Ryan Fitzpatrick & Eric Wood | Centered on Buffalo Podcast

E Wood and Ryan Fitzpatrick talk about Jason Kelce, Taylor Swift, throwing the ball in the cold and especially the Buffalo Bills stadium, Mahomes v Allen, Bills v Chiefs, favorite wing spot and more!

The official Youtube Channel for the Centered on Buffalo podcast, Hosted by Eric Wood. Smashing wings because we’re chasing rings in Buffalo Bills legend Eric Wood’s newest podcast Centered on Buffalo! This weekly podcast gives you a pro player’s perspective on postgame recaps, exclusive talks with your favorite NFL legends, and never before heard stories from the field!

00:00 Introduction and Hair Talk
02:10 Doug Marrone and Jason Kelce
03:25 The Last Fitz Bowl in the Super Bowl
06:34 Playing in the Cold
10:12 Gifts from the Offensive Line
13:47 Gift Exchange and Being Santa
14:34 Advantages for Bills and Chiefs
16:11 Combatting the QB Spy
18:27 Attending the Game and Favorite Wing Spot

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Welcome back to the Center on Buffalo podcast Our Guest this week needs no introduction he’s a friend of the podcast and that is Ryan Fitzpatrick welcome back to the Center on Buffalo podcast Fitzy I mean this is what three four times now Eric this is great man so

Um once we get the sponsors big enough we’ll have like a weekly uh or anytime the Bills play someone that you played for we’ll get it sponsored and we’ll we you’ll actually get paid for these appearances right now uh you’re just I guess replay repaying me for the many

Shots I took you got don’t worry you don’t got to pay me anything it’s all good I’m curious if you straightened your hair right now would it be longer than mine yeah for sure oh my goodness okay I’m trying to get it in line with the background that’ll uh

That’ll entice the people that are just listening on podcast to subscribe to the YouTube channel to see the seven inches of hair I have right now but your hair is strong right now it’s kind of the offseason due you know once I start or stop cutting it and having to be on TV

Or doing whatever it just kind of continues to grow up and out so um yeah I probably need a haircut I tried to grow mullet one year and it just kept growing out and out so it never would go down and then I was in the middle of a

Contract negotiation with the bills uh like going into my fifth year yeah so after my fourth season and Doug Marone walked up to me he’s like hey you look like an idiot you should get a haircut and I’m like thanks Doug like does that help these contract negotiations move

Smoother or uh what are we doing here so I eventually got a haircut I just saw Doug in an elevator um for one of the games I think he was coaching for the Saints this year um and the last time I had seen him was in his office right

Before I got cut when he was talking to me about how excited they were to have me and uh you know new regime and all this stuff and then I never talked to him again so it was nice seeing him Pleasant guy yeah you’re you’re one of

Uh the few that says it’s nice to see Doug Marone no I’m just kidding I I do like Doug after we lost to them uh in Jacksonville in the playoff game which ended up being my last game he comes up to me on the field you know I’m

Completely ticked off you’ve been around me after losses I don’t handle him extremely well I can I can show some serious immaturity after a game especially when we lose but uh he was like hey uh me and the wife we’ll contact you about the Derby this year

Like what when did when was that ever discussed Doug but anyways let’s move on all right so Jason Kelce uh kind of announced his retirement this week he’s going to do it formally by all indications but um oh shoot I was gonna ask your thoughts on him but he’s like

One Center you haven’t taken s from you know what I what’s funny so he was on during his bye he came onto the Thursday night football show with us um and we had a segment where we were supposed to take snaps and first of all I didn’t

Want to get under Center I don’t know what that thing smells like so I mentioned like I don’t want to touch your grundle I’m not going to touch your grundle after that he went on his podcast and was complaining about me not touching his grundle so you know how

Close like the center quarterback uh relationship is but we we’ve known each other for years and it really hit it off uh so I took some shotgun snaps from him which I mean he can whip it back there now you’ve seen Jaylen herz’s stance where he’s down and ready so I just I

Told him we’re on TV just give me one nice one here um so I have taken a snap from him before but uh yeah what a career he had and I know it’s not formal yet but I think you can tell by the way that he’s you know dressing people and

Answering questions and tearing up like that dude is all heart and had an amazing career he did and and did it without any ego I think I met him 15 years ago when he was at the University of Cincinnati playing with some of my buddies from high school and he’s the

Same person now he was then I don’t know that you two as a center quarterback combo could like I don’t think people could handle the amount of there’s a good amount of sarcasm coming from him as well and then just the lack of ego like your game day attires would just be

Priceless uh you all walking around together it could have been a match made in heaven it could have been a match made in hell we just yeah you never know but he he rocks those uh he rocks the Tims like the work boots you know and he

