- 2 days ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00How big a deal to you has the weather? I know for you personally, to some extent maybe
00:07professionally, like it makes, you know, standing out in the rain is harder than, well, not standing
00:12out in the rain, standing under sunny skies, clear skies. How much, if at all, do you think
00:18it's impacting their camp so far? Because we've had four practices and three of them, the weather
00:22has been pretty awful. I'm not exaggerating when I say two different people said to me today that
00:28they've been here for all 25 years, and we may have had more rain over the first three
00:32days than they've had combined in 25 years. That's what it feels like. I can't remember
00:37this much rain ever in my 12 years being at camp, I think it is. And I think it's a
00:41big
00:41deal for maybe, maybe why they've, it seems like they've gone a little shorter. We haven't
00:48really asked Joe Brady about that necessarily, but the one dry day, they also went a little
00:52shorter, but it was also the last day before putting pads on, which was today. But I think
00:56it does impact what you do. Now look, I mean, football coaches love that stuff too, because
01:00it gets you to play in the elements. I mean, who wants to be out there? Who wants to hold
01:04on to the ball? Can't hold on to the ball? Understand the technique to be able to play
01:07in those, we're going to play in those elements and in the season, obviously. I don't like
01:11it. I think that it's a danger waiting to happen. Practice to me. That's why when people
01:17say to me, Bulldog, during the winter or rainy day, why don't they practice outside? That's
01:21going to be like that. I'm like, because you go inside to make sure you practice and get
01:25work done and it's dry. I prefer that. I get it while you practice outside, but I do
01:30think it matters from a few different elements. Sure. I would think footing-wise, there's
01:36always that, just simply that. I mean, I know plenty of guys get hurt every year playing
01:40football on dry fields when it's not pouring, but all the same. Footing's going to be more
01:45of a challenge. I would think just being able to do all of the things you want to do.
01:50So I know Brady, the first day, was like, you know, I love it, but I wonder, maybe you
01:55guys, not that I'm trying to do your jobs, check back in on that because he might be
01:59getting a little tired of having to lean into, no, I love it. It's rain. It's great.
02:07Plus, he's an offensive guy. You'd think it would help the defense more, right?
02:10Right. Yeah.
02:11Yeah, for sure.
02:12If it's too wet for them, it's just right for us, Bulldog.
02:14Oh my goodness. There you go. He actually said that phrase today. He didn't say wet.
02:17But I asked him about Marv turning 101 today. Today's Marv Levy's birthday. And, you know,
02:23he's basically talked about Marv and laying a foundation for what the organization is
02:27today. And he said, you know, we still represent that blue collar attitude of when it's just
02:31when it's too tough for them, it's just right for us.
02:33You got the line. That's awesome. You got the line. I'm distracted by where Sal is, not
02:37because of the noise, but I'm not sure it's the exact building. I have spent a lot of time
02:41where you are. That's right on Arondequoit Bay. I lived just up the other side of the
02:46Bay and Webster for a few years. And down there, there'd be action. You know, there'd
02:51be a couple of different bars. I want a quick draw, some amount of money. It might be the
02:56same building, but I can, there's a parking lot across the street.
02:59There's a sign right next door, right next to us says County of Monroe, Lucian Morin Park.
03:05Okay.
03:05I mean, I don't know.
03:06Maybe that's new.
03:07That's, I don't know the parks as well, but yes, that's a great spot. So here's to a great
03:12night now that at least it's cleared up for you. Gardner Johnson, Sal, if you'll indulge
03:17me, I've been away for a few days. Just like, I know you don't know the extent of the injury
03:21beyond what they've said. How are we going to proceed here? Like if he's out for a few
03:27weeks, maybe you take it carefully with a veteran, any player, but a veteran with an
03:31injury like this, I would think. How much of a blow is it to their season prep?
