On this episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast, Greg Bedard and Nick Cattles discuss Jerpod Mayo's decision to pick Jacoby Brissett over Drake Maye as the week 1 starting quarterback, the changes to the 53 man roster, and break down the preseason game against the Washington Commanders. All that, and much more!
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00:00this
00:10all right so obviously there's a lot to get to
00:12and we're gonna get to it he's greg on that you know the deal
00:15uh... before we get into starting quarterback the
00:19biggest
00:20known
00:21mystery in the world if we wanna
00:24who want to call it that
00:25before we get into that
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00:53download game time today what time is it
00:55game time
00:57it's official
00:58it was not made official yesterday we're recording this thursday afternoon
01:03but it was made official this morning at eight thirty i'm sure
01:06all of the reporters out there greg did you make it down there
01:10uh... i was down there yes
01:12so i'm sure greg and many others were thrilled
01:14that they got their ass up at about seven a m
01:16to head down to gillette
01:18for this eight thirty press conference the big news the big announcement
01:21and uh... ninety seconds later was over
01:25just like that
01:26uh... so
01:28before we get into the decision greg
01:30just your thoughts overall over the last uh... forty eight hours or so and and
01:33how this was handled was it weird to you
01:36yeah it was nick
01:37uh... and not just uh...
01:40because uh... i like my beauty sleep and uh... need my beauty sleep
01:45uh...
01:47it's just
01:48it's just odd to me nick it was it was uh...
01:52another in a series of missteps for gerard mayo since he's gotten this job
01:57uh...
01:59you know there was the whole phrase uh...
02:02what do they say about spending like we're gonna burn through some cash
02:06we're gonna burn some cash
02:09uh...
02:10you know those type of things and then you know going on radio this week
02:16and then even doubling down talking to the media thirty minutes later and
02:20saying
02:22drake outplayed jacoby
02:24okay
02:26uh...
02:27and
02:28and then
02:29waiting on the quarterback decision
02:32he they set out the media schedule and and they're off i think they're all
02:37friday saturday sunday
02:39uh... as far as the players are there and everything and so
02:43you knew you had two days this week now wednesday
02:47mayo talked
02:48uh... extensively was as was supposed to be as one availability of the week
02:52which he's required to do
02:54uh...
02:56and
02:58you know he he punted on the quarterback decision he said he had made
03:01the quarterback decision but he hadn't informed anybody yet there was too much
03:05going on you know with all the roster shuffling at the things like that
03:09i'd understand that
03:11but there's no hard and fast rule that you can't talk two days in a row he
03:15could
03:16and
03:17look i'd give him and stacy james and and you know erin erin salkin and those
03:23guys credit for getting gerrard
03:26available to us on thursday but
03:30look this is a this is a big decision this is all anybody's talking about this
03:34is your football team this is the third overall pick that we're dealing with
03:37and for you to be up there for ninety seconds not even
03:44it's just it's it's not a joke it's just
03:46it's just wrong
03:47like it if you make the decision
03:50you need to sit up there and you need to you need to answer all the questions and
03:55and
03:55you know what
03:56let it all hang out
03:58because we're not going to talk to him again i think till monday
04:01something like that
04:03and at that point
04:04he's gonna want to talk about the bangles like we're in the bangles week
04:07we're into the season now we gotta go back after we've already talked to the
04:11players and now we gotta dissect the quarterback decision more
04:14i mean i know bit what bill
04:16we all know what bill would have done
04:18bill would have
04:19talked to us yesterday and then it would have leaked last night from somebody
04:24that they had made the decision and we wouldn't have heard
04:27uh...
04:28we wouldn't have talked to bill until monday
04:30and bill would have said
04:32where do you know what if you guys want to talk about the bangles we can talk
04:35about the bangles but uh... you know i'm done talking about
04:38the quarterback
04:39like that's what he would have done so
04:41just draw doing more yes but i still think today was a misstep like just
04:46you know stick by your convictions and answer all the questions and i know
04:49it's a busy day and you got this and that going on
04:53you could push those things back you're the head coach of the patriots uh... you
04:57know you're not exactly
04:59launching uh... nuclear weapons behind the scenes so
05:02like give us ten minutes
05:04let's do the thing and then next week we can all move on
05:08to the team the bangles the regular season
05:11now we can't do that
05:14yeah i i thought he took a slide
05:16closer to bellichick handling this than than he has before
05:20uh... giving you guys ninety seconds and i did want to ask you
05:24were you given a shot to ask quite like how was it handled because all we saw
05:28was he went up there he made the announcement there was what two
05:31questions and then he got up and left
05:33did you guys have a chance to ask questions or was it just you went off of
05:37what he did and he stood up and was like i'm done did stacy james tell you
05:41guys you only have two questions
05:42how was it handled so it was a little chaotic and you know i was in the back
05:46and so sometimes it's it's hard
05:49to hear in that room the new way that they have the media room set up in this
05:53new area
05:55uh...
05:56you know it's it's much harder to hear things from
06:01from what's going up at the at the front
06:04and also it's probably hard for the front to hear the back and so
06:08i think what happened was i think it was stacy or was erin salkin i'm not sure
06:12exactly who
06:13said
06:15jarod's gonna make a statement and take two questions
06:18and that was it
06:20so
06:21it was set to you guys you got two questions and then we're done
06:24interesting
06:25uh...
06:26the other question i have for you were players in the facility on tuesday
06:30do you know
06:33so today's thursday
06:34uh...
