In a solo episode of Pats Interference, Andrew Callahan breaks down all of his Pats-Jets film notes on offense and defense, hands out game balls for Sunday's 25-22 win and runs down another edition of "What would NFL Films say." Later, he discusses the Josh Uche trade and answers your mailbag questions on future trades, offseason moves and more.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Well, how about that? It is a victory Monday for the Patriots.
00:16Very literal sense. Not only did they win yesterday, players
00:19are off today. They're off tomorrow. We, however,
00:22interference are not off today but we are bringing back a
00:25classic. Andrew talks himself and drinks alone. We have
00:28unofficially sponsoring today. Troge's Oktoberfest Lager
00:32because you gotta squeeze in your your last couple of
00:34Oktoberfest before we turn the page in the calendar and who
00:36knows? All hell breaks loose but for the meantime, Patriots
00:39are two and six. I was last chatting on here with Doug
00:42Kai. We were in Foxborough coming out of the locker room
00:45and all of the drama and all the brokenness and all the
00:47rumors and the staying out in London. Oh, they actually
00:48weren't staying out of London. Well, they might have and
00:51going, I don't know how they can win this game but they just
00:55can't lose thirty to three. Well, of course they won and
00:59they beat the Jets straight up as we will get into here today
01:03because honestly, aside from the rivalry and the history and
01:06what it means for the Jets season because now both the
01:07Patriots who are actively rebuilding and the Jets who are
01:11all into in the Super Bowl, both two and six is they beat
01:14them straight up. Like, this was a mono and mono one on one
01:18kind of game. The deep ride dove into the film and and wrote
01:20about it all today and studied the film in charge and the
01:22stats and the pressures and the personnel and the efficiency
01:24of blah blah blah. You know that's what we do here in a
01:26film Monday. In addition, we will have a mega mailbag. We
01:30got to virtually every single question asked to me on Twitter
01:32today including uh personal favorite in a while. Why am I
01:36the smart **** of Boston Sports Media which me kind of like
01:40laughing there might have offered some confirmation to
01:42you. I would disagree. We'll get to that in a little bit
01:44later. In the meantime, offense, defense, game balls,
01:48handing out game balls the first time in 6 weeks feels
01:50good. Uh plus what would NFL Films say staple segment here
01:53as we do film Mondays every single week win or lose. If you
01:57want to get to a Patriots game, first of all, tickets are
02:00available. Second of all, when you look for tickets, find them
02:03at game time and that goes for the Patriots. It goes for the
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02:15elsewhere for tickets anywhere, they will guarantee you 110% of
02:19the difference for that lower price ticket but when you go to
02:22game time regardless and you're searching around, it's all in
02:24pricing. There are no fees. There's no nothing. It's the
02:27event. It's the ticket you want and the pricing all right up
02:30front with game time picks which filters out all the fluff.
02:33Only good deals and saves you plenty of time for searching
02:36everywhere else because again, game time has the lowest price
02:38guarantee. So, whether you wanna go to the Patriots next
02:41game against the Rams coming up in a few weeks or the Colts
02:43after that, they got the bills, okay? Chargers later on,
02:46Christmas gift, who knows? Uh go to game time and download the
02:49app today. Use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase
02:53terms do apply. Again, create an account at game time. Redeem
02:55code CLNS for $20 off. Download game time today. What time is
02:59it? Game time. Uh what time is it actually? No, no time
03:03actually for uh a little rant as we get into again, Pat's
03:06twenty-five, Jet's twenty-two because as I saw on Twitter and
03:12we all await, first of all, word about Drake made his
03:14concussion which right up front, I I have no intel on right
03:17now. Still waiting to hear back. I don't expect this to be
03:20anything uh crazy or outside of the norm when it comes to
03:24concussions. Just certainly hope not. Fingers crossed
03:26history would indicate he'll probably miss a game. Maybe he
03:28doesn't. Bottom line is just wait and see but in the
03:32meantime, I see on the increasingly reasonable
03:35Twitter. Uh folks who are debating whether or not the
03:38Patriots beating the Jets as seven-point home underdogs was
03:43a good thing because of course draft position and this is
03:46where we take our first swing of the night.
03:51Well, folks, in 2 months, there will be no football, okay? The
03:55Patriots season will be over. They're not going to the
03:58playoffs. You know what will take longer than 2 months to
04:01roll around. That will be the draft and you know what beats
04:04the draft if we're being perfectly honest. A win like
04:07this on Sunday. Ugly as it was, Drake may leaving. You beat the
04:12Jets. You know what happened right away and it was, if
04:16you're a Patriots fan, spectacular. Not just because
04:19it was an upset. Not because you were an underdog. It was
04:22because you watched your rival season implode and at your
04:27hands, in your stadium, in your first comeback win in the last
04:31minute since 2017. All on a Sunday in October. Meanwhile,
04:36some folks with more than half a season to go are eyeing out in
04:39the distance. Oh, what is this gonna mean for April? Who
04:41cares? They play to win the game. You watch to see them
04:46win the game. That's it. And even if the draft rolls around,
04:50you get your favorite pick or player or whomever. I don't
04:52know. That's not gonna be as good as what just happened on
04:55Sunday because you don't know if that player will pan out. I
04:58won't know. Same as we saw last April. I felt great about Drake
05:01May. Look, he's he's played a few games. He's looked
05:03fantastic. I think the Patriots have their quarterback in the
05:05future but I don't know. What I do know is they just stuck it
05:09to the Jets in a way that you absolutely loved at home and
05:12that's what all this is for. The playing of the football
05:15games, not drafting of the players, not any trades. It's
05:18for the games themselves. So, as long as we have these games,
05:21I am telling you, sit at home, have a beer like I am right now
05:25and enjoy them because soon enough, they're going to be
05:28gone and don't forget last year, right? The Patriots
05:31obviously needed a quarterback. They needed a top five pick and
05:34they go into Pittsburgh on Thursday night and they win.
05:37Everyone goes, oh my god, the draft positioning and we were
05:40having those conversations here in the podcast. Was this a good
05:43thing? Was it not? Well, they won. Good for them. Christmas
05:47Eve, go to Denver. Oh my god. They're going to do it. They're
05:50going to do it. Chad Ryland actually hits his first game
05:52winning field goal. Now, he has three suddenly in Arizona and
05:55everyone's going, they blew it. This is a three quarterback
05:58draft. You're not going to have a top three pick. Yeah, they've
06:00got multiple games to go left. They'll probably lose to the
06:03Bills and Jets but they're not going to get a top three pick.
06:06Well, they did because even that close to the draft, that
06:09close to the end of the season, nobody knows anything. So, you
06:13can play the odds but I wouldn't especially with more
06:17than half a season to go because this team doesn't need a
06:19quarterback as I believe it right now. What they need is to
06:22win and to build a culture that a week ago, we're all doubting
06:25and I'm telling you is cracking based on the things I'm hearing
06:27from players on the record and for people within the
06:30organization off the record, what they need to do is fill
06:33those cracks and patch things up and win in a way that they
06:37did on Sunday. That's what we're here for. The football,
06:41not the walk across the stage and the hug from Roger Goodell.
