Patriots Catch-22 11/5: 3 Up/Down vs. Falcons, Deadline Day, Buccaneers Preview

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is the Patriots Catch twenty two podcasts with Evan
Lazar and Alex Barth.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Bizarre and Lazar. Hello, everybody nailed it. Joined us always
by our Bara.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Here is Evan Lazar and Alex bars This.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Is a social media offense. They do all these fancy
motions and dipsy dues and oh, we're gonna have four
receivers on one side of the formation and go four strong,
and we're gonna motion bijon. He's gonna start outside and
he's gonna motion inside, and he's gonna motion back outside
and he's gonna motion into the pistol and then we're
gonna hand him the ball. But then sometimes we're gonna

(00:47):
throw them the screen and we're just doing all this
different stuff. And all these defenses are just letting the
Falcons offense go into a blender and then they're just
sorting it out after the snap. You're doing all this
fans stuff for no reason.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
No wonder the Dolphins cooked them. They're used to seeing
that it's different.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
I almost you did, good for you, good job, good
job by you on that one. Well, I want to
give the Falcons a tiny bit of flowers in this game.
Mainly just Drake London. Draank London was was very very
good in this game. But I feel like that take

(01:31):
kind of, you know, that's kind of how it unfolded,
to be honest with you, in particular, and I didn't
want to start here, but just in particular, the Falcons
being allergic to the middle of the field just completely
held up, and I just don't I don't know if
that's Zach Robinson thing. I don't know if that's a
Pennix thing. I don't know if it's both, but it

(01:51):
is pretty funny to watch an offense that literally will
only throw the ball outside the numbers. It's down the
field or it's outside the number, all right. Anyways, we'll
get to more Falcons here in a second. I do
want to start trade deadline or the trade deadline that
wasn't very deadliney or eventful for the Patriots.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
We're going to start there was an NFL trade deadline,
and then we're.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Going to do some Falcons recap. We'll talk a little
bit about this Bucks game. Hopefully we get some time
in to talk about the Bucks, because I do think
this is a really interesting matchup for Drake May against
a really blitz, heavy pressure, heavy good Tampa defense. So
I'm looking forward to that on Sunday. But let's start
trade deadline. It's Evan Lazar, it's Alex Barth, it's Ax

(02:38):
behind the glass, and we are going to be with
you for the next couple hours here. And I understand,
you know, I sigh before I'm about to give this take,
because I understand the angst. I understand why Patriots fans
are upset that the Patriots stood pat at the deadline

(02:58):
and didn't make a trade. First of all, we all
like trades. We all like when our teams make moves.
It's just fun. It's fun to go and see, you know,
you go on Twitter. I get the notifications. I'm sure
other people. Do you know, Adam Shefter Patriots traded for
player acts? Ooh, you know, like it's exciting. I get it.
It's a dopamine hit. It's also a team that I

(03:21):
think we can all identify is a little bit thin
in certain areas because this is truly, as Mike Rable
likes to say, this is year one. They've only had
one full offseason with this regime, with this coaching staff
to build up the roster. So they got some frontline
players in here this offseason. All of those guys, for

(03:43):
the most part, have contributed to seven and two. They
deserve credit for that, But in order to continue to build,
they are going to need a couple of years to
build out not only just the depth, but I would
also say like the youth of the roster and the
homegrown players on the roster. So I get why everybody
is frustrated, But I will say this for the Patriots,

(04:06):
and this is not to carry the water take. This
is not propaganda. I said this last week on PU
when I got into an argument with Fred and mostly
Fred a little bit of Paul about the Washington Commanders
and the Washington Commanders going all in on what I

(04:27):
kind of felt like was a little bit of fool's
gold last year. So the Commanders at the trade deadline,
they trade for Marshawn Lattimore. They traded three picks for
Marshaw Lattimore. That trade has not worked out. He has
not been very good in Washington, and now they don't
have those picks moving forward to keep drafting and keep
building around Jayden Daniels. So I commend the Patriots for

(04:51):
still sticking to the plan and still understanding that even
though they are seven and two right now and look
like they're wide open in the afc UH, they are
understanding that they might not be quite as good as
their record indicates. The quarterback has broken out, the schedule

(05:13):
has been favorable, and they've won a lot of games
early in the season, and they deserve a ton of
credit for that. But you have a long term vision here,
and I think giving up draft capital. And I also
just to add to this, they are not going to
trade with the Jets, like Quentin Williams and Sace Gardner.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Were not anymore importantly the Jets, We're not going to
trade with them.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well that's what I think. Like that the Patriots were
not going to be able to be in on Sace
Gardener and Quentin Williams. So when it comes to you know,
maybe like a Jalen Phillips. I don't know if the
Dolphins would have traded with them either, but maybe a
Jalen Phillips who is a third round pick for a

(05:58):
rental pass rusher. That would have been you know, eight
games you're paying for for Jalen Phillips, a third round
pick Rashid Shahed, which is essentially a fourth and a
six is basically like a low third. So you're giving
up another probably third or fourth round pick at least
for Rashid Shahed. Like those players are rentals. Those guys
are going to be on expiring contracts. They're going to

(06:20):
be up at the end of the year. And I
am four or in favor of the Patriots not making
those kinds of trades because I don't think that they
should be investing, you know, top one hundred draft capital
just yet in this roster. I think that they need

(06:40):
to still draft and develop. I think they need to
keep those picks because in the offseason, more players are
available that might be bigger names, that might be more
helpful to their team. So that was one element of it.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Let me just cut, yeah, go ahead, saying hold on,
and I differ on you slightly on that. I'll let
you finish. But like saying hold one of the picks
doesn't mean they have to make all eleven picks. It
can also imply, you know, trade those picks when the
market's more robust down the road.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Exactly the other thing that I would say about this,
and they're in the defense of not doing anything. The
vibes in the Patriots locker room right now are immaculate.
They have great team chemistry, they have they are buying in.
You see it. You guys see it. We post all

(07:28):
these videos, these postgame locker room videos, all these different
things of how this team is responding to Mike Rabel,
how this team is responding to each other, the brotherhood
that's building in that locker room. So if you go
out and you start adding even if you want to
argue these are marginal upgrades. Jalen Phillips, Rashid Jaheed, you know,

(07:49):
players like that that are marginal upgrades over the guys
you currently have on the roster. Well, now you need
to start taking players off the field that have contributed
to you to a and two start. So if you
trade for Jalen Phillips, that means that Klevon Chason is
probably not playing as much anymore. If you trade for Ashijaheed,

(08:10):
that probably means Pop Douglas, who just had his first
one hundred yard game, is not playing as much anymore.
And neither one of those guys have done anything wrong.
You know, Chason's been on a little bit of a heater.
Pop just had a career game last week, and so
I think that there was an element of how much
better is this truly going to make us in the

(08:31):
short term, and is that worth sacrificing potentially changing up
the juju in the locker room, the chemistry, the vibes
in the locker room. So again, if you're frustrated, I
get it. It would have been nice to be able
to talk about and write about and break down film
on a new Patriot trade. I want to go over

(08:51):
some of the names that were dealt and whether we
would have or wouldn't have and that sort of thing.
But my big picture takeaway from this trade deadline from
the Patriot It's is that I think that they're trying
to build a sustainable winner and going for it this
year by investing in rentals and things like that. Yes,

(09:11):
it could have worked, and they could have had a
commander's like running gone to the AFC Championship game, and
that would have looked great, But would it have been
the right thing for the long term. They probably decided no,
And I can understand their thinking. What's just your big
picture takeaway here on the deadline?

Speaker 1 (09:28):
So I I never thought they were getting a starting
caliber player because those guys don't move with the trade deadline,
Like we can get into the Sauce Gardner deal a
little bit, and so like that's it's Haley's commet that
you get a deal like that at the trade deadline.
I was using the Von Miller trade as a comp
last week. That was what two, So you really don't

(09:51):
see moves like that. But you know, I was a
little surprised they didn't add depth depth on the edge,
depth at running back depth. It's safety in there, but
outside of Kyle Duggar, no safety has moved. So I
don't know that there was a market there for them
to do that. So there was one. Yeah, So I
mean those are some spots that now you look at

(10:12):
and I don't want to say they're outright thin, but
it's kind of like we talked about when when they
Cutch Bill Peppers at the start of the season, you're
you're putting rookies or young players who are unproven and
you're potentially front facing them. Right, they need a fourth
edge guy. You kind of use four over the course
of a game. So that's either going to be Elijah Ponder,

(10:35):
who's the guy, Kayla Murphy or Braden Swinson coming up
from the practice squad, like one of those three guys
now is going to be an increased role. And maybe
they looked at it and said, we could trade a
six for whoever, name it a backup edge rusher, or
we have these young players, we want to see what
they can do. We're going to create a role for
We're going to create an opportunity for him. It's safety,
you know, Richie Grant, John Saunders. Does it open up

(10:57):
a role for those guys running back? The little differ
because some of the guys that you would put in
that category are already playing right Terrell Jennings, because the injuries.
If Romandre's good and that was just a one week
injury and he's back, then it's it makes a little
more sense, you know. And we don't know. We'll see
if he's a practice today, if Ramondre's banged up, then

(11:18):
maybe there's a little more to that. So you know,
if somebody gets hurt now they are going to be
in a spot where you look at it and you say,
well they you know, maybe could have used the body there.
But just like you know again when they cut Jabrill Peppers,
my big take was, well, Craig Woodson, you're in the spotlight.
They got to really, they got to really believe in
Craig Woodson to fill this role. And he's an unknown,

(11:39):
you know, he was a third round or fourth round pick,
like they collected him, but just we hadn't seen him
in the NFL. So I think you might see some
of those guys, and you know what, if Elijah Ponder
or Braden Swinston or Caleb Murphy step up and play solid,
they're gonna look really smart. If not, it's gonna be
a second guest. But I was a little surprised they
didn't add more depth. But I wonder if this is

(11:59):
a continued case, and Mike Rabel talked about it last week.
Even though there's seven to two, this is a multi
year install of the program. I wonder if they looked
at it and said, you know, we have these young guys.
We invested a draft pick and Braden Swinson, Elijah Ponder
showed us a lot in the summer and he's played
a little bit here in NFL games. They go out,
they signed Caleb Murphy off waivers, guys that they you know,

(12:19):
they clearly even interest in let's get an opportunity to
get these guys on the field, start developing them, and
see what we're working with.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
So a couple of things there. One, you know, I
wanted to name some names that actually did get traded,
and I understand that you could make the argument that
we'll make them an offer that you can't refuse and
just get the player right. But right you mentioned running back.
There were no running back trades. Yeah, not a single
running back movie.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
I won't lie. I got my hopes up a little bit.
I did wonder if there was an element of, all right,
thee just one a third for Breese Hall. Nobody's offering
that could like a fourth and a six get it done.
But again, they weren't going to trade them in the division.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Sow doesn't get traded. Yeah, Paular didn't get traded. None
of you know, Taj Spears, you know, Jerome Ford, like,
none of these guys that we talked about that were
sort of depth running backs elsewhere that might.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Have The only running back who got dealt and I
think it was like a week ago. Cheffra is the
full list. I'll pull it up. I can't remember who was. Now,
there was one running back who got dealt like a
week ago.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Was there.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
I went through the list, I saw it was Michael Carter.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Michael Carter is the corner.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Oh there's two Michael Carter's that's right.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, Michael Carter's slock corner. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
No, so okay, So no running backs, no running backs up.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
No running backs got traded. So again, I get you
could make the argument that, you know, if the Jets
are asking for a third for Breese Hall and they
would have traded him to the Patriots, and you know
this is a theoretically right and hypothetical, then just give
the third, like if you feel that way, you feel
that way. But nobody wanted to give the third for
Breese Hall unless he would have gotten traded. So Kansas City,

(13:56):
I think there was a reporting out there they offered
a fourth, the Jets wouldn't take it. So Bristol stays put.
Pollard stays put. No running backs were traded. So it's
hard for me to sit here and second guess, but
why didn't you trade for running back? When nobody traded
for running back? None of the guys moved at Edge Rusher.
More guys moved than I think there's more of a

(14:17):
case here. Obviously, we've already talked about it.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
This is the one for me that like, if you're
gonna make a case, this is this is it.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, so we already talked about Jalen Phillips, Joe Tyron,
Shayanka moved that player weird stuff, Like I thought he
was like having a really good start in Tampa. I
remember them playing Tampa with Brady was what twenty one,
and he had a great game and was looking good
as a rusher. Then he fizzles out in Tampa, goes

(14:44):
to Cleveland, doesn't really catch on there, gets traded by
the Browns. Jamad Jones got traded by Tennessee. Now he
did not overlap with Rabel in Tennessee, so that's not
it's not a Rabel player, but but it was a
tight fit. Yep, I agree, And a Daufe Away got
traded like a week ago, so that's another edge rusher.

