Bills cruise to big win over Lions behind Josh Allen magic
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
30 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 18, 2026
Published
Fri, September 18, 2026
8
Player insights
8
Players mentioned
Topics
Amon-Ra St. BrownDalton KincaidJahmyr GibbsJames CookJared GoffJosh AllenKeon ColemanKhalil Shakir
Player analysis
Player insights
Amon-Ra St. Brown
NegativeUsage34:09
The Lions' offense experienced concerning stretches where Amon-Ra St. Brown was not involved in the game plan, highlighting a lack of offensive rhythm and reliance on individual playmaking rather than structural success.
Insight pageDalton Kincaid
PositiveUsage15:42
Dalton Kincaid is playing a central role in the Bills' offense, logging 47 of 69 snaps (68%) and being utilized in diverse alignments: 6 plays in the backfield, 17 in-line, 15 in the slot, and 9 out wide. He is currently the most important player in the Bills' passing game.
Insight pageJahmyr Gibbs
NegativeUsage33:50
The Lions' offensive line struggles are creating a concerning situation for Jahmyr Gibbs, who is taking heavy hits frequently; there is worry about his durability over the course of the season if the offense continues to rely on him to create yardage in a non-functional blocking scheme.
Insight pageJames Cook
PositiveUsage7:02
James Cook is benefiting significantly from the Bills' heavy use of multi-tight end sets, which create extra gaps for the run game. He had a standout drive featuring a 35-yard run and a 20-yard run, showcasing his ability to capitalize on the team's superior blocking schemes.
Insight pageJared Goff
NegativeRole35:23
Jared Goff is a limited quarterback who requires high-quality protection and surrounding talent to succeed; he cannot create outside of structure or handle consistent pressure, making him ineffective when the offensive line collapses.
Insight pageJosh Allen
PositiveProjection1:52
Josh Allen is playing at an incredibly high level, showing advanced eye manipulation against zone coverages and elite decision-making. He is currently as dialed in as he has ever been, leading a Bills offense that is operating with high efficiency and dynamic play-calling.
Insight pageKeon Coleman
PositiveBreakout19:55
Keon Coleman had one of his best games in a long time, showing the ability to win on short routes and bully defenders in one-on-one situations. While Josh Allen is taking a 'wait and see' approach, his performance against the Lions was highly encouraging.
Insight pageKhalil Shakir
NegativeUsage20:56
The Bills are diversifying their target distribution, which is a positive development for the offense's overall health. Josh Allen prefers that Khalil Shakir's gadget-style usage (motioning behind the QB) remains a small percentage of the offense rather than the primary funnel.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Welcome to The Athletic Football Show presented by the US Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card.
0:04I'm Robert Mays. Bills-Lions, a banger of a Thursday night game headed into week two and the Bills gave us a banger.
0:10My God is the Bills offense humming right now.
0:13Phenomenal performance from Josh Allen and more of the same from Dalton Kincaid.
0:16The run game really got going. And on the flip side, some worrying stuff from the Detroit Lions.
0:21The state of the defense is concerning. You can explain some of it away by injury, but not all of a sudden.
0:27All of it. Then the offensive line just got completely manhandled tonight in their current state.
0:32We dug into all of that with me, Derek and Dave.
0:35Let's get to it right now. I think I can speak for all of us and say that we're all aligned with
0:41Josh Allen asked after the game by Haley Hartown.
0:43What was it like to open a new stadium with that sort of performance?
0:47And he said, pretty cool. Pretty cool game from the Buffalo Bills and their offense and their quarterback tonight and get away with words that guy.
0:54He just said pretty cool. And then he kind of paused.
0:57He was like, that was kind of all he thought about.
1:00He's just like pretty cool, man. And then he had to like actually take a beat and be like, wait, I need to give her more than this.
1:08Lions defense. We'll talk about it. Obviously, it's a flawed group to say the least.
1:12But for the second week in a row, Dave, we have just an insane performance from the Buffalo Bills offense.
