NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Buccaneers-Bills Week 8 TNF Recap

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

In a virtual room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus and Marc Sessler recap the Week 8 Thursday Night Football matchup between the Buccaneers and Bills. First, we take a look at the Bills performance (5:30), examine the Buccaneers crazy 4th quarter drive (13:20), and take a trip down memory lane courtesy of X (19:20).  Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Alan's going to run it. Crabb loves it. Touchdown. Pressure again, runs away from it, throws on the run. Cuttsdown. Salton Kincaid. Now it's a fourth and ten.

One last guest. And that is going to be caught for a touchdown by Mike Evans. The 10-yard line, five. Mayfield, dancing all around. Throw as far as he can throw it. Jump ball coming. Crazy stuff. Not this time.

Incomplete. Ow, come on, man. Turn it up, buddy. Baker Mayfield's Hail Mary Heave in the final seconds lands unmolested in the end zone with Pro Bowl wide receiver Chris Godwin reacting just a touch too late. It was that close to one of the craziest come from behind wins in NFL history. I mean, it would have been, it would have been an absolute massive national story if somehow the Bucks pulled that off. But they didn't. And the Bills, who badly outplayed their opponent for most of Thursday night, come out ahead, 24 to 18 at Buffalo with Josh Allen leading the way, throwing for over 300 yards, accounting for three total touchdowns.

Bills back on track at five and three. Bucks keep losing. Now three and four. I am Dan Hansis around the NFL podcast. Mark Sessler is with me and Mark I guess I'll start here and I was texting with you that that absurd was 24 this is where it was 2410 it's midway through the fourth quarter and the and the bucks are going on this marathon drive that seems like a marathon drive to nowhere 17 plays 92 yards three fourth down conversions it chews up half the quarter and it just all felt kind of sad quite frankly. It does end with the touchdown and the two-point conversion. And the fact that they ended up getting the ball back and getting that ball on the end zone, I guess it's a minor victory for the bucks. But the bills take the real one.

I guess so. It felt like the bucks were sort of like someone just hanging out in your living room and not refusing to leave a little bit. Like it was something of a like a punchless long day at the office for them. But then there's there at the end and like the Chris Godwin moment in the final seconds, it's like, that could have been transformative, but it was very symbolic that that drive. I mean, typically, like, historically, you know me well. Like, if I knew that there was going to be a 17-play, 92-yard drive that chewed up seven-plus minutes, I'd be overjoyed. But in this game, it kind of just was like a building block to a kind of indestructible end. And I don't know. I feel like the bills are just, they're working their way

through these games. There were a couple positives for the bills, certainly. Like, I thought a couple people stepped up tonight in a way that gives you some hope. More than a, I mean, more than a couple, Mark. This was, that's why part of like the craziest thing about the way this game ended is it tried so hard to obscure what was a tremendously positive night for the bills. And to extend what you were saying just a little bit further before I throw it back to you, buddy you said it was like the the uninvited guest who stays till the end um it's almost like

but this guest that was staying till the end didn't say anything for the first four hours of the party and was just kind of like taking up room on the couch and then all of a sudden became the life of the party and it was like this would have been great if you did it earlier but it's like i still don't know if i'm going to invite you next time yeah i'm not sure you're coming back um but yes you are right like I mean, I think that it was hopeful to see someone like Khalil Shakir have a career high in yardage, like Dalton Kincaid. And, you know, with Dawson knocks out, Dalton Kincaid almost in a beneficial, wonderful way, steps into this lead role. And tonight he made a couple of huge plays. And I don't know if it's like, maybe it's not the most inspiring performance from the bills.

And you look back to some of their dominant weeks from, you know, three or four weeks ago. And it's like, we're not getting that version of this offense. But I really loved how guys like also Gabe Davis, too, just stepped up tonight to perform. And it was a nice performance by Josh Allen, but I don't know. I don't come out of this. Am I wrong? I come out of this feeling like the bills are sort of just there right now. And I like, they don't strike me as an AFC dominant figure.

They're doing what they're doing. Like the bucks hung around until the end tonight. A lot of that had to do with other aspects of the game. but it's just like, Buffalo to me is working through some of their own issues, even though they tonight produced like 450 yards. Like when I think of a game where someone drops 450 yards, it's not what I would have, I wouldn't think of this game, even though there was production.

