Hour One- Can we ask more from the Buffalo Bills and Issues from the Bills Defense

0:00It's Mike Shope and the Bulldog. Bill's her truck. Allen buys time. Allen is got room to run. He's going to take it. Allen inside the bar and Allen takes it in for the touchdown. Allen ships a downfield and a tail on. Nobody there. Moore breaks away for the touchdown. Those last drives, the gap in talent between a very solid playoff quarterback CDace drought and Josh Allen, it is the Grand Canyon. Allen on 30 to 11. The head of the rush. It's rush to downfield. It's hot. Plummer touchdown. Buffalo. Josh Allen delivers. Josh Allen is something special. And if they can do that, drop 36 points on a defense like Houston's, which by the way, gave up the most points since the Miko Ryan's rookie year. I got to look at that and say, this is a statement by the Buffalo bills. It's Mike Shope and the Bulldog.

1:01We do like Reliance Stadium. Woo! Now WGR sports radio 550. Yes, Mike Shope and the Bulldog at our new time. This is the earliest I've ever been up. Everything is sideways for me right now. It really is. I mean, it's been 24 years. And it might seem ridiculous. I don't know. You and I were both fine with this. And I think maybe you were eager for it. Yes. This is something I've wanted for five years or more. I've never wanted it. But I never hated the idea. Yeah. It's just like all morning, I was an hour, an hour less time. It was like turning the clocks ahead. Right. I had an hour less time. My process, you don't even want to, you might want to know, I don't want to tell you what it is. It's so lazy and bad. It's embarrassing, right? Same, same. But cutting the grass, I won't cut the grass before 10 a.m. That's a personal rule of mine. All right. I don't like it when my neighbors cut the grass.

2:02Well, they don't cut their own grass. But when the landscape is coming and cut the grass before 10 a.m. It's annoying to you. The one house can be like eight o'clock. And maybe I'm up, usually I'm up. Yeah. Really, this is really not the earliest I've ever been up. But, you know, 10 is my personal rule. So today was like, you know, at 10, I'll do it. And then it was 10. And I was in the middle of something else, I'm like, oh, oh, I better get this done. All right. Because, you know, I want to be here by one. I had, I had, I went to see my, my barber, oral robberts from Trinidad and Tobago. I went to see him today for, I have every six weeks 11 a.m. He's nice enough just like punch that in. I get a text message in an email a few days in advance reminding me, hey, your appointment's coming up. It's always Mondays and it's always 11 a.m. And yes, as I'm leaving today, I said, can we maybe move these? No, it's fine for now. But in my head, I'm going to want to, I'm going to want to go there at 10. Now 11 because I get, I'm just like everything's all just, it's all a jar right now.

3:06I don't get my haircut at a set time, but because there is one. But when I, like Friday, I got my haircut and then at the end, like, all right, let's make your next appointment. And anything she says, like up to one, I'm like, okay, right. That's different now. Like I can't get my haircut at one. That's right. No, like that's different now. There are ways I haven't even thought of that. There are ways I haven't even thought of yet. Yeah, that are going to have to be a little bit tweaked, you know, assuming this lasts. And here's to it lasting. Oh, we just say that. I'm so with you. I'm very happy to be on an hour earlier because it means we get done an hour earlier. And that's what I was seeking. So I'm excited about that. That seems good too. I hope it all, I hope everyone else is happy with the rescheduling that's happened, especially you out there. And if you're tuning in, like, where's Brad? Brad's been on Noon to two. We already get to where's Brad? Noon to three or one to three. He's been here that long already.

4:06I don't know. So we got to where's Brad? This is, this is new for us. We're all here. Portions of Buffalo Football Monday are brought to you by Tim Hortons, the official coffee of the Jeremy and Joe Morning Show on WGR. Start your day strong with Tim Hortons and the bills. Well, the bills. I don't think you really have the right to ask for anything more than yesterday. And I know it wasn't perfect. I mean, they got pretty lucky. I think they did great. Alan's great. Pulled it out. Big plays. I mean, you got every bounce with the turnovers, right? You got all the fumbles, both sides. Alan fumbled, cook fumbled, stride twice. You recovered all of them. That's right. You have the Lassiter play at the end, which is almost a blooper that he doesn't catch. How about the, you know, Josh Allen scores his second rushing touchdown on a sneak? What was the play before meant to accomplish?

