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Transcript
00:00:00I am joined by Robert Griffin III, James White, Field, Yates, Mena Kimes.
00:00:08All right, so first play we're going to look at, second and two, one of the Patriots' first
00:00:12offensive plays.
00:00:16What's going on, everyone?
00:00:17Mike Kadlec, Taylor Kiles here for CLNS Media, back with another episode of the Patriots
00:00:22Daily Podcast, powered by Prospects, powered by GameTime, powered by the Patriots by Week.
00:00:28The Patriots got nothing going on this week, like I just said in the several videos we
00:00:32just recorded until, let's say, about an hour ago.
00:00:35We are not off this week.
00:00:36We are still here, pumping out some Patriots content.
00:00:39So we're bringing you a mailbag episode of the podcast today, a ton of questions over
00:00:44on Twitter, so we're going to get to as many of them as possible.
00:00:47We'll try and go quick, rapid fire, we only have about an hour here to get this done,
00:00:50maybe probably a little less, we'll see how it goes.
00:00:52But if you do have questions, throw them in the chat, we'll try and get to those ones
00:00:56as well.
00:00:57We've got an old man mob, he always shows up, and every time we go live, he always asks
00:01:01us how we're doing.
00:01:02We appreciate it.
00:01:03Thanks for joining in, even on this Friday.
00:01:05So we're going to get to the mailbag, we're going to get to the Patriots questions, but
00:01:08before we do, I wanted to touch on one thing, some Patriots-adjacent news in the world of
00:01:13football, and that is our old friend, Bill Belichick, taking an interview with the University
00:01:19of North Carolina.
00:01:20It was first reported by Inside Carolina, a local Chapel Hill blog type of website,
00:01:29which I think is super cool that they were the first to get the news.
00:01:32I think about that with Boston College, with Kevin Stone, who you work with down there,
00:01:38that's him breaking that, which I would love that for him around BC eventually, but that's
00:01:42what this felt like with this Inside Carolina team.
00:01:45It ends up being confirmed by Sports Illustrated, Albert Breer has it, all the big guys, it
00:01:50ends up going through ESPN, FAML, they all get it, so it is true, it is real, Bill Belichick
00:01:55did interview with the UNC Tar Heels for the head coaching position.
00:01:59So Taylor, what are your thoughts on this?
00:02:01Is he going to go to college?
00:02:02Can he handle this college game, recruiting, NIL, flying across the country, being in people's
00:02:06living rooms trying to get them to play for the Tar Heels?
00:02:09What do you make of it?
00:02:10What are your thoughts on Bill potentially going to college?
00:02:13It's interesting because it's a very different lifestyle.
00:02:15College football is a different sport, you could say, because of the field dimensions
00:02:19and the strategies and just how, obviously in college, I think Alex said this in one
00:02:24of our shows, the head coach is pretty much like the quarterback in the NFL.
00:02:27So very different type of ecosystem.
00:02:30One thing I know that Albert Breer mentioned when he was talking about it was the fact
00:02:33that because of NIL, it's a lot more similar to the NFL and free agency, because it's a
00:02:38bit more of a bidding war than it is just, we're a great program, you're going to want
00:02:42to come and win with us.
00:02:43It's like, yeah, all right, but how much am I making at the same time?
00:02:46Right.
00:02:47Obviously, Belichick having been a GM, the kind of control you have in a college system
00:02:51does make sense for him.
00:02:52Now, at the same time, you're dealing with children, you're like the recruiting, very
00:02:56different story.
00:02:57He's kind of used to that right now, just saying, with his girlfriend, but I digress.
00:03:02Maybe we should give him some tips, honestly.
00:03:05That's why he was like, you know what?
00:03:06I can do this.
00:03:07I can talk to college kids.
00:03:08I have so many college friends now, let me just play the college game.
00:03:12But yeah, also one thing, unless he doesn't get an NFL gig, I don't see why he'd want
00:03:17to go to college because he's chasing the all-time wins record for the NFL, not for
00:03:21football overall.
00:03:22So I don't know how much incentive he'd have there if he did have the opportunity for an
00:03:26NFL job.
00:03:28But beyond that, I don't know, man, it just seems like a weird fit.
00:03:31I think it also would just be hilarious, objectively, if the Patriots get Drake May from UNC, and
00:03:37then Bill Belichick ends up going to UNC and filling that ground.
00:03:40So that would be pretty crazy.
00:03:42But yeah, it was a weird report.
00:03:46It would just be such bizarro land because Bill spent his entire life in the NFL and
00:03:50obviously has a lot of respect for college programs and has been around college football,
00:03:54but never been in charge.
00:03:55So I don't know.
00:03:56It seemed like a long shot to me.
00:03:58But again, if there isn't an NFL situation that he loves, he loves switching bottom line.
00:04:02So if he had an opportunity, and I'm sure he wouldn't want to just waste their time,
00:04:07and I'm sure the Chapel Hill doesn't want to waste his time either.
00:04:09So interesting, but I'll believe it when I see it.
00:04:13Yeah, it is kind of bizarre.
00:04:14There's so many layers to it first.
00:04:15And I know I just gave Inside Carolina credit on it.
00:04:19But the day before I was actually, I was listening to Felder and Maz, and Tony Maz brought up
00:04:26that he had heard that Bill was sniffing around the UNC job the day before this broke.
00:04:30And I heard that I was like, what does Maz know?
00:04:33Is he just kind of throwing stuff against the wall?
00:04:35They do that on that show.
00:04:36They always kind of have secret like, you know, brown check marks, they call them, they
00:04:39kind of get information, but he ended up having it too.
00:04:42So when I heard it yesterday, or two days ago, at this point, I was like, is he really
00:04:46going to do that?
00:04:47Like, what does college bring to him, whatever.
00:04:48And then it comes out, and it's like, oh, shit, this is kind of real.
00:04:51And you wonder, like, he wants the wins record.
00:04:55Is he going to have interest in the league where last year, he had one team in Atlanta
00:04:59actually call and have an interview, and they did not give him all the power he he wants
00:05:04to be the GM.
00:05:05He wants to have full control of personnel.
00:05:07And a lot of teams don't want to give that.
00:05:09A lot of teams like the head coach, general manager tandem, and Bill is that in one person
00:05:14in the NFL, where you mentioned it, in college, you kind of oversee everything, and you have
00:05:18the ability.
00:05:19Now, a lot of teams, you know, Andrew Luck is now the general manager of Stanford, like
00:05:24Woj left the NBA world to go be the general manager of St. Bonaventure basketball.
00:05:28Like they're bringing in guys to oversee, what's his name, on New England staff now,
00:05:33Ty Smith was the GM for Miami two years ago.
00:05:36So like, a lot of teams are doing this.
00:05:39What?
00:05:40Did something happen?
00:05:41News might have broken, or we're just late on it.
00:05:43Andrew De Silva just tagged me in some way.
00:05:44I'm sorry to cut you off, but Ali Connelly of Read Optional reported that per sources,
00:05:50I'm told Bill Belichick's negotiations with North Carolina include a guarantee that Stephen
00:05:55Belichick will be named the school's head coach in waiting.
00:05:58UNC is open to that guarantee.
00:06:00Negotiations are not a bid to gain leverage for NFL offers, and BB is open to the move.
00:06:05Any potential staff would include Matt Patricia, Ben McDaniels, the Texans passing him, Josh
00:06:11McDaniels, as well as a sitting college GM who would handle general operations, NIL recruiting,
00:06:16et cetera.
00:06:17So no one on the Patriot staff, that's notable, because I know that people have talked about
00:06:21Brian Belichick, maybe leaving Mike Pellegrino.
00:06:24I've been saying that, like, obviously, now that Stephen is there, that makes a little
00:06:28more sense, because it didn't make sense for the assistant's lead with Bill to be somewhere
00:06:32for, like, two years, you know?
00:06:34And I know that was one thing that was potentially standing in the way for Bill.
00:06:37So not just the two years, it's you and Eric, the Belichicks, I guess.
00:06:41And then Belichick's preference, what I'm told, not me, Ali Connelly, remains the NFL,
00:06:46but the landscape is already considered thin based on feedback for the league, moving to
00:06:51college with a guarantee for his son will overrule waiting in the NFL carousel.
00:06:56Very interesting.
00:06:57That is very interesting.
00:06:58And back to the rumblings and the Brown checkmarks, like, yesterday, Dave Portnoy of Varsity Sports
00:07:05just threw out into the ether on Twitter, I wonder if this has anything to do with Steve
00:07:10coming along and being the next head coach.
00:07:12Now, I don't know if he knew anything, I don't know if that was just an idea, now it's become
00:07:15real, but that would make a lot more sense for Bill to go and lay the foundation.
00:07:22And then, because Steve's Washington defense was really good this year.
00:07:27Now, is he head coach material?
00:07:28I wonder, he didn't even run meetings because Gerard ran the meetings, he's more of the
00:07:33X's and O's guy.
00:07:34So that would be interesting, but I mean, if you put a foundation around him, Bill can
00:07:38kind of teach him the way.
00:07:40That is an interesting wrinkle, and that would make it more likely for me to think that he
00:07:45would actually take the job.
00:07:47Yeah.
00:07:48Wow, that's fascinating.
00:07:49Thanks for bringing that up, Andrew, to tag us in that, or tag Taylor in that, and kind
00:07:53of get that going.
00:07:54So we'll see what happens.
00:07:56There's obviously the idea of him, I just mentioned he wanted to go to, or he interviewed
00:08:01with Atlanta, they didn't want to give him the personnel control.
00:08:04They had all the, they had like Terry Fontenot, and they have like different presidents, and
00:08:09obviously the GM in blank has some pull and say in that organization as well, it didn't
00:08:13feel like the right fit.
00:08:15So he gets passed over, you wonder if that same, it feels like Jacksonville is the one
00:08:19place where everyone keeps saying, Shad Khan's gonna give him everything, he's gonna be able
00:08:22to do everything, because he did the same thing with Urban Meyer before they brought
00:08:26Balki in, and yeah, that didn't work out well.
00:08:28But you get the point.
