- 10 hours ago
Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase are joined by Buffalo Bills beat reporter Sal Capaccio to get his take on the Bills 37-34 overtime victory over the LA Rams on the road that improves the teams record to 4-1, and keeps them in first place in the AFC East. The guys start off by discussing the incredible performance by Josh Allen as he ran all over the field to beat the Rams, while the passing game really struggled. They also analyze the continuing defensive shortcomings, the game management questions, and more!
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00:00All right. Good morning, everybody. Just tweeting out my obligatory turnovers. Bills, two Rams, zero.
00:09High-level offensive football. It's about failed drives, you know. The Bills forced two punts, so the Rams.
00:16A couple missed field goals. Weird game. Crazy game. Sal was there. Sal, have you recovered? Have you watched it
00:23back again?
00:23Did you go to sleep last night at any point? It was a thrilling game, and I wonder if you
00:29had the same kind of takeaway that I think a lot of Bills fans might have in the moment.
00:33I know I did, which was, hey, they finally won one of those Game of the Year games.
00:38Yeah, good morning. First of all, I did actually rewatch the highlights because, you know, the 20-minute highlight version
00:46right before I fell asleep, which was at about 2.30 a.m. here.
00:53So when you guys were on your way in, 5.30 a.m., excuse me, and then, sorry about that,
01:02guys.
01:02So anyway, I did that, and I would say, yes, I did think about that.
01:08I said that to a couple of colleagues, but, you know, I'll tell you, I give my buddy Matt Perino
01:13a little credit.
01:14He goes, listen, he goes, I know it seems like that, but they did win in Detroit that one, you
01:19know, Game of the Year, right?
01:20And we went through a few over the time where it feels like, okay, maybe it always seemed like, but
01:26it does always seem like they lose these kinds of games.
01:27They won the opener last year, 41-40.
01:30Yes, he brought that with the Baltimore game. They won that game.
01:33They won the Texans game this year. The Texans game this year was one of those back-and-forth great
01:38games, yeah.
01:39No doubt, no doubt. So, yeah, so it was, and then, anyway, I came back from the stadium to the
01:48hotel here where I'm staying and happened to be where the team was staying, too.
01:51They're already gone. They're not staying here now because they're out going to be practicing somewhere else.
01:56So now, when I got here, though, I did a podcast last night, late at night, went live from the
02:02lobby, and there were a bunch of Bills fans there.
02:04So it was probably, geez, it had to be midnight, 1 a.m. here.
02:09So you're talking 3, 4 in the morning where you guys, I don't know, it seemed like it.
02:13Maybe it was like 11 p.m., but either way, lots of Bills fans in the lobby, did a podcast.
02:18It was cool, and that's because my co-host, Matt Bove, who's normally with me, was not there because, as
02:24you probably got, you saw a guy,
02:25as he announced to him and his wife had their second child, a beautiful baby girl.
02:29So I said, I'm just going to go to the lobby and do this, and maybe some Bills fans will
02:33join me, and sure enough, that's what happened.
02:34Nice. Yeah.
02:35Congratulations to Matt and family on the addition of the newborn.
02:39So, Sal, there's a lot to get to in this game.
02:42The Bills win it 37-34 in overtime.
02:44We could do coaching decisions.
02:45We could do defense.
02:47But let's start with Josh Allen because it was another one of these games where he does a thing that's
02:51never been done before,
02:5210 yards per attempt passing, 10 yards per attempt rushing.
02:56He very much put to bed the idea that he wasn't willing to run.
03:01Maybe the last two games he was feeling something.
03:04In this moment, he felt it necessary, and it was a game-changing element to this Bills offense.
03:10Yeah, and when you say willing, I think that Josh Allen's probably always been willing,
03:16but maybe over the last couple weeks it was like, man, we've got to dial it back.
03:20Less designed runs.
03:21Don't do anything.
03:22It's going to get you hurt.
03:23I think Josh, by necessity, had to, as you put it.
03:26To me, that was what happened here.
03:28I mean, it wasn't really even until, what was it, second quarter maybe?
03:31There was a designed run.
03:32I'm like, oh, okay, well, there he goes.
03:33And then as the game went on, guys, it was just clear that their passing game was not going to
03:38be nearly as effective without DJ Moore again.
03:41They were running in the same problem they've run into before, and guys couldn't get open.
03:44And Josh kind of just took it in his own hands.
