Josh Allen said Wednesday that Joe Brady has done “nothing” to help improve the Bills’ offense this season. Like the rest of the world, Broncos defensive chief Vance Joseph surely saw the tongue firmly planted in Allen’s cheek.
How those two coordinators scheme against each other presents the most exciting aspect of the wild-card matchup when Denver (10-7) visits Buffalo (13-4) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS). On Wednesday, the Inside the NFL panel of Bill Belichick, Ryan Clark, Chad Johnson and Chris Long broke down that matchup. And, yes, despite taking the North Carolina job and juggling phone calls from Tom Brady and the Raiders, Belichick is still finishing his media obligations. Here’s what they said Wednesday on the Denver-Buffalo showdown:
Clark: “On the other side of the bracket, we have the Buffalo Bills, the No. 2 seed in the AFC, facing off against the Denver Broncos, who the last time we saw this team in the postseason, they were winning a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning. They’re actually getting better quarterback play right now, but when I look at this matchup, how Joe Brady utilizes his pieces as opposed to Vance Joseph, who’ll be huge in this game.”
Long: “No question. I think one of the most fun matchups to watch is going to be that front against Josh Allen, trying to get him down as a group. It’s going to be must-see TV. But I think for Joe Brady, you have to take advantage of the matchups on the ‘backers with the backs. You mentioned it preshow, the Detroit game. It was like, ‘Hey, these guys are wide receivers for us,’ and I think they’re going to have those opportunities in the passing game with those backs this weekend against Denver.”
Belichick: “These are the kind of games where Josh Allen has the ball in his hands more and more. And the more it’s third down, fourth down, red area, got-to-have-it situation in the fourth quarter, the more it’s Josh Allen.”
Long: “And good luck playing man and having to worry about your back turned as a defender.”
Johnson: “You got to have a spy.”
Long: “And I don’t know that they have a guy that I feel great about one-on-one with Josh Allen. Not that there’s a lot of those guys in the league”
Clark: “Yeah, and I think you look no further than the fourth-down touchdown run against the Kansas City Chiefs. Everyone has their back turned, Josh Allen sticks his foot in the ground, he sees that there’s a crease. He not only gets it to the second level, but he runs over a ‘backer and a safety to get it to the end zone.”
Long: “You talk about a nightmare.”
Clark: “Yeah, that’s a cheat code when you talk about this team always being able to add one more player to the run game. And so, if you’re the Denver Broncos, that’s difficult, Coach.
Belichick: “Playing them in a game like this, I would make sure that Josh Allen, make sure that he doesn’t beat you. I’d put a spy on him. I’d not let him run the ball, secure the edges on third down, especially across the 50 where they go for it on fourth down. But you can’t let that guy beat you when he has the ball in his hands. I’d cheer every time they hand it off.”
Long: “You’ve got to rush with power and vision, because it’s not one of those things where you’re like, ‘Oh, if we just deny him his throwing hand, we’ll be okay.’ it’s not that simple. He’s going to step up in the B (gap) and kill you if you’re out of balance and all the same, he can break contain and go for 30.”
Belichick: “And the more the game’s on the line, the more he’ll take over the game and put the ball in his hands, which he should. That’s the guy that they want to handle it. But you’ve got to be ready to defend that.”
Clark: “Josh Allen is the possible MVP and you have to look no further than Kansas City, Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions and some of those bigger-magnitude games, is when Josh Allen kept the football in his hands the most. And I expect to see some of those things in these playoffs because when you’re looking at the Josh Allens and Lamar Jacksons of the world it’s, ‘Can we go get a championship during the era of Patrick Mahomes?’ And in order to do that, some of these greats are going to have to handle their business.”
Long: “He might not have made a Pro Bowl, but he’s still here. He’s still here.”
Belichick: “To me, the biggest winners this week are Detroit and Kansas City. They won, they won their first playoff game. They already advanced into the divisional round, they’re healthy, they’re rested. They should be ready to go and have a great week of practice. They’re the big winners this week. I wouldn’t want to be playing them next week.”
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