• last week
The Boston Sports Journal's Mike Giardi joins the show to share three thoughts on the Patriots' past, present, and future with Andrew, then break down Sunday's game in Chicago. Later, Patriots offensive lineman Mike Onwenu joins for another four-minute drill!

0:00 - Intro
1:00 - Gen Z Phrases Game
4:30 - Roster Criticism
9:50 - Coaching Staff Doubts
12:48 - Current Team State
16:20 - Lack of Improvement
18:25 - Friday Five Discussion
22:12 - Coaching Staff Confidence
24:34 - Offensive Coordinator Trouble
27:41 - Future of the Team
34:01 - Importance of Continuity
36:49 - Coaching Changes
52:55 - Hunter Henry's Role
55:05 - Soldier Field Appearance
59:59 - Proudest Patriot Moment


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Category

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Sports
Transcript
00:00:00Back in the lab, as the kids would say, those kids, of course, do not include Mike Giardi,
00:00:18who I think next time we have you on, as you join us here previewing Pads Pairs on Sunday
00:00:23and sharing six big picture thoughts about the team, I want to do a new segment where
00:00:27you and I trade list of Gen Z phrases and whoever gets the most right, granted I'm 33,
00:00:32I should know more, I think I top out at one and it's Riz and I ruin the game, but we will
00:00:36do more modern plays to see who's actually older, because you and I are more aligned
00:00:40despite the age gap than more would think. What do you think of that game?
00:00:43I think I would do miserable, which probably would be pretty funny. I have on occasion
00:00:48texted my kids, like I'll hear some, like a player will say something and I'll be like,
00:00:53I guess I should know what that is, but I don't, and I'll like, I'll text my son, what
00:00:56does this mean? And they'd be like, oh, yo, but I have, I have texts from him that I say
00:01:00from even like when he was like 12 or 13, where he would, he would, I'd say, hey, where
00:01:06are you? Or something. And he'd be, he'd write something back and I'd be like, that's not
00:01:09even English. And he'd be like, well, that means this. I'm like, what, how am I supposed
00:01:13to know what that means? Speak to your father in a normal language. You can speak to your
00:01:18friends, however you'd like.
00:01:20And then he says something like, all right, bet. Yeah, he does. Yeah. Something like
00:01:24Finna. I don't, I don't, I don't know. Okay. All right. We'll, we'll save more for the
00:01:28game. Uh, so here's the deal. It is week 10. The Patriots are two and seven. The Bears
00:01:33are four and four. There's not a whole lot of national intention around this or many
00:01:37other Patriots games, because that's just how things go when you were two and seven.
00:01:41And there are fun storylines and it's Drake May and Caleb Williams reunited. And I think
00:01:45anyone should be excited to see either of the play former top three picks. But for the
00:01:49purposes of our podcast today, I think it is more instructive to go big picture. Hence
00:01:54the six thoughts. You have three, I have three. I don't know what you're going to say, but
00:01:58you know, as I, uh, you told me this, that I'm aware of that. My flippant reluctant B
00:02:03grade for Elliott Wolfe has gone over very well in the radio sphere now since online.
00:02:07And I just want to start by saying when I give this flippant reluctant B at least to
00:02:11Elliott Wolfe for the draft class, halfway through its first season playing for the worst
00:02:14team in the AFC and new head coach, one of the worst offensive staffs in the league underperforming
00:02:19defensive staff was, I meant a plus plus, I think Elliott Wolfe is already better than
00:02:27his father, Ron, a hall of famer. I think Elliott Wolfe walks on water. I think he turns
00:02:32around, puts a finger down and turns that water from wine, uh, into wine. And I can
00:02:36tell you that wine tastes good because they've had a lot of it. So I just wanted to clear
00:02:40all that up about my feelings about Elliott in this draft class, which of course has been,
00:02:44uh, miserable on the field aside from Drake may. Um, but I'm glad you, I'm glad you came
00:02:49clean and obviously it's because you have his phone number. So you're obviously, as
00:02:54it's been discussed on the radio, you're defending a source by giving him such a high Mark. So
00:02:59no, I don't have a phone number. I just have a gun pointed at me from across the room.
00:03:04And that's, that's really what it is. Stacy, you can put it down now. I was going to say,
00:03:07was that your wife who was over there? No, no, no. Her gun looks different. Um, sorry,
00:03:11Cheryl, again, not my wife's name, but someone who listens to this podcast. Anyway, all silliness,
00:03:17people get roasted on the radio all the time. I do. I didn't know that source part. Cause
00:03:20I legitimately not like when players say, Oh, I don't care what you think about. Like,
00:03:24Hey, ask, ask Joelle and beat how he feels about media coverage down there. Cause a lot
00:03:28of players hear stuff. Uh, I think the source guessing game is stupid because a, you want
00:03:34to reach out and correct stuff. But then when that does is shrink the pool of people you
00:03:37actually might be talking to. And obviously I spoke to Elliot on the record for a story,
00:03:41did not go through Elliot to get that. It was Stacy James. And then it was on the phone.
00:03:44Stacy was on the line and that's what it was. Cause he's a head of PR and that's how they
00:03:47handle things. So, um, I guess they just had a conversation. I don't want to have to, but
00:03:52I just think it's shitty on their part because there's no way for us to speak up about it.
00:03:57And I would bet almost anything. I don't have to ask Stacy to ask Elliot this, Hey, what
00:04:03does he think about me giving him a B on this podcast after a week, nine game with the Patriots
00:04:06loss. And I just threw something out to a reader. I said, don't ever give out draft
00:04:10class grades after nine games. The answer would be, he probably doesn't give a shit
00:04:14to which I totally respect because we're all going to wait and see him included.
00:04:18He obviously feels good about it. I think everyone else, myself included feels worse
00:04:21aside from may, but moving on. Um, okay. So here is the deal with our six big picture
00:04:27thoughts today. One from about the Patriots recent past. So this is sometime at the start
00:04:32of the season. You could go all the way back to when Gerard and Elliot were hired, something
00:04:36that you want to share, then something about the present, where we are right now, two and
00:04:40seven about the state of Patriots, and then something about the future. And I didn't tell
00:04:44you today when I saw you at Gillette, how far into the future this could go, but you
00:04:48and I have already done a podcast about what the Patriots look like not in 2025, but in
00:04:532026. So do whatever you like. You go, I go. And again, at the end, we'll get to the Bears
00:04:57preview. So what is your big picture thought about the Patriots recent past?
00:05:02So I think this goes back to the off season. And this is why I would quibble with your
00:05:07grade that you gave Elliot Wolf is he didn't do enough with the roster. They're sitting
00:05:10on almost $40 million in cap space. Uh, I was very vocal against re-signing almost all
00:05:18of the players from a four and 13 team, but that's what they chose to do. And lo and behold,
00:05:24you turn that over to an inexperienced coaching staff and you're two and seven and there's
00:05:28holes everywhere. And, you know, as we sit here on Thursday, as we're taping this, you
00:05:34know, there's talk about Mike and Weno moving to left guard and practicing there and they're
00:05:38doing all this juggling of the offensive line. And I said, boy, sure would have been nice
00:05:41to have given say two years and 25 million to Jonah Williams and to be your left tackle.
00:05:49And maybe he doesn't work out as a left tackle, but he still could play right tackle. Cause
00:05:53he was pretty good at that at Cincinnati. And he said, Oh, that's a lot of money for
00:05:56a guy who's maybe not, they have the money. They didn't have the talent. You have to overpay
00:06:02in free agency. You have to overpay when your roster is as empty as theirs is. And they
00:06:07didn't. And they, there were a lot of places where they did that. Even like in depth pieces,
00:06:11look at their defensive line. Elliot went with Arman Watts who didn't, did he make it
00:06:15out of camp? He maybe made it out of camp. No, he didn't make it out of camp. Right.
00:06:18I was gonna say he might've got cut in the first week. So he's not here. So that's a
00:06:21swing and a miss. Took Socorro for a sign before the off season even started, uh, washed
00:06:26out in Pittsburgh. And you thought you were going to make them a left tackle, like you
00:06:29on and on and on about some of the moves that they made and how they failed. And then the
00:06:33lack of taking the money and some of the flexibility they had and investing into this roster to
00:06:39at least make it competent. Instead, I think here's your colleague, Doug Kite, who had
00:06:43of the 15 of the 53 guys on the roster right now, 14 or 15 of them have been cut by another
00:06:50team this season or within the last year or something like that. It was a pretty stark
00:06:53stat and it was just like, yeah, of course. Cause you decided to keep all your money over
00:06:57here after you signed your, your core guys from a four and 13 team. And this is what
00:07:03you get. You get a roster that is, I never thought it was going to be complete. I never
00:07:07thought they could fix it all in one off season. I didn't, I, in many ways, I didn't want them
00:07:11to try to fix it all in one, one off season because that can lead to major mistakes. But
00:07:15like, Oh, what's Jonah Williams? Well, look, man, if Jonah Williams stinks after one year,
00:07:19you eat the 10 million bucks that's left on his contract and you walk away and there's,
00:07:22you know what, there's absolutely no harm, no foul. You didn't ruin your ability to do
00:07:26something big this coming off season. And that's why, again, I just, the roster has
00:07:31so many freaking holes and they didn't do enough to address it.
