00:00Football Friday here on WGR, Bills and Raiders out in Vegas.
00:03The Mafia takes Las Vegas.
00:06Joining us on the Western Hotline, Mr. Vic Carucci, NFL Insider.
00:10The chat about the Bills and Raiders and all things Bills.
00:12Vic, good morning.
00:14Good morning, guys. Great to be with you.
00:15Great to be here. Great to be here on a football Friday.
00:18The Bills go to a stadium that they have played in before, but never with fans.
00:22And I feel like it's, you know, Vic, the NFL went to Vegas
00:25and they got themselves a destination location.
00:27A lot like Nashville, maybe New Orleans.
00:29And for the Mafia, the first time ever to get there.
00:31I feel like it's not lost on me just how many Bills fans will probably be there.
00:35It might be an overtaking the likes of which we've never seen before.
00:40Jeremy, I think it's arguably the biggest storyline of this game.
00:46I know we got other stuff, but in terms of just what you said, this is Vegas.
00:52These are Bills fans, Western New Yorkers who flock there when the Bills aren't there,
00:58along with a lot of other people.
01:00And this has been circled right in the brightest colors on the schedule for these fans.
01:06This opportunity to go to Vegas and watch their Bills play a football game.
01:11You're right.
01:12This could be the ultimate takeover.
01:15We thought we saw it at SoFi with mostly the Chargers, I guess,
01:19because they, you know, that always gets taken over.
01:23But, yeah, that's in my mind.
01:25This is definitely not going to feel like a home game for the Raiders.
01:28Yeah.
01:28And for the Bills, Vic, do you think there's any sort of get-right potential for the defense?
01:33The defense, we've got two things that have really been the stories around the team
01:36and the way they played on the field.
01:37It's James Cook fumbling, maybe, and the defense and what it's looked like.
01:41Do you get the sense that the defense needs outside help, time to marinate, or maybe both?
01:50Well, I would say both, but the more realistic is the time to marinate
01:55because I don't know how much outside help is going to make a difference
01:59when that outside help is coming to you in October.
02:03It's just in-season fixes like this, I'm not going to say they never work out,
02:10but they're rarely helpful because who's available?
02:14And if anybody is worth anything to you, then that person would be employed somewhere,
02:19you would think.
02:20So that's one way to look at it.
02:23As far as the marination, most of that is related to the core of players
02:29who had been part of Sean McDermott's scheme still becoming comfortable
02:33with what Jim Leonard is doing.
02:36But even that, honestly, doesn't fully address to me the issues.
02:41The issues that I see are based on personnel, based on the way players are performing, executing.
02:48I think there's got to be some level of frustration that you have players
02:52who the fundamental things of coverage, for instance, aren't working.
02:57You just can't have Puka Nakua get that many targets and that many catches.
03:03What was it, 17 and 20-plus targets?
03:06There was no doubt in the course of the game where Matthew Stafford was sending the ball,
03:13and yet basically your entire coverage, your entire secondary wasn't addressing that.
03:18That's on coaching too, but it's really, to me, a function of poor execution.
03:24Yeah, and we also saw, Vic, in the Rams game, a very conservative game plan defensively,
03:29and we continue to not really see, I think, what we thought Jim Leonard would be as a defensive coordinator.
03:36How much do you think that could have just been the Rams, and this week against the Raiders,
03:41the idea that they would just sit back and let them take four, five, six yards at a time
03:46against this team, maybe we should not expect that.
03:49It was an effort to just do that against Puka and Adams.
03:53Yeah, Joe, I think you nailed it, because this should be different, first of all.
03:58When you have Puka Nakua, when you have Devontae Adams and Higby,
04:03what the Rams were able to send at them, plus Matthew Stafford,
04:09aggressiveness could be a formula for disaster.
04:13I'm not saying what they did worked either, but what does aggressive mean?
04:20You know, intensifying your bliss packages and coming after that quarterback as much as you can.
04:26You're vacating so much, we know this, basic football.
04:29Against the Raiders, Brock Bowers is the threat.
04:34I mean, take away Brock Bowers, and then you've taken away their passing game.
