Hour 2 - Sal Capaccio on Week 1 and looking back on McDermott's tenure

0:00So, South Capaccio joining us on a Western hotline football seasons upon us. Tomorrow we get a game between the defending Super Bowl champions E-Hawks and the Patriots who just signed quarterback Christian Gonzalez to a monster deal. So the season starts tomorrow and then Thursday in Australia. I don't know what day that is in Australia. I've cousins that live in Australia. So I always have to ask my phone what time it is there before I call them. So yeah, Kyle Shanahan's having trouble with that. We're going to get that later. And of course, Bill's in Texans Sunday, one o'clock. Welcome, Sal, to another football season. Yeah, you're right. It's funny. I don't know if you saw the story about how who was it that one of the one of the Patriots, I'm sorry, one of the 49ers, coaches his birthday was the day that got skipped by them traveling. So he never got his 50th birthday. Yeah. They left on the second they landed on the fourth. His birthday is the third.

1:00Yeah. So actually he lost his whole birthday. I did that trip a couple years ago as you might remember. And I was actually in Australia when the bills, it's stuff on digs. And that's what happened. You leave on like a Tuesday, you arrive on a Thursday and you have never experienced Wednesday in your life. It's time travel. And then the way back, you leave maybe on a Wednesday and you come back on a Tuesday. So you actually go back in time. Yeah. So yes, you're right about that. Jeremy, it's very confusing. But I know this. The game will kick off at 8.35 p.m. Eastern time Thursday night. Thursday night football. You're also while you're in Australia surrounded by venomous snakes the entire time and scorpions. And Caljane also said he was surprised he hadn't seen crocodiles and kangaroos just like walking around. Which with kangaroos, I think you do see those. Anyway, so bills Texans, you know, I was just pulling something up here from a Texans account called Houston Stressens. But actually some good info here about the differences in these teams from last year to this year. And we'll start with the bills, of course. And it's not just additions on the field like DJ Moore and Skyler Bell.

2:04But last year when these two teams played, Dalton, Kankade and Kianne Coleman did not play. And on the defensive side, I've got a ton of new players. Sure, we've got a coaching scheme change on the defense. But what I'm most interested in is how this offense looks in an early test. And arguably its biggest test just straight up against another defense on the road in that environment. And for Kankade and Coleman and Moore and Bell, all to be new pieces from just last year. That says I've got Joe Brady with a full arsenal where and maybe the last two seasons he hasn't had that. Yeah, it's interesting. So we had Mark Vandermeier, the Texans play by play announcer on our always game day Buffalo podcast. And you know, we all know the reality of what's happened the last few times the bills have gone down there, right? Including last couple of years, it's statistically some of the worst performances of Josh Allen career, especially the one a couple of years ago. But the bills really just did not handle the Texans defense. And to your point, what he's saying is he said basically even despite all that, it took every single thing the Texans had until the last drive in each game to beat the bills.

3:15And the bills have not been, they have not had, you know, they're for full arsenal, maybe or they just played a really tough game and bad game. And last year was all about not protecting Josh Allen on that being said, you go out there and presumably healthy now, we will wait this week to see what happens with Colossia here. We don't know if he's going to be healthy enough to play Thai Johnson. We don't know if he's healthy enough to play. Those are two really big parts. And I would say really, I think both of them are extremely important in this game because as much as you didn't have Kankade or Cole, the last time they played and those are going to be big pieces to add to the offense, especially Kankade in this situation. I would argue that Thai Johnson is a very, very important piece for past blocking what they want to do on third down against that defensive unit for the Texans. And of course, Colossia here and having him available in the slot and able to kind of just be that outlet guy for Josh Allen. So yes, you're right. You're adding a couple pieces in and if you can stay completely healthy, that could mean a big difference for the bills in this one obviously.

4:15First of all, for Thai Johnson, the injury report, we get the full designations tomorrow officially for the first time. We've kind of gone through the preseason and the bills and anything that wants to can do this, they can kind of fudge who's doing what? But by tomorrow, official designations, we know who's getting treatment will get game designations as well. That's correct tomorrow will be the first time that that'll happen for the games going on this week. We already have those as far as the Wednesday game, the Thursday game. For any game on Sunday, like the bills, first designation will come out tomorrow. We'll be out of practice tomorrow. Obviously there's nothing today with the team for the media, anything like that. So got to wait another day. It's a normal Sunday week for the team. So it's a Tuesday. They're doing their routine leading into a Sunday game. So Wednesday, Thursday practice Wednesday injury designations. And I wouldn't be surprised to see Thai Johnson, Kool-O-Shakir, Jalen Kilgorge, I'm Solomon, Jordan Hancock. Those are the five guys that have not practiced really. And all of them, you know, are interesting for how they fit on the roster in their own right.

