Speaker 1: Factors, Rolphis Paford drawing high Pard Textower. What a win
Speaker 1: for this Miami Dolphin team. Wow? What is up? Dolphans?
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Drivetime Podcast, part of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins official podcast network covering your Miami Dolphins. How's it
Speaker 1: going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, and I
Speaker 1: am here to bring you your daily dose of Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins football. And on today's show, it's back to the
Speaker 1: Know the Enemy series Part two. We'll talk to somebody
Speaker 1: who's as well connected to the Buffalo Bills as anybody,
Speaker 1: Sal Capacho. He'll tell us about the entirety of the
Speaker 1: Bill's roster, some similarities between Miami and Buffalo, all of
Speaker 1: that and more on this Wednesday, June the seventeenth edition
Speaker 1: of the Drivetime Podcasts. And I had Joe Marino of
Speaker 1: Locked On Bills on many a Locked On Dolphins podcast
Speaker 1: in my time there in the past, and if not mistaken,
Speaker 1: I think he did an episode of Drive Time as well,
Speaker 1: back for the Draft with his association with the Draft Network,
Speaker 1: and we talked about the different stages of a new
Speaker 1: regime build basically just in the NFL, how it kind
Speaker 1: of works with these new coach and GM combinations and
Speaker 1: how you build the program, and the success that Sean
Speaker 1: McDermott has had with the Bills up there in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: And I think it might have been year two there
Speaker 1: in eighteen that I even recall predicting that they might
Speaker 1: have a shot at the number one overall pick in
Speaker 1: that twenty nineteen draft because of how they were unloading
Speaker 1: parts off the roster like Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby
Speaker 1: and Marcel Darius and Joe told us in that podcast
Speaker 1: that McDermott was really focused on building the team his way,
Speaker 1: establishing the culture of work, ethic, sacrifice, some of those
Speaker 1: core components that we've all come to know and love
Speaker 1: from both Brian Flora's and Chris Greer. And I'd be
Speaker 1: doing him a disservice if I did not include Brandon Bean,
Speaker 1: the Bill's GM in that conversation for Buffalo. He's done
Speaker 1: a hell of a job up there as well. But
Speaker 1: the Bills really exceeded expectations that year under the tutelage
Speaker 1: of young quarterback Josh Allen, and they remade that secondary
Speaker 1: in one year with Trey White, Jordan Poyer, and Micah
Speaker 1: Hyde in the first year there. Then they went out
Speaker 1: and got the pieces for the young quarterback in year
Speaker 1: two with John Brown, Cole Beasley, Dawson Knox and Devin
Speaker 1: Singletary at those skill spots. Of course, they went out
Speaker 1: this year and got Stefon Diggs, but in that first
Speaker 1: year they went out and got four, count them, four
Speaker 1: new starting offensive lineman to go along with Dion Dawkins
Speaker 1: upfront there and Cody Ford, John Feliciano, Mitch Morse and
Speaker 1: Quentin Spain. And now they've got a starting five that
Speaker 1: really doesn't have a week spot on that front part
Speaker 1: of the offensive line, just one year after that rebuild.
Speaker 1: So I look at the way McDermott and Bean did
Speaker 1: it there, and I see a roster that is deep,
Speaker 1: a roster that is very talented, and a roster that
Speaker 1: is very much about the vision of the head coach
Speaker 1: and how he wants to do things. And with that,
Speaker 1: with this a of the Know the Enemy series, we
Speaker 1: had Evan Lazar on for the New England Patriots last
Speaker 1: week last Wednesday here on the Drivetime podcast. Who better
Speaker 1: to welcome into the podcast than Sal Capacho and writing
Speaker 1: Shotgun with us on this edition of the Drivetime podcast
Speaker 1: is Sal Capaccio. He's a beat and sideline reporter for
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills. He's also a host and podcaster at
Speaker 1: w g R five fifty up there in Buffalo. Sal,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for doing this today. No, thank
Speaker 1: you for having me. It's a pleasure on this end.
