- 13 minutes ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Let's bring in Sal Capaccio here on the Western Hotline.
00:03Sal, we haven't talked in a couple of hours.
00:05What's new?
00:06How's life?
00:06How's the family?
00:09What's new was the traffic was really, really tough and bad.
00:12So finally just got here.
00:14I'm outside the stadium right now, actually, guys.
00:16And then what's new is the Bills announced their elevations,
00:19Frank Gore Jr. and Greg Dortch.
00:22Same as last week.
00:23Same as last week.
00:24So we can guess here that that probably is not a great sign for Ty Johnson.
00:29And I suppose it's possible he could go through some sort of workout
00:33and say, I'm good to go.
00:34And they'll just, okay, thanks for coming, Frank Gore.
00:37But probably not.
00:38And Dortch, obviously, is your punt returner again.
00:41We'll see.
00:42Did he get any snaps on offense last week?
00:44Yes.
00:44He did?
00:45Okay.
00:46You mean Gore or Dortch?
00:47Dortch.
00:47I know I saw Gore.
00:49I don't know that I saw Dortch.
00:50I don't believe Dortch did.
00:52I think so.
00:52Okay.
00:54But maybe also good news about Cole Bishop.
00:56I don't know what DB they would have elevated,
00:59but they probably would have elevated ADB if they were worried about Bishop,
01:04I think.
01:05I would think so.
01:06But if you only get two, then that's tough, right?
01:08So they could have done some things because you do have Jordan Hancock
01:12available, Jalen Kilgore.
01:14You do have guys.
01:15The guy you would have probably elevated would have been to Corey Couch,
01:18to be honest with you.
01:19But you do have extra defensive backs.
01:21So I don't know if that necessarily means Cole Bishop's going to play,
01:25but obviously it's more encouraging than discouraging.
01:28Right.
01:28Gore had 11 snaps on offense.
01:30Third down, is he Ty Johnson maybe without the pass-catching chops here,
01:35Sal, again?
01:37Yeah, he played quite a bit of those critical third downs.
01:40I noticed he was on the field for those.
01:42So, I mean, he's not Ty Johnson to that level of what they want to play him
01:47necessarily, but they'll put him on the field in those situations.
01:51So, shootout potential here, Bills and Lions.
01:54The one, I mean, the Lions have famous weapons.
01:57The one guy of them all that I think is the one most potential to be a headache
02:03for the Bills is Amon Ross St. Brown.
02:05Now, again, you have Jameer Gibbs, who is the 101 in almost every fantasy draft.
02:09Huge game last week.
02:11Jamison Williams can break him.
02:13Laporta's had good games.
02:15St. Brown in the slot versus what the Bills have been
02:18against slot receivers is the one that I think is the most tenuous
02:22for the Bills' defense.
02:24Do you agree?
02:25And, you know, D. Alford, like, how do you think they're going to be positioned
02:28to try to limit him if they can?
02:32Well, the Bills are, you know, more of a man-to-man team,
02:35and they're going to rely on their guys to kind of do their job.
02:37But you're right.
02:38I mean, they might have to slide some coverage every once in a while
02:40towards Amon Ross St. Brown.
02:42That would leave Jamison Williams a little bit more, you know, one-on-one
02:45and that speed right there.
02:46This is why you draft a guy like Maxwell Harrison to match up with guys
02:49in speed like that.
02:50So, look, I just think you have to go out there and trust your guys
02:53to play football, and that's what I think Jim Leonard's going to do here.
02:55You don't necessarily have games you're going to play,
02:57and, you know, they're going to have – then you have – then you have,
03:00I'm sorry, Sam Laporta as well, which is obviously a really good tight end.
03:04They're very dynamic.
03:05So, you just have to – you just have to do your Buffalo Bills.
03:09Jim Leonard, make sure that your guys understand that, you know,
03:12every rep is going to be very critical, and trying to make sure that you do
03:16your job, obviously, so that you don't have to do something to commit
03:20a little bit more to something else.
03:22Recognizing that we're one game in to Jim Leonard being the defensive
03:27coordinator of this team, so it's not like we've got a book, you know.
03:29I mean, we could talk about what McDermott might have liked to do
03:33against a team who's – and even revisit the game from two years ago.
