October 10, 2024 • 11 mins
Alex Barth from 98.5 The Sports Hub (Boston) and the Patriots 'Catch 22' podcast joins The A-Team. He talks about what Patriots fans think of the Houston Texans. He talks about Drake Maye making his starting debut at quarterback. He also talks about key injuries that Jerod Mayo's team is facing and how Patriots fans have dealt with the post-Brady/Belichick era.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Texans and Patriots this weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Patriots gonna trot out their throwback uniforms for the debut
of Drake May. And to that end, we go to
that area of our country and welcome in Alex Bars
on radio there in Boston, the Sports Up ninety eight
point five to discuss the matchup. We could go in
a lot of different directions here, but I'm gonna ask
you this very simple question. Do people realize that Drake
(00:25):
May is actually a very very good athlete and he
ran for over a thousand yards in his final two
years at North Carolina and his over under on rushing
yards is only twenty five and a half. And the
Texans have allowed quarterbacks to run against them much of
this year.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey, Alex, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Guys?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
You make some good points. It's funny you talk to
people around here, regardless of what Drake May is that
they're acting like the Texans are the eighty five Bears
in terms of defense and people. The big take this
week is people hate the spot. You know, you had
a week Miami Dolphins team last week. You have a
week the Aguars team next week, albeit in London, and
I'm not thinking it's entirely wrong. But you know, I'm
(01:05):
kind of catching up on the Texans a little more here,
and I think people are really freaked out and really
worried about what the Texans are going to do to
Drake May independent of what they think Drake May can
do on his own.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, I will definitely not tell you the Texans defense
has forced zero turnovers in each of their last three games,
but definitely Drake May will have five. What I've actually
said earlier today and throughout the week when this became obviously.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We're going to make the change. This had to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You've got too many other people in the locker room,
too many other people that go to work every day
and put their bodies on the line for an offense
that's completely incapable of throwing the football to each other
on game day. This had to be done, and sooner, clearly,
rather than later.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
That was the big take last week leading up to this,
and where the pushback was and I was actually camp
is the Patriots offensive line has been a mess. Assuming
everybody came out of last season game healthy, so assuming
they don't tinker, this will be the first time this
year they start the same offensive line and back to
back weeks. It'll be the first time they start the
same two tackles in the same two spots as back
(02:13):
to back weeks. They only have one left tackle on
the roster and he's been hurt for most of the season.
He'll be back this week in Venerian Low. So I
think a lot of that wasn't even necessarily about Drake
may was. You know, look, it's the NFL. He's going
to face pressure, he's gonna get hit, he's going to
have to deal with tough defense, and that's part of it.
But this was so exponentially beyond that. Jakobe Burssett was
(02:34):
pressured on literally fifty percent of his dropbacks over the
first five weeks. I think that they as much as
that locker room thing holds true, there needed to be
a baseline of competency on the offense, specifically the offensive
line before they exposed you know, the guy that's supposed
to be.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
The franchise Well, now I can hear why everybody's so
concerned coming into this game, because I've been screaming about
the Texans offensive line all summer.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And we can get to that in a second. But
before we do.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I did want to ask you, because we discussed this
in the first hour, my co host and I. You
know what, what is your take on a either young
quarterback or especially a rookie quarterback as far as do
you throw them out there no matter the situation. Do
you feel like that's the best way for them to
learn or do you subscribe to the theory that you
(03:23):
should kind of be under the veterans wing for at
least a half season, if not longer.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
I think it's so situation dependent, you know. I feel
differently about different players. When it came to May, I
always felt like he needed to play this year for
a couple of reasons. I think you can develop on
the bench, you can develop at practice, but there's another
level once you get in the game. I also think
they need one. It helps to evaluate him with the
other players they have, but put some things on tape
(03:51):
where other players are going to want to come play here.