03:46He said, I'm going to have to run.
03:47And as the game went on, he kept running again and more and more, and he wound up with 121
03:55yards rushing.
03:56Incredible.
03:57I gave that an arrow up, Josh Allen using his legs again in my arrow up, arrow down column because
04:02of that, because it mattered.
04:03It was a very big part of what they needed to do, what he needed to do in this game.
04:08But it was also because they just could not really throw the ball very well for whatever reason.
04:14And I'm sure a lot of it had to do with no DJ Moore.
04:17I mean, you look at the stats for the receivers, guys, wide receivers.
04:23I tweeted out by at halftime, I think it was, or end of the third quarter, end of the third
04:27quarter, okay, it was Ty Johnson with 70 yards receiving, not one other player more than seven.
04:35It was incredible.
04:36And then look at how it wound up still.
04:38It would, Khalil gets that long catch and run in overtime.
04:42He winds up with three for 81.
04:44Otherwise, Ty Johnson, Kalisha Kieran, then it's just the receivers themselves, Keon Coleman, seven yards, right?
04:50I mean, they had to choose.
04:53Anyway, so Josh Allen running was necessary in this game.
04:57And I thought, Sal, that the screen game, it was maybe their best night for that department in a long,
05:03long time.
05:03Like, even the plays that Allen was getting, none of them were really down the field.
05:08Like, it was a lot of Johnson's plays, too, right?
05:11We're, like, around the line of scrimmage.
05:13And they seemed to be getting big chunks every time they were going after that.
05:18Yeah, it seemed like that to me, too.
05:20They did a good job of that.
05:22Part of it was by necessity because they couldn't really throw the ball more vertically.
05:26And they had to rely on that a little bit.
05:29One interesting note in this game, Pete Carmichael Jr. was on the field.
05:34He wasn't in the booth.
05:35And I know he's not the play caller, but we've said for a while now, you know, his influence on
05:40the offense might be exactly that, Joe, which is throw it to the running backs.
05:43That's just something he's done a lot.
05:45And I'm not saying because he was on the field it was.
05:47But it was interesting that he wasn't in the booth anymore.
05:49He was on the field.
05:50And maybe that is something that he saw.
05:52Maybe that's something that they figured they have to do a little bit more of.
05:55But they did it.
05:56And, you know, they were good at it.
05:58And if you look at the guys, the receiving numbers again, I mean, Ray Davis, that one catch for 31
06:03yards was monstrous.
06:05It was needed.
06:05And, of course, Ty Johnson winds up with four catches for 72 yards.
06:10And, you know, he was a big part of it.
06:11So, yeah.
06:12It was a lot more James Cook in this game, Sal, and running the ball.
06:15The Bills did do a very good job.
06:17I did not know this before last night that he really is the most fumble-prone back in the league.
06:23Bill Barnwell had the stat that he has 11 fumbles since the start of 2025 and no other running back
06:28in the league is more than six.
06:30And I guess there have been some, so I wasn't, like, totally surprised he was near the top.
06:36But a couple more in this game.
06:38I don't know really, though, what there is to do about it, though, Sal.
06:42Like, you're not going to take him off the field.
06:44And, like, I can't imagine this is, like, new to them.
06:47Like, they probably have already been working on ball security with him.
06:51No doubt.
06:52I mean, they work on it with everybody.
06:53And I don't know the answer either, Joe, because of what you said.
06:55I mean, what are you going to do?
06:56Are you going to take him off the field and put Ty Johnson as, you know, main running back?
07:00Or Ray Davis, you can't do that.
07:02He's James Cook.
07:03But it was a problem again.
07:04And the thing that is happening now is he has a reputation in the league, right?
07:11It's not just the numbers.
07:12It's not just the stats.
07:15Defenders are going after the ball when James Cook has it.
07:18Look at those two last night.
07:19The punches, the punch-outs.
07:21I mean, this is what happens now because you have a reputation for fumbling.
07:26Once you start putting the ball on the ground, everybody's going to try to force you to put the ball
07:31on the ground.
07:31And that makes it even tougher to hold on to it.
07:35And I don't know the solution other than James Cook has to carry the ball better.
07:39He has to tuck the ball better.
07:41He has to concentrate on not fumbling.
07:43That's it because you've got to give the ball to James Cook.
07:46I mean, he's one of the best in the league at what he does.
