00:00I'm going to get to Vic Carucci here in a moment.
00:02I just saw something I kind of can't believe.
00:06It's NFL stat.
00:07We'll bring Vic in for it because...
00:08Is it not that the Titans had eight first downs?
00:11No.
00:12Vic, good morning, Jeremy and Joe.
00:14Vic, it's this.
00:14The Browns have won eight consecutive Thursday night games.
00:18What?
00:19Yeah.
00:20Yeah.
00:21They're on fire on Thursday night.
00:23Why don't they just make the whole schedule out of Thursday night for the Browns?
00:26It's all their problems.
00:27I think they resort to that.
00:31Given their history, of course.
00:33Isn't there a Steelers?
00:35There is.
00:36The Steelers are 0-9 all time against their division on Thursday night.
00:41And I think there's another streak of how many they've lost in a row.
00:44I guess we should have known last night.
00:46It was the lock of locks that the Browns are going to get the job done.
00:49They're 3-1.
00:50They've lost nine of their last ten.
00:51Nine of the last ten on Thursday night is Pittsburgh.
00:53Vic, good morning.
00:54Happy Football Friday.
00:55Thanks for being with us.
00:56I wanted to actually start off with something about the Bills here with Greg Rousseau, who's
01:01named the AFC Defensive Player of the Month.
01:03That's the first Bills Defensive Player of the Month in the Josh Allen era.
01:07And I think it's noteworthy that it comes in Jim Leonard's first month running a new defense
01:14that he has gotten more out of at least one player, and arguably more, than the Bills have
01:19gotten out of any one player in the Josh Allen era on defense.
01:23No, I think it's really significant that Greg Rousseau is having this breakout and having
01:31it under the conditions with a new defensive coordinator, with a new scheme, and a new role.
01:41And if we had to list all those questions, we always have them going into a season of
01:47what about this?
01:48What's going to cause the anxiety?
01:50You guys know a big part of that was Greg Rousseau standing up.
01:55This isn't going to work.
01:56I mean, how could it?
01:57But he's a big defensive, long defensive man, hand in the ground.
02:01Well, I think it's given him a lot of freedom.
02:03I know he's answered questions.
02:06He hasn't loved the questions, right, about, hey, Greg, you're standing up now.
02:11How much better this is for you?
02:12Look at the production.
02:13And he wants to say, hey, I've always been good or producing at a high level, and it's
02:19not about this.
02:20But I think this is a big factor, and I think he's also grown and come into his own as
02:26a player.
02:26That's another part of this.
02:27Do you feel like it's helping, too, that their interior line is also doing so well through
02:32a couple of games, making it easier on the edge, guys?
02:35Absolutely.
02:37Joe, I think we, maybe it's, I don't think it's underappreciated by people who watch the
02:42Bills closely.
02:43But again, what Deion Walker is doing, what others are doing on the interior are definitely
02:49opening things up.
02:50And I think there's a little bit of a Bradley Chubb factor here.
02:53Not the great production from him, which I didn't think, I certainly didn't expect, but
03:00a steady presence.
03:02And in two ways, on the field is one, draw some attention.
03:08Maybe the biggest one, though, is in the meeting room, is on the practice field.
03:12I think he is having a tremendous impact influence on Greg Rousseau and teaching him those finer
03:21points of playing edge rusher.
03:24Vic Carugia joining us on the Western Hotline.
03:27Bills and Patriots this week.
03:28It's the second consecutive week, Vic, that we've got, you know, the, if I may, wounded
03:33animal kind of theme, the Chargers, what's wrong with the Chargers.
03:38The Patriots one, to me, is different.
03:40The Patriots were a good team.
03:41They returned a lot of people.
03:43And everything is going wrong, from Drake May's shoulder injury to no A.J.
03:47Brown, and it looks like they made a big mistake in the weapons for Drake May.
03:51Vrabel kind of seems like he's under the microscope.
03:55The offseason, of course, lending part to that.
03:57How bad do you think it could get for New England if, in fact, they lose Sunday?
04:02I think it can get extremely bad for them.
04:05I don't think they're in a good place at all right now.
04:09I hear what you're saying about wounded animal.
04:11We had that discussion last week about the Chargers, about desperation.
04:14I don't think desperation was what fueled that game being closer and more competitive than we thought it would be.
04:20It was the Bills just basically playing bad football until they decided to wake up a little bit toward the
04:29end of the game.
04:29But relative to where the Patriots are, this is problems compounding problems, adding, of course, the injury list.
04:38When you see Christian Gonzalez, Christian Barmore, their two best defensive players, either not going to be in full health
04:46or out or whatever they might be when this game comes.
04:49Just add that to the list, and they are a troubled football team.
04:54But what I don't like is what Drake May is doing in terms of the turnovers.
04:59And I also find great concern for the pet's sake when I hear, and we had a conversation with Mike
05:07Reese, John Scott, on our show I had with him.
05:10But we aired it with John Scott on Sports Talk Live Buffalo Plus on Channel 2.
05:17And one of the things Mike said was Vrabel's message to basically to Drake May is don't get bored doing
05:26the right thing.
05:26And I'm thinking to myself, those are heavy words.
05:31That's the head coach saying you're not doing the right thing, and apparently you're not focused enough on doing it.
05:38If you have those kinds of questions and concerns now, that's a big deal.
05:43And this guy may in his second year in the Josh McDaniels system, so there shouldn't be issues there.
