Sal Capaccio | Buffalo Bills Sideline Reporter

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One year upgrade requires go 5G next plan financing new qualifying device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. We're pleased to welcome from the same Bills Radio Network, the sideline reporter, Sal Cappaccio, one of our favorites joining us from Western New York. So it was touch and go for a while there, Sal. What ultimately made the difference for the Bills? I think Josh Allen making a couple of plays down the stretch and the defense really buckling down when they needed to. Plus, obviously the Giants, a few mistakes of their own, including at the end of the first half, you know, not getting any points out of that situation. But I think ultimately, you know, the Bills came out in the second half and started to, you know, do the things that they're used to doing on offense, running the ball a little bit better. And, you know, the defense is pretty consistent most of the game, but, you know, a couple of plays here or there, just the Bills had to make and they made them. It seems though, like there was a bit of consternation with the offense. Josh Allen kind of muttering to himself, obviously a couple of attempts to connect with Diggs that didn't really go as planned.

Diggs with a crazy false start penalty when he just goes running through the line of scrimmage. What stands out about what you saw from them early offensively? Yeah, they seemed disjointed. I think it was just carry over, a lot of carry over from last week in London. You know, this is the first time in a long time that those were shut out in the first half, I believe. I don't know exact date, but I know we were talking about it on the broadcast and, you know, they just, that's very uncharacteristic with this Buffalo Bills team, a team that is third in the league in the NFL in scoring points per game and get shut out in the first half.

Things were disjoint. And look, I think part of it is, you know, Brian Dabel knows their system well, you know, and, you know, he knows what the Bills want to do. He knows Josh Allen well.

It's not an excuse, but I do think it makes it a little tougher. It's a high pressure environment. You know, the Giants are coming in here with their backs against the wall. Their season isn't going very well. They're going to do whatever they can to try and win this football game. And, you know, Wake Martindale did a nice job downing up some blitzes.

So, you know, I think that a few times the Bills, you know, hurt themselves though. First drive of the game, you know, Gabe Davis, or maybe the second drive, Gabe Davis, you know, fumbles the ball. That was a big point in the game.

And then Josh, you know, if it goes to Dawson Knox, he's probably still running. He might have scored a touchdown with a great play by the linebacker to tip the ball. And, you know, a couple of turnovers really hurt the Bills in the first half, but give the Giants credit because, you know, they're the ones that made those plays. And then early in the second half, a 17 play, 10 minute drive, Sal.

Those still blow me away. You can imagine how exhausted the opposing defenses are when a team is holding the ball for that long. What changed on that drive?

You know, it's funny. The Bills actually had quite a few of those longer drives this year. If you look back at their drive charts, they have a lot of 10, 12 plays, nine minutes, 10 minutes. And I think when they're doing that, it's just that they're running the ball consistently and they're running it through the middle, around the edges, a lot of different ways. And, you know, when you have Josh Allen back there, teams have to obviously watch for the pass, but I think that was the big difference on that particular drive, especially on the Bills really start to kind of assert their will to run the ball. They didn't run the ball very well last week against the Jaguars, but, you know, this year, they had run the ball really well.

I think they got back to that a little bit, Amy. I think they got back to, you know, knowing that they could run the ball and, you know, they were using Latavius Murray. They were using James Cook. And in the second half, James Cook was very good, wound up the game with over five yards of carry, 71 yards with a nice balance there. But I think that was the biggest difference, especially on that drive when they really needed to is a good run pass balance and the fact that they were able to run the ball, get good yards on first down and keep themselves in manageable distances on second and third down. We're spending a couple minutes with Sal Cappaccio fresh off the Bills sideline for Sunday Night Football, a victory over the Giants that was anything but aesthetically pleasing, though a win is a win is a win is a win. And he's with us here after our CBS Sports Radio. I was listening to the postgame show and you had a chance to talk to Quinton Morris for a minute. That really was the play that not only gave the Bills the lead, but kind of showed off what the offense is capable of, where Josh is extending a play and he fires into a tight window. How excited was he about his touchdown? I think he scored one last year in the primetime game against Tennessee in a very similar play, actually.

But you're right. I think if I go back and that's a correct, but I think because it stands out to me because it was both on primetime and it was the same kind of play and it was the same end zone. And I think it happened last year against Tennessee in week two. And look, Quinton Morris was pressed more into duty today because Dalton Kincaid was out with a concussion. So he never cleared concussion protocol in time.

