Patriots Playbook 10/30: Jets Recap, Titans Preview

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:44):
Mosis.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It's I think my favorite part of listening to some
of these you know opens that we have is watching
the marine dance on the other side of the glass.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
He's loving it, he's loving dancing. It's white boy dancing
very well, it's very.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Much white boy dancing. Oh that's hilarious. Welcome into the
playbook everyone. I will apologize in advance. I have always
gotten well, not always, but most of the time. Every year
I go and do my dutiful duty and get my
flu shot. Right. So I got my flu shot two
days ago.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, yeah, kick my butt.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
I this is the first time that has ever happened
to me. First time that is ever. I mean I've
gotten numerous years were the flu shots. Yeah, kicking my
butt for the first time this year.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah yeah. Every time I've gotten a COVID booster, it's
knocked me out for a little bit. But you know,
traveling the.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Coca booster is not that bad. I mean, honestly, it's
it's not that bad. It hasn't affected me other than
a really sore arm this year. Nah, nothing but the
flu shot my goodness.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
So I'm on the verge of losing my voice because
I've had a scratchy throat for two days. Yeah, so
I'll be keeping it a little lower key than I
normally do.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Oh no, I know that's terrible, isn't it?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Good gets to shut the bleep up? Nice, shine your time, baby,
you in the spotlight coming up. In addition to of course,
uh mister as our Tron Davenport from ESPN dot com,
who covers the Tennessee Titans for ESPN dot Com, he's
gonna join us in the show, we'll be joined by

(02:39):
Greg Badard from Boston Sports Journal in the three o'clock
hour of this program as well. Always love catching it
with Greg because I think, you know, he probably knows
enough about football and some of the insight to be
able to give you some honest not only opinion, but
you know, commentary and in fact surrounding this team right now.
Because one of the things we do want to talk
about today is, all right, are we beginning to see

(03:01):
the light at the end of tunnel? Or is it
maybe that light of the oncoming freight train that's coming
toward the Patriots? And I think we're kind of at
that stage of the season right now. And then very
happy to say that a little bit later on in
the program, Sarah Marshall. Today's her birthday. Sarah Marshall is
the editor from Musketfire dot com. Some of you have
read that blog. Obviously follows the Patriots very closely and

(03:25):
does a pod as well, and she's going to join
us four o'clock hour as well, just to kind of
give us an updates. Russell's got a daddy daughter thing today.
I think that's what he's got going on today? Is
that Halloween party? Did he tell us he's got a
Halloween all right? He's got some kind of daddy daughter event,
which is really cool. One of the things, though, I
will missdoing with Russell is exchanging ideas on underrated Halloween candy.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Okay, Twigs, you you're Twigs fan.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
I'm a little bit yeah, I'm a little tired of
Twigs after all these years.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Love Twigs. Okay, all right, But I'm a sour candy
guide in myself. So you like sour Patch kids, sour
Patch are my favorite skittles.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Can I tell you? Gummy worms?

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Gummies?

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Share gummy worms, underrated, underrated, although you don't see too
many of those given out just because you know they're you.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Know, sour patch watermelon, watermelon.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Okay, all right, I see my my longtime standard and
uh and favorite and this is the one that that
Miss Robin and I do not give out to the
kids because we know that we would eat it. All
are Twizzlers.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
That's interesting. Not a big Twizzlers guy.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
I love Twizzlers. I just I mean, just give me
a gig stick of licorice, and I'm really.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Have you ever had red vines? Yes, they're very good, Yeah,
very good. I call them California Twizzlers, the California Twizzers, Yes,
West Coast Twizzlers.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
I like those. I mean the regular stuff is okay,
but my problem is is that you know, I'd eat
too much of it, and I feel kind of after
it's over. I mean, I love me a good recis
pieces uh, and I love me a good recess peanut
butter cup. You know I will eat Milky Way three Musketeers.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
As a big kit Cats guy as a kid.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Kit cat See now, I actually prefer KitKat over twigs.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah that's fair. I was a big kit cat guy
as a kid, and when I'd go trick or treating,
I would just take kit Cats and I'd have like
a pile of like fifty of them by the end
of the night.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, totally just stuck them on top of it and stuff. Yeah,
keep it like money, make it, I still do that.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
I'll pay you in twigs, I'll pay.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
It in kit cats. Yeah. I like those two. Vastly
underrated candy bar. And then we'll move on to football,
all right, vastly under candy bar. Yeah, I know, right,
football Yeah, one hundred grand.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, yeah, those are good. I feel like any candy bar,
I'm like mostly game with. I'm not anti any candy bar.
You know, a nice Hershey's bar. Sometimes you just got
to have the original, yeah, right, not bad. I'm not
a big Hershey's with almonds.

Speaker 4 (05:53):
No.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
I like the do you know the cookies and cream
one though.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
That's a good one. Good, that's good. The mint chip
too is also pretty good. I like that one. Yeah.
But the one hundred grand bar with the crispy rice
in it, that's a big one for me. And then
if we're gonna go old school, butterfinger.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, you would like the candy they give us on
the plane. Really, Oh they have all the they have.
It's like kit kat a Hershey bar. It's not good
for me. Peanut butter cups. Twizzlers are in there.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
That would be a Twizzlers that would do it because
there's no fat. Yeah, that's why I like Twizzers.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Sour Patch Yeah no, they hook us up yeah on
the way home every every trip after the game.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
All right, yeah, well okay, interesting if we talk a little.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Football share, I guess I know people, why spoil the
gun gets to go on the plane.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
It's talking on a plank. By the way, if you
have your your favorite Halloween candy that you just can't
live without, please share it. What's gonna okay number one,
especially if it's different your favorite Halloween candy that you
will not be handing out tomorrow night. Okay, all right,
tomorrow night. So let's do it with that, because that's

(07:07):
why I bring it up. This is Halloween week, right,
So your favorite Halloween candy that you will not be
handing out to the kids in your neighborhood tomorrow night.
That's what I want to know.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
During football season, you just kind of like you don't holidays,
Like you wake up and you're like, all right, it's Halloween,
you know it October go, Yeah, it's just never on
my right a Thanksgiving maybe a little bit is on
the radar, but like Halloween, just.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Like Okay, a quick little editorial to side before we
get into football. What did you make of the Yankee
fans trying to swap the ball out of Mookie Betch's
club last night?

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Not surprised? I mean I've been to that stadium a
couple of times as a as a Red Sox fan,
and uh, look, I'm not surprised, That's all I'm gonna say,
not surprised.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
The thing that kills me is that Major League Baseball
had to tell the Yankees you cannot let these guys
into the stadium tonight.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah. Yeah, because they're like, they're like so classic, they're
folk heroes and so classless. Come on, look, I don't
condone what they did.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
At Yankees right there in a part with the Jets.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
I don't condone what they did at all, the foul
ball aside, But like, if you're sitting in the stands
and the ball skips in front of you, and it's
gonna be a ground world double because in the stands,
a good a good home team fan sticks his hand
out and grabs the ball, right.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, a good home team fan would certainly try to
go for the ball, but literally grab it out of
the guy's mitt and away.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
I mean, come on, way too far. But if you're
a home team fan and Mookie Bets sticks his glove
in my well, it's the whole love I'd be going
up try to knock it away.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
That's a whole love thing that happened to the Cubs. Yeah, Bartman, Yeah,
out the apartment thing, the whole apartment thing years ago.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
I mean he's just a fan and he got roasted.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Okay, Well that's different because he did it to his
own team. Okay, but but he's.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
Still just being a fan. I never blamed the guy.
He's just being a fan.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, well they won, sense, so he's off.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
If it's your team at that bat and the ball's
coming to you and you're sitting right there on the line,
you're telling me you're just gonna sit there.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, oh yeah, you lie. I'm not lying, li Live,
I'm not lying. If Jared Duran is coming over to
make a play on the ball and it's and I'm
sitting in front row, I'm getting out of the way.
If it's Aaron Judge that's coming over to get the.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Ball, standing up so he can run the ull over.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
I'm standing up, and you know, I'm not reaching into
the field to play. I'm not pulling his glove and
doing what those guys did. I'm not. But if I'm
gonna sit there and if his glove comes to me.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
You're swatting it. Maybe you not, you lie, Maybe you're
not doing that. I'm not believing.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
I'm not obstructing. I'm not obstructing. I'm not doing what
the but that's what we're talking about.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
You'd be obstructing that.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
No, because when he comes into the stands, that's that's
fair game. That that becomes fair game. This issue is differently.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Honestly, I'll play devil's advocate here. I think that's honestly
the the Yankees and the Yankee fans point of view,
because hey, you're coming into our territory. Here, you come
in our territory, We're gonna do what we can to
take you out.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah, I don't know. I'm not gonna do anything to
hurt anybody or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
You're just you're not Evan. You say you're Sucks fan.
You know, Red Sox fan.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
How might a Red Sox fan.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Because you know you just you don't think that that's
one of the most heinous things you've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
I guess, I see, I see what you're saying. But
I think what they did was cross the line because
they grabbed the ball and they grabbed him, right. I
wouldn't do that. All I'm saying is if the glove
comes into the stands and I'm sitting there and it's
in the stands, I'm not saying I'm not reaching over
it's in the stands and I'm sitting right there, and

(10:58):
it's the opposing team, I might get in the way.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Well, if you're mooky, you've got to go after the ball,
and if you think you can get it, even if
it goes a foot into the stands, you got to
go get it.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
Right, I don't fall him.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
And if they if they knock him around, it's still
gonna be fan interference one way or the other. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Sure, So I don't know why then the ball. It
wouldn't be fan interference if he comes into the stands.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
But he that's but he did get it. The glove
did go into the stands.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, and I don't think that's supposed to be fan interference.
Fan interference, My understanding is is that it's only if
you go in the fan reaches into the field to play.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
If he makes contact. Huh, if he makes contact.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
Even if they're coming into the stands.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
If he if he like lipped into the stands and
you can see the fan trying to like avoid contact.
I don't think they would call that. But if you
can sequence someone standing his ground or whatever we're doing,
what happened last night, then I think you can legitimately
call fan interfering.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, that's fair. I guess that's fair. Okay, all right,
half of that I digress.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, I know, we totally digressed, But that's okay because
we like to do a lot of digression. Yeah, on
the show from time.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Just trying to help out the local nine. That's it,
you know, Well, that's.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
What it's all about. Yeah, we have to try to
help them out because they God knows they need they'll
eight fivey five PATS five hundred is the toll free number.
Eight five five p ats five hundred. Podcasts at Patriots
dot com. The email address you can also hit me
up on X if you want. It's at JR Broadcaster.
If you have any comments or questions on what we're
going to get into the Patriots and the Tennessee Titans

(12:27):
this week. In all honesty, I mean, I'm a little
surprised at what happened last week with the Jets. I think,
you know, there were times that they looked like a
professional football team, or at least something remotely close to
what we've been used to seeing over the last ten

(12:47):
or fifteen years. There were other times when I didn't
see anything. I just think that the biggest difference on
Sunday this last week was is that the Patriots were
just out jetted by the Jets. I mean, is there
really a better explanation to put that? Because the Jets
just played dumb, they at a myriad bunch of mistakes,

(13:11):
the Patriots were able to take advantage of it. I
give Jacoby Brissette a hell of a lot of credit
for largely being a consummate professional, come in and do
what he did, you know, And and then the other
thing that obviously stands out now I got the hiccups, sorry,
the other thing that really stands out besides the Patriots

(13:31):
being fortunate and winning where the drop passes by the
receiving corps. Yeah, I mean, it was just like It
was almost comical to the point where it's like, could
we put some money in there. I'll go in and
catch one. You know, I'll take a pounding for it,
but I'll go in and catch one. And I'm just like,
how do the Patriots put themselves in a position every
year where they literally come up with zeros at the

(13:54):
whiteout positions? It blows me away.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, so just to start this to me is how
the Patriots need to win football games. It's the same
conversation we had in Week one with the when they
played the Bengals. Yeah, it's the same thing. And they
weren't totally clean in this game. You mentioned the receivers.
I had them with four drops as a group in

(14:16):
this game. Forty yard punt return allowed. Again, a big
punt return allowed in this game. They certainly weren't perfect,
but they didn't turn the ball over. They didn't beat
themselves offensively and defensively, you know, defensively, even though they
had some issues, you know, outside run games, certainly was

(14:38):
still a little porous. They had some breakdowns. Marcus Jones
against Garrett Wilson was a mismatch in the jets favor,
but they forced the Jets to go out there and
take the game. Now, they deserve credit for that. I
thought the coaching staff did their job this week and
had or last week I guess now, and had them
ready to play, and I had a decent game plan

(15:00):
and all that kind of stuff. But I do want
to keep in perspective that this is not going to
win very many football games in the NFL when this
has to be your formula and then you barely win
a game. Yeah, yeah, you won the game. This game
you won by an inch, You literally an inch of
vermondro Stevenson piling over the goal line there. You know,

(15:24):
in Week one against the Bengals, you also kind of
scraped by in that game. So I think, in one hand,
you can sit there and give them their flowers and
that's that's totally fair. But on the other hand, you know,
this is why they're two and six, and this is
why they're probably going to be a four or five
win team this year is because beating teams week in
and week out with that formula, it's just not a

