In a solo episode, Andrew explains why he's never been closer to believing Jerod Mayo could be fired at the end of the season and breaks down Mayo's post-game comments at Arizona, plus the Patriots' game film. Later, he answers your mailbag questions.
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SportsTranscript
00:00All right, it's late Monday night.
00:15We have a lot, all caps, underline it, bolded if you must, a lot to get to.
00:20And it's not just because it got all my usual film notes.
00:23We're talking offense, defense and coaching, play calling, personnel breakdowns, everything
00:26you want to know from the Patriots last game.
00:28We haven't done here in two weeks because they had a bye.
00:31It's because after the Patriots lose 30 to 17 in Arizona game, not as close as the score
00:36indicated because they were down twice, twice, they were down by 20 in that fourth quarter.
00:40It's because that football game became secondary to Gerard Mayo's postgame press conference
00:45very quickly in a way that's frankly not new for these Patriots.
00:49And so all of the ensuing discussions in the podcast, on TV shows, on the radio, and maybe
00:52you just sitting at home with your thoughts in a private moment, all lead back to Mayo
00:58and wonder, could he actually lose his job?
01:01And for the first time this year, I'd say maybe, yeah.
01:06This isn't about losing, right?
01:07Like the Patriots are three and 11.
01:09They're exactly where they should be given the roster talent, their plan is a rebuilding
01:13program.
01:14Okay.
01:15It's about how they got here.
01:16It's about regressing actively over the second half of the season.
01:21It's about a team coming out of a bye with five straight practices to hone into their
01:24fundamentals.
01:25The same answer you get from Mayo, the offensive coaches, the defensive coaches, why aren't
01:29things going better?
01:30Fundamentals.
01:31Okay.
01:32Drill them.
01:33You have five practices.
01:34Go into Arizona and then have one of the worst fundamental performances I've seen from them
01:38all season.
01:39It's about one of the most penalized teams in the NFL.
01:42It's about one of the worst first quarter teams in the NFL, which speaks to game planning
01:45and preparation.
01:46And it's about a coach who presides over all of this and then has the audacity in his postgame
01:53press conference, three minutes after telling all the reporters out there in Glendale, how
01:59he preaches accountability to the team.
02:01Accountability is about action.
02:02Three minutes after saying that, says in response to a question of whether the Patriots should
02:06have run Drake May at the goal line, where they got stuffed twice in the third quarter
02:10and basically lost the game then and there.
02:12He says, you said it.
02:15I didn't.
02:16Are you kidding me?
02:18You know how bad that is?
02:22I'll tell you right now.
02:23This is not some media freak out or drama about whatever a coach said in a press conference.
02:26Something I've downplayed.
02:27Frankly, most of the spring and summer and said, I'm tired of talking about Mayo stinking
02:31with the media.
02:32It doesn't matter.
02:33The football matters.
02:34Well, right now there's Trump's football because this is the reason why that was so bad.
02:38Mayo throwing his offensive coordinator, Alex Van Pelt under the bus, that Alex Van Pelt
02:42is now in the safest place possible under that bus because who's talking about him and
02:47one of the worst play calling performances we've seen from him off season.
02:51He got off scot-free because of how bad Mayo was with the media.
02:55You've heard nothing, not a zip about ABP today until I just brought him up.
03:01Okay.
03:02And that's what it was.
03:03One of the worst play calling performances, which we'll get to and explain why here in
03:06a second.
03:07And if today, instead of listening to talk shows or whatever, you listen to dry Mayo,
03:12you of course heard him walk that comment back telling reporters, quote, I didn't mean
03:16anything by that.
03:17And later in WEI, it's quote, I shouldn't have done that.
03:21Just like I tell the players, I'm still learning how those things work.
03:25No, you're not.
03:27Either.
03:28You don't know where you don't care, but either way, it's a problem.
03:33And we're past the point of learning with the media.
03:36Forget that you had your own highway to kick your feet up or practice or look at what you
03:39were going to do.
03:40Okay.
03:41And I think he's gotten better with the media, but this was a low point.
03:43This was an issue.
03:44This was something his team, his staff heard loud and clear.
03:48Okay.
03:49Not to mention, he's still giving excuses for what might be the league's worst defense
03:57from Sunday.
03:58Once again, we let up a big run play that really hurts us and really skews the rest
04:03of the stats.
04:04Okay.
04:05And again, I've told you time and again, spring, summer, fall, I'm tired of talking about males
04:08misstep.
04:09So let's play along with this for a second.
04:10Sure.
04:11Let's play along with James Connors, 53 yard run.
04:14The Cardinals go from allowing 5.1 yards or the Cardinals go from averaging 5.1 yards
04:19per carry down to 3.6 big win for the Patriots.
04:22Okay.
