Speaker 1 (00:30):
Patriots Unfiltered the world's original podcast. Patriots Unfiltered brings you
inside Jillette Stadium for rousing conversations on everything New England, Patriots,
and NFL. Join host Fred Kersh alongside Patriots dot COM's
Paul Parillo, Mike Desso, Evan Lazar, Tamara Brown, and Alex
Francisco as they bring you in depth coverage of the team.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
He's a red shirt rookie at that point, so it's
really that's his rookie season essentially too. So now we're
really not talking about them, really knowing.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Search for Patriots Unfiltered anywhere you get your podcasts. The
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Speaker 2 (01:07):
Just throwing touchdown New England.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
The Patriots Pregame Show is your source for all the
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Speaker 3 (01:16):
He chucked into the House Finery Patriots Tan't Believe with
Matt Smith, Mike Ussa, Paul Parillo, and Tamara Brown.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
I'm the Patriots have won. There's six Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Time Patriots Nation. Welcome to the Patriots Pregame Show fueled
by Duncans.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
And Happy Saturday, Everybody, a little Saturday football here at
your let's Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts for the Patriots pre
game social fueled by Duncan, where the three and twelve
New England Patriots will host the nine and six Los
Angeles Chargers. Chargers win and they're in, Patriots win and
they're spoilers. It's not a great day for football out there.

(02:03):
But I'm looking for just a football out there. Paul Prello, Mike,
Justus Tamara Brown, Paul, what are you looking for to today?
A loaded question on right out of this shoot.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Four o'clock, no more, acculately probably six o'clock. I don't know,
just can they can the Patriots sort of get off
to another good start like they did last week? You know,
you know they played a good half last week. You know,
can they stay two good HAPs together?

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Is there momentum to be built built off a last
too late? Okay?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
In my opinion, like anything that happens at this point
is kind of yeah, you know whatever, you know, It's
just kind of the.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Statement in a second, Tamarrow, what are you looking for
to today?

Speaker 4 (02:46):
A clean game?

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (02:47):
I mean we saw them get off to a fast
start last week, and you know, turnovers derailed them last week.
You can't have three of them against a team like
the Buffalo Bills and expect to win. And you're not
gonna win until you stop beating yourself. But you have
heard that time and time again this season. And I
don't want to point just Tormandra Stevenson in this. Drake
may has had his spare share of turnovers as well.
But this team has to play clean if they want
a chance to win, and the.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Elements today certainly do not are not in favor of that. No,
for sure.

Speaker 5 (03:12):
When I walked in and saw this, whether the first
thing I thought about was Ramondre Stevenson because it's.

Speaker 6 (03:16):
Like, no, it was it you said I got to
stand out on this.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yes, you're right.

Speaker 5 (03:22):
The first thing was I have to stand outside and
to report in the rain.

Speaker 4 (03:26):
The second was m Stevenson.

Speaker 5 (03:28):
Yeah, especially today if they if they don't bet and
they started them to give them another opportunity. I feel
like the pressure would be even more on you today
when the conditions are slippery.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
And as my colleague Paul Prole likes to mention and
says it, and I don't know that anybody wants to
listen to it. Ramandre certainly gets the bulk of the
criticism there, but his back up Antonio Gibson put the
ball on the carpet last week as well. The difference
the Patriots recovered that one. That's the difference. But so
ball security is an issue. Michael, what are you looking
forward to today in your nice clean sweater vest.

Speaker 6 (03:58):
I thank you very much. Yeah, feel nice.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Mark Capello says, I got the stamp.

Speaker 6 (04:03):
Of approval this morning.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
No one knows who that is, but that's great, very
specific for me. I want to see Drake May light
it up, and I want to see him not turn
the ball over. I want to see a little Katon
Wallace at right tackle. Probably love to see a little
Cold Strange at center. Maybe maybe might be able to
see to Smith. We'll see how that goes, but I'd
like to see. I'd like to see a little bit
of a shootout today.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
I'd like to see.

Speaker 6 (04:24):
That's for both these last games. You know, I look
worth this point now and we're not talking about tank anymore.
I'm just thinking about draft position. Chargers have something to
play for today, so it's gonna be competitive. I think
the way they come out and play, I don't really
care about what the defense does, you know, to be honest,
because I think that ship is sailed. I don't you
know when you get to week seventeen and you're still
talking about run fits and tackling, that the ship has

(04:46):
sailed for the defense. So I don't need all of
a sudden, Hey, the defense played great today in week
seventeen out of nowhere and we won, and now we're
picking eighth.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Ironically, I think they did play great last week.

Speaker 6 (04:56):
They had a good game plan, and they did play competitive,
you know, and I'd be okay with that. But look,
I think just bottom line for me, I want to
see Drake May put some points up. I just let's
get him a game where he doesn't throw a pick
like you know, it doesn't fumble the ball, no turnovers
for Drake May today everybody else, it is what it is.
But that's this is the team. I want to see
Drake May show a little this Justin Herbert action, go
back and forth, maybe a little bit with Justin Herbert.

(05:18):
As you guys mentioned, the weather's a factor, so that
that might you know, it might not be quite an
offensive onslot, given how these teams are constructed anyway, But
I just want to see Drake move the ball put
some points up.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
You guys usually know the answers to these questions more
than I do. But I isn't the rain supposed to
be done soon? I think it's off and not like
not even during the game. It won't be raining anymore so,
and it's unseasonably warm.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
Yeah, compared to last week when it was thirteen.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I'm not even gonna get one of the things I
wanted to sort of check off my list, and cold
another bad weather game like it looks it looks like
it's gonna be okay at game time, mid forties and
no rain. I just I would just December.

Speaker 6 (05:55):
The only thing for me is that it's definitely not
mild for the charges probably so for them it's probably
a little bit of you know, a little bit of challenge.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Big market tees. Tamara Brown will have our full weather
recap coming up in about forty five minutes or so.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Are you bringing one of those big thermometers out with you?

Speaker 4 (06:10):
I am not, but I love I love.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Big umbrella.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
So Mike, you're you're telling me that you know it
doesn't matter about run fits defense, Paul saying momentum can
be built. There's two games left to evaluate and there's
evaluating going on as far as the players are concerned
and the coaches are concerned. So I would argue that,
you know it, it does matter because I think decisions.
I'm not saying that a final decision well, yeah, maybe

(06:38):
a final decision will be made based on the way
that they play these last two games out. Isn't that fair?

Speaker 6 (06:43):
Oh, It's totally fair. I'm just I'm just saying I
don't want the defense to suddenly, you know, kind of
pull together for a miraculous performance and in the process
hurt the Patriots draft position. You know, that's I just
think we know what we know about this defense now,
and it's been in a bad year for them. They
they're down in pretty much every statistical category. They're down
near the bottom of the league. There's nothing for them
to really hang their hat on. I think they do

(07:04):
play good man defense at times on the back end
with their secondary, but overall, I just don't want any
questions heading into the offseason that this defense needs a
significant influx of talent. Where you know, we're gonna spend
a lot of time talking about tackles and wide receivers.
There should be some time spent talking about linebackers and
edge players.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Sort of agree with Mike, and I do think that
the Drake may part of it, that Mike unfolded that one,
that one's relevant because he's he's going to be your
guy going forward. I would rather not have any sort
of you know, false hope and planted. I would rather
avoid a situation like the Chicago Bears found themselves in
at this time last year, when you finish the season
strong and everything is on the upswing, and you decide

(07:44):
that a coach that you're not sure about, well maybe
he is he maybe he is the answer, and then
halfway through the following year you gotta fire him. And
I'm not talking apples to apples with Gerrod Mayo because
I don't really think Gerard Mayo's really in that same
kind of a situation as a first year guy, much
different situation than Matt Eberflews. But to Mike's point, if
the defense goes out and plays a great game, that

(08:06):
doesn't you know, sort of take obscure the first thirteen
games of the year where they would kind of, you know, ineffective.
So I would rather, you know, not necessarily have those
kinds of things. In terms of young guys that are
you know Cole Strange in Cayden Wallace now not enough,
you know, great, I'm glad that we're going to get that.

(08:26):
It certainly looks like we're going to get a chance
to see Cole Strange because Ben Brown's out and I'd
rather have him play than not. But I'm not gonna
know that he's the answer next year based on two
games for sure?

Speaker 3 (08:37):
For sure. All right, we a little teased there on
what we're looking for today, but let's hit to the
keys the game, please.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Matt, you've waited all week for the whole teams in
the locker room right now just listening to this, waiting
to hear what you're gonna say. Here are the Patriots
pregame socials keys to the game.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
So a quick perusal of these, who's got the catchiest
riff going? And I'll just say I think it might
be mister Dousau. So I'll let you elaborate please on
your key.

Speaker 6 (09:07):
So I was riffing off of, you know, with the
old key stop the run has some fun, So today
it's stopped the run er it won't be fun. Just
going back to what I spoke about earlier that I
think is the baseline for this defense. They've had trouble
all year against the run. If there's been one consistent
element that they just haven't been able to solve, I
think it's been the run defense. And you know, today,
I think Chargers are gonna come want to come in

(09:28):
here and want to run the ball. Sounds like Jay
K Dobbins is going to be back. He was their
lead back early in the year, you know, was over
one hundred yards. I mean, every time they were over
one hundred yards they seem to win. So I just
think they're gonna come in with an attitude of it's
gonna might be a little wet out there, we just
let's do what we do. Run the ball on this
Patriots team that can't stop the run, and it's easy
to see if they're able to run that, the game's

(09:49):
just gonna unfold in their favor. They're going to be
in favorable third down distances. And the other part of this, too,
is that talking to the defenders this week in the
locker room, just explosive runs. The explosive runs we saw
it last week again. I mean it's one thing to
you know, give up four or five yards a clip
and they do that. But then there's also these forty
fifty yard runs that you know, go to the house

(10:09):
like they did last week, And I just think overall,
it's so demoralizing to a defense win. You know they're
going to run, they keep running. We've seen it all
year long, the Jags, you know, being a prime example
of that. So I just think for a baseline for
the Patriots to be competitive today and make it interesting,
I think they have to stop the run right out
of the game.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
And the weathers we've been talking about a lot already
out of the shoot I think would be conducive to
the Chargers trying to run it.

Speaker 6 (10:31):
You know, makes sense?

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Why not?

Speaker 6 (10:32):
Makes sense?

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Why not? Tomaraw?

Speaker 4 (10:35):
So my key is second best this week? Is that
what you're saying?

Speaker 6 (10:38):
Maybe, no deal with it. I just was looking.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
I was looking in your direction.

Speaker 5 (10:42):
No I am, I will say, like usually he goes
to me because my keys make no sense.

Speaker 6 (10:45):
So now that yesterday I know you got to you
gotta get your mystery back.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
I do.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
I'll work around that. In twenty twenty five. That would
be my New Year's resolution, be more mysterious. Yes mineus
b Grinch, Like it's the holiday season, so I feel
like I had to do a holiday spin on my
key and The Grinch is my favorite Christmas movie. This
is a Patriots team that likes to give a lot
of gifts to the other team, and it is the
gift giving season.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
But this week they have to be stitched. They have
to be the Grinch.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
They have to hate giving away gifts to the Los
Angeles Chargers who are plus ten and the turnover differential.
They have nineteen takeaways on the season, So if the
Patriots want to have a chance in this game, they
have to hold onto the football. We saw what it
did to them last week. They had three turnovers. It
took them out of the game where they got off
to a really fast.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Start to Shay good one.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Paul, Yeah, I'm just looking back at last week and
that's the formula.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
You know.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
They can they sustain any of that kind of success
that they had early on in the game. The first
two drives, they were very efficient, They moved down the field,
they put some points on the board. Can they do that?
Can they repeat that performance? So it's just rinse, repeat,
figure out a way to get off to that start.
And unlike last week where you know, once you got
to the third drive, your offense went south for the

(11:56):
rest of the game. They need to maintain it a
little bit. I like the balance they came out with
last week. I like the efficiency on third down that
they came out with. I think they converted their first
four or five third downs, and some of them were
not easy ones. You know, the third and lungs with
some pressure on Drake may show that that you can

(12:19):
sort of build on that performance that they had at
the start of last game. You know, start this game
in a similar fashion, but maintain it.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
So the old song goes Saturday nights all right for fighting.
It's not a night game to the day game one o'cloft.
The entire country will have their eyes on Foxboro Massage
rolling Stonies.

Speaker 6 (12:35):
Correct. Is that the roller stares youre talking about or
not the base set of rollers?

Speaker 3 (12:38):
I think that's a little Elton.

Speaker 6 (12:41):
Saturday. That's keep ondance into the So Saturday Saturday, here's
Bob music. I told you ah and this.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
I feel like I'm a broken record here down the stretch.
But I don't just want to see a little fight,
you know, I would I don't mean literally, although I
wouldn't mind that either as long as it's not really cheap,
shoddy or anything. Show me some show me some grit,
show me some balls. Let's see what you can do.
As far as that's concerned, I think that's necessary as
they're playing these last games out who wants to be here,

(13:15):
who wants to be part of something going forward? And
who doesn't? You know, let's make those lists and and
make sure that we have them.

Speaker 6 (13:21):
You know who I think about mat when you say that,
is key On White. I mean a lot of stories
came out this week about you know, Kean. I was
there in the locker room where he expressed some dissatisfaction.
You know, what kind of effort is he going to
get out there today? I mean he's the kind of
guy that looks like he might come out and play
angry and you know, really get after it or maybe not.
I don't know. It's just it's interesting. He's a guy
in the spotlight, second year player. A lot of people

(13:42):
really high on him coming out of training camp, and
I mean I think he's had a pretty good year.
I just I think overall, the lack of depth on
defense I think is hurt key On White from really
being the player that he might be able to be,
but I don't know if I'm quite ready to say
like he's a superstar and waiting. I think he's a
pretty solid player, but I still think there are questions
about how he kind of fits in and what his
full time role is.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
So expand if you would please Mike, because that became
the media story yesterday, you know, and his comments, and
I think in talking a little bit just around the
offices and everything, I think that there were people who
were what's he really trying to say? Is he being
hard on himself? Is he being super critical and he's
not happy with the way he played? Or was it
very obvious that maybe he's not happy with the way

(14:24):
he's being used or the way the coaching staff is
devising game plans? How did you read and hear comments?

Speaker 7 (14:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (14:31):
Well, I mean just you know, credit to Karen Gregan
for Mass Live. I think she wrote the main piece,
but he also spoke to us in the locker room.
I think it was I guess it was Thursday. I'm
losing track of days now, but you know, I think
the thing that is interesting was that out of the
gate he was kind of critical of himself, but then
even in the piece that Karen wrote, it seemed like
there was more, you know, It wasn't just I need

(14:52):
to figure out, you know, what I'm doing and how
I can be better against the run, you know. Then
there were little nuggets, but it's more than that too,
So I guess I would just default too. I've found
in the last couple of years, every loss makes things more miserable,
and everybody gets more and more upset, and it just
gets harder and harder. So I'd file it under that
without knowing specifics, But I just think overall, this is

(15:15):
defense that's really struggling from top to bottom, and you're
seeing key on White kind of let that frustration boil
over a little bit.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
I feel like you saw that earlier in the season too,
where there were comments postgame from certain people saying people
need to basically stop trying to play.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
Hero ball and stick to their assignment.