5:07That quick, that quick snap throw to Shakir that a guy got his hand on. That could have been a 99 yard. I mean, there were three Texans right there that that was an interesting one. That was a little scary. So they got away with some stuff. But I think, you know, again, starting with Alan as always, they were good. It wasn't like they deserve to be blown out or anything like that. But you got all the little stuff, the random stuff you got. The tip passes and the fumbles and whatever else. Yeah, even even as great a play. It's a great throw. It's a great job by Moore to keep his concentration on his long touchdown. I mean, that is just a hair from being either incomplete or also maybe a pick six. Yeah, it was like a chip over there. I mean, so, you know, you, you, that's one I think where you have to give it to him. The, the margins are, they did, they did, you know, they cut it close in spots.

6:07But yeah, I don't think it would be fair to ask for any, it's court 36. Let me finish the sentence. Fair to ask for anything more. They scored 36 points in a place where I mean, going in, no, I think I probably said Thursday and Friday. I get to 24. I think I'm probably home. Like this, they're offense is not that scary. And even with a new Bill's defense, I just wouldn't expect this team to be able to race up and down the field. I knew what they kind of did. And you needed to be able to score like that. You know, you tell me Houston gets to 31 points in this game going into it. Before seeing a single snap of it, I'm like, well, we're all in one. I just don't, I don't expect the bills to be able to score 30 points on this team. And the ship, I mean, they obviously did. And the offense really did. It was a very good day if you have been in the camp of wait till you get a load of Joe Brady without having to answer to a boss above him.

7:09I'm the coaching staff way. You know, McDermott is gone. Brady's in charge. And maybe they're going to really air it out. And they really kind of aired it out. I mean, I don't know that that'll be some sort of a stamp that is there every week. I mean, different opponents, whatever. But they, their guys beat their guys, the, you know, Josh Palmer beats Lasseter at the end there. More beat like they did the thing that they have not been able to do, which is get open on sticky man-to-man coverage. And it worked. So if you've been thinking wait until you see Josh Allen and Joe Brady in this offense without the defensive minded head coach maybe standing in the way for a week. It's a very good day for that stance. And you even heard, if you paid attention to the telecast, the crew on CBS reference maybe more than once that Josh Allen thought likewise that Joe Brady was going to be kind of sort of like the cuffs are off kind of mentality.

8:14I don't remember what the exact quote used by CBS was, but they intimated that Allen was looking forward to seeing what the game plan and the play calls would be. Well, with Brady completely in charge. I'm interesting in kind of tracking that. We'll have Ross on every week again, Ross Tucker. He's the one who said it. So what? Allen says it to Ross in a meeting. I imagine that's how that happens. And so that's what you would always say. And I mean, Allen is really good at being diplomatic about whatever counts as being controversial. I think back to like when digs was here and that was sketchy at times. And he would always sort of find a way to negotiate that without completely dismissing any possibility that the player was disgruntled. But then also, you know, like I'm good. We're good. We're a good way of that of doing that. And so I wonder how authoritative he might have been on that. I think publicly he would be like, you know, he'd say both things like these guys do when they're really kind of quote good at it is.

9:22Yeah. Well, Sean was great. His record speaks for himself itself. Brady maybe certain things will always be different when you're not trying to quote an imaginary Allen. But you know, I think there's a way you would do that. I think the point I want to make is I think ultimately that is the message he would want you to believe. That's the message we all kind of wanted to believe before yesterday was that. Well, not that the bills were ever bad. I mean, they've been great on offense. Maybe, right. Maybe I'm wrong to think that everybody wanted to believe that their offense would be less shackled. Without McDermott, but I think most people probably would hope for it. You know, it's also really fun when Allen is out in the wild like yesterday kind of. So I think that would be what they would think we want to hear. And then you got a game.

