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00:00Out in front of Bills Lions tomorrow as Highmark Stadium opens for the last time.
00:06It opens for the first time for the last time.
00:08We've had several openings.
00:10Injury report that we mentioned and I didn't have in front of me.
00:14I said only one player missed practice and that was TJ Sanders.
00:17That was due to illness.
00:19He didn't practice.
00:20Two guys listed who practiced fully, Bradley Chubb and Jordan Hancock.
00:26Bradley Chubb thumb, Jordan Hancock quad.
00:30And then limited in practice were Terrell Bernard with a calf.
00:33Cole Bishop with a knee slash groin.
00:36Oof.
00:38It's a big groin if it's hitting your knee.
00:40Knee groin.
00:41A knee groin.
00:42And then a, who's the other one?
00:45Hancock, did I say him?
00:46No.
00:47Cole Bishop practiced, Bradley Chubb practiced thumb.
00:50Hancock practiced quad.
00:53Limited were Bernard and Ty Johnson.
00:57And that's that.
01:01Injury report is brought to you by the Barnes firm.
01:05If you've been injured in a crash, call the Barnes firm.
01:081-800-8-Million.
01:10I'm Brad.
01:11That's Tim.
01:11It's WGR Middays driven by Northtown Automotive where we like to connect with the fans courtesy of Northtown Kia at
01:17803-0550.
01:19All right.
01:20We talked about it.
01:21After much discussion, we spent the last six minutes deciding whether or not we should bring Ricky from Lewiston back
01:26on.
01:26Ricky turned the show on its ear yesterday.
01:28We'll see what happens this time.
01:30Ricky, you're on WGR.
01:31Hello.
01:33Hello, gentlemen.
01:34Hi there.
01:35I appreciate you guys letting me get my reply in.
01:39Rebuttal.
01:40Yeah, this is official.
01:41Heck yes.
01:42These wild takes from callers yesterday.
01:45All right.
01:45Bring it.
01:46Okay.
01:47The only thing I will humor about why he shouldn't have scored is...
01:53Hold on.
01:53Hold on one second.
01:54For people who didn't hear your call yesterday, say like the 30-second version of why you called yesterday and
02:00then follow it up so I don't have to explain it.
02:03You can just do it.
02:04Certainly.
02:05Okay.
02:05There is no universe where Josh Palmer should have scored the touchdown there.
02:11They would have been way, way, way better off going down at the one, draining the entire clock, and kicking
02:19the field goal as time expired.
02:20And it's not even close.
02:21And I will explain why.
02:24Josh Palmer, the only thing I will humor is that he couldn't stop his momentum.
02:29Which I don't think is true because he is a world-class athlete, and he can stop his momentum on
02:34a dime.
02:35And he can stop there.
02:36There is no chance he's going to fumble.
02:38Nobody's near him.
02:38He has plenty of time to pull the ripcord and go down.
02:43Now, people are saying, and including I heard Sneaky Joe, I believe, on the morning show, said he wouldn't have
02:49done it because the Texans had two timeouts.
02:51Which is true.
02:52The Texans had two timeouts, but they would have had to use one immediately after Palmer went down.
02:57So they essentially have one timeout with a minute 35.
03:00If anyone can do simple math there, there is no chance the Texans are getting the ball back.
03:06Two kneel downs, take the timeout with two or three seconds left, and you have a field goal that I
03:12could have stepped up there and made.
03:13Ah, come on now.
03:15Let's not get hyperbolic about it here, Ricky.
03:17I probably would have missed it.
03:18I would have shanked it.
03:19But anyways, Tyler Bass is making that, I looked up the numbers, before they moved the extra points back, which
03:27this would have been an old school extra point.
03:29It was 99.3%.
03:32Okay.
03:33So that, essentially, if Palmer goes down there, the Bills are 99.3% to win the game.
03:40Now, if you give the ball back to C.J. Stroud with a minute 35 and two timeouts, are you
03:4599.3% to win that game?
03:46No.
03:48Not even close.
03:49So how is it not the opposite?
03:51And it's all, they could fumble the snap, they could this and that.
03:55Yeah, they could fumble the snap.
03:56And you could also have C.J. Stroud dog walk the defense down the field like he did until he,
04:02you know, didn't.
