Patriots Catch-22 12/29: Grading the Defense, Route Running Issues and Dolphins Preview

the solo. This is great. This is back to our roots. And not only do we have video, but we got you know, they change the camera angles. They can put us in a two box. There we go, there's this box. This is look at that next level video. I'm excited. Uh, like I said Evan Lazar alongside me, as always Alex Barth and uh, we got a little bit of to

unpack your today. But as I normally do, I always start with like a twenty minute soliloquy that I've been thinking about for the last week since we were on the air last Thursday or was a Wednesday, I don't even remember. Anyways, and this one, this one has to do I think more so with what I'm seeing on social media, the callers that we're having call in as well.

But mostly I'm going to be personal about it and say that it's it's really my social media that I'm seeing this on, all right, and it's starting to drive me up in an absolute wall. Okay, and I send you Last night, I was trying to look for the words to perfectly explain how I feel, and I think I'm scrambling to pull up the tweet that I think

Robert May's from the Athletic who I love. He had the perfect synopsis of what we're going through right now in New England at the quarterback position with Mac Jones, and that is that we now live in a black and white quarterback situation where it's either you stink or you're elite, and there's no there's no middle ground. And I think what's more important about the no middle ground is that there's no nuance to the conversation. It's all just yes or no, did you complete the pass or not?

Did you produce or did you not produce? And there's no conversation about the details about the nuance of how we got here, and I think the biggest thing with Mac Jones and I don't know if Mac Jones is good or not. I don't know. I don't know if he's the guy or the franchise quarterback or whatever you know term you want to use. What I do know is that if you've decided based off of this season that Mac Jones is not the guy, you don't know football.

You don't know football. You're moron. Sorry, you're dumb because you can't decide that based off of this You just can't. You can't properly evaluate that position with the absolute dumpster fire that they have put him in. And let me sorry, let me let me build on that real quick. I

don't want to cut off your momentum. But honestly, if it was just this season, and I've heard people say this, if it was just this season, maybe there's a little bit of an argument, but what we're just throwing last year out right, when he took them to the playoffs as a rookie, and could he have played better shore? But I don't think people realize how hard that is

to do. So I don't want to cut your your your rants off, but one I wanted to say, there's a lot of familiar names in the chat on YouTube, which is awesome. And two, yeah, I just love that tweet so much about either your elite or you suck. And I think the error that we grew up in that has kind of ended at this point, right. And when I say we grew up, I mean when we were in like middle school. Right, you have Brady Manning, Breeze Flacco written not Flacco but like Rivers. You're like

you at all, Big Ben. Yeah, Like, that's not normal. I think people just assume that you're gonna be able to get an elite quarterback when in reality there's three or four of those guys at most at one time crowd the league, Right, is a league that era from like two thousand and five to two thousand and fifteen will never be replicated again in terms of the quarterback talent around the league. It's not coming back. That's not the norm. And Evan, this goes to a take I

have that we've talked about a lot on this show. Ye, the time it will take you to find that elite quarterback is simply not worth it. It's not unless you are picking at the very top of the draft, and there is a no dug ey there, Lawrence right as opposed to him, there's there's fifty two other players on the roster, finding fifty two other really good players, and

then a quarterback that just won't screw it up. But that that quarterback, a quarterback who just won't screw it up, which there are teams in the league that have pined for that guy for decades, is now considered a bump yeah, which is mind blowingly dumb, Like you said off the tip, So I want to keep hammering home the point that this is not a mac Jones is actually secretly elite rant right, Like, this is not that this is I

don't know how everybody's ready, not everybody. I don't know how so many people are ready to just pronounce his career dead off of playing quarterback with Matt Patricia calling your play. This isn't This isn't just oh, well, sophomore slump he st No, this is an unprecedented situation. The regression here is not this isn't just oh it's the second year and defense has figured him out and they're giving him new looks that that's not what this looks.

That might have been down the stretch last year, right, right, right, exactly, Yeah, yeah, So the most important thing I would say with football, and really with a lot of team sports, but in football in particular, you have to have good structure, right. You have to have a good foundation of what you're

doing offense or defense, it doesn't matter. So on offense, that means a stable offensive line, a plan, right, a good system with a plan going in of what you're going to execute, what you're gonna do, a certain rhythm or timing to your passing game from quarterback and receivers, which has been something that we're going to talk about that's been a huge issue for the Patriots. And defensively,

it's the same thing. You could have eleven of the best athletes out on defense, if they're all running around with their chickens with their heads killed off, you're gonna be a bad defense. You could have eleven above average or just average NFL athletes, if they're all on a string, you're gonna be a good defense. Right. It's structure. Okay, I go ask the Cleveland brown It's the ultimate team game because the Cleveland Browns have great talent on the

defense side of the ball. Miles Garrett, Davian Clowney, Denzel Award, Jeremiah Assa, Jock Ja. Yeah. Yeah, they have talent on that side of the ball. They're poorly coordinated. They run around like crazy people, right, they don't know where they're going. They don't have structure. Okay, so that's the most important thing. Well, hang on, let's let's uh. I'm trying to find the exact quote. I can't remember what it is from the

Bill Belichick Nick Saban documentary on HBOG. Remember that where Bill says something along the lines of good players can't overcome bad coaching. Yeah, and he also said that sometimes we overcomplicate things when you lost again because he can't tackle, right. That was that was the the punchline of that whole rant from the two of them, right, was, sometimes we get into scheme and matchups and this and that and the other thing, and we you know what, guys, I

think we just didn't have a good day tackling. I think that's what it comes down to. So this is, by the way, that was the exact quote, good players can't overcome bad coaching. I want to get into specific examples because I don't want to just throw this out there of it's not Max, not the problem and all that kind of stuff. I want to give you specific examples, and I'm not even going to give you example. So we do on that. We don't just spew, you know, take we back it up is I don't even want

to give examples. I'm going to get to the to the low lights examples. I actually want to give you examples of highlights first and why these plays were made to be so difficult on the quarterback even though it was actually a good play. So the first one I want to bring up is the seem splitter to Kendrick Bourne where he throws the ball into the Tampa two defense and it looks like he throws the ball in a triple coverage and he asked to thread the needle

between three guys because he had to. The reason why is that on that play they're running dagger right. Dagger is just that middle read route by Kendrick Bourne and then a dig route filling in underneath it. If you go and watch it on film, they get exactly what they want. They get Kendrick Bourne to clear out the Tampa two the middle of the defense, and there is a parting of the red seas between the numbers right, like literally the numbers are wide open in the middle

of the field. The problem is is that Tai Kwon Thornton takes his sweet time running the dig route on the dagger route just lattidati dottid running up the field right, and he doesn't actually become an option on the play.

So mac Jones is reading the play and there's only one other route backside, which is kind of not even a part of it, right, and he's waiting to read out the play and he's like, the only way that I'm going to complete this pass right now is if I drop a dime to Kendrick Bourne on the head of the Tampa two defender and in between the like I have to throw this ball on a seed into triple coverage, Like that's the only completion on the field

right now. And that's what he did. But that was made more difficult because Taikwon Thornton didn't run the route hard. But let me let me just first of all, let me just add some context to that too, and what happened there, I hear. There's two big complaints I hear about mac Jones a lot. Yes, he constantly throws in a triple coverage double a trip coverage, and he doesn't throw guys open. Yeah, well you can't not do both of those things. If a guy's already open, you can't

throw him open. That doesn't make sense. And if you want the quarterback to throw guys open, well then he has to throw it covered receivers. That was a great example that the player talking about Kendrick porn of Heat threw Kendrick Borne, and Kendrick makes a great play to go up and get that ball too. Like that is. They made that play last year right against the Browns for a touchdown, and I wouldn't shut up for the

rest of the year. You remember this about how that was such a high level play and that play was the reason I have long term faith and all of it right, high level play from both of them. But also it wasn't a fluke because they did it last year and they did it again. So I just I

thought that play itself. I know you're going in a different direction, but I just want to throw that in as a great example of why mac Jones isn't worth quitting one because and then you said, well, why doesn't he make that play more often he isn't had a ton of opportunities for reasons outside of his own control. I mean, look, Kendrick Boorne hasn't been on the field. It just is night. So it's a very low percentage throw.

