Curtis Samuel could miss start of regular season w/ turf toe: Are Bills in trouble?

what is up everybody welcome into shout of Buffalo Bills football podcast on this Monday August 19th an ominous Monday for Bill's Mafia as the injury news came down from Sha McDermot a little bit earlier today we're going to get into all of that in a few moments I see Sophia in the comments says please let there be good audio uh cursed those uh the WiFi at our Acer Stadium it was pretty bad the other day we apologize about that but we're back in the saddle Ryan and oen I'm here in Buffalo and and we got a big show for you today Ryan August 31st the next live show we are 12 days away get it in your calendars if you're G to be in Buffalo if you're if you're in drivable distance head out to Wingnuts 1402 Millersport Highway the party is back uh every month we go to Wingnuts it's an awesome time we can't wait for that live uh that live show yeah it's always a great time at Wing nuts come join us we'll be talking about the final roster the practice squad looking toward week one of the NFL schedule in that match against the Arizona Cardinals and you know who knows we might have a lot of new information based on some of these injuries and the players that are week to week going into week one of the regular season so there's a lot of injury stuff to get into here right and you know we gotta kind of prioritize and and I think where I started and you could see in the headline here is Curtis Samuel because you you look at a new look offense and and what potentially this thing's going to be in 2024 I think Curtis Samuel is about as big of a part of it as you can get I think you have Josh Allen in his own tier I think you have do concade in his own tier and then after that I think it's a collection of guys one of them being Curtis Samuel sha MC revealed today that he's dealing with a turf toe situation uh and they're expecting him to be week to week it's a weird kind of switch it's you know they talked about last week uh when he didn't practice for a couple days said it was General soreness so maybe it was some just general foot soreness that as the days went on and they and they maybe took a longer look at it it was uh you know determined that it was a bit of a turf toe situation now I'm no medical expert I did I did a little research before the show there are three different grades uh uh one two or three for turf toe injuries so depending on where he falls on that uh scale we could be talking about a couple days a couple weeks or something even that you know we've seen it in the past Ryan this it could be something that lingers along time yeah and we don't know the great of it you hope that based on the general soreness designation it's on that lower end of the scale and if so the bills have been proactive about it kind of kept him out for a week already and maybe he'll be good to go by week one but until we know more details on that you're right it's a it's a scale that varies from one side to the next and and we've seen players who get turf toe and it lingers throughout the year or it pops up again in terms of an issue for a player and you hope that's not the case with Curtis Samuel because this is a player who is joining uh a team where he's familiar with the offense I'm sure Joe Brady has a big role in mind for him whether you're talking out of the slot whether you're talking outside receiver putting him at running back moving him around is a movable chess piece of sorts he's going to have a big role in this offense so you hope that he's 100% come week one this is an injury uh I was reading that he's dealt with before we haven't had a chance to talk to Curtis at all the the bills will practice the next couple of days and you know listen the injury list is so long that Shawn mcder is pivoting off of his original plan which was to play the starters against the Panthers this weekend I I don't know about that original plan like I I would have said all the starters this week even before the injuries but uh now with the injuries it's definitely the second team that will play against the Panthers but for for Samuel it's I would be he's in a good spot I I mentioned that he'd had this injury before because I think the bills do a good job of making sure that guys are as close to 100% before getting them back out there and I don't think that you want to rush him back knowing the kind of season or volume that I think that you're expecting out of him I think you can make an argument that the volume in this offense potentially there for Samuel is greater than anything he saw at all while he was in Washington and and maybe even more than you know the majority of his time in Carolina yeah it absolutely could be because of how important he is maybe to uh this scheme and what Brady wants to do with him in this offense so airing on the side of caution is definitely the way to go right now uh the bills airing on the side of caution with all their starters going into this last preseason game that's definitely the right move I was a little surprised when sha mcder said he had planned to play them um especially after what had happened with you know Matt Milano this past week and how they pivoted quickly to make sure trell Bernard was not going to play he said postgame that as soon as that news came down about Milano uh they weren't going to play Bernard they didn't want to risk any more injury at that position and you know you see what happened in in the game though on Saturday night now you do have to take it very carefully with your starters but also your depth players so when you look at it the Silver Lining and all of this is going to be the bills can really evaluate those guys that are going to be fighting for either a two or three roster spots on this team and then B guys that are fighting for a lot of practice squad uh spots on this team so you know if you're someone that has tickets for kids day go enjoy all the scenes beforehand uh but I apologize for the product on the field you're gonna probably see a lot of handoffs and some iffy quarterback play at best yeah and I well we'll see because the the quarterback play hasn't been great to this point right like I mean watching trabis the other day I know he's dealing with the knee injury we're going to get into him in a minute I want to hit on MBS