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00:00Well, hello, hey, how are you? Welcome in. It's WEI Afternoons. It's a Patriots Monday,
00:06not a victory Monday. To many, a moral victory Monday, including Andy Hart here, which we'll
00:11get to in just a minute. Nice to have you with us here today. We will hear from Drake May,
00:16the author of that incredible play at the end of regulation, as well as that not so incredible
00:21interception to end overtime. We will speak with Jonathan Jones. That's all coming up later on in
00:26the 4 o'clock hour, but let's go ahead and start where we need to start here, and that is another
00:30loss for the Patriots, another encouraging game from Drake May, and this was more than encouraging.
00:35I felt like this game, he took a step up from encouraging. Like, we've seen a lot of encouraging
00:40things from him. What we saw in that game was something different from that. That play at the
00:45end of the game, that was special. That was a special play. It was a special moment. It didn't
00:49translate to a win, which I know he's going to come in here, he's going to say, hey, you know,
00:53great play at the end, but we didn't get a win, and that's all that matters, but I think even me,
00:57in my cold, dark heart here, even I understood the significance of that play. I think that that
01:01was something that got everyone's attention. You think it's going to be another recruitment video.
01:06My concern is the same concern I had a couple weeks ago when he made his debut,
01:10and that is the rest of the roster. That is what he's surrounded with. That is the fact
01:14that you actually did something I didn't even think. I didn't think that Drake May was going
01:18to be this big hit. I didn't think he was going to be good right away. I wasn't even sure if he
01:22was going to make a good quarterback in the NFL. It looks like he's going to, but the fact that
01:27this is the way that they set things up for him, and that this is the team they've presented him
01:31with, and this is how they're choosing to support him, is each week that goes by less and less
01:36forgivable to me. You know, you, all these people in the front office, they all were here, and they
01:42all witnessed firsthand what happens when you have to prop up your quarterback and then take things
01:47away from him, and rather than prop up the quarterback here, they're leaving him with
01:51nothing. Mac Jones needed a lot of help to be propped up, right? He wasn't that good. He didn't
01:56have the natural ability and talent that Drake May has, so they went on a big spending spree,
02:00and they brought in these tight ends and these wide receivers. Josh McDaniels was here. They
02:04had a good run game. They had lots of things to sort of prop him up when he had a bad game, you
02:09know, or a bad throw or whatever at the end of a game, and by the way, I think this was Drake May's
02:14worst game, just between you and me, and we'll get to why I think that, but there were things that
02:19Mac Jones didn't do well that the team propped him up with, and rather than say, okay, the move
02:25here now is to get an offensive coordinator we really believe in, someone who's sought after,
02:31someone that we really want to be with this guy and to bring him along, and at least one big-time
02:36playmaker at wide receiver, a security blanket for him, something like that, someone like Jacobi
02:41Myers, but better, right? That's who Mac had, someone like that, but better. He had Bourne in
02:45his prime, too, and they didn't do any of that, and you saw what happened. Bourne in his prime,
02:50I would say, when he was getting 800 yards a season, that's what he got. He's still in his prime. Okay,
02:54but he's not getting 800 yards in a season like he did in the Mac Jones rookie year, which is,
02:59you can't deny that. He was much better back then. Either way, forget I said that, but like either
03:03way, those were things that when you took them away from Mac Jones, you saw things go left really
03:09quickly. You saw things go completely off the rails, and rather than learn from that, they're
03:15now starting their new quarterback out with the same piece of 4-13 offense that got Bill Belichick
03:22fired for negligence, for neglecting the offense. They brought that whole offense back, and that's
03:26how they're starting their third overall pickoff this season, and predictably, they're not winning
03:31a lot of games. Things are happening in these games. He had to do everything in that game
03:35yesterday. He had to do everything for that offense. That shouldn't be the case when you have
03:41draft picks and that much cap space for him to have to go out there in his third start ever
03:46and do everything. That to me, I couldn't deal with that. Watching that go down, he was good,
03:56and you can't deny that that play at the end was a special play, but to see him in this situation,
04:02Andy pisses me off. I just, I'm sorry. I think it's unforgivable that this is the team he's
04:06been given, so I get your reaction because I do think the sort of parallel takeaways from yesterday
04:11was Drake Mays special. We got a guy, and oh my god, I think the rest of the roster is actually