But the reason why he has to even attempt it in the first place is because the high percentage throw never comes to fruition, right, Right, So then on the sideline catch to Kendrick Bourne where Born taps his toes in and they the one that was reviewed and reversed as a as a catch right on the side of It's four verts. Okay, it's literally four verticals. It's the

simplest concept in the in the league. Four verticals. And I don't want to pick on Scottie Washington too much because Scottie Washington probably shouldn't even been in the game, right. It's a practice squad elevation. He's only but he is indecisive on his route coming up the seam, so he doesn't actually threaten the half field safety on that side of the field. It doesn't put the safety in conflict.

It's supposed to two on one the safety in the deep part of the field, but it doesn't because Scotty Washington is not actually threatening up the seam, so the safety on that half side of the field gets to cheat to the sideline. So that's another throw that mac Jones has to back shoulder to Kendrick Bourne to keep it away from the safety, and he has to throw it from the far hash and Kendrick Bourne has to make a circus catch along the sideline just to get

it complete. These are the little details, like the Taekwon route, the Scotty Washington route like these are the little details of why this offense always looks like it's it's so hard for them to just complete a pass, right, okay, And this isn't even getting into first third down to say the receivers collide or they call you know, they

show blitz, they see it coming. Mac Jones adjust the protection at the line of scrimmage and Kevin Harris goes the wrong way and it's an unblocked runner and he's almost sacked for safety on their own goal line. Or the play action pass that's going around Twitter, and everybody's telling me that I don't I don't know what I'm talking about, right, because they're right, you know, Quarterbacks Expert six seven nine. When three followers. He knows football right,

football coach. He coached his son's Pop Orner team last year, and he's telling me that Mac is late, that he's late on the throw. Don't mind you that Jacoby Myers running an option route down the field where he can kind of break it down and break inside or out. It takes ten minutes to run the damn route, right, And so mac Jones is sitting there waiting. Everybody's like, he should anticipate. It's an option route. He could break

in or out. If he breaks in, or excuse me, if he breaks out and mac Jones throws in, it's a pick six the other way. And then we're all like, well, why did he throw the ball? That's the play against the Jets that got called back for the roughing. It's a similar idea, Yeah, that's what I'm saying, Like it would be the same. That's the alternative outcome, right, And everybody's like, oh, Mac, Mac holds the ball too long.

The route needs to declare, right, like you need to give the quarterback a clear indication of are you breaking in or are you breaking Oh? Taekwon Thornton was opened deep. He was open deep after Mac Jones already threw the ball right because right, So this is what I'm talking about when I look at the little details of what's going on, and i'm that specific play action pass. Jacoby's

running an option route. He has a downfield option to break in or break out based off of the cornerbacks position. And that's one of those plays where ideally your quarterbacks drop is set up and syncd up to the fact that that route's going to take a little bit longer to run, right, So they run it on a five step drop, which is more like a bang play action right, hit the backfoot, balls out onto a dig route and

we're off and running. I posted the exact play that they ran last year that's supposed to look like against the Texans last year, where it's back of the foot hits the ground from mac Jones. Jacoby breaks in, balls there and we're off to the races. And this instance, he's standing there and he's patting the baby. He's holding the football like come on, come on, come on, right, and then he has to throw it behind him because

the safety is about to clean him out and it's late. Well, it's it's you know, you hear the concept about like looking at backs right when the quarterback gets to that final step in his drop, he wants to be able to throw the ball. But you can't throw the ball for the most part. You can't throw the ball to somebody who's not looking. You might have some sort of back shoulder concept or something, but you talk about the timing and the chemistry of the offense, they're just not

there right now. The guys need to be looking at Mac Jones right for him to be able to throw the ball. And if and this is where a lot of the you know, oh well Mac holds the ball talk and Dan Rolovski has done great breakdowns on this on Twitter. Yeah, when the quarterback gets to that backstep of the drop, if he's looking around at his reads and all he sees are the backs of helmets, what's he supposed to do right, right, You're just gonna blind throw.

That's how it turns into interceptions. So that and really what this all comes down to, This is why this year has been so frustrating, is it is really tough to tell exactly what's wrong with this offense unless you watch it on this level. You watch it on the film. You can, I can, and I can promise you, and I know I'm taking a lot of shots at the Twitter coaches and all that, I can promise you that

I can tell that you don't watch the film. I can tell it's like okay, because you're watching it on TV. He's throwing balls in can please, throwing balls behind quote unquote behind receivers and you're saying, you know this is it's Max Fall, Like what does he doing? But you're not watching the detail of the play and seeing why it happens. The protection breaks down, Jacoby takes his time on the route like all these different factors of timing.

And I asked Mac Jones about this yesterday and I don't think he was necessarily throwing shade, but I'm gonna let I'm gonna say he was for me, right, for me, Not for throwing shade at you. No, no, no, no, throwing shade at them at the offense right when game time comes, it's not It's got to be in rhythm. The spacing needs to be good. That's how really good offenses work. It's not wrong. Timing, spacing, rhythm, that's what good offenses do. He's not wrong. We don't have a

good offense. Is what he's saying. We don't have spacing, we don't have timing and rhythm in the passing game. This isn't Madden. You can't just sit there and say, oh, you know why flash is open? Why isn't he throwing to? Why it doesn't work that way in real life? And again, this is not me saying that I think that mac Jones is secretly Tom Brady and they're holding the kid back.

It's me saying that I don't know what mac Jones is because all of this stuff is holding him back so much that we can't make an evaluation on the Colt. Let me let me phrase that another way, because I think this argument has maybe gotten through to some people more. Yes, name a quarterback who does succeed in the situation. Honestly, I thought about this last night because I knew that that was going to sort of be the because then that's what people say, Well, well, there's other quarterbacks that

are in bad situations, not like this. I don't watch enough Uh Colts or Houston Texans film. I've seen the Colts have unfortunately been on primetime like a whole lot lately. Yeah, we've got a whole lot of cults. Yeah, but I don't. I haven't watched the Texans closely, but those statistically, it's the Patriots, it's the Colts, the Texans. Those are the three worst offenses in the NFL right now statistically, So

I don't watch a ton of their team. But I thought about it as well, of if this was if Joe Burrow was in this offense and you switched the quarterbacks on Sunday, Like we're talking about what's wrong with Joe Burrow? Right right? That's like that's plastered all over ESPN right now, is what's wrong with Joe Burrow? Why does he look like this nineteen Brady you know, Rogers at the beginning of the year this year because they're throughout the year because there was no trust in the right.

