Buffalo Bills Preseason Breakdown with Nate Geary & Eric Wood

Buffalo Bills analyst Nate Geary joins Eric Wood on Centered on Buffalo to break down where the team stands after the preseason, including concerns at safety with Cole Bishop, the impact of Ryan Nielsen’s aggressive defense, James Cook’s new deal, and how the wide receiver depth chart could shake out — including the possibility of a Gabe Davis return. They also look at the AFC East outlook, why Nate isn’t sold on the Dolphins, and share some fun off-field conversations about golf, Ryder Cup gear, and Nate’s favorite Buffalo wing spot.

Sponsored by:

Waterboy
Recover properly with @waterboy www.waterboy.com

Dan-O’s Seasoning
Follow Dan-O’s Seasoning on Social @danosseasoning 
https://danosseasoning.com/product/small-13-bottle-combo/
Discount Code: Buffalo

The official Youtube Channel for the Centered on Buffalo podcast, Hosted by Eric Wood. Smashing wings because we’re chasing rings in Buffalo Bills legend Eric Wood’s newest podcast Centered on Buffalo! This weekly podcast gives you a pro player’s perspective on postgame recaps, exclusive talks with your favorite NFL legends, and never before heard stories from the field!

Follow us on all social platforms @thebuffalopod

Welcome back to the Centered on Buffalo podcast brought to you by Danos Seasoning. Right now, if you go to danosseasoning.com or follow the link in the show notes, you can get a 13pack of their premium seasonings for just 65 bucks. That 13 pack will get you through all of football season will make you look good at all of your tailgates or whatever you’re firing up on your grill back home. Yum, yum. Get you some. All right, this week’s guest is Nate Giri. So, I see Nate Giri every Sunday when I’m calling the Bills games in the booth in Buffalo. He does pregame halftime and postgame for WGR. He does some other spots for WGR as well. And we’re going to have a fun conversation talking about where the Bills stand, you know, through two weeks of the preeason and what he’s thinking on a number of topics with the Bills heading into the season. This is going to be a fun one. If you didn’t check out the episodes last week, we had Tradavius White on and also Field Yates from ESPN. So, a little fantasy football action there. And then me and Travius just had an awesome conversation. One of my favorites that we’ve ever had on the podcast. So, if you haven’t yet, go check those out. Always remember, if you haven’t subscribed yet, please do. Leave a comment, rating, review. And if you want to hear a specific guest in the future, either comment it on YouTube or put in the review in uh the podcast, wherever you consume your podcast weekly. Thank you to everyone tuning in. Enjoy the podcast. Go Bills. Hit us up on all social media at the Buffalo. Nate, welcome on the podcast, brother. Good to be here, man. I appreciate you uh you know, inviting me on. I’m excited to do it. Yeah, absolutely. All right, so I got to know, how’d the uh postgame after the Bears game go? Um, you know, it wasn’t as bad as you might think. Uh, obviously 38 to nothing, a preseason game. Listen, there was probably a a good portion of people that were already sort of ready to jump on anything Cole Bishop related, right? So, the fact that he’s the only starter to play and then the first drive happens, he’s kind of the exclamation point. Um, yeah, you know, it was uh it was animated, but I I wouldn’t say any crazier than like, you know, week one a couple years ago when the Bills lost to the Jets when Aaron Rogers went down. That was a real low point for me on Bills postgame. This was this was still preseason when you get the brash caller and and I’m not talking necessarily about this one. Okay, we we take some random week nine loss. The Bills are still in first place. Everything’s fine. You’re not going to go undefeated throughout the season. How hard is it for you to take those questions and just say like I I want to move on from it, but I also want to be respectful to those that are loyal listeners and calling into the show. Well, listen, when when I’ve got to be the voice of reason, the guy that’s supposed to get animated after the losses, right? Um I listen, we’re we’ve all been very spoiled over the last couple of years. When I first started, my first season um you know, doing Bill’s postgame was 2015. So, I mean, we I’ve come a long way in terms of, you know, positive reinforcement on the uh on the postgame show, but listen, there there’s a steady balance. I I think part of the cool part about doing postgame. People always ask me like, “Oh my god, do you just hate doing postgame?” I’m like, “No, it’s like the best part of what I do, right?” Um, you know, my favorite is the home games, right? People leaving the parking lot, they’re a little loaded. They’re going to say what they really feel. So, I feel like, you know, when over the past couple of years with how good the Bills have been, there’s been very few opportunities for people to complain. So, you know, they’ve had a couple of Miller lights, blue lights that they’re like, “You know what? I’m going to call Nate and I’m gonna complain about something that I probably