You know. One of the big stories for the Patriots
this offseason. They threw a ton of money at Calvin Ridley,
he signs elsewhere. They were ready to make Brandon Ayuk
one of the highest paid receivers in the league, and
then there's a report he turned them down in part
because the quarterback situation was uncertain. So can you get
this guy out on the field and not just get
your own players rallying around somebody, but get other players
(04:14):
in the league more interested in make New England a destination. Again,
that being said, I do think there have been good
quarterbacks who went to bad situations and ultimately their careers
were ruined by it. And any guy who's the top
picks going to a situation that's not great. That's why
the team had the top pick. But there have to
(04:34):
be a certain baseline where you're really just not being
reckless in risking the guy. And I think for the
first month of the season it would have been reckless
to put Drake mayon because the line was in such
bad shape. I still don't know that it's a great situation.
I maybe would have even waited a week or two more,
but they're at a point now where it's like, okay,
you can at least get the kid out there and
(04:55):
get a reasonable idea of what he can do.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I tend to feel that same way. I didn't even
disagree with him in the season the way they did,
but at some point the play almost dictated it was
going to happen at some point. But their offense, especially
their pass game, which is right at the bottom of
the league. Completion percentage is the worst, passing yards per
game is the worst, And some of the pressures that
we cite from different sources are a little bit of
a result of the quarterback doing everything he can not
(05:18):
to turn it over, but in concert not doing anything
to help the offense move the football. Their receiving corps
below average, and you kind of dictated that they realized
that going into the season. What about their backfield. What
do you think the situation is with Ramandre Stevenson who
has not practiced this week.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
So that one's a little weird because so Stevenson went
out late in the game last week and then came
back in and told us after the game he took
a helmet to the shin just wanted to get checked on,
basically said it was a stinger. Then he gets hipped
this week with a foot injury, which there didn't seem
to be any issue of after the game just watching
him like move around the locker room and stuff. So
(05:58):
I was pretty surprised by that.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
This week.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
He's a big loss though, if they can't have him go,
and usually if the guy doesn't practice Wednesday and Thursday,
he's not playing, so you start looking at you know
who's next, Antonio Gibson. It's been good for them, and
he's a good back. He's been a little more limited role.
They don't have a ton of depth besides him. Jamichael
Hasty is the only other running back on the roster.
He's mainly a special teams player. They have a couple
(06:21):
backs on the practice squad. Kevin Harris is the top guy.
Six round pick in twenty twenty two, doesn't have a
ton of NFL experience. He's been here, but he hasn't
played in a lot of games. And this is a
team that's going to need to run the football, even
with Drake May to kind of help the offensive line
and throw off the temple that pass rush. Not having Stevenson,
who's their most explosive offensive playmaker, would be a massive bluff.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Talking to Alex Barth of ninety eighty five The Sports
Hub and of course the Patriots Catch twenty two podcast, Alex,
you mentioned at the top of the interview how everybody's
freaking out about the Texans coming to town.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I'm old enough to.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Remember going to the Letterman Jacket game on Monday Night, which,
by the way, Aaron Hernandez caught two touchdown passes in
and he's dead. Now, wow, I am old enough to
remember all sorts of one sided. Even if the Texans
were good, The New England Patriots are here to ruin
your lives situations. What's it like now having been in
(07:20):
that market? And I actually apologize, I don't know how
long you've been there, but I'm assuming you got your
fair taste of Belichick and Brady, and now you've got
Gerrod Mayo.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You've got a rookie quarterback starting.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It's just so odd to see this matchup under these circumstances.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
So I've been covering the teams in twenty seventeen, but
I grew up here, so I've been you know, I
grew up down the streets from the stadium, so I've
been in it for the last thirty years. It is
a little weird, you know it definitely with the last
couple of seasons where things haven't been good. In last
year with four wins, you are we are kind of
accosted now, So that's like, all right, what's like the
(07:58):
big what's the big picture, what's the long term picture?
How do they dig this way their way out of this?
Not every game being you know, a must win game.
But it is funny to see the reaction of Texans
fans being like, wait a minute, the Patriots are worried
about us. And I remember, you know a lot of
those games too. I go back to the playoff game
in seventeen that was here, and that was supposed to
(08:19):
be the one where it flipped because the Patriots are
struggling a little bit down the stretch and Dean Lewis
returned the kickoff and all that. But it's you know,
fans are frustrated because those expectations are still there. Brady's
not here anymore, Bill's not here anymore, but the expectations
of excellence are still there, and people want to watch
football playoff playoff football games. They want to be talking
(08:39):
about contention. They don't want to be talking about the draft,
they don't want to be talking about you know, three
or four years from now. They want to be in
the president. So it's it's creative fan base that it's
pretty frustrated. And I think this week there's as much
excitement as there's been a while, you know, getting a
look at the guy that's supposed to be the future.
