- 7 hours ago
Joe DiBiase is joined by Buffalo Bills center Connor McGovern for his bi-weekly appearance on the show to break down the Bills 33-30 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. The guys start off by discussing Josh Allen’s insane flip pass to Keon Coleman for a touchdown. Then they discuss the offense as a whole, how the team feels about their performance so far, and more!
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SportsTranscript
00:01the bills win 33 to 30 over the Raiders victory Monday here on WGR
00:10fans on their way back from Vegas by week ahead five and one go to the Western hotline now Connor
00:17McGovern Bill Center joins now it's just Joe today Connor Jeremy also one of those many bills
00:22fans that are heading back this morning I'm sure you got you guys are probably back at this point
00:26right yeah well long night travel I think we got back in right before 3 a.m. so we're good
00:31to go
00:33how much of a takeover did it feel like how many bills fans it really felt like there were in
00:37the
00:37sands we were talking when we came out for warm-ups there was blue everywhere and by the time the
00:44game
00:45started it was easily over 50 percent bills fans like I would probably put it right around
00:51right above like a 60 40 split like yeah it was generally impressive how much blue there was
00:56in that stadium when they showed the crowd shots it like it's it's hard to guess right but I thought
01:02the same thing like it feels like it's more than 50 50 um bills fans do you notice that also
01:07noise
01:07wise like I feel like whenever that comes up it's about how the other team offensively will go to like
01:13silent count or whatever but do you guys notice a difference a lot when it's there's only what half
01:19the building if that is the way the uh well I guess the home crowd yeah it makes a big
01:24difference
01:24especially like communication wise like we were still on the silent yesterday but we're able to
01:29talk the line like there's times where I'm yelling across the tight ends like to both tackles and like
01:36usually on a normal wagon like you're not able to do that and that's just uh another reason why our
01:41fans are so great because they travel in numbers like it was like a normal wagon like we should not
01:47be
01:47able to talk like that but it was we were yesterday right you get that Miami a lot first time
01:52bills
01:52fans were able to get to Vegas it was the last time they were there it was the COVID season
01:56so
01:56no fans of that game what Connor what's the win yesterday and it's another day where Alan does
02:03something spectacular I wonder what your view of his flick touchdown pass was if you even had one and
02:11I mean there's no surprise at this point that he's out there doing stuff like that no that was just
02:16pure craziness uh I was right behind him when he did it like it was the only best way I
02:21could say
02:21it was like NFL street football like he was playing a video game because um I remember play snap I'm
02:28helping Osiris with those tech and then I run out to help Alex with the three tech so I push
02:34him by
02:35which allows Josh to come up in the pocket and I'm like all right he's just gonna take off a
02:38run
02:39and then all of a sudden he jukes one guy and I'm like he's still holding I'm like what is
02:43happening
02:43and then he just flings it sideways I was like what the fuck does he see and then Keon just
02:48stand
02:49there wide open and it's just like I don't know how he sees some of the things he does and
02:53it just blew me away and I was like all right we gotta get right back in and keep playing
02:57yeah are you hesitant to sometimes like when he kind of he didn't really take off right because
03:03he didn't go past the line of scrimmage but no when he's juking a guy like you also don't I
03:07feel
03:08like want to get in his way if you don't really know where he's going to go to next yeah
03:12that's the
03:13hard thing like like you you just don't know because like you all like I don't want to go downfield
03:18so like I'm kind of staying like a couple yards behind like I could see it happening everything
03:23and then once he throws it like obviously you can't touch him anymore but like it's harder because
03:29you also don't want to go downfield because he's not running yet it's like a weird spot to be in
03:35but
03:35luckily he's a freak and he can make those plays yeah so that touchdown is incredible it's going to
03:40be on sports center top 10 and everything highlight reels throughout the day and Alan had a great day
03:44statistically but Connor I feel like one of the stories of yesterday was you guys were running the
03:49ball and James Cook doing it on 22 carries with the fumbles being a storyline at least for us going
03:56into the week um how did you feel like you guys did running the ball and how big it was
04:00for James
04:01kind of get through the game having the day he did and ball security not being a story out of