So, yeah, I disagree a little bit because I thought that other than their inability to kind of close that game out and make it, it's absurd that it got to that. that last point. And by the way, credit to Baker. That was a beautiful Hail Mary throw. Yeah. I think there was so many positives for the bills. I mean, the fact that, you know, you let Josh Cook, you let Josh Allen cook and you let him run the football. Hey, do you have Randy Chavez, Big Funk? Do you have, because this kind of, this is earlier in the game and it speaks to some frustration that was around this team. Al Michaels even said it himself, you know, the narrative around the team is like why isn't josh allen running more here is right before the

first play of the second quarter when it's fourth and goal at the one yard line uh and the sideline interview is with uh todd bull's head coach of the bucks big fourth down coming up what do you expect here i expect the quarterback to run the football thank you guys so that was moments ago you heard what he expects let's see what they do here on a fourth down and goal throws not the way so like Todd Bowles is saying it and I appreciate the candor from Todd there yeah that was actually one of the better coaching commentaries during a game because you don't get those too often I mean you've never get the coach actually saying what he thinks the play call is going to be and you know that's one of those things where Todd Bowles thinks he's going to run the football

Josh Allen because that's the last thing that the bucks want to see because that probably can't stop a giant like Josh Allen running downhill design play on fourth and goal. But they throw the ball and let him off the hook and I'm like hit myself in the head. Like why on those last couple plays at the goal line is Josh Allen not finding his way into the end zone? And yet, yes, they get turned away there, but they still still, you're feeling it feels like we're missing that that extra touchdown that makes it the 30 burger that makes everything make a little more sense in this game. That was it right there. They didn't punch. They didn't punch that in. But overall, like, I thought Allen was tremendous in this game. He threw the one

interception, but was really good. I'm watching James Cook and I'm like, I'm having like a brain cramp. And I'm like, man, he reminds me of somebody. He reminds me of like a young Dalvin Cook who is his brother, if I'm not mistaken. So that makes sense. And then you have, yes, Khalil Shakir, you mentioned, but Gabe Davis, like, welcome back, bud. Like, we need, the Buffalo Bills are saying we need somebody else to step up and deliver. And he, was getting open and pulling the ball in all day, nine catches, 87 yards, a touchdown and 12 targets. You mentioned Kincaid as well, Mark, who is going to step into a bigger role now. They put Dawson Knox on the IR. He has a big game. And I thought even more importantly with

Kincaid, he looked like he's fit for the part. And this is not going to be like one game wonder in prime time. I think he's going to be a big guy for them the rest of the year. And to do it when Stefan Diggs, despite nine catches, was really quiet in this game. So they were able to move the ball without him being the guy at the center of everything. I thought it was a tremendously positive day for their offense. That's the takeaway because I, yeah, it's like I think we've been talking about the bills. It's like someone else needs to emerge as a difference maker. And it could be Kincaid.

It seemed like that would happen even earlier in the season. And in these games when Stefan Diggs hasn't been almost like a wild superfluous positive, sometimes the bill's offense has disappeared. What I mentioned before is just like, I guess what I wanted Buffalo to do, this would have changed my mind on the night a little bit. And everything that we've talked about is true. There were a lot of positives and things you can take away and build on, but you close the game with four punts, four straight punts all around midfield. And it's just like it seemed like they kept inviting Tampa Bay, a very average team of vapor, really just an apparition of a team back into the game. It's like, why are we in those final moments?

It's like, I want to see Buffalo just ax their heads off, to be honest, and like put a final arrow into them. And it ended with sort of a whimper. It doesn't take away from the rest of it, but it's just like Buffalo, to me, feels like they're still kind of figuring out, working through some stuff, and that's okay. And people stepped up tonight, but it wasn't like, wow, without question, they went and dropped a hammer on a much less, a much lesser opponent.

Yeah, I mean, I see what you're saying. I think this game should, what you're saying, I think is the game should have been 34 to 18 or whatever. Exactly. That's all I mean, it should have been like absolutely. There's no reason that it's Baker Mayfield's doing what he's doing. I also think that's why as like someone who's watching, you know, we're watching these games closely and we're going to be talking about it. And I'm like, I'm watching that drive by the bucks. And I'm like, oh, my God, this is going to make the game seem different than what it was.

and then when the bills get one first down but not the second and punt it away again, you know, all they really have to do then is burn 20 seconds off the clock and don't let the bucks get near midfield. And they do, which allows that Hail Mary, which again was nearly completed. So, yeah, the game broke in a certain way to make it feel maybe differently than what it was from my perspective, which was the bills really in control and the bucks in a lot of ways just feeling like for you know 54 minutes they were a bit player in this and uh you know they score they're less than 20 points again Tampa Bay I think this Baker is a tough guy um that last

that long touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that had that was extended by the way on um after fourth down stops twice when a flag came out including a face mask on a sack of baker uh he took a beating on that last drive and you know he does not quit he's an easy guy to root for it from that perspective, but the office has also been, you know, very, very, very mediocre for about a month now, ever since the schedule tightened up. And I just think that's what this is. This is an NFC South team, like the rest of them, deeply flawed. So they'll hang around probably in that division because it's just, I think eight or nine wins will probably win it. But you saw this team is, you know, they could hang around in a game like this if everything breaks the right way. which I think it pretty much did.