04:16worse than I thought it was, especially in terms of the offensive line and the targets he's throwing
04:22to. Other than Hunter Henry, there's not a consistent, capable adult target for him to
04:28work with. That's just the reality, and Hunter Henry's had a really nice season. He had a nice
04:32game yesterday, but I actually spin zone it, I guess, a very unofficial early first segment spin
04:38zone. Okay, we don't get a lot of those, so all right. I thought it was Drake Mays' best day as
04:42a member. You thought it was his best game? Best day. No, no, no. I need you to listen. Words have
04:46meanings. See, Paul Perillo would have picked up on that. Paul Perillo was just in here. Was there
04:50a game yesterday? No, no, no, but he had a post-game press conference, and he had a pre-game
04:54where he was coming off for whatever it is, and we can get into it with him, concussion protocol,
04:59and you had some trepidation, A, to play him, and B, how he would run. Yep. Well, he played,
05:03and he ran his ass off, and he was productive. That was the most productive part of the whole
05:07offense. And then he got to the post-game press conference, and I think a lesser man,
05:11a guy who maybe didn't have to deal with this at North Carolina, hell, a Caleb Williams,
05:15or even a Peyton Manning. I've heard Peyton Manning throw his line and his guys under the
05:19bus. Threw his kicker under the bus all the time. Absolutely. There was a bus opportunity yesterday
05:23in Nashville, right? There was a bus opportunity for Drake May to beep, beep, beep, back it up,
05:28go forward a little bit, maybe run those jackals over. He could have. And all he talked about was
05:33a dumb decision he made. He even went back and brought up, like, the first run of the day. He's
05:37like, I gotta be a safety there and make more plays. He had the most rushing yards from a
05:42Patriots quarterback since 1977, Steve Grogan. And I think that was the year they broke the
05:46rushing record. Like, you did some pretty special things running the football. They had, what,
05:50317 yards of offense and you had 302 or whatever the numbers were? Yeah. You were the offense.
05:56The line was terrible. The receivers were terrible. And the quarterback wasn't perfect.
06:02He looked like a rookie quarterback. There's some learning curve. There are experiences that are
06:05being had, but he looked like a guy that just might be special. And I'm going to use a weird
06:11analogy here. Okay. A baseball analogy. A young baseball player. You had Mack Jones go to the
06:17plate with a nice light bat that was perfectly weighted for him. And he was hitting singles.
06:21Yeah. Hitting singles. Okay. And then you're like, oh, I forgot to bring that bat. Can you use this
06:2636-35 bat? It was Babe Ruth's. It must work. And he was like, holy crap, this thing's heavy. I can
06:31barely swing it. I think right now, Drake May has the Babe Ruth bat. And when you take the weight
06:37off and give him a bat that's actually functionable for him, you're going to see, he's going to be
06:42like, wait, this, oh, those guys are going to block up there and I'm going to have a little
06:45time to stand here. Right. And when I throw it to a guy on a slant, it's not going to go straight
06:49through his hands and almost get picked off behind him. I think he's taking his lumps early in terms
06:54of what he's dealing with. And that's going to make him a better quarterback when they actually
06:57have a left tackle. Hey, Gerard Mayo, can we put away that? Madarian Lowe might be the long-term
07:02left tackle idea. Stick that one in your back pocket and walk away. Can we put away the,
07:07oh, Ben Brown has been this transformational presence in the middle of the line.
07:11Put that one in your back pocket and walk away. He got transformed yesterday. That's for sure.
07:14How about you put away the idea, Gerard, a couple of weeks ago when you said the offensive
07:18line has become a strength of this team. Are you even watching? Because it's not a strength,
07:22they stink. It's a stink of the team, not a strength of the team. Yeah. And you're still
07:26a soft team. I know you've backed off on using that mantra. You said when you can't run the ball
07:30and you can't stop the run, you're a soft team, correct? Yes. They couldn't run yesterday. 1.6
07:35yards per carry for a guy you keep telling me is the top 10 running back in the league. 10 carries,
07:4016 yards for you math majors out there. He did get in the end zone two times,
07:44but could not run the ball to save his life. And they couldn't run block for him either.
07:47So you're still a soft football team. You chastised us in the media when you said the
07:52concerns about the offensive line were overblown in August. No, no, they weren't. The offensive
07:57line stunk in August. And for the most part, it stunk all year long. Even when they were running
08:02the ball, I told you, not sustainable. When 118 of 120 yards are after contact, not sustainable.
08:08So the offensive line is not good. The wide receivers, I'm real close, real, real,
08:13real close. And I know the receivers probably really care. And Elliott Wolf really care.
