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00:00with us now on the western hotline is eric at home it's been a while eric now with yahoo let's
00:05talk eric's been around a long time he knows about the pads starting to pop bulldog pads
00:11popping players wanting to hit other players with different colored uniforms i don't know
00:15is he a ball knower and is he here to chop it up with us because i don't know if
00:18i can really
00:18handle all that i i am told eric that one topic we have to discuss is the who
00:24apparently we don't have to i just eric and i had an exchange on twitter a couple of weeks ago
00:29about
00:29the who that yeah let me put my legos down and then we can talk to you please yes it
00:37was who
00:37yeah that was a good chat that was a good uh a good uh reintroduction to a song for me
00:44was it was friendly i hope the back yeah it was friendly yeah eric just posted how he had heard
00:49the song um uh going mobile many many times but never really had listened to it and just declared
00:58the song is way better than i ever gave it credit for and i saw that and had recently had
01:04an experience
01:05with an album that i've listened to thousands of times in my life since i was a teenager up to
01:10now
01:10being 61 not the same album no a different who record quadrophenia which is my that's one of my
01:16absolute ground floor foundational rock records and a song i'd heard thousands of times i just heard
01:24a lyric within it that i'd never noticed before so when eric tweeted about this going mobile thing i
01:31said the same thing just happened to me i almost had to pull over when i heard this lyric in
01:35this song
01:35because i'd never heard it you know before i i think i'd pay attention those are the best yeah those
01:41are the best moments when you can when you can rediscover that one little nugget you never uh saw
01:46before maybe that'll be the case with the bills this year you know like maybe the same team we've
01:51watched virtually for for at least it feels that way with josh a quarterback i guess now it's got a
01:56little bit of a different look and we can give it a different kind of listen or something i don't
02:00know
02:00we were just talking about a soundbite from alan with kevin clark where he talked about it this is
02:06just really i'm not trying trying to be critical of alan for this but it's kind of what guys say
02:10in this
02:11sort of situation you know well we can the best we can do is to try to learn from these
02:16defeats in
02:17the playoffs every year i don't know what there is to learn anymore i mean one thing could have been
02:21don't turn the ball over for the previous six playoff losses and they turned it over five times
02:26in denver so they didn't learn that one right um what what how do you feel about this eric i
02:30mean
02:31this team is coming up upon sort of like sort of a historic place in nfl history for all the
02:39winning
02:39they've done and the ravens too for all the winning they've done but not yet to a super bowl even
02:44to
02:44appear in one uh what do you make of it all yeah no i mean obviously that they're one of
02:49the teams
02:50that that you put at the top of the list of of the ones that that not only historically haven't
02:55won
02:55a super bowl but haven't won one in recent years where they they had ample opportunities to to
03:02challenge for one so that that's obviously a huge disappointment it hangs over everything joe brady's
03:07trying to trying to do here and you know it was a huge reason obviously why why sean isn't back
03:12so
03:12yeah i mean i'm fascinated to see what the differences are are they you know more aggressive
03:17are they more about explosive plays is it you know i mean that was something ben johnson brought to
03:23chicago i think that was a big difference in their success last year they weren't a perfect team but they
03:28were able to sting teams um with those big plays big plays on defense big plays on offense and
03:34you know i almost wonder if there isn't something to be said for that i mean the bills have been
03:37at
03:38their best it's when josh allen is creating magic and obviously they're able to rely on their defense
03:43to to get that key stack or key turnover i mean that you know again we can talk about what
03:48the run
03:49defense looks like and what the new personnel and the new front's going to look and all that but
03:53really fundamentals are so important and and you know that allows you to take those chances so
03:59yeah big picture i mean it's hard to pin it on one thing or say that one playoff loss is
04:04exactly the
04:04same as something that happened three or four years earlier but um you know sometimes when there is a
04:10change in the building it it you know it gives a different focus and i think you know the just
04:14the
04:15backdrop of everything it's not like you know joe brady has a honeymoon season coming i mean they expect
04:20to win now so the the pressure is is on right from the start again and and we'll see how
04:25they respond
04:26does that does that seem fair does it seem fair to you to brady like i i understand where the
04:33bills
04:33are at in their timeline it's really alan's timeline he's he's eight years in he's going into year nine
04:38here and they have had success so i mean it all adds up i understand why they wanted to make
04:45a change
04:46and and try something different but man a new guy with a whole new defensive scheme and you know
04:52probably not every guy on that defense is like jim leonard's long range vision you know they just
04:59they're saddled with some guys and they're going to try to make it work i i just it feels funny
05:05to
05:05me that they would be the afc favorite to go to the super bowl in a it there's no grace
05:11period for a
05:12new coach yeah yeah i think that that that no grace period i think that's a good way to to
