Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Can the Vikings follow the Buffalo Bills' model?

Episode Date: January 19, 2022

Buffalo Bills reporter for Bills Digest Mark Ludwiczak joins Matthew Coller to talk about offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and whether he would make a good coaching candidate for the Minnesota Vikings and why the Bills have turned things around. How have they supported Josh Allen? Has Sean McDermott really turned around the culture or is it just the quarterback? Have they laid out a path for the Vikings' future? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support, so whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collard here and joining me, the editor of Bills Digest, which is basically a Purple Insider for the Buffalo Bills Digest, which is basically a purple insider for the Buffalo Bills. And we've been talking a lot about the Bills on the show because of their successful transition from a pathetic joke of a franchise to now a premier team in the National Football League. Mark Ludwizak, friend of mine from Buffalo. Always respect and enjoyed your work and getting together when we

did in Buffalo. Mark, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing? Well, I'm doing good. I know you're a little out of breath from shoveling 15 inches of snow. I don't have to do that so much anymore. Two to four and they start like getting a little antsy around Minnesota. Yeah, it was a bit of an adventure today, but you know what? January 17th, the first, it really hasn't been bad to this point, so I can't complain too much. here's where I want to start with you, Mark. I made this comparison recently about the Bills and where they've gone over the last few years. And the Vikings, who just moved on from, just track with me here, a defensive-minded coach who said ridiculous things in press conferences, a quarterback that people argued with or about all the time, but was basically a middle-of-the-pack quarterback. And they got a different coach who created a better culture and drafted a quarterback that

was more athletic. You see where I'm taking this from the Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins era. I've used the bills as the example of the team that you can be if you're the Vikings, but tell me if that's the right path to take that or like, what would I, what would I be missing in that comparison? No, I think that's fair on, unfortunately, I think, uh, even the franchises or teams that can go into that process with the best of intentions. Uh, sometimes you don't really know what you've got in a new coach until you have them in house and you have them for a year. I mean, we,

we could go back throughout all of the throughout all of the drought years in Bill's history. I mean, every time they hired a new coach, oh, this is great. We're going to change the culture. You're in the culture work 20 times every press conference. Sean McDermott was able to do it. A lot of other coaches weren't able to do it. So if you hit on that guy and you have a plan in place and we can go into that, but I mean, they had a clear plan in place for how they wanted to find their next quarterback

development, develop him, surround him, put him in the right situation. And we all know that's, the most important thing that you need in the franchise. So they had a plan in place, but they got lucky with Sean McDermott. They knocked it out of the park. And it wasn't like he was the hottest candidate in the world coming to Buffalo. I mean, he was a strong candidate, a reasonable one, but you just don't really know. And they missed on some guys that they hoped would change it. And then Sean McDerm guys that they hoped would change it. And then Sean McDermott finally did change it for them.

Okay, explain to me how. Because now I tend to think this might be my cynical self here. It's the quarterback, folks. I saw that our friend Chris Parker from Buffalo wrote an article that said, it's the quarterback dummies was his headline. But I do think, though, that there are other good quarterbacks in the league and maybe we could even look at the los angeles chargers that uh you know justin herbert is kind of a josh allen but i look at their offense and was very unimpressed with their

offense brandon staley got so much hype machine early in the year it's like people shut off the fact that he was terrible in the second half of the year and made some even very poor decisions, a senseless timeout against the Raiders that cost them a chance to go to the playoffs, lots of mistakes that were made along the way. And he's a first year coach that might improve, but where was it? How was it? What's the evidence? What's the stories that Sean McDermott is really behind this as much as just, Hey, we got lucky drafting the right quarterback. Yeah. I mean, obviously the quarterback is a huge part of it. But I do think, like you said, there are examples.

