30. I don't know if they'll get to 30 in this one, but I, you know, 28, 24, something 27, 24. Like, I think we'll see points.

[Dan Fates]

That's an over 48 and a half. Bill's eight and a half point favorites. I thought that was high. Yeah, I thought six and a half. I, I would have, I would have thought six and a half. Yeah, eight and a half was a lot.

[Mike Giardi]

That does feel. I'll be Curious to see how that moves during the course.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

See what happens with Uncle Dan's bets.

[Mike Catalano]

Yes.

[Dan Fates]

Four and two with the Dolphins jets over going on tonight.

[Mike Catalano]

Can you imagine. Imagine just having to sit and wait out the Dolphins jets game to make it work.

[Dan Fates]

Points. Points. I said. I'm scarred by the Patriots.

[Mike Giardi]

They.

[Dan Fates]

They had five fumbles and cost me an over.

[Mike Giardi]

What's the over under on the Jets Dolphins 44 and a half.

[Dan Fates]

Yeah, they're the two worst defenses.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah. But Justin Fields and two aren't very good either.

[Dan Fates]

Points. Tons of points.

[Mike Giardi]

Keep them away from.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah, I don't.

[Mike Giardi]

That. I don't think. I think you're gonna be in a bad mood tomorrow.

[Dan Fates]

We'll timestamp this. This is gonna get tweeted out one way or another tomorrow.

[Mike Catalano]

Hey, Mike, thanks as always again. Let everybody know where they can find.

[Mike Giardi]

Your stuff on Twitter. Ikerdi. As you know, Boston Sports Journal is where I write for now. And then the All32 pod, which is everywhere. You get your podcasts, as I mentioned. Excited to have you guys come on at the end of the week. We'll chop it up. I'll put you guys in the hot seat. See. See if you can live up to the Kurt Warner Devin McCourty billing. I don't. You know, we'll see.

[Dan Fates]

I'll tell you right now. We can't. I'll tell you. I'll tell you right now.

[Mike Giardi]

If it was just Mike, maybe.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah.

[Dan Fates]

Yes.

[Mike Catalano]

That Kurt Warner is a Hall of Famer. I have a golden jacket.

[Dan Fates]

Yeah. McCourty's not. Is.

[Mike Giardi]

No, no, no.

[Dan Fates]

Patriots.

[Mike Giardi]

He'll be a Patriots hall of Famer. I mean, he's not going to get in, but.

[Mike Catalano]

But it'd be. If you're even thought of. That's pretty good.

[Dan Fates]

Yeah, we. Chuck, we've been talking about it quite a bit that there's nobody on this current Bill steam that is even remotely close to being a Hall of Famer.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah. Not. I mean, even on track, too. If it continues like, not even.

[Dan Fates]

And the two hall of Famers that Josh has really played with or at the tail end of his career with McCoy, who should get in, and Vaughn and maybe.

[Mike Catalano]

Well, I guess. I guess Frank Gore could even be there.

[Dan Fates]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Giardi]

Thanks.

[Mike Catalano]

Certainly.

[Dan Fates]

He's at a farther.

[Mike Catalano]

He is at a higher level than anybody on this current Bill's team. There's no doubt. I mean, there's nobody, you know, so.

[Dan Fates]

It'S crazy because we talk about Dion Dawkins and how good he has been. Bill's hall of Famer for sure. Doesn't even have an All Pro. Like what. Like when you. When you're in this era, he's the fifth best tackle, which is really good. You want to be a top five tackle, but you're behind a ton of other guys that have just been, you know, staples for all pros. With Lane Johnson and everybody else, it's like, those guys get it. And Dion's very good, but. All right, man, we will.

[Mike Giardi]

Yeah. That's the thing about the Patriots, Right. For that. That especially the second chunk of the dynasty, it's like, who's making the hall of Fame? Like, Bronk will make the hall of Fame. Brady's making hall of Fame. But, like, who else? Like McCourty. Like, some of their best guys are probably close but never going to get over the top.

[Mike Catalano]

Yeah. So it's a. It's something to think about sometimes when you look at the success of the quarterbacks.

[Dan Fates]

In a heartfelt moment. Giardi, you are the best. We really do appreciate you. Appreciate the text and our friendship and the way that you have grown as the Buffalo plus channel has grown over 40,000 subscribers. No big deal. Like comment. Subscribe.

[Mike Giardi]

Subscribe.

[Dan Fates]

Giardi's been doing that for a long time. Back when we were just.

[Mike Catalano]

Just a couple of the mustache, or.

[Mike Giardi]

As I like to call the good old days.

[Dan Fates]

That was a layup.

[Mike Catalano]

All right, well, look at that. They're calling.

[Dan Fates]

Come on, be professional here, Giardi.

[Mike Catalano]

All right. Thank you to Mike Giardi, and thank you for all of you for watching it, watching us. Please make sure to, like, comment and subscribe. Thanks for being with us in the. In the Connors affairs podcast studio, and we'll see you the next time on Buffalo Plus.