Speaker 1: And I always ask my guest right now, because it's
Speaker 1: such a strange offseason, how are you getting along in
Speaker 1: this virtual offseason, trying to find content without O t as,
Speaker 1: without really any current football to talk about. How's work
Speaker 1: and how is life going for you in this weird
Speaker 1: off season. We'll start with life. I have a six
Speaker 1: year old who's in first grade. He loves sports, and
Speaker 1: the toughest thing for me is not being able to
Speaker 1: watch him play sports or attend sporting events. We love
Speaker 1: going to Buffalo Savers games. We love going to Buffalo
Speaker 1: Bison's games. They're the Triple A affiliate. Uh here for
Speaker 1: the Toronto Blue Jays, you know, we do that downtown
Speaker 1: and it's all been canceled and that's been tough. But
Speaker 1: you know, I've played sports. I've been a coach in
Speaker 1: my life, high school coach, so even down in Florida,
Speaker 1: actually so you know, I, UM, I can make do
Speaker 1: and we can do things together, but it stinks. He
Speaker 1: normally would be really right now, in the middle of
Speaker 1: his lacrosse season. Uh, he'd be playing little league baseball,
Speaker 1: he'd be finishing up flag football. And he's only six
Speaker 1: and he loves it all. So that's been really tough
Speaker 1: and challenging. But at the same time, it's been awesome
Speaker 1: spending time at home alone with him and you know,
Speaker 1: getting to do a lot of things. So personally, you know,
Speaker 1: we're handling it, and there's a lot more situations going
Speaker 1: on in the world, no doubt about that. Professionally, you know,
Speaker 1: we're just lucky. My wife and I are both still
Speaker 1: working and we're able to work from home with our jobs,
Speaker 1: especially what I do this time of year. UM normally
Speaker 1: working home anyway, covering the team, whether it's draft, free
Speaker 1: agency and things like that. You know, I'm I'm concerned
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen with the season obviously, and how that's
Speaker 1: gonna look from a broadcasting standpoint. But I'll be honest
Speaker 1: with you, Travis, UM, I think one of the things
Speaker 1: that's happened here, and I've said this, uh for the
Speaker 1: last a couple of months now. It's it's allowed me
Speaker 1: to kind of tap back into my creative side. I've
Speaker 1: had to. I'm up with fresh content, new content that
Speaker 1: I might might have lost touch with doing that over
Speaker 1: for a few years. Once you kind of get into
Speaker 1: a routine, you don't do that. And I've I've created
Speaker 1: some things. I do a podcast, uh South Sports and stuff,
Speaker 1: and one of the things I'm doing now is looking
Speaker 1: back at every single Bills game, one podcast at a
Speaker 1: time from last year and doing a recap and then
Speaker 1: also telling stories about the game that people might not
Speaker 1: know from the sidelines, you know. So that's been something
Speaker 1: cool I've been doing. So I'm just trying the best
Speaker 1: I can to come up with that type of creative content. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's definitely a unique opportunity. I've actually had a chance
Speaker 1: to talk to so many Dolphins alumni as we do
Speaker 1: Friday Fins flashback, going back to previous Dolphins games, Dolphins
Speaker 1: wins in our storied franchise history. So that's been a
Speaker 1: lot of fun too. I'm with you on that all
Speaker 1: the way. But we have you on here talk about
Speaker 1: the season and the Buffalo Bills as we continue our
Speaker 1: tour of the Miami Dolphins schedule, and we got to
Speaker 1: see you guys twice a year, as we do every year,
Speaker 1: starting in Week two in Miami, and then a nice
Speaker 1: frosty January trip up there to Orchard Park in week seventeen.
Speaker 1: And I want to start with the big chair, with
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott. Where else do you start but with the
Speaker 1: head coach. We did the Patriots Know the Enemy episode
Speaker 1: last week, and it's pretty unnecessary to ask what does
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick do well? Right, everybody knows who Bill Belichick is,
Speaker 1: what he does well. But for the people that might
Speaker 1: not be familiar with Sean McDermott up there in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: and I compare some of his philosophies on leadership and
Speaker 1: team first guys to what Brian Flores wants to do
Speaker 1: in Miami. But from someone that knows him and knows
Speaker 1: this team so well, like yourself, what is it that
Speaker 1: makes Sean McDermott the answer for the Bills at the
Speaker 1: head coach position? He really is good at team building.
Speaker 1: You're right, I mean that's really something that um was
Speaker 1: said to me when he got here. People in the
Speaker 1: organization said, they've never been around a person that's as
Speaker 1: good at just bringing people together in team building. And
Speaker 1: you know, it just seems like every single person who
Speaker 1: walks through the door they develop it. They don't already have.
Speaker 1: They have a certain type of player they look for,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about that, as certain DNA they call it.
Speaker 1: But if they don't necessarily have that with somebody, um,
Speaker 1: they develop it. And you've seen people transform that way.
Speaker 1: To be quite honest with you, would just become all
Speaker 1: about exactly what Sean McDermott and Brandon being want. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what he really does that I think
Speaker 1: I've been super impressed with. And you gotta remember now,
Speaker 1: just like you guys, we've gone through a lot of
Speaker 1: coaches here in Buffalo over the recent time, and you
Speaker 1: know I've now gone through I've covered four different head
Speaker 1: coaching regimes. And the thing that Sean McDermott does so
Speaker 1: well is his teams are just so consistent. You know,
Speaker 1: they're they're they don't ride the real highs and stay
Speaker 1: up there, and they don't ride the real lows and
Speaker 1: stay down there. They stay in this this box basically
Speaker 1: where you know, there's a certain level of emotion that
Speaker 1: they rise to and you know, they celebrate the good