(15:06):
Jamat Jones, I think is probably the one that if
you were looking for that third guy right that hit
the mold and maybe is a little bit more pass
rush juice than like Anthony Jennings. That was probably the
one trade that they could have made. And I think
that it was like a fifth or sixth from for
Jamont Jones. But uh, you know, at the end of

(15:26):
the day, that list is not you know, outside of
Jalen Phillips, who I already wouldn't necessarily have traded a
third for Jalen Phillips, And I don't know if the
Dolphins would have traded them here to begin with. It's
not exactly a star studied group. And I would just say,
like the other thing too, with the edge rushers. A
year ago this time, you know, we were all pretty high
on Anthony Jennings. Yeah, Andrey James is still here. Now.

(15:49):
I get that he's not pass rusher, he's not third
down player. I get that. But it's not like they
have no NFL bodies behind Chase On and Landry. They
just don't have the guy. They don't have a guy
that fits their mold. But if they had to lean
more on Anthony Jennings at least on first and second down,
they could, Like I don't think he's a terrible I think.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
He can play on early downs. It's that I think
that that third pass rush spot's gonna be situational. It's
Jennings on on early downs, another guy in passing downs.
I think it's the opposite. You said they have an
NFL guy, they don't have their guys that you said, Yes,
I think it's kind of the opposite. They have a
couple of their guys, whether it's Ponder or Swinson. We
just don't know what there is NFL players. We haven't
seen it.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
I just don't know if those guys are you can't count, you.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
Know, And that's that's the risk you take here. We
don't know. But again I go back to like Craig Woodson,
they cut to Bill Peppers, and it's a little different
because Craig Woodson was starting. We're talking about it depth
and most rotational role here. But I wonder if there's
an element if they just feel good about the players
they have, and why give up a draft pick when
you know we use a fifth round pick on Swinson
or we like what Elijah Ponder showed us this summer,

(16:53):
and and you know, you're not going to bury those
guys forever, right, They got to be here for a reason.
And maybe they just figure we you know, we've invested
in these guys, We're gonna we're gonna push them up
into a bigger role.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Okay, So last thing on the trade deadline is. I know,
I'm probably I'm gonna take he for defending them on
the trade deadline. I don't care. I just I said
it last week with the Commanders, Like the Commanders were
in the exact same position the Patriots were, and they
had a really good free agency class, their quarterback hit
and they were you know, won twelve games and maybe
to the NFC Championship game, and they've taken a step

(17:25):
back now. It's a lot of it's because Daniels is hurt.
I'll all concede that point. But at the same time,
you know, I didn't love what they were doing roster wise,
like trading picks for Deebo Samuel, trading picks for Marshawn Lattimore,
trading picks for older players that I thought were a
little bit over the hill and weren't necessarily going to

(17:46):
help them in the long run. The Patriots are doing
it differently, and we'll see who ends up being the
more sustainable team, you know, moving forward, it's a very
similar situation, you know, Dan Quinn, Cliff Kingsbury, Mike Rabel,
Josh McDaniels, Jaden Daniels, Drake May Like it's really kind
of a carbon copy of one another, and we'll see

(18:06):
which proach ends up working. Before we move on to
the game, the Falcons game and stuff, I do want
to talk a little bit about the Jets and what
they did yesterday.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
New York Jets. So I think the Jets won the deadline.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
I agree. And I've been talking about this with the
Jets for a couple of years now because maybe this
is just a little bit of the Patriots fan that's
still in me. But I kept on hearing with the Jets,
especially when Rogers got there, how great their roster was,
and how their roster was loaded, and all they needed
was a quarterback and they were a quarterback away and this,
that and the other thing. And at some point that

(18:45):
loaded roster had to start winning games, right, Like, you know,
you can't every year tell me how loaded your roster is.
And then I look at the end of this of
the year, I look at the standings, and he won
six games, Like at some point, the roster is the
roster like you are what you are, as Bill Parcells
would say. Right. So I looked at this roster and
everybody kept on telling me how loaded they were. Defensively,

(19:07):
they haven't played a game. Yet without Quinn and Sauce
Gardner their thirtieth in DVOA on defense this year, they're
one of the worst defenses in football. They were one
of the worst defenses in football last year too, so
they haven't been a good defense really for two years now.
And yet I keep getting told that Sace Gardner is
this all pro caliber corner and Quinn Williams is this

(19:28):
all Pro caliber for defensive tackle. And we can talk
about coaching and system and all that, but Robert Sala
has left New York and he has gone to San Francisco,
and he's got that defense playing pretty well right with
the forty nine ers. So maybe he couldn't head coach,
but he could definitely coach defense. And I'd say the
same thing about Aaron Glenn. Aaron Glenn was a great
defensive coordinator for Detroit. Maybe he's not a head coach,

(19:50):
but he can coach defense. So I actually really liked
what the Jets did because I think the Jets looked
at it and said, this corp that everybody keeps hyping
as this really talented corps has one Jack. So how
much longer are we going to sit here and say
that we have all this talent on our roster and
act like Sauce Gardner and Quentin Williams and you know,

(20:13):
Bryce Hall and Garrett Wilson and all these young players
that we have that are really high on how long
are we going to act like this team is loaded
and then go out there and start the season one
and seven. The other thing that I really like about
what the Jets did, now I'll put this caveat in there.
It's the Jets, so they're going to f it up.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
Well, so I I have a take on this. Keep going.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
They are loaded with first round picks for a quarterback.
So whether they want to draft twours, yeah, whether they
want to draft the quarterback or they want to trade
for a veteran quarterback, they have all this AMMO, and
the Jets, you know, just kind of wrapped up this take.
They were going nowhere with this corps and they were
going nowhere without a quarterback. So what they've done is

(20:54):
they've put themselves in position to restock the cores and
probably get a quarterback. Now it's the Jets, so they'll
they'll screw it up. They'll find a way to mess
it up.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
So somebody points it out like they had a similar setup.
I think in twenty twenty one. It was after they
traded Darnold Jamal Adams. Oh okay, and remember they got
some firsts for him and they obviously that didn't work.
But yeah, in classic Jets fashion, So they're in terrific
position now to add a quarterback. The next two drafts

(21:24):
quarterback wise, are eh. Like, there's some guys some people
might like, it's not twenty twenty four where it's okay, well,
you know this Kleb Williamstrake May, Jaydon Daniels emerges, right
this year's draft definitely, isn't that. Some people really like
Fernando Mendoz and there's a lot to light. Yeah, some
people like Dante More there's a lot to light. But

(21:46):
those guys are traded. Those guys don't have the pedigree
that you expect from the typical top draft picks. And
then depending on who comes out and who goes to school,
you know, twenty twenty seven, Julian Sayan's look good Ohio State.
He's away. But they're the Jets.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
They're not drafting a quarterback.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
But they're the Jets.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
They're not drafting a quarterback.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
But drafting the quarterback might be the wrong move based
on how say.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Nothing was gonna happen at the deadline. So I'm not
really on a great run right now. It takes, but
you I I would be Woody Johnson has drafted Sam
Darnold and Zach Wilson and watch it blow up in
his face. Yeah, And I just I would all, you know.
Adding to that, Aaron Glenn was in Detroit. They just
traded for Jared Goff and had that really work out.

(22:30):
I just look at it, and I don't know which
quarterback it's gonna be, uh, but the reclamation project is
in vogue now. They're trying it like sort of like
a I don't know, like a C plus version of
it with Justin Fields, and it's not going so hard.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Right. You actually have to fix the quarterback.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
But you also need to trade for a quarterback that's
better than show.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
So who's who's been like bench recently, who's on the outs?

Speaker 2 (22:53):
Who's I don't know, maybe some guy in Arizona.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
That would be. I could see it.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
That's the way I look at it, Like I as
soon as Kyler got benched with in Arizona, I actually
thought there was a chance that Jets might trade for him.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Now interesting, Well, no, because they're clearly trying and bought
him out.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
But right, so, but then they ended up trading everybody.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Kirk Cousins and they have the money for it. No,
it's the Jets. He's terrible, Kirk Cousins, Kyler Murray, Yes,
who whatever the you see? Andy Dalton's probably too old
to qualify for this. Yeah, do the Jets try to
make Joe Flacco work again?

Speaker 2 (23:29):
No? Too old.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Cleveland's got a whole bunch of quarterbacks that could be
reclamation projects. Who else do we guys?

Speaker 2 (23:38):
He's Kyler?

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Do the Jags quit on Trevor Lawrence?

Speaker 2 (23:43):
I mean that would be a crazy blockbuster. I don't
think that's Geno.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Smith's probably too old to qualify for this. Oh, I
got a good one. I got a good one, Evan
Tua in the division? Well what if Miami he like
cuts them? Maybe also Adam who cares in the division?
If you're the Dolphins and the Jets off for your
first round pick for Tua? Yeah, I'm just I'm going through,

(24:10):
like the list of starting quarterbacks here, trying figure out
who the backups are. Russ Wilson Jameis Winston. Uh, we
already have the answer. Well, let's be throw up Mac
Jones or Brock Party Rockberdy, Who're not bad? Whoever comes
out of their rock Party Rock, Party's not Niners want
to unload that contract. Jets have all this money now
they trade it.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
That's a good one.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Okay, Seahawks don't really have anybody. Oh no, who's theeks
back up? Drew not Drew Locke doesn't qualify as that.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
It's Party and Kyler are two good ones.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
I'm putting two on there. Okay, I'm putting two on there.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
So if we want to put those three, one of
those three, if I had to, if I had to
venture a guest, one of those three will be a
Jets quarterback next year.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Love it and love it.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
I kind of like it. I'd love to see Kyler
twice a year. He's not going to beat the Patriots,
so it just be fun a lot.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
You were, you were a big Kyle. I love Kyler.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
I still love him.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
What more? Good one from the YouTube chat here? Okay,
Anthony Richardson, No, no, he is a reclamation project.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Not good enough. No, I'm talking about like perty's made
a Super Bowl he's a starting calendar quarterback. Kyler is
a starting caluber quarterback. Two was a starting caliber quarterback.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
Richardson was top five pick. Maybe they'll trade a first
round pick for him. But what if they look at
it and they say, all right, it's not a good
quarterback draft. We're gonna hammer all the other needs. We're
gonna actually make the other needs, and then trade a
second round pick for Anthony Richardson, a second round pick
for it or whatever it is, a fourth round pick, whatever,
not a first round pick.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
It's it's just justin feels all over again.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
The Jets.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
No, the Jets the day, I would venture to guess
that they would go into the draft and screw up
the draft pick again before they traded for like a
true project like Anthony Richardson. If they're going to trade
for a veteran quarterback, it's going to be an established veteran.
The only difference between the Rogers thing and this will
be age like they'll try to trade for a younger,

(26:00):
established veteran quarterback.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
I'm still putting two on the list.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
That's fine. I'm good for you Jets, Like, don't overvalue
your players like the Colts are going for it. Good
for them too, but too first round Pa and the
first and the second for Quentin Williams. I'm making those trades.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
How does sauce fit in that defense, do you? Uh?

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Probably a little bit like they're very disguise heavy, like
they did a lot of you know, lou Ana Rumo
is a big disguiser. I think the reason why and
I do I guess I can give this a little
bit of a Sauce take here, but I do want
to move.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
This is relevant to the Patriots. Well, look, the Patriots
and Coults are Everybody say Patriots don't do anything. Other
teams got better. There's some truth to that. I mean,
the Bills didn't make a move, the Chiefs didn't make
a move, the Texas didn't make a move, the Steelers
made a minor move they traded for Kyle. But this
is the one team at the top that went for it.
So it is relevant to the Patriots, and I I look,
I think Saw is a good player. He's going from

(26:54):
like the least disguised defense to the most disguised defense
and that feels like adjustment.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, well, but I think it's an adjustment in his
favor because here My whole thing was Sauce, and I'll
admit that this is maybe a little bit of Christian
Gonzales bias, But like Sauce is, a is his own corner.
Zas plays.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
We've always been man over zone on this show, going
back before Sauce Organzalez.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
He plays on his side of the field. He will
man up on his side of the field on the
back side on you know some occasions in their old
system under Salah, you know, running the the Mabel coverages
like the Seattle used to do with with Richard Sherman.
But like it's his own defense, it's a Cover three defense.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
The defense that they're playing now with Aaron Glenn. I
haven't looked at all the numbers, but just based off
of what he did in Detroit and what I think
he's doing with the Jets, they are a blitzman defense,
so they are an aggressive blitzman defense, and I've just
never thought that Sauce was in a great man coverage corner.
I'm not saying he can't play it at a decent clip.