shouldn’t complain about.” So, we listen, we’re all we’re all very spoiled. This is an incredible organization, a great football team, a a perennial winner. So, uh I think everyone’s just clamoring for the big one, you know what I mean, right? No doubt about it. And and that’s all that’s left on the table realistically is to get to the Super Bowl and win one. And yes, this would be a storybook year to do it in. last year at the stadium, Josh going home to California. We’ve been through that many times on the podcast, but let’s just let’s just go with that. Okay, so two preseason games in training camp hype, this and that. Do you have concerns about the Bills heading into the con the end of the season? Are you able to kind of compartmentalize maybe two clunkers in the preeason and just realize our starters aren’t out there, we’re not game planning, we’ll be fine? Well, I I certainly think there a little maybe a little bit of both, right? Um I I don’t put a whole lot of stock into the preseason, but a game I guess the thing that threw me off is I know they lost like 33 to6 last year to this Browns team. Um it definitely and I don’t know about you, but had a sense that Ben Johnson and that offense probably game planned a little bit. They wanted to look good. I mean that’s a new coach, new regime. I get it. Y um there though the thing that I guess concerned me about Sunday’s uh Sunday’s game was more about kind of the standard and culture that Shawn McDermad has cultivated since he’s gotten here and it didn’t feel like the performance was up to that standard. I heard sale after the game or maybe it was yesterday um talk about how they looked like a team that was had been in Chicago for 4 days and was ready to go home which it is totally I think a viable you know quote unquote excuse but I do think there are some concerns like I I left the game not feeling a lot better about where they are at safety and you know I what I wanted and I didn’t know that Cole Bishop was going to start the game and play that first series and I would have liked to see Cole Bishop make a play just to kind of shut everybody up and goes for the fans. But listen, when when Shawn McDermott says something in front of a microphone, very rarely is he revealing the whole thing to you. But when he gives you that sneak peek when he says, “It’s concerning that and that we’re running out of time here with Cole.” And you can hear a little bit of the the patience drying up a little bit for for getting him ready to play. And I I said this yesterday, Eric, is the first two moves that this head coach made when he came to Buffalo was solidifying the back end of his defense. So, you can’t tell me that that’s not an overly important position. The first two moves he made as a first time head coach was to say, “I need to get my safeties in place.” So, we know they’re important to him. We know it’s important to his defensive scheme. So, I know that they’re feeling the pressure a little bit of making sure, well, do we have the right guy? Did we do enough in the offseason? And um I I think if you’re going to point at one thing, it’s feeling like you don’t exactly know how it’s going to come together to start the preseason with I think a lot riding on the back end of it. Yeah, absolutely. Shawn McDermad is very calculated what he says in the media. It actually surprised me a little bit that he said that about Cole Bishop. It was almost a hey, we need you back at practice or I think you should be practicing and maybe you’re not. That’s that’s what I took from it. Maybe I’m just reading between the lines because to me Shawn is very calculated. If if he didn’t think Cole could handle maybe that criticism, he wouldn’t have said it because he’s got I mean Sean works with executive coaches to like learn how to deal with this generation of player and all that. So he’s not making a mistake on the microphone. He’s very calculated. He’s most consistent person I’ve ever been around in my life. The Cole Bishop play that’s taking the most heat is interesting to me because if we’re game planning for Chicago, we’re not leaving him one-on-one against Zaki, who’s got blazing speed. Cole’s playing with outside leverage on the play. He it it appears that he thinks he has help to the inside from Andre who doesn’t get there and then Hamlin misses the tackle. if that goes for 12 yards and Hamley makes that play or Adre slides over and that’s where everything in the NFL can just amplify so fast like now he’s the the brunt of all the criticism and it could have been wiped out completely. But I say all that my I would I would say yes there’s concerns for me at safety as well. That would be my biggest one. Um, cornerback too. Like, okay, Tradavius White, do you have enough in the tank to go the whole season? I love Tradavius. Um, you know, in that first preseason game, he was playing with a lot of cushion. They went away for bet away from Benford. They went at him and look, I mean, we’re not going to show if, okay, we’re going to play Trey and press to the boundary and we’re going to cloud cut. We’re not going to show that in the preseason. I also think this defense is going to be a lot more