03:38It hurts not having him. I mean, it's a new defense. It's him working with Cole Bishop
03:42is a big deal and you want those reps. They're very valuable. He's also a veteran. He's been
03:47around, you know, he's a really good player. He's going to be able to, you know, fit right
03:51back in when he comes, but you know, you have to look at it from a positive. If you're a
03:54coach and think other guys are going to get reps, but if you don't like what you see, then
03:58yeah, you have to start, you know, maybe preparing for, all right, what does life look like
04:01without a CJ Gardner Johnson on the field? And are we equipped and prepared enough for
04:05that? So right away, it's Tamar Hamlin, who's getting most of the reps with Cole Bishop.
04:11Gino Stone is also, you know, in that mix. And then you have Jalen Kilgore, who I just
04:16want to, I don't want to rush people to think that like just temper the, you know, maybe
04:22expectations of him getting that spot. Jalen Kilgore is a fine player. He's looked really
04:26good, but he's not CJ Gardner Johnson. That's not, that's not the same position. He plays
04:31CJ Gardner Johnson is more of a roaming free safety on the back end, like a center fielder
04:35now. Now, if something were to happen to Cole Bishop, you put CJ Gardner Johnson, I'm
04:39sorry, Jalen Kilgore in, that's more of his skillset playing a little closer to the box,
04:43what they want to do. That's not CJ Gardner Johnson. Now I'm not telling you that's Tamar
04:48Hamlin or Gino Stone, but they certainly are much more like that is much more their game
04:52to kind of just be back there, settle things down, keep everything in front of you. Like
04:55we know that about Tamar Hamlin. I've said that many years about him. The difference is
04:59he's not going to make the plays for you that CJ Gardner Johnson will. So, you know,
05:03you're, you're, you're, you're getting those guys reps, which is good. You could see if
05:07Jalen Kilgore can fit in a little bit more. Maybe he has a bit of a different role, but
05:10as you guys brought up earlier, and I was listening, what happened today was you see the depth tested
05:15when Sam Franklin's on the field now, right? Sam Franklin's got to be taking reps that maybe
05:21Gino Stone would have been taking or somebody else. And, you know, Dalton Kincaid right away
05:26in seven on seven, bam, front corner of the end zone beats him later on 11 on 11 back corner
05:31of
05:31the end zone beats him. So you get to see now how taking somebody off the top end of your
05:35depth
05:35chart affects the bottom end of your depth chart. You know, I'm glad to hear you explain like the
05:41differences and the skill sets of a player like Kilgore and Gardner Johnson, because thought I had
05:48when I saw that Hamlin and Gino Stone were the first two called on to take a CJ Gardner Johnson
05:54spot was that maybe Kilgore, like they've got a plan for him and it involves moving him around.
06:01Like you've talked about somewhat of a chess piece, right? Big nickel. Maybe he replaces a linebacker
06:06sometimes that kind of thing. And he's a rookie. And so as much as it seems like he's got a
06:13lot of the,
06:14the, the, the playbook buttoned up, like he seems like a pretty, pretty heady guy. It's part of the
06:18reason I think the bills like him so much. Um, they might not want to muddy the waters seeing if
06:23he could play free safety for them because they want to use him in the ways they're thinking of
06:28using him, which is maybe more of a Swiss army knife. Yeah, I agree with that completely. And as
06:34you're talking through that, what just dawned on me too, is we haven't seen Jordan Hancock really doing
06:39this right. And he's another guy like that where he fits more. It looks like as a nickel, big nickel,
06:46a nickel corner, he can play safety too. They can put them back there, but it feels like, whereas
06:51maybe in the past, as much as you love versatility and Sean McDermott did and Bobby Babish did, and
06:56they would have Cam Lewis back there and Jamarcus Ingram back there. And these guys doing all these
07:01different things and Jordan Hancock. Yeah. You like for guys to do different things, but how about we get
07:06them set where we have a plan for them before we start putting more on that plate? And Jalen
07:10Kilgore's looked really good doing what he's doing. Why take him out of there right now? Maybe, maybe
07:15eventually you, your hand is forced and you say, look, let's, we got to put the rookie back there.