before we get there um the bills have you know an interesting opportunity here to find somebody that can fit in the system do they want to go to the the guys that have been in the building before um that could be a route that you go obviously the Matt Barkley's of the world uh out there um it's funny I mean if he wasn't so long removed from playing Davis Webb who is now like the Talk of the Town in in terms of the work he's doing in the quarterback's room in Denver you know he'd probably come in here and give you some pretty decent play knowing you know uh the the bones of this system that I still think is there from the dable days but either way I mean people were clamoring on social media for Ryan tanah Hill on Saturday Saturday and I know he's probably sitting out there hoping that um some type of better opportunity to playing time exists but I think you come up with a lot worse situations than being the back up to Josh Allen at this point in 2024 for tanah Hill yeah you're right and it depends on you know again they designated trabis as week to week um you'd have to convince tanah Hill a that he's gonna get a true opportunity to be that quarterback too even when trabis is back in the fold and you know it wouldn't be hard to maybe convince him of that based on the play we've seen from trabis I still think tanah Hill might end up being a pipe dream like you said you know he's going to want a better opportunity when I say better opportunity probably a spot where a uh he could come in and start some games the season for a team and you look around the league there's a few spots there but it would have to be based on an injury a starter would have to go down probably early in the regular season then he would get called get a few weeks to kind of ramp things up and then get into uh action with that new team so interesting we got some breaking news here Ryan oh go ahead the bills are signing former Baltimore Ravens quarterback Anthony Brown according to Tom pisaro um obviously a guy that has some Mobility I'm going to actually bring him up on the screen here but I remember him um if I'm not mistaken having a really nice game in place of Lamar Jackson uh in recent years do you remember Anthony Brown at all um they they've had some decent backup play come through there but I am not I'm kind of blinking on I'm mistaken I'm mistaken that's not who I was thinking of I must have been think who who was who was the quarterback that came in in Baltimore ah that had a pretty good like couple of games there it wasn't Josh dos because I don't even know if he was no no I know who you mean and I'm GNA I'm looking up right now because he made the Pro Bowl as like uh so many alternates they went through um all right well while you're looking that up this is the former Boston College and Oregon quarterback when undrafted in 2022 uh signed by the Baltimore Ravens and then he uh ended up on the Las Vegas Raiders roster here in 2024 he was waved on August 16th three days ago as Gardner mchu was kind of taking control of that job there um you know a guy that they're they're adding to the mix here and they might not be done Ryan I mean you get Anthony Brown here if Mitchell trabis is going to be out for a couple of weeks which we um which could be a possibility here according to Shawn McDermot now you're talking about Ben denucci who's in off the streets and now Anthony Brown thrown into the mix it's GNA kind of be a you know how much can you impress them in a short amount of time yeah and the chat is full here Tyler Snoop Huntley was the quarterback you were thinking yeah there it is there it is that playoff game where like he fumbled going on the QB sneak into the end zone they would have knocked off the angles had that happen but he had you know nice job there the bills probably do need to keep looking for a quarterback I I don't know if Brown's going to be a viable you know backup option or even a number three option when trabis comes back uh from this injury but right now it's kind of just a body for a preseason game and that's what they need between denucci and him they're going to kind of probably hand the ball off a lot it hurts the evaluations when it comes to maybe the these wide receivers and tight ends I can't imagine it being a very uh pass heavy offensive game plan though in this preseason finale against the Panthers what does this tell you about I I think it tells you something about the trabis injury because I think going out and bringing in a guy like brown tells you that they still have trabis in mind like I don't think you're comfortable going into the season with just Brown and denucci as your options at backup quarterback so I'm sitting here thinking maybe this trabis thing is a shorter term injury otherwise they'd probably go in a more drastic Direction yeah and when you look at the trabis injury you could probably you know put a brace on the knee at some point if he's weak to week you're still talking we're multiple weeks away from week one good chance that he's at least good enough to be that backup come week one for the bills uh or very early in the season so that's why they didn't go out and sign uh you know or Ryan tanah Hill or make a big splash they probably are feeling pretty good about tris's timeline now as the weeks go on here leading up to the regular season if they're not seeing the Improvement uh in in the knee for him then maybe they do have to make a more drastic move but like I said this just feels more like a we need a guy to be out there we can't just ask Ben denucci to play all four quarters he's one hit away from being out of action and then who knows what they would have to do there for emergency QB situation uh but it's a good opportunity for brown nonetheless you went back uh at this point watch the uh game you also put out the uh PFF grades and had some reaction to that to our insiders what did you make of tris's performance in general because you know it live watching it play out I I thought it was bad and I kind of went back and there was a couple of plays in there especially the the throw to Zack Davidson that I thought was a little bit better than I remembered it in real time but I asked sha mcder about what he's made of trabis Play to this point because you got the injury but he's kind of seems locked in as your backup and I know