Patriots Catch-22 11/12: 3 Up/Down vs. Bucs, AFC East Picture, Jets Preview

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is the Patriots Catch twenty two podcasts with Evan
Lazar and Alex Barth Blazarre and Lazar O.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Everybody nailed it. Joined has always by our bar gap.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Here is Evan Lazar and Alex bars.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'll keep saying it to deep man coverage.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
When you throw.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Slants, you throw crossing routes, you throw digs, you throw
stuff into the middle of the field. So if you're
not willing to throw those routes and you're only gonna
throw outs and corners and verticals and stuff like that,
that's into the leverage of the man coverage defender, So
you're throwing it right into the defense. I have a
little bit more faith in Baker Mayfield too. Layer throws

(00:50):
into the middle of the field if they're open, because
he's a more experience and a better quarterback than Michael Pennock.
But it's still not an offense that really lives in
the middle of the field. Not totally wrong, They're not
totally wrong. I'll take it. Not totally wrong. I thought
that that's kind of how this game played out in
a lot of ways. Defensively. We're going to talk about

(01:12):
it over the next couple of hours. Here on Patriots
Catch twenty three. Evan Lazar, Alex Barth Alex behind the Glass.
I do want to say before we really get rolling here.
I know he's in there, behind there somewhere. Happy Belated
Veterans Day to all the troops, all those who served,
all those who are serving right now. To Marine, thank

(01:32):
you for your service. And Happy Veterans Day. Belated to
all you guys, and especially to our veteran over there
behind the glass and Marine, one of our favorites. So
Happy Veterans Day, Marine, hoorah. I hope you're feeling a
little bit more yourself today. I know a little hungover
yesterday for the Marine, which is totally fair. But anyways,

(01:57):
getting into football, I I'm not superstitious, Alex, but I'm
a little stiti and so I'm not going to come
on here today and start talking for just talking about
this just off the air a little bit. I'm not
going to come on here today and start talking about
Super Bowls and contenders and all this kind of stuff.

(02:19):
I'm not going to do that because I'm a little stitious.
All Right. The Patriots are rolling. They look like they're
a team to be reckoned with in the AFC Drake
may looks like an MVP caliber quarterback. I'm excited. I
am in I'm drinking the kool aid. But I'm not

(02:41):
going to go as far to say that I'm not
making any plans because I'm planning to be in Santa
Clara during Super Bowl Week. I'm not going there yet,
but it's really exciting to see what they're doing. And
I think the number one thing just from a big picture,
because we usually start big picture and then we'll go
a little pitic sure starting big picture, the number one

(03:02):
thing to me is just this vibe that is around
this team right now. This is the most what's the
word like? The vibe around this team right now is
the best I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Vibes are It's the best.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
I've ever seen since we started covering the team in eighteen.
So we covered the team when they were winning. I
know a lot of people think, well, they're winning, Dug right,
the vibes are great. Twenty eighteen, we covered a Super
Bowl winning team and the vibes were not like this.
Twenty nineteen, they were eight nine to oh to begin
that season, and the vibes are not like this. Twenty

(03:36):
twenty one They also won seven games in a row
with Mac Jones at quarterback in his rookie year. And
the vibes are not this good. I give a ton
of credit to Mike Rabel. I give a ton of
credit to the leadership and the captains and the leadership
committee on this team. They are bought in, They are focused.
They enjoy and celebrate each other's success. It doesn't matter

(04:01):
if they're catching one pass or they're catching ten. It
doesn't matter if they're the one getting the sack or
they're helping another guy get a sack or whatever you
want to call it. They are. They're playing for each
other right now. And the vibes are immaculate. And I
think that that's a testament to all the things that

(04:22):
I mentioned with Raybel and this whole thing. And I'm
not a big vibes guy, like that's not my thing usually, Nope,
But listening to some of the stories that are starting
to come out yesterday at the press conferences, you know,
players wanting to attend meetings like meetings for football is

(04:42):
a lot like school was as a kid.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Meetings for football are a lot like meetings.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Further, no, it's different. It's not like more like school,
because like he stands up at the front of the
room and is like lecturing them on things like when
they do squad meetings, like it's literally in the auditorium
that we are in.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
You've never been in a work meeting and it's somebody
like explaining no, no, all right. We have different meetings.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think work meetings are more collaborative, like where like
sometimes a lot of people talk.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
I've been in work meetings where it's like one or
two people.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
This is like, this is their auditorium is literally like
a college lecture hall, and they and he stands up
there and he said to us yesterday and when I
say he, I mean Mike Rabel. Mike Rabel said that
he wanted to cut a Thursday meeting short by twenty
five minutes to give everybody twenty five more minutes of
sleep before they had to be here at the facility,

(05:35):
and the veterans and the leaders on the team said, no, thanks,
we want the meeting. He then said that Drake May
said yesterday it was freezing here in Foxborough's in the
thirties yesterday. Winter is here, folks, And he said that
Drake May said that Mike Rabel offered to move practice

(05:56):
inside because it was so cold, and the players said, no,
we need to get used to playing in the elements.
We want to be outside and practice outside. Like those
little types of things are what you start to hear
when things are are going in a really good direction.
And it's the best vibes I've been around since I
started covering this team.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
It a'st that in a spreadsheet you just have just
I know, I was debating whether or not just say,
look going back to January when we were talking about
the coach, and that's the kind that that thing does matter.
I know some people like to think it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
It matters.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yes, you also need to know what you're doing on
the football field and put together a game plan and
make adjustments and all that. But there's a lot of
coaches that are good football minds. It's the ones that
are also leaders of men that can make a big difference.
And and that's not just Rabel, that's the entire staff
and the veteran leadership on this team. That stuff matters.

(06:58):
That stuff makes a difference if you ultimately want to
get to the top, not towards the top, to the
top and I'm not saying they're gonna get there this year,
just off that. You can't have a bunch of feel
good you know, if you're not playing well either, you
got to play well at all. One thing feeds into
the other. But it's this is why me and I
think a lot of other people were so staunchly in
favor of them hiring Mike Rabel this offseason as both

(07:20):
some of the other options, not just it, you know,
and he's done a good job when you look at
what they did with the roster construction all that. Obviously
they crushed that, but he's all somebody that can build
a football team and can create a culture, because you
know what happens when you start ingraining that sort of
sense or responsibility and that sort of sense and team,

(07:40):
it becomes sustainable. And even if it's not, you know,
you're gonna make roster moves year over year, but you
have that core, you have that leadership that this franchise
has lacked for the last four to five years. That's
going to pass that torch on and on and on,
and now that becomes the level and that becomes the expectation,
and you need that because it's not always going to
be easy, and you need people who are and want

(08:00):
to fight through it. So this is why Mike Rabel
is the guy. This is I mean, he's part of
the reason I shouldn't say sorry. This is part of
the reason Mike Grabel is the guy because he can
establish this and I think it's important.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Might just be there here, It might it might just
have that kind of juju. And I give him. I
give him credit because that's like you're kind of laying
out like that's self created. That doesn't just come at it.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
It's not easy. Not everybody can just walk into an
NFL locker room and it's the NFL. It's not college
where they're kids and they're all looking up to you.
These are you know, guys that have been professionals for
a long time, make a lot of money. It's not
easy to walk into that locker room and command respect
like that and set the tone like that, especially this quickly.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Because he's in alpha he is an alpha male. Mike
Rabel is an alpha male personality.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
And he he can back it up like.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
I mean, he's freaking huge. Of course he can back.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Well, it's not just that he's huge, Oh no, it's
part of it, it's part of it. But I think
there's an element of I don't know how much you
want to get into, like leadership philosophy. I think any
good leader, right, if you're gonna lead whatever, if you're
a leader at work, if you're a leader in your
foot whatever, Right, a good leader doesn't ask people to
do things that that he or she would not do.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
And I don't think about that because like Bill Belichick
never played professional football, but Bill Belichick, this is a
great was a great leader.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, no, he but but I mean that at a
macro like Bill Belichick's obviously not going to go in
there during practice and set the edge on an outside zone.
But you know, hey, we want you guys to come
in here an hour early. We want like, we want
you guys to you know, we're gonna be out in
the cold, We're gonna do this, We're gonna, you know,
run extra today. He's out there running with the team.
He's in here before everybody else like that sort of thing.

(09:42):
Like he's not He's set in the tone from the front,
not from the back. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, he absolutely is.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
And you know when he talks about being selfless, I
think he's done a lot of things in this that
have been selfless and and he's you know that's being
passed forward.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah, I mean it's look, it's all of it is true.
All of the flowers that they're getting, all of the
flowers that Mike Rabel is getting, are all warranted because
we were covering this team over the last two to
three years, and we were in some not so great
locker rooms, like you know, guys that obviously we're losing,
and you know things that we were not good about

(10:23):
the culture around here. And Mike Rabel and really, what
ten months on the job, not even a full year
yet on the job, has done a complete one eight
on that. Now. I want to get into the football
because that's the most important part. But the football element
of it, let's start with the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Well, I do are we going to Tampa now? Or
is this still big picture? I don't know, combination okay,
because we I the other thing about like how you
know how much longer is Mike Rabel's first year gonna last?
That sort of thing. I know, if you want to
get into that take, I don't know what you mean,
like the playoff take and where they're at and are
they because like, look, I said this on some shows

(11:03):
last week. Yeah, like if they beat Tampa, it goes
from you know, oh, they're gonna make the playoffs. That's cool.
They had this turnaround to like, no, like you gotta
take them seriously now in the AFC picture, Well, oh.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
You mean like in terms of like talking about the
other teams in the conference and where Yeah, well no,
I don't know. I mean it's we're week ten.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Well, just to pick up on what we were talking
about before, I made that sound more dramatic than I
probably needed to. But like, I think part of this too,
you know, because they beat that Bucks team, that Bucks
seem is the real deal. I know they were a
little banged up. The Patriots are banged up too, Like
that that Bucks team's the real deal. And I think

(11:43):
part of it too is if they can beat a
team like Tampa, and some of the feeds into the
culture thing too, because I think there's an element of
seeing the results like, Okay, this is why we put
all that hard work in Tampa's if you're gonna make
noise in the playoffs, Tampa's the kind of team you're
gonna need a beat. And they went on the road
and they did it. And you know, I look at

(12:03):
it now, Evan, how many teams are there in the
AFC that you can definitively say any any team any time, well,
that's the team, but anytime any place, they're going to
beat the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
I wouldn't say that. I I think that any team,
I hear what you're getting.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
At now, there's some I would like say that. I'm
not saying the Patriots are definitively better than some of
these teams either, but it's you know, I maybe maybe
if they really started, was.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Not ready to have this conversation.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
No, I think this is the week you have it,
because they beat a really good team in Tampa.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
I guess I just it's we're still it's not even
Thanksgiving yet, like and on top of that, I just
when I look at the AFC landscape, I would say,
but I only fear about this, if we're going to
go here, is that Kansas City, Buffalo, and Baltimore are
probably going to be your three wild card teams in
this picture, which means that even if you get.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
I don't know about that one of them, one of
them is probably gonna get left out. The Chargers got
off to such a hard, hot start.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
But the Okay, I mean, I guess you know three
NFC AFC.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
I think you're gonna get three, two or three unless
right now the Chiefs are out.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah, But like they're the Chiefs will figure it out.
Like the chief the Chiefs are are.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Not gonna But if the Chiefs, Chargers, and Denver all
make it and one of them is obviously the division winner, right,
that leaves one of the bills of the Ravens out.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Why you have the Colts in the South, you have
the Patriots in the East, you have whoever wins the
Steelers probably right, and then you have the Broncos.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
So you're gonna have your three wildcard teams, right, Yeah,
somebody has to win the West. If the Chiefs and
Chargers both make it, that's two wild cards. If the
Chiefs and Chargers, that's what I'm saying. If the Chiefs are.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
I'm not convinced that that's gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
You think the Chargers starting seven and three aren't gonna
make it.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
They might not. They're falling apart, their injuries are all.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
That would be a pretty wild slide. They gotta basically win.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
You're right, I don't know, I'm not. This conversation is
like premature to.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
The point being like, I think coming away from this game,
like that's the kind of team the Patriots who need
to beat in the playoffs. And sure you go from
all right, they won four games the last two years
and now they're going to make the playoffs. That's great
improvement to Like, I think the level of expectation steps
up a little bit. And it's not to say super Bowl,
but like it twenty twenty one, and yeah, there were

(14:32):
some bigger issues at play there, but twenty twenty one,
we all kind of felt like, oh sick, they're in
the playoffs and we knew they were gonna go up
to the Buffalo and get thumped. Maybe not that badly, right,
and they were also their entire starting defense at COVID.
But like, I don't think this is that. I think
we are now a step beyond oh fun, They're gonna
make the playoffs, and it's like and and then what happens?

