Patriots Unfiltered 7/24: Day 2 Key Observations from Training Camp, Mike Onwenu Interview
Some of the content of Patriots unfiltered may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. [Music] This is Patriots unfiltered presented by Toyota’s official website for deals by Toyota.com. Patriots unfiltered. [Music] All right, we’re back. We’re in. No, no, no. Open. We We are in it. We are in it. Just like we’re right into camp. Day two of training camp here at Gillette Stadium. It’s Paul Pillo, myself, uh Duce and Evan will be here uh shortly as soon as availability is over. Uh practice just ended a few moments ago. Yeah, another beautiful day out. Two for two with the the weather. Little windy. Little windy, but uh beautiful day out there. Uh so let let’s get right into it, uh Paul, because we’ve got two days to kind of wrap up here on this show. Um uh you know, I would say that it’s attendance is good. Good to see that. I’d say in terms of the offense people, that’s the first thing I’m sure on people’s minds. Little, you know, off and on, a little rocky. Yeah, I would say the um, you know, when the passes are getting thrown in general, uh, they’re getting completed, which is good. It doesn’t look like there’s a lot of confusion in terms of, you know, route running and alignment and things like that. So, I would say those are things on the positive side. Uh, there have been times I think that some of these plays probably would have been blown up with with pressure. Um, but I don’t worry about that stuff yet. I’m not going to tell you I’m not worried about it. I’m just saying yet because of the obvious. You know, your shorts and helmets on on uh on Wednesday today. I think they had shells on. Um, but it’s very hard to gauge how much the the pass rush is a result of not being able to really have contact. So I would say that Harold Landry um Calevon Chson on uh Wednesday in particular those guys were constant presence in the back field on on a lot of plays and I think they disrupted things but overall I think a good start good not great good start for the offense. Well I think today what they were working on was ab the short passing game a lot of quick stuff when there was pressure I think they were sending pressure to to test out that short passing game getting rid of the ball. I I would agree with you that that was the goal. I would think I would say it was a little choppy. Yes. You know, some of them that it looked like exactly the way Fred just described it. They wanted the ball out immediately and Drake wasn’t able to get it out immediately because either there was someone in his face or the guy wasn’t open. Y so he was like sort of double clutching a little bit. But like like you said, I think pretty much everything he threw except for one that I mean I could count on one hand the amount of incompletions the last two days. Yeah. But that doesn’t mean that in a real game they would be because like you said sometimes the guy’s there and the ball is thrown anyway. And a lot of the completions today especially like Fred said were really short a lot of short. Um but I think if you’re wondering how Kyle Williams is doing I think he he showed up yesterday. Uh had a couple good catches. I think a couple of them were against Gonzo. Right. Yeah. He had uh one one in particular I think he ran Gonzo off uh you know a little bit of a comeback out you know depending on how you want to classify a comeback route on the sideline. Um and it looked like uh he did a good job of separating from Gonzo. Went up made a nice uh nice strong hands catch on the sideline today. Not as good. Had a couple drops. He had one drop in in team and then mishandled a punt um trying to do some punt return stuff. But yeah, I I would say that Kyle Williams definitely was uh was a presence on the first day. I saw Pop had a nice sideline today. Yeah. Yep. So that was good to see. Seems like Drake is really trying to The idea is to try to get the ball in as many different receivers hands as possible. Um offensive line, I know that got a lot of the headlines yesterday um because of the pressure that was happening. Uh Morgan Moses um might have had a a a little bit of a rough day yesterday. I wouldn’t make too much a big thing about it, but something I noticed today with Campbell. Oh, I’m interested in this. Yeah. Where where he was lining up, um I think he’d be flagged during a game. You think he had alignment issues? I think he was too much off the line. And I think that caused him problems because in his drop step because he was starting so far back by the time he sat, he was right next to Drake May. I’m going to try to keep an eye on that. I think you need to get your point of contact a little sooner than that. Um, and I think it started with where he was lined up and then like I said, his drop step where where he would eventually set and have his point of contact. His back was almost touching Drake May. You don’t want that. You want a little bit of space. I definitely thought there was some issue with uh Morgan Moses at times with that Kansas City Chiefs. Is it Jawan Taylor? I forget the guy’s name. the tackle for Kansas City, the right tackle that always beats the snap. I thought Morgan Moses was doing a lot of that today and I wonder if that was, you know, a result of getting beat by Harold Landry a lot yesterday. But those are things when the pads come on, we we can really focus on. But the alignment thing is interesting because that doesn’t matter about I was like, hm, he was a little bit f further back than I think. But what do I know? I’m looking at it from the ramp, but I did have my binoculars. Um, what what I do like about Campbell is his feet. He’s he’s he’s really, you know, he’s 6’5 and I Yeah, short arms. Forget about that. He’s a big guy and he moves a lot smaller than his size. He’s He’s a lot quicker. He’s a lot quicker than his size. He has good feet. No, no doubt. Um, but it’s going to be a learning curve. I think they’ve I think those both of those guys struggled a little bit with the edge guys. Chaon was was pretty good yesterday. Okay. All right. Right. So, that’s the way I I choose to, you know, you know, me, positive Paul, start of camp, fresh. Yeah. I I look at the defensive uh the defensive line was supposed to be much improved, and we’ve kind of seen those guys be active in the pass rush. Yep. Uh so, you can look at it either way. Um like you said, uh yesterday there was a big dog adoption thing going on. Players brought up puppies and uh the the team uh teamed up with uh three animal shelter uh you know big name I think the rescue league and and I forget the name of the other two but they had 40 dogs here. Every one of them got adopted and it was pretty cool. The owner was here with his wife Dana and um and that’s going to be sort of an initiative going forward with the team is is finding these dogs homes. Um so it that was really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I guess uh everybody thought it was very wellreceived. I know a lot of people get Who doesn’t love dogs except for you? Yeah. I mean, I know we got to take the obligatory shot, but that’s okay. Yeah, it was a good day for the organization. Yep. Really nice. Stefan Diggs was kind of the star there. The dog he was bringing up, he decided to let it down and the dog ran away from himself. And we panicked because he’s like on the other side of the fence and it’s kind of like a uneven, you know, terrain. Like, oh boy, he’s going to end up twisting an ankle or something worse. Uh, but if you’re wondering how he’s looking, he’s looking good. I think he’s running really, really well. I don’t think you’d really know that he was coming off a torn ACL. Now, we’ll see what happens when he starts getting hit and all that stuff, but right now, I would say um that’s probably the most positive development of camp y is his presence and not just that he’s out there, but how he looks. Yep. I I’m like I said uh on our last show, I’m pleasantly surprised that he’s out there full tilt and I’m I’m surprised at how good he looks. So, that’s all that’s good news. That’s really good news. Something to monitor uh that happened today. Christian Barmore off to the side a little bit working with a trainer. Um I don’t know what that was all about. I mean he passed his conditioning run so well he was in. So you know that’s good that you brought that up because I do think that’s an element of today’s practice. That’s a takeaway. He opened the first team period at his normal spot. It was uh him and Milton Williams uh sandwiched around uh Tonga Kis Tonga. Um and those three took part in the first team period, you know, probably six six or so plays. Then Bar came out and as practice progressed, he was on the left field. Now, all this work took place on the right side. He was on the left field with uh one of the I I I like I’m going to call him Joe Kim, but I know Joe Kim’s not here anymore, but someone like that had like those arm pads, you know, working on hand placement. So, I don’t know if he was rehabbing any kind of an injury or if it was that could be he just asked for some extra help or if he just, you know, was dealing with something so they were making it slow for him. But I think we got a guest. So, we’ll we’ll stop yapping and and make way. Oh, it’s big Mike. Make way for Big Mike. Mike and Wenu. How you doing? I’m doing sit right here wherever you want to sit. You You tell me where you want to sit. I’m not telling you. You’ve never been in here, right? Never been on here. Oh, welcome to uh the As Fred says, please feel free to visit us anytime you’d like. I would love to. Yeah, the door is always open. You want to do your own podcast, we’ll do that for you. Yeah. So, I’m Fred Kers. Paul Pillo, uh Mike and Wenu, thanks for joining us. Uh right off the practice field. Yeah. How’s it going? It’s going good. I feel good. This is what, day three? Yeah. I’m really just excited to keep going. Really put the pads on. Day three for you, day two for the uh public for the scribe. I got you. Yeah. Um, so so things are going good. Question I have for you because uh I don’t know if you’ve been watching the Forge and Foxboro documentary that we’ve been putting out. Yeah. Um, you know, uh, Doug Marone was talking about two other coaches that he works with, Cougs and and Hos. And he said it’s three voices, but we’re all on the same page. Yes. How does that work for you? Does like one of them focus more on the interior? Like how is it working with those three coaches? Um, it’s been great really. Um, they’re all really knowledgeable or all three of them. Um, they kind of split it up dayto day or you know sometimes, uh, Hos takes the interior, sometimes Cougs takes the tackles, sometimes coach Marone takes the interior. So, I mean, it’s just kind of day-to-day, but we’re all preaching the same things and coaching the same things, but it’s good to get the insight. Also, it’s three eyes looking at your technique, looking at yourself, and just, you know, you get that insight of what you’re doing, whether it’s right or wrong, and, you know, going to the practice field and making sure you’re getting those on the field, making sure you’re getting those reps. Okay. Like, you got some some new guys um, you know, on either side of you, you know, with with Garrett Bradberry and and Morgan Moses. Just how’s that progression come? And, you know, the comfort level for you guys. I’m very me personally, I’m very comfortable. Um, I think we’ve all played a lot of football. So, I mean, as of, you know, coming into the spring and coming into the season, uh, we’ve been communicating, really just getting on the same page and making sure we understand each other. And, um, so far, we’ve been feeling great. I’ve been feeling good about where I am and where they are. So, that’s a lot of experience between the three of you. For sure. You know, it is. Yeah. So, is that a comfort thing like you’re quicker to be in the same page? Yeah, I would say so. Um, you know, we all see the see the same things through the same set of eyes. So, it’s it’s not like you got to second guess. You know, you you know, I know where is where Garrett is going to be. I know where Mo’s going to be. If we got a blitz off the edge, I know he’s going to extend. So, it’s like, you know, I can put myself in position. Okay. What was the offseason like for you? Do you anything different this year? You’ve been around a little bit now. We’re going to call you a veteran now because you’ve been around. Yeah. Yeah. Um this the summer was the same. Um it really just worked out. Kept busy. Um I was here in the spring and summer, so you know, I felt good. I really was just excited about coming back and uh having everybody back together. You know, those uh spring practices were good. You know, we it was mostly pass. So, I mean, feels good to run the ball now and get out and run. Yeah. So, do you as an offensive lineman look forward to the first day in pads as as much as we do? Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, that’s camp starts Monday for you guys, right? Yeah. That that Well, I think I think on Saturday we’re in Fort Pad, so Okay. Is that right? Don’t quote me, but I think so. Yeah. I got to tell everybody. I mean, our cameras because I know we’re we’re planning to do a live show on the first day of pads, but I believe so. I believe so. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, we might have just broken some news here on Patriots unfiltered. Um, but yeah, I I would imagine for you guys, we keep talking about Well, it looks like Harold Landry and uh Cale Vonason, they’re coming off the edges, but we always say it’s just so unfair for you guys to try to like really physically pass block when you’re not wearing pads. Yeah. What I mean just how how difficult of a challenge is that for you guys to work on technique? I’m not going to say it’s difficult, but I mean we’ve been going against each other from the spring. Uh we know that those guys have speed. Um also it doesn’t help that they know our cadances, know our snap counts when we run. You know, we say our snap counts. So it’s it’s not that hard to time it, but obviously that makes us better and gets us better for our opponents that are doing the same thing. So you know they’re using as a as an advantage and we you we are using it as an advantage as well getting off the ball and make sure we’re getting off the snap on time. That’s awesome. So, um, what’s what’s once the practice is over, how’s that been for you, the meetings, you know, this is the first year with Mike Vrabel and his staff. Do you see any difference or is that just routine? Um, I think it’s been routine. Uh, one big difference. I think we’ve been practicing earlier this this year. So, um, I think a lot of guys are liking that. You know, you kind of come in, get your mind right, um, get ready to practice and then it’s the rest of the evening is watching the film installs and stuff. So, um it allows us to have a little bit a little bit of time and not practicing during the hottest part of the day, but you know, we get our work in and then we get to improve and uh get the corrections. Okay. Some of the rookies, you got obviously Will on the left side. Uh but you got some other new guys in there. Jared, uh Wilson has been I see coming in and out of the lineup. What have your impressions been with some of the new guys? Yeah. Um really I’m impressed by all of them. I think they’re all they all have talent. They all can play. Um I really like them. Um really from top to bottom, you know, all of the rookies and uh especially in my room as well, but um you know, Jag, Mai, uh Marcus, like really everybody can play and they all they all have talent. So, you know, I really just can’t wait to put the pads on for them to just let it roll. Y I guess we’d h we have to kind of ask you, you know, just your impressions of Drake, you know, by comparison, you know, as a rookie came in sort of, you know, taken a backseat to Jacobe last year. What have you seen different about his approach as the starter? Yeah. Um, you know, Drake has always been the same guy. I think really, you know, he leads by example. He’s vocal as well, but, you know, really just uh from the huddle, from the snap, at the at the line of scrimmage, and really just in the workouts, you know, always positive energy. You know, you don’t want to get things wrong because you don’t want to disappoint Drake. So, I mean, like, you know, I think that’s that’s that that’s for everybody. You know, me as a line included or a lineman included. you know, you want to do your best and obviously do the right things on the line. So, when you’re out there, it’s my final question because I know you you got you got to get going. Um, do you ever glance over to that building that they’re building over there and say, “Oh, that’s where we’re going to be next year.” Yeah, we had walkthroughs yesterday. It was a it was a little weird just looking to the left and I’m just like, man, it’s a it’s a whole big building right here. I mean, usually or last year, uh, you know, it was just trees in the background, but it’s cool. you know, we’ll be able to come out and uh come on our grass field and just be able to do walkthroughs or really just get some grounding, get on the grass. I’ve seen some of the mockups. It’s going to be pretty cool in there. Yeah, I can’t wait. I can’t wait. All right, Mike, we’ll let you get back to it. We appreciate you stopping by anytime. This is where we are. I’ll be here. I’ll be here. All right. Thank you, sir. Thanks, Mike. Yes, sir. All right, Mike and Wenu coming off the practice field and joining us here in Patriots Unfilter for the seat. That’s all right. Mike Mike just sits in that seat. It doesn’t matter. Yeah, he doesn’t count. Um, all right. No, you know, it’s just an interesting, you know, I I kind of as we were talking to him, I was thinking like how young the left side could be. Yeah. But at the flip side, how experienced the other side, you know, and I think if you had Garrett Bradberry or Jared Wilson, how much that changes the dynamic. Yeah. You know, because you got obviously Moses is 34 years old. Yeah. Mike’s been around now, what’s it, sixth year for Mike? 2020. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s fifth year. Well, 21. Yeah. Six years. So, you know, there’s a lot of experience from the middle to the right, but not as much. Even if it’s Cole Strange, not as much to the left. Um, you traded Mike’s. Hey, Mike. Get a little Mike. I You get a little sweaty or you switch gears? No, it’s fine. I like it. You know, I like it. I feel like I got, you know, I got involved in practice. Get some of his DNA. Not Not creepy at all. Don’t have that dog in me yet. Uh, no. Hung around, listened to some of the interviews. Um, and Morgan Moses was interesting. They asked him about the rotation going on. He said, “I’m not really paying attention to it. Obviously, they have some, you know, younger guys they want to get some reps to, but I don’t know what it’s about, but and he said they did say it’s a new offense for me, so I’m learning a little bit.” One other line I thought was good. He’s like, “Man, these guys, they got no pads on. We have nothing to grab onto. We can’t stop them.” So, uh, yeah, a couple little nuggets there from Morgan Moses, who Yeah, Mike was similar on that. We were talking about it a little bit, just saying it’s not even just that we can’t hit them. They’re they’re familiar with what we’re doing, our alignment, our cadence, you know, so they’re getting a jump. Yeah. Yeah. No, good stuff. Uh, you know, Kendrick Bourne talking a little bit about Josh McDaniels, the return of the offense. Of course, everybody wants to know what’s different, you know, what what has changed and Kendrick’s point of view on it was that he’s got some different coaches and philosophies around him now. So, that’s what’s altering the scheme a little bit. It’s still the fundamental basis of it is Josh McDaniels and the language that he speaks offensively, but I think we’ll have to wait and see what the influ influence is of, you know, guys from the Rams and, you know, guys from all the different trees. So, um, yeah, good stuff. Good stuff. I I mean, I I was interested because in the in the documentary, uh, Marone mentions he’s got the other two assistants. He’s got Hos and he’s got Cougs. and you know they all could be the headline coach on their own. So you’ve got these three voices but they’re speaking as one and Mike confirm that he said you know it’s really good um sometimes you’re working with one sometimes you’re working with the other and getting technique tips and whatever but it’s all the same message. Yeah. You know I like that Hos guy. I like I like listening to him. He seems like I said offensive line coach through and through. Just that loud Jasonling. Yeah. Jason Huddling Hos. Of course, they got the nicknames and everything, but yeah, hope it all comes together. This is what we’ve been talking about. Diggs, I think, has shown up positively the first couple of days, and I think Drake has shown up positively. Seems like he’s grasping things. It, you know, was in stops and starts and all that kind of stuff. And now we wait to see. Yeah. Would you agree today it was a lot of underneath under pressure type of passing? Yeah, for sure. And, uh, you know, as Evan actually asked Moses uh about, it seemed like you guys were sending a lot of they were sending a lot of pressure at you today. They were sending some blitzes today, too. So, I think that’s part of Josh’s offense is getting the ball out quick, the little swing passes. You know, we saw James White and plenty other players feast off of that kind of stuff. Well, listen, if I’m an opposing team defensive coordinator, I’m testing out this secondyear quarterback. I I’m going to send pressure at him more than more than maybe I would usually. Yeah. I think I got Paul in my head now, though, where it’s like, okay, it’s good. We’re completing a lot of passes, you know, around, getting the ball out quick. Let’s find some big plays now and start to hunt that stuff as as the week progresses. Yeah, and I would I would agree with Fred that today it clearly looked like the goal was to get the ball out quick and go for the underneath stuff against pressure, you know, and I I think that’s what they were supposed to do. Um I just felt like there was a lot of double double pumping on some of that stuff, like guys weren’t uncovering quickly enough. You know, more so than the pressure, I thought it was the coverage. Yeah, I I would 100% agree with that. There were a couple times, I mean, one of the I guess it was one of the first plays there in the third series where Drake had to tuck and run up the middle. didn’t seem like anybody was open. Um, but it seemed like a pretty good day for Pop Douglas, who that’s that’s where he should be feasting, right? I thought he was I thought he was good today. I thought he was getting open quickly and I, you know, he made a terrific catch on the sideline, but I thought the bread and butter stuff is is the the quick hitters, you know, he’s going to uncover quickly and yeah, the P, you know, the passes for the most part for two days are being complete. So, that’s what you want to see. Uh, Evan Lazar joins us as well. Hello, Evan. returned from practice. Evan has returned from practice. Yeah, Evan has returned from practice. What was the mood? [Applause] So, Evan, I want to ask you and you know, you can go free form after this question, but I was uh talking with Paul before Mike got here and I was had my eyes on on Campbell for a little bit. 66. And would you say that he was lining up a little bit too far back? would would might he have been flagged for that in a real game? And I’m wondering because of that when he was doing his drop and when he got to his set, I thought he was just too close to Drake. I What did you think? Uh I thought there were some times where that might have been the case. I don’t know about where he if he was going to be flagged for where he was lining up. It’s kind of hard to tell without seeing him right down the the line. But I I think right now and for any young player, pretty much all of them probably, you know, he’s trying to figure out like where his set points are going to be at this level. You know, where what worked in college worked in college, but this is a different game. And it was something that in college, you know, he would often get opened up a little bit too quickly and that would allow guys to swim inside of him, you know, uh cross his face and get inside. So, I bet you there’s some tinkering going on with his stance, with his feet, you know, with his set points of where exactly he’s going to hit his landmark. So, it’ll be interesting to see uh how they kind of progress here. But I we were just talking to Morgan Moses after practice and I asked him like, “What what do you tell the young guys about these non-paddented practices?” And he said, “Don’t get discouraged because we got nothing to hold on to. Like, we there’s there’s no pads.” We had Mike and Wenu in here and he said the same thing. Yeah. You know, they’re they’re in these practice jerseys and they’re slippery and they’re they’re hard to get your hands on them like that. So, don’t don’t get discouraged that you might be missing some blocks that you think you should be making because once the pads go on, it’s a different game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We did have Mike here and we were talking about the three coaches that are involved with the offensive line and he agreed with what Doug Marone said in Forge and Foxboro that you know it’s great having all three. They all speak the same and it’s the same message even though you might be working with a different one one day than another. Uh he he he’s really liking it. He finds it really helpful. Yeah. I mean look it’s to me it’s it’s the tipping point of the team is if they can block. I know it all starts there if they because I think the rest of the pieces that they have will be good enough and especially with Josh Pack like I think he’ll be able to get guys open and he’ll be able to game plan and and do all that stuff to move the football. Can they block? Can they hold up up front? And you know they seem to be really trying to find a home for Jared Wilson as well. I think they just look at his talent and are like we this is a talent upgrade if we can find a spot for him whether it’s at center or it’s at left guard. So, there’s still some tinkering there with the lineups and as it is right now, it’s it’s hard to kind of say how the results are in non-patted practices, but that’s that’s it. That’s the X factor right now. Yeah. I saw Wilson and he came in one play and had a bad snap. It was too bad for him. And yeah, did you see we’re we’re unsure on that. Are you I’m almost positive it was Bradberry. Every there was some debate in the in the I think Wilson I think Wilson was at left guard on that. I’m sorry Jared Wilson if I got you wrong, but I’m not positive. There was a couple other people and then I was Mike and I were really watching the rotations from that point on for the other the ensuing team periods. And it would be Bradberry at center and then Wilson would come in at left guard for a play for Strange. Then the next play Bradberry would leave, Wilson would go to center, Strange would return. Yeah. And I could swear the play that there was a fumbled snap on after the play Bradberry was among the linemen that was running off. Yeah. Okay. Tough to tell. All right. Maybe I’m wrong. I can’t tell you definitively with a thousand% certainty, but I think it was Bradberry. Yeah. Okay. But every but there was a couple other people that thought what you guys thought. Yeah. I thought it was Wilson, too. But may you could be right. Maybe he was at left guard and and it just happened fast, right? And you just see him coming from that direction, right? But uh either way, there was an aborted snap. Whoever it was on, it doesn’t really matter. There was an aborted snap. But uh yeah, I mean I know that it gets boring talking about the offensive line sometimes, but for this team like that that’s it. More boring than anything else. Well, I was just thinking about Awenu. I mean, he’s had a different offensive line coach every single year of his career. It’s changed every single year. It’s it’s got to add up. It’s not easy to not even have had a coach. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Been David Andrews and James Far. Yeah. Right. Crazy. Um, we talked um a little bit about the wide receivers. Williams had a good day yesterday. Um, little less so today. Pop Douglas had a nice catch today. Um, after I asked you how’s Eftton Chisum doing, you said, “Well, he hasn’t done much yet.” He came in and had a nice pass down the field there where he found a soft spot and uh had a catch. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. No, another, you know, good day there completing passes. Thought Travian Henderson, you saw a little glimpse of the potential he might have just coming out of the back field on the swing passes and that kind of thing. Ray Randre Stevenson right back in the mix as you would think he would be. Um, but I mean I think it’s it’s you know fair to point out I went on the radio this morning to talk about the rotation and everyone said, “Oh, Moses was pulled for performance.” Well, now that’s not true. In fairness, one person said that. The person who was interviewing was the only person that I I didn’t read anybody say that. I didn’t read uh I didn’t hear anybody say that um except for the question that you got hit right out of the shoot with this morning on one of my shows. I I I think we’re all excited for the you know stability that Morgan Moses could potentially represent. But it’s also real positive if if this team sees some potential in Trey Jacobs and you know I mean that’s Morgan Moses isn’t going to be the long-term solution even if he has a great year this year. So, the fact that they’re keeping that door open and continuing to get Dantree Jacobs reps, I mean, I know he had a bad year last year amongst everybody having a bad year, but if they were to somehow get him on track and and solve that problem at right tackle for the long term with Trey Jacobs, then that’s that’s bigger positive to me than, you know, if Morgan Moses has one good year. That’s a Now, that’s some Patriots.com positivity right there. Sure. I was, you know, like I said, if if if Moses actually gets beat out by Jacobs, Moses isn’t a bad backup. Like I I you know, boy, tremendous optimism here. But I mean, but seriously, if your 34 year old veteran isn’t as good as what they had last year, we’re spinning that as a positive. Well, I’m just saying if this guy beats him out, legitimately beats him out, he’s improved. You think that’s good? Well, yeah, but but you saw the guy play like Jared Wilson. If he beats out Bradberry, that’s good. He’s an incoming rookie. We’ve never seen him play. If he’s better than a veteran, okay, that’s good. We’ve seen Trey Jacobs play, but he can’t have improved from, you know, like if he’s better than Morgan Moses, that’s not good. They’re in trouble. I actually look at it as I’m a little disappointed we’re not seeing Kayen Wallace get those opportunities to be the swing tackle. Do you think Morgan Moses is good? Yes. Yes. So if he beats him out, isn’t that a good thing? That means he’s not. It means Morgan Moses went the wrong way, right? It means he hit the He could look at it that way. Why do you guys think I’m first team reps, though? I mean, you guys are looking like, “Oh my god, it’s a disaster.” Like, they are from day one cuz I think Morgan Moses is on a pitch count right now. You keep But you keep saying that like you guys are saying that. I’m not saying anything about Morgan Moses’ performance. No, I’m the body language of Evan. Like, oh my god, Jerry Jacobs. That would be an absolute, you know, but but I’m with him. Like, so I think that based on what you saw, like if Vidarian Low and Trey Jacobs have to play, that’s not good. Well, that’s not good. But is the book necessarily completely written on Trey Jacobs? Is he that bad and he’s that untalented? I mean, am I going to say that he can’t improve at all? No, of course not. He could improve some, but that’s not good enough. Yeah. I don’t think you make that kind of a meteoric rise from what we saw last year to he’s the serviceable right tackle of the future. Yeah. Okay. That to me would be an astronomical turnaround. I I hate judging these guys from last year because they were all like it was just all bad. Like and why can’t an individual play well? He was also cut by another team and picked up by the Patriots in season. So I’m not trying to pick on him. I’m just like I I want to caution against that too. Yeah. Like I’m not trying to pick on Trey Jacobs individually, but to Paul’s point as a whole, you hope that the guys you brought in this year are better than the guys that you brought. And I hear you I and I certainly hear you about the center. If Wilson can come in and earn that spot, that’s a good thing. And that’s another part of it is Morgan Moses is a by all accounts a solid right tackle in the NFL. Bradberry last year was considered one of the worst centers in the NFL. Okay. So now I want to talk about that for a second. So, if Jared Wilson comes in as a rookie who’s never played yet and is better than that, I’m okay with that. I think that’s a positive development. All right. Correct me if I’m wrong about Bradberry last year. There was one category of his stats against in passing situations where he graded like one of the worst. I mean, he was something like 58 out of 64 centers, something like that. In that category? No, no, no. Overall his grade. Well, the obviously the passing blocking grade is going to have more more emphasis than run blocking. He’s a he’s an athletic center, but he’s undersized. He’s undersized and play strength and size in general. How long has he been in the league? Six, seven years. And he’s been a starter for most of those years. Yeah. And he was an early draft pick. He’s a very dynamic and he could be done maybe. Okay. I like there’s a reason why they wanted to move on from him and they targeted a center to replace him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he just can he can be targeted. You know, if you have a really good interior pass rusher, then a lot of teams will target him, you know, by putting them straight up over the center. But I feel bad about making fun of Trey Jacobs. I’m not trying. I want to caution against that, too. I’m not like there’s always outliers and things can he can start off at a spot and then improve to the point where Mike could be right and say like, “Well, that’s a really positive development.” Like, you didn’t expect this kind of improvement. Now all of a sudden he’s he’s like Tom Ashworth or you know some guy who really started at a at a low level and really got good to the point where he was more than adequate as and that could happen. So, I agree with Evan. I don’t want I don’t want a big but based on what I saw last year, I don’t want Verian Lowe and Trey Jacobs having to start at tackle. Like those those two just whatever metric you want to use, they graded out as two of the worst starting tackles in football last year. And you bring in Will Campbell. And I’d say the same thing about Will Campbell against Varian Low. Like Will Campbell definitely should beat out Vidarian Low. Like that shouldn’t even be a question, right? And I would say the same thing with Moses and and Trey Jacobs. But I’m not like worried about Moses at all. I think, you know, he’s on a pitch count maybe a little bit here early as a veteran that had a knee injury last year and they’re sort of easing him back into things and he’s maybe a little bit rusty as a result because he hasn’t had the reps yet. Yeah. And I I will state that emphatically, Mike, because I know that you did get hit with something today. And I’m just saying Mike was on the sports this morning. No, he did. Mike got on sports this morning. I saw the first thing out of the shoot it was like, “Was too short?” Morgan Morgan Moses was is is being replaced for performance and I and like so I don’t that I think that’s ridiculous. I heard it too. Okay. So I don’t think that’s what happened. I I agree with Evan. I agree with Mike. I think they’re there clearly have some things that they want to do and they’re rotating guys. Where did they get that from? Somebody must have been the offensive line struggled yesterday. He didn’t have a good practice and he didn’t practice well. Harold Landry was running around him yesterday. But today there was nobody really running around him and yet he still rotated out. Yeah. So I don’t think it was a performance thing. I think that’s a big leap to to say that he was yanked for performance. I think one of the things that listening to Moses today and then actually Stefan Diggs yesterday that stands out to me about with two guys that are proven veterans in this league that don’t have to build confidence and don’t have to like come out of the game like they the way that Dave talked about like the marathon that this is and and not the sprint and uh the like Stefan Diggs yesterday was like it’s day one like like who cares like we went out there and we put the work in and you know you guys are going to do what you do but in terms of reporters, but like you know he he said that that was his message to all the younger guys in the wide receiver room is like this is this is the first day like let’s not like people were asking him questions like what’s his chemistry like with Drake May and he’s like it’s day one you know like ask me in a month and I feel like with these guys like Moses and Diggs they just have a comfort level and a confidence already in the league that they don’t need to come out you know like a rookie or a secondyear player and be be like I’m the man right like they already know they’re the man. So, just give it some time. I think part of this for me, I would relate it to my to my Jaylen Pulk take, which didn’t hasn’t taken a great turn the first two days, but I guess I’m still reserving some optimism for guys who weren’t that great last year because of a new coaching staff and a new system and and I haven’t closed the door on guys that had bad seasons last year. I’m still going to allow them to miss the first two two days of practice. Like, not a great sign. Not, you know, might have to walk that back. But at the same time, I still think that some of these guys could blossom. And that’s where I live with my analysis. I’m not, you know, and I think that’s more than fair, Mike. And I would say like I was in your shoes yesterday during our our live show um during practice about Kyle Duggar. And I, you know, I think everybody has completely given up on Kyle Duggar, and that’s okay. Um, you know, I remember just a couple years ago where he was making a lot of plays. I think with a better coaching staff and a better scheme, maybe he goes back to that. Yeah, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe, you know, maybe he’s banged up a little bit. Maybe he doesn’t quite have the mobility and athleticism that he had coming out. And, you know, maybe he’s done. I think next guy up in in these early practices, I know it’s early, but it does mean something. You know, who is the next guy to come in after, you know, the supposed ones? and the fact that it’s, you know, whoever it is, it’s like, okay, they’re giving him some reps early, which we’ve always seen through history, that’s a sign. Yeah. So, they start to get more as the as the thing goes on. I don’t know. I mean, I get what Evans getting at that it’s just he’s the guy. He’s the next guy up right now. Would it I mean, I guess Varian Lo is going to probably stay on the left side anyway, but you know, we’ve seen some flipping even with Marcus Bryant. He played a little left tackle, little right tackle. They’re filling him out as well. I’ll give you that one. You know, if Marcus Bryant because he hasn’t he was in that role, I would feel I would feel better about it, but I feel like and that’s that’s that’s very nitpicky are on the same page in terms of like you Kyle Duggar, Jabriel Peppers, Raandre Stevenson, even Mike Onwenu, like those guys that had quote unquote down years last year, I’m willing to bet that they’re closer to the players that they worked because you’ve seen them have good years, right? Yeah. You know, I think that’s just all it is. But it’s a it’s interesting to with that is, you know, they brought a lot of those guys back and it didn’t work out last year. Uh Paul was right at least for one season. Oh, he’s been right way too much. So, let’s see what happens though. You know, if those guys all play to their contracts this year, then we kind of have our answer about what last year was all about. But overall, I would say I’m with Mike in terms of the optimism with the coaching and the changes in the schemes and just a a better just have a comfort level that I didn’t have last year. I didn’t have the faith. Yeah. Last year. And I do have some faith now. What what that means, does that mean they’re going to win 12 games like some people are predicting? I don’t think so. But I do think that they will be better. And I think that they’re going to without question beh well coached. I just have to say generally speaking the way the offense has just looked and I know there have been some issues but it’s it’s encouraging to me. I I’ve seen a lot of bad offensive football in training camp over the last few years and for the first few days where Drake starting his comfort within the offense. I just I think it’s a really positive start for these guys. Seeing active uh you know you mentioned Kyle Williams had had a had a drop pass had a drop punt punt catch as well. Um, but I think there’s a lot of positive coming out of these first couple days, especially for Drake, for Josh. And look, that’s what we talk about all the time. They have to be able to put points on the board. Two