- 11 minutes ago
Kevin Byard III joined RKT for Patriots Monday and talked about how wasn’t surprised at the team’s win against the Bills yesterday, C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s comments about Efton Chism, Josh Allen’s behind the back pass in the end zone, and more.
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00:00Kevin, thanks for joining us, man, and congratulations.
00:03Of course. Thanks for having me, you guys.
00:05All right, so be honest.
00:06When you got home last night and finally had a minute to yourself,
00:09did you think, damn, we just beat the Bills in Buffalo?
00:15I mean, I would have to say no.
00:17I mean, I know with the, you know, I kind of understand how, you know,
00:22the noise outside of our facility can, you know,
00:25kind of wane with the performance that we put on in Jacksonville.
00:28But I know and we know what type of team we are.
00:35We have a great culture.
00:37We have great belief and confidence in everybody,
00:39including our awesome quarterback.
00:42So going up in Buffalo,
00:43we obviously knew that the odds weren't going to be against us.
00:45People weren't going to be rooting for us
00:47or believing that we was going to go up there and do it.
00:49But I think at the end of the day,
00:52I think it proved that yesterday that we are still a really good team,
00:56regardless of what people think.
00:57And we can go toe-to-toe with any team in this league on any given Sunday.
01:02So, no, it was just great to really get a win,
01:04especially one in the division,
01:06but also to kind of keep pace with, obviously,
01:09the Bills who were undefeated at the time,
01:11try to keep pace with them as far as this divisional, you know,
01:15the division games come up, you know, come about.
01:17So it was good to get a win.
01:19But I wouldn't say we were shocked or nothing like that.
01:22Hey, Kevin, I'm curious.
01:24How do you guys were able to contain the three big weapons on the Buffalo Bills,
01:29the great triumphant of Josh Allen, James Cook, and Dalton Kincaid?
01:34Because those guys just really did not do much.
01:37What was your game plan going in,
01:39and how were you guys able to stop those guys?
01:42Well, yeah, I mean, I think we knew that, for one,
01:45I would just talk about James Cook first.
01:48I mean, obviously, he's one of the best running backs in the league.
01:50He's a guy that we knew that everybody was going to be at the point of attack
01:53because this guy, no matter where the run play is called,
01:57if he's supposed to hit up in the A-gap or outside zone to the left,
02:00he can go anywhere.
02:01So I think we just did a really good job as far as game plan and understanding,
02:04knowing that, hey, we're all making sure we're running to the ball,
02:07making sure we're not giving him a lot of space.
02:09He hit off a couple runs later in the game,
02:11but I think early we basically contained the run game.
02:13And then, obviously, we know Josh Allen, the plan was to, obviously,
02:16which everybody tried to do, but, you know, try to keep him within the pocket,
02:20kind of make him win within the phone booth.
02:23Obviously, we know he can make all the throws,
02:24but at the same time, when he gets outside that pocket,
02:27especially to his right, bad stuff happens for our defense.
02:30So we try to contain him as much as we could.
02:33Obviously, they made a couple plays.
02:34You know, he's going to get outside the pocket.
02:35There's not nothing that you can straight-up stop,
02:37but you can try to contain.
02:38So he made a couple plays, but I think we did a really good job with that.
02:42And then, obviously, Dr. Kincaid, obviously, he's, you know,
02:45going into this game, he was their top target,
02:48leading their team in all the, you know, receiving categories.
02:51So I think we did a really good job understanding
02:53what type of routes he was going to run,
02:55and he's more of a vertical threat down the field.
02:57So, no, I just think Zach Kerr and defensive staff did a really good job
03:02putting together a really good game plan,
03:04giving Josh Allen a lot of different pitchers.
03:07And, you know, I think it was well on point to helping us win this game.
03:13Kevin, nobody knows the art of intercepting a football like you do,
03:1636 career picks.
03:17How would you grade the Craig Woodson interception?
03:20Scale of 1 to 10, where does it rank?
03:23I mean, I would probably put it up there.
03:26Maybe I would give it a six because he's my guy.
03:29And the reason why I'm not going to put it up too high,
03:31because, number one, he went up and he went up and got the ball.
03:36So that's one thing.
03:37So, obviously, he could track the ball well.
03:38But, I mean, to be honest, I know Tom Brady kind of coined the term,
03:42but it was kind of like a meatball sub that he just threw up there.