(14:53):
Kind does that make sense? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (14:54):
No, I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
I just a wow. Charge schedule is stuff like that's
the way.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
I mean, they just still have seven games left and
they're gonna win this game tomorrow night, so they're gonna
be nine and two. Yeah, but it just we'll get
to those permutations and who do you want and.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
We'll do that the byway. Yeah, we'll do that when
time comes really quickly. Everybody's got it.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
You know, I'm excited too.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Because you talking about Dard's take.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
No, I'm just saying, like everybody is excited too, and
I get it, like their super Bowl h that the
super Bowl is not a crazy outland just take anymore
right to say that they could go on a run
here because they won seven straight games, like obviously, but
like right now, you know, let's just let's just enjoy
the ride. Let's enjoy the ride once we get to January,

(15:43):
and you know, once they are are really solidifying where
they're gonna be at and we can talk about playoff
matchups and who would you rather face and all that
good stuff.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, but I do think there's an element of, like,
this is what we get to do again. We did
this for twenty years. Patriots played Thursday night Sundays off.
By the way, great great Sunday for your team not
to be playing this this schedule, this is the most
excited I've been about an NFL slate in a while,
Like Broncos Chiefs, What which outcomes better for the Patriots?

(16:14):
You know there there could be some debate there you
want you won't stop. We did this, Why can't we
do this.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Because it's it's week eleven.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Like the Patriots have to keep winning. Nobody saying the
Patriots don't have to.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
But it's not even just about that. It's just like
I like, I don't know what's going to happen with
the rest of these teams, Like I don't know.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Well, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
So you get you how if the playoffs started today,
the Chiefs wouldn't be in. Do you really think the
Chiefs are going to miss the playoffs?

Speaker 1 (16:38):
No, let's say this is it's it's Look, I'm just
so glad we don't have to do this watching the
Titans and the Jets and hoping they win for I
understand to do the flip side by the way Chargers
the rest of their schedule. You might be honest on now,
I know there's seven and three, just I don't need
this Jaguars, I'm not actually in the playoffs. Chargers catch Jaguars.
I'm giving you credit for being right.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Oars.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Currently the playoffs, then the bye, then the Raiders, who suck? Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys, Texans, Broncos.
That's tough. Yeah, that's tough.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
All right? Can we can we talk about real football
now and not talk about playoff seating in November twelfth?
Are we good?

Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's going to be part of the conversation around this
team now. It's just like, you know, and it's annoying, like,
can we just again we have fun looking at It's.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
What I'm saying. That's not what I'm saying. Let's just
let's just play the schedule out and let's see what happens.
Like trying to sit here and say who would you
rather play in the playoffs?

Speaker 1 (17:40):
That's not what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
That's not what i'm saying. I don't know yet. I'm
just saying because all these teams could change, like you know,
any one of these teams could.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Nobody's denying that. I'm saying, it's it's fun to watch
that with the Patriots being in the mix and they're
being stakes in these other games about the Patriots that
don't have to evolve draft position.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Absolutely have you seen.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
The schedule this week on Sunday? It's awesome.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
I know I did not look at this.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
It's it's Bill's box.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Good game.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Yeah, Vikings Bears could be a good game. Can we
talk about Jacks? Two playoff teams? Hang on, Holme's done,
rams Seahawks. Huge game. Doesn't matter for the Patriots, but
huge game. They're both seven to two. That rules Broncos, Chiefs.
Gonna find out which one of those teams is for
real and Line's Eagles on Sunday night. That's a good slate.
All right, all right, I'm done.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Let's talk about Let's talk about the games that have
been played or they're going to play in the near future.
All right, all right, let's do that. Let's talk about
this Bucks game a little bit. But I want to
do the good, the bad, and the stuff that gets
you beat in real for real this week. I feel
like some weeks we do it kind of half hazardly.
Sometimes it kind of goes off the rails a little bit.

(18:51):
I'm gonna try to stick to the to the script here.
I want to start with Drake May and start with
the quarterback. I just there are three or four plays
I wouldn't even call them just throws. I would call
them plays a game that Drake May makes that make
your jaw drop, that are just unbelievable, high level of

(19:12):
difficulty plays. And it's every single week, like he does
it every week. Yeah, and it's unbelievable to watch. It's
so much fun to watch. And I'm not trying to say,
I'm not trying to make these comparisons, but I do
feel like it's a different style at least in what

(19:33):
we saw with Tom Brady. Tom Brady was a efficient machine,
like he was a consistent, efficient, smart, accurate, you know,
a competitive clutch performer like that was what Brady was.

(19:53):
Drake May is a he is a heavyweight that stands
in the middle of the ring and just throws haymakers
like that's what he is. And he might not be
play to play. You know, he's not going to be
quite as consistent as Brady was. He's going to have,
you know, like early on in this game, he had
a couple of sprays in the rain early on. He's
going to have some interceptions that in turnovers that you

(20:16):
don't love, like late in this game. But those three
to four throws man like that is freaking unbelievable. And
the seventy two yard er to Kyle Williams is one
of the best throws that I've seen him make, and
I know that when you look at it, it's like
a seventeen yard throw in the air, but it really

(20:36):
doesn't do it justice just putting it in terms of
like how far down the field it was, or the
situation of the game or anything like that. When you
watch that throw from the end zone angle and you
watch how he's pointed towards the middle of the field
where MATC Collins is and at the last second kind
of decides, all right, the safety is coming down to
jump MATC. Collins' route. So the one on ones actually

(20:59):
to Kyle Williams on the backside crosser and he throws
with his momentum in his throwing hallway pointed at MATC.
Collins and he throws looking left. He throws right, and
like breaks like all sorts of rules of quarterback mechanics,
takes a huge hit in the pocket and could not
have thrown the ball better, like just an absolutely perfectly

(21:22):
placed pass. You know you have that one.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
You know, that throw reminded me of a little bit
and I've said this on a couple other shows. Twenty
sixteen Bradi of Malcolm Mitchell in San Francis a little
bit like the way he kind of perfectly gets it
over the defender's shoulder in a way that not only
clears the defender but also perfectly sets the receiver up
to run after the catch. The angle like the angle
that throws, because that Malcolm Mitchell thro alway stood out

(21:45):
to me. It's like the angle's weird. You watch it,
it's not entirely clear, like the first time you watch it, like, wait,
what how did he get that in there? Where's he going?
How did he run away? And then you see it
from that end zone angle and it explains a lot.
It reminded me of that throw.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Uh the obviously the bomb to Hollands, you fifty six
yards in the air in terms of air distance on
that throw, just an unbelievable throw. I've said this a
couple of times, Like Zion McCollum, I don't think that
he had horrible coverage on the play. I don't think
there was no chance. He thought there was no chance
that ball was going over his head. Like and if

(22:18):
you're a cornerback in the NFL. You know, you're he's
in his pedal, like he's backpedaling, back pedaling. He's looking
up at the ball and he's like this thing is
still going, like how far? Like he runs like thirty
yards back in a dead sprint with Mac Collins, and
the ball just kept going. And at some point, you know,
as a corner like you're gonna end up not being

(22:40):
able to drop fast enough. And he basically, Drake May
his ability to just outthrow the coverage is a rare trade.
Like that type of arm strength is is big rare,
Like you don't see that in the league very often,
that you just flat out outthrow NFL coverage like that
doesn't necessarily happened very often. The other throws, you know,

(23:03):
obviously the fifteen yard of the Hollins, I don't think
that you really draw it up to have the quarterback
holding the ball above his head with two hands on it,
trying to, you know, rip through a tackler that's trying
to sack him in the backfield. I think it was
Vita Vea, but he did it. He does it every
single week, staring down the blitz and throwing to pob

(23:25):
Douglas on that twenty six yard play was one of
my favorite plays of the game, just because of the
way it unfolded with the blitz coming right through the
middle of the field. Levante David just comes right through
center and he's just staring it down and just makes
a throw on time in rhythm onto our target. Probably
should have been a touchdown. Bob Douglas got tripped up

(23:46):
by the dropping end, which you know, I thought was
you know, really could have been a touchdown. And then
the fourth down throw to Digs on the touchdown, I mean,
that's a that's a hard throw to make, that's not
a high percentage that Yeah, all of these things, you know,
you just see consistently with Drake May every single week
is incredible quarterback play. And I understand that he has

(24:11):
there are some and we'll get to him, like there
are some things in this game that he did that
was not so good, especially the interception, But they don't
win these games without these big time plays that Drake
May is making. And that to me, if you want
to talk about future and you want to talk about this,

(24:33):
I think, to me, the argument right now for Drake
May being the NFL as MVP is that he's doing
these things on a weekly basis where you can encapsulate
him putting the team on his back. And he's doing
it throwing no offense, but not throwing to Jackson Smith

(24:53):
and Jigba or Puka Nakua or behind running behind that
Colts offensive line. He's doing this with what most people
coming into this season thought was what a middling supporting cast.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yeah, I mean, I think with Diggs, I don't think
people gave gave the cast enough credit coming into the season.
I will say that, like, and I understand people are
maybe worry about where Diggs was at thirty one years
old coming off the torn ACL Diggs being the guy
he has changes a lot. It's not taking anything away
from Drake, but Diggs being the guy he has really
changes the way that.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Sure, but he's not That's not Jaya center Pukani.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yeah, all right, fair enough.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah, those guys are on a different level. And that's
not a knock on Stefan Diggs. It's just where Diggs
is in his career right now to you know where
those guys are in their primes. It's just different. It's
just different. So Drake may just continues to just be outstanding.
I feel like, and you know I thought in this

(25:54):
game too, and you know, this might be a little
bit towards you know, the bad side of things, but
Todd Bowles, I thought, showed an ultimate sign of respect
for Drake May. You know, I'm really big on like
how do they defend the Patriots and how are teams
defending Drake May and looking at trends in terms of
coverage and pass rush and things like that. So Drake

(26:17):
May comes out in this game and Todd Bowles blitzes
him a couple times in the first half, and he
just rips him apart. You know, twelve yards per pass
attempt against the blitz huge plays, you know, when the
Bucks bringing pressure and so Bowles, who is a notorious blitzer.
You know, we talked all last week about the pressure

(26:38):
that the Bucks like to bring. Thirty five percent blitz rate.
They were only twenty seven percent blitz rate in this game,
so way below their seven season average. And they used
a lot of drop eight coverage in this game, where
they're dropping out seven guys and then a quarterback spy,
so they're really only rushing three pass rushers on the play.

(27:00):
For Todd Bowles to say, I am, You're too good
for me to blitz you, and so we have to
go Basically, that's like a fastball pitcher saying that I
need to throw only off speed stuff to this guy.
That's what that is. So he changed up. He threw
changeups at Drake May. Now they were pretty successful with it,

(27:20):
Tampa was, and that might be something that we can
talk about moving forward if teams trying to copy that formula,
but just to kind of spin it in a positive way.
I look at it and say, even Todd Bowles said,
we can't blitz this guy. And if Todd Bowles is
saying that and Todd Bowles is kind of changing his
stripes to game plan Drake May, that just tells you

(27:42):
about kind of the ascension that he has made. Because
you only do that against the great quarterbacks. No one's
like coming into a game against Dylan Gabriel and saying like, oh,
we can't blitz Dylan Gabriel, right, Like, we got to
do something different. So the fact that Todd Bowles did
something different in this game is just a real testament
to how far Drake May has come. Like that tells

(28:03):
me that he is being viewed by other coaching staffs
as an elite quarterback in the league right now.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah. I mean we talk about the loot sometimes with
the Patriots spending other quarterbacks, that you take a team
out of their comfort zone, you force them to operate
the way they don't want to operate, and that in
itself is an advantage regardless of what they're doing. So
and I think he's earned it. I think he's absolutely
earned that.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yep. The other thing that I wanted to talk about
here still kind of big picture, is still kind of
the goods here. I kind of see the method, you know,
moving over to the defense, I kind of see the
method of the madness here with the defense a little bit.
I get it. I wrote about this and after further
re you watching their early down soft zones give up

(28:45):
ten yard outs and have it to look kind of
not competitive at times is frustrating, Like it looks too easy,
Like you want them to get up on the receivers.
You want them to take away that space and not
give up those yards underneath the coverage and all that
good stuff, because it just looks like easy money. And
I do have a tiny bit of fear that a

(29:08):
great quarterback maybe in the playoffs or something like that,
Herbert and Allen, you know, a Mahomes Well, just on
first and second down, they're not even gonna get to
third down because they're gonna just go right through them
on first and second down. But they're starting to limit
big plays. Over the last five weeks, they're seventh in

(29:29):
the league and you know, seventh best and big play
pass rate allowed. Yeah, they are fifth on third down,
and they're really good run defense. So when you start
to add those things up, you know, when you're not
giving up chunks, you're good on third down, you stop
the run. Like now, all of a sudden, you start

(29:50):
to see a formula there of how they're keeping teams
down in terms of scoring as well. You know, top
ten scoring defense too. So is it then don't break eat? Yeah? Absolutely,
Like there's definitely that element to it. Is it too
easy at times on early downs? Yeah, they're twenty fifth
in the league right now in pass EPA on early downs.