05:50He was playing well in the regular season last year.
05:53That wasn't a mirage, their weak schedule notwithstanding.
05:57But from the postseason on, we have seen this trend of, you know, his inability to handle good defenses
06:06and his inability to put the team on his shoulders, just what franchise quarterbacks have to do occasionally at least.
06:15And, yeah, you mentioned A.J. Brown and this offensive line.
06:20Let's add that to the list.
06:21They got problems.
06:22There is nothing to like about where the Patriots are or where they're going.
06:26Yeah, right.
06:26They really tried, Vic, like comparing this matchup to when the Bills faced New England last year.
06:33Their offseason was about upgrading the things around him, both at receiver and like they had Elijah Vera Tucker on
06:40the line.
06:42And I think it's pretty easy to look at what the group is around him now and feel like it's
06:47worse than when they played the Bills last season.
06:49Yeah, Joe, I think so.
06:51Absolutely.
06:52It feels like it's been downgraded.
06:56And it feels like, I mean, they made the conscious decision to move on from Stefan Diggs, who was their
07:01most impactful receiver.
07:03Obviously, the thought was A.J. Brown will replace that and maybe even be better, and then he gets hurt.
07:09So that blows up on them.
07:11But when you really see how thin, how vulnerable they were in the event that A.J. Brown would get
07:19hurt, what kind of planning and what kind of anticipation is that?
07:25Because that's most of this game when it comes to personnel, looking around the corner, just thinking about like Jim
07:32Leonard, okay, with the iffy situation with at the Bills cornerback position, right?
07:39And Christian Benford, the possibility that he doesn't play.
07:43But what has Jim Leonard been doing through these three games?
07:46Giving reps to Davis and Igbenosan, right?
07:51Getting him on the field and at least some level of experience to where when he gets if and when,
07:58I'm guessing he's pushed out there as a starter Sunday, he's comfortable.
08:02So, Vic, are we all just spiraling towards Bills-Chiefs AFC Championship game?
08:07I mean, the Chiefs kind of look back, and I've seen some numbers on Mahomes with and without Biennemi, and
08:14all of a sudden, like, that's all I needed to see was that, and I just, okay, I'm going to
08:19go ahead and book that for January.
08:21Yeah, I would do that.
08:24Kenneth Walker is as much a part of that, too, that discussion as Biennemi.
08:29But I think the Eric Biennemi presence is a thing, and Walker's being on the team allows Biennemi to do
08:37that more physical, tough thing that was a part of that Chiefs beginning of Dynasty, even with all the speed,
08:47Tyreek Hill, all that.
08:48You had that physical presence, and Andy Reid, as brilliant an offensive play caller and mind as there is.
08:56I mean, I don't know how – is it appreciated how smart that guy is and how incredible he is
09:03when it comes to seeing big picture, small picture with his offense and with his team in general, and they're
09:09back on that track.
09:11Obviously, it's Mahomes' health, but it is really about what Kenneth Walker has done to elevate that – put them
09:21back to where they were.
09:24Nick Carucci on the Western Hotline.
09:25Vic, thanks.
09:26We'll talk next week.
09:27Enjoy the game.
09:29All right, guys.
09:30Three straight home games.
09:32Doesn't happen often.
09:33Three in a row?
09:34Three straight home games.
09:35Yeah.
09:35I'm looking real quick.
09:36I know everyone thinks the Chiefs are back because we all watched their first two games.
09:40Does anyone want to point out that nobody has mentioned a thing about their Dolphins game last week?
09:45Nah.
09:45They went into the fourth quarter up four points.
09:48The Dolphins had a drive with five minutes to go to tie the football game.
09:51That's the worst roster the league has seen in 20 years.
09:54And they had a drive to tie the game with five minutes left.
09:57They didn't look – I don't watch every snap of that game.
10:01I don't think the reports were they looked good against Miami.
10:03They looked very good in the first two games, but maybe they were bored.
10:07Maybe they took it easy.
10:09Did you see the Bills against the Chargers?
10:10But that's what I mean.
10:11The Bills, we think they looked – it was an ugly win for them against a Chargers team
10:16that had more expectations than that Miami team.
10:19The Chiefs basically did the same thing against, we think, a worse Miami roster
10:23to what the Bills just did against the Chargers.
10:25Vic Carucci's appearance on WGR brought to you by Northtown Volkswagen,
10:28Northtown VW, Western New York's number one VW dealer.
10:31It's a pizza Friday on WGR brought to you by Joey's Pizza.
10:34Make your Friday even better with 25% off any small one-topping pizza.
10:37Just order online at joeyspizzabuffalo.com.
10:40And click code WGR25 at checkout.
10:43Last week we got the Big Mac pizza.
10:46That's my favorite one.
10:47It was awesome.
10:49Excited to find out what we get later today.
10:51We're getting pizza.
10:52We should also talk about the goalie goal last night, right?
10:54Should Zerkin score us a goalie goal?
10:56Yeah.
10:56We've got the Super Great American Football Friday Frenzy,
10:58which will include a draft.
11:01Very exciting draft.
11:04All right.
11:04We'll get your calls in and fly over radio at 930.
11:06All the elements that you expect from a Football Friday on WGR.
11:11All the elements that you expect from a Football Friday on WGR.
11:12All the elements that you expect from a Football Friday on WGR.
11:12All the elements that you expect from a Football Friday on WGR.
11:12All the elements that you expect from a Football Friday on WGR.