Speaker 5 (15:31):
And there are a lot of people that were insinuating
that there were some people on the team that were
doing what was best for them versus what's best for
the team. That was a comment I feel like three
weeks straight that we were getting in the.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Postgame, doing your job Mantra. Yeah, Paul, you and I
talked a little bit about this yesterday. I think he
on White's a nice player. I think he's got the
kind of tools that a defensive coach would look at
and go, we can do something with this guy. But
as Mike mentioned earlier, he's not a foundational guy. Maybe
he's more of a situational or role player. And I

(16:06):
don't know that they've really found what that role is
now in a second year.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, and I do think that he has ability to contribute.
We've seen it. I think, you know, as Mike said,
I think he's had a pretty good year overall. I
think people, you know, looked at the sack totals coming
out of the gates. That's not necessarily the kind of
player he is. He's never been that in college. He's
not a huge pass rusher, but I do think he
can have some value. I am with Mike. I thought

(16:30):
it was a little bit of both. I thought he
was very hard on himself and his performance stopping the run,
but I also think it was not hard to understand
that he's not happy with the coaches, and he said,
you know, well, we'll see what happens these last two
games and then we'll see what the future holds. So
it was kind of ominous as to what exactly, you know,

(16:51):
he means. Is he gonna, like what is go into
the offseason and request a trade? You know, like, does
he not feel like he's a fit in this system?
Are some of the guys that are here? Will there
be changes? And maybe he's talking about that. I don't
know exactly what he meant by that, but I do
think he took accountability for his own play and said
he wasn't playing well enough, and that, to me was

(17:13):
my big takeaway. I think that's a good sign for
a young player. The rest of it is kind of
frustration that comes, as Mike said, with being three and twelve,
you know, youet frustrated.

Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
I think he's a thoughtful kid, and I do think
he you know, I think he wants to be there.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
I liked it. Well, Ca'll take a guy who cares,
and that's a guy I think he cares for sure.

Speaker 6 (17:33):
He definitely.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
I said that on the Thursday Patriots Unfiltered show, and
then I didn't know about the second part of those
quotes that Karen got on Friday, which was much different.
Tenor than what he said on Thursday, But I stand
by it. I think he's a guy that cares, and
they could use more guys that care.

Speaker 6 (17:50):
Yeah, I think the defense, I mean, that's something that
stood out to me though, was just generally that you know,
I think Drake, you really you can feel the frustration
with him. But you know, not everybody, but on the
defensive side of the ball. I find whenever those guys talk,
you could just you can feel how hard of a
year it's it's been on them. And I think that
they've been a little bit shorthanded. But nobody expected this.

(18:10):
Nobody expected the defense to fall off this this much.
I mean I think anybody could have reasonably accepted that, Look,
there's going to be a dip without Bill Belichick, without
the play caller Steve Belichick, who's been here. You can't
just take those elements out and no problem. Then you
compound it with the injuries. But still, it's just it's been,
you know, like I said, bottom of the league, and
that is a certain point. There's no excuses to be

(18:31):
bottom of the league. You know, there's even though even
the defenses that have been really hit hard with injuries,
a lot of those defenses can find ways, you know,
still be competitive, still find a way to get off
the field on third down consistently, still find the way
to take the ball away. And it's just when you
look across the board, this defense isn't able to really
do any of those things consistently.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
And I want to go back a few weeks that
Paul mentioned, uh, DeMarcus Covington pre buy and how he
seemed to be in his weekly tet of TETs with
the media and there was always a little confidence with
DeMarcus and clarity among his comments and everything like that.
And Paul, you thought you witnessed a definitive switch in

(19:09):
him post by the way he talked.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Do not know what week it was, but there was
one week that he was not the same as the others.
Every other week he is sort of I would say,
borderline brash, you know, and talking about the defense and
the performance. And there was one week that he sounded
like just defeated. And I don't remember which week it was,

(19:35):
but if it might be the one coming, uh, it
might have been the week after the Arizona game that
that performance. I don't know which which week it was,
but it was recently he just sounded different to me.
But I thought he was back about the way he
was sounding earlier in the year this past week, so
I've made I mean, I mean, I actually would say

(19:58):
like sort of irrationally, so like, I don't think that
the performance has been all that good for the most part,
and he's sort of cherry picking the bad plays out.
You know how many times they said, you know, a
couple of long runs, you know here and there. Now,
this past game against Buffalo, given the opponent, I think
it was one of the stronger defensive performances of the season.

(20:21):
Now I know that they had trouble against the run.
I think that's what you got to do against Buffalo,
you got to give up something. I thought their coverage
was really strong in that game. So I can sort
of understand if Covington was feeling better about the performance
after that game then most but we've heard him sort
of talk like that after other games as well.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
This is the pregame social fueled by Duncan. And here's
a question for the crowd. If your team runs on
their Fians, what do the Fians run on? When you
kick off your day with Duncan, We're with you all
the way to the end zone, make a run to Duncan.
It's the official coffee run of the New England Patriots.
As we've got the NFL Network pregame show on and
you know there's all this talk about young quarterbacks. Where

(21:01):
do you, guys, how would you rank him? Is it
the right way? I want to say your thoughts on Herbert?

Speaker 6 (21:08):
Yeah, I mean really good. I mean, look, he's got
all the talent in the world. I think it was
year four, five five, Okay, wow. You know, I think
the way I looked at Justin Herbert two years ago
is kind of similar to the way I look at
Josh Allen, which was got all the tools and man,
what I wouldn't give to have one of those kind
of guys. And now that we kind of have one

(21:28):
of those guys, now I look at Justin Herbert of
through the prism of the lens of how do you
get to the next level with this guy? Like, you know,
how do you get to avoid kind of being what
the Chargers have been, which is you know, stuck in neutral.
He's you know, had good years, the coaches got fired,
they brought a new coach in this year, and I
think that's what we're trying to avoid. We're trying to
like kind of got a great quarterback, how do we

(21:49):
build around the how do we really make something magical?
Because to me, the Chargers are an example of just
because you have the quarterback doesn't necessarily mean like everything
else is going to just fall in line. You know,
that's that's a little bit more interesting, you know, way
it's involded for them, and who knows, maybe this is
you know, the year that they start to build on Harbaugh.
And you know, there's always that personality thing that comes
with the Chargers where, oh, they're Southern California team, they're

(22:11):
saw if they got to come here in the weather,
they're not gonna be able to do it. We'll see
if they can shake that that identity and really, you know,
form something new around.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Justin hur saw something that they're four and one in
their last five games and the temperatures under forty or
something like that. So I just don't I don't really
think that that that holds true to them, especially with Harbaugh,
because they don't want to play that way anymore anyway,
which to me is a mistake.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
But there's a toughness about this team that Harbaugh's unquestionably
he's trying.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
He's trying to make them a power football team, and
I just think that's really a mistake. But I think
they're doing what they need to do because they don't
have really any weapons to choose from. They have, you know,
they let them all go in the offseason, but it
also means that you're not as high powered as the

(22:59):
contenders for the most part. So I understand what Harbaugh
is doing, and they're exponentially better because of Jim Harbaugh.
Correct like they're coaching is improved dramatically over Brandon Staley,
So they're in a better situation they were. I like
Mike's point about just because you have the quarterback, and
I actually think for all the talk of comps, I
think this is the guy that more closely resembles Drake

(23:21):
May than Josh Allen. And I love I love Justin Herbert.
I will say the one thing, even being you know,
firmly in the Herbert can, I don't know how to
identify it, but there's something a little something missing from
Justin Herbert that he does not win quite as many
games as I think he should, and more often than not,

(23:41):
they're not necessarily something you can point to say, well
they lost because of him. But he's one of those
guys that's sort of at the end of the day
you look up and he's nine and six instead of
you know, say, you know eleven and four right now
and you don't know why. Yeah, you know one of
these This isn't one of those teams. To me for
the Chargers, this is a team that probably is doing

(24:04):
well to be nine and six. I don't think it's
an overly talented roster. You look top to bottom, they're
missing a lot, but they're getting better. And as I
said Harbaugh, I think really has instilled as Matt says,
that like sort of a toughness about them that they
want to play with. They don't run the ball well,
but they're gonna run the ball and they're gonna make you,
you know, make sure you know you showed up for
a physical, hard fought game.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
And they're a little less explosive, maybe aren't they this year?

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah, yeah they don't. I Mean they have lab McConkey
far and away their best receiver, and he's a rookie
and he's kind of you know a limit, you know,
he's he's having a good, good rookie year. Quinton Johnston
kind of a disappointment last year. This year he's been
much better, but not a volume guy. He's got some touchdowns,
big play guy, but not consistent, has a lot of drops. Mike, Yeah,

(24:50):
you know, so they're they're they're missing some of those
those weapons.

Speaker 6 (24:53):
I just wonder how they feel where they took a
little bit of a you know, a little bit of
a reset. Not quite as extreme as the Bills did
this year, but oh yeah, moving on from Keenan Allen
and Mike Williams that with those are kind of the.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
Austin and Now guys.

Speaker 6 (25:03):
Those guys were the guys and and to to let
those guys go and now to have a pretty good
season and you know, be on the verge of making
the playoffs, I think it, you know, it bodes well
for them in their program. I think some of the
young guys on defensive started to step up a little
bit for them. They got a good balance I think
on that side of the field. You know, some of
their edge players age up a little bit. So yeah,
I'll be interested to see how they you know, stack

(25:23):
and start to build. I mean, this is what you
you know, it's what you want out of the first
year Jim Harbaugh down there, you know, it's it's showing
that this team kind of knows how to in here
right out of the gate, even if they are a
little bit limited.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Paul mentioned him. I guess it is a Patriot fans today,
we'll have their eye on number fifteen for the Chargers,
and that's Lad McConkie. Absolutely, Paul, you sort of turned
your nose up a little bit when I mentioned McConkey.
He's not your kind of guy. You're generally not the
stick mover.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh no, he's kind of a guy. I like McConkie.
I just don't. I think it's very easy right now,
and you know we're nothing if not predictable around here.
Big front page of the Globe story yesterday, you know,
a big picture of Ladd mcconkee. So Ever, you know
the Patriots, Patriots fans know what they did. They traded
down from the top of the second round. They moved

(26:09):
down a handful of spots with the Chargers. The Chargers
took Lad McConkie. The Patriots ended up with Jalen Polk. Obviously,
bad move. Can't sugarcoat it. Wear Patriots dot Com. We're
not gonna sit there and say, no, Jalen Polk is
going to be bit No, they got the wrong They
trade it down and let a better player go. I
mean that's that's what that's what it looks like right
now after one season. I just don't think that you're

(26:31):
going to be looking at Lad McConkie as like this
all pro kind of guy down the road. I think
he's a good player. I think he was drafted exactly
where he should have been, you know, in day two.
It's a guy. It's a guy Fred really liked a lot.
I think he's a he's a was a productive player
at Georgia Athletics slot kind of guy. I like Lad mcconky,

(26:52):
I do. I'm not telling you that I don't, but
I don't. I just it was a bad trade. Can
we just like it was a bad trade. There's no
two ways around it. You moved down and got a
wide receiver who's not as good as all the wide
receivers that were drafted in the area that you were in.

Speaker 6 (27:09):
Right so far, Yeah, it's only one year, and for
all the attention that Lad McConkie gets, I mean, let
deuce do his little defense thing. I mean Tovandre Sweat,
Braydon Fisk, and Cooper de Jean were the next three
guys who went after polk And those are three defenders
who have all played really well. I mean we saw
Fisk here. Ta Jean's been all over the place, and.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
An argument could be made I'd rather have all three
of those guys than Ladmak Conky. Yeah, because those I
mean Fis, Fisk, and Degene Uh in particular Sweats kind
of like he's a really good interior defensive lineman. But
you know, yeah, that's one of your guys.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
I don't love those guys anyway, Paul, right.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
I just think that you can have like you know,
Devon Godsha.

Speaker 6 (27:47):
But yeah, I would just say within the context though,
it's like like Paul said, like any one of those
three guys, whether you like him or hate him, they
would all be playing.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
All three of those guys would be starters.

Speaker 6 (27:56):
I mean, have given you a lot more than than
you got. Jalen Polkan his twelve catches absolutely right.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
What's a is? This is predictable kind of a comp
uh Welker Edelman from a Conky a little bigger.

Speaker 6 (28:10):
I mean I probably a love towards Edelman just because
he's a little bit bigger. But you know, he's just
I mean, he knows how to get open. He's just
he's real master of dialing down routes. I mean, there's
definitely elements of those guys, and this.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Guy has more talent.

Speaker 6 (28:20):
Now, yeah, I mean, well, Samconky's.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Got more talent. I mean, I don't know if he's
gonna pan out. That's a big that's a big ask, right,
but he comes into the league higher regarded than any
of those, like the way.

Speaker 6 (28:29):
You saw and develop into a route runner by like
year six seven in his career. That like that was
kind of the skill that Monkonky had. It's just you know,
he's he's a little bit smaller, he's a little little thinner.
I mean, I think he missed just one game this
year to injury so far. But you know, that's something
to watch with him. But no question, you throw him
out there with Drake May and his ability to get
open and the confidence that inspires that he can create separation,

(28:50):
it's a you know, it's certainly an element you can
understand why why you'd like to have in the mix here.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
So the Patriots aren't going to be able to match
up Marcus Jones with him. Jones a scratched, will not
play today. I are as a has been placed on ir.
If they're gonna play me into me and Mike, who
is it that gets the Maconkey assignment? Would you guess?

Speaker 6 (29:09):
I mean, I am always open to, you know, moving
Gonzales around and and matching up that way if you
have to. I mean, I think last week you saw
Jonathan Jones a little bit more on the slot than
we have seen him, and I thought he did a
pretty good job there lined up against Shakir So probably
Jonathan Jones I think makes the most sense. And you know,
allow Alex Austin to stay on the outside that seems

(29:29):
like where he's a little bit more fit. So I
would predict today Jonathan Jones will see a good dose
of the lab Maconkey.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
Admittedly, I'm a fan, and I liked some of the
things that Mike Pellegrino had to say about Jonathan Jones
this week. I mean, there's a guy who's got his
players backs, yep. And you know it wasn't too too revealing,
but wanted to make sure that fans knew that Jonathan
Jones has been going through a tough goal of it
this year. Hasn't always been one hundred percent, but always
willing to do what it was. And maybe last week

(29:55):
against Buffalo we saw a little bit more of the
Jonathan Jones that people are accustomed to seeing in here.
He played pretty well last week against Buffalo, he.

Speaker 6 (30:03):
Did, and I mean, I just, you know, I just
I wonder where Jonathan Jones is at. I mean, he's
going to be a free agent this year. You know,
the times we saw them move him to safety a
little bit more, which isn't anything new, that's happened plenty
of times in recent seasons, but you just wonder, you know,
with some of these cornerbacks, they start to slow down
a little bit, you start to play more safety. So
is he slowing down? I mean, I don't think anybody
would really make an argument, and I certainly wouldn't make

(30:24):
the argument that that Jonathan Jones was had this versatility
to play mostly outside and inside. I think, like I
think he kind of was a slot and they like him,
and he's got okay size, and he's got good speed,
and you know, at a certain point they just said let's
just play him on the outside and and you know,
keep it going. But I just think what we saw
last week is kind of what he's ideally fit to do,
is to play in the slot, to play against those guys,

(30:44):
especially with his experience going against younger receivers. So I
just I don't know. I don't know what the end
game is with him. Do you move on from him
this year? There's some good wide with some good cornerbacks
potentially on the free agency market that I think would
you could get younger, you could improve that outside position.
But he's showing right now he's still he still can
play a little bit, and you know, when he's in
the slot, I think today he might be he might
be effective.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
And as you're making those decisions, Mike, I would just say,
you know where they've been in another place lacking, I
think is leadership and guys that they need that they
can rely on in that locker room. And Jones, for
all of his ups and downs, at least in the
locker room, has been a steady presence here as a
postal guy like Bentley who's been hurt, as a postal

(31:25):
guy like Andrews has been hurt, They don't they're not.
The cup is not running over of you know, leadership
guys in that locker room. And I would put Jonathan
Jones as one of those guys. I think it's a
great question. Man.

