Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Friends Close, Enemies Closer: Patriots and Bills - 3/26/2020

Episode Date: March 26, 2020

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. With the New England Patriots’ supremacy in the AFC East potentially in jeopardy, host Mike D’Abate welcomes Brandon Ray of Full Press Bills to discuss Tom Brady’s departure, and whether the acquisition of Stefon Diggs puts the Buffalo Bills in the drivers seat for the divisional crown.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patriots fans, you are now locked in to the Locked On Patriots Podcast. I'm going to show you how to make a beautiful and beautiful flower. I'm going to use a small flower pot. I'm going to use a small pot Hello to all of you Foxborough faithful. It is Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer Thursday here on the Lockdown Patriots Podcast, your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions,

the New England Patriots. My name is Mike DeBate. I am your host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And because it's your team every day, folks, that means your questions, your comments, your feedback, always welcomed and appreciated. And you can send that feedback to me by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. And while you're out there tiptoeing through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow

the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. And don't forget, you can always listen to Locked On Patriots on your smart device. How do you do that? Very simple. Just ask it to play the latest episode to Locked On Patriots on your smart device. How do you do that? Very simple. Just ask it to play the latest episode of Locked On Patriots. And today here on the podcast, we are keeping our friends close and our enemies closer. And besides that being a line from one of my favorite movies of all time, The Godfather Part 2, it is pretty appropriate because the Patriots are on to 2020.

And whenever the NFL begins their season this year, the Patriots enter unfamiliar territory. They will most likely not be a runaway favorite to win the AFC East. That's right, folks. For the first time in 10 seasons, your New England Patriots might be in jeopardy of handing over that AFC East crown. And for all the improvements made by the Miami Dolphins and all of the analysts saying that the New York Jets would have been a much better team in 2019 had Sam Donald not been injured early on. The team that poses the biggest threat to the Patriots supremacy in the AFC East is the Buffalo Bills. The Patriots and the Bills had two memorable meetings in 2019, including the division clincher at home in Gillette. And let's face it, as long as Tom Brady had been the quarterback of the New

England Patriots, he had a ton of success against Buffalo. According to Pro Football Reference, 32-3 as the starter in the regular season, throwing 70 touchdown passes. And to add insult to injury, folks, since 2001, Tom Brady has more wins in Buffalo than any other Buffalo Bills quarterback. So of course, it stands to reason, anytime the Buffalo Bills came up on the schedule, us Patriots fans had a ton of confidence that the results of those games were likely going to be satisfactory. But as we all know, Tom Brady will no longer be taking his snaps in Foxborough next year.

He'll be down in Tampa Bay. And that means the likely Patriots starter, Jarrett Stidham, will now have to face those Buffalo Bills at least twice per season. And folks, even with Tom Brady under center last year, the Bills still gave the Patriots all they could handle. Back in September, 16-10 in Orchard Park was the Patriots' margin of victory. Not exactly a blowout. That was a very hard-fought victory, and defensively, the Bills gave the Patriots all they could handle. The two teams wouldn't meet again until December 21st, when the Bills came to New England, essentially with the division title on the line.

Patriots won that game 24-17, but again, another hard-fought victory. The Bills showed a lot of poise, a ton of skill, and they nearly came away with the victory in what typically is a hostile environment for them. And even though the Patriots at 12-4 wrapped up the AFC East on that night, the Bills still finished with a respectable 10-6 record. That earned them a playoff berth and a very narrow loss to the Houston Texans

22-19 in overtime, but because of the success they had throughout 2019, the Bills proved to everyone that they had arrived and that they were here to stay. And from the looks of things, folks, the Bills look like they're picking right up where they left off. So far, they've had an amazing offseason, retaining some of their key free agents, and also making the biggest splash in the trade market by acquiring Stefan Diggs, a wide receiver from the Minnesota Vikings. And if you've listened to Locked On Patriots in the past, folks, you know that I desperately wanted to see Diggs wearing Patriots blue.