there's a lot of bills fans that are a little bit unsettled with that and he said uh I think there uh there's been we've been able to move the ball at times but not enough some of that really drives our stalling or we're getting off schedule and it makes it really hard to move the chains or get into the Rhythm because of the pre- snap penalty so a little bit of an excuse built in there for trabis some of the other stuff uncontrollables that may be uh sabotaging these drives so I'll start there but I think Mitch has done a some real good things and then the other night I'm sure there are some plays he wants back as well so obviously what we saw in that game uh from McDermot as well it is kind of like of the life of a backup in this situation in the role that he currently is in with us to go in at a moment's notice and In fairness to him I made the call to not play Josh in pregame in warm-ups when I saw the conditions due to the weather that came through I thought there were some things he did well and then honestly some things he wants back also so you know MIT shabisky got the green light to play minutes before the game which is a true backup quarterback scenario he went in there probably would have liked to have seen more but Shawn mcder mentioning you know that's sometimes how it goes with backups yeah to answer your original question I don't feel El trabis has played well at all through two games even watching back uh that throw to Davidson was probably his throw of the preseason it's you know his best one to me that he's had thus far the first game you could blame the offensive line uh they did a poor job protecting him but I thought more times than not minus the first drive against Pittsburgh the o line held up very well for him uh he just held the ball too long he missed open receivers on some plays uh dancing around trying to make things happen at times the bad interception I don't feel like he has come in and looked any better than a Kyle Allen and you know you remember how low we were on Kyle Allen last year in the play that we we saw from him at training camping throughout the pre-season uh at the end of the day though this is a team that's going to ride with Josh Allen as far as they possibly can uh if it were up to trabis or just about any other backup in this league this team season will effectively be over um thank you for watching on this Monday evening uh right here on shout if you're watching on YouTube hit that like button subscribe to the channel as well we're gonna get to the safety situation here in a few moments I want to talk about rookie running back Ray Davis as well but before we get there Marquez Val Des scantling uh went off on a cart uh with the neck injury in the game on Saturday so I'm walking around a little bit after the game which I think was you know good news he's kind of tabbed as week to week so you're talking about Samuel out of that wide receiver room you're talking about um mvs now out of that wide receiver room let's reshuffle the deck here what does that mean for this potential starting lineup you have Matt Collins and Keon Coleman who are kind of in their own pot you have uh khil Shakir this feels like a huge opportunity for Tyrell sh Shavers here over the in this last preseason game it's been a quiet preseason for Shavers and then if he makes it through Final Cut a potential big opportunity to start the season because I think he's a little bit different than Keon Coleman and Mack Holland who I think fit more into that XR in this in this offense could it mean something more for Andy Isabella Scott Banker brings him up and he said hi at the beginning what's up Scott um who do you think this these injuries you hate to phrase it like this but benefit the most or put give a big opportunity to I I would go with Shavers uh number one because the camp that he's had but going back to what I said earlier I don't know how any wide receivers is going to be able to shine in this final pre-season game minus special team snaps blocking and run blocking that is things of that nature you know maybe even a KJ hamler uh hamler graded out very well Pro Football Focus he's uh has some chances for return responsibilities too so there's an opportunity for him as well those would be the top two guys off the top of my head that would you know like you said you don't want to say benefit the most from injuries but truly do benefit from what uh happened in terms of making this initial roster and come week one potentially play some uh some significant or at least some snaps with Josh Yen at quarterback uh yeah I think I'm really watching what Shavers does this weekend the problem that he's facing and all these wide receivers are facing and how much do we think that maybe the preseason has been a result the quiet preseason been result of bad quarterback play and I don't see that necessarily improving a ton um Elliot says Matt's outfit uh tonight makes me want to say go cuse um I got the Mets hat on um one of our favorite stadiums that's another thing side note people all the time see me wear a Yankees hat and a Mets hat and they're like what's going on here and I've kind of adopted the if I like the team stadium I'm going to rock their hat they in Major League Baseball I got a Pittsburgh Steelers or uh Pittsburgh Pirates hat that's added to the collection you're going to see that make its debut PNC Park is topnotch we didn't talk about this the other night Ryan we went to go see uh Paul SK and it was an absolutely beautiful night 6ks ended up getting the win that was a pretty cool night on Friday night yeah great night beautiful ballpark cannot say enough good things about PNC Park um awesome to get to kind of walk around you know we had great seats first and foremost shout out to you for that but then getting up to walk around pregame and and watch him throw the football around with his warm up uh the way they have it designed that there's areas for you to stand pregame or in even between Innings and get a really cool view of the the ball game itself and and the field as well which spectacular Skyline and background behind it as well I saw an interesting comment on social media where we've been talking a lot about wide receivers and I it's 2024 so why not just throw this on the pile what would you think about a veteran minimum deal for Juju Smith