Patriots Beat: Patriots vs Dolphins Preview

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Join 98.5 The Sports Hub's Alex Barth and Pats Pulpit's Brian Hines preview the New England Patriots Week 2 matchup vs the Miami Dolphins on Sunday night football.  This episode of the Patriots Beat Podcast is brought to you by:  This episode of the Podcast is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5  and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Plus, all customers who bet $5 will get $100 OFF NFL SUNDAY TICKET from YouTube and YouTube TV. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more! So, visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won’t wanna miss.   21+ and present in MA. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at fanduel.com/sportsbook. Hope is here. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234. NFL Sunday Ticket Offer ends 9/18/23. No refunds. Terms and embargoes apply. $100 off NFL Sunday Ticket, not YouTube TV. YouTube TV base plan required to watch YouTube TV. Redemption requires a Google account and current form of payment. Commercial Use Excluded. Subscription renews; cancel anytime.  Visit https://Linkedin.com/BEAT to post your first job for free! LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Did you know every week, nearly 40 million job seekers visit LinkedIn.  #Patriots #NFL #NewEnglandPatriots Ever wished you could navigate the betting field with the confidence of a pro? Enter Download the Odds-R App! They're not a sportsbook, but they're the sports betting advisor you've always needed. It's like having a playbook for smarter bets right in your pocket. I've been absolutely loving the experience, and I think you will too. Especially since Pats Interference listeners get a 30-day free trial! Elevate your game day and join the smart betting revolution! Go get it at https://oddsr.com/presspass

Transcript

00:00 All right, everyone, welcome back in to another edition of the Patriots Beat podcast here

00:07 on the CLNS Media Network.

00:09 Unfortunately, it is not a live edition tonight because of some scheduling conflicts, but

00:16 the show must go on.

00:17 So it is Brian Hines, Alex Barth here to break down the Patriots Week 2 game against the

00:23 Miami Dolphins Sunday night football in Foxborough.

00:27 It's throwback week.

00:28 We pat the Patriot week, everyone.

00:31 Very important there.

00:32 But once again, some injuries are kind of, you know, dominating the headlines here because

00:39 if you thought the offensive line couldn't get any worse last week without Cole Strange

00:43 and Mike Unwinu, it is getting worse because David Andrews popped up on the injury report

00:50 this week with a hamstring injury.

00:52 He has been limited, but the two big ones are Trent Brown and Siddy So have been they

00:57 haven't practiced Wednesday or Thursday with concussions.

01:01 And that's like this day and age.

01:04 It's tough to get a concussion and be cleared by the time.

01:08 But by game time Sunday, I think the Patriots had like six or seven guys with concussions

01:12 last year.

01:14 Neither of them played the following Sunday.

01:16 So it looks like they're going to be headed into the week here without Trent Brown, without

01:20 Siddy So.

01:22 And then, you know, the three interior Michael Winu, Cole Strange still limited and Andrews

01:26 popped up there limited again this week.

01:28 Yeah, it could be rough.

01:30 And look, last week I thought, you know, we kind of talked on the show Monday.

01:33 I thought the offensive line did OK going back and looking at the game wasn't as good.

01:38 Yeah, I think what really happened was Bill O'Brien and Mac Jones did a fantastic job

01:42 working around it.

01:43 We used to talk a lot about Tom Brady being his own best pass protector.

01:46 I think that Mac Jones was his own best pass protector in this game, both in terms of getting

01:51 the ball out quickly as well as moving in the pocket.

01:56 And I just thought he handled pressure really well in this game.

01:59 He's going to need to do that again.

02:00 And Bill O'Brien is going to do that again.

02:02 And it'll be a little bit easier against the Eagles defensive front.

02:06 Still really good.

02:07 It's not Philly, but it should be a little bit easier this week.

02:09 Although then again, they're down more linemen.

02:11 So I guess scale it.

02:12 But the way I look at it, you're probably looking at let's assume that none of the outside

02:18 of Andrews, none of the guys on the injury report that can play.

02:21 The guys that didn't play last week won't play the concussion guys.

02:25 They're not going to, it's barely an assumption at this point.

02:29 So that probably leaves you with Calvin Anderson at left tackle.

02:38 Mafia left guard at David Andrews at center.

02:41 James Ferens probably gets called up as a practice squad elevation.

02:45 He's your right guard.

02:47 And then the Darien low at right tackle.

02:50 If he's not ready, you have to elevate Andrew Stuber.

02:53 And either way, it wouldn't surprise me if we see two practice linemen activated from

02:58 the practice squad this week.

03:00 So that's the worst case scenario.

03:02 Andrews, Maffi or sorry, Anderson, Mafi, Andrews, Ferens, low slash Stuber or Wheatley could

03:12 be in that mix.

03:13 I think Wheatley is more of like a six lineman tackle eligible, more of a project player

03:20 between the two of them.

03:21 If I had to go to a guy right now, unless like low hasn't picked up the playbook, I

03:24 would go low in a veterinarian low.

03:27 Now if you get strange or on when back, well, if you get them both back, obviously they

03:32 just plug in both the guard spots.

03:34 If you get one back, I think they do exercise some of that positional flexibility.

03:39 Antonio Mafi gives you, and it's just equal strangers back.

03:43 Mafia is your right guard.

03:44 If on when who's back, Maffi is your left guard.

03:45 If they're both back, obviously he's not playing, but it's, I mean, that's it.

03:50 This was the point when we were in over the summer, Brian, when we were getting called

03:55 to negative for being worried about the offensive line because, well, this isn't, it was going

04:00 to be playing.

04:01 No, that's good.

04:02 We are right.

04:03 I didn't look, I didn't think it would take two weeks, but here we are.

04:08 We are.

04:10 I mean, this is outside of a Anderson.

04:14 This is going to be the offensive line from the breeze.

04:16 It's worse because you don't have Riley reef.

04:18 Yeah, you basically have Anderson in for reef, but a city.

04:23 So, or no, he's out.

04:25 He's hurt.

04:26 Antonio Mafi, Andrew Stuber, James Farrens, Cody, Roosie, maybe these are the guys that

04:31 are going to have to play and you just hold on tight and you hope it's not too bad, but

04:38 this was the issue this summer.

04:39 It wasn't just, Oh, this group isn't good enough to start.

04:41 We knew they weren't good enough to start.

04:42 We knew they weren't going to start.

04:44 It was when the injuries start piling up, can you count on them to fill in?

04:49 And again, this is like to an extreme.

04:51 I didn't think it would be this bad this quick, but this is the NFL guys get hurt, especially

04:55 guys up front and this is where they are at this point.

04:59 So it's going to be really interesting how they put this together.

05:01 But big week for Adrian Clem once again, I mentioned bill O'Brien before, but him, Adrian

05:06 Clem, they got to cook something up this week.

05:08 Yep.

05:09 I think it was like 12, 13 screen passes last week.

05:12 So you could probably see a lot of that again, you know, to help that offensive line from

05:17 O'Brien.

05:18 I'd imagine David Andrews will play through this, right?

05:21 Like he's a tough guy.

