Fans. If you want Toyota's best offers, including those not seen on TV, go to buy at toyota dot com. It's Toyota's official website for deals from the official vehicle of the New England Patriots, Toyota. Let's go places. This is Patriots Playbook The Legend. I got one of those updates this week from Facebook. You know how they send you memories. They sent me one from fifty freaking years ago. You know what my action was, you mother, good, golly,
miss Molly. The depth is terrible, boy. We love revisionist history around here, don't.
We started out the program that they said, you know, you know, I think we're talking tackle back in April, and.
Everybody said, nah no, if they draft to tackle, I'm gonna screen bloody murder. Oh I'm gonna jump off the train.
Oh now, here's your host of Patriots Playbook, John Rook.
A camera person just jumped off the train. Right. Wow, is all I can our Our apologies for coming on. Uh well, let's see Evan, I'll see you. You'll be out of here in about sixty two seconds, right well.
As long as the quarterback takes his sweet time coming to the we got some time.
Be all set right, Okay, everybody, welcome into the playbook. It is our maiden voyage. I'll be just a little bit of a of a of a slow start anyway. Here on Week one of the NFL regular season, John Rook, Evan Lazarre's here coming up on the program. Chad Graff, who covers the Patriots for the Athletic. He's gonna give us his spin. Coming up in a bid. Davis Podero from Philolphia Eagles dot Com at Eagles Insider, or as I like to call him, he's the Paul Perillo of
the Philadelphia Eagles. Although I think what we need to have Marina and I talked about this, Okay, one thing that I have to deal with. Wait a second, I gotta move this now. This is gott to go.
You need. We don't want to, We don't want any more. John Rook's running around.
Yeah, they well you think somebody would like yes really?
Oh yeah, absolutely.
That's a security thing.
It is wow looking screenshot and I use your ID wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They tell us an orientation like if we're like going out for lunch or something.
Like that, to leave it in the car. Yeah.
Yeah, it's a real thing.
Okay, I listen. I want to just I want to get along. I want to be a friend of everybody around here. Since we're doing this new fangled thing called television. After twenty two years of doing a radio show, now it's a television.
Show too, How do you feel about it? Do you like it?
It's fine, it's good to get you get the YouTube comments, you.
Get the interaction, which which I feed. Yeah, which is great. I don't I don't mind it at all. But you know, when you've been doing radio for as long as I have been, and of course we've been doing radio here, as I've said many times before. So those that have heard this are all like going, oh, here you goes again.
Uh.
This is the twenty third year that we've done this show. Wow, twenty four years of Patriots dot com radio. We launched in two thousand and then the first year of the playbook was two thousand and one. Of course, two weeks after we launched a playbook, nine to eleven hit and that was another story altogether, but we managed to keep, you know, appiling forward. But this is the first time we've ever you know, streamed it, you know, with the the television aspect of it. So it's good.
It's good.
It's good for the numbers that it works out.
Some people really like watching on YouTube.
D only knows why. I'm old man.
It's the it's the platform, like they like the way that the the player works better than sure.
Yeah, sure, I get that. Yeah, And it is all about a visual medium. And let's shoot, that's part of what we teach at school and all that kind of stuff, right, all right, So we need to jump into this right
away since we're a little delayed to the process. But first and foremost, I gotta get your thoughts on Jack Jones and his issue largely being taken care of to our knowledge, because we still have and heard definitively from the NFL, and if there's going to be any kind of a suspension or any kind of a punishment that he will have to pay for his shall we say transgression.
By the way, before I'm going to digress right off the bat, I heard someone to say earlier today that carrying guns inadvertently into airports is not an uncommon occurrence.
Yeah, somebody called into PU and said that in the Pittsburgh I think it was Pittsburgh.
Pittsbury I heard that call earlier today.
Yeah, Airport, there is twenty seven similar cases in the last year, but I think where a lot of it. I don't want to comment too much on the legal proceedings with Jack Johnson. I'm not a lawyer, but I think a lot of what happens is is that there's there's strict guidelines and rules. You can transport guns on a plane, but it just has to be done correctly, right, There's rules and guidelines of how they have to be checked.
They have to be in a little bot you know, one of those Pelican cases, lock box whatever, all that stuff. But I think that that's where a lot of this comes from. I'm not saying that's necessarily what's happened with Jack Jones, but sometimes it's just pure confusion of Oh, I thought I could do this, which I know sounds crazy, but I think that that's where a lot of it comes from.
Okay, be that as it may. How does he figure into the rotation? Does he start? Yeah, does he come in off the bench? As to Nickelback, what does he do well?
I think you know, obviously it's game plan to game plan with this team, so it's hard to say is this guy starting cornerback?
Is it?
You know?
Where is he factor into all of this? I think in this week and in this game, the Eagles they're a run heavy team. They run a lot of twelve personnel to tight end. They want to come downhill at you, they want to run the football. So is a Jack Jones type of cornerback really the guy that you want in the game for that sort of game plan? Probably not. They have all these safeties the Patriots do, and my guess is this is going to be a pretty safety
heavy plan. I think you could at times see now depending on what you call everybody, but I think you could see four safeties on the field at times in this game. So is this necessarily the game for Jack Jones?
No?
I also think that just in general, I maybe I differ from some other people on Jack Jones in my opinion of him as a player. I think he has moments. I think he's got a ton of talent. But I think he's a risk taker. I think he's a ballhawk. I don't think he's a real man to man live in your hip pocket. No pun intended that was bad sort of thing, Like, I don't think that that's that's really his game. Like, I don't think that he's really
a strappy cornerback in that sense. But that's I don't know, Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe I have a different opinion on that than that on other people. I just I guess my whole point is is I I'm not totally convinced that Jack Jones is is this great cornerback yet. I think there's been too much inconsistency in his game.
We've seen the flashes, we've seen the physical ability, we've seen the speed, we've seen the ability to cover, we've seen the ability to make plays. And really that's what you need on defense, you know, last couple of years since, especially since the last Super Bowl, the cry has been for playmaking ability on the defensive side of the wall. Forget offense for a second, but you need guys that can make stops and make plays when a play is needed. Jones showed last year as a rookie that he might
have the potential to do that. And you do want playmakers on the field.
You do. But I don't know.
He's a good ballhawk, right, Like he'll go out there and have a couple of interceptions that are really impressive, like last year in Green Bay against Detroit. It's really impressive plays, but the consistency, to me, down to down is not necessarily there. He had lapses last year in terms of, you know, knowing what coverage they were in man to man, lapses things like that. I just I am not trying to be super down on him as
a player. See the potential, I see the talent. He's a fun player to watch because he can turn the ball over. But he's a boomer bus player right now. There's just no other way around.
It about to say, you're just you know, deflating the tires a little bit on him.
I just don't think that he's the type of guy that is a down to down, lockdown corner. And I get that he was a fourth round pick and right like Christian Gonzalez, to me, is a very different breed because Christian Gonzalez is going to stay with his guy
for seventy snaps a game. He might not have the ball production that Jack Jones has, he might not have the plays on the football, but he's gonna live in the kitchen of the opposing receiver for sixty five seventy plays a game, or at least that's the hope, right, Whereas I think with Jack Jones, he's a much more J. C. Jackson, Like he's much more of a ballhowker, chance taker, whatever
you want to call it. And there was just a lot of instances last year where he didn't necessarily always get burned for it because the quarterback didn't throw the ball his direction. But you know, he lost a lot of reps last year and especially and I felt over committing to things, trying to jump things and then they hit him with double moves or they just run by
him or whatever the case may be. And I just I guess I'm not you know, I hear a lot of people that are saying, oh, Jack Jones is you know, his legal situation, like huge win for the Patriots, Like, yeah, it's a good thing that Jack Jones is going to be able to play football for the Patriots versus him not playing football, right, Like that's a good thing. Yeah, But I think that you're some people are maybe just overrating the player what he currently is a little bit.
All right, Let's leave that and set it aside for a moment, because clearly time is going to tell on that one. If that's issue won the n issue one A has to be the offensive line, and who's going to show up healthy to play and able to play and able to keep Philadelphia's ferocious defensive front somewhat off of Mac Jones to where he has a chance to actually throw the ball the Patriots have a chance to
actually run the ball decently. Yeah, and I'm kind of curious as to your thoughts of what you think that offensive line might look like on Sunday.
Well, so there's a couple of different scenarios here. One the offensive line, in terms of what I think is going to be out there, I think there will be some rotation because you don't usually go wire to wire in Week one anyways, as they're sort of building up the endurance and things like that. And I would also say this, guys that have been hurt, Guys haven't practiced
a whole lot. So to expect Calvin Anderson, who I do think is going to be the starting right tackle on Sunday, but to expect him to play sixty five snaps on Sunday is unrealistic. He hasn't practiced enough. He was very very ill with whatever the situation was that kept him out of training camp. So I would expect other guys, whether it was the two newcomers a city, so somebody else is going to get involved at the
right tackle spot. But I do think Calvin Anderson will start at right tackle, and I think the rest of the line is going to be what we expected going into the year. I think it's gonna be Tremp Brown on the left side, Strange jug left guard, Andrews at center, and on Winning at right guard. So those four spots from right guard to left tackle are going to be exactly how we anticipated going into the year. It's right tackle that's still the question mark.
And do you think Calvin Anderson is one at least gets the nod there?
Yeah, I think Calvin Anderson will start. You know, he's with it, been with the team the entire time, he's with the team in the spring, participated in the spring, so he has a little bit of a leg up on guys like Vederian Lowe and Tyrone. He also has NFL experience. He started twelve games in the league over
three years. Those guys haven't even played it down in the NFL yet, so in same with so obviously being a rookie, So I think that those guys could spell him could rotate in with him, but I think Calvin Anderson gets the nod. The other thing with the Eagles front that I think is going to be really interesting is they didn't blitz a whole lot last year. They
weren't in a very exotic team last year. Then he used a lot of stunts, blitzes, you know, all these different bells and whistles that we see the Patriots do a ton. They didn't do any of that really last year. It was kind of a you know, Jonathan Gannon is one of those guys that got a head coaching job out of the Eagles success. But there's been a lot of pushback in Philly from Eagles fans and media about how vanilla they were in the pass rush last year,
even though they had seventy sacks. Right, So does decide their new defensive coordinator. Does he scheme it up a little bit more, do they have more blitzeing, do they have more creepier pressure, simulated pressure, what do they run in terms of their front or are they going to still just be a team that's going to try to win their one on ones and know that we have better dudes than you do and that's just going to be it.
How much of a factor, Evan, do you think Philadelphia not having played their starters at all during the preseason is going to have on Week one? Is this sort of a calculated gamble maybe that the Eagles have going into this And this will be a question for Daves Panero from Eagles Insider coming up a little bit, But I'm just kind of curious as to your point of view and whether or not the Patriots might be in somewhat of a position to take advantage of that.
I think a little bit.
Yeah.
I mean they're gonna have some rusts. I think that that's going to be clear. There's gonna be some rust early on. And I also would say that they have two new play callers, so on both sides of the ball.
So Jalen Hurts.
Is gonna be in a game getting the plays relayed to him by Brian Johnson for the first time on Sunday, and there's going to be a feeling out process there.
Now.