00:07:35They did not. It's a criticism I've levied on this podcast and other places too, because
00:07:39the plan that they had, let's be honest about it was not a name. It was about numbers. Let's
00:07:44sign as many guys as possible, throw them at the wall and see who sticks in the Patriots
00:07:49did this a year before with Bill Belichick and Riley reef and Calvin Anderson. And now
00:07:53we'll just kind of like figure it out. And granted there's a lot of bad injury luck baked
00:07:57in there. Calvin Anderson gets malaria two summers ago. Riley reef was washed. You can
00:08:01see that coming this year to core four is literally a left tackle. He's gone. He left.
00:08:07And then you have Kate Wallace who goes down in week three and we haven't seen him on the
00:08:09field since they didn't plan for any of this. But the difference is if you had signed at
00:08:14Jonah Williams, who I can tell you from actual reporting and talking to people, they just
00:08:17were out on, they didn't like him, but he's a guy to your point has started in the league
00:08:21successfully, not just at left tackle, but at right tackle. Okay. If he's the injured
00:08:26one, and it's not Caden Wallace, as soon as he's back, you've got a starting caliber player
00:08:32right now, even if Caden Wallace comes back, you don't know if he would start aside from
00:08:37the fact that the best case is not he's good enough.
00:08:40It's that he's young enough for them to develop. So you needed a starting caliber player in
00:08:43here that you set and forget. And even if he does get hurt, he comes back and fixes
00:08:48that. And now if you do want to go, okay, well, you could assign Jonah Williams and
00:08:51you still have one spot open because let's be honest, Mike, Michael, what is going to
00:08:54be a guard? You might even start at left guard on Sunday. You have two open spots. Well,
00:08:58at least then I feel more comfortable throwing numbers at the left side of the line, as opposed
00:09:03to both of them and fingers crossed, hope both work out because neither have.
00:09:08And on that left side, it could have been Caden Wallace and Truks for core four and
00:09:11David Arion low because Jonah Williams or Jermaine Illuminor whom they should have signed
00:09:15has the right side locked down. And that's it.
00:09:18Yeah, look, I can't, I can't argue with anything you said there. I just, even if you wanted
00:09:25to look at this year and they, you know, they were, they were reluctant to use the word
00:09:29rebuild at various points, but they have it. You know what, you know what I mean? It's
00:09:33like trying to walk that line. Like, no dude, we know what it is. Like, don't, don't try
00:09:38to tell me you're trying to win 10 games this year. Your roster is not good enough.
00:09:42You know, it's not good enough. It's why the previous guy who lauded over the franchise
00:09:46for 20 some odd years is gone. We knew this was going to be a multi-year process, but
00:09:52you're sitting here on week 10. And I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty messy. And I get
00:09:58all points of my, my next topic when we get to the next phase of this thing, but it's
00:10:03just, they didn't do enough. And it's pretty egregious, I think on their part. And you
00:10:09know there's a lot of guys that are working their asses off in that building. And to what
00:10:17end, you know, like I wouldn't, you hate to say this, but I wouldn't blame some guys if
00:10:21they're just like, you know what? Are you talking to players? Yes. Yeah. You didn't,
00:10:26you didn't care. Why do, why should I care at this point? You know, I got to worry about
00:10:30my next contract, my next place. Yeah. I it's difficult because I think you have to know what
00:10:38you're signing up for when you sign with the Patriots. Let's say you're KJ Osborne, right?
00:10:42Oh, and now you're upset. What did you think was going to happen? Right? Like this is a team
00:10:46actively rebuilding lowest over under total before the season in the AFC 13.9 points per game. And
00:10:53you're the big difference maker. Now look all the confidence in the world. You're not adding
00:10:57another three points in a field goal every single game. So if you're losing snaps,
00:11:01because you're also playing poorly, well, that's on you. Now, Jacoby percent is eating it and
00:11:05sitting on the bench and doing okay. He knew the deal. He got in here and granted he got $8 million.
00:11:09He guaranteed for that reason. Um, but I think you have to know what you're stepping into and
00:11:14what you're stepping into is a clear and obvious rebuild. Yeah, it is. And just as a quick aside,
00:11:19why is KJ still here? I don't even like if you couldn't trade them, didn't want to, well,
00:11:27if you couldn't trade them, he should be cut. Like you again, you're onto this place now where
00:11:33we're openly talking. Are you even asking questions today about it? We're openly talking
00:11:37about the playing the young kids and, and you know, you, you design a play for Jaheim bell,
00:11:43you know, who, who would hear to for a bit on the side of a milk cart.
00:11:46Do you agree with that by the way? Like there, I think they made it clear there were breadcrumbs
00:11:50are now we've got like full long crust on the grass, right? On the ground. Right. Yeah. Let's
00:11:54stop. Let's see. That's my point. Like just embrace it. Say, Hey, look, yeah, we know what
00:11:58we are. We, we know where we are in this whole process. And you're going to see more of Jaheim
00:12:04bell and J Vaughn Baker, assuming that he shows up on time and, and, and knows where he's supposed
00:12:09to go. And Jalen Polk, even though it's, you know, it's not gone great. Like we draft them
00:12:14in the second round. He's going to be out there late laden Robinson just got sat down in the middle
00:12:18of a game, right? Cause he couldn't handle Jeffrey Simmons, which was as much as his
00:12:24their fault as it was his fault. However, the idea that now you're moving and when it's left
00:12:29guard is what it's we're playing laden. Okay. We think he's part of the future or we want to find
00:12:34out if he can be part of the future and we're going to put them in the lineup and God willing
00:12:39health wise, he's, he stays out there and proves to us one way or the other that he belongs to be
00:12:43part of our plan going forward or he doesn't. Yeah. Okay. Let's get the thought. Number two,
00:12:48current state of the team right now, nothing should have could have would have, or this was
00:12:53good. This was bad. This is happening right now. I have, I'm losing faith in the coaching staff by
00:12:59the day. Um, and I need them, I need them to show me something. Cause I don't know that they know
00:13:06what they're doing. And I just wrote this about the, and when whose story today, like it's bad
00:13:11enough that I'm not sure they know what they're doing, but internally, like what, what is the
00:13:16plan? They just throwing stuff at the wall left and right. And look again, there are some injury
00:13:21things that you can talk about, but you can't find someone to play left guard for you. Michael
00:13:25Jordan's been declining for three straight weeks, actually not even declining. It was bad three
00:13:29weeks ago. It was bad two weeks ago. And it was bad this past week. We went from Chicago MJ to
00:13:35wizards three weeks ago. No, we went to fat bloated, cigar smoking, whiskey drinking on the
00:13:42golf course. Yeah. And like, look, that's, that's who Michael Jordan is. He's a journeyman.
00:13:51Offensive lineman, like, uh, down the roster depth piece. And you've got a couple of good
00:13:56games out of them. And now it's gone the wrong way. Like they, I don't know what the plan is.
00:14:02I don't feel like they're utilizing their personnel in the best place. I hate to invoke
00:14:07bill Belichick's name again, because he deserved to be fired. And he, he helped set this roster up
00:14:15to look like it does right now. But one of the things that Belichick would do and really for the
00:14:20better part of the two plus decades, he was here. He stuck to was I am not weakening
00:14:27one spot to try to strengthen another spot. And you know, last year, yes, he had to put Mike and
00:14:32when it would right tackle, but right tackle was an absolute debacle. And it was just like,
00:14:36we can't do anything. Let's move them out here. We think we can get by it, right guard. And they
00:14:40were somewhat able to cobble that together this year. And when his right tackle, he's right guard.
00:14:45Now he could be the left guard. He hasn't played in the left side since 2021. He hasn't had a good
00:14:51year this year. And he even talked about that on Thursday with reporters, like, and maybe the
00:14:56moving has something to do with it. Maybe it's his conditioning, whatever it is. It hasn't helped.
00:15:02He's your, as they, as Alexander said, he's our best offensive lineman, which again,
00:15:05is kind of damning that group with faint praise based on how he's played.
00:15:08But okay, then just leave them there. Leave them at right guard. That's what he does. Well,
00:15:13he wasn't a good right tackle. He was a competent right tackle. When you had to put him out there
00:15:18last year, this year, he hasn't shown to be a good right tackle. He hasn't shown to be a really good
00:15:22guard this year either, but like, that's his spot. Just leave them there. That's where he belongs.