05:22 We all know that.

05:23 So you hope he's out there.

05:24 And then if you could get one of Cole strange or Mike and when you back, probably strange

05:29 at this point seems a little bit closer that would really short things up there.

05:33 But yeah, like going from Calvin Anderson, not playing all of the summer, then playing

05:40 having to play the whole game out in week one at right tackle where like he wasn't great,

05:46 but it was one of those were like he just was better than expectations maybe after missing

05:51 all training camp.

05:52 But now you have to bump them over to left tackle and it's kind of a mess.

05:56 So I'd expect for rents to be elevated.

06:00 I was wishing you could go pull a chase and Hines, but he's on Miami's practice squad.

06:04 So you can't do that.

06:06 Maybe the savior Bill Murray, but he doesn't look like they're not making an additional

06:10 move here.

06:11 So this is they're kind of rolling with what they got at this point.

06:14 Yeah, they're not.

06:15 And I know they worked out Leo Collins earlier this week and look, there was a report they

06:19 were doing their due diligence.

06:20 I think that's what that probably is.

06:23 He's coming off a torn ACL and MCL like he's not a guy that's going to step in and help.

06:27 Absolutely not.

06:28 I mean, due diligence is only due diligence until it's forced to be more than that.

06:32 You're doing due diligence for what for this kind of situation.

06:35 So maybe they sign him could would probably be more for the future.

06:39 But yeah, for this week, this is the group.

06:41 You're not adding somebody Thursday night to start Sunday.

06:44 That's just not how the NFL works.

06:46 Yep.

06:47 And yeah, Collins, he's been on pop like all summer.

06:50 So you wouldn't expect him to even if they did sign him to to contribute this week.

06:54 But who is that?

06:56 Oh, yeah, Leo Collins.

06:58 Yeah.

06:59 So that would just be like we still need bodies here for the future.

07:03 So wait a minute and see what that is.

07:05 But yeah, that's the kind of big concern there.

07:08 And like they got to get what are you thinking about like the run game this week?

07:13 Because that was something that the Chargers were able to kind of gash Miami on on the

07:18 ground.

07:19 They ran for over 200 yards on 40 carries, three touchdowns.

07:23 Doesn't look like, you know, that Vic Fangio defense was all that settled in and their

07:28 run assignments here.

07:29 But Patriots didn't get much movement in the run game there against Philly.

07:34 And as you said, it is Philly.

07:36 They're a really good defensive line.

07:37 But do you think that run game can get some signs of life, get some improvement even with

07:42 this offensive line and in the shape that it is?

07:47 I don't know, because it was last week between between the tackles, they average one point

07:52 three or not between the cards, average one point three yards per carry.

07:56 And honestly, that's more where my concern is that with the offensive line right now,

08:00 it's not.

08:02 Can they protect Mac Jones?

08:03 Because we saw last week to an extent he and Bill O'Brien, like he can take care of himself.

08:08 It's the play everybody, you know, that they've drawn a lot of ire for among many late in

08:13 that game was the fourth and three.

08:15 Mac Jones gets pressure, takes a sack.

08:18 Instead of throwing an open Kendrick Bourne.

08:21 Let's talk about the play that set that up.

08:23 It's third and three on those HB dive or whatever.

08:26 But like they go just right up the middle with Zeke Elliott and they get nothing.

08:31 That's the concern.

08:33 Mac Jones will be OK.

08:35 They'll figure out ways to get the ball out of his hands quickly.

08:38 They'll make it work.

08:39 It's when it's third and one third and two.

08:44 You want to have that option in your back pocket to just push forward for that yardage,

08:47 move the ball to Zeke, push forward for that yardage and move on.

08:51 This offensive line right now might not afford them that ability.

08:57 And that to me is where I'm really concerned with the group.

09:00 Yeah, no, no, it's a fair, fair concern because you got to you got to stay on the field against

09:05 Miami, right?

09:06 They're going to they're going to put up some points so we can get into their offense first,

09:10 the Patriots defense in a bit here.

09:13 But as we just kind of mentioned, another Vic Fangio defense, it literally is like Fangio

09:19 this this weekend.

09:20 He's the Dolphins new offensive coordinator, which is a big difference than, you know,

09:24 the Brian Flores and Josh Boyer, who they had previously.

09:30 Right.

09:31 They those two guys, we all know Flores.

09:33 He ran a lot of man to man.

09:34 He was really high blitz rate, Josh Boyer, too.

09:37 And as we saw with Philly, that Fangio defense, it's a lot more zone.

09:42 It's not as much pass rush.

09:43 So where are you kind of looking to take advantage of that defense with Mac through the air through

09:49 the air this week?

09:52 I will.

09:53 I mean, ideally, you do some of the more intermediate stuff.

09:56 I don't know that they're going to have time to do it.

09:57 So I think they're kind of dictated in a quick hitter screen slants, things like that.

10:03 They're also maybe without a true slot receiver with the soul of Juju Smith Schuster thing,

10:08 whatever the hell that is.

10:10 So I think you're just looking at kind of quick hitting outside concepts.

10:14 And that's kind of what this offense has to be at this point.

10:16 It's a pop Douglas week.

10:18 Right.

10:19 Exactly.

10:20 Pop Douglas.

10:21 And he was really good, I thought, against Philly on Sunday.

10:26 And now it's just can they I think the one thing that was kind of missing was getting

10:31 him into space a little bit more and letting him use kind of that wiggle after the catch

10:35 because they had one play where he was lined up.

10:38 They got him on a linebacker, but like Jalen, it was it was either Jalen Carter or Jordan

10:45 Davis just like wrecked the play and it was incomplete.

10:48 But it was one of those where they would have got Pop Douglas in space and let him run after

10:51 the catch.

10:52 So hopefully against a similar style defense, they can get some of those mismatches, get

10:56 Pop Douglas in the slot, get him on a linebacker, let him win on those like option juke routes

11:01 and then feast after the catch.

11:03 But I think we're on the same page after the after the Philly game.

11:08 He's the best option in that role instead of Juju Smith Schuster right now, because

11:13 Juju, there's some reports out there.

11:16 We all knew he was dealing with that knee injury, but he just didn't look like he had

11:19 that that that juice after the catch that we kind of expected when he signed here.

11:25 Yeah, it's really interesting to see what's happening.

11:28 And you look at Jacoby go off.

11:30 I was somebody who said at the time I liked the change from Jacoby Meyers to Juju Smith

11:35 Schuster because of what Juju brought after the catch.

11:39 Now they've since added to Mario Douglas, who is great after the catch.

11:45 They've brought Chris Kendrick Bourne back in the fold, who's great after the catch in

11:50 Juju now can't run after the catch anymore.

11:53 So mis-evaluation at best, you know, it's only one week.

11:58 I'm not going to bury him for just yet, but it is going to be interesting.

12:02 We talked about tomorrow.

12:03 Douglas may be taking Taekwon's job for most of the summer.

12:05 That was sort of how that one was framed.

12:07 I think he's done that.

12:09 I think taking Juju's job is now something that's potentially on the table as well, like

12:13 you alluded to.

