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00:00for your insurance and financial needs nationwide is on your side on the western hotline right now
00:06darn tootin it's nfl insider time it's ross tucker on the western hotline ross good afternoon nice to
00:12talk to you i did not anticipate talking about mike mcdaniel and dan levitard with you but here
00:18we are was that was that clip from today that i saw yeah i don't even are you oh yes
00:25it was i
00:26didn't know if you were referencing what i said about the chargers rough start or what he had said
00:32on the air yeah about him hearing him hearing that uh mcdaniel could have had the bills head coaching
00:39job but turned it down um yeah i don't know which one you're referencing but they were both today
00:46they were both today yeah i was referencing the mcdaniel thing yeah i i i was blown away by that
00:51mostly i i think the world of dan levitard if it needs to be said uh do you do a
00:55weekly thing with
00:56him too no i think that might have been the first time i was ever on him all right awesome
01:01well see
01:02well this is what we you springboard to dan levitard from us no it probably has something to do with
01:07you
01:07ascending to the number two booth with cbs uh silly me but i'm trying to imagine a world where
01:14the bills trot out mike mcdaniel the fired miami dolphin coach as their sean mcdermott replacement and i
01:21just can't i cannot get my head around it i think it's a perfectly credible idea to me as an
01:26offensive coordinator um just like the chargers decided to do but i'm just trying to imagine a
01:31news conference where that's the choice i just i can't again i don't know what dan you know
01:36obviously he heard something um about this i just can't believe he would have been a head coach here
01:41ever well certainly i i i i would be surprised if that was the case i'm not dismissing you know
01:50what
01:51dan heard or who said that to him and that's certainly possible but i would tend to agree that
01:57that that would be that would surprise me especially because you know the thought that he wouldn't want
02:03to he didn't want to take it because he didn't like what the bills did in mcdermott i mean i
02:09don't
02:09know you know that the oc greg roman got fired by the chargers and he took that job so you
02:14know
02:14any job that's available is usually because someone got fired right and maybe they weren't treated
02:19exactly gracefully on the way out the door but but who knows well seeing as we're starting there
02:24how about the chargers end of this then because that is where he ended up and i think a lot
02:29of
02:30like this year's version of lookout for the chargers involves well mike mcdaniel has a quarterback who
02:37could really throw the ball and justin herbert he'll build a running game and you know look out this
02:42is a great marriage and two games in it looks like kind of a weird fit with old school khaki
02:48pants
02:48jim harbaugh and you know sweatpants rolled up you know elvis sunglasses mike mcdaniel uh what's
02:55your read on what's happening there because of course they're rolling in here to play the bills on
02:58sunday well yeah i i i am stunned that it has gone this poorly i i mean really stunned i
03:09think a lot of
03:10people were really excited about you know and i'm guessing justin herbert was probably one of them
03:17um i will say it is fascinating and this is coaching but you know mike mcdaniel had success
03:25with to a tongue of a loa doing it one way and then with the idea being that to a
03:33was a timing and
03:34anticipation quarterback didn't have a big arm got to get it out quickly and herbert sort of like the
03:40antithesis of of to us so mcdaniel's going about it a totally different way um you know they they've
03:49had some issues with injuries already whether it's mcconkey or the interior offensive line but as you
03:57know nobody really cares and nobody wants to hear that and by the way you got a bunch of other
04:02teams
04:02whose starting quarterback is hurt you know i mean the vikings have won two games with carson wentz so
04:08as long as they still have justin herbert nobody really wants to hear uh that the chargers injuries
04:15are part of the problem right now yeah well what what kind of team am i looking at coming in
04:23here
04:23sunday ross because like it seems like a very easy thing to observe and say like i've said a few
04:29times
04:29today and even yesterday i kind of wish they would have beat the raiders because i think there is a
04:34good
04:34team in there um harbaugh's never been my favorite but i recognize you know he's he's he's done a lot
04:40of winning um in the nfl and in college and i do think highly of mcdaniel as a schemer as
04:47an offensive
04:47mind so oh and two like it's got to feel i don't know were you ever a part of a
04:53team that had really
04:54high expectations and started the year in the ditch and like what what swings it well i was on an
05:02oh and five team in washington my rookie year and i don't know what our expectations were i was a
05:09rookie but uh we were oh and five and then we won five games in a row and got back
05:14to five and five
05:15uh finished the year eight and eight and you know we were in the playoff mix i was also on
05:21a team that
05:22you're very familiar with again i don't know what our expectations were uh but the oh and f4 buffalo
05:28bills in 2004 and then we won at some point i think we won we won nine games somewhere i
05:35think
05:35we won seven in a row or something or six in a row um and we really got it rolling
05:40so there's no doubt
