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Buffalo Plus: A Buffalo Bills podcast
What's next for Diggs, Bills & AFC East with NFL insider Mike Giardi
00:35:11
Mike Giardi joins Buffalo Plus to talk Diggs and AFC East
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- [00:01]
A
It's time for the Buffalo plus podcast.
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B
Now and again.
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A
Rolls on the move, lets it fly.
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C
Oh, what a catch.
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D
All right, welcome Back to the Buffalo plus YouTube channel. Mike Catalana, Dan Fates. I am Jenna Cottrell. We have a action packed episode before we get started, though. Please be sure to, like, comment, and most importantly, subscribe if you enjoy our content. All right, we're going to be joined by NFL Insider, Mike Giardi. We're one of our favorite guests coming up in a little bit. But before we get to that, I want to talk to you guys and Mike, I'll start with you. There's so much going on at 1 Bills Drive mandatory minicamp. Stefan Diggs was not there then. He was at practice. You know, as we are now in this break, heading into training camp. Where do you think that situation stands? And specifically, like Shawn McDermott's comments, him having to clarify after coming back, you know, what do you, what you do, do you make of that?
- [00:55]
A
All right, a couple of things. First of all, I think the pot was boiling there a little bit, and I think it's. It's down to simmer now. Okay. And that's a good thing. They do have to keep talking. They got to get this thing figured out. And they got to, they got to meet a little bit somewhere with Diggs. He's too important of a player. But you can't have the player running the team, right? Or at least running that port of it part of it. He's upset about something. They got to get it out. They got to get over it and go play because he's going to be on the team this year. So of all the people, you know, you guys were there. I didn't like the way Sean McDermott handled it. And then he had to go back on it and say that, you know, Steph was excused from practice. I wanted to bring something up to you guys, and I think I mentioned it to you. I got a hold of his agent and when we talked, he said he wanted clarification from Sean McDermott. And then he said, and I never really put this together at the time, he said. I said, is he going to practice tomorrow? And he goes, coach's decision. Now, I didn't mention that at the time because I thought he was just being ticked off and like, hey, it's up to them. But now when I think about it, in hindsight, I'm thinking, well, maybe he meant in terms of coach's decision, because it was the coach's decision that Steph wasn't going to practice, and it was a little different than he's excused from practice. It's like, go cool down. Get out. You're not going to practice. And I'm making it maybe more contentious than it was because when McDermott walked in that room with you guys, he was. I thought he was a little fired up. A little. You. You were right in the room. You tell me.
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D
Yeah, I feel like we've seen McDermot handle things over these past couple of seasons that he's been there very, you know, I don't want to say straight lace, but, like, very, almost even ke, you know, measured. When you. When you talk to him about a certain player, he'll add in all these other players, like, all this stuff. He is very measured. That's the perfect word. And I think he was a bit reactionary. And that, to me, when he said he was very concerned, I think maybe that was the piece of. He reacted. It was an emotional situation. And again, this is my speculation, an emotional situation. He reacted and then immediately had to go be, you know, know to his press conference, where maybe he was like, yeah, I am very concerned. And then that obviously opened the floodgates of what's going on, all of this stuff, especially considering he did not mention the fact that he had excused him from practice. And I know when people are like, why didn't Shawn McDermott mention that? I, Sean McDermott, knew that he messed up because he came out yesterday and said unprompted, hey, I need to clarify my comments. So I think it's a rare time when we have seen Sean McDermott, you know, be kind of emotional and reactionary. And I think he followed up yesterday to clarify.
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E
Well, yeah, and I think it was also because he got his hand caught in the cookie jar, because after he made those comments, then came out the Schefter report from Diggs's agent being like.
- [03:53]
C
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [03:54]
E
He's there. Like, he's there. Like, that is how this whole thing spiraled out of control. And, like, I give a lot of credit to Sal Marana of the Democrat Chronicle here.
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D
Yeah.