03:37If their number one, their most dangerous receiver,
03:40their most productive receiver is their slot guy, do you – you know,
03:44does Christian Benford go in the slot and cover him,
03:47or does that just wreak havoc with your entire scheme?
03:50I feel like with McDermott, we might have had a pretty educated guess,
03:55at least, at that, if not feel like we knew it concrete.
03:58With this, I have no idea what to expect, but do you think there's –
04:02there's a chance anything could happen.
04:05How likely do you think it is that Benford travels with a slot receiver?
04:12Well, he did travel last week, but we didn't see that from Nico, of course, right?
04:16Right.
04:16And then – so it would never stun me if they really want to go with that game plan.
04:21But a lot of times, you know, if you're a boundary corner,
04:24you're a boundary corner, and I've talked with – I talked with Dee Alford about this
04:28actually a couple weeks ago, the differences between the boundary corner
04:31and the slot corner, and, you know, he said the route tree is a lot different,
04:35and, you know, having to – you know, a lot of your angles are a lot different.
04:38So I don't know if that's something you wanted – you could do that,
04:41but you're putting Christian Benford in a position he's unfamiliar with,
04:44you know, against the run especially.
04:45So I just think you're playing with fire if you do that.
04:48It's possible.
04:49Now, where you could see it as more on, like, definite passing situations, right?
04:52Like, it's third and long, he's in the slot.
04:54Okay, we're going to do that.
04:55But I think when you're talking first or second out, if he's in there,
04:58you're putting a guy in a position he's not very – it's pretty foreign to him.
05:02Sal, what do you think about how things played out with James Cook last week?
05:07More because they could get the ball down the field, they did,
05:11and Cook was more of a secondary option than we saw most games last year
05:16or even the year before?
05:18Or was there sort of maybe more intent behind it?
05:21I mean, I think every – we just talked about it a few minutes ago in here.
05:25I think on some level, every team goes into games wanting to see if they can run
05:30for, you know, six yards a carry or something.
05:32I mean, that's a little bit extreme.
05:34Could you see – would you expect the Bills to sort of, like,
05:38start out tonight with that kind of mindset?
05:41I think they started out with that kind of mindset last week.
05:43I mean, the first couple series, James Cook looked great.
05:46I remember I wrote down in my notes watching the game,
05:48and James Cook looks like league's leading rusher again.
05:51Like, he left – he started where he left off.
05:53I just give the Texans credit.
05:55I think they did a nice job to bottle that up.
05:57Texans made an adjustment.
05:58You come out in the second half, the Bills aren't able to run the ball.
06:00The Bills had to pivot a little bit.
06:01I don't think it was intentional by the Bills to go away from James Cook
06:04and say we're just throwing the ball down the field.
06:05I think the Bills just have the ability to do that when a team starts making sure
06:09that they aren't getting beat by James Cook.
06:11So I think every game you go into, you want to establish James Cook.
06:14You want to make sure a team knows you can't just sit back and defend Josh Allen.
06:19You want to come up – we're going to come back.
06:21We're going to come out and run against you, and once you come up,
06:23then we're going to have much more of our playbook available.
06:26So I think the Bills would want to do that naturally.
06:28Sal, obviously you have to be encouraged by the way D.J. Moore got off in week one.
06:34But even still, with that said, I mean, he's the new guy,
06:38and we're hopeful that that's going to unlock some things for them.
06:42He kind of got overshadowed by Dalton Kincaid, I think, like 5 for 130.
06:46I know he didn't get in the end zone.
06:48The biggest thing, though, I mean, certainly the stats look great.
06:52The 5 for 130 is a fantastic game from Kincaid.
06:56The snap share is the thing to me.
06:58Like, how much did Brady or Pete Carmichael talk about, like,
07:04just the difference, if at all, this week from last year?
07:08And even Sal Mann in the winter and early spring,
07:12we heard both the GM and the coach talk about load management for Kincaid,
07:18like worrying about the knee injuries.
07:20And we get to week one, and it's over 70%, which is –
07:23I don't know if it's a career high for him,
07:26but certainly from the last couple of years it's got to be a high.