I always feel like that maybe lingers in the first half, then they kind of get into a groove, they get into halftime, they maybe make a few adjustments, and I would expect the Eagles to be humming in the second half. So if you can get out to a lead, if you can hold it close.
Wait, wait, wait, you know what's coming. If you win the coin flip, take the ball.
No, no, I didn't say that, but I did a damn I will say that. I think that there's a chance. And hopefully you know, for the Patriots that they are in a good position at halftime because the Eagles might be working through some rust and things like that. But once the second half hits, I think the games.
You had best be in position, I think to steal the game from them, Yeah, because they'll make a charge after halftime, halftime adjustments, whatever it's called. All right, messing time is over. Yeah. I mean, this is a super Bowl team here that we have that's expected to be a Super Bowl contender, could easily be the best team in the NFC, certainly maybe the best team the Patriots
face all season long. And you got them in Week one and you get all this emotional hubbub with Tom Brady and YadA YadA, and yeah, you know that's to me the biggest concern that I have almost is just the emotion of the day the fans. We know are going to be keyed into what this day is really all about because they didn't get a chance to give Tom a proper goodbye, and that's what this weekend is
supposed to be about. But the football part of it is enormous for this team when you consider the schedule strength over the first half of the season. I mean, if you got plus one in this week, huge huge difference maker, maybe for the entire seventeen week season.
Yeah.
I might be eating my crow on this, but I think that they're catching the Eagles at the right time.
I agree with that.
I would not.
We're gonna agree on this one. You and I don't agree a lot. We're gonna agree on this one. They're catching the Eagles absolutely perfectly. If if there was any other time to play them, would be the last game of the year when it means nothing.
Yeah, but I think that the playing them right out of the gate, you have the advantage of them resting their starters in the preseason, you have some advantage of the new coordinators and different things that they're dealing with. In terms of that, I think that there's a chance that you might be playing a little bit of a of a less you know, not as fine tuned of a team that I don't know if the execution is going to be quite as clean as what you're going
to see in a couple months from Philadelphia. And maybe the energy in the building does help in that respect as well. Like I don't think that it's really going to matter too much to the Eagles if it's a rowdy crowd or not.
No, no, no, that won't matter at all of them.
Maybe the players can feed off some of the juice and.
There will be some juice. And let's let's remind you that there will be more juice in the building because the opened end of the stadium is now closed with the new club and the new scoreboard and the new tower and everything else that they've got, which they're dedicating actually Friday, I believe they're officially going to cut the ribbon on everything, so everything's supposed to be open and
ready to go. It is going to be a different sounding environment, and it's something I think that well many of us who have been here for the entire existence of Jillette Stadium have been waiting for.
Yeah, it's definitely different. I just know from being out there the little bit that we've been able to be out there so far this summer, it does feel like it plays different. It's always on that field for whatever reason, for all the years I've been doing it's always windy as hell.
I can't explain.
I think it's because of the horseshoe and like the way that the open end of the stadium.
And the wind comes out of the north word.
Yeah, yeah, And it was always windy, Like even in the middle of the day on a Wednesday, when we were out there shooting videos or whatever the heck we were doing, it was windy. So I think this version of the stadium with the closed end, the wind's going to be held in a little bit more like in terms of it's not going to be as wendy.
I guess I should say I believe.
At least of the times that we've stood on field level recently, it hasn't been nearly as wendy.
Now, not as breezy as it once was. Now.
That's interesting.
That's a big factor. So I don't know. We'll see how the issue plays off. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you the one question that I'm going to ask of everybody to answer today, as you call in eight five to five Pats five hundred the toll for e televille number. It says the same as in Patriots Unfiltered Web Radio at Patriots dot com that's the email address.
You can hit us up at JR Broadcaster that's the Twitter handle, or you can hit me up on my Facebook page of John dot Rook to converse about the show,
about the team, about what we're talking about. But I'm just you know, I've been reading a lot of the media, which we're going to get to in just a second here, but a lot of guys and a lot of ladies who cover the beat as you do, Yes, like to make predictions, you know, because based on their observations over the course of the spring, in the summer, in training camp, and so I hear you know, five things that will happen with the Patriots, the top ten things that should
happen for the paprio. I'm looking for one bold prediction, just one. I want you to come up with something that maybe you've been thinking about, maybe you've seen someone mention that you'd like to take a step further, But one bold prediction that you think will happen to the New England Patriots in twenty twenty three.
How bold are we talking? Does it need to be real bold?
No, as bold as you want to make it. I mean, i'll give you want me to give you mind to start with. Oh, now I have to put myself in the corner on this one.
I need to know the bold meter here? Am I going like realistic bold or bold bold?
Well, you can go as bold as you want. I'm gonna say the Patriots make the playoffs.
Okay, So I was gonna say the Patriots are gonna have a top ten offense.
Okay.
I don't know how you're gonna idea.
Probably have to have a top ten offense in order to make.
Or maybe we're on the same page. How you calculate offense yards points DV eight like you do it? I had on your own time. Yeah, I'm just telling you that they're gonna they're they're gonna be better offensively than people think. I think they're back to a top ten offense. Not twenty twenty one. They were also a top ten offense, but it kind of felt I don't know. They had
some fifty burgers against the Jets and the Jaguars. They had some defensive touchdowns I think that this offense is gonna take a big step forward.
I don't.
I'm putting it out there as top ten. I think that's the best way to put a tangible thing on it. And I think this offense is going to be better than people think.
I'm gonna give you sort of a one to a selection on that one though, just because I think they've got tremendous depth up front. I think key On White is a legitimate candidate for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Oh wow, that is that's bold bold. That's not I think that's a good one. It's big bold.
We didn't like it.
It's good bold.
That's what I mean, you didn't like.
White is going to be one of those guys. And I think Christian Barmore to an extent that was similar in his rookie year. Where the advanced analytics are really gonna like Keon White, like his like his pressure rate and stuff like that. It's gonna be good the sacks and like people that just go off the traditional box score.
I'm not sure if he's gonna.
Be I think he might score well in that traditional box score, which why it will make him account.
Okay, I look at him as more of like a guy that might be really disruptive. I just don't know if he's necessarily going to be registering on the statute defensive Rookie of the Year.
And not get enough reps in that rotation.
We don't know, right, but I think he'll be disruptive.
I do all right, all right, thanks man, appreciate you.
They had a chat for me.
I will definitely do that. Evan Lazarre, Patriots dot Com. He's headed out to practice and that brings in Chad Graft, who covers the Patriots for the Athletic and the Athletic dot Com. Hey Chad, how's it going great? Great? Thanks for taking a little time today. I'll start with what I ended there with, Evan, If you don't mind one bold prediction from you for twenty twenty threes New England Patriots.
You want the optimistic one of the pessimistic one.
I want the first thing that comes in your mind.
All right. The first thing that came to mind was, and I truly believe this. I know that the forty nine ers are great, and the Jets are very good. There's a lot of good defenses, but I think that this defense is going to end the year as the
number one defense. I think that Bill Belichick is kind of on the cutting edge of what he's trying to do here with positionless defense and having guys like Jabrill Peppers and Adrian Phillips and Kyle Duger and now Marty Mapu a bunch of guys on that back end who can do a lot of different things, so that when the Buffalo Bills try to run at you with two tight ends, you've got guys like Mapu who can play in the box and stop the run against them, but
they're also good enough to drop back into coverage and say, you know, go ahead, we'll take Marty Mapoo gets Salton kid like, go ahead, Josh Allen take that matchup. So I'm not quite as bullish on the offense as it sounds like evidence, But I'm extremely high on what this defense is and what I think it's going to do well.
I'm going to tend to agree with you rather than Evan on that one. I'm a little more bullish on the defense, and I think that we were sort of led to believe that would likely be the case this year, regardless of whatever they did. And look, we've talked about it on this show during our offseason program as well, that I thought one of the bullet points for the entire season would be the offensive line. I thought they draft an offensive lineman, you know, early in the draft,
and silly me, they didn't do that. And now we see the kind of offensive line troubles that they're having with the depth and the injury and everything else that's going on. If the offensive line can stay, you know, can get together first of all, and then stay relatively healthy, then I think the offense's chance of improving and being
a top ten offense, as Evan suggested, improve immeasurably. However, however, I don't think that's going to happen, because, as we all know, it's a war of attrition and man alive. You know, you got to keep guys healthy, You got to keep your quarterback healthy. And I'm just I'm having real problems believing that through seventeen eighteen weeks that you got to play games, that the pages are going to stay as healthy as they're going to need to stay in order for them to truly be successful.
I'm with you.
I think the offensive line is probably the biggest concern more than anything else. On the offense, Like I'm not terribly high on DeVante Parker and Juju Smith Schuster as you're one two, but I'm higher on that than I am this current offensive line set up and the fact that you're then turning to uh day three rookies. Probably if either of your guards get hurt or if your center gets hurt at right tackle, I still don't really know what you have. I'm not even sure who you're starting right tackle.
Is well, we suspect we suspect Calvin Anderson suspect it.
Sure, and you know I could see that, and that makes sense, but boint it gives me. It certainly gives me pause, especially against that defensive line. Like Calvin Anderson hasn't really practiced all summer because of this illness that he talked about, yep, and so you know he's coming into a really brutal matchup. Yeah, Hey, we know you haven't got a whole lot of practice. But here's the team that you know, almost broke the NFL sack record last year.
Yeah, good luck.
Seventy sacks for this team, seventy Chad seven. That's seven, oh, not seventeen seven. Oh. And the Patriots, they were so good. Yeah, they were. The Patriots gave up forty what forty forty one last year and that was a bad year from them, and the Eagles had seventy.
And so you know, I think that means that you're probably going to see a ton of quick game and a lot of short passes yep. Probably a lot of run path options yep. Though you know, I'm not sure that I would turn on the game expecting to see seventy yard bombs, but no, I think that's probably what the offense looks like, at least early on, until you are more sure about your offense.
This may be one of the fastest games that we've seen on television in the NFL this year. And this leads me into the next issue. I was going to say, how do the Patriots beat a team like Philadelphia when Philadelphia, maybe top to bottom, may have the most well rounded roster of any in the entire NFL. And I'm gonna include Kansas City in that one. I like the Eagles. I'm very bullish on the Eagles in the NFC. You know,
to get back in the big game. I and as long as again, health is the key, and I always have to add that because we know health is always a factor. It is every year, and now that we have seventeen meaningful games to play, it's certainly gonna be that. And when the NFL goes to eighteen games and they're gonna go and maybe sooner than we think, it's gonna be even more of a factor. You got to keep guys healthier longer, and so you'll see rule adjustments in this and that the idea is going to be able
to keep guys healthy on the field. So that being said, this team, this Eagles team, is really really good in the way that the Patriots beat them as a they get them early, as we just talked about a little bit as great that you're getting early in the year before any of their starters have even played a minute because nobody played in the preseason and be run the damn ball. Now, let me codify that for a second. If you don't have an offensive line to run behind,
you're not gonna run very well. So it's good that you have Ramandrie Stevenson and obviously Zee Elliott to pound
the ball between the tackles because they're going to need to. Yeah, you're gonna have to throw it somewhat but if you can come out and control tempo and get four or five yards on a first down and leave yourself in third in short situations, you got a chance to grind out some of those drives against an Eagles team that if you can stay even with them or maybe even have a slight lead at halftime, Now you're gonna put
them under pressure. Now you're going to force them to feel the pinch a little bit, and then you might actually force them into a mistake, which again they don't normally do, and you cannot can not make mistakes yourself. And of course we all know the offensive line troubles that the Patriots had trying to avoid mistakes a year ago. So it lines up to give my whole pointer, Chad, is it lines up to give them a shot I
think more than a legit shot really on Sunday. But Philly's talent could still end up winning out unless you stick to a game plan for sure.