days in, what does it mean? We’ll see. But as much as you can ask for, it’s not, you know, there were a couple mistakes today. I mean, you know, we talked about the the dropped um the dropped snap. Um, but still, I think that there’s a lot of really good things happening out there. Yeah. I think the only nitpick that I would have on the offense so far is it’s a lot of short stuff and it’s a lot of underneath and it’s a lot of quick game and that’s Josh McDaniels. Like some of that’s going to be the system. It’s going to be a lot of short and intermediate throws. I saw Mike Reese, you know, tweeted out something that I hadn’t really thought of as some spin because you know it’s Mike Reese. He he said that you know maybe that’s a way to turn down the turnovers for Drake May, right? like if you’re finding efficient completions, then you’re not, you know, necessarily putting the ball in harm’s way. But I just thought that there were times where he was looking downfield and he wanted to let it go down the field today and there just wasn’t really much going on to get the ball to push it down the field. He also had a couple of those checkdowns that Paul hates where he’s like kind of like, you know, Yeah. One of them got knocked down by Jeremiah Farms. Yeah. And I I I don’t we Do you notice what I’m talking about with that? he throws it at a different velocity. I don’t mind it when he’s like if he’s running and he’s trying to pull the defense with him and then he kind of just flips it, that’s different. But when he does it and it’s kind of just like an afterthought and he’s just like, “Oh, no one’s open downfield. I’m just going to check it down.” I actually think Rabel might have might have coached him up on it after the last team. That was one thing he said yesterday that I really got excited about was they asked him what you know some of the things he’s working on and kind of what Evan’s talking about is one of the things he’s working on sort of remaining a passer as a scram on scrambles when he gets out of the pocket. That’s kind of to use Evans term his superpower. He has the ability to make big plays by sort of and you know like the phrase like quarterbacks sometimes throw a receiver open. Well he can scramble a receiver open. He did it a few times last year. But you got to keep your remember the one to Hunter Henry that he had like you just kind of ran around. He dumped it to him for like a 30 yard like nobody anywhere near. Unfortunately it was in a blow up but the one in Miami was that was the one I’ve been waiting I’ve been waiting since May to see no pun intended to see him do and unfortunately it just came in a game where they were getting smoked. So that was one of the things he he’s like sort of consciously and I do think that’s a varable um and maybe that’s where the big plays come from like I don’t know if they have the the weapons on the outside to make big plays organically within the offense. So the big plays might have to come from Drake, you know, him scrambling him uh you know in playground mode and and creating out of the pocket. Yeah. The phrase that that kept popping into my mind was something that they actually had inforged of just take the profit Drake, you know, and that was something that Josh McDaniel said and that’s how it felt today. I don’t know how much how managed it was because it felt intentional and not oh just take what’s there. It seemed kind of this is what they were working on. But I think it’s a a good sign. You’re seeing stuff the coaches are talking about and then today efficient getting the ball out. It’s good. I will say I would like to see and everything offensively I think has been largely positive so far. You know two couple of days in shorts and whatnot. This is what’s supposed to happen. But it is um a couple of false starts here and there. You know we mentioned the fumbled snap. I like to clean up some of that stuff. Looks like there’s some They tried to do I thought some some tempo today a little bit at times, you know, uh, you know, completing a play and quickly getting another play off and there looked like there was some confusion as to where guys were lining up. But, but overall, I would say that what Mike said at the start of this segment is accurate. We’ve seen some bad offense in training camp. It’s only two days. I haven’t seen really bad offense in training camp yet. Bad football. Not no bad. Not, you know, not not the bleep that will get you beat, right? How’s the kicker looking? Uh, there was some question on a couple of the last little windy today. Very windy. Yeah, I think the wind affected both of them. I think they both missed their last attempts, but it was kind of hard to tell. We were far away. Could you tell if No, I had They didn’t have anybody underneath. Plus, you don’t care. No, they I’ll leave that to bar. You always like It’s like You should have seen how he was. I need to get somebody this right now. Anybody get that? I’m going to run. pulling the during during the spring they would like run to get underneath the goal post. I think they were both three for four today when their first they’ll have it him and Brian Hines will have it. I know. Yeah, the trajectory the launch angle and he already has hang times on Bryce Baron today. I will say this cuz you know me I have to find something that I’m not not happy with. Uh a couple I think they both attempted four field goals. Two of Borales didn’t look right. One of them he made. Yeah. It was the uh was but it was that 10 to seven ball was rotating sideways thing. That’s not that’s not good. Knuckle a knuckler and it was two of them. Two out of his four. How’s the operation looking? The operation is something to keep an eye on. You know, you get a rookie long snapper and you know that that’s like a sneaky thing to me that no one cares about. I just thought I would like Cardona was like really good at his job for like almost a decade and then they moved on from him and drafted a rookie long snapper and it will happen once like you know that it will matter because it’s not like it’s going to be like a whole train wreck. You’re right. They had a they had a veteran long snapper for years and years and Lonnie Paxton who you never had to worry about and then when they moved on from him they drafted Jake Ingram and it was an issue. He wasn’t great. He didn’t last long. cycling through guys like Tucker Addington was one of them I think it was one of the names. Yeah. Uh Tyler writes in at podcastpages.com. He says, “First of all, congratulations to Evan on his marriage. Thank you. I’m writing in to take an early victory lap on an email I sent this spring. I wrote in asking about thoughts on drafting or signing a UDFA fullback and specifically mentioned Brock Lampy because he was from my alma mater, Northern Illinois. Evans scoffed at the idea of discussing a fullback because he preferred getting another email asking if Will Campbell’s arms were long enough or if any wide receiver won. Fullback me. Can I step in before you finish reading that? Sure. I’m going to guess that I scoffed. There’s Evan thinks that McDaniels’s offense uh you in that offense you need a fullback and he’s fully expecting a fullback to be on the roster. I’m going to guess that I scoffed at that. All right. Sounds He says, “It looks like Lampy is in the driver’s seat of getting the fullback job, and I’m looking forward to having a Husky on the team finally.” Well, we’ll see. But 90% I might pump the brakes a little, but he’s in the mix. He’s in the mix. I want to see I want to see who gets cut. I want to see who gets cut. I’m not going to lose my mind over it now, but I want to see who get if they cut a good player to keep a fullback, I’m not going to be happy. There was uh there was one play today where they the formation I’ll just say I was very excited. I was like, “This this is exact.” And it’s funny because power eye right. No, no, it was 22. It was it was empty. It was it was a passing formation. Uh but yeah, they kind of inverted the formation and uh and I knew, you know, I saw like James Develin running out. I I want to say I want to I don’t know if I should. And then like you know, it just it was great. It it reminded me of of good times of you know, like Brady, he would see it, right? Like when you would put the fullback or the running backs out wide, those are coverage indicators. Like do they follow them with a linebacker or do they stick the corners outside still and when the corners stay outside, you usually know it’s zoned because the corners wouldn’t normally cover the fullback. So like when you do that, you can kind of give an indicator uh to the quarterback of what the coverage is. And Drake May saw it right away. Saw that the corner stayed out there, knew it was zone, took the profit. I was like, “Yeah, Josh is back. That’s it.” Couple couple other just headlines for me. Uh I know you guys might have talked about no Carlton Davis today after PUP. We haven’t talked about it yet back and uh you know it seemed like Barour still on a little bit of account himself which as we said the roster we did talk about seems like that but a little disappointing that I I mean you know I know we like well did he did Carlton Davis fail the conditioning test or what? Like I don’t know maybe there’s something else going on but it’s just disappointing. Just a quick clarification, he opened on NFI and that’s why I sort of wonder why he opened on NFI because he wasn’t NFI he wasn’t eyed earlier in the spring. Right. Right. And he could be sick. Yeah. Bar was could be as sick as simple as that. Yeah. Yeah. Bar was off on on the sidefield at one point was it looked like with the trainers going like trying to test whatever was going on with him. So Jeremiah Farm saw a lot more time today uh as a result. But, you know, that’s definitely noteworthy with with Barmore. Yep. Something to monitor. Alex in Raleigh, North Carolina. I saw a video where Bertrren and Zo, one of Paul shows, were watching practice on the first day and Bertrren made it seem like Kyle Williams needed a red jacket already. Like, I’m excited for the kid, but can we get him on the field in a game before we start giving out jackets? I appreciate your analysis that is realistic, honest, and not overinflating the good and really digging into the bad. Truly the best show covering Patriots. Well, thanks for the compliments, but sarcasm is obviously lost on people because I I heard the the the clip with beetle with Beetle and Zo and that sounds more like Beetle to me. They they were over the top negative first on the offensive line on purpose like, “Oh my god, this is a disaster and then like we got a receiver.” Like they were like screaming. You know, neither one of them were meant to be taken fully seriously. I kind of like the He made two catches yesterday. Yeah. Everybody made a big deal about the one on Gonzo because it’s Christian Gonzalez and the all prayer corner that he’s making the play on. I actually like the other one better because the other one to me was showing that juice and that explosiveness after the catch with the ball in his hands that I’m hoping that he’s going to bring to the offense. I’m not really lock step with Evan Lazar. I’m I don’t know if I’ve ever done that. I’m not really like expecting him to go out there in an NFL game and start boxing out corners. Like that’s just not He’s a 510 185 lb speed receiver. like I just don’t think that that’s his game. But he came across the shallow part of the field on a little drag route and Robert Spolain was on his horse and he was and Robert Splain could not get him and yeah and I was like all right that that’s that’s the juice you know that’s what you’re hoping he’s going to bring. I I mean I wonder is he gonna start to push Kan Booty at that X spot and can he bring that element Evan mentioned earlier in the show of explosiveness and downfield threat that clearly dangerous with the ball in his hands but just also like just seeing how Diggs looks like Diggs. I mean there’s no it doesn’t at all. I mean I I think they were manage him a little bit. He had some reps where he came out. Um but even still I think he just looks ready to go and it’s fun. It’s fun having a good receiver. Everyone can make fun of me for that one for sure. But I’m trying not to get too excited yet because he he looks awesome. But I I mean it’s early. I mean a couple of those catches today. I mean well it was what he had couple there in the in the first series. Um but still he’s just that that’s what he is that precision route running and you know smooth looks good. 855 past 500 is the hotline. Let’s go to Nate in Connecticut. What’s up Nate? Nate. Three two one. Nate is gone. call back if you want camp right now. Um Christian in LA, what’s going on? Yeah, you guys know what’s going on. Uh first of all, this Paul, thank you guys for having me on show. How the heck did I try less? I literally I tried too hard. Your your phone’s breaking up, unfortunately. Oh, I I was I don’t know if you guys could understand. Did you understand what he’s saying? Oh, man. You guys hear me? No, your phone’s breaking up. Call back. Sorry about that. Ry’s in Providence. What’s up? Want a little more money? You can afford a better plan. Hi. How’s it going, guys? Good. You got a good connection. Thank you, Randy. Okay, good. Glad to be here. Um, so I’ve been thinking a lot about uh the concept of a Drake May kind of breakout year or what his advancement might look like. And I think that it wouldn’t be like a statistical production thing where he like, you know, puts up 4,000 yards or whatever like that. I think it’s more of a limiting mistake, learning to read default to having some issues. Yeah, you’re breaking up, too. I don’t know. Are you on a speaker phone? No. No. You at the bottom of a well. Yeah. It’s You’re kind of like I a little bit underwater. I got it. like he was saying that it doesn’t necessarily man like Drake May’s breakout might not necessarily manifest itself in statistics like fantasy football stuff but it might be more of like you know