(27:56):
I'm just saying, like he's not a Christian Gonzalez, Stefan
Hill More, Darrell Rebis, I'm going to shut down my
guy man coverage corner. So I think going to lou
is probably better for him, and with Indianapolis because it
is more of a disguise zone. We're going to show
this picture, change it, that sort of thing, which probably
fits him. He's going to be able to play his

(28:17):
side of the fields. He's not going to be traveling
with receivers and things like that. But I think that
the crack started to show with Sauce once the Jets
started to play more man coverage. They played a little
bit more of it last year with Olbrick and Sala,
and then they've played a lot more of it this
year with Darren Glenn. And that's just not his skill set.

(28:39):
It's not what he's best at. You know. He reminds
me a lot more of you know, the zone corners
of the of the past than the man guys. So
I think that it helps Sauce. I think it helps
the Colts certainly, because they were really needed corners.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
They started thin there and they got banged up, and
they needed it to be this year. Not leonor who's
the corner that got hurt in the like pregame collision.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Oh, I know who you're talking about I I he's on.
He's on I R with a concussion.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
Right, yeah, Travarious Ward Warren.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Yeah so I uh, I like it for the Colts
and I like it for the Jets. I guess we'll see.
I'm not a big Sauce Gardner fan. I never have been.
It's not my kind of player. Uh, but he if
he's used correctly, you know, you have him played the boundary,
just play his side of the field, you know, have
him a man up on verticals and then play you know,
a zone coverages most of the time. I think he

(29:36):
can be a good player. He is a good player.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
How you feel being a quarterback or receiver in that division?
Now I got Sauce Gardner, You got Stingley in Houston,
Travis Hunter and.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
James I think is awesome. I love Stingley, sting and Stingley.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
That was that draft. Remember that was the debate. Who
was we were? We were early, but we were not wrong.
We're not wrong. But yeah, and then wait, who am
I missing there? So you got Stingley, you got Travis Hunter,
you got saw us. Uh Titans, Yeah, they'll get something.
I mean they have sneed, but he's a little older.
He's kind of dogging it right now, Well, they don't
need a quarterback, so if they're at the top of
the draft and you know, maybe they go corner up there.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
So that's the trade deadline. I'm I'm sure that you
all have a lot of opinions, a lot of opinions
on this trade.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
People or I don't remember people getting so worked up.
It's the NFL like it the NFL trade And this
is I'm somebody who loves all things NFL, all things football.
This is me, right, yeah, this is me who sits
down appointment viewing Hall of Fame game. The NFL trade
deadline to me, and it's getting Look, I will respect
it more when it becomes a bigger deal. And we've

(30:40):
come a little bit of a ways. It used to
be like two or three moves, you know, twenty over
the course of two, you know, two months or I
just say a month and a half. So there's a
little bit more there. But it's not. You can't treat
it like the baseball, basketball, hockey deadlines because it's different.
It's fundamentally different. Getting a player in the loop mid season,
especially at certain positions in football, is just different than

(31:02):
doing it in other sports.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
There's there seems to be every trade deadline, and I
meant to do this off the top of the show
because I'm sure i'll get blood to oblivion today. I said,
yesterday Jacobe Myers is going to be the biggest trade
of the day, and then thirty minutes later, Sascardner got traded.
So I was dead wrong about that, dead wrong, may Kulpa,
I was wrong.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
It was more happened, And I guess it's Hallie's comment
like that's again the last pig. Although I forgot von
Miller didn't even go for a first round pick.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
So I think it seems like there's one team that
will decide at this time of year that we're fire sailing.
A couple of years ago, it was Washington they traded
both their pass rushers, Chase Young. I was in Montes Sweat.
I always forget much sweat it is. They traded Montes
Sweat and Chase Young at the deadline. The year before
they drafted Jayden Daniels. The Jets decided to fire sale

(31:50):
this year, like there's always one team that decides to
make a splash and trade a star player that you're
not expecting but it's just not like those other deadlines
where there's like significant movement throughout the league.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
Like you don't have the landscape of the league change.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
Right right, And I still think you don't really have
it even now, Like Quentin Williams going to the Cowboys
isn't gonna.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Really Why did the Cowboys do that?

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Because Jerry's like obsessed with making the micro Parsons trade
look like it was the smart move.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
I mean, look, well, credit to the Patriots two strong
defensive tackles. Is that like the it thing? Now he's
trying to recreate Barmore and Million Williams with Kenny Clark
and Kenny Clark and Quentin Williams. But we'll get to
that after losing that game with the Cardinals and up
for first round pick as wild.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
Okay, so let's let's talk a little bit of Falcons.
I'm not We'll try to be a little bit quicker
through this, since we did a lot of the trade
deadline stuff off the top of the show. Much talk
about from this game, But I do want to talk
a little bit of Drake may and I do want
to talk a little bit about the defense and what
they did with the defense. So I think my big

(32:58):
take with Drake May and I know that he's you know,
he's Drake May, Like we don't we don't criticize Drake
May now, right, we gotta that's our guy, that's that's
our quarterback. Right, you don't want to be uh, you know,
I get a lot of heat for criticizing Drake May.
I think the biggest thing that I'm watching with Drake
May over the last really since the start started with

(33:21):
the Tennessee game a little bit. It was just like
the last final hurdle of his development, Like he's thrown
the ball great. When his throws, when he's throwing the football,
when he's actually getting rid of the ball are have
been great. And I think his decisions of where he's
throwing the ball when he throws the ball have been great.
So that's still arrow way way up. Like he's still

(33:43):
making every single week. You know, this week touchdown to
Pop Douglas, the fifty eight yarder to Pop Douglas, The
twenty one yarder to Digs in the second half, I
thought was a great drive throw in between a couple zones,
like he's still making three or four big time threw
was a game every single week. And he's still basically

(34:04):
played winning football in this game for the most part,
you know, fifty point five qbr I had him basically
with an even plus minus split in terms of you know,
grading the film. So there's still a lot of good
things that he's doing. He's still playing at a reasonably
high level. But the last sort of mountain here for
him to climb as a quarterback, I think is managing

(34:25):
time in the pocket. You know, went to stay, went
to you know, go through his progressions, went to scramble,
went to throw the ball away, went to just cover
up and take the sack, like trying to figure out
And I think this is a byproduct of being a
young athletic quarterback who still kind of thinks that he's

(34:46):
the best athlete on the field all the time, which
he might be, frankly, but he's got to figure out
a little bit, you know better, how to manage his
time in the pocket. And the sacks are starting to
pile up. He's second in the league in sacks. He
is the third highest sack rate in the league right now,
over ten percent of his dropbacks into the sack. So

(35:10):
when you still you know, routinely into his credit, he
gets them out of long down and distances better than
any quarterback in the league. It's kind of uncanny how
he can take a sack on first and second down
and still move the chains is rare, But that's a
tough way to live in the NFL if you are
constantly playing in third and long eventually more times than not,

(35:31):
especially when you start to play against the better defenses,
that type of stuff starts to creep up and bite
you in the butt. When you're in third and long
against in Atlanta is a good defense. But when you're
in third and long in the playoffs against Buffalo or
Kansas City or Houston or you know, one of these
good defenses that's going to be in the AFC Chargers,
you know whatever, that's a lot different than when it's

(35:55):
early November at home against Atlanta at a one o'clock game.
So they have to he has to cut down on
how much time you know, he's he's got to make
better decisions in the pocket. And you know, I could
go through examples I did yesterday on PU that we
can discuss. But the whole point is is just it's

(36:16):
not necessarily all the same of Okay, he's holding the
ball too long or he's leaving. It's kind of both,
like he's just it's just management in general of when
is it clean pocket? When can I go one, two,
three through a progression because I'm cleaning the pocket, versus
I have to get out in this instance because there's
pressure here. So that that's just my take on Drake

(36:38):
May right now. I'm not alarmed. I'm not concerned. I
don't have any big picture concerns about where he's at
at all. But this is something that we can point
to and just say, as a second year quarterback who's
still technically developing, you know, this is kind of his
last hurdle. Is he can't be taking six sacks a game.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
Yeah, it's just too So I do wonder if and look,
we had talked about the pace he was playing out
was absurd, like he was going to take a step back,
And the reality is if that game represents his step
back game, he's gonna be fine. Got to do a
bad job of holding onto the football. The second fumble
really is you know, he just gets bumped and let's
go of it. The first one, he'd I think maybe

(37:24):
he got in a roll and he got a little
bit comfortable. He talked about this after the game. Some
bad habits came back. Remember he had a fumble like
that last year. I think it was in London where
he tried to stiff arm the the defender off of him. Yeah,
and fumble the ball. Like it's almost a carbon copy
if you go back and look at it. I do
wonder if some of the one in the preseason this
preseason's right, Yeah, I do wonder if the higher sack

(37:49):
rate and the lower turnover rate are related. And he
talked about this in the past, that he needs to
know when to give up on the play and go down.
And there are times when you like, we're gonna get
on him for taking two many sacks, But at the
same time, you can say that play at the end
of the half, he should have taken the sack, right,
they blow the protection, he's he's dead to rights, like
go down or at least get outside thrown away, but

(38:10):
like take the sack there.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
Well, that's why you know I brought up managing time, right,
Like it's not necessarily about always getting rid of the
ball quickly. It's just in that exact instance, like the
management there, yeah, is just take the sack, right.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
So I do feel like the high and look, the
offensive line is absolutely responsible for some of it, where
especially the interior, we're starting to see them get picked
on a little bit more here, Mike oh and Win
who's had a couple of rough games, you know, going
back the last month or so. But I do look
at it and say, okay, well, he's taking more sacks,
he's turning the ball over less. I do think those

(38:44):
two things are related. Ideally you're doing neither. This isn't
necessarily defended. I just think that's part of the reason
the sack number is so high is because he's he's
doing a better job of not throwing these ridiculous mid
contact interceptions like he was doing at times last year.
Now to your points, managing the pocket. It's cutting both
out and being better of because there's also been times
some of these sacks he is I think like two

(39:05):
or three of these this year where he gets run
out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage, and you
can't do that as a quarterback like just you know,
well he did in this game, and I almost he
did want to applau like he threw the ball. He
threw it right, like the first time. You want to
buy that time you have, you want to buy time.
You have as much time as there is for you
to get from the pocket to the sideline. There's no reason.

(39:28):
This is all quarterback. I ripped to it for this.
He did it against the Patriots in that game in
Week two. There's no reason a quarterback should ever go
out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage, like just
because there's no grounding at that point. Just flicking forward
out of bounds out of it. And now look he
did this last year in Chicago. He didn't throw it
far enough and he got picked off. So you got
to make sure you're getting it out there.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
It's not when he's out inside the pocket, you know,
like the one on Yeah, they cut the ones that
you're talking about. You can just chuck that thing like
he's outside the pocket and.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
That that's what I'm saying. Well, you got to make
sure you really chuck it. Remember he tried it last
year in Chicago.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
That was like more towards inside the middle of the.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
That's fair like, So that that's that's one for me.
Where like he can cut back is throw those away
or even you know, he'll get dragged down way outside
the pocket, like just throw those ways. Got to be
more comfortable throwing the ball away.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
So I really I thought in this game, and this
was similar to the game against Tennessee. I'm not saying
that he I think the term one read quarterback comes
up and people get spooked by that. I'm not saying
that he does this all the time. Like he definitely
has evidence of going through the progressions and uh and

(40:35):
not being you know, a one and run quarterback. But
there are instances on this film where it felt like
he was one and run a little bit too often.
You know, he's looking down, you know, at the right
side at the initial you know, reading the progression. It's
not there. And then his next instinct instead of just
progressing from you know, right to left to Stefan Diggs
wide open in the middle of the field, his next

(40:56):
instinct is eyes down running. And what I see a
lot of his sacks happen, you know, two or three
in this game and then probably two or three in
the Titans game as well, is him running into the
line of scrimmage because he's trying to get out of
the pocket through the middle of the field and in
the pocket collapses on him. So those sacks go down.
I know, you know a lot of people talk about

(41:17):
this as well. Those sacks go down as like two
or three yard sacks. They're not those backbreaking like eight yard,
nine yard, ten yard sacks. So it's like less of
a burden I suppose on the offense. But I want
to see him going through his progression right Like when
he's looking down the right side at the initial read,
it's not there. You want to see him come back

(41:40):
to the middle of the field because that's the way
the play is designed. So like he has, you know,
on the right hand side, he's got a hunter Henry
on a little option. It's not there. Stefan Diggs is
going to come from the back side of the formation
and he's going to cross right into his line of
vision from the backside of the formation. Because the goal
is for him to just go from right to middle.
I'm not asking him go right all the way to

(42:02):
the left side of the field. You're just asking him
to go from one to two. And you know there
are times where he does that and then there's times
where he doesn't do it, and they just need to
have him be a little bit more consistent with that,
because there are open receivers on the film and a
lot of these sacks, and I'm not talking about the
ones that are on the other side of the field.
We're not playing Madden where you can just say, hey,

(42:23):
you know X is open and spam the button. No,
we're talking about actual quarterback play, going through a progression
as an NFL quarterback. So I just would like to
see him do that a little bit more consistently again,
throwing the ball grate. There's three or four big time
throws a game. He's still making big time plays. But

(42:43):
that's just where I'm at with Drake May right now.
And I think this is gonna be an interesting game,
you know, moving forward with Tampa Bay, because they're gonna
come after him like that's what Todd Bowles does. He's
gonna blitz the crap out of him. They're gonna pressure him,
and they're gonna make him make those types of decisions
all day. Am I leaving? Am I staying? Is there pressure?
Is there not pressure?