00:15:27And you work everything else around it instead of, oh, you know what? No, now we're going to do this.
00:15:31Why didn't they cross train Layden Robinson? Why isn't Layden Robinson, the one who's moving to
00:15:36left guard and you had problems at left guard, as I mentioned for the last three weeks, why wasn't,
00:15:40if he was ready, why didn't he slide in there? You know, it just, there's just so much about it
00:15:45where I wrote about it on Tuesday as well, where I said, and I don't want to, I'm not afraid to
00:15:51make a bold proclamation. As I wrote, I said, sync, sync, sync last year. I stood by it. It
00:15:55was what it was like. If I feel it, I'm going to, I'm going to write it. I didn't, I don't want to
00:16:00write these guys off after nine games. It's not enough evidence. I'm like, that's fact. It's not
00:16:05enough evidence, but what they've shown me for nine weeks, eight, cause the first week was a
00:16:11good week. What they've shown me for the last eight weeks is like, I, again, I don't know what
00:16:16they're doing. I don't know what the plan is. I don't know that anyone's getting better or
00:16:20significantly better. You and I were having this conversation outside the, the, the media
00:16:25workroom yesterday, where I was like, tell me, give me a, give me a place where they've gotten
00:16:29significantly better this year. Like good coaching should be able to take players and raise their
00:16:35level a certain degree. There may be a cap on it because of the talent, but you can, you should
00:16:39get me a little bit there. And there's really, what do you got? Do you got anything for me?
00:16:44I got a lot for you. Um, I went, I was a good brand. I was on a rant. You could have interrupted
00:16:49me at any time. You are the host. If you wanted to step in and say, Jardy, can you give me a
00:16:53second? Cause you're getting red in the face. Number one, a better host would have announced
00:17:00that Michael Wenu is having is at the end of this episode for a four minute exclusive interview.
00:17:04I think the highlight was him telling us about his worst date where the woman belched and almost
00:17:08made him pass out from the smell of the belch. Uh, and then we got into a couple other things,
00:17:12including a Jim Harbaugh story. He's got a very dry sense of humor and I appreciate that about
00:17:16him. Yeah, he was good. He was, he was, he was better than I thought he'd be. So a good four
00:17:21minute drill at the end of this episode. Number two, as I saw you and Bob Sosi and Mike Reese,
00:17:26all walking back towards the media room yesterday, Wednesday ahead of me, before you and I had the
00:17:31chat that you just alluded to, I thought to myself, there goes shrink, shrink trunk. Um,
00:17:36and that has said with all the love of the world for Mike and Bob and none for you all five foot
00:17:41nine generous and under. Um, you know why I was standing, I went up to them in the locker room,
00:17:47put my arms around both of them because it's, and I'm not a, like, look, people call me short
00:17:53five, nine and change is not short. That's average height for a male. But those two guys,
00:17:58those two guys are tiny. So I like, I liked the post. I had arms around him. I was just,
00:18:02I felt great. I was like, man, it's like shack. And just so when this gets aggregated and run on
00:18:07the radio for a week to, to be clear, love both of those gentlemen very much. We've had very serious
00:18:11life talks with both of them. Number three, the answer to your question of where things gotten
00:18:16better is obviously Drake may, which is the most important position. It's the only player. I think
00:18:21most people are watching right now. You could make a small case tiny case. And I have a mention of
00:18:24this player in my Friday column, the Friday five, everyone's talking about it by everyone. I mean,
00:18:28no one, um, Dell Pettis and the safety group has outperformed my expectations without Kyle Duggar
00:18:35integral peppers. There is a stat about Dell Pettis and not missing a tackle. And how many
00:18:39players have also not missed a tackle, given him snaps that you're not going to believe again,
00:18:42read that in my column. But the quarterback thing brings me to my second point. And before that
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00:19:24So everything is safe, secure, and easy. It takes 15 minutes. You don't attach your bank account,
00:19:28just your Venmo. It all goes through very easy. This is what I do. So download the price picks
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00:19:43run your game. Mike Jardy, why are you holding up a pen? Did you write that out?
00:19:49Uh, most of it, but then I stumbled over half of it. So I think that makes it worse.
00:19:53No, because I think that I am in the, for my podcast, all 32 little side shout out.
00:20:00Oh no, people should be listening.
00:20:02I do a terrible job with the game time and price pick reads because I have it in my head. Like,
00:20:08you know, my brain, you can see how my brain works. Sometimes I have, sometimes I don't finish
00:20:12sentences or like another thought comes in and I'm, you know, things are bouncing around.
00:20:16Welcome to the ADD club, baby.
00:20:18Yes. And so I get to, I'm in the show and I'm like, Oh, I probably should read price picks,
00:20:22you know, or I probably should read game time. And I grabbed the thing. And then like the things
00:20:26that I said, I was going to say about it or the things that I wanted to highlight, just go right
00:20:29out the window. And then I'm like, Oh, I think the other day I actually read like the line that
00:20:33says, read this line. I think I said, read this line. So I, I, yeah, I probably should try it.
00:20:41You know, as someone who ad-lib for years and years and years, eons in my television life,
00:20:45not exercising that muscle as much anymore, I probably should write it out
00:20:51because they deserve better. Cause who doesn't use price picks or game time? Obviously we all do.
00:20:56No. And that's, look, that's the part of the ad read, which I don't want to like bring everyone
00:21:01behind the curtain and introduce you to the wizard of Oz and their names are price picks and game
00:21:04time now. But like, these are products and services I use. I talked about it multiple times.
00:21:09Wife came with me to London. So did a friend who grew through the Jaguars, bought them tickets
00:21:13there. People are coming to a Celtics game or they're coming to town. I want to take them out.
00:21:16I'm going to game time because we have that promo. It worked for me. $20 off matters to me in my
00:21:21life. Game time is coming up later. You mentioned screwing up the price picks ad. Not only did I
00:21:26stumble and face plan over those first few words is I speak a little too fast, which people are
00:21:31right. And you complain about this. I still speak fast. I forgot to give out my picks, which we have
00:21:35the price picks, picks of the week. And so here they are really quickly. Drake may more than
00:21:400.5 touchdowns. So Drake made it for a one touchdown pass more than Deandre Swift for the
00:21:45bears more than 71 and a half rushing yards. And I don't think I need to explain either one of those
00:21:51seem fair. Yeah. You need one of the, you know, price picks has the adjuster. Sometimes you can
00:21:55find the different things. And if, if Deandre Swift, you could go higher, if it was more,
00:22:01there's an opportunity to go 90 something. I would probably take that based on how they're
00:22:05defending the run here for the last. Oh, I don't know. Seven weeks. Yeah. Okay. My number two
00:22:12thought back to Drake may. So you are losing confidence in the coaching staff by the day.
00:22:17And I understand that. What I will say though, is when we have this larger discussion about Alex
00:22:22van Pelt and we remind ourselves that no one catches flack in any football market, quite like
00:22:27the offensive coordinator is that I think we can have a separate conversation about the design of
00:22:31the offense. I'm a critical too many isolation routes need a little bit more help for the worst
00:22:34receiving Gordon league and the plate calling, which a lot of people are not thrilled about.
00:22:38And I think there were fewer issues that people thought Sunday in Tennessee, but the one issue
00:22:42we should universally be praising him for in an area that I don't think he's getting enough credit.
00:22:47Okay. Because he's also standing over there with a nerf gun pointed at my head is for developing
00:22:53Drake may. And if you made a list at the moment, Alex van Pelt was hired of the most important
00:22:58things you need to do to stay here and do a good job. Number one was going to be developed. Young
00:23:02quarterback that we more than likely draft in April. They drafted one since then we have seen
00:23:08Drake may go from the number three pick or number two, the third quarterback in the spring, the
00:23:13number two guy in the summer for the first three weeks by completion percentage, a turnover rate
00:23:18sacks. He was worse than Jacoby percent. That is a fact. If you watch those practices, you saw it.
00:23:24If you charted those practices, like you and I did, you have the numbers. They're all there.
00:23:28What happened then was he got better and that gets better with drills and coaching and scheme,
00:23:33understanding and chemistry. And he has taken off to the point. Now he is probably their best player
00:23:38in offense. And that's even true in games when he throws two picks and loses a strip sack and gets
00:23:43fumbled and gives the game away. And you're still going, he played better than anyone else around
00:23:48them. And I'm going, I can't even blame him for the turnovers. They were bad, but he's a rookie
00:23:53in a bad situation and everyone feels like they nailed it. And I think Alex van Pelt from the
00:23:58drills to the teaching, to working with him in the place that he likes and doesn't deserves more
00:24:03credit than he's getting right now for that portion of his job. I have tried to bring up this point
00:24:08every time I'm asked about Alex, whether, you know, the offense, the design, the, the, some
00:24:13people say the simplicity of it, the whatever, the lack of motion, all these different things.
