Hour Two- Al Michaels Getting Ready for TNF and What were the Issues in the Bills win

0:00News Shoes, new clothes, brand new grade! Switch to Verizon to make sure their tech keeps up. This back to school season buy or bring any Android phone and get a Samsung Galaxy tablet on us. Get your kids ready for the school year without breaking the bank. Visit Verizon.com or your local store today. Bring an Android phone or purchase a new phone with device payment on post-paid service plan required. 329.99 tablet device payment purchase with new mine on $20 per month tablet plan for 36 months required. Less $330 tablet per month credit applied over 36 months additional taxes fees in terms apply. Hey, alright, almost here. Are you ready? Just grabbing my shoes. That's what you said 10 minutes ago. I just wrapped up 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 T-mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay multi-tasker, I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once.

1:00It'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 T-mobile. So many reasons to join T-mobile. Find yours at T-mobile.com. Fastest based on analysis by Uglospeed Distant Intelligence Theatre of National Speed School Results incorporating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026. Are you looking for a football podcast that doesn't put you to sleep with a fog of analytics or insult your fandom with phony hot takes? I'm Dan Hanses. And I'm Mark Cessler. And we're the host of He the Call, the NFL podcast you've been waiting for. He the Call covers the entire NFL, not just the same five or six teams you're sick of, delivery news, weekly power rankings plus previews and recaps of every matchup. Yes, we cover your team and we do it with a touch of the Earth because football is fun. Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same? Follow and listen to He the Call, NFL podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

2:04It's my show. Hey, put a little bit. I never get this line out the first time. It's not even good. Hey, put a little bit more in there, cowboy. And the bulldog. What's your degree in? Kick it ass and take a name. Not WGR sports radio. 550. Welcome back. I say back because now we go two to six Eastern weekday afternoon. So turns out you're late if you're just tuning in. But thank you for doing so nonetheless. It is our pleasure once again to welcome Al Michaels to the show here on the West her hotline has been seven years. Incredible to me since we first connected with Alan. He's been so generous with his time. He'll be in orchard park Thursday night for the Amazon season debut and to open another new stadium out really. Enough already with these new stadiums with Al Michaels on the call. Come on. How many is it at this point? This will make 10.

3:0510. This is fully one third of the stadiums that exist in the NFL 32 teams. Of course, but don't fly as shared by the charges and the Rams. And the med live is shared by the giants and the Jess. So this will be number 10. I'm bringing my big scissors. I'll provide the ribbon. And away we go. Is any one of them the most memorable for some maybe interesting reason? Well, I think there were a couple. The first one that we that I opened up and want to say opened up is the first regular season game to be played in these stadiums even though they did host some preseason games as you guys did to try to get the stadium in tip top shape. So the first one would have been in 2001. We did giants at Denver and all I can remember about that one be sure the fact that Christian McCaffrey's father Ed Broker's leg was that was September the 10th.

4:09So everything gets lost in the shuffle of what took place the next day. But the following year we opened up Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. And that was the year that the Patriots had come out of nowhere when Tom Brady had taken over. They win the Super Bowl. So not only did they open up the stadium, but they put the banner out there for everybody to acknowledge. They are the champions. And also it was the first game in a seven year run for me and John Madden. So that was the first game that we did together and all we went through the 2008 season. And then the other one that would really stand out guys is Sofie which opened up in Los Angeles during the pandemic. So we did the Rams against the Cowboys with no fans. So that was the the honest one of all and of course the only good thing about that.

5:10We didn't have to beat any traffic. So there you have it. Those would be the top three. The thing I remember about that game and I'm not just trying to kiss up to you by saying this is I know that I had the under and it won in that game. Dallas. Dallas and the Rams. I don't remember the stands being empty, but I remember that was under the number. You know, it strikes me, Al, as you're laying all that out. Like Denver, there's a new stadium coming there already. I know there's all kinds of ways to look at how long you've been in the game here, but that's one. I mean, you know, that was state of the art brand new and now they're on to a new one already. I don't know. Is that out on the horizon for you? Like I want to do this long enough to get to Denver's new place one more time. How about that? You know, you make an interesting point because you know, they build these stadiums and you think they're going to last, you know, 40 or 50 years. But now the shelf life has become something like 30. So here we are, which less than 30 years before they'll open up a new stadium in Denver.

