Patriots Playbook 5/31: Day 1 of OTAs, State of the Patriots Superfan Roundtable

Tune-in as John Rooke talks Patriots OTAs, expectations for rookies. Plus, a state of the Patriots with our superfan roundtable.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Get in on the action with.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
This is Patriots Playbook. The legend if you were Bill Belichick,
you would draft but I'll get guns dogs. Would I
like the Bells.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
I would like him to trade up. I don't think
you want to.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
I don't know where.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Okay, so I'm putting you down. Then, Sean Is if
I were Bill Belichick, I'd trade down. He has a
smooth s ob out there. John, Like that guy's got
hips that got oil all over him. I don't chick
a bow bow, Yes, sir, hips don't lie. Yeah, there's
there's no room for Rook. So you know, just go
right ahead and care always welcome. Yeah, oh yeah, it

(00:45):
depends on who you talk to. Look, we made Matt's
fit out. Hiss, spit out my coffee. Now here's your
host of Patriots Playbook, John Rook. Still trying to get
over the the Celtics hangover the I've had for the
last couple of days. But what better way to do that?
What better way to do that than to actually jump

(01:06):
into actual football play on the field. Today is the
opening day, Wednesday May thirty. First, if you're listening to
this on the podcast at a later time, Wednesday May thirty,
first first day of on the field OTA organized team
activity practices in true AI form practice. We're talking practice, Yeah,

(01:30):
we're talking practice, not a game, not a game. Practice
and very happy to be able to do that. And
we've got a bunch of things that we're gonna get
into here in just a little bit, simply because there's
a reason why OTA's which we're supposed to start a
week ago, did not get going until today. So we're
gonna jump in all of that. But first things first,

(01:52):
as you heard a little bit in the open just
a couple of moments ago, the draft last month, we
had a draft content that took place over the course
of the show a month ago, and I had three individuals,
three individuals that suggested that Christian Gonzales would be their

(02:12):
choice for the number one pick were he to be
available in the NFL Draft. It didn't matter how you
got there, just the body that you want. This is
the one I want. And we had three people do that,
and I believe all three are said to join us today.
Is that correct, Matt? Okay? So I know that Todd
is already with us because I can see Todd on
my monitor. Todd, what's happening. Dude, you're there, right, I

(02:37):
think you can hear me. Yeah, I can hear you.

Speaker 5 (02:38):
Great. You look like you're in a cave, John, I
always knew they kept you in the in a cave.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
I'm kept in a you know, in a small dark dungeon,
you know where very little light gets through. I'm like
a mushroom. Okay, I'm kept in the dark and fed
nothing but bull crap. That's the way it usually works. No,
it's this is our is our typical studio set up here.
But the reason it looks darganers because they've got about
a million monitors in here today because the revs, I guess,

(03:04):
have a Wednesday night game tonight, and so they call
the game from in here on the monitors on the
on the radio. So that's why there's a bunch of
lights and monitors and dark, big dark things here, right, yeah,
Matt says, because he has to produce that later tonight.
All right, So Todd from North Carolina is here. We're
also going to have Chad. No, Chad cannot join us today.

(03:31):
Eldred and Sean from Vancouver. Hell, okay, all right, so
Chad isn't here because he couldn't join us, but Sean
is here, and Eldred will be here at some point
in time. Right, Okay, Hey, there's Sean right now. I
see him on the monitor. Sean, how are we doing.
You're good?

Speaker 5 (03:47):
Great?

Speaker 6 (03:47):
Great? I was calling in. I didn't see the link earlier,
so I just put it up now.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh good, excellent. All right. So here's the thing. You
guys got an opportunity here to you know, with your
pressient minds concerning all things patriots, to join me on
this one because and actually we lucked out because of
the schedule today, simply because this is the first day
of OTAs the guys are actually the music's blaring out

(04:13):
of the field, it feels like a it feels like
a practice week, you know, it feels like September. The
weather is, you know, a little bit cool. It's like
seventy two degrees outside. There's a little breeze outside, the
sun is shining. You know, it feels a little like fall.
It feels a little like football out there. And this
is the first chance now for not only the guys
that get out there in practice in you know, seven

(04:35):
on seven's, eleven on eleven's obviously, you know, no pads,
but you know, and no blocking, tackling that kind of thing,
but a chance to run through the playbook and learn
some of the techniques to get the rookies out there,
to mix them in with some of the newcomers with
the veterans. Let's keep in mind that this is still voluntary.

(04:55):
I'm putting quotation works around the word voluntary. Can you
imagine though, that that word voluntary goes right up Bill
Belichick's backside? I mean, when you think about it, I mean,
this is what this is what today's NFL has gotten us.
We can't even do what we want to do. Clearly
they can't do what they want to do because the
Patriots just got whacked by that and missed out on

(05:18):
the first couple of on the field practices, which they
lost due to penalties for illegal meetings during the you know,
the off season. Let me start first of all by
making sure that everybody understands that at any time during
the course of the show, no matter what we're bringing up,
you can join us. Eight five five PATS five hundred

(05:40):
eight five five p A t S. Five hundred is
the toll free telephone number. You can also send an email,
web Radio at Patriots dot com, or you can hit
me up on Twitter at JR Broadcaster. You can tweet
something out if you like, at us and we'll try
to answer the best we can once we are able
to get some kind of port from the field. Look,

(06:01):
I don't really imagine that the ton is going on today.
These guys are in in in helmets and jerseys, and
the rookies are all wearing fifties and sixties numbers, you know,
because they're not giving their you know, they're not to
be given their numbers until we start playing football in August,
you know, for keeps from the first you know, exhibition

(06:22):
game if you o preseason game rolls around on August
to tenth, which will be a home game. By the way,
we're down to just one home game this year, two
away because the nine home games include the one in Germany,
so there's only nine opportunities to actually see the Patriots
in Foxborough. But that'll be another conversation for another day.
There won't be a whole lot of to go through,
but some observation and should we should we be able

(06:45):
to get that before we're done at two pm Eastern
time today, we'll pass that along to you. In the meantime,
we are going to hear from I know we're scheduled
here from Mac Jones when he when practice is done,
it approximately one thirty Eastern today, So we're gonna carry
that for you here in the playbook, so that way
you can kind of exchange your points, exchange your views,
exchange your opinions, and then we'll hear from the quarterback

(07:08):
and then we'll come back here and wrap up the
show just shortly before too. So let me start with
this Phyllis, and again we've got Todd and Sean with us.
Eldred is scheduled to join us at some point in
time on the show. Because these gentlemen brought in Christian
Hernan let me Christian Gonzalez, not her Nand is what
am I thinking? I'm thinking. I'm thinking this tight end

(07:28):
that used to play for the Patriots. Okay, yeah, I
know right. Can you believe that? Where was my mind
headed on that one? Guys, let me get your first
thoughts though, because you thought Christian Gonzales would be the
guy if you were taking him, what are your I mean,
it's hard to say what your initial prices are because
we haven't really seen him other than just a couple

(07:48):
of minor clips. But how shocked were you to find
out that the Patriots were thinking the same way.

Speaker 6 (07:54):
I was very shocked because I didn't think he'd be there.
I was sure that JS and Gonzalez would go like
in the top ten, And when they fell to fourteen,
I was amazed that they were both still there. And
then when they traded down like what, oh my god,
and then they're still there, So I was I was
blown away that he was there, and then that the

(08:16):
Patriots got him.

Speaker 5 (08:17):
And this is.

Speaker 6 (08:18):
Probably going to really help the defense. I think he
allows the secondary to do a lot of things that
they might not have been able to do because they
really needed that big, fast receiver on the edge, sorry,
quarterback on the edge to stop the top receivers like.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
You, Sean. I have to admit I was flabbergasted with
that pick. Flabbergasted. I mean I thought, you know, remember
talking on the show before the draft the day before
the raft, thinking, there's no way that a guy like
Gonzalez got to slip that low, and then he kept
kind of slipping and then I'm forgetting the draft order now.
But whatever it was, I think it was about three

(08:58):
picks away. I want to say is right around nine
or ten when I first thought there's a legit shot
to get a guy like Gonzales, and I always thought
that they would go offensive linemen. That was what I predicted.
I thought that they would go linemen that high, and
I'm stunned that they didn't take a linemen at all,
even though they did kind of I think they did

(09:20):
kind of set themselves up through the free agency route.
And it also tells me that they really like the
guys that they have in place already, and we're gonna
get that put to the test, I think pretty quickly.
To me, that's gonna be one of my focal points,
you know, when as OTAs play out over the course
of the next you know, a couple of weeks, when
we end up with Mini camp on, you know, in

(09:41):
in two weeks from now. Actually, but I just I'm
a little I mean, I'm pleasantly surprised they decided to
go that route, but I'm still a little bit like wow.
So that tells me now that they really like his
ability to be that number one log down boundary kind
of guy. What are your thoughts on that one?

Speaker 5 (10:03):
Todd see I think you're missing the whole point of
this draft. This draft, their first three picks were all
defense because I think they know they need to see
pr the offense. I don't know if they have any
idea what they've done to mac Jones, and I think
they realize that this is going to be a work
in progress. And I don't think they feel that they
could compete points wise with anybody even in the division,

(10:28):
never mind across the AFC, with all those teams out
there that are scary. And they looked at their schedule
and they took a look at everything, and they drafted
defense and defensive speed, people with speed and ability to pressure.
And I think you're going to watch the defense is
going to start out solid and is going to excel

(10:51):
through the year, and that's going to bring the offense
along because the offense needs a space to be able
to develop. There's a lot of moving pieces in that
offense right now. Talk about that. There's some really interesting
new pieces that who knows if they're stick. They're six
round picks, they're draft you know, undrafted free agents, who wow,
Like there's some really quality guys they've brought in that
you know they have a shot, But there'll never have

(11:14):
a shot on the team if the team can't develop
the defense first right now. So I think they went
defense first with those first three picks. Like Matt pou Is,
I think my favorite pick of them all. He's got
this weird speed size. He's that transition guy. And when
you get a corner like we've got with the guns on, like,
oh my lord, like that that is what we've needed.

(11:37):
I look at Sean's face and he's like, yeah, yeah,
we needed that. We needed that bad because we have
not had a good corner, a solid, good corner in
a long, long time, one that we could say, you're
over there and you take him out, and the guy
that he's taken out is like, crap, why do I get?
Why do I pull the short straw? We haven't had

(11:57):
that in a long time. And I think that's what's
going on here. I think the defense is going to
be the rock that they build this, you know, biblical
foundation on for this.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
You could certainly make a legitimate argument that they were,
you know, while we were all looking at what's right
in front of us, they were thinking longer term, looking
a little bit more future in that one. And and
I think that that probably is going to turn out
to be a smart decision, And a lot of that
is because, well, at the time, I think it was
just getting ready to happen, or was about to happen.

(12:28):
But I don't think Aaron Rodgers had yet joined the Jets.
And so when you had Rogers join the Jets, and
you've got you know, Josh Allen with the Bills, and
you've got you know, you know, we'd like to think
a healthy tu a quarterback with the offense, you got
to figure out a way to stop somebody within the
AFC East, And I think the Patriots felt like that

(12:49):
might be the better way to go, confident enough that
what Bill O'Brien would bring in his offensive coordinator would
be able to bring some of those younger guys and
some of those pieces that you were talking about up
to snuff enough to scheme them to the point where,
all right, we don't have to worry about these guys
as much as we originally thought that. We really need
the speed, the depth, the talent, the flexibility, if you will,

(13:13):
on defense. And that's clearly the way they went with
the first couple of picks you mentioned. Mapoo Martine mamtpou
I believe it or not. I have a family that
live in Sacramento. Some of them were actually ware that
he actually played for Sacramento State, even though they're not
big football fans out there. But to me, when I
saw the pick, he was completely off my radar. But

(13:34):
then I looked at it and I said, well, that
makes a lot of sense, especially if you're not sure
you're going to bring back a guy like Kyle Dugger
when his contract comes up. And again I'm looking further
on down the line, but I tell you that's exactly
what the Patriots did in the draft, is they tried
to look at the next two three years, not five
ten years, but two three years obviously with the guys

(13:56):
that they have here. So and plus they know the
immediate competent that they're going to have to face six
times within the AFC East, and I would, yeah, the
schedule is is is well, obviously we know it's one
of the toughest in the NFL. And I think that
there's a chance, call me crazy, and a lot of

(14:18):
people probably will, there's a chance, I think, legitimately to
have all four AFC East teams being there potentially for
the for the uh for the playoffs. I just I
think it could happen. I could see I could see
all four teams going two and two against each other.
I could see that happening.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
I can see all fourteen is possibly missing the playoffs
because of Wow, the head the one will come in,
but I could really see it being very difficult to.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Come Yeah, what one is obviously going to get in,
and I think two would definitely get in in that regard.
Uh So, yeah, because I think ten and six is
going to be in play or excuse me, ten and seven.
Ten and seven is going to be in play for
every Now do I think the Patriots can get there? Look,
I've looked at the schedule already, and my first I
gotta be quite honest with you guys. All Right, we've
all played this win loss, win loss, win loss game already.

(15:11):
We all have, even without knowing who really is gonna
suit up and start at some positions, but we've all
played it. Right. You have them down for nine wins,
nine and eight. I had them, Okay, I had you
had them for how many sean seven? Seven wins? Had
I had them for eight wins? I had them eight
to nine. Repeat from last year, and I'm looking at
it again. I said, well, there's two or three possibilities

(15:34):
there that, you know, depending on injuries, depending on the schedule, YadA, YadA,
that could go either way. And I think that's the
way actually last year turned out. I mean, you know,
this Patriot's team had an opportunity right to the last
couple of weeks. They had an opportunity to play their
way in with a win in the last week, and
they didn't do it. So I think it could be
very much that type of season again, But we don't

(15:59):
know if that necessarily means that this team is going
to be better. I think this team is lined up
to be better than what it was a year ago.
It may not be better for a lot of people's
immediate needs. The problem is that the division is also
going to be excruciatingly hard. The AFC is excruciatingly tough.

