Patriots Playbook 11/8: Positive Takeaways at the Midseason Point, Previewing the Colts in Germany

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is Patriots Playbook, the legend. What are the words?
Can we try to get into the show today? Sucky? Sucky? Sucky?
Would that be a good one today?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm kind of just sort of bamboozled, that's fair, non plussed.
I don't know what that means, but I'm sure it's
Trump and google it. Why they are the imagine if
maca taking forty one seing, he'd be a grease spot
on the highway. I know, with this particular audience, you're
way smarter than that. I'm smart, Mikey, I'm smart. Now
here's your host of Patriots Playbook, John Rook, the only

(00:38):
one left of the studio. Everybody's gone to Germany. Sounds
like they could be the title of a movie. Evan
is actually on his way or actually there, I guess
by now right, because I know he and Marine went.
So Faith is manning the controls today. So when you
call into the program, please say a lot of Faith.
Please be nice to her because she's doing such an
excellent job holding down the fort with me here in Foxborough.

(01:01):
That the team is actually taking off for Germany tomorrow.
And there are some people that went early because I
know that Marine and Evan and Fred and Paul and Dues,
they're all gonna start They're doing programming starting tomorrow, right faith,
I believe that's what it is. Yep. So they'll be
doing stuff from Germany starting Thursday. So we're going to

(01:21):
kind of lead you into the German programming over the
course of the next couple of days. Here today and
coming up on the program, we'll have Zach Cox from Nessen,
who is a frequent contributor here in the program to
you know, kind of talk about stuff, and we do
have some stuff talk about again today which we'll get
into very shortly. Will also be joined by Nate Atkins

(01:43):
from the Indianapolis Star to get the occults perspective on
making this trip overseas to play in Frankfort and Russell
Baxter in our number two on week ten around the NFL.
So all of that is upcoming. But so because Evan
is already over in Germany at least in till we
talk to Zach, the phones are wide open, and I
know sometimes it's a little frustrating to get in because

(02:04):
we start our conversation and Evan and I go back
and forth and get into you know, all kinds of
you know, X and O discussion like Evan likes to
do from time to time off the top of the program.
So I want to make sure that the first half
hour the very least, and then we'll fit you guys
in wherever we can thereafter. But it belongs to you.
Eight five five PATS five hundred is the toll free

(02:25):
televille number today. Eight five five p A t S
five hundred Web radio at Patriots dot com. The email
I'm gonna read a couple of those coming up at
JR Broadcaster is the X handle. It's it's been so
difficult to get used to not saying Twitter, even though

(02:46):
most everybody still calls it Twitter. But it's been difficult
to say that anyway. My ex handle at JR Broadcaster.
My IG handle it's also at JR Broadcast, or you
can post on my Facebook page if you've got a question.
I got to start with. I think some of the obvious. Uh,
there are reports certainly that came out earlier today, beginning

(03:07):
with Ian Rappaport and NFL Network. Uh, that cornerback J C. Jackson,
who as we know, apparently pouted over being taken out
of the starting lineup this past Sunday and the loss
of the Commanders, and that he is not expected to
travel to Frankfurt tomorrow Thursday for the game against the

(03:28):
Colts on Sunday. If you haven't heard that or seen
that on the on the on the interwebs today, NFL
Network first reported it, I we have not, you know,
we're not we're not confirming. We're not in the business
really of confirming it here, but we can just go
by on what they've said. And I can't say that
the whole thing surprises me when when you when you
take into consideration A the apparent sullen attitude that he's had,

(03:53):
when you take into consideration B that the GM for
the LA Chargers alleged at least said, and I saw
this on an ESPN report that he apologized to his
defensive backfield group for the Chargers for signing J. C.
Jackson in the first place. Wow. I mean, like, you know,
I should never have done that. Wow. I't to tell

(04:16):
you something. And I can't imagine for the life of me,
why a guy who you know clearly had some issues
playing for the Chargers and then he gets traded back
to New England where he actually had some success. Why
he's so sullen? I just I don't get it, especially
when the Patriots have a need when Christian Gonzales went down,

(04:36):
They've got a need. They needed a body, they needed
somebody to play and it was almost like a gift
fell to them out of the sky. And he's upset
over it. What is is the upset ever being traded?
Is the upisot over being you know, over what's being
talked about about him? Dude, two words grow up. I

(05:01):
just this confounds me. And this strikes at the very
root of the problem with the twenty twenty three New
England Patriot football team. There are about two guys, maybe
three guys on this team who are willing to take
accountability of themselves. And those are the guys that you
see up at the podium in the middle of the week.

(05:22):
You see David Andrews, you see Hunter Henry, you see
mac Jones. It's about it. I would add Matthew Slater
probably to that group too, because of his veteran status
and leadership status, although apparently whatever leadership status he has
in that locker room is falling on deaf ears. No
one's paying attention and so This tells me, you know,

(05:44):
with if this story is true, and you know, I
have no reason to believe it's not NFL Networks reporting
it that if JC does not attend this game this weekend,
I'm just there shouldn't be any surprised that this team
is two and seven. It speaks to a larger issue,
and I really hate I'm gonna mention it just because

(06:08):
it's the first thing you think of. Although I'm not
really sure that this is the case, but you know,
does the staff have the locker room's attention? Are these
guys not listening to Bill? Are they not listening to
the coaches on the staff? Have they just given up?
I can't believe that to be the case. Can't believe
that to be the truth, especially after all the success

(06:28):
were a number of years, and I know the roster's
changed over. But you know, guys don't come in here stupid.
They don't guys come here knowing exactly what is expected
them if they don't like it, You know what I say,
tough bleep. This is the way this place operates. Now
you can make an argument that this place doesn't need
to operate the way it's always operated over the past

(06:48):
you know, twenty plus years, because I would say times
in athletes in the game, they've all changed, they've all changed,
but there's just an adult way to do things here
that clearly is not being done. And that's that's the
part that gets me how these guys can copy twoed

(07:10):
I just I honestly having a really hard time understanding it,
a really hard time getting it. And the only thing
I can say is, look, you get what you pay for,
and I'm not sure what you've paid for in this instance,
and if you're not paying much, well then you're probably
not going to get much. That doesn't do you any

(07:33):
good for the remaining eight games on the schedule which
you have, which is you know, there's still you know,
that's half the season basically still to go here. So
you know, I'll talk I'll at least start with, you know,
talking about looking ahead, because frankly, this is the time
where you learn who you want to keep. You're down

(07:54):
in the foxhole. I hate I don't like to use
more analogies because I think they're stupid, but I'm going
to use a partial one here because you know, when
times get tough and you're in that quote unquote foxhole
with your friend, your buddy, your compatriot, you know, your
your fellow soldier in arms, whatever it may be. You
know you rely on each other, do you not? When
you have problems, you rely on family, You rely on friends, right,

(08:17):
You rely on people who are close to you. In
this particular case, you rely on your teammates. And if
you don't have this guy next to you that you
can rely upon, what do you have? You got zip,
zilch zero. Move on. Your career is just too short

(08:38):
lived in this business to put up with nonsense. These
guys are well paid, they're well compensated. I realize that
most of them have been you know, fed pablum their
entire lives. You know, I'm told that they're you know,
blank doesn't stink and all kinds of stuff. Okay, I
get that it's a little different day and age now
than it was, say, twenty years ago. But you're still

(08:59):
a professional. You're paid like a professional. You need to
act like a professional. Now. We're getting one side of
the story here, and I'm just sort of estimating that
this other stuff has gone on. But we're never going
to get the answer to this. Number one. I'm not
sure that you know, the Patriots that ever allows them
to like that to get out number two. I'm not
sure jac would ever want to talk about it. And

(09:20):
if he did, chances are he's gonna sit on the bench.
Why because we can clearly see when the Patriots misspeak,
they go right into coach Belichick's doghouse, right Kayshawn Boody,
it's what happens. And you know what, shame on us
for not realizing that, because that's been the way it
is for twenty three years. That's just the way the

(09:40):
coach is. Take it or leave it. Now, that's a
lot easier to take when you're winning games. When you're
not winning games, the semi pseudo boorish behavior on the
part of the coach because it's the coach's way or
the highway, is a lot harder to take. Admittedly, that
doesn't mean he's going to stop doing it just because
what he knows how to do. It's what he's always done,

(10:01):
and why should we expect him to change? And maybe
that's at the root of the problem. Either a he
doesn't want to or be he can't. And this is
the decision that the crafts have to make. You know,
between now and whenever, likely the end of the season,

(10:21):
over what direction this team is really going? What direction
does this team need to take from this point forward.
We're past seminal moments, we really are. I mean, you know,
like everyone, like other Patriot fans who would be listening
to this program, but you hope that they somehow find
a way to win a couple of games and we
can feel better about ourselves, and YadA, YadA and whatever whatever.

(10:44):
And ye know that starts this week with Indianapolis, and
we're going to talk about the game coming up, and
you know, what should they be talking about? Who should
they be playing? What should we be looking for. I
want to look for players who want to be here.
I want to look for players who want to succeed.
I want to look to players who hate losing. I
gonna look for players who don't like getting their butts

(11:05):
beatd I want to look for players who won't jump
off the line of scrimmage or line up in the
neutral zone without understanding what's at stake on any given
snap of the football. That's what I want, and I
think that as fans is what you should demand, you
should ask for it. We're not getting that there's no accountability,

(11:27):
there's no discipline. And yeah, if you want to point
fingers right at the coaching staff for the lack of discipline,
do it. But is there ultimately they're ultimately in charge here.
I think we all know that. You know, anybody else
that has had you know, a couple of losing seasons
or you know, three and four whatever it's gonna end

(11:49):
up being now and it's two and seven this time,
anybody of the head coach in the league is rightfully
going to be scrutinized and potentially fired, unless you're Bill Belichick,
who has you know, a lifetime where the credibility build
up in his behavior on his behalf. And I frankly
side with that. I've always been willing and you know

(12:10):
this if you've listened to the show for a length
of time, I've always believed that you know, he deserves
that he's earned it. Does that mean you know he
can continue to do what he's doing and the team
continue to founder? Of course it doesn't. At some point
in time, push has to shove, something has to give
in somewhere. The crafts own the team, it's their call.

(12:34):
So if they keep Bill, and Bill keeps doing Bill's thing.
And this team keeps going too and seven or worse, well,
then people stop showing up and it hits you right
where it hurts in the pocketbook, and all that goodwill
built up over the last two decades starts to erode.
I don't think it's eroded yet, far from it. Patrick's

(12:54):
still a national, well known, global brand. The value of
this team is increased least exponentially since the Crafts bought it.
For those that don't know the story that the Crafts
paid roughly one hundred and seventy million, you know for
the stadium, the grounds, and the franchise when they bought
the team back in ninety three and and and it's
not worth about seven billion according to Forbes. Pretty good, ROI.

(13:21):
So these guys do business, they know how to do business.
I've always respected their ability to do business. You know,
certainly the NFL respects the Craft's ability to do business.
That's why they're you know, putting these you know, positions
of authority within their you know, uh, you know, leadership
teams and things like that within their ownership groups. So

(13:41):
these guys won't stand for you know, mediocre to pour
performance very long because otherwise they wouldn't be the businessmen
that they've proven themselves to be. It's all going to
take care of itself. The problem is is we're too impatient.
And yeah, I know this is year four post Brady,

(14:01):
I know that. And you think you start the right
way and then it doesn't work out, and then you
take another tack with Mac, and then it doesn't work
out because of you know, the two guys that you
hire that you thought could coach offense that really couldn't
coach offense. And so you're really back to year one
in that philosophy. You're really back to year one and
starting all over again with Bill O'Brien at the eyes

(14:24):
of the offensive coordinator. And so now what you've got
when Bill is handed he's handed basically a wounded duck.
That's what he's been handed here. He's been handed a
wounded duck. He's got a team who's personnel has gone
up and down like a thermometer, you know, for the
various needs that they thought they needed and guys that
they thought that these coaches and previous coaches could coach,
and you know, and then you bring these guys in

(14:45):
and you coach them one way, and then you coach
them another and then you tell them to do this,
and then you tell them do that, until we get
to the point where Mac Jones, as we've talked about
before in this show, he's broke. I don't mean he's
you know, financially not well off. He's broke in. I'm
not sure he's fixable. Time will ultimately tell that, but

(15:05):
right now Mac is still too valuable to a bargaining
chit to keep, you know, because he'll be on you know,
still his rookie contract for you know, the year before
another year before the Patriots would have to you know,
kick out on his fifth year, and you're gonna need
at least at the very least, you're gonna need a
bridge option here if you're gonna bring another quarterback in.
So no, they're not gonna get rid of Mac. It's

(15:26):
just that doesn't make business sense. I don't even think
it makes football sense, to be quite honest with you.
Max's biggest problem is twofold. As we know, and we've
talked about this and I'll repeat it again here in
case you've never heard this before, and I can't imagine
you wouldn't have. Max problem is twofold number one and
a many receivers that he can rely upon. Number two,

(15:48):
he hasn't had an offensive line he can rely upon.
Now the offensive line has played better over the last
couple of weeks without a doubt. By the way, in
case you hadn't heard, Adrian Clem was announced today the
offensive line coach is going to be out for an
amount of time due to an illness. Uh don't really
know the nature of the illness, and even if I did,
I'm not sure it'd be my place to share it.