Speaker 6 (31:35):
I'd also put Tetrick Wise, who's going to be a
free agent this year, into that as well, you know,
t Trick Wise. I'd put a little bit more on
the end of like we need to upgrade, like, I mean,
he's kind of plateaued. He is what he is, good
situational player, you know, good situational player. But you know,
at a certain point, I think this team has to
ask themselves, especially on the defensive side of the ball,
of do we got to do we have to take

(31:57):
one foot out of the old era? Do we have
to kind of move on and say, look, we love
Dietrich Wise, He's a leader. I mean, you can't ask
for more from the guy on and off the field.
Same with Jonathan Jones. But at some point are the
new guys saying, these guys are telling us things that
happened eight years ago when they were good, and you
know it's just not ringing true anymore. We need to
go and maybe turn the page a little bit and

(32:19):
let some young guys learn these lessons and then you know,
let them learn them on their own rather than still
having these guys from the dynasty years who's you know,
this is how it used to be when I played here.
You know, like young guys need to hear new messages.
And I think that's something they have to consider this
year when they when they look at this defense and
how they're going to improve it and change it. And
I think that's you know, a spot there's gonna be
some significant change this offseason. Personnel coaching scheme all on

(32:42):
the table to be.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Let's put a pin in that I can come back
to it. But first, because it's a you know, quarter
past the hour, let's go to Behind Enemy Lines, Matt.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
You know the view from New England, but what about
the view from the other side?

Speaker 2 (32:56):
And that's why you're a favorite pregame show guests.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
Yeah, every year, And now you tell everybody that I
was on with you guys at twenty eighteen Thursday Night Football.

Speaker 8 (33:06):
Yeah, and I will vote out with the favorite for
the show.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
No time now to go Behind Enemy Lines?

Speaker 3 (33:11):
My god, it's got a ride four And joining us
this week on Behind Enemy Lines is nobody.

Speaker 6 (33:20):
Matt what Matt.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
Barrell as is usual work. The phones work, the innerweb worked,
the text machine had messages out to more than three
people to ask to see if they'd like to join
us in the pregame show. No names necessary here. He
didn't get a response. He didn't get a response. So
the only reason I say that out is, Hey, I'm busy,

(33:44):
I've got obligations before the game and everything like that.
I can't join you. Matt Moreau deserves a response, that's all.
Is that a fair one?

Speaker 2 (33:53):
I don't well, I think he got one right before
the show.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
No.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, I'm not gonna be able to do that.

Speaker 6 (33:58):
Just Matt, go out in the hallway. There's just chargers
people walking back and forth. Grab one putting on the local.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
We want somebody that wants to or at least wants
to grace Matt with a response that he wants to
be here or not. Let's go back to your point
about leadership, because I think, Mike, quite honestly, I think
that's a place where they're sorely lacking. And how do
you balance the can the guy play anymore? What can

(34:23):
they give us on a snap basis versus I need
somebody to be able to carry that message, and I
don't know that that message necessarily here's what we did
during the Dynasty years. But it's about accountability, it's about
being to meetings on time. It's about making sure that
you lift on the days that you have to lift,
taking care of your body, hydrating, everything like that. And
I don't know that they have enough guys on this

(34:44):
team that can do that, that Mayo and his staff
can count on to carry that message. Because there's some
sort of that message that they're delivering to the players
that they need the players to disseminate.

Speaker 6 (34:54):
Yeah, well, I mean might push back on that would
be if you're keeping guys around who can't play anymore
just because they can get to meetings on time, like
you're going in the wrong direction.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
And I'm not saying that that's the case. I hope
that's not now.

Speaker 6 (35:04):
And that's but that this team has to find their identity,
and that's you know, maybe one of the most disappointing
things about this season across the board was that there
is no identity to this team. There's no identity of
the offense, you know, other than the identity is the
bad things the consistent turnovers, you know, the consistent in
game brain farts, all those kind of things that have
consistently showed up with the good stuff, the things of

(35:24):
what you know, this is what we can rely on.
And you know, you hear it during the week with
the press conferences and the report orders. Ask you, do
you feel like your offense has an identity? Do you
feel like you haven't? And they dance around the question
a little bit. But again, the only identity that they've
established this year is that they're not that great and
that they're really inconsistent in the key moments and they

(35:44):
don't know how to win yet. Maybe that's the biggest thing.
And that's one thing I would say with a new
coaching staff over with the Chargers is that they seem
like they have a little bit of understanding how to
win games. The Patriots don't. Whenever the game is on
the line or there for the taking, they wilt it
this year. And that's you know, I just we talked
so much what do you want to see at the
end of this year, and we talk about, oh, you know,
winning a few games down the stretch, and you know,

(36:05):
maybe they'll be playing the Chargers and the Chargers are
up for a playoff game. You know, I just I'm disappointed.
I don't know who this team is they have.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
And that would be another one of the reasons. You know,
Matt at the very top of the show, like what
you know, what you could get, like the feeling of
winning is not irrelevant because this they don't have.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Mike.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
You mentioned all the guys that are sort of there's
not that many left, yeah, that have been around that
understood success, And now you're probably in a situation I
think people are looking at like a massive overhaul. I
don't think you're going to get that from a personnel standpoint.
I think you're probably going to have I don't know,
upwards of thirty five of these guys back next year,

(36:44):
maybe more. I mean, almost everybody's under contract for day three.

Speaker 6 (36:47):
They're eighth most, they have most eighth most players under
contract for next year.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
So if you're dealing with almost all of these guys
that we back and a lot of like whatever, the
so forty three guys are under contract in twenty twenty five,
I'm going to say eighty five percent of those guys
have never really experienced any success in the league. Like
I'm talking about from a team standpoint, not an individual standpoint.
So that's hard, and it's hard to just flip the
switch and say, Okay, we're going to be good this year,

(37:12):
and this is what it takes to be good to
Matt's point, getting all the things done that need to
be done for winning programs.

Speaker 6 (37:18):
Yeah, and even guys like Devont Gotcha. You know guys
that I mean you think have been here a while,
but they don't go back to twenty eighteen. They you know,
they're they've been here during these lean years too, Hunter,
Henry sty Three, Jilani, and I think I brought it
up on the on the show this week. It's just,
you know, what point does losing become the culture around here?
You know, that's what you have to be careful of

(37:39):
that you you know, you don't have any guys that
know how to win, and that's you know how things
you just see it happen. It's snowballs every loss. It
gets a little harder in that locker room for everybody.
And it's you know, you see how it's easy that
once you lose one, he'll lose another, and then you
lose another and then you turn on each other. You know,
it picks up momentum and it's hard to break.

Speaker 9 (38:00):
So.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Clearly there will be There has been an emphasis on
the play of Drake May and he is a bright
spot and a building block for the future. What can
Drake May do as he ascends to a sophomore season
where he doesn't stand for any of those things and
he knows this is what you need to do to
be a winning player. And I'm not going to tolerate,

(38:23):
you know, the illegal shifts, the illegal motions, and his
standard becomes a standard at least for that side the ball.

Speaker 6 (38:30):
It's a great question, man. I think that's maybe the
key to this Patriots offseason is Drake May fully taking ownership,
holding guys accountable, you know, being the one who's setting
the standard, rather than he's a rookie. He's learning, you know,
and I think that's why last two games, love to
see him not turn the ball over. I mean, I
just think that's that's the on field thing, that's his
little bugaboo that he's been battling. You know, everything else

(38:52):
you can say pretty great, but if he can get
rid of those and then this offseason, you know, I
go back to just the receivers like, this guy's have
been so inconsistent on and off the field across the
board all season long. They need a kick in the
butt and it's Drake May that has to deliver it.
He needs to be the Brady who, you know, not
necessarily the same thing of like icing guys out when

(39:12):
they don't know what they're doing, but starting to hold
guys accountable. That when you're running short of the sticks
on third down while I'm not looking your way anymore,
or you know, when the ball's going off your hands
and flying into the other team, then I'm not looking
your way as much anymore. He needs to be that guy.
He needs to take full ownership of this team. It
needs to be Drake May's team in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Yeah, and you point too, you know about the mistakes
and the turnovers. You know, let's you know, when are
we going to make the transition between Drake May is
the rookie quarterback or he's the Patriot starter quarterback because
everybody seems to think unequivocally they've got the guy, myself included.

(39:50):
But I've sort of made that transition. Okay, now I
know he can play. Now I need to see some
of these things improve, and some of these things get eliminated, do.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Like, I don't treat him like a rookie quarterback anymore. Right,
some people still do, some don't. I'm not saying that
no one has. It's starting to come now, Like you know,
these turnovers got to stop. Alex van Pelt isn't doing
it anymore. He's he's holding him accountable. Fifteen turnovers and
ten starts is a lot.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
And I think May's say I'm not a rookie anymore,
and nobody's a rookie anymore. And I like that now.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
I like it too.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
I don't expect May to bury a guy like Baker.
I don't expect Made to bury a guy like Polk.
I think he's been outwardly very supportive of those guys.
But I think maybe some of the subtle things that
we could look at is how definitively does he have
their back, you know, going forward, because he can't prop
those guys. He can only prop those guys up for
so much before he needs to cut bait and say

(40:43):
we need guys who are gonna think.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
Seeing them cutting bait because he's not throwing those those
guys the ball anymore. Yeah, you know, to Mike's point,
don't worry everybody.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
They say, watch what they do.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
Everybody. You like my little adages.

Speaker 10 (40:53):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
He just threw my adage back at me. I like that.

Speaker 6 (40:56):
I mean I wasn't here when Welker was here. I
got this vibe from him, though, but I was here
when Edelman was here, and I definitely got this vibe
from him of like a lot of this stuff we
seem of the wide receivers let this year unacceptable for
Julian Edelman to, you know, for those kind of mistakes.
If this stuff was happening in his room, I mean,
he would be what was it, happily miserable, Like he
would be pissed off. And you just don't get that

(41:17):
vibe from this receiver room. It's you know, we're gonna
we're trying. We're trying hard, man, We're gonna get it,
you know, Like that was my bad Like I mean,
I've been beating the my bad stuff in the end
of the dirt the last few weeks. But it's just
it's not the kind of room where you're holding each
other accountable and you knew, Like when I looked at
Wes Welker as a fan, I'm like, that guy's here
to play today. He knows what he's gonna do. When
it's third and five, he's gonna get you six. He's

(41:40):
not gonna come back to third and four and be like, yeah,
you know, that was my bad on that one. Like
that stuff didn't exist with those teams that were really good,
and that's the stuff they got to get rid of.
It's just too many excuses, too many, you know, and
people happy to admit that they made the mistake. Stop
making the mistake.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
You know what I fired funny is Brady, especially toward
the end, started to get a lot of criticism for
his lack of patience. And now people and this is
not a criticism of you, Mike, because I agree with you.
I think people are starting to say, hey, Drake, this
should take ownership of this. This is your offense, this
is your team right now. You need to hold these
guys accountable. And they're absolutely right if you think that way.

(42:15):
I think that is part of it, you know, so
like they were a Brady like you give Nikhil Harriet
a break. He's just got no no figure out what
you're supposed to do. Jacoby Myers. Kobe Myers got the
ball thrown to him as a rookie because he was
weir who you're supposed to be.

Speaker 6 (42:31):
Yep, maybe Drake, you dole red ass him, do you
think I do? I mean, and he might have it,
but you know, and he might have it, and like
I think he's got it.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
You know, he's very supportive publicly. I think he has it.

Speaker 6 (42:42):
Word yeah, which is which is I think a little uh,
you know, might be a little bit frustrating for a
fan at first, where you want it to be this like, oh,
nice guy, that's always happened, Like for you to be
a winning quarterback, you need to kind of be an
a hole, you know, especially because it has to all
go through you. I mean, I just remember, like you know,
as a fan watching Brady just walk onto the field
to walk to the huddle and just the control and

(43:04):
the swag, the swag that he had, and you know,
I like and I hate, you know, holding him up
as like Drake's got to be like Brady. But I
think any quarterback in this league that's good. I mean
I think even like you know, Bo Nixon like a
little bit, and it is his intensity that you've seen
as a rookie where you know, it's like Paul said,
it's kind of like at one point you're like, we
want to play well for the rookie. We got to
help this kid out. Rather, it's got a change to

(43:26):
I better play good or else. Drake's not gonna throw
me a football anymore. He's gonna glare at me as
I'm walking back to the huddle. Like that's the kind
of steps that I think would be, you know, absolutely
huge for this offense, you know, going into twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
All right, much more to discuss as you're watching and
listening to the Patriots pre game Social fueled by Duncan.
You can call us at eighty five to five Pats
five hundred. That's a TPX slotline, and please email the
show at podcast at Patriots dot com when we return
an actives a weather report and we'll get into one
of the wide receivers that I have a question to
mister show about is can they count on this guy
moving forward? This is the Patriots pregame Social fueled by Duncan.

Speaker 11 (44:00):
You've got to watch your NFL team everything.

Speaker 10 (44:03):
Thank you for downloading that.

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By the time this Patriots fan is finished drinking his pepsi,
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Speaker 7 (46:38):
Good Good.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
Join the conversation by calling into the TPX hotline at
eight five five Pats five hundred, or email the show
at podcast at Patriots dot Com now live from our studios.
Here is Matt Smith.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
And welcome back to the Patriots pre game social fueled
by Tonkan. It is the witching hour for a one
o'clock game. That means the eleven thirty time slot where
it's time for the inactives and let's go out to
a rainy Jelette Stadium playing field with Tamara Brown joins
us live Tamara. Who is in and who is out
today against the Chargers?

Speaker 5 (47:23):
Please, Well, I'm happy to report that there are no
surprise and actives for today against the Chargers. I will
I say one thing that pointed. One thing that stood
out to me was Marte Mapo. For the second week
in a row. He will be playing coming off his
big performance last week versus the Bills where he had
a four s bumble interception and two pass breakups.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
Can you build on that in today's game versus the Chargers.

Speaker 5 (47:46):
With that being said, Jabrill Peppers is out today, so
we expect to see a lot of Marte Mapu and
then for the offensive line, one of the biggest things
I've noticed since watching the pregame warm ups is Cole
Strange getting some one on one work with offensive line
coach Scott Peters. He's been out here working on his
snap working on his technique with Scott Peters. So that's
been a huge sign today seeing Cole Strange out here

(48:07):
getting ready for hopefully the first time, getting to see
him in game action and nearly over a year.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Number sixty nine on your scorecard. We're going to keep
an eye on him, close Strange. I want to go
back to something on the Peppers Mapoo situation to Marwan Huh,
because it was Peppers who was out last week that
led to Mapou playing and he played pretty well. Micha,
I'll let you chime in on this as well. Is
there can they not be a theme the field? Ken Duggars,

(48:32):
Ma Poo and Pepper's in a big Nickels sort of
a situation. Can they not be on the field together?

Speaker 6 (48:38):
Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, I actually I just
thought it's it's Maya Tomara. Have you seen Tiprill Pepper's
out there? Was he You know, sometimes those guys get
out there and do a little bit of early work.
But just curious if you saw him at all working
out earlier. I know you were in here with us,
so maybe not.

Speaker 5 (48:52):
Yeah, I wasn't able to see him out here because
I was in the studio with you guys. But from
what I've seen so far, I've just seen Kyle Dugger
and Marty Mapho out here warming up. That's in regards
to the safety room, of course.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
That's it's an interesting, really kind of inside baseball question
about it. But here's Mapho, who doesn't play all of
training camp. You know, the Pepper situation arises and map
Who's gotta go wire to wire against Miami, and everybody
goes it. Wait, they nailed one. They got this one
too straight. As Tamara mentioned, healthy scratches he plays last week,

(49:23):
you know, it kind of looks a little bit not
knowing what's going on. Well, if Peppers is out, Mapoo plays,
what happens if Peppers is back? Like, that's a kind
of an interesting one to keep an eye on, it
seemed to me.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
Tamara, Well, I think Matt Smith. It all goes back
to what Gerard Mayo keeps saying. He wants to see
what he has and I know we only have two
games left. We talked about that with Cole Strange and
Kayden Wallace, but it's now or never to figure out
what you have out of Marte Mafu, And so I
think these last two games, I don't mind seeing more
of Marte Mafu that you already know what you have
with Jabrell Peppers and Kyle Dugar.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
So let's see what you have with Marty Mafu.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
Okay, I don't What I don't see is I don't
see any big thermometer.