5:16Good to get back Conor McGovern last week. I wouldn't be surprised we still on the injury report guys at our practicing Conor McGovern key on Coleman. He came back the last week. So I'm sure you might get some of these guys on the injury report. But you know, we'll see where they trend from Wednesday to Thursday and then to Sunday. So I wonder about that. Sal, you said like they haven't been practicing and throughout this process, if a player is injured, Joe Brady might have said, Hey, if there were a real game, he'd be able to play. I wonder how he approaches that with practice because we did hear a story this week or last week, maybe where when DJ more picked up that injury in the preseason game that he wanted to keep going and go back out there and practice through an injury. And this is a big time thing to watch, right. How they handle practices and what if a guy practices on this day, how likely is he to play because this head coach might have a different approach to getting a guy ready for a Sunday game as the last head coach. Yeah, and I don't have the specific numbers on this, but I felt like last year, there were less vet rest days that went on.

6:17There was less of the backing off on guys that happened, you know, guys might not be out there to Wednesday. It's a vet rest day, but it felt like there was a little bit less of that last year. Last year, there were also a lot of practice injuries. Remember that like there was just a lot of guys that throughout the week, you be like, oh my God, this guy got injured during practice. Like he wasn't on the injury report on Wednesday, but he was on Thursday. Guys got guys getting their feet stepped on a lot last year, feel like they have like three or four times different different things like that. Get an ankle roll, whatever it was, and I agree with you. I think all of that, and I will tell you, like they look at all of that, and they, what is the reason for that? Is it just some sort of bad luck or is it something we're doing different? And I wouldn't be surprised if Joe Brady has a, you know, some sort of plan to try to avoid those kinds of things, whatever that might be. I agree with you, like what does it look like this year? But let's remember, Jeremy, what it looks like in the beginning of the season when it comes to Wednesday, Thursday, guys banged up, who's practicing is probably a lot different than what it looks like in October or even December. You even have different rules in the NFL. Once you get past a certain number of weeks, how many padded practices you can have actually and things like that. So things evolve throughout the year. And then let's remember this is injury. We haven't talked a lot about this because you're not trying to jump ahead.

7:24The bills actually have two games and five days. Yeah. The bills don't just play on Sunday. They also play a week from Thursday. Which would mean load managing maybe somebody for the first game to the second night. Right. So exactly. So let's just say you think, let's just say you think Ty Johnson's close might not be quite there. I think it might matter that they've a game on Thursday and you say, look, if we play him on Sunday, you know, I don't know how good he's going to be for Thursday or a re injury, something like that. You're just always concerned about that. You back off on him because you get that extra few days just to be available for week two. And then you also have 10 days to the next game. Right. So I think all that has to matter. So sell to beat the Texans. Obviously like it's the bills defense stopping. See just try to let's start with the bills offense. And what you think they will want to do differently because the last time they played there. It was about not only a loss, but it was about Josh being as exposed as he ever was in terms of taking hits. He took a ton of hits. A ton of sacks. And after the game, it felt like the national media descended on the bills for what was Joe Brady doing.

8:35What were the bills doing? They could not leave him out there like that. Their tackles were injured. Dawkins with a concussion, brown of the shoulder injury. What do you think the biggest difference will be in the way that they try to keep Alan from taking the beating that he did last time? Yeah, and I felt like the last game last year, the big story was leaving the tackles on an island kind of right against Will Anderson and the Neil Hunter and that group. They've Jadavian clowning out too. I know he's older, but he's adding to their past rush. Right. I mean, just they just have dudes that did get after the pastor. And that's what they're going to do. And it's really loud in that stadium and it's tough to hear and get your checks in and they're going to have to be very buttoned up. I think the best way to be buttoned up is to make sure that you're insulating Josh just a little bit more. Maybe that means you got to get rid of the ball a little bit quicker. We've talked a lot Jeremy since really this. This off season started when they hired Pete Carmichael, junior about his influence on the offense and how wherever he's been, they've thrown to the running backs more, right? Ladinian Tomlinson with the chargers and Alvin Camaro with the Saints like that's just been something that's been a part of his offensive acumen and resume where he's been. And I wonder if we see some of that. And again, I'm going to go back to I think Thai Johnson's a really important player in this game if they can get him back.