00:08:29Somebody who is a very different head, he wants the whole thing.
00:08:33So that's kind of that on Bill, we'll see what happens there, but definitely an interesting
00:08:38Patriots-adjacent story that I wanted to get some thoughts on.
00:08:42And really quick, so Bill giving up the opportunity to get the wins record, I don't think he's
00:08:45giving anything up.
00:08:46Like they said, his preference is the NFL because I think he wants the wins record.
00:08:50Now, the reason I wasn't so surprised last off season when he didn't get a job with the
00:08:55NFL is that won the age, and it's like you are bringing him in and giving him all this
00:08:59power for two years, three at the absolute max.
00:09:03And that's if he's like riding the high of a Super Bowl or something, and he's like,
00:09:06hey, I want to be back or something along those lines.
00:09:08So yeah, I wasn't really surprised when he didn't get one just because there were so
00:09:12many young candidates and I think organizations, unless you're the Cowboys or like the Jaguars
00:09:16where you have talent, but you need the leadership, there weren't a lot of teams like that.
00:09:20Most of them were like, no, we want to set a new price for the future.
00:09:23So I don't think it's really up to Bill.
00:09:26I think if he can get into the NFL, he will, but if he can't, then it makes more sense
00:09:30to help out his kid.
00:09:31No, 100%.
00:09:32I also, I don't like the age factor of it is huge.
00:09:37And I don't think that's anything against Bill and his coaching style.
00:09:41Now, sometimes it like the rumor was that the way Braybel is, we kind of run people
00:09:46the wrong way.
00:09:47And he's a younger guy, and he obviously didn't get a job either.
00:09:50Also scaring guys, apparently.
00:09:51He was scary in front of all those people because he's such a big, scary person.
00:09:55He's too burly.
00:09:56Yeah.
00:09:57Ridiculous.
00:09:58I hope that report wasn't true.
00:09:59I know.
00:10:00That was so, that was a wild one.
00:10:02But yeah, I mean, I know there were so many programs, like you mentioned, that weren't
00:10:09ready for like a quick turnaround, like plug and play head coach.
00:10:13Atlanta really felt like the only one because they had brought in, or they were planning
00:10:16on bringing in Kirk Cousins.
00:10:18Wait, when did that, did Kirk come after that?
00:10:21Yeah.
00:10:22There was, there was, didn't they get in trouble?
00:10:25They got hit.
00:10:26Oh yeah.
00:10:27There was tampering involved.
00:10:28Okay.
00:10:29Yeah.
00:10:30Anyway, there, there wasn't a plug and play situation aside from Atlanta for Bill.
00:10:33We'll see if anything can happen this year, but this North Carolina stuff adds a little
00:10:37context and wrinkle to the impending 2025 Bill Belichick sweepstakes as well.
00:10:42All right, Taylor, let's get into our Patriots by week mailbag.
00:10:46And I want to start with this.
00:10:48Could Garrett Bowles be an option in free agency if the team doesn't think a tackle
00:10:52is worth taking in the top five Garrett Bowles, the left tackle of the Denver Broncos, someone
00:10:57who has turned into one of the better left tackles in football.
00:10:59I think he's very penalized.
00:11:02I think that's the one downside.
00:11:03I think he has like the most penalties taken in the league since he started.
00:11:06But other than that, he's been pretty stout and it's helped Bo Nix turned into a pretty
00:11:10solid working quarterback.
00:11:11So what do you make?
00:11:12Do you think you can go get Garrett Bowles from Denver this offseason?
00:11:15Well, look at Garrett's perspective.
00:11:17We have to remember that in free agency, it's not very common that a lot of these guys actually
00:11:20hit the market.
00:11:21Now, there are some situations where like Trey Smith, where you're about to be maybe
00:11:24the highest paid guard in football and you're on the Chiefs where they're probably not going
00:11:28to pay you that kind of money.
00:11:29They have money to allocate elsewhere.
00:11:31They're probably going to try to build through the draft.
00:11:33Tee Higgins, where obviously things are weird because I've even seen reports that they legitimately
00:11:37might end up not re-signing Jamar Chase for whatever reason.
00:11:40But because of the standoff they had this offseason, I would be kind of surprised if Tee Higgins
00:11:43wanted to go there.
00:11:45There are some situations where I would say, yeah, it makes sense for them to leave and
00:11:48try to get a payday somewhere else.
00:11:50But Garrett Bowles is up there in age.
00:11:52He's on a Denver team that's really got some momentum.
00:11:54They turn things around with Bo Nix.
00:11:56Obviously that defense has been outstanding.
00:11:57And Garrett Bowles is having one of the best seasons of his career.
00:12:00I don't know why you would come to a situation like the Patriots where it seems like they're
00:12:04even further off, where they don't really have the proof for this season where, okay,
00:12:08they are building towards something.
00:12:10So that's one.
00:12:11I don't think he'd want to leave.
00:12:12They can franchise him.
00:12:13They can do whatever they want.
00:12:14They're playing a great tackle and they only have to pay him for a year.
00:12:16I think it makes sense for them to at least have a franchise tag on him, even though he
00:12:19is up there in age.
00:12:20And then the other thing is with me, with Garrett Bowles, with Ronnie Stanley, these
00:12:24guys are kicking the can down the road.
00:12:26You still need to draft the tackle.
00:12:28And the way I see it, and we talked about this and we gave out different grades and
00:12:33we talked about guys who we think need to close the season on a high note.
00:12:37I think with Vardarian Lowe, Garrett Bowles and I think Ronnie Stanley have been penalized
00:12:41a lot.
00:12:42With Vardarian Lowe, you're looking at what are his major weaknesses.
00:12:44He's not an elite pass blocker like a Stanley, like a Garrett Bowles when they're at their
00:12:47game.
00:12:48But he's been average for you and he's not a great run blocker either.
00:12:51Those guys I think are better in that area, but you're thinking, okay, am I going to pay
00:12:55a 30 something year old to fill in this gap for a year?
00:12:58Or am I just going to get a really good left guard like a Trey Smith?
00:13:02Then that helps out Vardarian Lowe a ton.
00:13:04Then maybe help it right tackle Caden Wallace comes along.
00:13:07Still I think I'd like to see them get a veteran like a Morgan Moses or a Patrick McCurry just
00:13:12to kind of hold that spot.
00:13:14I don't think anything should dissuade you from getting a tackle.
00:13:16If you really like Will Campbell, if you like Calvin Banks or any of those guys, even in
00:13:20the second round prospects still invest because you need that left tackle of the future.
00:13:26I would love Bowles if he shakes free, but I just don't really see that happening.
00:13:30And again, I don't love the idea of kicking the can down the road unless you're getting
00:13:33a true difference maker on like a one or two year deal.
00:13:36Yeah.
00:13:37Look, if he hits the market, you mentioned like you have to kind of throw your hat in
00:13:42the ring.
00:13:43I would think with him, he's a solid player.
00:13:48The left tackle play hasn't been great, but you mentioned it like it's one of those things
00:13:51where you sign a player at this, I guess at that point in your career, you're going to
00:13:57have to eventually fill that void.
00:13:59Drake May is so young.
00:14:00So you're not going to, the only way you pair him with his true left tackle of the future
00:14:05for the very long term is drafting a guy because you draft them, you have his working contract
00:14:09to extend them.
00:14:10And then you get your eight, nine years alongside Drake May, where if it's one of those guys,
00:14:19you get that, the rookie, you bring them in, he pairs them with them.
00:14:23So we'll see where that goes there.
00:14:24All right, Taylor.
00:14:25Moving on.
00:14:26Real quick.
00:14:27Real quick.
00:14:28Real quick.
00:14:29Yeah.
00:14:30Birthday boy in the chat.
00:14:31Happy birthday, Ashton.
00:14:32Happy birthday, Ashton.
00:14:33Happy birthday to you.
00:14:34Congratulations on your birthday, Ashton.
00:14:35Okay.
00:14:36So what do you think the scheme fits the big hogs, the Patriots have on the offensive line?
00:14:41Should they go back to what worked before with similar linemen than the last several
00:14:44years?
00:14:45Where do you, what do you make of their scheme fit and the guys they have right now?
00:14:47So they've actually been one of the better outside zone running teams over the past month.
00:14:51I looked it up.
00:14:52They're like top five or top 10.
00:14:53I think they'd be good at man or duo and then outside zone.
00:14:57I think more than the offensive line though, it's a factor of who's getting the ball.
00:15:02Now I think Antonio Gibson really has started to shine in that outside zone running scheme.
00:15:07Obviously he's been in it for so long.
00:15:08He's more comfortable in it.
00:15:09Romandre Stevenson has run outside zone in college and at the NFL level but he just hasn't
00:15:14been as effective there.
00:15:15If you look at the numbers, really duo where he's had his bread and butter for his entire
00:15:18career has really been where he's been at his best.
00:15:21So the pin pole is the one scheme that's had success for them.
00:15:25But when they use it from shotgun with Romandre Stevenson, I just don't know how well he's
00:15:30reading it.
00:15:31Last game, there was a massive cutback and I try to be a little more understanding because
00:15:36I know for running backs, when you're running on that kind of horizontal plane, it can be
00:15:39tough to put your foot in the ground and explode uphill or downhill or what have you.
00:15:43But it just seemed like some missed opportunities.
00:15:45So I don't think there's anything wrong necessarily with the scheme.
00:15:48I think maybe who's running it is more of a factor because in that outside zone pin
00:15:52pole kind of thing, that's where Antonio Gibson has really had most of his success like when
00:15:56he was in Washington.
00:15:57For Mandre, he can run everything, but I would like to see less pin pole from shotgun and
00:16:01I'd like to see more duo moving forward.
00:16:03All righty.
00:16:04I like it.
00:16:05I'm not going to disagree with you.
00:16:07You're the scheme guy.
00:16:08I'm the vibes guy.
00:16:09So I'm going to trust you on all of that.
00:16:11Vibes are high.
00:16:12I think we're both going to go.
00:16:13Exactly.
00:16:14But on this, the young guys, three and 10, on to 2025, all the cliches that you mentioned.
00:16:20We were just in Foxborough.