Speaker 4 (43:04):
You know?

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Do I need to just go down and take a sack?
Do I need to throw this ball away? Like he's
going to have to make those decisions for four quarters
against Tampa Bay on Sunday. So I'm interested to see
how that goes. The other thing, I'm just on the
sort of the good side. Stick to that for a second.
I was we talked about it. It was last week
where we did the whole man coverage thing, right, and
like how they were playing man coverage. I don't know

(43:25):
if that was last week or or two weeks ago.
I was really excited about how they played band coverage
in this game. I thought that they played the style
of coverage I liked a lot more. And I'm talking
mostly between the twenties. We'll get to the red zone stuff,
but the between the twenties stuff. Specifically, they shadowed receivers
strictly shadowed receivers gonzales On, Drake London, Carlton Davis had

(43:49):
Darnell Mooney, and Marcus Jones had Bijon when Bijon flexed out,
which I thought was a really well done game planned wrinkle.
So every time Bijon was flexed outside the formation out
of the backfield, he got Marcus Jones, which I thought
was really good. Yep, that's if you're going to play
a lot of man coverage, that's how you have to
do it. You cannot allow your opponent to put their

(44:13):
third receiver on Christian Gonzales because Christian Gonzales is just
glued to the boundary of the entire game. You have
to shadow and travel with the receivers. The other thing
that I thought they did more of in this game
was putting robber or low whole help. They really played
a lot of of cover one whole, not true robber,
but they had Christian Ellis it was or explained sometimes

(44:35):
just in that first window, you know that first level
window right at like the five or six yard or
so down the field, So that just allows these corners,
like if they run a shallow if they run a
slant like anything like that, that's all going to be helped.
That's going to be leveraged by that defender. So now
you have the low hole help from the first level,

(44:58):
and then you have the post safety help over the
so now you have support in the middle of the
field for the man coverage defenders. So it's all a
long winded way of saying in this game, Michael Pennix
between the twenties and we'll get to the red zone stuff.
Between the twenties, he was one for seven against man
coverage in this game. He had one completion. It was

(45:18):
after the Gonzales injury. It was a downfield throw to
Drake London where he broke the pocket and extended to play.
Other than that, the Patriots completely shut down Atlanta and
man coverage. That's what this defense needs to do more.
That's where they need to live. That's where that needs
to be their backbone of their coverage. So I was
really excited by the Marcus Jones Bijon wrinkle. I thought

(45:40):
was really good. It was great to see Christian Gonzales
just go toe to toe with Drake London for three quarters.
Unfortunately it wasn't the full four, but we saw it
for three and I thought until that forty yard bomb,
Christian Gonzalez was winning the matchup with Drake London. So
I really like to see that. But this is more
like it like if they play man coverage like this,

(46:02):
their past defense is going to get better. And I
was exciting to see that.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Yeah, it you know, continuing to grow in that regard.
We can get to the red zone stuff, but that's
in the crap.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
That gets you beat. Okay, yeah, the red zone stuff's coming,
so uh The other good thing I had from this
game was just pop Douglas. You know, I think that
he's sort of found his way here and his niche
in this offense, and it's not exactly what we thought
it was.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Well, what was I screaming all summer running vertically?

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah, so okay, you can take a victory lap there, right. Uh,
he's not running the Welker Edelman slot role.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Chris Hogan. Uh the branch well, I said, a cross
between Hogan and Amandola in the summer branch, all right, like.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
The on branch Colm. So right now he is uh
has a career high in a dot average, you know,
depth of target down the field ten point two. He's
basically a speed slot at this point. Like he's not
He's not the shifty jitterbug slot like we've seen in
the past. The McDaniels offense. They have him as a
speed slot running more vertical routes down the field and

(47:12):
it's working. Now we can figure out the open field stuff.
He could maybe stay on his feet.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
So you know, it was like to remember Cordero Patterson
was like the opposite of that. Cordero Patterson would like
stumble through his routes and the second he got the
ball in his hands, he was you know, Dante hall
On a Punterdard. Yeah, but it was really weird whether
he so pops the opposite, like he runs the great
routes and then the second the balls in his hands,
he kind of loses it. But he's still making guys

(47:38):
miss even when he's stumbling.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
Yeah, So this is a bit a really good role
for him. He's kind of I feel, like I said,
he's kind of found his niche and you know, he
was great in this game. You know, the fifty eight
yarder is a big time exposed to play. The wheel
route touchdown was really really well designed by Josh McDaniels.
But it was also he won his matchup. He got
the matchup and he won it. This is his role.

(48:00):
This is the way that he should be used. It
reminds me a lot more of how he was used
at Liberty in college, Like he was more of a
downfield speed slot at Liberty. So this is the other
thing I would say too, just from a McDaniel's standpoint,
this is how McDaniel's was using Trey Tucker in Vegas. Yea,
So it's not totally a departure from Josh in terms

(48:22):
of some of the other guys that he's had. It's
just not the it's not the old school Patriots slot
that we kind of all anticipated, but this is, you know,
a new version of it, and it's working out for him.
So kudos to Pop. I know, you know, he lost
his uncle and played the game anyways, and that that
was a cool story to you know, obviously bad story,

(48:44):
but like good for him, yeah, you know, and and
all that. But I think that, you know, this is
a nice little niche that he's found with these vertical
routes and these deep targets, deep crossers, post corners, things
like that. It's been cool to watch. Yeah, all right,
let's move on to the bads here. We already did

(49:04):
the Drake maysack thing. I'm not gonna you know, keep
going with that. I think, you know, start you know,
sticking with the offense. Uh. There there are some cracks
in the foundation here on the offensive line that are
starting to show a little bit.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
None of them involve your rookie left tackle though, so
you can you can have that right that that's a positive.
I thought he was good again in this game. Honestly,
for like three quarters, I thought he was kind of
dominant in this game. Will Campbell, I thought it was
really good.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
The block he had on it was the treel Jenny
session on right.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Yeah, yeah, he was really good in this game. Not
not great competition, you know, James Pearce in those.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Those first round picks.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
I know, but like those guys are not established players.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
But you want the top end first round pick to
look much better in the bottom end first round.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
But yeah, he was good. He was really good.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
But the the issues that we were having, and uh,
you know the Patriots are having, I should say that
we are going to talk about all off season. The
Patriots are trending towards squarely being in the guard market
this offseason. I think On when Wu, I know his
PFF grades have been good, I don't care, like I
will watch the tape myself, and I'm telling you Free,

(50:14):
I have not been a huge fan of On when
he's game all year long. Jared Wilson, we can say
it's that he's not a guard. I think that's probably
a fair sort of just way to look at it.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
They said in the spring they view him as a
center long term.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
He's just with Wilson, I think that there are flashes
in pass pro that are really, really good. He's just
not strong enough to play guard, and so he gets
into these power, you know, engagements, and he's base blocking
where he's one on one in the run game and
he just can't move anybody. You know, he's just not
strong enough to play that position on when expensive contract,

(50:52):
not really playing up to that standard right now, I
wonder about his long term standing here again long stories
or they need They're gonna need a guard in twenty
twenty six. They're gonna need to either draft one, sign one.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
Whatever we bring him back soda, we might be guards.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
I don't know. I would rather not draft one again.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
This is mean first round. Oh it did mean first
round that one time, we'll alter it.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
I just they're gonna need at least one guard, because
if you want to give on when he was some
leash and let him continue in this regime, in this system,
in this whatever this program, then fine, But Jared Wilson
is not a long term answer. I don't think I
left guard, and I don't know if on when it

(51:37):
was here for long.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Get ready to learn Jennings Dunker buddy that does.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
The kid from North Dakota State, Iowa.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
But he's the case got red hair mull and he
plays tackle now, but he might be guard at the
next level. Either way. He's one of the meanest linemen
I've seen in a long time.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Yeah, yeah, so he uh a little bit of cracks
in the aligne foundation. The other last thing here where
some of the zone stuff is starting to bother me,
and I guess this is just the time that I'm
just gonna do this. I'm just gonna die on this hill.
About the pass rush. I understand that the Patriots have
concerns in terms of depth at edgeresher, but when we

(52:14):
look at the frontline guys that are playing, the problem
to me with the Patriots pass defense right now is
not the pass rush. The problem is is that whenever
the pass rush starts to win, and I pulled clips
this morning, I have like ten of them that I
could show you of guys winning up front on the
line of scrimmage. But the ball is coming out so
quickly because there's open receivers, mostly against like off coverage

(52:38):
zone where there's just too much space underneath the zone
or too much space on the outside where they're giving
them cushion and there's just nothing the pass rush can do.
Like Melton Williams just wins right up the middle on
a swim move and the ball is out, like you know,
they win. They're trying to run a game or run
a stunt or something like that and it's coming open.
You know it's coming free. The wrap has come free,

(53:00):
but the ball's out and right now they they are
not playing tight enough coverage like sacks. They're eighteenth in
the league in sacks. Everybody wants them to get more sacks.
Sacks is a team stat. Sacks is not a pass
For US stat exclusively, sacks is you need to get
the quarterback to hold the football. If you are giving
first read open throws to quarterbacks in the NFL, you're

(53:25):
not going to be a good sack defense. You're not
going to accumulate sacks. So when I look at it
on film, I think the bigger concern with their pass
rush is that they need to start having tighter coverage,
which is why I'm so excited about the man coverage
things that I saw from this game, because they need
to improve their coverage so that they can get the

(53:46):
quarterback to hold football, so some of this pressure that
they are accumulating can start turning into impactful pressure.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
So they got forty five percent pressure rate on Michael
Pennix in this game, and a lot of people that
watch the game came out of the game feeling like
there was no pass rush. But the problem was that
every single time somebody won up front Penix, the ball
was out of Penix's hands before they could get home.
So if you can tie, you got to marry it
all together. It's it's eleven people, it's not just about

(54:16):
one thing.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
And it also helped that like there were times that
Drake London wasn't open and Pennix still threw them the ball.
The obviously the London gets some credit in that too.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
The forty yard bomb is definitely one of those instances.
But there's you know London that caught a couple in
this game where Millon Williams won up front and London,
you know, Gonzo's just bailing like on cover three or
quarters and there's like eight yards of cushion and London
just turns around and catches the ball. And that's not

(54:48):
a pass rush problem, Like, that's not the pass rush's
fault that the ball came out in two seconds. There's
nothing you can do about that. So I'm gonna die
on this hill. I just watch the tape, like these
guys up front will win. You know when they got
the chase on sack in the opening drive, If you
watch that play, it's because they covered the initial read.

(55:09):
They ran a little bit of a disguise zone. They
covered Pennix's eyes. Mike Rabel broke it down on Patriots
dot Com was Zoe like, they cover the initial read,
it gets Pennix to hold the ball and the pocket
collapses and they sacked them. So he said it in
the past, and I'll echo what he said with Rabel.

(55:29):
The sack stuff, it's on the coverage to get the
quarterback to hold the football you want, you need to
get the quarterback off his first rate. That's on the coverage,
both the call and the players executing the coverage. Once
the quarterback holds the ball and gets off the first read,
now it becomes about the pass rush getting home. And
I think too often with this Patriots defense, you're seeing

(55:52):
quarterbacks NFL quarterbacks hitting the top of the drop. First
read is open, ball is out, and that's just not
going to be impactful. Like, that's not gonna be good
pass defense, so I'm gonna die on the hill. It's
not the pass rush, it's the coverage. They need to
be better in coverage. Hopefully we saw you know, some good,
you know, man coverage stuff in this game against the Falcons.