Not saying Matt Stafford is my favorite player in the world, but I mean, look at him. He's always been considered a good quarterback. And look at what he was in Detroit and what that situation was. And then what he is now with the Rams, at least in a better situation, very much compared to detroit so um the the quarterback is is definitely part of it but i mean they did a lot of coaches uh you know not to rehash rex ryan and all that stuff but so many bills coaches would come in and they talked the talk about changing culture and attitude. And Sean McDermott, above all those others, he walked the walk in that area.

I mean, they really had a clear plan. I mean, it was kind of different in that Brandon being the general manager came in after Sean McDermott was hired. That was, you know, a bit out of the ordinary. Normally it's the GM and then the coach, but it, it, it obviously worked out and they just, they really had a plan. They knew number one, their, their salary cap wasn't just got awful shape when they came in. So they, I mean, I think I was even listening to somebody mentioned on a podcast the other day that it was one of the largest like dead cap hits that they took that first year in like NFL history or something like that.

And that sounds right. I remember it being pretty, pretty large at the time. So they knew they had to sacrifice that that first year. And I mean, the fact that they ended up making the playoffs was kind of a miracle. It was kind of a happy accident. That wasn't part of the plan. They just seemed to be maybe a little further along than some of us and probably they expected. But the plan was get the

salary cap in shape, find your quarterback, and then surround your quarterback by fixing the offensive line, adding playmakers, etc. It's not all perfect. I mean, you know, there's been some misses in the draft and they've signed some guys in free

agency that maybe haven't, you know, completely been up to expectation, but that's the case anywhere there. Their success rate far outweighs their, you know, their failure rate. But I think the plan of fixing the cap and shape, you know, fixing the cap in shape, you know, fixing the salary cap, finding your quarterback, and hitting not just a home run but a grand slam with him, and then just really having an active plan of how they were going to make that a success because it really – you can look at all the variables.

If Josh Allen goes somewhere else and doesn't get the support system and these coaches and is brought along this way, he might not be the player he is now. I do think they deserve a lot of credit there because we've seen other promising quarterbacks come to Buffalo under prior coaches who were very promising and then it just completely fell apart since they weren't in the right situation or surrounding. So there's a lot to it. The quarterback is still most of it, but I really do. I mean, they said they were going to change the culture and unlike all their other previous Bills hires, they actually went out and did it. But you know, I think you make a great point though, because when you have a defensive head

coach, sometimes that defensive head coach wants to worry about his own defense. I'm not talking about anybody in particular. Uh, and in this situation in Minnesota, we saw the head coach and the quarterback bought heads the entire time that Kirk cousins has been here. Now, does that change Kirk cousins? I don't know because he had Sean McVay in Washington. They went, whatever it was, eight, seven, and one and missed the playoffs. And the next year it was 8-8, and then it was 7-9 or whatever. So it hasn't been different. No matter who's been pulling the strings with Cousins, you had Gary Kubiak, you had Kevin Stefanski, it's been the same things. However, if your organization is gathering around one person

and saying, we will build you up at all costs, they have an offensive coordinator that seems to fit perfectly with what josh allen wants to do and is a top coaching candidate for me for his brian dable and here comes stefan diggs but stefan diggs is not enough here comes emmanuel sanders like here's a bunch of offensive linemen that you're just throwing free agent decisions at and things like that like it never felt like like Minnesota was willing to do that with Kirk cousins. It was like, okay, look, bro, you got two receivers. You're good. All right. You're set. And it was, you know, okay. You know,

digs leaves and we got you another good receiver. You're fine. We don't need to go out and get another one. We're going to give you a run game, but we're not going to get you a guard because we need nose tackles. It was just like, it seemed to be two different parts pulling against each other. And it feels like a huge part of Allen's success that he, he is just the guy and everybody knows it.

