Patriots Unfiltered the world's original podcast. Patriots Unfiltered brings you inside Jillette Stadium for rousing conversations on everything New England, Patriots, and NFL. Join host Fred Kersh alongside Patriots dot COM's Paul Parillo, Mike Desso, Evan Lazar, Tamara Brown, and Alex Francisco as they bring you in depth coverage of the team.
He's a red shirt rookie at that point, so it's really that's his rookie season essentially too. So now we're really not talking about them, really knowing.
Search for Patriots Unfiltered anywhere you get your podcasts. This is the Patriots Catch twenty two podcasts with Evan Lazar and Alex Barth.
And Lazarre.
Hello, everybody nailed it.
He joined as always by our bark. Here is Evan Lazar and Alex bars I have my ups and.
Downs and then we're gonna do ups and downs. Of course, because they got a new phone. I don't know if they went in the new phone. Of course he didn't. He didn't do it.
They did. I have I haven't. I did it, but I did it before I got the new phone.
Okay, he is loving this new pid. All I hear about, like five years, all I hear about is how he has a new phone. At this one does this? It does that like you're like a kid on Christmas. That that gets a new PLAYSTATIONE toys? Oh my god, look you're you're you're old. Too old for toys, all right?
Never too old for toys. Never too old for toys. You're never too old for candy. Happy Halloween.
How was your Halloween? Uneventful?
It was?
I'm trying to remember what the game was. Oh, it was that Jets Steelers game or no Jets?
Uh?
That was? That was? That was scary game.
I've seen. Tonight's game should be better. Tonight's game should be good.
There you go. How do you like your phone?
I like it? How do you like your new computer? It's great. You came to me the other day.
I'm so excited. I had a I had a big smile on my face. I I this is gonna sound like such a snobby thing to say, but I'm gonna say it anyways. So when I started here, they gave me a PC. And I'm not a PC guy. I'm a Mac guy and I've been.
It's you just be careful with sponsors here and all that.
That's a very good point. So I'm a one computer company guy and not another computer company guy. And after my time here, finally I've convinced the right people to give me the right computer.
And I am beaming. I am that.
I mean, it's got a great big screen and the brightness and the batteries fantastic. It's so fast. It's just it's a machine. I love it.
It is a machine. It's a computer.
Yes, it's a fantastic machine.
I'm not gonna judge you for joying that I have my new toy I enjoy it. I'm still enjoying it. I'm glad you're enjoying your new toy.
I hope I didn't offend any sponsors like our great friends at Toyota. Hey, Patriots fans, if you want to see Toyota's best offers, including those not seen on TV, go to buy a Toyota. Dot com is Toyota's official website for deals from the official vehicle of the New England Patriots. Toyota. Let's go places. I used to have a Corolla black on black Corolla. It's really nice.
I don't know if I my friend had a corol. I don't know if I've read a Yeah.
So when I lived in La you know, city driving stuff. You don't want a big car. So I had a black wheels, black everything.
Oh you had the blacked out Yeah, it was nice, it was cool.
I liked it. Also, easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Bud like the official beer sponsor of your New England Patriots. All right, So I had a tough time figuring out where I wanted to start today because I have a lot of mixed feelings about the Patriots right now. You know, Drake May is really showing us exactly what we all wanted to see. And there's two things that I keep
coming back to from a big picture sense. And I was actually talking to John Rook about this on the playbook yesterday and I really felt like it was a good conversation. You know, There's there's two conversations to be had. One is all the little things that are going wrong week to week with this team that are stacking up to losses and the frustration of losing, and uh, it's it's frustrating as fans, as as people that cover the team, as the team itself, Like no one likes to lose.
No one likes losing. I understand that, But I think the the big picture thoughts that I keep coming back to are one every time I want to come on here or and written and just come on and rip the coaching staff for the lack of details or whatever
they're not doing right in my eyes. Right from my perspective, uh, you have to always like see the forest for the trees a little bit and recognize that this team doesn't have a whole lot of talent on the roster, right, So you're you're not asking like Vince will Fork to plug the A gap, right, You're not asking Richard Seymour to rush the passer like you're You're asking guys and expecting things out of guys that frankly, uh, either weren't supposed to be there or aren't really up to the task.
And so when I come on here and I take shots at the coaching staff or I critique the coaching staff, I do have to keep reminding myself of that. The other element of it that I keep reminding myself of is when we came into this season, if we came out of it feeling like they have a franchise quarterback
in Drake May. Like, isn't this season sort of a win just by that, right, Like just because you found the guy at quarterback and you feel really good and not like Mac Jones rookie year good, Like this guy can actually be a potential top five quarterback MVP type quarterback in this league. Like if I had told you that Alex back in August that we would feel by January that Drake May was truly a franchise quarterback type guy. Yeah, because I was right. I was head of the curve.
But at the same time, like if I told you that that was cemented this season, just make just play along.
I think there were talks of all votes if I remember Craig Pro Bowler all pro one.
Of them, and look who.
Is right, I'm setting I'm giving you credit.
Yeah, I mean you're who was I know the clips out there because there's that and I forget his name, that guy who watches the show who pulls clips.
It was the day of the Eagles practice and he tweeted out your quote about Drake May.
Yeah. I mean, look, I'm not ready to do any victory laps yet. It's too early and there's still things that he needs to work on, and I want to get to that. It's not a finished product yet. I can't sit here and say that he's where He's exactly what I expected, which I think is different from what
others expected. Like I am not surprised, and I didn't want to go to Drake yet, but like, I'm not surprised by anything that we're seeing from Drake may because I always knew that he was capable of doing the things he's doing right.
Now, I would say he slightly surpassed my expectations. Now there are things he needs to work on, and those don't like the issues he's having. I'm not gonna sit here and say there aren't issues. He's a rookie quarterbacks.
From the issues, I don't think there's been anything that's an issue that I look at and I say, well, I didn't expect that to be a problem, right, the turnovers, reckless play for lack of a better word, it's not exactly the word I want to use, but maybe being too reckless at times, Like he needs to be better about that stuff. But I wouldn't say it's surprising, like that's kind of what you were signing up for. You knew you got what you signed up for with Drake may.
I think there hasn't been a ton that you look at one way or the other and say, well, that was unexpected.
This is exactly and this is a sort of part of my point, right, this is exactly what I expected him to be in his rookie season. I expected because Frank this is exactly what he was at North Carolina. Now, he was better at taking care of the ball at North Carolina, but it's also college versus the NFL, but in general at North Carolina, and if you actually watch their games and talk to people down there and things like that, they'll tell you that he has five plays
a game that make your jaw drop. Whatever it's throws, running out of st ructure or whatever, he has five plays a game that just make you go, holy crap, this guy is incredible. But at the end of the day, there's some bumps along the way, and sometimes the results as a team, the wins and losses don't always come to fruition, and you wonder how much of that is him and how much of that is what's around him,
And you have that whole conversation. But back to the original point, I want to give some grace to the coaching staff because of what they're working with. I don't think that they're working with great tools, right. But at the same time, they're doing things that shouldn't be about talent, right, Like they're doing things that are just hurting the team and making it more difficult for the team to win
that have nothing to do with talent. You know, talking about lineup changes, and we're potentially going to see another one on the offensive line on Sunday. I still have not heard a great explanation from Gerrodmeo or Alex Van Pelt as to why Laden Robinson started that game on Sunday against the Titans and Jeffrey Simmons, I still haven't heard a great explanation. If they had come out and they had said two things that I think would have
been good explanations. We felt like the right side of Robinson and on when it was going to allow us to run the football. I could hear that those two guys are are are strong, powerful, good run blockers. Maybe I could hear that, but they didn't run the ball effectively one and two that they haven't said that. Number two, if they had said at this point in our season.
You know, we're two and six or two and seven now, we just want to play the kids, and we just want to develop the roster and play the kids and see what these guys get. I got so that we can get to next offseason. Okay, fine, I can hear those explanations. But if you're just trying to win the game on Sunday, like that was not That was not the way to do it, right, Like that was a good decision.
No, it wasn't. It annoyed me, Like we talked so much about building the continuity and it felt like they were starting to do it and to make that move at the expense of your best offensive lineman and I get it. You want to play the kids, and this is my theory. They just like Ladon Robinson he was the draft picks City still wasn't. Michael Jordan wasn't. And they want to get the kid in there and make it work. And I mean they they were talking about
in camp. Remember thinking he was like, They're like, we think he can be one of the best guards in this league. Like three weeks in a camp when I said is that they were very I remember them being like oddly high on him. Early and King.
Yeah, look, I think he's got a potentially bright future, there's no doubt about that. But right now, as a pass protector, Leyden Robinson is not NFL caliber. So you're putting a guy out there, and yeah, maybe you're hoping to develop him and all that, and I get that, but you're putting a guy out there that at the moment cannot pass protect at an NFL level. Now, this
Bears front doesn't have a Jefferyson in the middle. You know, Montes Sweat's a really good edge rusher if he plays in this game, but they don't really have They don't even have a Devandre Sweat, the kid from Florida. I'm blanking on his name right now as a decent player, but he's not. He's not Jeffery Simmons, right, So they don't have one of those guys. But we're starting to see it. Monday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday in practice, we're
starting to see another offensive line combination. You know, Mike on Wenny Wet left guard, Leyden Robinson in at right guard, and we're starting to see more changes to this offensive line.
The sequence before the half, which Alex Van Pelt said today was the most disappointing two plays of the entire game on Sunday was also to me still not still don't have a great explanation Like his explanation today of when you're running downhill two plays in a row you should be able to get a yard does not explain to me why you're prioritizing the yard in the two minute drill, right, Like, if you throw the ball on second and third down and you find a completion, the
assumption is is that you're going to pick up the first down organically, like you shouldn't have to be stressed about picking up a yard, you know. So they went in there, they put they kind of put the offense back into the four corners and they just sort of
parked the car to prioritize a yard. And then his lament is, well, we couldn't, we couldn't pick up the yard, okay, but if you throw on second and one and Drake may hits a ten yard pass on second and one, then we don't even have to worry about third and one, right, Like, that's right, That's where I don't understand that one. And we can obviously get into this as well a little bit in overtime. Taking the wind or not taking the wind, or whichever way you want to put it. Kicking, let's
call it not factoring in the wind. Not factoring in the wind to not confuse people. It's just what's the word like?
It just is.
Not paying attention to the details right like, And you have to be more buttoned up than that. Which way the wind is blowing has nothing to do with who is playing left guard for you right or who is playing defensive tackle for you against the run, or.
We have an all Pro team out there the winds and it might be mitigated, but it's all the more reason. And this is something I talked about this coaching staff at the beginning of the year, like they were gonna have to elevate the players right, the roster being what it is, all the more reason, every little detail right has to be locked down. I found the Laden Robinson quote. By the way, I remembered it a little bit. It was also after the first regular season game. It wasn't
in camp. Yeah, this was in response to the first game. After the Bengals. There was a point during training camp where not only myself, but I think the other coaches saw it. Who was this Girod. Sorry, Okay, there was a point in time during training camp where not only myself, I think the other coaches saw it. We said, Laydon Robinson has an opportunity to be a special player in this league. He's tough, he'll move guys off the line
of scrimmage. He can't do it all. His overall effort and mentality is something that when you think about changing the culture, he's definitely one of those guys that fits into that box. He did a great job now saying that it's only one game, we'll see how that continues to progress going forward. That sounds like a guy that you're gonna try to And granted this was two months ago, but that's the description of a guy the coaching staff believes should be in the lineup no matter what. Yes,
and you go to that culture stuff. So that's where it's like, again, I'm not telling you Laydon Robinson is just gonna suck for all of eternity. But he's not ready yet. Yeah. You even look at Mike go and when who was a great calm for this. He sat in twenty one and I know there were some external circumstances there, but he's sat in twenty one and it made him a better player in twenty two.
Yeah, so like Leyden Robins.
So you just said a lot. So I just want to well like for the plus, I want to get to it. Lane Robinson being in the lineup right now is not what's best for Ladon Robinson. It's also not what's best for Drake May. I get play the kids. I understand that you play the kids as a baseline,
understand what you have. I think they should more or less know where Laydon Robinson's aut at this point, and he doesn't look like a guy who should be on the field, especially when your best offensive lineman is right guard and you keep moving him around. You're not going to allow him to maximize his game. You're risk agitating the guy. I know he just got paid, but you're risk agitating the guy. I just Laydon Robinson is not a guy. If anything truim it left. But he's liability
and pass protection right now. And how many times have I said this with the receivers. Ideally, what's best for Drake May and what's best for Laydon Robinson is the same thing right now, It's not and you have to default to the quarterback for the end of the half thing. People probably have the speech memorized at this point, right, like I haven't been like that.
Hot and bothered by the end of the half stuff because you know, this isn't usually because I don't care, because you.
