OverDrive
Saturday on Allen's subpar ending, Bills' coaching search and the conference championships
20 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
All right, here's the man right here, ESPN football analyst, Super Bowl champ. Here's Jeff Saturday. How you doing, Jeff?
Doing fantastic. How y'all doing?
We're doing great. Well, we were watching that championship game last night, and, you know, it's always tough to get a read on exactly how someone's going to look from college to the next level, but, you know, I don't know how much you track college football, but it sure would.
You got to believe Mendoza's going to go first overall after winning the way he did all season, playing the way he did last night, winning the Heisman. Brady was there, Davis was there.
Chapter 2: What insights does Jeff Saturday provide about Fernando Mendoza's draft potential?
Do you get the impression that Fernando Mendoza, his game will translate to the NFL, and he's a guy that the Raiders can build around if they take him first overall?
I do. I mean, look, he's checked all the boxes, right? And I know people are talking about, well, he's not a generational talent, whatever that means. I don't even know what that means. They're like, well, he's... But I will say... in the biggest moments, he plays his best.
And as a guy who, you know, you go out and block for these guys and lay it on the line week in and week out, when the moments are big and they make those plays, man, you feed off of that. And you saw the
the run to get in the end zone, which will be an iconic, you know, poster in every young kid's room in Indiana for the next 25 years with, you know, probably in between the bracket arms of Kirk Cignetti holding up the touchdown sign, right? It'll be a perfect poster that goes up. But it's not just that, right? It's the fourth down throw, the back shoulder.
It's all the different moments throughout the season that he's done and put under his belt that you so appreciate. The biggest thing, though, for me is, is, and you said it, like what do you surround him with? More QBs are ruined in our game than developed. And I think so for me, I want to know the process. How are we going to get this guy?
What are we going to surround him with, you know, offensive line-wise? You know, you've got Bowers.
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Chapter 3: How does Jeff Saturday evaluate Mendoza's ability to transition to the NFL?
I get it. You have Gentry. I get those. But you're going to have to improve the offensive line. They've got a bunch of money. But the other thing, and I say this all the time, I think it goes way under-discussed, is a great defense, right? Like, there's not a bigger friend to a quarterback than not worrying about having to go punt it because, you know, your offense is stalling a little bit.
And just look at all the teams that have made it deep in the playoffs, how many great defenses there are. And the guy that's drafting them being Tom Brady, boy, he sure did benefit from those defenses early in his career. And I know because I played them.
And I can still remember all the names of all the jerseys of all the freaking guys who, if they're not in the Hall of Fame, are going in the Hall of Fame because they were legitimate, man. And having that balance, I think, is the biggest key for the Raiders is ā Use your money wisely. Don't forget, don't just neglect the defense.
Make sure you have that piece and part in place because it sure does take the pressure off a QB of not having to perform each and every drive, especially a young one.
Jeff, you just mentioned Cignetti, that coach. I can't tell if he's going to be like the next Saban or he's a guy that Googles quotes and tries to be funny and he flames out and just amounts to not much. If those were the two extremes, where do you think this guy falls? Basically, what is he all about?
Saban. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, when you see this guy, I'm telling you right now, I said this on television today. If I'm an owner or a general manager, this dude would be ā I don't know that I would hire him, but he would dang sure be in my office, and I would be talking this guy up. If you think about the way that he goes, he goes and works with Saban in his 50s,
then leaves Saban and goes to a program no one hears about, no one knows about, and then basically builds his way up, makes JMU a legitimate team in the country, and then gets to IU, the losingest program in history. And in two years... He loses two games last year and then goes undefeated to win a national championship. Like, he knows process, and that's with zero five stars, right?
So when you think about getting the most out of your players, like there's not a better coaching job that's been done over the last 24 months at any level in football. And so when I look at him, he would be a guy that I would come in and be like, hey, what do you need?
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Chapter 4: What factors should the Raiders consider when drafting Mendoza?
and he can specifically tell you anything. He's done this, man. Like this is, he understands what he needs and you can tell he believes in loyalty because his, his coordinators have been with him for dang near a decade, if not more. And, and those guys have grown with him. And so I, I mean, I love the story. Again, I played ball by ball in Indiana, I mean, Indianapolis.
