- 9 hours ago
Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase are joined by Buffalo Bills beat reporter Sal Capaccio to talk all things Bills as they try to move on from a tough loss to the Patriots, and prepare for a big game against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football. The guys start off by discussing the defensive issues with the Bills, and Sal explains why he thinks Jim Leonhard will try to simplify the Bills defense moving forward.
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00:00We've got a Yankee fan in here to talk to us about this ruling last night in the Yankee game
00:04and also talk some Bills for Bills Rams.
00:06Sal Capaccio, our Bills beat reporter, joining us on the Western Hotline.
00:10Sal, I mean, it's not exactly the same.
00:13It's pretty darn close.
00:14Am I allowed to call it a ball-don't-lie moment 30 years later or karma or what are we
00:19doing with it?
00:21I feel like as a non-Yankee fan, I get to say you're not allowed to complain because you got
00:27one of those.
00:27No, but I might have only seen a few Yankee fans complain.
00:32I think most of us felt it was the right call.
00:35You know what I mean?
00:36I really do.
00:37In fact, the other side is true.
00:39My buddy TJ Reeves, who you guys know, has been the Buccaneers sideline guy for years.
00:43He's in Tampa.
00:44He was mad.
00:45He thought that the Yankees, he thought that the Rays got hosed and the outfielders were going to catch it.
00:50I'm like, dude, what?
00:51Look at the angle.
00:52No way.
00:52This was the right call.
00:54He's like, no, he would have caught that ball.
00:55The Yankees got a favorite ball.
00:57I think it was the right call.
00:58I don't think anybody really should be complaining.
01:01If anybody from a Yankees fan is complaining, I guess what is the complaint that it should have been a
01:08home run?
01:08I don't know.
01:09I don't really see that that could have been anything.
01:11The whole thing kind of, it's one of those things where after the fact, it's a little odd.
01:15So a fan can reach out onto the field and guarantee a double.
01:19You know, like that's, that itself is a little bit weird.
01:21But whatever, I guess you want to say home field advantage.
01:23You could do something like that because I don't think he would have caught it personally.
01:27I don't either.
01:28He looked like he's a...
01:29But here's the thing.
01:29They can't guarantee a double because they could have said he, they could have said he could have caught it.
01:33Right.
01:33And then they would have called it out.
01:35That's right.
01:35That's right.
01:35Because it, maybe it depends who you ask.
01:37I looked at it and thought he was going to have a chance to catch it.
01:40Like he would have been contacting the wall, but the ball was heading towards the glove.
01:44It's just, he would have had to hold onto it through the contact.
01:48Right.
01:48And what are the odds that he would have dropped it as he contacts the wall?
01:52And you're not, you're not going to have a fan touching it, be an automatic out or else you're going
01:56to have to get rid of those seats.
01:57You know, and those look like pretty fun seats.
01:59Yeah.
01:59You're not doing that.
02:00No.
02:00That's right.
02:01So, so yeah, that's what your point though, Joe, is what TJ said.
02:05Well, you would have caught it.
02:06I said, and my response was, yeah, it was dropped out of a helicopter, like straight down.
02:09He would have caught it, but it was on an angle.
02:11It was going to hit the wall.
02:11So, right.
02:12Like, I think that each side kind of had a little bit of a gripe, I guess, in some way,
02:17but I don't know.
02:18I think that everybody, even the announcers, most people, I think, who watched it said that was the right call.
02:23But, you know, at the end of the day, the Rays were the better team all year.
02:27I was saying it all year.
02:28Like, that team just doesn't lose.
02:30They're just, they have a low payroll.
02:32They've built their team right.
02:33They have good pitching.
02:34They play such great defense.
02:36They're smart.
02:37You know, everybody in the lineup hits.
02:39And the Yankees aren't built like that.
02:40The Yankees are built to be, you know, a team that can get you to, you know, 90 to 95
02:45regular season wins, maybe on a 90 regular season wins, right?
02:48And then all of a sudden, you get to the playoffs.
02:49And, yeah, they have good pitching this year, but they're not built well enough to be able to sustain.