There's no timing, there's no rhythm, there's no trust, there's no nothing that they can hang their hat on like that's good offense. And I just I find it really infuriating that. Obviously, I find it infuriating when everybody is a genius and knows football, so that's what that's besides

the point. I find it more infuriating that people are writing Mac Jones off without the caveat of what he's playing in Like last year with Trevor Lawrence, well urban Meyer, I mean, how could you anybody that's probably the most comparable situation. And we all said, right, you need to see what happens when urban Meyer isn't there, right, and he can look at what happen Peterson, who's not I don't think Doug Peterson is like some savant like this

is not Bill Walsh walking through the door. But he's a professional offensive coach, right, He's a professional offensive coach, has done it at a high level, that's been around the block a billion times, and he knows what he's doing on that side of the ball. And look at the season that I think I saw that Trevor Lawrence has the biggest increase in passer rating from year one to year two in NFL history, all because he has some competent coaching. Right. They really didn't even change the

personel that much. I mean, they added Calvin Riel is coming, but he's not added Christian Kirk. That's pretty much it who everybody thought they overpaid it. And and Evan Ingram, who I would say that's a coaching like the way they're using him is so different than the way he was being used in New York or the way they

use their tight ends last year. So yeah, it's it's it's a tough year because you want to try to explain it to people and that's our job, right, yes, but there's really there's no real way to do it without kind of sounding a little pretentious and saying you have to watch the game. And I understand that just sounded like a complete It will shout out to the people who watched this show and listen to the show, because they they I think they get that. I think

the people are turning into this show understand that. I sometimes he's see an office. Oh they're not fast enough, Oh they're not big, Like oh they make a lot of pants, like you just see it on TV and it's easy. This is it's really down to a deep level where you have to go where you have to go to see where this offense isn't functioning properly. And I'll say it again, people just was like, oh, well

they're just not good. What if they're just not good with almost they made very few personnel changes on offense in the off season, very few. They changed both of their guards, right, they lost both guards, but the line was one guard spot. You replaced Michael ow WHENO like Michael and when who stepped in? Who's been maybe their best offensive player this year, one of the best guards

in football. He's not an issue. The other spot, you used a first round pick to replace your other guard, which first round pick you think is a plug and play guy. The only other real change is Davante Parker replaced me kill Harry upgrade. They went from sixth and scoring two. I think they're seventeenth eighteenth now it's over a touchdown less per game. Yeah, so all the schedule

schedules comparable. Yes, they hung fifty on Jacksonville last year, they didn't play Jacksonville this year, but in terms of the defenses, it's pretty comparable. So what happened. It's not a talent issue, it's not it's a it's a schematic issue. And I'm gonna wrap it up on this and I want to talk about one other thing on offense before we kind of open this up a little bit. Mac

Jones played good in this game, especially in the second half. Well, they put his favorite receiver on the field and suddenly he looked much better. And it's not to take it all away from Mac Jones, but can we also talk about how Kendrick Bourne played as well. Sure, the downfield throws were great through all three of them to Kendrick Bourne were great throws, touchdown, throwdown, talk about chemistry, timing, rhythm.

Everything that play was was chemistry and time. He read that the defender's back was to the line of scream, which wasn't going to make a play on the ball. Put it in a spot for Kendrick Bourne Born you know, went and got it. Great great throw, great catch. Yeah, Mac played fine in this game. He did benching him moving on from him, it's ridiculous, it's ridiculous talk. But if if Mac Jones plays it, say next year they get the offense, they fix the things we see we

say they need to fix. Yeah, right, and Mac Jones plays at that level, and we're doing a bunch of hypotheticals. I know the team hates hypotheticals, but just humor. Let's say they fix the things they need to fix, schimmatically and Mac plays at that level next year for eighteen games, does he get his fifth year option picked up? He should, Yeah, I would think he'd be is that is that a guy you'd extend. I think he'd be a top fifteen, top twelve quarterback if all those things, if he plays

at that level with the right pieces around him. Yeah, that's what I don't Just the greast year, he was twelve to seventeen and wherever you want to put him right staysically he was top half. He was closer to the top fifteen, top twelve, honestly. But the other thing I want to say about the offense that this is something that's been on my radar all year, but I think it's gotten particularly horrible, quite frankly, is the route running. I've never seen the Patriots run routes this this poorly.

Before and since covering the team and starting in twenty eighteen and breaking down their tape and all this kind of stuff, I have never seen them look so sloppy on film running routes as they do now. Obviously, I've we've talked about spacing a lot, you know, tight ends, colliding with each other, Kendrick Boorn running into Johnny Smith

and getting him can cuss like. These things are things that happen from time to time, but you don't see them happen multiple times every single week, like you just don't see that. The other thing that has been driving me nuts. I've mentioned it with the Meyers thing and the Thornton route. They just some guys just think that they have like all day to run a route, like they just they feel like they can just lollygag up

the field. Like I just don't understand I'm timing. I don't know if it's effort, Like I don't want to question effort. I hate doing that, but it just looks to me like they feel like, oh, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna throw six fakes right, like I'm gonna get to the top of the route and I'm gonna do a bunch of jab steps, a bunch of head fakes, and like try to really get loose on this guy.

And what I think it comes back too, And that's let's also get into the little things too, like breaking a route off at a certain uh you know, yardage marker or step right, you know, one step, three step, five, step, seven step routes. Not being able to to do that properly too has been a big thing. But I think what it comes down to with the timing of the routes and how long it's taking them sometimes is I

really think that they're trying to do too much. Like they're trying to and this relates back in a way to some of the miscues at the end of games that we've seen, you know, Ramandre trying to fight for extra yards. Obviously what happened at the end in Vegas. Like I think that these receivers are thinking to themselves, it's not good enough for me to just gain eight

yards on first and ten. I have to gain twenty eight yards, right, Like they're trying to create so much separation with all these head fakes and jabs and you know, sweet releases at the line of scrimmage that take twenty minutes to get off the line because they feel like they need to make a big play every single time they're pressing and when when when you're committing a lot

of penalties and stuff like that. Like this team has really struggled to incrementally work the ball down the field right right, and when you do that, I think you kind of get in the back of your head, Man, we need a big play. We can't we can't do this for twelve thirteen plays. We gotta get in the end zone in six or seven, and I think guys

are playing. I think maybe there's also a level of overthinking just in terms of and this goes back really to the coaching when you can't get lined up, when when guys don't know the play right, you know, when that keeps happening, you know, you screw the play up four five times? All right, I gotta run this rat right, Yeah? Yeah, this might right, Yeah, Okay, this is the play. Like I think there's just the whole, the whole irony in this,

the real irony. And this is do you remember all the way back in the summer, really in the spring, when they change the offense, and it was, oh, we want to simplify it. We wanted to be less thinking, right, We wanted to be less thinking for the receivers in the tight ends and the running backs in the end. And I don't know if it's because they change the offense,

the two might be unrelated. But one of the big problems now, ironically in all of this is everybody on offense, mac the linemen, that the skill players looks like they're overthinking quite a bit. Yeah, And now what it comes down to is that it's no longer stuff like play design and sequencing and all the fancy stuff about offense. We are so far beyond that, like can behind that, not beyond it, behind it. We're just that's not the biggest issue with the team because they can't execute the

fundamental well. So that's I compared it to when I was on the Hub earlier this week. I compared it, you know, you gotta everybody needs to know what the plays are, what the calls are, we're to line up right right. Once you do that, you start building on that, right you start you know, then you start building off a place and let's like two three, four and on the checklist. They can't get past one right now, right you can't start doing two, three, four and five until

one is checking. I don't know if they're capable of doing two, three, four and five, to be honest with you. But the biggest issue that from a coaching standpoint, I think with this team right now is the fundamental details of the game right like they are not They're not a sound football team on offense right now, where they're running precise routes and they know where they're supposed to

be at and the combinations are spaced out properly. And working properly and timed up properly, Like you can't start doing creative stuff. We can't start getting into downfield RPOs or fun things that we talk about sometimes that I talk about that I love, Right, we can't start getting into that type of stuff if we can't run slant flats in a row. That's what I'm saying. You can't do two, three, four, and five until that first box is checked. And I mean to your point that they can't.