10:22Well, I mean, this is really separate because that conversation was Saturday or whenever Ross meets with players. And then then you got the game that you got. And I sort of still wonder if it happened mostly or more because of this or because of just kind of like circumstances. I mean, you had you had to race with Houston maybe with cook like there was something about the matchup that they didn't like. So or maybe there was something out wide in the passing game that they did like. Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, what we're going to do this week is or at least today because there's another game on Thursday. I'm kind of happy about that because week one is when we tend to overreact to everything. And like, are they a juggernaut? I don't know. But yesterday was a great day. Every season is different with with defense. Not to sort of ramble on to another point. You know, like Houston and defense, what have we known or thought we've known for years when it comes to defense quarterback and by extension offense.

11:31If you're good, you're good. And guys like Alan don't have bad ears. I mean, they just it's like almost it's permanent. What he gives you, Baro and Jackson and the like what they give you is it's permanent. The bar is very high. If the bar doesn't move like the they're offense. I mean, you have what last year we've got the lowest average depth of target in the NFL. I mean, how many games did they win? And it wasn't because of their defense. They still killed 12 games, right? So offense is really reliable when you have it. Defense isn't. And to an extent, we've seen that with the bills even like with the same good players. It's been less consistent. All I'm saying is Houston doesn't have to be good. Like it's still a league where offense is going to dictate. And maybe they'll be great again and let yesterday will seem to them like a fluke. But yeah, I don't know. I never want to assume that defense is going to be the same year to year.

12:32Well, it's not that it wasn't a great day. Right. Right. I mean, the thing about them though is that there's no there's usually there's more. I've been pointing it out, you know, we talked a few different Houston people in the run up to this game. Because we had, you know, so much more time for, you know, the opener. And looking at their depth charts, there's only one change on the defensive side of the ball. And it's a guy that has tons of experience and won a Super Bowl and fill it out. I guess that I was some fly by night guy like reblinch at ships a respectable idea. Maybe even viewed as an upgrade for what they already had. So I was expecting maybe very similar to what we got last year. Not not eight sacks and 12 quarterback hits necessarily. But like they're going to win their share of downs. It's going to be hard. But I'll be alive at the end and I'll have a chance because that was even as bad as last year's game was there. That was still the game where, you know, they had the ball and had a chance. So I thought it would be more like that with like, you know, ten fewer points each.

13:33Right. 2621 is a lot more reasonable idea for how this game would have ended. And that's very similar to last year's game. And instead we got like nobody is stopping anyone. And, you know, how much that played into what the bills did in their passing game. You know, I don't know. Like maybe once it's 2421 at half, right. It's 2421 at half time. Do you come out in the second half thing like, all right, we're just going to have to, we're going to have to get to 40 maybe. Like we're going to have to get to 35. We're going to have to score. So let's just keep going here and because they really did not keep at the running game in the second half. I still have been gone and looked at night, but I will. It just felt like very early in the second half, they went like, all right, that's not really working. Let's not waste our time. And it was really on the passing game to make the offense go. I mean, cook only had 13 carries on the day. And I got to guess like 10 of those are in the first half.

14:34But again, I got to go look and make sure. Because they were running it effectively. Like when the game started like, okay, well, you know, I'm all about, get me DJ more established early, give them something to worry about and all that kind of stuff. And then it happened. No, and when they started, they started out running effectively. I'm like, I guess we're going to have to press pause on that for now. But boy, as soon as that dried up, they, they seemed ready to do something else. And that, they know that's to their credit. And again, maybe that's a part of the loosening of the whole thing without McDermott, you know, standing atop the pyramid. Because it certainly, circumstantially, it would be easy to understand Joe Brady feeling like, by instinct, he has to throw it more. But, you know, the game plan was this. And I want to, you know, I have a boss to please. Now I don't. We'll see if it isn't a good question for our four o'clock guest. Like maybe he'll tell us Dawkins.