04:05But, I appreciate your guys' punditry, and you guys seem to be open to it.
04:09I'm open to it.
04:10I like it overall.
04:12I just, in the moment, I don't think it's as simple as him going down.
04:17Like, the part that you said you accept maybe his momentum, like it prevents it from happening.
04:24I want to bring in the cloudy part where the catch is more difficult to make if I'm trying to
04:30do the next thing already.
04:32So I don't know that I'm catching the football in that spot if I'm thinking about going down and stopping
04:39my momentum.
04:40Like, that screws it up.
04:41And that's, to me, where I'm okay with, like, I'm okay with scoring a touchdown.
04:47It sounds crazy to say, but I'm okay with catching the ball, scoring, and now you've got to play defense
04:51for a minute and a half.
04:52Okay.
04:52Because of the extra.
04:54If you know Palmer's going to catch it and go down, would you rather take that situation?
04:59Yes, I would.
05:00Yeah, and I think that it may have happened, actually, after our call was over with you yesterday, Ricky,
05:07but I went on to say that we would be talking about the selflessness and the brilliance of Joshua Palmer
05:13in that moment
05:14because I don't even think we were thinking of it.
05:16You obviously were, but you need the touchdown.
05:19There's all kinds of reasons why you would just common sense, human nature, want to score that touchdown.
05:25He's never had one as a Buffalo Bill.
05:27It's been a long road for Joshua Palmer, all those types of things.
05:30This gives me the lead with a minute and a half left of the game.
05:33Yes, there was just so many things symbolically, emotionally, financially, whatever, to score the touchdown,
05:40that had he done what you said, Ricky, I think we would be lauding him as one of the smartest
05:45football players,
05:46making one of the smartest football plays of all time.
05:49But you're also able to see why he didn't get to that point.
05:55Yes.
05:55So, yeah, I think we can see – we obviously see both sides, and I agree if he would have
06:00done it,
06:00we would have looked at it and said, well, it's tremendous that he did that.
06:06Of course he made it.
06:06The bass makes the kick.
06:08We would have been praising Joe Brady as the greatest coach of all time.
06:12What a genius.
06:12McDermott never would have done this.
06:16Yeah, okay, thanks.
06:21No one would have ever done it.
06:24It wasn't –
06:25Well, it has been done.
06:27It has been done, but not –
06:29Maurice Jones-Drew did it famously.
06:30Yes, but when you're running in open space, it's not –
06:34he's catching a bullet between two defenders while at a full sprint at, like, the five-yard line.
06:40And usually when you see that play happen, when somebody executes that kneel down,
06:44they're running for a bit and can have time to think about it.
06:47Exactly.
06:48The time between when the ball was being caught – like, he doesn't – he's sprinting.
06:54He doesn't know in his head, I'm going to catch this at the seven, or I'm going to catch it
06:59at the three.
06:59He's got a decent idea of about where he's going to be.
07:03But for all he knows, he's catching that ball as he's crossing the goal line in the moment.
07:08It all happened really quickly, and in the moment, I think it's crazy to ask that of him.
07:16And back to the other point where I don't know that catching the ball is the same job
07:23if you have to think about – I'm going to catch it, but I've got to make sure I stop
07:27here.
07:28Now, that said, there are sidelines.
07:32You do make runs at sidelines at full speed and have to get the ball, but you get to continue.
07:36I don't know.
07:37I just think it's such a difficult maneuver to pull off physically, even if that was the plan.
07:43Hey, for sure, Joshua Palmer, I'm throwing you the ball.
07:47You're going to be running full speed.
07:48You know this, and what I would like you to do is catch it at the five and then lay
07:51down at the one.
07:52It's hard to do.
07:53The sideline point, though, I love that point.
07:56And I think it adds to the degree of difficulty or execution of actually just catching the ball.
08:02But I'll disagree with you about the sideline because the sideline, they do drills on sidelines.
08:07The sideline is wide and white, and you know exactly.
08:10You run routes using that sideline.
08:13He's not using the goal line as part of his route.
08:15Well, right.
08:16But he's using the sideline as a route.
08:17They know.
08:18There's the hash marks.