06:44So, just wait, chill, enjoy. Okay, speaking of football, the
06:48Jets suck. Um this uh look, I talk about the Patriots beating
06:54them straight up. Here's how it went down on defense. Years ago,
06:58the Patriots played Aaron Rodgers and Devontae Adams but
07:01it was 2018. It was a Sunday night game. They played Green
07:03Bay and I remember watching that game my first year on the
07:07beat going, wow, they really just said, okay, beat us and it
07:10was easier then, right? You had Steph Gilmore, you had Deb
07:13McCourty, uh Jason McCourty, young JC Jackson, better
07:16secondary but what they did was say, we're gonna play man
07:19coverage basically the entire night and you know what the
07:21Patriots did on Sunday without Steph Gilmore or Dev McCourty
07:24in his prime or young JC Jackson. They did the same
07:27thing. They played their highest rate of man coverage in
07:31this game. Over 60% of snaps and they didn't blitz Rodgers
07:34once. They said, you have to beat us and of course, they
07:38came close. I mean, the Patriots won in the game winning
07:40drive at the last minute of the game but it worked out and
07:43that Rodgers completed 50% of his passes versus man to man
07:46coverage and finished four of nine with a sack against man
07:50to man coverage while the Patriots knew he was gonna pick
07:53on Marcus Jones. Okay, flip the flip the coin. Offensively,
07:57it's a run heavy script. Patriots ran the ball in 60% of
08:00the first downs. I said, hey, you gotta stop us and the
08:02Jets are like, okay, cool but then, as the Patriots continue
08:07to go on and of course, got to fourth and goal at the one and
08:11ran the ball again. They got that yard. They got that
08:14touchdown. They won the game and before that, as they're
08:18marching on this final drive, talk about beating straight up
08:20mano a mano, blitzing, man coverage, or just I have to
08:24block you here in the trenches. The Jets are blitzing
08:26Jacoby Brissett on that final drive. As many times as they
08:30had in the entire game to that point combined. Four blitzes
08:35for Jacoby Brissett before that final drive. Four blitzes
08:38against Jacoby Brissett in that final drive. He says, okay.
08:42Fourteen-yard scramble going right by Hassan Redick who
08:44rushed behind him. It's Bill Balichick was very quick to
08:46know today. No words about drive male but hey, talk about
08:49the Patriots after win. That's that's progress for Bill. And
08:52after that, the 34-yarder to Keshon Booty which thank god he
08:56held on to. Otherwise, the Patriots might have trade hit
08:58Josh Uche who of course we're gonna get to. Along with Booty
09:00and half of the receivers against it. He makes an
09:03adjustment. It was a great play but another instance of the
09:06Jets saying, okay, you wanna play one-on-one? So can we? And
09:08the Patriots said, yeah, we get that you're more talented. We
09:11get that you've got all these pro bowlers and Aaron Rodgers
09:13and Devontae Adams. Oh, and there's Sauce Gardner and Hassan
09:16Redick's back. We're going to beat you anyway. And that's
09:19what this game was about. Yes, we understand that it confirmed
09:22their toughness, right? They're not a soft football team. They'll
09:25have four yards per carry. They didn't rush for that many. And
09:28special teams was basically a draw aside from some missed
09:31field goals which were very big. Don't get me wrong. The
09:33Jets, the Jets screwed this up with those missed kicks and the
09:36eight penalties. But the best part about this was for the
09:38Patriots. In addition to the win, it was how they closed.
09:41Without Drake May playing straight up on offense and
09:44defense and said, lock it up. Buckle your chin strap. Fourth
09:47and one. Here we go. And they got it. And the Jets didn't.
09:51And it's great. The Jets have all that talent. You know what
09:53else they have? The same freaking record as the Patriots
09:55and that's what this game boiled down to. Uh but speaking
09:58of Drake May, he goes three of six, 23 yards, 46 rushing
10:01yards. We'll just stick to offense here. We'll get back to
10:03defense and then do game balls and uh what would NFL film say
10:06before your mailbag? Look, it's impossible to know how he would
10:10have played had he not been removed with that concussion
10:13uh right at the end of the first quarter, start of the
10:15second. But what's not up for debate is how well he played in
10:19that first quarter plus, okay? He was accurate on five or six
10:23passes. He saw the field very clearly. He ends up leading
10:27them and rushing I believe or just coming close to it. Let's
10:30see. We got this right here. Okay, just behind reminder
10:32Stevenson. He had 17 fewer carries and only two fewer
10:36yards but those 46 rushing yards were an instant antidote
10:40to what the Jets wanted to do in this game which is the same
10:42they did in week three which was a lot of man blitz pressure.
10:46Okay, well, man blitz is a good idea when the Patriots have a
10:49team like they do. The receivers stink. The offensive
10:52lineman don't hold up very well one-on-one and pass
10:54protection. Uh but if the quarterback's mobile, he'll
10:56kill you which he did and it wasn't only when the Jets were
11:01blitzing. It was sometimes just when they were playing man to
11:03man coverage like on the seventeen-yard touchdown that
11:05they had. So, it wasn't just that. It was the way that he
11:08was decisive. He saw that beautiful pinpoint deep ball to
11:12Taekwon Thornton who pulled the Taekwon Thornton and just
11:15dropped it out of bounds. Um so this is a guy who was beating
11:19that defense with his arm and his legs. He was seeing the
11:22field clearly and it helps that he's seen the same style of
11:24defense. The Jets in week three. Houston in the starting
11:27debut. Even the Niners when he was preparing for them before
11:30that and and most of the season. It's the same family of
11:33defenses. Um but Drake was great. Again, just a quarter.
11:37That's all we have. Two games and basically one quarter but
11:41very encouraging here from Drake May. Jacoby Percet.
11:44Fifteen to twenty-four. 132 yards. Eleven rushing yards.
11:47Does that sound like a Jacoby Percet stat line to you cuz it
11:50certainly does to me and that's exactly what it was and the
11:53interesting part about this not only was you know how the
11:56Patriots offense changed when it went from May to Percet which
11:59we could see you know in a five-game sample when Percet
12:03loses the job hands it to Drake May week six that you have a
12:07lot of um I don't wanna say like interfering variables
12:10there but you have an offensive line that's in flux and
12:12identity. The Patriots just still trying to determine and
12:15work out but the bottom line here was you could see very
12:18clearly in the play calling of Alex Van Pelt of how he felt
12:21about what he could do when Drake May was in the game when
12:23they had a 50-50 run pass split on first down versus what he
12:27could do with Jacoby Percet which is when that run rate
12:31skyrocketed to 76%. I mean he's taking the ball out of
12:34Percet's hands. He's saying we just need to get small chunks.
