Sal Capaccio | Buffalo Bills Sideline Reporter

Sal Cappaccio, we're always excited to have him and this time joining us from the Pacific time zone. Sal, when Josh Allen says it's just another game, do you believe him? I think he tries his hardest to make it just another game. I believe that, but I also think he he knows it's not just another game, right? It's the game. It's the opening of the NFL season. It's not going to make or break the season, but it's definitely not treated like, you know, a Sunday in early November at the Jets. Let's just say it that way. Yes, let's say it that way. Good point. What's been like so far in LA with Bill's Mafia and the build-up to the kickoff?

I mean, you know, you know what it is, Amy. It's crazy with this fan base, right? I mean, they travel so well.

They always do it. There's transplants everywhere and, you know, this is the destination city and game for a lot of people. It's either LA or Miami. I think this year that most of the road cities for this schedule this year are in the Northeast. You know, it's going to places, you know, like Baltimore or Cincinnati or Chicago, and those are fine cities, but, you know, Bill's Mafia getting a chance to go out to LA or down to Miami, that's like, okay, let's do that.

So make LA the first game of the year. Give people a chance to kind of rev that up and think about it, what it's like to go out to SoFi, first time maybe seeing that stadium for so many people, including myself. There's a lot of people out here, lots and lots of Bills fans, and we're estimating, my personal estimation is probably over 10,000 Bills fans in the stadium Thursday night.

Yeah, I think it's going to be pretty crazy. There were a lot of people on my flight. I'll tell you this, like, I didn't even fly out. I normally fly out. I chartered with the team because I'm the radio sideline reporter.

I didn't do that on this trip. I came out a day early because my family came out. My wife and my son are here. They're going to the game. You know, people are making a week out of it like we are, and that's what they're doing. And, you know, there's a big Bills Mafia event down in Hermosa Beach tonight. I was a part of that, raising some money, some charity stuff, and just seeing some people doing some radio work, and it's just insane. It was just absolutely incredible tonight.

Why? Why is the excitement so high, Sal? Well, this is the, relates to the most anticipated season in a quarter century, 25 years, since this team went to a Super Bowl in the early 90s, 90 through 93. You know, it's been a long, long time, and we know that they came very close last year to beating the Chiefs and then hosting the AC Championship game. Many of us, including me, believe if they do that, they probably get to the Super Bowl. No disrespect to the Bengals who did win in Kansas City. I understand that, but people think that, you know, the Bills would have been that team representing the AFC if that was the case. The expectation is high.

You have the pull-up. You have the play on the blank, and look at our fill on the blank here in Buffalo is if this team doesn't, if it's the, what the bar is is winning the Super Bowl. If they don't win a Lombardi, it is not a successful season in a lot of ways.

Now, you know, you could look bad. There's a lot of factors, right? Injuries, things like that, but this is it, Amy. Like, this is the best roster in the NFL, I believe, and many people do, with maybe the best quarterback, if not certainly close to it, in the NFL. They have a terrific coaching staff, a terrific front office. They sign a guy that's going to walk into the Hall of Fame five years after his career retires to close out games and get to the quarterback, and you don't make a move like that unless you're doing it to get over the hump to finally win a Lombardi and bring a championship home, and that's what this is all about this year for this team. Would you say that same standard applied before 2020 kicked off and then 2021, or is this really the culmination of what they've done over the past several seasons?

No, it definitely wasn't before 2020. That was like, people thought that that could be a really good team, and, you know, hey, let's, you're playing with house money, right? I mean, there's a team that just broke in the playoffs throughout a couple years before that, and for them to get to the AFC Championship game in 2020 was really, it was remarkable. It was awesome, and, you know, they were one of the best teams in the AFC, but it was also a season.

I remember the pandemic. There weren't fans in the stands. It felt different, you know, then everybody said, okay, okay, they go to 2021, and, you know, everybody knew that they could get there, and we might take a break here or a break there, and it was still Kansas City the team to beat, but I think they all, once they got to Kansas City and they lost the way they lost, was viewed as a disappointment, right? 13 seconds, you should have closed the game out, but going into the season, it was not the same as it is the way it is now. Now, it's like, you've gotten there. You've reached the AFC Championship game, and 13 seconds before an AFC Championship game, like, there's no excuse now. Like, you've been there twice.

You've got to get over the hump, and then you went and got Von Miller and Josh Hill in his fifth year. You know, this is it. There's no more taking a step back. There's no more falling short.

Now, it's finally getting over the hump and doing it. We're spending a few minutes with Bill's sideline reporter, Sal Capaccio, the Bill's Radio Network from LA, from the LA area, where it is party time for Bill's fans. He says potentially 10,000 of Bill's Mafia will be in the stadium come Thursday night for kickoff against the Rams.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm glad that you brought up Von Miller. There may not be a bigger Von Miller fan in the country than me. Unabashedly a fan of Von Miller. We saw what he did when he joined the Rams, and so that's an interesting dynamic. What has he brought to the table this far in terms of not just personality and leadership, but also his skills?

