January 17, 2025 • 40 mins
Gary Tanguay Fills In On NightSide with Dan Rea
With new head coach Mike Vrabel leading the New England Patriots next season, do you think we have a good chance of making the playoffs? Tanya Ray Fox, sportswriter and reporter for Fox Sports, joined Gary to talk football and what Pats fans are hoping for next season!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
With new head coach Mike Vrabel leading the New England Patriots next season, do you think we have a good chance of making the playoffs? Tanya Ray Fox, sportswriter and reporter for Fox Sports, joined Gary to talk football and what Pats fans are hoping for next season!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice time with Dan Ray. I'm going you beasy
Boston News Radio, all.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Right now, thanks a lot appreciated. Dad is often doing
a little football action special. Thanks to our entertainment guru
Cooper Lawrence for joining us. Also early in the program,
Joe Lopino Esposito attorney talking about the TikTok man and
our next guest, my good friend from the coast, Tanya Ray,
(00:27):
Fox Ladies and gentleman of Fox Sports. I do want
to get her thoughts on TikTok because she is that's
a big deal for her.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It's weird gonna be But if for.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
The next forty eight hours follow Tanya Fox on TikTok,
That's what I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Do it now? Fox? How you holding up?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
You know, I'm hanging in there. I'm doing just about
as well as like a one hundred million other Americans
at this point.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
But you know, so, what's you have to say? I
love you, man.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You still have the same attitude you always have. What's
it like out there? I mean you guys, you Santa Monica.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
I used to being I'm over like a little bit
further south, actually closer to lax which works out really
well for me, but we're in the safe zone from
any of the fires and things like that. Just really
bad air quality. But otherwise, you know, it's taking a
few years off of my life. But you know, I live,
I mean live near the Pacific Ocean, so I guess
it's worth it.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, that's so if you had stayed back here in Boston,
you would have lost those years anyways, you know exactly,
So you just have to look at it like that.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Sorry, let's get to talk at some sports here, because
you need to follow Tanya on social media. She's on
all her social media handles, handles, excuse me, at Tanya
ray Fox. You can follow her on x you can
go TikTok for the next forty eight hours anyways, and
Instagram or whatever is coming next. I love your stuff
on social media. I love your quick one minute hits,
(01:48):
your opinions.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I think they're great.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I think people they're insightful, they're fun, so people should
definitely follow them. Let's start with Rabel. Now, when Vrabel
was a player here, you were working with us, had
a Comcast.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Correct, that was before my time. I was still I
was still very very young and in high school and college.
When Brabel was there, But you suck?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Are you kidding me? I did that?
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh god, so you don't remember when do you've ever
when Brabel?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Oh no, I did not know the story.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Oh no, we we well.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Greg and I used to get down to Foxborough and
we would do the friendly scoop and the first one
was Richard Seymour and then after Seymour left, uh.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
It was Vrabel. Brabel did it.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So we would pay these guys so much a week
to come on and pretend to be our friend to
talk to us. And we did this bit where we
lined up in a line of scrimmage and Rabel just
sent me back twenty yards, I mean, and he didn't
even break He barely used any of his strength.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And I swear to god, I thought I broke a ribcage.
I mean I was. It's on video somewhere of he
just blocked.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Actually might be your It might be your most impressive,
impressive athletic feat that you didn't break any bones in
that scenario. I were you, I would use that.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I was going to say it was my greatest journalist
journalistic feet that too. But there was no doubt that
Rabel was going to become a coach.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
We know that. What did you think of the whole deal?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I think that Rabel is a good hire. I think
he's a good head coach, a good hire. He makes
sense for the organization. A lot of what I've talked
about about the situation is just that I find the
whole approach of the organization from ownership to be very confusing.
I don't quite know what the Crafts are trying to
send as far as the message for what they're trying
(03:49):
to no pun intended craft the organization into going forward,
because there's been this very anti Belichick sentiment coming out
of the organization for the last year plus and this
idea that they are going to move in a very
different direction. They wanted to leave behind the Belichick way
and move into something that was a little bit more progressive,
(04:10):
a little bit more forward thinking, and they didn't want
somebody at the helm who had a ton of power
over personnel and had just I mean, Belichick was the
most powerful head coach in the NFL for obvious reasons.
So okay, they hire Girodmeo. That makes sense, you know,
in the ways that the Craft sort of described it,
(04:32):
which was like it's going to be this sort of
soft launch out of the Belichick era. Fine, we all
know what happened there. We don't have to kind of
get into the politics of that. But to me, Rabel
is actually a step back toward Belichick in a lot
of ways, and the fact that they've given him so
much say over personnel, I personally think is probably for
(04:52):
the best, to be quite honest, I think it's unless
you have a really really elite GM like you know,
Bret each or Howie Roseman or someone like that, having
the coach involved in the personnel decisions, especially if they
have the kind of ties to the organization, understand ownership
and everything else the way that Rabel does. I don't
(05:14):
hate it. I just I'm very frustrated with what the
Crafts have asked of Patriots fans in terms of this
departure from Belichick. You don't you know, there are very
few coaches that have reached that level, and I think
that everybody's feeling a little bit disillusioned at this point
because we should be excited to have this new head
coach who's familiar and part of the dynasty and Patriots
(05:38):
Hall of Famer. But I sense from a lot of
Patriots fans who at least engage with my content, which
again could be an echo chamber that there's just like, Okay,
this is great, but this seems like you're actually just
looking for Belichick two point out. Quite honestly, do.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You have a do you think.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
In retrospect, post Belichick or I'm going to say post
Brady Quite frankly, what should the crafts have done?
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Well, I'm on record as saying they should have let
Belichick coach until he died or could no longer function.
I think there's about there's a handful of coaches in
the history of sports that just kind of earn that.
And while I do think, yes, of course everybody has
has fireable offenses, there were so many things that were
(06:30):
starting from the quarterback position down that were hamstringing their
ability to actually win games. I mean he did with
McDaniel's take Mac Jones to the playoffs, which in retrospect
was a real incredible feat, right and there, Yes, I
think that there was a lot of things Belichick was
stuck in. He's showing in US at UNC right now
(06:52):
that he just will not work with anybody that he
hasn't had a relationship with. For thirty years plus or
he's not related to It's a lot, and that's a
lot to deal with. However, unless you have the perfect
succession plan, moving on from somebody like this is is
just such a difficult task. And I don't think that there.
(07:14):
You can you can see in the way that people
still interact with Belichick in the national media and throughout
even on social media, just he still carries so much weight.
His opinion and his what he's up to carries so
much weight, and just for business reasons alone, Belichick was
an important person to the Patriots organization, Like you can't
(07:36):
trying to move on from that as if there's you know,
there's a replacement for that kind of social cachet. I
think I think Crafts misunderstood how much he himself could
carry the Patriots franchise and the Patriots name and the
Patriots brand on his own post Brady Belichick and abandoning
(07:57):
that both. I mean, Brady was eventually retire regardless of
whether he left or not. But saying we can just
move on from this entirely when you know Belichick's going
to keep coaching, you know he's still going to be
in the public eye to may It was just a
bad business decision more than anything else.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But what about the picking the players, because we all
know Belichick and coach. I mean, Belichick could be ninety
in coach, but the roster seemed to be going downhill.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Yeah, I think that the roster issues were a little
bit overblown. Yes, there were issues. There's always been issues
at wide receiver and his inability to fully adjust to
life post Brady with his biggest downfall, Right, was this
idea that you could get away with being stingy at
wide receiver and or being a poor drafter quite honestly
(08:46):
at wide receiver when you had Brady making up for
all of those mistakes. Absolutely right, he didn't seem to
fully Yeah, he didn't seem to fully grasp that. Like
that was not going to be an approach that you
could have with Mac Jones or anybody else really, I
mean unless you had Chick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson or
one of these dudes who are like absolutely truly elite.
So that, but I also do feel like when you
(09:08):
make so you're now made the playoffs with Mac Jones
as a rookie louse McDaniels. Again, this is like a
pattern through Patriots.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, that really hurt him, you know, Telly, that's a
good point that hasn't discussed enough that the loss of
McDaniel sent thim south because then he put it defensive
guys in and that was stupid.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Yeah, it was stupid, and he there were definitely his issue.
I just I think that the conversation about the drafting
thing is just so deeply overblown because when you lose Brady,
that the whole idea was that Brady leaving made exposed
Belichick right as is bad GM. But when they were
winning super Bowls and building those rosters while having Brady,
(09:50):
the whole discussion was, this is how you build a
roster when you had one of the great quarterbacks of
all time. Right, So it's like, okay, well he didn't
have one of the great quarterbacks of all time. He
had to, you know, go through the COVID season with
Cam Newton's pretty good season all things considered when you
look back at it, and then Mac Jones as a rookie,
they make the playoffs and then yeah that things were rough.
