Bills OL Coach Aaron Kromer and Eric Wood | Centered on Buffalo Podcast

E wood and the Buffalo Bills OL Coach Aaron Kromer discuss the demands of being an NFL coach, the importance of balancing coaching and personal life, the influence of mentors, the attributes of successful coaches, standout players on the offensive line, the evolution of the offense, Josh Allen’s talent and leadership, fines and tough players, and their favorite wing spot in Buffalo.

Episode brought to you by Prime Hydration @DrinkPrime

00:00 Introduction and Offseason
03:00 The Demands of Being an NFL Coach
06:00 Balancing Coaching and Personal Life
09:00 The Influence of Mentors
12:00 Attributes of Successful Coaches
16:00 Player Development and Coaching Success
20:00 Standout Players on the Offensive Line
24:00 The Evolution of the Offense
28:00 Josh Allen’s Talent and Leadership
32:00 Fines and Tough Players
36:00 Favorite Wing Spot in Buffalo

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Welcome back to the Center on Buffalo podcast we’re joined by the offensive line coach my former offensive line coach with the bills and that’s Aaron chromer Chrome welcome to the podcast brother hey it’s great to be on your podcast you can see the picture behind

Me I still hang you high in the sky right in my office oh I love it how’s the uh how’s the offseason going so far you getting a little downtime yeah thank goodness you know we worked for a week after the season to kind of finalize

Some things and then uh we took two weeks off and then we just got back um this past week so we’re spending this week doing some self Scout and getting ready for the uh for the combine coming up yeah I don’t think people realize how

Many hours in a day an NFL coach works and so not game day but what’s what’s a normal day like hours wise how much time are you at the facility maybe on average during the season well I mean let’s just say I eat breakfast lunch and dinner

Here and I and it’s a long wait to get to breakfast and after dinner I get hungry again before I go home so pretty long days but you know there’s so much to do and it’s so exciting for us even though it’s a grind um we wake up before our

Alarms go off we you know it’s your wife thinks you’re crazy because you just got home you take it you know Howard mud taught me he’s like listen you got to sleep fast at night and so you gotta sleep fast because you don’t have much

Time so you know you do that and and but honestly like there’s a lot of mornings you wake up before the alarm goes off and you’re like what is wrong with me but your body just has a body clock you know it’s time to go there’s always a

Few things you got to solve before the players get in and so you want to do that and then at the end of the night you feel like you shouldn’t quit like you just got to keep finding a better way to run the plays you like to run and

And uh put guys in position to win do you blame that on John guden was he the first one to start like the 4: a.m. till 10 p.m. and I know generally you guys aren’t getting in there at 4 but that was the old Gro way and then he wins a

Super Bowl doing that way and then I felt like at that time everyone else felt like they need and this is kind of hearsay from what I’ve heard from other coaches but do you blame John guden for all that I don’t know because John guden

Was my first job in the NFL so he got up at 317 every day that was his lucky number you know what happened with him is he went to the doctor and and he’s like listen man I can’t sleep and the doctor said then go to

Work so he did and from that time on he’s like hey I get up at 3:17 I go and I work as long as I can and you know he didn’t stay as late at night some some you know people do it on the reverse end

Um but they’re always 16 hour days or so you know it’s just that’s a normal day and and you you don’t think twice about it because you know it’s like my wife says like if you would work an eight hour day you know then you would you

Know you would still be your mind would be somewhere else the rest of the night and you’d go back to work anyway so it’s not a whole lot of different you know you get addicted to um having to to doing this and and it’s something you

Can’t get out of your system yeah and that makes a lot of sense so uh you are happily married from all indications from what I’ve seen around you and Don Brook’s doing awesome Zach’s trying to follow in your footsteps so one of the things that deters me from the coaching

Industry is all the hours and being away how have you made it work to where you have a great home life as well even though for a lot of the years you’re putting in these 16 hour days yeah that’s a lot about your wife and how she