06:38you know i'm
06:39not sure
06:41uh... okay like so they played sunday they would have been off on monday
06:46they could have gotten to the regular season mode were giving him
06:49tuesday off to back wednesday
06:51they could have been they could be very likely could have been out
06:54i just ask that because of the players were there on tuesday i would have
06:58questioned why jarod just didn't address the quarterback situation on tuesday
07:01with them and then he could have announced it on wednesday yesterday when
07:04he had his scheduled
07:06media availability
07:08and i did i think it does kind of open up the questions of whether or not he
07:11did it this way so he didn't have to necessarily face
07:15more questions when the decision was made but
07:17what's done is done
07:18uh... we know jacoby preset is starting week one against cincinnati is that the
07:22right decision greg
07:23hundred-percent
07:24and uh...
07:27you know
07:28you can look at this a bunch of different ways uh...
07:31you know i don't think it's just the right decision because of what we saw
07:35from the offensive line and where the team is you know i hear a lot of
07:37discussion about like drakes ready but the patriots aren't
07:41i don't necessarily disagree with that i mean to do i think that drake could go
07:45out there and
07:47compete and possibly win the opener against the bangles
07:52yeah i guess so and there's a lot of stuff that the coaches know that we
07:55don't know in terms of
07:57how drake's doing in the meeting room how he's doing as far as you know
08:01diagnosing things in practice against the patriots defense how was he uh...
08:06against blitzes week
08:07you know we can see stuff live on the practice field but we don't have the
08:10practice film to sort of
08:12uh... really dissect things
08:14the the scourge of free runners in practice for a long time
08:19when drake was
08:20uh... at quarterback is that on him or is it on the line or what like we don't
08:24know the answers to that but i i'll say this
08:29i'll put it this way
08:31if the patriots and first of all they wouldn't have the third overall pick this
08:34is the case but
08:36if that if the patriots were further along if they had like a franchise left
08:40tackle
08:41and they had to go along with
08:43andrews and when
08:45and you know maybe a number one wide receiver
08:49do i think drake may
08:52would have won the job over jacoby brissett uh...
08:57uh... we all know this this is it's impossible to say but i i'd just say no
09:02nick i think at the end of the day analyzing his film where he's come in
09:06the progress has been
09:07astounding
09:08it's been terrific over the last three weeks basically since the eagles joint
09:12practice
09:13it's been great he keeps checking off bat boxes
09:16on things that he needs to do
09:19to be a starting quarterback in the national football you specifically in
09:22this offense
09:23in this game he checked off
09:25getting under center
09:27doing play action
09:28turning your back to the defense
09:31and diagnosing reading it and throwing a nice ball to jaylen polk on second and
09:35two on play action
09:37uh... so that that was nice but
09:39and
09:41he certainly
09:42drake may is certainly uh... extremely athletic can throw the ball the ball
09:47comes off his hands easily i don't love
09:49totally the motion and things like that but
09:52you know all the bones are there
09:56so you know when you have that sort of elite traits and that's why he was picked
10:00third overall
10:01uh... you can make the argument that of all the quarterbacks in this draft class
10:06in totality drake has the best tools in terms of
10:10his size
10:11arm strength
10:12running ability
10:13sturdiness
10:15his mindset his easygoing style is level playing style
10:19mentally
10:21like you could say that he's all of those things i think the only reason he
10:24was taken third instead of first
10:26was because he just doesn't have the experience of
10:30the other guys
10:31and yeah
10:32so
10:34you know there's a lot of good stuff going on with drake may but i just don't
10:38think he's ready and anything and and i'm sure there are people like well he
10:41outplayed jacoby in the games and yeah you could you could certainly say that i
10:46wouldn't argue with that
10:47uh... i would say that i think people are sort of uh... short
10:51shifting uh... jacoby and what he did in that final game
10:55you know i thought he did a lot of good stuff in that game i actually on a
10:58play-by-play basis i think he played better than drake
11:02uh... on the whole but
11:03you know he only played like
11:05you know a handful of plays
11:07uh... probably due to the
11:08the shoulder injury
11:09that he sustained but
11:11i think that
11:14drake makes plays and you see that but a lot of that is just a really good
11:18athlete
11:19against inferior players second and third stringers from other teams really
11:23simple schemes
11:25you can't just take
11:28this in the preseason and say he's going to do this in the regular season in the
11:33national football league
11:34i just don't think they're comparable they're two completely different games
11:40and i just don't think he's ready for that quite yet i do think he's going to
11:43get there sooner than i thought
11:46i don't think he's ready for lou amirano the bengals defensive
11:50coordinator mike mcdonald the seahawks defensive coordinator
11:55you know the jets
11:56the forty-niners in the first month i just don't think he's ready for any of
11:59that stuff
12:00and so they
12:02uh...