00:16:22We did mid-season grades.
00:16:23We did guys who have the most to prove over the next four games.
00:16:27So outside of Drake May and this, so outside of him, the Patriots have this young core
00:16:32that there's really a lot of question marks, the wide receivers, even Kyle Duggar has been
00:16:38great.
00:16:39I know he's kind of locked in here over the relative longterm, at least Christian Barmore
00:16:43is another one of those guys, but who do you think in this young core will contribute the
00:16:48most moving forward?
00:16:49Who do you kind of have locked in as this team's young core for the future?
00:16:53So I'm going to consider young under 25, is that fair?
00:16:57Someone who right now is under 25.
00:16:58So I'm just going to look at the roster right now by the order they've got Christian Gonzalez
00:17:02feels like the obvious one, Drake May, like we already mentioned, DeMario Douglas.
00:17:07I'm curious.
00:17:08Honestly, we know he's no good man to man.
00:17:10We know he's electric after the catch, but one, this is an offense that likes to have
00:17:14players who can build different roles, right?
00:17:16Or you can kind of line up anywhere from snap to snap.
00:17:19And as we know, pop is not in every damn kind of player.
00:17:21He just isn't a good enough blocker.
00:17:23And the size is a concern.
00:17:24The head injuries always done a great job avoiding injuries this season.
00:17:27That's a concern.
00:17:28I would like to say pop, but I'll be totally honest.
00:17:30I would not be surprised if they double dip at receiver and there's some level of Jalen
00:17:34Polk and DeMario Douglas kind of rotating as those guys, but he's under contract and
00:17:39he's good enough player.
00:17:40I don't think you want to bench him necessarily.
00:17:41So I'll go pop with a little bit of an asterisk.
00:17:45Other than that.
00:17:46Oh my gosh, it's getting kind of grim, low key.
00:17:49I really do think he could potentially be like your nose, Taylor, but like the list
00:17:54is getting short.
00:17:55I have to say someone, no, you're right.
00:17:58The list of non 25 year olds stopped.
00:18:00I'm sorry.
00:18:01I didn't make the roster.
00:18:03And I think that's the point.
00:18:04And that's why we share it.
00:18:05It's like, yeah, I know.
00:18:06Again, you're looking for other guys and I know you're a Jaqueline Roy fan and I get
00:18:11it too.
00:18:13It's not even, I just like him.
00:18:14He was productive.
00:18:15So, but there's a difference.
00:18:17So like, okay, does Christian Barmore count on this list or he's 25, right?
00:18:21Do you think we'll contribute?
00:18:23And that's contributor to Christian Barmore is 25 right now.
00:18:26Okay.
00:18:27Okay.
00:18:28I'll even extend.
00:18:29I'll go into 25.
00:18:30Among the guys that are 25, Bryce Behringer, you would hope, but he's been a bit up and
00:18:33down this season.
00:18:34Christian Barmore, obviously.
00:18:36Then who else?
00:18:37Then Vardarian Lowe, probably not, obviously.
00:18:39Martin Maupin, inconsistent.
00:18:41Keon White is another one.
00:18:43Oh yeah.
00:18:44Keon.
00:18:45Really?
00:18:46Yeah.
00:18:47Keon White.
00:18:48I just can't say Martin Maupin right now.
00:18:53Then Barmore, Bryce Behringer, and Jaqueline Roy, really, you guys, that's your young core,
00:18:57which is why hopefully they get a high number one, trade that MFR and you get more number
00:19:03one.
00:19:04I know.
00:19:05Get like a bunch of premium positions filled back to back years, like back to back, maybe
00:19:09the back years.
00:19:10But that's kind of got to be your goal is you need to fill those premium positions in
00:19:13Drake May's contract with young talent.
00:19:15So hopefully they can rise together.
00:19:16If you got to pay him, you got to pay him, but get that cycle going.
00:19:19Right.
00:19:20On that note, one more before we get into an ad break, Javon Baker, a guy under 25,
00:19:26a question mark heading into this chord, who will be a contributor, eventually fourth round
00:19:30pick.
00:19:31So they invested a little bit in him, but has not been productive whatsoever this season,
00:19:35was promising.
00:19:36We liked him out of UCF, the both of us did, but we haven't seen a lot.
00:19:39And there's been a, I feel like a mental hurdle with him.
00:19:43And Alex Van Pelt kind of alluded to that a couple of months ago, but we haven't seen
00:19:46him much on the field.
00:19:47We haven't, he hasn't been given an opportunity.
00:19:49So Gerard Mayo did his five week interview with, with Tom Curran the other day.
00:19:54If you haven't seen it, go check it out on NBC sports, Boston a really good, you know,
00:19:58inside look at, at where Mayo's at through 13 guys through 13 games, excuse me.
00:20:02But he did mention that they want to see what these young guys have so that they can decide
00:20:07who's going to be a part of this core moving forward.
00:20:09So to, to take more out of Anthony enjoyer underscores question of more Baker soon.
00:20:16Do you think we're going to see more Javon Baker down the stretch?
00:20:18Do you think they can put them out there if he hasn't cleared this hurdle?
00:20:21Is it the thing where it's like, I kind of mentioned it earlier when we were down in
00:20:25Foxborough effort, you know, please go out there and run a post and just sit them on
00:20:29the sideline and tell them exactly what to do and like, where do they go with them?
00:20:33Is it that much of a problem?
00:20:34Do you think we're going to see him down the stretch?
00:20:37So I'm, I'm going to try not to bore people because my response has been the same.
00:20:41Yeah.
00:20:42And week out.
00:20:43If we're not seeing Javon Baker on the game field, he's doing something wrong or he's
00:20:46not doing something well enough in practice.
00:20:49And we've seen that translate when he gets on the field because he's not running the
00:20:52right routes.
00:20:53Like we're Drake may targeted him, I think last week or two weeks ago, and they weren't
00:20:56on the same page.
00:20:57There was a play a few weeks back where he was supposed to run block and ran a route.
00:21:01And the guy who was supposed to block ended up tackling remandering Stevenson on what
00:21:04could have been a much more significant game.
00:21:06So mentally, like you're talking about a guy who lined up on one side of the field in college
00:21:10and didn't really move unless they were in a formation where there were three wide receivers
00:21:14to one side and a tight end to the other.
00:21:16Then he'd be the number three.
00:21:17I didn't really know just how significant that would be.
00:21:20To be honest.
00:21:21I thought that may have just been something that people gas a little bit too much, but
00:21:23I think it does play a factor because on top of the playbook and having to be on top of
00:21:27your routes and run them at the exact depth with the right footsteps, you're in step with
00:21:31Drake may.
00:21:32You also just got to line up in the right place and be able to do the right thing at
00:21:36the right time.
00:21:37So to be honest, I don't hate the idea of simplifying things for him.
00:21:40If he's just running a go route or a post and it's just like, Hey man, there's no options
00:21:44on this.
00:21:45There's no reads.
00:21:46Just literally run the route.
00:21:47That's one thing.
00:21:48But you also have to think about how much is Drake may actually throw into it.
00:21:51If he's not getting a chance to be there on the game field consistently and he's not getting
00:21:55design touches, he's probably not getting thrown too very much in practice either.
00:21:58I know Drake may loves him.
00:21:59They have the history and all that, but like reps are reps and it's really hard to expect
00:22:03that you could go out there and be able to execute at a high level when he's not really
00:22:06involved in practice.
00:22:07So sure.
00:22:08If you can simplify things for him and just give him some momentum.
00:22:11So you're like, Oh, there's the deep ability.
00:22:13Sure.
00:22:14But I mean, I just, I have a lot of issues assuming that we're going to see more from
00:22:20Jay Vaughn Baker when, even when he's been on the field, it's been very shaky.
00:22:24And yeah, the trickle effect of it, where if he's not at the right spot at the right
00:22:28time, they make support throw because he thinks he's elsewhere.
00:22:30And then Drake may start throwing interceptions and they're not on the same page.
00:22:34And that can kind of hinder the development of Drake may a little bit.
00:22:37And again, not that he's going to sit there and, and buckle just because Jay Vaughn ran
00:22:41around at seven yards and not five, but you know, that kind of stuff works off of each
00:22:46other.
00:22:47And we talked about that a little bit in the crossover the other day.
00:22:48It's like a lot, you know, a lot of the mistakes Drake may has made, they haven't been solely
00:22:52on him.
00:22:53Now, a couple of them, the one where he didn't throw it out of bounds and Austin Hooper tried
00:22:57to get it to Austin Hooper.
00:22:58The guy just picked it off right in front of them.
00:22:59That's obviously all on Drake may, but like that, you know, Kendrick Bourne slipping up
00:23:03to Mario Douglas, him and like, they're not on the same page.
00:23:06So a lot of that stuff, you need to be in lockstep with these guys.
00:23:09And if he's not in lockstep with Drayvon Baker, it's going to, it's not just going to not
00:23:12allow Baker to improve, but it's going to let, it's going to kind of stop the whole
00:23:15offense from doing their thing.
00:23:17So you want to see it, but it's not as simple as, Hey, just get on the field.
00:23:22And if you do the right thing and you didn't do the right thing, that's on you.
00:23:25There's a trickle down effect on that.
00:23:27So we'll see where it goes.
00:23:28The next four games.
00:23:29We're going to get back to your questions in a few moments, but first a quick word from
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00:24:36Celtics game.
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00:25:02All right, Taylor, back to it.
00:25:05We talked about Baker.
00:25:06We talked about the young guys.
00:25:08We talked about a free agency acquisition, so let's go with one more.
00:25:13And people think it's a slam dunk.
00:25:14We're getting Tee Higgins.
00:25:15I don't know how many people actually think that.
00:25:17I feel like it makes a lot of sense.
00:25:20They need a wide receiver.
00:25:21He's going to leave.
00:25:22I don't want to say he's similar to Joe Barra, but Drake Knight obviously has a lot of promise
00:25:26moving forward in this league, so people have connected him.
00:25:29What do you think happens if they don't get Tee Higgins, if they lose out on the sweepstakes?
00:25:33What would be their backup option for free agent wide receivers?
