00:00Who's the best opponent for the first playoff game?
00:03For story, who's the best storyline for the first playoff game?
00:07Is it looking too far ahead to say the Bills will make the playoffs?
00:10I don't think so.
00:11They are.
00:12And is it looking too far ahead that they'll win the division?
00:14I certainly don't think so.
00:16Let's put it this way.
00:16If you put like $100 on the Bills to make the playoffs right now,
00:19you'd win like $2 if that.
00:21It might not even be that high.
00:22It might even be $1.
00:23Yeah.
00:24The best story is probably got to be either New England or Kansas City, right?
00:35That doesn't have to be the first round, by the way.
00:38How's Denver?
00:39Denver beat them last year.
00:41They beat Denver the year before.
00:43A third straight playoff game against the Broncos.
00:46This time, you're better.
00:48You get them here.
00:49A little bit of revenge along the way.
00:51I think there are probably good stories with five of the teams.
00:58Maybe everybody but Pittsburgh.
01:00I don't think Pittsburgh has a good story.
01:01What's the story there?
01:03They've played them in the playoffs with Mason Rudolph, right?
01:06They beat them.
01:07And they won that game.
01:08Yep.
01:08And I don't really like them, but it's not maybe anything to do with the Bills.
01:13It's just like I think they're kind of a joke,
01:15and they get treated like they're some holier-than-thou franchise still in the league.
01:20I think they're like the Jets with a cool logo and three more wins a season.
01:25I think that the teams with the good stories.
01:29I think Jacksonville maybe is further down the road.
01:31That's like, all right, I'm being tied to this team a lot because they're great,
01:37and they made big moves and big swings, and there's that.
01:40There's the Bengals with revenge of a playoff loss here, right?
01:46They've been to a Super Bowl.
01:48There's storyline there.
01:49But I think Kansas City, New England stand above the rest.
01:53Kansas City's obvious, and New England's still division.
01:56Nobody likes them.
01:57They went to a Super Bowl last year.
01:59Bitterness about that.
02:00Those would be my top two.
02:02Denver.
02:02Denver, it's weird that I don't feel more about Denver given that the Bills lost to them
02:07in a playoff game a year ago, and they played in a playoff game the year prior.
02:12And they played a primetime game here where the Bills lost the year before that, right?
02:17And the coach got fired because of it.
02:19So there's definitely history.
02:21I don't feel anything about Denver personally.
02:25Not a rival.
02:26Not a team I loathe.
02:27There's none of that for me.
02:29Sean Payton can bring that out a little bit.
02:32That helps.
02:33It does.
02:33It helps.
02:34Because there's a how good do I feel?
02:37That a little extra.
02:38What's that cherry on top when I beat that team in a playoff?
02:41I beat New England in a playoff game.
02:43Ending their season feels good.
02:46Don't know what that feels like for Kansas City.
02:48I'd imagine it would be spectacular.
02:50Yeah.
02:51Ending Kansas.
02:52Ending Denver season would just be right.
02:54Sean Payton.
02:55Ha ha.
02:55Go home.
02:56Well, ending Kansas City season that, you know, it's funny.
02:58There are two different dragons to slay on some level.
03:03Last year, they could have just made the Super Bowl and the Chiefs were not in the playoffs.
03:07It was part of the big story, right?
03:08No Lamar.
03:09No Burrow.
03:10No Mahomes.
03:11Like, well, yeah, their teams weren't that good this year.
03:13And if they are to meet the Chiefs in the playoffs, it kind of doesn't matter how good each team
03:19is.
03:19If they win that game, that is one monkey off the back.
03:24That is one dragon slay.
03:25That's no more Allen can't beat that guy in the playoffs.
03:29Doesn't matter what his team looks like.
03:31Doesn't matter what the other guy's team looks like.
03:32So to do that would be pretty great.
03:34And the other one, of course, is like, you know, winning an AFC and getting to the Super Bowl, which
03:39they look so good for the one seed.
03:41I was looking at the athletics playoff odds and they break it down from a standpoint of how many wins
03:48will the Bills likely have to be the one seed?
03:51And it's basically if they lose one more game, it will be theirs, statistically.
03:58And if they lose two more games, it will still probably be theirs.