08:19You can see in your peripheral vision exactly where you are on the sideline.
08:22Time to tap my toes.
08:23This is the way.
08:24Time to tap my toes, but then also continue.
08:26Like, if he just had to tap his toes.
08:28They're conditioned to do that is what I'm saying.
08:29So, I think they're not the other way.
08:32So, I agree with your point.
08:34I think it does make the catch less likely to happen.
08:37By how much?
08:38Is it 50% or is it 2%?
08:41I don't know.
08:42But it does make the catch much more difficult to pull off and stick the landing than on the sidelines
08:49where they're used to it.
08:50Also, if you're trying to stop, even if you go down, now they might tell you, I'm sorry, sir.
08:58The ball crossed the plane of the goal line before you were touched.
09:01This is a – I regret to inform you that you have scored an NFL touchdown.
09:06Like, that might even happen.
09:07Because any part of the ball nicking the plane of the goal line makes it a score.
09:13And until he's touched down, he's not down.
09:16Had he slid, he might have gone right in the end zone anyway.
09:19But it's where you start your slide.
09:22Only quarterbacks.
09:23You sure?
09:24Nobody else can slide?
09:27All right.
09:28803-0550 as we continue with your calls.
09:30It's WGR Middays, driven by Northtown Automotive.
09:33I'm Brad.
09:34That's Tim.
09:35Owen will be here at noon.
09:37803-0550.
09:38We'll go to Ray next in Cheektawaga.
09:40Hey, Ray, you're on WGR.
09:42Hey, how's it going, man?
09:43All right.
09:45Congratulations on the new time slot.
09:47Thanks, Ray.
09:48I recall last year.
09:50I don't remember if it was James Cook or somebody.
09:52Somebody pulled that same move where they took a slide right before they scored a touchdown
10:00to force the other team to use their timeouts.
10:03But the other team did not have three full timeouts.
10:05I believe they only had like one timeout left.
10:07And then we were able to kneel it down and then take the field goal or whatever that was last
10:12year.
10:13Yesterday, the caller rebutted the caller that just made that call.
10:18And, you know, Houston still had three timeouts.
10:21So if they would have taken their three timeouts, one right after the other,
10:24you'd still be in a situation where you had a minute of 15 or something like that.
10:28And then you would either score three and take a chance on pass or, you know, maybe score a touchdown.
10:34And, you know, I'm not 100% completely confident in Patrick's leg just yet.
10:39But, you know, I'm kind of glad they scored the touchdown, make sure those points are locked in and on
10:46the board
10:47instead of taking a chance with something that may or may not happen.
10:50And the fact that Houston still had those three timeouts.
10:53Yeah, so were there three or were there two?
10:56Houston had two timeouts.
10:58Okay, yeah, I thought it was two.
10:59I'm not going to argue the point.
11:00Honestly, I didn't look it up because I didn't know we were doing this again today.
11:04But I'm okay with doing this again today.
11:06I like this sort of discussion.
11:10It's, you know, you said, I don't know if it was Cook or somebody else.
11:13You see it several times a year now that players will do something in that situation.
11:19But it's always premeditated.
11:22You can see it coming.
11:24There were so many variables in that exact moment that I absolutely agree with the caller
11:29that I want the clock managed to perfection.
11:31You can win or lose games based solely on little decisions like that that are made.
11:37I go nuts when a team's got a lead and it's the fourth quarter
11:40and they're snapping the ball with like 12 seconds left on the play clock while the clock is running.
11:45Get it under five.
11:47Get it to three.
11:48I mean, you're not going to put it at one because then they can jump the snap count.
11:51But somewhere in the five to two-second range is where you should be snapping the ball at all times
11:56in the fourth quarter if you have a lead.
11:58Bleed the clock.
11:59Every second counts.
12:01I believe in this.
12:03I believe in this conversation.
12:05That was not – there were too many things hanging out there.
12:08That was not the moment.
12:09Too many variables.
12:11803, 0550.
12:13Yes, Tim.
12:13The slide rule is for anybody now.
12:16It used to be just a quarterback rule, but with the rise of concussion safety and awareness
12:22and CTE, anybody can now do that.
12:25It used to not be that way.
12:27I don't think I've ever seen anyone do it other than a quarterback, but it makes sense.