(16:10):
But we wish, you know, you know, they call him
ak in the locker room. We wish you know, Coach
Clem all the best as he you know, works on
a recovery. So I think Coach HS will end up,
you know, sliding over and taking over as an assistant
there anyway, And I don't imagine that there will be
too much that will be missed out here on because
there's still a coach to pick up the slack. But

(16:32):
at the same time, it just kind of speaks to
the upheaval that has been in the front of mac
Jones all year long. It also makes you a question
if they've played better since Michael when you moved in
it right tackle? Why wasn't that done earlier? And was
it because he had the bum ankle that he had
worked one in the off season? I don't know. Maybe

(16:53):
the problem is that we know, we ask these questions,
they don't really get answered, so you know, we're sort
of left to our own devices to surmise and talk about.
And that's kind of where I am here. So what
I'd like to do, at least to begin the program today,
because clearly the negatives are out there and and and

(17:14):
I hate beating a dead horse because it really just
doesn't serve any purpose. We know what this team is.
It's not very good. I think we saw Jonathan Craft
say as much, you know, when this TV camera Network
TV cameras are zooming in on him and uh and
Robert Kraft in the box on Sunday. You know, I'm

(17:35):
sure they didn't realize it, but hey, that's why it happens.
That's why you see the coaches, you know, cover their
faces with their play cards and such, because they know
people read lips.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
We all do.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
Oh what did he say? Was that important? Oh my gosh,
what did he say? Oh, let's let's tweet it. Let's
let's post it, let's you know, let's put it on TikTok.
You know what, you know, It's just that's the world
we live in nowadays, which is silly, but okay, all
looking for an edge, all looking for followers and likes
and you know, to be in the know. But the

(18:10):
fact that means is that it's team it's just not good.
It hasn't been good for all year, and it's fallen
well short of expectations. I think we all knew. And
I heard Devin mccordy on Wei actually locally here earlier today.
I heard Devin mccordy say that, you know, he's not
surprised that this team has struggled. He's also was also

(18:36):
very honest, and he said it did have something to
do with his decision to retire after last year. He
was playing pretty much head in that direction any way.
But when he knew, he saw the strength of schedule,
he knew what was coming back, and you got new
coaches trying to teach back again and this and that
he knew that with the combination of the strength of
schedule and everything else, that this was likely to be
a struggle. And he was accurate We can't see the

(19:01):
forest for the trees in the way. That's our problem
around here. We can't because we're fans and we're media,
and you know, we only see one thing. The Patriots
are supposed to be better than this, or the Patriots
are good or should be good because they've always been
good for the last twenty years. But this is where

(19:24):
each and every year is is a you know, is
a mini you know dynasty into itself. I mean, you
just one year does not mean you're gonna do the
same the next year, which makes to me the run
that the Patriots have had all the more remarkable and
likely to be unmatched. Sorry, Kansas City fans, it's not gonna.

(19:45):
You're not gonna. You're not gonna go to nine super
Bowls in twenty three years. You're not. When you do,
then you have a right to call this program. If
I'm still here, you have a right to call me
and tell me told you so, you have that right,
and you know what I'll do. That's the sound of
one hand clapping. That's the sound of one hand at clapping.

(20:07):
So here's what I wanted to start with today. All right.
I was on a podcast the Claire Perspective podcast with
her friend Claire from the UK, and I think she
released it yesterday and you know, and of course we're
talking about football things. If you haven't heard it, you know,
you should listen to it. You know, she does a
really good job with it for someone who's really a fan.

(20:28):
She's about as thorough, I think, as you could possibly
be in putting things together. So I like talking to her,
fun lady. I feel bad though, because I ended up
going negative of the conversation and she tried her damnedest
not to go negative, and it was just I realized

(20:49):
after it was all over, I said, I know she
didn't want that show to go that way. She was
trying to remain positive. She's trying to talk about positive
things and things that we can look for and you know,
a brighter outlook than the bleak one that I painted.
That it was entirely bleak. But hey, I'm just calling
it as they see it. And this is unusual for
the Patriots, as we all know, this is something they
don't go through a lot of So you know, I
hadn't gone through it in thirty years, really well close

(21:13):
to thirty years. I mean they were what five and
eleven and coach Belichick's first year in two thousands. So okay,
that's basically what it was. So you know, you're on
your way for the first losing record since that time
or before seven and nine in the COVID year. I
don't really even count that year, to be honest with you,

(21:34):
worst record since at least five and eleven. Anyway, you're
on that road. And I know she you know, since
you haven't had the ability to consider the repercussions of
what happens when you're under five hundred, what happens when
you don't, you know, make the playoffs, what happens when

(21:54):
you have a higher draft choice than you reasonably could expect.
You know, you try to focus on some different things,
but the stark reality of the fact that you stink
hits you like a hammer in the forehead. Ow that hurts,
let's talk about it. And so there's a focus there, naturally,
on something that is unusual, that is different. She tried

(22:18):
to go another direction. I didn't quite let her go there.
So I want to go another direction a little bit today. Anyway,
here at the start that Claire started to try to do,
so I give Claire all the credit for the idea
on this one. I would love to hear from whoever's listening.
I would love to hear from you, phone, email, Twitter,

(22:40):
or X, whatever the hell it is, Facebook, whatever you got. Okay,
I need one positive aspect to this season that you
can come up with here at the midway point. We're
at the midway point. We're going into Week ten. Patriots
obviously have the bye week next week, and then they'll

(23:03):
play another road game before they get to come back home.
So there was only one home game in the entire
month of November, which is actually kind of weird, but
that's the way it goes. So they get the bye
week after Week ten, So in effect, we're at the
midway point right now. They've played nine games. They've got
eight games left to go over the next nine weeks.
I need one positive from you. Who do you like?

(23:27):
What do you like? What do you see as optimistic
no pessimism? Okay. I'm going to do my damnedest to
hopefully listen to a few suggestions, read a few suggestions,
and then come up with one to share with you,
because I tried to give this some thought this morning,
and I'm not sure I could come up with one,
and I honestly believe it's because I'm jaded. I think

(23:49):
it's because I have been so ensconced in the negativity
of being two and seven that it's really hard for
me to find something to hang my hat on. Now
that being said, as I'm speaking here, I think I
can come up with a couple right off the top
of my head. I would tell you, you know, first
of all, I think Jabriel Peppers has had an outstanding

(24:11):
season for the most part, and he's had a couple
of boneheaded mistakes, but everybody does at some point in
time or another. I would tell you that I think
Kyle Duggar is a keeper, and I hope that they
managed to resign him. I got to tell you that,
even though I've seen him somewhat limited, I really like
Martem Mapu. I think we saw enough from Christian Gonzales
to think that he could be a staple here in
New England for a long time, provided he stays healthy.

(24:33):
Because now that he's been hurt and he's out for
the year, and I know it wasn't necessarily his fault,
but now he's going to have that tag of oh,
he's always injured. He's going to get that tagged one him,
even though this is his first time in his first year,
is gonna happen? You heard it here first. That's the
first question he's going to get asked when he comes
back to you know, training camp next fall, next summer.
You know, how's the health to be able to stay healthy?

(24:56):
You know, we know there are a lots of great
players that appear to be good athletes that just can't
stay on the field because they keep getting hurt. Is
he gonna turn out to be one of those? There's
a difference, and I've said it often, there's a difference
between playing hurt and playing injured. You're going to learn

(25:20):
to play hurt. You can't play if you're injured because
that affects your career. If not, your team affects your career.
And Christian Gonzales was injured, Matt Judan was injured, several
others were injured. But do we really know who's hurt

(25:40):
and who's injured? And that's kind of where I am
with this. So anyway, I'd love to hear a positive
I'd love to get a positive something in performance, something
in a coaching move, and a personnel movie. You can
find one. I know, Eldred, can't you know? I just
which is fine. I'm okay with that. And if you
have none, tell me that I got none. That's fair,

(26:05):
that's fair. But I'm trying to gauge a little bit
of a temperature here because I think that there are
some out there that can be had. I think we
just have to sort of get through the disappointment of
two and seven and understand where they are and then
use these as building blocks for the remainder of the season,
because that's really where the final eight weeks of this

(26:26):
season are going to be pointed towards. There can't be
any other way to do it because there's nothing else
to play for the postseason. Isn't happening that was gone
a month ago. We're really going to be truthful. But
what is what is the building block that you see?
What is the positive that you see? Is it an athlete?

(26:48):
Is it a trend? Is it some what is it?
Eight five five PATS five hundred, web radio at Patriots
dot Com, at j R Brocaster on X and you
a post on Facebook? All right, So, again, as we said,
Zach Cox from Nesson going to join us, Nate Atkins
from the Indianapolis Star will join us here in fifteen
twenty minutes. Russell Baxter on week ten in the NFL

(27:12):
at the bottom of the next hour. So it's still
business as usual around here, even though half the personnel
are already you know, spreckancy Deutsching and geez if they're
not having a you know, a nice cold pilsner. I
don't know what's wrong with these people, you know. I
heard today that it's considered an insult in Germany. And

(27:33):
I have German blood. My part of my family, my mom's,
part of my mom's family is actually from Germany. And
so I had heard this, and so I made a
phone called a confirment. When you were drinking with friends
in Germany, which they do often because it's considered you know,
copacetic to have alcohol with lunch or dinner. Just you

(27:55):
do you just they drink a little bit more. They
don't really see the issue in it, because I don't
know that they necessarily, you know, binge drink like some
of us do. Uh, but it's considered a discourtesy. It's
considered rude if you don't clink a glass and then
look the person you clink glasses with. In the eye
as you drink. It's considered a faux pas. It's considered,

(28:20):
you know, in polite and I'm like, I never knew that.
You always wonder what you see, you know, Germans and
their leader hose In and you know, and all the
German music playing in the background then and no, no, no, no,
no no no no no no no, no, no, no, no,
you know all that stuff, right. I know this because
I spent a few times, few few falls fall days

(28:41):
in New Bronfls, Texas, which is basically West Germany, and
the uh, we're worst fests celebrations they have in New
bron Fels that if you live in and around New Bronfos, Texas,
you know precisely what I'm talking about. Uh. I always
wondered why everybody's so jolly and I always look right
at you each other, and even some of them kind
of do the you know, the fake on each other's kiss,

(29:04):
you know, cheeks and things like that, and then they
clink glasses and then they drink, and I'm just like, why,
why does it look so personal? Okay, maybe that's why.
So I found that out today. I just an interesting
fact I thought I would, you know, share. I don't
know that we'll get a chance to do that, but
if you're, you know, heading to Germany, or maybe you're

(29:25):
listening and you're going to the game, you know this weekend,
that you know, maybe you can experience that and report
back here on the program. Zachar, are you going to Germany?

Speaker 4 (29:36):
I am, yes, I'm flying out tomorrow afternoon, getting in
early Friday morning.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
I appreciate the early we're getting here.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
I got to keep that in mind for when I
if I visit a beer garden or anything while I'm over.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
There, offer to clink your glass, Offer to clink your
mug right, and then look them in the eye. Brother.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
I will definitely keep that in mind. But yeah, it's
gonna be an interesting trip. If I'm worried about the
jet lag and all that, I can't imagine what something
like this like is for players who actually have to
play a football game.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
After all that, right exactly, I think the only saving
grace to that, Because you know, I was considering that
again earlier today, I'm said, well, you know what, the
Colts got to go through the same damn thing because
they're not over there early. So I mean you know,
the only team that's really had an advantage in a
European game this year would be the Jaguars because they
got to stay over there for two straight weeks right
when they were in London.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Then you even think back to last week, Miami was
the team that traveled early. The Chiefs showed up right
around the same time the Patriots are, and the Chiefs
ended up winning that game. So it's unclear how much
of an advantage that actually is to get the body
clock reset and all that. At least it won't be
a factor in this week's game because the Patriots and
Colts are both taking similar approaches.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Here, Zach Cox from ness and joining us here inside
the playbook. All right, So let's talk about that approach
SAG because well, first of all, let's take care of
some business. Number one, the report that NFL Network had
today about J. C. Jackson not being on the plane tomorrow.
Any thoughts on that one way or the other.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
It's disappointing from a Patriots perspective, especially because over the
first couple of weeks that he was back, J C.
Jackson's seemed to be reintegrating well his position. Coach Mike
Pellegrino had a lot of great things to say about
kind of the attitude he was bringing in the room
and the work ethic and all of that, and then now, what,

(31:34):
less than a month after his trade, he's already running
into off the field type issues that are going to
keep him out of a game here this weekend. It's
not incredibly surprising, but it's definitely a disappointing development. I'm
curious now to see whether there will be any repercussions
for Jack Jones this week, who reportedly also missed curfew.

(31:56):
Of course sat the first three series of last game,
didn't play much in the second half. He was at
practice today, but I'm going to be curious to see
whether there's any any lasting punishment from his reported interraction.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
There right, we should add here again for those that
may not have known it, this was for an alleged
missed curfew. Correct.