They held him out. So because of that, Quinton Morris got more playing time. I like Quinton Morris as a player all year, but the Bills, you know, have and the Bills like to have this, you know, two tight ends that they run a lot of 12 personnel. So Quinton Morris is a big part of the game plan to be able to do that.

But yeah, for Quinton Morris to come up with that kind of play and for him to kind of be the spark to, you know, get the game going and get the team, you know, where they needed to be in that particular situation is big for him and good for him. And that is classic Josh Allen, right? That's the Josh Allen play right there.

Muddy pocket dancing around, you know, you don't know what he's going to do. And then he just flings the ball to a guy that's not even open when he throws it, trusting he's going to get it there because he can fit it in with his arm. He throws a hose and obviously Quinton Morris held on to it. Well, and Morris told you that was not the play. There was a different play called.

It broke down. And he said something along the lines of with Josh, you just have to be ready for a moment like that. No doubt. And that's the thing about what Josh playing receivers will always tell you that in tight ends and pass catchers that you just always have to keep yourself alive and make yourself available.

Right. And and that's what he did on that play. And we see that so often from Josh. So, you know, a little Josh Allen magic never hurts once in a while. You need it.

You need it to stay in a game or get back into a game. And they certainly needed that play. And they did give the Giants credit. Like I said, they fought hard here tonight and a win's a win. Right. I mean, that's that's that's the monster coming out of Buffalo tonight.

Yes. Tomorrow, people are going to be talking about the bills and, you know, not playing that well. And that's fine. And but this is a tough league. The Jets beat the Eagles today.

Right. The Browns beat the 49ers today. So, you know, they get a win against any team in this league, especially that last sequence and how intense it was and what it came down to was pretty amazing. And, of course, the game that you referenced was the Jaguars game in London sandwiched in between these two wins.

The gaudy victory over the Dolphins and now this more gritty win against the Giants. But, Sal, you were on that trip. You were part of that.

I don't know if there are any answers. Did it seem as though the later arrival in London caused some fatigue or did the team seem tired to you when the game started against Jacksonville? They certainly didn't have as much energy as Jacksonville, but I don't know if I could tie that directly to that. I've seen that happen before in games where you might play in Buffalo and that could happen. I remember specifically being in Jacksonville a few years ago and the Bills lost a game against servant Myers, Jacksonville Jaguars. I got upset and the Bills, same thing where they kind of flattened and didn't have that much energy. That can happen, right?

I don't know. It's a tough calling because I don't think there's enough data to really kind of correlate. If you go back to last year, someone told me four teams last year who played internationally left like the Bills did and they went two and two.

The Jags did exactly what the Bills did a week before that and they beat the Atlanta Falcons. So, maybe I think it comes down to each individual player. How you handle it, how your body handles it. So, it's a good debate. It's a good discussion. What's interesting to me, I was on that trip. I felt okay.

I was able to sleep a little bit on the plane and then you hit the ground running on Friday, then you get a sleep on Saturday. What hit me was coming back here to Buffalo. A lot of people always say that when you come back here.

I talked to a lot of my colleagues in the media who said the same thing. They didn't feel right by Wednesday or Thursday this past week after coming back from London. I'm not saying this is why the Bills came out the way they did tonight, but I also would maybe talk about that and think that that could be the case because they came back and I don't know how I was feeling. I know Sean McDermott only had a walkthrough on Wednesday just to help the guys get their legs back together and get that time.

So, I do think it's interesting science to talk about. Sal Cappaccio is with us from Western New York where the Bills eke out a win over the Giants. He's the sideline reporter and also hosts the extra point show on our Buffalo affiliate WGR 550.

It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Well, so the rumblings are, and this is not a big surprise, that the NFL is considering at least putting a Super Bowl in London. You've been there a couple of times.

You've experienced that atmosphere. How do you think that would play? Yeah, I don't know how you're gonna do it logistically. I mean, they would make it work because the NFL's gonna do that because it's, you know, the money for them, but after seeing this and thinking about it, I think you'd have to have a team go over there and play two, three weeks in a row. If you had a team there, you'd have these games there, and then they'd come over here and they'd have to play two, three weeks in a row.