9:47And we'll see where that goes. But either way, James Cook might have to be involved in the passing game. Tite ends are going to be involved in the passing game. I think that's where this game is going to be really interesting. Talking again with Mark Vandermeer, who happened, who is the Titans play by play announcer. We asked him a mad asked him like, Hey, we know how really good the Texans defenses, but where can they, where should the bills try to attack? He mentioned the linebacker level and how they rotate linebackers sometimes and maybe the bills will try to get a specific matchup. So I think that to me points to slot points to tight end points to Dalton can cade might point to running backs out of the backfield. I know everybody wants to see DJ more every week at 10 catches for 120 yards and oh my god, here we are. We could bills got the receivers got the receivers. What I what have I said since I've worked at WGR with you every game has its own DNA right. I mean like this might not be the game for that. This might be the game where. Hey, get the ball out of your hands. Get it to your tight ends. Get some matchups against linebackers. Make sure your quarterback is, you know, not feeling the heat and taking sacks like you did last game. Make sure that you have extra protection. Go back to what you asked originally on this question.

10:54Make sure you're not leaving those tackles on an island. Make sure you're giving a little bit of a chip here. You know, a little bit of, you know, double team there and things like that. I think this might be the kind of game for that. Yeah, Shakira ended up having eight for 110 in their last game on 10 targets and you know sells you say slot for him. One thing we're waiting to see from this bill's offense and its evolution is we'll calliel Shakira distance himself from the line of scrimmage in a way that he really didn't last year. We can't do it. We just know how they use them. Do you think we are in for a change in the way Shakira is deployed? I do from a standpoint of I don't know if you're just going to see so many throws like great down the line screens like that. Like that's going to happen sometimes, right. But I think you'll see more of a true slot receiver running routes getting open five six 10 yards down the field from that aspect. I think you probably use callio Shakira a little bit more around the field. You know, then what you saw last year last year he was just.

11:56I think I mean, I have to go look at his average death of the target. I'm sure I can find that. But it just seemed like every time that they threw to callio Shakira was something really short. There were times where maybe he was a little bit more down the field. But yeah, I think that's got to be a part of the game plan this year. Again, I think maybe Sunday doesn't look quite like it might look on Thursday night in the opener at home against Detroit Lions. That might be who are without a couple of safety's right. I think that game in this game are going to look maybe totally different than what we see. But this game might be a game where you have to throw the ball short to callio. You have to throw the ball short to the running backs. This year, though, I would expect callio Shakira's numbers to be a little bit higher in that category getting down the field. Look at it last year's box score and just like going down memory lane Shakira 110. Ty Johnson, who you mentioned could be a big part of a game plan 45 yards receiving third in receiving that day was Jackson haws with 26 yards. And the number one receiver outside of Shakira was Gabe Davis, who had a catch with 22 yards. It's a revamped core. I even got an Elijah Moore catch in here one catch for minus three.

12:58Sell to the defensive side injuries. By the way, can I just say I just looked it up. Average length of reception for a little Shakira last year. So this means in the air of all his catches, the average yards down field he was when he caught the ball. 2.6 yards 83rd in the NFL amongst qualifiers. Yeah, for his average depth of target, not just like caught balls. I mean, he was I think only, you know, the only guy below him might have been Greg Dorch by the way, ironically, and who's now with the bills and could handle punt return duties. Sell to the defensive side of the ball. Nico Collins has had some success against this team. The the revamped defense, the safety room. You mentioned you're watching Jalen Kilgore and how he looks in terms of injury status for the defense. How's it looking for week one? I'm really excited to see what Jim Leonard has in storage here. I mean, I just think all the messaging we've been getting from Jim Leonard and the defensive players is kind of they've been