04:23Here's one problem with Mayo's pathetic analysis of his own defense.
04:28That defense still got steamrolled over back-to-back touchdown drives in the fourth quarter that
04:34ended the game.
04:36Just like the JV Dolphins did them a week, five, just like the Colts did to them right
04:42before the buy.
04:43Oh, and by the way, Arizona still converted 69% of all of its third and fourth downs whenever
04:48it rushed.
04:49And it picked up a first down, regardless of down distance situation, a third of the
04:53time, whenever someone just ran with the ball, they got what they wanted 33% of the time.
04:59So the bottom line is Mayo's defense is a disaster.
05:01No matter how many plays he wants to pick out, it ranked dead last by DBOA going into
05:05kickoff.
05:06And that isn't changing.
05:07Whenever you end up listening or watching to this Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, sometime
05:10this week, and talent is not the issue.
05:13Christian Barmore returned a month ago, Jarrell Peppers is back.
05:16Hey, Christian Gonzalez is locking down Martin Harrison Jr.
05:19Give me a one catch and having three pass breakups.
05:22Okay.
05:23The issue is coaching.
05:25The issues are those fundamentals that they keep preaching about and talking about, but
05:28don't actually fix.
05:30Okay.
05:32Whether it's with the media or behind the scenes and error repeater, and if you want
05:36to know why the Patriots are not only repeating errors on the field, but also don't seem to
05:43be taking losing quite as hard as I reported and others did down in Miami, it's because
05:47their head coaches, there he was on WEI yucking it up, clapping, joking, busting balls Monday
05:55morning after getting in at 4am and losing 30 to 17 in a game that really should have
05:59been 30 to 10.
06:01And there's no crime in smiling.
06:02Okay.
06:03Be human.
06:04That's what we want.
06:05That's what we all should be rooting for.
06:06You've heard me say it time and time again.
06:07Honesty is what media and fans should be rooting for, but what message does yucking it up with
06:13some people on the radio, send to your players, to your coaches who have to come in and run
06:19and lift and do film, but not me because the Patriots of course canceled their team meeting
06:23after one of their worst losses this season, which is saying something after a buy and
06:27then going into a player's off day.
06:29Another great message there.
06:30What does it say when you do all of that?
06:33What it says is the meeting doesn't matter and the losses aren't that bad.
06:38Well here's a message that a captain, the longest, one of the longest tenured captains
06:43you have on this team said last week, Dietrich Wise, I asked him straight up, what are these
06:48last four games about before they go to Arizona?
06:50He said, if we finish strong, it says our hard work matters.
06:53This can work.
06:54This program, these players, these coaches, the culture, it can work.
06:58Well, right now between Mayo's messaging and their play and their coaching, it says the
07:04exact opposite and they have two games left against the future league MVP and then another
07:09game against one of the best coach teams in the NFL.
07:13How do you think that's going to go for the New England Patriots and Drodd Mayo?
07:17Sincerely, what do you think?
07:19Because if you said badly, just remember you said it and I didn't.
07:24Let's get to football.
07:27All right.
07:28Speaking of other coaches, I led with this with my film review this week because I thought
07:32it was fitting, not a brag, not to bring up Bill, down in North Carolina, talked about
07:38him plenty in the last few episodes.
07:39It's to say that two years ago I crashed a Bill Belichick clinic and my favorite thing
07:43of not only just sitting, listening to Bill Belichick speak at a coach's clinic for 45
07:48minutes uninterrupted, whatever topic you want to do, to delve into was he spent all
07:5345 of those minutes on a single drill.
07:55Okay.
07:56It's called the Texas drill.
07:57It's got three players and involves a lot of offensive fundamentals and defensive fundamentals
08:01and footwork and hand placement leverage.
08:04And he said during this clinic in April of 2023, so long as the head coach of the Patriots,
08:09they would run this drill because of how much it emphasized those fundamentals.
08:13His final words, I went back and read my story today before leaving the stage that night
08:17at Rutgers, where that's what it's all about.
08:21Good fundamentals.
08:23If you want to know why, put Bill to the side, now and forever, we're not going to bring
08:26it back for this episode again.
08:28Why the Patriots look so broken on offense and defense, it is those same fundamentals,
08:34missing nine tackles, allowing escape lanes for Kyler Murray in the pocket when you go
08:39by him, getting poor hand placement so you end up having a hold, not getting a proper
08:45start off the line.
08:46If you're an offensive lineman, giving up sacks because you can't pass off stunts.
08:50These very basic things that you've seen the Patriots blow time and again are the reason
08:54that they are regressive because fundamentals are their foundation for any kind of growth.
08:58Okay.
08:59You talk about foundation and getting players and young players and developing them.
09:01You can't build any kind of skill or scheme or knowledge.
09:05If you don't know how to do the ABCs and the basics of fundamental football, okay.
