Speaker 1: This is Patriots Playbook, the legend. I'm gonna digress. Right
Speaker 1: in the first ten seconds of the show, you know,
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers are saying, Oh, no, we're not
Speaker 1: gonna trade. We're not gonna trade it. How can we
Speaker 1: possible to trade people's hand? Oh he's an NFL All Pro.
Speaker 1: Well duh. Could you see Gebo run some wildcat though?
Speaker 1: Come on? Oh, you know time that boy is a
Speaker 1: p I GP see if you can guess what I am. Now.
Speaker 1: Now here's your host of Patriots Playbook, John Rook. A
Speaker 1: little too much chucklick in there. I think you know
Speaker 1: from my likeli goood. Sometimes you know, when you get
Speaker 1: in the mood and you're in a sort of a
Speaker 1: non pissy mood, you know, you have a tendency to
Speaker 1: squeak a little bit. And I guess that was me
Speaker 1: on that particular day, right, I don't know, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Welcome into the Playbook, our monthly edition or
Speaker 1: off season edition for the month of what month is
Speaker 1: as may OTAs are actually here. There's actual football going on.
Speaker 1: There's no pads, no popping, no anything. But I mean
Speaker 1: they're in shorts and in shirts or shells a little bit.
Speaker 1: And uh, and that's good. We're taking a step in
Speaker 1: the right direction today's program. We're we're shuffling the deck
Speaker 1: a little bit, and I'm very happy to all come
Speaker 1: into the show. Martin Nundero. Some of you who live
Speaker 1: locally remember Mark from Channel twelve in Providence. You listen
Speaker 1: to him perhaps on w EI in Providence and also
Speaker 1: does some weekend stuff up in Boston from time to
Speaker 1: time as well. And Mark has also kind of gone
Speaker 1: to the dark side like I did a number of
Speaker 1: years ago. He's become an educator. So watch the hell out.
Speaker 1: That's part of it. Also, Evan Lazar from clon S Media,
Speaker 1: who covers the Patriots, will join us as um. Oh goodness,
Speaker 1: what the heck did I do with my schedule? Who
Speaker 1: else is joining us? Matt? Thank you, good lord? I
Speaker 1: forgot about big Head. Big Head's going to join us
Speaker 1: here again at the towards the tail into this hour.
Speaker 1: He'll never let me forget that one of these listening
Speaker 1: now for sure. So we're gonna plug into some guys
Speaker 1: who I know have strong opinions, who are plugged into
Speaker 1: the beat and who aren't going to be wishy wash
Speaker 1: it all because quite frankly, Mark, first of all, thanks
Speaker 1: for taking the time for having me. John got to
Speaker 1: be here. Yeah, So listen, there's a couple of issues
Speaker 1: that are out there right now that seem to be
Speaker 1: standing up that I think that are worth getting into today.
Speaker 1: We did a poll on this. If anybody's wondering and
Speaker 1: just kind of tuned in or been off social media
Speaker 1: or whatever, check the check my twitters feed it at
Speaker 1: JR Broadcaster, because I did a poll probably about an
Speaker 1: hour or two ago that will run through the show,
Speaker 1: so that way we can get at the end of
Speaker 1: the show, I'll give you the poll results because it's
Speaker 1: going to close it four o'clock Eastern time. But quite frankly,
Speaker 1: I've been of the opinion gang, and I know this
Speaker 1: has been a topic for the Patriots unfiltered guys, and
Speaker 1: we've seen it in local media. We've heard it in
Speaker 1: a local media. I'm of the opinion that the fact
Speaker 1: that the Patriots don't have a named coordinator or named
Speaker 1: play caller at this stage of the game doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: I just I'm just I don't think it matters. And
Speaker 1: Bill has said as much in his press conferences, you know,
Speaker 1: but it just it continues to be a topic of
Speaker 1: conversation amongst all the talk show bloviators that are out
Speaker 1: there in this area, especially outside of our area. I
Speaker 1: can't imagine anybody gives a rats you know what about
Speaker 1: that as well. But even if you're from the outside area,
Speaker 1: I'd be curious to know if you have openings on
Speaker 1: your team, how does your team do that? How's your
Speaker 1: team handle it? Because it seems to be like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, we you know, there's no Josh McDaniels calling
Speaker 1: the plays. How the hell can we possibly what's gonna
Speaker 1: happen to poor Mac? He's got all these fotises coming
Speaker 1: after him and he's just not gonna have any idea
Speaker 1: what to do. And I'm just like, shut up. I mean, seriously,
Speaker 1: is it really that big of a deal. Don't you
Speaker 1: think that getting here to begin with? On this level,
Speaker 1: the fact that he's a second year pro and already,
Speaker 1: you know, you see more improvement from rookie year to say,
Speaker 1: and you're emotionally employers than you do any of the
Speaker 1: year of your career. Aren't we of the opinion that,
Speaker 1: you know, he's got to be kind of thinking for
Speaker 1: himself as opposed to having that kind of guidance. So
Speaker 1: I appreciate your perspective because I agree with you for
Speaker 1: the most I do the whole time. No, I do
Speaker 1: not think that it's a devastating development, the fact that
Speaker 1: I forget about the titles. I don't care about titles.
Speaker 1: I mean, people might care about titles, your assistant coaches,
Speaker 1: if they're trying to climb the ranks. Maybe they for
Speaker 1: the sake of their resume care about titles. I don't
Speaker 1: care about titles. I do not think it's a devastating
Speaker 1: thing that I don't know. I guess you could say
Speaker 1: that the offensive coordinator scenario is in flux or they're
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. I actually think it might
Speaker 1: be a good thing. Okay, there's a few reasons why
Speaker 1: number one Mac Jones. Okay, I happen to believe. I
Speaker 1: believe in mac Jones. That's the first thing. I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna be good. I love the ceiling. I think
Speaker 1: everything all the positives people have put out there, I
Speaker 1: agree with. I buy in mac Jones. But I also
Speaker 1: think of mac Jones, is gonna be the quarterback that
Speaker 1: we think he can be and that we think he
Speaker 1: might be or is. It's not gonna I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say it doesn't matter, but who is offensive coordinator is
Speaker 1: shouldn't be the biggest deal, if that makes anything. Now,
Speaker 1: I know Josh Allen up in Buffalo. You know, Brian
Speaker 1: Dave all was able to develop him and that really
Speaker 1: worked out well because because obviously Allen wasn't the quarterback
Speaker 1: he is now when he started, So that was good
Speaker 1: on them. But Joe, I think if Jones is going
Speaker 1: to be the quarterback we think he can be, it
Speaker 1: shouldn't just be this sing you know, Josh McDaniels, that
Speaker 1: is the guy that has to get him there. Let's
Speaker 1: not forget Bill Belichick's still the head coach. So yeah,
Speaker 1: there might be some turnover as the offensive coordinator goes
Speaker 1: in and out or whatever, but he's still the head coach.
Speaker 1: He's obviously going to prioritize the quarterback. I mean, you'd
Speaker 1: like to think, I'd like to think this is his baby,
Speaker 1: this is the guy he drafted. This is the big
Speaker 1: replacement for Tom Brady. I mean, Mac Jones, for better
Speaker 1: or worse, is going to be tied to Bill Belichick's legacy.
Speaker 1: I'm not I mean again not dismissing it, not saying
Speaker 1: offensive coordinators are useless. But I don't know. I feel
Speaker 1: like you're as good as your quarterback is. Now. Is
Speaker 1: an offensive coordinator integral in helping that quarterback develop? Sure,
Speaker 1: But if the quarterback has a work ethic and has
Speaker 1: some know how, which I believe we believe Mac Jones does,
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be okay. And I also don't
Speaker 1: mind the fact that Bill Belichick seems to be creating
Speaker 1: a little internal competition. Well that's the big I think
Speaker 1: that's what everybody is sort of keying on the fact
Speaker 1: that this, you know, allegedly and first couple of sessions
Speaker 1: of OTA has shown this, this is allegedly almost a
Speaker 1: play calling competition between you know, Matt Patricia and Oh
Speaker 1: my lord, have mercy. Are we even talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: Joe Judge. Yeah, I know. I'm just like, there are
Speaker 1: so many people that I know that are dumbfounded over
Speaker 1: Joe Judge's returned into England because they felt like he
Speaker 1: was so bad in New York. Now move that aside
Speaker 1: for just a second. You've got two guys now on
Speaker 1: your staff, who are you know, primary go to guys
Speaker 1: in right hand man, left hand man whatever of Bill Belichick,
Speaker 1: who are former head coaches in the NFL. Now, they
Speaker 1: clearly had something on the ball to be named a
Speaker 1: head coach to begin with. That's number one. Whether or
Speaker 1: not their expertise was defense or special teams or whatever
Speaker 1: it might may have been at one time is not
Speaker 1: the point. The fact is is number one. They have
Speaker 1: had to reign heard over everybody. Now, maybe they on
Speaker 1: their staff, maybe they didn't have the greatest success. I
Speaker 1: think it's pretty documented that neither one of them had
Speaker 1: great success. I don't even know if either one of
Speaker 1: those guys can get another head job. But I think
Speaker 1: that's part of the madness here because because they're Belichick
Speaker 1: guys and they're loyal to Bill Belichick, Bill Belichick wants
Speaker 1: them to come in do his bidding. Do his bidding.
Speaker 1: Now that means he gets no nay says, he gets
Speaker 1: no people going against him. He's got people who are
Speaker 1: willing to be a yes man to Bill. Right, he's
Speaker 1: had a problem. No, I don't think they could be
Speaker 1: a problem. I don't think it is, though, because Bill
Speaker 1: has deserved that because of his track record here. I'm
Speaker 1: okay with it. However, do your duty here and hopefully
Speaker 1: if the team has success, you are, then, you know,
Speaker 1: my proxy, going to have your own success to build
Speaker 1: up your own esteem and your own resume and your
Speaker 1: own possibility of getting a chance to get another head
Speaker 1: coaching job. You're in other words, you're padding your resume here,
Speaker 1: hopefully with something successful. And I think that was how
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick brought two x NFL coaches back into the fold.
Speaker 1: Number one, number two. These are guys he's worked with before.
Speaker 1: Number two that he's comfortable with. The number three, he
Speaker 1: knows that they won't challenge him, and so there's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do what Bill says. And I think that's
Speaker 1: where Bill is at this stage of his career. He's
Speaker 1: got basically three years to go mark to pass Don Shula,
Speaker 1: and I really believe he's gonna hang in there until
Speaker 1: he can get by Shula, because I know he's a
Speaker 1: competitive cuss just like anybody else that's ever been in
Speaker 1: this game. He's gonna be here long enough. He is
Speaker 1: not going to do something that's going to hurt his
Speaker 1: chances of passing Shula before he's ready to go. Now,
Speaker 1: if it happens that this is a complete total flopping failure.
Speaker 1: There is Bill O'Brien who's still out there. Bill O'Brien
Speaker 1: did not come to become the offensive coordinator this year
Speaker 1: because it's the second year of a contract that he
Speaker 1: had at Alabama, and because of the friendship there between
Speaker 1: you know, you know, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick. Bill
Speaker 1: isn't gonna he isn't gonna ruin that. He's not gonna
Speaker 1: do that. He's gonna step on his friend's toes and
Speaker 1: pull his OC away after only one year of a
Speaker 1: two year contract. But with his contract being up, I
Speaker 1: don't think you'll see any renewals of contracts at Alabama
Speaker 1: for Bill O'Brien. I could certainly see Bill O'Brien brought
Speaker 1: into the fold, made OC and maybe even coaching waiting.
Speaker 1: I believe. And this is just my own personal thought here.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody says this. Nobody said it officially,
Speaker 1: but my own personal thought is that Bill is looking
Speaker 1: at Matt Patricia as potentially his replace. Totally valid. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that makes me feel good. I definitely
Speaker 1: don't feel good when you say I don't feel good
Speaker 1: when you say that these guys are brought in to
Speaker 1: just be yes men. That does not make me feel good. Well,
Speaker 1: but that's what's gonna happen. Okay, that's what Bill wants
Speaker 1: to work with at this stage of the game. The
Speaker 1: man is seventy years old. He does not want to
Speaker 1: have to butt heads like two rams going at each other.
Speaker 1: Is that what's best for the team. I don't think,
Speaker 1: because that's what he always says, I do it's best
Speaker 1: for the team. Yeah, well, that's his way of running
Speaker 1: the team. He has earned the right to do whatever
Speaker 1: he wants. Okay, I don't know if this is gonna
Speaker 1: Look I just said, I don't think it's a devastating scenario.
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily high on it. I don't love it,
Speaker 1: but I just think based on Bill Belichick's overall track record,
Speaker 1: they can make it work. And if Mac Jones, like
Speaker 1: I said, is good and is formidable, he can be Okay,
Speaker 1: he can develop and go through the natural the natural
Speaker 1: progression to becoming the quarterback we think he can be.
Speaker 1: But if you tell me that, they're not gonna have
Speaker 1: any counter arguments to Bill Belichick, and you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know. It's not like it's not like this is
Speaker 1: a team filled with weapons, and you know they're gonna
Speaker 1: need all the help they can get from an on
Speaker 1: field perspective, from a coaching perspective, and then when you
Speaker 1: factor in all the really good teams in the AFC,
Speaker 1: you know, it's dicey. It's dicey, and I got to
Speaker 1: see how it plays out. But you know, being a
Speaker 1: yes man doesn't really get me all that excited, since
Speaker 1: I don't really expect that it will. But I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking that this is sort of year two
Speaker 1: of a two year bridge. Next year, salary kept money
Speaker 1: increases for everybody, but it will be particularly strong for
Speaker 1: the Patriots because they've got so many guys playing on
Speaker 1: the last year of a contract this year. Anyway, they're
Speaker 1: gonna be a ton of money out there for the
Speaker 1: Patriots to rebuild this team in a competitive sense. Next
Speaker 1: year is the year that Bill wants to build the
Speaker 1: team to leave his legacy. All right. He's gonna try
Speaker 1: to do it this way this year if he needs to.
Speaker 1: He's gonna bring in reinforcements next year, but he thinks
Speaker 1: he can win this year at least be as good
Speaker 1: or as competitive as they were a year ago. I
Speaker 1: pers in the bigger picture. I'm okay with that. I
Speaker 1: think he's earned, like you said, the right to be
Speaker 1: able to do his bidding. I also believe, however, that
Speaker 1: because over the last forty games, he's only nineteen and
Speaker 1: twenty one as a head coach. Okay, nineteen and twenty one, kids,
Speaker 1: that's not good. If this team struggles and goes lower
Speaker 1: than five hundred this year, you're going to hear those
Speaker 1: rumors of his exodus start to pick up. It wouldn't
Speaker 1: stun me to see the crowd family decide to reevaluate.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they're gonna fire him. I don't really
Speaker 1: think that'll ever happen. I think they would come to
Speaker 1: a meeting of the minds and he would resign, or
Speaker 1: he would retire, so to speak. Firing will never happen.
Speaker 1: But look at the bottom line, nineteen and twenty one.
Speaker 1: You don't think he's cognizant of that. I don't think
Speaker 1: he's gonna do something that's gonna further that, even if
Speaker 1: he's only got three years left before he passes Schuler
Speaker 1: or not. Especially if mac Jones doesn't develop the way
Speaker 1: that everybody kind of expects him to develop, it for
Speaker 1: some reason he takes a step back this year, or
Speaker 1: he doesn't look as good, or does he looks good
Speaker 1: but not great, or wow, there were some clunkers or whatever.
Speaker 1: If that happens, all the things you just said will
Speaker 1: be ratcheted up. It will be the heat will be
Speaker 1: turned up. Now if Jones is a stud, that would
Speaker 1: continue to buy him more time. Look, I'm not concerned
Speaker 1: about whether or not he's gonna give it. I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm like you, He's not gonna get fired. I think
Speaker 1: he's still a good enough head coach to continue doing this.
Speaker 1: And I just don't see it happening that way. I
Speaker 1: see him walking away ultimately. But you know this team.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. Can I just give you my big
Speaker 1: take on Bill Belichick real quick? This is what I
Speaker 1: think about Bill Belichick. He is he the greatest head
Speaker 1: coach of all time? Yes, he is. The problem isn't.
Speaker 1: What makes me uncomfortable is I think some of the things,
Speaker 1: or a lot of the things that made him the
Speaker 1: greatest head coach of all time are not applicable now.
Speaker 1: You know, for example, when the Patriots obviously the draft
Speaker 1: and Brady and developing, keeping Brady sticking with Brady all
Speaker 1: of that. But when you had the success and you
Speaker 1: were able to manage the success, and you kept everybody
Speaker 1: focused on one game, one game, one game, and you
Speaker 1: manage distractions, and you cut this guy a year too
Speaker 1: early rather than a year too late, and you manage
Speaker 1: the salary cap and the roster through the free agency era.
Speaker 1: All those things that made him the greatest of all time.
Speaker 1: The game plans on the highest level, on the biggest
Speaker 1: stage in the super Bowl. You don't have that at
Speaker 1: your disposal anymore because Brady's gone. So all that success
Speaker 1: that you had and all the things you did while
Speaker 1: having that success and sustaining that success, you can't do
Speaker 1: anymore because you're not having that success and you don't
Speaker 1: have that quarterback. So that's why I'm a little uncomfortable
Speaker 1: just saying, you know, I put my feet up in Bill.
Speaker 1: We trust because the greatest head coach of all time,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, was able to do things with Brady with
Speaker 1: these people that he can't do anymore because he doesn't
Speaker 1: have those things at his disposal. So it's not the
Speaker 1: same coach. He's still the greatest of all time because
Speaker 1: if there was another coach in here, they weren't gonna
Speaker 1: win six super Bowls with Tom Brady, they would have
Speaker 1: found a way to mess it up. Bill didn't credit
Speaker 1: to him. That's why he's the greatest. Three might one four,
Speaker 1: might have one, three, might have one two, who knows,
Speaker 1: but right, but now those things aren't the way they were.
Speaker 1: So some of the things that made him the greatest,
Speaker 1: some of his strengths, he can't apply anymore because the
Speaker 1: team doesn't allow for it, the roster doesn't allow for it.
Speaker 1: So that's why when you bring up the record, I'm thinking, well,
Speaker 1: that's this coach because that's what he's working with now.
Speaker 1: He's still the greatest of all time based on what
Speaker 1: he did, but now he's working with different things. And
Speaker 1: that's why it's hard to just be like, well, he's
Speaker 1: the greatest, the greatest will get it done. Well, he
Speaker 1: got it done when he had all these other resources.