6:14They had the old mile high and then they built, you know, invest goal, whatever was called at that particular time. And it's kind of funny how, you know, you look at stadiums like that and then you look at like arrowhead stadium and Kansas City. Now they're going to build a new stadium the way it looks right now. But think about this. The designs for that stadium were what was created in the late 60s. And arrowhead opened in 1972. And they'll still play a game in there tonight. Now there are better stadiums. There's no question about it. But I mean, Pudos and hats off to the architecture that people have had that in mind. And built in Kansas City also, they did something that no other city had done. They built separate baseball and football stadiums and they're both still going. So you think of it right now. It's kind of a crazy thing. How, Kansas City got a totally right back in over a half a century ago.

7:14And then you've been in both of those stadiums for very famous events, you know, many times. Denkinger, right? That was you were on that game in Kansas City. Yeah. Yeah. Game six, 1985. Oh, yeah. And the bill stadium, I've always heard. And I think because we had a round of construction, obviously, in the bill's new place, which you'll be there for the for the inaugural regular season game, like we're talking, I always had heard that it shared design elements that the bill's old stadium with arrowhead. And it's only like a Europe heart that had opened the bill's place opened in 1973. So very similarly. And we're just, you know, we just got out of there. So did you ever think you'd see a new stadium in Buffalo? I knew that I had to see one or the team would have moved. And you guys, you're on top of it. You understand the fact that, you know, when that stadium got, you know, older and older and people began to think about, you know, maybe it's time to move a franchise.

8:15Buffalo was always either at or new at the top of the list. So as you guys will know, I mean, there was a lot of talk about if any team was going to move, that would be the one. So I knew that sooner or later, they would have to get a new facility. And of course, here it is. Unfortunately for Western New York and Buffalo and the bills, Mafia and all the rest so they can move into the new playpen up Thursday night. You were here in 2007 with John Madden, the one visit, the two of you together made to a bills home game when New England beat them 56 to 10. And that was the undefeated Patriots regular season. And Bulldog brought up earlier that I would, I would say, and maybe I've mentioned this to you in our conversations in the past that Al Michaels is never coming back. Like it just seemed the bills thing. It seemed so lonely. We talked to Peter King one day kind of about their playing games in Toronto once a year. And where is this headed? And I don't know if this is exactly the name of the town, but he said something like,

9:16well, at some point, you've got to recognize that like Castle Rock, Colorado has a bigger population than you guys, something like that. I mean, right. He wasn't being condescending. It was just sort of like matter of facts. They got it like you basically just said, you got to figure something out at some point. And they have, and I think I wonder how you'll think of this when you get here. Amazingly to me, the old stadium is already dust like they leveled it. Yeah, it's gone. Like they played there last year and you'll go out there and you'll have memories of being in rich stadium and the other names over the years many times. And you look across the street, Al, and it's not there anymore. It's really surreal. It is. And it's a, it's a good thing though, because I mean, rich stadium, it served its purpose, but you guys know you've been to other stadiums around the league and they're vastly different. But I think, you know, I mean, to me, it's going to be a very exciting night to see this come to fruition. I never wanted to see that team lead. Look, I remember, you know, I was a big AFL fan back in 1960. And so I know all

10:21about the history of the Buffalo Bills. And I think you and I, you guys and I, I think me have talked about this in a visiting the last year and year before the first NFL game that I ever did. Yes. Was a point to point telecast in 1971, Bills at Minnesota. And even the NBC station didn't carry the game in Buffalo because they were carrying the American League or National League baseball playoffs. So we got farmed out to a UHF. And I don't know how many people saw that game, but it was the Bills at Minnesota. You had, I know, Bud Grant was the coach of Minnesota at that time. I think Norm Seed was the quarterback and the Bills and you guys and I have talked about this, the Bills featured OJ Simpson and Al Cowling's. That's how I broke into 1971. Crazy. OJ who you would of course come to know pretty well all over the years, right?