07:30Yeah, I'll go back to when these guys talked about that in owner's meetings
07:36and combine.
07:37And at the time, I felt there was –
07:39I felt people were jumping the gun a little bit, their comments.
07:41To me, their comments meant training camp and OTAs,
07:44like not trying to put too much on them right away,
07:46like making sure you ramp them up.
07:48And it was not about the games.
07:49It was not about, you know, load management throughout the weeks.
07:51I never thought that.
07:52I thought that was putting the card a little bit before the horse,
07:54but they never said that specifically.
07:56That was my interpretation, that once they get to the season,
07:58but once you get to the season, you still have to think about it.
08:01It is a player that has, you know, missed some time.
08:04And he's been – what's funny about it is he didn't even get load managed
08:08during training camp.
08:09You know what I mean?
08:10Like he was out there.
08:11He didn't miss any time during training camp.
08:13But I think he came out so clean, to me it's feeling like they just feel
08:17really good about where he is right now.
08:19They do like to run 13 personnel.
08:21They ran more than 13 personnel than any team in the league last week,
08:23slightly higher than the Rams, and both those teams were way higher
08:26than the next best team, the next closest team on the list.
08:29They're going to keep running 13 personnel.
08:30The Bills believe that is a personnel package that really suits them,
08:35the skill set they have in putting teams in a bind.
08:38And if you're going to run 13 personnel, Dalton Kincaid is going to play a lot.
08:41He's going to be on the field.
08:42And you're going to – then you're going to match him up against it.
08:45What happened?
08:45He got matched up against a linebacker.
08:47It's exactly what you want.
08:48He winds up, you know, being a big part of the offense.
08:51So I think that's kind of how they want to play it.
08:53I don't think we're – as of right now, I don't know if they're looking at a
08:57loads management situation at all with Dalton Kincaid unless it calls for it.
09:01For folks who don't know the number, 39% was the 13 personnel number.
09:07The Rams were at 38% in their opener.
09:09And they're a team like the Bills that have been leaning into that since last year,
09:13if not before that.
09:14See, people say we're always talking about the wide receivers.
09:18To say 13 personnel leaves the wide receivers completely out.
09:22It intentionally ignores them.
09:24The one is the running backs.
09:25The three is the tight ends.
09:27I feel like people should know that a wide receiver is not all we do around here.
09:3213, 12 –
09:32And that leaves one wide receiver, by the way.
09:35See?
09:36How do we know that that one isn't for the receiver?
09:39There's not even a 131.
09:41It's just 13.
09:42Wide receivers are intentionally ignored by that terminology.
09:46Well, that's a big – the reason I even bring it up to begin with,
09:49obviously Kincaid popped in the game and, again, somewhat unprecedented amount of time
09:54on the field, which is very encouraging.
09:57You know, the thing here is, like, if they can – last year, Kincaid on the field
10:04almost always meant a pass because they didn't want to waste his snaps.
10:10And if they have the capability, there's no way they're going to throw the ball 70% of the time,
10:15even if Kincaid is on the field.
10:17And that, again, was his snap share last week.
10:19If they can develop a situation here where they can believably sell the run
10:26while Kincaid is on the field, I mean, all the better.
10:29Because you're just going to be in a position to really capitalize on that.
10:33You saw him.
10:34So you mentioned, like, sure, he beat a linebacker.
10:36He also beat both of their, I don't know, all pro-level corners.
10:41I don't know that they both have had that accolade yet.
10:43But, you know, they get a lot of credit for having these two lockdown corners.
10:48Like, one's barely better than the other.
10:50And Kincaid beat them both.
10:53He did.
10:53And he presents a matchup problem to linebackers because of his speed.
10:59He presents a matchup linebacker problem to corners because of his size.
11:03Right.
11:03It's a perfect combination of what you want in a pass-catching tight end
11:06and a reason you draft a guy in the first round.
11:08And I understand that, you know, you can go back to that and say to now,
11:12has it been worth it because of the time missed and things like that.
11:14But it's exactly, like, last week is exactly what Brandon Bean
11:18and this organization envisioned when they draft adult Kincaid
11:21in the first round a few years ago.
11:23And if you can keep him healthy, then he's going to make a big difference.