12:37Okay, we can't get explosive plays. Patriots were 31st
12:41being second worst in the entire league and explosive
12:44plays generated uh when passing the ball in the first
12:47five weeks. Yes, it had a lot to do with protection. It was
12:51also on Jacoby Percet. So anyway, Percet comes in the
12:53game. He completes just two passes longer than 10 yards
12:58downfield. There was a drop in there of course but the thing
13:00that stuck out of course was at the end. That toughness that
13:03wherewithal because as the Jets go from, okay, we're gonna
13:06blitz a little bit more to now we're blitzing the hell out of
13:08you on this final drive. He's not only IDing it, scrambling
13:13to convert a third and long, 14 yards and then after that
13:16converting another third long by hanging in the pocket and
13:20taking a hit to find booty downfield. He's doing all this
13:23under the pressure of a two-minute drill and really you
13:26feel like a must win situation for the locker room. It was a
13:28must win for the Jets if they wanna make the playoffs or not
13:30they lost but that's what the Patriots need and Jacoby
13:33Percet gave it to him. Now, around that, of course, he had
13:35a botched handoff the drive before deep in the red zone. He
13:38had uh I think a couple predetermined reads which is
13:41not always a bad thing, right? Like you're picking on matchups.
13:43It's really about what's the process sound post snap when
13:47you'll go, okay, I'm gonna throw to Kendrick Bourne on this
13:51corner route. It's a very common red zone concept. It's
13:54called smash. You have either a short in route on the outside,
13:57a little curl, and then the slot, in this case, Bourne runs
14:00a corner. Um is that my best option? Cuz Bourne was covered
14:04as we saw in the incompletion before the Patriots kicked the
14:06field goal on their last drive before their last drive. So,
14:10their penultimate drive. Well, you had a receiver open on the
14:13right side. Two plays before that. He's trying to force the
14:16ball to Austin Hooper. KJ Osborne's coming open down the
14:19seam like we saw for that one touchdown he had against
14:21Jacksonville the week before and Percet just locks in on
14:24Hooper, locks in on Bourne. Conceptually, that might have
14:27been the right call but in both cases, those guys recovered.
14:30You gotta move on. Anyway, that's Jacoby Percet. 60%
14:33completion percentage but he gets that drive at the end. He
14:35engineers what you need. Beats the blitz. Does it with his arm
14:39with his legs. You gotta tip your hat to a guy especially
14:42just lost his job a couple of weeks ago. That's enough on
14:45Jacoby Percet. Uh as far as the rest of the offense. In case
14:48you missed it, this was the first time the Patriots
14:51offensive line had the same starting lineup as a previous
14:55game. Okay, they're not making their debut altogether and from
14:58left to right, it went Vardarian Lowe, Michael Jordan,
15:01Ben Brown at center, Mike Gunwenu at right guard, and
15:04Amantre Jacobs at right tackle and that's important. That's
15:06just because Vardarian Lowe, everyone's new favorite
15:09offensive tackle who would have been tarred and feathered
15:12given the chance anywhere in New England last year at the
15:14start of the season is back and that's a good thing. It also
15:18allows Mike Gunwenu to go back to his best position of right
15:20guard and Amantre Jacobs, a second-year NFL player who
15:24spent most of college at right tackle and has since done a
15:27little bit of both in the league back to his best
15:29position too which is right tackle and so overall, this was
15:33the first game that I charted. We didn't have one guy who was
15:37kind of screwing it up for everybody else and the worst of
15:40them was Ben Brown who gave up both sacks for total pressures
15:44at center but a guy who again, less than 2 weeks ago is coming
15:48in on a red eye to start for team at center. I'm just, I'm
15:51gonna give him a little bit more runway than most players.
15:53Aside from him, Lowe gave up three pressures. Jacobs only
15:56had one. Jordan only had one plus a holding penalty and the
15:59team had a hurry. You'll notice missing among that group
16:01finally is Mike Gunwenu and I don't think it's an accident
16:05that him going back to guard and trusting someone to play
16:07next to him at right tackle um happened at the same time that
16:11he finally has one of his best pass protecting games of the
16:14season. Now, run blocking, this was an issue. This was like a
16:16complete reversal from the start of the season when we're
16:19talking here. Hey, the offensive line, we can't broad
16:21brush as being good or bad or terrible. We need to separate.
16:25Pass protection, downright awful. Run blocking, pretty
16:28good. Uh flip flop. Reminder Stevenson, average, let's pull
16:33it up again here. 2.4 yards per carry. According to pro
16:36football focus, he had 2.95 yards per carry after contact.
16:43So, this guy's getting hit in the backfield and creating
16:45again, yards on his own. He forced seven missed tackles.
16:48Drake may had four by the way. So, this is still an offensive
16:51line. It's getting more continuity. It's better in pass
16:53protection. You'll take the 30% pressure rate honestly
16:56because A, it's your lowest of the season. It's still just
16:59below average but but tenable. Uh you just need to bring the
17:02run blocking back because the overall game plan here for the
17:05Patriots was really just to get back to the roots. Now, I talk
17:08about Ben Pelt changing his play calling on first down one
17:10percent came into the game after May. Well, in that first
17:14quarter with May, they had twelve to seventeen snaps with
17:18multiple backs or tight ends and the backs comes with like a
17:21little asterisk because let's say the Smith, their extra
17:24offensive lineman who is a fullback for a handful of
17:26plays uh was part of that opening play but they're just
17:28saying, hey, we're getting back to our roots. It's not just
17:31running the ball but it's running with big personnel and
17:34when we're gonna throw, it's gonna be off of play action
17:36because just under half of Drake May's pass attempts came
17:40off of play action. I should say drop backs not pass attempts
17:43cuz he scrambled a couple times but the point being, that's the
17:46offense that we knew Van Pelt was gonna bring to New England.
17:50They haven't been able to fully enact it because the
17:53offensive line struggles and everything that that affects
17:56not to mention um they weren't playing with the quarterback
17:59that wanted to play with all along a guy with a rocket arm,
18:01some mobility who can roll out and execute the staple play
18:05action throws which we still haven't seen a ton from Drake
18:07May. Their play action rate has been below twenty percent. I
18:10think every single game which is way below for this style of
18:13offense but the point being um they're starting to get to that
18:17identity finally. Was it successful? No. Again, you
18:20average in design handoffs uh about two yards per carry. Not
18:25good but Drake May's ability to extend plays, scramble, run for
18:29touchdowns, create something out of nothing is what's going to
18:33carry this offense until they get either better pass
18:35protection or better receivers which as we all know uh
18:38probably not going to happen until the offseason. Last couple
18:41of notes here. The receivers. Whoo. Man, we're not for Keisha
18:46Booty making that catch. An adjustment on an underthrown
18:48ball from Jacoby Percet. These dudes uh I talked about Tar and
18:53Feather earlier as a joke. I don't know man. These are wild
18:56times. The receivers combined had as many catches as drops to
19:02late in the fourth quarter. It was four and four. Boren had
19:05two. Tech one Thornton had one of the first quarter. Keisha
19:07Booty also had a drop and you didn't see Javon Baker an
19:11offense. So he was on special teams. This was just as rough
19:14as it gets. So I said last week multiple times. I do not
19:17wanna hear from this group complaining about not getting
19:20the ball enough, not being aggressive, catch the ball, and
19:23get open cuz you're not getting open and now you're not
19:26catching the ball. You have a lot of catching up to do which
19:29isn't to say there aren't gripes about the offense, the
19:31protection, the quarterback player, even your coaching.
19:33Tyler Hughes was the last guy hired to this offensive staff,
19:36the Patriots receivers coach but um Hunter Henry had a team
19:39high two catchers against man to man coverage. He he doesn't
19:44separate. Okay? So if he's leaning the team and catches
19:48against man to man, a guy who does not separate and you can't
19:51beat him out including Demario Douglas. Um you have work to do.