And that's the franchise and there's no real debate about it. Yeah. Agreed. And like you said, you know, like I mentioned earlier that they're really for the for the bills there really was a plan they that first year their offensive line was just terrible with alan and they were hoping that he'd just make it through the year um and then i believe

it was that off season where it was like priority number one a with a golden star was we're gonna sign a bunch of offensive linemen and um i believe, I think it was the first time I'd ever seen it. They went into the next year with an entirely, it was either maybe four out of the five new offensive linemen, clear priority. And then like you alluded to, they just completely revamped the receivers and they've proven to be open-minded and malleable and changing i mean if you had sean mcdermott five years ago i doubt he would tell you this is his uh dream offense you know or at least 10 years ago for sure but you know defensive-minded

head coach yeah he's been i mean awfully impressive um in being open-minded to throwing the ball all the time and trusting his offensive staff and the plan and the offensive coordinator. He is more aggressive on fourth downs. I think he's shown in him being the right head coach for the situation, he's shown a willingness to learn and adapt, and I think that's been part of it too. I mean, they'll adapt. I mean, now they're at their best when Josh Allen is running the ball

a little bit more just because it's just such a crazy added dimension. I mean, it was one of the things that stood out to me when I watched his college tape, and it wouldn't shock me if earlier in the year they said, you know what, let's wait until the playoffs. Don't take those hits. And in recent weeks they've changed that. But, again, I think there's a plan. There's a plan in place to surround him with the right situation,

and it's just worked out. Now the offense with Josh Allen, last year it was just like everything came together perfectly and they had this incredible offense and then everyone knows what you're doing the next year and things clearly got harder this year his statistics weren't quite as good passing the football and so forth but i think it's still a pretty serious success story with taking a quarterback who was only completing about 55% of his passes, which is just ludicrous for today's game. I mean, that's like what you'd expect from some D3 quarterback or something. And then now it's over the last two years, I looked at this 66%,

which is about average for the NFL. And for him, if he could be average in terms of his accuracy and throwing the football, everything else he could do, throwing rockets down the field and running. I think it's been impressive from afar to see an offense designed around him where it basically looks like I compared it to the Dante Culpepper offense for back in the day where it's shotgun, throwing it to your best receivers all the time. You could go back to the Oilers with Warren Moon with his big arm where it was just everybody, everybody go out on routes and everything's on this guy. I just want you to tell

me about more about the offense, because to me, it is like the most cutting edge of the cutting edge. Not that I'm against running the football necessarily, but if you can do this, if you've got a guy to do this and you can design it to do this this is the most effective type of offense that there that exists in the nfl yeah i i think brian dayball is brilliant he should be a head coach in a few weeks we you know that should happen if it doesn't it'll be a surprise he i think has earned it um i don't even know if he needs to interview. He should just show tape of the Patriots game the other day. Just that's all you need. I mean, like, what more do you need? Innovative, smart. It would crack me up. You know, like anything, you see people, they have a bad game and the

offense isn't on fire and, you know, Twitter's ablaze and whatnot. And I would just laugh because it's like, how could you think he's a bad offensive core? Do you remember some of the coordinators we've seen? You know what I mean? It's like, you normally can tell. I mean, I won't even get into the names, but there's just a lot to him. I really think he's brilliant.

The way, again, they, they tailored the offense to their strengths. It's funny. Maybe the best way I can describe it is all year long, one of the narratives has been up until the last couple of weeks that they A, either couldn't run the ball or B, just couldn't run the ball well. Their running game was not good for three quarters of the season. Then they've kind of flipped a switch and at least shown that they have a second gear or at least an alternate option to their passing game over the last month. And Devin Singletary's just gotten better and better. But I bring that up because every week in the Zoom calls, the questions were coming to Brian Dable.

