Sal Capaccio | Buffalo Bills Sideline Reporter

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Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. Our friend Sal Cappaccio, who is just back in Western New York after traveling home from, well, MetLife and from the New York City area. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Sal, I'm not even sure where to start exactly, but overall, what's your reaction to the incredibly dramatic night between the Jets and the Bills? Always good to join you, Amy.

Thanks for having me on. Of course. I mean, the Bills just gave this one away, right? I mean, they gave this one away, specifically Josh Allen with his turnovers, throwing the ball three times, three interceptions. They gave away drive after drive. They didn't convert points when they had opportunities, and then they gave the Jets extra possessions. And you can't do that, especially with a really good defense that can keep your team in the game.

And all it takes to play here or play there, they made them and give them credit. And Garrett Wilson made a fantastic catch, obviously, for a touchdown. The Bills had a couple long runs go against them, one over an 80-yard run by Breece Hall that set them up for field goal earlier in the game. But more than anything, I think the Bills just basically gave this one away.

Why is that, Sal? What happened to the offense? Well, you know, I think, you know, first of all, you're playing a really great defense, obviously, right? And I thought at times the offense actually did some really nice things. They were trying, when they stayed on schedule on first down especially, it seemed like things were going well, but they didn't do that enough. They didn't get, and Sean McDermott mentioned this in the Boesky and Press Conference, they didn't stay on schedule on first down enough. When you get behind the chains on second down against that team on third down, it makes it really difficult. And they did that a few times, but, you know, even when they were moving, I mean, Amy, they scored on drives of 11 in nine plays. Those are nice drives, but they gave the ball away and really asked why. It's because Josh Allen made four decisions.

That's what it came down to. And, you know, we've said this since Josh has been a rookie. Josh Allen can be his own worst enemy. We're going to live here, and I've been saying this for years and it's true tonight, and it's going to be true a year from now at some point and five years from now at some point, which is that if you're going to take all of the great things that go along with Josh Allen, you're going to have to live with some of those plays. Unfortunately, tonight there were too many of them. And honestly, I think most of those fans are fine with living with some of those plays, but you can't live with three of them in one night. You can't live with four turnovers in one night against the New York Jets at home on Monday night football week one.

Knowing what you know, Josh, from your time covering the Bills, how will he respond? Josh will not let it deter him from trying to make plays, but he'll this week talk a lot about and work on being smarter and not making those decisions. For example, the second interception, the first one was third down.

He launched it. It's just as good as a punt. I'm not saying it's an excuse for it, but that happens and he tried to make a play on third down. Second one was second down, and he probably could have ran for a first down pretty easily. And he wanted to make a play, and I think that what Robert Allen and his defense did, and give them credit, and this happened last year too, they really forced Josh to take everything underneath, everything underneath. At some point, Josh is going to say, I want to make a play, and he tries to make a play, and that's what he did in this one. You know, and Josh actually has 70 percent completion percentage tonight.

It's wild. He was 29 of 41, and out of the 12 in completions, three went to the other team. So, I mean, he was actually very efficient tonight, but when he tried to bite off more than he could chew, you know, he threw the ball into harm's way because he was trying too hard to make a play. You also got sacked five times, and then there were another nine quarterback hits logged. What did you see with the offensive line and the protection around him?

Yeah, too much of that. Too many times, Josh was having to bail or having to get rid of the ball early, and the game plan was to get rid of the ball early to keep them off balance because they do have a nice pass rush, and they do, they can play really nice zone defense, and then they can bring pressure from different spots, and that's what happened, but I thought Spencer Brown was pretty inconsistent on the right side. I thought John Franklin Myers did a good job with him and Bryce Huff as well, and, you know, they got into Josh a few times, so yeah, there was too much pressure there, no doubt, but look, I think that, you know, that goes with playing a really good team, and that's going to happen, and players always say, you know, this player say the other team gets paid too, right? Those are good players on the other side of the field, and I thought the Bills did some nice things at times, but that was too much pressure, and then Josh, you know, scrambled a couple of times. He made a couple of poor throws, and then the third interception was one. He had one-on-one.

He thought he had one-on-one, Gabe Davis, I think he did, and, you know, a third and two, and he tried to throw maybe a, what, 12, 13-yard play, maybe it was a little less than that, but, you know, that's a situation where, you know, maybe you just need the two yards to fight for another day, but he saw one-on-one coverage, and he tried to take advantage of it. Sal Cappaccio is just back in western New York, and if I remember correctly, you have a radio show coming up in just over seven hours? You know, believe it or not, once the season hits, I'm off on Tuesday for my show because it's the team's day off, but I do have a radio hit coming up at probably seven o'clock or eight o'clock on WGRF. Oh, nice. Well, we appreciate it.