Speaker 1: things and they cheer and all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: but they don't let it overwhelm them and become like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we've arrived. And at the same time, when bad things happen,
Speaker 1: they never let it get them down. So that really
Speaker 1: prepares them for any situation, whether they're down in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, they're playing a big game against the Ravens
Speaker 1: or the Patriots, or they're playing a team that they
Speaker 1: should be you know, like the Dolphins last year. Maybe
Speaker 1: they were in a couple of tussles there, And you know,
Speaker 1: that's the big thing I think that Sean has done
Speaker 1: really well is he's gotten his team to be super
Speaker 1: consistent and always play. You did you know exactly what
Speaker 1: you're gonna get from the Buffalo Bills every single week? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I let into the show before I had you on
Speaker 1: talking about how I think it was his second year there,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen's first, when it looked like the Bills maybe
Speaker 1: unloading some parts of that roster might be in line
Speaker 1: for a possible first overall draft pick. But then they
Speaker 1: go out and they win five or six ball games
Speaker 1: and they never had to think about that. Because you
Speaker 1: mentioned the consistency and knowing what you're gonna get each
Speaker 1: and every day there for the Bills, we hope we
Speaker 1: have the same thing here in Miami, and we discussed
Speaker 1: the head coach and the next place you always have
Speaker 1: to go to on this checklist of you know, roster
Speaker 1: reviews is of course the quarterback and something of an
Speaker 1: important year for Josh Allen in year three for him
Speaker 1: this year out of Wyoming and he seems to be
Speaker 1: a total lightning rod and for debate and fodder on
Speaker 1: social media style and now with Stefon digs in the
Speaker 1: fold on top of all the offensive additions last year,
Speaker 1: it's a big year for him and I for one
Speaker 1: can really appreciate the depth that he brings to the
Speaker 1: offense with the running game, short yardage conversion, asking an
Speaker 1: extra defender to keep an eye on him because of
Speaker 1: that dyna him a running ability and the impact that
Speaker 1: has on the defense. But what can you tell us
Speaker 1: from someone that again sees him every single day, what
Speaker 1: can you tell us about Josh Allen what to expect
Speaker 1: in year three? Yeah, when you say lightning rod and polarizing, man,
Speaker 1: is he ever like we we do literally three four
Speaker 1: hour shows on the radio about that, you know, and
Speaker 1: people who just they come at you from all different angles,
Speaker 1: and you there really is the entire spectrum. It's there's
Speaker 1: people who just really love him and there's people who
Speaker 1: really do not like him at all as far as
Speaker 1: an NFL quarterback. And you know that really started Travis
Speaker 1: before the draft. He was a polarizing draft prospect. I
Speaker 1: think there were people who were super high at him,
Speaker 1: and then there were people who super low and said
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a bust, he should never be a
Speaker 1: first round pick. And what I've found is basically, whatever
Speaker 1: your pre draft your position was on him, a lot
Speaker 1: of times you haven't moved off that right because you
Speaker 1: want to be proven right. Unfortunately, that's the way we
Speaker 1: live in society where if you really thought Josh Allen
Speaker 1: was horrible, then you're telling us all these different things
Speaker 1: about what makes him horrible. Still no matter what he
Speaker 1: does well, and if you love them, you're gonna keep
Speaker 1: pointing to all the things he does well all you
Speaker 1: no matter any any evidence that shows that he's not
Speaker 1: doing things well. From what I've seen is this, and
Speaker 1: what I'll tell you is this. Let's let's talk about
Speaker 1: the philosophical standpoint of whol Bills drafted. Josh Allen, as
Speaker 1: we know, is not the most accurate quarterback. I'll be
Speaker 1: the first to tell you that he's not. He doesn't
Speaker 1: he doesn't have a high completion percentage. But the Bills
Speaker 1: knew that. They went into this with eyes wide open
Speaker 1: drafting him. The Bills did not draft Josh Allen to
Speaker 1: be Drew Brees. They didn't draft a guy to be
Speaker 1: consistently six sixty six completion percentage. They love him to there,
Speaker 1: of course they want him to get there, but the
Speaker 1: fact is they drafted him knowing that they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to sacrifice a little bit of that to also have
Speaker 1: the big playability that pretty much nobody else can have.
Speaker 1: Maybe Patrick Mahomes, that's it. Josh. Josh Allen can do
Speaker 1: things that other people can't do, and if he has
Speaker 1: enough of those things, then you don't need him to
Speaker 1: be sent He needs to be at sixty or above
Speaker 1: every game. He even said that's his goal, and then
Speaker 1: with that comes the bigger plays and Josh from where
Speaker 1: he came. I had an NFL former NFL player tell
Speaker 1: me last year when I was doing the broadcast, I
Speaker 1: was out of the field. We were just chatting and
Speaker 1: he said to me, he goes you know, Sal He said,
Speaker 1: Josh was an infant when he came into this league.
Speaker 1: You know, you think about it, Travis, this is a
Speaker 1: kid that did not have many D one offers. He
Speaker 1: had to go to Juco route, he went to Wyoming,
Speaker 1: He didn't go to the n SEC school. In a
Speaker 1: SEC school, he didn't have this pressure of going to
Speaker 1: national championship games. He was always the best player in
Speaker 1: his team, but you know, they rode with him, and
Speaker 1: no matter how good Josh was, it was probably gonna
Speaker 1: be good enough anyway. In most situations. He comes into
Speaker 1: this league. Guys like Josh Rosen who went to u c.
Speaker 1: L A. Sam Donald to go to USC they were
Speaker 1: grooms as they were little kids to be NFL quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: Josh was not like that. But I think coming into
Speaker 1: the league as far back as he was from where
Speaker 1: they were, I think he's kind of caught up to
Speaker 1: them now. And that's because of the cultivation of the organization.