11:23And Cowling's as well. They were both brothers. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. Less than anyone think I didn't know that you were. I'm going to. Less of course. With with L Michaels. Well, it's no coincidence that you're going to you're getting a good team here again now. I mean, that goes hand in hand with the prime time schedule. What a start yesterday, Al for the Bills, a wild win in Houston. And Josh Allen. I mean, I sometimes just don't have the words just continues to amaze. He is unbelievable. You know, I mean, look, he's already won one, a couple of MVP awards. I mean, his resume has everything, but you know what? The weight is over. Football is here and so is draft Kings. Draft Kings is now live in all 50 states. One app, every sport nationwide. New Draft Kings customers sign up with code WGR, spend five bucks to get $200 in rewards within 21 days includes all markets. That's code WGR in partnership with Draft Kings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem called 1 800 gambler,

12:281 800 my reset in Connecticut, call 888 789 777 777 visit ccpg.org on behalf of boot hill casino in Kansas. Bettax pass through may apply in Illinois 21 plus void in Canada. Bet with Draft 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. Non 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 sportsbook, predictions and free to play sports contest availability varies by state. Newshoons, new clothes, brand new grade switched a Verizon to make sure their tech keeps up. This back to school season buy or bring any Android phone and get a Samsung Galaxy tablet on us. Get your kids ready for the school year without breaking the bank. Visit Verizon.com or your

13:31local store today. Bring an Android phone or purchase a new phone with device payment on post-paid service plan required $3.29.99 tablet device payment purchase with new mine on $20 per month tablet plan for 36 months required. Less $330 tablet per mo credit applied over 36 months additional taxes fees in terms of apply. 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. 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 T-Mobile. So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com.

14:32Fastest based on analysis by Uclav Speed Test Intelligence Theathe of National Speed School Results incorporating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026. Hey there, I'm Kendra Adachi and my show The Lazy Genius Podcast helps you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't and you get to decide what matters. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to give you a new way to see. Episodes of the lazy genius podcast are full of compassionate time management tips and permission slips to do what makes sense for you. New episodes drop every Monday. Follow and listen to the lazy genius podcast on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's everything but the Lamboarty. And Detroit comes off a crazy game as well, yes, some two teams providing great escapes, but I'm looking forward to it. You know, and Josh actually spends a good part of the offseason out here now after his marriage and belongs to the same

15:33golf club as I do. And on a couple of occasions this past summer, a bowl would go whizzing over my head from some other fairway tee box and of course who hit it? Our man. And you know what? He's such a great guy. He came right over and apologized. I said, what would come on man? You know, you missed me by 10 feet. No problem. The onus is on the hitter bulldog. We just had this conversation when we were playing in a work event and got hit into like listen, you got to come over at least you got to make sure it's okay. It doesn't surprise me that Alan Wood, you know, he seems like sort of good in that in that way. Yeah. How much how well I don't want to I don't want to ask it the way I first was going to hear about how fair do you think it is? How much or not at all do you hold the bills not making a Super Bowl against the quarterback at this point? I mean, he's maybe, you know, we want to hope maybe halfway through his career. And not much more than that, hopefully for us. And he can stay at this level, but they haven't

16:38gotten there yet. And the defense carries a lot of the blame largely for I think one playoff game that was so egregious at 13 seconds game in the divisional round at the end of the 21 season. But there have been, you know, he's got the ball in his hands. There's a minute and a half or two minutes to go and they haven't been able to get it, you know, get get get the touchdown they needed to get to the next round. I don't know how much of it do you think he carries? There are 32 teams in the league. So at the end of the year, one team is happy and 31 are not. So I look at it that way. You've got a 3% chance of winding up lifting the Lamarity trophy. You guys and I both know there are about 500 things that go into creating the result of any particular game. And it's easy for people right now to say, well, you know, the Rams lost in Australia because of their travel situation. Maybe that maybe that gets factored in, but there were 500 things that

17:40happened in a football game that determine the outcome. The bills had been on the bad luck end of, you know, the game and Kansas. Here the obvious is incredible. I am forever linked to God bless him. Scott Norwood, right? You come that close. You come that close. But that's why we love football. That's why we talk about it. That's why there's always an overreaction every Monday because people say, well, if this would happen and that would happen, yeah, I go back to the, what I call the rule of 500. There are that many things or more that determine the outcome of the game. So when it comes to Josh Allen, he is blameless in terms of the fact that the bills have not won a Superbow. I mean, who else would you rather have at behind the center at this particular time? Al, do you regret not being picked for that Australia game? Would you have wanted to make that trip? You know, that's one of the few places that I wanted to go. And we were we were in the bidding