Speaker 5 (32:17):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
According to multiple reports, it was a miss curfew at
the team hotel last Saturday night, and even though the
Patriots were playing a home game. A lot of times
in the NFL, teams will have their players sure stay
at a hotel rather than their homes the night before
the game, just to get some final prep.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
In there, and sure we do it. We do it
in college basketball kids all they sort of sequester, right.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
Yeah, it's a pretty common practice. And again, according to
those reports, Jackson Anne Jones both were late arriving to
the hotel. I believe they were late for a meeting
and that's what led to some of the role reductions
that they saw on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
Right, and that, of course, yeah, well that would make
sense to him because it seemed like, you know, in
the I don't know, maybe you know, five ten minutes
of the game, if you were trying to follow the
game on Twitter, if you couldn't you know, like watch
it for whatever reason, or listen to it on the radio.
That's all anybody was talking about was, Hey, did you
see jay Z Jackson and Jack Jones aren't playing. They

(33:15):
didn't start. Oh my god, you know the world's gonna
end here. And I'm thinking, well, okay, so what And
then I think we come to realize that, you know,
obviously something happened, and just like what something happened with
kay Shan Pooti last week. He opened his mouth when
he probably shouldn't have. And we know that Bill has
done that before. And Bill did it again, and so

(33:36):
it doesn't surprise me that there was something strainingous going
on here. And if it's true that they missed a curfew,
then clearly this all makes sense. And then it also
lends a heck of a lot of credence to Tom Telesco,
the Los Angeles Chargers general manager, who had the initial
report that was on ESPN that basically said he went

(33:58):
into a defensive back me. They traded JC a couple
of weeks ago and personally apologized for signing him in
the first place, And like, wow, that says almost too much.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
I mean, Jackson's tenure with the Chargers was just an
unmitigated disaster. For them to be willing to trade him
back here for essentially nothing while also paying his entire salary,
it says a lot that they were basically saying, we
will do whatever it takes to get this guy out
of our building. It was interesting to me in the
game on Sunday that he did end up playing.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Over fifty snaps.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
He basically resumed his normal workload after sitting out those
first two series, So I'm curious whether there was something
else that happened after the game, whether it was a
maybe his reaction to that benching or something that came after,
because it is a bit of a leap to go
from Okay, we're not going to play you for the

(34:58):
first series, but you're going to play the final fifty
snaps or so two. We're not even going to take
you on this trip to Germany. We're gonna leave you home,
and according to the reports, hopefully he comes back with
a better mindset after the bye week. That seems like
a bit of a leap there. So I'm curious whether
there was something else that transpired in this whole situation.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yeah, there's probably more to this story, but I think, honestly,
this is all you really need to know if they
missed a curfew, regardless of whatever happened to you know,
jac and Los Angeles, or whatever happened to Jack Jones,
you know, with his you know, gun thing, gotta call
it a gun thing, you know, his gun thing this
this summer that he did not do jail time for,

(35:41):
or and then his you know, liking some somebody else's tweet.
I try not to bury myself with that stuff. Too
many people read way too much into some things. But okay,
I get it. I understand it. It's fine, it's just
what people do today. I'm trying not to be, you know,
too much of a boomer here, but I just I'm
kind of like, Wow, if these guys really aired and

(36:04):
broke you know, a team rule, discipline should be expected,
because quite frankly, that's been the problem with this team
all season long. Tech they've had no discipline and very
very little accountability for their actions.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
Yeah, it's the on the field discipline, the off the
field discipline, as it shows in a situation like this,
it's just just you want to, you want to call
it uncharacteristic of a Bill Belichick coach Patriots team, but
at this point it really isn't. I mean, the Patriots
have been kind of doing things like this, not not
the off the field stuff, but they've had the in

(36:42):
game mistakes, the penalties, the turnovers. They've been making very
unpatriot like plays for what seems like three or four
years now, and it certainly intensifying this season and within
these last couple of weeks. I mean, you saw the
special teams penalties at.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
The end of last week's game.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
It's it's just a not it's an indisciplined team, if
that's the word, A not disciplined team, an indisciplined team,
whatever you want to call.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
That, undisciplined, not non disciplined.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
Third times tim there. But yeah, and it's it's been
a major issue for this team, and I don't know
how you fix it. And it's not something that you
would really expect to turn around as this team's record
continues to get worse and worse. It's not like if
players aren't doing something when the team is two and four,

(37:34):
are they going to suddenly start doing it when the
team is three and eleven. Potentially, I just think there's
potential for all of this to get even worse by
the time the season's over.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Zach in your estimation, how did this non discipline, undisciplined, indiscipline,
whatever we're going to call it, lack of discipline? How
did this lack of discipline get started? Because it's so
anti Patriot based on you know what we've seen over
twenty two previous seasons under Bill Belichick.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Here it really is.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
I think probably a factor in it is the fact
that so many of that former guard from this team
is gone. There are very few members of the kind
of dynasty era Patriots that are still left on this team.
I think it's only seven or eight on this roster,
So there's not a lot of players who were here

(38:30):
when the team was winning consistently and kind of knew
the culture, knew the expectations, knew the standard and that standard.
I think it's a demanding standard and it's a lot
more difficult to maintain when the results aren't there on
the field. So I think all of that has contributed

(38:51):
to it, and I think part of it has.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
To go back to coaching too.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
I mean, it's when a team is indisciplined, it falls
on the assistant coaches and it falls on the head coach. Patriots,
as I've said, have just lacked discipline now for multiple
years running.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah. Remember when the Eagles Lane Johnson said that he
wouldn't want to play here because he knew he'd heard
that it wasn't going to any fun to play here,
except for the fact that, of course the Patriots were
winning then.

Speaker 4 (39:15):
But I want to the argument was always yeah, sorry
to interrupt there, John, but yeah, the argument had always been, yeah,
it's not that fun to play here. Yeah, you're not
gonna maybe love coming to work every day, but at
the end of the season, you're gonna have a very
good chance to be in the postseason, at the very
least playing in the AFC Championship game.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:33):
Now, when that's not even a possibility anymore in a
season like this where they're two and seven, it just
makes it a lot more difficult for players to kind
of want to be part of that. I think it's
it's basically something that you're like, yeah, I'll suck it
up because this team is really good and I want
to win a title. It's a little bit more. It's

(39:56):
a tougher sell when you're kind of trending toward one
the top picks on the NFL draft.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
And I think that's I think that's human nature, Let's
be honest. I think we'd all have a tendency to like, oh, man,
you know, you know, whenever you've got to get back
up and do it again or deal with it because
things aren't going as well as had been in the past.
But this is also why I speak to personal accountability,
because players are professionals. They're paid extraordinarily well to play

(40:22):
this game. No matter how rough, how tough, how violent
it might be, they're still paid well to do it,
and there's been not just a lack of discipline, but
there's been a lack of personal accountability. And this is
where this is a systemic organizational failure, because you can
go back to the kind of guy they recruit to
bring in here and draft and sign to bring in here,

(40:45):
to talk about personal accountability. If a guy is not
going to hold himself and others personally accountable, why would
you bring them in here?

Speaker 4 (40:55):
Yeah, I'm it all is part of the same kind
of conversation, I think, and it's all sort of cyclical
as well, because if you have the sustained success in
a certain culture, in a certain system, then you develop
players who are accustomed to playing and succeeding in that
kind of system, and then that sort of trickled down,

(41:16):
trickles down to the new players. You have the older
guys that will say, hey, this might not be that fun,
but look at the results that it gave us. Be
kind of get with the program and you'll see those results.
And you still have some of those players left. I
still think like Matthew Slater and David Andrews and guys
like that are great leaders on this team. But when
you have eighty percent of the roster that has not

(41:38):
experienced winning via the Patriot way, especially since that Patriot
Way isn't a.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Lot of fun a lot of the times.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
It's just much more difficult to get everybody with the program.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
All right, Zach, A couple of realther quick ones here
at number one? What are your thoughts on a positive
I asked a question of the fans earlier to come
up with one positive note in order to try to
kind of wipeout or rub over or gloss over some
of the negativity that's certainly been spread around here late.
Can you think of a positive aspect of the first
nine weeks of this season that might be something for

(42:12):
this team, this organization to kind of hang their hats on.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
It's difficult, right, Yeah. I'm actually writing a story as
we speak on the building block type players that are
on this Patriots roster, right, players that you can see
being part of the next successful Patriots team whenever that is.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
And there really aren't many.

Speaker 4 (42:34):
I mean, Christian Gonzalez is the obvious one, but he's
out for the season.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
We won't see him.

Speaker 4 (42:38):
Until next year. I would say to Mario Douglas is
part of that group. As well, but he's not a
player at this point in his career who can carry
a passing attack. As we've seen in these last couple
of weeks, Christian Barmore is playing really well lately. I
would say he's definitely a player who should be part
of the Patriots future. But if you get further down

(43:00):
on that list, you really can't find a ton.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
I think Jabil Peppers is having a very good year.

Speaker 4 (43:04):
I could be part of that next kind of Patriots
leadership corps. But the fact that it's so difficult to
pick out more than two, three, four players for that
list is just kind of emblematic of where the Patriots
are as a franchise right now.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Sure, and then your thoughts on the matchup with the
Colts this week, and clearly both teams are going to
be fighting, you know, some sort of jet lag one
where or the other. How much will that play a factor?
I mean, could this still be a pretty good football
game in particular in terms of just you know, the
back and forth nature that's liable to take place.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
Yeah, I'm hoping it's a good football game. I'm hoping
we get a more entertaining game than some of the
recent ones that the Patriots have played. This Colt team
is interesting. They're not that good, but they are feisty.
I mean, they've scored twenty or more points in every
game they've played this season. They can put up decent numbers.
Gardner Minshew is a fun player to watch out of

(44:00):
that vintage gunflinger. He's going to make some mistakes, but
he's also going to throw some touchdown passes. They got
some good players on that defense. I think it's appropriate
that the Colts are favored in this game. I think
they should be favored in this game. I still think
the Patriots can keep it close with pretty much anybody
in the NFL if they play to their potential, which

(44:23):
they just haven't for nearly every game this season. But
if I had to make a prediction, I would say probably,
I don't know, Colts twenty one Patriots sixteen, and you
kind of leave Germany with another disappointing taste in your
mouth if you're a Patriots fan. But I mean a
win in this game would be I think would ease

(44:45):
a lot of nerves going into the bye week, especially
with the questions about Bill Belichick's job security and all
down the line.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
For that.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
So if the Patriots can win and sort of give
themselves a little bit of momentum going into that back
half of the season, I think it would obviously be huge.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
But again, I.

Speaker 4 (45:02):
Think it's appropriate that the Cults are favored in this game.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Should we be worried about Bill Belichick's job security, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
I think by the end of the season, I certainly
would be.

Speaker 4 (45:15):
I still think I still can't see it happening during
the season. I think that would just be too large
of a step for Robert Kraft.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
I wouldn't rule it out completely.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
Especially based on some of the reporting that we've heard recently.
I think if this season continues the way it is,
we got a helicopter overhead here. I think if this
season continues the way it has, I think it will
absolutely be a question this offseason. But I would be
mildly surprised if we wake up Monday morning to a

(45:48):
report that Patriots and Bill Belichick.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Are parting ways. I don't think that's going to happen
during the year.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Yeah, I would kind of tend to agree with that.
Zach save travels over there, you know, the heliconoter is
probably there to pick you up and take it to Frank. Right.

Speaker 4 (46:01):
I wish, I wish I got a nice red eye.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Ahead of me.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
So that's perfect. It should be a lot of fun, perfect, perfect,
safe travels. We'll talk to you soon, all right, Thanks John,
you got it, Zach Cox from Nesson at nesson dot
com and we'll transfer you know the thought process there
to a gentleman who covers the Colts for the Indianapolis Star.
Nate Atkins joins us here in the playbook. Uh, Nate,
John rook here in Foxborough. I'm curious if you heard

(46:26):
a little bit of the end of the conversation that
I had with Zach there and what you thought about
his assessment of the Colts football team and his assessment
of the of the potential for this game on Sunday.

Speaker 6 (46:37):
Yeah, I think it's certainly safe to expect the low
scoring game between these two teams. The Cold Stars is
pretty good. The Cole Star kind of uh, they're trying
to adjustice not having Anthony Richton anymore at quarterback. They've
got Garner Minshew is the trusted veteran for this coaching staff,

(46:58):
but you know it's he's kind of had a rough
past month of turnovers and and last week was just
to struggle to Billy move the ball against the Panthers,
even though they won with their defense. So if the
team that's trying to get back to how they used
to win a couple of years ago with Jonathan Taylor,
you know, he's had a kind of weird year off

(47:20):
of football and they've been easing him back in. And
if they could get him back to big Hatriots tall
two years ago on the Monday night game in Indianapolis,
that that is more how they want to play going forward,
because I think they realize they just have some tough
absences in the passing game right now, between Anthy Richmon
being out, Josh Downs, the rookie spot receivers banged up.

(47:45):
They haven't had their top tight end Jilanny Woods, whole
season and it's just been kind of hurky turkey in
that phase of the game. So there they really want
to be a downhill rushing team and so we'll see
if they can get back to that this week.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
What is the prognosis for they were getting back close
to somewhere to normal.

Speaker 6 (48:04):
Well, he's been building back into football shapes and last
week was the first time that just looked anecdotally like
he was there in terms of workload. He took almost
all the snaps for running backs. Part of it is
getting teams to let them run. So what the Panthers
were doing is they were running like a five man

(48:26):
defensive line and the Colts couldn't throw them out of that.
And it's the same thing that happened against the Jaguars
two weeks ago. And it kind of takes Shawnathon Taylor
out of the game a little bit until they can
hit enough passes to you know, lighten the box a
little bit as far as the explosiveness, doesn't Taylor looks
like that. He scored a screen touchdown last week. He

(48:49):
had a forty two yard run the week before. So
I think the speed, the vision, the cutback, the finish
to contact is there for him.

Speaker 5 (49:00):
Just kind of.

Speaker 6 (49:01):
Finding ways to give him, you know, the runs on
smart downs that were the box isn't the stack that
lets him lets him have a chance to really break one.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
You know. The part of the of the Colts team
that I guess that that I've noticed at least from
the get go, clearly because some of the injuries and
you know, Gardner Minshew playing quarterback and less than one
hundred percent Jonathan Taylor just trying to ease his way
back in as you've already described, guy that really sort
of I was curious about it, and then saw that
he had a really nice bounce back game and that
went over the over the the Panthers. This last week

(49:33):
was just Kenny Moore and what do you have to
He had two picks right and took him back for touchdowns.