04:02So just mathematically on getting there, 15-2, lock it in.
04:0914-3, it's probably you.
04:11But I don't know how much that factors in the Jaguars running the table, which they could.
04:17I don't know if the Bengals could run the table.
04:19I don't think they will.
04:20They're too inconsistent.
04:22But everything should be about one seed now.
04:24We're going to watch this game on Sunday.
04:26And I kind of want to almost promise myself that I will not even care if they win 38-37
04:33and the defense looks like a mess or 3-2.
04:38Because it's going to be about peaking in December, January.
04:41It's always been about that.
04:43But you do have to, I don't know, play well enough to beat good teams.
04:46We've seen them do that.
04:47They've beaten good teams.
04:49Can they prove something by beating the Packers in Green Bay and the Bears in Chicago?
04:54Sure.
04:55But they can also afford to maybe lose one and still get that one spot.
04:59But of all the things that Joe Brady could accomplish, if he were to get that done, he would immediately
05:05have, almost like McDermott had the, I broke the drought.
05:10I did the thing that the other guys couldn't do.
05:12I did that thing.
05:13And if Brady got them to the one seed, he'd have it right away in year one.
05:16I did the thing.
05:17I did the thing the last guy couldn't do.
05:19And that'd be big.
05:20And if you do expand that out to, if they beat the Chiefs in a playoff game here, that's that
05:29even more so, right?
05:30Like, they could both happen, right?
05:33You could, man, if they get the one seed and then, like, beat Kansas City in a playoff game in
05:38the divisional round, everybody is going to think that this is the year they win the Super Bowl, right?
05:43Because, oh, we've already done two of the things we couldn't do.
05:46Now we've got to win two more games to do the other thing that we've never done.
05:50Everyone's going to think that that's going to happen.
05:52No matter, I mean, there'll be challenges in front of you.
05:53You're going to have, like, Jacksonville and Chicago, maybe, or San Francisco, whoever.
05:57But everyone's going to think that's going to happen.
06:02I'm pretty much with you.
06:03Like, Jets, Dolphins, Jets, Dolphins.
06:07Like, those two games at the beginning of this remaining stretch and then at the end of this remaining stretch.
06:13Just win those games.
06:14If you win by seven against Kyle McCord in a week, fine.
06:21Like, I'd love to see you blow them out.
06:24You're going to be favored by, like, 20 points.
06:26But at this point, just getting the one seed, however you do it and not tripping up, is definitely the
06:36biggest storyline for the rest of the regular season.
06:39And if they can just not trip up against teams that they probably should beat, then I feel as good
06:48about their chances midway through a season as I – how often have they played with the lead for the
06:53one seed?
06:54Hasn't it always felt like – I don't have this, like, to memory – but hasn't it felt like they've
06:58always been, like, we're a game back or we're two games back and we've got to beat the Chiefs to
07:02get one game back?
07:03I can answer that because they've never been 7-1.
07:05So they've always, at this point, at least been – at best, been 6-2.
07:09Right.
07:09And whether there's a loss to New England, who last year didn't get the one, but they were ahead of
07:14them.
07:15Right.
07:15Or there's a year the Chiefs start 11-0, maybe.
07:19Or there's a year where – I'm trying to think of all the teams that got the one seeds.
07:22Sometimes –
07:22Tennessee had a year where they got the one seed.
07:24Yeah, what are the bills that year?
07:25They might have lost to Tennessee that year, early in the year.
07:29That's the game that was on a Tuesday.
07:31Yeah.
07:31So they are always chasing it.
07:33Yeah.
07:33They – I'm trying to think – this is – did somebody post this maybe?
07:37And I forgot that I read it.
07:38You know how this works.
07:39You scroll all the days.
07:41That this might be the latest in the season the Bills have been in position to be the one.
07:45This, right now.
07:47Week 9.
07:48Right?
07:48Week 10, because they're the bye.
07:50Week 10, they're in position to do it.
07:52So, yeah.
07:54Yeah.
07:54I feel really good about it.
07:56They look like a team that can win multiple ways.
08:00You know, as the season goes, my excitement starts to build about what they can do as we get into
08:05December.
08:06You start to think about playoff matchups.