(10:11):
Morale was low. Turns out Mac Jones not a great
offensive leader, not let alone the performance on the field
there was a lot going on. So I look back
at those draft class I'm like, there's some players in
there that really matter that I think would have had
everything been going right in the other areas, people wouldn't
be so nitpicky about There's just to me when you
(10:35):
start talking about the personnel and he had too much power,
It's just like, you can't have it both ways. You
either think that he has a knack for building defense
and special teams and a weakness on offense, and you
deal with it, or you don't and crap decided he
didn't want to do with it. But I think replacing
that level of experience is a lot more difficult than
(10:55):
people realize.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Well, there's no doubt about that. And if he had
not put his two.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Defensive guys there and his special teams coach, you know,
got I'm so old, I forget their names, but everybody
knows what I'm talking about. How about that? How arrogant
am I? You know what I'm talking about people, but
I can't remember their names.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
But I don't remember anyone's names. And I'm not old.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Well obviously not after I thought you were older than
you were. But if you just put in a regular
offensive coordinator. You know, you could have used Mac Jones
as a bridge to get you to the next guy.
But when he messed up the offense, So what's that?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
I don't think. So I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I think.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Mac Jones is a failure. No matter what, you don't
think Jels.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
You don't think you could have used them for a
couple of years just to maybe make the playoffs and
then look for the next quarterback.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
No, absolutely not, No, I think with I think, I
mean yes, I do think that had you gotten a
McDaniel's level caliber two offensive coordinator, you probably could have
made Josh McDaniels look a little bit I mean sorry,
I made Mac Jones.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Looked a little bit more serviceable for a little bit longer.
But he was always going to regress because he was
essentially just a McDaniel's system quarterback as a It just
was this always happens with these guys who have these
decent but unimpressive rookie seasons, but they make the playoffs whatever,
we start thinking wow, like, you know, this is something
(12:16):
that they could build on. But those guys also start
thinking that and if you don't have the right mentality,
which Mac Jones just didn't. He did not have the
mentality of a franchise quarterback that could be the team.
They end up becoming exactly what he did, which was
over confident, not working on his passing game, not working
on his mechanics, not working well with his coaches. Like
those things were always going to happen past rookie season.
(12:37):
They probably would have happened with McDaniel's too, It's just
he ended up kind of that. McDaniels is one of
those dudes who, with the right guy, can have those
types of seasons. And he's not going to work for
every type of quarterback but that pure you know, pocket passer.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, he can make it work. What do you
think about Belichick at seventy two years old and what
was it his twenty four year old girlfriend came out
and said he's staying at Carolina.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Yeah, no, Grandpa's creepy as heck. Grandpa's Grandpa's gotta get
off the fact that he's on social media now. And
I'm like, dude, can you not do you know how
many people give me crab about this, Like I cried
when this guy retired and now he's being weird, So
I just calm, creepy Grandpa, because there's nothing, there's no
other way for me to cope, Like this guy's this
guy has been in my life, you know since I
(13:26):
was like thirteen years twelve, thirteen years old, and I
just have to live with the creepiness. But you know
he's not the only one.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
So well, No, there's a lot of seventy two year
old guys that if there was a young twenty four
year old woman would want to marry them or live
with him, that would certainly say yes. It's the other
way around, is like you have to want yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
God, oh I do, I do wonder And you know what,
that's not for me, that's for her to deal with.
That's her own trauma to deal with. And I'm glad
it's I'm glad that I was never in that specific position.
But either way, you know, wish them the best. Don't
want to see it. Please leave it away from my eyeballs.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Tay Ray Fox is with us from Fox Sports in
Los Angeles. We're going to continue the conversation on Rabel
in the NFL. Coming up next to WBZ.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Now Baptist Dan Ray live from the Window World Nice
Side Studios. On WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Social media star was kid check her out on all
the platforms x TikTok at least for the next forty
eight hours in Instagram and whatever is coming down the
road from FS one and Fox Sports. It's our own
Tanya Ray Fox. All right, let's get to Rabel in
the situation.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I had Bert Breyer on last night, and you know,
Burt's prey plugged in as you know. So this is
what we figured out so far that Rabel will have
final say, but he's not going to get caught up
in the day to day front office stuff that Bill did.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
He will have people.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
In the front office do that for him, possibly Elliott
Wolf with another Vrabel guy that have they've worked together
in the past. So Able still will have final say,
but unlike Bill, he's not going to be playing GM
every minute of every day.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I don't know what you think about that.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Yeah, I mean I think that that tracks right. Bill
was really Bill Belichick was really the only guide doing
what Bill Belichick was doing for a reason, and quite honestly,
it takes a lot of It takes a lot of
energy and effort to even do the regular head coach job.
Let alone be in charge of personnel and hiring that
and sort of managing that to begin with. So it
makes it makes perfect sense to me that they would
(15:30):
have people installed to do the day to day management
of that. And you know, I still think it's fine
that that rabel is sort of crafting the personnel and
then letting it be managed elsewhere. He's i mean, he's there,
he's in the building, he's taking care of things, like
it makes the most sense. But you know, there's there
(15:51):
was there's maybe two coaches in the last you know,
twenty five years that would be qualified to do anything
more than that, quite honestly.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, And one of the things that Bert said would
be Friday during a season, nine am and Bill would
be in a meeting about the draft during the season.
It's like, why you don't have to be Yeah, I mean,
you know, you know, there's no need for that. And
I think verybel understands that where you have the right
(16:18):
people in the front office that can do that day
to day stuff, and then when the season's over, it's
time to get ready for the draft to come in
and they tell you.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
What's up, Yeah, Belichick coming. I mean, he's always his
need to be involved in absolutely everything. It was good
until it wasn't right, and it was productive until it wasn't.
And when you didn't have to micromanage your quarterback, when
your quarterback was actually sitting with you in meetings, when
you trusted their instincts, when you had those conversations and
(16:45):
you weren't developing a young rookie or dealing with Cam
Newton coming in from the Panthers during COVID seasons and
all of this other stuff. You that's when Belichick should
have been able to recognize that that's spreading yourself too
thin and that you're not focusing on the task at hand,
which is something that he preached to absolutely everybody else.
And I think the player the coaches who are former
(17:07):
players have a different perspective on what needs to be
invested in the players in order for them to succeed. Now,
there's varying degrees of success in doing that, but Vrabel,
he was there seeing what worked early on when Belichick,
before Belichick had the greatest coach, the greatest quarterback of
all time, when he just had a really incredible quarterback,
(17:29):
a really great quarterback. And so that early dynasty is
actually the best belichick blueprint, and that's where he played,
That's when he played for him. So whatever he took
out of that is absolutely going to be applied to
how he functions as somebody who's in charge of personnel
but is really focusing on being a head coach and
(17:50):
understanding where these players are coming from. That is the
pro to having a former player as a coach. When
it works. When it doesn't work, it looks a lot
more like Gerrod Mayo, who is trying a little too
hard to relate to the players. And I do think
that Rabel has the has a better balance, has struck
a better balance at that.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Did I ever tell you that Mike Vrabel's story when
he first came here from Pittsburgh, fact that when you
were obviously like you in high school.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Yeah, so Vrabel came in.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Was here in one o two. I can't remember if
it was. I think it was after the first Super Bowl.
I think he was here for the next two Super
Bowls yet, because yeah, he might have been here for
the first one because Rabel was a linebacker in Pittsburgh
or a defensive end hybrid type of thing, and he
was actually the guy that knocked the ball out of
drew Bloodshoe's hand when the Patriots lost to Pittsburgh in
(18:44):
the title game. So Vrabel was a stud coming out
of Ohio State. When he got to Pittsburgh, he kind
of got lost in the shuffle, right, and his stock
went down. So Bill was able to make a good
deal for him and bring him in. But he wasn't
he wasn't considered one of the top backers. Atsbergery was in,
like you know Greg Lloyd or all those guys down there, right,
So when they brought him over, I was doing sports tonight,
(19:08):
which I'm sure you were watching every night, and I said,
what the hell is Mike Rabel?
Speaker 3 (19:14):
What is this guy gonna do? Right?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So Larry Iso and all those guys like I used
to laugh, like Rodney Harrison watched us every night and
you go into locker room and he would just kill us,
absolutely destroy.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Us, which we loved.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And so Iso recorded the thing and he puts it
on Rabel's voicemail that this is this tangue guy saying,
who's Mike Rabel?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
What the hell's he done? Anyway?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So I first meet Rabel, I mean he is like
he is he is like steams coming out of his nose,
you know, he's sorting.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
I'm like, what the hell is this guy's problem? I go, what,
I don't even know the guy? What's going on here?