00:25:36So we talked about this.
00:25:37It's not great.
00:25:39There's a pretty spot you can drop off once you get off the Tee Higgins bandwagon.
00:25:42Now, you know what?
00:25:43I will actually...
00:25:44I'm going to go to over the cap, look up the free agents, so I actually have the list out
00:25:47here right in front of me.
00:25:48We did this the other day, didn't we?
00:25:49Yeah.
00:25:51We did this the other day, but I'm just going to make sure I got my-
00:25:52Not on the show, by the way.
00:25:53So yeah, we did it.
00:25:54Yeah, no, it's fine.
00:25:55So again, so once again, Stephon Diggs, very unlikely that he leaves the Texans.
00:26:00Keenan Allen, not moving the needle either way.
00:26:03Chris Godwin, I don't see why he would leave Tampa Bay, but he's coming off a significant
00:26:06injury.
00:26:07Amari Cooper has said that he hasn't enjoyed playing football like this, going to the Bills
00:26:11in a long time.
00:26:12I don't see why he would come to the Patriots where you don't even know for sure if you're
00:26:15going to make the playoffs next year.
00:26:17And then just moving on with receivers, I don't know why it's giving me other positions.
00:26:21There we go.
00:26:22Like Deontay Johnson has done nothing for the Ravens, DeAndre Hopkins.
00:26:24Why would he-
00:26:25Did you see Deontay Johnson just refuse to go in the game last week and just got suspended?
00:26:30Yeah.
00:26:31Is that why he got suspended?
00:26:32Yeah, he got suspended.
00:26:33Apparently he refused to go in the game last week for the Ravens.
00:26:36That is freaking bizarre.
00:26:38Okay, yeah.
00:26:39So no.
00:26:40So no.
00:26:41I'm good.
00:26:42Then Mike Williams, whatever.
00:26:43Brandon Cooks, I would be interested.
00:26:45And then Darius Slayton and Demarcus Robinson.
00:26:48That's really what you're looking at.
00:26:50Now, I know everyone gets so mad at me when I bring up Darius Slayton, but listen to the
00:26:54name-
00:26:55I may or may not have started that.
00:26:56But I mean, so the reason is, one, he has experience as a true ex-receiver.
00:27:01You can't say that about a lot of the guys on this list.
00:27:04And he brings juice after the catch vertically.
00:27:07Are drops a problem?
00:27:08Yeah, he's had some drops where I'm just like, oh, okay, I see why people get frustrated
00:27:11with you.
00:27:12But also Daniel Jones, so many of the drops are actually just him having to adjust a way
00:27:17that he really shouldn't have to.
00:27:19And so many times you see him separate vertically and just, it's not a catchable ball.
00:27:23I think with Drake May, he just gives you a dynamic that you don't have on the offense
00:27:26right now.
00:27:27Jayvon Baker is good deep, but he doesn't have like deep speed.
00:27:30He really is just very good at playing the ball in the air and tracking it.
00:27:35Slayton would give you a little more explosiveness than you already have.
00:27:37And again, experience as a true ex-receiver gives you the ability to move other guys around.
00:27:42Then Demarcus Robinson has been the ex for the Rams.
00:27:45Not great or anything like that, 31 years old, but he's still got plenty of athleticism.
00:27:49And if he's good enough for the Rams, damn well better be good enough for you.
00:27:53Not like KJ Osborne type, I really do think Demarcus Robinson, if he were signed, could
00:27:57not be a difference maker, but a more solid, reliable veteran than maybe what they have
00:28:01right now.
00:28:02And then Brandon Cooks.
00:28:03I love me some cookie.
00:28:04He's always been criminally underrated now that he's actually old, even though we've
00:28:08thought he was old for like six years, because he's gotten the NFL 20 years old.
00:28:12He's still a good player, even if it's the injuries.
00:28:15But I mean, if you can't get T Higgins, not that I'm saying you have to force receiver.
00:28:19I think my biggest lesson learned from last year is yes, I thought they needed to address
00:28:22tackle address wide receiver would have been really hard as we said, in all the shows to
00:28:26justify going defense or anything like that.
00:28:29But at the same time, I don't want them to reach just because they need the position.
00:28:32So there's plenty of ex-receiver types in this draft.
00:28:35They're not all blazers.
00:28:37You know, they're more going to be day two kind of guys where they have their issues.
00:28:41But if you find a guy that can win vertically, however, you kind of put that in your wheelhouse,
00:28:46then that does help you.
00:28:47But with T it's just, you don't have a lot of other options for explosiveness like this,
00:28:51especially if you don't take a wide receiver early on.
00:28:53So I'm just letting you know right now, it might not be great if T Higgins is up going
00:28:57to the Chargers and he's just like, I want to go to a team that had problems in 2024.
00:29:01Not one that was near the at or near the bottom of the league, but yeah, just it's tough.
00:29:07I know everyone wants the great left tackle and the great right receiver.
00:29:10And maybe they get that if money talks the way that they hope it will, but it's not always
00:29:15that easy.
00:29:16Sometimes you got to plug holes and just build rules.
00:29:18Yeah.
00:29:19It's going to, like you said, it's going to be bleak if they don't get T. I don't think
00:29:23they're going to go down without a fight.
00:29:25I do think there'll be in the bidding war, but sometimes it's just up to the player and
00:29:29that's not necessarily, you know, the front office's fault unless you hear that, you know,
00:29:33they low balled them and things like that.
00:29:34But like other than like the guys that we didn't think they were actually going to write.
00:29:40Exactly.
00:29:41So we'll see what happens.
00:29:42It, you know, it would be, it's going to be a slam dunk that they'll probably be in, you
00:29:46know, the mix for him.
00:29:47But if he doesn't sign the options, like you said, are bleak.
00:29:49All right.
00:29:50I want to play a game with this question.
00:29:52DC fan Lord asks, would you rather sign T Higgins trade for DK or draft Ted McMillan?
00:29:59Instead of just answering the question straight up, let's play start bench cut.
00:30:04So rank these in order of how you would like them to have start bench cut, signing T Higgins,
00:30:10trading for DK Metcalf, drafting Ted McMillan.
00:30:14My first would be signing T Higgins cause money's money.
00:30:18That's just the easiest way to give up assets, right?
00:30:20And it's a proven commodity.
00:30:22I like DK better than any of these guys.
00:30:24I'll say that.
00:30:25I've especially the more I watched with T Higgins, he's elite short and he's pretty good downfield,
00:30:30but DK is like good at everything pretty much.
00:30:33He's inconsistent.
00:30:34Has a bit of a drop problem himself, but makes spectacular plays and can really punish a
00:30:38defense team.
00:30:39I would trade for him as long as it's not for anything in 2025, five.
00:30:45I don't want you to give up like a first or second round pick.
00:30:47If it's a third, then maybe, but I really don't think you can be given up necessarily
00:30:51top 100 picks this year.
00:30:53So I would put trip trade for DK at the top.
00:30:56If it were like a third and like a future second, I could maybe get on board with that
00:31:00and then drafting a team act.
00:31:02I would just put it at the bottom because I want next season to be about surrounding
00:31:06Drake may with proven talent as much as possible, whether that's a top pick where it's almost
00:31:11a surefire, they're going to succeed in the NFL or whether it's a veteran who at least
00:31:15know that they are a professional and they're going to be league average at worst.
00:31:20Like that is what I want.
00:31:21I like tech McMillan a lot.
00:31:23If they take them, I'm not going to complain, but he still has things he needs to work on.
00:31:27He needs to be better off the line of scrimmage in his release packages.
00:31:30He needs to be better fighting off contact.
00:31:32Those things can show up as a rookie and it's probably going to be a guy.
00:31:35If they take him like top five, top 10, he's plugging play.
00:31:38He started, you got to play him.
00:31:40Exactly.
00:31:41I don't think he can't be, but I would rather put my money on a DK or a T Higgins where
00:31:45you know they can do that.
00:31:46Obviously T Higgins to a lesser degree because of the injuries.
00:31:49But I just rather go with the proven commodity.
00:31:50So if we're talking something reasonable, like not giving up a ton, I will put trade
00:31:55DK at the top for reasonable, you know, trade package, sign T Higgins and then draft team.
00:32:01Yeah.
00:32:02I'm with you on all of it.
00:32:03I agree that trading for DK is number one.
00:32:07Having to add the, you know, the assets in a trade on top of also likely signing to an
00:32:11extension like that, you know, you're paying a lot, but you're also getting a lot.
00:32:14And I do think DK is a better wide receiver than TK.
00:32:17Well, I almost just said TK Higgins, but Lewis Muggins, DK is better than T. More consistent.
00:32:26I feel like you can do more with them.
00:32:29And Higgins is, you know, the injury history with him we've talked about on the show can
00:32:33sometimes be a question mark.
00:32:34You're getting more with DK.
00:32:36So I would do the trade again, anything reasonable, like the, you know, the market value trades
00:32:42around those type of guys do that.
00:32:44Nothing more.
00:32:45And I would, I would say I'd put that at number one, but I'm okay with T.
00:32:49While we're on this topic real quick, I'm just going to answer this fast.
00:32:52Yes.
00:32:53Yes.
00:32:54For a left tackle, a good starting left tackle for a second round pick.
00:32:56Hell yes.
00:32:58That would be interesting.
00:33:01And now right now they're playing Slater at left and Alt at right.
00:33:04I'm pretty sure.
00:33:05That's right.
00:33:06Yeah.
00:33:07But you drafted them with the fifth overall pick.
00:33:09If you, if as the chargers, you think let's get rid of Slater.
00:33:13I would do that all day.
00:33:14One hundred percent.
00:33:15I like that.
00:33:16Cause you're hoping you can get a second round tackle if you can, maybe, you know, necessarily
00:33:20don't draft Will Campbell, you can go for Abdul Carter or Tett or, you know, whatever.
00:33:25So hell yeah, man.
00:33:27Second round pick for a starting left tackle.
00:33:28Absolutely.
00:33:29I know.
00:33:30I don't think that's what you'd get them for though, to be honest.
00:33:31I think you'd have to put something in that package.
