NFL Week 12 Thursday Night Football Recap | Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Warbit Mos, Shakir Alan back to throw Allan airing it out Alan pep up by pull up. It's over the Texans.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: They're gonna do it.

00:00:11
Speaker 1: There's a flagged out of the secondary.

00:00:14
Speaker 3: What is this?

00:00:15
Speaker 4: It's a gutst the pills.

00:00:17
Speaker 1: The Texans pull it off. They're gonna knock off Buffalo time.

00:00:22
Speaker 2: Oh.

00:00:22
Speaker 3: For those who are fans of a pass happy NFL who like points on the scoreboard, the Houston Texans have a message for you, and that message is defense can be fun too. The Texans take down the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football twenty three to nineteen in a thrilling contest. I'm Nick Schuck sitting in for Greg Rosenthal and joined by my favorite, the superstar herself, Jordan Rodrig Jordan, what a game.

00:00:53
Speaker 5: We got a Monsters Inc. Twenty three nineteen, twenty three nineteen. I'm so excited.

00:00:58
Speaker 2: I was telling Patrick and Greg that this was gonna happen all season. We were going to get a score. Greg Rosenthal has never seen Monsters Inc. I feel the fans need to pressure him, the listeners need to pressure him.

00:01:09
Speaker 5: He must now watch it as.

00:01:11
Speaker 2: Penance for not believing in the Houston Texans. Like we were talking about Nick all week with this defense. This game was so so fun. If you love defense, if you love weirdness, if you love games that get really really crazy with slow periods in between and flurries of competence.

00:01:28
Speaker 5: It was so much fun all around. This was amazing.

00:01:31
Speaker 3: Oh flurries of confidence. What a way to describe the Houston Texans offense tonight. I mean it didn't start with competence necessarily, because they ended up in a goal to go situation and settled for three. But they did find some openings and they capitalized late in this game. And I think that's probably where we should start. Because earlier in this game, the Bills put together your typical touchdown drive.

00:01:50
Speaker 4: It ends up in a long James Cook touchdown run, pretty status quo.

00:01:55
Speaker 3: But the Texans claw their way back into this game, and really where things turned is just before or halftime when they force a turnover and they cover seventy five yards and they finish it.

00:02:05
Speaker 4: And this is a six play drive, mind you, This is.

00:02:08
Speaker 3: A two minute drill executed to perfection by none other than the man himself, Davis Mills. And when it looks like they're gonna come up short again on the goal line. Instead, Mills finds Jayden and Higgins for a touchdown, and suddenly the Texans have a twenty to sixteen lead going into halftime, and if you listen to the final score, it's twenty three to nineteen, which tells the rest of the story because there weren't that many points in the second half thanks to this fantastic Houston Texans defense. Jordan, I know that you love watching great defenses play, and we got one tonight.

00:02:39
Speaker 5: Yeah, this was so much fun, you know.

00:02:41
Speaker 2: To that point when the Texans started putting together actual drives on offense, Davis Mills had only completed his second pass of the game with like nine and a half minutes left in the second half, which tells you we say flurries of competence, we mean flurries of competence, because in the last three minutes ish of the second quarter, the Texans scored seventeen points and took a twenty to sixteen lead, and from their their defense went to work. Nick. The Texans defensive line sacked Josh Allen eight times tonight. That is I believe a career high for Josh Allen. Kaylin Bullock, who iced the game. That was his second interception, and he also forced to fumble. I mean, this pressure that the Texans defense got didn't just alter the game. And obviously the Russian coverage was so complimentary because Josh Allen turned the ball over pretty uncharacteristically. In fact, that he was being pressured so voraciously from play to play, the pressure was coming from the outside, it was coming from the inside. It was such a smart sequencing of design and tenacity. And these defensive linemen they also they were getting their arms free of the offensive linemen. They were batting Josh Allen's arm all the time to force him to tuck and pull the ball so he didn't want to make the throws. And the secondary and the linebackers were swarming behind it. It was artful, artful defense. And I have to say it's this defense is magnificent. So often during this game, nick, I found myself thinking, this Texans defense is truly beautiful to watch. It is magnificent. If only they had an offense. And over and over again, you just kept thinking this because they kept giving the Bills chances to come back into this. But this defense they have Josh Allen's number. He plays his worst football against the Houston Texans defense.