aggressive this year and which can potentially protect the back end of the defense, but it could also potentially leave it more exposed. So, that would create concerns as well. But, uh, yeah, I mean, and then my concerns would be one of the guys that I’m most excited about through two weeks of the preseason is Michael Hoy. Now, if he wasn’t suspended for the first six games, we probably wouldn’t have gotten to see him as much, but I would really like to have him on the field for Baltimore week one. You know, that’s not the end- all beall game of the season, but it could really impact the if we could get the number one seed, which is one of those things you talk about what’s the hump, what’s the next step, get to the Super Bowl, hosting that AFC Championship game would be a big deal. So, I say all that. Do you think heading into the season, starters right now, Cole Bishop, Taylor Rapid, safety? I I do. I think it’s because the whole the whole idea leaving last year and going into this season was sort of built around this is Cole Bishop’s time. Um, and I I think bringing back Dear Hamlin was more about trying to continue creating the continuity in that room that if something happens to one of those guys, they know they can trust Demar to be out there, be in the right position, maybe not always be in the position athletically, but at least mentally understands where he has to be. Um, listen, I the name that I keep really hounding on, um, really from the time that the Bills brought him in to to starting to see it come together in training camp is Ryan Nielsen. And I really love the attack style defense. I think personally, Eric, that they’re sick and tired of how the end ofame situations against the Chief continue to go. And what do they do? They blitz the hell out of the Bills and they put the onus on the Bills to be perfect in those situations. And the Bills have largely been we’re going to rush four and drop everybody back. And I think now what they want to be able to do is be both, be multiple. um be a team that can disguise pre- snap and not just at the safety level and the defensive back level, but also up front and some of those disguise blitz and those um like to me you have arguably in in Terrell Bernard a guy that came from Baylor whose biggest trait in college was his ability to get after the passer as a blitzing linebacker. So, and then you talk about Michael Hoy chess piece. So to me, the back end I think is important for what and why you bring in an Orion Neielson, which is to become a little bit more multiple in your blitz schemes, in some of your pressure packages, and be able to do that effectively. You have to trust that the backend guys are going to be in position to make the right play. And I like Taylor Rap a lot. He plays a style of play. I I don’t know that he’s going to be a 17game guy. So that means you’re going to have to have a guy like Demar Hamlin that can fit in and squeeze in in a couple of game stretches. So that’s why to me the pressure is on a Cole because you know you’re going to miss a couple of games just based on the style of play Tyler Taylor Rap plays. Well then you have to be the guy that can be trusted be sort of that safe haven the guy that you can go to um and sort of be there for 17 games and is going to be in the right position make the plays um and lean into his athleticism. heard you guys pregame on Sunday talking about Landon Jackson about how when you watched him week one against the Giants, it just looked like he was thinking and not playing and reacting. And I still get that vibe from Cole Beasley. And I think just not having the reps, which is why he played in the first place, means a lot to me. So I think once we get to see Cole play football and not think so much, I think that’s really where we’ll start to see that second step from him that a lot of us have been waiting for. What’s your thoughts on Josh likely not playing at all this preseason? I’d love it. I mean, I watched last night on Monday Night Football and I could not believe that Zack Taylor had Joe Burrow going out there into the second into the second quarter with backup wide receivers. I know. Um playing with fire to me, a a player that has an injury history that isn’t particularly mobile that takes bad sacks. And he’s running around on that third and 12. He almost safety, but he’s running around. He’s lucky he didn’t take a big shot. just begging for some kind of, you know, three ac, you know, threeletter word that we don’t want to talk about, right? Um, yeah. To me, I I listen, this offense has the continuity. It’s the same offensive coordinator. It’s the same quarterback, a lot of the same weapons. Um, and maybe most importantly, the same five guys up on the offensive line. So, I don’t think this is a unit that has to get a bunch of time on task in game. I think that’s what the joint practice was last Friday for Chicago. was really to get those starters some semilive bullets going um in preparation. But yeah, I’m I am in no way clamoring to see any Josh Allen uh this upcoming Saturday. No, I’m with you. And I said on the pregame last week, I’m like and we can’t trust Josh Allen out there. We can’t trust that Josh’s instincts will not kick in and he’s going to go steal a first down with his legs. He’s going to try and truck somebody. He might try and hurdle somebody. You’re making split-second decisions and Josh does not have that out of his system yet. Maybe he does. Maybe we see it on the field this year. I I wouldn’t I mean I don’t care how old he gets. Look at Jaden Daniels yesterday. Yeah. You know, like it’s the same thing. He’s running for a touchdown and and and the sideline reports first question was why didn’t you go down? You know, that’s Josh. He’s still he’s still the golden retriever at heart. And I think the Bills have to protect him from himself sometimes. 