Speaker 1: Maybe he hasn't. Maybe Jones is gonna be the next stud.
Speaker 1: But I don't know. What did it take his first
Speaker 1: year here in two thousand, they were what five and eleven? Eleven? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: did take him a little while, and they were owing
Speaker 1: two without breaking. And I think mostly everybody considers the
Speaker 1: pandemic here awash and they won seven and nine in
Speaker 1: the first year post Brady. Right, So last year was
Speaker 1: the first quote unquote normal year post Brady. They went
Speaker 1: ten and seven and got to the playoffs. Yeh okay,
Speaker 1: what kind of a step do they take here? Can
Speaker 1: they at least maintain where they were? Can they become competitive?
Speaker 1: I went on the record last month when we were
Speaker 1: talking about the schedule. I think I picked nine and
Speaker 1: eight based on the schedule overall, and I don't think
Speaker 1: that that's necessarily a step down. So I'll go ahead
Speaker 1: and stand by that. I'll say nine and eight based
Speaker 1: on what I've seen thus far, without knowing much about
Speaker 1: the personnel on any team really just yet. But I
Speaker 1: think nine and a is gonna be right there in
Speaker 1: the mix for a playoff spot. It's gonna be in
Speaker 1: the mix. It depends largely on what Miami does. Buffalo
Speaker 1: is gonna win the division, should win the division. If
Speaker 1: they don't, it's a huge upset. Now, can the pages
Speaker 1: be better than that? Yes? Because last year I said
Speaker 1: nine and eight and they went ten and seven. Oh. Actually,
Speaker 1: actually it was Rookster Damas that said that, right, rookster
Speaker 1: Damas was the one that said that got me. Now
Speaker 1: for your re read it, that's exactly right. He said that.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I want to make sure that I'm very
Speaker 1: clear of that. I want to make sure we're stat
Speaker 1: on that. But I just you know, if you're making
Speaker 1: the playoffs, then you want to get into the playoffs
Speaker 1: and you want to win, you want to advance. Last
Speaker 1: year they didn't do that. I think the next step
Speaker 1: for this team to take to really if you want
Speaker 1: to make a leap back into contention, is you need
Speaker 1: to get into the postseason. You need to win a game.
Speaker 1: That's the step that I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing
Speaker 1: for this team this year is a doable. Sure, do
Speaker 1: they have enough weapons around Mac Jones. I'm beginning to
Speaker 1: think they do. I'm beginning to think they do. But
Speaker 1: my big concern is on the defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: where they clearly have decided to you know, anti up
Speaker 1: with you know, edge rushers and you know, hopefully some
Speaker 1: speed linebacker and things on those along those lines. Because
Speaker 1: I don't know why they didn't, you know, franchise tag
Speaker 1: jac Jackson and if they didn't want to keep him,
Speaker 1: trade him I'm just trying to figure that one out.
Speaker 1: I'm know that we'll ever have a real answer for
Speaker 1: that other than we're only doing what's best for the
Speaker 1: football team. Okay, that's fine. That's the only answer that
Speaker 1: we ever get, you know, when it comes to well,
Speaker 1: why did you do this? So I totally agreed with
Speaker 1: getting rid of JC Jack, or not getting rid of him,
Speaker 1: but letting him go. Like I love the player. They
Speaker 1: are gonna get what we think will be about a
Speaker 1: third round compensatory pick. I just don't think at this
Speaker 1: stage of the game where the Patriots are currently, you
Speaker 1: need a top corner. I don't think you. Now you could,
Speaker 1: of course, you could always use the top corner, but
Speaker 1: I feel like that's more of a cherry on top
Speaker 1: when you're on the press. I like the Chargers what
Speaker 1: they did. They feel like that piece could put them
Speaker 1: over the top. You know, twenty fourteen, when Reeves came
Speaker 1: in here, the Patriots had a really good team all around.
Speaker 1: The one thing we were missing was that centerpiece in
Speaker 1: the secondary, and they got that with Reeves. That put
Speaker 1: them over the top. Arguably, this team is not there,
Speaker 1: So why you would pay him all that money to
Speaker 1: come up short in other areas didn't make sense to me,
Speaker 1: so I agreed with him or let them letting him go. Look,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't necessarily have the same confidence in
Speaker 1: the offense as you do. Where are the weapons? What weapons?
Speaker 1: Who are the weapons? Well, because I mean DeVante Parker
Speaker 1: to me is the go to guy, and and he's
Speaker 1: got to stay healthy. He hasn't really proven that in
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, but that's the guy that's
Speaker 1: got to stay healthy. I'm really anxious to see Taekwon Thornton. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my youngest nephew went to school with Taikwon at Baylor,
Speaker 1: all right, so he knew him a little bit. He said.
Speaker 1: Taekwon Thornton is a kind of kid where if you
Speaker 1: turn sideways, he'd disappear. He's skinny, okay, but and he's
Speaker 1: got small hands, which you usually don't see with receivers
Speaker 1: that you don't have a good catching game. But for
Speaker 1: a guy that's small hands and slender, he has really
Speaker 1: good stick him. He just he gets the ball he's got.
Speaker 1: So he's got strong hands, even if they are smallish.
Speaker 1: I want to see what he can do. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: want to see how well his ability to stretch a defense,
Speaker 1: will pull the rest of the defense out and open
Speaker 1: up the middle of the field. I think this could
Speaker 1: be a bonafide Banner year where the Patriots tight ends
Speaker 1: if the receivers do what they're allegedly supposed to do.
Speaker 1: That's just my thought. Thornton arguably is the biggest X factor.
Speaker 1: Here's the second round pick. All the speed, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm more concerned with what he has between the ears
Speaker 1: than the arms, the hand size, or if he's skinny,
Speaker 1: and obviously I guess you like, I mean, is he durable?
Speaker 1: That'd be a question I have. Will see, but I
Speaker 1: you know, the biggest offseason need has yet to be
Speaker 1: filled in my estimation. Now again, we'll see Thornton, we'll
Speaker 1: see if Parker can stay healthy. But if you look
Speaker 1: at all the teams that were the final eight down
Speaker 1: the stretch last year in that tournament, you know, the playoffs,
Speaker 1: all of them had bona fide number one receivers number one.
Speaker 1: The Patriots do not. And I feel like that position especially.
Speaker 1: I think they hope Parker is going to be there.
Speaker 1: I hope so too. You think he could be I mean,
Speaker 1: I just don't see him being on the level of
Speaker 1: the guys that were there at the end of the
Speaker 1: year last year. Okay, well that may very well be.
Speaker 1: It depends on how hell I think the guy states.
Speaker 1: All Right, we've opened up a couple of topics here,
Speaker 1: so I want to make sure that you can jump
Speaker 1: in on either one or both of the above, or
Speaker 1: anything that we haven't talked about yet. Eight five five
Speaker 1: Pats five hundred is the toll free number. Eight five
Speaker 1: five Pats five hundred, web radio at Patriots dot com.
Speaker 1: If you want to email us, you can hit me
Speaker 1: up on Twitter at jur Broadcaster, or you can hit
Speaker 1: my Facebook page at John dot rook and post your
Speaker 1: question there under the show graphic that's on there. If
Speaker 1: you want to vote on the poll, which is the
Speaker 1: first thing that we talked about, the poll question is
Speaker 1: is an assigned play caller or coordinator a must have
Speaker 1: or be no big deal? You want to vote, go
Speaker 1: to jur Broadcaster find the poll and you can do that,
Speaker 1: or just call it in and we'll talk about it here.
Speaker 1: Because that's the first thing I want to talk about.
Speaker 1: We do want to talk about personal issues as well,
Speaker 1: because I think the second major question is in the
Speaker 1: aftermath of last month's draft. We've seen all these quote
Speaker 1: unquote pundits, media, NFL experts. I'm just like, oh my god, really,
Speaker 1: I'm up to here with it. But it's because I've
Speaker 1: been friends with a couple of them for a very
Speaker 1: long time in this business. And most people who listen
Speaker 1: to the show know that I've been close with Mel
Speaker 1: Kuiper for a number of years. Haven't been so much
Speaker 1: in the last few years. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: we worked together at ESPN for eleven years and oh gosh,
Speaker 1: the story goes, I almost hired Mel to move off
Speaker 1: to Denver when I was working Possibility as a go
Speaker 1: as a program director at a Denver radio station. This
Speaker 1: has been o where twenty five years ago now, so
Speaker 1: we go way back, wow, way back. And Mel originally
Speaker 1: gave the Patriots an F grade for the draft, and
Speaker 1: you know it might have been a little bit much.
Speaker 1: He came off for that, moved him to a D
Speaker 1: and I think his last grade, he moved him to
Speaker 1: a C minus, which is still one of the worst
Speaker 1: grades that I've seen out there from anybody. Okay, we
Speaker 1: tried to get Mel on the show, and Mel's unavailable unfortunately,
Speaker 1: but I am still going to work on it. I'm
Speaker 1: still gonna try to get him, whether it's next month
Speaker 1: of the month after, I'm gonna get my boy back
Speaker 1: on the show to explain that and let's see, let's
Speaker 1: we'll talk about that process. So my question really is, okay,
Speaker 1: I really kind of dislike letter grades because I don't
Speaker 1: think you can sufficiently grade a draft class at all
Speaker 1: unless you give it two or three years of play.
Speaker 1: I'm just not into that. But we're such a you know,
Speaker 1: a we need the answer now society. You know, how
Speaker 1: do they do? Do you get today? On the draft? Okay, No,
Speaker 1: it's very obvious. It's very obvious when people see their
Speaker 1: favorite teams select someone who's being mentioned in the media,
Speaker 1: then they feel like they did a good job because
Speaker 1: they're relying upon the few people mel being one of
Speaker 1: them who rate these people. They rate these people based
Speaker 1: on their overall ability, not necessarily per fit on the team,
Speaker 1: which is why these guys that the Patriots selected last
Speaker 1: month look a bit awkward, because you know, I think
Speaker 1: it's obvious they wouldn't have taken them if the Patriots
Speaker 1: didn't feel like they it. But the one thing that
Speaker 1: just killed the Patriots in public perception. Here is Sean
Speaker 1: mcveigh's reaction. You saw that on social media right where
Speaker 1: he laughed out loud when they took you know, Cole
Speaker 1: Strange in the first round at twenty nine. They traded
Speaker 1: down eight spots from the Raiders spot to take Cole Strange,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, whoa. And of course he had to
Speaker 1: pick up the phone and he called Belichick. He called
Speaker 1: Cole and he had to say, that's not what we meant.
Speaker 1: It was a surprise, and you know, it was an
Speaker 1: internal thing, and I know that the impression that we
Speaker 1: left was a bad thing, and you know, I apologize.
Speaker 1: What's that It's strange, Yeah, strange is right. So that
Speaker 1: just kind of put in a tired damper to me
Speaker 1: on the perception of the Patriots draft. And then people
Speaker 1: thought Taekwon Thornton was a reach. They thought that both
Speaker 1: of the Joneses that they took were both reaches because
Speaker 1: they're small guys. They're little guys, and you don't see
Speaker 1: guys of that stature physically really getting taken in the draft.
Speaker 1: They're more like udfas. And you have the Patriots second,
Speaker 1: themb of the third and the fourth rounds. So I'm
Speaker 1: just wondering based on what now has transpired over the
Speaker 1: course of the last month, and what you may have done,
Speaker 1: what you may have seen, what you may have heard about,
Speaker 1: and what you've seen about reacting was okay, how do
Speaker 1: you feel about who the Patriots took? Does this help
Speaker 1: your impression? Does it hurt your impression or the chance
Speaker 1: of this team? You know? I mean they took speed,
Speaker 1: There's no question about it. Yeah, the Patriots wanted to
Speaker 1: get faster. They got faster based on you know, the
Speaker 1: forty times alone. But does a forty time equate to
Speaker 1: football ability? Absolutely not. Now, I'm not saying that guy
Speaker 1: can't play, but it doesn't. Just because you're fast doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you can play football. Look, before the draft, I
Speaker 1: said this, I said, whatever they do, they have to hit. Okay,
Speaker 1: they have to hit no matter where they go. What
Speaker 1: they picked. Now, did I expect them in the first
Speaker 1: round to take a guard? No, I didn't. I expected
Speaker 1: it a guard. I expected him. Okay, So i'm the
Speaker 1: reason is the reasons and then I'll let you finish.
Speaker 1: But the reason is because they want someone that can
Speaker 1: plug and play. That's my term for it. Plug and
Speaker 1: play and Cole Strange. Even though the pick was strange, Okay,
Speaker 1: Tennessee Chattanooga kind of off the radar. As Sean McVay
Speaker 1: pointed out, we've been our top hundred, you know. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's fine and all good, but it's a guy that
Speaker 1: the Patriots feel like fits the spot. He has versatility.
Speaker 1: He can play center, he could play tackleliv he's I
Speaker 1: personally expect him, like a few others around here talking
Speaker 1: to Greg Badard about this yesterday, in fact, we've expect
Speaker 1: him to move over to center eventually because he's got
Speaker 1: the size to build, the footwork to speed. We think
Speaker 1: that he'll probably come in and end up, you know,
Speaker 1: moving that direction as his career progresses, you know, provided
Speaker 1: you know, he stays healthy and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But he's plug and play. He's immediately in the spot.
Speaker 1: He is a starter, and that's what the Patriots wanted
Speaker 1: to do with the first round pick. Was a starter.
Speaker 1: Now my personal choice, I love that linebacker, the kid
Speaker 1: from Utah and you know who had size, speed, God,
Speaker 1: he had all the tools. The Patriots didn't even draft
Speaker 1: a linebacker. No reason. They didn't draft a linebackers because
Speaker 1: they feel like with what they have were kind of
Speaker 1: red shirts last year, it's enough, and they're gonna give
Speaker 1: these guys like mcgron and Ucha and others a chance
Speaker 1: to play. I hope so, and I hope they come
Speaker 1: through because this is where I really feel like this
Speaker 1: Patriots personnel department, you know, under Matt grow Now, they're
Speaker 1: rolling the dice on this one, which is why they
Speaker 1: didn't go out and get a linebacker. And I feel
Speaker 1: like that's the biggest gamble of all through the draft
Speaker 1: thus far. All right, Oh so no, I was just
Speaker 1: gonna say, I agree. I think I think Strange is
Speaker 1: gonna be a hit. I think he's gonna be a
Speaker 1: plug and play. I think he's going to be a
Speaker 1: guy that contributes. He's gonna be good at what he
Speaker 1: does all that. But you're never a guard away, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So there's that, and I just
Speaker 1: here's the problem last year. You know what, I think
Speaker 1: the Patriots are trying to be last year the two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine New York Jets. I think that's what
Speaker 1: they wanted to be. I think they wanted to be
Speaker 1: ground in pound. I think they wanted to be tough
Speaker 1: defense and have our quarterback make plays. You know, have
Speaker 1: the running game really drive the bus, and then our
Speaker 1: quarterback makes plays when he can off a play action
Speaker 1: or whatever. That's what I think they wanted to be.
Speaker 1: I just don't think in today's NFL you can win
Speaker 1: that way. And the other thing that sort of I
Speaker 1: don't want to say, depresses me. But you talk about
Speaker 1: the defense and they need him, you know, playmakers, and
Speaker 1: we'll see who can step up and the if camra
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a lot it's a big ask to
Speaker 1: put a lot of faith in cam a groan that
Speaker 1: he's going to be this game changing talent on the defense.
Speaker 1: But last year, okay, for almost I don't know what,
Speaker 1: seventy five percent of the season, they had the best,
Speaker 1: arguably the best pass rusher in football, and then for
Speaker 1: most of the year the best corner in football. That's
Speaker 1: a problem because guess what happened down the stretch. Your
Speaker 1: defense went a wall. But I mean, what am I
Speaker 1: supposed to do? See here in root for these home
Speaker 1: run hitters to come play in New England? You had
Speaker 1: the best arguably the best pass rusher and the best
Speaker 1: corner and it led you nowhere. The defense was a
Speaker 1: joke at the end of the season not even closed
Speaker 1: as because they failed in the middle. That's linebacker, which
Speaker 1: is a spot that they did not improve in the draft. Right, So,
Speaker 1: I don't know how I'm supposed to see here say, oh,
Speaker 1: Camera Groan's gonna be back, He's essentially another draft pick
Speaker 1: and feel great. I just don't. Okay, so I the draft,
Speaker 1: we'll see. Thornton is a big X factor. I like
Speaker 1: Jack Jones. I think that you know, based on the Joneses,
Speaker 1: they can contribute special teams, punt returns they're facing, you know,
Speaker 1: I like it on paper, it feels okay, but we
Speaker 1: have no idea whether or not these guys are going
Speaker 1: to be able to come in, get on the field
Speaker 1: and be impact players, which is what this team needs.
Speaker 1: What Mac Jones needs, you you need you need a
Speaker 1: team that can get off the field and provide the
Speaker 1: football to Mac Jones is what you need. Correct And
Speaker 1: right now, I'm not sure what we have there, and
Speaker 1: that's my biggest question mark going in all right again,
Speaker 1: eight five five past five hundred Web radio at Pagris
Speaker 1: dot com, at JR Broadcaster Twitter, John dot rog on Facebook.
Speaker 1: The poll is up for another hour plus here very
Speaker 1: simply is an assigned play caller or coordinator a must
Speaker 1: have or be no big deal. Register your vote. If
Speaker 1: you haven't done that, we'll give you the poll results
Speaker 1: at the end of the show. And if you have
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the draft thus far, because at least
Speaker 1: on this program, I know the p you guys do it,
Speaker 1: you know, weekly, but we do once a month here
Speaker 1: until the regular season starts. So I'd love to get
Speaker 1: your perspective on what you think about that. Please pick
Speaker 1: up the phone or let's call. Let's talk about that
Speaker 1: a bit. So let's get to the phones, and uh,
Speaker 1: Eldrid the North Carolina is up first, Eldred. Hey, then
Speaker 1: mister Legend, how you doing today? What's happening, buddy? I'm
Speaker 1: doing just getting off. You're off the road? Oh what
Speaker 1: did he do? Did he hang up? He hung up?