But I think people are also kind of nervous too,
because they saw how things went with Mac Jones, and
(09:01):
you know, if this guy doesn't work out, is it
another three years of being where they are right now?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, I'm gonna wait for another championship from all the
teams in the city that have been winning NonStop championships
for all these years. It took a long time to
get there, but the last handful of years of your
life has been seemingly from outside, nothing but championships all
the way across the board quickly. A little bit of
time here, just about a minute on their defense, maybe
beyond the obvious and the talent of Christian Gonzales. It
(09:28):
feels like their defense has done everything they can to
allow them to stay in games.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
What is it that you like about their defense?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Super high, compete level and it's Gonzales. Really, They've lost
a ton of defensive talent. Barmore had the illness in camp,
He's done for the year. They trade Matthew Judin, Juan
Bentley's out for the year. They just lost to bril
Peppers this week. Kyle Duggar's been out. Those are all
their best defensive players, Like the top six or seven
guys outside of Gonzalez, none of them are going to
(09:58):
be on the field this Sunday. So you got a
lot of young guys in the compete levels good, but
tackling's been an issue at times. The pass rush has
been undisciplined. They'll make them plays, but they've left some
plays on the field too, because again, it just very
quickly became a young, inexperienced unit.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Certainly seems like overall that's the building phase, which they
haven't seen for such a long period of time. Alex,
we really appreciate the time the inside and your time
spent in the history of the Boston sports world.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I hope to catch up with you again real soon.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Absolutely thanks for having you guys.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
You got it.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Alex Barth's from the Sports Hub. There ninety eight to
five in Boston. The New England Patriots one in four,
Texans four and one. Patriots riding a four game losing streak,
but recognizing, as Girodmeo said when he made the official
announcement yesterday, Drake May gives them the best chance to
win both now and moving forward.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
I he's listing off all of their best defensive players
that aren't going to play ye as a CJ.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Stroud comes to town.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
And if we'd had even a little bit of extra time,
I would have asked him which of the roasters of
Tom Brady was his favorite?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
On him that Filix special. But I digress.
The Texans and Patriots this weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Patriots gonna trot out their throwback uniforms for the debut
of Drake May. And to that end, we go to
that area of our country and welcome in Alex Bars
on radio there in Boston, the Sports Up ninety eight
point five to discuss the matchup. We could go in
a lot of different directions here, but I'm gonna ask
you this very simple question. Do people realize that Drake
(00:25):
May is actually a very very good athlete and he
ran for over a thousand yards in his final two
years at North Carolina and his over under on rushing
yards is only twenty five and a half. And the
Texans have allowed quarterbacks to run against them much of
this year.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey, Alex, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Guys?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
You make some good points. It's funny you talk to
people around here, regardless of what Drake May is that
they're acting like the Texans are the eighty five Bears
in terms of defense and people. The big take this
week is people hate the spot. You know, you had
a week Miami Dolphins team last week. You have a
week the Aguars team next week, albeit in London, and
I'm not thinking it's entirely wrong. But you know, I'm
(01:05):
kind of catching up on the Texans a little more here,
and I think people are really freaked out and really
worried about what the Texans are going to do to
Drake May independent of what they think Drake May can
do on his own.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, I will definitely not tell you the Texans defense
has forced zero turnovers in each of their last three games,
but definitely Drake May will have five. What I've actually
said earlier today and throughout the week when this became obviously.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
We're going to make the change. This had to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You've got too many other people in the locker room,
too many other people that go to work every day
and put their bodies on the line for an offense
that's completely incapable of throwing the football to each other
on game day. This had to be done, and sooner, clearly,
rather than later.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
That was the big take last week leading up to this,
and where the pushback was and I was actually camp
is the Patriots offensive line has been a mess. Assuming
everybody came out of last season game healthy, so assuming
they don't tinker, this will be the first time this
year they start the same offensive line and back to
back weeks. It'll be the first time they start the
same two tackles in the same two spots as back
(02:13):
to back weeks. They only have one left tackle on
the roster and he's been hurt for most of the season.