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E
When McDermott came back out to talk yesterday at the end, we were recording this on Thursday morning when he came back to talk. And people, you know, we all. We. We read and see all the comments. So everybody's that saying, you guys are making this. This is no big deal. Like, look at what Mitch Morris said. You know, all this stuff. It's not that big of a deal. It's a big enough deal that they send up Josh Allen and Von Miller to do damage control. And it was a big enough deal to send Sean McDermott back out there. And. And to Salon's question of. You guys are making it seem like we're making this up. You were the one, Sean, that said you were very concerned. Your words set everything off. If he goes, yeah, Diggs, he's here. We got something going on. We excused him. He'll be here tomorrow. No drama. No drama, no distraction. And from that, wildfire spread. And like I said, if you don't think there is something again, go back and watch Josh Allen's press conference. It's not a. It's kind of a non football issue. I've seen people say, well, you're missing a word when Josh said it's a non football issue. No, his words are, it's not a football issue. Like, that's straight up from Josh Allen's mouth. That's not our mouth, that's not Buffalo. Plus breaking some story. This is something here, and I don't think it's over yet. While it may be like, Mike, I think you make a great point. Simmer. But it is not over.
- [05:23]
D
And, and I want to just say really quick, Mike, we've talked about it on a couple episodes ago about when Josh Allen said, I have never been more focused on football. And I think a lot of us took that as maybe he was directing it at, you know, his previous relationship or whatever. But now it's like maybe that was directed more towards a teammate.
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A
Yeah.
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D
And that's something to consider as well.
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A
I. I've talked to you guys a lot about how Josh has handled and you've been watching it. But, you know, I'm going through a lot of years of history watching guys come in and out of Buffalo, how I thought he's handled every level of it about as well as you could. And I'm not saying, I mean, he's still team guy like he was at all the OTAs just about every day. And I mean, he still does, no matter what else he's doing. He shows up for all that. He's a hard worker and all those things, but maybe there were moments where he got away a little bit and we talked about it and I said, maybe he's talking to a coach, to a player out loud where he's saying this. I'm going to be that way. Maybe it's between he and Diggs a little bit about that commitment that he maybe sees parts that aren't there and that's where it goes from football to Personal. And you'll hear, we talked to Mike Giardi about this a little bit, too. When I say goes from football to personal, where it starts with that relationship on the field and, you know, and the way the game goes. And then, you know, it's just like anybody else. It can be work, and then work. It becomes personal because of the way people react. So, like, Dan made a great point. There's something there. You know, it's like, you guys know, you go to a party, right, and you know these couples, and you hear this one couple talking, and you're like, there's just something going on. You know, it's not good. There's something going on. You can feel it. And then maybe they get it figured out. And that's great. Sometimes they don't. I think they'll get it figured out. But agreed. This is the couple at the party where before. I mean, that's why, Jenna, when people say to me, like, you don't have to be best friends with a guy, or you don't. Yeah, that's cool. When you weren't that way to begin with.
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D
Exactly.
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A
But look at these two. And. And we saw little moments. And what'd you say? Did you tell me Steph posted a Instagram story with you?
- [07:34]
D
Oh, gosh.
- [07:35]
A
Hey, that's great. Even if it's possible public, like, get back to that, because.
- [07:39]
E
Yeah, and I thought, again, we talked about this with Giardi coming up. Just the fact of other players have had to come out and speak on the matter. And I think Mitch Morris, who is turning into a phenomenal team spokesman of being the. The calm head, the adult in the room at times, he's. I remember his words after demar Hamlin were just incredible. I remember he spoke after Matariza. All of those things. He's been. He's been nailing it. And he was asked by Matt Perino of Syracuse.com about, is this a distraction? Is this in the locker room? And the quote that is going around is, I got to do that. That was kind of what he said. And everybody loves that. And everybody goes, see, it's nothing.
- [08:20]
B
Listen, Steph, Stefan Diggs is an amazing player. Maybe a handful of guys I've been around in my nine years who make an impact like Steph does on a team. I think Josh and him have a symbiotic relationship where they make both better. He's done so much for our team. That's why it's such big news in the media. You know, he's such an important piece. I don't know if it's good to speculate whether it's in the building or out of the building without us knowing what's going on. So for us, we just, like, we let the people do that, what they do. I love Stefon Diggs.