Shuster I wouldn't hate it um I think that he still has a little bit of juice left I think that anything that could have little bit Juju juice left little bit I like that um I think anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong during that stint in uh New England you know someone else on social media was asking about Michael Thomas um yeah he's another player that you could look at I saw reports about Jan doson potentially being available I don't necessarily believe that I think his coaches is trying to motivate him a little bit uh talking about how you know the number two receiver job is still up for grabs there I don't think he's available there's guys out there and if the you know if you do have some bad news if you think the turf to is going to linger uh for a Curtis Samuel you might want to be proactive and get someone that you think can come in and and be productive that has been productive in this league before so wouldn't be uh completely against the idea of a Smith Shuster I don't know there's a couple factors here for me number one my feelings on ju guu have been well documented on this show uh going back to his Steelers days the 50 yard line Tick Tock dances like I don't know like that that was just never I wasn't a huge fan of it um now seeing him go to Kansas City and the success that he had that year kind of opened your eyes a little bit uh he obviously was able to settle into a championship culture figure out a way to have a role the only problem here is Samuel and Smith Schuster aren't really like swappable pieces like Shust Shuster is a little bit more of that possession receiver Allah a khil Shakir and I think Shakir is much better uh at this stage of his career and probably I think year3 khil this might be a little bit hyperbolic to say but I would take year three khil over any single season of Juju Smith Shuster and that a big reason for that is because I thought his early Career Success was based on Antonio Brown still being at the peak of his game and being this kind of secondary Target when Antonio Brown left his his production fell off a cliff so I think I'm good on this on the juju Smith Shuster area or or idea um but I do think that you know doson uh thinking about a couple other options I mean listen we don't know the extent of the injury uh details of Chase Claypool that could have been a handshake deal uh an injury settlement and and maybe he's in play uh a few weeks from now depending on how long that injury was gonna be yeah and if he's still out there it could be a main roster signing after the time runs off on that uh because the bills obviously have to wait a certain amount of time based on the injury settlement the three-week period plus whatever the time is that they agreed upon to uh but if not main roster he just makes so much sense in my eyes in terms of a practice squad spot that where once he's healthy enough you can sign him to the practice squad you can Elevate him in games uh so that that's someone else to watch you know the bills obviously have a good idea about Curtis Samuel and yeah I saw someone else saying we do know like the extent of the injury because he was listed as week to week that's not necessarily true the bills might just be saying that to to be to give him that extra amount of time and rest to get him uh closer he could be on the the good side of this injury in terms of almost being over it but there's no reason to get him out there in the preseason finale there's no reason to rush him back he knows the system better than any receiver uh on the team currently uh over the course of the year that might change obviously is they get more experience in it but the fact that he's already played for Joe Brady certainly benefits him in terms of not needing as many reps necessarily whether we're talking preseason games or even practice reps one more thought on the quarterbacks before we get out of here like an idea I've seen a couple people talking about you know maybe a guy like bayy zappy if he gets cut or or something in that uh category what do what do you think about the idea of the bills calling up the Titans and seeing if a day three pick could get them Malik Willis as uh a guy that I know I think both of us really liked him coming out as like a day three or day late day two day three guy he went a little bit higher than that but somebody that has some Mobility has an arm I don't know just somebody to kind of throw into the mix like um they're not GNA keep three quarterbacks so I don't think that they're necessarily going to go that route if they believe in trabis getting himself back but I I like the idea of finding a backup quarterback that could do some of the things that Josh does in terms of the mobility I'm not sitting here putting Malik Willis in the in the in the in the category of Allen as a thrower of course uh but just an idea what do you think yeah it's not a bad idea the bills have a lot of draft capital for next year uh they could send a late day three pick and try to develop those traits with that uh the Texans or the Texans excuse me the Titans have not been able to do to date uh like you said definitely mobile quarterback has shown some signs at times when early in his career when when given chances but there's been a lot of downplay as well so not against that but a guy like bayy zappy who you also mentioned makes a ton of sense he's going to end up being that qb4 on the Patriots they're not going to keep four quarterbacks so I wouldn't hate that idea there's going to be a lot of you know interesting names released here in in just a few weeks uh when when teams cut their rosters down so the bills will have options if they are serious about either trying to give some uh give another player a shot to be that qb2 but with Travis's contract it's harder to Envision that uh but they could also get a a solid quarterback maybe on their practice squad knowing full well that it's probably time to go the young route and try to develop someone in that spot uh to bring along if not then I would say attack in the draft next year again day three at some point someone with developmental traits that you can bring along so bills aren't necessarily in the same situation year after year where they're bringing veterans and those veterans aren't necessarily uh giving you much confidence in