And here's what's interesting to me about that game plan and what I think we'll see is a lot of this both roster construction and what we've seen in training camp has been built around twelve personnel. Where Bill O'Brien once again uses a lot of two tight ends. It's why they brought Mike Kiseki in. And I think what will be interesting against the Eagles is trying to identify
what the Eagles want to do defensively against that. When the Patriots come out with their two tight ends, they can either stay in their base defense and then if you're the Patriots, you're thinking, you know, heck, yeah, this is great. You're in your base devents. We get a linebacker or safety against Mike Kiseki and Hunter Henry, like
Max Jones, will take that matchup all day long. But to your point about running the ball, what becomes interesting to me is if the Eagles go to their nickel defense with an extra defensive back, as I think they probably will, they don't want Mike Kiseki and Hunter Henry to eat them. Then the door opens up against a lighter box to be able to run the ball. And I think at that point, if you're the Patriots in twelve personnel against nickel defense.
You have to be able to run the ball.
It ideally makes things a little bit easier for your offensive line that does have some questions, and so I think that's kind of a big mashup to me is in twelve personnel when the Eagles are playing light daring you to run, are you able to run the ball effectively?
And that is a major question, a major question. I expect the Patriots to also, you know, be in that you know, personnel set because they're going to need to assist their offensive line. We need, you know, this team will need blocking. I fully expect. I mean, I'll put
it to you this way. I'll be surprised if Zeke Elliott doesn't get more time than Remandre, not because Remandre is not better, but because we know that Elliott is a renowned pass blocker, and there may be especially in passing downs, even though he's pretty good at catching the ball himself, the knee to keep him backed, to make sure Mac's you know, not gonna get flattened in the backfield. That's the biggest concern that I really have. If Mac
can stay on his feet long enough. And yeah, I'm thinking that certainly short passes, slants, tight ends, whatever they can get to, but nothing that's gonna be more than twelve to fifteen yards downfield. If he can, if he's able to get those passes out and frustrate Philadelphia, then I think the pages would be right there at the end with the chance to take it.
Yeah, that's that's a really good point about Elliott, and I think that you can see some of that with play action too, as a way to kind of keep him in and as a way to give mac Jones more options aside from just backs protecting all the time, because I think often we think, hey, the offensive line is struggling, they've got a tough matchup, like just leave everybody.
In and that'll be the way to solve it.
And then you suddenly look up and he's got like three targets downfield and nobody's open, and all of a sudden you're in a world of hurt. Right Ezekiel Elliott can provide, you know, I think a really big boost in that area. And you know, in addition to the short ar stuff, I think is a really important part of the reason that he's here to begin with.
Okay, all right, so Chad, you know, you know, we talked a little bit about bold predictions. We kind of feel like we know what this team probably should do in an effort to you know, have a chance to
really win this game. The story within the story, the part of the reason for the three ring circus and everything that's going on this weekend is obviously Tom Brady gets a chance to be embraced given the old, big New England hug, you know, by the fans who will be in attendance and which have made this ticket the toughest ticket right now in the regular season for the entire NFL to obtain, certainly the most expensive average ticket on vivid seats as I saw checked it early this morning.
The last time I look, so here we are midweek as we're doing this show, average ticket price was seven hundred and thirty six dollars, right, So there's a lot of who there's a lot of hubbub going on above and I'm wondering how well this team can focus and stay above it. And we don't know. There are twenty new players on this team from as compared to who weren't on this roster a year ago. Maybe that's a
good thing, maybe that's not a good thing. But I'm just curious as to your your your you know, you've talked to these guys, You obviously know the coaches. What's your feeling on this team's ability to shout out noise and accomplish a mission.
Well, it's interesting because even the players who were not here when Tom Brady was here, but there's just no hiding from the overarching presence that he is everything that he meant to this organization and the team and the sixth Super Bowls and on and on. As Remandra Stevenson said today, he feels like he walks past five pictures of Tom Brady just going down the hall. So Prady is kind kind of ever present, even if he is, you know, embarking on his first year of post playing
career now. So it'll be interesting to see how they kind of handle that. There are going to be plenty of former players, I think, as Tylas said, lingering around. But a lot of this is going to go on at halftime when the players aren't there, and an opportunity for Brady to say thank you, and the fans too they thank you as well, which should all be very cool.
But there's no doubt that this is going to be swirling, like the place is going to go crazy in warm ups if Mac Jones comes over and gives Brady a hug or Bill Belichick.
That some of that has to be talked about right now, right like, Hey, I'm going to do this, and you know, we're going to get the fans behind this. We're going to show that we're all on the same page. I thought they alluded to that a little bit when Mac basically told people that you know, he told the media and which is telling everybody now that you know Brady's one of his mentors. I'm not sure anybody really knew that, right, Yeah.
And and it caught people, I think, by a little bit surprised when the picture came out of the two EVM hanging out at Crafts party this summer to get there. So you know, there's plenty of a relationship there. But you know, at the same time, we're also talking about the head coach who you know minimizes distractions perhaps as well as anybody else, and prepares for every little thing
as well as anybody else. This is the coach who you know, was so worried about whether the roof was going to be closed or opened for kickoff in the Super Bowl in Atlanta. So it's a very big deal and I think it's gonna be super cool. But I also, you know, I think that Belicheck will do a decent job of just making sure that everybody knows the assignment a hand.
All right, Chad, Hey, thanks for a few minutes. I do appreciate it, and I'll look forward to visiting with you from time to time throughout the year.
Excellent, all right, thanks for talking.
You got it. Chad graph the Athletic. He's the Patriots beat writer for the Athletic dot com at Chad graph on X. That sounds so weird? Formerly known as Twitter? Is it gonna stay that way? Is? Is he is? Is he really gonna say that way? Is Elon gonna keep it and leave it? X? I thought the X was just sort of a placeholder for a new logo, that it was still Twitter, but he put the X in there to get rid of the little, you know,
tweety bird. And they we're gonna come up with a new logo, and now they're just kind of leaving it as X.
I had heard that all his other businesses were had X in the title or something to do with X. So they're all trying to imrge him as one thing.
Uh So, so it might be that we end up getting another logo here is basically what's gonna happen. Probably it's possible Okay, Well, who the hell knows anymore? All I know is that, you know, I always say, you know, uh, post it on X parenthesis formerly Twitter. You know that kind of thing because you almost have to, you almost have to like suggest that because nobody knows what the hell we're talking about. X the hell is X. Okay, I'm just getting used to the little tweety bird and
now the X really come on. Yeah, the things that you know make us go eight five five PATS five hundred, the toll free number, web radio at Patriots dot com. If you got email JR Broadcaster at JR Broadcaster on X formerly known as Twitter or Instagram too, by the way, you want ig okay at JR Broadcaster it's the same handle, or you can hit my Facebook page if you'd like.
Let's get to the phones here. We've got Daves Spadero, Eagles insider, coming up at the top of the hour, and the one and only pro football guru himself, Russell S. Baxter. He'll join us and our number two at bottom of the hour to go over week one throughout the entire NFL. So there's a lot of stuff going on right now. The main question to you, however, is a question that I did post to both Chad and to Evan earlier, and I want you to come up with one bold prediction,
not two, not three, not seven, not ten. I want one. What's on your mind, front and set first and foremost. What do you think has to happen? What do you think needs to happen? What is the biggest reason for success or failure for this Patriots team? And you know you can have to do with the team, you have to do with the individual. You know it had to be Patriots are going to win twelve games? Well, that
would be mighty bold, you know. And I would say that most people would laugh at you if you said that. But if that's what you think will happen, then bring that to the table and tell us why it's okay. There's no such thing. This is a silly question or an answer, or a stupid one. As my students all know that the only stupid question out there is the one that you don't ask. So let's kind of take that attitude with this one and welcome you in the program. Tim is in the UK, he gets to lead us
off here. Hey, Tim, you're in the playbook. I'm good. How's it going today, Yeah.
Not too bad to all right, I'll stoll my bold prediction.
Please.
This is the take that has kind of earlier in the summer, when we didn't re sign Jacoby and we signed Juju, I thought, at best, that's going to be a net neutral move. I think, yeah, there's you know, there's obviously a big risk with Juju kind of you know, coming in learning the playbook, learning a new system, and they're the injury concerns as well, and you know, we haven't seen much of him this summer. I thought at the time, Yeah, it's going to be at best as
good as Jacoby was last year. And you know, given that we haven't seen much of him this summer, I think that's you know, probably not that bold of a take anymore.
No, I actually like it. Here's another bold take for Jujo. He stays healthy in plays you know fifteen games. Well that which would that would be? Now that's a bold take, I mean, you know, yeah, well I think it would surprise everybody. And if you you know, believe the media, much of the media thinks that Juju's got a bad knee and it's getting ready to explode, and you da YadA. I mean I hope that doesn't happen. Who would want
anybody to have that happen. But at the same time, I think we realize that that's part of the reason why they kept so much younger depth at wide out to sort of protect themselves from what they feel might be an inevitability. I don't know. I mean time is only going to tell. I just I think that if Juju is able to stay healthy and stay on the field and play, you know, let's say, if he's able to play fourteen of the seventeen, I think that's also qualifies as a bold prediction.
And if he I'd take fourteen out of seventeen.
Will you take fourteen out of seventeen for any of the receivers, wouldn't you?
I mean, that's health that receivers low key kind of a really big problem. I think, you know Parker, you know, dinged up. I think he's back up practice now, but you know, prone to getting dinged up, and he's up there in age. Yeah, Tykwon, it's like he's going to be out for a lot of the season.
Yeah.
I think they've got They've got a lot of depths at receiver, but a lot of it is unproven. They rookies recent signings this summer. Yeah, including some that have come in pretty late in the process. So you know how much they're going to realistically contribute.
I don't know they do. And here's here's an even boulder take along those lines. Kendrick Bourne will be the Patriots leading receiver in number of catches and yards and touchdowns.
Why I didn't think that's bold? I think I agree. I don't think that the bold.
I just don't think DeVante Parker and or Juju Smith Schuster may be on the field enough. And if Kendrick Bourne has, uh, you know, the kind of season that we anticipate him having, playing with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder, you know, and how he might have been used or misused let's say, by the previous coaching staff whatever, for whatever reason it is. I think Kendrick Bourne is the kind of guy that could become you know, uh, Mac Jones's binkie and and be
a reliable target for him. And teams will start to realize that. And that's when other teams will get in trouble if they start, you know, shading over a safety, let's say, to help Kendrick borne out. I'll take my chances with Juju or DeVante Parker if they're healthy in the game, either one in single man coverage, I will take my chances. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean I think if you know, if they're if they're in the game, it means they're healthy. And if they're healthy, I think they're they're the decent options. I'm not I'm not all doom and gloom because we didn't get.
Hopkins, you know.
I think I think we've got, you know, some some half decent options that receiver. But yeah, if they're healthy, it's going to be the question, right But yeah, he's opened.