Speaker 1: I'm not Oh there you are? Okay? All right? Good
Speaker 1: good good yea oh oh oh, so you drive A
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask you that. I was really gonna
Speaker 1: ask you that. I was very interested to know what
Speaker 1: you drove over the year eighteen wheel you know, so
Speaker 1: what so it's a comment what year Camaro RF and
Speaker 1: I got a two thousand and two Formula fiber. Oh
Speaker 1: two thousand and two vintage. Yeah, let's lie still run
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty miles an hour. Two. When I
Speaker 1: was a kid, Eldrid, you'll appreciate this. When I was
Speaker 1: a kid, and I said, kid, teenager, my cousin had
Speaker 1: a sixty nine Shelby Cobra, you know, with a with
Speaker 1: a with a tea bar across the top, right. But
Speaker 1: it was, it was. It was the most unbelievable meat
Speaker 1: wagon I think I've ever been in in my entire life.
Speaker 1: It was unbelievable. I mean, that was it was. That
Speaker 1: was a privilege and an honor to cruise in that one,
Speaker 1: cruise the av in that one, because that's what everybody
Speaker 1: does in you know, Fall River, they cruise the av
Speaker 1: But only all they ever had was a fire bird
Speaker 1: in the Camaro. Even when I went in the military,
Speaker 1: love it. I try to get a Burt Reynolds look alike. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, the bandit. The guy wouldn't sell it to
Speaker 1: me because I was on the age and I was
Speaker 1: in the military of going to a ym hold on.
Speaker 1: I couldn't mean I'm above agents to serve the country.
Speaker 1: But I couldn't buy the car, so you end up
Speaker 1: getting one later on. I like it, all right, So
Speaker 1: you got the sports car thing going on. Good for you,
Speaker 1: Good for you. Keep a little bit of that you involved.
Speaker 1: I liked that. Yeah, I liked it too good. Yes,
Speaker 1: but uh, your your pole question, and uh, I told
Speaker 1: you in the beginning. I get my F on the draft. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because a sense of need and the person you took
Speaker 1: because we were at twenty one, well, really you needed
Speaker 1: a wire recet even in a corner. All right, But
Speaker 1: what makes it an F is it? Does it make
Speaker 1: it an F because you didn't know about the players
Speaker 1: that they chose? Or is it more about the positions
Speaker 1: they selected, the position they selected and the players. Well,
Speaker 1: but they need but eld, I'm just playing. Hey, I'm
Speaker 1: just playing Devil's advocate here, so I'm just gonna be okay, okay,
Speaker 1: But didn't they need speed? They need to speed? They
Speaker 1: got that at guard. They don't need speed at guard.
Speaker 1: It's a guard. Okay, but you got a guard. You
Speaker 1: had corners six to one, but they still needed a guard.
Speaker 1: But they still needed a guard. Right to get a
Speaker 1: guard in the third and the fourth round, you can
Speaker 1: you have to go first round for a guard. Well, frankly,
Speaker 1: I think that may have been where Cold Strange should
Speaker 1: have been. I would agree with some of that assessment.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, they when you like a
Speaker 1: player and he's gonna be gone by the time you
Speaker 1: get there, there's a tendency to go ahead and take
Speaker 1: the player, and I think that's what happened in Strange's case.
Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying happen. But but then again,
Speaker 1: like I said, again, you needed corners and you did
Speaker 1: number one. Well, I agree with the corner. The top
Speaker 1: receiver was gone except for Watson. Watson was still there,
Speaker 1: Mitchie was there, but you had two corners, you had Booth,
Speaker 1: you had mcgrie or whatever, guy from Auburn, and you
Speaker 1: also Gordon. They were still there. They went in the
Speaker 1: second round, ye, and then he don't get a guard
Speaker 1: and then Thornton's okay. But I would have took Watson
Speaker 1: because that's when green Bay got him into what later
Speaker 1: the second round after we did after you know, we
Speaker 1: could have got him that speed. But that guys is
Speaker 1: in one of a little bit better tournament, a better
Speaker 1: organization whatever, And I'm like, you know, better league but Thornton.
Speaker 1: I liked Thorton. I liked thought. You know, I saw
Speaker 1: some of his highlights and stuff, and I'm I'm from
Speaker 1: hoping he does be the home run threat, the one receiver,
Speaker 1: but he's a rookie. Gotta come in and and getting
Speaker 1: back to those corners, okay, even though you didn't get
Speaker 1: the top ones. And then I said, they was in
Speaker 1: the second round where you got Booth and and the
Speaker 1: other guy. Okay, there was more corners there, but you
Speaker 1: got five eight five nine, And like I said, you
Speaker 1: might have some speed, but a five eight five nine
Speaker 1: guys ain't gonna dodd run against the six two sixty
Speaker 1: three receivers who got speed two because all they gotta
Speaker 1: do is throwed up because you sure ain't gonna get
Speaker 1: up there to get it. Okay, you got a ladder
Speaker 1: in the air. Okay, all right, that's fair. You ain't
Speaker 1: gonna get that. What do you think? And what do
Speaker 1: you think? What do you think about the poll question? Overall?
Speaker 1: You know the whole uh gotta have a coordinator or
Speaker 1: no big deal. You gotta have a coordinator. Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you why, tell you why. Jones is a second
Speaker 1: second year he's a rookie, you know, you just come
Speaker 1: out from the office rookie year. So he don't know
Speaker 1: what the ends out yet, you know. And Joe Judge
Speaker 1: and and for Matt Patricia do not inspire me one bit,
Speaker 1: not one because they never did it. So if you
Speaker 1: get in a situation now, I don't know what played
Speaker 1: the call, just that to get him out. You know.
Speaker 1: That's why Josh McDaniels so successful, and that's why Charlie
Speaker 1: Wise was, That's why Davo was and why he's in
Speaker 1: the Giants now. And he did, like I said, Brain, Brain,
Speaker 1: what your call around the Buffalo quarterback? And I wish
Speaker 1: we would have got Dable, but David got the head
Speaker 1: coach job, you know, and Bill Billy O'Brien would be
Speaker 1: there because you know what he's doing. He's been there.
Speaker 1: The guys ain't been there, only been his defensive special
Speaker 1: team coach. And you can have somebody in Matt here.
Speaker 1: I don't care now if that was Brady six years ago,
Speaker 1: they say this year Brady, Brady don't need him. You
Speaker 1: know the playbook, he know no ends out. You know,
Speaker 1: it's getting me an out of in and out of place.
Speaker 1: Would be successful. Matt don't know that yet and need
Speaker 1: to do petition judge because they never did it. Okay,
Speaker 1: and that's definite my argument. Okay, you know, I think,
Speaker 1: I yeah, I think I understand it. I just I'm
Speaker 1: not sure. I mean, I'm just I'm i mean, well,
Speaker 1: obviously nobody sure yet, but I really believe there's there's
Speaker 1: something to them. I think there's something to the factor
Speaker 1: that Bill is. As he's progressed here in his tenure,
Speaker 1: he's got fewer and fewer people over the years that
Speaker 1: challenge him to the point now where nobody on that
Speaker 1: staff is challenging him. And I'm Mark said that earlier.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not sure that that's necessarily a good thing. Mark. Yeah, okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's necessarily a good thing. But the
Speaker 1: fact of the matter is the man's been here for
Speaker 1: twenty one, twenty two years, and he's probably earned that
Speaker 1: right to sort of live and die. I'm not sword
Speaker 1: yeah he has, but again, it's better go ahead. I'm sorry, sir,
Speaker 1: I mean to cut your mister legend. Yeah, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: wint over this before. I'm gonna tell you again, twenty
Speaker 1: years he had the greatest quarterback they ever played. He's
Speaker 1: been in that sintem with twenty one years. But knew it. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, but so you're telling me you wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: hold on, hold on. So you're telling me you think
Speaker 1: Bill relies on Tom Brady's talent to take him where
Speaker 1: he wins. You know what, Like I said, I never
Speaker 1: seen nobody said they're gonna blank play play playing against Bill.
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick always gets Tom Brady. We gotta stop Brady
Speaker 1: in what you com ain't nobody said we got to
Speaker 1: stop Bill Belichick. But they do give his off and
Speaker 1: off the late and I said, they both went together.
Speaker 1: But like I said, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's the player the coaching coach. In any stout, he
Speaker 1: won't to and put to any plays or whatever scheme
Speaker 1: you put in. But if you ain't got the right
Speaker 1: person to do it, you're just a coach holding the clipboard. Example,
Speaker 1: first year Brady left and last year in the beat. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, I see your point. I see your point.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I agree with it, but I think
Speaker 1: that's why I like you, Eldred, because we don't have
Speaker 1: to agree. We don't, mister Leo, are you I was
Speaker 1: gonna say yes, since since yeah, I figured you probably
Speaker 1: would be figured I probably would be. Hey, Eldred, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna I'm gonna ask you a sort of a
Speaker 1: production question right here on the air, all right, for
Speaker 1: everybody to hear, because didn't we talk at one time
Speaker 1: about you doing like a truck driving tip of the
Speaker 1: week or something? What do we talk about? I was
Speaker 1: talking about people getting off lanes, Eldred, Yeah, yeah, Eldred,
Speaker 1: Eldred's driving tip of the week. All right, are you?
Speaker 1: Are you still up for that? Okay? All right, good, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's what we're gonna do. So I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have a marine reach out to you, Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have him reach out to you, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna come up with that idea. And I think that'll
Speaker 1: be a kind of a fun thing to do, because
Speaker 1: as anybody who listens to this show, even semi regularly,
Speaker 1: they know that you drive a truck for a living,
Speaker 1: you know, and that if you're you know, on the
Speaker 1: highway somewhere in uh North Carolina, you need to get
Speaker 1: the hell out of your way. I think we all
Speaker 1: understand that, right exactly, cause I'll run you over, good good,
Speaker 1: all right, so right, so, and I think we can
Speaker 1: all use a little you know, a little freshen up
Speaker 1: and a little tip you know behind the wheel, you know,
Speaker 1: when we're all commuting and religion to our our favorite
Speaker 1: shows or our favorite pods or hopefully you know, Patriots
Speaker 1: playbook or something like that. Right, so I'll have marine
Speaker 1: reach out. I think we're gonna I think we're gonna
Speaker 1: work on that. Yes, And we also got idiots as
Speaker 1: truck drivers. I admit that too. Nice. You know, we
Speaker 1: got a bunch of old good old oh man, why
Speaker 1: I did do moment, but they do perfect. But the
Speaker 1: biggest hip I can give everybody. Okay, if you're coming
Speaker 1: off a ramp and the trucks in the right lane,
Speaker 1: and if you're a little bit ahead of them, speed
Speaker 1: up please because we can't stop. We got forty three
Speaker 1: or forty four thousand pounds behind us, and we can't
Speaker 1: get over to the left because it's got people on
Speaker 1: the left. When they see you coming down the ramp,
Speaker 1: they want to stay there. They don't want to move,
Speaker 1: they want to stay there. So we can't get over
Speaker 1: and we might slow down a little bit. Just speed up.
Speaker 1: If you got running, you out running, but don't get
Speaker 1: there and stop like one he tied the other day
Speaker 1: and almost eat it. But don't do that. I think
Speaker 1: that's the first tip of the day. Right there. We're
Speaker 1: gonna walk it up. We're gonna we're gonna rock it.
Speaker 1: I love it, I love it. Yes, you're the man.
Speaker 1: All right. You have a good mister Lindon. Thanks buddy,
Speaker 1: good talking to you. Yeah you too, Thanks buddy, appreciate it. Uh,
Speaker 1: Elder in North Carolina. Let's get uh, let's get Todd
Speaker 1: in North Carolina also in here. Hey Todd, how you doing?
Speaker 1: Not bad? I talk to you a while, mister John.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you picked up the phone to give
Speaker 1: us a buzz. What are your thoughts, buddy, uh about
Speaker 1: where the team is and all the coaching blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: This is a wait and see. We can argue both
Speaker 1: sides of whatever you want, and it's gonna mean a
Speaker 1: hill of beans because if it works out, we'll all
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, we're too, says. Look, we told you
Speaker 1: not to worry. Vote. If it doesn't work out, we're
Speaker 1: gonna be all geniuses. Oh look, we told you it
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna work out. I got to wait and see.
Speaker 1: Yeah we do. That's all you can do. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: totally agree with that. I just that's why the whole
Speaker 1: the whole issue of oh we got to get a
Speaker 1: grade out? How do the Patriots great in the draft
Speaker 1: and everything I'm I'm seeing all this. I mean, my
Speaker 1: own personal thought is, you know, if I, you know,
Speaker 1: held the loaded gun, you know, you know, up to
Speaker 1: my noggin, I would probably say, all right, see and
Speaker 1: the reason I maybe maybe we had to hold a
Speaker 1: low good gun tier nogginet you to talk. Come on, John,
Speaker 1: that's also true. But I would tell you I would
Speaker 1: probably I would tell you, you know, I really kind
Speaker 1: of think that. Look, the whole thing is ridiculous because
Speaker 1: you just you don't know, like I said, until you've
Speaker 1: had a year, two years, even three years. You got
Speaker 1: to get these guys coming off the rookie contracts to
Speaker 1: where you have to make a decision is whether or
Speaker 1: not you want to extend them sign them to another deal.
Speaker 1: If you do, then obviously that that guy's gonna grade
Speaker 1: in a is he not? If he's worth a second
Speaker 1: contractor you're gonna grade him in A yeah, especially considering
Speaker 1: they don't give out many of those haven't exactly, so
Speaker 1: that would be an A plus in mind regard, right,
Speaker 1: Or if you trade him away and you're able to
Speaker 1: get something in return for him of equal greater value,
Speaker 1: that's also gonna, to me, gonna be an A. So
Speaker 1: the process my point here, the process is not finished.
Speaker 1: It's not over. It's just begun. So all of these
Speaker 1: grading that you see about the Draft, and I don't
Speaker 1: care who it is, I would have said this or
Speaker 1: the Patriots it graded in A plus. It's not over,
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's disingenuous to grade it now because
Speaker 1: there's no way. It's like, it's like judging an election
Speaker 1: with only ten out of a thousand precincts reporting. That's
Speaker 1: all it is, and that's ridiculous. Nobody judges an election
Speaker 1: on that. Ulet's say, where's your NBC? But they like
Speaker 1: to do that all the time, you know, And of
Speaker 1: course ANBC doesn't hold exclusive on that one either, CBS, ABC, CNN,
Speaker 1: they all do it. They all do it, right, So
Speaker 1: digress go. So Andy kind of lost his podcast to
Speaker 1: the Cult of the Young and oh yeah, yeah, and
Speaker 1: I'm kind of noticing that more and more that all
Speaker 1: across it doesn't matter what you know, where are your
Speaker 1: backgrounds from them? You're ben is turning into the cult
Speaker 1: of the young. And why do you think Don Daro's here?
Speaker 1: Why do you think Don Darro's here? Cult of the young? Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm just hey, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: You know. I think part of that is is because look,
Speaker 1: every so often, you just you go through a wave
Speaker 1: of change, and it happens in this business. Mark and
Speaker 1: I both know this because we've been a part of
Speaker 1: that change several times in our careers. And the people
Speaker 1: that survive and thrive and move on are able to
Speaker 1: sort of, you know, reinvent themselves and repurpose themselves. And
Speaker 1: you know, like I just got through, you know, repurposing
Speaker 1: my own website and all that kind of stuff because
Speaker 1: I know it needed a big update. We all need updates.
Speaker 1: Programming needs updating too. And you need to be able
Speaker 1: to hear, I think also from different voices who sometimes
Speaker 1: carry different tenor different tone, different attitudes, different opinions. You
Speaker 1: need to hear from different voices in order to make
Speaker 1: up your own mind. Yourself. I don't want somebody to
Speaker 1: tell me how to think. What I want is to
Speaker 1: hear a bunch of different opinions and then I think
Speaker 1: I like that when or I side more with that guy.
Speaker 1: That's what you need, and I think that's what the
Speaker 1: educated fan listener and even media people, this is what
Speaker 1: they need to do more of. It's one thing to
Speaker 1: just kind of spout opinion because you think this, well
Speaker 1: what do you think this based on what? And that's
Speaker 1: why the whole that's why, the whole thing on the
Speaker 1: draft just drives me crazy. I mean, within like twenty
Speaker 1: minutes of a pick being taken, Oh that's an A
Speaker 1: plus grade for the Las Vegas Raider. Come on, what
Speaker 1: is that? You're just pandering, You're just The new podcast
Speaker 1: doesn't do analysis. It does sensationalism. It trash is Andy,
Speaker 1: It trashes parts of the team. Well, of course they do,
Speaker 1: because that's what they because that's what the younger That's
Speaker 1: what I think a lot of younger listeners want, is
Speaker 1: they want the trashing stuff. No, I'm old, I'm yeah,
Speaker 1: that's exactly right from my own you know, I understand
Speaker 1: that I get that, but it's okay, that's what they're
Speaker 1: they're trying to appeal to a different demo. So if
Speaker 1: you're old ish, I'll say just ish Todd, because I'm
Speaker 1: I'm right there with you, Okay, then catching you because
Speaker 1: you know fifty five with the six year old? John,
Speaker 1: trust me, I'm John for every two months to go
Speaker 1: buy fifty five with a six year old. God bless you.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you do that. I don't know either.
Speaker 1: Holy crap, I'm old enough with a six year old. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and six year olds they do add ten years to
Speaker 1: every month, don't they. I remember when I'm a lot
Speaker 1: going on there with Yeah, there's a lot going on
Speaker 1: with a six year old. Like I hadn't been that
Speaker 1: long ago since I had a six year old. Yea,
Speaker 1: well it's been twenty one years since I had a
Speaker 1: six year old. Um, the rookie is twenty seven, and
Speaker 1: you know, and he and he was nuts too when
Speaker 1: he was six too, But he was all about baseball
Speaker 1: back there. That's all he had, baseball, you know, That's
Speaker 1: all he had here. All right. So here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Find the programs that you like. If you like more
Speaker 1: of the information based, that's great, go to that and look,
Speaker 1: we try to do a little bit of that here,
Speaker 1: and and and and we try to mix in a
Speaker 1: little bit of fun with it, and we want to
Speaker 1: bring in a little extra pinion with it and and
Speaker 1: that kind of thing, because we know that you're not
Speaker 1: going to be everything to everybody. You can't be. And
Speaker 1: I think that's where a lot of podcasts and a
Speaker 1: lot of radio programs these days lose sight when they
Speaker 1: failed to connect with their listening audience and fail to
Speaker 1: recognize who their true listening audience really is. And I know,
Speaker 1: at least I've been told by people like Hu Todd
Speaker 1: that our listening audience here does still want meat and potatoes.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one thing to sit here and kind
Speaker 1: of joke amongst each other and you know, talk about
Speaker 1: what we're having for lunch and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And I and I kid the Peu guys because I
Speaker 1: love them, but they want to you know, I think
Speaker 1: most people, at least savvy fans, want a little bit
Speaker 1: more substance. And so that's why on this program, we
Speaker 1: try to bring in people that can provide that substance
Speaker 1: so we can talk about it. That's all. Nope, that's great.