(15:45):
really great way to go about things. This is a
tough way to live.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
So I guess then what we're looking here is there's
a difference in philosophy and between philosophy and how they'd
like to win and in practicality, which is how they
have to win.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah. Yeah, I just feel like the their talent on
this roster, and maybe some some of it is coaching
as well, but I feel like their talent on the
roster just doesn't really allow them to hit another level
than what they did last week and what they did
in Week one and their two wins. Like, to me,
that right now is what they look like when they're

(16:21):
at their peak, Like that's their best football. Yeah, and
that's that to me speaks to the talent of the roster,
like it's not necessarily a group that can really elevate
any further than that based off of what they have.
So even still that you know, I mentioned some of
the areas that they weren't as good, like all of
that is talent, Like all of that is is roster

(16:43):
issues and things like that. You know, outside run game
depth at cornerback, you know, you have a really good
corner in Christian Gonzales. I'm not sure you have anybody
else that's a really good corner outside of Gonzales. So
when you play these teams like the Jets that have
two really good receivers. You can take one out, but
you can't take the other guy out. And it didn't
beat him on Sunday. So you tip your cabbies, say

(17:04):
it worked out. This team that they're gonna play on
Sunday with.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
Garrett Wilson was wide open on many occasions.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, and this team they're gonna play on Sunday, and
we're gonna talk about them in a second. But the Titans,
they just traded away their other receiver and DeAndre Hopkins,
so they're really a one receiver team. So against a
team like this, you put Gonzales on Calvin Ridley and
you you probably have a chance to be pretty good, uh,
defensively in this game. But in general, I just feel
like if that's their peak, if that's the best football

(17:33):
that they can play, then I don't think anything has
really changed in terms of how many wins they're gonna
come out with this year.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
All right, Well, speaking of the Tennessee Titans, Toront Davenport
covers the Titans for ESPN ESPN dot Com. I'm gonna
take a couple of moments to kind of get his
thoughts on his team and Toron. It's John and Evan
here in Foxborough. Thanks for taking a little time today.
We appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (17:55):
Oh yeah, for sure. Man, appreciate you guys reaching out.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
Thank you, thank you. So I mean, are these two
teams like looking at each other in the mirror and
seeing the same on the other side.

Speaker 5 (18:05):
Yeah, man, it's like that that meme right where you
got the two Spider Man's pointing at each other. It's
not pretty right now for either team. And this is
a game where it's offectively, It's gonna be interesting to watch.
I'll say that much because these are two of the
worst offensive teams in the league.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
All right. So, I mean, I have to admit I
was reading the mail bag on the Titan's website earlier
today and I got a particular kick out of one
of the first letters that was in there, you know,
and it said, basically, you know, clearly the Titans need
a quarterback in old line help. And I'm like, stop me,
I think I've heard this one before. So literally, it's like,

(18:45):
these two teams have a lot of the same issues.
Where would you put the Titans quote unquote rebuild at
this stage of this season behind schedule, ahead of schedule
or what schedule.

Speaker 5 (18:59):
No, I think it's behind schedule, leaning more towards what schedule,
because this is a team that went out and they
spent a lot of money. They brought in players at
Calvin Ridley, Lugarious Lee, Lloyd Cushionberry, Chidobi a Wuuse. They
brought in these guys with the understanding that they were
going to compete now and that hasn't exactly happened. You
see them selling off a couple of guys, you know,

(19:20):
to accumulate draft picks. They only had five, now they
have eight, and I think that's more or less been
the approach. But Brian Callahan has remained steady that it's
not a pivot or anything like that is goal. His
focus is still on winning and obviously they have to
have an eye on the future in the front office,
but he is in no way changed as far as

(19:42):
what the goal is, and that's to win football games.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
All right. Well, so you know, let's start at least
with the quarterback. Is it is it back to Will
Levis this week?

Speaker 5 (19:52):
Yeah, that's the interesting part of it. So we got
to see them today and Levis hasn't thrown at all
in the last couple of weeks, and you know, they
want to get him to be able to throw him
back to back weeks to that way they can excuse me,
back to back days so they can see how he
feels off of that. So for right now, it's kind

(20:14):
of on hold. I made the Rudolph obviously had to
start last week. The offense moves with him. But you know,
just like what levis, he had the same bad mistakes.
So we'll see. That's something that's more going to be
answered on Friday. But as they continue to move away
from the time when he initially sprained had the act
spray on his right shoulder, that's going to help them.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Okay, And you know, as long as we're talking about
it here a little bit, how is the fluctuation on
the offensive line affecting the quarterback play to this point?

Speaker 5 (20:47):
You know what, Honestly it led to an interception last
week by Mason Rudolph for early one. But for the
most part, the line has more or less settled in.
And the long part where there's a question is that
right tackle Dylan Rated, the right guard has really settled
in and he's played some solid football, especially run block

(21:08):
and Jacon Latham was the left tackle, you know, has
really solidified that position. So overall, the old line over
the last two to three weeks has done a solid job.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
How do you feel about the coaching thus far? You
know how the new staff, new people coming in the
Patriots obviously have gone through the very same thing this year.
What's your perspective on how the coaches have started to
adapt and learn about their personnel and what do you
feel like are their strengths versus their weaknesses.

Speaker 5 (21:38):
Yeah, that's a good question because Brian Callahan, he spoke
today about how you don't really know a quarterback and
see you play with him in actual games. And he's
not talking about preseason, he's talking about actual games. So
there's some things that they've learned about whatevers, you know,
from the hero ball perspective and just the always wanting
to push the ball down the field perspective. They're seeing
it first hand. But you know, I think overall he's

(21:59):
learned about this team is the guys are resilient. Calvin
Ridley especially is a guy that really pleads Brian Callahan
by seeing him last week, you know, seven am, he's
out there on the field on the Judgus machine catching
two hundred footballs. You know, that's something that really stood
out to Callahan and he talked about that, so you
do have that. And I think the main thing that

(22:21):
he's learning is just like how these guys respond to adversity,
and that's really when you see somebody's true colors. So
it's good to encounter that early. And now he knows
full hand, like what type of troops he has that
that you know he'll need to rally and work with.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
I have to admit, I think the most favorite thing
that I've seen, and I guess I've watched bits and
pieces of you know, two or three of your of
the games thus far for the Titans that the best
thing that I like about this Tennessee team is when
you wear the old oilers uniforms.

Speaker 5 (22:53):
Yeah. Yeah, And you know what, some of the best
moments the last couple of years have come in there.
You know, Will Levis he had to four touchdown fast debut,
so yeah, man, no doubt about it. And those are
sweet dere Ak classic. I have to say, there, class
Why is.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
It that we like all of the classics? I mean,
because everybody goes nuts here when the Patriots put pat
Patriot back on their helmet, and they wear the red jerseys,
and of course, you know they wear the you know,
the the love You Blue helmets and and the white
oil Derek from the Houston Oilers days. And you know
the older the old Jets uniforms that we've seen them,
you know, those four backs. Even the Dolphins have done it,
the Bills have done it. Why do we have such

(23:29):
an infinity for throwbacks?

Speaker 5 (23:32):
Yeah, man, I ain't gonna lie though, you know, I
love seeing that. Like I see those old catch jerseys
and I think of you know, Steve Grogan and Irvin Friar,
you know John Hannah, Like I think of those. It's
just something about, like you look at sneakers right to
Jordan's the retros, those are that's all I wear, you know,
And it's just something about not wanting to let go
of the past. And I think that might be you

(23:53):
even have you know the cream sickle uniforms that the
Bucks wear, you.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
Know, yeah, yeah for one.

Speaker 5 (23:58):
Yeah, arger baby blues. Like there's a million and one
different jerseys. I love them all though.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
The Charger throwbacks are sweet, Yeah, they are sweet. And
and you're right, I think the Bucks just were the
cream sickles last week, didn't they?

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, I think so. All right, See, now we got
the fortune of these two teams is such where we're
talking about throwback uniforms. So I mean, I'm just kind
of like, Wow, where do we go from here? What
do you turn? What do you think Toronto Davenportyget who
covers the Titans for ESPN dot Com joining us here?
So what do you feel like this team doest right now?

(24:31):
What have they been remotely consistent apt? Because I'll be honest,
like I said, I watched two or three games. I'm
not sure I could put my finger on any one thing.

Speaker 5 (24:40):
They run the football pretty well, it's still not top
of the league or top half of the league there.
I think they're around like seventeenth at one hundred and
nineteen yards rushing for games. So if anything is that
and it goes back to Dylan Rangers, Like they have
a pinning pool that they put together. They man Dylan
Raydon's pools and they sylas them pins that edge and

(25:01):
Raidens comes around and if you're if you're there at
the end of the line, then watch out because like
that's a dumpster truck coming to roll you over and
they run well off of that. So I would say,
if anything, that they're solid defensively. They don't typically give
up too many explosive plays. Pass defense is solid. But look,

(25:22):
you're looking at possibly know La Jarious need again this week,
so that could hurt it. But yeah, I mean I
think defense as far as yards allowed per game and
the rushing etteps all.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Right, fair enough? I guess then is it fair to
say that the Titans might be sellers as opposed to
buyers before we get to the trade deadline lessener next
next week? Or how do you are you guys still
in the business of you know, trying to you know,
shift through talent and try to add you know, talent
to the roster of the Patriots you know, have have
at least let us know that they're open to just

(25:56):
about anything. What's the Titans attitude right now?

Speaker 5 (25:59):
Yeah, I don't think they'll be sellers in the next
week or so. They more or less got rid of
a couple of guys who are on end of the
year you know, salaries, like their deal was done after
the year, so they got some draft picks. That really
was the main thing was getting some pick. So long
story short. No, I don't think so.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
Ardent Key.

Speaker 5 (26:19):
Possibly there's a team like the Lions. You know, he
just had two stacks against them. Yeah, so maybe the
Lions make a move with Ada Hutchinson unfortunately having his
injury and being out.

Speaker 4 (26:29):
For the year.

Speaker 5 (26:29):
So maybe that, but I don't really see them doing anything.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
John, I just had two questions for you. Obviously, Calvin
Ridley almost the Patriot you know in the off season,
and that is a big topic of conversation, has gotten
off to a little bit of a slow start, but
had the big game last week. Just do you think
that that's been quarterback play or do you think Ridley
hasn't come as advertised.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
No, it's a combination of the two. And Ridley, I'll
tell you that. You know, he'll tell you you know
about a couple of drops he's had. But i'll tell
you another thing. Though, he's been open, Like it's not
for scheme, Brian Callahan, Nick Hopts, you know their scheme.
He's getting open, but it just doesn't always happen to
where he gets the football. And that's something you know
from Will Levis and Mason Rudolph together, they got to

(27:16):
get him involved early and if you saw last week.
I mean he had one hundred yards receiving in the
first air, right first quarter, excuse me. And so when
you look at that, they got him the football in
that second series, and you know, he had a couple
of really nice catches, and I think that's really the
main thing. He's Calvin Ridley is a very emotional player.

(27:37):
And when you have those receivers like him, like Steve Smith,
like too Ocho Sinkle, like those different you got most
receivers period, you gotta get Jerry Rice even. You got
to get them involved early and not to necessarily get
them to check in, but to get them in the
flow of the game and feeling it. And that's often
sounds when you get the best production from them. So

(27:57):
the Titans did that last week. He had a career
high ten reception fifteen targets, So I think that's something
they're going to look to continue to do, and especially
with DeAndre Hopkins not being there, there's more targets for him.
So it's gonna be a matchup of zeros, right, Christian
zalas travelers with I.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Really yeah, it's funny because you mentioned Hopkins too. So
the Patriots are in competition with the Titans for both
those guys, and they both picked Tennessee. So what is it, like,
why did he pick Tennessee over the Patriots?

Speaker 3 (28:25):
Barbecue letter Barbecue.

Speaker 5 (28:28):
I'm gonna be honest with you, carks On, say what
you want about him. You know a lot of the fans,
you know, they talk a lot of trash, but he
is He's a he's a hidden weapon, you know. And
you talk about a guy that can relate to players
so much. You take Readily for example, he was he
ran got on the phone with him and ten minutes later,

(28:49):
you know, Ready, it's like, oh, you know what, I'm
not gonna take this Jaguars deal. I'm gonna take the
Tight deal. And I think it's just because of the
relationship building that he has. I mean, this is the
guy that the forty nine are set to, you know,
go get Deebo Samuel to come off of his trade demand.
Like that's that's what Ran Carthon does. So I think that's.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
Really the main thing.

Speaker 5 (29:08):
Just being able to relate to players understand like they
see themselves in him. So I think that's a big thing.
And just from talking to the players, that's every free
agent that's they said, Hey, look man, I'm here because
like I really.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Believe in ran So yeah, that's great stuff. Just one
more too, just on the defensive side of the ball. Uh, there,
there are defensive we're in here down there, Dinard Wilson.
You know, they run a pretty exotic scheme. It looks
like they they you know, do a lot of different things.
Just what are your impressions of him and what they've
been doing defensively.