their play let's move on to the safety position here because man is this a group that's been absolutely ravaged by injuries and it continues uh to be in that situation so right now if you take a look at their depth chart they have eight safeties three of them aren't able to play right now uh this Saturday against the Panthers you got Demar Hamlin who is dealing with a hamstring injury and sha mcder said he's gonna be weak to week um so and might put his status for the opener in some Jeopardy uh then you have Mike Edwards and Cole Bishop who have been battling uh injuries of their own for the last couple of weeks some good news on them they're going to return to practice this week do some individual drills which is more than they've done since either of their injuries but Ryan as we're sitting here right now if they don't get to a point where they're ready for the opener the three of these guys what do the Bills do here is it Kareem Jackson do they have to think outside the box and bring somebody else in uh cam Lewis obviously would probably be the guy that starts but like Kareem Jackson and D Delaney and Terrell Burgess whoever ends up being those dep guys would be one away from having to play yeah it's very concerning I think cam Lewis would start with Taylor rap if Cole bishop and Mike Edwards were not ready for week one if Hamlin's not ready for week one I think that the fact that you're getting both Edwards and Bishop back in like the individual periods individual work is an encouraging sign for week one uh Hamlin I'm not shutting the door on him being ready for week one either so come week one they might actually be you know fully ready to go but if they are not Lewis showed that he could you know he held on the fort very well preseason game I know lack of game planning his versatility would make me think he would start opposite Taylor RP um and for the bills you also you don't ever want to say that you don't want to get your best guys out there on the field but they do got to be smart with these safeties Matt week one is not a meaningless game but it's against an NFC opponent if you have a guy that's not quite 100% like a Cole Bishop for instance I'm not rushing to get him out there for week one if you have a Mike Edwards or Demar Hamlin that can start opposite Taylor uh R it comes down to being smart about the length of this season making sure your players are going to be out there for the majority of those games so that's all that's way out of the way that's still a few weeks way for the bills to figure out but air on the side of caution with these injuries I know they're beat up and they've been banged up at safety uh if you have to go one week though with a cam Lewis Taylor wrap situation with some of those depth safeties that you mentioned you know a creem Jackson um I'm I'm okay with it for like a one week scenario de Delaney hasn't done much uh this summer in terms of giving me any kind of confidence in his play but you know the bills will have to kind of cross that bridge when they get there we are here on shout on a Monday uh evening turning into night here thank you for watching if you're watching on YouTube hit that like button subscribe to the channel as well Ryan I went back and watched that game and I came away with real excitement about the first season potential of Ray Davis and we've talked so much about him over the course of the off season what he can be as potentially like his ceiling being like that sidekick or like a secondary option to James Cook I think we could be sitting here in December or January talking about him being like you know not surpassing James Cook but being just as important to what they're doing on offense and in the Run game he's so elusive I I love how urgent he is I know I'm G to keep saying that but he has got a an extra little like speed a gear that he hits the line of scrimmage with I was really impressed with him the other day there's no no dancing around that's not saying that the bills have a running back room full of guys that dance around but you know he just as soon as that hole emerges he's there he's through it he's moving on he has a little bit of burst in his game he has some uh for a rookie some grown man strength I'll call it in terms of being able to stiff arm and and power through arm tackles it's very encouraging you see him average over seven yards a carry against the Steelers um just you know how great he was in terms of knowing as soon as that hole was there I'm gonna be through it I'm gonna move on to that second level I can he could get around the outside and make plays there he could easily be the 1B to James Cook's 1A at the end of this rookie season which is impressive because you know I remember a month ago talking about Ty Johnson pre-injury and how it would be very hard to surpass him come week one because of how good Johnson was in the Run game and as receiver and as a blocker but Davis ever since Johnson went down with that injury has checked every box he's done a great job in pass protection he's done a great job running the ball we know he has good hands he can do a little bit of everything for this offense and as the season goes on I do think you see his role get bigger and bigger to where it does kind of cut in a little bit to James Cook's workload maybe more so than some would imagine yeah I was thinking like 60 or 70% uh of the touches in the Run game for James Cook this season because of the depth chart but man I I'm I'm flipping on that like I really think Ray Davis is gonna have a defined role I think his what stood out to me more than even the runs is the pass protection like he is a willing blocker he doesn't look uncomfortable I think that's an area where you know I'm excited maybe tomorrow to talk to uh Joe Brady about what he's seen on tape and in the practice setting from Ray Davis in some of those p protection situations because that was one of the bullets on his scouting report that I thought was was something that you were got excited about yeah 100% And you go back you look at the college tape in the film and you saw the production but you just wondered would there be any kind of delay in terms of learning the NFL game getting used to the speed of the game we're not necessarily seeing that I know he's struggled in the first preseason match up against Chicago