1:18Just to put a little bit of context on it before we start digging into some of the specifics.
1:23I was looking this up before we started. The Bills had a 57% rushing success rate and a 60% drop back success
1:29rate in this game per next gen. That happened seven times all of last season.
1:33Seven times, including one Bills game against the Jets in week 18.
1:36There were two week 18 games in there, so we can potentially even just throw those out.
1:41So other than week 18, it happened five times all of last year and the Bills did it tonight against the Lions.
1:47It just I know it's easy to be a prisoner of the moment in these island games when you see something like
1:53this and Josh Allen's one MVP and he's been in the conversation before, but.
1:57He's as dialed in right now as I've ever seen him.
2:00He's absolutely incredible, like the stuff he's doing, the way he's seeing things.
2:04And my other big takeaway from this game. I know it can be frustrating when you don't hit on the decisions you
2:10make with the skill players and we've had so much angst about the Bills receivers over the years and ironically DJ Moore left pretty early in this game.
2:17It is so obviously the right way to do this.
2:20Just making that offensive line as strong as you possibly can and even in a year where you lose David Edwards, you keep Connor McGovern.
2:27They've spent so much money on those guys up front.
2:30The tight ends have all been heavily invested in for them.
2:33I know Jackson Hawes was a day three pick, but Knox is making a lot of money.
2:37Dalton Kincaid is a first round pick and is finally playing up to that level of potential.
2:42And the front of this team on offense, not to take any credit away from Josh, but it was just devastating to
2:48watch what they were doing to the Lions all night long in terms of giving him time and just owning the line of scrimmage.
2:55I was so excited about what the offense looked like last week, not just in terms of the quality or the production, but what they wanted to be.
3:02This version of the offense with Joe Brady as the head coach, how is it going to be different than what we
3:08had seen previously when Sean McDermott was there? Even if Brady was the play caller, how were they going to approach this?
3:14Who did they want to be in terms of their identity on offense?
3:18And what they're leaning into right now with all of this multi-tight end stuff, how much they're pushing the ball down the field.
3:24I don't know. He finished with a fairly forgettable average depth of target.
3:28I think it was like eight yards. It was at nine last time I looked.
3:32It was at like eight by the end of the game.
3:35But through most of the first half, it was up over 10 again.
3:39Just how often they're pushing the ball down the field.
3:41And, you know, the 13 personnel stuff coming into the season, I think there were going to be a lot of teams
3:47who chased it and were disappointed with the results where it's not just some magic wand that you can wave and it instantly makes your offense better.
3:55This offense, it makes them better, Derek. Like what they can do out of that stuff, it works on so many different levels.
4:01I think it's the way that it unlocks Kincaid, but also, and we saw this over the course of last season, when
4:07they were in some of those 12 personnel, like YY looks.
4:10When you're creating more gaps for the defense to worry about with this offensive line and with this running game, you just
4:16become such a problem to deal with. And so when they're in these looks, when all the tight ends are on the
4:22same side, there was even a play today. It was in the drive where Cook had those two monster runs to start the drive.
4:29You had the 35 yarder and then in the 20 yarder.
4:32Oh, where they went 65 yards in three plays.
4:35In three plays. The first run on that play, it was 12 personnel.
4:38But DJ Moore was essentially where you would line up a tight end.
4:42And so now you're not just accounting for the A gap, the B gap, the C gap and the D gap.
4:47We're talking about E and F gaps in the run game against this Bills team.
4:52And they're already a problem to deal with, let alone when you're really, really stressing them in that way.
4:57And it's funny because that was originally why the Rams started doing this.
5:00It was to create more gaps to worry about in short yardage.
5:04And then it kind of exploded from there. And so to see the Bills enjoy those benefits of it in the ways
5:10that they have, plus all of the passing game benefits of it.
5:13We've never seen this version of the offense with Josh Allen.
5:16When the run game has been good, the passing game has not been as dynamic as it looks right now.
5:22And so there is just so much to get really, really excited about with this group.