Speaker 6 (49:59):
No, I don't see.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
Any big umbrella.

Speaker 6 (50:02):
No, no problem.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
What do you got for a weather forecast? At eleven
thirty four, tomaraw.

Speaker 5 (50:07):
So, I'm gonna put my meteorologists hat on and say
that when I arrived here at the stadium earlier this morning,
I was carrying an umbrella, there were steady rain coming down.
Now as we were approaching kickoff, it's more of a mist,
more of a spitting type of rain happening. And so
I don't need my umbrella, I don't need my rain jacket.
And compared to last week, I'd say this is pretty warm,
compared to thirteen degrees in Buffalo.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Okay, it's too early, really, you're probably just opening right
now at eleven thirty four, I'll throw this out for everybody.
What do we anticipate from the crowd today because I think,
you know, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some maybe
newer Patriot fans out there today that got a holiday
gift under the tree or you know, for Honiker or
something like that, and maybe we have new people coming
to the stadium today. Maybe that's a little wishful thinking

(50:50):
on my.

Speaker 6 (50:51):
Part, hopefully, hopefully, I mean, it's uh so great.

Speaker 4 (50:54):
Yeah, go with Merck will I will say one thing.

Speaker 6 (50:56):
I know.

Speaker 5 (50:57):
My key to the game was to be grinch like
and no gift giving today versus the Chargers. But I
do see in the very front row there is a
fan that says this is their first Patriots game. They're
here all the way from DC. So, Matt Smith, you
were exactly right. Someone got a gift to come to
this game against the Chargers.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
So with that gift comes a responsibility. We need you
to be loud, we need you to be intimidating, We
need you to create an atmosphere out there today. Right,
that's right, good stuff.

Speaker 5 (51:22):
To merly make this first Patriots game for this fan.

Speaker 4 (51:25):
I hope it's a fun one.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
Yep. Absolutely nice job to me, er, Thank you very much.
There's your nactive we do see on the Chargers side
the bus Gus is out or the Gus bus is out. Dobbins,
who's been put back in the active list, will likely
go today, and he's their first rink back should probably
I mean, I don't know if he's full go, but
we're gonna see a lot of Dobbins.

Speaker 6 (51:46):
I think we will, yeah. And I mean he was,
you know, frush off of ir and you know, I
think he was the plan this year and out of
the gate. Like I said, I think he had over
one hundred and thirty yards rushing their first two games.
He's a big part of what they're what they want
to do, I think this year, and like Paul said,
think in a perfect world, they're going to stock off
on some talent and get better at running back and
add some more depth behind him. Maybe you know, continue

(52:07):
to try to find that number one receiver on the
outside for Justin Herbert. But I just I fully expect
them to come, try to run the ball early and
often establish the game, you know, just the end of
the year, try to win these games tough. Ugly think
Jim Harbaugh has a real good sense of how playoff
games go when it's in January, and I think he'll
use this, you know, a little bit as a as

(52:28):
a prep for his team, because, let's face it, they
may they're probably gonna have to go on the road
and probably play somewhere cold, you know, whether it's going
to Baltimore or Buffalo or Kansas City, so they're gonna
have to be ready. This won't be the last time
the Chargers have to play in some weather.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
If the standing's hold, it's another hardball bull. It looks
like it was two weeks left, but that was I
think what the match it would be today.

Speaker 6 (52:46):
I think if you grab your helmet on, Matt for
that one.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
Where the media will be all a buzz about that.
Easy to drink, easier to enjoy. Bud Light is the
official beer sponsor the Knowing of Patriots. Our number again
is eight five five. Pat's five hundred and as we
do every week, let's have Pat from Agaam join us.
Good Morning Pat, You're first on the Patriots pregame Social
fuel by Duncan. Good morning Pat, Good morning Pat, Patty

(53:15):
going once, going twice. I don't hear Pat Pat call back.
As we await Pat to call back, Let's try Larry
in Denver. Larry, you're next to the Patriots pregame social
high Larry, all right, what are the chances that there's
any of this is operator era either of the match?
I don't think so, but you never know. We'll let

(53:37):
him go Before we go back to the phones, Mike,
I wanted to fall up and something with you. We're
talking about the wide receivers, Drake May. You know how
tough he should be with the Bakers and the Pulks
of the world. Do they have something in Booty coming
off of a career game last week against Buffalo? Is
he a guy that you feel comfortable going forward with?
That's a part of the solution for the twenty twenty

(54:00):
five Patriots offense.

Speaker 6 (54:03):
I'll tell you I feel comfortable bringing him back into
training camp and letting him compete, you know, and knowing
that he has a little chemistry with Drake May. In
a perfect world, there are maybe two wide receivers that
join this roster this offseason that you immediately pencil in,
you know, a top of the depth chart. No plenty
of people, you know, let's just call it T Higgins
and you know, maybe a second round pick something like
that that that could be put into the mix. So

(54:25):
I love what Booty did last summer. I mean, I
think that you got to give a guy a lot
of credit when there's a log jam at wide receiver
and he was able to come in, and I mean
it was tenuous. I mean it wasn't like, oh, he
was just emerged and took the job. He did it
with consistency, He did it with really solid hands. I
think that said many times, that's the trait that always
stood out to me of just what he's best at.

(54:46):
So look, you know, we get into three four, what
is he You know, I don't think that he's going
to be the long term solution as the number one
X receiver on the Patriots roster, but I do think
that he potentially could be that third fourth guy on
the depth chart that's gonna get some rotational snaps that's
gonna get in there that you know, has some confidence
with where you know, has some chemistry with Drake May

(55:06):
that that could potentially build into year two. But I
wouldn't promise anything to any of the receivers on this
room this year. They're all gonna have to come back
next next year, and hopefully they're gonna have to compete
with some guys who are going to raise the talent
level right.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
Our email address is podcast at Patriots dot com. This
is from Kyle, who writes in after Harry Adam Schefter's
latest report, I'm feeling a little bummed out because it
seems if they're trying to s him for all the
problems on the team this year. I think getting rid
of a VP who, by all accounts may really like
some credit to development would be a mistake. Didn't see
the Chefter report, but I certainly think that Van Pelt

(55:47):
being up in the air has been in the air
for quite some time over the last month.

Speaker 6 (55:52):
Yeah, and it's just it's hard because of everything that
I've talked about here of the team not really building
identity and not a lot of improvement. Like the one
thing you can say that you feel pretty good about
is that your rookie quarterback has developed pretty well, and
you know the things that he needed to work on
that all the scouts said coming out, we've seen improvement
in those. I mean, I've just seen improvement in him,

(56:12):
major jumps from where we saw him in the summer.
So to kind of target Alex Van Pelt and be like, yeah,
let's get rid of him. I like, I get like,
and I understand why. I understand why people want the
offense to suddenly be something magical. But I don't know
of all the coaches this year, if you had to
point out one that's done in a way okay job,
I think Alex van Pelt will be the one. I

(56:32):
also enjoy listening to him. He's very upfront. There's no
pretty ductu refuge with him. You ask him a question,
you're going to get an answer. I think that you know,
has maybe gott him in trouble a little bit this year.
But I just I really struggle if Alex van Pelt
is the one guy to walk the plank this year
because of this season win. In reality, he's the one
positional coach. I mean, i'd say one positional coach because

(56:53):
it you know, tight ends and there have been good
position positional play. But I mean, the most important thing
to this franchise right now is Drake May and this
guy came in developed him. I mean, look at the
mess with Caleb Williams right now. So now we're thinking
let's get rid Alex van Pelt. Whoever the next guy is,
he's got to be better, right, Like, I don't I
have trouble getting on board with that. I wouldn't mind
seeing Alex van Pelt back. I do think, you know,

(57:15):
maybe there are some changes among the offensive coaching staff
that they need to consider because it was kind of
a hodgepodge group. It wasn't like, you know, an offensive
coordinator came in brought all his guys. So I do
think there are changes needed. But to me personally, Alex
van Pelt is down the list as far as things
that need to immediately change after this season.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Eight five to five Pats five hundred. Back to the
phone lines to try to make sure the phone lines
are working. Pat You're first from Agaam. Good morning, Pat.
How are today? Sir?

Speaker 10 (57:43):
Hey?

Speaker 16 (57:43):
Can you hear me now?

Speaker 6 (57:44):
There is Patty?

Speaker 16 (57:47):
Good morning everyone. I hope y'all had a great Christmas
and holiday season so far. To touch on three, thank
you very much. It was it was awesome. No complaints.

Speaker 7 (57:57):
You know.

Speaker 16 (57:58):
I want to just touch on three things and get
your opinion on the last one. First, first thing is deuced.
You said a couple of things I couldn't agree more with.
The First thing is this team's identity is they they
don't know how to win. They need to find a
way how to win. Hopefully, you know next year that
that'll take place. They'll start learning how to win some games.
And the second second thing you said is, you know

(58:21):
you're if you're a cup, you kind of have to
be an a hole, you know, not just like we've
seen it with Brady Book. You know, we've seen clips
of Peyton Manning, Like there's a famous clip at him
yelling at Jef Saturday like, you know, worry about blocking
and I'll worry about calling the plays and doing my job,
you know, and then goes right up back up to
him after and and you know, dabs him up and Polly.

(58:41):
I think we saw that like in ninety seven with
Drew Bledsoe if I remember, I think it was a
ninety seven season where I think they're playing Jacksonville where
Vincent Brisbee wrongs the wrong route, he gets up in
his face and screaming at him, and I think on
the next series he throws him a touchdown pass. And
that's kind of like, that's the kind of leader he
needs to be going forward. The second thing I wanted

(59:03):
to touch on is Marcus Jones. I'm a little bit
worried because I like you guys, I love him, but
this is the second year in a row where he's
ended a season on IR. I hope that doesn't become
heavy well.

Speaker 3 (59:15):
Like not the third on IR. But he's had injury
problems all three years that pass came in.

Speaker 16 (59:19):
With and doubles shoulder surgeries, and I hope that's not
something that we have to address in the offseason because
we already have so much to address as it is.
And the third thing.

Speaker 8 (59:28):
Is this game.

Speaker 16 (59:31):
I can't help but get visions of the two thousand
and nine playoff game against the Ravens where you know,
the game was over like two minutes into the game.
And I wouldn't be surprised if Polly, I know, you
said they're running attack. Isn't that good? But just following
the trends, this run defense has been so abysmal, Like
I wouldn't be surprised if Dobbins takes their first carry

(59:55):
for seven yards for touchdowns. I mean, that's how bad
it's been. But I think it's you know, I'm picking
a ten point game. I think the Chargers are gonna
win something along the lines of Lake thirty one to
twenty one. But I just want to see this team,
like they did last week, come out and just just
play with fire, play with a little heart, and you
know they won't all be surprised. I'm not one of

(01:00:15):
these guys that wants to see him lose the next
two games. I want to see him start winning games.
But might be a little too late for that. But
that might be a little wishful thinking this week. But
I just think I think the Chargers are going to
probably end up running all over us like every team
has this. That's all I got.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
Thanks Pat for the phone call, very uplifting message there,
and I'll let you.

Speaker 6 (01:00:36):
You know he sounded too sober.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
You got to worry about a Ravens repeat reducts nine
player game?

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Yeah, I mean I did actually think of it a
little bit because I know that the Chargers haven't been
great running the ball. But a team that wants to
run the ball and they want to lean on your
running the ball against a team that hasn't been able
to stop the run is not a great combination. But
I just would be surprised if the Chargers put up
thirty in this game, that that would be that'd be
really really depressing. Yeah, from a Patriots say. Wow, that

(01:01:06):
good crowd for that Fenway Bowl.

Speaker 7 (01:01:07):
Huh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
I know Yukon's in the game, but that's that's a
pretty good crowd for Nick and Idaho nothing right. Over
the past couple of seasons, the Patriots have had some
good games against the Chargers. Wasn't last year's Charges game one.

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
Of the worst games successes? Awful? Did that translate today
or is Harbor enough of a change to get rid
of that chance today?

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
So?

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
I guess if I'm reading Nick correctly, here is Harbor
the difference in India Los Angeles posting a dominant performance.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it has the past success.
To me, is irrelevant because you have a different coach, right,
I mean it's not the same First of all, it's
not even the same team, like we talked about in
the first hour. All the guys that are gone. You
know that basically the guts of the offense have changed.

Speaker 3 (01:01:55):
Kyle writes in this is a topic that in some
of our pre show prep Kyle, Paul and I were
working on. Our wide receiver room has such a lack
of talent that we might need to target guys regardless
of if they may be a diva wide receiver like
signing Stefan Diggs or training for someone like George Pickens.
These are not usually the players I hope the Patriots signed.

(01:02:15):
But beggars cannot be choosers, right, says Kyle. So this
this is a little longer the two.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
So let's yeah, I'm not talking about Stefan Diggs today,
but Stefan Diggs is a guy that you would not
normally want to now, including Mike from this, Stefan Diggs
is a guy that you would not have wanted to
see on the Patriots over said the last five years
prior to this, like, I can't help you, like you
wonder why you have a hard time getting wide receivers

(01:02:43):
because the ones that are good you don't like because
they might have like an ego. I don't know what
to say.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
Wasn't there a lot of talk though before Buffalo, when
he was in Minnesota that Patriot fans are drooling over
the opportunity please bring Steffan Diggs in. Is there any
chance that they'll bring David Stephan Diggs del Chick talked
about him from Maryland and everything like that. Wasn't there
some false hope potentially there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
I don't recall Mike hates Stefan Diggs, but that's not
even a shot at Mike. Mike has always sort of
gotten bad vibes from Diggs, but that aside, like as
productive as any receiver in the league for a stretch
of five years, Like if that's not a guy you
want to like. Pickens is not that productive and he's

(01:03:24):
that disruptive. So I could sort of understand you saying
I'm gonna go with the mic you so I'm gonna
be a little bit more cautious on Pickens. He's good. Now,
I would say pittsbordh kind of fell apart when he
left the lineup, So maybe he's a little bit more
impactful than people give him credit for. But I get
that he's he's a disruptive guy and he doesn't have
fifteen hundred yard seasons like Diggs did.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
I guess maybe one of the overreaching question here though
from Kyle is do you have to be as picky
and choosy and if a guy is a diva, is
there so little talent in that wide receiver room that
you got a hold?

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
Can I just say I want a diva wide receiver
like I want one of those.

Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
Those are the difference makers.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
I get it.

Speaker 6 (01:04:06):
You know, there's just like for me, there's a level
of diva that I can accept, whereas there's a level
of high maintenance that this requires. I got example, George Pickens, Okay,
you know a guy that the coach is going to
have to put his arm around him and make sure
he doesn't lose his mind because the play didn't go
his way. You know, at any given moment, he might

(01:04:28):
fire the ball into another guy and get a fit
dan yard penalty. You know, it's just like he's voluable.
You know, he is volatile. That that's the stuff I
don't like. Look, I love AJ Brown. I would bite
any bullet for AJ Brown. I know it can be
a little high maintenance too, but I think that's the
level of player that is worth it. It's good.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
Those are those are two good examples of what you
talking about.