04:05it
04:06no it was hugely I think we did a great job especially communication right they were throwing
04:11fronts at us that we haven't seen all year and fronts they haven't shown on tape like they were
04:16giving us this nickel bud front yesterday where we're kind of now just spotting things and kind of
04:22adjusting on the fly and then our coaching staff did a great job at halftime we're coming up a new
04:26game plan how to attack them and then all credit to James Cook like obviously he had the fumbles last
04:32week and made that a forefront this week and had extra ball security he was still like he wasn't
04:37running timid or anything he was still being James Cook which is great and just hold on the ball and
04:43just seeing his holes and just attacking so it's awesome like because a lot of times like when you
04:48have those fumbles like you might take a step back but he just keeps going forward and I love that
04:51for
04:52him when defense does throw something different at you like that will you guys notice that immediately
04:57and adjust to it immediately or will it kind of take a few drives uh literally it happened the second
05:02play of the game so we run our first play and second play and they come out in this looks
05:08like a six
05:08man up and we're like are they already going to goal line like they are committed to stopping this run
05:13like they're putting eight guys in the box and I still remember the second play so me and Josh
05:18were talking at the line like trying to decipher what to do like should we motion try to get guys
05:22out of the box and we called a timeout and that's when we came up with our first solution it
05:27got us
05:27through the first half and then at halftime we really dove deep into it and broke down and that's
05:33all thanks to the coach staff like in and out of the series like switching up calls like how we
05:38should
05:38see things and then I think the second half we had a great adjustment for it okay that that's good
05:43insight too because I know just from like watching at home and being online at the same time that there
05:48was a lot of reaction to two timeouts on the first drive of the game which I'm sure nobody wants
05:54to do
05:54but that those timeouts did help I guess because of what the Raiders were doing yes yeah it was like
06:01I remember it was the second play the game it was unscattered look we're looking at we're trying to
06:05decipher it yeah and next thing you know like we have motions and we have kills everything on tags
06:10and all of a sudden clocking down like four or five seconds and we can't do anything that so we
06:16just
06:16call a quick timeout to discuss what was going on Connor McGovern with us on the Western hotline the
06:21Bills beat the Raiders yesterday and zooming out Connor it's five and one now going into the bye week
06:27and overall like how you guys feel like it's going and this is Joe Brady's first year as a head
06:34coach
06:34obviously how you feel like it's going for him and if even your unit too like how you guys have
06:40played
06:40overall there's the change at guard with Alec Anderson and if you kind of feel like everything's going to
06:45plan so far yeah I think if you would ask anyone two months ago when we first started training camp
06:52if
06:52we were 5-1 going to the bye I think everyone would sign up for that the part I'm most
06:58happy about is I
06:59feel like this team's finally starting to gel together like weeks like we're like people were
07:04playing good but we weren't playing good together and I feel like that's starting to happen more often
07:07now and then it got amongst the O-line I feel like the four out of five of us have
07:13played a lot of
07:13football together now you have Alec stepping in I think he's starting to finally come into his own
07:17and he's becoming a pillar out there communication uh how he sees the game and he helping me out a
07:24ton
07:24out there so I think we're all finally coming together and which is helping this team too
07:29bye week plans what do you do go away stay at home what do you got I'll be going down
07:35to Florida
07:35with my family that's where our house is at so go get some sunshine do most guys go away unless
07:40maybe
07:41they're dealing with like an injury or something yeah for the most part just especially like this time of
07:46year uh it's right before probably when we come back we'll be getting ready for the first snowfall
07:50so guys want to go soak up some sun one last time before our final push well thanks for getting
07:55up
07:56with us I know again if you're in late 3 a.m uh I appreciate you getting up and uh
08:00go back to sleep
08:00or uh you got the day ready uh I got kids so I'll be up okay gotcha well thanks Connor
08:07for joining
08:07and uh we'll talk in a couple weeks sounds good thanks for having me Connor McGovern on the
08:11Western Hotline Bills win 33 to 30 over the Raiders and it's now to the bye week and I think