02:54So, I expected this.
02:57Of course, it sucks when your team is out, but they lost to the better team.
03:00Yeah.
03:00And, you know, it's funny.
03:01Like, it's been a while.
03:02I just went back and watched the Bartman play because previous segment, Gina and Delaware called and asked about, you
03:07know, hurting your team, what it must feel like to be a part of that.
03:09When you hurt your team.
03:11And, of course, he's the most famous example of that ever.
03:13And that's one where he is definitely reaching out over the field.
03:16You know, whatever.
03:17He's looking up in the sky.
03:18There's a defense for it.
03:20Knocks it out of the glove of his own player.
03:22And, of course, what happens from there is terrible.
03:25But you'd imagine if you felt you hurt your own team, even if you didn't go viral, become famous, and
03:31be shunned for it, you'd still probably feel pretty bad.
03:34Yeah, I think so.
03:36I mean, maybe people are mad at this fan.
03:38I don't think so.
03:39I wouldn't be.
03:40That wasn't going to be – it wouldn't have been a home run.
03:43They made the right call.
03:44They gave him home plate, which, you know, both managers were mad about something, right?
03:47So, I guess they did something right.
03:49Was him being – do we know then?
03:51Maybe you don't know.
03:52Him being escorted out by police, which I saw a video of, was that him then just being kicked out
03:57of the game?
03:57Or was that, like, we want to make sure nobody does anything stupid as he leaves?
04:02That's a good question.
04:02I think you get kicked out of the game if you interfere.
04:06I don't want to speak on that specifically.
04:08I don't know, Joe.
04:09Maybe that is the case.
04:10I don't know.
04:11Okay.
04:12So, Capaccio.
04:12See, we haven't talked in a couple days because, you know, the schedule got moved back a bit.
04:16The Bills are back to practice.
04:17We'll see what we can learn about DJ Moore, for one.
04:21And there's lots of other stuff to talk about.
04:23But before we do that, like, you know, we talked Monday.
04:26We didn't talk Tuesday or Wednesday.
04:27How do you feel like the Patriots game aged over, you know, 24 hours later, looking at it in a
04:34different way,
04:34whether it's the way that Josh Allen played, the way the defense has played, and the issues that they've had.
04:39Just looking back now one last time before we look on to the Rams game and what might happen this
04:43week,
04:44after a little more time to reflect, what did you come away with?
04:47Yeah, you know, it's something I asked, you know, Joe Brady to open up his press conferences, you know,
04:53is the saying true, which is, when you lose, it's never as bad as what you think when you go
04:58back and watch.
04:58When you win, it's never as good as you think when you go back and watch.
05:01And, yeah, he kind of agreed, which is, like, that's kind of the thing that you do in football.
05:06And I think that's the case.
05:08You're mad?
05:08They did not play well.
05:09There was a lot of things to clean up.
05:11I think it was one or two moments that really hurt them more than anything that led to maybe a
05:16bigger picture.
05:17And those one or two moments were decisions, a couple decisions by Josh, we know that, the one late in
05:21the game.
05:22That's not why they lost, but it's one of the whys, because they're in that position,
05:25and they don't need that, what he has at that time.
05:27I think the biggest thing, though, for me is the defense still.
05:30I mean, at the end of the day, the offense still scored 26 points, which in the NFL is still
05:34a good number.
05:35The Bills still do lead the NFL in points scored.
05:37They have over 31 points a game, which is the most in the NFL.
05:40And I'm not absolving the offense.
05:42They could have played better in this game.
05:43They should have got to the running game better.
05:45Even, you know, Connor McGovern said that when he was on with you guys the other day.
05:49But on the defensive end, I think what really hurt them, it wasn't, I mean, they were good on third
05:53down.
05:54It was allowing plays to extend by Drake May, and that turned into runs by him and passes by him
06:01that he made.
06:02And that's got to be cleaned up somehow.
06:04And when I look back and say, what needs to be fixed on the defense?
06:07It's really everything from the linebacker back have to be better.
06:10And my biggest thing is, what are they going to do personnel-wise, and how is Jim Leonard going to
06:14help them?