Speaker 1: They've done such a good job with him and as
Speaker 1: I go back to knowing who he is and what
Speaker 1: he needs, and now for year three, they bring in
Speaker 1: Stefan Diggs. They have a very good for top three
Speaker 1: wide receivers and Diggs, Brown and Beasley. The offensive line
Speaker 1: is one of only, like I believe, five teams in
Speaker 1: the entire league returning every single starter. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: great for the continuity. They have their same offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: coming back. So look, the expectation has to be hired
Speaker 1: for Josh. He has to take the next step. They
Speaker 1: they spent a lot of assets on him to move
Speaker 1: up in the draft. Josh Allen has to take that
Speaker 1: next step. And after this, they're gonna have to decide
Speaker 1: to fift your option next year. And if Josh isn't
Speaker 1: relied on now to win games, he can't be like
Speaker 1: a game manager anymore. He's gotta be relied on to
Speaker 1: win some football games. And if he can't take that step,
Speaker 1: then they're gonna have questions. But I think that's where
Speaker 1: the evolution has to be. Yeah, there's a ton to
Speaker 1: unpack that. I love that you talked about, Salad. I
Speaker 1: wrote some notes down here. First, I love your mention
Speaker 1: about your preconceived notions pre draft and post draft, how
Speaker 1: you feel about the player, and I agree that's unfortunately
Speaker 1: the world we do live in I think I wrote
Speaker 1: an article back in that draft when I wasn't with
Speaker 1: the Dolphins just yet, but I wrote an article about
Speaker 1: how if the Dolphins are gonna go after a quarterback
Speaker 1: in this draft, it would make sense to be Josh
Speaker 1: Allen because in the event that Ryan Tannehill doesn't pan
Speaker 1: out in year seven whatever, it was at that point
Speaker 1: that Josh Allen has the highest ceiling to boom out
Speaker 1: of all those guys, and you see a lot of
Speaker 1: that ability, you know, as he gets into deep into
Speaker 1: year two and now into year three up there in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: I covered the game with Buffalo at Miami back in teen.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the inaccuracy issues and he missed some some
Speaker 1: throws on the field that day, but he also had
Speaker 1: like a hundred and thirty five rushing yards too, and
Speaker 1: that counts just the same. So I completely agree that
Speaker 1: stuff gets a little bit overlooked at times. And then
Speaker 1: you mentioned the receiving corps as well. There sal you
Speaker 1: talk about Stefon Diggs, John Brown, Cole Beasley. One of
Speaker 1: my favorite podcast, one of my favorite pair of scouts
Speaker 1: is Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks on Move the Sticks
Speaker 1: and they talked about building a track team around Josh
Speaker 1: Allen because what can he do escape the pocket and
Speaker 1: make big plays that way? So I think it all
Speaker 1: makes sense from my team building standpoint, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: and that's where I want to go next, is that
Speaker 1: receiving corps. Because you did have Cole Beasley, who is
Speaker 1: the slot specialist. You've got John Brown first one thousand
Speaker 1: yards season since last year, and now you go out
Speaker 1: and get Stefon Diggs, who, for my money, he and
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen are right there is the US route runners
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I mean, what's the expectation with that group?
Speaker 1: Do you think this is possibly one of the best
Speaker 1: receiving cores in the NFL. I think it's certainly up there. Um, look,
Speaker 1: they're they're receiving corps that you could argue that are better.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that. I think there's some very
Speaker 1: good ones in this league. But the bills I've done,
Speaker 1: you know, some poking around on what other people think
Speaker 1: about the receiving cords, and generally I think I find
Speaker 1: them listed five, six, maybe seven in the league. And
Speaker 1: you gotta think from where they were a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, travels. I mean they were the bottom. They
Speaker 1: were the worst receiving corps in the league basically just
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. They moved that up the
Speaker 1: last year to the middle of the pack with Brown
Speaker 1: and Beasley. You know, Robert Foster was expected to make
Speaker 1: a bigger impact than because of what he did the
Speaker 1: second half of his rookie year. He didn't and now
Speaker 1: next year adding in Stefon Diggs. What he does is
Speaker 1: he really moves the chess pieces around. Right. John Brown
Speaker 1: isn't a true number one receiver. He's very good though.
Speaker 1: He had a really good year next year. But now
Speaker 1: John Brown becomes your number two receiver, which is really
Speaker 1: where he fits. And now he's gonna see a lot
Speaker 1: of single coverage as opposed to team saying, well, they
Speaker 1: only really have John Brown and that's the guy we
Speaker 1: have to shut down. So for this wide receiver corps,
Speaker 1: I think to go from where it was to where
Speaker 1: it is is a remarkable turnaround in the Bill's roster.
Speaker 1: And I do think they're probably one of the top five,
Speaker 1: six seven receivers receiving corps in the league. And you
Speaker 1: also mentioned the remade offensive line because Dion Dawkins last
Speaker 1: year was the only incumbent on the starting five up front.
Speaker 1: And I'm curious to get your take here because the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: again comparisons abound, have made a bunch of changes to
Speaker 1: the offensive line or a bunch of additions, both in
Speaker 1: free agency and in the draft, and I'm curious to
Speaker 1: know where did it work for them, like what we're
Speaker 1: expectations going into the year, and did it take a
Speaker 1: while for that group to jel or did it hit
Speaker 1: right away where you said, Okay, now we have an
Speaker 1: offensive line in front of Josh Allen. You know, um,
Speaker 1: last year they basically overhauled the entire offensive line. There
Speaker 1: was one returning starter and that was Dion Dawkins at
Speaker 1: left tackle. Every single other player was new and no
Speaker 1: one knew what to expect because other than Mitch More's
Speaker 1: they spent big money image More. He became the highest
Speaker 1: paid center in the league other than Mitch Morse. Everybody
Speaker 1: else was kind of on I'd say, like team friendly deals. Basically,
Speaker 1: they got a John Feliciano from the Raiders. They went
Speaker 1: out and got Quentin Spain who was cut from the Titans.