14:00really kind of working on their communication and they're they're based stuff, but they're kind of holding stuff back here and they're waiting. They're not going to show you in preseason. And I don't know if the Texans are necessarily knowing what they're going to get from Jim Leonard and the Buffalo Bill's defense. So I'm interested, you know, they're going to be they're going to be it's more aggressive unit. They're going to play more man to man. We know that all those things are going to happen, but the blitzing, where is that going to come from? So I think that's going to be really interesting to watch here. The only like roster question I think we have right going into this game. The one thing we don't know who is starting at linebacker. We still don't know that. Now today there should be game notes and a depth chart come out. That doesn't have to mean you don't have to like you can less whoever you want in the depth chart doesn't mean that guy has to actually be on the field to start the game, right? So, but are we going to see Tarrabranard with Doreen Williams? Are we going to see Tarrabranard with Caleb E. Larmzor? And if we see that is one of them who's a Mike who's the will, right? Like that's the one question.

15:00So you asked me like what's the defense look like? I'm wondering what that position specifically looks like and then schematically. And this comes down to really to me. Yes, the bill's defense. But what are you getting from CJ Stroud? CJ, there's a lot of questions about CJ Stroud in Houston right now. When he came out his rookie year, he looked like maybe the next great superstar quarterback. I mean, he was terrific. And then he he's been inconsistent since then. I went back and looked Jeremy. Have you look at the last four games he played last year? This is two regular season, two playoffs. He had he had five touchdowns and seven interceptions in those four games. And there were offensive line issues. They feel a lot better about their offensive line now than they did last year. The Texans do. They feel a lot better about their running game than they do last year according to Mark. Like he's very he said they didn't have the running backs. I like what he marks was there, but he really likes what he marks. They they have David Montgomery now. So this will be a different kind of Texans offense. And honestly, with their injuries at wide receiver with no Jaden Higgins.

16:01I know they've Nico Collins. He's very, very good. Higgins is hurt. Tank Dell is not playing yet. Booty just got there. This could be the same thing on the other side. I just talked about I think that they're they may be looking at hey, we're going to they're going to try and run the ball. And yeah, they're going to take a shot or two down field in Nico Collins, but this might be a game where they're getting guys involved underneath and doing those kinds of things because they don't have quite their full arsenal yet. South Capaccio and a bills game week season starts in the NFL tomorrow from the from Seattle Seattle in New England. The bills open in Houston Sunday, one o'clock. And so finally, like all right, the coaching staff, right? Whether it's Jim Leonard and him in putting together this new defense, he's kind of told us I think he's told us essentially that it's a work in progress and we'll see how it comes along. They're throwing a lot at all these players to see what they can do. And now it seems like this is the time where they're going to build it into what it's supposed to be. But offensively and for the head coach, Joe Brady, his first game on the field, calling plays, running things in that environment.

17:05What have you gathered from him in terms of his readiness, his nerves? I mean, Brady seems to be a pretty just authentic guy, right? I'll just, you know, tell you how he feels about things. How do you feel like he's approaching this game his first as an NFL head coach? Yeah, first of all, the other question I have is where is Jim Leonard going to be when he calls the defense, right? Because we don't we don't know, but we know Joe Brady is going to be on the field. He's a head coach. He's going to call the offense from down there. We don't know what you're going to be down downstairs or up top. He's still working through that. You know, going back to when Joe Brady was named the head coach, there was a lot of surrounding that, right? And just, you know, the NFL offseason and the changes. And people wondered, can this young head coach with not much experience elevate this Buffalo Bill's team to where they haven't been yet? And there were a lot of questions about that. And we all have them. And then you get to, you know, work out in April. Then you get to OTA's in May and then many camp.

18:05And then you get to preseason. And I would say, Jeremy, from my perspective, I think Joe Brady has kind of checked off a lot of these boxes along the way. He really has what I mean by that is the energy around the building we knew would be a bit different. It is. I think I think players are really responding to him. Like just being around there, I'd really do. I think players are really responding to him. The energy he brings. There's no doubt about it. It feels like the operation of everything. When I watch a new coach, when I watch a young team, and this isn't a young team, but all those things, a lot of things I'm looking for operationally. Like how does it look operational? I'll give you an example. You go to Cleveland. That joint practice. Like operationally, the Browns offense, you can tell they couldn't get out of their own way sometimes, right? Like that was the talking point. It's not just Watson and Sanders who's better. It's who can run the offense better. The bills operationally under Joe Brady going back to everything I've watched in April and May. Everything's smooth. It looks good. Like it looks like it's supposed to look. You know how it's supposed to look.