(16:20):
You know, you've got the defending champions in Kandasity residing
in the AFC, and then on top of all of that,
I just you know, the Patriots have one of the
most difficult schedules in the league. What is it third
toughest I think overall, and I think the way that. Yeah, Okay,
so you're you're looking at this is gonna be a
real challenge and when you're trying to integrate new coaches

(16:42):
and a potential new scheme which we hope to find
out more about. I mean, uh, this is going to
be this is going to require everybody to be on
the same page. We can't. There's no time for you know, grousing,
and there's no time for you know, content if you will.

Speaker 6 (17:01):
I just want to go back to map Who a
little bit because I don't I don't want to see
him to be the replacement for Douger. I want them
both to be there. I like him just to answer
the questions that came up last year about the Patriots defense.
It was one of the best defenses in the league
when doing certain things, but one of the things that

(17:23):
it couldn't do, or they couldn't do, is stop running quarterbacks.
So I'd like to see map Who be that answer
in just spying the quarterback and maybe covering running backs
out of the backfield and doing some of the things
that they weren't able to do last year. So actually
having play it doesn't matter if you call it that

(17:45):
or not, but have him played linebacker that way, and.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
I would love to see himplyee linebacker. I mean, I
realized that he's gonna end up playing some safety just
because of his size. But you know, this is the
way this game is going. The game is going to
you know, slightly smaller, a quicker, you know, more impact
guys at linebacker in order to be able to cover
you know, wheel roads coming out of the backfield, short
receivers going over the middle, the short you know, fast

(18:10):
guys that everybody seems to have. Now, so I listen,
you drafted him as a backer. Let's see him as
a backer. I don't want, you know, I know that
he'll have to probably make his name at least initially
on special teams, fly into the football, what have you.
But I want to see this guy in the rotation.
I want to see this guy on third down. I
want to see if this guy has the potential to
be a three down or a four down guy. I

(18:31):
want to see what you have and hopefully we'll be
able to find that out, if not a little bit
here over the course of the summer, certainly by the
time the season rolls around. And let's see him in
these situations and what you truly have. He's thought to
have some thump to him, even though he's kind of
undersized for what we call a traditional linebacker. All the film,

(18:51):
all the videotape that I've seen on him, Wow, this
guy could stick people. So that's a good sign. And
then on that side of the ball as well, can
he actually give you some time in the defensive backfield
if they assign tied end or something to him. I mean,
and we all know that with Devin mccorty's retirement, this

(19:14):
is going to be a role that's going to be
constantly auditioned for over the next three months. Anyway, who
the hell knows. Versatility is the name of the game.
This is one thing that we've known about the Patriots
offensive line for the two plus decades that Bill Belichick
has been here. But now they're starting to see the
versatility can pay off on the other side of the ball. Now,
let's see if we've got.

Speaker 6 (19:34):
Some If I'm casting that secondary, the first person I'm
bringing into the room or self tape these days is
Jonathan Jones, because I think he has the experience and
the leadership that they might be missing from losing mccordy.
He's someone who can settle things down and help players

(19:54):
be in the right place. And him being in that
secondary running the things kind of like a quarterback of
the defense might be a good job for him, because
I really think he's one of the best. Well, he's
already established is the best defensive back that they have.
Jalen Mills could play safety as well, but.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
I always thought that that was his more natural position. Sean,
I'd be honest with you. I mean, you know, I
think we saw where Jalen Mills kind of exposed himself
a bit, you know, playing in a corner. He had
to play corner just because of the way the personnel
you know, was available at the time. I think Mills
can actually be a quite effective safety. I think he'll
probably end up getting the nod for mccordy. That's just

(20:37):
a sort of a look into the future here. I
think the corners are likely to be you know, Gonzales
and probably John Jones, that would be my guess. And
that's safety. You're looking at Dougger and you're probably looking
at Mills, now, that's my guess. I think Mills can
come in and play a corner, and I think having

(20:59):
again the versatility is key. I'm wondering what you know,
a guy like Jack Jones, he's gonna be able to
bring to the table, you know after you know his
injuries and his you know, his verbal foible said he
had at the end of last year. You know, is
everybody on the same page, and so I think all
this stuff is gonna work out. Yeah, go ahead, Tuck.

Speaker 5 (21:20):
They have a Swiss army knife for their defensive backfield.
Now they can move people around because they have a
luxury hopefully it'll be a luxury item in Christian Gonzalez.
They can say, Okay, you're gonna do this now, Marcus Jones,
here fast. There's their speed, little guy, go take him
out like it's it's much better toolkit than they had

(21:40):
for the past. I don't know, five years, six years,
like how long ago has it been since they've had
a solid, versatile defense to rely on, well, like a
defensive backfield.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
I would say also that they've never had the kind
of speed that we think that they might have on
that side of the ball, and the kind of speed
that they will undoubtedly have within special teams as well.
That excites me. I want to see. I mean, you've
got guys that are all in the in the four
three four four area, Uh, that are going to play
that side of the ball. And we know that, you know,

(22:15):
Tyekwon Thornton ran a four to eight, you know. And
I don't know that he'll ever turn into a kick
return of because he's a receiver. But I'm just saying
there is speed at least on that side of the ball.
You know from Jones. Uh, you know from from Marcus Jones. Uh,
you know from what we now have you know available potentially,
you know from the young guys. So let's let's let's
put it to some use. Let's see see where we

(22:37):
place him, and let's see if we can't be where
they're not. And I think that's the biggest key. You
want guys to be where they're not.

Speaker 6 (22:46):
And you know, you have eight players in the secondary
now that are NFL ready, players that that are probably
capable of being starters on any team. You have the
three Jones boys, Doug and Gonzales. And that's like you're
starting the secondary if you're going with with five, right,

(23:07):
and then also you also have Phillips, and you have
Peppers and and you have Mills. So there you go.
That's eight right there. Who who can so if one
goes down, you have someone to step in and and
not lose much of a step.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Are we got Seana Vancouver, We've got Todd of North Carolina.
Eldred and North Carolina will join us here shortly. There
are going to be a couple of things that we're
going to talk about right now. We're kind of on
the rookies. His OTAs are underway here at Gillette Stadium
as we speak, live going on in the practice fields
up to my left here on the other side. As
I point this direction, the practice fields are this way, guys.

(23:43):
And then there are other subjects that we're gonna deal
with that I'm gonna ask our guys with. And I
want everybody to chime in on today because I kind
of narrowed it down to three things that are really
top of mind today. Number One, should the pagers be
all in on Hopkins or not? I'm I'm just curious.
I know you have your opinion. I don't think that
it'll end up going that way, but I'm just wondering

(24:05):
what you feel like. Number Two, is there a need
to continue to bend the rules. I'll elaborate on that
coming up in a minute. All these guys have got
sad face emojis up here on their there's screens. Come on,
grow up, let's go. And then number three, does this

(24:29):
team have enough to win right now based on what
you see on paper? Okay, these are all subjects that
we're going to deal with over the course of the
program today. Eight five five pats five hundred is the
toll free number. Eight five five pats five hundred. You
want your two cents worth, It's time to pick it

(24:49):
up and let's go. If you can't make the phone,
call web radio at Patriots dot com the email address
let us know your thoughts, or just hit me up
on Twitter and send it. Two at JR Broadcaster is
a Twitter handle. Melvin in Tennessee wants to join us. Guys,
Hey Melvin, how are we doing tub I's going great, great,
great great.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
As far as bending the rules of the pages, and
Mama so used to it now, so it doesn't really
I guess, phase me or shock me, but I don't.
It's weird that they are, like, I think it's so prepared.
It's so ill prepared when it comes to something so
simplistic as knowing what the rules are what you can

(25:31):
and can I do. So, I don't know, I don't
know why they just continue to blow by that, but
it is what it is. If they ever see that punch,
it's trying to move on with that one.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, you know. And here's here's the thing, Melvin, and
I think, you know, I think everybody would agree with this. Look.
Bill Belichick marches to the beat of his own drummer,
and he always has. You know, some things he misinterpreted,
or at least the NFL determined he misinterpreted, would tell
you that. You know, when it came to Spygate years ago,

(26:03):
Bill still feels like he's in the right. Okay, to
flake Gate, well that was just sheer stupidity, okay. And
and I don't even I don't even really consider that
a story because there are too many people that were
out to get the patriots. It was. It was too biased,
you know, in in its outcome, which is why the
Patriots had to do their own perspectives website and all that.
You know, it was a deflate gating context or whatever

(26:25):
the hell they called it at the time. I dismissed
that because science has proven otherwise. Okay, But as far
as what happened that cost this team to practice sessions
and not able to get on the field until today.
All right, Look, if it's because they had more meetings

(26:45):
or in the the the stories that's been in the
medium and that has come out both national and locally,
that it was Joe Judge that held meetings beyond the
time allotted for these meetings. I mean, and and it
just happened to be an NFLPA representative in the building.
Well this is going on. Well I would I would
align that with sheer stupidity. Okay, that was just dumb.

(27:10):
You knew an NFLPA rep was in the building. Why
are you not paying attention to the time on the
clock and you're going along with these meetings? I mean really, Now,
Bill said today when he met with the media before
practice got started with eleven o'clock Eastern time, he didn't
say a lot. Didn't expect him to say a lot,
and I think most everybody knows he never says a lot.

(27:31):
But we asked him the questions anyway, But when we
was asked about it, he's like, you know, at the
end of the news conference that he had today, it
was like, you know, well, ultimately, you know, he didn't
wasn't gonna throw Joe Judge under the bus. He said,
ultimately that responsibility lies with me. Okay. This tells me
then that he probably had some awareness. And he's like,

(27:55):
you know what, I don't really care. And now, okay,
it cost him a couple of ota sessions, which I'm
not sure are really hugely important in the overall scheme
of things. But here's where I'm going with this. I
like that the attitude is back. I like that there's
a little bit of a swagger to the attitude. Again.
It's like, all right, you know, we're going to push
the envelope here. And what did the Patriots do best

(28:18):
when they were winning and they were competing for championships.
They pushed the envelope. Gang they pushed the envelope. Did
they cheat?

Speaker 3 (28:29):
No?

Speaker 2 (28:29):
And no. If they made mistakes, they've paid for those mistakes,
all right. And they were fined or they were doc
practices or whatever. That's fine. But everybody does this. Everybody
has things that they can and usually do, get away with.

Speaker 5 (28:47):
So never had a toxic locker room though, and Joe
Judge is toxic. The old thing hated him starting from
the center, especially our QB. They hated him, They called
him out repeatedly. People got benched because they told him
you aren't. No. Yeah, I disagree with this because one

(29:07):
of the things that we had was we had a team.
These guys had each other's back. They never had each
other's back last year Melbourne is judge toxic? Kiss or no?
What do you? What do you can say?

Speaker 3 (29:20):
Busy toxic? I mean, I don't know. I was there,
so I mean, I think they've heard different things. But
you know, if he I mean, I've been in locker rooms,
I've had I mean, it's it's just sometimes it's really
like that. The biggest thing to me is you could
talk about for the past couple of years of deal
with from Jimmy Garoppolo and then Tom Brady, and why

(29:41):
are you losing so much control of at your teammates
and your coaches and why is there so much That's
the bigger picture, because when it gets down to it,
I'm going to come to you about past couple of
issues these past five years. Why are you what's going
on within your team? This isn't just this issue, this
is based on the last five six years. It's just

(30:05):
a lot going on. I couldn't even what was that
defensive alignment that we had that it was good? And
I can't even remember that situation he that year with
Antonio Brown and he was just here for a couple
of I mean, all those little things are just like
somebody that coach used to be really good with controlling
players and bringing in players and turning them around. It

(30:25):
hadn't been like that for a while. So why with
all those issues, why are you give the consistent issue?
Why can't you control your team anymore?

Speaker 2 (30:35):
That's what I think. There is a legitimate there's a
legitimate question as to quote unquote control of the team.
And maybe you know, this is something that you know, hey, Joe,
in his earnestness, and again I'm just we don't know
because we weren't there, as Melvin suggested, we're not there.
But I just think in his earnestness to show that

(30:58):
what he brings to the table, you know, can be
taken seriously by you know, the team, he's taking great
pains to spell things out. Maybe he's been given possibly
and I would say likely a different set of responsibilities
for this year as opposed to last year previously. Maybe
this is also part of the quote unquote Joe Judge

(31:19):
rehabilitation project, which we know that you know, he still
needs to do. And Matt Patricia that's what sent him
off to Philadelphia this year, you know, so he could
kind of continue to further that. And I think Bill
ultimately realized that, you know, hey, maybe just maybe that's
in the best interest of these guys. They're his friends,
they're his loyal friends. Maybe these guys do need to
go off and get something done and need, you know,

(31:41):
to try to fix this problem. And in an effort
to try to fix this quote unquote problem, as Todd
was referring to, they went over the time limit and
an NFLPA guy was in the office in Bingo Bango bongo.
You lose two ota practices. Now again, big picture, that's
not usually important, but what it does mean is that,

(32:01):
you know, you probably need to pay a little bit
closer attention to detail, because the Patriots were certainly buttoned
up when they were winning. But the attitude, the attitude
is where I'm going because I've seen more of a
complacent I've seen more of a I've seen less fire
in Brimstone. And maybe it's just a changeover in the

(32:23):
attitude of the athletes. But I've also seen felt this
from the coaching staff as well. And let's face it,
Bill is seventy one years old, so what I think
it's a legitimate question to ask what kind of gas
does he have left in the tank. And I'm glad
to see and glad to hear today that he said
the buck stops with me, that that's my responsibility. Okay, great, Now,

(32:47):
let's make sure that we are buttoning up in other areas,
because we can go to all kinds of areas, you know,
on the field where we saw, you know, this team
with egregious mistakes a year ago that were so unpatriot like. Okay,
so maybe this just this is you know, more of
a I'm gonna borrow a cliche here, but maybe this
is more of a do your job type of you

(33:09):
know estimation here.