(30:12):
It's not great, but they're starting to kind of have
that formula and it's sort of like first and second down,
we're gonna you know, we're gonna back off, we're gonna
protect the house. Third down, let's party like, that's when
we're gonna draw up pressure. That's when we're gonna play
man coverage. We're gonna put Gonzo on their best receiver
and we're gonna play man to man and we're gonna

(30:34):
we're gonna come after you. So they've done a nice job,
and I think Vrabel and Zach Korrer have done a
nice job of like sticking to their guns on that
and not getting super aggressive on first and second down
and being impatient with it. So that's that's hard to do,
like when you're giving up, you know, little plays here
and there on first and second down all game long.

(30:54):
To kind of stick to your formula and not all
of a sudden start to get aggressive and get beat
over the time is hard to do. But they're doing
it right now. So I hear it like a lot
of the frustrations with the defense because I think I'm
sure you get it and your mentions every game too.
Whereas the man coverage, why are they playing so far
off the line of scrimmage? I think that there is

(31:16):
starting to be on both on film and in terms
of the numbers, they're starting to You're starting to see
it come to fruition. What exactly the vision of the
style of defenses that they're playing. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
The interesting factor to me in that is, and you
mentioned like against a better quarterback, is a better quarterback
going to take advantage. Baker's a pretty good quarterback. And
they kept that offense right relatively in check. I mean
that last drive they're just trying to make sure guys
are tackling bounds in the clocks running right.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
We'll get to that last drive.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
I thought, well, they played they played Josh Allen differently.
They played Josh Allen like like you just described third down.
They kind of played that way the entire game. So
maybe there is another game plan in there that we
just haven't a see because they've played Dylan Gabriel and
they you know, they've played some of these lesser quarterbacks
that they can go the other way if they need to,

(32:08):
but they're just not doing it when they don't need
to do it.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
Yeah, And I you know, I again, I just think
that there's a clear formula nowt They got to be
better in certain areas, and we'll get to that. But
I just think you can see a method here to
the madness of what some of these coverages that they're
playing on early downs, but there are they're playing about
seventy five percent zone coverage on first and second down.

(32:32):
They're giving up a lot of yards on first and
second down. But then you look up in the fourth
quarter and the point has seventeen points, right, And if
you do that consistently week in and week out, where
you know, like I said, limit big plays, good on
third down, stop the run. And then you put that
and combine that with having Drake frickin' May on the

(32:55):
other side, you're gonna win a lot of football games.
Like that's gonna be a formula that's gonna lead to
a lot of wins. The other goods here Travon Henderson
and Kyle Williams just basically breaking their GPS trackers and
their pads was cool to see. So, you know, fifty
five yard touchdown, twenty two miles an hour on that

(33:15):
play for Travon Henderson, twenty one point seven to eight
for Kyle Williams on his touchdown, Another twenty one plus
miles per hour play by Henderson on the sixty nine
yard touchdown that the three fastest times in the NFL
by a ball carrier this week all New England Patriots.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Can't really remember the last time I could know it
seem as real speed. I can't really remember the last
time I said that two rookie skill players had games
like this as New England Patriots. So seeing both those
guys break out in the same game was pretty cool
to watch. Yeah, And I think it's an encapsulation of
what they are. Like, I don't think Kyle Williams is

(33:54):
not a guy who's gonna have six seven catches in
a game and be a volume guy and you're going
a pump the ball him, Like that's not his role.
He's gonna be a guy that one to three catches
a game. But is it three catches for thirty yards
or is it three catches for ninety yards? Like that's
where you're looking at him to make an impact. He
only made one catch, but he made a massive impact.
Terrell Jennings the same thing. We've talked a lot about

(34:15):
this Dreel Jennings is not a volume player. Now, he
kind of had to be in this game because of injuries.
And some people have pointed to the game as a
whole and like, okay, well, outside of those two runs,
it's really three runs. He almost broke that other one.
But you know, outside of those three runs, he didn't
do much and there was one stretch there. I think
between the two long runs he had five carries for
zero total yards. But that's not He's not supposed to

(34:38):
be a bell cow. That's supposed to be Ramondrae, Stevensoner
Terrell Jennings because those guys are going to do better
picking up some of those dirty, you know, hidden yards,
and then when those guys body below the defense enough,
then Trevon Henderson comes in and breaks one or two
big runs. So it's not just both guys succeeded. You
saw them succeed in the rape mostly in the role again,
Hendersons was a little different kause the injuries, but you
saw them succeed basically in the role that I think

(35:00):
expect him to be in this year.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. You know, Henderson or
excuse me, like Henderson had the two big runs, but
Williams basically that was his only target in the game.
Only catching the game was the seventy two yard touchdown,
and that's exactly what you're looking at for him. I
thought the combination of him and Matt Collins replacing Kyshawn
Boody couldn't vast for any more than that that, you know,

(35:21):
Matt Collins had six for one oh six and GeV
one for seventy two. Great production out of both those guys.
I it was a great day for the Patriots personnel department,
you know, their draft class last year. And I want
to get a little bit to Craig Woodson too, but
Campbell and Wilson both starting on the offensive line, both

(35:42):
skill players on Day two, have big games. Craig Woodson
has a big game. Andy Borgalis just continues to be automatic. Yeah,
Elijah Ponder on Tristan Wharf's first career sack. A good
day for the front office. Obviously, speed was a big
part of what they wanted to add this offseason, and
back came to fruition in a big game in a

(36:03):
big spot on the road. So I'm sure all those
guys are feeling pretty good about all that as well.
And speaking of the front office, another one that stands
out that we have to talk about, especially on this
show like this is right up our alley is Kiris Tonga.
Mister two way, well really three way and a special teams,

(36:25):
three way, three phase, just star role player at this point,
I don't even know if I want to put role
player on it. He's just been dynamite, dynamite defensive tackle. Honestly,
one of the better. We were talking about this yesterday
in the locker room with Taylor Kyle's and the gang,
Like is he one of the better converted defensive players

(36:48):
to offensive players that are in terms of full backs
or lead blockers. He's one of the better ones that
I have seen do it. You know, I have to
go back a little wit. You know. We talked to
Landon Roberts, to Richard Seymour. Mike Rabel obviously was more
of a tight end than like a full back, but
of course Mike Rabel at times, Dan Cleco, I know,

(37:10):
we argued about Dan.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, I don't know why you think Dan Klecko was
like naturally a fullback. It's very weird.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
I don't think he was naturally a fullback. I just
don't think he was like a full time player on
defense that turned the offense. That's what Kiris Tongka is doing.
Kyris Tonga has a full time role on defense and
is then moonlighting on offense. I think Dan Klecko was
kind of a guy that bounced back and forth and didn't.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
Dan Cleco played defensive line and linebacker at Temple. Yeah,
he was a came here and started playing fullback.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
I get that, but he didn't have a he it
doesn't matter. This is something. The point is is that
Kiris Tonga. Now, the short yardage running wasn't great. Yeah
Edelman the other way, yeahs to shortyarded running in this
game wasn't exactly great. But they did have the fourth
down conversion early on in the game with him on
the field, and of course he goes you know, all boys,

(38:02):
I me ends on him on the sixty ninety.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
The block he makes on the second one, Yeah, you
mentioned bowling pins like that's that's such an instinctive play
where he steals this guy off at the edge, but
does so kind of giving up his balance and he
knows he's going down, and what does he do. He
kind of spreads himself out and makes himself long and
he ends up taking out like three more defenders with

(38:23):
him as he's following. That's like a highly instinctive kind
of play for a guy that has not had a
ton of experience in that position kind of knew exactly
what to do. That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, it's pretty incredible how naturally instinctive and how quick
he is to process as a blocker for a guy
that hasn't done it a ton. You know, there's a
lot of times where when the offensive line's blocking in
short yardage, usually it's not like a read and react
situation in terms of the front. They usually take gaps right.
So like when you see sometimes you know, especially the tackles,

(38:56):
they'll kind of dive forward into a gap and sometimes
it looks like they're blocking in and it looks kind
of ugly, But in reality, that's just the way that
the play is designed because it's gonna be a bang,
bang car crash, so you're not gonna have time to
get push by like sitting back in your set and
then like reading where the defensive lineman's going like you

(39:16):
would on a normal play. So they just shoot gaps, right,
They just cover gaps. They just block a gap, And
so as a full back or as a lead blocker,
your job is then to process or read like who
do I have to make? Right? So if Will Campbell
takes the outside gap, but the defensive lineman ends up

(39:37):
shooting the inside gap. Then I just got to take
that guy. I gotta take first color Like this play
might be designed for me to get to the second level,
but I have to help the offensive line there. And
his ability to kind of like replace the blocks on
the offensive line is not something that you It is
not something that comes naturally like that's that's a hard skill.

(39:59):
It's like a hard read. And the fact the fact
that he's able to do that so seamlessly is like
a huge testament to him. So he's been great in
this role. He's been great on defense as well. So
what a find Kiris Tonga is there? So another another
win for this personnel department. Just a fantastic signing. The

(40:22):
other fantastic signing that I thought, uh, you know, just
continues to be on a heater in this game. Will too. Actually, uh,
Milton Williams and calevon Chase on and you know I
talked about Milon Williams or talked about earlier, the vibes
and the buying and all that kind of stuff. When
your highest paid defensive player, which is Milton Williams at

(40:43):
the moment, when your highest paid defensive player is Fuld
tilt through the whistle on every single play when he
is a sidelined, a sideline player, when he is a
red hot motor guy. It like sets a tone for
the rest of the defense. The fact that Milton Williams
plays like this every single week, it just shows everybody
else around him, like I've got to do the same.

(41:05):
Like if he's doing it and he's making thirty million
dollars a year, then what's my excuse not to do it?
And I talked to him about this after the game
and he said that that mentality, that motor, that full
tilt to the whistle, that is a non negotiable for
this defense. And he was frank about it and said,
if you're not doing it, we're taking your butt off

(41:27):
the field and we're gonna find somebody that will like
that is that's the way we're playing. And he encapsulates
that completely every single week. He fills up the stap sheet, pressures,
run stuffs, hustle plays. He is an awesome player to watch.
And then Chase on two six quarterback pressures in this
game led the team. I thought he was really good

(41:49):
in this game as well, relentless to on that sack.
Both those guys just continue to be on heaters. They've
both been great for basically all season at this point.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
Yeah, it's it's they've made a massive difference. And yeah,
all right.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
A couple more defensive things and we'll move over to
the bats. I want to give some kudos to this
safety tandem. I feel like there was a lot of
concerns about Craig Woodson and Jalen Hawkins being the Patriots
starting safeties. Been really good. Greig Woodson, I think has
been really starting to come into his own. I had

(42:25):
him with like four you know, impactful splash plays in
this game. A great pass breakup, you know, coming from
the split safety zone and breaking up that pass to
and on third down. That was a huge play in
this game. It is third and three there and scoring
territory and he separates the you know, along with Gonzo,
they kind of converge on it and gets the ball out.

(42:46):
Had another pass breakup in the flat, and then that
play that Jalen Hawkins made on the fourth down where
Baker somehow got the ball out. I think it's to
Rashad White that was like a miracle, you know, in
the grass kind of flipped by Baker. Mayfe and Jalen
Hawkins is playing post safety in the middle of the field.
He comes from like fifteen twenty yards off the ball

(43:07):
and makes that tackle.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
When it looked like the play was over, and I
mean he starts hustling. His other guys are kind of
celebrating yeah, or buck Skis are like, like the body
language of players on both sides was the play was over.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Yeah. So if they if they don't have that play, like,
if he's not there, then obviously like there's nobody else there,
so like that might be a touchdown if Jalen Hawkins
doesn't come up and make that tackle. So for all
there's concerns about depth. You know, if either one of
these guys gets hurt, then they're in a bad spot
at safety. But the concerns coming in about those two

(43:39):
guys being your starting safeties. I don't have a ton
of concerns anymore about those two players. I think they've
been both really solid.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
No, and it's it's another spot where they moved on
from veterans somewhat controversially. Obviously Peppers before the season and
then Duger a couple of weeks ago, and I don't know,
I know Hawkins. The first game of the year was
like weird where he had some big plays, but he
also made some big mistakes. And you're just kind of
everywhere good and bad. But how many times have we

(44:08):
sat here, Evan and been like, man, they could have
used Broll Peppers today, and they could have used Kyle Dougerty, Like,
we really haven't done that. Now Again, if guys start
getting hurt, we may have that conversation regards to depth.
But those guys have stepped in and and made the
plays they need to make.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Yeah, absolutely, really quickly in the chat, I'm not on
my phone. This is my rundown is on the is
on my phone, Okay, okay, I am tied to tech sometimes.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
Thank you for clarifying. Yeah, I want to show that's
a brave move to point your phone towards the camera.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
I mean, it's just it's a Google doc.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
What's gonna they never know what? Notification?

