Patriots Playbook 10/16: Reviewing Maye's Debut Start, Texans Recap, Jaguars Preview

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
On Patriots Plain the Legions.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
An Chung brings storm from Brady coasting new.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Story size and the playble soalized and plable Patriots.

Speaker 4 (00:19):
Plable is your host genre legend.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Patri It's it's always hard for me to come up
with the actual timing on the La la law.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Now you nailed it?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Did I get it? I don't know. I'm not used
to having la la lave after my name, so I'm not.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
A big la la la guy myself. That's probably it's.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Been land a couple of times, so than that's been
La La, I'm not I'm not really not really equipped,
all right. Welcome into the playboll Yeah, exactly right, precisely,
John Rook Evan Lazar is here coming up of the program.
Will also be joined by Mike Deroco, who covers the
Jags for ESPN dot Com, and we'll get the latest

(01:10):
time the same kind of situation, I think, similar situation
that the Jaguars are in as the Patriots are. But
they're getting the second of two games back to back
in London, So is that really an advantage? Do they
need that advantage more than the Patriots do? Both teams
are clearly looking at this like this is a winnable scenario,

(01:31):
a winnable games. We'll jump into that. Russell Bax will
be here for Week seven around the NFL in the
second hour of the program. And here's the other thing
right off right as we get started here, by the way,
Patriots fans, if you want to see Toyota's best offers,
including those not seen on TV, go to buy a
Toyota dot com. It's officials, Toyota's official website for deals

(01:52):
from the official vehicle of the New England Patriots, Toyota.
Let's go places. I want to open up the phones
right off the eight five five PATS five hundred eight
one eight five five p a t S five hundred
because I know we have a heavy contingent of fans
in the UK. Yeah, and they have their own they

(02:13):
have their own x handle at UK Patriots, which I
got to give the shout out to, uh, you know,
one of our one of our top little top podcasters
and biggest fans of this show and and your show
and Patriots unfieldered. You know, Uh Clazy Claire. She's all
over Twitter. She's out there in the middle of you know,

(02:34):
East bum or wherever the hell she's you know, the
front of.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
It, and I don't.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I don't want to know who's going to the game,
who's actually taking the game in in London.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, give me some recommendations.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Evan needs some recommendations. But this is his first time in.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
The UK, right, yeah, first time.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
And second time to Europe. The first time was the
Germans Frankfurt, Frankfort Right.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
So I'm checking off the getting those passport stamps, you know.
So that's cool. I'm excited, all right.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, that that's a big thing.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
That's excited.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
But Evan Deed's recommendations on the pubs, Uh, you know
do we do we chip? Yeah, dude, we have fish
and chips. We go banger and mash. I gotta I
gotta admit I'm a banger and mash guy. I've always
liked it. I know that's a sort of an acquired
taste for some people. I actually enjoy a full English breakfast.
Do you know what a full English breakfast includes?

Speaker 4 (03:22):
I do not.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Somebody should call in and tell Evan about the full English.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
That sound very uncultured.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Actually no, there's a part of it that you might
find a little disturbing. The blood pudding part oh yeah, No, no,
that's not gonna work for you.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
No, I don't think so, No, no I do.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
I do.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
You know, obviously we're gonna I'm sure we'll hit the pubs.
I'm sure we'll we can figure that out on her.
In all sincerity, I think the tooth questions I have
for people are one, what's worth my time and what
isn't in terms of sight seeing, because we're gonna have
a very finite twindow of sight seeing, so I don't
want to waste my time doing like one of the

(04:06):
tourist trap things that's not actually cool. And second, I
am a big fish and chips guy. I love fish
and chips in the summertime especially, So where can I
get the best fish and chips in Wembley and London?
You know, wherever wherever we're at. So those are the
two places mostly.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay, So see need your help eight five to five
PATS five hundred the email address, podcasts at patriots dot com,
podcasts plural with the S on the end of it
at patriots dot com. Hit me up on Twitter at
jar Broadcaster if you want as well, and we'll get
in the message. I think we really kind of have
to start first and foremost by dialing back just a

(04:43):
little bit here only because of the significance of Drake
May's debut. Yep, I'm sure you're like me in this regard,
and you don't want to put a lot into it,
because you really shouldn't put a lot into it. But
for a start certainly wasn't bad. I think what it
does it also underscores the fact that this team probably

(05:05):
could have, probably even should have, and some just played
him earlier when some of us were clamoring for him
to play earlier in.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
The process inappropriately.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
But I also think I can understand at least Jrod
Mao was It was up front about the need to
hold him back a little because, and he admitted it.
The offensive line was a shambles and they weren't sure
what they had. But they got to a point where
it's kind of like, hey, we need together, you need
to bleep or get off the pot. Yeah, and they

(05:36):
finally bleeped, and guess what, it worked.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
For the most part, it worked. Yeah. Look, I mean,
I've already waxed poetic about all the good things that
he did on Sunday on pu yesterday, and after further review,
my written film review every week did I do. I
think the biggest things that I saw on the tape
that were so encouraging from his performance were, first of all,
all of the physical attributes. So we've talked about about

(06:01):
Drake May since the draft, arm talent, mobility, out of structure, playmaking,
you know, off script, improvising, you want to call it,
whatever you want to call it. All those things. We
got a little taste of all of that. We got
the arm talent on the throw to touchdown, throw to Booty,
We got the off script playmaking on the throw to
Hunter Henry. We got even other instances. You know, another

(06:23):
throw that I don't think has talked about enough because
the game was a little bit out of hand, fourth
down late in the game. He throws a stick route
and out to Pop Douglas across the field on fourth
down to convert a fourth down late in the game.
That other quarterbacks that they just can't get that ball there.
You know that that throw is jumped and that's a
pick six for a lot of qbs, not for the

(06:44):
quarterback that was throwing the ball on Sunday for the Patriots.
So the arm talent, the mobility, the playmaking. He had
multiple explosive plays that he was a part of, you know,
forty five yard touch our, forty yard touchdown, thirty five
yard touchdown. They were not making those types of plays before.
They weren't making those types of plays last year. They
weren't un those types of plays two years ago. So

(07:07):
he has that ability to be able to do that.
I would also say some of the nuanced stuff was
really impressive, you know, the full field progressions, the coverage manipulation,
you know, little pump fakes and eye manipulation, moving defenders
and things like that. All of that stuff really was excellent.
I thought his decisions were mostly good, his eyes were

(07:27):
mostly in the right places. Now, it's all that being said,
and we talked to him today because it's a double
edged sword with him a little bit. He's a rookie.
He's gonna have some peaks and valleys. The things that
he seemed to lament on the most in the conversations
that I've had with him are some of the throws available,
throws that he missed, you know, some of the errand

(07:49):
throws that he had in the game to open receivers
and the sacks. You know, he felt like he took
too many sacks in the game. The erin throws, you know,
he comes out, he throws a pick, you know, to
pop Douglas over the middle of the field. Said that
he was a little hyped up, you know, first career start,
juice as were going, and he just kind of airmailed it.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
You know, you can kind of excuse some of that
just because you've got to realize that he's probably over
amped anyway. Yeah, in that kind of a situation, there
were a couple of what the hell was right? But
all right, I'm willing to excuse it. I'm even willing
to excuse the turnovers. Yeah, the fumble, not so much
is the interceptions, because you're getting used to the interceptions.
I think those believe it or not, a little bit

(08:30):
more overcomeable. Fumble is so much more intimidating than a
pick anyway. Yeah, I think that could play in your
mind a heck of a lot more than an interception
can if you're look at it from a quarterbacks perspective. So,
you know, was it perfect. No, But all things being equal,
considering the lamenting that we'd been doing over the offensive line,
hey relatively unscathed.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yeah, So it's worth noting, and this was something that
I had said beforehand. When everybody is talking about how
bad this offensive line is and how that was, you
shouldn't play Drake behind this offensive line because he's gonna
get hurt or he's going to develop bad habits. On Sunday,
even with all of the people in and out of
the lineup that they had, you know, they lose Vederian

(09:12):
Low ten snaps into the game, Zach Thomas has to
go in at left tackle. They allowed a season low
thirty three percent pressure rate on the quarterback. I don't
think that's a coincidence. And I'm not trying to pick
on Jacobe Prissett.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
The average per on a quarterback per week in the NFL,
what's the around about thirty So thirty three is not
out of the ordinary.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
No, And thirty three percent pressure rate was by far
the lowest of the season. And I don't think that's
a coincidence. That they got a guy in there and
Drake May who is a little bit more dynamic and
a little bit more of a playmaker back there.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
He knows how to slip into it and find the tack.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, that all of a sudden, not that the line
was perfect, because it certainly wasn't, but all of a sudden,
it looks a little bit better because you have somebody
back there. I think that's the number one thing that
I look at now moving forward, because now it's all
about building. Right, We've saw last week it was his
first time out. How does he improve? How does he
get better? I don't think that teams are going to

(10:10):
be able to just sit in mant to man and
blitz the Patriots anymore. That was the book on them
for the first five weeks of the season, is that
we're going to go man to man across the board
because they don't have great receivers. We're going to pressure
the heck out of the quarterback because he's he can't,
you know, mitigate pressure back there, and we're going to
sink their offense that way. Now, when you play manton

(10:31):
man against Drake May, you have a forty yard touchdown,
you have a thirty five yard touchdown, you have another
seventeen yard completion, you have a fifteen yard scramble. All
this happening against mant to man coverage. So he's one
of those guys that is going to change how defenses
play the Patriots. Now, it may take a couple more
weeks of him showing that you can't do that. You know,

(10:53):
you can't just dare him to beat man to man coverage.
But I bet you soon here teams are going to
start to back off. They are going to see the bombs.
They're going to have to back off, They're gonna have
to stop blitzing as much. And now all of a
sudden watch you know, the run game might get a
little bit better, the short passing game might be more available,
and things will start to open up a little bit
for this offense.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
So let's let's then kind of a you know, take
it apart here, piece by piece. Quarterback right now is
not an issue whereas it was an issue very much
so earlier in the year. Right now, the offensive line,
even though it's still sort of a scrambled egg omelet
if you will, up front, there might be some hope
for some stability. I was stunned at Ben Brown's performance.

(11:36):
You know, two days off of you know, the Raiders
practice squad, he comes in and starts a game, which
I think, you know, in any other world we'd be
screaming about this week, like, oh my god, where's this
guy been. Yeah, because he provided some stability, he's played
the position. When Cole Strange gets healthy, we know he's
going to work out at that position. They want him
to eventually potentially slide over and provide depth if nothing else,

(12:00):
and if you're able to get Venerian lowback, if you're
able to And I can't believe I'm saying that, you know,
in that form, but you know, and I don't mean
that negatively. I just it's kind of like, with all
the jumbling going along, he wasn't one of the better guys.
But it looks like now that he's getting reps, he's
starting to at least develop into his role somewhat. And
left tackle has been the absolute achilles heel for this

(12:22):
team all year on that line, but we've seen other
issues all across it. Yeah, so you know, maybe you know,
maybe there's a semblance of a line there. My issue
with the offensive line right now is how about run
blocking guys? Because there was nothing for Antonio Gibson last week,
nothing for Jamichael Haysty last week. And yeah, they need

(12:42):
Remondre Stevenson back in there, fumblitis or not.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, it's a good point. About the run game that
they struggled mightily in run blocking in this game really
just didn't run block anything well, whether it was his
own stuff for the gap stuff, or you know, any
of the shotgun runs that they tried to run. Now
that you have Drake made back there and you're running
like RPO and stuff like that with a mobile quarterback,
is that.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Because they were so worried about pass protection.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
No, I just I just don't think that they have
the horses, Like you have guys up front that are
haven't prayed, haven't practiced, haven't repped with this group yet,
you know pass a excuse me. Run blocking is a
methodical thing, right, It's like all the pieces fitting together
into the puzzle, and everybody has got to be on

(13:27):
the same sort of wavelength, and you've got to be
on a string and all that kind of cliche stuff.
So when you have a group that has a let's
call him a Zach Thomas, what a fifth string left
tackle at this point, fourth string fifth string left tackle.
You have a center that you just signed off a
practice squad that's starting a game for you three days later.
You know, those guys haven't practiced, they haven't repped they

(13:49):
haven't done any of these things, and that showed out
in the game for sure. I mean they were they
were not executing at all in the running game.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Well I know that they you know, had their just
this afternoon already, which I guess you've got a peek at,
and looks like there are three guys that likely may
not be around to play in the game or even
even make the trip. The one that I get and
Remondre is one of those direct and then the other
one that kind of surprised me a little bit is
Marcus Jones.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, so he was on the injury report last last
week with a groin injury. I don't know if it's related.
I don't believe he left the game on Sunday with
any sort of injury.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
He played, he looked normally. Yeah, fine, returns.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
What the injury report says this afternoon, I don't know.
I don't want to speculate. It could be anything, right,
could be an illness, could be what personal, It could
be anything. So we'll see what the the injury report
brings here this afternoon. But Ramondre Stevenson a foot injury
is what they're calling it. That seems like he is
still maybe not ready to be back yet. And I

(14:49):
do think that that obviously with the run game as
a factor and what they did last week, and then
you look at left tackle, my guess is is that
we're going to see this line put in a blender
yet again. I will probably have Trey Jacob's flip sides
from right to left. He'll probably start the game at
left tackle on when you at right tackle, back out

(15:09):
to right tackle, and then you put you know, City
So or Leyden Robinson into the starting lineup at right
guard would be my guest. So we're blending it up
and spitting it out again.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
There's we seven different starting lineups in seven weeks.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Seven and seven. That would be you know, Jacobs has
started a game at left tackle already, so it wouldn't
be a new left tackle in that sense. But they've
started four different left tackles already in seven weeks. They
have seven and seven in terms of their line combinations. Now,
the one silver lining is that this is not a
very good Jacksonville pass rush. They're thirtieth in the league
in pressure rate. They had those two bookend edge rushers

(15:44):
and that's about it. That's really their entire production.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Which might directly go up against the Patriots Achilles heel
on Off.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, but you know, and look, they haven't done a
ton of it. So I say this lightly. But you
can chip, you can help, you can double, you can
leave the tight end in, you can six ozer line
and go eligible and double Josh heinz Allen or Trayvon
Walker or both guys. This is one criticism that I
would have so far of Alex van Pelt. You know,
this West Coast type of system. They're very big and

(16:14):
getting five guys into the pattern they want five receivers
into the pattern is massive a part of this scheme
and so they are not big on.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Help if you need to hold back and block right.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
So I'm clamoring for you know, Okay, you have a great,
great pass rusher in Will Anderson in another really good
one and Daniel Hunter you're going up against last week.
You look at their pass blocking reps and again it
wasn't terrible. I gave you the stat earlier they only
double team those guys that combined four times in the
entire game. Okay, Yeah, that to me is is coaching.

