Patriots Catch-22 11/9: Three-step Plan to Fix the Offense, Evaluating Mac Jones' Performance, Buying the Defense?

I was very concious. Definitely some drilling. We're we're working on it, um, so apologies for that. But I want to start with looking back on to Sunday, and then we're gonna look ahead and talk about some of the big picture stuff that I I bet it is being talked about down the hall, honestly, about where they go after the buy and what they can do these next couple of days and use these days to kind of

self scout and make some system. I think what he's scheme tweaks or scheme adjustments, I think is what Belichick called it yesterday. So there's some of that going on, certainly, But I want to start with Sunday and also talk about maca in a general sense as well moving forward, because Alex, I think I've definitely come off on the mac apologist side lately, right. I think the rest of

this thing around him has really torn him down. And the main reason why I feel that way is because his strengths coming in the draft, his strengths last year, processing, in accuracy down the field, right, Like those are his

two calling cards. When those things just regress out of nowhere, like Mac Jones has been a smart, cerebral quarterback probably his entire life, right, Like you probably would have to go back to like Pop worn or to find like a time when Mac Jones was not seeing the field or not getting the ball where it needed to go, or like things like that, like how many you watched him a ton of Alabama? How many times did that

happen at Alabama? Like he didn't, right, And it didn't happen last year either, like the struggles that I saw from Mac Jones and after the by last year along

with the rest of the team. But I thought what we saw with Mac was more physical limitations, right, Like he just doesn't have the rocket arm to fit the ball twenty five yards down the field between two zone defenders that are closing on his receiver, right like, and teams I think caught onto some of those things, and we're adjusting to take away the short and intermediate stuff and force the ball and funnel the ball out towards

the sideline. And that was the type of regression that I was expecting from Mac Jones, was defense is adjusting to what he's good at, recognizing that he doesn't have this the physical physical tools, excuse me, of a Josh Allen or a Justin Herbert or Patrick Mahomes and forcing him to be that type of player as best as they can schematically on defense, When he regresses, when his strengths regress, that points to me to what's going on around him, right Like. You don't just get to that

point on his own. And when we watched the tape against the Colts, to me, this was the worst decision making game that Mac Jones has ever played with the Patriots. And I know he didn't even turn the ball over. So just like, think about that for a second, right just in terms of pure processing, where he's supposed to go with the football, when he's supposed to go there with the football between the ears stuff, whatever you want to call it. Processing field vision. It was as bad

as I've ever seen it from him. And that has to point in my mind to trust and comfort, like his comfort level and what they're doing, what he's being asked to do, Like where is he supposed to start in the progression? Is he supposed to start to the left, to the right, to the middle of the field. What's his first read, what's his second read, what's his third, what's his you know, where's his check down? Releasing into

the pad? And like those types of things it has it stems from all of that, and then you also get into the timing right of he has a three step drop here, but we're asking receivers to run rout step break at twelve yards down the field. Well, if receivers are running vertical routes down the field on the three step drop, then that's forcing the quarterback to just sit there and hold the ball right, hold the ball and hold the ball, and hold the ball and wait

for guys to get open down the field. So you saw a lot of that on this tape as well. So his mental processing skills did not They just couldn't have gone back to where they couldn't have hit rock bottom like this without the whole thing around him being terrible. Now, with that being said, he did not play well against the Colts on Sunday, And no one is trying to sit here and say that mac Jones has been good, right, Like he's not been good contest context, it's explaining why

he looks the way that he does. And I mean he talked about his comfort love with what they runn how about his comfort level in the pocket? Yeah, he doesn't have time, and on the few plays he does, he's sitting back there feeling rushed because he feels like he's about to get hit in any second because he's not used to having that kind of time. So again, you know, I think a lot of the macapologist thing, Like you said, No, it's explaining what's going on. People

will say, oh, I knew this was mac Jones. I knew he was this guy. Well, then why wasn't he this guy last year as a rookie when he had less experience? Right? He said, oh, well last year doesn't count, Well, then why does this year count so much more than last year? Right? It's just adding context and right now for a number of reasons. He's not comfortable, and when you're not comfortable as a quarterback, you make mistakes because you get rushed, you get nervous, and that's what we're

seeing right now. Yeah, that's the biggest thing I think from this last game that really stood out on the ALL twenty two was not progressing past the first read in the progression right right, and at this stage of Mac Jones's career and even in his rookie season, because he is a smart passer and he is somebody that goes through his reads quickly typically until this year, they are having him read full field progressions. He is not reading half the field, right, or he's not supposed to

be reading half the field. But what's happening in a lot of these plays is he's only reading like the first or second read in the progression and then he's kind of goes into panic mode a little bit, right because he thinks he's about to get clocked. Because that's how it's been this season. Yeah, either he's going to be clocked or there's nobody open initially, So now where do I go with the football? And it just doesn't

seem like I have seen recently. Mac Jones go from one side of the field to another and hidden receiver in rhythm on the second reader on the backside of a play or whatever the case may be. And I think the number one play that's going around is that that Kendrick Bourne pass that he missed. Dan Orlovsky tweeted it,

I talked about it, but Dard talked about it. So you look at that play and the thought process in that play is not terrible because the way the safety rotation plays out in the back end, He's got a one on one matchup with Taekwon Thornton with no safety help over the top right, So he's thinking, if Taikwon beats to Fan Gilmour here at the line of scrimmage, I have a chance for a big play down the

field with no safety help. Take it out of the fact for a second that he's asking his rookie wide receiver to go up against a former defensive player of the year right and win them one on one matchup. Take that out for a second. As soon as Taekwon Thornton's covered on the play in the first let's call it initial stages of the route right at the release and at the beginning or through the stem as he's getting vertical up the field and cancel it right, like

he's not open, like move on to something else. So instead he just sits there and holds the ball and holds the ball and holds the ball and eventually he forces it to remandre on the checkdown and he's covered and it's incomplete. On the front side of the play, Kendrick Bourden is sitting open, wide open at the sticks like this, like, yeah, hello over here, right. What the Patriots want him to do or what he should do.

I'm not gonna say what the Patriots want him to do because I don't know, first of all, and second of all, I have no idea what they're coaching him right now. So what he should be doing there is I'm gonna give my guy a chance for half a beat a beat to win that one on one. If it's not there, I'm gonna go to the front side of the formation with the three receiver side, and I'm going to just work out that progression. Right. It's a

it's a sale concept. It's like stick corner vertical right, Yeah, I'm just gonna read the progression and make the right throw. If he had done that, if he had given Taekwon a chance initially in his drop, he looks at it, he sees Taekwon come off the line covered going back to my right, he would have had the first down. But for whatever reason, he's getting frozen on those reads.

