9/22/26 Full Show

0:00Hey, I arrived almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped a 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 D-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multitasker. 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. That's a sign you've got to get D-Mobile. So many reasons to join D-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Fastest based on analysis by Uclosepetextintelligence data of National Speed Score results in incorporating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026.

1:25You know Dan, losing weight can feel a lot like getting so close to the end zone and then losing the ball right before you cross the line. Winning the game is great, but maintaining that success season after season, that's where the real challenge lies. That's right, Sessie. NUM, the leading behavior change company pairs GLP-1 medication with behavioral tools, bite-sized daily lessons, and coaching to help you build sustainable habits. It's like having a full coaching staff to help you lose weight and keep it off, even if you stop the meds. The NUM GLP-1 program starts at $39 and medication can be delivered to your door in as little as seven days. Get a real game plan for lasting success. Start your GLP-1 journey today at NUM.com. That's N-O-O-M. NUM, lose for keeps. Initial one month subscription from $39 plus tax and $99 plus tax per month thereafter cost of medication not included. Not pricing depends upon program selection. A beautifully designed square space website is the difference between thinking about photography

2:27school and selling your portraits online. It's the difference between giving away those cookies you just made for free and running your cookie empire. A beautifully designed square space website is the difference between having a movie reviewing hobby and a movie reviewing career. Square space, because no matter what you're into, a website makes it real. This offer code difference for 50% off select plans, terms of condition supply. It's Mike Shope and the Bulldog. Alright, what's the report from outside? I was outside for maybe three minutes, accounted eight Q-tips. It's got to be one person that just throws their Q-tips out the window when they're done using them in their cars. It's Mike Shope. One person? More than one person using Q-tips and throwing them outside. I don't think I use Q-tips in a year. I think I've never used A-Q-tips. What the Bulldog? The hell is going out of there? I don't think I'm going to work in a place where people like grow their windows down if you're using Q-tips for lard knows what and just throw them on the ground. Well you do.

3:27What is it the 70s? Oh that's not very nice. It's Mike Shope and the Bulldog. Driving on the highway 65 mile hour, you're getting a little left in my soda from the fast food drive the window and that was the 70s and gives an F about anything. Throw a burrito. Nothing matters. 2025, what are you doing? I'm going to get on WGR. Throwing Q-tips out of your car. Sports Radio 550. That was already many years ago now that that conversation took place. But I think what goes on said there and I don't know that even came up in the unedited long form version of that conversation is that there's got to be no chance people are actually using Q-tips for their intended use. They are not out there cleaning their ears with Q-tips and then throwing them in the parking lot right? No. Is there something that kids know about that I'm too old to know about? Is there a drug thing? Is there a tick-tock thing? Is there something that's happening? There is something. Yeah.

4:28Is it? We can't talk about it on the radio. Probably not. Okay. Let's move along. Good afternoon. I am the Bulldog. Mike has the day off today. That is the sound of Owen Parker's voice. He's here to help us because we need a third wheel for reverse safety power rankings. With Mike off, Zach is here and Owen was just on the air and besides you owed me today. You owed me. Yeah. I thought maybe I paid you back because I helped you fill your tires up. I had to stop again and get well no they weren't leaking but to get the light to go off and I got the light to go off because I can't. You can tell me there's enough air in the tires but if that little light is still on that is I won't sleep. Yeah. I will not sleep tonight. I have to take care of that so I did. No. You owe me because I didn't play golf this morning because I wanted to help you with your car. You asked me last night if I could help you with your car and I said sure. And so that was it and not only did I not play golf but my buddy Aaron Quinn from cover

5:32one finally came. He came down from Taanawanda to play at Delaware Park this morning and I couldn't go play with him. Wow. Because I was busy helping you. Aaron. This is how it goes. You when I asked you that last night you never you didn't mention that you had played golf. Well that's what you do when someone asks you if you can help them you just you know if you want to help them you just don't well I was going to do this what I'm going to do. I know I'm good at laying the gill time but that I wasn't going to do that there. You know you needed a hand so I decided to give you a hand. All right anyway we'll get to it here in a second. First safety power rankings just the lay of the land today. This is I'm a little out of sorts because it's my first solo show with the new time. Oh yeah. So I'm trying I'm trying to keep a handle on things I'm saying things to like a firm that I know it's Paul will be with me at three which is weird because that's the start of the show. No it's not the show starts now idiot anyway. Three Ross Tucker for his usual spot with us at four o'clock in football season on

6:38Tuesdays and then at five Ryan Talbot from the fine shout to podcast will be joining me for some bills conversation. It's a day off for sale in season that is how Tuesdays normally do go. By the way speaking of Ross do you see the clip of him with love of tards? Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god. What? You're weird. Full stretch. Yeah. I thought I remembered him denying an interview not bailing on the job. Is that well I don't know. I mean it's the same thing really like right. Right. If he if I don't remember if it was reported that he didn't want to interview or not but what Levitard for folks who don't know Dan Levitard super talented. Now I don't need to explain to Dan Levitard is no I don't. Anyway on his show he had Ross Tucker on. I don't know if they're doing a regular thing or not. Maybe they are. Ross is awesome. And Levitard put put to him like yeah I know you know people up in Buffalo.

7:40I basically I need you to check this because I've heard this happened but I can't find confirmation on the Buffalo end. I don't have any anybody that I know or trust there to tell me whether I'm barking up the wrong or the right tree here. And so he's asking where like you know people over there. I was like I don't think any of it. You don't have the right kind of people but the premise is that Mike McDaniel passed on an opportunity to interview for the bills job or frankly just turned the job down. I don't know that he was in line to get the job but the bills apparently according to him wanted to talk to McDaniel and he. Again according to Levitard what he heard is that McDaniel is friends with McDermott and didn't feel good about the way McDermott was handled. The firing was handled at the end of the year and so some form of solidarity with his friend within the league didn't want to take the job. Didn't trust it or whatever. That's the assertion.

8:40I don't know if it'll go any further than that but it's made it to this show like that. I couldn't believe that because one of the principles involved in this conversation is going to be my guest in two hours. And I just had never heard any of that about McDaniel. I think the one thing I remember with McDaniel like at that time was I had a toward level fair with the idea of him being offensive coordinator. But that's kind of as far as it went like I'm trying to remember like do I remember him maybe denying an interview did they ever come out. I don't know. He did cancel a scheduled interview. He did okay. Okay. He had an interview scheduled this is what I remember. He was he was scheduled to interview with them after after they fired McDermott as they were excited. Getting maybe it was after Rivers the rivers thing happened. Oh that was a good two. And he canceled the interview. And because he had just taken well at the time we all thought if this is true, this is maybe not true, that it was because he had just agreed to be the charges O.C. And he didn't want to just go interview for another gig and you know whatever. But he had an interview scheduled that he can't.

9:44So I mean that that means it's got at least some legs that he bailed on an interview that he was planning on doing. Interesting. So I'm mostly bringing that up now not that we're going to talk about it long form. We do have to get to the reverse AFC power rankings. They're sponsored and everything. So we will do that. But I'm planning a seed. So I remember to ask Ross about it when he saw me. I got a lot of like like did that that completely blind side you like what the heck was that all about? Because I just was not expecting to be scrolling through and see Ross on that show being asked about Mike B. Daniel. Loving Sean McDermott so much that he didn't want a job. Anyway. Reverse AFC power rankings where there it is powered by Empire. I mean, you can tell I never do this for verse AFC power rankings are powered by Empire Electric. Your residential neighborhood electrician visit Empire Electricians dot com. Following week two pre week three edition of the reverse AFC power rankings.

10:51I think everyone involved knows how this works. Mostly I'm talking to you. Oh, and I do in fact know how this works because I still really don't. I never talk about it properly because I'm you know, and idiot. And I don't know how numbers work. Apparently. Anyway, if you have a strong feeling about any team at any spot, yell it out. But you don't have to wait and defer to me. How early is too early? I mean, my any. Okay, 16. Yeah, right. My. No. No, I'm not prepared to push back. I'm glad I was not pushing the issue. I think that I think that makes sense. Did you see after their week two game, the word salad from the coach about what their objectives are? Like he hasn't seen the video of him actually saying all these words, but reading them made my made me feel like I was in a figure four leg lock. Yeah, like I just like I'm paralyzed from the waist down. It could all go move like what is what is going on here?

11:55But such a such efforts being made to try to defend what they're doing, which is clearly trying to not be very good at all. I was watching that game on Sunday. There's just little bits and pieces and I, you know, I burlin. We were in the stall with Drew, my best friend. And I said, I said, name a single dolphin on this team right now. And it took him 10 minutes to get to Malik Willis. They've got nobody on the team. No, they're a really bad roster. It's unbelievable. All right. So Miami bat back in 16, they were 15 last year. Oh, good. Cleveland. Cleveland is looking for a big climbing or drop. How do we? This would be dropped 15. I mean, Tennessee. Yeah. Good effort. But you played on the surface of the sun and you still lost. I was I was thinking Tennessee would be the pick. Yeah. I've got no no qualm with that. Yeah, just close.

12:57You know, I'm still waiting for a cam ward. It's not going to happen. We're both we're in the same boat. You I don't know if we talked about him at some point in college. And that's why we both like him. Well, we were watching some game, but we both like him. And we both just didn't just waiting for something to happen. Every Sunday watching on Red Zone going, oh no, another game has passed. Not really happening. OK, 14. I'm going to say jets. I just don't know what else to do with anyone else ahead of them right now. Yeah. Or below them. How are this works? I mean, I know they're one and one and they barely lost here in week two. But I don't I feel like I trust the other teams that might be in play here. The Colts maybe the chargers. I still think there's more there with those teams, even though they, you know, their records are worse right now. So I yeah, I think the chargers are a real disaster.

14:01But I don't I just don't see the jets finding their way to being better than the chargers this year. I just can't convince myself. OK, that right now. Jets at 14. Yeah, 13. This is where I think chargers. I would love to put the chargers here. I mean, we talked like McDaniel, but like that's not working. And it's becoming apparent to him. It's time in San Francisco. We had a ton of talent. Devo Samuels in his prime. I think he had a little bit with McCaffrey. And then of course, Miami, it's the receivers in HN and now, right, lead McConkey with a flat jacket on like that. That's what he has. It's pretty much. Pretty much. Yeah, it's it's tough tough time. No, yeah, no speed. No hill, no waddle, no HN. And it just does just nothing happen in there. So yeah, I might have said cults before them, just because I still, in a little bit, is, you know, the chargers are coming here wounded animal. Blah blah blah blah blah. Oh, it's not a line.

15:01Right, right, right. But fine, chargers. I think I got to say, well, I don't know. I'm going to suggest cults or do you want the browns, maybe? I think it's got one or the other. I'll go cults just because at least Cleveland does have the bright moment against Tampa, which I mean, I think that says more about Tampa than does Cleveland Bakers playing some of the worst football of his career. But the cults can't stop anybody. No, yeah, there's given up so much points. Yeah, that I'm with you there. Like they are is also just like an organizational thing with the cults for me. Like they are just in a bad, bad place with the picks they give up for sauce gardener and the defense stinks. And like, I got, I would now want to be the cult right now. I would not want to be the cult right now. So yeah, I'm cool with them here. 11, I'm going to suggest Cleveland here. Yeah, bronze. They can't rise anymore than that. I don't think. You know, what is really strikes me about them right now is that they got that win.

16:07And what kind of gymnastics are Brown's fans already that you know, this would be happening if it were here, right? We just were nowhere with this guy. We hate this guy even leave the, you know, the you know, the 30 sexual assault lawsuit allegations all that leave. Leave that by the side of the road. The guy's terrible. He sounds like he has no idea what to say when he talks. And he has a decent game and you are riding in your car to work on Monday going like, I don't know. Maybe if he can string a couple of these together and like, is there a worse existence on earth as a sports fan than that? No, it's got to be the worst. I think it's worst case scenario than winning this game because because Mike's parted up. We've talked about it. They go on to first home game. Should wear shanners. He's the starter. Perfect. We're done with the Sean Watson now. Yeah. I mean, Mike didn't had a freak out at the podium to really bang in the drama. Right. He's locked in it. They put, they save themselves from next week being a nightmare.

17:11Like their next game being a nightmare with crowding lots and out there, but they've just extended it. And it's just going to be still coming. It's still coming. It could still come Sunday when they go three and out two times in the first quarter. And like, it's just over. Exactly. And you fool yourself into giving him another week. Yeah. It's just, oh gosh. I'd say something really tried like fair the well browns, but I don't even want any well-faring for the, I don't really, if that even makes sense. All right. Anyway, 10 Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. That offense is 35 years old. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody. Yeah. They, they Rogers. My God. Does he ever look like he wants to get in a hole? Yeah. Yeah. And DK Mecca. I've came here for football. I'm watching different. Like I really, I tried the stream where we were on Sunday at Portland. For some reason, on the feed of that game kept cutting it and out.

18:14Whereas red zone was way more stable. So I just like, okay, I'm just going to watch red zone, which is fine. I probably would have done that anyway, even without the feed being a problem because that game was really hard to watch. Every highlight I've seen is more funny than the last. Right. Like there's, there's Rogers is directing these, he's like the whole playcock clock. Clock. Sorry, folks. Use the whole play clock directing traffic, yelling out instructions. And the offensive lineman are looking behind them. Like they have no idea what he's talking about. Then the ball is snapped. He's struck by like two guys. Same time. So did come right up the middle. And it's just the most inevitable game thing ever. It's, it's awful. This part of Rogers is season and we're only through week two will be the tell all podcast. He did right before the season started. Oh, yeah. That's going to be, that's going to be the highlight of the season. That yeah, it's just a, like the fact that they hired McCarthy to just adds on to like, why are you catering to, to the guy that's going to be here for another year that you didn't

19:19even think was going to be here this year? It's the best thing Aaron Glendid was like having come and it was off. We're good. Yeah. We're done here. Yeah. See you later. All right. So Pittsburgh at 10, nine raiders. I mean, this is insane. They're, they're, they're close to, I know, I know they're to know. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm with you. Yeah. No. They cannot be prediction. I mean, I have some saying this. So whatever. I'm not going to be accepting wagers on it. This is as low as they'll be all year. The raiders. They're ninth, they're ninth today and there is no way to me they will get any lower than this. Yeah, it seems like it would be. That's right. In the rain. Okay. Eight. Taxes. Hmm. They're oh and two and the offense looks shaky when they're not playing the bills in the first game. Really?

20:20I mean, it's, it's Nico Collins. Yeah. Look, I've Dalton Schultz and fantasy. That was really cool. That was nice. He had like 12 catches for 140 yards. It was all in garbage time. It didn't mean anything. There's no vertical threat there. The offensive lines really bad. Yeah. Yeah, they, they, they look, you guys are both on Houston. I'm cool with that. Okay. That's how I won't bother. Yeah. Alright. You know, positing a pit because I'm already outvoted if I, you know, I don't object hugely or anything. I'm just, you know, is this like chess where I take my hand off the piece and I'm done? I can't switch. I'm not asking because I want to. No, mostly, yeah. In fact, if you, as part of the reason I didn't want to suggest a team that wasn't going to be in the spot because once you do that, the way we try to play it is like then that's your pick for the next spot. Ah. Like so if I, if I would have said just now, I don't know, New England. New England. Then I sort of locked into New England for the next spot. Sure. So anyway, Houston at 8, 7 New England. Yeah.