Speaker 1: That was kind of a surprise. Spencer Long was an
Speaker 1: early freed and signing even before freedency began because he
Speaker 1: was cut from the Jets and people said, ah, you know,
Speaker 1: he's really not gonna do much. But what they also
Speaker 1: did was all of these guys they got position versatility
Speaker 1: was very important for the Bills to get position versatile players.
Speaker 1: They drafted Cody Ford the second round tackler guard. What
Speaker 1: is he? They had Tie and Secki from the Redskins.
Speaker 1: He can play tackle, he can play guard, um John
Speaker 1: Feliciano can play center and guard. Spencer Long, center and guard.
Speaker 1: So they had a ton of flexibility and versatility. And
Speaker 1: the guy that really brought it all together Bobby Johnson,
Speaker 1: their offensive line coach. He did a heck of a
Speaker 1: job really getting this group to go and get together
Speaker 1: and really be uh really well jelled. I'd say now
Speaker 1: they are. They were last year a group that was
Speaker 1: was good but not great. I thought at times teams
Speaker 1: overwhelmed them with the blitz. They had some trouble on
Speaker 1: that that should hopefully fix itself a little bit this
Speaker 1: year with more communication going back and looking having the
Speaker 1: same continuity. They were a very good run blocking unit
Speaker 1: last year when they weren't facing those blitzes, they did
Speaker 1: very well, you know against the past. Cody Ford did
Speaker 1: struggle at tackle. There's been some talk whether or not
Speaker 1: he's gonna move to guard this year, but I'm not
Speaker 1: sure how they do that. They re signed Quentin Spain,
Speaker 1: they still have Fully Shiano, so Ford could still be
Speaker 1: the tackle. It's gonna be interesting. And then Dion Dawkins
Speaker 1: going to the last year of his contract. He's the
Speaker 1: left tackle. A lot of people believe, you know, he'll
Speaker 1: be in line for a nice extension. This offensive line
Speaker 1: is in very good shape simply because they not only
Speaker 1: have five guys coming back, they have their top six
Speaker 1: coming back, counting the two right tackles in Ford and Secky,
Speaker 1: and they have their offensive coordinator, and they have their head,
Speaker 1: their offensive line coach, Bobby Johnson. Yeah, it's pretty rare
Speaker 1: these days to have continuity on the offensive line in
Speaker 1: the league that really needs more offensive line help. We've
Speaker 1: got Sal Capaccio here of the Buffalo Bills, sideline beat
Speaker 1: reporter for the Buffalo Bills, i should say, and of
Speaker 1: w g R five fifty. You talk about the offensive line,
Speaker 1: the guys they blocked for there in the backfield, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to continue to get charged here as
Speaker 1: some sort of discrete Bills fan on the Dolphins podcast network.
Speaker 1: I just really appreciate the way they've built that roster.
Speaker 1: And two of my big draft crushes over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, where Devin Singletary in twenty nineteen and
Speaker 1: Zack Moss this year. How is that workload going to
Speaker 1: get split up between those two young running backs. It's
Speaker 1: a great question. I just wrote about this the other
Speaker 1: day asking the same thing. You know, when Devin Singletary
Speaker 1: was drafted in the third route and they had Lashaw McCoy,
Speaker 1: they had Frank Gore. McCoy winds up getting cut and
Speaker 1: everybody feels okay, now they say Singletary will have a
Speaker 1: chance to really, you know, make his mark and get carries. Now,
Speaker 1: he did start, actually start. He was the first, you know,
Speaker 1: running back on the field in a lot of games,
Speaker 1: but he did not carry the ball much the first
Speaker 1: half of the season. Really was about midway through the
Speaker 1: year he became the number one back, taking over for
Speaker 1: Frank Gore. We saw in limited touches how dynamic he
Speaker 1: was early in the year, and really, I mean he
Speaker 1: he wound up with a fantastic yards per carry average.
Speaker 1: He is dynamic, and he wound up taking becoming the
Speaker 1: lead back. Now, he did miss some games at the
Speaker 1: end of the year. There's about even or so when
Speaker 1: it came down to total running back carries. Now, no
Speaker 1: more Frank Gore. He's with the Jets. Obviously, I'm Slee
Speaker 1: McCoy is not there. It is Singletary, and they draft
Speaker 1: Zack Moss almost in the exact same spot they drafted
Speaker 1: Singletary just twelve spots later last year, and people are
Speaker 1: wondering the same thing. But with this truncated offseason, with
Speaker 1: not having those reps, with not having him at the
Speaker 1: facility with the coaches, I don't think they know what
Speaker 1: they can get necessarily in Zack Moss where his conditioning is.