There's a play earlier on in the game where he had Hunter Henry open in the flat for a checkdown and he's reading the vertical routes and the content is actually the same style of play, the same floodplay, and he's reading the corner and the vertical and trying to throw it past the sticks to Jacobe Myers on third down. And by the time he makes a decision to not throw the football, he then tries to run instead of just checking the ball down a Hunter Henry and he

takes a sack. Right. So these types of things where he's just not progressing past the initial reads and he doesn't feel comfortable getting to the front side of a play when he starts on the backside, or vice versa. This stuff just was not happening during his rookie season. This is not mac Jones has hit his physical ceiling

right and teams are catching on to it. This is mac Jones is not seeing the field, which is a totally different animal than anything that I expected, as like I just never expected us to be here, Like I expected us to at least have that feather in our cap, right, right, You know, he's an accurate thrower within tw yards of the line of scrimmage, and he has good eyes. He gets the ball where the ball needs to go. We're

not there anymore where we've completely aggressed. Yeah, and again I think a lot of it is a situation they've put him in, right you talk. I heard you guys talking on Unfiltered before this about the way they're kind of marrying some of the concepts to his responsibilities, some of the route concepts his responsibilities if if there's no right answer on the play as it's designed, what's the

read right? Yeah, And it feels it's probably a bit of an oversimplification, but you know, essentially reading the field, you're looking for the right answer. You have, you have your set, the defense is they're set, and somewhere in there there's a right answer. Usually it feels like a lot of the plate, the the chances he's being given right now, there's no right answers. So of course he looks flumex. Yeah, I think the other concern and I want to I think this is like the most fair

criticism of him I can give on this. There are some throws where quite his accuracy just isn't as good as it was. Yeah, And I don't know if that's it's it is. I would say, like my take on it, I can't. I don't inside his head, so I don't know. And my take on it is that this is all related, of course. Of course, no, of course, because suddenly, you know, especially to half the success he had last year. He's been successful his whole career, right right from Alabama, and

you know, it's all gonna compound. Right if there's plays where it's just not there and you can't get it done, even if it's not your fault, you're gonna start thinking it is or start second guessing yourself, and then when you do have those opportunities, that that doubts still there. It's that that concept of being sped up is something that I've hammered. I think that's what it all comes

down to. He didn't get any pass protection going back to training camp, and it's just completely changed the way he sees the game. It's gone from going through the progressions and figuring it out and reading the defense because now he feels like he doesn't have time to do it, to just try to make snap decisions. And now even when he does have the time, he's just developed all these bad habits because of all the instances when he didn't. Yeah,

totally fair. And the first read quarterback thing. You usually hear about young quarterbacks, but in particular, usually hear about young mobile quarterbacks right where their instincts are. If the first read isn't there, I'm running. That was the whole thing with Justin Fields, right. But luckily for Chicago, Justin Fields is an awesome runner. So lately, like against the Patriots, he ran all over teams, right like last week against

Miami's running all over them. So that's you know, the other side of this is that Mac Jones in order to succeed, needs to be that cerebral pastor like he needs to be a high level processor then order to succeed. So all this other trickle down stuff he's got to

figure out. Now. The accuracy thing I think is really interesting because as much as I want i'm a quarterback apologist, I'm a Mac guy, right, that's where we're at now, believe it or not, as much as I want to put it on the offensive line and look at these two plays and say, there's pressure in his face. His

line broke down and basically gave him no chance. There were two plays in the game that I thought really stood out from an accuracy standpoint, where I thought, if he's comfortable in the pocket under pressure, he still hits these throws. And I think maybe hits these throws last year. The first one was the wheel route to Ormandre right where it works. It's pick wheel. Taekwon Thorton picks Rmandre's guy in man coverage. He's got like a step and a half on the linebacker, and there is pressure in

mac Jones's face. Yannika Juice gets beat by quitty Pay off the right edge, and Quittypay is right in his grill as he releases the football. Still a throw i'd like him to hit. Yeah, still throw, I'd like him to hit every once in a while. You're gonna have to make some plays under pressure, right, and that's still a throw that it's a hard throw. Hey, it's under press, sure, But if he's the guy, if he's a franchise quarterback.

I still want him to make that through. The other throw was the crossing route to Kendrick Bourne the very first third down of the game that Cole Strange gets beat by DeForrest Buckner and Buckner's in his face. And could Kendrick Borne have caught the ball. Probably? Could he have not slown down on the route and run through it. Probably he still put it too far out. That's another one too where and maybe in this situation helped with the blitz, But that was a one read play. Yeah,

that was There was a clear out route. Right. It's the same play that they ran to Jacobe Myers on third down the week before, right, and he's what is He's like six seven yards short of the sticks. That's the Kendrick Borne is the only receiver Mac Jones can throw the ball too. On that play. Nobody else is realistically in the pattern. So yeah, it wasn't a great throw. But I look at that and say, well, why why are they running that play? There? It goes back to

my thing where there's no right answer. Even if he completes that, Kendrick Bourne gets tackled probably right there, maybe picks up the yarch, not to his fault. The defenders right on him, right, they come up, you know, third and fifteen they pick up or I think it was third and fifteen, third and whatever it was. I have it right in front of me. I probably could actually just say it right? Should I do that? Should I

be right? Evan? Let me be right here. I actually think he had some room third and twelve, Third and twelve. He caught it like five yards. He caught it like five yards off the line of scrimmage, seven yards short of the sticks. Maybe he picks it up, but it's not easy. Let's see he gets tackled. Then it's all, well, why's mac throwing short of the sticks on third down?

Is he doing that right? It goes back to my point of there there are plays they're running where there's just no right answer, and I think he's struggling to figure out what to do with that. So to me, what all this adds up? And this is sort of what I got into and unfiltered. But you know, there's obviously a lot more voices in that room, so he

can hash it out more here. To me, these are all not max like big picture, but some of this execution stuff that we're talking about I think is micro is fixable, right Like, I think that some of this execution stuff, the timing of the drops and the routes, the uh you know, handling pressure or or improving the offensive lines so he's not under a pressure as much.

I'm not sure about right tackle, Like that's the one spot where we're going to get to in a second where I'm not sure that that's fixable with their current roster construction unless they do something something you have to figure out how to work around. Yeah, right, correct. But on a macro level, Matt Macro, I think some of the like mac ah, there you go. On a macro level, I think there's two big things that that from a coaching and coordinating standpoint that really stand out to me.