Treats the situation and um she knows she knew from the time we went to high school together so she knew I was a psychopath then you know and she married me so it’s her own fault but no she really um she you know she understands

That this is what makes me tick and she runs her end and I run my end and we meet in the middle and along those lines where I was talking before is she always said listen you know if when you are home you are home you’re not messing

Around doing something else on the computer doing you play with the kids when they were growing up you were all in when you walk through the door and you know if you’re working 9 to5 I think it’s easier to say hey I’m going to go

To the gym I’m going to do this I’m going to do that and not pay attention to the kids you know a lot of time anyway so I think um it gave us great Direction our kids both um really liked being a part of it not like you said my

Brooke was Brooke was trying to get into sports broadcasting didn’t work out sells real estate and doing a great job but that really helps her in that communicating with people and Zach obviously is working with Los Angeles Rams and uh as assistant old line coach

And and he can’t get away from it either and I I told I told him when he was growing up because I knew I could tell because 10 years old he’s out there with Gruden and and all these nuts and and uh he’s walking around the field I said

Listen go sell money like the rich people don’t do this uh gilberd described it to me one day you know gilberd and I were eating breakfast one day at the facility and it was early you know it’s probably 5:30 or 6 and we’re the only two in the

Cafeteria we’re grabbing breakfast and I was asking him about his son jarus who I played with and he said you know I’ve never seen jarus play a professional game because he came to the bills after jarus had left and I said really like the by weeks never fell where you could

He said no we were generally working that next Sunday so he said I’ve never watched my son play an NFL game but he said Eric it’s like a you reason that I thought of this because you said addiction because he said I’m an addict I’m addicted to coaching football at

This point in my life I was addicted to playing football now I’m addicted to coaching football to where I I should have he’s like look I should I have walked away and maybe watched him play sure but he goes there was always a championship there was always the next

Best job that I was about to get he goes I just simply can’t turn away from it so uh hearing you say that Zach’s now he’s got he’s got the addiction now and uh how’s how’s he doing how’s he like uh being out in LA with McVey and that crew

Yeah he loves it um him and McVey have a great relationship um yeah he he does a lot with the blitzes and and picking up pass protection stuff and then Ryan Wendell who worked with me last year um got the job out there and and he’s a

Wonderful person so um he Ryan’s the offensive line coach and Zach’s he assistant old line coach so that combination to me is just uh an ideal situation um because I know what kind of person Ryan is and what kind of coach and I know who Zach and so the

Combination is just fantastic so Zach loves his life right now um just being a part of those guys yeah and he’s out in La I’m sure as a as a young dude he he enjoys uh being out in the sunshine and all that I got I got a question you

Mentioned that you and Don met in high school I didn’t realize that did she follow you down to Miami Ohio uh she ended up staying uh to closer to home and uh but she she went to Miami on the weekends gotcha everyone thought she went to Miami but she went to community

School close a Community College close but they all thought she was at Miami because she was there every weekend so she came down we we we always we always credit her with keeping us out of trouble yeah yeah a good woman will and I could give Lesley some credit for

Keeping me out of trouble towards the tail end of college for sure uh except for that Lesley uh we started dating my junior college and just like she is now she likes to go to bed early and not go out but it’s fine with me you know doing

My thing as well and we have a great ying and yang about it except for I say she didn’t keep me out of trouble it turned into uh my senior year during the season I had a 7 a curfew was when I needed uh to be back uh in in my bed at

Our College house uh and the reason for that was I similar to when I was in the NFL I couldn’t go to sleep without watching the game film well we didn’t have iPads so I would literally record the game on TV and then I would sit there and watch the recorded version of

It in our living room and she’s like just make sure you’re in bed by 7 because I’d go out with my buddies and then we’d come back from the bar and I would literally sit there and watch the game film like a psychopath uh in our

Living room and then when I was in the NFL you know we’d be sitting at dinner with people we have in town and I’m like there’s three plays that I have to get to tonight there’s I I don’t know why I made this call or I don’t know why I