Speaker 6 (33:11):
Well, that said John, I see this more closely, this
latest infraction to the egregious errors they were making last
year and not pushing the envelope. This isn't Bill Belichick
knowing the rule book more than anyone else and doing
the offensive line maneuvering against the Ravens that got John
Harbaugh jumping and screaming on the sidelines. This is this

(33:33):
is something that's just just dumb, and you're not paying attention.
That's why I'm upset about it. And I'm not sure
that Joe Judge is still right because we had so
many issues with Joe Judge from players and from just
not doing a doing his job last year of the
Patriots coaching, especially on the offensive side, well just on

(33:54):
the offensive. So I just they weren't doing their job.
They were over seeing other things where they didn't need
to be, and they weren't focusing on what they needed
to do, and that causes the problem. So I don't
want to see that continue, and I hope it doesn't
with special teams and they're able to write that ship.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Got an email here I want to share with you.
And by the way, Melvin, thank you, buddy. Eight five
five Pats five hundred is the total free number if
you want to jump in with your two cents on this.
George sends this email. He says, you guys are gonna
think I'm playing, but I'm serious. Judge and Belichick must
have done some crazy stuff together and Judge is holding

(34:33):
it over his head and Bill knows he'll tell that's it.
There's no other explanation.

Speaker 6 (34:39):
Is that one night at a Bonjo of E concert.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
Right.

Speaker 6 (34:41):
I don't know, Man, Maybe.

Speaker 5 (34:46):
Hold you John, because you and Kersher are the only
ones that seemed to be back in Judge, and you're
the old guys on the broadcast.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
So I'm not going on John, I'm not necessarily back
in Judge. I'm really not. I'm really not. I'm trying
to stay down the middle on this as best as
I can. I'm not criticizing. I mean, clearly I didn't
see I didn't see much good from him last year.
Pretty hard to be positive about that. But I'm sure

(35:14):
there were things done behind the scenes that were beneficial.
And I think there was a reevaluation process done in
the off season as we're all wondering how we could
have done things, how things could have been done differently
a year ago, and I think we decided, Look, we
need to get back to who we are, and we
need to get back to doing what we know we

(35:36):
can and should do better, and we need help on
the special teams in and that's where Judge excels. And
I think we need to put that in his back pocket.
And you know, while we needed to help on the
offensive side a year ago because we thought we could
handle it. That was a gross miscalculation.

Speaker 5 (35:54):
Yeah, put it in his back pocket and then put
a muzzle on his moat.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Well look, I mean the fact is is that you know,
he's been a head coach and and that's part of
being a head coach is learning how to handle that.
You know when to put the muzzle on and when
to take the muzzle off. And nobody's better at muzzling
himself than Bill. Okay, nobody.

Speaker 5 (36:13):
So we talk about Joe Judge, we need to muzzle joke. Well,
I'm not even when he was in New York? Did
you follow anything that like I followed?

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no I listened.

Speaker 5 (36:24):
Was a disaster.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
I understand, I understand, I understand.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
And it's what do you think of his time in
New York? Did you follow it at all? I watched
him destroy players, careers, take a team that looked like
it had some talent and just destroyed, much like the
same thing that happened to Detroit.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, I think he was why.

Speaker 5 (36:41):
I didn't understand why we got Patricia and Judge back.
It was like, hey, let's take these guys and prove
to the world that I can make well. That was
part of the chicken salad out of chicken. Yeah, who
I believe is your turn?

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Yes, And I think that was part of the issue.
And he's learning how to be a head coach and
handle it, and he he didn't handle it well, it's
it's not it's not hard to see. So you know,
in this whole coaching rehabilitation project, you know that Bill's
trying to help his buddies out with here. He's having
to learn how to do things differently. He came out
and tried to be Bill when he's not Bill, He's Joe.

(37:14):
And I think that may be part of his biggest issue.
And I think when coaches are so heavily influenced by
Bill Belichick. I mean, look, we know Bill was heavily
influenced by Bill Parcells. Heavily influenced by Bill Parcells. Okay,
so yeah, why are we your note to Sean, why

(37:37):
are we in the business of rehabbing people? And and honestly,
you would have to you'd have to ask that question
of you know, uh, the man himself, because loyalty begats loyalty,
and that's the one thing that you can say without
a shadow of doubt about Bill Belichick is he is
unfailingly loyal to those who are loyal to him. Bill

(38:01):
Parcells was the same way. So it's not really me
and Fred being old school. You're looking at Bill Parcells
and Bill Belichick being old school because of the whole
pass it down. Hey, I'm gonna do you just like
you did me. I think that's what's going on here.
I don't think it's anything more less than that. And
to me, I admire that sense of loyalty, as misguided

(38:23):
as it might be, as much as it might have
affected the football team a year ago. I understand it.
I get it. I don't agree with it, but I
understand it. And so that's where we are in this
whole thing. And so you know, so here's Judge is
a part of the whole reclamation project of himself and
of this team. He went a little bit long in

(38:46):
some meetings and they got slapped, and it was just
like the awareness around the violation is what bothers me,
Just like being unaware that, Hey, you know, I think
I'm gonna grab the horse collar of this defensive end
is coming around the line, and that's gonna be offensive holding,
but nobody seemed to care. And so the Patriots, you know,
were one of the league leaders in offensive holding penalties,

(39:06):
and and Trent Brown was at the top of the list.
I think we all know that. So so you know,
you've got to be more aware of what you're doing.
So yes, to your point, yes, that's that's a mistake.
But to my point, I like the fact that they're
trying to, you know, stop as if you can, because

(39:28):
I think that's what made the Patriots great. They pushed
the envelope and and and they got other teams to say, well, shoot,
now you know the Patriots are doing this, and they're
out in front about it, so if we're not doing it,
we should be. Or better yet, well we can't figure
the Patriots out, so let's turn them in killo colts,
you know that kind of thing.

Speaker 6 (39:49):
I always felt the Patriots did whatever they could within
the rules. I don't think they actually felt that they
broke the rules, Like for example, the initial spygate, that
was a memo that not an actual NFL rule, and
Goodell went ballistic on that.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
It was interpretation of the rule, Sean, but.

Speaker 6 (40:07):
The rule wasn't there.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
It was.

Speaker 6 (40:08):
It was a memo that that Goodell sent out. It
wasn't an official rule.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Even so, it was the Patriots interpretation of what was
on the books, and that led to, well, we need
to have a better rule in the book.

Speaker 6 (40:22):
Yeah right, yeah, yeah, that's that's the way they saw it.
This is this is the rule in there, and we don't.
We don't see it that way.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Okay, yeah, sure, So that that's really all it is,
and it's all about their interpretation. So you know, in
a way, you could say that, you know Bill, and
I think Bill is pretty smart dude, all right. I've
always thought that about him. And nobody's kissing up here
because he has his faults too. He can be as
stubborn as you know what. But I would tell you
that one of the things I've always admired about Bill

(40:50):
is the fact that he's willing to go different routes
to effectuate change.

Speaker 6 (40:57):
Yeah, we'll do whatever he can that he feels that's
within the rules to make the team better, to win, Yes.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
And and and and to change the sport because he
is a football guy through and through. Yes, I know
you want winning, Todd, I understand that completely. Don't you
like how I can see your your your your text
between the two of you on the screen here Matt
sent me up today. Yea marine's getting the job done.
One arm, one armed Matt Marine. Matt back over here.

(41:26):
So that's all part of it here today. All right,
let's continue, Yeah, let's get Patty and Aguam is waiting
to get on here. Hey Patty, Hey Patty, how you doing, Bud?
How are you great? Great? Todd and Shawn are with us?

Speaker 6 (41:42):
How's it going?

Speaker 4 (41:44):
And Sean, what's going on? My two cents on this
whole Joe Judge situation. And to me, I said the
son Catch twenty two. If I'm the owner, I'm I'm
at least going checking in with Felling saying what the
hell is going on here? I mean, if I John,
I know you have you put a lot of stock

(42:05):
into Karen Dearigans and Andrew Callahan, and you know, if
you read their report from this past offseason, from what
the players were saying, I mean, he is he seems
to be toxic, like he can't like Paul said, he
seems like he can't get along with his players. And
to me, I mean Tom Kraft, I'm saying, you know, Bill,

(42:25):
look what happened last year. Obviously what happened is, you know,
with the infraction of them getting two of their practices
taken away. I know Bill was culpable on it, but
all signs are pointed at that this is Joe Judge's fault.
And I would just say, well, what are we doing,
what is this guy doing, and what's his problem? And

(42:46):
fix it or else, you know, get rid of them.
But good thing I don't know' seem because things would
probably be a hell of a lot different.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
You know.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Sure, And look, I let's I understand all the angst
that people would have over Joe Judge. I get it.
We don't know the conversations that the two men have
had with each other. Nobody's prevoy to that except those
two guys. And they're both gonna be loyal and they're
both gonna be respectful to each other because that's part
of who they are and part of their history. We
forget that Joe Judge was here previous to his disastrous

(43:17):
tenure in New York. We forget that. I think a
lot of people forget there, even some people that don't
even know that. But when he was here, he was
highly successful as a special teams coach. That's what led
the Giants to hire him in the first place. So
maybe it's kind of like maybe they just said with
each other and I'm just kind of spitballing here, but
maybe they just said to each other, Hey, we got

(43:38):
to get back to the way things were. We got
to figure out a way to get you back, you know, employable.
So let's get back to doing what you do extraordinarily well,
but let's also include you in here, here, and here
so you learn the bigger picture better. I mean, that's
to me. I don't think it's really any more difficult
than that. And I think this is all a part
of the process, and he overstepped his bounds when it
comes to these meetings over the course of the last month. Really,

(44:03):
I don't think it's I don't think it's any more
serious than that.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
And if I'm crapped, I'm just saying, keep him in check,
make sure he doesn't overstep his downs, if that's what's
going on.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
But yes, real quick to John, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
I'm very optimistic about this year. I know I saved
this every season, but I love I love the fact
that Billy I was here, and I can't wait to
get the report on on the practices that's that are
taking place today in this week and you know eventually
mini camp and going into training camp and if you're
if you're out and about in training camp, I'm going
to make an appearance this year and I'll buy you

(44:38):
a beer. How's that, Johnny?

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Great? I'm in, all right, I'm definitely in. Let me
let me let me know when you let's pick a day. Yeah,
let me know when you get there.

Speaker 4 (44:48):
You got it, buddy, all right, I'll talk to guys.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
Thanks, Patty, appreciate you. All right, Hey, Patty and Angulan
is buying the beer. I like it? Okay, that works
eight five five Pats five hundred the toll free number
uh at Jr. Broadcaster on Twitter, web radio at Patriots
dot com on email you want to join the conversation,
so you know, amongst the items that we're talking about, Yeah,
we've been talking about the whole reason for the fact

(45:10):
that the OTAs are beginning today as we speak. Mac
Jones is scheduled to have his news conference at the
end of the first practice session today at approximately one
thirty our time. That's forty five minutes from now. So
we'll carry that once he does begin. In the meantime,
got a couple of other things that we do want

(45:31):
to talk about today. And again this is sort of
an open forum discussion, you know, not only between you know,
our experts here who nailed Christian Gonzales as far as
the draft pick was concerned a year a month ago,
but also to kind of get a state of the
kind of get a state of the patriots. A temperature,

(45:53):
if you will. Let's we're putting from you know, we're
shooting the gun right here to the temple the ridge. Yeah,
temperature creature dude. Yeah, well, we'll give you the temperature.

Speaker 5 (46:03):
You know it.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
He will.

Speaker 5 (46:04):
Let's see if I can summon him. Come on, man,
where are you?

Speaker 2 (46:08):
He knows he's supposed to. Don't match shake in his head,
he said. Eld Elder's probably trying to, you know, deliver
a load right about now?

Speaker 6 (46:14):
Right, I hear that horn?

Speaker 5 (46:17):
Hot.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
I won't. I won't. I won't say anymore. I could
have said something like drop a load. That would have
been a little bit more, you know, st would have laughed,
Oh goodness, all right, So I need to bend the rules.
We've kind of talked about that at least for the
last few minutes. And I and I think that the

(46:40):
mindset is still in place, and that was one of
the things. As I suggested earlier, that isn't necessarily a
bad thing here. You do need to be able to
play operate without you know, big brother kindstantly watching over you.
Let's get also back to the topic. Number one that
I mentioned off was should the Patriots be all in

(47:03):
on DeAndre Hopkins or not? Now, if you follow him
in social media, he had an interesting uh Instagram uh post.
It was twenty four hours ago, maybe not even did
you see it, Sean?