the intangible things consistency consistency clutch leadership you know you know actually winning games uh Nate’s calling back what’s up Nate come on Nate hey guys can you guys hear me well yeah perfect all right so uh sorry if I disconnected earlier that was my fault I accidentally hung up um but My question for you guys is what have you seen out of Milton Williams so far. Um, I guess a lot of people say he was only good and Philly because of the the monster D line that they had. Um, but I feel like that’s not true. I feel like he’s a really good player. Um, but what have you seen out of him during training camp? If he is advertised or is he just another guy on the D line? I I mean it’s so hard to tell at this point, Nate. you know, like especially with an interior guy, they’re a they’re not going full speed. They don’t have pads on. So to understand like how what his strengths would be at this point, it it’s hard to know. And then the the the knock on him, it it was Yes. Like Nate said, he was surrounded by such a great line with all that depth. It he wasn’t out there all the time. Yeah. You know, I noticed him a couple times. We’ll see. Part-time player and surrounded by talent. But yeah, I I agree with Fred. I can’t tell you what his strengths are right now because we haven’t seen him really play. I mean, I’ll tell you what I like most about him so far is how Mike Vable said he’s consumate professional and is here all the time and he seems like a serious football guy. Seems like he’s not a guy who got paid and now is just going to coast. He seems every bit as intense as he was, you know, when he played for Philly. I noticed him more yesterday. I felt like the ball was coming out a little quicker today with with short stuff, so it wasn’t as much chance. I mean, it’s sometimes just random as you practice like guys catch your eye here and there and something might catch you guys eye that didn’t catch my eye, which you doesn’t mean it’s not true, but there’s just, you know, there’s so much to watch at once. That’s what makes football fun, right? All right, we’re going to take a break. My food’s here. Just want to remind you again uh about Brunt Workware. They’re based right here in New England. They make work boots and apparel that are built for the job site. Their gear is comfortable, durable, named after the real workers in the trades that help design it. You can even try Brunt out on the job. If it doesn’t blow you away, they let you send it back. Save $10 on your first order at bruntworkwear.com/pats or with coupon code Pats. So get your Brunt Workware. We’ll take a break. We’ll be right back after this. Whether you’re in the game or betting on the game, you’ll need a game plan. DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the New England Patriots, provides you with everything you need to build your personal betting game plan so you can get in on all the action while practicing safe bets. Visit draftkings.com/responsible-gaming to learn more about all the safe betting tools DraftKings has to offer. Hope is here 800 327-50 or gamblinghellinemma.org. Must be 21 plus. Play it smart from the start. gamesensemma.com physically present in Massachusetts. See draftkings.com/responsible-gaming for details and state specific responsible gambling resources. Isn’t it time to get exactly what you want? 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Um, I think some coming out here, you know, we’re kind of the stuff that we kind of major in in the spring. um stuff that we know um still some stuff to clean up I think um you know pre- snap you know communication uh cadence trying to kind of use that to our advantage but I thought we made some plays um made some plays down the field I thought the guys up front fought it’s hard to block without pads but I thought they did a good job and I think just you know coming out and come out each reach every day and just try to build on it throwing session in Charlotte how did that come to be and yeah when was that for you to establish yourself as a leader on this team I think it’s something that you know you miss those guys for a month and you know you just want to get back get a refresher for them whether it’s routewise playwise I think The most important thing is just bonding together. I think getting the guys together, um, going out to eat, having some fun, getting some work in, and I think it was glad those guys, you know, came out and and showed up. Really reacted to your first completion with Steph. What was that like heard? It’s good to have him out there. I mean, he’s a good player. Made a lot of plays in this league. Um, you know, thanks to the fans out here, um, for showing up. You know, I wish I could, you know, sign everybody. Um, I think that’s what that’s what makes the league go, these fans, you know, coming out here and coming out here on a whatever day it is, Wednesday, we’re in camp now, who knows the days, but, uh, coming out here and, you know, supporting us and, you know, being here for us in the hot and the heat and I think, uh, that’s what makes it go. So, it’s fun to be out here and make some plays. Did you catch it by surprise all of a sudden you throw this little pass and all of a sudden they react? No, it’s one of those things you figure uh, just like the first catch in the game, I’m sure, you know, a home game if we get a big big roar. I think that’s what you want. You want guys that, you know, the fans like that they they want and I think, you know, there’s a lot of roars for a lot of different players around here. Drake, there’s so much talk about you taking that jump in leadership in year two. How much is that mic in your ear encouraging it versus just kind of letting you naturally get to that point? Yeah, there’s a little bit of both. I think um he does a great job of kind of giving me um you know, kind of points where I can improve or points where, hey, maybe do this. Um I think he’s also kind of let me go and kind of see where I’m at. And I think it’s kind of a challenge for me to um kind of lead this football team and lead this offense. Drake, uh, your second TRA camp, how much more confident are you than your first? Yeah, it’s a lot different. Uh, kind of coming here, know what to expect. That’s what I was telling the rookies earlier. You know, it’s going to be a kind of whirlwind. Um, you’re kind of scrambling from period to period and next thing you know, you um you’re up against the defense and um some full speed plays. So, I think just take your time, enjoy it. Um, you know, take the time to watch the film and I think more than that, just have fun. I mean, you know the plays, just don’t overthink it. And I think just play instinctive learning the offense. How close do you feel you are to kind of mastering the system that you’ve been? Yeah, I mean it takes a while, I think, to master something. Um, at the level that some of these guys played at. Um, so I think I got a long way to go, but I think I’m I like where I’m at. Got some uh more stuff to improve on. Um, I think it all comes, you know, facing defenses. I think you can master it. You know, hey, what are these guys going to do on the route? I think there’s a different kind of level when you’re facing different, hey, versus coverage. What are you going to do? And I think there’s a different level to it that I think that we’re kind of, you need to tap into. The base stuff. Yeah, the base stuff. I feel good. I mean, I think, um, I think it’s more of a judge of of how I how I play today. Um, so I think we moved the ball well. Um, I threw one um kind of one ball which I had back, but they they play a good coverage for what we had. Um, so I think it’s just one of those things we learned from it and um try not to let those defensive guys get me. What’s your level from Kyle Williams? Yeah, Kyle. Um, I know he’s backside one-on-one with Gonzo. Um, he made a big time catch, you know, strong hands. I told him to uh maybe sell a little more. Um, just try to, you know, give him a go route feel. Uh, but I think he’s he’s uh he’s coming along. He’s looking good. Um, I told Gonzo I’m going to come at Gonzo. I’m not going to, you know, backside. I’m not going to, you know, leave him out here bored at practice. Um, so good for, you know, rookie to make a play like that. And, uh, I think it’s just going to get better and better. Drake, what’s your level of excitement coming into year two now and and with Vel and with the vibe around here? Um, I think it’s awesome. I think coming out here and um, kind of a reset, you know, everybody, you know, feels good coming into camp. I think it’s kind of you get a tester, you get a feel when you come these practices and these joint practices, you get a real feel where you’re at. So, I’m excited for you where this team’s going. I think we got some more work to do. Um, get in shape. Um, kind of small details offensively. Uh, but I like where um, kind of, you know, day one where we’re at and I think we got some some more work to do. What about working with Stephon D? Is that exciting for you? Yeah, anytime, you know, an allp pro and a player like that. He made some plays out here today. Um, it’s it’s awesome being able to um, you know, throw to a guy like that and even when you feel like he’s not open, he’s going to go make a play for you. And, uh, kind of tight coverage, you know, he’s you’ll you know, strong receiver, going to make plays. And I think it’s uh we got a bunch of those guys in the room that are kind of kind of earn their role and find their role. Do you have some trust already sort of established with Digs just based on what he’s done in his career, Drake, or is there still a long way to go there? I think there’s certain players um that you know have trust right when they come in. You know, Garrett Bradberry and Big Mo up front, you know, guys like that have been in this league, you know, played a bunch of starts. Uh M. Holland, Hunter Henry, those guys, you know, you trust like trust is basically it’s is me kind of earning my trust for them is really Oh, sorry. Sorry. you. Sorry. Um, it’s me really kind of uh kind of earning their trust and kind of me kind of making them feel like, yeah, they can, you know, trust that guy back there. I think those guys already have it, you know, built in with what they’ve done in this league. Your second year, how much will it help you knowing what the joint practices are about, knowing what the preseason games about, help you get what you need out of them? I think I think it’s a huge help. That’s what the biggest thing is. You know, they say your rookie year is just, you know, one like, you know, after your rookie year, you’re just like all the rest of of the guys veteran wise. So, the rookie year is different. You don’t really know what to expect. You’re coming out here and um I remember the Eagles came out here and they I was in a drill and um shoot a a Mike Blitz came and I was under gun or I was under center and he basically was unblocked. So little things like that that you kind of learn as a rookie that you know things don’t happen like that. I think coming into year two hopefully um will be a kind of bigger strive for me um kind of take the next level to playing you know kind of chess match with the defense and then uh we got some good teams coming here that we’re playing. Enjoy practicing. We’re going, you coming here against Washington and we’re going up to Minnesota with two good defenses and two playoff teams. So, how much of a uh how much of a leadership role do you see yourself taking this year in year two? Are you comfortable stepping up and being more of a leader, not just with the offense, but with the team as a whole? Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, I’m trying to be I think that’s something you got to earn. I think it’s something I come in there every day. Um, you know, work hard, play good in practice. I think that’s a big part. You know, take practice seriously. I think the practice translates to the games. It’s hard to get, you know, this this simulation. It’s not basketball. You can’t go get shots, open three-pointers, you know, you’re you’re there’s nothing like being in the mix of it with a lot of bullets going. So, try to earn, you know, kind of earn my stripes in practice and then from there just uh try to go on and hopefully win some games and I think that will help. You’re always working on final questions, guys. You’re always working on stuff. What’s what’s new in your toolbox this year when you’re uh working on stuff? Um yeah, I think uh just kind of remaining a passer longer when I scramble. I think that’s big. Um kind of getting outside the pocket, remaining a passer longer, hoping some big plays, scramble plays, and just making the defense. I feel like, you know, I had good times last year where had some guys deep that I may have missed them or or took off running instead. So, just try to remain a passer and uh just keep trying to work on footwork. I think that’s the big thing. New offense, um you know, new play actions, new uh new new concepts, just try to time it up and and get a good group. So, Drake, you you said you were excited about the prospects of this team going forward. What excites you most? Is there something specific that you can point to and say, “This is going to be good.” What excites me most? So, I like that question. Um, I think you got a guys around here that are are tired of of losing around here and the guys that want to win. I think that’s what excites me most. We guys want to win around here. I think, you know, the past two or three years around here and the past year for me, I can only speak for myself, but I think there’s guys around here that are tired of losing, want to win. So, thank you guys. And now, great moments in history. Evan lecturing tomorrow about local cuisine. Didn’t he eat McDonald’s in Germany? No, that was me. I I did not eat McDonald’s. That was Tamara. I did eat McDonald’s. I was going to say that was actually Tamara. I ate Tamara and Alex and Matise, right? I I had McDonald’s twice in charge. Don’t throw me in that. Wait, did you go to Five? Five Guys. We went a Mike and I went to Five Guys, but I also had the schnitle. Wait, but I I will call out I will call out Evan on this. He was too good for German coffee. He had to have Starbucks. That’s true. I do I do recall that. I immediately texted Beth and said, “Oh, you’d like Abony to drink Starbucks.” I’m sure it doesn’t surprise anybody that I am a food snob. Yeah, I that that’s food. Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Yeah, I’m sure it doesn’t surprise anybody. Patrick Patrick in Ottawa thinks I’m a food snob. He says when Fred speaks agree when Fred speaks of food, it’s with such snobbery. There’s no questions. He channels the soul of Eric. You tell everybody don’t get this, get this. This is the better maker Fred. Yeah, I feel like Fred and I are on the same wavelength, but he take he does it a little bit more than I do. He’s worse than you at it. So I I smash before Smashburgers became the the tavern burger. That’s the one. That’s the one. You’re wasting your time with the whiskey river barbecue. No mayo on it. Don’t put mayo on it. Yeah, mayo will ruin it. Uh put the mayo on a steak. I don’t know, but Fred’s always telling me not to put mayo on something. That’s another great moment from All right, back here on Patriots unfiltered. It’s Deuce, it’s Paul, it’s Evan, it’s me, it’s Matt in the booth. Um, just want to remind people or if you don’t already know that there’s a raffle going on. It’s called the road trip raffle. You can enter to win uh for your chance to travel to New Orleans as the Patriots take on the Saints on October 12th. One lucky fan will receive two tickets on a private charter to the game. tickets to the game, hotel accommodations, and much more. Enter for a chance to win for just $10. All the proceeds benefit the Patriots Foundation. Uh the way to enter and way you purchase your ticket is go to patriots.com/ community and look for the road trip raffle and join us in New Orleans, me and Evan. Yes, we’ll say hello to you. Food snacks. New Orleans is got your good food. Great food. Yeah, great. What do you like what do you get down there? What’s the the like crocodile you get your beignet? Yeah, beignetes are big. But I I the restaurants down there are supposed to be incredible food. I I have to credit Eric. He uh he took us He took us He didn’t pay, but uh he took us to a restaurant that created the Bananas Foster. Oh. So like when you have your dessert, they come right to the side of your table and they got the fire going with the the pan and they make it right there. right next to your It was delicious. It was delicious. It’s making me hungry. Yeah, we just had pizza time actually cuz uh I don’t know if you guys ever heard of that place, but they had some leftover pizza. That’s a Michelin star. Pizza time. Pizza. Really? It was So, we had Who ordered pizza? It was leftover from yesterday. That was yesterday. Giant order from yesterday. Was in the fridge. Pizza. No, I thought I didn’t I I thought maybe we just took it off the table. I’m sorry. I’m a little bit uh I’m a little bit thrown off because I didn’t realize I was sitting in a sping wet chair from so I could finally soak through. Actually apologized when he got up and I said, “Don’t worry about it. That’s Deuce seat.” So So no, but honestly, we need the rubber sheets. It’s not Mike’s fault because he just came off the practice field and we appreciate that. So we’ll just have to make note that when we get players off the p I I wrote it down, but I’ll get some rubber patch. Yeah. Yeah. No, seriously. You know, like Yeah, we’ll do that. Pretty sick. The rubber. Did you see uh Ted Carris on Edelman’s podcast talking about the towel? Oh no, the baby powder incident. This has been written before, but you know Brady with Centers would make them put a towel in their pants because Brady didn’t want the sweat dripping all over the ball and all over him. So he put the they had he spins a lot for those manicures. You don’t want to like you know Yeah. And apparently he Ted Carris didn’t know when he was like a young player rookie and Brady did it on the sideline pulled his pants down on the sideline and and put the towel in in his pants for him right in the front of you know Ted Garrison like in front of 65,000 people that’s I Who was the guy though that was just notoriously bad sweater like he started it was it sto I don’t know I don’t know it could have been Paul news a lot of us yeah there was one guy who was just like one of the few bad guys he made his way through the locker room. I’m not I don’t know what he’s like in real life, but in the locker room, he went out of his way to be unfriendly and like really nasty, confrontational. Yeah. Yeah. But I heard off the field like he’s coach he’s coaching football now. He seems like people like him, but Oh, he was mean to us and just out of his way to be mean. Yeah. And not just it wasn’t like an US thing. It was everybody. Everybody. He must have been especially happy after everyone was blaming him for tipping the signals in the what the 20 was it the 2015 or 2013 AFC Championship game where they said von Miller was getting off the ball in like.5 seconds cuz they seem to know that the snap count. Well, you know another guy who like was mean to some people but was really nice to us was Ferret Collins. Remember him? Who? It might have been before your Oh, Freak Collins was mean to me. Oh, he was mean to you? Yeah. Oh, he was nice to me. He was very mean to me. Yeah. Feric. He was a defensive lineman. Yeah. Yeah. How was he mean to you? Told me to haul ass. Well, he does that. Yeah. He does ass. He does that. It’s funny because usually remember him talking about Ed Duckworth. It just came out of his neck. I think that was Henry Thomas. No, I think that was Fericans. But anyway, Ed Duckworth like this oldtime scribe like the old crusty guy and smoke cigarettes. He’s the one that dug dubbed me sunshine.com. Yeah. All all he would do is smoke cigarettes and drink coffee. So like his breath was always cigars. He’s like, “Man, that guy’s breath it stinks. It comes out of his neck. It’s it’s awful.” It was. Yeah. Well, it’s funny because I always feel like offensive linemen are generally like some of the most talkative, friendly, amiable players in the locker room. I know Dr. Z, one of Dr. Z’s book that he wrote, he’s like, “Always go talk to the offensive lineman. They know what’s going on. They’re always usually happy to talk to you.” Um, but I guess Brian Stroke was the exception. Uh, Eric in New Hampshire, Erica in New Hampshire writes in, “New listener, uh, first time email. Uh, my boyfriend’s been listening for a while and he’s a huge fan.” Well, thanks. Excellent. I’m calling out Sean from Pennsylvania. So, first time emailer immediately listener on listener crime. I love it. Calling out Shawn of Pennsylvania for his too much Julian Edelman take from Tuesday’s episode. Respectfully, Sean, there actually wasn’t enough Julian Edelman in episode two of Forge in Foxboro. They should put him more of him in. Actually, you can replay his catch from Super Bowl 51 for 45 minutes for all I care. Played all 12 season with New England, retired a Patriot, was inducted in the Patriots Hall of Fame. What more can you ask for from the guy? I’m with Sean. Yeah, to be honest with you, I’m with Sean. Can Can we show like the Cam Chancellor one a little bit more? Oh, like the 51 catch is awesome, too. But like the 49 catch is maybe just as good and like he gets his bell rung by Cam Chancellor and just like hangs on to the ball and like I feel like that’s a great catch too. It doesn’t get enough love. You could probably easily make a video top 10 Julian Edelman third down catches in the playoffs. Like just simply that in Kansas City just I mean there’s there’s easily 10 of them. I mean I can think of like five of them right off the top of my head. I mean I I just think that like we’re you know that there’s two ways of looking at it. We’re trying to do some stuff and I understand we get, you know, we’re listening to everybody’s voice that’s talking about the team. This is about this team. This is about 2025. Yeah. So, I don’t need to see like his catch in Super Bowl 51. Yeah. You were there. Oh, I think that was fine. No, no, no. I’m not talking about the the documentary like the the fight back on Shawn here. Like, yeah. Like I I mean, should we have Tom Brady on too? Like I I want I want to know. Well, I mean, at least with Brady, in fairness, as I’m correcting myself, he played he played with Brael. Like, I don’t know. We’ve had walk we’ve had greatness walk through this building and achieve great things. And I think it’s to hear their comments on I think is always okay. Something that we shouldn’t forget about. Yeah. Jewel’s a draw no matter what. Um, let’s see who’s this dinner plates he calls himself. Uh, wow. Mike is big. Not you, Mike. And Wenu, the desk couldn’t contain him. He made you guys look like Oompa Loompas. Uh, even the pre2025 2 liter before picture Paul would be a snack to him. I don’t mean this in a derogatory way, but he’s like a thoroughbred Clydesdale. He’s actually an NFL offensive lineman. So, I mean, he’s named Big Mike. He’s also not even the biggest one. I mean, he’s the widest probably, but like in terms of like like Morgan Bo is a bigger guy. Yeah. Put uh put the other rookie on there. Uh, what’s his name? Marcus Bryan. Marcus Brian. Monster. He’s like 68, right? Uh, let’s get back to the hotline. Sean’s in Virginia. Hey, Sean. Hello. How you guys doing? Okay. Good. Good. I just wanted to pause uh when it comes to a level of optimism. I think that’s reason for great optimism because I think when you factor in that uh if they can get great uh you know uh at least they can have a great confident offense. Um, I think that can allow the defense to get more much more rest. But I think the thing that goes under the radar is that the reason why sometimes the defense has been bad over the years or whatever is because they spend too much time on the field at least when you have Brady had a confident offense or whatever was able to chill on the field the field for some time, whatever. But it feel like in recent years they haven’t really gotten that at time. I think that if they can get that this year, I think that I could wear 11 games. That’s just me. Okay. Thanks, Sean. complimentary football, you know, in all three phases to help each other out. Parcels used to say, “It’s giving each other hope.” Yeah. You know, the defense gives the offense hope and the offense gives the defense hope. I think both agree. Both sides need to improve on that from last year. The offense needs to give it over to less. The defense needs to turn it over more and feed into everything that Sean just said. And the punts, you know, you got to have the punts be good. Yep. You got to have field when we the field position battle. Yeah. Have the other team’s defense tired in the fourth quarter, not yours. Right. Um, Sam’s in San Francisco. What’s up, Sam? Hey guys, just a quick uh question here about the running backs. I know it’s hard to gauge when they’re not uh in pads, but I really thought Antonio Gibson outplayed Raande for most of the latter part of last year. I thought he really should have got more touches. But do you think we’re holding? Do you think we got four guys on the uh on the roster now or we keep three? I know we got the rookie with some juice that everyone’s been talking about, but what what do you guys think the plan is? Think of Brandon. What the plan is? Oh, the plan is what the plan’s like with all the running back. I’m not sure who he’s talking about the running there’s like six running seven running backs or something like on the roster, right? I mean, if you count Lampy, I would count them all. If we’re going to say they’re on the roster, I mean, for some reason, we say that they have a crowded wide receiver room, right? If we’re going to count them all that are on the roster, I know I like Terrell Jennings should count, Lan Larrison should count, Antonio Gibson in both trevons should count. There’s three running backs on the roster, maybe four. I I Yeah, I think you’re you’re trying to decide does does ES boy Lampy count in the group and is that three plus a fullback? He counts with the tight ends. Does he count as three plus a fullback? Yeah. or does he count or does he not have a a job and then you have to add a tight end? There’s a lot of different ways that you can build a roster. Yeah. And I think it’s way too early to try to, you know, the wide receivers get the attention, but there’s 91 guys on the team right now. All the rooms are crowded, you know. Yeah. And every team around the league has roughly the same amount of players at each position group because it’s kind of like paint by numbers. This is what you do as an NFL. You have a lot of offensive linemen, you know, you have a lot of wide receivers. Wide receivers you need because they run more than anybody else during the course of a practice. And you can’t just like grind them into the ground. It’s almost like pitchers in baseball. Like not the same guys can throw batting practice every day. Like you got to have different arms and you have to have receivers that are fresh. My guy John Giles still continues to show up. By the way, I I would say that they have three running backs right now that are pretty near locks. I mean, obviously Stephvenson and and Trayvon Henderson are locks, but I would also put Antonio Gibson pretty comfortably on the roster right now. I think big picture the plan is to have Stephvenson and Henderson be like this lightning thunder and lightning combination. They’re very complimentary. But Gibson, to the caller’s point, he had a a very uh productive season on a per carry basis last year and all the advanced metrics loved Antonio Gibson last year. You know, yards after contact. He did play well at times. See that that’s an example like you know individually you can still play well even when you’re in the midst of a bad season. I thought