1. Kim Pegula discusses the impact of the new sports performance center
The Bills invested $18 million on upgrades to their sports performance center that opened up last April. Bills owner Kim Pegula went on the Sports Innovation Lab’s “The Fluid Fan Podcast” to discuss what the new health and wellness center has brought to the team.
"A lot of [the new innovation] is around player health and safety," said Pegula. "I think that is one tool where maybe from a fan perspective you don't necessarily get to see that technology at work but certainly having our players healthier on the field, more making their recovery quicker, making the game safer, the fans do get the trickle-down effect of that. [Fans] just sometimes don't get to see the behind the scenes and the technology it takes to get there. [There is] a lot of great work in that area from different helmets, targeting and tracking where hits are and what that does to the body, to everything from understanding their workload because of factors in their body whether it's fluids, salt intake, heart rate, all of those things. I think it's just fascinating. And I think it has to be as important as part of the game as even understanding the skill set of the game. If our players are not on the field, they're not healthy, they're not performing at their optimum level, we all feel the effects of that."
The Bills were one of, if not, the healthiest team in football during the 2019 season. Entering Week 17 of the regular season, no Bills was ruled out due to injury, a remarkable feat.
2. This Bills defensive unit ranked in the top 5 according to PFF
According to analytics outlet Pro Football Focus, the Bills secondary was just as good according to the numbers as they appeared in person.
PFF released its top secondary rankings in the 2019 NFL season, Buffalo came in fourth.
Since taking over as head coach in 2017, Sean McDermott has led the Buffalo Bills to three consecutive elite team coverage grades, with their 2019 grade of 90.5 ringing in as the league's fourth-best mark. Cornerback Tre'Davious White (75.2 coverage grade) and safeties Micah Hyde (82.0) and Jordan Poyer (70.1) helped lead a group that allowed the fifth-fewest EPA per pass play and the league's second-fewest touchdown passes through 16 games. And White was the only NFL corner to play 500-plus coverage snaps and not allow a touchdown reception. The Bills played a good mix of both zone (60% of the time) and man coverage (34% of the time), and their low-risk philosophy yielded an average depth of target of just 7.3 yards, which tied for the second-lowest average among all 32 teams.
The only teams with a better secondary were the Vikings, 49ers, and Patriots.
3. What does this Bills legend think of Josh Allen?
Andre Reed sat down with The Buffalo News to discuss the 2019 Bills, Hall of Fame snubs, and the impact he's making on kids with his foundation.
When asked about quarterback Josh Allen, he saw a little Jim in him.
Josh Allen, I think, definitely took a major step forward in a lot of ways. Maturity-wise, the way he played the game. I think he did a pretty good job to put the team on his back a lot of times. And the whole team, the whole organization can look at him and say, "Yeah, this is the guy that we drafted in 2017 that we thought that would make this kind of progress in his second year." And he has.
I think confidence-wise, he needed that. He needed confidence from the organization, from Sean, from Brandon, from (offensive coordinator Brian) Daboll. He took that step and everybody fed off of that. Jim was that kind of guy, too. But we had Hall of Famers.