21:20I'm sorry. How's that? I, um, I, I, short piece from our buddy Mike Chiarty with Boston Sports Journal today that I saw and mostly it's just, Drake made us look right. I don't know what's going on, but it just doesn't look right. If I was a Patriots fan, I think he's heard. There's no zip on the ball anymore. Or, or I got fooled. Absolutely. Or I got fooled by a guy that got an awesome first, like scheduled to like just really tee it up and confidence and like, and then that gets taken away. Oh man, he made some great throws here against the bills. Like there was no way that it, the way the balls coming out of his hand now does not look that the play to digs late in the game they won here last year. Yep. Yeah. Is like rolling out a pressure on a line at the side. I mean, it's just witchcraft type throw. And that's just not there this year. That is not, that can't be mental. It's got no physical.

22:22It's so early. I'm using this as an example of like maybe down the road, but wence in his second year. Carson wence. Unbelievable for the Eagles. 33 touchdowns seven picks. Demon on third down. He picks up some injuries. He has a few good seasons after that, but Philly is pretty comfortable to move off of him. I think by year five or year six. Yeah. Yeah. I said to Brad to start our show today. I'm not even thinking about them. And it's we're two weeks in. And I almost feel a little dirty saying that, but I don't even like. I. Oh, that's tempting. I don't think I could get all the way there. The fact that the bill started four and oh last year in New England was wonky. They lost to the Raiders. Yes. And then came in here. A game back beat us and we never caught them all year. Is still in my head. Like we're playing them. We're playing them soon enough here that I can't just. Bury them yet, but whatever.

23:22They're seven. They're in a playoff spot. So I mean, congrats on that. They can't take that away from them. Um, all right, six. I anybody have a strong. I want to say Ravens. I kind of want to go Denver. Oh, listen to that. Good game against Jacksonville. I can't get that first game against the chiefs out of my mind. I don't I don't already don't love Bonix. I think he's very limited ceiling wise. They have the new play caller. I wonder how long Sean Peyton's going to want to just see you. I like this better than I'm. I think I rush Baltimore. I like Denver here because they I think that the Peyton web dynamic is just like waiting to get lit on fire. And that can be sketchy. I don't love Nick's either. I think he's impressive. There's just moments where he just looks. Nah, there's only so much I think he can do. Yeah. And so I I like Denver here too. That defense is legit, but I don't think legit enough to make up for issues.

24:27OK, it is written Denver at six five. Jacksonville. Jacksonville. I know Denver just beat them, but I think I think Jacksonville's more talented. I don't want them above anybody else. We've got left right now. So yeah, I like Jacksonville here. I they're I like them. I think they're good. I think Cohen is awesome. And Lawrence is good enough to be great if he's got a coach like that and weapons like he's got. So I like them, but I don't like them better than any of the other teams above him right now. Four. I think I like Baltimore here. It's late game. Fumbles. Bangle's chiefs. OK, yeah. Late game fumbles are not just hard boss thing are they? Yeah. Yeah, OK. I like I think Baltimore too. I like them a little better than Denver and Jacksonville, but like that week one Lamar was like, I'm going to be seeing that in my nightmares.

25:29If I if we're talking about a playoff matchup or whatever like that, it was really, really, really, really impressive. Well, it all comes down to this here we are. This this feels like a throwback to like, I don't know, 21 or 22. Yeah, bills chiefs. Bangle's are the three teams left on the board. What do we what do I bangles three? I'm going to go can city. I don't like them at all except for Kenneth Walker. I think they've got a really soft schedule early. They'll almost certainly be 5 and 0. And I don't I think a lot of people are rushing to crown them again. I can't pass the ball down the field consistently at all. Kelsey's 108. Good job. You had 100 yards against the courts. They had two other 80 yard guys on that. I think I don't know, man. I can't let it look pretty good to me on Sunday night, but maybe it's the Colts. All right. I I I'm going to I don't like this. I'm going to put Kansas City here, but I don't like it. I agree, but I like my homes looked good.

26:32He looked much better than week one. I was like, no, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. I could not get to. It's fine. Last I also want to say don't call to run plays after you completed deep bomb to Lequon's Redwell also in overtime. I like my homes in week one. I knew they I know they couldn't throw the ball. Yeah, but I thought he was efficient. Yeah, it just the fact that he ran like he ran was just enough for me to go like, okay, yeah, okay, I you're back. I got it. Yeah. So I I'm a little whatever. Their second or third. It's not like they're falling apart here. Bengals at two Buffalo. I I'm really scared about the Bengals. I got to put Buffalo here. The defense is scaring me. The I just the bills. I know I already wrote Cincinnati. Oh, wow, I just I just I just I I I I I I I I I I I I I across what do we do now cross it out? We do now I will cross out.

27:34I'll have to I I rushed it. I thought there was no way with the three of us were going to end up with the bills at one. I want to put them one. I know if you can't you can't. I mean, that's fine. Sorry, everybody. The Bengals one. My problem is, but like I already think the 31 points given up against Detroit is a little misleading. It's like Detroit did in 24 where they scored at the last minute to make the score look a little nicer. I think the bills ultimately gave up 24 real points to them. That secondary is having a hard time to start the year. The defensive line isn't getting a ton of pressures, but they're getting home. That doesn't look that bad. No, it's fine. Michael judge you for it. No, I expect to be judged. Yeah, and that that's fine. That's its own kind of content. I feel dirty. So that'll that'll work. I mean, I'm the one I'm the one. You know, we've never the three. This is the first time the three of us have ever done this exercise. I should not have made assumptions about what. What was going to was going to happen. It's a totally on me. All right. You've been listening to reverse AFC power rankings here on WGR, which are powered by

28:36Empire Electric, your residential neighborhood electrician. Visit empireelectricians.com. Owen Parker, thank you for your extra time today. No problem. So see you at home later. This isn't weird at all. Zach, good job. And anything I'm planning on picking up on this by the way, like it was we always do reverse safety power rankings in season on Tuesdays at two now to lead off the show. I kind of want to talk about, you know, who's a threat out there? You watch two weeks. We know it's premature. I don't need a preamble. And I also wanted to disqualify you from saying the thing I'm most worried about is the bills. Like don't, don't give me that because I mean, I could, I could do four hours without commercials on that if you wanted me to. So nobody wants to hear say, I'm worried about them. No, who out there do you think is looking like, you know, a real problem for the bills, you know, assuming they can sort of stay on track here to this great start to the season. They've had that is what we're talking about.

29:37We get back from the break. Mike is away today. I'm the bulldog. You're listening to 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 call 1 800 gambler 1 800 my reset in Connecticut called 888 789 7777 visit ccpg.org on behalf of boot hill casino in Kansas. That tax pass through may apply in Illinois 21 plus void in Canada bet with draft King 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 event contract trading involves risk of loss predictions offer void in New York.

30:40Non withdrawable 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 varies by state. OK, sis give me the scoop. What I'm even up to. Living my best life. I've been traveling working even hiking more and things to team mobile. I'm connected for all of it. Really? I need details. I mean with America's best network, I can pretty much go anywhere. Even when I'm off grid, I'm still connected by satellite. That's cool. Plus, I get unlimited texting and data brought. So I'm all set for my trip to Greece. I don't even need to do anything. It'll just work when I get there. That's it. I gotta get team mobile. I don't even get reception in my apartment. This is why I'm mom's favorite. So many reasons to join team mobile. Find yours at teammobile.com. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis but who clues speed test intelligence data

31:41first half of 2026 with compatible device and most outdoor areas in select countries where you can see the sky, included with experience beyond $10 a month, auto renews monthly cancel money. I speed data on select plans not for extended international use coverage and other available in some areas. He planned for details. Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors. During what should have been a peaceful hike, that calm was suddenly broken. A mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away. Fortunately, Jason had packed his Bernaless lethal launcher. Armed with kinetic rounds, Jason fired a warning shot, deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety. Bernaless lethal launchers fire powerful kinetic and chemical irritant rounds designed to stop threats. Visit Bernal.com. That's B-Y-R-N-A. Bernal.com. Purchasing shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality. Go to Bernal.com to check availability at your location. You know, Dan, losing weight can feel a lot like getting so close to the end zone and then losing the ball right before you cross the line. Winning the game is great but maintaining that success season after season, that's for the real challenge lies. That's right, Sessie. NUME, the leading behavior change company pairs GLP-1 medication with behavioral tools.

32:45White-sized daily lessons and coaching to help you build sustainable habits. It's like having a full coaching staff to help you lose weight and keep it off even if you stop the meds. The NUME GLP-1 program starts at $39 and medication can be delivered to your door in as little as seven days. Get a real game plan for lasting success. Start your GLP-1 journey today at NUME.com. That's N-O-O-M dot com. NUME, lose for keeps. The initial one month subscription from $39 plus tax and $99 plus tax per month thereafter cost of medication not included. Final pricing depends upon program selection. Obviously you think about Buffalo bills and you think about some of these teams. You think about Thursday night football. Right? Like Thursday night was a great game. But you get to see, obviously, jaw challenges continue to stay hot. Play action naked and get on the edge but here's the deal. I'm calling it 1991, 92, 93, 94. I got to see Buffalo bills went to the Super Bowl. They didn't win. Well guess what? It's 2026, baby. That is Russell Wilson.

33:50He's got one of these jobs. Now apparently this is what you get when you don't watch those shows. You know, on the noon on Sunday, I'm watching soccer before the NFL kicks off for the bills get rolling. This Russell Wilson saying he is predicting his way out on a limb there. He's crazy, crazy, hot take factory at the bills are going to win the Super Bowl. They are, of course, one of the lead favorites to do exactly that. Glad to have you with us here on this Tuesday afternoon. I am the Bulldog Mike is away today. Thanks for joining us for reverse safety power rink rankings powered by Empire Electric. You want to react to anything that was said during that first segment. That's what we're here for 803 05 50. There will be a lot of time for phone calls today. If you are inclined to participate, if you're not, I mean, there's really, I can't call you. There's very little I can do about that. Although I guess I could come with something really hot in same take that would make you

34:52call, but I don't know. I think you would see through that and think I was pandering and you know, who wants that. So I want to do, I want to certainly spend a lot of today talking about the lay of the land here early, admittedly, it's very early in the AFC with the bills off to a two and a start, the chiefs off to a two and a start likewise with the Bengals and the Raiders. I think, you know, a way to continue talking about the conference, you know, in addition to doing reverse safety power rankings again, which we're not going to do. Don't worry. It's a contractual. We can only do it once is to like look at the standings and it's only yes, it's only two games. Like who's real and who do you think is going away? I think it's easy at the top, super easy at the top. The Raiders are not, I said it during the power rankings. They're ninth this week. I don't think they'll ever be that low again. We'll see. I mean, I suppose that they win a third consecutive game to start the season. I've not even looked yet to figure out who they have this week, but I can do that pretty

35:57quickly. They are at New Orleans. Hey, that's a little tasty. Right. New Orleans has been competitive. That's pretty good. They won in Baltimore last week, almost won in Detroit in week one. So that's what Vegas said. You know, if they win a third straight game, then you know, the longer it goes, you got to kind of maybe respect a little bit. I think they'll fall out of this thing. You know, and that's the other three two and O teams. It feels a little bit like, it feels pretty familiar to have the bangles and the chiefs and the bills all at the top. I would expect the Ravens to get back in there, you know, of the one in one teams. I think they're the team that I would be most threatened by. I'm like, you guys were talking during the reverse safety power rankings, Denver. I don't know. You know, it's possible that, you know, sometimes in football and any sport, you can fall into a trap of seeing like, okay, new coach, rookie

37:00quarterback, oh, they're a wild card. They made the playoffs. Oh, they got killed by Buffalo. Okay, good experience. They're building and Denver spun the first year's success into a dominant season. I mean, they had, you know, they had an incredible year. They were at the top of the conference. They hosted the ASC title game. They did it. It doesn't mean that they're just, you know, they've graduated to a level where they're just right as rain every year. They're going to be there. You know, maybe we rushed the roster is so great accolades and, you know, a lot of one-score wins like they had a pretty charmed life last year. So I'm not predicting they're going to fall apart, but are they an absolute powerhouse? I don't know, but I think they're still a team that's going to, they're going to have a say in this. So I think they're coming, you know, they'll be around.

38:04They're not going to fall off the map here. The team from the bottom that I'm really, well, the two teams that you would really wonder about from the bottom from the, oh, and two teams because there's a bunch of one-in-ones and, you know, what are you going to do there? Does not like that they, they need to recover a lot. They, you know, Baltimore lost a game like Mike said yesterday. They lose this game every year. Somebody they should lose to and they're still, they go win 12 or 13 games. So I'm not that worried about Baltimore. I'm not a notice about Baltimore. Oh, and two, the chargers and the Texans are the two teams that I think you got to wonder about like how, how recoverable is this for them at Oh and two? And if they get to Oh and three, just exactly how much trouble are they in? The charger schedule moving forward. I'm not going to run look at it. It is, it's a brutal schedule from here. They, they, they had cake to open at home with the cardinals and then the Raiders and they blew it. And now they've got the bills.

39:04There's a chiefs coming up in there. There's just a, there's a bunch of really hard looking games for, for them. And I, I don't know, man, like this week feels like with what's looming their schedule wise, if they can't rally and find a way to knock off the bills, I think at Oh and three, I might really feel like they're done with the schedule they've got coming up. Houston is in Indianapolis this week. And I mean, talk about an interesting meeting there. Indianapolis so far cannot stop anyone. They're, they're just giving it all up. And the Texans had a fantastic week one offensively against the bill scored 31 points. Rolled up lots of yards. I mean, that's a really great day. They were down Nico Collins in this game against the Bengals, but six points against the team that comes into the year in the Bengals needing to prove that defensively they can do it, that they're up to it. And six points is just a brutal showing.

40:08So if they can't find their way to, I think I want to say on both sides of the ball here, they should be able to handle Indianapolis. Offensively, like I had the coach should not be able to do a lot against any lead unit. If you're really going to be elite year over year here Houston, then I think you, you should be able to put the clamps on the Colts. And furthermore, find your way to I don't know, maybe you only need 20 points to win that game. If your D does its job on that in the offense, but if you can't get to 20 against Indian apolis, maybe you really, really have problems. But I feel like Houston, because the defense is so good, they'll get Collins back. And I think you've got, you know, a look at it there. So I like their setup a little bit more, maybe a lot more actually than the chargers. So I feel like Houston to me, they got, they got to win this week. And it's again, only three doesn't have to be insurmountable.