18:42for it in the mix of Amazon. So I was hoping we would get it, but nope, save myself that's 60 an hour flight. Just have to get there on my own someday. But I'm not, now that's a place, you know, I've been to much of the world. Of course, you're going back to my years at ABC wide world of sports and it truly was wide world of sports. I mean, I got to see just about everything, but that's the one spot I'm missing. That in New Zealand. So yeah, I would have loved to have done it, sure. And I mean, you were working professionally in Hawaii. So I mean, you probably logged a few miles in your, your, your, not don't you, not don't you, by a trip to Australia, you know, like you've almost seen it all. Will you travel tomorrow? Yes, I'll be flying in tomorrow afternoon. Yep, you should be there by eight, nine o'clock tomorrow night and I'm going to get ready on Wednesday. Have our meetings and off we go. What do you guys hear about the field? What do you, what's the interesting right now? I'm I don't know. I'm I'm I'm I think curious and apprehensive, I guess, because I mean,

19:49they had to tear it out and replace it. And I don't know. I mean, there, there have been, there's been some reporting on it. There are turf experts that are saying like I wouldn't let Josh Allen on that field. So I don't know. I'm I think nervous is is maybe the way I would describe myself and thinking about the field. Will it be better than warm memorial? I think we can hope. I think we should expect I might have to ask you that question. But there were, there were big, they were having practices in there. You know, open practices were the first of well, the first event was an open practice and like hunts of turf were coming up. Yeah. So they needed to act and they did and hopefully it took and that won't be the case. But I'm worried about it being a story. Yes, for the video. Well, let's hope for the best. I mean, it goes just close here. If you don't mind, it goes back to part of our earlier conversation. But it's a grass field and it's open air, at least mostly. And you know, Cleveland's planning on a dome now and Kansas City and Nashville

20:53next year. And I mean, it won't be too long before this new place, which hasn't even officially opened yet might seem like a throwback because I don't know what Pittsburgh does someday or New England. New England. I know like, or what do they do? They bring their field in and out. Whatever like to have an open air grass field and Buffalo someday may stand out. It may, you know, and I'm all four pieces. I like, you know, football is played in a natural environment. Green Bay. I can never see Green Bay, you know, doming that stadium. It's just too iconic. Chicago, who knows? I mean, they're going to move to Hammond, Indiana. Nobody has any idea. But the way it is right now, you guys know better than anybody that that these stadiums need to be available and conducive to holding concerts and other events. And so that's why here in Los Angeles, you know, or whether it's as good as there's any place in the country that soify has a roof. Granted, it's a translucent roof, at least,

21:56you know, so it's so five. You play a day game. It looks like a day game. You don't know there's a roof here. That's the same thing they are doing now in Nashville. As far as I'm aware, Kansas City, has that in the plans. I think Cleveland's going to be the same type of thing. It's that translucent roof. So you can have not just eight or 10 games a year in that stadium. That stadium's got to be available for a lot more events. So, but I'm happy that, but, you know, I'm happy that Buffalo is still holding its ground and providing, you know, the types of memories that we know when we watch old, you know, films of the National Football League. It's different. It's cool. And that's why people still love, love, love, snow games. And of course, you know, you'll get to provide a few in the new stadium. Yes. I hear you say you love the elements. Well, you're coming up here in September. It's 70 and sunny today. Like you're going to have it pretty easy. I hope anyway, this week, Minnesota, another one you watch Minnesota Bulldog yesterday and just how bright.

22:57Yeah, I don't know what the roof is, but there's that whole wall of windows that just are so much natural light in that stadium. For sure. Yeah, in those stadiums, they, night games or they, they games look like, like day games. I mean, you see the sun. I think Indianapolis is one of the first, but they kind of messed it up a little bit because of the grading that it's a retractable roof. Retractable roofs are okay for me too. But you know what? The stadiums that built the retractable roof barely use them. Right. You rarely see the roof up and down. You rarely see the roof opened up in use. And to me, either it's natural or you now go to what everybody's going to is that translucent situation. So you can have concerts and all of the rest in those stadiums. But I'm happy that Buffalo is able to hold the ground. Games and Buffalo should look like games and Buffalo. And not in some, you know, hermetically shield. The, you know, kind of what what what you call it? I'm wearing a shield tanters. All