12:03i need to be more sure i think the coaches need to be more sure
12:07that he can do that before they want to put him in
12:10it was the right decision to start brissett week one
12:13and sometimes i just try to break it down to its simplest form
12:18what's the higher probability
12:20of hurting may or i don't mean i don't mean legitimately hurting may on the
12:25field i mean hurting his development
12:27hurting his future
12:29what's more probable to do that starting in week one or starting him later in the
12:33year right
12:34like to me
12:35if you start in week one there's more risk inherently
12:38that something goes wrong anything goes wrong with the rookie quarterback and
12:42then he has to reset
12:44you know he's he's got to go back to some of the the original things he had
12:47to work on
12:48whereas just take your time i don't think anybody believes this is a
12:51playoff team so
12:53why not give it an extra few weeks if you think
12:56you can figure some things out which gets to
12:58get it settled
12:59right get it settled
13:00as much as you can't get i don't think reagan i are sitting here telling you
13:04that by week five this will be a top five offensive line
13:07but figure out what you have up front
13:09settle it
13:10and when you feel like you can trust at least four of the five guys
13:15then you throw them out there but it also goes beyond the offensive line
13:19i think we forget
13:21how new this offense is
13:23and how much turnover was done
13:26new scheme
13:27new o c
13:28uh... tight ends brought in right two of your three tight ends on the roster
13:32new to this football team
13:34the wide receiver room is completely different than it was last year
13:38specially kendrick born starting on the pop list
13:41your new o c by the way hasn't called plays on a weekly basis since two
13:45thousand nine
13:46so why don't you just try to settle those things straighten them out
13:50and when you feel more confident in those elements
13:52then you play drake may
13:54nobody's going to care
13:56if we're sitting here having a conversation greg you and i in two
13:59thousand twenty five in december
14:01in drake may is a legitimate franchise quarterback nobody's going to give a
14:05shit if he played week one a week seven of the season nobody's going to care
14:09it's not even a conversation which leads me to my final point
14:13the very fact
14:15that we had this conversation
14:19entertained the idea of drake may starting week one
14:23that's the biggest story here
14:24dinner a lot ski told you this guy might take two years to be ready
14:28greg and many others said hey look it might take a year it might be later in
14:32the year when he starts
14:33the fact that we even had this conversation greg to me
14:36is the biggest story of all because that tells us
14:40drake may has developed
14:41and he's developed more rapidly than many of us thought he would
14:45yeah uh... i i i would definitely agree with that nick and uh... you know that's
14:49very exciting and uh...
14:51happy
14:52to see it i'm happy to uh... that if he
14:54you for him to prove me wrong i mean i do think
14:58you know that there's a lot of things that he's he's doing well you still see
15:02on film
15:03he reverts back to some of the u s u n c stuff where
15:07you know hill
15:08he'll step up into pressure
15:10uh... where he doesn't really need to do that out sometimes he makes really nice
15:14subtle pocket movement to get away from pressure
15:17and to deliver the ball but other times
15:19he's moving into things and
15:21you know uh... i i think that
15:23nick i think you know the first point you brought up
15:26to me is really
15:27when this whole
15:28sort of discussion this week
15:30started like
15:32that's sort of where i was which is
15:36somebody has to tell me what is the upside to drake may starting week one
15:41i mean
15:43you know if he is it do we think this team's gonna be a playoff team no no
15:47nobody does i mean the chances of that are very long so you know what are we
15:51talking about here like you know i i know i was on tv and michael holly's
15:54like well you know we need to you need to win is getting many games as possible
15:58okay
16:00you know
16:01it and this isn't just specific to the patriots we see it all the time in the
16:04nfl and this is what i almost always say when when you
16:08talk about a new
16:09offensive coordinator in new scheme let alone all the new personnel that you
16:13pointed out
16:14pretty much every time by book i say ok
16:16it's going to take half a season for that stuff to come together
16:19you're hoping you're hoping to hold water
16:22until it starts to click for everybody
16:24in the second half of the season
16:26you want to sort of see everything go on an upward
16:29trajectory
16:30and so
16:31you know that's what all part of this i mean i just think
16:35i just think
16:36too much can go wrong playing him early
16:41with with and there's not much upside i mean
16:45what's the best upside of drake drake may starts okay maybe you steal a game
16:49or two in the first half of the season that maybe you didn't think before
16:55you know what's
16:57but there's too much risk there that
16:59you know what happened what's going to happen
17:01when he gets in these games
17:03and you know i like to use the
17:05the mac jones example when he started against the dolphins
17:09his rookie year
17:10at home
17:11it was uh...
17:14it was josh boyer on the other side it was brian flores
17:17and i remember and i wrote this at the time
17:20and i wrote this live
17:21i wrote it when i watched the film
17:24the amount of stuff
17:25that flores and boyer threw at mac jones in that game
17:29would most would
17:30would render most nfl rookie quarterbacks a puddle i mean
17:35double corner blitzes
17:36false indicators
17:39all sorts of stuff
17:41all out blitzes
17:43and mac
17:44mac completed his adjusted
17:46completion percentage in that game
17:49you know i want to say was like it was like over seventy percent
17:53they lost seventeen sixteen because damian harris fumbles when they're in
17:57field goal range
17:58like mac jones did a tremendous job and like
18:02there was probably not since andrew luck has there been a quarterback in
18:06the nfl as prepared
18:08for that game to survive that type of game and that's because of where mac
18:12came from alabama with brian dayball and steve sarkisian and nick saban
18:16and a pro style offense
18:18he had josh mcdaniels
18:20he had players around them they brought in talent hunter henry jacoby they had
18:24jacoby myers they had these guys
18:27and you know they
18:28they they had a plan and they executed and like and that's the best case
18:33scenario like it doesn't get much better than that as far as a rookie
18:37quarterback
18:38there's too many times where
18:39you know drake who comes from a you know much more green background than mac
18:44jones