07:49You look at even last night, I mean, 25 carries, 111 yards.
07:54It wasn't like a monster game for him.
07:564.4 yards a carry.
07:58That's nice.
07:59But you needed him.
08:00And he was good again.
08:02But you can't have these fumbles.
08:05They almost cost the Bills a football game here.
08:08There's a lot of things that could have cost the Bills a game.
08:11They seem like they were trying to give the game away a bunch.
08:14But I don't know what the answer is, Joe.
08:16You can't take him off the field for long stretches, maybe a series here, a series there.
08:21But is he going to learn not to fumble because of that?
08:23I'm not really sure if that's going to work.
08:25Sel joining us.
08:26Sel, before we dig into the defense, just walking out in our office here, one of the breaks.
08:32And I'm the guy that people talk to receiver about.
08:34You know how this works.
08:35And now I'm getting all the questions like, they need some more help at receiver.
08:38And you brought up the stats there.
08:40DJ Moore's out.
08:40Josh Palmer's out.
08:41I tend to think their room is crowded enough that I'm not really giving it much thought.
08:46However, given that Palmer has picked up another injury here, do you feel like this door is open to be
08:53on the list of positions they would want to, I guess, bolster or add to?
08:58Given that when Moore is not out there, it is very different and everybody can see it.
09:04Would they want some better options, some better depth?
09:07Do you think it's in the mix?
09:09It definitely can be.
09:12Yeah, I would not.
09:14No.
09:14I just don't know where you're getting that person from, where you're putting that person, you know, if everybody's healthy,
09:20let's say.
09:21Right, right.
09:21Are you going out and getting someone that's near the top of the depth chart?
09:24I mean, that's a massive move.
09:26And you already have DJ Moore up there with Khalil Shakir and the way Keon Coleman's playing.
09:30If you just want to add somebody to the depth, then yeah.
09:34Then how much you really getting someone's going to help you?
09:36You could do that with Greg Dorch, if you want, to be quite honest with you.
09:40You can give Skylar Bell a little bit more run.
09:42You can try Trent Shurvelder, Maury Macklin.
09:45Yeah, I think it could very well be, Jeremy, but that's one of those positions right now looking at how
09:51would they make it work.
09:53It almost would have to be all or nothing.
09:54Like, oh my God, I can't believe they just went out and got this guy who's going to fit right
09:57near, like, underneath DJ Moore at the top of the depth chart.
10:00Right, right.
10:00I tend to agree.
10:01Where else are you going to play him?
10:02You already have guys that could do what you probably would get a guy that you'd go out and get.
10:07Right.
10:07And the timeline of this is they play the Ravens, the bye week, the Raiders, bye week, Ravens, then the
10:15Vikings.
10:16That's the trade deadline the next day.
10:18So there's time.
10:19There's time here to figure out, to get it all together, to get everybody healthier.
10:22Who knows what happens?
10:24I tend to agree with you, Sal.
10:25I just don't.
10:26It looks a little crowded for me.
10:27There have been years where it's easy to say someone slots right in, unless they're, like, giving up on Josh
10:33Palmer.
10:33I think it's too crowded.
10:34So that's just my take on it.
10:36But, again, in the next month, something could change.
10:38Someone could become available.
10:41Like Brandon Cooks last season.
10:42Right, sure.
10:43This time last year, we might not have thought Cooks would even become available, let alone end up on the
10:48Bills.
10:50He had a touchdown for the Niners, by the way.
10:52He did, yes.
10:53On Sunday.
10:55Go ahead, Sal.
10:55Do you got something or I'll move to the defense?
10:57Yeah, I was going to say, it is amazing to me, though, if you think about it, that this team
11:02did not have D.J. Moore.
11:04The passing offense looked pretty much anemic, you know, other than getting it to some guys who ran after the
11:10catch, like, you know, the Khalil run and the running backs with their runs.
11:15And they somehow scored 37 points.
11:17I don't know how they got 37 points.
11:18And they did it without any turns.
11:19And they did it without short field.
11:21I can't tell you how many people I said at the end of the game, how the hell did they
11:24score 37 points in this game?
11:25I really don't know.
11:26And they did it without one short field on the opening kickoff where they get a field goal.
11:30But they did it without forcing turnovers, right?
11:32There's no defensive score.
11:34It really is, you know, is it possible Josh Allen is still underrated?
11:38The number of ways he can carry a team?