100%. All right. So, Bills get the deal done with James Cook. Were you in the camp that, you know, pay James Cook prior to the season or would you have liked to see them kind of string that out, make him have a prove it year? I won’t lie, I kind of felt this the way that it played out was exactly how it was going to play out. It just took a little longer than I think they wanted and the fan base wanted, right? Everyone was just kind of getting antsy about what was going to happen. But I think they settled when it was all said and done. the agent did a great job, you know, window dressing what the numbers were when they were initially um announced by Shear and and and Rapore. And now that the dust is settled, it’s a deal that I think everybody feels pretty good about, right? Um, you know, it’s not necessarily the most guaranteed money the way that it was kind of said to be where it sounded like, all right, well, at least the agent and the player got a little bit of what they wanted and the team got what they wanted, but it really felt like another master class from um from Brandon Bean and really waited that out and got themselves into a situation where listen, I it’s hard to ignore that James Cook’s their most consistent big play threat on offense right now as currently constructed. And very few teams, a a very small handful, this is a minority of the league, can can say they can turn around, hand the ball off to guy behind the line of scrimmage and it can be a big play threat. It’s it’s it’s very rare in today’s NFL. So, um the development, um watching him as a player that I remember doing, um you know, draft coverage on day two and hearing Brandon Bean go from a guy that basically said, “Yeah, we kind of view him as a scatback, a third down, pass catching back to a guy that is arguably one of the more efficient inside the tackle runners.” And that’s not something that he walked into the NFL with. That’s something that he develops. And he doesn’t play many third downs. Ty Johnson does. So, he’s flipped the script on it. Totally. And listen, I I think when you’re talking about Aaron Chromemer and this offensive line and the and the system and the scheme that they’re able to play up front, um, fits James so well. This is to me, and Jeremy White said it said it best, I thought, when he said, you know, losing James Cook makes you 2% worse. 2 and a half% worse. And maybe that’s not a lot to a lot of people, but when you’re talking about how every year they are a play here, a a bounce there away from being in the ultimate goal, which is making it and winning a Super Bowl, you can’t afford to lose 2%. You can’t afford to lose it here or there. And I and I think keeping this core group together was really important for Brandon Bean because this is the second wave of players that Josh Allen’s had the ability to play with. And I think it says a lot about where Brandon Bean has come as a general manager, but I also think it it’s it shows them it shows the fans anyways how damn good this organization is at not just drafting the players, but developing and getting the most out of them. And I know there’s always going to be examples of Kyrie Elims and and guys that don’t work out, but man, like seeing Christian Benford, I mean, I don’t know if you’re with me on this, but this looks like the season he’s about to elevate into the conversation of top three at his position. Like it like it looks like that. And I think for most of the year he played like that last year. He just as a late round draft pick out of Villanova, you know, no one talked about him preseason. So no matter really how good he played That’s right. unless he had like a a random eight n interception year which those are rare and some of it’s just circumstantial. He I mean no one you have to be thrown at Eric to get eight or nine interceptions to be fair. I was just going to say no one’s going after him so he’s not going to get those interceptions. He’s just a lock down guy who’s a sure tacular and I mean he’s a absolute stud on the edge. I cannot believe we resigned him for what we resigned him for. And I mean, I guess you have some leverage. You do it a year early and all that, but I mean, everybody that came after him, which I don’t think any of them are even a better player than him, leapfrogged him big time. Like, not just a little bit, big time. So, another good deal by Brandon Bean. And to your point on Cook, he was not a full-time starter at Georgia. Didn’t play a ton as a rookie. He