09:10Block run, pass and catch.
09:11If you play offense, destroy blocks, tackle, rush and cover if you play defense.
09:16They're not doing any of this.
09:17Arizona.
09:18Yes.
09:19They're more talented, but that didn't explain why the Patriots are down by 20.
09:20Again, twice, twice in the fourth quarter that came down to fundamentals like this stuff
09:26is basic and they're blowing it.
09:28So I, let's talk about Drake May for a second.
09:33Let's let's, let's boost this up a little bit with Drake May because you could say,
09:37okay, the offensive line can't block.
09:38They've been dealing with that all season.
09:40Drake May overcame it.
09:41You're right.
09:42Drake May was able to create explosive plays either by throwing deep downfield or scrambling,
09:47neither of which he was really allowed to on Sunday.
09:50Here was his final stat line, 19 to 23 for 202 yards, a touchdown interception, accurate
09:55throw percentage to take away the throwaways, take away the spikes and you know, stuff that
09:58just doesn't go.
09:5991%.
10:00Excellent.
10:01Here's the problem.
10:02He only completed two passes and only attempted five that traveled further than 10 yards down
10:11the field.
10:12This is a bizarrely conservative game plan from Alex Van Pelt that boxed in his best
10:18player with a rocket arm against the defense that struggled to defend the deep passes we
10:22talked about last week and instead had him throwing screens on more than half of his
10:27past attempts through three or four drives.
10:30That's an issue.
10:31Now, Drake May played well within that game plan and when it came time to attack downfield,
10:35he drops one in the bucket, 37 yards of Kendrick Bourne.
10:37Great throw, but it's too little too late.
10:40So even the good stuff, Drake May, again, throwing an accurate ball, 91% of his dropbacks.
10:46He also exclude drops there.
10:47So Keishon Booty, when he flips up that interception in Arizona in the third, fourth quarter, whatever
10:51it was, that doesn't go against Drake May in the stat, 91% accuracy rate.
10:55Okay.
10:56Drake May wasn't perfect, ran into one sack, risked another, triggered too quickly, I think
11:01in a couple of third and long, so they just throw short, but he was boxed in by a game
11:06plan that again was bizarrely conservative.
11:08Okay.
11:09Because that 37 yarder is exactly what they should have been doing, not the whole time,
11:14but more often than they did.
11:15Lo and behold, first play coming out of halftime, before which Drake May didn't attempt a single
11:21pass according to the ESPN that went further than five yards downfield.
11:24It's a bomb and it's incomplete.
11:26That's another issue for another day.
11:27So what do they do besides from that?
11:29Again, lots of screens.
11:31This was a pretty even split personnel, a lot of 11, a lot of 12, three receivers, one
11:35running back, one tight end versus two receivers, one running back and two tight ends.
11:39We talked a lot about how two tight ends is how Alex Van Pelt wants to play.
11:43You saw that happen in the middle of the second half.
11:45This kind of got to have a drive.
11:47That's what they were going to.
11:49But once you fall behind by 20, you got to open it up and they did.
11:51The efficiency was there actually, they had a 63% success rate in 11 personnel.
11:55It's encouraging except for the fact that in addition to having issues up front, which
11:59stopped me, if you've heard this before, the Patriots offensive line is dragging down the
12:03rest of the offense.
12:04The receivers just don't get any separation.
12:06Like Keishon Booty is slowing down late in his routes.
12:10Jalen Polk actually played at one target, didn't catch it of course.
12:14And Demario Douglas is catching balls primarily on screens or otherwise designed touches,
12:18which is fine.
12:19But there's no worker Avenue downfield for Drake May to go.
12:22And even when they are, it's five, seven, six yards at a time.
12:26So that stuff isn't necessarily new, but it just made me go, what was the plan here?
12:35Because with all of the screens, with all the short passes, typically you're trying
12:38to nullify something or strengthen the defense.
12:40Usually it's a defense that blitzes a whole lot.
12:42Maybe it's a defense that has a great pass rush.
12:44Maybe your quarterback isn't suited for that, which we know that Drake may obviously can
12:49throw a deep in Arizona susceptible.
12:51Arizona also has a bad pass rush.
12:52They don't blitz a whole lot.
12:54So I think what this really was about for Alex Van Pelt is trying to exploit a bad tackling
12:59team in Arizona, missed 13 tackles going to PFF and that's fine.
13:02But screens are a complimentary play call.
13:04They're not a core concepts, but they treated them as such.
13:08It's all smoke and mirrors.
13:09So once Arizona goes, okay, this is the plan and it gets a lead, they can sit back and
13:13play their stuff.
13:14And that's exactly what they did.
13:15Not helping matters.
13:16As I mentioned, the offense one, um, Lane Robinson gets flagged for a hold in the first
13:20drive kills that possession.