06:15So he uses this phrase a lot.
06:17He says, it's my job to help them, right?
06:20He knows they have to make plays.
06:22He even says, like, you've got to make your one-on-ones.
06:24It's my job to help them.
06:27So my biggest takeaway after listening to him and marrying what happened, I think he's going to simplify the defense
06:32a little bit.
06:33The thing is that I don't know what that looks like, guys.
06:35Like, I don't know what that means.
06:36But I think he even talked about making it so that they can play faster, not have to think.
06:42You know that communication that's going on, and it looks like someone's kind of maybe not completely set, not sure
06:46what they're doing.
06:47I think that's really starting to catch up to them, and he's seeing that.
06:50And he's got to try to correct to fix that as they work through this.
06:54I don't know what change it's going to be or what it's going to look like.
06:59We may not even notice it when we're watching Monday night.
07:02I think he's going to try to simplify the defense so that doesn't happen.
07:05Yeah.
07:06Do we – it's like where we're trying to figure out, like, what Leonard even has been so far, right?
07:11Like, more zone than we thought, less blitzing than we thought.
07:16So it's like simplifying the defense would be interesting because we also don't – unless you have an answer to
07:22this, Sal.
07:22Like, what they've been trying to be as a defense through the first four games even.
07:28Yeah.
07:28I mean, when people say aggressiveness, I think we often associate that with blitzing, which doesn't have to be.
07:33And it's not – this isn't a really super heavy blitz team.
07:36Aggressiveness a lot of times is just coming from different angles, showing different looks, making a quarterback kind of think
07:42he sees something and then not.
07:44You know, the Bills were very – really good and known for being – disguising coverages with their safeties under
07:49Sean McDermott.
07:49But you had two safeties, for the most part, that were there for a long time.
07:53And then even the last few years, they tried to do it more, but we couldn't – you saw that
07:56it didn't work as much with some of the newer guys they had besides Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer.
08:00And I think that's what's happening here a little bit.
08:02They're trying to be aggressive and show different looks and line up in different spots where are we coming from.
08:07But I think that's hurting themselves in some way, Joe, right?
08:09So, maybe that's what it is, which is, hey, you know, we may have to kind of simplify that.
08:14Maybe the offense will know a little bit more about what we're doing, but at least we can play fast
08:18and know where we are and know what we're doing.
08:20Maybe that's the answer, and I think that would probably get to what the answer to your question would be.
08:24Sal Capaccio on the Western Hotline.
08:26Sal, back to the offense for a minute.
08:27You know, you mentioned how they score a lot of points.
08:29One thing that they are not good at, and I wonder how they can kind of drill down on this,
08:34is two-point conversions.
08:36They are two of their last 11, and one of those is a Mitch Trubisky two-point conversion.
08:41So, like, Allen's one of his last 10, and they've all been passes, something else that I saw we figured
08:46out after the loss to the Patriots.
08:49So, like, that to me feels like if I'm an offensive coach, that would drive me nuts.
08:54I've got one play against you.
08:56I've got time to think about it.
08:57I've got time to game plan everything about it.
08:59Here are our two-point plays this week.
09:01To be one of your last 10 with this quarterback to me seems like it's a big problem.
09:06It is.
09:07I don't get it either.
09:08We talked with Joe Brady about it for sure.
09:10It's even – I think you had the numbers there.
09:14You're right.
09:15One of their last 10.
09:15Two of their last 11.
09:16Well, two of the last 11.
09:18I put the chart out the other day.
09:19I actually had every one of them mapped out.
09:22Like, you know what I mean?
09:22You could take a look and see each one over the last 11.
09:25Two of the last 11, you're right.
09:26And that's exactly what stood out to me, Jeremy, which is they're all passes, right?
09:29And they're all not only passes, but a lot of them are passes to Coleman and Gilliam
09:34and Shakir and Knox.
09:35It's like – I mean, this year there's not been one to Moore.
09:37He's not been in the team long enough.
09:39But, you know, Kincaid doesn't get one, and James Cook's not getting the ball.