And I do wonder how players would want to do that. Who's gonna sign for free agency? I'm gonna spend half my season in London and then fly over here. I think all those things have to be considered because it's gonna happen someday, right? We all know this. It's gonna happen in some way, shape, or form.

It's coming down the road. And I just think that all those other things that go into it and how you're going to operate and deal with the travel, deal with the players and going over there and wanting to play there and being a part of it, I think those are things the NFL is going to have to consider. The Bills played incredible game against Miami, scoring nearly 50 points, but really the defense was awesome. What do you think about that game? Would you say that's as close to their potential or as close to the type of football they want to play in these first six weeks?

Yeah, of course. I think that, you know, even defensively they, you know, they gave up some drives but, you know, shut down the dolphins only 20 points in that high-powered offense. Not the perfect game, right? But I think that's as close to as high a level as the Bills, you know, think they can play on every single week. Offensively, defensively, special teams, everything. Tonight against the New York Giants was not that night, but the Bills are still good enough to win. Granted, came down to the last play and, you know, maybe it goes the other way. We say it otherwise, but the Bills are still good enough to win. You know, they're still a really good football team.

They're still one of the top teams as far as odds in Vegas to win the Super Bowl for a reason, and they still have Josh Allen. But yeah, that game a few weeks ago against Miami is probably the standard of how this team would like to play every single week, and it's just not going to go like that. But look, they have some more winnable games coming up. They go to Foxborough next Sunday to play the Patriots, and that team is not playing well right now, and this Buffalo Bills team should beat them pretty handily, actually. Just like they should have tonight though, but that didn't happen. This is a week-to-week league as we know. After that game against the Patriots, it's a quick turn around Thursday night to get the Tampa Bay Buccaneers here in Buffalo on them having to come up here for a Thursday night game.

I mean, this team should be 6-2 going into Cincinnati for a really big Sunday night game on November 5th. Before I let you ghost out, Brian Daybal was a big part of Josh Allen's development, certainly a big part of the Bills becoming one of the best teams in the NFL. Classic Daybal moment at the end of the first half. I thought he was going to spontaneously combust when the clock runs out after they hand the ball to Saquon Barkley instead of throwing it, right?

He just beat red. What did he mean to the Giants, specifically Josh Allen, as he was turning into an elite quarterback? Well, he meant so much to this organization and to Josh Allen and his development. He was the only coordinator Josh ever had until Brian Daybal left for several years. Helped groom him, and that was organizationally, they all did, but the Bills I think did a great job with Josh Allen since drafting him. But Brian Daybal is very instrumental in that and the entire offense and getting the Bills in large part to where they are at the level they are offensively.

And now it's Ken Dorsey trying to do the same thing and they're still scoring a lot of points. I would say though, it's not just on the field though. Off the field, so many people have so much respect for him. I saw Brian in the tunnel and he was talking with Josh off to the side to a private moment for them, but I waited a little bit just to say hi to Brian myself because I miss him here in Buffalo. And Brian Daybal's from Buffalo, by the way.

I don't know if people know that. He's not just the Buffalo Bills former offensive coordinator who did what he did. He grew up here.

He was raised by his grandparents and both of them passed away within the past year and a half. He still comes back to Buffalo a lot. He loves this place. He loves this city. He's one of our native sons.

He went to St. Francis High School, which is literally like five, six miles from this stadium where I'm sitting talking to you right now. And you can hear the passion that we speak about with Brian Daybal when it comes to football here in Western New York, not just the Buffalo Bills, when it comes to what he did for Josh Allen, what he did for the Buffalo Bills, their offense to put them where they are. Yeah, he's very, very, very highly respected. And everybody in that locker room also does the same thing. And Dawson knocks on on what she respects him. Stephon Diggs talking about how much he respects him and all these guys and specifically Josh Allen, what he was able to do for him and his career is pretty amazing. Thank you for that perspective. I actually didn't know he was a local guy.

So that's an even cooler tie. All right. You can find Sal on Twitter at SalSports, the Bills beat and sideline reporter. He's got to work from 10 o'clock Eastern to noon. My show is 10 to noon.

Yes. But I'm on, I think at eight o'clock tomorrow, we can do it. Do a morning show hit with the guys. Go, go, go, Sal. It's always good to talk to you. Thank you so much. All right.

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