03:45You know, he had dodged the sack, did a really good job dodging the sack,
03:48and he just basically threw the ball up in the air, just like,
03:51hey, my guy's down there somewhere.
03:52He's got to catch it.
03:53And so, Craig had plenty of time to get over there from out of the post.
03:56And he basically ran a three-level flood concept.
03:59So there was no other receiver to the other side of the field.
04:02So Craig actually just ran to that one side,
04:03and Josh Allen just threw the ball up in the air,
04:05hoping his guy was going down there and making a play.
04:08But, no, shots out to Craig for actually making sure they're catching the ball.
04:11And it was a big-time moment because you got to think,
04:14I think the drive before Josh Allen threw that crossing route to the receiver
04:18when Craig was in the post.
04:20Craig kind of, you know, he cut, you know, one of the shorter routes,
04:23and he ended up throwing the post, you know, over the top of his head
04:27or whatever it may be on Charles Woods.
04:29So, you know, coming to the sideline was one of those deals where, like,
04:31hey, it is what it is.
04:33You know, you chose one.
04:34You know, maybe guess wrong, whatever it may be.
04:36But he didn't panic.
04:37Nobody panicked on the sideline.
04:39You know, we trust Craig that he was going to go out there
04:41and make another play, and he did it.
04:42So that was kind of happening for him
04:44and just probably going to be able to make that play in a big game,
04:46in a big spot.
04:47Yeah, that was awesome.
04:48We're talking to Kevin Byer III after a huge win yesterday in Buffalo.
04:52Kevin, there was that bizarre play where you guys trapped Josh Allen
04:55in his own end zone, and he threw the ball behind his back.
04:58When he threw that thing behind his back, were you thinking,
05:00is that actually legal?
05:03Honestly, no, that was crazy.
05:05First, it wasn't even the fact, was it legal or not?
05:08It's one of those deals.
05:09So a lot of quarterbacks nowadays, they don't want to take sacks,
05:11so they try to just get the ball out.
05:13And I've seen this happen with other quarterbacks.
05:17And, like, nine times at a ten, it normally ends up, like,
05:20in an interception or something like that.
05:22Like, it was, like, a guy, Will Levinson, Tennessee, who I played with.
05:26He did it a few times, and everybody was just bashing him.
05:28He's a terrible quarterback.
05:29Why would he do that?
05:30Da-da-da-da-da.
05:30I've seen some other quarterbacks do it.
05:32But when Josh Allen does it, it was like, oh, my, wow,
05:34look, he pitched the ball backwards.
05:36And so it was definitely very bizarre.
05:39I was more shocked that we didn't intercept the ball
05:41because he kind of just threw it up there.
05:42Milton was running.
05:44Spillane was running to get the ball.
05:45But, no, it was pretty crazy because, honestly,
05:47I didn't even really know what he did until I seen the film after the game
05:53because I knew he got rid of the ball,
05:54but I honestly didn't know he literally just threw the ball backwards.
05:57It was just, I don't even know what he was hoping for.
05:59It was actually pretty weird.
06:00It was bizarre, for sure.
06:02That looked like a potential grounding.
06:04It was Beanie Breckler's honesty.
06:06Oh, yeah.
06:07It should be.
06:08I think it should be.
06:09It should be, which is a safety because he was in the end zone when he did that.
06:13But, Kevin, I got to ask you about, you mentioned it,
06:16kind of already touched on it, just the multiple looks, the blitz schemes,
06:21the disguising, you know, the collective IQ on your defense
06:25has got to be really, really high to do all the things that you do
06:30from a creative standpoint, the showing blitz and pulling out.
06:33You've got to have a lot of trust in your D coordinator,
06:36and he's got to have a lot of trust in you, correct?
06:40Yeah, no, honestly, that's a great point that you brought that up
06:43because, number one, I would say that you definitely have to be
06:46a pretty smart defensive back.
06:47I wouldn't even just say safety, but you have to be a smart defensive back
06:51to play in this scheme.
06:52This defense is very multiple.
06:54We do a lot of stuff.
06:55It can honestly cause a lot of headaches and stress throughout the week
06:58of game planning because, you know, most teams, they kind of favor
07:02or just play one coverage, and that's kind of what they hang their hat on.