Speaker 6 (49:38):
Correct, yeh first first time in Colt's history.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
So so this defense is making some plays and that
could be a big reason why certainly they won the
game last week.

Speaker 6 (49:51):
Yeah, last week was very much Kenny Moore. The Forrest
Buckner's just wrecking the game. It's interesting because the Colts
defense had actually really been struggling into that game. They
give it up thirty plus points in three straight games,
you know, just just having a hard time with quarterback
injuries and defensive tackle Rover Stewart suspended. Some things are

(50:14):
just piled up on them. But anymore, just he really
is having that bounce back year, looking like the pro
bowler he was a couple of years ago. And if
he if the coolest, can force teams to play through him.
And deal with the Forrest Buckner in the middle and
base their pass rush. That's where they're in a better spot.

(50:34):
If teams are able to pass protect and hit the
bone of the perimeter or just consistently run up the middle,
that's where they have a harder time playing defense.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
Yeah, and I think that based on what the Pagers
tried to do with Rimandri Stevenson last week, if they
hadn't been somewhat foolish with some of their stupid penalties,
I think, you know, Stevenson did a really good job
of running up the middle against the Commander, and it
seems to me that would be an opportunity at least
against the Colts. But you know, the Cults. At the

(51:06):
same time, though, I'm kind of looking at how they are,
and I mentioned, you know, Kenny Moore's big week, because
Mac Jones seems to have one or two really nonsensical
throws per game and they've gone a couple of them
have gone for pick sixes, and it would seem to
me that this might be an opportunity for mister Moore
or somebody else there in that difensive backfield to have
a big game.

Speaker 7 (51:26):
Over in Frankfurt, Yeah, that's why I would expect the
Patriots should try and wave at the number of times
he drops back to throw because it is going to
be a tough matchup where I know the Patriots have.

Speaker 6 (51:40):
Some injuries at wide receivers, those are really the spots
to try and get the Colts from the outside. If
you throw in the slot, Kenny Moore is just kind
of over everything right now, and in the pass rush
is getting home on a lot of teams. And so
I know Mac, you know, more mobile quarterbacks Lamar Jackson
even trouble, but a more pocket quarterback has a hundred

(52:04):
time getting in lays where he can throw around to
Forrest Buckner. So I think that's gonna be the Colts
defensive strategy is to try and get a big trouble
of big turnovers against Pac Jones, because uh, you know
they are They're hobbled at a couple of spots defensive
tackle and outside cornerback, and they're trying to kind of
make up for those with turnovers.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Got him all right? I have to ask you, Nate Atkins,
for the Ennaple to start joined us here in the playbook.
I got to ask you about Anthony Richardson because you know,
you know, the debate here is you know, is Nate
you know, I mean not Nate? Excuse me? Is uh.

Speaker 5 (52:39):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (52:40):
The quarterback Mac Jones? Thank you, I can't spit it
out already, mac Jones. Is he the guy for this
team's long term future? That the question has been asked
more than once, I think everybody's tending to say that, no,
he probably isn't. Is Richardson still the guy for the
Colt's future in your estimation?

Speaker 6 (52:56):
Yeah, as well as they can find a way to
get him healthy and keep him on the I think
everyone here was in love with the player and the
person that they saw for the moment they drafted him.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
He's been as.

Speaker 6 (53:09):
Styled in and professional as you can imagine. And on
the field, you know, there's a lot of talk that
he was going to take time to get on the
field he's so young, but really what he needed was
reps and it turned out that he was further along
as a passer than I think a lot of people realize.
He's able to create explosive games down the field, led

(53:31):
them back from a twenty three to zero deficit to
the Rams, and you know, he mostly protected the ball.
I think he only had two turnovers, only one interception,
so he did not really look like an overwhelmed rookie.
But he did look like a guy who had the
lead upside as a runner and as a guy could
really get the ball down the field. And they loved

(53:52):
him as a teammate, and it just was a really
unfortunate string of injuries that kind.

Speaker 5 (53:57):
Of ended his season.

Speaker 6 (53:58):
And that's going to be the conversation for them is
how did they unleash the rushing and keep him on
the field. But I think as a as a person,
as a player, they couldn't be any more convinced that
they found the guy they want.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Well, this Indy team comes in at four and five.
I'm not sure what the expectations were from your perspective,
but is four and five where this team should be?

Speaker 5 (54:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (54:24):
I think it might even be a half step further
that I thought they would be. They had really scaled
the roster back after they only one four games last year,
and they had really embraced the youth movement at a
lot of important positions like quarterback, offensive tackle, cornerback, and

(54:44):
so I didn't know if they would have enough at
the premium positions to win these games. I think Shane
Stike is getting a lot out of what he has
on offense, which which is pretty limited at some spots.
You know, their offensive d but the lines have really
stepped up and you know, been been better than I
think a lot of people thought they would be. So

(55:08):
maybe water or maybe leveling a little bit because they
have lost three of four and then they beat the
Panthers last week, and you know that may be more
about the Panthers, but this was a team cone of
the year I thought would win maybe five games or so. Wow,
So I think they're a little there's a step above that.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
At least they're only one in four at home though,
I noticed, and that's the same problem with the Patriots
have had, Chris, Patriots can't really win on the road
either right now. But one and four at home? Why
why the disparity between home and road play? Do you think.

Speaker 6 (55:39):
That's so hard to figure out? The Colts have actually
lost nine of their past ten home games.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
Wow, last year that's crazy.

Speaker 6 (55:46):
So it is it is crazy. I mean part of
that was they were they lost seven in a row
to end last year, so some of that's that, But yeah,
it's it's strange.

Speaker 5 (55:56):
They did.

Speaker 6 (55:57):
They did very dialed in efforts. On the road. They've
just outside of Jacksonville, where they never play well, They've
gotten the lead and they played within themselves on the road,
and at home is where they just commit a lot
of turnovers and you know, just other fat mental mistakes.
So I don't know, if they lose a little bit

(56:17):
of focus, they can go have it easier at home.
I sometimes it's happened to where when they need that
bounce back win off of a home loss or on
the road. So I don't know, it's been hard to
figure out so far.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
All right, final one then for you date, and again
thanks for the time. Are you are you still? Are
you going over to Frankfort for this?

Speaker 6 (56:38):
I am going over. I fly out early afternoon tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
Okay, do you know how to speak German?

Speaker 6 (56:45):
I don't know how to speak German, even though it's
a lot of my family ancestry. But luckily I hear
that just about everyone there speaks a little bit of English,
at least in the Frankfort area.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
They do. But understand, I want you to understand, because
this is also a part of my family background as well.
Understand that most Germans, even though they can speak English,
they won't offer to speak English to you unless you
ask them to. Oh so, just a word to the rise.
I want to help out my friends that are heading

(57:16):
over to Germany with a little German etiquette. There are
two things that I already mentioned. The other one on
the program here today was when you're drinking a beer, okay,
you're gonna clink glasses, which is usually a sort of
a German tradition, but especially if you're doing it for
someone with someone from Germany, look them in the eye.
Otherwise it's an insult. Oh okay, So I just thought i'd.

Speaker 6 (57:38):
Share that it's room temperature, right.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Unfortunately, they don't like it ice cold like we do.
They prefer it tepid. I think that's probably the best
way to put it. And and and it's a little
it's a little tough to get used to. I mean,
it's it's not like it's warm beer, but it's not
you know, I like, you know, we like you know,
an ice cold, frosty one, you know where you get
the you know, the icicles on the mug type of thing.

(58:06):
They don't do it like that. They don't do it
like Okay, So I just you know, figured I throw
that one out. One other positive thing that you can
think about this Colts team that's really been a little
bit of a surprise to you this year. You've already
mentioned that, shoot there a little ahead of schedule maybe
than what I thought they would be. Who's performed beyond

(58:26):
expectation in your estimation In that regard, I.

Speaker 6 (58:31):
Think the biggest surprise has been the close offensive line.
So last year they were just really a disaster unit.
They kept changing the lineup up and they they just
couldn't keep any rushers free and turn it over all
the time. And this year's group's playing much better together
and really the growth of their left tackle Bernard Ryman,

(58:52):
who got thrown in last year. He's this will be
an instant game for him. He's from Austria, so he's
going to have tons of family there, and last year
it was just way too early for him. This year
he's bigger, stronger, much more comfortable and confident. And it's
gotten Quentin Nelson their left guard, back to being an
All Pro, gotten their center Ryan Kelly back closer to

(59:13):
being a Pro Bowl type player, and that group has
just really brought it to go to where they can
they can run the ball pretty well and avoid disaster.
You know, the brutal sacks haven't hit them outside of
one game against Miles Garrett, which happens to kind of everybody.
Uh but but that group, really, I think is has
stepped up and allowed, you know less less to be

(59:36):
on the plate of the skill players and that that's
been a big difference this year.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
All Right, safe travels. Nate, really appreciate the time today.
I realized it's a it's a tough trip for players
and media because you won't be there for that long.
But I do hope you get a chance to drink
a couple of tepid ones at the releast.

Speaker 6 (59:54):
Absolutely, we'll do it. I'll make sure to look them
in the eye when I clean.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
I figured you might like that. All right, very good,
Thank you. Nate, appreciate the time today.

Speaker 6 (01:00:03):
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
You got it. Nate Atkins who covers the colts for
the Indianapoli Star. You can find him on x at
Nate Atkins at k K I n S Underscore. That's
where you find him at Nate Atkins Underscore on x Twitter.
Whatever the hell it is, Okay, Russell Baxter joins us

(01:00:24):
in half an hour, But I want to make sure
that you know the phone lines are open eight five
five p A t s five hundred eighty five five
pats five hundred. I gotta I gotta find some positives.
I need some positives. And I'm kind of jones in
for him a little bit here, just I'm sure like
Claire was when she had me on her Claire Perspective
podcast yesterday when we recorded it, or whenever the hell

(01:00:45):
it was that we recorded What's Today Wednesday? When do
we do that? Claire? We did it Monday, right, and
you put it out yesterday, and obviously you gotta spend
some time listen to it. She's one of the ones
that you should definitely listen to because she puts a
lot of passion into her performance. And and for those
that have listened to the show, you know that she's
been a frequent caller in the past, and we encouraged her.
I encouraged her, you know, to take that passion, put

(01:01:06):
it forward and you know, write a few articles here
and there and start a podcast. And she's found a
landing spot and she's developed it quite nicely. And I
would encourage that of any you know fan that really
wants to get into the biz. That's what it's out
there for. And there are some really good podcasts. We
even earlier this year. It was the last preseason show,
and I assume that we'll do it again in this

(01:01:28):
coming off season. We'll take a couple of shows of
the off season and invite podcast hosts Patriots podcast hosts
to be guest hosts on this show, and we'll exchange
views ideas, give you a chance to promote your own
podcast so somebody who might not know about your pod
might tune you in, listen to you, sample your product,
see what you know, that kind of thing, And we'll

(01:01:50):
do that again this next year. Because you know, information
is not exclusive to just you know, one or two people,
or just because we happen to be here at Let's
Stadium in Foxborough doesn't mean that we hold all the opinions.
I think what we hold here are educated opinions based
on the fact that we've been around the team for
a long time. But it doesn't mean we hold every opinion.

(01:02:10):
And I think that's kind of what we like to hear.
We like to hear what other people are thinking, of
what other people are doing. And what other people are
talking about. And so that's what we try to share
here on the show and hopefully see if we can't
create some really good dialogue, because again, that's what this
is all about. It's about the sharing the dialogue and
about trying to figure out a way to fix this thing.
I mean, in the past, it was easy to talk

(01:02:32):
about a team that was seven and two rather than
two and seven. You're seven and two, you're figuring, you know,
oh my gosh, you know, Okay, well they lost two
games and holy smokes, you know, are they going to
be in the running for the number one? See? Blah
blah blah, you know, and that's usually what the edication is.
It's a little different story this year, isn't it. And

(01:02:53):
it's just weird. It just doesn't sit well. And that's
why I'm asking for some kind of a positive outlook.
I threw out a couple. I mean, I honestly believe that,
you know, there might end up being a positive outlook here.
If a guy like a one who intrenches himself at

(01:03:14):
right tackle, that's what they really need to do. And
they need to find a reliable left tackle because Trent
Brown has been as reliable as you know, teats on
a hog. I'm just you know, I'm just like, wow,
for such a massive sized man, he's just been woefully inconsistent.

(01:03:36):
He's got a lot of talent, got a lot of ability,
but I've seen him, I've seen him whipped like a
runned mule on occasion. This year not good. Hasn't been fun.
I'm sure it hadn't been fun for Mac Jones either,
and you definitely need, you know, some help with offensive guard.
I know that, you know, he's been a trial by

(01:03:57):
fire thing for you know, guys like Tonio Maffi especially.
You know, Cole Strange has been banged up much of
this year. He went out, you know what after the
first play of the season, for God's sake, before you know,
coming back in. And even though he's played respectably, I
think the last couple of weeks, you know, you still
haven't had you know, what your your you're projected starting
offensive line, the lineup was gonna be, you still haven't

(01:04:19):
had it. You know, Calvin Anderson just got put on
ir He's done for the year. I think we all
expected more out of Calvin. So there are there's still
some answers that need to be found there. But I
think that they took a little bit of a step
maybe in allowing them with higher draft choices to only
having to settle for one high draft pick as an

(01:04:41):
offensive linman instead of two. Now, it doesn't mean they
won't draft another someone who could play right tackle somewhere
down the line, but I certainly believe, you know, that
isn't as much as of a priority as maybe if
you're drafting in the top five to seven, which it
looks like the Patriots right now are on target for
next April, You're probably thinking skilled more than anything else.