Speaker 1: Exactly what You've got knowledgeable listeners, and it's interesting. Your
Speaker 1: guests are amazing, and that's why I tune into you,
Speaker 1: and I keep telling them. At least you should be
Speaker 1: a couple of times a month, hopefully, and well, I
Speaker 1: appreciate that, and if I can work my schedule out
Speaker 1: one of these days, then we'll try to extend it
Speaker 1: out a little bit. But you know, unfortunately, with all
Speaker 1: the other stuff that I do, it gets to be
Speaker 1: a little bit difficult. But I'm happy to connect and
Speaker 1: hopefully absence makes the heart grow fonder. Take care of John. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: thanks Todd, appreciate you. Todding with Carolina. All right, can
Speaker 1: you hang around for a few minutes? Yeah, I get
Speaker 1: some time, all right. Good. So Martin Dundero from w
Speaker 1: EI is here. I also want to bring into the
Speaker 1: program another gentleman from w EI who not only writes
Speaker 1: for Wei dot com, but appears many times, multiple times
Speaker 1: and platforms multiple programs on w EI Radio in Boston,
Speaker 1: the one and only uh jumble Heart Andy Hart himself, bighead.
Speaker 1: What's happening, Hi, guys? What's going on? How you doing? Andy?
Speaker 1: Beautiful day? How could I be doing anything other than great?
Speaker 1: I know that's the only reason why I'm not happy
Speaker 1: to be in the studio because the weather's actually kind
Speaker 1: of turned right now. Well, you know, sure it's always
Speaker 1: sunny in here with Marine Madden here. You know, wow,
Speaker 1: I know, right, yeah, you knew he had to play
Speaker 1: that one, Okay, Andy, right off the top and you started.
Speaker 1: You wrote a little bit about this on on the
Speaker 1: EI dot com as well, about Bill and the coaching
Speaker 1: staff and whether or not you know, he's got too
Speaker 1: much of a quote unquote controlling interest, and that's, you know,
Speaker 1: part of the reason why you know, I figured you'd
Speaker 1: have a good, strong opinion on this one, and that's
Speaker 1: why we want it. The poll question, again for those
Speaker 1: that might be tuning into the live program a little
Speaker 1: bit later on, is very simple here, but largely is
Speaker 1: is an assigned play caller or coordinator a must have
Speaker 1: or be no big deal? So I'm going to ask you, Andy,
Speaker 1: you know which is it and why I think it's
Speaker 1: must have? And I think Bill Belichick has kind of
Speaker 1: admitted that at various points over the years, and I mean, hell,
Speaker 1: I think he kind of said it earlier this week.
Speaker 1: He was pretty definitive in some of his answers, even
Speaker 1: if it wasn't his forthcoming as maybe some of us
Speaker 1: in the media or the fandom would have liked. But
Speaker 1: you know, when I asked him, you know, does a
Speaker 1: guy need to know when he's going to have that
Speaker 1: role at a certain point so he can prepare properly
Speaker 1: training camp for preseason And he said, yeah, sure, And
Speaker 1: then I asked him, well, do you have a date
Speaker 1: in mind when that's going to be And he said nope.
Speaker 1: So I mean he tells you right there that that guy,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't just go willy nilly. I mean
Speaker 1: there are certain I think fundamental necessities. And as much
Speaker 1: as he mocked calling plays in mini camp, he has
Speaker 1: over the years talked about the art that is play
Speaker 1: called calling and you know, the feel and the experience
Speaker 1: of it and setting up plays and series and you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it was last year when he
Speaker 1: went over the top praising Josh McDaniels, comparing him to
Speaker 1: Nick Saban among coaches, and some of the things he did.
Speaker 1: So now I think he values that role. Now if
Speaker 1: he doesn't have the perfect person for the job, does
Speaker 1: he figure out another way to do it? Sure? And
Speaker 1: I think that's one of his great strengths is not,
Speaker 1: you know, forcing a square peg into a round hole.
Speaker 1: He'll try to find a couple of round pegs that
Speaker 1: maybe fit together in that hole. So no, I think
Speaker 1: it's a necessity. And I think even more so obviously
Speaker 1: we've talked about this. It's Mac Jones year two, and
Speaker 1: you know he's in the prime time of his development years,
Speaker 1: and Robert Kraft has put a lot of importance on
Speaker 1: what this year is for Mac Jones. And you know
Speaker 1: the year two jump that Bill Belichick always talks about.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of factors at play here. But yes,
Speaker 1: I think the short answer to conclude my long answer
Speaker 1: is you absolutely have to have a play caller. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: neither one of us really agrees with you on that one,
Speaker 1: but you know it's because timing is everything. I can
Speaker 1: understand why he would want to not do that now
Speaker 1: because maybe he's trying guys out. Maybe you agree or
Speaker 1: disagree with that. I'm not sure that you need to
Speaker 1: have one guy as the as the chief play caller
Speaker 1: at this time. It's Look, it's convenient if you can
Speaker 1: have it, especially if you know you have somebody that
Speaker 1: can do it. But if you've got to develop that position,
Speaker 1: if you realize that the guy that you really wanted
Speaker 1: is still under contract I e. Bill O'Brien somewhere else, Okay,
Speaker 1: then maybe you have to figure out how to develop
Speaker 1: that from within. Does that not make sense? No? I
Speaker 1: think it does. But I still say, somebody's calling the
Speaker 1: plays this year, and that person I'd rather have more
Speaker 1: preparation times than less because right in what you just said, John,
Speaker 1: you're admitting the person's not ideal. You're not even sure
Speaker 1: they can do the job. So I think they need
Speaker 1: more prep time to get comfortable. And I would also say, well,
Speaker 1: is it possibly he is it possible to Andy that
Speaker 1: he thinks both guys can do the job, but he
Speaker 1: just wants to see who is a better fit, you know,
Speaker 1: for the round hole that's there. Anything's possible. I know,
Speaker 1: I'm never closed minded. I think anything is possible. Um.
Speaker 1: I do generally believe in the old cliche in sports,
Speaker 1: if if you have two quarterbacks you have none, you
Speaker 1: have two shortstops you have none, Like generally, you know,
Speaker 1: all things are not equal. You have a guy who's better,
Speaker 1: better suited, better skills, better, whatever. Um So yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1: I find it hard to believe that Joe. If it
Speaker 1: is indeed Joe, Judge and Matt Patricia, let's say, because
Speaker 1: I'm I don't know for a fact that it is.
Speaker 1: It could still be Bill Belichick that he's planning to
Speaker 1: do it himself for my guy, Nick Kayley could still
Speaker 1: be the dark horse candidates. See, that's wh why, that's
Speaker 1: why things gonna end up getting it just as a
Speaker 1: as a as an outlandist prediction here, I think they're
Speaker 1: actually using Judge. Here's here's the mystery of my madness here.
Speaker 1: I think they're using Judge in Patricia smokescreens to take
Speaker 1: the heat off of mckkaylick. So let me ask you
Speaker 1: this real quick, Andy, if it is in fact some
Speaker 1: sort of competition, which I don't actually hate. If they're competing,
Speaker 1: I think for a time that could be productive. But
Speaker 1: if it is a competition, based on what you're thinking,
Speaker 1: when would they need to name a winner? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: when will the guy that's actually going to be calling
Speaker 1: the plays have to step in and start, you know,
Speaker 1: calling a place that's fair? I think by training camp.
Speaker 1: I think when you return for training camps, so you
Speaker 1: know you get through these OTAs, you get through Mini camp,
Speaker 1: and then there's whatever that is a month long break
Speaker 1: where everybody kind of goes to Nantucket vacations. When you
Speaker 1: return from that. I think the person calling the plays
Speaker 1: should know. I think the person no longer calling the
Speaker 1: players should know. And I think Mac Jones should know
Speaker 1: and start to hear that voice on a play by
Speaker 1: play daily basis inside his helmet. So yeah, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it's it's the sky is falling that they don't
Speaker 1: They haven't announced a play caller right now, but I
Speaker 1: think you are running out of time. You're you're under
Speaker 1: two months here to figure out who's going to do
Speaker 1: that and how that's going to play out. And John
Speaker 1: In terms of Nick Hayley, I was all on the
Speaker 1: Nick Kayley bandwagon. I wrote a column I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe a month ago now at Patricia is Cam Newton
Speaker 1: like he's the distraction? Is Mac Jones? Yes, yep, And
Speaker 1: I still would love to see that. I still would
Speaker 1: if I were in this situation, I would give Nick
Speaker 1: Kayley a chance, even if it's in you know, the
Speaker 1: scenario you painted that maybe Bill O'Brien is the option
Speaker 1: next year. I like the young guy who's been in
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniel's meeting rooms every single day for five years
Speaker 1: and come up the traditional way through the off end.
Speaker 1: My only concern is the other day at OTA's, he
Speaker 1: looked very much like just a tight ends coach. He
Speaker 1: was kind of off to the sideline with his position groups,
Speaker 1: just sort of running in rotating bodies, and did not
Speaker 1: appear to have any more significant voice than that. While
Speaker 1: we were watching Judge, Patricia and Belichick have a more
Speaker 1: significant voice. So I'll still hold out. How hope for it, John,
Speaker 1: that you and I get our watch, But well, I
Speaker 1: don't feel great. I would yeah, and I can understand
Speaker 1: why that the first impression would be somewhat misleading. I
Speaker 1: still believe there's something to look Maybe he's trying to
Speaker 1: simply figure out who could best work with Nick and
Speaker 1: then who could worst best work with Mac on top
Speaker 1: of that, because I think they feel like that's got
Speaker 1: to be the future. Because I don't think either one
Speaker 1: of those guys really wants to be a quote unquote coordinator.
Speaker 1: I think both of those guys won't eventually be head
Speaker 1: coaches again. Now, whether they get there or not is
Speaker 1: subject to conjecture, and most of it's probably negative at
Speaker 1: the stage of the game anyway, But they both have
Speaker 1: they both have a lot of work to do in
Speaker 1: terms of healing their own professional resumes. This is a
Speaker 1: chance for them to do that, and they know that
Speaker 1: they have to work and do that, and they can
Speaker 1: have some success under Bill Belichick, then quite frankly, they're
Speaker 1: going to get a shot somewhere else with somebody. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, if they succeed in any sort of significant
Speaker 1: role on offense, even if it's not play caller and coordinator,
Speaker 1: that is going to go a long way to rehab
Speaker 1: their image and buff up their resumes, because I mean,
Speaker 1: you're talking about some pretty unique opportunities. This doesn't come
Speaker 1: along all that often where special teams coach turned head
Speaker 1: coach turned major offensive assistant, QB's coach and you know,
Speaker 1: longtime defensive coordinator is now an offensive line coach. So
Speaker 1: if they find success in whatever offensive roles they may
Speaker 1: have moving forward, I do think that will will help
Speaker 1: them get more opportunities moving forward in their career and
Speaker 1: seeking head coaching opportunities down the road. Maybe you guys
Speaker 1: had had a story on the website as well, earlier
Speaker 1: today that I glanced at. It'll look at some of
Speaker 1: the numbers, but just to sort of paraphrase what it said,
Speaker 1: based on the numbers, a lot of the teams that
Speaker 1: haven't had definitive play callers have actually fared pretty well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that is a possibility. Like there, I think
Speaker 1: new ideas can be good. I mean, there were a
Speaker 1: lot of fans in New England. John, I'm sure you
Speaker 1: took a lot of emails and calls that had grown
Speaker 1: tired of Josh McDaniels, that would coonize him, no doubt
Speaker 1: on a weekly basis, didn't think he was good at
Speaker 1: his job. And are not lamenting a weekly bitch session.
Speaker 1: You know that he was on this show, on the
Speaker 1: other show. You know, you guys have been doing that
Speaker 1: for years. We all questioned Josh because he was the
Speaker 1: play caller. But he withstood it, he took it, he
Speaker 1: developed from it, He did a better job than a
Speaker 1: bad job, and now he's a head coach in the
Speaker 1: NFL again. It worked out for him right, And I
Speaker 1: find it hard to believe that people could really strongly
Speaker 1: dislike Josh McDaniels. The year after he had a Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl rookie quarterback who led the team back to the postseason.
Speaker 1: I mean, however, you believe he managed that. I mean,
Speaker 1: given the talent and given the green nature of the position,
Speaker 1: that was an impressive team accomplishment. That was an impressive
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels accomplishment. But there's also this idea, and Robert
Speaker 1: Kraft promoted this, that there's room for some schematic changes
Speaker 1: in ways that they can take advantage of untapped talent
Speaker 1: on this offense. And you know, new ideas and change
Speaker 1: aren't always bad. If a guy who's new play call
Speaker 1: or do offensive mind whether it's judge Patricia Kayley, the
Speaker 1: combination of the three, if they can get John U.
Speaker 1: Smith to look like a weapon, well that's a boon
Speaker 1: right there. And if maybe they get Mac Jones more
Speaker 1: comfortable in a RPO based scheme but he ran at Alabama,
Speaker 1: well that might be a successful trend right there. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we're fixating on names and roles and bodies, but there's
Speaker 1: also I think a schematic opportunity here to grow the offense,
Speaker 1: change the offense, and maybe find a way to be
Speaker 1: as productive or more productive than it's been over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. So there's a schematic opportunity, which
Speaker 1: I agree with, But I'm wondering just from obviously there's
Speaker 1: a lot of uncertainty right now a long you know,
Speaker 1: with that position. Associated with that position, are you Andy
Speaker 1: more concerned as we go forward here into the darkness
Speaker 1: or whatever you want to call it, with the I
Speaker 1: don't know Mac Jones's ability to develop under this new
Speaker 1: guy or what you were just talking about the schematic
Speaker 1: aspect to being an offensive coordinator, which concerns you more
Speaker 1: that the new coordinator is not going to be able
Speaker 1: to get Jones to be at his best, or he's
Speaker 1: going to call a bad play on third and five,
Speaker 1: third and seven in the first second week of the season. No,
Speaker 1: it's it's the development one hundred. I do think play
Speaker 1: calling is overrated. I know Bill said that the other
Speaker 1: day people talked about you know, he said, the execution
Speaker 1: of a play is more important than the calling of
Speaker 1: the play. I remember years ago Cam Cameron, the longtime
Speaker 1: coordinator for the Ravens, the Chargers, Dolphins, had a lot
Speaker 1: of success and he believed the most overrated thing in
Speaker 1: all of football was the play call. And that's a
Speaker 1: guy that made a million dollars a year back then
Speaker 1: as a play caller, an offensive play caller. So I
Speaker 1: think it's about talent and execution, and it's about developing talent.
Speaker 1: And I think the way this offense is built there
Speaker 1: the development of Mac Jones and his ability to be
Speaker 1: timely in his read and utilize his strength of accuracy
Speaker 1: and smart. He doesn't have a go to grunk, you know,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have a last third and seven. I'm just
Speaker 1: going to throw it to Gronk or Edelman. No, no no, no,
Speaker 1: He's going to have to go through his reads. Fine
Speaker 1: matchups really utilize what I think is a relatively deep
Speaker 1: group of complimentary talents, but no real A listers so
Speaker 1: to speak, or pro bowlers are all pros. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I you know, Mike gi already tweeted something out. He
Speaker 1: talked to a defensive coach in the league, and that
Speaker 1: coach talked about, you know, the in game coaching of
Speaker 1: Mac Jones and that hip to hip Josh McDaniel's role
Speaker 1: on the bench in between series and plays, and I
Speaker 1: think that's going to be huge, and that relationship, the
Speaker 1: nuances of that relationship, the nuances of that coaching, That's
Speaker 1: where I think the biggest questions come. And I mean,
Speaker 1: it looks like Joe Judge, regardless of how everything plays out,
Speaker 1: it looks like Joe Judge as the quarterbacks coach. He
Speaker 1: has studies the quarterbacks coach basically, So that role Joe
Speaker 1: Judge and Mac Jones. I think that's the most important role.
Speaker 1: And you're right, probably more important than who is actually
Speaker 1: voicing the play call on third and seven and at
Speaker 1: the twenty seven yard line. Is it helpful for Mac
Speaker 1: at this stage a game to have so much criticism
Speaker 1: of Joe Judge. I mean, because I don't know if
Speaker 1: you listen to you know, you know, talk radio around
Speaker 1: these parts, as you well know, I don't think anybody
Speaker 1: thinks Joe Judge can tie his shoelaces. You're right. I
Speaker 1: actually think that the criticism of Judge and Patricia has
Speaker 1: reached unfair levels, not just locally but even nationally. Orlovsky
Speaker 1: and his rants has said these are two failed coaches. No,
Speaker 1: they're failed head coaches, right, they were actually pretty damn
Speaker 1: well accomplished coaches as his original role, ye correct, development Right?
Speaker 1: So yeah, but your other question, Yeah, I think Mac
Speaker 1: Jones is in kind of a no lose situation. I
Speaker 1: think if he struggles in year two, all the fingers
Speaker 1: will point to Joe Judge, Bill Belichick, Matt Patricia and
Speaker 1: an inft coaching staff that lost Josh McDaniels. If he succeeds,
Speaker 1: it'll be about, Wow, this kid's good. He didn't even
Speaker 1: really have offensive coaches and he took a big jump, right,
Speaker 1: no loose scenario, that's true, perfect right, perfect. It's taking
Speaker 1: the pressure off of mac Jones in year two, which is,
Speaker 1: by the way, chit ching. It is exactly the year
Speaker 1: year two that we supposedly see the most improvement. Correct. Ye,
Speaker 1: So it's sort of genius like he has an excuse,
Speaker 1: he has an out. But if they do find success
Speaker 1: and he grows and improves him last year, it's all
Speaker 1: about how good Mac Jones is. Win win man. I
Speaker 1: think we just unlocked the key to BB. I think
Speaker 1: we just figured it out right here right now on
Speaker 1: this very program. That's Bill Belichick in a nutshell. So
Speaker 1: I think Mac Jones is if he's a stud, he's
Speaker 1: going to be a study. I don't want to minimize
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator position, but if he's going to be
Speaker 1: a study, he's going to be a stud if he's
Speaker 1: not going to be a stud, or if he's going
Speaker 1: to be a bust, which we don't think he is.