41:09But I like Houston in the spot. They're in a lot more than the chargers. The chargers are working in a new coordinator, McDaniel. It was always maybe, it was certainly not a nutty thing to say or think that maybe McDaniel and Harbaugh would be a weird mix. You know, McDaniel is very much, you know, he's, he's got the, the rollbub sweatpants and the vape thing and the like he's, he's just, you know, he's a dude. He's a dude. And Harbaugh is there a more on brand national advertising campaign than Harbaugh for dockers? I mean, it's just, it's just perfect. He better, I mean, he's opening himself up to something. You better get your lucky pants for your trip to Buffalo. But I saw that ad. I felt like every commercial break during my day football last night. But totally on brand, old school tough guy, like that needs you to know he's a tough guy. That's Harbaugh. Like he just reeks of that sort of, you know, you got a problem?

42:14Like that's, that's Harbaugh to me. McDaniel is kind of like, he wouldn't even ever ask you got a problem. You might look at you and sort of smirk at you. Like that, they couldn't be more different personality wise and maybe that's going to, you know, triple them up because it does seem like an odd marriage. But you know, we'll see where that ends up. But I like Houston at all into way more than the charges right now. You know, I mean, that scares me up the charges is that they're, they're the bills opponent. I almost wish they would have won week two. I wish I were to beat the Raiders. Just because I don't, I don't like this spot with it with that coach. I just, I wonder if they just find a way to really, really elevate. 803, 0550 is the number. Tom is first up this segment. Hi Tom. I'm John WGR. These are things for having me. The only thing that I'm really worried about as far as the bills going, there's teams that are concerning the chiefs looking like they're, you know, back in business, the

43:16bangles looking good, defensively, etc. But the only thing I keep thinking about watching the bills last two weeks is just, and they stay healthy for 17 games. And certainly that's the question for every team out there. And, you know, just watching, you know, Josh Allen run a push push on our own 35 yard line in the third quarter of week two. It's like, and we try to not, you know, I know Josh probably loves it and whatnot, but he's got to stay healthy all season. And, you know, there's things like that that I'd like to see the bills get away from just to, you know, I wish the playoffs were today because we're right, you know, we're humming along, but it's the long game and these games have to be played and just whatever we can do to keep certainly Josh healthy, but everybody else that's really the only thing that concerns me at this point, just looking around the league. All right, Tom, thanks for the call. Yeah, you know, I wonder, maybe this is something to talk about with, well, maybe bring up

44:18with Dion Dawkins next week when he's with us. The morning guys could ask my governor about it when he joins them. Like how I know like McDermott used to say like his objection to that play, the push push was that he was worried that, you know, there's an injury. You're just this pile of humanity there. I don't know. I feel like it's more of an injury concern for conomer govern or when Jason Kelsey was the center for the Eagles or like any center in that pile up or just alignment, whoever's in the bottom of that pile. I feel like for Alan on that play, I think he's more at risk when he's running in the open field or trying to plow through defenders at the goal line than he is on the push push. I recognize that anything can happen in that pile, but like, I don't know. I feel like that's a, that's a more stable situation than cutting and running and maybe taking a big clean, you know, just snobber lock or type hit in the open field.

45:23So I feel like the collision rate is real low on that play. It's a big pile of bodies. So the guy, I don't know. I'm not sure I 100% agree that that's the play that I would target, but you know, obviously, yes, health, everybody stay healthy. It's very hard. You're already seeing like Detroit is down bad already with injuries. It's not even week three yet. The chargers rolling in here. There's replacement interior lineman probably on the offensive side of the ball for the chargers in this game and other stuff. So yeah, I mean, you got to stay as much in one piece as you can. No, no question. Thank you for the call. 803 05 50 is the number I am the bulldog. Well, the time out here, Paul Hamilton at the top of the hour on last night, Sabers preseason opener. They lost in Pittsburgh, four to one. They host the Columbus blue jackets at home tonight will go over all of that with Paul in about 20 minutes. I'm the bulldog and this is WGR.

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50:32It's Paul Hamilton. That's what they call me a college or some old. He has the facts to back up his opinions. People ask me, well, how the saber's gonna, I think I'll win tonight? Oh, cool. Now WGR sports radio 550. Glad to have you along with us here on this Tuesday afternoon. Us being me and Zach Jones and G running the video stream. Mike's got the day off today joining us now on the West. Her hotline is Paul Hamilton and Paul. Really, all I want to know is do you think the sabers are going to win tonight? Sorry. Well, they have the better roster like Pittsburgh did last night. That's the thing about preseason though. Yeah, it's bad enough as it is, but almost every game you see, the home team basically has the regulars and the visiting team has the AHL team. Right. How much was that the case for pit? I never looked at the box, but I, I, I, I didn't, I watched the first period.

51:34I got to the intermission and I just was gone to the one and I football pregame show and I stayed there all night. I know I heard Latang's name and I know Russ made a couple plays, but like, there was no Carlson, Crosby, Malcolm, right? The big guys weren't there. Yeah, none of them were. Latang qualifies as one of them, but whatever. You know what I'm saying? It would surprise me if those guys maybe get one preseason game. Right. They can only get two. Right. So like in the sabers case, I think the lineup we see tonight, which is basically the same lineup you're going to see unless there's injury next to winter or next Thursday in Columbus, we'll probably play the other home game too. I doubt that they're going to send them on the road. So I would think they'll play tonight and then I'll play Saturday. Right. And in between what do they, what do they have? There's another Thursday. Thursday. Okay. And who's that again? Is that Columbus on the road? I forgot who the feed. It, you know what? It's not that important. Yeah. That's why I don't know it because I don't care. I don't mean to cry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pressed you on it. I don't know it.

52:35I don't know. It's like I look at those games as I'm going to watch them and there are things I'm going to look at and I couldn't care less who the opponent is. So that's honestly why I don't know. So what did last night do for you if anything? Because there wasn't a lot that really got my attention. I mean, Richard scored the nice goal. I mean, he's got a nice shot. So, you know, he's someone maybe that can carve out, you know, important minutes for himself in Rochester this year. But he's to me miles away from being someone who plays on the Sabers at this point. He hasn't even played in Rochester yet. Right. There's going to be his first year there. So yeah. That was first year there. So he never scored a lot of goals at Yukon. Actually, it surprised me with the performances that I used to see on a yearly basis at the July 3 on 3 tournament where he for three straight years absolutely dominated. It scored like four or five goals every time. And then, you know, in the prospects challenge, I thought he was good, you know, in the showcase, I guess they called it this year. But, you know, then I go back and look and then I always look it up like a boy, but he

53:37didn't score goals at Yukon. Like I thought he should have with that shot he's got. But certainly that wasn't even a slap shot. He got at the top of circles and just ripped it by the goal tender wrist shot. So we'll see how he fares playing in the A.H.L. You know, it's not a guy that I even think is an injury replacement this year. I think, you know, he'd be a couple of years away. You know, I would need writing development. But and Koolique, I, Lindy Russ assessment today. He wasn't there, but he's watched the game and he and I agree 100%. He looked rusty. There are times I liked him. There are times that, you know, he got a good one time around a power play, you know, from the circle and, you know, but he hasn't played in a year. So that doesn't surprise me at all. He's got to get himself back into it and everything. So, you know, having a game like he had, I don't think is a negative at all. He's and that's why Lindy Russ said today, I wasn't sure he'd go back to back with him. I know. I mentioned it to you yesterday. I thought like, well, they want to get him, get him reps.

54:38Like here's, you go show us you can play back to backs. So I'm not, I'm not super surprised. Yeah. He's going to actually play him in all four games. It looks like that's what he said. He goes, he likely will play him in all four games. So, you know, keep going with him and getting him more, more ice time. And, you know, he was at center and the wing yesterday. Sherry got his teeth knocked out. So that kind of screwed up Koolique's line with Rashard. So that, you know, but that's all right. You know, he needs practice on the wing because I don't think he's a very good winger. And it looks like maybe that's where he's going to wind up when the season starts because he's back on the left wing with Karak and Malinstein in this game. Will Lindy move it around as the game goes on? I don't know. He he he talked about it. And one other interesting thing, Bulldog that Lindy Rough said today, you know how I haven't been fond of all of the two right handed shots as the third pair defenseman. And I've watched him and played the left. It's not really great, you know, and.

55:40It's not going to happen really. Lindy Rough said he doubts that they will play together all that often. He said with the guys and we tried to get our upper guys extra minutes. He said, so you're probably going to see a left you with that with them playing right defense anyway. And you won't say you won't see even though there are down as the third pair. You won't see Tim and and crevier played together all that often. They'll be out there with Dalline or with one. They'll be out there with Samuel sent a little bit out with power. It seems like that is how he will get Dalline more ice time and get him up where he wants him to be. So and then I thought to myself, yeah, I should have thought of that because remember last year when Metsa was playing with Tim and yeah, and they never they didn't take one shift together. Right. It was always it was always with one of the other guys. So actually I actually should have thought of that. Yeah. That's the way Lindy Rough is thinking of handling one. The time that was I like, oh, Metsa's their six guy. Look at their use of them with Dalline.

56:41They love them. No, it's great. No, right. So maybe the big three really are rather than having two top pairs like they had last year. It's a big three and they're rotating the other three guys in with them. And maybe I think I think right now is my kid. I remember his name from Anna. I'm helped me. I'm a Zellwiger. Thank you. I get a mind blocked. I am when you get old. Yeah, I think he'll still play with power. I think you'll get the pairs that way. I got you. It's more Tim and Scrivier that I'll rotate in with the other guys. Yeah, and maybe Zellwiger will get a shot with one of those two also like as they may they may use all four of them in a situation with those other two guys. Paul Hamilton on the Western hotline with me here on WGR. The Sabers open the home portion of their preseason. It's brief only two home games tonight and Saturday night, but they host Columbus tonight off of a four one loss in Pittsburgh last night.

57:44What do you think, Lindy? Is there there's a lot that could be going out with Kool-Eak. Most of it likely just pertains to him not having played competitive hockey for 10 months. Right. I mean, that's that. Absolutely. So I want to take with a grain of salt all the, you know, he's dug in and insists on playing Thompson at center and you're talking about Kool-Eak playing on a line with Karrick and Malenstein and like, you know, like I this is not I'd rather you play Danforth in that spot if you're going to put Kool-Eak there that doesn't make any sense. Yeah, that's what I told you yesterday. I would rather I would rather put Kool-Eak in the press box than have him play on that line. Right. I would rather put McLeod in Kool-Eak because McLeod's playing left wing with Norris, which has me scratching my head a little bit. So I think I would rather do it that way, put McLeod down there like they did in the playoffs with Malenstein and Karrick and then put Kool-Eak out there on the Norris line with Quinn. I think that would make more sense. I imagine that if he demonstrates that the rust is being shaken off, you know, tonight's

58:49better than last night and if he plays all four of these games, I don't know if he's going to get to the finish line by the time the regular season begins. But I feel like Paul, there was so much talk about him in the off season that I feel like was the organization letting everyone know like we think he's fantastic. And like, you know, some of that is grain assault. We're just building our guy up. But I also think there's some honesty in that. I'm expecting him to have a much bigger role than where he is right now. Yeah. And you know coaches make him earn it. Yeah, it's not his fault. He got a blood clot, but still he was out there. He wasn't there for most of the season. So make him earn, make him earn a spot. I can see that. He's a young player. And it's like, we're not going to hand it to you. You know, you're going to have to earn it back type of a, even though it's not your fault. You know, we're still going to make you earn it back. And you just know, I know how coaches roll. Right. So that might be part of it too. And hopefully this coach, I mean, you've been around this guy for most of your professional

59:50hockey life. It feels like with how long Linda's been here as the head coach in two different scents. You recall Paul, this is tricky, because I'm going to ask you about a couple of years ago now. How you believe me? If you were asking me, I'd be like, dude, what? Exactly. Exactly. How do you feel like Kool-E candle the 200 foot game being the center when he was with Thompson, and maybe it was Benson, I don't remember who exactly, but I know Kool-E had a stretch there kind of that breakthrough at the end of the season before last, where he was playing top center minutes. Is he up to playing? Because the thing I worry, I think we talked about this yesterday, Thompson defensively, I just, I don't think it's a lack of want to necessarily. I think he just gets, I think it's lost. I think he just, he just doesn't have the mind for it or whatever. He just, he just gets lost in the wash too much, I think. So is Kool, okay, go ahead, please counter that if you want, but how often can I disagree

1:00:53with that? If you want to be a good defensive player, you can't. I just, I really think it's not like Thompson's dumb or anything like that. I mean, any player that wants to be a good two-way player and a good defensive player can do it. That, def, you can't teach a natural goal, goal scores are natural goal scores. You can't teach Kozak to be a 50 goal score. You just can't. He could work on it from 24 hours a day and he's not going to be a 50 goal score, but you can, you can teach, McDavid, how to play both ends of the ice, you, or Thompson or insert name. I just, I just think it's, it's the want to do it and, and the willingness to do it. And, you know, I just, so, yeah, I would disagree with that point. How is Kool-Eek at that part of the game if you remember again? This is the hard part. I do, I actually do because, because I've actually had a conversation with Lenderoff about

1:01:55this, and which made me kind of remember, he, you can credit Seth Apert and Rochester for this. He wasn't very good at it when he got here. You know, when he played in his home country, junior defense was a foreign language to him. So he didn't have any background in how to play in the defensive zone and Apert insisted upon it and was tough on him. To the point where he actually wrote him a letter in his own language, you know, he learned how, you know, he had somebody translate a letter that he wrote into his own language. So, Kool-Eek would understand where he's coming from and why he's treated the way he is. And, and Kool-Eek took it to heart and really worked hard to improve his defensive play and did. And Lenderoff said that was one of the things that he thought made Kool-Eek in those last X amount of games that he played with Thompson and every a better player was his defensive play. He said, he goes, I didn't have to really say too much to him.

1:02:59He goes now and then, but didn't have to say too much to him. He said he got back. He was in the zone where he was supposed to be. You know, he wasn't like twirling around trying to figure out where he was supposed to be or still in the neutral zone, loafing back or anything like that. He said it, he really liked the way that he was taking to the defensive game. Well, this is the, this is the biggest piece to me because Thompson at the top of the line up, number one center, I just, I know like it's going to, I'm going to get goals. I'm going to get offense. But man, I just really worry about him in that spot. I used to say that way back when Mike Bosse played. I go, if you got somebody like Mike Bosse and he never, he never crosses the red line. I'm fine with it because he's going to score 60 goals. You know, I'm good. And I think I get with Thompson, I live with his defensive play and whether he has the willingness to do it or not, just because of the goal scoring that he provides for you.