24:03room. Yeah. I'm happy. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Exactly. It's always such a thrill to have you on. We didn't get to any hockey today, which is something we didn't know. We haven't got to any. Sabers though. Huh? How about it last year? I don't know where it caught fire. It was so tremendous to have that back after, you know, kind of an apathetic last decade or more. No question. No question. Maybe, maybe, you know, all we were missing around is just a just a Pagula winning the US Open. That would have been cool. All right. Leading into a leading into the skating. Thank you so much, Al, for this. Enjoy your trip to town here this week. Okay, guys, always good to be with you. We're making an annual event here. Love it. Thank you very much. Al Michaels with us. Amazon Prime Thursday night for the built-in Lions. I always like, you know, if we have a couple minutes after he hangs up to sort of like, sort of basking it. Yeah. I know. I spoke a cigarette. Yeah. You might say. Right. I know. Right.

25:14It feels just sort of normal now. Let's make it an annual event, which is, you know, which is great. It's really, really, really nice. I remember the first time we did that being like, oh my god. I was so nervous talking to Al Michaels. And this time, now I'm being cheeky with him. Right. Right. I mean, come on with all these stadiums. You're just showing off at this point. I like the point about Denver to be able to open a stadium in the same city more than once. Right. I hope I don't know what the time. I imagine this got to be three, three years out down down the line here. But, you know, maybe he gets the 80 be really something. Yeah. I shouldn't have referred to that World Series game just by the umpire's last name. You know, that's not really what it's famous for. The miss call down, dinking her, but it happens sometimes. Games are famous for the mistake. What is the mistake again? Is that is that call it first base? Is that is that her back? No, that's a different thing. Right. Yes. Yes. It's in the Cardinals and the

26:17Royals. Right. Okay. Right. And the Cardinals, it's game six. And the Cardinals are three outs away, like night thinning with the lead. And he misses a call at first. The Royals win the game. And then the next game, I think the Royals won 11 to nothing. So tough one there. Like if I'm that umpire, I so hope the Cardinals win games have it. Can I do it? Can I sort of give one back? I guess that's not how you do it. But all right, let's break. We have Dion Dawkins today at four. He'll join us Mondays throughout the season. And Sal Capaccio will be with us at five. We're two to six now. Mike's open the bulldog. Hope you enjoyed. Al Michaels. It's a great treat for us. This is WGR. Heading back to campus, timed web grades your entire tech setup. Switched to Verizon, buy or bring a qualifying smartphone and get a smart watch and a tablet on us. That's all your essential gear for zero extra dollars. Ace your classes, track your fitness and stream your favorite shows. Visit Verizon.com or your local store today. Bring an eligible phone to purchase a new phone with

27:20device payment on post-paid service plan required. Up to $649.99, watch and tablet device payment purchased with new mine on $20 per month tablet plan and $50 per month watch plan for 36 months required. Less up to $650 per month credit applied over 36 months per device. Additional taxes fees in terms of apply. Hey, all rides 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 D-Mobile. They have the fastest 5G network. Okay, multi-tasker. I see you. Honestly, I never imagined I could do all this at once. It's awesome. Say no more, I'm totally switching. My post is taking way too long to upload. That's a sign you've got to get D-Mobile. So many reasons to join D-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com.

28:21Fastest based on analysis by Uglospeed Test Intelligence data of National Speed School results in cooperating 5G download and upload speeds for the first half of 2026. How We Made Your Mother is a rewatch podcast that looks back episode by episode at the hit TV show How I Met Your Mother. It's hosted by me, Josh Radner, along with series co-creator and my friend, Craig Thomas. Follow How We Made Your Mother wherever you get your podcasts. Josh did a great job yesterday of taking with the defense gave him and when the opportunities were down the field to take a shot to take it. If they were playing deep and he had some intermediate throws across the middle field, you know, he took it and he obviously wanted that second to last play back. I'm not telling you everything was perfect but I thought he played the style of game that I wanted him to play and I thought he went out there and he was aggressive and when shots were there it was opportunities to go take it and he came out ready to rock. Joe Brady 1&0. Portions of our show are brought to you by Tim Hortons, the official coffee of the Jeremy