- [08:53]
C
I got to do.
- [08:54]
B
I got to come out here and do my job, you know, And I want Steph and everyone to be the happiest version of themselves. He's one of the best teammates I've been around. I also think that they're working through it. I think they're doing the thing that they're supposed to do, which is have possibly uncomfortable conversations, have some candidness, which can be hard at times, but in the end, you appreciate it and you work out whether any facet of life. So to answer your question, I don't totally know what's going on, so I can't answer it. But I'm sure it'll work itself out one way or another. And however it does, we'll all know together and we'll answer it there.
- [09:31]
E
That doesn't mean that there's. That this doesn't get talked around the locker room. He's just saying that the team is doing the best that they can of keeping blinders on to the drama that is going on. And he even admits this is a big story because of who he is. And Jed, I remember you not to catch a stray here, but it's like I always joked around about Dane Jackson as the ugly penny and things like that. Like, it's not meaning to be a mean thing, but it's like if Saran Neal did something like this, I were just picking a player. They're cut, they're moved on. But it's. It's Stefan Diggs, so it makes headlines and it draws attention. So while I agree with. With Mitch Morris and his. His nailing you right in the head, they're like, we got other stuff to do.
- [10:15]
C
And.
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E
And he did say, like, they have to have uncomfortable conversations. They have to be candid conversations. Like, those are hard to have. So those need to continue to happen. This isn't totally done, but I do think it shows the veteran presence of Mitch. And then you also have the happy go luckiness almost of Vaughn being like, it's nothing. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Steph. And we're going to figure things out. So it was a nice balance. But again, I think what Mitch said is funny. It'll make a great T shirt on the Buffalo plus merch store on The Buffalo plus store. But it's also, he did acknowledge that there is something that they're trying not to allow to be a distraction.
- [10:57]
D
Yeah, no, I agree. And we have our favorite NFL insider, Mike Giardi joining us. Recurring guest, reoccurring guest, one of our favorites. So let's go to that. All right, welcome in, Mike Giardi. Mike, let's get your thoughts. Stefan Diggs, this Bill's things, the drama. What's your take and what do you make of all this?
- [11:18]
C
So I, I feel like this has been building since probably the second half of last year. I don't think he was all that psyched with the way he was being used. And even though he had a ton of targets, I think he wants more targets. Then obviously, the season goes sideways at the end. I think there was a lot of emotion involved, not just because of what was happening on the field, but what happened off the field with Demar. I think the thing that surprised me was that they weren't able to figure this. Whatever it is, whatever this disconnect is, they weren't able to iron it out during March, April, May, and I guess into June here. Maybe that's just the deadline spurs things. People have to show up and then you have to have those conversations. But it was. It was odd. And it's something that I think no matter what anyone says yesterday about things being resolved, I would just continue to monitor that situation because I still. It's. I don't think everything is totally settled there.
- [12:12]
A
I get he's a captain and he should have a voice, but if it comes from a place of how much he's being used in the offense, that's not captain speak to me, that's just player speak. Right?
- [12:22]
C
Yeah. Mike, it's interesting. Dan and I were sort of texting about this during the last couple days, and he's someone. If you go back and listen to him. Right. Gabe Davis is the number one. He's. He says that. Said that about Cole Beasley. And yet here we are at this point where clearly his own personal feelings about the football and needing it and changing the offense to benefit him sort of flies in the face of. Of those conversations. So, look, he. He wore out his welcome in Minnesota. He's here. Everything was hunky dory until, as we saw some things happen last year. And you just have to wonder if that's just part of that position, the nature of that position, for whatever reason, that position. You know, like there's just a. There's a level of selfishness at that position that I don't think we see at other positions or certainly don't hear about. And it's, you know, now he's what, 30? So like you're just at this point where, I don't know, maybe personality wise, he and Sean, he endorsing that there's something there that just has to be watched the rest of the way here.