04:37They don't have receivers who are basically going to threaten you.
04:42Now, I'm saying that, and of course, you know, people will say,
04:44well, wait a minute, who can they cover?
04:46Because they struggle pretty much against anybody who runs a pattern.
04:51But I firmly believe that this would be a game where you could get aggressive,
04:56where you make Kirk Cousins really feel the heat and see the variety of coverages.
05:04And you have to do that with, he's experienced.
05:06He'll solve things.
05:07He'll know where to go with the ball.
05:09He'll know where the pressure is coming from.
05:11That doesn't mean he or they are going to handle it.
05:15And on Bowers, how could you see that going?
05:18He does line up out wide a lot, so it won't just be the linebackers.
05:21But, Vic, I've thought a lot about the linebackers, as many have this week,
05:24with this matchup and with what Joe Brady has said about them.
05:28I don't know how close we might be to personnel changes there,
05:32but it isn't going well, for sure.
05:35Right, and Joe, just listening to what Jim Leonard said in his meeting with the press out west,
05:43it sounded like he's inclined or they're inclined to make the changes we're talking about here,
05:50that they're very necessary at this point, something.
05:53Now, what does that look like?
05:55Are we going to be surprised come game day if there's some lineup shifting and changing?
06:00Remember, this was before the Ram game.
06:03What did Joe Brady say about Max Hairston, right?
06:06No problem, he's going to be the starter.
06:07No, Davis and Igben Olsen got the run there.
06:10And I think we're going to see more of Davis and Igben Olsen.
06:13I think we're going to see some of that variety.
06:15It's that slot kind of corner thing that's a little bit, a lot of bit, up in the air with
06:21me.
06:22It's how these safeties are being used and how they're playing.
06:27Because when we're talking about neutralizing a tight end,
06:31I mean, you can go one of two ways with this.
06:33You can figure out a coverage plan with him,
06:36knowing you don't have to worry about a quarterback running on you, really, and spying him.
06:42So there's an extra defender available for coverage versus that.
06:47And even if they went to Fernando Mendoza in the course of the game,
06:50still not worried about him vacating the pocket too often.
06:55You could let Brock Bowers catch his passes and then force them, are you going to run?
07:02Is Ashton Gentry really going to pound away and neutralize your...
07:07Because that's the only way I think they can go to handle the other part of this.
07:13Remember, we're not in vacuums here.
07:14You've got an offense you've got to worry about that has Josh Allen and all the explosiveness
07:19that can, even with his legs, that is going to rack up a lot of points on you.
07:24So you need to slow that down.
07:25Vic, we're watching Joe Brady in his first ever year as a coach.
07:29Last week, we talked about how he responded to his first loss.
07:32How do you feel like he handled all of the James Cook conversations
07:35and the idea that fumbling has to be unacceptable,
07:38but you have a great player here who's an important part of your team.
07:42How do you feel like Brady handled it?
07:45Honestly, Jeremy, I feel like that's about as well as you could.
07:49I tried to put myself in those shoes.
07:52How would you address James Cook and the fumbling?
07:55Because it's a conundrum and a half.
07:59You've got an outstanding running back.
08:02You've got a really talented, one of the best in the league.
08:04Obviously, he had the best and most yards last year,
08:07but it's on a consistent basis he is a factor difference maker
08:11for you carrying the football.
08:14And yet, he also is a difference maker when he loses the football.
08:18It's happened too often, obviously.
08:20We know that.
08:22But how do you handle it?
08:24Because you can't remove him from your offense, I don't think,
08:29and you'll feel, to me, more pain doing that
08:32than I think you would risking him carrying the ball
08:35and possibly losing it.
08:37Is there a discipline path on this
08:40where you're sitting him down for the first series of the next game
08:43to teach him a lesson?
08:45Guys, I think we could safely say, the three of us here,
08:49that's not Joe Brady's style.
08:50That is not how he's going to coach.
08:52He is a connect with the players kind of guy.
08:55The term is players coach.
08:57Okay, I'm not saying that makes him soft.