29:22and Joe Morning Show on WGR. Start your day strong with Tim Hortons and the bills. Did they move up an hour? Are they 5 to 9? Now, I know regular. Where are the only, well us and Brad, like Brad, Brad had been 1 to 3 and he's now 10 to 2 so he moved way up. He moved way up and yeah, us. Zach moves up. That's right. Tonight. We've got two hours now which came to the boss to that. All right. Congrats to you. 803-0550. We've got Deon Dawkins and half an hour. Sal will join us at 5. We're 2 to 6 now so, you know, adjust accordingly. Whatever that would be. We did get a caller last hour who said I usually can't get to you guys. Maybe he like works at 3. Yeah, maybe. And he made fine points. Well, you better change jobs then, pale. Yeah, I mean, really. Come on. We set the tone. Right. Cody is next. Hello, Cody.

30:23Hey guys, happy victory Monday. That was so awesome to hear out, Michael's. I'd never heard him on the station before. I got really excited when I hear you guys announce that he was going to be on. But something something him yesterday. I wasn't very excited about the Joe Brady higher initially. It felt like an easy button type move very uninspired. I just wasn't in on it. I felt like too safe of a move. And then he won me over yesterday during his press conference. And of course, the bill's wind helps. I helped the person further, but he's the uttered a phrase he said going for the knockout punch. And I feel like that's a mentality that us bills fans have been craving since the attention of Josh Allen that we want to be that team that's not playing not to lose, but going for the kill. You know, Cody, I'm sorry. We wanted to hear you, but the noise, it sounds a little bit like you're in a beehive. So we're going to have to let you go, but we can certainly take your point.

31:26Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess the press conference is good. The wind is good. The point you're making is good. The kill shot, you know, like that's I think that's where a lot of fans are when it comes to this. And it took it's only still one game, but it had to wait until yesterday to see if like it was going to look different in some way. And that's maybe how it did. Well, I mean more down the field stuff than last year for sure. Right. Yeah. The bills have never done that. But right, but you know, we've it's been a talking point all summer occasionally, you know, someone who who favors certain metrics or this specific metric will tell you, like boy, it's amazing. The bills had the lowest average air yard perturget in the league with Josh and I was their quarterback. It was like seven yards, right around seven yards, six point nine yards or whatever was really low. Yesterday was close to 13. Like, it was a very different scene. And those plays, I mean, the more

32:28touchdown is one of these, the winning touchdown is one of these. The interference penalty on more is one of these. There's maybe the first long-ish ball of the day is from their own end zone. It's a jump ball that can cade against stingy. And he wins the battle and comes down with that ball. Like they pushed it in ways that I said that they never threw it down field. But the frequency in one game with which they did what they did yesterday, they got numerous players whose longest reception on the day was 30 yards or more, which just that doesn't happen. Doesn't happen a lot in the league, let alone with the bills with the way they've been operating, which James Cook leading the league in rushing last year. So you've got that piece, which is important and was good. I don't know if that comes and goes week by week depending on your opponent, whatever. But certainly not a game going into it that you were expecting. I wasn't, anyways, expecting them to try to push it down the field. I thought it would be a lot of quick stuff

33:31and running backs just to try to offset the edge rushers. But they had a plan for that. And there was, I mean, DJ Moore is chipping, uh, Will Anderson, Jr. On the game winning touchdown. He's lined up in the slot just outside of Spencer Brown. And he holds up for just a second just to get a shot on him and then goes out. And you know, you watch that play and it's possible. I think Bullock is the high safety there that Josh talked about after the game. I think with Evan Washburn on the field. How the he noticed the safety was sort of was frozen. And he mentioned more because more is on that side of the field and he doesn't go out right away. So maybe that even helps them because he's waiting like where's what's DJ Moore doing? And but Concade is also coming across the thing there. And he might have been waiting on that to see which way he's going to go. Whatever it was, he waited, he waited just long enough for Alan to notice. And Alan helped freeze him there. It's one of the things you love about that play. It's great on multiple levels. You've got a great throw. You got a great

34:37job by Palmer who ties up one of the best corners in the league on the play. Beats him, you know, beats him gets open enough. Alan notices that the safety because Alan the story he tells about this play is they however anytime they've rep did in practice, the ball never goes to Palmer. He's running just to try to draw someone away for someone else. He's doing cardio. Right. And Alan said he when he saw the safety is like, all right, well, then I'm going here with it even though I've never done it in a practice like and of course it's perfect. And it's perfect. I mean, it's right in between the two defenders. I mean, just perfectly timed great play. So you're getting the shots. You got the shots, but you also had a very well developed plan as evidenced by DJ Moore. Your best receiver now, waiting a beat to just get a shot on the guy just to help Spencer Brown just enough, you know, whether he would have needed it on that specific play or not, they did a lot of that.