And sometimes rather forcefully from maybe some of the more old school types, like, but don't you need – you've got to run the ball. And, I mean, maybe he would get blamed for it at the time. I would praise him for it. But every single time he would talk about we're going to do what it takes to win. If it's running the ball, I mean, I could recite the quote, like, you know, he said every week, if we're, if it's running the ball 50 times, if it's passing the ball 50 times and never running it that's what he wants to

do now. Do I think he would probably rather throw the ball? Yeah, he would. I mean, but look, look at the success rate, the results speak for themselves. But I think that, again, speaks to, I mean, a lot of coaches will talk the talk there, but I think they back it up. I mean, if they need to change things on the fly or they're not set in a rigid, this is our offense, we're going to run the ball, Sorry. That's it. That's just not there. That's not their way. That's not his way. And I think it's, again,

it's just a stark contrast to a lot of the other bills teams we saw throughout the drought where come hell or high water, they were going to run there. You know, Rex Ryan was going to ground and pound it whether they were good at it or bad at it. Kevin Gilbride going back even, you know, further, he was going to throw it all the time, even if they didn't have the offensive line to do it.

So, you know, there are, it streams in both directions. But again, I go back to them just surrounding Josh Allen with talent and being willing to do whatever it takes. They will change it up. They're not setting their ways. What else can you tell me about just dealing with Brian Dable? I'm curious about that. He got a couple of interviews and didn't get any jobs, and I could see where the NFL could look at and say,

oh, okay, one-year wonder. Josh Allen made a lot of plays. We'll see if it continues. It's clearly continued, and the Vikings, as of right now have not interviewed him yet, but it seems like too obvious to me that you would want to interview every offensive coach that you could get because what you're looking for is, and I know it's working out for McDermott, but if he leaves, you have to change your offensive coordinator.

You're looking for your Andy Reed, where even if it's a new offensive coordinator, it's the same system that you can keep running back over and over around your quarterback. But why do you think that he didn't get a job last year? And what else can you tell me about him? Yeah. No, I like Brian a lot. He's a personable guy.

You know, in the days that, you know, even pre-pandemic or maybe earlier at training camp when we were out there a little more, I mean, he would shoot the stuff with us. You know, I mean, I think he's a good person, you know, honestly, first and foremost. I was surprised he didn't get a job last year, truthfully. I think, I mean, you looked at his performances as a, know coordinator here and then um i mean there is history there with uh saban and alabama and belichick and new england i mean like there is i i think the resume is there and then i think it kind of speaks for itself with how he they've just completely transformed things and been um i don't know if revolutionaries are a word because the chiefs are maybe doing it

first but they've just been outstanding and record-breaking last year they broke pretty much every conceivable record in like franchise history like that should count for something so um i was surprised by it again on the outside in i i can i'll just say like i think a lot of times when you see the hot coordinator not get a job, A, we don't know what's going on in those meetings. B, sometimes the best coordinator aren't the best head coaches and vice versa. You know what I mean? That can happen.

I'm not saying one way or the other. With Dayball, I would expect him to be a good head coach because I think he's a good coach. I just generally believe that. But it is a different skill set and all that. So I'm surprised by it. I think on the flip, like I think Leslie Frazier, who obviously was in Minnesota for a little bit, I think he's a great coach too.

You know, it depends on what kind of philosophy, what kind of changes you want to make um you know so i i just i think they're they're both i'll i'll be stunned if at least one of them doesn't get a head coaching job because i just i think they're good coaches offense defense whatever i just i i truly think they're good coaches folks we've got an even better offer to tell you about from soda stick if you use If you use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER, one word, you can get 15% off your purchase. That's right. At SodaStick.com, your place for Minnesota sports-inspired apparel.

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it's pretty ugly here right now mark and you've been there for many years where it was ugly with the fans, where you had groups of fans when I was there who wanted to call into our radio station and tell us that everything the Bills were doing was the smartest thing in the entire world and that we were idiots for questioning whatever quarterback that they had just drafted, EJ Manuel or whoever, or Tyrod. I remember I did post game one of the years where Tyrod started out hot and then missed the playoffs. I think he threw a pick in Philly, lost to Sam Bradford in maybe 2014 to miss the playoffs. And you know, that post game, it was

like, guys, the quarterback's just not good enough. He a 500 type quarterback and i remember it was not a fun time uh taking calls in that situation because there were a lot of tyrod taylor defenders no he's good enough it's just the guard it's just the receivers it's just the coach and everything else and i and i wonder what it is like for everybody to be because i have never had this in my career of covering where everyone is sort of like okay the quarterback is great now it's can we beat whatever teams um that is has to be kind of unusual for you it's yeah it's surreal um i i could uh share a personal anecdote i mean earlier this year um i had a little writer's block after some games because and i think it was in part because it was just so different.