- [13:32]
A
Yeah, but we're talking about appeasing a guy at least a little bit. Right. If I'm a team, he's Stefan Diggs. I'm going to go down that road at least a little bit. Right. You, you kind of know the game you're in and maybe it will help the offense, maybe it'll help with Josh. You don't know how that'll go. But don't they have to go down a little bit of that road before it becomes a bigger problem?
- [13:55]
C
Sure. But then how much you. Right. Yes, you do. But then how much are you giving? And then what message does that send everybody else? Which again, the, the, the, the last 48 hours is that he's the greatest. We love him. You know, I got his back. But they've been saying that since the end of the season and that conversation didn't do anything from, from February on to appease him, to lead to this sort of semi showdown, if you will, of in June. So I just. How far do you go and at what point do guys and the rest of the team go, hey, we're all pulling in one direction and he isn't necessarily pulling with us. And look, I think he's a great dude. I think his emotion has been good for the football team by and large. But at some point he needs to evaluate what he did at the end of the season and say, you know, probably me screaming at my quarterback with my arms out and then pitching to fit and running out the locker room after it was over was a bad look. And I should, I should tell people that's on me. And, and I'll do my best to, to contain that. I think that would go a long way towards appeasing everyone else.
- [15:05]
E
So you're talking about maybe him speaking. Wouldn't that be. Hey, Jake, wouldn't that be wild?
- [15:11]
C
Yeah, yeah. You know, I think Jenna retweeted one of his. Yeah, his Instagram stories about like no cap and people are lying and it's like, well, you know, if there was only someone, there was always someone who could bring light to the entire situation and educate the masses on what's happening. That, that, I mean, I think I know that guy, but he hasn't done it yet. And I'm curious if, when you finally get to talk to him in July, if he, if he does get into it or if he says not water under the bridge and I'm not going there. Which again, wouldn't be exactly owning your half of the story.
- [15:48]
D
I, I just want to jump in real quick because, you know, the Bills wrapped up their mini camp yesterday and we were like, is Diggs going to talk? Is he not going to talk? And I was like, I don't know if I'm the Bills, if I want him talking. Right.
- [16:01]
C
Yeah, well, and look, I, if I'm, if I'm Josh Allen and Von Miller and Mitch, I'm not psyched that I had to talk. I mean, what did Josh talk about? The whole thing was talking about Steph. And like I've heard people say, well, you know, maybe Josh said a little too much. Well, he was on the podium for 10 minutes and he was just being hammered with questions. I don't care who you are, at some point when you're asked the same thing in a different way over and over again, little pieces are going to come out. It doesn't, doesn't matter how long you've been doing this. That's just, that's just the nature of the beast. So again, like, I don't know what the conversations are behind the scenes, but I think Steph owes them some accountability and an apology for putting them in situations that are not comfortable. And quite frankly, if you're trying to win a Super bowl, these aren't the kind of things that you want to be talking about. Not now, not in July. And again, it's. When you guys get back in July, it's coming up again. It's not, it's not going to go away just because they're on a five week break here.
- [17:06]
E
Yeah, this, this just feels like a PR disaster for an organization and a team that has really been able to avoid these. And I mean that in the sense of. Half the comments on our videos are, Diggs is a diva. He needs to figure it out. And the other half is, there's nothing here. Stop worrying about it. It's Mike, it's somewhere in the middle. The fact that we are having to have this discussion and, and maybe Diggs's point to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he has some valid points about the offense and things like that, but going about it this way just kind of makes everybody look bad, maybe is the most simplistic way of looking at it. Like, Diggs could have some points. Right. But, like, this isn't how you go about it.
- [17:48]
C
Yeah. I don't know why it has to become public. And I think the good teams tend to keep this stuff in house. And Sean always preaches like, we're going to keep it in house. And this one. This one became very public. So that's part of it, I think. I think Sean would like a redo on his. On his press conference. I think he tried to do a redo yesterday, but again, the cat's out of the bag. I mean, it was. I give him an A for effort. I guess they're trying to be like, well, you know, I'm concerned when everybody's not here. No, no, no. That just. It didn't. It didn't fly. And I wonder, again, what was the conversation like after that? You come out there, you say what you said, you say you're very concerned, and then 24 hours later, you're not scheduled to speak. You speak, you try to put the cat back in the bag. The Brandon have to talk to him. You know, what was the. What were the conversations? They're like, dude, what are you. What are you doing? Like, you can't put that out there. We're trying to do our best to dampen this noise. And instead you just fed it. And I think that was the interesting thing, too. Like, you're having the conversations with me, the different players, like, you guys. You guys are making too big a deal of it.