13:21They have to kick field goal and miss it.
13:23He also got away with a few holds later on, but very low disaster.
13:28He gives up a sack on the second series, kills that drive.
13:31Ben Brown has a bad snap on the third one.
13:33Kills that drive low.
13:35Also gave up three other pressures plus a run stuff.
13:38So the first three drives and because of bad offensive line play, and then the fourth possession
13:43Antonio Gibson goes backwards.
13:45This was the famous clip that we all saw of Jonathan Krafft with his little notes, goes
13:48backwards for a one yard loss, then a five yard loss because of blown blocks on the left
13:53side of the line, low Robinson and Ben Brown.
13:56And so the Patriots going to halftime basically with no shot of doing anything because they
13:59can't block and the receivers downfield aren't getting open.
14:02Now.
14:03Good news is you haven't heard me say Mike and when it, when, uh, Demontre Jacobs, it's
14:07for a good reason.
14:08They didn't give up anything in pass protection, but the bad news is the Patriots very much
14:13still need two new offensive tackles in 2025.
14:15And you could see that as clear as day in Arizona.
14:18As far as other notes, Antonio Gibson was great.
14:21I don't want to go too much further without highlighting him only played 16 offensive
14:25snaps and shocked me because he forced 11 missed tackles.
14:30That's a season high for a single game.
14:31Any Patriots player all year.
14:33Outstanding.
14:34I think, and we've talked about this before, he's been better than Ramond Ray Stevenson
14:37who also had a good game.
14:38Okay.
14:39Those two things can exist at the same time, but he's been better than Stevenson.
14:42When you look at how elusive he's been, how powerful and decisive he's been, and of course
14:46catching the ball.
14:47Um, meanwhile, the tight ends steady Eddie's, I mean, this is a game where Drake completed
14:52passes to eight different receivers, Austin Hooper, Hunter Henry, among them, Hunter Henry
14:56and Austin Hooper.
14:57Also getting a shout out from Gerard Mayo on the 98 five pregame show when he called
15:00them the, uh, best, most dependable position group that we have.
15:05And that of course was the wisest thing drive Mayo said all day.
15:08So the offensive line blows it early, poor receiver play throughout Drake can only do
15:11so much.
15:12He does get those two touchdowns late, but I don't think you want to throw a parade.
15:15The Patriots scored two touchdowns basically in garbage time as much as we all loved him.
15:20Uh, really Mahomes in extension of that play before he flips it to Mario Douglas for the
15:25first touchdown scrambles five yards for the second, like the Cardinals are just trying
15:28to kill clock here.
15:29Right.
15:30And Drake may as we established played well, but even for one of the best rookie quarterbacks
15:34we've seen in the league in a long, long time, can't overcome all of this from the game planning
15:39to the lack of protection and poor run blocking to the receivers, just straight up, not separating
15:44downfield in the way that even Keisha and booty admitted felt disrespectful.
15:47Uh, Keisha, what I would say to that is hold onto the ball.
15:51And the best way to disprove that disrespect is just to get open.
15:56But if he's not interested in my advice, I would say, well, you can go to a different
15:58game and see that.
15:59And this advice I would give to anyone coming up on the holidays, because there's no better
16:03place to go and show someone you love them than a game or maybe a concert, maybe a show.
16:09And if you're going to a game concert or show, I would tell you right now to go to game time
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16:17I have already bought a little secret between you and I, some holiday gifts via game time,
16:22because again, they give me the lowest price guarantee.
16:24They also let me see what my CPU is going to be like.
16:27And if you have a Patriots fan in your life that would like to see Drake may in person,
16:30you got two more chances.
16:32One will be right after Christmas for those inclined to celebrate against the chargers.
16:36Sounds like it'll be Saturday.
16:37If not, obviously on Sunday, you can go see Justin Herbert versus Drake may for the lowest
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16:44If you go to game time, pick your seat, look at the view, get the 110% guarantee if you
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17:15What time is it?
17:16Game time.
17:17All right.
17:18Let's talk about the defense.
17:19Uh, this game plan, as I described in the Herald film review was vanilla with the side
17:23of French vanilla.
17:24Okay.
17:25They play base defense, traditional three, four alignment, or just only four defensive
17:30backs behind what are seven combined defensive lineman and linebackers about 50% of the snaps.
17:36They said, we're going to match Arizona's heavy personnel.
17:39James Conner, you're not going to run all over us.
17:40We are going to stand up to you.
17:41James Conner said, ha, we already covered the rushing numbers behind that the Patriots
17:47had a plan to a not blitz a whole lot, 17% blitz rate, which Arizona thrive against success
17:53rate of 66%.
17:54One of the Patriots did blitz, but they also want to play a ton of man.
