- 2 days ago
Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase are joined by Buffalo Bills beat reporter Sal Capaccio to get his thoughts on the Bills Monday Night Matchup with the LA Rams tonight! The guys start off by discussing the injuries the Bills are facing. Sal spends some time discussing how impactful it would be to lose DJ Moore, who is questionable coming in, before discussing some of the other significant pieces that have health questions coming into the game.
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00:00It is a game day for both the Bills and the Sabres.
00:04Sabres on the ice 1 o'clock against the Florida Panthers.
00:08Bills, 8 p.m. tonight, 8.15 in L.A., SoFi Stadium for Monday Night Football.
00:13Joining us on the Western Hotline, Mr. Sal Capaccio.
00:16Sal, good morning.
00:18Good morning.
00:18I mean, you saying that, and I just realized the Sabres play in, what, like four hours?
00:22It's 6 a.m. here, so I'm like, wait a minute.
00:23That's right.
00:24I got to recalculate everything in my brain today.
00:26That's like a morning hockey game for you, right?
00:2810 a.m. will start?
00:30Yeah, yeah, so that's what it is, and, like, I'm trying to figure everything out.
00:34I got, like, there's different times that, you know, a lot of things happen throughout the day when you have
00:38a game day, as you guys know.
00:39And what time you're going on, like, you know, going on maybe in the afternoon, show up at the Bulldog
00:42or game day, you know, roundtable.
00:44And then there's L.A., you know, radio stations here that, you know, I'll do appearances on.
00:49And when they get with you, you guys go through this, like, wait a minute, you talking Buffalo time or
00:54L.A. time?
00:54And then you realize this will be the first time that I can remember because this will be a 5
01:01-15 Monday night game.
01:03When is the last time Bills played a West Coast Monday night game?
01:06I guess Seattle, right, under Rex?
01:07When else did they?
01:08Oh, I remember that game.
01:09I guess, but the other point is because, you know, I'm not on the charter with the team.
01:15Like, it'll be – we'll stay here.
01:17It'll be the weirdest thing for me.
01:18After the game, it'll be, like, 9 o'clock on a Monday night and staying in the city.
01:22So everything is totally kind of screwed up today for me.
01:25So, anyway, thank you.
01:26Good morning to you guys.
01:26They played a Monday night game against the 49ers in the COVID year, but you wouldn't have been on the
01:32road for that one.
01:32I bet we didn't travel with the radio.
01:34That's right.
01:35In Arizona.
01:36Right.
01:37In Arizona.
01:38That's right.
01:38Yeah, and Allen had, like, 400 yards and five touchdowns.
01:41There have been Sunday night games.
01:42Well, then again, I have to think about West Coast.
01:44But it is a bit different, right?
01:45This is not a normal situation for the Bills.
01:48Monday night game on the West Coast against a good team, obviously.
01:51And so, anyway, it's a 5.15 p.m. kick here, obviously, at SoFi Stadium tonight.
01:55So, let's get to the injury report.
01:57It's brought to you by the Barnes Firm.
01:59If you've been injured in a crash, call the Barnes Firm, 1-800-8-Million.
02:03We're all waiting for the news on DJ Moore, right?
02:07That's the biggest storyline here.
02:08We'll get to some of the other injuries as well.
02:09But limited on Saturday and listed as questionable.
02:13So, possible.
02:15I don't know what to think.
02:16Right, Sal?
02:17He wants to play the way Joe Brady talked about it this week.
02:19I guess he's on the trip.
02:21He's questionable.
02:21We'll have to wait and see until, what, 90 minutes, 4-kick, we think?
02:26That's right.
02:26I mean, we'll know a little before that.
02:28I'll get an idea.
02:29When I'm inside the stadium watching warm-ups, generally, if he comes out with a group of players
02:34that you know aren't playing and he's one of them, then he wouldn't be playing.
02:37You know, if you go through, it's the same thing with the Sabres sometimes when a player
02:40goes through a heavy skate in the morning.
02:42Well, if a player goes through a heavy workout, you know, a couple hours before the game when
02:45they get to the stadium, that means they're not playing.
02:47They're not going to be a part of the normal pregame routine.
02:49So, we'll know.
02:50But you're right.
02:50Officially, Jeremy, it'll be 90 minutes before the game.
02:52The other thing we'll find out, because this is also, you know, kind of what throws a wrench
02:56into it, because they play on a Monday night, elevations didn't have to happen on Saturday.