09:42Some of your better weapons on these plays, it seems like you're always kind of – I
09:46don't know.
09:46I don't know.
09:47I guess I'd have to go back and watch what part of the progression they're in.
09:50But where do you get to Reggie Gilliam on the depth chart?
09:52Well, what stood out to me is that there's no Allen runs in there.
09:55Well, let me – so I asked Pete Carmichael on Monday to kind of get into what goes
10:02into a two-point conversion.
10:03What goes into – like from the start of the week to the end of the week when you
10:06play, what goes into a two-point conversion?
10:08His answer was you kind of really start with what do – what does the defense do in that
10:14situation?
10:14Like when you have an opponent, in this case the Rams, let's take a look at what the
10:18Rams have done on two-pointers.
10:19What do they like to run on two-pointers?
10:22What do they – what personnel do they like to use?
10:24Yes, of course, it's somewhat dictated by the offense, but you kind of take a look
10:28at them a little bit.
10:28Okay, what do we have that can counter that?
10:31What do we like to do?
10:32What are our strengths?
10:33Let's get into that.
10:34Then you – you know, the one thing about this is, guys, the Bills are so good at a
10:38tush-push, but this is a little farther out than a tush-push.
10:41And they don't do that because, you know, you think, well, that's a little bit too much
10:45to gain.
10:45I understand that a little bit, but I also say that they just scored from the two-yard line
10:49the other day, right, against the Patriots on a tush-push.
10:51Yeah.
10:51Right?
10:52You can do that.
10:52I'm not advocating a tush-push, but I agree with what Joe said, which is the thing that
10:56I don't see that I've always believed you should do at the goal line anyway in a critical
11:02down, put the ball in your best player's hands and let him make a play.
11:06Now, yes, they do that letting Josh throw, but what about letting Josh pick, get on the
11:10perimeter, let him choose if he wants to run or throw?
11:13I would like to see more of that.
11:15I don't know what the answer is.
11:16It is very befuddling that they cannot get a two-point conversion with this quarterback
11:21and, oh, by the way, the highest scoring offense in the league or close to it for the last several
11:26years.
11:27I mean, since this is going on, this is not like, oh, we have Josh Allen, but, you know,
11:31we're not that great of an offense.
11:32This is, you're a great offense and you have Josh Allen and you can't score from the two.
11:35It's really weird, a two-point conversion.
11:37I don't know what the answer is.
11:38I would like to see that too, Joe, though.
11:39I'd like to see, but, you know, it's not, and Pete did say, and he's right, it's not
11:45as, like, simple as that.
11:46Like, there's a lot that's going on down there.
11:48Everything is so condensed.
11:50Everything goes so fast.
11:51You're really trying to put it all together very quickly.
11:53Now, the play that they ran this week, you guys saw that Dalton Kincaid rolled open,
12:00right?
12:00Yeah, yeah.
12:01He rolled open after blocking.
12:03Did you see Eric Turner of Cover One?
12:06Yep.
12:06He found that when we were in Cleveland, I was in the end zone and actually, I did a
12:11video of this exact play.
12:13It just happened to be, the Bills ran this play, the goal line, and they ran the play
12:16and Josh hit Dalton.
12:18This was joint practice, not the game, right?
12:20Correct.
12:21That's right.
12:21Correct.
12:21Joint practice.
12:22The difference was, on that play, Dalton didn't block the one in Cleveland on the joint
12:28practice.
12:29In this play, he did.
12:29But, so, because, this goes to Pete Carmichael's point, everything's going so fast.
12:34Josh sees Dalton blocking.
12:35He's not looking at him, right?
12:36That's not his primary read.
12:38Dalton, to me, I watched the play back.
12:40Dalton Kincaid's like, oh, okay, I'm released now.
12:43I can just roll past the goal line here.
12:45By then, to me, if you look at Josh, he's already looking left.
12:47He's already kind of made a decision.
12:48You know why?
12:49Because things are going fast.
12:51So, I do think that that is true.
12:53But, I don't know the answer here.
12:56I just think there's a lot that goes into each individual play down there.