05:16phrase it i mean
05:17you know whether whether you install them as the the favorites or or feel like you know the chiefs
05:23or ravens are in the same footing or um you know whether there's another team that can kind of rise
05:28up buffaloes i mean sorry i mean denver is obviously one that um you know a lot of people felt
05:33like had
05:33they been at full strength in the afc title game had things been a little different we might have seen
05:38them against the seahawks and perhaps a better game who knows so they gotta i think throw them in
05:42there um and there is this slew of other teams that you know i think have a lot of good
05:48things
05:48going for them but one thing kind of holding them back you know maybe like the houston texans or
05:53something where you know look if their quarterback plays well this this could be a super bowl team so
05:58you know it's hard to know where everyone slots but i think it's just the nature of what you said
06:03the
06:04quarterback in his prime um with so many near misses right it's not like um you know obviously last
06:11season you know wasn't a success big picture but you know they've been so relatively consistently
06:19good throughout the years even the ravens have had more down seasons i think so yeah it's just it's
06:24just that's the nature of the business and the nature of being a you know having a quarterback in
06:29his prime and a quarterback that i think most people view is if not the best then certainly one
06:34of the top three in the league eric edholm now with yahoo our guest mike show up in the bulldog
06:38here
06:38i mean we've been talking about this all every day here eric for many years now the it's been a
06:44while since it became sort of the new normal that the bills were good after many years when they
06:49weren't and it's really it really can be a puzzle like one thing you might want to do if and
06:56this is
06:56what they did successfully if they're sort of beating their heads against the wall in the end is
07:01all right well let's build a running game let's go lead the nfl in rushing like they did with james
07:08cook last year the year before that he led the league tied for the league lead in rushing touchdowns
07:12like with allen doing all the allen things and yet still you get to the playoffs especially last year
07:18without kansas city or baltimore in it or even cincinnati if you want the team to beat them as
07:24well in the playoffs and still they came up short you said a lot of us say this we hear
07:28this a lot the
07:29same thing like man you kind of want to just see if allen when they're at their best where he's
07:34doing
07:34more you know like they're we went from taking stuff off his plate to maybe wanting to put more
07:40back on his plate you know um yeah that that could happen if their defense isn't good right that just
07:45would would have to happen if in that case yeah no doubt obviously if it takes a while even you
07:51know
07:52quarter season half season full season whatever it may be to where you know that side of the ball is
07:57in
07:57uh i don't say catch-up mode but you know i mean if they're not they're not coming close to
08:03to
08:03holding up their end of the bargain and it all falls on josh to win games maybe that does unlock
08:08some sort of playmaking um element to their offense where they say we have no choice but to to attack
08:15every single time there's there's no sitting back right um but like you said last last year maybe
08:20some of this was dictated by you know the options they had the healthy options they had at receiver
08:26and tight end and everything and um you know just catcher path catchers in general i think you'd say
08:31um that that james had to be a focal point of the offense and they can do it obviously the
08:37offensive line has great bones you know that's as good a foundation as you'll find um you know
08:43assuming there's no major injuries they should be in good shape and even even with that i think the
08:47depth is okay so um yeah six offensive linemen who have regular playing time and and that allen and
08:54the run game are really your bedrocks but there's a reason why they added to the the receiver room
08:59there's a reason why tj moore is there i just don't think any receiver threatened opponents
09:04to the point where they had to dictate coverage in a certain way that that gave josh more favorable
09:09looks you know and you know that's why you saw them lean on the run game at times and why
09:14allen would
09:15sometimes go to his second and third look and be pumping the ball and buying time and yeah i mean
09:21obviously if there's a little bit more rhythm you know josh is still going to be the the the creator
09:26he's still going to be somebody who can make something out of nothing but if you have a
09:31higher percentage of plays that work as intended then look i think the whole operation is going to
09:38run a lot more smoothly so yeah i mean i there probably is another level for this offense to
09:45unlock from where we saw last year where it just sort of felt like there were too many wasted drives
09:50you know too many drives where you felt like they could step on a team's neck or cut into a
09:55lead here
09:55and they just you know it's another three and out or something so you know that's probably the the one
10:01level up they can make offensively and then defensively it is really a big question i think
10:07i think they have a chance to be decent but the secondary does worry me a little bit we'll see
10:12what
10:12how long cj's out and you know what do they have at corner besides benford you know that's still
10:18lingering question you know i think the you know the d-line depth should be okay but you know they
10:24can't
10:24before too many injuries up front and then you have you know some things i think to sort out a
10:29linebacker but um you know that looks okay to me you mentioned having a pass catcher there a moment