Don't believe that the clock matters a football game. Play forty minutes, play seventy minutes.
You don't care that aside, The part that annoyed me about the end of the half was the play call, like deciding to run the ball. So the way it has something to do with managing the clock or anything like that like this, it's about the actual play calling of running the football there, And I get it, you think, so, but what's the goal? Like this, what's the goal? So you pick up the yard? Sorry, but just like what's
the goal? Like, you pick up the yard? And now it's first and ten at what the you know, forty yard line, let's call it, right, They gained twenty four yards on first first down, you know to Kendrick Bourne, back to back plays, I think it was twenty three yards, right, and by the way, an out route to the sideline that the Titans were just giving them. Yeah, I don't want to take anything away from Drake or Kendrick Bourne, but like it wasn't exactly thrown into a key hole.
So we're talking like it's first and ten, let's call it from their own forty yard Yeah, so riped the like what's the goal?
But like, but the situation plays into that. On one hand, like you have less time, even more reason to go for the chunk. The other one is, for whatever reason, they're watching these right, would you say they got too cute in that situation? Would you say they may be overthought it? Let me use that. Would you say they overthought the situation?
I don't know if overthought are too cute, it's the right word for it. I just feel like their priorities are out of whack. Like, in my opinion, when you're in that situation, the most important thing things are the clock, the field position in getting points.
Okay, so but this is my point. You're saying, like the clock, the situation does matter. The situation it was in emphasizes the mistake of the play calling right, And this is my point. For whatever reason it is. When you get the ball inside of two minutes at the end of the first half, you have the ball, the one thing you cannot do is give the ball back to the opponent. Ideally want to score, that's great, touchdown
would be preferred. You take a field goal in some cases, but there are some instances, like I know people didn't like they ran to the clock out against the Jets. I understand the frustration with that, but at least you picked the lane. At least you picked the lane. And also it's like, yeah, you're starting quarterback got hurt. Okay, I get it. But they had a plan and they executed it. They've had six of these opportunities now this year, which, by the way, is kind of wild that this is
coming up every single almost every single game. They've had it six times in nine games where they get the ball with a minute and a half to two minutes to go. Yeah, and multiple timeouts and it's either go try to score or take the ball to the half. The one thing you absolutely cannot do is punt or turn the ball over, like you can't give the ball back. I give them credit for one and a half of six, right that the Texans game they got although it took Drake May going so the man.
Right, that's the thing is like the Texans one they got by default, and I have a bigger point about it.
But sometimes sometimes like I don't necessarily hate if the plan is sometimes counting on Drake Man to be Superman.
Yeah they're and overall back like fine, yeah, so.
I give them that. I give them half of a credit for the Jets one because they executed a plan. Maybe it wasn't the plan that should have been, but they executed a plan. So that's that's a twenty five percent success rate in what is a crucial especially when some of these have been potential double scores that was the other twenty five, or they've set up on the inverse double scores for the other teams. Now, they didn't get burned as bad as they should have in this
one because Tennessee also threw up all over themselves. That was also a terrible, too terrible two minutes roll by the Titans. It wasn't the worst two minute display we've seen this way. By the year the Miami game, both teams still worse. But the point being, you should not be succeeding twenty five percent of the time in what are massively key situations in football games, and it Girad Mayo talked about we can't be mistake repeaters right early in the year. It's time and time and time again.
And they did it the first time, and you know, Mayo acknowledge we have to be better. They did it the second time, Mayo acknowledged it was just like the first time. We screwed that up six times in I mean, what are we doing? Yeah? What are are they not learning anything?
I just don't And this is my bigger point of it all when it comes to this situation, and really the win situation too, they just don't have control of the situation, like they don't know. I'd doesn't feel like they have a plan, like they don't know what they're trying to do. So they get caught in like this middle sort of situation of like, you know, okay, we go past pass on the first two plays of.
The two minute drill.
Now we're in second and one, and now we're running right and we're just we're getting caught in the middle here of all, right, are you being aggressive or are you being conservative? Like why did you throw the ball on the first two plays of the drive if you wanted to be conservative, because well so, then get on second and third down.
Is conservative? There's been times they've gone like run past pass and it was, you know, the approach conservative versus aggressive. I think they overthought it and they got too I think the overall approach was being aggressive. But they saw the second and one and their eyes lit up and they're like, ooh, easy, first down, right. I don't think it was suddenly, let's get conservative. That's like the whole thing to me though, because I know that's ultimately a
conservative approach. But I don't think they got to the fort like when I you're conservative two minute drill. I don't think they got to the forty and decided, oh, we gotta start running the clock. Yeah, right. I think they got that point and said, all right, let's pick up a quick first down and boom, we'll get back
to throwing the ball. Right when like second and one, take a shot that's like the cleanest and when I said, like, that's the most obvious opportunity to take a shot, all right, Well the Bears are probably gonna sit on it and fall back. Then he hit pop Douglas on an underneath the cross and let him run with the ball in his hands, like you have so much at your disposal in that situation, if you're the Patriots twice. Yeah, and they didn't take advantage.
Of I think your point about what their thought process was was spot on. Yeah, it's second and one. The opponent probably thinks we're going to try to take that shot, so instead we're gonna hand it. Gun run, by the way, is what they ran. We're gonna gun run, I think it was with Jamichael Hasty, and maybe we pick up a free eight yards on this gun run right here gives us a new set of downs, and now we're around midfield, and then maybe we'll take a shot when we're around midfield.
I can hear all that.
And this is where execution versus process comes in, Like if they pick up the blocks and they make that happen, and we're probably not necessarily talking about it in this way. I just philosophically, I just disagree with prioritizing the first down there. I just don't agree that that is the most important thing. I think the most important thing are the clock in the field, position that you're in right yards yards in the clock are the two things you
should be prioritizing there, not the first down. And the last thing I want to say about this whole spiel with the wind situation in overtime.
So I've been touched on that. It just can't There's there's no way around it. Can't have it.
So I'm gonna draw it up, all right, I'm gonna draw it up because I want to show everybody here why I think that you.
Need like a sharpie or something that's not gonna show up on a white piece of paper. I think it's not gonna show up. Can we zoom in? Do we have a sharpie back there? I want to get a water.
I want to show you guys if I can with this sharpie. Hey, I'm gonna try. I personally, and look I got I got pushed back from on PU for this because it was a little bit of a homer take a little bit of a drake, may take shocker. I personally think that taking the wind or not or whatever the heck we're talking about, failing to factor in the wind, sure, failing the factor in the wind cost the Patriots a walk off sixty yard touchdown in overtime.
Troy Brown and my uh, Tom Brady and Troy Brown in Miami.
That was my if we consume it on this this is the play call right there?
You go.
Okay, So these crossing routes here, this like little leak out route into that flat, and this crossing route right here right. The idea here is to hold the post safety up here at the top of the screen. This right up here at up top, that's a moni hooker right like that. You didn't draw the defenders. I ran out of space. Uh that that that's a moni hooker right up here, right. So what you want to do is what they're gonna do is they're gonna roll out Drake May to his right.
Oh, this is in I thought that was the whole drawing. Okay, this is in progress.
Okay, so we're gonna roll Drake May out to the right. He's gonna roll out right, and then what he's gonna do is he's gonna hope that this safety right up top here amani hooker is going to follow him right to the right, thinking that he's gonna throw this second level crosser right here that I drew. Guess what happens. He rolls to his right, The crosser runs to the right. Where does a moni hooker go? He goes with Drake May and the crossing ground. Kaishan Boody is now one on one.
A little bit other way by the way, all right, whatever, just keep going.
Kaishan Boudy now is one on one on the post up top right. If Drake May who has a howitzer, he's got a rocket and we know it, he can launch it right this throw right here, the roll right throw back to the post on the left. We have watched every single quarterback for like five years make this throw at his pro day.
Right. This is the pro day throw Wilson.
This is the Zach Wilson throw that's turned into every single big arm quarterback making this throw in the pro day. I am telling you right now, I've seen Drake May make that throw a dozen times, a dozen times.
And what happens.
He rolls to his right, the ball gets caught up there in the air, and all of a sudden, the Moni hooker is on the other side fielding it like a punt that didn't that's not Drake May. Right, Drake May can get the ball there, no problem. So I don't know if Kaishan Boody catches it. I don't know if he if he, you know, doesn't get tackled right by the corner that's covering him in coverage. Hey, it's
all possible, right, I'm telling you it's all possible. What I'm telling you is that the wind made it ten times harder for him to get the ball there than it needed to be. If Drake May is throwing with the wind at his back. I feel really, really strongly that that play is completed to Kaishan Boody and we were taught about a totally different game. And that's why right there that the coaching staff, in my opinion, not
prioritizing the wind in that situation really cost them. And that part of it is extremely frustrating because that is in it's a controllable, right, there's things that you can't control, and the things that you can't control that is a controllable and the Patriot should have been on that. And hopefully you guys could actually see what I drew up, but enough people have posted it on Twitter. I don't think that Kendrick Bourne falling down had as much of
a role in it. It obviously wasn't ideal. I'm not in a Moni hooker's head like maybe it did play a role, but it looked to me like he was already opening to the post before Kendrick Bourne slipped down. But obviously it could have been a factor on the play. I think the wind was the biggest factor. I think Drake May under throwing the ball deserves a little bit of Christms as well, obviously, but the coaching staff, Again, these are just things that are actively hurting the team.
And I really felt like watching it live, I felt like watching it on film. Uh that Kaishan Boody was open on the play, and I definitely think that Drake May is capable of getting him the football there. And I'm glad we did that. See a little drawing. What do you what did you think about that, that whole situation. Yeah, regardless, like you just got to be aware enough take the wind.
I'm with you, Like the ball definitely got caught up as a complete I don't know, I'm but yeah, I you things like that changed the game and the things that people you know used to get bled a lot, right, No, that it the win. Remember like when he took the bill, took the win against against Denver and everybody thought, no, these things impact the football game.
Not every time. You don't know how they're gonna do it, But leave no stone unturned.
That was you know, look I were I'm gonna get to Alex man Peltier in the second. I do think there's some things that you can criticize him for, but I really liked the intent of that play because to me, that was, uh, let's go freaking win the game, right, And like, I love that mindset. That's the mindset I want Drake to have. That's the mindset I want the team to have. Yeah, let's go win the f and game.
And unfortunately, the situation just didn't allow them to go ahead and make that play happen the way that it should. If you watch the play back, like a Moni hooker is not there at first, right, he kind of drifts over, just like I described, and he drifts back into the middle of the field when he sees Drake May load up.
I don't think that he would have recovered to that post as quickly as he needed to if the ball had been thrown on the line, like Drake May could throw it, and I know he's capable of throwing it. I he feelded it like like it looked like Devin mccordy picking off Zach Wilson, Like it was like an armbrunt. Yeah, that that's not how Drake May throws a deep ball.
We all know that.
Uh so that part of it was was too bad in terms of Drake May. I do want to talk about the pros and cons. You're smiling over there a lot of people. No, no, I just somebody send me something drawing. I thought I did a good job.
You did do a good job with that. USF they play at the Buck Stadium right now. Yeah, they're building it on campus stadium. They just release the renderings.
Why is this what you're smiling?
Because if you're gonna make a rendering of your stadium, why would you make that the score in the rendering? It's twenty eight three? What do they have? What's that have to do with anything? Why would you pick the most like? Why would you use that score?
What does use USF care about twenty eight to three?
Everybody knows what twenty eight three is. Why would you put yourself up twenty eight three? You're inviting jokes, people like, I'm smiling because some people are sending me twenty eight three jokes.
Oh my god, this is a sick o thing, is yes? Oh yeah?
Oh yeah?
Okay, all right, all right, Calm down over there, Okay, I want to talk about Drake may I know I just said that he probably would have hit a sixty five yard touchdown if it wasn't for the wind. That probably sounds like a excuse me, a giant excuse uh. I had all three of the turnovers in this game at least partially on him, if not fully on him. I think the first one is just obvious, right, I mean, it's just.
A bad play.
It's a mac Jones esque interception just can't happen. The fumble God to have a better internal clock and better pocket awareness than that, especially because he starts on the left side of the field when his eyes are on the left side of the field, like he should be able to see out of the corner of his eye that arden Key is getting around Vederian low right, like that should be in his peripheral vision and he should
be able to spot that happening. I do think he was trying to underhand it to Jamichael Hasty, So the underhand early on in the game that worked to Ramandra Stevenson might have kind of give him a false sense of security a little bit to try that sort of thing, And so instead of, you know, getting two hands on the football and protecting the football. He tried to lateral it out to hasty wasn't the best decision. And then obviously the picking in overtime too was an underthrown maybe
a little bit late on the pass as well. The thing that I would say with Drake though, on top of the fact that I think that he's on the hole, I had him with like sixteen plus plays in this game, which is a really high number, really good number.