12:14 Maybe it's something that's already happened.

12:16 Yeah, I just the more pop Douglas you get on the field, I will I will like that even

12:21 if it comes at not benching, but maybe reducing your your big offseason prize is snap counts.

12:29 But Douglas, he just he's the most dynamic guy and he moves at kind of a different speed

12:34 than Juju and Booty.

12:37 And you know, I think we both love Kendrick Bourne.

12:39 We all know that.

12:40 But getting Douglas out there more would be the best thing, I think, for this offense.

12:44 Look, Kendrick Bourne was really good last week, too.

12:48 Base 11 Parker.

12:51 Douglas Bourne, that's your that's your base three right now.

12:54 That's a good group.

12:55 That's a good, solid group.

12:57 I'm not going to sit here and say they're amazing, but that is a well-rounded group.

13:01 You get a little bit of everything.

13:03 I think those are all guys that the quarterback trusts, which wasn't always the case last

13:08 year when they were in 11 personnel.

13:11 That's got to be the main receiver moving forward is is Parker Douglas Bourne.

13:16 Yep.

13:17 And then when you go to 12, I think you can kind of interchange the three of them, depending

13:22 on what and O'Brien's going to do that.

13:24 Now I'm not saying this talking out of my ass like I was last year.

13:26 Oh, you know, mix and match this guy and that guy like they were ever going to do that.

13:30 Now they might.

13:31 So I think you mix and match three of them.

13:33 But that should be your main three guys.

13:35 This will be the week they throw the ball to Kendrick Bourne last year, except is there

13:40 any I get all these things.

13:41 Is there anything they can do to turn this around?

13:42 Like, there's a lot of things they can do, but will they do them right?

13:46 It's it's to camp.

13:47 I remember we were on your camp last year talking about, well, you know, is it too late?

13:51 No, it's not.

13:52 But they have to recognize it's not working and it just we don't need a rehash.

13:55 Oh, yes.

13:57 So that that back to the injury report, Parker is still limited with that knee injury and

14:03 then booty.

14:05 He popped up with a hamstring injury.

14:06 So they're both limited.

14:07 Are you are you expecting to see them?

14:10 I guess this week I know we were just on Devante Parker watch in the locker and watching him

14:15 just walk to his locker and back.

14:17 But are you expecting to see either of those guys this week?

14:22 I think, well, they need at least one of them or they're probably too thin at wide receiver

14:26 unless they're going to elevate Jalen Rager.

14:27 But I don't think they have the space to do that with how many injuries they have on the

14:31 offensive line.

14:32 Right.

14:33 Although the thing about doing a prerecorded podcast, watch, we're going to get news before

14:35 this airs and we'll get news on this.

14:39 I think we see one of the two.

14:41 It looked like booty finished the game fine.

14:43 Yep.

14:44 That's maybe a manageable one.

14:45 Yeah.

14:46 Parker, I just based on his demeanor this week, he doesn't seem like a guy that's totally

14:51 certain he's going to play.

14:52 It doesn't mean it's ruled out either, but it doesn't seem totally certain he's going

14:55 to play.

14:56 Yep.

14:57 Yeah.

14:58 They need at least one of those guys or it's just, yeah, you're down to three, three there

15:02 and they might be forced to elevate a Jalen Rager type.

15:05 So at that point, I wonder if somebody goes on IR and they sign Jalen Rager, the active

15:11 roster because they're, or they signed James Farrance or they sign one of the linemen.

15:16 Cause you're going to need that elevate, right?

15:19 You're going to need more than if neither guard can play neither guard being stranger

15:27 on when it right.

15:29 You're going to need to offensive line elevations period.

15:31 Like you just are going to.

15:33 And then if you also need a receiver, yeah, I don't know why I said Rager before.

15:36 I think at that point, somebody maybe booty, it becomes like a rookie Foxborough flu situation.

15:44 Somebody goes on IR and Farren's probably gets signed to the 53 man roster and they

15:50 elevate somebody else.

15:51 Yep.

15:52 That can make sense.

15:53 But do you think we'll get more Mike is sicky this week?

15:57 Cause that was someone I think we all kind of figured might factor into a little more

16:01 of the wide receiver room, not only throughout the off season, but then when they're missing,

16:05 you know, ex body and Devante Parker.

16:08 So do you think that's a, we didn't really, you know, we saw a good amount of 12 personnel

16:12 with him and Henry, even, you know, some three tight ends with Pharaoh Brown, but it wasn't

16:17 much of Gisicky like lined up as a receiver.

16:20 Do you think that could be something that's in the cards if the, if they are down some

16:23 bodies there too?

16:25 Maybe I think against Miami, it's a tough matchup because Javon Hargrave is kind of

16:28 just an X factor to counter that, but longterm, it's not a bad thought.

16:33 I just think you don't get the way the dolphins defense is structured.

16:36 I'm not sure you get the advantage of Mike gets to keep playing receiver to the extent

16:40 you'd get it another week.

16:41 Now they have to do it.

16:42 They have to do it, but I don't think it's something they're going to like force themselves

16:46 into this week.

16:47 Yeah.

16:48 And then Ty Montgomery, we'll see what he does.

16:52 I mean, he's not an X, right?

16:53 But right.

16:54 That, that, that's the bigger issue.

16:56 Cause on the, on the depth chart, Parker's X one, he's out Thornton's X two, obviously

17:01 he's out.

17:02 That's really it.

17:03 Like booty kind of was playing out of position last week as the X and now he's out in like

17:07 there's Juju would probably be the next guy.

17:10 He can't play apparently.

17:12 So born could maybe do it, but he's so good in that zero.

17:16 I don't move him.

17:17 And then yeah, do you go into get sick?

17:19 He, do you go to Jalen Rager?

17:21 They're, they're just way down on that depth chart right now.

17:25 Yeah.

17:26 That was a sneaky position of depth.

17:30 I think we all highlighted in the, in the training camp and throughout the preseason,

17:35 right?

17:36 Like they had five hits in here and we were like, Oh, well there's that body type just

17:39 on the practice squad to keep around, but they, they released him off the practice squad.

17:43 So yeah, between that position and the offensive line, it's kind of getting down to the worst

17:49 case scenario there pretty early, pretty early from them.

17:52 So any other kind of offensive thoughts?

17:56 I know that was like most of the injury stuff, but any other game plan stuff or max stuff

18:02 that you're looking forward to or expecting this, this Sunday night?

18:06 I just, I, he's gotta be able to handle pressure again.

18:09 Mack Jones, that's the biggest thing.

18:10 Can he handle the pressure as well as he did last week?

18:12 If he can do that, they're gonna have a chance.

18:15 Yeah.

18:16 Which I mean, he was, I thought he was really good under pressure last week, which was a

18:19 great sign.

18:20 Cause that was the big question entering the season.

18:23 Cause he was very bad against it last year.

18:25 So hopefully he can, he can keep that up because they'll need that, but that's it from the

18:31 offense.

18:32 We can hear from our friends at FanDuel very quickly and then get over to the good stuff

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19:22 All right.