Gibson played better than Stevenson right as the caller said. Yeah me too. I think it’s a great room right now the balance that you have with the rookie with a veteran with Stephvenson being hopefully the guy that you know kind of be the bellcow back. Uh it’s a good it’s a really good mix and we’ll see if any of these other guys I mean Lar can he land on the practice squad or you know we like Terrell Jennings last year. Uh he’s still around kicking. So yeah we’ll see. Larrison is the one like the one guy that I think is a wild card in terms of you know he but he has to make the roster like they don’t have to carry four running backs. So if he’s going to make the roster it’s going to be because he’s so good that they can’t cut it. Yeah. Tear it up in the preseason. Right. All right. Christian in LA. What do you got? Well, what I have is there we go. Hey, thank you guys for having me on the uh history show there the the other day. But I wanted to point my eye at Paul for saying I tried too hard. You guys had a guy with a cello, a guy pausing with a dog. Then you had a guy in a fireman’s outfit and I’m sitting in my car seat looking at the camera taking a selfie and Paul says I tried too hard. It’s because I don’t like you. I don’t like you. Christian, you have a great jawline. I was impressed by your jawline. Yes. I don’t think anybody else had a studio quality photo sent in like yours. I was in a car taking a selfie. Who Who put together your outfit for you? It was a Lululemon vest. Of course it was. How am I trying too hard? And there And there we have it. It’s a good choice. You’re drinking the hatery and I think you have ice in it and you probably have a shot of something in it. So, on to football. I love you guys though. I really do love you guys. Um, so yesterday I read on in ESPN that we had four of the 50 most important offseason moves. Um, the quarterback Carlton Davis, Milton that we got, um, Stefon Diggs, and then Kyle Williams. They listed those as four of the most important four the four of the 50th four of the 50 most important offseason moves. We had four Patriots on it. That kind of says what the league is expecting of us, right? Um I don’t know if it could also say that we had more needs than a lot of other teams. That’s what it says to me. Yeah. Yeah. But I would put I would put Vrabel as the most important offseason. Maybe this was just like personnel like roster. Yeah. No player. Yeah. So, it was just players. Yep. My second question for you guys is this. On Will Campbell, it seems like or or would it seem like he would want to be closer to his defender since he has like a sort of short arm problem and that would show up if there’s more space between them, right? Guys can get around them. So, shouldn’t he line up closer to the line in general? Um, I don’t know. I don’t know about that. But um typically speaking, I just thought he was a little bit further back than he should have been. But again, it could be an angle thing. Thanks, Christian. Yeah, typically speaking, guys that are a little bit undersized are more aggressive. You know, they they go they want to go get you instead of waiting for you to come back. If you’re Trent Brown, you can sit back in your chair and wait and just, you know, make guys go through you. But when you’re a guy like Will Campbell, you want to be more aggressive and and be the one initiating the contact. Exactly. So, he he’s right about that. But I’ll have to, you know, I was expecting Will Campbell to have uh some things going on with his stance because his stance in college was a little unorthodox. Uh he never really was in a three-point stance because they were a gun offense and they didn’t never really had a need for three-point stance. So, uh there’s some things in the pro style system that might be a little bit different for him. I came across on Instagram some high school highlights of Will Campbell. It’s just like a camp where he was doing drills, no pads, no helmet, anything. just you’ve all seen those drills and man throwing guys to the ground, standing in guys faces. I mean, he was not intimidated in the least by anybody and I know it’s high school and now he’s in the NFL. So clearly he was an elite talent at that level. But it’s just fun to see little Will Campbell, you know, as a youngster still playing with that same attitude that we saw out of him at LSU. Yeah. So, if there was if the question was asked, what’s the one thing that’s a you know, an obvious question going into this season that you’re most confident about having a positive answer eventually? I to me it’s Will Campbell. I mean, for right now, I’m feeling pretty high on Drake May’s development, you know. I I mean, and I don’t want to overstate it because it’s so important and it’s so hard to do. And I’m sure even if he has a great season and, you know, gets off to a great start, there’s still going to be some ups and downs for him. But it all starts and ends for him and right now I feel positive on him and if if that works out then I don’t know how much the rest of it What are the things that we’re most concerned about? Well the wide receivers like are they going to have I’ll pick that. That’s a good one too. I mean Diggs like you think it’s going to work out. It’ll be okay. Cuz I think Diggs looks like he’s pretty comfortable. He’s going to be pretty healthy week one. You So you’re going to have that guy that slots everybody else. Yeah. But there’s a lot you know Milton Williams will he be able to play full time? You know I don’t know if that’s a huge It’s a question. Yeah, it’s a question. Yeah, that that that isn’t a top my list. I mean, I think I think he he wants to and and the fact that you have Barnmore there, it’s not like it’s Milton Williams or Bust. Like, you have a good guy to have a rotation. You’ll always have someone who can have an interior presence. Yeah. Like that, but um I don’t know, Paul, would you say is Stfan Digs a number one? Yes. Is he a is he a weapon? Yes. Oh, yeah. I mean, I’m sorry. I mean, a guy who has like eight, 1500 yard seasons to his credit is, yes, as a as a weapon. Um, he is absolutely a weapon for this offense. He’s without question the number one receiver and a weapon. Now, you could get into Paul Semantics. If he’s a number one on any other team at this stage in his career, doesn’t matter. He’s a Patriot. Yeah. No, but come on. He’s a number one. No, I’m busting you. I’m not being stupid, am I? I I but I I think in relation to that though it’s really as I said earlier with Williams and Booty like how much do those guys contribute? Does Booty take another step? Does Williams really blossom? And then you know maybe you do find a complimentary piece to to I have an observation about Booty. Booty. He’s a slow starter. I don’t notice him early in camp. This is three years in a row. I haven’t he caught the first pass in in 11. He’s I mean he’s out there. He starts with with Diggs and and Douglas and I don’t see him as much as I see other guys. Do you think it part of it is that that outside role that they have him play is about goes and comebacks and you’re expecting to get a lot of targets at as the ex and Josh McN but like I kind of agree with Mike. I thought that Williams looked like he was in that role. Yeah. When he comes in most and he and he’s gotten some, you know, maybe they want to target him. Maybe it’s one of those deals. I don’t know. Yeah. I I just, you know, with McDaniels, like I think the term that gets used a lot is the sacrificial X and it’s like you’re just there to take to occupy the safety and put a deep element to it because we’re actually trying to throw the ball in in other places. But I I think my biggest concern just with the team overall right now is just depth. You know, I I think they did a nice job of getting the frontline starters into much better shape than it has been. And I feel a lot better about the top of the roster than I have in recent years. But you start looking at some of the position groups and you know today with the corners like you know Carton Davis wasn’t out there today and now all of a sudden you have like Alex Austin and Marcelus Dial and like those guys are playing a lot and are they ready for that you know right tackle if Morgan Moses isn’t what we think he is or is hurt or now Trey Jacobs is back out there or it’s Kaden Wallace or it’s Marcus Bryant or and do they have enough to withstand the injuries that are inevitably coming? That’s my biggest question. But the but I thought Fred made a good little twist on that like what do you feel the best about the questions that will be answered positively. Yeah. And I I think the wide receiver one, you know, I I’m not telling you they’re going to have to me Drake and the wide receiver, they’re not going to have a great situation. Um I’m I’m trying to come up with something that’s like a major qu like the offensive line is a major question. Depth is a major question overall. I don’t know how big of a question m like you know like Milton Williams can he really play full-time you know I don’t know right I don’t know if he can or not but I guess that’s a major question. I mean I t it’s hard coming up with one that I definitively think is going to be answered positively. Yeah. I mean, I tie all this to kind of what we talked about earlier about the right tackle position, which is I’m trying to hold out some hope that some of these depth pieces actually might be able to be solid depth pieces and not, you know, this is you got to get through this year and really figure out who the varable guys are, who the holdovers are that can actually carry over from previous regimes into this regime and still carve out, you know, a significant role. So that’s why I think if you have some of these guys that you’re surprised that you weren’t really counting on, you know, and I’ll just use Jacobs as the example because we talked about him earlier, but again, like, you know, suddenly all of a sudden it’s like, whoa, he’s suddenly doing pretty well out there, you know, and I mean, I’m not saying that that’s going to happen, but there are other positions along the roster where, you know, Alex Austin has had solid ends to the last couple seasons, battled injuries, hasn’t been able to put it all together, but does Carlton Davis have some kind of lingering injury? does he get more of an opportunity? He steps up and now all of a sudden it’s like, okay, we’ve got another young corner now that we can try to keep around and and provide some depth. So, it’s a great question, I think. And I got asked the same thing when I went on a serious radio yesterday and I know I know serious radio. Who were you with? My boys all grown up fantasy fancy and I’m like, “No, no, it was it was it wasn’t a big show. I don’t think I call it this music show.” Just asked me about music the whole time. But they asked me the same thing about, you know, where is their biggest concern on the top? And I’m like, there isn’t really topline concerns. You kind of know who the guys are out there and and you hope that they play well, of course, but really the question are the depth, the sub packages, how do the wide receiver snaps get divvied up, those kind of things. Yeah. I mean, like, they’re going to have a playmaker question, like, do they have enough firepower on offense to really compete with the top top teams? But like to Fred’s question earlier, I I think all those little things are going to figure themselves out just fine. Like I think Will Campbell’s going to be just fine. I think Milton Williams going to be just fine. The the question the only question that I have is like when they do get injuries, and they will get injuries, like do they have enough depth behind some of these guys to withstand it and be, you know, are we going to get be in November and December and it’s like, well, at tackle like everybody got hurt and you know, now we’re on everybody gets hurt two teams have enough debt. their starters got hurt and now we’re on Trey Jacobs and Vidyarian Low again and here you know that we’re back on it’s not it’s not everybody there are I agree with Evan there are a couple of guys that if they got hurt would be borderline disastrous and it’s not everybody you know but if if you if you lost like three guys out of what he’s talking about like you know one of the tackles one of the corners and one and Spalain you That’d be really really impactful. That’s not a lot of injuries, but it’s three very specific ones. Y right? You know, cuz I just feel like they had to get back to level with the roster this past off season, and they did a nice job of that, but they haven’t built enough over years, right? Like in order to really build up the whole 53, it takes two or three years to really have that. It’s like they went into free agency and got some of their guys, but they haven’t been able to draft develop their kind of guys to round out the roster. I hear you. Uh Nathan uh is in Monterey, Texas, uh Mexico. Says, “I opened the show on Monday and imagine my excitement when one of the first topics to come up was the 2002 season. My heart skipped a beat as Fred told Paul, we’ll talk about that later. We got an email about it. My email was about to touch the hollow lips of Kersh was about to echo in the halls of patriots podcast history. I was about to have sarcasm and snark directed my way by Paul. Some self-deprecating jokes from Mike. Even fawn reminiscing about his days as a young fan by Evan. And then two hours and nothing. As time wore on, I realized I’d been teased. Teased by Fred Kersh. My email was not going to be read. Anyone else who has experienced this religious experience can understand and relate to the ecstasy felt. I have been blessed. I will die happy. P.S. I really am interested in an answer to my question about the 2002 season. And I do remember that and I apologize, Nathan. We get sidetracked. But his question was what happened? They won the Super Bowl in 01 and then in O2 I think it’s like one of only two years that Brady didn’t make the playoffs. Right. in and I think he like led the league in