17:57And so Arizona open saying, oh, you want to play man.
17:59We're going to spam the hell out of mesh, which we talked about before the foundation
18:03upon which there are some variations to shallow crossing routes that intersect over the middle.
18:09Some teaching points say those receivers need to high five on their way down on their way
18:12by crisscrossing to shallow crossing routes, one from the left, one from the right intersecting
18:18in the middle.
18:19You saw this when Marvin Harrison jr.
18:20Got his only catch against Christian dollars, 23 yards in the first quarter, the Cardinals
18:24ran at four more times before halftime.
18:26Okay.
18:27So the Patriots go, okay, we're not going to run as much man.
18:32And that worked because that also kept some linebacker versus James Conner matchups that
18:36Kyler Murray liked to pick on.
18:38And like I said, they played a lot of cover too.
18:39And they played a lot of cover three.
18:40The issue there, even though they had eyes on Kyler Murray, the event that he wanted
18:43to scramble and he did is it gave up a lot of easy underneath throws.
18:47So the only thing that really kept the Patriots in this after they get forced and spooked
18:51out of their initial game plan, and as we know, beat up on the ground more so at the
18:54end, but certainly a little bit at the start, um, is the fact that Kyler Murray was so stubborn
18:59that he insisted on throwing a Christian Gonzalez who after that first catch given up the Marvin
19:03Harrison jr.
19:05Gives up zero, not silk, three pass breakups, uh, two in the end zone.
19:10Okay.
19:11Uh, excuse me.
19:12One of the end zone and then two others on third down all critical situations blankets
19:16Marvin Harrison jr.
19:17And when he has one other catch, okay.
19:20And Covington, otherwise from that very obvious shadow assignment, which Doug and I talked
19:25about last Friday, didn't do a whole lot.
19:28They had some simulated pressure looks on third down the Cardinals go 10 at 15 can tell
19:32you, you know, by those numbers exactly how those went, but that was it.
19:36The Patriots tried to go back to basics on defense and they just went backwards and that's
19:41not been good enough and, uh, just won't be probably down the stretch, but you cross your
19:46fingers and hope that that's different pressure wise.
19:49This was a big, bad number talking about the blitz rate, 17% it's about the same pressure
19:54rate that they had.
19:55And it wasn't because they blitzed.
19:57It's because no one is winning a front one-on-one.
19:59The only people that did can white, two hurries, Efrenie Jennings, two hurries, Daniel Echewale,
20:04one quarterback hit, um, and that was it.
20:07So again, this was Christian Gonzalez playing the same role as Drake may as a one man band,
20:14except on defense.
20:15And that's what kept them in this.
20:17If you even want to call it that, because otherwise the Patriots finished without a
20:20sack or a turnover for the third time this year, they turned in one of their lowest pressure
20:24rates of the season.
20:26And that lack of disruption basically is a death sentence for any defense with this
20:30lack of talent.
20:31And now, yes, they did have some bad luck.
20:33Okay.
20:34Jonah Williams hand up my target for them all off season recovers a fumble with his
20:39ass four inches away from being out of bounds.
20:42If he was out of bounds, it's a touchback Cardinals don't score that first touchdown
20:45Patriots get to hang in the game.
20:47They also had a questionable roughing the passenger penalty negate Jonathan Jones interception
20:51in the third quarter, bad luck.
20:53That's what it was.
20:55But bad luck and questionable calls happen.
20:57Okay.
20:58They could have overcome that if they didn't have the same fundamental breakdowns that
21:03we talked about earlier.
21:04Now, to get more specific, here we go.
21:07Kyle Duggar, mystery tackles to Lonnie to buy miss to Chris Nellis triggered way too
21:12slowly on the run that James Connor had going along the left side for 53 yards.
21:18They lost several edges against run, including late by Sione, Taki, Taki, you just shouldn't
21:21be there in the first place.
21:23Keon White ducks inside twice when rushing off the edge and passing situations and lets
21:28Kyler Murray escape Devon gotcha out the rock upon which Patriots have built their whole
21:33run defense.
21:34The nose tackle non-factor.
21:35That's what he wants to roll peppers, ran himself out of a couple of plays.
21:39Okay.
21:40The Patriots again, allowed the Cardinals to go 10 and 15 on third down, including a
21:43third and 11 snap during their two minute drill before halftime.
21:47So there you have it consistent, small, fundamental breakdowns.
21:51No pressure, by the way, from Yannick and got quays on the show last week, 23 pass rushing
21:56snaps, zero pressures.
21:57And so I don't have a lot of answers here for you.
22:02It's just bad across the board, which you do, but I'll leave you with one more thought.
22:06Is a rebuilding team.
22:07We knew this.
22:08They're serving two masters development and try to get wins on Sunday.