15:37Yep. You know, he likes to say things. But will he like to say them with us? That's the question. About yesterday's game every Monday. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Because this is a new relationship. I, the only time I've ever interacted with him was at the roast. Same. And, you know, I, I don't really even barely, I said something about like, don't answer our calls, dude. You're, you're, you're good. You're young. You're up and coming. People seem to like you. You don't need to be tied to us. Like, it was, you know, being so. But now he's stiff. Now he is. Now he's not young enough and coming. But now he's tied to us. I'm a fan. I've, I've, I've said many times on the air Dawkins, whenever we have a sound bite from Dawkins, like, he's the most interesting guy to listen to. Alan is so, you know, safe all the time, you know, whatever, fine. It's not like it's a problem for him. But Dawkins will be a little bit more, he's just different. So I'm excited about that. How much of the bills, willingness to throw the ball down field in this game came from there.

16:38Either learning as the game was starting or even confidence and, you know, feeling like going into the game that this would be a good thing. That this would be a good, a good thing for them is that they could block Houston. Like for me, this game was not, I was not optimistic for what we got offensively because of the hell that Houston raises on defense up front. And that the last two years, especially last year, is why anybody would have said that is that Alan just got destroyed in that game. And so how do you game plan? How do you expect to go down there and basically try to win the same way as you went in there last year? Like, you know, they probably didn't, but they got the job done. I mean, there were a lot of these, you always need, I mean, you always need the pocket to hold up for long enough.

17:39The past of Palmer, a lot of the big plays yesterday, it's close to breaking down. I mean, Alan just gets it off in time. But you know, what I'm saying is they were able to block the Texans. And then, okay, now I can wait for DJ Moore to get open, you know, 20 yards or concave, 20 yards down field or Palmer. Without that, those guys are moot. Like there's no game there. If you can't hold up in the pocket. So, but that happened. You know, that was a big result for them yesterday is that they were not, you know, under, was just breakdowns. They were under duress every time he dropped back. Like, really is how it felt last year. And yeah, I mean, I haven't even seen what the official countdown hurries was. But it had to be like half a dozen. I think it was a very calm day back there. Easy for me to say, you know, Alan did get bumped by I think one of his own guys on one play.

18:42Where he had I think Shakir breaking in the middle of the end zone. I think they ended up with a field goal on that was before Houston took, you know, took the lead late. The drive that proceeded that for the bills. I think he had Shakir, but he got, he got bumped into. It's not the time he looked like he heard his hand. It was another time. So I don't know, even if that counts as a pressure, but like his line been kind of like the Dawkins play from the chief playoff game a couple years ago where Chris Jones pushes him into Alan. And that knocks him a little bit and it makes the throw Aaron. There was one of those. But yeah, man, I mean, he really he operated a lot more cleanly than I would have ever expected. Let's go to Chris here. Hi Chris. Hey, I was going guys. Thanks for having me on. Hey, listen, I just want to say great play by Greg Russo. Von Miller called it out a few years ago saying this guy's going to be the guy. I'm just hoping that this resolves a 30 year problem of having a Bruce Smith on the line that can dial one up in the games on the line.

19:47What's the problem or just the bills not having a all time great pass rusher? Are you mean that part? Yeah, well, no, I just mean like it seemed like back in the day, Bruce Smith game on the line when we needed that play, he could dial it up. Yeah, he's the best ever. He was the best. Absolutely. Yeah, you're not always going to have the best ever. So, but Russo came through big yesterday. I mean, the both he and Dion Walker, like what I think you really want. Look, I don't think the bills will see how this all unfurls with Jim Leonard. You know, maybe they end up with some just hair on fire, hell raising defense. Even with this personnel, or maybe it takes a draft or two, whatever, but they a lot did not go right for them on that side. They gave a lot of yards, they have a lot of third downs, they gave up this gave up a lot. But the game is on the line and Dion Walker beats the doors off his guy to like set Houston back right away.