18:45you know if he goes out there
18:47and now
18:48and rumors throwing all these things that he's never seen before never
18:52experience them
18:54now drake may is sir trying to survive the game instead of playing the game and
18:59when you see trying to survive
19:01that means
19:02you don't care about your footwork you don't care about your reads
19:06you don't care about any of that stuff you're just trying to survive and that's
19:09when you get regression so
19:10to me
19:12i don't think there's any upside that you can get starting him early
19:16then starting him in week five
19:18nine
19:19twelve whatever all you want to do is you want to see
19:23drake may play consistent winning football and to keep going
19:27upwards like he is and i just think you're really risking that and it's not
19:32worth it
19:32starting him earlier rather than later
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21:13with all of that said
21:15I found it interesting you know Gerard Mayo comes out and says that
21:18Jacoby
21:20was the guy who was outplayed by Drake May
21:23and
21:24you also had Gerard Mayo speaking with Yahoo Sports Jory Epstein last week
21:30saying hey look
21:32if
21:33May outplays him or whoever outplays who that's pretty much it right what else is
21:37there to be said
21:38meanwhile Alex Van Pelt in the same story
21:41in Yahoo said
21:43I think Brissette is pretty much more ready more prepared to be to be the guy
21:47on opening night or opening day
21:50and so
21:51there seemed to be a little bit of a disconnect there in the Yahoo story
21:55and that disconnect felt like it was furthered by Mayo saying what he said
22:00about
22:01May outplaying Brissette
22:03is this what Gerard Mayo wanted or do you think Mayo wanted Drake May to start
22:07week one
22:08you know it's
22:10it's a great question Nick I think that
22:13I'll start with this
22:16I think there's a lot of stuff that
22:19that Mayo thinks he knows that he doesn't know
22:21and I think
22:23this decision is something that's
22:25that's really not his expertise and
22:28you know I think
22:29you know some of the way he talked about these things and remember
22:33you know go back to the beginning of training camp the day before training
22:35camp started
22:37you know Gerard said
22:39if Drake goes out there and is lights out like he could win the game
22:43like
22:44I don't think anybody I don't think anybody would say that Drake May has
22:48been lights out
22:50in practice
22:51in the games has he been better than Jacoby especially the last three weeks
22:55yeah
22:56but to me that's not lights out
22:58but in terms of and I also think
23:01you know Mayo going out there and talking about like you know it's a
23:04competition and you know the better players are going to play
23:08like that's
23:09that's not true
23:10you know it's this isn't a two down inside run stuffing linebacker this
23:15isn't a slot cornerback when
23:17you know you could pretty much say we're going to play the best players
23:21you know this is the number three overall
23:23pick this is quarterback there's a lot more goes into this I mean I think
23:27you know what some people forget or or just don't even know
23:31Jacoby Brissett
23:33started against the Bengals two years ago and beat them
23:36with Alex Van Pelt as his offensive coordinator he outplayed
23:39Joe Burrow he had like a 130 rating in that game yeah they ran 44 times in the
23:44game
23:45but that's the exact way the Patriots these Patriots
23:48are going to be competitive and try to win games
23:51later on this that season Deshaun Watson
23:54came back and he lost
23:56to the Bengals and so
23:58you know Jacoby especially with his experience
24:02for two years in in the AFC North
24:05he's been part of game planning for the Bengals and this defensive coordinator
24:08and all that stuff and I just think
24:10I just think there's so much that goes into playing quarterback in the National
24:13Football League I think
24:14as is typical of most defensive head coaches I think Gerard has tried to use
24:18too blunt an instrument
24:20or at least verbally
24:21as far as the decision
24:23when it's a lot more nuanced than that he's tried to point it out
24:27but there's been too many times where he has sort of stuck his foot in his mouth
24:33so a few things you know I just think how to think of defensive guy
24:37and what defensive guy thinks of quarterbacks when they watch
24:41quarterbacks
24:43because they don't as you said Greg they don't know all the nuance
24:46Belichick might because he's been in football for 150 years
24:49but when you're new to this thing you don't get all the nuance
24:52that Alex Van Pelt understands
24:55whether it's on a very foundational fundamental level
24:58or if it's elite level you just don't quite get it so
25:02I could see Gerard Mayo looking at Drake May saying
25:05oh he's he's the most talented quarterback he's the most dangerous
25:09quarterback we have on this team
25:11maybe we should play him
25:12because if I'm a defensive coordinator
25:15and I'm calling all this great stuff but his natural talent beats me
25:18that's infuriating I know I could get to Jacoby Brissett
25:21right so I could see him kind of playing that in his mind
25:24as far as what Mayo has said and what was been what's been done
25:29I think he has a big problem with consistent messaging
25:32lack thereof
25:34I think that problem is because he talks a lot
25:37I think he talks a lot because he's trying to be the anti-Belichick
25:41but when you talk a lot and you get a lot of word salad
25:45it leads to contradicting yourself at times
25:48and that's what we've seen with Gerard
25:49because he's just he's in this trail of words
25:52and inevitably it kind of circles back and bites him in the ass
25:56the final thing I will say is
25:59actions versus words right
26:01like you could sit there and tell me that it was a quarterback competition
26:04I'm pretty sure Greg will agree with this
26:06this was not a quarterback competition
26:08it's not a quarterback competition
26:10when the rookie quarterback gets his first team reps for the first time
26:14you know on a Wednesday before the last preseason game
26:18and when he's getting these number one reps
26:19they're all handoffs and Brissett is beating him four to one
26:23as far as reps with the ones
26:25it's not a competition when he doesn't get a single snap with the first team
26:28in the joint practice
26:30so it was rather obvious if you're watching this play out if you're there
26:35this was not a quarterback competition
26:37but I understand Mayo trying to make it sound that way
26:40and I think he did that to try to keep both feet to the fire right
26:43both sets of feet to the fire
26:45push Brissett to continue to try to keep the rookie away
26:48try to drive the rookie
26:50but I think Drake May
26:52and he said some of this a little bit earlier today in the locker room
26:55I think the team knew
