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00:00Motive. How's it going, Brad? Fine. I'm sorry for missing the fifth and sixth day of our new
00:06incarnation of whatever's going on here. You know, it's okay. I think it was, I think me and Tim
00:12managed. I think we did okay. Friday was fun. Yesterday I had Joe Calle in with me for two
00:17hours here. Tim and Sal for the first two yesterday. So that was fun. We've had a great
00:21time. Don't worry about it. We've stabilized our lineup. And here are all the changes to the lineup
00:25that we just stabilized. Exactly. My bad. But now we're here and we've got all kinds of NFL stuff
00:30to talk about, don't we? And I'm not going to yell at you about fourth down decisions. Yeah,
00:36that got a little, I was entertaining. I got to tell you, I had fun listening to that. I do.
00:42I do
00:42recognize that I, when I believe something, I go over the top and how I explain it. Isn't that our
00:51job? I don't know. A little bit. Yeah, maybe. I just think back to like Greg Bauke has a story
00:57about how he didn't like me when we first met and his overall reasoning was you have this ridiculous
01:05confidence in your opinion and then you state your opinions as if they're fact and there's no way to
01:10argue with you. And Tim is rebelling against that because I do recognize that is a part of,
01:15of who I am and I apologize sort of for that. I don't pick fight slash arguments except when I
01:24know I'm right. I win all my arguments because I don't argue things when I'm wrong. And as soon
01:28as I realize I'm wrong, I'll quit on it. I'm not going to defend indefensible positions. I think
01:33that's, I think that's how everyone should operate and thinks probably that they operate. Maybe.
01:39I don't know. It's like, I don't, I'm not here to lose arguments because if you're right,
01:43I don't want to argue with you. I only want to argue with Shane Steichen pretending that
01:48was a reasonable way to win a football game. It wasn't, it was not a reasonable way to win
01:51a football game. And yes, some of the words that come out of my mouth might be a little
01:56over the top. I might state things a little more strongly than I would in a, no, I wouldn't.
02:02This is how I am in life too. It's not just a radio thing. I've known you a while too.
02:05Yeah. It's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. So I just want to, it feels like I'm
02:14in a time machine a little bit with this NFL season. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Like all the
02:21stuff I was saying about the teams that don't matter, they don't. Yeah. And then the teams
02:24that matter, matter. And here we are. And it's like, and there's going to be a Raiders
02:27surprise, a little 2-0 Raiders mixed in. Sure. But are they going to be good and matter?
02:31I don't know. Maybe. I don't think they're even going to matter. Well, they're in a fight.
02:34They're in a real tough division and they, two weeks in, have declared, no, we're here
02:38too. And we'll see where it goes, but maybe they resolved something and got themselves
02:43back to respectability. Maybe, maybe they're just 2-0 and they're going to win five games
02:47all year. And, but you know, we've only got so much information to process. And I just,
02:52I love how much of it is fitting exactly with all of the things I've been saying for the
02:57last several months, getting ready for the season. There are teams that matter. And then
03:08not throwing out the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl, but I am throwing out beating the
03:13Patriots for the Super Bowl. We beat the AFC's best. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. The
03:16AFC playoffs were silly last year. The wrong teams were in it. The wrong teams were winning.
03:22However they got there, you know, it happens. The best team doesn't always win. The best
03:26teams don't always make the playoffs, but I can look at a game and go, okay, I get that
03:31the Seahawks won in February. I'm not jumping up and down for them the same way that I would
03:38for another team where I feel like you were great. And then you beat a bunch of great
03:42teams. Then you earned it and you did it all the right way. There are varying levels of
03:45things. And the one thing I know, and the thing that touched me off really on this was
03:50a month and a half ago when a guy from new England wrote about the Patriots being the
03:54hunted. You are an afterthought. You are thought of as a team that got, that got lucky with a
04:00schedule that got some breaks that tiptoed around injuries, other failures, and you were
04:06the last one standing and you are to be commended for that cool, good job in the 2025 season.
04:12And congratulations for winning a couple of playoff games when you didn't play well and
04:17then getting smoked in the Super Bowl. That to me was more indicative of, yeah, you're
04:21right. That probably wasn't a 14 and three type of team. That wasn't an AFC champion type
04:25of team. Hang the banner. That's cool. But I don't have to worship that banner. No, go
04:30away. You didn't belong in the conversation. You didn't belong at the top of the division
04:34last year. I know you got it. That's fine. But you can't then lord that over me like,
04:40see, we're better. Okay. Play the game. Put the ball down. Let's go.