22:12Well, if I was a rebuilding team, I probably would play Alex Austin second year corner
22:17more than 25 snaps, which he saw on Sunday.
22:20Well, Jonathan Jones saw 42 Jonathan Jones on an expiring contract.
22:24So youthful player, veteran leader, all that you had no problem mentioning Jonathan Jones
22:28against the Colts.
22:29Why is he suddenly getting starters snaps here against Arizona went against the Colts.
22:35Alex Austin also had two pass breakups and two catches allowed.
22:39I don't know.
22:40Oh, and Isaiah Bolden, another second, your corner played zero, zero defensive snaps on
22:44Sunday.
22:45I don't get it.
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24:35All right.
24:36We're going to run the rest of the rundown here.
24:39So what would NFL film say about this game?
24:42Uh, nothing.
24:44This is, it's rough, man.
24:46We talk about this in this hour long fictitious documentary.
24:48How would they document the season?
24:49We spent a lot of time in that cold scheme, the history, Manning, Brady, back and forth.
24:54It's entertaining.
24:55It's close.
24:56It comes down to the two minute.
24:57Uh, Patriots going to the bye.
24:59NFL films is just saying, look, they go to Arizona, uh, the drought continues in the
25:04desert.
25:05It's a little bit of Kyler Murray.
25:06Certainly get that long pass from Drake May.
25:08You have the pressing call from our guys, Bob Sos and Scott Zolak.
25:11And then all of a sudden this gorgeous flashes 30 to 17.
25:14And of course they do not include Mayo's comments in the post game because this is
25:18an NFL films production.
25:19They're not going to do that to one of their own, but they're absolutely skipping as fast
25:23as possible to Buffalo where they can dress it up a little bit more divisional game, some
25:27holiday mentioned yada yada.
25:29And we'll see what, what happens in Buffalo.
25:31But regardless, uh, they're not spending a whole lot of time on this game.
25:35We are going to spend a quick minute though, talk about, uh, who we need to talk to.
25:38And that's the Darien low because again, look, he had a real bright spot earlier this season
25:45and it looked like he might be a serviceable starter in the NFL, which is shocking.
25:50And if you don't believe me, you can go back to the tweets and the middle of that questions
25:53of like, when is the Darien low coming back?
25:55Everyone clamoring for very low, the favorite punching bag, I'm betting one of the roster
26:00because he was their best pass protector.
26:02Well, his last five weeks, he's averaged just over three pressures allowed per game.
26:06This is his worst football that we've seen.
26:08He's been banged up, but he's not a starter in this league.
26:13He even said to us this summer, I hope to be a swing tackle one day.
26:15I hope I can prove myself.
26:17That's I think the sweet spot.
26:19He's obviously leaned a little bit more towards playing left tackle.
26:21Maybe you can learn right tackle, but the bottom line is you give up a sack, three other
26:24pressures or run stuff, and you contribute to some other run stuffs.
26:28It's just not good enough.
26:29Okay.
26:30Especially coming off a buy.
26:31I get it's late in the season, but he's probably as rested.
26:34He's as rested as he's been since maybe before that high ankle that he had earlier this year.
26:39So the Patriots need new offensive tackles.
26:42It's as much because Demetri Jacobs was a waiver wire claim earlier, and now he's starting
26:46a right tackle as it is very low.
26:48The guy who everyone loved, everyone hated, then loved, and is now coming back down to
26:53earth because this is just a player that he is.
26:54I think he's still useful.
26:55Keep him on the roster.
26:56Just give him a new job.
26:57All right.
26:58We have one, two, three, four, five, six, six questions here in the mailbag, and we
27:02will get out guests later this week.
27:04It's going to be a great episode.
27:05It's all set.
27:06Kurt, I want to like Mayo, but the more he speaks, the less fit he seems to be for the
27:10role of head coach.
27:11Can Robert Kraft retain Mayo for any reason beyond saving face?
27:16So here's the thing I would say, which is also how Mayo often starts certain answers.
27:23What I would say is the only reason you would continue with Gerard is also the biggest reason
27:32you hired him in the first place, potential.
27:36You believe in his long-term potential as a head coach in the National Football League.
27:42That's not what he's showing you right now in his mid-30s, in his first year, the season
27:44before the Patriots expected him to succeed and replace Bill Belichick.
27:48You believe that down the road, based on his character, your reactions, or little blips
27:53during the season, you, meaning the Crafts, not myself, believe that he will become a
27:59coach who drives winning, leads it, and can build a program.
28:02That's the reason.
28:03Now, how much have the last 11 months changed what Robert Kraft believed supposedly back
28:10in the summer of 2019?
28:11I don't know.
28:12I'm sure it's eroded some of the confidence, because you have real results in front of
28:16you, as we detailed in the beginning, a guy who is continuing to repeat his mistakes.