Speaker 2 (19:52):
And later on down the road, I found out that
that was the deal with rabel And when he first
came to New Way, he really and I interviewed him
later on as a player, he had to kind of
reinvent himself.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
He had to.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
That's something that and that's something that's so that story,
the you know, sort of underutilized, maybe misused, or just
hasn't had their opportunity to really shine player coming to
Belichick and the Patriots and having this thriving career is
a repeating thing that happened throughout the dynasty. We've seen
(20:31):
it happen over and over again. From Rabel on. I mean,
there are a lot of players who had that same story.
Undrafted dudes, Wes Welk or whatever else. These guys could
come and ended up having these incredible careers and was
a quarterback. Yeah, I mean, it happened so many. I
mean we could sit here and go back and forth
and name probably twenty players that had a very similar experience,
(20:53):
whether it was for a couple of years or ten
years with the Patriots, right, and whether they were part
of the Super Bowl run or not. And Rabel having
that you know, chip on his shoulder thing where it's
like I remembered that you didn't even know who I
was and said the stuff about me on the radio.
Whatever else is also so it's just so typical of
(21:14):
these types of players that ended up playing for Belichick,
and he like would feed into those He would feed
into those chips and make them even more worked up.
But I mean, yeah, that was how listen. Like I said,
first of all, you don't have to keep reminding everybody
that you think I'm older than I am. By the way,
we could just what the reality is. The reality is, Gary,
(21:34):
I was just a lot younger when I met you
than you remember, because I was an intern, a college intern, okay, but.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
But your presence loomed large.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
So good because you when you came in as an intern,
you didn't act it that that was the difference. I
was like, oh my god, boss, we just got a
new boss, new person running the place here.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
That's so fair. But what I was going to say
is that I do remember. I mean I was old
enough to remember the type of personality that Rabel was.
And so that story that you're telling, both of these
stories where he tried to maybe kill you and also
just already having a chip on his shoulder about anybody
saying anything about him in the in the media. Those
that that tracks for me, and he still gives off
(22:25):
that energy. It's just normal.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
But I'll tell you something though, Tiny what what I've
I've said this, and I mean, he's not gonna listen
to me, but I would tell him because I've seen
this happen all the time Rabel came into town. He's
going to be the dude that rescues the franchise and
I believe he will. I will they be a dynasty again.
(22:47):
As we all know, you have to find the quarterback.
You have to find who's going to be the next Brady.
You know, who's going to be the next franchise quarterback.
You need that. That's just and that's luck, that's just
pure luck. But veryble in a couple of years will
have him in the playoffs. They'll be a competitive team.
They'll be worth watching. There's no doubt in my mind.
(23:09):
You know about that. But you know at his press conference,
he God blessed Rochie. The first thing he says is
hey Roachie.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Then he goes on with Current and then he goes
with Beatlen Zoe and it's just this big love fest.
And I actually was talking to Shaughnessy about this. I said,
he has to remember if he doesn't win, that's going
to end quickly and people are going to second guess
him up and down. And as soon as you get
on the field and you become the coach that Lovin
(23:38):
is over and he has to run.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
You know, it's.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Interesting because you was at My first instance is to say,
there's no way he doesn't understand that because the boss
and media has been like this forever. If anything, they've
gotten softer than they were. Definitely absolutely brutal, right.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Absolutely, thank god for Shaughnessy. He's the last guy left.
He is the.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
He's the last holdout of from the early era of
just absence. I mean, some of those columns are just
crazy to go back and read. But on the flip side,
Rabel when he was in New England, was part of
it was during a LoveFest and it wasn't miss the Patriots.
The Red Sox had started winning like this, The city
was euphoric in a way that really people hadn't experienced
(24:25):
in so really ever, nobody alive had really experienced it.
So I it's funny because I think about it, I'm like, well,
he should know that, but now I'm wondering. I mean,
he's been gone a long time in terms of his
association with the Patriots as somebody where you know, people
would actually be talking about him critically. His last season
with them was in two thousand and eight, right, so
(24:46):
that it's been a lot. Even that season with al Brady,
they went eleven and five, and you know, people were disappointed,
but more than anything, it was like, how does the
team go eleven in five and miss the playoffs? So yeah,
he you know, I will be really interested to see
how he adjusts to it if there is critique, and
it's going to be yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Mean, I mean, yeah, it's going to be a sports
radio and the press conferences and the questions, Oh he's
gonna get pissed.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Oh he's gonna get passed, no doubt to get pissed.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
I'm fine with that. Fine, carry like I love I
love a feisty head coach. I love somebody who's mad
about it. I love every Joe Missoula, all of it.
I don't need. I don't need boring people who don't
know how to talk to the media. I'd rather have
somebody who's making people mad and engaging or being even
I I was one of the people who, like, always
(25:35):
loved how salty Bill Belichick was, how weird he was.
I know, the people who had to constantly interview him
hated it, and it ended up grinding on them after
twenty years. And I understand that. But there's something about
somebody who actually shows their personality at a press conference,
whether you like their personality or not, that I like.
And Brabil is one of those dudes.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And it's okay when you win. More with Tanya ray
Fox coming up next here in WBZ.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
It's Night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Fox Sports a fice one timey ray Fox joining us
here and as she reminded me, a former intern.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Which is just an attempt to make me feel old.
Do you know how many former interns I have?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Listen?
Speaker 4 (26:18):
It was only because you kept being like, you're much
younger than I thought you were, which is, you know,
an insane thing to say on radio about your guests.
So I was just reminding people that, you know, that's
that's why, that's it's just been so long because I
was just so young and fry, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And that's impressionable.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
And you guys, you came in wide I thinking we
knew what we were doing, and then you worked there
for a year and realized everybody working in sports television
is a fraud. Okay, so, oh my god, So it's
so amazing. I really tell you. I try to tell people,
you know, for twenty five years, I had the easiest
gig in the world, because is when you talk to
(27:00):
people that aren't that are sports fans, they think, Okay,
oh my god, you guys work so hard, you stay
up on it.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
You know, I'll leave. I go, dude, it's sports. I'm
not you know. I remember I got into a debate.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
It was coming Monday night football with the Broncos and
the Patriots, and I had a friend in Denver. I
went to their house after and everybody by the time
I got there, everybody's hammered, right, including this little dude
who wanted to just debate me on everything in sports everything.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
And I'm like, oh my god, this this guy is
so annoying.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Somehow we got onto the topic of who's better, Mario
Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I don't ask me how, and I went, I.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Go Lemieux and he goes, no way, and he like,
I thought the guy was going to attack me, and
I go, I got to get away from the student.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I'm like, what's his deal?
Speaker 2 (27:48):
And they go, oh, yeah, he's he's a heart surgeon.
I'm like what and he's hammered. Oh my god, I go,
I hope he's not. I hope he's not in surgery tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
But that's that's just the thing is like people look
at us that work in sports and they they definitely
think there's so much more to it than there is.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
It's well, and part of.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
It is also, yeah, like these are people that the
sports are their outlet, like they're funny thing, and so
they're like, oh my gosh, I get to talk to
somebody who does this for like no one ever wants
to go and talk to you about heart surgery. But
the reverse amazing, right, Like this person's got I can
bounce all of my ridiculous things off this person and
they're going to know what I'm talking about which is
really a thing. I mean, I will tell you this, Gary,
(28:30):
the respect for people who work in sports media, the
real like thinking everybody is super qualified, that's gone way
out the windows in social media. I have to be
on most people just assume I'm I mean it might
peop because I'm a woman too, but just assume they
would one hundred percent could do my job any minute
of any day. So like, it's really it's taken a
full one to eighty from the days.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Of digital question.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
But back I agree because my Emerson students, who I
think are younger than you know, the emersons. I had
a friend, I had a freshman class. I had a
freshman class in Emerson. I'm like, oh my god, these
poor SAPs. God they don't now. I'm like, uh, and
they all gamble, I mean now the DraftKings thing, They're all.
(29:14):
I go, I don't know how you guys are doing it?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Is this legal?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
They're asking? The first question they asked me was the
professor tag. I said, first of all, it's Gary, there's
no professor act here. And they said, they said, would
you take the over under of some receiver? And I said, stop, stop,
put the phone away. We're not doing We're not doing
(29:36):
DraftKings here in the class. Okay, we're just not one
of the kids said to me. He goes, I go,
he was really the guy was a professional camera. I go,
do you keep track? He says, well, I'm up like
nineteen grand since I started. I go, You've got to
be kidding me. Oh my god, it's crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
I mean, I'm not you know, I'm not big into
the like sports game. I mean I always though people,
I'm like, I cover sports like a.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Sports gambling Do you have to be a lot?
Speaker 4 (30:05):
I know, I know, I yes, you do. And so
I mean the basic stuff, the spreads and that kind
of stuff, like you know whatever, But the real deep sports,
I'm like, guys, I that is not my thing and
it's not my cup of tea in terms of getting
really into the weeds because I actually care about the
sports and the analysis, the real nitty gritty xs and
odes of this stuff, and then also the broader theme.