12:32Okay.
12:34Where do you want to go now?
12:38Want to go to Canada?
12:39No.
12:40Well, Jerry's been waiting the longest.
12:42Ten more?
12:44Jerry, you're on WGR.
12:45What's up?
12:46Hey, you know, the one he was talking about, the cook slide, that's a premeditated hand
12:50the ball.
12:50When you get the first down, go down.
12:52This is a pass play where you might not necessarily know where you are and you have to catch the
12:57ball first.
12:59I'm going to be honest.
13:00This is like telling the guy that tipped the puck in the net.
13:02You know, if you would have just tipped it off the post and then put it in, it would
13:04have burned the last second of the game and we would have won.
13:07What are you doing tipping it right into the net, you idiot?
13:09Yeah.
13:10You know, if as a team, I don't want to score a touchdown, I should not throw a pass to
13:16Joshua
13:16Palmer sprinting toward the end zone and meet the ball with him at the five yard line.
13:21I shouldn't do that.
13:22Again, I brought up the Tony Romo bad snap in the playoff play.
13:26You know, you got to take some of that out of it.
13:29I'm going to say something bad here.
13:31You're right.
13:32I am very happy he called today at 11 o'clock because now I know he's not a teacher.
13:41It could be lunchtime.
13:44That's good.
13:45That was good.
13:46It could be lunchtime.
13:47It could be his open period.
13:49So I was just thinking, if we're just going to do the same show as yesterday again, maybe
13:54we could just play yesterday's show and get the hell out of here.
13:57I'll allow it.
13:58Go get some lunch.
14:00Get some cardboard cutouts and put them in front of the cameras.
14:03Yeah.
14:03You do that.
14:04We can do that now with Gene Steritor.
14:06We have a cardboard cutout of Gene Steritor in here.
14:08Satchel page bobblehead.
14:09That looks like me.
14:10Tiger Woods.
14:11Patrick Waugh.
14:12A lot of stuff going on in here.
14:15803-0550 is the number.
14:17Canada.
14:18Somewhere in Canada, we've got Dan.
14:19Hey, Dan.
14:20How are you?
14:22Hi.
14:22Great.
14:23Thanks.
14:23Sorry to waste some time here with beating a dead horse, but just to relay on those previous
14:28points about the kneeling down there at the end of the game, my thoughts were take the
14:34points when you can get them.
14:35Imagine the press conference Joe Brady has to have.
14:37If that field goal gets blocked or Bass misses, Bass had a perfect game.
14:43I know a lot of people, myself included, are still a little hesitant on Bass.
14:46Yep.
14:46And if he would have missed that kick, it would have been the end of his career, in my opinion.
14:50So, in my opinion, take the points when you can get them.
14:52If we were winning...
14:53It would have been the end of Bass's career.
14:55I don't know.
14:55Don't call that play.
14:56I think you could then look at it and say, no, we did the right thing and we missed the
15:00field goal.
15:01Time to get a new kicker.
15:02Oh, that's what he's saying.
15:03It would have been the end of his career.
15:04Okay, fine.
15:05If he's going to miss that one, then he's going to miss tougher ones.
15:09He's going to miss one that they used to make 99 point whatever percent of the time to the
15:13extent that they moved extra points back because they're too easy.
15:17Yeah.
15:18But, again, the amount of time left, the timeouts left, the momentum of a guy running full speed
15:26at a ball, the ability to, if you get the two-point conversion, force them to score a touchdown
15:32just to tie you.
15:34There are so many pieces of it that this just was not...
15:39While I agree with the guy who called twice now that in a perfect world, you run as much
15:47clock off as possible before winning the game.
15:49I get it, but if a touchdown is available to you, you take the touchdown in that moment.
15:56How long was that touchdown pass?
15:5834.
15:5934 yards.
16:00So you're way out there.
16:01You're fringe field goal range.
16:04And Houston's already calling their timeouts.
16:07They called their first timeout two snaps earlier.
16:09Okay.
16:09So they're already...
16:10They know they got to stop the clock.
16:12Right.
16:13Because they're going to have to score.
16:14And yeah.
16:14Um, I don't know.
16:17I, I see all sides of it.