still plays right around that 4850% mark. You get major concerns about running backs historically 2200 plus car or touches I’ll say he’s not even at a thousand including college. So you feel pretty comfortable where you’re at as far as paying him and not getting a big drop off before the end of this deal is done. All right. So the wide receiver position there is some question marks outside of the top three. Coleman, Shakir, Palmer, you know, you have Elijah Moore, you have Samuel, you have Shavers coming on, you have Chenalt, maybe Hamler. How do you see that fourth, fifth wide receiver spot shaken out? Well, I think it got even a little cloudier right before I came on. I saw a report from Jordan Schultz that the Bills are going to be hosting Gabe Davis tomorrow. He’s on a he’s on a visit to Pittsburgh today. He’ll be in Buffalo tomorrow having a visit. So, if that doesn’t tell you a little bit about what their thoughts are about the bottom two or three, um I’m not sure like there there’s maybe nothing better that tells you they’re questioning the same way we are. And I I think a little of it is the top three. I’m I’m very excited. I think I have changed my tune a bit um on Keon Coleman and and and kind of my hopes for what he can be this year and moving forward just based on train. I think I am. I I think I’ve gotten there. Um, and so if your top three is set, which I believe your top three is set, I think it’s Josh Palmer, Khalil Shakir, and Keon Coleman. Um, I then I wonder, okay, well, how does everyone else fit? How does it backstock? Um, do we have the um, you know, do you have a guy right now that can fill in on the boundary if Keon Coleman goes out? And I think the answer to that question right now is they don’t. And that’s why you’re considering, hey, let’s see what Gabe is. and frankly probably could gave for for pennies on the dollar just based on what he’s still getting paid from Jacksonville. So I look at this and say dude I think that you know that Moore was a little underwhelming Elijah Moore Sunday. I think he was but I’m not necessarily going to take a oneame preseason sample with Mike White as a indictment of who he can be in this offense because I was very excited when Elijah Moore came in. Right. I think the real question mark is is Curtis Samuel because I think this is a player that this organization knows from the his time in Carolina. Um I think that they brought him in for a reason and they really haven’t been able to integrate him in the offense when install is happening both years. They haven’t been able to install him in the offense and I think that’s been to his detriment. Um, and now with this the hamstring injury and not being available, I know the money puts the Bills in a weird spot. If they cut him, like he could potentially be a trade candidate, whatever it might look like. To me, Tyrell Shavers, it feels more and more like he is a lock to make the 53man roster because of now what he’s able to do on special teams, but what he’s showing as a wide receiver. He’s not just a straight line guy. Um, there’s a video of Dvonte Smith, his, you know, former teammate at Alabama in 2019, raving about how he’s got the most talent in the room in a very talented Alabama wide receiver room. So, this is a player with a high pedigree, was a former five-star uh recruit going into college and it never really materialized on the field for him. I like I think if you have to rely on him to be in like the M Collins role, I think I can get with that. He’s 6’4, he’s big, he’s fast, he’s physical, and more importantly, Eric, he’s hungry. So, um I I think when Shawn and Brandon are talking about, you know, we’ll have to see if if Curtis can, you know, provide some special teams value, I think that’s some writing on the wall on on they’re asking some really hard questions internally about what his future is both on offense, but with the within the organization at large. Yeah. Because if Curtis Samuel, your fourth, fifth receivers have to play special teams. you just you don’t have enough bodies on the team for them not to play special teams. So, you know, to me, Elijah Moore or Curtis Samuel needs to be on the team in case Shakir can’t go week one, in case he gets dinged up, you need that shiftier slot guy. And then, okay, a Shavers can kind of fill in for a Coleman or maybe a Palmer. And then to me, you know, I might take some grief for this, but Gabe Davis after the Kansas City 13-second game, the expectations of who he is as a player just went too high. Way too high. I mean, way too high. He He was a what was he? A fifth round draft pick. Yeah, fourth, I think. Fourth or fifth? Yeah, he’s he’s a fourth round draft pick. Like, that wasn’t the guy the Bills were always going to rely on. He did a ton of dirty work for the Bills. he made a bunch of big plays and no he he he likely isn’t a number two wide receiver in this offense and and yes we we kind of thrust him into that role and whatever it may be but Gabe Davis early in his career was a beast on special teams. He does all the dirty work which the Bills require the receivers to do because they sit at 11 personnel a lot of times and require you know a