So I, you know, I, I, I pulled for them. I was excited for them, but Signetti, man, he's the real deal. Like, He's not just a flash in the pan. This guy knows what he's doing.
With Jeff Saturday, well, a bunch of things you just said lead me to the Bills conversation because the Bills are now short a head coach, and everything you said about building a defense and making sure the quarterback feels good about it probably applies to Buffalo with Josh Allen and where he is and what he wants to see happen with his team in the future.
Where do you stand on the type of coach the Bills should hire, and how much change do you expect to happen here with the Bills this offseason, trying to take advantage of Josh Allen and him still being in his prime?
Yeah, you know what? This was the biggest shock for me in the NFL this year. Now, I had heard this was a possibility throughout the end of the season, and But I'm just going to be honest with you. Like, Bean not getting it and McDermott getting it shocked me.
And I heard the whole, you know, conversation about this is Josh Allen's best chance to win it because of, you know, teams that aren't in it. But the team was not there. It was not there. Like, I'm just telling you, like, as I looked at them, you weren't scared of the defense. You weren't, you know, you weren't scared of any receiver they had. They ran the ball especially well.
And look, Allen didn't play good last week. He played bad. He was part of the problem, right? You've got to protect the football. He did not protect it. But as I look at that team, this would not have been the year where I would have laid that on McDermott. And so I was surprised by the firing. And I would say this. I would want to get a...
you know, a manager of all, I wouldn't just necessarily go get a offensive coordinator or, you know, I would go get a guy who I felt like could help me in all three phases. Cause you just heard what I said. And I, I believe strongly in, they got to get their defense better and, and, you know, drafting two pro bowlers since you've had Josh, since you drafted Josh, that ain't enough, man.
I'm just telling you like surrounding, surrounding your best player with other great players is, is vitally important. And right now, they're just not there. And so they've got to either do it through the draft, through free agency, but getting a guy who can manage all three phases is really the most important to me. The culture's there.
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Chapter 5: What is Jeff Saturday's opinion on the Bills' coaching search?
These two games. Which game do you think is going to be more compelling, and who do you like?
Well, you know, I hate that Nix is out. So I know Stidham's coming in, and everybody's going to talk about, you know, Sean loves him, and I guess, you know, I'm sure he does, right? You know, your backup quarterback's always your most popular guy in the locker room. They're great, and, you know, you wish him well. That's tough sledding.
And so, you know, I don't think it's going to be like an embarrassing loss with the defense that ā The Broncos have. If Drake May doesn't protect the ball, like he didn't protect the ball at all this past week. If he does that, then Denver will stay in the game. If he protects it smart with the football, they play, you know, lasered in. I'm leaning more towards the Patriots in that one.
The other one to me is the game that we all wanted to see, right? Third time, Seattle, Rams. And, you know, I'm all here fighting with Chris Canty this morning on the first take about it. He's talking about how Sam Arnold has exercised his D-line. What are you talking about, bro? They were down. They had a two-point conversion that nobody knew was a two-point conversion.
They had all these crazy plays to end up winning this game, but the Seahawks have run it super efficiently the last few weeks. Rams have not been nearly as physical since like week 13 on the defense. This is going to be a freaking game for the ages. Brian's fired up for this one. I hope that McVay runs the ball more than he did against the Bears because I thought he got out of his game.
But I am as fired up for this one as you can be, man. I mean, you talk about Sam Darnold, who's played about as good a quarterback as you can play without winning big games, you know, like playoff games and championships. He has a chance to unseat a Hall of Famer in Matt Stafford. Let's go, baby. I mean, like, it don't get better.
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Chapter 6: How does Josh Allen's performance impact the Bills' future?
This NFC one, it's something to talk about, man. I'm fired up for it.
Yeah, it's going to be a great weekend. Absolutely. It always is. Great catching up with you, Jeff. We really appreciate it. We'll do it again soon.
Appreciate you, fellas. Have a great one.
There's Jeff Saturday of ESPN.
Super Bowl winner joining us here on Overdrive. Your digital station for brand new drops, fresh finds, and tomorrow's bangers. I think we need something new. Discover iHeart new music. Always fresh. Always first. Stream now on the free iHeartRadio app.
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