16:20I just don't think in this moment with all of these variables that it was, I don't want
16:26to say, yeah, prudent, I guess it would be prudent, but I don't know that it was possible.
16:31It was just, there's just too much up in the air about the time and the score and the moments
16:40and physics that I just, I can't get mad about it, but I, I love the conversation.
16:45Oh, you know what?
16:46What?
16:47Stop lying.
16:47You are so pissed right now.
16:49What?
16:49You are irate.
16:50Can you, how can you tell?
16:52Yeah.
16:52I don't know.
16:53I just, when somebody says I'm not mad, when I'm not mad about it, I need your reaction.
16:57You mad, bro.
16:57You must be mad.
16:58You must be so mad.
16:59No, I, cause I, I like what he's saying and I agree with him in principle most of the time.
17:05There will be another situation that comes up maybe over the course of the next couple
17:10days where there's a clock thing and I'm like, that was dumb.
17:14You should have done this.
17:15Coaches miss on these opportunities all the time to secure victory and they just don't
17:20do it correctly.
17:22Happens a lot.
17:23I get looking for it in every game.
17:25I just, I don't see it here.
17:27I get that there's some gray, but I just, I don't see it here as a, like they had to
17:31do
17:31this.
17:31That was the only right way to play it.
17:33But had they done it, like you said, wow, how smart.
17:37Can you believe this guy?
17:38They'd be talking about it on every talk show on ESPN, Fox Sports, well, WGR, but they'd
17:46be talking about it across the country.
17:48NFL Network.
17:49Yeah.
17:50Does that exist?
17:51NFL Network still exists as an entity.
17:54Yeah, but it's owned by ESPN now.
17:55It's like simulcasting a lot of stuff.
17:57Yeah, I don't know.
17:59803-0550 is the number.
18:00For Jason in Warsaw, you're on WGR.
18:03Hey.
18:05Hello.
18:06Hey, guys.
18:07Called in yesterday about the Palmer thing real quick.
18:11Not to beat a dead horse.
18:12I know we've already been doing it.
18:16At the end of the day, touchdowns and touchdowns take the points.
18:19I agree with it.
18:20Josh made the decision in that moment.
18:22And we live with it.
18:23To reverse engineer it a little bit, I do think Brady was trying to play the clock because,
18:29as we previously discussed, that play was designed for DJ Moore.
18:33Probably a quick hitter over the middle.
18:36OTB route, 7 to 10 yards.
18:39Right.
18:39Touching in a weird spot.
18:40Short in the field goal, all that.
18:42Yeah.
18:42The Bills also ran the play before.
18:44It was a James Cook run up the middle.
18:46It got stuffed for a loss of one.
18:48And then Houston called its timeout.
18:49So, the Bills were already at the Houston 33, and they decide we're running it up the
18:55middle with James Cook here.
18:56So, even then, they're in, let's drain this clock right now.
19:00We're in field goal range.
19:01We're comfortable with Tyler Bass attempting a 51-yarder and in.
19:06And then they get stuffed for a loss of a yard, and the Texans are calling their timeouts.
19:10Well, that opens up all of our offense now because no matter what we do, they're just going
19:15to stop the clock.
19:15And if you are, this adds another wrinkle to it, if you are, in fact, looking for DJ
19:20Moore in the right flat on his little route that he runs, the one that Josh Allen credits
19:24with pulling the safety over and creating the seam for the post route, if that's the
19:29plan, cool.
19:31Then we're not having any of this conversation.
19:34That was the plan.
19:36And then you've got Josh Allen who's like, ooh, look, touchdown.
19:39So, he throws it, and Palmer's like, holy crap, me?
19:42I didn't, and he's supposed to think to go down.
19:45I better kill time.
19:46What do you want, man?
19:48You got a player that can make that play.
19:50That was not the idea.
19:52Josh Allen said we've never thrown it to him in this.
19:54We've run this exact play a bunch of times in practice.
19:58He's never been the option, but it was there.
20:00So, I hit him.
20:01I'm good enough to hit him.
20:03Would you like six points right now?
20:05Josh is like, yes, I would.
20:07He fires the ball.
20:09I can't get mad at Joshua Palmer for catching a touchdown pass to win the game.