Speaker 1: But if he was going to be one, he was
Speaker 1: going to be one. And I don't think the offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator really mattered. Andy. Do you think that if Jones
Speaker 1: can play, he's going to find a way to elevate
Speaker 1: his game. I mean, y're two, regardless of who the
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator is. No, because I'm a big believer that
Speaker 1: someone like Brian Dable played a key role in the
Speaker 1: development of Josh Allen. And Josh Allen is probably one
Speaker 1: of the five most talented, physically gifted quarterbacks that come
Speaker 1: into the NFL in the last five or ten years,
Speaker 1: and I think he needed a guy like Brian Dable
Speaker 1: with immense experience calling plays, developing quarterbacks offenses all over
Speaker 1: the league. I think he needed Dable by his side
Speaker 1: to help him become an MVP candidate and a guy
Speaker 1: that could lead his team to a Super Bowl. So
Speaker 1: I'm with you in a sense that I'm a big believer.
Speaker 1: I've always said special is special. They'll find you. You'll
Speaker 1: do it. You're special if you're But I don't know
Speaker 1: that next tier like that just really good tier. No.
Speaker 1: I think that needs some coaching and some development and
Speaker 1: some help and some coaxing. And I think that's where
Speaker 1: Mac Jones will be at a crossroads this year next
Speaker 1: year is does he take the next step or he
Speaker 1: just kind of live in that middling world of the
Speaker 1: NFL with Jimmy Garoppolo and comb. This is why, if
Speaker 1: that's the case, I don't know what Bill Belichick's doing, okay,
Speaker 1: because if he obviously knows how important a good coordinator
Speaker 1: is the development, especially of a young, promising quarterback. And
Speaker 1: if he's bringing in these two guys that you said
Speaker 1: earlier are yes men and can come in because he's
Speaker 1: comfortable and those are the type of people he wants
Speaker 1: to be around, and he's not prioritizing the development of
Speaker 1: this young up and hot prospect or whatever you want
Speaker 1: to call him, I have no doubt. I have no
Speaker 1: answers for you. I have no explanation as to why
Speaker 1: you would do that, if it's that important. Well, I
Speaker 1: think the answer to that would be Belichick prioritizes system
Speaker 1: culture and sort of the fraternity more than most and
Speaker 1: not bringing in my buddy Brian Barrett, our Buddy on
Speaker 1: WI one, Joe Brady. Joe Brady is you know the LSU.
Speaker 1: Joe Brady developed Burrow and then flamed out in in Carolina.
Speaker 1: Now he's in Buffalo as I think the quarterbacks coach.
Speaker 1: But Bill's not going to bring in a guy he
Speaker 1: doesn't know trust. Have similar philosophies with system. We've seen
Speaker 1: that over the years. He's a promote from within. You
Speaker 1: developed your guys, your sort of world um. Similar to Parcels.
Speaker 1: I think Parcels had a lot of that into like
Speaker 1: if you're a parcels guy, you're a parcels guy, and
Speaker 1: you kind of need to be a parcels guy to
Speaker 1: work for parcels. I think there's some of that with Belichick,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the answer. He's never going to
Speaker 1: go outside of his circle of trust, and so therefore,
Speaker 1: whoever's in the circle of trust, he has to figure
Speaker 1: out how to get one of those guys to fit.
Speaker 1: And Bill O'Brien didn't. So next in line was whatever's
Speaker 1: going on now? But here's Bill though, well, that's true,
Speaker 1: that's true. You have that factor, but you can't get
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brian from the year. He's already decided he's not
Speaker 1: going to get him an the year. He didn't want
Speaker 1: to step on Nick Saban's toes. So short of getting
Speaker 1: your guy, which I think if he had been able
Speaker 1: to get him, he would have, and then you would
Speaker 1: have had your orderback Whisper and Bill O'Brien, you would
Speaker 1: have had your equivalent of Josh Allen and Brian Dable
Speaker 1: as you just talked about. You can't have that. So
Speaker 1: let's develop from within and let's play this no loose
Speaker 1: scenarios we just talked about. Yeah, and he thinks they're
Speaker 1: good coaches. We need to start with that. He believes
Speaker 1: that Matt Patricia and Joe Judge are very good coaches.
Speaker 1: We don't know, and I honestly think he doesn't know
Speaker 1: because he can't know if they're good offensive coaches, if
Speaker 1: they're good play callers, because that is yet to be proven,
Speaker 1: like that needs to play itself out. But I think
Speaker 1: he trusts their teaching, coaching, philosophical abilities more than he
Speaker 1: would just some you know, hot shot mcveig tree offensive
Speaker 1: mind who some outsiders would say, yeah, that's a that's
Speaker 1: a better offensive mind or coach. Bill doesn't look at
Speaker 1: it that way. He wants his guys. Okay, that's fair,
Speaker 1: And I'd like to think that he has a lot
Speaker 1: of faith in Mac Jones to be able to handle
Speaker 1: whoever his coaches, and he knows that the guy's gonna
Speaker 1: be good. And that's my point as well. I think
Speaker 1: Mac is the one voice that he heeds to listen to.
Speaker 1: He needs to listen to himself more so than anybody
Speaker 1: else at this stage of his career. Yeah, the one
Speaker 1: concern I have there is that I don't know if
Speaker 1: you guys heard Mac the other day when he said,
Speaker 1: Joe and I are going to teach each other. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 1: is that fair to a second year or quarterback? I mean,
Speaker 1: we know how, but maybe sure, But maybe he's got
Speaker 1: that kind of confidence and maybe they know things that
Speaker 1: we don't, which is pretty obvious because we're not in
Speaker 1: the meeting rooms. So maybe they feel like Mac can
Speaker 1: handle this. You know, they've already said, they've already they
Speaker 1: already sad that this guy special, this guy can deliver,
Speaker 1: this guy's gonna be a player, this guy's come in
Speaker 1: and looks great, and YadA YadA, he's improved. Whatever. That's great.
Speaker 1: They clearly are showing confidence in this guy to lead
Speaker 1: the parade. So that's why I can fully understand why
Speaker 1: he would say something like, you think we're gonna teach
Speaker 1: each other. Yeah, I think they do, and they probably
Speaker 1: believe it's gonna work, and he believes it's gonna work. Now,
Speaker 1: I think he was doing a little PR sales job
Speaker 1: to talk, of course, how everybody's on the same page
Speaker 1: and this is working great and blah blah blah. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, you just finished your first thing that's even
Speaker 1: close to the resembling a practice. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you can be so sure everything's working so great one
Speaker 1: day in two hours in um. But I would also say,
Speaker 1: even if they trust him and think he's great and smart,
Speaker 1: it would still be better if he had a proven,
Speaker 1: talented coach with him, because that that could maximize the leap,
Speaker 1: that could accelerate the leap. So you know, he could
Speaker 1: get better because he's good and he can teach Joe Judge.
Speaker 1: But you're still gonna wonder, huh, what would you two
Speaker 1: have looked like if Bill O'Brien was here or Josh
Speaker 1: McDaniels had stayed right right, all right, very quickly then, Andy,
Speaker 1: I mean, we're a month removed from the draft. How
Speaker 1: did the Patriots do? Who knows? I mean, we all know.
Speaker 1: It's a thank you, thank you. It's a lot of
Speaker 1: ebbs and flows. My concern um a little bit was
Speaker 1: I don't know how many of these guys. Now I
Speaker 1: get to tell you one day of practice. John, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm very reactionary, good or bad. Yeah, that's why we
Speaker 1: love you, by the way, that's why we love it.
Speaker 1: So I've changed a little bit of my view of
Speaker 1: the draft after watching Jack Jones, the cornerback out of
Speaker 1: asdu At the ustate kid can play. That kid, I
Speaker 1: will be watching him very closely in training camp. I now,
Speaker 1: in my mind have him very much in the mix
Speaker 1: for significant cornerback reps as a rookie. And that's a
Speaker 1: guy I wasn't too sure about. So right there, you
Speaker 1: get a mid round pick who I now think is
Speaker 1: in the mix with the likes of Mills and Butler
Speaker 1: for significant play. You have Cole Strange looking like he's
Speaker 1: the starter at the left guard spot. So if you
Speaker 1: get those two guys right out the gates, you get
Speaker 1: Marcus Jones to return some punts and have an impact
Speaker 1: there and maybe be an extra corner himself. You know,
Speaker 1: you get a couple of impact rookie contributors and then
Speaker 1: you fill in depth later. I call that a good draft,
Speaker 1: especially when you marry it up with what I think
Speaker 1: was a pretty good draft last year. If you can
Speaker 1: combine a couple of those year after year, that's how
Speaker 1: you build a nice foundation of how I really believe that.
Speaker 1: You know, they took to heart, you know some of
Speaker 1: the let's just say inadequacies of recent drafts, and they
Speaker 1: started rebuilding last year. But I know going in this year,
Speaker 1: especially with the onus being on, you know, a new
Speaker 1: shall we say evaluator in Matt grow Run on the show,
Speaker 1: that there was a tremendous amount of pressure to go
Speaker 1: out and get guys that we know, we like, that
Speaker 1: we can as the phrase I use his plug and play,
Speaker 1: that we can coach up that fit to our system,
Speaker 1: our style. That's what we're looking for and where they're
Speaker 1: ranked by you know, the prognosticators be damned, and they
Speaker 1: did that and they got panned for it widely. So
Speaker 1: they're definitely on the hook on this one without any doubt.
Speaker 1: But I think what I admire the most, whether it's
Speaker 1: right or wrong is their ability to stick with their
Speaker 1: beliefs and their philosophies. Bill Belichick has stuck with his
Speaker 1: beliefs for twenty years. And sometimes that was trade out
Speaker 1: and infuriate people, and sometimes that was trade up. And
Speaker 1: sometimes that would take a defensive back in the second
Speaker 1: round that nobody wanted and guess what he did that
Speaker 1: so many times. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Cavan
Speaker 1: Wilson didn't work, Kyle Dugger did work. So he has
Speaker 1: such a track record that you can poke holes, pick
Speaker 1: nits as you like to say, John, and find examples
Speaker 1: of almost everything. But yeah, the truth will be in
Speaker 1: the execution. But the guy I'm intrigued by and I
Speaker 1: think could kind of swing the draft in one director
Speaker 1: or another in terms of perception is Taekwon Thornton. You know,
Speaker 1: they talked so much about wanting to get faster, they
Speaker 1: drafted the fastest guy they could find. And we've seen
Speaker 1: in recent years, the last two three years, rookie receivers
Speaker 1: not just first round picks, second round picks. They come
Speaker 1: in and they can be instant impact playmakers. If he
Speaker 1: can be a positive for this team, for this offense,
Speaker 1: I think Cole Strange will be playing and he's a guard,
Speaker 1: So unless he's getting absolutely embarrassed, you'll feel okay about
Speaker 1: that pick. The other, you know, Joneses, I think both those.
Speaker 1: If you get Thornton contributing as a receiver, even if
Speaker 1: it's just complementary certain packages, as a deep threat and
Speaker 1: a speed burner, I think he's a guy that could
Speaker 1: kind of create a positive perception about this draft. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I agree with That's it. That's the X factor. It's thorn.
Speaker 1: Can he play in that position? Now? Is everybody here knows?
Speaker 1: Is so important? If he can play, that could change
Speaker 1: not just the dynamic and the complexion of the draft,
Speaker 1: but of the team. Yeah, no question. And that's even
Speaker 1: including I'll say another guy. I thought it looked good,
Speaker 1: Davante Parker. I thought looked good the other day. And
Speaker 1: that's a good sign if you add him to the
Speaker 1: mix of contributors and if he gets back to gotta
Speaker 1: stay healthy twelve. Yeah, And that's the one thing. It's
Speaker 1: easy to look good in May and short ye will
Speaker 1: he looked good in October and November when he's been
Speaker 1: hit for a month or two of football, But he
Speaker 1: looked athletic. I thought he looked explosive. And if he
Speaker 1: can add something to the mix, and you get a
Speaker 1: little something out of Thornton and you still get Myers
Speaker 1: and Borne takes the next step. You know, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure these receivers are quite as bad as some people
Speaker 1: want to paint them to be. Andy, really appreciate your
Speaker 1: time slumming. Was slumming with us guys down here at
Speaker 1: the at the old Ballyard, so to speak. John. You know,
Speaker 1: I love to talk Patriots football almost any time anywhere, Internet, radio, TV.
Speaker 1: Write about it. You know, it beats working for a
Speaker 1: living anytime, doesn't it. I really agree with that one.
Speaker 1: I totally agree with that one. We'll keep reading you,
Speaker 1: my man. Thanks for spending a little time with us today.
Speaker 1: All right, thanks John Mark. You got it at jumbo
Speaker 1: Heart on Twitter, Andy Hartwei dot com. He's got a
Speaker 1: piece up there today as we talked about, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about the you know, Bill Belichick controlling interest of the
Speaker 1: coaching staff thus far, and made some really good points
Speaker 1: which I thought. The timing of having him on the
Speaker 1: show is extraordinarily important here only because look, that's what
Speaker 1: everybody's talking about right now. I mean, the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter is. It would be all Patriots all the
Speaker 1: time throughout New England if the Celtics weren't having the
Speaker 1: success that they're having right now in the NBA, you know,
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference Final. Yeah, even the Socks winning streak of
Speaker 1: light after being so miserable earlier this year, they'd be
Speaker 1: getting a lot more run right now if it weren't
Speaker 1: for the Celtics and or the Patriots. But the Patriots clearly,
Speaker 1: I mean, when you can dominate the local talk shows
Speaker 1: here like they have and continue to do. And I
Speaker 1: haven't listened to a day of programming on either of
Speaker 1: the primary sports talk stations in the Boston area. Haven't
Speaker 1: listened to a day of program without them spending significant
Speaker 1: time on Patriots coaching and OTAs. I mean, come on,
Speaker 1: we're how many months away from playing football? Four months? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's too long I know for most people. But
Speaker 1: I had somebody hit me up on social media just history.
Speaker 1: It's like, Wow, does the NFL ever have an off season? No,
Speaker 1: we don't, and that's exactly what the NFL wants. We
Speaker 1: don't have an NFL offseason anymore. It's just downtime really
Speaker 1: more than anything else. Well, especially while Tom Brady is
Speaker 1: still in the league, while Bill Belichick is still coaching,
Speaker 1: and while they have, like I said, this hot up
Speaker 1: and coming potential star, next big thing in the NFL
Speaker 1: in terms of a quarterback on their roster. That's exciting,
Speaker 1: that's intriguing, and people want to see where it goes.
Speaker 1: That's why I mean Andy was talking about it. That's
Speaker 1: why the whole coordinator thing is so interesting because it
Speaker 1: comes down to, hey, we want Matt Jones to be,
Speaker 1: you know, put in the best possible position to succeed.
Speaker 1: And it's not just about third and seven in October
Speaker 1: this year. It's about can you get him to that point?
Speaker 1: And if they have a guy That's why it's so
Speaker 1: interesting to me that Bill Belichick decided to go with
Speaker 1: this dynamic because if they have a guy that's not
Speaker 1: good as an offensive coordinator, I agree. They've been quality coaches.
Speaker 1: They're good coaches. And just a quick point on those coaches,
Speaker 1: you talked about them getting another head coaching job. It's
Speaker 1: interesting when you think of Joe Judge and you think
Speaker 1: of Matt Patricia, I think of sort of how they
Speaker 1: failed as I don't know, creating a culture for their team.
Speaker 1: You know, big words at the press conferences, but ultimately
Speaker 1: they were viewed as sort of buffoons at the podium.
Speaker 1: I don't know so much about their abilities XS and
Speaker 1: o's and the intricacies of calling plays and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: but they were just like leadership wise, I don't know
Speaker 1: if they were viewed as good. So if I was
Speaker 1: a team, that's what I would be worried about if
Speaker 1: I no matter how they if they called some good plays.
Speaker 1: But the Patriots as OC or whatever, I don't know
Speaker 1: how they lead the team. That's it's felt like that's
Speaker 1: where they failed. Maybe they get another chance, maybe they don't.
Speaker 1: I don't really care about that. Now, Can you be
Speaker 1: a good offensive coordinator and offensive minding? Jones development? That's
Speaker 1: all we care about, absolutely all we care about. Make
Speaker 1: it Seawan of Vancouver here really quick. Hey Sean, you're
Speaker 1: in the playbook. Hey hey, good to speak. How are
Speaker 1: you doing? Actually? Everything's good here? How are you? My man?
Speaker 1: Terrific about the draft? Though you know he said three years,
Speaker 1: I say it's five years, okay, that I fully evaluate
Speaker 1: the draft like I'm looking at twenty eighteen now. I
Speaker 1: don't have a definitive opinion yet about Whin or Jawan Bentley.
Speaker 1: I want to wait another year and see what happened
Speaker 1: with those guys. So no, the first year's draft, it
Speaker 1: wasn't what I expected. It's not what I was thinking
Speaker 1: may do. But I don't know. If they got the
Speaker 1: speed they got some players, maybe a're gonna make a
Speaker 1: difference five years. We are influenced by what the media says,
Speaker 1: right wrong. We are totally influenced by what the media says.
Speaker 1: So when the Patriots select guys that are like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, he's a third round draft pick, what the
Speaker 1: hell are they doing? Then you know, naturally, the the
Speaker 1: the impetus is gonna think, oh, they screwed up, they
Speaker 1: screwed up. And again, the point here is that you
Speaker 1: draft not because a guy rates highly, because he rates
Speaker 1: highly within your scheme and you feel like he's a
Speaker 1: fit for what you want to do at the particular
Speaker 1: position that you take him. So a guy that's gonna
Speaker 1: rate as a top fifteen, twenty thirty first round draft
Speaker 1: pick for one team could slide off the board. This
Speaker 1: is how guys slide in the draft anyway, And this
Speaker 1: is how guys go from draft picks to u DFA's
Speaker 1: because it don't fit the scheme or the playing style
Speaker 1: of the team that's up on the board next them.
Speaker 1: This is how guys fall. So it really is overrated,
Speaker 1: and it really he helps drive a narrative that is
Speaker 1: just flat out wrong. Five years, I would argue Sean
Speaker 1: is a little much, because I think you've got to
Speaker 1: make a decision on the guys whether or not he's resignable.