There's two maybe you know, two games left in the regular season. Who knows if they get me in the playoffs. That's stuff that you're trying to get checked off back in the summer. So who knows what's going to happen with that, at least in terms of this year's team. But yeah, I think we're basically saying this. So the fundamentals and the details of this football team on offense are as bad as I've ever seen it, And that, to me is a coaching failure across the board. It's

not just Matt Patricia. I'm looking at Troy Brown, I'm looking at Nick Kaylee, Like these guys are judge, of course, at the very least, at the bare minimum keeping it buttoned up right, like keeping it sharp is the bare minimum on either side of the football. I could really care less at this point if you're an offensive creative genius, if you're Mike McDaniel or Kyle shanhander one are these guys that's motioning people and play action this way and

play action that way? Like, I could care less at this point because they can't. They're not doing the simple things great. And what I don't understand is is like when Jacobe Myers takes ten hours to come out of his route on that play action pass. It's like I have to think Troy is in the film room and being like, hey, we gotta you got to get out, like we gotta get going here. And we know Jacoby can do it because we've seen him do it in the past, correct, right, So it's not like, oh, he

just can't again. It goes back to my thing about the talent level, right, it's not like he can't do it. I do take a small victory lap here though, because do you remember after the Minnesota game, we were sitting here and you were talking about Mackley didn't come back or whatever, and I said, if they just clean it all up in the margins. You say, I forget the margins, like then he'd be able to do this and that. This is this is what I meant. Basically, this is

what I was saying. Until you're you have the detail, because this team has always won by playing bit. They are better in the margins than their opponent, the little things, the details, the not making avoidable mistakes. The Patriots won for twenty plus years by simply being better at that than there were than any opponent they faced. They were always going to be better than the other team at that.

And to your point back then, I get it. You want to be more explosive and you need to be able to make plays, not just prevent the other team, YadA, YadA, YadA. But until you can start doing that stuff on them, like doing that stuff on the margin correctly, is what's going to allow you to take that next step into

what you wanted to see. I still think it all comes from they have to clean up the little things first, the dail so many bad habits that this team has developed in the passing game is just can I give you an interesting stat? I've given you the stat off the air. I don't know that I've ever given it given it on the air. Yeah, So we talk a lot and I don't know exactly what it means, but it's indicative of what we're talking about. Right, we talk

a lot about, you know, okay, third down struggles. Well, what's the average distance to go? This is a big bill thing. When they have a good game on third down, you ask him about it, he'll almost always say, well, we move the ball on first and second down was manageable. Right, So you look at all right, they're struggling on third down? What's their average yards to go? And then maybe take it a step deeper, all right, well are they picking

up yards on second down? Right? Even if they don't get it on first they're picking up yards on So I'm going through and I'm tracking these numbers on Pro Football Reference. Shout out to them, great, great website, and I just I'm curious. I go, all right, I wonder what their average distance to go on first down is? Like, is this something that's even tracked? Because well it's first and ten right, right, first ten? The Patriots average distance to go on first down this year is ten point

two yards. That was the longest in the league, tied with a couple of teams, the Raiders have actually passed them. The Raiders are now ten point three to go on first down. What does that mean? Right, You're in a lot of first in fifteens, first and twenties and but the difference is so it's the Patriots, the Raiders, in the Seahawks, we're all at ten point two. Now the Raiders are at ten point three. The Patriots have run about forty less first down snaps and those other two teams,

So it's not a much smaller sample size. Yeah, Now, not every team is first and ten. There's only eight teams in the league that are averaging exactly first and ten. You also have some other teams that are under. The Vikings are actually the best in the league of this. The Vikings average first down distance to go is nine point six. They're alone, which is I don't even how

that gets there. Red zone, right, they have some of it is you know, you get guys to jump off sides, but first and goal from the five, first and goal from the three right brings that average down. Yeah, so it basically just tells you they're putting. But that's all on your own. The opponent doesn't have a lot to do with that number. A lot of that is just

what are you doing? Right? And basically I'm as I'm talking through this here, what that number I think it means is the Patriots and the Seahawks and the Raiders and those other teams that are up there, they are putting themselves in difficult situations on their own accord. Yeah, I just I just wonder where they go from here on the offensive side of the ball, because I think any realist would look at this situation and notice that pretty much every is not just the whole is not performing.

Pretty much every position group has regressed as well, right, like every individual except Michael and winning except Michael, and I had Hermandre Stevens in until two weeks ago, which we'll look at. Nobody else could step up. He had to take ninth in the league and touches him. Yeah, I mean he's and he admitted after the game, this is the first time he said anything along the lines. He said he's a little banged up right now. Yeah,

because he's doing a ton. Yeah. So any other people would look at this objectively and and clean house on the offensive side of the ball, right, like you bring in coaching, Yeah, you bring in somebody like Bill. There's people want them to clean house in terms of players on on Dowse. You bring in somebody like Bill O'Brien and he brings all of his own coaches right or something along those lines. So we'll see what ends. That's

an offseason thing. I don't like playing the what if for the crystal ball game with the coaching staff, but that that's the that's our forty minute rant on the offense. Let's take some phone calls. Patty, thanks for hanging on. I know we had you on hold for a while. How you doing good? Now? You guys doing today? Good?

Doing well? So before the Buffalo game, I had made a I said the same phrase that Max said in this press conference yesterday, which is I just wanted to see him let it rip because that was a game that they weren't supposed to win anyway, So what would what would be the harm in just you know, seeing what you can do down the field, you know? And and I like that, he said back, because I would like to see them over the next couple of games.

And Evan, you kind of spoiled your pick on PU, but I wanted to see what you guys thought about that hopefully. You know, I just want him to beat the Dolphins because the Dolphins are my NFL Yankees. I can't stand them, never have been able to stand them. And do you guys think that there's been a player, not over the course of the season, not a single game, not a Malcolm Butler, but over the course of the season that spend more stand back than Mac Jones this year. Yeah,

it's it's a really good question, Patty. And to your first question, thanks for calling the just grip it and rip it right. Like you know, in the second half, they finally opened up the passing game and he made some plays down the field. The interesting part about it is against the Dolphins, and the Dolphins and they're they're coordinated by Josh Boyer who used to be here and was underflow in Miami and he was the one holdover.

It was that they kept the continuity on defense. They brought McDaniel and to run the offense, and they kept the continuity and on defense. So they still play a lot of man coverage. They still blitz a lot, right, They're not. They don't come out you with all the Amibia all out blitzes and stuff like that, Like they used to do so much with Flores, but they still play a lot of man free which is you know, five man rush everybody else you know, one post safety

in the middle of the field man coverage. Right, there's no robber, there's no underneath help, nothing like that because they're rushing five. So they still play a lot of

that style of coverage. So teams like the Packers last week when they found success in the day attack down field against this team, right, you know, that's they're okay at covering deep passes, but to shorten the intermediate stuff and really the middle of the field because they don't have any help at the intermediate middle of the field, that's really where this team is very vulnerable. So in a lot of respects, I do think they're gonna come

after mac mac Jones. They've done that every single time they've played the Patriots in the three games with mac Jones at quarterback over the last two years, they always come after them. I think they're going to continue to do that and instead of which I think is what they'll end up doing. We'll see, if you know, Marcus Jones doesn't clear protocol, then maybe not. But instead of running a play a game plan like that against Arizona or there's you know, fifteen screens and draws and you know,

trying to just survive those downs where they blitz. It would be nice to see them just try to block it and let mac Jones stand in there and make some throws down the field against it. I don't think they will because I think that they'll be conservative again, but that maybe there is that potential there this week after what seeing what it did last week in the second half, that they will just try to block it

up and hit some throws down the field. The one thing I'd say is if they're gonna do that, Kendrick Born needs to be out there. Oh yeah. I mean he should be out there, right, He should be out there one way or the other. But yeah, I just I feel like every time we've done this this year, where he gets out a little bit of run and we get all excited and this is it. Here it comes, They're gonna put him back in the offense. Yeah, and then he goes back on the shelf for three weeks.