Play design. It's simple and it's unimaginative, Like there's just nothing create like, there's no conflict. It's not putting any conflict into the defense, right, like just calling plays like it almost reminds me of like what they talk about when they talk about training camp. Right when they say that training camp, we're just running basic, like we're just running our install, like we're running day one stuff and we're just trying to get the execution down of our

basic play. I know you kind of hate this, but the term I always uses Madden offense, Yeah, because with the playbooks in Madden are if you ever played Madden, like, they're just that's not really how NFL plays are called. It's a very oversimplified version of how NFL plays are called. But teams will do it, you know, in training camp in the preseason when you have ninety guys and you're just you know, it's one thing to run in the preseason. It makes some sense to run in the preseason, not

necessarily in Week nine. Yeah. There's just so few times where I sit there and I'm like, that was that was a good design, right, that was like a cool play, Like that's why when they ran the touchdown to Jacobe against the Bears the league playoff play action with Bailey Zappy, I lost my mind in the press box because I was like, oh, my goodness, don't admit that they finally ran something that like that was cool, Like, yes, like

that's what we're supposed to. That's coordinating. So it's that's play design, I think, and maybe people who don't watch the game as close as we do, just to kind of explain this a little further, because it's there are people who I tell this to them and they're kind of surprised that this level goes into it. It's not five guys running five routes. When you call a passing play, they're all most of the time, they don't all have to interconnect. But when we talk about route concepts, this

is what we mean. You run a guy on a post, and then you run from the from the boundary, and then you run a guy from the slot on a wheel. This is just one of hundreds of concepts, but those two work in tandem to create space. Right. That's and that's kind of what you're talking about. Is you can just give five guys five different assignments and have them all run them, and that's all well and good, But what you really want to do is pair. It can

be two together, it can be three together. There's probably some plays where there's five together. I can't think of one off the top of my head. I guess hoss kind of is five? Right, Well, that's those are like full field progressions, right, Like that's the difference. But but the idea is that you're running, you're running these concepts in tandem with one another to elicit some sort of reaction from the defense, and that can be any various number of things. But you're trying to put guys in

conflict by what you're showing them. And then what you can do is take those concepts and build you take it to the next dimension. You build off of those concepts throughout multiple plays where you know it's you set them up one way and then you give them the other that kind of thing. Whereas that that there's not a ton of that right now. Right, So the easiest example that I can give is like the Shanahan tree,

because it's it is pretty simple stuff. Right, So it's outside zone, outside zone, and now we're bootleg right, and we bootleg off of outside zone. And when we bootleg off of outside zone, we have like five different route concepts that we run off the bootleg. So some of it is just half field, like you know, crossers right into that half of the field. It could be slant,

slant slant and then slant guard right. And then some of it is half boot where actually the quarterback is booting but then kind of stays more in the middle of the field instead of going all the way out to the into the boundary into the sideline, and then those have different route concepts off of it and different things that we can do off of it. So it's all sorts of complimentary plays. Like the Patriots all go to play for years. Off of play action is called

Charles Barkley where they pull the backside guard. They made all their play calls after like legendary basketball players. So like Hosses is Michael Jordan right the goat, then like Charles Barkley is the pulling guard play. So they'll pull the guard right because they're a guard pulling heavy team. So when they run the football, it's it's counter, it's power.

We're pulling the guard and we're going through. So they'll pull the guard and then they can pull the guard and they can put a crossing route behind it, right where a Gronk or Julian Edelman would cross on an over route across the field. Then they'll run Charles Barkley, same blocking scheme, same everything up front, but now runs the seam right instead of running the crosser. So now

we have that. Now we have Julian Edelman. Instead of running the crosser, he's gonna run like a postcrosser right where he fakes inside and then he breaks outside, right. So those are the different compliments, are the different things that they can play with that allow them to build plays up. And you don't hear Shack Leonard's calling out our plays at the line of scriminals. And that's thing because it all looks the same. It's like when you see those videos of pitchers right on Twitter where a

guy's fastball and slider. You know, the arm actions the same, the release points the same, the first you know, ten feet to the mound, it's the same, and then they split in two different directions. Right. That's essentially kind of

what you're trying to do with your offense exactly. And I think that these types of things are like PhD level, right, like this is like graduate school, this is like big leagues, And right now you have an offensive coordinator and an offensive staff really with Patricia and Joe Judge that are learning on the fly how to do this, so they are elementary. And I kind of agree. I think Paul

and Fred were talking about this unfiltered. I kind of agree that Bill Belichick has sort of put Matt Patricia in a terrible spot, right like He's a defensive coach his whole career. Now he's moving over to offense. They're also dealing him a second a second year quarterback, right It's not like they have Tom Brady here still where it's like all right, Matt, like you're going to coordinate the offense, but really Brady's the coach, right, Like, there's

not that much going on right now. So I do think that Matt Patricia is in a tough spot, Like I do think it's a difficult position to be in for him. But I just think there's a level of sophistication. And this is why, you know, I kind of downplayed the Shack Leonard thing, and I do think it does deserve some downplaying. But at the same time, it does definitely suggest the fact that they're plays are pretty pretty

basic right now. And I'll sit up there in the press box or you know, on all twenty two and like be like they run this play every way, right, Like I see this play every week. I see this

play every week. I see that play every week. And their most successful stuff has honestly been the RPOs lately, and that's because it's finally something that just organically creates conflict in the defense, right, Like there, it's just a play design that is already creating conflict in the defense, even if you run it at the simplest of levels like they're doing right now. Well, so that to go back to what you said about it all like the plays look basic. It's not even that the plays themselves

are basic. I mean that's a part of it. But none of them look like each other. Yeah, right, they all and they all look very different. So there's not a ton of you know, all right, we've seen this look already, but is it going this way or this way? They're not creating that. And again, the RPO, like you said, is something that naturally, the whole concept behind the concept is is pick a defender, put him in conflict, right, That's what the entire thing is predicating on, right, So

it's built in. Yeah, it's a great point about how there it doesn't look like they're building up to anything, right, Like, it never looks like they're sequencing together things to like build up to a bigger thing. It all just kind of looks like they're just calling plays, right, like we're just running plays. And that's the difference I think between a really experienced play caller and somebody that's doing it

for the first time, and that's where the Patriots are at. Offensively, I do want to talk about the offensive line, and this is kind of we kind of went into what I was going to do, which was sort of making fixes and tweaks during the bye week. Here already, I think the biggest thing as much as we can get into and I love the skiing talk as much as anybody, as much as we can get into all the excess and knows and how they can improve there. At the end of the day, if they block better, the whole

thing is going to look better. It really is everybody talking about Max not the guy and this and that, like you can't know. We can't know, because there's just it all starts with the offensive line. If the offensive line is not there, has Mack really been given a fair shot this year? No, he hasn't. Isn't it time to throw anything? So and by the way, I'd say the same. I think the run game probably could be better. I know people are super high on Romandre and rightfully so,

he's been amazing. Standpoint, they're twenty second in DA feels like his kind of potentials untapped right now, right with Damon Harris, like, they have much better runners than this. I would even say some of these receivers, a guy like Taekwon Thornton whose roub tree is going to be mostly intermediate and deep stuff. You need time to throw