19:07And it looks like it's supposed to look now. So I think, and then you then you get to the preseason. They have two pretty much blowout wins and they have that late come back win at the end. And I mean, that's great for any young coach. First time head coach. I don't care if it's preseason. You get that feeling of, hey, we got these guys the bottom of the roster. They're fighting their butts off. We're trying to win. We win that game. So I think Joe has done all of that right. But we all know that if they go to Houston and lose on Sunday in any way, shape or form, a lot of that gets erased, right? From the fan base and people come out. It doesn't have to be reality of, you know, doesn't have to be an indictment on who he's going to be as a head coach, whether this year or rest of his life. But we know how this is going to work. So I just think that up till now, he has checked a lot of these boxes. He has answered a lot of these questions, a lot of the critics, criticisms, all those kinds of things. I love the energy around it. I love the operation around it. I think it looks really good to me. It looks like it's supposed to look. You got to go to Houston and win that game, though, I think, to kind of validate that both internally and externally.

20:08And then you go from there quick with Sal, Mike in Pennsylvania, Mike, good morning. Hey, good morning, guys. Hey, real quick. Two things defense. I'm excited. But Sal, I really called for you because 20 years ago, I got a story for you real quick about your Syracuse Orange mental of the weekend. 20 years ago, my best friend and I were sitting down playing Madden and we were forecasting having sons and playing in the NFL and fast forward to 20 years later. I had four daughters didn't have a son, but my best friend is and his sons and Sylvain, Aderson, Jr. And I told you that guy's a manchild retouched down sparse game, true freshmen, York, Pennsylvania, 10 carries. And it looked beautiful out there. Can we do our rest of the college season or his college career? Thanks, Mike. Love it. Thanks Mike. Shaveen Anderson. He look good. He look good. They look. Hey, we got to celebrate a 63 point win. Sal, I spent the weekend saying don't talk to me unless your college team scored 60. I don't want to hear anybody. Don't talk to me unless you scored 60.

21:1366 to three for Syracuse over New Hampshire. You know, by the way, speaking of he's talking about like 20 years ago, we'll go back a little further than that. Was that Bill's practice last week? And you know who was there on the sidelines watching Kevin Rogers. Remember him, the offensive coordinator for Don of a McNabb and like, and I get introduced to him. They said, Hey, Kevin Rogers. Oh my gosh, they start talking. I'm like, I was there. I said, I watched the freeze option. And he started laughing. We were talking about it. And just like, you know, the evolution of football, basically these days. And those were some fun times. And hey, this this week, that was a nice, that was a nice win for Syracuse. They haven't even nice group of running backs. And then you have to get used to this. I told Max, we're watching the game. The running backs name at Syracuse is Ty Lee kill, not Ty Rekyll, Ty Lee kill. And then the kid that he's talking about as well that came out and as a true freshman was terrific. These kids today, Sal, they don't know the freeze option. They don't understand what it was like to watch McDab take it, fake the fullback dive up the middle, sprint out to the right, stop and launch it down field.

22:20Amazing. You know what? Next time I talked to Joe Brady, I'm going to ask about the freeze option. Josh Allen could run the freeze option. I'm just saying. Well, I think that's where I believe that that's Kevin Rogers and Joe Brady crossed over. They know each other. And Kevin was with Joe. And that's how they, that's why he was at practice apparently. I mean, I will ascend to another plane of existence if I see a from Josh from Josh. I tell so practice tomorrow for the bills and then you know normal week schedule because of a Sunday game. So we'll get designations tomorrow and all that. Yep, you got it. So nothing for the media for the team today. You know what you said today they should usually choose a you get like game no step chart, but you know that we'll see if that happens this week. It is week one. And today and then tomorrow practice injury designations will practice tomorrow Thursday Friday and then get on a plane on Saturday for Houston very good excited to talk to you about it throughout. Thanks, Sel. You got it. So Kupaccio our bill's beat reporter bills and Texans starting to preview that game and really you know locking on it. There's of course a game tomorrow from Seattle, the defending Super Bowl champs opening up on a Wednesday.