5:26Well, and I think like the plays that you mentioned where it was DJ Moore or they were plays where it was Keon Coleman.
5:33There were even a couple of plays where they got into those five man surfaces, like the stuff that they had been doing with their three tight ends.
5:40But they were doing it out of 11. They were doing it out of 12.
5:44They were doing it at which when you watch them play last week against Houston, it was pretty exclusively from 13 personnel,
5:50which is what I thought the core of this thing was going to be.
5:54And so the fact that on a short week in week two, they're already adding wrinkles using all these other personnel.
6:00And unlocking, you know, 12 personnel in a way that I think is really interesting for them.
6:05I thought that that was sweet. And I think what's so kind of mesmerizing to me about the offense right now, one,
6:11like Dave mentioned, Josh is just dialed in. And anytime he's dialed in, the offense is going to look insane.
6:16I think what they're doing, kind of the beauty of it is it's not a complicated run game.
6:21I've said this before. They're getting three man surfaces to one side.
6:25They're running weak zone away from it, or they're running duo or sometimes just like zone opposite play where they wash everything down.
6:31And just let it hit to that side. But it's like two plays.
6:34But the problem is when they run it weak zone and they run away from all these three tight end sides, if
6:40one guy gets into the backfield, the running back can just cut back behind them.
6:45And he still has like two blockers in front of him.
6:48Whereas if you think about it, if you're running it with only maybe one tight end to that backside and someone gets
6:54in your face and then you cut it back.
6:56Well, now you're just in open space. But that's not the way that they're blocking it.
7:01It just makes for such a unique problem that I'm curious if any defense starts to figure it out over the course of the season.
7:07Because it seems like it's very, it's given teams trouble.
7:10I like that you framing it that way where the multi-tight end stuff is creating unique problems.
7:15And because that's exactly what's happening. And I think that they're tapping into it in such a cool way.
7:20The drive that ends with the knockdown, right? Where they, if you watch those plays, the formation was a little bit different, but the action is the same.
7:28Where you have knocks and kind of like a fullback type alignment.
7:31And then you have a tight end going in motion.
7:34On one play, they're doing that. And then knocks is kind of starting to the left and then coming back across.
7:40And there was a chunk play earlier on that drive where they use that in order to steal back bodies and pass protection.
7:46Which that's one of the quiet benefits of playing this way.
7:49If you're a heavy person, heavy tight end team, the amount of ways that you can steal back angles and bodies and protection.
7:55Just gives you an opportunity to really hunt those explosive plays.
7:58Well, they did that once on the drive. And then on the next time they use this action, they just snuck knocks out into the flat.
8:05And that's how we scored the touchdown. And so the layers that you can create within the offense with these similar sorts
8:12of actions and start building on them all. There's just so many different benefits that you can get from playing this way.
8:18And to see them so dialed in and finding those benefits this early in the season.
8:22It's a real just clear vision for what they want the offense to be very early in the season.
8:27And there is, you can argue, well, he's been there.
8:30Like, shouldn't they have this sort of momentum and have this sort of continuity?
8:34But it looks different enough that I think that they deserve a lot of credit for hitting the ground so fast and so smoothly.
8:40With a slightly different approach than what we have seen from them over the last couple years.
8:45I mean, we talked about it in August of what this could potentially look like in a bad way between changing things.
8:51I mean, there was turnover on the offensive line between coaching and personnel.
8:55Joe Brady stepping in and having more on his plate.
8:57I keep reliving the conversation we had about Dalton Kincaid and what this might look like if he's not better and more
9:04productive than he has been up to this point in his career.
9:07I did not envision this happening so seamlessly. Where I think you said it on a previous show where he is the
9:13Terrence Ferguson role in 13 personnel except just supernova.
9:15Where you're actually, you know, he's getting five, six targets a game and coming up with explosives every other time he's targeted.
9:21I mean, it's incredibly fun. I wasn't willing to bank on it going into the season as something you could count on.
9:27But my God, this is everything you dreamed of when he was drafted where he was three or whatever it was three, four years ago.