19:55That's that's the last point we would say here. Alright, let's
19:58get to the defense. Uh I mentioned it off the top. This
20:00is a simple plan and they did copy from 2018 which talks to
20:05guys in the locker room afterward and said, hey, did
20:07you watch any? It's gonna sound obscure. This is exactly how I
20:10said it. An old game. Aaron Rodgers was still with the
20:13Packers. He was playing the Patriots. Sonny, anything I
20:17bring about? Yeah, yeah. We we pulled that up. And the what
20:21they told me after that was that the coaches had pulled up
20:24that film not because it worked. Patriots won thirty-one
20:26to seventeen and Devante Adams is on that team and he was his
20:28go-to guy. It was to say that we watched that game because the
20:31coaches wanted to express to us as long as Aaron Rodgers has
20:34been in the league. A member of the 2005. Think about where
20:38you were in 2005. The 2005 NFL draft. He's still doing the
20:43same stuff. Okay? He's an old dog with the same tricks that
20:48can be used to our benefit if we get lucky enough. And the
20:51point was, okay, he is so loyal to A, his favorite targets and
20:56the idea of playing matchups. Generally, a good idea. Play
20:59NFL football or just in the backyard. Throw it to the
21:02fastest dude, the biggest dude, or ideally, the biggest and
21:05fastest dude. But when he knows we're playing man to man
21:07coverage cuz that's what we're doing this week. He's going to
21:09go repeatedly to Garrett Wilson and he's gonna do so deep. So,
21:13the Patriots knew, okay, we can't clone Christian Gonzalez
21:16but we'll put Christian Gonzalez and Devante Adams
21:19erasing. Gonzalez allowed zero catches in one-on-one coverage.
21:23That's gonna leave Marcus Jones against Garrett Wilson and
21:26Garrett Wilson ate him up for 113 yards on five catches plus
21:29a couple of defensive pass interference penalties. Not
21:32good. But what also happened is Rodgers missed facing this man
21:37coverage on two-thirds of their coverage snaps without a single
21:40blitz. The only blitz that the Patriots sent cuz you have a
21:44single high safety typically back here along with some low
21:46robber and rat players was on the two-point conversion after
21:50the uh the uh the Packers Patriots. Jesus. The Jets took a
21:54delay of game. So that that that was their plan and they
21:57knew he's gonna go deep to Wilson and these are low
21:59percentage plays. So, over time, he might hit some as he
22:03did in the first half but over time, we're going to win
22:05because he's gonna bet on himself. He's gonna bet on his
22:08favorite receivers and we get that generally that sounds like
22:10a good offensive idea but this is the best idea we have because
22:13we're playing without Kyle Dugger. We're playing with a
22:16suspect run defense which forced him to play base defense
22:18meaning old school three four. Okay? It's it's it's it's a slow
22:24group. Okay? We're gonna bet in this working over time and you
22:27know what? It did just enough. Rodgers finished four of nine
22:33against man coverage in the second half for 73 yards and a
22:36sack and so the Patriots did rush Christian Ellis when
22:40obviously he got that sack from Aaron Rodgers. They also had
22:42Keone late five yards deep and coming in with a head full of
22:46steam to rush in the middle actually drew a double team
22:49that freed Christian Ellis but they never sent five or more
22:51rushers intentionally especially not in passing
22:54downs. There were two others I think early down play action
22:57pass that the Jets had. I'm like okay I think you can
22:59really count this as five rushers even though the edges
23:01are supposed to be dropping but they're engaged in case it's a
23:04run and that was the plan and in addition to firing Garrett
23:08Wilson at will but downfield because these are slot fades
23:11right? So he's starting in the slot. It angles towards the
23:13side lane. These are deep throws. They're just low
23:15percentage throws and over time that percentage is gonna drop.
23:20Rodgers look for Brees Hall who caught one of three targets and
23:23Tyler Conklin okay who did catch a touchdown in Jalen Hawkins
23:26but it was just a freaking great throw but look when
23:28you're the Patriots and you look at their roster and their
23:31options schematically you gotta make hard choices. This was
23:34the choice they made. I think it was a good one and when
23:37you're able to steal from old film and say hey guys this
23:40worked and we know Steph Gilmore's not here and Demi
23:42McCourty's not here but we trust you to do your job and
23:45Christian Gonzalez plays as well as Steph Gilmore did that
23:48Sunday night in 2018 against Green Bay and Rodgers and
23:50Adams. You gotta tip your cap. I think this was a daring plan.
23:54It worked. They played one-on-one and again Rodgers
23:57completed 50% of his passes against band of men coverage.
23:59All of Devontae Adams' catches were against zone. That says
24:02what you need to know. Uh as far as pressure though, the
24:05Patriots got some pass rush. Here's who you should credit.
24:09Keanu White had quarterback hit two hurries. Quail and Roy
24:13rough day in run defense mostly because he I don't think is
24:16suited well for this scheme but he had two hurries. Christian
24:18Ellis had the sack. Devon Gotchow had a QB hit. Anthony
24:21Jennings QB hit. Jelani Javai had a hurry and the other part
24:26about this game in addition to we're gonna play a ton of man
24:28to man. We're gonna play a little bit heavier to stop the
24:31run and the Jets only average four yards to carry. So not
24:33such a soft defense after all. It's the Patriots played much
24:37better from a tackling standpoint. Gonzalez missed
24:40two. Jalen Hawkins missed two and that was it. So even though
24:44the Jets finished with a success rate of over 50% meaning
24:48more than half of their plays. They're staying on schedule.
24:51And more than out of one of every ten plays was an
24:54explosive. Not good. They did enough to win. Not a shutdown
24:57performance. When you consider the talent where they were
25:00coming from getting steamrolled by the Jaguars uh this is good
25:03enough. That spoke to tackling. It spoke to much better play in
25:06the edge. Keanu White, Anthony Jennings, Dietrich Wise all
25:08played solid defensive tackles. Meh. It was Roy. It was
25:12Gotchow, Eric Johnson. I think that's something they're just
25:15gonna live with but at the second level you don't have to
25:17live with. The linebacker play that they got against
25:20Jaguars which was horrendous. What they got against the Jets
25:24much better. Not just cuz Christian Ellis had nine
25:26tackles and a sack and a pass breakup. The sack and pass
25:30breakup both coming on third down to fourth chance punt.
25:33Jelani Tavai played on the edge. He didn't miss a single
25:36tackle and he fit the run in a way that was disciplined and
25:39patient and sound. These are not great linebackers but this
25:42was much much much much much better than what we saw against
25:45Jaguars. That's why you had a chance. It's not dominant. It's
25:49not great. These are not core pieces suddenly but we can
25:52appreciate better play when we see it because the Patriots
25:54played so much worse than they could've in London. That
25:57changed here against the Jets. Um I mentioned Jalen Hawkins.