23:24And then Thursday the Rams and the Niners you've got to hear Kyle Shanahan will get to that. We got to hear from Kyle Shanahan. You got to hear from Sean McDermott. The big debate is do people believe him that he would be rooting for the bills to win the Super Bowl. He did pick them to go. So lots to get to here your phone calls as well 80305 50 your thoughts on this game driving home just how many differences there are from last year to this year. That list of players for the Texans for the bills. It's again, the Twitter account Houston stressons just really like I guess I didn't realize how many bills offensive changes there are because can Cade and Coleman were not on the field for them last year and will be this year along with DJ more in Skylobella four new receivers from last year. Of course you lose David Edwards and then defense you lose Jordan, Poir and Joey, but last year, no ed Oliver, no Michael, Hoyt. Those are guys that were already on the team. And then I'm also adding in Chubb, C.J. Garter Johnson, D. Alfred, Caleb, Eli Amsoar, T.J. Parker and maybe Jalen Kilgore. So lots and lots of differences for the Texans, Jalen, P.T.

24:35Trees back in, Reed Blankenship, Jadebian Clownie, Caden McDonald, the guy that we liked in the first round for the bills this year talked about him a lot defensive tackle from Ohio State. They also add the Texans to David Montgomery, the run game, K. Sean Booty, if he's ready to go in two new offensive lineman and of course C.J. Stroud. So major differences from last season to this season. And if you want to have a good time, go look at those box scores. The last two Texans games. It's some. Yeah. It's tripped on memory lane 80305 50 when we get back. When we get back, I want to talk about ESPN's football performance index, football power index. They ran 10,000 simulations. Right. You know how that works. Oh, and the bills make the playoffs this number of times. And they win the Super Bowl this number of times. But an article unlike any other. They decided, let's pick one at random and write about it. Seth Walder ESPN picked simulation number 9,187. And the way this came to me was on Twitter, a bills fan writing in the gazebot on Twitter. Wait till you see what the bills do. And I clicked it and I still remain stunned.

25:45It's just a simulation, but you're going to have some fun with it with us next year on WGR. Now with what they've done, the moves that that Brandon Bean has made and the activity they've had on the roster just over the last, you know, X amount of months is I think been very important. And so I think if you're betting on a Super Bowl. Contender, they're certainly one of them. I don't see why, you know, why you went bet on them. Is that it? It builds rams. It'd be bills rams. That'd be a great Super Bowl. People asked me all the time, hey, do you still root for your old team? And I said, why wouldn't I? Right. Of course I do. I mean, the impact that you want to have as a head coach on a team and a community, that's one thing. But man, on man, the impact that that team, that building and that community had on me and my family, we'll remember that for the rest of our lives.

26:50Bill said coach, former bills had coach, sorry, former bills said coach, Sean McDermott on with Rich Eisen predicting the bills, go to the Super Bowl and that he would root for them, which I think led to a lot of joke Kelly said on Saturday. You talked about this. What was the take? People don't believe him. People wonder. I would simply say I definitely believe him. However, I would want to put it to the test that I put all of us to, which is the way to the game starts. Yeah, because you think you know, and then the game starts and you change your mind, but he does say that in the extended version of that. He says, well, the games have to be played first and harps on that first. I think he means that for the Super Bowl pick though, not for whether or not he would root for the bills. Right. Right. Yeah. And to me, it makes total sense. He would root for the bills. Imagine your bills player and they cut you. Is there any different than being fired? Your player, you get caught. That's getting fired. Yeah. Right. You get fired. Like we want someone else to do your job. Right. We're just still root for the bills. Ryan Fitzpatrick roots for the bills. Right. Why?

27:54Because he loves you played for a million teams. Why is he root for the bills? Is him not being as good as Josh Allen? Make him not want to root for the franchise because of the fans that he met along the way. So I believe McDermott. I also think that if the bills are in the Super Bowl, he would feel happy for the players. Happy for the players that won and also it would be a really tough thing for him to deal with or anybody to deal with. They win the year after you leave. Yeah. Players deal with that all the time. Coaches, coordinators, training staffs. You know, it's a it's a that he lasted as long as he did his rare on its own. Right. And that's part of why I think I believe him so much is there are coaches that I think would be fired by a team. You spend three years in a place. And you're like, yeah, I mean, it didn't work out. Bleep them. Yeah. This was a this was a real symbiotic relationship that I think was really good. And I think McDermott grew here and changed here. And and sort of really embraced it. And I think that that's a very different situation than you know, Adam Gase in New York.