11:41Because, man, it's just, I'm with you.
11:43Like, 37 points.
11:44And it looked like, you know, you didn't have a lot of options out there.
11:47But you got it done.
11:49To the defense, Sal, I feel like the conversation that we just had about receiver, I almost want to have
11:54the same conversation about corner, maybe with the exception of what they might do at nickel corner.
11:59Because D. Elford out, he'd been struggling anyway.
12:02But Hairston, Benford, IGB, like, these are guys that are heavily invested.
12:07I feel like they're going to trust the process here.
12:09But in the secondary, and throw linebackers here, they have such big, big problems.
12:15I would imagine they're in there talking about what is the pathway to get this together by January.
12:23They don't have to panic now, right?
12:25But there's no way they could go to a postseason feeling good about the way their defense is playing.
12:32No, I mean, this is not right now looking like a championship-level defense, that's for sure.
12:36It is for the offense, no doubt.
12:39But it's not for the defense.
12:40And, you know, if you could just have Josh Allen do what he did last night and carry the team
12:43with his legs like that and mix in, you know, a whole bunch of other stuff, sure.
12:47But they're going to have to figure something out here.
12:49And, you know, I guess you look at it with, you know, what the options are.
12:55They could trade, once again.
12:57But we're going to go back to, you know, who are you going out?
13:00Are you finding a guy that's going to go over the top of one of these corners you have already
13:04in the roster?
13:05Yeah, but that's a big swing, big trade.
13:09Who's out there to do that?
13:09Who's going to trade you that type of player?
13:11I'm sure teams that are, you know, going to be out of it, maybe you're starting to, you could hear
13:14some rumblings on that.
13:17The other option could be to move people around and say, well, this guy's just not playing and playing well
13:22enough.
13:22We'll put somebody in his place or we'll move him to, you know, inside instead of outside, those kinds of
13:27things.
13:27It just feels like their philosophy is, as this season goes on, we're going to bank on growth from some
13:35of the younger players.
13:36And we're going to, you know, do our best to, you know, give them opportunities to be on the field
13:44to make plays.
13:45But I don't know, again, what the solution is because they go into every game now with you saying, how
13:54much are they going to give up in the passing game?
13:57How bad is a team going to be able to beat them?
13:59What receivers do they have and how can they match up?
14:01Because it's not looking good.
14:03The crazy part is like they're good against the run.
14:07Like, again, last night, look at the numbers for the Rams last night running the football.
14:16Kyron Williams, 16 carries, 49 yards.
14:19Blake Corham, 5 carries, 19 yards.
14:223.1 yards a carry, 3.8 yards a carry as a team.
14:25You throw in Puka's couple runs.
14:273.3 yards a carry.
14:28Like, they're doing their job against the run.
14:32But as soon as a team starts throwing the ball, why do you think Matt Stafford had 54 attempts?
14:36And he completed over 70% of them.
14:39Right.
14:40Right, which this is going to be a season-long maybe conversation about how the run defense being better
14:46but the pass defense being worse is netting a worse result than we've had in the past.
14:51I think also, Sal, the game plan yesterday was almost breathtaking for me at the start.
14:58Not that I'm stunned by what they did.
15:02It's maybe been leading up to this, right?
15:04Like, all the talk in the offseason about how aggressive they were going to be,
15:07I wonder how much their personnel is dictating this.
15:11But, Sal, like, it was soft zone, no blitz.
15:15Like, it just seemed like a very, very conservative game plan from them on defense last night.
15:22Well, I think what you saw last night was trying to, and actually, Joe, I would say,
15:30I thought the first half went exactly like the Bills wanted to on defense last night.
15:34Now, I don't think they wanted to give up two seven-plus-minute drives.
15:38But what I'm saying is, and I came on here with you guys and said,
15:41I think the Bills want to play a let's shorten the game type of game.
15:45Let's not get in at this.
15:46They wound up getting in a shootout at the end.
15:47Let's not get into the shootout back and forth.
15:50Make the Rams work.
15:51I mean, the first two drives for the Rams, seven plays, a whole length of the field,
15:58and only seven points.
15:59That was it.
16:00They went to the halftime only allowing seven points.
16:04That was Ben, but don't break.
16:05I'm like, this is great.
16:05Ben, don't break.
16:06This is exactly what they wanted.
16:07Like, let them work and work.