Well, he'll be wearing blue in 2020, but it will be Buffalo blue. And to help shed some light on what the Diggs acquisition and the rest of their offseason moves means for their divisional championship aspirations, I welcome in my good friend Brandon Ray, managing editor of Full Press Bills, to discuss our divisional enemies, the Buffalo Bills. Brandon always has his finger on the pulse of Bills Mafia, and he'll let us know just exactly what it means to Bills fans everywhere knowing that Tom Brady will no longer be the quarterback of the New England Patriots, why the Buffalo Bills defense will continue to be its strength in 2020,

and how the addition of a wide receiver like Stephon Diggs will make Josh Allen a better quarterback. So sit tight, folks, and Brandon will join me in just a moment. However, before I proceed with that, I just wanted to take a moment to address all of you out there. Yes, if you've been a listener of this podcast, I'm sure you've heard all of the great advertisers working with Locked On to reach sports fans. But you may not know that Locked On Patriots is a great way for your local business to reach passionate Patriots fans just like you. Unlike any other podcast, Locked On gives your local company the unique ability to reach local podcast listeners.

Not just any podcast listener, but a Locked On podcast listener. If your company wants to connect with Patriots fans and a predominantly male audience that is well-educated with disposable income, then let's put your company right here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. Local fans love to support local businesses. Text the word advertising to 33777 or visit lockedonpodcast.com slash advertising and let us know who you are. We'll get our team to help your team achieve Locked On advertising success. Once again, text the word advertising to 33777

or visit lockedonpodcast.com slash advertising. We look forward to hearing from you. Patriots fans, my guest today not only covers the Buffalo Bills for fullpresscoverage.com, he is the managing editor for Full Press Bills. And you can also find his great work anywhere in Bills Nation, on Pro Football Guru, Fan Sighted, just to name a few. He is also the host of a great podcast for Bills Mafia called the Just Believe Podcast. And I don't know about you folks, but I'm still awaiting the day where Bills Mafia puts

this guy through a table. I am honored to welcome my friend Brandon Ray to the show. Thank you for joining me today, Brandon, and welcome back to Locked On Patriots. Mike, great to be back here. Can't wait to talk about some football. Well, hopefully it's a little bit of a distraction from what's going on in the world, obviously. So I'm down to get down to business. Can't wait.

Absolutely. And you said it very eloquently, and I'm glad that you mentioned that. If people are listening to our podcast today, we hope that it does provide you with a little bit of diversion and a little bit of a break from a reality that we never really saw coming. I don't think anybody could have, and we just hope the best for our listeners, for everybody around the world, and hope that this gets resolved and people get back to good health and prosperity as soon as possible. But speaking of prosperity, your Buffalo Bills, my friend, are in the driver's seat for some prosperity this year. And they might just be in the driver's seat when it comes to contention for a division title in the AFC East.

And their offseason moves have only helped to solidify that. But if we're being honest, my friend, one of the reasons why the Buffalo Bills have become an easy bet for the top spot in the division is because of the departure of Tom Brady. And I'm sure that caused a lot of celebration, albeit socially distant celebration, folks, but jubilation nonetheless in Bills Nation. And as someone that covers the Bills, you're dialed into the pulse of that fan base. First, what was your reaction to the news of Tom Brady departing and heading for Tampa Bay? And what are some Bills fans saying about this?

Because we know there is no love lost between these two rival fan bases. So me personally, I had to pinch myself. You know the old saying, pinch me, I'm dreaming. Because I would never expect to see Tom Brady, who's been a Patriot for two decades, six Super Bowl rings, countless division championships with one organization, suit up for another team down the road. And it was basically like hard to see him, especially in those god awful color, orange, red, orange, whatever color you want to call it, Tampa Bay.