03:01You're not going to get that until later today.
03:03So, you know, you can figure it out.
03:05Not necessarily that they would elevate a wide receiver, but they could, because now you
03:08think about it.
03:09You have not only DJ Moore, who's questionable, Joshua Palmer's out.
03:14I mean, if they had elevated Jamori Macklin, you're thinking, okay, like, that's trending
03:18more towards it.
03:19So, you're right.
03:19We'll figure that out.
03:20Now, in most cases, I would say this player's not going to play, but this player particularly
03:26is different than that to me, because he plays all the time, and he always wants to be out
03:31there, and I am not going to close the door on him playing.
03:35It would read to me like he's probably not going to play, but this is DJ Moore, and I
03:40would not be stunned if he did.
03:42Do you think it would be Macklin, Trent Shurfield here, Stephen Gosnell?
03:46Like, I'm looking at the practice.
03:47Do you think it'd be Macklin above others?
03:49Good question.
03:50I did use his name as an example, but to your point, I'm trying to think.
03:55Let me think.
03:56So, Palmer and Moore don't really play a lot of special teams.
04:00Palmer does a little bit.
04:01I have to go back and look at his snaps.
04:04Macklin might be more of the guy there.
04:06You do have Dorch still, but he's more of a returner.
04:09Shurfield would more be specialty, but you know what?
04:11In this situation, maybe it would be Shurfield.
04:13If you're losing two veteran receivers, if you really wanted a guy up, you might want to
04:16go a little bit more of a veteran guy who kind of understands everything to do, especially
04:20in an environment like this tonight, and knowing you already have one receiver making his NFL
04:24debut tonight.
04:24Do you think that elevated receiver would actually get snaps on offense, or would they just give
04:28Dorch more snaps on offense?
04:30Good question, too.
04:31Probably just as much Dorch.
04:32It's more about numbers, though.
04:34Right.
04:34To be honest with you, if you're down two, you might want to just think about it, Joe,
04:37because if you're using Dorch, let's just say they don't have Moore and they don't have
04:40Palmer.
04:40That leaves you Shakir, Coleman, Bell, and Dorch.
04:43I just think you would probably want to have one more guy available, even if you want to
04:47use Dorch on the field.
04:49So, you could go a four, but I just think that you would probably want to have at least
04:53somebody else available.
04:54Yeah, they probably would get some snaps if they were up for the game.
04:58We know Ed Oliver's out.
04:59We know that Josh Palmer is out.
05:02The other questions, Sal, questionable, we mentioned DJ Moore, Landon Jackson questionable,
05:07D. Alford questionable, and Terrell Bernard, no game status, but did not practice because
05:12of a knee-slash-veteran rest day.
05:14So, the Bills, of course, the defense is onto the gun here because of their production, but
05:20also some significant injuries that they'll be battling through here.
05:23Yeah, and so let's start with Alford.
05:26It's another one that, you know, trending like he won't play, but he only practiced one time
05:31this week.
05:31He got hurt last week.
05:33We know that, again, Takori Couch got hurt.
05:35Now, you're not going to see Takori Couch's name on the injury report because he's a practice
05:38squad player, but he would be the natural elevation.
05:41And guys, if he can't go, and I didn't see him at practice all week, but he's not going
05:44to get listed because he's not on the roster.
05:47So, what do they do at nickel?
05:48That is a huge question tonight.
05:50I think more so than D.J.
05:51Moore's status tonight might be a question to me of what they do at nickel cornerback.
05:55Yes, you want D.J.
05:56Moore because he's a really good player.
05:58There's no doubt about that.
05:59But I think from a roster construction standpoint, I understand what they're going to do if
06:03they don't have D.J.
06:03Moore and, you know, what the possibilities.
06:05I don't know what they're going to do if they don't have D.
06:07Alford and Takori Couch.
06:08Like, who's the nickel corner?
06:10Are you going to suddenly, you know, elevate A.J.
06:13Woods, a guy they just signed?
06:15Are you going to move somebody who's an outside corner to nickel?
06:18Are you going to use DeMar Hamlin in the slot again?
06:22Is Jalen Kilgore?
06:23That's probably the most natural thing you could do because he's more of a box player,
06:28but he's a safety.
06:29That, to me, might be the bigger question tonight.
06:31All right.