Speaker 1: So that's why I go that's that's that's why I
Speaker 1: go with sure. But that's why I go with three years,
Speaker 1: because by that time you're trying to decide whether or
Speaker 1: not to keep the guy or punt. Yeah, and that's
Speaker 1: not my decision to make. Yeah, of course I have
Speaker 1: to do that. But the other thing about the poll question, though,
Speaker 1: is I don't know if you listen to pasts in
Speaker 1: the past this past week and they were talking Ernie
Speaker 1: Adams and at one point when he was with Cleveland,
Speaker 1: Mark Mdell says, I'll pay any one ten thousand bucks
Speaker 1: if they can tell me what Ernie Adams does. So
Speaker 1: you know, he's been instrumental to the Patriots success in
Speaker 1: six Super Bowls, and nobody couldn't really outside of the
Speaker 1: organization put a definitive qualifif fire on what his role
Speaker 1: was with the team. But he did a lot of
Speaker 1: important things and I'm sure he knew what he's doing.
Speaker 1: I'm sure Bill Belichick was doing. But us as fans
Speaker 1: and even maybe the owner doesn't need to know. Robert
Speaker 1: cup doesn't necessarily need to know what Ernie Adams is
Speaker 1: doing as long as it's working. And I'm sure the
Speaker 1: Patriots are going to have an offensive coordinator. It's just
Speaker 1: maybe the fans, maybe the media, maybe even the owner
Speaker 1: doesn't know. But you know, when Mac Jones is out there,
Speaker 1: he'll know who's calling the place. He'll understand it because
Speaker 1: the Patriots mantraper with over twenty years, has been doing
Speaker 1: your job. So everyone on the coaching step, every player
Speaker 1: has a specific job, they're going to know what it is.
Speaker 1: I have complete confidence that that's going to be the case.
Speaker 1: Just we don't know yet, No, we don't, And I
Speaker 1: think that's well said, Sean. Anything else, Bud, anything with us, don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know. If there's anything else. I'll call back
Speaker 1: another time when next month, when when you're there. But
Speaker 1: you got it, Thanks you bet, thank you for taking
Speaker 1: the time. Sean of Vancouver so again, just to kind
Speaker 1: of recap here, M paul is up if you hit
Speaker 1: Twitter on at JR broadcaster question to answers, is an
Speaker 1: assigned play calleror coordinator a must have or be no
Speaker 1: big deal? Got thirty seven minutes left to the poll
Speaker 1: and right now no big deals in the lead, which
Speaker 1: frankly is a little surprising considering a lot of the
Speaker 1: you know noise that we hear from the media. Mark,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll be honest. The in build we trust cry,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I mean, is it the build? I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I think it's again. I don't want to make it
Speaker 1: sound like it's nothing. I just think there are more
Speaker 1: important things that the than the offensive coordinator. For example,
Speaker 1: if they had a number one top tier wide out,
Speaker 1: I'd feel better than if they just had a number
Speaker 1: one top tier offensive coordinator. All right. Evan Lazar covers
Speaker 1: the Patriots for c LNS Media. He joined us here
Speaker 1: on the program as the Patriots beat reporter. Hey Evan,
Speaker 1: thanks for taking the time to visit with us. John
Speaker 1: Rook here along with Mark Dundera. No problem, guys, thanks
Speaker 1: for having me on. Appreciate you taking the times. How
Speaker 1: do you stand on this whole gotta have a coordinator,
Speaker 1: need to have a coach, or is it no big deal?
Speaker 1: Which one do you kind of lean toward? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think you know, for the most part, I believe that
Speaker 1: Matt Patricia, Joe Judge, and Bill Belichick will be able
Speaker 1: to put together game plans and have a good opening
Speaker 1: script and do some of the things during the week
Speaker 1: that you need to do to get your team ready
Speaker 1: to play on Sunday. The biggest concerns that I have
Speaker 1: in terms of the offense in the direction without really
Speaker 1: having that coordinator like Josh McDaniels in place is one
Speaker 1: offensive innovation, and what I mean by that is team innovation.
Speaker 1: Like this offense to me over the last two or
Speaker 1: three years, especially last season, is a little bit archaic
Speaker 1: in style. Right There's still an eye formation team. There's
Speaker 1: still a team that runs a lot of under center.
Speaker 1: They don't do a lot of the things that some
Speaker 1: of these college systems that spread the field and have
Speaker 1: a lot of more of these option elements integrated like RPOs, readoption,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. They don't use a lot of that.
Speaker 1: They don't use a lot of the Shanahan tree either,
Speaker 1: the outside zone and bootlegs things like that either. So
Speaker 1: offensive innovation I think is a question mark to me
Speaker 1: what this team moving forward. And I would also say
Speaker 1: in game adjustments is the other really big one for
Speaker 1: the Patriots. I think that was a really underrated thing
Speaker 1: that Josh McDaniels was able to do, where Okay, they
Speaker 1: come out, they feel out what the game plan is
Speaker 1: for the defense, and then they have answers to X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z that they can go to in their
Speaker 1: back pockets to respond to what the defense is doing them.
Speaker 1: So in game adjustments I think was a huge part
Speaker 1: of what made the Patriots successful and now is a
Speaker 1: big part of what makes Josh McDaniels successful. So now,
Speaker 1: do they have the foresight do they have the ability
Speaker 1: to adjust on the fly when things maybe don't go
Speaker 1: as well early on in the game, Like you don't
Speaker 1: have Josh McDaniels calling the place in twenty eight to
Speaker 1: three ever happen, right, you know, those type of instances
Speaker 1: I think are something that maybe the Patriots will miss.
Speaker 1: Josh mc daniel is more than let's say, the actual
Speaker 1: play calling, in the actual act of calling plays. You know,
Speaker 1: since you've been covering this team, I'm curious. Do your
Speaker 1: thoughts this bill work better with guys behind him, underneath him,
Speaker 1: coaching for him, whatever the kid, whatever phrase you want
Speaker 1: to use. Does it work better with guys who cross
Speaker 1: him or agree with him? That's a good question. I
Speaker 1: think in the past that I would lean forwards that
Speaker 1: he works better with guys that challenge him. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: necessarily say that it's crossing him, but it's more making
Speaker 1: him think about things from a different perspective or offering
Speaker 1: different perspective that maybe is actually better than the way
Speaker 1: that he was originally thinking. Once he kind of puts
Speaker 1: himself in those shoes. And I don't necessarily know if
Speaker 1: it's coaching or personnel execs that have done that in
Speaker 1: the past, but you've heard a lot about players do
Speaker 1: that in the past, where you know Belichick has been
Speaker 1: coaching it one way, he thinks it should be done
Speaker 1: one way, and then Randy Moss comes up to him
Speaker 1: in the practice field and he says, well, instead of
Speaker 1: running of a post, if I run a deep crossers
Speaker 1: and I can run away from the safety instead of
Speaker 1: running into the safety, And all of a sudden, the
Speaker 1: Patriots run deep over routs instead of post routes right,
Speaker 1: or He's talked about in the past, even with kickings
Speaker 1: with Nick Folk, that Nick Folk has taught him a
Speaker 1: lot about kicking as a veteran kicker, and they think
Speaker 1: about things maybe a little bit differently than they did
Speaker 1: before in terms of kicking the football. So there's little
Speaker 1: things like that that I've seen over the years on
Speaker 1: you know, Football Life and some of the different documentaries
Speaker 1: that they did, where players have said, to build, why
Speaker 1: don't we do it this way. It's easier for me
Speaker 1: if we do it that way, said it this way,
Speaker 1: and then he goes ahead and makes those adjustments. So
Speaker 1: I think he likes to be challenged. I don't think
Speaker 1: he likes to surround himself with people that can't talk
Speaker 1: the game at the same level that he can talk
Speaker 1: it at. Okay, fair enough, So let me ask you
Speaker 1: this real quick, Evan. Obviously, you know, with the lack
Speaker 1: of experience for both Joe Judge and Mat Patricia on
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball, one would think that, hey,
Speaker 1: maybe Bill Belichick needs to get a little bit more
Speaker 1: involved offensively, either helping them or helping Mac Jones. Should
Speaker 1: I be concerned about that given the fact that there
Speaker 1: are a lot of areas that need his attention on
Speaker 1: this team, on this roster, and he's seventy years old.
Speaker 1: It's a fair question, right, and I think that there
Speaker 1: is some concern there, some skepticism that's just natural to
Speaker 1: think about, you know, him being stretched too thin and
Speaker 1: having to wear too many hats. But the thing I'll
Speaker 1: say is Dean Piece is a former defensive coordinator for
Speaker 1: the Patriots about ten years ago. He was on a
Speaker 1: podcast not too long ago and he mentioned that Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick actually didn't end a ton of time with the
Speaker 1: defense during the week. He actually spent the most of
Speaker 1: his time with Tom Brady and the quarterback. So I
Speaker 1: think a big part of Bill Belichick defensive mastermind for
Speaker 1: the Patriots is that he'll actually go to the quarterback
Speaker 1: and Cam Newton post pub about this as well. He'll say,
Speaker 1: this is what they're going to do to you, right,
Speaker 1: They're going to come out, this is going to be
Speaker 1: the defensive game plan. This is how I would defend you.
Speaker 1: So I'm as sure this is how they're going to
Speaker 1: defend you. And they're going to try to take away X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z, and we're going to do you know,
Speaker 1: a b and C and I think the dad back
Speaker 1: and forth, and Brady has talked about the Tuesday meetings
Speaker 1: with Belichick, game plan meetings and the different things that
Speaker 1: he's been learned from Belichick over the years. I think
Speaker 1: that's a really big part of what Belichick has always
Speaker 1: done for the Patriots and the quarterbacks in particular stuff.
Speaker 1: I think in a cool way, his defensive ability and
Speaker 1: his mastermind on that side of the football actually helps
Speaker 1: them reverse engineer for the quarterback how exactly they're going
Speaker 1: to see a game plan and take out from the
Speaker 1: opposing defense and put those guys in a really good
Speaker 1: position to succeed. All right, Bevan Lazar from this media
Speaker 1: Patriots beat reporter, joining us here in the playbook. The
Speaker 1: other issue that we've been kind of kicking around today, Evan,
Speaker 1: has to do with the draft, and you know, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to answer, I don't want to ask
Speaker 1: you a little about, you know, the first OTAs that
Speaker 1: were out there this week, so I know you were
Speaker 1: out of practice. But at the same time, now that
Speaker 1: we're a month removed from the NFL Draft, you know,
Speaker 1: is it fair to even try to make an evaluation
Speaker 1: any of these guys? Do you agree disagree with the
Speaker 1: panning of the Patriots draft by most of the mainstream media,
Speaker 1: both local and national. What are your stands on grading
Speaker 1: draft picks. It's definitely not fair to grade the draft
Speaker 1: picks based off of what we think these players will become,
Speaker 1: because none of us quite frankly, have any idea what
Speaker 1: these guys are going to be in two to three
Speaker 1: years now based off of the information that we have
Speaker 1: at hand going into the draft. I do think that
Speaker 1: there is some freedoms to some of these grades. Now,
Speaker 1: the thing about the Patriots draft to me is the
Speaker 1: positions that they drafted offensive line, wide receiver, corner. We
Speaker 1: all went into the draft thinking that they were going
Speaker 1: to draft those positions, but they drafted players that were
Speaker 1: different than the players that we would have drafted in
Speaker 1: that spot. Like if the Patriots that came away from
Speaker 1: this draft and all these Zion Johnson's from Boston College
Speaker 1: went ahead of their pick. But let's say they come
Speaker 1: away from the draft and they drafted Zion Johnson and
Speaker 1: John Metschi in the first two rounds, we all would
Speaker 1: have been thrilled, as from everybody, we all would have
Speaker 1: been off the walls. Instead, you exchange Zion's name for
Speaker 1: Cole Strange, and you exchange Meschi's name for Taekwon thor
Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden, they get an at
Speaker 1: right because they're not the names that we've been talking about,
Speaker 1: that we've been hyping up, that we've done our homework on,
Speaker 1: and that certainly can drive the narrative a little bit
Speaker 1: with these picks. Now, the draft to me is a
Speaker 1: fifty fifty coin flip. It's a craft shoot. It's your
Speaker 1: evaluation versus my evaluation. And the Patriots certainly have a
Speaker 1: much better feel for their program, their team and what
Speaker 1: exactly fits in best with that, and they definitely have
Speaker 1: more information about these players than we do in the
Speaker 1: media to get to interview them, to get some that
Speaker 1: their medicals, so on and so forth. But we'll see,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see what ends up being right in
Speaker 1: three years. If Cole Strange ends up being a pro
Speaker 1: bowler and Zion Johnson's just an okay guard, or if
Speaker 1: John Metchi ends up being out of the league because
Speaker 1: his knee doesn't hold up, and Tykwon Thornton is a
Speaker 1: great player for the Patriots, then they'll be right. If
Speaker 1: they're not, then the consensus will be right, and we'll
Speaker 1: have to wait and see on that. But this is
Speaker 1: definitely one of those drafts. And I think in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways it was similar to twenty twenty for me,
Speaker 1: where I wasn't surprised at all that the Patriots drafted
Speaker 1: a safety with their first pick when they took Kyle Dugger,
Speaker 1: but I was expecting it to be Antoine Winfield or
Speaker 1: Jeremy Chain or Davier McKinley from Alabama. And then said,
Speaker 1: they took Kyle Tugger, So their boards different than our board,
Speaker 1: and they have to trust their board, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to trust my board and we'll see who's right in
Speaker 1: three years. Yeah, that's true. And again you kind of
Speaker 1: directly led into the next question is what's a sufficient
Speaker 1: amount of time in which to be able to judge
Speaker 1: whether or not you did a good enough job in
Speaker 1: a draft. So I think there's a way that we
Speaker 1: can evaluate it in the short term, and that look,
Speaker 1: if you make a good pick in the first round,
Speaker 1: you know it when you get out there at practice
Speaker 1: during training camp, like for example, I would say, like
Speaker 1: with Cole Strange, if he's a good pick, I would
Speaker 1: venture to say that I could see that he has
Speaker 1: NFL talent at the top of the first round or
Speaker 1: at the top of the draft, I should say, within
Speaker 1: the first one or two weeks in training camp. When
Speaker 1: I was out there in twenty nineteen and nikkil Harry
Speaker 1: was in his rookie camp, it was, you know, left
Speaker 1: a lot to be desired, right, Like you were like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, this guy just doesn't have the explosiveness. He
Speaker 1: doesn't have the speed of the NFL game, Like this
Speaker 1: is not exactly the Holy Moley. The Patriots got a
Speaker 1: stud wide receiver in the draft type of pick. I
Speaker 1: think that there is some credence the fact that that
Speaker 1: can happen and you can see it with your eyes quickly,
Speaker 1: like I you know, I've read and obviously this is
Speaker 1: a much draft picks and somebody like Tae Kwon Thoran,
Speaker 1: but you read about things like about Jamar Chase or
Speaker 1: like Peedee Lamb or Justin Jefferson or some of these
Speaker 1: other wide receivers that have come through in the draft
Speaker 1: in recent years, and all the beat reporters down in
Speaker 1: those respective locations, they're like, holy smokes, like this guy
Speaker 1: is legendary stuff, right, Like this guy's going to be
Speaker 1: a big time difference maker for this team. So I
Speaker 1: do think you can tell right away whether or not
Speaker 1: they have that sort of next level of talent. But
Speaker 1: in terms of what their overall projection is, yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say it takes two to three years to really
Speaker 1: know for sure, And especially here in New England. You
Speaker 1: look at a guy like Damien Harris, for example, who
Speaker 1: sat out his entire rookie year and then he comes
Speaker 1: in his second year, third year, he's a great player
Speaker 1: for the path. I don't think anybody's looking back at
Speaker 1: the Damien Harris pick now and saying that was a
Speaker 1: bad pick. But maybe after his rookie season the opinions
Speaker 1: on himler a little bit money just because of the
Speaker 1: fact that he didn't play. So it is an walk.
Speaker 1: But I think with certain positions, I would say, in
Speaker 1: particular with receivers skill players, you can see whether or
Speaker 1: not their speed and their explosiveness and they're just kind
Speaker 1: of threat to the defense, is there or not? Pretty
Speaker 1: much right away, Evan, we couldn't plan this out any
Speaker 1: better because you lead directly into my next question for
Speaker 1: you here was you were out there. We've had one
Speaker 1: chance for the media to see these guys out on
Speaker 1: the field thus far. Another one coming up again? When
Speaker 1: is it tomorrow? I think? Or is it today? No,
Speaker 1: it's tomorrow. And the next one for the media is
Speaker 1: next week. Next week. Players will be out there again
Speaker 1: this week, right, Okay, so they're out there again this week.
Speaker 1: So we've had basically one chance to see these guys.
Speaker 1: You've got your first glimpse of these guys, you know,
Speaker 1: along the lines of what you were just talking about.
Speaker 1: Somebody who's gonna stand out, Guys that you're looking at
Speaker 1: that you want to concertru Guys that are going to
Speaker 1: get all of the folks come training camp time, which
Speaker 1: are the younger guys and the guys we don't know about.
Speaker 1: Who stood out? Did anybody? Could anybody make that kind
Speaker 1: of an impression? Who just one OTA session? Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: hard to do it in OTAs without pats. And I
Speaker 1: would also say that a lot of the OTA drills,
Speaker 1: even team drill seven on seven, eleven on eleven, are
Speaker 1: not too live competitive situations where they're going full till.
Speaker 1: But I still saw some glimpses from Cole Strange and look,
Speaker 1: I'll be the first one to admit when they drafted
Speaker 1: Cole Stringe on draft night in the first round. I
Speaker 1: was also aproplectic, like I hated to pick right. I
Speaker 1: had no idea where they were going with it. What
Speaker 1: are you doing? Yeah, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. But then when I looked at Cole Strange,
Speaker 1: I've practiced on Monday. You know, you don't want to
Speaker 1: get too caught up with the offensive lineman because there's
Speaker 1: no pads, there's no contact. But the way the guy
Speaker 1: moves is impressive, Like he can definitely move, he can
Speaker 1: get out of the stance. You see that athleticism right away.
Speaker 1: They ran a lot of outside runs in practice the
Speaker 1: other day, and his ability to get outside the tackle
Speaker 1: to then get up and work to the second level.