19:27 So before we get into Hill and Waddell and all their excellent speed, explosive playmakers,

19:34 I wanted to hear your thoughts on Tua last week because I thought that was one of his

19:39 best, maybe his best NFL game he's played.

19:43 He looked better out of structure.

19:46 It looked like he maybe had a little more zip on the football than years past.

19:50 And he kind of shredded the Chargers like 466 and three scores, I think it was.

19:57 He said what you want about the Chargers defense, but they gave him some fits last year in that

20:03 matchup.

20:04 So it was interesting to see him kind of shred them right out of the gate here.

20:06 But I thought that was an awesome, awesome game from Tua last week.

20:12 I thought it was too.

20:13 I've said this about Tua for a long time.

20:14 I don't, if you don't watch college football, like obviously people who don't watch college

20:19 football, it's tough to understand.

20:21 You know, you pick up guys as they're coming into the NFL.

20:25 If you don't watch college football, you really don't understand why Tua was drafted where

20:30 he was.

20:31 That's probably one of the most puzzling decisions.

20:32 Uh, everybody talks about his lack of arm strength in that, uh, he had one of the strongest

20:38 arms in the country at Alabama.

20:40 And then he had a very severe hip injury his last year there to the point where he essentially

20:46 had to relearn how to throw a football.

20:48 He had to kind of scrap his mechanics and rebuild them.

20:51 And I think he's spent the last two, three years doing that.

20:55 He looked, that was as not in terms of like scheme or anything, but just physically that

21:01 was as comfortable as he's looked throwing a football to me in a long time.

21:05 And I think he, I wondered if he'd ever get there and there was a lot done on like his

21:10 rehab from the injury and stuff.

21:11 This isn't just me like giving a hot take.

21:15 It seems like he's gotten there to the point where he's throwing the ball again, like he

21:18 did at Alabama.

21:19 And that is, you know, it's exciting to see, cause he was, it was him and burrow for the

21:24 first overall pick until he got hurt.

21:26 It was tank for Tua all year.

21:28 Right.

21:29 It's not even like burrow past him like that dramatically to be the first overall pick

21:33 was he got hurt.

21:34 And then it was this thing of, well, where are you at with his hip injury?

21:37 And the dolphins were willing to take the risk.

21:39 Clearly they believed in them.

21:40 So there is an element to that.

21:42 Now I do still think he has his limitations.

21:44 But I, his arm just looks so much better than it has.

21:49 And you're not seeing the guy that you saw when he first came out that was struggling

21:53 to hit the deep ball.

21:54 He's doing that.

21:55 The shorter passes, he has more zip on them.

21:57 He's getting more on the behind them.

21:59 They're getting there quicker.

22:00 I, yeah, I was impressed with what I saw from him this week.

22:03 Yeah.

22:04 He had that one, I think it was going around Twitter.

22:07 Someone might've had it where like he comes off his first read, steps up in the pocket

22:11 and then throws like a beautiful deep ball down the, down the right sideline for Tyree

22:15 kill.

22:16 So he was really awesome.

22:18 He looked, he looked the best he's been.

22:19 He's looked in the NFL, so they're going to have their hands full.

22:23 And of course it all starts with.

22:25 And I'll just say like, he always had that processing power.

22:27 It was just the last few years.

22:28 I think he knew there were certain throws he couldn't make.

22:31 Yeah.

22:32 And he just, it limited him.

22:34 And I think he's now feeling once again that he can make all these throws.

22:37 Nope.

22:38 Which is a scary sight.

22:39 Yeah.

22:40 It all, it all starts with that in that Miami offense with Tyree kill and Jalen Waddle and

22:46 how they all that Mike McDaniel motion.

22:49 They love their motion.

22:51 They had the, they, their offense ran at the second most in the NFL last week behind only

22:56 Kyle Shanahan's 49ers who Mike McDaniel comes from.

23:00 And they kind of changed the looks of it from last year.

23:03 They, they used to do that like fly or jet motion where Tyree kill would run all the

23:08 way across the formation, get them a running start as John Jones pointed out, excuse me,

23:14 this week, just kind of like Canadian football league, right?

23:16 Like you get that running start and then it's, if you give Tyree kill a running start, it's

23:21 almost impossible to defend.

23:23 So they changed it a little bit this year where he's almost lined up in like a tight

23:27 end role.

23:29 And then he just shoots out like a little short motion.

23:32 And at the snap it's presented like it looks the same, but it just, it gives the defense

23:37 a little less time to prepare for it.

23:39 And it worked really well against the chargers on set.

23:42 They used it seven times and they averaged 16.7 yards per play.

23:46 And it was, they were running to running it to the fullback, Alec Ingle.

23:50 It wasn't even just Hill and Waddle's speed doing it.

23:53 So that, that motion package is a big issue.

23:57 And I know when people say, how are you going to slow down Tyree kill?

24:00 They just say, Oh, let's double them.

24:02 Right?

24:03 Like John Jones got them and put a safety over top.

24:05 They haven't the Patriots, meaning they haven't really done that since the 2018 AFC championship

24:11 game in Kansas city.

24:13 So I think it's going to be the last, last year was a lot of zone.

24:17 I think there are like 75, 80% of Miami's dropbacks and zone trying just to limit the

24:22 big plays.

24:23 So are you expecting a little bit more of that approach or we going back to maybe the

24:28 double, but that leaves Jalen Waddle kind of on a, on an Island, but you have Christian

24:32 Gonzalez now, what are you kind of thinking there?

24:35 Well, it all hinges on Jonathan Jones.

24:37 Who's also on the injury report today was it was ankle, right?

24:40 Yep.

24:41 Limited with an ankle injury.

24:42 If he plays, I think you're putting him on Hill with safety shade over the top and you're

24:48 trusting Christian Gonzalez on Jalen Waddle.

24:51 I mean, this is why you drafted the guy as a, I don't know that he's as fast as Waddle,

24:55 but I think he's fast enough with his length and his recovery ability that that's a covered

24:59 assignment he can have.

25:00 And maybe you mix in Marcus Jones for the pure speed in certain situations.

25:05 I don't know.

25:06 This is a game Christian Gonzalez needs to play wire to wire.

25:08 I think most weeks he does.

25:09 This isn't one.

25:10 If Jonathan Jones isn't out there, I don't know, man.

25:13 I think it's probably a bracket with Marcus Jones and safety, safety, or maybe Jalen Mills,

25:24 maybe miles Bryant.

25:25 Like you're, and then you're probably going Christian Gonzalez full-time on Waddle.

25:29 You're probably doing the thing where it's your one on there too.

25:33 And then you're two on there one with help.

25:34 And this has to be a ton of help.

25:37 Yeah.

25:38 If they lose Jonathan, the whole thing, the reason they've been, when I say competitive

25:43 against the dolphins, people will roll their eyes and say, Bill's never beaten two of in

25:47 those four games.

25:48 And by the way, the two, two hasn't played.

25:50 They've won.

25:51 But in those four games, I just want to pull the number up right here.