00:04:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, although I do think back to that one time when he took off for a run early in his career and blooded up his arm. That was also in Houston, but that was years ago. That was a different Josh Allen. There's so many topics that you could drill down on it within this defensive performance, Like you could talk about the fact that that Josh consistently had nowhere to go, and the reason that he had nowhere to go wasn't just the pressure, it was also the way that Houston played coverage. Now next Gen Stats has it pretty even there's actually more zone than man. But in the second half, especially, all I saw was one safety of high man coverage across the board and the Bills are trying to run crossers and everything else. They ran mesh a couple of times, and the Texans properly picked it up, even though usually their cause is traffic that loses a defender no problem for the Texans, and the easy layups that Alan is so used to getting were not there.

00:05:24
Speaker 4: So that was the first part.

00:05:25
Speaker 3: He had no quick decisions until that final drive when the Texans were playing a little softer. The other part of it was it's not just the usual suspects in pass rushing. And yes, of course Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter, they definitely did their part. Will Anderson with two and a half sacks, Daniel Hunter with two, But there were other players that came up in key spots throughout this game where Alan might escape the pocket to the right and there's Henry Toto to meet him behind the line of scrimmage.

00:05:49
Speaker 4: For a sack. He wasn't the only one.

00:05:50
Speaker 3: There was a number of other guys, Tim Settle getting a sack up the middle. What it was was Alan trying to navigate the pocket looking for exit routes, and every time he thought he found one, there was a Texans defender. It was an incredible display of discipline, both on the back end and in the pass rush, and it neutralized the Bill's offense that folks probably thought were going to put up a lot of points. They put up with forty two, forty four last week. Nope, nineteen today. Because when you run into a defense that has talent at all three levels, and especially a safety in Kaln Bullock, who had a hell of a night, and you have a defense that plays disciplined football as well coached, then it's going to make everything real difficult for you. And like you said, if the Texans had an offense, this would be a legit Super Bowl contender, because this defense is elite, it's special. It's one that we're going to remember for a while.

00:06:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm curious if you saw the same thing as me too, Nick, because it was like when this group was pass rushing. And when I say that, it's not just their front that does it. I know that sometimes the broadcast in the pregame, like had some fun with Debiko Ryans and his swarm catchphrase and what does it mean? And I'm like, watch the game, that's what That's what it means, Sue, Because it was because what they were doing as a collective, This wasn't just the front interier next tierer, which was amazing, but also every single layer they were almost reading the inverse of Josh Allen's own reads when they were looking When Josh Allen was looking for places to go, it's like they were also looking for the same lanes to either run or to throw that Josh Allen himself was looking at. That is incredible film study. That is instinctive football. That is smart scheme that from Matt Burke, the defensive coordinator. That is also just a tenacious, exquisitely talented group of players that even when things got so crazy at the end, Nick so crazy at the end again in one of these Texans games, and you just had confidence that they were going to make a goal line stand, even when we saw one of the most unbelievable plays I think we've seen in.

00:07:50
Speaker 5: A game all season.