Stepped with this foot and got beat on this play like there had to been a reason you know prior to the play did the safety move was it alignment was there a wheel lined up on the outside of the line where I thought the nose was

Going to cross my face like what was the reason so I’d be sitting there in the living room watching my iPad in the league unless you’d like just come to bed and I’m like well I’m not gonna be able to sleep till I watch it anyway so

And and people don’t get like when you’re the center and you’re making the calls especially as much responsibility has head towards the end of my career it’s like I can’t walk in the next day and say I don’t know why I did that that’s not an acceptable answer like

Even if I screw something up as long as I got a good explanation then sure then you know I’m I’m not going to get reamed the next day but if I go in and say yeah yeah we we let we let a free runner go

And I I don’t know why I pushed the call that way so uh yeah so that’s what made you great that’s what made you great because you cared that much and you wanted to be right yeah I I did care I I cared a little too much earlier in my

Career not not that I didn’t care as much later in my career but I didn’t let it I enjoyed the experience of it all a lot more towards the end to more towards even like when you came in I start you know I got my second contract I quit

Getting hurt so much where I could enjoy playing ball and not be worried constantly we we had a little better teams then too which helps but uh sure yeah yeah sometimes carrying a little too much all right so Zach and Wendell they both coached under you I’m sure

They consider you mentors um my understanding was it Callahan and mud that you kind of they were your big mentors along the way yeah Bill Callahan was the line coach for uh uh John Gruden at the Raiders and they hired me as the I don’t know whatever my position was I was helping

Uh drawing the runs and doing the things you do um so they taught me the West Coast offense and how they coached and those kind of things and that was my start um and then from there I went on and as I moved on and I was um moving on

To my career I I I met Howard mud and I really appreciated the way that Indianapolis Colts line played even though they really only had a couple good players I mean All-Star players and the rest were guys that you know were limited contracts and that and not much

Experience and I really appreciated the things that how he taught and how he did it um so when he retired I grabbed him and asked him to be a mentor of mine and he came to the Saints uh in the training camps and and watch the tape and really

Really helped me move along as a as a coach and I think think you know the best thing coaches can do is learn from people and I learned a lot from you as a player I learned from players all along and the combination of having that good mentorship early and then continuing to

Learn how players think what they see how they move and how everyone’s different um and they’re going to move a little bit different and things are still going to work out and you gota and and working with guys to do it their way within the system um from talking with

Players so I think I just learned a lot over the years um in that combination and it’s been a blessing for me yeah and and I only got to play under one organization so I was exposed to well seven head coaches in nine years but two were interims but you’ve been around

Some of the best of the best and when you look at the Gruden McVey Shawn Peyton now sha mcder and many other great coaches as well is there like a specific attribute that all of them have or a commonality that makes all of them successful coaches uh yeah one they’re all

Themselves and when they can re when when when a when a guy becomes a head coach or become a position coach or becomes the center of the football team if they can continue to be themselves with with us but be themselves and be the true person that they are and try to

Get always try to get better they can be good those guys were all good as assistant coaches they’re all good as coordinator and that’s what makes them good as head coaches as they continue to grow but they’re not trying to be anyone else they’re they’re more addicted than

Anybody to the game you know they never get a break you know like I talked about I just had time off well that doesn’t happen for the head coach because he’s going to hire new assistant coaches that you know each year he’s gota he’s got to

Get his staff around and then as soon as that’s done then the drafts but you know so they get they get even less of a Break um than the rest of us you know so my hats off to the work they do but I really think that the best ones are guys

That just continue to be themselves and try to grow and get better every day yeah that that makes a lot of sense I I talked about sha mcder I’m like he’s he’s not afraid to have that uncomfortable conversation but he’s always himself you know I I’ll never

Forget when he came to me and said hey we’re gonna start Nate Peterman this week and I need you to have my back and I said I got you I said you know and it ended up being a bad decision I mean look back in the way it worked out but

