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00:00constitutes the tape and the tilt and the whole thing what a time to be alive sal capaccio i've
00:06missed sal i miss everybody when i'm gone for 11 days but um sometimes sal and i will text
00:12do we do that at all do we have any conversations over the break here sal about anything i'm not
00:17sure i don't think we really have to be honest with you sometimes we talked about eli kimball
00:23that's what it was you're right we did you're right that's i remember that it was early on in
00:30your break was early last week when he announced there was right after what july 3rd was the day
00:34that he announced right so it was that weekend it was that friday elijah kimball of canisius high
00:38school where my son attends uh one of the top if not the top high school football prospects in the
00:44state chose syracuse and sal was all over that in fact when i saw they called it the commitment
00:50and it was like three minutes since it had been announced and sal was there first like
00:54syracuse you beat me to it i was gonna text you having watched a lot of his games um really
01:01elite
01:02player so yeah good for syracuse that's awesome to hear that and um i hear he's a really really good
01:08kid too you know i said we call them kids now i know they are kids right but i mean
01:11even people
01:12even nfl players i call kids sometimes but you know um it's great and i would say i think
01:18i think he's the highest recruited player out of this area since gronk and then gronk actually
01:23left though his senior year went to pennsylvania right uh we don't get we get some division one
01:27players here and high you know level recruits but generally not as widely highly regarded i think he
01:33has close to 40 offers including like ohio state oregon to to you know not go to schools like that
01:39and to choose syracuse i of course i'm super happy about i think that's awesome super happy for him
01:43that he's here at canisius no doubt about that i will say though in this day and age this isn't
01:48his
01:49fault or anybody else's who's committing until he's on campus it just doesn't resonate as much as it used
01:54to because of all the ways that people now decommit they get re-recruited the nil money all the things
02:01that happen between the time they actually verbally commit to the time they actually show up he and my
02:07son are in the same grade year and i remember asking my son one day after school how was school
02:12today
02:12he's like great eli dunked on me in gym so there was that and also like that that's right when
02:20the
02:20world was changing in college sports and as a freshman one day i think i just found out online
02:25like oh he's got an invite from oregon like okay well that's how it works now so as a freshman
02:30in high
02:31school he's out at everybody's you know certain prospect days ohio state everybody and so great uh
02:38win for syracuse if it turns out i mean it's running it's a running back tradition at syracuse
02:43i mean that's a long time ago now you've had really really good running backs over the years that's
02:47that's for sure and honestly fran brown is known to be a really good recruiter uh that's why they
02:52hired him a couple of years ago uh he builds really great relationships you know he recruited
02:56deon dawkins to temple he recruited or was on that staff and helped recruit him same thing with
03:01terrell bernard to beeler and uh tyler medakevich and i know that because when he got the syracuse job i
03:07asked all of them about fran brown and they all said the same thing about him in some way shape
03:12or form which was he is just a real straight shooter honest dude and that's what you appreciate
03:17about him and i love that to hear that last year some of the stories were like he's maybe a
03:21little
03:21bit nuts yeah maybe yeah after losses i don't i don't have a feeling making guys run after even
03:28though they won though they put him on the line and run and they was somebody called it performative
03:32right i think someone on espn and i would say this if you know anything about fran brown
03:36you might not like that he did it it's certainly not performative okay well i don't so i'll stay
03:41away from that um okay well running backs i don't need this to be in a fantasy context although i
03:47do
03:47think we're getting close to the time of year where i can more easily get away with it um james
03:52cook
03:53sal is kind of like he's in between the running back at the low end six and at the high
03:59end three i
04:00wasn't a big one a couple of weeks ago where he went 106 sixth overall gibbs and robinson detroit
04:08atlanta are the two top picks in almost every draft and sometimes you'll see james cook as the third
04:13running back after chase nakua jsn usually sixth is about the the peak what are your expectations for
04:23him to basically in essence repeat what he's done the last two years first of all when it comes to
04:30rankings i think and what what kind of comparison do i want to make here i want to make some
04:34sort
04:35of analogy i want to say something like running backs are like chicken wings right they're all
04:38really good but depending on what flavor you like it's going to be different you know you might and
04:41we may have drums or flats you may like barbecue or hot or something like that but they all work