26:56I mean just how things were handled it was rather obvious
27:00yeah I totally agree with you
27:02I mean if you know I can only contrast it to you know Mac Jones and Cam Newton
27:08and you know while certainly Mac took a back seat to Cam you know for a while
27:15but as he started to play better
27:17and maybe you know maybe Drake got off to a little bit of a slow start in camp
27:22and that that changed things
27:24and again Mac and Drake were coming from two different situations
27:29Mac could definitely start on a higher plane
27:31in that Patriots offense than then Drake could in this one
27:36and so but yeah I mean you know if if they were truly
27:40if they truly wanted to fast track the kid
27:44then they would have more evenly split the number one reps
27:48he would have gotten more reps certainly in the Eagles joint practice
27:52but he just he wasn't ready for that at that point
27:55and and Mayo kept saying that you know we kept asking him about like
27:58when is he going to get reps with the ones
27:59and he's like when he's ready he will you know he never really did
28:04and so that should tell you that you know it wasn't really a competition
28:11which I have no problem with because I'm all about development
28:16and all I care about is Drake May for opening day 2025
28:20anything else I don't really care
28:22whatever you need to do to get him to be the best quarterback possible
28:25for this franchise by September 2025 that's what I'm here for
28:31and I do think they're on the right path
28:33I think that you know Alex Van Pelt knows you know what needs to happen
28:41how he how Drake May needs to be developed
28:43I think he's been very clear that Drake is a bit of a project
28:48and he's got a ways to go and that you know
28:50Jacoby can hold the fork down for now
28:53and gives them a better chance because he can deal with the blitzes
28:57and all this stuff he has more in his toolbox
28:59he said that he has more tools available to him
29:03Drake will get there and the way Drake has improved over the last three weeks
29:07he could be there in two or three weeks the way he he has rapidly improved
29:11and so I don't I don't I'm not doubting Drake May at all
29:16I've been very impressed with his with his demeanor
29:20and also the the way he has processed and improved
29:25that's I don't think I don't think people really quite knew
29:29what he was going to do in that area but it's been terrific
29:33and so you know the sky's the limit for this kid
29:35but you gotta bring him up right and Nick and I just I use this analogy
29:41you know developing like a franchise quarterback
29:45you know unless they're a furnished product it's a lot like baking a cake
29:49like you put it in and about 20 minutes in man that cake smells really good
29:54and you're really you start to get hungry and I want to I want to eat it
29:57we know Patriots fans are hungry for good quarterback play
30:02but you can't take it out of the oven just because it smells good
30:05it's not cooked all the way through and if you slice into it it's ruined
30:11if you slice into it too early it's ruined
30:13and so you know Drake and the quarterback development to me is the same way
30:19you know let them bake let them bake all the way through
30:22and trust me the goodness is going to follow
30:25it's that time of year starting to get a little bit cooler here
30:29you know what that means to me it means football season
30:31and football season to me is something that you have to enjoy
30:35you have to be a part of the experience in person
30:38whether it's pro, college, high school, what have you
30:43there's nothing like being in the stands for a football game
30:47and with that got to find a way to get there
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31:14Patriots are playing at the at the Bengals
31:20I'm sure some of you would love to see the debut of the
31:23Gerard Mayo era just also remember that the Cincinnati football team
31:27has a history of slow starting not very good in the opener
31:30so you know if you're looking for an upset it's not out of the realm of possibility
31:34it certainly is not so make time make sure you go check out the tickets
31:41I just booked my flight flights are reasonable go check it out
31:48I love part of what I love about this app is you get the view from the seats
31:53I have to have that I don't care if I'm going to a concert
31:55baseball football whatever I have to know what I can see
31:59am I going to have a good view are people going to be in front of me
32:03all that stuff so make sure you check that out
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32:47one more question about the quarterback situation Greg before we move on to the 53-man roster
32:53what I find interesting here now is well there's actually two questions I got
32:59the first question let's start here
33:01there's no veteran quarterback insurance on this roster right now right because he's gone
33:08he's in Kansas City and so now you have a situation where Jacoby gets hurt week one
33:13and nobody is you know wishing injury to preset but let's just say hypothetically
33:20I know Phil Perry asked this question after the game on Sunday night
33:23and now it really makes a lot of sense to talk about it
33:27it if preset gets hurt week one it's first quarter Cincinnati somebody blows a block
33:31preset goes down you're left with May and Milton and that I find interesting
33:38I think not because you know May is not quite ready because you could argue
33:43I'm sure the Patriots would argue we're not saying that Drake's not ready to play in an NFL game
33:48we just think preset is more ready than Drake to play in an NFL game
33:52but the pieces around Drake right if you wanted to use preset as the quote-unquote sacrificial lamb
33:58if the sacrificial lamb goes down what do you do now because if if May's not as ready as preset
34:06Milton is nowhere near as ready as Drake May or preset so it's interesting that right now
34:13they don't have on the 53-man or in the practice squad there's no veteran presence at that position
34:19yeah I I would be stunned by say like Monday that there's not some sort of veteran on the
34:27practice squad now actually my preferred guy given his experience with Alex Van Pelt
34:33in that system was Case Keenum of the Texans but he I think he's on IR now or he's he's at least
34:42out two or three months he's he got hurt and I think it was the final preseason game for the
34:48Texans he has a lot of experience has been around another guy who would be a great tutor
34:55for Drake May I haven't quite looked at the list to see what else is is out there I think
35:03Dorian Thompson Robinson made the team in Cleveland I want to say but they're going to
35:09have to get somebody in here at some point but I I do I agree with you that their moves indicate
35:16that they're okay if Drake can they're okay if Drake has to go into the game now I think it'll