20:50They got to burn a time out of them. Russo wins. So, and that's not even that's really not Leonard versus McDermott passive versus aggressive. That's just the guys one like both of those guys's job would have been the same last year or for the case of Russo is entire career. Go beat your guy, get to the quarterback. Murray's lining up might be different and that could impact it. But as far as Walker goes, he's in the middle of the defensive line and he just he just drummed his guy and made a play. Well, also Russo had a great start to the game. I mean, he has two two tackles on running plays. If I remember right, maybe one was a a shroud stop. But then you have a fumble on the third play too. Like first three plays, he was bookends. He did it here. Yeah, yeah. But come on. Thank you, Chris. I don't know. Don't we have a book on Russo? Like, don't we? Maybe it's different. Maybe they'll be different. Different views. Different. Yeah, I don't know. Different numbers. Different, you know, weights in some cases.

21:52I think probably it's because I gave myself the credit yesterday for Russo because of that blackjack tournament we played in together. Oh, I see. And I feel like he gained some confidence from that. That probably was why he's not Bruce Smith. The color didn't say he was Bruce Smith. But I mean, yeah, we haven't had the best defensive and pass rusher in history for 40 years. Correct. 30 years. Correct. But that's not a fair comp for any player, you know. All he's saying there, I think was. It's nice to see somebody make a play in the ass. Right. That's right. That's exactly what they did. And that that can write a lot of wrongs for you. You know, I mean, most of these games, you know, they get you know, one guy who called us yesterday, like I just would have liked them to be in more control and more like, Oh, so you wanted them to be ahead by 15 points all game long. I mean, that happens sometimes when you play the jets. Uh, no, usually or some other like Carolina last year, it's just like very early. And like, wow, rocking chair, city, no stress at all.

22:55Um, that's not usually how it's going to go. No, that's why I said first about this game yesterday is I just don't think we have the right. I think we have the right to ask for anything more than that. And they easily could have lost any one of those bounces. If the last hitter, if he just makes an interception, maybe you would have made, you know, assuming you get down there. Like he was down there. Right. You'd have to run all that distance. But if somehow I just get to be standing there, I catch that ball. Yeah, you're just standing there. I can catch that ball. You might, you know, yeah. If that happens, where are we today? Like, no, we're not, phones are off the hook with how easily they got gassed in the air and just whatever else you want to pick at. That's not what happened. I mean, that's, I feel like they got away with one yesterday because of the turnover bounces and the drop there at the end by Houston. Yeah, no, we're, we're, if the, if the last hitter picks that pass off, we're at like, oh, great. You want to be bold and you want your challenge to air it out and like you were in position to kick a go ahead field goal.

24:01And it's Drake May on Wednesday night in Seattle. Like it's not, you know, it's close enough anyway. You cost your team a chance. In that case, it was to tie the game. In this case, it would have been to go ahead. You, you know, you wouldn't have been in, I wouldn't have felt great about kicking a field goal there because now they can still beat you with a field goal. And they easily got into field goal range. The fact that they needed to touch down is why you got the, the plays you got from Rousseau because they're not even trying to throw anymore if they're down there. They're just running the clock down to zero and just run, you know, basically kneeling. They, I mean, we don't have to go forward with this, but just like also, however, they would have been playing with the lead. And what you got there from Houston on that last drive was they were aggressive and they made a couple plays through the air. Even maybe one on, you know, I guess there wasn't a four down play. They, they would have had to run out the clock on the probably and that's what they couldn't do previously. Like they had a drive with the lead, the drive before that. The bills punt down 31 30 with 545 left.

25:06And Houston goes to ring out, run, run, dump off to Schultz. You know, you might have gotten that from Houston after the last hit or pick if there had been one. You know, conservative. That's what usually you get. Anyway, we don't know and it doesn't matter because none of that actually happened. Thanks again, Chris for the call 803 05 50 if you want to join us next. So yep, we're two to six now. I keep looking up there and it looks weird, but it's two. It's right, right? So, okay, we have Dion Dawkins Mondays starting today, four o'clock, all times Eastern. And Sal will join us at five. And that's it, right? That's the list that is who we've got on the show today. Okay, and it ends at six. And it ends at six. So, so hurry. Don't miss this opportunity. Get down to that store right now because tomorrow will be open again, but right now you need to call to action.