10:35ago that can dictate coverage stress a defense uh dj moore is the big the big ad there um where
10:43where are you at on on that um like how impactful do you think dj moore can be for the
10:49bills yeah a
10:50really good player obviously joe has familiarity with him and and you know they they know what he
10:54can do he's an inside outside threat um it was interesting i'm based in chicago here and i got
11:00to see up close you know the emergence of that that bears offense last year and you know it was
11:06clear that his role wasn't going to be that high volume role that we had seen him in the past
11:11right
11:12where it felt like you know caleb's rookie year even before that where you know we went out and got
11:17this guy we're gonna gonna get him the ball every single way we possibly can didn't always work out
11:22but you know they were gonna gonna force feed him so to speak but last year that changed a little
11:27and
11:27you know it's now like at age 29 or last year 28 he was suddenly losing a step but i
11:34think they had
11:34so many options and ben wanted to be so multiple in chicago that naturally his his targets reduced a
11:41little bit but i think the tape is still good still made several big clutch catches still was kind of
11:46the alpha in that receiver room last year i think he can play the same role in buffalo
11:51you know khalil is obviously a a talented guy who has his role kind of down pat a little bit
11:57i think
11:58he's gonna gonna be the the reliable you know factor on when dj's doubled on third downs and things
12:05like that so he can still do his damage um you know and then if you if you think keon
12:10coleman can on
12:11can unlock something that that hasn't been there to this point we've seen flashes maybe there's
12:17there's another dimension there too so i mean i was at a training you know that bill's bears training
12:22camp practice a year ago and thought keon had a great practice and was like wow i'm excited to see
12:26what he does this year and obviously didn't go as planned so who really knows but there are receivers
12:31who do break out in year three so it's still you know that's still that hope is not unfounded so
12:38you know dj i believe will have a little bit more work consistently this year um but there was also
12:46something to be said for when josh had multiple options you know when he was forced feeding step
12:53for all those years it really worked at times but there were times when you could see the limitations
12:58too so it's a fine line there and i think he's he's still enough in in the prime of his
13:02career where
13:03you know dj could play a a prominent role if not a true number one type role with eric edholm
13:10of yahoo
13:11mike show up in the bulldog here so we being a radio show do power rankings every week eric i
13:17mean yeah
13:18how about that right we thought we think we kept came we think we came up with something big
13:22with this concept um we do them in reverse though yeah that's right just try to
13:27make it a little bit different and it's pretty easy picking out the also rands you know the likely
13:34dregs of the conference the afc's had some really bad teams of late but then you get to like one
13:41to
13:41nine and every week it seems like we're just sort of blindfolded throwing darts at what the order
13:48should be we end up with denver at number one and i don't know like they're everybody says their
13:54roster is so good but bo nix in a conference where the quarterbacks have really reigned so i don't
14:00know like how many good teams are there how do you look at how do you analyze the afc now
14:06as we've
14:07gotten a little bit not all the way but post we had the mahomes down year in the injury and
14:12we had
14:13baltimore miss and then the the bills lost anyway is it more wide open than we've seen probably
14:19yeah i mean there's no guarantee that those three teams bounce back too that's the other factor i
14:25mean like you know again obviously the bills had a good season last year you can't say that they
14:29were terrible or anything like that but um you know comparatively obviously baltimore and cost john
14:34harbaugh's job there's a new coaching staff there lamar hasn't gotten his contract yet so there's a
14:40little bit of tension in the air there i think and um you know cincinnati boy if they can't make
14:45it
14:45happen this year you wonder if there's not a a change of some sort i don't know if it's just
14:52coaching or if there are other moves involved too but um you know the chiefs mahomes is coming off the
14:57injury the the the training camp videos look great and everything but we won't really know you know
15:02we won't know until we're probably a month into the season just how good he can be he may be
15:07great
15:07to start and then you know that that achilles starts acting up or there's other issues going on so
15:13yeah i mean i i happen to think those three teams and the in the bills are all going to
15:17be
15:17on the stronger side this year in general denver as you mentioned you got to sort of throw him throw
15:22them in there we you know we always gloss over the patriots this time of year now because i guess
15:26a lot
15:27of people feel like you know myself included that last year's super bowl run was highly unexpected
15:32not the kind of thing that anybody had on their on their bingo card last year but you know
15:38regression sure i don't think they're going to fall all of a sudden either i think you at least
15:42have to give them some respect mike rabel's done some pretty good things there and they have a
15:46young talented quarterback who can who can get some things done so i put them a little bit more
15:51on the outskirts uh the chargers are one of those teams like the like the texans i mentioned a minute
15:56ago