35:24be very tightly managed I still don't like that plan I mean I'm fine with going with him as a
35:31backup and then if he gets in you know a lot of running the ball too tight at max protect like
35:38you know dialing things down very simple that's fine to get you through a game but beyond that
35:45I still have a lot of issues with that and so I'm very interested to see what they do as far as the
35:50veteran quarterback on the practice squad to giving themselves option sometime in the next
35:55three four or five days here's my last question now on the on the quarterback deal so we know
36:03Brissette's QB one apologies to Mark Bertrand who for some reason hates that term uh you have
36:11May and Milton so my question is the reps moving forward if you do want May to eventually start
36:19let's just say week five what's the plan moving forward how has he handled that practice is he
36:25getting reps with the ones what are they doing there I think well in keeping the three quarterbacks
36:32and let alone what they do on the practice squad so Joe Milton will be the scout team quarterback
36:38I would assume um and you know his athletic ability certainly gives a different dimension
36:44I mean they don't need it against you know maybe he's Joe Burrow this week maybe Drake May's Joe
36:48Burrow this week uh which would be interesting but you know Gino Smith other guys um you know
36:56I could see that being Joe Milton uh he's he's going to get some reps it's not going to be very
37:02much uh I'm not I'm not totally worried about that he's still going to get the QB school
37:10training that he's been getting and really that's what he needs he needs he's got Nick in my mind
37:18the biggest impediment to him playing in an NFL game now is he is just really uncomfortable under
37:23center he is now we saw him execute the play action pass and that was great but he's slow
37:30getting away from center he drops snaps he seems to be more worried about like just getting the
37:35snap than anything else and like you know that that stuff can come from from practice and what
37:40he's going to get at practice um you know so I I don't think you're hurting the team if you make
37:48it a 50-50 split in practice there might be a certain point in time say Jacoby starts 0-3
37:53and he's struggling now all of a sudden you're splitting the reps in practice and now you're
37:57throwing the competition open again but yeah I think it's going to be a minimal amount but I'm
38:03not I'm not too worried about that all right let's jump to the 53 and let's go through uh a few
38:09things that you did not have correct on your 53-man roster let's start with Kayshawn Booty
38:15wide receiver position uh of course Booty and Rager both made the initial 53-man yesterday
38:21Rager was cut uh looks like he's going to be on the practice squad he was at practice today
38:27so it looks like uh Rager will be on the practice squad but Kayshawn Booty makes it Greg your
38:32thoughts yeah I thought this was interesting not that Kayshawn didn't play well this summer I you
38:38know I think he did it was more about for me at the time it was more about a numbers game I kept
38:44six and so I opted for Rager's special team's value where Booty doesn't really have any uh but
38:53from you know what I understand I I know the Patriots they they respect how productive he has
39:00been for them even dating back to last season and this this summer and practice and things like that
39:05he was the most productive wide receiver that they had so that you know that means something to them
39:11I think they there was the thought that they're he he was of some value to other teams and maybe
39:18they wanted to keep that going a little bit maybe they were looking to trade him but weren't getting
39:23enough and now the Patriots called their bluff and kept him on the roster not that I think he's going
39:29to have any great value or anything like that but you know the kid can play he just he doesn't have
39:35a whole lot of upside as far as speed so you know that's why I took I took Rager and and his speed
39:41and special teams over Booty but I definitely see why they kept him. I think it's an indication as
39:49to hey they they believe in Taequann Thornton right now or at least they want Taequann to prove it
39:53because you don't have anybody that has that kind of speed outside of Thornton on this roster now
39:59you could have as you mentioned Rager but he'll be on the practice squad yes you can eventually
40:03call him up and keep him on the roster yada yada but at least to start the year this is hey Taequann
40:08you're the ex you're the guy to get downfield let's let's let's prove it now let's stay on the
40:13field let's get some production and prove yourself another guy I didn't get this at all and I said
40:19this last night when I was subbing in for Joe Murray I did not get this I thought he played
40:26like garbage against Philly I thought he played like garbage against Washington he was picked on
40:31he had several penalties Marcellus Dial makes the team and Sean Wade I have not been the biggest
40:38proponent of Sean Wade but Sean Wade is somebody who can play multiple positions in that secondary
40:43and was at least solid Dial got his ass torched over and over and over again yet as of right now
40:49Thursday August 29th Greg Dial's on the roster yeah this was the shocker to me now for a long
40:57time I had Dial on my roster um and actually I had him on my uh when I released my 53 the
41:04morning after the the commander's game but once I watched the game film from the commander's game
41:11I changed and I took him off and I put Wade on and I totally agree with you I mean you know what he
41:18what he did in the two preseason games there's no way that you can make the argument that he should
41:24be on this team for what happened in those games uh he was just he was bad stopped his feet he's
41:31grabbing penalties like you said now I will say this Marcellus Dial has talent I think he was a lot
41:38better in the practices than he was in the games uh I do think that he has special team's value
41:45as a gunner he was getting a lot of work in that area so perhaps that factored into it but Nick I
41:52don't know if you agree with me but I don't know I thought this was kind of a bad look by the front
41:57office like they almost had to it's the first time they've kept all their draft picks since 1997
42:03I think that was Pete Carroll's first season another time where they went through regime change
42:10from a big bad meany guy and Bill Parcells to uh the vibes guy with Pete Carroll and it's almost
42:19like they're trying to prove a point that uh these are our guys we picked good players Bill picked
42:26bad players and look at all of our draft picks on the roster I mean I just think it's I I just
42:33thought it was poor I there's no way look I it's not that I don't think Dial can play I do think