I think on the hole.
He's playing very very well outside of the turnovers. But what I see with Drake a lot right now, and the scrambles I think backed this up. I thought all of eight of his scrambles in this game were legitimate scrambles, meaning he wasn't hit in the top of the drop and leaving early or missing open receivers and running instead. Like it wasn't the young quarterback stuff that sometimes you hear about or you see about. What I'm seeing a
lot with Drake, and the numbers back this up. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the league out of structure. He's one of the best scrambling and running quarterbacks in the league. Already like three and a half starts into his NFL career, but right now they're way too reliant
on him being Superman. And when you force your young quarterback to play like Superman and drop back to pass fifty three times, then you're gonna have some negative plays on top of the positive plays, and they're gonna be turnovers and there's gonna be issues. So I bring into a question a lot of things, and you know, the scheme I think is one of them, Like I think too much of the scheme right now is just like you know, f it, Drake, go do something right, like go go, go make a play kid, And I.
Think he's starting to internalize that, which is where you get into this conversation of worrying about bad habits. Like yeah, tweeted this after the game. Everything about Drake May's approach right now screams an internal to me, screams an internal dialogue of I guess I'll have to do it myself. And I kind of understand why he feels that way. You have receivers dropping balls left and right, the offensive line can't block the play callings a little vanilla eight.
I sort of get why he feels like that and look, you drafted the kid third overall, Like you do want him to carry your offense, absolutely, but as a rookie to do it to this extent, it's gonna create a very volatile situation. And you've seen very volatile play. There's been some incredibly high highs. But he has turned the ball over six times in essentially three games.
Yeah, so he just has the highest turnover where the play right in the NFL, right right, So like.
Look, long term, the help should be coming and we can do DK Metcalf, T Higgins, Will Campbell, whatever we do that to the cows come home. Those guys aren't getting here for a couple more months at least, So you to me right now, they need to find a way, work with him to find a way. And this is where we get into the Josh Allen of it all. Where I get it. He's never gonna be a traditional drop back, three step, hit the back foot, get it out passer. Turnovers are always going to be a point
of his game, a part of his game. He's never gonna play the cleanest quarterback game ever. But you live with it because of some of the things he can do out of structure. But you don't want him mentally becoming so reliant on again, And I guess I'll just have to do it myself, right, And is there a way they can take some of the load off of him with the way things exist right now, to just get to the end of the year without again making him do too much? At some point the offense is
gonna be built significantly around him, saysn't. He's saying, you got it, you can't let the kid do anything, But it's there's there's too much on the plate right now, there's too much.
Yeah, So it's a great way of putting it, like, how do we get through the next seven was it nine games? Seven games?
Nine game played? Nine? They played nine? So eight eight games?
Bad at math?
How can we don't do math?
On?
How can we get through the next eight games with him having Yeah.
I was gonna answer the question.
Oh, with him developing good habits and making plays, but not having him default to playground mode so often.
One way, there's a couples. One way start running the football.
Well, start right, Like that's that's I've I feel like that's something that they've always wanted to do. But that's like, you know, well, easier said than done.
He's their leading rusher since he took over as the starter, and he only played a quarter of one of those games. Not only is he their leading rusher Evans since Week six, he has more rushing yards than everybody else combined by like fifty. Like part of it I think right now is teams are just they're not They can key in on him so much because there's no run game, and that's only gonna get worse. I think the quickest way out of this is to start establishing the run.
Yeah, so a lot of those lines. I think my biggest complaint right now with Van Pelt is that the offense to me is way too We're going to force Drake into our scheme versus we're going to cater the scheme to Drake, and there's got to be some sort of balance.
Yeah, I don't think.
I'm not one of these people that thinks that should be one hundred percent just everything that Drake wants to do or that's best for Drake, because way I look at it, and I think this is gonna I don't know one hundred but I'm curious about how this goes with Jayden Daniels because I think right now, the scheme that Cliff Kingsbury is running in Washington for Jaden Daniels is very much basically just LSU's offense. Like they're basically
just running LSU's offense at a pro level. And more times than not, maybe with Jayden Daniels it will just won't happen and he just transcends this. But more times than not, the league catches up to that kind of thing, right, you know, they'll catch up to it. So eventually you have to play a traditional quarterback, like you have to play drop back quarterback, and it's not all gonna be bells and whistles, and it's not all gonna be college offense and RPO and zone read and all that kind
of stuff. With that being said, it's it would be nice to dabble in that kind of thing. And especially because their traditional run games going nowhere, and therefore, i as Van Pelt told us today, their play action passing
game is going nowhere. The Patriots, in my mind, need to be more creative on first and second down, and the way to be creative, if you ask me, and I've kind of flip flopped on this because I sort of heard last week what Van Pelt was saying about incorporating more design runs for Drake May in the offense and how it was gonna leave him vulnerable to even more body blows than what he's already being susceptible to. But I think you almost have to to create some
more easy offense on first and second down. And let's not lose sight of the fact that just because he has the option to run on his zone read or the option to run on an RPO doesn't necessarily mean he has to run. And a lot of it is just eye candy or just sort of gravity for the defense that if you're running a zone read, like you have to respect the backside with the quarterback, Like you can't just crash down on the running back because he
has a threat there to keep it. Or maybe there's like a slant coming into the window for a linebacker and you have to make that decision. Am I going to crash into the hole and into the line of scrimmage here or am I gonna play the pass? And those types of things just open up space for whether it's a throw, a pass, a run for the quarterback
or run for the running back. So seeing more of that kind of stuff I think is almost a must because their offense right now, in my mind, is too drop back centric, and it's too difficult for them to execute consistently, not just for Drake, but also for the pieces around it, Like you need receivers to run good routes and get open, and spacing and timing and rhythm and offensive line to pass protect, and like all these things need to marry together for them to execute plays
after play after play after play. And there's just a lot on Drake's shoulders to make that happen right now. And that's why every you know, ten five, I think it's five point seven percent of the time an overworthy play, which is a high number. So I love in the past what we've seen, you know, with these types of quarterbacks. I call him Philly style RPOs. I love the Eagles RPO package. I think it's one of the best the league has ever seen. In Philly style RPOs, there are
three options. He can hand the ball off, he can run it himself, or he can throw it. It's the modern day triple options. Yeah, and it's almost like three. It's it's almost like two separate plays in one where the inside handoff is kind of the first play this and then the second play is run or pass for the quarterback once he decides to keep the football and he sort of gets on the edge and has some space.
We've seen Jalen Hurts really be the best at it, but other teams have run this with mobile quarterbacks, especially young ones. You know, Anthony Richardson's like those types.
Of it's all over college football.
This is so you know, you give him like it's like you know, usually the Eagles like to run like curl flat or you know, stick or whatever, where it's just like a slant you know, or a curl route right with a little flat attached to it on the back side of the play, and then he reads the defender you know, on that side of the field to determine whether he's going to give it to the back or he's going to keep it, and then he has all sorts of options, you know, all over the place.
That's not a traditional West Coast offense thing like that's not a Shanahan Tree Stefanski, you know, McVeigh laflor, Like, they don't really run that kind of stuff conventionally. But when you can't conventionally run the football, this is the way that you sort of unlock your early down offense. And I feel like that's something that Drake's done in the past at North Carolina. I think it's something that
he'd be comfortable with doing. And it also allows him to just be an athlete out there, and it sort of simplifies reads for him and things like that. I'm not saying that has to be their entire early down offense, but I definitely think that would help their early down offense. And and then you save the good drop back plays for third down and and maybe mitigate how often you have to actually go to your drop back game because right now, to me, it's not just that they're passing
a lot, it's that they're dropping back a lot. Like there's no play action, there's no bells and whistles to what they're dropping in emotion of screen. Right it's all just Drake to id coverage, read it out receivers to get open blockers to block like, it's all just on execution. Then, at that point, and we know that they have a talent gap disadvantage a lot of weeks that's said, all right, Uh, is there anything else on Drake that I wanted to get to.
I say again, like I'll give the other side of it, because I know how you view them, Like the turnovers do need to come down, Yeah, the turnovers do.
But this to me, like that's why I'm talking about this kind of stuff because I think the turnovers are happening at such a high volume because of the high volume of throws that he's making. I get that, but but the fumbles things like that, like this is a Bears defense that does turn the ball over in the mount This would be a good week for him to show.
And because I see people say, how can you say he played well? He turned the ball over three times? And this goes back to what I said at the beginning, I'm not his plays surpassed my expectations a little bit. I thought there'd be a little bit more of a learning curve than this. But I expected you're going to see some really impressive, high level, big time throws and you're gonna see some turnovers. If he's still turning the ball over like this in January, I'm gonna be pretty worried.
Yeah he's still turn next year, just even next year, I think, just because of the supporting, because of the talent. But like the way he's turning the ball over is not sustainable. It me be clear about it.
I would say the reason why they're losing games is because he's turned.
Because yeah, I'm with doing that. It's not sustainable. But he's four starts into his career. There were no expectations of them making the Super Bowls here, but you gotta see signs of improvement. You opened up by talking about, well, what was this season really about? Do they a franchise quarterback? I would add to that as a whole, especially from the quarterback and the coaching staff, the quarterback, the people you want to be here beyond this year. So you
can also throw in guys like Christian Zales. Yeah, you can throw in a guy like like uh White, the young receivers even like even the guys that aren't playing well but ideally are part of this core moving forward. And Alex van Pelt is a big part of this too. Are you better in December and January than you were in September? That doesn't mean it has to look great, but is it? And the growth isn't gonna be linear.
Maybe two steps forward, one step back, but like, at the end of the day, are they better at the end of the year than they are now. So Drake being where he is right now, the turnovers are concerning, but fine, cut them down. Same thing for Alex man Pelt. I do understand to an extent if the offense is a little more stripped down at this point because you're trying to ease the kid in. Yeah, you can't run a striped down offense for twelve games, right, so it's
been four so far. I don't as I've seen some people talk about the play calling, and you just kind of talked about it. If the planner early was we're gonna keep it pretty black and white for him through the first month, just to get him going. I understand that. I know it's frustrated to watch. I understand that. I don't think he like, Okay, he's checked the box for
the black and white stuff. Let's start mixing in some color, right, Let's let's let's let's get the So my question is I agree with you like my it's I feel like, and I'm not trying to pick on anybody, but like, I feel like some people harp way too much on the actual sequencing of play calls, Like I think that's important.
Oh, he like runs the ball too much on first down, or my bigger problem with Van Pelt right now is play design, right, which are two different things, like what are the actual designs or the concepts that you're running in this offense and for this offense, because I'll just give you another example that's not even Drake related, like they're running a ton of outside zone still, yeah, and I just don't think they have the horses up front, or I don't really think that it fits for ma
Andre Stevenson all that well to be so outside zone.
So just let me see it develop, like, let me see it progressively get better as the year goes on. That's kind of what I'm looking for here. And you know, it's a good week to start it. You know, he had the first two starts. Are they gonna start ramping up? He gets hurt, he didn't have a full week of practice last week. Okay, Like he's good, And it'd be great if I could say they have an offensive line set. Unfortunately, we might not be able to say that.
He is Van Pelt capable of designing an offense that factors in Drake's mobility, because.
It's just in just evolving the offense as a whole.
Yeah, because right now I feel like Drake's mobility is all out of structure, right it's all scrambles on drop back, And the problem with that is that it's not really yet and maybe it will in terms of game plan and like now we have to rush him differently, or we.
Have to spy him or aren't spying yea, or even already that that's.
A factor, but it's not building his mobility into the offense. Like building his mobility into the offense is the stuff that I was just talking about with Philly or what the Washington commanders are doing with Jayden Daniels. That's using his mobility as like a trump card, no pun intended, right, Like that's that ability there.
And like I said last week, I agree with the general consensus of we don't want to overrun him because we don't want the physical toll. Like yeah, I'm I'm all for airing on the side of run him not enough first, run him too much. But they have some room before they even get to like they're not even close I think to that line right now, they can afford to get a little closer to that line.
I think he'd run less, Like I really do, because I don't think that it would always be it. You think it's own read and you think of like Lamar Jackson running the ball like in a game ten to fifteen times, like in a playoff game or something like that, But I don't think that would necessarily be the case. It's more just threatening the defense and making the defense respect the fact that Drake Mays has the athleticism to to make you pay on a run like that, and
it doesn't have to. Like last week, I watched the Cardinals Bears game right on film. The Cardinals ran for two hundred and thirteen yards against this Bard's defense, who are terrible against the run, which we'll get to later in the show. But they ran for two hundred and thirteen yards on the ground. We want to guess how many of them were by Kyler Murray? A lot six oh six.
Yes, So you should be able to run the ball this week.
