Michael Lombardi: “I think there’s some internal combustion” within Buffalo Bills

Since head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane formed a tandem with the Buffalo Bills, the organization has have been a tight-knit machine with few, if any, leaks. Lately, however, some cracks have begun to surface. NFL executive and media analyst Michael Lombardi recently joined the “Pat McAfee Show” to discuss what he believes is happening with the team.

“I think they have a lot of things going on,” Lombardi stated. “Let’s go back to Leslie Frazier’s departure, the defensive coordinator. You know, Sean McDermott wants to call the defensive plays and Leslie Frazier was in charge of that.” The inference here is that McDermott was starting to take away Frazier’s responsibilities.

Next, Lombardi dove into the gut-wrenching playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. “Thirteen seconds in Kansas City, McDermott took over the play-calling on that drive that resulted in a field goal,” he explained. “That didn’t sit well with Leslie. Then next year he kept calling the defense. But this year, McDermott wants to call the defense.” Lombardi stated that Frazier was unhappy with McDermott’s plans and that was the catalyst behind his exit from the team.

Pat McAfee, seemingly in total shock, interrupted Lombardi to ask him if he had stated that information publicly before. Lombardi replied that he had talked about it on one of his recent podcasts while adding, “I think there’s some internal combustion going on within that building.”

The pair then went on to talk about the Stefon Diggs situation. Lombardi at first wondered if Diggs missing the first day of mandatory minicamp and posting some cryptic words on Instagram could be a contract issue.

He quickly dismissed those thoughts, however, when he realized that Diggs is one of the highest-paid wide receivers in the league. “It has to be related to scheme and usage and what they want to do offensively,” Lombardi told McAfee. “They draft Dalton Kincaid. He’s a really good player. They traded up to get him.”

“Are they gonna become more of a 12-team instead of an 11-team, which they were the last two seasons?” Lombardi wondered aloud. “I think that has to be the conversation. Maybe it’s something related to Dorsey. Maybe he and Dorsey can’t see eye-to-eye. I don’t know. Dorsey seems like a very temperamental guy,” Lombardi speculated.

With that statement, Pat McAfee interrupted Lombardi with a big “WOAH!” as the two remembered the Bills’ loss to the Miami Dolphins, which provoked offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey to destroy the coaches’ booth on camera in a complete meltdown.

Lombardi then continued, “Let me add one more thing before you ask me another question. The sports books seem to have Buffalo at 10.5 wins, which to me seems low based on their success the last two years. So what is actually going on?”

All of Bills Mafia is asking the same question.

If you’d like to see the other side of the coin* on these pressing Buffalo Bills’ related matters, click here to see Tim Graham’s thoughts on 13 seconds and Stefon Diggs’ discontent.

*Yes. We’re 100% going with a coin-flip reference in an article pair that includes “13 Seconds” content.