11:27Last year he had the highest yards per route run in the NFL
11:30amongst all tight ends with a minimum of whatever it was.
11:34He had some of the best numbers and metrics in the NFL for a tight end,
11:38but he just didn't qualify in some categories because he wasn't on the field enough
11:41and didn't have enough catches.
11:43But, I mean, that's exactly who they want him to be, what he was last week.
11:47With Sal Capaccio, Mike Schopen, the Bulldog, out at Wings Flights of Hope,
11:514,000 California Road for our pregame show.
11:54We are, I think, maybe to the minute, three hours away from kickoff,
11:59just right across the street at the new Highmark Stadium.
12:03What are your thoughts on Detroit, Sal?
12:06I mean, obviously we know, everybody knows that they can be big time offensively
12:10and can really score.
12:12Defensively, they've been, you know, kind of woeful in recent history,
12:16including last week, you might say, if that's not too harsh.
12:19How do you like the matchup on each side of the ball in this game?
12:23I mean, last week they gave up 400 yards plus to Tyler Shuck.
12:27I know it went to overtime, but he did drop back over 60 times.
12:30And, you know, but he was able to complete some passes,
12:32and they have a bit of a banged-up secondary with a couple of guys that are already on pop.
12:36They have a banged-up offensive line on that side of the ball.
12:39Guys come in here, it's a short week.
12:40So, you know, I think that circumstantially you'll like the Bills' chances here.
12:43It's a short week.
12:45The team that they're playing has to travel.
12:47They're more banged up than you are, basically.
12:50So I like it from there.
12:51But, man, there's a really talented team.
12:53I mean, Aiden Hutchinson can wreck a game plan, as Joe Brady said, which he can.
12:56I like the fact the Bills did a really nice job last week on those edge rushers,
12:59and they'll come up with a plan, no doubt about that.
13:02But he's a really good player.
13:04And on the offensive side, we just talked about all the weapons that they have.
13:07So this is a good team.
13:08Detroit is, there's no doubt.
13:10The Bills are favored for a reason.
13:11The Bills really should win this game.
13:14They're very talented.
13:15They have Josh Allen.
13:16They're at home.
13:17They're opening their stadium.
13:18It's a short week.
13:19That team's coming on the road.
13:20They also played an overtime game, and their defense was on the field for, like, 80 snaps, basically.
13:26Right?
13:26Yeah, 86.
13:27So, like, you just, I think you, it's going to be muggy tonight.
13:30It's going to be muggy.
13:30Like, these are things that should play into your favor.
13:34I agree with that.
13:36It's all logical.
13:37It's always, most if not all of that is always baked into the spread.
13:41So, I think maybe different circumstances, this line might be closer to three.
13:45But I've got five and a half at last look.
13:49So, Bill's definitely getting that respect, not just after last week, but after the last seven years, pretty much.
13:56Sal, I wanted to ask you about Rousseau.
13:59Obviously, he had the two splash plays at the beginning and the end, two strip sack fumbles that the Bills
14:05recovered.
14:06First points of the game for the Bills, and then preserving the win, ultimately.
14:10And the Bills were able to kneel it out after Bernard recovered the fumble caused by Rousseau.
14:16I'll start to finish as the week has gone on and some of the accounts that do the film stuff
14:21sort of pointed out, like, subtle things that he did well that aren't as splashy as, of course, the takeaways
14:28end up being.
14:30And overall, what I want to ask you, because I felt like the two defensive guys from the game that
14:36really popped were Rousseau and Deion Walker.
14:39I feel like a lot of the conversation after the game was about those two.
14:43And Walker, I feel like, is less of a known commodity because he's only been here a year.
14:48So, I'm sort of like, I've seen Rousseau splash before.
14:51I don't know that that has to mean he's on track for some new great heights or something.
14:55But he is subtly playing a different position.
14:59How much different, and maybe how much to his benefit, could being lined up where he's lined up as a
15:05true edge rather than a 4-3 defensive end, how much of a difference could that make for him?
15:15Well, he has always been a very good run defender.
15:19And anything you get from him, I'm not saying anything, I shouldn't say it that way, anything from him in
15:23the pass rush.
15:23But you want him to be, he was drafted to also rush the passers, there's no doubt about it.