For a big season for KB.
Because I also just really think he's a likable guy. I wanted to. I want to. I want to see him do well.
Absolutely anything else, Tim, I had.
A couple of real nuts and bolts quests that I was hoping to ask Evan. I don't know if he's still.
There, but Evan is offered practice because Mac Jones is getting ready to go speak, so he needs to be there for that.
But you can call you you.
Can called Evan and talk to him personally because you'll do his Catch twenty two show tomorrow at the same time, I might.
Do, but I might ask you if Adam on the line, sure, go ahead. So two of the rookies that we didn't see much of, Douglas and Mapu Yep, questions about how we might see them. Use, does Douglas give the red zone off? And any kind of juice with this kind of short area quickness? No, just thinking especially of the the Adalman touchdown in Super Bowl forty nine.
If he can you know, if he if he give the place, Yeah, if he can run roots like you know Julian did, then yeah, you might see that because as we know, you know, that first step is usually the lulu and you either you know, hang on to the cliff or you fall off it. So I mean, I would initially say no, because you have a tendency
to go over the top in red zone situations. But at the same time, why not set up some kind of a screen, even a bubble screen, and let him get behind a couple of blockers and see if he can't, you know, make chicken saladut of chicken feathers right and get into the end zone that way. So I would say initially no, but then upon further review, I'm going to figure that they're going to figure out a way to get him the ball somehow, some way, anyway they can.
And that's part of the reason why we didn't. That's part of the reason why none of us saw him a lot at all, except for what a couple of snaps in the preseason, because frankly, I think they're, you know, they're playing poker. They're holding their cards to the vest. They don't want anybody to see anything.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think we'll see him in the end zone a bit and then finally quickly Mafoo and I'll get off the line here. Mafu covering tight end, something that Doug has struggled a bit with and it's been a bit of a week foot on the defense, does matter give them anything in tight coverage?
Sure? All right, all right, Tim, thank you for the phone call. Uh. You know, I think you'll probably see Mapoo this week. And the reason that you'll see him is because, as Evan mentioned earlier, uh, you'll probably see more of a hefty, uh safety heavy safety lineup defensively, uh, just because of Philadelphia's uh, you know, pension for you know, run pass option as well. I think you can give him every opportunity to win a job and keep a job. Now,
I think they'll move him back and forth. I think, you know, my thought process is that you might see him line up in a linebacker slot, even though technically you know, he's a safety, and I think that's where they sort of envision him. But I don't think they
want to to, you know, stickpin his position. I think they want him to be that versatile sort of, you know, line up anywhere kind of guy where teams have to account for him, because if you have to account for him and a sign a guy to him to make sure that you've got the blocking responsibilities here. If he's on the line or reviews, you know, playing a linebacker, that's one last guy that can pay attention that you need to pay attention to on that end of the field.
I'm anxious to see him. I'm anxious to see how many reps he gets. I'm anxious to see how he matches up. Does he go exclusively exclusively with the other team's tight ends. Does he cover backs coming out of the backfield? Does he support well in run defense if he's caught on the field in a running down situation. These are all things that we have to learn about the kids that you know, we haven't seen yet on the field, and I think that obviously will start this week.
All right, Sean and Vancouver, thanks for hanging in. Sean, You're in the playbook.
Thanks John.
I'm actually in Montreal right now, heading to the airport.
Fact, you're still on vacation.
I'm still well at ending. But yeah, oh lucky vacation time.
I could I could have done with about two more weeks, Sean, Not for nothing. I couldn't with about two more weeks, a couple of more weeks you know, on the golf course without any you know, you know, going to class and you know, trying to you know, improve impressionable young minds in this country. I think I could have gone with a couple more weeks of you know, swinging it often on the golf course.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, my bold prediction might not be that bold, is I say the Patriots defense will be even better. So they were about seven in the NFL and points giving up last year. In twenty twenty two, I say they're going to be top five.
Okay, top five is a good one. I think that's a reasonable goal. Bold, But you know, but it's bold. Look, if they're top five, if they have a top five defense, I would also tell you that for them to be a playoff team, they need to be a probably a right at about a top ten offense. Evan said that earlier, and I concur with that. It's got to happen on
both ends. Could they snare in with say a top five or a top three defense and maybe a top fifteen offense, Yeah, they could, but a lot of that is gonna be dependent upon how the teams around them. Do you know, Uh, I was just gonna say. Russell Baxter wrote earlier this week that you know, it's not impossible for four teams from the same division to get into the postseason. It's happened a couple of times before.
I'll get him to expand on that in the next hour, but you know, he doesn't think that the AFC East is that division this year, and I would, respectfully, you know, disagree with that because I think all four teams largely have the ability to beat each other. The Patriots are
the one that everybody's looking at. Everybody's going to assume, you know that the Bills are going to be at the top, and that you know the Dolphins are still going to be good if you know, he stays, you know, healthy, and that you know the Jets are going to be improved, and okay, that's fine, but you know what happens when you assume.
Right, yeah, you make an ass you know, And.
I think that could end up happening. So it'll be interesting to see how that part unfold. I just I think that there is a possibility for that to happen, and it could happen right in the AFC East.
Well, the other thing I want to talk about is the game that's upcoming to the Eagles, because we learned very little from these pieces and we don't really know, especially offense, what the Patriots will be. But they've made a lot of moves and we're going to see if those affect what they had deficiencies with last year. And one of them is the mobile quarterback.
So right the way, we get that test with Hurts.
And if you remember back in two thousand and three, the Patriots had Damian Fewart, who isn't you know, anywhere near as good as Peyton Manning, but he was able to mimic Manning well enough for the Patriots to win that season. And Belichick paised him for that. So we're going to see, you know, on the practice squad at Cunningham could help the Patriots defense. And with that, I'm thinking Mapu maybe spy times on the field when he's closer.
To the box.
I love the I love the ability to spy someone, especially if we've got the the you know, an athletic quarterback who is as much a threat to run as he is to throw. The Patriots don't seem to like to do that, and they've tried it in the past. They haven't done well with it. Whenever you think that you're you're playing one of these, you know rpo you know, geniuses at quarterback, and yeah, the Eagles have one. There's no doubt about that that, you know, this would be
the perfect thing to do. I'm not sure that anybody wants to play their hand in that regard, even though it might very well be that that's the case, that there's going to be one guy out there that's sort of spotting him, spying him, you know, just sticking by him, putting a hit on him, whatever it may be, to make sure that he doesn't burn you. When you have somebody as talented as Jalen Hurts Okay, and I thought
he was talented at all. I thought he got the shaft at Alabama my own person's health, and then we saw, you know, how well he could play at Oklahoma when he transferred. I he is a definite MVP candidate and he should be considered that because he's such a threat
with you both talents. He's got a better arm than people give him credit for, and his legs are as strong as any quarterbacks I think we've seen maybe Ever So, when you have that kind of a dual threat, I'd say, you're not doing your job unless you have somebody somebody who has an assignment on him. Period. But when you do that, you take away from other areas. And I'm sure that would be Bill Belichick's explanation on that one. You're taking away from other help that you might need.
So it's almost damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of situation, which leads me to say that it will probably be situation situation.
Yeah, well it's not all the time, but it's definitely going to be. I would think they need to do that to win. But the other thing I think they might have addressed and well, again, we're going to see everything. This is a great test with this team because the Eagles are are such a strong team. But you mentioned
it before with protecting the quarterback end. Yeah, having there, and I think you're going to see more twenty two and aspects of two running backs and at the same time with Zeke and Stevenson both there so you can pass and run with the same personnel.
Yeah, yeah, I certainly think you'll see them like maybe I would say every other series. If not, you know, like you know, all right, one guy plays two downs, the next guy gets two downs, the nextually get two downs. I mean you'll see some kind of a rotation, I would think. I mean that's why they went out and
got the guy. So you know, Remandre had a compliment and so you had help, you know, blocking in the offensive backfield, and so you had a guy that you know obviously knows how to you know, catch the football a little bit. Saw. Thank you for the phone call, because I want to ask kind of that of our next guest here on the program, Dave Sparrow, who covers the Eagles for Philodolph Eagles dot Com. He's at Eagles Insider on X formerly known as Twitter to get that
one in. Dave John Rook here in Foxborough. How are you today, Hi.
John, Good afternoon. I'm doing fine things great, looking forward to Sunday.
Absolutely. Hey, we got to get started with this thing, right, Let's get in the summer times over time to get down to business at hand. So what are your thoughts on what we were just kind of talking about a little bit there in terms of, you know, here's a guy that Ezekiel Elliott, who the Eagles had faced twice a year for as long as he's been in the league. What are your thoughts on his worth to a team nowadays?
That clearly he's not the running back he once was, but his ability to block and and and and maybe provide leadership and get you the tough yards and you know, especially when it comes to Eagles front four, I mean, how difficult the guy is he do to a sort of play for? You think these days?
Well, he's always done a really good job against the Eagles. He's been very tough in the red zone, very tough in the goal line, and I think in the right situation he can be very productive. I mean, the Eagles are a team that is at least at this point, it looks like the Eagles goal with a committee approach
at the running back position. And I don't look at Zeke as somebody who's carrying the ball twenty five times a game, but I certainly think he can be effective in a role, and so I think the Eagles have the utmost respect for the guy. And you know, Stevenson and Elliott in the backfield sounds like a power running game. And you know, it's very important to control the line of scrimmage and give your quarterback manageable situations, and I think Elliott certainly helps Patriots do that.
Well. You know, I think it's almost universal. Almost everybody I've read when it comes to talking about the Eagles this year feels like the Eagles may have, you know, the best roster, top to bottom of any team in the NFL. You know, I'm certainly not going to argue that point. I think it's extraordinarily deep roster, and the front four is as talented, maybe as we've seen in
recent years. Not blowing smoke up your skirt, I'm just telling you, hey, look, seventy sacks kind of speaks for itself last year, and I think the Patriots offensive line undoubtedly will have more than just its hands full on Sunday. What's been the Eagles secret to success? Is it strictly on the man personality? Is it the way they run schemes? And how will any of that change since there are different signal callers you know, you know coming from your bench this year.
Yeah, I mean the last part remains to be seen. We really haven't seen obviously anything from Sean Decay in the preseason. I suspect it'll be relatively similar to what Jonathan Gannon did. Eagles until the second half of the Super Bowl had a tremendous amount of success defensively last year. So, but I think a lot of it's just they invest in the draft, They invest at the line of scrimmage, on both sides.
Of the ball.
Yeah.
In free agency they invest. I mean they made a great move a couple of years ago in free agency going out and making Hassan Reddick a priority. He fit in perfectly double digit sacks last year. He had sixteen sacks All Pro Player recognition in the Pro Bowls. So and then you keep adding, then you lose what's really interesting to me. And I did a piece earlier in the spring about this the Eagles lose Javon Hargrave. I think the highest contract in free agency went to Hardgrave,
who signed with the forty nine ers. And there's a chance that this front will be better because they have some young players developing, like Milton Williams and last year's number one Jordan Davis. They go out and trade up in round number one this year and get Jalen Carter and at Contavious three and just keep adding pieces and
winning with depth. And it's like hockey, bringing players over the boards and keeping everybody in a rotation and keeping everybody hungry fast off the football, and you know, aimed at the quarterback. So they've hit on the draft, they've free agency, They've developed very well, and they play an aggressive scheme.