08:08I almost – I don't know.
08:10I almost don't allow myself to get excited until the divisional round because losing in the first round would, of
08:15course, be a colossal failure for this team most years.
08:18And that was true last year, right?
08:20If they had lost to Jacksonville in the wild card round, we would have thought, that's a terrible year.
08:24You didn't win the division, you went out in the first round, that's a big slide back.
08:28So, yeah, we'll see.
08:30We'll see.
08:30But how are you feeling about it?
08:32803-0550, I feel good.
08:33I feel really confident about it.
08:35I think everybody's geeked to see Amani Hooker on the team and what he looks like out there.
08:40He's at practice.
08:41You know, we're watching videos, the media's posting of he's talking with Amar Hamlin who's helping him get adjusted to
08:48the defense.
08:48And, you know, Hooker basically said, cover three, cover two, cover four, I need the terminology, I'm good to go.
08:53So, you like that?
08:56Eager to see if he can make a play out there for them.
08:59Bills and Jets.
09:00And the Jets, I saw a thing about Geno that he's – it's basically, even though he's a serviceable quarterback,
09:08Geno Smith,
09:09he is, of course, a thing that is holding them back.
09:12They have an offense that gives their quarterback time, they have weapons that separate,
09:16and their limitations with him are part of the problem.
09:20He is taking sacks while getting a lot of time.
09:23And that just means you're not seeing it.
09:25Maybe not trusting it, maybe not seeing it.
09:28They have had some good games, they've had some good moments, but it's a team that's just missing a little
09:35bit.
09:35Like, that's a team that's going to fire its coach, and if they get the right hire and maybe the
09:38right quarterback,
09:39they could be good early.
09:40Yeah, he has taken the most sack yardage in the NFL this season, 236.
09:46Because when you look at just the – when you pull up, like, the box score numbers, they don't look
09:52bad.
09:5367% completion percentage, he's averaging 231 yards a game, 12 touchdowns, three picks.
10:00Like, that's not bad.
10:01But he does have a lot of help.
10:05I don't know how good their line is, really, but they have weapons everywhere.
10:11Everywhere.
10:11Right?
10:12Like, they have –
10:12Tight end, multiple running backs that are good.
10:14How many offensive players would be consistent starters on this team?
10:19If they were – like, the Jets?
10:21Yeah.
10:21I mean, Garrett Wilson would be 80, Mitchell would be, or Omar Cooper would be one of the two.
10:27Would Sadiq?
10:28Sadiq would play.
10:29He's a rookie, so maybe Kincaid would be over him.
10:31And then, like –
10:31Braylon Allen represents the kind of thing I kind of want for the Bills.
10:34Yeah.
10:35But every time I talk about another running back that they trust, people say,
10:38why would you ever want James Cook off the field?
10:40Which, I know.
10:41But Braylon Allen is nice.
10:43He's had a nice season, kind of stepping in for Brees Hall.
10:47So, yeah, they've got good pieces, the Jets.
10:49They are also – I heard Dan Leberfeld, I'm going to show up in the Bulldog yesterday.
10:53They might be the worst run defense in the NFL.
10:55So, they've got issues on both sides of the ball.
10:57Good.
10:57I mean –
10:58That sounds good.
10:58But there's reasons why they're 2-7.
11:00Yeah.
11:01The biggest reason is probably coaching, though.
11:03It's a big part of it.
11:04But they've got some good players.
11:05I'm eager to watch a full Jets game start to finish and wonder if, you know,
11:08on Football Monday we have a thing to come in to say, like,
11:10what was Aaron Glenn doing?
11:12So, it's Football Friday and it's Pizza Friday here on WGR.
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11:28Lots of Football Friday stuff on the way.
11:29Your phone calls.
11:31Later on, we'll remember some Jets, which should be a really fun one.
11:34I've got a name that I woke up thinking about.
11:36Larry, hang on.
11:38You want to get to the call on the other side?
11:39We can talk about the Sabres as well and, you know, where we go from here.
11:42But Bills-Jets Sunday.
11:44Excited about it.
11:45Back to work for the Bills with their new-look defense.
11:47We're going to talk about it with you and Sal coming up at 7 here on WGR.