Speaker 2 (44:46):
What I'm married? Man, What do you think is going
to happen?

Speaker 3 (44:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
People are weird with this stuff.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Anyways, last one, last one on the goods, and then
I do want to talk about some of this other stuff.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
I split this up into two different ones. Well, he's
on the goods and he's on the bat Yeah, Gonzo
in man coverage, good yesh, he's on the goods. Two
for five in man coverage in terms of you know,
catches to target's only twelve yards allowed. He allowed one
catch for eleven yards to Mecca Buca and man coverage.
Now to be fully transparent, his defensive pass interference was

(45:21):
man coverage. I love the call, but it is what
it is. I think that he's still one of the
best lockdown man cover corners in the league. We can
talk about some of the zone stuff and how the
teams are getting their best receivers away from Gonzo and
how the Patriots need to improve in that regard, but
when he goes Mono Imano against their best receiver, whether

(45:43):
it was Drake London last week or Jerry Judy the
week before, now Agbuca a couple third down coverage, you
know stops or forest in completions as well. I thought
that in man coverage, Gonzo really good.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
I feel like Christian and I don't know if you
want to use this to jump to the bad I
don't know if it's Gonzalez goes as the defense goes
or the defense goes as Gonzales goes. However you want
to structure that doesn't feel like he gets beat once?
Whatever the concept? Right, he gets beat once early in
the game, Gonzales sucks, don't better, and then he's just

(46:17):
like lights out the rest of it. And obviously you'd
rather not get beat the first play of the game
or the first time he gets you know, tested. But
is that just me that feels that way that like
I think.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
To what it is and you know, let's just segue
to the bads here. Yeah, So when I talk about
the bads in these games, I want to be clear.
I am always looking at like, how could they lose
in the playoffs? Right Like at this point, it's like,
what is going to trip this team up? What's going
to cost his team a you know, a true run

(46:50):
in the playoffs. And I do think there are some
areas as good as they are playing that are starting
to bubble up underneath the surface that they need to
get corrected. And one of them, and it's not just
Christian Zalz He's not the only one. But I understand,
and I said earlier, I understand the method of the
badness in terms of the off coverage stuff. That still

(47:13):
doesn't mean that you need to give like the first
like twelve yards for free. Like you can still be
a little bit tighter on some of these off coverage
zone you know, off man type of reps where at
this point, whether it's a hitch, whether it's a slant,
whether it's a comeback, whether it's a you know, out whatever,

(47:35):
like they're just give They're handing teams ten yard outs,
Like if you want to go down the field on
the Patriots on first down, just throwing like seven ten
yard outs. It's there, man, like they are giving it
to you. And at some point some team with some
good quarterback is going to sit there and say, yeah,
we'll be patient, like we'll just take I'll take this

(47:57):
check down, I'll take this hitch, I'll take this out,
I'll take this you know o route over the ball
in between two zones, like I'll take this all day
long if you're gonna give this to me. So they
have to I think be a little bit more competitive
in those situations, and that I think is also you know,
part of the thing with Gonzo, like he gave up

(48:19):
I said, you know, two catches for twelve yards in
man to man. He gave up three catches for forty
nine yards in zone coverage, right, So the zone stuff
is a little bit murky. They're twenty fifth and early
down pass EPA because of their zone coverage and the
yards they're giving up in their zone coverages. So this
is something that isn't going to get them beat against

(48:40):
some of these lesser quarterbacks or Baker Mayfield without his
two best receivers. It's not going to get them beat
against Michael Pennix. It's not going to get them beat
against Dylan Gabriel, cam Ward Spencer Rattler. Will it get
them beat against Justin Herbert. We'll get them beat against
Josh Allen, will get them beat against Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes.

(49:01):
You know, I don't know if I'm putting Bo Nix
or Daniel Jones in that conversation, but we'll get them
beat against those great quarterbacks that might So I think
some of the things you're kind of getting at are
similar to the things that I have concerns about. They've
got to be a little bit better in their early
down zones, and they got to be a little bit tighter.
I think sometimes on the outside. I get that they

(49:22):
don't want to give up any big plays over their head,
but that doesn't mean that you just give them the
first fifteen yards.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
Well, and that's also where I go back to, like,
what are the chances that they play it differently against
those quarterbacks? Like they didn't play this at least not
that regularly. They didn't play this way against Buffalo. Yeah,
and maybe it's just the way they're going to play
against certain quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Sure, other couple of things that just are kind of
starting to get on my radar. It's all most of
this in this part of the list's kind of defense.
To be honest. Run defense last week basically the worst
run defense performance the year across the board, and this
was I know, you know, maybe I'm under selling Tucker

(50:07):
the running back for the Bucks a little bit.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
I think he's like I liked him coming down in
the draft and they got good depth. I know he's
their third string running back. I don't think he'd be
the third string everywhere. He's a good playing runs really hard.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
So this was their worst run defense performance by EPA
success rate, yards per carry explosive runs. Like all across
the board, they gave up a fifty seven percent success
rate on the ground, which is astronomically high for them
in my opinion. If that is Bijon Robinson or if

(50:40):
that is Breise Hall tomorrow night, you know, Thursday night,
those eighteen yard runs that Tucker was breaking off might
become fifty yard runs against these great backs. So their
run defense has been awesome all year. This could easily
just be a one week blip in the radar here,
but I think it kind of goes hand in hand

(51:01):
with this next one. I have not seen the Christian
Barmore that I'm used to seeing over the last couple
of weeks, So I don't know if that is bumps
and bruises catching up to him. I know he has
this back thing. I don't know if it's that. I
don't know if it's long season, late bye like they
might just need some of these guys, whether it's you know,

(51:23):
bar More, Landry Splane like these, some of these veteran
players might just need the bye week in a bad
way because they're just not especially Landry and Barmore. It's
been two weeks for Barmore, it's really been since that
ankle injury in New Orleans with Landry where I've seen
those guys play to their potential and play to their ceiling.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Yeah, and they've talked about Vrabel's talk out and need
to manage some of those veteran guys. So it's where
the late bye week comes in. They're gonna have the
mini bye this week, you know, and then what is
it two weeks? It's it's this week Cincinnati and then
the Giants and then the bye, right, yes, so, and
even that Giants game will be a longer week because
that's Monday night. So they got some rest coming up,

(52:10):
and it's it's well earned.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
So just something that's a little bit on there on
my radar. You know, Barmore and Landry. In this game,
Barmore hasn't logged in. I know he was in and
out of this game because of the injury, but he
hasn't logged the quarterback pressure in two weeks and that's
just not normal. Christian Barmore. Like, I'm watching his film
right now, and I'm like, this guy looks he looks compromised,
like he looks like something is but like health wise

(52:34):
is bothering?

Speaker 1 (52:34):
If just they're still doubling them?

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Sometimes they are, and I kind of chock that up
to it last week, but now it's two weeks in
a row that he's looked this way, so it's starting
to be on my radar. Last thing on the bags
and then we'll get to the stuff that gets you beat.
Only really one or two things there.

Speaker 4 (52:50):
But.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
It's driving me the coverage bus in the red zone
or driving me nuts. It's every week. It's like three
or four weeks in a row at this point. You know,
fan in on his touchdown against Atlanta, it wasn't a touchdown,
but they left Beijon Robinson wide open in the flat
that led to a touchdown. And then this week of
course Agbuca's first touchdown or only touchdown, but the first

(53:13):
touchdown on the opening drive just wide open coverage bust.
It's every single week they are busting a coverage in
the high red zone, you know that area between the
fifteen and twenty five yard line, every single week. So
this has got to get cleaned up, like they've got
to figure it out. It looks to me, you know,
watching back this play from Sunday, in terms of the

(53:34):
Igbuka touchdown, it looks like quarters uh and in quarters,
like you're going to match verticals and quarters. So I
think that Marcus Jones needed to carry Igbuka on that route, Like,
I think.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
That's what I think he kind of slipped a little bit, right, Well.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
What happened was is, you know, so Gonzo is getting
run off on that side of the field by the
outside receiver and it's a little like delayed wheel. It's
a nice route, it's a delayed wheel by Buco where
he kind of just like lulls you to sleep and
then he releases up the field. And I look at
that one and say, you know, I think Marcus Jones
should have carried a Buka on that play, whether or not,

(54:13):
you know, I don't know if it was a muddied
read or or you know, maybe he thought that Abuka
was sitting because he did kind of sit to start.
Maybe he slipped a little bit. I don't know what
the case was. But this is every single week now
that they're busting coverages in the red zone every single week. Uh,
and it's it's got to stop. Like it's that's something
that's absolutely got to be corrected so that those couple

(54:36):
of things, like I don't think that giving up an
opening drive touchdown is a thing that gets you beat
because you have three and a half quarters, let's call
it to make up for it.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
So because they recover.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
I'm not sure that that's on that level, but the
red zone stuff is on that level of the busted coverage.
A couple just quick things on the stuff that gets
you beat. Don't think we need to blabor this point.
The Drake may interception.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
Obviously, it's a interceptions.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
It happen.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
It just can't.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Yeah, you know, trying to do too much, trying to
be a hero, had him in structure. I felt like
watching it on tape, I thought he had maccollins open
within the play design. It was a little bluff screen,
you know, fake the screen to Diggs, send maccollins, you know,
vertically up the seam. I think if he just throws
that high to the back of the end zone, it's
a touchdown to mac collins. Doesn't throw it, doesn't like it.

(55:30):
Winfield was kind of in the in the picture in
the middle of the field as the as the single
high safety. Didn't like it, pulled it down. What I
was a little bit you know, small see concerned about.
He said after the game he'd throw it again, and
I get his mentality, Like I get what he's saying
in terms of the good you know, he wants to

(55:51):
be aggressive. Yeah, he wants to be a playmaker, and
I want him to do that too, But it just
depends on the situation of the game. Like in that situation,
the Bucks were on the ropes. If you throw that
ball into the tenth row and kick a field goal,
it's an eight point game with like five minutes ago,
or you know, with the wave, Rabel is like he
might have just gone it go on fourth down. So

(56:14):
you just don't need it, Like it didn't need you
didn't need to try to force it in there. It is,
the throw didn't need to happen. So that's on the
stuff that gets you beat. And you know that is
something that could have easily gotten them beat. Now the defense,
to their credit, they stepped up right, but you can't
have those types of picks from the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
One other thing from this game we didn't mention. I
don't know which category you want to put it in.
I'd put it in the good clock management. I know
it's not your favorite thing to talk about, necessarily, So
I'm interested in two things that the clock managed.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Ye, there was one more thing that I wanted to
bring up quickly about the stuff get gets.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
Hid some and they recovered, but they had some bad penalties.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Yeah, the penalties don't bother me as much.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
A yeah, I know they don't.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
I don't know what it was. It was probably the
red zone coverage bus because it's annoying the crap out
of me.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Uh what margaus Jones muffing the punt?

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Yeah, that wasn't great either. What what did you think
of the clock management? Because we kind of talked about
this on PE yesterday. I loved the end of the
half id awesome. I thought that was awesome. Evan old
school BELLICHICKI in masterstroke type stuff.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Seven sixteen. They took seven sixteen off the clock. That is,
you know, I love my shortened game philosophy, right, that
is shortening the freaking game. And they get going and
I look at the clock and this tray has been
going for a wow much times. I'm like, four minutes left.
This isn't gonna be last drout of the quarter. There's no
way they've already been going. And they keep going and

(57:41):
to make Tampa burn the timeouts down there in the
red zone, and you know, whatever you want to make
of that first down play. Drake may said he was
trying to get in. I don't know, but he was,
you know, I don't think the goal was to leave
it for fourth down and literally leave the clock at zero.
And if you look Trayvon Henders, I think it was
the third down play. Travondon probably scores if Will Campbell
doesn't get held. Yeah, but he gets held. He's an

(58:03):
old somebody gets helt.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
But even if they score on second down. Huge difference
giving the ball back to Baker Mayfield with one forty
six left versus like a minute left. Yeah, it's a
massive difference, especially with no timeout.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
So so it's one forty four left in the half
when Drake may did the sneak, not sneak like. Yeah,
So now take getting the ball back with under a minute, right,
So that takes forty seconds off the playing clock. Uh
So then at what they snapped the ball to Henderson
play on second down with one oh three left.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
Yeah, so it's gonna be left by the time Henderson
gets in and then the kickoff like that's gonna take
another ten seconds off, right, So.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
You're looking at the difference of giving Baker the ball back. Well,
let's call it one forty yeah, one thirty five. Maybe, uh,
let's call it one thirty because by after the kick
the KICKO, yeah, let's call it one thirty U versus
like maybe forty five seconds. Huge difference, huge difference, agreed,
huge difference. Not that I was surprised that. So you're

(59:02):
my clock management expert on this show, Paul is the
clock management expert on PU I was surprised.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
You should learn how this works. Yeah, I know you
think the clock is irrelevant. I should learn how this.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Is your this is your thing. I don't need to
because you and Paul.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
I want to say that next time you get annoyed
at me for not using analytics.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
Okay, sure, I thought it was another kind of master stroke.
I mean I really did.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
Running seven minutes off the clock is just like, forget
how obviously managing it at the end of half is
great and they need to catch by digs to ultimately
get it in. But like, just on top of that,
a seven minute drive, Yeah, that's a beast. That's one
of their most impressive drives of the year. Fourteen play
seventy eight yards seven to sixteen off the clock. That
that's something that's like a college football kind of thing.