So Kyler Murray ran for six yards in the entire game. But Kyler Murray's legs are factors on these plays that they're running, right, Like his threat of being able to keep the football is a factor, but he's not actually going out there and literally keeping the football, So I think that that's big and it will help him, I believe, cut down on turnovers and cut down on some of the mistakes because it's a different type of offense, right
It's an unconventional type of offense. I just think their offense is too old school right now for what they have. Personnel wise, you got it, there's got to be some more creativity and some more bells and whistles to what they're doing, and there just.
Isn't right now.
And you have a young quarterback as now trying to read through progressions and id coverage and keep himself protected and all these different types of things. I don't blame him for just defaulting to running on some of these plays because it's like nobody's open the line, I got pressure coming off the left side, Like what else am I gonna do here?
Like I'm just gonna run?
And I get where his head is at with all of that, and I think managing it almost helps, Like I think incorporating it into the offense almost helps him manage scrambling, Like, well.
How it makes sense? Do it less?
The last thing I want to say about Drake May and then we can do three up, three down and open up the phone lines and the emails. The big thing that I was really impressed with and have been impressed with throughout is his ability right now to throw in in the pocket is better maybe that I expect. This might be the one area where I'm actually I think that was maybe exceeding expectations. I would say below expect. I did not expect him to turn the ball over
this much. He didn't play like this in college.
Anymore.
Yeah, that's fair.
He's in the AFC, so it's close. But that's fair. That's the bills.
But you know, in terms of the one thing that I think might be a little bit better than expected is you know, just some of the completions for example to Hunter Henry in this game, where like they bring pressure and he just knows exactly where he's going with the football to beat pressure. You know, sighted just hot wrote boom ball is out like top of the drop on time, really iding you know, pressure and rotation really well.
That type of stuff is is is pretty next level for a young quarterback to be doing that kind of stuff already is really impressive. The fourth down throw it the gotta have it for it down late in the game to Hunter Henry, Like, that's conventional from the p offense. That's not the last play of the fourth quarter right where he's running around like a crazy person. That that's
a really good, nice conventional player. I thought he made a really great throw, not the crossing route, not the highlight throw, but the one to pop Douglas on the little out out of empty where he kind of dropped the arm angle a little bit and just sort of put it out there for him.
A really nice throw.
Like those are the conventional offense types of throws that give you a lot of positive vibes about Drake. All right, did you do three up?
Three down? I did two and four?
But yes, you did it though I did it, all right, you go.
I've been doing it like I do it every week. I don't know why this is a thing. First up, it's gonna sound weird. Ramandre Stevenson, outside of what he like the running game, is struggling as a whole again. He is I think seventy six yards total in the last three weeks, eighty three before contact or eighty three after contact. Yeah, so we're still on this thing where he's getting hit behind the line of scrimmage regularly. I
think he's doing as much as he can. But when you look at what he did catching the football, when you look at what he did as a pass protector, Drake had that one scramble late. Was it on the final drive of regulation or an overtime where it should have been like a three or four yard scramble, gets out in front, set a nice block in overtime and it ends up being like I think, a fifteen yard gain.
Vermondra Stevens his usage rates up over fifty percent, Like he's still doing a ton for them, And I know people are gonna roll their eyes. How are you having a running back when they can't run the ball. They need to run the football better. I don't if we were to list the biggest issues with their inability to run the ball, I don't know that ramondra Stevenson in the top three right now. Like he's doing his part, He's doing as much as he can. He's finding other
ways to contribute. He was good for them in this game. Yeah. I agree.
The play the underhand flip. We talked about it deefly earlier. That's just a great individual play by Ramondre Stevenson too, Like it's a great play by Drake obviously as well, but he takes out the blitzing linebacker, chops down. The blitzing linebacker gets back up off the ground after chopping the guy down, makes himself available to the quarterback and is the outlet for Drake may on the play with
under pressure like that. That's a really heads up play by him too, And obviously the touchdown at the end of regulations are really heads up play by him as well, and just a good play just to box out the guy and make the catch. So I understand where you're coming from with Vermandre. I just mentioned him. My number one up again was Hunter Henry. I just think that he's been one of their best players overall this season.
Seven catches on eight targets fifty six yards, just whenever they really need to have it, you know, the fourth down play I just mentioned earlier that now was the Hunter Henry. A couple of really good throws over the middle against blitzes where he's just right where he needs to be, right where the quarterback is expecting him to be an on time. Just such a quarterback as best friend type of player for a young QB. I just think that if I had to rank the Patriots' best
players on the year. I might have Hunter Henry as their best overall player right now. He's certainly been pretty much the only consistent on offense.
Yeah, and that's saying something. Yeah, he was good in this game. He's been really good. Yep. Next again, this is gonna sound weird to some people. Jilawnie tovai better game is the second game. He did have one play. He had two plays where he got shook out of his shoes. One of them ended up coming back on a penalty, but made a couple stops against the run, was all over the field, made nice play on that interception. Yeah.
I just it's trending in the right direction with him, which is good because that I don't know that that totally fixes the defense, but that would be a big help. If he can start getting comfortable more off the ball. I didn't think we were going to see that either, but he's starting to look more comfortable in that role. So encouraging sign that he's maybe starting to turn.
Down Definitely better, Definitely a step in the right direction. I thought he gave up some plays too in this game. Thirty two yarder on the fort opening drive.
It was a little bit him.
I gave up a twenty four yard catch and coverage, but he also made some more splash plays this week, so he.
Shouldn't be incoverage. Like, I just don't necessarily fault him for that because he is not a player that should be in coverage.
Yeah, I don't blame him for it that much either. My next one, you're not going to believe this. I went with special teams Marcus Jones. I thought Marcus Jones, his forty yard return and his twenty five yard return both set up scoring drives for the Patriots without that twenty five yard return at the end of regulation that got them to the fifty yard line and started that drive in plus field position. Like, I don't know if they score on that drive.
Talk about in a game that had its share of dumb coaching decisions. Yeah, hunting the pall the Marcus Jones right there. It's not quite Matt Dodge DeShawn Jackson Raclet to metal Life, but there's some similarity.
Yeah, what the hell was Brian Callahan thing? Yeah, No, it was a He was impactful on returns in this game, and he's a weapon. He's a weapon. He's on the list right now for me, you know, not not a ton of guys that really deserve Pro Bowl, you know, sort of recognition or potential. But right now, I know Cliff Raymond's having a huge return season for Detroit. But if Marcus Jones mixes in a return touchdown here at some point, I think he has a really good chance
of being a Pro Bowl returner. Yeah, all right, who's got you got one more?
No? You only did two? All right, honorable mention for me, I didn't.
I always say fully up, just because it's hard to put anybody in the run defense fully up. I thought Anthony Jennings was good in this game. Five stuffs, four hurries. I mean that's really big production. I think he's doing his job on the defense and in the run game specifically, doesn't really seem like the runs that are to his side he's getting like crack blocked and things like that, you know, not necessarily his fault. So I would say that he's one of the few guys that is pulling
his weight on the defensive side of the ball. All right, let's go to the downs, because there were certainly a lot of choices.
Yeah, I mean, we already did two of these off the top. So just the coaching. Ye whether it be the or there's one thing we didn't cover. So we talked about the end of the half. Yep, we talked about the win thing. We talked about changing the offensive line, which I had Laiden Robinson, is it down. You just got bullied out of that game. We're just staying on the the uh, not going for two at the end of regulation.
Yeah, it's a good point. I'm glad you brought that up. I hear both sides of it. For what it's worth, the Nerds supported their decision to kick. I could not believe that they actually did it. They said to kick again for Tampa. Yeah.
I'm being dead serious when I say this. I always thought the little graphic that comes up that says go or kick, Yeah, I always thought they were making up the number because I had never seen I had never seen that graphic say kicked before in my life. I had never seen that until that game. I was shocked. I always thought they just they only had one version of graphic that said go because they were trying to further the analytics agenda. I didn't even know a kick
version of that graphic exists. Existing.
Yeah, so they would. They said it was close, it was like three percentage points, but it definitely favored kick. And my guess is that that was a big part of the decision making. I know that irks you probably inerks a lot of people that they're if.
They arrive at the right decision, they arrive at the right decision. Well, no, the analytics people can't get mad if if blindly following the math is the answer and the math goes against what they want because a lot of the analytics people don't want analytics. They're just impatient and go for too. I want to see gopher to
well over time. No, you have the ball where you're not like, No, that they're just I think a lot of the analytics communities is just impatient and they don't like the hard nosed football that involves, you know, establishing to run multiple players whatever.
But is this because they're nerds? Is that what you're saying?
Sure, I don't really get that, but like I actually went back and looked because I regardless of whether to go for it or not, and I actually there's a fail fair football conversation be at here. Math aside. I do understand the argument to go for two. I think it's a flavor thing. I won't say somebody's wrong if they say they should go for two, I would kick it, but I get it's a real, like good, legitimate football debate.
What I would say is the amount of and this goes to the Tampa game too, the amount of people surprised that the Patriots didn't go for two. That was surprising to me that if you're saying, well, what do you mean you don't go for two? What are you talking about? I went back and looked the idea that it's like some given in the NFL that you go for two. There is not the case, and it never
has been. It's a college football thing. So all the people that tell me college football is two amateur and then come at me and say you should go for two there, Well, there's one hundred and twenty something teams that are doing that, especially if you're on the road. And I went back to twenty fifteen because that's when
they moved the pat back. There have been six, well now seven instances, but before the Patriots, six instances where a team scored a touchdown in the final ten seconds of the game to make it a one point game pending the extra point of the You get what I'm saying. Of those six teams, four kicked the extra point. Okay, Now three of the four lost in overtime, so maybe you look at that and whatever, we'll change their minds. Now one team went for one team got the two
that went for it, the other one didn't. Now there's one of them Baltimore right against Kansas City. I honestly think it was the Chargers against Kansas City. There's a Kansas City and there I remember that was the charge. The point. These are all different teams with different circumstances. This is why I hate the man that shouldn't inform what the Patriots did. But what it does inform is saying, well, everybody goes for two. There they don't. They really don't.
So my my, my feeling on the Gopher two thing is if they had scored the touchdown on a conventional play, not a eleven point seven to five second ridiculous, uh, you know, circus play. Like if they had scored on a conventional play, then I would have felt more inclined
to go for two. Not because of the fatigue factor as much, but I just would have felt if I was drawed, Mayo, I would have felt a little bit more confident in actually getting the two points right, you know what I mean, Like, Okay, we just ran a play.
It just worked a perfection and we you know, he hit the back of his foot and hit and hunter Head real wide open walking into the end zone on the touchdown, Like what we we can we can do this, we have this down asking to go for two there, I think is is asking a lot of Drake may because now you're he's got to go back out there and probably do the same exact thing that he just did, right.
And And that's why you know, I always said, you've heard me say this, Evan, when it comes to go or not go, And this is why I can't stand the math. The decision to go forward or not is only as good as the play you call.
Yeah, like if they had if I had confidence, I agree with you on the on that mostly, but like even more now, like if I had confidence that they had some like cheeky two point conversion play that was actually gonna take everybody by surprising, not anything too like crazy,
but not like a trick play. I'm just saying, like, you know, something like an RPO that we were just talking about, or a roll out play or something that was actually like oh wow, like they've practiced that clearly a hundred times and like, you know, have it down. Then I would have I would have been impressed. I don't know if I was really expecting that, right.
Like, no, that's the thing. If they're looking at it and look, it brings up a different issues. You should go in every game with three or four two point places you feel good about. But they struggled to get the one yard earlier in the game. They were struggling to get in. I can't run the ball right, they were struggling to get in from the five earlier. It's like, yeah, even if you're like, yeah, going for two here makes a ton of sense, but we don't have a play
that we think can pick it up. Well, then what you're just gonna lose the game out of pride in the overall decision, Like I just the decision to go. I don't care about the math. I care about what is your play? How good do you feel about the play you were calling? And I understand if they didn't feel good about the play in that situation.
All right, what's your Because we both had coaching as a as a doubt. So what's your next Jonathan Jones?
He just he I don't know if it's I know he's dealing with injuries or age or whatever. Like they were picking on him in this game, and he was struggling.
To step slow these days. Yeah, and look the touchdown pass that he gave up to Westbrook and kna is a tough route to cover. Circus were out in the red zone.
And it's also guides much bigger than Yeah, and he.
Has the whole side of the field to get open, right, Like, that's a tough route, uh, to cover for anybody. But it does feel like the Houston game this game, like Jonathan Jones getting picked on a little bit. I think I texted you this during the game actually about moving him to safety.
It was the after.
Not this season. It's probably not the best time.
I might do it this season because their safety plays not great either.