And especially when it's a team that you pretty much know is a contender. And before they hit their rough patch, it's like, well, we didn't learn anything this week. Like, they're good. And where in the past, when you're used to ripping a know, ripping a guy or criticizing or whatever, analyzing this, I mean, you just get so used to it because it was, you know, two decades of that stuff over here. So it's been surreal.

But, yeah, like you said, I mean, it's the quarterback. I mean, he's just phenomenal. And their whole fortunes have changed with him there. Everybody recognizes it and, you know, fans here are just, you know, in love with the guy. And, and it also, I mean, he, he, he does all the right things. He says all the right things. I mean, he really, you know, going back to finding the right guy to build around. I mean, he really, you know, going back to finding the right guy to build around.

I mean, McDermott and being in recognizing just how hard of a worker he was. And again, players will say it. Coaches will say it. Oh, he studies all the time. Like, like Josh Allen, truly. You, you, you touched on it earlier to, to fix that accuracy rate. And the, you know, he, I mean, he had clear accuracy, accuracy issues coming to Buffalo and the dude put in a crazy amount of hours to correct it. And he did. And the odds of that happening were probably slim. He corrected

it. And they, I think them recognizing just how hard he was going to work was a big part of them finding the right guy and maybe taking him instead of, I mean, it looks silly now, but, you know, he and Josh Rosen were very, very similar at the time. And I believe in addition to all the obvious physical attributes, I think Josh Allen's attitude and work ethic and them really prioritizing that, knowing that they found the right guy and not somebody with a Joey Harrington attitude that they found, you know, the guy that was going to put in just this crazy amount of work and do it all the right way. And he has, you know, it sounds like I'm just praising the guy nonstop, but he's been unbelievable. And yeah. Well, there's really nothing else you could do at this point after they scored seven touchdowns on seven drives.

I would say negative media if you could find a problem with that. Yeah, right. But it is fascinating, though. This isn't my other question, but I am so fascinated by his development because through the first couple of years of his career, being that inaccurate and struggling that much is unprecedented to turn it around. I mean, mostly those first couple of years point to who you're going to be, see Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, who there were teams defending still, you know, team traded a second round pick for Josh Rosen after he was horrendous. Another team trade a second round pick for Sam Darnold after he was

horrendous that there's always teams believing Rick Meyer will be the guy that turns it around. Wasn't it the bears who traded a first for him? I mean, there's always belief in the, in the top picks and almost always it blows up in everybody's face. Unless they showed something like a Ryan Tannehill who showed something in Miami, but you know, ultimately didn't work out. So, but with Alan to have some struggles, some serious struggles, those first couple of years and turn it around to me, I mean, the, the player is a huge part of it, but also it just seemed like the confidence that they had to continue to just let him throw the ball. And they didn't go to the like, okay, well, we're just going to run and go to this, you know, we're going to run armies offense or something with him

and then get rid of them after his fifth. Like there've been these other quarterback situations that could kind of tip either way. And it seems like it always ends up with Doug Peterson fighting Carson Wentz or, you know, whatever else like in fighting about the guy, Mitch Trubisky, along with Matt Nagy, where it seemed like Nagy from the reports that came out was doing everything he could to undermine Trubisky or make life harder on him as, and maybe you should just run a few bootlegs with the guy or something. Like, why are you making it harder on these quarterbacks? That to me seems like the pivot point of continuing to build around him and show the confidence that he could get there. And then ultimately he reaches his peak. Yeah. I mean, like I've said, I truly think it's a combination of them being malleable and willing to build the offense to his strengths.