(59:45):
You don't really take eight minutes off the clock in
the NFL on a drive. That's pretty rare. And then
at the end of the second half, obviously Trevion Henderson,
they could have run it out. You know, there would
have been a handful of seconds left. Uh, he kicked
the field goal. You know, things can go right. The
fact they go up two scores to me, you go

(01:00:06):
up two scores with under two minutes ago, you should
feel good about it. And then so.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
There's one forty three, just like you snap the ball
at one forty three, Yeah, then there's a touchback, so
no time comes off. So it'd be one thirty one
that Baker snapped the ball on the bucks next final drive.
So so with one thirty one, let's call it one
thirty one. If the Patriot, if he.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Goes down, if he's gonna go down at one thirty one,
they're gonna call time out there. So now it's first
and ten, they can run it out.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
I think they can't run it out, but he would
have to have like done that thing where you like, yeah,
pedal like four yards and then kneel it like you couldn't.
They couldn't just straight kneel on it. They would have
had to kind of like.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
If the touchdown puts them up eight or less, you
go down. Yeah, if the touchdown puts them up eight
or less, you go down, you know, making it a
two score game. And I do we talked about the
Top show. I do think there's that element of trey
Van Henderson getting to have that moment and what that's
going to mean for him going forward. I didn't have
a huge problem with it, And part of what makes

(01:01:08):
me feel better about it is Henderson knew to look
and like knew that there was maybe it was a
decision there and he's fast not which is great. Well,
but the thing is, I think once it's not taking
anything away. Once he rounds the corner, the Bucks are
letting him score. I wonder what would have happened if
he started jogging at like the twenty yeah, and if
he could take another ten seconds off the clock because
the Bucks are going to let him go in. But yeah, yeah,

(01:01:29):
it's a goal. It's basically goalie defense, rightw You know,
I would have liked to see them be a little
more competitive on that drive after.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
So that was the other thing a hot night.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Through butter and then a plus played by Stephan Diggs
to recover that on sidekick and he took a shot. Yeah,
and that's a thirty one year old All Pro made
his money guy going out there taking that shot for
the team. Good for him, man, good for him. And
that's part of what makes this team special.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Okay. So I'm glad that we brought up this sequence
because it made me think of the last thing that
I had on this stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
Because he beat I forgot to write it down the
Bucks last drive. Hated it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
I absolutely hated it from a Patriots defense perspective, Like,
you cannot give up a touchdown drive in less than
a minute in that spot, you can't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
You gotta lock down a little more.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
You have to at least make them earn it a
little bit more than that. So they go thirteen yard
like kind of check down to Rashad White. Then the
twenty one yard or to Buka that really got them
going again. Gonzo gives him like the first like twenty
twenty five yards. I like he was in full prevent
defense mode on that play. Gives up the twenty one yarder.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
I think was it that one. There was one. There
was one on that drive where they let a guy
get out of bounds and it's like, if you're gonna leak,
give that up, you have to tackle them in bounce.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
If Sterling, Yeah, the Sterling Shepherd, one of either Tess
or Sterling Shepherd is like an eleven yard or than
a nine yarder. And then they give up the eleven
yard touchdown to Sterling Shepherd. So they they were able
to make it into a one score game again in
fifty eight seconds the Patriots the first snap I just mentioned,
Baker Mayfield snapped the ball with one thirty one left

(01:03:12):
in the game, and they still would have not only
did they score to make it a one score game,
they still would have had like.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
A couple of plays for the on side kick.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
At least thirty seconds yeah, to run offense, like if
they recovered the on side kick, because they would have
needed another touchdown. It was twenty eight, twenty three, five
point game. But Baker Drake may snapped the ball on
his kneel down with thirty two seconds left, so they
would have had the ball at the fifty with thirty
two seconds left, needing a touchdown. That's plenty of time

(01:03:45):
in the league. Nowadays, to score a touchdown, you have
to be better than that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
That was not at You got to keep guys in
bounds or play a little more aggressive there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
All right, that I've gotten it all out of my system,
We're going to take a quick break. We're going to
talk Jets. We're going to talk a little bit more.
I'm sure about this Bucks game. But we're also gonna
take all your lovely calls and emails, so we'll see
you guys after the break.

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go to the phones. Uh Todd is in Gardner? What's up, Todd?

Speaker 3 (01:06:55):
Hey, guys, I've got a quick request. I've been thinking
about all the rookies we've got and as I pu,
I was happy to see them get mentioned in you know,
after further review with you, because that just means they're contributing.
So I just like to give us a grade where
you think they are for mid term. I know you
might not have time, stakes do want to get the Jets.
My other quick comment is, don't freaking overlook the Jets

(01:07:17):
because we're tired. It's a short week. We're really entered.
I'm a little worried after that. Hey, have a good
show and keep picking on bars. Don't let them get
away with stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
Evan Okay, yeah, yeah, don't get what am I getting
away with? Yeah, I'm gonna keep picking on what what
am I getting away with? I don't know. We we
pick on each other equally I'm getting away with It's
like two brothers bickering at each other. Just is what
it is. Uh, don't see one of the Jets. I
agree with that. Yeah, we'll get a little bit more
of a Jets preview here in a second. The rookie class,

(01:07:49):
so I think that they grade out pretty highly in
my mind right now now. I don't think that it's
always been perfect, Like these guys have had some.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
Rookie growin here to expectations.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Yeah, you know, I think Campbell has been exactly what
I thought set in and forget it at left tackle.
I mean, has it been perfect? Absolutely not. You know,
I think there are things in this game too with
him that on terms of stunts and things like that,
that needs to improve, But it certainly hasn't held them
back at all. Like starting left Yeah, their top ten

(01:08:22):
scoring offense, top ten passing offense, top ten explosive play
rate offense. Like if they had terrible left tackle play
and terrible left guard play too. To put it with
Jared Wilson, I do not think that they would be
up there in pretty much every passing category. It took
Travon Henderson a little bit to get going, Yeah, getting

(01:08:44):
going now, So I think that that's been a positive trend.
Kyle Williams the same thing behind a lot of veteran players,
so that that's part of it too with him. And
I'll say what I said at the beginning of the show,
Craig Woodson, I think has been fantastic. I really do.
I'm really excited about him. I think he flies to
the football. I think he plays with great play, speed
and physicality. He's an effort and finished kind of guy.

(01:09:07):
He can play multiple roles. He had a great coverage
rep in this game where they motioned from like a
three by one into two by two and they motioned
a receiver from left to right and he was the
post safety. Jalen Hawkins was down in the box when
they motioned, they flipped Jalen Hawkins went back. Craig Woodson
came down and stand played over the slot. They then

(01:09:30):
ran like kind of the same exact concept they ran
on ag Buka's touchdown, a sort of like a post
wheel type of concept and they're trying to hit a
big play down the field and Craig Woodson carried the
wheel and was just there like he was just in
the right spot. Like he don't get a box score
stat because of that because he didn't get targeted or
anything like that, but just like a real heads up,

(01:09:51):
like good coverage rep by Craig Woodson. I thought that
it wasn't just the on ball production. He was really
good away from the ball too. Down the field and
coverage really excited about him, like he's a kind of
kudos to them. I was wrong about him, Like I
thought they overdrafted him and they didn't. I think they
they nailed that pick. So what would I rate the
whole rookie class.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Well, you forget I mean, Joshua Farmer's giving them some
good snaps. Yeah, obviously the specialists. Borgalis and I haven't
even talked about Borgallis has bounced back after rough first
couple of weeks. Ashby's been excellent. Marcus Bryant is not
allowed a single pressure, one hundred percent pass block win rate.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Hasn't played well.

Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
No, he has one passblock snap because they put him
in a couple of those games that will blowouts. But no,
I mean they I mean that's tongue cheek. But even
though some of those step guys have been good. Yeah,
I do think we will see Braden Swinton before the
year's over.

Speaker 3 (01:10:43):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:10:43):
I don't know that we'll see him a lot, but
I do think we're gonna seem at some point before
the year's over.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
I think so far, I maybe i'd give it like
a solid B plus, A minus, somewhere in that range. Yeah,
I was gonna say B plus, Like it hasn't been
an absolute home run, but they've gotten contributors. They've gotten
two starters, it looks like on the offensive line. Yeah,
maybe Jared Wilson's a center next year long term, but yeah,
it's hard.

Speaker 1 (01:11:05):
So something it's gonna come down to, like where does
Jared Wilson end up long term?

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
You know, are they gonna have to Are they planning
on Trevia on Henderson being a bellcow or is it
going to be him and reminder Stevenson or him in
another back Like we'll see with that in the big picture.
But yeah, i'd say b plus.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
Yeah. So the other thing, you know, just quickly on
Craig Woodson too, because I'm just excited about Craig Woodson.
He made a play in this game too that he
was kind of targeted on where he was the post
safety in the middle of the field, and they ran
again like sort of like a wheel post on to
the right of Baker's mayfield right, and he stayed glued
to the post so that he could help Gonzo on

(01:11:43):
the post, which is where he was supposed to be.
And then Baker worked from the front side of the
concept to the backside of the concept, and on the
back side of the concept he had like a seam
route that should have been a huge play. Craig Woodson
started on the post, stayed in the middle of the field,
flipped his hips and like ran to the seam and
squeezed the seam. It was like a great play. I

(01:12:06):
was like, wow, now a great throw would have beaten him. Still, yeah,
but it was one of those situations where he was
enough in the area that it made it a harder
play to make for the offense. And that to me
was like, that was Devin mccordy esque, right, Like, that's
like what you want from a single high safety is

(01:12:26):
you know, stay on the front side of the concept,
take away the initial read when he comes back backside,
can you go from one hatch to the other and
recover to the backside And he did a great job
of that on that play. I just thought this was
I thought it has been a while now, like a
couple weeks in a row where I feel like Craig
Woodson's really starting to come into his own. Let's get
back to the phones. Patty is an agua? What's up? Patty?

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
Hey?

Speaker 7 (01:12:51):
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
Guys? Eight? What's up?

Speaker 7 (01:12:55):
Not too much? So there's three things that I wanted
to see happening in this game that I think the
Patriots have been lacking all two of them definitely. The
first one is I want to see some turnovers because
if you look at like it's more specifically some picks,
because our guys haven't got a lot of picks this
year so far. I think Splaine leads leads the team

(01:13:19):
with two so far. And this is a good game
to do it because you know the Jets that they
try to throw the ball, they're going to try, you know,
they need to turn it over. Talk about the middle eights.
One thing I haven't seen the last two games is
when the second half, that's number two and number three
is keep feeding the rookies. You know, Booty's going to
be back eventually, but while he's sidelined, you know, keep

(01:13:41):
feeding Kyle Williams, rom Andre is going to be back eventually.
Keep feeding, keep feeding, trade down. I want to see
those guys not necessarily like with good stats at the
end of the year, but like by the end of
the year saying we got two really good friggin players
in the second third round of the draft this year.
That's all I got. I'll talk to you guys, or Alex,

(01:14:03):
I'll talk to you on Thursday if you do the
pregame show later.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
Thanks Patt. I appreciate the call. So on the second
half stuff. Yeah, we got a caller in yesterday that
on PU that had all the numbers of like their score.

Speaker 1 (01:14:17):
First time third quarter points since the Bills game.

Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
Yeah, so it's been a while in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter is scoring differential, I know, is not great.
I kind of give them a pass on that because
there's so many blowouts. Yeah, and so it's like against Carolina,
against Tennessee, against Cleveland, they put that game away, So
like if they needed to keep scoring in those games,

(01:14:40):
I think they were able would have been able to
keep scoring. Now last week and they only scored three
points in the second half against Atlanta, and then this
past week they kind of let the Bucks hang around
a little bit in this game. Those are fair criticisms,
and I think that their offense has not necessarily sustained
through four quarters every single week, and you'd probably like

(01:15:01):
to see more of like a complete sustainable offensive performance.
And it's kind of why they flame out like in
the high twenties every week, Like it's like, you know,
twenty four to twenty eight points a game because they're
not necessarily scoring a ton in the fourth quarter. So
fair points on that one with Pat for Patty don

(01:15:21):
is in Philly? What's up Don?