Speaker 6 (47:20):
I know I didn't see anything he was it was.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
It was just a it was a shot of it
was like a restaurant or a bar or something. I'm
trying to remember, but there was there were Patriots highlights
playing on a monitor or a TV up at the
top of it. And I want to say it was
it may have been, uh, it may have been the
Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl game if I'm not mistaken, but

(47:43):
I at any rate, he just he posted that video
on Instagram, and of course everybody's gonna gonna do the
googly eyeballs moji and it's like Hey, look at look
at what Look at what d hop is doing, and
and thinking that they can read into something that, oh,
you know, he's interested in the Patriots. Look, he may
very well be interested in the Patriots. But the fact

(48:04):
is is that he's not going to come here for
the kind of money that he was scheduled to make
in Arizona. Arizona cut him because they couldn't trade him.
So now he could end up making somewhere in that
vicinity of around nine million or so all year, which
is still a pretty exorbitant sum for guy who's clearly
on the the downside of his career. But would he

(48:26):
have a role within New England?

Speaker 5 (48:30):
For sure? Would he?

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Would he have a role? Would he be a nuisance?
Would he be an obstacle to accomplishing the bigger picture? What? What?
What would his role be? Should the Patriots be all
in on trying to get him here? In a perfect world,
if he agreed to the money, and he agreed to
not having to be a team leader, not having to
be you know, the a one guy at receiver, which

(48:51):
I don't think he is, and he probably have to
agree to sort of share that role at the very least,
and I don't want to give up anybody. I don't
want to give up anybody. I don't want to give
up Devonte Parker. You probably would have to. But you
know what, what what should the papers be all in
on this?

Speaker 5 (49:08):
Dove up Bill O'Brien because they really like each other,
don't they?

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Well, okay, but let's face it. You know, when you're
in this league, personality shouldn't enter into it. You're supposed
to do the job. Do the job. I mean, I
have to work with you know, listen, I have to
work with broadcast people that I just justn work with
a till of the hunt. But but you can't. I mean,

(49:32):
listeners and fans don't give a crap. And I don't
blame them because I wouldn't give a crap either if
I was listening. So you can learn to give. You
got to learn to get along, and we should not
care whether or not they get along or got along
in the past. What can you do for me now?
What can you do to make this team a winner? Yes? Money?

(49:54):
Is there enough money there? I don't frankly think there is.
I think Hopkins probably feels like he can still come in,
you know, a seven figure salary before six seven eight
figure salary. You know, I don't think that's possible, but
I'm just kind of curious what you guys think about
Hopkins here.

Speaker 6 (50:09):
I think he should be they should be all in.
I think they should get Hopkins. I actually tweeted out
to him saying, you know, instead of playing second fiddle
to Diggs, Kelsey, Lamb, Samuel and Kittle, go to New
England and be the elite wide receiver one, because that's
what I think he'd be here. The Patriots have a
four other wide receivers that are number two's, So bring

(50:30):
in Hopkins. Have him be someone that other teams have
to actually game plan for. Have he he could be
the person that that teams have to have to decide on.
And and I don't think it affects anyone else. You
don't have to trade anyone else's He's a free agent.
You can come in and and he can be the

(50:52):
wide receiver that that shows that what mac Jones can do.

Speaker 5 (50:57):
And I disagree with you entirely, because if this team moving,
we're just going to have any chance to go anywhere.
They need to develop a number one receiver. He's too old.

Speaker 6 (51:06):
Well, I'm not talking about that for years. I'm just
talking about next this coming season because the main, the
main thing we need to see this season, I understand,
but Todd, the thing they need to see this season
is if mac Jones is for real. And what they're missing,
as far as I'm concerned, is proven right tackle. Maybe
they think they have it in Riley Ree for Anderson,

(51:27):
I don't know. And they also need a number one
ride receiver this season. They need to figure that out.
I'm not having any hopes of Super Bowl or anything
like that. I just want mac Jones to have the
best weapons possible to see if this is our future.

Speaker 5 (51:43):
So we're going to get like a multimillion dollar surgery
optional surgery just to see if we've got a disease,
because that's what it's the mountain to do. We should
still be able to do an evaluation of mac Jones
with what we've got because there's talent there. There is
enough talent in my opinion, to run a pretty solid offense,

(52:03):
especially when you have somebody to coordinate it right. And
that's the big thing. We've got to put everything in
and all you need to do is add something to
the mix. Again, it's a little toxic, and if he
and mister mister bob By O'Brien don't get along, you
need to do that to Mac again, like another year,
and you're gonna try to evaluate Mac when Ma's in

(52:24):
a room that's not functional. Again. I don't want that.
Just develop what you've got, show us that you can
actually develop in house. We got some young guys, we
got some sixth round flyers that I'd love to see
one of those two stick. And let's just see what
we got. Let's stop saying, oh, let's go grab this guy,
because how well did our last free agency work. We

(52:44):
got Hunter Henry who's still with the team, and the
rest of them are kind of like, I'm offensively judeon like, yeah, that.

Speaker 6 (52:50):
Was a home run, but offensively yeah, on offensive they
prove they're not perfect and they made mistakes and last
year they were awful, and I don't know if Bill
O'Brien is going to change all that that much. They
were just like just not even a real NFL offense
last year. So we want to see if if they
can do it this year. And and you know, Juju

(53:12):
is kind of a replacement for Meyers, so I don't
know how much of an upgrade that is and is
definitely an improvement over Johns. So that could be better,
but it's I don't know if it's enough. And I
and that's my big question, is it enough to see
if we have enough with mac Jones? Is he gonna
be is he going to be under pressure and and

(53:32):
uh just completely trying to get rid of the ball
under duress like he was.

Speaker 5 (53:37):
That's your receiver, then that's not going to help with
having the receivers.

Speaker 6 (53:40):
Well, no, when you have when you have great receivers
that you have to adjust the defense for. It's it's
going to change things, that'll change the way that approach.
But when you don't have to worry about that, you
can just bring in the blitz. It's the whole thing
works together.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
Now.

Speaker 6 (53:52):
Of course, I'd love to have a real right tackle.
But you know, maybe I'm wrong, Maybe they're right this
time about Reef. I don't know, guys.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
That's that's that's thing that I think is key in
this discussion. Okay, does a guy like DeAndre Hopkins force
you to change defense in order to cover the Patriots
in order to keep the Patriots at bay? And I'll
be honest, i've've kind of done a one to eighty
on this. When the first possibility came out, this is
before the draft, that Hopkins might you know, end up

(54:22):
considering the Patriots, with the Patriots would trade for him
or what have you. I was all in because anything
you can do to make this team better, to give
it more options for Mac, for whomever, to put more
points on the board, you need to do because clearly,
the way this division is going, you gotta put points
on the board. You're not going to beat a lot
of teams scoring twenty one to twenty three points a game.

(54:43):
You're just not going to. But I don't know that
I want to necessarily bring Hopkins in if a he
can't conform to where we currently are. B If it's
at the expense potentially of some of the younger guys
that they taken late in the draft. Now, because I'm
very excited, believe it or not, about the two rookies,

(55:05):
you know, six round draft pick. I'm very very excited
about those guys. You know, Bute is a guy that
you know, I saw a play at LSU, and I'm like,
why is he dropping? I didn't know about all of
his baggage going in, which I have since learned. So,
but this is a guy that can beat people. And
you want Hopkins because he can beat people when he

(55:28):
was in his prime. But I don't. I'm not convinced
that he's there. So and I realize that, you know,
there's this mutual admiration society going on between him and
Bill Belichick, which we've all seen. So it boils, it
basically boils down to this can he help us win now?
And can he conform to what we're doing now? And
I have my doubts. If he comes here, well, then Todd,

(55:52):
he has answered the question, has he not? Because then
he's like, Okay, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in. I
don't think we really expect this to be another know
Randy Moss times too, do we? I don't think so.
I don't think so bad. No, he's not going to
break records, but you know, will he live with the status?
And so if he comes here, then all of that
is going to be vetted beforehand and he'll agree to

(56:14):
the money and what have you. Now does this potentially,
you know, uh, postpone an opportunity.

Speaker 5 (56:20):
For the published team, though we could remember that the
published team with a good offense, which.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Is exactly why I don't think Hopkins goes here. Guys,
I don't think he Hopkins goes here because I think
he wants to go try to win a ring, and
I'm not so sure the Patriots are the place for
him right now. This Patriots team can be a playoff
team again with the personnel they have, I'm not sure
that because of the schedule, I'm not sure they're gonna
win enough to get a high enough seed. I think

(56:48):
that's all to be determined as the summer and the
fall begin to play out here. But I think we'd
all say that right now. A step in the right
direction would be get back to the postseason, win a game.

Speaker 6 (57:00):
John, You're a Stones fan, right, Yes, you know the
song you can't always get what you want?

Speaker 5 (57:05):
Yeah, Well that applies here.

Speaker 6 (57:07):
Hopkins has been available for the past five six days.
No one's signing him. I don't know if the interest
is that high, Sean.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
There's a reason for that because I think the other teams, well,
first of all, yeah, June one, but the other end,
that's tomorrow. But the other teams are saying the same
thing as the Patriots. Are you a fit? Can you
take a lesser role. You know, will you conform? Are
you going to be a locker room influence? You know,
what are you going to do? And so they're they're
vetting it right now, and they're waiting it, and they

(57:38):
want to see how hungry the guy is. And you
may wait until we get further into the summer before
you see a guy like hop like Hopkins decide to
go to camp. He may sit out the preseason all
together in order to save his legs. And then look
at the situation, check out the landscape. Oh, so and
so lost a receiver in training camp, So and so

(58:01):
lost somebody during otash, so and so with then to
begin with, and you know, and these teams, one or
two of those teams might have better personnel defensively, special
teams might be playoff caliber. And then he picks and
chooses his opportunity because again, he is a free agent,
and we talked about that, so I wouldn't I'd be stunned.

(58:22):
What would stun me here is if he signed any
time between now and say next week, Well, yeah, that
would be not that'd be nuts. I don't see him
signing with anybody really until we get into the preseason.
I mean, I think I think I'd be stunned if
he was signed with someone by the first week of

(58:42):
training camp, by the end of July, first of August.
I think that would really surprise me, because again, the
Patriots aren't the only team here, and and Adam Schefter
has even said the Patriots are in the mix.

Speaker 5 (58:54):
The.

Speaker 6 (58:56):
Top teams in the mix, right the teams in the mix.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
And listen, if I'm looking at it, for he.

Speaker 5 (59:02):
Had some talent or something left to compliment with what
they've got, they would have grabbed him already. And the
fact that they haven't done that that tells me something.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
It tells me that you're playing You're you're playing a
little game of chicken right now. I think, you know,
Bill is trying to make sure that DeAndre understands he
is not the receiver he once was. Okay, that's number one,
but number two. I also believe that Bill kind of
likes what he's got, and I kind of like and
I kind of like what Bill has too. I'll be honest.

(59:32):
You know, when I'm looking at the roster and I'm
looking at these guys and I'm taking a look, you know, jeez,
I got Kishan butte uh oh de Mario Douglas. I mean,
I'd love to see that guy, you know, in an
open field situation. Look, the fact of the matter is,
I think he feels like he's got enough there and
that they hope that Taekwon Thornton continues to evolve, and

(59:53):
you got Juju Smith Schuster who's gonna come in. As
you said earlier, you know that he's probably gonna be
a little bit better than what they had at the
slot there because he's got more what I like to
term missibility, more breakaway speed. He can get more yak
and I think that's what the Patriots need, is they
need more yards after the catch from their receivers. Whether
you're throwing in the backs or you're thrown to the
tight ends, or you're thrown to the white outs, they

(01:00:13):
need somebody who can break tackles. And I think Juju
still has some of that. So you're taking all of
these things into equation, all of these things into equation,
and you're playing a game of chicken with DeAndre Hopkins,
and I really think that's I think the Patriots are
not the only team doing that.

Speaker 6 (01:00:31):
I also see the Patriots using this round this year's
sixth round kind of like they used to use for
the undrafted free agents because they had so many picks,
so they can actually get players less expensively at the
sixth or seventh rounds than they could have when they

(01:00:52):
had to give a lot of money to guarantee someone
like Cunningham they did with quarterbacks. So these players take.

Speaker 5 (01:00:59):
Risks like the to do right when they had a
really solid core, they took a lot of risks, right, Sean, Yeah,
And these guys are flyers the picks instead of having
the core to give them the community to do it.
They're using the picks to take some risk. And if
one of these risks works out, if either of those
receivers work go, they've got a potential future number one.
I'm not going to say this year, it'll.

Speaker 6 (01:01:19):
That's that's what it is. It's it's potential for the future.
It's it is a risk. So it's not something that
I'm counting on for twenty twenty three. But there's no
reason why we have to discount that all of a
sudden we're going to lose either Booty or or the
sought receiver as well, I mean Douglas. Douglas. Yeah, these guys,

(01:01:42):
they they could probably make it to the practice squad
and the and they'll be fine.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
And that's hoping that's the case that I'm hoping for
that Sean and and and because you know, these are
all guys that are like, well, we want to keep around,
knowing though that you know, if they show themselves anything
during the course of spring, you know, the spring or
the summer preseason, that somebody could potentially pick them up
and snack and snatch them way if they have a need.

(01:02:08):
So again that's why Foxborough flu, right, Yeah, the Foxborough flu.
It's exactly right, which is somewhat legitimate, I think from
time to time at just about every place we go.
I understand that the practicisation is already ending or beginning
to end right now out on the field. So it
only was underway for roughly an hour and a half.
So mac Jones is going to step up to the
podium here momentarily, so I want to let those of

(01:02:30):
you know who are just joining in as we're here
an hour number two of live edition of Patriots Playbook
on the first day of organized team activities here at
Gillette Stadium, that we are going to hear from mac here,
and then we're going to continue the conversation here in
the playbook, because not only were talking about, you know,
the receiver spot, whether or not they should jump into
DeAndre Hopkins, we talked a little bit about, you know,

(01:02:51):
the fact that this was the first day of OTAs
and why that reason was. But I also want to
find out for our esteemed guest, Todd in North Carolina,
Sean and Vancouver, is still waiting on Eldred. Does he
even know that we're on right now?