26:07All right, Mike show up in the bulldog here. Those over the Texans yesterday a lot to talk about from it will be back to do more of that. After this break, this is WGR. The weight is over. Football is here and so is draft Kings. Draft Kings is now live in all 50 states. One app, every sport nationwide. New Draft Kings customers sign up with code WGR. Spend five bucks to get $200 in rewards within 21 days. Includes all markets that's code WGR in partnership with draft Kings. The crown is yours gambling problem called 1 800 gambler 1 800 my reset in Connecticut called 888 789 77777. Visit ccpg.org on behalf of boot hill casino in Kansas. Bettax pass through may apply in Illinois 21 plus void in Canada. Bet with draft Kings sportsbook to get bonus bets that inspired in seven days or trade with draft Kings predictions to get predictions dollars that expire in one year.

27:08Event contract trading involves risk of loss predictions offer void in New York. Non withdrawalable rewards issued as $50 click to claims every seven days for 21 days terms at dkng.co slash offer limited time offer nationwide based on sports book predictions and free to play sports contest availability. Various by state. Hey, I ride almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped the video call uploading this giant file on my tablet, looking at my watch group and Nana's with the group chat. And of course still lining up tonight's playlist on my phone all at once. Yep, story of my life. That's why I switched to demobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multi tasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome. Say no more. I'm totally switching. My post is taking way too long to upload.

28:08That's a sign you've got to get to mobile. So many reasons to join team mobile. Find yours at teamable.com. Fast to space on analysis by who close speed test intelligence data of national speed score results in cooperating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026. Hey, there is Jill Slesinger. I'm launching a new show. It's called Money Moves and your money is going to move. We're going to help you make better financial decisions. We're going to call out the BS. You're finding all over social media. We're going to give you actionable guidance to make your financial life clearer, less stressful. We're going to answer your financial questions and take the mystery out of your financial life. Follow and listen to Money Moves with Jill Slesinger, wherever you get your podcasts. I think it was awesome to get a win. Find a way to close it out. I love the way we started obviously creating a turnover and then finishing it out with a big turnover.

29:11There was a lot of ugly in between there. Excited for the play style. The energy was there. The effort was there. The detail is got to get better. Not up to the standards. Great to get the win, but in a lot of ways it did feel like week one where when things started to unravel a little bit at times or just feel a little bit off. I thought guys looked around like they weren't sure what the answer should be. Jim Leonard. So I feel about my team in this league I got roped into by Joey. Just the standard was not met. I got beat. And I think my players are asking each other if my heart's in it. I think that's what's going on. Oh boy, already their question. I don't have faith in management, in management, slash ownership. I don't feel the commitment from up top. Might be fair. The fish rods from the head down, Mike. I've heard that and that might be what we're seeing here. Al Michaels at three. Whoa. Just in. Look at that. Wow, that's weird. Right at the start of our show. I know. Wait.

30:14I read I texted him today. Sort of I don't know if it read like it, but hey, we're on earlier. Yeah. That works for you. Yeah. And I texted Tyler Dunn the same thing. And I don't know if it matters to Tyler Dunn, but he'll be on with us on Thursday. He'll be out at the stadium for the game. So will Al. That's right. I think he's got the call. Yeah. He better. I'm sure he knows that. Yeah. So put Al Michaels on the schedule for today, three o'clock. I'm so happy. I texted him too early. It was like three weeks ago. Hey, just want to see. And nothing until today. And then, you know, he's a gamer. Like this is game week. Did he respond to your text from three weeks ago? Today, or did you like again today? Yeah. Like why not? Right. Okay. Just. Yeah. This is that now. Now. Now Buffalo. Buffalo's on his mind because he's, you know, it's time. He's coming. Yeah. Probably.