25:53 Cause I had it in my mailbag this week and it'll be, it'll be in my game breakdown tomorrow

25:58 in the four games to his beat the Patriots, the offense point totals are 22, 17, 33 and

26:09 20.

26:10 And before you say, Oh, well now they have Tyree kill.

26:13 That 20 was with Tyree kill last year in the opener, which by the way, seven of those points

26:18 came off a scoop and score fumble recovery by the defense.

26:22 So really 13 points.

26:25 The issue against Miami and two it's, it's kind of a red Herring.

26:29 It's not that two, it's not that bill can't be two.

26:31 It's that his offense hasn't been good enough to outscore him.

26:34 And I mean, at least three of those 33, you're going to win more often than not when you

26:37 score 33, but 22, 17, 20 should all be when your defense posts that should be winning

26:41 scores.

26:42 Yep.

26:43 So the key to that has been Jonathan Jones.

26:48 If you don't have him, it changes everything.

26:50 Then I think you really start to worry about it.

26:52 Yeah.

26:53 I think that's going to be where the trouble is.

26:55 But I mean that, that last game last year, it wasn't too, but I mean, I remember how

27:00 beat up their, their cornerback room was.

27:02 It was like running quandary, Mosley and Tay Hayes out there, Tay Hayes out there.

27:07 And they still had a decent performance, but yeah, you need John Jones.

27:12 Christian Gonzalez will be a big part of this, obviously with, with his athletic profile,

27:17 you assume Marcus Jones with his speed, we'll get out there.

27:20 But I still think it's, Jabril Pepper said today, like make them beat you methodically.

27:26 And that kind of said to me, like, we're going to kind of sit back in this zone more on early

27:30 downs limit things, you know, let them get the underneath gains.

27:34 And then maybe on third down, more of these money downs, we'll go to a man to man.

27:38 Look, take away the middle of the field because Tua loves the middle of the field.

27:42 They love sending Hill and Waddle on these, these crossers, these like eight yard posts.

27:47 I mean, that was like their money route against the chargers, just that little, that little

27:50 post route.

27:51 So I think that would, that would kind of be my approach, but you need, you still need

27:57 John Jones out there.

27:58 It's going to get a little murky.

28:00 Yeah, he, I, I just, he changes everything.

28:03 I think it, him not being out there cause they have a plan.

28:07 Like they've played Miami enough that they have a plan.

28:08 They know what works.

28:09 The whole plan is relying on Jonathan Jones being on the field.

28:13 Yep.

28:14 And my other big thing was if you're playing that zone and letting them catch underneath,

28:19 you ought to tackle well, right?

28:21 Like you saw Waddle the week one last year, like you have a good half of football.

28:26 Then he just catch a little slant and he takes it to the house cause he missed a few tackles.

28:29 So I know it's easier, easier said than done if we want to bring in last week's motto to

28:35 this week, but you gotta tackle those guys, limit the yak cause they were second in all

28:40 football and yak last week.

28:42 Do you know who was first though?

28:44 Uh, the Patriots, right?

28:46 New England Patriots, the juju effect.

28:48 But, uh, yeah, you gotta, you gotta tackle those guys and limit the yak to the best of

28:53 your abilities.

28:54 I'll say, I thought they did a good job of that last week.

28:56 Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, even miles Bryant contributing.

29:00 I thought they did a good job of stepping up and making a tackle after the catch last

29:03 week.

29:04 So it, Eagles aren't for different reasons.

29:06 Eagles aren't an easy team to do that against either.

29:07 And they did a good job.

29:08 Yeah.

29:09 I don't think they missed a tackle last week.

29:12 I was trying to pull that up quick or at least like the secondary.

29:16 Yeah.

29:17 I don't think they did either.

29:19 Yeah.

29:20 So if they could get a repeat performance there, uh, that would be good.

29:23 And, uh, another thing Jonathan Jones mentioned with, with Hill was kind of hitting them at

29:29 the line of scrimmage, being a little physical.

29:31 You saw the Chargers do that again too.

29:33 So just another thing to kind of throw at them.

29:36 Maybe that, that coverage they use against digs where you just kind of have Jabril peppers

29:40 at the line of scrimmage, just hit them and then, and then fall off into a zone, maybe

29:45 see some of that, but yeah, it all starts with Hill.

29:49 Waddle obviously is a big part of that.

29:50 If you can slow those, slow those guys down, which new England has done a strong job of,

29:55 uh, it's going to be going to be tough for two.

29:59 Yeah, absolutely.

30:01 On the jamming at the line though.

30:02 I think that's another thing where you probably lose that if you don't have John Jones, because

30:07 you jam at the line and he wins.

30:08 Yeah, that's a touchdown.

30:09 Yeah, that's a touchdown.

30:11 So yeah, but, uh, what are you thinking?

30:16 What about Miami's run game?

30:18 Is there anything I know Raheem mostard was back at practice today, full participant after

30:24 missing yesterday.

30:26 Um, Jeff Wilson is on IR so you don't have to worry about him.

30:30 Devin a chain, their, their rookies kind of a interesting speedster, but like, is this

30:35 just, if they want to run the ball, let them run the ball and keep the, keep it out of

30:40 Tyreek Hill's hands.

30:41 Oh, absolutely.

30:42 Absolutely.

30:43 The more they're running the ball, the better, and you can't give up big runs, but I actually

30:47 thought the Patriots defensive front was pretty good last week in terms of stopping the run.

30:50 Christian Barmore had a surprisingly good game against the run.

30:53 Keon white Dietrich wise, obviously Juwan Bentley put some faith in those guys.

30:58 Take the ball at it, Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill's hands.

31:02 I think that's a no brainer.

31:03 Now you have to keep it close.

31:04 The offense has to do its part in order to enable that, but I think you give them the

31:08 run all day because they're less likely to break a big play with the run than with the

31:12 past.

31:13 Yep.

31:14 Just will Mike McDaniel take it?

31:16 Well, if he does it and you're dropping everybody back into coverage, that's a Josh Allen effect.

31:22 If he's just going to get impatient and force the force to throw down the field into a defense

31:25 is predicated on coverage, you're going to be able to force turnovers.

31:28 You want him.

31:30 If you're giving them the run, you want them to throw.

31:33 Yeah.

31:34 If that makes sense.

31:35 Definitely.

31:36 That'll be interesting because Mike McDaniel is one of these new new age nerds if you want

31:42 to call it, but he loves it.

31:44 Yeah.

31:45 Banner day for the nerds today.

31:46 We'll get to that banner day for the new age.

31:48 Definitely definitely keep banking on those guys.

31:50 It keeps going right for for all of them.

31:52 We'll get to that.

31:54 But yeah, if they want to run, I'll give him the run all day.

31:57 I feel confident in that game plan.

32:00 And then the pass rush.

32:01 We'll see Toronto Armstead.

32:02 He didn't play last week.

32:04 He's been limited.

32:06 He's on here with a back ankle and knee injury, so he's pretty banged up.

32:10 But he shed his red noncontact jersey in Miami's practice today.

32:16 That's a big one because their backup backup tackle, I believe it was he gave up like five

32:21 pressures last week and two was really good under pressure, kind of like Mac.