Sean’s himself and Shawn is always looking for that edge he’s always looking to find something toine tune but that’s who he is he’s sitting there in the workout room every morning listening to a podcast or an Audi book and then you’re going to hear that message in the

Team meeting but it’s that constant striving to get better uh that that makes a ton of sense U let’s talk about your current group that you got now um year or two under chromer it doesn’t surprise me that that these guys took the next step and not that they didn’t

Play at a high level back in 2022 because they did I thought the offensive line uh played well that year with some injuries and moving parts that season but this year I mean you have the fewest sacks per attempt or sacks per game in the NFL James Cook’s got one of the

Highest yards per contact in the NFL we don’t get a whole lot of stats so when you look at those two it’s like okay statistically this group had a good year and then you could watch the film and they did as well so I just want to ask

You about a few of those guys so Spencer Brown takes the next step this year and you know you could always see that he had the the tangible gifts but this year he played incredible I mean I was talking to Brandon Bean about it on the

Podcast and he was talking about I mean look Spencer Brown played this year like a guy that in a couple years we won’t even be able to afford he played so good so how how did he make that jump yeah you know we we talk about exactly what

You just said like um as far as like you there’s a lot of goals you know as a player in my mind and I want to accept that as a coach and I don’t know if I don’t know it’s not a natural thing but it’s like Hey listen one of my goals is

To hope that we can’t afford you right you know that you’re going to make so much money that no budget can handle it but one team and you make all the money you ever thought you could and that’s one of my goals the other one you know

Just with with him specifically you know he’s gotten healthy he’s worked his way into this position it wasn’t easy um you know he switches line coaches he’s trying to figure it out he never uh he never questioned it he was always working but this year it

Clicked like you can see a 69 player playing low with his base underneath him he’s the fastest man from here to here that I’ve ever seen in past protection um when when he was hurt uh last two years ago two seasons ago and someone else would come in to play his position

You could it was noticeably different how just in practice you oh my god when Spencer would come back he would pass that so quickly I said you realize what a freak you are I said you have to like you have to understand that most human beings can’t move like you and you’re 69

320 I said go you know just so just building his confidence um and allowing him to know that he can do it was was half the battle but he really worked his butt off and he had phenomenal year how good can Osiris Torrance be oh my God

You talk about unflappable this guy went in his first so I gotta tell you a quick story first so we sit down after the season he just played every single snap that we played on offense and every field goal an extra point all right so he played more snaps than anybody on

Offense so we sit down after the season and I was like you know Osiris you know he we call him he he’s goes by CBO because that’s what his mother used to call him and so I’m like sa you realize that you know the kind of year you had

And what you’ve done and and he’s like yeah I thought maybe I’d come in do a little scout team see if I can help the team in any way and I said I didn’t think that at all I said I put you in with the ones early on in training camp

And I said I was just waiting for you to mess up and you didn’t so I kept you in there he’s like he goes that’s what happened I go what do you think happened I said you just kept blocking the guy over you how was I going to take you out

And but that kid just went um into the game into practice into the games with the same attitude every week and he went against some of the best well the best defensive tackles in the NFL week in and week out and never flinched and he gave

Up a sack in a game and he come to the sideline like is like it was the end of the world I said cyes you’re going to play 15 years you’re going to give up more than that one one sack relax pal he got your hands you posted he got your

Hand just spread your feet you’ll be fine flip your hands you’ll be fine he’s like oh so after the game he says you know that really calmed me down I’m like it’s not any different it’s not any harder than that you’re gonna you’re not always going to win just figure out what

Happened and go on to the next play yeah that so but he he is really a he is a special guy and he’s a special player um we did a lot of things offensively because of the the talent that He had um with all the tackle pulling schemes and

Stuff and him blocking uh some of their best players one-on-one constantly throughout a game um he he he does a phenomenal job of finishing blocks most guys can block when they stay on one angle and then when the defender goes a different angle they lose him he’s phenomenal at changing his hip flipping