28:21But that's the reason, the same biggest reason.
28:23And so again, I will distress, it doesn't matter what you think, Kurt, or Kenny, or
28:27Rod, or Joe, or Dave, or Gary, or anyone else who's coming up with this mailbag.
28:30Excuse me.
28:31It doesn't matter what I think.
28:33It only matters what the Crafts think.
28:35And they thought the world had drawn Mayo.
28:37And according to Adam Schafter, entering this month, still plan on making him the head coach
28:41moving forward.
28:42Could that change?
28:43I don't know.
28:44I'm more open to it than I've ever been.
28:45That's what I said earlier.
28:46But yeah, that's the big reason.
28:49Kenny V., quote, as unlikely as it is, can you envision a scenario where the Crafts do
28:53a clean sweep of the coaching staff in front office, meaning they fire Mayo, move on from
28:57Wolfe at the end of the season.
28:59Rarely does ownership get to take a mulligan, but this offseason might present some options
29:03that offer a second, first swing at replacing Belichick.
29:07So the Belichick T, okay, that's nice.
29:12I don't.
29:13Look, and this is, again, put yourself in their shoes.
29:18And we've all had the frustration.
29:19We saw visibly exasperated Jonathan Craft during that game.
29:24But let's just put it in the crudest possible terms.
29:27If you fire Gerard Mayo and Elliot Wolfe and Clean House, all of those coaches you
29:32just fired are on your books, okay?
29:36Then all the coaches you're hiring to replace him and all the front office members, they're
29:39on your books for years to come.
29:43Do they want to do that, understanding that they might be at square one, going back to
29:46square zero with an entirely new regime or with Elliot Wolfe having installed a new program
29:53with the front office, a whole new scouting system, do they try to build on that after
29:57they've cleaned their books as he did last year, make minimal signing, save cap space,
30:00roll it over, and they're going to lead the league in cap space by a lot this year, probably
30:03with another top five pick.
30:05I'm inclined to believe that they let this build because that's what Gerard and Elliot
30:08were hired to do, not win in year one, not even compete really in year one, but to build
30:13for the future.
30:15If you've lost confidence they can do that, yeah, you should absolutely consider Cleaning
30:17House.
30:18This isn't to defend Gerard or Elliot.
30:20It's just to say I don't think ownership wants to clean house entirely for all of those reasons.
30:25It's not what they were hired to do in year one.
30:27They'd have to be on the hooks for a lot of money and a lot of contracts.
30:31Why would you expect to make progress in a way that you didn't this year, except for
30:34giving those resources, which you might as well just give to the current guys in place?
30:38Rod, quote, if they really wanted Mike Vrabel, would it be smarter to move on from the staff
30:42now or after the season?
30:45After the season, in my opinion.
30:46Look, I will grant you this.
30:49It's hard to build a case for why the Patriots shouldn't just jump in Mike Vrabel, aside
30:54from the complications with the money and their belief.
30:58Again, the only reason right now is belief in driving a long term and to let that develop
31:03and potential and to see more.
31:04I think that's only fair to him.
31:05But if they're interested in winning now and winning soon, Mike Vrabel is clearly a good
31:09head coach.
31:11And our guy Tommy Curran says he's been interested in what the landscape is out here in New England.
31:16So yeah, I think Mike Vrabel is a better coach.
31:19I think there's a reason to approach him.
31:22But I wouldn't make that change with two or three games left to go.
31:25I think you let everything proceed to the end of the season.
31:28Mike Vrabel surely preparing for his next job whenever that might be.
31:31But you couldn't even bring him in here anyway, because you'd have to fulfill the Rooney rule
31:34and all that.
31:35So just finish the season.
31:36Is there also assistance he might want to keep?
31:39And you have to figure out what you have with them as well.
31:41Joe, there's been a lot of criticism unfair, in my opinion, says Joe, that Mayo doesn't
31:46coach during games, leaving it to his assistants.
31:48It's hard to tell on TV, but that's true.
31:50Can you give any insight on what he is doing on the sidelines during games?
31:53So first of all, Joe, I agree, not that criticism of Mayo generally has been unfair, but the
31:58idea that we can all glean, whether you're in the stadiums, like I am watching him on
32:03the sidelines, you know, through binoculars, unable to hear what he's saying, that that's
32:09a representative sample of the coaching that he's doing.
32:12Because even on the practice field, the head coach is not getting his hands down and dirty.
32:17He's generally, the exception of Bill Belichick, not expert, even at most positions, it's only
32:22a narrow group.
32:24So unless Gerard Mayo has his hands with the linebackers, maybe the defensive lineman,
32:28I don't think you want him hands on with the offense, okay?
32:32Do you want to see him hands on because it shows you something at home?
32:35Sure.