32:26 But the more pressure you can get on him and him, the better.

32:29 And if you have Jude on and Uche and Keone White feasting against a backup backup tackle,

32:35 that's just probably going to end up end up good, good, positive things for New England.

32:40 Yeah.

32:41 And they're going to have a chance to pressure backup tackle.

32:43 I say when it guard like they're going to have their chance.

32:45 Isaiah, when that's another interesting little storyline, old friend Isaiah, when at left

32:51 guard, which some people might say is his best natural position, but we'll see how it

32:56 looks against Christian Barmore and maybe Keone White kicks inside a little bit more

33:01 for some rushes there.

33:02 But you think we'll think we'll see more more key on white because it was only I think it

33:08 was 13 pass rush snaps he finished with.

33:11 He was on the field a little bit more than that.

33:13 But I mean, he was taking it to Lane Johnson, which I just I don't know how you look at

33:19 the film last week and don't put him on the field.

33:22 And I'm not saying he's like a 90 percent usage rate guy, but his play time should keep

33:26 increasing throughout the year if he keeps playing like this.

33:28 Yeah.

33:29 What about Mopu?

33:30 Because he was only like 10, 10 snaps total.

33:33 Is this a game that might be a little more Marte Mopu heavy?

33:39 It is.

33:40 But last week should have been two in terms of needing to spy the quarterback.

33:42 So I they might be taking it slow with him.

33:45 He's coming off that injury and all that, the jumping levels.

33:47 But I wouldn't mind if he played more this week.

33:49 You got to get speed on the field, period, whether you're trying to stop to run, whether

33:52 you're trying to stop the pass, you need to get speed on the field.

33:55 He's their fastest linebacker.

33:57 He should be.

33:58 Yeah, he could help if you're playing a lot of zone at that second level.

34:00 So that would be all the rookies.

34:03 Just get them all in there on the defensive side of the ball.

34:05 And I believe good things will happen.

34:08 But any other things, any other things you got there from that that Miami offense that

34:14 you're looking for, the Patriots defense that you have excited or marked for that for this

34:20 one?

34:21 Do you know who Dolphins who ran the most routes with Dolphins last week of any of their

34:24 offensive players?

34:26 Braxton Barrios, Durham, Smythe, tight end, 100 percent usage rate.

34:31 He didn't come off the field.

34:32 Tyree kill is it like 60 Durham Smythe played 100 percent of snaps.

34:36 We saw even average tight ends hurt the Patriots at times last year.

34:39 They did a much better job on Dallas Goddard this week.

34:43 I don't think Smythe is as good of a player, but like this is another spot where tight

34:47 ends going to be a sneaky impact player.

34:49 You got to take them away.

34:50 So let's see.

34:51 I think they should be able to.

34:52 But like, let's it's just if Durham Smythe starts kind of getting annoying, it wouldn't

34:57 be the most surprising thing in the world to me.

35:00 Yeah, especially if all the focus is on, you know, Hill and why just one of those where

35:05 he ends up with like seven catches for, you know, 60, 70 yards there.

35:10 And good old friend Braxton Barrios has a little role in that offense to kind of their

35:15 number three receiver.

35:16 So another tons of tons of Patriots, former Patriots, former Dolphins on both sides.

35:23 Big, big connection game there.

35:24 But if that's all for the preview, we can get in.

35:30 Let's hear it.

35:31 Do you have a prediction?

35:33 Is this I don't want to say must win in week two, especially now with Zach Wilson on deck.

35:39 And we can talk about that, too, in a second.

35:41 But it's kind of kind of a big game in this division because you don't want to start.

35:46 Oh, and to I know, right, like historically, the numbers aren't great making playoffs if

35:52 you're oh and two.

35:53 So is this a must win?

35:54 Is it just a really important win?

35:56 And then what's what do you think's going to happen?

35:59 Yeah.

36:00 So I know people hate the oh and two thing.

36:03 And that's like it's like the most negative take.

36:05 Like, oh, you're just writing them off after two games.

36:07 All right, since twenty eighteen, only one team has started.

36:10 Oh, and two and made the playoffs.

36:11 And that's last year's Bengals.

36:12 And they can afford that margin for error with their talent.

36:15 The other teams that started without a win in their first two games averaged five and

36:19 a half wins for the season.

36:22 That's not enough to get you in the playoffs in any division unless you have like a six

36:27 game schedule.

36:29 So yeah, they kind of do need a win this week.

36:32 I think so.

36:33 And beyond the division, Miami, this is another wildcard team, probably.

36:37 So this could be an important head to head game when we get into January.

36:41 And are they going to need this and that in a tiebreaker scenario?

36:44 I do think they need to win this week.

36:47 I came into the week ready to give it to them.

36:51 I came into the weeks like I coming off that Eagles game.

36:53 I felt good.

36:54 The Dolphins aren't as good of a team.

36:55 I think you get the primetime game.

36:57 You get Mac with the full week under O'Brien in the system and all that.

37:02 And then you lose your starting left tackle, your backup right guard.

37:05 You might be down both starting guards.

37:07 Now your Tyreek Hill coverage guy is banged up.

37:11 Tough spot.

37:15 I want to give it to him, but there's just there.

37:18 There's a lot of injuries.

37:20 There's a lot of injuries they're going to be dealing with in this game.

37:22 And that scares me.

37:23 Yep.

37:24 Yeah.

37:25 I mean, I was with you.

37:26 I think I entered the week thinking like twenty seven, twenty three Patriots.

37:32 But now it's like it's all these injuries going to cost you like a seven point swain

37:37 and it's going to end like twenty three, twenty.

37:39 So probably another close competitive game.

37:43 Hopefully it's not the same script where they're down to three scores early and they just have

37:49 to claw themselves back in.

37:50 I don't know if I could take another one of those games, but yeah, I'd expect it to be

37:55 be competitive kind of throughout.

37:58 And then it's just we'll see how the injury, how the offensive line looks when they take

38:03 the field.

38:04 If Jonathan Jones is out there on Sunday night, that that's probably going to be the one thing

38:09 that that or the two things that will swing the outcome.

38:12 Yeah, that's that's going to we'll have to see when this is a tough one to predict.

38:16 I'm right down to the wire with the injuries.

38:19 But do you have any kind of building off what we just talked about with Zach Wilson next

38:25 week?

38:26 I mean, you haven't been on here since Aaron Rodgers blew out his Achilles for plays into

38:31 his New York Jets tenure.

38:33 And then they won the game against your favorite quarterback, Josh Allen, in the Buffalo Bills.

38:38 But any any thoughts on there?

38:40 Just because we haven't we haven't touched about that.

38:42 Was that I mean, that could knock out a potential wildcard team in the Jets that the Patriots

38:47 could leapfrog here, maybe get them an extra win if you were expecting them to split the

38:51 series.

38:52 Now they might sweep Zach Wilson.

38:54 But then I'm sure you have some bills takes you might want to fire off.

38:58 So just any thoughts on that whole that whole situation the other night?

39:01 Yeah, I mean, I think you nailed it with the with the Jets stuff in terms of the bills.