04:46in some way shape or form hopefully for you and i think it depends on what you want in a
04:50running
04:51back and what james cook does and what other running backs do and you know obviously he's kind of a
04:55a little bit of mr everything but i think that to get to your question here though the all the
05:00mr everything part hasn't completely shown up in the passing game as much recently right and that's
05:06what we expected when he was drafted i just think the volume will be less this year giving him the
05:11ball
05:12handing it to him but i think that volume can be made up for by throwing and i think a
05:17really big
05:18difference here this year is pete carmichael jr now being the offensive coordinator
05:23now granted he's not calling plays but he has been with alvin kamara he has been with ladenian
05:29tomlinson one of the big traits of his offense is that he's been a part of is throwing the ball
05:35to
05:35the running back out of the backfield now the bills do have obviously we know you know uh ty
05:40johnson and even ray davis now ty johnson to me is really the guy they they like to throw the
05:45ball
05:45to on third down and a big reason people they talk about why isn't james cook why is it ty
05:50johnson
05:50one of the reasons is ty johnson is a good pass blocking back so if you're in a passing situation
05:55you put him on the field you have to account for that as a defense james cook may have been
06:00maybe improved there but he's not ty johnson so when he's on the field you kind of know you're not
06:06going to get him blocking and you might take advantage of him if he is blocking maybe even
06:10you know he's probably going to go out for a pass so you'd have to think about things like that
06:14when
06:14you're an offensive coordinator and when people think about why a guy isn't on the field as much but
06:17last year uh james cook only had 40 targets and to me to repeat the year he had rushing is
06:24going to
06:24be really way too tough i think it's i mean 1600 yards leading the league who can expect that but
06:29i
06:29do think he can be better than he was in the passing game and have you know i don't know
06:34maybe 400 yards
06:35as opposed to 291 and i think that can make up for some of that i'll just butt in here
06:41to say that i
06:42never bought cook as a good receiver it really was it was sort of a stereotype based on his size
06:49i
06:49think um and really in four years he hasn't really shown to be that good at it i mean there
06:55are some
06:55famous drops and the volume isn't there a few things johnson is 20 pounds bigger we talk a lot
07:02this time of year about guys getting you know changing their weight that's on defense right now
07:07with a new coordinator a new scheme it's always dalton kincaid you know stronger bigger would
07:11would you be an advocate or do you expect anything of this sort in terms of cook because he's been
07:17so
07:17successful i would think they don't want to mess with his frame yeah i wouldn't think that either i
07:24don't think they want he's a smaller guy but he he's better smaller i think if you put weight on
07:30james cook you make him bigger first i don't know if it's going to work he just doesn't have that
07:33frame
07:33as you point out secondly i think it might take away some of his explosiveness james cook is an
07:37explosive runner now i mean if you lined up everybody at the goal line and ran a 40 yard dash
07:42i don't know if he's actually you know he's going to be the guy that stands out and go oh
07:46my god he's
07:46this blazing fast guy like you get some receivers but that man's vision and the way that he can move
07:51quickly and change direction and get to a spot where he can just run away from people that's where
07:56his explosion explosiveness is look at the run against the jets look at the run against carolina
08:00those are the runs i'm talking about last year in new york i mean these are times when he gets
08:05to
08:05the second level and he just makes one cut he just runs away from people because he understands he's
08:10by james cook is a really smart football player by the way very smart football player he understands
08:15angles he sees things really well he knows how to and when to get down when to take big hits
08:19and and i
08:20think they're very comfortable with knowing that they can still give him the ball at his frame
08:23and he understands all that i also think that uh running backs numbers like volume when it comes
08:31to pass catching is often a function of who the quarterback is and whether he's any good and what
08:37are the other weapons and the bills are kind of both where we're always questioning their
08:41pass receiving weapons but alan so often what's the play third and four second and six or something
08:48he's going he's not a quarterback like that is not unless it's sort of his first read which why
08:54would it often be that he's not going to the flat for cook so would that have to be different
09:00for his
09:01numbers to spike up like pete carmichael fine does it really depend on alan though to sort of recalibrate
09:09how he sort of goes about his job yes and i think it's yes is the answer but in conjunction
09:15it's not
09:16just pete carmichael pete carmichael to me can come up with the scheme to allow that to be there and