12:58That's right.
12:59The thing I would critique Allen on, then, would be, you're not actually, like, there's
13:04no pressure coming here.
13:06Like, you're pretty well blocked.
13:08Like, he had time to go through, like, okay, Palmer's not open.
13:12He's in double coverage.
13:13I have a second here to scan the field.
13:15And that's maybe when you hope he would have gotten to Kincaid.
13:19But, right, like, maybe he's, yeah, how's the game going also?
13:22Like, are you under duress in general?
13:25I don't make everything.
13:26And are you consciously trying to get rid of the ball quicker and not run?
13:31Yeah.
13:31Which I think was happening on Sunday, right?
13:33So, if you're in a game plan where, for whatever reason, we all know Josh is a little
13:37bit banged up.
13:38You know, they said that.
13:39And, you know, you're hurting, you're sore, whatever.
13:41However, for whatever reason, it seemed like that was part of the game plan last week,
13:47which is get rid of the ball a little quicker.
13:49Don't take unnecessary shots.
13:51Don't run.
13:52When you have that game plan, I think it's, okay, I'm going to make that decision a little
13:56bit quicker than normal instead of keeping the play alive.
13:59Yeah.
13:59I guess looking back on those two pointers, too, like, when I say rushing, I'm not even
14:02thinking, like, tush push.
14:03I'm thinking, like, Allen scrambling.
14:06But, right, like, I mean, their percentage probably would be higher if they were even just tush
14:10pushing in those last 11.
14:12So, him scrambling, though, in general, do you think it is possible that he actually
14:17isn't as banged up as maybe we're worried about?
14:20And this is the third year in a row where early in the season, Allen's rush attempts are
14:25really low?
14:26Like, maybe that's on purpose, that they just don't want him when you're in week four, week
14:32five of the season.
14:33Like, he's got some internal clock that's different than when it's week 15.
14:38Or the playoffs.
14:40It is possible, sure.
14:42I'm looking back.
14:43Let me see.
14:44So, I mean, he ran the ball 14 times against the Lions, though.
14:48Right.
14:48You know?
14:49Now, granted, some of those are, I got to get out of here.
14:51Some of those are, you know, maybe a few design runs.
14:54Six against Houston.
14:56Eight against L.A.
14:57I'd like to go back.
14:57Have you compared that to the year before?
14:59Because I haven't yet.
14:59Yeah.
15:00So, like.
15:0033.
15:0133 over the first four games.
15:03This year so far, okay?
15:04This year.
15:05Two years ago, in 2024, he had five rush attempts in the first four games of the season.
15:11In the year prior.
15:11That's kind of wild, actually, to think about that.
15:13In the year prior, there were.
15:16No, no.
15:17He can't.
15:17No, that's not true.
15:18It's not five?
15:18Two years.
15:19In 2024, he had nine against Arizona, two against Miami.
15:22Oh, I might have been looking at a different number, then.
15:24Yeah.
15:25But, okay.
15:26So, you think maybe there is a little bit of a...
15:28I think it's about the same total, Joe.
15:28I think that this game was a little bit different.
15:31There does seem to be maybe an uptick.
15:33I do would say this, though.
15:34There was an uptick in the second half of the season in some of these seasons.
15:38Yep.
15:38You know what I mean?
15:38There was.
15:39But I do think that he's got about the same, maybe, the last few years.
15:43The point is, though, you asked me, is it maybe possible that it's just like they're just saving him a
15:48little bit?
15:48Sure, it is.
15:49I think that's possible.
15:50It just felt like this game was more of a conscious effort, you know?
15:54Sal Capaccio on the Western Hotline as we chat about the Bills and Josh Allen.
15:58Pressure on Allen, Sal.
16:00One thing we noted in that game against the Patriots is teams attacking this offensive line on the left side,
16:08Dawkins and Anderson,
16:09that they basically have kind of decided to attack there.
16:13And they got home a few times, right?
16:14And Allen's been dealing with free rushers.
16:16I was like, I wonder if they'll have adjustments for that.