But I loved it, you know, because from a Bills perspective, it's great to see someone leave the division who has owned the Bills historically. I think the record is 32-2 as a starter against Buffalo. So Bills fans are definitely excited about this. But then you also have some of the fans that are saying this isn't a good thing. You should want to beat Brady. You need to beat the best to be the best. So unfortunately, Buffalo won't get a shot at Brady until potentially next year,

assuming he does play again with the Buccaneers. So obviously, the Bills are going to be the top dogs, you know, the leader to win the division. But right now, all I hear is 2019 offseason Cleveland Browns, where the Browns won the offseason with the acquisitions, Odell Beckham, Olivier Vernon, Baker Mayfield coming off a great rookie season. I don't want that situation to happen to Buffalo. So it's kind of the slogan I'm kind of following is be humble and be hungry and go for the division. You made some great acquisitions this year. You know, you got a developing and a rising star, young star quarterback.

I think Buffalo's going to make some serious damage, but it's only going to matter once the pads hit each other on the field. So we're going to have to wait and see. I love the level-headed approach that you're taking. And honestly, I think that's exactly how the Buffalo Bills organization, their coaching staff, and the players are accepting this and taking it. Look, there's no question. When a player who has statistically owned another franchise,

and you mentioned 32-2 regular season as a starter, that's extremely impressive. That is a very formidable hill to climb. And Tom Brady has had a great amount of success over the Buffalo Bills with the New England Patriots, no question. But it's also something to remember, and I think you hit it very eloquently and very accurately, is that this is only going to matter if you go out there and actually win the games on the field. The Buffalo Bills have had a great offseason, and we will get to that in just a moment, but I do appreciate the level-headed approach that you take, and I think a lot of Bills fans and a lot of definitely the organization is taking that in stride as well. And they're

well-positioned because that is already a formidable roster that gave the Patriots all they could handle last year. And now all of a sudden with their additions and some of the Patriots' subtractions, which not limited to Tom Brady, they've had some other major departures that might cause a balance shift in this division as well. I think we're in for a really great divisional competition this year in the AFC East, maybe for the first time in quite a while. So Brandon, switching gears very briefly, while offensively the Bills have made some headlines,

I still believe the strength of this team is its defense, at least in my estimation. In 2019, the Bills and the patriots had two of the best defenses in the nfl according to nfl next gen stats i think at various points they ranked respectively in overall defense patriots fans utilized or patriots excuse me patriots team utilized the three four set with the linebackers using their versatility and the secondary playing lockdown coverage. That's been their strong suit. But from a Bills perspective, they took a page out of that with the Patriots.

And I think in a lot of ways, their play out of the front seven and maybe even some of it from the linebacker core in the latter half of the season, I think may have tipped the scales in Buffalo's favor when it comes to the dominant defense in the AFC. From a Bills perspective, what do you believe is going to continue to make this Bills defense so dangerous? And what could they theoretically do to stop a new look Patriots offense that's likely to be led by Jarrett Stidham? Well, you hit the nail on the head. It comes down to versatility.

Like the Patriots, they run a 3-4 scheme with the versatility in the linebackers. Buffalo runs a 4-3 where they have versatility in both up front as well as the linebacker core. So the Tremaine Edmonds, it starts with him. I consider him the glue of that defense. Like I've said before, he's three months older than I am, and he's the captain of an NFL team. And I'm sitting here in Boston contemplating the life decisions I made, but we'll save that for another day. But when you look at what they have up front as well as what they can serve in the backfield, versatility. That's the biggest key to it. You got guys who can play both interior defensive line and they play on the edge as well. Tremaine Edmonds and Matt Milano, a very underrated linebacker core. They can stop the

runs. They can play good pass coverage. For anyone who doesn't know Matt Milano, think of him as a rookie Kiko Alonso. Kiko Alonso, his rookie season with the Bills, arguably the best rookie of the entire year. He was runner-up for defensiveensive Rookie of the Year. Matt Milano is like that, but he's more of a sideline-to-sideline run stopper. He can play excellent pass coverage. As a matter of fact, there was one game on Monday Night Football in 2018 when Matt Milano did a really good job covering Rob Gronkowski when he was still on the Patriots. So the defense is in a reload mode. They lost Shaq Lawson and Jordan Phillips. Jordan Phillips coming off of nine and a half sacks, which was a career high Shaq Boston six and a half,