(16:48):
You know, That to me is is direction. Is you know,
let's have a plan. You know, josh heinz Allen is
a really really explosive, twitchy edge rusher for Jacksonville. Trayvon Walker,
freak athlete, former number one overall pick in the draft
a couple of years ago. You know, those two guys
can wreck a game. They a couple of weeks ago,
Trayvon Walker had three sacks and seven quarterback pressures against Indianapolis,

(17:11):
right like he can single handed the wrecka game. So
if you allow that to happen, and you put Trey
Jacobs on an island for four quarters with Trayvon Walker,
then you're you're asking for it, like you're asking for trouble.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yep, Okay, I want to go back for just a
second more specifically on the Houston game rather than the
Jaguars gonna coming up for a specific reason because most
of the aftermath after Sunday the Patriots got beat by
twenty points, sure did, Okay, they gave up forty one,
which now we can really tell what the middle of
that Patriots defense was before they lost two to injury

(17:45):
and lost Jabrill Peppers to the exemple ist. Ye, what
those three guys really meant to this team up the middle.
I mean they're everything. And you know, you three startered,
three bona fide starters, three even all pro caliber players,
being taken out of your lineup, you're gonna struggle, and
the Patriots showed that mightyly. I don't know if the
Patriots have the capability of filling in the gap for

(18:06):
those guys. So hey, on defense, they gotta slow somebody down,
They got to stop somebody. They did not do that
this last week. Jacksonville is still capable.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, I agree. I look at this Jaguars offense and
I know they're they're underperforming, just like the Patriots defense
is underperforming because they've invested a ton into that offense.
I mean, they have a fifty five million dollar quarterback,
so they've invested a ton of resources into offense.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
You know, first is what we hope the Patriots do
it first round.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Pick on a receiver. They signed Gabe Davison free agency.
They already have Christian Kirk, they have Evan Ingram at
tight end, who's a really good receiving tight end. This
is a capable group that is getting in their own way.
They're dropping passes, they are fumbling on at the end
of runs. You know on explosive plays. Trevor Lawrence has
had some untimely interceptions, like they're really beating themselves in

(18:55):
these games, and it's not a talent issue. I wouldn't
say with Jacksonville, so they can flip a switch. You know,
they might be able to figure this out here for
themselves at some point. So looking at the Patriots defense,
I mean, John, if I told you when the season
started the Patriots to be a bottom TI, bottom five
defense statistically this year, yeah, so they're twenty ninth in

(19:16):
DVOA on defense right now, bottom five, bottom five defense,
bottom five defense on third down.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
That shows you how much those guys that they lost
are valuable.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
It's valuable. But I would just say that.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
The others that are in there aren't aren't doing what
they need to be doing.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, in some respects, you can. If you want to
sit here and chalk it up to injuries and say
that that's what's going on, then it's more than valid.
But I would say that to me, the majority of
this is on coaching because last year, this defense, after
basically what twelve quarters of football, lost Christian Gonzales and

(19:53):
Matthew Judah for the year in Dallas in Week three
against the Cowboys. They went on to be a top
ten defense in the league even without those two guys,
without their best pass rusher in their top corner, and
they were still held it together. Now they had some
easier matchups. You know, Paul Parolo would tell you that, right,
he always throws that in my face, that they had

(20:15):
the Tommy DeVito's and the star Ben Shoes of the world,
and you know, Los Angeles and the Justin Herbert here
in the pouring rain, and like all these other factors.
But statistically, the bottom line is that they were a
top ten defense last year in the NFL. They are
now twenty ninth in the league. In DVA, they went
from ninth to twenty ninth. So that to me has

(20:38):
to point somewhat to coaching and the two areas that
I would point to, specifically one their unblocked pressure rates,
So like, how much are they generating guys free runners
to the quarterback on blitzes right where there's nobody blocking
somebody and he comes through the line clean. They went

(20:58):
last year with Belichick and Bill Belichick, they were number
one in the league in generating free runners to the
quarterback almost ten percent of the time they were on
a blitz, they were generating a free pass presher to
the quarterback. This year, they are twenty sixth in the league.
So they're not scheming up pressure as well as they
used to.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
I can make the same argument offensively, they're not scheming
up things that they should be doing to move the
football and get the ball in the end zone. Yeah,
so it seems like they're almost overly simplistic on both
sides of the ball. And that's where I agree with
you in terms of coaching. But is it because the
coaches have been told to quote unquote dumb it down,
or is it because they just are inexperienced and they

(21:39):
don't know enough.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
So I would give some of that credence to the
offensive side of the ball, because you know, Kurt Warner
had an interesting tweet this week about he watched the
film to see Drake May and analyze Drake May, and
his point was how simple some of the concepts were
in the passing game for the Patriots. But when you
have an offensive line like the Patriots do, like you're

(22:02):
not going to be drying up these elongated, exotic passing
concepts that are gonna take like three and a half
seconds to develop down the field because the quarterback doesn't
have that kind of time in the pocket. But on
the defensive side of the ball, for the most part,
and I get it, they have some new players that
are playing bigger roles, But for the most part, there's
a lot of continuity on the defensive side of the football.

(22:24):
Like it's still kind of the same guys on that side.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
Of the field, Like different coaches.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, Like who's really playing a role with.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
The exception of Steve Belichick, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Who's really playing a role on defense right now? That
wasn't on the team last year. I'm not saying that
maybe the role is larger, right maybe he's playing more,
but playing a regular contributor to this defense that was
not a Patriot in twenty twenty three, there really aren't
that many of them. So they have all these guys

(22:56):
have been in the building, All these guys have been here,
All these guys have played good football in their past,
and they're just not playing good football right now.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
It probably can be said for the other side of
the ball as well. Mike Dorocco is with us from
ESPN Jacksonville, So I want to bring him here into
the program. Let me see if I can get this
thing done right here. Yes, there we are, Mike, Welcome
into the program, John Rook and Evan Lazar here in Foxboro.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
How are you guys doing.

Speaker 5 (23:21):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
We're great, appreciate you. Are you in London with the Jags?

Speaker 6 (23:26):
H No, I am not.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
I could not make the trip this year.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Wish I had, but unfortunately, well not fortunately, I'm sitting
here in seventy degree weather, in the sunshine. So I'm
not going to complain about that.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
I can't say that that's necessarily a bad thing right now,
especially when you consider this, as we just said that
the fortunes of these two teams going on right now.
So there's a lot of similarities between these two teams
other than just the fact that they're one in five.
So what right now is the what's the panic button?
In Jacksonville? From their point of view, going into this

(24:01):
game with New England would certainly they have to feel like, hey,
this is one of those get right games.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah, I don't get a sense, you know, panic on
the scent on the face of the Jaguars at this point.
From their point of view, there's this team was was
two and six and three and seven at one point
in twenty twenty two, and they rallied back to win
the AFC South at nine and eight and beat the

(24:28):
Chargers in that playoff game. And you know, there's this
feeling here that they still have that, Hey, you know,
we turned it around once before, we can do it again.
But the problem is they weren't in that situation last
year and didn't get it done. And at one in five,
they're clearly not getting it done. And you know, they've
got some issues all over the place, both sides of

(24:49):
the ball that don't look like you could get fixed
at any point this season, to be honest with you.
So I think there's a little bit of whistling in
the dark there from maybe the franchise's standpoint. Now, you know,
panic level here in Jacksonville is pretty much off the chart.
They're calling for Doug Peterson's head, they're calling for uh
Bumky's head, and you know there's a lot of people

(25:11):
here calling for for Mac Jones, believe it or not,
and to put Trevor Lawrence on the bench so you
know we can go. I mean, let that give you
an idea of where things are in Jacksonville.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
At this point, I was just gonna ask, if you
could put odds on Mac Jones making an appearance in
this game, what would they be.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
I think you're barring an injury, it would have to
be a situation like last week, where the game's completely
out of control, out of hand, the Patriots are winning
big or the Jags are winning big and it's.

Speaker 4 (25:43):
Mop up duty.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
I mean, there's no there's zero chance that Doug Peterson
is going to bench Trevor Lawrence. I think if he
benched Trevor Lawrence and decided to give Mac Jones a start,
I think Shod Cohn might boo him out of the
building immediately. I mean, that's their guy. Owner loves them,
they just gave him that huge contract. You run the

(26:04):
risk of maybe losing the team if you do that,
And some would argue that they're probably at that point
right now anyway, in terms of Doug Peterson losing the
locker room. But you know, other than like I said,
an injury or game out of hands, I don't think we.

Speaker 5 (26:17):
See Mac jokes.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, I guess I can understand that, But man, would
that provide some juice around here?

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Yeah? Well, you know what it give us all something
to write and talk about, which is you know what
I mean.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Isn't that, Mike, Isn't that why we're here? That's why
we're here? Oh my god, it'd be like the world
is ending almost right, something.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
Different, not like, hey, why did they lose? Well, the
same reason they lost the other five games.

Speaker 6 (26:45):
You know, we can only talk about it so much.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
It's the same thing every week, no doubt, no doubt
at all. Tell us h in particular, and we you know,
we obviously know a little about you know, quarterback, receivers,
even running back a bit on the offensive side, even
though there have been some ups and downs there. But
why has this Jacksonville team deteriorated really defensively, especially this year,

(27:10):
to the point where they're right now not a contender
when they were expected to be.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, you know, I was looking up some numbers the
other day. They're on pace to have the second worst
defense in franchise history in terms of yards per game
allowed and points per game allowed. The only team that's
worse is the twenty twenty team that went one in fifteen.
So that tells you how bad things have gotten here.
And you know, they've had some injuries. Tyson Campbell, the

(27:36):
the one corner is out. He should be back this week,
but you know he missed full games after suffering a
handstring injury. Foyer and Luik and they're they're leading tackler,
the basically the quarterback of the defense, middle linebacker there.
He's been out, He's going to be out a couple
more weeks. So that's an issue. That's a foot injury,
you know. So those are two guys that they're really

(27:58):
counting on. And then I guess the two biggest problems
have been the safety play. Andre Cisco and Antonio Johnson
have just it's been really bad back there. And you know,
you could see in a couple of weeks ago against Indianapolis,
guys are running wide open our fourteen points in the
fourth quarter and guys are running wide open easy touchdown

(28:20):
passes from Joe Flacco. I mean to Alec Pierce for
goodness sake, you know. And the other issue has been
they've just not gotten a lot of pressure on the quarterback.
They were counting on more interior pressure from guys like
you know, Roy Robertson Harris. They just traded a Devon Hamilton,
you know, they drafted Mason Smith out of LSU in
the second round. They really haven't gotten much push in

(28:41):
the interior that defensive line. You know, they signed Eric Armstead,
who you know has been a really good pass rusher
in his career from the interior as a tackle, and
they've decided, you know what, we're going to play him
at defensive end. We want him to be at defensive end.
That was sort of what we promised him to sign him.
He and he's hit the quarterback one time in six

(29:03):
games and that was in the opener.

Speaker 4 (29:05):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
So Josh Allen, Josh heinzelind excuse me, has been his
normal self in terms of pressure rate and pressures. He
just hasn't really finished stack wise. And Treyvon Walker's got
five sacks, but he had three in one game and
that was probably the best game of his career, the
Colts game. And then you know, the bigger issue with

(29:26):
him has sort of been disappearing in games at times,
and last week.

Speaker 5 (29:31):
Was certainly one of them.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
So that playing the state at the end, lack of
pressure up front, and you know, those injuries the two
really key guys have really kind of hurt this defense,
and you know, there's as you guys know, this isn't
like a college roster or one hundred and twenty guys
on it. Those guys are gone. There's no help on
the way until they get back. You just got to
hope that Foyer Lucan can get back into this lineup

(29:55):
in the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
That's why I kind of found the fact that Roy
Robertson Harris was traded just after the loss to the
Bears this past weekend, and uh, okay, you're getting some
compensation and return, But how surprising was that to you
number one and number two? Do you think that might
have been a shot fired across the bow by Doug
Peterson to everybody else.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
I think there might have been a little bit of
a message in that, for sure.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
I mean, you're trading a guy in London, and oh,
by the way, you're sending him to Seattle, which is
literally the furthest place you could send him from.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
So hope he gets frequent flyer mine.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
Yeah, exactly. They've got some young guys. One of the
issues that you know, the GM talked about last year
was onboarding, which is their term of Hey, they weren't
playing enough young guys and young draft picks. You know,
Doug Peterson, the coaching staff didn't have a ton of
confidence in some of those guys, didn't feel like they
were ready to really contribute. And then you know, the

(30:56):
GM was like, hey, look we've got these young guys here.
They got to play, because how do you know if
there are any good if they don't play. And you know,
I mentioned Mason Smith as a young defensive tackle. Jordan Jefferson,
you know, is a guy they drafted in the fourth round,
also out of LSU. They want to get him on
the field. More Miles Cold or seventh round pick who
you know, Trent Balky drafted because he has long arms

(31:18):
in his athletic you know, and they want those guys
on the field. And Roy really wasn't playing at a
high level anyway, so they figured, you know what, kill
two birds with one stone, send a little bit of
a message, maybe get him out of here, spot file
some draft picks, and let's get these young guys on

(31:38):
the field.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Seems to me that, you know, that was the one
spot I guess, based on my limited knowledge of the
of the Jaguars, that there was a little depth of
the tackle guys were splitting reps, so now you'll get
more definitive reps maybe from some of those younger guys. Correct.