We won't keep you too much longer. He's with us after he covered, well, not covered, but after he was on the sidelines for Bill's radio network at MetLife Stadium a few hours ago. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Well, because you were there on the field and you can hear and see everything that's going on, what happened inside the stadium? What happened on the sidelines when Aaron Rodgers left the game? Well, first let me say, it's just awful for the game of football.

I don't care what team you root for. You know, losing Aaron Rodgers this quickly into a season, any time, really, just, really just stinks. You know, and for to be there, for all the hype of this game, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen, it was just so incredible, the environment, the emotion, 9-11 in New York City, the national anthem. It was so amazing. And the game started off, you know, pretty interesting with the Bills.

The Bills did a great job on Aaron Rodgers' first three dropbacks. He was just, he couldn't do anything. And then obviously the fact happened. And when it happened, I'll tell you that the crowd just kind of didn't know.

We all didn't know. Because he got up, he tried to walk, maybe twisted his ankle or something. And nobody could really tell what happened. I think it was more of a, okay, he's going to go get it checked and he'll probably be back, right? I mean, that's what usually happens. And then as it went on, we saw him getting loaded into the cart and then we got word that it was an ankle, he was questionable.

And then I started reading on Twitter about, you know, the people in the Twitter doctors, if you will, saying that it possibly could be the Achilles. And that's when, you know, you could feel, and I'll tell you, it got, the second drive for the Bills was not nearly as loud. And that was a lot to do with because people probably were just so deflated over what happened to Aaron Rodgers in the stadium. Yeah, I agree with you. Whether you love him or hate him, and he could be a lightning rod, he is really good for football.

And now just shy of 40 years old, you have to wonder, I mean, he did indicate that he wanted to play for a couple more years, but wonder how this might change the end of his career. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So, Sal, you've seen a lot on the football field.

This is how you immerse yourself this time of the year. But a walk-off punt return for a touchdown? Oh, my goodness.

First time I've ever seen that one. You know, I was thinking back, I grew up, you know, watching the Buffalo Bills a long time. You go back to, believe it or not, 2002, I think it was, in Buffalo, opening game, Bills, Jets, and Leon Washington, I think it was, returned an opening kickoff in overtime for a touchdown to beat the Bills back then. So that happened. I wasn't on the field for that. But, you know, I have seen a lot. And, you know, I was on the field for 13 seconds against Kansas City in that game going back and forth in Haymakers, right?

And I've seen a lot of things. But to end a football game this way, to see this, this is a pretty heartbreaking loss and obviously a pretty incredible, dramatic win for the other side. And, you know, the crowd was pretty wild at the end of that game. So, look, you know, big picture, though, for the Bills.

I'll tell you, you know, you've got to run here in a minute. People are going to be upset. They're going to be upset, Josh Allen, but it's still a good football team, a very good football team. And it's a 17-game season. And let's not forget, two years ago that year they did have the 13-second game against Kansas City, and they were setting offensive records and playing the way they did. They lost their opening game at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers that year. They didn't play very well.

And they had a blocked punt, by the way, for a touchdown to beat them in that game. You know, it's a long season. It's week one, and the Bills got to correct some things, and I'm sure they'll be doing that starting tomorrow.

Just about 60 seconds to go, Sal, but how do you feel about the AFC East now considering that we think Rogers may be done for the year? Yeah, I never thought the Patriots would be a threat to anyone. They look good, but I still think they're not good enough for playmakers and offense. I just don't think the Jets could do this.

I just don't. Their defense is going to have to win a lot of games for them, and they can win some games, but I just don't see them being able to keep pace here. Miami Dolphins are really good.

They're really good. They have a really, really dynamic offense. I do wonder, though, after seeing what the Chargers offense did to them. I know it's Vic Fangio, but losing G.L. and Ramsey really hurt, so we'll see where that goes with their defense. But, man, it's going to be a really interesting battle between the Bills and Dolphins, I think, mostly.

Agreed. The AFC just took a decided twist. It called a switchback earlier.

It's the side of a mountain, just something you don't see coming. We'll wait to find out on Tuesday. All right, so we're going to let him go. You can find him on Twitter at SalSports, S-A-L Sports, the Bills beaten sideline reporter. He's supposed to have Tuesday off from his show, but he's got a radio interview coming up on our affiliate in Buffalo. That's WGR 550 and also has the Always Game Day in Buffalo podcast. One of our favorites. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes, Sal. All right, anytime.

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