but just about everyone on Buffalo's offense did because the o line play and lack of game planning I really do think that this is a player and maybe part of it is his age and his experience he is more NFL ready maybe than some of his other peers that were in this draft class at running back it is 605 on Monday evening the bills uh have a practice week starting tomorrow in Orchard Park they'll play the Carolina Panthers it's going to be all backups uh on Saturday but I think that's fine Ryan like when there's a couple guys in in a bunch of different position groups that I think this team has to really get a long look at you know Zack Davidson to me being at the top of the list like if he ends up getting the start which I think that he will and play potentially the the whole first half or into the third quarter you're going to get a really good look at at at what he's able to do against that Panthers defense Quint Morris has a shoulder injury he's likely going to be out uh for a couple weeks we don't know the details on that Shawn mcder actually when asked about those four players trabis Morris mvs and Sam and I think throw balen Spectre in there as well he's dealing with the calf injury and surprise surprise Balon Spectre is going to be week to week again with an injury during the preseason it's like every season uh you feel you feel for the guy like I know we talked about year after year this is a storyline and I think you just get to a point when somebody's body is just betraying them that you just you feel for the person because it looks like he's putting in a lot of hard work he's had himself a really nice summer uh can't get over the hump but Sean mcder said putting those Five Guys in in a in a bucket some he's more concerned about than others and so now you got to play The Guessing Game like who's in a worst spot who's going to be out with a little bit longer maybe you eliminate trabis because of the approach that they've take taken at at quarterback but one more note on him as um uh the show is going on that news broke earlier the bills are signed uh Anthony Brown uh our buddy Chris chap Paso put out uh when he was at Oregon uh really nice Runner had nine touchdowns as a runner that year 600 yards on the ground so he's somebody that if you have to get him out in space uh if you have to get him off off schedule maybe he can do some things yeah and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of running uh opportunities for him on Saturday when he gets into the game but going back to those players and the injuries you know huge opportunity for Zack Davidson based on what happened with Quinton Morris and the fact that he is week to week um you hope again that Morris is someone that they feel confident will be ready for week one uh if not come that the day of roster cutdowns maybe they use an IR spot on a Morris that they can bring him back but you hope the severity of it is he's ready to go week one they don't have to do that because he is so good on special teams he he's had a fine training camp as well uh the way that you know through the two preseason games pre Quinton Morris injury I was starting to believe that maybe the Davidson pushing for a job as tight end three was n necessarily as real as I thought it was during training camp in terms of the snap count when he was getting into the game or maybe that was Buffalo's plan was to hide him a little bit in the preseason but it did feel like it was trending toward Quinton Morris almost being in my eyes that clearcut number three but if this injury gives Davidson a chance to not only shine on Saturday in the preseason finale but uh if it's something where Morris's injur is going to linger into the regular season this is huge for him because he does have a good knack for finding open spots against Zone and uh he is a in my opinion a better receiving option than Morris with a higher upside uh but it came down to special teams and that's where Morris seemed to have him edged out so big opportunity for Davidson we know what kind of Summer he has had and now with this injury to Quinton Morris maybe it gives him a legitimate chance here to make this 53 man roster you know what's really interesting to think about over the next couple weeks is the waters are a bit muddy we're a week out from roster cutdown day right yeah and we could get to next Tuesday and the bills maybe having more than two players that they want to put on injured reserve to get through that final uh threshold you could see the bills keep like three two three players through that period because they got to put two others on ir and then put them immediately on injured reserve after that and we don't know this ity for all these but when you're talking about a bucket of five players that are week to week and then you have two safeties who are just getting back to do some individual work and when sea was asked about Edwards and Bishop and if there's any chance for them to play this weekend it was like a definitive no so there still could be a little bit of timeline for them this roster cutdown day Ryan is going to be really interesting it it is GNA be really interesting because we just talked recently about uh the fact that maybe you know teams don't have to do those handshake par lot deals anymore and the bills might have to after all they might have to have Reed Ferguson in the parking lot once again because if there are four or five players that are dealing with injuries you can only put two of them on that IR uh pre you know setting your roster they might have to move a few through and then you know move them to the IR after that date resign guys like Reed Ferguson it it like you said muddies the water makes things more complicated but I'm sure this is something that Brandon being in the front office is already looking at in terms of potential options who are guys that they could uh release it with you know without much dead cap on their contracts or or hits that they' have to take and then resign and you know give them a little bit extra for doing that so uh and Mike I guess what is I see in the comments here he said we're missing a lot of your questions I may have missed them because it's it's a very active chat so if you have a question throw it in here again and I'll take a look let's talk a little bit about Ryan vandemar who listen