He'll be back this week in Venerian Low. So I
think a lot of that wasn't even necessarily about Drake
may was. You know, look, it's the NFL. He's going
to face pressure, he's gonna get hit, he's going to
have to deal with tough defense, and that's part of it.
But this was so exponentially beyond that. Jakobe Burssett was
(02:34):
pressured on literally fifty percent of his dropbacks over the
first five weeks. I think that they as much as
that locker room thing holds true, there needed to be
a baseline of competency on the offense, specifically the offensive
line before they exposed you know, the guy that's supposed
to be.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
The franchise Well, now I can hear why everybody's so
concerned coming into this game, because I've been screaming about
the Texans offensive line all summer.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And we can get to that in a second. But
before we do.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I did want to ask you, because we discussed this
in the first hour, my co host and I. You
know what, what is your take on a either young
quarterback or especially a rookie quarterback as far as do
you throw them out there no matter the situation. Do
you feel like that's the best way for them to
learn or do you subscribe to the theory that you
(03:23):
should kind of be under the veterans wing for at
least a half season, if not longer.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
I think it's so situation dependent, you know. I feel
differently about different players. When it came to May, I
always felt like he needed to play this year for
a couple of reasons. I think you can develop on
the bench, you can develop at practice, but there's another
level once you get in the game. I also think
they need one. It helps to evaluate him with the
other players they have, but put some things on tape
(03:51):
where other players are going to want to come play here.
You know. One of the big stories for the Patriots
this offseason. They threw a ton of money at Calvin Ridley,
he signs elsewhere. They were ready to make Brandon Ayuk
one of the highest paid receivers in the league, and
then there's a report he turned them down in part
because the quarterback situation was uncertain. So can you get
this guy out on the field and not just get
your own players rallying around somebody, but get other players
(04:14):
in the league more interested in make New England a destination. Again,
that being said, I do think there have been good
quarterbacks who went to bad situations and ultimately their careers
were ruined by it. And any guy who's the top
picks going to a situation that's not great. That's why
the team had the top pick. But there have to
(04:34):
be a certain baseline where you're really just not being
reckless in risking the guy. And I think for the
first month of the season it would have been reckless
to put Drake mayon because the line was in such
bad shape. I still don't know that it's a great situation.
I maybe would have even waited a week or two more,
but they're at a point now where it's like, okay,
you can at least get the kid out there and
(04:55):
get a reasonable idea of what he can do.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I tend to feel that same way. I didn't even
disagree with him in the season the way they did,
but at some point the play almost dictated it was
going to happen at some point. But their offense, especially
their pass game, which is right at the bottom of
the league. Completion percentage is the worst, passing yards per
game is the worst, And some of the pressures that
we cite from different sources are a little bit of
a result of the quarterback doing everything he can not
(05:18):
to turn it over, but in concert not doing anything
to help the offense move the football. Their receiving corps
below average, and you kind of dictated that they realized
that going into the season. What about their backfield. What
do you think the situation is with Ramandre Stevenson who
has not practiced this week.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
So that one's a little weird because so Stevenson went
out late in the game last week and then came
back in and told us after the game he took
a helmet to the shin just wanted to get checked on,
basically said it was a stinger. Then he gets hipped
this week with a foot injury, which there didn't seem
to be any issue of after the game just watching
him like move around the locker room and stuff. So
(05:58):
I was pretty surprised by that.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
This week.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
He's a big loss though, if they can't have him go,
and usually if the guy doesn't practice Wednesday and Thursday,
he's not playing, so you start looking at you know
who's next, Antonio Gibson. It's been good for them, and
he's a good back. He's been a little more limited role.
They don't have a ton of depth besides him. Jamichael
Hasty is the only other running back on the roster.
He's mainly a special teams player. They have a couple
(06:21):
backs on the practice squad. Kevin Harris is the top guy.