- [18:54]
E
Yeah.
- [18:54]
C
Your head coach made a big deal of it and, you know, like, what are we supposed to do with that?
- [19:01]
A
Yeah. I think he came really close to the end of his meeting with Diggs when he walked in there.
- [19:06]
D
Yeah.
- [19:07]
A
For that news conference. And you could tell he was a little. He was still a little rattled. He was a little different, obviously, the next day, but it's bad. Hey, Mike, if. If it's my two cents, the way they talk, they say, you know, it's football, but it's not football. I think it started as football and then got personal.
- [19:23]
C
Yeah.
- [19:24]
A
And maybe it's Josh not going to bat for him with the offense, with Dorsey, with McDermott, whatever it is. And then he thinks Josh is maybe the company guy because obviously you saw how tight these guys were. I mean, they don't have to be best friends nonstop. But when you're that tight and then you're not, then I think it's an issue.
- [19:43]
C
Yeah. I don't think there's any question that there is, that that is and just listening to Josh talk, that, that was definitely a piece of it. And the way Josh tried to own up to it did speak to me like this became some somewhat of a personal thing. And where does that stem from it? I think you're. I think you're onto something in terms of is he the company man? You know, he and Dorsey have the relationship from when Dorsey was the quarterback's coach. So it's more of a friendship versus a coach playing player thing. Now it's more of a coach player thing because let's face it, you're the offensive coordinator. And then things didn't go the way you would have liked it to go in the second half of the season. And that's where the Stefan Diggs usage and all the target thing comes into play. But it's. Josh has a lot of work there, I think, to continue to try to smooth that over. And I think he. Again, you just go back. I was, I was looking at some of the, some of the stuff that I wrote down from last year's press conferences, and it was like every chance he got to praise Diggs, he praised Diggs. So how much more can you do, right? It's got to be something that's done behind the scenes to coddle that ego and make sure that he feels like he's loved and wanted.
- [20:49]
E
Absolutely. And maybe one last question I just have on the Diggs drama and then, you know, kind of moving forward around the rest of the AFC East. I thought it was very telling. It was like they had a plan of Josh was going to come out there, say, almost take ownership. I need to be better, we need to be better, we need to communicate. And then Vaughn was pretty much there to come out there and say it's not that big of a. But what also Vaughn said, which I think I texted you about it, that was like the most jarring thing to me was when I went back and watched the Vaughn's comments again was that you don't treat everybody the same, which I believe is true. Don't get me wrong, like, that's the way the world works. But for Sean McDermott's team of your 1 11th, you are not 2 11s, you're not 3 11s, you're 1 11th. I was surprised that you would have a leader like Vaughn come out there and say, like, hey, some people get treated differently. To me, did that jar you the way that it jarred me about a SHA McDermot organization and culture that he's built?
- [21:49]
C
Well, what I would say is maybe That's a little bit of a revelation of what's going on behind the scenes as well. And. And who gets that treatment? Maybe Josh gets treated like he's not everyone else because he isn't everyone else. And then maybe Steph looks at it as he's getting frustrated by his usage and says, well, how come I'm getting yelled at? Or how come when I say something, it seems to fall on deaf ears? But he. Well, because he's the quarterback and he's the $325 million man or whatever it is. But again, that just. I think it's. There were little pieces, little clues, little breadcrumbs that were dropped into various press conferences. You do have to treat certain guys differently. I think if you look at. And. And I think it's a changing times too. Like, so the. The in New England for all those years, the Patriot way. Well, Belichick could tell Brady he sucked, and Johnny Foxborough, the quarterback, could throw better than he could, and he wouldn't have missed that throw. And Brady took it for a bunch of years. Well, then the last three or four years, Brady's like, why the hell am I doing this? Yeah, like, haven't I done enough? Why do I have to keep listening to this? So, you know, then you start to maybe try to change your approach. And maybe Sean has to tweak his approach here too, as he goes on. Because let's face it, Sean's type A. He's a hard ass. Like, there has to be at some point that the modern athlete isn't the same as the guys that he was used to coaching even 10 years ago. It's a totally different game now, personality wise.