00:33:33Let's start speaking that one into existence, Taylor.
00:33:36Put out a couple of promo tweets around that.
00:33:38Maybe Rashaun Slater becomes a Patriot here.
00:33:39All right.
00:33:40Flip it to the defense for a second.
00:33:42We talked about this young core 25 and under Marte Mapu was a healthy scratch the last
00:33:47time the Patriots played.
00:33:49So to answer the question, do you think he's on the roster at the end of next season?
00:33:53I still do.
00:33:56What's going on with him?
00:33:57You're again.
00:33:58I said that, you know, you're the scheme guy and I'm the vibes guy on this show, but you
00:34:01know, you can kind of track this stuff a little bit better than me, at least, you know, on
00:34:04the defensive side of the ball, what's going on with Marte Mapu?
00:34:07Why hasn't he been the player that we think he should be?
00:34:10It does stink that he has missed time this summer, like miss almost all of training camp
00:34:14last year, obviously was dealing with an injury and was kind of a little bit more limited.
00:34:19I think the inexperience is one thing, like you can see his recognition, especially against
00:34:23like misdirection against play action.
00:34:25He's a tick slow pretty consistently, and it does worry you.
00:34:29It doesn't seem like he's aligned right all the time.
00:34:32Like I know there was one play a few weeks back where like he didn't cover his zone defender
00:34:35in the flat, completely abandoned it.
00:34:37And then he's a major liability as a run defender, unfortunately, I really like his playmaking
00:34:41ability.
00:34:42I think he's got good range.
00:34:43I think he's got good ball skills.
00:34:44I think overall, when he can read the quarterback, he's got good instincts.
00:34:48But I think that the Patriots have used him more like Kyle Duggar, where they truly have
00:34:53him doing everything.
00:34:54I don't think that's what he does best.
00:34:55I think he's more of a Devin McCourty type where he's just not big enough for you to
00:34:58want him to be involved in the run game consistently, unless he's your last line of defense.
00:35:03But at the same time, he's also not super consistent as a tackler to the point where
00:35:06I would trust him to be the center field guy consistently.
00:35:09And then obviously, you can play robber and be more of a playmaker.
00:35:12You can man up on tight ends again, the Devin McCourty role where it's things that really
00:35:16just fit his skill set.
00:35:17I think he'd be used better.
00:35:18But I also think he needs to earn that by being consistent in just a lot of the fundamental
00:35:23areas.
00:35:24So I know it's confusing.
00:35:25I know I've been one of the people that type in Marte Mapu up, and I still saw the flashes
00:35:28and things that I thought I would see.
00:35:30But one, again, the use is part of it.
00:35:32I was hoping he wouldn't really be like the third safety in the nickel package.
00:35:35I hate when they use him that way.
00:35:38But I was hoping he can maybe turn into some kind of every down player.
00:35:40He lost steam in the summer, lost him in the spring, to be honest, we're talking about
00:35:44Jalen Hawkins, the third safety back then.
00:35:47So it has been disappointing.
00:35:48But I just think a lot of it is like fundamentally, he has he has worked.
00:35:51Yeah.
00:35:52All right.
00:35:53Another young guy struggling right now.
00:35:54Jalen Polk.
00:35:55Courtney asks if I told you Polk had five catches for 60 yards next week.
00:36:01How does it come?
00:36:02How do they make that happen?
00:36:03And like, they haven't skimmed a ton up for Polk.
00:36:06I think I saw one like, quick sort of wide receiver screen they threw to him a couple
00:36:10weeks ago.
00:36:11I think that's the only catch he's had like the last three weeks.
00:36:13So how does how does a five catch 60 yard game for Jalen Polk happen in your mind?
00:36:19They tried to skim up a touch for him.
00:36:20The one target he got last week where he and he's like, when you're the number three in
00:36:25empty and they run Haas, you are the one who is supposed to be getting the ball unless
00:36:29there's a certain type of look that Drake likes better.
00:36:32They're literally trying.
00:36:33And he's I mean, it's kind of not unfair, obviously, but like they gave him an option
00:36:37route.
00:36:38And it's like he doesn't really get that many reps.
00:36:39I don't know why you give him an option right now.
00:36:42If this happened, I would say, give him like a slant from the slot, something a little
00:36:46more simple where he has space to work with.
00:36:49I would say bunch formations where we saw like Puka Nakula, he comes into the bunch
00:36:53and runs that out route.
00:36:54We actually saw that from Jalen Polk earlier this season.
00:36:57Just didn't work out because Kobe was set over through him.
00:37:00Some play action like hard play action where he's maybe on a crosser, but we've also seen
00:37:03him kind of involved in that way as well.
00:37:06But I think just scheme stuff like play action screens, bunch looks where he has an advantageous
00:37:12route break.
00:37:13And he's the main read like those kinds of things.
00:37:14But at the same time, when you've got guys like Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper and Demario
00:37:18Douglas and Keishon Booty who have earned more opportunities because they're blocking
00:37:22because they're making catches because they're making plays.
00:37:24It's hard to scheme things up for these young guys.
00:37:26And I know you want to get them more involved, but it's like, unless you're running it in
00:37:30practice, you can't just give them opportunities.
00:37:32You still want to win games.
00:37:33You still want to reward the guys who are playing well for you and the guys who are
00:37:35playing well for you other than Hooper are going to be under contract for a while.
00:37:39And I would be stunned if Hooper is not back next season.
00:37:41So it's the same thing with Baker.
00:37:45You need to do more.
00:37:46You can scheme all the opportunities you want, but he's got to take advantage of them.
00:37:49And so far he hasn't in really most or any of his opportunities.
00:37:52Yeah.
00:37:53It's like you said, I mean, there hasn't been a I guess there has been enough opportunities
00:37:59where again, you're trying to get in the ball and he's just not doing it with it.
00:38:02So like, what more can you do?
00:38:03You have to take advantage.
00:38:05You have to go out there and be the player they expect you to be and whether it's mental,
00:38:10whether it's physical, whether it's, he's just not good enough to play in the league.
00:38:13I don't know the answers to it quite yet.
00:38:15It's super early in this guy's career, but he hasn't done enough with, you know, he's
00:38:19out there, right?
00:38:20They put them out there and you know, I don't know what snap counts last week.
00:38:23It was lower than, you know, when weeks passed, but outside as soon as I don't think he's
00:38:28ever been in like a healthy scratch, he's been out with injury and other than that,
00:38:33he's been out there.
00:38:34So they're giving them the, the right opportunity.
00:38:36He just hasn't done anything with it.
00:38:37So we'll see what happens with Jalen Polk.
00:38:39All right.
00:38:40I want to get two coaching front office questions out of the way.
00:38:45Not out of the way as if we're not going to take them seriously, but I think we're both
00:38:48under the impression that Jerrod Mayo and Elliot Wolfe are a hundred percent safe next
00:38:52season.
00:38:53Do you agree?
00:38:54Yeah.
00:38:55Yeah.
00:38:56Okay.
00:38:57On top of that, what if Ben Johnson would come here?
00:39:00Because and the reason I asked, well, there's a couple of reasons.
00:39:03One, you pair them with the quarterback and they, they take off.
00:39:06The other reason is Albert Breer shared last night on the NFL on prime pregame show that
00:39:11Ben Johnson is going to be very selective with his next team.
00:39:15He's only going to take interviews for jobs he wants to go to.
00:39:19He wants organizational alignment.
00:39:21He wants to know that he's going to, there's a, there's a plan in place to kind of take
00:39:25this team that he's onto the next step.
00:39:27And everyone sort of points to the bears with him, I think, because Caleb Williams, there's
00:39:32a quarterback involved and stuff around.
00:39:34He wants to hear from the organization, how they're going to help him succeed.
00:39:38The bears are a dumpster fire right now.
00:39:40I think that all means he wants to know from bears ownership, from the front office, they're
00:39:44in lockstep together and they're going to go to the next step.
00:39:45So I kind of put the Patriots in that bunch where there's organizational question marks
00:39:54right now, and you have a generation, potentially generational quarterback.
00:40:00Would you want Ben Johnson here, Taylor?
00:40:01Would you give up on Gerard Mayo right now, if you knew that Ben Johnson would come here
00:40:04and be Drake Mays, OC and head coach moving forward?
00:40:08Look, Ben Johnson, I would say has more of an established track record, obviously, than
00:40:13Gerard Mayo.
00:40:14With Gerard, yes, he led the defense, but he was a part-time thing and you can kind
00:40:18of poke holes in that, whereas Ben Johnson has clearly been the architect, the architect
00:40:23of one of the best offense in the NFL for multiple years.
00:40:26Now, I'm not just going to be flipping and say like, oh, I have no interest in Ben Johnson.
00:40:32Obviously, yeah, it would be cool to see Ben Johnson and Drake Mays, especially if they
00:40:37really invest in the offensive line and you kind of build something somewhat like what
00:40:41the Lions have in Detroit.
00:40:43That said, the trickle-down effectiveness would be significant.
00:40:46Like I don't want to, do I want Ben Johnson?
00:40:49Yes.
00:40:50But here's what would happen.
00:40:51One, it would be a bad look for ownership because you fired somebody that you said was
00:40:55the future of your franchise, right?
00:40:57You already had him locked in.
00:40:58So you're going to fire that guy after a year.
00:41:00One bad look, even if it works out for you, you know, obviously I'm not going to get into
00:41:05that.
00:41:06We don't know what ownership is going to look like in 10 years necessarily.
00:41:08So I'm not going to say, if Ben Johnson works out, then that's going to kind of fly under
00:41:12the rug and be like, hey, they, they got themselves out of a bad situation and do a good one.
00:41:16No one's right.
00:41:17But still Elliot Wolfe, now he has to get on the same page as someone else.
00:41:20And he thought that he was going to be working in tandem with Gerard Mayo.
00:41:25So that's a little like kind of wrench you throw in.
00:41:26Also, it's very unlikely that Ben Johnson keeps Alex Van Pelt.
00:41:30To change up the system with Drake May, obviously if it's an upgrade, like these are just going
00:41:34to be growing pains and if it works out and they're together for 20 years, then no one's
00:41:38going to care.