Speaker 1: So I would expect going into the year Singletary is
Speaker 1: gonna be the clear number one and then Zack Moss
Speaker 1: is going to be brought along. But at some point
Speaker 1: Zack Moss is going to be on the field quite
Speaker 1: a bit because they do have different skill sets and
Speaker 1: they're they're dynamic in different ways. Singletary is a guy
Speaker 1: that's gonna just run around you, to be elusive, make
Speaker 1: a cut and a dime, uh and and get to
Speaker 1: the whole Zack Moss is gonna run you over. And
Speaker 1: he's got some speed to go along with that. So
Speaker 1: it's gonna be interesting to see how it is. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure exactly how whether they're going to divvy up
Speaker 1: the carries right there. But the thing that I think
Speaker 1: I love that what the Bills have finally done. And
Speaker 1: you know, it took a long time for this organization
Speaker 1: to do this. In Brandon Beans, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: credit um. They're going with the model of we're not
Speaker 1: gonna pay running backs, We're gonna go with young, cheap
Speaker 1: running backs, and we're gonna be able to pay the
Speaker 1: rest of our roster. They have Devin Singletary and Zack
Speaker 1: Moss for the next three years combined for about five
Speaker 1: million dollars total over the course of those three years,
Speaker 1: and and and scumulatively. Right. Yeah, that's that's crazy roster
Speaker 1: management there. I think I saw Joe Mario tweet that
Speaker 1: just the other day on his Twitter timeline there. He's
Speaker 1: the host of the Lockdown Bills podcast, And you talk
Speaker 1: about Zack mosson that lunch pale style running he does
Speaker 1: He just to me was always a Kyle winning Hand
Speaker 1: type of player there in Utah, and I think Kyle
Speaker 1: winning hand players are Sean McDermott type of players for
Speaker 1: that same mentality. And speaking of Shirt Sean McDermott, his
Speaker 1: side of the ball on defense really something of a
Speaker 1: recreation of all those successful Panthers defense He's defenses he
Speaker 1: ran back in the day, and we saw them add
Speaker 1: Mario Addison this year they have Starlettula. They're also making
Speaker 1: the trek up north with McDermott. Let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: start there on the defensive line. Shack Lawson gone now
Speaker 1: here in Miami, but I mentioned Addison coming in. Jerry
Speaker 1: Hughes is still there at Oliver a complete monster and
Speaker 1: shop wrecker. Who is who is the star of this group?
Speaker 1: And if there was one putten show question mark, where
Speaker 1: it might be like or where where there it might
Speaker 1: be a softball on this defensive line? Where would that be?
Speaker 1: And you can also say there isn't one, because that
Speaker 1: too is a totally acceptable answer. Well, look, um, I
Speaker 1: think that the star should be at Oliver, but he
Speaker 1: might be a question mark too, simply because you know
Speaker 1: he had questionable decision making in the off season. He
Speaker 1: had the arrest. Obviously, he's been a guy that, you know,
Speaker 1: go back to the predraft process. There are a couple
Speaker 1: of questions that came up because you know, what happened
Speaker 1: in Houston. Nothing big. I think people made a little
Speaker 1: too big deal about the code incident on the sidelines
Speaker 1: and things like things like that, But it's not a
Speaker 1: it's not a not big deal. When you get arrested,
Speaker 1: that is a big deal, and you know, the Bills
Speaker 1: have to deal with that. Now. I don't know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen with that. He may face league discipline, he
Speaker 1: may not, and even if he does, it might not
Speaker 1: be till next year. But he should be the guy.
Speaker 1: He should be the star. Last year, it took him
Speaker 1: a while and to kind of understand I think what
Speaker 1: they were asking of him. And he even said to
Speaker 1: us like he's used to be in the best player
Speaker 1: and he he went out there and thought he was
Speaker 1: gonna show up in the NFL and do that, and
Speaker 1: it took him a while to understand what his role
Speaker 1: is and how to fit in the defense. So he
Speaker 1: should be that guy. You know, if if there was
Speaker 1: a question about this defensive line. I think that it's
Speaker 1: a question that was from last year, but they're hoping
Speaker 1: to solve it this year, and that is stopping the
Speaker 1: run up the middle. Now. Starlatula A he is a
Speaker 1: space eater. He's supposed to be there to stop the run,
Speaker 1: but Bills fans he's very polarizing with them because he
Speaker 1: doesn't put up numbers, but yet he's kind of he
Speaker 1: eats up some blockers, he allows other people to kind
Speaker 1: of do their thing. And the Bills do have a
Speaker 1: penetrating tackle at Oliver who's undersized. Jordan Phillips was more
Speaker 1: of a penetrating tackle. He's gone. Now they signed Quentin Jefferson,
Speaker 1: a really nice signing I think for this team, who
Speaker 1: could play inside and outside. But if there is a
Speaker 1: question mark, I think it's can they get better at
Speaker 1: stopping the run up the middle with their defensive tackle
Speaker 1: group and moving back into the run defense in the
Speaker 1: linebacker position. I think that Matt Mlano really is one
Speaker 1: of the most underrated players in all of football. And
Speaker 1: everyone knows about Tremaine Edmunds, a high draftic a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. And I'd like to get your take
Speaker 1: on the entire unit But I'm also curious the difference
Speaker 1: in year one and year two with Tremaine because the
Speaker 1: counting stats, which you know, require context, those saw d
Speaker 1: off off last season, but he did go to the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl, which also requires context. How would you differentiate
Speaker 1: those two years for Tremayne Edmonds. I think when you
Speaker 1: talk about a year one to year two jump for
Speaker 1: almost any player, it almost has to be a different
Speaker 1: way you talk about it for Tremaine Edmonds for one reason,
Speaker 1: he is so young. It's incredible. Tremayne Edmonds started in
Speaker 1: the NFL at middle linebacker at nineteen years old. Travis,
Speaker 1: think about that. He was nineteen when he started, and
Speaker 1: I'm sorry he was drafted when he was nineteen. He
Speaker 1: started at twenty, but he had just turned twenty years old.