Speaker 5 (01:03:07):
You do?

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
Okay? He knew it was noon instead of two o'clock, right, okay,
all right, So we're still waiting on Eldred. But I
want to get these guys thoughts on another question, whether
or not there is actually enough to win.

Speaker 5 (01:03:20):
Now that might be a pretty big load. He's got
to drop off, right, I'm just telling you.

Speaker 6 (01:03:26):
Clear says hello?

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
By the way, who says hello?

Speaker 6 (01:03:30):
Claire?

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
Oh? Claire salo Oh are you are you chatting with her?

Speaker 6 (01:03:34):
She sent me a message in Twitter?

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
Oh gotcha? Okay, hey girl? Right, where are you Claire?
All right? Yeah? Exactly. One of the other things here
that I think is certainly a topic conversation, you know,
and Evan wrote about this on the website, and uh,
several reporters have wondered out loud whether or not there's

(01:03:58):
going to actually be some kind of the quarterback competition
for this team. And and look, I I you know,
last year it was it was a kind of a
fun thing to sort of tweak people's noses with the
whole Bailey Zappy Mac Jones thing because things really weren't
going well, and so we we we just kind of,
you know, throw it out there because it's, let's face it,

(01:04:21):
we're all gullible, we all love controversy. But in seriousness,
the only way that Bailey Zappy could make this a
legitimate competition is if Mac flops, miserable, hurt or gets hurt, right,
And so we're kind of waiting to see, you know,

(01:04:42):
how that goes. And I personally believe that Mac is
gonna come out much like you know, Evan and I
have talked here on the program previously. I think Mac,
we're gonna see reinvigorated. I think we're gonna see Mac, uh,
you know, pleased with you know, uh that he's got
somebody with the kind of a track record that Bill
O'Brien has I mean they did sort of. They were
like ships passing in the night at Alabama. You know,

(01:05:03):
Obie was coming in, Mack was leaving, and so there
is familiarity there between the two, and I think there's
going to be an inherent trust as well between the two.
But let's also face it, this is a bottom line business.
It is a business that is predicated on winning first,
numbers second. And however, the Patriots feel they need to win,

(01:05:26):
which is one of the reasons why I think that
they turned to Bailey to begin with. A year ago,
you know, when Mack hurt himself, all right, you know,
well we really don't have anybody else, so let's go.
And then, of course, you know, you get an injury
from your backup at the time, and so you bring
in you know, Bailey Zappi, and he actually played well
and he overinflated those expectations and it kind of like, ah,
this is fun, let's run with it.

Speaker 5 (01:05:49):
What was it? Jumboheart said that they should he was
with Fitzi, and they said, put Cunningham as the backup.
And then because you have a disaster slot, you put
Zappi in the disasters and then you can put Cunningham
will be on He'll be on the roster, and you'll
be able to do little tweaky things with them, like
have them return kicks and do the other stuff. And

(01:06:09):
then if something really does happen suddenly Cunningham's hurt too.
Just really coincidence that he went down the same time.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
That was a great signing, by the way, Mully Cunningham.
I thought that was that was very very Uh. I've
used this word once already. I can't believe I'm going
to use it for a second time on this show.
Prescient signing by the Patriots.

Speaker 5 (01:06:29):
I just hope I just have to spell pressients.

Speaker 2 (01:06:31):
Come on, E S E I E N T Pressians
and gentlemen.

Speaker 6 (01:06:42):
Now, the the thing about Cunningham that I'm just hoping
for is I'm hoping for him to be the practice
squad guy that can prepare the team for the running quarterbacks.
Because right off the bat game one, you have all
that you can handle with the Eagles, you got Jalen Hurts.
Who let's see if we have well we can do
to take care of that we couldn't do last year.

(01:07:02):
Can we actually cover a running quarterback? And can we
deal with a top wide receiver like AJ Brown. How
do we adjust it on defense to deal with these things?
And that's something that Cunningham, That's where I see his
his real value, whether or not he plays on the
offense in the regular season or not. But I want

(01:07:25):
him to be there on the practice squad.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
Yeah, I want me some RPO. I don't know, I
just I want me some r P. I want them.

Speaker 6 (01:07:32):
I want that with Jones. Mac Jones was great at
r PO at Alabama. Let's see him do that more
than just bubble screens. Let's see some real plays out
of that. And and Bill O'Brien can make that happen.
So the Patriots on offense, I I one hundred percent
believe they're going to be better because they can't be
any worse.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
Right, Well, the only thing that's gonna that's gonna keep
them stagnant is if the offensive line continues to perform
the way that it did, you know, and they keep
shooting themselves on the foot and they keep holding uh
and they miss block and they get you know, Mac
decapitated or whatever it may be. Back there.

Speaker 5 (01:08:03):
It was a sneaky problem last year Andrews at center.
I think Andrews was on a couple of times. He's
on roller skates. He was just going back, back, back,
back back back. Well, it's also hurt, I know. But
I think they I think they drafted with the thought
that Andrews said, Yeah, of is this Andrews last year?
Who mentioned somebody mentioned this on one of the podcasts
might have been evid yep that you know they're looking

(01:08:25):
at this saying is he able to is he able
to last the year? And be is this possibly his
last year?

Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
Yep?

Speaker 5 (01:08:31):
And I worry about him because he's always been undersized,
He's always had kind of a niggling injury here and there.
He's great, but he is the he's the CPU for
that offensive line. If he gets hurt, I worry because
he's the one that puts everybody. He was like the
Devin mccordy of the O line, Right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
That's one of the Yeah, and that's one of the
reasons why I like the fact that the uh, the
draft seemed to at least address that late because there's
versatility and uh, you know with the Jake Andrews, who
I think you can slide over and do that. So
to me, yeah, that's a nod too. All right, we
need to play a little c ya here and make
sure we're not left you know, you know, holding, so

(01:09:10):
to speak.

Speaker 6 (01:09:11):
But the only consistent player on the offensive line last
year was on when you he's unfortunately he got hurt
at the end of the year, but he was the
only person that could cease moving forward as someone who's
going to have a career with the Patriots. Like you said,
Andrews looks like he's David Andrews looks like he's going

(01:09:31):
towards the end. He's got not as much left. And
I'm not sure about the rookie strange. That was a
strange pick. And then there's Trent Browns, who plays when
he wants to. So there was a lot of issues.
And what I'm thinking or hoping hoping, is more like it,
can Clem fix that. Can Clem come in and motivate

(01:09:51):
this offensive line and prevent them from having all the
mistakes they had? At least can we have something clean
even if you get beat? Can you not jump off side?
Can you pay attention to where the ball is? Can
you just do the assignments? Run this the way it's
supposed to run.

Speaker 5 (01:10:07):
Do your job?

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
Well, wow, we heard that one before, right, Yeah, but
it's true. I think it's true. And and so this
is really kind of what it boils down to. You're
looking at, you know, guys that you know need to
be a little bit more defined in their roles. Maybe
that's part of the process over the course of the
spring and the summer. I'm sure that you know, when
it came to the indoor workouts that they've already had,

(01:10:32):
that this has already begun to be you know, kind
of reinforced. I'll tell you what I think could end
up being a factor, and I hope not a big factor,
but locker room leadership. When you lose a guy like
Devin mccorty, as they've lost, you lose one of the
last vestiges outside of Matthew Slater. You know that that
tie to some of the Championship era teams that were

(01:10:54):
that were there. And okay, well guys listen, I mean
clearly we saw the end of last year. Jack Jones
is one of those that listening, you know, And maybe
they'll be able to fix it, maybe they won't, but
that to me is a vastly underrated uh and and

(01:11:15):
often not talked about enough part of what the Patriots
did when things were going real well. And I think
that that is a legitimate concern, and maybe they're going
to look to someone like Mac to sort of, you know,
take over in that leadership regard, because the quarterback is
a focal point anyway, and I think that's a huge
part of it. I think he has to step up
and do that. I would agree.

Speaker 6 (01:11:36):
Let's hear some lfgs out of Mac. Let's see if
that gets going.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
Yeah, right, did you guys see the speaking of TV twelve,
did you guys see the reports out there that if
Jimmy mcgaroppolo is not able to play with the Raiders
that TV might consider coming out of retirement for a
year to go play for Josh in Vegas.

Speaker 5 (01:11:57):
Seems to me the team can't do it instant rooms
and beyond the.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
Scene because he has Yeah, I was about to say, so,
you know, but have they have? They has all the paperwork?
Is all the ink dried on the contract?

Speaker 6 (01:12:09):
I don't. I don't know. I don't think so, but yeah,
I don't. I think forty five is when he said
he'll play too, and he's forty five. I don't see
him coming coming back anymore. He came back once that's it,
let's uh move on to other other activities. For Tom Brady,
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
Well, all I know is that, what is it, September tenth,
we're going to have you know, TB twelve day here
and in Foxborough and and I'm sure he'll be quite
the shin dig.

Speaker 5 (01:12:38):
Unless, like you said, he's playing for the Raiders, in
which case right, oh.

Speaker 2 (01:12:42):
Man, that'll that'll piss off the marketing people want it.

Speaker 6 (01:12:46):
Then the Raiders would lose a first round pick.

Speaker 2 (01:12:47):
Yeah, yeah, then they would. I suppose they would. Alfredson's
an email said maybe Eldred got caught up finally filming
his first episode of Eldred's Mother Trucker Travels. Said I
was really looking forward to his commentary hopefully, Eldred, if
you're listening, clearly that we've got listeners here that are

(01:13:12):
that are claiming you know that, you know all. That's
one of the things that for those that are unaware.
Last year we talked to Eldred in the off season
about doing something that we were going to call Eldred's
Mother Truck of Travels because that's what he does for
a living. He drives an eighteen wheeler on the highways
and byways of the great state of North Carolina. And
I'm just you know, I think that's still worth doing

(01:13:33):
if we can, you know, come up with a game
plan and you know, so here's what we should do
at least now, is if anybody has an idea, anybody
drives for a living, or drives a lot, or has
a long commute, I think ideas for Eldred would be
welcome here on the confines of this program. So anybody

(01:13:54):
who's a playbook fan or follower listens to the show,
what have you? We need ideas to feed to Eldred.
Then we'll let him shift through him and choose the
best ones that are appropriate to him. And then we'll
actually have a weekly Eldred's mother Trucker travel.

Speaker 5 (01:14:08):
The best Grasie spoons. You and Eric, we're gonna Scalavino,
We're gonna do restaurants. Well, he should do the best
greasy spoons at all the stops.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
That's not a bad idea, too, like it. We could
do Carolina greasy spoons, right, and of course Todd would
be able to benefit right exactly. I mean, I show
you drink it in Canada dry a moment ago.

Speaker 6 (01:14:26):
Do you miss Canada a lot, do you?

Speaker 5 (01:14:30):
Yeah, let's not get into it. It's it's it's it's
a weird place right now down here. I had I
drove by the shooting outside my school and I ended
up on the news. Well I'm on the news now, okay,
that could be something for him. Yeah. My Canadian was like,
there's gunfire within two blocks of where your son goes

(01:14:51):
to school and.

Speaker 6 (01:14:51):
You live, and said, yeah, yeah, well that could be
something for Eldred as well. You know Carolina murders. They
can talk about rich people murdering people in the Carolinas son.

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
This guy, this conversation is not going exact way that
I wanted it to here. Uh, the practice is over.
So we're just awaiting Mac Jones again, uh to head
to the podium to uh speak to everybody who wishes
to speak to him today, and we'll carry that here
in the playbook. We're going to continue the conversation eight
five five PATS five hundred, the toll free number eight
five five PATS five hundred, web radio at Patriots dot com,

(01:15:27):
on email at JR Broadcast, or the Twitter handle. If
you've got some thoughts on the aforementioned subjects if you're
joining live late here on the website kind of trying
to figure out what the heck happened at OTAs today.
We'll get that update from Mac in just a couple
of moments. But one of the things, the couple of
things that we've been talking about today, whether or not
Patriots should be all in on DeAndre Hopkins or not.

(01:15:51):
Is there an overwhelming need now or should there be
a need to continue to bend the rules or shall
we say dog ear the pay of the rule book
because it seems like the Patriots have done that it
cost them a couple of practice sessions here in OTA's
early and the other topic that we need to get
to here before the end of the day, and I

(01:16:12):
guess we can also open it up now in addition
to should there be you know, a quarterback quote unquote
competition in which we just kind of touched on, is
is there enough on this Patriots roster right now as
you see it on paper? Is there enough in this
team to win? And by winning, I don't mean just

(01:16:36):
nine to eight. Is there enough talent on this team
considering what you have to go through in the AFC East,
which is really gonna be like running the gauntlet. I
think is we We said it all the time. Oh,
it's a division eployee. It's always hard. We always hear that.
But this is gonna be more like. This is gonna
be like more literally running through a gauntlet because you

(01:16:59):
got Aaron Rodgers, who you know, some people think has
made the Jets a super Bowl contender. I'm not sure
I buy that. I still want to see it first.
You know, guess that makes me from Missouri. Show me ya, Miami.
I gotta see the to attack of a law can
or tangle a law healthy? Yeah, he's got to stay healthy.