08:18he's right anyone would have signed up for five and one especially with this schedule although we did
08:24have a caller mention this earlier we'll get back to your calls in just a moment here that the Bills
08:28have only beaten one team with a winning record is that even right Detroit right Detroit has a winning
08:37record gotta check the standings here the Texans don't have a winning record the Rams lost to Arizona
08:43so they have a losing record the Patriots the Bills lost to but they have a winning record
08:52the Lions have a winning right yeah that's three and two they're in last in their division that's
08:56why I couldn't find them um last in their division at three and two the NFC North is so good
09:01they beat one team with a winning record but before the year this looked like a tough slog and
09:08I do think it's better than that because isn't Houston probably better than their record
09:15is the Rams I know the Rams lost yesterday and everybody's making fun of them because
09:19oh dream team look out they're two and four but they're definitely better than their record
09:26they get off to slow starts it's a that's a weird game against Arizona yesterday where
09:32they lose their kicker to uh he's on a kickoff he tries did you see how the Rams kicker got
09:39hurt
09:40did you guys notice how he got hurt Blake Groupie he comes in for Meevis so tough he tries to
09:47drop the returner he thinks he's a linebacker yeah I don't know what was going on there I mean
09:52you're respect but like come on what are we doing you just get there you just get the job and
09:57you're
09:57gonna go like I'm gonna try to knock a guy out he wanted to make a statement oh well he
10:03made it
10:03the statement was I'm gonna helicopter through the air and get knocked out of this game I saw a tweet
10:09that said that he was in the locker room on crutches saying goodbye to the team after the game oh
10:14is that real I I it's a tweet I I have to look into oh man so they have to
10:22have their punter kick
10:23but they didn't even have him kick until the extra point at the end and then you could say you're
10:28not
10:28a great team if you're even tied with Arizona at the very end well they weren't tied they were by
10:32one
10:32but they lost the game on a flabbergasting personal foul penalty that yeah is one of the worst I've ever
10:42seen and that's not I don't even think that's hyperbolic I don't think that's recency bias
10:46that is one of the worst personal foul penalties I have ever seen he barely touched the guy at all
10:56and he held up what do you ask defenders to do if you don't know the play Arizona's down one
11:01they
11:02throw a pass over the middle they're almost at midfield there are seconds to go and the guy
11:07catches it and it's a 15 yard penalty to put the Cardinals in field goal range to win it and
11:14Wallace the Rams corner he holds up he holds back like I'm I could drill this guy if I wanted
11:22to I could
11:23end his season he is in a vulnerable position I could just light him up yeah and he holds back
11:30and the
11:31guy's face mask like breezes past his shoulder makes the slightest contact flag it's tough like
11:39I did what I was supposed to do why are you giving me the penalty and it was a game
11:44-changing penalty
11:44it gave the Cardinals the game yeah so you know I'm I guess I'm making excuses for the Rams I
11:50think
11:50the Rams are that's a better win than oh the Bills beat a two and four team I think that
11:54was a good
11:55win and I won't say that about the Chargers the Chargers are bad yes that's definitely definitely
12:02yeah that's not great so like I do think five and one against this schedule it wasn't a soft schedule
12:07no we had I don't consider it a soft schedule that they just went five and one against no we
12:11were
12:12talking about it before the season started I remember the conversation could they be two and
12:14three yeah and we're at five and one and we're fine it's hard to do that now though knowing what
12:20we
12:20know about these teams sure like it that was preseason like yeah we talked about would you
12:26take three and two after five games and a lot like I think there were some of us that were
12:30like yeah
12:31probably but if you ask that question knowing what we know now about these teams you would not take
12:36that you would hope that they'd be where they're at now yep that they would have beat all those
12:41teams you would maybe even hope that they'd beat the Patriots because the Patriots look pretty
12:44terrible going into that game but they didn't but I think that that that I get your point
12:50Joe I just think it's it's hard to say that now yeah with hindsight knowing what we know about
12:55these teams speaking of around the league time for the out-of-town scoreboard driven by Mike Barney
12:59Nissan awesome cars great dealership lousy jingle and we'll get to your phone calls again in just
13:04a moment but speaking of New England we watched a lot of that game we were at Brightsmith Brewing