those routes, right. So I think it all even the play calling, well, maybe they can't run some of the stuff that they want to get to at the next level because they don't have time to block it, right. So I think it all ultimately comes back down to the offensive line. I'm not saying that if they fix the offensive line, they'll suddenly be, you know, the best offense in the league, but we'll have a much better idea of what everything else looks like if and when

they can just get some of this stuff blocked. Yeah, So, speaking of that from a pure personnel standpoint, I wanted to go over well we felt is their best five man combination. Okay, so right now, last week the combination they rolled with the most and the one they ended with was Yanni Kajused at right tackle. On when you at right guard, James Farren said, center, Win at left guard, Brown at left tackle. Now David Andrews back at practice to the right, which is massive. So put David Andrews

back at center. What are you doing? The two weak points are the two you know, kind of tipping points right now are clearly left guard and right tackle. Right those are the two probats that you're really having a ton of problems. Right guard has been rock solid, and I would say Trent's been solid too, So I'm not Trent Brown. Yeah, Trent Brown hasn't been perfect. But if Trent Brown was the worst performer on the offensive line

this year, they'd beat they'd be in great shape. Right excellent, So center, right guard, and left tackle you feel good about. It's those two spots. It's left guard, yeah, and it's right tackle. So moving or who do you put in those pots? Because at this point in Dante Scarneckia used to talk about this all the time, seeing it through the same set of eyes. At this point, you just have to pick a combination right and go with it.

It's a lot like last year where on when it was the odd man out and it was Ted Carriss, but it was working, so they stuck with it. Right Like, there's no going back at that position. So who are you starting at left guard? Coming off the buy and who are you starting at right tackle? Well, so this is where I have to go against a lot of what you said what I would do. I know you said right guard might be their best spot, but Michael

and when who's the best right tackle on this team? Yeah, and I've said this in the past, I'd rather cover up an issue with guard than an issue with tackle. I would move Michael and went out to right tackle, and then between Cole Strange, Isaiah Wynn and Chason Hines when he comes back, and maybe go out and find somebody else in free agency, or even Marcus Cannon when he comes back. Between those four, find two guards. Yeah, that's what I would do. And now I don't think

that's what they'll do. No, And they obviously no more than I do when they're in the room, so there's probably a reason they're not doing that. But with the information I have, that's what I would do. I'm with you that that's the best thing to do for this team this year. Yeah, I think that they Yeah, we're talking about this yet, like this isn't into the office.

I definitely think they want to develop Mike on Win, who at right guard, and he's been playing so well there that I think that they look at it maybe more from a big picture thinked around with him for two years. They want to leave him there. And you can't think around with Cole Strange like you can't. Cole Strange is a left guard in college. He's a left guard in the purpose. If he's moving any words center, it's a tough ass to move him to the right side.

And I think the issue that you've had with Isaiah Winn is a lot to do with him transitioning to the right side as well. Now, can you mask things like you know, footwork and the things that I talked about. I think last week about Isaiah Winn where he's not, you know, getting out of his stance quick enough and he's not getting to his landmarks or his set points

in his footwork is all messed up. I guess in theory you can mask those more at guard because you're not not setting out as far at guard, right like, you don't have to really kick out of your stances as much at guard as you would at tackle. So I if they're just looking to maximize the team this year and put everybody in a good position this year, then moving on WHENU out to tackle, because this is how bad it's got. Like I was really against this.

I was, I said, well, I wanted him at right tackle, but I said, wherever you put him, just put them there, leave them, don't move them. I was again, I thought, I think he's a guard long term, and I think he's best at guard. But at this point, I don't know how you avoid this if you want the team to be the best it can be this year, right, Like, if you're if you're still on the five year plan and you're just thinking about the next three years or whatever the next five years, then maybe you leave on

Winnu at guard and continue to develop him there. But if you're trying to maximize the team this year, then I have a hard time thinking about how you fix right tackle any better than putting on WHENU out there? Yeah, so what do you do at the guard spots? You know, I think Cole strange to me. It's similar to what's been going on with Mac, you know, like against the Bears right where you just kind of have to ride it right, You just kind of have to ride it

out with him at left guard. You hope David Andrews coming back right. The problem you hope that David Andrews coming back fix a lot, and I personally think that it was a mistake pulling him from that game last week. The first couple drives of the game were rough against DeForrest Buckner. There's no question about it. Where he played two drives, right, I think. I think it's like two and a half or yeah, first play of the game. I think it was the first play of the game.

They try to run outside zone to the left side. He tries to pass off DeForrest Buckner to James Ferns, and DeForrest Buckner just blew up the play right like tackled Vermondrate two yards behind the line of scrimmage. Then I mentioned the Kenner Bourne play where he gets beat by DeForrest Buckner again, yeah, and forces Aaron pass and they're punting the football. So basically on the first drive or the first two drives, I can't remember exactly how

those plays are sequenced together. He ruined two plays right like in the first like five plays that you ran. So I understand from that standpoint kind of being like, all right, we gotta get him out of there, right right, But I think with him, you gotta ride the wave like, I just don't think you have any other choice. And there has been some good tape, certainly earlier on in the season with David Andrews at center. There's been some

solid tape. So the question I think that boils down to is can Isaiah Win play right guard at a somewhat acceptable level? I mean, I'd like to think between him, Marcus Cannon Chase, I guess those two guys are on to them, who do you trust more? Do you trust Isaiah Win at right guard or do you trust Yadney could used at right tackle? I mean I thought Yadney looked looked fine right, I mean, compared to what we've seen,

he held up well. I know we got beat a couple of times, but he got beat a lot early and I thought he settled down nicely after that. Quitty Pay gave him a ton of problems. But Quity Pay is a good player, like he's starting to come on and come into his own for Indy. He can really rush the passer, so he had him beat a lot early on in that game. The run blocking tape was

solid for Yadney. He had a great block on Johnny Smith's screen, blocked the guy right off the screen on the broadcast coffee, so he had some good run blocking screen tape. The pass protection stuff was iffy, but maybe you ride that wave right like. I don't know, but that's what it comes down to, I think for them is do you trust Win more or do you just trust could just more? Like? And I don't know, I

have a tough time answering that question myself. I think probably could just just from what we've seen, you know, just going. But I don't think you're necessarily going to get one group and stick with it. I think you're gonna have to continue to tweak things, which is unfortune, but I think that's just where they're at. Yeah, all right, let's take some of these calls. I think that about

sums up the offense. I thought we're kind of um getting lost in the weeds there a little bit, I think with some of the scheme stuff, which I appreciate you that's what this show is. Patty, what's going on? Patty? And Agum? How you doing going on? Guys? Damn it? You sold? You're sold. My question I was gonna ask you if you think Dante's saying what I asked to see you guys, yesterday, just sticking with five guys. But, um, Alex, I'll ask you a question. Um, I think I remember this.

Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but didn't didn't you have Brandon Schooler as like a special teams guy prior to last year's draft and a guy that the Patriots would want to take a look at. Probably I think I did. Yeah, that seems like a bar thing to do. To know they're a random special teamer from Texas that nobody's ever heard of. I'd have to pull up my spreadsheet. Honestly, at the end of the day, all the names kind of run together. I think I had him on my

radar like late. Yeah, and I mean that's all I got. Um, I'm hoping that they just stick with five guys going forward, and you know, if cold strange, like I said to the guys yesterday, if he's one of the guys that he's struggling and just let him work through it. You know, he's your first round pick, but just let the guys freaking deal and get it over with. Yes. Yeah, No, Patty,

You're right in my opinion with that is uh. And I think if they called Scarneckia and we're like you know, give us your three things that we need to fix on the offensive line. I think continuity would be number one. I would agree with that. And some of it's injury, right, some of it you can't avoid. But yeah, there's too much shuffling going on with that group. All right, Andrew and Wisconsin. What's up? Andrew? Hey guys, how are you

doing good? How are you? Thanks for hanging on doing well? Um? So, I have two questions here. Um. One of them I have to preface and I'll try to go quick here. Um. So as a casual fan and just just watching the games, U, I know it's I'm really not one of those bailey baffy guys at all. I love Mac. I've bought the four hundred dollars Nike jersey for him right away from the grass room. Um, but it looked a lot better

when when he was out there. Um. I'm just wondering if it's build the play calling, if it's build the difference there. Um. And then also kind of more of a on the lighthearted side. Um, how likely do you guys think it is to uh for Matthew jude On to break shack records this year? He's actually you know it would take a little bit, it'd be pretty tough, but it seems like he could do it all right.

So to the first point, the Bailey Zappy mac Jones thing, I I did think we were kind of beyond this when we saw Bailey Zappy against Chicago, like after they lost the lead and when he was playing from behind, and that that game was as bad as any tape that mac Jones has put out there. You know, it comes in, he plays great, they have a couple of play calls up there's for him, and then it really started to unravel on him, gonna unravel on the whole team.

To be fair as well. I will say this though, I think we're at the point now and I was as anti Bailey's Appy as you could possibly be. Right, Yeah, but I do think we're at the point now where bailey'sz Appy was making quicker decisions with the football, maybe not necessarily better like aggressive decisions, right, I guess it's the way to put it. Like, you know, I don't think he was making as many high, high level he

was just getting the ball out of his hand. He's getting the ball out of his which is we talked about Max's decision making ability. Bailey's Appy's best trade in college was that ball was in and out, in and out, in and out, and it was great to see that. Now some of it was I don't think Bailey's Appy ever got sped up. Those were probably his two starts were the two best games in terms of pass pro

for this team. And I know there's some people who have these conspiracy theories that they're willing to block for Bailey's Appy more than Mac Jones. Now, they did things in those games to help out. There's a in those games significantly significantly higher rate where they keep running backs indoor tight ends into block and only send three or four guys out into the pattern that's naturally going to help.

They called more of these quick release plays that are designed for the quarterback to get the ball in out of his hands. They called more of those plays in those games. And they're calling for Max. So what I would what I would say to that in terms of Zappy didn't look sped up. Zappy was getting the ball out of his hands. Yes, they made it easier for him to do that. The answer is not necessarily going

back to Bailey Zappy. It's called giving Mac Jones those opportunities. Yeah, is I will push back on one thing, not not like to you directly necessarily, but we have two years basically, not basically, we have two years of sample size now to work with. On Mac Jones, his under center passing numbers are some of the worst than the league. Okay, if you can do a lot of that stuff without going under center. I don't think you can do some

of the hard play action stuff they were doing with Bailey. No, but you can do you can do six protection, you can do quick quick throw kind of plays quilts things like that. Yeah, no, the quick throws. Certainly. I think that the play action success that they had with Bailey Zappy is really it's a it's a Bailey Zappy thing, right And I think the main reason when I say it to Bailey Zappy thing, I'm more mean it's a

Lions and Browns thing, right Like. I think those two teams saw a rookie quarterback making his first starts in the NFL, and they were just eight in the box and were coming after the line of scrimmage, right Like. That was the game plan from their side of the things, and they were just getting the three on two in

the back end. And Jacoby Myers or DeVante Parker was getting one on ones all over the place, and they're just winning the one on ones against inferior quarters when they play these better teams that have good cover guys in the back end and have better linebackers that can read things out quicker, like a team like Indianapolis, Like, they're not gonna have average seventeen yards per play action pass attempt against the Colts or against the Bills or

against some of these better defense of the Jets. So I think a lot of ways that that was like an opponent driven thing. I think that they got Bailey zappy or had to go to Bailey z Appy in a really good time to go to Bailey Zappy. Though, those two teams and those two defenses really struggled against the Patriots. So I think there's some elements of the

Bailey Zappy offense that I wish they did more. I think mainly though, and this is sort of one of the big picture of things I wanted to hit on about where do they go from here and off the bye week, I think they have to accept the fact that mac Jones is just not comfortable operating from under center. I don't know what it is. Like I've tried to study some of the tape, and I think there are some elements of like drops and like timing in his

drops and things like that. Or maybe the play action fake like just isn't as as he doesn't sell it as well as he needs to or whatever. But like I said, two years now of data on mac Jones and all of it suggests that he struggles from under center. Right now, from under center a season, he's averaging five point nine yards per attempt. It's thirty third in the NFL. From the start of last season to this year, he's thirty fifth in passer rating from under center. So he

just doesn't do it well for whatever reason. So that's why I'm always harping so much on RPOs, Because if you're not gonna be an under center play action team and you're gonna be a spread team and you're gonna play out of the gun all the time, you have to run RPOs. Like That's how you get the same idea of play action, right, that's the shotgun version of play action is RPOs. Now, the next step, certainly for

their RPO package is downfield routes. Like we were talking about this before practice, like, can we get a slant on an RPO instead of all bubble screens, which is all they do right now is bubble screens off of RPOs. They gotta start developing some routes down the field, slants like curls or hitches, anything like anything down the field that well, generally a bigger play if they do throw the ball out of the RPO, because right now, you're not gonna get big plays off of bubble screens, Like

that's just not gonna happen too frequently. You're gonna get bigger plays out of hitting. You know, Kendrick Bourne on a slant and he's off off to the races, right, Like, those are the big plays that you're going to get. What they were last year. That's what they were at Alabama, right, Like Davante Smith off the glance route was automatic, right, automatic,

big play. When I say last year big plays, I mean like they not on RPOs, but like Kendrick Boorn catch and run right right, right, Yeah, that's totally what it is. So I think that you know, the Bailey's Appy stuff. To me, I do agree that Bailey's Appy was getting the ball out quicker and seeing the field faster than Mac Jones. But I do think that they need to start calling plays that fit Mac Jones and the under center stuff just doesn't. All right, uh Steve,