16:20You know, we've seen five-man protections where they add backs to Chip, and Houston had a big plan for
16:26this.
16:26But I feel like Joe Brady really likes his five-man protections quite a bit,
16:30and they stick with them quite a bit unless they're talked out of it.
16:34Yeah, and you got to win those if you're Dawkins and his situation or Alec Anderson.
16:42Excuse me.
16:42I mean, you got to win more than you did last week.
16:46Certainly, you can make some adjustments, keep somebody in.
16:49And when you do have Josh Allen, it's okay sometimes to have a free rusher because he can oftentimes beat
16:55that guy.
16:55He can get around him.
16:57He can run.
16:58Like, you have a – what does Conor McGovern always say when he comes on with you guys?
17:02You have a 6'4", 240 unicorn, right?
17:05Like, it's just you can allow him to be the guy that says, okay, you have him, you have him.
17:10I'm the quarterback.
17:11I got that guy.
17:11If he's going to come, I got him.
17:13I'll take care of it.
17:13I'll either get around him, I'll throw the ball before he gets to me, right?
17:16It's not ideal, but you can do that.
17:18I need them to be better in those one-on-one situations.
17:21Deion got beat a couple times.
17:24And on the play, there was a play near the Bills' goal line, and he got walked back.
17:28Like, you can't let that happen, right?
17:30So, yeah, there could definitely be some adjustments there.
17:33You know, a lot of the crowd noise stuff, like, there was nothing for that on offense.
17:38Like, the adjustments, you can make those at the line of scrimmage.
17:41That is tougher to do on the road, generally.
17:42Now, L.A.'s going to be different.
17:44Crowds are going to be a little more mixed, right?
17:45But, when you go to these stadiums, guys, you'll hear, like, the offensive lineman will talk about how it is
17:51tougher to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage because of the crowd noise.
17:56That shouldn't be the case at home.
17:57Like, if you see that, you can make that adjustment and say, okay, that guy's coming here.
18:01I've got to slide my protection this way.
18:03To me, it comes down to you've got to win a little bit more of your one-on-ones there
18:06than those guys have.
18:08Sal Capaccio with us on the Western Hotline.
18:11And, while we're on the line, the Alec Anderson experiment so far this year seems to be going fine, right?
18:18I think so.
18:20I don't think anything.
18:21There might be a moment or two here he's had a couple penalties.
18:25But, you know, so has Deion.
18:27And so have other guys.
18:28But I don't think there's anything that makes me go, you know, I think they should make a switch there,
18:33Joe.
18:33I don't see it with anybody on the line.
18:35I think there's been moments for every lineman this year.
18:37Maybe not Spencer Brown as much, but even Osiris Torrance.
18:40Because, like, there's been moments, Conor McGovern, last game.
18:43There's been moments where every lineman, where, like, you know, you've got to be better in that moment.
18:47And that happens.
18:48So it's the same thing with DBs, right?
18:50I mean, we could talk about the problems in the secondary, but you're going to get beat sometimes.
18:54It's just, it's part of the nature of the position.
18:56You're going to get beat one-on-one.
18:57You're going to get beat when you're covering guys.
18:59So, you know, so with the injuries this week and things like that, and I don't mean to flip the
19:03topic here,
19:04just because you asked me about that, and I'm going one-on-ones now.
19:07Like, I am interested, you know, what they do there, the one-on-ones.
19:10If you're looking at anywhere, there could be a, well, as you call experiment,
19:14is there a spot on the team where something could change?
19:18I think the only spot you could look right now is corner, I guess, linebacker.
19:22But, you know, they're going to write out what they have right now, maybe at least in Terrell Bernard,
19:26and I would say even in Dorian Williams, as much as they can.
19:29And I think the leash is a little bit shorter at corner, though, because of everything that happened last week
19:34and then all the fallout of it, and they're still going to stick with what they have.
19:37But I wouldn't be surprised if they start doing some things differently over the next couple weeks.
19:42Let's do the Barnes firm injury report, Sal, brought to you by the Barnes firm.
19:47If you've been injured in a crash, call the Barnes firm 1-800-8-Million.