13:09yesterday thanks to them having us out for pregame we were watching that game on the TV near us
13:14the Jets and the Patriots and New England I mean they struggled a bit against the Jets like that's
13:21exactly what I think the Jets are going to be doing to the Bills and Patriots this year like
13:26they're hanging around they're hanging around just don't be dumb and you'll get through that game
13:30and win it New England though so they win but they probably don't feel great because AJ Brown returns
13:40from injury and it went about as bad as it could have he could not catch the football and did
13:48he
13:48also not muff the onside kick and they got lucky that someone else fell on it or else they would
13:53have given the Jets the ball back down a touchdown and Brown ends up three catches for 27 yards on
14:0010
14:00targets egregious that's a horrible day for him and I would imagine it will get better but that's a bad
14:08start to his New England season so they win close against the Jets at home all right four and two
14:16Bills stay in first place in the division elsewhere around the conference Cleveland comes back from 10
14:22down to beat the Ravens that's good for the one seed chase Tennessee beats the Colts the Colts are
14:27dead man walking at this point and then also one seed chase Chiefs beat the Chargers as everybody
14:35would have expected uh 22 to 6 so at the moment it's Kansas City number one at 5 and 0
14:41and it is
14:42the Bills number two at 5 and 1 back to the phones let's go to Anthony New York City hey
14:48Anthony what's
14:48up how you doing Joe good so why is Jamar Hamlin playing he can't he can't cover nobody well he's
14:57playing because the other safety spit on a guy there's that for that yes but we're good we need
15:03to go get another safety because Hamlin can't cover for two licks yeah I know there's a lot of
15:09complaints about Hamlin when he's in there or even being in a position to be in there be one injury
15:13away I think the thing that Hamlin gives them that is why he's out there and it maybe especially is
15:24true right now there was another play yesterday where in fact it was the touchdown the Bills are
15:29the touchdown to uh Trey Tucker on the sideline where the Bills are late to get organized on defense
15:36and we know communication has been an issue with them it's happened repeatedly this season and I
15:41don't know that affected the touchdown I mean Benford's there almost to make the play Alford if he's a
15:45little bit taller makes the play too but they're late getting out of that and when you have all this
15:51new stuff and communication issues and confusion Hamlin Hamlin is out there because he's always in
15:59the right spots and knows what to do what frustrates fans and frustrates me too is he's not a good
16:07enough
16:07athlete to make the plays when he's in the position but I think why he's out there is because he's
16:14often
16:14in the right spots and understands what's going on around him so sure I think best case scenario
16:23best case scenario who's the who's the safety next to next to Cole Bishop by the end of the year
16:31you probably want it to be someone that's not on the team right now yeah but I mean Buda Baker's
16:37name
16:37keeps coming up for me and I've always liked him a lot and he's a veteran guy you know we
16:43get all
16:43these Jordan Poyer calls like he he's a guy that can still play and do the veteran-y Jordan Poyer
16:48stuff
16:49to me yep like Buda Baker's a name that's stuck in my craw we were getting Baker before Gardner
16:55Johnson was added as well that's right a lot of a lot of people want Buda Baker eight-time pro
17:00bowler
17:00two-time first team all pro two times second team all pro he's 30 years old I can't tell you
17:08what
17:08kind of season he's having so far I can tell you he's got an interception and he started all six
17:11games and actually he's got three and a half sacks in six games he must be blitzing a lot
17:17um I'd imagine which already a career high would that be interesting for Jim Leonard to maybe
17:23play around with like have a new toy like that not that I think Cole Bishop could probably do that
17:29he's done that in the past I don't think that's impossible for him to to be effective at what is
17:36his contract Baker is currently in the third year he's in the second to last year of his contract
17:44okay base salary 14 million they'd have to I don't even know they'd have to do a lot of work
17:50because
17:50the bills have had more space going into this year than other years so they might have to do a
17:56little
17:56bit of work if they wanted to do that at the deadline but um I think they could do it
18:01if they if
18:01they wanted to what's that cost a second round pick probably a second round pick yeah right I
18:08don't think it's costing not a first not anymore maybe if it was four years ago and you're trading
18:13for him but I don't even know if it's the first is because he isn't a great player still I