26:01So, they he has to fill in for Kyle Dugger along with Marte
26:05Mapu and Del Pettis, the undrafted rookie and Pettis and
26:08Mapu played a little bit more in the box than Jalen Hawkins
26:10did who played single high and this is important because you
26:13know, again, you're playing man to man coverage. You just have
26:15one line of defense back there and so a lot of the routes
26:17that Jets were running were away from that safety but
26:20sometimes there were doubles of Adams and sometimes there
26:22were not but you needed to be able to fit the run from three
26:26safety personnel. So, when Mapu and and Del Pettis more often
26:30were not in the box compared to Jalen Hawkins, they held up
26:33and they held their own. Again, neither of them missed a
26:35tackle. That's huge. Jonathan Jones also moonlighted and
26:38played a little bit of safety here and helped out with some
26:41of those doubles. Only thirty snaps for him by the way
26:42because Marcus Jones replaced him at outside corner. So, some
26:46of that is the unseen communication, coordination,
26:50having the right leverage like because so often, even if
26:52Rodgers is not making these downfield throws, as the
26:55Patriots are daring him to make. Time and time again, the
26:57way that he used to, you still have to be in position to
27:00discourage them or just make it a little tougher for him than
27:02he would think. They did that and that's why they got game
27:05balls in the locker room from Jared Mayo. Speaking about
27:07Jalen Hawkins, Del Pettis, who I miss here, Marte Mapu. Last
27:12thing. Uh I don't know if I have an all last thing. Yeah,
27:17I really don't. Uh Marcus Jones again took his medicine. Like
27:20we can talk about oh this is such a genius plan. Garrett
27:22Wilson go for 113 yards. I mean like that all came at
27:25Marcus Jones expense. Five catches, two flags but I will
27:28say uh he hung in there like mentally tough kid given a very
27:32tough responsibility and I think the Jets if they're
27:34allowed to do it over again, we continue to throw in Marcus
27:37Jones from Garrett Wilson but ultimately, it was not the
27:41matchup as much as the throws that they knew Rodgers was
27:44going to take at that matchup. If enough of them fell
27:47incomplete, they can do enough to force them to have a
27:49scoreless drives on more than half of their possessions
27:51which is exactly what the Jets did and the Patriots win. Okay,
27:54time for game balls. Uh Christian Gonzalez, look, you
27:57give up zero catches and man to man coverage but again, two
28:01thirds of the time, that's what you're playing. That's the
28:03number one corner. Great, great game from Christian Gonzalez
28:06against Devante Adams. So, okay, it's not not the Devante
28:09Adams of three, 4 years ago. That's fine. He's still a guy
28:12that they just traded to get to change their offense to change
28:15their team uh and he did nothing of the sort Sunday
28:18against the Patriots. Hunter Henry, only five catches, just
28:22six targets, 45 yards but you remember some of those catches.
28:26One was a twelve yarder on third down early in that final
28:30possession. He had others against man coverage. He just
28:33has the trust of the quarterback whether it's Drake
28:36May or Jacoby Brissette and he's playing his **** off in a
28:43way that like, okay, he's a professional. He just got 27
28:46million dollars for 3 years over the offseason. He's a
28:48captain. He should. You don't see that from everybody. You
28:52haven't even seen that from every captain to come through
28:54the Patriots the last 3 or 4 years. He's a guy you want
28:57having your back and he has everyone's back whether they're
28:59run blocking, whether he's going downfield, playing on
29:02third down, playing from behind, making these giant
29:04catches in London over the middle of the field that are
29:06really just prayers from Drake May. Hunter Henry's coming down
29:09with those. He's doing it in big spots. Hat tip to him.
29:12Last one, Christian Ellis. Look, he he had a bad starting
29:16debut, okay? God came over. Just special teams meetings
29:20only a year ago. Not playing defense. Not really fitting the
29:23run. Just trying to feel things out. Told me that Dante
29:26Hightower and Drodd Mayo have told him, hey, you can't and I
29:30can relate. Like, overthink this. You just gotta go. You
29:33gotta react. You gotta play. You gotta get out of your own
29:36head. He did that in a big way in coverage. Overcame that
29:40early penalty. Getting some pass rush. Fitting the run.
29:44Really, really, really good game for Christian Ellis who is
29:46finally at least at least for one game. We're not gonna
29:49project that athletic linebacker that everyone's been
29:52calling for in New England for God knows how long he might be
29:54here. It might not be a long stay but Christian Ellis is
29:57here. Alright, what would NFL film say in the mailbag? Uh so
30:01NFL films as we talked about, I think the last 3456 weeks of
30:05this fictitious hour-long documentary, documenting of
30:08course, the Patriots season. Just just goes very quickly
30:12over a lot of these losses because they've been
30:13miserable. They sink their their best people everything
30:21into this game. A, because of the rivalry. Patch jets, right?
30:24B, because of the stakes. The star power with Aaron Monders
30:29and so you get uh it starts on the heels in the Mayo comment.
30:33Soft, how would the Patriots respond? Well, boom. Drake May
30:36that 17 yard touchdown. 20 miles an hour by the way
30:38according to the next gen stats. The last quarterback to
30:41run 20 miles an hour in a game. Jacoby Brissett 2016. You would
30:45think it would be longer and not the slow footed guy he just
30:47replaced but true story. It was rookie Jacoby Brissett. Anyway,
30:50they replay that four or five different times. You get the TV
30:54call, you get the radio call, Patriots up seven nothing but
30:56then it goes straight to another scramble and it's May
30:59getting hit from the back of the head. You have a quiet
31:01stadium. You have a quiet. If so, it was quiet which god
31:05knows that might not ever happen but if he is, the
31:07seriousness, the gravity of losing Drake May and he gave
31:10me, it started well, you'd come back home. You haven't won at
31:12home in more than a calendar year. Just hits very over the
31:16head. So, here comes Jacoby Brissett. You get a little
31:18redemptive arc but the Jets aren't done with you yet
31:20because they've got a score and they do coming back in
31:23response. Running over you, Rodgers throws a touchdown,
31:26then throws another one. What are we gonna do? Well, the
31:28Patriots get a little pickup from Marcus Jones who has that
31:32sixty-two yard return in the third quarter after a three
31:35now and there's a little bit of flashback to 2 years ago.
31:38Marcus Jones knocked the Jets out with the punt return
31:41touchdown in the last minute. Well, anyway, Jacoby Brissett
31:44hands the ball off. Reminder, Stevenson goes in for his first
31:46touchdown. You've got back and forth, okay? Christian
31:49Gonzalez is mic'd up. You get a little bit of something from
31:51him and of course, it comes down to Rodgers hitting the
31:54ball off for that. Go ahead. Touchdown. Under 3 minutes
31:56left and what are the Patriots going to do? Gut check time and
32:00of course, there's some sort of uh cliche or there's some sort
32:03of line that just really gets you to, you know how this game
32:05is gonna end. You're on the edge of their seat cuz this is
32:07what NFL Films does and you get Jacoby Brissett to Hunter
32:10Henry. Then, you get Jacoby Brissett with the scramble.