and wait wait all right, let's take Steve the mate. Steve. Oh, I forgot about that, Steve, what's up? Um? So you know, I think the thing was the offense. I think the first thing other than the offensive line that really needs to be addressed is really the coaching. I if we think that the team has enough talent, and we think that the quarterback shows potential, then good coaching should elevate players, you know, to their potential. I mean, Bill Belizick has

been doing that for years. Obviously you had you know, uh, you know, the goat as a quarterback, which which helps. But um, you know, I think that's something that needs to be addressed. I have no idea if they'll actually look in and think, oh, wait a minute, maybe having Patricia's the offensive coordinator's not working. I don't know. But when I look at Mac, I see him when he is in the pocket, you can tell, you know, he gets He has like happy feet where it looks like

he's processing so much more information than he supposed to. Like, I think he's thinking, all right, my wide receivers running the actual right routes um because if they don't and he throws the ball because he has to anticipate and it gets intercepted, people are gonna say, look at you know, we need to go back to Zappi And then you know, uh is you know, is this office the line gonna protect me? Or am I going to get another you know,

just destroyed uh constantly? And I just don't know, you know what is the other thing I was ass is you know Joe Burrow gets you know, constantly hit. Yeah, he doesn't have or does he have the same characteristics that Mac is showing now? Yeah, So look, I think to sum it up, I think we agree or with him on all points about the coaching. The first thing I'll just say about Joe Burrow, well, you know he

has Jamar Chase. Well, and so this is what I was going to say, look at what he's looked like without Jamar Chase, Right, go back to that game against Cleveland. He looked and the defensive line couldn't block him. He's getting your team off on him. The Browns defense wasn't That's a good bass rush, but he looked like Mac

Jones has looked. Yeah, so there was something. Stephen Ruis of The Ringer wrote a good piece about the Bengals figuring out their offense a little bit before Jamar Chase got hurt, and he said that he wrote this whole like, you know, soliloqually about how the Bengals have pulled out of their early season rut and their offenses clicking again.

And then I remember he tweeted and he was just like, but at the end of the day, Jamar Chase is just really good and he started winning all of his one on one battles right right, Like that was like sort of the trump card that a team like the Bengals, or the team like the Dolphins, like, for all their scheming and all of Mike McDaniel's craziness, at the end of the day, the Dolphins just have two receivers and Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill that are damn good and

when they need a play, that's where two goes with the ball, right. And the Patriots might have like one in Jacobe Meyers, who I think can get open and make plays like that, but it's certainly not as explosive as those two guys. In terms of Patricia and his future,

let's call it that with the organization. I also tend to agree that Patricia is not going anywhere and they're gonna have him, just like a player would develop into this role, right, and hope that over time he gets better at it, just like players do with more repetition. I do hope two things. One, I hope that next year they hire a real offensive line coach to take

that off his plate. Right. I hope that there's a Carmen Brisillo or you know, a Googs, right, I can't say his last name, but just somebody that's done offensive line before. You know, maybe you're a guy from Iowa that you tell me is terrible, right that Okay, Brian Ferrins I said I was offense is terrible. I never said Brian Ferns. Brian Ferrens. You kind of did, Brian Ferrens. Right. Maybe it's Brian Ferris from Iowa who might get can buy his dad as the OC there, right because somebody

just butchered that whole thing. But essentially, yes, that whole thing, right, he's gonna he's he's looking at NFL coaching jobs to avoid getting maybe his NFL coaching job is coming to coach the offensive line here. He coach he was, He was a quality control coach here for two years then in twenty eleven he was the tight ends coach, played offensive line. I would played offensive line in the NFL coach that I would before becoming the quarterbacks coach in OC.

But yeah, he would be a guy that would fit that description. Yes. The other hope that I have is they have somebody that they hire, because I don't think they're gonna hire like Bill O'Brien next year, Like I don't think that that's gonna happen, and they're gonna bring in like a veteran OC to run the whole thing.

But I would hope that maybe next year they would bring in like a consultant, right like a like a some sort of quality control coach or consultant that's coached offense his entire life and could come in and just be a professional offensive coach in the room to kind of help point these guys in the right direction, sort of like what you would do if if Patricia was like a young coordinator, right like sort of like what Dante Scarneckia and Ivan fears were for Josh McDaniels, right, Like,

somebody like that that's been around the block and knows what he's doing, I think would go a long way. We missed the Matthew jude On thinking. And we've talked fifteen minutes now, Alex about the offense and the offensive struggles, and we haven't really touched at all on the defense. So Judean and the sack record, I could take that or leave it. I don't really care if he breaks the sack record, but I do think that it's worth

talking about. What's an interesting, bigger conversation with him to me because of how last season ended, we thought he was gonna break it. Last season he was six sacks, six sacks short with six games to go at least the Patriots team sack record of eighteen and a half set by Entree Tippet in nineteen eighty four, and then he never got another sack after the bye. Here we are at the bye week again, and this is something that really applies to the team as a whole, but

we can use jude On as an example. The bye week last year became a thing in that when they struggled down the stretch, the bye, the bye? What happened at the bye? What would they do? What didn't they do during the bye? Right? And here we are again now Matt to Judeon has talked this year about how he tried to get in better shape, better endurance. His usage rate has been down ten percent this year. It's seventy four percent, down from about eighty two eighty three

percent this time last year. So they've it seems like at least with him, they've made an effort to write that the pace he's on right now, eleven and a half sacks and nine games, he should blow by Andre Tippett's number of eighteen and a half. And you know, does he flirt with the twenty two and a half from t J. Watt from a couple of years ago I tied with Michael Strahan, Right, Maybe maybe he does. He's on that pace right now, He's on pace to tie it. They need him to show up big down

the stretch, which he didn't do last year. So that's

where this gets very interesting. Yeah, and I think last year to the their secondary rushers like Barmore came on right and he was somebody that emerged, but they didn't I think this year they have really good rushed depth, like guys like ja Dietrich Wise Barmore will be Barmore when he comes back, right, So I think these guys get into this point has really put the pass rush in the position that I'm much much more bullish on it even than I was last year, because last year

it felt a lot until Barmore started to come on in the middle part of the year, it felt a lot like Judean was their entire pass rush, right, and if you block jude On, you're gonna be okay. This year they have some counters to just jude On. Their

five man or four man package on third down. Excuse me, is is spectacular, Like it's just so much fun to watch, how they scheme it up, how they run stunts or games up front, how they blitz guys and then drop guys, and like it's just there's so much great stuff going on.

I mean, they had a play last week where they dropped jude On into coverage and the whole protection slides out to jude On and the Geltti Devi is just unblocked through the middle of the line of scrimmage, like they're just playing games with the offensive line and with the pass protection of these opposing offensive lines right now, that's been really fun to watch now in the back end, and it's a little bit like what they were doing

last year, where there's some disguise, there's some rotation. There's definitely some zone, more zone maybe than we're accustomed to on early downs, third downs of man coverage down for them.