18:17think
18:17it's because of the position yeah you spend a first for an edge rusher or a risk an elite like
18:23a top
18:23not even elite but a great receiver or even a really good corner sure or a left tackle probably
18:28right safety it's low on the list of value positions I would say so that would yeah that
18:34would make sense if it's not as as premium an asset even though he's a he's a good player what
18:39did Minka Fitzpatrick get traded for oh that's although hasn't he been traded multiple times yeah
18:43he got traded a bunch he got traded in 2019 when he was in his prime from the Dolphins to
18:50the Steelers
18:51right it was Fitzpatrick in a fourth for a first a fifth and a sixth so all right he caught
18:58there
18:58was a safety but see he was young then yeah right he was still yeah a prime player Budabaker is
19:06I think
19:07you're getting the tail end of him yeah you're you're doing the Von Miller thing with Budabaker
19:11almost in terms of career arcs like he's you're not getting the best out of him but he's still a
19:16good
19:16player that's going to give you improvement on the position right Fitzpatrick was 23 years old
19:21when he was right yeah that's what's Baker is Baker 27 30 yeah right he's not costing the first no
19:27I
19:27like the player a lot I think it's I think it's an idea that's going to come up a lot
19:30especially now
19:31that Gardner Johnson just looks totally unreliable both with his actions and even with his play yeah
19:38his play is not don't don't sleep on that part of it he's not on the cut radar today with
19:45fans
19:45because he spit on a guy it's because he spit on a guy and he was getting dog walked by
19:49the backup
19:50tight end of the Raiders let's go to Jake in Rochester hey Jake
19:56Jake you there yes go ahead yes okay thanks so guys uh thanks for having me uh uh
20:04sure thing impressive win impressive win um a few observations uh a couple um recommendations
20:11um some observations I have I don't know if you guys have mentioned them so far but one is
20:15I like how diverse our screen game is and the fact that we're getting the backs involved
20:19and we are throwing the receiver it's not so telegraphed now so I think that we've been much
20:23more effective with our screen game which I think the times that we have chosen I think it's
20:28kind of pulling screens have been really good so I just got to give some credit to that uh also
20:33want to give some credit to you know running back for a hold on the ball you could definitely tell
20:37that he was making a concerted effort of you know holding the ball when he broke away a few times
20:41and traffic was coming out so I like what I saw there um another observation from a defensive
20:47standpoint we just cannot play any type of zone I mean you know the difference between this defense
20:52and McDermott is that McDermott they exactly they were always where they needed to be like in the
20:56zone for the most part and that was where we were really strong and with this particular defense
21:01wherever you go to zone we look like we are cool it's like they're not even on the same page
21:04which I'm all about getting the safety out of there and getting a new safety in
21:09and then my um my fix I'm thinking my fix is why can't we look at Jim Schwartz as a
21:15guy to come in
21:16and be like a um assistant head coach role and then he can help Leonard and I think he could
21:22probably
21:23fix it from um experience and knowledge standpoint of how to get the guys in the best serials to be
21:31successful because I don't know what the play calling right now from a defensive side is like
21:35good you know in terms of when he's calling man and when he's calling zone so maybe Jim Schwartz
21:40could do that guy he's available when he's out there so that's just my pick I'll listen thanks
21:45Jake he actually commented a week ago didn't he was the last week that he said he was talking about
21:51whether or not coming out of retirement was in his future and he said I watched that Bill's Rams game
21:54and I think oh I might be able to help here it wasn't like saying he could kind of is
21:59saying like if
21:59they called me a little bit I might do it um how much impact would you would anybody expect though
22:07I'm not saying they shouldn't do it but expect him to come in and have like I think it's more
22:15about
22:15the players it's about the players this is two different defensive coaching staffs now that to
22:22different extents have struggled to get this defense to a top level and it's not all the same
22:28players because a lot of the old guys from last year that had to play are now not in the
22:34league
22:34anymore but you know like is Jim Schwartz going to come in and suddenly Terrell Bernard is just going
22:40to be London Fletcher or who's the right corner today to pick on for this I don't want to pick
22:48on
22:48Hairston I was gonna say make Hairston you know some great corner but Hairston I more and more think