Speaker 5 (29:42):
Yeah, I like what he's done. You mentioned exotic, Like
you get the manufactured pressures right, and they're dropping d
tackles back, they're dropping outside linebackers back in the lane
that they think the quarterback is going to go to
when he sees pressure. So that's been good. I think
just the motivation for the players, you know, being able

(30:02):
to get them to play even when they're getting their
brain speed him, you know, And that's something that stands out. Yeah,
Denard Wilson is a very good coach. He has this
team ready to go. They just have to find a
way to get more impactful players on the quarterback and
turnovers and get that situation fixed.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yeah. Last week fifty two points the fifty burger to
the Lions. I mean, that's that's that's tough. It is
eighty six now in the last two weeks that the
Titans have allowed defensively.

Speaker 5 (30:32):
Well, I will say this, there was a funt return
for a touchdown. There was a kickoff return that was
seventy plus yard, so Jared Goff had eighty five yards pass.
The collectively they had two hundred and sixteen yards of offense,
so it wasn't like they were moving up and down
the field. It was a more situation where you got

(30:53):
uncomplimentary football. You know, the offense and special teams didn't roll.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Right, got you all right? And so I guess in
the bottom line for the obvious here, you know, on offense,
Levi's likely back and also Spears likely back.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
Correct Spears, he'll be back. Levin is questionable. It's really
going to come down to how does he feel after
throwing twice? And I think, like I said, that decision
probably Friday is going to come.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
Is this a get well win for the Titans? Is
this how they look at it?

Speaker 5 (31:25):
Listen, a team like the Titans can't take any team
for granted. You have to look get every single matchup like.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
Is this.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
That I believe because I think the Patriots are going
to do the same thing right now. Hey, Toron, thank
thank you so much for spending a few minutes with
us today. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
There.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yep, that's Tron Davenport, who covers the Titans for ESPN
and ESPN dot Com. I have his X handle if
you want it. Uh it is uh at tea Underscore Davenport.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
I think I follow him, Mark, Okay, you're you're on him.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
Okay, you're on him. Well that's good. Yeah, which is
always good, you know. And one of the things I
know that you know, when I managed to go back
and forth with fans from time to time, is it
that they like it when we, you know, jump into
you know, some of the the outlook from the other teams.
And so when we look at the Titans, I mean, honestly,
I think we're looking at almost a mirror image. As

(32:21):
I suggested off the start of the interview of what
the Patriots have offering. I don't know yet really who
has the advantage with upside right now? I think things
because you've got relatively well, you've got brand new staffs
on both sides. They're trying to work their way through this.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
Yeah, it's interesting, and you know, toront did a great
job of explaining some of it because as much as
you could say record wise they're in similar spots, they're
also in different spots because of how the last let's
call it eight months haven't unfolded. I mean, the Titans
went out and spent like crazy in the off season.
You know, they bring in Ridley, Woozy Cushion Berry, Tony

(32:57):
Pollard from Dallas, They make the Lagarious sneed trade, They
do all these different things that the Patriots didn't really
do this offseason. They tried, but you know in some respects,
like obviously with Ridley, but they weren't able to pull
it off. And then the biggest difference from a Patriot
you want to be pro Patriots is I feel like
you feel a lot better about Drake May than you

(33:19):
do about Will Levis right moving forward, So it feels
like the Titans have a better roster just top to bottom,
in some more star power from those big splash moves.
But the Patriots might have the better young quarterbacks. So
they're different and they're similar at the same time. But
it's an interesting point that he brought up about ran Carthin,
because you don't necessarily hear that a ton at the

(33:42):
NFL level about you know, a great recruiter of talent,
Like that's usually a college football thing that you hear
about with those big programs recruiting guys. But with the Titans,
you know, as Toron said, it sounds like ran Carthin
is kind of like a closer and he comes in
and says, you know, we want you here whatever whatever,
and they end up stealing Ridley from the Jaguars and

(34:05):
the page are you.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
Going to say? You know? And I understand the thought
process because you have to have that in college football especially. Yeah,
I'm wondering if the program might not have to more
almost like morph that direction because that's what guys are
used to nowadays. When you've got Nil and Marry changing
hands already in the college game, why wouldn't you do
that also in the pro game.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
It's a good point. And I think, you know, teams
like the Titans and even unfortunately or lately the Patriots, like,
you need to make your self appealing, You need you
need to tell people why they need to. Yeah, right,
you know, you're not the Chiefs, You're not the Niners.
You're not, you know, one of these great teams Houston
that you can just drop.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
One of the Patriots that were guys want to play
with Tom Brady or Bill Belichick.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Right, So Ran Cartin seems to be like their closer
in that aspect because as I mentioned, you know, third
most money spent in free agency this offseason. That doesn't
include also paying Snead, you know, after trading for him
with Kansas City, So they spent more than any other
team really in the entire NFL this offseason.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
Well, and they still get a lot of work to do,
all right, before we before we get you out of here,
number one, what we were thoughts on the limited amount
of practice that you saw today and what do you
think will transpire with Drake may for Sunday.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, so we didn't see him out there today during
the media portion of practice, But as Gerrod Mayo mentioned
before practice, there's a thirty minute window they're allotted with
Drake may So there's a chance that they just wanted
to maximize that thirty minute window. And the stuff of
practice that we see stretching some positional work early on

(35:37):
is not really the meat of practice. So maybe they're
thinking Okay, let's have him come in, you know, for
the thirty minutes that matter the most versus the thirty
minutes of stretching. You know, it's not always ten minutes
of his thirty minutes doing stuff like that. So we'll
see what the injury report says. But as of right now,
I still do feel like it's trending towards Jacoby Brissett.

(35:58):
You know, we talked a little bit about it unfiltered,
and you also have to factor in that this is
a young quarterback. It's gonna be his fourth career start.
If he plays on Sunday. Ye, do you want to
put him in that position against a pretty good Titans
defense where he hasn't practiced all week and he hasn't
had any real preparation all week long? Or do you
just let prosec go out there this week and then

(36:19):
get May ready for Chicago.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
At this stage of his development in his career, would it?
I mean, could he handle going in like this Joydan
getting the start without reps during the horse of the week.
I mean, is he savvy enough? I know it sounds
kind of silly to say that, but I think that's
a legitimate concern. If you kind of soft pedaled him
to this point. And now he you know, has concussion,
even if it's mild, it doesn't practice all week. Now

(36:43):
you're gonna throw him out there.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah, I would lean towards not doing that. And like
I mentioned, and we talked a little bit with Toron
about this is this Titans defense is like sneaky. You know,
I understand they gave up the fifty two last week,
but they gave up fifty two points in a really
weird wonky way. You know, there are five short fields
in that game for the for the Lions, a couple

(37:06):
turnovers in Lions territory or Tennessee territory, excuse me, punt returns,
kick returns. Like it wasn't all just the Lions going
up and down the field, you know, it really wasn't that.
So this is a decent Titans defense. They're an exotic defense.
They run a lot of different blitz pressure and different schemes,
guys dropping all you know, different coverage rotations. Safety starts

(37:29):
at the line of screaming and drops all the way
to the deep middle of the field. Like they do
some exotic, exotic things. And if you haven't practiced all week,
to throw him into a game against that kind of
defense does give me some pause. You know, I definitely
would think twice about it, based off of the fact
that he's a young quarterback.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Yeah. My thought is is that I'd be surprised if
I saw the rookie out there and Drake May yeh
could be surprised.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah, I would say to this point in time, yeah, yeah,
I'd be mildly surprised too. But at the same time,
if he's cleared and he's ready.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
To go, he needs to play.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
He's your best quarterback and he should probably play. But
football players play football, right, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
All right. Brian Callahan Gerrodmeo, two first year coaches. Based
on the limited amount that we've seen them, both advantage
home or is this a push?

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah, it's probably a push.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
You know.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
The thing that with Brian Callahan, uh, you know, I've
never thought that their scheme in Cincinnati, which is obviously
where he comes from, is overly innovative. I always kind
of thought that they had Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase
and T Higgins and and you know, they have a
system that works and all that kind of stuff. But

(38:41):
I think what you're seeing in Tennessee is similar. You know,
they're not a big motion offense. They're not this big
bells and whistles offense, you know like you might see
with Detroit or Miami or San Francisco or Green Bay
or whatever. They kind of just you know, play a
lot of three receiver, They play a lot of shotgun.
They roll the ball out and they they play. So

(39:02):
I don't necessarily watch this this Titans offense and come
away like, all right, who's the play caller for this group?

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Right?

Speaker 2 (39:09):
You know?

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Kind of wowed. And so I'm not overly big on
Brian Callahan just yet, but obviously I'm not huge on
Mao frankly, so I think this is kind of a push.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
We talked about Calvin Ridley and the expected matchup with
Christian Gonzales, which I think will certainly be one focal
point for everybody to watch. But I'm I'm wondering. We
talked a little also about the trade deadline coming up
next week. So does the loser of this game potentially
sell off what assets they have and or just start building?
Could we see the winner of this game maybe try

(39:45):
to add a few pieces to the puzzle. Just curious
what your point of view might be on that.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
So I look, I tweeted about this last night, and
I know that maybe I'm popular in this, but I
always look at things like trades and trade deadline like
you should be in the talent acquisition business. The Patriots
should be trying to add talent to their roster, not
subtract talent or not stay level like they need to

(40:09):
get better. From a roster talent standpoint. I'm not saying
to go out there and sell your first round pick,
like nobody's saying that, but I would look for opportunities
to add players to this team that you think might
be able to be here for multiple years. I'm not
talking about going out and adding a rental. I'm talking
about adding guys. I'll give you an example. Year the

(40:30):
Bears went out they traded for Montes Sweat, and now
Montes Sweat's one of their best pass rushers. They've kind
of retooled their offense around Caleb Williams, and all of
a sudden they're in the playoff hunt in the NFC.
There you know a team that's above five hundred. So
I look at that type of deal and if I'm
the Patriots, I would be open to adding a young
player heading onto a second contract that either has term

(40:54):
or you can add term to that contract, and I
would look to make that type of move.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
I'd not it's.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
A tough one, you know, you sweat kind of came
out of nowhere a little bit, I would say, last year,
and you know, I, you know, I start to talk
about names and things like that, and you know, obviously
the ones that people will look at or you know,
at t Higgins if the Bengals kind of wave a
white flag and uh, but he has some contract minutia
that would make an extension impossible for the time being.

(41:21):
So like there's probably not an obvious example off the
top of my head. But at the same time, like,
you know, did anybody think a couple of years ago
that the Panthers were gonna trade Christian McCaffrey to San Francisco?
You know, right, So these things happen, and I just
wouldn't close the door on that if I was Elliott Wolf.
I also think there's an element too of some of

(41:42):
the veteran players, not all of them, but you know,
some of the veteran players whose names I've heard out
there from the Patriots I'll give you one Jonathan Jones, who, Yeah,
a contender could definitely use Jonathan Jones, but he's kind
of like a Girod Mayo circle the wagons kind of guy.
And so when you already have some issues with the

(42:03):
locker room from what we've heard from the wide receivers
and things like that and the soft comments, and like
you're putting a lot of stress on some of those
veteran leaders in that room to kind of circle the
wagons and get Mayo's message across and get guys on
board with the program. And if you start trading away
those types of players Jonathan Jones, Dietrich Wise, Devon Godshaw, Hunter,

(42:26):
Henry like those types of guys, and I do worry about, Okay,
who are the leaders now on this team? If you
start doing that type of.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
We talked to you even a little bit last week
about potential leaders that could step into the breach to
this team because they need that. Yeah, and so if
you're if you're taking the few guys that we've already identified,
right and you're putting him on the block, Yeah, it's
I think that would to me if I'm a young
player on this team. That's demoralizing.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
Yeah, it's tough. And look, I get it. People want
to accumulate draft capital and they want the Patriots to
have as many draft picks as they possibly can moving forward,
and you know, maybe get rid of some of the
dead weight of the veterans that aren't going to be
here the next time the Patriots are good again. And
that's another way to look at it.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
You know, if the veterans are not pulling their weight,
you know, and as you say, they're dead weight, and
they're not going to be here anymore, then yeah, why
wouldn't Why wouldn't you try to get something in return?
And I kind of feel like that's where Josh hushe
was this week when they dealt him out to Kansas City.
It had to be the Chiefs, right, But nevertheless, you know,
I think it's fair to say he did not live

(43:28):
up to some of the lofty expectations that many had
for him. I'm talked about just the coaches, fans, media,
everybody was a second round pick. Yeah, and he ends
up come going away for a sixth in return, and
not even a sixth this year, a six yeah next year.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
So while I personally believe they might have been able
to hold out for more. I can understand why they
made the move because they wanted to make sure they
got something in return for the assets.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
Yeah, and they're gonna go out and spend money. You know.
I heard, you know, Bill Belichick, our old friend, say that,
well they were gonna get a compick. Well probably not,
because they're gonna go out and spend one hundred and
fifty million dollars in free agency next off season. That's
gonna offset a josh U J. Comppick. Right, So you
have to think about those types of things too, that
if you are planning on going to spend a bunch

(44:14):
of money next off season in free agency, then some
of these guys that are on expirings that might walk
next off season, you're not recouping anything from those assets
because you're going to try to go pay people.