15:56where you know you could make a case for them being one of the three or four best teams the
16:01afc or you
16:01could make a case for one of the three or four overrated teams so you know there's just a lot
16:07of
16:08middle to upper middle class teams on that side of the ledger where you know if one or two things
16:14go
16:15right hey maybe we are looking at a patriots like season from 2025 or if one or two things go
16:21wrong
16:22one of those teams that had high expectations but flopped so you know not to dance around the question
16:28but i'm i'm in the same boat thankfully my my colleague frank schwab you know i spent the last
16:32four years doing power rankings at nfl and you know dodging all the hail hate mail i was getting
16:38and stuff like that so frank's had this thing on lockdown for over a decade that's his role now and
16:43i can i can turn it over to him and let him you know dodge dodge arrows for the rest
16:49of his life
16:49wait are you basically telling us right in here not right now here live on the air that you don't
16:53actually hate all the teams are you well i do let's make sure i you understand that right i do
17:00hate all 32 teams okay i don't want to ruin my reputation but yeah no it is funny though how
17:05you know team yeah well you put that team at 26 i have them at 20 okay we're really gonna
17:11get
17:11bent out of shape in august come on now so we get a little leeway you did you mentioned the
17:18potential
17:19for change in cincinnati if if things don't you know if they don't get on track and have you know
17:24a division winning or at least a playoff uh year here it feels to me like this has doesn't have
17:30to
17:30mean anything uh but i feel like the shouty shows in the last week or so have all kind of
17:35taken their
17:36turn at like burrow is gonna go to the he's gonna detonate the carson palmer plan here if things don't
17:42get right with the bangles and i don't know do you give that any respect at all i think last
17:48season you know there was those couple those series of chats that joe had with with the media
17:54where you know it almost felt like he knew more than they did or was like i'm in a good
17:59place you
18:00know he it's almost like people were left to kind of read his thoughts on where he was with cincinnati
18:06and where he was with the team and you know i mean for years they were known as the team
18:10that would not
18:11spend in free agency what do they do after draft or before drafting burrow and then the next year too
18:16they went out and spent big in free agency i think you know to their credit they've changed
18:21their stripes a little bit um in terms of going after some of the players and some of the contracts
18:27the money that goes with it that they wouldn't have touched pre-joe so there has been you know some
18:33change there in terms of how the the organization operates but clearly it hasn't been enough even
18:39getting to one super bowl and not winning it coming within an eyelash of of winning it um you know
18:45since then everything has been pretty disappointing so it's been a while joe's been through the ringer
18:50he's had some unfortunate early season or pre-season injuries that have really kind of messed up his
18:56his year and his path it's been tough it almost feels like it's you know sort of swimming into the
19:04the the the wave a little bit so he's he's had a tough run but i'm not ready to go
19:10out and say that
19:11he's going to force his way out of cincinnati would it be shocking if he said that you know he
19:16wants a
19:17change or something like that if things don't go well no but i also think he might have an opportunity
19:22to maybe pick the next head coach or you know be involved in the process and help shape the roster
19:28a
19:28little bit at his press conferences he can seem downright miserable a little sad maybe not not
19:34not on the color level necessarily but just like maybe nobody's on that's one of a kind right there
19:40for a guy who has the star wars sheets you'd think he'd be a little bit you know a little
19:45more relaxed
19:46or whatever you know a little bit more yeah equanimous yeah last thing eric do you have a fun dark
19:52horse this year who are we all sleeping on yeah good question i mean i you know there's some obvious
19:58other bounce back teams like i mean i don't think detroit would be considered a sleeper but how
20:02about new orleans how about the saints i could see them leveling up this year they kind of get
20:07forgotten a little bit you know the nfc south is in a a marquee division right now and you know
20:12it
20:12felt like panthers and bucks were trying to give away the south a year ago and um you know caroline
20:18obviously he's got some injuries um tampa bay i think todd's probably feeling some pressure down there
20:24after a disappointing year mike evans left there's two big contract disputes right now with
20:30baker and vita vea so you know pretty good environment obviously atlanta their their
20:35quarterback situation is a little fuzzy right now but it feels like tua um and they've had some
20:40injuries too so coming off a season which they were four nine entering december so you know just
20:45looking on the outside i think they've got a pretty good spot to win and then the saints played some
20:50of
20:50their best ball down the stretch with tyler shuck so you know i i'm encouraged by that offense of
20:55what kellen moore can do to keep building that you know defensively there may be a little thin
21:00but i think their their starting unit is maybe better than some people think so that that's one that
21:06i've been kind of eyeballing i think they might play a little better football than some people
21:09realize i like it eric it's been a while thanks so much for giving us uh your time today and
21:14we'll try to keep in touch all right won't get fooled again
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