- [23:15]
A
Hey, Janet, one quick thing, and I'm gonna let you take it. 1989 Bills players were mad Jim Kelly had a golf cart at training camp. They were mad that Jim Kelly was the only guy that got a full news conference after games. And then he had the big blow up and he and Thurman had to stand up and apologize. And it was two stars of the team. Bill Polian made him do that. So it takes me back to those days. And by the way, that was during the season. That's where they got the nickname Bickering Bills. And while this is farther away from that, not even close with social media and the way guys communicate, it doesn't need to be a lot to be a big thing. And that's why they got to find a way to get this past them.
- [23:56]
C
I think if you're an old. If you're an old coach, and I don't mean, like, age wise. You just been in the game for a long time. The social media thing has to drive you crazy. Bananas. Yeah, it drives me bananas. And, like, I have to be involved in it. You're, you know, like.
- [24:11]
D
Yeah.
- [24:11]
C
You're looking at going, man, can't you just. Why do we got to put it out there? Why can't you just have the conversation? Two men, you get in a room, you hash it out, and then we move on. Or, hey, it's not working. So now we're going to part ways, but let's just. Let's just handle it that way. No, we gotta have little cryptic tweets and. Well, you don't really know what I meant by that's just quoting a song that I like. Okay. Okay. Right. Sure.
- [24:34]
E
It's the Dick's quote.
- [24:36]
C
No, I wasn't stirring up. Y' all need to stay off my Twitter. Okay. Okay.
- [24:44]
D
Yeah, that part. That piece of it is always wild to me. Let's talk about something a little bit different, though, just in terms of the AFC East. Just the division, obviously, the Bills have won it these last couple of seasons. They've been the top dog. And then you look at how things have kind of changed over this past offseason. You know, do you feel like this Bills team has done enough to keep their place at the top of the division?
- [25:07]
C
I. I do, but I. The gap is. Again, the. The gap has been closed somewhat, for sure. I mean, look, if Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rod two years ago, or even if he's 85% of that based on what they got from their quarterback last year, then they're a playoff team, and they're a scary playoff team because there's a lot of good pieces there. I mean, obviously, when we talk about all this, health is important. He's an older guy, you know, who knows? But that the talent that they've added there leads you to believe that they can make a real push in the division. I think what we're really going to learn is. Is Robert Salah good head coach?
- [25:43]
D
Yeah.
- [25:43]
C
Like, he hasn't had to. We have. We don't really have a feel on that because every time things went sideways, just, well, Zach Wilson, Mike White, we're playing Joe Flacco, like, in big spots. Like, that's. That's not going to do it. So now I think we'll find out if Salah is the right guy to lead that football team. Miami's gotten better, and there's the continued rumor of Dalvin Cook, which I think would be a nice little piece for them. More speed, more depth at the running back position. They didn't run it very well last year. They ran it well against the Bills, but they didn't run it very well in general. Just another piece, another bit of speed to add there. They added David Long on defense, which no one talks about because he's 225 pounds at linebacker, but he, he's an awesome player when he's healthy. So they closed the gap. I think the team that's still in the. At the bottom of the rung of the Patriots and even they've improved somewhat. So it's this, this division is going to be brutal.
- [26:37]
E
This last. Sometime around here last year, the fact of Patricia's calling plays on 7 on 7, judges calling them on 11 on 11. How much of an upgrade is having an offensive coach at an offensive coordinated position? Mike?