Speaker 4 (44:27):
Right.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
So that's an element or a factor of it too.
But you know that that's a good example. And I
that the Titans to me are a cautionary tale a
little bit. And look, I'm as guilty as anybody of
getting all jazzed up about the off season and the
splashes that happened during free agency, or we all do it,
We're all guilty of it. But at the same time,

(44:49):
like I just listed off all the players that the
Titans have added in the last year and a half
or so. You know, if you I told you that
the Patriots signed Calvin Ridley, traded for Lagerious Need, signed
a big ticket offensive lineman, signed DeAndre Hopkins, signed a
good running back in Tony Pollard, we'd all be thrilled.
We'd be like, all right, here we go. This team's
ready to go. They're one, is the yeah. Yeah, and

(45:12):
now they don't have a quarterback, so that that might
be the difference. But at the same time, you know,
they did everything that we were all clamoring for the
Patriots to do last off season, and it got them nowhere.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
Yep. All right, So I guess the final one I
have for you is the Titans actually score more points
per game than the Patriots if you go by there. Ever,
I think they're at seventeen. Yeah, Patriots are about fifteen
and a half or whatever. Yeah, first one to twenty wins.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
Honestly, I you're writing about this game for my game preview.
I really do feel like this is a good opportunity
for the Patriots defense. I thought they had some better
film last week. I mentioned the outside run game was
a little bit of an issue, but interior run defense
much better. Pass defense had its moments, certainly against Aaron

(45:58):
Rodgers and got off the field decently well on third down.
Some red zone stops you know, thrown in there too.
So I thought they did make some strides and that's
a much much better even in this current state of
the Jets offense. That's a much better Jets offense than
what they're gonna face on Sunday with the Titans. So
I would be disappointed if the Patriots defense doesn't have

(46:21):
a nice day against his Titans offense. I don't know
if they're gonna win the game, even with some of.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
The problems they've had up the middle, because it seems
to me that might be where Tennessee's emphasis is just
trying to run that ballots gut.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Yeah, you know, I think that they corrected some of
those things last week. The Patriots defense, did you know,
the runs to the outside, like I keep saying, is
still a concerned You know, Brees Hall was really averaging
over six yards of carry on runs outside the tackles.
You know, those tosses and some of the stretch runs
that they did early on in the game were an issue,

(46:53):
but it seemed like they were able to fix that
as the game war on and they shored up some
things in the run defense. So if they have the
same performance from the run defense this week as they
had last week, and you put zero on zero, you know,
you put Gonzales on Ridley and try to take Ridley
out that way, then I don't really see Mason Rudolph.
If it's Rudolph or Will Levis, I don't really see

(47:15):
who else he's gonna throw to. That's gonna hurt you.
You know, they don't really have very much else outside
of the run game and Ridley. So I like that
matchup for the Patriots and think they should be okay defensively.
We'll see about the offense.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
One of the quick I wanted to ask you about
Alex Austin return to practice yesday, So that means his
clock now is ticking coming off of r You expect
him to be ready anytime soon.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
I hope.

Speaker 4 (47:40):
So.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
You know, look, I'm been a little bit disappointed, I
would say, from Alex Austin when he was playing earlier
in the season, because this is a guy that played
pretty well down the stretch last year for the Patriots
at the end of twenty three and then came in
and looked pretty good in the spring. I thought, and
OTAs in mini camp and even the beginning of training camp,

(48:00):
and then they put the pads on in training camp
and it just kind of went downhill from there. And
even at the beginning of the year. I know he
had the injury, but he really wasn't playing all that
well at the beginning of the year. And right now
Marco Wilson has really stepped up in that role as
that like bigger outside guy, but it still doesn't feel
like they have a true answer opposite Christian Gonzalez on
the outside. Like Marcus Jones and Jonathan Jones are really

(48:23):
good slot corners when they play inside. But whenever either
one of those guys is asked to play on the outside,
you know, last week it was Marcus Jones against Garrett Wilson.
In the past, it's been Jonathan Jones, you know against
Jawan Jennings or yuk or whatever in San Francisco thinking
of that, or you know the matchups you know against
Tank Dell in Houston, that was a tough game for

(48:45):
Jonathan Jones. So love Jonathan Jones, like great Patriot, you know,
very good player for them for years. But I do
think that that outside cornerback spot is something that teams
have picked on the opposite side of Gonzales. So can
it be Alex Austin. I mean, I don't have high hopes,
but if he can get back to where he was
at the end of last year, then maybe.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
Any truth to the rumor that Patriots receivers went out
and contracted a new glove company so they might hold
on to a football or two.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Oh man, So you know, look, watching back at the drops,
the one sort of I guess, excuse I'll make for them.
Some of them I did not. I did not chart
as drops because they were highly contested plate.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
I understand that, but I would tell you, if you're
a professional football player, if you can get your hands
on the ball, you got to catch it.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
So I guess I don't fully subscribe to that because
I think there's a different there's different variables of getting
your hands on the ball. So I had them with
four drops. I'm not saying that they didn't drop passes
like I had them with four drops. I had Booty
with two.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
Did they officially have five?

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Well, I had them with four. Okay, I don't know
what officially they.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Had, but I believe officially was five.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
So Booty had had to drop and Bourne had to
drop basically on the same route like a dig you know,
backside dig cut coming into the middle of the field,
and you know, frankly like I'm on their heads and
I'm not trying to throw shade, but it seemed to
me like they're here in the footsteps a little bit
of the safety coming over and drop the ball. You know,
fight out dropped it, and you know Taekwon Thornton flat

(50:22):
out dropped the ball on a throat to Drake from
Drake May. So, uh, those those drops were costly, But
you know, I don't treat every single Oh he got
it one hand and you know, Pop Douglas coming came
across the field late in the game and got one
hand on a on a throw that was wide by Jacoby,
Like I don't count that as a drop, Like he's
not going to catch that.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
We sit here, they win a game, and we sit
here and talk really about nothing but the negatives, which
I think is our sort of our pensiont here, What
did you like that they did this last week that
you feel like could be a carryover type of performance,
uh and and maybe help them win a couple of
more games for this year is over.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
Yeah, look I there. I liked the ending. Everybody liked
the ending.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
Yes, And I gave toughness. They showed guts all that
the best thing I could say about Jacoby Brissette professionalism. Yeah, Yeah,
I was. I was almost like proud of him. Yeah,
like you know, like you know, a father proud of
his son. I was proud of him because he's taken
a lot of abuse. He's taking a lot of physical
abuse as well, and he stood right up to it

(51:26):
and led that team down the field to score.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Yeah, that was great and he did deserves a ton
of kudos for that. I've tried to give him as
many followers as I possibly can, because I think he
deserves them. Like he stepped up for his team. He
led a drive that frankly, they haven't had, you know,
all season, to kind of go out there and win
a game. You couldn't do it against Seattle, couldn't do
it against Miami, you know, two winnable games that they

(51:50):
weren't able to close the deal. Now, granted, against Miami,
he threw a touchdown pass to Jalen Polk where Bulk
didn't get his other foot and bounds, And if he
does that, then he probably has two game winning drives
this year instead of one. But the bottom line, that
knew what I liked about to win. I would say offensively,
the pass protection has improved a lot, and their pass protection,

(52:11):
their pressure rate for both quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
Lowe, yeah, honesty, that guy start of the season. Yeah
to now may have improved as much as anybody on
that roster.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
Sure, Yeah, Vaderian Lowe has really been solid when he's
been healthy. Ben Brown's been fine. Yeah, yeah, off the
scrappy yeah literally, yeah, for where they found him, Like
I don't want to get too crazy about Ben Brown, yeah,
but for where they found him and all that kind
of stuff. Ben Okay, I would say the same thing
about Trey Jacobs over on right tackle mostly like Ben fine,

(52:45):
for where they found him in the situation and all
that stuff. So you keep that pressure rate right around
thirty percent, which is what it was for both quarterbacks
in that game last week, and you start to see
some of the passing concepts that Alex van Pelt is
designing actually take hold, Like you start to see some
of the Okay, they're going to stretch out this zone,

(53:05):
or they're going to stress this defender, or they got
man to man and this is how they're going to
win in that situation. And I think earlier on in
the season, the pass protection was so bad that those
route combinations just weren't given the opportunity even to start
to work down the field. So it's really hard to
kind of evaluate the scheme and the receivers and all
that kind of stuff because of that. So I liked

(53:28):
the fact that you're starting to see, Honestly, I Van
Pelt's getting better, you know, and I'm not.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
It's because he's got better personnel that the.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
Bar is on the floor. Yeah, But I would say
that from a game plan, like they've had some decent
game plans the last couple of weeks where you know,
opening drive touchdown against the Jaguars ten oh start, they
three and out this week, but then they went and
right down the field on the second drive and scored
a touchdown against the Jets last week, So like they
have some better starts, they have some better game plans and.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
What I want to see is better adjustments in game.
Yeah that and I think I saw a few last week. Yeah, yeah, surprise.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
Yeah, you see some of the stuff that Van Pelt
is doing, you know, just even some of the minutia
stuff like timing up play calls to coverages and tendencies
and third down like what do they do on third down?
Like how do we beat what they do? And what
are our answers for the quarterbacks? Like it seems like
that type of stuff is starting to come along a
little bit. I'm sure the pass protection helps a lot.

(54:27):
That they've settled that down, so they've given them guys
those that opportunity. And then just quickly on the defensive
side of the ball, that is how the Patriots need
to play defense. They need to play more man to man,
they need to simplify their front mechanics, and they need
to just play basic Patriots football on the defensive side
because they don't have the experience the talent to start

(54:47):
spinning the dial and doing all this creative stuff. They
need to be basically Yeah, so just go out there.
You know, you have Gonzalez who's a great corner. Put
him on the matchup that you think is most important,
and then yeah, you're probably gonna have to live with
the fact that one guy is gonna I like to
call him Waldo. You know where's Waldo? Unfortunately, Marcus Jones

(55:08):
was Waldo last week, right, So you're gonna have to
live with that, Yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Yeah he got a left hung out to dry a
couple of times. Yeah, no safe to help even coming over.
He was out there one on one and yeah, most
of the time it was one on none. But you're right, Yeah,
sometimes you have to live with it. So everybody else
is taking care of their job out on the field, right.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
So I liked the approach from the coaching staff, like
it felt to me like they went into that game
and said, you know, here's what we need to do
to win this week, and they were able to actually
accomplish those goals that they set forth at the beginning
of the week. So that's a step in the right direction, because, frankly,

(55:45):
against you know, some of the other games that they've
played this year, I'm not really necessarily sure that they
had either a plan at all or a good plan.
Like I've been on girod Mail a lot for that
like put together three things that you need to do
this week to win this game, and not just like
don't turn the ball over like every week you don't
want to turn the ball over. I'm talking about, what

(56:07):
are your three keys to victory. We can't let this
guy take over the game. We can't let this receiver
beat us. We can't let you know this happened, that
happen whatever. Like That's what Bill Belichick was so good
at was he would come on Wednesdays, Yeah, we give
his presentation about the opponent and he would say, if
we're going to win this week, fellas, we got to

(56:29):
do these four things and you put them up on
the board and that was what, you know, the game
plan was. Yeh, And I thought last week girod Mayo
accomplished that a little bit better.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
This team is this close to being four and four,
they close to being eight.

Speaker 6 (56:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Look, I they don't have a lot
especially on the offense, but in general, they don't have
a lot of like elevators right like where you know,
if it's not all buttoned up schematically and fundamentals and
penalties and all that kind of stuff. They don't have
a lot of talent elevators, like guys that are just

(57:09):
going to go out there and.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Carry them to victories. You hope the quarterback is one, right,
Like That's that's the one caveat I always put out
there is that you hope that Drake May is going
to be that. We've seen flashes of that, you know,
seventeen yard touchdown run. There's nobody open, Like if you
don't have an athlete like that down the field, you know,
you're that's a sack or that's a throwaway or something

(57:30):
like that. But he's able to take that play and
turn it into a seventeen yard touchdown. So you hope
that that continues. But they still got issues. They still
got talent issues all over the roster.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
Thanks for sticking around a few extra ministers. Anytime are
you headed upstairs to the family Halloween party?

Speaker 1 (57:46):
I have not, No, no, I'm not gonna do that.
I was not invited to that. Yeah, yeah, right, I
could have put on a costu.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
I could could have gone as Fred Kersh'd be a
great Fred kersh.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Yeah. Maybe get like a T shirt with some stains
on it or something.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
That would be good. Yeah, And if you're going to addresses,
Paul Parillo. What would you look like?

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Oh man, Uh, Paul X's quarter zips. Yeah, jeans and
quarters it right, yep, little extra padding in the middle.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
Miller light in hand. I like that. That works.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
That works, Thanks buddy, anytime, SA and Greg for me.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
Absolutely, we'll do Evan Lazar the one and only right
here on Patriots dot com. Uh eight five five pats
five hundred. If you've got a question, got something you
want to talk about? Eight ats five hundred and it
is what the hell is it? Oh? Podcasts at Patriots
dot com. Patriot fans. If you want to see Toyota's

(58:42):
best offers, including those not seen on TV, go to
buy a Toyota dot com. It's Toyota's official website for
deals from the official vehicle of the New England Patriots, Toyota.
Let's go places and brought to you by bud Light,
Easy to drink, Easy to enjoy. Bud Light is the
official beer sponsor of the New England Patriots. So Greg

(59:04):
Bdard from Boss's Sport Journal going to join us here
in a few minutes. I gotta admit, I you know,
Evan is a great resource. And Evan also, by the way,
Marine left his phone here, so he'll be back. He
did this last week. Are you gonna come rescue him now? Right? Hey,

(59:28):
Evan Dole, I wanted to come back again for second
week in a row. See how many weeks in a
row we could, you know, work this thing out? Right.
It's never not good when you win a game, Okay,
it's never not good when you win. And yet the
first thing I heard from a couple of fans coming

(59:49):
out of the booth here at Gillette last Sunday was, well,
there goes the first round draft pick. And I assume
they meant the number one overall draft pick. And I'm like,
I just I don't I'm not sure that I understand
that that defeatist point of view. Nobody here is trying
to lose. Everybody in that locker room is a competitor.