32:36But I don't think that's a real representative look at what actual coaching means.
32:39What he's doing on the headset is chatting with both of the offensive staff and the defensive
32:44staff.
32:45That's the only thing we know is a direct line to his headset.
32:47And of course, Jeremy Springer, the special teams coordinator, needs to know, hey, are
32:51we going for this?
32:52A fourth down?
32:53Or am I sending my guys out there?
32:54Or might we involve a punt?
32:55So could Gerard do more?
32:58Might that lead to a better product?
33:00Yeah, it could.
33:01But this idea that the tiny snippets that you get on TV, or even if I had my binoculars
33:07from the press box looking at him for an entire Sunday afternoon, would tell me what he's
33:12doing or what he's saying is just not true.
33:14It's not representative.
33:16There's not enough there.
33:17And the most important work a coach does is honestly Monday through Saturday.
33:20The management part is very important, and he could definitely improve in the clock management
33:25part and certainly some of the play calling, whether it's Covington or AVP.
33:29But I just don't think it's fair to believe that you get a real picture of what he's doing
33:34from the little snippets you get before commercial.
33:36And I do when I bother to look down there with my binoculars.
33:39Dave, in hindsight, did Nick Caley not want to come here despite the big offer because
33:44he has worked with Mayo Wolf and others and knew they are unqualified and this was going
33:47to be an epic disaster?
33:49No, Nick Caley had legitimate interest in this opening.
33:53He also has a legitimate love for working for Sean McVay and being in L.A., which you
33:58can quite easily imagine the benefits of all that.
34:02Number two, some uncertainty around me.
34:04That's how I would put this.
34:05I mean, I had people who I talked to around the league, some of whom know Gerrard, others
34:09who don't just go.
34:11It's hard to bet on him because of his lack of experience and the little things you've
34:17heard him say publicly and how he could command a media core, which tells you maybe a little
34:22bit about how he commands a room.
34:24OK, and again, those are people that even knew Gerrard because these are big, big jobs
34:29that are honestly a lot more administrative than the hands-on coaching that I was just
34:32talking about with Joe's question.
34:35So Nick Caley goes, that might work out, but I don't know.
34:37I know this will work out with Sean McVay, who if I just stand next to long enough, probably
34:42get promoted and we'll have more opportunities down the road.
34:45So that's what I think came down for Nick Caley.
34:48Gary, a lot of layers to this question.
34:52Gary says, 10 teams will finish this week with five wins or less, approximately a third
34:57of the league.
34:58The Giants, Raiders, Pats, Jaguars, Panthers, Titans, Browns, Jets, Bears, Saints.
35:04I'll say it again.
35:05The Giants, the Raiders, the Pats, the Jaguars, the Panthers, the Titans, the Browns, the
35:10Jets, Bears, and Saints.
35:12Which teams, if any, would you trade places with?
35:14It's a great question.
35:15Honestly, I think the Bears are the only one, and that's even a maybe because I'm not a
35:23big fan of Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren, their GM and CEO, respectively.
35:28There are ownership problems when you look at the other nine with more than half of them,
35:32including the Giants.
35:33None of them, except Chicago, maybe Jacksonville, have franchised quarterbacks.
35:38TBD with Carolina, but probably not with Bryce Young.
35:41So what this says is not a commentary on ownership, which you could argue, throw the Patriots
35:45in there, ownership problems, not going to object.
35:50I would not want to trade Drake May and all the salary cap space coming up and a top five
35:56pick and an extra third round pick for any of those situations.
36:02That's how good Drake May is.
36:03That's how much change I think they can bring about this offseason.
36:08Now either head coach or the GM, that's a different story.
36:10But right now, based on the state of the franchise, I don't think the Patriots are bottom five
36:15in the NFL.
36:16When you look at their future outlook, I don't think they're bottom eight.
36:18You want to put them bottom 10, bottom 12, sure.
36:21But that's the power of the quarterback.
36:23That's the power of financial flexibility.
36:24It's the power of draft capital.
36:26And they have all of that coming in 2025 that might make it worth it for Mayo and Elliot
36:32Wolf.
36:33But that's if they get there.
36:34Okay.
36:35We'll be back a little bit later this week.
36:36Patriots play at Buffalo.
36:38That spread is 14 points, which I don't know what we're going to have for our price pick
36:42picks of the week later this week.
36:44But I would imagine we're going to go more than with some of those.
36:47Just just shy last week, had more than DeMario Douglas, three and a half catches.
36:51He came at three.
36:53But Drake May did have more than half a touchdown pass, which we've been telling you, take it
36:56more and more and more.
36:57Anyway, we will see you later this week.
36:59Thank you for listening.
37:01As always, if you have a second, please rate and review at Apple.
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37:12It's immensely helpful.
37:13See you guys.