- [26:52]
C
It is. It is. Of all the things that they did this off season, and I would say they were somewhat active in free agency, that is by far and away the best thing that they did. Because the guy knows how to call plays. It doesn't mean he's perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But I mean, as I kept reporting during the course of the season and in the aftermath, talking to defensive coordinators, defensive players, like, if we countered something they did, they didn't have a counter for us. And then never mind the personnel factory, like, well, who scares you on that football team? Like, I. There was no one that scared you. Ramandre Stevenson was their best offensive player. He's a running back. I'm sorry, that doesn't. That no one is afraid that the running back is going to carry the ball 30 times and you're going to lose the game that way. That's just not how the game's played anymore. So having o' Brien having the ability to sort of have a real playbook once again allow Mac Jones to use probably his greatest strength, which is his brain. Like, these are things that should allow them to be at least competent offensively, which they were as incompetent as they could get last year.
- [27:56]
A
Mac Jones, I talk about how poorly the Bills handled Allen. I thought as a rookie with the way their setup was, with no veterans and nobody to really help him, and he made it through. And then it got better and better and better. They did this to Mac in year two, when most of these guys really can take a step. So when are we going to know if this guy actually can play?
- [28:18]
C
Yeah, well. So the Way I look at their schedule, if you look at their schedule, first four, and you can even say the first five weeks, because the Saints, Dennis Allen, the job he does with that defense, that will be a challenge for them. It could be over after five weeks for Mac Jones. Like, I, I think they're in the. We. They feel like they have to win now. Bill obviously has the record sort of floating in the, in the future, but it's been a difficult run here for this football team since winning the super bowl against the Rams at the end of the 201819 season, if you will. And I look at the beginning of that schedule and I say if he doesn't play well, if it looks sloppy, if he's still turning the ball over like he did last year, it wouldn't surprise me if they pulled the plug then. So I think there's a lot on him, a lot of pressure on him to get it right and to look good early on. Otherwise, I don't think Bailey Zappy's good, but I think they wouldn't hesitate to turn to that. I just. They. They did. Mike. Everything that bad teams do, bad organizations do with young quarterbacks, they've done it all. You're on your third offensive coordinator in three years and oh, by the way, the coach and the quarterback, they don't. The head coach and the quarterback don't really. It's a lot of weird things going on between the two of them. Like, it's. It's kind of ridiculous. It's. But it's why they become just. It's why they become just another team.
- [29:36]
A
They're the drought era Bills, the way they're operating. They really are.
- [29:40]
C
Yep. And everybody wants to give them the benefit of the doubt around here because obviously the long run of success and because of Bill and I say 25 and 26. One playoff appearance, they lost by about 100 points last year. Some of the things that they did in game were as dumb of football plays situationally that you would ever see.
- [30:02]
D
Yeah.
- [30:02]
C
Was that the coaching? Because before it was the coaching, even when Tom Brady was there, the coaching, they don't make these little mistakes. Well, now they're making these little mistakes. Oh, and by the way, they don't have Tom Brady either.
- [30:12]
E
So Bill's fans are gonna love this part that just that they're gonna clip.
- [30:18]
C
Yeah.
- [30:19]
E
They're just gonna loop it. That was great.
- [30:21]
D
Truly, though, okay. You talk about the pressure and, and stuff. And you talked about, you know, the jets coach, Robert Salah and like just, you know, he doesn't have an out this year. Now, with Sean McDermott taking over the defense, that was a move that I really was not expecting. Obviously, though, he's going back to his roots a little bit with that. But that does put a huge amount of pressure on him, both as the head coach and now as the D.C. and were you. I don't want to say were you surprised by that? But I feel like that really, he doesn't have that out, really available to him anymore if things don't go right.
- [30:55]
C
Yeah, Jen, I love the point. I was talking with Joe Biscali about this from the Athletic about two or three weeks ago, and Joe thinks, oh, there's more of a Runway. It's not this year, but it's next year. I think it's this year. Yeah, I think. I think this team has to have a deep run AFC title game at the very least, in my opinion, because 13 seconds, losing at home to Cincinnati. And while I tend to say I throw that out because of all that happened and where I thought that team was physically and emotionally after what happened with Demar in those three weeks, some people won't look at it that way. Maybe some people that make decisions won't look at it that way. And now you've eliminated one of the guys that you threw under the bus a number of times in the last two years after big losses in Leslie Frazier. Okay, well, one guy's gone, day ball's gone. So you have Dorsey. Dorsey can still be a whipping boy. But now if it doesn't work defensively, and let's face it, in big moments, it hasn't worked defensively.