You got a goal line stop and then the silliness in the last half of the fourth quarter, but this is probably as close as they can get to a big time team, which I think Buffalo is. Yeah, and someone told me that, you know, with minutes to go that Mike Evans would have seven yards, I would say that Buffalo's defensive game plan or whatever they came in hoping to do would have been to absolute perfection because Evans is the key to that offense. And you get a little bit of Chris Godwin and Kate Auden. Outside of that, they've got nothing. We've talked about their running game.

doesn't exist. But Baker Mayfield, it's like, I will say what, like, I'm with you in the sense that, like, I mean, I've been as frustrated by Baker Mayfield career wise as anyone because he was Cleveland's quarterback and there were so many ups and downs. But it's like, he just does not, like, the thing I like about him is, like that insane drive. Like, he doesn't care what the score is. He don't care what happening. Like, he doesn't matter what the stats are. It's like, he just keeps going. And, like, he looked to me almost like he was in physical pain during part of this game. And I think he came into the game. banged up. And I just don't think he was at full health. And it's like the one thing I can give

Baker May field credit for is like he will just, he will keep toiling on. And they'll keep a team like the bucks. Like if you're not, if you're hoping for the bucks to be out of the picture, I think the problem is they're going to be in the picture until like the second to last week of the season and we'll find out what happens to him. They'll be average enough and just good enough to hang around. And even tonight, I thought was a microcosm of what I think their whole season will be. Yeah. I mean, I think he had thrown for about 125 yards before that last drive and the offense was just stuck in mud. And even that, still, it's one of the craziest drives you'll see it all season. I mentioned that it got extended twice on fourth down on penalties. The touchdown bounced off Baker under threw it. It hit the defender's helmet and then bounced into Mike Evans' arms. Then they go for two and it gets batted straight up in the air and right into the arms, I believe Avatten for the two-point conversion. It was just like bonkers. And I think, think the bills and Sean and also Dan that that blew up the spread I believe too like I think there are all these people going absolutely nuts on you know listen you know those commercials all

around us they say go do it I say don't do it because it will drive you crazy um and uh yeah but I think the bills I guess for in terms of lessons because they came very close to again in a shocking rock the NFL world losing this game in a stunning matter um close out you know close out the team like you're saying they i think they took their foot off the accelerator running out the clock because i think they kind of thought the bucks were ready to go home too and then all of a sudden uh they score that touchdown and it gets a little interesting a couple things mark uh the red lamps were off in the loge i talked about if the bills had any chance of fulfilling uh their dreams and and finally getting back to the super bowl and and finally taking a lombardi

trophy to Western New York. You got to shut off those heat lamps. I understand it was a bit of a mild night in late October in Western New York, but let's keep those red lamps off because I thought the offense was humming in a way we haven't seen since the Miami game. I don't think it was a coincidence. No. I mean, so yes, I believe it was at the start of the game. It could have been in the 50s or 60s, which most humans can endure to some degree. But we're dealing with, again, the Buffalo elites. But, you know, listen, you, they've not turned those off before as far as we know. Like, you issued that edict on yesterday's show. And I think Western New York or the powers that be at that stadium thought, we need to listen to this wisdom and toughen up. And they did. And so you

have incredible civic power over the Buffalo region. Put it this way. If those red lamps are flipped on, it might catch Chris Godwin's attention. and he looks up just the split second sooner and he catches that ball in the end zone. Let's just, you can't say that that's not what happened. You know what I'm saying? There's no way to prove it. So Dan, the like the lifelong loyal Jets fan

helps create a tremendous regular season victory for the Buffalo Bills. That is a strange legacy. It's magnanimous. I also thought we were denied something in this game. A kicker. The kicker, it was the kicker. kicker for the bucks. Crazy son of the bitch.

Oh, do you mean the helmet? Dude, Chase McLaughlin. You know, he hits a 57-yarder and then a scrum breaks out and the guy took his helmet and took a swing. Like, we were ready to give Miles Garrett the electric chair for this a couple of years back. And the officials and, you know, they have Park Avenue or whatever taking a look at these replays for these type of fouls. They come back and they're like, no penalty.

I wanted a kicker to be kicked out of the game. for swinging his helmet like a caveman at an opponent. We should have had that. That should have been a major storyline today. Yeah, I thought it was the punter, but either way, it should be like, we've got to be. Was it Jake Camarda? I think you're right. Yeah, it was Camarda, I think.

But, you know, he's sort of a beefy individual, too, from the replays. Yeah, I feel like we have precedent that swinging helmets on, you know, island games. It's not a great idea and attracts attention. and attracts punishment, and this just flew under the radar. Like they were ready to reopen Alcatraz when Miles Garrett swung his helmet against Pittsburgh. Yeah. They was going to ship them out there and seal the gates.