00:24:18And I would say what I learned about Alex, when I researched him after they hired him
00:24:23and talked to a bunch of people that he's worked with, coached, et cetera,
00:24:27is that he's really good with quarterbacks and he'll reach the quarterback. And if he believes
00:24:31in the quarterback, you should believe in the quarterback too, because he's pretty good at this.
00:24:34And we have seen that he's done a terrific job with him. Here's the problem though. The problem is
00:24:41two and seven becomes say four and 13 at the end of the year, there's going to be fall guys.
00:24:48And he's probably, probably right now trending to be the fall guy of the coordinator head coach.
00:24:55Cause I don't think the head coach is going anywhere. And I don't think the DC is going
00:24:59anywhere. That means the OCS again, if it continues on this track, he's in trouble
00:25:06because I think upstairs is going to say, we need to make changes. I'm not running back the same
00:25:09group again after what we just did. And also I think upstairs, and I'm not talking about Elliot
00:25:17listens to the radio stations and reads the newspaper and the Friday five and Mike's musings
00:25:22and all these different things. And they hear us complaining about it and they react to it,
00:25:27even though they claim they don't listen, they listen and they, and they react. I think Alex
00:25:32is in trouble if it doesn't turn and the offense isn't all of a sudden, I don't know, whatever,
00:25:38whatever it is, there's, there's certain measurements they're going to have to hit.
00:25:41I think here in the second half of the season. And how do we know that Drake's not going to
00:25:45take a step back at some point during this? Maybe, maybe Sunday was the start of it. Maybe
00:25:49turns it over a couple more times in Chicago is going to come for sure. Right? So, so then,
00:25:54oh, is that, is that going to also fall at Alex's feet? Because at the beginning of the year for
00:25:59five weeks before they made the change, Gerard Mayo kept going out of his way to talk about the
00:26:03scheme. We've got to scheme it up better. He didn't say that about the defense. He said the
00:26:09defensive players weren't playing. Well, scheme is good. We're just not making the plays we're
00:26:13supposed to be making. We get guys there. They don't make the tackle, you know, what, whatever
00:26:17it may be, never, never put it on the scheme, put it on the players, but on the offensive side,
00:26:22he put it on, he put it on Alex quite a bit, which again, to me is laying the groundwork
00:26:30for him being a fall guy. And then that means, and then that means what that means
00:26:35another new offensive coordinator and another new coach for your quarterback.
00:26:41So let's, which is absolutely the worst freaking thing to do.
00:26:45Okay. Let me, I should have interrupted earlier, just to ask you this question,
00:26:49because I think it's really important for people who are, are not paying attention
00:26:54or don't know the difference sometimes between a report. Like I've done actual reporting,
00:27:00phone calls, research. I know this to be true because it can be proven versus,
00:27:05Hey, reading the tea leaves to my experience, more than 20 in the market and covering this team
00:27:09tells me this, which was that like hard reporting and it's really true.
00:27:13No, no, that's my, that's just my guy. I've seen this before. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean,
00:27:18look, I'm sitting there for my, for my weekend notes. I've written about Shane Waldron,
00:27:22who's the offensive coordinator in Chicago. I was writing about Luke Getsys when they hired him in
00:27:26Vegas saying, that's not the right guy. This isn't going to work. And guess what? They just fired
00:27:30Luke Getsys. Like I've, I've been around it enough to understand if it doesn't go in a certain
00:27:36direction and ownership feels, they picked Gerard Mayo as, as Robert told us, whatever,
00:27:44seven years ago on a trip to Israel, I don't, things would have to disintegrate pretty badly
00:27:50for him to be gone at the end of the year. So if he's going to be back and DeMarcus is this guy,
00:27:56DeMarcus is going to be back. What are you, what are you changing? You're going to change
00:28:01like the running backs coach or something like that's not, that's not going to satiate
00:28:06the cries for change that come from everywhere, from fan base, from media, et cetera. Like
00:28:12they'll react to it. Is this in any way related to your third thought about the future of the team?
00:28:19Just don't give that to us yet, but because it basically is mine to talk about the shakeup.
00:28:23So that'll lead us into the second one. I do want to add one line though,
00:28:25two things about what you're talking about in the suggestion that Alex Van Pelt is trending
00:28:29towards being the fall guy because fall guys are very common in the NFL. You're absolutely right.
00:28:34The coordinators are here to go before the head coach does. That's what they're there for. Things
00:28:39go bad, but well, I would backtrack. In addition to that, you have, I would say a coach that you
00:28:45could avoid if you're making the case, Hey, we should get rid of Alex. Ben McAdoo is in the
00:28:49building, former head coach, former offensive coordinator. He's also had a hand specifically
00:28:53with the footwork where all the credit goes to Van Pelt as I just gave, but it really is a combined
00:28:56effort between the two. He can take over and do the job. He's been zoomed out a little bit. He
00:29:02can dive in and do it just as well. I'm not advocating for that, but if you are someone who
00:29:06is, I think that would be a logical move. Number two, I would say though,
00:29:09is if again, you brought him in here to be a locker room culture guy,
00:29:13and you've brought him in here to be a development guy with the quarterbacks,
00:29:17but you're firing him for different reasons, things that you did not acknowledge or bring
00:29:21him in as a strength, schematics, uh, winning. Well, then why was he here? Because the things
00:29:28you brought him in here for take time. And what you've seen already from the development
00:29:32indicates that he's doing a good job with Drake may. So if you change your mind, that's one thing,
00:29:37but that's not his fault. Right? And so I think you need to stick to why did we hire him in the
00:29:42first place? Yes. He was the 12th or 13th out of 13 or whatever, not planning. Okay. And some of
00:29:46the candidates they did interview, she and Walter being one of them who gets, he was another,
00:29:50we're not that impressed. Never going to come here. He did. I think part of the reason you
00:29:55want to build up this culture in this locker room, keep guys like that, not only on the roster,
00:30:00but on your coaching staff, something that Mayo brought up a couple of weeks ago.
00:30:03And I tweeted, I was like, Oh, it's very interesting. I tweeted this in the Friday
00:30:06five last week, this mail quote about every one of the coaching staff has to also be growing the
00:30:11same way. Uh, which brings me to my future thought. Yes. I think shakeups are coming
00:30:15and that's clear as day right now. It's not only because the Patriots are two and seven trending
00:30:20towards four and 13 or three and 14. I think a guy like Tyler Hughes, I would be surprised at
00:30:25this point if he's back, maybe you do get a new running backs coach, Taylor Embry fired by the
00:30:29jets last year lands in new England, uh, offensive line. You got three coaches. You could probably
00:30:34change up one of them. And then, you know, the quarterbacks are doing a fine job. Bob Bicknell
00:30:39tight ends coach been solid, but like Austin Hooper and Henry come out of the microwave.
00:30:44Like that's ready-made, you know what it is, you know what you're going to get. There's no
00:30:47cooking that needs to be involved there. Um, defensively, Jerry Montgomery through Wilkins,
00:30:51new guys, more fall guys. I would be, I would set the number at, this is my gut feeling that
00:30:57reporting over under three and a half for assistant new assistants. That's a good number.
00:31:08And I'm going to take the over. I almost did two and a half. And I thought you were going to be
00:31:13like, Oh, two and a half is easy. You know, I was actually, I was thinking three and a half was the,
00:31:17it was a good number to set. And then I was trying to like, as you were having an on there,
00:31:20I was trying to figure out what I go over. I would go over on that. And I'll throw it. Let
00:31:25me just ask you this though. Like, yeah, just again, this is just, we're just spitballing here.
00:31:31People don't aggregate you fire the defensive, the interior defensive line coach. Does that
00:31:39move a needle for anybody? Does anybody go? Oh, good, good. They're good. You know what they're,
00:31:44they're, they're getting it on track back down there. They're dialed in now. No, it's like,
00:31:49that doesn't, it's the point to move the needle on the radio or with ownership and make them feel
00:31:55good for a week or two. Or is it to get a better product on the football field? Because if you have
00:31:59the ability not to care about the radio stuff, the media stuff, the fan stuff, to be honest,
00:32:03you should not, because if you win, if you get a better product on the field, everything else
00:32:08will take care of itself. That would be my question. If you're doing it to satisfy ownership
00:32:13and just some change, any activity they view as productivity, that's fine. If you don't think
00:32:19Jerry Montgomery is part of the problem, then I would not fire him or anything. This is just
00:32:23groups where you could easily identify the receivers have underperformed. Tyler Hughes,
00:32:26guy who's never been a position coach in the NFL before that anyway. That's why I keep bringing
00:32:30him up. I think it's a very obvious choice for this dark, not as dark as you could be having
00:32:35conversation this week, but around the Patriots and the offense. Yeah, I think he comes up more.