09:00I'm saying there's a trust thing that he wants to maintain.
09:06And I think, again, I don't know the psyche of James Cook
09:10so deeply that I could say this super confidently,
09:14but my outside observation of him is if you do that,
09:18if you try to make him feel some level of punishment
09:23for the fumbles and discipline that way, you could lose him.
09:27I mean, he's the kind of guy that I think you could lose.
09:30You know, Vic, as you're talking about this,
09:32I wonder if what we might get as a result of all of this with Cook
09:36is nothing that even would read like a punishment
09:39or like you sit out a drive,
09:41but how many times have Bills fans complained
09:44about Cook not being on the field on big drives in the playoffs?
09:48And it's Ty Johnson that's out there instead.
09:50And maybe what we just end up getting is late game situations,
09:54big plays, whatever, that Cook's just not out there
09:58because they're nervous to give him the ball
10:01because they just know this is a thing with him
10:03and that it's Ty Johnson that's the guy out there
10:05in some of your biggest moments.
10:08Well, Joe, the flip side, what you're saying, of course,
10:10is a logical thought, but the flip side of it is
10:14if you're not getting the desired result, say with Ty Johnson,
10:19Ray Davis doing something other than James Cook
10:21in that crucial role, and what happens?
10:24You know, those cameras zoom in on James Cook's face on the sideline.
10:28He's been having this big game, let's say, rushing-wise,
10:32and here's the critical moment to set up a winning field goal
10:34or go ahead and touchdown, whatever it might be,
10:37in that crunch time.
10:40I think it exacerbates it.
10:42I think it's probably worse for it to happen then,
10:45worse in the sense of negative impact on Cook
10:48and the Cook thereafter that you still have to rely on
10:52when you've taken him out of that situation.
10:55And if it doesn't work, you know, Jeremy White,
11:00Sneaky Joe, Vic Carucci, everybody else,
11:03what are we going to be doing?
11:04What are we going to talk about?
11:05We're going to talk about that.
11:06Yeah, because we did – what's the game?
11:09Is it the Chief playoff game two years ago where he's not out there
11:11after he scored the touchdown?
11:13Yes.
11:13And that got brought up immediately by everybody.
11:14He scored the fourth and one, the incredible effort.
11:17Like, you're not in that game without him.
11:19And then they put Johnson on the field.
11:20Yeah.
11:21Right.
11:21So, I mean, it's the beauty of what we get to do,
11:25second guess and talk.
11:26And usually when things are bad, there's a lot more for us to discuss.
11:30I don't frankly think – I think you used the term get right game
11:36Jeremy at the start of this.
11:38And I feel that.
11:39I feel that the Raiders are going to struggle with the crowd noise.
11:43I feel like they're just going to struggle in general.
11:46I think the Raiders we saw against the Patriots from –
11:49and from what I've discussed with others who are around that team a lot more.
11:53I had a good conversation with Kirk Morrison for the show on Channel 2,
11:59WGRZ Plus, to get his take on it.
12:01And his sense, too, is that they weren't – this hot start that they had
12:06really wasn't reflective of what they are.
12:08And a Patriot team that came in still missing some of the key pieces
12:12that were missing against the Bills tore them up.
12:15And this could be a tear-em-up situation.
12:18Josh Allen working with a quarterback guru to work on mechanical flaws
12:23that he is seeing that maybe the head coach says aren't quite as bad
12:26as Josh says, whatever.
12:28But all of that combined, even with the defensive issues we know are real
12:32and the passing game issues, which definitely are also real,
12:37I'm not – I can't find a path where the Raiders can make themselves
12:43the better team and win this game.
12:45Mick Carucci joining us, part of our Football Friday.
12:48Vic, thanks.
12:49We'll chat next week.
12:49Enjoy the game.
12:51All right, guys.
12:51You too.
12:52Vic's appearance brought to you by Northtown Volkswagen,
12:54Northtown VW, West of New York's number one VW dealer.
12:57Get a break in.
12:58Sal coming up top of the hour from California as this team prepares
13:02to get to Vegas for week six.
13:05Jeremy and Joe on WGR.