9:34Him being this sort of player just unlocks a completely different level for the offense and the ways that they're using him.
9:40You look at it. So he played 47 snaps in this game of 69 total.
9:45So we're talking about two thirds of the plays overall, which is a really, really good snap rate for Dalton Kincaid considering how limited he was last year.
9:52Not only with injury, but just in how often they were willing to use him in the ways that they were willing to use him.
9:59On those 47 snaps in this game, we have six plays in the backfield, 17 plays where he's in line, 15 plays
10:05where he's in the slot and nine plays where he's lined up out wide.
10:09He's the most important player in the passing game.
10:11Like, and that was always, I think, a good approach for this team to take.
10:16When you look at the rate stats from last year, he was so dynamic when they used him.
10:21It was just a matter of health and viability.
10:23And so for him to be so central to their plans, I think that is a necessary component of them reaching the
10:29level that they want to as a passing game.
10:32And they're already doing it. They really are. It's the combination of, like you mentioned, he's healthier.
10:36Like, he had a catch on. And they threw like a little quick RPO to the left-hand side.
10:41And it was like kind of high and out in front of him.
10:45And just the way that he went and snagged it, I was like, I don't know, man.
10:49He just looks a little bit snappier than he did last year.
10:53But I really like the point that you mentioned of just how well they're using him.
10:57Like, I thought one is the touchdown where they have trips to the right side.
11:01And he's like that inside receiver. And they run two little five-yard and in routes from the one and two receiver.
11:07Usually when you get that, you're getting number three.
11:10He's going to run a corner over the top of them.
11:13And so the safety, you can see him like scooching over.
11:16He's like, dude, he's going to run the corner.
11:18He's going to run the corner. He's going to run the corner.
11:21Kincaid bends it to a post. And it's a touchdown because Josh Allen throws it.
11:25And then there was another one. They get an empty.
11:28They push James Cook out to number one. And he runs this little like X shallow route.
11:33It holds the flat corner down. And Kincaid just runs like up the sideline.
11:37And he's free into that cover two honey hole.
11:39Like, they just so many ways of finding ways to access him that is really impressive.
11:44And so like you mentioned, they've always wanted him to be the best player.
11:47But now he's healthy so he can do it.
11:50And there's enough threat with DJ Moore when he was healthy had looked good for this team.
11:55Keon Coleman had one of the best games that he's had in a long time.
11:59He looked great. And then the other tight end.
12:01He looked great. He looked really good. On that play against Yassin is just like, man, if we're going to be doing
12:07this shit on top of everything else, my God.
12:10That was truly the best that he's looked since week one of last year.
12:14Which, you know, maybe he's just really good early in the season.
12:17I don't know. But I even looked it up during this game.
12:20He had like 100 yards in week one of last year and never hit 50 yards after that.
12:25So the fact that he did it in this game.
12:28And it just looked like it was just like the stuff that you wanted to do.
12:32Can you just go win like an eight yard curl for us?
12:36Can you just go like do some of this like bully ball one-on-one stuff when we need it?
12:41And he could. And so the fact that he can do that and, you know, hopefully DJ Moore is, you know, gets
12:47better and he doesn't have to be the number one receiver.
12:50It's hard not to be like exceptionally excited about where this thing is going.
12:53I mean this really respectfully. He's a fantastic football player.
12:56But it's so refreshing the number of targets downfield and targets in general that are going to people other than Khalil Shakir.
13:02And like they're doing cool Khalil Shakir shit with him.
13:05Like, you know, they motioned him behind the quarterback and like threw a little swing off the motion where he had blockers out in front of him.
13:12Yeah, but I want that to be 5% of the offense, not 25%.
13:16That's my point. Yeah. Let's do that three times a game instead of feeling like everything has to funnel through Khalil Shakir.
13:22That's how you don't have a good time. And now you have, I'm going to wait and see on Keon Coleman.
13:28Hopefully DJ Moore's injury is not super serious. And, you know, the fact that they were blowing the Lions out contributed to him not coming back.