(30:26):
And people want to talk to me about gambling. I'm
like this. You know, one of my best friends is
a professional poker player, and so he is obsessed with
sports gambling and I won't even watch sports with him
because I'm like, I can't this too much. I want
to talk about the game, and you actually don't really
care what's happening in the game as long as you
know what I mean. And that's that's a totally different experience.
(30:46):
And so the fact that that's taken over definitely changes
how you have to interact with people, especially on social media. Obviously,
I have the talk shows, like the talk shows that
I work on Fox Sports One, Like it's a lot still,
you know, the class sports conversation and debate and x's
and o' stuff, and that's more up my alley. But yes,
(31:06):
I know I have to I have to talk more gambling.
And that's fine. Everybody likes to bet on a good
over under and I'm down, let's do it. That's fine,
let's go.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
All right, Well, I'm not going to ask you. I'll
tell you that right now.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
What is the story for you in the NFL right now?
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Right now? I mean, without question, it's uh, Josh Allen
versus Lamar Jackson, who is the MVP. That's the biggest
story in the NFL right now. That's all anyone cares about,
is what's going to happen in that game, and what
it's going to say about their legacies in terms of
not only just the MVP this year, but the playoffs,
and you know how it's going to affect the way
(31:47):
that people talk about them moving forward, which is a fascinating.
It's a fascinating concept to tread it all over because
they have they just got the worst possible situation put
upon them, which is that there's two teams in the
AFC that anyone cares about outside of the Chiefs, who
are quite boring right now, very patriots of them to
be very boring, and and now they're pitted against each
(32:09):
other in the divisional round. So to me, that's like,
that's outside of anything happening in the NFC with the
Lions or whatever else, all anybody cares about is Josh
Allen versus Patrick, Josh Allen versus Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Josh Allen has really impressed me, really impressed with.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
You would say that, Gary, you would be a Josh
Allen guy.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Wow, How can you not be? Though? Why?
Speaker 4 (32:30):
I mean, I do I do like Josh Allen. I'm not,
I just I'm I'm very much like I've been in
the weeds on the analytics and everything else with Lamar Jackson,
and I'm I'm team Lamar Jackson for MVP, but I do.
That's what I'm saying is that, like Josh Allen has
objectively had the best season of his career.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
So it's it's I think they're screwing out.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Well, I mean I like, and I honestly like. I
don't follow it like I used to be. You know,
I am now just a typical sports fan where I'm
not sitting there looking again, I'm not sitting there looking
over everything that my producers have handed me. God forbid, no,
(33:10):
God forbid. But Alan to me seems to he's carried
the Bills right more than Jackson has carried Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Am I wrong in that? I don't know?
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Uh yeah, I mean you are wrong in that. But
also that has been the prevailing narrative is that, well,
Lamar Jackson has Derrick Henry and their defense is a
little better. I would say the Bill's offensive line is
a little better. There's all kinds of there is a
reason that you think that, But when you are starting
(33:42):
to look at all twenty two, when you're starting to
look at what Lamar Jackson is doing. I have compared
him many times at this point across the season to
what Tom Brady used to do for his offensive lineman,
his running backs, and his wide receivers, which was you
would suddenly be like, who, so, who's this guy who
just had four touchdowns? This running back I've never heard of?
And people are like, Okay, well that's some random guy.
(34:03):
This is Dereck Henry. But you look at Derek Henry
and suddenly Derrick Henry at his old age is averaging
a yard per carry more than he ever has in
his career. That's Lamar Jackson. That's the fact that like
at the mesh point, people are still looking for Lamar
Jackson instead of Derek Henry, and he's opening everything up.
The fact that they Flowers, who is a two wide
(34:24):
receiver at best, he's a number two, is a pro bowler.
These are things that we used to see Brady do
all the time, and by two thousand and seven, two eight, well,
two thousand and nine and ten, when their offense started
really popping off, we would talk about these kinds of things.
The fact that Tom Brady's ability to move in the
pocket would make it easier on their offensive line. That's
(34:46):
the kind of passer that Lamar Jackson has become, and
he has the ability to be the best runner in
the league. And that's why to me, Lamar Jackson sort
of elevates himself in a way that Josh Allen on
his in h You're not wrong that that team relies
entirely on Both teams rely on their quarterback to be incredible.
(35:09):
It's just how are they doing it? And to me,
Josh Allen is a lot more like prime Cam Newton
and Lamar Jackson is a lot more like prime Tom Brady.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Interesting take, and that's that's why she's t Fox.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Ladies and gentlemen, We're going to talk to NFC coming
up next here in WBZ.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Now back to Dan ray Line from The Window World
Light Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Okay, Tanya ray Fox is with us from Fox Sports
and FS one FS one, excuse me in Los Angeles,
it's getting late, you know, you know me, Tanya, you
get around eleven o'clock, it's getting a little shaky.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
I actually can't believe you're still awake.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I know, I got I used to at the old
Fox Sports that which became Comcast Sports.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
That on an NBC Sports Boss.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
And I needed naps and Ai boy, when we had
those Celtic games on the West Coast, who those were tough.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I'll tell you that right now. I remember the great thing.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
There's so many great stories with Tommy Heinsen. But tom
you must remember when Tommy would sleep if we had
a West Coast game, Yeah, and he came in. Tommy
was getting off the road. He didn't want to go
on the road. So we had a West Coast game
and he would come in and do the pregame, in
the post game show, and he would take a nap.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
He'd be in a lobby.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
There's six to eight dude, like this Hall of Famers,
like taking a nap in a lobby, Like wake him up.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
You know, Tommy off the couch was like.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
On the couch that was like barely big enough to
hold you know, a five to six person. Oh iconic. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I missed that man so much. And he was great,
Oh my god, he was. He was absolutely best. He
was the best NFL NFC. So the Lions, is it
theirs to lose?
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:50):
I think that people can overthink it and look at
the fact that the Rams are really hot, and you know,
you're looking around and you're like, Okay, well, how can we
talk ourselves out of the Lions because they've had some
injury issues and whatever else. But yeah, when you are
as dominant as they have been across the course of
the season, and it's not just I mean, it's funny
(37:13):
because the Vikings sort of provide a perfect mirror of
what the Lions aren't, which is they were a team
that was a bad quarterback performance away from falling apart,
and that's exactly what happened. And the Lions have actually
proven that they can overcome a tough game for Jared
Goff and still win. And they have this developed locker
(37:37):
room sort of franchise culture that they all have bought
into entirely in a way that I think the Vikings
are still working on because they don't have the quarterback
fully figured out and their coach isn't quite as far
along in his identity in terms of in game coaching.
I think we saw that in the playoffs. Kevin O'Connell,
(37:59):
to me, had a really bad game in the wildcard
ground and to that, because those two teams were fighting
it out all the way until Week eighteen. For the
you know NFC North title. It's like here, here are
the two options for what a team can be. They
can be the Lions or they can end up the Vikings.
And yeah that at this point everything is pointing to
(38:23):
the fact that they are the team to be. It
doesn't mean that they can't be beaten. We've seen way
crazier things happened before. But one hundred percent, if if
you're looking to some other team to overtake them or
be the savior of the NFC or save you for
whatever reason, you're a Dan Campbell hater. I you know,
again not a gambling woman, but I wouldn't bet on that.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Personally, I think Campbell's an unbelievable story. I just remember
when he was a joke in Miami and yeah, well.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
I mean he is a ridiculous personality, right like there
are there are certain people that are they are really
ridiculous until they work out and until they find the
space where they're supposed to be and the people to
buy into their narrative. And I think people a lot
of time look around at NFL head coaches and think
that there are you know, there's a prototype or something
like that, and it's really about fit and and you know,
(39:16):
even somebody like Pete Carroll was and not was not
revered as an NFL coach until he found the right
fit and the right you know, team to build around
and then everything worked out. Belichick, I mean I think yeah,
I mean again, like so he's somebody who like was
actually pretty. He was okay in Cleveland that everybody remembers
his time in Cleveland as being really bad. He was
(39:37):
okay in Cleveland, but he was part of that whole.
He was part of the the He was basically the
last head He was the last head coach before they
moved away, and it was just there was everybody had
a bad taste in their mouth about it. And then
he was just considered as Bill Parcell's right hand guy.
And that so there and that that can be said
for a lot of coaches. It's just finding the place
where you're supposed to land, and and that me there.
(40:02):
There probably isn't another single team in the NFL where
Dan Campbell works, but because he works there, and because
of his relationship with Jared Goff specifically, I don't know
how much you know about their relationship, but Jared Goff
did not handle being traded away from the Rams very
well at all. It really shook him mentally and there
(40:22):
was a time there work he was going to fall apart,
and Dan Campbell understood that we're either going to make
Jared Goff work or this team's not going to work.