I have reservations about whether or not the secondary is truly gonna hold up against the elite offenses, right like when Josh Allen comes here in Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis and Isaiah McKenzie again, like how are they gonna match up in man coverage against those types of teams when they play the Bengals, Like and they have to

face Jamar Chase, Like who's taken Jamar Chase? And do they have a guy that they can hold up in the back end with that because Burrow Alan, you know, if they do make the playoffs, whoever they play in the playoffs, Like I shouldn't say whoever, because some maybe they do play quarterback that they can spin the dial on. But guys like Allen and Burrow, they're not gonna be able to do what they did to Zach Wilson, right, Like, they're not gonna be able to just muddy the waters

back there, make it confusing and get and get three turnovers. Like, I just don't think that those guys are gonna are gonna fall for those tricks as much as the inexperienced guys do. So can they get bought? Can they actually win with personnel instead of it all just being Belichick smoke and mirrors, right, because last year they couldn't. Last year it was ended up all being Bill smoke and mirrors. So is this How do you feel about the back end?

Because their safety groups has me excited like that. I think they can really do some cool things with but I'm still a little bit concerned with the fact that you're outside corners or Jalen Mills and Jonathan Jones and Johathan Jones has been great, don't get me wrong, well, and Jack Jones, and so maybe Jack Jones is the answer a Marcus in the slot or you know whatever upgrades of that unit. But how do you feel about the back end right now? Because the front, I think

we can all agree, has been awesome. I think it's one of those things I know this is sort of a cop out, but I think it's one of those things where they've done as well as you can expect to this point. Yeah, we're not going to know how they you know, you talk about the Bills, right, We're not gonna know what they look like against that kind of test until they face it. Yeah, we're just not And I think the biggest issue against the Bills last year.

I know people try to talk about the schemes and this and that, and your whole thing with the iPhone and the flip phone and whatever. I think at the end of the day, a lot of it was just speed. They just didn't have the speed on the field that the Bills did they needed to. Now you have Jonathan Jones playing on the outside. You didn't even have him last year at all, he was hurt, but you have

him playing on the outside. You have Marcus Jones in the slot, you have Jack Jones, like, they have legitimate speed in the secondary. Now. So does that mean that they're gonna blank the Bills? Probably not. I guess we'll see what happens with Josh Allen's elbow, but they're better equipped personnel wise, personnel wise for that matchup. The schematic thing is another level of it, but it we won't know until we know it's there really is no comp for it. It's the Bills and the Bengals games really

that stand out. Maybe Miami is the closest comp for how they would cover something like that, but but that was Week one. We've come so saying they play Miami again, No, I know, that's what I'm saying. And maybe the comp for how they defend these explosive, you know, multi game breaker receiver offenses is Miami. That was Week one. Jack to Jack Jones playing that game. If he did, he didn't play a lot. I gotten mossed by Tyree here, right, Marcus Jones didn't play a ton. Jonathan Jones was still

very new to playing on the boundaries. So we're really

not going to know until we know. With that kind of yeah, I think the hesitation that I have with the group maybe stems back from training camp and watching Davante Adams just dominate them for two days in Vegas, because that's one of those examples where like this is an outside receiver and you don't have a number one outside corner like Jonathan Jones is a number one outside corner in theory, but he's not a guy that matches up against Davanta Adams, right, Like he's a guy that

can match up against Tyreek Hill. I think he can take Stefon Diggs, right. I think that Diggs is more of route runner than he is like a big body guide, big explosive receiver like Adams. The Raiders game I think is really interesting because it's like, is gonna be Jalen Mills that's gonna get Davante Adams? Are they going to trust Jack Jones at that point to be on Davante Adams? Now? When I was watching Bill's Jets this past week, getting ahead on next week for the Jets, and also just

watching the Bills a little bit. The thing that I couldn't get out of my head when watching the Bills because whenever I would watch any whenever I have a chance to watch Buffalo, all my thoughts are about watching Josh Allen in that offense is like what do they do differently? Right? Like what how can they match up against this? And I almost headed jokingly to myself, but I'm kind of serious, like how many dbs can they

get on the field? Right? Like how many dbs is too many dbs because the way that I look at Buffalo right now is even even still right at this point, their running game is Josh Allen, right, like he's their best running he's our best ball carrier, right, And that's basically the design quarterback runs that they might be able to hit the Patriots with are worrisome for sure, But like you said, it's all about getting speed on the field, right,

So can they play? I think now what the differences of what I'm getting at You mentioned the speed at corner, which I agree with you. I think they're faster at corner, but I also think they're deeper at safety, right because last year they did not have Jabriel Peppers. So is there a world against Buffalo where they can get all

four safeties on the field at once? Because if they can get all four of those guys, if they can get Dugger, Phillips, Peppers and Devon all on the field at once, then I think that they have a chance because I think they have speed, and I think they have open field tacklers at that point, right, like they have guys that can bring people down, and Dugger Phillips is not as physical as Dugger and Peppers is, but he makes great reads from off the ball, and he

has some of the best run fits out of anybody on the team. It really does. And Peppers and Dugger bring a physicality that I think Oldie Bentley really does at the backer spot. So to me, they the difference, the like trump card that they might have this year against Buffalo than they didn't have last year is basically like playing like a dollar package. Like they could play seven defensive back and the Bills still can't run the

ball outside of Josh Allen himself. Which if and I've said this about Josh Allen for years, but now for real, Yeah, if I'm the Bills, you cannot have him run this much. You just can't. Patriots, he might have to run ten times. He might have to, and they might have to turn him into Justin Fields and Lamar Jackson ten times. It's not a lot for him. Ten times is a lot in terms of design what I'm saying, but all of it, all of it. You can't have him taking that many hits.