1:04:01So, you know, but if it's a guy who, you know, is just hovering around 15 to 20 goals, I can't live with it. Right. I, I, I got to have you like JJ Paturka. I cannot live with JJ Paturka's defense at all. And he could be maybe a 30, a 35 goal score. And I still can't live with it because he loafs. He doesn't, he doesn't hustle. He doesn't grab his guy in the defensive zone. Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't. He waves it guys on the way by. I can't, I can't deal with that. He's going to have a great year in Boston, Paul. We got to get a bet on the board. Go for it. Yeah. Score your 35 goals and I'll sit here and say the same exact thing. Right. Well, yeah, that's my biggest Thompson in that role. Like, I also, I mean, I, I, I don't want it to sound like I want this player away from this team. I mean, they need him. They need his goals. They need his offense. He, you know, he checks a lot of boxes, but that's a big one that I feel like I need. I want to hide him on the wing is really what I want to do because I feel like the defensive

1:05:04matchup is just, it's a losing proposition, you know, against most teams top line. I just feel like I'm going to be in pretty tough there. Paul Hamilton on the West Air hotline with me for just a few more minute sabers and Columbus Bluejack. It's tonight pregame rolls at six here with Zach and Derek and Paul be alongside and carry you through the evening here as well with Rob and Dan in the play by play. The game is going to be streaming at sabers.com. I think the other, the next two last night was MSG, the penguins feed, but whatever it was there. And same thing Thursday and Saturday, those games will be on MSG, but tonight is only on the, on the website. The rest of it here, I, you know, you mentioned Norris and with McLeod on a wing and like, I don't know what, what is going on there. I feel like Norris. I feel like I probably said the same thing last year, Paul. He is such a volatile piece of this lineup to me. I feel like if he plays 78 games, I'm going to get 80 points out of him.

1:06:09I think, but can I expect that? I mean, his history is just so hard to handle. I was hoping they find a way to replace him in the lineup. It would have been hard with the contract and everything. No, you know, no doubt about it, but they didn't. So now I'm sort of left at like boy, this is a very good player, but man, the health is such a scare. Yeah, but I didn't always see the very good player last year, but, but then again, you don't know if he was playing hurt because a lot of the time he is playing hurt because he wants to get back and he wants to be there for his teammates. So that's the thing I always think to myself. Someone that what I was expecting, we're not getting, they're not getting the production or whatever, but if I was a betting man, I'd say he probably was playing hurt in a lot of the season because he had a couple of different injuries. So even in the playoffs, I was like, you know, it just, you know, he was supposed to be

1:07:09a guy who grew down face-offs, didn't happen, you know, helped the power play, didn't happen. And now he's on the second power play. It's like, that's not why you got this guy to be on your number two power play. You got this guy to help your power play. You got this guy to win your face-offs. So you know, you hope he goes into the season healthy this year so we can see the real player, you know, at full swing here and see if maybe he could do those things, but not sure I would start him on the second power play, which is where you'll see him tonight. We get bumped to there because I know I heard a clip from Apert talking about Benson and Don and this big, deep dive 60 page analytical journal that they published and thankfully paired down to like five pages for the players. Smart. But Don and Benson, they, I heard Apert say like below the hash marks, like they, winning

1:08:10battles, they thought that's a key from their studies that like we need that, that sort of player that sort of play on our power play and that's certainly more their strong truth than Norris. And they felt that's what they got when they were 36% in the seven games against Montreal. Those two are out there doing exactly what you're talking about playing, you know, below the hash marks, crashing the net, getting those types of goals. That's not the Norris way. The Norris way is getting, this is the Thompson way, get in the circle and let her rip. That isn't necessarily the way power plays are going to be successful these days. According to their analytic data and everything, it's getting below the hash marks. It's getting pucks to the net. It's winning those battles. A lot of that stuff they don't do. It amazes me how they improve their battles so much, you know, they always would win battles except on the power play. Two sabers and one opponent, the one opponent would win the battle and I used the puck.

1:09:11I could never understand that. It's like, why do you guys battle so hard? Five on five and when you're killing a penalty, but not when you're on the power play. I don't get that. I still don't get it, you know, but guys like Donan, Benson, do and they feel that's why the power play really. And they pointed to facts and that's what Apert said. He goes, that's the thing with players. He goes, I can take this and tell them these are facts. This isn't my opinion. This isn't Lindy's opinion. This isn't Rasmus Dallin's opinion. Here are our facts from power plays. Analytic facts that will set tells you what works on power plays and what doesn't work on power plays. And he goes, to be able to do that with a player, he goes, is very useful for them to say, okay, yeah, cool. There's a lot of the players now understand analytics because that's kind of, I wouldn't say grown up with, but maybe grown up with the last 10 years.

1:10:13Sure. You know, and they understand them. So now, now you're speaking their language to that. 100%. When Owen was in New Mexico in 20 and 21, they got reports every game where you had the puck, where you didn't have the fight. I mean, Owen's was different because he was a goalie, obviously. They're like in depth, I mean, pages of stuff for each guy. So yeah, they're definitely used to seeing the data. What they do with it, they might have thrown it out the bus windows for all I know. And then literally, they understand it. They're littered the road from Amarillo, Texas back to Elbacurkey. I don't know, but they got it. So if that's happening in the NAHL, I'm sure it's happening in any high level junior hockey operative. Right. But they also understand what they're looking at, too. Right. Right. You know, it's not just, yeah, okay. It's just, you know, right. All right. Paul Hamilton on the Western Hotline Sabers and Blue Jackets tonight at seven pregame will get rolling at six.

1:11:14Carrick. Carrick, you know, obviously the injury to Zucker opens up a spot. I felt like Carrick, I put my lines together all summer when I'm just, you know, fooling around, killing time. Carrick was always in my lineup, even with a full compliment at everybody. I don't know how I would have done it. I guess I assumed all year if somebody would get traded, nobody did. And so you've got like this, you know, this current situation, which again is alleviated by Zucker opening up a spot. But to me, man, Carrick is a perfect fourth line center. He's cheap and does a bunch of dirty work. And actually walked, came in and scored goals, right? They weren't expecting that's not why they traded for him. But he did that. You know, as Saber in a few games that he played. Yeah, right now, you know, of course you will have Zucker on IR and I have the extras as Danforth and Kozak. Right. And if there are no more injuries before next Thursday rolls around, then one of them

1:12:14has to be waived and go down. And then when Zucker comes back, then the other has to be waived and go down. And less. And I don't see them doing this. There are two guys that can go down without waivers. And neither one of them are leaving. Oslyn or Helenous, even to relieve a roster crunch, I would absolutely be shocked if one of those two went down. I think I think I agree. I think that with so much being wrapped up in some way, the collective of the young guys filling the void left by the departure of talk. Yeah. Then to me, there's this, there's no question. Like, yeah, you can't conveniently send one of those guys, unless they start struggling. Right. Unless you're 15 games into the year and there's just nothing happening, then, you know, that's a whole different thing. But, which, you know, I could happen. Who knows? All right. Paul, thanks a lot for this. Appreciate it. As always, and we'll hear from you in a few hours. No problem. Take care. There you go.

1:13:15That is our Paul Hamilton on the West. Her hotline, his appearances here on WGR brought to you by Raylach Honda. Raylachs, we got this. So, yeah, again, Sabers tonight have Columbus in town. And it's Detroit that they visit on Thursday and then they're home again to the penguins on Saturday. So, just to close that out. So, Road Game on Thursday, that, according to what I saw at the Sabers website, the Thursday Road Game and the home game Saturday will be available on your regular MSG carrier. Tonight's game, OnlySabers.com is where that's at. And I believe I saw the home game that you'll have Dan and Rob. It'll be like the home feed. They get a TV preseason game, the regular broadcast. Of course, all the games are right here as well on WGR, including this game tonight. All right. We'll hit up a time out. You want to continue kicking Sabers stuff around, spinning off of Paul. That's cool. Revisit the hour one conversation on the AFC on the heels of our reverse AFC power rankings,

1:14:20wildly popular segment. We can certainly do some of that. Point is, phone lines are open until the top of the hour when Ross Tucker joins us for his weekly visit on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. Mike is away today. I am the bulldog. 803-0550 is the number you are listening to 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 $5 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, call 888-789-7777. Visit CCPG.org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Kansas, Bettax pass through may apply an element to avoid and annoy 21 plus void in Canada.

1:15:21Bet 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. Event contract trading involves risk of loss. Predictions offer void in New York. Non-withdrawable rewards issued as $50 click to claims every seven days for 21 days. Terms at dkng.co slash offer. New York Times offer nationwide based on sportsbook, predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability varies by state. Hey, all right, almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped a 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 D-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multitasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once.

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1:17:22You know, Dan, losing weight can feel a lot like getting so close to the end zone and then losing the ball right before you cross the line. Winning the game is great, but maintaining that success season after season, that's where the real challenge lies. That's right, so say noom. The leading behavior change company pairs GLP1 medication with behavioral tools, bite-sized daily lessons and coaching to help you build sustainable habits. It's like having a full coaching staff to help you lose weight and keep it off, even if you stop the meds. The noom GLP1 program starts at $39 and medication can be delivered to your door in as little as seven days. Get a real game plan for lasting success. Start your GLP1 journey today at noom.com. That's noom.com. Lose for keeps. Initial one month subscription from $39 plus tax and $99 plus tax per month thereafter cost of medication not included. Final pricing depends upon program selection. A beautifully designed square space website is the difference between thinking about photography school and selling your portraits online. It's the difference between giving away those cookies you just made for free and running

1:18:26your cookie empire. A beautifully designed square space website is the difference between having a movie reviewing hobby and a movie reviewing career. Square space, because no matter what you're into, a website makes it real. Use offer code difference for 50% off select plans in terms of condition supply. Just a truly unique dynamic there where you fire the head coach, then you interview all these other guys and then you promote the offensive coordinator Joe Brady. He probably couldn't have felt great about what happened with McDermott, but he accepted the head coaching job. So, that does not seem accurate to me, Dan, but I will ask because I hopefully I'll get another bills game here soon. The reason I'm bringing it up is just, oh my god, the McDaniel just ruined his career because he could have had Josh Allen for a while. And he made some sort of principled stand that no one cares about or knows about. And now two games into his career is even safe with the chargers. That is a conversation we talked about at the outset of today's show at the top of

1:19:31the two o'clock hour. If you have been sort of in and out with us, you know, the way that most normal people treat radio shows, you're not exactly keeping tabs on our lives. We started working at two o'clock. We run two to six now. It's a second full week of that. So new timeslot, they've reformatted a lot of the day here. Side writer is anchoring four hours from 10 until 2 p.m. Own parkers involved in that as it's Tim Graham. And the morning show is the same as always, but we're two to six now. And then Zach and Derek Kramer take over at six with a show called Game Night, which will often like tonight and last night. And there was a night be Sabers pre game shows because the sabers are into their preseason. Anyway, that's Dan Labatard, a huge national, like just an OG in this format, in the sports talker format, like someone I really admire and look up to. And he is telling you, he heard that Mike McDaniel turned down an opportunity to, I don't

1:20:37know, how close to the head coaching job he was. We sort of worked this through in the opening segment of the show today at two o'clock, and Owen and myself, that McDaniel was scheduled to interview. It was thought he was being interviewed for a coordinator position, but he turned it down and never interviewed. And I think the timing was he had this job in LA kind of if he wanted it and they were going to let him still take interviews for head coaching jobs if he wanted. And so, you know, the circumstances around that, it could be simply that the bills had an opening and thought of him as an offensive coordinator candidate, which totally makes sense. I know we talked about that. I would tell you, it would have been beyond belief to me. If as much as you might like McDaniel and his offensive acumen, I like the idea of him as an OC here or anywhere.

1:21:38I know what it's looked like so far in with the chargers, not going well, but I'd still, I like the idea enough. Hiring as your head coach to replace Sean McDermott, Mr. Culture, Mr. Bill's DNA, after nine years, eight of them being in the playoffs and hiring the fired Miami Dolphin coach. Those lines don't ever intersect. There's you are the fired Miami Dolphin coach and you're looking for work and the bills head coaching job is available. Listen, I don't know. It's not me casting judgment. I want Dan Lebertard to say, you heard what he heard. I cannot fathom a scenario where the bills would have hired Mike McDaniel as their next head coach coordinator. Yes. Head coach, like you, we laugh at you.

1:22:38The bills organization treated you like a dormant. You do not do that. I mean, if Mike were here, you'd tell you, like, hard wrecks, the judge couldn't, you club the jets. And then the next year, I'll see you in a higher retrine, different personality, bigger personality, bigger name, and had some successes ahead coach before, you know, being shown the door with the jets. I just could not have seen that there's just no way that that to me could have could have happened. It doesn't mean that there's not truth in that though that McDaniel maybe was freaked out by, you know, the way everything got handled. I mean, plenty of us were freaked out by it, right? I mean, it looks like it's all going great right now. And I know I would say often during the summer that I have to make an effort because I think it's right to do to separate how uncomfortable it was watching Terry Pagula talk about

1:23:41Keon Coleman or really anything that came up that day at the McDermott firing news conference and take that with me into every decision that they make and worry that like they're, they're being run incompetently. And I don't believe that about Brandon Bean. I don't agree with every decision that Brandon Bean has made as GM, but I certainly can respect the job that has been done. He played a huge part in this team turning around like they did when he and McDermott got here. And so they share in that glory. I would never want to like bar the door from being. I don't have an agenda in that way or anything with him. But it's hard. It's like a mental, it's like a mental exercise to see them and hear them. In particular, it's the owner talking and be like, Oh my God, what are we? What are we doing? Like they were that news conference was a story in the league for weeks afterward.

1:24:43I mean, it was a big deal. Everybody noticed it. So McDaniel maybe being freaked out by that. I could see that or some we didn't have it in that clip there, but Lebitard did say that he believes a part of the reason was that he, McDaniel and McDermott are enjoying a good relationship. They're friendly and that McDaniel didn't want to come in and look like he was swooping into a situation where someone he admires in respects and his friends with just got canned. I don't know. The coaching profession makes it hard to live by those kinds of guidelines, but I'm not saying that that's implausible. The only thing that's implausible to me is that he was ever a candidate for the head coaching job. I mean, I don't know this. I'm just telling you, anecdotally, you look at who Mike McDaniel is and has been in the league and the job he got fired from in Miami and the bills and Sean McDermott.

1:25:43And to me, there's just no way your choice, your change is from McDermott to that guy. It just that doesn't compute to me. But again, very reasonably could have been a candidate for offence coordinator and just decided like, all right, I got that in the chargers and I'm good over here. I mean, I'm even going back to the offence coordinator thing and it's social media, so take it for a grain of salt. But I remember even push back there just because you humiliated this guy for years. Yeah, the entire career was basically you just can't figure out the bills. It doesn't matter. Hill even falls to success with canned city against the bills. It's completely nullified against the bill. You know, when he was with dolphins, I just I can't really rent my hat around the idea of the introductory press conference trying to sell that not just to the fans, the media there that day, the team of like, hey, you know, this guy that you guys punked year after year after year, he's the missing ingredient.