Yeah, it's one of those things where usually when a player starts to lose a step and can't run with receivers anymore at corner, you know, the conventional wisdom is to then move them you can have a second Yeah, Yeah, I think it's a potential move for him. All right, So you had Jonathan Jones, so I had Michael Jordan as my number two down. I thought Laden Robinson honorable mention in this as well, but he didn't play as much and it's not his fault that he was playing.
So let me ask you this, do you think so they may to change on the interior, right? And Ben Brown also had his worst game of the year, and I know he'd been struggling last couple of weeks, but this was such a drop off. And I actually I want to add one honorable mention of the ups Jeffrey Simmons, one of the most underrated players in the league. Yeah, dude is a stud.
Yeah, I'll get to that in a second.
But point B, do you think that it is related that they made a change on the interior when the interior had been working and other guys on the interior started to struggle in addition to Leydon Robinson.
I will allow for the fact that that might be a factor in all of this, but I would also say that Michael Jordan, just to stick with him for a second, his film has been on a decline for about a month now, I would say, and all this moving around that they're going to do on the offensive line potentially for Sunday, that I know is going to take a lot of heat, and I agree with some of it to an extent, But at this point, it definitely does feel like Michael Jordan is teetering on unplayable
for them on the offensive line, and I certainly understand that Michael Jordan is not a part of their future on the offensive line. So getting a guy like Leyden Robinson or even city So who they hate, apparently getting one of those two guys in.
There, not one of those two guys City So.
Getting one of those two guys in there just to try to develop a younger player when the guy yet you have, the veteran that you have starting isn't playing well anyways, does make a lot of sense.
Now.
The way they're going to get to that by moving on WHENU to left guard and starting Robinson, maybe that doesn't make much sense.
But the idea of well, if.
This guy's not gonna play well anyways, and let's just handed to the kids that in theory I think I can get.
Do you think there's a chance they are holding out and saying we'll make the change when cole Strange comes back.
I do like that idea, and I do think at this point, I know a lot of people have had conversations about Cole Strange playing center. I definitely think at this point that he's more needed at left guard than he is at center. Now, Ben Brown was rough in this game too, but I thought Ben Brown was fine for what he is.
Now.
My bigger complaint or problem with this whole thing, and just to have the numbers for you, I had Michael Jordan with five quarterback pressures allowed in this game. The bigger problem that I had with this game. And this goes back, you know, years and years with Belichick in the past, like there's there's certain guys we talk about all the time, not to talk about Bill. Let's we talk about this all the time, Tuesday players, right, who's
the Tuesday players on the opponent? You get into the game plan meeting, you get the coaches together, you say, who's the one guy on defense for the Tennessee Titans or the two guys on defense for the Tennessee Titans that we cannot allow wreck this game, that we can't let it.
It's Jeffrey Simmons. But the way Jiraw talked about it after the game, talking about making surprise right, which who's the first first player drawd Mail brought up on Wednesday when he broke down to Jeffrey Simmons. So when you come into this game, it's not even like lineup is number one. We've we've already gotten over that, right, We've already gone over that. I should say the lineup is a big part of it, but I would also just say the pass protection plans a big part of it
as well. Like there's no reason, you know, Tovandre Sweat's a decent player against the run, he's excellent, but he's not a pass rusher. So there's really no reason that Jeffrey Simmons should have ever been one on one in this game. Like you slide the line to Jeffrey Simmons, it's very easy to do. The center is the midpoint of the offensive line. You slide half slide one way, you man to man the other side, right, so you have three guys sliding and you have two guys man
to man on the other side. Usually you you know, slide towards the play that the way you're running to play right the first read and in the progression, but you can mess with it and you slide to protection. So the entire game, Ben Brown should have been opening to Jeffrey Simmons his side of the right, and then you have two guys on him the entire game. Like that's the way that it should have been, the fact that it wasn't is just bad coaching. Like, it's just
bad coaching. So I had Michael Jordan, I had you know, you could put Ben Brown in this conversation. You can put Layden Robinson in this conversation. But the end, all the end, you know, the end, this whole rant. The interior offensive line by the Patriots got their ass whipped in this game. And that is not just on them, it's also just on the coaching as well. So you have to do a better job in general.
But I I understand why they're gonna take Michael Jordan out of this, out of the lineup, because he hasn't been very good.
Yeah again, I think there's a better way to do it. Put him with you. Last one, last one, Bryce Bearinger, Oh.
No, your boy. He had a couple of shanks, like you can't have that. He had a big shank, lady, He had a really.
Yeah, So yeah, there's not like there's no I don't know how much would editorialize that the guy was one of the best punters in the league to start the season. He's cooled off a little bit, out kicked his coverage in Jacksonville, shanked a couple punts of week. Gotta get back on track.
Is this a This isn't a Jake Bailey did too many squats scenarios?
Hope not? Yeah, I hope not.
It was squats, right, was it squats? I think it's like the hair is back or something like that. Squats my last down. And I've said this before, so I'm sorry for people that listen to all of our shows. And I'm repeating myself a little bit. But every single Monday, Film Monday one of my favorite days of the week. I get to sit down, I get to watch.
Watch The Loving Mondays is so on brim.
Yeah, I get to watch the film. It's great. I sit in with my laptop for like twelve straight hours and watch film, and it's my favorite day of the week. I have started to dread watching the Patriots defense. I've started to dread it because their run defense is so tough to watch. It is so difficult to watch, like it from alignment to fits to getting off blocks, fundamentals, pad level, you know, I discipline, iding rushes like all of it, all of it is just is just really
tough to watch. So I'll give you one example, I could give you a billion. Obviously, in overtime they just get there, blown off the line of scrimmage like this wasn't anything creative in overtime. It was just like against Jacksonville in London, We're coming at you. You can't stop us. That's what we're doing, right Like, It's just that right there is It sucks the soul right out of you, right like that. The fact that you can't just line up and stop somebody in the run game is just
really difficult to watch. But the thirty two yarder by Tony Pollard on the opening drive of this game for the Titans, which they scored a touchdown on, they ran a front that I haven't seen them run a ton where they have a four technique, So a defensive end straight up over the tackle right, he's right lined up right over the left tackles Jeremiah Farms. There's nobody outside
Jeremiah Farms, like there's nobody. There's no edge defender, there's no outside linebacker standing up, there's no Anthony Jennings over there, there's no number nobody. So what do the Titans do? They just motion a tight end into the formation and they crack block Jeremiah Farms and they get the easiest
edge of all time. Like it's just easiest edge ever, and they get the the DB's in the fit and now we're just running downhill at two hundred and you know, one hundred and ninety pound defensive backs right, Like it's just that to me, is not necessarily you know, DeMarcus Covington said today that the dbs need to do a
better job in the run game. You should help out the dbs, right, Like, why is there not an edge defender there to set the edge of the defense, Like having a hand in the dirt, defensive lineman inside the tackle, be your furthest player out on the line of scrimmage on that side of the ball just doesn't make logical sense. And I watched their run defense and there's just times where I'm like, who in this gap? Like who's assigned
to this gap? Like there's nobody in the gap, So that is that on the players that they're not getting aligned correctly on the field. Is that on the coaches for the fronts they're running or what they're coaching in terms of alignment. What I'm basically getting at is is that this is not talent. This is details. Yeah, And all it takes is being sharper on these details and better with your fundamentals, and their run defense will get better.
It doesn't matter that they don't have Vince will Fork or a Juwan Bentley or whichever player of from the Patriots pass that you want to point at that it was a good run defender. They have enough guys that can stop the run. Davon Godshaw is a really good nose tackle, Anthony Jennings is a really good edgesetter. They need to deploy these guys better than what they're doing, or they need to get the players on the same
page and to buy into what they're doing. Way too many blown fits, blown gaps, poor assignmon sound football, and poor formation on the defensive side of the ball. It's a painful watch to watch their run defense right now. It's it's not up to it's not NFL standard, and it's it's taking away from my mondays Alex. That's the most important thing.
Yeah, I mean it hasn't been good plan and simple.
All right, we're gonna take your calls here in a second, I promise, but before we do, Massachusetts is made for everyone. For leaf peepers, corn maze strollers, regatta lovers, pumpkin pickers, and anyone else you can think of. Come to where there's something for everyone this fall, Massachusetts, where everything is made possible. Plan your trip at visit m dot com. All right, let's get to the phones. I know you guys have been waiting, so I appreciate it. We appreciate it.
Sam is in Connecticut. What's up?
Sam?
Hey?
You hear me?
Yes? Go forward?
Sam?
All right, awesome. I had one question that I want to ask you guys. You guys want to do it a little bit, but I just want to ask about the run game in general. Well, what do you think the main issue is with the run game? Is if mostly on scheming? I know you guys are talking about that a lot earlier. Has it been at all in the on the players? I don't know how Gibson's really been doing individually. I know Stevenson, you know, at the beginning of the year was breaking a lot of tackles.
I want to I want to figure out who if it was. Those two things are a big part of it was offensive line, uh, rush blocking and if that kind of took a decline, and I kind of wanted to know, you know why you guys think that fell off so much just since the beginning of the season. If if it was maybe you know, difference with Drake May playing at quarterback and defenses are kind of treating it differently. I just love to hear you guys talk about it.
Yeah, thanks for the call.
Sam.
Absolutely, it's a good Uh, it's a good question. So a couple of things that I see with their run game, and then als obviously give your thoughts. I think the number one thing to me is uh, And I've been We've been saying this going back to the Patricia years, like they just don't have the offensive linemen to block an outside zone system. Like I just don't believe that they, from a personnel standpoint, have the right people to block it.
And I know on when who kind of gets used as like the perfect example because he's a three hundred and forty pound guy. But I would just say across the board. They don't have the athletes for it. So outside Zonetah. You know, you look at teams that run that kind of system, they have a lot of I guess, just to use a patriot, like, they have a bunch of cold strangers, right, Like they have a bunch of athletes.
They have a bunch of lean, very athletic interior players especially that can horizontally move at that ninety degree angle and reach blocks on the line of scrimmage. So a lot of outside zone is that you're gonna you know, if you're going to the left side, you're gonna have a guy right in your gap on your outside hip, and you have to reach that player and you have to turn him some you know, out of that gap, and that takes a lot of athleticism and a lot
of explosiveness out of your stance. So if they want to be that kind of team, and they truly want to commit to being an outside zone run team, which I do think they do, because that's what Gerrod Mayo said when he was hired, that he kind of infatuated by that system, by the Shanahan Tree, then you need to draft for that system, like you need to go out and draft lineman that fit the mold of that system. I don't necessarily think Caden Wallace or Laden Robinson are
outside zone offensive linemen. So I would say, on the one hand, I definitely will continue to harp and pound the table for them to just go downhill at people again, like run some gap schemes guys like run some duo, run some lead, run some power, and just downhill right at them, like take on Win, you take Robinson, take these big guys and get them moving off the line of scrimmage. Right now, the push that they're generating is not good enough. And I don't think it's totally on them.
I think a lot of it is scheme.
Yeah, I agree with that, But I also think and maybe they're going away from this, and we talked about maybe Laden Robinson went in last week because they wanted a guy who was primarily a run blocker. With Drake May coming in, they're putting more emphasis or they're putting more attention on getting players in who are better pass blockers, and they just don't have a ton of guys who are solid in both regards right now. They don't even when it comes to moving a guy like Mike and
Winn who's right guard to right tackle. That's a move you make in regards to the run game. You're not making that to do a better job protecting the quarterback. So how much can you do about that right now? I mean, you can keep Mike going win right guard. That's one way to help it. But some of it to me not a personnel thing in the sense, well it is, I guess the personnel thing in the sense
of who they have available. But I think because of who they have available, the coaching staff at times has to choose do we want guys who are better pass blockers, better run blockers, because there are gonna be guys that have significant weaknesses at one or the other. And with Drake may In, the emphasis is on protecting the quarterback.
It's a fair point. I just say the other thing, you know, quickly, they they're running a lot of they're running a lot of plays to the weak side of the formation, so away, so away from where the tight ends or this or so even sometimes the jumbo tight end, like the tackle eligible.
I don't know what's up with it.
The one thing that typically lends itself when you do that is that you're one on one on the back side, so you you technically have the numbers to that side of the field because the defense is getting tilt over to the side that the tight end is on, so you should have a numbers advantage running there. But the problem is is that it's everybody's on their own right, Like it's it's one on ones.
Across the board, right.
So you know, last week we talked a lot about that goal line run that won the game against the Jets.
Like in that instance, you have the polers, So you have what they call fixers, right, the guys that if the guys on the line of scrimmage blow their block, you have like a second wave almost of blockers that can then make them right and fix the problem when you're running weak side and you don't have fixers, you don't have pollers coming from the other side of the field, then those guys, if they blow their block, that's it that the runs over. And that's what I'm seeing a
lot of on film. Like they early on in this game, they made Cities so eligible. A couple of times they ran lead with the full back being City so in the backfield and Ramandri Stevenson didn't run behind City, so he ran the other way. So that to me, I just don't it doesn't add up to me like that. I watched that play and was similar to watching the run defense. I'm like, that doesn't look right, Like you have the whole run set up to run behind city.