(01:17:19):
There's no question the young man has talent. Can't stay healthy?
Can he stay on the field? And then Buffalo? Are
they gonna for lack of a better phrase, are they
gonna Buffalo again? And I think we all understand. If
you're a Patriots fan, you certainly understand what that means.
You know, they had the team last year. I thought
last year it was set up beautifully for the Bills

(01:17:40):
to get in, and not only did they not get in,
but they came up short, well short, so they didn't
have a chance to win. And even if they do
get in, are they gonna go, you know, wide left again,
wide right again. What are they gonna do? You know?
And you know, so I think there's opportunity for everyone
in the AFC East. Nobody's expected the Patriots to be

(01:18:01):
competitive outside of New England. I really don't think so.
I don't see any buzz, I don't feel any run.
I don't see any of the prognosticators or the national
noted media. There's not a whole lot of Hey, you know,
don't forget about New England. So this is again to me,
a perfect opportunity to place the old doubt boulder on

(01:18:22):
the shoulder. Is there is there a way, however, to
get the senior you know, members of this team, the
leadership in the locker room, to get the others to
bite down on that hard like they have in the
past in order to be able to use that. And
is the strength of schedule too hard? You know? Does
this team have talent? I think it has more talent

(01:18:43):
than it had last year, without question. I don't know
if it's enough to get over the hump, Fellas, what
do you think?

Speaker 6 (01:18:50):
There's the thing. I been a Patriots fan for over
fifty years, and you know I have my red, white
and blue tinted glasses. I can put those on and
have hope for everything. I can do permutations as to
each thing, how it can work and how mac Jones
will have the protection find the receivers have different type

(01:19:11):
of designs in this offense with RPOs running and working,
and then the defense being the best defense in the NFL,
and I can definitely imagine that. But if I'm going
to look at this thing realistically, they're going to be
better than last year in terms of talent, But I
don't know if that leads to more wins because I

(01:19:33):
don't know how much better that'll be, and I think
expecting that is as a bit much. That's a bit
high ended to expect them to win even ten games.
It's as hard because this schedule is crazy difficult. The
best team in the Sorry, the best division in the
NFL is the AFC East, The second best division is

(01:19:55):
the NFC East, The third best division is the AFC West.
Patriots play all those divisions. There's not one team on
the schedule that you can pencil in as a win.
It's it's gonna be a struggle every week, and just
starting off at Week one, you have that like I said,
you have the Eagles coming in and then Miami coming

(01:20:17):
in the next week for Sunday Night, So it's it's
it's gonna be it's gonna be hard. And that's why
I said seven wins. It doesn't mean that I'm no
longer a fan or you know. I I hope to
God I'm wrong, but that's that's the way I see it.
I see this team being better but still not winning
as much, and that's.

Speaker 5 (01:20:33):
What I want. I'm really this year, and I'd said
it on PU I'm less about the wins. I'm more
about let's see progress. What is mac making taking steps forwards?
Are we starting to develop? Like have we are we
somewhere along the season? Did we figure out the old line?
Did our defense really just step it up and on?

(01:20:54):
Did we get our young guys involved? How does this
team program? If I can feel at the end of
the year that they are significantly better than when they
started the year, which hasn't happened in like four or
five years. They have not improved like they used to.
If I can see that they have improved significantly, and
even if the record is like seven and ten, I

(01:21:17):
still will be happy.

Speaker 2 (01:21:20):
I call bs on that one. Nobody's gonna be happy
with seven and ten. Nobody, and you shouldn't.

Speaker 5 (01:21:25):
Be, well, I with the schedule you have. There's a
matter of being realistic, John.

Speaker 2 (01:21:31):
I understand. Hey, Tom, I can say, hey, I get it,
but I just I don't see that the you know,
the run of the mill, mainstream, you know, Fan, I
don't think anybody they're gonna look at the bottom line.
The bottom line is seven and ten, and whether or
not the team is better, it doesn't matter that the
division is that much tougher. It's not an excuse, especially
when you've had two losing seasons in the last three.

(01:21:53):
It's not a trend that you need to go. I
believe me, I've never ever ever thought that Bill Bella
deserved to be on the quote unquote hot seat. Never
thought that based on what he's done in his twenty
two years here, his body of work, six super Bowl championships,
ten super Bowl I mean no, there's just no way.

(01:22:14):
There's just no way. But it is a game in
which what have you done for me lately? Is the
question that always needs to be answered, and it needs
to be answered in the affirmative, especially in a region,
especially with a team in a franchise that has not
been used to really anything else in a generation.

Speaker 5 (01:22:37):
John first four games, I think they're going oh to four.

Speaker 2 (01:22:42):
Okay, well if they go If they go oh and four,
they're buried. They're dead and buried.

Speaker 5 (01:22:48):
That first Those first four games are insane.

Speaker 2 (01:22:51):
I know they're insane. Eagles, Dolphins, Jets, Cowboys. That's how
you open the season. I know it's that's extraordinarily difficult.
I believe that there is a chance to go too
and two, and I think it's probably gonna be one
in three. I think there's a chance to go to

(01:23:12):
and two if they're doing everything they should be doing.
I think the two games that I think that they
could win would be the home game against the Dolphins
and the road game against the Jets. Division games.

Speaker 5 (01:23:24):
I think most of it might be the two hardest.

Speaker 2 (01:23:28):
I don't think so.

Speaker 5 (01:23:30):
I'm hoping Philly comes off of you know that.

Speaker 2 (01:23:33):
I'm hoping that the Cowboys can. I'm hoping that the
Cowboys continue to disappoint me and come up short. But
the Cowboys, the Cowboys always are tougher at the beginning
of the year than at the end of the year,
so they caught Dallas in the wrong spot. They're catching
Dallas in the first month of the season. I think
that's unfortunate.

Speaker 6 (01:23:52):
I think, well, yeah, I think it's extremely difficult. That's
it's it's just crazy challenging schedule. Now, if you're talking
about the Jets as a win, sure they're they're gonna
be better, probably with with Aaron Rodgers. But maybe they're
the Jets they land, they land up screwing up a

(01:24:12):
lot of the times, especially against the Patriots. It's it's
what's since when was it twenty fourteen the last time
they beat the Patriots? So maybe maybe the Patriots will
win that one. Maybe it'll it should be a close
It'll be a close game. I think they'll all be
close games. I can see the Patriots keeping it within
three in all in all four of those games, and

(01:24:35):
you know, you could go either way at some points.
But it's it's gonna be tough to score points against
those defenses. They're they're they're gonna be really, really, really challenged,
and I'll be rooting for them. But yeah, I could
see zhe and four. I can see two and two.
We'll have to see what happens.

Speaker 2 (01:24:54):
I can see both of them myself. But I think
there's a chance for two and two. Uh, And I
think the ilicsticate expectation is one in three, and then
if that is the case, they'll certainly be staggered, but
they won't have been dealt the knockout punch because there's
there's a couple of opportunities I think on down the
line to sort of rite the ship. But one in

(01:25:15):
three even such, even so one in three is probably
gonna be. That's gonna be, that's gonna be difficult. I
honestly believe they're gonna put everything they can into the
opening month of the season. That's my that's my my
thought process here. You put everything they can into the

(01:25:37):
opening month of the season to get all of.

Speaker 5 (01:25:39):
Which says the season doesn't start until the second third month.

Speaker 2 (01:25:43):
Right John, Yeah, Well, but I think you need to
get off to a good start. I just I just do.
And because of the way the schedule breaks down, I
think you have to send messages not only to others,
but more importantly, you got to send a message to
your own team that what we've done matters and what
we're doing matters. And if you're still wishy washing with

(01:26:04):
the new guys and the work ethic and you know,
you know, do your job, and you know team leadership
of the locker room, all this stuff. You need to
show that, hey, this is having an immediate effect. This
is the way we need to continue to go. If
you want to go back and grab a piece of
the of the past, if you want and use that
going forward, this is your opportunity to do that. And

(01:26:26):
I think that's why the first month is very important.

Speaker 6 (01:26:30):
Well, in twenty twenty one, the Patriots where they started
the season one and three, so it like you said,
it's not the end of the world if you do that.
But then you got to have that wind streak like
they had in the in the middle of the season
from October twenty fourth.

Speaker 2 (01:26:46):
As long as we're as long as we're doing it here,
you know, then you come Week five, you're playing the Saints.
You should get that at home. Although the home field
advantage wasn't last year what it had been in the past.
Week six, you're playing at the Raiders. Week seven, you're
home against Buffalo. Everybody would be up for that. I think,
you know, if you're gonna beat Buffalo, that's certainly the
one you got to look at week eight, you're at

(01:27:09):
the Dolphins, so you're you're done with Buffalo in Miami
halfway through the season, right, you're done with them? Well, no,
actually on my own Buffalo one more. That's right, that's
the first one. With Buffalo Miami. You're done halfway through
the season, and that's one of your chief competitors in
theory right there. So you got to hope for a
split if you beat Buffalo, and you can manage to

(01:27:32):
do that in week seven. Now you're looking at a
team that you know could be you could be five
and three at that point, you could be five and three.
And so if you're telling me you hit the halfway
point of the season at five and three and then
you play Washington and home a week nine, if you're
actually telling me that there's a chance this team can

(01:27:53):
go six and three by through nine weeks, now, I'm
thinking you've got the You've got the playoff team you wanted.
This is what this is. You know, long as you
don't completely fall flat on your face, but you're trending
in the right direction. And then you have to take
a look at it. Right, where are we injury wise?
Where are we health wise? Who do we rest that
kind of thing, because then you're at home against the
Colts after.

Speaker 6 (01:28:12):
The Commanders at home in Germany.

Speaker 2 (01:28:14):
Yes, the home gaming in Germany, but you got the
bye week following. Yeah, the Patriots are three and zero
all time in foreign games. That's good, let's go four
and so exactly, and you got the Colts over there.
I think there's every opportunity to you know, there's a chance.
I think an outside chance at best, because it sounds
ludicrous to even say, but if they continue to follow

(01:28:35):
along that sort of momentum, you could be seven and
three going into the bye week. Now, then I think
you're probably talking about expectations being too high.

Speaker 6 (01:28:46):
Yeah, because that let down at the end when you
lose most of those games, especially against the Bills and
I can't remember who. I know the Jets is the
last game.

Speaker 2 (01:28:55):
But let's hey, let's let's let's let's let's say you know,
that has to be on the table. And that's even
after a one in three start, that's when in six
in a row, is it possible. It's possible. Likely, probably not,
but it's possible. Yeah, Well, anything, I think we all
understand that, you know, everything is possible. I could win

(01:29:16):
a million bucks tomorrow and Syonara Fellas, I'm out. So
but I mean, you know, miss you won't miss you
wouldn't miss me. I'd miss you, you would.

Speaker 5 (01:29:24):
Miss So make it a five million?

Speaker 2 (01:29:28):
Five million, Yeah, let's try. A million doesn't go very
far these days, does it not? The way the stock
market is playing with my four oh one k let
me tell you, holy smokes uh loading loading it up
for cannon fodder. So anyway, I just look the talent
I think is there, and and I and I and
I'm pleased with the speed on both sides of the ball,

(01:29:50):
at least initially.

Speaker 5 (01:29:51):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:29:51):
I want to see these guys hustle. I want to
see these guys practice. I want to see these guys hit.
I want to see these guys line up against somebody
else other than themselves. All right, and let's pause. I
also want to see and hear from Mac Jones. Let's
head out to the playing field.

Speaker 7 (01:30:06):
And I've talked that's either been in year three or older.
You know, they just say just keep working and and
build a confidence through your reps. And it's not just
confidence from last year, the year before college, it's.

Speaker 1 (01:30:17):
My whole life.

Speaker 7 (01:30:18):
So just continue to do that and and working and
doing all the right things.

Speaker 1 (01:30:25):
Yeah, it's been really good. It's been normal.

Speaker 7 (01:30:27):
I think everything he's done so far has been really good.
I think the communication is the most important part. And trust.
I think it all starts with that. When you're with
a new coach and he's done a great job and
controlling the room, I feel like everyone's on the same page.
Just got to continue to do it. It's it's a marathon,
not a sprint, so we know that. And he's obviously
had great experience in the NFL and at Alabama where

(01:30:50):
I was at. So there's a lot of good stuff
that we've talked about and just looking forward to working
with him.

Speaker 1 (01:30:58):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 7 (01:30:59):
I mean, I'm not gonna get in specifics give it away,
but I think there's definitely things like we talk about lingo.
It's like there's things we both say and it makes sense.
So that's important. But at the end of the day,
football's football, and we're kind of building our own thing
here and utilizing the guys that we have.

Speaker 1 (01:31:14):
We have a good group of guys.

Speaker 7 (01:31:15):
Veteran veteran group, and really it's about you know, molding
together as a team. That's the most important part is
how do you come together and trust each other regardless
of what the plays are.

Speaker 2 (01:31:28):
You know, point off last year and how did you
sort of you know, approach this offseason when it came
to it.

Speaker 7 (01:31:33):
Yeah, yeah, I think I tried to follow like a
college like offseason program. Just stay on it really early,
a lot less vacations, and just work really hard like
all the other guys are doing. And that's that's really
gonna help in the future, and try to do that
every year. But it's really just identifying what you can
get better at. And like I said, confidence comes from
years of practice and and doing.

Speaker 1 (01:31:53):
Well and also not doing well.

Speaker 7 (01:31:55):
You know, sometimes the most confident people come from, you know,
a year where they might not have been their best.
And I feel like that's where I'm at and we
all feel like that, so we're all hungry and confidence
comes with time. But it's also something that you can
look back on to, you know, not just worrying about
things happen in the past, but also focusing on the future.
What do you say, Yeah, I think really really great

(01:32:19):
people are formed through ups and downs. Like sometimes, you know,
you look at just speaking for myself, my sports career, Like,
I've always been on really good, winning teams and that's
what this place has been.