00:32:40Does he move the needle though? What do you mean? From the media reaction ownership?
00:32:45I just think that when you start moving the deck chairs in the back, that doesn't...
00:32:54How are you selling that to Robert and Jonathan? Hey, our offense did whatever. We have 17 points
00:33:00a game, 18 points a game. The receivers can't get out of their own way. Offensive
00:33:05line was a hot mess. But boy, I keep hearing often about how our offense is just not very advanced
00:33:10and we're stuck in the early stages of the West Coast. This isn't the
00:33:15advanced West Coast offense. We've got this dynamic quarterback, this dynamic talent,
00:33:21and we invested a second round pick in Polk. Why aren't we getting more out of it?
00:33:26That's why I keep coming back to Alex. Again, this isn't me talking. I wouldn't do it.
00:33:33I would keep him for the very reasons that you just listed so much better than I did in terms of
00:33:40you brought him here as the 12th guy you interviewed, but you knew that he was a good
00:33:45chemistry guy and that he would do a good job building your quarterback up. I don't want to
00:33:50take that guy away from the quarterback when the quarterback has been the one freaking bright spot
00:33:55on my offense. And you could argue the brightest spot on my football team since he's been inserted
00:34:01into it. I don't want to take that guy away because I don't want to do what the bad franchises
00:34:06do and the bad staffs do all the time, which is just you're constantly spinning and you're never
00:34:12in full alignment with everybody. GM, head coach, coordinators. Let's just go with this and let's
00:34:19build the quarterback to the point where it's beautiful. If Brian Dable had left Josh Allen
00:34:24after year two, does Josh Allen become what Josh Allen becomes in year three?
00:34:28Great point. I spent a lot of time around them and I think Josh is an otherworldly talent.
00:34:33I don't know that that would have happened because he and Dable had such an unbelievable
00:34:37relationship and such an honest relationship where he could just basically say to him,
00:34:41dude, do that again and I'm going to smack you upside the head. Like just they had that thing
00:34:45and then like the FaceTimes and the love and they had all this stuff going, but it like it worked.
00:34:49And what I feel like at least through four games is it's working between Alex and Drake. Hey, we
00:34:55got 10 weeks from now and there seems to be some fissures, then okay, fine. That's a different
00:35:00conversation. But for right now, what he's done for him, I think has been important for the
00:35:05franchise. I agree. I don't know if I have too much more to add. It just is interesting though,
00:35:11because I know Gerard acknowledges soon after he got hired and I've not been able to find the
00:35:15quote. We'd love to link it and credit whenever and wherever he said this, but he acknowledged
00:35:19that the head coach's first staff rarely looks as it does in the second year. So this is just
00:35:24a fact of NFL life. This is not anyone projecting sources or getting over the top about this and
00:35:29that. It's the way of life in the NFL. It's also the way of life when you played as poorly as they
00:35:35have, especially on offense. But again, I think that continuity, like it takes a lot of time.
00:35:41The interesting part, you mentioned spinning and that's people in different positions and places.
00:35:46There's also the spinning to ownership for those questions or why are we getting more out of this
00:35:49and we're the 30th ranked offense or whatever. Be like, well, look at our personnel. How many
00:35:53offensive linemen could you name before you go up into that big box and get cozy and the camera pans
00:35:58to you every other second? Probably not many. So it might be Elliott's fault. And then the question
00:36:02is, well, these guys are here also because Elliott's here because he's the one who knew
00:36:06them in Green Bay. So I do think if there's pressure on Gerard, there's some more leverage
00:36:13you might have as a head coach if he wants to protect his assistants from ownership than before,
00:36:18because he's not necessarily the one who had the list that they started to pull names from. And
00:36:22those names became their new hires. It's just an interesting, unique dynamic in that sense. But the
00:36:27fact that change is coming is the way you and I both believe is not uncommon, especially at this
00:36:31record and this stage of a rebuild. Yeah, I don't. 100%. Okay. Any names you would want to add,
00:36:38by the way, like we talk about either coaches that have been fired, like I'll say this,
00:36:44at least you're not the Raiders who decided that that was not only the solution, but the solution
00:36:50and then we are going to go into the morgue and pull out North Turner's career, blow it off,
00:36:55dock it up, have a real life coaching Frankenstein brought in. And now he's like an advisor to us
00:37:00because they not only fired their OC, but the Cubies coach and the O-line coach. That is good
00:37:04for nobody. Like you stink. You should have known you were going to stink and they don't. And so
00:37:08they're taking it out on half of their staff. Yeah, I believe there was, I think it was either
00:37:13one or two guys aside from gets ease. Had it been anything higher than,
00:37:17than a quality control coach on offense? Like that's what they start hired for their staff.
00:37:22And remember he was the third guy. They, they had Kingsbury. They had a deal done. Kingsbury
00:37:27asked for a third year. They didn't want to give it to him. So he jumped, jumps to Washington,
00:37:30which, Oh, by the way, perfect for him. He might be a head coach next year, strictly because of
00:37:35what he's doing with, with Jaden Daniels in that offense. And then they wanted chip Kelly
00:37:39and chip wanted to bring. Apparently the word is that he wanted to bring too many guys
00:37:43from his UCLA staff with him to the Raiders. And they balked at that as well. So he guns up at Ohio
00:37:49state and they end up with Luke gets ease because as Antonio Pierce said at the time, well, they,
00:37:54they whooped us when we played them in 2023. So that's like a bill Belichick, you know,
00:38:00signed Scott Chandler. Cause it couldn't cover Scott Chandler when he was at Buffalo,
00:38:03even though he couldn't play. So the one name that I, that I am totally intrigued by offensively is,
00:38:11I think Dable is going to get fired again. We're just talking. I just think that even
00:38:16though they got the, the blessing from ownership and everything's great. I, I don't know. I saw,
00:38:23I'm not feeling it. I just have a feeling that they, they could just completely turtle and tank
00:38:27and he might be out. And he would be someone who, if I'm going to make a change to the offensive
00:38:31coordinator, just based on what I just told you about he and Josh, and we kind of saw his affinity
00:38:37for Drake may in the, in the hard knocks. Yeah. I would be intrigued. I don't know if he would
00:38:42be intrigued about coming here, but that would be an easy sell the ownership again. I don't know
00:38:48too much of that, but someone who's been here, the family, et cetera, et cetera.
00:38:53And what, and look, that still seems to be important to them. They did, you know,
00:38:57they kept macro, they kept Ellie, they've kept a lot of people that were in place during the
00:39:01Belichick years, even though they wanted to move away from bill. So, all right.
00:39:05What's your final thought future of the team. And then we'll get quickly to a past bears,
00:39:10my future of the team. And it's funny, like considering where they are right now,
00:39:16they have the number one pick in the draft. Let's just assume they're going to finish in
00:39:19the top five in the draft. I don't care what position they take. I don't care if I do not
00:39:27care. I, they need blue chip talent and they need blue chip talent and a quality person,
00:39:36which sometimes those don't always match. But that's, I think it's pretty important. And I
00:39:43think when you look at the roster and I say wide receiver, absolutely. Tackle. Absolutely. Edge.
00:39:51Yeah. You take one of those Abdul Carter from Penn state. I w you know, like if that's what
00:39:56you're sitting there. So to me, it's, it's about taking the guy with the highest grade,
00:40:02assuming that guy is in the quarterback. Cause you are, you feel like you have your quarterback.
00:40:06So that's a big one for me is that I know we're getting into the narrative and that I'm taking
00:40:12whatever I get there. I'd say I draft the wide receiver. Then I'm, I'm taking my other picks
00:40:16and I'm trying to move up and get them to tackle. Like I'm trying to address it. I'm not sitting
00:40:20back. I'm not trading back to get a fourth round pick and miss out on Ladd McConkie and shake,
00:40:25take J Jalen Polk. Like I'm taking the guy that I think is the best player
00:40:30because the roster isn't good enough to start being picky about some of this stuff.
00:40:35I think they need to pick guys that can actually make an impact on their football team. Because
00:40:39again, it's, I don't think they're going to playoffs next year either. So that you get,
00:40:43you're, you're still building this thing out. And this will depend on free agency, right? I just,
00:40:49we, we started talking about the offensive line and what they should have done and player that
00:40:53at least, you know, a starting caliber, even if he gets injured, once he comes back, you plug him
00:40:57in play. There are no questions on moving around. No third position for Mike on one day when 10
00:41:00games, I think that has to be either an offensive tackle in the top five, top 10, provided there's
00:41:06a player there who warrants a pick or a trade back. And I know how everyone feels about the
00:41:11receivers, but you've at least got three, four guys picked in the last two years who have shown
00:41:15some margin of potential Javon Baker's case. That potential was flashed in early August.
00:41:20And now a whole lot since Polk has been statistically the worst receiver in the league.