bigger wide receiver to dig out defensive ends at time. Gabe Davis can do all that. If they brought him back, I would be all for it. As long as he’s healthy, as long as he’s recovered from the ACL and all that, I’d be for it. So, we’ll see how to he’d be a one for one swap for M. Collins if he could play that role. To me, Matt Collins was a player that wasn’t expected to do more. That’s why he thrived in that role. I think on a second opportunity in Buffalo that Gabe Davis, if he could just play that role, I think he’d be ideal for it because they want somebody big that they can kind of line up in the slot and go in the middle. And I think they’re really dedicated um to having Keon play the outside and and I think Keon’s finally starting to grow into that position. So, um yeah, I I don’t hate it at all. And he walks in with immediate chemistry with Josh Ellen, which I think is hard to do when you’re finding a guy off the street on August 19th. Yeah. And it’s interesting um some photos from Josh Allen’s wedding that surfaced. I didn’t see everyone on the Bills team there, but I saw Gabe Davis at the wedding. Sure did. Yeah, those guys are buddies. And if Josh has his say, Gabe Davis might be back in there. And for all the people out there that love M. Holland and can’t stand Gabe Davis because he didn’t develop into it. M. Holland got paid a lot more to less than Gabe Davis did. So, let’s not act like, you know, M. Hollands was the second coming and Gabe Davis did nothing for this organization. Let’s take a moment to hear from one of our podcast partners, and that is our good friends at Water Boy. These are the best hydration packets on the market. I use multiple a day. Always start my mornings off with one of these first thing in the morning. They’ll also help you get right after a long weekend, a nice tailgate, or just when it’s as hot as it is right now. So, go check them out, waterboy.com. There’s a link in the show notes and right now you can get a free sample when you make a purchase on the website. So go check them out today. All right. When you look around the division, who do you see as the Bill’s biggest competition? Well, I initially thought it could be the Jets. Um I like their head coach a lot. I thought that Justin Fields um getting an opportunity to start could really propel them just because of how good on the ground he is. but he’s looked really like he’s struggling through the air right now throwing the football. So, I I’ve got to kind of put them in in the rearview mirror and I look at the New England Patriots and I say they’ve got kind of all the makings of that team that could go worst worst to first, right? Um a young quarterback with high upside. They have a head coach that has go that has absolutely raised the floor of that Patriots team. expectation. Um, I love seeing some of these videos from training camp where there’s scuffles and you’ve got Mike Vrabel going in the middle and and getting his hands dirty in these scuffles. Like to me, that team needed a reset. That organization needed a reset, a new identity, and what better than a guy that’s played there that understands that’s won there. Um, and kind of knows the standard that has to be set. Um, I think on the defensive side of the ball, Christian Gonzalez could be one of the best young corners in all of football. Um, they’ve got a lot of nice pieces in terms of wide receiver room. I don’t know if any of them are going to be superstars are great, but it’s kind of like the Bills that kind of feels like they have an everybody eats mantra there as well. If they can protect Drake May, um, I I really think they could be a nine or 10 win football team and and really kind of push the Bills. I’m really low on the Dolphins. I think it’s, you know, gunpowder at this point and they’re just waiting for a match. Like they’re already bringing in Matthew Jud on. It’s, you know, August 19th and they seem to still have problems keeping those edge players that they’ve invested so much, you know, assets, so many assets and so much money at to stay healthy. They’ve got nobody in the defensive secondary right now. I mean, just nobody. So, um, I I think, you know, week five, week six starts rolling around, I think you could really be seeing Mike McDaniel on the hot seat, uh, and potentially out out of there in Miami. So, for me, I think this is probably going to be the easiest road the Bills have had over the last couple years, and there’s been some down years for the AFC East, but Miami had been there sort of knocking on the door. I think that window is closed. Um, I think this is probably the easiest road the Bills are going to have in an AFC East in uh in quite a few years. I can’t wait to have my boy Andrew clip that and put that out there and just let let you go toe-to-toe with Dolphins fans like like I see you do so often uh on on X. It always brings me a lot of joy watching that all go down. I I saw you catch a stray from or you maybe you like reposted something about Tua the other day and just all of a sudden here comes the Miami fans just oh yeah it was um it was from like a podcast like four years ago. I was like I think two is the fifth best