(56:14):
Hopefully that carries over and they can have better coverage
really quickly before we take a quick break. Does the
stuff that gets you beat the drake may strip sack
you just can't have it. That is crap that gets
you beat. The game was over, they're driving, they have
the ball to fifty yard line, they're going in for
more points, up fourteen points, and then they're gonna receive

(56:35):
the second half kickoff, so they have the chance to
bury the Falcons with double score. There even if you
only get ten points out of the double score, we're
not talking about a twenty point lead, you know, twenty
four point lead with like you know, a quarter and
a half to play, you can't have you can't have
that sack phone, Well, you just can't. So that was
a stuff that gets you beat this week. The other

(56:56):
one that I wanted to dissect a little bit was
the red zone and this one, I think you have
fair gripes in terms of the coaching and the game
plan and all that kind of stuff. I give the
Falcons a lot of credit. They attack the rules of
the Patriots in the red zone to get Marcus Jones
on Drake London a couple of times. But if you're

(57:17):
the Patriots, you just you you have to make sure
that doesn't happen.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
To Like the first time, it's a good wrinkle by Atlanta.
Those guys get paid to but they got to be
more aware of it the second time coming back.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
So the first time they you know, the Patriots were
gonna switch it. They were in a banjo or switch
in you know, two by two, right, and they motion
London into the formation. So basically what they're trying to
do is Marcus Jones is gonna take whoever runs into
the middle of the field, and Christian Gonzalez is gonna
take whoever runs out, and they actually have Drake London.

(57:48):
This is a classic a switch banjo whatever you want
to call it, beater, They have Drake London. His first
like two steps are inside like he's gonna run a slant,
and then he runs out on the fade, So it's
kind of like a double move. So when he runs
that little inside, you know, stem to the inside, that's

(58:09):
automatically going to have Marcus Jones declare as the primary defender,
like he's got to take the inside there, right, and
so that when London goes back out to the fade,
he's stuck on Drake London on the fade. The second
one was a bunch. It was a three receiver bunch,
and they knew that if they put Drake London in
the point, that Marcus Jones takes the point. And so

(58:30):
they put Drake London on the line of scrimmage. The
Patriots are probably anticipating him being off the line of scrimmage.
He was on the line of scrimmage and he gets
matched up against Marcus Jones again. So they got beat
in the chess match there on the goal line three
times for touchdowns. They're red zone defense now, Alex, another
status going around. They are dead last in the league

(58:51):
in the red zone on defense. They're giving up a
touchdown seventy five percent of the time in the red zone.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
It's too much.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
The other little thing here too with the red zone. Then,
and then we got to take a break. They're busting
coverages like crazy in the red zone and I don't
really know what the reason for it is, but it's
happened two weeks in a row and it's starting to
kind of become a theme. Last week they busted the
fanom touchdown, just wide open touchdown. This week they busted

(59:18):
a flat. They didn't have anybody in the flat in
the zone. Yeah, the twelve yard of debijon, which then
sets you up on the one yard line, first and
goal from the one. Once you get inside the five
yard line in the NFL, you score eighty six percent
of the time, so like it's kind of over at
that point once you have first and goal from the one.
So in order to improve as a red zone defense,

(59:38):
you need to be better. You know, they break the
red zone into three pieces. You have the high red zone,
the low red zone, and then goal line. You need
to keep them from goal line, like you have to
keep them in the higher the low red zone, and
then get them to kick field goals from those areas
of the field. So right now, the Patriots, in my mind,
a big part of their red zone struggles or that
they're letting teams get the ball all the way down

(01:00:00):
to like the one yard line too much, right, and
then you're just not gonna stop them from there. So
that's the red zone stuff. I thought those are the
two things that got you beat. That's the falcons. We're
gonna take your calls to your emails. We're gonna talk
a little bit about this Bucks game coming up right
here after the break.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
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Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
All right, we are back and I'm gonna do the Toyota.
Did I say that? Did I say that correctly? Because
everybody gets on my case for saying Toyota wrong, So
I'm just gonna keep saying it like that. I'm gonna
blame it on New England. I think it's a New
England thing to say it like it's sure, it's a
d okay. Hey, Patriots fans, you want to see Toyota's

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best offers, including those not seen on TV. Go to
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website for deals official vehicles of the New England Patriots, Toyota,
Let's go places? Was that better?

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
Was that?

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
Was that good? Is everybody happy? Now? Sure? And Sunday
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store of the New England Patriots. When it's a new
read and I've never read it before and I'm reading
it for the first time on the air, it's always
a little bit of you never that's that's I know,

(01:03:48):
I gotta, I gotta.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
You never should read something for the first time live
on the air. I know you're you never should do that.
You're right, it's a good lesson, like uncomfortable.

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
You already said that you were at Curry College last night,
given lessons you should given that lesson.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
We didn't get to that. Maybe next week, maybe well
that I was a one off they invited me to.
Thanks to Curry College, Jimmy Young and Curry College for
having me.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Though my father is a proud Curry College am.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
There were some we didn't get to catch. Twenty two
ors some patriots, unfiltered fans in that good class.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Good. I like that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
They said they enjoyed when the other guys get you
all worked up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
Oh, it's not that hard to do. Yeah, it's not
that hard to do. Just come out.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
The kids love it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
It's like two things. Like one is, you know, when
you make it about the stats, right, Like I'll say
a stat and then it becomes a referendum on the
stat Like, it's not the point. I'm just trying to
use some supporting evidence to back up my point. Like
we don't have to, you know, if I bring up
like a PFF grade or something, we don't have to
then spend ten minutes discussing whether or not PFF is

(01:04:45):
like a valid source of information, right, Like, that's the
part that gets me fired up. That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
I just got you worked up on the concept of
you getting worked up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
Yeah, because it's just you know, I've been thinking about
this a little bit and it needed to come out,
all right, Patty is an on what's up? Patty?

Speaker 7 (01:05:02):
Hey, what's going on?

Speaker 4 (01:05:03):
Guys?

Speaker 7 (01:05:06):
So Alex you know me, it's never too early to
talk about draft, and especially since they didn't make a move,
I'm not upset that they didn't make a move. I
was a little bit surprised because I thought that they
would actually look for some excuse me, at least some
help along the edge, you know, even if it was
a depth guy. But I want to throw out a
couple of names at you and see if see if

(01:05:29):
you have any opinions on him yet. The first guys,
David Bailey out of Texas Tech, who they might they
might be out of position to draft. But the other
guy I really like coming out as Quincy Rose Junior.
He's an edge guy from Arkansas. You think he's kind
of a fit. I think Bailey is a fit in
any scheme.

Speaker 5 (01:05:48):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:05:49):
I'll take that up the air. But the other thing
I wanted to ask you, guys, is if if Kyle
Williams doesn't get going this week, is it going to
happen this year? Like is the because I mean, Booty's
probably it's not gonna be playing this week, maybe not
even next week against the Jets. Realistically, I mean, do
you think he just needs like one good catch to

(01:06:09):
get himself going? And I'll take those off here, guys.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Thanks, Yeah, Patty, thanks for the call. It's a good question.
About Kyle Williams. I don't know if you have a
take on those.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
David Bailey is and he's right, like Bailey's having an
unbelievable season at Texas Tech and the Patriots having a
great season, so they may end up like passing each other.
But what what's the Mike Rabel edge rusher? Like six
two two fifty all about the first step get off right? Like,
that's David Bailey is to a t when people talk
about what Mike Rabel's looking for on the end, and

(01:06:38):
there's other there's other good edge rushers in the class too,
but in terms of like the schemes specific fit, he
was the consensus pick for the Patriots on the on
the mock draft database for a few weeks there. We'll see,
we'll see. Here's the thing, there's all this is a
really good edge class. This is a really really good
edge class. And frankly, defensive line too is part of that.
It's a good pass rusher class. So you're not gonna

(01:07:01):
have that. There might be ten edge guys and I'm
kind of rounding here, but there might be ten edge
guys that are top twenty five players in the class.
You're gonna have ten edge guys go in the top
twenty five because the needs just starting dictated that way.
Somebody's gonna have to fall, somebody's gonna go below where
they should because there's just so much talent. The position.
This has happened with, you know, other what was the
position last year, This happened with that we talked about.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
That got pushed down.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
Yeah, the talent or we've talked about this before, different
positions wide receiver a couple years ago it happened. Yeah,
somebody's gonna get pushed down, whether it's Bailey, whether it's
somebody else. Like, well, we'll get to that, but David
Bailey is absolutely a name Patriots fan should know.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
Okay, all right with Kyle Williams, so you know, just
we can break down his target a little bit too,
and then just talk about a big picture as well.
So on the target, you know, my interpretation of it
was that he ran a five step route when he
was supposed to run a three step route. And that's
just based off of the way that it looked earlier

(01:08:02):
in the game, and then also just it was mirrored
like it was the same route Digs was running on
the inside, and Diggs ran it one two and open,
and Kyle Williams ran it one, two, three, four and open,
so he ran it on the fifth step instead of
the three step. So that when that happens, that's why
the ball gets thrown behind you is because you're running
the wrong route. So with him, what I'm seeing is

(01:08:26):
details and this is good. And I also would just say, like,
this is not like a Josh McDaniel's option route thing, right,
this is not like it's too complex for young receivers, like,
so don't make it about that. It's this is a
a young receiver that needs to be a little bit
sharper on his details. You know, Pop Douglass had the

(01:08:48):
same problem for a couple of years there as well.
So it takes time. And when you're throwing, you know,
with timing, you're throwing quick game, you're throwing things like
that like it, it can really make it look bad
when you're not syncd up with the quarterback and the
drop of the quarterbacks. So that's what I'm seeing with

(01:09:09):
Kyle Williams. Now there, I think there is opportunities for
him to produce on verticals. Like I still think that
if you got him isolated on the backside and he
ran a go route like he would still be able
to win on the go route, and those routes are
obviously a lot simpler than trying to you know, time
up a route in the quick game or something like that.

(01:09:31):
So I'm not seeing like no separation on tape from
Kyle Williams or anything like that. His issues seem to
be more mental than they are physical at the moment,
so it might just take some time. I don't know
what they're going to get out of him this year,
but he's going to get some opportunities here with Kaisehan Boody,
you know, dealing with that hamstring. So we'll see. But

(01:09:52):
I'm still I see enough separation with Kyle Williams. Like
I think the problem when you look at a lot
of other receivers with the Patriots in the past that
have busted, you know, second third round, guys like Jalen
Pole couldn't get open right so like that, that right
then and there just kind of makes it an uphill battle.
When you can't separate in this league, it makes it
an uphill battle. I think with Taekwon, you know, he

(01:10:15):
couldn't stay healthy. That was obviously a big part of it.
But with Taekwon, I don't know if he ever truly
played with a quarterback that could unlock the vertical speed
because he's really like a downfield vertical threat. Yeah, Like
he's not a guy that separates in the first ten
to fifteen yards. He's a guy that's separating thirty five
forty yards down the field. So when you play with

(01:10:36):
quarterbacks that don't really thrive in that sort of thing,
you know, Bailey Zappi, mac Jones, like he's not really
going to thrive with that quarterback. He goes to Kansas
City and Patrick Mahomes can put the ball on him
down there and he's having more success. Maybe Taekwan would
have had a little bit more success with Drake May
probably not. He probably needed to change of scenery. But

(01:10:57):
to me, that was what it was with Taekwon. So
at least with Kyle Williams, I'm seeing him separate at times.
He's just got to get on the same page with
the offense and with the quarterbacks. So I don't know
which way you would rather like. I would rather that
than watching the tape and saying this guy can't get
off coverage like Joeen Polk but as of right now,
it doesn't really matter which way he's not producing. So

(01:11:20):
whichever way it is, which you know, whatever way you
kind of shake it out to be, he's not producing.
Do you have any takes on Kyle Will I.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
Mean, I think it will help. And Vrabel talked about
this the other day. He's gonna just focus. I would
think he's just going to focus on the X receiver
position now, which is going to help because he's been
all over the place.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
He also he didn't work a lot with Drake in
the summer. Yeah, and I can't imagine he's worked with
him a lot behind the scenes here season start because
they're geting ready for games. He isn't had a big role.
He's only played twenty percent of their offensive snaps this year,
and that number is elevated by a significant role after
Boody got hurt this week. So I think it will
help him being able to focus on one position. I
think it will help him. Getting to work with Drake

(01:12:01):
made this week because their chemistry is just not there
right now, and maybe it clicks, maybe it doesn't. We
will see. I'm not super worried about his lack of
production because it's just been a lack of opportunity. And
it's not a case where they're not playing him. You know,
sometimes we talk about it, well, this guy can't get
on the field, and that's not a good set, but
like there's a legitimate reason for him to knock it

(01:12:21):
on the field. The guys ahead of him are playing well. Yeah,
so now we'll see what he can do that he
has a bigger opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
Yeah, I think a lot of it, Like I said,
you know, especially those first and second level routes, Like
I think he runs a great vertical routes and he's
he's gonna eventually. I really believe he will eventually pop one.
Like I think he's going to get behind the defender
at some point and Drake may we'll find him on
a go route or something like that. But these first
and second level routes take a lot more detail of

(01:12:48):
you know. The other thing too. I think this was
last week against Cleveland when they when they targeted him
on that like seven stop, you know, the route around
along the sideline. I think it was the Cleveland game,
and and they're all blending together, but like he just
takes too long to get into the route and in college.
That's okay because the quarterbacks have all day back there
to kind of let, you know, pat the ball and
wait for the receiver to get open. But like he does,

(01:13:10):
like he runs off the line and he gives like
a little like a little fake. Then he gets to
the top of the route, he gives another little fake
and then he Denny cuts back right and by the
time it all this happens, it's just it's too late, right,
It's just too late for the quarterback. So these are
all the little details that when you run first and
second level routes in the league, like, you have to

(01:13:31):
be sharp on in order to get these targets. So
I do think that that can be developed, and I
do think that they have the right coaching now that
hopefully they can develop in those areas. And we'll see
all right, back to the phones. Sean is in Vancouver.
What's up, Sean.