(01:00:14):
Everybody in that locker room gives a crap, including Gerrodmeo,
including Alex van Pelt, including DeMarcus Covington. Who are the
three focal points, you know, the head coach, the two coordinators,
They're the ones that are absorbed, you know, most of
the blame, take all the bullets, whatever you want to
call it. Jacoby Brissett certainly has been the main target

(01:00:37):
of strife, if you will, on offense through really no
fault of his own. This is why they went out
and got him, folks, This is why they went out
and picked up Jacoby because at the time they didn't
feel like whether it was Drake May or whomever, it
was likely going to be Drake May before the Drafters,
we know, they didn't feel like at the time that

(01:00:58):
whoever they took might be ready, and they wanted to
protect themselves. And as it turns out, I think largely
that was the case. I weren't sure that they was ready.
They went on their own timetable. I give them credit.
There are a lot of us that didn't agree with
that timetable. You me several other people that didn't agree

(01:01:19):
with that timetable. If you're gonna, you know, draft a
guy third, you need to see what he's got and
not waste an entire year of controllable contract. But for
whatever reason, they've moved on from that. We don't really
have that to worry about now. The question is can
you keep him healthy, can you build up around him,

(01:01:41):
can you provide more protection? And we're seeing after last week,
we're seeing a little better coverage. We're seeing some better blocking,
We're seeing some better decision making. So it tells to
me that some of this is beginning to catch on
a little bit now. Whether or not it catches on

(01:02:01):
fast enough for my liking, your liking, mister Craft's liking,
Greg Badard's liking.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
I don't know, And really we don't know the answer
to that question.

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
But it's slow progress. And I've always said, you know
that winning a game, no matter what the sport is,
is better than a poke in the eye with a
sharp stick for lack of a better, you know, anomaly.
Greg Bdard is the executive editor of the Boston Sports Journal.

(01:02:34):
BSJ joins us here in the playbook. Hey Greg, how
are you today?

Speaker 4 (01:02:38):
Hey?

Speaker 7 (01:02:38):
John's good.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
So what's your overall take on this two and sixteen?
You know that we're a couple of inches away from
this team being four and four, and also a couple
of inches away from this team being zero and eight.
Where do you put them in terms of their progress
now as we hit the halfway point of the season.

Speaker 7 (01:02:57):
Well, I need to see it again. I think that
the first two weeks obviously were good, that's what.

Speaker 4 (01:03:06):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:03:07):
They were competitive, they beat the Bengals Seahawks game went
down to the last minute. Yeah, it's a game they
probably should have had, but it is a new outfit
coach is okay, So fine, we give them one and
then the next you know what was the next four
games in a row for just a visible I mean,

(01:03:28):
they were not competitive in the fourth quarter. There wasn't
any signs of progress. I mean even a quarterback switch
they got better quarterback play out of the position, and
they're losing by even more points. So you know, things
were not good going into the Jets game and they

(01:03:51):
you weren't seeing much improvement. You did weren't seeing much
directed on the field. But in this Jets game, everything's
sort of shifted.

Speaker 4 (01:04:00):
Now.

Speaker 7 (01:04:00):
Look, some of it had to do with the Jets,
the opponent, who is probably a bigger mess and the
worst coach team than you guys are at this point.
But what we saw on Sunday was sort of getting
back to what we saw against the Bengals and the Seahawks,
a team with a clue a plan that was being

(01:04:21):
you know, at least well coached game plan. Like it
looked like a competitive football team, which is all I
ever wanted to see out of this team. So let's
see them do it again. You know, one off of
the fluke. Now it's time. It's the middle of the season.
You have a new coaching staff and new regime. Like

(01:04:41):
things don't need to start to take hold at this
point and things need to start pointing up. I'm not
saying they need to win, you know, very many games
down the stretch. They just should be. You know, they
are in the fourth quarter, and if they if they
lose out because of a lack of talent, so be it.
But but be there at the end of the fourth quarter,
which they hadn't been the previous four games.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
Well, I have to admit I was surprised by the win.
I didn't think that there was a chance. I'm one
of these guys that you know, I have to you know,
I guess I'm from the state of Missouri, even though
I'm not really, But you got to show me before
I can believe something will happen. But what they showed
at the end of the game to me was worth
better than really almost his weight and goal, the grinding

(01:05:24):
out and the drive that was led down the field
and scoring with twenty two seconds left, which was damn
near almost too much time. There was better clock management,
there was better control, there was better confidence, there was
better execution. It looked like, for the first time maybe
this year, to these eyes, it looked like a pro
football team out there.

Speaker 4 (01:05:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:05:44):
Probably probably since the Bengals game. Yeah, which is really
you know, how they finished off that game and how
they went into it and how they you know, were
consistent throughout. But you know, yes, I mean I even
think if they played a much talented team, more talented
team than or you know, a better team, right the Jets, right,

(01:06:06):
because the Jets are just in disarray, I still think
they would have been there, you know in the end.
You know, certainly coming off of the Jaguars game, which
was disappointed, sure nothing leading then get outscored thirty five
to six by by that team, was you know, a
huge disappointment. So yeah, and I do think I mean,

(01:06:29):
if two four quarter scoring drives by Jacoby Brissette, I mean,
now now you look back on it, you're just like, well,
jayl Folk got his foot down, his second foot down.
You know, we've been talking about Jacoby Brissette leading two
fourth for comebacks along with the Cincinnati game, and you know,
and and and things don't look so bad. So uh yeah, definitely.

(01:06:54):
The thing John that I was impressed about with the team,
how they closed it out was you know, the number
of people who they got plays from, and also like
guys like you know, Taekwon Thornton and Kashawan Boodie who
you know had had big drops and and you know
you would blame him for you know, packing it in
and just being like I don't have it today. I stink.

(01:07:16):
And they you know, they come back and they make
big plays on the last drive. I thought Vermandre Stevenson's
even though he didn't have great stats, I thought he
had a great game. I mean the catch on third
fifteen along the sideline where he he picks up fourteen,
that was one of the biggest plays of the game.
If he doesn't do that, if he gets tackled, you

(01:07:37):
know right sort of where he caught the ball. I
don't know if they win that game, but you know,
he sent them up in the in the short yardage,
and so it was great to see the contributions from
a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
Yeah, and like I said, you know, there was a
little bit of execution there and you know it, but
at least it wasn't the kind of execution that you know,
John McKay made famous. What do you feel about your
team's executions that I'll be in favor for it? Right. So,
here's a team that at one and six in Tennessee.
You have that ahead this week, and then you'll play Chicago,

(01:08:10):
then you have the Rams, you got Miami again. You
got an Indianapolis team that you know is four and
four right now, but maybe in some disarray with the
quarterback decision that they're having to make Arizona and then
Buffalo twice sandwiched in between or around a Chargers game.
I mean, how many games can this team win realistically,

(01:08:32):
you know, considering that most everybody else left on the schedule,
with the exception of Buffalo is fair to Midland right now?

Speaker 4 (01:08:39):
Yeah, John, I don't.

Speaker 7 (01:08:41):
I don't really look at it that way. I mean,
I just you know, where they are in a new
head coach, new coaching staff, Like I'm just looking for
progress and you know, and being competitive in these games.
And and there are a lot of games of that
schedule where they should be competitive. I mean, just like
you know Jacksonville and uh and you know the Miami game.

(01:09:04):
They were competitive, but that was a game they should
have won. I mean, Tyler Huntley at quarterback, the Dolphins revealing.
You know, so those are the disappointments, but I just
want to see them. I want to see the coaches
be able to get these guys to play competitively for
all foot quarters, all fall quarters, and then if they
could pull it out in the end, great, If they

(01:09:25):
don't have enough talent to do it. When all is
said done, Okay, we all understand, you know, the signs
of a signs of a good team and a coaching
staff is main progress is you know, a team that's
not getting blown out, you know, and two wins some
games down the stretch. You know, you look back at uh,
you know what was that you know under Parcels with

(01:09:48):
Drew Bloodstone. You know how they closed strong that one
year and then all of a sudden that propelled done
the next year.

Speaker 5 (01:09:54):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:09:55):
You know, I was looking back a lot of Dan
Campbell's first year and Detroit and they started ten and one. Yeah,
but they only they only lost four times by ten
points or more. The Patriots, I think it was five
times by ten points or more. The Patriots had done
that four times in five weeks and the Lions ended

(01:10:16):
up going three and three down the stretch that year,
so something similar to that. Okay, now we can talk
about building stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:10:23):
Sure, And I was just gonna add to that. I mean,
can playing better and making strides be enough in a
business that clearly values winning above all else?

Speaker 4 (01:10:34):
It should?

Speaker 7 (01:10:34):
I mean, look, I John, I think we all understand
that people are impatient, they're unrealistic. They think that, uh,
you know that that Houston's an example of c J.
Strad coming in and turning everything around where they don't
really realize that. You know, they had started to rebuild
like two or three years earlier on Houston and it

(01:10:56):
had got been getting a bunch of key pieces in place,
and they just ended up they just needed a good quarterback. Yeah,
CJ did that. This is a much different situation. I mean,
I think I am hopeful that that if they play
more games like they did against the Jets, I do
think that people are going to see the big picture

(01:11:16):
and hopefully they're able to see like, Okay, well, this
coaching staff has a fut so I feel better about that.
Drake May's getting better every week. That's great. Young receivers,
these young kids are starting to make progress, and then
you start thinking about like, well, if we get that
left tackle in the top five, you know, if we
get X, Y and Z and free agency with all

(01:11:37):
that cap space, you know, you could see us being competitive,
you know, a five hundred team that's not better the
next year. So I'm hopeful that going to happen. Like
you said, now we need now, we.

Speaker 3 (01:11:49):
Need to see it right, So put yourself an Elliott
Wolf and or drawd Maile shoes with a trade deadline
coming up on Tuesday, buying or selling or is it
not quite that simple?

Speaker 7 (01:12:02):
Yeah, I don't think it's that simple. I think it's
you know, you're you're obviously hopeful to find players out
there that you know, maybe you could get at a
cost that might have a chance here and help you
down the road. Like you know, for example, the deal
that the Viking's made for Cam Robinson and Jacksonville. But
those that type of deal comes down to what what

(01:12:25):
did the punt office thinks of Cam Robinson coming out?
If they didn't like them, it's not their guy. Even
though you might be desperate at at left tackle, uh
and don't really have anything in the cupboard you know,
do you really want that guy in the building. You know,
what would the pluses, what would the finances all that stuff.

(01:12:45):
But yeah, I mean I'm sure you know that that
whole personnel department is looking for deals. I mean, I'm
not really actively selling or buying, but I'm definitely, you know, listening.
I just don't think the Patriots it's not like they had,
you know, say, like they signed Calvin Ridley this offseason
and you've got to a point here where you know

(01:13:08):
he was being a problem. You got him in the building,
he didn't love him. You're like, all right, let's let's
cut our losses. And he's not helping us right now,
so you know, let's let's dump him now. The Patriots
don't have any.

Speaker 4 (01:13:21):
Pieces like that.

Speaker 7 (01:13:22):
That's why they're in in a rebuilt So I would
say that it's tough to answer that, but I think
they're listening about everything.

Speaker 3 (01:13:30):
Greg. I think it's pretty easy to see that, you know,
Buffalo sort of set itself apart from the other teams
in the AFC East. It boggles my mind a little
bit though, that the Patriots technically are a half game
out of second place, for whatever that means. It doesn't
mean anything right now, But I'm just kind of curious
when you compare the Patriots to where the Jets are
and where the Dolphins are right now, which one of

(01:13:52):
the three, if any, are you buying and which one
of the three are you selling? Of the three teams
that are kind of a neck and neck with each
other in the AFC East.

Speaker 7 (01:14:02):
Well, I mean, I'm definitely done with the Jets. I mean,
they're just what I sawday was just ridiculous, I think.
And it's not just Aaron Rodgers being older, and you know,
he's a guy I covered when he was younger in
his career and continued to watch him his entire career.
He's not the same Guy's not even close. He looks

(01:14:23):
like a you know, a forty five year old quarterback
who doesn't want to get hit. He doesn't quite have
his legs anymore. When that happens, like you're done. I
remember Marino being like that a little bit. I remember
Far at the very end of being a little bit
like that. So and it's not just that John like
the thing. I think the thing that surprised me the
most watching the Jets on Sunday was their defense, Like

(01:14:49):
to have that much talent on that defense, and and
they stink like, they don't play with an attitude, they
don't cover them like they used to. I think, you know,
I know, Woody Johnson is an idiot, but he has
topped himself this year with the decision to fire Solo.
When he did, he basically took the heart out of

(01:15:10):
that defense. Well yeah, and then to basically demand they
go get Davante Adams. It's just been I'm definitely selling
on the Jets. I haven't seen the Dolphins in weeks,
and I know two had just been back and it's
gonna take time. I haven't been overly impressed with them,

(01:15:31):
but you know, they're they're a streaky team. They can
they can get going again once it gets in a rhythm.
I have some certain about their defense, but uh, I
think that's that's where it's stand on those teams.