05:42in my mind because i've been i've been a part of it twice that you absolutely can get it rolling
05:49once you you know at a lot of times bulldog it's just like one play it's just one game i
05:57mean we
05:57were gonna we were oh and five in washington we were gonna lose to the panthers um and lavar errington
06:04had a pick six to win the game for us and it was like it changed the whole season you
06:10know it really is
06:11hard to fathom how that can be the case how you're a bad team you're losing you make one
06:18play and all of a sudden you're winning every week but for some weird reason it does kind of
06:23work that way sometimes yeah but that old that old four team you're right i mean that was that
06:28ended up being an incredible ride uh that you all and you know we know how it ended so i
06:34you know we
06:34don't need to go all the way through it but yeah i mean you won let's see from three and
06:40six you got
06:41to you got to nine and six uh before losing that finale to pittsburgh so yeah i mean it it
06:48was so
06:48it can happen and honestly that that's that might be and i played in new england for a year that
06:54that
06:54bill's team still might be like the best team i played on uh certainly from a talent perspective and
07:00if we hadn't started off 0-4 i would have loved to have seen what we could have gotten done
07:04in the
07:04playoffs so i don't know how much and how deep you're prepared to go on the chargers here but like
07:09what what is is it is it injuries largely is it just not familiar with the personnel from an
07:16offensive standpoint like what is happening to the chargers that they've because not only have
07:20they lost you know there's losing and there's bad luck and bad breaks and whatever i mean they've
07:27scored 14 points at home two weeks in a row against arizona and the raiders it's it's pretty stark
07:33yeah so i think they got a really bad combo right now of an interior offensive line that's totally new
07:42not playing well and as a result they can't really run the ball and they're giving up a lot of
07:51interior
07:52push in the passing game if you ask any quarterback that's what they don't like the most like if you
07:59can't
07:59step up you can't step in your throw it's constantly in your face their interior offensive line is really
08:07struggling although honestly even joe alt you know who's a stellar right tackle for them he had i think
08:16uh four penalties maybe and a safety he allowed in their last game so nobody's really doing all that
08:25well and then if you look at their receiving core quinton johnston's okay trey harris hasn't really
08:35done anything yet lad mcconkey is solid a ron de gadsden as the tight end like they their skill guys
08:44are just not that impressive you know i mean it's really a team that's built to be able to run
08:50it
08:50and then rely on herbert well they can't run it and then their receivers aren't really that good
08:55yeah and mcconkey's compromised right i mean he's he's he's playing hurt uh still playing i wonder like
09:02mike's not here today ross but he's made the point here a few times since the season started
09:07like mcdaniel had you know when they were really rolling with the dolphins it's tyreek hill and waddle
09:14and a-chan and those are three dudes that are they're lethal house call weapons from anywhere
09:21on the field and you don't really have anyone capable of that the guys you just mentioned on
09:26the charger roster that's exactly right those guys are lightning and you know quinton johnson can run a
09:35little bit but he's not as dynamic as those guys and they're going through it right now you know what
09:42i wonder i don't know the answer to this but you know mike mcdaniel has one kind of scheme and
09:53philosophy and harbaugh has sort of i don't want to say another because they both really like running
10:01the ball they both really like you know using extra tight ends and fullback so they do have a nice
10:08marriage in that regard but i guess i'm always curious you know is this a hundred percent mike
10:14mcdaniel's show or is harbaugh heavily involved or maybe just involved enough that it's helping it not
10:23work um the thing i will also say bulldog is the bill's defense hasn't been very good so uh while
10:31while
10:31deon walker has been incredible and making a million plays and russo has done some good things
10:37you know the the bill's defense uh hopefully this is sort of a get right game for them they don't
10:46want to be the team that allows the chargers to score 30 some points if they only scored 14 at
10:51home
10:51to the cardinals and the raiders yeah word i definitely feel that ross tucker
10:57here on the west her hotline with us his appearance brought to you by nationwide is so much more than
11:02a
11:02great insurance company they're one of america's largest financial services companies too nationwide
11:07is on your side so you mentioned ross uh they're like you pressure up the middle and that's been a
11:14problem for the chargers and then you mentioned just now deon walker and you got an eyeful of him
11:19again uh right two weeks in a row you're in the booth for the bills game you were doing the
11:23westwood
11:24one radio for thursday night's home opener at the new high mark and i mean i've seen you tweeting
11:29about it like deon walker he's a story i think in the league already or is that too much
11:38he will be i mean if he's not yet i can assure you he's going to be he is a
11:44rare rare player
11:46and as i said week one i called him a planet guy there just aren't guys like him six seven
11:53three