Speaker 8 (01:15:25):
Hey guys, how are we doing?

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
Not bad?

Speaker 8 (01:15:28):
So I have two questions here the kind of build
like some of the questions build off each other. But
first of all, would you rather JFN or Gonzo? And
I know Evan mentioned this a while back, and I
don't want to speak for him because this isn't exactly
what he said. But do you want to PRECFAE by
saying I love Gonzo. I think he's a great player.

(01:15:51):
I think he's one of the best, you know, lockdown
corners in the league. But if he's not a brable
guy and they don't want to pay him, you know,
top market money, would you ever consider trading him like
the Jets did with Sauce if it guaranteed, you know,
a playmaker in a first or maybe two first And

(01:16:12):
then secondly, how many wins do you think we need
to win the AFC East and secure the number one seed?
So you could do that separately, like how many wins
do we just need to get the you know, to
win the AFC East? And how many do you think
we need to secure the one seat and have home
field advantage in the buy take it offer?

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
Thanks? For the call. Don So Jaysn versus Gonzo is
the twenty twenty two draft revisited. They could have drafted
either one of those guys in twenty two. I think
jays N was still on the board at that point.
I don't know. It's hard to sit here and say
that I'm upset that they took Gonzo. Like, obviously, Jayson's
a fantastic players, probably a top five receiver in football.

(01:16:55):
Gonzo's probably a top five corner in football. Like, I'd
probably give the edges a little bit to j s
N because he's a receiver versus a corner. But like,
I'm not mad that they took No, I'm not.

Speaker 1 (01:17:06):
And you go back and you look at what their
wide receiver development was at that time. Does he become
that player if he's here? So no, I yeah, Kim Gonzales,
Yeah that's fair.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
What was the other thing that, Oh, you're.

Speaker 1 (01:17:20):
Gonna hate this. How many wins to an AFC East
and how many wins? Well, so here's the.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
Oh, before we get to that, he did to ask
if we would trade Gonzo if they are not gonna
extend him. So this is yeah, I mean, this is sauce,
like Micah Parson's just had this happen to you, right,
Uh yeah, I mean obviously if yeah, if you're if
you're really far apart in contract negotiations and you get

(01:17:45):
an offer of two first round picks and a player
or something crazy for Christian Gonzales, then yeah you obviously.

Speaker 1 (01:17:53):
Yeah, you can't a guy like that walk, But I'd
rather pay him cigarette good player and not they shouldn't
be in the business and moving on from football per se. Yeah,
all right, how many wins? So how many wins would
take to win the AFCs. Let's do that first. So
Buffalo plays a tough and probably angry Tampa team this week.
If they lose that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:12):
I did see that it is kind of a sneaky
hard game for the Bills, but.

Speaker 1 (01:18:16):
The Bucks have always given them trouble. Yeah, you know,
they go to six and four, that's now essentially a
three and a half game lead for the Patriots, to
two and a half game lead, but they have the
one in hand. They had to head right swides two
and a half, it would be two in the lost
column and then you have the tiebreakers. So that's like

(01:18:37):
kind of like they have. So if if you know,
if Patriots take care of business against the Jets and
Buffalo loses. So Buffalo's next four games the end of
their schedule is brutal Tampa. Yeah, Houston has a great defense. Yeah,
Davis Mills, what's up game? I'm sure CJ. Strove will

(01:18:59):
be back? Yeahs Burg yep not. And that's in Pittsburgh,
I think, right in Pittsburgh. And then the Bengals, whose
defense is wretched, but they're gonna Burrow back. They're probably
gonna have Burrow back.

Speaker 2 (01:19:13):
I think they have to have them back by then.
I think that's that's the Seyboda window. And even if
they don't have Burrow, Joe Flacko's that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:19:21):
Joe Flack was hanging forty on. So that's four tough games,
and then you go come here to play the Pad.
And then after that, I think, is the Eagles, right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:28):
The Eagles in week seventeen? Yeah, the Browns and the
Jets sandwiched in between whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:19:32):
But like, you know, how many wins is it gonna
take if even if they lose that game to Buffalo
and it gets split.

Speaker 2 (01:19:40):
I think if they win twelve games, they win the division.

Speaker 1 (01:19:41):
I was gonna say, I was gonna say, does eleven
wins get it done? I think twelve twelve death well
does definitely, Because to get to twelve, they how many
games they've left?

Speaker 2 (01:19:49):
Nine?

Speaker 1 (01:19:50):
Oh, no, I'm doing math. Nine have seven games, they
have seven games left.

Speaker 2 (01:19:54):
They played ten. This is the easiest math pot.

Speaker 1 (01:19:56):
I forgot because about right, So they have seven games left.
So to get to twelve wins, they'd have to go
six and one. What they have seven games left, they
have seven games left. They only need to win four
more games to get twelve wins. Buffalo, Oh, buff Buffalo
would have to go give me that stretch a sorry, yeah,
give I'm not that bad at that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:14):
Give that stretch again. I'm not that bad Bucks, Texans, Steelers, Bengals, Patriots, Brown's, Eagles, Jets.

Speaker 1 (01:20:21):
Can they go six and one in that?

Speaker 2 (01:20:23):
I mean they could, Like the Bills are really good teams.

Speaker 1 (01:20:27):
Yeah, but like that's not an easy It's not gonna
be easy, So it's not twelve I think definitely gets
it to you. If they beat the Bills. Yeah, if
the Patriots beat the Bills, here, eleven gets it done.
I think so, I'm not you probably need another game somewhere.

Speaker 2 (01:20:40):
Earlier in the show. I I I told you I'm
not stitious. I'm just a little stitious. So I didn't
want to talk about all this, all right, I didn't
want to talk about it. But he can get mad
at me. I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:20:48):
I just don't you know, well, if they lose to
the Jets and Victors.

Speaker 2 (01:20:53):
Okay, uh. I did allow myself to think a little bit, Yeah,
the Bills and fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:21:01):
That game's that Probably that game's for the division.

Speaker 2 (01:21:05):
If the Bills kind of don't recover here, yeah, and
they lose a couple more times before they play, they
could that could be a hat and T shirt game
that literally even if.

Speaker 1 (01:21:16):
The Bills are good like that could maybe not literally
hat and T shirt game, but.

Speaker 2 (01:21:20):
Let me ask it could more or less can like
decide the division?

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
Yes, but I think Pending made multiple major upsets, which
can always happen. It's the NFL's National Football League. Can
the Bills win the division without beating the Patriots here?

Speaker 4 (01:21:33):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:21:33):
But I think that really like if you look at it,
especially the way the Patriots schedule lines up here. You know, Jets, Bangels,
Giants where I gets twice the Bengals are hard I
think harder maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:21:46):
Bengal is a sneaky trap game. You gotta go there,
and Joe Flack has just playing their offense is good.
You can't play that off coverage against that that team.

Speaker 2 (01:21:53):
So Jets, Bengals, Giants. Yeah, let's just say the good
times keep rolling here for the Patriots if they're uh,
you know, eleven and two going out coming off the bye,
going into that Buffalo game here at Gillette, like, a
are the Bills? Are they?

Speaker 4 (01:22:09):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (01:22:10):
Now? If they have a three game lead out of
that with the tiebreakers, it's over.

Speaker 1 (01:22:14):
That is right? That could literally be ahead and t
shirt game. Yeah right and all Buffalo loss.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
That's happened, right, Yeah, it's not inconceivable.

Speaker 1 (01:22:21):
So I look at the rest of the Patriots schedule.
I know you didn't want to get ahead of ourselves,
but here we are.

Speaker 2 (01:22:25):
Yep. I did it to myself. It's fine.

Speaker 1 (01:22:28):
They have the Bills, yep, they have the Ravens, and
again I think at the Bengals is a sneaky tough game.
They should win it, but it's a sneaky tough game
if they If they win one of those, you can't
get swept. You can't get swept in those three because
everything else is easy. You got the Giants, you get
the Jets twice, you got the Dolphins, and I think
that's it, right, And ask anybody you can't get swept

(01:22:49):
in those three. If you win one, all right, you're
probably gonna be okay. If they can just take two
of those three, they're golden. Yeah, they are in great shape.
They just got to win two of those three against
the Bills, the Ravens, and the Bengals. I think that
the Ravens game is probably the toughest of those three.
I don't know if you'd agree with that or not.
If you're a Patriots fan and there's not a part

(01:23:12):
of you, no matter who they're putting on the field
that's nervous going into Baltimore, you're kidding yourself. So I
but yeah, Lamar, this is assuming Lamar plays, obviously, But
I on this game left, I guess is what I'm asking.

Speaker 2 (01:23:26):
For the Bills, No, for the Patriots, Buffalo, Baltimore and Buffalo, which.

Speaker 1 (01:23:31):
I'm asking what is the toughest. So I think it's Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
I think it's sneaky Baltimore because I think Buffalo is
gonna make the playoffs. I think they know it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:38):
Baltimore might need to keep winning, right, like they might
need to really and it's there. Yeah you haven't. You know,
they're a little more familiar with Josh Allen. When's the
last time they played the Ravens be in a minute,
probably that was it the game that Mac Jones busted
his ankle and DeVante Parker like one hundred and eighty yards.

Speaker 2 (01:23:55):
Okay, so, uh, the I told you I wasn't gonna
do playoff permutations and seeding and matchups. I will do
division like. That's that's where you're okay.

Speaker 1 (01:24:08):
No, I mean that's very relevant.

Speaker 2 (01:24:09):
And winning the division. I think you know Mike Rabel
when he took the job in January, yeah said checkpoint
number one, take advantage of bad football. I think they're
well beyond taking advantage of bad football. Yes, checkpoint number two,
win the division host home playoff games. I put those
two together because if you win the division, you're gonna
hont you automatically host a home playoff game. So win

(01:24:32):
the division, host a home playoff game. That checkpoint is right.

Speaker 1 (01:24:37):
I'll give you one more sneaky important thing in this too. Yep,
that loss to Miami is massive because of the division record.
Yeah right, that's the second tiebreaker if the Bills come
in here and win the head division record. Right, the
Bills are now two and two in the division. Patriots
are two and Oh they still have a bunch of
division games left.

Speaker 2 (01:24:54):
But yeah, no, that is right there, and I will
also I will also allow for the Umber one seat,
which I think is also right there for the taking.
You know, it's gonna be a three years there.

Speaker 1 (01:25:04):
I mean, there's a lot more going on there. But
I think this year, like I said, by the way,
the Patriots, Colts and Broncos and it feels like we're
in high school again.

Speaker 2 (01:25:14):
This is great.

Speaker 1 (01:25:15):
I will tell melcome back to twenty twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:25:17):
I probably I might eat my words on this eventually
in January, if the Patriots play the Colts or Broncos,
I don't care where that game is. I'm taking the Patriots.
I don't care.

Speaker 1 (01:25:27):
I have I don't care PTSD going to Denver and
it's really I don't care if.

Speaker 2 (01:25:31):
It's an Indie or Denver. I actually if it's in Indy,
I really like the Patriots because it's a dome and
Drake May is gonna throw for three hundred faking yards
in that dome. I would take the Patriots. I do
not trust the jon.

Speaker 1 (01:25:44):
From I don't want to get too ahead of myself. Yep,
and here we are seventy five eighty five minutes later.
The Patriots are going to blow doors against the Colts
on the road in the I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
Trust that Colts team at all. I watched them in Germany.
I know it's granted, it's a international game. Those are
always tough. They pulled it out. I get that. Uh,
you know how I feel about teams that are built
with their run first. You know that I don't trust those.
Uh kind of well, I just think the Broncos offense
just kind of stinks.

Speaker 1 (01:26:15):
I I think I think the Colts are more real
than the Broncos. The Colts, to me, there's something there,
and you may not love the way they're building. I
got what you're saying about the dome. They're saying that
Jones will turn back into a pumpkin. So you you
said earlier you don't think the Chargers could get it.
It's even at seven and three. You wonder if the
Chargers would get in.

Speaker 2 (01:26:32):
I worry about that Chargers team. I do their offensive
line is decimated, like Joe Halt and Rashaun Slater are now.
They are either out for the season or Joe Alt
is dealing with an high ankle. I think it is
like that's never good. Uh, but I I just the
Colts specifically. I would love for the Patriots to play
the Colts because I think that's a great I'm not

(01:26:55):
saying just because I think the Patriots would win, Like,
I actually just think that's a great football game. Would
Jonathan Taylor against defense this run defense, Drake May against
lou Anaumo, Like that's a great matchup, you know, Josh
versus lou two, Like that's a great football game on paper.
I just really think just like Minnesota last year with

(01:27:16):
Sam Darnold, just like the Vikings a couple of years ago.
I think it's twenty two right where they had like
that flash in the pan season.