1:26:44Yeah. It's easy to say this now and you can see more what they were thinking, right? I mean, you could find a way to criticize anything you have a mind to criticize, frankly, like, you can, oh, I have a leg to stay down here. Okay, I'm going to use this and then I'm going to, you know, spring off in this direction or that direction. But looking at it now, like as much as there was, like, you even heard Ross Tucker in that clip and Ross will be with me here coming up in about 25 minutes for his weekly hit. Like, you know, you want a clean house, it's got to be a new day and you end up hiring a candidate from inside. Like what are you doing there? Well, what you're doing there is probably trying to keep some of, if not all, all that you can anyway of the positives that you had with McDermott and just put a new person at the top and have that be the change. Like Dion Dawkins has said and Conor McGoverne has said and Josh Allen has said, having

1:27:49the offensive mind at the top that it just feels different. You notice it every day. That's how these guys are talking. And I honestly, I thought that was a convenient thing for fans to talk about in the summer. I wasn't expecting to hear it as authoritatively stated as we are from guys. And so I want to give them credit. I mean, two games in. It looks like that was just the right, it was just the right move. It's a little over here because it's, you know, it's a new head coach. It's a first time head coach, but it's an offensive guy, but he's familiar with all the key parts. And most importantly, Josh Allen and hopefully took some notes on how McDermott, you know, had the culturey stuff down and had this team sort of very unified and tight in a good way, tight. I mean, relationship wise, not tight like tense because that's also something you heard

1:28:51and read a lot about with McDermott. And you know, a lot of that is well-founded too. So I think it's, it's maybe just enough of a change and, you know, credit to them because maybe like Brady, in a way, Brady was the easy move because he was internal, but it did open you up to the criticism of like, well, I thought we needed big change. And how is this big change if this is like a key lieutenant in the McDermott regime, but it so far, it looks like they nailed it. So I mean, I don't know, I don't know, we really, how did that, any other way to really cut it. But man, the idea of McDaniel as a head coach candidate, I just think is nutty. Again, I don't know that it didn't happen that way, but the story is that he was uncomfortable working for the bills because of the way McDermott's departure was handled.

1:29:55And again, according to Dan Levittard, I just, I just had a self-conscious moment like it. Have I been calling him by the wrong name? Leberfeld Levittard. It's close. They're both Dan's and Dan is Dan. Leberfeld's our jet guy. I'm pretty sure I've been saying Levittard the whole time. Otherwise, someone would have corrected me by now. I'm, I'm almost sure of it. Anyway, 803-0550, if you got something to say about any of that, who'd love to hear from you again, Ross Tucker coming up at the top of the hour for his weekly visit. We'll also spend the five o'clock hour, at least to start on the bills with Ryan Talbot from Syracuse.com and the Fantastic Shout Podcast. That's what we got guest-wise, but in between time for you and me, of course, 803-0550. Mike is away today. I'm the Bulldog and you are listening to 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

1:30:58within 21 days, includes all markets that's code WGR in partnership with draft Kings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem called 1-800-Gamberler, 1-800-My Reset in Connecticut called 888-789-7777 is at 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. Event contract trading involves risk of loss. Predictions offer Void in New York. Non-withdrawable rewards issued as $50 click to claims every seven days for 21 days. Predictions at DKNG.co-slaosh-offer. Limited time offer nationwide based on sportsbook, predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability varies by state. OK, sis, give me the scoop. What have you enough to?

1:32:00Living my best life. I've been traveling, working, even hiking more, and things to team mobile, I'm connected for all of it. Really? I need details. I mean, with America's best network, I can pretty much go anywhere. Even when I'm off grid, I'm still connected by satellite. That's cool. Plus, I get unlimited texting and data brought, so I'm all set for my trip to Greece. I don't even need to do anything. It'll just work when I get there. That's it. I gotta get team mobile. I don't even get reception in my apartment. This is why I'm mom's favorite. So many reasons to join Team Mobile. Find yours at teammobile.com. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Uglospeed Test Intelligence data first half of 2026. With compatible device and most outdoor areas in select countries where you can see the sky, included with experience beyond $10 a month, auto-renews monthly, cancel any time. My speed data on select plans not for extended international use coverage and other available in some areas, see plan for details. Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors. During what should have been a peaceful hike, that calm was suddenly broken.

1:33:03A mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away. Fortunately, Jason had packed his burner less lethal launcher. Armed with kinetic rounds, Jason fired a warning shot, deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety. Burn a less lethal launcher's fire powerful, kinetic and chemical irritant rounds, designed to stop threats. Visit burna.com. That's B-Y-R-N-A. Burna.com. Purchase and shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality. Go to burna.com to check availability at your location. You know Dan, losing weight can feel a lot like getting so close to the end zone and then losing the ball right before you cross the line. Winning the game is great, but maintaining that success season after season, that's for the real challenge lies. That's right. It's a noom. The leading behavior change company pairs GLP1 medication with behavioral tools, bite-sized daily lessons and coaching to help you build sustainable habits. It's like having a full coaching staff to help you lose weight and keep it off, even if you stop the meds. The noom GLP1 program starts at $39 and medication can be delivered to your door in as little as seven days. Get a real game plan for lasting success.

1:34:04Start your GLP1 journey today at noom.com. That's n-o-o-m dot com. Noom. Lose for keeps. Initial one month subscription from $39 plus tax and $99 plus tax per month thereafter cost of medication not included. Final pricing depends upon program selection. A beautifully designed square space website is the difference between thinking about photography school and selling your portraits online. It's the difference between giving away those cookies you just made for free and running your cookie empire. A beautifully designed square space website is the difference between having a movie reviewing hobby and a movie reviewing career. Squarespace, because no matter what you're into, a website makes it real. Use offer code difference for 50% off select plans to terms a condition supply. This NFL insider call also was presented by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs. Nationwide is on your side on the western hotline right now.

1:35:06Darn Tuton. It's NFL insider time. It's Ross Tucker on the western hotline. Ross, good afternoon. Nice to talk to you. I did not anticipate talking about Mike McDaniel and Dan Leopardard with you, but here we are. Was that clip from today that I saw? Yeah. Are you to oh yes, it was. I didn't know if you were referencing what I said about the Chargers rough start or what he is on the air about him hearing him hearing that. McDaniel could have had the bills head coaching job, but turned it down. Yeah, I don't know which one you're referencing, but they were both today. They were both today. Yeah, I was referencing the medaniel thing. Yeah, I was blown away by that. Mostly, I think the world of Dan Leopardard if it needs to be said. I do do a weekly thing with him too. No, I think that might have been the first time I was ever on him. All right, awesome. Well, see, this is what you springboard to Dan Leopardard from us. No, it probably has something to do with you ascending to the number two booth with CBS,

1:36:10silly me, but I'm trying to imagine a world where the bills trot out Mike McDaniel, the fired Miami Dolphin coach as their charming, damn, every placement and I just can't, I cannot get my head around it. It's a perfectly credible idea to me as an offensive coordinator, just like the chargers decided to do, but I'm just trying to imagine a news conference where that's the choice. I just can't, again, I don't know what Dan, obviously he heard something about this. I just can't believe he would have been a head coach here ever. Well, certainly I would be surprised if that was the case. I'm not dismissing what Dan heard or who said that to him and that's certainly possible, but I would tend to agree that that would be, that would surprise me, especially because the thought that he wouldn't want to, he didn't want to take it because he didn't like what the bills didn't make thermite. I mean, I don't know, you know, that the OC Greg Roman got fired by the chargers and he

1:37:12took that job. So, you know, any job that's available is usually because someone got fired. And maybe they weren't treated exactly gracefully on the way out the door, but who knows? Well, seeing as we're starting there, how about the chargers end of this then? Because that is where he ended up. And I think a lot of, like this year's version of Lookout for the Chargers involves, well, Mike McGangill has a quarterback who could really throw the ball in Justin Herbert. He'll build a running game and, you know, look out. This is a great marriage. And two games in, it looks like kind of a weird fit with old school khaki pants, Jim Harbaugh, and, you know, sweatpants rolled up, you know, Elvis Sunglasses, Mike McGangill. What's your read on what's happening there? Because of course, they're rolling in here to play the bills on Sunday. Well, yeah, I am stunned that it has gone this poorly. I mean, really stunned. I think a lot of people were really excited about, you know,

1:38:13and I'm guessing Justin Herbert was probably one of them. I will say it is fascinating, and this is coaching, but, you know, Mike McGangill had success with two of Tongue by Aloha doing it one way. And then with the idea being that two of us, a timing and anticipation quarterback didn't have a big arm, got to get it out quickly. And Herbert, sort of like the antithesis of two of us. So, I mean, the annual is going about it a totally different way. You know, they've had some issues with injuries already, whether it's Mackankey or the interior offensive line. But as you know, nobody really cares and nobody wants to hear that. And by the way, you got a bunch of other teams who starting quarterback is hurt. You know, I mean, the Vikings have won two games with Carson Went. So as long as they still have Justin Herbert, nobody really wants to hear that the Chargers' injuries are part of the problem right now.

1:39:17Yeah. Well, what kind of team am I looking at coming in here Sunday, Ross? Because like, it seems like a very easy thing to observe and say, like I've said a few times today and even yesterday, I kind of wish they would have beat the Raiders. Because I think there is a good team in there. Harboss never been my favorite, but I recognize, you know, he's done a lot of winning in the NFL and in college. And I do think highly of Mackankey as a skimmer, as an offensive mind. So, Owen too, like it's got to feel, I don't know, were you ever a part of a team that had really high expectations and started the year in the ditch? And like, what swings it? Well, I was on an Owen 5 team in Washington my rookie year. And I don't know what our expectations were. I was a rookie, but we were Owen 5 and then we won five games in a row and got back to 5 and 5, finished the year 8 and 8 and, you know, we were in the playoff mix.

1:40:18I was also on a team that you're very familiar with. Again, I don't know what our expectations were, but the Owen F4 Buffalo builds in 2004 and then we won, at some point I think we won nine games, someone I think we won seven in a row or something, there's six in a row. And we really got it rolling. So, there's no doubt in my mind because I've been a part of it twice that you absolutely can get it rolling once you, you know, at a lot of times Bulldog gets just like one play. It's just one game. I mean, we were going to, we were Owen 5 in Washington. We were going to lose to the Panthers. And Labar Errington had a pick six to win the game for us. And it was like it changed the whole season. You know, it really is hard to fathom how that can be the case. How you're a bad team, you're losing, you make one play on all of a sudden you're winning every week.

1:41:19But for some weird reason it does kind of work that way sometimes. Yeah, but that old, that old four team, you're right. I mean, that was that ended up being an incredible ride. That you all, and you know, we know how it ended. So, we don't need to go all the way through it. But yeah, I mean, you won, let's see, from three and six, you got to, you got to nine and six before losing that finale to Pittsburgh. So, yeah, I mean, it can happen. And honestly, that might be, and I played New England for a year, that, that bill's team still might be like the best team I played on. Certainly from a talent perspective. And if we hadn't thrown off on four, I would have loved to see what we could have gotten done in the playoffs. So, I don't know how much and how deep you're prepared to go on the Chargers here. But like, what is, is it, is it injuries largely? Is it just not familiar with the personnel from an offensive standpoint? Like, what is happening to the Chargers that they've, is not only if they lost, you know, there's losing, and there's bad luck and bad breaks and whatever.

1:42:24I mean, they've scored 14 points at home two weeks in a row against Arizona and the Raiders. It's, it's pretty stark. Yeah, so I think they got a really bad combo right now. Of an interior offensive line that's totally new, not playing well. And as a result, they can't really run the ball and they're giving up a lot of interior push in the passing end. If you ask any quarterback, that's what they don't like the most. Like, if you can't step up, you can't step in your throw. It's constantly in your face. Their interior offensive line is really struggling, although honestly, even Joe Alt, you know, who's a stellar right tackle for them. He had, I think, four penalties, maybe, and a safety yell out in their last game. So nobody's really doing all that well.

1:43:24And then if you look at their receiving core, Quentin Johnston's, okay, Tray Harris has everything yet. Lad Maconkey is salad, a rendez-gadson has the tight end like they, they're skilled guys are just not that impressive. You know, I mean, it's really a team that's built to be able to run it and then rely on Herbert. Well, they can't run it. And then their receivers aren't really that good. Yeah, and Maconkey's compromised, right? I mean, he's playing hurt, still playing. I wonder like Mike's not here today, Ross, but he's made the point here a few times since the season started. Like, McDaniel had, you know, when they were really rolling with the dolphins, it's Tyree Kill and Waddle and HN. And those are three dudes that are their lethal house call weapons from anywhere on the field. And you don't really have anyone capable of that. The guys you just mentioned on the charger roster.

1:44:27That's exactly right. Those guys are lightning. And you know, Quentin Johnson can run a little bit, but he's not as dynamic as those guys. And they're going through it right now. You know what I wonder? I don't know the answer to this. But, you know, might make the annual has one kind of scheme and philosophy. And Harbaugh has sort of, I don't want to say another because they both really like running the ball. They both really like, you know, using extra tight ends and fullback. So they do have a nice marriage in that regard. But I guess I'm always curious, you know, is this 100% might make the annual show or is Harbaugh heavily involved or maybe just involved enough that it's helping it not work? The thing I will also say, Bulldog is the bill's defense hasn't been very good.

1:45:28So while, while Dion Walker has been incredible and making a million plays and we're so done some good things. You know, the bill's defense, hopefully this is sort of a get right game for them. They don't want to be the team that allowed us the chargers to score 30 some points at the only score 14 at home to the Cardinals and the Raiders. Yeah, word, I definitely feel that Ross Tucker here on the West, her hotline with us is appearing brought to you by Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company. There are one of America's largest financial services companies to Nationwide is on your side. So you mentioned Ross there, like you pressure up the middle and that's been a problem for the chargers. And then you mentioned just now Dion Walker and you got an eye full of him again right two weeks in a row. You're in the booth for the bills game. You were doing the Westwood one radio for Thursday nights home opener at the new Highmark. And I mean, I've seen you tweeting about it like Dion Walker.

1:46:29He's a story, I think in the league already or is that too much? He will be that if he's not yet, I can assure you he's going to be he is a rare rare player. And as I said week one, I called him a planet guy. They're just aren't guys like him six seven three thirty that moves as well as he does. And I mean, he's, you know, I'm always curious about a guy like that. And I don't know if they'd really tell you and I admit, you know what, I should probably before I do another bills game. I'm going to look it up to try to figure out exactly what it is. But when someone with his ability goes in the third round, there was some type of red flags. Or so, you know, it could be football character thing. It could be off the field. It could have been an injury concern like, but there was something because you just can't have that ability and go in the third round.

1:47:30Unless there was a legitimate concern in some way. Well, you can be the pro that I know you are and look it up yourself for confirmation. And not just take my word for it because honestly, I feel like I know you pretty well. And that's what I would do if I were in your shoes, but I can fill this in a little bit for you. There was a back injury. He was, I think his sophomore year at the end of the year, people were talking about him as a first rounder, maybe even mid first round, if not higher. But then he had some back trouble and that scared a lot of teams off. And so his performance really dropped off his junior year and team for worried about that. That's the understanding that that was the story that was told when the pick was made two years ago. So that I don't know of anything else. There might be more to it than that, but I mean that alone can do it. I mean, a back injury you would have to they kind of slow played him through camp last year. And, you know, so far so good this year.