19:51There are injuries to watch.
19:52DJ Moore is the real, I mean, the most interesting one, because they can play it a lot of ways.
19:57They could decide to keep him out and rest him for a couple of weeks and get him back after
20:01the bye.
20:02I don't know that IR is a potential possibility.
20:05They could decide that.
20:06That's four games, not four weeks.
20:08Is that right?
20:09That's correct.
20:10Okay, so then you're pushing that off a full five weeks, if that's the case.
20:14Then I wonder if, in fact, they are going to shut him down for a game or two and give
20:19him time.
20:19Would they have him practice, right?
20:21Because you don't want these teams to have this information.
20:24If you just tell the Rams he's not playing, that seems to me to be a problem.
20:28And maybe he feels good enough to practice, but they want to protect him from, I don't know, aggravating it
20:33further.
20:34I find the whole thing to be really interesting how they might attempt to approach it.
20:38While he does practice, he'd probably wear that red non-contact jersey again, right?
20:42And I always say, you have to remember, people, a red non-contact basically acts as a stop sign.
20:46Don't touch this guy.
20:47Rear around him.
20:47Be careful.
20:48He's dealing with something.
20:49We don't want to get him any more injured.
20:51Today is like a normal Wednesday because the Bills play on Monday.
20:55Today is the first day of the week for practice.
20:57We'll hear from Joe Brady today a little before practice, 1.40.
21:01Practice a little after 2 p.m.
21:02And then we'll get an injury report at the end of practice.
21:05But today is the day that we'll see if DJ Moore is on the field, some other guys as well.
21:11I'm not as concerned about practice.
21:12I think this coach, Jeremy, has kind of shown a little bit different than the last coach, which is you
21:18can go all week and not practice and still play.
21:19It just feels like he's going to make sure I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that
21:23guy knows the system.
21:24I'm okay with it.
21:25So I don't think we should read as much into practice when we go out there.
21:28But it is interesting to see if he's out there or in a red non-contact jersey.
21:31I think your first part of that is the right, like, what are they dealing with here as far as
21:36are you going to sit him down at all?
21:37I mean, you're facing a good Rams team.
21:39You're facing a Rams team that has their numbers against the pass and the run defensively.
21:45They're highly ranked.
21:46It's going to be tough to move the ball and score points.
21:50I mean, I know the Bills are a very good offense, but this is the kind of game where you
21:54would love to have DJ Moore available.
21:55But at what expense of that if DJ Moore is hurting?
21:59Now, earlier in the week, Adam Schefter reported it's not considered to be a long-term injury.
22:05I don't know what that means.
22:06Like, what's long-term?
22:07That could mean a lot of things to a lot of different people.
22:09You know what I mean?
22:11Right.
22:11Like, I would think missing games, which, you know, you wouldn't think.
22:14Like, who else are we looking for this week?
22:17Benford would be top of list after that?
22:19Yeah.
22:20And the good news, they didn't put him on IR, right?
22:22So Christian Benford would be the guy that, you know, you'd be watching mostly, I think, you know, for somebody
22:27who missed last week.
22:29They did sign, excuse me, another corner to the practice squad.
22:34What is it?
22:34A.J. Woods.
22:35But I think that this is more about maybe, this is the other people we're watching, Joe.
22:42So, that might be more about D. Alford and to Corey Couch.
22:45They lost both their nickel corners last game.
22:48So, like, if you don't have, who do you have to play nickel corner?
22:50They put DeMar Hamlin at the end of the game.
22:52So, signing a guy like Woods and working out three other corners, to me, might be more about that than
22:59it is about Christian Benford.
23:00We'll see about Benford.
23:01And then, I mean, Ed Holliver left the game with an injury, right?
23:04I mean, that's another one that we're monitoring.
23:06He comes back, and he's out again.
23:08So, there are some guys on this team that we'll be looking at.
23:12On the other side, Aaron Donald missed last game for the Rams, but indications were from Sean McVay that they
23:18expect him to play this week.
23:20All right.
23:21Maybe a big test on the inside for them, for this Bills front.