Yeah. Dave Beraro from Philadelphia Eagles dot Com at Eagles Insider joining us here in the playbook. If you really want to know, Dave, is the Eagles version of Paul Perillo? Is that? Is that you think accurate? Dave?
Well, I'm not quite.
I hope.
So, I mean I think Paul's great. I mean I think that as a confidence, Thank you very much.
Yeah, Well, Paul, Paul's ar kidding around here, we defer all of the you know that stuff to him. So I figured, well, you know, shoot, let's let's go that route. Let's take that route because somebody's got to step up into that role. How important, Dave is it that Philadelphia figure out a way to get to the Patriots offense and get to their playmakers on offense early in this game?
Because I kind of think, look, we talked about this in the opening hour without your regulars having really gotten a lot of time in the preseason, and I know a lot of that's overrated anyway, but let's say, you know, hey, it would probably be a bit of a surprise or an eyebrow raiser of the releast if you guys came out clicking on all cylinders from the get go, just because there's gonna be some natural rust. I think that
has to be worn off a bit. So, you know, is it important for this team to get off to the fast start against the team that you know, man for man probably shouldn't be step for step with the team that you know has the Eagles talent on this roster.
I think so, I mean, I look, I know it'll be emotional up there with the Tom Brady ceremony. I think the fans will be jacked up. And I understand that the Patriots head it down year last year and they've got a lot to prove. And I think defensively for the Eagles, when I look at this defense and I say, all right, they don't really know what the Patriots are going to do, but maybe they do. They're
very familiar with Bill O'Brien. They know that they want to get the ball out of the quarterback's hands quickly. The tight end will be heavily involved. They want to run the football, they want to eat some call, they want to keep Eagles on their heels. All of that is important. See, this is a third straight season the Eagles are starting on the road and Nick siriy Andy has had a.
Lot of success.
A win in Atlanta, a win in Detroit kind of set the tone for the season. I expect the Eagles
to come out really aggressively offensively. I think that they feel that they match up pretty well with the Patriots, with all due respect to me a really good defensive front that New England has, But the Eagles the offensive line is as good as any of the league, and the playmakers on the outside with Smith and Brown outstanding, Dallas Goddard at tight end, the multiplicity in the backfield with Hurts and some really interesting talent traits in the backfield.
I mean, I think we're all just dying to see what the team is going to be all about, if it's what wrinkles they'll add. But yeah, for sure, when you're on the road, man, you want to come out strong and take it to them and not give a team a feeling in the second half that it can come back and win the game. So it's very important for the Eagles to finish and rather to start strong, finish, start fast, finished strong, and that's I think whatever every team wants to do.
You guys have had some injury issues at wide out, No.
Yeah, not really no. I mean the third receiver, Ques Watkins has had a hamstring. But for them, you know, coming out of camp in the preseason, AJ Brown's healthy, Devonte Smith is healthy. Alamide Zechias has had a minor injury that he suffered in the preseason game preseason second preseason game, I believe, and so, but he's expected to play.
I don't.
I don't think there's really any knock on wood major injury concerns for the Eagles coming into this game that they manage things pretty well coming off of Super Bowl. They really made sure to give the players time away from the field, get their legs back, get their energy back. Tough loss to the Chiefs emotionally, really put that game behind them. I think the Eagles committed this game very focused and ready to play a good football game.
What do you think Nick Sirianni learned about that experience last year, especially losing in the way that the team did in Kansas City, and how that will affect how will might it affect him as a head coach going into the season.
Yeah, I mean, you know, the.
Eagles didn't play their their A game in that Super Bowl, and that's a credit to the Chiefs certainly, but it's also a learning experience for Jalen Hurston and company. You can't fumble and have it returned four touchdowns. You can't commit penalties. You can't score three points when you have an opportunity to score seven. Your defense has to get off the field. You cannot give up a big punt return that led to a touchdown. These are things that
you know the Eagles lament. They went into that game healthy, golden opportunity to win their second Super Bowl in five seasons came up short. And you know, I gotta tell you, John, what they did was really interesting. And this is a third super Bowl I've been to with the Eagles. They reloaded the roster. They didn't they didn't take their foot off the gas at all. They knew they had a bunch of free agents that they could possibly lose. They
did lose some. There is change on the defense, but they were able to retain James Bradberry and redo Darius Slay's contract and keep Brandon Graham and keep Jason Kelcey for another year, and add Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith in round number one, and those young guys get to come in. They don't have to be stars right away, but they're expected to be contributors. And when you have that kind of depth, you know, you just look at the seventeen game season and you say, we're pretty well
equipped to withstand what we know is coming. And there's going to be some injuries. But the Eagles do have some depths at most positions, But like every other team, there's some indispensible players and you just hope you get through the season unscathe get to the postseason and really play your best football. But it was a learning experience for sure. You have to play a great game in the Super Bowl to win it. Eagles didn't play a great game and they came up three points short.
And for a second there where you're talking about some of those young guys coming on, I thought you were going to list Superman and Batman in there too.
It's right. Do you talk about the roster, I mean you do look at the rush and you go, whoa, there's some time.
Here, That's what I mean. I looked at your two d to then I'm like, I forgot that. I didn't know that, you know, I'm like, wow, there's some players.
Yeah, but there's also some questions. I mean, they have two new safeties, They've only got three linebackers on the active roster. There's two new starters there. The offensive line has a new starter at right guard. The punter, it appears at this point, will be Aaron Zippoff, who is on the practice squad. So like every team, you know, there's roster fluidity, there's question The first week or two of the season always unpredictable, and the Eagles They're going
into a tough environment. The Patriots crowd is going to be very, very excited for the day and for the celebration and for the start of the season. And I suspect to see Mac Jones and Bill Belichick get off get off the season in the right way. And I think it's really important from the Patriots standpoint that they Patriots start the season the right way after a tough twenty twenty two seasons. So both teams have a lot of great storylines and I really think it will be
a great, great football game. Of course, one of the themes here is that the Eagles are going against Belichick and what kind of wrenches is he going to throw into the plan? And what kind of surprises will he will he give the Eagles, and what will he do to give devise to do to slow Daleen Hurts in his legs? All fascinating stuff. Can't wait for Sunday.
All right, Then, a final question for you is what I'm asking our fans today is to come up with one bold prediction for the Patriots for twenty twenty three. How about a bold prediction from you for the Eagles for this season?
Okay, my bold prediction is that the Eagles, for the first time in the NFC East since two thousand and three two thousand and four, will be a repeat winner in the division. Okay, and it's a remarkable statistic, no repeat winner in the NFC East since two thousand and three. Two thousand and four. Eagles won it last year. History says it's going to be really tough to do it again this year. Dave Spenero says the Eagles will do it again and get off that twenty year schneid.
God, I love it it. Just there's no sitting on the fence with you. That's what I love about it. That's great, fantastic. Hey, Dave, safe travels this way and best of luck throughout the course of the season. I look forward to visiting with you again at some point.
My pleasure. Thanks for having me and should be a great, great game. Can't wait for it to start on Sunday.
Absolutely, good luck. It is Dave Sponaro again. You can find him at Eagles Insider on x dot com or whatever the hell it is Twitter, formerly known as Twitter YadA YadA. But his stuff is good and like I said, he's He's the Eagles version of Paul Parellos. So if you really want to know, this is the guy that you probably you got to read, you probably got to
get into. All right. So we're roughly fifteen ten minutes away from Russell Baxter, who will join us here in the program at eight five five, Pats five hundred, Patty and aguam oh. He called in because I had his email all ready to go. But Patty's right here on the phone. Hi, Patty, what's up?
John?
Hey?
Part of the noise. I'm gonna view my phone when I'm not talking, But can I get.
You two bold prediction?
Shoot? Go for it all right?
Number one mac Jones, we'll finish, we'll finish third and the AFC and QB rating and number the second fold prediction is Patriots go five and one in the division. Whoa they split against Buffalo, They sweet Miami and the Jets.
Wow, all right, that's hmm bold. It might might be a couple of other things too, but hey, guess what if it happens, then you get the chance to come on the show and crow about it.
I love it, I'll do it.
Well.
That's that's pretty good though. The mac Jones one third in QB rating or top three in QB rating. Look, there's a lot of competition in the AFC, and I think we realized that, and for the Patriots to have a successful season, Mac has to be an upper half quarterback. I'll certainly give you that top three e. It depends on the other guys and the other teams, but he's got to be based on his performance alone and upper half quarterback. And he can't be if the guys in
front of him cannot block, he can't be. There's no way. So that would also be especially bold, I think coming fromview not that I think Max's gonna fail. I actually think this team is going to surprise. My first bold prediction was this team makes the postseason, when you know there are a lot of people that don't think that will happen. But we mentioned this on last week's show, on our preseason or offseason finale, that this I mean this this team I think you know. I mean, what
was the over under? It was six and a half. It started I think a bet MGM. It started out at six and a half wins and it was up at seven and a half last week, and that they were still bet MGM was reporting that they were still pounding the over on that bet at seven and a half. So clearly there are a lot of people out there that think that this Patriots team can make the postseason. Now, of course, if you win that bet, eight wins isn't
going to get you into the post. But it just sounds to me like there's a lot of optimism surrounding this team, and I recognize that, and so I'm hoping that a little bit of that rubs off on these guys.
Yeah, and I just think that Mac mac is probably one of the smartest quarterbacks in the league. The fact that they that they got Billy O'Brien this year, I think that's gonna be a fix.
Pluz. I've said it all along on you.
I think the tandem epimin atoran Clem Will. I mean, they will scheme things to uh, to make things happen, especially in the first four weeks of the season, because they're gonna be I mean, it's a murderers row of defensive lines that they're going to be playing. And I don't think they're You're going to see anything stupid like Penn shot plays against these teams, you know, I think they're going to try and get the ball out quick, be smart about it. Run some quick plans from RPOs.
You know all the stuff that was.
In Max Wheelhouse in Alabama, and a lot of the the EP offense, you know, a lot of the foundational East offense that that's predicated on winning over the middle of the field. And Yeah, I think this team's gonna win ten games. I think they could make the playoffs.
I don't know.
I'm sort of on the fence about that, but I think I think you might need to win ten or more and then ten. You're gonna need ten with a tiebreaker to get the playoffs in the AFC this year.
That might be the case. Yeah, that might be the case, but I would tell you largely, you get to ten wins, you're gonna be there. Yeah.
And you got my prediction. You got my score prediction for the week, so I won't I won't have to stay it on the air.
Well, see you said, you said, you said the Eagles win twenty eight to twenty seven. Yeah, and Chad Ryland. Chad Ryland misses a fifty plus yard field goal with less than thirty seconds on the clock to lose it. Yeah, aren't you a rolling ball of butcher knives?
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't know. I think I think. I think this team is going to surprise a lot of people, and I think I think it's it's gonna start Week one, and I think they'll carry that momentum out throughout the season, and I think they're gonna have a good year. You know, fingers crossed, of course, but objectively speaking too, I think you look at last
year's team. I know the schedules tougher this year, but if that team can win eight games with a real good defense and a crap show on offense, I mean, I think Bill O'Brien and just a working, functioning NFL offense, Yeah, and can garner them two more with this year? And that's all I got DOWNNY.