32:13Then, the big throw to Booty which has that long camera
32:17angle. It's low. You've seen this before. The ball spiraling
32:20slowly, slowly down descending through the air. Land softly in
32:24case on Booty who slide makes the catch and then everything
32:26speeds up and you get to the goal line and everyone's locked
32:29in. You get the slow mo. Mayo's looking on. Everyone on the
32:33sideline. Someone from the Jets who's just got like a towel
32:35over their head or or just something hiding behind their
32:37hands cuz you know that that's how all of these go. Hand it
32:40off to Stevenson. The Bob Sosi call takes us home across the
32:43goal line. Survives the review. Boom! There it is. Patriots get
32:46their first win at home in more than a year. Get their first
32:49comeback win in the final minute since 2017 and the losing
32:53streak and the Jets season. You get comments from players
32:57afterward. Maybe a little Aaron Rodgers, darkness, whatever
32:59happened over there and uh it's just this is what NFL Films was
33:02made for. Speaking as someone who as a kid wore the hell out
33:06of a VHS of the Patriots 1995 unfinished business VHS in that
33:14hour-long documentary that season. Actually, it might have
33:16been a half hour but uh felt like it went even a little bit
33:18longer. Speaking of going longer, before we get to the
33:20mailbag, I have to remind you because yes, the Patriots won
33:23on Sunday but it is no guarantee they're gonna win
33:25this weekend in Tennessee even though it is Tennessee but you
33:29can win on your own with the Patriots without them if you
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33:46if you go to prize picks, all you have to do is pick up a
33:49couple of players and certain stat projections and whether
33:52it's passing yards or touchdowns or points, you just
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34:33Prize picks run your game. So, the mailbag all encompassing. I
34:38have postponed the Josh Uche conversation. He was traded
34:42this afternoon for a 2026 sixth round pick. Instant analysis
34:46comes in from Bill Belichick saying, oh, it's not enough. The
34:51Chiefs basically gave up nothing and people who do the,
34:54okay, if this is a future pick, you devalue it by a year. So,
34:58what this really is is a 2025 seventh. I don't totally
35:02disagree but it's common enough that you just kinda have to
35:04accept it. Uh to that, I would say, well, the Patriots are in
35:08this hole because you didn't trade Josh Uche a year ago when
35:12he wasn't playing and his value was even higher and in both
35:15instances, he was cheap and at the end of his contract. So, if
35:19you wanted a fifth round pick, you could have done it and you
35:22didn't. Uh which sounds petty and punitive to Bill but like
35:25that's just the reality of the situation. Now, I will say this
35:28too. It was lower than I expected. So, if you're
35:30disappointed at home, I get that. I would also say, the
35:33league knows, according to reports, Patriots are open for
35:35business. So, there's no world in which I believe someone
35:39comes out and be like, oh, we would have given you a fifth.
35:43No, Josh Uche has twenty and a half career sacks. More than
35:47half of those sacks over four and a half years came in one
35:51season. Opposite, a Pro Bowl career year from Matthew Judah
35:56and in games which we documented here doing all the
36:00film Mondays in 2022. We're against the Cardinals and the
36:03Colts. I think there was a Bill's game in there. Like bad
36:06offensive lines. So, this isn't not Josh Uche. It was a ton of
36:09natural talent. We'll answer the first question from Thomas.
36:12How big of a loss is Josh Uche? He was a healthy scratch
36:16Sunday because of the trade deadline. You don't wanna
36:18injure this guy that you're about to deal but if they had
36:22made him a healthy scratch separate from the trade
36:25deadline, this was three weeks ago, I wouldn't have been
36:27totally shocked. I mean, the production is what it is. Like
36:30in a person that basis, that's great but this is a classic
36:33case of the eye test not whatsoever meeting up with the
36:37metrics and I'm a metrics guy all for analytics to the point
36:41some people are calling me the C word on Twitter last week
36:44doing radio for citing them but with Uche, how much did you see
36:48him drive winning? Get a sack in the fourth quarter of a
36:52close game or was this cleanup duty? Like we saw a lot in
36:542022. I also think there's something to be said for him
36:57just not being in the right system. So, he's a talented
36:59player. I wouldn't be surprised if Casey unlocks him a little
37:03bit in a way that we just haven't seen the last few
37:04years and by the way, it's also not just sacks. It's
37:07quarterback kits. You can look this up for yourself. 2022 was
37:10a complete anomaly in 2020, 2021, 2023, and here we are in
37:152024. So, I wish it worked out. I like chatting with Joshua a
37:19lot um but II just don't think it's that big of a deal. The
37:23Patriots still have a four-man pass rush problem whether he
37:26was here or not. So, they'll take the pick. They'll probably
37:29take another pick in a trade upcoming which brings us to the
37:32next question. From built to last, what message does it send
37:35to the team that they're focused on winning and getting
37:37better every week, getting coaches and players but the
37:40front office trades your second best pass rusher for a measly
37:43six-round pick to a division foe. Okay. So, not a division
37:46foe. Chiefs are in the same conference but they're not in
37:49the AFCs uh and I would say by now, I think the guys get it in
37:54the locker room and certainly in the coaching staff. The
37:56coaching staff knows this because Elliot Wolfe has told
37:57me this in person that hey, yeah, we've conveyed to the
37:59coaching staff. We want you to play younger players as the
38:03season goes on. They wanna get younger. They wanna develop
38:05them. Gerard said this on the EVA training camp. We're
38:08developing guys to find a foundation. So, the players in
38:12the locker room go, okay, even if I thought, I'm gonna prove
38:15you wrong. We're gonna win enough games where you change
38:17your mind. Well, that time has come. You're you're two and
38:20six. So, they know what they either signed up for or a part
38:23of now. It's a new regime. That's not lost on them. They
38:26wanna play. Don't get me wrong but Jaheim Bell, seventh round
38:30rookie tight end played eight offensive snaps on Sunday.
38:33There was no real reason for Jaheim Bell to play on eight
38:35offensive staff particularly as a run blocker which is mostly
38:38what he was doing but he was out there anyway cuz we're
38:41entering this new phase I believe of the Patriots
38:44prioritizing that development in a little bit more obvious
38:47way. Javon Baker, we talked about it. He he got a kick
38:49return. I I'm sure I'm forgetting a day or a practice
38:53but I don't remember J Pop Baker returning kicks in
38:56training camp but they feel compelled to get him involved.
39:00Keep him engaged. That was their way to do it because now
39:02you're seeing that be a little bit more obvious. Hey, we're
39:05here to develop the kids and they're starting to do that.
39:08So, that's what it is. Ed, who else might be purged from the
39:13Patriots roster prior to the NFL trade deadline? Ed, that's
39:16a little dark but you're you're you're a loyal listener. So,
39:19we we appreciate you and we'll skip over the word choice. A
39:22few names, three of them, Kendrick Bourne, KJ Osborne,
39:27Jonathan Jones. Now, the conversation around the trade
39:32deadline is a little bit more complicated in my opinion and
39:35I've heard this in chatting with people close to or within
39:37the team is that leadership has to factor in now because of
39:41things that have been unforeseen. Namely, losing
39:43David Andrews and Juwan Bentley to injury, Jabril Peppers to
39:46his arrest and legal situation. So, there's a void here that
39:49you need to fill in a real day-to-day way leading by
39:52example and obviously by word for those young players to
39:56develop but do it on the right track. So, if those guys are
39:59out of the picture, Andrews, Bentley, Peppers, who's gonna
40:02step in and do that? And if you trade Bourne who had the best
40:05comments of any Patriots receiver probably this season
40:08and explaining what they need to do to grow up basically and
40:12what he meant clarifying his comments to me about saying,
40:14yeah, guys need to make better personal decisions. If you
40:17trade him, you lose a potential leader. Osborne, I think has
40:22lower stock and we're talking like maybe a six for Kendrick,
40:26conditional seventh for Osborne who's much better in
40:28Minnesota but playing with Justin Jefferson and Adam
40:31Thielen before he got bad and Jordan Addison but like
40:35Osborne's not fetching much and the last one being Jonathan
40:37Jones. He is that leader now. Like he broke them down in the
40:40locker room after Sunday's game and in Jacksonville reamed the
40:43team out saying you basically have to man up. So, that's the
40:47caveat is that I think on paper, you'd go, okay, Jonathan
40:51Jones plays a premium position, starting caliber player, smart,
40:54valued, a lot of ex-Patriots. Coaches, we'll ship him off.