23:24Sal Capaccio on the Western Hotline.
23:26Thanks, Sal.
23:27You got it, guys.
23:28Bills and Rams, Monday Night Football.
23:32Is there a Manning cast?
23:34People don't even watch.
23:36I mean, I don't know if there's a Manning cast.
23:37I haven't anymore.
23:38There's a big cratering of the ratings for it.
23:43Yeah, they...
23:45Which, you know, I'm no TV executive, but I do think it is 100% that, well, it could be
23:51a lot of things, but it's guests.
23:52There has not been a Manning cast since week two.
23:54There is one for this game, Bills Ramps.
23:57Okay.
23:58Right, like, I'm not going to watch that.
24:00No.
24:00Not for a bill.
24:01I mean, really, when I was watching Manning cast week to week, I still wasn't watching when the Bills would
24:05be on.
24:06That's right.
24:06I was watching it because, you know, them talking about a play and this and that.
24:11It was really good football analysis.
24:13And then, yeah, when it started, the guests at the beginning were kind of cool.
24:16Now it's like a guest-driven show, almost.
24:19It feels like that sometimes, and I'm just like, oh, I don't want to hear that.
24:22Did you read the story about the color commentary booths around broadcasting right now?
24:29No.
24:29How, like, ESPN, they don't, they haven't locked up Aikman yet, and how Amazon has a thing in Herbstreet's contract
24:40where they can just get out of it at any time they want.
24:43As soon as they find somebody they like better, they can just go to him.
24:45Because he was supposed to be temporary.
24:47I read something, maybe was it from sports business, wherever it was, that basically these networks are leaving themselves open
24:59to get Sean McVay if he ever decides to go into broadcasting.
25:02Interesting.
25:03And that if he decides, because there was a couple years ago there was this, right?
25:07Like he might walk away and go right into broadcasting.
25:10That if he does that, there will be an immediate bidding war from everybody to make him their number one
25:14guy.
25:14There's probably a point in here to be made about, I mean, it's football, networks, there's tons of money, but,
25:19I mean, is Troy Aikman worth a million dollars a game for them?
25:24I mean, you're asking me?
25:25More than a million dollars a game to have a team go for a fourth and two and him to
25:29say, I don't understand it.
25:32Like, is that worth a million dollars?
25:33Maybe.
25:35McVay, would he be good?
25:39Probably, right?
25:40Like he's, he's got some charisma, right?
25:43Like there's character there.
25:45He obviously, like if you're talking about like predicting plays and like understanding the game, I think that would be
25:51better than what you're getting from guys who haven't been playing the sport in 25 years.
25:55I feel like predicting plays is a slippery slope, though, because I don't want you to tell me what.
25:59Right.
25:59Right?
25:59I don't even mean that as much as like, am I going to learn anything about today's game from Troy
26:04Aikman?
26:04No.
26:05Like the longer you have been out of the sport, this happened to Romo.
26:08He, Romo was giving you stuff every week the first couple of years and then like, ah, you haven't been
26:12playing football in eight years.
26:14Started to sound more like Aikman.
26:16And I think with McVay, he, I think I would expect him to go into the booth and it just
26:21to be a totally different, totally different thing than what you currently have from someone like Aikman.
26:29Who, again, hasn't played since the 90s.
26:31The sport's different.
26:328-0-3-0-5-50 to join us.
26:34We've got shots of audio.
26:35We'll do one and done where we rip through an entire conference with a take a minute.
26:39And your calls along the way.
26:41How are you feeling about the Ram game?
26:42Bill's Rams.
26:43Monday night football.
26:44Full Sunday to yourself to watch the league.
26:47Get a scouting report on a couple of these teams.
26:49We'll talk about some of the other games that are important.
26:51The one-seed race.
26:51Chiefs are on a bye.
26:53So, no Chiefs game to watch.
26:55These networks will just go set up cameras at Arrowhead.
26:59You can just film it.
27:00There's an Arrowhead primetime channel.
27:02Just turn it on.
27:03You can look at the field under the lights.
27:05Jeremy and Joe on WGR.