39:05 I mean, I've been trying to tell you guys it wasn't sustainable.

39:08 It wasn't sustainable and you're seeing it now.

39:10 And it wasn't even the turnovers.

39:12 They go.

39:13 It was like early in that game.

39:14 They were it was tied.

39:15 They might have been up.

39:16 And like Mitchell Morris is trying to start fights.

39:21 And you see just Josh Allen's body language was horrible even before he started with all

39:25 the terms like, what are you doing?

39:27 McDermott mismanaged the game at times.

39:31 They're just not a well-run team.

39:32 They've kind of coasted by on Stefan Diggs being a top three receiver in football, which

39:37 I mean, he looked good again, but he's 30.

39:39 And who knows where his foes at this point?

39:42 And then Josh Allen occasionally pulling a play out of his ass.

39:45 I'm not even gonna say Josh Allen being great.

39:46 I'm just gonna say the the the chickens have come home to roost on some of the ridiculous

39:53 stuff Josh Allen's done.

39:54 We said, hey, that's incredible.

39:55 I can't believe you even tried that.

39:56 And it worked.

39:57 Well, he's trying it now.

39:58 It's not working.

39:59 He's regressing to the meat.

40:00 So they should still win the division.

40:02 They should still win 10 games.

40:03 But their window, their championship window, I said it before the season is shut.

40:07 It is closed and it's only going to get worse from here.

40:10 Well, I mean, Josh Allen was that was some game.

40:15 It's like the obvious stuff where he's like hurtling someone 10 yards away from the first

40:20 down or then the one time he's got no one in front of him to run for the first down.

40:24 He fires like the deep interception.

40:27 Like he made some really questionable decisions.

40:30 He's never played with any awareness.

40:32 This isn't new.

40:33 It just kind of worked off his physical talents.

40:37 It's the mash all the buttons approach.

40:39 Right.

40:40 And usually you like guys can win a game or two like that.

40:43 It usually doesn't last two years.

40:46 I know what I see.

40:47 And I stuck with this the whole time.

40:50 It was not sustainable.

40:51 It was never sustainable.

40:53 You're not a 50 percent completion rate guy for life going back to high school that suddenly

40:58 complete 70 percent of his passes that that rate of improvement just doesn't happen.

41:04 And the other thing is like we started talking about Brian Dayball as being some sort of

41:08 quarterback genius because I know the Giants didn't have a great start.

41:11 We'll see what happens with them this year.

41:12 Like he fixed Josh Allen left Josh Allen broke and then he got Daniel Jones.

41:16 What is one hundred sixty million dollars off of one year.

41:20 So yeah.

41:22 Who was the Bama quarterback when Dayball was there.

41:25 That's a good question.

41:27 Was it to him.

41:28 I was going to have minded because that was did he leave and then Sark came in when Matt

41:32 took over.

41:33 Well he was never I don't think he's ever the OC.

41:35 Oh he was the OC.

41:37 Twenty seventeen.

41:38 Hurts.

41:39 That would have been I think hurt.

41:41 Was that the year to it took over for hurts.

41:46 Yeah that was the year it was hurts and then two it took over in the national championship.

41:52 Interesting.

41:53 So yeah quarterback whisperer Brian Dayball.

41:57 Yeah he does it.

41:59 All right.

42:00 Let's jump over to talking about.

42:03 Yeah.

42:04 We don't have the background because we're pre recording.

42:06 Talking about the sports nerds.

42:07 We'll get into a Boston sports minute because the Red Sox fired high and bloom today.

42:14 And I don't know.

42:16 I was surprised.

42:18 I thought I was too.

42:20 I think the rumor I don't know if it was a rumor or a report that his contract ran through

42:25 next year.

42:26 I don't know if that was confirmed.

42:27 I think Cora's definitely does.

42:30 But I thought they this like this was kind of his offseason where he's got his farm system

42:37 he's going to have his money now and it was kind of like a go prove it whether it's you're

42:42 you're making some trades you're signing some pitching and free agency.

42:46 And I thought like that was going to be his last you know who were out here to kind of

42:50 save his job and put together a competitive team.

42:52 But they cut the cord they weren't trying to have it and I don't know I know a lot of

42:58 people don't like them and their team hasn't been competitive besides that one flukey 2021

43:05 stretch.

43:06 But I think he kind of came in and he did what ownership wanted him to do.

43:11 And I know they would never say they were rebuilding but I think they kind of were rebuilding

43:16 these last four or five years and he obviously had his flaws like he didn't handle a lot

43:21 of the trade deadlines very well but he rebuilt that farm system to probably a top five farm

43:28 in baseball.

43:29 He paid Rafael Devers.

43:31 He got that done.

43:32 I think he did a lot of the things they brought him in to do and then he's just kind of like

43:37 the sacrificial lamb here and now they're ready to spend and they're going to bring

43:41 in someone who has a little more of a background of spending and going after these big big guys.

43:47 I would hope so.

43:48 I don't know.

43:49 I think John Henry might have realized he can use Fenway as his own checking account

43:53 or use the Red Sox his own checking account because people go to Fenway.

43:55 He might just want to run this thing on a budget.

43:59 You know to quote Mike Felger if you're going to have a nerd you better have the best nerd.

44:03 Heimblum was not the best nerd.

44:05 He wasn't.

44:06 He made some bad trades.

44:08 I think it's going to come out and there's a story out there right now from WEI about

44:12 a trade he didn't make involving Chris Sale.

44:15 I think it's going to come out the trades he didn't make were even worse.

44:19 You know not dealing James Paxson at the deadline not dealing Justin Turner at the deadline.

44:24 He wasn't good.

44:26 He wasn't good at his job and he needed to go.

44:28 That being said do I feel better about the Red Sox today.

44:32 Not much because again I'm still not convinced.

44:35 I think this is an ownership problem.

44:36 I think the rock is from the core.

44:39 I think ownership wants to run this thing on a budget.

44:41 They knew what they were getting into when they hired Heimblum.

44:44 We know that they were looking for who was the guy Ben Friedman or whoever who just got

44:49 hired.

44:50 Oh Stern David Stern David Stern or Ben Friedman's another one of these nerds.

44:55 They're trying to bring it.

44:56 They were talking to another nerd.

44:58 This is what they want to do.

44:59 They don't want to spend money because they know the tourists will go and pay 18 dollars

45:02 for Miller Lite sit out center field.

45:06 If you're going to have a nerd you better have the best nerd and if the Red Sox are

45:10 going to have a nerd I certainly hope they get the best one.

45:13 But why why does it have to be a nerd.

45:15 And by the way don't overcorrect either.

45:18 I don't need to do Dave Dombrowski again where we're going to trade all the prospects and

45:22 give out a bunch of ridiculous big contracts to players who will never live up to them

45:25 just to get them.

45:26 I don't need to do that thing either.

45:29 There's a way to balance it.

45:31 You look at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

45:34 There's a way to balance it.

45:37 You can sign the big money deals.

45:40 It makes some trades but also keep some prospects and develop them and develop some real homegrown

45:45 talent.