They just were not set in one way or the other. That's why I think Brian Dayball is such a great offensive mind. And you combine that with just, you know, again, it almost sounds cliche, but just a crazy work ethic. Like they did, they spent so much time with those quarterbacks and I, we all knew about his arm. We all, but I think it was his attitude and commitment and all the, again, all the stuff people toss around but maybe don't always either mean it or it might not be as true as they say. But it's true with Josh Allen. And, yeah, they've been on the same page from day one. You know, he and McDermott are just as tight as I think a player coach relationship

can be. There's no, you know, I don't think there's ever been any type of even the slightest rift there. So yeah, it just the right plan and the right people and it's worked. I think that this has really changed my mind, that particular draft on trying to figure out which quarterbacks will be good during draft season, where I think it's really good to look at the details of the quarterbacks and we could talk about those and maybe what correlates more or less to success. And now we're saying, well, freak athletes,

that'll help you, but Jordan Love might be terrible and he was supposed to be the freak athlete of the group. And know i don't know that there's anything ever that's really correlated uh dan marino threw a ton of interceptions his last year in college and becomes the most accurate quarterback of all time it's like what uh you know the it just college is so much different than the nfl and circumstances it's like if you play with a bad wyoming team it's not like playing with the Jaguars where all the guys are drafted and excellent. It's like, you can be playing with dudes who, um, none of them will end up in the NFL or play in the XFL or anything. They could be just horrible playing with Josh Allen. So hard to tell. And then with Mac Jones, who I know didn't play great against the bills, but his team was so good around him

that people tried to ding him for that. And then he turns out to be pretty good right away. It's like, there's no predicting this. And I think Josh Allen makes that super, super clear. Now, the last thing I have for you is I just want to kick around some old bills, coach stories, because folks, no, there's just no compare it. I mean, this it maybe the Cleveland Browns might have the bills on a run of ridiculous coach things, but I'm not even sure that's it. The bills are the only team in the NFL to not only have one coach just quit the job, but two coaches just quit the job. Was it Mike Malarkey that said the sails were underneath our wind or whatever? Was that the, instead of taking the wind out of our sails, he said the sails out of our wind.

And that became his classic, classic thing. Give me some of your favorite all-time hilarious Bills coaches stories. Well, you know what, quickly, what's real funny, not to beat a dead horse, but Malarkey was like the opposite of a brian dayball he was running his offense you know and there was some success early on and then it just flamed out in spectacular fashion but um really he might be the perfect example of like the the anti brian dayball um so i got i got off track there uh. What was the question there? Pure ridiculousness.

Pure ridiculousness. Man. The Marone stuff was interesting. And I say that, and this is going to, I don't know, people might be surprised to hear me say it. I don't think Don Marone is a terrible coach. I actually don't. He just did a few ridiculous things that we had to deal with. And there was a clear learning period there.

I remember like his first or second day of training camp, he didn't understand that, unlike in college, you had to give at least like some injury updates in interviews and that like, we're going to press you on it. Like, we're not just going to, you know, it's probably easier when you're, you know, only covered by a couple of people or whatever, you know? And I just remember it's just some of the most uncomfortable conversations in those early press conferences. And then he had a law, I mean, he went off, but then he had a long talk with John Warrell with the AP after. And it was like, it was professional. And he was like, look, no, you need to at least give us this. We're going to ask that, you game the night that he quit.

And I remember going, you know, the elevator I'm talking about, the old elevator that takes 20 minutes to go up and down at the Sabres arena. That was just surreal. You know, I knew a ton of people at the organization that just despised him. But, again, if you want a few more games, all is, you know, all is forgiven. And I, and I truly, you know, I bring him up first. I don't think he was the worst coach in the, in the world. I think there were many other bills coaches that were much worse than, than him actually.