So that's what I'm expecting now. I think they kind of have to play him because DeVante Parker's in concussion protocol. Johnny Smith is in concussion protocol. I don't think either one of those guys are going to play on Sunday. So it's basically the same situation that they had last week, where you just have you have three receivers healthy. I

really have no choice, right right. I mean they technically have four, but you're not if you're playing Kendrick Born over Agloa and Taekwon Thornton at this point, then we're watching different tapes. But they did. But they've done that all year. I know. I would say, all right, David in New York, what's going on? David? You're on the air. Hey, guys, how's it going good? So I had a point in a question. So my point was, I'm sure you've done

this before. I went back and I looked at some of the film from the Colts game last year, you know, the one where they were down like twenty and nothing. Yeah, yeah, And that was one that was like the game where I considered, like, you know, that's our word, how could this often could any worse? That's their worst offensive game. But actually looking back at it compared to this year, that looks like, at the very least the new England

Patriots offense and a well oiled machine. Granted they were in hurry up for mostly that guy after the game, but that just kind of was eye opening to me. And then my question was what do you want to make Teddy Bridgewater do on Sunday? Like what do you force them to do? How do you beat them? Yeah? Good question, David. So to the first point I have and thanks for the call. I have reviewed that Colds

tape a lot. I reviewed a lot of you know, went back and I have, you know, a lot of positive plays sorted on my computer and I like to just sometimes run through um last year and be like, what was what was working? Right? Like what was that they ran well? And in that Colds game, I remember it vividly. Mac Jones hit the same concept three different ways, right.

It was just that their their levels, you know, dig levels concept and they have the backside vertical, hit the deep dig, then he hit the short dig, and then he hit the vertical three different ways. I can't even tell you that he's hit the same play three different ways all year, let alone in one game, right, And that's sort of the the time, Like all of the things that we're saying is that they just don't run anything consistently well enough in a row to be able

to do something like that. So yeah, that Colts game ended up being if that was the film he was putting out right now. I mean, I think it's kind of similar in some ways to this last game against the Bengals, because they were bad in the first half of that game, and they were bad the first drive of the second half. I believe he was an interception as well. He only threw one pass the first quarter. Right, it was a bad game for them in the first half,

So it's kind of similar. But it just sticks out to me that they were able to make the make the same play work three different ways, right, Like, that's that's the old you know, that's the old addage in a lot of ways that with football is that it doesn't have to be super complex, right, can be the same play, you know, the coverage adjust you and you hit it different ways. So to the second question, what

do we want Teddy Bridgewater to do? Well? Here is I think the interesting chess match about this game is that the blueprinter or the book on the Miami Dolphins offense really since that Charger game, but it maybe started a little bit with San Francisco, but they're more of

his own team is to play man coverage. Yeah, yeah, they get into Tyreek Kill and Jalen Waddle's faces, and a lot of the motion, play action and misdirection that that Mike McDaniel uses and uses well is just just torment zone coverage, right, because your your guys are that are spot drappers, are just in conflict the entire game, especially in the middle of the field. Is it a run, is it a reverse? Is it a sweep? Is it you know? This guy's motion in this way and coming

out that way? Now we have play action like there's just no the middle linebacker has got like six different things going on. And Bill Bill's talked about this, right that against those kind of teams play action motion stuff like that, Yeah, is a lot less of active against man coverage because in man coverage, there's no there's no you're not reading cues, right, You're just this is my assignment.

I'm I'm going off this assignment, whereas in zone, yes, then you need to be more aware of everything that's happening in front of you. The thing I'd add to that too is take and this is maybe more of a Dolphins thing than a Teddy Bridgewater specific thing. But yeah, take away short stuff, make him throw the ball deep. So this is the concern, right, because I wholeheartedly agree with you, especially with Bridgewater in there, because he I said this, he can dig and dunk all day long.

Like that's Teddy b right, Like you get the ball out quickly, he'd throw he averages like six yards air yards per attempt, like that's that's his sweet spot, that's where he wants to be. But the problem is is that if you can't man up on the outside and you're playing zone, that's what's going to be there, right. The checkdowns is what's going to be there. The soft stuff underneath is what's going to be there. And I think this gets to a point that I wanted to

bring up a bigger picture point. And we're talking about this earlier about defense nowadays in the NFL, and I think a lot of people watch that first half, specifically against Burrow, and they're like, Oh, they're just so much soft zone, right, They're just sitting in soft zone. They're giving up things underneath, and Burrows just you know, getting the football out quickly, distributing the ball out quickly, and

it's just shredding them. And I think in a lot of ways unfortunately, especially with the Patriots defense, the way that they're built, where they're really stronger upfront and the back end is sort of the weaker part of their team, especially with all the injuries. It's just really difficult nowadays

to really dictate the terms of the game on defense. Yeah, the way the rules are set up, the quarterbacks are so good, the receivers are so good, Like, you just can't control or dominate the game defensively the way that you used to be able to. And I think that a lot of teams, pretty much every team I watch on film defensively is doing the same thing, and that is they're playing too high shell. Sometimes they rotate it into three, sometimes they stay into and I say three,

I mean like cover three or post safety. But everybody's backing off because all they want to do. That Ben don't break. Is how thirty two teams are playing defense right now, But I'll say thirty one because I think San Francisco might be the San Francisco. Yeah, they're on a different level. But no, it's a good point, you know, you you kinda and we talked about it before with the Great even some of the elite quarterbacks in the

league right now are turnover happy. Yeah, look at it, guy like Josh Allen, because that's all it is, is that you're just trying to bait them. You're hunting big place, right, So it's all right, let's just see if you'll throw us one, right and if not, we'll hold a field goal in the red zone. Like that's defense at this point, right right. And the other thing specifically is it relates to that game. You had receivers of six, five, sixty three and six one against corners of five, ten, five,

eight and five eight. Yeah, you're not exactly going to come up to the line and press. That's not exactly recipe to win. And I mean we'll get into it more when they when we get to the offseason. Jalen Mills is still here, obviously, Jack Jones is still here. But you're seeing the depth kind of be tested on the boundary corner. Specifically, they need more size in the

secondary because the whole, like receivers are getting bigger. Guys who would have been tight ends ten years ago are now wide receivers like Higgins exactly so and it's if you're gonna play man. And I remember talking to guys on like the eighteen nineteen Patriots about this, that had the guys the horses to play man for four quarters in the secondary. If you're gonna feel more, JC Jackson, Jason mccordy, John john what a unit if you are

gonna play man. It's a lot like basketball where you have to be able to have guys that can cover one through five, Right, Like, you can't put a five foot eight Marcus Jones on a center like t Higgins if you're gonna live in man coverage. So you have to have bigger guys. And that's not a knock on Marcus Jones. There's within positions, there's different types of players

at each position, right. So it's just like a game of basketball, where you know, you match big on big and you match the guards on the guards, and like that's sort of how you have to go about it. So with that team in eighteen, you know that John Jones in the slot, and they had Gilmore and Jason mccordy and Jac you had some more size on the outside, and they were able to match up against every different body type that they were going to see and unfortunately

this defense doesn't have that. So I actually think that what they're doing defensively, although it might be looked at as treading water on a lot of downs and a lot of situations, especially between the twenties, I think they're doing what they can, right, Yeah, And this is sort

of defense nowadays. Like spin the dial, you know, get you into your two shell, high shell, make it to three, make it one, make it two, make it four, and just continue to spend that dial as much as you possibly can, and hope and pray that you win on third down a couple of times, maybe you get a turnover two or three. And that's how you hold a team to twenty points, right, That's that's the end game? Right? Yeah? No, absolutely, I mean I think you hear some times people say, oh,

they allowed twenty one points. Twenty four points, doesn't really that good to be a game on defense. But what are the stipulations if those were long sustained drives, right right? And or not? Like sorry, not if those are not long sustained drives, if you were able to keep your offense on the field, like you said, if you know, you hold them to a field on the key spot defense is so situational at this point. Yeah, it's not necessarily as weird as it sounds. It's not necessarily just