16:09It reminded me a lot of the last nine years of what the philosophy was.
16:13Don't get beat over the top.
16:14Don't get beat on explosive plays.
16:18Make them work.
16:18And eventually, either we'll make a play if you make them snap the ball enough,
16:22or they're not going to finish the job.
16:24And that's exactly what happened.
16:26It was actually a really good first half of the defense from that standpoint.
16:29I thought they did it exactly the way they wanted to.
16:32I mean, I have to look.
16:33I think at the end of the game, it's probably changed.
16:36I wonder, guys, what was Matthew Stafford's, like, depth of target in this game alone
16:42going into, like, even, like, the fourth quarter, maybe even overtime,
16:45maybe even for the whole game.
16:46I'm going to look it up.
16:47He did not throw the ball down the field.
16:48It was crazy.
16:50And the Bills, I thought, did that on purpose.
16:53So, yeah, to get back to the overall philosophy,
16:56that might be just how they have to try and play it, Joe,
16:58which is, okay, like, we know this is happening with our defense
17:02and our secondary, so let's do our best job just to keep everything in front of us
17:06and live to fight another day, and maybe the offense will make a mistake.
17:10Yeah.
17:10Yeah, that really is, I mean, it's definitely what they were trying to do,
17:14and I agree.
17:15Like, that's, I think they were getting what they wanted early on.
17:17Because you look at, like, Puka's sat line at the end of the day,
17:20and he felt like he was everywhere in this game.
17:2424 targets.
17:2424 targets.
17:25It's like 138 yards on 24 targets.
17:28I said this earlier.
17:29It's actually not, like, it's like, what, five, six yards a target?
17:32You know, the other games in NFL history with that many targets,
17:35guys are up around, like, 250.
17:37So, I wonder if they would even view that as, you know,
17:41he had a million catches, but we feel like largely we held it in check.
17:48I agree, you know, as far as making them work,
17:51but it seemed like they intentionally, like, they knew they had these matchups, right?
17:57I mean, for a guy to have 50 attempts, for a guy to have 24 targets in a game,
18:01it's like, oh, we're just going to keep feeding you because they're not going to be able to stop you.
18:05Yeah, I mean, if you make them work for everything like that,
18:08if you're throwing the ball 24 times, 18 catches, the stats look terrible,
18:12but, hey, you're keeping it in front of them.
18:14But what happened, too?
18:15He had made that catch over top of IGB.
18:17You know, Devontae Adams had a couple of those, you know, big plays in the end zone.
18:21You know, eventually those guys are good enough they're going to get you
18:24if you're going to be playing like that, and it did last night.
18:26So I don't know the solution.
18:28They didn't have – you know, I'll tell you, the pass rush is tough to judge against Stafford
18:32because he just gets rid of the ball really quickly.
18:33We saw that, and again, it was last night.
18:35It felt like they were around him a lot, but they just didn't get to him,
18:38and that's a lot because the quarterback just doesn't let you that quarterback.
18:40I have an answer for you on the Stafford, like how far down the field he was throwing it.
18:456.7 air yards per attempt.
18:47That's the fewest in a game this year.
18:49And in last season, he only had one game all year last year against Seattle
18:54where he was lower than last night's total.
18:57So short.
18:58So there's the eye test meeting the stats.
19:00You're right.
19:00I'm like, I'm going through this game going,
19:02he has to have the lowest average depth of target I've seen in a long time.
19:05Like, it was unbelievable.
19:07Like, that's what the Bills wanted, I think.
19:09But here we go.
19:10They were, you know, completing these passes, and you're right.
19:13So there you go.
19:14It's incredible.
19:15Yet for them to – and then to get 34 points out of that for the Rams
19:19to be able to play it that way.
19:21This was an amazing game.
19:21But this is like – they got what they wanted early.
19:24I can't imagine anyone would say they got what they wanted in the fourth quarter.
19:27Like, those were quick drives by the Rams.
19:29Yeah.
19:29It is interesting.
19:30Like, if you look at time of possession, and this is, to me,
19:33very high-level offensive football, it's not a coincidence
19:36these games tend to go like this.
19:39It's like a basketball game, right?
19:40The first half of the game, you know, you're playing it out.
19:42Here's the score.
19:43And there are going to be more points in the second half.
19:45There's going to be more aggressive play in the second half.
19:47And that's what these teams do.
19:48The Rams' drives in the second half were twice as fast.