(01:05:03):
I'm not gonna say quarterback. I'm not going to go
that route. I've told you before, and this is before
I saw, you know, Caleb Williams sort of, you know,
emotionally implode this last weekend after they got beat by
Washington and you know and blubber, you know, in the
arms of his mother in the stands after USC loss
to Washington. And look, I'm not you know, blaming him

(01:05:25):
for being emotional that you know happens to everybody, but
I'm just kind of like, wow, you also need to
consider that in the US, these three losses, they were
all to nationally ranked teams. He hasn't beaten a nationally
ranked team for the trophan this year's quarterback. You know, yes,
I know he won the Heisman Trophy a year ago,
but you know who have they beaten? And you think

(01:05:46):
he's gonna come in here and be the be all
to end all that quarterback? Come on, I'm not sure
that the answer is. You know, what's his name? From
North Carolina. I'm just not sure. I'm not I'm not
tuned into that. I'm just not Drake May. I'm not
tuned into it. Michael Pennick's from Washington. I think he's

(01:06:08):
got some mobility. You know, as a lefty, he certainly
is unconventional. I mean I saw him throw that touchdown pass,
uh this past weekend on the dead run to the sideline,
and it's almost like on the dead run he threw
the dart into the end zone, and I mean, how
do you guard that? How do you defend that? I
don't know. It was a hell of an athletic play.

(01:06:29):
I mean, it was a laser of a throw and
it was a great catch. And yeah, he's got some
talent there. But I'm just saying, wow, I mean, I
don't know. If it's top five, top seven, I think you,
I mean, depending upon who's out there. I just this
team has a lot of need. I just don't and
because you're good at least for another year. I mean,
if you if the guy isn't there, that you know

(01:06:51):
that you can depend upon for the next five full years.
And I think we're coming to the conclusion that Mac
Jones is not that guy. And it's taken his three
years in one bum year in between, really two years
to determine that. I mean, nobody would have said this
this time two years ago. This time two years ago,
Mac Jones was a rookie quarterback leading his team to

(01:07:12):
the playoffs. Think about that for a moment. Okay, and
people ask, what has Bill Belichick done since Tom Brady left. Well,
he took a rookie quarterback and him led the team
into the playoffs. There's something to be said for that,
and I don't think that gets enough credit. Now. You
can certainly blame Bill for what happened to the aftermath.
He is the head coach. There were some calculated moves

(01:07:36):
that just did not calculate. But I just max not
the problem. I'm going to reiterate that Max not the problem.
There's a lot of stuff that's broken around him. He
doesn't have the same weapons as a toua tongue of

(01:07:56):
Violoa has. He didn't have the same weapons. You know,
are's a lot of other quarterbacks don't have. He just
doesn't have them. And you've had underperformance from you know,
DeVante Parker and Juju Smith, Schuster and you know, and
from I mean name one. Every receiver is underperformed, cleaning
the tight ends. Everybody's underperformed. So if you think, you know,

(01:08:17):
you know, it's all on Max shoulders, then you're not
thinking straight. And I actually view that almost as a positive.
I'd love to see Mac have, you know, somebody who
can stretch the field. I'd love to see Mac have
somebody who could be considered a reliable, you know, slot
receiver that isn't hurt or damaged goods coming in, you know.

(01:08:40):
And I hear the often. Somebody stopped me, you know,
a couple of nights ago at the college basketball game,
I was doing. It's like, you know, what, what are
the pages you really need to do? They need to
they still need to you know, uh, yeah, they gotta
they gotta do something about Mac. And I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Max,
not the entire problem. That's easy say, that's an easy
thing because he's such a focal point. That's not really

(01:09:03):
the problem. Problem is everything else around him? Now? Is
he making you know, silly plays? Yeah? Is he throwing
across his body? And he did that again this last weeks,
Washington almost got it picked. Mac throwing to his left
across his body is been tough to watch. It's almost

(01:09:25):
like he loses a half a second with his delivery,
and so teams are ganging up when he goes to
the right because that's those are the passes that he
can drop in on a dime, and he's still got
some of that accuracy. But when he's on the run
and he's throwing across and he's going to his left,
that's a hard play to make. And I don't know

(01:09:46):
if that's just the nature of the receiver that was
there or what, but I'm like, wow, you know, there
are some lousy roots being run, and when you couple
that with some of the inaccuracy and underthrow and going
off the back foot and all that kind of stuff,
it's like that's a disaster. And it has proven to
be so. So how do we think positively? How do

(01:10:08):
we turn the negatives into positives. I'm just kind of
I'd really like to know what you think. Eight five
to five pats five hundred. Russell Baxter will join us
here in twenty minutes. Claire sends an email. She says,
thank you for the show, shout out. As for positives,
I think this team has more potential than it is

(01:10:28):
playing at So my positive is the hope we see
the real potential come through more the rest of the year.
And my guy Hunter Henry is still playing good. The
defense has lots of potential to even though it's been
hit with injuries, future can still be bright owe to
the light, you know. I think that, you know, there's
a lot to be said for that. I've always liked
Hunter Henry. By the way, Claire, my wife Robin, she

(01:10:52):
her favorite player is Hunter Henry too. She just thinks,
you know, he's good as a receiver, and he busts
his butt and he seems to be accountable, and that's
part of the reason why you see him speak to
the media during the course of the week. Here there's
like two or three guys that do that and they
sort of speak for everybody, and Hunter's one of those
guys because he's one of those guys that doesn't mind
being held accountable. I think that's a bright side. I

(01:11:13):
do think that's a positive, and I think the Patriots
should consider, you know, make sure that he's on that
list to bring back for next year. I don't know
about Mike GASICKI. He's been largely a disappointment, but then again,
Mike's been asked to do some things that maybe Mike
isn't the best at just because there have been some

(01:11:34):
offensive line issues throughout the course of this year. Still
would like to see him over the middle, as you know,
that big six foot six target, and we really haven't
seen a lot of that this year. And I don't
know why. And I don't know if that's a play
calling issue. I don't know if that's a mac issue.
I don't know if that's a Mike Gaziki issue. I
don't know what the issue is, but I would tell

(01:11:54):
you I've long been intrigued. When I heard that the
Patriots were getting him and signing him, I was thinking, Wow,
that's a great pick. And that's certainly been a big disappointment.
But it's hard for me to say that Hunter Henry's
been a disappointment because I think he's been about as
reliable a receiver as the Patriots have had this year.
So I would agree with that particular thing. Richard says, Hello,

(01:12:17):
just wondering where PU is. Dude. Richard, Thanks there in
Germany and they'll be providing programming starting tomorrow on Thursday.
Appreciate you, though, Christian. I know everyone is raving for
us to draft a QB in this draft, but just
looking at what Garrett Wilson is doing for Zach Wilson,

(01:12:38):
who is an average QB at best, I think the
best route is to get that elite pass catcher. It
elevates whatever quarterback to a higher level. Here's my plan.
If I was GM, give me Bowers or well, I
can't even read that. Come on, Christian, what are we
doing here? MHJ trade up if needed, and okay, Marvin

(01:13:00):
Harrison and draft Daniels in the second round. Re signed
KB and Mike Evans in free agency. An offense that
consists of KB, Evans, Douglas, Bowers or MHJ is a
good start to long process. We have a head for
the team. Let me kind of look at that individually.
Uh yeah, I think you're you know, uh uh you're
looking at Kendrick Bourne, and I would agree with that.

(01:13:22):
Bourne was one of the guys that before he you know,
uh hurt himself and towards his ACL that he was
one of those guys that I think you could count on.

Speaker 6 (01:13:29):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:13:29):
He was having a better year than certainly had a
year ago. I'd love to see that as well. How
much of his ACL, though, is going to be you know,
healable and rehabitable in time for him to come back
and be uh, you know, a contributor at the start
of next season. We don't know that yet.

Speaker 6 (01:13:44):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:13:45):
Mike Evans in free agency, I have to give that
a little bit more thought. My initial inclination is as
I'm watching a replay of the uh the Bucks and
the Texans on NFL Network. Uh, my inclination is is, Okay,
let's see if he's got left in the tank, especially
if you're not paying premium dollars. I actually I am

(01:14:05):
trending to think now that Marvin Harrison Junter might be
the top pick in the NFL draft. Might be I
think it'd be unusual likely to have a wide receiver
go that route. But at the same time, I think
he could be considered because I think teams are going
to tend to shy away from Caleb Womans. I just do.

(01:14:26):
And if you've got a top five to seven pick,
which it seems like the Patriots are trending for at
this time, then you know what are they right now forth?
I think I'm not sure where we'll end up, but
I would tell you that you got a lot of needs,
and I want somebody who I know can contribute right away.
And what is the biggest need. What's the major need?

(01:14:51):
I gotta have points, man, I gotta have something on offense.
This team has hit twenty what once. It's incredible to
think that in this day and age of five wide
spread offense, shotgun all the time kind of thing, that
the Patriots can't score. It's dumbfounding, and so you got

(01:15:12):
to figure out a way to add an extra seven
to ten points a game, minimum minimum. That's what I think.
Christian also says, please do not waste a first round
pick on a tackle. Save that for next year. Resign
a Winnu and Brown. They're serviceable at the tackle spots.

(01:15:34):
Plug in the eighteen ol that Bill drafted last draft
at guard. I'm not sure is that eighteen? Is that
what this says? Or is that one b I can't
read that, Thanks Christian, Okay, I think I understand your
thought process there. I think there are a couple of

(01:15:55):
tackles that will be you know, certainly more than two
tackles that'll be first round worthy. I just don't know,
depending upon where the Patriots pick, if that high, those
tackles should go that high. I hate to say it.
I can see the Patriots trading down for more draft
pick stock and then taking a tackle later in the
first round. I could see it, depending upon what happens

(01:16:18):
a free agency, and I think we all know there
will be an increased amount of cap space and the
Patriots have some money to spend. There'll be one of
the top you know, available spenders in the league for
next year. We've known that for a couple of years now.
Our good buddy Cap Pat's Cap keeps reminding me of that,
you know, since I, you know, follow his posts all
the time. And I could see that happening. And there

(01:16:40):
will be people that will be totally ripped at Bill
for doing that. I could see that happening because there's
no doubt tackles a need, and I think you need
more than just serviceable at tackle. When you have a
quarterback that occasionally has footwork issues and Mac does. When
you have a quarterback that isn't exactly nimble or nifty
a foot, you need extra protection. I think you need

(01:17:04):
to have elite at the ends. The Patriots barely have
serviceable barely, and I don't think serviceable is what they need,
which is why I think there has to be some
consideration to the offensive line in the first round. There
just has to be. We talked about this last year
before last April's Draft, we talked about, hey, don't be surprised,

(01:17:24):
like the Patriots they could tackle the first round. And yes,
Christian Gonzales slipped down to them at seventeen, and it's like, okay,
well that's a no brainer. I realized that they you know,
they got to take the guy because you know, you
can have a foundation piece to your defensive backfield for
years to come. And and so I understand them making
a move, But save somebody else, save for someone else

(01:17:45):
slipping down like that in the first round and then
falling to you or in your lap like Christian Gonzales.
Did I think you need another offensive lineman? Do we
not need that? Do we not recognize that now after
all of the struggles on the offensive line, Oh, don't
take an offensive lineman. They can get those in the
third or fourth round. Stop that thought process, Stop it
right now, stop it. You need what you need. You

(01:18:09):
need offensive help, you need receiver, you need alignman. You
might need a running back. I think you do. And hell,
if he falls down to you, you might take a quarterback.
You might. You need too much, You need too much.
That's the issue, that's the problem. Okay, so you can't

(01:18:30):
really afford, you know, to to choose. You really can't.
Let's see, let me go with Michael says this. He
goes John first time. Long time. I racked my brain
trying to come up with positives, and this is what
I came up with. Pop Douglas. He's the reason I

(01:18:50):
keep tuning in. He is the most dynamic weapon. Mac has.
His punt returns need to be smarter, but at least
he takes accountability about it. That could be fixed and
we'll be ironed out. Appreciate you, brother, hey, I appreciate
the thought, Michael, thank you, and I would agree with
you one hundred and ten percent, you know, save for
his little brain feart when he fumbled earlier in the season.

(01:19:14):
He got caught in Bill's doghouse, and look, say what
you want to about, you know, Bill, even having a doghouse.
Bill's going to be Bill. Have you not noticed that
over the last twenty two years before this one, that
this is the way he operates. He's attempting, in his
own somewhat semi antiquated way, He's attempting to force accountability

(01:19:39):
on individuals. This is his way of doing it. Now
you can argue whether it's right or wrong, but at
least he's trying. He's trying to get these guys to
hold themselves accountable. And I bemoaned that at the start
of the show. The two things this team is onundisciplined
and this team has no accountability. Bill's trying to fix that.
And I'm not a Bill of I never have been.