07:06We do so much that, like, and obviously, you know,
07:09when you're game planning against a team, you're preparing for all the stuff
07:11that they do as well, and we have all these new plays in,
07:15new coverages, new things in.
07:16We have to prep for everything, and so as you're going throughout the week,
07:20it's like it's kind of stressful.
07:21You're, like, going back and forth, like, hey, should we run this?
07:24Do we throw this out?
07:24Do we do this?
07:26But as you kind of go throughout the week and you continue to prepare,
07:29the picture kind of comes to life, and obviously,
07:31Zach trusts us being, you know, fairly high-Q DBs.
07:35You know, you got myself, Craig, and honestly, you can look at Marcus Jones
07:38being a safety because we kind of use him back there.
07:41It's almost like we got three safeties back there.
07:42The way we communicate, we can kind of do different things.
07:46Trusting us to be able to execute the plan, but for us to be able to prepare,
07:50study, and communicate with each other and make sure we're always on the same page.
07:53We're not having, you know, busted coverages on the back end.
07:56So, no, that was a great point that you brought up because, you know,
08:00throughout the week it can get a little stressful a little bit if we're prepping,
08:03but, you know, we trust him and he trusts us for sure.
08:06Kevin, I'm sure by now you've seen the quotes from C.J. Gardner-Johnson,
08:09the Bills safety after the game, saying the better team lost today
08:13and the elevated guy made a catch, won't hear from him again.
08:15Any response to him?
08:18Yeah, I mean, so, you know, I played with C.J. Gardner-Johnson in Chicago last year,
08:21so his comments in the game is very on-brand for, you know,
08:25who he is and what he's all about.
08:27I think, you know, they kind of brought C.J. to Buffalo to kind of be,
08:32I would say, like the bad guy in a way.
08:35That's kind of who he's been in his entire career.
08:38So, yeah, I think it was just very on-brand for him.
08:41Now, I don't agree with what he said.
08:43Obviously, C.J. is a big part of what we do.
08:46He may not have been projected to be this starter, you know,
08:50one of the top three guys as far as starting on this team,
08:52but, you know, C.J. is making plays all through training camp.
08:55He's never been a practice squad guy.
08:57I think he made the roster last year.
08:58He made the roster this year.
09:00And so when guys went down, he's always able to come in
09:03and make plays for this team, and it kind of just showed yesterday,
09:06you know, all the work that I've been seeing, you know,
09:09from behind closed doors in practice, him and Matt on Tuesdays or Mondays
09:13or getting these crazy workouts in.
09:15Like, this guy is like a true on-brand guy for – he's like –
09:19I would just call him a Vrabel guy.
09:21Like, Vrabel loves him and was just kind of happy to see him make that play yesterday.
09:26But, yeah, I mean, obviously, when you talk about the better team,
09:30like, records, whatever it may be, doesn't mean anything, any given Sunday.
09:34At the end of the day, if you would say –
09:37if you did say the best team lost yesterday, then that's just –
09:41like I said, it didn't really make sense to me.
09:43You know what I mean?
09:43At the end of the day, if he's an elevated guy, he made a play,
09:46make sure you shouldn't let an elevated guy make a play.
09:48Right, right.
09:49That's the – it's the worst insult ever.
09:52Like, you're saying that a practice squad guy embarrassed you by saying that.
09:57Basically.
09:58So, yeah, it's, you know, it's one of those things where, you know,
10:01I feel like he probably thought it sounded good in his head when he said it.
10:05But it's like, when you really break it down, it's like, well, if that's the case,
10:09if everything you said is true, then what happened?
10:12You know what I mean?
10:13Like, I just think sometimes that when, you know, when you lose a game, you know,
10:17you just got to give the other team credit and just move on.
10:20Because at the end of the day, those type of comments, it sounds good in your head
10:23when you say it, but then when you kind of marinate on it, it's like,
10:26I probably shouldn't have said those things.
10:27Right.
10:28As a leader – as one of the leaders of the clubhouse,
10:30if you had, like, a young player said that after a game, after you guys lost,
10:34like, what would you say to him afterwards?
10:36Oh, dude.
10:37I would just honestly tell him, like, bro, like, don't put no more fuel to the fire.
10:42Because at the end of the day, we lost.
10:44Like, because when I think about, like, the past few games, like, for example,
10:48the Seattle Seahawks game, we didn't finish.
10:50You know what I mean?