09:22then you you call some built-in plays but on a play-to-play basis when alan's dropping back
09:27and his first read is down the field and his second read is over to the right hash mark and
09:33then his
09:33third read might be to dump it down yes that's where that comes in but we've talked with joe brady
09:40about this as well and you know joe will tell you that that's on that's on the play caller and
09:44it's on
09:45the quarterback like the play caller builds in different reads to know when to get to that and
09:50then the quarterback has to decide do you want to take that chance or do you want to just dump
09:55it
09:55down you know last year going into the year i felt look and listen this was again now this is
10:01going
10:01back a year and a half ago now we're at the owners meetings and i remember the conversation with
10:08sean mcdermott where he kept talking about a way to get the ball down the field sometimes is simply just
10:14to give it to the guy who can run it down the field even through the air like you don't
10:16have
10:16to throw it over everybody just get it to somebody who's gonna rig yards after catch and i just felt
10:22and it kind of happened when the year started which was tell josh just take the easy button
10:27take the easy button throw it to james cook out of the backfield throw it to ty johnson out of
10:31the
10:31backfield no one's really covering them it's five six yards why not do that i think as the year went
10:37on we saw a little bit less of that but i do think that's partly joe brady like also his
10:42influence or
10:42what he wants to do and i wonder where joe is on that i believe that this year given the
10:49fact that
10:49the bills changed out sean mcdermott and therefore the defense but did not change out the guy who's
10:55calling the offense i think that tells me they want to lean into more of what that guy wants to
10:59do
11:00and i think that guy wants to push the ball down the field more here we go shotgun trips right
11:07from
11:07the far hash cook to allen's right shakir in the slot with kinkade and who do you want say
11:14well let's say dj moore on either side you send kinkade and or rather shakir in motion right to left
11:21take the snap fake the handoff clear out more runs a intermediate to deep route here's kinkade you know
11:28something it's man-to-man look and then you dump it off to cook and there's your big play how
11:32easy is
11:32how much how much does it pay to be an offensive coordinator really sal i mean just simple game
11:37easy game there it is yeah and and mike let's remember a lot of teams now i think last year
11:42the bills did see more man-to-man than they normally do but we've talked about this if you play
11:47man-to-man
11:47against the bills you are at risk of turning your back and josh allen running you're also at risk of
11:54this very thing happening which is him saying i'm just going to dump it down to a guy because he's
11:58coming out of the backfield and you guys aren't going to be able to catch up with him or turn
12:02around
12:02and tackle him until he gets a few yards down the field um so teams will play zone against the
12:06bills i think last year that did change a little bit for whatever reason but that's part of it
12:11which is when you have a running quarterback it's harder to do these kinds of things it's harder for
12:16him to dump it down a little bit sometimes because teams are just keeping everything in front of them
12:20and there isn't that easy button there normally would be well cook did run up not to make the whole
12:26conversation about him although we've done it before he did run up 342 touches in the regular
12:32season and then another 43 in the playoffs it was a serious workhorse year for him and now going into
12:41another season what is it four behind him at uh 27 it'll be 27 in september you get to we're
12:47getting
12:48maybe it's a year away maybe it's more but for his body type we're getting close to a point
12:53this is what we talked about sometimes when his contract was up like just sort of how much more
12:58mileage do you get we are at a point where that conversation i think sal has died down that sort
13:05of fervor about oh you can't pay running backs after a survey because of mcafree and henry and even
13:11guys like jacobs or aaron jones i mean you have a number of guys that have held up pretty well
13:17but um there was logic behind the thinking that it was a replaceable position and that there's
13:23certain there's a certain limitation to how much work you can handle so that'll be interesting this
13:28year with cook too if he can pass block he shouldn't come off the field really like only when he's
13:33tired
13:33should he come off the field but is that something just last thing on him maybe is that something
13:38teachable it's been four years but the ty johnson versus cook point is that something where the bills can
13:44get cook without taking away from what his value has been to a point where he can because that's a
13:50strategic advantage if he's on the field it's just one more thing for the defense to not assume
13:57teachable yes technique you can definitely teach those things but at the end of the day i mean at
14:02his size and certain guys were great at you know what they do on the other side of the ball
14:07there's only
14:07so much he can probably do but yeah it's not something he's done his whole life as much so yeah