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
I just look at the Giants the Daniel Jones breakout,
Like I.

Speaker 2 (01:27:28):
Just look at this cold team and I'm like, I
think that they'll have the exact same season that the
Vikings had last year. Great regular season, fun story wants
it's time to play the big dogs in the playoffs.
Daniel Jones turns.

Speaker 1 (01:27:40):
Back into who's the best AFC?

Speaker 2 (01:27:43):
Right now? Yeah, I work for them. I don't know,
I'll like that's it like they're ain't and two. I
mean like they have their tie for the best. And
I'll tell you this now, I don't think that they're
based off of their resid may. Yeah, they're the best.

Speaker 1 (01:28:01):
Who's been the best team in the AFC through ten weeks?

Speaker 2 (01:28:04):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:28:04):
That's different than what I'm asking is the best. I'm
not asking you he's gonna come out of the AFC.
Who's been the best team in the AFC through ten weeks?
You have power rank the AFC right now, Patrick Patrisone,
I'll tell you this. I can't believe I'm saying this. Yeah,
the Chiefs are a little bit of a sleeping giant
at team maybe many And they go into Denver this
week and we just talked about that Broncos seam being fraudulent,
but like Denver's a tough places to play, It's a

(01:28:25):
divisional game they go in.

Speaker 2 (01:28:27):
That's what it worries me about not getting the number
one seed is that you could be the second overall
seed in the comment and you have to play Kansas
City and have to play Patrick Mahomes and wild card
wak if they go in and blow doors against Denver,
that's such a message to the league. That's such a
message to the league that like, hey, don't have to
sit out of the Kansas City is in there two thousand,

(01:28:49):
right now, they're in there, twenty eighteen Patriots era, right
now they are.

Speaker 1 (01:28:53):
You're saying it's almost over.

Speaker 2 (01:28:54):
No, maybe, but I am also saying, well, it's almost
over for you know, it's almost over for Kelsey, It's
almost over for Chris Jones.

Speaker 1 (01:29:02):
Like they're how much long is Andy Reagan?

Speaker 2 (01:29:04):
They're gonna have to turn over some of this roster
around Mahomes even more than they already have. But Kansas
City in December and January, they'll turn it on. They'll
they'll get into the playoffs and then anything can happen.

Speaker 1 (01:29:16):
Right now because of that, Trevor laur November twelfth, Yeah,
I got to climb back in the rest of the
season is not ending today. Who's the best team in
the NFC.

Speaker 2 (01:29:29):
That's a tougher one.

Speaker 1 (01:29:30):
I I have a take it might be a little
crazy and maybe I'm caught up in the moment. Yeah,
probably is it Seattle they're playing like the best team rules.
They're playing like they're kind of the NFC version of
the Patriots right where I think that the NFC version
of the Colts. But no, just what they're doing with
the deep ball, Like I know we're talking about Stafford,
and I think Stafford and Drake may Or the two

(01:29:51):
m VP favorites, right, Yeah, Darnald might need to be
in that conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:29:55):
Yeah, I think Darnald's in the COMMO. I think it's
might need to be more than Stafford May Darnold, Jonathan Taylor,
like Philly's lingering. There's something about that team that feels
a little off to me that like isn't the same
as the last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (01:30:09):
Detroit's been better after a slow start.

Speaker 4 (01:30:12):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:30:13):
I like Tampa if they can get healthy. I guess
the Rams are good, but I don't know. There's something
about they're not just winning. They're like they've won some
really intense close games. They've blown some teams out. They're
winning every which way again subject to change. I I
I do like the Seattle team though, Okay, let's talk
a little bit. And I said that we're doing this
instead of draft order, right, you wanted this at the

(01:30:33):
beginning of the show. I gave it to you, all right,
So there you go. Everybody can give me on Sunday.
With all these great games you have the great Cup
Montreal Aloette, I.

Speaker 2 (01:30:43):
Haven't actually more relevant than that. I'll get to here
in a second. Let's talk a little bit of Jets up.

Speaker 1 (01:30:50):
Than that.

Speaker 2 (01:30:51):
This one is down near the bottom of relevancy. I'm
not gonna lie, but let's let's talk a little bit
of Jets before we run out of time. So basically,
this is one of those games, you know, just big picture,
it's a sneaky, don't get beat by the schedule game,
right you've played this will be your eleventh game in
a row without a buye. It's a short week. You

(01:31:11):
played on the road in a steamy, hot, rainy game
down in Tampa. That was a tough game, physical game
against a good team. Coming back on a short week,
the Jets have a it's kind of like the interim
head coach bump. Like you trading saw us getting Quinn Williams.
Everybody just assumes that they're gonna fall apart. They probably

(01:31:31):
will eventually, but like for a short term bump. Sometimes
that the power friendship comes together, and like who knows,
like where those guys, good locker room guys, were they bad?
Quinn Williams seemed really unhappy in New York for a while,
Like you just don't know what exactly was going on
behind the scenes that led to those trades. So for one,

(01:31:54):
let's call it two to three weeks, I think you
can get a little bit of a bump, well in
a row, one, two in a row. So there's that
whole angle. Like if you want to go like superficial
power of friendship, you know, non tangible things, I would
say that that's you know, where we're at in terms
of the way is that the Jets can actually beat you,

(01:32:16):
like between the lines on Thursday Night. I think there's
a couple of things that stand out to me. Their
run game. Their run game offensively is very explosive. It's
not it's weird, like they're not very consistent. It's kind
of like last week for the Patriots, where it's like
two big runs often skew all their numbers. But Brees

(01:32:39):
Hall is an explosive back. I think he's third in
the league right now an explosive run rate. They are
as a team third in the league and an explosive
run rate. I think he has the third most explosive runs.
It's only like behind like Taylor and one other guy.
So he's a big play threat out of the backfield.
We obviously know what Justin Fields can do with the
design quarterback run that element of it. On a short week.

(01:33:03):
It's a physical team up front with the Jets. They
can hit big plays in the run game. They can
run it thirty three times and kind of control clock
like they did against Cleveland. And then you also it's
hard on a short week to prepare for a non
traditional run team like this is not a team that's
just gonna put the quarterback under center and turn around

(01:33:25):
and hand the ball off. That's easy. Like you know
what's coming at you. This is option. It's like he's
gonna be in the gun. He's gonna have you read
option plays. It's gonna be you know, tackle trap, it's
gonna be zone read, it's gonna be RPO, it's gonna
be Justin Fields is trying to run all over this
field tomorrow night. And back in twenty twenty two when
Chicago came here with Justin Fields, we saw that it

(01:33:47):
can be effective if you let it happen. So this
is one of those games that's a little bit of
a culture game from a short week perspective. But on
the field, I think the biggest thing that stands out
to me about the Jets, other than the special teams,
which we'll get to in a second, is can they
come into this game and just justin fields goes twenty
twenty two Chicago Bears and just runs all over the place.

Speaker 1 (01:34:09):
Yeah, well, if you look at I mean, he had
some receivers in that Bears game that you had to,
you know, keep on you to be honest about. Yeah,
with Garrett Wilson out their team leader, I forget which
way it is, but the next closest guys to Garrett
Wilson among wide receivers, I think it's Tyler Johnson has

(01:34:29):
the next most catches with eleven. Yeah, and Josh Reynolds
has the next most yards of one hundred and eighty.
I might have gotten that backwards, but eight in the
box kind of game, right, And they did. They did
get ad Mitchell, who we both liked in the draft.
They didn't get him at the trade deadline, so that's
a factor. But yeah, we saw teams us to the
Patriots in the early two thousands. You put one corner

(01:34:50):
out there, you put one corner out there, you put
one safety deep, and then you dare him to run
into the loaded box, or you dare him to try
to take a shot with the with the black wide
receiver Talwn they had. Now, Mason Taylor hasn't been bad,
and we know they're struggle against tight ends. That's the
guy worry about the pass game. You got to keep
him on as he's a rookie, you got to keep
him on us. But I think you just load the box.

(01:35:10):
If Justin Field's throwing the ball twenty twenty five times
in this game, you're in good position for the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (01:35:15):
Yeah. So he only threw dropped back sixteen times, only
threw it eleven, he scrambled five times, or maybe there's
a throwaway in there or something like that. But that's
the way they beat you. They beat you with thirty
five runs, you know, twenty five by Brisall five to
ten by Justin Fields, and it's just everybody's just running
all over the place. That's the formula for the Jets.

(01:35:35):
The other part of that formula for the Jets is
obviously what they do on special teams. I think Mike
Rabel called their return unit's sensational. Yes, yea, it is
the word that he used. They had two special teams
return touchdowns last week against the Browns, one kickoff one
punt return touchdown. They're the number one team in the
league in DVOA on special teams, the best special teams
unit in football. So that's again and part of it, right,

(01:35:59):
if you run ball well, you get a big return
or two, you flip the field a little bit, and
now all of a sudden, you have a ballgame on
your hands. That's another angle of it. You're the special
teams guys. So I'm sure you know plenty about the
Jets special teams.

Speaker 1 (01:36:13):
Yeah, I mean, it's they have a couple of different ways.
They can beat you with their fast that's the big thing.
They're fast. You really don't You're not going to chase
him down. If they get through the initial line, you're
not gonna be able to run them down. So you
got you got to be solid, you got to build
that wall.

Speaker 2 (01:36:25):
Yeah, a good, really good special teams unit. Defensively, I
wanted to talk a little bit about this from this
Bucks game, and now we can kind of segue it
into this Jets game. So Jets play a lot of
man coverage. That's Aaron Glenn. He's an aggressive defensive coordinator,
defensive mind. Now they play the sixth highest rate of
man coverage in the league. They played the highest rate

(01:36:46):
of pressman coverage in the NFL, and that has not
changed with or without Sas Gardner. You know, they've played
two games now because he didn't play the Bengals game.
He had a concussion sauce, so it's two games in
a row now. They're still playing a ton of man
to man. There are man to man defense. The Bucks
ran a lot of drop eight coverage against Drake May

(01:37:07):
you know, three man rush, quarterback spy coverage behind it,
man to man. Usually it gave the Patriots some problems.
They only had one successful play against it, and it
was the circus play to Matt Collins was the only
successful play the Patriots made against Drop eight. So does
not usually Glenn's m O. He's usually a man blitz guy.
He's gonna, you know, bring five guys blitz the quarterback.

(01:37:29):
You could do it that way too. You know, it's
always about gaps. So Yeah, there's six gaps on the
line of scrimage. If you put five rushers in five
of the six gaps in theory, then you can keep
him in the pocket. So you could do it that
way playing man coverage behind it, or they could man
up and then put a spy on Drake May And
I think we're gonna see I'm interested to watch this game.

(01:37:52):
Is this sort of the blueprint that everybody goes after is,
let's we can't blitz them because too good against the blitz.
So instead of blitzing him, we're actually just not gonna
rush him. We're gonna just rush three guys. We're gonna
drop aight into coverage. One of them will probably be
a spy, and we're just gonna make him sit there
in the pocket and consistently make throws. I would have

(01:38:15):
to venture to say that the Jets are gonna watch
that Bucks tape and if they're worth their salt, defensively,
that's what they're gonna try to do in this game.

Speaker 1 (01:38:22):
Yeah, and you'd like to counter that with the run,
but they're so banged up at running back. How's that
gonna work? Yeah, maybe there's some more screens, some more
quick hitter stuff. In this game, RPOs get guys going
behind the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (01:38:36):
The biggest thing with drop eight, I would say combination
of you know, obviously you can run the ball, but
usually teams only play it on like obvious passing situations.

Speaker 1 (01:38:46):
Well they had was last week or the Falcons game
that they had the third and nine that they ran
for the first down.

Speaker 2 (01:38:52):
Yeah, you could do that. Last week is toss play
to Henders. It almost broke that one too. You could
do that theory.

Speaker 1 (01:39:01):
I just liken't think they're afraid to do that.

Speaker 2 (01:39:03):
The spy in general, you know, against the Browns, they
spied him a little bit. He threw a pick to
the spy.

Speaker 1 (01:39:08):
Yeah, Carson Sweschinger.

Speaker 2 (01:39:10):
Was spying him and he threw the ball right to him.
Last week, I thought the Bucks had some successful downs
of like three man rush plus spy on Drake May
So I think that's gonna be it. Now, what how
do you counter that other than you know, the run game. Well,
you got to remember that if they're dropping guys off
the line of scrimmage into coverage, you have like outside

(01:39:30):
linebacker defensive end types that are now covering in space.
So last week. You know, the Bucks were dropping Anthony
Nelson their defensive end. If you see ninety eight in coverage,
like that's a guy. Yeah, the guy's wearing a number
in the nineties and he's dropping in coverage, it's probably
a good idea to throw the ball at him.

