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Niner Talk: 49ers-Bills Week 5

Fresh off the San Francisco 49ers three-state, 10-day road trip, this week’s Niner Talk podcast has a guest worthy of explaining all the scoops from last week’s trip.

Three-time Pro Bowl punter Andy Lee joined us on the show this week to discuss his frequent visits to a local ice cream shop in Boardman, Ohio, plus details on his fine effort against the New York Jets.

Lee credited his teammates for making his job easier. In reality, the three-time All-Pro punter’s right leg has a big part of it. Lee also discussed his passion for golf and favorite places to play in the Bay Area.

For the Buffalo Bills perspective, Chris Brown, lead writer of BuffaloBills.com, explained Buffalo’s mindset heading into a pivotal Week 5 matchup. Brown also explained that the Bills will run out of multi-receiver sets and not abandon the run like some teams have done against the 49ers.

Click here to listen to the Niner Talk podcast, which is also available on our 49ers Gameday live App.

Here are some of the highlights from both interviews.

ANDY LEE

[:50 –Lee’s thoughts on the team meeting Hall of Fame baseball legend Willie Mays.]

“It’s a really cool thing, especially when you get somebody of that stature, to come in and to be able to see and meet. He signed some baseballs for the guys and I got one myself. It’s just neat to be around a legend. Just being in the presence of him and seeing him was a real neat honor.”

 [1:30 – Lee’s thoughts on Boardman, Ohio’s Handle’s Ice Cream.]

“It’s definitely the best ice cream I’ve ever had. I’m a big fan of two (flavors), s’mores is ridiculous and the caramel apple is really good. The caramel apple literally tasted like you were biting into a caramel apple every time you took a bite of the ice cream. There were some other cool ones, I had the graham central station, the butter pecan was pretty good, they had a deep-dish apple pie ice cream that tasted like deep-dish apple pie. It was pretty ridiculous. I think I had it nine times while we were there, most of the time I had the s’mores and the caramel apple. It’s amazing ice cream.”

[5:00 –Lee’s thoughts on last week’s successful special teams outing against the Jets.]

“It’s big. That’s my job. I take pride in doing whatever I can do and I have a great supporting cast. We have a great long-snapper in Brian Jennings who gets the ball to me so I can do my job and not have to worry about anything else. Our guys protect well, they cover well. Everything’s been really solid. I’m looking forward to continuing whatever I can do to help this team win and it helps out when you have these guys working for you in that capacity. It’s a great honor to be able to do things for this team and help us win.”

CHRIS BROWN

[6:55 –Brown’s thoughts on Buffalo bouncing back from last week’s defeat to New England.]

“Ryan Fitzpatrick said on Monday, a big division loss like they had last week to the New England Patriots was going to linger a little bit, but they said coming into Monday they had to push that one aside and get ready for the 49ers. I think they have a great deal of respect for the caliber of opponent that the 49ers are. It was interesting this week that (head coach) Chan Gailey said the team’s mental toughness need to be revisited after the team performed in blowing a 21-7 lead to the Patriots last week on their home field. I think they’re trying to recapture of the success they had when they won in Weeks 2 and 3 and I think they believe it starts with their mental fortitude more than anything knowing they’re going against a very physical football team in San Francisco.”

 [8:00 – Brown’s thoughts on Bills star defensive tackle Kyle Williams.]

“He’s a lunch pail player all the way. All he cares about is playing and he’s a motor player just like Justin Smith. I think Coach Harbaugh hit the nail on the head there (by comparing the two). They’re both cut from the same cloth in terms of style of player. The thing that most impresses me about Kyle is his mental approach to the game. This guy sniffs out schemes, run plays and stores them away in his memory bank so if he sees the same thing later, even in the same game, he’s on top of it in a second. He’s really been responsible for bringing Marcel Dareus along on the defensive interior in terms of shouting at him what to expect, what’s coming on the next play based on how the opposing offense is lining up. Not much is getting past Kyle from a mental perspective and that only helps him more in terms of execution on the field.”