His hips and changing his hat and and moving the guy out of the hole like I haven’t seen it in a long time that’s awesome you call him down like that that was Jeff H Gardner for me early in my career I don’t know which game it was

Early in the season my rookie year and I came to the sideline and just shattered my helmet the pads are all out of it on the sideline I was so mad and Jeff said something very similar saying hey you’re gonna play a long time you’re gonna give

Up a lot of sacks so don’t even worry about one like yes worry about it but just worry about not giving up another one and how you you know can get better and don’t get beat by that same move because he’s coming back to that and he

Said you do realize those guys get paid too and you’re rookie so those guys probably are making a lot more money than you like those guys are expected to win sometimes but when you come from college which CBO just did it it’s sometimes hard to realize you know

You’re gonna get beat at times in this level there’s no Louisiana Lafayette on this schedule I’m trying to think of I think he he played he actually played there that’s I was hoping that was the right one because to say something that wouldn’t truly offend a bunch of

Listeners out there since he did play uh there but anyways uh last guy I want to talk to you about on the offensive line is a guy that came in as a rookie my final year in the league didn’t know uh how to handle his personality at first

And now we’re lifelong friends how quickly did you realize that despite some of Dion’s quirkiness and whatnot and you know active on social media and he’s got the hair and everything else that he’s a freaking Beast I appreciate all the things he does on the on on the

On Instagram and all the things that he does and his and and his individuality um because that gives him energy yeah that’s him and it’s and and we want him to be him I want him to be him the fans love him he gets energy from the fans his daytoday is so

Enjoyable now because um he does all those things when he’s in the football meetings he’s thinking football when he’s at practice no one works harder than this guy I mean he works hard and he is a talented individual um but all the other things that he does really

Motivates him for in football um I think he’s a guy that if he just had football would be bored right he needs to help people to and and he needs to help people and he needs to be out there uh with the fans for him to enjoy his

Experience and I think that makes him a better player individ for him individually because he does all those things so I love the guy and if you ever if you ever seen bigger calves on a human being take a picture and send them because this man has bigger calves than

Any human being on Earth he does he truly does yeah he came in and he comes in and Cy Glenn was kind of in and out with injury and it was like an eye thing and an ankle thing and finally Richie was like hey put Dion at left tackle I I

Like the way he’s playing during training camp he’s just tough he’s finishing guys to the ground he’s scrapping with the defense Richie’s like put him next to me and let’s let’s just see what happens and Dion goes on and starts a majority of the season and our

Six foot three guy that we drafted that could maybe play guard you know we’ll see where he kind of fits in now he’s our starting left tackle and he develops into what likely should have been an all pro this year but a multiple Pro Bowl winner a Walter pton man of the year

He’s just he’s an awesome person he’s a great designated driver because he doesn’t drink but he’s got the most personality of anybody so he’ll hang out all night with you but he he’ll drive around the offensive line I gotta tell you this quick story I think we’ve told

It on the podcast before but uh Dion uh his rookie year was we’re heading in the bye all of our families are already home because we came back from an away game but it was a 1:00 away game somewhere East so we go to the casino that night

And it’s like 3 in the morning we were driving home and I said Dion just go man quit stopping at these red lights there’s no one on the roads it’s downtown Buffalo on a Sunday night so he’s really reluctant but he goes and then he gets pulled over and he’s so

Worried I said just roll down all your windows you’re gonna be fine the cop comes up he’s like hey you guys can take off you’re fine good game good win earlier we pull away and Dion’s like if you guys weren’t in the car that would not have happened like that I’m just

Telling you black people do not run R Run Red Lights like that this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever been a part of I cannot believe you guys talked me into that so I I haven’t talked him into run in any more red light since but gosh me and Dion still

Uh get a good laugh about that but so mid year Joe Brady takes over his offensive coordinator you’re gonna be running a lot of dorsy plays and and stuff that was installed in training camp it’s impossible to install a whole new offense I could tell there was some