(01:20:01):
We could be critical here of the coach, just like
when anybody else could be critical of the coach. I'm
just merely pointing out this is what he's doing. If
you don't see it, this is what he's doing. He's
trying to hold him accountable. And as far as Pop
Douglass is concerned, I may have worked. Now does that
mean he's never gonna fumble again. No, it's a violent sport,

(01:20:24):
it's a physical sport. It happens, but he's aware of it.
And that's the point. Sometimes players just react and they
just and they don't they don't think about it. And
ball security has to be a part of the reaction,
and so you have to put that little bug in

(01:20:46):
their heads so they don't hold the ball out like
you know, as a coach once described to me a
loaf of bread. You know, when you take the loaf
of bread off of the shelf at the grocery store
and you just kind of grab at it and you
just hold it loosely and then you toss it into
your asking or whatever. That's how some of these guys
treat the football. And that's what you don't want them
to do, right, I mean, And that's when guys usually

(01:21:11):
lose it, or when somebody comes in from behind and
they see that football extended out from you know, the body,
and they will punch at it. And guess what, shame
on you if you're a dB or a linebacker. You're
making a play and you don't punch at the ball
if you see the ball swing out. That's also part
of personal accountability, and a lot of guys just don't

(01:21:32):
think that. But yeah, Pop Douglas isn't. He's an obvious one.
He's an obvious one, Pop obviously being his nickname. You know,
do Mario Douglas whatever you want to call him. But
you know, he's been a bright spot. I feel like,
you know, he's the one guy on this team that
can make a big play, if not a positive play,

(01:21:53):
every time he touches the ball. And the Patriot frankly,
need more than just him to do that. They don't
have that guy. They need another receiver, they need maybe
you know, a tight end that can do that. They
need a running back that can do that. We saw
that from Romandre for the first time all year with
a career long run against Washington this past weekend. Sixty

(01:22:14):
four yards. That's what I expected to see. We expect
him to, you know, hit the crease and boom, go,
let's pull a guard and get behind somebody and open
a hole. That's the first time we've seen that happen
this year, and we did see that Stevenson has still,
you know, a little bit of life left in the
legs where you can hit that whole hard and go

(01:22:35):
the distance, and he did that. You need to see
more than that, and we need to see more people
have that capability. So there are a lot of things
there that you need. I think Douglas brings some of
that to the table. I would definitely put him in
a bright spot and I definitely put him in that category.
Is there anything else out there? I mean anything at all? Actually,

(01:22:59):
Richard writes back and he says, mister Rook, I'm sorry, wow,
mister Rook. Now it's mister Rook. Thank you, Richard. I
appreciate that. Mister Rook is my father.

Speaker 3 (01:23:07):
Sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:23:08):
I didn't mean for where to come off like that.
I'm a year round loyal listeners to the playbook. I
appreciate you, Richard. I'm just having fun with you. I
do have a question when I watch the Patriots, it
looks like they're running through water. Is that just a
lack of speed or do you think the team has
given up? Yeah, it's a fair question. It's a lack
of speed. They're faster than they were a year ago.

(01:23:30):
They're quicker than they were I think a year ago,
especially on the defensive side of the ball, but they're
still not fast enough, and especially when you compare them
to a team like Miami, that's an issue, that's a
real issue. Miami is the I've said this several times
already this year. Miami is the fastest team I've seen,

(01:23:52):
maybe ever, with the speed that they have. And yet
Miami lost again last week. They lost to Kansas City
when they were playing, you know, in Germany. And they're
six and three, and yet they still lead the division.
Buffalo is flip flopping and wear a little bit as well.
It got some issues. They're five and four. I mean,
my god, the division was right there for the taking
this year, you know. I mean, in all reality, you

(01:24:18):
look at the Patriots trigere, they're two and seven. I
feel like that they probably should be four and five.
You know, I think if things had turned out closer
to the way most everybody expected this season to turn out,
considering the schedule and some of the injuries and all
that they've had, I feel like this team should probably
be about where the Colts are, and that's four and

(01:24:40):
five and if they were four and five, you'd be
two games out of first place with eight still to play.
And to me, that's I'm like, wow, that's okay. So
you're competitive, it's right there for the taking. And wow.
So I don't want to say that they're not that

(01:25:02):
far off, because I still think they are far off.
But I'm just saying, that's the environment, that's the that's
the that's the universe and which you operate today. And
so you know, you got to know how your opponents
are built and and and where you can you know, uh,
hopefully attack them in a future time. And and I

(01:25:24):
just they still need to be faster, they still need
to be quicker, and they still need to be more
explosive on offense. And I think that's pretty easy to see.
Eldred in North Carolina, Hey, Eldred, how are we doing.

Speaker 5 (01:25:37):
Fine day, mister Lynch, and how you doing today?

Speaker 1 (01:25:39):
I'm okay. Claire wanted me to tell you that she
wanted to make sure that you knew to download her
podcast because you're being talked about in the podcast. Oh no,
it's all good. It's all good, brother, okay.

Speaker 5 (01:25:55):
Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:25:55):
Yeah, So it's it's called a Claire perspective, Claire Claire perspective.

Speaker 5 (01:26:01):
I could do that.

Speaker 1 (01:26:02):
Okay, So there you go. Okay, yes, sir, she knew
that you would. She knew that you would call into
the show. She says, will you please tell Eldred that
since we're talking about him, that he needs to download
the podcast and tell me, you know what he thinks.
So there you go, there's your invitation. Be glad to
all right, there you go, there you go.

Speaker 5 (01:26:21):
Yeah, I'll be glad to talk to Claire. I like
hearing on the show sometimes too, when I do get
to hear, right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:26:28):
Yeah, totally totally all right. So what's on your mind?

Speaker 3 (01:26:31):
Brother?

Speaker 5 (01:26:32):
But's on my mind?

Speaker 1 (01:26:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:26:35):
This year and next year? And I'm like everybody else
cause everybody keeps saying it won't build gone cause it
is this way of doing things, and like they said
on on that post game show, and we just, like
I told him, it ain't the it's the talent. You'll

(01:26:57):
let go of the wrong people and hangs on to
the wrong you know, And like I told him before,
it's always people are there that we need and we
don't get and he don't want to pay some of
most of those guys, you think you can do it
this way and that way. But the rocks, the building
we would have, we wouldn't have all them in the hole.
If you just hit one of those for the.

Speaker 1 (01:27:17):
Last Bowl drive, you know, you're you're right, You're you're
one hundred percent right. I gotta give you credit for that.
You're right right there, You're right. But I would tell
you that I'm not sure that's going to be a
problem this year because I can't imagine that the Crafts
will allow status quo to remain status quo because of
the problems they've experienced this year. Some things have to change.
And because the salary cap is going to increase, there

(01:27:38):
will be some money spent this year. It has to happen.

Speaker 5 (01:27:43):
Yes, I understand that. But see, you're like before you
go overpaid to agent wide receivese he and doing that
much for you. Now you pay them. You could have
got d hopped, you know. And I don't care if
Parker got mad. He ain't did nothing in three years
for nobody. You know, you see what de hop Bill
po Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (01:27:59):
I understand that. They I think they they yeah, they
they made a mistake. That is a mistake.

Speaker 5 (01:28:04):
Yeah, miss that They ain't the only one though in
the draft wise, but everybody, I'm with you, mister legend.
I want nothing to do with Calebb Williams nothing. You
know May of May he's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:28:18):
But I can't tell me about Drake May. You you
see him play because you're you're in North Carolina? What
about him?

Speaker 5 (01:28:23):
He does pretty good? But competition wie. He plays out
a little bit like with my team. I'm a Florida
State guy. Yeah, when we played him, uh, that defense
got to him and Jordan Jordan Travis had a during
good day against the defense. And I keep asking bringing
that up with Evans. He gonna be a second round draft.

(01:28:44):
I can't see how they They undefeated, They fighting for a
playoff that might mean to be in the championship. Right now,
they're doing good. He's been there four years. I'm on
the five. He's been starting. He's mobile, he got a
strong arm, and he also a pocket pass, and he's accurate.
Way acted Matt and no matter. I know it's college pros.
You know you can't, but they got people coming at

(01:29:04):
him too. He could scramble, set his feet and got
a strong thrown a arm and I and he's six four. Yeah,
and like I said before, he's no bean Pole. But
I would love to have Marvin Harrison. But you think
Marven Harrison thing you tell him now, we ain't going
to the Patriots.

Speaker 1 (01:29:21):
Yeah, I mean all bad memories. I understood, understood. I
just don't know. I mean, first of all, I think
he's gonna shot at being one of the top picks,
if not the top pick in the draft. And I
don't know if the Patriots are going to be that.

Speaker 5 (01:29:34):
Bad he will be. Yeah, he's gonna He's a generation player.
And like I told them before, I'll shoot the moon.
Just go get him, you know, even though Matt still
be there, but I will get him if I have
a second around draft pick, and if Jordan's Travis is there,
I'll grab him next because that guy gonna replace Matt. Okay,

(01:29:58):
if you don't replace Matt, he's a better back up
this dappy, you know. And remember I remember the beginning
of the year, I said, let's play Max and move up.
Get CJ. Sprout. Everybody said, all right, Elder's death, know
that thing. Never, we won't do it. They won't do that.
Drout got the same offense we gut and he put
a five hundred four and some yards full touch down
every game. He looked like crap during pre season, but

(01:30:20):
I knew that board accurate and could move and you know,
and in the pocket too. And he's a competitor.

Speaker 1 (01:30:26):
All right, maybe maybe, but you know, man just had
one good week. Let's see him put a couple together,
and I want to see what happened.

Speaker 5 (01:30:32):
They had more than one good week. Come on, now,
you don't have more than one good week, sir? You
better his stats to.

Speaker 1 (01:30:36):
Matt Okay, oh yeah, okay, we won't. Yeah, I totally,
I understand completely. He's got better. He's got you know,
he's got mobility for one, So I mean that.

Speaker 5 (01:30:47):
That's that better weapons except for tank Dale. Tank Dale
is another Pop Dudley.

Speaker 3 (01:30:52):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:30:53):
Now the guys on the outside coming on a little
bits attle bit better. But he put a four and
seventy yards five touchdown last game. He put up three
hundred some yards and three touchdown dog the game. Just
look at his stats from game one to now, from
game one and then put max that to it. You know.
But then again, like I said, you know, that's that's me.

Speaker 1 (01:31:15):
No, that's that's fair. That's fair okay, so all right,
because he's broken, let me ask you then the question
of the day here, and find me one positive out
of this mess that we've watched this year thus far.

Speaker 5 (01:31:28):
One positive, yep. I'm not everybody else pop Douglas and
and Gunzales. That was my dream pick. And I was
happy to where he was coming along until he got hurt.

Speaker 1 (01:31:38):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:31:39):
And and my disappointment is that crazy GM. We got
you to cut six three six three corner that runs
a four to three corner, four to three speed, and
the coach got him. Then you go. Then you go
get another one that sixty one runs a four six

(01:32:00):
h ford. You see the difference. Like I said at beginning,
out to put him foulding and and Gonzales out there,
and that's that's gonna be my starting corners. And I
was just waiting. You know, you could have some problems,
but they got speed and the height to run with them,
guys Bryant Jones and uh that come found the other guy.
They can't cover a coming cold with a handkerchief, so

(01:32:23):
you know I wouldn't not. Now there's the secondary again, sir,
The sucking dairy.

Speaker 1 (01:32:29):
Sucking dairy can't cover a cold with a handkerchief. I
like that with a handkerchief. I like that. I'm going
to steal that. Elder. You can't thank you, but you're right,
you're right, But I'll give you full credit for it,
all right, mm hm yes, sir.

Speaker 5 (01:32:45):
And And like I said, one thing you can't coach
is speed and height, you know, no matter what, I
don't care if you got a five nine guy running
the four tooth g and I jumped that sixty two
sixty three guys, I don't care a special quarterback accurate
at accurate and uh I would never thought the Sam Howe.
I saw him in North Carolina too, but when he

(01:33:07):
came out didn't play. I was in press.

Speaker 1 (01:33:09):
Yeah. Right, listen, guy's got he's got moxie. I'll give
him that, right, he's got it. Yeah. And and I'd
like the fact that, you know, he's been pummeled so
badly this year because you know, the the Commanders have
had a hard time, you know, with their offensive line.
Guy's been sacked forty one times. And that was a
little bit of a disappointment last week in the loss
because I know the Patriots had three QB sacks or

(01:33:31):
technically but didn't really seem like they put enough pressure
on the guy. And man, he's like the energizer bunny.
He just keeps going. That's one tough customer exactly.

Speaker 5 (01:33:40):
And that boy got on. I knew he had an arm.
I didn't think it was that strong and that good.

Speaker 1 (01:33:45):
Yeah, yeah, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:33:46):
And then the black I said, you know he got
to play makers two.

Speaker 1 (01:33:49):
Yep, and ter McLaren is definitely one of them.

Speaker 5 (01:33:53):
Yeah, And we worked him out, you know, ben't let
him go. Dotson came through.

Speaker 1 (01:34:00):
Why why do they have why are they in your estimation?
Why do they have such a hard time making a
call on wide receivers?

Speaker 5 (01:34:06):
No, sir, I'm gonna be honest with you. Bill ain't
no dummy. Bill. He reads the report. You see the
sky report. You see how good these guys. You just
see the thing. You know, at the end of the contract,
them guys are gonna want their money.

Speaker 1 (01:34:19):
He don't want to the problem, that's the problem, and
he gonna get Well.

Speaker 5 (01:34:25):
A guy uh in a draft draft round one is
a guy in drownd six just as good. That now
is the reason why your first round draft pick is
the reason why you sick sometime those six guys were
got because they got a problem or they got that
chip on. They show they won't show everybody you passed them,
but not all of them like that. And then some
of those first round it's gonna take him a couple

(01:34:46):
of years to you know, get back up to that.
Then they then they show out like Doc. It took
Dawson two years, but I gave him another year. Him
and him and mclarin't gonna be gonna be in trouble.
And they sam back there. They're gonna be a good offer.
That's why they're sticking with him, and and Jakobe ain't
got in there yet. And Jacobe's teaching them. So you know,

(01:35:07):
I hate that. But but you in the fifth round,
we passed them full times.

Speaker 1 (01:35:13):
That's true. Hey, you know what the pressing question is
right now on my mind? What are you doing for
brunch with the Patriots on Sunday morning since they kick
off at nine thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:35:24):
Well, I'm gonna have me some hangover.

Speaker 1 (01:35:27):
Peels, you know, Well you could you you could solve
that all in one and one fell swoop with a
bloody Mary.