14:12he can get
14:13better at it and i do think he was better last year he actually did you know did a little
14:17bit
14:17more of that last year we saw it in training camp and it was you know something that showed up
14:21a
14:21little bit more what he did um and he talked about it when he got the when he got the
14:24contract like it
14:25was one of his goals so i don't want to sit here and say like he's terrible at it but
14:28i you can get
14:29better but i think there's a ceiling on a guy like that at that size to be able to to
14:34have that skill
14:35set right on sal capaccio with me mike show up here on the western hotline this is wgr bulldog is
14:41off this
14:42week well cook in fantasy is somewhere between running back three and five or six usually it's
14:50fun as a bills fan it's fun to decide between james cook and christian mccaffrey or ashton jenty like
14:55those are the running backs who might come in above him but when you get past that you're talking about
15:01hn and then a nice little run in the second round chase brown kenneth walker omerian hampton
15:08saquon barkley in some order so fantasy comes down to like how you want to build your team
15:13but cook is getting first round love in fantasy mccaffrey's 30 years old now too he just turned 30
15:19by the way yeah he's another one to your age point and he's still i mean he had 1200 yards
15:23last year
15:24yeah and he'll catch 80 balls in his sleep you know if he's healthy right so no signs his efficiency
15:31was
15:32a little bit down but still like that's a guy you love you know what's not really a debate in
15:37fantasy
15:38by the way is allen is everybody's quarterback one they're like everybody he goes two rounds
15:45before anybody else that could be may that could be daniel daniels is later like who even know
15:51jackson like allen is on his own tier in fantasy as a as an asset really he is again he
15:59is one where
16:00you like all right do i want to pick a quarterback this early i usually don't but the challenge is
16:05like
16:05do i get sort of blocked out on josh allen by the end of the draft season right like he
16:10is
16:10everybody's quarterback one literally two rounds from the third to the fifth in many drafts to the
16:16second guy i mean mike it's just amazing to me that for several years now not just one or two
16:24years
16:24but i mean going back five six years the talk about his rushing touchdowns and i just can't keep this
16:30up
16:30it just continues to happen every year doesn't matter just does it you know you just have it's
16:34just as monster numbers in scoring touchdowns it's incredible and it's just something that every year
16:40we're we're hearing oh that can't keep happening that can't keep happening they're gonna do something
16:43different it's gonna run less ah the you know the the tush push whatever the whatever the reason
16:48might be and i get it i'm not even saying that that's not like warranted to think that way
16:53it just hasn't happened and last year 14 year before 12 year before 15 i guess i guess we'll
16:59go back you know three years he's had those numbers but even then he comes in the league with
17:04eight nine and eight right i mean come on yeah and we've talked about this many times but it might
17:10be my single favorite stat to look up on pro football reference is rushing touchdowns career because
17:17alan if he lasts he is going to be it's going to be legendary stuff like he's already 23rd all
17:22time
17:24he's amazing he's two behind frank gore frank gore who was here frank gore senior played forever
17:31and was always sort of a frustrating hall of fame debate because like he was never really great i
17:37would say but he compiled and you know had this 15 year career well alan by week three could be
17:44past
17:44him in career rushing touchdowns with no mention of his you know passing his quarterback play
17:49otherwise and the names just get more impressive he's one away from edger and james have you looked
17:54at this yet have you looked at it recently to know where could he fall by the end of this
17:57year if he
17:58has another typical josh sure i mean if if you have 12 yep he's one he's right behind barry sanders
18:05like he's 12th all time if he has 12 rushing touchdowns this year right he probably won't catch barry
18:10because he would need 19 or 20 uh 20 this year 20 this year but he certainly can catch the
18:16guys right
18:16behind him jerome bettis and franco harris so by the way eric dickerson and curtis martin i mean
18:22pretty unbelievable thing marshawn lynch he he has a legitimate chance to catch marshawn lynch
18:27halfway through the season before the bye week right yeah yeah if it doesn't slow down that will
18:33definitely that will happen i mean he's going to get to 90 this year unless there's a downturn which
18:38could be you know one thing warren sharp said to us when he was on is he thinks the bills
18:43will be
18:43having to chase the game more this year because of who they're playing and that could be good for
18:47alan's passing numbers but and you know if he gets into goal goal to go from the four no matter
18:53what
18:54the score is he's he's probably going uh if not cook but you know maybe game scripts are a little
18:59bit
18:59different for him
19:00for him
19:01for him
19:01for him
19:01for him
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