Speaker 1 (01:32:30):
So I'm just learning from all the things.

Speaker 7 (01:32:31):
That's all I took from from last year's It's a
learning experience and I think I learned a lot, which
is really important. I was a second year player at
the time, and all I can do is help me
in the future. I think it can help our team,
you know, my teammates, my coaches, and the experiences that
we're going to go through.

Speaker 1 (01:32:48):
It's it's the NFL.

Speaker 7 (01:32:49):
It's the hardest, hardest league there is, and everyone's really good.
So you got to bring your best not only every year,
but really most importantly every day. So just focusing on that. Yeah, yeah,
I think you know, in college, I always reference college, right.
I didn't really play early on, just got a chance

(01:33:09):
to learn. But I learned from some really good coaches,
you know, Sark stay Ball, Locksley Kiffin, you know, everybody.
So I actually had a different coordinator pretty much every
year there. And what I what I took from that
is you learn from each one of them. You take
the really good things and you kind of add that
to your repertoire. And I think with ob obviously that
needs to happen, and we're gonna work towards that, and

(01:33:31):
there's a lot of familiarity, but it's a new relationship
still and we're just working on that trust. That's what
I care about. I'm very, very much so a trustworthy
person and that's what we're trying to build.

Speaker 5 (01:33:47):
M hmm.

Speaker 1 (01:33:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:33:59):
I think every years a new year, right, and it's
it's a lot easier to say that after you have
a really good year, and and obviously our goal is
to win every game that we play in and learn
how to do that, and I think some of the
learning experiences I had last year will really help. There's
a lot of things I could do better. I know
that as a person as a player, there's things I
can grow upon. But really it's it's about this year.

(01:34:21):
You know, we got new faces in the room. It's
all about earning the respect of everybody every day. So
I'm starting fresh, just like everybody else is. And I'm
gonna run my own race and and look up at
the end and see see where I'm at. So I
think everyone else would do that too. Yeah, Yeah, I
think Taekwon he's done a really good job. Just trying

(01:34:42):
to be consistent. Uh got a chance to work with
him in the off season like a lot of the guys,
and for for me and him, it's all about communication.
I think, you know, he has to grow and learn
with me and and all the other guys too, So
we're all in the same boat together. But what you
see is exactly what you're gonna get. He's fast, he's
a smart football player, he's got strong hands. I really
think it's just him continuing to grow that confidence, just

(01:35:04):
like you know, we're all working for and he's gonna
be a great player for a long time. Uh Yeah,
I think Juju has done a great job also from
a leadership standpoint, just coming in. That's someone who adds
veteran leadership from different places. He just came off of
a super Bowl team, So what a great value to
our offense.

Speaker 1 (01:35:24):
And obviously when he gets on the field, that's.

Speaker 7 (01:35:26):
Gonna be great because he has the experience and he
loves talking about football.

Speaker 1 (01:35:30):
He's just a football nerd.

Speaker 7 (01:35:31):
I guess kind of like me, so like we're we
kind of hit it off in that regard. But yeah,
he's an awesome guy and I'm looking forward to working
with all those guys in that room, I think there's
a lot of potential there. Yeah yeah, I think, you know,
obviously throughout the years in the league so far, my my,

(01:35:51):
this is my third year. But watching him go against
some guys, you know, as an opponent is really cool
to see. Like obviously he would make some plays one
on one and down the field and all that stuff,
and you can definitely see that translate to here. But
I think Hunter and him and everybody else in the
tight end room, Scotty, Matt, Soko, everybody, so that they're
doing a good job. I think the biggest thing is,

(01:36:12):
like you said, molding together, Like those two are gonna
work as a pair. It might be different guys at times,
but Mike definitely has playmaking ability. He's a smart football player,
and I'm just excited to work with him.

Speaker 1 (01:36:33):
Con Yeah. Yeah, I think first of all, nice Golf
had it like that. I don't. I can't pull off
the bucket. Hap that's cool.

Speaker 7 (01:36:52):
First of all, I think coming off a season, you know,
you have to recover, right. Your body is a little
bit beat up, and obviously that's everybody. I think there's
a mental component to it, But for me, it's just
staying hungry and trying to find the little details, just
find the edge, and you have to fill up that
ninety nine percent, but you're also looking for that one percent.
So the first part of the off season is a
lot of like what can I do better? What are

(01:37:14):
the really good guys doing? You know, pick some people's brains,
like don't be afraid to ask questions. Obviously, I'm always
trying to learn from our coaches, our strength staff. They've
done a great job this off season, Moses and everybody
trying to get as stronger and faster. So I've been
really pleased with those guys. And it's like the different buckets.
I always talk about the different buckets, but there's mental, physical, emotional.

(01:37:36):
I've addressed all that and and everything from last year's
a learning experience and the year before same thing. So
I'm just trying to fill up each bucket the right
way and and just be consistent, like take out some
off days and just stay consistent and grind out something. Everybody, Yeah,

(01:37:56):
we'll see. I mean that's a lot of em right, Uh.
I think everyone's entitled to opinion. But all I can
do is, like I said earlier, I'm gonna run my race,
and hopefully everybody will run right behind me, and and
we'll be able to push this thing along and and
and learn from everything and do everything I can to
earn the respect of everybody in this building again and
from there go out there and win some games.

Speaker 1 (01:38:22):
How much similar is there now though for you compare.

Speaker 7 (01:38:26):
To Yeah, I mean I can't get into specifics, but uh,
I think for me it's it's terminology and things like
that that have definitely, you know, things I've seen before
in the past. And obviously ob has been around and
he's taken a lot of good things from each stop.
And I feel like for me, it's just being a
sponge whatever, you know, quarterback, he's coach I can learn from,

(01:38:48):
whether that's Bryce or DeShawn or at Penn State. Like
he has such a great experience in this league and
in football in the football world. It's like a you know,
walking dictionary. Just pick his brain and see the game
how he how he sees it, and how I see it,
and then come together and mesh and create, you know,
create a really good offense.

Speaker 1 (01:39:06):
So cool, Thanks everybody, All right.

Speaker 2 (01:39:10):
All right? Mac Jones with the members of the media
as the OTA practices have ended for day one here
at Gillette Stadium. I'm John Rook. Patriots Playbook continues. We
got Todd North Carolina, Sean and Vancouver Eldridge a wall
at least for the time being. So a couple of
quick things that he said, guys that really stood out,

(01:39:30):
at least to me. Number one, the leadership that he's
learned and the learning experience from a year ago, even
though it was largely a negative one, and then you know,
he had the injury and then there was all the
controversy and uh, the lack of probably proper coaching and
all that kind of stuff that was going on. But

(01:39:51):
that he wants to earn respect more than anything else,
and that he's using that as experience and just kind
of chalking it up to you know, I've had to
go through this in my career anyway, even though I've
won in the past, I didn't do that last year.
But it's still a learning experience to me that shows
growth already. I realized, I'm not sure what else you
would have said in that instance, but the fact that

(01:40:13):
he said it and he's pointed to that and he's
using it as a reference, I think tells me, Okay,
I don't want to go back there. I need that
to drive me a little bit further. What are your
thoughts there?

Speaker 5 (01:40:27):
Oh, I'm thinking that he's had to deal with it
before because he wasn't the starting quarterback in college initially.

Speaker 2 (01:40:34):
Right, Ye had to wait to Stern.

Speaker 5 (01:40:35):
Yeah, he had to wait to Stern. And I'm glad
that he seems to have figured some things out and
he seemed a lot. He can't see his physical we
have no access to the video here. I'm a little
bit curious to see what his posture and stuff is
like because last preseason you just felt he was off.
Even everything he said, it was just a little off.

(01:40:57):
People kept mentioning it, pointing it out, and people kept
pooing it, saying, you know, curse, it's just a kid.
He's just Yeah, he'll be fine and the coaching will
be fine and everything will be fine. And at least
spread this year came out and said no, it wasn't fine.

Speaker 2 (01:41:11):
No, And you're right, You're right. I think we all
want to see that. And I think I'm gonna assume here.
I'll make a large assumption here, but I think that's
part of what he was leading to with his comments
today and that you know, hey, I learned from last year.
So he's got to be the guy that's got his
shoulders up, his head up, his shoulders back, and doing
whether or not he believes in the product, that he's

(01:41:35):
got to go out there and perform. I mean, last year,
I don't think he had that. He didn't have that
self commence because he's kind of like, we're really gonna
try this, We're really gonna do this. What are we
doing here? I think there was a lot of indecision
on his part, and I think it's unfair, largely to
put a young second year quarterback in that kind of
a position and expect him to do things that maybe
he just wasn't schooled enough to do yet. I mean,

(01:41:59):
we haven't seen were We still compare. We still compare
Mac Jones to the greatest too have ever played the position.
We still compare him, We still compare him to him.
Unfair or not, it's still a comparison, and it's not right.
It's not it's not fair. So we forget that, and

(01:42:20):
I think maybe the coaches kind of fell into that
a little bit last year too. Plus on top of
the fact that they really didn't know what they were
doing most of the.

Speaker 6 (01:42:27):
Time most of the time. But that comparison also has
a bit of a cleanser or palette cleanser with Cam
Newton in between. But I think Mac Jones said all
the right things as Patriots usually do, and uh, that's
all great, But uh, like the FRED usually says, don't
listen to what they say, see what they do. So

(01:42:50):
I'm waiting to the preseason and see how he performs
in the games and seeing how it looks on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:42:56):
Sure, And I think that's that's fair because you you
definitely want to see how it begins to play out
and whether or not this is just all talk. It's
easy to hear somebody talk. How are you going to
back it up. The other thing that that Mac mentioned
that I think is significant is that he really likes juju.
You think Smith Schuster is going to be a weapon

(01:43:19):
that will help him be a better quarterback. And I know,
Sean you were talking about that earlier, you know, you
know in the program here today where you know, hey,
you can never have too many good weapons. The Auberry
Hopkins would be one of those, because you've got more
options to make the quarterback look better, and you got
to determine this year is the year you have to
determine if Mac is your guy moving forward. Last year, yeah,

(01:43:41):
it was a learning experience. It was almost a wasted year,
but Mac just told you it really wasn't as wasted
as people might think, because you do learn from the
negative side of things and hope that you can try
to avoid going to that level again.

Speaker 6 (01:44:00):
That's what I'd like. A follow up to that question,
is was there anything positive that you took from last year?
Is there anything that you did learn last year that
you can use to grow with for this year?

Speaker 2 (01:44:13):
You know, I think that would have been a legitimate
question to answer, or to ask anyway, and to have answered,
And I think he's spoken to it, you know, in
a roundabout way a couple of times already. But the
fact of the matter is is that he, you know,
first of all, is learning how to be very careful
and measured with his responses, which is what a quarterback

(01:44:35):
is supposed to do, and frankly, very few did it
better than Brady, very few. He was very good at that.
But at the same time, Max learning how to do
that because again, other than his senior year at Alabama.
When did he ever have a chance to do that,
even in a place as visible as Alabama. Never nowhere? Right,

(01:44:56):
So he's still learning.

Speaker 5 (01:44:58):
Well with respect to learning from Lifeat year, he did
mention he's going to learn from his mistakes. He was
very acuteess about mentioned talking about last year. He referred
to it, and he would try to make a positive
out of something that happened without directly referencing it. And
he said that several times. If you listen carefully, you
can hear him talking about, you know, I learned from this.
This is an experience even you know from your mistakes,

(01:45:20):
you'll learn. And I think, you know, he was trying
not to. I don't think he wanted to walk off
in the weeds and get caught up in that, because
if he does, he won't move forwards. And I think
that's what he's trying to show us, is I can
move forwards. Believe in me, let's go right. And I
think that's what his message was.

Speaker 2 (01:45:36):
Then I think he's also, like I said, I think
he's also happy with some of the things that that
they've done to improve his situation in a non schooling sense,
by the talent they brought in. I think you know
Juju certainly, I think you know Mike Gasicki has been mentioned.
You guys talked about him earlier. I think these are
helpful targets. We talked earlier in the show today about

(01:45:57):
DeAndre Hopkins whether or not if this is a jit
thing for the Pagriots to get involved with, could it
actually help the Patriots be a better offense. I'm not sure.
Again to sort of recap that, I'm not sure that
DeAndre forces anybody to have to double team him at
this stage of his career, which I'm not necessarily sure

(01:46:18):
that means that that's gonna free up somebody else.

Speaker 6 (01:46:21):
Well, I'm a I'm a little higher on that because
of what he did last year when he actually played.
He was suspended for most of the season, but when
he played, he was still electric. He was still the
main guy on the Cardinals offense.

Speaker 2 (01:46:34):
He could go up and get it. Okay, there's no
question so to me, if you're needing a guy in
your offense to go up and get it, and you've
got to figure out who's he taking the place of, Okay,
DeVante Parker might be that guy. He might be that guy.
And we talked about this earlier in the show, you know,
or do you give up somebody that you currently have
if you bring in DeAndre Hopkins. Well, again, the situation

(01:46:56):
may play itself out over the course of the summer
with the injuries and what have you, which is why
I don't think we'll see Hopkins signing anywhere near near
soon unless a the money is better than thought, and
be somebody gets hurt pretty quickly. That's why I think
we'll see this game of chicken with DeAndre Hopkins probably
continue for at least a little while you know, this summer.
But does he improve your situation? Yeah, incrementally, but yes,

(01:47:23):
And I think I think.