- [31:58]
D
Yeah.
- [31:59]
C
Some would argue that it was still Sean's defense and that Sean still had a big influence over those defenses, even though Leslie was the DC Then. Who else? Who else do you blame?
- [32:08]
D
Yeah, I. I feel the same way personally.
- [32:11]
E
And I love when. When Mike, a smart network TV guy, says the things that I also say and people say Dan's just an idiot, and it's like, no, I have.
- [32:20]
C
Other people also think, like, you are just an idiot.
- [32:25]
D
That's gonna be a T shirt.
- [32:27]
C
Right. But that doesn't mean the big picture. Yeah.
- [32:30]
E
I also have written down here salary cap, because I just want to talk about salary cap with you because you're my favorite. But, like, we've run out of time, so. So we'll save that for another pod. Maybe closer to training camp when the bill sign Hopkins and make it work. And then we could all say about how the salary cap isn't real.
- [32:45]
A
We Need Mike's approval for this. The salary cap isn't real. Dead cap is real. Do we go with that?
- [32:52]
C
That's fair.
- [32:53]
D
Okay. Yeah.
- [32:54]
C
Okay. But now look at quickly salary cap. Don't look at it as one year. Look at his three or four years. And then when you look at what's about to happen to the cap.
- [33:03]
D
Yeah.
- [33:03]
C
With all the TV money. But that's a. I won't get into no, no budget cutting and all these things that are happening elsewhere, but you get into that. I mean, come on, you can do whatever the hell you want. And yes, maybe five or six years from now, you got to take the. You got to take that one. And then after that, you got 150 million to spend a free agency. So whatever.
- [33:25]
E
It's a future problem. Future Brandon Bean problem.
- [33:28]
D
Dan's really good about those future Dan problems.
- [33:32]
A
Move them.
- [33:32]
E
Mike, you're the best, man.
- [33:34]
D
Yeah, we appreciate it. Where can we find you on social. What's your hand?
- [33:38]
C
Just Twitter Mike Giardi. Still trying to talk to the people that I talk to. And hopefully before training camp, I will actually have deployment. We'll see.
- [33:48]
A
Well, you're locked in with especially Bill stuff. Bill's in AFC East. Mike's a great follow. Guys who watch us know this. So recurring guys or wherever you're.
- [33:59]
E
I think you're the mo. The biggest, most recurring guest on here. And I want to get a trophy for you.
- [34:03]
C
You guys have sent me no swag. All right.
- [34:10]
E
Really appreciate it, man.
- [34:11]
C
Thanks.
- [34:12]
D
All right. Thank you. To Mike Giardi, one of our favorite guests. We always enjoy having us on. There's a break now, but we'll continue to post stuff, obviously, as the Bills get ready for training camp in Rochester at the end of July. For my Catalana and Dan Fates, I am Jenna Cottrell. Please be sure to like, comment and subscribe. Subscribe. If you enjoy our content, comment in what your thoughts are just on as we head into this break and we have a little bit of time off between the start of camp and now. And then also check out the Buffalo plus store. We have new merch. We have great koozies. I love them. And the. Yeah, we have mugs. We have tumblers. I've. We've. We've made a lot of cool shirts as well.
- [34:52]
E
New shirts coming, I'm sure.
- [34:53]
A
Yep.
- [34:54]
D
Yeah.
- [34:54]
A
Good stuff.
- [34:54]
D
Also that maybe one that says Dan's an idiot.
- [35:00]
A
And we. We're gonna have a good Jenna shirt soon, too.
- [35:03]
D
Yeah, I don't know what that is. Okay.
- [35:05]
A
Maybe the.
- [35:06]
D
All right. For Mike and Dan. I am Jenna. Thank you so much for watching us here on Buffalo Plus.