keep points off the ball board at all costs. Yeah, it's keep the game manageable. It set the tone, you know, how's your tani. But it's literally making sure that they don't score forty on every quarters. If you're if your team is built for shootout offensively, then yeah, maybe you play a little more aggressive. But if you have an offense, it's more dank and dunk. You know, how can we shorten the game? How can we limit the total number of drives? Can we get red zone stops? Right, it's

it's very very situational. All right, let's fly through some of these costs. In the last twenty minutes or so, we had all right, Christen Fresno, what's going on? Going quick question for you guys. So in this scenario, so obviously all the news that Derek Carter just toppen. So actually I want the feathers state. I go there. I've

grown up watching Derek play, Davante Adams to play. I know in the past, I've been reports that we've previously tried trading for Derek and I know all the relationship with Josh McDonalds and Mac Jones. Any chance to Bill Belichick and Josh and DWAs get together in trade Derek Carr, Devant Adams, true Mac Jones and possibly like a first round pick. Okay, so thanks for the call, Chris. I don't mean to drop you quick. We just have to go here. Yeah, this one, I look, I would love

to have Davante Adams here. Yeah. And if you're telling me that the only way I can get Davanta Adams but I have Davante Adams is to take on Derek Carr, then I'll swallow the pill. But I don't like swallow. Yeah. It's the first time I've heard that one phrased that way, which I'm a little more interesting. So the Derek Carr thing to me is baffling because Mac Jones is just

a cheaper version of Derek Carr. Right, So why are you trading the same player Mac Jones for Derek Carr just to play pay excuse me, pay with money, pay the more expensive quarters in the older quarterback. Yeah, and you get him off the rock. It's crazy to me. How three weeks ago I'm sitting here hyping up the defense for how they played against the Raiders, and all I hear is Derek Cars terrible. Derek Carr doesn't belong

to the Derek Carr. Is Derek Carr that now all of a sudden, Well, could you imagine if they had Derek Carr instead of Mac Jones quarterback? Look, I think Spider Man meme, It's like it is the same people. I don't think he's as bad. That game against the Patriots one of the worst I've seen him play. I don't think he's quite that bad. But everybody talking about oh well, Max panicky in the pocket and Mac has trouble getting through his reads, which, like I don't think

is as true as people make it. But if those are your complaints, those are also two of the biggest knocks on Derek Carr. If you want to say you want a different quarterback, fine, come to the table with an intelligent army. This is gonna be my new thing. Okay, I'm saying this right now. If you're gonna tell me Max shouldn't be the Patriots quarterback. If you're gonna tell me Max shouldn't be the Patriots quarterback, well then who

should Yeah, That's gonna be my question. You don't move on from a guy who a year ago took the team in the playoffs as a rookie. You don't move on from a guy like that just because oh greener pastors, right. You move on from a guy like that with a plan. And if Derek Carr is your plan, you're spinning your tires. At best, you're spinning your tires. So I blame Josh Allen for this. I do too. I blame Josh Allen

for a lot. I blame Josh Allen, I blame mahomes I blame Herbert because it has set an expectation that every quarterback not only has to be this like cyborg with a rocket arm, but he also has to play that style to win right where this this backyard, you know, a gunslinger style that they all play. And Herbert maybe not as much as Alan and uh and mahomes um, but just because of the offense that he's in. But in general, like that, the it's death to the to

the traditional pocket passer, right like. And then this is like a f which I think is so dumb, which because you can still at the end of the day, football is still football. Yeah, and I really aesthetically when you see, you know, Josh Allen make a throw with like, you know, a guy hanging off of him and he's got well you know he see throwing it with one arm. You know, no, no feat nothing right, Like he's just throwing off platform. It's it looks so cool. It doesn't.

But what people don't realize is how slim the margin of error is to operate that way. And yeah, I just don't know Josh Allen's success. What do people who don't get enough credit? Is everybody else on that roster who allows him to operate that way. But here's my point. But listen, listen, here's my point. Here's my point because it goes to what you're saying. Yeah, to have a quarterback that play Mahomes is the one difference in this.

I think Mahomes on another planet. Yeah, But whether it's whether it's Allen, whether it's Mahomes, whether it's Aaron Rodgers in the latter stage of his career, you have to have such a good roster around that guy to allow him to play that way, to allow him to play up to a skill set. So if you have to build an elite roster Anyway, why give up all those assets to go chase the QB when it's been proven that you can win with that elite roster, even if

your quarterback isn't that good. Well, we have we have spied on hold. So he's getting oh boys, So let me just say we're getting to this argument here in rock Purty exists. Yeah, brock Purty exists. You have Kyle Shanahan running the offense. But I think the general, the Derek Carr thing, the fact that this is a conversation to trade the younger Derek Carr, the cheaper rookie contract, Derek Carr for Derek Carr for thirty million dollars a year.

Derek Carr is just mind blood. And if you think, if you don't think Derek Carr has been good in Vegas, which I know a lot of Patriots fans don't. On the way they talked after that game, what does bring him into a worst situation do for you? I don't know it Like it's if you're if you want to replace Mac Jones, fine, come to the table with a better option. All right. Oh in North Carolina? Oh, how's it going? Oh you're on the air? Hello? Hey, Oh, Hello, gentlemen,

any time, long time, Thank you. I just wanted to make a remark about the season, as it's been fascinating actually from like an academic standpoint, because if you think back to preseason, we uh, we all wondered how we would be able to tell if it was the offensive coaching or the players and uh and I think that's gotten really murky. And I believe it started with just well, the play calling was the problem. We weren't utilizing certain

certain tools in the bag, like RPO's play action. And then to look at where it's at now and sort of evolved to this, well, the positional code terrible as well, or at least blackluster. Yeah, that's I just think it's fascinating him worthy of like a retrospect at some point.

That's totally on the one eighty that I did, because I started with this offense and was like, well, they're just not creative, they're not calling the right plays, they don't call enough play action, they don't call enough RPO. But now we're so far removed from even that part of the discussion because now we just need to execute. Just day one. Can get lined up? Can you get lined up right? And I don't. Maybe I misunderstood the call. Yeah, thanks for the call. Maybe I misunderstood a little bit.

I don't think it's murky in terms like it sounds like he was saying, well, do they not have enough talent or they're not coached? Right, I don't think that part's murky at all. Yeah, and we already got into that about the offensive ranking from last year. I won't redo that, but I don't think it's murky there all right here, it comes all right, spe how are we doing? Oh my god, I didn't even want to get into that stuff, Alex. But I mean, good, stop using the

word proved. You know it hasn't been proven yet. I mean, call me when they when that kind of situation, high ranking, sort of high flying talent with your your net neutral quarterback, because what a super Bowl. It hasn't happened. But I mean, I don't I didn't want to get into that, all right, don't want to go. But Nick Foles did happen. Speak Nick Foles happened? I would say, enough, guys have gotten one game, all right, So Carson when he was he

was so Nick Foles and Carson Wentz happened. It's two of us speak. Nick Foles was the quarterback for the entire playoff run. It wasn't just one game. We're just messing with you. What do you? What? Are you? Okay? Fine? But Carson went that season was a very pre injury. Carson Wentz was very, very great situation on a great Rossie. I say this to Alex all the time, and I think it's hilarious. If Jimmy Garoppolo hits that throw at the end of that Super Bowl and wins that then,

then then his whole argument is so much stronger. His whole argument is so much strong Only Shanahan didn't put it in his hands. Okay, you want to let me bring up jim Mcaroppolo. Just what if those two team play ten times, Jimmy Garoppolo loses eight out of ten of those games. Well he did because that team was so heavily dependent on the running game. Until they get the postseason, They're like, all right, Jimmy playing it. Look what happened. Well, now I'm the NFC Championship game me

through at eighteen. But that's my point. If you just had a bet like it could have worked, if they just coached it better. Oh please, all right, what was your point? What did you actually at the time, what did you actually call in? I really okay, I really didn't want to talk about that. What I what I wanted. I wanted to say that Evan, some you and I, through different roads to Grandma's house, have come to kind of feel the same way about Mac Jones at this point.