13:35But between Kincaid, you get a good key on night.
13:38I'm hoping DJ Moore is still going to be a part of this moving forward.
13:42It's very refreshing and very exciting. There's one play I want to talk about that I think can transition us to the Detroit defense part of this conversation.
13:50When it was 14-0 early in the game, they had that 25-yard seam rip to Kincaid running up the left side.
13:55And that's another example. We talked about this on Sunday, Derek, where the work that Josh Allen is doing with his eyes
14:01against some of these zone looks is just more advanced and more refined than I can remember him doing.
14:07And on that specific play, he's keeping his eyes to the left and kind of holding Thomas Harper in the hook there
14:13as Kincaid is running up the seam. Hits him at a 25-yard gain.
14:16DJ Wanham is dropping on like a simulated pressure on that play.
14:20He doesn't get enough depth. And so that brings me to just what it was like to watch the Lions defense in
14:26this game where the safeties are all over the place, just completely all over the place.
14:30And there's more at play here than their injuries in the secondary.
14:33But when we were trying to build an optimistic case for the Lions defense coming into the season, it sounded like this
14:39where they were banged up last year in the secondary.
14:42And they were still an acceptable average defense for the most part for a good majority of the season.
14:47I don't think I really appreciated the fact that not having Brian Branch as part of this, because he played most of
14:53the year last year, would be the tipping point part of this.
14:57We're not having either of the starting safeties. That play to Kincaid is an example of it.
15:01But the best example is the Palmer touchdown. Like, what are we doing?
15:05Like, what? Tough. It's cover three. Like, why are you taking the cheese on that underneath route?
15:10It just makes absolutely no sense. On third and 11, like, play deepest of the deep, man.
15:14Like, you got to make sure you're not giving up the big plays there.
15:18So that part extremely frustrated me. But I think, too, like, safety is always such a position where you want one guy
15:24to be like, can he be a fixer for us?
15:27Like, we can use him in this way and it'll solve this problem.
15:31It's why Kyle Hamilton is as good as he is.
15:33Brian Branch, at his best, is kind of that for Detroit.
15:36And so the fact that he is not out there, it makes it really tough.
15:40And then obviously, Avante Maddox, who is already a backup technically and not really a safety because he's been playing nickel the
15:47last handful of years for a number of different teams.
15:49He gets hurt and goes down. And that's why Harper has to play.
15:53Like, it's just it's kind of one thing after another for a secondary that was already like the oldest and just not
15:59a lot of like starting quality guys going in.
16:01All right, before we move on, let's take a quick break.
16:04The secondary, I think we can excuse how this looks with how banged up they are, especially at safety.
16:10Not excuse, but understand. I get why we've landed in this place.
16:13Perfect sense. When you look at what happened in the front seven in this game, Derek, and them getting pushed around the
16:19way that you did, do you leave this a little bit worried about what the Lions defense is going to look like over the course of the year?
16:27Or is this a scenario where it's a short week?
16:29You're playing the Bills on their turf. I can excuse this a little bit.
16:33I do think the front will look better than it did this game.
16:37I do think that this was a combination of you obviously catch a team that I mean, the Bills at this rate
16:43are going to be the best offense in the NFL.
16:46And so I think they're just going to be able to do this to a lot of teams.
16:51Are you? You say that now. You say that.
16:53I refuse to accept that after watching the Jags, the Bears and the Ravens last week.
16:57It's going to be a robust conversation. I have them in the windspool, so I need to say this about the Bills.
17:04But so like maybe they can just do this.
17:06I do think, though, a team that can just smash mouth you in the run game is kind of a bad matchup
17:12specifically for like Aiden Hutchinson, because I think that you can just run at him.
17:16And this was just not a good thing. I also think it's too kind of like I mentioned earlier.
17:21I just don't know if defenses have like a good answer for this like five man surface thing that the Bills are doing.
17:28And so we'll see how defenses kind of adjust to it.
17:31And maybe the Lions are just at a point where like it's so early in the season.