1:48:30Yeah, I mean, and you know, I had a back surgery from Dr. Capuchino up there. When I when I played for the bills, so I've been there and done that. I would say so far so good. That's probably more of a concern. You know, if they give him one of these giant gigantic, I'm not saying ginormous. I know I thought actually a real word. I think that's a real word from Elf maybe. Well, Pharaoh on Elf ginormous. Yeah, because I counted the real word, but before they give him a huge contract, obviously, I'm sure that that will be something. Consider, but yeah, certainly so far so good. Yeah, I'm fine with ginormous. I mean, I recognize it's not you're not going to find it in the dictionary, but it gets the point across. I don't think there's any question about that Ross Tucker with us for a few more minutes here on the west to her hotline elsewhere on defense. Because that's the side of the ball. You still, you know, this game Thursday was uncomfortably 10 points a couple of times, but never more than that or less than that.

1:49:33So, you know, it didn't feel like they were in a crisis ever, but all the same. Yeah, you'd like to see the defense sort of tighten things up. It feels to me like up front, they're doing some winning in key spots. Walker's batting down passes. Rousseau's got four sacks and two games. And maybe he's finding a new lease on life. Not that he was ever a bad player, but you know, if he gets to double digit sacks, it'll be the first time in his career. And maybe playing purely the edge, the angle of attack, whatever is better for him. The second area is where I think the concern is here. The number two corners, but even Benford kind of got cooked by Nico Collins in the opener, but they survived it. I think like seven for 75 were Collins's numbers against Benford in the opener. So that's not number one corner stuff. So I feel like the back end is where I'm really sort of worried about what they've got going on in that. That makes sense with a new, a new defensive coordinator. Yeah, it's interesting because there was a lot of talk of Jim Leonard's pressure packages that hasn't been a big part of it.

1:50:38It's been more getting there with straight rush with the D line. Do they've been able to drop, you know, seven in the coverage, but at times. That has not been good enough and they've taken turns. I feel like not just the corners. Sometimes it's been, you know, the linebacker, something that's been the safeties. But certainly an in fairness, you know, Jared golf and the lion skill position players are really good. But you know, they did get towards by TJ shroud a little bit and he was not able to do that against bangles. Now he didn't have Nico Collins, which is makes a significant difference. Yeah, certainly something to keep an eye on and something that they certainly need to do better than what it's been the first couple game. So you got an eye full here two weeks in a row of the full bills offense experience and the Josh Allen experience, which I know you're very familiar with. But just, you know, I know it's a few days ago now, but Thursday's opener.

1:51:40I mean, it's hard to script a better start than up 21 nothing in your debut at your new joint. So I mean, I think if anything, you know, it feels it feels like this is as good as they've been or it's certainly better than what they've been the last couple years, which is highly encouraging. I mean, the guy won the MVP two years ago. But can Cade kind of be in healthy and taking his game to the next level and adding DJ Moore will see, you know, just how bad his injury is. I think that that has enabled Josh to really have the ability to take this thing to the next level. And, you know, I think maybe Brady is even more aggressive knowing that he's the head coach. You no longer has a defensive mind that had coach and he knows the repercussions of some of the things he calls and he's okay with it. Yeah, I mean, it definitely I think there's there's two things like you just said both of them.

1:52:41He's doesn't have a boss that he has to please any any more at least on the coaching staff. So that's that opens the door maybe. But having the personnel like can Cade a full concade. Ross, I think we even had that in two years like it's been 40% of the snaps and load management and he's in. He's out. He can't practice and I mean knock on something here. If he can stay healthy. That is that is a huge weapon and with more I thought and maybe you I don't know if you were hinting at it there. More going out in the second half. I you know maybe score effects. I don't know. I thought the passing game looked harder for them in the second half without more on the field. That's interesting. I mean, I guess it did. I you know they still move it effectively that I didn't. It wasn't like very noticeable to me, but I'm sure it did. It would be weird if it didn't.

1:53:41And so that could be a factor. I don't know is there any latest news there? I haven't seen anything. They've been off. They've been off and they don't practice till tomorrow. So we'll get we'll get we'll get some update tomorrow. So we'll get in any anything new since whatever you know whatever happened. Whatever knew on Friday, which was you know AC joined it could you know it's not. It's timing. Yeah. So yeah, I would just say good timing for that to be a third in an IT game. That's for sure. That's right. All right. Well last thing for you because you know probably should have started here, but I was eager to get the the love of Tard Macdaniel stuff settled. First time in the new stadium. I mean, I don't know how I left you enough time. What did you think of the environs on Thursday night? Well, first of all, it just looks so cool. Both from the outside and then when you get me inside, I'm a little surprised that it's less people than you know Ralph Wilson stadium was because it looks way bigger and it looks like a lot more people.

1:54:42And I think that's just a product of it being more vertical. And I'm sure other people asked the players after the game, but we interviewed James Cook. So I asked him about the noise. And he said it's louder. Which makes sense just based on the design of the stadium. So that's really encouraging. If you have a bunch of the fans out of the elements, but you can still have the elements of having the players out there and snow or whatever. But you also have it louder because it felt like it used to get really loud at times at the old stadium. So I'm glad that the players feel like it's still super loud. Yeah, I've heard that consistently from fans and players and media alike that it is noticeably louder. And I don't think that's just recency bias. How did everything? How's your, how's the press box level? How's the vantage point for the broadcast? Yeah, I mean, we were very, very spoiled at the old stadium where it was right next to the TV booth. And we were very low. Right. Now it's more like a lot of the other radio booths where it's all the way at the top with the writers. And so, you know, it's more like the all 22 camera angle as opposed to the typical camera angle. And that's okay. I'm fine with that too.

1:56:08That's what my words are for it. It's fine. Listen, I'll take being in the middle of the field. Yes, some of the other places is taking the corner of the end zone. It came and seen. Yeah, that's no good. Nobody needs that. Well, you'll be back somewhere in a prime spot with CBS. I imagine on Sunday. What's your assignment this week? I've not looked if it's been, if it should be known. I don't know. I've got the bank. I've got the two and O bangles at the Steelers. So no, it's a no air plane game for me, which is nice. And I'll be home by Sunday at eight o'clock or so. And the bangles are undefeated. Looks like they got a defense this year. And the Steelers are coming off a really bad game against the Patriots. I'm expecting them to bounce back. So I should be another really good one. I think. Sounds good. Ross safe travels and we'll look forward to our visit next week. Hopefully Mike is back for that. All right, man. Have a good week. All right. Sounds great. Thanks, Bulldog. That is Ross Tucker on the West her hotline. His NFL insider call presented by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs. Nationwide is on your side. And Ross Tucker's appearance with us is also brought to you by Northtown Volkswagen.

1:57:20Northtown VW West New York's number one VW dealer. All right. Time out at hand. Phone lines are open. 803 O550 is the number. If you got something to spin off of anything that Ross and I talked about, we certainly would love to hear from you. Really go all the way back to the beginning of the show. It's a long time ago now. I know because we started to we did reverse a C power rankings somehow Zach and Owen out voted me and the bangles ended up number one. I mean, I don't know. I can only do so much my names on the door. But you know, I was powerless to stop them. They wanted what they wanted. And that was it. I felt like an agenda to be honest with you. That I'm just making things up now. No question about it. 803 O550 is the number though. You can ignore the nonsense. Love to hear from you. Mike is out today along with Zach and G. I am the bulldog and 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 customer sign up with code WGR.

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2:01:42Initial one month subscription from $39 plus tax and $99 plus tax per month thereafter. Cost of medication not included. Final pricing depends upon program selection. A beautifully designed square space website is the difference between thinking about photography school and selling your portraits online. It's the difference between giving away those cookies you just made for free and running your cookie empire. A beautifully designed square space website is the difference between having a movie reviewing hobby and a movie reviewing career. Squarespace because no matter what you're into a website makes it real. Use offer code difference for 50% off select plans terms and conditions apply. I have just on the notes yesterday. Six drops. I have seven clips where no one's even remotely close to being open. I have five different plays when I write WTF are you doing upfront. Is a total disaster both run and pass so my note is it's a comedy of errors by everyone but Justin Herbert right now.

2:02:49That is Dan or Lasky talking about the chargers and their quarterback. Here's a I don't I do not want this to turn into like an entire lengthy well. I guess I mean I'm in charge of how lengthy a commentary this ends up being but this happens. This happens a little bit more than I'd like to feel comfortable with the search engine situation because Zach and I were talking during the break he tell you a little behind behind the music here for you. Zach's getting ready to do his update there which you just heard great job Zach by the way on the update and he before he does the update he says it will tell me or tell us usually Mike's not here today. It's going to be a clip of Dan or Lasky talking about this right which is what he just did and before he did his update I said how many had coaches as he had do you know offhand and he quickly looked and so did I and he said three and hard bar.

2:03:51I was the third you know what I did I was just talking to Ross Tucker right I said like well you want a little backstory on how Dion Walker made it to Saturday of the NFL draft or Friday night whatever it was I thought it was a fourth round pick so that would even be Saturday anyway. Whatever I said well you know there's a back injury his junior year he was very highly touted office sophomore year but it kind of got derailed by the back injury I think that's it I don't know because he's talking about how do they fall where he fell. Because human beings that can move the way Dion Walker can at his size simply our players that are valued more highly than that so and I said you know you being the pro you are you'll check anyway but I can tell you there's a back injury that was at least a part of it. So anyway Zach tells me it's three had coaches so I Google number of had coaches Justin Herbert has had you want to hear what the search engine got me. It's got the wrong years I'm pretty sure for Brandon Staley which I cross reference but at least I know he was right he's on the list but good start.

2:04:58The second name on the list here that Justin Herbert is played under three different had coaches during his NFL career Brandon Staley charges had coach from her which rookie season in 2020 through 22 I think that's wrong because the Anthony Lynn was the coach in 20 and Staley took over in 21 so that's wrong the second name on the list hang on third name is Jim Harbaugh. Okay that's correct right in between it says Sean McVeigh. Oh interim had coach for the 23 season after Staley's departure. No that's no that's not correct. It's not that that name that should say I think gift Smith is the yeah gift Smith is the interim I'm not counting him Mike Mike Mike's more of a stickler for that. You know head coaches how many had coach Anthony Lynn Staley and Harbaugh are the three Lynn was the rookie year.

2:05:59But how much faith like I know enough about football to know I get to that list and go what? Sean McVeigh interim coach of the chargers what are you talking about chat GPT or whatever whatever garbage factory engine this is cold pilot search is what it's titled I don't know whatever I'm on my desktop here how many had coaches has Justin Herbert had I'm now realizing that I misspelled coaches badly but it's still knew what I wanted that I don't think explains them miss identifying completely one of the three men with a certain kind of super bowl winning coach who coaches the NFL team in the same city by the way yeah I don't know it's just a kind of thing that makes you feel like anything that you check now quickly which happens during a radio show like this extremely dozens of times a day I now need to cross reference because of it's something I truly don't know I'm not going to believe what the computer tells me because they're telling me or they're trying to tell me that Sean McVeigh coach Justin Herbert with the chargers in 2023 which we all know did not ever happen.

2:07:09That's a bad that's a bad scene and bad it's not good either I get it's the foundation of the earth if you can't trust that like where am I going to go for news how am I supposed to know what's happening in the world Zach I can't you can't you can't know it's bad enough I'm going to get pictures of people with different heads and like having sex with one another or something like that's going to that happens unabated that's just where we live now it's this is it right like we have to live with that I don't know maybe some of you are into that not really my thing I'm an older guy more traditional um like that's not what I'm looking for this is worse than that even like you can't trust anything anymore you can't trust anything anymore I'm mad at the computer and I get it's computer maybe doesn't have a sense of humor I'm not totally sure on that how do you forget gift Smith like that would be proud to like point out like look at this guy's first name right check that out because we can how do you forget how do you mistake gift Smith with Sean McVeigh

2:08:10I mean I even though gift Smith has one of those paint on GI Joe Beards or not like McVeigh like I don't know you should not confuse these two people I don't think you need one is like on a Hall of Fame coaching track yeah the other was an interim coach for the chargers for a little while you know get it come on gift Smith though is on the Rams now it all comes full circle it all comes full circle I don't know man this is a it's a bad job just head on a swivel if you got a check something and you just look at oh yeah there I know that now and you're arguing with your friends and you know you're right you might be wrong it's just you can't trust it anyway the reason I asked is like there's there's Dan or Loskey doing the doing the work the quarterback is good he's got all the tools he could be better if if this if that if this if that if this if that if this if that if this if that and that is often how it goes for the quarterback when they're a top five pick and they're six six and they've got the great hair and they're awesome and you see them do really incredible things but they can't quite get all the way there it's like okay it's everybody else's fault I'm wondering like is this the year that that changes or because

2:09:29McDaniel has joined Harbaugh and if they continue to be like an unquenchable tire fire then is Herbert gonna eat the blame or will it be well you tried to get you know Mr. sweatpants they Elvis glasses to work with khakis and like I want to punch your face through the wall Harbaugh like of course that wasn't going to work I just wonder when Herbert runs out of excuses like at some point he has to start carrying that he never is able to elevate his team it does have to happen eventually I think especially to for him maybe running out of time it's been a long time since he's been that elite I'm putting up gotty numbers 5,000 yards in a second season 30 touchdowns in his first season it's been a long time and he's doing that in seasons where they don't go to the playoffs and then when he gets there like cool you didn't throw three pet or you only threw three picks in a season you threw four in the playoffs game against Houston like it will come to a point but I also think like McDaniel like we've

2:10:32already hit the excuses of and it's not necessarily excuses in a bad way but the excuses of okay well he doesn't have Hill doesn't have a chance he doesn't have Waddle like those are pretty key pieces he's now missing an LA and then I wonder about Harbaugh to like you're seeing it with the Michigan players they came from that national championship winning team they all suck like none of them are good in the NFL and there's the cheating scandal around him Michigan didn't go perfectly it got really good at the end yeah which is whatever remember but the loss of remember the Conner Stanley and things so you know with Harbaugh to I mean you mentioned it with with the khakis and the personalities not really measuring Harbaugh is also of a different age I think we all forget like he's closer to 70 all for sure that then maybe I think people want to realize so like I know he just went on like a tirade of of you know Harbaugh it's going to be remembered as the greatest quarterback ever it doesn't use him like that they really don't want to play that style that will prove that fact yeah I don't know man at all even this conversation is making me uneasy I just I can't say it enough I think I got to say it every hour or

2:11:35twice an hour like I just wish they would have beat the Raiders I don't the thing I fear most about the chargers is not Justin Herbert is not Jim Harbaugh is not Mike McDaniel is certainly is not Calil Mac it's that their own to which I know like funnels you to that all of them but like I if they were wanting want to be like okay bills you got this oh and two I just feel like I'm on edge about it and I hope it's nothing you know it's early in the season maybe I just need to settle in but I'm uncomfortable they were supposed to be good and they look like one of the worst teams in the league and that's such a wide variance that I'm just I'm bracing for like oh Justin Herbert looks like the guy that can do the job look at what he did in Buffalo like I especially with the way the defense has been going so far like it's just I'm a little I'm a little more rack by nerves on a Tuesday than I would really like to be it entirely depends on how I wake up on