Like we cannot start over at this position.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Tanya, you're in a role, but we have to fly
Tanya a fox. Check her out on all the socials.
You're the best. We'll talk soon. Coming up next, going
to open up the phones. How is this country doing?
Speaker 4 (40:46):
You?
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Tell me that's next WBZ
It's nice time with Dan Ray. I'm going you beasy
Boston News Radio, all.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Right now, thanks a lot appreciated. Dad is often doing
a little football action special. Thanks to our entertainment guru
Cooper Lawrence for joining us. Also early in the program,
Joe Lopino Esposito attorney talking about the TikTok man and
our next guest, my good friend from the coast, Tanya Ray,
(00:27):
Fox Ladies and gentleman of Fox Sports. I do want
to get her thoughts on TikTok because she is that's
a big deal for her.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It's weird gonna be But if for.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
The next forty eight hours follow Tanya Fox on TikTok,
That's what I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Do it now? Fox? How you holding up?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
You know, I'm hanging in there. I'm doing just about
as well as like a one hundred million other Americans
at this point.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
But you know, so, what's you have to say? I
love you, man.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You still have the same attitude you always have. What's
it like out there? I mean you guys, you Santa Monica.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
I used to being I'm over like a little bit
further south, actually closer to lax which works out really
well for me, but we're in the safe zone from
any of the fires and things like that. Just really
bad air quality. But otherwise, you know, it's taking a
few years off of my life. But you know, I live,
I mean live near the Pacific Ocean, so I guess
it's worth it.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, that's so if you had stayed back here in Boston,
you would have lost those years anyways, you know exactly,
So you just have to look at it like that.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Sorry, let's get to talk at some sports here, because
you need to follow Tanya on social media. She's on
all her social media handles, handles, excuse me, at Tanya
ray Fox. You can follow her on x you can
go TikTok for the next forty eight hours anyways, and
Instagram or whatever is coming next. I love your stuff
on social media. I love your quick one minute hits,
(01:48):
your opinions.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I think they're great.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I think people they're insightful, they're fun, so people should
definitely follow them. Let's start with Rabel. Now, when Vrabel
was a player here, you were working with us, had
a Comcast.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Correct, that was before my time. I was still I
was still very very young and in high school and college.
When Brabel was there, But you suck?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Are you kidding me? I did that?
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh god, so you don't remember when do you've ever
when Brabel?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Oh no, I did not know the story.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Oh no, we we well.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Greg and I used to get down to Foxborough and
we would do the friendly scoop and the first one
was Richard Seymour and then after Seymour left, uh.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
It was Vrabel. Brabel did it.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So we would pay these guys so much a week
to come on and pretend to be our friend to
talk to us. And we did this bit where we
lined up in a line of scrimmage and Rabel just
sent me back twenty yards, I mean, and he didn't
even break He barely used any of his strength.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And I swear to god, I thought I broke a ribcage.
I mean I was. It's on video somewhere of he
just blocked.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Actually might be your It might be your most impressive,
impressive athletic feat that you didn't break any bones in
that scenario. I were you, I would use that.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I was going to say it was my greatest journalist
journalistic feet that too. But there was no doubt that
Rabel was going to become a coach.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
We know that. What did you think of the whole deal?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I think that Rabel is a good hire. I think
he's a good head coach, a good hire. He makes
sense for the organization. A lot of what I've talked
about about the situation is just that I find the
whole approach of the organization from ownership to be very confusing.
I don't quite know what the Crafts are trying to
send as far as the message for what they're trying
(03:49):
to no pun intended craft the organization into going forward,
because there's been this very anti Belichick sentiment coming out
of the organization for the last year plus and this
idea that they are going to move in a very
different direction. They wanted to leave behind the Belichick way
and move into something that was a little bit more progressive,
(04:10):
a little bit more forward thinking, and they didn't want
somebody at the helm who had a ton of power
over personnel and had just I mean, Belichick was the
most powerful head coach in the NFL for obvious reasons.
So okay, they hire Girodmeo. That makes sense, you know,
in the ways that the Craft sort of described it,
(04:32):
which was like it's going to be this sort of
soft launch out of the Belichick era. Fine, we all
know what happened there. We don't have to kind of
get into the politics of that. But to me, Rabel
is actually a step back toward Belichick in a lot
of ways, and the fact that they've given him so
much say over personnel, I personally think is probably for
(04:52):
the best, to be quite honest, I think it's unless
you have a really really elite GM like you know,
Bret each or Howie Roseman or someone like that, having
the coach involved in the personnel decisions, especially if they
have the kind of ties to the organization, understand ownership
and everything else the way that Rabel does. I don't
(05:14):
hate it. I just I'm very frustrated with what the
Crafts have asked of Patriots fans in terms of this
departure from Belichick. You don't you know, there are very
few coaches that have reached that level, and I think
that everybody's feeling a little bit disillusioned at this point
because we should be excited to have this new head
coach who's familiar and part of the dynasty and Patriots
(05:38):
Hall of Famer. But I sense from a lot of
Patriots fans who at least engage with my content, which
again could be an echo chamber that there's just like, Okay,
this is great, but this seems like you're actually just
looking for Belichick two point out. Quite honestly, do.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You have a do you think.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
In retrospect, post Belichick or I'm going to say post
Brady Quite frankly, what should the crafts have done?
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Well, I'm on record as saying they should have let
Belichick coach until he died or could no longer function.
I think there's about there's a handful of coaches in
the history of sports that just kind of earn that.
And while I do think, yes, of course everybody has
has fireable offenses, there were so many things that were
(06:30):
starting from the quarterback position down that were hamstringing their
ability to actually win games. I mean he did with
McDaniel's take Mac Jones to the playoffs, which in retrospect
was a real incredible feat, right and there, Yes, I
think that there was a lot of things Belichick was
stuck in. He's showing in US at UNC right now
(06:52):
that he just will not work with anybody that he
hasn't had a relationship with. For thirty years plus or
he's not related to It's a lot, and that's a
lot to deal with. However, unless you have the perfect
succession plan, moving on from somebody like this is is
just such a difficult task. And I don't think that there.
(07:14):
You can you can see in the way that people
still interact with Belichick in the national media and throughout
even on social media, just he still carries so much weight.
His opinion and his what he's up to carries so
much weight, and just for business reasons alone, Belichick was
an important person to the Patriots organization, Like you can't
(07:36):
trying to move on from that as if there's you know,
there's a replacement for that kind of social cachet. I
think I think Crafts misunderstood how much he himself could
carry the Patriots franchise and the Patriots name and the
Patriots brand on his own post Brady Belichick and abandoning
(07:57):
that both. I mean, Brady was eventually retire regardless of
whether he left or not. But saying we can just
move on from this entirely when you know Belichick's going
to keep coaching, you know he's still going to be
in the public eye to may It was just a
bad business decision more than anything else.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But what about the picking the players, because we all
know Belichick and coach. I mean, Belichick could be ninety
in coach, but the roster seemed to be going downhill.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Yeah, I think that the roster issues were a little
bit overblown. Yes, there were issues. There's always been issues
at wide receiver and his inability to fully adjust to
life post Brady with his biggest downfall, Right, was this
idea that you could get away with being stingy at
wide receiver and or being a poor drafter quite honestly
(08:46):
at wide receiver when you had Brady making up for
all of those mistakes. Absolutely right, he didn't seem to
fully Yeah, he didn't seem to fully grasp that. Like
that was not going to be an approach that you
could have with Mac Jones or anybody else really, I
mean unless you had Chick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson or
one of these dudes who are like absolutely truly elite.
So that, but I also do feel like when you
(09:08):
make so you're now made the playoffs with Mac Jones
as a rookie louse McDaniels. Again, this is like a
pattern through Patriots.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, that really hurt him, you know, Telly, that's a
good point that hasn't discussed enough that the loss of
McDaniel sent thim south because then he put it defensive
guys in and that was stupid.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Yeah, it was stupid, and he there were definitely his issue.
I just I think that the conversation about the drafting
thing is just so deeply overblown because when you lose Brady,
that the whole idea was that Brady leaving made exposed
Belichick right as is bad GM. But when they were
winning super Bowls and building those rosters while having Brady,
(09:50):
the whole discussion was, this is how you build a
roster when you had one of the great quarterbacks of
all time. Right, So it's like, okay, well he didn't
have one of the great quarterbacks of all time. He
had to, you know, go through the COVID season with
Cam Newton's pretty good season all things considered when you
look back at it, and then Mac Jones as a rookie,
they make the playoffs and then yeah that things were rough.