17:35Nobody really knows what they're doing against it. So I think that they'll be better.
17:40I think more than the run defense, I'm a little bit worried that the pass rush outside of Aiden Hutchinson in this
17:46game really did not give them a whole lot.
17:48And, you know, credit to the Bills, like some of their pass protection plans and obviously being in all the downs and
17:54distances they are is a big part of that.
17:57But I think that you would hope that someone other than Hutchinson can really step up in that department at some point.
18:03It's kind of ironic. Hutchinson almost turned this game on its side really quickly, like the second or third snap of the game.
18:09He strip sacked Josh, just bull rushed Spencer Brown right back into the pocket.
18:13And you're like, all right, we're cooking with something.
18:15And then the rest of the way, I think last time I looked before garbage time got out of control without when
18:21they weren't blitzing, the Lions had a 13 and a half percent pressure rate.
18:25Just abysmal. Nothing doing. And the other thing I wanted to say about the run defense.
18:30So yards before contact, the best teams in the league, typically over a large enough sample size, you're talking about north of two yards before contact per carry.
18:37The Bills were north of five yards. Jesus. 5.15 yards before contact per rush.
18:41So I am worried about it. And that's that we were talking about it right before we came in here.
18:47The secondary really doesn't concern me that much because we talked about it all summer.
18:51And I do think there's a psychological thing where you can brace yourself for it to look like this all you want.
18:57And then when you're watching it on an island game where there's nothing else to look at, it just has an impact on you.
19:03Even like we've known Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch.
19:06We're going to be here for months, but watching that happen is still just really striking.
19:10I think over a long enough timeline, I think that'll be fine.
19:14But there's nothing meaningfully wrong with the front that should have it looking this poor.
19:18And that part is really concerning to me. People, there was a moment in the summer where I was thinking about the Lions.
19:24I think we could say this about most of the teams in the NFC North outside of Minnesota, where the offense has
19:30a ceiling that's in the top five and the top three.
19:33Are they going to have to win all of these shootouts because of the quality of the defense?
19:38And because they were able to hang on a little bit last year, even they were banged up.
19:43I was open to the idea that the Lions wouldn't have to score 35 points in all of these games in order to be a good team.
19:50After watching that tonight and after watching what it looked like in the second half against the Saints, I think your worst fears might be realized with that.
19:58That the defense might just be one of the bottom eight unit over the course of the year.
20:03And you're going to need the offense to be hyper elite for you to be the sort of team you want to be.
20:09And the problem is with how banged up the offense is, that's just not going to be possible right now.
20:15It's not going to be possible. I'm worried about the offensive line, obviously, with Detroit.
20:19I don't know if you guys felt this. There was a point in this game where I was like, man, if it's
20:25going to look this rough and I do think the offensive line and run game will be better.
20:30But if it's going to look this rough and Gibbs is going to get hit this hard this many times, I kind
20:36of worry about how that's going to hold up over the course of the year.
20:40Like, I think that this needs to be look a little bit because I I was watching I was watching the game
20:46with someone and they were like through the first quarter.
20:49It was like, has Amon Ross St. Brown seen the football?
20:52And like, obviously, he did as the game went on, but just it doesn't feel like the offense should have stretches like
20:58that, where it's if Jameer Gibbs does not get us five yards here, we are completely screwed.
21:03The Lions at their best look so dynamic because I mean, the skill players are amazing and Jameer Gibbs is incredibly fast.
21:09But like the offensive line makes them look dynamic.
21:11And it was really striking watching what the Bills offensive line was doing and then flipping over and seeing Larry Borum incur
21:17flag after flag and the line just collapsing and getting pushed around Jared Goff, not comfortable, moved off his spot.
21:23If Jared Goff's running for his life and I know you've made the correct point that he's been better with pressure over
21:29the last few years and he gets credit for it.
21:32He still can't do anything outside of like I was gonna say outside our structure.
21:36He can't move if he's running for his life on any sort of regular basis.
21:40Just it's over. I'm sorry. Pocket movement is really nice.
