PlayAction podcast: Hard Knocks is at Bills camp and James Cook is on the field
The Playa Action Podcast is fueled by Picasso’s Pizza where every night is pizza night. Hey everyone and welcome to the Play Action Podcast. We are here from training camp. It’s a new year, new players and a bit of a new look to the podcast. I’m joined here by Lance Lysowski who is on the Bills beat with us now. Lance, how’s your first camp going? It’s going great. Hey, we’ve had nice weather. No rain so far. Um, yeah. No, zero complaints. I’m so used to that drive to to Rochester from covering the Sabres for those Ammers playoff runs. So, I know like the back of my hand. And what a nice campus, by the way. St. John Fischer. I mean, I I helped out and did a lot of Steelers training camp for a couple years and they have they also go away to St. Vincent and Latroe. So, I thought it would be a little bit similar. This campus is so nice, though. Really good setup. Yeah, we’ve got a lot to dive into, but you know, I just wanted to intro Lance, who’s going to be doing the podcast for all the rest of the season with us. So, super excited to have you both on the beat and on the play action pod. Um, but let’s dive right into it. It’s, you know, two days into camp. There’s still only so much we can take away, but um, we’ve got a lot to discuss anyway. What are some of your early takeaways from what we’ve seen in, you know, two days? I think it’s it’s interesting because you have a team that again has realistic Super Bowl expectations and whether it’s the offense, the defense or special teams, every group wants to correct the deficiencies or the issues that held them back a year ago. Even the offense, I thought it was really fascinating to hear Josh Allen and Joe Brady talk about the adjustments that they want to make, how they’re approaching camp with um, you know, Joe Brady put it that they have a very large, you know, set of plays or or playbook that they’re going to be rolling out during camp and they slowly whittle that down based on player feedback, what they feel works, a lot of shifts, a lot of motions, a lot of what we saw last season, but with some new wrinkles. What about you, Katherine? Yeah, I think it’s always just fun to kind of see how the team leans into this period of time where they’re, you know, away from Orchard Park. They are um using this to build chemistry to get to know each other a little more in the dorm rooms where we are recording from as well right now. Um different dorms, they get a little uh nicer beds than we do, but but it’s all good. But I think just being on campus and spending that extra time together, you see it start to translate to the field and how, you know, guys are building that camaraderie. Um, we’ll get into James Cook and the wide receivers in a bit, but you know, are there other players that have caught your eye so far, Lance? Yeah, Joshua Palmer. We’re going to get to the receivers. So, that’s one of them. On the defensive side of the ball, it’s a it’s a big year for Greg Russo. They paid him. He got the big contract. They need that closer type of ed edge rusher who can help them really improve on third down. That’s the defensive lines. That’s their responsibility. Of course, there’s coverage. That coverage is a big piece of that, but they need to get to the quarterback. And Russo had another strong season, but there’s certainly another level that he can get to. You know, they brought in Joey Bosa. You’ve got all these younger guys on the defensive line. So, well, with Michael Hoy and Larry Ojoby going to be suspended for six games to start the season, how the that rotation plays out throughout camp and in preseason games is something that I think is going to be really fascinating. Yeah, I think that’s a huge storyline to follow. Just kind of how the coaches figure out how to lock those plays when they know they’re not going to have full strength at the start of the season. You want guys to be comfortable in the system, especially guys who are new to the team, but you can’t let that outweigh getting, you know, reps to the guys who are going to be playing the first six weeks. Um, so we’ve talked to Bobby Babich some about that, the Bills defensive coordinator, and he knows it’s a challenge. Um, but now you’re getting to see what it actually looks like on the field from day to day. And the hard knocks element to this all as well. I mean, we’ve seen the cameras. They’re everywhere the last couple of days following around Shawn McDermad, different groups of players. There’s Josh Allen joke that he’s got to be careful how much he’s cussed when he’s been miked up. Even though I’m sure it’s not the first time he’s been miked up, it’s just something you’re just not 100% comfortable with. Um, what are they going to show once these episodes begin? I think that you heard Brandon Bean, Shawn McDerman, even Josh Allen talk about it. They seem to think that it’s going to be pretty similar to, you know, embedded in all the team produced content, but there’s always also sort of the unknown. they have, you know, in some some ways Final Cut, but you have cut, you know, players who who get released at some point. What what’s going to be shown? What what stays, I guess, you know, uh team secrets, right, that aren’t shown. It’s funny. I actually was an intern at NFL Films in 2014, I think. Um, but so getting to see it from that side of it, it’s so fun to see how they do it actually like out in the field of I believe there’s 35 people here on a day-to-day basis from NFL films. Just I that’s a number I’m remembering. Correct me if I’m wrong, but just, you know, you see