Speaker 6 (01:04:49):
Start getting down the ladder a little bit and it's like, well,
he's a one B and he's a pain in the ass,
and we're gonna have to pay him thirty million. You know,
it's like that's a lot. That's a lot to ask,
and I just I would be you know, you want
to be calculating when you're building the team at this point.
You want to you know, in a perfect world, you
want to say, we're gonna bring in the Stefan Diggs
or you know whoever, and our culture is established, like

(01:05:11):
this guy has just got to get out. You know,
Amari Cooper's not that guy. But for Buffalo, they're doing
what they do and they brought in Amari Cooper and
I said, great, you're not our savior. You're gonna be
the guy who's gonna make a couple big catches for
us now because you're super talented, But we don't need
you to be the man. We don't need you to
remake our offense read the Finder offense. I just that's

(01:05:32):
the move I'd like to make. I'd prefer I know
it's hard, there's no guarantee that you know that you
can build a team that way. But in a perfect world,
that's what it would be, not these guys. And they
then they become, you know, kind of the captain of
the ship in some ways. And now, all right, great,
Like how does Stefan Diggs feel today? Like it's not
about Drake May It's about how does the receiver. Is
he you know, is he gonna be he on today?
Or is he a little bit you know, pissy about

(01:05:53):
something that That's the stuff I don't want to deal with.

Speaker 3 (01:05:55):
Eight five five Pats five hundred. Andre in New York
is next on the Patriots pregame social fueled by Duncan.

Speaker 6 (01:06:00):
Good morning, Andre, Good morning everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:06:03):
How you guys doing fantastic?

Speaker 6 (01:06:05):
That great great.

Speaker 17 (01:06:06):
Happy holidays, Sam. Just sitting here watching your show. I
love your show, big Pats fan. I had a quick
question about, since we're talking about receivers, what is your
guys take on jayvon Baker. I've seen him in the
I've seen him in summer, the summer camps, and I've
seen his college highlights, and I think he looks like
a great breakout wide receiver. I've seen he had some

(01:06:28):
stuff off the field with like a car accident and
some thing that happened, and I've seen he hasn't gotten
any like great playing time. So I just wanted to
know he's.

Speaker 6 (01:06:36):
Got to learn how to be a professional.

Speaker 3 (01:06:38):
Great question, Andre, and thank you for the phone call.

Speaker 6 (01:06:40):
I think that's what this offseason is for him. He's
got to either put in a ton of work and
live around the stadium and be totally locked in and
totally understand the playbook and be with Drake May every
other weekend, you know, thrown with him and he comes
into camp and all this you know, nonsense off the
field that always kind of seems to be lurking in
the periphery. He's got to get rid of that stuff.
And if he doesn't, he'll he'll be cut next year.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
I mean, that's you know, I would say that. You know,
I'm just talking about as a patriot. I'm not talking
about the college tape. In the summer, I at least
saw potential for Jalen Polk. I saw him every single
day catching a no. Admittedly, I sort of bickered with
Mike because we're like an old married couple sometimes and
we bicker, you know. I saw a lot of shallow

(01:07:23):
crosses for three yards, but he caught a million passes
in camp. I did not see any of that from
Javon Baker. I didn't see really any I saw a
couple of flash plays here or there, but I didn't
see any sustained consistent production in training camp. I didn't
think he had a very good camp. I thought he
got worse as the camp went on. I thought he
had a terrible preseason, dropped a bomb from Drake May

(01:07:46):
in the Philly game. I want to say just has
done nothing as a Patriot. I've seen no flashes of
brilliance at all. Jalen Polk, I saw flashes of ability
where he could be like that complimentary piece to a
good offense. I've seen nothing from Baker. Compound that, with
everything that Mike's had off the field, I think you're

(01:08:07):
looking at a sort of a wasted pick. I know
that sounds brutal after a year, but there's a reason
why a lot of teams didn't have them on their
draft board. He was off their boards.

Speaker 6 (01:08:15):
Am I level of optimism that he would do the
things that I said he needed to do, which has
learned how to become a professionalist offseason and totally dedicate
himself to his care sev I mean, I just I
don't have a lot of optimism that he's going to
do that. I assume he's going to get to training
camp next year, and then you know, if it goes
the way it should, he should be in a life
and death fight with Kaishan Boody.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
And be beaten out by a better player, and he
has the rare chance I think to be a second
year draft pick that gets cut.

Speaker 3 (01:08:42):
Craig from Central Massachusetts rights in good Morning Pregame crew,
it looks like rap reporters reporting that Gerard is expected
to be back unless some type of calamity happens. Have
we reached a point where calamity has become the norm?

Speaker 6 (01:08:53):
I do think so like this, like the fourth week
in a row, we've gotten these reports of like he's okay,
unless it totally falls apart from.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
The same reporter does basically the same wording. Right, either
tell me that he is definitively back or tell me
that there is still evaluating. Right, enough of this he's
going to be back on less dot dot which is
this is the third week in a row we're hearing that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
So to continue with Craig from Central mass last season
was one. I assume he means calamity and things look
worse this year, but by all means, let's print some
cash on a soft team and leave them thinking quote
you said it, I didn't we need a change for
the coordinator. In parentheses, he puts s coordinators who wants
to work for an HC that's going into twenty five
on the hot Seat blow Out, the Hodgepot staff of

(01:09:33):
Bill holdovers and retread cast offs, don't delay the inevitable.
Happy New Year. And on a happy note, Matt, you've
really gone into the host's chair. Okay, thanks Greg.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
I appreciate that that cut on my chin wag on
the other station. That was you know, it was another
vote of confidence and I'm like, but it wasn't it
kind of like the same vote of confidence. And I'm
not criticizing Ian Rappaport because he's reporting what he's being told, right.

Speaker 6 (01:09:57):
And they're still losing these games. I mean, they haven't
looked like abject disasters, I guess.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
But I mean, I mean, I don't know what. I
don't know what a calamity is. If three and twelve
isn't the calambit, so I don't mean, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:10:07):
Right back to the phone lines, eighty five to five,
Pats five hundred, Nick, Baby Love Love the Name is
next on the Patriots pregame, Social Fuel by Duncan. Good morning, Nick.

Speaker 7 (01:10:18):
How are you doing? Gentlemen?

Speaker 6 (01:10:20):
Hey Nan, good to hear from you.

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
Happy New Year.

Speaker 7 (01:10:23):
Yeah, Well, I'm dealing with my health. I think if
your name is Matt the host, just a shout out
to pay your nation. I love everybody and the show
has been excellent. Let me focus on, you know, one thing,
and I'll try to call him more often. I just,
like I said, I'm dealing with my help. Paul will

(01:10:44):
explain when I get off, you know, be a call.
But I want to say about leadership. Are you there, gentlemen?

Speaker 5 (01:10:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Sure, h Plus you miss the Holy Cross and was Paul.

Speaker 7 (01:11:01):
You guys know me very well. So the leadership thing
is very important because to me, somebody who's an older
guy that has not missed one game since they Billy
Sullivan bought the franchise in nineteen sixty, but twenty five
thousand dollars, I just think losing is unacceptable and I

(01:11:22):
am very upset about that. And I just think the
leadership is the heart and soul of the whole thing.
And I think I don't want to get into the draft,
but I think, you know, I know Dian Sanders, Paul
and I used to hang out with his dad, Pops
rest in Peet. But Travis Hunter is a leader. He's
once in a generation. And I pray that they can

(01:11:45):
get somebody like that. It just to add to the team,
because can you imagine Brady A.

Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
Belichick.

Speaker 7 (01:11:52):
Do you think all this nonsense the noise will be
happening if they weren't there. So that's basically hopefully I
can hear you talk about that. God bless you all
and happy holidays.

Speaker 6 (01:12:02):
Seat next.

Speaker 3 (01:12:04):
Well, good phone call and be well, Nick, thank you
for the phone call.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
And Travis Hunter. I think everybody's intrigued by you know.
I mean, there's a lot of talent there. I don't
know if that's you know, the no brainer pick for
the Patriots had a lot of fans think, but it's
certainly a very talented guy.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
Well, we can update. It's not much of an update
right now. They're slated in the two slot. You know,
they're in the two hole with the Giants. I think
firmly having a choke hold on the number one pick.
You'd think the Giants would be looking at quarterback. And
it's not a great quarterback draft. I've heard other Draftnick
say it's not a great overall draft. But I also
heard of wives on say this morning, they are NFL

(01:12:43):
players in the draft. It's your job to find them. Yeah,
you know, and how they do against the Chargers today,
how they do against a Buffalo team that's got a
seed already wrapped up and wants to rest people beforehand,
and they win a game against it, you know, not
necessarily the varsity unit of the Buffalo Bills, that would
have an impact on their draft situation. That might not

(01:13:04):
be the worst thing in the world, you know, because
maybe at five six seven, you feel a lot better
about taking the kid from Texas, the other offensive lineman.
You know, that might be a better.

Speaker 6 (01:13:15):
Fit than it too next week's game. Not to get
ahead of ourselves, but it terrifies me. It terrifies me.
And I mean I'm not a tank guy, but like
a meaningless win over a backup Bills team that drops
you and I you know, did some playing around with
all right, if this team's winning, these teams winning, the
Patriots go one on one over these last two, and
you could go down to like ten. I mean, so

(01:13:36):
we'll get to next week when we get to it,
but that that game really really scares me because at
this point there's nothing really to be taken from a victory,
and the difference between two and ten is the difference
of Travis Hunter. You want to shot at Travis Hunter.
You win that game.

Speaker 3 (01:13:49):
He goes bye bye, O contrer. I just want to
make sure we're consistent. I've heard throughout the hour or
show that we've been on this morning that winning is
important when.

Speaker 6 (01:13:59):
You get to the backups and week eighteen, they like
they need to win.

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
You you could get something out of out of today.

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
You so next week means nothing. It doesn't help not
I mean, does it hurt the program or help the program.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
It's irrelevant to the program. Okay, if you're if you're
not playing an NFL game next week, it's like winning
the preseason.

Speaker 6 (01:14:17):
You win, you can beat their backups.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
It doesn't does you any good to win a preseason game.
And that's what it's I mean, I don't know, can
I can I wait and see how the game unfolds
before I just I declare that it's the most next week, okay,
before I declare it meaningful, Like if I see it,
I might I might have a whole different I said,
you know what, these teams can't they showed up to
play Patriots did some nice things today. This is that's
a good win. Let's not jump ahead of ourselves.

Speaker 3 (01:14:39):
I think we all would like to see a competitive
representative game out of the Patriots today against a team
who with the wine off in the site.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
So you know, everything's so one on the train that
I did see over the weekend that worries me is
you know, we've talked a lot about Will Campbell potentially
being a guard. I saw a lot of reports that
Kelvin Banks is more suited to guard now too, Like,
are there any tackles in this draft?

Speaker 6 (01:15:03):
The Connorly kid from Oregon, who I think is down
a little bit, he's one.

Speaker 3 (01:15:06):
Of like that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:07):
He's the one that get hurt.

Speaker 6 (01:15:10):
I'm not sure one of them.

Speaker 2 (01:15:11):
One of them had a knee injury, was out, but.

Speaker 6 (01:15:14):
Not like just edge watch that edge look a bunch
of states.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Well that's just the first round for Penn State.

Speaker 6 (01:15:21):
The first round's got edge players and look, I mean
and like, if you look at the offense, tackles and
wide receivers, tackles wide receivers like, I think you can
kind of get by everywhere else on the offensive roster
next year. Not saying you're not trying to upgrade, not
saying you're gonna take some flyers on guys, but tackles
wide receivers, and then look at the offense of the defense.
You gotta add to the front seven. You gotta add

(01:15:42):
some insurance behind ju Wan Bentley. You need a dynamic,
kind of Willie McGuinness type every down presence, who can
stop the run, who can get after the passer. They
don't have that piece, And I don't think enough people
talk about. You know, everyone's just so focused on getting
a receiver on a tackle that you know you just
can't let the defense with or on the vine. They
drafted Marcellis Dile only defensive player they did last year.

(01:16:03):
There's gonna have to be some money invested in the defense.
And I'd really look at free agency as a place
where they can make some noise at CB two. They
can make some noise at off the ball linebacker edge
not so much. But you know a guy like Alee
McNeil from Detroit who's gonna hit free agency, who's been
a really consistent player and is in his twenties, Like,
you don't know what you're gonna get with Barmore next year.
So you have Godshaw for what he is, but you

(01:16:25):
need a consistent interior defensive presence. You need an edge
presence and you need some off of the battle so
front seven, baby, don't ignore it.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
This year Mike Show is talking about players. Yvonne from
Toronto wants to know about players. Hi, everybody, you guys
already mentioned this many most players will be back next year.
I think, Paul through what the number forty three are
already under contract? And that's not good, says she. We
need better players exclamation point. Which player under contract next
year can be cut, take a financial loss and be upgraded?

(01:16:53):
That's Yvonne from Toronto.

Speaker 2 (01:16:55):
All of them. Yeah, and I'm not being snarky. I
mean you can cut anybody you want. Yeah, you just
got to replace them with better players.

Speaker 6 (01:17:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
Aleen McNeil, By the way, we signed with Detroit. Yeah,
like like a month ago. I thought that when you
said it, I punched it in the old Google machine.
Just to make so much.

Speaker 3 (01:17:13):
I'll put you on the spot.

Speaker 6 (01:17:14):
Who do you like?

Speaker 2 (01:17:15):
Who do you have that you that you can't upgrade?

Speaker 6 (01:17:19):
No, And that's I think like the three and twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:17:21):
For a reason, everybody tells me they don't have any
talent in the roster, Like we can't get rid of
any of ther coaches because it's all all the talent's vault.
But now we can't cut anybody and upgrade. I think
you can upgrade all of these guys.

Speaker 6 (01:17:33):
Yeah, I mean that's and that's kind of the debate
of the offseason. Is you know a guy like look
Michael when he is gonna probably be your right guard
next year, you can't. You know, you're not gonna upgrade him.
You know, you may be just gonna have to figure
out with Laden Robinson at left guard. They seem to
like him, and you know it's you gotta prioritize what
the guys are. But you know it's like Hunter Henry,
like he's really good. Do you I mean, you have

(01:17:53):
so many bigger holes? Do you try to upgrade Hunter Henry?

Speaker 2 (01:17:55):
Like Kendrick Bourne signed a three year deal to stay,
you can't upgrade him. Oh yeah, you know, Jabrill Peppers
signed a deal thrade him.

Speaker 3 (01:18:04):
I'm thinking more on defense. With both Duggar and.

Speaker 2 (01:18:06):
Pep julyny to I signed a deal. You can upgrade him.

Speaker 3 (01:18:09):
Very similar players those two.

Speaker 6 (01:18:11):
And I mean, and you know, I know what Paul
will say to this, but like when the car after
next year, that's when you get out of all the
contracts you signed last year. If you if you really want,
if you're really concerned about eating dead money and all
the things that come with those, you know, new contracts.
But for the most part, you're kind of stuck with
all those.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
I wouldn't advocate, you know, take the ten guys that
they re signed, cut them all. No, that doesn't make
any sense either. That's just cutting people for the sake
of cutting him. But you can get rid. You can
get out of those contracts. None of a Win, who
is probably the only pricey contract that you'd probably pay.
You know, that would hurt to get rid of that one.

(01:18:48):
But you, like says Mike said, you're probably not upgrading him, right,
because you got to upgrade the other four.

Speaker 6 (01:18:53):
Spots, right, And you said, I mean you said, Dougger
and a Win, you two. I just I'd look at
them next year and be like, you guys got to
come back and play good. Yeah, No, Dougger and a W.

Speaker 2 (01:19:04):
So Jonathan Jones is like, you know, he's been dealing
with a lot, but Douger evidently just no, he stinks now,
he's not dealing with anything. Like, if you're on the field,
you gotta play. I agree with Mike Douger hasn't played well.
I know he's not healthy. I know he hasn't been
physically right. I say the same thing about Jonathan Jones.
I know he's not physically healthy. He hasn't played well.