You can't. And that's the way to beat him is to kind of just beat him up, right. That's what Matthew Judah and said when they asked him, like how do you how do you deal with mobile quarterbacks? Right? Hit him? It was the same same with Josh Allen. It was the same with Cam, It was the same with Vic. It's the same with any of these guys. Even Aaron Rodgers did an extent. Like the Bills still

don't have a tradition of running game. So to your point about getting all four safeties on the field, if you only need two true defensive lineman, right, if you can go out there with just Dietrich Wise and Christian

Barmore as your defensive lineman, it's a big help. Now, you know, if you think on first down, if you go out there with like Lawrence guy and Devon god Shaw and Barmore as a three man line, and maybe Judan as a fourth guy on the line of scrimmage, and you run like a four three, I mean, I think those four guys have a chance to hold up against any like, you know, as a devil singletary now or whatever. If the Bills are going to see that and decide to run the ball thirty thirty five times,

you've won. That's what I'm saying, right, So make them do that. Yeah, I think that that's exactly what it is. It's it's like those old matchups against Peyton, right, Like it's like if you're gonna hand the ball off to No Sean Moreno forty times in this game, like, we consider that a win. Even if he runs for two hundred yards, we still consider that a win. So I think that that's the difference that they didn't have last year. John,

like you mentioned, Nathan Jones was hurt. They didn't have the fourth guy at safety, they didn't have Peppers at safety. So now last year when they played Buffalo, especially in that second matchup, you know, the playoff game. I know everybody goes back to the playoff game because of the score, but they're they're like playing practice squad guys at corner and the playoff game. Okay, So really the game that worries me more is the second one because that was

like your best, right, right, that's your best. DeVante Bosby's not gonna be out there, Jan Williams is right to be out there right those that second game here in Foxborough. That was your best eleven against their best eleven straight up. So in that game and they were an interception away from winning that game. In that game, they could not get Miles Bryan off the field. They had nobody else

to put on ISAMH. McKenzie. They had no other answer for Isaah McKenzie because Jonathan Jones was hurt and Miles Bryant was their nickel, Like that's all they had this year. I think they have more depth there because the rookies. They have more depth at safety because of Pepper. So if Miles Bryan's getting beat like a drum again on Isaam McKenzie, well, then maybe you move Jonathan Jones inside, Maybe you put Jack Jones in the game. Maybe put Marcus Jones in the game, right, Like, do you have

counters down too? So that's the hope I would give it, give you there's some hope. Yeah, I'm not saying they're gonna beat Buffalo. I'm just saying there's they're better equipped

to do so Yeah, absolutely, all right, Tyler, what's going on? Tyler? Hey, this is a little off topic, more about the future of the show, and y'all may not know, but come draft time, would y'all be doing those videos where you do like mock drafts a singing later again, I was just cured, we're definitely going to be doing a ton of draft content on the show in the off season, for sure, And thanks for the call, Tyler. We're gonna

try to do something like that. We haven't really worked out the logistics of how it's gonna be done exactly, but yeah, we're gonna we're gonna try our best to do the mocks or do some sort of symbol. Day after the Super Bowl, I will be blowing up Evan's phone about what we're gonna do for the draft. All right, last call here, and then we got to wrap it up. Andrew, what's going on, Andrew? Andrew? Andrew, Hey ah, sound wow?

The last one? All right? Well, that's all right, we got We're at the hour martin anyway, so we gotta call it a day. Give me before we wrap up really quickly, just don't go too deep into this. Oh boy, give me the one thing that you want them to fix during the bye weekend. You can't say mac Jones because that's like, dude, I know it's it's the offensive line.

The offensive line will fix everything out. That's a really easy question, really, the offensive line, because it fixing the offensive line fixes at least to an extent, Mac Jones. It fixes the wide receivers, It fixes elements of the offense, the offensive line, there any other It's not an opinion question. That's the correct answer. That is the correct answer. So I'm gonna give you another answer just because you already

gave the correct answer. You like being wrong. Wow. If the Patriots do not come off this bye week and run a downfield RPO, I'm gonna lose my mind, Alex, I'm gonna lose my mind. I'm gonna start yelling. I'm gonna lose my mind. I'm gonna get all viled up like I did when John Rook got me riled up about Bailey z Appy and Marie and my god, you gotta have a block to throw it down the field. If they do not start expanding this RPO package beyond, if I see another inside zone RPO the bubble screen,

I'm gonna lose my mind. And you are going to really like what I'm writing for ninety eight five sports up dot com this week. Nice tis no more, not no more bubble screens off RPOs. But we gotta we gotta graduate just other ar no I got. Honestly, I love bubble screen RPOs. I think they're fine. And when you run them in the right spots. They're very effective. Yeah, but part of what makes them so effective is when

you set them up with other RPOs. Right, Yes, I'm fine if they keep running them, just start adding to them. I gotta be honest. I think this often should be twenty percent RPOs. Right, Alabama Mac Jones is last the lead percentage is like twelve thirteen percent. Yeah. Mac Jones's last season in Alabama they were nineteen percent RPO. All right, they should be twenty percent no one else. I know you said be quick, but one more point, because I've

and thinking about RPOs a lot. Be quick. In Alex's versions, like ten minutes later. One of the best individual attributes for any player on the offense is Rmandre Stevenson's field vision. Would you disagree with that or just reminder Stevenson No, But like when if we're going into individual traits, right, what makes Romandra so good? I think his field vision is a big part of it. He sees the field incredibly well. Yeah, that that plays huge on RPOs. That

plays huge. Forget the mac part of it, right, which obviously matters, But I'm just saying put that aside for a second. Romandra is also a great RPO back. Oh yeah, so you could take advantage of this on both sides of him, yeah, he says. And Damion Harris too, Obviously he ran him a ton at Alabama. But he says it all the time Remandra that he prefers running like that because he can make cuts and reads on his own, right, He's not like following a blocker or something like that,

and opens it up. That's how he ran at Oklahoma, those spread formations, and I I you know what Oklahoma's RPO percentages, it's high, right, pretty high? Yeah, yeah, or at least when it was Lincoln when yeah back and yeah, so when with Remandra, he's always talked about, I like running from spread formations because lightens the box and it gives me freedom to make cuts and make reads. That's the biggest thing to me, is like the under center stuff.

It's like, okay, we're putting the quarterback under center. We're getting a single high against it. There's seven eight guys in the box, and like, if you don't have a dominant offensive line, you're just not running the ball against

those looks. So the RPO allows you to open up the box, right, It puts six guys in the box against your five, and now there's conflict in the defense off off the you know, the pass action on the outside, and now you're reading guys and you're creating conflict, and you're creating lighter numbers in the middle of the field. They've been really good at running the football out of the gun. Five yards per attempt out of the gun, three and a half from under center. Like this is

all these numbers are just staring right at him. I wrote this Patriots dot Com today, so you can check that out. What I would say, everybody gets all excited about RPOs, about the past elements of it, right, Yeah, and yo, you can expand the passing game with RPOs. It is a run pass option. Yeah, you can also make plays in the running game with them as well.

I feel like that gets because the modern error and the nerds and they're running the football, the run element is running the football against light boxes off of like RPO. Like the nerds are okay with that? All right, I don't know, but all right, anyways, so h like we said, fix the offensive line, run more just sophisticated RPOs. That's the fix for the offense. Yes, step three profit. Okay, so we'll be back next Wednesday, same time, same place to talk about the New York Jets. This is a

weird one to play the Jets this closely together. They only have one They're off this week as well. So they played Buffalo last week and then play you again after the buy, just like you played the Colts and then play the Bills, or then play the Jets. Excuse me right off the by so big big game here in Foxborough, Patriots Jets. We'll have you covered here on Patriots Catch twenty two full preview next Wednesday. We'll see you guys then. Thanks for listening. Thank you for downloading

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