I feel uncertain. I feel like the needle for me is not moved adequately because of the situation, because there are things you guys like, are up. I think that Alex is still too much of a Jim. I mean, there's too much of a of a of a mac apologist at this point, like and I don't season clearly for his world wards. But but what I wanted to get you guys to address, I'm genuinely curious and I'm not coming at this where that this is right, this is wrong, And please avoid using the words rookie wall.

Just tell me what Mac is in total. Look, get the whole body of work from the post by Indie game last year, board like what like, because I don't think he was that great toward the end of the season last year. So please, I genuinely want to hear what you guys think about is playing since the indie game on. Yeah, that that's a really fair point. I think a lot of people bring up spin thanks for the call, and we always appreciate the back and forth.

I think the reason why I don't want to, the reason why I give him a little bit of a pass for what happened at the end of last year is not necessarily a rookie wall. It's just more that that offense had hit its ceiling and they still weren't under personnel wise in a spot where they were going to be able to go toe to toe with Buffalo,

for example. Right. So what I was really hanging my hat on with that was that, Okay, this is the baseline, right like, this is the this is the floor for mac Jones, and that floor is a good enough capable NFL starter. And now let's see if they go out and add somebody more than Davante Parker and they build off of what they did offensively, and Josh McDaniels doesn't leave for Vegas and they are and they really grow moving forward, then you know, hopefully they finished stronger in

the future. And of course what we have is what Spee was, you know, saying what we've been saying this whole time is a whole lot of nothing because we have no idea what we have and that part is scary and frustrating all at the same time. But I think the last, you know, let's call it five or six games of last season, I don't think he played particularly well, But I think that on the whole, he still played well enough to me for me to be optimistic that if we keep building with this, it's going

to turn out to be okay. But we just never got to build with it. And that's the that's the disappointing part. There's a lot of rookie quarterbacks that come into the league that just can't win, period. Right. There's there's one little bit south of here wearing green. I think that somebody that Mac Jones was winning you the games he should have won you, Yeah, which I know

that doesn't sound like a lot. It's for a rookie quarterback, that's a good baseline, right, And outside of maybe that Colts game, I don't know that any of those losses were games that Patriots necessarily should have won for reasons beyond Mac Jones. Ideally, the quarterback becomes a guy who maybe wins you some games you shouldn't and eventually starts

turning those games into games you should win. And what I saw in that first year as a whole, like you said, even though he didn't play as well down the stretch, I didn't think he played overly poorly. It was nowhere close to what it looks like this year. I thought there's enough to build on here that in a year, I think he does start to win some of those games, and then in two or three years

some of those games start to flip. That's how rookie quarterback development generally works, Like you said, Unfortunately, the building on it never came because Josh McDaniels laughed in YadA, YadA, YadA. The rest is history. That's what I saw from Mac Jones. I saw a guy who could at least win you the games he needed to win. And all right, if he's doing that in year one, where does it go in year two? Where does it go in year three?

That's what was exciting. Year two now has kind of just been thrown away, and it's well, now he has to get back to year one and you're restarting, and it's just the timeline is totally thrown to the wind, and it's pretty much uncharted territory at this point. Again, the regression from year one to year two for mac Jones, there really is no comp that you can look at and say, well, all right, this guy was God has seemed a playoffs year one completely fell off in year

two like that hasn't happened. Quarterback growth or regression is generally pretty linear, and this is just a roller coaster, right, And it's that's the part that frustrates me the most, is that this is such a lost season, right that from of value down standpoint and to that end, not only have the Patriots potentially ruined quite frankly mac Jones. Yeah, look, there's a chance that he never gets back to where he was your one, because the fundamentals, the confidence, all

of it is just so shot from this. Not only did it right now and not only did they ruin him, but they stunted him most important, I would say it's one and the same, Yeah, and but I but the problem is is that I was I at the end of last year, I thought that they had a guy that was worth building with. I wasn't one hundred percent sure that he was going to be an elite quarterback

or a perennial All Pro or anything like that. But I was I thought that they had a guy that it was worth giving a shot too, right to get to that point for two three four years now, it feels like we've skipped over this year an hour, back to square not square one in terms of like week one twenty twenty one, but just chance. I think you're kind of the conversation for Mac Jones heading into twenty twenty three is going to be similar to the conversation

you you'd have about a rookie. Yeah, I actually think it is guy. What exactly is he? Because again, the two seasons we have are so vastly different that no, I think I like that take that you're kind of back Mac Jones heading into twenty twenty three, I think will be viewed much like a rookie quarterback would be does he belong in this league? What exactly does he give you? And those are all fair questions. Some of that's on him, some of that is reasons beyond his control,

but he's basically back to his rookie year at this point. Right. All I've ever asked for out of this situation is that we just put mac Jones in a solid foundation like he was in last year and now in the year three, even though maybe mentally and some of the fundamentals have regretted because of what's gone on this year.

It should, in theory be another offseason with Tom House, another offseason in this in an NFL strength and conditioning program, like we should still be making progress physically from that stand, but I wouldn't even say were we could see another step from him, and that we obviously didn't get to

see this year. At the very least, next year we get our answer, right if you put him in a better situation than the very least, it's like, all right, if they have a real ose in place and the offensive lines fixed and he's still struggling, well, then he's

not the guy. And that could happen. But if you know, they bring in Bill O'Brien and they get the tackle situation figured out, maybe they bring in a receiver, right, and they go back to averaging thirty points a game like they did last year, well, okay, now we're in business, and and then it becomes well, you still burned a year, but all right, no, he is the guy. Twenty two is the anomaly contract to a right. Yeah, but okay, so really quickly before we sign off here, uh your

you know, two minute take on on Sunday. We've talked a little bit about the Dolphins, but I want to kind of hammer this one. I mean, you said this to me a practice. It was something I was thinking a couple days ago. It reminds me a lot of that Bill's playoff game lach Year in the sense that they had you know, DeVante Bossby out there, Juan Williams just got They didn't have any depth Jalen will Uh,

Jalen Mills at COVID, John Jones was sick. Yeah, jac Jackson played, but he was one foot out the door by that. He was also hurt. I think they just didn't have anybody in the secondary. Everybody was sick or hurt or whatever. You know. Jonathan Jones was inactive because he was hurt. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, so you know, Marcus Jones hasn't practiced this week. Jack Jones hasn't practiced in a couple of weeks. Jalen Mills isn't practice in

a couple of weeks. Jonathan Jones, I believe is still on the injury report, although he's practicing. So who are you putting out there against If they're you know, one of the top three skilled position groups in the league, I would say it's just you know, whether it's Miles Bryant or you know, you're deep on the depth chart now. It banged up John Jones getting into the practice squad, Quandre Mosley. You're asking a lot of guys that you really weren't planning on putting on the field this year,

putting on the field in very different roles. It's gonna be a tall task even without two, to keep up with these receivers if they can do it. Look, Miami hasn't played great football lately. Their defense has been inconsistent. Their offense, even beyond two, has been turnover prone. So you have a chance to hang with it if they were healthy at corner. I think the Patriots have a good shot in this game. Yeah, I just that's a lot of injuries to overcome in the secondary. Yeah it.

I never really gave him a shot in that playoff game last year anyways, just because of how it looked at a couple of weeks earlier, and I that team really felt like it was sort of letting go of the rope down the stretch. But I think that this team, I really thought maybe they had a chance in this game. I just can't. I can't figure out how they how

they defend this offense, even with Teddy Bridgewater. And what my guess is, and this goes back, you know, over to the other side of the football, Well, my guess is that they're gonna defensively do what we were just talking about, which they did a lot against the Bengals, which they did a lot against the Bills, and they're just gonna sit in soft zone and survive, right, and hopefully they can keep the game, they can shorten it right. And you know, Gay gave up twenty two points Cincinnati.