08:17Just press the damn reset button. Get rid of all of them. Just like scrape them off and get a whole
08:22new set. Because if I can't count on Demario Douglas to catch a slant with the game on the
08:26line, then what are we doing here? Yeah. What are we doing here? So I am as a maniac and a bit of a
08:33quarterback apologist and a may apologist. I was thoroughly impressed with how he handled himself
08:38coming off a I'll continue to say concussion protocol week. I don't know whether he was
08:42concussed or not, because did you notice where he said, you know, we had a spotter and with my
08:47cleats on, I kind of stumbled on the turf doing my balance test. So he doesn't think he had any sort
08:52of head injury. That's the tone I took from that. Maybe we'll let him clarify when he gets here
08:56later. And Mayo is dodgy about it. Very. He was very, very, very protocol, which I'm actually
09:01fine with because I don't know how anybody. I'm fine with talking back to Chris Curtis. I mean,
09:05you know, whatever. But like, yeah, he was very didn't want to answer. Oh,
09:07I'm not going to go back and forth about that. I don't know what you're talking about. You know
09:10what I mean? Like, you can tell you can tell he didn't want to say the wrong thing and which is
09:14fine because I think concussions are weird and they get you in trouble because if you're not
09:18taking head issues seriously, blah, blah, blah. But the reality is on a day that Drake may and
09:24where did he deal with pressure? Remember when Tom Brady used to complain about pressure? Where
09:28would it come from? Right up the middle. Simmons was the best player on the field. He was dominant.
09:34He made Ben Brown look like he's a practice squad center, probably in part because Ben Brown is a
09:39practice squad center. I thought it was with no run game, no receivers, no offensive line help.
09:44The whole thing coming off an injury. I thought Drake may handled himself about as well as you
09:49could for a guy making his fourth NFL start. So I am more optimist. And then you know what I also
09:54like to forget the recruiting videos that we're going to send outward the recruiting videos in
09:58that locker room about guys calling him an effing winner. And like he's Josh Allen. Oh,
10:03where'd you hear that? I told you it was Josh Allen last November people. Thanks for joining
10:07the party. I was the first I was at. No, no, no. I was yelled at. I had other media members in this
10:14town. Tell me it was kind of a dominant one of them just in the other room a minute ago to come
10:18in here and yell at me. It was Bill Perry. Actually, I think he told me it was an overly aggressive
10:22comp or something like that. When I did TV with him, we asked him who people compare him to the
10:26most. He said, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert. So I mean, these people do it and you people need to
10:29listen. You have yourself a franchise quarterback. We said this year was about developing a franchise
10:34quarterback, right? Yes. So so far, this is a successful year. Yes. Although I would say
10:38the number one pick back. Well, for now, you do. Yes. But you've got a lot of bad teams in this
10:44NFL here, too, which we're going to get to as well. I don't envision like a 10 team race for
10:48the number one pick. There's nine teams with two wins. Yeah, there's nine to win. It's the halfway
10:52point of the NFL. But and half the league sucks. And the good news is I think we've just about
10:58exited the Patriots stretch of, quote, unquote, winnable games. I think so. Yeah. So in that big
11:04chunk of crappy teams, you got a good chance here. You got a really nice chance. And I still
11:09think Carolina stinks. And the other thing, well, you got the Bears next week and they've been having
11:12a rough couple. But they're better. They're definitely better. They're better. But they're
11:16on the downs. It's on the road. So it's their home game. So they should have home field advantage.
11:21But I got two bills games. You got the Chargers. Oh, you're going to get Molly.
11:25The Rams. Yeah. Cardinals, maybe. I don't know. They're all better than you. They're all every
11:29team in the league. They're all better. That's why they have the number one pick. They're the
11:31worst team. The only thing that concerns me is with all these teams involved coming down the
11:36home stretch, there could be some. What do you call it? Chicanery, tomfoolery, like teams could
11:42be trying to adjust doing weird things in December and early January. That's the only thing I leave
11:47the door open. Otherwise, you have a French. We did our exercise on the six rings postgame show.
11:52Remember when I asked you how many teams in the National Football League would take
11:56Drake May right now? Yes. Sixteen is the answer. Sixteen would take Drake May. Half of the NFL
12:00would take Drake May right now. You have a franchise quarterback and you currently have
12:03the number one pick in the draft. This is the greatest season in the history of the franchise.
12:08I bet you Drake May. It seems like exaggeration. If you if you strapped him down and gave him some
12:13truth serum would say, yeah, I'd probably go to 16 other teams, too, if you ask me.