35:37Dawson knocks did a lot of that. The running backs did a lot of that. It was just really smart. And that is to Brady's credit too. You know, we sat here for months saying he's got all this time to come up with a better plan than they had last year when they went in there. And boy, did he come up with one? Thanks for the call, Cody. Sorry about the part where we had to cut you short because of the noise, but I always got to say with the listeners, Justin is next. Hi, Justin. Hey guys, I'll just speak quick and then I'll hang up and listen to your thoughts, but two quick things. One, with the key on Coleman experiments here, third year. I just thought if you guys were coach, how much will each you give in before? Maybe you replace him with the Skyler and get Skyler a shot to enhance this offense. And secondly, a little bit more concerning James Cook last year. In terms of high volume running backs led to league and fumble percentage. He fumbled about once every 50 times he was rushing the ball and close to that when it came to total touches.

36:40If you remember the Denver game, he fumbled, which completely changed the trajectory of the game, Josh Allen had just rattled up a huge run. It was first intended to find Denver. They were going to make it a seven or 10 point lead. He fumbled it, coughed it up and it changed the whole dynamic of that game. They actually enough 20 touched on. And then yesterday on 20 touches, 17 rushes and three receptions, he wants to get fumbled. And if you're coach, maybe you guys can ask the coach, like, what are they doing to get him to be more protective of the ball? If you look at the fumble, the ball wasn't even closely tucked to the side. It was up closer to his chest when it got knocked out and it was in one hand. And I think he's a bit careless with the football. He was pretty good the year before last year, but he's really fumbling in a lot. So I mean, do we got to do something like the program where he takes up that TV movie where he carries the football everywhere he goes, because this is happening. It happened a lot last year. And in some really pivotal moments, I think it happened even to the Miami game. And I'm just curious, when you guys have the

37:43coach on, if you can ask him, we don't have the coach on. We have, we have your point. We don't talk to Brady on the air, but we got it. I mean, yeah, fine, but we just so you know, I don't know if they're like trying to reteach him how to play the position. Like that might be a little bit what where we're headed here. And maybe it would be good if Brady got that question. I think I'd like to hear him answer the question. Like when do you decide you have a problem? You know, that's the that's the short form of that question. But you know, he had he's one game in and he had one. He led the league in rushing last year. He led the league in rushing touchdowns the year before. I don't want to try too hard at, quote, you know, fixing or repairing James Cook. Coleman, I don't see that as a one to one with Bell, you know, style wise. Different positions really bells bells the backup to Shakir or one of the backups to Shakir in the slot. And Coleman is an outside guy who I think is on the field largely right now. In a we trust

38:46you, you're a big body. We trust you to block. I think I mean only had I think only the one target. I got a look at making one target. Yeah, the one and it was the hook and ladder play. He caught a quick little in and then lateral that to Shakir. 50% of the snaps Palmer that we'll see if that is more of a thing. It's the winning score in the game. But I don't think I really have to do anything with Coleman. I still want there to be some room for him to help. And demoting him in some new way isn't isn't that. So I don't really think I have a, you know, a move that I need to make right now when it comes to him. But the season starts and all over the league, you're sort of looking for the reveal on what did teams not tell us all summer that they plan to do with their personnel. And Coleman was somebody where I might have thought he was listed on top of the depth chart. Like I might have thought they would have a roll cut out for him. Brady saying, I being the coach is the