21:43But when he has to do anything where he's making guys miss consistently or having to deal with a lot of traffic
21:49plays, that's just never going to happen. Like it's he's a player that has very real limitations and you have to put
21:55him in a circumstance where he's well protected and that there are enough things.
21:59That's why Jared Goff isn't a hyper elite quarterback.
22:01I think Jared Goff is a very good player, but the things around him need to be a certain level of quality
22:07in order for you to see the best version of Jared Goff.
22:10It's a gap between him and the guys that we're watching like the one in Buffalo tonight.
22:15And right now that situation is about as bad as it can be.
22:19I mean, the offensive line and its current state is not functional.
22:22It's just not a functional group. And there's a lot of contributing factors to that.
22:26You have a backup center from week one, a backup center that had a bad staff tonight.
22:31Like it just that's you're already dealing with a backup at center.
22:34You have a backup left guard in there in this game that had a couple really important L's.
22:39You have a backup right tackle in this game.
22:42And he may figure it out over the course of the season.
22:45Penesul is not Penesul right now on the left side.
22:48That is not happening. I was tough to see him just.
22:51I mean, Chubb schooled him on that. I think it was the third down to the sack.
22:55Yeah, I mean, Barch lost quicker than than it was still striking to see.
22:59He still does not. He does not look like an all pro player right now at left tackle, even if he is a still a good player.
23:07And so if that's the current situation where you've got three backups, a decent right guard and a left tackle that is
23:13fine, but is not a needle mover in the way that he is at his best.
23:17That's a really rough place to be. And that's exactly where the Lions offensive line is right now in a 33 percent rushing success rate in this game.
23:25They allowed a 42 percent pressure rate in the first half.
23:28Like if that's going to be how you're if that's going to be where your foundation, the foundation of your offense is built on.
23:34That's a complete nonstarter with this quarterback and with the type of offense that you need to play.
23:39Yeah, that's the perfect way to put it with the type of offense that you need to be.
23:44This is not going to be good enough. I think once Blake Miller gets back and Penesul gets enough reps at left
23:50tackle, I do think that they'll they will be fine.
23:53I mean, they looked excellent in week one. And obviously the Saints defense, I don't think is super special, but they did
23:59look better when they were a little bit healthier.
24:02And I think the flip side of that, I think maybe there's a chance the Bills D line is just nasty.
24:07Like Greg Rousseau looks like the defensive player of the year already.
24:11And Walker, Greg, Greg Rousseau and Dan Walker look really good.
24:14And I actually I mean, Walker is worth pointing out because I mean, obviously, you had the batted passes, but his is
24:20there a player in the league like him? Like him and Rousseau together.
24:23The fact that you have these two trees that have some juices, pass rushers like they are kind of unique players in
24:29the way that they operate just with the body type and the frame that they're bringing to the table.
24:35It's really cool to watch. And how crazy does this sound?
24:38If at any other point over the last like five years, if you said Ed Oliver was about what got hurt an
24:44hour before the game, I would be like D line can't play games over.
24:48They've got nothing. And the fact that their D line without Ed Oliver an hour before the game absolutely shredded the Lions.
24:54I was like, that is a very different feeling.
24:56Bill's defense than we've had in a long, long time.
24:59I hadn't thought about it because it was such an afterthought, but they cut to Ed Oliver on the broadcast often in the early going.
25:06And then I don't know, midway through the second quarter, it was like, OK, not having Ed Oliver is probably going to be fine for the Bills tonight.
25:13My favorite play of the whole game, it was the Rousseau sack at about eight minutes in the first quarter.
25:19And if you go back and you watch that game, I'm really curious whether it was actually called this way or if it just unfolded this way.
25:26And they did this a couple of times in the game where they were in a four man front.
25:32They were overloaded to one side. And on this play, if you watch it happen, Walker is lined up as the second for this guy outside.
25:39So Michael Hoyt is over. I was watching it from the side view, so I don't know which gap exactly it was.