I think that he never really understood like how anything worked though. I think that's exactly right that he could coach football he was the offensive coordinator for the saints at one time like he could coach football it was just that he i remember he yelled at the entertainment side for showing an interception that ej manual threw in training camp and it was like well what are we supposed to show because every good play by one side is a bad play by the other side. So if we don't show interceptions or catches or like, what can we show? I remember him berating somebody on that side of things who did not have it coming over that.

It was just, that was just ridiculous. With Rex, my favorite was hiring his brother. When he hired Rob and then they rode through the park on a double bike. Yeah. I was like, yeah, that's not good. This isn't going to go so good. That, that, that was over right there. Yeah. And you know, it's funny though, again, I mean, we just let some time, I mean, I think back Ralph Wilson, every, you know, every other draft would say, you know, one of his go-to quotes was I'd rather be lucky than good. And I think we got lucky with this draft pick and blah, blah, blah. and I think we got lucky with this draft pick

and blah blah blah and I think that's true because again going back at the time it sounds crazy but on paper the Rets Ryan hiring made sense at the time now again in all practical it just it ultimately just flamed out in just you know incredible fashion um I heard stories about them instead of working on he and his them instead of working on, he and his brother, instead of working on game plans on a Friday afternoon, they're in the team hot tub, you know, just chilling, you know, stuff like that. Nothing, nothing would really surprise me with them. And again, he was, he was a guy who was just going to do his things,

you know, things his way. Again, I don't, I don't, the thing that surprised me about him i'll say is i truly thought and i could make the comparison to like someone like dayball again i just thought you would see more uh better coaching you know and better game planning and better and it just especially because i you know we all remember when the Jets were running well under his watch. And then it seemed like the longer he was here in Buffalo, the worse a lot of those areas got. And it was just, you know, there were funny stories every week in the press conferences were actually a ton of fun i mean it was a ridiculous kind of weird fun time um for us uh from a you know reporter perspective but yeah it just he wasn't the answer

well with uh rex one of his issues i think is the same issue mike zimmer has had with his defense where he just wouldn't change it and mike zimmer told everybody up and down, oh, I adjust and I make all these changes and everything else. Like, well, maybe that's true, but it doesn't really seem that way. And with Rex, his own players, I remember we're calling him out in press conferences because he had told them you could say anything you want. And so they did. And they were like, yeah, we're not getting in the calls in time.

We can't make the checks. There's too many things to do. And so it ended up being like some infighting there. And you know what's funny? We went this whole time and it just popped into my head that I haven't even mentioned Stefan Diggs to you because we should wrap on this and there's a football game going on and we should watch it. But it's funny because you called me right after the Diggs trade and said, well, you

know, what do you think? I was like, I think digs was right. And I think, and I said, I think he's going to go to Buffalo and I think he's going to shred everybody there and he's going to win football games. You guys are going to be very happy. Well, um, nailed it. Yeah. Just what's, what's the feeling there about Stefan digs? Again, similar with, uh, you similar with a lot of the analysts,

it's just turned out to be a perfect fit. I mean, he's thrilled to be here. He could not be happier in this offense. He loves Josh Allen. He loves winning. He is, as you know, he's fun as hell for us to talk to. He can get actually kind of like deep in a formal press conference NFL setting, which is not always the easiest thing to do because it's a very, I don't know, I don't want to say stuffy, but it's a very, you know, it's not the most personal,

especially now when we're on Zoom and stuff like that. But there were a lot of, when we were still allowed to go out there, you know, before Omicron and everything, a lot of his press conferences were they would have – he would have a couple answers every week that were kind of fascinating and fun. And he enjoyed it and we enjoyed it. There was no, you know – it was just – I don't know. I thought it was interesting.

And then on the field, he's just been everything, you know, you just watch him and he's been everything you could want in a elite number one receiver. Like there's just, there's no question about it. He's not, you know, here in Buffalo, we had so many other receivers over the years, whether it was Sammy Watkins or Lee Evans or Robert Woods, and a lot of them had very good moments, but you never knew.