Doesn’t lace them up and or he goes sandals so I’ve always appreciated his style um do you have a house full of swifties in your house so you got four girls we do enormous enormous swifties like my wife you know my but Liza probably being the biggest one and then the four girls

All falling in line as well yeah my little girl Grace uh in my top five of my Spotify last year was Taylor Swift Just because every day on the way to school as soon as we drop Garrett off it’s okay can we put on Taylor Swift

Sure we we can put on Taylor Swift so she made it in my top five of my Spotify were your girls similar to Grace begging to go to the game this week for a chance to meet Taylor Swift um so they got they got to go to

The concert uh they all flew when it was at Levi Stadium from Arizona to uh san fran San Jose Santa Clara wherever we’re saying that is um they got to see her so that was like the dream they all dressed up you know they had the words on the

T-shirt that Liza made in the sparkly jackets and but it is uh you know one of my daughters has been a Chiefs fan since we went to the Super Bowl and we lived in Tampa when it was Tampa and the Chiefs uh I didn’t pack correctly she

Was really cold they ran out of like blankets and long sleeve T-shirts except for a Chiefs t-shirt so we bought her a Chiefs t-shirt at that game and since then she’s been a big Chiefs fan and now obviously you know Swifty Kelsey uh even bigger Chiefs fan so you haven’t played

For the Chiefs so this isn’t a fits Bowl this week this isn’t a playoff game between two of your teams uh the AFC Championship game has a chance of it Bill’s Texans and then in the Super Bowl bills bucks or who whoever else in the

NFC so chance of a fits Bowl you know AFC Championship and Super Bowl when was the last Fitz Bowl in the Super Bowl the last fits Bowl in the Super Bowl let’s see I can look back here to look at my teams real fast uh Bengals the Bengals and Rams play they

Did two years ago but you didn’t play for the LA Rams you played for the St Louis what what do you mean I played for the Rams we’re not counting that one no that that is technically but you didn’t play for the LA Rams that’s BS that’s I

Mean thank you I got it right I don’t care what you say after this okay I was going to say because I thought it was going to be a lot more recent than this but I would have said the 2000 Super Bowl St Louis Rams Tennessee Titans that

Would have been like the true one yeah and maybe maybe any listeners could prove me wrong on that dude I mean I’m going Rams Bengals that’s that was an easy question next okay okay I was hoping to get you on a technicality but you didn’t bite in on

That all right so it’s supposed to be minus windshield Sunday everyone makes a big deal about how hard it is to throw the football in the cold from a quarterback’s perspective one what makes it so difficult and did you have challenges like let’s take out the wind

I’m talking strictly the cold how tough is it to throw the football out there uh you know that’s always a big conversation with quarterbacks is he going to wear a glove is he not uh and even you know you saw Jaylen Herz last week because of injury was going to wear

A glove and right before the game he rips it off and like can’t wear the glove uh I was always uncomfortable wearing a glove in Buffalo you know in practice I mess around with it a little bit because the main thing with that the balls are harder they’re Slicker is uh

Keeping your hand warm and it’s hard to you know you see quarterbacks licking their fingers all the time um so you you’ve got the hand warmers you get the pouch but keeping the hand warm is the biggest thing and so sometimes uh being on the sideline not being in the flow of

A game that starts to bother you a little bit but um both of these guys playing on Sunday have proven that you know cold is just one of the elements um for Buffalo the wind that’s a huge thing and as you know like in that Stadium there’s certain throws that you can make

When it gets windy and certain you can’t Josh and Patrick can probably make all of them but there are certain throws you want to avoid if there’s you know 20 plus mile hour wind certain Sidelines you don’t want to throw to um so the bills had the advantage in that regard I

You can correct me if I’m wrong I’ve heard it’s um if you’re looking out from the tunnel that back back right corner the way the wind swirls I’ve heard like that’s the toughest throw is that true yeah that’s that’s the one I remember where you know if you’re going to throw

A comeback to that sideline or something the ball’s probably just going to go right into the ground uh so strictly avoided that throw I I avoided that throw anyway I didn’t like throwing Balls to the field and watching my ball float but uh you know they’ll the Chiefs

Especially will be they do a lot of those short quick passes a lot of attack on the middle of the field so um you know it’ll be I don’t think it’s gonna affect either quarterback too much Yeah you mentioned like licking your fingers and keeping them warm and trying to keep

That grip on there you would generally uh complain about certain centers and uh what came off of these certain centers after they snapped you the football did you ever go to like lick your fingers before the snap and then think to yourself This probably isn’t a good