Speaker 6 (01:35:34):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:35:36):
Yes, so that too. But see, my family, like my
brother in law, he's the coach fan and I used
to rag him all the time with so now he said, man,
your boys, is you like you're like what you said
my team was tune up for my team, Yeah, to
get better for the next team.

Speaker 1 (01:35:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:35:52):
And that's how everybody's talking about me now, y'all Tune
up guys. Now you ain't. Nobody's fear of y'all now well,
and it ain't because of Bill Brady. And they make
sure they say that.

Speaker 1 (01:36:02):
Yeah, of course, well let them let them take their shots.
Let them take their shots, that's all it's. You know,
they haven't had a chance to take their shots at you,
so let them have it because it won't be long.
You know that they'll be able to do that.

Speaker 5 (01:36:13):
Yes, I hope not. You're going down.

Speaker 1 (01:36:18):
Have a little faith, right, I had a little faith. Brother,
be safe out there.

Speaker 5 (01:36:23):
Yes, so you too.

Speaker 1 (01:36:24):
You got it all right? Our buddy Elder in North Carolina,
get out of his way whatever you do.

Speaker 4 (01:36:33):
It's a real woman could stop you from drinking.

Speaker 6 (01:36:36):
Yes, a big woman.

Speaker 1 (01:36:37):
It's time to go around the NFL with football guru
Russell Baxter. Now what the name is Flounder on Patriots playbook?
Mister Baxter, thanks for hanging in there brother with us.
How are you today?

Speaker 3 (01:36:53):
Why I was kidding Faith, you know, when Elders is on,
I was hoping to get on by five or four.

Speaker 1 (01:36:59):
I know.

Speaker 3 (01:37:00):
Sorry, you take it for what it's worth.

Speaker 1 (01:37:05):
Yeah, right, totally, totally, you know. Uh, it's just you know,
and you and I have talked about this before, Russell,
But I mean, this is just a different territory in
which we are treading right now. And I know is
interesting because I saw you you tweeted at me earlier
today with an interesting piece that was out there about
you know, Bill Belichick's overall career. And I think that

(01:37:27):
some perspective, which is what we really try to provide
on this show. We try to provide perspective. So I
appreciate your your including me in the thought process of
what the bigger picture really looks like. It's just that
nobody's experienced this part of the picture for a while.
It's kind of like I liking it to having back
before cable TV was prevalent in this country. I liking

(01:37:48):
it to having rabbit ears on the television set, right
And you're trying to move it back and forth, and
and and and and you're trying to twist it and
turn it until the picture starts to get a little clearer,
and then you yell at you know, the kids, wait
right there, hold it. It's good. Now stand there for
the next six hours. And that's kind of where we

(01:38:08):
are with the Patriots. We're moving things back and forth
and we're just not getting a clear picture.

Speaker 3 (01:38:13):
Yeah, there's almost a sense of I don't want to
say denial, but more disbelief of what is happening. And
a loss like last week at home against the Washington
team that had given up at least thirty three points
in five of its first eight games. They you know,

(01:38:34):
they had two big plays and that was it. Yeah,
and you know that that had to be very very dishearden.
He knew while Washington moved the ball, you know they
didn't you know, Sam Howan taking a licking and keeps
on chicken. Yeah, and he had another big game there
receiving pour is I think is somewhat unsung with Terry

(01:38:56):
McLaurin and John Dotton for one, But I mean I
think that was a chance. You know, the AFC East
all took it over the gin this week they all lost,
and that was a it was weird this week because
they were There are actually two divisions the NFC went.

(01:39:17):
Every team lost like Dept. Francis San Francisco because they
didn't play, but they're riding a three game losing streak. Meanwhile,
every team in the AFC North one Denver didn't play
and the rest of the it was here and miss
rooms and divisions. But I know the Patriots have to
be kicking themselves a little. That Jets certainly have to

(01:39:38):
be kicking themselves after what happens on Monday. But New
England's you know, you asked Elgius, what's the saving grace
so far to take to this? You know, it's unfortunate
you've got to hang on the win over Buffalo, but
that that's really kind of it. I mean, the Patriots
haven't beaten the team outside.

Speaker 1 (01:39:59):
The division, I know, and that's that's all. I mean.
It's disconcerting, UH for whatever reason. I think we knew
that the schedule was difficult going in, UH, and it's proven,
yes to be difficult. I think that there was expectation
of the Patriots to have at least enough overt talent
to be able to be competitive, if not win one
or two of those and I said this a little
bit earlier before you joined us. I said, look, I'll

(01:40:20):
take a good, honest look at the nine games New
England has played thus far, and I'm going to tell
you that, I you know, when you you look at
it and put win lost, win loss, play that game
with it, this team should probably be about four and
five and there are only two games back of that.
And then although that's you know, that's a mile and
a half you know between you know, here and there.

(01:40:40):
And when you consider that Miami stumbled this last week,
as you said, everybody else in the AFC, he's lost
this week. That's why this team should be taking themselves
because they could conceivably be just two games out of
first place if they had just done what we sort
of semi expected them to do in the first place.

Speaker 3 (01:40:56):
Right, I mean we haven't seen answer listen and be honest,
it's still you know, most teams, you know, by the
end of this week, every team will played at least
nine games, and some teams will play ten. And that's
why the shameless plug my Power rankings that come out
on Tuesday will not only do rankings, but a new

(01:41:17):
season grade to all the thirty two seams.

Speaker 1 (01:41:19):
Excellent.

Speaker 3 (01:41:21):
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do my best with
the bets. Uh, we'll see what happens over in Germany
this week. Do you have this many times this year
where the Patriots and earlier listen, they lost tough games
to start out the season, Yeah, okay, but thirty four
nothing that homes the thanks. You know, I don't think

(01:41:44):
that they haven't beaten an NFC and that used to
be automatic for them.

Speaker 1 (01:41:47):
Yeah, it used to be.

Speaker 3 (01:41:49):
It is the last couple of years. So it's very
very I think. Now that being said, I'm gonna get
on my soap bumps a little because I had a
young man who took issue with the fact that, and
I will I will say to you, the idea that
you want your team to lose is moronic.

Speaker 1 (01:42:05):
Yeah, okay, right.

Speaker 3 (01:42:07):
And I don't care. You can take that for what
it's worth. But listen, if a team loses, they lose, Okay.
The idea that you almost want your team to lose
on purpose blows my money. And you know, if this
young man, you know, and said, well, you know, we
get better draft positions, Well, what's been the Patriots problem

(01:42:30):
the last few years drafting. It doesn't matter how many
years that the Browns had the first overall pick and boxed.

Speaker 1 (01:42:37):
It didn't seem to help them any And by the way,
I would say that anybody who says, oh, they should tank,
okay that you know, shame on the Houston Rockets for
doing that. But it's a lot easier to tank when
you have twelve players on a roster as opposed to
fifty three, because there's not that many players that you
have to manage. But if you are a true professional,
it is against your very being to throw in the town.

(01:43:00):
Everybody wants to compete, Nobody likes to get their butts whipped.

Speaker 3 (01:43:05):
Right well, as I cited to this young man, you know,
I've worked with players, I've worked with coaches, I've worked
with gms, I've worked with scots. I've been very fortunate
to do what I've done for the last it seems
like one hundred and fifty years. I've never heard one
of them, and I've asked them. They give you a

(01:43:27):
look like lose on purpose. They give you a look
like are you out of your you know what mine? Yes, okay,
And here's the thing. If you're a player who's willing
to do that. What good is they going to do
for a team to sign you with you have that
type of atitude. How many times have you seen players
bench because they're not Trney it happens?

Speaker 1 (01:43:50):
Well, yeah, in fact, I mean you know, you could
make an argument that that could be part of the
reason at least that you got J. C. Jackson, who
allegedly is not going to make the trip to Germany
this week and Jack Jones didn't start last week because
of an alleged missed curfew. Is that what we're understanding
could be the case, but it could also be just
because of their attitude and their lackadaisacal play.

Speaker 3 (01:44:10):
That's that's exactly right, And that doesn't that doesn't garner
you many points in free agency if your contract has expired.
But here's an example of something that I thought about
a couple of days ago, and I think you'll enjoy this.
And the Houston Texans done a lot of criticism last

(01:44:32):
year for winning their final game of the year. How
many people in our profession and the fan said, oh
my god, they screwed up the number one pick.

Speaker 1 (01:44:42):
Yeah yeah, everybody said that.

Speaker 3 (01:44:44):
Yeah, Well, so guess what they wound up with number two.

Speaker 1 (01:44:49):
Well, well, yeah, seemed to work out.

Speaker 3 (01:44:53):
Okay, yeah, yeah, they it's called integrity. Yeah, it's called
let the courts fall where they may. Yeah, Okay, you
don't want to lose someone purpose and you don't want
to lose. But if you're not, that's what you are
going to lose. And there's countless examples of teams that
quote unquote were out of it that have not teams
out of the playoffs the last two weeks. And you know,

(01:45:16):
the idea that somebody has nothing to do with football
other than being a fan and an angry fan. Once
professional players and coaches to compromise their integrity is let
me think of the word more ronic.

Speaker 1 (01:45:33):
I would tell you that that, like I said, that
person that asked for that, has never played a team
sport before, right, seriously, I don't think they have never
been on a team before.

Speaker 3 (01:45:44):
It's a team sport. That was the other thing I heard.
It's not the Patriot way, it's the Tom Brady way. Well,
who the hell made Tom Brady into Tom Brady?

Speaker 1 (01:45:53):
Of course we know this, You and I know this,
But you're right, a lot of people don't see that
because it's it caused they have to think right, they
have to do.

Speaker 3 (01:46:01):
Homework, they have to go back and think that. And
to his credit, Eric Mangini, who appears on the you know,
some of the Fox shows, we won't name them, you know,
he has banged the drum about one of our favorite topics,
and that's the twenty twenty one season, two thousand and
one season in which the Patriots were three offensive touchdowns

(01:46:23):
and three defensive touchdowns and three playoff games, and one
of those offensive touchdowns had nothing to do with Tom Brady,
although he started the game. Okay, So I mean, by
the way, starting quarterback record. Do you know who started
for the Vikings last week? Jaron Hall? Do you know
who was named NFC Offensive Player of the week, Josh

(01:46:45):
Dab there's your starting quarterback record too. Watch the games.
It's not that hard. But the idea that you want,
I'll get off the soapbox. Now, only losers want a
team to lose.

Speaker 1 (01:47:00):
Yeah, I would have to say that that's probably accurate.
Everybody wants to compete and win.

Speaker 6 (01:47:05):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:47:05):
Yeah, I agree. No, I'm with you on that one,
all right. So let's let's uh, let's at least, you know,
let's take a look at a couple of other games
before we get back to the Colts and Patriots that
will provide us with brunch time entertainment on Sunday. I
have to admit that I look at, you know, a
couple of games with some mixed emotion. Saints Vikings are

(01:47:26):
both five and four. I am looking at the Jaguars
are present. Surprise, they get their test and they get
to be at home against the forty nine ers. I
think that'll be interesting to see, you know, whether or
not the Jags are or you know, really for real,
I think the forty nine ers can still provide that
test for them. I'm astiously to see what the Browns
can do at the Ravens because I want to see

(01:47:48):
if I want to see if Cleveland is legit. And
then I want to see the Lions bounce back and
they play at the Chargers this week.

Speaker 3 (01:47:54):
What do you think, Oh, well, I think you've nailed
I think the two best games, and I think the
game that's kind of going under the radars Cleveland and Baltimore.
Here's my favorite stats from last week might be my
favorite stat of the year. The Browns limited the Cardons
last week to fifty eight total yards.

Speaker 5 (01:48:14):
Wow. In the first quarter.

Speaker 3 (01:48:17):
Deshaun Watson threw a fifty nine yard pass Mary Cooper.

Speaker 1 (01:48:20):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:48:22):
Yeah, that Brown's defense is for real. And I give
a lot of credit to a They went out and
bolstered the line, but more importantly, they've got one hell
of a coordinator. Wasn't a great head coach, but Jim
Schwartz knows something about defensive line play. We saw it
in Tennessee. We saw him get a Super Bowl ring
with the Eagles. That front floor, Tomlinson, Shelby Harris, the

(01:48:45):
Darius Smith and oh, by the way, Miles Garrett. That's
that's some nasty stuff. When you can rush the passes
with four guys, that's you know, that's that's a luxury.

Speaker 1 (01:48:55):
Yep, yep. That's also something that I think that the
Lions have been able to do. And you they kind
of got their come up and you know, a week ago,
and so they get a chance now to see if
they can't you know, recharge themselves against a Los Angeles
team that's been hit or miss all season long.

Speaker 3 (01:49:11):
Well, you know, when the Lions lost a couple of
weeks ago to Baltimore, it was and then you know,
they the last time we saw them, I believe is
when they played the Raider right on Monday Night. But
how's this for numbers? The Lions have given up ninety
points and six wins and seventy five points in two losses.

Speaker 1 (01:49:31):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (01:49:32):
Okay, Remember they got tagged for thirty seven by the
Seahawk YEP in overtime in week two, just after they
had you know, come off of you know, they had
a week and a half to get riden for Seattle.
Remember they beat Kansas City in week one, which like
their classic collective Yeah yeah, yeah, But you know, it's
an interesting week. It's once again a week where we

(01:49:54):
don't have a ton of divisional games. They're coming late
in the season, and and you know they're there's all
these a lot of these racists are very very tighty,
even even Dallas. I mean, who's really pulled away. You know,
you can't even say necessarily the Chiefs that pulled the
way Nope. You know that the divisional loss that Denver
is going to hang in there for all for a

(01:50:16):
little bit. And it's also we think about this, no
Patrick Malones, no Tyreek Hill and no A. J.