12:17Oh, I don't know about that. Yes. Would you go to Carolina? Maybe not. But there's not one of
12:21the 16. There's a lot of other teams there out there is what I'm saying is when you when you
12:25put that out there. Sure. There's other teams that would look at Drake May or Jaden Daniels or a lot
12:30of the rookie quarterbacks this year and say, yeah, I'd take that guy. I'd take that guy. He's
12:34look at what he's doing. Caleb Williams. I think you could say that about most of the rookies this
12:38year. Most teams out there would take him. I'm not most, but half more than half. And they'd say
12:42the same thing. Well, he's young. We got him on the rookie deal. He's a franchise quarterback.
12:46Who knows what he could become now? And I think that that's sort of this already is looking like
12:50a strong QB class. But that doesn't necessarily mean that this is the right place for Drake May.
12:56And they need to do some work with that. They have to. I hope that tomorrow's productive. I
12:59know Mayo came on and said, you know, it's not like the baseball trade deadline. We don't big
13:03names don't get traded. Is he paying attention? So don't trade a bunch of big names. First of all,
13:07that's not true. Monte Adams. They've already been traded. Right. And Christian McCaffrey
13:10got traded two years ago. So, like, yeah, big names move at the deadline that happens. And
13:14even if that doesn't happen for the Patriots, which I'm not expecting it to, doesn't mean
13:18they shouldn't be active. Correct. Doesn't mean they shouldn't do whatever they can here
13:21to upgrade this team and try and pull them up because May can't pull him up by himself.
13:26He can't pull this team up by himself. And I think even next year, if you have a similar
13:30looking roster to this, Drake May, as he continues to progress, this roster will drag him down.
13:35I believe that. I think that that's a real thing. I think it happens in the NFL. Sure.
13:39Especially when teams don't end up doing the right thing, doing right by their young quarterback.
13:44The Patriots need to take this seriously. And I'm talking about in the next 24 hours here.
13:48So this isn't baseball. It is not baseball. Good point. But it is a trade deadline where
13:53significant players move almost every year. Now it feels like now they already have his better
13:57answer might have been all the big name players have already moved something like that. Maybe
14:01that's true. Maybe that's not true. And I don't think that's necessarily true, either. I don't
14:05necessarily think that either. But I this is where you and I take the philosophical divide.
14:11I believe they're going to be very aggressive. I believe they're going to be in place.
14:15Our buddy John Lyons had a beautiful mock trade for April's draft with the Patriots trading out
14:22of number one, trading down to six, getting an extra one and a two next year, and then using
14:28a pick to trade for DK Metcalf. They draft Will Campbell at six. If they get Will Campbell and
14:33DK Metcalf and then draft other players near the top of each round, then I will be feeling good.
14:38But my concern also isn't just will they be aggressive? Will they get people? I think they
14:44will. I think they have to be. They have to spend. They have the money, that whole thing.
14:47Right. Do I have any faith in Elliott Wolf to put together the right talent?
14:51Because not looking at this roster right now, this press roster. No, I'm not because everything
14:55he acquired stinks. Yeah, that seems like exaggeration. But the more I think about it,
14:59other than Drake May, what do I feel good about what he did? His offensive line is a debacle.
15:04His veteran receiver that he brought in was a healthy scratch and is a cheerleader on the
15:07sideline. Give K.J. Osborne credit. Great attitude. Be a cheerleader on the sideline.
15:11But I'd also like you to be a veteran presence at receiver for a young quarterback who needs a
15:15veteran presence at receiver. So Elliott Wolf and we don't have time to get into this now,
15:20but there is a rant coming about Elliott Wolf that no one sees coming.
15:23Yeah, you know what you mentioned to me? I had no idea what you were talking.
15:26I have an issue with Elliott Wolf that goes well beyond his building of the roster or failure to
15:31build the roster because he was dead wrong. He did not surround the quarterback. You're
15:35100 percent right. He did not surround the quarterback with the talent to succeed a good
15:38offensive line. They're not prepped for him. But this is a lot like trial by fire. I think this guy
15:43is him. And I don't think hymns or dudes or whatever you want to call them in modern lingo
15:47get broken. I don't think that happens. I think those guys find a way to lift up their team.
15:53They lift up their franchise. And this franchise to me is on the doorstep of being lifted up out
15:59of the doldrums of post Tom Brady and having an elite quarterback.