40:57We'll get a fifth or six. Kendrick Bourne, same deal.
41:00Anyone who's in San Francisco right now or has been elsewhere
41:03or had been there and gone elsewhere, they'll be
41:05interested in him, plays in the West Coast system. He's ready
41:07to go. I don't know if the Patriots are, I know they're
41:11open for business. Again, as has been reported but I think
41:15there's a little bit more hesitancy based on what's gone
41:17on the last few weeks and I think they should be hesitant.
41:21I know I've answered this person's questions before and I
41:24think it's non sequitur of burnt ships. Ships that have
41:27been burnt. Still sitting there though, supposedly.
41:30Quote, with our wide receivers dropping so many balls, have
41:33the Patriots explored trading for Deontay Johnson at all?
41:36This I don't know but I would say this. It's important to
41:42remember the Patriots just invested two top 100 picks or
41:45close to it in receivers. They want Jalen Polk to play. He was
41:49out on Sunday with a concussion. Javon Baker is going to be in
41:52the mix and Javon Baker just might bust out, might be too
41:54immature and never get his act together. I don't know. I hope
41:57that's not the case but you would also think by now he
41:59would have played a little bit. He hasn't. They're here. Born
42:03obviously we just talked about and some of these guys could be
42:06traded or could be gone. DeMario Douglas is here but those
42:08are three receivers, young receivers, Douglas, Polk, and
42:11Baker that they're invested in. If you bring in Deontay
42:14Johnson, yeah, he might be a temporary upgrade but if they
42:16think Polk is going to be better than Johnson long term, that's
42:19part of their calculus. You don't want him to get in the way
42:22of those three kids. Now, I would say make Baker prove it.
42:26I don't know but it's just it's a little more complicated with
42:30the long-term vision than if you and I were just playing
42:33Madden or just having a beer like I am right now to say,
42:36yeah, get him. He makes him better. So, I could see this
42:38going either way. Have they had talks definitively? I don't
42:40know but I am positive the Panthers are talking to
42:43multiple teams before they sell off Johnson because they just
42:45don't have any more assets. They're much like the Patriots
42:47right now just in the NFC and a little more disorganized.
42:53Lawrence. Hey, Andrew. Would you hold out May this week?
42:57Titans have the number one defense. Uh I think he says
43:00we're yards per game. I'd have to double check that. I know
43:02they give up 52 yesterday. 52 points but five of the Lions
43:06touchdown drive started on Tennessee's 26 yard line or
43:09closer. Lawrence doing his research. Uh May's situation is
43:14entirely tied to L for me. And you know, if you've been
43:17listening, I've been on the record. Yes, as someone who's
43:19sit May, wait, I'm not in a rush. But my idea, ideal
43:23timeline was right where we are now. Middle of the season, you
43:27figured out what you have on offense, what you don't, how
43:29you're gonna problem solve and we see the Patriots are doing
43:31that. They just gave up their lowest pressure rate of the
43:34season to a Jets defense that yeah, it was a little bit
43:36banged up but still, it's Quinn and Williams, okay? So, if May
43:40is recovered from his concussion, play him. If not,
43:43but wait. Jordan, quote, we're seeing a lot of rookie
43:46receivers have immediate impacts on their teams including
43:49players like McConkie, Vlad McConkie. Uh a good lad,
43:52McConkie. They could have been drafted by the Pats with their
43:54second round pick. Is it fair to already second guess Wolf on
43:57taking Polk and Baker? Sure. I don't know. Like I'm I I like
44:03Vlad McConkie more than either of those players in the first
44:06place. Am I going to throw a small parade in my neighborhood
44:09saying I told you so? No. It's 8 weeks into the season and I
44:13know you're not suggesting that I'm being a little facetious
44:15and dramatic. The point is it's so early and the Patriots
44:19situation we know is not really conducive to development let
44:22alone evaluation. So, it's hard to wait and see because Vlad
44:26McConkie's also playing in offense where he's basically
44:29the featured guy and he has a top five quarterback, okay?
44:32That's not the case for Polk or Baker right now uh with the
44:35quarterback or being featured that heavily. So, I would just
44:38say wait but I'm of the belief they would have been better off
44:42with Vlad McConkie myself. There were some medical issues
44:45that I'll bring up. I think it was his back that scared off
44:46some teams. So, that's something to just remember if
44:49you happen to be one of the four people tuning in Chargers
44:51games outside of LA uh and he goes off like he did this past
44:55weekend against the Saints. Renato or Renato. Uh hey, Andrew,
44:59I'm a big fan from Brazil. We're international, baby.
45:01We're we're in Ireland, Denmark, England, Brazil. If
45:06you are from another country that I've not listed off,
45:07please please reach out. Um I should get a little map as part
45:10of my background for YouTube just to represent. Anyway, from
45:13Renato, uh I was wondering if this game was the start of a
45:16shift for the Patriots biggest needs going from offensive
45:19tackle to maybe receivers and corners. A Travis Hunter pick
45:23feels uh better after this game. I would feel way better
45:26than having Ronnie Stanley uh uh at left tackle as well.
45:29Okay, I don't know what Ronnie Stanley's doing that question
45:31but I I understand where you're coming from that. Okay, the
45:36offensive line is playing better. Pressure rates down.
45:38Viderian low. Maybe it doesn't suck. Not sucking is good. Uh
45:43you need premium talent at premium positions. Patriots
45:47just invested a second round pick in Jalen Polk. They
45:49clearly see him as a long-term starter even though he has
45:51played like dog **** the last few weeks and dealing with his
45:54drive. Describe that a mental hump. Hopefully gets through
45:57that. I'm sure that's really happening. Let's all root for a
46:00bounce back game for Jalen Polk but ideally, Viderian Lowe's
46:05your swing tackle. Like, I know it's been a while since the
46:08Patriots had two solid bookend tackles. Set it and forget it.
46:12Week one till the playoffs. These guys can block. I trust
46:15him. Put him on an island. That's it. But that's the goal
46:18because that also unlocks all of these different protections
46:21that you can use where if teams know, hey, they have to help
46:24the right tackle. They're gonna be sliding right. They're gonna
46:26be chipping. They're gonna be doubling. We'll just send
46:28pressure the other way or we'll pretend to overload that side
46:30and then actually bring it from the opposite one. So, it's a
46:33personnel thing as much as schematically. I'll also say
46:36when you have a good offensive line, that only lifts your
46:40passing game cuz you get better protection. It's your whole
46:42running game. The running game is mostly predicated on how good
46:45is your offensive line and how many defenders are in the box.