07:20Like we need more plays. 11's got to get on the field. Yeah. Yeah. And then I have to tell
07:24you this
07:24Bulldog, if that happened, I wouldn't be surprised if you see Cole Bishop go back and be more of the
07:27free
07:27safety in that situation. Then Jalen Kilgore can still play where he plays. That could be an option at some
07:32point. I don't think they are too worried about that. And one of the reasons I would say that is
07:37we didn't see anybody. I mean, I haven't seen anybody bring it brought in like on a transaction
07:41report. It is possible. They did try somebody. I didn't see that, but they certainly haven't signed
07:45anybody. And you know, that would have been an indication that they were worried about CJ Gardner
07:48Johnson. Sal Capaccio, Mike Schopen, the Bulldog here. For lack of a better word, let me use the word
07:54injury. The Dalton Kincaid injury today. Did you happen to see it? And we heard him describe it or you
08:01didn't?
08:01No. No. Okay. I didn't see it. I'm sorry. I know you were describing it the way he did. And
08:08yeah,
08:08he said he took a shot to the family jewels. It was funny too, because he was asked about like
08:15his
08:15knee and he said it was a knee, but it was him getting the knee, basically not the knee of
08:21his
08:22own getting looked at. And I think there was some confusion. I do think a couple of reporters did say
08:26knee being looked at. So I know that there was some confusion there. I also know some reporters
08:31said he's down on a knee. And I think people see the word knee associated with Dalton Kincaid.
08:37So they immediately start thinking, oh my God, here we go. But he was fine. He went back out there
08:43not
08:43long after this happened, by the way. I did see that. And then he came over to us in the
08:48tent.
08:48And on top of being okay today, I mean, he spoke really like highly of his own kind of training
08:57this summer and what he did. He said, look, I said no to trips that I would normally take. I
09:02trained.
09:03I worked with a guy in California, a trainer in California. And maybe it's not a guy. I'm sorry.
09:08He just said someone in California. I think my trainer in California. But he said, you know,
09:11that was really beneficial for me. And I really, you know, like this trainer. And he said,
09:16he got after training a little like earlier than normal. So he feels really good about where he
09:22is right now. I can respect that. Some of what has disabled him is not going to be something you
09:29can train for, though. Like if you're talking about knee stuff, that's you got to cross your
09:34fingers. It's not, of course, often fair to the player. Like today, the new cycle is so fast.
09:41It's barely even a cycle. Like, oh, he's down. Oh, it could be his knee. Oh, here comes everybody
09:45with. Wow. Shock. Here we go again. You know, and then it's not. And OK, but he's got a reputation
09:51now, Sal, fair or unfair. And the last thing I think if I were he I'd want is anybody thinking
09:57that I had some sort of another setback or anything today. I wasn't there and I only heard
10:03the one clip, but he sounded like he was a pretty good sport today. Oh, 100 percent. And
10:08yeah, of course, right away, as soon as his name came up and he was down there, you could
10:13predict the response on social media. Right. And that's what happened. So you're right.
10:19I'm going to say I'm not going to say it's not fair to him. But now that we know what
10:24it was, it seems like it was a little bit of a rush of judgment from a lot of people.
10:27But I understand it from people like it's the same thing with Keon Coleman. We talked about
10:30I could post every clip of Keon Coleman making 100 catches of practice and scoring 100 touchdowns
10:35and the responses are going to be, I don't care, do it in the regular season. And that
10:38is totally justified. Yeah. And then he drops one and then it's a whole different. Right.
10:43Exactly. Right. Yeah. I definitely it sounds like you may have maybe on your way.
10:47No, you were in Rochester already. So I don't know if you heard us talking about this.