these groups of people following players around. I was talking to Tradavius White for a bit today about it and he was laughing saying like it’s hard for him to imagine Shawn McDermott doing this, but it’s happening. Like cameras are rolling. They’re here. Katherine James Cook is here. He didn’t consider holding out. Of course, the fines play a big part in that, but he also wanted to show his teammates that he’s invested. This this isn’t him being selfish. Of course, he there’s business considerations. He wants to be paid like one of the best running backs in the league, but he’s not going to allow that to get in the way of their goal, which is to win a Super Bowl. And he’s looked great on the field. He wants to show that he’s worth that contract whether he receives it in Buffalo or as he told reporters Thursday elsewhere. Yeah, it’s interesting hearing from, you know, all different sides of the story. We heard from uh general manager Brandon Bean the first day of training camp and he was saying how, you know, he wants this time next year for us to be talking about, oh, James Cook is back. He’s here again and he’s getting ready to go out on the field. But, you know, that’s what the general manager is always going to wish for. the Bills want to, as he says, draft, develop, resign. And right now, if they’re not on the same page, you know, who knows how that’s going to shake out down the road, but I wasn’t surprised that James was here and participating. Um, I don’t know. I just based off his personality and the approach to it. I kind of personally always thought he was going to be here and be doing part of it. um like you said that money plays a factor, but I think just the team standpoint too of knowing this is the time that you’re building stuff that’s going to translate later in the season and you know getting reps with Josh, getting reps with that O line. It’s early in camp of course, but I think that chemistry continuing that is so important and I think that’s a huge factor for James Cook. Yeah, sometimes a hold out would make sense for a player. In his case, it doesn’t. He he needs to acrew that year toward free agency. It would have affected his payday plus all the fines. And like you just mentioned, James Cook needs to be on that field. Yes, he’s proven he has back-to-back thousand yard seasons. But he wants to be on the field more often this year. That’s what’s going to take probably for him to get paid the contract that he wants, whether that’s here or elsewhere because he played fewer than 50% of the offensive snaps during the regular season. You know, you can brush that aside and say, “Well, he still made a sign significant in impact,” which he did. But you look at Derk Henry, Saquon Barkley, these other running backs that are in that tier that James Cook considers himself being a part of, they play much more than that. And part of that is the other guys they have on the roster. It’s just that’s that’s the next step for James Cook. And to do that, he’s got to be here. He’s got to be on the field and he’s got to be involved in in these different packages and personnel groupings that J that Joe Brady wants to to put out there. Yeah. And it was interesting hearing Joe Brady’s perspective on it, how he knows he wants to use that whole running back room. Like that is, you know, part of the identity of this Bills offense, but obviously that changes things for James Cook, just what his numbers could look like. Um, but I think when it actually comes time for, you know, whistleblows game is here. James Cook wants that balance of getting other guys involved because he knows their dynamic that way. They each have a different skill set they bring to the offense and you know I think I remember times postgame in the locker room of talking to different guys from the running back room. They’re rooting for each other because they know it helps the team. So I think you know Cook the business is the business but I think his care for the team is what’s really driving so much of this. Yeah. No. And I his comments, the way that he’s handled this, in my opinion, just speaks to the the culture and that’s such a buzzword in professional sports, but you hear every player speak about what Shawn McDermott and Brandon Bean have built here. And it’s that selfless team first mentality that you’re going to hear and see a lot about, especially with Hard Knocks. But it really does ring true with the way that that players handle these particular situations. Even though James Cook went public with his ask and his desire to be one of the top paid running backs in the league. Now, I’m going to say this over and over, but it is early in camp. It is early in camp. We can only draw so many conclusions, but we’re going to anyway. You know, we’re going to start. We’re going to dabble. And I think one of the big things to be watching right now is the wide receiver group. Um, you know, there’s been some turnover there. Josh Allen is starting to build rapport with some new guys to deepen rapport with other guys and um you know I think it’s always it’s an exciting part of camp during which it is early. However, just seeing you know I think fans kind of usually root for the offense during these Bills on Bills interactions and we’re getting a taste of what this group could look like. So what are you seeing so far Lance? No pads yet. Of course, that’s a a a very important caveat to include as as you as you just laid out. It’s it’s the they don’t have that elite number one receiver fans want. I get it, especially after they saw the impact that Stefon Diggs had, but they have they have several different