04:45And that, I mean, that's, the Patriots to me are a perfect example of this. How quickly
04:51have we just, oh, the Patriots, maybe they'll be fine. But I think prior to the season, there
04:59was a large contingent of Bills and even just NFL fans that were like, man, that, that Bills
05:06Patriots dogfight in the AFC East is going to be awesome. Like, who's better? I don't
05:11know. It's really close. It's like, does anyone think it's anywhere close anymore? It's been
05:16two weeks and maybe we're all taking too much out of that.
05:20Of course, for sure. There's overreaction, but there was overreaction to the, I'm going
05:25to use the word luck, but the, I don't want to use the word luck is what I'm saying. The
05:31circumstances that led to the Patriots being the team representing the AFC in the Super
05:36Bowl. I just raised my hand and said, play every one of those games again and show me
05:40that working out that way again. It's just like, that wasn't a real, it wasn't a real
05:45playoff. None of it. Yeah. And so the, the Patriots have sort of in my mind, at least
05:50and you tell me if I'm wrong, you Brad or 803, 0550, anybody out there, I I've, they're
05:56just, eh, whatever. Like I'll, I'm interested to see how they look when the Bills play them.
06:00But the first two weeks of the season in my head, I was like, I got to watch the Patriots.
06:04I got to see what they look like. And I no longer care even a little bit. I just don't,
06:09I don't, I'm not scared of them. I'm not worried about them. I'm not thinking about
06:14them. I'm thinking about Kansas city and Cincinnati and Baltimore surprise. Just
06:19like you've been doing the whole time. What year is it? Yeah. And I don't mind
06:23that it's, but it, for me, it, I have more concern about those teams and I have faith
06:31in those teams being scary more than I had convinced myself in this off season that
06:36any of the other teams we talked about are. I still regret my participation in the
06:41reverse AFC power rankings on, I think it was August 18th with Mike show the whole
06:45time we were doing, I'm like, I'm not comfortable with this. I understand that
06:48this is what we're doing and it's his segment and I'll play along with it, but
06:52is it still up? Yeah. It goes Buffalo. Good. Yep. Denver two. Don't believe in
06:59them. Jacksonville three. Don't believe in them. Houston four. I do believe in them.
07:04Cincy at five, the Patriots at six. No. Uh, but am I going to put them now?
07:08The Chargers Patriots and then Baltimore and then Kansas city's ninth. Like that. We should
07:13be embarrassed that we put this thing out. Kansas city three weeks in a row. Listen is
07:17the ninth best team. No, sorry. Two weeks in a row. I'm reading it wrong. They were
07:22ninth. They were in a row and then they moved up to seven, moved up to seven. We'll see where
07:26they end up today. Stephen A. Smith today had his top five where he had the bills to the
07:30chiefs one. Oh, don't make that face or noise. Why don't you feel way more comfortable
07:37with life? Yes. That's who you're trying to be, but the bills are going to win the
07:40Superbowl. I want them to beat Patrick Mahomes to win the Superbowl. Like that's, that's what
07:44we've been building to this whole time. You know, I, I made that face. I made that noise
07:48and it, before you even said, stop, I went like, but this, I, it's like sitting back down
07:55in a couch. You've been sitting in for 20 years and your butt just sinks right in. You're
07:59like watching the chiefs win in the way that they did the other night, strangely invigorated
08:04me for the NFL season, because I want to think about a matchup on Thanksgiving. Yes.
08:13November 26. It's a long buildup to that, but I want to think about that as a game that
08:18helps define the season. I'm so used to those games defining the season. They play each other
08:22every year. It's finally in Buffalo for a couple of years in a row, which is nice, but those
08:27are the benchmarks in a town where the only way the season is successful is if the team goes
08:34to the Superbowl. Um, that's what I'm using to kill time before January when football matters
08:41and, you know, trying to pump up, Ooh, look out for the, the Raiders in, in week six, the
08:48bills play at the Raiders and maybe the Raiders stay hot here. Maybe they're, you know, three
08:54and one, four and one going into it. What would it be? Week six. So maybe they're four and
08:58one, maybe they're five and Oh, and the bills are five and Oh bills Raiders. I'm still
09:03thinking about six weeks from now, Kansas city. I've already got a Patriots game behind
09:08me. No big deal with that. It's just, I feel better when the, when the bills are wrestling
09:14with the teams that I perceive as the elite AFC teams. And there are signs two weeks in
09:20that there's a return to normalcy here. The Patriots shouldn't win a division or go to
09:25the Superbowl while Josh Allen is in his prime, that neither of those things should happen.