Speaker 1: He didn't even turn twenty one to be able to
Speaker 1: drink a beer until his first offseason after being a
Speaker 1: rookie in the league. So he goes from twenty years
Speaker 1: old to twenty one. He was such a young kid
Speaker 1: that his year one to year two growth. This year
Speaker 1: one to year two jump, it was tremendous, but we
Speaker 1: really didn't see it until halfway through the year. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was like a light came out. I remember the
Speaker 1: game where it happened. It was in Cleveland, it was
Speaker 1: about midway through the year. The Bills lost the game,
Speaker 1: but Tremayne just started playing faster and he was just
Speaker 1: all over the field. He had a safety sack, Baker
Speaker 1: made field in the end zone. And I've had I've
Speaker 1: had discussions with Leslie Fraser, the defensive cordin about this,
Speaker 1: and I said, you know, you know, what was it
Speaker 1: about Tremaine and and he said the same thing. And
Speaker 1: it's it's easy to say. There's no secret. He got older,
Speaker 1: he saw more football, He started to think quicker, he
Speaker 1: started to recognize quicker. He started to get to get
Speaker 1: to places faster, understanding angles and things like that. You know,
Speaker 1: he got big. He's a super big guy, but he
Speaker 1: was getting eat up a little bit by a bigger
Speaker 1: offensive lineman who were more experienced this first year. That
Speaker 1: didn't happen. By the end of last year, Tremaine Edmonds
Speaker 1: was really starting to show up, which is why why
Speaker 1: he got that Pro Bowl. Not so the numbers weren't
Speaker 1: going to be there because I think at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year he was still kind of coming along.
Speaker 1: Boy did that light bulb turn on for Tremaine last year,
Speaker 1: and now here is he's gonna be. He's twenty two
Speaker 1: years old and he's already started thirty two NFL games.
Speaker 1: That's probably the craziest that you've got in the entire
Speaker 1: football team that you go back to when I was nineteen,
Speaker 1: probably cutting classes in junior college or something like that,
Speaker 1: doing something stupid. So very impressive young man you've got
Speaker 1: there up in Buffalo, and we saved the best for
Speaker 1: the last year with the secondary. The strength of the team.
Speaker 1: For my money, with all pro Tray white out, there
Speaker 1: probably the best safety tannem in football, if not close
Speaker 1: to it, with Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde. And I'm
Speaker 1: curious with those three first, there's gotta be some kind
Speaker 1: of secret sauce sell, some kind of secret drill they
Speaker 1: do because they have such absurd ball production when it
Speaker 1: comes to interceptions and pass breakups among those three. What
Speaker 1: do they doing up there to get their hands on
Speaker 1: so many footballs? Well, it's a couple of things. They
Speaker 1: do a lot of ball drills. But you know what,
Speaker 1: I give credit to them. They're just really smart guys.
Speaker 1: They put themselves in good positions and look, Leslie Frasier
Speaker 1: is a great defensive coach and Sean McDermott is a
Speaker 1: great defensive coach, and you put those two together. They
Speaker 1: put those guys in the right position and they allow
Speaker 1: them to do what they do best. Leslie Fraser's incredible.
Speaker 1: People might not know, maybe especially I think sometimes, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm older than I think sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: and um, I have to remind people. Leslie Fraser played
Speaker 1: for the n Bears, the Super Bowl champion eighty five
Speaker 1: Bears that almost went undefeated. He led the Bears and
Speaker 1: interceptions either that year or the year after. Like Leslie
Speaker 1: Frasier can ball. He knows how to do that. And
Speaker 1: he's been in this league as a coach for thirty
Speaker 1: something years. He's been a head coach, a defensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: He's been around great football players. He's a great communicator.
Speaker 1: He knows how to get these guys a position. And then,
Speaker 1: of course Sean McDermott what he did in Carolina. We
Speaker 1: saw the defenses that he had, and then you add
Speaker 1: in these guys and how smart they are. I think
Speaker 1: one of the things the Bills really did well was
Speaker 1: they got two safeties who don't need to play free
Speaker 1: or strong, or left or right. Yeah, they may stay
Speaker 1: on one side of the field most of the game,
Speaker 1: but Man Jordan player Michael Hide, they both can do
Speaker 1: so much that you never know where the other is
Speaker 1: coming from or where he's going to be. They can
Speaker 1: disguise coverages so much. And of course Tebus White, he's
Speaker 1: just a tremendous football player. He works as butt off
Speaker 1: Ryan Clark of ESPN, former L s U Tiger with him.