00:07:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, when Houston was kind of I wouldn't say playing with their food, but allowing the Bills to stay in the game in the fourth quarter, I thought, oh no, this is going to be our heartbreak happens, And when they cut it to a four point lead, I thought, oh no, here comes the heartbreak. But that defense gives you the confidence as a viewer, and if you're a Texans fan that if they're gonna lose, they're going to make it really difficult for the other team to break their hearts, Like you're not just going to get a free shot at them. You're gonna have to really work for it. And the Bills were working for it, and their only lifeline in the passing game, especially in the fourth quarter was finding Khalil Shakir. You know you had no Dalton Kin Kate out there. Keon Coleman inactive for a second straight week, so his options, Josh Allen's options are limited, and it ended up being thrown to Shakir in the flat in a little bit of open space and make guys miss. And he did a lot down the right sideline in that fourth quarter, which is really what put them in a position to potentially win this game. But ultimately it was the same things that we just talked about, Alan being under duress often really just never feeling comfortable in the pocket, and a player like Kayln Bullock stepping in to make the game ceiling interception that we listen to. Just a phenomenal play, but not the only play and not the only contribution from a defender on the Texans defense. We think about Aziz Als like this guy has a bit of a reputation after what he did to Trevor Lawrence last year. Right, he plays hard, He plays a million miles an hour, He hits players hard, and he brought that to the field tonight to the point where I think there was a fumble at one point and an offensive Lineman picked it up. It may I think it was one of the tackles, and he went to tackle him just to make sure that he was down, and you see him stand up in like Patti's helmet, like, hey man, I just had to make sure you were tackled. Well, that was him being peaceful, being, you know, extending an olive branch. He was not peaceful for most of this game. He tips a pass early in this game that ends up in the arms of Kaylan Bullock for the first interception that really started to swing the game in their favor. It was another example of how they're not just their stars. They're not just Derek Stingley. They are a full unit that comes through in the biggest spots. But you're right, one of the craziest plays we've seen all season on that final drive. It's fourth and twenty seven. I know there's an old play and Eagles lore that Donovan McNabb converted, but this one stands right up there, even though it's not in the playoffs. It's a hook and ladder, all hook and ladder, depending on what your terminology is. It worked regardless. It caught the Texans where playing a bit of a prevent look playing very soft back toward the line to gain gave them space underneath to make the play, and of course Joe Brady digs into the bag of tricks and calls it the perfect time and it catches the outside corner on the right side off guard, opens up another lane for Shakir to make a big game down the sideline, which it felt like he was doing the entire fourth quarter, and that's really what put us in this position for this game to come down to a final defensive stand, a thrilling play. I have to ask you, Jordan, before we move forward, which term do you use to describe this, because I've always been confused or at least conflicted on which one I want to use.

00:10:31
Speaker 2: I just say, Chris Peterson, you know, jas state by state, That's what I say. Yeah, And I posted this too as like Chris Peterson online one, because that is one of those plays I think. I'm I'm pretty sure that you and I are the same age as Joe Brady Nick.

00:10:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is wild to think about.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: It's a lot of responsibility, but also but it's like we grew up with that lore, right, Like we grew up knowing you know about the Boise State upset and the Fiesta Bowl and the hook and Ladder, and I call it the hooking ladder, And I know it's a you know, you can go either way, but like it was one of those plays that you run. You really don't want to show that at any other point other than a moment of pure and absolute desperately.

00:11:12
Speaker 4: Unless unless you're Ben Johnson with the Lions last year.

00:11:14
Speaker 5: But please do it whenever you want.

00:11:17
Speaker 2: I thought that it was special for Khalil Shakir that he had an opportunity to possibly win the game just days after he and his wife had a baby girl. And so there was all this poetry setting up for this Josh Allen, you know, multiple turnovers and getting hit so much and shaking his hand out because he kept landing on his hand because he's trying to protect the football underneath his body every time he would get hit. And there was just this feeling that you're like, Okay, if Josh Allen is going to go into the same kind of god mode we saw last week, then this would.

00:11:51
Speaker 5: Be the moment that he does it.