Speaker 9 (01:13:46):
I'm very happy that the Patriots kept the twenty first
century streak alive of not losing to the Falcons. The
game was closer than it should have been. So this
this week it's gonna be their toughest matchup against the
Bucks since the Bills. It's tough when you can't turn
the ball over, you know, and make big mistakes or

(01:14:08):
are they going to lose? But I'm excited. I'm going
to be there, Evan. Are you going to be at
the rally at Sunset Rodeo at five on Saturday?

Speaker 5 (01:14:17):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
I don't know. I don't know what time we're getting
in as of right now, but there's a rally.

Speaker 9 (01:14:23):
Where is it at Sunset Rodeo? It's three to zero
two Howard Street, like close to downtown.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
Okay, cool, Yeah, if we're there in time, the boss
Man might be there for sure. But if we're there
on time, I would not mind stopping by. I've heard
that it's going to be quite the Patriots party in
Tampa this weekend. A lot of Patriots fans, a lot
of Patriots fans buying tickets for this game and making
this like their road trip of the season type of thing.

(01:14:51):
So I'm glad that you're going, Sean. That'd be cool.

Speaker 9 (01:14:54):
Yeah, it'll be fun, all right, I'll take it off, all.

Speaker 2 (01:14:56):
Right, sounds good. Maybe i'll see you there. Yeah, it's
been for week now. I've been hearing a lot about
how many Patriots fans are going to be in Tampa.
For this game. So I'm actually interested to see how
well they travel because it's a good Bucks team, Like
they're not going to play the test, the one in
seven Titans, right where the Patriots fans take over the
stadium against a bad team. This is an illegitimate playoff contender.

(01:15:19):
Let's talk a little bit about the Bucks. That's a
good segue. So just really quickly from Rick Stroud, who's,
you know, one of their their beat writers for the
Tampa Bay Times, it sounds like Chris Godwin and Bucky
Irving are still a little ways away and aren't going
to play in this game. He's saying, not expected to
practice today. Are both are still in the rehab phase.

(01:15:41):
So if you're in the rehab phase on a Wednesday
before the game, I don't know, you're not probably gonna play.
So that's sort of been the story for the Bucks. Offensively.
They've lost Evans, they've lost Godwin, they've lost Irving, they
lost Godecki, their right tackles on injured reserve. He was
designated to return, but we know how that works. There's
a three week ramp up period and I don't know

(01:16:03):
if that's necessarily going to you know, he's gonna play
this week. It might be a little bit too soon still,
so they did just have their bye week. They're coming
off the buy, so hopefully, you know, for their sake
at least, maybe they're gonna get a little bit healthier
coming out of this by But basically, you know, the
first six weeks of the season for Baker, you know,
starting with their offense, Baker is an MVP candidate. For

(01:16:24):
the first six weeks of the season, he's playing great,
like twelve to one touchdown interception ratio. He has like
all these insane scrambles on film where he's just running
guys over and things like that. So he was playing
a really high level for the first six weeks of
the season. Then their injuries really started to pile up,
especially at receiver with those veteran guys. So they're basically

(01:16:46):
throwing to Agbuka, who's a great young rookie, really impressive guy.
Yeah to watch this week. My guy Tess Johnson is
like kind of their pop Douglas, Like they're like gadget player.
Sterling Shepherd is their third receiver. I probably found out
this week that Sterling Shepherd was still in the league,

(01:17:08):
so he's their third receiver, and then kaid And has
been like a decent, you know, kind of hunter Henry
Ish tight end, like a train moving titan.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
We want to talk about still in leaue, Ryan Miller
still in the league too.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
Okay, So that's sort of their skill group right now
around Baker Mayfield. That is not Evans guy winning, Buka
right and Bucky Irving. It's so when you look at
the stats, you know, Baker is only completing like fifty
six percent of his passes over the last two weeks.
He really struggled in that game against Detroit, missed a

(01:17:38):
lot of open throws in that game against the Lions.
But my guess is in that game, you know he's
throwing the guys he hasn't never really thrown to before.
It's a bunch of fresh faces. He didn't seem too
confident throwing the ball. I thought he was hesitant out
holding the football a little bit. So their offense is
reeling a little bit here over the last couple of weeks.

(01:17:59):
Defensively there, they're fantastic. They've got a great defense, a great,
great secondary, really good group. You know, Antoine Winfield is
one of my favorite players in the League, elite ballhawking
safety Jamal Dean's playing really well for them. Jacob Parrish
in the slot is a player that I really liked
in the draft that I thought maybe the Patriots would
be interested in.

Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
From ya Yai off the edge. They have some really
good players and they have a really good scheme with
Todd Bowles. But let's stick you know with the offense.
Just your interpretation of Baker's season and you know what
kind of worries you about this Bucks offense?

Speaker 1 (01:18:37):
Uh, definitely, big play threats all over the field. I
thought Baker, you know, he's in the MVP chase. It
it kills him that he's losing all these guys. He's
losing Evans, he's losing Godwin, and that's obviously going to
change things. But he's a baller and he's not gonna
He's gonna take a step back less than I think
some other guys would when things get tough. He's shown

(01:18:57):
he can elevate the people around him. So he's a
real threat. He's somebody you have to be aware of
at all times. He can make and he's underrated too.
He can make plays with his legs. He doesn't do
it a lot, and they're not really gonna call design runs,
but he'll he'll pick up a first down or two
over the course of the game on a scramble if
you let him. And Michael Pennix, who is a good
runner but doesn't run a lot. He got the Patriots

(01:19:19):
in that way a couple a couple of times last
week too, So good point. You know, I think you attack,
maybe you try to find areas where they're banged up
and you attack that. I don't necessarily know you attack
banged up wide receivers. Maybe that's just more more of
the blitz, you knowing guys won't get open as quick
banged up offensive line structure pressure in that way. But
Baker Mayfield's a real deal. Like, Baker Mayfield is going

(01:19:40):
to be the best quarterback they've faced since since Josh,
So you gotta come ready for him.

Speaker 2 (01:19:46):
Yeah, he's he's a really good player. Obviously, been three
years there now in Tampa Bay, and he's had three
different offensive coordinators because they keep getting head coaching johns
because he's so good. So his career revival has gotten
Dave Canalis and Liam Cohen head coaching jobs. As his
play caller in one like in one year too, like
leap Phone was his play caller for one year and

(01:20:09):
landed the Jaguars head coaching job just off of that.
So that tells you a lot about Baker Mayfield. I
think that you mentioned it a little bit there with
the receivers. One of the things that's giving them trouble
is man coverage because they just haven't had the health
that receiver, ye you know, to be able to beat
man consistently and separate consistently and time it up and

(01:20:29):
all that kind of stuff. So this game is a
little similar statistically, at least to Pennix and the Falcons,
in that you know, Baker's thirty first in the league
and apa against man coverage. He's only averaging like four
and a half yards per attempt right now against man
to man. A lot of that, to me is not
having Godwin in Evans and not having guys that he

(01:20:51):
trusts that can separate against man to man coverage. So
you see those, you know, kind of cracks in the
foundation because of that. It's another quarterback. And now I
trust Baker more because he's better and he's more experienced,
but it's another quarterback that likes to throw the ball
vertically and outside the numbers. He's not a big thrower
in the middle of the field either, So that could

(01:21:12):
also be why the man coverage hasn't been great, because,
like I'll keep saying it, the beat man coverage, you
throw 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

(01:21:35):
you're throwing it right into the defense. So I have
a little bit more faith in Baker Mayfield to layer
throws into the middle of the field if they're open,
because he's more experienced and a better quarterback than Michael Pennix.
But it's still not an offense that really lives in
the middle of the field. It's not necessarily what they do.
I think Gonzo shadows of Buka. Assuming Gonzo's healthy, which

(01:21:58):
he indicated he was at the end end of the
game last week. Uh, you know, Gonzo shadows like Buka,
Tes Johnson and Marcus Jones. Seems like a decent matchup
for the Patriots, Carlton Davis will probably be the boundary
and take Sterling Shepard and then Kate Aton is kind
of the one guy. Now, Kateaen is on an explosive
tight end, but he's crafty. He reminds me a lot

(01:22:21):
of Hunter Henry, Like he's crafty. Uh, he's good at
the top of the route. He can like kind of
bump you off and you know, attack leverage and like
that whole sort of thing. Uh So, last week it
was a lot of Craig Woodson on Kyle Pitts, and
to Woodson's credit, he did a decent job I thought
on Kyle Pitts. So maybe those are your matchups, you know,
Gonzo against Egbuca, Teded Johnson and Marcus Jones, Sterling Shepherd,

(01:22:44):
Carlton Davis and then uh Woodson on on. So you know,
Sean White out of the backfield can do some things,
you know, as a pass catch.

Speaker 1 (01:22:52):
They did a pretty good job on on Bijan last week.
He didn't like that. They should be able to replicate that.
And that's not to say that Rashad White as Bijon,
but like they I thought they had a good plan
for the running back last week.

Speaker 2 (01:23:04):
It was a better This is a you know, in
my mind, it's kind of like just a little bit
of a better version of the Falcons in terms of
the way they they run their offense, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:23:12):
I could see that.

Speaker 2 (01:23:13):
Not their run game necessarily, they're more of a downhill
run team than Atlanta is all the stretch runs. But
in terms of their pass game, it's really similar. Like
they'll do a lot of you know, trips and bunches,
Like they run a lot of three by one with
three receivers to one side of the formation, and they'll they'
That is another thing I would just highlight in terms
of the chess match, like the Patriots struggled a little

(01:23:34):
bit last week with sorting out bunches by Atlanta, especially
down in the red zone. So I think the Falcons
are excuse me, the the Bucks will come in and
test that this week, so they do a lot of
that kind of stuff. But I'm looking forward to Gonzo
against like Buca. I think that's a kind of like
when he faced Marvin Harrison last year as a rookie,
Like that's gonna be a fun matchup. He's a really

(01:23:56):
good player. Moving over to the defense. You know, the
Paigets offense against the Bucks defense. Uh, Todd Bowles Man
is gonna put Drake May in a blender or he's
gonna gonna try. I don't know if he's gonna succeed,
but he's gonna try. And Uh he is a just
maniacal blitzer Like this guy comes after quarterbacks. Uh. They're

(01:24:18):
only seventh in the league and blitz rate, but it
feels higher about because of all the simulated pressure that
they run where they're gonna show blitz and then kind
of back out of it, which is basically like it's
the idea of it is still kind of the same. Uh,
they run a lot of blitz. They're fourth in the
league right now in team pressure rate. The Patriots have
had some issues the last couple of weeks with pressure,

(01:24:38):
you know, both up front and with the quarterback. So
this is another one of those defenses that is gonna
spin the dial. They're gonna disguise a lot on the
back end. There's gonna be a lot of pressure on
the quarterback and the Patriots are gonna have to manage that.
So Uh, it's a fun defense to watch on film.
You know. They they really mix it up. You look
at their coverages, like, there's not a ton of tendency
with their coverages. It's a kind of everything across the board.