00:41:39And I acknowledge that completely, but also you would be completely uprooting Drake May's
00:41:43foundation after a year with someone who's actually been doing well.
00:41:47Drake May looks better than anybody could have possibly imagined as a rookie.
00:41:50On top of that, the Patriots have been one of the best offenses in the NFL over the past
00:41:55month.
00:41:56If you look at EPA or positive EPA, which is basically like yards per play, but it factors
00:42:00in situation and tells you how efficient they've been, they've been top five, top 10 offense
00:42:05over the past month, since week 10, explosiveness, not so much.
00:42:08They're still like middle of the pack towards bottom of the league in that.
00:42:11But the fact they're moving the ball well is outstanding.
00:42:13The red zone offense obviously needs to improve.
00:42:16They need to be better at the end of haves, but Alex Van Pelt hasn't been so bad where
00:42:20it makes sense to completely like throw away the foundation that Drake May has.
00:42:24So again, man, it's a layered conversation and it's not easy.
00:42:28And I think that really Gerard would have to finish on a better note.
00:42:31Like we're talking, like obviously the Colts game is what we were talking about before
00:42:34the bye week where it's not going to be pretty if you lose this game.
00:42:37Right.
00:42:38It's two weeks where everyone's just going to be talking about you and speculating and
00:42:41all this.
00:42:42They lose out and it's not competitive and you don't see, Hey, at least they were in
00:42:46it.
00:42:47Like they took the bills to the wire.
00:42:48They, you know, really beat up on the chargers and made it a long day for them.
00:42:51They didn't let Kyler Murray kill them with his legs and, you know, they moved the ball
00:42:54consistently and continue to look good on offense.
00:42:57If that doesn't happen, then I think the head coaching stuff is going to be on the table
00:43:00and I'm going to have a hard time explaining why it shouldn't be, but I do think that when
00:43:06you're running a business, making those kinds of reactionary moves can really bite you in
00:43:10the butt.
00:43:11They did it with Bill Belichick after two years, two years of failure, they were like,
00:43:15we got to pull the plug.
00:43:16So it's not like it's completely against them, but I do think there are just so many factors
00:43:20that kind of trickle down where it's like you bring in somebody brand new, you're putting
00:43:25a lot of gas.
00:43:26Yeah.
00:43:27I think you're just, you give yourself a bad look in the league and that does matter.
00:43:30Even if Robert Kraft is not the sole owner and the guy running things in like five, 10
00:43:34years and things go great.
00:43:35Awesome.
00:43:36Then no one's going to care.
00:43:37It's going to be like Bill, you know, pulling out of the jets and going to the Patriots.
00:43:40Kind of similar situation to that, but I just, I just think it's so dicey as much as obviously
00:43:45like I want to find reasons for Ben Johnson, like it would be super exciting, but I just
00:43:49think the politics of the NFL, it's, it wouldn't be smart.
00:43:53In a vacuum without any caveats, layers, realistic situations.
00:43:58I would rather Ben Johnson take over for Deron Mayo and be the Patriots head coach with Drake
00:44:04May, but there's so many layers, like you said, there's so like they can't, I'm pretty
00:44:12sure there there's gotta be some sort of tampering situation where if they called the Lions before
00:44:17they fired, like there's, there's steps to it.
00:44:20You have to fire Mayo and then you have to have your head coach conversation.
00:44:23So like you can't fire Mayo, not knowing that you have Ben Johnson in the bag, cause that's
00:44:28a super bad look.
00:44:29And then for Ben Johnson, it's, well, are they really going to trust me?
00:44:34Are they really going to allow me to come in here and do this whole thing?
00:44:37Because you just told Deron Mayo that last season and now you're throwing him to the
00:44:41wayside once things got bad after just third or, you know, his first 17 games over.
00:44:46I think that's why like Mike Vrabel's name is popping up in this coaching cycle and everyone
00:44:50I keep hearing, go get Vrabel, he'd want to be here.
00:44:53You could just tell him that like, you know, you didn't realize he'd be around and he popped
00:44:57up and it's like, okay, but then what happens when like in Mike Vrabel's head, if he hears
00:45:01all this from ownership and says, oh no, they really want me, he's going to be like, well,
00:45:05wait a second.
00:45:06You just told Deron Mayo that the same thing last year, he's been the guy all along and
00:45:09you trusted him and you were going to give him this open book and this is his franchise
00:45:13and take it.
00:45:15So I'm not going to take that job if you're just going to get rid of him right now.
00:45:18So it is a bad look.
00:45:20The coaches are going to see it.
00:45:21They're going to know that.
00:45:22So I don't think it's ever going to happen because I think Gerrard is going to be here
00:45:25and even if they fire him, it's a bad look and I don't think you're going to get that
00:45:28A plus head coach next year because of all those layers in the way you went about it.
00:45:32So ideally.
00:45:33It's stable and then you can't do anything that Ben Johnson just said he didn't want
00:45:38to be a part of.
00:45:39Right.
00:45:40Which is why I find it hard to believe that he's going to go to Chicago and think, oh,
00:45:43okay, well, they're just going to change things because it's me right now.
00:45:46Like even though I think he knows that in Chicago, they just don't care enough and it's
00:45:50like, yeah, I know.
00:45:51They just run very poorly, but they're not, they're not intrusive.
00:45:55They are run poorly because they don't make the moves they need to make because they're
00:45:58not very proactive.
00:45:59Yeah.
00:46:00No, that's fair.
00:46:01Um, all right.
00:46:02That's the coaching questions.
00:46:03We're going to get back to the rest of the mailbag and wrap this thing up, uh, in just
00:46:06a second.
00:46:07But first let's talk about our friends over at game time.
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00:47:30What time is it Taylor game time, game time.
00:47:34Good answer.
00:47:35It's also time to wrap up the mailbag.
00:47:36We still have plenty of questions from Twitter.
00:47:39So we'll go rapid fire here.
00:47:40We'll start off quickly with this one.
00:47:41Do you prefer an early bi-week or a late bi-week Taylor, what do you think of us having a week
00:47:44off this week?
00:47:45Um, that's a good question.
00:47:46When I was an analyst, I had an early one, I only had the mid season one last year and
00:47:53now this one late.
00:47:54Um, when they're losing like this, I probably want one a little closer to the middle.
00:47:58Cause it's kind of just what was exhausting.
00:48:00Like we have, we were very lucky to have these jobs and you know, I've worked much more exhausting
00:48:04jobs than this, but mentally it does kind of take a toll on you at some point.
00:48:07Cause like you have to be on all the time and then when they're losing, like you're
00:48:11a human being and being around people who are kind of discouraged and things are down
00:48:15and we're in the community and all that.
00:48:17So, um, maybe mid bi-week, uh, but honestly this late one, I'm not mad.
00:48:21It kind of gives me the, the recent I need to get through the last month of the season.
00:48:25So I don't know.
00:48:26What do you think?
00:48:27I think I like, I like late.
00:48:29I think I like where we're at right now.
00:48:30You get through the big chunk of the beginning, you get a week off and then you like get the
00:48:36second half is only four weeks and the season's over, especially when there's no playoffs.
00:48:39So again, yeah, we survived and also, what are we complaining about?
00:48:43We cover sports really against the best job in the world, but it's still, you know, you
00:48:47go, if it's an early bi-week, it's like, oh, and I heard, I was listening to some podcasts.
00:48:51I think it was, uh, I don't know who it was, but it was, there was a couple of players
00:48:55and they were talking about, oh, it was Brian Hoyer and Andrews on quick snap.
00:48:59And they were talking about like Hoyer one time had like a week four by the earliest
00:49:03possible when he was in Cleveland, they played three games by week.
00:49:06And then you have like 13 games left.
00:49:08It's like, I know they, it makes no sense.
00:49:12So like, that would be terrible.
00:49:13I think this is a good spot, both, uh, both four players, uh, well, no players, I think
00:49:18they probably want mid season to kind of get a good break unless like right now, if you're
00:49:23the mental reset, I would be me chiefs and bills team.
00:49:28That's going to go try and make a super bowl run.
00:49:31I think wait for the bi-week because then you get your rested and then you have four
00:49:35games left.
00:49:36And then a stretch run, maybe a bi-week in there.
00:49:38If you're the one seed, I feel like you would rather a late bi-week there, but I don't know.
00:49:42Cause we're not around a winning team, just an aside on the locker room.
00:49:49I watched Dan Campbell's post game, uh, pop-up speech to the lions after last night's game
00:49:55and to see like a, an all together locker room, like fired up, like just how much they
00:50:00love.
00:50:01They gave off the Tim Patrick and Jake Bates, their kicker.
00:50:04And both those guys, the first thing they said, I'm just like, I love this team, man.
00:50:07It's it.
00:50:08I don't think the Patriots don't love their team, but for them to be doing that and winning
00:50:12and to go into work every day and be like super happy, striving for one goal.
00:50:16It's like, that's what these old Patriots teams were.
00:50:18They might've been a little bit more miserable with, with Brady and bill at the helm, but
00:50:21uh, hopefully the pigs can, can turn that page soon.
00:50:24Did you see the post for the video where somebody said the caption is Dan Campbell can get me
00:50:30to run into a wall.
00:50:31Yeah.
00:50:32Crazy.
00:50:33Uh, all right.
00:50:34What is the biggest long-term need on this Patriots roster right now?
00:50:46Pass rusher.
00:50:47Uh, yeah.
00:50:48Okay.
00:50:49More than wide receiver.
00:50:52Long-term is like, like what is, turn this into something for me.
00:50:58Because long-term is like, they have like multiple long-term needs.
00:51:02I don't.
00:51:03And they're all premium positions, you know, like maybe the more key on and what's a more
00:51:08important, I know it's kind of, it's kind of strange.
00:51:11What's a more, I'll go left tackle because you can't find them.
00:51:15You can't just get them in free agency in their prime or anything.
00:51:17It's very hard to even get them wide receiver.
00:51:20You can find throughout the draft pass rush.
00:51:21You can find throughout the draft, left tackle, very, very hard position to nail down in free
00:51:25agency or the draft.