Speaker 1: They're great friends. They work really hard together. In fact,
Speaker 1: Ryan Clark watches everyone of trades games and Jamal Adams game,
Speaker 1: another L s U guy, and he literally like sends
Speaker 1: them scouting reports on what they did well and not
Speaker 1: well during the game that he saw on film. And
Speaker 1: they go back and they work on things and trade
Speaker 1: as a lot of ball skills. Um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: a tremendous player. The question is opposite Trey White this year,
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. Levi Wallace is a really nice young player,
Speaker 1: but he took a bit of a step back last
Speaker 1: year after a good rookie season. So they went out
Speaker 1: and they signed Josh Norman, and who knows what you're
Speaker 1: gonna get from Josh Norman because he wasn't that good
Speaker 1: in Washington, but man, he was really good in show
Speaker 1: McDermott scheme in Carolina obviously, and if he can get
Speaker 1: even even close to anything like that, then the bill
Speaker 1: is gonna have another corner opposite Trey White who can
Speaker 1: really reak havoc for this team. Yeah, that was gonna
Speaker 1: be My next question for you was what's gonna happen
Speaker 1: on the other side outside of Trey White there? Because
Speaker 1: the first Dolphins Bills game last year, they pretty much
Speaker 1: just threw the ball to whoever Trey White was not covering,
Speaker 1: and it was a lot of Levi Wallace in that game.
Speaker 1: You've got to Ron Johnson, like you mentioned, inside E J. Gaines,
Speaker 1: Dane Jackson, good depth there. But we got that answer,
Speaker 1: that question answered for us. Here one more question about
Speaker 1: the Bills, and I want to ask you a Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick question. The Buffalo Bills will be a playoff team
Speaker 1: if fill in the blank they don't screw it up.
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, I mean, they have everything they need
Speaker 1: to be a playoff team. The Bills are in a
Speaker 1: position here to take the a f C East over
Speaker 1: this year at least for one year and we'll see
Speaker 1: where it goes. That's why they're the betting line favorites
Speaker 1: right now in Vegas. They just need to not screw
Speaker 1: it up. They have everything in place, uh to to
Speaker 1: win this division and make the playoffs. And even if
Speaker 1: they were to win the division, especially with the expanded
Speaker 1: playoffs this year in three wild cards instead of two,
Speaker 1: it would be an incredible disappointment for this team not
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs after winning ten games last year,
Speaker 1: going to the playoffs, in returning twenty of twenty two
Speaker 1: starters and basically every single coach on the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: I think they were top top three or four in
Speaker 1: the continuity ran They might have a number one actually
Speaker 1: in the continuity rankings on ESPN dot com the snaps
Speaker 1: returning article they put out a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: But he is Sala Capaccio, Buffalo Bills dot Com, w
Speaker 1: g R five fifty at Sal Sports on Twitter. Sal
Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun, man. Maybe when we're
Speaker 1: up your way in Fregid January, you can show me
Speaker 1: the famed I want to say it's as a mulberries Ryan.
Speaker 1: It's Patrick mentioned it as spot is that the spot
Speaker 1: you go to there in town. Yeah, Mulberry's is great.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of great ones up here. We have
Speaker 1: great restaurants here in Buffalo. And um, you know, don't
Speaker 1: don't don't let the cold scaria or foolia. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a I've lived in Florida, I'm from Buffalo. I
Speaker 1: lived in the Sunshine State for sixteen years. I was
Speaker 1: on the other coast. I was in the West Coast.
Speaker 1: I moved back to sunny Buffalo, New York because I
Speaker 1: love it here so much. And you know, just outside
Speaker 1: right now we're doing this, we're talking and it's like
Speaker 1: eighty two degrees. My son's playing lacrosse outside right now
Speaker 1: with his his coaches who came over to teach him.
Speaker 1: So it's great. It's it's a great place to live.
Speaker 1: And even in December and January, the weather is not
Speaker 1: as bad as you think sometimes in the fok the
Speaker 1: food is great. And any time you're up here, let
Speaker 1: me know and I'll make sure that you see to that.
Speaker 1: We are definitely gonna do that. So I appreciate your
Speaker 1: time so much today and go get back to your
Speaker 1: lacrosse practice and be well. My friend, all right man,
Speaker 1: thank you, and away he goes another really good in
Speaker 1: depth look at one of the a f C East
Speaker 1: divisional rivals. We're going to continue to know the enemy
Speaker 1: series as we go along here in the summer and
Speaker 1: get to know each of the dolphins thirteen opponents of course, Patriots, Wills,
Speaker 1: and Jets all on the schedule twice. We've got Jacksonville, Seattle,
Speaker 1: San Francisco, and Denver coming up next. We'll get to
Speaker 1: those on future editions of the Drivetime podcast and we'll
Speaker 1: have written in depth breakdowns of each of Miami's opponents
Speaker 1: up on Miami Dolphins dot com. As for today show,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be my time. We've got jachem grant schedule
Speaker 1: for tomorrow's podcast as well as possibly some media availability,
Speaker 1: and we'll have Fins flashback on Friday. Check out all
Speaker 1: that stuff here on the Miami Dolphins podcast Network. You
Speaker 1: all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify,
Speaker 1: tuned in, wherever you get your podcast from. Go ahead
Speaker 1: and leave us a rating, leave us a review. Follow
Speaker 1: me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL, follow the Dolphins at
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins, and of course the fish Tank and the
Speaker 1: Audible podcast, and Miami Dolphins dot Com Until next time
Speaker 1: fins Up