10:51Like, we was up in that game, and we ended up losing.
10:54Regardless of how we lost, we lost.
10:56So there's no point in saying, like, oh, the better team didn't win or this,
11:00and that.
11:00No, you get them credit.
11:01We didn't do good enough, and so we got to, you know, get back to work.
11:05Because at the end of the day, you know, you don't want to – you know,
11:09some of that stuff makes – you know what I mean?
11:11Like, because now you're putting a bigger target on yourself.
11:13You're putting a bigger target on your teammates.
11:15And now some people are going to be going to the locker room answering questions
11:19based on comments that you made.
11:21You know what I mean?
11:21So it's like you don't want to be that guy that's going to do that.
11:24But like I said, it was very on-brand for CJ.
11:26Now, he's my guy, too.
11:27I'm not going to sit here and say, like, I hate the guy that's like him.
11:30He's my teammate in Chicago.
11:31We made some plays together.
11:33We actually swapped jerseys yesterday.
11:34So it's not like I have anything against CJ.
11:37But I'm just saying, like, that's very on-brand for who he is.
11:40He's going to speak his mind.
11:41The first thing that comes to his mind, he's going to say it.
11:43Regardless if it sounds good or not,
11:45I'm pretty sure it sounds good to him in his head for sure.
11:49Dude, somebody needs to tell him you're a genius until you open your mouth.
11:52My goodness.
11:52But, hey, Kevin, last question for me is,
11:56Vrabel, after the game and the post-game speech he was giving,
11:58he was talking about – now, I've been off the streets for a while,
12:01but he keeps yelling, they came to cut off our hands,
12:04they came to cut off our hands.
12:05Like, what the hell is he talking about, come to cut off our hands?
12:08What am I missing there?
12:10Well, I think it's just more just the point of, like,
12:14basically how I think everybody was just shocked that we won yesterday
12:17as if, like, we were, like, one of the worst teams in the league.
12:21You know what's funny?
12:21I actually seen early in the week, last week, I don't know –
12:26more often than not, I don't really pay attention to, like, power rankings.
12:29But the NFL, like, literally the NFL's social media page
12:33had us ranked 31st in power rankings.
12:36And I don't know – I'm pretty sure we started close, if not top 10,
12:40first week of the season.
12:42And the only team we were above was the Miami Dolphins.
12:45And no disrespect to them, but, I mean, come on now.
12:47Like, we're not that bad of a team.
12:49And for me, it kind of pissed me off because I just feel like people were just
12:54writing us off after a really bad loss in Jacksonville.
12:58You know what I mean?
12:58And I think that's kind of what he was saying.
13:00It was like, you know, we're not dead.
13:02Like, we're back in the race.
13:04You know, they want to cut off our hands.
13:05And I think he – you know, Braves does a really good job of really getting
13:08the guys motivated, getting the guys going.
13:10Just understand, like, that's what the noise is out there.
13:13People don't think that you're a good football team.
13:15People think that we're going to come up here in Buffalo
13:17and get our behinds whooped.
13:19And we went up there and fought our behinds off, and we got a W.
13:22And that's just kind of who we are.
13:23That's who we've always been.
13:25And so it was just kind of – it was kind of cool to be able to let all that
13:29out.
13:29I mean, at the end of the game, kind of almost give a middle finger
13:33to everybody who's been doubting us.
13:34You know what I mean?
13:35Well, damn, Kevin, I could just keep you on the air with us
13:37for the entire rest of the show, but unfortunately it's a limited-time interview.
13:40Hey, listen, congrats again.
13:42Great game yesterday.
13:43It's awesome to be able to see – because this is obviously the team
13:48that I think all of us had expected, and I know it took a couple games
13:51to get there, but, man, what a win for you guys.
13:54Congrats again.
13:55I appreciate it, man.
13:56It was awesome, like I said.
13:57And, yeah, we got to keep this thing rolling.
14:00Got another tough matchup against the Raiders this week,
14:02who's – you know, they're 3-1 as well.
14:03So it's probably going to be another game we'll probably be doubting,
14:06but, you know, we'll come back home and hopefully give our fans
14:09something to root for and just get the fans something to be excited for.
14:11You got it.
14:12Thanks, Kevin.
14:12Appreciate you coming on with us, man.
14:13Thanks again.
14:14All right, absolutely.
14:15You guys have a good one.