29:07New York. Of course he is. That's right. And the flip side is also who would we root for after they left? That's different too. Right. There's plenty of players that leave and you think I hope he never wins anything. And then another player leaves and you're happy for that person. Ask that question about McDermott. Wherever he gets his next job, are you going to be happy for him if he does well? I will be happy. I think most people would say that they would be. There will be people that are like, you know, never forgive him for 13 seconds. And that's you can think that that's fine. Sure. But I think the majority of people would go like that guy had a really good run here. Changed what it meant to be a Buffalo bill and changed the the standing of the organization. In terms of the league. And we have to appreciate that. So I hope you I wish him well. He's also I think you know that fits. Yeah. He's also doing more retrospective. Like looking back on his career with everybody, then I've seen another coach do like he's talking to people who are in the building and asking him what he could have done better and all that right.

30:08Like he's taking it pretty seriously. Yeah. His time away from the bills. Yeah. I've been in front of like he wants to learn from what went wrong. Yeah. And that in that Eisen interview, he talks about all the coaches he visited with this summer. Like the list is pretty impressed. Like Ben Johnson. Sean McVeigh. Uh, who else Mike McDonald and John Harbock. That's his four like, right. You want to go talk about. It's a big four good defenses and good offenses. It's pretty much about the the gig. There's also like rooting for him in his next stop will very much depend on where it is. Right. If it's the jets you see twice here, you might not right. It's the Philadelphia Eagles. You might. Yeah. Good comment in the chat here about rooting for former players. Like what do you think the browns are doing with Miles Garrett? Browns fans. They rooting for Garrett. You played here forever. You were amazing. The team is a joke. You leave. Do I want you to win? It got a little stinky. Like he got. He got, you know, there was the summer before when he was like get me out of here. Yeah. And then they paid him. And then they took the money.

31:16They hired Todd Monkin and named Dishon Watson, the starter week one. And if you're a browns fan, you might say, okay, yeah, this place is a massive. You should want to get out of here. Yeah, whatever. There are players that we say yes and players that we don't. If Jeff Skinner had a game to win the Stanley Cup and was in the lineup, would you reform? Yes. Yes. He also got fired by the Sabers. They paid him money to go away. Right. It's bottom R. So I don't think it has to be that a guy gets fired. You have to get some I believe McDermott. One thing I tease going to the break. So ESPN's football power index, the FBI, if you will. It's, you know, ranks teams and projections and this and that and whatever. 10,000 simulations that Seth Walder did. They punched all their computer. And this is basically a flushed out fun version of the NHL or the NHL lottery simulator. You know, click the button, run the lottery. Here's who wins. And when we were in the deepest throws of that, we knew the numbers that represented each team.

32:21There's 10,000 combinations. Combination 2,312 produces this. Anyway, they pulled out simulation 9,187 and said, all right, let's see what happens on this one. Okay. All right. So it's again, this doesn't mean that this machine thinks this will happen. But it's so ridiculous, absurd, amazing, good, wrong, whatever. The takeaway is like the Cowboys win the NFC East. The chiefs win the West. Broncos miss the playoffs. The Patriots missed the postseason. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's crazy. They are six and three and lose games down the stretch. They go nine and eight. They lose their tiebreaker or the cults make it instead of the Patriots. The playoffs. The Panther start. Oh, and seven. The Jets get the number one overall pick though. The Jaguars get the South. But what really gets to that's just wild. The NFC West is one by the Niners, I think. Yeah.

33:29Niners win the NFC. What? Right. Right. So things happen. The Rams, even though they didn't win the division, they knock out the Niners and the playoffs. The playoffs is where we get going. Because bills fans, we live life where all the matters of what happened to playoffs. The bills go 12 and five in simulation 9,100, they go 12 and five. They win the division. They get the top seed. The bills are the one seed. Let's go. All right. Yeah. That's good stuff. And five one seed. One seed. And they have the one seed over the chiefs because they beat the chiefs on Thanksgiving 31 to 30. Whoa. So listen, simulation, simulation 9,187 of the football power indexes nuts. But hey, whatever. That's Thanksgiving dinner all over the floor. That's what that is. Yeah. Yeah. Then all right. So you can click on and go like, or what happens in the playoffs? Of course, the bills have the buy for strong by in the division around the bills. Host the Indianapolis Colts. And they beat the Colts 55 to 23. Whoa. All right. To then host the AFC championship game.