00:41:24I get that, but they will need more time, which means more opportunities. And, you know,
00:41:28Travis Hunter, this and that. I just think guys who have coming into the league now as receivers
00:41:33because of all the seven on seven time they've had, just like the quarterbacks and those have
00:41:36been hit or miss might be a development thing. All that experience accelerates their development
00:41:41and growth. I just think you have a better chance of getting a receiver day two than you did in
00:41:46past years. Unlike offensive tackle or because it is seven on seven until you get to high school,
00:41:50the reps that they have are so much fewer in the experience and the coaching and the training
00:41:54and the investment overall in the position is less. The guys who are able to overcome that or
00:41:59have as much talent to be able to overcome that are few and far between. That's why I'm stuck in
00:42:02the offensive tackle in addition to the situation that they're in. But, you know, we'll see the
00:42:07drafts is a long way away. I'm not ready for it, but I get what you're saying. Like the talent is
00:42:11the talent. That's the biggest problem. Like just get get get dudes in. And so I think part of it,
00:42:16so like I'm not anti-trade back in this case. Last year I was, I was take take Drake,
00:42:22then just let's do this thing. Can you imagine if Curran this year is like trade up? Like
00:42:26what are you and I going to do with our friend Tom in front of the podcast who's just constantly
00:42:31still bringing it up? And I, he mentioned it in a column the other day and I almost texted him
00:42:35and was like, can we, can we stop? Cause he's fed up with me mentioning Gerard spilling orange juice
00:42:40and making these public unforced errors just for a laugh or something that's so low stakes.
00:42:44And instead you, you lose confidence in the fans and the media that you can speak then to
00:42:47a group of alpha males behind the set of doors. I just, I don't know. There's going to be something
00:42:53from Tom. I'm most excited right now to see whatever that is that Curran sinks his teeth
00:42:57into. And it's still like a dog with a bone on that months later. Yeah. He'll, he'll have
00:43:03something. It's just a guarantee. Um, I don't want to, I don't want to be the team that goes
00:43:10too far back. And that's like for the people and your current was talking about, like, I think
00:43:14Minnesota was a likely trading partner there. And it's like, well, they get the multiple picks.
00:43:18And I'm like, now you start to get out of the realm of like the, the, the blue chip guy.
00:43:25The other problem with this is in your, in your scenario of the tackle as of right now,
00:43:31doesn't feel like any of those guys have sort of taken the next step,
00:43:37be it the guys in Texas, be it will Campbell at LSU. Like, I think there was this thought
00:43:43at the beginning, like, Oh, there's three tackles that could be top 10 picks. Now it feels like
00:43:48there might be three tackles in the top 30 picks. And the, the, the, and look, obviously again,
00:43:54million months for this to change, you know, we deal with the quarterbacks.
00:43:58There's no way they're going to have six quarterbacks in the first round. And then
00:44:01there's six quarterbacks in the first 12 picks. And you're like, what the hell just happened?
00:44:04Well, things get overvalued or whatever. Somebody falls in love with somebody and that,
00:44:08and that's how it goes. But like, I don't want you to sit there at two and pick will Campbell.
00:44:13Cause you're desperate for a left tackle. If you're not, if the grade doesn't tell you that
00:44:17that's where he belongs and the, but the grade tells you Abdul Carter belongs there and, or you
00:44:23could use one, but we really need a left tackle. Well, no, you really need good players and
00:44:28difference makers. And then you go, then you go back up. Then you take all your other assets.
00:44:32Who gives a crap? When you suck this much, you cannot be picky. You do not get right. You,
00:44:38their priority is one thing and prioritizing premium positions. I think that's obvious.
00:44:43And I would argue again, a little bit more in favor of that than you are,
00:44:45but overall you do not get to turn your nose up and anything you stink.
00:44:50Well, you want to talk about dog with a bone. I'm still like, I don't Calvin Ridley. They should
00:44:55have paid Calvin Ridley. They should have gone that far. Now maybe he wouldn't have come anyway
00:44:59and you go, Oh, it's not, that doesn't look that great in Tennessee. It didn't look that great
00:45:03because the quarterback sucked quotes his comments. He's a dead dude. They're all like that
00:45:09though. I don't rain and I, you, we were all in from you wanted, did you not? I believe we had a
00:45:13conversation. I was doing a trade pick swap, but by the way, Niners are not going to be,
00:45:18it doesn't look like 25th and later in the draft is right now, but he's in, he's, he's out there.
00:45:25That position for whatever reason, I don't know what it is, but they are different cats.
00:45:30And that comes with it. The George Pickens, like how many receivers in your lifetime?
00:45:35Can you think of, there were great players. I'm talking guys that dominated games,
00:45:40guys that you had to like swing everything to normal human beings. Larry Fitzgerald,
00:45:45you got any other ones? No, it's impossible. Impossible.
00:45:53Pretty normal. Who? Welker. He's a good foot soldier, but he's a slot guy. I'm talking like
00:46:00that, that guy we're talking, we're all talking about that guy, that alpha on the outside,
00:46:04those guys, they're all, they're all, I got you. They're loons.
00:46:09Loons. Okay. Let's get to Bears, Pats, no more, no more talk. If you want to go to Bears, Pats,
00:46:16I have to tell you, and I already said this earlier. So, you know, this is part ad read,
00:46:19part true, all true. Just go to game time. They have the lowest price guaranteed. You'll find a
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00:46:35I don't even care. Go to game time for that lowest price guarantee. And it also has a new feature
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00:47:11off download game time today. What time is it? Game time. Game time on Sunday will be noon local
00:47:18time. It will be one o'clock on the East coast, the foreign forest, Chicago bears against C2 and
00:47:21seven New England Patriots, the bears 23rd overall by DV away 27th and offense 11th on defense and
00:47:29eighth on special teams. Their last four, not pretty 29 to nine loss at Arizona last weekend
00:47:34before that 1815 loss on a hail Mary to Jane Daniels and the commanders before that 35 to 16
00:47:41win over the Jaguars in London, then 36 to 10 win versus Carolina. So they're beating up on bad
00:47:46teams, taking advantage of a soft schedule. Granted the Washington game should have been a
00:47:50win. And if they did win, everyone would be looking at them as all sleeper and a C making
00:47:53a run, yada, yada. They're not, they are a good tackling team. Their weapons have underperformed
00:47:58in offense along with Caleb Williams, who's being protected by a very banged up offensive line.
00:48:02So there are weak places here for the Patriots to attack three matchups. I've got two. I'm going to
00:48:09say one to buy a little bit of time. I want you to pick a matchup and then I will give you my third
00:48:14Tremaine Edmonds versus Drake may scrambling. Edmonds is a guy you covered in Buffalo,
00:48:18super rangy, big physical linebacker. I don't know whether or not he's lived up to this giant
00:48:23ass contract that I was hoping a couple off seasons ago, the Patriots would get him. They
00:48:26did not, but that's the player that they're going to be assigning him or TJ Edwards as a spy,
00:48:32or when they're in zone coverage a whole lot to keep an eye on may. And if may gets around him
00:48:36often enough, he'll do what he did in Tennessee, which is go for 95 yards. And if he doesn't,
00:48:41then the Patriots are in real trouble because that means he doesn't like the options. He sees
00:48:44downfield against Jalen Johnson and very few people do Jalen Johnson shut down corner.
00:48:48And that Edmonds may cat and mouse game, both literally running around ending with
00:48:53may moving zone defenders with his eyes is going to be very, very interesting because Edmonds
00:48:57is someone that has grown up a lot and is at the center of everything. The bears want to do
00:49:02on every single down. That to me is my first big matchup here. I love it. Yeah. Edmonds is
00:49:09a terrific player. He's a terrific dude. Really good dude. At least from covering him. I enjoyed
00:49:14talking with him quite a bit. I would say you, you mentioned Jalen Johnson and to me,
00:49:19Jalen Johnson is someone who can travel. Obviously the Patriots don't necessarily have a player that
00:49:24you'd want to travel with, but I'm just curious that they even, they even bother throwing at him.
00:49:30You know, if however it works, can you, are you cutting off the field because you don't want to
00:49:35go towards Jalen Johnson? And I'm just curious to see if they do anything with him. Like if they
00:49:41looked at pop and just said, all right, well, clearly they want to get the ball to pop.
00:49:43So you're our best guy. You're going to cover pop and whatever. We're not worried about the
00:49:48outside guys, but I am curious to see if they do anything with Jalen Johnson and if the Patriots
00:49:52can have any success thrown in his direction. Last one for me is Jonathan Jones or Marco Wilson
00:49:59against the other receiver. Cause when you look at the bears, we got three guys over 300 yards.