Speaker 4 (31:54):
Yeah, absolutely, it's depth.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
I don't know how good depth it is, but it
is depth, and yeah, we'll see. You know, there's a
lot of rotating going on there. Ryan Nielsen, the defensive coordinator,
is a big believer in that they rotate pretty heavily
all along the defensive front. And when Foyer Lucan was healthy,
they were even rotating linebackers at times and taking him
off the field, which didn't really seem to make a

(32:19):
whole lot of sense. But yeah, he's big on the
rotation there. Now they've, like I said, they've got some
young guys that should be able to get a lot
more playing time.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
Mike, I just wanted to ask you go back to
Trevor for a second, because you know, I just watching
that that Bears game, and you know, he played pretty well.
I thought in that game, like through three touchdown passes,
all his receivers are dropping balls at left and right,
things like that. It's kind of I understand when you're
in it, and trust me, we know this from around
here the last couple of years that fans are knee

(32:47):
jerk and wattat bench the guy, you know, just because
of the production. But to me, it doesn't look like
Trevor is the problem, Like would you agree with that assessment?

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Yeah, if I'm putting ranking a list of problems with
this franchise right now and why the season's gone in
the toilet, he would not be in the top four
or five. Now, that doesn't mean he has to He
has to play better and he has to play more consistent,
and he knows that and he has to be you know,
I think his biggest issue has been missing some throws

(33:19):
that he should be making. There were a couple of rows,
you know, in the Houston game that he had wide
open guys down the field for big plays, including one
that could have been a really deep touchdown, and he
just missed the throw badly. He threw a bad interception
against the Bills when he was in a clean pocket,
nobody was around him, and he just airmailed a throw.

(33:40):
So he's got to become more consistent and he's got
to start making on a regular basis those big time throws. Now,
he did that last week against the Bears, like you said,
and they dropped four potential touchdown passes, which is like,
I've never seen that in a game before. I mean
I've been covering football along time, college pro. I mean

(34:01):
I've never seen a team drop four potential touchdown passes
in one game.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
And then you look the week before.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
Against Indianapolis, I mean, he nailed all of his long throws,
including the one to Brian Thomas Junior, who took it,
you know, eighty five to the house there. So he's
got his issues for sure. I don't know that they're
doing the things right now that would be best for him.
You know, he's a rhythm passer, always has been, and
if you go back to twenty twenty two, they prioritize

(34:29):
getting the ball out of his hands pretty quickly. They
rolled him out. He's really good when he throws on
the run.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
You know.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
They ran a lot of crossers to to kind of
identify where they you know, coverages and you know, try
to spring some guys across the middle of the field.
They've got two really good guys that can thrive there
with Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram, and they really don't
do any of that anymore. They want to go down
the field more That's sort of what their philosophy was

(34:56):
going to be this year, with Gabe Davis adding him
from the Bills, and certainly with Brian Thomas Junior, who
I think is going to be the real deal over
the next several years. But the problem with that is
you need more time to make those throws. And until
the last couple of weeks, that offensive line you know
as a hole, hadn't played great. The tackles were not
very good at all. But the last two weeks the

(35:19):
lines played much better. The two tackles have played much better,
so he's had a little bit more time to throw.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
But I still think he needs to be in a
rhythm and that's.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
Got to be a priority for them against the Patriots.
Get him going early, so short quick throws and get
the offense moving.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Sounds very eerily similar to what the Patriots want to
try to do with Drake May.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
The best way to handle a young quarterback that's struggling
is try and get him confident, because we all know
how fleeting that is in this week. And if you
can get the offense rolling early, and you can get
a guy feeling pretty good, and you hit a couple
of plays here and there.

Speaker 6 (35:54):
Who knows what is the.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
One thing in your estimation that the Jaguars are doing
right right now?

Speaker 3 (36:02):
Yeah, okay, that's actually a good question.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
I'm capable of.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Now I'll say this. I'll say this. I think their
run game, as long as it's not in third and
fourth and one, is pretty good. Tank Bigsby has been
a pleasant surprise. He's leading the league and yards per carry.
I think it's seven point two yards per carry. He's
going to get a ton more work now with Travis
Dpn out with the handstring injury. So they're doing that

(36:29):
pretty well. And you know, when you're one in five team,
there's not a lot of stuff you're doing well. But
I'll say that, you know, Logan Cook is one of
the better punters in the league. And I've used to
joke about this for years until they started to get
a little better. Was like, there's nobody else on that
roster who consistently performs at a high level and does

(36:49):
exactly what they ask him to do every single time.
That Logan Cook the punter. So he's you know, been
his normal self and he's probably you know, another consistent
spot for them, and the young rookie kicker who has
a huge leg. You know, he's built like a fifteen
year old kid. I mean, he walked by him and
he looks like he's a sophomore in high school. And

(37:11):
he's just got this canon for a leg.

Speaker 6 (37:13):
A kicks.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
You know, he's in training camp. He his routine banging him,
you know, over sixty yards and it was pretty impressive
a lot. So you know, they're not doing a whole
heck of a lot well, but those would probably be
the things that they've done well, which is what you
kind of expect out of a one.

Speaker 5 (37:28):
In five team.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yeah, and so at one in five, you know, and
things going, you know, a little south certinly not to
anybody's expectation before the season started. What kind of ice
is Doug Peterson and or his staff? What are they
skating on right now?

Speaker 3 (37:44):
I think it's it's getting thinner, but I don't Tod
Con is very very patient with his head coaches. The
only one he wasn't patient with was urban Meyer, and
that was a move he had to make. He really
wanted to keep urban Meyer more than in one season,
but Urban.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
Basically left him no choice.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
So I don't see him getting fired. You know, there's
a lot of talk around here that if they get
beat by the Patriots on Sunday, he gets fired on
Monday when they get back from London.

Speaker 4 (38:13):
I don't see it.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
I'm not hearing any of that from the people that
I'm talking to. You know, could it happen at the
bye week in November, I mean, if there's still only
one or two wins, that's a possibility. But but Doug
Peterson said, excusing me a shot con said last week,
and hey, look, I still believe in Doug Peterson.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
I still believe in.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Trent Balky, you know, and that you know, I guess
we could call that.

Speaker 4 (38:36):
The dreaded vote of confidence.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
But you know, I watched him hold on to Gus
Bradley for a year longer than he probably should have.
I watched him hold on to Doug Moron a year
longer than he probably should have. So it wouldn't surprise
me if, you know, at the end of this season
he doesn't make a move and instead they decide, you
know what, we're just gonna regroup and figure out, you know,

(38:58):
our personnel issues and from there. But then that would
make twenty twenty five probably a do or die.

Speaker 4 (39:04):
For Doug peters O.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
Good stuff. Mike. Hey, Mike, Yeah, thanks for spending some
time with us. We sure appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Appreciate you guys having me. Thanks a lot.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
You got it. It's Mike Derocco. You can get him
at ESPN, Deroco d r CCO if you want to
follow him on X. I got a couple of quick
things before I gotta let you go, all right, so
you get out of here. Number one overall, when you
go into this thing, and you look at the opportunity

(39:32):
that's presented here with all of the pluses of Drake
May's performance and then all of the negatives we've seen.
The defense now a concern. The offensive line is still
not straight. The running backs can hold onto the ball.
We've got some dropsies now within the wide receiving core
and the tight ends as well. That's happened as well.
So what constitutes success this week? Is it win or bust?

(39:54):
Or are we still at the hey we're taking babystep stage.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Well, I look at this Jaguars defense and I would
be pretty disappointed if the Patriots didn't score some points
on this Jaguars defense on Sunday. I mean, Mike kind
of laid it out for us perfectly. Just now. They
are dead last in every single category against the pass.
When you can go raw passing yards, DVOA, EPA, whatever

(40:21):
metric you want to use to evaluate their passing defense,
it's the worst in the league across the board. So
this is a unit that's giving up almost two hundred
and eighty yards a game through the air. So the
Patriots should have some opportunities to throw the ball in
this game, especially with what the positives that Drake may
showed us last week. They're no longer this passing offense

(40:44):
that's incapable of having a three hundred yard passing game.
You know that that is right there at their fingertips.
Last week he throws for two forty and three touchdowns,
and he missed some throws in the game that he
could have made that could have put it even closer
to a three hundred passing yards performance. Now, in terms
of the wins and loss and you know, the final

(41:04):
score and all that, I don't know yet what that
accumulates too for them. I think turnovers obviously will play
a big role in that, but I would be disappointed
if they don't have some fun in the passing game
on Sunday. This is not a good Jaguars defense, This
is not a good Jaguars pass defense. And this is
now a Patriots offense that is capable of hitting some

(41:26):
big plays down the field in the passing game with
Maya quarterbacks. So I don't want to put too much
pressure on him as a in his second career start.
But I look at this as like a pretty, you know,
juicy matchup, like when he should be looking his chops
and saying, we can have this defense right, and.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
It could be a very competitive, even an entertaining game. Yeah,
and you wouldn't necessarily expect that from two one and
five teams.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yeah, that's exactly how I look at it. And I
don't want to get too carried away and pick you know,
forty three forty and some crazy shootout between two to
one and five. Yeah, let's not get But at the
same time, I look at the strengths and the weaknesses,
just the weaknesses of the Jaguars defense, the ability to

(42:07):
throw the ball down the field that the Patriots now
have with may And then I come back to the
Jaguars offense. I feel like the Jaguars offense is shooting
themselves in the foot, not that they are an emic,
like they have a really good quarterback. They have really
good skilled players. They just need to get out of
their own way. The Patriots defense not playing very well

(42:28):
right now. So I add all of this formula up,
and I think this game could be higher scoring than
people think. You know, I really do.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Okay. The second thing is a little bit of news
that broke overnight, as I'm sure you're aware of. We
haven't mentioned it here because frankly, we're not sure of
anything other than what we've seen in the media thus far.
So I don't want to regurg to take what the
media is reporting. But for those that are uninitiated, that
are not aware of what happened last night, at one
twenty two in the morning, Christian Barmore tweeted out over

(42:56):
on his x account, I just experienced for the first
time five cops being very unprofessional racism at its finest.
That was the quote.

Speaker 5 (43:05):
That was it.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
There was no explanation, there was no you know, there
was no nothing After that. Several sources have reported our
brethren in the news media here that he was cited
with three traffic violations, had his car towed, and got
into a little bit of a of a spit and

(43:26):
match with these officers. Now we weren't there, We don't know.
But at the same time, I'm going to try to
look at this big picture wise, So this idea can
this process can vet. You know, we've just had the
issue a couple of weeks ago with Darell Peppers, and
now Christian Barmore you know, is out, you know, in
the late night, early hours of the morning. To me,

(43:47):
and this is my opinion, this speaks directly to discipline,
and that's something that has not existed on this team,
not like it had previously under a different regime. And
we've seen this lack of discipline I think bleed over
into play on the field, especially the last couple of weeks.
I'm not trying to compare racism to penalty flags being thrown,

(44:10):
but what I am saying is is that overall there's
a mindset here that it's okay, I'll be playing anyway.
And twenty one penalties accepted penalties in the last two weeks.
And now you've got two guys, two of your three
starters on defense that you need the hea in your lineup,
and obviously Christian was out with the blood clots. But
at the same time, I'm just I'm not sure where

(44:32):
else to take this other than somebody needs to be
held accountable here.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
Yeah, you know, I always have a tough time with
these because we don't have all the information and I
don't want to speculate and you know, be taken out
of context or anything on it. But I think the biggest,
the slight pushback I guess I would have, is like
they've certainly had their issues off the field in the past,

(44:57):
and I don't know if this is a direct reflection
on Gerrod Mayo per se, or it's hard with the
history that this team has had with some of these
things in the past, recent past to.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
The great reflection on anybody. Yeah, it's is it is
a reflection of the collective group and the collective effort.
When you see play on the field unchecked, and you know,
Remandre was not immediately jerked out of games after he
fumbled the ball, which we would have seen previously, And
I'm just saying the track record is such that you
know that happened, and usually corrections were made. I know

(45:33):
Girod even came out today in his press conference and said, Hey,
we're going to make some changes. Yeah, we're gonna start
quote unquote holding people accountable. Okay, great, but if it
doesn't work, then what then what do you do?

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yeah, it's a fair point. I just to stick with
the football side of it. I would just when you
have a team that doesn't have a great roster, that's
not super talented, uh in terms of their roster, guys
like Ramandre Stevenson, guys like a Jalen Polk for instance,

(46:06):
guys that are getting these guys are they need these players?
And there's yeah, there's an element of let's hold you know,
accountability and culture and like all that kind of stuff.
But the bottom line is is that the Patriots need
Ramondre Stevenson. They need them, so they're gonna have to
go through some of the lumps that he's gone through

(46:29):
in the early season with the fumbling and things like that.
They cannot They're not a team that has all this
talent on the offensive side of the ball that they
can make an example out of Ramondre Stevenson and bench
him for you know, an entire game, or bench him
for multiple games like he got benched his rookie season
when he had some fumbling issues. By Bill Belichick. They're

(46:51):
just not in that position. So it's a it's a
tough spot, I would say to be in from a
coaching staff perspective, because it's like, he gives us the
best chance to win, he's going through some lumps. If
we pull him out of the lineup, now you know,
there goes our run game, right, And so it's like,
what are we gonna do to at that point, there's
really no easy answer. I have a tough time with

(47:13):
these things because I'm not sure what's going on with
the with Peppers and with bar and more off the field,
and I don't want to speculate in terms of the football.
I definitely believe that a lot of their issues with penalties,
with fundamentals, with mistackling and like things like that, those

(47:35):
are those are kind of signs of a bad football team,
Like when you're one of one in five operation that
this league is not necessarily all just about the high
level stuff, right, Like when teams are are bad and
they're one and five and you know have the currently
have the number one overall pick in the draft next year,
Like that's not just because there's this massive talent gap.