42:38Dial can play I just think he's really really raw and deserve to be on the practice squad
42:43and develop there and uh that he's on this roster is a little bit of a joke to me probably not going
42:49to be able to see it but for the people looking on YouTube or watching on YouTube I have a note
42:53there it says uh Dial on the roster arrow not a BB guy and in parentheses Wade slash Bolden I wrote
43:02that before Greg just brought up that last point that's how I felt I felt like Dial made this
43:06roster because he was drafted in April and Belichick might have been you know in the camp of
43:12Sean Wade and Isaiah Bolden this front office not necessarily in those camps so said let's keep our
43:18guy well let's keep our guy instead of the other guys and and we'll see how it plays out all right
43:23uh Joe Giles Harris not on the team yeah after you know he had a big pick in the game um you
43:31know I did feel a little bit odd like because I kept um Christian Ellis and Giles Harris on my
43:38roster which was a little linebacker heavy but I you know I was just looking for you know good
43:43players they were few and far between and by the way all these guys who who either um didn't or
43:51that I had on my roster or some of the guys who have gotten released since with the waiver claims
43:57like these guys were all designated by me as could be released in a in a waiver claim so we're
44:03talking about the bottom of the roster guys and and you could go either way um you know I thought
44:10he was really good really productive but you don't really need a whole lot of linebackers uh
44:15in today's NFL last one uh we got Del Pettis over Joshua Bledsoe yeah I mean look this was close I
44:24mean you know Del was very productive in the games he's done a nice job I just thought you know
44:31Bledsoe was just as good and he's more experienced and I just think there are too many moving pieces
44:37with you know relying on Jalen Hawkins at free safety where we're not really sure about them
44:42that I wanted a little bit more uh experience and I just thought Del Pettis was a guy that
44:47you could get back on the practice squad but obviously they disagreed all right we got one
44:51more thing to talk about but before we get into that I want to remind you take the guesswork out
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45:05BSJ Boston Sports Journal Greg's uh website do a terrific job check out Bedard and Giardi
45:10tag teaming on the Patriots 50 bucks for the year and finally download the prize picks app today
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45:27the 50 buck bonus it's guaranteed prize picks run your game all right let's quickly go to the uh
45:33commander's game Greg just a quick version of the three things you like three things you didn't
45:37like let's start with uh three things you didn't like so we end the pod on a high note okay all the
45:44all the penalties obviously especially on the offensive line I mean a core four couldn't even
45:50line up right and and I understand there's been a lot of outcry about like why didn't they just
45:54bench them and this and that well this isn't a regular season game like this and this was the
45:59first time that these guys were on the field together and they needed to see them on the field
46:03they needed film they needed to see how it worked and and benching a core four wasn't going to help
46:09that process so if you did that you'd be cutting off your nose to spite your face and it that's
46:14just not going to happen if that happened in a regular season game I think you can bet your ass
46:19that a core four would have would have been benched um pretty quickly with that uh
46:25Marcellas Dial and the secondary reserves I mean this is two straight games was two straight games
46:30in the preseason where for the most part the Patriots dominated a lot of the game were on
46:37their way to victory and then suddenly the secondary got thrown all over mostly Marcellas
46:42Dial and Azizi Hearn in this one uh was easy oh Azizi had a night didn't he yeah he did and uh
46:52so I'm a I'm a sorry to see Azizi go and what was the third thing oh Joe Milton uh
47:01I think we saw Bazooka Joe a little wild Joe uh yeah in this one he was a little bit all over the
47:07place I think did I hear he was like five of uh he was like five of 13 or something like that
47:13passing like it's not all his fault and you know you look who he's playing with and the guy uh
47:19Charles Turner and center who Felger didn't want to hear about was a ridiculous turn style like
47:23under center uh so it's not all his fault but it just shows you know Joe's got a way to go
47:31yeah it's the old uh Alex Barth I don't know if I'll get it right but you know
47:35Joe Milton if you need an 80-yard pass you get your 80-yard pass if you need a five-yard pass
47:38you get you an 80-yard pass we saw him throwing seeds and I was just thinking like I would hate
47:45to be one of those guys I'd hate to be a running back going out into the flat and Milton just
47:53ripping a 98 mile an hour fastball high and hard to me I'd be like Joe can you calm down man I know
48:00it's not easy to throw those touch passes at times but for the love of god all right let's uh
48:04let's finish on three things you like so uh we talked about may but I'm gonna boil it down to
48:10like his he showed with I think there were seven snaps under center and he was two of two on passes
48:16uh on from under center play action there was there was the poke play and then there was also
48:22the shoeless drake may uh play where you know so took a bad step but that is also another example
48:29of drake not getting away from center yeah quick enough and he does that a lot like there's a lot
48:35there was another snap where he sort of like double clutched and he does that a lot in practice
48:40as well but at least he got out there look for drake may a guy who played in the shotgun all
48:45the time for him to get under center in an nfl game and turn his back on play action and do that
48:51pull pass that's that's a good indication of where he can go that it's going it's going to be in his
48:57bag eventually it's just a little rough right now but just that he was able to do that and show that
49:03was a nice check mark um number two most of the blocking of the new offensive line like i know
49:11it's tough to see underneath the the avalanche of flags that were being thrown and you know especially
49:21you see linemen bumping into each other by the way a quick aside on that play where brissette got hurt
49:28yeah so three i blame three people on that play city so laden robinson and jemichael hasty on that
49:36play and i'll tell you why first of all robinson gets gets pushed back a bit like a yard and that's
49:43not ideal but it shouldn't be a death sentence what makes it a death sentence is that city so