we're talking about injuries and this might be a great transition point because the bills are a tackle injury away from Ryan vandemark having a very important role on this team and I thought that he looked good um at left tackle specifically on Saturday and that was something that we were talking about like over the past couple of seasons can he be the guy that plays both sides I feel like he's taken that kind of Step this off season he looked comfortable his run blocking grade really stood out to uh me when you posted those in the chat from PFF um I thought that he was pretty good as a pass blocker too they dinged him on that it gave him a 52.7 I thought he was a lot better than that but you know vandemark that's his strength as a p pass blocker so if he's given you that kind of production in the Run game you're talking about a real you know a real dude there his development over the last two years has been so fun to watch when you rewatch watch these preseason games when you see him at training camp and uh how well he's performed here in Aaron kromer's system I think that he could start for a lot of teams across the league right now at a Tackle Spot and for the bills they're very lucky to have him is that number three first guy off the bench probably your swing tackle option uh because he's gotten better in in terms of run blocking he's been solid as a pass blocker he moves extremely well he's very physical uh there's so much to like about his game and when you go went back and watched the game against the Steelers he just had great rep after great rep he played a lot of rep so this wasn't just a grade based on you know eight 10 12 snaps it was over 20 um he he really settled in well on that offensive line and was you know played a big role in why they were producing on the ground uh in that matchup and nothing but great things to say here and Matt the question that came in I saw it in here I have to scroll back up now um he wants to know what about Jo Andre playing the Mike position and trell Bernard to the will position okay so I asked sha mcder about this today because I'd seen some kind of conversation about this thing like Joe Andre can only play middle linebacker which I think is crazy like I think he can play both spots and Sean said that Al hul specifically since he's been here has been cross trining him at both positions like we've seen it with Dorian Williams since they drafted him like you can't fall into one spot even Bernard his first season his one start was for mat Milano on the will at the will spot so he didn't project necessarily as this cleancut um Mike linebacker and here's other piece of that kind of question so you have Shawn mcder who said the game plan was very basic for this game right like so Joe andreon can kind of get out there and play fast because he didn't probably have to worry as much about or like you know shoulder the load of having to call the entire defense and at all three levels getting guys in the right positions that's something that charell Bernard is expected to do week in and week out so I think that would be putting a lot on the plate of an undrafted guy who earned his spot with a try out during rookie mini camp which is amazing and the Joe andreon story gets better and better every single week but if you're telling me that he can't play the will linebacker spot with the interchangeability of those spots I don't believe it and I'm also not willing to overreact hyperbolically even though I do like to do that from time to time and sit here and say that based on that one game Joe andreon is ready to be a starting linebacker for the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted rookie in 2024 right like I think this is a guy that you definitely have now tabbed as a developmental player I think I'm all in on him making the 53 man roster especially with the vets that you've brought in Maro not being able to stay healthy Dion Jones being just okay and a guy that maybe you could get back on your practice squad if you if you give him that handshake and say we like you a part of the building but come back you're still learning the defense whatever but I don't think that you're going to change what was a borderline Pro Bowl level player in Terrell Bernard last year to make room for a udfa rookie yeah I'm going to Splash even more cold water on the Buffalo Joe's story I'm not sure he even makes a 53-man roster because of cuts across this league you're right Buffalo's linebacker room right now if you're just looking solely at their linebacker room him making the 53 I'm on board with it but there's going to be some guys that are cut down across the league where the bills are going to say he has a lot of valuable reps playing in the in live game action uh someone that fits our scheme someone that's maybe familiar or has played in the scheme before and then an Andre might fall to the practice squad he was a great he's a great story he he will be a great story his game was unbelievable on Saturday but it was the lack of game planning uh I think in a real game some teams might try to take advantage of uh overp Pursuits or aggressiveness and things like that that happens in actual games he's a little undersized athleticism is off the charts I'm not willing to sit here after one tremendous outstanding performance and say that this is a guy that's even going to make the RO let alone start week one or play a big role week one with you know Bernard and Dorian Williams who I I obviously see as the starting linebackers come week one um but I I can't even sit here and say Andre's gonna be on that 53 man roster I've seen a lot of great preseason stories where guys show up and play very well and they still don't make the roster and you know we we've seen it Camp in Camp out these guys that become fan favorites Isabella last year they're a lot of fans upset he didn't make the 53-man roster there were the Brandon Riley of the world years before that there's always some players that pop in the preseason do a nice job but at the end of the day they either uh won get CAU and go elsewhere or they they slide right onto the practice squad I don't think if the bills released andreon that there would be teams trying to claim him necessarily I think that they could get him on the practice squad but based on their linebackers and so linebackers