guys that you could trust. And remember, this offense, the receiver group in particular, it was banged up last year between Curtis Samuel, you know, Keon Coleman missed time, you know, Mari Cooper when he got here, he was banged up a little bit. They really had to rely on Cleo Shakar and Matt Collins. Well, now they have you have Joshua Palmer, you have Elijah, you have Elijah Moore, Keon Coleman’s expected to take that big step. Dalton King Kade, it’s a very deep group, Catherine, where you know, for fantasy football purposes, people aren’t going to be all that excited about this offense. It it just it makes a lot of sense, though, because there’s different skill sets. Elijah Moore can line up in the inside or the outside. Shir can do it. Coleman can do it. Palmer is a really interesting one. And it’s been fascinating to see just the amount of communication between him and Josh Allen in the last couple of days just to make just to talk over some adjustments like ball placement or or how he wants, you know, how Josh wants well Josh and Josh Josh and Joshua how they want to separate in different different route combinations. So yeah, a lot of a lot of different guys to keep an eye on, but it it is a really talented group that I don’t think, you know, it’s easy to talk about because it’s such an important position, but it’s one that I I think the any concerns people discuss I think are a little overblown at this point. Yeah. And I think again this is part of the Bill’s offensive identity. You know, we talked to Joe Brady today, Thursday, and he comes out in his newest everybody eats hat. Not his everybody eats hat that he wore last time. we talked to him, a new version for camp. Um, but like you alluded to before, like they’re mixing in guys from the tight end group, the running backs. Like it’s not fully focused on the wide receivers, but they’re going to make such a difference in how this team is able to move down the field to use Josh Allen to the best of his abilities with the guys who are um, you know, at his beckon. So, I think just seeing how they’re starting to build that chemistry. I love seeing the times off the field when it’s, you know, practice is over, guys are getting ready to head to meetings and it’s Josh Allen and Joshua Palmer just going over and over different things they saw that day. You know, they’re building such a deep communication base already. And I think that’s going to pay off this season. Yeah. In preseason, like you can sit here, you know, people could say that preseason games are boring. They’re not meaningful. Like there are so many receivers in that room. Catherine, it’s going to be really like Kaden Prather, Terrell Shavers, like there’s some really talented guys at the bottom of that depth chart where they’re not getting as many snaps in practice because there’s just so there’s so much depth at that position. You know, how is Curtis Samuel going to look? He really started to come on the second half of last season when he got healthy, whether they use him in the screen game or some of the more of the gadget plays that were just or were, you know, a lot of people were expecting to see Samuel involved in when he came in just given his history of course with with Joe Brady. Yeah. Yeah, and I think you know you mentioned some of the guys deeper in the depth chart. I think Hard Knox is probably going to give y’all a look at them, but we are giving you a look too because we’ve been around these guys for so long. You know, whether it’s Shavers who’s been here for a bit, um Prather who they took in the draft. It was interesting hearing from Joe Brady today about how like some of these guys are only going to get like six reps on a given day and they’re going to think I need to be perfect on these plays, but that’s not realistic. Um, and Joe Brady was saying how, you know, he embraces the time when guys mess up because then it gives him a chance to really teach and to coach and be like, here’s how you do it in the future so that you’re learning and it’s not just like, you know, I did this once, I’m good. It’s I understand how to do this over and over. And that’s what these days in camp, whatever group they’re running with, that’s what it’s for. Catherine, we have plenty more that we’re going to cover, but you know, we’re going to be back next week. Everybody, you can watch us on the buffalo.com. You well buffaloos.com, our YouTube page, our Facebook page. Find us, watch us, let us know what you think. Um, email, reach out. Really excited for um, yeah, really excited for the season. There’s going to be so much for us to discuss and touch on. We’ll be back next week. She’s Katherine Fitzgerald. I’m Lance Lysowski. Thanks again. Treat your team to the most flavorful pizza on game day at Picasso’s Pizza. Four great Western New York locations. Williamsville, West Senica, Lancaster, and Blazedell. Picassos. We are Buffalo’s Pizza since 1980. Order online today at picassos pizza.net.
Katherine Fitzgerald and Lance Lysowski team up for the newest edition of the PlayAction podcast. Streaming in from his first Bills training camp, Lance tells us what he’s seeing in Pittsford. While it’s still early, our reporters are already noticing Joe Brady’s eagerness to grow. Katherine and Lance are not surprised to see James Cook show up to camp despite his desire for more money. Plus, they dive into the deep wide receiver core and who Josh Allen is building a connection with on the field. With Hard Knocks cameras everywhere, there’s even more eyes on the team as they start to build camaraderie. The Buffalo News PlayAction podcast is fueled by Picasso’s Pizza.