Game plan specific stuff week in and week out which is g to happen no matter who’s the offensive coordinator but especially when you change how much different do you feel like the offense will look to you know so to the may maybe me in the broadcast Booth so maybe

Not just a casual fan but someone that’s not in the building how much different will it look next year you think um I thought we had a lot of success in the last half of the season um offensively and I just think that uh we’re looking to add to that level of

Football I think the thing that you noticed is the the running game you know was more established uh you know Joe and I collaborating together on the plays that we’re going to actually call in games you know and so we try to take a little bit less a little bit off of Josh

Although he always put a lot on himself um and and try to uh incorporate the running game a little more often and a little more play action pass and I I think you saw that I think that that’ll just continue to increase um as next year goes but obviously the the

Offensive system is in it’s just how you run the system and how you use the system um maybe a different mentality that way you know Shawn does a great job of setting the tempo for the offense you know even though he’s a defensive coach of setting the tempo as a team like Hey

Listen I want to establish a line of scrimmage well that means you better run it you know you better be physical you better keep the ball away from the opposing team which I think we did um in the in the second half of the season um

And allowing our defense to grow as they had a lot of injuries and I think you know as they continue to get healthier and we put that kind of offense together um you know and Brandon Bean continues to bring in football intelligence you know meaning guys that

Are smart about football and tough guys um he’s all about the character and and Terry’s the same way Terry sits in all these draft meetings for hours and hours he owns all these all this um um the teams and all the different things he owns and he sits in our draft room for

Hours before the draft making sure that we bring in guys of character um and so when you put all that together and then you you get this attitude that we have offensively that we’ve established the second half of the season with cook running uh we were number one in

Efficient runs in the NFL I mean there’s two things you want to be as an offensive line and that’s be efficient in the running game and we were number one in the NFL and sacks given up and we were number one in the NFL and so um I

Think we can carry that forward now that we’ll have an off seon um to even improve more play action protections more play action plays um and get good at um an overall scheme although the offense technically will stay the same it’ll be how you utilize

It yeah that makes a lot of sense how much fun was that Dallas game when you just simply run the ball down their throat the entire game and Joe Brady I know as an offensive coordinator you have all these pass plays that you have installed for the week and you want to

Get to him and you probably feel like you got some shots but he just stuck with it and you guys just simply ran the ball down their throat the whole game you know I think I think anytime you can have that kind of success running um you

Just you take it until that until it dries up you know and and and that’s where Joe Joe Brady you know came from that same mold that I came from with um Shawn pton and the Saints and you know we always like if you get that running

Game going it’s hard to cover a pass right and when we got in that game and when you’re making eight yards 10 yards a carry it’s like a pass and with little risk and with the way that thing was going and we really had had picked it up

And and what James Cook has done for us you know um allowed us and we finally figured out how to utilize him in the running game as far as like what plays he was good at what schemes what style how he cut how he thought um and how it

Fit with our offense um and that really started to click as it went so um you know it’s it’s a it’s an exciting time in Buffalo I think because of the things that we’re seeing coming about in on offense yeah and joshh Allen and so when

You got well Josh yeah J I gotta tell you a story Josh is so crazy and I’m sure you’ve said this before in your podcast but I’ve never seen a quarterback I was with Drew Brees and Rich Ganon got MVP when I was at at the Raiders and like all these guys that

That you you know you you get around and then you get around Josh and he and he tells you dur Hey listen make sure there’s a quarterback run early in the game because I want to set my pads I’m like you’re the quarterback you’re not the fullback what are you talking about

He’s like oh yeah I love those I love those early runs geez but the way he you know the way he helps us in the Red Zone just running the ball in because you know the Red Zone gets TI it’s hard to complete a pass in the red zone and he’s

Done a good job of like hey we just we continue to put in plays where he’s running and obviously he had so many touchdowns this year rushing the ball um or maybe someday you’ll have more rushing than he will passing but I doubt it because that he can sling it too well