Speaker 5 (01:50:23):
Brown.

Speaker 3 (01:50:24):
Wow, Yeah, they're all off this week.

Speaker 1 (01:50:26):
Yep, that's right. What are we gonna do? What are
we gonna do for offensive excitement?

Speaker 5 (01:50:31):
Oh yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:50:32):
And again you guys, who were you know, Hill and
Brown certainly in the mix for offensive players a year MVP.
I in fact, why not m VP? Who who is
really opening eyes in terms of quarterback play? But I
know it's been a quarterback of war. We haven't seen
a BA since Abray Peterson in twenty twelve win it.

(01:50:54):
Other than the quarterback, there is no quarterback you know
who's strung for twenty by this and two interceptions. But
you know it's funny. Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are
having a dynamite bear. Offensively, they've been almost unstoppable. This
might stun you. Lamar Jackson has nine touchdown passes and
nine turnovers.

Speaker 1 (01:51:15):
Wow see, And even though for all of his talent,
there's still the pension for you know, making the mistake.
But I was just going to say, Lamar Jackson right
now might be the candidate that deserves to be at
the top of the list.

Speaker 5 (01:51:28):
I think it.

Speaker 3 (01:51:29):
I mean, I think it's the dalad Bar as far
as I'm concerned. I gotta get a food reference. Then
you know, a lot of ingreeiments out there, and nobody
is like, you know, nobody is just like wow, you know,
not like an Aaron Rodgers a couple of years ago,
or you know, you know Gan Arino in eighty four
when he just listened to the entire football world, and

(01:51:52):
so there's there's nobody that jumped out.

Speaker 1 (01:51:55):
Right now, could you make it?

Speaker 3 (01:51:57):
Like I said, Hilly Brown, I mean Tyree chairpon thousand.

Speaker 1 (01:52:01):
Yeah, yeah, I was just gonna ask you that, could
you make a case for Tyreek Hill because you you
literally have to change your game plan thinking and account
for him when when the Dolphins are playing and playing.

Speaker 3 (01:52:11):
Well, Oh, I don't think there's no question about it.
I mean he had last year in his first year
with Miami, John he set career highs and targetstaches and
yards yeap. This year he is you know, and he
did have one hundred yard in receiving last week in
the loss of the Chiefs, but he's already had more

(01:52:33):
you Aloray has more touchdown receptions than he did all
of last season. So like I said, you know, I
wrote a piece a couple of weeks ago. You know,
could he get to one thousand and eight games, which
reminded me of one of the great wide receiver feats
of all time. West Chandler during the nineteen eighty two
strike season played eight games and finished with one thousand

(01:52:55):
and thirty two yard receiving and he averaged twenty one
point one yards of thatch.

Speaker 1 (01:53:01):
Wow, that's that's some yak, that's some jack got them real?

Speaker 3 (01:53:07):
Yet Yeah, and yet somehow the Chargers fell apart in
the playoff because they couldn't play defense in the early eighties.

Speaker 1 (01:53:12):
Yeah, correct, correct?

Speaker 5 (01:53:14):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:53:15):
Then quick thought then on the on the Niners and
Jaguars and the test that is liable to be there
for Jacksonville. And you know, the forty nine ers are stumbled. Okay,
let's admit it. They've stumbled a little bit of the
last couple of weeks. So what are your thoughts on
that one?

Speaker 3 (01:53:28):
Well, jackson still find the way to win. They are
tied with the Staints for the most takeaways in the
league and they've done it in one fewer game they've
eaten takeaways. They had twenty seven last year. By the way,
the year before Doug Peterson got the Jacksonville and his stats,
the Jaguars had nine takeaways all one season.

Speaker 5 (01:53:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:53:49):
See that's yeah, that's that's such a game changer. When
the Patriots were really good defensively, why were they good
because they took the ball from the other guy.

Speaker 3 (01:53:57):
Yes, well, I remember talking about this one. I was
still at ESPN the year that they won that first
Super Bowl. They were twenty fourth, I believe in total
defense in terms of yards a law mm hmm. They
were sixth in points.

Speaker 1 (01:54:14):
Yeah, because they were taking the ball.

Speaker 5 (01:54:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:54:17):
And what did their defense and specialty? Do you get
a tile all.

Speaker 5 (01:54:20):
With the pick sick?

Speaker 3 (01:54:21):
Yeah, Troy Brown with a return. They had the block
google against Pittsburgh as well.

Speaker 1 (01:54:26):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:54:27):
There's a lot of different ways to wind in this league.
We've seen Pittsburgh do that a couple of times. You know,
their offense got one touchdown against the Browns, their defense
got two.

Speaker 1 (01:54:36):
Yeah. The last week, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:54:40):
Couldn't move the ball against.

Speaker 1 (01:54:41):
Carolina and they got two pick sixes.

Speaker 3 (01:54:44):
Two touchdown passes to Kennymore the second.

Speaker 1 (01:54:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:54:46):
Unfortunately, Kennymore the second is a member of the Indianapolis
coach the first.

Speaker 1 (01:54:51):
Right, that's a good one. I like that, But that's
I was just kind of, you know, heading that direction
that's right. They got two pick sixes and they ended
up getting a big win over Carol. I know that
gives them a little momentum, and it leads us right
into you know, a nine thirty Eastern time kickoff Sunday morning.
Is the Patriots and the Colts do the thing in Frankfort.
And and I you know, look, I know why you know,

(01:55:12):
the Patriots, you know, and and why the NFL wants
to success in Frankfort. And certainly those that are listening
to this this program, whether live or on a podcast
and understand, I look, it's popular, and the NFL wants
to continue to brand the sport worldwide. The Patriots, you know,
have a quote unquote uh you know market hold on
the you know, the German area, and so in Germany

(01:55:34):
in particular. So I just don't know what the German
fans are going to really see out of this New
England edition other than a lot of disappointment because this
team has fallen short on just about every level thus far.
You know, they've had a hard time, you know, holding
themselves accountable. They've had a hard time with you know,
discipline and key situations, and I think it really cost
them as we've suggested already on this show this past

(01:55:57):
week against Washington, and I'm not I'm sure we're going
to be able to see a snap of the fingers
and things change automatically for the better. I think, you know,
if you could just see some progress, that might be
a start. But is it enough to win you a
football game? I really don't know the answer to that.

Speaker 3 (01:56:15):
Any of the do I And it's really sad because
you know, at least in my mind, Matt Judon is
their best player in the wrong center and he's not
around right. And Christian Gonzales, well, I mean maybe a
good impression very very early. I'm not gonna say he's
the second best player on the team, but you know

(01:56:36):
who knows when. So when you're having a bad offensive
year and you lose that kind of talent on the
defensive side of the ball, play making defensive talent, you
don't really have a lot to hang your head on.
And that's been the thing with the Patriots. We have
seen them have bad stretches. There have just been too
many games this year where they have been respond to

(01:57:01):
lack of a better word, and that's not something in it.
And I think that's the disheartening part blowout loss to
the Saints, blowout loss to the Cowboys, and again the
golden opportunity last week against an interconference bo who wasn't
playing very good defense. And yet somehow, you know, the
Washington Redskins, they look like they had Dexter Manley on

(01:57:22):
the field.

Speaker 1 (01:57:23):
Yeah, no, true, that's true. That's very true. All right, brother,
Well we'll try to wrap it up again. I will
tell you just a little programming note that I will
we will not do a playbook next week, not because
it not necessarily because it's the bye week, but because
I have to travel, so I have a little basketball travel.

(01:57:44):
And look, I'll say this because you know, I feel
like rubbing it in everybody's face. I'll be going to
the Bahamas this time next week. Look at the oh,
look at Faith is just absolutely giving me a eat,
bleep and die. Look no, I know, Hey, Look, that's
what they're paying me to go. If the Patriots had

(01:58:04):
if the Patriots had paid for me to go to Germany,
i'd be there too.

Speaker 3 (01:58:08):
Hey, here's what I know. I didn't put the pool
ball in Hawaii.

Speaker 1 (01:58:12):
Don't blame me, right right, That's exactly how I look
at it. That's exactly how I look at it, like.

Speaker 3 (01:58:18):
Oh my god, who's complaining about going to Hawaii?

Speaker 1 (01:58:22):
No? Okay, no, sir, no, listen, I could talk.

Speaker 3 (01:58:27):
About football in Connecticut, about football in Hawaii.

Speaker 1 (01:58:30):
Yeah, we'll try Hawaii. Let's try why. Let's see how
that goes?

Speaker 5 (01:58:34):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:58:37):
Thank you, brother, as always, so I will. We will
talk to you in two weeks then if that'll work
with you.

Speaker 3 (01:58:42):
Oh, by the way, here's my biggest bet of the week. Okay,
that's the over on Heidi references during the Jets ring.

Speaker 1 (01:58:49):
Yeah, no kidding, complain with later later Hosen and h
German Beerstein's and you know poke music.

Speaker 3 (01:58:58):
Right well, very true and the Godfather try to struggle.
That's the best in the city.

Speaker 1 (01:59:05):
I love it all right, brought up. Talk to you soon.

Speaker 3 (01:59:08):
You got it.

Speaker 1 (01:59:09):
Thank you. Russell Baxter at Backs Football Guru on X
I'm gonna go with a couple of quick final notes
here before we wrap up. Vinnie on Twitter slash x whatever. Uh.
In response to what Russell and I were talking about
earlier today, he sent me a uh A story from
his Fansided dot com piece on ranking the wing the

(01:59:31):
Patriot six Super Bowl wins uh, and talking about better
times in general. And so Vinnie had a response to that.
He said, I find it weird in the media that
many in the media are now claiming Bill isn't a
good coach, not talking about the article, but just in general.
And that does seem, Vinnie, to be an overwhelming thought
process here. And I think it's because it's such a

(01:59:53):
shocking turn of events for a team, for a franchise,
for a co Choo's reputation has been nothing but superlative,
you know. And and if the people who say was
all Tom Brady and not Bill, you know, comparing Tom
and Bill, which is the inevitable you know, comparison, and
the one those that are you know, taking it to

(02:00:14):
the bank and said see told you so, and that
kind of thing. And I think a lot of the
media have jumped along. And the reason they're jumping in
on this is because it's just out of character, and
you know, there's got to be a logical explanation for
the illogical occurrence. And I think that's why they've said, well,
maybe Bill's having hard time coaching. And I also think,

(02:00:37):
you know, there was a response to that from Allan
who says, I wonder how much of it they believe
what they're saying, or is it more of the hot
take debate stuff that seems to be the priority now
for most media. Bingo, allan bingo, you got bingo? I
got bingo? That was Troy Brown's commercial, right, Yeah, I

(02:00:57):
think they everybody's trying to get the hot take, and
I just you know, sometimes the hot dake just isn't there.
The final word of the day belongs to John, who
we emailed recently. We've seen players not taking responsibility for
their drops or passive aggressively blaming others while saying I
gotta do better. But am I the only one who
sees an increase in Bill's sideline history onics over referee calls?

(02:01:21):
And I know that part of it is working the
refs or coaches like Pellegrino, who I like blaming the
narrative and not the players. Remember when the Patriots had
one message and everybody was pulling together. It all seems
like a distant memory, says John, formerly of Hull and
Quincy but now traveling Europe full time. Enjoyed Germany. Thank you, John,

(02:01:41):
thanks for taking the time. I hope you get there
for the game. There's something to that. Yeah, there's something
to that.

Speaker 3 (02:01:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:01:48):
I think in Bill's instance, you know, he is working
the refs because I think there has been an officiating
issue in the NFL, not just the Patriots. You know,
the Patriots haven't lost a game be cause of the officials,
but there have been a lot of inconsistencies. I mean, shoot,
the call the benefit of the Patriots last week, the
roughing the quarterback call, you know, that was just like,

(02:02:11):
it was embarrassingly bad. I mean, I don't know what
roughing the quarterback is anymore embarrassingly bad. So I mean,
you know, I don't necessarily blame Bill for that. I
think that the not taking responsibility, you know, I think
they're trying, at least in Max case, as you pointed out, John,

(02:02:32):
but it sounds insincere. I'm one of those that needs
to see proof in the putting by your actions, not
your words. I keep getting getting reminded that all the time,
especially at home. I need to see you do it,
saying it is one thing. I need to see you

(02:02:52):
do it. And that's where we are. We need to
see this team start to do it. Perhaps it starts
this week in Frankfurt. Our thanks to Zach Cox from Nesson,
Mike Atkins from the Indianapolis Star for joining us, Russell
Baxter for joining us, and you know, hey, thanks to
you for hanging in there. And so we'll do this again.

(02:03:14):
Actually we won't next week because, as I mentioned to Russell,
we're going to take the week off for travel next week,
and since next week is a bye week anyway, so
we won't be here next Wednesday with a live playbook,
but we'll be back two weeks from today for a
pre Thanksgiving edition. Is the Patriots will play the Giants
that weekend. Of course, from Thanksgiving weekends, we'll be back
two weeks from today, that same Pat's time and that

(02:03:35):
same Pat's channel right here on Patriots dot com radio.
Thank you, Faith, appreciate you. All right, we'll talk to
then everybody. Thank you for downloading this podcast. Subscribe on Apple,
Google Play, and everywhere else you listen. Like the show,
Please rate and review us. Listener comments and ratings help

(02:03:55):
keep us high in the podcast rankings so new listeners
can find us. Be sure to check Patriots dot com
for more news and more podcasts.

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Patriots Playbook 11/8: Positive Takeaways at the Midseason Point, Previewing the Colts in Germany

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