(47:58):
Every Sunday they were not that much worse than that
Miami team that was in here a couple weeks ago. No,
But the problem is is that when you have these
bad habits, like, that's how you lose games. Not every
game is a twenty point blowout. You're gonna lose a
game by a field goal, You're gonna lose a game
by five points, You're gonna lose a game in overtime
to seattle, Like. Those things are indicative of what poor

(48:20):
football teams do.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
Yeah, but if you pay attention to detail, if you
button it up, in other words, those opportunities should turn
themselves around. We've seen that over years with different coaching steps,
not just one here, but with other teams. Teams button
themselves up and they follow you know, discipline, I mean,
because as we all know, that's what it usually takes
to be successful in this world. I mean, geez, what

(48:43):
happened in Dallas right now? Yeah, I mean, Jerry Jones
is threatening into fire reporters off of his own talk
show because they're asking him tough questions that he just
doesn't want to answer anymore. And so before we get
to that point around here where they want to fire
all of us here I'd just be curious to you know,
to to wonder. All right, so really, what are we
doing to address this issue, because not only on the field,

(49:05):
but now off the field, it's becoming an issue. Yeah,
and it's becoming a distraction. If you can have a
distraction for one in five team, it is.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Yeah, No, it's a it's a fair point. I when
it comes to the fundamentals and stuff on the field,
I just I continue to harp. You have to point
to the coaching, you know, you have to point to
the coaching. And I don't know if I'm necessarily one
of those guys that's you know, we gotta draw a
hard line. We are benching people or whatever. I don't
know if it's necessarily that, but you know, highly penalized

(49:37):
teams are typically bad teams. And usually that's because you're overwhelmed, right,
Like you're getting beat in in the you know, in
the trenches. You're you're an offensive lineman and you feel
yourself getting beat.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
So what do you do.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
You go and you grab the guy and you hold
them right. You know you're getting you're in past defense
and someone's running by you, So what do you do?
You hold them right? Like those are penalties that are
because you are not as good as the guys that
are lining up across from you. So that that's I
don't necessarily go anywhere that's like a dark place with

(50:10):
all that kind of stuff. I just think that's indicative
of talent and and a roster that just isn't as
good as some of their opposition and they are gonna
get called for a lot of penalties. I would also mention,
and it is just my opinion. I think the officiating
of the league has been terrible.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Oh. I mean, we could go on and on and
on about that one. Because there were some calls by
Ron Torbert's crew last week that defied description. The one
missed face mask on Antonio Gibson. Holy smokes, it happened
right in front of me. Yeah, and the line judge
was in perfect position to make that call. Yeah, And
I'm like, what are you not looking at? It was incredible.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Yeah. So they call the pass interference on Mapu in
the end zone, which I've watched about one hundred times.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
I can't.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Can't find it. They missed the face mask on Antonio Gibson.
I think it's a player or two later as the
strip sack.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
And I'm not saying that it wouldn't have happened anyways,
but it's a domino effect, right, like when you get
the fifteen yard penalty and now you're first and ten
from the forty five. It's like, yeah, it just all
that has a ripple effect on the game. And I
the holding calls, not just with the Patriots, like league wide.

(51:23):
If I see another big run called back because of
holding on like the backside of the play, you know
the left tackles holding, but they're running right, you know,
off the off the right guard. Yeah, it's like, does
that really you know, did that really have that big
of an impact on this play?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
I'm thinking of Marv Levy's quote, you know from NFL
films calling the official and over officious jerk. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (51:44):
It just.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
As a fan of the sport and as a fan
of football, I'm not signing up to see the laundry, no,
like I I. And so every single time that there's
a big play, you're looking around on the screen.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
Are if there's a flag, they're gonna call it back?

Speaker 1 (52:02):
And it's just not a good prime.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Officials are becoming the story of the game. This is
not what the National Football League wants if they're doing
this product because they think it's gonna ostensibly create more
offense because they're worried about scoring being down this year. Wrong,
it's not gonna work. It's gonna slow the pace down.
It's going to frustrate people. They're going to turn the
sport off. They want to see free flowing football.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
Yeah, there is. In the Miami game two weeks ago,
there is eight holding calls between the two teams in
that game. And I'm not talking about like defensive holding
in the secondary, like holding, like offensive line holding on
seventy three, you know, ten yard penalty. And it's just like,
I don't need to it's not all holding. It's not

(52:48):
all holding. So that's my rant on the officials. It's
it's been right.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
But it's fine a rant because I think everybody's joining
you in that rant. I was ramting. I'm sure everywhere
fans are ranting on this. And this is not just
you know, conducive to the Patriots. This is everywhere. Yeah,
I mean it's it's literally everywhere. Every team has a
has a gripe as a bitch about the officiating. So
the NFL needs to take a step back and say,
what are we doing here? And are we calling it

(53:13):
to the litter of the law? Are we calling it
to favor this to favor that. There's got to be
some fine tuning and some tweaking here. You brought up
a great point, you know, a week hold on the
backside of a play that goes the opposite direction or
you know, of the field. I'm like, why are we
making these calls? Why are we throwing things that don't
have an effect on the play. Now, if it endangers

(53:35):
a player's safety, all right, I could see that, you know,
Like if it's a cut block or something like that,
I could see that. But if it has no effect
on the play and it's not keeping the person who
is offended from making a tackle or making a play,
why are we calling it? This is where the officials
need to be like fans and understand that what we
want to see is football and not the laundromat.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah. Agree, It's been on my mind a lot. It's
the holding calls, especially in the trenches I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
I'm gonna ask Russell about this, so I'm gonna get
some of his thoughts on on officiating. All right, before
you go yes, a couple of people have chined in
on traveling. Okay, coo, okay, all right, So Sean from
Bolton in the UK, can I ask why the Pagers
didn't travel out on Tuesday so they can be fresh
by Sunday. I saw an interview from the weekend and
the Bears flew out last Tuesday so that they were fresh.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
So this has been their routine. It was their routine
for Frankfurt also to fly out on Thursday night for
the game. I don't have a good answer for you
as to why that is the way that they have
done it, but this is from my understanding, this is
pretty common practice.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Okay, Hi, guys Oliver from the UK. If you're in
London for the game, the Ivy Asia oh at a
shopping area called One New Change, is a fantastic restaurant
and within a stone's throw of Saint Paul's Cathedral. Okay, cool,
A ton of great pubs around the area, and you
are in the city where business happens and lots of
historic buildings can be found. Okay, that's a bonus.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
Iv Asia.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Can I make a recommend I'll make a recommendation. You
need to go see Winston Churchill's bunker.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Okay, is that cool?

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Oh my god, the coolest thing of that. I'm a
history buff anyway, I love World War two history, and
I was like, oh, this is unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
Oh cool.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
Really wasn't because everything is like literally the same. They
haven't hardly touched it. Yeah in now sixty seventy eighty years. Yeah, yeah,
it's unbelievable, he says. I would suggest exploring the area
around bank station where all the bankers and other financial
services professionals work. Lots of great pubs and venues there.
Notice he's gone twice with the lots of great pubs descriptions. Okay,

(55:43):
that cater to them. I work in the area. If
you're a tourist, it's worth a visit.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
Cool, Okay, thank you.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
Some ideas there, so there, Yeah, I like that. Save travels,
thank you, sir. Okay, Bangers in Mash.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
Bangers and Mash. I'll see you next year.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
You got it. You gotta save. You got to look
one breakfast. I'll make the recommendation for the full breakfast
minus the blood pudding. Yeah that's not okay, you can
you can definitely handle the rest of it. Okay, So
you have to try that, although I'm sure that they're
because my ex father in law was a was a
brit and uh he said it was not a full breakfast.

(56:15):
It's not a full breakfast if you're not having the
blood pudding. I'm like, all right, I'll try a bite
and I'm sorry. It just it was difficult for me
to get through.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
It doesn't sound good.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
No, I mean, it's really not as disgusting. It doesn't
look like you think it's gonna Yeah, it kind of
looked to me like a burnt hash brown.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Okay, it doesn't sound terrible.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
Yeah, all right, but you know why it's burnt? No, dude,
why is it burnt blood? Am I wrong? Somebody correct
me if I'm wrong, somebody in the UK. Well, it's
not like you know, I'm gonna open up a vein
here and bleed on it or anything. But no, but
that's what it is.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Oh god, I don't know. It doesn't sound great.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Do you eat a steak medium?

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Medium or medium rare? There you go. Well, that's what
my father in law told me. My ex father in
law told me. That's how he explained it.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Okay, said for it.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
That's how he explained it. Now again, if I'm wrong,
you need to correct me, you know, because I've been
a couple of times and uh, you know, and I
love it. My family heritage is from the UK, so
my my family heritage has been traced back to Wales,
largely Wales and Liverpool, which is right across the border

(57:29):
anyway from Wales, but that's where my my family. In fact,
I've been told and again I'm sure they're gonna be
somebody that rupt me if I'm wrong that I probably
have literally thousands of cousins cousins because Rook, my last
name is like Smith in the United States. Oh r
o okay is how it's spelled in the UK, or

(57:52):
r ok s. When my great grandfather came over on
the boat, his name was originally Rooks, which is what
my original surname was. But then when he got through
Alice Island, yeah, Ellis Island, the s got dropped and
so it was our okay. And then my grandfather actually
added the e during World War two time because he

(58:15):
had a teacher in school tell him that you know,
there's you know, every every surname you know that came
come from Europe has to end in a vowel. Oh
not true, but that's why. So he added the E
to the end of his name. So we've been our
Okaye for i'd say ninety years.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
That's crazy, isn't that nuts? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (58:38):
Okay, well, I know that's terribly interesting for you. It was,
and that you just you can't wait to hear more.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
But well, I'm going to give you a whole lowdown.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Of I need the trip like we need the play
by play, the play by play, share some pictures, share
some photos on Twitter, I will, and so we can
kind of make that up, will you. Well, all right,
I'll see you next week there save travels. But yeah,
you got it all right at easy Lazarre where you
find Evan on Twitter with some of that stuff. All right,
So I wanted to pass these things along to you.

(59:08):
Uh eight five five pats five hundred the toll free
telephone number I gave the number out of the beginning.
I've got two guys that are on hold Jewels. Are
they still there? Do you know what? Check and see
if those guys are still there, and if they if
they want to be on, and I'll put them right
onto the show, okay. Uh, and then if you're if
you're listening. My request was, yeah, if you're in the UK,

(59:29):
I'd love to hear from you today and backup or
you know, go against any of the stuff that I
just tried to sell Evan, I sell them a load
of you know what. I don't know, but based on
my own experiences, that's kind of what the UK is
all about. I would love to go. You know, I
think you know on my bucket list of sports things

(59:51):
to do, uh is an EPL English Premiership League game
in the UK. I have been to the second division,
but I haven't been the first division because that's where
the town we lived they had a team in the
second division, so it didn't get to an EPL game.
But I'd love to be able to do that at

(01:00:11):
some point. And like I said, my family background actually
comes from Liverpool right on the Liverpool Wales borders, so
I'd love to be able to go back and see that.
Now that's my dad's half of the family. My mom's
half of the family is all Swedish and German. There
you go. So yeah, I'm a mutt like every other American.

(01:00:33):
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(01:01:17):
guys still around, Jules, they still don't right right? So
because he had been waiting the longest, John, John, you's
still with us in the playbook?

Speaker 7 (01:01:27):
Hey Johnage Sean and Vancouver.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
How are you, hey, Sean. Nice to hear you, buddy,
Appreciate your time, No problem, Yeah, thanks for hanging on.
By the way, Sean, Oh, it's fine.

Speaker 7 (01:01:40):
You were talking about the full English breakfast. One thing
that is included that we didn't mention was back bacon,
which in the US you call Canadian bacon.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Canadian bacon, so correct, we call it back bacon, back bacon, right,
But I actually love back bacon, so I'm good with that.
It's really like a flavorful the ham, right, yeah. Yeah,
and me, I think it's delightful. I love everything about
the English breakfast. I'm not a big fan of blood pudding.
I got to admit it, but I you know, Okay,

(01:02:11):
maybe that's just the American in me, But everything else
I dig and I will go to a pub, and
to me, it's kind of like my visiting diners here
in the States. If a diner does good meat loaf,
then that diner is where to go. So if a
pub in London or anywhere in the UK serves, you know,

(01:02:32):
a tasty banger and mash, I'm in. I'll be back,
I'll come back, and I'll keep coming back. So that's
kind of where I am with that.

Speaker 7 (01:02:39):
For me, it's a shepherd's pie. That's what I go
for in those pubs.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
Shepherd's pie is a great option. It's an absolute, absolute,
great option. In fact, I probably should have told that
to Evan. But yeah, because you because with the meat option,
you're you're cooking up a little pork in there as well.
And that's yeah, that's good with along with the vegetables
and the and the and the mash. So yeah, that's
pretty good stuff. I agree with you there.

Speaker 7 (01:03:02):
All right, Well let's get onto the Patriots here.

Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
All right? If we have two weeks, could be a
cooking show, se right, could?

Speaker 7 (01:03:09):
We could talk about food all day. But you know,
I really I was wrong. I thought that the Patriots
would start drinking me against the Dolphins. That's what I
was thinking before the season even began. But Kim week
later and he played. He gave me more than I
thought he would give me in terms of hope. So
that's always good. And I'm hoping again the Jaguars will

(01:03:32):
get it. He'll do even better because their past defense
is less than excellent. So I'm going to make another prediction.
I'll probably be wrong again, but I'm going to say
the Patriots win this one twenty eight to seventeen. That's
my prediction.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
Before well listen for London. Hey, if they first of
all getting a win, I think would cure some mells.
Just not going to cure a real yeah, And the
same goes, by the way for Jacksonville. They're basically in
the same shape here. Just why this is like it
will be a competitive game and the team, yeah, the
team that makes the fewer mistakes in a competitive game

(01:04:06):
like this is the one that's gonna win. And I
think we've known that over the years. So that would
tell me then the Patriots would at least make fewer
mistakes and would tell me that they're trending in a
right direction, whereas Jacksonville will be trending in a different direction.
And I've already heard from you know, three or four,
frankly my college students this week who said, oh, I
wouldn't want the Patriots to win because then they won't

(01:04:28):
have the number one pick of the draft anymore. And
so that we're already on to April, and I'm like,
you're missing out on an entire football season, and you're
missing out on development, and you're missing out in a
lot of different things because the season is not necessarily
over after just six weeks, even though you've started one
and five. And I think that's a byproduct of the

(01:04:48):
modern day fan, I really do. It's like, what have
you done for me lately, and if you haven't done
anything lately, I'm moving on to the next already.