(01:25:01):
They're kind of cover all their grounds there, so they
mix it up quite a bit. And you know they're
gonna come after Drake the number one thing I look
at with uh, you know Bowls' blitz package. He loves
those mug fronts. So mugfronts, you're just gonna put a
linebacker in each a gap and he's gonna stand up
and then you can just play this game of cat mouse.
Is he dropping? Is he rushing? You know, they'll drop one,

(01:25:22):
they'll rush one, they'll drop both, they'll rush both. Like
they'll do all these different sort of permutations out of
those fronts, and you have to you know, they'll play man,
they'll play zone. You kind of have to decipher, you know,
what they're going to do. So this is a big
you know, where are your hots? You know how much
time do I have in the pocket? Uh, you know,
how are they in manner? Are they in zone? Like

(01:25:44):
this is a big mental test for this Patriots offense. Yeah,
And I think the difference between this and maybe some
of the last couple of defenses that they've faced is
that those defenses were system defenses where they sat in
a lot of the same coverages, but they just played
those coverages really, really well, whereas this is a true,

(01:26:06):
you don't know what you're gonna get, spin the dial
kind of defense with Tampa Bay. So it's gonna be
interesting to see how it goes because it can go
one of two ways. Either the quarterback goes into the
blender or he sees the blitzes coming in. There's open
receivers all over the world.

Speaker 1 (01:26:19):
Well, so I think it's a big get to go
back to what we talked about from the Falcons game.
Got to get the ball out quick. That is a massive,
massive point of emphasis this week. And we'll see he's
done a very good job. Like we'll talk about something
one week, go Drake May struggled with this, and then
he comes back the next week and excels at it
right right, big way.

Speaker 4 (01:26:37):
To do that.

Speaker 2 (01:26:37):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think that that's a good point.
You know, I'm really looking forward. That's kind of the
number one thing that I am looking for in this
game is does Drake May take the coaching of some
of the different things that he missed in the game
that led to sacks. You can he take that coaching
and then correct it the next week, because he's been
pretty good about that. I would say most of the

(01:26:58):
season and most of his career about correcting mistakes and
going back and forth. A couple of other matchups that
stand out to me. I don't know which ones stand
out to you, but Vidavea against Jared Wilson and Garrett
Bradbury is a power in size mismatch. In the inside.
I don't even know if you try to run the
ball inside on this defense, I don't know if you're

(01:27:20):
gonna have any luck doing that. And then also in
the past rush you know if you're going to get
one on ones in. Via Va also likes to pick,
like he likes to be the pick man on stunts
a lot, and he'll just like ear hole guys, like
he'll just come through and he'll be the pick man
and he'll just freaking give you a nice slab right

(01:27:40):
right in the rims and just pop the guy off,
the guy he's trying to block. So it's he's a menace,
Like he is an absolute monster. I love watching Vitaveta
play he's a fantastic player, but he's a game wrecker,
like he's someone that could truly you might not be
able to run the ball inside, and Drake may might
not have much of a pocket to step into. If

(01:28:01):
Vida Veya's humming.

Speaker 1 (01:28:03):
It's gonna be a lot of good defensive tackle play
in this game. The inside of Tampa's lion's kind of
been refigured a few times. They're dealing with injuries and
Milton Williams and Christian bar More, they can they do
more to convert some of those pressures to they've been
playing well, it's not necessarily their fault, but like, do
we see them do we see them start to pile
up some more sacks in this game?

Speaker 2 (01:28:21):
Yeah, it's it's an interesting one. Any other things stand
out to you about this Tampa team.

Speaker 1 (01:28:27):
That's pretty much it for me.

Speaker 2 (01:28:28):
Well, I'll be down there. It'll be fun. I'm looking
forward to it. I think this is I wish this
game was. I'm happy this game is a one for
personal reasons because I always like one o'clock games, But
I wish this game was a little bit more four
o'clock window, primetime window, because it does feel like two
teams that are are big time playoff teams, you know,

(01:28:50):
in both conferences, and it's kind of a bummer that
the game is at one o'clock, but it is what
it is. All right, let's get to some of these emails.
I haven't done emails.

Speaker 1 (01:28:57):
I was gonna say, we haven't done emails in a minute.

Speaker 2 (01:28:59):
And we have a lot of emails. So oh, let's
get to some of these emails. That's a Kyle Williams question.
We already kind of went over that a little bit.
All right, I'm gonna do you want to answer answer
this question about dead cap because Fred yesterday did he
did do this. He was reading this email about dead
cap and did not want to answer this question because

(01:29:20):
it's you know, mundane and boring to talk about dead cap.
So would you please man explain to me how dead
cap works. We always hear certain players are untradable due
to the size of the contracts and the dead cap.
I understand that contracts have guaranteed money, but couldn't selling
couldn't the selling team we will move all the money

(01:29:40):
in contract to the buying team, US, eliminating any dead cap. No,
so the dead cap on the contract is related to
the guarantees and the base salary of the contract that
is already in escro headed towards the player, and that
dead cap is the responsibility of the team that signed

(01:30:02):
the contract. So you can't transfer dead cap, so that
is going to be the Patriots responsibility. For example, with
Kyle Duggart, they have about nine million dollars in dead
cap next year due to the Kyle Duggar trade. So
you hear this a lot with AJ Brown, who I
don't have the exact number, but I think AJ Brown
has something like fifty million dollars in dead cap if

(01:30:25):
he's traded by the Eagles right now. On the flip side,
the way that the Jets structured Sauce Gardner's extension, they
don't have a ton of dead cap because they didn't
pay him a lot of money up front, so they
kind of left their options open there a little bit.
So that's dead cap is the responsibility of the team

(01:30:47):
that's trading the player.

Speaker 1 (01:30:48):
Always is fifty nine million in dead cap for AJ
Brown this year, forty three million from next year.

Speaker 2 (01:30:54):
So that being said, there are instances where teams have
had a lot of dead cap and rated the player
anyway or cut the player. Anyway. The Broncos did this
with Russell Wilson a couple of years ago, and they
just ate it and they just managed the dead cap
for that season, and they were able to figure it out.
You know, it's not ideal, but they were able to
figure it out.

Speaker 1 (01:31:14):
What I think people get confused about with dead cap
I'll try to think of an example that dead cap
is not lost cap space in the sense that, Okay,
so Kyle Darry, right, they've nine million dollars in dead cap.
I don't I don't know that number off top my head.
I'm gonna trust there. But the nine million dollars dead
cap on Kyle Doug's contract, his original cap hit was fourteen. Sure,

(01:31:38):
so the Patriots have a nine million dollar dead cap
charge against him. But they still open up five million dollars, right,
So they opened up some. You don't open up all
of it. You opened up some. But some players it
is possible a J. Brown's like this, the dead cap
can exceed the cap savings. So for it, because it
can if there's a bunch of details in the schedule

(01:32:02):
of the contracts. But basically, right, so AJ Brown's cap
hit or AJ Brown's dead cap is fifty nine million
dollars because when you cut a player, sometimes the money's
due when you cut him, so it moves money up.
AJ Brown's dead cap numbers fifty nine million. His cap
hit because the way the contract is structured is only

(01:32:23):
seventeen million, So they would lose forty two million in
cap space that they would otherwise have if they didn't
trade AJ Brown. So dead cap space is not necessarily
cap space loss. You can open up money cutting a
player that has dead cap space, You're just not going
to open up it. Dead money is what you owe him,

(01:32:44):
regardless off he's on the roster or not. That's not
the same as I don't know the term for it.
I guess cap savings is the difference between that player's
cap hit and the money you owe him if you
cut him.

Speaker 2 (01:32:56):
Right. So basically, the dead cap is tied to the
base salary that's guaranteed to the player, whereas the money
you're talking about is per game roster bonuses, workout bonuses,
incentive packages like if you know, he hits a certain
amount of games, or he makes a Pro Bowl or

(01:33:17):
they make the playoffs or whatever. So all those different
things are things that the player has to earn over
the life of the contract by his play on the field,
So that's not guaranteed to him. So that's why when
you cut a player like Kyle dugger he has X
amount and dead cap which is tied to his base salary. Yeah,
but then he might have had some incentives or bonuses

(01:33:38):
or whatever. That money falls off the cap, right, it's
just a dead cap that stays on the salary cap.
So they'll have, you know, some dead cap next year
as a team. In general, I think it's about twenty
five to thirty million. Now, again that's not that's not
a deal breaker.

Speaker 1 (01:33:54):
It's a little high, but like every team has dead cap,
but it.

Speaker 2 (01:33:58):
Doesn't mean that they are hamstrung against the cap and
they can't do anything.

Speaker 1 (01:34:03):
It's just I think they're supposed to have about fifty million.

Speaker 2 (01:34:06):
Yeah, so it's just tied mostly to the fact that
they've moved on from some holdovers that darn't fits. You know,
Jabriel Peppers, Kyle Duggar, you know, players like that that
they signed to these extensions that ended up not being fits.
So that was a very long answer, but I think
it was very.

Speaker 1 (01:34:21):
I was getting nervous talking about that stuff. I know,
Miguel is the expert. Yeah you want who the Patriots
are still paying this year dead cap. Sure so Duggar, Godshaw, Peppers,
Juju Smith, Schuster and they still have Well, I guess
this year doesn't matter. I should do next year because
this year is kind of in the books. It's done.
Their dead money next year quarter over the cap. Kyle
Dougar's twelve, Little over twelve, Jabrill Peppers is three, Jalen

(01:34:43):
Polk is one point nine, Kendrick Bourne's one point four,
and then these guys are all less than a million.
Keon White Lane, Robinson, Javon Baker, Braden Swinston City.

Speaker 2 (01:34:51):
So yeah, so it's not again like this is not
me saying that they now have an excuse to not
spend any money next offseason. It's not anything close to that.
It's just trying to explain, you know, the new on.

Speaker 1 (01:35:02):
Some of these gets. But the other sports ones get funny,
like everybody knows about Bobby Venia, but like, yeah, the
Red Sox like still paying Manny. That's different money.

Speaker 2 (01:35:10):
Different money is is maybe one of the most bananas things.

Speaker 1 (01:35:14):
Well in basketball, there is like when they cut guys.
They can they can pro rate the dead cap hit. Yeah, so,
like I think the Celtics are still paying Blake Griffin
Blake Griffin, I'm pretty sure still for a while they
were paying Dimitri's Jackson for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:35:28):
Yeah. Yeah, all right, next question, you here more of
a football question than a than a salary cap question.

Speaker 1 (01:35:34):
The Celtics are still paying playing Blake Griffin.

Speaker 2 (01:35:36):
So they were paying KG for until like just a
couple of years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:35:40):
Yeah, well it's a cap hold. I don't know, like
technically that works, but he's on the books there.

Speaker 2 (01:35:44):
So Brendan and Philly asks, did this Falcons solve Drake
May with their defensive So is it something that we
can expect other defenses to replicate. I don't think they
solved Drake May necessarily. Now. To their credit, they got
beat early on a couple of crossing routes, especially the
big one to Pop.

Speaker 1 (01:36:03):
Yeah, and they were they.

Speaker 2 (01:36:05):
Called coverages moving forward where they adjusted nicely to some
of those and that, you know, I guess it depends
on what exactly you interpret the call. You know, I
would interpret them as like cut crosses. You know, one
cross is you know, typically what it's called where basically
you have a primary man coverage defender and he's going

(01:36:27):
to run across the field with the crossing route, and
once it declares as a crossing route, he's going to
pass the crossing route off to a safety and then
he's going to fall off and he's going to replace
the safety. So basically there's a robber a safety in
the middle of the field. That guy overtakes the crossing route,
the safety does, and then the corner becomes the new
robber in the middle of the defense. The Patriots used

(01:36:49):
to run this coverage all the time with Belichick. It
was one of their staples, and so as the game
wore on, especially after Pop hit the fifty eight yarder,
they started calling these cut coverages where they were cutting
the crossing routes and that did the Patriots, I think,
kind of thought they had him on the crossing routes
and it did kind of throw a wrench in their

(01:37:11):
in their play calling and in their game plan. So
tip of the cap to Atlanta for that. The interception
to Hunter Henry was one of these coverages where Henry
read it as single high because he had one high
safety in the middle of the field. But Drake May
saw the defender cutting the crossing route, sitting on the

(01:37:33):
other side of the field, and he just wanted Henry
to just look for the football and just settle right
in between that open space, and they didn't. They weren't
on the same page, and Henry kept running and Drake
threw it and it was a pick. So I think
that that that was more of like, you know, like
a system breakdown that I would say it was a
Drake May breakdown. Like I don't think that he specifically

(01:37:55):
did anything that made me feel that like, oh no,
like this is now they the book you know on
Drake May. It didn't feel like that, and more just
felt like they the Falcons, to their credit, kind of
got to feel for it, probably towards the end of
the first half and then adjusted.