00:51:27So actually that I'll probably go with that because even now we don't know what the future
00:51:30is there.
00:51:31At least at receiver, you can say, Oh, I may be like Keyshawn booty and Jayvon Baker and
00:51:35Jalen both figure it out.
00:51:37You know, and even pastor, it's like, well, Barmore and Keon wider on at the same time,
00:51:41then at least you have a good interior rush, but left tackle, as much as I like the dairy
00:51:45and I think he could be a decent bridge.
00:51:47I don't know who you have there long-term where you're like, yes, this is going to be
00:51:50the guy.
00:51:51I agree.
00:51:52And I think, uh, I mean, pass rush is up there too, but I think I even put pass rusher over
00:51:57receiver because I think Drake may is good enough that he's going to keep elevating the
00:52:01guys around him.
00:52:02He's already kind of done it with a, you know, Keyshawn booty and, and yeah, I guess pop
00:52:05Douglas has popped on this anyway, but, and we haven't seen much from the young guys either.
00:52:08So maybe you do need one of those, but I still think like protecting Drake may right now,
00:52:13I think is a little more important than getting them weapons and not just Drake, but also
00:52:18remanded Ray.
00:52:19Like we talked about who paid a big contract to a running back for you not to invest in
00:52:24the offensive line and have Mondra run it brick wall.
00:52:27So the next two, three years is malpractice.
00:52:30So like, if you're going to invest in it, you need to put both of those guys in the
00:52:33best position to be successful.
00:52:34It's not just.
00:52:35Right.
00:52:36Um, all right, let's go with a fun one here.
00:52:38If they do land T Higgins and free agency, and they have the third pick and sugar Sanders
00:52:44and call it cam Ward, the one and two, would you take Travis Hunter at number three or
00:52:48would you trade back?
00:52:50I put like, I, I've, I've kept the book open when we had these conversations, we, I feel
00:52:55like we always get a Travis Hunter question in the mailbag and I've always said, yeah,
00:52:59but what if he does work in the NFL?
00:53:01What if he can play receiver in corner and it's, it's not going to be every place that
00:53:05you're kind of taken away a little bit on both sides.
00:53:09And then I heard Phil Perry on, uh, I think it was like a Bertrand the other day talking
00:53:13like he was kind of on team Travis Hunter and I was like, Oh, somebody else thinks they
00:53:17can do this too.
00:53:18Maybe I'm, maybe I'm not completely crazy for maybe wanting them.
00:53:22So would you take them?
00:53:24Is it just a talent thing or do you think it's more likely and more, I guess, responsible
00:53:29to just trade back?
00:53:31It's just like, I think he's super talented and this is a draft where my thing is like,
00:53:35get the best players available with Travis Hunter though.
00:53:38I think he could be an elite cornerback, right?
00:53:41Everyone in the, in the live chat is no, I don't want Travis trade back, trade back for
00:53:45me.
00:53:46I'm not afraid of him getting hurt.
00:53:48And I know I think he's good throughout his college career, but like, look at him, man.
00:53:52Like it's same thing with Xavier worthy.
00:53:54I tried so hard to justify them maybe getting worthy, but I'm just like, right, toothpick.
00:53:58And I know Travis Hunter is an explosive athlete.
00:53:59He's not, he's not in the same vein as an Xavier worthy or Taekwon Thornton.
00:54:04This guy is completely, completely great specimen and a great football player period.
00:54:11It's the durability for me.
00:54:12Like, I'm sorry.
00:54:13And you're talking about like, I don't really want him at receiver full time.
00:54:15I think if you're going to take him, the best thing to do is put him at corner.
00:54:19And I just, I still, and it's a great player and that secondary would be awesome.
00:54:23And like, I don't want to go against what I'm saying.
00:54:26It's really more of the durability.
00:54:27Like even a, like a Will Johnson, I'm not as excited about because he's got his own
00:54:31durability issues.
00:54:32So like, that's the thing for me, if it's a first round pick, I want a guy with a clean
00:54:36health record, like top 15.
00:54:37I don't want to be taking any chances.
00:54:39I know Travis Hunter has been healthy in his career, but I'm sorry, man, it's, it scares
00:54:45me and you can still get different thinkers in other positions, but like, I have a hard
00:54:48time and I feel, oh, it makes me so mad because he's like the kind of talent that I obviously
00:54:53want to draft athletes.
00:54:55But again, man, it's like, how much is he going to be on the field?
00:54:58Realistically?
00:54:59I just don't know.
00:55:00He's ridiculous.
00:55:01Like the, he's going to win the Heisman.
00:55:03He's the best player in college football.
00:55:04He is an elite cornerback and he's an elite wide receiver.
00:55:07He, last year, his usage was not as usage, but his numbers at wide receiver were down
00:55:12a little bit.
00:55:12This year he popped off and he went from 1400 and 14 times.
00:55:16Like he's, he's a monster.
00:55:18What I wonder is not necessarily the, not durability.
00:55:24I don't know how I want to go with it.
00:55:25Like he, the snap count is insanely high because he plays on both sides all the time.
00:55:29So that's not sustainable in the NFL.
00:55:31That's not, he can't be a two way play.
00:55:32He can, I was magic player, but sorry.
00:55:34Yeah, it's no, well, I guess there's, if he does try and do that and I don't know if the
00:55:40team will, there's going to be a shelf life because he's only going to play five years.
00:55:45If he tries to play all that, like his body's just gonna, like, I wonder right now, every
00:55:50single time I, I watch Colorado and I see him on the floor or on the floor of Tucker
00:55:54basketball on the, on the field, every single play, I'm like, how does this guy stay in
00:55:59this shape?
00:56:00How are his muscles not like screaming at him at after every single game.
00:56:05And then he goes out there and he plays all these snaps and he gets hit and he hits
00:56:08people and he's running around.
00:56:10Like the shape he's in is insane.
00:56:12It's incredible.
00:56:13It's something we've never seen before in the sport, but if he tries to do it for that
00:56:17much longer, I just don't know how long he continues to stay, you know, like as an NFL
00:56:21player, how long is the shelf life?
00:56:22And if he only plays one side, then you're missing out on the other side.
00:56:26And then you try and kind of handle it.
00:56:28I don't want to say it's going to be a headache because he's so good that whatever team
00:56:31takes him, he's going to be awesome.
00:56:32But I just, I wonder where he fits in.
00:56:35Like, I'd rather take, if we're talking rare athletes, I'd rather take an Abdul
00:56:38Carter than a Travis Hunter, where like a defensive lineman affects the game more than
00:56:43a cornerback, like objectively they should be valued higher.
00:56:46And even on offense, like receivers, you can find receivers.
00:56:50Are you going to find Travis Hunter?
00:56:51No, you can buy really, really good starting caliber receivers.
00:56:55Second round, third round, fourth round.
00:56:57If you're very, very good at evaluating rare rushers like Abdul Carter, you're not
00:57:03going to find those guys on like, it doesn't really happen.
00:57:05And if you do, there's usually some glaring red flags.
00:57:08So, Oh my God.
00:57:09I stop enough of this.
00:57:11I feel so good.
00:57:14It's not talking crap.
00:57:15I just, I like Travis Hunter so much, but I'm sorry.
00:57:16I can't justify it in my head.
00:57:18From the chat and quickly, we only have time for one more question.
00:57:21Then we got to go.
00:57:21But, uh, Mike Larry in the chat says that's too much running kid.
00:57:24It's going to be gas by halftime.
00:57:26Like, but he's not right now.
00:57:28Like he does this right now.
00:57:29It's incredible the shape he's in.
00:57:31And I don't think that's all schedule too.
00:57:33That's true.
00:57:34It's going to be your schedule.
00:57:35You're in the NFL.
00:57:36You're not in the, is that the, is it, it was Colorado.
00:57:39Was it the pack?
00:57:40Well, uh, big 12, big 12, big 12.
00:57:43Sorry.
00:57:44I'm not really good at college, but like that's a completely different level of
00:57:47competition you're going up against.
00:57:48Like, like him playing both sides is not even a conversation.
00:57:51It's what side is he going to spend most of his time on?
00:57:54And where is he going to spotlight?
00:57:55That's pretty much it, which means cornerback and receiver.
00:57:57Pretty much.
00:57:58Do we want to do the defense?
00:57:59Yeah, that's what we're going to, we're going to finish off.
00:58:01Fascinating conversation on Travis Hunter.
00:58:03I don't know if it's going to happen.
00:58:04Whatever team has that headache should be a lot of fun.
00:58:07All right, let's close it with this Taylor.
00:58:09From our good friend, Andrew DeSilva.
00:58:11Can you describe what DeMarcus Covington's defensive scheme slash philosophy is and
00:58:15what type of players do you feel he's going to be asking for this
00:58:17off season to try and improve it?
00:58:20Yeah.
00:58:20So I wanted to look by the numbers just to see schematically, especially in
00:58:23coverage, cause run defense, I think we know what the Patriots are in run defense.
00:58:27Like you don't have Juwan Bentley.
00:58:28You don't have Christian Barmore.
00:58:30Lawrence guy, obviously phase him out because I think he wanted to be a little
00:58:33bit more rounded on the defensive front, which is ironic because you're not, but
00:58:36you know, Daniel probably wasn't what you thought he'd be.
00:58:38And then you don't have to grow peppers for a lot of the season or Kyle
00:58:41Duggar for a lot of the season, the run defense it's like, yeah, they weren't
00:58:44good because they're missing some of their best players.
00:58:47I think that's like very straightforward.
00:58:49I don't think we really need to do this whole like town hall meeting.
00:58:52They're getting better at missing tackles, but like they had some
00:58:55glaring talent weaknesses that just kind of killed them.
00:58:57I think the more interesting conversation is coverage because last year, obviously
00:59:00they were elite in run defense, but the talent was better, whereas last year
00:59:03they didn't have Christian Gonzalez, right?
00:59:05They, Jonathan Jones was kind of in and out of the lineup, Marcus Jones.
00:59:08They didn't have all of the season and you had Christian Barmore who made up
00:59:11for a lot of the things in the secondary, but why are they so much worse?