19:51All of a sudden, the throws were deeper.
19:52All of a sudden, Stafford's got better answers.
19:55It's almost like, you know, the way these game scripts play out,
19:59it looks like these two defenses played well in the first half.
20:02Was it that?
20:03Or was it the offenses were still kind of just, you know,
20:06playing with their food a little bit?
20:07I just – it was high-level football.
20:09Two good-to-great teams, you know?
20:11Like, I don't think the Rams are bad or any sort of phony.
20:15They played that game without Miles Garrett.
20:17He might have made a difference in this game,
20:19trying to keep Josh Allen from getting 100 rushing yards.
20:21So, whatever.
20:23So, we didn't get to game management from Joe Brady at the end of the game
20:26and from Sean McVay because here it's back and forth like yards like crazy
20:31and both these coaches have made what I think are strange decisions.
20:36I can't believe Sean McVay got as conservative as he did at the end of overtime
20:40when they're trying to go for the game-winning game.
20:42Agreed.
20:42And then for Brady, you know, a second-down kick, I'm glad he had confidence in Tyler Bass,
20:47but that really – that could have gone very, very poorly.
20:52Yeah, I was surprised at – let me start with McVay.
20:56I agree with you.
20:57I said, man, they might want to get this closer.
21:00And, you know, it's still a bit of a shot.
21:02Now, I'm thinking, okay, it's a dome.
21:05You know, he's got a nice enough leg.
21:07It's not, like, super far out, but, guys, if McVay decides to get that ball closer
21:12and they do, it probably doesn't get blocked.
21:15Greg Rousseau said because it was a longer kick, he knew it would come out on the angle it did.
21:19Like, you know, it has to be a little bit lower.
21:22I mean, we didn't even talk about the blocked kicks.
21:24Incredible, right?
21:24I mean, what a play.
21:25And for Greg Rousseau to get up there and after the game, Michael Hoyt told me,
21:29like, they drew up a scheme on the sidelines for that.
21:31A scheme they had known that they had done before that was in their arsenal,
21:34but they went to it and they said, let's do this.
21:36And Hoyt said his job was to kind of take out the tight end,
21:40twist them a little bit, to allow Greg to get a little bit more in the middle.
21:43I was perfectly executed by the special teams, right,
21:45to be able to do something like that.
21:47But you're right.
21:47I thought that.
21:49I was also very surprised they kicked it on second down.
21:52Now, I don't see this as much in football anymore,
21:55but when I was growing up, they would always say, like, hey,
21:57if you're in that situation, kick on third down because if you have a bad snap,
22:00then you get another play, right?
22:01You get a bad snap, you can fall on it.
22:02So coaches will do that.
22:04So I've always kind of been trained in my life.
22:06Like, third down is a good down to kick it on just in case something bad happens.
22:10But he goes on on second down.
22:11So, of course, in the locker room in the postgame, he was asked about it.
22:15And I understand his answer.
22:16His answer was, hey, we wanted to avoid something bad happening.
22:21Like, guys are going to be punching at the ball.
22:23They'd already put the ball on the ground twice.
22:25Josh could take some sort of shot.
22:26And that's, A, maybe losing the ball.
22:29B, also getting hurt.
22:30They were in position.
22:31They knew they had confidence in Tyler Bass from there.
22:34Let's just go do it now.
22:35Let's take out all of the negative things that can basically happen right here.
22:39So we – and I'm fine with anybody debating that and saying that wasn't a good choice.
22:44But I understand his thought process there when you think about it.
22:47That is, though, if you want to run the ball.
22:48I don't see any negative outcome if you're going to kneel it.
22:52Right.
22:53The other thing is, maybe this finally gets to – you know, I've been, like, flirting with this point for
22:57weeks.
22:59Should they have another running back they feel comfortable handing the ball to?
23:05Because they don't.
23:05Maybe.
23:06They give it to Cook or Allen runs it.
23:09And there's no – like, this is a GM that in the past has had multiple backs, whether it's –
23:14you know, they signed Damian Harris with the idea that he was going to be a little bit of a
23:17hammer.
23:17They signed Frank Gore – or, sorry, they drafted Frank Gore when they had Devin Singletary.
23:21I'm not asking them to be – to have it be a running back that takes away carries from James
23:27Cook.
23:27But in drives like this, now I have the most fumble-prone back in the league.