09:30And last year, both of them happened. So just don't do that anymore. Yeah. That's how
09:35much I think about the Patriots. No, you don't belong in this conversation, but the chiefs
09:39going, my knee's fine. Yes, I do. Right. From my homes. Um, I don't know that just, it
09:46feels comfortable. It feels right. And it gets me amped for the season because I've got
09:50some targets to think about because I've dismissed the Patriots for a long time as a target.
09:55And there are games mixed in, you know, Ravens game is fun. Patriots games are fun, but chiefs,
10:00uh, Vikings, if the Raiders thing is a thing, if the, if the bears are a thing late in the
10:04season, I could, you know, that's, but revived interest in week 12 being the target date for
10:11this regular NFL season, bills, chiefs, 8, 20 PM, Thanksgiving. Love it. Yeah. Love it.
10:19Don't want to see the chiefs win that game the other night, but once they do, it's like,
10:23Oh good. Villain, villain established. Here we go. We're back. And the thing that to me
10:29makes it all so exciting is that all of that feels so similar in the circumstances surrounding
10:36the bills themselves, but the bills feel so different. And yet they're still in that conversation.
10:42Right. And that, that is what I think is really exciting. And that, that is what gives me hope
10:49that things will be different because no matter how much we all talk about how much we loved
10:54what Sean McDermott brought or what he represented to this city, the reality is that things got
10:59stale and that things got dry and it got to a place where every, every season was just give
11:09me to January and please don't blow this again. Please don't blow this again. And right now it
11:15feels like there is still that, that thing there that, that don't, don't waste another year with
11:21this quarterback. Don't do it. But all of this stuff that we've talked about for the last two
11:27weeks, since we started doing this show together, all is, well, this is how it could change in
11:34January. When we get there, this is what we're, why we're talking is why we care about how many
11:39screen passes they throw or how many, you know, passes Dalton Kincaid is being thrown. And what,
11:47what is it going to look like when it comes down to it? And I had some fear to start
11:52the season
11:52about instability and about whether this was going to be the sort of powerhouse guaranteed 12 win team
12:01that they've been. And, and those questions for me have essentially all already been answered.
12:07And now I'm in, watch this team and see how different they look and how that might help them
12:13when it, when that time comes. We haven't spoken about, uh, Bill's lions. I know so much has happened
12:19since then. And there's been a lot of, uh, a lot of talk here, but I, I wasn't here. So
12:24let me just
12:25ask you, you come out of that game. Like what's the, what was your number one takeaway from the
12:31bills went over the lions? It was the main thing you like the game ended and you were thinking about
12:37this. Good. The offense looked like that again. Yeah, they did it again. I, that was number one. I,
12:43I thought in week one that it was possible that we got a, a sort of stars aligned and like,
12:50okay,
12:50this, the offense looks like this and it's how we all wanted it to look. And I was a little
12:54scared
12:55of a letdown in, in, in Buffalo for the home opener of like just force feeding cook and like
13:01going back to short yardage stuff. And like, was it sort of a, a mirage? Did we all get really
13:08excited about this offense and what Brady's going to do? And it's, it's really just that
13:13week. That was the plan. Was it a game or is it the offense? Right. And now after Detroit,
13:18it feels like it's the offense and the way we keep hearing players talk about, this is how it's
13:23going to work. Now we're hearing insiders talk about, there's no breaks anymore. It's all gas.
13:29Like Joe Brady's took the governor off. And for me, that was it. It was this offense can just do
13:36this and be like this almost to the point where it's until further notice. I don't need to hear
13:43any criticisms of what's happening on the offensive side of the ball. It's almost that it's, you know,
13:48what you've gotten the quarterback he's put on a clinic for two weeks. He's the, he's the star of
13:54the league and Joe Brady is helping to, you know, allow that to be, but they've given up 62 points
14:02in
14:02two games. So I think it's reasonable to almost exclusively, if we're going to be concerned,
14:09talk about the defense that said is 62 points allowed in two games, an accurate reflection of
14:16what you're seeing out of this football team on the defensive side of the ball, because I'm so,
14:21it just, I think comes down to, Hey, what's going on in the secondary? Because the rest of it,
14:26like all the guys that I guess, maybe I could have seen a bigger play or two from Michael Hoyt
14:31as one
14:31of the guys that he's not playing a ton. Um, but like what I think Russo can be. Okay. I'm
14:37good.
14:38What I think Walker can be. Okay. I'm good. What I think the addition of Chubb can be. Okay. I'm
14:44good. Bernard's been better than I've expected him to be in the first, uh, the first couple of games
14:49working his way back, just, you know, undersized guy. How's that going to work in a different scheme?