2:12:35Sunday because I'm not with you like I think they're gonna walk through them I saw a chargers blogger like talking about their guards that are probably going to be playing is like they are the worst guard combination I've ever seen as like a Chargers fan like in my years and I'm thinking DL Walker here we go it's what is almost more nervous for me is it's not that they're oh and two it's the fact that every time I haven't been able to just sit with the games I'm more yeah right now yeah but the way I've heard people that I trust talk about the games is if they played more competent teams it wouldn't even be as close as 26 to 14 right and that's like what do you mean it was that it was the Cardinals and the Raiders like are you sure that's right I'm trusting you but at some point they've got to not be that bad right yeah I just don't just don't don't make it this week I just don't I just say no you know it's just no this the vibes are really good I know they're will eventually be adversity like they're not the bills are not gonna run the table Josh Allen's not gonna throw

2:13:37for 5500 yards I'm the season I don't even know if that's what he's pacing toward but whatever I know like 250 a game is this 5,000 so I know like the bumps will come this just shouldn't be one of the bumps like it feels like it might be the game of the top the this opening slate here that we were so worried about that sort of has looked less difficult by the week this is maybe the one that looks the least difficult of them all like the Rams even without miles Garrett which they will not have when the bills play them you know they they got off the mat yesterday and McPhase making jokes about like well what was different I you know they're dumb coach didn't make them travel like an idiot or whatever he said being being very self deprecating so like that that maybe back is you know like okay that's that's that looks hard again I that that I ever really doubted that but you know we've we've looked at the schedule this way um you know what looked like this grinder

2:14:43well the chargers are off to this terrible start you handled Houston Detroit was injured when they showed up here the Patriots won't have AJ Brown like all of that I think with all that said this charger game of these first five still looks like the easiest one because of the state they seem to be in like the form that they're in coming in I just hope that it all stays that way as they come east for this game on Sunday at one o'clock 803 05 50 is the phone number we've got what do we got coming up Ryan tell but coming up at five from Syracuse.com and the shout podcast will pour over the first two weeks of the season for the bills and talk about a lot of what I'm sure is on your mind heading into this meeting with the chargers with Ryan at the top of the hour Mike is away today I'm the bulldog you are listening to 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 customer sign up

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2:16:48hey alright almost here are you ready just grabbing my shoes that's what you said 10 minutes ago I just wrapped a video call uploading this giant file on my tablet looking at my watch group of nannas 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 team mobile they have the fastest 5G 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 that's a sign you've got to get team mobile so many reasons to join team mobile find yours at teamable dot com best to space on analysis by who close speed distance intelligence theta of national speed score results incorporating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026 Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors during what should have been a peaceful hike that

2:17:52calm was suddenly broken a mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away fortunately Jason had packed his burner less lethal launcher armed with kinetic rounds Jason fired a warning shot deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety burner less lethal launchers fire powerful kinetic and chemical irritant rounds designed to stop threats visit burnna dot com that's b-y-r-n-a burner dot com purchase and shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality go to burnna dot com to check availability at your location you know Dan losing weight can feel a lot like getting so close to the end zone and then losing the ball right before you cross the line winning the game is great but maintaining that success season after season that's where the real challenge lies that's right so say noom the leading behavior change company pairs glp one medication with behavior tools bite-sized daily lessons and coaching to help you build sustainable habits it's like having a full coaching staff to help you lose weight and keep it off even if you stop the meds the noom glp one program starts at thirty nine dollars and medication can be delivered to your door in as little as seven days get a real game plan for lasting success

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2:20:01with the chargers because we'll get into the bills and i'll end up talking about twenty different guys with you and it'll be five thirty uh this thing will be over um i'm a little bit i hate to do this because i feel like this is such an easy lever to pull but i really wish they would beat the raiders on sunday the chargers they i feel like there's a good team in there i'm not sure when or if they're going to find it but man i i feel like we've got the classic you know team in a corner coming across the country on sunday with the chargers oh and two yeah no i don't disagree with that what's the lever when you have a team that is desperate the way the chargers are they're going to be throwing the kitchens think at the bill the one thing that the bills have working their favor those this injury report that the chargers are dealing with uh essentially their free agent class is pretty much either on the ir out indefinitely they've lost their center two left guards they're starting tight end and backup tight end uh one of their detackles i mean it's a mess across the

2:21:02board for them and we've seen through these first two games too that the offense in los angeles just isn't clicking and i think it might just kind of be a a personnel fit with what they have in versus what might make dot uh mic McDaniel excuse me is trying to do yeah i mean it's easy to look at we've talked some about it on our show already this year how you know at their peak there was a chance in hill and waddle and i mean elite level speed i mean those three dudes are our house calls waiting to happen from almost anywhere on the field or really anywhere on the field and there's really none of that in this charger offense i don't think no not really i mean they like Brennan Thompson a lot but he's kind of buried on their depth chart quin johnson is not known for his speed or separation ability led mcconkey is the one guy that can create separation but he's dealing with a rib injury and he's not going to be at a hundred percent so tre here is i mean you look up and down that list like you said they are missing the speed and the talent that mcDaniel had

2:22:03in my army so maybe get well for the bills defense because as well as it's gone here obviously two and oh you can't do better than that and the offense is humming and we'll get to that but the defense i think both games you know Detroit is elitably talented on that side of the ball so i'm not you know i don't i drug them hard for giving up 31 to the lions but still it's 62 points in two weeks and houston could not move the ball against insan adi and seem to do you know a lot of almost anything they wanted against the bill so i don't know how how much of a concern do you have about the defense at this early stage of the season Ryan you i have some concern but the one thing that i'll say about the bills is week one you just never know what you're going to get uh from opposing teams that you can always look at film from the previous season but i'm sure houston came out there with some looks the bills weren't familiar with and vice versa and then you have them on a short rest having to play the lions at home so this is a 10 days of rest situation

2:23:05a lot of work and prep went into this i do want to see a jump in the overall defense the good news for the bills is they finally have some pressure up front in this unit i already mentioned the fact that the offensive line for the charges of the mess right now i think this is going to be another deon walker game where he is just an absolute force in the middle dwayne Carter to his credit had a really nice game against Detroit so i think you have that on the line and then outside lion back or Gregor so has been unbelievable uh you have barely chub now this is the game where i need to see the back end of this defense really start coming together start playing while christian bendford's been off to a rocky star it was a tale of two halves uh against the Texans he had some bad moments against Detroit this needs to be his best game of the season and then you also want to see it from that safety position i know cold bishop was at less than a hundred percent and played through it on Thursday night you had hope with these extra 10 days uh he's going to be closer to a hundred percent and be able to be out there and performing at a high level how much of russos success here early this year do you think is simply because he's in a he's in a different position as opposed to

2:24:10four three defensive end he's he's standing up more or maybe exclusively and the angle i know i saw a clip from the cover one guy's yesterday of russos talking about like the angle the attack angle is just a little different and maybe that's working for him i mean i i don't know i'm not expecting him to get two sacks a week here or anything i mean who who would think that but um i wonder if there's you know another level to his game because i mostly my my temptation that i'm looking to be fair about is to just go well he's just had a couple of good weeks we know who he is and he'll end up with his eight eight eight to 10 sacks but he's already got four and how much do you think the position change a subtle as it may be is helping russos yeah i think it's been massive i mean he's also been playing getting to playoff of one side he's not having to rotate between playing both sides of the defensive end position like he was sometimes in buffalo sometimes playing the left sometimes playing on the right he's been exclusively in one spot that he said has been his

2:25:12strong point or his his better spot to play in you mentioned that the angles of attack i think that's big on it too and just knowing that his role is to kind of you know he's still very good at setting the edge don't get me wrong but he's allowed to attack a little bit more in this system and in this scheme and we've always known about the athleticism the wingspan everything else but i feel like this is truly the first system where all that is unleashed and he's allowed to use all of that where it did feel like in you know no knock on shomit girmeter his defense it felt like they wanted him to set the edge make sure he didn't get beat on the outside keep the runs on the inside and then if you can get after the quarterback is well great but i felt like that kind of limited his ceiling where now we're getting to see what it looks like and you're right two sacks a week is not realistic but i certainly think he can reach double digits x this year yeah and for all the warts the defense has had you know and all the points they've given up here in these first two weeks obviously they've made plays you know when that lion game got to 10 a couple times they force three out like they got the

2:26:13but it never got more tense than 10 points and so and and the Houston game you know it took until they were you know their own 20 but you know walker made a play actually they were at the nine for that but walker made a play were so made a play so it was timely on walker that's the guy that i feel like i'm more ready to buy stock in as a rising commodity because last year like the bills sort of were very careful with him and and you know the the back injury and college probably was the reason why i would surmise and this year i just feel like there's the he's been healthy and through a whole off season and i know there was a little bit of a thing right before the opener or at the end of the preseason whatever it was but still he's he's been there and that's and that is a dude the bills have just not had that guy in a very long time they even had impactful defenders on the defensive line anywhere at the edge or in the interior but man i feel like walker

2:27:15the the teams that go win i feel like have a dude that can do stuff that walker does yeah absolutely and that's just that we've been saying for how many years now you've got Josh Allen on the offensive side of the ball a guy that can make plays when you need it but who is that guy on the defensive side of the ball and there really wasn't anyone it was the some of the parts in shumic German system rather than having a star player or someone you could kind of make that play and through two weeks walker looks like he can be that guy and it's not just pressures but he's already almost he's already over half the amount of pressures that he had his his for a first full season last year so that tells you how much of a force he's been in that regard but he's getting his hands up into at times when he's not getting at close to quarterback and battered passes i think he had three of them last week against the right so it's all the little things and you're seeing it come together a few of the sacks of the bills have had this season it's because walkers been crrashing the middle of that defense uh and then all the sudden the quarterback has tried to escape the pocket and it's kind of gone toward one side of the other so

2:28:18he's even factoring into some of these sacks where maybe his name is not attached to it but he's doing a little bit of everything and it's funny everyone was clamoring myself included that the bill should go out and get a true nose tackle for this three four you need this big space eater someone that can anchor there's concerns about his back his hike can you really play that he's shown i mean i'd go back as far as the first preseason game where he was dominant in that performance too they this is a role that obviously Jim Leonard felt that he could not only play in but also thriving Ryan Talbot on the bill's beat for sir cues calm also the co-host of the shout podcast uh with matt perino on the west her hotline here on w gr so the back end um you know benford i feel like i want to trust will stabilize um number two corner we've seen some of a rotation mostly heirst in some big binoe sin um i don't know where where are you at there because i i came into the season maybe thinking it been osan is there pick heirsten wasn't

2:29:21we'll see what happens there fell like the door was open the fact that it was a rotation in week one tells you that maybe the bills were at least curious about it how do you feel about corner two at this point yeah it's still a mystery unfortunately we really don't know what we have there and the one thing i'll say though is kudos to the bills for starting to roll some of these players out and play a little bit more rotations right out of the gate uh how many times do we see teams not do that and then when an injury occurs you're throwing someone out there a cold that hasn't played it all drink throughout the season and usually they get picked on or exposed early on in the year so see how i gb fits in this defense and how he performs one called upon but lean on your second year player in heirsten i agree with you on benford i'm expecting him to anchor down i felt like the first five or six games last year he had a lot of up and down play and then he kind of turned it on it was looking like the player that we've come to expect it corner back one you know corner back two i went back and i watched the Texans game and i thought heirsten held up better than i expected

2:30:21when i was watching it live um they weren't really targeting him much i have my concerns about heirsten though all throughout the summer when when you put him up against a physical receiver uh he struggled to bring the the player down you could see them winning in those matches even at the joint practice denzel boss and was having a ton of success in that match up so i need to see that in the regular season against a physical receiver can you lock them up can you play them uh and can you bring them down when you do give up those receptions i gb certainly fits a little bit better in terms of what i think the bills are looking for from that size perspective what they want their cornerbacks to be able to do but at the same time heirsten does have the footwork to speed that you would love ideally in a man defense flipping over to the offensive side of the ball i mean that's where of course all the action has been um players have been talking on our airwaves here Ryan about Deon Dawkins and Conor governor named two about the difference the the temperament of the of the

2:31:22entire team now being led by an offensive minded head coach and i tell you i i thought when the move was made in the winter and on through the spring and summer sort of felt like that's just going to be a thing that fans are probably going to lean on whether it's true or not i did not expect to hear the players talking about how noticeable the difference is now you know to be fair we are talking to offensive players in these situations it's Deon Dawkins and Conor governor and Josh Allen said similar things to the CBS broadcast crew before the opener that he's excited about you know Brady with the you know with the handcuffs off so to speak those aren't quotes but you know what i'm saying are you were you expecting that and are you at all surprised to hear the players talking about how how different it feels a little bit surprised about how vocal they've been for sure and i thought that this was going to be an offense that aired it out more than what we've seen the last few years i know that joe Brady has been the play call are all along but

2:32:23i do feel like there was a directive from shahmic dermit and be a little bit more balanced you want to play you know time control we don't want to have to throw this defense at which at that time was an aging defense a lot of older pieces out there too long they'll get gassed so i think he had kind of a message from up above saying here's what i want this game plan to look like him i think any head coach would do that but now that it's joe Brady show they're going for the jugular and they're going forward early i i think that the Detroit games the good indicator of that and kudos to Detroit for you may even making that a game but the bills go out in the score touched on the first four drives and they're aggressive and uh... you see how much they're just trying to put up points and poor points on and pretty much say try to keep up with us if you can now a team like to try has all the weapons in the world to do that but the bills can get out to these hot starts in these next few weeks we talked about the chargers and their struggles uh... new in one's going to be without a j brown the rams will fill the lot a lot better last night versus week one but there's going to be these

2:33:24opportunities down the road where the bills don't play some of these teams that have explosive wide receivers that can go score for score and i feel like you're going to be able to make these other teams one dimensional which will then lean into helping jim Leonard in this defense yeah get out to a twenty one nothing lead and you never got to catch all the way up already mentioned like you got you know the jury to their credit got it to ten a couple of different times but just you know that was it that that was as far as it got um there's a lot of familiarity on that side of the ball of course that everyone is you know everyone's back there's a new starter left guard uh... but there is the impact of dj more and we'll see what we learn about him tomorrow for sunday um seems at least possible at this point that he could miss the game um and you know that impact will have to wait and see i guess but also don't get paid as much as he's been here it's your four for him i feel like this is a player that we have not seen i mean he's playing seventy percent of the snaps which is up almost thirty percent from last year and the year before and those are two very impactful players

2:34:31at the skill positions that should really change your passing offense yeah one hundred percent starting with dj more you know you saw the effects of that in week one and how they're they were able to utilize cold secure downfield a little bit more and they were able to target dolling when you have a true number one i feel like that does help with the everyone eats mentality because it's a lot easier for your you know b plus players to be able to get open and create matches where you can win where in the you know past few years the bills haven't had that difference maker at wider seaver one and i think it's been a little bit easier for opposing teams to game plan against buffalo dolling concave the big thing for him is this all about health this is the first year he's been completely healthy all throughout the summer he bulked up he added a lot of muscle to his frame upper body lower body and that's allowing him to stand the field for more snaps you you go from about thirty percent to like you said seventy percent or so and when he's out there on the run place he's still not necessarily getting in there and making these big key blocks is on the