00:11:53
Speaker 2: But it's it's a an unstoppable force meeting and a movable object and the immovable object wins in this case, the Texans defense. I can't speak highly enough for you mentioned some of the little details you saw about just how technically sound they are in some of the little moments, like Daniel Hunter at one point on a sack unclenched his arms from around Josh Allen's legs because his body was getting turned by alignman who was rolling backwards. And if Daniel Hunter would have still stayed holding on to Josh Allen's legs, he probably would have gotten flagged for a hip drop. And instead he unclapses his arms and the second that Josh Allen's feet are clear of the role, he claps back on. So it's like those little things that this is like the smartest freaking defense.

00:12:39
Speaker 5: It's why I picked them.

00:12:40
Speaker 2: I know it's embarrassing, but because of this offense. But I picked them to be Super Bowl contenders at the beginning of the season because this defense has just this elite professionalism and this athleticism. For Will Anderson Junior to miss the sack on Josh Allen diving and stretching out the first time run fifty one point seven yards according to NextGen Stats, to then get to Josh Allen and take him to the turf. That is some Aaron donald S man, and I wrote it out in my notes. I'm not gonna make Chris Babona edit it tonight, but that is some crazy, crazy stuff, and that is what this defense can be. I'm glad they got to show it on primetime. Sure, I wish they had an offense, but you know, it's fits and starts.

00:13:25
Speaker 5: You know, we take a week and.

00:13:26
Speaker 3: Get yeah, and the Texans will take what they can get for sure, because they're in this bit of they're in a process right now where they're trying to climb out of the deficit in the hole that they dug themselves early in this season. And as we got to the fourth quarter of this game tonight and I contemplated the idea of the Bills coming back and winning, I thought, if the Bills are going to win, it's going to be a culture win, and it's going to be just a red mark on the Texans resume as a team that has.

00:13:48
Speaker 4: A good defense but isn't good enough to beat teams like this.

00:13:51
Speaker 3: But now that it's that we watched it conclude in the fashion that it did, I'm almost tempted to say that it's a culture creating or a establishing win for these Texans, because if we back up a little bit, before Houston takes a twenty to sixteen lead into halftime, they had just put up a ten points in a matter of minutes.

00:14:12
Speaker 4: Right it's thirteen to nine.

00:14:14
Speaker 3: They had to settle for three after the turnover on the goal line, can't convert all the time. Buffalo gets it right back with a fantastic kick return touchdown.

00:14:24
Speaker 4: By Ray Davis. And one that I want to take a listen to.

00:14:27
Speaker 3: Here it one.

00:14:28
Speaker 4: Fifty six left in the hand.

00:14:32
Speaker 1: Kick is going to go to Davis, who fields it at the two, out to the ten. Fifteen coming off the middle, twenty five, bounces off a tackle, spins head, he's out to the forty, cuts it back fifty He's gonna go the distance. Happy birthday, Ray Davis all the way for a flip into the end zone.

00:14:49
Speaker 3: For a touchdown. Now that is a massive play that could take the soul from a team that had just clawed its way into the lead. You know, you think, all right, we're playing great defense, got something out of our offense for once. All the momentums in our favor boom, punched to the gut. Just like that, you're trailing again. And I think at that point I was settled in for a title contender type of fight, a heavyweight bout for twelve rounds, four quarters. Here we go back and forth. Some weird stuff's happening. Ray Davis runs into his own blocker and that's what frees him up to take it ninety seven yards for a touchdown kick return. And yet the Texans weren't really bothered by that. They responded, and that's why I think that, yes, their defense defines their team, but it's the ability to fight back. Yes, you have full home field advantage, you're wearing your fancy sparkly when it comes to the helmet, all red jerseys. You're on Primetime, it's a special night. But this is like where this team is why I'm starting to believe in them. And shout out to Davis Mills for doing a good enough job to move the football with this team. He's come through in the clutch a couple of times. Now, that win, that comeback went over Jacksonville, that two minute drive tonight to put points on the board before halftime. I'm kind of a believer that I like the trajectory of this text because of how they performed in a game like that.

00:16:07
Speaker 5: It's super interesting to me.