10:52I may have just maybe a few reporters did say me. I also by the end of the conversation
10:59we had about this in the first segment of the show, I copped to I think my brain might
11:04have just went to it's his knee because of his which is really what we're talking about
11:08here. His reputation is that that's his problem. So he's down and hurt. I'm I might have just
11:14assumed it was, which is obviously not the wrong thing to be doing, especially for someone
11:19who was talking to people on the radio. So my apologies. But, you know, he is such a such
11:26interesting player, Sal, talking about it again today. Like, do we get any sense yet
11:32that he's he's talking about all this training he did? If he's healthier than maybe ever going
11:39into a year, do we get the idea of him being on a pitch count? Maybe is on the back
11:45burner
11:45or completely gone? Like, I wonder if his usage increases, if he demonstrates to them to their
11:53satisfaction, that they don't have to worry about load management as much as they have.
11:59I wonder, too, and I think that they're going to wonder about that. I think they would love for
12:03him to be on the field more. They also are very confident in the other two tight ends they have,
12:07and they want to use them. And, you know, it's great to use Dalton Kincaid. He can create a lot
12:12of matchups. But man, they like what Jackson Hawes brings to the table as a blocker. They like what
12:17Dawson Knox does as kind of a tweener, can be a blocker. He can run out in the route and
12:21catch some
12:21passes and Josh Allen trusts him. So, yes, I think they would love Bulldog for him to be on the
12:26field more, for his usage to go up. And to your point about load management, maybe not do that as
12:31much through the year now. At some point in the year, you might see a Wednesday where Dalton Kincaid's
12:35off and maybe red flags go up from everybody. That might just be normal, right, where you're going
12:39to give some guys some time off because that's just what happens. You know, he's in his fourth year
12:44now and, you know, maybe they just want to make sure, hey. And I think we've already seen signs of
12:48that from Joe Brady. And what I mean by that is even having these shorter practices, him saying
12:54today, putting the pads on, but then we're going to take it off for a little while. Let guys get
12:58used to having the pads on, then tomorrow's a little more full go. Going back to the offseason,
13:02some of the things he said, I think going back to last year and having a lot of practice injuries
13:07with Sean McDermott as head coach, I think we're going to see maybe a little bit of a light. I
13:13don't
13:13know if I want to call it a lighter practice schedule, but maybe some of that creeping in a little
13:16bit
13:16more this year. I want to, I can refer to something specific after asking you the question I want to
13:23talk about here, perhaps, but I wonder if you have spent time, I don't think we have, talking about
13:29or talking with Joe Brady about under center versus shotgun for the Bills offense. Just for starters,
13:36do you happen to know if he's got a certain philosophy when it comes to that that hasn't
13:41shown up and basically just simply by looking at how they've played the last two years?
13:46No, I think, um, I think Josh is very comfortable in shotgun. They like to do what Josh likes to
13:51do.
13:51Okay. They like him to be comfortable. So I think that's part of it. That's where it starts
13:54with Josh Allen and what he's most comfortable with. And Joe will say that about a lot of things.