Have you been around a guy with more armed Talent than Josh Allen no he he’s just an overall Talent you know just his ability to run um when they clock him at 21 miles hour practice when he’s chasing down a guy that just got an interception 21 miles hour is your quarterback right

I mean it’s I I remember we used to celebrate at the Rams when Gurley would run that you know he’s a star running back and our quarterback can run that fast and he’s huge um so you know it’s just it’s it’s fun to be around him and

He’s you know he’s just it’s a huge piece of our and he loves the line the linemen love him you know when you get that you know how it is when when a when the quarterback in the line are together it’s it’s enjoyable to come to work and

Josh is fun I mean I was watching the miked up segment from the Chargers game that’s right when Tiger Woods did the big dog moment with the guy that he didn’t recognize and so then Josh hit every single person throughout the game with the big dog and the game’s tight

It’s on the line you know The Season’s potentially over if you lose that game and Josh is Big Dog in everyone to kind of keep him loose and probably keep himself loose too and he’s just he’s a trip he truly is and I mean I’m assuming you haven’t been on

The golf course with him but that dude can absolutely smoke a golf ball last year PT Manning was in the group in front of us the day before Derby and Josh hits a ball probably 370 on the par five finisher at 18 at bajala and pton Manning turns around because he can you

Know you can hear that ball hit the Fairway a little bit and he turns around and just assuming that it’s someone’s second shot and Josh is still standing on the te then leaves Derby and we had a pretty good few days and he flies up because he’s got to make Micah’s charity

Softball event and they have a temporary fence like 40 yards in from the wall and Josh is hitting the ball onto the street out of the Triple A Stadium I mean he’s he’s an absolute freak Show he truly is all right yeah all right I gotta know this you know for those listening

There’s a f system within every offensive line I’m assuming you guys still have the fines and you know we kind of police each other during the year so assuming they’re still fins with the neol line who’s running uh who’s running is there still a bell like I

Had um there’s no Bell but we do have you know I don’t know where that went when I was you know in between not being here but uh but Greg Manz actually ran that nice he was the judge um he had a lot of personality and the guys voted

Him in uh to run it and he was very stringent he was raising a a lot of money that’s good yeah you should yeah especially as much money some of those guys are making in there there’s there’s plenty of money to pull from uh Center left guard left tackle you can really

Get those guys and and really jack up that pot uh who’s the offensive lineman during training camp of your group currently that no one on the defense wants to fight oh Dion yeah I yeah you’d have to be out of your mind to to fight Dion you know he

Absolute Beast yeah okay yeah I I yeah I mean and other guys are tough now we got a lot of tough guys but You’ be out of you you should just check yourself into a mental institute if you try to get in a fight with the yeah he’s tough he’s

Tough he put up some pretty nice highlight reels I was talking to him uh earlier I was talking to him about a month ago actually was before the SE yeah probably four or five weeks ago asking him how much he likes pulling because sometimes guys don’t like the pull especially across the formation

Because you’re going to get smacked a good amount of times you’re not pulling out on the pr perimeter where you’re going out for the corner on a toss crack you’re trapping defensive ends you’re leading up on linebackers he’s like bro I love it I absolutely love it I’m like

Dude you’re you’re an animal on those I’ve I’ve never seen a tackle pull across the formation now Spencer’s just as athletic but Dion is a battering ram he’s got six inches less uh six he’s six inches lower naturally than Spencer yeah but I mean well let me ask this did you guys

See that tackle trap play on film ever or did you guys just put it in and say man this can work timing wise so here’s what happen so you know me I’m gonna what I’m gonna make sure I’m GNA try to figure out what plays fit our team and

We ran at the Rams we ran a tackle trap and actually handed to the wide receiver and faked the half back the other way with witor four times a year and so I was I was Adept to the thing you know the type of things that you need to

Do to coach to play but we but you look at both tackles going run like crazy and both guards are 335 340 pound monsters so we said why are we pulling the guards when we could pull the tackles so I just said let’s you know let’s get a couple