but you replace them with Mario Addison, who knows the scheme of Sean McDermott with his playing days in Carolina. You add in Vernon Butler, again, Carolina, and then Quinton Jefferson, which I think is one of the Bills' most underrated signing. He plays both defensive end and defensive line. His numbers don't show elite, but his pass rush and his consistency is what makes him a good, quiet, productive player. So this Bills defense is obviously still the strongest suit of the team.

They're a year ahead of the offense, but because the offense is slowly developing and now they're starting to make that extra push, they'll keep up to the uh we'll say the practice uh we'll say like the game speed of defense this is i'm still going to say it 2020 the bills are going to win games based on the defense yeah and i completely agree with you when it comes to that assessment look i'm glad that you mentioned milano because this is a kid that i had an opportunity to really scout and really really take a look at from an enemy perspective a couple of times last year. And I was so impressed with the versatility that he showed, the athleticism, his ability to be in the right place at the right time.

That's not happenstance, folks. That's by design. That's by intelligence. And that's something that the Buffalo Bills defense is going to have this year. That's something we've seen the New England Patriots do here so often. You mentioned the 4-3 that Buffalo runs, and they do it so effectively. I actually believe you're going to see the Patriots run more 4-3 this year in 2020 than they did in 2019.

The 3-4 really became their go-to style of defense because they had versatile linebackers like Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, Alandon Roberts. It allowed them to do that. I don't believe they're going to have that type of luxury this year. So you may see the Patriots take a page out of the Buffalo Bills style and play a little more 4-3 this year. And of course, the secondary is really, I think, the real thrust of where you're going to see the strengths of both defenses because the Buffalo Bills have one of the best secondaries in the league so which will folks the New England Patriots have kept that secondary pretty much intact now so this is going to be a very interesting

year yes they did lose to Ron Harmon bringing in Phillips out of uh the uh the Chargers I think is going to help to offset that a little bit and I still expect the Patriots to attack that in the third wave of free agency and in the draft. But if I'm being honest with you, Brandon, the big eyebrow razor that everyone saw with the Buffalo Bills this year is the offensive improvements that they've made. And I'm talking about Stephon Diggs, one of the most marquee free free agent moves. I should say trade moves, in the offseason trading for him. Anyone that has listened to Locked On Patriots knows that Diggs is a player I have longed to see in Patriot blue.

But he's going to be wearing Buffalo blue this year. And I think this is a great addition for their offense. It adds a veritable speed threat who just happens to be a great route runner. But even though the Patriots have taken some offseason hits, as I just alluded to, their secondary still remains a formidable part of their strength. When you look at Josh Allen and now the weapons that he has to look for, and I think some continuity on the offensive line as well

in bringing back Quentin Spain, which I know Buffalo Bills fans weren't probably overly excited about, but I think is a very key move for them, keeping some continuity on that offensive line. How can Josh Allen and company look to attack some of the better secondaries in the league, like the Patriots secondary, now that Stephon Diggs is in the fold? So, like you mentioned with the re-sign Quinton Spann,

obviously it's not the most sexy signing, but you solidified the left side of the line. They're going to re-extigning Quinton Spann, obviously it's not the most sexy signing, but you solidified the left side of the line. They're going to re-extend a left tackle, Deion Dawkins. They're going to have all five starters back from last year, from Deion Dawkins all the way to Cody Ford. That's what's important to Allen's development. Now you give Allen a true number one receiver in Stephon Diggs, which pushes John Brown back to his natural spot number two and then making Cole Beasley the for sure slot receiver who when he was in Dallas arguably the best slot receiver in the game at one point so it just shows that they have a one two three attack in the passing game John Brown can be the quick slant type of guy Cole Beasley the in and out and he can get open at