quarterback in the division and it was like you know it’s from like 2020 or something and uh yeah you know listen they keep receipts Dolphins fans they they have a lot of time from December to April like you know because they don’t have any anything meaningful happening so they they they get a lot of time to find receipts on on the internet. So that’s so funny. All right we’re going to get to the rapid fire questions brought to you by Dan O Seasoning. All right. Number one is Scotty Sheffller making golf boring to watch or is he making it better to watch being as dominant he is right now? Better. Um, watching over the weekend the the the big moments I said this yesterday, the conversation about Tiger shouldn’t happen because of the amazing moments on the course. It’s now that other players, the the best players in the world are crumbling when Scotty’s playing with them with with a lead. Like watching Robbie Mack, who is one of the best players in the world right now, crumble a four-stroke lead in three holes against Scotty Shuffler to me, I was like, “Wow, that’s tiger-esque.” So, I think he’s making it more exciting. Yeah, Scotty’s four strokes back to start the day, and he starts off at plus 180 to win it. I mean, that that doesn’t happen. And I’ll say this. I’ll say this. I was I was driving to Chicago. I had options. I could have turned on the Reds game in the car. I could have done some things. If Scotty’s not in it and it’s McIntyre vers Sam Burns, I’m probably not tuning in till the final four holes. I’m gonna put something else on. I might heck I might have even watched a different preseason game or something. But Scotty’s in the mix. I I was there for the opening t-shot. I mean, I was there for the the birdie on number one, McIntyre Bogey, and I said, “Here we go.” And here we go. Yeah. All right. So, Chris Brown, I was watching the finals of it, the final of the tournament in the booth before we were doing pregame and Chris Brown was saying how boring that Scotty makes it because he’s so good. I’m like, dude, I’m the opposite. I’m total opposite. Yeah, I’m with you. We’re aligned. Did you see the new Rder Cup gear that got released yesterday? Is it the one that looks like the old um like 1970s like plastic cup? Don’t know about that one. Yes% I did. Yeah. What’s your thoughts on the new Rder Cup gear? I’m gonna buy some. I mean, I would have bought it if it looked even worse than that. I’m not a huge fan. I I have always really been of the mind. The 1980 Olympic US hockey team, that blue with the street USA across like that to me is the money maker for I don’t really like the navy blue. I really like that bright like kind of varsity blue color that that they’ve sort of adopted over the last couple of years in USA hockey. That would have been really what I thought would have been the winner for the Ryder Cup. Um, but I’m going to buy I mean the hat I saw the rope hat that Keegan was wearing in a promo. I’m gonna I’m gonna buy that hat. Yeah. So I listen it may not be great but I’m a sucker for merch. So yeah, there’s a bomber jacket that I said if USA wins I’m going to scoop that because I’m sure it’s expensive and I’m rare. I don’t know how often I I’ll wear it to like one Bills game or something, but it but if they win this year, it’ll be cool. Heck, I might hang it in my golf simulator in the basement or something. Momento. They don’t win, I’m not rocking that and I’m not hanging on the wall. I have a big issue with the one polo that’s got a zipper on it. I’m like, yeah, that’s that’s a big no. It reminds me of um of Schoffley’s. I don’t know. I forget the name of the brand that he wears. Like him and um Victor Havland. They got some like weird brands with zippers instead of the buttons. That is not a That’s not a look I’m ready to adopt. No, me neither. Me neither. Especially not on a golf course. Like some some trendy shirt like a knit whatever. Cool. Not not right. Right. Like if I get invited to a Bezos party like like Fitzy, like maybe I consider a zipper there, you know? Absolutely. 100%. All right. I see you’re winning all these golf tournaments now. What’s your uh what’s your index at? Index is at a six right now. Uh, what did it start at before these wins? Uh, eight. Okay. Okay. So, we went we went in opposite direction during tournament season. I went from a four to a six. You went from an eight to a six. So, we can play straight up now. Yeah, we absolutely can play straight up right now. Uh, I’m playing great. Um, I obviously won won the Gansen to Pew at Wanuka this year, which was to me, it’s funny, we we got an opportunity to go to BMW. So, we played Caves Valley last week before the uh before the players got there. And we got there and we were kind of asking around like, “Hey, how’d you get here?” “Hey, you know, we won a scramble or we won our two-day member member, blah blah blah.” And we’re like, “Oh, wow.” Like, “We want a four-day member guest that includes five 18hole rounds.” And three New York State former amateur winners were in the field. And they’re like, “Holy cow.” Like, that’s way. So, like, we went there and we had that validation of like, “Wow, we won a pretty difficult