Speaker 3 (01:15:44):
Is it just possible that Tua is a better quarterback
than everybody thought he was?

Speaker 7 (01:15:50):
Yeah, it might be. I mean, it's it's it's amazing
the difference in that team, you know, when he's got there.
Of course, the Dolphins, even though too is fragile, they
still don't It amazes me. How they don't get a
good backup plan. Yeah, they're just gonna be like I mean,
they end up with Skyler Thompson and and these guys
and and uh, they're just not any good. And you know,

(01:16:13):
they need to be on the the dual QB track
and and they need to prepare the two is not
going to be there because there's such a falloff. But yeah,
I think there's no question that Tua and Mike McDaniel
really work well together. And uh, the offense has the
rhythm when he's not in there.

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
And as till one more on the Jets. Did did
the Patriots win that game because they've improved or did
the Patriots win that game because the Jets just they
just jetted? Again.

Speaker 7 (01:16:47):
That's always tough because I don't want to not give
the per the winning team their proper respect. And I
will say I was even even if Stevenson got got
held up on the goal line on that play, which
watching it back at the miracle that didn't happen because
there were so many failed blocks of the play, it

(01:17:10):
wouldn't have changed how it felt about the Patriots that
the coaches had gotten them to a competitive level. But look,
the reason that the Patriots were competitive for aft both
quarters and then they ended up winning. The winning the
game is because the Jets are just dispray at this point.
They're just there. They're a shell of what we saw

(01:17:31):
on that Thursday night up in New York.

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
Is it imperative, then, Greg, for the Patriots to go
out and put that that you know, that effort out
on the field and possibly get that win on the
road this week or if they lose, does that set
them back from any sort of progress that the Jets
win might have brought them?

Speaker 7 (01:17:47):
Yeah, John, I think I think it's how they play
the game. I mean again, if say they're tied in
the fourth quarterer and Calvin Ridley, like you know, makes
a play, you could point to it and be like, well,
they have a player like that. Patriots don't have a
player like that. That's why they tried to sign it. Yeah,
but I just think I think it's vitally important for Mayo,

(01:18:11):
especially that he sort of does the same thing this week.
Simplify things with simple game plans that these guys could
execute and on a down after down basis and hang
around and and so you know, because I do think
I do think even some of the players are like,
you know, they're not sure what to make of Mayo

(01:18:33):
and the coaching staff. So I think it's important for
them that.

Speaker 4 (01:18:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:18:36):
I mean, if they go out there and they have
another game like they did against Jacksonville.

Speaker 3 (01:18:40):
Sure, I mean cool boy.

Speaker 7 (01:18:42):
I mean, you know, we're back into the dark ages again.
And but you know, I liked that I saw on Sunday.
I'm confident that they can repeat that, especially considering the opponent.

Speaker 3 (01:18:55):
Right, Greg, thanks for a little time, man. It's always
good to catch up with you. Really appreciate it.

Speaker 7 (01:19:00):
Yep, anytime. Good talking to you, John, You got it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:03):
Good to talk to you. The one and only Greg
Badard at Greg A. Badard b E D A R
D on X. That's where you can follow him if
you're not a subscriber to Boston Sports Journal. It's it's
worth It's worth the pennies. It's worth the money. He
Greg covers the team obviously himself, after having much of
his professional reporting experience in the NFL covering NFL team,

(01:19:26):
especially through his time spending not only at The Boston
Globe but also at Sports Illus Traded, but he has
also hired Mike Gardi uh you know, and between the
two of them, they do a pretty good one two
punch of covering the team, offering opinion, offering insight, and
and and you know, doing their own pods and and
and going on shows and you know that spreading the

(01:19:47):
word around. And those guys do a pretty good job.
So we appreciate uh Greg's time as well. Eight five
five Pats five hundred eight five five. I'm looking at this.
Wait a second, hey, Matt, you in there the TPX hotline.
Did we change the number? It's it says eight oh
eight Pat's five hundred.

Speaker 1 (01:20:07):
I typed it out wrong then, Okay, I.

Speaker 3 (01:20:09):
Didn't think so, but I was just I was just
I was just wondering if somebody was gonna tell me,
you know, I mean, I'm just now getting used.

Speaker 1 (01:20:16):
We'll reprit because Matt Smith will read that wrong on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:20:20):
See, I'm getting used to TPX hotline and podcasts at
Patriots dot com for the email address. Right, we changed
those things this year a little bit, but I just
didn't know of it. With the it is still five
to five, it's still the same. Okay, all right, I
want to make sure then Hallow Weekend has arrived. There's
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(01:20:40):
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(01:21:02):
store of the New England Patriots. All right, So coming
up in just a couple of moments, we are going
to be joined by Sarah Marshall, who's the editor for
Musketfire dot com. Somebod you might be familiar with that site,
in that blog. So Sarah's going to join us in
just a bit. In the meantime, let's check in with
our friend Eldred in North Carolina. Where are we at today, buddy,

(01:21:25):
h Okay, all right, get the hell out of your way.

Speaker 4 (01:21:33):
Yeah, I'm ready to take off. Look, I do a
couple of configure rations on a computer that I can go.

Speaker 1 (01:21:40):
Okay, all right, I got you, Yes, yes, you doing.

Speaker 3 (01:21:44):
You know it's all good today. I mean I told
Evident at the start of the show that a couple
of days ago I went and got my annual flu
shot and usually doesn't do anything to me. This time
it kicked my butt.

Speaker 4 (01:21:59):
Every time I get a food food shot, I get food,
I don't get it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:02):
Yeah, well, I don't blame you, but I got to
tell you. I'm like, what the hell did I do
this for? Now?

Speaker 4 (01:22:07):
You know?

Speaker 3 (01:22:08):
So anyway, but other than that, you know, it's all good.
It's all good. What were your thoughts last week? I'm
finally turning the corner getting a w.

Speaker 4 (01:22:18):
I was aesthetic and I didn't think they'll win. I
loved it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:22):
You know, well that makes two of us, at least
two of us.

Speaker 4 (01:22:25):
Yes, yes, but I'm like I told you a while back.
As long as long as that you're progress and you know,
and they competitive competitive, I'm not gonna you know, I
don't care what the record is this year, because I
know the rebuilt this time is the real rebuild should
have started when the other regime was here, right after

(01:22:47):
Brady left. And I keep telling people and if I
keep laughing at me, I start up on your show
when a great quarterback, leaves takes their team five to
ten years, get back to petitive super Bowl or to
the playoffs. And I gave you a bunch of examples
to why San Francisco, Dallas, Pitchburgh, Man, Buffalo, all of that.

(01:23:08):
So it's just gonna take a minute. But what I
can't understand is, I know everybody, everybody killed me on
the other show, who chat really do that this year?
But a six round for a following year? Come on, dude,
once you get a special.

Speaker 3 (01:23:24):
Team, well, let's face it. I mean, here's the thing
about that. I agree with it. It sounds like a pittance,
it really does. But josh Usha and I liked him
as a person. I think he certainly was adequate as
a player, but when you take somebody higher in the draft,
I think you expect a little more out of him. Now,

(01:23:45):
maybe that was just a misevaluation of the previous staff.
And I think we all understand Eldred, you especially right,
I think we all understand that. You know the reason
that there were so many miscalculations by the previous staff,
that's a that's a large contributing factor to why the
Patriots are where they are right now it is a
contributing factor. There's no lie to that. But at the

(01:24:07):
same time, you know, uh, you don't want to risk.
He's in a contract year, and if you feel like
you can get something for him and he's not going
to be in your plans, then you get something for him.
And that's how I look at what transpired this week
with that sixth round.

Speaker 4 (01:24:25):
But Dick, could you think maybe they ain't use the guy, right?
You know, maybe they didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:24:30):
No, no, no, hey, maybe they didn't. I will certainly
allow for that. You know, there wasn't a whole lot
of situational pass writing going on here. So because of that,
no uche was not being used, I think to his advantage.
I would agree with that. But I think a lot
of that, uh turned south for him when the coaching

(01:24:50):
staff changed.

Speaker 4 (01:24:54):
Yeah, I think so too, you know so, But but
dat I used to kill Bill for you know, I
mean like when he gave Tuny Way for a fourth
round and and and I keep telling everybody this, if
I keep laughing at me about Grunk. When Grunk came
out of retirement, I said, Brunk would never retire. If
he did, Patrie wouldn't got a fourth round. Pick that

(01:25:16):
he would and could take off for a year. But
he didn't sign no papers. So if there wasn't signed
and you would have no rights over and Bill gave
gave him to Tampa for a fourth round. Yep, And
I'm like done that misvaluation. I don't care. I who
was hurt out for a year. But it's production. This
speaks and Mason top pro pro guard and he's still

(01:25:37):
plan I think it's I think it's in Carolina now though,
if I ain't mistaken, Okay, you know, I'm just I
just don't like the way to evaluate. And then when
they just give away something but you go get a
used up wide receive for a second round, or you
use up defesitive tackle you know for a third or whatever,
and you can you get pennies on a dollar with

(01:25:57):
your meat with your guy. I just can't see that.

Speaker 3 (01:26:00):
Yep. Yeah, So let me ask you something, ELDERD. I'll
let you play Elliott Wolf for just a minute. Since you, uh,
you know, are always on the whole GMing part of
this thing, what would you do before Tuesday? Would you
largely be trying to trade uh and get rid of
talent or try to bring talent in if you could
either way.

Speaker 4 (01:26:22):
Either way, uh, I do them both. But instead of
giving given Uchi away for sixth round, you know, get
in the sixth round, I'll see if I could trade
him for for a dependable left tackle.

Speaker 3 (01:26:35):
I mean there's some sum I well, you gotta remember
now when you do things like this, it takes two
to dance, right.

Speaker 4 (01:26:42):
Okay, yes sir, yes, but then but again, but then again.
But like I said, what I really would have did,
and everybody laughing at me out of out of when
went to Minnesota, they gave him this year first, next
year first and enough for that for the Ators left tackle.
Like I said, they drafted his his replacement because I

(01:27:03):
gotta feeling they're not gonna pay him in two years
when he was He's a young guy. He's twenty five
left tackle and one one of the best tackles after
Trip Williams or whoever that left tackle is for San Francisco.
But he's been hurting a little bit. But this year
he's gonna study. Like I said, I think he's gonna
be fully healthy. But they still, you know, like I said,
they gonna look back at that history. I would have

(01:27:25):
did that. I would have did that that way, I
got my left tack and he's playing and now with
my quarterback, now I know I got the blinds that protected.
Now I gotta worry about the other guard. And I'm
moving which uh new I wouldn't use already guard And
Peter's doing pretty good at tackle on that he find

(01:27:46):
the other guard and then my line is sick.

Speaker 3 (01:27:49):
That's what I would be, okay, all right, Well, look,
I'm never one to say that you shouldn't use an
opportunity to improve your team if you think you can.
But be that as it may, I think it'll be
extremely difficult for this team to do much if they
do anything at all by next Tuesday, other than what
they've already done. There there there might be an opportunity,

(01:28:12):
uh to you know, allay themselves of a contract.

Speaker 4 (01:28:16):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:28:17):
And I know there have been some names that have
been mentioned. John Jones has certainly been one of those,
I think, but you gotta also and Evan brought up
a pretty good point earlier that kind of rings with
me today. You need to have some kind of veteran
presence in that locker room, and Jones is one of
the few guys that's actually tried to stand up in
the breach here and assume some kind of of command,

(01:28:40):
if you will, in the locker room for you know,
the young guys to follow. You can't get rid of
all of them, because then you're like a rudderless ship.
And I realized that at two and six you're but
at two and six you're really not a ship sailing anywhere.
You're more like the Titanic, just trying to keep from
taking on too much water. So so where do you
draw the line? Who do you keep? Who's expendable? I

(01:29:02):
understand that you know, Christian Gonzales is not expendable. Drake
May is not expendable. I would say Christian Barmore is
likely not expendable, and in fact, no, I hope not either.
After that, is there anybody really that's not expendable? And
I would tell you probably not. I would think that,
you know, if somebody's interested in one of anybody else

(01:29:24):
that I mentioned or that I didn't mention there, the
Patriots probably have to consider.

Speaker 4 (01:29:28):
It, okay, H J. Jones. I understand he's hurt, but
I like that, you know, president back in the secondary
or whatever, because all of them young guys, you know,
he's probably hip Hipple, Maun would be better Dug or two.
But Jones, I probably hold on two. Did these a tackle?

Speaker 3 (01:29:48):
Yep?

Speaker 4 (01:29:48):
Honestly, if I get something for them that isn't that
thirty And I find me a younger tackle, and you see,
if I can groove them or you know, to replace him,
that's what I would do and put him in there,
let him play. Got But Jay Jones, I keep Bentley
almost definitely keep Yeah, but that linebacker cool. If anything,
I get rid of with Miller and probably another one,

(01:30:10):
but no, you know, but I'm keeping those three, those
two brothers, Jump and Bentley.