00:50:03It's Roma Dunzey, DJ Moore, who leads them in catches, but a second in yards and then Cole
00:50:07Komet, the tight end, which could really be a weak point for the Patriots if they're signing
00:50:11Jalen Hawkins or Del Petis or Marte Mapu, man covered, but we'll see. I just think Christian
00:50:16Gonzalez will cover one of a Dunzey and DJ Moore. And then Caleb Williams will look to the other
00:50:21side and go, okay, that works. And I don't know who it's going to be. I don't think Christian
00:50:25Gonzalez will shadow this week. So playing sides, I'll be very interested to see how Jonathan Jones
00:50:30and or Marco Wilson hold up. And maybe it is Alex Austin in the mix this week, or maybe you get a
00:50:34little bit more Marcus Jones on the outside. We'll see, but it's just, it's one of those matchups
00:50:38that I think could either blow up in their faces or if the bears ignore it could really play to
00:50:42their strength because that's an area I know if I was Chicago, I'd be, I'd be a tech.
00:50:48I should give you a bonus one. Can I give you a bonus one? Yeah.
00:50:52Waldron versus Covington.
00:50:56Walter's offense is a mess right now that my boss tweeted it out. It's true. I was,
00:51:00I was actually watching it this afternoon. Their offensive film in Arizona is wretched.
00:51:07I don't know. I don't know what they're doing. You mentioned Cole Komet.
00:51:09He's a really nice player. They don't use him nearly enough. I don't like,
00:51:13I would be like, okay, look, I get, we all have all these flashy pieces, but like
00:51:17on third and six, I'm going to get him the ball. He's a house of a human being and he's a good
00:51:22athlete. Uh, and the markets obviously looked at, we know the injuries and that's certainly
00:51:26factored into some of their performance, but just inconsistent week after week, after week,
00:51:31if I'm Walden, I'm trying to run the ball down their throat and make them stop me because they
00:51:34haven't been able to do it. And quite frankly, I think the jets got away from it. And it's probably
00:51:39partially why the jets lost the football game, but I don't know that Walden's that smart. So
00:51:43we'll, we'll see how that, that flies. Yeah. 27th by DVO eight. That's just barely above what the
00:51:49Patriots are right now. That's statistically with all the talent and everything they have there,
00:51:52including offensive leaders calling Walden out for not being aggressive enough. I think in week
00:51:57three or four, that's about as good of a sign as the players only meeting happening in September
00:52:03is the public calling out of the rookie offensive first-year offensive coordinator in Chicago by the
00:52:07rookie quarterback, uh, two keys. You mentioned the middle. I think the Patriots need to run up
00:52:11the middle. Andrew Billings is out starting to defensive tackle for the bears, torn pack,
00:52:15probably gone for the season. Their best runs have been duo and inside zone. A lot of double teams
00:52:20get downhill, get behind them. I don't expect from Andrew Stevenson to go for even 80 yards
00:52:24in Chicago. Okay. But it needs to be a lot more than 16. And those plays I think are through the
00:52:29middle attacking a bear's weakness and also getting behind some of their best plays or
00:52:32even through four weeks, like you're averaging more than five yards per carry on duo and inside
00:52:36zone. Do more of that. Yes. It's what you do. Well, do it. Embrace what you do. Well,
00:52:42keep doing it until someone stops it. You gave a bonus key. I'm going to give you a bonus matchup.
00:52:47I'll give you one more key. And if you have a third fireway, if not, we can move on to the
00:52:51wild card thought Hunter Henry needs to eat on Sunday because he has seen the 10th, most targets
00:52:57of any pass catcher in the entire league against zone coverage. The bears under Eber Flus are still
00:53:02one of the old Tampa to four down front. Like this is what we do. And they spend the dial a
00:53:06little bit, some zone pressures and stuff like that. But Hunter Henry is going to face a ton
00:53:10of zone coverage. He does an excellent job finding the soft spots sitting down. They need to target
00:53:15him over the middle against those zones time and again and again and again, because if you don't,
00:53:20I think you're just leaving food on the table. And that's something you can't do because your
00:53:25we know is starving. Yeah, I, he's, it's, it's funny what you have when you have a competent
00:53:32quarterback, what it can do for, for Hunter Henry. You can, he just, he's got such a good
00:53:36knack for playing the game. Maybe he doesn't run as well as he used to, but he still knows how to
00:53:40get open and he, and he, he finds, he finds ways. And when you throw it to him 99 of a hundred
00:53:46times, he catches it too. So he's, he's, he's in the trust tree for sure. All right. Wildcard
00:53:51thought anything adjacent to the game stuff. We haven't covered Pat's bears. First trip there
00:53:55since 2018 first game against the bears since everyone's favorite Monday night affair in 2022
00:54:01chance of SAPI SAPI in the ugliest Patriots. One of the ugliest Patriots games that year,
00:54:0633 to 14 bears. No, my, my wildcard thought would be the first time I ever went there.
00:54:12It was a, it was a December game, I believe. And it was when we had to walk from the parking lot
00:54:17to get to the stadium. The snow was coming down so hard, it hurt. And I actually turned around and
00:54:23walked backwards, which, you know, shave your butt and walk backwards. You know, that's, that's what
00:54:27I had to do. Cause it was that bad. And then post game, they wanted us to be live on the field and
00:54:33it was still snowing. And I said, no, you're ridiculous. Like you literally, I could be right
00:54:37in front of the camera and you're not going to be able to see my face because of the snow.
00:54:40It's freezing. It's nasty. I'm going to be a diva. We're inside period. End of story.
00:54:46We had a nice brick wall behind us, whatever, cinder block wall, hideous.
00:54:51But I was like, we're not going out there. It's ridiculous.
00:54:54It's, uh, that was 2010. Deon Branch caught a touchdown right before halftime.
00:55:00Yeah. Running in the snow. Like they were kids and the bears were like very careful
00:55:04slipping around and the good team that year, but not good enough to get the Patriots.
00:55:07It was a quality game. I mean, you go to Chicago, what is late year? You get to see
00:55:11weather game. So that's all right.
00:55:14This is the strangest looking stadium in the league from the outside. And I don't think it's
00:55:18particularly close. This is soldier field, all the respect, all the history is there. This doesn't
00:55:22take away from it. It looks like an alien ship landed on top of a Greek or Roman temple. Cause
00:55:27you've got the columns on the outside and all of the pillars and my Latin class background and
00:55:33education could tell you exactly what kind of columns that there might be Doric. They might
00:55:37be Ionic. They might be Corinthian columns. But on top of that, I could not tell you what the ship
00:55:41is because it is not from planet earth. And there you have the windows and all of the seats. And
00:55:45even the seating inside is like a little awkward. And I know they looked at and talking about moving
00:55:49to Aurora, which is not in Chicago and building some sort of, you know, decadent suburban stadium.
00:55:54I hope they don't, but I would love some sort of remodeling from the stranger stadium. If you've
00:55:59ever been there on the outside, because you think I'm exaggerating for some weird laughs about the
00:56:03alien ship landing on this ancient temple. It's exactly how it looks. And I can't get over how
00:56:08they landed there. And the press box is hideous. And Oh, by the way, get your food. Yeah. But
00:56:13with some facts, this is like where it is inside baseball stuff. The press box is hideous. And
00:56:18if you're going to get your food, you better get it early. Cause they don't, they don't run that.
00:56:21They don't run extra out there. Once it's gone, it's gone. You're not, are you, are you coming?
00:56:28No comment. Okay. Okay. Sorry. All right. Game pick. Are they going to win?
00:56:34Uh, no. 20 to 16. No. Okay. Pretty much last week. Yeah.
00:56:45You think I got 23 20 bears they're favored by six, which I didn't came down from seven. I still
00:56:51think the Patriots are just everyone's get right game. This is your slump buster coming into town
00:56:56and they've lost two in a row and they don't think they should have lost. And that bled into the next
00:56:59cause they're not a great team and poorly coached and that's what happens. But eventually with that
00:57:02amount of talent you get right. And either this is, they get up 10 early and it's even the rest
00:57:07of the way, or it's close. And then they pull away late and you just like, I, I can't imagine,
00:57:14you know, Drake does it all on his own, a do it yourself offense. Again, it comes that close,
00:57:19which I think the Patriots will play better and run the ball a little bit better, but
00:57:22talent is what it is, man. It's just, it's tough around him.
00:57:26Very tough, very tough. And like, to your point, I mean, he was a 23 of 26 at one point in the game
00:57:31against Tennessee. Like he's, he's doing what he can. He's just going to have to live with the
00:57:36mistakes as well. As I asked Alex Van Pelt today, the good thing is, and Alex, you know, kind of
00:57:41confirmed my thought was like, he's not, he's not making the same mistake twice. So he's done a good
00:57:46job of sort of learning through the process here. And you just hope that continues on that, on that
00:57:51sort of track. Yeah. And I'm a little wary, not worried about, do the old habits come back? Like
00:57:58we saw in North Carolina, I have to do too much. I have to grow myself, play the Superman hero ball.