31:16I think he's going to be able to travel tomorrow. I would think. Yeah. You know. All right. So spread the word. Let's go to Mike here. Hi, Mike. Hi. How are you today? Good. Thank you, Mike. We just found out how Michaels is coming on the show. I'm pretty good. Yeah. That's awesome. I just wanted to say it's a great victory Monday. I thought I was a great game. It better than I expected, but I did expect win. I thought that. And I think that was the thing I wanted to bring up. It was nice to see Josh. I kind of lose it. He's always Josh Allen. But I mean, getting that ball down a little further down the field and players playing, making plays. It was great offense. It was great to watch. It was exciting. And I think they needed that. Of course. But I wanted to ask you. In the first half, there were a couple drives. I want to say that. I think our defense played well. I know that we gave up some points, but there were a couple drives. I thought we had them third and long. And then there was a flag. I didn't see the replay to see that was a good flag or not bad. I'm not trying to make a really big deal about it. But I think our defense played well.

32:20I think the defense finished the game well. And that's that can be half more than half. I mean, it can be all of it sometimes. What happened earlier in the game, the third down conversions, especially third and longs, penalties, whatever you want. You could have all that buttoned up. But if you're still in a one score game at the end, and you don't make plays at the end, you're going to lose. We saw that plenty of times with McDermott, not that they always failed to get stops on defense. It just sort of has become sort of like that because the the whiffs are so famous. And mostly in the playoffs that end up sort of that like they never stop anyone. But you know, the defense to me has got a lot of work to do. And the last rush was very underwhelming. Most of the game, I would say. It's kind of weird that it started with a strip sack in Houston's first possession that set the bills up and they ended up with a feel go off of that.

33:26And then the last possession again, Walker wins gets a big sack and then we're so with the final play. But in between, I thought there was not a lot of winning up front. And there was not really a lot of exotic anything. I thought that I mean there were five guys at times, but it wasn't like there was no moment where like, Oh, I didn't look where that guy come from kind of thing. Right. We were CJ start was like, Oh, I'm so surprised that that guy came right there was really not any of that. And I don't know it's possible that we have to an extent exaggerated how much of a part of Jim Leonard defense that will be. But I was just expecting stride to have a tougher time and he really he operated pretty cleanly too. It's just those two big plays one at the beginning one at the end. Those are the only two turnovers of the game. Thank you, Mike. Here's Mark next to low mark.

34:28Hey, gentlemen. I feel honored. I don't get to talk to you guys that much. So I feel honored. Just real quick. It's only game one, you know, and I was waiting to see what the deep ones are going to do. Probably like 99.9% of the fans. I thought they played OK. I thought Dion Walker and Russo played out of their minds. They they were tremendous yesterday. I still think the big problem with this defense tonight, like I said, it's only week one third and long. You need to get off the field on third and long. And they were having a problem with that again yesterday. Luckily for the first time in a long time, the defense made a statement and won the game for us. I think it's they didn't have that turnover that that strip sack. Who knows, but I still think that that third and long is still a problem. Thank you guys.

35:28And that's where pass rush to me really comes into it. You know, it's compounded when you have some confusion in the secondary. And there were at least a couple of examples of that where, you know, just guys got crossed up on and both jumped on the shallow thing, leaving the deeper thing available. There was one in the middle of the field that was one of these long third down conversions where the receiver, there was anyone within 10 yards of the Houston receiver. I think it was no. In the middle of the field. There was a little too much of that, but the thing that can offset even coverage confusion is if you win up front third and long, if they got 12 yards, you got that little bit more extra time to even get home. And the bills weren't really threatening again. They made the timely plays, but they were not regularly hard to block up front at all, really. I don't think. The first time, I guess that the defense made a play to win the game since two games ago. Jacksonville in the playoffs.