any time and then you have Stephon Diggs to work with as well down the field. Remember, Diggs is a deep threat receiver. He's always been like that, especially with his route running, which is arguably the best in the entire league. So Allen still has some accuracy issues to work out, but he made improvements from his rookie season to last year, who to say he can't take another leap as well. And it just shows that Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean are focusing on the development of Allen so when I look at so a big thing that I've

seen is Josh Allen versus Sam Donald both players have talents like they both have unbelievable talent you know whether if they're passing they their rushing, their IQ. The difference, though, is that Allen is set up to succeed further just based off of the structure. When you look at someone like Sam Darnold, he's a talented football player, and he's a great kid, I'm sure. You never hear anything bad about him, but because of the offense he's in and what he has around him, he's going to get sacked five times a game is what it's looking like. But with Allen, now now you got a good running

game you got a good receiving corpse and you got a serviceable offensive line Allen should be able to take another step forward into 2020 I would say put them in the high QB two tier maybe maybe low QB one just because of what they have on paper but I said, it all matters once you hit the field, not before. Absolutely. And again, I think that this addition of Diggs and a lot of people, including some members of Patriots Nation, are looking at this and saying, oh, well, what difference does it make? Josh Allen's just going to overthrow him anyway,

so what good is Stephon Diggs going to be able to be? I think that's a very maybe wishful thinking approach to looking at it. But I also think it's not an accurate approach of looking at it. I really love the way a true number one comes in and gives Josh Allen that target that I think he was missing a little bit last year. I was very impressed by what I saw from John Brown and Cole Beasley. I was very impressed from what I saw from Dawson Knox at the tight end position. And again, the formidable running game led by Lorenzo, the rookie doing what he did last year.

I think it was such a very versatile offense that I don't think got the credit it deserved because of how good the defense was playing. Yes, is there still growing pains that Josh is going through? Yes, but I saw progression each and every game, each and every day from him. You have to think that's going to continue into the offseason, and hopefully,

training camps, OTA will start sooner rather than later. I'm assuming that they're going to be delayed. I think we can all agree on that, but I think that is going to be key to getting the synergy he's going to need with a guy like Stephon Diggs, who can take the top off of a defense. That's a threat they didn't have last year, and I think it only adds to another dimension of his game. So, Brandon,

before I let you go today, my friend, you knew I was going to put you on the hot seat. We're going to put you through a table eventually, but we'll get to that. But right now, when you look at the Buffalo Bills, obviously a lot of people are projecting a division title this year. If you're being honest in your assessment, what do you think is the ceiling for this team? And how do you see them shaking out once the 2020 season begins? I think Buffalo has formed themselves into becoming a contender in the AFC. So that means competing with the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs. And I would still even put New England in that triangle because Buffalo has yet to prove that they can beat a Bill Belichick-led team. So I'm not saying that Buffalo is going to be the top team to beat in the AFC East.

Buffalo has to go through what has been the top dog for the last 20 years. Once they do that, then I can say that Buffalo will be the team to beat in the AFC East. As far as the ceiling, I think this team has to make the playoffs, no matter what. They took a second-year quarterback, and they went 10-6. They made great plays throughout the entire season, and they competed with the Houston Texans the entire wildcard game. And we won't bring up the second half at all because that still brings back ptsd but this team is obviously the favorite to win the division i personally think that they are set up better than the other three teams right now just based off of the consistency of the quarterback the coaching staff what they brought back on defense and offense and the playmaking abilities that they also brought in again just, just relating to Stephon Diggs.

So Buffalo should win this division in 2020, assuming that there is a season, and they should go farther than just a wild card round. So it's going to be a fun, exciting season for Bills fans, seeing how the chemistry is brought back, the familiarity is there. But, again, you have to produce on the field, not in the offseason. So I definitely say division champs, hopefully. But we'll see once the pads are on. Well, you definitely endeared yourself to some of my listeners by saying that the gauntlet

still has to be thrown down and run through New England. And I think a lot of people are forgetting that, that this is still a team that is coached by Bill Belichick, an offense that is directed by Josh McDaniels, and a rookie quarterback or a second-year quarterback, Willie, will be in 2020, of Jarrett Stidham, assuming that nothing else happens. I do believe Stidham will be the guy. And if that is the case, I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by Stidham's versatility.