14:53Uh, I don't have a major concern there. Um, but I do still see confusion in the secondary,
15:01but it's also new defense, ton of new players two weeks in. And especially this came out like
15:08three quarters of the lions game was garbage time. Yes. It's how I wound up having a tremendous
15:13fantasy performance out of Jared Goff, whose team was never in the football game. The thing
15:18ends like it or four touchdown passes and 300 something. Yeah. Like that's awesome.
15:22It was never a factor, but that's how, you know, Tyler shock winds up with 400 passing yards.
15:27Cause he gets into a fourth quarter and he's slinging it and cool. Um, and he was 300 ish this
15:34week too. Does that make the saints a powerhouse offense and a team you should fear? No, but
15:39statistically it's going to say that. And I feel like that number 31 given up in the lions game in
15:44particular does not tell the tale of the game in any way. So what am I, I feel like I'm
15:52being put in
15:53this chair to wring my hands over problems with this team. And the biggest one I have is they're
15:59giving up all these points, but then I look at it individually and go, that's okay. Yeah. I I'm
16:05with you. I think that I I've said this really since after the Houston game, the stuff that was
16:12happening on the back end was to, it looks to me to be correctable mental errors that I am hoping
16:20that the young stud super teacher, defensive coordinator, Jim Leonard can just coach out of
16:27his guys as the season progresses. And as he learns who on this team is capable of doing what
16:33jobs for him, he's able to better utilize those players or any players to stop the other team from
16:42scoring 30 points a game on him. I think that we all talked about this, this is going to need
16:48a buffer
16:48period of, you know, five weeks, six weeks for this defense to get to a place where we can sort
16:55of truly judge it and feel mad about anything. You can be annoyed that they played poorly, but I I'm
17:03not going to be thinking that this defense is going to be a disaster zone unless they continue to perform
17:09like this deeper into the season. Yeah. And that, so like you said, we're, we're putting this to sort of
17:16wring our hands of these problems. Like what's, what can we complain about? And it's, I'm struggling
17:21to find myself with any real gripes. They've played two games. The first one, they went into a place
17:28that's been a nightmare for them and emerged with a victory. I was right. I was ready to win one
17:32nothing in that game. You've come back with a one nothing victory. I understand you can't win one
17:37thing. I know that. But you come back with any victory there. Like, okay, cool. Cross that one
17:42off. Be healthy. Get back from there with a win and healthy. And I feel great. And then you, you
17:48beat
17:48the Lions in the first quarter. Like they came into your new stadium. Like, oh, is it going to be
17:52okay
17:52here? Yeah, it's going to be okay. We're going to throttle you now. And the game, I mean, there was
17:57no
17:57question. They had to be at, uh, what's the word? Win, not winning percentage. What do they call it?
18:03Uh, the chart, win probability, probability, the win probability had to be in the nineties,
18:08in the first quarter of that game. And then it just hung out there and that, you know,
18:12they'd get closer and they'd put, but it was the bills won that game in the first quarter and then
18:17just held on. So how much am I going to care about defensive statistics that were accumulated
18:22over quarters two through four, not a ton. Um, and there was another point I was going to make,
18:28but of course I've lost it because I talked too much. Owen, you know how it is. That's the gig.
18:32Phone lines are open at eight Oh three Oh five 50 here on WGR middays driven by
18:35Northtown automotive. The phone line in particular, uh, and connecting with the fans is courtesy of
18:41Northtown Kia Western New York's number one Kia dealer shop online at Northtown Kia.com. Yeah,
18:47I've lost, I've lost the, uh, additional point that I was going to make. Well, I wanted to
18:51come back. We'll be on a lot. I wanted to ask you today, who, who is scaring you the most
18:55in
18:55this, this, this, we just talked about like time machine. We're back. Is it, is the chiefs the top
19:00of the list for you? I mean, scaring, or I can't wait to beat them. Cause who are you thinking
19:06about most? Chiefs, give me the chiefs. Yeah. Make that Thanksgiving day thing. I'm mad. Make
19:11that a mess. It's going to be undefeated. Both of them going into that game and put it on Thursday
19:16night football on Thanksgiving. Um, that sounds awesome. How likely do we think that is?