00:16:08
Speaker 2: I argue with Greg about this constantly, and we did so even over text tonight because he before he went into the family event that he was going to tonight, Nick, he was texting me about Davis Mills, who he just can't quit. He can't quit Davis Mills. He loves him. And when Davis Mills makes a throw to get the Texans in scoring position again right before halftime, He's like, we are so back, and then it goes dark because he goes into this event right, and I'm like, Greg's it's spurts right. It's like he does things in highly productive flashes. He's like the calmest guy ever, and yet his play is like high functioning anxiety personified, because it's like you're just still for most of it, and then all of a sudden, you produce, like frantically right, and then you're good. And I think it's a testament though, because even when he's not producing, and again they're in the second half, they're just giving the bills. Their possessing possessions are so short they're just giving the Bills bite after bite after bite after bite at the Apple. Davis Mills was calm, He was not rattled his offensive line. Once again, I think this was their seventh different line offensive line combination that they entered the game with the Texans, and their offense has not looked good with CJ.

00:17:29
Speaker 5: Strouder without c J. Stroud.

00:17:31
Speaker 2: And you know, like I mentioned at the top of the show, he didn't complete his second pass until deep into the second quarter. But he stays calm, and I think as sometimes maybe too calm. Al on the broadcast pointed this out when he was like, man, we haven't seen him like frown or show any emotion at all, good or bad on his face at any point. And I think that's really what you need for these Texans to climb out of the hole that they had dug themselves. Is this calmness. Now you hope CJ. Stroud gets back. It sounds like he's close to making his return to the field. But to have sort of this steadiness in the meantime when you are trying to figure out ways to win games and this defense is really carrying you through that like a Demico Ryan's team will I do think that it was important for Davis Mills to be this backup quarterback for this team right now.

00:18:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know, I think when you have a defense as good as Houston's, it takes a little bit of the pressure off just naturally because you think, all right, well, the game's out entirely on my shoulders. If I don't convert this third down, the defense is still going to give us a chance, which is the first feather in his cap that he can kind of.

00:18:40
Speaker 4: Lean on in this situation. But it's also I mean, you think back to when he was drafted.

00:18:44
Speaker 3: He came out of Stanford with very limited college experience, and that was the big knock on him. And then they throw him into the fire and he gets two seasons worth of starting experience with a bad team and doesn't do well, and then they pull the plug and go to CJ. Stroud and we know what happened from there. But it's a testament to how you can develop and grow even if you're not quite on the feel. Over the course of an NFL career, he spent the last couple of years behind CJ. Stroud, two and a half seasons on the bench in anonymity to the point where when he came in for Stroud a couple of weeks ago, folks probably forgot that he was still on the roster. But they know he is now because of the comeback that he led over Jacksonville, because of the way that he's kept this offense competitive, and how he was able to do his job in some of the biggest spots night, like on his touchdown past the Christian Kirk where they go up tempo, they hand the ball off and it looks like they're just going to hand it off again right on the goal line. No little play action defender bites. He finds Kirk wide open in the corner of the end zone. That was a play that lesser quarterbacks who are not as calm as him simply don't make. They don't handle that situation properly. They don't handle some of the other situations, like the two minute drill just before halftime, properly. And that is part of why the Texans have been able to continue to build even without their quarterback, is that they have exactly what you want in a backup quarterback, somebody who can keep you afloat and guide you forward. He doesn't have to be a superstar. He doesn't have to be the one on the oars paddle in for you. He's just got to direct you in the right way. And that's exactly what I think he's done so far. And again it encourages me about the outlook for this team right now.

00:20:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do like that you brought up that tempo play, by the way, because I want to shout out Nick Kayley for something like that. Because this very embattled offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans, he's also had to have his learning moments and his learning curves, and they haven't been able to run the ball very well. And even after games where they look like Woody Marx is about to break out and really become like this dominant back, they're having to spell him out a lot too.