Well then it was going to be Monday Night Football and I’m like there’s nothing better than Deon Dawkins pulling on Monday Night Football so we pulled 13 times in the Monday night game and my phone was off the hook after the game like how many times are you

Gonna pull Dion Dawkins but it really um It just fits who we are and it fits our gun run team and both our tackles can run like they’re freak shows and both our guards are manimals you know so they can both the guards can both shut down

These guys over them the tackles can both pull and and it it just fit who we were and we just kept getting we just changed the variations that we had we just kept doing it and doing it that was our number one Play you know our Zone

Play our mid Zone play and that and that play was our number one Play because we were good at it and you know I always promised the guys like listen the number one thing I’m going to do is I’m going to do things we’re good at and if you’re

Not good at it we’re not doing it because and so many people will try to stay with hey this is our system I’m like no our system is what you guys are good at and uh so that’s where that came from and we just kept doing it we got

Better and better and changing the way we did it and it worked out for us and the guys were happy yeah it’s it’s it’s fun to watch it truly is and then you know that that tackle is even getting more momentum as he goes across the formation and generally I mean those

Guys aren’t necessarily heavier than your guards now but generally the tackles are so big on the edge it’s it’s fun to watch those guys pull around all right last last one from me what’s your favorite Wing Spot in Buffalo okay so if I want hot wings just straight up

Hot all right I’m a big tree guy yep I’m a big tree guy but if I want any flavors I’m a barbell I go my wife loves big tree all right she loves it and then what but we also love honey well Dion taught me this

He’s like and chrome cuz I didn’t know about the flavors and you always trust a fat guy no doubt when you’re talking about food right so he looks at me he’s like I know you don’t know anything about food grome so here’s what you need

To do go to barbill and get cun honey butter barbecue and I’m telling you every home game we have a house full of guests whether it’s you know the night before the game we got a house full of guests we we got relation we got friends

We pack the place and I get a 120 bar bill every home game wow that’s a strong order that’s a strong order I’m actually with you there and I took Jason Kelce to big tree before the game and he’s like oh I’ve heard of always heard of uh barbill and

I said barbill is great it truly is but you’re coming to Buffalo to get Buffalo Wings let’s go to Big Tree plus it’s got the history and it’s right next to the stadium and he absolutely loved it but yeah uh Big Trees big tree’s very strong

Uh lesie loved big tree as well and she liked her wings but when she was pregnant I was I was there after a game one night and I was in there kind of late Les’s like hey just bring me home some food stay out as late as you want I

Said well we might not be home till at least after the Sunday night game she said that’s fine wake me up I’m just gonna be hungry you know I’m eight months PR what was she yeah seven or eight months pregnant with Garrett and so I told the chef I was like hey before

You guys close up you need to make some food for my wife and then I’ll bring it home for when she’s done or when this game’s done and so they made her tacos with the hot sauce the buffalo sauce on it and now that’s like one of lesli’s

Favorite things ever like she wants to go to the big tree simply for these tacos which seems funny that you’d get tacos from the big tree um we’re both Ohio guys and you can get Blue Cheese in Ohio it’s not like being down in the

South but uh are Are You full in on the blue cheese listen this blue cheese is different y this blue cheese is that’s what everybody that comes to house they they all I don’t want blue cheese get their Ranch I said we’re not getting ranch you’re trying this blue cheese and

They fall in love with the buffalo blue cheese I’m trying to get to the recipe I have no one will tell me what it is but there’s something different about this blue chees yeah I I agree with you 100% Chrome I appreciate your time brother uh

I’m I’m grateful that you made the time to come on the podcast I know you’re busy as hell you’re sitting at the office right now at 700 p.m. or we started at 7 p.m. uh a little bit later than that now so I appreciate the time

Let’s uh let’s find some time to get together maybe in Florida this uh offseason at some point let’s do it sounds good I appreciate you man y my man appreciate you Chrome