(10:11):
Morale was low. Turns out Mac Jones not a great
offensive leader, not let alone the performance on the field
there was a lot going on. So I look back
at those draft class I'm like, there's some players in
there that really matter that I think would have had
everything been going right in the other areas, people wouldn't
be so nitpicky about There's just to me when you
(10:35):
start talking about the personnel and he had too much power,
It's just like, you can't have it both ways. You
either think that he has a knack for building defense
and special teams and a weakness on offense, and you
deal with it, or you don't and crap decided he
didn't want to do with it. But I think replacing
that level of experience is a lot more difficult than
(10:55):
people realize.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Well, there's no doubt about that. And if he had
not put his two.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Defensive guys there and his special teams coach, you know,
got I'm so old, I forget their names, but everybody
knows what I'm talking about. How about that? How arrogant
am I? You know what I'm talking about people, but
I can't remember their names.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
But I don't remember anyone's names. And I'm not old.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Well obviously not after I thought you were older than
you were. But if you just put in a regular
offensive coordinator. You know, you could have used Mac Jones
as a bridge to get you to the next guy.
But when he messed up the offense, So what's that?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
I don't think. So I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I think.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Mac Jones is a failure. No matter what, you don't
think Jels.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
You don't think you could have used them for a
couple of years just to maybe make the playoffs and
then look for the next quarterback.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
No, absolutely not, No, I think with I think, I
mean yes, I do think that had you gotten a
McDaniel's level caliber two offensive coordinator, you probably could have
made Josh McDaniels look a little bit I mean sorry,
I made Mac Jones.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Looked a little bit more serviceable for a little bit longer.
But he was always going to regress because he was
essentially just a McDaniel's system quarterback as a It just
was this always happens with these guys who have these
decent but unimpressive rookie seasons, but they make the playoffs whatever,
we start thinking wow, like, you know, this is something
(12:16):
that they could build on. But those guys also start
thinking that and if you don't have the right mentality,
which Mac Jones just didn't. He did not have the
mentality of a franchise quarterback that could be the team.
They end up becoming exactly what he did, which was
over confident, not working on his passing game, not working
on his mechanics, not working well with his coaches. Like
those things were always going to happen past rookie season.
(12:37):
They probably would have happened with McDaniel's too, It's just
he ended up kind of that. McDaniels is one of
those dudes who, with the right guy, can have those
types of seasons. And he's not going to work for
every type of quarterback but that pure you know, pocket passer.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, he can make it work. What do you
think about Belichick at seventy two years old and what
was it his twenty four year old girlfriend came out
and said he's staying at Carolina.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Yeah, no, Grandpa's creepy as heck. Grandpa's Grandpa's gotta get
off the fact that he's on social media now. And
I'm like, dude, can you not do you know how
many people give me crab about this, Like I cried
when this guy retired and now he's being weird, So
I just calm, creepy Grandpa, because there's nothing, there's no
other way for me to cope, Like this guy's this
guy has been in my life, you know since I
(13:26):
was like thirteen years twelve, thirteen years old, and I
just have to live with the creepiness. But you know
he's not the only one.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
So well, No, there's a lot of seventy two year
old guys that if there was a young twenty four
year old woman would want to marry them or live
with him, that would certainly say yes. It's the other
way around, is like you have to want yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
God, oh I do, I do wonder And you know what,
that's not for me, that's for her to deal with.
That's her own trauma to deal with. And I'm glad
it's I'm glad that I was never in that specific position.
But either way, you know, wish them the best. Don't
want to see it. Please leave it away from my eyeballs.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Tay Ray Fox is with us from Fox Sports in
Los Angeles. We're going to continue the conversation on Rabel
in the NFL. Coming up next to WBZ.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Now Baptist Dan Ray live from the Window World Nice
Side Studios. On WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Social media star was kid check her out on all
the platforms x TikTok at least for the next forty
eight hours in Instagram and whatever is coming down the
road from FS one and Fox Sports. It's our own
Tanya Ray Fox. All right, let's get to Rabel in
the situation.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I had Bert Breyer on last night, and you know,
Burt's prey plugged in as you know. So this is
what we figured out so far that Rabel will have
final say, but he's not going to get caught up
in the day to day front office stuff that Bill did.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
He will have people.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
In the front office do that for him, possibly Elliott
Wolf with another Vrabel guy that have they've worked together
in the past. So Able still will have final say,
but unlike Bill, he's not going to be playing GM
every minute of every day.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I don't know what you think about that.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Yeah, I mean I think that that tracks right. Bill
was really Bill Belichick was really the only guide doing
what Bill Belichick was doing for a reason, and quite honestly,
it takes a lot of It takes a lot of
energy and effort to even do the regular head coach job.
Let alone be in charge of personnel and hiring that
and sort of managing that to begin with. So it
makes it makes perfect sense to me that they would
(15:30):
have people installed to do the day to day management
of that. And you know, I still think it's fine
that that rabel is sort of crafting the personnel and
then letting it be managed elsewhere. He's i mean, he's there,
he's in the building, he's taking care of things, like
it makes the most sense. But you know, there's there
(15:51):
was there's maybe two coaches in the last you know,
twenty five years that would be qualified to do anything
more than that, quite honestly.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, And one of the things that Bert said would
be Friday during a season, nine am and Bill would
be in a meeting about the draft during the season.
It's like, why you don't have to be Yeah, I mean,
you know, you know, there's no need for that. And
I think verybel understands that where you have the right
(16:18):
people in the front office that can do that day
to day stuff, and then when the season's over, it's
time to get ready for the draft to come in
and they tell you.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
What's up, Yeah, Belichick coming. I mean, he's always his
need to be involved in absolutely everything. It was good
until it wasn't right, and it was productive until it wasn't.
And when you didn't have to micromanage your quarterback, when
your quarterback was actually sitting with you in meetings, when
you trusted their instincts, when you had those conversations and
(16:45):
you weren't developing a young rookie or dealing with Cam
Newton coming in from the Panthers during COVID seasons and
all of this other stuff. You that's when Belichick should
have been able to recognize that that's spreading yourself too
thin and that you're not focusing on the task at hand,
which is something that he preached to absolutely everybody else.
And I think the player the coaches who are former
(17:07):
players have a different perspective on what needs to be
invested in the players in order for them to succeed. Now,
there's varying degrees of success in doing that, but Vrabel,
he was there seeing what worked early on when Belichick,
before Belichick had the greatest coach, the greatest quarterback of
all time, when he just had a really incredible quarterback,
(17:29):
a really great quarterback. And so that early dynasty is
actually the best belichick blueprint, and that's where he played,
That's when he played for him. So whatever he took
out of that is absolutely going to be applied to
how he functions as somebody who's in charge of personnel
but is really focusing on being a head coach and
(17:50):
understanding where these players are coming from. That is the
pro to having a former player as a coach. When
it works. When it doesn't work, it looks a lot
more like Gerrod Mayo, who is trying a little too
hard to relate to the players. And I do think
that Rabel has the has a better balance, has struck
a better balance at that.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Did I ever tell you that Mike Vrabel's story when
he first came here from Pittsburgh, fact that when you
were obviously like you in high school.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Yeah, so Vrabel came in.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Was here in one o two. I can't remember if
it was. I think it was after the first Super Bowl.
I think he was here for the next two Super
Bowls yet, because yeah, he might have been here for
the first one because Rabel was a linebacker in Pittsburgh
or a defensive end hybrid type of thing, and he
was actually the guy that knocked the ball out of
drew Bloodshoe's hand when the Patriots lost to Pittsburgh in
(18:44):
the title game. So Vrabel was a stud coming out
of Ohio State. When he got to Pittsburgh, he kind
of got lost in the shuffle, right, and his stock
went down. So Bill was able to make a good
deal for him and bring him in. But he wasn't
he wasn't considered one of the top backers. Atsbergery was in,
like you know Greg Lloyd or all those guys down there, right,
So when they brought him over, I was doing sports tonight,
(19:08):
which I'm sure you were watching every night, and I said,
what the hell is Mike Rabel?
Speaker 3 (19:14):
What is this guy gonna do? Right?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So Larry Iso and all those guys like I used
to laugh, like Rodney Harrison watched us every night and
you go into locker room and he would just kill us,
absolutely destroy.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Us, which we loved.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And so Iso recorded the thing and he puts it
on Rabel's voicemail that this is this tangue guy saying,
who's Mike Rabel?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
What the hell's he done? Anyway?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So I first meet Rabel, I mean he is like
he is he is like steams coming out of his nose,
you know, he's sorting.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
I'm like, what the hell is this guy's problem? I go, what,
I don't even know the guy? What's going on here?
Speaker 2 (19:52):
And later on down the road, I found out that
that was the deal with rabel And when he first
came to New Way, he really and I interviewed him
later on as a player, he had to kind of
reinvent himself.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
He had to.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
That's something that and that's something that's so that story,
the you know, sort of underutilized, maybe misused, or just
hasn't had their opportunity to really shine player coming to
Belichick and the Patriots and having this thriving career is
a repeating thing that happened throughout the dynasty. We've seen
(20:31):
it happen over and over again. From Rabel on. I mean,
there are a lot of players who had that same story.