Speaker 7 (01:04:57):
And I listen, start thinking about the after December, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:05:01):
The end.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
I'm just it's it's too soon. Really, it's too soon.
I just I'm like, Wow, I don't even want to
begin thinking about that yet. That's the biggest issue. No,
you don't want to leave that dude. Evan left his
phone behind so.

Speaker 7 (01:05:17):
Important him about the Shepherd's buy. But the the other
thing that's happened in the news this week is Tom
Brady was granted the ownership or partial ownership of the Raiders.
And to me, like, Tom Brady is the most competitive
person I can ever think of. I don't I met him.

(01:05:39):
I don't, but that's just what I know about him.
He's just ultra competitive. And in terms of owning you know,
the Raiders, Like, that's not going to be competitive in
terms of winning games, but it is in terms of finance,
like investing in the NFL is a is a lucrative
investment for sure. But then it made me think about

(01:06:03):
being competitive in capitalism, like being the richest billionaire of
all time. You know, if you're Elon Musk or whoever
it might be. How much do you actually need? Like,
couldn't you be competitive in another area that be more
helpful to the planet, like be the world's greatest teacher,
or help.

Speaker 5 (01:06:21):
People with health care?

Speaker 4 (01:06:22):
Help people?

Speaker 7 (01:06:23):
You know, why don't we just move forward from your
family set for generations? That's good, Let's try something.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Else, you know. I give Tom a lot of credit
because he definitely wants to diversify his portfolio. For lack
of a better phraser, doing right. Yeah, and it's my understanding.
I saw a couple of reports that the breakdown of
his ownership percentage is he now owns five percent of
the Raiders. Richard Seymour, you remember him.

Speaker 5 (01:06:51):
He was on board. Yeah, he's part of it too.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
He also owns half a percent. Yeah, for whatever it's worth,
whatever that value is out to. But he's also a
play I don't know if they're bringing him in for
anything more other than the name notoriety. I do not
know whether or not that he can have any you know,
day to day handle on this team. Maybe they hope

(01:07:14):
that that will be the case, but I'll be honest
with you, I think that develops a conflict of interest.
With his television duties, and he's got a ten year
contract with Fox, so I don't know how much he
can have. Clearly it's been worked out because the ownership
had to approve his buying a percentage, probably.

Speaker 7 (01:07:31):
Comfortable with him not getting too involved, right, And so.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
That's what that indicates to me, is that, Okay, he's
not going to be spreading out inside knowledge back to
the Raiders, especially teams that might all of a sudden
appear on the Raiders' schedule cupcoming, right, So that has
to be a concern. And it just tells me that
he's going to be clear of that, at least for
the foreseeable future, or at least to the end of
this year anyway, and then he might just decide, Hey,
I'm going into ownership or the Raiders are going to

(01:07:56):
hire me as GM or player personnel or whatever, which
I heard you know, argued about on the radio here
locally today, and I'm like, well, that can't happen, just yeah,
because he's under contract of Fox and he can't do
anything for the Raiders because of you know, inside trading.
And by the way, speaking of trading, he didn't do
all that well, you know, with bitcoin and things like that,
So I would have to say, look, whoever's advising TB

(01:08:18):
twelve right now? Okay, diversification is one thing, but you know, dude,
we you know. I mean, it's great that you got
money to burn. I don't I'm not so sure that
investing in an NFL franchise is a way I want
to go right now.

Speaker 5 (01:08:31):
Yeah, well that's just me.

Speaker 7 (01:08:33):
Vegas is a pretty pretty good one because regardless of
how the team does, just the location well itself in value.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
So yeah, yeah, I mean it's only going to increase
in value in a place like Vegas. There's no question
about that, right And I think we can all tell
that from the NFL valuations that came out on Forbes
about a month or two ago anyway, that everything's going up.
I think it's gone up like over the last two years.
Is going to be like eleven percent already. So you know,
the Patriots have gone from last year's valuation I saw

(01:09:04):
was six point seven. I believe this year's valuation was
seven point four. But they actually dropped back a spot
from second to third amongst the most wealthy franchises on
the planet because the Los Angeles Rams moved up into
the two spot, largely because of the revenue that they're

(01:09:24):
generating with Sofi Stadium.

Speaker 7 (01:09:27):
Yeah, it probably holds more people, and it's it's a
bigger market.

Speaker 4 (01:09:31):
Yeah, you get a bigger, bigger.

Speaker 2 (01:09:32):
Market, generaing more revenue. They got, you know, bigger games
be played out there. They've played Super Bowls out there,
so you know, it's it's past them. The Cowboys are
the only ten billion dollar franchise on the planet. And
and even though they can't get their way, they can't
find their way out of a paper bag, you know.
And now the owner is you know, the owner slash
GM slash player personnel directors threatening radio reporters for asking

(01:09:56):
the wrong questions. I'm just like, Wow, that's a three
ring circus its own right right there. But they're valuable
because they have AT and T Stadium, and they have
the Star, and they have all the periphery around the Star.
They built another, you know, small football stadium that they
rent out to high schools, they play soccer in. They
do a lot of different things, you know, and so

(01:10:17):
that's why they're worth more more.

Speaker 7 (01:10:18):
Very wide international fan base. People love the Cowboys, all
of it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
Well, the Cows Yeah, yeah, Sean Is you know as
well as anybody that they they they've been America's team,
with my quotation marks around America's team, you know, for
the better part of four decades now five decades really,
you know, since the seventies, right and the late seventies anyway,
and and and so they still milk that, believe it.

(01:10:44):
They still milk it, although they really haven't been America's
team since the days of you know, Tech Shram.

Speaker 7 (01:10:50):
And John Landry right well, I mean there was there
was There was a pretty good team with Aikman in
the nineties.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
So there was that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
So that's well, that's really arguably that's their era of dominance.
Even though they they were a team in the late seventies,
they had some success in the eighties, then they went
south in the eighties and that's when Jerry Jones stepped in,
and then Jerry Jones came in and you know, and
brought in you know, Jimmy Johnson, and Jimmy Johnson went too,
and then you know, Barry Switzer piggybacked Johnson's you know,

(01:11:20):
personnel for a third one. So you know, yeah, the
early nineties were the time that the Cowboys really dominated
more so than any other franchise. But you know, but
they haven't even been to a Super Bowl since nineteen
ninety five, and yet their valuation still is growing. So man,
if you can, you know, you know, add some credibility
to the Raiders franchise, which I think that's what Mark

(01:11:42):
Davis wants because he knows he probably needs that until
you bring it in guys like Brady and and Seymour
is a part of your quote unquote minority ownership team.
All right, well, at least you're taking a step in
the right direction, but actually helping the team on the field.
I doubt it. I highly doubt it.

Speaker 7 (01:12:00):
And you know, Brady probably just invested a partial amount
of his Fox contract, so he's still in the green.

Speaker 5 (01:12:06):
He's going to be good.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, Yeah for sure.

Speaker 7 (01:12:10):
Not not worried about that game.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
Yeah what else? What? What were your opinions from afar
on how you know May Day last Sunday transpired here?

Speaker 5 (01:12:21):
Yeah, I I did have I.

Speaker 7 (01:12:23):
Hadn't zero expectations of the Patriots winning that game. I
you know, I went to the forty nine Ers game
and I still had a great time because I didn't
expect them to do very well there. I know that
I'm realistic, and I watched this team, so I know
how good or bad they are. They're not good, They're
they're they're far away, they have a lot of work
to do, but I'm I'm here for the ride, as

(01:12:45):
I always have been since as long as I can remember.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
Yes, so.

Speaker 7 (01:12:50):
The team obviously had a lot of mistakes, a lot
of errors, but I wanted to see Drake may make
some plays that'll give me some expectations for the future
of success.

Speaker 4 (01:13:04):
And that's what he did.

Speaker 7 (01:13:06):
Yeah, he made mistakes, he took back, turned the ball over,
he threw what two or three interceptions and I think
just two. But still he threw three touchdowns and he
had over two hundred and forty yards. So he did
a lot better than I thought he would and so
I'm happy about that, and I'm looking to see him

(01:13:29):
have even a better game in London. Now we'll see
if that continues to grow, and if he progresses throughout
the season, if he limits his mistakes and is able
to make smart decisions from the pocket instead of just
on the run. Obviously I like that as well, like
him moving around and making plays like that. But I

(01:13:51):
want to see him grow and find people before the reason,
read the defense, and do all kinds of things that
would like to see him grow into. So let's see
how much progress you can make in your one.

Speaker 4 (01:14:03):
But it is your one, so.

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
I think we all need to kind of keep that
in mind, to be quite honest with you, I mean,
you know, yeah, and I think most everyone, at least
the people that I talked to are are, you know, like, Okay, Look,
if we could just you know, continue to see slow,
steady progress. He's gonna have some good, he's gonna have
some bad, But as long as he didn't get himself
killed out there, then we're okay. And hopefully the you know,

(01:14:25):
the team can figure out a way to build around him.
It's to build around him that I'm starting to have
a little bit of concerned with because quite frankly, and
this is kind of on the lines of what evident
I were talking about a little while ago. U there
also has to be a recognition of talent. There has
to be identifying the right players that can be the
right mix for the talented people that you already have

(01:14:47):
in place here and you know, and guys like you know,
Jalen Polk in Austin Hooper, they get to learn to
hold onto the ball. And ramondre Stevenson for that matter.
I mean, they may be great guys. They look like
there could be good players, but the proof is in
the pudding every week. And they're not blood pudding, but
proof is in the pudding.

Speaker 7 (01:15:06):
Right, Yeah, and so well, then there's two there's two
players at tackles I've never heard of before this season
that you know pretty much?

Speaker 5 (01:15:16):
I got.

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
How about your starting center, Sean, how about your starting center?
Who heard of Ben Brown before last Thursday?

Speaker 7 (01:15:25):
He's never ever started the game. He's off a practice
spot from I forget which.

Speaker 5 (01:15:28):
Team, but the Raiders.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
He was on the Raiders.

Speaker 7 (01:15:30):
The Raiders, right, he's on the Raiders practice cloud.

Speaker 5 (01:15:33):
I never heard of him.

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
Hey, maybe that was Tom. Maybe that was Tom. Maybe
Tom said, hey, they got this guy. You never know?

Speaker 7 (01:15:40):
Yeah, there's there's I.

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
Don't want to get him in trouble. I don't want
I don't want to get him in trouble. I'm not
gonna get on.

Speaker 5 (01:15:46):
But they had.

Speaker 7 (01:15:47):
Right, he had three of five offensive linemen in from him,
and he's not getting bashed nearly as as as much
as the previous quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:15:55):
He's he's able to to use.

Speaker 7 (01:15:57):
His mobility and his strength. Yeah, to make a few
things happen where that with Perssett, it wasn't it wasn't
the situation. Brissett just took a pounding and he was
able to you know, great for him. He was able
to jump up each time. Right, but it's it is
a sign that, Okay, this guy has something where we

(01:16:17):
don't have to worry so much that he's so fragile.

Speaker 2 (01:16:20):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, take a pounding, Yeah for sure.

Speaker 7 (01:16:23):
That's a good, good sign.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
So all right on Sunday, what did you think about
the game for this week? Then?

Speaker 7 (01:16:28):
Yeah, so again my prediction and take this with the
grain and salt because I'm not great at predictions. But
Patriots twenty eight Jacksonville Jaguars in London seventeen.

Speaker 2 (01:16:40):
Well, I'd be real happy with the twenty eight if
it happened.

Speaker 5 (01:16:43):
So like to have a yeah, keep growing.

Speaker 7 (01:16:46):
We had twenty one was our highest output last week.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
Yeah, go to twenty eight for sure for sure. Hey Sean,
good to hear from.

Speaker 7 (01:16:53):
You, man, Thanks for calling in you too, John Crazy,
you got.

Speaker 2 (01:16:56):
It, Seana Vancouver, good to hear from him. Patty and
aguam you still this Patty.

Speaker 5 (01:17:01):
Of course I'm still here.

Speaker 2 (01:17:02):
John, Oh my man. You you were unbelievable. You you
and the award for hanging in there. You and Eldred
uh you know are are unbelievable and with hanging in
like that, so thank you for that.

Speaker 5 (01:17:12):
No problem. I had an easy day. Today is a
very administrative day, doing a lot of game planning and yeah,
data entry, fun, fun fun. I wasn't out in the
field getting my hands dirty. But you know, days like
today are somewhat necessary sometimes. But hey, I get it,
plan I got, I got. I got to sit on
hold and listen to most of the show and you know,

(01:17:34):
uh part of my French grab ass with some of
my coworkers. You know, so.

Speaker 2 (01:17:40):
I got it. I understand that. That's okay. Well that's
what I do when I sit and uh, you know
I have to do you know, computer work or I'm
grading papers or whatever. You know. I listened to student
you know projects all the time because most of my
kids are project based, but you know, with some of
the stuff they're studying. But then I'll you know, tune
into a podcast here and there, or you know, I'm
a college basketball junkie as well as a broadcaster. So

(01:18:02):
I will, you know, tune in something that's being said
by someone else and and try to pick up a
few things here and there, and and sometimes you know,
it keeps going on and on and on, and I
wonder if it's ever going to end. But I actually
sit and enjoy it as long as they're providing me
with some information that I didn't.

Speaker 5 (01:18:16):
Know me when I do it, John as altas useless information,
you know.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
Yeah, but I wanted to.

Speaker 5 (01:18:26):
I want to throw a few things at you, and
I'll try and make it quick, you know, like no problem,
like I always try to do. But uh, first question
for my first question for you, and this is kind
of a weird question. It's the outside of the box question.
You remember back in ninety nine, when the Browns got
reinstated to the league, you know, they got their all

(01:18:47):
their old history back.

Speaker 4 (01:18:49):
Do you know why?

Speaker 5 (01:18:50):
And I'm only asking you this because you you know,
you're you're native text and so you're probably you know,
you're probably more knowledgeable on the subject than I am.
That when Houston got awarded the franchise, why didn't they
do the same thing with the Oilers and I'm only asking.