00:20:36
Speaker 5: With Nick Chubb.

00:20:37
Speaker 2: And in that case, I thought that it was a really smart play by a play call by the offensive coordinator to show the same almost the same exact look as the carry by Nick Chubb, but then move to the ball very very quickly to freeze the defense. Run a tempo play and then it's actually a pass play. I think what's also good about this sort of adversity that this team is facing on offense with a steadiness in a capable backup and like a really really really really floor lifting defense, is that it does force the offensive coordinator to think about his own process differently and think about how he's setting up and sequencing plays. Specifically a lot of the guys that come out of the McVay Shanahan tree, that's one of the things that you really learn is how to sequence plays, how to put together play calls one and two to set up parts to a whole. Well, Nick Kaylee wasn't really calling plays ever other than the preseason with McVeigh, and the bulk of his experience comes from when he was in New England, and so you have to still learn those things as a play caller. You're not just going to be like ready out of the box. And he certainly showed that earlier this year in that very simple yet extremely thoughtful and well executed play at the goal line there because they could not get the ball into the end zone previously. I thought that that showed real growth for the entire unit, especially a team that knows how to execute in those very slim situational margins like that.

00:22:07
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:22:08
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And since we're showering him with so much praise for a well called couple of plays. Let's listen to it.

00:22:14
Speaker 5: Two good plays.

00:22:16
Speaker 1: Here's the snap from Andrews Mills takes to give Bros. White shot cut Touchcown Frish Jed Kirk the Texad score.

00:22:25
Speaker 2: They tie it up.

00:22:26
Speaker 1: They could take the lead with the extra point. Davis Mills TD passed to a wide oldpen Aggy Christick Kirk.

00:22:35
Speaker 3: What is the formula of taking down a team that seems to be the favorite on the road, a team that has Super Bowl aspirations executing in spots like that? And you know, we've talked about him a little bit again, But since we're running through some bright spots in this game, let's give a shout out to Kaylin Bullock.

00:22:50
Speaker 4: Why not.

00:22:50
Speaker 3: Let's go listen to his first interception of this game. It was a big spot.

00:22:55
Speaker 4: Allan digs in.

00:22:56
Speaker 1: He's gonna throw Alan fires downfield and to Dad, it'll stepped it across the forty Bullock thirty twenty and escapes another tackle off to the right side, fifteenth Pullock to the ten, Bullock five and so touchdown, flag down on the plane kill into the house. Is it gonna come back or is it gonna stand during your return?

00:23:21
Speaker 4: First of all, leave a mind side block and get hitting her.

00:23:24
Speaker 5: Seventeen team number ninety five, fifteen yard county.

00:23:27
Speaker 1: From the stone tiles, bullet up picks it up. And that's too bad.

00:23:35
Speaker 4: It is too bad.

00:23:35
Speaker 3: And you know, Jordan, you and I were always focusing on the pauses or trying to lift people up.

00:23:39
Speaker 4: But I'm gonna put it on your plate right now.

00:23:40
Speaker 3: Call out the man who is responsible for wiping out that highlight.

00:23:44
Speaker 5: Oh and yeah, you saw it. It could have been a touchdown.

00:23:47
Speaker 2: It could have been I think the first pick six that actually was returned interception returned for a touchdown that Josh Allen has thrown. And I think they said on the broad has over three thousand passes, which is crazy, and someone please check me on that. I should definitely have that. But Derek Barnett and I texted you. I said, freaking Derek Barnett, because.

00:24:06
Speaker 5: You saw it. It was so blatant. It was right there. It wasn't even.

00:24:09
Speaker 2: Away from the play at all. The block in the back was so blatant. Derek Barnett got his moment back. He had a big sack and a hit on Josh Allen and crunch time. Obviously late in the game, but we were texting the group and we were like, Wow, we've got a really fun game. And then on the previews show, we had been talking about how I'm like, the Texans defense is going to score and they probably have to in order to win this game, and there it was, Nick, it was happening, and I was finally right about one thing in my life. And then Derek Barnett goes and hits the crap out at Dawson Knox and wipes it out, so close.