Speaker 1: There's some real explosiveness and some real speed in the
Speaker 1: way that he moves at the guard position. I think
Speaker 1: that's gonna really pop off the tape pretty much instantly
Speaker 1: for a guy like Cole Strange. We'll see about play
Speaker 1: strains like I love me a good pulling guard. I
Speaker 1: love me a good pulling guard. Yeah, whether he's pulling
Speaker 1: or it's his own scheme and he's just getting out
Speaker 1: of his stance of getting up the field or to
Speaker 1: the sideline. This guy can definitely move, and you saw
Speaker 1: that right away. Jack Jones, the cornerback from that they
Speaker 1: drafted in the fourth round, he was already rotating in
Speaker 1: with some of the other starters at the cornerback position,
Speaker 1: which I think is a really good sign this early
Speaker 1: on in camp, this early on in the spring off
Speaker 1: season program. To have a fourth round pick already out
Speaker 1: there with some of the other starting secondary players tells
Speaker 1: you that maybe he's ahead of schedule or on schedule,
Speaker 1: depending on how they look at it, to be an
Speaker 1: impact player. In year one, we didn't get to see
Speaker 1: a lot of Taekwon Thornton. He was down on the
Speaker 1: lower field and wasn't really a part of team rolls
Speaker 1: all that much. The same with Pierre Strong and Marcus
Speaker 1: Jones right now, he's really really small guys right So defensively,
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. I still think he has a
Speaker 1: chance to develop into a slot corner, but I think
Speaker 1: right away you're looking as a primary returner, potentially as
Speaker 1: an impact as a rookie, but maybe not at corner.
Speaker 1: But I was really intrigued by what I saw from
Speaker 1: Strange and Jack Jones. Yeah, Andy Hart we had on early.
Speaker 1: He mentioned Jack Jones too, and he was really surprised
Speaker 1: that you showed some athleticism and the ability to mix
Speaker 1: it up already getting rotations in with some of the
Speaker 1: guys who've been around for a while. Yeah, he's got
Speaker 1: really smooth feet, He's really fluid. I think he can
Speaker 1: kind of travel with the receivers from both sides of
Speaker 1: the formation, whether it's in the slot outside and cover
Speaker 1: some of these guys. These the receiver types that play
Speaker 1: inside and outside in any given situation. I think Jack
Speaker 1: Jones has that ability to shadow those types of guys
Speaker 1: in man coverage. I compared him to Malcolm Butler ironically
Speaker 1: when they drafted him, and you know, I still think
Speaker 1: that that's a pretty apt comparison. Somebody that's just really scrappies.
Speaker 1: He can stay glued to guys, beget be in your
Speaker 1: hip pocket, and give guys some fits, but the fact
Speaker 1: that they just can't get rid of them at the
Speaker 1: top of the route. I think Jash Jones is going
Speaker 1: to be a player that maybe has the Year one
Speaker 1: impact like Malcolm did, or like basically Backson did. Sure,
Speaker 1: all right, so you know we've had one practiced to
Speaker 1: work with um. These are OTAs or I used to
Speaker 1: call them, you know, basically glorified picnics. Organized team activities
Speaker 1: is what OTA stands for. Not everybody is there, Not
Speaker 1: everybody is required to be there. All of the guys
Speaker 1: who were not what surprised you? Who surprised you by
Speaker 1: their absence? That may be like, Ooh, I don't know
Speaker 1: why is this guy not here? Isaiah Win? I have
Speaker 1: no idea. I don't want to. Like you said, these
Speaker 1: are voluntary sessions. You have no idea what's going on
Speaker 1: with Isaiah Win behind the scenes, Whether it's a family
Speaker 1: matter that he's you know, taken care of, or physical
Speaker 1: injury something like that that he's taken care of, or whatever.
Speaker 1: But this is a player that is in the final
Speaker 1: year of his contract by all attensive purposes, had a
Speaker 1: down year last year. He came into training camp after
Speaker 1: not being at the off season program a year ago,
Speaker 1: out of shape last summer. The team wasn't happy about it.
Speaker 1: He started slow in the twenty twenty one seasons after
Speaker 1: being out of shape when he arrived in camp in
Speaker 1: late July early August. And now he's doing it the
Speaker 1: same thing again. And I look at Isaiah Winn, and
Speaker 1: I see Trent Brown and his ability to potentially flip
Speaker 1: over to the left side. I think the team is
Speaker 1: really high on Justin Bran, who had time good run
Speaker 1: last year when they were allowed him to play, especially
Speaker 1: at left tackle. And I say, if I'm Win, I'm
Speaker 1: making ten point four million dollars this year, I'm a
Speaker 1: little bit I have a little bit more urgency, right, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit more worried about my long term
Speaker 1: future on the team. He seems a very complacent guy
Speaker 1: to me off of that first round draft status and
Speaker 1: just kind of going off of his contract and the
Speaker 1: fact that he is a big time player in terms
Speaker 1: of that money. It feels like he's a little bit
Speaker 1: complacent with his role. And I wouldn't be if I
Speaker 1: was Isaiah Win because do you know how it works here,
Speaker 1: Justin Horn all of a sudden pops off in training
Speaker 1: camp and as an ascending player, Bill Belichick will cut
Speaker 1: time as Isaiah Win, right, Like, we've all been down
Speaker 1: this road before. So I'm really shocked that Isaiah Winn
Speaker 1: wasn't out there. Matthew Judon, Adrian Phillips, Lawrence guy Like,
Speaker 1: for me, I'll we'll see you guys in Mini caamp, right, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't really care have those types of veterans don't
Speaker 1: want to come to these voluntary workout sessions. But Isaiah
Speaker 1: Winn is one guy that I think that should be
Speaker 1: here unless he has a good reason not to be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we should add here, of course, that the mandatory mini
Speaker 1: camp is in a couple of weeks, correct, Yeah, June
Speaker 1: seventh through June ninth is minatory mini camp, Right, So
Speaker 1: that's when if the guys aren't here, then there's got
Speaker 1: to be a significant reason for it and something that
Speaker 1: we can reevaluate at that time. All right. Then a
Speaker 1: final one I kind of have for you here, Evan,
Speaker 1: really is it's an unfair question, but you know, as
Speaker 1: a beat guy, I'm going to kind of put you
Speaker 1: on the spot anyway, you know, because that's what we do.
Speaker 1: We put people well in the spot here, Right. What
Speaker 1: do you kind of feel like is the strong suit?
Speaker 1: What is what? What are these patriots going to be
Speaker 1: known for? What do they want to be known for?
Speaker 1: And where do you feel like this team really has
Speaker 1: an achilles heel at this stage of the game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think my answer is actually gonna surprise some people.
Speaker 1: It surprised me a little bit, But after I watched
Speaker 1: them out out there on Monday and kind of was
Speaker 1: able to put what we see on paper actually on
Speaker 1: the field and look at it. I think this offense
Speaker 1: is actually in really good shape right now. I know
Speaker 1: the coaching is a little bit of an uncertainty and
Speaker 1: we'll see how that stakes out. But they have their roles,
Speaker 1: They have their quarterbacks, like they have their receivers. They
Speaker 1: have everybody in place for this offense to be good.
Speaker 1: And I think not just one part of the offense,
Speaker 1: Like I think it's going to be a really well
Speaker 1: rounded offense too. I think they're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: run the football, answer the football pretty effectively. I was
Speaker 1: out there at training camp nineteen twenty even last year
Speaker 1: in twenty one, and he look at the wide receivers
Speaker 1: that they were roll out there in these training camps.
Speaker 1: We as beat reporters or an OTAs in minicamp and
Speaker 1: no offense of these players, but we're hyping up to
Speaker 1: be or Birds and Maurice Harris and like all these
Speaker 1: guys in the spring. Now we get to at least
Speaker 1: see DeVante Parker and Nelson agil Or and Kenter Bourn
Speaker 1: and buyers like. These guys have NFL resumes. These guys
Speaker 1: have gone out there and made Pro Bowls and had
Speaker 1: a thousand yards season stuff. This is a different receiving group.
Speaker 1: This is a different skill group than what we've seen
Speaker 1: over the last three or four years. There's some legitimate
Speaker 1: NFL talent on that offense now, and I think it's
Speaker 1: the Patriots are going to have a pretty solid offense.
Speaker 1: When you look at Achilles deals, it's definitely the cornerback room. Look,
Speaker 1: they have darts to throw at corner right. They have
Speaker 1: Malcolm Butler, Terrence Mitchell, Jalen Mills, I mentioned Jack Jones.
Speaker 1: They have numbers there. But I don't know if any
Speaker 1: one of those guys is actually a solid option against
Speaker 1: Sefon Gigs or Tyree Hill or whoever. The going up
Speaker 1: against Savante Adams when they have to play Vegas later
Speaker 1: in the year, Jamar Chase when they have to play
Speaker 1: the Bengals. You know, this is a really talented and
Speaker 1: loaded AFC in terms of passing attacks around them. And
Speaker 1: I look at the cornerback room and I still look
Speaker 1: at it and say, wow, you know, you might not
Speaker 1: just be missing the number one guy. You might be
Speaker 1: missing the number one and the number two guy. Like ideally,
Speaker 1: a guy like Jalen Mills is your third corner, and
Speaker 1: right now the Patriots have him as probably their number
Speaker 1: one corner. So they really need somebody like Jack Jones
Speaker 1: to pop and be able to take this league by storm.
Speaker 1: If they can get that out of one of the
Speaker 1: rookie corners, then I'll feel more optimistic. But I'm still
Speaker 1: very concerned about Yeah, maybe they can widen't or shrink
Speaker 1: that gap with Buffalo offensively where they can maybe keep
Speaker 1: up a little bit with Josh Allen in the back
Speaker 1: and forth shootout, But I don't know if his defense
Speaker 1: is going to have any chance the way it's constructed
Speaker 1: in the secondary right now to slow down Josh Allen
Speaker 1: anymore than it did last year. OU better hope that
Speaker 1: there's a big pass rush. That's all I can tell
Speaker 1: you right now. All Right, So I lied one more question.
Speaker 1: Based on the talent that they have that you think
Speaker 1: that they might have on the offensive side, can this
Speaker 1: team still have the kind of success that you think
Speaker 1: they that can have without a coordinator calling the place. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it can and I think one of the
Speaker 1: lines that Bill Belichick said that as much as it
Speaker 1: I think it was maybe taken as put a lipstick
Speaker 1: on a big a little bit of the situation. I
Speaker 1: think it is true that the execution of the plays
Speaker 1: is more important than the plays themselves, right, And at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, you can call the same
Speaker 1: passing play like the Patriots and the Super Bowl against
Speaker 1: the Rams, super Bowl fifty three, they called hasty juke
Speaker 1: three times in a row to go down the field, right,
Speaker 1: and they kept on calling the same play and it
Speaker 1: worked every single time. Like it wasn't like, you know,
Speaker 1: they needed to reinvent the wheel to get the ball
Speaker 1: down the field. So if you have those types of players,
Speaker 1: and granted they don't have a Brady and a Gronk
Speaker 1: and a needlement, but they players that can cocute and
Speaker 1: can go out there and make plays, then I think
Speaker 1: sometimes we get lost in the weeds a little bit
Speaker 1: what the actual play calls themselves and the minutia of
Speaker 1: all of that, when at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: our guys against your guys. So if the Patriots, it
Speaker 1: always comes together the way that I think it can,
Speaker 1: if everybody stays healthy and everybody kind of that comes
Speaker 1: along together. I think it's a really big thing that
Speaker 1: they have broughten back all the past catchers that were
Speaker 1: on the team in twenty twenty one for another year
Speaker 1: here twenty twenty two, and all they've done is supplemented, right,
Speaker 1: They've added. They haven't subtracted any of that group. So
Speaker 1: those guys all played together last year, they all play
Speaker 1: with Max Jones last year. So I think there's some
Speaker 1: optimism that the offense can really hit the ground running here.
Speaker 1: Good stuff, really good stuff. Evan, thanks for spending the
Speaker 1: time with this day. It's greatly appreciated and I'll look
Speaker 1: forward to doing it again at some point down the line.
Speaker 1: No problem, Thanks to anytime. You got it. Evan Lazar
Speaker 1: CLNS Media. He's the beat order for the Patriots, reporter
Speaker 1: for the Patriots. You can follow him on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Ez Lazar laz a r is how he spells his
Speaker 1: last name. Clnsmedia dot com is where you can find
Speaker 1: a lot of his work. You can know, so if
Speaker 1: you follow him on Twitter, he puts links up to
Speaker 1: all of the pieces that he does and all of
Speaker 1: the reporting that he does with the patriotsy he's really good.
Speaker 1: Here's some good answers there. You know, clearly he's got
Speaker 1: some strong opinions on that one. In fact, I think
Speaker 1: overall today the opinions have been great between Evan and
Speaker 1: you know, Bighead and Martin Dundarrel. The opinions are good.
Speaker 1: And I knew that we could have that today with
Speaker 1: these three individuals, so have because nobody's afraid to give
Speaker 1: us their thoughts, and that's kind of what we want here.
Speaker 1: We want to push the envelope a little bit and
Speaker 1: hopefully get you thinking differently, not incorrectly, but just differently
Speaker 1: and consider other points of view because frankly, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of points of view about this, the things
Speaker 1: that we've talked to today. And then you know, for
Speaker 1: those of you that are outside the area, you know,
Speaker 1: you're not in New England and you're not you know,
Speaker 1: able to get to Boston area media or whatever, especially
Speaker 1: listening to Boston Talk radio. Look, Derek pluses and minuses
Speaker 1: about that, and I'm sure you probably listen to them
Speaker 1: from time to time, you know, on the streams, which
Speaker 1: is fine and you should because it helps you kind
Speaker 1: of get connected to your teams, your home if you're
Speaker 1: from here. That kind of thing. But sometimes we get
Speaker 1: so damned close to the forest we can't see the trees.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. We're extraordinarily myopic in our
Speaker 1: point of view. Myopics the word of the day, by
Speaker 1: the way, you know, And I will do that in
Speaker 1: Eric's honor. M yop I see, I'm gonna talk about
Speaker 1: Eric in just second, exactly, thank you. But here's the
Speaker 1: thing we you know, I don't think they're wrong, but
Speaker 1: you got to remember that talk radio, sports talk radio,
Speaker 1: especially in Boston, they're here. They serve the purpose of
Speaker 1: tweaking the noses of the listeners to get them to
Speaker 1: react and maybe pick up the phone and call, or
Speaker 1: maybe send them a tweet or maybe you know, hit
Speaker 1: them up on social media in some of the former fashion.
Speaker 1: That's what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to be,
Speaker 1: you know, they say energetic. I say, you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're panting you, is what they're doing. That's all they're doing.
Speaker 1: They're pantsing you. Okay, So all we want to do here, Look,
Speaker 1: every once in a while, I'll pants you. Sure, what
Speaker 1: the hell, We're all gonna have fun. It's kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, what the hell, I'll pants myself. Just
Speaker 1: don't look he I you know, I want to swirly.
Speaker 1: I'll give you one too. Whatever. Here's the thing I
Speaker 1: try to balance it. I'm not saying that anybody in
Speaker 1: sports a treaty is wrong. I'm not saying that, you know,
Speaker 1: people that I know, like mil kiper are wrong. Everybody
Speaker 1: has an opinions are like belly buttons, as we all know,
Speaker 1: everybody's got one. But consider their opinions and then consider
Speaker 1: what fact is and then put the two together. And
Speaker 1: if they don't meet, then which way do you go?
Speaker 1: And so, like I said a little bit earlier on
Speaker 1: the program, and I think it's kind of appropriate here
Speaker 1: to sort of, you know, begin to wrap up here today,
Speaker 1: I think it's appropriate to consider. Look, the jury is
Speaker 1: still out, and so all I'm trying to do is
Speaker 1: provide a perspective here, not only on the coaching situation,
Speaker 1: which I agree, on the surface, it's kind of like, well,
Speaker 1: who the hell's running the show here? It's like a circus,
Speaker 1: you know, and the ringmaster doesn't have any idea whether
Speaker 1: the elements or the drafts are coming out next. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's not really that way honestly, where are the
Speaker 1: in Bill we trust fans? Where are the in Bill
Speaker 1: we trust people. I'm not saying that's right either, I'm
Speaker 1: just asking where you are because it seems like it's
Speaker 1: been heavily one sided towards Oh, we gotta have a coordinator.
Speaker 1: Oh we gotta know who's gonna be talking to Max here.
Speaker 1: It's so important for his development and year two bull Bull.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's near as important. I really don't.
Speaker 1: I think it's overblown. I think, as we discussed earlier
Speaker 1: on this program, there's a method to the madness here
Speaker 1: that if you need an offensive coach, the offensive coach
Speaker 1: that was going to come in is still a year away.
Speaker 1: I'm yeah, I'm talking about Bill O'Brien because I think
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien ultimately does want to get back. I frankly,
Speaker 1: have always believed that, you know, with Josh McDaniels left
Speaker 1: for Vegas, the first guy I thought of about replacing
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick was Bill O'Brien. That's the first guy I
Speaker 1: thought of. Now, you may not agree, we said earlier
Speaker 1: on the show as well, that you know right now,
Speaker 1: I think that you know, Matt Patricia is being sort
Speaker 1: of groomed for that role. Okay, today that may be
Speaker 1: the case. That may change if Bill O'Brien comes into
Speaker 1: the fold, but he's under contract. Bill's not going to
Speaker 1: pants his friend Nick Saban and pull him away with
Speaker 1: a year left on his deal. He's not gonna do
Speaker 1: that to him. So he's not available. This is making
Speaker 1: chicken salad of chicken, is what it is. That's all
Speaker 1: they're doing here. The guy they want is unavailable. So
Speaker 1: here's how we're gonna handle it. And at the same time,
Speaker 1: we're going to try to improve your stock. And we're
Speaker 1: talking about Joe Judge, We're talking about you know, Matt Patricia,
Speaker 1: and potentially Nick Kayley if for some reason Bill O'Brien
Speaker 1: doesn't happen. But I think Nick Kayley is the young
Speaker 1: guy that's sort of lying back in waiting that they
Speaker 1: want to bring up through the system because that's the
Speaker 1: system that Bill Belichick believes in. I do think Kayley
Speaker 1: is going to be a part of this mix somehow,
Speaker 1: and the other two guys, being experienced X head coaches,
Speaker 1: are gonna ba basically, you know, provide the duck and
Speaker 1: cover and take the brunt of whatever criticism might come
Speaker 1: out of the Patriots screw up so they can continue
Speaker 1: to grow Kayley without undergoing the microscopic criticism that undoubtedly
Speaker 1: he would go if he would name the coordinator. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's that's that issue. And then, of course, then the
Speaker 1: other issue that has been all hot and bothered over,
Speaker 1: you know, Patriot Nation here has to do with the draft,
Speaker 1: and it's like, why do they draft these guys where
Speaker 1: they drafted them? You know, all the Patriots draft stunk.