Speaker 3 (01:30:16):
Yep, all right, Yes, I find it hard to disagree
with you. I think you know it's it's all gonna
be kind of six and one, half a dozen another.
You got a two and six football team that's a
hair away from being either four and four and right
in the thick of things or zero to eight, and
you know, trying to make a play for the number
one overall draft picks. So I mean, you know kind

(01:30:37):
of you are what your record says you are. To
borrow a bill parcels phrase, right, and I don't and
exact there's enough, there's enough of a challenge left that
if the Patrons are able to win two, three, four
more games from this point forward, then you could actually
see some progress I think being made overall. If this
team struggles to get to four and thirteen as they

(01:31:00):
were a year ago, or they are worse than they
were a year ago, I'm not sure what you really
accomplished this year. It's almost like, okay, just kind of
erase this from the map and go forward again. So
you know, like Greg Bdard just said a little while ago,
Evan mentioned it earlier, and I'm sort of in I
find myself in this camp as well. I just want
to see some positive step forward to where it doesn't

(01:31:22):
feel like this is a lost year.

Speaker 4 (01:31:27):
And me being a receiver guy know, I'm gonna put
it fifty to fifty on both the player and the coach.
I mean, come on, out of those guys, you gotta
get somebody just just consistent besides Pop.

Speaker 3 (01:31:41):
Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:31:42):
But I know Pop has had his daze sometimes too.
They add they drop. But Thornton, I mean, come on, dude,
I'm just I'm room for him, But then again, I'm
rooming for him to trade him too, because you know
something somebody else the sixty three, they could play that
they play that act right and got some speeds or
just back their defense up right. And I don't know
what's wrong with Baker, So I don't know why they

(01:32:03):
ain't you know, why he's not out there or is
it can't get the plays down or be in the playbook,
or is his mine somewhere else? And then Pope, like
I said, I want to ad Mitchell or Brian Thomas,
either one of those before they got the Pope right,
because those guys, you know, Adi Mitchell would have been
my ex because he's a true ex. Yep, you know

(01:32:25):
it'd have been my ex. But then again, like I said, definitely,
what I do wonder why getting that much out of
those receivers? Sure, sure, just what I'm wondering.

Speaker 3 (01:32:34):
Okay, I got you? What else you got? Brother? Hey?
Always going to talk to you anytime a man be
safe out on the road, will you? You got it?
Eldred from North Carolina, I, you know, one of my
favorite people to talk to, especially on this show, were
any other place as well. But you know the one

(01:32:54):
thing that I think Eldred shares with so many other
Patriot fans is his overall, you know, certainly his overall
passion for the team, but he's consistent about what he
likes and what he doesn't like. And I think that's
kind of what we're all sort of looking for here.
We're looking for some consistency and we keep thinking back
to the way things were, and we're not going back

(01:33:16):
that direction. We've moved a different direction. And so all
we have really to relate present day happenings too, is
what happened last year, a year before, year before that,
you know, really post twenty eighteen, after Tom Brady. And
I'm not so sure that's even the fair argument to
make here. It's different, it's just different. So I think

(01:33:43):
it's that's why it's also important for us, you know,
as observers, as media, as fans to look for the
silver linings. And I'm not saying this just because the team,
you know, has got a losing record, they're not going
to the postseason or whatever. But you know, it's while
it's a bottom line business, and I've said it many

(01:34:04):
many times, it's all about winning, especially at the professional level.
It's all about winning. Patriots did more than their fair
share of winning. You can argue that the Patriots did
a better job of winning than any other franchise in
NFL history over a you know, ten to twenty year period.
You certainly can make that argument. So that's why I say,

(01:34:25):
bottom line business, it's all about winning. But transition is
never easy. Transition is especially hard in the professional ranks
because of what you've done in the past, even when
what you've done in the past has no direct correlation
to what you're trying to do now or what you're
trying to do in the future, so you put yourself

(01:34:47):
in a real paradox. You put yourself in an unfair position.
The Patriots franchise, admittedly they have made some decisions. I'm
sure that administration would like a do over on the
coaching staff. I'm sure has made some decisions that they
would like a do over on, whether it's through you know,

(01:35:07):
game planning or personnel selections. But the fact of the
matter is is that we're comparing what they're doing to
something that has never been done before and may never
be done again, and so it's almost an unfair comparison.
You've got to treat this Patriots team. It's very hard
for us to do and very hard for us to

(01:35:29):
get a grip on this. You got to treat this
Patriots team as a separate entity because it is. And yeah,
I know what fans are used to and I know
people are used to winning, and I know people are
used to seeing things a certain way. Well that's gone
and has been gone for four or five years now.
So I can understand the frustration because we should have

(01:35:50):
started this building process three, four or five years ago,
and they did. The problem is is that there were
those decisions that were made that probably weren't in the
best overall interest of the organization. And this is where
you can find fault with the previous regime. They stepped
out a certain direction. It didn't work out ultimately, that's

(01:36:10):
why the change was made in direction a year ago.
So now that you've got the new way that is here,
you have to allow, I think at least a certain
amount of time to allow the plans to come to fruition.
So there has to be a certain amount of patience,
certainly from a because they're the ones doing the hiring,

(01:36:32):
but from the people who are practically pulling the trigger
every day on practice schedules, on personal decisions, on game plans.
You've got to allow them an opportunity to see whether
or not they can actually do the job. And really
that's kind of where we are right now. Like I
said earlier, you know, this team is a hair away

(01:36:52):
from being four and four, and it's also a hair
away from being zero to eight. The difference is somewhere
in the middle, and that's exactly where they are. They're
in the middle of that. They're two and six and
they have a one in six team, albeit on the road,
but they have a one in six team that they
should favorably match up with this week. In an effort

(01:37:14):
to continue laying the foundation and doing the building that
we really need to see. I think this year to
feel like this year wasn't a waste, that this year
wasn't a waste of time, wasn't a waste of money effort.
You know, we feel like, you know, hey, this team
is said, and they're trying to recoup and and and
regroup and and plan and spend money and go out

(01:37:36):
and get free agents hopefully in the off season. We
hope that that will happen. We're a little you know,
scratching our head over why it hasn't happened before. But
when they feel like there weren't the people out there
they wanted to go get that can help this team
and the way they wanted to build it. I can
understand that, but I think we also know there's going
to be some talent available this offseason. Can the Patriots

(01:37:58):
now find the fit for what they want to do
in the available talent? And that's really kind of where
we are right now in this this this land of discovery,
in this land of limb of limbo, really most of
anything else, all right, I want to bring into the program.
Sarah Marshall. Sarah is the editor muskeetfire dot Com, one

(01:38:20):
of the more notable Patriots sites and fan blogs that's
out there. They're part of the fan Sided system, which
our good friend Russell Baxter is also a part of.
And to it happens to be Sarah's birthday. Happy birthday, Sarah,
Thank you so much. So tell me a little about
how you got started in you know, getting to where

(01:38:42):
you are with your site and musket Fire and fans Sided,
and why you decided you wanted to get into something
like this. Was it pure fandom? Is your background you
know in writing or broadcasting and you just wanted to
continue career what's it all about with you?

Speaker 8 (01:38:59):
So interestingly, it was actually kind of an accident. It
was during the pandemic, you know, we were all locked
up in board and I was like, you know, I
need to find something that I want to do with
my life and a career, and if I'm lucky enough,
it'll be something that I've been super passionate about, right
and one of those things has always been the Patriot

(01:39:19):
So I actually took to Twitter asked anybody to point
me in the right direction. I got some people to
be like, hey, you want to write for our Patriots site.
I was like, okay. So it kind of just happened
and I wrote for a couple of sites, and then
I got an opportunity to work with Fan Sided and
just worked my way up and was promoted at the

(01:39:40):
beginning of the year. So it's been really fun to
talk about the Patriots, even though you know they're not
the team like you were just saying that they used
to be, but still a lot to talk about, a
lot of change over the past few years.

Speaker 3 (01:39:53):
Well, if if listeners have not seen it, it is
again musketfire dot com. So it really easy to remember
a pretty cool lookingside I'm familiar with it and seen
your stuff from time to time and what you guys
talk about, and I'm just wondering how you match your
fandom with the need for being critical, and you know,

(01:40:15):
do you find yourself holding back? Do you find yourself
going over the top? Do you know exactly you know
where your audience is coming from and what they're looking for,
because we all know it's so important in this digital
age to go out and make that connection with the audience.
So how do you handle these things and how do
you find that you make your connection through musket fire

(01:40:35):
with the Patriots fans.

Speaker 8 (01:40:38):
So I've labeled myself an eternal optimist it comes to
the Boston sports, but when it comes to the Patriots,
I try to be as realistic as possible. It's something
that a lot of the fandom doesn't necessarily love from
me because I don't, you know, openly bash the players

(01:40:58):
just because that's what everyone else is doing. But I
just try to report or write about whatever I think
is necessary. If someone played bad, we'll talk about how
they played bad. But I'm not going to sit here
and like call for someone's job. You know, that's something
that's been happening, and that's not a path I want
to go down, because at the end of the day,
they're human beings and they're doing a job, and sometimes

(01:41:19):
they don't do it well. But there's always next.

Speaker 3 (01:41:21):
Week, sure, right, all right, Well we're coming upon the
trade deadline again next week. It's what a lot of
people want to talk about right now. I'm just curious
what your viewpoint it might be on a dealing away
josh Usha for what some people think is not enough
in return in a six round pick in twenty twenty six,
not even this next year. We're talking two years down
down the line, and b if you think anybody else

(01:41:44):
is likely or should be considered to be dealt away
before Tuesday.

Speaker 8 (01:41:50):
So the Ujay trade didn't surprise me. I think, you know,
we all predicted that was probably going to happen. I
don't know that they would have gotten a whole lot
more than a sixth round pick, just because you know,
he had a great season in twenty twenty two, but
he hasn't been awesome since then, so I don't know
that anyone would have offered higher than that. I think
the biggest issue I have is exactly what you said.

(01:42:12):
I wish it was in twenty twenty five, yeah, and
not twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (01:42:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:42:17):
But I think we're probably going to see some other
people dealt I would assume Osborne is probably the most likely.
If they're trying to move on from a receiver, then
you know this, this is a guy who has already
kind of hinted at no loving where he's at right now,
and I think that of the players that they have,
he could probably bring them the most return. So that
seems to be the most sensible in my opinion.

Speaker 3 (01:42:38):
Sure, I wouldn't disagree with that. Is there a chance
that Kendrick Bourne is included in that?

Speaker 8 (01:42:44):
If you ask me, I hope not. I think that
they need a solid veteran in that locker room because
we know that they're trying to build a young roster
and they're trying to build it through the draft. But
I do think they need to have a solid locker
room guy, a guy who's proven to be productive. He's
seen the best seasons of his career since he came

(01:43:05):
to the Patriots, so I think that he can be
like an anchor in the locker room and on the
team once he's back to you know, one hundred percent.
I would like him to stay. That's my opinion. I
know a lot of people are hoping that he might
go just because they could probably get a good draft
pick in return.

Speaker 3 (01:43:23):
I would think that at some point you also have
to decide, Look, if we're gonna build with Drake May,
there has to be at least one or two weapons
that are somewhat proven that he can throw to exactly,
and I would think the Kendra gonna have to be considered.

Speaker 8 (01:43:36):
One of those, right, Yeah, And that's how I feel too.
I get trying to build around him. You know, you
have Kayshaun Booty, Janlen Full, Javon Baker, like, they have
these young guys that can be with him for a while.
But I do think that we've seen it in the
past where a young quarterback will be surrounded by super young,
inexperienced talent and it just doesn't work. They need to

(01:43:56):
have that anser veteran that's a great locker room guy,
a proven producer on the field, and that connection is there,
So I think that it would be better to keep
him around.

Speaker 3 (01:44:06):
Sarah, in your estimation, is it better to win now
while they can, or is it better to just play
well now in an effort to build towards something bigger
or better in the next year or two.

Speaker 8 (01:44:19):
I know it's an argument. People are so focused already
on next year's draft picks, and it's bad because it's
only October and we're already focused on that. But I
think they me to do what they can do. If
they can win this year, then that's that's fine. You know, Yeah,
it would be great if they could have that first
overall pick or maybe in the top five. But you know,
they brought in Drake May for a reason. You want

(01:44:42):
to see him progress and develop, so next year when
he starts Week one, he's more solid and ready to
do it, and then they can be ready to win. Sense.
So I want to see them do all that they
can't this year, and if that means that they win
five six games, and so be it.

Speaker 3 (01:44:56):
Were you in the Drake May should play camp or
did you agree with the decision to bring him along
slowly as they did.

Speaker 8 (01:45:03):
I was one of the people. I said to bring
him on slowly, mostly because of the offensive line. That
was just what made me a little bit nervous, and
I felt a little bit validated because of how much
Jacoby was getting hit. I was like, that scares me
a little bit to throw a rookie a rookie there.
And I know that may has that experience from having
a weaker offensive line throughout college, but this is a

(01:45:25):
totally different animal in the NFL. And so you know,
it took what three games, and he unfortunately got hurt.
I'm like, I can't imagine what food have might have
happened if he started earlier. So yeah, I was a
little more.