16:03They have the guy to do. I agree with you. I think this is the guy to do it. And I'll admit
16:06that I was wrong about that. But we agree that Justin Herbert is that guy, right? Don't we all
16:10think that Justin Herbert's an elite quarterback? I don't know if he has the competitive moxie that
16:15Drake May has. For the last three years, though, prior to this. You see Drake May coming off a concussion,
16:19diving through two tacklers? Sure. I mean, he is him. But Herbert's never gotten hurt before. And then he goes to
16:23the postgame podium and he's like, those guys up front, they were really playing their ass off
16:27today. To say that so believably, so naturally is special leadership because those guys up front
16:34weren't good when they weren't missing blocks. They were getting penalties. They were terrible.
16:37And this is where I'll credit Elliott Wolfe. It's all Drake May related when I credit Elliott Wolfe.
16:42Really got nothing else. The only compliment you can give. But remember when he told us every
16:46postgame press conference at Carolina, they tried to get Drake May to throw his line and his coaches
16:50and his scheme and his receivers and he wouldn't do it. And you're seeing the fruits of that
16:54learning labor at North Carolina on full display because that would hinder him if he was making
16:59plays but being a Jay Cutler-like dink. That would be bad. I agree. I don't think it's
17:04elevating anybody though, you know what I mean? Oh, I think it's building the locker room. I think
17:08those comments you're hearing for a team that was teetering on a freaking mutiny, they now have a
17:15leader. It's not their head coach and you can say whether that's good or bad. I agree. They have a
17:19leader. He wears number 10 and he can't even grow a beard, but he's the leader of this football team.
17:23I'm going to credit the guys up front, man. Those five up front blocking their butts off.
17:27He said a lot of nice things. That's a leader. He did. He said nice things.
17:30There was another 10 in the locker room that had everybody saying nice things about him too
17:34and it was not that long ago. Yeah, it felt fake. All right, fine. Maybe it was,
17:36but people were still saying it. They saw the same fake leadership from Mac Jones that I saw.
17:40They were just being good teammates. Now these people believe it. Now they'll follow this guy
17:45to freedom. They'll follow this guy to success. He is a leader. He's got a torch and they're
17:48following. They picked him up and I agree with that because after that game, you saw all the
17:52players go up to Drake May after that interception and say, hey, you know what? We wouldn't be here
17:56without you. That was a moment. I agree with that, but he also, that lost the game. All right,
18:00so let's remember here. Well, maybe if Kendrick Bourne hadn't fallen down on the little post
18:04corner route he was running and that safety couldn't just say, oh, that idiot's laying on
18:07the ground. I guess I can drift over this way and pick off the pass. Or maybe if Keyshawn Booty
18:11showed a little bit of heart and did anything other than like, oh, that guy's going to pick
18:16this pass off and win the game. Do something. Try something. Maybe he should have. It was
18:20three yards under thrown and he threw it into double cover. It was a bad bonehead throw.
18:25Double coverage. That guy should have been over with the Bourne. It looked like he already turned.
18:30I saw that same video. It looked like he already turned to go back to the, to where the ball was
18:33going. But either way, even if he hadn't, that was a dumb throw and he underthrew it. And maybe
18:38physically bad throw. Yeah. I think that was the first interception was, I mean, that was a bad
18:42one. That was Mack Jones-esque. It was. Oh, I thought we're not allowed to say that. We can't
18:45say that. That was Mack Jones-esque. That was late, like under pressure, over the middle,
18:49taking a shot. The fumble we can argue about. Well, he was, he had two hands on it and then
18:56he was going to throw to Hasty. You know what he learned there? Just keep it myself and run.
19:00Like be smart. That was a lesson learned. I also think Hasty learned a lesson. Hey,
19:05maybe dive on the ball and get it. He should have recovered that. He should have. Somebody,
19:08I felt, remember when I told you in the summer, when I was coming on your show,
19:13filling in back then now I'm officially host too. Right. I've really moved up the depth charge here.
19:18Big moment for all of us. I thought there was a chance for a positive narrative in the summer
19:23that was lost because nobody was making plays for Drake May. He's hitting guys in the hands.
19:27Guys are stopping routes. Guys are getting tough. Like he was doing his part and the other guys
19:32weren't helping him take advantage of what could have been opportunities and optimism.
19:37And you're seeing that again. Just give the guy a little bit of help. Someday, I firmly believe
19:42he'll be borderline able to do it himself, but he's not capable right now as a rookie,
19:46making his fourth start. And maybe some other guys maybe chip in just a little bit. And just
19:51because you think he's great, don't make him prove it. Help him out. Yeah. Do something.
19:55And Devon Godchild is not going to, but you know, the rest of these guys
19:58certainly can. These guys on offense absolutely can.