Let's hope that that is the case. I appreciate you, Patty, thank you. We hit a couple of emails here real quick. Brian in North Bay, California, Welcome back for another season, Jr. Easy bolt prediction here Patriots will beat the Eagles twenty
nine to twenty one. As Tom roots for the team on and keeps the crowd in a fervor heading into the draft, I didn't bother looking at Christian Gonzales because I heard pundit after pundit say he was number one on their big board including reporters and callers in pre drafted this very playbook. Now that Gonzales fell in his own on the team, let's get excited. The secondary is a secondary no more than the shout out to Eldred there and can't wait to watch a leap in ball
hawking from Marcus Jones out of the defensive slot. Excited for the rookie receivers to get early looks. O'Brian keeps the veterans fresh for the playoff push. Big fan of adding Keon White and Zeke Elliott. Looking for a monster year out of Kyle Duggar. Thank you, Brian, appreciate that our buddy Howard and Stratford, Connecticut. Let's see glad to have you back for another season of the playbook And Patriots football. Oh guys are lucky and sounding great. Well, okay,
there we go, hey looking at me like that. You are here on drugs. Can't wait for the Thursday night football tomorrow. And here's hoping the Lions are for real and they beat the Chiefs. As for the Patriots, I know very few people are going to give them a chance against the reigning NFC champs. But I think the Pats are improved, especially on d and although they will not shut down the Eagles, zho, they're gonna slow it down.
And he says his key in this game is that the patso needs to stay on the field, sustain drives, and allow the Deed to rest so they are fresh come the fourth quarter. If the Oak can do that, I believe the improved OA can score enough points to win the game thirty to twenty eight on a walk off field goal by the rookie kicker Chad Ryland. So we got one who says he's gonna blow a fifty yarder at the end to lose it, and another says he's gonna hit a fifty yarder at the end to
win it. Why do I think we're gonna miss Nick Folk at some point? I just saying, just saying. I have nothing against Chad Ryland. I know he's got a cannon for a leg. I'm anxious to see him as just about anybody. But when you're in close games, your kicker makes the diff The guy you had is as reliable from inside of fifty yards as anybody in the NFL. And now he's kicking for Tennessee. So I'm just gonna kind of leave it right there with that one. Nancy Vermiaha, John,
have you missed me? I started a new career. I haven't been able to listen, but I am back and love the new broadcast. I will try to listen more often. I miss the fun conversations, regular callers, everything. I haven't read or followed the team very much this offseason. My bold prediction is the Patriots will be second in the division and make the playoffs. I like the prediction, Nancy. What needs to happen. The offensive line needs to step up big time. If you're taking scores for a yearbook,
I will never receive my prediction. Patriots win twenty three twenty. I think that was a shot. Marine, I think that was a shot still make the playbooks. I think that was definitely a shot. Nelson in La Hey Nelson, you're in the playbook.
Hey, how are you doing today? Man?
What's happening? Good goods? Everything's great, everything's great. We're ready for football. What about you?
I'm excited. I'm excited, all.
Right, So tell me why you're excited.
My position is we're gonna win thirty.
One to twenty eight, last second field goal, yes, sir, nice, okay.
And then the question.
That you asked, yeah, the one that you said, I don't know what's.
A bold prediction? What do you think will happen with the Patriots this year?
My boat position is we're not in the Kansas City or the ASC Championship and we go.
Out to the Super Bowl.
Bearment, Nelson, you're all right, You're all right. Way to have that enthusiasm.
I'm excited a new era and we're gonna be.
Out there winning games.
Okay, all right, last year we were all man. Yeah, well we know that that's true. Just as long as you don't have a repeat of that, I'll be all good with it.
I can't hear you and one long from all.
You all out there, man, Okay, okay. I appreciate you, Nelson, and thanks for listening. It's always good to have that. We got a little bit more to get to, But first I want to sort of reintroduce before we play his show. Open here a gentleman who I've known for a long time, and our time goes back to our time together at ESPN Radio. Back well, before before we
hit the two thousands, predating the millennium. We're going back over twenty years now, but he's been a relatively regular, if not regular, part of this show since the first year we started, which was two thousand and one. Year twenty three now the Patriots Playbook, Real woman could stop you from drinking.
That's a real big woman.
It's time to go around the NFL with football guru Russell Baxter.
Now what my name is? Flounder on Patriots Playbook? Hey Flounder, what's happening?
What was when?
Uh oh, there goes the phone? Son of a gun? Would you I'm gonna I'm gonna put it, hold on, I'm gonna play it. Claire's day conversation with him. Wow, is that amazing? I know, I know because I heard you tell I saw you talking to him and then all of a sudden bang. So you want to try to pick him up on your end and see if it comes back. Yeah, just because you know, I don't want to waste any good stuff with Russell. We don't want to do that. The background on Russell is he
was For those that don't know. If you're wondering who the heck is this Russell, Baxter.
Guy.
Russell was the guy in the ear of Chris Berman and Tom Jackson during NFL Sunday Countdown and basically feeding them all the info that they had on the air, which really helped make that program work for decades at ESPN. And he sends matriculated onto doing his own thing now and covering the National Football League. Let's try him. Now, are you there, buddy, I'm here. Oh there you are. Okay.
I don't know what happened. You said the first two words out of your mouth and all of a sudden, Okay, I don't know what happened.
I was talking to you and then all of a sudden, Boomer and Tommy, you were asking me questions.
Do they still ask you questions today?
Well, we talk on different levels. I actually talked with christ a couple of days ago.
And great one good And then listen.
Those are they're family members?
Yeah? Right for life? Okay, right of course.
Uh.
You know what, there's a reason you hear the words uncle Boomer in my house?
Hey, and you had you had another family member decide to step aside. This week with the retiring of mister Mortenson from covering the NFL actively on ESPN.
You know, I was, I was hoping you'd ask me about more because and you're gonna have to bear with me because when I found out yesterday, he's one of the kindest and actually one of the funniest human beings
that ever met by life. Always such perspective, such professionalism, and I'm not even doing them justice and stuff, but you know, the the what he brought to our meetings, Uh, it was more than just information, you know, it was the love, the respect for you know, what he did and so on, and you know, he's one of those people I really miss. I got to see him at the Hall of Fame a couple of years ago. He
made me laugh. He always makes you laugh and so and you know, he's uh, you know, I posted I posted a picture of that we took at the Hall of Fame three or four years ago. He's uh, he was. He was a pivotal part of the business. And you know, you know before the before that, you know, John, before this day of cell phones okay, which I'm dating myself, you know not you know, listen, I'm not talking you know,
wireless communication and ticker tape or anything like that. But you know, I can remember being in the studios when we used to do the Monday night show, which was actually called NFL Prime Monday if you.
Remember sure originally yeah.
Started in nineteen ninety three. It was kind of like in a trailer outside the main complex and so on. That was the step we used, and and then we moved inside, you know, with you know, running water and all that stuff.
Yeah, they invited you in the building.
Yeah, but I can remember many an instance where again before cell phones and more than the studio being paged that you have a call, and you know, it was a who's who who people who were calling more. Yeah, okay, right, So he commanded that much respect. He still commands that much respect. And I know he'll I hear from him on Twitter and every once in a while I'll get a nice little message and so on. But what he did for ESPN in terms of credibility, he can't be topped.
And I was, well, he was the original insider Russell. I mean, he was Adam Schefter before Adam Schefter was Adam Schefter.
I think in some ways Adam can considers him a mentor. You know, those are my words on essay, But I think if you read anything that Adam wrote yesterday on Twitter. Yea, you know they worked tied by side the last couple
of couple of years. Adam was at the NFL Network and came over and joined us, and yeah, it's, uh, you know, communication is so much different now and so on, but just what more brought to ESPN and to me personally as a human being can't be replaced and won't be replaced, because he'll be he'll be around for a long time and he'll still be making us laugh. And you know, the perspective he has with you know, with players around the league, and the respect he has are
in the league and so on. You know, that's something you learn over time, and that's something still never ever right.
So yeah, it was always so much fun when I was doing regular radio stance in Bristol. Uh, it was we always look forward to having an NFL segment and whether it was you or Mart or whomever else was doing it at the time, Susie Cobra a lot. That was always a lot of fun. We got energized and charged up because they were energized. They were charged up and they knew so we knew we were about to get an education and Moret was the one that always kind of led the way we were there.
You know, I was talking to Tommy about this not too long, but we were there at such a magical time. And I'm not saying that the disparage what goes on there now it's a different network. I understand that, and so I'm long moved in there. I've been going a dozen years. I'm not a person to go back and say, well, this is that, this and bat, but we happened to be. I think what was fortunate for us is when ESPN got the NFL contract in nineteen eighty seven and they
started doing Sunday night games. NFL Draft was already on ESPN, and it was originally on ESPN, and then slowly but surely, you know, it became the Sunday night game. And then, of course I was very, very lucky. You were alluded to it of doing NFL Prime time in the studio with Chris and Tommy, which I did in the studio part of it for seventeen years. Yeah, never missed the show.
Why would you and the beauty watching those two guys, especially John and you'll understand, especially doing the late highlights, Oh yeah, because we would sit in what we'd call the war room, watch the game, and you know, you could pay admission watching the games in there with Chris.
I believe that. I believe that, Hey, did he ever use his calls? Well, you guys were watching all those games, he could go all the way. Did you ever say that.
Chris would allude to stuff and so on? And you know the banter that went on because these guys, you know, everybody knew each other so well and so on, and so I'll just take you through a typical day as we got you got ready for the show. You know, roughly about six o'clock, the production assistants would come up with their highlight packages and what we'd call shot sheets, and they would go, oh, we're and you know, produce whoever was producing the show would lay out the order
doing then the beauty. When we had the NFL contract, I was there was we could show thirty seconds of a game, we could show nine minutes of a game. You weren't limited. It depended on how the game unfolded. We want to pretty much show you all all ninety three points, so you've never got short changed in that regard. But again I used the beauty again it was the late games, John, when the production assistance would come into
the set and hand Tommy and Boomery the shot sheets. Now, we had been watching the games, but we didn't know necessarily what was on the highlight and you would never be able to You could never tell that after watching these guys do what they did, and they just played off each other and the chemistry was unrilled between the two of them. And you know, as many people know that that that that means studio at ESPN is name named after Chris Bernman and Tom Jackson.
That doesn't shock me at all.
Well, I mean it was you know set Deon said he built the Georgia Dome, Right, Yeah, Chris and Tommy built that built.
That room, no question. By the way, I'm going to digress here before we get to the games this week. What are the impressions of UH coach Prime in his debut at Colorado and what he's done in such a short amount of time.
Well, I mean I'm watching the I watched most of the first half UH the other day and it was hard to believe. And I don't watch a lot of college football, but it was almost hard to believe that TCU.
Was the favorite guy, and I was listen, I kind of knew. I knew going in TC is gonna have a hard time for a couple of reasons. Number one, the hype behind Dion. Number two, when he's had a chip on his shoulder, he always came through as a player, I mean always, That's that's why he was who he was. And number three, they lost half their damn roster from last year, so I wasn't sure they would get upset, but I certainly knew it was gonna be a good game, and we that that certainly happened.