36:31When would the minute last bills were up by three points and there was a play. Trey White. I guess it's not like it's never happened. I mean, it happened in the playoffs. Right. So selective memory, maybe a little bit, but yeah, there's no. For me, like there's no hiding from the fact that there were serious issues yesterday on that side. I mean, I don't know timing is everything, right? So that play at the end and the play, you know, before it were big for them. But man, it was not a good day. Both Leonard and Joe Brady are talking today. Like they sound, they both sound like they lost kind of today. You know, and that's maybe normal for coaches, but especially with a short week. I mean, you know, you got no time. You got less time than ever to like sort of, you know, sit in the cold tub and think about what you did yesterday because there's a game in three days. Yeah, right. Thanks, Mike. Here's Aaron with us. Hi, Aaron.

37:31Hi. How are you? Good. Thank you. Don't answer that. Sorry, no, I'll say that. I'm just wondering if you think it's too early. I know last year, I always felt like it was something to do with the coaching this year. I know we're talking about the play in the field and the plays. I know we've talked about the defense a little bit, but are we? I don't remember anything glaring happening with the new head coach, other than the defensive, maybe lagging a little bit. Hopefully that's just the beginning of the year. I was wondering how you guys feel about that. You already mean like clock stuff, time out stuff. Yeah, like last year, just always Sean McDermott, like, oh my God, if we had a better coach, we probably would have pulled this out. It just didn't seem like that occurred. So I don't know if it was just the game flow or like we think that it's been good, you know, other than our defensive issues. It seems like we have a team where we're not focused on something that had coach did and like fourth and two or something, you know. Well, I got to say that that did not happen very often. This is another one where like, do you guys watch the bills last year or the year last five years? I mean, that really did not happen very often, but maybe it just sort of stuck to McDermott with some people that there were always these, I mean.

38:39Every time there seemed to be a conversation starting about fourth and two or whatever the caller's example was, yeah, I can picture Sal with charts. Like, you realize you guys realize this is not a problem, right? He's one of the most perfect, but he scores maybe one of the highest in the league at like, you know, should he go? Should he go? Should he kick whatever he's he was always he was very often on the right side of that. Whatever your perception of him was, I mean, yesterday is a home run for Brady. The whole thing was not, I mean, sure. What's going to happen on four downs? What's going to happen with the clock? There really wasn't anything severe. I liked that he went on the fourth down early. Right. I mean, that told me he wasn't scared of it. And I didn't expect him to be scared of it. They had 12 men on the field a couple times, one on offense that cost him a fourth and go and then they got a time out there late. Yeah, but you know, it wasn't a perfect day, but the whole premise was, is he going to kind of be able to move the ball against Houston in the first game on the road and they did.

39:47So I think it's a great day for him to my, my recollection is that there was only one play where you might even thought about throwing a challenge flag. And there was a Nico Collins catch over the middle. Yeah, it was CJ Gardner Johnson in coverage and Gardner Johnson got up like, you know, that was incomplete. That was incomplete. And before we got to the replays, I, you know, I thought, maybe he's right. He called did come loose, but Collins managed to corral it. I don't know if it was even between his legs or whatever. It never touched the ground. And he ended up catching it. And they, and Houston went quick too. They got up and we're, you know, we didn't see a definitive replay until after. And it turned out, I mean, I don't know if the bills knew it or not or just got beat to the challenge flag. It's a good thing he didn't throw the flag. He would have wasted a time out. I don't know how badly they would have needed it. But, right. It, you know, the right thing ended up happening. I don't know how close they were to doing the wrong thing. Thanks, Aaron. Al Michaels coming up in 20 minutes. Dion Dawkins joins us for the first of his Monday afternoon appearances.

40:53That'll be at four. Sal Capaccio at five or on from two to six now. Why are these guys on because this is the new thing. This is the new reality. Two to six. There. And, you know, great. I wonder if when we leave it'll be like, wow, it's still light out or something like one of those deals. We're just sitting here 24 years, you know, he's sort of used to then we turn the clocks back and it's dark. So early. I mean, now that'll even be a little different. Maybe we'll have adjusted by then. Mike Schopen, the bulldog here. This is WGR.