19:21Let's, let's look at these schedules. Yes. Oh, I don't even care. Really? Uh, no, I don't,
19:25I don't expect the bills. I'm just, I'm more curious about whether the chiefs have a soft
19:29enough schedule that it seems possible. They play the dolphins next. Okay. They're going
19:33to win them. And then the Raiders and then the chargers, right. Divisional games are divisional
19:37games. There's, you know, throw out the records, that kind of thing. So that, that all
19:40exists. No, I don't mean that, but I do mean have them dueling for the top spot in the
19:44conference. Yeah. They're both, you know, they both have two losses or they have them
19:47have the same record going into that game. I wasn't trying to poopoo that. I was kind
19:51of curious whether I could get there and I, I quickly, it just doesn't feel right,
19:56but no, it's too far away. If we were talking about a week six game, I mean, I
19:59could see bills Raiders being two undefeated teams more than I could see
20:02bills chiefs, despite the fact that I have way more respect for the chiefs. It's
20:05just the time slot. It's more, more games. A hundred percent. I, yeah, I'm, I'm
20:09thinking about the chiefs a lot. I'm, I'm thinking about the Bengals a little
20:13more. Yeah. Yeah. They, the deep, if they have, I find them to be in a similar
20:19place as the bills defensively where like give them a top half of the league
20:23defense and like, Ooh, they're good. And that's where I think the bills are.
20:29That is a good point. I, cause that's been, I mean, that's been the Bengals the
20:34whole time Burrow's been right. Burrow has been, yeah, they're going to sling
20:38it and their defense can't stop anybody and they're going to play in shootouts,
20:41but they're usually going to win. Now, I don't think, I don't want to get into
20:46like ranking of quarterbacks, but I think Allen has established himself as
20:49elite elite. And I think Burrow is in the slightly next tier because it's not
20:54quite go out there and carry it. That's my perception. I also recognize my own
20:59biases. I've watched every snap Josh Allen's ever taken. I watched the Bengals play
21:03four times a year. It's not the same exact thing. Um, but yeah, that's, I'm
21:09looking at, uh, my, my happy place is that the playoffs are the teams that we
21:14would, we've been circling for playoffs for the last seven years. And the bills
21:19are the one seat in that scenario. And they get to have all these other things
21:23that are scary. I don't want the Jaguars coming to town. It's boring. You know,
21:27I don't want the, uh, whatever the upstart Raiders coming in or the jets have a good
21:33enough year to grab a wildcard spot at nine and seven, nine and eight. Um, I
21:38don't want that. I want, just give me all the things. Give me, give me Burrow,
21:42give me Lamar Jackson, and then ultimately give me Patrick Mahomes. Not
21:46necessarily in that order, but the best possible order is bills chiefs in the
21:51AIC championship game. Allen Mahomes, both healthy head to head. Let's see who
21:56wins. I mean, that's, it's what we're, it's what we're building to, right? Like
22:00that's the, that's the most beautiful version of a, the bills win the Super
22:03bowl story is that they vanquish these, you know, I guess I'm not even going to
22:08call Lamar anything in this scenario because the bills have had their way
22:11with them for the most part, but like Burrow beat you in a pretty embarrassing
22:15playoff game. Let's take him in here in round one. And then, well, that'd be it.
22:19It wouldn't be round one. You're the one seat. Give me the Bengals here in the
22:24divisional round, give me the chiefs here in the championship game, and then
22:27give me whatever you got in the NFC. That's the best version of football for
22:32Brad. Like that's what I want. That's what I like. Sounds like a storybook to
22:36me. It's not. And it's, it's weird because I found myself not rooting for
22:39Mahomes, but rooting for that villain still to exist. And through two weeks, it
22:44does look that way. And even the way that it was so goofy at the end, if they
22:48had won that game because they called it a fumble before the whole shit, all
22:53the shenanigans in the field goal, if it was like, yeah, big catch over the
22:56middle. Oh, he got up. Oh, he dropped the ball. The game's over. Like that was a
23:00stunning chiefsy way to win a game. Um, and that might've even been better for
23:06my overall vision of what this NFL season can be. It's like the chiefs are back.
23:11Mahomes looks fine and they're stealing games again and let's go get them. So
23:14that, that would have been cool. But you know, this is all just me being a crazy
23:17person. Aren't we all? I don't know. I know I am. You seem fine. You seem
23:22all right. I believe in you. It's a good, do you want to take a phone call or do
23:25you want to take a break? What do you like better? Breaks or phone calls? Let's
23:28get our, let's get our phone calls after the break and we'll see where they
23:30leave. Wow. Okay. I thought you were going to say I like phone calls better. I was
23:33going to say that's dumb. Breaks are way better. Agreed. Breaks are definitely better
23:37than phone calls, but we will take, we will take phone calls. All right. Let's do
23:40that at 803-0550. It is WGR middays.
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