tournament to win um to get here.” And I ended up finishing sixth there. I played with the guy, Eric, that ended up winning and he’s going to South Africa next year. And I’m not kidding, it was one of the most impressive rounds of golf I’ve ever been in a cart watching someone else play. He hit every green in regulation. He basically any par putt was inside a foot. Like he was walking up and tapping in pars like it just was a clinic. Um and I, you know, I ended up going out of bounds on a play. I shot 81 with a with a nine on the card. So I felt pretty good about the overall round. And I’m saying now I’m like, man, I didn’t even feel like I was in the same league as you. I wouldn’t even seem like we were saying playing the same game. So, um, it was an awesome experience. Uh, it’s been a it’s been a fun month and a half or so for me for, uh, for golf this year. I love it. When you get when you get it rolling, there’s nothing Everything’s right in your world and when you can’t find, everything’s off in your world. I mean, it’s it’s pathetic. A lot of that, not a lot of the finding it. So, it it feels like I’m trying to just, you know, ride the lightning a little right now. Absolutely. All right. Do you have a favorite memory from High Mark Stadium? Whether it’s a moment on the field or just you personally going to games over the years. So, uh, this would have been 2011. Is that when you guys beat the Patriots at home with Fitzy, right? That was okay. So, that game I have my college roommate who’s from Rochester, but he’s a Green Bay Packers fan. He’s never been to a Bills game. So, I took him to the game. Um, we’re went up to go see my dad who had his uh corporate box up in the up in the sweet level and the windows open and after the game, you know, like everyone still like the stadium was full 35 minutes after that game. Y there were like a couple of rows ahead of us like men in their 40s hugging and crying and he’s looking at me going, “Bro, it’s week three or whatever.” Like what? Like why are there grown men crying in his hands? I’m like, “Dude, you just you don’t get it. but I’m glad you’re here to experience. He’s like, I’ve never seen people I’ve never seen a stadium full 35 minutes after the last whistle in a game. So, that game to me sticks out as like probably one of my favorites just from like getting to have a roommate who is not a Bills fan experience like the pure joy that the Bills can genuinely bring people in the community. It was um it it was definitely it was it was a fun it that was a fun game for me. Yeah, that was a special one. All right, last one for me. What’s your favorite wing spot in Buffalo? Oh man, that’s You put me on the spot there. Um, I’m gonna say Adolf’s first ward. I gotta stay loyal to the to the neighborhood. I was just there uh two weeks ago or less than two weeks ago after the first preseason game. It’s um I live down the street uh over on Senica Street. Uh I’m there most Mondays for wing night. Uh Jimmy behind the bar is like probably the best bartender in Buffalo. Um and Brian, one of the owners, uh is probably one of the nicest guys. will sit at the bar and talk to you for an hour and you have no idea the guy owns the bar. So that that place has got a special place in my heart for sure. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. I got introduced to that spot last year and to me like Right. Well, when did we go? I guess we Yeah, we went after the preseason game before the GooGoo Dolls concert and it was slammed in there and I I had brought three buddies that had never been there before and I I was thinking, “Hey, we’re going to get off the beaten path. No one’s going to recognize me. We’re a little of that’s my fault. I’m not I I I have spent some time glowing it up a little bit to some people. Um you you did try their their special blue cheese, correct? Yes. Okay. To me, that’s the game changer there. So, they make their blue cheese with sour cream based instead of mayo based, so it’s thicker, sticks on the wing. Oh, it is. Oh, yeah. That that to me is the special. And their their hot lemon pepper is that that’s the wing of of choice for me when I go there. Yeah, that’s excellent. We got those. We got some mediums. Yeah, they do one heck of a job. My one critique is, and I hate to say this, but I’m a like soft pretzel and cheese connoisseur. I like to try them wherever I’m at. Their cheese is terrible. Their really their mustard’s good. Their cheese is like real runny. Um I’m going to have to get on them about that. That’s my only Yeah, let them know. It’s my only critique. My only critique down there. But anyways, Nate, fun catching up. Thank you very much for your time. Look forward to seeing you in uh two and a half, three weeks for the opener up in the booth, brother. Can’t wait. Yeah, keep those uh tweets firing during the game, too. I like looking at those during uh TV breaks and then and then I and then I I use some of your info, but I do turn around I do turn around and give you a point like, “Hey, I did pick that one up from something you did. You’re you’re you do uh you do site your sources quite well.” So, I appreciate it, brother. Thanks again. Tasman.