23:32I might want to roster a guy I feel good handing the ball to that I feel won't fumble.
23:38Because –
23:38They did that.
23:39They had done that.
23:40I think they feel confident with Ray Davis or Ty Johnson in that situation.
23:44Then hand that guy the ball on second and ten.
23:47I mean, whatever, like you said, like, it's a good debate.
23:49But what's more likely, Cook fumbles or Tyler Bass misses from a distance where he hits from 80%?
23:56Like, I don't think there's a 20% chance of a fumble on those plays.
23:59And Bass had already missed from closer.
24:02Again – right.
24:04I'm just saying, like, he thought about a lot of that.
24:06He's just saying he – it wasn't just James Cook could fumble.
24:09It was anything.
24:09It could be a bad snap.
24:10Let's do it now.
24:12And, again, I'm not defending it necessarily.
24:14I'm just saying I understand his thought process.
24:16I would have waited an extra down.
24:18Even if you do take a knee – he even mentioned that.
24:20He brought that up.
24:21Like, it's not like the coach didn't think about it.
24:23He just thought that's – Josh could take a shot.
24:26Someone's coming after him.
24:27I'm not doing that.
24:28I'm in position to win the game.
24:29Let's go do it now.
24:30So, again, open for debate.
24:32No doubt about it.
24:33I would have waited one extra down.
24:36It was – you know, you take a knee, you're going to lose, what, two yards?
24:38He still could make it from there.
24:40But, yeah, I thought the end of the half was also bad game management.
24:43Yeah, the end of the half, it struck me they were in between
24:46and didn't know what they wanted to do.
24:48Yeah.
24:48Yeah, and I thought both sides did – I don't know what the Rams did either,
24:52like eight seconds left on the clock.
24:53Right.
24:53They could have tried one play.
24:55Instead, they kind of ran out the clock, and then they almost scored, actually.
24:58I wondered about that play because it looked like they were looking
25:00for a quick pass, and once it wasn't there, they had the backside deep throw
25:04because that was open.
25:05And my guess is, like, if Stafford puts a little bit better ball there,
25:09we might be saying the Bills got got.
25:11Like, they were fully expecting a short pass and let Puka Nakua get behind them.
25:15Like, for all the talk about how they kept everything in front,
25:18the Rams had that one play saved, and Stafford just missed the throw.
25:23All right.
25:24Yeah.
25:24And so, yeah, I think the end of the half and the overtime certainly, you know,
25:31up for debate the way the two teams played it.
25:33One thing that I know that people did talk about, like,
25:37from a Rams perspective after, but I remember last year, like,
25:42people talking about how the Rams just have not been good on special teams.
25:44It's something that Sean McVay, like, hasn't addressed enough
25:47in his coaching tenure.
25:49And their special teams cost them.
25:51Yep.
25:51The opening kickoff return by the Bills was a big one,
25:54and then what happened at the end of the game.
25:56So, you know, just interesting on both sides of the ledger here.
25:58If you're covering the Rams, we're talking about the Rams this morning, guys.
26:01I think there's a lot of questions about how Sean McVay managed that game
26:04from both a clock management and a special team standpoint.
26:06So, I think the special teams cost them the Super Bowl last year.
26:10That's right.
26:10They are a team that has been great.
26:12And here you go.
26:14So, Ben Solak had this.
26:16According to NextGenStats, the Rams, in win probability over the course of all
26:20of last season, lost 110% in win probability.
26:24That's, like, percentage per game.
26:26This year, they've already lost 104% in total win probability on special teams.
26:31It's a whole game.
26:32A whole game, basically.
26:33If you add up all the things they've lost, but a whole game already this year.
26:38So, crazy.
26:39All right, Sal, we've got to run.
26:40We'll talk tomorrow.
26:42Okay, yeah, real quick.
26:43Spencer Brown with the back injury, and we don't have an update on him.
26:47We will hear from Joe Brady on a Zoom later today.
26:49And Bradley Chubb's okay from getting punched in the face.
26:52That was wild.
26:53I didn't see that until afterwards, so I'm sure that there will be a discussion
26:56and find out what happened there.
26:57Barnes Firm injury report brought to you by the Barnes Firm.
26:59If you've been injured in a car crash, call the Barnes Firm, 1-800-8-Million.
27:03Pro Football Talks Mike Florio on the Bananas game we saw at SoFi.
27:08Coming up next.