45:46 They haven't done that since Theo Epstein wouldn't trade it.

45:50 Not if I Cherington would trade any of his prospects.

45:54 He sold the farm for one year and then high and bloom came in and didn't do a damn thing

45:59 didn't spend a damn dollar didn't make a damn trade except except the ones he needed to

46:04 when it became spend a dollar or make a trade and then he made the trade and they were bad

46:08 trades operate like a big market baseball team.

46:12 They should be I don't know if they'll land them.

46:15 They should be competitive for Shohei Ohtani this summer.

46:17 They should frankly be competitive for every big name free agent that's available this

46:21 summer.

46:22 They want to get the real Red Sox back.

46:23 Forget the pink hats.

46:24 F them.

46:25 You want to get me back and I'm not saying as a fan I'll always be a Red Sox fan but

46:29 you want to get me investing in the team.

46:30 You want me to stop doing this rant every month about how the team's poorly run from

46:34 the core.

46:36 Go give me some real baseball players.

46:38 Go give me some guys I've actually heard of not a guy that wasn't good enough for the

46:42 Oakland A's who aren't going to win 50 games.

46:45 It becomes your starting shortstop.

46:47 But also you know I've got to know the prospects because you sold me this year was on the prospects.

46:51 I'm not saying you have to keep all of them but Tristan Casas, Bride Bayo, Sidon Rafaela,

47:00 Jaron Duran plug the pieces in.

47:04 Add real major league players around them not for a players get an actual freaking shortstop

47:10 and we're cooking and they should be able to do that in a year because they're the Boston

47:15 Red Sox.

47:16 They're not the Tampa Bay Rays.

47:17 They're not the Oakland A's.

47:18 They're not the Kansas City Royals.

47:20 But ownership has to be willing to do it.

47:21 That's step one.

47:23 Then you go out you find a GM who can execute it.

47:26 But you got to have step one first which is because ownership sets the budget.

47:30 I don't want to hear about how high and bloom was cheap.

47:32 I don't know that he would have spent more if he was given the opportunity.

47:35 But the reality is you hire that guy so you're not you don't have an explosive budget.

47:41 That's just the reality of it.

47:42 Whether ownership set exact dollar amount or not they went out and got a guy that's

47:46 going to spend on the margins.

47:48 The guy I want Brian is Alex Cora.

47:53 I look at the success the Celtics had.

47:56 That thing works.

47:58 Getting a guy who understands it at a game level at a pitch by pitch level in basketball

48:03 in a possession by possession level I think works.

48:06 Cora's talked about wanting to be a GM.

48:08 I think another big part of the problem with bloom the players didn't respect him and he

48:12 didn't respect the players.

48:14 And I think that was an issue when it came to free agency.

48:17 We know the core is going to see eye to eye with the players.

48:21 And I don't know what you do about manager Jason Veritek, Carlos Beltran, whoever.

48:25 Dustin Petroia, maybe I don't know, but no, I'm kidding on that last one.

48:29 But Cora will square some of the math stuff that because ownership wants to be cutting

48:36 edge, whatever the hell that means.

48:39 Having bad pitchers apparently is cutting edge.

48:42 Cora will square some of that math stuff that ownership wants to do because we know he's

48:47 into that with something that I can't believe hasn't been a qualification for this job for

48:52 the last four years, but is now actual baseball knowledge, actual understanding of the game

48:59 on a pitch by pitch, inning by inning, day by day basis in not just letting Microsoft

49:04 Excel make his decisions.

49:07 That should be.

49:08 Well, Theo Epstein is my wishlist, but he's not, that's not happening.

49:12 Alex Cora should be the guy.

49:14 Yeah, Alex Cora should 1,000,000% be the guy and they didn't rule it out today.

49:21 That should be the guy that leads you for digs out of this hole.

49:24 Yeah, I think that would be an awesome transition, just like the Celtics.

49:29 And I know he said yesterday, like he was excited to come back and manage this team.

49:33 But that was obviously before they fired high and bloom.

49:36 So maybe something happens there.

49:38 But yeah, I think bloom, like you mentioned Oakland.

49:42 Like I think that's a place that he would really thrive, right?

49:45 Where it's like you have that low budget, not a lot of expectations, and he can just

49:51 kind of do his high and bloom method.

49:53 But this is Boston and you need to go out there and spend the big bucks to get the big

49:58 players from time to time.

50:00 And hopefully now that they do do that and they need pitching.

50:04 I love that Yamamoto guy from Japan.

50:07 He seems like he would be an awesome kind of slam dunk fit there at the top of the rotation.

50:13 Then go out and get another guy too, because you're not relying on Chris Sale or James

50:17 Paxson or any of these guys.

50:18 But if you can start the year with Yamamoto and number two and Brian Bellow, I think that's

50:23 a good kind of place to start.

50:25 But yeah, we'll kind of see who it is.

50:29 But they need someone who's ready to kind of go spend money.

50:32 And hopefully they don't like Dombrowski this and trade away all the farm system that

50:37 high and bloom just built up, because it is really talented.

50:40 And I think there's a lot of really good ballplayers there.

50:44 Beyond the guys we've seen this year in Boston, like the Marcello Myers, the Roman Anthony's,

50:49 those type of guys.

50:50 But yeah, I think they're in a pretty good position as an organization with talent.

50:57 It's just go put those finishing pieces on top and spend the money to get them and act

51:03 like the Boston Red Sox.

51:04 Yeah, that's what it comes down to.

51:07 Act like the Boston Red Sox, act like a baseball team that can have a 250 million dollar payroll.

51:13 And let me call it because people say, oh, they had that of like actual healthy players

51:17 who are ready to play, not Chris Sale.

51:19 That's one of the like, I think them spending to the tax a lot of these last few years kind

51:25 of confused some people because it was like it was it looked like they were spending a

51:31 lot, but it wasn't like all these guys were on the aisle.

51:34 And I don't know, I thought it was kind of a long rebuild there, but that's what you

51:38 kind of brought Blumen to do.

51:40 And now he's gone.

51:41 So we'll see what we'll see where they're they transition to transition to next should

51:47 be an interesting offseason for them.

51:49 But I think that'll do it from the Boston Sports Minute.

51:53 And unless you have any last other Patriots thoughts that came across your mind during

51:57 that rant.

51:58 No, it's pretty.

51:59 It's pretty much it.

52:00 All right.

52:01 I think we can move on here and count down the hours till Sunday night when Miami Dolphins

52:09 are in Foxborough.

52:11 Take on the New England Patriots.

52:13 Me and Alex will be back Monday, Monday or Tuesday, most likely Monday to break that

52:18 game down.

52:20 So subscribe to the Patriots Press Pass on YouTube to know when we go live.

52:24 But until then, you can follow Alex on Twitter at Real Alex Barth.

52:27 Go read all his game work over at 985thesportshub.com.

52:32 You can follow me on Twitter at I am Brian Hines and go read all my week two coverage

52:36 over at Pat's Pulpit dot com.

52:38 Thank you all for watching and we will see you guys next week.

52:42 Bye.

52:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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