39:51best thing to happen to Coleman. Well, this game didn't exactly no seem to reflect that. But it's one game. Yeah. I mean, and yeah. And just furthermore, I mean, we already, I think already talked around it here. Like, yeah, Coleman is not blocking Bell. The block is now in the form of dork. Because dork is also a slot receiver, which is where Bell has been working mostly, almost exclusively. And that's backing up Shakir. So and even Shakir's snap count was down from what his normal snap count was last year. Because maybe concade was way up and their three tight end usage was way up. But dork is the one in the way. They they won his punt return ability. You also saw him on kick returns to that makes sense. And not that I don't I don't even know if he got an offensive snap. No, but the the I think I said I'm late in the week. Like it's dork for Bell. I think if they want him to be their punt returner, then he's going in and Bell probably is not dressing. So there's where you're that that's what happened yesterday. And I think moving forward. I think until they

40:55come up with a more permanent solution than elevating dork weekend and week out, which they only can do two more times now. I think Bell's going to be kind of stuck. Yeah, thanks Justin. And and one more point, you what you went on about some of the things you saw and the winning play and just what the bills were on offense yesterday, we can't have this conversation and not mention concade at all, unless you talked about him chipping somebody like what a day for him. That was a big talking point this summer where we weren't talking so much anymore about how much weight he needed to add or strength or whatever his knee. There was like I mentioned on the post game show yesterday. There was one moment early in camp when he left and Twitter was right there as Twitter will do with here we go again on Dalton concade at the end of the practice. He referred to his family jewels and getting hit. And the next day he was on the field doing stuff like that was

41:57sort of a bluff. And man yesterday and those were tough catches too. Not only was he down the field and Alan had time to use him, but he had to win those those catches, you know, maybe all of them five for one 30. Did he have anything easy? He out jumped a couple guys. That was a great game for him. Yep. And he was on the field for 73 close to 73% of the snaps. Okay. Which is I mean he was in the 40s regularly last year. Like I think his final season total even was in the 40s. I don't think he even got to 50. So very encouraging usage like that that really points to him being healthy and them being able to and they didn't even obviously they you know he played that much. They didn't last year the splits were egregious. They're throwing with him on the field. It was like all it was a tell almost or almost really exactly is what a tell is what it was. They're throwing this guys

43:00on the field. He's got limited snaps. They're going to do what he does best when he's out here. And when you're playing 70 72 73% of the snaps that's not going to be the case. And that gives you more of an advantage on your opponent. If you can establish that you will run it with this guy on the field. That's a that's a trend breaker off of what they were doing last year. And that's very valuable for them. 69% of the routes to for concade. Who was most in the league yesterday among tight ends according to fantasy analyst Jacob Gibbs at 90% of the routes. It's hilarious. If you saw the if you saw the you know if you play fantasy football and saw box scores yesterday. It's hilarious. 90% of the routes most among any tight end yesterday in the NFL. Colston, Loveland. His team scored 59 points. No targets. They scored five rushing touchdowns. They's everybody literally everybody else on the team scored twice.

44:04Colston, Loveland, tight end three, even sometimes tight end two in fantasy 90% of the routes. 59 37 there's no targets. No correction two targets. No catching no catches. Okay. Well they tried two targets. Yeah, they tried. Everybody else was catching touchdown passes blindfolded. This guy everybody's favorite tight end. I mean, I'm not saying he's not good. Two targets, no catches. 59 to 37. How about that game? How about the Bears and the Panthers yesterday? Really the Panthers might be the better story on offense or the Bears on defense. I don't know. I mean Bryce Young 361 and three. Did you think he would ever do that in a game again? Maybe I pretty much are giving up. Jalen Coker. The co-heads are excited. Eight for one 38 and two. Chuba. A lot happened

45:08there. Just didn't happen for Colston, Loveland. Despite running 90% of the routes for the Bears. Okay. Dion Dawkins at four. Mike Schopen, the Bulldog. This is WGR. Heading back to campus, timed web grades your entire tech setup. Switch to Verizon, buy or bring a qualifying smartphone and get a smartwatch and a tablet on us. That's all your essential gear for zero extra dollars. Ace your classes, track your fitness and stream your favorite shows. Visit Verizon.com or your local store today. Bring an eligible phone to purchase a new phone with device payment on post-paid service plan required. Up to $649.99 watch and tablet device payment purchased with new line on $20 per month tablet plan and $15 per month watch plan for 36 months required. Less up to $650 promo credit applied over 36 months per device. Additional taxes fees in terms apply. Hey, all right. It's 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.

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