06:32For a secondary that's already struggled, Sal, like, do any none of these ideas really sound
06:37that great, even if you don't consider who they're playing?
06:41I mean, like, could they move Gardner Johnson down into the box and put somebody else back
06:45where he's playing?
06:46Like, again, like, maybe there's no good idea.
06:48And then you couple that with it's Sean McVay and it's – what level of threat do you look
06:54at them as?
06:54Because they have struggled so far this year, but I don't know, like, I tend to think they
06:59will be fine as the Rams offense, you know, goes forward here.
07:03You're talking about the Rams?
07:04You're talking about the Rams specifically?
07:06Yeah, like, really, combined with the injuries on defense and what the secondaries looked
07:10like, you have a Rams offense that's struggled, but I don't know, I feel like there still
07:14should be confidence that they are a huge threat.
07:17No doubt about it.
07:18I mean, struggle, Joe, I think is an interesting word because there's areas they've struggled,
07:22there's areas they're still very, very good.
07:24In fact, if you look at all the kind of raw numbers, look at the raw data on the Rams
07:28this
07:28year, you ready?
07:29Number one in the league in total yards per game at 417.
07:34Number six in the league in yards per play, over six yards per play.
07:39Their only area they're not – okay, well, I got 14th in yards per play passing, but 11th,
07:447th, 2nd.
07:45These are the rankings, but the reason why they've been struggling is if you go to, I
07:49think, 3rd, let's see, 3rd down their 10th, but Red Zone is the big one.
07:52Red Zone, they're only 22nd in the NFL, and that's why, you know, they're only averaging
07:5721 points a game.
07:5821 points a game is more like bottom third of the league, actually.
08:02You know, this is a classic, maybe the Bills have to really maybe try to be bend, don't
08:07break tonight, to be honest with you.
08:08And as much as we've had this high-variance, high-event type of defense, it's been boom
08:13or bust, even Jim Leonard has talked about that, tonight might be the kind of game where,
08:18okay, like, they're going to get their yards, we can't let them get their points, because
08:21that's what they've been this year.
08:23Don't let them be the team, don't be the team that they start scoring against, like
08:26New England did last week.
08:28Be the team that they get in the Red Zone, you either get a turnover, or you hold them to
08:32a field goal, and now you have a chance to get a touchdown, and there's your four-point
08:35swing.
08:36So, I think that's, yes, they're very scary, Joe, to answer your question, I don't think
08:42the Rams, for a lot of the negative numbers they have, are any team that we should be
08:49thinking about is suddenly not a good offense.
08:52Sal Capaccio joining us on the Western Hotline.
08:55Sal, for this offense, I mean, we're all kind of looking at Allen to see whether or not he
08:59looks like he's 100%, you've got a read on that?
09:04I mean, I think he's banged up, right?
09:05I mean, I don't think, he's not in the injury report, right?
09:07We know that.
09:08Yep.
09:08But I think they were more cautious with him last week, and, you know, maybe that gives
09:14him an extra week here.
09:15Maybe it was, hey, we're going to take a week, we're not going to run you as much, not take
09:17as many hits.
09:18He still took some, maybe not as many in the Chargers game, so maybe tonight's a night
09:21where, you know, they run him a little bit, and we'll see.
09:24Or they could wind up doing the same thing they did last week and keeping him in.
09:28But yeah, I think Josh is banged up.
09:30There's no doubt.
09:30And, you know, what does Joe Brady say?
09:31He's hurting.
09:33He's always hurting after a game or banged up after a game, whatever the wording he was
09:37that he used.
09:38But, you know, Josh is tough.
09:39We know that.
09:40And I wonder, I thought last week, guys, I thought, like, the pass at the end of the
09:45game to me that Josh drew was kind of an example of maybe why, of maybe their game plan
09:51was get rid of the ball a little quicker.
09:53Like, he did not try to extend a lot of plays last week.
09:55And in that play in particular, he didn't extend.
09:57And maybe in a different situation, he does.
09:59I think that last week, it felt to me like the game plan was get rid of the ball a
10:04little
10:04quicker.
10:05Don't take a lot of shots.
10:06We're not going to run you as much.
10:07Don't take a lot of shots.
10:08Do you think any part of that is that they are not getting out of their offensive line
10:13what they would have hoped?
10:15I'm not sure about that, Joe.
10:16No, I don't think so.