Speaker 1: They gotta do you, they gotta They're gonna enough, you know.
Speaker 1: And I've heard all that, and I'm you know, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, look, those are all knee jerk reactions emphasis
Speaker 1: on jerk. You gotta be smarter than that. And the
Speaker 1: one thing I've always tried to do here on this show.
Speaker 1: If you're just changing, you know, checking us out for
Speaker 1: the first time, one thing I've always tried to do
Speaker 1: in this show is I tried to be smarter. I
Speaker 1: try to be smarter, that's all. I want to be smart.
Speaker 1: I'll go back. What was that that was the line
Speaker 1: in uh in um um oh godfather too, I'm smart? Right?
Speaker 1: Oh oh gosh, yeah right, you broke my heart. Oh goodness,
Speaker 1: that's all. That's all we're trying to do here. I
Speaker 1: want you to be aware. I want you to be
Speaker 1: I want you to equip yourself with different opinions, and
Speaker 1: then you decide which one you believe in based on
Speaker 1: the different opinions that you're don't go one way and
Speaker 1: you haven't heard the other side of the story. Always
Speaker 1: have room for another side to the story. That's what
Speaker 1: storytelling in this business really is all about. Have room
Speaker 1: to consider, have space into your head space, into your heart, space,
Speaker 1: in your gut, wherever you want it put it. But
Speaker 1: I have some room in there to consider someone else's opinion,
Speaker 1: that's all. And then you decide what you think is
Speaker 1: right or what you believe in, and then when the
Speaker 1: proof of the pudding comes out, then you'll know. But
Speaker 1: you can't say you weren't educated. You can't say that
Speaker 1: you weren't informed. And that's all we're doing here, trying
Speaker 1: to bring different points of view. Sometimes you're not going
Speaker 1: to agree with them. You don't. I don't want everybody
Speaker 1: to agree with me. I like hearing different opinions. I
Speaker 1: like having reporters you know, and guys that I know
Speaker 1: in this business, like the three that we had on
Speaker 1: the show today. I like having those guys in here
Speaker 1: having different opinions. It just so happened that, you know,
Speaker 1: and I did not know this was coming today because
Speaker 1: you know, Marine, when we set this thing up, you know,
Speaker 1: and you told me who was coming on the show.
Speaker 1: This is good because I think these guys all different opinions,
Speaker 1: and I was surprised that I actually agreed with a
Speaker 1: lot of what they said. Doesn't make it right, but
Speaker 1: I found it interesting their take and it was demonstrative
Speaker 1: they were strong with it, and so that's good. So
Speaker 1: that means they have the courage of their convictions and
Speaker 1: believing what they've you know, seemed thus far that might change,
Speaker 1: and I think we all know that might change. All
Speaker 1: I wanted to take just a couple of minutes here
Speaker 1: before we wrap up, and I give you the poll
Speaker 1: results here on Twitter. First that I want to take
Speaker 1: care of is um you know, the issue that happened
Speaker 1: yesterday in Uvaldi, Texas. I could admit I big pit
Speaker 1: in my stomach yesterday when I saw the news breaking
Speaker 1: over the absolute unmitigated tragedy that happened in Uvaldi. I
Speaker 1: have a friend of mine went to school with who
Speaker 1: was the high school band director in Uvaldi for decades,
Speaker 1: who retired just a year or two ago. One of
Speaker 1: the one of the things that we had most when
Speaker 1: I was in college as well. You know, it was
Speaker 1: kind of a cliquish thing to do, but all of
Speaker 1: the members of my section in the Long Horned Band,
Speaker 1: we wore hats that said Uvaldi Bank, you know, just
Speaker 1: because of you know, our sectional leader being from Uvaldi
Speaker 1: as well, and so I have a little familiarity with
Speaker 1: the town. You know, fifteen thousand people. It's about eighty
Speaker 1: eighty five miles south southwest of San Antonio, so I
Speaker 1: know the area of the of the country fairly well.
Speaker 1: To say that it's a close knit community, which has
Speaker 1: been the way it's been described over the last you know,
Speaker 1: twenty four hours or so, is an understatement. I think
Speaker 1: most towns that size are close knit because there are
Speaker 1: a lot of people that do know a lot of people.
Speaker 1: But to have you know, just an unspeakable thing happened,
Speaker 1: like what occurred with you know, nineteen children losing their
Speaker 1: lives and to teachers losing their lives because you know,
Speaker 1: you know, some guy goes nuts on us speaks to
Speaker 1: a bigger problem that we have here. Now. You know,
Speaker 1: you guys know, Okay, you guys know if you've listened
Speaker 1: to this program at any point in time over the
Speaker 1: previous twenty one years, and we're getting ready to go
Speaker 1: into year twenty two with Patriots playbook this next season.
Speaker 1: I'm privileged and honored to have been here that long.
Speaker 1: I really like doing it. I like connecting with you guys.
Speaker 1: I like talking football, Like Bighead told us a little
Speaker 1: while ago, I'll talk football at any time and every
Speaker 1: time you know, you want to talk football, which is cool.
Speaker 1: But I think we're at a stage now. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: conservative by nature, I'm moderate socially, I would say, but
Speaker 1: we've reached a time or we got to do something.
Speaker 1: We just we gotta do something. I saw were Senator
Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer in New York saying today that you know,
Speaker 1: a gun bill is not gonna make it to the
Speaker 1: floor in the Senate truck. Shumer being you know, a
Speaker 1: decided Democrat. Okay, if we're going to politicize this thing,
Speaker 1: and he's saying, well, Bill, it's not important enough where
Speaker 1: it's not going to get to the floor. What the
Speaker 1: hell are we doing here? People? Somebody needs to step
Speaker 1: up and say, let's debate this now, let's do something now.
Speaker 1: We need to do something now. And if that means,
Speaker 1: as a stopgap measure we put police officers in every school,
Speaker 1: then by well damn do it. I don't think that's
Speaker 1: the ultimate answer, but we need to do something. You
Speaker 1: can't just sit here and twitter our thumbs for the
Speaker 1: next tragedy that comes along. You know what, It might
Speaker 1: be your school, it might be your kids. Nobody wants
Speaker 1: to think that, nobody wants to think the unimaginable. But
Speaker 1: you know, nineteen families have their lives, have had their
Speaker 1: lives destroyed, and it's just it's not right. We're better
Speaker 1: than that. We're the only country on the planet where
Speaker 1: this happens. Why ask yourself why? And we're really as
Speaker 1: good as we say we are. Why can't we do
Speaker 1: something about it? And those that stall that are in
Speaker 1: a position making position, a decision making position. If they
Speaker 1: don't do something about it, they're the ones you need
Speaker 1: to vote their asses right out of office. You get that.
Speaker 1: That goes Democrat, Republican, Independent or Martian. I don't care
Speaker 1: who the hell you are. Do something about it now.
Speaker 1: The other thing I want to talk about today is
Speaker 1: my good friend Eric Scallavino. I'm gonna read an email
Speaker 1: here very quickly was sent to web radio, but this
Speaker 1: one comes from Burt on Burton Island. It says, am
Speaker 1: I the only person who thought that the farewell to
Speaker 1: Eric last week was a little odd. You'd think that
Speaker 1: amidst all of the mostly deserved well wishing that went on,
Speaker 1: there just might have been the teeniest information about why
Speaker 1: the dude is leaving and what he is going to do.
Speaker 1: Of course, the guy has the right to private is
Speaker 1: he like all of us. I just think it's classic Eric,
Speaker 1: the fact that it would appear this topic was off limits.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing you all got a good long lecture ahead
Speaker 1: of time about that subject being for voting. In any case,
Speaker 1: Eric was the consummate foil. You'll be strangely missed. Humph. Okay,
Speaker 1: No nobody got a lecture about it being for voting.
Speaker 1: It wasn't for voting. But it just like we weren't told.
Speaker 1: Nobody was told you you can't talk about this. Nobody
Speaker 1: was told Eric was relatively vague. Therefore we've been relatively
Speaker 1: vague about it because Eric doesn't yet really know what
Speaker 1: he's going to do. He just knew that he needed
Speaker 1: to do something different. We all have these moments. I
Speaker 1: think that's part of the problem why this country And
Speaker 1: I'm not blaming Eric, Okay, let me let me stress this.
Speaker 1: It's part of the reason why this country is in
Speaker 1: some of the shape that it's in because we had
Speaker 1: so many people quit their jobs during the pandemic. Now
Speaker 1: I'm not saying Eric is doing that here, but people
Speaker 1: just reevaluate themselves when times get tough. People reevaluate themselves
Speaker 1: after a certain amount of time because they get in
Speaker 1: a rut and they wanted to something different with their lives.
Speaker 1: I've been there, You've been there, We've all been there.
Speaker 1: Eric is there now, and he's had a blast here.
Speaker 1: He's very good at what he did. I enjoyed the
Speaker 1: back and forth and the digression that we've had on
Speaker 1: this show over there. You know, he's been part of
Speaker 1: this show for the ten years. He's been here, he's
Speaker 1: been a regular part of the playbook for ten years.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm gonna miss the banter with him
Speaker 1: because Eric was, as Bert says, the consummate foil. He
Speaker 1: was also a good bleep stir right. He really was.
Speaker 1: He liked to stir it. That's okay, because that's what
Speaker 1: makes good conversation. That's make that, what's what what makes
Speaker 1: good radio, what makes good listening. It's entertaining. There's an
Speaker 1: entertainment value here that we know must be delivered otherwise
Speaker 1: you're not going to listen. I get that, we all
Speaker 1: get that. And if anybody doesn't get them in this business,
Speaker 1: they don't last very long. That's why he see podcasts
Speaker 1: sometimes come and go and where did that podcast go?
Speaker 1: I like Lesender too. It's gone because they don't want
Speaker 1: to stick with it. Guys, we've been here for now
Speaker 1: going on twenty two years. We're sticking with this one, okay,
Speaker 1: And that's why, you know, we hope that you'll stick
Speaker 1: with us as well. There is a certain thing to loyalty.
Speaker 1: Eric is also loyal. Eric is gonna land very well,
Speaker 1: and he's going to find something that you know, really
Speaker 1: pops for him coming up, and I you know, I'm
Speaker 1: sure we'll be in touch. Our friendship isn't over just
Speaker 1: because he's moving on to something else. He just wants
Speaker 1: a new challenge, a new door to open in his life.
Speaker 1: And you can't open up a new door, generally speaking,
Speaker 1: unless you close the one behind you, and that's that's
Speaker 1: kind of what Eric's doing. I fully expect Eric to
Speaker 1: spend more time with you know, Nutmeg Animal Welfare, which
Speaker 1: is the you know, nonprofit charity that he started a
Speaker 1: few years ago that I support, and if you're you know,
Speaker 1: interested in animal welfare, I think it would be worth
Speaker 1: your time and your reference to spend as well. Eric
Speaker 1: will probably do more writing. My guess is he might
Speaker 1: do some traveling because we know that Eric loves to travel,
Speaker 1: and hopefully with the pandemic, you know, at least becoming manageable.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to tell you that it's easing, because
Speaker 1: it's still out there and I think we understand that,
Speaker 1: and that's the sad part about all of this, but
Speaker 1: we're learning to live with it. I just had my
Speaker 1: second booster this week, not me for a loop. For
Speaker 1: a day, I had the worst headache, but you know,
Speaker 1: I'm better today. It's fine. It's a small price to
Speaker 1: pay for a little added extra protection. And that's just me. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's not for everybody. I get that, but I think
Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why we're in the shape
Speaker 1: that we're in. And you know that I've opined about
Speaker 1: that on this show. And I don't do this to
Speaker 1: opine about, you know, medical things and what you should
Speaker 1: or shouldn't do, or to shame anybody. Everybody's got their
Speaker 1: own reason. But I'm telling you that's why we're in
Speaker 1: the shape that we're in, because we don't have people
Speaker 1: that are you know, considerate of others. Just don't. And
Speaker 1: we do have people that are very selfish. Eric is
Speaker 1: not one of those people. I'm gonna miss my interaction
Speaker 1: with him. I'm gonna miss whipping him with word of
Speaker 1: the day every week too. I think I batted. I
Speaker 1: think I went like last week last year. I think
Speaker 1: I went like where did I go? Last year? Like
Speaker 1: I swear I was gonna do this, and I completed
Speaker 1: this is you're gonna go for the show? Were what
Speaker 1: my record was? All right? For every game week that
Speaker 1: we did that show? All Right? So we go back
Speaker 1: for the seventeen weeks of the regular season, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wager I was probably I was better than
Speaker 1: the Patriots. I'm gonna say I was twelve and five.
Speaker 1: That's my prediction. I think I was twelve and five.
Speaker 1: I might have been better. I might have been I
Speaker 1: don't think I was a little worse because I think
Speaker 1: I think I smoked it pretty much last year in
Speaker 1: terms of the spelling of the word of the day.
Speaker 1: I think I got it. I think I got it. Anyway,
Speaker 1: that's my prediction. See how close I get twelve and five.
Speaker 1: We will find out in the June Show. All right,
Speaker 1: June Show. Speaking of June Show, We're gonna do our
Speaker 1: June program on June twenty second. This year won't be
Speaker 1: the very last Wednesday. It'll be the next last wednes
Speaker 1: because I'm gonna try to sneak in a vacation week
Speaker 1: before my summer camps at school start this summer. So
Speaker 1: June twenty second will be the date you want to
Speaker 1: mark on your calendar for Patriot's Playbook. And we're going
Speaker 1: to do something that we did during the during the
Speaker 1: bye week of the regular season. Okay, I'm gonna invite regulars.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna invite you know listeners. I'm gonna invite you
Speaker 1: guys to co host the show with me on June
Speaker 1: twenty second. So, yes, we hope that we'll be able
Speaker 1: to get Claire in the UK and we hope that
Speaker 1: we'll get you know, uh, Miguel Pat's cap and you
Speaker 1: know Christian with you know, Chris with a T, I
Speaker 1: A N. And you know all of the regulars, Eldred
Speaker 1: and there are many more that you guys know and
Speaker 1: those of you who call the show regular you know
Speaker 1: who you are. What I'm going to ask you to
Speaker 1: do is if you'd like to be a part of
Speaker 1: this discussion and be a part of it. I want
Speaker 1: you to reach out to Marine so you can send
Speaker 1: him a DM on Twitter, okay, or just send him
Speaker 1: an email to web radio at Patriots dot com say god,
Speaker 1: I'd like to be a part of that, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna have fun. I'm looking for six, seven, eight of
Speaker 1: you that we're going to rotate in on the on
Speaker 1: the two hour bases that we're here, and we're just
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about mini camp. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: the draft. We're gonna talk about our projections and predictions
Speaker 1: you know for you know, the early part of next season.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about NFL wide issues as well. We
Speaker 1: might even pull you know, the guru, you know, Russell
Speaker 1: Baxter into the equation as well, since I kind of
Speaker 1: consider him a regular on the program too, I gave
Speaker 1: him a break this month since you know, it is
Speaker 1: kind of becoming summer here, but we might pull the
Speaker 1: Guru into this thing as well, Russell Baxter for next
Speaker 1: month as well. So if you'd like to be a
Speaker 1: part of it, I'd love to have you. And if
Speaker 1: you have never been a part of it before and
Speaker 1: you want to be a part of it, and you
Speaker 1: want to be a part of our little you know,
Speaker 1: clubhouse here, then you know, by all means, reach out
Speaker 1: to Marine and we're gonna get you on the list
Speaker 1: and we're gonna rotate it around and we'll let you
Speaker 1: guys kind of be the star of the show months
Speaker 1: because you know, next month is we will have just
Speaker 1: started the dead period. OTAs are over, Mini camp is over,
Speaker 1: and vacations beginning for a full thirty days before we
Speaker 1: get to training camp. Training camp is gonna start the
Speaker 1: last week of July. I'm gonna start the last week
Speaker 1: of July. It's gonna be here before you know it.
Speaker 1: So we're literally two months away from football getting started
Speaker 1: for real. We're kind of like sputtering here, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna get on get it on in about two months,
Speaker 1: so that's kind of where we are for next month.
Speaker 1: So I hope you'll want to be a part of
Speaker 1: that because it was a lot of fun to do
Speaker 1: during the bye week last year. We'll probably do it
Speaker 1: again for the bye week this year, just because we'll
Speaker 1: have actual football to talk about. But I think it's
Speaker 1: fun because you guys that are regulars, and even regular listeners.
Speaker 1: I want regular listeners to also, you know, take a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes to call in or volunteer to be
Speaker 1: a part of the show. You don't have to have
Speaker 1: any special talent other than you know, answering a couple
Speaker 1: of questions and voicing an opinion. Everybody's going an opinion.
Speaker 1: Like I said earlier, you know, opinions are like belly buttons.
Speaker 1: Everybody's got one, okay, so I know you got one.
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you, whether you're a newcomer
Speaker 1: or an old coomer or whatever it may be. Next
Speaker 1: months of a month. Want you to reach out and
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about whatever's on your mind and
Speaker 1: will react to what's been going on on and off
Speaker 1: the field around the New England Patriots. Our thanks to
Speaker 1: Martin Dundero from EI, and Andy Hart from EI, Evan
Speaker 1: Lazarre from CLNS Media, and of course the Marine Matt
Speaker 1: Morrell himself. And thank you for taking the time, Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening, Thank you for allowing me to opine. Oh,
Speaker 1: I gotta get the toll. Shoot it closed. I gotta
Speaker 1: do this before we stop here. Hold on, wait a second,
Speaker 1: I almost forgot Okay, Poul is closed. The answer as
Speaker 1: is an assigned play color or coordinator must have or
Speaker 1: no big deal. Fifty five percent of our respondents say
Speaker 1: no big deal. I'm a little surprised by that, but
Speaker 1: then again, I think you people are smart. I'm not dumb, Mikey,
Speaker 1: I'm smart, so are you. For your father? Your father,
Speaker 1: talk to you next month. Thank you for downloading this podcast.
Speaker 1: Subscribe on Apple, Google Play, and everywhere else you listen.
Speaker 1: Like the show, Please rate and review us. Listener comments
Speaker 1: and ratings help keep us high on the podcast rankings
Speaker 1: so new listeners can find us. Be sure to Checkpatriots
Speaker 1: dot com for more news and more podcasts.