22:57he had one bad game and it was horrible it was not just a bad game like it was it
23:02was so bad but
23:05like the numbers on the season yesterday Hairston gets targeted one time in the past game playing 17
23:10coverages on the year Hairston is being targeted way less than IGB 12% of Hairston's coverages he's
23:24getting targeted and he's allowed nine catches for 106 yards according to next gen stats while
23:30Igbenosen has been targeted on 21% of his coverages so almost double and he's allowed 18 catches for
23:38217 yards basically twice as much on fewer coverages by the way so I'm more and more I'm wondering is
23:48Hairston just the victim of you had one awful game and now we are treating that as your whole season
23:58or would the film show more than that because I'm these numbers I'm sure are not exact this is you
24:04know coverage stats are not going to be as sticky to a player as you know on offense but yesterday
24:12I
24:12thought he was fine he didn't get thrown at and he had that one play where he had to tackle
24:17a guy in
24:17space and he attacked him hard and made the tackle behind the line of scrimmage so you know maybe
24:22there is a way back for him I've been the same thing with many people like it's surprising to me
24:27that IGB has numbers that are this bad because when I watch him I'm like this guy's right there
24:33all the time like he even when there are passes completed on him it does feel like he's not he's
24:39not
24:39far off he's forcing these guys to make great catches and maybe that's playing into this too
24:43let's go back to the phones go to Michael in Arkansas hey Michael
24:49hey Joe long time listener uh upstate New York uh former resident Niagara University
24:56we're down in Arkansas now real quick staying with the Vegas theme what are the odds that being
25:03makes some definitive decisions for the defense you know by the 10th or 11th whatever the deadline is
25:10what what do you guys think do you think he's gonna do it and you know what are the odds
25:15that
25:15he does pull the trigger on some significant trades by the deadline my guess is thanks for the call
25:21Michael is that it's higher than 50 50 that he will make a trade on that side of the ball
25:27because
25:30historically the bills are an active team at the trade deadline they make they make a deadline
25:37acquisition almost every year um last year I guess they didn't really right but they brought in
25:48Brandon Cooks who was available on waivers so you know I'm not going to count that as a trade it's
25:56not
25:56a trade but that is a move around the deadline acquisition for a guy that they were expecting to
26:02play for them and did and was on the field in the biggest spots and you have the Amari Cooper
26:07trade
26:08the year before that you have the Rasul Douglas trade the year before that they traded for Naheem
26:12Hines one year they trade for Kelvin Benjamin if you go way back that's the first trade deadline
26:18that beans here for like they always are active and typically they're active in those positions
26:28where they struggle and last year that's wide receiver I think you could make an argument for
26:36receiver but it's an argument right now they look okay more if healthy is excellent and Coleman is a
26:44real player so I'm not as desperate what a year ago I mean there was no arguing that they needed
26:51a
26:51receiver you just it was obvious right now it's not so I don't expect it there I've wondered about
26:59backup running back Alvin Kamara specifically because of his connection with Pete Carmichael
27:05and his being on a bad team and he's at an age where he won't cost much but James Cook
27:12having a bounce
27:12back day you know probably decreases the odds of that I think somewhere on the defense is where you got
27:17to look that's where the desperation would be and in a month it could be safety if Gardner Johnson's not
27:25around or I think linebacker I don't think it'll end up being corner I think linebacker or safety if I
27:30had to guess a month out is where we're gonna end up there's also a conversation about whether they even
27:37you feel like there's a a strong desire to do that is are this is this defense one move away
27:47and is that even a good counter argument to not do it like well if I make one move I'm
27:53not gonna
27:54be a good defense anyway well is that reason to not do it probably should do it either way I
27:59think
27:59linebacker more your phone calls when we come back will wants to get on the coin toss maybe we'll do
28:04that because the bills are I don't know why we're doing the coin toss anymore if the bills just want
28:08the ball first every time and the other team wants to defer 8030550 is the phone number it's a
28:13buffalo football monday here on wgr portions brought to you by tim hortons the official coffee
28:18of the jeremy and joe morning show on wgr start your day strong with tim hortons and the bills
28:24that bills offense