They gave up what twenty four ultimately right to Buffalo, even though it was not kind of like a fake twenty four, they gave up twenty four. Like that's the type of game that you need to play, but in order to win that game, your offense actually do something right. So this is no longer I thought going into this game that this could be a game that the Patriots defense actually control the game and really put them in

a position to win. Now I'm not really sure if we can kind of get to that point anyway at this point. So this is a just don't get you know, don't don't give up thirty five to Teddy Bridgewater, right, keep him in the twenties, and then offensively, you gotta do something Kendrick Borne. That that's what you gotta do. Get the ball to Kendrick Borne. Keep him on the field because you can move the ball and you can

score points when he's on the field. Okay, we have one more caller just called in, all right, and then we're gonna wrap John. What's up? John? Hey, guys, I was wondering what your dream off season plan for the Patriots that tackle Winde receiver, And I'm that's a coordinating okay, so this is uh, thanks for the college John, John knows I put together my ten point plan for the Patriots. Yeah, we're not doing We're not doing ten points. Okay, Okay, we don't have time for that. But give me your

dream offensive coordinator, dream tackle, dream receiver quickly go. So I'm ten points, all right, if we're being realistic, Yes, it probably is, Bill o'bri I'm assuming Josh McDaniels was staying in Vegas. I'd love to get Josh back. If not him, give me Bill O'Brien wide receiver. I've been on the record with this, DeAndre Hopkins. I think there's a chance he's available. I think there's a chance he's get a bull at a relatively good price. Is he

gonna let bygones be bygones with Billy? Oh? I forgot about that, all right? You know what we said dream offseason? Yes, they bury the hatchet. If I had to pick one, Bill puts him in the room at the ground round, just like it did with Rodney Harris. If I had to pick one, I would say Hopkins. So I'll fine Chad o'shay as euroc so you can get DeAndre Hopkins to come here and play wide receiver and then a tackle. I actually think i'd love to see him at two

tackles because wins out Trents on a contract here. I think it's a classics. Signed one draft one. I don't have the list of the top tackles in front of me, but signed one of the top ten tackles free agency in free agency and then use that first round pick on another tackle. So I'm not too far off from you, I'll say. I'll say, for for the sake of our argument, Roderick Jones is the tackle in the draft. I'd like that. Yeah, So Bill O'Brien number one. Yeah, I know you're not

gonna like this, but Cliff Kingsbury number two. Okay. If Cliffkins fired by Arizona and you can't make Bob happen, then i'd bring him back, Okay, But then you probably can't get Hopkins. Yeah. There's a lot of issues there with Hopkins, right, so I can't really get too caught up on the hot wid you don't want Hawkins as

much as I do. The wide receiver one is difficult for me right now because I think Hopkins is really the obvious one that would be available, but getting him is politically So would you rather have O'Brien or Hawkins? I said yesterday when you asked me this question off the year, that I'd take Bill O'Brien because I think that they're they're just so sloppy structurally, right, like as an offense that like I think that that fixes it.

More like, if if you give Matt Patricia DeAndre, Hopkins isn't going to be any better, I'll say that it's not. But it's not. But it's not O'Brien or Hopkins, it's another like any oc you want besides O'Brien and Hopkins. Maybe maybe Hopkins and Cliff actually really like you. Maybe they do. So if it's Hopkins and Cliff, who would you rather have then Hopkins and Cliff? Okay, So I don't think that Cliff is a drop off from So that's it's not Hopkins and you keep Patricia. It's Hopkins

and just not Bill O'Brien. It can be you whever you want, just not Bills might say when you talk about the sloppiness, Yeah, go back and watch some of Alabama. Alabama had a lot of the same issues this year in terms of pro like he's a pro Alabama had a lot of the same issues this year in terms of the nuts and bolts that the Patriots did. But was that because it's college kids versus NFL. But they haven't had those problems in the past. It's always been

college kids in the past. They didn't have that problem last year with Billy. Oh either fair, that's fair? Okay? Uh ot So I've really been hang on if not Hopkins, who I don't know Judy. I guess I really like Higgins. I don't know if he's gonna demanded trade that really, I think I uk is one of those guys that you kind of have to know how to use, and I'm not confident in that. Yeah, it sounds like Judy if not Hawkins. Yeah, I'd go Higgins if they can

get opens on them. So Higgins over Jude. There's a lot of there's a lot of there's a big bill coming for Cincinnati, right Oh. Yeah, Joe Burrow is going to be a forty fifty million dollars and that's not an organ Now we're getting down the rabbit hole here, but that's not an organization that is flushed with cash, right right, Like that's not a big pocket owner and not a big pocket market. So at some point in time you have to think about that in Cincinnati. So

I'd like to tee Higgins as well. Offensive line, all four drafting a tackle in the first round, especially if they don't make the playoffs and they have a top you know, ten, they're probably gonna be in that ten to fifteen range. You can really get a franchise guy at that spot. And this is a really good I think you can get a franchise tackle in the twenties in this class. This is a really good tackle class. Yeah, it is not a great wide receiver class. No, it's not.

So the other guy that I throw out there, because I'm with you, sign one and one percent. You have the cap space to maybe go out and get one of the bigger name tackles in the market. I really and they don't let me. Sorry to cut off. They don't have a ton of big name pending free agents. So Jones is pretty much John Jones and Devin if he wants to come back. But Devin's coming back at it one way, He's the only coming here, right, So there's But I'm just saying they have all that caps.

It's not one of those things where, yeah, they have a lot of cap space, but everybody's up and you have to resign people. They have a lot of cap space and they really don't need to spend a lot of it in house, and they can also free up

some space with the right moves. Anyways, Uh, I'm getting more and more married to the idea of Mike McGlinchey because just I'll lay it out really quickly, right tackle first of all, So that so checks that box right, and then you draft obviously the higher premium position at left tack Most of the guys in the draft are

primary left tackles. Right tackle U six foot eight, three twenty right tackle, love it love power, blocking down downhill type of guy, which hopefully they'll get back to that system. The third thing, number nine overall pick in the draft a couple of years ago, they love that, right, that's Stefan Gilmour, right. It's the guy that they couldn't get their hands on because he was too high up in the draft for them. That he has all the raw tools and ability like ball of clay type of guy.

He hasn't been lights out necessarily for San Francisco, but I don't like the system that he's in because in San Francisco you gotta be able to move your feet. You know. It's an outside zone scheme. It's a bootleg scheme. Like there's a lot of moving pockets. There's a lot of linear movement for the offensive line. Like when you're six foot eight, three thirty, you just want to come off the ball right, like you don't want to be stepping out by Shanahan. I don't that might have been

the regime right before Shanahan. I don't know, but notre Dame guy. I really like McGlinchey, especially because, you know, Elton Jenkins just signed an extension, Conklin and Cleveland just signed an extension. So some of the other guys are starting to you know that are at the top of the tackle marketer signing extensions and mcglinchey's gonna hit unrestricted free agencies. So that's that would be my plan. We'll definitely outline the plan. Believe it or not, we might

only have one more in season show. Yeah, so we'll definitely outline the plan more on the first offseason show, whatever that is, and so we'll definitely have a more fleshed out detailed show on that. But we'll be back next Thursday, hopefully next Thursday again on the video show for your YouTube fans, and we'll be back for next week in Buffalo and hopefully a meaningful game in Buffalo. So thanks so much for watching. You can say that

this time and listening, and we'll see you guys next week. Bye. 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 checkpatriots dot com for more news and more podcasts.