49:49doesn't take a proper drop step when when you pull as a guard what you're supposed to do is
49:54you know your right foot goes back and gives you a better angle to come around
49:58and this was going to be a tight end screen the other way to to jaheim bell and so so
50:08even if laden robinson doesn't get pushed back i'm not sure so's in the right position to even
50:14make that block because i think he's he's too shallow he doesn't take a good enough angle
50:19now even if those things happen and i don't know the rules in this offense but in most nfl offenses
50:26if the play calls for a play action fake by the running back you are allowed to abort the the
50:32fake if somebody's coming in unblocked if you think they're going to come in and kill your
50:36quarterback you can just say hell no i'm going straight for the guy and hasty did not do that
50:42now i don't know the exact rules in this in this offense but that's normally the case so those
50:47three guys i had to blame but i will say i thought the blocking overall i only had a core four for
50:52one pressure you know laden robinson had some really rough plays he did but he also had some
50:58really nice ways place and i would say there were a lot more of those in this game you know at times
51:03it looked a little big for him but other times you know he was really good he's so strong and he
51:08finished as well you know michael winnie who got off to a slow start and he's slow foot and probably
51:13still overweight um michael lombardi uh but you know he did do a lot of nice things city so i
51:20thought was the was probably the the the sketchiest of them all out there i was really surprised by
51:26some of his technique issues but also remember you know you put david andrews out there instead
51:32of nick leverett and things look a lot different so um i don't think the offensive line was as bad
51:39as everybody thought and related to that my number three thing was the patriots running
51:44backs got 1.85 yards before contact running the ball nick coming into that game they had average
51:540.3 in the same category the league average was like 1.5 so they were over the league average so
52:00that was a lot of progress for them running the ball which was a good sign i'll say a couple
52:07things here uh my offensive line concern meter our last podcast i think i said like i'm not
52:13quitting on this offensive line they still have three guys uh that you can depend on in the
52:19interior i think they could find a fourth guy out of what they got last week the concern meter was
52:24probably about a four to a five today today it's about a six to a seven i'm not i'm not freaking
52:29out yet i'm not yes i was frustrated i was pissed on sunday night with the flags i thought it was a
52:36rough night for laden robinson but here's the thing i am not this is where you got to show a
52:43little bit of humility i'm not an offensive line guru i'm not breaking down film greg does that
52:49evan lazar does that brandon thorne does that and from what i've seen from all those three guys greg
52:54just said it they all pretty much agree that the blocking wasn't as bad as it looked and we're
52:59remembering the worst of the worst so yes i had my initial what the hell is going on you know
53:06this is a disaster but then i listen to the people who know more than i do and so you know
53:12thinking about it i still feel hey they've got the interior of the offensive line if they want it with
53:16a winnow at right guard uh but they have options they still have options katyn wallace was pretty
53:21good on sunday night yep robinson that was the first time we saw robinson really feel the moment
53:26he's a rookie that happens i'm not freaking out about laden robinson i thought it was telling
53:31today greg city so's out vanarian lowe's out now mayo said both guys doesn't seem too serious
53:38which is good news but i did find it interesting before we go i wanted to ask you this the the
53:43line at practice today the starting line was chooks at left tackle um hopefully he lined up
53:49correctly at practice nick leverett moved to left guard david andrews is your center here's what i
53:58found telling a one who stayed at right tackle robinson was still at right guard so the reason
54:07why i find that interesting is with city so out you could have kept a winnow at right guard
54:14kicked robinson to the left but they didn't they kept the winnow at right tackle they could have
54:18put wallace at right tackle after sunday night right but they didn't they kept the winnow at
54:23right tackle that makes me believe that they're really contemplating playing a winnow at right
54:29tackle keeping robinson as part of this offensive line and then you know if you look at it greg
54:36i don't think that's insane because whether it's leverett or so you feel like those guys can pretty
54:41much handle their ass at left guard david andrews is solid we both like robinson we both think that
54:47a winnow while not the perfect tackle he's at least shown that he could play good tackle in
54:52the nfl and now you're really just looking at left can chooks figure it out confederian low
54:56come back and push him yeah but how do you feel do you take the same from from the uh from the
55:01line today that i took yeah i do and i one other thing on that uh you know leverett who is more of
55:08a guard than he is a center um yes you know it seems like that's a placeholder thing probably
55:14for so they were probably with so they were probably like just take the take the week and
55:20we'll see where you are at on monday and you know plug you back in or the other thing is
55:26you know michael jordan who i had on my roster who got released um in these cut downs and just
55:33signed back to the practice squad you know i really like michael jordan i mean i'm i i don't
55:40think he's a a starter or star or anything like that but in terms of you could tell he's been in
55:45this like also wide zone scheme before he probably he's probably the technically the best
55:52guy in terms of executing that in the run so whether i i could definitely see it being a case
55:58where uh if it's iffy on so or maybe they want him to split time i i could see michael jordan being a
56:06practice squad elevation for the first game and actually playing in the first game instead of
56:11like a leveret if so can't go the whole game and one last point they they added brian hudson
56:19uh from louisville is an undrafted young man this last april uh why is that of a note well
56:25he's on the practice squad he's a center so he's actually trained at center without jake andrews
56:31they've been trying to figure that out so at least you have a guy that's used to snapping the
56:34football now in your organization so that that might give them a little bit more leeway to move
56:40leverett back to guard his natural position where he was today all right that'll do it he's greg i'm
56:45nick see you
57:06you