11:5330 that moves as well as he does and i mean he's uh you know i'm always curious about a
12:02guy like that
12:03and i don't know if they'd really tell you and i i make you know i should probably before i
12:07do another
12:07bills game i'm gonna look it up to try to figure out exactly what it is but when someone with
12:14his
12:14ability goes in the third round there was some type of red flags or so you know it could be
12:20a football
12:21character thing it could be off the field it could have been an injury uh concern like but there was
12:27something because you you just can't have that ability and go in the third round unless there
12:33was a legitimate concern in some way well you can be the pro that i know you are and look
12:38it up yourself
12:39for confirmation and not just take my word for it because honestly i feel like i know you pretty well
12:44and that's what i would do if i were in your shoes but i can fill this in a little
12:48bit for you
12:48there was a back injury he he was i think his sophomore year at the end of the year people
12:55were talking about him as as a first rounder maybe even mid first round if not higher but then he
13:01had
13:01some back trouble and that scared a lot of teams off and so his performance really dropped off his
13:07junior year and teams were worried about that that's that's the understanding that that was the story
13:12that was told when the pick was made two years ago um so that i don't know of anything else
13:18uh there
13:19might be more to it than that but i mean that alone can do it i mean a back injury
13:23you you would have
13:24to they kind of slow played in through camp last year and you know so far so good this year
13:32yeah i mean and you know i had a back surgery from dr cappuccino up there uh when i when
13:39i played for
13:39the bills so i've been there and done that um i would say so far so good that's probably more
13:46of
13:46a concern you know if they give him one of these giant uh gigantic i'll say ginormous i know it's
13:52not
13:52actually a real word i think that's a real word from elf maybe will ferrell on elf ginormous yeah
13:59does that count as a real word but before they give him a huge contract obviously uh i'm sure that
14:06that will be something they consider but yeah certainly so far so good yeah i'm fine with
14:13ginormous i mean i i recognize it's not you're not going to find it in the dictionary but um it
14:17gets
14:18the point across i don't think there's any question about that ross tucker with us for a few more
14:22minutes here on the western hotline elsewhere on defense because that's the side of the ball
14:26you still you know this game thursday was uncomfortably 10 points a couple of times but never more
14:33than that or less than that so you know it didn't feel like they were in a crisis ever but
14:39all the
14:40same yeah you'd like to see the defense sort of tighten things up it feels to me like up front
14:45they're doing some winning in key spots walkers batting down passes rousseau's got four sacks in
14:51two games and maybe he's finding a a new lease on life not that he was ever a bad player
14:57but you know
14:58if he gets to double digit sacks it'll be the first time in his career and maybe playing purely
15:03the edge the angle of attack whatever is better for him the secondary is where i think the concern
15:08is here the number two corner spot even benford kind of got cooked by nico collins in the opener
15:13but they survived it um i think like seven for 75 were collins's numbers against benford
15:19in the opener so that's not number one corner stuff so i feel like the back end is where i'm
15:24really
15:25sort of worried about what they've got going on and that that makes sense with a new a new defensive
15:29coordinator yeah it's interesting because there was a lot of talk of jim leonard's pressure packages
15:37that hasn't been a big part of it it's been more getting there with straight rush with the d line
15:44so they've been able to drop you know seven in the coverage but at times that has not been good
15:51enough and they've taken turns i feel like not just the corners sometimes it's been you know uh the
15:58linebackers sometimes it's been the safeties um but certainly and in fairness you know gary golf and
16:05and uh the lion skill position players are really good um but you know they did get torched by tj
16:13stroud a little bit and he was not able to do that against bangles now he didn't have nico collins
16:18which is uh makes a significant difference but yeah it's certainly something to keep an eye on
16:24and something that they certainly need to do better than than what it's been the first couple games so
16:28you got an eyeful here two weeks in a row of the full bills offense experience and the josh allen
16:34experience which i know you're very familiar with um but just you know i know it's a few days ago
16:39now
16:39but thursday's opener i mean it's hard to script a better start than up 21 nothing in your
16:44debut at your new joint no i mean i think if anything you know it feels it feels like this
16:54is as good as they've been or it's certainly better than what they've been the last couple years
16:59which is highly encouraging and the guy won the mvp two years ago um but kincaid kind of being healthy
17:07and taking his game to the next level and adding dj more we'll see you know just how bad his
17:14injury is
17:15but i think that that has enabled josh to really have the ability to take this thing to the next
17:21level
17:21and you know i think maybe brady is even more aggressive knowing that he's the head coach he no
17:28longer has a a defensive minded head coach and he knows the repercussions of some of the things he calls