(01:19:24):
But I think that those two guys get looked at
him differently because one of them signed a sort of
modest contract to stay and Doug signed a big contract
which put him at the high end of the safety scale.
But it's still like relatively nothing in the in the
scheme of contracts in the league. He just makes a
lot for his safety. He hasn't played well. I agree
with Mike No.

Speaker 3 (01:19:44):
Eight five five Pats five hundred run from New York
is next on the Patriots pregame Social Good Afternoon Run.
You're next on the Patriots pre game Social Field by Duncan.

Speaker 18 (01:19:54):
Good afternoon, guys, Thanks for taking the call. You're welcome.
Ultimately is to just question the leadership of this franchise.
Maybe you've talked about it already. I tuned in a
little bit late, but like the key on White comments
that came out this week, and it's been I mean,
I follow, you know, Mike and Lazarre and Kyle's and
Reese the comments throughout the season. These guys have been

(01:20:16):
letting little things slip here and there. The coaches have
had to walk things back and apologize on Monday morning shows.
I just questioned the leadership. We're loaded to make a
difference going into next season, but do we have the
right guys in place to make make those picks, to
spend that money to develop the players we already have
to truly make a difference for this franchise. My fear

(01:20:36):
is we're becoming the Dallas Cowboys or the La Raiders.
And the point that I would say that to back
that up is those franchises for years have been run
or in the Raiders case, were run by the front office,
the owners and in what other walk of life when
you have a franchise, a productive business, a story franchise
like the Patriots, would you say we need a complete rebuild?

(01:20:59):
But then you hire a guy to run that that
has never done the job and clearly is learning on
the job. You always go with the strongest leaders you
can find, and then you know, you move forward with
the pieces that they clearly have going into this next offseason,
we don't have that leadership we got guys nobody else wanted.
They were unemployed for a reason. Some have done well,
some have struggled. I mean on the defensive end, Covington

(01:21:21):
is he's been left a lot to be desired. Avp's
had his moments. Mayo's leadership has been questionable all season long,
and it's just not acceptable when you're trying to turn
a franchise around, to go from three and twelve to
something respectable, that you have a guy that's just learning.
And there's nothing against Mao. He's a terrific player and
by all accounts, he's a leader of men in the

(01:21:42):
business world, maybe more so than in the football room.
But I just don't hear enough about questioning this leadership
and are we being run by the ownership? Is that
why we have a guy that maybe's brand new and
learning on the job, because it's the owner that's instructing
him on how to move forward. I just want to
get your guys take on that, and thank you for
taking a call.

Speaker 3 (01:22:00):
Good questions run, Thank you for the call.

Speaker 6 (01:22:02):
Yeah, I mean it's it's it's a really hard question.
I mean, I think we don't I don't think we
put enough attention on the fact that Mayo had never
really coached a football team before. And I mean, and
you know, you just put him in as kind of
the CEO of the coaching staff and that you know
he would put all these things together. But I think
we've seen some real, real growing pains with him. And
I think, you know, a lot of the points the

(01:22:23):
caller made, you know, it's it's hard to disagree that
they haven't been error repeaters at times that they haven't,
you know, looked like game management has been an issue
of getting on the same page and knowing how we
want to play these things. And I just I'm look,
I'm still shook from this last draft class. I think
this last last draft class was hugely, hugely important. And yes,

(01:22:43):
Drake may the layup at three overall has worked out
pretty good. But I think they they I just wonder
if the draft problems that existed the last five years
still kind of existed this year. So they've got to
figure out a way to get that right, because if
they keep missing on these draft picks, it's going to
be a long, long row back to any kind of
competitive football.

Speaker 3 (01:23:02):
Yeah, they won't have an opportunity to miss on anymore.

Speaker 6 (01:23:05):
If that's yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:06):
Yeah, And I don't think like we're talking about like
Dallas that like the Jones family and Al Davis were
heavily involved in personnel and they were really good at
what they did. Like I think that those those get
like thrown around like their punchlines all the time. Everybody
tells me Dallas is one of the most talented teams
in the league every year, but they don't have the coaching.

(01:23:28):
That's why Mike McCarthy's on the hot seat. So that's
not the problem. Like acquiring talents is not the problem,
and it certainly wasn't the problem for the Raiders when
Al Davis was alive. Now they don't do it that
way anymore. Al Davis obviously is long gone and Mark
Davis does not pick the players. They're doing it traditionally.
They hire a GM and they've been failing. So like

(01:23:51):
this whole notion of you know, we don't want to
be one of those organizations, Yeah, they don't want to
be successful like that. I mean, like the Raiders and
the Cowboys, they had a lot of success. They haven't
had it lately. But it's not because of the reasons
you think.

Speaker 3 (01:24:05):
Right, Dallas has got a much bigger, stronger talent pool
they've had or I agree with you one hundred percent, Paul,
And I think I mentioned this to you during the week.
Was looking through a long read by I think Bill Barnwell,
and he was going over some of the Raiders' drafts
and he misss Reggie McKenzie, Mike Mayock, Dave Ziggler, all

(01:24:27):
three of them. And there's one guy really to show
out of all three of those regimes, and that's the
kid Crosby, who's a terrific player. But there isn't a
lot after that. And so we look at New England
and see the draft woes of the last few years
and go, oh boy, they haven't really had a lot
of success drafting. The Patriot aren't the only one if
you take a look at some of these teams out

(01:24:47):
there there. It's it's why it's an exact an inexact science.

Speaker 6 (01:24:51):
It's hard to do it is. I mean, I just
a little throwback, you know. You guys know I've been
working on a project for the four season. It's just
you know, when you reflect back and it's like and look,
I know it was Brady was a shot in the
dark in two thousand that you got a six round pack.
But you know, look at how they stack those drafts.
I mean, you get a Hall of Famer and Richard Seymour,
you get a ten year plus left tackle in Matt Light.

(01:25:12):
The next year you get Dion Branch who had something
like twenty two catches and two Super Bowls. You know,
was he a Number one? I don't know, but he
sort of delivered when the time was on. David Gibbons.
You know another guy who was productive, Ty Warren. I mean,
you look at the draft classes two thousand, two thousand
and one, two thousand and two, two thousand, that little chunk.

Speaker 3 (01:25:29):
Like this year was watching in will Fork.

Speaker 6 (01:25:31):
Each year they're at least stacking one or two players
who are going to be long term, solid contributors at
positions of real need. And that's as much part of
that sustained excellence that they had as I want to say,
as much as anything, but they played a part in it.
You know, you're getting guys every year at important positions
on rookie contracts and now you're not that anymore. Now

(01:25:52):
you're chasing it in free agency. You're trying to somehow
they got to get back onto that track.

Speaker 2 (01:25:56):
And just as big. You know, when you have a
really good team and your six, you know, sustaining success
the way that those teams were. Now you're drafting guys,
you know, in the middle to late rounds like Jarvis
Green and Dan Copen and they become important players because
you're good. You know, you get a center in the
fifth round who just sort of steps in and plays,

(01:26:17):
but you stink, it's not really the same, do you
know what I mean? But Dan Copen is a really
valuable player as a fifth round pick in the middle
of a dynasty, you know what I mean. Like, and
that's they got a lot of good play like that
as well, not just the hits.

Speaker 6 (01:26:32):
On the top. Yeah, I mean he was a hit
at the top of sin you know with fork right,
Like I mean, just you know, you lose Ted Washington
and now you've got another young nose tackle that uh,
you know was so critical to that defense and you
know then carried them all the way through till those
lean years until they got back to the championship in
twenty four two.

Speaker 3 (01:26:51):
Bridgetone is the official tire of the New Patriots, and
they're proud to partner with Sullivan Tire New England's headquarters
for quality bridgetone tires. Visit sullivantire dot com to find
a location near you. Back to the phones, eight five
to five, pass five hundred the number. Kendall from North
Carolina is next on the Patriots pregame show fueled by Duncan.
Good afternoon, Kendall, you're next.

Speaker 8 (01:27:10):
Good take it out you all right? All right? My
question for all of you, I guess you could start
with I guess Paul, Paul Pop Dougley. Do y'all think
he I got two?

Speaker 17 (01:27:23):
Quick?

Speaker 8 (01:27:24):
Pop Dugley's you think he's been the think he is
like a number three receiver, maybe even like a four.
I don't think even. I think he's probably a three
really for us. And my second question is if if
we keep that number two spot, if y'all had to
pick the day. Now, I know pre Ac and all
the other stuff leading to the drafts going way into it,
but if you had to pick today with the number

(01:27:45):
two people, who would y'all take? And I take it off,
appreciate it. I'll do a good job.

Speaker 3 (01:27:48):
Good questions, Kennill, Thank you very much. Who wants to
tackle Pop first?

Speaker 6 (01:27:53):
I'd say, yeah, he's kind of a four. I mean,
I you know, I just I think he's a solid
though fair, complimented, complimentary slot player. I'm passing downs and
he's got some quickness to him. But he can't be
the guy drive in, drive out, driving the train, high volume,
a lot of cats. I mean, he just doesn't have
the frame to hold up to that stuff. So I
mean that just goes back to I think me and
Paul are lockstep that you need two receivers a top

(01:28:16):
the depth chart this offseason and then and then we
can talk about Booty. He's a good all right, Booty
is your number three and rotates in and you know,
Pop Douglas is your four like that that that's.

Speaker 2 (01:28:27):
Mconk yeah, oh lad, McConkey is much more talented. But
Pop Douglas, I think is he's a good player if
you have a good offense, and I think he look
a lot better. I think you could use him in
individual spots and he could he could give you some value.
And I always bring up the different guys Mike that
are you know, sort of not gadget guys, but guys

(01:28:48):
that you know, oh yeah, we have him too, like
Taevon Austin. You know, or two to two at well
with the Rams right now. You know, I think that
he can be a valuable player if you had a
good team. I think you're asking him to do too much.
And I don't want to get caught up in the
numbers like he's a one or two or three what
I know that drives you crazy times.

Speaker 6 (01:29:08):
That's why I jumped into it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:09):
But I do think that you need you need guys
that are at the top of the pecking water, like
to your point in oh four like like like that
and that. First of all, it was a much different error.
They ran the ball right. They had a sixteen hundred
yard rusher in that on on the old fourteen. But
Troy Brown was the number one guy, right, and everybody
fell in place because Troy Brown was the guy that
you know, Brady leaned on the most, you know, one

(01:29:32):
hundred catches I think in one or whatever it was,
that was the guy. Not a traditional number one receiver,
but they were able to get by because you have Brady.

Speaker 3 (01:29:40):
So I'll give you another one in that era, Jarvis Green.
Mike already mentioned him a second ago on a team
with Richard Seymour, uh Ty, Warren, Vince Wolfork. Jarvis Green's
a rotational player. The problem today is you're playing guys
like Jarvis Green. And Jarvis Green is a good player.

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
So don't get me wrong, Dietrich Wise is probably a
better player than Jarvis Green. Jarvis Green made way more
plays than Dietrich Wise, right, But my point is, like
Green was a rotational player. There's too many guys on
this team who should be rotational players. But because the
rosters the way it is, are playing way too many STAPs.

Speaker 6 (01:30:17):
Yeah, let me jump in on that. Because tie it
all together, Richard Seymour gets traded in nine, Jarvis Green
suddenly becomes the starter right defensive end. We talked about
what happened in the opening of that Baltimore game. In
the nine playoff, they ran right by Jarvis Green, who,
you know, some to Dietrich Wise was kind of that
rush guy that would come in. You know, he's not
the base defensive end in your three. And now you know,

(01:30:38):
and it's similar to what's you know happen here a
little bit that you're asking guys to do a little
bit more than maybe they should be doing. And you know,
to Paul's point about Pop Douglass, you start adding some
other talent, you get that Seymour back in the mix.
All of a sudden, Jarvis Green has elevated his game,
and he's doing great in a limited role when he's
not being asked to be the guy. Could be the
same thing for Pop Douglas.

Speaker 3 (01:30:56):
Right, we didn't answer, Uh, the gentleman's question about who
would you take it to?

Speaker 2 (01:31:01):
Probably Travis Center, but I have no idea that probably
probably Travis Hunder or Abdual Carter rid Right now, I
take the edge cush on him.

Speaker 6 (01:31:07):
I take the edge just because I think he's uh,
you know, he's he's raw, He's gonna need some time.

Speaker 2 (01:31:11):
But a lot of people think he's the same kind
of player that you're talking about, situational guy.

Speaker 3 (01:31:15):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:31:16):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:31:16):
Kendall and Vermont is up next on the Patriots pregame
Social fueled by Duncan Good Afternoon.

Speaker 6 (01:31:20):
Kendall's two kends in a row going on double Kendall questions.

Speaker 19 (01:31:27):
I have a question about white situation. So if he
refining or leaving, Uh, he's clearly disgrunkled. Here recently spotted
rock in the Bill Belichick NFL films. Could he swiss leads?

Speaker 5 (01:31:40):
Uh?

Speaker 19 (01:31:41):
It's weird we cut players in our off season, primarily
the quarterback room to essentially like out with the old,
in with the new, did we miss players?

Speaker 5 (01:31:52):
Like?

Speaker 19 (01:31:52):
Is that something to look into again? And Uh? Also,
I don't even think he on wipes that good. He's
complaining about things changing, improving the run game, improving in
the run game. For himself, from what I've seen, he's
not existed in the run defense. He shows a few
flashes and path rushing and our defense when our defense

(01:32:12):
passed him with containing his numbers or shots. Uh, what
kind of role is best for him personally?

Speaker 2 (01:32:19):
Yeah, yeah, I would disagree with you. I think they
brought all of the previous regime back. I mean, they
get rid of the quarterback, but everybody else came back.
I mean, we just went over a lot of them,
the re signings of the players that who I mean,
who would they allow to leave mac Wilson pretty much.

(01:32:39):
And that's why I said the quarter other than the quarterback,
which was obvious research. You drafted. You drafted a quarterback
with a third overall pick. Obviously you were gonna that
wasn't because out with the old that was get better
Like everybody else resigned. I think they did way too
much of that, To be honest with you. You're watching Keon
Whites under contract for two more years.

Speaker 3 (01:32:59):
Pregame war ups are going on Patriots in their snappy
home blues. We got a little uniform vote on what
we look like is the dirty grazers It the.

Speaker 6 (01:33:08):
Whites, the dirty gray dirt.

Speaker 3 (01:33:11):
Right. That means the chargers will go with the whites
maybe and the light blue or the yellow. What do
you think we got today out.

Speaker 6 (01:33:17):
Of the charger?

Speaker 3 (01:33:18):
Seen anything yet?

Speaker 6 (01:33:19):
No, I haven't seen anything. I know they're not wearing
the powder blues.

Speaker 2 (01:33:23):
I will say that those pants don't look as dirty
with the blue.

Speaker 3 (01:33:27):
They don't. They looks like white.

Speaker 2 (01:33:29):
With white, they look dirty. Yes, with the blue, it
just looks like it doesn't match.

Speaker 6 (01:33:34):
It's interesting to me, though, I mean they've I think
they've worn these great bottoms with the blue tops more
than they've won.

Speaker 2 (01:33:39):
We haven't won the blue plants for a long time.

Speaker 6 (01:33:41):
Oh year, So maybe the them be getting phased out.

Speaker 3 (01:33:43):
Perhaps? All right, Matt, let's why don't we hit the
over under poleae sir.

Speaker 1 (01:33:50):
It's time for this week's edition of over Unders.

Speaker 3 (01:33:54):
The pencil is out Paul's fear ferociously writing down. Paul,
why don't we go over the stats?

Speaker 2 (01:34:01):
Uh, let's see here. I went four and two last week,
Mike went three and three, No socks one and five.
Season standings. I am fifty nine thirty one and Mike
and No Socks fifty and forty.