Undrafted dudes, Wes Welk or whatever else. These guys could
come and ended up having these incredible careers and was
a quarterback. Yeah, I mean, it happened so many. I
mean we could sit here and go back and forth
and name probably twenty players that had a very similar experience,
(20:53):
whether it was for a couple of years or ten
years with the Patriots, right, and whether they were part
of the Super Bowl run or not. And Rabel having
that you know, chip on his shoulder thing where it's
like I remembered that you didn't even know who I
was and said the stuff about me on the radio.
Whatever else is also so it's just so typical of
(21:14):
these types of players that ended up playing for Belichick,
and he like would feed into those He would feed
into those chips and make them even more worked up.
But I mean, yeah, that was how listen. Like I said,
first of all, you don't have to keep reminding everybody
that you think I'm older than I am. By the way,
we could just what the reality is. The reality is, Gary,
(21:34):
I was just a lot younger when I met you
than you remember, because I was an intern, a college intern, okay, but.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
But your presence loomed large.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
So good because you when you came in as an intern,
you didn't act it that that was the difference. I
was like, oh my god, boss, we just got a
new boss, new person running the place here.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
That's so fair. But what I was going to say
is that I do remember. I mean I was old
enough to remember the type of personality that Rabel was.
And so that story that you're telling, both of these
stories where he tried to maybe kill you and also
just already having a chip on his shoulder about anybody
saying anything about him in the in the media. Those
that that tracks for me, and he still gives off
(22:25):
that energy. It's just normal.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
But I'll tell you something though, Tiny what what I've
I've said this, and I mean, he's not gonna listen
to me, but I would tell him because I've seen
this happen all the time Rabel came into town. He's
going to be the dude that rescues the franchise and
I believe he will. I will they be a dynasty again.
(22:47):
As we all know, you have to find the quarterback.
You have to find who's going to be the next Brady.
You know, who's going to be the next franchise quarterback.
You need that. That's just and that's luck, that's just
pure luck. But veryble in a couple of years will
have him in the playoffs. They'll be a competitive team.
They'll be worth watching. There's no doubt in my mind.
(23:09):
You know about that. But you know at his press conference,
he God blessed Rochie. The first thing he says is
hey Roachie.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Then he goes on with Current and then he goes
with Beatlen Zoe and it's just this big love fest.
And I actually was talking to Shaughnessy about this. I said,
he has to remember if he doesn't win, that's going
to end quickly and people are going to second guess
him up and down. And as soon as you get
on the field and you become the coach that Lovin
(23:38):
is over and he has to run.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
You know, it's.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Interesting because you was at My first instance is to say,
there's no way he doesn't understand that because the boss
and media has been like this forever. If anything, they've
gotten softer than they were. Definitely absolutely brutal, right.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Absolutely, thank god for Shaughnessy. He's the last guy left.
He is the.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
He's the last holdout of from the early era of
just absence. I mean, some of those columns are just
crazy to go back and read. But on the flip side,
Rabel when he was in New England, was part of
it was during a LoveFest and it wasn't miss the Patriots.
The Red Sox had started winning like this, The city
was euphoric in a way that really people hadn't experienced
(24:25):
in so really ever, nobody alive had really experienced it.
So I it's funny because I think about it, I'm like, well,
he should know that, but now I'm wondering. I mean,
he's been gone a long time in terms of his
association with the Patriots as somebody where you know, people
would actually be talking about him critically. His last season
with them was in two thousand and eight, right, so
(24:46):
that it's been a lot. Even that season with al Brady,
they went eleven and five, and you know, people were disappointed,
but more than anything, it was like, how does the
team go eleven in five and miss the playoffs? So yeah,
he you know, I will be really interested to see
how he adjusts to it if there is critique, and
it's going to be yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Mean, I mean, yeah, it's going to be a sports
radio and the press conferences and the questions, Oh he's
gonna get pissed.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Oh he's gonna get passed, no doubt to get pissed.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
I'm fine with that. Fine, carry like I love I
love a feisty head coach. I love somebody who's mad
about it. I love every Joe Missoula, all of it.
I don't need. I don't need boring people who don't
know how to talk to the media. I'd rather have
somebody who's making people mad and engaging or being even
I I was one of the people who, like, always
(25:35):
loved how salty Bill Belichick was, how weird he was.
I know, the people who had to constantly interview him
hated it, and it ended up grinding on them after
twenty years. And I understand that. But there's something about
somebody who actually shows their personality at a press conference,
whether you like their personality or not, that I like.
And Brabil is one of those dudes.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And it's okay when you win. More with Tanya ray
Fox coming up next here in WBZ.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
It's Night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Fox Sports a fice one timey ray Fox joining us
here and as she reminded me, a former intern.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Which is just an attempt to make me feel old.
Do you know how many former interns I have?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Listen?
Speaker 4 (26:18):
It was only because you kept being like, you're much
younger than I thought you were, which is, you know,
an insane thing to say on radio about your guests.
So I was just reminding people that, you know, that's
that's why, that's it's just been so long because I
was just so young and fry, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And that's impressionable.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
And you guys, you came in wide I thinking we
knew what we were doing, and then you worked there
for a year and realized everybody working in sports television
is a fraud. Okay, so, oh my god, So it's
so amazing. I really tell you. I try to tell people,
you know, for twenty five years, I had the easiest
gig in the world, because is when you talk to
(27:00):
people that aren't that are sports fans, they think, Okay,
oh my god, you guys work so hard, you stay
up on it.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
You know, I'll leave. I go, dude, it's sports. I'm
not you know. I remember I got into a debate.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
It was coming Monday night football with the Broncos and
the Patriots, and I had a friend in Denver. I
went to their house after and everybody by the time
I got there, everybody's hammered, right, including this little dude
who wanted to just debate me on everything in sports everything.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
And I'm like, oh my god, this this guy is
so annoying.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Somehow we got onto the topic of who's better, Mario
Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I don't ask me how, and I went, I.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Go Lemieux and he goes, no way, and he like,
I thought the guy was going to attack me, and
I go, I got to get away from the student.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I'm like, what's his deal?
Speaker 2 (27:48):
And they go, oh, yeah, he's he's a heart surgeon.
I'm like what and he's hammered. Oh my god, I go,
I hope he's not. I hope he's not in surgery tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
But that's that's just the thing is like people look
at us that work in sports and they they definitely
think there's so much more to it than there is.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
It's well, and part of.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
It is also, yeah, like these are people that the
sports are their outlet, like they're funny thing, and so
they're like, oh my gosh, I get to talk to
somebody who does this for like no one ever wants
to go and talk to you about heart surgery. But
the reverse amazing, right, Like this person's got I can
bounce all of my ridiculous things off this person and
they're going to know what I'm talking about which is
really a thing. I mean, I will tell you this, Gary,
(28:30):
the respect for people who work in sports media, the
real like thinking everybody is super qualified, that's gone way
out the windows in social media. I have to be
on most people just assume I'm I mean it might
peop because I'm a woman too, but just assume they
would one hundred percent could do my job any minute
of any day. So like, it's really it's taken a
full one to eighty from the days.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Of digital question.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
But back I agree because my Emerson students, who I
think are younger than you know, the emersons. I had
a friend, I had a freshman class. I had a
freshman class in Emerson. I'm like, oh my god, these
poor SAPs. God they don't now. I'm like, uh, and
they all gamble, I mean now the DraftKings thing, They're all.
(29:14):
I go, I don't know how you guys are doing it?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Is this legal?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
They're asking? The first question they asked me was the
professor tag. I said, first of all, it's Gary, there's
no professor act here. And they said, they said, would
you take the over under of some receiver? And I said, stop, stop,
put the phone away. We're not doing We're not doing
(29:36):
DraftKings here in the class. Okay, we're just not one
of the kids said to me. He goes, I go,
he was really the guy was a professional camera. I go,
do you keep track? He says, well, I'm up like
nineteen grand since I started. I go, You've got to
be kidding me. Oh my god, it's crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
I mean, I'm not you know, I'm not big into
the like sports game. I mean I always though people,
I'm like, I cover sports like a.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Sports gambling Do you have to be a lot?
Speaker 4 (30:05):
I know, I know, I yes, you do. And so
I mean the basic stuff, the spreads and that kind
of stuff, like you know whatever, But the real deep sports,
I'm like, guys, I that is not my thing and
it's not my cup of tea in terms of getting
really into the weeds because I actually care about the
sports and the analysis, the real nitty gritty xs and
odes of this stuff, and then also the broader theme.
(30:26):
And people want to talk to me about gambling. I'm
like this. You know, one of my best friends is
a professional poker player, and so he is obsessed with
sports gambling and I won't even watch sports with him
because I'm like, I can't this too much. I want
to talk about the game, and you actually don't really
care what's happening in the game as long as you
know what I mean. And that's that's a totally different experience.