Is he going to step in and be Tom Brady? Absolutely not. But he's still more than capable of leading this team to more success than failure. And at the end of the day, I would tend to agree with you right now that the Bills look like the better pick and probably the safer bet to win. But to sleep on the New England Patriots, I think, is a mistake. And it sounds like from your level-headed approach, you agree. And I think Buffalo, in terms of their coaching staff, their players on the field agree with that as well, because let's not forget, folks, even though the New England Patriots had a great amount of success against the Bills last year, but in any case, the New England Patriots were a team that had some success against the Buffalo Bills, albeit they did not dominate the Bills at any point during the 2019 season. These were all hard-fought games. They were able to give Josh Allen some difficulty because of the 3-4 scheme that they play on

defense. Jamie Collins, Kyle Van Nooy were a big part of that. They got a lot of pressure on him. Those two guys are gone. So how will the Patriots replicate that? If they can, they might be able to give him some similar fits this year. But if they can't do that, that opens up a lot of holes for the Buffalo Bills to run through. So it'll be interesting.

That's what I'll have my sharp eye on, folks. As Patriots fans, definitely keep your eye out on that as well, because I think that is where this matchup can get even more intriguing this year than it was last year. Brandon, thank you so much for joining me today here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. Before I let you go, my friend, please let all of our listeners know where they can find you, your great work, and how they can follow you on social media.

Yeah, so like I mentioned, like I said, my name is Brandon Ray. I'm the FBC Bills Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at my personal account at Brandon underscore Ray 79. And then for all Bills coverage

and analysis for full press coverage, make sure to follow at FPC underscore Bills. And I promise you, to all Bills and Patriots fans listening to this podcast, I will be thrown through a table this year. I promise you what's going to happen,

whether it's COVID-19 officially being over, Buffalo beating New England, or Buffalo winning the division. It's going to happen this year. Book it, Mike. Absolutely. And we look forward to covering that right here on the Locked On Patriots podcast, as well as on fullpresscoverage.com. Brandon, again, thank you for your time, your insight, your appearance today. And thank you for your level-headed approach. Good luck to Bills Mafia this year, but keep a shut eye on the Patriots.

We're not gone just yet. Just maybe a little bit more of a level playing field than we've seen in years past. Remember that. Absolutely. You know, it's still tough to adjust to that. But hey, 2020 is almost here hopefully anyways and um uh once again uh for anyone being affected by uh COVID-19 somehow some way please I'll remember we are we are praying for you we are going to be there for you anything you may need don't be afraid to ask for help this is

a tough time for everybody let's fight this challenge ahead of us let's get this world back to normality and come on let's get some football season going. I'm excited about that. Absolutely. I think we all are as well. Very eloquently said. And again, thank you for that because it does bring us back to reality. And we definitely hope all of our listeners and all of our fan bases, whether it be Patriots Nation, Bills Mafia, or anybody across the NFL landscape. Stay safe and stay well. Patriots fans, that puts a wrap on our Thursday episode. However, rest assured that all throughout the offseason here, we will continue to keep our friends close and our enemies closer by profiling the Patriots' primary competition in the AFC and NFC in the 2020 season, just like we did here today with the Buffalo Bills.

As always, please be sure to join me each and every day here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. Subscribe and download via your preferred podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate. I'd like to thank Brandon Ray of Full Press Coverage for his time, his insight, and his appearance today. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for staying locked into Locked On Patriots. And if you've enjoyed today's episode, now tell your smart device to play the most recent episode of Locked On NFL Draft.

Stay safe, stay well, and have a great day, everyone.