Speaker 3 (01:34:16):
I think I had to text my responses back to
Matt Morrell, and I think he got them all wrong.
I think that's probably the reason why. That's that's the
reason for my one.

Speaker 6 (01:34:26):
And about that, are you sure about that?

Speaker 3 (01:34:28):
I'm sticking to it. How about that? Out of the shoot,
we start with Drake May passing yards at two nineteen
and a hey to nineteen and a half, Paul.

Speaker 2 (01:34:38):
I'll take the over on that.

Speaker 6 (01:34:40):
Yeah, I'm gonna go over just because he's not even
wearing sleeves today, so he looks ready. Look at him
right there, he looks very fire. The ball more than
two hundred and nineteen point five.

Speaker 3 (01:34:47):
Yards three for three on the over for Drake May.
And then we go to the other quarterback. That's Justin
Herbert passing yards two thirty two point five for Justin Herbert.

Speaker 6 (01:34:58):
Mike, Yeah, I just I wonder if he's gonna have
to throw this much if the Chargers get that run
game going. I don't think he really will have to.
I'm gonna say they do get the run game going,
Herbert just has to be efficient and has a low
passing outward. So I'm gonna say under on.

Speaker 2 (01:35:12):
That for I'm gonna say under also, And as a
just a quick aside, we see Drake May taking snaps
from colest Stranger.

Speaker 3 (01:35:19):
I was gonna bring that up. Good job, Paul, and
we're three for three on the justin Herbert under never
by the way, just a little nerdy point here, kind
of like to handheld camera that we get a little
nice for the quarterback in center exchange warm ups. Very
nice job, beautiful. Next up, Drake May rushing yards at

(01:35:39):
twenty six point five.

Speaker 2 (01:35:40):
Paul, I'm gonna take the under on that, just a hunch.

Speaker 6 (01:35:46):
I'm gonna take the over just to try to play
off of Paul's hunch to see if I can maybe
make up some ground.

Speaker 3 (01:35:51):
I'm gonna follow mister Dusseau and go over on that.
He did that in one run a couple of weeks ago,
total punts.

Speaker 2 (01:35:58):
Eight and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:35:59):
Who was wishing for.

Speaker 6 (01:36:00):
A shootout that as many punts. I was wishing for
a shootout, but I don't think im what's realistic doesn't
look like there's rain right now is high twenties. The
low twenties, I feel like is realistic. I'm gonna go
under on that one.

Speaker 3 (01:36:13):
If it's my turn, it is your turn, and you're
gonna go under, I will follow you on the under.

Speaker 6 (01:36:17):
I think it's just a lot of running, not a
lot of you know, long position.

Speaker 2 (01:36:20):
All right, I'll take the under.

Speaker 3 (01:36:22):
Also three for three on the total punts. JK Rowling,
I mean JK. Dobson or Dobbins. I'll get it right
one of the times. Uh, he's the primary back for
the Chargers. You'll runners at fifty five and a half?

Speaker 6 (01:36:38):
Is that for the first half, Because I'm gonna I'm
gonna hammer. I'm gonna hammer the over I'm gonna hammer
the over on that one.

Speaker 3 (01:36:45):
What worries you? He's not? Okay, Gus buses out though, Yeah, yeah,
I'm gonna guess you guys are right. I would hammer
the over all, right, hammer.

Speaker 2 (01:36:55):
The over all right, you guys are hammering hammering.

Speaker 6 (01:36:57):
Yeah, that wasn't hammering it yet.

Speaker 3 (01:36:58):
That was not hammering you.

Speaker 7 (01:36:59):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:36:59):
And last but not least is a total score forty
two and a hey, forty two and a hey. On
this one, Mike's looking for a shootout or wanting a shootout?
Do you get what you want?

Speaker 10 (01:37:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:37:12):
That's uh, that seems a little tiny, tiny, tiny bit
low to me. I'm gonna go over. I'm gonna go
over on that one. Be optimistic here.

Speaker 2 (01:37:19):
I am taking the under. I don't think these are
the most high powered teams.

Speaker 3 (01:37:23):
I'll uh, I'll go with Paul and that I will
go under as well. Back to the phone lines at
eight five five, five hundred. Uh, let's go to Deshaun
and Virginia. You are next on the Patriots pregame show
Social fueled by Duncan Good Afternoon.

Speaker 9 (01:37:38):
DeShawn Good, afternoon, guys.

Speaker 3 (01:37:41):
How you guys doing fantastic yourself?

Speaker 6 (01:37:43):
Fine?

Speaker 7 (01:37:44):
Good? Good.

Speaker 9 (01:37:45):
I wanted to piggyback off the caller before name wrong,
like say, he's basically spot on, because remember the time
when I was talking about uh that I think the
reason why there's a lot of I think it's a
lot more bad teams and have ever seen before whatever see,
But I wanted to bress up on that see what
I see from a lot of teams right now. Like
I say, you know, a lot of teams to be
able to draft well. When you talk about the Cowboys
and Rais or whatever, a lot of these teams that
have had talent or whatever, but the coaching and on

(01:38:08):
from the from the head people that called the shot
on to the coach or on to the quarterback has been
de fine for a lot of these teams. The foundation
has been nice, but from the from the top on
has not been great. But now when I look at
the patient situation, I look at as as being in
a double wa double whammy situation because not all the
coach is gonna be bad, but I'm worried about who's
got to be stuck with the grocery as well as

(01:38:30):
they're gonna do a good job at it. So that
that's the biggest problem what I see with uh, you know,
with us right now, you know versus other teams, the
other teams has been being able to draft well, like
Tampa for example. I mean, Tempe's always been a team
that I've been looking at for years. They have great talent,
but they've always had a guy thy touchdowns and the
head on has a big break, but they've been able
to draft well. But I see true problems second hands

(01:38:53):
down the strap. Yeah, that's all I have to say.

Speaker 3 (01:38:56):
Thank you to Shun.

Speaker 6 (01:38:57):
I mean, I just I share the same concerns as
to Sean. You know, and they have you know, everyone
will say we got all right, they got some money
to spend this year, they're gonna, you know, make some
additions in free agency. They should be very active. That
they have ten draft picks, one of which will will
hopefully be in the top ten. But how can I
have confidence right now that they're gonna nail it, that
they're gonna nail that. Boy, you know, it's just it's

(01:39:18):
it's hard to say. You're gonna just have to wait
and see and cross your fingers that they do it.

Speaker 3 (01:39:22):
I don't know why you just said something there that
perked me up a little bit, And I get what
you're saying. How do you have confidence that they're gonna
nail it after one whack? Do you not have confidence?
I mean, the streets littered with teams that have quote
unquote blown drafts, okay from very respected organizations, evaluators, et cetera.

(01:39:44):
Does one draft make or break a player evaluation room.
And I think that you know, as I hear people
talk about, well, it's not fear. You know, Gerarde only
had one year. Isn't the same true with the personnel department?

Speaker 2 (01:39:57):
Yeah? Not to me. They've been around. I mean a
lot of these guys have been here for five years
of bad drafts.

Speaker 6 (01:40:01):
Right, I mean that's and like I think, you know,
on a certain level, I don't know what level, but
you're right, You're right that you know, Elliott, Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:40:09):
These are the guys a lot of identifying the players.
These are the guys that are put in their big
you know, what's on the table and asking if you
want to draft fast players. You got to draft fast
players if you want, if you want tough guys like
these are the guys that are you know, we're getting
to hear from after drafts. These are the guys that
are evaluating the talent in the draft. Sorry, like they
haven't been good enough.

Speaker 6 (01:40:29):
And it's just and it's jarring how bad that this
rookie class has been. I mean, other than Drake. I mean,
you feel great about Drake, but after that, I mean,
to you know, I wouldn't in a million years have
thought I don't remember when to kill Harry caught his
first year. I'm guessing it's more than twelve passes. I'm
getting he touched the bone.

Speaker 2 (01:40:42):
But it's a good question.

Speaker 6 (01:40:44):
In any world, I never saw that this kind of
you know, production from these guys Leyden Robinson, maybe you know,
maybe you have a little suit men are and and
like I said, at a certain point, you might just
have to pencil him in at left guard next year
and you know, hope he continues to develop. But uh,
like I'm a little shook. That's just I mean, it's
a and it's a me problem because it's how many

(01:41:04):
have go ahead, you're laughing, twelve exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:41:08):
Twelve one oh five in two touchdowns?

Speaker 6 (01:41:11):
Right, Oh my god, it's just like, Paul.

Speaker 3 (01:41:15):
Can you help me out there, if you would? On
the lower third. They are the fifteen Hall of Fame finalists. Yes, yes,
so did the kicker make it?

Speaker 6 (01:41:22):
The kicker made it? No Rod hot Rod, no hot Rod, no.

Speaker 2 (01:41:25):
No Harrison, no will Fork. Okay, I don't know if
they were even they already made it to the past.

Speaker 6 (01:41:30):
They were they were to the next level. Will Fork
fell off.

Speaker 3 (01:41:33):
So Vinitaria is a finalist.

Speaker 2 (01:41:37):
Uh and then guys with sort of peripheral you know,
touching of the Patriots, Fred Taylor, Fred Taylor, toyam yes,
a Hall of Famer.

Speaker 3 (01:41:50):
Okay, John and Los Angeles is next on the Patriots
pre game Social Fuel by Duncan. Good afternoon, John, and
good morning in your case, because you're in Los Angeles
and I'm not.

Speaker 20 (01:41:59):
So I'm in New York. I just started a long
time ago, John in l A.

Speaker 3 (01:42:02):
And I moved very good.

Speaker 8 (01:42:03):
Thank you for so uh.

Speaker 20 (01:42:06):
I first wanted to say I agree with everything you
guys have been talking about in terms of how frustrating
it is with the drafting, but I also have to
say I'm so freaking psyched about uh Drake May and
I love watching him play and develop. So I feel
like I just want to chime in with with a
positive there. I mean, I know you all agree, but
I just think he's a great kid. I love watching

(01:42:27):
him play football. I did have one comment about one
his receivers. I love the attitude and the energy from
Kendrick Warren, but I don't understand he's just not a
hard worker. I mean, is that their rumblings.

Speaker 9 (01:42:39):
Of that because he's always talking about like.

Speaker 20 (01:42:41):
Oh, he's got to buckle down and he didn't run
the right route.

Speaker 3 (01:42:44):
And yeah, I kind of think, well, I think maybe
we're harshing words here. I think he's a very hard worker.
I think he works his tail off. I was actually
sorry Peter King voice here, Well, was it an off
season workout with him at one point in time. He's
a very hard working kid. I think where the problem
is is maybe he's not the most buttoned up kid,
and maybe it's attention to details and a lack of

(01:43:05):
focus potentially situationally that gets in the way with him.

Speaker 6 (01:43:08):
Yeah, brain farts, you know, and that's I think popped
up with some of the you know, critical moments. Yeah,
that's I mean, I think, thank you John having it
having him to you know. It's just it's hard because
these guys prorect project good energy, but it starts to
get annoying when they lose and you're like, stop being
so happy all the time.

Speaker 3 (01:43:24):
Although it's it's the energy, it's great, where's the production's
got to follow.

Speaker 2 (01:43:28):
The I think I think it affects the way people
report about these guys because he's great and I really
enjoy talking to Kendrick points. I don't pretend to have
such a personable Yeah, I don't pretend to have like
a personal one on one relationship with him, but in
my dealings with him, he's terrific to talk to. He's
he's a lot of fun. Yeah, that's great.

Speaker 3 (01:43:46):
How much places did you have this one?

Speaker 2 (01:43:48):
He's the poster child for what Mike's talking about. You know,
I almost third and ten and I broke that off
at eight yards. That's my bad. Yeah, Like, well, I
know that was supposed to run this route, but I
ended up in the same spot where the ball was
and I drew coverage. That's my bad. He's the poster
child for that. But no one, no one ever like
criticizes him because he's a great guy, right, and there's
great energy.

Speaker 3 (01:44:08):
I'm not suggesting that this is going to be the
case with this player. I'm just saying this has been
a topic that we talked about earlier in the show. Okay,
the administration and whoever's a part of the administration are
going to have decisions to make in the upcoming months,
and a case could be made from a blanket statement, Well,
we went three and fourteen with this guy. How much

(01:44:29):
worse can it be if he's not on the team,
you know. I mean, well that.

Speaker 2 (01:44:33):
Was kind of my point about like who do you
have that?

Speaker 6 (01:44:36):
And that's the points of the forty three guys is
that you know, you have to bring people in to
make these guys compete. And you know, maybe it is
like a T. Higgins comes in and there's now an
alpha dog and it's more than just having a number one.
It's about re establishing them or the room and Drake's
throwing it to T. Higgins over and over and over
that see them right?

Speaker 2 (01:44:57):
Oh very good.

Speaker 6 (01:44:58):
But you know that now it's like everybody else, there's
no more conversation about like get on their level. Yeah,
you know that's what has to happen.

Speaker 3 (01:45:05):
Very fair, A little Sunday six pack time, please, Matt.

Speaker 6 (01:45:09):
This is the Sunday six pack, So kick back and
listen up position. I'm getting to getting the pits back.

Speaker 9 (01:45:14):
You better bring a big stack, get it mixed jack
to win it.

Speaker 6 (01:45:17):
Yet, this is the Sunday sixth.

Speaker 3 (01:45:19):
Bad Paul pencil Paul, it looks like there was a
unbelievable performance last week to vault someone into contention.

Speaker 2 (01:45:28):
There was there was also that had been Paul that
was youhll socks. No, socks went five and one to
pull into a tie with with me, I went four
and two.

Speaker 3 (01:45:38):
Why does it say two and four?

Speaker 2 (01:45:40):
Yeah, because I went four and two. Evidently I couldn't
get fixed on the on the on the redo, whoa fixed?
No not mine sheet hasn't been and Mike was three
and three I believe. So the season's standings don't seem
to make a lot of sense. I should be forty six,

(01:46:04):
forty four and two. Uh no socks, No, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:46:10):
I feel like I'm gonna get.

Speaker 2 (01:46:11):
I'm just gonna say forty four, forty four and two
for me for no socks, forty three, forty five and
two real battle Royale here two and two.

Speaker 3 (01:46:18):
I don't know in our week seventeen games, let's kick
things off.

Speaker 2 (01:46:22):
Uh maybe maybe someone's paying attention.

Speaker 3 (01:46:25):
Is today the only Saturday game we're doing, mister Moreau,
we are, I think, and we'll save that.

Speaker 2 (01:46:29):
Wait a minute, that's a matter.

Speaker 6 (01:46:34):
That's a better guy.

Speaker 3 (01:46:35):
So on my page here, I have a little problem here.

Speaker 2 (01:46:38):
Oh yeah, the records are wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:46:39):
Sorry.

Speaker 2 (01:46:40):
Oh that's that's been updated. It is okay, that's on
that one, Matt.

Speaker 3 (01:46:43):
Sorry, much more better. Okay, here we go. One Saturday
game it is, and we'll get to that at the end.
Tomorrow one pm. Sneaky important game for Paul's Buffalo Bills,
who are a ten point favorite at home against the
New York Football Jets. The four to eleven Jets against
the twelve and three Bills. Kick us off, please, Paul, Yeah,

(01:47:07):
I'll take Buffalo. They got to win one of the
last two. I don't know if they'll dump this one
or the next one, but they only need one win
against the Jets or the Patriots to clinch the second seed.
I say they get it done in this one. You're
gonna lay that heavy number. Yeah, okay, Michael.

Speaker 6 (01:47:21):
Yeah, I'm gonna lay the heavy number two. But I
will say I'm I'm rooting for the Jets. The Jets
somehow pull off a miraculous If you want a better game,
the Bills come next weekend, they gotta win it. Like,
I think that's much better.