20:15Like, I wish they won it better.
20:17I'm all right with it.
20:18Phil in Buffalo, you're on WGR.
20:21Hey, yeah.
20:21I just wanted to touch base on the same points that you were making.
20:24You know, everybody's got to remember that this is still considered the number one defense in the league.
20:29Scoring points if he would have went down was not guaranteed.
20:33Take the points when you can get them on that defense.
20:35If you're playing the Jets or somebody like that, that the defense isn't considered the number one defense in the
20:40NFL,
20:41you know, maybe you try to get down.
20:44Maybe you try to, you know, run some more time off the clock.
20:47But as years have shown, we are not guaranteed to score points against that defense.
20:52Take them when you can get them.
20:53Yeah.
20:54And the field goal is still 99% or something like that.
20:59Somewhere about there.
21:00Let's even say 97 or 90, whatever it was.
21:04Incredibly likely to make the field goal.
21:05You're kicking the field goal over.
21:07Houston's defense isn't going to stuff Tyler Bass for a loss of seven.
21:12Super unlikely.
21:13Theoretically.
21:13It's unlikely.
21:14That would be bad.
21:15But then we'd have another fun story to tell.
21:18And they'd just be 0-1.
21:19You could still go 16-1 from there.
21:20It'd be fine.
21:21Could you imagine?
21:22It's not a missed field goal.
21:24Yes.
21:24It is just.
21:25Tyler Bass tackled.
21:26Yeah.
21:26And the snap was fine.
21:29The hold was fine.
21:30But the Texans got back there in a second and a half.
21:33And three guys tackled.
21:35How did Bass wind up with the ball as opposed to whoever it is.
21:39Tommy Dolman.
21:39Oh, that's true.
21:40It's Dolman.
21:41A fumble maybe.
21:41Because it would have been a fumble.
21:43Because he's not secured the ball.
21:44His finger's just on the point of the ball.
21:47We said the snap was okay.
21:48Yeah.
21:48So he gets it down.
21:50And then once there's contact, the ball's going to squirt out.
21:52He doesn't have it.
21:53And so then Bass falls on it.
21:54And Tyler Bass covers it.
21:55And he gets smushed.
21:56And by a cartoon-like pile-up.
21:59Yes.
21:59Of all 11.
22:01Then he's hurt.
22:01You have to play in four days.
22:02And you need a kicker.
22:03And Matt Prater is not answering your phone calls anymore.
22:05I've seen it once.
22:06I've seen it a thousand times.
22:07Who hasn't?
22:09I do want to recognize our boy Ricky that started this conversation yesterday and did it again today.
22:15The overall point, the part that I like about him calling, is that there are moments where the clock is
22:21far more important than the score.
22:24It's not even the opponent.
22:26The Texans aren't the opponent anymore.
22:28The only thing you're playing against is the clock.
22:30But you're trailing.
22:31If you're in the lead, it's a completely different story.
22:35You still need to win the game.
22:36Even if you're tied, it's a different story.
22:38But I agree with the overall concept that the clock becomes the most important thing in the entire game very
22:44often.
22:45And it's not recognized as often as it should be.
22:49I just think this is a bad example of, like, oh, my God, this is so dumb that they didn't
22:54do this.
22:56But I get what you're saying.
22:57So that's how this turns into a conversation instead of an argument, right?
23:01Because I get where he's coming from despite the fact that I disagree in this moment because I like the
23:06concept of what he's going for.
23:08I agree with what he has to say.
23:10I just think it's darn near impossible for human beings to execute it.
23:15Well, yeah, it's misplaced to say there is no excuse for not doing it.
23:19Like, that's what's off about it.
23:23Hey, should they have thought about this is a right way to say, yeah, but it seems really hard to
23:27pull off and it's more important to score.
23:30You're not taking him off the field the next series because he had a mental mistake.
23:36Like, right, no, he scored a game-winning touchdown.
23:39That's what he did.
23:40That's good.
23:42We're going to take a break.
23:43It is middays on WGR, driven by Northtown Automotive.
23:47803-0550 is the number if you would like to join us on the show.
23:53Portions of WGR Middays brought to you by Tim Hortons, the official coffee of the Jeremy.
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