Speaker 5 (01:47:24):
Actually said he didn't play a whole season last year. Rather,
he performed for a handful of games, but he didn't
have to perform a whole season. Can he make it
through a whole season? There's some other question. He's up
there for a receiver. A they lose a step and
B their bodies are pretty they break down up.

Speaker 2 (01:47:41):
Yeah, at this stage of the game, he does make
Mac a better quarterback.

Speaker 6 (01:47:45):
That That's what I'd like to see. But I also
like to see, you know, if they don't sign him,
if the Patriots don't go after Hopkins. What does that
tell us? Does that tell us they believe in Taekwon Thornton?
Do they see that second your jump for Thornton?

Speaker 2 (01:47:59):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (01:47:59):
And how does that work?

Speaker 2 (01:48:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:48:00):
We see him moving around getting targets downfield.

Speaker 2 (01:48:03):
Yes, so all of the above, Yes, if they if
they don't make the run at him and don't ultimately
get him, yes, that tells me all those things, Sean, absolutely,
and and and you know, and I tend to believe
that's kind of where the thinking is right now, which
is why they're playing this game of chicken, as I
like to call it, because I just think, you know,

(01:48:25):
you know, okay, I you know, I like him, I
respect him, if I'm Bill, But do we need him
right there? I don't know. We might, we might not.
Let's wait and see, Let's let this process play out.
That's the frustrating part of all this. Everybody wants him now, Oh,
bring him in, let him work together. Oh you could
be no no no, no, no no no no. You
like what you got right now. You like what you got,

(01:48:45):
So let's back up what you got and then if
we need him and he's still there, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
and this is probably a good route to take. I
want to share with you guys email I just got
from uh our friend Howard in Connecticut. He says, good
to hear you guys on the air in the AFC East,
He's got his predictions down here. Buffalo currently the king

(01:49:06):
of the East, although I do think they will come
back to the pack this year with the departure of
their DC and their best linebacker. They have talent, specially
on the offensive side of the ball, to remain on top.
I would agree number two Dolphins until Tua can stay
healthy improve he's a top flight quarterback. I think they'll
be competitive, but can't touch the Bills Jets. Aaron Brett

(01:49:27):
far of two point zero Rogers. I like that one
is not the Messiah. He will not lead them to
the Promised Land. He has one, maybe two white receivers
to throw to and a running back who's coming off
of a torn acl The d will be tough to
go up against, but they aren't the eighty five Bears
by a long shot, which leads us to our beloved Pats.

(01:49:48):
They were eight and nine last year with a solid
D and a non existent offense. They will have an
NFL offense this year, led by a real oc and
assistant offensive coaches. The talent has been up great on
both sides of the ball, which we've been talking about today,
and in my honest opinion, will absolutely allow them to
compete and win more games. Will they catch the Bills?

(01:50:09):
Most likely not, but I do predict they'll go ten
to seven, maybe just steal one additional game, go eleven
and six. So he's got wins coming with the Jets, Finns, Colts, Commanders, Saints, Raiders.
All right, so even uh one, two, three, four, five,
he's got them six and four at the bye, like

(01:50:30):
we just talked about, right, potential steal to get to
eleven and seven or tenants? Yeah, eleven and six, Jets, Dolphins,
Cowboys in their order. This team is going to be
a top d with a vastly improved offense and special
teams and will be the team that surprises many who
take them too lightly and think they don't have the talent.

(01:50:54):
What do you think. I actually think.

Speaker 5 (01:50:55):
That's pretty win over Philadelphia for just that reason.

Speaker 2 (01:50:58):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. He's got he does not
have winned, he's got lost to the Eagles. He's got
two losses to the Bills, so he got them starting
one in three but ending up six to four at
the buye.

Speaker 6 (01:51:13):
And I like what he said about or did you
say it about Brett Favre, because I see the Jets
being similar in terms of their record and what they
do this year with Aaron Rodgers, I see them being
something like nine and seven and missing the playoffs and
just fighting with the Patriots for that that last spot
in the division.

Speaker 2 (01:51:33):
Okay, do you guys want to jump in that again
and be official with your your thoughts and predictions. We
talked about is this team going to be better? Is
it better on paper? Does that translate into wins? You
said seven, Sean, and you said I said nine. You
said nine, Todd, nine and eight. You still believe that, guys,

(01:51:58):
I hope him wrong.

Speaker 5 (01:52:00):
I think the defense alone can make them nine and eight.
I think that defense can help them pull out games.
I'm just it's all this whole season is going to
depend on what happens with Mac. And my only problem is,
you know, do they need this sports psychologist and there
can Can Billy O'Brien do the quarterback whispering he's done
in the past, Does he have a like, will he

(01:52:22):
make that connection with Mac? And if he does, yeah,
there's there's there's optimistic, you know, there's some there's eleven
and seven or sorry, eleven six, and it's out there.
But it's all I hate to say it. It's all
on Mac's shoulders. And for me, this isn't his this
isn't his third season. Last year, I think we just

(01:52:43):
right off. This is like he's heading into his second
season and everything's on his shoulders. Let's just hope he's
got the support to carry the weight.

Speaker 2 (01:52:52):
Well. I said at the beginning of the show eight
and nine, and after we've talked about it, I'm gonna
I'm gonna I'm gonna take a step in the in
the in the proper direction, and I'm gonna go out
on a limb and I'm gonna say ten to seven
and I'm gonna tell you ten and seven because I
kind of talked myself into it going through the schedule

(01:53:14):
just a short while ago. I think that the run
is there after the first month of the season, and
if they are still relatively healthy, if they can get
to six and four, seven and three would be great,
but they can get to six and four. I think
that that opportunity exists to get to ten and seven.
And if you're ten and seven, you're in the playoffs
and you're probably not facing the top seed. You could be,

(01:53:37):
you could be, but you're not facing necessarily the top seed.

Speaker 5 (01:53:40):
And I get to seven three, I'm buying you and
Patty beers.

Speaker 2 (01:53:44):
Okay, all right, we have that on the record, right.
That has to include Matt too, by the way, since
he's one that sets all this up. Right, Hey, one
other quick thing before we run out of time here, guys.
We didn't really touch on it a lot, but I
think that we should because in the time since you know,
the draft and every thing, and of course we had
you know, his you know, retirement session and everything come through.

(01:54:04):
But your thoughts on Devin mccordy number one and number two,
what it really is going to mean to replace him
within the lineup and within the locker room. We alluded
to it a little bit early on the show and
didn't quite go as deeply as I think we probably
should have on that one. Let's start with who replaces him?
And I know we suggested a couple of things, but

(01:54:26):
I want to get your thoughts on that again here
as we wrap this up.

Speaker 6 (01:54:29):
In the locker room, it's it's later. I think that's
that's why they brought him back. I don't think he
played as well on special teams as he has in
the past, so I'm not sure if he's ready for
retirement physically, but he can definitely be there to lead
everybody in the chance and get people going and keep

(01:54:51):
players in line in the locker room. But on the field,
I'm really hoping it's Jonathan Jones. I'm hoping Jonathan Jones
can be that deep say that has that speed and
has the intelligence to be the leader on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:55:07):
And Jones tackle well enough to play that position.

Speaker 6 (01:55:11):
Yeah, Yeah, he's he's a good tackler. He's he's just
not that big.

Speaker 2 (01:55:15):
So that's part of my issue, because you got to
be willing to make open field tackles and sometimes, if
you know, if you're getting in a one on one
situation with a guy that's you know, four inches taller
than fifty pounds heavier a happening.

Speaker 5 (01:55:27):
That was a problem last year. Yes, thank you, sir, Peril.
Mister Perill brought it up. He said, yep, he said
Nat Dmac didn't have a good. Didn't have a good year.

Speaker 2 (01:55:37):
No, and I don't, and I agree with that, and
I think that's why this is the right time for
Devin to retire, because I think he pretty much extinguished
about everything he had left in his gas tank. Kudos
to him, because that's the toughest thing in the world
for professional athletes who you know, who are you know,
built with the kind of egos that they have in
order to keep pushing them on further through the career.

(01:55:59):
But recognizing that, you know what, I want to go out, well,
I still feel I can do it, and I think
I think Devin is doing that, which is why I
applaud it. I congratulate him. He is, you know, a
mister Patriot on the defensive side of the ball. He'll
be a first year eligibility you know, inductee into the
Patriots Hall of Fame. You know, he's meant a lot

(01:56:21):
to this franchise. I'm thrilled that he's got a chance
to go, you know, do his thing on TV, maybe
even with his brother there on an NFL network, because frankly,
his personality shines through, you know, and I think he
can be very good at this media game if he
chooses to want to go that route. So that's good stuff.
I think he'll be a really good opportunity for him. Now.

Speaker 5 (01:56:43):
I think in the locker room having Mayo, Yeah, I
think Mayo is is because he's had so much experience.
He's really he's what's going to keep the team together.
He's a player. They'll respect that because they he was
on the field. He knows what he's talking about, and
that's where you can get the leadership in the locker room.
I'm I'm quite happy about that because.

Speaker 2 (01:57:01):
I who replaces that leadership in the locker.

Speaker 5 (01:57:03):
Room, Well, it's Mayo.

Speaker 2 (01:57:05):
Besides coaching, okay, coach, player, player wise.

Speaker 5 (01:57:09):
I don't think there is anybody that's my That's why
I'm glad that we have Mayo. I don't think we
have anybody that can do it. Really, I don't. On
that defense, he could step up and be that leader.

Speaker 2 (01:57:23):
Here's the guy, guys, here's the guy that needs.

Speaker 5 (01:57:25):
To Mills Mill No, we did, we just heard.

Speaker 2 (01:57:28):
We just heard from him Mac.

Speaker 6 (01:57:30):
Yeah, he's got to be a leader as a quarterback,
for sure, he's got to lead this team.

Speaker 5 (01:57:34):
But who's going to be the defensive leader. Who's going
to replace mccordy on the defense and lead that, you know,
because they said that he was the general in the
in the huddle, he was the one that got everybody
in the right spot.

Speaker 2 (01:57:43):
The guy, the guy that I think probably is in
position and I think this would be interesting to see unfold,
is Juwan Bentley.

Speaker 6 (01:57:52):
I was about to say that just.

Speaker 2 (01:57:54):
Because he's in the middle wearing the green dot on
his helmet.

Speaker 6 (01:57:58):
Yeah, and you know you brought up Mayo. He's guys
in Mayos, Jersey. He's the guy stepping into that position,
so he should be take that leadership role as well.
So in terms of player leaders you have Slater, you
have Mac Jones, you have Bentley, and and that's that's
really maybe Jonathan Jones. I don't know if he's so
much in the locker room, but I think he can

(01:58:18):
he can be a leaders well.

Speaker 2 (01:58:18):
I think he's going to have to emerge. I mean,
because he's certainly got the experience right, He's he's the
senior member back there pretty much now, so I mean, yeah,
I think it's time for him to step up and
show that he can be vocal amongst the defensive backs.
I think John will have to have a piece of
that equation. Yes, I agree with that.

Speaker 6 (01:58:37):
I don't see him playing so much single high safety
the way mccordy often did. I think they're going to
be more multiple. They have different talents, especially now the
Gonzo's there, so they're going to be things for a.

Speaker 5 (01:58:48):
Lot of high safety at all this year. Yeah, right, Sean.
I think they're going to do a lot of you know,
they're going to do a lot of situational things where
they match.

Speaker 2 (01:58:57):
I think fundamentally they're going to change some things. Yes,
I agree, Yeah, guys, I agree with that. All right, fellas,
this is this has been fun. Thank you very very much.
Congratulations on on on not only you know, getting the
pick right, but for you know, getting out of work
or whatever else you were doing today to join us
on the on the show here today. Thank you for that.
It's just multitasking, listen, I know, believe me, we all

(01:59:18):
understand what that's all about. That's how we get through
every day is simply by multitasking. But guys, it's always
great to visit with you. Really appreciate your always listening
in and enjoying show when you can. Yeah, no kidding, Yeah,
we may have to place a call and make sure
everything's cool, right, Matt says, he'll check on him all right,
and then we'll get we'll get him in next month

(01:59:40):
at this time or at least thereabouts. Did we decide
on the show. We decided on the twenty third or
twenty first? What is that next to last Wednesday? Twenty first?
All right, We're going with the twenty first, right, because
that will come up between now and the next time
we do a playbook, so it'll be Happy Father's Day
coming up. You're you are correc We normally go wait

(02:00:02):
for the last Wednesday of the month, but June is
the exception, just because of the holiday period, and because
I wanted to do it as close to Mini Camp
being over as we could, because we'll be in that
dead period, right because one mini Camp is over a
week prior, it's dead for six weeks before training camp starts.

(02:00:23):
It's the deadest dead period of the calendar year. So
that's why we thought we'd spice it up a little bit.
We'll move it up a week and we'll go June
twenty one for the next edition of Patriots Playbook, and
we'll recap Mini Camp and we'll start to preview training
camp and maybe we'll be able to offer a few
opinions on some of the youngsters as well. That we'll
be appearing in Ota, So again, thank you.

Speaker 6 (02:00:45):
That'll be again, that'll be at noon Central, right.

Speaker 2 (02:00:49):
Noon eastern. Yeah, we'll do noon Eastern on the twenty
first for the next edition. Sean, thank you, appreciate you.
Thank you again, Todd, thank you, guys, Eldred, thank you.
Be safe out there, Matt, thank you as always. All right,
So we'll be back, same patch time, same patch channel
on the twenty first of June for the next edition
of Patriots Playbook here at patriots dot com Radio.

Speaker 6 (02:01:13):
Thank you for downloading this podcast, Subscribe on Apple, Google Play,
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Speaker 2 (02:01:18):
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