Speaker 3 (01:47:30):
Okay, Just to be dare to be different. I will
take the points, although I like the Bills to win
the game. Also at one o'clock, the seven and eight
Mike McCarthy led Dallas. Mike McCarthy Dallas Cowboys take on
the suddenly questionable Philadelphia Eagles without Jalen Hurts, and the
Eagles are seven and a half point favorites with Wilson

(01:47:51):
Pickett at quarterback. Michael, who's your pick?

Speaker 6 (01:47:56):
Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna take Philly still. I just
think think I'm gonna play for and they'll be fired
up try to do it without Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 2 (01:48:04):
Yeah, I think that they will win this game easily,
but I am gonna take the seven and a half
points with the back door cover. I think Dallas has
been frisky. I think they won something like five out
of six or four out of five. They have been frisky,
so I think that they'll continue to play, play hard.
But I'll take the points.

Speaker 3 (01:48:19):
I'll Philly will, I'll concur with young Perillo and take
the points in that game with an Eagle win. At
four pm tomorrow and Patriots fans, no excuses for you
to not sit in your chair and enjoy a lot
of football tomorrow. The sort of still in the playoff
hunt seven and eight Miami Dolphins are at Cleveland to
take on the three and twelve Browns, where the Dolphins

(01:48:39):
are four and a half point.

Speaker 2 (01:48:40):
Favorites, Paul, I'm gonna take Miami in that one. Cleveland
just no no offense to speak of.

Speaker 6 (01:48:49):
Yeah, Michael Hard I am tempted by Miami playing outside
here north in I guess late this summer, but I
will take Miami.

Speaker 3 (01:48:57):
Forty degree whether it's not cold enough for Miami to
complete the collapse. I will take the Dolphins. Giving the
four and a half. The other four o'clock game, I
guess it's this is the game of the day. Huh yeah,
oh yeah. The Minnesota Vikings, who are one and a
half point favorites at thirteen and two, hosts the eleven
and four Green Bay Packers.

Speaker 2 (01:49:15):
Good game, Paul, I will take the Vikings. Green Bay
generally does not win when they play teams that are good,
so I will take the Vikings.

Speaker 3 (01:49:24):
Is that a trend that I should be following.

Speaker 2 (01:49:26):
They lost to Minnesota, they lost to Philadelphia, they lost
to Detroit. I think they'll lose to Minnesota again. They
ast to destroy twice. I think that that continues.

Speaker 6 (01:49:35):
Okay, Michael, I'm gonna take green Bay. All things must end.
I think they're playing really good right now.

Speaker 3 (01:49:41):
Yeah, I think I'm gonna get on the Green Bay
Bean wagon for this one as well, and try to buck.

Speaker 2 (01:49:45):
Paul's trent, which means I'll lose Monday Night every time.
I'll all buy myself I.

Speaker 3 (01:49:50):
Lose Monday Night football has the potentially playoff bound Washington Commanders,
who could take on the Eagles. That would be an
interesting first round playoff game. The Commanders are three and
a half point favorite against a team desperate to try
to get into the playoffs, and that's the division leading
Atlanta Falcons, who are eight and seven. Michael, who do
you like in that game?

Speaker 6 (01:50:10):
Yeah, I'm gonna go with the Commanders at home, but
I know, you know, Atlanta fighting for their lives here.
I just don't know if Pennicks can get it done
on the road.

Speaker 10 (01:50:18):
Tea.

Speaker 2 (01:50:19):
I'll take Washington. Also really really impressed with the Commanders
season in general.

Speaker 3 (01:50:26):
I will too. A couple of schizophrenic teams here though,
and so in the under the umbrella of to be
different and try to make some hey where you can
and different yourself, I'll take the Flackens in this game
against the Commanders, which leads us to the only game
on Matt Morrell's board from today, where the three and
twelve New England Patriots are getting six whole points against

(01:50:47):
the LA Clippers. The Clippers can clinch a playoff spot
today with a win. Here at you, let's stad him
against the Patriots deuce.

Speaker 6 (01:50:55):
Yeah, I'm gonna take I don't think the Patriots have
got it. I wish I could say I think they
keep it close, but I think the Chargers just a
little bit need this one. Usually that's the team that's
gonna win. I'm gonna take the Chargers twenty seven to twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:51:08):
Do we have to put a number on this.

Speaker 2 (01:51:10):
Yeah, I'm with Mike. I'm gonna take the Chargers. Unfortunately,
the pick that I've made all year, suddenly this line
has moved from four and a half to six. Evidently
today I had twenty three seventeen of Just for the
sake of an argument, I'll say twenty three sixteen and
give the Chargers the.

Speaker 3 (01:51:28):
Cover competitive in a game performance by the Patriots. I'll
pick for the purpose of this exercise, the Chargers to
win and cover and make the playoffs in the postseason.
First year for Jim Harbaugh. We're watching pregame warmups here
as Drake May throwing there as pregame warmups are dialing

(01:51:53):
back a little bit. It'd be nice to see Mike.
I think at the top of the show you mentioned
that you'd like to see Drake go off. I don't
know if you said it as eloquently as I just
said it right there, but you'd like to see some
Drake magic today. Sure be nice for the hometown fans,
wouldn't it?

Speaker 6 (01:52:08):
Echoing what you know what John from LA said, Uh,
just want to see Drake continue to fire away, let
them be aggressive with him, and just limit the turnovers.
I think that's the biggest thing for me. You can
get out of a game which just like he played
pretty well, but he didn't turn the ball over. I
think that's a win.

Speaker 2 (01:52:23):
I'm with Mike, like he hasn't really done that. It
hasn't really gone off like he's he's had good games,
But I I I would like to see him, you know,
throw for three fifty you know something like that, and
you know, three touchdowns with no no blemishes on the
on the ledger. But no, I think he's had a
good rookie year. I think I think we all can

(01:52:44):
agree on that.

Speaker 3 (01:52:44):
All right, I'm gonna jump ahead here a little bit
and jump on a topic of conversation that I think,
while it might not dominate next week's discussion, I think
will be a point of discussion next week. Do they
sit drink me next week against the Buffalo?

Speaker 6 (01:53:02):
I don't think so. I mean I I think yeah.
I mean it's you need to play Joe Milton. But
I'm a little bit tempted just if the if the
Bill's got nothing to play, I would.

Speaker 3 (01:53:09):
If you're gonna be if it's gonna be a JV game,
why don't you go all JV.

Speaker 2 (01:53:12):
Because I think you can get your quarterback valuable experience playing. Okay,
just in general, do you have.

Speaker 3 (01:53:18):
To worry about him getting hurt in a quote unquote
meaningless game. I do think that that topic is coming
up next week. I would say that, or or do
you think I'm crazy?

Speaker 2 (01:53:26):
No, I think we're going to be talking about Joe
Milton because people say that you have to find out
if you have a backup quarterback. Now we have to
find out if we have a backup quarterback. I don't
really understand that.

Speaker 3 (01:53:34):
I don't think that's that's a horrible thing to find
out if you can on I mean any game.

Speaker 6 (01:53:39):
Situation, like does a factor in it all, Just so franchise.

Speaker 2 (01:53:41):
Let's just say for document's sake that Joe Milton plays
and he plays lights out? Does that mean you have
a backup quarterback?

Speaker 3 (01:53:46):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:53:46):
That's looked it up, locked up?

Speaker 2 (01:53:48):
So what so what are we doing?

Speaker 6 (01:53:49):
But is there anything to be said though? For having
Drake may a draw to the fans that are gonna
come out here next Saturday and watch a meaningless game,
and you know, like.

Speaker 3 (01:53:57):
You want to split reps?

Speaker 2 (01:53:58):
Feel like like a do that next Sunday. Don't do that.
I'm sorry, don't do that. Don't do that.

Speaker 3 (01:54:04):
Do you split reps and give me your half?

Speaker 13 (01:54:06):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:54:07):
Okay, no I wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:54:09):
I mean, I know there, Matt, you are in the majority.
A lot of people are clamoring to see Joe Milton
because you have to find out if you have a
backup quarterback. I'm not clamoring a lot of people are
wondering about that. I am not, Like, I don't Drake
Bay gets hurt?

Speaker 6 (01:54:24):
What do you say to Drake?

Speaker 3 (01:54:25):
Like?

Speaker 6 (01:54:25):
Why what do you tell him? Why are we sitting here.

Speaker 2 (01:54:27):
Like you're all set? You don't you showed everything? Have
like we just got finished saying he hasn't really done
what Mike is looking for it yet. Keen starts, but like.

Speaker 3 (01:54:36):
What if he blows doors off today and has that
kind of game that Mike Smith, can you.

Speaker 2 (01:54:39):
Do it again?

Speaker 3 (01:54:40):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:54:41):
Like he's played ten games. Yeah, no, I doesn't need
the experience.

Speaker 3 (01:54:45):
I think it's an interesting discussion. I don't want to
be the fence. Like I said, you can see both sides.

Speaker 2 (01:54:50):
You are in the majority. A lot of people agree
with you that that's an interesting discussion. I do not.
I don't have any interest whatsoever in finding out if
I have backups. I need to find out if I
have starters. Okay, and I don't. And I'm sorry, I'm
not convinced after ten games that I have the guy
like he's my starting quarterback going forward. I need him
to get as much experience as possible. I don't you know,

(01:55:11):
I'll worry about the backups later. If you get to
to OTA's next year and you're like, it looks like
he's really progressed much. You gotta go out and get
a veteran backup.

Speaker 3 (01:55:22):
Don't you think they're gonna get like every other team,
Don't you think they're gonna get a veteran backup anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:55:25):
I mean ideally, no, Like I get the fans thing
like that's an advantage to not have to go out
and spend you know, five six million on a on
a veteran backup quarterback. If Joe Milton can be the guy.
But if they get to you know what, you know
what I'm saying, like you like, they'll have him in
the off season program. He'll be here in April and

(01:55:46):
when they get started and they'll do all their film
study and they'll be in the rooms and they'll get
out and do on field work. If he can't do it,
they'll know, and you go out and get a backup quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:55:56):
It's not the same, But I thought it was interesting.
I come from the same school. So who's a kid
that preceded Milton to Tennessee Hooker. Yeah, so Detrochi's went
out and got a veteran guy because they're a little
bit they're a little bit worried as to what happens
if golf goes down. I don't know. I don't think
they're doing it just to be nice to Teddy Bridgewater, do.

Speaker 2 (01:56:14):
You, Yeah, I mean I think it's probably more because
Hendon Hooker hasn't played much football.

Speaker 6 (01:56:19):
I like that kid.

Speaker 2 (01:56:21):
He tore his a cl right, But yeah, I mean
I do think it's it's similar, And I think that's
what you do if you felt like you didn't have
enough depth that quarterback is you make a signing like that.

Speaker 6 (01:56:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:56:34):
Now, I personally don't feel any better about Teddy Bridgewall
playing than I do Handon Nooker.

Speaker 3 (01:56:39):
The guy who's been with the team the entire year,
you'd like to think.

Speaker 2 (01:56:41):
Plus, I just think Teddy Bridgewater's career ended, unfortunately with
that horrific injury that you suffered, right, I don't think
he's ever been the same since.

Speaker 3 (01:56:48):
I don't know, Paul. I think that when there's not
a lot of subjects to discuss, as we look into
the Buffalo game next.

Speaker 2 (01:56:54):
Week, that's going to be one.

Speaker 3 (01:56:56):
I hate to say it, right, Yeah, that is just Matt.

Speaker 2 (01:56:59):
Matt Mat a little bit in front of that one,
see a little bit mad and I Mike, you should
learn from us. We like to give you the narrative
ahead of time. Anybody can tell you what the narrative was.

Speaker 6 (01:57:09):
No, I love I love it, and I tell you
what it's going to be. I also love sometimes when
I randomly stumble upon which you're like.

Speaker 3 (01:57:15):
Like you next week, not you?

Speaker 6 (01:57:18):
You know you're on it this week?

Speaker 3 (01:57:20):
All right, Paul, I'm gonna ask a favor please, with
your hands and keywards, would you pull up the finals
to fifteen finalists please for the Hall of Fame unless
you can remember off the top of your head. I
just saw on the crawl. I saw Eli and I
saw Antonio Gates. You can book those guys. They're going
into Canton this year. Count of both in first ballot?
Does our guy av get in or is he gonna
get stiffed?

Speaker 6 (01:57:40):
I think he's the greatest kicker in NFL.

Speaker 3 (01:57:42):
Hit well, I don't think anybody. I think everybody agrees
on that one, Mike. But somebody gonna sit there and
go the kicker doesn't deserve it.

Speaker 6 (01:57:48):
I mean, if we're being honest, I look at that
group of guys and I would I mean, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:57:52):
In alphabetical order, Eric Allen no, Jared Allen, no, Willie
Anderson no, Jarry Evans no, Antonio Gates, yes, Tory Hold no,
Luke Keigley no, Eli Manning yes, Steve Smith.

Speaker 3 (01:58:05):
I think I need to look at his stats. I
think Steve Smith's a pretty good player.

Speaker 2 (01:58:08):
Terrell Suggs.

Speaker 3 (01:58:09):
I think Suggs is getting.

Speaker 2 (01:58:10):
Fred Taylor, no, Adam Vanna, Terry Yes, Reggie Wayne, Yes,
Darren Woodson no Marshall Yanda.

Speaker 3 (01:58:16):
So Woodson and Harrison are kind of knocking each other
out there, and Woodson gets a nod kind of interesting
there that he gets in and he doesn't. Uh So
Steve Smith versus Reggie Wayne, who goes Reggie Wayne?

Speaker 14 (01:58:27):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:58:29):
I would take all three of those receivers, Steve Smith,
Tory Holds, Reggie Wayne.

Speaker 3 (01:58:33):
They were going in, only six can go in? Right?

Speaker 2 (01:58:35):
I mean, I don't know, I don't know how they
do it, but I think there are all three of
those guys are Hall of famers. I don't care the
order he's telling you.

Speaker 3 (01:58:42):
Maning like Smith, Eric.

Speaker 2 (01:58:43):
Allen to me, never struck me as a Hall of
famer Jared Allen, he did. He struck me as a
Hall of Fame player. Willie Anderson. I don't know enough.
Jarry Evans. I know these guys have a million Pro
Bowls and all pros. Sure, let all the let all
the linemen in. Terrell Suggs absolutely hall of famer. Antonio
Gates no brainer to me. Eli Manning wouldn't be for me.

(01:59:07):
I know he's going in New York. Med will carry
him in. I'm not naive, but this isn't There only
one New.

Speaker 3 (01:59:13):
York guy, doesn't matter. Dyl influenced the room.

Speaker 6 (01:59:18):
They're very loud.

Speaker 2 (01:59:19):
Because everybody loves New York.

Speaker 3 (01:59:22):
Think Av's gonna have an uphill climate. Looks like here.

Speaker 2 (01:59:25):
I think he's in.

Speaker 3 (01:59:26):
I hope you're right. I hope you're right. All right,
So in just a few minutes, the three and twelve
New England Patriots with a chance to spoil today the
Chargers playoff hopes will take on the Los Angeles Chargers.
Jim Harbaugh year one has got the team right on
the cusp of the playoffs, and while the Patriots are
looking to be spoilers, can Drake may play a clean

(01:59:47):
game today? That would be something to look for that
we hope we could talk about in the postgame show
for Mic to show for Paul Parillo. My name is
Matt Smith. We thank everybody behind the glass and the
pregame show. We'll see you after the game to dissect
and analyze the entire thing.

Speaker 10 (02:00:06):
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Be sure to check Patriots dot com for more news
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Speaker 1 (02:00:31):
Patriots Postgame Show join Matt Smith along with Patriots dot
Com Paul Parrillo and Mike dessou as they offer instant
analysis after every Patriots game. We bring you the good,
the bad, and the injured from each game. Plus you'll
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Patriots Postgame Show. Search for Patriots Postgame anywhere you get

(02:00:52):
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