00:58:03Not going to say anything more than that because we need to see what happens. And I think he's
00:58:06shown great discipline so far, aside from that overtime, but like, Hey, you got to make something
00:58:10happen. All right, Mike, Jared, you get an A plus plus plus as well for this episode. Thanks for
00:58:14hanging out. It's such an easy grader. I know I'm just easy period. And my dog, my dog gets an F.
00:58:19He hasn't stopped barking for the last 40 minutes. I did hear a little bit of that. Oh my God. He's
00:58:24insane. He he's here to torment me. That's really what it is. Well, someone has to, your kids are
00:58:29gone. Uh, all right. I will bug you surely in about six weeks, at which point I don't think
00:58:33we'll do past, present or future. We will just be probably looking at the future in the offseason,
00:58:38even though the Patriots have game less to play. Cause I don't know, winter's coming early now
00:58:41these past few years, but, uh, Hey, hopefully, hopefully we get surprised. They win one of these
00:58:46coming up and then, uh, I don't know. We'll, we'll do something more fun than that. Sounds good to
00:58:50me. See pal back for another big four minute drill with big Mike, Mike on when you got the
00:58:56floors fingers up. We're a midway through the season. I just asked you, how are you doing?
00:59:00You gave me the standard, like, yeah, yeah, we're good. We're fine. Good. We're going to get you
00:59:03open up a little bit more here. Ready? Start the clock. Okay. Number one, you negotiated your own
00:59:08$57 million contract this off season. What advice would you give to the rest of us who would love
00:59:13a $57 million on their own? Um, you know, read into it, uh, look at the trends and pretty much
00:59:19that's all I did. All right. The worst date you've ever been on the worst day I've ever been
00:59:25on probably just her burping. If I remember, she was just belching, um, obnoxiously throughout the
00:59:30night. Okay. Where did you go? How quickly did you leave? Did you know on the spot, this is the
00:59:34last one, like how loud were these, these belches? It wasn't, it wasn't a crazy loud burp, but you
00:59:39know, it was one of them burps that you smell. And it was like, all right, after about two, it was
00:59:43like, no, we finished dinner. But after that, it was pretty much that was it college or you're in
00:59:48the pros. This was college. Yeah. Yeah. Did you ever see her again? Uh, yeah. On campus. Yeah.
00:59:53Did you hear her first? No, I didn't hear it first. All right, we'll move on. Uh,
00:59:57your proudest moment as a Patriot. Um, probably really just getting drafted, to be honest,
01:00:01you know, um, that day was really surreal. I was around my family. So, um, I would say that,
01:00:06and then like my first game, um, I remember we played the dolphins and I was a jumbo tight end
01:00:11and I got a good block. My first plate of being in the NFL. So that was pretty dope. Yeah. 2111
01:00:16win. Not bad. Yeah, it was very good. All right. People don't understand blank about offensive
01:00:20line play. Um, probably, I mean, it's kind of hard to say, cause I would say, you know,
01:00:29if you blocking good, they really don't care about you. But when you're not blocking good,
01:00:32that's when they say something about you. So, um, I would just say like our techniques of blocking,
01:00:38I would say that, that they don't understand that. Okay. We're trying to get at, you look like a
01:00:43love is blind guy. Do you watch that on Netflix? No, I don't. Okay. What guilty TV show or music
01:00:48do you have? Cause there's gotta be one. Yeah. I like everything I watch. Um, probably just the
01:00:53food network shit. Really? Or what are you watching there? Really? Everything on there. Uh,
01:00:57guys, diner, um, the triple S I'm in triple D, uh, diners, drive-ins and dines. Um, what else?
01:01:07That's pretty much it. Pretty much the food network or HGTV. Uh, Halloween just passed. I
01:01:11would've asked you this beforehand. Are you a scary movie guy? I on and off scary movie guy.
01:01:16I, it's not my first choice, but I like scary movies. Yeah. You ever stop watching a scary
01:01:19movie? Cause it was just too much in the middle. No, never that. Okay. All right. Uh, the teammate
01:01:24you would least like to date your sister? Um, probably, I don't know. We don't got a lot of
01:01:32bad guys, but, um, I'm just throwing out there. Um, probably, probably KB. He's a married man.
01:01:41So you're in luck, but why KB? Uh, he's a good guy, but, um, I feel like back in that he was
01:01:46just wild. It's funny. Everyone said a receiver. So we are still perfect here. I would just say
01:01:50all receivers pretty much. I wouldn't let them date my daughter. Yeah. All right. Uh, you can
01:01:54block this person in life. It's a non-football person, but you get a one-on-one swear up block
01:01:59against them. Who are you picking and why? Uh, my mama, cause I'm a blocker. Why do you want to
01:02:05block your mom? You want to pancake your mom? Why? I would, um, no, no reason. But, um, if I
01:02:11had to block someone, it can be anybody, anybody. You just get to stand there and pancake their ass.
01:02:16And we're going to come back to mom. This is the most, this is the most surprising answer we've
01:02:19ever had. I'm joking about that. I wouldn't pack my mom. If it was my dad or my brother,
01:02:22I probably would. I would pick my brother pretty much. Cause he, he played D tech on high school.
01:02:26So, uh, as I got into football and I played more offense, you know, he, he always said he would
01:02:31beat me. So I don't think he would. All right. We got two more. You played for Jim Harbaugh.
01:02:35You played for Bill Belichick. Give us a quick Harbaugh or Belichick story.
01:02:39Um, I'll give you a Harbaugh story. Um, I think, I don't know when this was, but, um, really it
01:02:45was just like, uh, after one of these practices, I think it was a Friday and he was just talking
01:02:50about competing in a game. And, uh, we usually had like these, uh, our Friday night dinners or,
01:02:55uh, our meals before, before the game. So we'll have like steak and milk and like not steak and
01:03:00milk together, but I'm saying we have like steak, potatoes, corn, like all that, like a cookout,
01:03:05a grill. Um, pretty much, uh, uh, I was just sitting next to him and, uh, he was sitting at
01:03:10the O-line table and, uh, we were always just chilling, hanging out and he was just busting
01:03:14open like bottles of milk. He probably drank about two bottles of milk that, and that sitting
01:03:18of, uh, eating all the steak, some corn and a potato and followed it up with two, uh, cans of
01:03:24milk. So what you see is what you get. We've seen Jim Harbaugh with a lot of milk. He drinks a lot
01:03:28of milk. I would say so. All right. Last one. Least favorite media question.
01:03:33I don't know. I want to be honest. I mean, I'm open book, but everyone, I don't know if you got
01:03:37to, if you got a question for me, but, um, what's your least favorite question that you like you
01:03:42dislike to ask? Uh, I don't ask this. So that's why it's my least favorite, but anything that
01:03:46starts with, uh, can you just talk about, and then blank, that's not a question. That's just
01:03:50getting you to comment on a certain topic. That's being lazy as a reporter. Uh, can you talk about
01:03:54how good this interview was? This was a dope interview. I'll do it again. Appreciate you.
01:03:58Mike. I want him for a big four minute drill. Appreciate you, bud.

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Would Trevor Zegras be a good fit for the Bruins? | Pucks With Haggs
CLNS Media Sports Network
55:37
Devin McCourty on Patriots vs. Dolphins, Bill Belichick in media and more | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:01:47
Patriots vs Bengals and 2024 season preview w/ Jeff Howe | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
32:15
Why I'm picking Patriots to win in London & Pop Douglas Interview | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
40:36
Drake Maye is carrying the Patriots and trade deadline notes | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:01:55
Will the Patriots or Jets Right the Ship in Pivotal Matchup? | All 32 NFL Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
59:54
Drake Maye and Patriots Face VERY Winnable Game in London | All 32 NFL Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
45:25
LIVE From Day 9 of Patriots Training Camp | Patriots Daily x Patriots Beat
CLNS Media Sports Network
52:43
4 fake Patriots trades, midseason awards and Drake Maye update | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
26:54
Patriots Season Superlative Predictions w/ Mina Kimes | Patriots Daily
CLNS Media Sports Network
53:51
Inside the state of the Patriots and a Jets preview | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
28:13
LIVE: Patriots vs. 49ers KEY MATCHUPS w/ The Athletic's Ted Nguyen | Patriots Daily
CLNS Media Sports Network
1:06:25
Patriots vs. Jets preview and passing game fixes w/ James White | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
49:07
LIVE: Patriots vs. 49ers Week 4 Preview | Patriots Beat
CLNS Media Sports Network
52:10
The Patriots next moves after 53-man roster cuts | Pats Interference
CLNS Media Sports Network
54:14
Is Mayo losing control of this team this early? | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network
56:09
NFL Playoff Predictions and Super Bowl Picks | All 32 NFL Podcast
CLNS Media Sports Network