46:48From then on, after those two factors have been decided, it's
46:53how many tackles can your running back miss, okay? How
46:57many tacklers can he break through, avoid, dodge,
47:00whatever. Stevenson's pretty good to that but I would still
47:02have offensive tackle at the top. Receivers is very close.
47:05Like, both of these position groups are bottom five, bottom
47:07ten of the NFL. So, I need to see a little bit more evidence
47:11from low and DeMondry Jacobs who is playing better but either
47:14way, I would prefer those guys to be my number three and four
47:16tackles and right now, I'd feel a little bit more comfortable
47:20saying Polk will eventually get to be a number two or DeMario
47:23Douglas uh than any guys that have a tackle right now. Alright,
47:26the last uh oh no, we have two more questions. Uh quote from
47:29hate X but I'd be bored. Why are you so passive aggressive?
47:34Love the content but you're definitely the smart **** of
47:36Boston media content. Um okay, so I'll be serious at the top
47:40because I want you to know what I what I really think and feel
47:44and we're, you know, 48 minutes into me talking to you and
47:46having a beer and we're not gonna be honest here and now,
47:48we're, when would we be? Um look, I approach my job looking
47:55to enrich and that most always comes from education from
48:01reporting or analysis. Uh combination of both ideally and
48:06then secondarily, doing TV or radio or this podcast. It's to
48:11entertain and when you thread the needle like that's the
48:14sweet spot, man. You know, you entertain while you educate and
48:17it's not because I envision myself as like having a ruler
48:20or you know, uh whatever teachers are using nowadays to
48:23kind of like give a talk but away from all of that is what I
48:28think you do get in a lot of other places, you know, in
48:31actual traditional media or just people who are being stupid
48:34on Twitter and that's trolling or stirring people up or just
48:37getting some sort of attention. Okay, that's not my oxygen here.
48:40My oxygen is good work. I feel best when I feel like I've
48:44given you my best and that's not measured in clicks. It's not
48:48mentioned uh measured in likes. It's just measured in the work
48:52and the input that I have with that. So, for me, yeah, when the
48:55Patriots go eight, nine and there's a bunch of dysfunction
48:57in the coaching staff semester and here's Matt Patrician,
48:59there's Joe Judge. I'm gonna make a lot of calls to do my
49:02best to educate you and do this big expose with Karen Gregan
49:05with whom that would have been impossible to write 2 years ago
49:08to tell you what the hell is going on and then when the
49:12Patriots go four thirteen and it looks like this might be
49:14Bill Belichick's last season. First of all, that season was
49:17miserable for everybody. I'm gonna go back in, put on my
49:21hazmat suit, make late night phone calls, dig in with Doug
49:25from late October all the way to the end of that season and
49:28again, report the story that would have been impossible
49:29without him and just try to figure out what the hell is
49:31going on and it sucks that there's a lot of negativity that
49:34drives or companies losing but that's what it is and as far as
49:38like busting balls in the radio like I have a lot of really
49:41good friends in in media and I'm very lucky that it's just I
49:45think a really good market. Now, when it comes to Felger,
49:47yeah, we can go back and forth on TV but that's his style.
49:49That's his his combativeness and I'm not backing down from
49:52anybody, okay? You wanna go back and forth? That's it. But
49:56around all that, like, we're gonna have some fun. I would
49:59rather laugh about parts of a rebuild that we can't after
50:04sitting here for 10 hours and going through the film and
50:06writing it up and having the gifts and the clips and the
50:08breakdowns and yada yada. Like, that's where I come from. So,
50:10it's not to make fun of everybody. It's not to troll.
50:13It's not for any kind of attention like, you know, I I
50:16tell people who ask me all the time in sports journalism,
50:18this answer's gone way too long, way too serious than
50:22maybe it should have been. I say, you have to do one thing
50:25that makes you proud every single day. That's what's
50:29gonna sustain you. Whether you're having difficulties on
50:32your own, whether people don't wanna talk to you, whether the
50:34team is losing and it could be an article, it could be a
50:37podcast, it could be an interview did or someone you
50:40reached out to and developed the source or whatever it might
50:42be. A good tweet, hell, if it's a bad day. Do one thing that's
50:46you're proud of. That's my goal. That's what I'm doing.
50:49But if I'm the smart **** of Boston media content, so be it.
50:54Alright, last question. Uh Carlos, hey Andrew, if you had
50:57to list the team's positional needs, what would be your top
50:59five? Uh most important needs in order. Which positions would
51:02you like to see addressed in free agency and which in the
51:04draft? Thank you. Well, Carlos, it sounds like and I know
51:09Carlos, we met in person multiple times but it sounds
51:10like that opening rant was for you, my friend. You need to
51:12enjoy the wins. I know you're in the Bay Area and it's uh far
51:16away from your football team that you get up early to watch
51:19and often lose but you gotta enjoy the wins man. I don't
51:22have definitive draft and free agency answers for you just yet
51:25because I mean, hell, as we've seen the last two, 3 months,
51:28guys like Brandon Ayuk and CD Lamb were supposed to hit free
51:31agency have since been re-upped but I would tell you the
51:34positions that if I could snap my finger and upgrade right now
51:37for the Patriots in one way or another, it would be offensive
51:39tackle, receiver, Ed Rusher, defensive tackle, and then this
51:47is tough cuz it's pending to go pepper situation cuz he's got a
51:50long-term deal now. Safety or linebacker and both of those
51:54are very close. If you wanted to bump one of those to number
51:56four and take defensive tackle out of there, I'd say, okay,
51:58enjoy Eric Johnson, but they're in a tier below the top that I
52:03listed there. Offensive tackle still number one for me.
52:06Receiver and then Ed Rusher. Like they they need to get more
52:09pressure. They need better pass protection. They need better
52:11pass catchers uh but that's for the future. For now, the
52:13Patriots are two and six. You and I have made it to another
52:16film Monday episode. I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, you
52:19know what I'm gonna ask you. It's the same thing everyone
52:21asks on a podcast. Five stars, please. Apples or you uh
52:24Spotify. Wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a rating or
52:28review. The feedback is always welcome and again, if you're
52:31international, email me, A Callahan, CALLAHAN at
52:35bostonherald.com. We will have a guest later this week to
52:38preview Pat's Titans. I will not be at that game down in
52:41Tennessee. I have uh well **** I'll just say it. I am
52:44officiating my third wedding for a very very close friend uh
52:48mine on Saturday. My sister is also due with her first child.
52:52So, I don't think the next time we chat, I will be an uncle. I
52:55don't think you asked for that information. This is what we
52:58share in the 53rd minute whatever podcast. Um so, we'll
53:02be in touch later this week. After that, I'd expect another
53:04film Monday after Pat's Titans but uh we will have stories. No
53:08travel tales just like this week but we'll have a lot more
53:11soon coming for you on Pat's Interference. Thank you as
53:13always. We'll catch you later.