It was like, okay, well, is this guy an Eric Moulds or not? Maybe not. And from the second he stepped onto that football field here, it was like, yeah, number one receiver, one of the best in the league. I'm like, you're good. So it's been just unbelievably smooth sailing. He and Josh Allen, they hit it off from day one. Some of the stories about them hitting it off in off-season workouts,

not even in Buffalo when they get together with the receivers, you know, for passing camps and stuff like that somewhere else. So, um, he, he's just, I, you know, I know Minnesota fans might not want to hear that, but, um, he's just been fantastic. He's just, he's been everything the bills could have hoped for him. That's him. He's a very smart person. And I think that it, and very competitive. And I think it drove him crazy to know the right answer and not have anyone take him seriously to listen to it.

And I think that's probably what I told you going into 2020 is they just wouldn't listen to him. And it was very difficult here because people always want, like I said earlier to say that the, all the, my team did the right thing. It was this guy's fault. He was the problem. You get out of town. As I just earlier tonight watched Odell Beckham score a touchdown. I was like, well, but with Diggs, I knew from people that

I had been talking to of what he was trying to get accomplished and how frustrated he was. And he just did, he did one thing, one thing one thing skipped one practice he never said anything in public throw me the ball throw me the damn ball the keyshawn johnson there was nothing like that no teammate ever said he was a bad teammate or anything else but that one thing stuck with people and they said no he's cancer get him out of here all these other things and it was so frustrating because his reputation because of that assumption of what was going on, looked much worse than it actually was, and now he's thrived. And the Vikings just fell ass-backward into another one of the best receivers of the league because this franchise always has to have another receiver.

I don't know why. So it's a little bit of all's well that ends well, but it's also a smoking gun for the Zimmer era of this is kind of what was going on. And this whole conversation here, this is what needs to happen basically is look at this and follow this. That's how you succeed in the NFL. Assuming you hit on the quarterback,

which is not always easy. Mark, it's been super fun to get together with you. And I always appreciate our tweets back and forth from time to time and your coverage of the bills. I'm going to say this cause I don't think there's any other bills media listening. I've muted a lot of people just, just because the constant updates and I like don't cover the team,

but I haven't muted you. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Even here, I've muted some people, but you know, keep that between you and me and the people listening to. Yeah. Yeah. it's a different atmosphere in that movie i'm telling you the minnesota media versus the anyone on the east coast it is so different and it's uh in one way just a lot less stressful oh just there is so much less fighting all the time and yelling at each other and maybe this is less because the team is good i don't know uh but i mean when i was there it was just this person hates this person and

you you know they you'd be people fighting all the time arguing on twitter constantly with each other doing stuff to each other you know it was just like really bad here there's the passive aggressive midwestern you know whisper behind people's back, but there's that everywhere. It's just not like people are not going out of their way to start fights with each other, which has been a change. And also an adjustment for me. It's like, don't, don't say it. Don't do it. Don't get in a fight with anybody. I made it a goal. That's funny. I'd say, I don't, I don't know if that happens here anymore.

I will say, I'd say at least with my bill, the people I know, I'd say there's probably like kind of two groups of friends. And a lot of us do get along well. I mean, you know, Heather Prusak and John Scott got married over the summer and there were a ton of us over there. And, you know, there's there's gatherings at people's houses, at least, you know, there's, there's gatherings at people's houses, at least, you know, pre COVID. So, you know, maybe it's been a little smoother in recent years in general, I'd say. So it was me. Yeah. That's what you're saying. All right, Mark. Thanks. Thanks for getting together, man. This is really fun. And we will see if we're talking again,

more a little bit about Brian Dable in the future. I don't know there's lots of candidates uh we'll see but thanks for the insight man and uh enjoy covering the playoffs i really appreciate the time in the midst of a playoff run anytime appreciate it man