So but then Drake May and Ramandri Stevenson are He's going left, and both the cornerback and the running back are on the same page about which way he's going. So it wasn't like there was like some weird exchangeer or snafu back there. To me, they they pointed the run in the wrong direction. I don't know if that's just as simple as a screw up or if there was something more at play there at philosophical.
Thing, but I just don't.
I don't care for it, Alex. I don't like, why put a three hundred pound lineman at full back and then not run behind him?
Yeah, I mean it goes back. They did this in the Seattle game. Remember where they ran the unbalanced line. They had Hunter henry at left tackle and they they ran they ran behind Hunter Henryett left tackle, Like this is it's not the first time they've tried something or they've tried that a couple of times this year, and yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, fullback's great. Full back helps so much to me in the run game.
If they're gonna keep running this offense, you want to see him, because I've gotten this question a lot, do you want to see him add a true fullback and incorporate it next year?
I don't want them to keep running this offense, but if they if they insist on running or even.
A more developed version of this offense. Basically, if Van Pelt's next back next year, even if they add in some of the pistol stuff and some of the design quarterback run stuff, do you think that there's room to incorporate a full back into a version of this offense. Yeah.
Absolutely, But in order to do that, this is not a James Devi Jakob Johnson.
No, it's it's.
It's a it's used check.
Like who was the guy they had the Packers, ironically not Dalton Keene. They had him and he opted out the COVID year and then he retired.
Yeah, yeah, they needed like a more athletic full back because he's going to have to block out on a perimeter and some are just a little bigger.
Than Jahem Bell. I don't think Jaeen Bell is quite.
I think Jaaine Bell has potential to be that guy though, Like I wouldn't mind at least trying to see if he could do it. Honestly, I think he has a chance to. But oh, Danny Vitel, Danny Vitel, Yes, I remember Danny Vittel. I thought Danny Vitel was going to be a thing for a second.
I well, he was. They signed him to be a thing, but he Yeah, it was the COVID year and he opted out and then he retired. How much I think they even like extended him, They signed him for a one year deal.
How much podcast time do you think you and I wasted talking about Danny Vittel.
At least at least weren't doing podcasts that year, that's the one you weren't doing.
That's true. We would have done a lot, at least thirty minutes.
It was. It was it was a cosmic happening that that that was the one year we weren't doing podcast.
We didn't get to talk about Danny Vitel together.
That's what they get to do with Danny vital Who else did we missed that year probably a lot, but Danny Cam because he was still here to twenty twenty one. Yeah, we never got to talk to mere Bird. Underrated player.
Underrated player, under I mean that underrated respect on Demir Bird's name, I mean he had, he had. They replaced him Nelson waiting for an hour and seven.
They replaced him with Nelson Aglore and they both have like equal productions. Yeah.
Year, now Demir Bird could fly.
All right.
Steve is in New Jersey. What's up, Steve? Steve are you there?
That's my fault. I talked to me, you did, Stevie?
All right? Steve calls back if if you're still there? All right. Todd is in North Carolina? What's up?
Todd?
So before you got on you Evan, and just after you left yesterday I talked to Jog a little bit and John felt that ADP was brilliant and that he's being kind of held back. He's not allowed to be creative and not allowed to do as much. And then in the chat today for PU there's a guy who gave us a quote from Mayo on w E I saying that you know he's in the headset, he's making the calls for the offense and that's how it works. So he's actually doing offense and I don't like the
sound of that. And then I was thinking about that. You combine that with may talking about how proud he is.
Of all the audibles he's had to make, and I'm.
Beginning to wonder, like just who is coaching what and who's doing what? And it's starting to make me a little concern. What do you guys think about the coaching and is AVP brilliant and being held back?
I'll take it off, thanks Todd.
I don't think Gerrod Mayo is is is coaching or super involved in the offense. I don't think.
I don't get that impression. I don't think so either.
Now being on the headset, like obviously every head coach is on the headset and is in that you know, okay, you know sometimes like maybe he wants to explain how they want to handle a certain situation, right to Alice Van Pelt, like you know, you mentioned in the situation before halftime against the Jets, like let's just run it out here, let's see yeah, right, that sort of thing.
So I think that that's definitely possible. But I don't think Girod Mayo's is getting in there and calling plays like and you know he shouldn't be being in Drake Mayzier, He's not. Now, do I think Alex van Pelt's being held back? No, I think this is Alex van Pelt's offense. I think this is the offense they've run in Cleveland. I think this is the offense he ran in Green Bay with Mike McCarthy. It's the offense that Mike McCarthy's running in Dallas with the Cowboys right now. Like, this
is the offense I don't. I don't think that there's some secret sauce that's being missed from this.
I mean, I think there's to an extent of him being held back by the personnel. And I think he even talked about this that like the execution is limiting some of the things they can do. But in that sense he might be being held there.
Yeah, No, I just don't think that from a creative sense, Like I don't think that he's not a this wizard that we're missing out on. I wish he was, Like I wish that was the case, because you would think by you know, four or five starts in with Drake May maybe we'd start to see some of that.
Well. I think this is the week, like and you have the concussion in the middle there, which maybe throws a ranch into that this is the week where that element of it should start ramping up.
Yeah, all right, I do want to talk a little bit of Bears.
Marine. The we actually did like a pretty solid Bears preview, more of a preview than we usually do. We were talking Bears early in the show. I'm not saying we can't. I'm just saying no, I.
Want to talk a little bit about Caleb, but I also want to get the emails up and Marine, the email is not logged in. If you can come help me with that, thank you. I want to talk a little bit about Caleb because look, it's a conversation and I like hand up. I'm not going to change my mind or act like I didn't feel this way during the draft. I had Caleb as the number one quarterback in the draft. I had him as the slam Dug
number one pick. I would have taken him number one overall if I was Ryan Pace and Matt Eberflus and the Chicago Bears. So I don't fault them for anything that they did. But now, in hindsight, with the benefit
of it, Jading Daniels has certainly outplayed Caleb Williams. That goes without saying, and I think there's a case statistically, obviously in a much smaller sample size, that Drake may has at least played just as well, if not better than Caleb Williams as well, despite the fact that Caleb Williams has a great supporting cast on paper, or a
much better one at least in the Patriots. I mean, I remember coming into the season with Chicago Alex that people are saying that this might be the best setup a.
Number one pick has ever had. Yeah, in Chicago with Caleb.
So what are your thoughts so far on Caleb and what he's done? You know, because I've been I've been a little underwhelmed. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not coming on here and trying to, you know, bash him to make Drake look better, I promise, but I just have been a little bit underwhelmed.
I mean, he's been inconsistent, I think would be the best way to put it. He's had some games where he's looked unbelievable, but it was really like a four game stretch there in the middle of the year. He didn't start the season strong. He hasn't been good the last two weeks since the buy. So he's thrown nine touchdowns, but they've come in four total games. And on one hand, for a young quarterback, yeah, consistency is one of the
tough things. But this is like to an extreme, especially when you factor in the talent he has around him. And I think we talked about this when he was at un and c usc was he going to be able to three step drop get the ball out right? For the concerns we talk about with Drake may and his inability to play in structure, a lot of that's there with Caleb too, and the offense Shane Waldern is calling,
for whatever reason, is like incredibly structure based. I think you could argue it's more structure based than what the Patriots are calling for May or at the very least, Williams is more adhering to the structure. He's less willing to break the structure, and so he's fighting himself. He's fighting himself and something's got to give. And I know people in Chicago are not happy with Shane Waldern, and I get that, whether that's him, whether it's Williams, like,
it's just the flashes are there. But I think they just have him fighting himself too much. Yeah.
So I think it's funny with Shan Waldron because when I watch the Bears offense right now, in their system, I see a lot of the same things that the Patriots run. Conceptually offensively, they run a West Coast offense just like the Patriots. Waldron is a McVeagh guy, you know, came from the Rams, you know, the Seahawks via the Rams, but followed Sean McVay from Washington when McVay was the OC there to Los Angeles, right, So this is a true mcveay guy. But Waldron at least to this point,
and he did a little bit more in Seattle. So maybe this is a rookie quarterback thing more than anything. But they don't motion much. They don't do much in terms of their pre snap to alter the defense or affect the defense, just like the Patriots. And I see a lot of the same sort of rudimentary route concepts right like we're gonna run a high low over here, or we're gonna run stick over there. We're going to
run all curls here on third down or whatever. Like, It's all just kind of stuff that frankly, people have been running since like high school, right, And I think that there's a lot of that. I think they're spacing and the way that they set up the reads for Caleb has put a lot of pause into his decision making and has caused problems for them as well. So I put a lot of it on the design of
the offense and the offensive coordinator. With that being said, I agree with everything that you said about this was the question mark coming into his career with Caleb was was he going to be able to operate on time, in rhythm, in structure. Like we know that he can do all the great stuff when the play breaks down, but was he going to be able to play conventional quarterback at a high enough level to make it worth
it right to make this all go? And so far, I would say he struggled with that a little bit, you know, growing on time, throwing accurately with timing and
rhythm and anticipation down the field. A lot of the time when you see quarterbacks misthrows, it's not because they're they can't control the ball, it's because they're not anticipating, or they're timing is off, so they're throwing late, or they're throwing early, and now all of a sudden, a ball that actually would have been perfectly fine looks like it's a bad throw. So I see a lot of
that with Caleb as well. But if you're the Bears and I know this is already happening, there's a lot of Justin Field's PTSD, just like we have some mac Jones p atsd here. So a lot of the issues when you talk about, you know, reading the field, anticipation like that type of stuff, A lot of that was the knocks on Justin Field. So this sounds familiar for
Chicago fans. And they also hate their coordinator. So all of this sounds a lot the same as some of the things that we've dealt with here over the last couple of years with Chicago. What do you think though, You're still in on Caleb and like, you know what you you expect to see out of him on Sunday.
I mean, he's still has some talent. I you know, I'm expecting him to make some plays, but I think again he's they're not allowing him to go fully into his bag. And I wouldn't be surprised if if this game turns into a little bit of a slog. You know, there might be flashes here and there, but I'm not expecting like three hundred yards or three touchdowns or anything like that. Yeah.
So really his best game has been in London against Jacksonville, which is not a very good team as we know.
So yeah, like Mac Jones this week, that's the that's the word on the street, that.
Is the word on the streat. I might actually watch that on tape just to see what he looks like.
I'm curious. Yeah, I'm curious. He had a good preseason.
We could do a Mac Jones minute next week maybe if I if I have time, I think I think we should. Yeah, I'll see if I have time.
Yeah, but what if he's like good, he's really good, and I think.
We have really good I think he could be serviceable.
We always know, I mean, like in this one game, what if he's really good, I think we have a Jones. They are no, they played the Eagles last week. It's Vikings, so it's Brian Flores's Brian Flores.
He is not gonna be really good.
I think Peterson totally like dumped on Sam Darnald today too.
Yikes, Peterson talks at but he he.
He, he has his thoughts on quarterbacks. Hung on. I want to see if I can find the quote, so yeah, Peterson or Peterson p E t or p E d Doug Peterson's with the d okay? Uh.
Other thing on the Bears that I had a thought on as well, hang.
On, Doug Peterson asked earlier why Sam Donald has turned it around this year? Justin Jefferson. I mean, he's not wrong, it's but remember what he said about Mac and the he's not New England anymore. He goes back to his Patriots ways. He's not the fraid just rip on quarterbacks.
That's that's not right.
Uh.
Anyways, the other thing I had a thought on with the Bears is that, you know what, I I was impressed with their process this offseason. And as we start to turn the page into the offseason, we'll obviously have a lot more conversations about this next you know, in the next six months or whatever. But they did all the right things to try to make this thing viable. Like if you're the Patriots trading out of a top pick, Let's say they get the number one pick like Chicago
had a couple of years ago. They trade out of it to Carolina. Carolina takes Bryce Young. That obviously hasn't worked out, But that's not the point I'm driving at. The picks that they got back for that trade were insane, Like they got four picks back and DJ Moore. So
they've used those picks on Darnell Wright, Tyreg Stevenson. Ironically, now Caleb Caleb was Carolina's pick technically number one overall last year, and then they still have Carolina's twenty twenty five second as well, and then they traded one of the picks for Montees Sweat, and they traded a pick for Keenan Allen right like, and they have all this surplus.
So they did a nice job. I think of rebuilding this roster, and I just look at it and think, if Elliott Wolf can pull off something similar, maybe it's not quite the Hall because I don't know if teams are gonna look at any of these quarterbacks like they looked at Bryce Young, but if he can pull off a similar trade down and then just kind of fan out those assets with trades and with draft picks, like I think that this is a pretty good blueprint for the Patriots.