2:35:33outside sometimes but he's holding up a lot better than he ever has before and it does remind me a little bit of dot synox and his career trajectory with the blocking knocks is not known as a blocker coming out of all miss it took a few years for him to get it and then he could stay on the field and now you you've upgraded from the past catcher in concave and now he's balled up and he's up able to be out there more the predictability isn't there is much more for opposing teams when when he was out there in the past all the bills are going to be throwing the ball you had that feeling now at least it's not as sure of a thing because you can have him out there more and then he can exploit so many different mismatches with his ability to get down field yeah I mean it when they go to those three tight ends that's right it he's on the field I think man I think Ryan tagging Eddie had had the breakdown and it was stark it was like the percentage was in the 90s I feel like of it's a throw can Cades on the field and mean in the NFL I'm sure every team they played was aware of that so if they can mix in some running plays with can Kate out there I think it's only

2:36:37going to make this whole thing better heck we even saw them use four tight ends at one time what in the game against Detroit so who knows they're they're dressing for and you're seeing knocks in the backfield I think a lot of us thought haus would be the backfield guy but knocks was taking you know quite a few snaps back there as well these first two games so they've really got like a mix and match and go in there and I want to give the bills a lot of credit for being sort of on the front end they can easily ramps like McVeigh gets all this credit for being the genius that he is and I'm not throwing stones I'm just saying like you're you're in a camp with them as far as how you're using personnel and three tight ends I think that's that's where you want to be leaning and it's really the bills and the Rams are the only two teams that are up near four to 39 38% of 13 personnel and the rest of the league is not even above 20 I think so I think it's to their credit that they've sort of spun in that direction because really if can Cade is healthy that is I would want them to use 13 maybe even more than they are using it already if they

2:37:40get the East-Ace healthy yeah I don't disagree with them they love to as well I mean who is is tight in four he is a great pass catcher needs to work a little bit on his blocking as well haus has been a little bit for guy and at least from a statistical standpoint early on but they have four guys in that room that they believe in and they showed that by keeping all four on the initial 53 and rolling out with them keeping them active uh each game so far and you're right being ahead of these trends being ahead of the curve is a lot better than playing catch up or trying to do that because like you know uh within a few years there's going to be something new and there's going to be ways to beat that and at least if you're ahead of the curve it gives you that at the advantage early on here and it allows you to continue to think about other ways that you can mix and match your personnel uh to exploit other defenses and how you know any conversation about the bills receiving cry I feel like would be incomplete without some mention of Keon Coleman who like you know he had to he had to be called on on Thursday once more went out a little bit more than maybe we were expecting and I feel like that was a really good night for him and it's another

2:38:45thing I want to give the bills some credit for because it would have been pretty easy I just got to throw your hands up and take a six-round pick or a six seven pick swap or whatever is invoked these days and these trades um to just offload Coleman but you know maybe he still serves a purpose here absolutely and and we've heard it all you know all throughout the winter the spring it was Brandon Bean saying we still believe in Keon Coleman it was Joe Brady that when he got the head coaching job he said I told Keon Coleman the best thing for his career is if I became the head coach of this team uh in terms of unlocking his utilization and to Keon Coleman's credit I do feel like he has matured both on the field and off the field uh after some rocky starts here in his first two years some mismeeting things like that you saw him put in additional work in the off season with Stevie Johnson who was as good as anyone at separating off the line and you know one workout or a few workouts with one player isn't going to change everything in someone's arsenal but this summer we talked about him a lot at training camp where the wasted motion in his movements

2:39:47weren't there I felt like his route running was a little bit disastrous in his first two seasons there's a lot of wasted movement wasted steps I thought opposing cornerbacks kind of uh we're able to keep up with him fairly easily and he wasn't winning the 50-50 balls the back shoulder plays at that point but now he's he's creating a little bit more separation he's getting open you saw it against Detroit they really counted on him in some pivotal moments on third down to late in that game and he came through time and time again how about the conference here do you feel like maybe a little order has been restored seeing the chief bills and bangles up at 2 and no I mean the Ravens are one in one so they're not all the way up there but it feels a little bit familiar and I want to see I maybe I kind of like it yeah no I agree completely I think the bangles are maybe the biggest threat to the bills in general this year out of the AFC we talked about the offense for so many years and how much talent there was but it was kind of the same thing uh in Cincinnati that it's been in Buffalo the defense lights up too many points gives up too many points and the bangles just could never do much with that well they go out this year and they add

2:40:48extra Lawrence and Jonathan Allen boy Maffe Brian Cook in the secondary they put some legitimate talent on that side of the ball and you're seeing how it's paid off how much they're able to stop the Texans uh run game and make big plays against that unit it's not just a one-sided offense there in Cincinnati so I think they are as legit as it comes uh the chiefs have had two very good showing especially in the first game back and forth game with the Colts obviously in on Sunday night football but they did enough to win that game it's the you know the same pecking order but boy there's a lot of talent in this conference you can talk about Jacksonville Denver um that list goes on Houston as well so England going to be a dog one yeah right although I don't know are you I don't know how much of um of Drake May in the Patriots you saw on Sunday Ryan but there's still there's I'm just seeing and reading from media too like Mike Giarty with Boston sports journals a pretty regular guest with us um wrote a little piece today like some just seems off about May the

2:41:50the ball just doesn't the interception he threw on Sunday against Pittsburgh was under thrown kind of badly um which was the case with much of what happened in the open air in Seattle I wonder if there's something something there because he doesn't look right at all I mean I know AJ Brown is missing but he just looks weird to me no I agree completely with that it's a velocity of throws it seems like it's off versus past years so maybe it's an elbow maybe it's a shoulder maybe it's nothing at all but it's weird to see what you've come to expect from him in terms of of the way he delivers the football and you're right some passes that just aren't getting out there and easy interception for Pittsburgh in that game opposing teams are still trying to heat him up get after him as much as possible to show that he can beat that I think that gets to him a little bit as well but the Patriots offense certainly does not look right right now the defense carried them in week two they had them in that game and week one as well so I still think they're a threat from that perspective but there are certainly

2:42:51some questions about Drake May any upcoming appearances for the shout podcast you want to pub while while you got a chance to run yeah we'll be live on Saturday night ahead of the Chargers game at the Miller's port location then we'll be at the airport location ahead of the Patriots game so we have two live shows coming up excited about them both sounds good thanks a lot Ryan big fan of the work both at Syracuse.com and the podcast with with Matt thanks for making the time for me today really appreciate it oh absolutely there you go that is Ryan Talbot Syracuse.com on the bills beat like if you're you know just looking for as much variety of coverage as you can find I would recommend Ryan I always feel like I get something out of reading his work and Perino's work as Dan Dunlavy and I think maybe the groaning of Rob Ray there groaning it was celebrating go oh go anyway that's Dan Rob from last night in Pittsburgh the Sabers Lone Gold Jake were shard on

2:43:51the power play with a rister from about the top of the circle or so those same two men will be on the call tonight streaming at the Sabers website if you want to watch it of course you can listen right here on WGR Dan Dunlavy and Rob Ray glad to have the Sabers back in the full pregame with Zach and Derek we'll get rolling at the top of the hour here at six and take you up to Pock Drop home game tonight Thursday the Sabers are in Detroit for preseason game number three Saturday they host the penguins I believe that's an afternoon game and then that's it they play they play a regular season opener October 1st so I mean it's right around the corner here four quick preseason games and then you are into it so glad to have the Sabers back on the airwaves here and just back in general even if they were airing their game somewhere else we'd still be excited about the start of the season brutal brutal news here imagine riding the ride with the giants I

2:44:54mean I don't know how excited you want to get about Jackson Dart or or or wanted to get about Jackson Dart prior to the injury last night in the news today by the way was it was a roller crud look bad right away then during the game it was you know Joe Shane said you know we think it'll be okay and then immediately afterward it was not that serious maybe you know not not a season ending and then today after an MRI that's back in the window and I'm just imagining being a giant fan and like you really you you love Jackson Dart there's a lot of charisma there's a there's a there's a dude in there I don't know how good hill under being but there's definitely a dude factor maybe the giants between him and Scatable have got like the dude market completely cornered I don't know but I could I could get why you would dig Dart at this point and that that be on the ride

2:45:54there like oh it's oh it's not that bad okay he'll be back in a few weeks oh wait no just just brutal brutal news for him and them my question watching James Winston last night was when when are we ever going to stop with how great an idea this is James Winston like it's oh he's fun okay great can he play quarterback like I okay I like the personality to you know he's a great quote he's a great he was a great great Olympic analyst like he did he's multi-faceted I think I like James Winston at like as a dude but this idea they're like oh well he'll just let it rip great it was over 111 yards last night he played almost the whole game that was putrid it got me thinking like when was the last time he actually had a good game it happened last year he

2:46:5550% completion but 366 yards big big big outing late in the year for them after Dart and I didn't even that late I had it here a second ago uh where did it go what week are we talking about um we 12 thank you thank you I just couldn't find the paragraph I wanted 18 of 36 for 366 two touchdowns one interception um also caught a 33 yard touchdown from Gunnar Olishevsky in this game this is against the lions last year they ultimately lost in overtime I can't pin that on him necessarily so there there there it is there's there's evidence of like oh fun so it's not that long ago it's pretty good last season is almost as good as you can do in week two of the NFL season but I was watching him it's always sort of felt to me like he's one of these guys that the fantasy community loves because when he plays he throws it to the receivers and

2:47:59they get yards and so he produces points and like James Winston is fun and I go okay like I'm not throwing myself in front of the moving train uh I get it but I feel like that's gone around the bend to me like I just I don't know man it I know it's backup quarterback I think I might rather have see this is where the divide I think might come I should have waited to bring this up you know Mike took the day off what are you gonna do uh with Mike around because I feel like I don't really care if he gets it to uh you know Malik neighbors or you know their tight ends or whatever like I don't it doesn't matter to me I might rather have as my backup quarterback more than the fun James Winston who's just gonna let it rip um I might rather have like safe caretaker guy as my backup quarterback I'm gonna try I'm gonna try to win another way I think if if I'm playing with my backup quarterback whereas they're like Winston putting Winston into the game is well you're asking for it you you you might get the glory of the of the huge big play uh you might also get the

2:49:06grossly under thrown ball at the goal line that's like the easiest interception a guy might ever have in his career which is what happened last night so I just had a thought like watching that unfold last night that the the folk hero status of James Winston like very well played by him like he's become this very likable personality which is important when you're the backup quarterback like you need to fit in you need to know how you know what your role is you can't be a guy that is telling teammates and I'm better than the starter get out of the way you you gotta have the right temperament and it seems like Winston has figured out how to like I don't say reinvent himself because he's proud maybe he's been the same personality his whole career is is that now he's in this backup role it's sort of like oh you why wouldn't you want him as your backup well because he might kill you this is why I wouldn't I guess I would say as much as I've never seen Kyle Allen throw

2:50:09for 366 yards in an NFL game last year um I might prefer having the safe backup than the erratic one um because I just think everything should be sort of more you know close to the vest when I'm onto my backup quarterback and Winston to me is just like okay I'm just gonna grip it and rip it we'll see what happens and I don't know man um I that's not how I would like it I guess is all like I don't mean to be the jerk who's like down on James Winston because everyone seems to love him but I don't that only gets me so far um I'm glad he's not on my team I guess is what I'm trying to say Mike is up next here on WGR I'm like thanks for calling you're on the air Hey Chris thanks to talk I'm a little bit almost a a James Winstonist but one of the things that's that has bothered me about the NFL is how archaic they are and for example backup quarterbacks getting 10% of the reps during the week

2:51:16and how we always say they don't get any reps they're rusty they don't you know they don't know the offense as well we have something called virtual reality in this world and I can't believe that the NFL hasn't adopted just think about you know Josh Allen is going through all of his reps in practice and he's wearing a helmet and on the top of his helmet he has a camera and so the the backup quarterback Kyle Allen and the guy in the practice squad have those virtual reality goggles on and they see everything that Josh Allen is seeing they're throwing the ball to A it's to nobody but they're throwing the ball to the spots that Josh Allen is throwing the ball to just think about how that would improve these guys ability to just come in stepping because they'd be seeing every play that Josh Allen is throwing and and calling during a practice it just to me I can't believe how archaic it is.

2:52:18I have a follow up question Mike because I do I like this idea are these are Kyle Allen and or Shane Bouchel maybe it just has to be one make Kyle Allen is he on another field with some you know assistant to an assistant coach marking where he throws the ball on each given play and that kind of thing like that's where you're at yeah yeah he would be seeing the wide receiver right so he would be throwing and if he I mean if he throws a bad pass he's never going to know he throw a bad pass but he's going to be throwing it to the spot that he sees he sees DJ more break into and he wouldn't even have to be on a separate field he could just be the other end of the field yeah on the opposite way yeah and it would be so easy to adapt this this little I mean we do it and I mean my daughter interviewed at Homeland Security a couple weeks ago and they had her with these these vision these goggles on doing all this stuff and it was it was amazing and I'm thinking

2:53:24why couldn't yeah yeah no I like it yeah you can and you could go back and like you know it provided the assistant assistant coach or whoever's out there with him is due to fall about marking where the throws end up you can go then look at that with the actual practice tape to see where the ball should have been and how close he was and I think the player could get a lot out of that I like this idea a lot yeah and even if it doesn't help him in in terms of so so Kyle Allen's not going to make the same throw that Josh Allen makes but he's going to see the same right right and and so you know you're you're never going to have Kyle Allen be as good as Josh but at least he's going to know the offense and he least going to have all those reps in practice that you're never going to have the yeah the and you think about it you go you could go everywhere with this this is going to happen someday I you should have it is going to happen someday and I'm going to remember this phone call I should have been to sit here you could have a safety the safety call

2:54:28bishops back up instead of standing there on the sideline I'm watching call he's watching call read the defense he's watching yeah yeah yeah right I like it I like it Mike you've definitely we're almost done because the show ends at six now I feel like you're you've sent me home I mean I know you're another segment to do I'm really I'm not even going to try though with a smile on my face I think this is a really cool idea we're going to be watching a game some year sometime soon and Troy Ackman is going to be telling us about you know what the Rams have been doing in practice Joe that's going to happen it's already been already being done so I thank you to G for this guy want to confirm it all right J Daniels in 2023 his he's been winning season he credited a lot to in the offseason having VR reps at lsu and it was a big deal I remember this too because it specifically with you bulldog Jay the mill row I really wanted him to wind up somewhere where they would go through the VR reps because it's like yeah he's not going to start but you get him

2:55:32in that environment and it and it could work for him so I don't know if it's being done for backups but first starters it is kind of that added on reps and then we already know if anyone's a formula one fan most of your offseason is virtual racing it's it's the sim right I love it man I love it all right thank you for that and G thank you for adding adding in on that as well all right 80305 50 time out Mike is off I'm the bulldog this is WGR 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

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