25:45But Michael Hoyt's like in the A gap, Walker's one player over, and then the defensive end, who I can't remember who it was.
25:51I think it was Chubb, was lined up as the defensive end.
25:55So Walker picks the center and Hoyt kind of folds around.
25:58And then there's another stunt where then Walker becomes the looper because Chubb picked the guard.
26:02And so I don't know if they were doing that on purpose.
26:05But if you watch it happen in sequence, it's really cool.
26:08And so if that's actually a called thing and they pulled that off, those are the layers to the pass rush plan
26:14that I was excited to see with Jim Leonard.
26:17And we've seen a lot of that show up so far already for the Bills.
26:21They've done so much impressive stuff. And that's the other.
26:24It's the fact that now they've brought in a guy like Leonard who was willing to try and throw all these loops.
26:30And again, I don't know if that's exactly called that way.
26:33Yeah, exactly. He does. And the talent, it's all the best versions of themselves.
26:37Like Deion Walker was good last year. He was not this.
26:40Greg Rousseau has been good before. He was not this.
26:43I think Chubb, he's not like a star anymore.
26:45But I think he looks like the best version of what they could have possibly hoped for when he signed.
26:51I think TJ Parker has looked fine when he's had to come off the bench for them.
26:55Like this was a unit that we've complained like, man, I don't know if they have enough juice for three or four years now.
27:02And now between both the plan and the talent, they look like they've got it.
27:06It's only been two weeks and I don't know if we know how good either of these offensive lines are in their state.
27:12But the fact that they're like manhandling some of these spots is really impressive.
27:16I was going to, I mean, they were incredible.
27:19But I'm going to keep the state of the Lions offensive line in the back of my mind.
27:24I think it's more about, again, similar to the conversation about the offense.
27:27It's the plan. I just like the plan. I like what they're trying to do.
27:31And this is, you can be a team that, I mean, it's similar to offensive lines where you can carry over most
27:37of the same talent from one ear to the other.
27:40And the way that you deploy those guys and the structure of the offense or defense can make them feel like a different sort of group.
27:47The Bills were not a dynamic pass rush playing team.
27:50They're a four down team. We're going to let those guys go and that's what it's going to look like.
27:55It looks like the opposite of that right now.
27:58It's just so much more creative in the ways that they're trying to unleash these players.
28:02And they're going to play better offensive lines in the current state of the Detroit Lions.
28:07But at the very least, I like what they're trying to do.
28:10And that extends to both sides of the ball.
28:12This is a new staff with a new version of Joe Brady and a new defensive play caller.
28:17And I think through two weeks, you have to be pretty happy about the returns that you have seen so far from this group.
28:24All right. That is all we've got for Bills Lions.
28:27We will be back here on Sunday night. If you are listening to this in the podcast feed on Friday morning, our
28:33week two preview is available right now. Dug into a bunch of games on the week two slate.
28:38Encourage you guys to check that out. If you're watching this on YouTube, encourage you to like and subscribe, especially if you are new to the channel.
28:45We've got tons of great stuff coming to the YouTube channel this week.
28:49Along with all of the podcast episodes, all three of us have bespoke video first series that we're doing over the course of the year.
28:56My first did you notice comes out, I think today on Friday about the Niners run game, which looked awesome in week one.
29:02And the shit they're doing with use check. Like that's where we're into caution and nonsense one week into the year.
29:08Derek, what is your how it happened this week?
29:10I mean, speaking of run games, I think the Baltimore Ravens run game is back inside.
29:15I did a little video about Derek Henry is somehow doing this at 32 years old and they might be activating Lamar Jackson once again.
29:22We gave a sliver of daylight to Derek to talk about Derek Henry and he took it immediately.
29:26Just like Derek Henry. Just like Derek Henry. That is all we've got.
29:30We will be back here on Sunday night, breaking down all things week two.
29:34Appreciate it. Talk to you guys soon. Thanks for tuning in.
29:37Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode.
29:41If you enjoyed what you heard, please like, comment and leave a rating.
29:45We'll see you next time.