Speaker 1 (01:39:50):
So like that's forget Trey Flowers man in upon Bell
on third down.

Speaker 2 (01:39:54):
Yeah, So like short zones, you know, picking apart the
short zones and things like that can be helpful. You
mentioned the running backs. I want to talk a little
bit about that, and and tight end as well. With
Austin Hooper's concussion, who do you think plays? What do
you think they do? They're obviously gonna have Henderson, They'll
probably have de Ernest Johnson up from the practice squad,

(01:40:16):
So then it's just a matter of can either Remondre
or Terrell Jennings.

Speaker 1 (01:40:20):
Go in right, So if you can have one of
those guys go, you need three backs, especially against this team,
you need three backs. So if one of those guys
can go, then you have Steven Center. And they were
both limited yesterday. Trayvon Henderson's a full participant, they're both limited,
so they feel more fifty to fifty yep. You know,
then I think maybe CJ. Dupree, and we've talked about

(01:40:41):
him being a blocking tight end and he gives you
something else on the line of scrimmage. Now, maybe there's
also just some more of Jack west Over playing traditional
tight end, especially if Tom is going to take his
job as full back. Where it gets complicated is if
both Jennings and Steven center out.

Speaker 2 (01:40:55):
Right, they might have to ride with two running backs
for a game.

Speaker 3 (01:40:58):
Do you do that?

Speaker 1 (01:40:59):
Do you call to running backs off the practice squad
and ride with one tight end?

Speaker 2 (01:41:02):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:41:03):
Do they maybe make a move at the back of
the roster for this game where they signed somebody off
the practice squad.

Speaker 2 (01:41:10):
They could sign Deeranis Johnson because he's going to be
out of elevations, so if they wanted to, they could
cut a player that hasn't been active. I don't know,
Eric Gregory kden Rawll is something like that, who is
probably going to make it back to the practice squad
once they clear waivers. So you could do that and
then like sign Deeranis Johnson to the fifty three man roster,

(01:41:30):
and then you have you basically have created three practice
squad elevations by doing that.

Speaker 1 (01:41:35):
That's if both those running backs can't go, Jennings and
Stevenson can't go, then it gets a little more complicated.

Speaker 2 (01:41:41):
Yeah, so running back, I think that that's possible. Tight
end I think is interesting. C. J. Dupree has been
here since training camp. He's been here all season. Is
an undrafted rookie signing. It's been here since May. So
in theory, you would think that he has the edge
in terms of maybe getting elevated. They do have another
practice squad tight any him.

Speaker 1 (01:42:01):
No, they can't elevate. It's he's the international guy.

Speaker 2 (01:42:04):
Okay, so they'd have to sign him to the roster. Yeah,
got it. Okay, so they can only out elevate dupre Uh.
He could be elevated. They could go six o line
in this game, like they could use Vederian low Er
Marcus Bryan as an eligible tackle.

Speaker 1 (01:42:18):
Well, they could do both, like you might. You know,
you might need dupre up just have the depth. I
don't mind having Dupree up because he's a good blocker.
And if the one thing that you're going to miss
the most from Austin Hooper, it's his inline blocking, and
that's what Duprees also.

Speaker 2 (01:42:32):
Is that's his m O.

Speaker 1 (01:42:33):
I've seen some people bring up, you know, do you
go essentially four wide receiver and use Mac Collins as
a tight end, which.

Speaker 2 (01:42:39):
But if but if Booty doesn't, so I guess Kyle
Williams would play right on the other.

Speaker 1 (01:42:43):
But I think you can do that in some situations.
I think we maybe see a little more four wide receiver.

Speaker 2 (01:42:48):
Yeah, but.

Speaker 1 (01:42:51):
Also or you know, three wide receiver that's missing.

Speaker 2 (01:42:55):
Is Matt Collins a better blocker than Hunter Henry?

Speaker 1 (01:43:00):
So I meant it like four wide receivers probably a
bad way to put it. You meant through eleven personnel
where it's kind of twelve personnel. Yeah, or if like
somebody asks, like what if Henry gets hurt?

Speaker 3 (01:43:11):
What do you do?

Speaker 1 (01:43:11):
But like there's all you don't want to take Mac
Collins out of his normal responsibilities too much because he's
been good in those. So I do think you need
you just need another body at the position. And Duprez
pretty much the only guy that can do that.

Speaker 2 (01:43:22):
Yeah. Yeah, we have a lot of emails about you know,
kind of resting guys and maybe you know, given some opportunities,
some guys that haven't been active, you know, or Brandon Swinson.
I know a lot of people want to see him.
I still think and you know, again, this is maybe
my little stitious side coming out. Yeah, Like I don't like,

(01:43:43):
let's not get cute, all right, Like this is a
game that they should easily win. Is a bad Jets team,
they should roll. Like I'm not saying play guys that
are hurt obviously, right, but if guys are healthy, then
like they should play.

Speaker 1 (01:43:56):
No, this is not Week eighteen. You've already locked up
a prece.

Speaker 2 (01:44:00):
Agreed, so that that's where all those things are at.
A couple of emails here before we wrap it up,
we got five more minutes. This is an email from
Okay Anakin on Tato Wine. Nice joke. I like it
is Carlton Davis the most disappointing free agent pickup this season.
I want to make a judgment call, but it seems

(01:44:22):
like he's getting burned week after week, especially in the
end zone. So I actually thought Carlton Davis was pretty
good in this game. The touchdown that he gave up
was on an extended man coverage rep where Baker Mayfield
like five or six seconds, you know, and extends the
play outside the pocket that has two weeks in a
row come up. You know, he gave up a twenty

(01:44:42):
five yarder to Drake London on an extended man coverage
rep so you could get on Carlton Davis. A lot
of people getting on Carlton Davis. I come back to
the same thing I said the other I think it
was last week with Carlton Davis. It all depends on
what your expectations were of Carlton Davis coming in. If
you thought that they were getting too number one corners,
then maybe it's our fault. Maybe we hyped up Carlton

(01:45:05):
Davis a little bit too much. Maybe it's your fault
for thinking that I'll take some of the responsibility. Maybe
it was us, Maybe we hyped it up a little
bit too much. He is a really good number two corner,
which is what he's being asked to do here. Number
two corners should not be expected to go out there
and shut down their assignment.

Speaker 1 (01:45:22):
Everything, especially when you're opposite a guy like Gonzalez. I
think people are annoyed with the volume and how much
he's being targeted. It's because Gonzalez is on the other side. Yeah,
and teams don't want to throw him. So, you know,
I think he's been fine. He's definitely been a little
underwhelming compared to what I expected about that he's been
a bad player.

Speaker 2 (01:45:39):
No, I feel pretty okay about where he's He's been fine,
Like there's been some ups and downs, but I'm not,
you know, totally mad about it. This is a question
from Caid. He asked, are you concerned about the fact
that we have the Patriots have a negative DVOA despite
being eaten too. So the DVOA, you know, obvious see

(01:46:00):
Aaron Shatz's stat now, you know on FT and fantasy.
It's just like a catch all efficiency metric, kind of
like your team's like war essentially like in baseball DVA.
I like the stat. I've always liked the stat. I
particularly like the stat because it's schedule adjusted, so it's
opponent adjusted based off of who you've played. The Patriots,

(01:46:23):
I think, are in overall team DVA are like seventeenth
right now or something like that, so the middle of
the pack. They aren't great. This to me is probably
a product of DVA. I think they had a cupcake schedule,
so a lot of their impressive wins, like you know,
Carolina Tennessee Cleveland. They're not going to get huge bumps

(01:46:45):
out of those games.

Speaker 1 (01:46:46):
Their schedules not just easy, Like it's so much in
terms of strength to schedule in terms of opponent's record,
and I'm sure DVA takes an account more than that. Yeah,
it's like pretty far down compared to the next closest team.
That like just be a case of an analytic being broken.
I think, No, I'm not worried about the Patriots. I
did not know it was negative until right now.

Speaker 2 (01:47:07):
Yeah, and I figured the only reason why I'm not
worried about it, and I'm not worried about any of
these things. Yeah, I was right seventeenth. Uh is Drake May?

Speaker 1 (01:47:17):
Like what's Drake May's DV.

Speaker 2 (01:47:18):
If this was twenty twenty one and it was Mac
Jones with a good defense and propping it up and
he's kind of just a system quarterback, I would say
this is probably a little bit of a paper tiger.
The fact that you have an MVP quarterback pulling the
trigger makes you feel a lot better about where they are.
I think it doesn't really do it, Like that's more

(01:47:40):
of a team efficiency metric. They have defense.

Speaker 1 (01:47:44):
You know, what's the passing devo good like tenth or something.
I would say, that's yeah, So d y A R
is like yards. We're doing replacement now great asking.

Speaker 2 (01:47:57):
That's that's a difference stat All right, here's the last
one I wanted to get to.

Speaker 1 (01:48:02):
This is what I said, Uh, more relevant than the
great who do you got? More?

Speaker 4 (01:48:07):
So?

Speaker 8 (01:48:07):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:48:08):
This is from my former college roommate. Okay, he asks,
what is your score prediction for the Cordica Jug this
Saturday this week? So both Alex and I are proud
in the college alums and the cord Could Jug is
Ithaca's big rivalry game. It's Ithaca versus Cornell. Called it Cortland,

(01:48:28):
I said, Cornell Courtland, Ithaca versus Courtland, the Cordica Jug.
It called that game in fifteen, very like historically big
game in the D three college football landscape. I'm also
need them kid. I grew up in need h Them,
So Needham Wellesley and Itha Cortland is like those are
two of the bigger, like small rivals.

Speaker 1 (01:48:47):
They called Cordica the biggest little game in the nation.
That's that's the nickname for the rivalry.

Speaker 2 (01:48:52):
So who do you have? Don't look it up? Don't
look at like where they're at you this is.

Speaker 1 (01:48:58):
I was trying to find which year I I called
the game. If you want to see still to this
day of the wildest ending I've ever seen a football game.
Look up twenty fourteen quarterca ending. You know I know
that is, to this day the wildest ending I've ever seen.
Shutout of any longo on the call, I'm gonna go, ah,
you're thinking about thinking about it. Yeah, I'm thinking whether

(01:49:20):
or not I want to pick Courtland. I think pick Ireland.

Speaker 2 (01:49:22):
I'm going I see all right, I'm gonna take Courtland.
I'm going to take the hometown team. I will never
forget fourteen. We don't have a ton of time here,
but twenty fourteen really quickly. H the opponent was lining
up to kick a so.

Speaker 1 (01:49:36):
On the Olympics.

Speaker 2 (01:49:37):
I was next your points.

Speaker 1 (01:49:38):
I was right now.

Speaker 2 (01:49:39):
Now we only have like ten second it Thick.

Speaker 1 (01:49:41):
Is up by three. They kicked the ball off with
about a minute a half to go.

Speaker 2 (01:49:44):
No, no, I'm talking about just the one play.

Speaker 1 (01:49:46):
Well, no Courtland comes down the field. They're setting up
to kick the game time field goal, seventeen seconds left,
no timeouts. Holder doesn't come on the field. Backup holder
runs on botches the snap, peels away from two defenders,
hits the third string right tackle on the back one
of the end zone for the game winning touchdown.

Speaker 2 (01:50:01):
Game. Yeah, and you seen me in the replay right there.
Like a muffed extra point or a muff field goal
situation turns into a game winning touchdown. They also, I
think it was twenty fifteen, my graduation year, they gave
up like a hail Mary bomb to lose the game.

Speaker 1 (01:50:17):
No, that was the year before the crazy one. Those
twenty thirteen.

Speaker 2 (01:50:21):
Okay, it was one of the years I was in college.
They've had. They had some big game.

Speaker 1 (01:50:25):
They were they were three years in a row, the
three years that I called the game, and then one
year they lost on like a ridiculous safety.

Speaker 2 (01:50:30):
All Right, we got to wrap it up. Patriots Unfiltered
will be live in ten minutes. Rob Gronkowski, we didn't
get time to talk about this. I'm sure we'll talk
about it on PU signing a one day contract right
around twelve to fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:50:43):
To or a three favorite Gronk play, one headed catch
against Denver touchdown super Bowl forty nine.

Speaker 2 (01:50:47):
There you go, So Gronk twelve to fifteen Patriots Unfiltered
at noon. I'm sure we'll carry the Gronk Presser live.
That should be a fun one and we'll see you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:50:56):
Then. Hey, this is Alex.

Speaker 2 (01:51:01):
Thanks for tuning into the show.

Speaker 1 (01:51:03):
If you really want to help us, make sure.

Speaker 4 (01:51:04):
You like us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you
get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 (01:51:08):
Also, make sure you follow us on the New.

Speaker 5 (01:51:10):
England Patriots YouTube channel to see this show and everything
else we do here at the Patriots.

Speaker 1 (01:51:15):
Thanks a lot,

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