Speaker 2 (01:19:06):
Because because the Oilers, the Oilers uniform, Yeah, the oiler's
name and identity when Bud Adams moved the franchise to
Nashville went with the owner. Yes, so all of the
Tennessee Titans actually have all of their historical records back

(01:19:27):
to nineteen sixty when the Houston Oilers were born, like
when the Patriots were born, belongs to Tennessee. So when
they started the Houston Texans, the Oilers were taken. So
that's why they had to start fresh.

Speaker 5 (01:19:43):
That's too bad.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
I do love it, by the way, I do love it,
and the Texans. Other than the Texans, the Tennessee Titans
did this. What was it last week? When they were
the old nineteen sixties AFL oiler uniforms with the baby
blue helmets and the white oil Derek on the side. Man,
those are sharp at heck, love them, love it, Love
you Blue.

Speaker 5 (01:20:04):
Those are one of the best logos ever.

Speaker 2 (01:20:05):
Love you Blue, Love you Blue. Absolutely. You know what
I might do one of these days. I think one
of these days I will come to the show since
we you know, just stream this on camera as well,
and I'm gonna wear my Earl Campbell throwback you have, baby,
think we'll get it. We're gonna have to have a
throwback you know, playbook and everybody can, you know, send

(01:20:27):
photos of the throwback jerseys that they're on and we'll
we'll we'll have some fun with that before the season's over,
and I'll and I'll wear mine. I'll wear my throwback
because that's one of my prize possessions. So I'm gonna
have to be really careful with it because I basically
have it in plastic right now.

Speaker 5 (01:20:42):
The only one I have I have my my late
father's number thirty three stam Gas jersey from the you know,
from the early to mid nineties.

Speaker 6 (01:20:52):
Is it is?

Speaker 3 (01:20:52):
It?

Speaker 2 (01:20:52):
Is it though, the the the dark blue uniform, the
first pat the first flying elvis uniform.

Speaker 5 (01:21:00):
It's not the first one. It was the one I
believe that they broke out in nineteen ninety five. Yeah,
it was ninety five. It was Curtis Martin's Rocky year
with They'll look on the shoulders.

Speaker 2 (01:21:09):
Okay, well, that was certainly one of the early ones.
I'd like to see them. I mean, I know it
was really cool to see, you know, the red and
and pat Patriot back on the helmet and all that
it was. That was very cool this last weekend, I'd
love for them to do a throwback with that royal
blue uniform and the flying elvis is on the shoulders
and the italicized numbers, you know, the one that was

(01:21:29):
around when you know Bledsoe first became quarterback as well.
But I think that's the one you're talking about anyway,
because originally they were red numbers outlined in white, and
it looked terrible on the blue shirt, right yep.

Speaker 5 (01:21:42):
So and then the next year they changed the white numbers.

Speaker 2 (01:21:45):
Yes, they changed the white numbers and they put the
italicized slant on it. Yeah, Okay, that's that's the throwback.
I think a lot of people would really be I
think a lot of people would have fun with having
because I still see those jerseys in the crowd Gillette
in front of me. I saw what did I see?

(01:22:05):
I saw Sam Gash Speaking of Sam Gash, somebody had
a Gash jersey on.

Speaker 5 (01:22:11):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:22:11):
I see still see eleven bledsoes uh in that color.

Speaker 5 (01:22:15):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:22:16):
What's the other one that I saw? I saw? Oh,
I'm uh, it's slipping my mind now, but I saw
three or four different players from there. I saw Bruce Kee.
I saw Ted Brusk on.

Speaker 5 (01:22:29):
I know, I saw Ben Coates one and coach.

Speaker 2 (01:22:33):
I've seen uh. I didn't see it last week, but
I saw, uh there was a big guy with a
coach jersey on when they were playing the Dolphins a
couple of weeks ago. Uh saw that one. Chris Slade,
that's the one I'm trying to think of. I saw
Chris Slade and I'm like, wow, now now we're throwing back. Yep,
now we're throwing back. So I thought, I think those

(01:22:53):
are pretty cool. I'd love to see them come out
of those. I think that would be novel because they
don't have to change really the helmets on that one.

Speaker 5 (01:23:00):
No, and that goes and this is this will be
the last bit of uniform time before I can get
there some real football. But uh, like.

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
This is a fashion playbook. You didn't know that.

Speaker 5 (01:23:13):
I'm probably in a minority here, but I will love
to see him go back to the pat Patrion logo,
only because I love the logo, but also you could
wear their their blue tops that they were now and
the red tops. Yeah, yeah, because it's it's the same
design uniform.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:23:28):
And when we when we wear the Can we just
get rid of the blueberries? Can? Can we just start
wearing the.

Speaker 2 (01:23:33):
Summer pants again? Yeah, I'm not a big fan of
the I'm not a big fan of the all blueberry
uniforms either. No, I keep waiting for the Oople loop
is to come out. Yeah right, yeah, you gotta know, Yeah,
you got to know a little a little candy humor there.
If if you don't know the reference, just just google
Oompa Loompa and that'll tell you something. So right, not

(01:23:56):
for the younger crowds, No, No, definitely not, definitely not.

Speaker 5 (01:24:01):
So I wanted to ask you to And this will
lead into the Patriots, Okay, I will make it lead
into the Patriots. But what do you think in this
Saturday Georgia at Texas that's gonna I think that's going
to be a battle. That might be the game of
the year so far.

Speaker 2 (01:24:13):
Yeah, dynamite game, dynamite opportunity. You know, I know, I'm
glad you brought it up, because I purposely every year
when before Texas plays Oklahoma, you know, strippers and I
who's a longtime listener and Patriots fan. Uh, you know,
we'll you know, get into a little you know, uh,
you know, spit and match because you know, he loves Oklahoma.

(01:24:34):
He didn't go there. He's just always been a Sooners fan.
And so you know we'll you know, uh play it.
You know, we'll do a bet or whatever with each other. Like,
you know, I got to play Boomer sooner if OHU wins.
But if Texas wins, you know, he's got to tweet out,
you know something on the Longhorns or whatever. I didn't
do that this year, and I didn't do that this
year for a specific reason because I just this was

(01:24:54):
the first time, maybe since I've been alive, that I
really felt strongly that Texas is going to crush Oklahoma,
which they did. They didn't play their best game and
they crushed Oklahoma. Sorry Strippers if you're listening, but it's true,
you know what, I know it. There was no contest,
even though Oklahoma took the first lead against the Longhorns
this year that they've given up in six games the

(01:25:17):
game with Georgia. I'm pleasantly surprised with Texas development. I
thought they'd be competitive in their first year in the SEC.
I'm stunned that they're number one in the nation. I'm stunned,
but it shows me a couple of things that they
recruited to the depth that you need to win in
a league like the SEC, not unlike basically the NFL

(01:25:40):
liked that's what the SEC really is. And so it
really comes down to depth. And the Patriots not only
don't have depth, they don't have starters that really are
what we've even called sometimes SEC worthy in this particular regard.
I like at home, I like Texas, but I would

(01:26:01):
tell you cautionary by just you know a little bit.
And the reason is is because uh, Texas is prone
to making mistakes. I don't think they're terribly disciplined on
either side of the ball, but right now they just
out talent everybody. If Georgia comes in here and control
it comes in here, comes into Austin, controls the clock,

(01:26:23):
then George's probably gonna win the football game. I think
that's the key. I don't think Texas is going to
give up the big play uh and and and Texas
defense is one of the better ones in the country.
So it should be a dynamite game on on on
Saturday night, I think uh, I think it's on. Is
it an ABC or is on ESPN. I don't even
know which one it's.

Speaker 3 (01:26:42):
On, but.

Speaker 2 (01:26:45):
Yeah, I just I think, yeah, I gotta I gotta
go with the Horns in this one, but by only
a slight margin, because again, the season is not over.
It's just week seven. They're six and oh and or
week eight, I guess, because they had a bye weekend
there and they'll probably have to come back and play.
If not, Georgia is somebody similar in the SEC championship game,
So you know, that's that's how I kind of look

(01:27:09):
at it. But it should be an entertaining game, and honestly,
for people who watch the NFL, you really should look
take a good long look at the SEC. And I
would say also the Big ten to a little lesser extent,
may maybe even some of the Big twelve or some
of the ACC. But missen, there's a reason why the

(01:27:30):
SEC players get drafted by the NFL. They're strong, they're fast,
they're good and you know, I can tell you two
offensive linemen right now that are SEC players that have
to be on the Patriots radar. One of them is
Kelvin Banks at Texas left tackle. The other one is
Cam Williams at LSU a tackle. Those are two guys

(01:27:52):
that I think the Patriots could not go wrong by
if they're in a position to draft. And I've already
seen a mock draft come out. You know, he's absurdly
early mod dreve come out that says the Patriots are
going to go after Travis Hunter from Colorado or you know,
you know obviously you know plays for two ways and
he's a tremendous talent. I don't know that's what they need.

(01:28:15):
I'm going to be very disappointed if we all know
they need alignment and they wait until the second or
third round to get one.

Speaker 5 (01:28:23):
I am one behind you, and I how how good
is Todd? I'm not Todd Shaanham Vancouver. I mean he's
grounded much like I am. Like I'm patient, like and
I want to see this this team build through the draft,
you know, over the next couple of years, and you
you just identified it. The guy that I want, the

(01:28:46):
guy that I think needs to be on this team
next year is Calvin Banks Junior. I mean he's he's
not just been dominant this year, He's been dominant the
last few years. And that's I mean, I know, like
you hear a lot of it's not really hyperbole, but
like a cliche, like you know, good to a great
tight end as a quarterback's best friend. Quarterback's best friend

(01:29:07):
is a great blond side protector, and I just want
to see it, like I think, I think if we
do end up in that area in the top three,
we could possibly make some moves, accumulate some maskets and
still be able to get banks. And I mean, he's
the guy that I want hands down. Yeah, so let's transis,

(01:29:28):
let's transition into this coming game against Jacksonville. Now, I
had brought up a couple of weeks ago when I
was complaining about Jacoby's er said still starting that I
felt like there was a couple of games left on
or a few games left on the schedule that were
pencil in games, not sharpie games. Now, when Brady was here,

(01:29:48):
we had sharpie games. You know, we could just say, yeah,
we'll sharpie this in. This is a win, this is
a win. And I said pencil games because you can
just you can erase a pencil and say, oh, well,
I screwed up. I guess I got the that wrong.
I'll pencil, you know, erase that and right and lost.
But I think this is one of these games that
you could you could probably pencil them in as a

(01:30:08):
winnable game. I'm not saying they're gonna win, but well,
I think they're gonna win. But you know, there's this game,
there's the game against the Titans. I think the Cardinals
they're at this point, they're not talented enough, even with
a quarterback who I think looks like a modern day quarterback. Now,

(01:30:28):
you know, my first looks of him, I was very impressed.
You know, he did kind of what I thought he
was going to do and even surprised me a little bit,
like he looked like a rookie. But he also made
some plays. He made some plays with his arm. You
could tell when he was back there he was he
was reading, he was going through his progressions. He made
some plays with his legs too.

Speaker 2 (01:30:50):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:30:53):
And just personally, I think the Jaguars team might be
falling apart. It's just a gut feeling that I get.
I think they might be having a fire sale come
the trade deadline. And honestly, I think Polly brought it
up on Patriots unfiltered, Like he didn't say like he
felt this way, but he said, you know, maybe they

(01:31:14):
you know, they feel like they don't want to be
there anymore. You know, they don't want to be in
London anymore. They just want to get the hell out
of there. Well's and if that's the mindset.

Speaker 2 (01:31:23):
Yeah, I agree with you. I think that's obviously the
that's going to play a little in the patriots favor.
I know that in theory, Jacksonville should have a bit
of an advantage because they've been there for a week,
They've already played a game. But at the second time
they were disappointed in the loss, they traded a player
away and send him to Seattle, and you had to
wonder if they, by this time don't just want to

(01:31:43):
go home. And so I could listen if they don't
start off well, in other words, that the Patriots don't
like hand it to them, you know, give him an
easy score, give him a quick lead. I could see
the Jags losing interest in this game really quickly, and
that maybe the Patriot's best weapon.

Speaker 5 (01:32:03):
Yeah, I could totally see that scenario plane out what
I And you know, they did get off to a
pretty good start against the Bears last week, they did,
and then just completely got demoralized.

Speaker 2 (01:32:12):
Yeah, yeah's true.

Speaker 5 (01:32:13):
What I what I would like to see happened too.
I wouldn't mind seeing Jacksonville jump up and take take
an early lead. And I would like to see how
Drake may Like reacts. I would like to see how
this coat, this offensive coaching staff reacts and see if
they if we're good enough to counter them, you know,
And I don't know. There's just there's so much I

(01:32:37):
want to see. I can't fit it all.

Speaker 2 (01:32:39):
You're right, John, You're one hundred percent right. So the
best thing I think we can say here is that
class is still in session for twenty twenty four. Oh yeah, right,
you want to you want to see a little bit,
you want to progress a little little little bit. Uh,
every week. I appreciate you, Patty and Aguam, I appreciate
you a lot. Uh, Jules, do you have Russell's little

(01:33:02):
signature open there on hand? Why don't we play that.

Speaker 6 (01:33:07):
It's a real woman, could stop you from drinking.

Speaker 2 (01:33:10):
Y's a real big woman.

Speaker 1 (01:33:12):
It's time to go around the NFL with football guru
Russell Baxter. Now the name is Flounder on Patriots playbook.

Speaker 2 (01:33:23):
I didn't want to leave you hanging any longer at Russell,
but I wanted to try something a little bit different
here because you and I usually don't get this opportunity
only because you know, we get off and I think
people frankly just like listening to the conversation. But he's
also been holding on for a while. So say hello
to our friend Eldred in North Carolina.

Speaker 5 (01:33:46):
Hello, Well how are you?

Speaker 4 (01:33:50):
I'm good?

Speaker 5 (01:33:51):
How for you? So what do we think this week?

Speaker 4 (01:34:08):
Okay, no, that's right. If you've if you've learned anything
about the National Football League and the last since free agency,
there is no pencil in sharpie and whatever you want
to call it, you know, chisel in. You can't take
anyone for ground. It all takes is a couple of

(01:34:29):
plays and a couple of turnovers and all of a sudden,
you're you know, the pressure is on.