Yeah, look, I mean, it's the whole package, right? You're talking about a guy that on the field is obviously going to walk into camp in five years after he retires. You know, he's a guy that can still play at a really high level. Everybody talks about the age and 33, and he got him for six years.

Well, look, I did a little research after the age of 33. After the age of 33, Bruce Smith still had 79 sacks in his career. Right. Reggie White still had over 60 sacks. I think Julius Pepper's at over 50.

Like, if you're a really good player at that position, you can play a long, long time, well into your 30s, and you can play at a high level. And Peyton Manning once called Von Miller the greatest athlete he's ever played with, so that's going to take care of itself. I'm not worried about the, you know, and Bill's fans shouldn't be worried.

Nobody should be thinking about the contract and what his age is. Like, he's going to play, and he's still going to be really, really good. The Bills are going to find a way to, you know, incorporate him in their defense, what they actually generally like to do, rotate defensive linemen. There's no way they can keep them off the field for 35% of the plays, because that's what they normally do. If you play 65%, that's a lot with a Bills defense. They're not going to do that. They're going to play them a little bit more, but they're also going to not play them 90 to 95%, you know?

So they're going to try and have to figure that mix out. But I think more than anything, it is that personality, it's that leadership, it's that cachet he brings. Here's a guy that, he's won two Super Bowls, he's been a Super Bowl MVP. He outright says, I want to be the first player to ever win three Super Bowls with three different franchises. Amazing.

Now look, Matt Millen did that, but he wasn't active for, I think, his last one when he played with Washington in the 90s. But he knows, and Von, you know what I love about Von? You love Von.

I do. But I love him too, and I never got to know him until this year. But one of the reasons I love him is he's a student of the game. He knows his place. He'll tell you about Bruce Smith and Reggie White.

He'll tell you about, you know, what's going on before him. He knows his legacy and what it means. And he cares a lot about that. And he thinks, and to him, part of that legacy, a big part is what he does for the younger people that come after him.

It's not what he does. And for him to pull along to pull along Greg Russo and AJ Epenessa and Boogie Basham and what he can do and to elevate the rest of the guys around him, it truly does mean a ton to him. And that's why he's so respected in that locker room for the way he's fit in to be a mentor and a leader and put that selfishness and that ego aside that a lot of times guys might have. We know there are a bazillion strengths we could list for the Bills roster and it may be one of the strongest rosters in the NFL, certainly in the AFC. What are a couple weaknesses, maybe an Achilles heel for this team to start out? Well, it could be their new offensive coordinator, right? And I don't mean that Ken Dorsey is going to be a bad offensive coordinator, but we don't know. Like he's new and Josh has never had a new offensive coordinator. Josh Allen has gone four years with Brian Dable and Ken Dorsey was his quarterback's coach for the last three years. Well, now you're elevating Ken Dorsey and look Thursday night is going to be the first time he's going to ever call plays in an NFL game, a real NFL game, not preseason. And what does that look like? What happens when he only has 30 seconds to make an adjustment, to make a call, to get the play in and out?

And how does that dynamic work? And the whole quarterback room has turned over. You have Brian Dable and assistant quarterbacks coach Shay Tierney and Davis Webb and Mitch Trubisky all gone now.

Now you have Ken Dorsey and Joe Brady and Case Keenum and Matt Barkley. And that's a great room in itself, we think, and everybody talks well about it, but it's a change. So I think that could be something that if it's not working early in the season, maybe that's why, maybe it's an adjustment that, hey, Josh has never had to make this adjustment.

Now he has. And then the other one obviously is Tredavious White's injury towards ACL and thanks on Thanksgiving night. And there's been a really good battle at that spot for his, um, his starting spot. Now Dane Jackson will start at one corner spot. He's a third year player. He's not super experienced, but the bills really like him. He filled in well and Tredavious went out last year and I think he'll be fine, but opposite him, it's first round pick Kyre Elam and sixth round pick Christian Benford of Villanova. Who's at a fantastic camp and preseason, but you think, okay, well, shouldn't the first round pick win that job.

And I would think you would think that would be the case, but that's not been the case. It's not because he loves them bad necessarily, but even thinking about two rookies who now have to go against Alan Robinson and Cooper cup and a Tyree kill a few weeks from now. And what does that look like as the season goes on? Could that spot be somewhere where teams could take advantage of that? So there are a few, I mean, the roster may be loaded, but just every now and then you could see where there could be a couple of weaknesses. Sal Cappaccio is with us from LA getting set for kickoff on Thursday night against the Rams will be part of Bill's radio WGR 550 sports radio in Buffalo.

But man, that fan base is passionate and really is Western New York. As I know from my first commercial job that I had in Rochester, New York, and I was told, I think I've shared the story with you before, but I was told no matter what else you screw up on Amy, do not screw up on Bill's radio because I was running the board for Bill's games on Sundays. Do not screw up on that. Anything else we can overlook, but do not mess up Bill's radio or the people get very upset. I will tell you, Amy, don't worry because I, this is my ninth year as the Bill's radio network sideline reporter.