Speaker 3 (01:45:37):
Cautious, all right, And so let's try to look ahead
at least, if not short term, a little bit longer term.
But I'm just curious to what you think would be
the best case scenario realistically for this team as they
hit the midway point in this season. Do they need
to win a certain number of games, Do they need
to develop a certain player or two. Do they need

(01:45:58):
to just kind of chuck it all in and build
toward the draft or free agency next summer. What do
you feel like is the best case scenario for this
team to set themselves up for success as soon as possible.

Speaker 8 (01:46:10):
I want to see more development with the offense. So
I think winning games is great. I think especially given
the Boomers and whatever is going on with the locker room.
I think morale wise, it would be great if they
could add a couple more wins. I just want to
see progression from the offense. I want to see Drake
may continue to be more comfortable. I want to see

(01:46:31):
more from the connection between him and the receivers, especially
the ones that are going to be working with him
for the next however many years. I would like to
see the offensive line continue to improve, because that has
definitely gotten better over the last few weeks, and the
defense get a little more focused, just get back to
hopefully they can somehow replicate what they had been doing

(01:46:53):
the last couple of years. So I guess at the
end of the day, mostly just progression. That's what I
really want to see. I think that's the biggest indicator
of what's to come.

Speaker 3 (01:47:03):
I think that's a slam dunk. I'll cross promote sports here,
but it seems to be that's where everybody is right now.
I mean, wins are great. We know it's a bottom
line business. But at the same time, as long as
you know, we know it's going to be difficult for
this team as it presently consists, to get a lot
of those This year, and I understand why a lot
of people did not think terribly highly of the Patriots
going into the year, But I don't think there's any

(01:47:25):
reason why this team still can't win two or three
more games. I don't know how much that affects their choice,
but as long as it shows steady improvement towards getting
to a certain stage of competency, I'm not sure where
you know, too many of us would have too much
fault right now with that.

Speaker 8 (01:47:42):
Yeah, And I think that's what we all want to
see right is like we just want to see that
this team can be capable and that they are growing
with each other, this young team and growing under Jerrod
Mao and the new regime. I think that's the most
important right now. Wins are you know, the cherry on top.
Like we all knew that this wasn't going to be
an amazing season. I think we kind of all accepted

(01:48:03):
that during the off season. We got the quarterback we wanted,
we got some of the players that they most desperately
needed on offense, and that is great to go into
next off season with. That's a bunch of check marks
that we can mark off. So what we mostly need
to see is just that they're getting better weeks and
week after week. I think that's just sure the best

(01:48:23):
part of this year.

Speaker 3 (01:48:24):
Sure agreed. All right, what if they're coming up on
musket Fire or anything for fans to look forward to.

Speaker 8 (01:48:30):
Well, we're keeping up with all the stuff going on
with Drake may and his injury, some stuff about you know,
Jerrod Mayo, just some of the trade rumors that are
going on. So yeah, I'm actually celebrating my birthday for
the next few days, so I won't be super active,
but I will be ready on Sunday to talk about
the games. So always stuff going up every single day,

(01:48:52):
so you can be sure to check it out.

Speaker 3 (01:48:53):
All right, you got it. It's muskeetfired dot com. She's
Sarah Marshall, the editor at muskeetfire dot com. Hey, happy birthday.
Thanks for spending a little time with us today.

Speaker 8 (01:49:02):
Thank you so much for having me on.

Speaker 3 (01:49:03):
You got it. We'll do it again, Sarah Marshall. You'll
find her on X By the way, she's at s
marsh XO s marsh m A r sh XO. So
if you want to follow her on Twitter x you
can do that. Football season is here. Sullivan Tire at
Auto Service kick things off in a big way with

(01:49:24):
our exclusive GOPATS tires sale now through October thirty. First,
we're big with incredible savings on Bridgestone tires. Save one
hundred dollars instantly with a purchase of four eligible Bridgestone tires.
Bridgestone the official tire of the New England Patriots. See
sullivantire dot com for complete details and go Patriots. All right,

(01:49:44):
I want to share I think a couple of emails,
so pardon me here for a second. You have to
reach for the other laptop here, so let's see. This
goes to Pat Naguwam. Hey, Patty, Good afternoon John. My

(01:50:05):
prediction for Sunday is Jacoby starts Pats pull off a
relatively easy twenty three to ten win over the hapless Tilts.
I'm going to enjoy the win because there's not too
many more coming down the pike. Lastly, I'm not trading
anyone on this team not named kJ Osborne or Taekwon Thornton.
I think, yeah, I'm not sure what you'd get. You

(01:50:29):
might get a little bit more from kJ in return.
If indeed somebody needs a receiver. A lot of that
may depend on what happens this Sunday, you know, somebody
you know gets hurt or what have you. I'm not
sure what Taekwon has done to warrant his being you know,
coveted by someone else, but you know, apparently that's out there,

(01:50:50):
so we'll see how that continues to go. And I
don't mean that to be denigrated. I just you know,
the fact is that the numbers just aren't there and
he's had some struggles, so let's see where it continues
to go. To The Patriots just might have the opportunity
to continue to work with him and we'll see if
he can develop anything over the last half of the season.
You'd have to say that it's probably not trending the

(01:51:10):
way that you would want it to trend right about now.
Diana from New Hampshire. John, first time emailing you, so
thank you, Diana, appreciate you enjoying the show as always.
But what do you think about making the guardian helmet
mandatory for all NFL players? I would think it would
be a good idea to implement them as safety issue,

(01:51:31):
especially since QB's this year are getting concussions. You know,
I'll be honest, Diane, No one's actually asked me what
I think about the Guardian helmet idea. First of all,
I'll state the obvious. It looks goofy. That being said,
it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. But everybody looks

(01:51:53):
like the Great Kazoo. You know, the old Martian cartoon
character on the Flintstones, the Great Kazoo. Do you remember him, Matt,
remember it? Okay, So he's got the oversized head. Okay,
that's what exactly what you're talking about. Okay, all right,
so I'm not over speaking you, even though that was
before your time. No, I still watch all those cartoons,

(01:52:14):
fair enough, So that's from the age of Saturday Morning cartoons. Okay.
I figured you had to be right, especially since you're
a young dad. So the kids have to watch him, right, Okay,
So yeah, I mean it makes sure you look like
the Great Kazoo. I'm actually impressed that Jabrill Pepper's warret,
and he's been the only Patriot player thus far that
we've seen wear it. I don't know that it should

(01:52:35):
be mandatory, and I'll tell you why, because I think
the players need to have the freedom to decide. It
may very well be that at some point in time,
if we continue to see an uptick in concussive issues
and concussions.

Speaker 1 (01:52:54):
That the NFL might have to do something like this.

Speaker 3 (01:52:56):
It's drastic, but they might have to do something like
this to help save the game because I don't know
if the game today as we know it is here
forty years from now, I certainly don't believe that it
will be the same game that we have today. Forty
years from now. Look at forty years ago. Those of

(01:53:20):
you who are old like me, look at forty at
thirty and forty years ago, and tell me, is the
game the same as it was back in the early
nineteen eighties we have the same Nope. First of all,
we had two days back in the eighties, right, We
had guys that you know, didn't make a lot of money,
and they had jobs in the off season because they

(01:53:42):
couldn't play football for a full time salary, so you know,
and they use training camp to actually get into shape
to play the season. So the game has changed, the
game will continue to evolve and change. I don't think
that they'll make it mandatory, but I think what you'll
see is that if more and more players decide to

(01:54:04):
use it, that it will be more and more acceptable.
And so once it becomes more and more acceptable, it
won't need to be made mandatory that players will just
choose to wear the Guardian cap. And before you know it,
there will be a whole generation of fans out there
will be like, uh, you know, what's the big diff

(01:54:24):
you know, and you go back and you look at
the old helmets and you're like, wow, those old helmets
that look small. I'll give you a good examp. I
had a friend of mine give me a helmet. He
bought it a yard sale, a tag sail, a garage sale,
whatever it was. Right, he picked up a Texas Longhorns helmet,
a Redell helmet, you know that, you know, he got
for a couple of bucks, and he said, oh, I

(01:54:45):
know a Longhorn fan that has to have that, and
so he thought of me. And it's a legitimate helmet.
And you look at the size of it and there's
very little padding on the end. This looked like it
would have been nineteen seventies, maybe nineteen eighties, probably about
a forty year old helmet. It was not game worn,
but it was an old Riddell helmet. As you know,

(01:55:07):
they were the major manufacturer of helmets back in the day,
and I compared it to a game warn helmet that
I have, excuse me on my old on my mantle
from my old job working in the old USFL back
in the nineteen eighties. Very little difference on the padding
on the inside, and if you look at what today's
helmets are like, there's a huge difference. So you know,

(01:55:30):
the mechanics of the equipment have changed. They have changed,
and so that will continue to change. But we didn't
thrust it on them. It's just kind of like, hey,
it's here if you want to wear it. Just like
the helmets that are out there now are not Redell helmets.
There are other manufacturers that are involved here. And you
can see that the helmet today is compared to the

(01:55:52):
helmet even ten years ago, is wider and longer. It
looks almost like a bicycle helmet more so than a
football helmet, right, And that's because the design has been
changed to allow more protection for the individual. And that's
not an option, that's just what the manufacturers are doing.

(01:56:13):
So the manufacturers figure out a way to put that
the guardian format into the helmets. You'll probably see that
happen before the NFL is say, okay, you gotta wear
the Guardian helmet. And to your point right there on
the wall, look at Hanna's helmet compared to Blodsocks. Oh yeah,
right here, Yeah, absolutely, the helmet that John Hannah has
on on this photo right here over my right shoulder

(01:56:37):
is tiny. I mean you look at his head and
you're like, oh my god, you know, that doesn't even
look that didn't even look normal. And then the picture
right next to him of Tye Law look at that
helmet and that's O. Riddell by the way. Okay, so
it's unbelievable to see the difference from nineteen you know,
the mid nineteen seventies to really the late nineteen nineties,

(01:56:58):
early two thousands. So there's probably about thirty years of
difference between those two helmets right there. Almost almost crazy.
And so we're going to see the helmets continue to
get bigger and more padded, and they'll figure out a
way probably to use you know this you know, Guardian
technology to put it into the modern day helmet. So

(01:57:20):
I don't think we'll need to make it mandatory. I
think it's just going to be the evolution of football.
That's a great thought provoking question, Dane, I don't think
power angers soon. Yeah, well, full helmet yep, yeah, with
visors and yeah. Do we get to have them come
out with the swords though and all that stuff too,
or the ray guns or I don't know, I can

(01:57:41):
lend them money, right, See, I knew you'd have that
right Uh. Ted says it looks like getting a third
round pick for Judah was a great trade for the Pats. Yeah,
i'd say right now, right now, it's fine, it's adequate.
I don't think the Patriots make any more moves. In
case anybody wonders, I don't think they make any more
moves before Tuesday. I could be dead wrong. Maybe somebody.

(01:58:03):
If somebody loses a receiver this week, I could see
somebody reaching out for kJ Osborne or Taekwon Thornton. I
think those are the two likely candidates, depending upon who
the team is. But there has to be a fit.
I'd love to see the Patriots go out and evaluate
talent and bring in talent if they can. I understand

(01:58:26):
the need for wanting to keep assets and to keep
draft picks. I understand the need because but at the
same time, rookie assets are way different than veteran assets,
and if you can get a veteran asset, I think
that's still a bonus, especially for a team that needs

(01:58:46):
as much help as it can possibly get. Just my
two cents worth on that one, Thank you, I was
gonna share. Also, I was also a little bit on
the schedule just because Russell wasn't able to be here today.
Uh and point out a couple of games that actually
that I'm kind of looking forward to, uh to having

(01:59:07):
this week. Uh, let me see if I could even
find it now there it is? Okay, Well, now my
my computer's frozen a little bit, so I'm not gonna
get it to work. All right, the hell with it. Then,
Massachusetts is made for everyone, for leaf peepers, corn maize strollers,
regatta lovers, pumpkin pickers, and anyone else you can think of.

(01:59:28):
Come to where there's something for everyone this fall mass Chusetts,
where everything is made possible. Playing your trip at visit
ma dot com. All right, So our thanks to Sarah Marshall,
Greg Bodard, Evan Lazarre, and tore good Lord, thank you, Tron.

(01:59:48):
I wanted to say Toronto, Yeah, absolutely, to Toron Davenport
for joining us here on the program today. Sometimes, you know,
there's just too much going around on this head up here.
Most of it kind of rattles and makes noises from
time to time. So but I appreciate their taking the
time to visit with us today. You know, game on
Sunday afternoon, one o'clock Eastern time, kickoff. Opportunity is there.

(02:00:09):
See if you can build a little something here right
and then you you know, will try to do it again.
You know, you've got you've got winnable games on down
the line, Chicago coming up after that, another Miami game
coming around the corner. There's a bye week coming up
here in a couple of weeks where you might have
an opportunity to build. It's all there. Let's just see
if those baby step can be continued along the way

(02:00:33):
to some kind of pathway to success. Same patch time,
same patch channel, next week, right here in the playbook.

Speaker 1 (02:00:41):
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