Speaker 5 (01:34:33):
So uh we see.

Speaker 4 (01:34:54):
Yeah, I mean that's listen, that's the funnest sports. That's
you know. And I'm actually in the in the process
of writing something up about, you know, the the usual
look at the schedule in May and for cast wins
and losses like some of our my media brethren like
to do. And of course when they were doing that

(01:35:19):
for the Patriots, uh, did they know DeVante Adams was
going to be joining the AFC East. Did they know
Amari Cooper was going to be joining the AFC East? Now,
if they knew that, I'd be going to those people
for powerball numbers and the hell.

Speaker 5 (01:35:36):
With the football?

Speaker 2 (01:35:39):
All right? Well, I only got one side of that
conversation because the way our phone banks are set up.
But I wanted Elder to be able to to get
at least get a little bit of a question for you, Russell,
since he's always kind enough to hang on and he's
always yeah, he's always asking stuff. So I appreciate yours of.

Speaker 4 (01:35:57):
All time loyal followers. Eldrich might be one, two and three.

Speaker 2 (01:36:00):
Yes, Well, I think Eldred has been an original listener
since the first season, and you've been around since then
as well, So why not you know, you know, we
need to we need to hook up again one of
these days between the three of us and have a
nice discussion.

Speaker 4 (01:36:15):
Absolutely. Well, maybe we could talk about the election in
three weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:36:20):
No, thank you, No, I don't know. Is there a
scarier night on the calendar other than Halloween? Yes, it's
called election night.

Speaker 4 (01:36:29):
That's exactly right, which the ironic part A lot of people.

Speaker 2 (01:36:32):
Get unmad so yeah, I agree. All right.

Speaker 4 (01:36:36):
By the way, I got to ask you, John, I
got you here during your your segment, You're talking about
Texas football. Yeah, and you described Texas players as strong
something and good. I missed the second word.

Speaker 2 (01:36:51):
I don't even remember what the hell did I say.

Speaker 4 (01:36:53):
Well, all I know is when you said strong and good,
all I could think of was an Irish coffee.

Speaker 2 (01:37:00):
That's also true, or maybe you know a nice I
don't know. Smithick's are Guinness, you know, at the local
pub down the show, right.

Speaker 4 (01:37:07):
I remember being at the super Bowl. It was actually
thirty years ago now that I think about the Super
Bowl at Joe's Stone Crabs, one of the great places
you'll ever eat in the face of the Earth, and
someone brought over coffee with Kalua and Bailey, and my
first reaction was, yeah, that caffeine will kill you.

Speaker 2 (01:37:29):
Yeah right, Oh, I love that.

Speaker 4 (01:37:32):
I think I got through the whole thing, but someone
else finished it for me.

Speaker 5 (01:37:35):
I'll leave it at that.

Speaker 2 (01:37:36):
Yeah, I love that. All right. So the first couple
of things, really, the first thing I wanted to talk
to you about this week is your perspective on rookie
quarterbacks and whether or not you know, starting them right
away if they're a higher draft pick, or letting them
kind of you know, look over the landscape for a while,

(01:37:56):
and if that doesn't benefit them, because I think we've
seen it work both ways. I just want to know
if you have any historical perspective that you might add,
you know, which which type of you know, rookie when
they get their start, when they get it, how much
does that really affect his future playing Well?

Speaker 4 (01:38:12):
What I think it depends on a lot of times
is and I think in the case that the Patriots,
at least my own perspective is you only you not
only had a rookie quarterback, you had a rookie head coach.
So you know, I think a rookie quarterback comes in
like bo Nix is in with Sean Payton, who's been around. Okay, listen,

(01:38:37):
Peyton Manning started from the get go and took his penance.
I think he still hons the rookie record for interceptions
in the season, and then we all know what he
went on and did. Patrick Mahomes made one start as
a rookie because they had Alex Smith, and then he
came on like Gangbusters. So there is no necessarily rhyme

(01:38:57):
and reason I think what you do see now is
because as the college passing game is so prevalent and
wasn't so when you and I were watching football, you
know a century ago, that players come in here more
acclimated as far as the quarterbacks go in terms of
the passing game. Now, the ironic part in the last

(01:39:19):
I would say six or seven years is we've seen
a lot more running quarterbacks coming in the league, and
that now, I think enables them to have something to
fall back on, which is actually very very good for
these young men. So there is no you know, the
historic precedent is the fact that there is no precedent,

(01:39:43):
And the fact is that depending on the kind of
talent you have, like even Lamar Jackson, Lamar Jackson now,
the way they did Lamar Jackson Baltimore was very similar
to way Alan Kaepernick, and it was Greg Roman and
both in stances. And Colin Kaepernick was kind of groom

(01:40:03):
remember he was kind of a gadget player. And then
eventually Lamar Jackson took over for Joe Flacco, just like
Colin Kaepernick took over for Alex Smith. Although al Smith's
got hurt that year, and they you know, they wind
up you know, in the Super Bowl, et cetera, et cetera.
I mean Kaepernick's second year. I believe he was a
drafted in two thousand and eleven. They went to the

(01:40:25):
Super Bowl in twenty twelve. So yeah, I just think
it depends on the total set of circumstances for these guys.
But I think the when you have a like Jaydon
Daniels is doing very well. He's got an experience offensive
coordinator who was a head coach in Cliff Kingsbury. He

(01:40:45):
also has an experienced head coach and Dan Quinn who
was a guy who took the Atlanta Falcons to the
Super Bowl eight years ago. So I think it all
depends on total the total circumstances and so on. You know,
you have the coordinator and Matty eber Fleff in Chicago,
he's been there a few years. So now, to me,

(01:41:06):
the anomaly is a rookie head coach like Demigo Ryans
and a rookie quarterback in CJ. Stroud and what they
were able to do last year.

Speaker 2 (01:41:14):
Yeah, right, to me, that's that's what stands out. You know,
uh as well, because you know, clearly high draft pick
started out. Davis Mills was that quarterback. He came in
and he took off like gangbusters. I don't know that
there's a definitive, you know, uh process really to go.
It's almost like, you know, almost a roll of the dice.

(01:41:34):
I think a lot of it probably has to do with,
you know, the talent that they're surrounded by. And I
understand why the Patriots brought May along more more slowly,
and and and Gerrodmeo said as much, you know, actually
earlier today when he said, you know, yeah, we had
some concerns with the offensive line. And I'm paraphrasing really,
but you know it, there comes a point in time

(01:41:55):
when you know, you got to push, has to shove,
and has to you know, you know, get out in
the in the open, because you don't want to waste
an entire rookie season that's under you're really under your control,
salary contract wise, and so and I think.

Speaker 4 (01:42:09):
It benefits the Patriots to do it this way instead.
I mean, let's let's say I'm not no predictions, no schedule.

Speaker 5 (01:42:16):
Or anything like that.

Speaker 4 (01:42:17):
Sit there, They're sitting at three and eleven at the
end of the year, okay, Yeah, and then they decide
to throw him in there the last four three games.

Speaker 2 (01:42:25):
I don't know how that helps. I don't know how.
I don't know how something like that would help. You're right,
I just I don't say. I mean, yeah, you're gonna
get time. But I mean, are team's really going to
be going one hundred and ten percent, especially if you're
three and eleven, you've got no shot of going anywhere,
and the teams you're playing are likely it could be
playoff teams themselves, and they're saving.

Speaker 4 (01:42:44):
Up right exactly. So, I mean, I remember Eli Manning,
uh you know, Kurt Warners the quarterback in two thousand
and four, and then Eli came in. I think for
the last seven games. He lost all of them, I
think except one, but they they were in the playoffs
soon afterwards. In the two thousand and five a year,

(01:43:05):
I know they lost to Carolina. Two thousand and six,
I think they lost to Philadelphia, and then two thousand
and seven they won the Super Bowl. So there is
no rhyme or reason. And again I think a lot
has to do with what you have around you. Unfortunately
for the Patriots, they're still rebuilding everything else around him.

Speaker 2 (01:43:23):
Yep, all right, So Drake May makes his debut. The
Patriots still are beaten, but I think most fans feel
like they've gotten some value. In other words, they feel
like there's something to watch, there's something to look forward to.
There's a little bit of excitement, you know, left in
a team that's out to a disappointing start. Speaking of
disappointing starts, I think most there are a lot of

(01:43:45):
people that consider Jacksonville will certainly be playoff caliber based
on the way that they ended last year. And it's
gone south in a hurry for those guys. Wow, and
now they got to play back to back games in London.
I'm wondering how interested the going to be to play
this game.

Speaker 4 (01:44:02):
Well. Listen, remember this was a team that rallied to
make the playoffs in twenty twenty two. They were four
and eight, they won the last five games. Then they
rallied ironically from twenty seven down to beat the Chargers
in the wildcard game gig Kansas City a fight. Last year.
One time they were eight and three. Okay, and the
history has actually repeated itself for the Jaguars. Last year,

(01:44:25):
they lost five of their last six games. This year,
they've lost five in their first six games. So this
is a team that's two to ten in its last
twelve and you know, defensively, pretty deplorable, to be honest
with you. I mean, they finally got to win the
week before against the Colts in Jacksonville. And by the way,

(01:44:45):
they've beat the Colts as a home team ten years
in a row in London, so they kind of but
yet at the same time gave up thirty four points
in that game. They wind up giving up thirty five
to the Bears. They made their share stakes. But defensively,
I mean, they're a sieve and they're a team I
think the Patriots could get well against in terms of

(01:45:08):
their own offense. And this is what, by the way,
it's what Jacksonville did last year. They cleaped back to
back games in London and one week they're the home team,
one week they're road team. Last year, last week they
were a road team against the Bears. They're the home
team against Jacksonville. But the Jaguars, yeah, they looked interested
for about two and a half quarters last week. And again, defensively,

(01:45:31):
they just don't have much. And you know, earlier this
season they did play defensively a lot better. You know
they were in a nail bier with Miami lost at
the end, but you go back listen, even a couple
of weeks ago they went up to Buffalo on a
Monday night and got tagged forty seven to ten. So

(01:45:53):
there's a lot of issues surrounding this team. I'm not
sure exactly when the wheels went off. A lot of
people liked the plane, Trevor Lawrence being banged up down
the stretch last year for their issues, but Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 5 (01:46:05):
Hasn't been banged up this year.

Speaker 4 (01:46:06):
So not sure what exactly is going on. And in
a division where Houston is the top dog, but you
would think, I mean, remember last year, Jacksonville was nine
and eight, Indianapolis was nine and eight. The weeklink was Tennessee.
Now all of a sudden, you've got you know, the
Colts are keeping their head above water, but Tennessee and Jacksonville.

(01:46:28):
Tennessee finds ways to lose games. Jacksonville just doesn't find
anything right now. So I'll be curious to see what
they look like this weekend, and like you said, how
long they hold interest. I hate to see a team
kind of, you know, abandoning things. Six seven weeks into
the season, but there's just something seems off there. And

(01:46:50):
you know, when your defense is that bad, it's hard
for the offense to keep up.

Speaker 2 (01:46:54):
Sure, so a couple of games really that it caught
my fancy. For Week seven, here Texans playing at the Packers,
which looks like a pretty good introc conference matchup, But
maybe the best game of the whole weekend is what
Chris Berman would describe as an NFC Narris battle. The
Lions are four and one, the Vikings are five and zero.
Man alive. I never thought I'd get pumped by a

(01:47:15):
Lions Vikings game, but I think I might be.

Speaker 4 (01:47:19):
And the division is seventeen.

Speaker 2 (01:47:20):
And five, crazy crazy seventeen and five.

Speaker 4 (01:47:24):
Every team is at least two games over five hundred.
In fact, here's you know, just think about this for
a second. The Vikings have the best record in the NFC.
The Lions have the second best record in the NFC.
The Vikings are plus sixty three in point differential, best

(01:47:45):
in the league. The Lions are plus sixty in point differential,
got big boost last league. Obviously, they're second in the league.
So and this division this year, this is only the
second time two teams in the division are playing each
other instead weeks, so there's a lot to look forward
down the road. You know, I think we might have
mentioned this last week. You know, a lot got made

(01:48:07):
about Pittsburgh playing six of its last eight games against
the division. Well, the Bears are in the same category.
They play six of their last they don't play a
divisional foe until week eleven, So the Bears. I'm not
saying the Bears will win the division. I'm not saying
the Bears will be in the playoffs, but the Bears
are going to have probably the biggest say in this

(01:48:27):
division because of their late season schedule.

Speaker 5 (01:48:30):
But this is huge.

Speaker 4 (01:48:32):
Holding serve at home is very important in Minnesota. They
were able to beat Green Bay at Green Bay a
couple of weeks ago, held on for dear life. If
they hold serve here at home, which will not be easy. Okay,
and I know Aiden Hutchinson is now gone, but this
Lion's attack, my goodness, they're one two rushing combin them

(01:48:53):
combination of Gibbs and Montgomery's that's scary for about any
defensive front. And of course the Lion offensive line is terrific.
Jared Goffin's been sensational and this is a confident football team,
and we haven't been able to say that about the
Lions for a long time. Yeah, you know, it's been

(01:49:14):
a you know, it's been a dry spot when A
you're the only NFC team not to appear in the
Super Bowl, and b your last NFL championship came before
I was born.

Speaker 2 (01:49:24):
Did those Super Bowl hopes take a blow with Aiden
Hutchinson going out?

Speaker 4 (01:49:30):
They have been That's interesting. Now, unless I've missed something,
they have not put him on IR for the year.
Now they're saying he's going to miss the rest of
the season. Is that the regular season?

Speaker 2 (01:49:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:49:43):
Okay, I mean listen, you and I are old school,
not like we haven't seen anybody play football with a
broken leg.

Speaker 2 (01:49:49):
Rub some dirt on it and let's go.

Speaker 4 (01:49:51):
Okay. That would be Jack Youngblood in the seventy nine playoffs.
He broke his leg against Dallas. Play with that broken
leg against the Bucking played against the Steelers with a
broken leg. Yeah, yeah, some dirtvac team. I'm always I
always go back to back team. Wow, that's just bracing
back team on it.