17:34and he's okay with it yeah i mean it it definitely i think there's there's two things like you just
17:42said both of them um he's doesn't have a boss that he has to please any anymore at least on
17:47the coaching
17:48staff so that's that opens a door maybe um but having the personnel like kincaid a full kincaid ross i
17:57think we even had that in two years like it's been 40 of the snaps and load management and he's
18:02in
18:02he's out he can't practice and i mean knock on something here if he can stay healthy that is
18:08that is a huge weapon and with more i thought and maybe you i don't know if you were hinting
18:14at it
18:14there more going out in the second half i you know maybe score effects i don't know i i thought
18:20the
18:21passing game looked harder for them in the second half without more on the field that's interesting i mean
18:28uh i guess it did i i you know they still moved it effectively that i didn't it wasn't like
18:35very
18:35noticeable to me but um i'm sure it did it you know it would it would be weird if it
18:41didn't
18:42and so that could be a factor i don't know is there any latest news there i haven't seen anything
18:47they've been off they've been off and they don't practice till tomorrow so we'll get we'll get we'll
18:51get some update uh tomorrow but there hasn't been any anything new uh since whatever you know
18:57whatever happened whatever we knew on friday which was you know ac joint it could you know it's not
19:01timing yeah so yeah i would just say good timing for that to be a thursday night game that's for
19:06sure that's right all right well last thing for you because you know um probably should have started
19:12here but i was eager to get the the levitard mcdaniel stuff settled um first time in the new stadium
19:18i mean i don't know i hope i left you enough time what did you think of um the environs
19:24on thursday
19:25night well first of all it just looks so cool um both from the outside and then when you get
19:33in
19:33the inside i'm a little surprised that it's less people than you know ralph wilson stadium was
19:40because it looks way bigger and it looks like a lot more people and i think that's just a product
19:45of
19:45it being more vertical and i'm sure other people ask the players after the game but we interviewed
19:51james cook so i asked him about the uh the noise and he said it's louder he says louder which
19:59makes
20:00sense just based on the design of the stadium so that's really encouraging if you have a bunch of the
20:07fans out of the elements but you can still have the elements of having the players out there in snow
20:12or whatever but you also have it louder because it felt like it used to get really loud at times
20:18at
20:18the old stadium so i'm glad that the players feel like it's still super loud yeah i've heard that
20:24consistently from fans and players and media alike that it that it it is you know noticeably uh louder
20:33and i don't think that's just recency bias how how did everything how's your how's the press box level
20:38how's the the vantage point for the broadcast uh fine yeah i mean uh we were very very spoiled at
20:46the
20:46old stadium where it was right next to the tv booth and we were very low right now it's more
20:52like a lot of the other radio booths where it's all the way at the top with uh the writers
20:57and so
20:58um you know it's more like the uh the all 22 camera angle as opposed to the typical camera angle
21:07and
21:07that's okay i'm fine with that too that's what monitors are for it it's fine listen i'll take being
21:14in the middle of the field you know some of the other places they stick you in the corner of
21:18the
21:18end zone he can't even see anything yeah that's no good no nobody nobody needs that well you'll be
21:24back somewhere in a prime spot with cbs i imagine uh on sunday where what's your assignment this week
21:29i've not looked if it's been if it should be known i don't know yeah no i've got the bank
21:33i've got the uh
21:34two and oh bangles at the steelers so um no it's a no airplane game for me which is nice
21:41and i'll be home by sunday at you know eight o'clock or so and the bangles are undefeated
21:47looks like they got a defense this year and the steelers are coming off a really bad game against
21:52the patriots i'm expecting them to bounce back so i should be another really good one i think
21:57all right sounds good ross safe travels and we'll look forward to our visit uh next week uh hopefully
22:03mike is back for that all right man have a good week all right sounds great thanks bulldog
22:07that is ross tucker on the west her hotline his nfl insider call presented by nationwide for your
22:14insurance and financial needs nationwide is on your side and ross tucker's appearance with us is also
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22:27time out at hand phone lines are open 803-0550 is the number if you got something to spin off
22:34of
22:34anything that ross and i talked about uh we certainly would love to hear from you um really
22:39go all the way back to the beginning of the show it's a long time ago now i know because
22:43we started
22:44two uh we did reverse afc power rankings somehow zach and owen outvoted me and the bangles ended up
22:50number one i mean i don't know i can only do so much my name's on the door but you
22:54know i was powerless
22:55to stop them they wanted what they wanted and that was it i it felt like an agenda to be
23:00honest
23:00with you and i'm just making things up now
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