S.I.’s Albert Breer Talks Bills, Lions, Donald, Wentz, Browns & More w/Rich

Albert Breer watched the Bills on Thursday night and saw a mismatch that had nothing to do with the scoreboard.

"It sort of looked at the beginning of the game at least like a high school game and there's one kid who's going Division I on the field," the Sports Illustrated senior writer told Rich.

That kid is Josh Allen, and Breer was not hedging. He pointed to a video Kurt Warner put out breaking down the degree of difficulty on throws that look routine, including an open throw to Josh Palmer "which like looked like a layup and really wasn't." The summary was blunt: Allen "seems to have a defense on a string" and is "again playing like the best football player on planet Earth."

The bigger story, in Breer's telling, is who is calling the shots. "The brakes are off now and this is Joe Brady's team," he said, "and there's going to be an aggression and there's going to be kind of a no apologies feel to the way that they play."

Rich asked him to explain the phrase, and Breer went to the family tree. Brady's mentor is Sean Payton, and Payton spent six years as an offensive coordinator working inside somebody else's program, first with the Giants under Jim Fassel, then in Dallas under Bill Parcells, who got so fed up with Payton's ideas that he started calling him Dennis the Menace. Then Payton got to New Orleans. "Man, did it look different," Breer said. With Drew Brees, the Saints were a top-five offense for 14 years in a row.

Breer was careful to credit Sean McDermott for the last nine years. But there is something, he argued, to a coach "not having to go over and check, and not having to do something within somebody else's game plan." Through two weeks, he sees Brady "letting it rip on offense," with that ethos carrying over to Jim Leonhard's aggressive defense.

Allen hinted at all of it over the summer, Breer said, when he brought up 2019 LSU in conversation. Nobody replicates Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson, and Ja'Marr Chase, but the reference was aimed at a message: we're coming for everybody. With DJ Moore, Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir, James Cook, and Keon Coleman, Breer called it "maybe the most balanced group that Josh Allen's had around him."

Even the scare on Moore looks manageable. It is an AC joint sprain, not the collarbone injury Breer feared when he saw Moore "literally holding his clavicle." He expects Moore to miss some time, but "it looks like he's going to be all right."

Rich came armed with numbers on Detroit. James Cook ran for 135 yards Thursday, and 104 of them came before contact. "So, like 100 flag football yards last night," Rich said.

Breer gave the Lions offense credit for showing fight. Jared Goff played well down the stretch, and scoring 31 points in that environment without three starting offensive linemen was, in his view, pretty good work under Drew Petzing.

The defense is another matter. Kelvin Sheppard is in his second year as defensive coordinator after taking over for Aaron Glenn, and he is one of Dan Campbell's guys. "If we see a couple more of these performances," Breer said, "you're going to start to see Sheppard on the spot."

He was fair about it. The secondary has been without both starting safeties, Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, and there is the Terrion Arnold situation. "It's not all on Sheppard," he said. But people he talked to described the defense as undisciplined, losing contain repeatedly.

Then came the part that made Rich sit up. Breer recalled 2021, when Campbell pulled the plug on offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn. "If this doesn't get turned around, you wonder if he's going to start to look at similar types of actions on the defensive side of the ball."

Breer stressed he was not calling it likely. "The defense has been a little messy for a while now." Rich's verdict: "That's more of a loaf than a bread crumb right there, Albert."

On the Vikings, Rich laid out Carson Wentz's opening. If Wentz goes into Chicago and balls out while Kyler Murray recovers from a concussion, Minnesota is 2-0 and the questions start.

Breer does not think Kevin O'Connell flips the job quickly. But if Murray comes back and it doesn't look right two or three weeks in, "there is a world where Carson Wentz winds up being the quarterback down the line." His reasoning is about the locker room. After what that group went through last year, with veterans like Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, Aaron Jones, and Christian Darrisaw in their primes, "those guys don't want to wait around." O'Connell, Breer believes, feels he owes them the best answer at the position. He also flagged the matchup itself: Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams against a Brian Flores defense.

Seattle's news was heavier. Breer said Sam Darnold is dealing with the hip joint and a glute tendon, and he was told it is "a 3-6 week injury." When he ran that by Seahawks people, the answer was mostly uncertainty. The good news is Drew Lock, who knows the offense, got rolling late against the Patriots, and the team feels good about him against the Cardinals.

And on Monday night in Los Angeles? "I think he wants to play. I think there's a good chance of it," Breer said of Aaron Donald. The Rams' finish line is January and February, so there is no reason to overreact to Myles Garrett being out. But with the Giants looking like a more formidable opponent than expected, "obviously Aaron Donald can be a difference maker."

Breer also passed along a quick injury read: he expects the Texans to be careful with Nico Collins and his hamstring ahead of the Bengals, while he was less certain about the Ravens and Zay Flowers.

Rich did not hide his skepticism about Cleveland. Todd Monken saying the coach decides who plays is what coaches should say, Rich allowed, but it "rang a bell that sounded like more of an alarm." And the line about the media wanting 400 yards and five touchdowns? "Browns fans just want to win, dude."

Breer's answer was that the Browns genuinely believe Deshaun Watson is the best option, and the reason is development. After deciding a year and a half ago to get younger, which led to the Travis Hunter trade, Cleveland built a strong rookie class with Mason Graham, Quinshon Judkins, defensive rookie of the year Carson Schwesinger, Harold Fannin, and Dylan Sampson. They think they did it again with Spencer Fano, KC Concepcion, and Denzel Boston.

"A huge piece of the decision-making now is what quarterback is going to be best for the other 10 guys in the huddle to develop," Breer said. There is a scheme reason, too. Monken wants to give the quarterback a lot of control, which is what Bill O'Brien gave Watson in Houston, and that is what made Watson start to feel like himself again. That piece goes away with a second-year quarterback, and Breer was clear that it is "not Shedeur Sanders' fault."

The risk is the temperature. If the Browns get blown out in Tampa and Baker Mayfield is "planting flags" and throwing for 350 yards, "the temperature is going to get turned way up." Breer also noted the summer preseason start was in front of about 15,000 people. A home game against Carolina in Week 3 would be something else. "It's going to be a cauldron," he said.

Rich could not let his guest go without asking how the Ohio State faithful handled the road loss to Texas. "We made it through the week, Rich, which is always a win after a game like that," Breer said. Ryan Day's own line got a wry airing, too: "We don't lose around here."

He had no hate for Texas. "That environment was incredible," he said, and he wants more of it. Breer credited Steve Sarkisian for arguing that teams should not be punished for scheduling games like Ohio State while others line up cupcakes. "We need more of that, not less of that."

Rich agreed and pushed it further. With a playoff in place, one loss is no longer the end of a season, and going undefeated is rare. Then he pointed to Lane Kiffin in Oxford this weekend. "Holy crap, brother."

Breer summed it up: "That sort of drama is so specific to college football. So yeah, let's get more of that, not less."