00:59:14What are they doing coverage wise?
00:59:15That for me was the most interesting part of this equation.
00:59:18So real quick, I'm going to take this down.
00:59:20I'm going to put up some numbers.
00:59:21All right.
00:59:22So pass a rate.
00:59:24Oh, is this the right one?
00:59:25Uh, the right, the right one.
00:59:26I hear it is.
00:59:27I went in the wrong order.
00:59:27Wait, let me fix that actually, because I don't want people to get confused.
00:59:30I'm sorry.
00:59:31Oh, I understand.
00:59:31Just last minute.
00:59:32All right.
00:59:32We're back now.
00:59:34So when you look at coverage tendencies by the usage rate, the Patriots are
00:59:38actually playing even more man coverage.
00:59:40A lot of people think they should be playing more to Marcus Covington has
00:59:43really leaned into the cover one, and they're still very good when they play
00:59:46cover one, the differences this year, they're spinning the dial a little bit
00:59:50more, right?
00:59:50So instead of last year for the past two years, they've been one of the most
00:59:53cover two heavy schemes in the NFL.
00:59:55A lot of that's because when they play their cover one, they like to mix it up
00:59:59with cover two, because it's easy to disguise and make cover to look like
01:00:03cover one.
01:00:04All you basically do is have one of the guys in the slot drop down into one
01:00:07of the deep parts of the field.
01:00:09The biggest differences though, like cover zero, pretty much the same usage.
01:00:12Cover three is way down.
01:00:15Now they've replaced it with again, more cover one and also more quarters.
01:00:19All right.
01:00:19So DeMarcus Covington kind of trending more towards where the NFL is going
01:00:23with more split safety coverages.
01:00:25But what does that look like?
01:00:26Spoiler alert.
01:00:27It has not been great.
01:00:29So when you look at where the Patriots are the most different when it comes
01:00:33to their cover, their coverage usages, cover one, like I said, they're still
01:00:36very good.
01:00:37Cover three is still very good.
01:00:38The close, the middle field close coverage is where they've really stunk.
01:00:43It's in cover two.
01:00:44They've been much worse.
01:00:45Part of that is because I think they're just, they were disguising it
01:00:48differently, especially earlier on in the year where they would have, you know,
01:00:51a slot corner rather than a slot safety, be the one to drop that into the deep
01:00:54half.
01:00:55So you didn't actually know where the deep coverage was coming from, but
01:00:59they've gotten burned by it.
01:01:00And it hasn't just been that a lot of it has been the fact that without
01:01:03Jawan Bentley, who, yes, you can complain about him in coverage, but he
01:01:06has such great instincts, right?
01:01:08He buried more often than not is going to get as deep as he needs to be and
01:01:12then come up and make the tackle really hard to exploit him in zone coverage.
01:01:17Jelani Tavai has been asked to be that guy last year when people asked him, why
01:01:21did Jelani Tavai get worse?
01:01:22Last year where people went wrong is they kept trying to throw over his head when
01:01:25he was in shallow zones and there weren't, wasn't really a whole lot of depth
01:01:29behind him.
01:01:29We've seen that this year where he's had a couple of bad passes when guys try to
01:01:33throw just like a couple of yards behind him, where he struggled more is he's
01:01:37been asked to be that deep coverage defender and that with the fact they
01:01:41don't have a pass rush with cover two, you need a pass rush or else it gives
01:01:45the defense time to get down field.
01:01:47And it really puts those coverage guys in tough positions because they don't
01:01:50have a whole lot of pass rush.
01:01:52It's put one Jelani Tavai in more difficult positions when he asked to
01:01:55drop, but also there's times where he's challenged horizontally, like against
01:01:58the jets.
01:01:59You remember where he just kept getting killed on those like shake routes where
01:02:02yeah, you're testing him sideline to sideline, not behind him.
01:02:06That's going to put him in some tough positions.
01:02:07So that's been a big part of the cover two issues.
01:02:10And then in cover four, really the issue is they've just given up a bunch of
01:02:13touchdowns that really have affected the score.
01:02:16Not as many recently, but when you look at their issues, a lot of it has been
01:02:19the man of the middle field, open coverages or split safety.
01:02:23Now just going a little deeper into those numbers.
01:02:25Again, when you look at cover a middle field, close coverages, cover one, cover
01:02:30three, they're still top 10 and pass the rating allowed, right?
01:02:33So they're still doing their thing.
01:02:34And a lot of that is man coverage when they're in obvious passing situations,
01:02:38but because they haven't been in elite run defense and a lot of these good
01:02:41running backs can still get the number of yardage where they're staying on schedule.
01:02:45It's made it a lot tougher for the Patriots to say, Hey, we're playing man
01:02:47coverage because we know what's going to happen.
01:02:49Which is an advantage they had last season because nobody could run on them.
01:02:52Now their success rate is bottom five.
01:02:54When they go split field coverages, they're giving up conversions at a top
01:02:5810 rate in terms of being bad, uh, explosive plays, which PFF
01:03:02categorizes as 15 or more yards.
01:03:04They've given up type of the fifth most passing touchdowns from these
01:03:07coverages, which is obvious when you look at the tape and then the highest
01:03:10passer rating in the NFL from these coverages, which once again, I talked
01:03:14about it, they're picking on linebackers.
01:03:16Sometimes on the back end, the coverage isn't perfect.
01:03:18They've given up a couple of deep balls to posts.
01:03:21There was one Marcus Jones against the 49ers tight coverage.
01:03:24Guy's going to make a play.
01:03:25Gonzo gave up a similar reception of Ryan Thomas jr.
01:03:27In London.
01:03:28Again, those guys are going to make plays, but when it comes to coverage, again, I
01:03:32mentioned the run defense and the effect that's going to have now, another one of
01:03:35the big differences with the defense this year compared to last, they're actually
01:03:39blitzing less, you would think from the eye test, they're blitzing more because
01:03:43of the times they've dialed it up.
01:03:44They've gotten burned by it, but they're blitzing at a slightly lower rate.
01:03:48The biggest difference is they're getting even less pressure.
01:03:51So last year, the biggest difference was obviously this year and last year, they
01:03:56have a higher pressure rate when they do blitz last year.
01:03:59I think a big part of that was Christian Barmore.
01:04:01If you, you send five, a lot of the times it creates one-on-one matchups.
01:04:05Christian Barber's pressure rate went from just below 10% to almost 13% last
01:04:10year when the Patriots blitzed.
01:04:11So that's where a lot of the production comes from, but you can see the success
01:04:15rate is lower and the pressure rate is lower.
01:04:17So when they're blitzing in the few times that they do, they're not getting home and
01:04:21they're not affecting the passer quite as much.
01:04:23So we talk about this defense and all the ways that they need to improve.
01:04:27The talent is an undeniable part of that, right?
01:04:30Because you don't have, uh, you know, your safety's playing every down.
01:04:33You don't have Christian Barmore being a game wrecker up front.
01:04:36Keon White's picked up some of the slack there, but he isn't as good as finishing
01:04:39plays as you saw with the Christian Barmore.
01:04:41So with me, that's a big part of it.
01:04:44But at the same time, when you look schematically, I think coming out of this
01:04:47by they've got to tone down the amount of split safety zones they play.
01:04:51That's a lot easier said than done, especially when you're playing quarterbacks,
01:04:54they can just throw it down the sideline and kill you that way, but it's not doing
01:04:57them nearly as much good as I think what they wanted to do.
01:05:01I think they got to use more line games, rely less on blitzes and more on these
01:05:04stunts.
01:05:04So maybe you can try to steam some pressure.
01:05:06I know they're doing that at a lower rate, but they're getting pressure, like
01:05:09almost double the same rate when they actually do use some line games and
01:05:12stunts like that.
01:05:13So schematically they're spinning the dial more.
01:05:16It is not working.
01:05:17There's still very much a defense that thrives when they're playing middle
01:05:20field, close coverages, got to get back to that.
01:05:23Also just play fundamentally better overall.
01:05:25And in terms of players that they could maybe get next off season, I think
01:05:28edge rusher has to be the big one.
01:05:30And I think also I wouldn't be surprised if they dip in and try to find a line
01:05:33backer, like a Christian Ellis type, who's really good in coverage, but maybe
01:05:36has better instincts and can't get picked on quite as much.
01:05:39Taylor, that was great work.
01:05:41I got nothing else to add.
01:05:42I got to, got to keep my mouth shut for a good five minutes and we wrap up the
01:05:45show, wrap up the week with that.
01:05:47Great job.
01:05:48Thanks for all the, outlining the numbers there for us on the defense.
01:05:52They do have to improve one way or another.
01:05:54We'll see if they can do it before next season, whether it's players, whether
01:05:57it's scheme, whether it's potentially a change at defense coordinator, we'll
01:06:00see what happens, but for now, four weeks left for the Patriots as they
01:06:05continue on their 2024 season.
01:06:07That's going to do it for our bi-week coverage.
01:06:09We'll have some more videos dropping on the channel later on this week from down
01:06:12in Foxborough with some, some report cards, excuse me, some players we're
01:06:17looking to improve for the remainder of the season, so make sure you keep it
01:06:20here and check out all of that good stuff.
01:06:22Thank you everyone for joining us here.
01:06:24A thousand plus people here live on four at 4 PM on a Friday.
01:06:29You guys should all be going to have a nice cold one to start the weekend.
01:06:32I'm going to go do the same in a little while.
01:06:33So again, thank you guys so much for taking the time out to
01:06:37watch myself and Taylor here.
01:06:38We'll be back next week for more coverage of the Patriots.
01:06:41Take on the Arizona Cardinals for week 15.
01:06:44Until then, thanks for watching.
01:06:45Take care of you.
01:06:47Take care of yourselves and take care of each other.
01:06:50Yeah, it's funny.
01:06:51I used to stumble on that.
01:06:52I finally figured it out and now it's the bi-week and I'm ruining it.
01:06:55Take care of yourselves.
01:06:56Take care of each other.
01:06:57We'll see everybody next time.
01:06:58Peace out, y'all.

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