Speaker 1 (01:38:11):
And as I mean, they got to him a ton,
and he felt sped up at points in that game.
That's one of the best pass rushers in the league.
Not every team is going to be able to you know,
first of all, they send five a lot. Not every
team's gonna be able to send five. Not every team's
gonna be able to send five with the personnel that
Tampa had or that Atlanta has. Yeah, if the book
on Drake may is being a very good defensive team,

(01:38:33):
the book maybe out. I don't think there was anything
schematically in there that would I would call the book
on Drake May. So I think it's funny because he
plays worse against good defenses.

Speaker 2 (01:38:42):
Go figure, Well, that's a good point because I I
understand that Atlanta has some like probably fatal flaws. Yeah,
I'm not really sure Raheem Morris is the right answer there.

Speaker 1 (01:38:54):
All right. I wanted to get this from the game. Yeah,
what'd you think of the punt? What did the I'm
actually meant to ask you this. I meant to text
you this. What did the maths say about the punt?

Speaker 2 (01:39:03):
Punt? I remember lotting this up in real time punt.

Speaker 1 (01:39:07):
So I would have gone, yeah, because one first down,
regardless of field position, you're not getting the ball back right,
and you know the way Drake London's playing, throw it up,
maybe get a penalty something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:39:17):
Right, Oh, I know it's tough. Yeah, I kind of
thought that in real time too. I'm with you. I
because of just Drake Lonon is just mossing.

Speaker 1 (01:39:24):
Everybody likes also like they need one first down in
the game's over.

Speaker 2 (01:39:28):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:39:28):
I had one other weird thought on that. I'm curious
what you think. I would argue, This is a little facetious,
but not really. I would argue the Falcons would have
been better off going to the line on four and
twenty and spiking the ball than they were punting it.

Speaker 2 (01:39:41):
Because it puts them on a short field. Well, so
it's like, basically you're arguing that even if you give
up points there, it's still a one.

Speaker 1 (01:39:49):
Well, they weren't. Quote the points were relevant. The Patriots
would have needed one first down to getting field goal range.
They were not in field range, right, they were just
outside or would have been a long field goal. But like,
there's some risk in kicking the field goal because if
you don't get it. Now the Falcons get the ball midfield, and.

Speaker 2 (01:40:05):
I thought you were going let them score.

Speaker 1 (01:40:06):
That's well, no, no spike because there was two oh
three on the clock. Yeah, the punt wiped out the
two minute warning. The Falcons only the two timeouts. If
you spike the ball, it's gonna take less than three seconds,
right two oh one. Now there's a timeout after the
Patriots first play. If you get to stop time out,
after the second time out, after the third. Now they
either have to kick a really long field goal and

(01:40:26):
if they miss that, you're gonna get the ball at
midfield after using all three timeouts with more than a
minute left, and all you need is to get in
a field goal range. And if they get the first down,
what does it matter? If they get the first down
from their own twenty versus your forty, right, the game's over.
I guess what it comes down to. We just do
football philosophy on the show, and I thought it was
an interesting one. What would you rather have in that moment?

(01:40:48):
Forty yards or forty seconds?

Speaker 2 (01:40:51):
Forty seconds?

Speaker 1 (01:40:52):
So I would argue the Falcons would have been better
off coming to the line because the clock was stuff.
They wouldn't have had to rush it. That's a interesting
if if they had gone to the line and just
clock the ball right, they have been better off than punting.

Speaker 2 (01:41:07):
So the thing that I think is crazy about that
because I love it and it's not people would say, thing,
it's logical.

Speaker 1 (01:41:13):
People would say why not throw it away? Throw away
might take more than three seconds, like claw it right,
so you're gonna get like two to one. You're gonna Uh,
they're gonna get the ball back, but you get the
two minute warning.

Speaker 2 (01:41:24):
Yeah, no, that that's I never even considered that as
an option. That that's a good one. Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:41:29):
And now I'm not doing this all the time. If
it's fourth and ten, you probably go for it. Fourth
and twenty were probably you Either. To me, there's two options.
You throw it deep, hoping Drake London makes insane play,
or you cop a penalty. To remember, Christian Zalz is
out of the game, so he's not out there. You
either try to draw a penalty or Drake London goes off.
Or again, if that's me in the headset, I said
that in real time to Matthow said they should spike it.

(01:41:52):
I think I said they should knee it, and then
I realized that knee is longer than a spike, so
I said they should clock it.

Speaker 2 (01:41:56):
These are the times, and I guess you could just
ask Frable, but like, these are the times that I
wish that we that we could do press conferences with
Stretch because like that's something that they would think about.

Speaker 1 (01:42:07):
I know, like that's down to ask one of these guys,
like is there any is there any real Like I
obviously have my line of thinking. I feel like I've
put it out there relatively well yeah, but like I
would love to hear one of those guys thought because
all you need one first down ends the game, doesn't
matter where they get it right.

Speaker 2 (01:42:24):
But if I would have to, I would bet that
John Striker Stretch has thought of that exact scenario and
he they would do something like that. Yeah, outside the
box like kind of you know, weird, but it's almost
like Bill taking the intentional safe.

Speaker 1 (01:42:40):
It's so it's kind of similar to the intentional safety thing,
where that that's more about field position. This is sacrificing
field position for clock. But so you're with me, you would,
let's say you were conscious with you that is logical.

Speaker 2 (01:42:52):
But I this is not my area. So I'm so logical,
But I don't know if there's.

Speaker 1 (01:42:58):
One day we're in chargement NFL team, right and you're
gonna be the coach obviously very and I've said on
the guy upstairs, Yeah, I go down to you. Evan
Spike it you call it, sure love it.

Speaker 2 (01:43:09):
You're gonna be upstairs like Stretch with the with the
super Well, this was with Ernie Ad We figured out, Yeah,
you're more Ernie because stretches. He's he's doing the numbers.
You're not going to do the numbers.

Speaker 1 (01:43:19):
No, I'm just telling you. Just spike it on fourth
and twenty down one.

Speaker 2 (01:43:22):
It's not a terrible idea. Now, I thought you were
going let them score, the Patriots. But then if the
Patriots score, because.

Speaker 1 (01:43:30):
Wait, who let who score?

Speaker 2 (01:43:32):
If the Falcons let the Patriots score.

Speaker 1 (01:43:34):
No, you can't do that. They're just going to go
down after the first down.

Speaker 2 (01:43:37):
Well they would, if they were smart, they would.

Speaker 1 (01:43:40):
Well, and Hunter Henry did.

Speaker 2 (01:43:41):
Yeah, I guess the Patriots are too smart for that.
But my point was gonna actually just be to further it. Yeah,
so it was a one point game. Yeah, if the
Patriots score a touchdown because they spike it and they
get on a short field and they spare a touchdown,
now it's a seven point games. Now the Patriots go
for two, maybe you gotta go for two. There's no
difference between the seven in an eight point game when
the kickers missing extra points are kind of its go

(01:44:04):
for two. All right, let's take this last call and
then we got to wrap it up. Yeah, that's good.
Austin is in Manchester. What's up? Bostin.

Speaker 10 (01:44:13):
Hey, Evan, Hey, I saw you guys were talking earlier
in the show about just the lack of presence we
have on zone coverage and obviously the pass didn't make
any moves of the trade deadline. What do you think
they should be looking at for this next coming draft.

Speaker 2 (01:44:28):
Thanks guys, Yeah, thanks for the call. Austin. Yeah, you know,
it's something that has been on my mind with their
zone coverages. I just think there's too much space underneath
a lot of their zones and the ball's just coming
out too quickly. Now, it's always a balance of you know,
we're talking mostly when they play these zones that I'm
I'm referring to, it's first or second down, so you're

(01:44:50):
and it's between the twenties, right, So you're talking a
lot about it's kind of the bend, don't break thing,
And there's an element of that, like when you play
NFL offenses, especially NFL offenses, good ones that are explosive
and can make big plays down the field, Like do
you really want to be first and ten from the
twenty five and you're in press man across the board?

(01:45:12):
You know, I think there's a little bit of a
misconception about how much man coverage teams really actually play.
Like even the top teams in man coverage are still
playing more zone than man. Like we're talking like the
teams that lead the league in man coverage rate are
usually around forty forty five percent. So it's not a

(01:45:32):
league where everybody that teams are playing like seventy five
percent man. It just it's too hard. It's too hard
to do that. So when you talk about man coverage,
it's mostly third down. You know, a lot of teams
will well, their man coverage rate explodes on third down.
And then it's also you know, situational type of stuff.

(01:45:53):
So it's not a ton of early down man because
these offenses are just too explosive and they're too good.
Now that being said, I would, yeah, I would like
to see the Patriots be a little bit tighter. You know,
we all don't like it, and I know it drives
fans nuts when the corners outside are giving eight yards
a cushion and they just run like a five yard
hitch and turn around and catch the ball and it's

(01:46:14):
a ten yard completion on first down. It drives us
all nuts. Now that being said, the alternative is getting
up on the line of scrimmage and getting beat over
the top for fifty yard play. So these are the
as a coach like, that's sort of the balance that
you have to strike here. It's an interesting point in
terms of the draft. I mean, we got a long
way to go. They're seven and two. I'm enjoying.

Speaker 1 (01:46:34):
Give me a short list, give me your big three
needs right now.

Speaker 2 (01:46:36):
I'm enjoying the ride.

Speaker 1 (01:46:37):
Just off the top of your head. Big three needs
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:46:40):
Going spine to the defense, edge, linebacker, safety, offense. I
think that offensively, i'd supplement free agency. I think you
need a guard. I'm obviously always open to wide receiver,
top wide receivers, you know Wattle, aj Brown, you know,
guy like that is always on the call. Like you
need another running back, probably, but I don't think you

(01:47:02):
need to draft or pay one big. You know, use
a big time asset, whether it's cap space or a
high draft pick on a running back. So yeah, I
would like to see, like you know, Rabel did it
with Landry, Like draft one of your types at edge rusher,
and let's see Mike Rabel develop like a first round
talent at it.

Speaker 1 (01:47:23):
It's David Bailey at edge rusher, Like, I.

Speaker 2 (01:47:25):
Think that would be really good for this team to
see him out there with the pad on and you know, doing.

Speaker 1 (01:47:30):
I like, I mean, I think edges On there especially.
We'll see what happens with Chase On. I'd like an
athletic linebacker. I do put whether it's getting a right tackle,
you know, as a long term answer for offensive line,
would they probably need one top one hundred pick on
the offensive line, whether that whether that's a guard, whether
that's a tack, a right tackle. So you're would you

(01:47:52):
be in on a linebacker like in the first round.

Speaker 2 (01:47:55):
Like an off ball linebacker. No, No, but that's a
value that's a nerd thing, that's a value thing.

Speaker 1 (01:48:01):
Well, but like that's going to solve a lot of
problems for him because there are a couple of not
a lot, there are a couple guys that I think
are going to be in their conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:48:07):
Well, you're gonna have Spallane and so you're really looking
for that weak side sideline to side, like the whole
cliche thing.

Speaker 1 (01:48:14):
Well, that's what that's what this draft did. Like, that's
the linebackers.

Speaker 2 (01:48:18):
So I would definitely, you know, if we're talking about
day two then absolutely, and it's been it's been a
minute since they've used a top one hundred pick on
like a pure off ball linebacker. They did go kind
of nerd on on us in that respect that they
kind of devalued that position at the end with Belichick.
So I could see it in terms, But if it's

(01:48:38):
going to be first round, you have to draft like
it has to be like a.

Speaker 1 (01:48:41):
Real quant one more wear are you on? Because we
talked about this like a couple of weeks ago, using
a high pick on the tight end. Maybe not first round,
but like top fifty pick on a tight end.

Speaker 2 (01:48:51):
I like it in the respect that I think that
you really you need to keep adding for Drake May.
You can't get complacent and stop adding at the skill position.
So I want to see them continue to add. But
I don't know if this tight end class is going
to have the guys that are worth picking. If that
makes sense, that's fair. Yeah, all right, we got to

(01:49:12):
wrap it up. Patriots Unfiltered is going to be on
here in about ten minutes at noon. We'll be back
next week. It's going to be abbreviated week, but we'll
still be on Wednesday at ten am of course, the
Patriots play Thursday night football against the Jets next week,
so we're going to be doing a show on Wednesday,
but it's kind of like we're doing the show on Saturday,
so it's going to be a little different. Yeah, so

(01:49:33):
that'll be interesting, but we'll see you guys then. Thanks
for watching.

Speaker 1 (01:49:39):
Hey this is Alex.

Speaker 4 (01:49:40):
Thanks for tuning into the show. If you really want
to help us, make sure you like us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Also, make sure you
follow us on the New England Patriots YouTube channel to
see this show and everything else we do here at
the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (01:49:53):
Thanks a lot,

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