And since we're in name dropping territory here, I had an opportunity to work with Dion Standers on Thursday Night
Football in twenty fifteen. Yeah, so I got I got to know Dion a little and so and he wasn't coaching any of us where he had a coach there named Bill Kawers, So you know, I got to know him a little a little bit personally and so on that fire in his belly, and you know, watching this and I think you know people with Dion Standers because he is very brash and outspoken and confident and so on, you know. And and that was in full display when
he went in the Hall of Fame as well. I think people have mixed opinions about him and so on. You can't deny the talent.
Uh.
And now he suddenly, uh you know, turns out to be one hell of a coach. And again it's one game. Okay, so it's one game. But it was very impressive. It was it was not so much that they won, it was it was the poise in which they.
Were his son and exactly his son is is is a is an outstanding.
Athlete, right And watching, like I said, watching that contest, you know, I think people somehow got the impression because he had overhauled the team roster and so on, and he was going in here as his first game as they head coached, that he was going to be ill. Yeah. And uh, you know again, if on face value, if you didn't know anything about Colorado and you see you, you would have sworn Colorado with a much better football thing.
Yeah, without a doubt. All right, let's talk about the football teams in front of us for Week one in the NFL season. I gotta admit I think there's a lot of anticipation, more so on the Lion's part. Than the Chiefs part tonight or I should say tomorrow night. Keep thinking this is Thursday. You know, Hey, these.
Days these three or four times in the next.
Yeah, these date changes kill me. I mean we for twenty years? How many years? This is your twenty three? I think? Were we Thursdays primarily on this show? We did that once upon a time. We did three days a week, but you always came on with us on Thursdays. And then when I started teaching a few years ago, we had to cut it back to two. And now because my teaching schedule has picked up, it's one day
a week, but it's always been Thursdays. This year we moved to Wednesday's for the first time in twenty years.
Soon, which is why I want to go Wednesday. I wanted to do Wednesday, Adams, because there is no Thursday at.
Him a bottom. I like that. I like it. It works for me. The uh, the anticipation for Thursday's game, I think is all about the Lions as opposed to the Chiefs. What are your thoughts?
Well, I agree, I mean, you know, this is the second time in four years at Kansas City's opening the season as defendive Super Bowl champions We pretty much know them and have gotten to know them. I mean, they have been in the playoffs eight years in the row. They've been the UH three of the last four super Bowls, won a couple of titles. You know, we've got I know this. We've gotten to know Arrawhead Stadium pretty well because every playoff game they've played, except for the Super
Bowl has been in Arrawhead Stadium. With Patrick Mahomes, they have He hasn't played a Roade playoff game yet. So I think we know this team. Obviously a lot of national exposure and for all the right reasons, Andy Reid's and Andy Reid is the longest tenured head coach in the league, just not with the same team. Andy's first year head coach was nineteen ninety nine with the Eagle, one year before Bill Belichick, right little in resting factor. So we've gotten to know them. What do we know
about the Lions? Well, we know the last time the Lions won a playoff game was eight years before Andy Reid became a head coach of the Eagle. That was nineteen ninety one.
That's crazy.
Well, the last time they won a division title was nineteen ninety three. It was called the NFC Santral not the NFC Wars, and there were five teams in that.
Division the NFC Norris right.
And thank you very much, be going to Boomer, yep. And the last time the Lions won a title, and by the way, they won four NFL titles in their proud history, was nineteen fifty seven, which is two years before I was born, all right, and I just turned sixty four a couple of days ago, So he's the maths on that one. So we don't know much but
the years. What we know about the current Lions, we know that they were fit in the league and scoring last year, John, their defense played better at the end of the year one time last year they were one and six. They won eight of their last ten games. So they knocked the Packers out of the playoffs in the final Sunday night game of the year, and they
did it at lambeau Field. Dan Campbell was obviously drawn a lot of attention I think his first year there because of some of the wacky things he was saying, and apparently it is paying off for that franchise. Now they obviously want to take the next step and obviously, winning a game against the defending Super Bowl champions on
open night would be pretty herculean. Now I've lotched the numbers here, because Patrick Mahomes usually comes out with a bang that the chiefs of one eight eight season openers. He's been the starting quarterback in the last five john All he's on his throne. Eighteen touchdown passes and zero interceptions in those five games.
I gotta admit, I mean, you know, it'd be pretty hard not to root for that if you're going to root for somebody in this particular instance, because look, I don't root for teams per se, I kind of root for stories. Maybe that's just the reporter, the journalist, the you know, you know, the media type in me, because
better stories just make for more interests. As far as I'm concerned all the way around, if anybody's gonna come close to what Tom Brady has done in his career, I've been of the opinion for pretty much the last year or so that Patrick Mahomes could be that guy. When does that chatter continue to kick up? When does you know? And does it? Does it? Does it take on a life of itself? If Kansasity finds himself back in the Super Bowl again, this year.
Well, yeah, because it takes on the life of its own, because it becomes uh in some ways, there are so many people out there who want somebody to be the next goat, right, right, right, and because God knows we need a goat, you.
Know, today's coach.
We must live on a farm. You know, there's got somebody has to be the greatest of all time. And for people who maybe I don't think Tom Brady was the coat. Okay. And by the way, it's so it's such a ridiculous concept because it's all matter in any way, and so on. You know, you see this this young man come in and honestly do some things that we
haven't seen done. I mean, last year Patrick Mahomes became the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era, and we need the NFL and tasting yards and win the Super Bowl the same year. Now that's not a small tag. That's fifty seven years okay. So, I mean, he had a lot to do with it. And I found it so ironic that in the Super Bowl, in which he was named Super Bowl MVP. And don't get me wrong, you play the hell of the game, the guy who threw for over five thousand yards didn't even throw for
two hundred yards in the Super Bowl. You know, I felt that they won that Super Bowl in the second half by running the football against an Eagles defense that was tied for sixteenth in the league against the run. Yep, you know. It's as you know, and this is an unequivocal fact, it is impossible to sack the quarterback when the running back had football.
Yeah, that's also true. That's a stat that won't appear right.
Think about this, John, The team that had seventy sacks during the regular season, yeah, and eight or nine more against the Giants, and the forty nine Ers in playoffs had no sacks in Super Bowl fifty seven.
Yeah. That's nuts. That's nuts. Yeah, that's crazy. The lineup this weekend seeming to be obviously pretty spread out. Evenly, everybody's playing the first one. I think there are a couple of intriguing matchups, like the forty nine Ers playing at the Steelers. I would say the Cowboys playing at
the Giants, which is the Sunday night game. But to me, the two games other than the Patriots and Eagles that I think I might be most interested in Dolphins at Chargers Sunday afternoon, which goes up against the Eagles Patriots game, and then Monday night bills at the Jets kind of anxious to see how Aaron Rodgers is going to look.
Well, I'm just I was just wrapping up my food first thought for full press coverage and of course my five key statistics, which we'll see over in the next twenty four hours. Ago mine always grateful that Eing Glendon gives me a chance to write that for full press coverage, right, And I was making the point that do you think that Jets, Now think about this for a second. Many
consider Aaron Rodgers last year, coming off a down season. Okay, now, he threw twelve interceptions, don't get me wrong, that's very high for him. Okay, he's not a double digit interception guy. He only threw twenty six touchdown passes. Now that's an August total as well. But when you consider the Jets offense in general score twenty eight touchdowns in seventeen games, I'm going to take a leap of faith and thinks Aaron Rodgers is going to have somewhat of an impact
on this offense. Now, what's also going to be interesting about this game is it's his first game. As with the Jets, it's his first game versus an AFC East opponent, but not necessarily because remember last year, the Packers played the AFC East in the interconference round. They played Buffalo, they played New England, they played the Jets, and they played So it's not like he's going to see anything
that shocked him Monday night. He might be more shocked at by some of the other teams in the conference that he might not have been played in recent years. Okay, certainly not the the interconference games the Jets have to play, et cetera. So it's not a bad way. And also keep mile a year ago the Jets before they got you know, fell into that season ending six game losing streak, they beat the Bills at eight at eighteen women that life, what is it meant? Life?
Yeah?
Okay, so they beat the Bills in Josh, So this is very it's very intriguing for a lot of different reasons because you also consider the Bills off season. Now you know, I'm not inside the building, and a lot has been made about Stefan Day and Josh Allen's relationship and it seems like everything's okay or and when I hear that stuff. I have this flashback and you know where I'm going here, flashback to the early nineties with Mark Levy and the Remember the Bickering Bills.
Love that team. I love those teams.
Yeah, and the Bickering Bills. He called them out. It was they were playing the Dolphins in Week two down in Miami and they got obliterated. And that was the Bickering Bill. And that was also the start of the four straight Super Bowl appearance. And I'm not saying the Bills are going to the super Bowl, but this is
interesting we have. It's funny because hack the slate this week, in Week one is divisional games and you know we usually see all those divisional games in Week seventeen or Week eighteen as it is now, but half the league is indivisional games to start off the season, and that they can be very, very big tone setters because as you know, in special in this this league now where you can go from last to first or last to a playoff spot, real real quickly. We saw four times last year a.
Lot yep, yep.
I'll be interesting to see if the j Justs and Giants can hold serve. Now, you know you mentioned the Giants. By the way, I have to throw out this number, and if you're the Giants, you got to throw up last year even though they were nine seven to one and Brian Dable with NFL the Coach of the Year and the Giants won a playoff game for the first time since they beat the Patriots in Super Bowl forty six. The Giants within the division last year, John.
In the one, that's nuts and they still made the playoffs. That's crazy. That yeah, that's insane.
Three of the losses obviously, Tod Yeah.
Well that that kind of leads me to the next thing I was going to ask you because, in all honesty, you wrote about it, you know, earlier this week on full press coverage, but talking about a division that could potentially see all of its members reached the postseason, and I know you thought that the NFC East would be the likely candidate for this year, but I'm wonnering. Really, what's keeping the AFC East from joining that party?
Well, you know, actually, besides the NFC East, I also pushed with the AFC North. You know, that's a division at three the free playoff teams last year, but Pittsburgh finished strong, Cincinnati and Baltimore. Men. Ye, and I find this year the Browns to be very intriguing me, not because of the Sean Watson and not because it Keptain
is the fancy. And here's a name you know pretty well because he had a lot to do with the Eagles, winner of the Patriots in Super Bowl fifty two, and that's Jim Schwood, who is now the new defensive coordinator for the brown And they went out and gotten to Darius Smith to Pale with milesartt Hair with Miles Garrett, Tomlinson up the middle, Shelby Harris up the middle. I'm just curious about that, Ran Steep. And the AFC North was really interesting last year, John, every team in the division,
all four went three and three in the division. But you bring up a good point about the AFC East. And by the way, speaking of AFC East, and it was a different AFC East. The AFC East is the last division to put four teams in the playoffs.
And stay there there you go.
Now, remember it's nineteen ninety eight and those will be years of the AFC East with five.
Divisions, right, I mean five teams. Yes, the Colts were in the division, yes, yeah.
And the Colts went three and thirteen. Yeah, but the other four teams all made it, all went into the playoffs.
Yep, yeah, I'm I think all four teams have a legit shot this year. And it would not surprise me, Russell, as you just kind of talked about, wouldn't surprise me to see the AFC East going three and three. Everybody in the division. I know some people who are you know that no Buffalo well or thinking that's just heresy, it's not going to happen. I could see it happen.