15:27He didn't get paid like an elite pass rusher.
15:29He made 20 million a year is a lot of money, but he's not getting paid like some of the
15:32elite pass rushers in the league.
15:34They're paying him to be a three-down player to do everything really well.
15:38And I think playing that position gives him an ability to do that.
15:42When you are a 3-4, you know, stand-up, edge rusher, five-man spacing, remember we talked about that
15:49a lot when Jim Leonard was hired, five-man spacing, five men up front, really not just, not three, because
15:54you're talking about your three interior guys really, and then you're talking about your two guys standing up.
15:58That gives you an ability to be a little bit more outside, an ability to really kind of set the
16:02edge a little bit, and then you can move around a little bit to try and be that edge rusher.
16:06I think what we saw last week, his length is really important, because they can drop him into coverage, he
16:11knocked down that pass last week, and then when he's getting off the edge, that length caused two fumbles, right?
16:15I mean, he's getting around, he's getting the arm out in the strip sack right there.
16:20So, you know, talking with Greg, now I think that people say this anyway, guys are going to say this,
16:26they're always going to feel like, oh, this is really good for me, but it felt like Greg Rousseau felt
16:30like this was a good change for him.
16:31That he was in a position where he could really take advantage for a lot of his strengths, and so
16:36far, you know, he did that last week, obviously.
16:40Sal, are you in the stadium yet, or no?
16:43No, I didn't want to do that, and I didn't go through security and everything while I'm talking with you
16:46guys, so I was, I had just parked outside the stadium when we got on.
16:50You are sitting on a stairway, just sitting there, maybe even lying down, right there, just so close to being
16:58able to enter.
16:58No, of course, appreciate that, actually, because, you know, the walk and talk can be tough.
17:04I'll be in there for a roundtable coming up at 6, for sure, so I'll just get in there here
17:08in a little while, get my seat up in the press box, I'll be in there for a roundtable, I'll
17:12be able to say.
17:13Unfortunately, I'm not able to say right now to you guys what it looks like with the red end zones
17:16and all that, but that'll be happening soon when I get inside.
17:19But it was just a little more, these Thursday night games are tough, and you never can tell.
17:24It was a little more traffic than I thought to deal with on the way here, like normal, and taking
17:29the, I took a different route than normal.
17:31I probably shouldn't have done that, because I'm looking at my GPS.
17:33You know, so everybody's probably going through that a little bit today, I think, with this new stadium.
17:38Yep.
17:39In your travels, can you tell us, I'm sorry that I just thought to ask you this, but I did,
17:45and I have no, I have no way to turn it off, so I'm going to ask you.
17:49Do you know what the Zubaz-colored cage out front is for?
17:55Did you see anything there?
17:56Do you know what I'm talking about?
17:58I know what you're talking about.
17:59Unless I got duped by some AI, whatever.
18:02Go ahead.
18:03I mean, people are saying that there's, is there some sort of animal that's going to be in there?
18:08I really don't know.
18:09I don't want to say and not be right.
18:11Then you don't know, then you don't know.
18:12That's all right.
18:12I don't know either.
18:13That's why I asked you.
18:14I just was curious.
18:15I think there is.
18:16Oh, there we go.
18:17Okay, hold on.
18:18NFL on Fox.
18:19I have a post here.
18:20NFL on Fox.
18:22Bruce is ready for Highmark, and they're bringing a bison.
18:25There is a, looks like a baby buffalo, a baby bison named Bruce that is getting into the cage.
18:29I think this is what I'm looking at here on this post.
18:35And now I'm sorry I asked.
18:36Oh, I'm glad you asked.
18:38I didn't know about this.
18:39Yeah.
18:39I mean, so I think that's the case.
18:41I'm not, yeah.
18:42All right.
18:43Okay.
18:44We'll have to find out later together.
18:46The statues weren't enough.
18:47We needed a, we needed a live baby bison.
18:49Yep.
18:50Bison calf.
18:51I think that might be what's happening here.
18:53It appears that people are now posting about it and showing pictures and videos.
18:57So, yeah.
18:58Naturally.
18:59Thank you, Sal.
19:00Enjoy the game.
Comments