00:24:42
Speaker 3: To being Nostra Jordan instead, you just have to settle with almost accurate with your prediction.

00:24:47
Speaker 2: It was.

00:24:48
Speaker 4: I tweeted about this late in the game.

00:24:51
Speaker 3: It's just I'm so happy to see a player like Bullet gets some shine on a national stage because he's such an instinctive player, and he also, you know, another part of the formula of beating a favorite that you know comes into your place and is expected to win, winning the turnover margin. And the Texans won that three to nothing tonight because of the two interceptions by Bullock, but also because of the force fumble by Bullock on a pass to Khalil Shakir that stopped the Buffalo drive dead in its tracks. So just a great performance, a complete performance all around by the defense that leads to this victory and Detectionans six to five. Threatening they're right there. They were entered tonight at the same you know, level record wise as the Chiefs and the Ravens, and they keep winning.

00:25:31
Speaker 4: Right now. This is three straight victories for them.

00:25:33
Speaker 3: They got a big AFC South matchup coming up against the Colts in week thirteen, ten days from now, and then they play Kansas City Arizona, the Raiders, the Chargers and the Colts. It is not crazy to say that they could win three or more of those games and potentially finished with nine or ten wins and b right on the cusp of getting in the playoffs is perhaps the six or seven seed. What a turnaround that would be for a team that seemed dead water just a few weeks ago.

00:26:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty incredible, and I think it speaks again to Demiko Ryans and the culture that he's built. There's no quid in this team. This defense knows and believes that it is the most professional unit on the field in every game that it plays, and you saw that right out of the gate in these losses, regardless of what struggles the offense was having, They're going to start all of this and this crazy ride that will be the latter part of their season by watching this weekend Chiefs Colts, and I think they probably you don't ever want to be rooting for any any of your AFC opponents, but I think they've got to be kind of rooting for the Chiefs in this one.

00:26:39
Speaker 3: Nick, Yeah, I mean they if they really have aspirations of climbing back into the AFC South race, they need the Colts to lose and then they need to beat that next week to get the little twofer and really get back into it. So you're right, and you're absolutely right. And on the other side of the field with the Buffalo Bills, they drop to what is it now, seven and four, and look, this is totally fine for them. I mean, they're they're not the team that we thought they might be. They're not the powerhouse team that we saw from previous years, but they're still right in the thick of it. The downside is that you are two games buying the Patriots, Yes, the Patriots in the AFC East in a climb that is becoming steeper and steeper with performances like this.

00:27:17
Speaker 4: I think my biggest.

00:27:18
Speaker 3: Concern with them is that you just don't know who you're going to get from week to week. Yeah, whether it's a team that just gets outperformed on the road in Miami or a team that wins a shootout over Tampa Bay. I just don't know who they are right now. But on their side, the outlook for them going forward is they have Pittsburgh, which is going to be another test. It's in Pittsburgh, and they're going to have to play better than they did tonight. Pittsburgh doesn't know a defense as good as the Textans, pretty much nobody does in the NFL. Then you get Cincinnati, you get the Patriots, big divisional game, you get the Browns, the Eagles, and the Jets. So there's still a path for them to you know, I mean, I think the next gen probability of them making the playoffs was going to be like eighty seven percent if they lost tonight. So it's not a panic mode for them, but it is an example of a team that's just pretty inconsistent and continues to get banged up. Had multiple injuries the defensive side of the ball tonight that undoubtedly hurt them. So you're hoping that some of those guys can get healthy in time for them to make this stretch run. And most importantly, we do have to keep our eyes attuned to Josh Allen stats because he got banged up tonight.

00:28:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean he was.