(30:46):
And so the fact that that's taken over definitely changes
how you have to interact with people, especially on social media. Obviously,
I have the talk shows, like the talk shows that
I work on Fox Sports One, Like it's a lot still,
you know, the class sports conversation and debate and x's
and o' stuff, and that's more up my alley. But yes,
(31:06):
I know I have to I have to talk more gambling.
And that's fine. Everybody likes to bet on a good
over under and I'm down, let's do it. That's fine,
let's go.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
All right, Well, I'm not going to ask you. I'll
tell you that right now.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
What is the story for you in the NFL right now?
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Right now? I mean, without question, it's uh, Josh Allen
versus Lamar Jackson, who is the MVP. That's the biggest
story in the NFL right now. That's all anyone cares about,
is what's going to happen in that game, and what
it's going to say about their legacies in terms of
not only just the MVP this year, but the playoffs,
and you know how it's going to affect the way
(31:47):
that people talk about them moving forward, which is a fascinating.
It's a fascinating concept to tread it all over because
they have they just got the worst possible situation put
upon them, which is that there's two teams in the
AFC that anyone cares about outside of the Chiefs, who
are quite boring right now, very patriots of them to
be very boring, and and now they're pitted against each
(32:09):
other in the divisional round. So to me, that's like,
that's outside of anything happening in the NFC with the
Lions or whatever else, all anybody cares about is Josh
Allen versus Patrick, Josh Allen versus Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Josh Allen has really impressed me, really impressed with.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
You would say that, Gary, you would be a Josh
Allen guy.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Wow, How can you not be? Though? Why?
Speaker 4 (32:30):
I mean, I do I do like Josh Allen. I'm not,
I just I'm I'm very much like I've been in
the weeds on the analytics and everything else with Lamar Jackson,
and I'm I'm team Lamar Jackson for MVP, but I do.
That's what I'm saying is that, like Josh Allen has
objectively had the best season of his career.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
So it's it's I think they're screwing out.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Well, I mean I like, and I honestly like. I
don't follow it like I used to be. You know,
I am now just a typical sports fan where I'm
not sitting there looking again, I'm not sitting there looking
over everything that my producers have handed me. God forbid, no,
(33:10):
God forbid. But Alan to me seems to he's carried
the Bills right more than Jackson has carried Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Am I wrong in that? I don't know?
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Uh yeah, I mean you are wrong in that. But
also that has been the prevailing narrative is that, well,
Lamar Jackson has Derrick Henry and their defense is a
little better. I would say the Bill's offensive line is
a little better. There's all kinds of there is a
reason that you think that, But when you are starting
(33:42):
to look at all twenty two, when you're starting to
look at what Lamar Jackson is doing. I have compared
him many times at this point across the season to
what Tom Brady used to do for his offensive lineman,
his running backs, and his wide receivers, which was you
would suddenly be like, who, so, who's this guy who
just had four touchdowns? This running back I've never heard of?
And people are like, Okay, well that's some random guy.
(34:03):
This is Dereck Henry. But you look at Derek Henry
and suddenly Derrick Henry at his old age is averaging
a yard per carry more than he ever has in
his career. That's Lamar Jackson. That's the fact that like
at the mesh point, people are still looking for Lamar
Jackson instead of Derek Henry, and he's opening everything up.
The fact that they Flowers, who is a two wide
(34:24):
receiver at best, he's a number two, is a pro bowler.
These are things that we used to see Brady do
all the time, and by two thousand and seven, two eight, well,
two thousand and nine and ten, when their offense started
really popping off, we would talk about these kinds of things.
The fact that Tom Brady's ability to move in the
pocket would make it easier on their offensive line. That's
(34:46):
the kind of passer that Lamar Jackson has become, and
he has the ability to be the best runner in
the league. And that's why to me, Lamar Jackson sort
of elevates himself in a way that Josh Allen on
his in h You're not wrong that that team relies
entirely on Both teams rely on their quarterback to be incredible.
(35:09):
It's just how are they doing it? And to me,
Josh Allen is a lot more like prime Cam Newton
and Lamar Jackson is a lot more like prime Tom Brady.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Interesting take, and that's that's why she's t Fox.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Ladies and gentlemen, We're going to talk to NFC coming
up next here in WBZ.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Now back to Dan ray Line from The Window World
Light Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Okay, Tanya ray Fox is with us from Fox Sports
and FS one FS one, excuse me in Los Angeles,
it's getting late, you know, you know me, Tanya, you
get around eleven o'clock, it's getting a little shaky.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
I actually can't believe you're still awake.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I know, I got I used to at the old
Fox Sports that which became Comcast Sports.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
That on an NBC Sports Boss.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
And I needed naps and Ai boy, when we had
those Celtic games on the West Coast, who those were tough.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I'll tell you that right now. I remember the great thing.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
There's so many great stories with Tommy Heinsen. But tom
you must remember when Tommy would sleep if we had
a West Coast game, Yeah, and he came in. Tommy
was getting off the road. He didn't want to go
on the road. So we had a West Coast game
and he would come in and do the pregame, in
the post game show, and he would take a nap.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
He'd be in a lobby.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
There's six to eight dude, like this Hall of Famers,
like taking a nap in a lobby, Like wake him up.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
You know, Tommy off the couch was like.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
On the couch that was like barely big enough to
hold you know, a five to six person. Oh iconic. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I missed that man so much. And he was great,
Oh my god, he was. He was absolutely best. He
was the best NFL NFC. So the Lions, is it
theirs to lose?
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:50):
I think that people can overthink it and look at
the fact that the Rams are really hot, and you know,
you're looking around and you're like, Okay, well, how can we
talk ourselves out of the Lions because they've had some
injury issues and whatever else. But yeah, when you are
as dominant as they have been across the course of
the season, and it's not just I mean, it's funny
(37:13):
because the Vikings sort of provide a perfect mirror of
what the Lions aren't, which is they were a team
that was a bad quarterback performance away from falling apart,
and that's exactly what happened. And the Lions have actually
proven that they can overcome a tough game for Jared
Goff and still win. And they have this developed locker
(37:37):
room sort of franchise culture that they all have bought
into entirely in a way that I think the Vikings
are still working on because they don't have the quarterback
fully figured out and their coach isn't quite as far
along in his identity in terms of in game coaching.
I think we saw that in the playoffs. Kevin O'Connell,
(37:59):
to me, had a really bad game in the wildcard
ground and to that, because those two teams were fighting
it out all the way until Week eighteen. For the
you know NFC North title. It's like here, here are
the two options for what a team can be. They
can be the Lions or they can end up the Vikings.
And yeah that at this point everything is pointing to
(38:23):
the fact that they are the team to be. It
doesn't mean that they can't be beaten. We've seen way
crazier things happened before. But one hundred percent, if if
you're looking to some other team to overtake them or
be the savior of the NFC or save you for
whatever reason, you're a Dan Campbell hater. I you know,
again not a gambling woman, but I wouldn't bet on that.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
Personally, I think Campbell's an unbelievable story. I just remember
when he was a joke in Miami and yeah, well.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
I mean he is a ridiculous personality, right like there
are there are certain people that are they are really
ridiculous until they work out and until they find the
space where they're supposed to be and the people to
buy into their narrative. And I think people a lot
of time look around at NFL head coaches and think
that there are you know, there's a prototype or something
like that, and it's really about fit and and you know,
(39:16):
even somebody like Pete Carroll was and not was not
revered as an NFL coach until he found the right
fit and the right you know, team to build around
and then everything worked out. Belichick, I mean I think yeah,
I mean again, like so he's somebody who like was
actually pretty. He was okay in Cleveland that everybody remembers
his time in Cleveland as being really bad. He was
(39:37):
okay in Cleveland, but he was part of that whole.
He was part of the the He was basically the
last head He was the last head coach before they
moved away, and it was just there was everybody had
a bad taste in their mouth about it. And then
he was just considered as Bill Parcell's right hand guy.
And that so there and that that can be said
for a lot of coaches. It's just finding the place
where you're supposed to land, and and that me there.
(40:02):
There probably isn't another single team in the NFL where
Dan Campbell works, but because he works there, and because
of his relationship with Jared Goff specifically, I don't know
how much you know about their relationship, but Jared Goff
did not handle being traded away from the Rams very
well at all. It really shook him mentally and there
(40:22):
was a time there work he was going to fall apart,
and Dan Campbell understood that we're either going to make
Jared Goff work or this team's not going to work.
Like we cannot start over at this position.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Tanya, you're in a role, but we have to fly
Tanya a fox. Check her out on all the socials.
You're the best. We'll talk soon. Coming up next, going
to open up the phones. How is this country doing?
Speaker 4 (40:46):
You?
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Tell me that's next WBZ
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