10:17I think they're confident in their offensive line.
10:19I think it's one-on-one battles.
10:20They're not winning as much every once in a while here and there.
10:23And, you know, you've seen that, but I don't think they're calling a game thinking that
10:27the offensive line is not doing its job.
10:29No, I wouldn't say that.
10:31They do have to play better, though, than they did last week specifically, maybe even
10:35in the Chargers game.
10:37It's just some one-on-ones.
10:38Deion Dawkins has been beaten a couple of times.
10:40Even Connor McGovern got beat, you know, last week.
10:42But they have to be a little better there.
10:46But I don't think Joe Brady's calling a game with that in mind.
10:50Sal Capaccio joining us on the Western Hotline ahead of Bills-Rams.
10:54We've got a couple calls in with Sal here.
10:56Mark in Richmond.
10:57Hey, Mark.
11:00Good morning.
11:01How are you doing today?
11:02Good.
11:02Good.
11:02Good morning.
11:04Good.
11:05People haven't mentioned this much, but the two-point conversion we failed last game
11:09against New England is a troubling trend.
11:11I think last year, like, two for 11 or two for 13.
11:13This year, we're 0 for 2.
11:16In ice hockey, sometimes they hire specialists to work with power plays and power kills.
11:21Is there any way they could bring in a specialist to help with a two-point conversion?
11:24Because if we would have got that, the whole game would have changed last week.
11:28Thanks, Mark.
11:29Listen.
11:30Let me give you this.
11:32I feel like the thing, this is a spot where, you know, you've got your offensive coach,
11:36your offensive staff.
11:37It's a short yardage play.
11:38But what I might wonder for a two-point conversion specialist, if you will, is that might be where
11:46your data science team comes in or analytics or something like that about, like, where
11:49are the spots on the field that teams score from the two-yard line?
11:55How about running the ball?
11:56The Bills never run it.
11:57And they've got this unicorn quarterback that can run all the time.
12:01So, I don't know.
12:02They've got a full offensive staff.
12:03I don't know about anybody new that comes in.
12:05But maybe there's some data they can dig into into why they're so bad at it.
12:10But they've been doing that, Jeremy.
12:11That's the thing.
12:13You know, like, I asked Pete Carmichael last week about this.
12:17And I think it is two for the last 11 to the caller's point.
12:20And you're right, Jeremy.
12:21They've thrown every time.
12:22And, you know, I think running the ball could be something, to me, I think we talked about
12:26this when it happened.
12:27Put the ball in your best player's hand.
12:28Josh Allen, let him make a play with his legs or his arm, right?
12:31Let him run a little bit.
12:32Look what the Ravens did last night with Derrick Henry on that two-point conversion.
12:37Got creative, put the ball in their best runner's hand, right?
12:40And let him run for the two points.
12:42I'm not saying you have to copy that.
12:44What I'm saying is, I think you don't have to pass every single time.
12:47But when I asked Pete Carmichael what goes into it, like, I said, take me through the
12:51process of a week of planning.
12:53And this goes to the caller's question of a specialist.
12:56Like, I don't think you need a specialist for a two-point.
12:58This is what they do.
12:58The coaches are the specialists.
13:00You have a week to prepare.
13:01That's what Pete Carmichael's job is.
13:03He is the specialist.
13:04He's the offensive coordinator.
13:05He's got a data and analytics team, like Jeremy said.
13:07They're the specialists.
13:08He has an offensive line coach to lean on.
13:10These guys are all the specialists.
13:12And he said, you start, actually, with a lot of, what does that team do?
13:17How do they react in short yardage?
13:19What do you see from the defense?
13:20Okay, what kind of personnel do we have that we do well that can counter against something
13:25like that?
13:26They go through all this.
13:28I do not think this is a, they have to hire some sort of specialist because the coaches
13:35don't know what they're doing with this.
13:36I do, however, think the coaches need to think about tweaking something here or there.
13:40And it starts, to me, with being a little bit more creative than just having Josh Allen
13:43throw the ball into the end zone or to the goal line.
13:45Right.
13:46It doesn't even have to be, by the way, running it with James Cook.
13:49Like, that Derrick Henry play from last night that you referenced, like, when I see that
13:53play and if I did want to copy that, who would I copy that with?
13:56Wouldn't I do that with Allen?
13:57Like, Allen running.
13:58Right.
13:58That's exactly what I mean.
14:00That's right.
14:00Yes.
14:00And give him an option, maybe.
14:02He can throw the ball, too.
14:03Have somebody leak out.
14:04I don't know.
14:05We're all kind of drawing things up on, you know, napkins here or whatever.
14:08Right.
14:08Yeah, that's right, Joe.
14:10Like, to me, I've always believed when you're in that situation, you let your best player
14:16handle the ball and make decisions.
14:19And that would be him.
14:20Now, when I say make decisions, you're not going to necessarily take it to Derrick Henry
14:24and let him throw it.
14:24But maybe he can pick a hole, right?
14:26Something like that.
14:27You give him options on what to do there.
14:29So I just think that's the best way to go about it.
14:3118 straight two-point conversions.
14:33They've thrown the ball.
14:34The last time they ran it, Allen's Superman jump over the Dolphins here in the snow.
14:40And they had to review that because it was originally called a non-score.
14:43Right.
14:44That's the last time.
14:44He went over top, and they got it.
14:47Sal, what about running the ball in general in this game?
14:50Would you expect that Cook will be more of a focal point than last week isn't a high
14:55bar.
14:55But to what extent they might want to, you know, lean away from, I don't want to put
15:01it that way, just that they'll run the ball more in this game and maybe play it a little
15:05more conservative than they have in recent weeks.
15:08Yeah, I think so, Joe.
15:09I think that's the formula tonight, right?
15:12Which is, I wrote this at WGR550.com, got my three keys, and my last key was be smarter.
15:18I just think I need to be smarter.
15:19And that doesn't mean you have to run the ball more to be smarter.
15:21That's not what I mean.
15:22What I mean is what you just said.
15:24Like, understand situational football better.
15:27You don't have to abandon your run game that quickly.
15:29You don't have to, you know, take, throw the ball down the field and get rid of the
15:34ball quickly, put it in harm's way.
15:36And to me, I think if you want to avoid those situations, you have the number one running
15:41back in the league last year, James Cook, who was up there again this year.
15:44You could turn around and hand it to him, try and stay on schedule.
15:46Now, it's not always going to work.
15:48First down run, people, you know, somebody called earlier about a first down run, maybe.
15:51Like, yep, you run first down, you get two yards, like, okay, it's second and eight.
15:56But you got to be able to try and move the ball in first down, running the ball sometimes.
15:58And you got to be able to get, you know, second down runs.
16:02It's not always just putting yourself in, hey, let's, you know, throw the ball real early
16:07in the down here.
16:08And then all of a sudden it's incomplete.
16:09It's second and 10.
16:10I think this is the kind of night where you might want to do that.
16:13And oh, by the way, because your defense is struggling, you might keep Matthew Stafford and
16:16Puka Nakua and Devontae Adams off the field when you do that.
16:19Right.
16:20On that.
16:20And Joe, and I'm going to say, I just think listening to Joe Brady, because you said, so
16:25that's what I would, what would Sal do?
16:27What do I think they're going to do?
16:28Yeah.
16:28I think listening to Joe Brady, I do think that they want to get back to being that team
16:32that does that a little bit more, especially after even Connor McGovern goes on with you
16:36guys and says, like, we, we abandoned the run game a little bit too early.
16:39Look what happened in the second half.
16:40They're a good running football team.
16:42They, I think they just have to find their way sometimes when teams have a good plan
16:46against them.
16:46I think these are, is it EPA per rush or maybe something like these are the top two in one
16:51of those rushing categories.
16:52Like these are the best two rushing offenses in football.
16:56It might not be EPA rush, whatever it is.
16:57And the bills rush defense has been pretty good this year.
17:00Very good.
17:00Like the, you know, where they're getting beat is by quarterbacks, but not this quarterback
17:03tonight.
17:03Like you can't let Matt Stafford run on you.
17:05That would be really crazy.
17:07Right.
17:07But the bills have done a good job against other teams running backs.
17:10This year, right?
17:11It's not EPA per rush.
17:12Cause the bills are number one in the Rams are number 13.
17:14What about on the other side of the ball?
17:16So we already talked a little bit about that matchup.
17:19What should we expect?
17:20Or is it a total up in the air of what the corner rotation will look like tonight?
17:25Other than Benford, I'm assuming if he's full go here, which he's not on the injury report
17:29with a designation that he will obviously be out there.
17:32Yeah, it's a good question.
17:33Uh, Joe Brady kind of didn't even really want to get into that or say anything about that
17:38and commit to Max Harrison being on the field full time or IGB playing.
17:42I think you will see both of them tonight.
17:44I wouldn't be surprised if IGB starts maybe because of what happened last week.
17:48I shouldn't say that.
17:48I think that the indicate, I have to go back and think about the way he phrased it earlier
17:52in the week that Max is still their starter, I think, but I wouldn't be surprised to see
17:55IGB playing on some sort of rotation.
17:57Um, you know, I know Christian Benford has struggled.
18:00That's clear that they need him in this game.
18:03Christian Benford is a veteran who's played in all situations.
18:08He's seen everything.
18:09He just has to play better.
18:11But you go against Matt Stafford, the reigning league MVP who's 38 years old and been in
18:15this league a long time.
18:16You, you have Devante Adams and Puka Nakua.
18:19Like if you go into this game and you're, you're outside corners or Max Harrison and IGB,
18:24you know, those guys, they're going to, first of all, that he's going to pick on Max Harrison
18:27anyway, he's probably going to pick on a rookie, but they're going to have things where these
18:30guys haven't seen like Christian Benford seen any, everything he just has to play better.
18:35But I think he's a really important player tonight, to be honest with you.
18:38Like I, I think, you know, Christian better, but if the bills can get Christian Benford back
18:44and like just playing steady football tonight, I just think that would be a huge, huge benefit.
18:48Right.
18:49The last time they played the Ram cell Puka went off like 12.
18:53He does that a lot.
18:5412 catches, like 160 yards or something like that.
18:58This might be one of those games where I know Benford did a lot of shadowing in the first
19:02two games.
19:02Like he would follow Collins, he would follow St.
19:04Brown, where are both guys so good that you would say like, you just pick a side or would
19:11Puka get more, you know, shadow treatment than, than Adams would.
19:17I think they're both so good.
19:19You might just pick a side.
19:20The other part about that is Joe, I know he's off the injury report.
19:23He is coming off an injury though.
19:24Right.
19:24Like, I mean, maybe just maybe the best thing to do is keep him out in one spot.
19:29And it meant not having, having to do that necessarily to put it to tax him as much,
19:32so to speak.
19:33So yeah, it'll be interesting to see.
19:36It'll be, it'll be one of the things that we'll be watching pretty early in the game to
19:39see, you know, how they're treating those two wide receivers.
19:42Sal Capaccio on the Western Hotline.
19:44Thank you, Sal.
19:44Enjoy the game.
19:45We'll talk tomorrow, same time.
19:47So you can sleep a little bit.
19:48Yeah, we can do that guys.
19:49You got it.
19:50Very good.
19:50Sal joining us at nine o'clock tomorrow.
19:53You know, listen, it's just a potential high panic day.
19:55I'll speak for myself.
19:56I'm only going to panic though about the Sabres.
19:58The Bills could lose this game and you know, a lot of time to get the defense right.
20:03Granted the Sabres have 80 games, 80 games left.
20:07Just want them to look good.
20:08The Bills game is definitely more meaningful.
20:10Yes.
20:10To the season.
20:12So, yes, it is.
20:14It has to be.
20:14Definitely.
20:16But I'm much more confident that the Bills will make the playoffs than the Sabres will
20:21right now.
20:23Fair?
20:23Yeah, for sure.
20:24The Bills are like 99% it feels like.
20:27Yeah, probably.
20:28But are you going as far as to say that if you could only have one team win today, you
20:31would pick the Bills?
20:32No, I'm not saying that.
20:32Sorry, no, you'd pick the Sabres.
20:34No, I'm not saying that.
20:35I'm just saying.
20:36That'd be crazy.
20:36I'm saying my panic index, I'm panicky right now about the Sabres.
20:42Okay?
20:42I'm just a little panicky.
20:44I'm still just saying.
20:45I want to stay cool in the middle of that.
20:47Just please let me be mad about them losing games in peace.
20:50All right?
20:51Don't yell at me because I'm mad about losses.
20:54The thing about finally making the playoffs that I was hoping to buy for myself is that
20:59I'm not going to be so mad every time they lose.
21:01Because when they're in the drought, I would just get, you know, beside myself when we're
21:06seven games into the year and it already feels like it's over.
21:08How much credit should they buy themselves with last year?
21:12Some.
21:12Right?
21:13Some.
21:13How about three weeks?
21:15Three weeks?
21:17A month?
21:17I did say 20 games.
21:18I did tweet 20 games.
21:19But to that point.
21:2020 games.
21:21It's game five.
21:22However, I wanted them to look like a team that, did they look like a team that did what
21:29they did last year?
21:29I think in the first three games, to some extent, they did.
21:34Not all the way.
21:35If I can play Chicago once a week, I'll be great.
21:38I think the Minnesota game was the one for me.
21:40The Minnesota game, they looked like themselves.
21:42After falling down 2-0.
21:44But even when they were down, before that.
21:46Before that, it was a dead-even game.
21:49But a dead-even game against a Stanley Cup contender.
21:52I got 24 minutes of dead-even hockey against a good team.
21:55Against a very good team.
21:56And I'm going to cling to that like a life raft.
21:58And then, for the next 35 minutes, I was better than them.
22:01After that, I was down 2-0.
22:03Okay.
22:06I'm not going to give them no credit.
22:08I mean, for 10 minutes of the third period, they were tied and were the better team.
22:12Yeah, that's right.
22:13That's right.
22:13So, I'm just, I want to...
22:15I mean, the Blackhawks...
22:16I'm going to give them a minute to gel.
22:17They got, like, seven guys playing positions they don't play, typically.
22:21I'm going to figure that out.
22:22Yeah.
22:22Like, just Norris and McLeod playing wing should be an experiment that's over.
22:26It's not science.
22:27It's just my own panic index.
22:28Am I just allowed ever to be a little panicky?
22:33You're allowed some grace in that department, I think.
22:35Yes.
22:36All right.
22:38It's not like you're declaring the season over.
22:39No, not at all.
22:40Not at all.
22:41But I am less likely...
22:43Hellebuck.
22:43I am less and less thinking the goalie is going to fix it.
22:46The goalie might have to cover up what other things are showing up.
22:48Well, do we think that the work...
22:50Could their goalies be so bad early on that that does push them to...
22:53You don't...
22:54GMs would never want to admit this.
22:56And they'd never want to be pigeonholed into this spot.
23:00But that they would be so bad in goal early on that it...
23:06Winnipeg might gain some leverage in that.
23:07But the Sabres feel like, okay, maybe we should do this.
23:10And you know what?
23:11We did not want to meet their price.
23:13We wanted it to come down.
23:14We wanted to take the bet against them.
23:15But guess what?
23:16We could still do this.
23:18Let's just do it.
23:19Yeah.
23:19Really what all that's happening is I've got a team that could be good
23:23and a GM that is supposed to be active and aggressive
23:27who does want to be, it would appear,
23:30but hasn't been able to be.
23:32And I'm just really impatient about it all.
23:34That's really what it is.
23:36I'm aware to tell you I'm not saying it's all rational.
23:39No, I mean, they haven't really...
23:40They haven't played their conference yet.
23:42All right.
23:42Well, they start today.
23:43They start today.
23:44Division.
23:44I mean, it could be worse.
23:45It could be Philly.
23:47Could.
23:47Philly's a joke right now.
23:50Winless through seven.
23:51How about a lead for six minutes tonight?
23:55Their longest lead of the season has been like six minutes in the game.
23:58Listen, that should feel good.
23:59Florida, eight minutes of leading this year.
24:01That's it.
24:01Even better.
24:02Welcome back, Sam Reinhart and Dmitry Kulikov.
24:06That's all they've got left?
24:07That's it.
24:07There was a time where they had like six former Sabres.
24:10That's it for now.
24:11All right.
24:12Kyle Oposo going to bang the drum?
24:15They had a comedian do it last game.
24:16I thought it was Greg Rousseau.
24:18Oh, two games ago then.
24:19Okay.
24:19Right, sorry.
24:20The Dallas game that I was at, it was a local comedian, I believe.
24:23All right.
24:23And then it was Rousseau.
24:24Okay, it won't be a bill.
24:26We will get to your calls.
24:27I keep saying that.
24:28Allie, Mo, John, we'll get to you in the next segment.
24:29Promise.
24:30We've got a same game parlay we're going to throw out.
24:32The parlay king's going to ride.
24:33We've got two games tonight.
24:34Might as well put something together.
24:37Jeremy and Joe here on WTR.