Idea no but sometimes I left I was left thinking is that my hand or my mustache what does that smell um just you know you never know you just go with it and make sure you brush your teeth after the game oh that’s filthy um all right so

Did you see that the offensive line gave Josh Allen a gift this year no what they give him they gave him an awesome ATV and in classic Josh Allen fashion got delivered to the indoor he hops on it in the indoor and is riding around which

It’s just classic Josh she’s a big kid uh did you ever get a gift from the offensive line the skill guys uh Brian wyers gave me some cowboy boots one year um I’m trying to think I I don’t know other than like uh you know jerseys or

Whatever I don’t know that there was anything sent my way but man that’s a nice one I just it’s dangerous I mean we got to make sure Josh is in the offseason staying on the golf course and not necessarily riding those ATVs around right he catched a lot of crap for the

Golf course too I guess that custom suit I gifted you was uh just well that was post that was post career but thank you yes custom suit thank you Eric no that that came after the fact so I was thinking about this and I I had never

Heard you talk about getting like a big gift from the offensive line it’s funny that Josh like yes the guys appreciate him and he gives them really nice gifts each and every year that are expensive so they want to repay the favor but he’s also a 50 plus million dollar year

Quarterback like Brock py should be the one getting the gifts or you know the jerman quarterback not necessarily the momes Allens that need the gifts but I thought that was a cool gesture that U one the bills had the fewest sacks in the NFL this year which makes the

Offensive line look really good but Josh is responsible for a lot of that the offensive line had a great year but he is I mean unblocked Defenders just generally never the first guy is not getting him down so that you know count that 10 sacks a year that he completely

Avoids well you saw it with and I don’t know if it was a protection breakdown or Josh was hot but you saw it with Patrick Peterson in the Pittsburgh game where he comes unblocked Josh doesn’t notice until the last second but he’s so hard to take down makes a Miss goes out of

The pocket I mean it’s it’s pretty unbelievable but you’ve seen it Patrick Mahomes too it’s amazing he holds on to the ball I think longer than anybody or at least you know second third fourth and he doesn’t take sacks either so these guys they’re not just physical specimans and amazing athletes but

They’ve really figured out um strengths and weaknesses with the line and ways to get out of there ways to extend the play and that’s been really fun to watch for both of them what was last year you guys had awesome gifts among the Amazon crew I missed it this

Year if you guys televis what the gifts were this year was there any highlights either something you got or gave you know it was uh it’s a lot of inside jokes or like if people follow through the year I mean the the most fun this

Year was uh I I kept this ruse up for like 10 minutes of having to go to the bathroom so bad M and and I I didn’t ever leave when we were in segments to go to the bathroom but they all believed me I I drank three lacro laqua whatever

We call it so I run off to go to the bathroom I get dressed as Santa and I spray paint my beard white and came back and uh rote out on a a sleigh and delivered all the gifts so that was probably the highlight of uh just you

Know the fun ending to the year that we had weren’t you Santa at our Christmas party one year I I’ve I’ve been Santa multiple times yeah yeah I like I like I was in Miami as well um and I didn’t tell anybody about it and I felt bad

Because the the real Santa that was there uh was all set up and the it was a whole thing for the team and uh all the employees and so the kids were going to the real Canta and then I came out and word got out that Santa kind of looked

Like me and they all left that line and came over to me so I had to apologize to Santa after the party yeah you completely stole his Thunder but that’s okay that’s okay all right so looking at this matchup Bills and Chiefs what do you think um you know the advantages

Either way uh for either team in this game yeah I I mean I think obviously having a home game for the bills is going to be enormous the crowd is going to be rockus it’s going to be incredible um you know that being said Patrick

Mahomes is on the other side so it’s not like it’s something they’ve they’re worried about going in I I think that you know their line their interior of the line is their strength on offense and those tackles can be exploited so the noise is going to be a big deal um

You know the other thing I think when I think about this game the Chiefs have struggled this year on offense they really have and you know even back in October when we had the Chiefs on Thursday Night Football and talking to Patrick he was huge really high on

Rashid rice and you’ve really seen it now this back half of the season um so he’s becoming a problem I mean he’s he’s a really good player and has become the go-to guy with Travis Kelce um but I think the other huge thing in this game is going to be the quarterbacks running

The football it always seems to pop up with Patrick Mahomes is you get late in the season and in these playoff games he’s going to pull off one or two or three big scrambles on third down and obviously that’s a huge part of Josh’s game as well so that’s one of the huge

Keys to the game I think is controlling these quarterbacks when they get on the ground and start running yeah and so one way that teams will combat that is a spy teams consistently especially on passing Downs will run a spy on Josh Allen they don’t want to see him pick it up on

