Jeremy White | WGR 550 Buffalo Radio Host

Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm interested in making money.

I'm not interested in hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season 2, The Dixie Mafia.

Available now on the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're pleased to welcome, on short notice, Jeremy White from our Buffalo affiliate WGR 550. Jeremy, when I say four straight playoff trips, considering what was an extended drought for the Bills before that, what's your reaction?

It's great. A lot of people around here, you know, we talk about the team like you talk about any team, but 17 years without the playoffs, and then to make it five out of six and four in a row, any conversation about how they need to be this, they need to be that. Everyone kind of stops and looks around and says, man, it's really great to be talking about it like this. It's so great to be in the playoffs once again. So Bills fans do not take it for granted. It was almost two decades of missing.

So everyone around here is pretty happy pretty much all the time with regard to that. Sean McDermott talks about how the Bakula family took a chance on him. He moved his family to Western New York. He's so humbled by what they've been able to accomplish since he got there. How has he changed the culture after that 17 year drought? Well, the number one thing he did, you know, stability is a big thing. And while they've made it five out of six years, the defense has almost always been really good. He came in and the defense was good pretty much right out of the gate. Tredavious White is an early draft pick for them.

Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde. These guys kind of backstopped the secondary and they all introduced us to what Sean McDermott teams will be, which is really strong defensively and stopping the pass. And they are every year pretty much. So, you know, changing the culture is about stability. They stopped rotating through coaches and quarterbacks and, you know, the Josh Allen draft pick and development was a big part of it. But, you know, that stability, he made the playoffs in his first year. So, you know, after the 17 year drought, when McDermott makes it year one, everybody can kind of sit back and say, all right, let's see what else can happen under this guy. So stability and, you know, just overall preparedness. His teams generally play a pretty smart brand of football. What have they lost on the offensive side of the ball with Brian Dabel's departure to New York? Or sorry, the Giants?

Well, a little bit of that stability. You know, Brian Dabel stayed here maybe even a year or two longer than people thought he would. There were rumblings about head coaching positions. He interviewed with the Browns.

And, you know, with Brian Dabel, he was here through Josh Allen's entire development from a rookie year right up until this year when he goes to New York. So changing coordinator, of course, that's like this big X factor whenever we do talk about this game, about what's different and any sort of issues the offense might be having. We know there's been a change there. So they lost a little bit of their creativity maybe. They used to run a lot more trick plays. And I know there's way more to creativity than just trick plays, but the Bills would bust those out in big games and big moments. And it almost gave this feeling like they were so confident in what they could do in exploiting matchups, whether that's a throwback play to Josh Allen in a playoff game in Houston.

They had really no fear. And this time around, it might be a little bit different, but they seem to keep getting the job done. And that's, of course, a large testament to how good the quarterback has become. Jeremy White is with us from Buffalo, our Odyssey affiliate WGR 550.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Considering how familiar Bills fans are with the pain of coming so close and not getting that Super Bowl ring, you think about the last two years. How do you think that the playoff exits, short of their goal against the Chiefs, have made them a better team or made them more prepared?

Well, it might come down to the next couple weeks. And by that, I mean their goal coming into the year was to get the one seed and to not have to go to Kansas City. They can win in Kansas City. They've done it twice in the last two years in the regular season, but it hasn't happened in the postseason. So one way they've been prepared is they kind of change a little bit of their offseason. They go get Von Miller to be the closer to beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. And that did happen in the regular season. Of course, Von's out for the year now.

So they are not afraid. They don't they don't view the Chiefs as any sort of mountain they can't climb. And the next couple weeks, we've got three games left here. So if the Bills can finish the job, they won't have to go to Kansas City. They can get Patrick Mahomes here if he makes it that far.

The Holmes has never played a road playoff game. And that's crazy. Yeah, right. People here want that to be here.

So it's been a goal all year long and now three games away from making it happen. What is the Bills Achilles heel, Jeremy? What's their fatal flaw?

That's a great question. It's probably something on their offense, whether it's the offensive line, which has been a bit banged up. Mitch Morse left the second half of this game against Miami with a concussion and there was noticeable drop off. The line is OK. Their weapons, they've been trying to scrape through at receiver John Brown and Cole Beasley.

Both brought back to this team on the practice squad and we'll probably be seeing them get elevated up and down the lineup a little bit. They're trying to get through with what I think is an offense that is just not quite as flush with weapons as it has been. And that might be the Achilles heel. On defense it's about injuries. They're going to bank up all year long and finding a way through as well. So they've been getting the job done.

It's been stressful at times. But I'd say the offensive line and the offensive weapons might catch up with them. Bills are the only team in the AFC East that won in Week 15. Every other team took a step back. Of course the Dolphins losing in Orchard Park on Saturday night.

What are your impressions of the division that started out so strong and actually at some point looked as though we might have four teams competing for the playoffs? Well both the Dolphins and the Jets have gained a lot of respect around here. The Jets really a lot more than people thought. That's a team that's kind of been like the Bills.

The last plays franchise for a while. And the brand of defense plays impressive. The Dolphins are coming for the Bills offensively. They want to throw it around with Tua and Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. And with New England, we love to laugh at them.

It's the greatest thing on earth. It's the best we can do. That's the team that was on top for those 17 years. So the way that game ended yesterday, we'll probably spend more time on that today than the Bills. Stop it!

Stop it! We will have our fun. There's nothing we like more than making fun of the Patriots right about now. I have noticed that all of your last handful of retweets were Patriots reporters or Patriots insiders who were quoting either Bill Belichick or different players in the locker room about that end of game.

The three seconds and the bonehead decisions. It's glorious. It's delicious. We have no shame when it comes to watching them fall apart. But before I let you go, when you're watching it actually unfold, can you even believe it? No.

No. Can't believe it. But I guess with that franchise, the way things have gone lately, when they play the Bills, they don't look like who they used to look like. It's nothing short of wonderful, whether it's the coach throwing tablets or if it's Max Jones sitting on the ground. This is a scenario where people around here will get a lot of mileage out of it.

It is all out war is what you're saying. It was a lot of years of running into that Patriots team and feeling like they were the one thing that was standing in between the Bills and what they wanted to do. I hope Bills fans are okay being a front runner, though, because I think sometimes sports fans are better if they have more to complain about. There's no doubt about that.

There's a little element. The only thing that changes that right now is that one seed. The idea of going to Kansas City again, it's not this task that they can't or something they couldn't do. The Bills played the Bengals in two weeks, so a very, very big game. But last year, that 13 seconds, the loss in 13 seconds wasn't just the Bills were 13 seconds away from beating the Chiefs. They were 13 seconds away from hosting the AFC Championship game against Cincinnati. So, you know, we all here in those final 13 seconds, people were planning their Sunday about going to the stadium and that got ripped away.

So this whole year, a lot of it has felt like righting or wrong. Get the job done. Get it back home.

Get it here and see if you can finish the job. Another step clinching a fourth straight playoff berth. You can find Jeremy White on Twitter at JeremyWGR getting ready to start his show in Buffalo at the top of the hour. So appreciate a couple of quick minutes. Enjoy your morning. Ripping on the Pats, Jeremy. We will.

We will. Thanks, Amy. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams.

Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season two, the Dixie Mafia available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.