I'm not against him being on the initial 53 okay a lot there let me let me uh let me get into some of that because I will push back a little bit in that I think what andrees did on Saturday was different than 95% of preseason Darlings right that was a dominant two plus quarter performance where the production the tape the reaction I saw somebody in the comment talk about Greg coell I had not listened to his hit with on one bills live yet whenever Greg coell talks about the bills I'm tuning in so I'll check that out but I watched Brian baldinger's breakdown on Andre and his tape and he raved about the kid and I think hear and Sean talk about him today a little bit deeper in the job that he's done I think I think he reminds me a bit of Christian Benford and I know that might be like a bit of a stretch because benford's turned into this plus starter for the bills but remember when he was a sixth round draft pick competing with KY elim a couple years ago nobody was thinking that he was in that conversation and he just took things over and he just made a role for himself on the team and so I look at a guy like Eddie Osio and Dorian Williams who are kind of those incumbent guys and I'm high on Dorian Williams I think he's gonna have a nice season here as he's got to kind of fit in for Matt Milano but I do like for Dorian Williams who has gotten banged up in the past Terrell Berard who's gotten banged up in the past I like the idea of having a guy like Andre who listen for better or worse I like Osio I've talked about it in the show but Andre went out there and just he gave you the production in a game so I think Andre's making the 53 man roster I think I'm there unless we see a a big step back here Saturday and I think he's gonna get another chance to play a massive massive role against the Panthers I I would feel more confident in saying he'll make the 53 if he can I I'm not going to say repli ate that performance because that would be very difficult to do the way that he was flying around the field and um making plays you know behind the line but if he even performs well then I'm G to feel more comfortable I'm just saying one snapshot's not quite enough uh but with these injuries the opportunity is certainly there for him um I like when we disagree I feel like that that spices up the show we're rarely in lock step a lot of the time and even talking to people that out to the live shows and talks about the dynamic of the show so when whenever there's a time when we could kind of poke and prod each other a little bit I like it I like it talit especially when considering the events of halftime of the Pittsburgh Steelers game in the Press Box I missed your text message I'm so sorry so sorry can I just say wow so I'm I'm I'm I'm typing away on the computer I'm getting after it right the mvs injury happened we had to get a story up Ryan went to the to go get uh a couple chicken fingers and since he was up there and I was writing the story I text him like grab me a couple chicken fingers would you few T said a few tendies couple tendies couple tendies gets back to the seat got a big plate tendies and hot dogs tendies are hot dogs three tendies half size two and a half tendies no tendies for Matt okay so I'm like did you see my text and you're like nope so I always went back to typing because I had to work right had to get it get it done I didn't have time for a meal right I was just getting after it so Ryan eats his food I finish the story I post it I walk up to the the the the the service area the food has been taken down it is gone tendies are gone hot dogs are gone Maddy's out of luck I come back and I let him hear it the whole ride home to Pittsburgh Dro McDonald's he got some fries he needed a meal because I never ate McDonald's Ryan you you put that nastiness into my body and I gotta tell you it was delicious those fries were delicious I'm not I saw someone in the comments here talking about how B inspector has they use the term pee down his leg because of injuries I was almost peeing down my leg at halftime I had to go to the bathroom it was very cold air conditioner blowing on me so that's the first thing I had limited time there was a line at the men's room so I was in line I go to the men's room I finally get through I then go to get food and I will say they did put out a fresh thing of chicken tendies as soon as I got to my spot in line so I was very lucky that I could have gotten some fresh tendies but I didn't get the text I was hustling I had to get back out there for the third quarter you had to check back in had to check back in and let me say this for as much praise as I'm giving PNC Park for the Pirates thumbs down thumbs down for the Steelers I'm gonna say that right now one front row of the Press Box you need to sit up I'm a tall man I had to sit up to see the whole field Matt PR know two food spread very disappointing I get it's preseason for everyone some some overly battered chicken tendies you didn't miss anything jumbo hot dog um not great food this is great last but not least internet absolute trash I had to keep going back and forth between their private Wi-Fi and their Stadium Wi-Fi because it just could not hold up there so terrible should have never changed name from hin field that's their probably curse now terrible experience terrible experience for both of us I'm sorry didn't get your attends thank you for that apology Lauren just with shots fired lack of plan planning on your part does not constitute Emery on mine unknown quote Ryan talit very nice um no it uh I just like giving you hard time because it's fun that was uh it was a fun trip man was a good was a great trip absolutely yeah no overall trip fantastic but thumbs down on their Stadium which I'm surprised to say I was expecting good things all right here we go that'll do it for this episode the bills practice tomorrow Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday um we'll see what practice is like tomorrow if we're going to do a post-practice show if not we'll be back on Wednesday night uh for our weekly Edition and man we are creeping towards that final cutdown day it is going to going to be a busy Tuesday next week for Ryan tal but on M Pino August 31st Wing nuts 1402 Millersport Highway come out we hope to see you all there take care everybody have a great week