I screw up on Bill's radio all the time. All right, so tell me this. How do the Bills combat what they're going to see in Aaron Donald? Because depending upon who you talk to, of course, there can be better defensive players, but we know he is a wrecking ball and it's got so much experience, not to mention the confidence that comes with a Super Bowl ring. Well, you know, I think X's and O's, I can't give you the secret potion on how to combat it because there is none, right? I mean, X's and O's, if there was one, he wouldn't be Aaron Donald, who everybody recognizes as maybe the best player in the entire NFL, regardless of position, which is insane to say for an offensive tackle, but that's how good he is.

But let me just throw this out there for people to think about. The Bill's offensive line coach is Aaron Cromer. Aaron Cromer was the LA Rams offensive line coach for what, two, three years, just a couple of years ago. He went against Aaron Donald almost every single day in practice. They also had Von Miller on their defense. Von Miller lined up next to Aaron Donald for half the season last year. They at least have some guys in the building who may have a little insight into maybe some things that could challenge Aaron Donald a little bit more. I'm not saying that to beat them, like that's asking too much, but hey, when you have the offensive line coach of Aaron Cromer, who went against them every day and he might've seen them and said, look, there's some things that if you do, maybe we can have a little more success, but you can't do this. You can't do that.

He's going to, he's going to wreck that. You have Von Miller who you could say, you could tap into him and say, what gave you guys some trouble while you were there? What did teams do against you? Where you said, you know what, those are the things that we struggled a little bit against.

I think those are the kinds of things you have to lean on when it comes to him. But I mean, he's, he's so fantastic. It builds up a very good center in Mitch Morse. Uh, Ryan Bates is one guard.

And then who's on the other side, Roger Staffold. Roger Staffold is a guard who played for the LA Rams. So they have a little bit of, I think, Intel and insight into this Rams team simply from the personnel and the coaches that are around.

But obviously you still got to go out and execute. The guy is fantastic and he can be a game wrecker. Two years ago, the Rams went to the bills and bills were up 25 points. The Rams came back and took the lead. If the bills didn't score in the end, it would have been, I believe the worst comeback loss that those ever had.

Like the biggest lonely they ever had in that game. The reason the Rams came back almost strictly because of Aaron Donald on defense, he completely dominated the football game in the second half. Aaron Cromer was on the team, on the Rams for that game. And I would think that Sean McDermott and other coaches would say, what did you guys do in that second half to help you against us and maybe use that to a little bit of their advantage. Before I let you go, Sal, who would you say are the top teams that will push the bills in the AFC? It's a stacked conference. So where do you see the top competition for Buffalo? Well, I'm taking the bills to win the conference, but I'm picking them to beat the Chargers in the AFC Championship. I like the Chargers as West Division champs. I think Justin Herbert could win the MVP even over Josh because I think that Josh might not have to put up the same numbers that Justin Herbert might playing in that division where Josh maybe can, you know, let the defense kind of do their thing a little bit more often.

But I love Justin Herbert. I love what the Chargers have. I think that's a huge competitor. No way I can rule out the Chiefs.

I mean, I was on the field with 13 seconds. I know exactly what that can be like. You can't rule them out. Cincinnati is, of course, the defending AFC champion. I also like the Baltimore Ravens. You know, they're getting healthy, getting guys back. They have a dynamic quarterback, of course.

And Lamar Jackson, I love John Harbaugh, what they do in Baltimore, the front office, the coaching staff. I think they could be a team to be reckoned with. So I think those are probably the top teams to deal with. But man, it is a loaded, loaded conference. And, you know, it's going to be a gauntlet.

It's going to be hard to get through it. There's no doubt about that. I think one thing that does help the bills, though, I'll say, is the West is going to beat itself up, right? They're all going to play each other six times, right? The bills only have one game against the West. That's against the Kansas City Chiefs. So that might give them a little track to get that number one seed, maybe because everybody else is giving each other losses while they're not, while they're playing Miami and New England and the Jets. And maybe that helps them get that extra win or two that the others don't have. And then those teams have to come to Buffalo in the playoffs, which could be huge.

Sidestepping the West. That is a big deal. Great point by Sal Capaccio. Are you excited? Super excited, Amy. I've never been to SoFi Stadium. It's my first time. I've been to almost every NFL stadium.

It's one I haven't been to. So I'm super excited to see what that's like, be down in that field. Super excited to be a part of the pageantry, really. I've been looking forward to this. I work in the NFL, right? I'm on the sidelines for NFL games every Sunday. And I'm living a dream here being able to do that.

But to be a part of that pageantry, what's that like? That's going to be super cool. And I got to be honest, I'm looking forward to Ozzy Osbourne at halftime. I'm sorry. I grew up with Ozzy. So I'm going to be listening and watching that. Nice.