Speaker 2 (01:50:12):
It'll be fine, Yeah, right. Put a little little mature
chrome right, I gotta like that one. What are your
thoughts about the Houston Texans after they come out of
here and they're five and one overall, they got to
go on the road and play pretty good Green Bay team.
Based on what we've seen, you know, of them through
six weeks thus far, should Houston be considered a you know,

(01:50:34):
true a true contender in the AFC?

Speaker 4 (01:50:37):
Well, you know, they're tougher tests come later in the year.
I think they actually play the Ravens and the Chiefs
in the back to back weeks as a matter of fact,
you know, so we shall see. I mean, listen, they
had Buffalo twenty to three, they let Buffalo come back,
bad clock management by the Bills, the Houston won the game.
I think there's still skepticism now. They blew out the

(01:50:59):
page for it's last week, okay, but their previous four
wins came by a total of fifteen points, all really
close games. And then of course they went to Minnesota
earlier this year and got their doors blown off thirty
four to seven. So I think there's probably still a
little trepidation there. And listen, going to Green Bay obviously

(01:51:20):
not an easy task, you know, Jordan Love remember he's
you know, he's really kind of still rounding in the forum.
You know, he played in the opener against Philadelphia and Brazil.
He missed the next two games, but you know, he's
been pretty hot. But I believe he's thrown at least
an interception in every game he's played this year. So

(01:51:42):
that comes with being strong armed and being aggressive, and
threw the ball beautifully last week against the Cardinals. Don't
get me wrong, but he will make the obviously the
occasional mistake, right you know, the Texans, I think this
is I don't want to say it's a statement game
for them, but it would probably be a make amends

(01:52:03):
win for them to get that bad taste out of that,
like I said, really ugly loss to the Vikings earlier
this year.

Speaker 2 (01:52:10):
Right right, all right, So the aforementioned Chiefs they got
to play at San Francisco. Is this potentially the week
that somebody beats them and one of the chances that
the remnants of the seventy two Dolphins, of which I
know we just lost Mercury Morris not too long ago,
but one of the chances this is the weekend they celebrate,

(01:52:32):
you know, keeping their seventeen oh season perfect.

Speaker 4 (01:52:37):
Well, they would have to they would have to get
Minnesota and chances City to lose to lose, right, okay,
because Minnesota is obviously five to the right. But what's
interesting about this is, I mean, it doesn't seem like
the Chiefs and the forty nine ers play each other
every year, even though once in the AFC, once in
the AFC, right, yeah, your imagination. This is the fifth

(01:52:58):
time in the last seven years these teams will play.
Obviously two of them were in the Super Bowl. But
the key number here is four as in four and
O as in Andy Reid as four and oh against
Kyle Shame.

Speaker 2 (01:53:13):
Yeah, that's remember.

Speaker 4 (01:53:14):
They went out to San Francisco a couple of years
ago on a Sunday night and whacked the Niners in
a big way. There's obviously no fear here, okay, And
why would you be fearsome?

Speaker 2 (01:53:27):
Now?

Speaker 4 (01:53:28):
You know, we finally saw for the first time since
the playoff game against Miami last year, John the Chiefs
won a game like semi going away against the Saints
on Monday night. Now that was a week and a half.
What's interesting about this is, you know, we know Andy
Reid's always had a great record after a bye. Both
of these teams had extra time to prepare for this game.

(01:53:53):
The Chiefs two weeks, the forty nine Ers a week
and a half. Remember they played on a Thursday night
at Seattle.

Speaker 2 (01:53:58):
Last time we saw it right right, that's right, they
did all right. Then I'll put it to you this way,
who's more likely to still be unbeaten after this week
Vikings against the Lions at home or the Chiefs playing
at the forty nine ers.

Speaker 4 (01:54:13):
I think the Chief's playing at the forty nine ers.
I think Detroit's in the big time role. They beat
the Rams in Week one and overtime, which if you
remember the game, it's twenty twenty, and the Lions went
the ball and all they did was run, run, run, run,
right into the end. So that was it for the Rams.

(01:54:35):
And then they lost at home to the Buccaneers, which
they made a few too many mistakes, and they've been
kind of rolling ever since. Like I said, that running
game is very very potent. It's funny, Sam Darnold, great story.
So far, you could make a case of a comeback
Player of the Year candidate and so on. This team

(01:54:57):
has been very for it, but they do turn over
the football, and that's something that's always to me obviously
a little concerning. Now, you know, it's great that they
have and to their credit, they have thirteen takeaways this year,
pretty good, but the Vikings had turned over the ball
nine times in five games. Not so good. So then

(01:55:21):
they play that style of football again and get away
with it against the Detroit team that I mean, I
think the only thing they didn't play, only play they
didn't run last week. It was something from the little Giants. Okay,
they pulled up all the stops and embarrassed the Cowboys

(01:55:42):
last week. And again, it's a style football they kind
of have to play because I'm not totally sold on
their defense as well. We saw Seattle give them a fight.
You know, you can throw the ball against them, and
I'm sure the ball is going to get thrown a
lot against them with Aiden Hutchinson out. But they're a
very physical football team and that offensive line to me,

(01:56:04):
has yet to be really challenged by anyone. Right again,
they listed the Buccaneers at home earlier in the season,
but at the same time, the offensive line has been
the start of that team.

Speaker 2 (01:56:16):
Sure, right, all right, before I let you go, we
actually have some semi breaking news here. The contributor category
for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of twenty
five was released just a short time ago. Mister Kraft
is on that list. He's one of the twenty five
candidates overall. But I think, you know, I think the

(01:56:37):
competition is going to be stiff again because included in
making this cut of twenty five, which is going to
be cut down further to nine in a couple of
weeks rune Arledge, who obviously is the executive at ABC
who helped popularize Monday Night Football back in the day,
and Howard Cosell.

Speaker 4 (01:56:55):
Yes, and some I think rune Arledge has the Pete
Rosell Award. Okay, now, just so different. There's a different
There are awards given out by the Pro Football Hall
of Fame, the Joe Horgan Award, the Pete Rosell Award.
That doesn't make you a Pro Football Hall of Famer,
it makes you an award winner. This is different. This

(01:57:17):
is a contributor class, which is huge. And by the way,
since we're dropping names off the list, my friend Chris
Berman is on that list.

Speaker 2 (01:57:25):
On the list, and I will drop the name of
John Facenda, who there really has been I think for
a lot of football fans the voice of God, even
though he passed away. What the early eighties, I think
it was late seventies.

Speaker 4 (01:57:38):
That's funny. And I believe for Senda, I believe is
another Pete Rosseau Rosell Award winner, right, and you know
it's funny. John I grew up. I was born in Philadelphia,
grew up in the Poconos for most of my life.
But we still we got all the Philadelphia stations there
and John Facenda was the local news anchor. Isn't that
great when the CBS the film love it, Okay, love it? Oh,

(01:58:02):
you know he presented, he presented every day with Super
Bowl Sunday when you were getting the news. In the track.

Speaker 5 (01:58:12):
NFL film, which.

Speaker 4 (01:58:13):
Is based in New Jersey outside of Philadelphia, the connection
was perfect. And my goodness, you know, and you know anything,
all you have to do is say the word the
autumn wind.

Speaker 2 (01:58:24):
And that's John Facenda, right though, no question, Russell, thank
you for the time today, my friend. Always appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (01:58:32):
All right, And tell Eldrich I said, hi, and we'll
do that again.

Speaker 2 (01:58:34):
Awesome, would love to do that. The one and only
Backs football guru at BAX football guru on x is
where you find his info. Russell Baxter, the one and only.
All right, so I mentioned the late breaking news if
you will hear with Robert Kraft being on the list
of twenty five, shall we say semi finalists for the

(01:58:55):
Contributors category and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in
the class of twenty twenty five, and that this we
pair it down to nine finalists in about two weeks.
But I'm gonna give the last word of the day
to the man who's been holding on again in the
one and only Eldred in North Carolina. Eldred, what's up today? Brother?

Speaker 6 (01:59:12):
Not much, sir, just off and join the day off.

Speaker 5 (01:59:14):
How you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:59:15):
Good for you? Good for you?

Speaker 6 (01:59:18):
Yes, sir?

Speaker 2 (01:59:20):
What did you think of Drake May last week?

Speaker 6 (01:59:25):
Like I said, only Evan do his little dance around
around the desk to let him do that. But but then,
like I said, the talent is there. It's just he
make you go on one minute and then oh what
the heck the next minute, you know, And it's the
accuracy problem, you know. But I'm glad he came in.
He gave us a boost on one point two and

(01:59:45):
forty some yards. You know, I liked it, you know,
and I'm glad they didn't have the training wheels on them.
I just want to see him get more accurate and
you know, and take take the layups sometimes, you know,
and just do that and make me buy a Drake Major,
like I keep saying, I might. I ain't from Missouri,
but you gotta show me. I've seen this for two
years about the same, you know, while you did whatever.

(02:00:07):
But one thing I like about him, He's tough. You know,
He's really tough, and he can be somewhere, you know.
But I'm still holding out just to see. And I
just hope mister Wolf help the team out, not just
the kid, help the team out. I mean all kinds
of trades going on. I'm pretty sure you can come

(02:00:27):
up with something with a tackle you have to, you know,
or ex receiver you know, maybe don't need in right,
but some of that line just give us a little
bit of hope in the middle, linebacker, somebody that can
stop a run.

Speaker 2 (02:00:41):
Yeah, you know, yeah, well they definitely need some They
definitely need some help with that. There's no doubt about that.
That's got to happen and shows you how much they
missed Barmore's presence in the middle and how they miss everything.
We talked about it a little bit earlier in the
show today, but they really missed that presence up the
middle defensively bar More, you know, Bentley Pepper's. They missed that,

(02:01:01):
and I think that's a large reason why, you know,
Houston was able to bounce out some runs. I mean,
Houston had what two forty fifty yard runs last week
that just should not happen, That should not happen, and
it did. And so the defense has got to look
at themselves too. It hasn't just been offensive struggles. It's
been defense over the last couple of weeks. And it's

(02:01:22):
time for some other fellas to step in there.

Speaker 6 (02:01:25):
Yeah. My question is, I know the coach and Steve
Browns our own team is Steve right, Steve Belichick right.
I reach out to him, but I need you to
cook on the defense. Yeah, you know Covenant, Okay, I understand,
you know Rookie too. Whatever Rookie hit, you know, play

(02:01:46):
calling or whatever. But I'll be talking to Steve right now.
I'll be talking to him.

Speaker 5 (02:01:52):
You know, y'all.

Speaker 6 (02:01:52):
Him and Mayo was best of buddies, and just and
that you know, I understand the way things happened. He
might not want to come to the team, but you
need them, You need somebody else. Another said I because
whatever they're doing, it just ain't work. Unless, like like
the report is, the guys are freelancing, then you need
to put the hammer down. Even though we ain't got
the players. Need to put the footy butt or something.

(02:02:16):
You need to do something, you know, so they can
play and so they can play in you know, like
you're supposed to the assignment.

Speaker 2 (02:02:23):
This speaks directly to, you know, the discipline that we've talked.

Speaker 5 (02:02:27):
About, yes or exactly you know.

Speaker 6 (02:02:31):
And I understand some guys want theirs because money time
is coming up or whatever, you know, but you still
gotta do the team. And I understand you want you
want your career to further. The go farther too though
I do understand that too, But you still got to
stop the other team. But my question is we're the
real unless we don't seen it. Taekwon Thornton, you got

(02:02:51):
a chance to step up, dude, why you ain't stepping up?
And Taekwon Underwood, why you're not getting the best out
of or whoever the wide receiver coach is got too
much to be a dun unlens you.

Speaker 5 (02:03:02):
Don't want to be here?

Speaker 2 (02:03:03):
Well, I think, I think, I think honestly, that's a
little that's uh, Elder, that's an absolute legitimate question, and
I can only answer it by saying, uh, you know, uh,
a staple of football, as you know, you've got to
show it in practice, and I can only I can
only gather that he's not doing what he needs to
do in practice to show that he can be dependable

(02:03:25):
and or reliable, you know in those situations. I mean,
it looks to me like they've kind of got their
receiver rotation getting set here, and even Jalen Polk is
in danger of of you know, not being in there
after a while because he can't hold on to anything
right now. So that's that's an issue. Uh, maybe he
gets another shot Tykwon Thornon if you know Polk can't

(02:03:47):
cure his his case of the dropsies, I mean, uh, hey,
it's it's time for everybody to step up in shore
with the god. This entire season really should be an
extended training camp above anything else, simply because they're not
going anywhere. But I would also tell you that I
think the belief in that locker room is is that
you know, hey, there's still something to be made and

(02:04:07):
something to be had in this season. We'll find out,
I guess starting this week, right, starting this week, hey,
as we know, football season is here, Sullivan Tire and
Auto Service kick things off in a big way with
our exclusive Go Patch Tires sale now through October thirty. First,
you can score big with incredible savings on Bridgestone tires.

(02:04:29):
Save one hundred dollars instantly with a purchase of four
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New England Patriots. You can see Sullivantire dot com for
complete details and Go Patriots. This reminder, easy to drink,
easy to enjoy. Bud Light is the official beer sponsor
of the New England Patriots. Our thanks to Mike Doroco,

(02:04:51):
who covers the Jaguars for ESPN dot Com. Our own
Evan Lazar Russell Baxter for jumping around the NFL for
week seven. Julianne, nice job today stepping in for the Marine,
but Jewels, excellent job. Thank you for taking the time
to listen today, Same patch time, same patt channel Next Wednesday.

(02:05:11):
Here in the playbook, we'll get Evans report on which
pubs he favored and which pub food he liked best
out of the UK. And then yeah, it's a rematch
with the J. E. T. Yes. Can it be different
the next time around? That's on the agenda next week.
Have a great weekend. Thank you for downloading this podcast.

(02:05:33):
Subscribe on Apple, Google Play, and everywhere else you listen.
Like the show, please rate and review us. Listener comments
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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}On Purpose with Jay Shetty

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On Purpose with Jay Shetty