13:58Like he, he, he wants to make sure Josh is comfortable. Not that he can't run under center,
14:02but I think Josh feels very comfortable in shotgun. And that's probably something that they,
14:07you know, want to make sure that, you know, they start with that and putting him in that best
14:11position. It sounds, it's starting to sound to me like this is a popular topic of conversation
14:16around the league this year. You think of the elite quarterbacks. I bet if you close your eyes and you
14:21picture them, they're in the shotgun most of the time, that's Jackson, that's my homes, that's Allen,
14:25but more and more people seem to be saying, and then even perhaps proving it that under center is
14:31better for efficiency. I've heard, you know, lots of people talk about being it being better for play
14:36action fakes, but for more and sharp today, a passing efficiency chart, shotgun versus under
14:42center. All those guys I mentioned are above the line where to mean that under center, they've been
14:49more efficient than in the shotgun. Not that they're the state, the guys I mentioned aren't,
14:53you know, efficient period. Right. He mentioned this after a Joe Goodberry tweet, when Joe said that
15:00they're the Bengals are working burrow under center more. And Warren showed he's got a little box
15:06around burrow on his chart. Like that's interesting because he's the one guy that stands out as being
15:10much better in the shotgun. Jackson is much better under center. He might hate it. I don't know. I
15:16don't know. He's doing more of that too. He's doing more of that at camp. He's doing a lot more
15:20of
15:20that at camp that I read. I there's a few different elements. Every quarterback is different. Every
15:24offensive coordinator philosophy, everything's going to be different based on what you want for your
15:27offense. If I have Derek Henry, I'm putting my quarterback under center more because I want him
15:32running downhill. I don't want to hand it off to him in the shotgun. You know what I mean? Like
15:35that, that matters to me. If I have James Cook shotgun's fine. He's, he's smaller. You, he can read
15:42the play. He's really great at zone reads. I can run play action with him. He can stop and start.
15:49It matters to all that. And then I'll say this when you're in shotgun as a quarterback, I know it's
15:55a
15:55simple thing, but it does matter. I've talked to quarterbacks about this over the years. When the ball is
15:58being snapped to you, your eyes are on the ball. You have to look down to see the ball before
16:03you
16:04look back up. When you're under center, you're constantly looking at the defense as you drop
16:08back. Yeah. Interesting. Well, I wonder to, to put a bow on it for today, like, are the bills doing
16:15more of that or no? It looks pretty much like they, how they usually line up to you. I can't
16:21tell right
16:21now. They've just basically been, you know, doing their, they've been throwing a lot at camp because
16:26that's what you do before pads come on. Right. And I, you know, we, we talked about running
16:31backs being a little bit more involved, tight ends. We're very involved today as well. So I
16:35can't tell you that right now. I think I'd have to probably wait until we get maybe another
16:40little while here with pads on and then starting to run some run periods. It's also hard to see
16:45through all these raindrops. Yeah. You can't really see that. Yeah. They're there too.
16:48Roger. So speaking of pads coming on, I know there was a bit of a different tack to that
16:58for Brady today where they're sort of easing into it. The pads were on in some, some work,
17:05but then when they got to 11, 11, did the pads come off and then tomorrow's going to be full
17:09on? What was the explanation for that? That was it. Basically. He said that over the years,
17:14he's kind of noticed that the first day of pads, guys were adjusting things or a little
17:18more kind of focusing on that than doing the football stuff and the plays and things like
17:23that. So yeah, it's great to get the pads on. It's great to hit, but let's give them a little
17:27bit of adjustment period. We'll have that. We'll let them wear the pads, but then we're going to go
17:31off with the pads and cast straight in football, go 11 on 11 with just kind of taking the pads
17:35off.
17:35He said, then tomorrow there's no excuses the way he put it tomorrow. It's full go, no excuses.
17:40You have your pads. And he said, it's nothing he learned from anybody. He just kind of took notes
17:46himself over the years that maybe when he became a head coach, this was something that he would
17:49implement. All right, Sal, go get it. Oh, we've got it. Got to call a timeout here.
17:56Housekeeping. Mike almost bailed on us here. What, what did, uh, what qualifies as the best thing you
18:01saw today? So best thing I saw today was I think Dalton Kincaid grabbing touchdown passes. That
18:11was the best thing I saw. The best thing I will say, I'll say the best thing I heard today
18:14because
18:15I want to throw it in there because we haven't talked about it, but I want to say it was
18:20Dawson
18:20Knox said Jackson Hawes is like an Ivy league meathead. That's what he said about him. Oh, an ILM.
18:28One of those best of training camp each day here with Sal Carpaccio is brought to you by the Barnes
18:33firm car crash. You've got to call the Barnes firm 1-800-817-4000.
Comments