34:40They're hosting the chargers in simulation 9,187. All right. That up. And one week after beating the Colts 55 to 23, the bills lose to the chargers 10 to 7. What? It's like the Broncos 10 to 7. Oh man. Josh Allen. He has here you go. Sorry. He throws an interception to Tarhebes still and also fumbles twice. Oh no. And Jim Harbaw gets the the chargers to the Super Bowl. So the NFC championship was Lions Rams. The AFC was bills chargers. And the thing that everyone thought all year they're going to get his bills Rams. The simulation 9,187 is Lions Chargers in the Super Bowl. And the Lions win it. Wow. Oh my. What? I just can't imagine an existence. And again, they have to play the games where the bills score 55 in their first playoff game after a buy.

35:45And then the next week score seven. That is nearly impossible to believe. But hey, fun with the football power index. This means you can never read anything of the power index ever again if you want to. But I thought it was reasonably fun that I can't. I mean, we saw that game from Josh worse last year against Denver and they still scored. You know, it was in overtime. Yeah, they were. They were at the wire. I just I would. I almost I want to see the Madden simulation of this. I want them to run it through the Madden. So I want to see make me see it. What happened in what world could Josh Allen not only have three turnovers. You can tell me at three turnovers, the AFC championship game. And I'd say, OK, I think it's still win 100%. But they're not going to score seven. No, never. I can't imagine being at a game. I know the bills have had this happen before they score seven. But it does not happen much when Josh is the quarterback. Right. Right. That's crazy. I loved everything about that simulation until that point. You know, my name is like the chiefs winning their vision and whatever. But you know, that's incredible.

36:56It's pretty horrid. If that's the way that ends 80305 50 Austin Corbett joins us at 830 bills guard. We'll talk about the upcoming season. We'll talk to him every Tuesday before and after games, leading you to the week going ahead. Talking back in the games that of course played out and they go to Houston Austin. But he started for the Rams. He's a super bowl champion. One thing I kind of forgot about when they brought him in. He played a lot. He's been to these big games. So I'll ask him about that. What kind of experience he can bring. And you know, a team with Super Bowl expectations. 80305 50. He's coming up at 830. Whether or not you would root for Sean McDermott. Do you believe he's rooting for the bills? I do. I don't think it's hard to believe it all. The chat, the YouTube chat. A little more on the cynical side. So we'll get to all that with you here on WGR.

37:56It's time for trivia. We'll do this every week. Legend of the game trivia. First caller. Guess the right answer. When's it $50 gift card to the BFLO store? Give me a $50 gift card to the BFLO store. You get some good stuff in there. All right. So here's how it works. The answer is we'll always be a former legend of the game. It's been to the old high market. Now the new high market we build up this list. So the answer will be someone's been a legend of the game and you know, done the thing. First caller to get this right wins. This legend of the game. A fifth round pick and a six time pro ball or scored just one touchdown in his career. But he had to learn a new job to do it. And that day. A bit later his reaction is forever etched in the hearts of Bills Mafia.

38:56You do know who this is right. Sometimes you know, you tell the I didn't tell Joe. He's got a joke. He's got it. Let me know when the first correct answer comes in. We can say who got it? Who who won it? All right. Steve is one Steve. Congratulations. Steve. If you know someone named Steve text them. Congratulations. Correct answer was of course Kyle Williams. Former legend of the game. He was our legend of the game for today. Brought to you by the BFLO store. $50 gift card. Just Steve one touchdown. Ran it in. He also had a catch the next year. A nine yard catch the next year. Receiving yards for Kyle Williams career nine receiving yards for Elijah Moore last year against the Texans minus three. Oh,

39:57that those aren't really related. No, but just making a point here. Yeah. That Kyle Williams touchdown. I still remember it was like. It was like watching your dad get a hole in one. It was what it felt like to me. Yeah. It was like, wow, he did look at you did it. Good for him. I'm so happy for him. It was awesome. It was great. What a moment. And that I don't remember anything else from that game. Me. I mean, other than them in the locker room after. Yeah. Yeah. It's about it. Do not remember anything else. All right. When we get back more of the bills, you maybe root for let's talk about that McDermott point and bills Texans. How different will it be this time? We've got some the list of different players. It is going to be very different on personnel. We'll get to that. It's a game week. Jeremy and Joe on WTR. Yeah.