Yeah. I mean we've used the Texans a lot, but the Bears path is certainly there for its absolutely therefore.
Yeah, And I mean, look, the Bears are four and four. They're not terrible. They're not as good as they want to be. The other couple of things I had on the Bears and I want to talk about their defense too. I think Keenan Allen might be kind of washed, Like, yeah, it doesn't look great for him. DJ Moore some weird attitude stuff going.
On with it. Walked off the field mid play.
Yeah, like walk off the field. His body language on film is terrible. Like remember you're talking about the receivers earlier on in the season with their body language like Polk and Pop Douglas. It's similar with DJ Moore, and I get it, like sometimes he's open and he's not getting the ball and receivers are gonna get frustrated by that. I've never seen a receiver walk off the field like that before mid play. I don't care if you got hurt, Like,
I just have never seen that before. That was crazy. His press conference this week was odd, weird, just talking about that situation and just kind of like making light of the fact that he just quit in the middle of a play, and then also kind of not really backing his head coach, like it was just a weird vibe out of him in the press conference. And Roma Dunsay is a good young player, but I think his timing with Caleb is a problem right now. They're still
trying to work out. And I haven't necessarily seen the explosive element to Romadonsay's game yet. I think he's a really good receiver at the first two levels of the defense already, but I haven't necessarily seen a guy that's running by anybody or making any putting any fear into anybody down the field. So what I'm trying to get out with all of this is that the Bears offense just looks dysfunctional, like they look kind of broken. Their
tape last week was terrible. They're spacing their execution body language like across the board. And this is a team that's four and four and two games out of a playoff spot. It's not like they're out of it, so that whole Bears operation offensively. They're twenty seventh in the league in DVOA. They're just kind of look like a team that sort of quit on the coaching a little bit.
I've been surprised to see how far, fast and quick that's fallen off the rails you mentioned earlier in the show Running the Football maybe a little bit this week. This Bears run defenses is horrid. It's very bad. They're thirtieth in DVA against the run. They're very bad against schemes with pullers. So once again I am demanding to see some downhill schemes, some gap schemes, pull, some go
and get downhill. At this Bears defense, they are giving up seven yards of carry seven against pulling concepts right, whether it's power, counter, g lead, whatever, seven yards of carry is a huge number, so they are susceptible to that. The two guys that worry me on the Bears defense, obviously Montes Wet if he plays, is a problem out
on the outside. Tremaine Edmonds is a really good coverage linebacker, and he's one of those guys that is going to be hunting against a rookie quarterback right for a bad throw over the middle that he can maybe intercept. But what do you see about this Bears defense, because I do think the Patriots might have some trouble passing the ball. It's a pretty good pass defense, but they struggle a lot against the run.
I'm with you, to get right game for somebody on the ground, Yeah, to get right game for somebody, but really on both sides of the ball. But yeah, this is a Bears team that it hasn't done a good job against the run by any metric. They're twenty ninth in the league allowing five yards per carry, five even
yours per carry. I feel like a broken record because I think we said this, not obviously not last week, but I think we said it two weeks ago, like this is a Patriots chance just start running the ball. But this really is a Patriots chance to start running the ball. And That's what I'm looking at. Like, I don't know that Drake May needs to go out and
have this massive game. Obviously people want the quarterback duel between him and Caleb Williams, but I think just as much if the Patriots come out run the ball well and win off that I think you feel good about it. Yeah, I agree.
I definitely think this is a game that I would be disappointed if they can't run the ball at all in this game. They should be able to run the ball against the Bears. This is a scheme game to me as much as it is about a mentality thing with the run game. There's a way to run the ball against the Bears. There's a blueprint against the Bears of how to run the football. The Cardinals just did it last week with two hundred and thirteen yards on
the ground. Like, just follow the brew print, don't overthink it, don't get too fancy, don't be running outside zone against the team. I can't stop a power scheme right like run downhill out this team, pull some guards, get Ramondre Stevenson going, and then maybe Drake May only has to drop back to past thirty times instead of fifty three and we don't see as many turnovers in as many
catastrophic plays. So that's the Bears. I'm really curious about how this goes for Caleb because so far it's been a little bit of what some people that were anti Caleb were worried about. Yeah, they look right so far.
And this is gonna be one where like if they lose, for what the national viewers of this Patriots team, Yeah, there's gonna be some big time questions he's gonna have to face. And this was my take on the leadership questions about Caleb Williams coming into the draft, was is he the best leader?
Like?
No, probably not. If he's winning games, I think he'll be fine. If he's losing games, it doesn't really matter what kind of leader he is because the team's losing. And this is where you're kind of getting to a precipice where is, regardless of how he's handling himself as a leader, is he gonna start losing guys because the results aren't there on the field.
Yeah, it's a good point. And look, we said some similar things about the Jaguars with Doug Peterson, and obviously the Jaguars played for him in London in that game and they won that game pretty handedly, and and all that stuff sort of quiets down. But nobody's see hotter right now than Matt Eberflus, Like Matt Eberfu's on a red hot seat. They lose on a hail mary against Washington.
That was an ugly, ugly sequence for coaching. You know, the free yards that they gave up on the play before the hail mary, the way they defended the Hail Mary. I obviously put most of it on Tyreeks not having yeah, being a knucklehead, but also at the same time, like you know, that's coaching, like that's you need to have
your team buttoned up in those big situations. And then they come out the following week against Arizona and get their doors blown off of them by the Cardinals who are frisky, Like the Cardinals have played well, especially lately, but still you go in there and you basically have no offense and you're twenty nine to nine, get blown out, can't stop the run. No offense sounds familiar, like those
are bad football team boxes that they are checking. So I would say that if the Bears lose to the Patriots on Sunday, which I picked the Bear so I don't think they will. But if the Patriots beat the Bears on Sunday, if Mattiberflues gets fired Monday morning, I will not be surprised.
I wouldn't be surprised either.
Yeah, I think it's either him or Shane Waldron's going I don't know which one might be Waldron, he.
Might have it might be Waldron, but somebody. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody gets the ax for that.
Yeah, absolutely, all right, let's open up to some of these or read some of these emails, I should say, a couple of good ones, and if you want to join in the last twenty minutes here of the show, eight five to five, Pats five hundred is the phone number, and we'll just kind of let you guys take us here to the end at four o'clock, So make sure feel free to call in and give us your take.
But we have a lot of emails here Alex about all of our takes, you know, about the coaching and all that kind of stuff, just asking us why we are not throwing more criticism at and about the front office. And look, I'll just put this out there. In season, I'm not really like too focused on the personnel train, like I yeah, but like right now where I'm in the weeds, like I'm in the trenches, I'm in the x's and o's, I'm on the film like we we are in we love the off season, like we are
an off season podcast. But that the time right now is not about the roster. So that's sort of part of why I I don't necessarily bring up Elliott wolf A Ton.
Yeah, I'm with you, and I think I've said my piece plenty on the construction of this offensive line or lack thereof, like major, major miss. I assume that's because the deadline. I know people with the emails, because the deadline, I know people were upset. The big move was never there. It was just never there, nothing that made sense. I will say, I think it is a miss not moving one of kJ Osborne or Taekwon Thornton, if not both, I understand they want to get value for the player.
kJ Osborne is not going to be here next year. Taekwon Thornton maybe because he has another year on his contract. You trade in the offseason whatever. kJ Osborne is not gonna be here for next year. A sixth round pick isn't a lot, but it's something else you have to throw into a trade that you don't have. If you let Osborne walk, even a seventh round pick pick swap right seventh becoming a sixth you don't have that. They have a ton of seventh round picks they could have
pick swapped or something. Not getting that deal done is a miss. Yeah, I don't know the I mean, here we go. We did it. We did five minutes on them not getting that deal done. I don't know that we were going to open up the show. I don't know that we were gonna do half an hour on them not trading kJ Osborne. But to your point, I've said my piece on the construction of this roster, it's they were misses this offseason. They were significant misses this
offseason in the draft as well. It's looking like but we'll we do that in January. We don't really do a ton of that November because it's just we'll get on the coaching staff in November. We talked about the win, we talked about changing the offensive line. Yeah, that's this time of year. Yeah.
My thing on Elliott Wolf, the one thing that I would give him right now is the grace of last off season, him and Grodmeo's first on the job and just being close to it a little bit like obviously I don't want to overplay that, like I'm not close to it, but you know what I'm trying to say, it was a whirlwind, Like it was a lot like you you changed hands, right, you changed regimes? You what the greatest head coach of all time walks out the building. I don't think people realize just how much of a
infrastructure Bill had built here over twenty plus years. I know that sounds like it should be obvious. And so a lot was going on. They had a really bad roster that they inherited. They had no quarterback, and they really had no culture or nothing to attract free agents
with other than money. So I look at what they did in the off season, and I say, if they came out of that off season last year with Drake May as a franchise quarterback, then I'm not saying that I'm giving them an A, but I'm giving them a passing grade. Right, I give him a C minus at the bare minimum.
So I said on the night they took May, I said they had a good draft by drafting Drake May, they had a good draft. The rest of the rounds two through seven will decide if it's a good draft or great draft. And you were not a great. No, we're certainly not a great. But they had a good draft taking Drake Right, there was all the temptation to trade down. Do you move down for JJ McCarthy, Do you take a tackle or receiver? I know it's oh, he made the obvious decision. He didn't. He didn't. He did.
A lot of the people saying that are the same people who wanted them to take JJ McCarthy.
So yeah, so I just I feel really good about that pick.
I think we all do.
And they went through free agency. And if you want to blame Elliott Woolf for this, then then fine, Like I'm not going to tell you how to think. But they went through free agency, and they tried to throw a bag of money at Calvin Ridley, and Calvin Ridley just didn't want to come here. They couldn't attract him to come here. He picked the Titans over the Patriots.
But really, just talking to some of the Tennessee people last week in the lead up to that game, they felt like it was never the Patriots versus the Titans. It was really the Titans versus the Jaguars, right going back to Jacksonville, Like the Patriots were kind of the third team and that entire thing. So they couldn't get
Calvin Ridley, they couldn't lure Calvin Ridley here. So if you want to criticize Elliott wolf for not being a better closer in terms of that deal, then I guess I can hear that, but the top of the market free agents were not interested in signing with the Patriots. They couldn't get those guys to take their money like, they just couldn't. So that was a big piece of it. And then the draft is where I really have my second guesses. But what I'm getting at is next offseason.
And I understand that there's not a lot of faith in Elliott Wolf running the show next off season for some people. But next off season to me is the off season where I need to see multiple blue chip caliber players added to this roster. You don't have a quarterback, like you don't need a quarterback. Excuse me, as whatever it's not, it's not on the list. And so now when you have your first round draft pick, you're gonna be taking a position player. You're not gonna be taking
a quarterback, which is huge. Don't And and this is maybe another piece of it too for me, as you and I are as big of draft nerds as you'll find in this market, I think I'm comfortable with saying that that we are two of the guys that nerd out more about the draft. I watch them when the time comes that nerd out about the draft more than just about anybody. It is incredibly hard to build your team on Day two and day three picks. So when you take the day one pick out, because that has
to go to the quarterback. And what we're really talking about is Cadaen Wallace and Leyden Robinson and Marcella's dial.
Especially when you miss runs a key position.
Yeah, Jaheim Bell, Like we're talking about guys, Yeah, Javon Baker, Jalen Polk is the one that I will not give them, you.
Said day two and three. I know, but what do you mean not give them? What do you mean?
I guess I should have rephrased from day two and three. You're right, I did phrase it that way. Outside of the top fifty, all right. Anything outside of the top fifty to me is you're you're playing darts. Yeah, you're throwing dart.
You want to hit on one or two of those guys ideally?
Yeah, And when you say hit, it's that they can play in the NFL. It's not that those guys are star players for you on your team. It's that you hit on a guy, uh, you know, in the third round that can competently play the position you drafted him. To play. That's a different conversation than what the Patriots see. The Patriots need frontline, blue chip, top of the roster talent, so they're not talking about guys that just fill in
the roster. Right, So I give them that grace because this off season they're gonna have one hundred million dollars in cap space. I don't I gave him one off season for the excuse that nobody wants to come here. I don't give you two.
Right now that they've seen Drake May, the hope is.
That close the deal?
Uh?
And then Drake May. Remember when they sent Tom Brady and Kelly Olynnock to try to send Kevin Durant signed Kevin Durant? Where's that on the cape on the Vineyard?
It was actually as actually the Hampton and the Hampton's.
Whatever, Get Drake May and throw Jason Tatum on the Oh no it'll be April. He'll be playing, but maybe they have an off day. Throw Jason Tatum on the plane out there to go get your receiver.