00:28:15
Speaker 2: He took a beating and like we mentioned, he was shaking his hand out. You could tell it was bothering him. He had like some pretty gnarly turf burn on his arm at one point as well too, that had to get wrapped up. You know, it was you started to really feel for the Bills, and I think you have really all season because every game it's like multiple people that are exiting the game with injuries.

00:28:37
Speaker 5: To El Bernard, that was a really tough one to see.

00:28:40
Speaker 2: And then he was on the sideline with a sling, and you know, the concussion tent line had a lot a waiting line. The concussion tent had a waiting line because of how many unfortunately guys were having to get checked out and in and out of the you know, the checkups and the spotters were definitely on it for them tonight and I just feel like and then you also, the play clock was not working. We need to mention this because otherwise, Nick, we are gonna get angry Bills fans in our comments sections. It with two in the two minute warning at the end of the game, needing a touchdown and driving down the field down four the play clock goes out.

00:29:22
Speaker 5: That sucks.

00:29:23
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not there's no part of me that will ever dwell in conspiratorial whatevers, but like that just flat out sucks that you can't see it on the screen. You have to do it mentally in your head or you're doing it at least until fifteen seconds with the coach in the headset before that cuts off. And then when it did come back on, it was the wrong play that it was the wrong count on.

00:29:44
Speaker 5: The play clock. It was just very odd.

00:29:46
Speaker 2: I hope we get a pull report or something out of that tonight from those great local reporters on both sides for those beats. But yeah, it just the Bills could not catch a break. They certainly ran into an absolute hurricane, but they could not catch a break.

00:30:02
Speaker 5: Just some like lucky bounces were not going their way.

00:30:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, I mean, it was a weird night because at one point they tried to restart the play clock, but it seemed like it was starting at like sixteen. Josh Allen had to hurry a snap on one play thinking that the clock was accurate. It goes down again, they announced that they're tracking it on the field again. We really need a deep dive, and like, what's the protocol here, Like who decides to turn off the communications from coach to quarterback if there's no active play clock working, because that happens upstairs in the booth, So like there's a whole chain of chain reaction that could happen when the play clock goes out.

00:30:32
Speaker 4: And then even I saw it.

00:30:32
Speaker 3: I don't know if this was a glitch with the broadcast or what, but after the play clock goes down, the game clock, at least on the score bug is like skipping seconds. Like it goes from like fifty and then like there's like an extended pause and it's forty eight and there's extended posse and there's forty six.

00:30:45
Speaker 4: And they iron that out quickly. But some weird stuff.

00:30:47
Speaker 3: A referee got hurt tonight and got carted off. Just a weird, crazy night, But that is what Thursday night football provides us with craziness, and that's why the NFL is so popular, because people love to sit down and watch it all unfold. You know, it wasn't weird doing this show with you. The kids charge again again and you know what I feel like, now we're getting privileges, like now we can make the pizza roles in the oven and we can use the microwave, don't turn the stove on.

00:31:14
Speaker 4: We haven't gotten stove privileges yet, but we're getting there. Jordan. It was It was a great, great time with you doing this show tonight.

00:31:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, this was a blast.

00:31:22
Speaker 2: We also got a fun game, which not all of these have been like our very specific type of weird, crazy fun, Nick, So I'm glad that we got one of these good ones to talk about. If the if the broadcast does not sound excited, at least we are freaking jacked about this entire game tonight. And I always look forward to getting to do these shows with you. Greg kicks us out now when he has you on for the for the recap, So I appreciate that I got to speak with you today. Nick.

00:31:50
Speaker 3: Well, you know he likes his one on one time, right, Yeah, and we got thirty minutes to one on one, time to right, and the Sins got one more win in their ledger. Texan's beat the Bills tonight again, twenty three to nineteen for Nick Schuck, for Jordan Rodrige.

00:32:06
Speaker 4: I'm Nick Schuck. We'll see you then,