Let's see. So I was bummed about that. I was bummed when I saw Green Day. A little passage of time stuff going on there. I don't know if you caught that. Looking like, you know, they were the hobbits from Lord of the Rings next to, I don't know who they were, they looked diminutive, compared to the people they were standing next to.

Yeah, Trey Cool looked almost embalmed. And then the only other thing I want to say about the game is they downplayed it, and he certainly didn't seem to struggle throwing the football, but they also were pretty conservative down the stretch. And the sideline reporter for Amazon made a note that after one of the touchdowns, Josh Allen didn't even lift his right arm to high five people. So he's clear He went into the blue tent for a little bit

And he made it through this game And Sean McDermott downplayed it Coming out of halftime And Randy just said it Gave us a little note That was two chains by the way With Green Day As you could tell

The chemistry between two chains and Green Day You can't reproduce that That's like John Madden And Pat Summerall is the way I thought about it And Al Michaels called him deuce It was an odd pairing I mean I know there were more than two people but it was an odd mixture of two entities.

But yes, the Josh Allen's shoulder situation is something to keep an eye on because this team is in a fight here for both the division and hopefully they hope the top seat and a buy in the AFC. So you need the quarterback to be healthy. So that's something to keep an eye on.

Finally, saw this tweet come across my time, timeline in my mentions during the game. It is from Miles Thomas. Don't ask how we got here, but found some deep buried Internet treasure. And this is Mark Sessler from our blogging days for NFL.com, the Around the League blog. Colt's victory takes backseat to monkeys riding dogs. And let me, I got you, I got you a lead that will cook your butt off.

The Indianapolis cults deserve praise for Sunday's 2816 win over the Houston Texans, but let's not forget what matters here. Really matters stylized with italics. That's right. Monkeys riding dogs. Okay. So hold on. First of all, this was back in the days when like we'd go to work and we were just,

it's funny that they put my name on that because I don't even know if I had a byline initially back in those days. And they're putting my current headshot like I wrote this two weeks ago, like I'm a total psychotic. But we were often told, like, quickly, listen, this is a big moment. And I do remember this, like, event. And it was quite visually enticing the monkey riding the dog. And, like, it had our whole newsroom. Oh, here it is. Check it out on YouTube.

Yeah, if you're watching the YouTube version, tell me this is not cool. This is cool than anything we saw tonight. This is a small monkey on top of a, what kind of dog is that? Like a sort of a Labrador? I don't know. A shepherd. It's not a Labrador. I don't know.

I don't think about dogs. A shepherd or a shepherd type dog. But the monkey clings to it, its legs are straddled on top of the dog. I mean, the monkey is probably absolutely terrified. But anyway, this is from a decade ago, and it just was a reminder of a lot of, we wrote a lot of dumb shit for this website. Yes, we did. On the 20th anniversary of NFL media, that might have been, they asked us to do those little videos talking about our time with the company and celebrating the anniversary. You could have just done three minutes on that article, the 58 words and put the slap the video on time.

and check that one off the box that day? It would have taken off. It would have been, you know, celebrated the way it was when I wrote that article. So it would have just been, you know, I wouldn't call it redundant, but a celebration of those old days. So there you go. Good stuff. Bills get it done. It gets scary.

If Chris Godwin has the red heat lamps, catch his corner of his eye, he catches the Hail Mary, and the Bucks win 25. but the lamps were off so he didn't see it and the ball went unmolested to the turf at Highmark Stadium. I think that is the big takeaway today. Unmolested. I do feel better about the bills than you, Mark, but I get what you're saying as well. I feel fine about them. I just like, I don't know. There's something about their energy, the journey. It feels like we're a year past the window being wide open, but you know what? Like, I'm typically wrong about 19 out of 20 things,

so probably most of Buffalo can take hope in that. I guess the one other thing, because we didn't really touch on it, was they jump ahead 10-0. And then the Allen interception leads to a short field and a touchdown, and all of a sudden it's 10-10. And the stadium gets a little quiet, otherwise it was raucous there.

And I did, again, the positives. Like instead of the bills going into a shell, which they have in different spots this year, They took control of the game, went ahead by two touchdowns before things got funky late. But I think there are very major positives to take out of it as they look to really start building some momentum and reestablish themselves as a top dog in the AFC. Next week at Cincinnati Sunday night football. So no, not next week. They're on a buy and then they go to Cincinnati.

So Josh Allen and that gets a long rest now. He does have shoulder issues. He doesn't play again. It's October 26 as we tape this. He doesn't play again until November 5th. So that's very good news for the bills as well. So in a lot of ways, a very good night for the Buffalo Bills, even if the final score made it feel a little bit different than that.

That's it for the Thursday night football edition of around the NFL. Make sure you check back in on Sunday for the flagship program, where we recap every game. game on Sunday. Until then, be the call. They're intelligent creatures, but, you know, I'm not that intelligent. This is an I-Heart podcast.