Yeah, So that that's I gave him one off season with that, right, You really don't have an identity, you don't have a culture. Nobody knows what's going on here. It's it's a tough situation to walk into as a free agent with options like Calvin Ridley, like picking the Patriots in that spot, it was always a little bit unrealistic. So I gave him that for one year. Next offseason,
I don't give him that. And with the draft right now, and it's early, and I know everybody's kind of has this take right now that the draft stinks sat aside of Drake May, but calling for what it is, it doesn't look like a.
Great draft anything.
Yeah, and the pick that I really hold against them a lot is Jalen Polk. And again, just like with Caleb, this isn't revisionist history. I wrote it at the time, I wasn't the biggest fan of Jalen Polk's coming into this draft. I'm not saying I thought that he's stunk or couldn't play. I definitely didn't see this Like I thought that he was going to be like everybody else kind of did, like a steady Jacoby Meyers, Tyler Boyd
maybe you know, type of player. Like I thought that that was sort of where he was going to fit into an NFL hierarchy, probably like a solid to low end number two receiver, right, And that's good. The Patriots needed somebody like that. I think they still need somebody
like that. But my concerns with him are all the concerns that we're seeing on the field, you know, which is separation ability, diamondamic route running ability, the reliance on contested catches or catches in traffic, and finishing through contact. It's one thing to finish through contact and make all those contested catches playing at the college level. This level,
the physicality is much more significant. And maybe it's just an adjudtment that he has to go through, but he that skill was always going to make or break his NFL career. Yeah, whether he could finish through contact at this level or not was always going to determine his success or failure in the NFL, and so far he hasn't been able to. So right now, that pick is
looking trending towards the wrong direction. I hate using the word bust this early on in a player's career, but it's not trending in a great direction.
Well.
I also think when you look at and there was reporting at the time that they were considering moving into the back end the first round and yeah, whether that be for a receiver like Xavier ly Get or maybe a tackle. You know, what would that have cost? Probably that what was it, thirty fifth pick that that whatever their original second round pick was thirty fifth, thirty six, and you had all those picks, stock Pole in the fourth. So if you could Jalen Polk and then one of
Leyden Robinson or Javon Baker. Yeah, instead of those guys, you could have had xavierly Get, or you could have had Tyler Geitton or whoever. Right, Patrick Paulman like starting to look like maybe investing those picks and moving up might have helped them out more.
Yeah, it's a tough one and I think it's also tough. And I again, you can go look up my wide receiver rankings, Like you traded the pick that was Lad McConkie, and Lad McConkie's had a much better rookie season than Jalen Polk has has been much more productive.
And Ladi McConkie's.
The difference between the two of them was Lad McConkie was much better and more dynamic at the top of his routes to create separation. He was a much better, more you know not much better route runner necessarily, but like just a more dynamic route runner, more explosive route runner. Then Jalen Polk was in college and so far Lad McConkie has been a hit for the Chargers and your guy hasn't been. So that group of five we always said this at the time. You know, Polk, mcconkee, leget Coleman,
Kean coleman in Buffalo. I think there was one more right that went and that uh in that run in the early second Rad McConkie, McConkie, Coleman, Polk.
There's one. There's one or two more. I think that was it. Like well, Brian Thomas Junior went no, no, I'm not gonna like like twenty twenty five draft hang.
On well Worthy obviously is one of them too, but he was a worthy one of twenty eight. Yeah.
Oh, Piersall went at thirty one, get Coleman. So four in a row. Pierre saw to get Coleman, McConkie, the last two picks the first, the first two picks of the second, Patriots had the mconkee pick. They traded out. They moved down a couple spots for a Polk.
So he's going to be compared to those guys, fair or not, for the rest of his NFL career, And right now it's looking like all those guys are contributing more to their teams than Jalen Polk. Although I will take a small victory lap on Keon Coleman because yeah, he's been great. Yeah he's been exactly what I thought. All right, let's take this call from Tim and and then we'll wrap up the show. What's up Tim?
Hey, guys, let's do a Boston Sports minute here. My Celtics will loss bother you at all. I'm not sure how many teams would be in that game down two of the three best players, but I mean it was the first good defense they faced, and they got held to forty points in the first half. I mean, I'm glad they figured it out in the third, but still a little worrying. What do you guys think about Kada? Do you see anything real in him?
I love this help out there.
Thanks thanks for the car literally talking about this earlier a.
Little Boston Sports minute. Why God threw a throwback my thoughts on the Celtics. I am never going to panic
over a game in November. It's just way too early in the season for me to feel that way, and they've really played great outside of this first half last night in that game, But I would say that the one thing that does concern me, like a tiny little bit, I guess with the Celtics is that right now they've been really reliant on like Peyton Pritchard and Derek White and those guys just unking up threes and making them
a little bit too much. But maybe that's just because you know, Brezingis and Jalen are Is playing and they become a little bit more balanced. So once those guys get back. But overall, I'm not concerned at all. I'm not super concerned.
One thing from last night, and you kind of mentioned that the need to make threes with the Warriors didn't I don't know why they didn't do it. More was they just came right up and played essentially like when I say press coverage, I mean in the football sense. Yeah, press coverage of the on the guys with the ball and dared them to drive to the basket. And that possession the last possession at the end of the first half. Here we go again, talking possession at the end of
the first half. It's it's I think it was was Derek White and Drew Holliday or Peyton Pritchard and Drew Holiday. The two of them are just kind of stay next to each other at the top of the key, passing the ball back and forth. Well, the Warriors defenders are right there in their chest, like Tatum needed to move off the ball or go to the basket or something. And it goes back to what's been a core problem for this team, which is when the three is not falling,
what's playing b playing. Bee has been attacking the basket, but their two best players in attacking the basket are Jalen Brown and Chris SOPs Porzingis. So, you know, to lose by six the way they played without those two guys, I'm not super worried about it, you know, late in the game. I think they could have had some better possessions. The one thing is like, yeah, it would have been nice to beat Steve Kerr after the whole Olympics thing.
But Tatum played well. I do like Kita now you put him, you called it Robert Wakes.
I'll get to that in a second. All right, just one really quick thought and then we'll get to that. So last night. One thing that I did notice, and they love the high pick and roll action, and the Warriors kept on pushing them to further and further out, and so now all of a sudden, the high pick and roll is happening like almost at.
Half court, right, but you're not able to just pull up the three.
Yeah, And I thought that was a big reason why. And you know, we'll get to Takeda here in a second, but the big reason why they're saying the Celtics were really successful with the high pick and roll is that they they had that ability to get to the nail
right right at the free throw line. And when you get to the nail, and then you would always have a guy in the dunker spot, right, and it just kind of opens up almost like in football, where you have like levels to the offense where you have like the three point shooter, you have the guy at the nail at the free throw line, and then you have the guy in the dunker spot right by the basket.
And when the Warriors were pushing them out, like how many times I felt like Jason Tatum high pick and roll is getting the ball at like almost on the logo, and I'm like, well, this doesn't know good like you can't shoot from out here. So yeah, I saw a little bit of that with the Warriors defense.
And now you look for and look, it'll change when when Brad they were able to play that way because Brown and more importantly Porzingis weren't in their play. Yeah, a little bit of a blueprint game maybe for the Celtics, showing a way to play them and we'll see, Like I wouldn't be surprised, it's I know if the Nets Friday, their next big game is they have the Hawks for the NBA Cup, I think one Monday or Tuesday.
I kind of like the NBA Cup? Is that a bad take?
I hate that?
I like it.
I wish they didn't nonsense with the floors.
The floors non like I remember last year when they had to score a certain amount of points to make the knock around. I was into it.
Look it's fun, it makes it early it Now I worry they're going to expand it like every good thing, like don't take it too.
Far, but give your quick anyway, because.
They well it's I wouldn't be surprised they start seeing that defense from they have like the Hawks, they have the Calves coming up. He's a good player. He's a good player. You know how how I've long been annoyed that they don't seem to value height or size or ability at the rim. They played basketball and they don't like tall guys. It's true, but like you have a seven footer can't shoot a lick, but he can. He's a factor at the rim on both ends of the floor.
Not saying that has to be your superstar. He's not prime shack. They shouldn't treat him like it. But he can give you a good ten to twelve minutes a night. And when he comes in the game, the energy changes every time. When they put him in late in the third, early in the fourth quarter and he blocks a shot or he puts down to the you know, a big alley oop or something, and like for these teams that are going to defend the Celtics and take away the three, they kind of have to change it up a little
bit when he's on the floor. So I don't think he's Robert Williams. Robert Williams was another level of explosive. That was my comparison. He Robert willis a Rober Williams also six nine.
But he's like, at worst right now, the way he's playing right now, he's like discount Robert Williams. Right, he so Robert.
Williams remember had that little bit of a jumper. He could also run up and down the floor. Kita is not as big of a part of the fast break. Yeah, and Rob Rob right, but like again, I think just giving you I'm trying to I'm blanking on the name. Who's the guy that had a couple of years ago they got at the trade deadline and he was just like, no, they didn't. He played in Toronto for a long time. Toronto.
No, uh are you thinking of Capella?
No?
No, no, no, no, it was that's who I think of when Seuta he's bigger.
He wasn't like a great player, but.
He's an energy big you know that's what that's Okada is and uh.
Amir Johnson Oh yeah yeah. So it's were like he didn't play a lot, but they put him here Johnson in the game with all these shooters around him, and he was just like, all right, you can't totally crash the three point line. Yeah, because we have this guy and he'd give him, he'd give him ever play. He was also six or nine.
But I like Kida perfect uh rim running five like you know, just exactly what they need for their type of offense, and they're gonna be spaced in five out and all that kind of stuff. So now you have a guy that can you know, be there at the rim with offensive rebound, dunk on dudes, all that kind
of stuff. I really like his game and I like how his game fits with them, And I also think that you know, you look at the East and you look at some of the teams they might need to go through, like imagine in a series against Joel Embiid in the sixers, and yeah, he's going to be a pain in the butt to joelan and be because.
Of how energetic he assuming place. You got another one like Jared Allen good.
Play, yeah, yeah, just you know, painting the butt guy that you know, Joelan b doesn't want to run around with a guy like that, Like he doesn't want to hustle on the boards with a guy like that. Uh that That's what That's what Keida brings to the table. So I do like him.
He tailed Celtics talk going to catch twenty two.
There you go and see that some people definitely shut us off. That's okay. We were two hours into the show anyways, and we had uh, We're about to wrap it up really quickly to end this Boston Sports minute. You have thirty seconds on the Red Sox offseason where they are apparently suitors for Juan Soto, which none of us believe.
I don't know about once I've seen today. Like Taoscar Hernandez, Garrett Crochet would be good additions, would be Righty's please?
Right?
He sound so much like White Sox. We're not on Soo, but we're gonna go for uh, Tioscar Hernandez.
Look, they're never gonna get soda. If they added like Hernandez and Crochet and another right handed bat and the bullpen, like those four collectively would be more than Soto to me, Like they need multiples like the Patriots. Right Soto is you add the quarterback and that's gonna make a difference. But at the end of the day, there's eight other guys in the lineup and they just don't have the
pieces right now. I'd rather see them take a wider approach, but get some legitimate like n He's not Soto, but he's a legitimate middle of the order. Bat. Yeah, you know, Crochet is a legitimate top end of the rotation. Guy. I'll believe when I see it.
Yeah, So tonight Bruins Tonight, see if they rebound from getting blown out again by the Toronto Mapleus the other night. So in my house, the Bruins are a big topic of stress right now, and they'll is our household. So hopefully they turn it around. And tonight I'll probably watch that Bruins game, maybe watch a little bit of Baltimore Cincinnata. That's gonna be a fun game, and I might crack open a little bud Light. And it's easy to drink, it's easy to enjoy. It's bud Light, the official beer
sponsor of the New England Patriots. Thanks for let it sticking around and letting us do a throwback Boston Sports minute from the Cleanest Days. People remember that it's a good time. You still do it right.
Occasionally we have that's usually an off season thing. We don't do it with thunder.
All right, We'll be back next week the Los Angeles Ramps, which I'm really looking for to effort in person and saying, you know, waving high to a tight pants guy can't wait, but until then, signing off for Algus Bart, I'm eving Blazaar. Thanks for watching, thanks for listening. We'll see you guys next week.
Thank you for downloading this podcast. Subscribe on Apple, google Play, and everywhere else you listen. Like the show, Please rate and review us. Listener comments and ratings help keep us high in the podcast rankings so new listeners can find us. Be sure to check Patriots dot com for more news and more podcasts.
Patriots Postgame Show.
Join Batsmith along with Patriots dot com and Mike dessou as they offer instant analysis after every Patriots game. We bring you the good, the bad, and the injured from each game. Plus you'll hear press conferences, exclusive player interviews, and more on the Patriots Postgame Show. Search for Patriots Postgame anywhere you get your podcasts