Well, I guess see. It happened. They were born to in the division last year.
Exactly. You've got to pick them off once. If you can pick them off once, everybody's gonna end up three and three.
Listen, holding served in the division is very important when you come down to those type breakers and so on. And I know Buffalo won the division. I know they played one less game them in Cincinnati because obviously more hamling circumstances and so on. But again, they were still forward to in the division. They lost the Jests, they lost at Miami for the first time in a bit, or lost to the Dolphins is the first time.
In a bit.
So the year before. Yeah, so you know it is it is getting somewhat harder to dominate your division. As far as the clean season. The Chiefs did it obviously last year. The forty nine Ers did it last year. But you know, if you look at the improvement and maybe some of the slippage a little by San Francisco, I mean, they're gonna you know, doesn't look like Nick Bose is gonna be around at least one right for the Chiefs. Doesn't look like Chris Jones is gonna be
around tomorrow night. So and we don't know about Travis Telson so on. So it's a league. Things can change very, very dramatically, and you know, there's been nothing more evident than the fact that And think about this, John for people who in fact this you know me one of my least favorite things when it comes to NFL analysted, is the season ended today?
Yeah? Yeah, I know.
Okay, if you want the season end today, go follow the NBA.
I thought that wouldn't have been my choice either.
But think about this for a while and think about regardless of what the Tea's record were at the time, Okay, Jets seven and four and lost their last six games. The Titans were seven and three and lost their last moving game.
Yeah.
The Chiefs lost, I'm sorry, the Coast Laws their last seven games last year.
Yep, yep.
The Cardinals lost their last seven games last year.
Yep.
The Bears lost their last ten games.
Wow, last year.
That's nuts.
And meanwhile, while you're kissing off certain people, Jacksonville goes from four and eight to nine in eight and wins the division.
Yep.
Okay, So I mean, you know, maybe maybe you know who they should get out to instead of carry Underwood, they should get Ray Stevens to do the Sunday night opening and that way he can sing. Why they call it the street, Yeah.
The streak. That's exactly right, because it's going to take something like that, I think again this year.
Well, I mean maybe getting hot at the right time. There's a lot because it certainly him. It certainly happened with Tampa Bay in twenty twenty, and to a degree, it happened with the Rains a couple of years ago. Right, I mean he listen, the Chiefs will talk for the best record at the NFL last year. Ye, I'm not gonna, you know, not go on that stretching.
Right, yeah, exactly.
We saw that, you know, what looked like teams in solid positions completely collapsed at the end of the year. And I think Tennessee, you would have to say, Tennessee maybe the most surprising of them.
One, probably, So my friend's good to have you back again. Thank you for making some time for us on Wednesdays this year, and I look forward to our our visit as often as you can make it on Wednesday. So thank you for clearing your schedule for us and being with us a wee can talk a little football.
I've already I've already put in my Google calendar. Then I'm good until six of twenty twenty six.
Week six twenty twenty six. All right, well you may be then working beyond my expiration date.
Listen, do you have you have enough callers? I'm sure I can find somebody who can fill in.
Uh yeah, I'm no doubt about that.
Melvin.
Actually Melvin didn't call in today, but but Eldred did. Eldred's hanging on so we can hear you. There you go, you want to you want to say hello to Eldred? Absolutely, Okay, hold on just a second, Eldred say hello to uh Russell Baxter because he wants to say hello to you.
Hello, mister guru, mister legend. Hey y'all doing I'm good for you. I'm doing pretty good.
Just what's your prediction for the year? What do you think.
My audition for the year? Yep, I'm even.
Seven May.
Didn't ask you where you were getting a slurpy? I asked you.
Wow. Wow, that's pretty quick for a sixty four year old brain right there. That's pretty quick. That's impressive.
Predictions. Well, I'm I got I'm hoping it would go to the playoffs. But Jday's Wilfon thing, Jasie, you guess, yeah, they played the game first, and that I can do Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, I mean the Sunday against against Philadelphia and uh, you know, can they the kid I'm gonna be watching I'm in Philadelphia's Jalen Carter because if he, if he can help the Eagles stop the run, and they were very mediocre against the run, that changes the face of that team dramatically. Remember they lost Javon hard Grave in the free agency to the forty nine ers, and that leads a big hole up the middle. And Carter and you know, with this little controversy, you know, off the field,
et cetera, et cetera. The Eagles made their move and Howie Roseman does. I don't think it's enough credit for what he's done with that organization over the last five or six years and so on. So that's the kid I'm gonna be watching on Sunday. But it should be a really interesting game on Sunday up in Foxborough because you never know what you're gonna get with week one, and we certainly have seen our share of surprise.
Exactly.
And did you go for the blue Raspberry or.
Blue Raspberry? I believe I think the blue Raspberry slurpy at seven to eleven was known as a gully washer.
I like the cherry ones. I like the cherry ones.
Go for the hot dog cherry one.
That's also true. Wait, Russell, did you say you go for the hot dogs?
Oh? Absolutely?
Oh my god. I can't believe we are another brother from another mother, because that's all I do. You know, I go to the convenience story. Miss Robin kills me when I want a hot dog in there, but they look so damn good in there, I gotta get one. I was.
I was a shameless plug. I was Cumberland Farms this morning.
Yes, yes, some parking lot.
I just pulled into the parking lot and out came this really nice lady hot dogs loaded to the gills. Stop and I said to him, I said, wow, that looks really good. I said, now I want a hot dog exactly, and she said, yeah, she looks good. I said, in fact, how bout if I have yours of wine, you go in and get another.
One, right right, because that way you wouldn't have to pay regular price. If you're getting one, you can get two for four dollars.
That's exactly right. And I know that woman. I know that woman will never see me again as the longs I live, and I know she thinks sometimes.
I absolutely love that Russell, my friend, is great to visit with you. Look forward to visioning with you again next week.
And just remember what the topic will be next week. Next week we will talk about the sixteen teams that their fans think will go undefeated and the sixteen teams where their fans will be saying they're getting the number one thick in the draft.
Exactly because we like to overreact after the first week of a seventeen week schedule absolutely, Russell you the man. Thank you brother, all right, see you guys, you got it. So, Guru Eldred, what did you What did you want to talk about today if we didn't already hit that, because I'm gonna give you the final word in the show today. How do you like that?
Thank you?
Well?
I think I appreciate that, mister legend. The game today, game Sunday. I got my towel out and my popcorn, the towel to cry in so that that team challenge from top to bottom. You heard the guy that covered the team right, Yeah, top to bottom. Hit on the draft pick and even the guys in free agent. Yeah, something that our GM don't do.
Yeah, so they sat.
So I'm thinking I won't. I will hope you put a twenty points. But to me, that's just a Christmas wish. I think they roll because they got something to prove from last thirty five seventeen.
Yeah. And you know, if you're you know, if you're trying to think of this thing with a clear mind, you know, and not you know, and not for one side or the other, I can see where you would easily make that choice. I personally think right now that you know the Patriots will figure out a way to keep it close for that first half until the Eagles figure out a way to shake off the rust and probably put pedal to medal in the second half. So I'm going to take the Eagles twenty four to twenty
in that one. But but and the reason I'm going to do that is because I think the Patriots defense is going to keep them honest and in the game for most of the game, and they should if they can take advantage of mistakes. Look, injuries happen, we know.
But the one thing that I'm really concerned about the most in weak one is self inflicted injuries by way of penalty, because we know the offensive line had such a hard time a year ago playing together and and it was just it was an abomination, is what it was. Was like they didn't know what the word discipline meant. And clearly we could see that happen with a defensive front like Philadelphia has in front of them on Sunday.
And so if we're revisiting that very thing this next week, no one can say, well, told you so, because we talked about it, and it is liable. It's certainly liable to happen. I'm going to give the Patriots the benefit of it out until I see otherwise. That's really all I'm doing here. And if it's twenty four to twenty and they have an opportunity with the ball late in the game, then hey, that's all. That's really all you
can ask for. But but but the smart money is, yeah, the smart money is probably on the Eagles winning going away.
Yeah, they can rotate, they got fo D you know, they got a guy for each guy on that front line they can play. Yeah, you know that's yeah, right, and outline that is what I'm worried about, mainly if mac wa have time to set up throw even due to Luke Quick. Yeah, I'm just wondering, right, you know. But uh, everybody they're talking about we got guns dollar. He's a number, you like, Well, he's a rookie, y'all
got to give him least eight to nine games. Gilmour at eight games before he came out, before he got better, So you got. So he's a rookie, you got he's getting eight to nine because he ain't gonna be out there smothering everybody like like salt. Maybe it's the salt headed problems to in the beginning of the year. He got better towards the end. You know, So you gotta give gun dollars the same way.
That's just what I'm doing.
Give him the same benefit of the doubt, right exactly one.
Is it just a poematim me?
Well? Yeah, I mean you know, if you listen, I don't know how you could be a factor if you can't stay healthy enough to stay on the field. And right now, that's gonna be the biggest, the biggest problem for him to overcome is staying healthy. So you know, you can't play. If you can't stay healthy, can't play, and you can't make it. You can't make a difference if you can't play on the field. He's got to learn how to get on the field and stay on the field. Some guys never learn how to do that.
The jury is still out, but I have to say it's trending in a bad direction for it bad.
Direction it is, especially when we had Watson.
Here. We know, we know, brother, we know, we know. All right, you be safe out there. Eldred YouTube missiles always good, always good to talk to you. Thank you, my friend Eldred in North Carolina. Uh forgot to do this but I need to mention. Bridgestone is the official tire of the New England Patriots and proud department with Sullivan Tire in New England's headquarters for quality. Bridgestone Tires visits Sullivantire dot com to find a location near you
and Patriots fans. If you want to see Toyota's best offers, including those not seen on TV, go to buy a Toyota dot com. It's Toyota's official website for deals from the official vehicle of the New England Patriots. Toyota. Let's go places, all right, One more email I'm going to share with you here. It came from our friend Aiden in California, who says you want ball John, Hey John, Patriots win eleven games and Mac Jones throws for thirty
four touchdowns eleven interceptions. WHOA. The reason for this is I believe Mac makes the jump that should have happened last year. He has the look to prove to everyone he is the quarterback of the future. For me, that's enough to believe until he doesn't. Bob's Discount Furniture has sofas that convert the sleepers when you're feeling sacked mattresses that put you to sleep as soon as you touch down, and thousands of highly rated styles that keep the home
team happy. Shop at Bob's, the official furniture store of the New England Patriots. Our thanks well certainly to all Over Caller. Thank you for listening to the show today. I hope you enjoyed the samuelcast on Patriots dot Com with the video. A little bit of an adventure to get started today, but hey, we pulled it off. So hey, you know, when you're doing something for the first time,
there's always going to be a bump. Thanks to Chad Graff of The Athletic, Dave Beraro from Eagles dot Com, and our good friend Russell Baxter at bas Football Guru on x formerly known as Twitter. I always say that just so I can kind of like couch, you, you know, with parentheses around it. Thanks to Marine Matt, who puts it all together, Same patch time, same patch channel. Next Wednesday.
Next Wednesday, we'll recap a bit from the Sunday afternoon game and look forward to Week two against the Miami Dolphins Wednesday. Right here in the playbook.
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