Fresh off his first win and initial regular-season game as head coach of the Buffalo Bills, Joe Brady took his Victory Monday formation behind the podium Monday afternoon. Starting off by discussion bigger emotions of the game he deflected to discuss much about on his own, while pointing out the truly difficult situation defensive tackle Ed Oliver faces every day.
Yet Week 1 was perhaps beyond anything Oliver could have prepared for, returning to his home town of Houston, TX to play in front of family
and friends so dear to him. Brady said that he “still hurt(s) every single day that I see him and can’t fathom what he’s going through. Brady spoke to the incomprehensible challenge for Oliver returning to his hometown, saying that ”it meant a lot to the guys and I know he needed all the guys for that,” while saying that “no one was more deserving of a game ball than Ed Oliver.”
Asked about things that need to be cleaned up on defense amid its work-in-progress nature, Brady said that, despite the team clamping down when needed, “look, all three phases weren’t good enough yesterday. Right? And we have to — there’s too many penalties across the board.” He then pointed to the idea of getting lost in a box score instead of the on-field product and what he refers to as a “smoke detector,” stating that offensively putting a ball on the ground and other turnover-worthy plays, plus penalties overall could have otherwise proved detrimental to the game — and that all will need to be cleaned up, importantly heading into a very short week of prep for the Detroit Lions.
Brady praised the defensive adjustments following halftime and being able to force the Texans into punting situations. Though new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s unit is under a bit of fire a day after the win, there were encouraging signs of its potential. Look no further than the way that Greg Rousseau took over in his first game ever as a 3-4 outside linebacker.
As for the nod to penalties, Brady said that it’s important to “see how the game is being called. You know, that was a big thing — like, you know, sometimes some games they’ll let you play, some games they’re gonna call it and we have to be able to adjust in those situations.”
Brady did admit that the team is still figuring itself out, saying they “have a pulse, but you’re still trying to get a feel of how to use guys offensively, defensively, special teams, and to see the guys be able to make the adjustments; to see the guys be able to look through it all, be able to kind of play all the way through inside the red zone and figuring out, that’s what I was proud of.”
In discussing wide receiver DJ Moore’s first game with the team, Brady briefly went into a bit of the Xs and Os on offense in a refreshing way. Specifically, Brady was asked about whether Moore’s first game was what he envisioned the wide receiver bringing to the team both in terms of direct production and as a vehicle to stress coverage and produce flags:
“(I)f I’m Josh, I would have thought that there were actually — he was leaning towards DJ, but also outside leverage on Dalton to double Dalton in that situation. Like, to get to be able to throw a post in man coverage, that means there has to be a bracket on somebody or a lean towards somebody in that situation. And that’s what gave us the opportunity at Josh Palmer.”
Brady knows that with Moore, teams can’t simply double him and fully take away the heart of Buffalo’s receiving group. They’ll have to decide if it’s worth leaving Kincaid one-one-one or doubling him, which in turn opens up the same opportunities for Moore, or also Palmer, Khalil Shakir, and more. It’s a situation the Bills haven’t had on offense in quite a few years. Additionally, Brady values the importance each brings to the offense as someone who “made the play without making the play.”
Diving a bit back into the nuts and bolts on offense, Brady then said that “the trust that Josh has in that situation, that’s strictly an alert on the post, you know, if it’s there and they got the off coverage and he’s felt the safety was leaning, to be able to take it. And so I think it’s a combination of a lot of things of Josh just trusting the play, but when you have guys like DJ, Khalil, you know, Dalton in those situations it’s like ‘alright if they wanna take someone away, we have somebody else that we can go to.”
Turning to Kincaid, Brady knows how big of an X-factor the athletic tight end is for Buffalo’s offense. When asked how he impacts the game fully healthy, Brady smiled and spoke at length about Kincaid:
“Look, even a banged-up Dalton Kincaid when he’s out on the football field helps us. You know there were so many games last year when he was out there and… you guys might not know he’s not 100%, but he’s not 100% and he’s still, you know, playing at a high level. And I mean… he was outstanding yesterday. And he was outstanding in the run game as well, and it allowed us to be able to keep him out on the football field and do some of the things that we wanted to do. We were in a lot of 13 and, you know, it kind of dictated it especially with the amount of nickel that they were playing to it and getting into the small groupings. You know, that’s gotta be something that, you know, in that situation, if he can be on the field both in the run game, it’s only gonna help him in the pass-game situations. Right? And we’re in the same formation that he catches the deep corner route, you know, when we move the pocket backed up and he’s had an outstanding offseason and when he’s at his best, I mean, he was literally matched up on every player in their secondary, you know, at one point or the other yesterday.”
Brady had plenty more to say about his first regular-season win, while also well aware of the short turnaround toward facing a dangerous Lions team in just a few days’ time. Catch up with all that Brady had to say during his latest turn at the podium, conveniently embedded below here for you:
