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Jeremy White and Sneaky Joe DiBiase are joined by NFL Insider and Bills contributor to WGRZ Vic Carucci for his weekly Football Friday appearance with the guys. They start by breaking down some of what we saw in the Packers-Panthers Thursday Night Football game. Then they move onto the Bills and Ravens huge AFC matchup this weekend and examine the Josh vs Lamar storyline, the defense, and more!
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00:00All right, Football Friday here on WGR, and we're going to talk with Vic Carucci, whose appearance is brought to
00:05you by Northtown Volkswagen, Northtown VW, Western New York's number one VW dealer.
00:10We had Thursday Night Football last night. Sometimes people complain about Thursday Night Football. Sometimes it gives us great moments.
00:17Mr. Carucci, last night we had an iconic moment. Christian Watson to the hospital and back in under an hour.
00:23I mean, how many times have you seen anything like it? He's running back on the field. He's ready to
00:27go.
00:28What a scene.
00:29Yeah, I mean, for those of my vintage, I don't want to make this an overcomparison, but Willis Reed, Nick's,
00:39right?
00:39I mean, that kind of thing where you, and those are sports moments we do love.
00:43First of all, that the guy's healthy enough to come back.
00:46And the other part of this is in Green Bay, a lot of stadiums, as you know, a lot of
00:51the newer stadiums have their own facilities to really do a lot of this checkout stuff.
00:56In Green Bay, you know, they take you to the hospital. You know, they take you nearby. Not that that's,
01:01you know, completely off the wall that sadly sometimes players do get taken to hospitals from stadiums.
01:07But it felt like the consummate Green Bay thing. Go to the hospital, come back, play.
01:12It must be close to Lambeau. Because that's the other thing. How many stadiums in the league?
01:17Around the corner? Okay.
01:18Okay. I was going to say, how many stadiums in the league could you get to the hospital and back
01:20in under an hour? Not many, I would guess.
01:22Right down the road from the restaurant where you can cook your own steaks.
01:26There's a restaurant there where you can cook your own steaks. Would I want to do that?
01:29Yes, sir.
01:29Is it worth cooking your own? Like, are they giving you accoutrements? How does it work?
01:34You can get some accoutrements, but you go, you're standing around a pit, literally, and you pick out, first of
01:41all, you pick out your steak, like you're, you know, going to the meat market.
01:44Right. And then, you know, you monitor it and you kind of like, I mean, I enjoy cooking a steak,
01:52obviously, on the grill. I'm sure you guys do, too.
01:54But you're right. At a restaurant, you sort of say, well, maybe the chef can handle it. But I'm not
01:58going to lie, guys. It was a great experience.
02:00All right. Good.
02:01Well, Vic, the Bills are off the buy and they have the longest streak in the league of winning off
02:06the buy.
02:07And whether that's a Josh Allen stat or that's been a Sean McDermott hallmark of what he did, here's Joe
02:13Brady, his first time off the buy in a big game against Baltimore.
02:17Do you feel like there are some coaches that have some sort of secret sauce for how to use that
02:24week off?
02:25Or is it as simple as, I mean, it's Josh Allen. Your chances are pretty good going in.
02:30You know, I would have used the example of Andy Reid because he was Mr. Post-buy brilliance.
02:38And then we saw what happened to them in Seattle. So that didn't look so smart.
02:44But, yeah, I really am leaning more toward it being a Josh Allen stat.
02:49And the greatness, the elevation of the team in the course of his time includes that.
02:57And there is also something about Josh where this is, you know, just a feeling that when he gets a
03:05chance to catch his breath, do the pause thing,
03:07when these buys are positioned, I think, as well as this one near midseason, that he comes back with a
03:14refreshed sense of,
03:16OK, you know, and these are the things I need to focus on, work on, or just take a breath
03:21and come back to it.
03:22But it'll be interesting, the Josh now that's married, the Josh now that's a dad, is going through this post
03:29-buy thing for the first time, too.
03:30So we can analyze all of that.
03:32How do you feel about, this week has also been about, Joe and I have talked about the Josh Lamar
03:37thing,
03:37and we talked to Brian Wacker, the Baltimore Sun in Baltimore, about these twists and turns of the Lamar story,
03:44whether or not he's going to play the injury and all that.
03:46But for Josh, he's always playing, knock on wood, he's always playing.
03:50And for Lamar, it feels like the Ravens themselves can't quite figure it out.
03:53And I feel like that's got to lead to uncertainty.
03:57I don't know.
03:58I don't know if they're getting tired of it, but it feels like it's a constant storyline for Baltimore.
04:03Yeah, Jeremy, it really is.
04:05And I spoke with Vinny Serrato, who's a co-host in Baltimore, former NFL front office executive in Washington.
04:14And his phrase was, only Lamar knows when Lamar is healthy enough to play.
04:20I mean, let that sink in a little bit.
04:22Only Lamar knows.
04:24That feels like he's going to tell you, A, he's going to tell you, which, okay, is fine.
04:29You certainly want the feedback of the player.
04:32But it feels like it goes deeper than that.
04:34And I think the part that really caught me was a response, you know, to, I think the question was
04:42asked along the lines of what, last Saturday, what we saw where he, Lamar, was trending toward playing all week
04:53long.
04:54And then the question, and then Saturday, he shows up, he's not playing.
04:58So out three games in a row.
05:00And then the question was asked of Jesse Minter during this past week about whether this was like a surprise
05:05shot.
05:05I think the word shock was.
05:07And he, I think the, he answered it to the, with words to the effect of, yeah, you could say
05:12that.
05:12Well, okay, that's not good when the head coach isn't entirely certain as to your status.
05:18But I, there is this other part of Lamar that says he's got to be fully able to do, in
05:25his mind, to do everything he's ready to do.
05:28And if he's playing, and if we see him out there Sunday, and I think we will, then that's a
05:33version of Lamar that could be a big problem for the Bills.
05:36And it'll still be, like, we won't know for sure until we see him on the field, how dangerous he'll
05:41be, especially running.
05:42How do you feel like, let's say Lamar is mostly Lamar in this game, Vic.
05:47That he's dangerous, he'll run around, he's good from the pocket too.
05:51How do you feel like this Bills defense now matches up against the Ravens?
05:54McDermott had some success, especially in the playoffs, against the Ravens.
05:58But there are some big Derrick Henry games.
06:01And going into this game, the Bills run defense now is the strength.
06:04So, how do you feel like that side of the ball matches up?
06:08Yeah, and it has been the strength, but it's been the strength against teams that don't present the dual rushing
06:16threat that Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry give you.
06:20I think this is massive challenge for the rookie defensive coordinator, Jim Leonard.
06:25Not that he hasn't been challenged right along, but this one feels bigger.
06:30And to the qualification here, Joe, of this is a mostly fully healthy Lamar Jackson, who in that state is
06:40going to do a lot of running.
06:42He's bound to be by design, by improvisation.
06:46And that combined with what Derrick Henry can do and keeping the Bills defense off balance and guessing as to
06:54how they're going to be attacked, I think is going to be the rub for the Bills.
06:59If you sell out, if you do everything you can to contain Derrick Henry, there has to be greater vulnerability
07:06to A, Lamar Jackson's legs, and B, Lamar Jackson's arm.
07:13And, you know, this feels like, I look at Zay Flowers, he is one of the very best receivers in
07:18the league, guys, we know that.
07:19And if they give a lot of attention to him in coverage, a unit that even when it gives a
07:25lot of attention to people, doesn't cover him very well, the Bills, you know, I think that's, those are the
07:32things I'm looking at.
07:33And something gives, you can't do, like you can focus on one thing, something will give.
07:41Vic, I want to ask you about the trade deadline.
07:43We just saw a big deal from the Bears for Jeffrey Simmons.
07:46And the Bills, we're talking about how there's a big challenge for Jim Leonard against the Ravens.
07:50The defense has to find a way to get better.
07:52Maybe the Bills go out and seek some help from the outside to make a trade.
07:56I know that the Bills aren't going to make a move just to make a move.
07:58I think they wouldn't do that.
08:00But how much pressure do you feel like the GM is under to show that he will buy in a
08:05little bit on this team and this season after last year opting not to in a year where they also
08:11probably needed some help?
08:13Yeah, Jeremy, first of all, I would fully expect Brandon Bean to do something because something has to be done.
08:20And he is, I'll use the word for the sake of a better term, reactionary when it comes to that.
08:26I don't mean that as a criticism.
08:28I mean it, you should be reactionary in this business.
08:32You should identify where there is a need and address it.
08:36And he's done that.
08:37He has a track record of doing that.
08:38It may not always be the best of moves, but he's going to do that in terms of the type
08:44of move it is.
08:45So on the one hand, like you said, making a move just to make a move, just to make fans
08:51or media say, well, they did something.
08:53I mean, you know, they tried to fix something is weak to look at it that way.
09:00The what they what they you know, if they do something, it'll have a thought behind it.
09:05But it's got to be nuanced in my view, because there's no big splash here to make the salary cap
09:13room doesn't allow for that.
09:15They've kicked the can down the road with enough contracts that I don't know where else that money is going
09:20to come from.
09:21If there is, they quote, big splash guy defensively.
09:24I've heard you talk about the basic linebacker safety, you know, maybe corner thing.
09:31But Tredavious White is the corner move they've made.
09:35And I think he's going to do some playing, but it sounds like more mentoring, especially with what he was
09:40saying earlier in the week.
09:41And and and anything else linebacker corner or linebacker safety is sort of logical, fundamental, but not splashy.
09:51The one lever, Vic, they still could pull that I know we talked about a bit in the offseason was
09:57I think there's a still like it was 11 million.
09:59And then I don't know how much would be now that they could create room by moving money around for
10:03Dawkins.
10:04And I remember that being a conversation coming off a down year.
10:07I wonder if they wouldn't want to do that.
10:10Like like you said, they've done it with so many other guys.
10:13Do they want to they want to save that for next year or because every time you do that, it
10:18just gets harder and harder.
10:20Yeah, Joe, it is because it's that theory that it's, you know, pay me now, pay me later.
10:25You're going to do a lot of pay me later.
10:27Now, it's not uncommon for GMs or the framework of GM coach.
10:35But in this case, particularly Brandon Bean, because he's been here.
10:39This is what, nine seasons or whatever.
10:41And or, yeah, what, 10.
10:45And and Joe Brady starting out.
10:48But it's the attitude.
10:50This is a very common phrase in the NFL.
10:53Let it be the next guy's problem.
10:55Just, you know, make the move.
10:57Do what you need to do for now, because all you can worry about is for now.
11:01And, you know, don't I don't know if we lose sight of the fact that things were extremely.
11:07I mean, is Dicey overstating where things were for Brandon Bean, you know, along with Sean McDermott.
11:15Sean was shown the door being still here in a different capacity.
11:20But in many ways, the savior, savior of what was off the rails in terms of of what Terry Pagula
11:28felt, even though off the rails was still a lot of winning.
11:31But he's here to to make it work with Joe Brady.
11:35And I think there might be a fuller commitment to do that.
11:40I wouldn't rule that out.
11:41I'm not expecting it.
11:42But my point being, if you do it and then you kick more cans down the road and it doesn't
11:48work out and you're not here to see it through.
11:50Guess what?
11:51You know, Jeremy White, the next general manager of the Bills.
11:54I'll take it.
11:55Do it.
11:55Yeah.
11:56Maybe I want that job.
11:57I don't know.
11:57People would be upset about it.
11:58I don't address the defense enough.
11:59Probably.
12:00Anyway, I'll do it.
12:01I'll do it.
12:02Vic, thanks.
12:03We'll talk next week.
12:05All right, guys.
12:06Happy Halloween to you, too.
12:07Vic Carucci's appearance on WGR brought to you by Northtown Volkswagen, Northtown VW, Western New York's number one VW dealer.
12:12So before the year, it would have been 11 million dollars.
12:15The Bills could have created by restructuring Dawkins.
12:17I think it probably works the same way as when you trade for a guy middle of the year.
12:21If you restructured it right now, would it be about half?
12:25Six or seven million.
12:26But they have that.
12:27Whatever that number actually is, it's a chunk.
12:32So is Dawkins playing well enough that you may be confident to say, yeah, we're good with him for another
12:37year or two?
12:37Again, it's the price of business.
12:41Built into, well, they don't have a lot of money to spend.
12:44Right.
12:45They never do.
12:47I think they have more money this year, though, than they...
12:50Four million this year, I think, is more than they've had in recent deadlines.
12:54Sure, but four is not a lot.
12:54But they've managed to trade for Rasul Douglas and Amari Cooper when they've had less.
13:00So I've got this, still small number, but a number that I've worked around before, and I've got this other
13:06lever.
13:07I don't think they have to be close to any idea because of the money.
13:10They could do it.
13:10Yeah, but you can't go get...
13:12It happens every year.
13:13You can't get the $25 million guy that you would get and then restructure because they never have the space.
13:19We were talking about this earlier with Sal.
13:21And again, don't confuse this with a hardcore, it shouldn't be this way, but they extend everybody.
13:30Everybody gets deals.
13:32Conor McGovern was going to leave.
13:34He's back.
13:34He's a good player.
13:35Osiris Torrance, he's back.
13:37The whole line is paid, except for Alec Anderson.
13:40They actually did let David Edwards leave.
13:42But as the Bears go out and get Jeffrey Simmons and like, wow, it's a big contract.
13:48I mentioned, in two years, the Bills cap space, according to SpotTrack, the Bills have $7 million in cap space
13:55in two years.
13:56That's the 31st most.
13:58Like, they're so locked in that a big trade for a whale, I don't see it.
14:04It's going to be picks.
14:06Well, you know what helped the Bears is that Simmons' cap this year was $7 million because he was in
14:09year one.
14:10So they can acquire him for $7 million.
14:12And then in two years, the Bears cap, they have $200 million.
14:16But the Bills could have done that now.
14:17But even that, like, oh, they can do that now when Caleb Williams is on the rookie deal.
14:22What?
14:23They don't even need it.
14:23$7 million for Jeffrey Simmons.
14:25Well, how long is it until Caleb Williams actually has a big cap it?
14:28Four years from now?
14:29Maybe.
14:30Because he has two more years of a rookie deal, and then he'll get an extension, which, what do we
14:33know about extensions?
14:33It's like the third year before you actually pay for it.
14:36Right.
14:36It can all be represented in, like, team timelines.
14:38It's not just a hardcore, they've done it wrong.
14:41But they've had a way that they've done it, which is signing everybody.
14:46Like, they rarely say goodbye to a guy.
14:49Will they sign Kincaid?
14:50Probably.
14:51Will they sign Coleman?
14:53Probably.
14:54Will they sign Bishop?
14:56Probably.
14:57Will they sign...
14:57You'd bet they sign Kincaid and Coleman right now?
14:59Sure.
15:00Both?
15:01I should always bet they'll sign people.
15:02They sign everybody.
15:03I feel like I want to bet it's only one of them.
15:04They don't let guys leave.
15:06And then when they do leave, they bring them back.
15:09That's true.
15:10They definitely do that.
15:11You can check out any time.
15:13You can never leave.
15:15All right.
15:17You're going to appeal your red card?
15:19I have an appeal.
15:19All right.
15:20He's going to appeal his red card.
15:21We'll do that in the 9 o'clock segment.
15:23It's Football Friday.
15:24Having a good time here on Halloween.
15:26I also have a fresh take on the NHL no trade clause debate.
15:30I feel like I want to shut it down real quick, but, you know, it probably won't work.
15:34I'll try.
15:35803-0550.
15:36Jeremy and Joe on WGR.
15:39I want to talk to them through all' plays with what happens, so I don't want to cover this all
15:39in the vision.
15:39I'll do it.
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