Six round pick in twenty twenty two, doesn't have a
ton of NFL experience. He's been here, but he hasn't
played in a lot of games. And this is a
team that's going to need to run the football, even
with Drake May to kind of help the offensive line
and throw off the temple that pass rush. Not having Stevenson,
who's their most explosive offensive playmaker, would be a massive bluff.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Talking to Alex Barth of ninety eighty five The Sports
Hub and of course the Patriots Catch twenty two podcast, Alex,
you mentioned at the top of the interview how everybody's
freaking out about the Texans coming to town.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I'm old enough to.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Remember going to the Letterman Jacket game on Monday Night, which,
by the way, Aaron Hernandez caught two touchdown passes in
and he's dead. Now, wow, I am old enough to
remember all sorts of one sided. Even if the Texans
were good, The New England Patriots are here to ruin
your lives situations. What's it like now having been in
(07:20):
that market? And I actually apologize, I don't know how
long you've been there, but I'm assuming you got your
fair taste of Belichick and Brady, and now you've got
Gerrod Mayo.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
You've got a rookie quarterback starting.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It's just so odd to see this matchup under these circumstances.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
So I've been covering the teams in twenty seventeen, but
I grew up here, so I've been you know, I
grew up down the streets from the stadium, so I've
been in it for the last thirty years. It is
a little weird, you know it definitely with the last
couple of seasons where things haven't been good. In last
year with four wins, you are we are kind of
accosted now, So that's like, all right, what's like the
(07:58):
big what's the big picture, what's the long term picture?
How do they dig this way their way out of this?
Not every game being you know, a must win game.
But it is funny to see the reaction of Texans
fans being like, wait a minute, the Patriots are worried
about us. And I remember, you know a lot of
those games too. I go back to the playoff game
in seventeen that was here, and that was supposed to
(08:19):
be the one where it flipped because the Patriots are
struggling a little bit down the stretch and Dean Lewis
returned the kickoff and all that. But it's you know,
fans are frustrated because those expectations are still there. Brady's
not here anymore, Bill's not here anymore, but the expectations
of excellence are still there, and people want to watch
football playoff playoff football games. They want to be talking
(08:39):
about contention. They don't want to be talking about the draft,
they don't want to be talking about you know, three
or four years from now. They want to be in
the president. So it's it's creative fan base that it's
pretty frustrated. And I think this week there's as much
excitement as there's been a while, you know, getting a
look at the guy that's supposed to be the future.
But I think people are also kind of nervous too,
because they saw how things went with Mac Jones, and
(09:01):
you know, if this guy doesn't work out, is it
another three years of being where they are right now?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, I'm gonna wait for another championship from all the
teams in the city that have been winning NonStop championships
for all these years. It took a long time to
get there, but the last handful of years of your
life has been seemingly from outside, nothing but championships all
the way across the board quickly. A little bit of
time here, just about a minute on their defense, maybe
beyond the obvious and the talent of Christian Gonzales. It
(09:28):
feels like their defense has done everything they can to
allow them to stay in games.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
What is it that you like about their defense?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Super high, compete level and it's Gonzales. Really, They've lost
a ton of defensive talent. Barmore had the illness in camp,
He's done for the year. They trade Matthew Judin, Juan
Bentley's out for the year. They just lost to bril
Peppers this week. Kyle Duggar's been out. Those are all
their best defensive players, Like the top six or seven
guys outside of Gonzalez, none of them are going to
(09:58):
be on the field this Sunday. So you got a
lot of young guys in the compete levels good, but
tackling's been an issue at times. The pass rush has
been undisciplined. They'll make them plays, but they've left some
plays on the field too, because again, it just very
quickly became a young, inexperienced unit.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Certainly seems like overall that's the building phase, which they
haven't seen for such a long period of time. Alex,
we really appreciate the time the inside and your time
spent in the history of the Boston sports world.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I hope to catch up with you again real soon.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Absolutely thanks for having you guys.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
You got it.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Alex Barth's from the Sports Hub. There ninety eight to
five in Boston. The New England Patriots one in four,
Texans four and one. Patriots riding a four game losing streak,
but recognizing, as Girodmeo said when he made the official
announcement yesterday, Drake May gives them the best chance to
win both now and moving forward.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
I he's listing off all of their best defensive players
that aren't going to play ye as a CJ.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Stroud comes to town.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
And if we'd had even a little bit of extra time,
I would have asked him which of the roasters of
Tom Brady was his favorite?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
On him that Filix special. But I digress.
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