Third down when you’re a quarterback and so that’s one less guy in coverage or rushing okay you know A team’s gonna spy you what are you doing to combat that yeah so it depends if it’s you know if they end up going with a three-man rush

Or a four-man rush for me if it was a three-man rush I hated it because because I always wanted to get the ball out quick I wanted to you know be able to take advantage of the zones and whatever and and I was always trained in my mind that Ball’s coming out that

Ball’s coming out where somebody like Josh or Patrick if it’s a three-man rush you’re going to see them sit back there hold on all all of a sudden the routes are going to change because they’re going to get outside the pocket they’re going to buy time and that’s when you’re

Going to see those big explosive plays so I wouldn’t recommend the three-man rush but if it’s a four-man Rush with a spy advantage to the offense because all of a sudden that’s one last guy rushing and that’s one last guy really in coverage um so that’s that’s something

As a quarterback if you can get um you know that’s going to help you out in the passing game for sure yeah I’ve heard people talk this week and you know this is this is something I probably should know but you know besides you and I

Guess Tyrod was very mobile but we like the offensive Line’s not getting in on the rout Tre specifics of how you take advantage of this spy we were just told hey if he adds on we probably need to block him unless the running backs going to be sit in coverage well James Cook

Had like 80 something receiving yards in the first match up against the chief so everyone was like well you know the QB spy plays a factor into that and so and I could see that but you know it’s also they’re kind of taking away some of the crossing routes initially as

Well yeah and something that was really interesting I thought all these teams that are high up in their rushing statistics and the bill are certainly one of them uh Todd monin was telling me this before the Baltimore game they start the game with 40 to 50 yards rushing because you you know Lamar

Inevitably not on called runs but scrambles and everything else is going to be at 40 to 50 yards and now in this mode that the Bill’s offense is in yes they’re giving James Cook the ball a lot more but with Josh Allen as your quarterback you start the game with 30

To 40 to 50 rushing yards uh because you know whether it’s a designed run or it’s a third down scramble um he’s going to put you in good situations yeah you’re exactly right are you going to make it in for the game this weekend we’re working on it man uh got a

Tough we’ve got a tough lineup on Saturday with a lot of basketball games uh you know my my first and second grade girls team would be really upset if I wasn’t there you know coaching them up so we’re trying to figure it out right

Now um but if I do it’ll be the whole family won’t just be me it’ll be everybody all nine of us so yeah so all nine of you so we could see four fitzpatricks with their shirts off at the game yeah yeah you could see yeah you

Could I don’t know I mean you could see more there’s no telling I mean my girls are crazy too maybe the sports bra will be on who knows oh that’s funny all right last one what’s your favorite Wing Spot in Buffalo uh it’s been a long time man uh

Give me give me like three give me three that we used to go to what’s the one we used to go to is a gold in its name or um so we would do Dand marville dandelion um big tree those were kind of our spots yeah yeah yeah Dand I I still

Remember when I was out on my visit for uh in 2009 to sign with the bills I met Alex veld at the big tree and we’re just pounding beers and eating wings and I was like I could I could see myself in this spot this is pretty cool um but I

Think Dand Lions um and then obviously like every time we go we go to uh Mulberry and you know they’ve got great Wings there too I think mberry might I mean they might be my favorite Wings in town Joe does such an awesome job there

Quick story on AP and the big tree so the first time I walked in the big tree I noticed all of these Hall of Famers on the wall all the jerseys and then I noticed Alex Van p p there yeah yeah so uh they said the only way you can get

Jersey up in here is to be a Hall of Famer or to have spent over $100,000 in here so that was that was the stipulations and there’s no way that I’ve ever spent $100,000 in the big tree but uh the spot that I used to like to

Watch football games my last year we used to so prior to my last year we used to like to host people after games or after road trips well then lesie was pregnant with Garrett we had Grace and Les’s like no more having everybody over so we would go to the big tree instead

After road trips and I would like to just post up in the corner where you know kind of get out of everyone’s eyesight and not get bugged and so once my career ended they put my jersey up there and it’s called Eric’s corner now so all my buddies when they go tailgate

They’ll send me a picture from Eric’s corner so um I guess I broke the $100,000 rule there um are you blue cheese or Ranch blue cheese not a question all right not yeah feny I hope I get to see you and the whole Fitzpatrick crew at the game this

Weekend you need to make that happen I I think it’d be worth missing a basketball game yeah I know we’re trying to figure it out man there’s a lot of logistics we’re running through right now but hopefully we’ll be there if we are I’ll send you a text and we’ll make sure to

Drop by and say hi perfect I appreciate it brother all right later dude