in touch and touchdowns. Is that right? So he led the league in touchdowns despite despite not really being good until like 07. I love how Paul can bring it. I know it’s there’s always this argument that he’s been having like no but I mean Paul the thing Paul’s always said to me because I’ve asked him these asking question was like they couldn’t stop the run. That was a big big uh problem with that team. They brought in some guys. Steve Martin was sort of the poster child for it. He was a great great guy. um you played some nose tackle for that team. Uh great talker, wasn’t a great player. Didn’t didn’t really play all that well for them up front. Washington comes in the next year. Yeah, that’s correct. That shows you they recognize the the problems and back in that era, you know, running the ball and stopping the run was far more vital to a team success than it is today. Not that it’s irrelevant today, but it was really really important. And I remember the the third game they started team started off 3-0 and then they ended up finishing nine and seven very pedestrian. Um but the third game was at home here against Kansas City and Priest Holmes ran for about 185 yards. Um they just couldn’t stop them. Could not stop them on the ground. It was a shootout. I think the Patriots ended up winning in overtime but like 4138 or 3835 something like that. Um they just couldn’t stop the run. It was kind of as simple as that. Kind of reminds me of the 17 opener when I or yeah 17 opener when same thing Chiefsare ran all over them and you were like uh oh and that was you got to the Super Bowl but a sign of this team is going to struggle to stop people. That was my first experience with trying to understand tiebreers like in sports like I was like 9 10 years old at that point and my dad’s like trying to explain them but I’m like but they have this like the record is good enough to make the playoffs and he’s like they didn’t make it. I like kept refreshing. I remember like the CBS sports line or whatever it was. I was like, “But I don’t get it.” Like what’s And it was like a that and uh in ‘ 08, right, where they both they missed out on tiebreers in both occasions, right? 08 was really un unlucky. I mean, the 08 team went 11 and five. You should make the playoffs at 11 and five. Nine and seven, you kind of leave yourself vulnerable to to a tiebreaker. But 11 and five, it was just one of those years that it was sort of a an outlier that 11 and five wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs. One of the only teams that missed the playoffs. I think I think that there’s a Denver team. I remember being so sure that no one else had ever not made the playoffs. Yeah, no one’s ever made it. And Andy was like, um, says here Denver, well, son of a I don’t remember that. Uh Corey in Connecticut, been a Patriots fan since the Bledsoe days and a diehard PU listener since 2020 season. Um absolutely love the show. Look forward to every episode. Just wanted to say the guest the listener game was one of the absolute favorite things you’ve done. Hearing all these callers every week, you can’t help but create a mental image of what they look like. And it was so much fun to actually put the faces to the names. I played along and got seven out of 10 right. Better than me. Oh, that’s fun. way better than us. Christian in LA looked as smug as one might imagine and I knew immediately it had to be him. Ford and Savannah and his look of whimsy totally had me fooled. I thought he was James Pedigrew. Can’t wait for the next edition with Patty from Aawam, Jack from Manaba, and more of the faithful PU listeners. Yeah, that was fun. Are those emails still uh been coming coming in? People sending in their pictures? I guess so. I know. That’s fun. The people could play at home. I didn’t even think of that, though. That’s a It’s a family game. It’s a fun game. It’s a family game. Everybody can play. Can’t win if you don’t play. That’s right. That’s right. Uh Josh in Atlanta writes in, “Dear Deuce and Fred, I love you both dearly, but your unbridled trait Jacob’s optimism won’t distract me from the unmitigated disaster that was last year. Per PFF, Jacobs was 38th out of four 140 eligible tackles in total snaps, but ranked 137th in overall block grading. Any scenario where he benches Morgan Moses is catastrophic. Also, Christian in LA tried to too hard in that photo submission and in every one of his many nauseating ventures. See, I’m not alone. I’m not alone Christian. Everybody’s saying it. It felt like a photo shoot a little bit like he had definitely lights. He had some lighting lighting in. It seemed like maybe a ring light, you know, like there was a lot of light. He’s an influencer on the side, right? He understands. Yeah. He’s going to call back in, I think. I want to hear from Miss Iceland. Like what happened? Yeah. And what do they do in Iceland? Yeah. She living in the greater Niagara Falls area. Well, the the funny thing about it is Iceland is the one that’s more green. Greenland is the one that’s more ice. I’ve heard that tale. I’ve heard that tale. Vikings. Very smart. Do you know you drive on a parkway and park in a driveway? That’s true. What’s the deal with that? That’s actually a Steven Wright. Right. Steven Wright. Which one’s the one that’s James James Bond goes to? I think it’s Iceland. Oh, D. I’m not a James Bond guy. Really? James Bond. I thought for sure you’d be a James Bond guy. Hallelu. Come on. Really? Me? Oh, James Bond. One of the all-time great franchises. I would totally agree with that. And I would also tell you in the same breath that I’ve never seen a single one. What? What? Never seen? Oh my god. Never a single one. I mean, that’s in like action movies. No, that’s completely unfair. It’s a romcom. Matter of fact, Gladiator was on. I watched it for the 4,000th consecutive time. Way better. Gladiator. Gladiator. Yeah, but you think you think Gladiator is a love story. Now I’m mad. Gladiator is like, oh, so good. Too too. Too chauvinistic for me. I mean, are you not entertained? I mean, it’s kind of like the way it was back then. Is this like Shakespeare? Like that’s what I think of that take. Like you never seen Skyfall. No, I saw like the the like the Roger Moore one in like the 80s and I was also one of the worst living the Roger Moore one. He was in a lot. Sorry. Sorry. Well, the one that I forget which one it was but Live and Let Die. Live and Let Die Moonaker Roger Moore. That was his best one. Live and Let Die. Yeah, I agree. Definitely saw The Living Daylights at the Cape Cinema in Dennis for sure. I remember that clear as day. Timothy Dalton very small. The boat chase scene in Live and Let Die is legit. That’s like and that was like back then like that, you know, to be able to put something together like that. Then you have Paul McCartney on the soundtrack and great Sean like you’re like Shan Connory. You got them all. You’re like James Bond 25. He’s the biggest James Bond fan I ever met. All right. Well, he must have like read the books and stuff down, right? Like I mean I I’ve watched and he would agree that Broman’s the best Bond, right? Uh really best Bond. Is that is that fact? It is in this guy’s book. See, I can’t comment on account I didn’t see. I think Craig is the best. He’s very good. I mean, a lot of people think it’s blasphemy to say anybody but Shan Connory. Yeah. But no, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die. Roger Moore is like that’s his era, you know, like she’s a little too young for Shan Connory. It was like the 60s, so he was a young. So like Roger Moore, like Live and Let Die is probably his favorite book. When I was a kid, I had the toy Aston Martin car that it would shoot little things out the front. The bullet shield would come out in the back, you know, doors open. It was really cool. And then I had a James Bond briefcase. Oh, yeah. That you open it up. It had all the weapons. It actually shot a missile out the front of the thing. Like nowadays, like they would never sell this because, you know, kids would be getting killed. But uh yeah, I had the James Bond briefcase. Like the Kersh man with a golden gun. That was that was Sean Conor. Golden Eye. No Goldfinger. Goldfinger was Sean Connor. Remember like the worst one. Roger Moore when they had the that giant guy and on the space station. There was a guy in there. Yeah, that is correct. I’m in for this now. That was awful. That was awful. Awful movie. You guys are really You guys are really selling it. That was awful. This one stomped. He was the worst Bond. I think the worst one was Honor Majesty Secret Service. The one it had the Bond only did. That was the first That was the first Bond. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. He Yeah, he was a one and done. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it’s like a franchise thing. Like I’m not I haven’t really seen a lot of like the Fast and Furious and No. No. I saw the first one and then I’m thinking about all of these like action kind of franchise things and you might be right. Yeah. Like Jurassic Park. I said we just saw Jurassic Park. I’m like I missed like six Jurassic Parks. I think I’ve seen some of Jurassic Parks though. I’ve seen like the first couple were worth watching and like the the Marvel movies like I’ve like and then the DC movies and like it’s just so much Fred would be right about my criticism. I don’t like the superhero movies. We were talking about that today cuz uh somebody asked me if I had seen the new Superman or Fantastic 4 yet and I was like to be honest with you like getting kind of tired of it. Like there’s been a lot I know Matt behind the glass right now is like gonna kill me, but like there’s there there’s just there’s a lot of And he could do it in a variety of ways too. Yeah. Right. There’s a lot of superhero movies. Like can we take a break? Like we so like this is going to set up the next 12 years of film. Like everyone’s trying to do what they did with the Avengers and and then trying to have their version of it and it’s just see that’s why I love the boys on Prime because it was a whole new take on superhero and it was just so irreverent. It was it was great. is ridiculously over the top. The Deep is like one of my favorite characters. Like just such a loser. Such a loser. Funny. I love it. There’s a lot. The Too many. He’s His girlfriend’s an octopus. What? Like the bit with the whale, too. They had some big whale where like a whale dies. I I forget. No, the dolphin. The dolphin. Yeah. Yeah. And he’s he’s trying to save it. He kills it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, he’s such a loser. Uh, Bart in Poland writes in, “Fred, don’t worry. I forgive you for not recognizing me from the picture.” I was waiting for that. But honestly, considering how many Guinnesses were involved that night, I would have bet on Evan being the one to forget. There were that was a fun night there. There were quite a few beverages. Funny. Yep. Uh, Phil in Vermont writes in, “Uh, excited, uh, because for the first time ever, I’m coming down for joint practice.” Oh, let’s go. As is often the topic when it comes to the joint practices, it’s intriguing to see the teams come together, observe player performances, and evaluate who’s excelling and who isn’t. My question is, what do you know about the relationships between coaches during these joint practices? Are coaches generally open to experimentation and collaboration, or are some more secretive and reluctant to delve into the details? No, I think the first one. Yeah, I think they they plan these joints because they have a relationship. Yeah. You know, Yozar, I really respect coach. They usually talk they’ll talk like before the practices and they’ll they’ll go over the script together of like what exactly they want to hit and what they want to work on. Now, in terms of like what plays they’re going to call, I think they keep that close to the vest to anybody. But in terms of the the script of practice and situations like are we for second down, third down, third and long, red zone, like all that stuff I think gets talked about. You you said at the top with Moses, they we they know what our plays are. They know our cadences. I mean, just to get to go against another team that it’s more of a level playing field against that defense. They’re a little and it’s it’s just it’s better preparation. You can see why the coaches enjoy it. I mean, I do think I don’t think we’ve mentioned it, too. I mean, it does seem like they’re going to do two with the Vikings. I mean, we’ve gone back to one. Last year was one. This year was, you know, one with the Commanders, but it’s going to be two with the Vikings. To me, I I just wondered is that, you know, a sign of just the trust between Kevin Oonnell and and Vrabel that it’s not going to be like we were in Green Bay when the first eight plays of the second day of practices were all fights, you know, was bad. Uh Claire Packers, Claire writes in, “Hello, Marine. Hello, everyone.” Uh she said, “Fred on her Majesty Secret Serve, it wasn’t the first Bond. I stand corrected. It was Midway, but George Lassenb’s only movie, and it was one of the worst ones.” So, I got that that right. Claire’s British. Yeah. George Lassenby. Yeah. And um she agrees with you. She says, “Maren, you’re right. Broen did the Bond best.” So I think And he had the best Bond girl of them all. Denise Richards. You’re going to say Halib Bry. If we’re being honest, I really feel like it’s Daniel Craig. But like all the OG Bond fans, like my dad would never say it’s Daniel Craig because it’s too nostalgic for them to say Connory or Roger Moore. But I think in terms of the movies themselves, like his movies are were the best. like Skyfall is action awesome movie. I’ve seen of those. You know what I like about Dino Craig though is that he looks more like a villain, right? And but he plays a good guy. Doesn’t he have just the look of like if you read the book if you readan Ian Fleming’s book Bond was he had like the devil side to he’s on the line. He does some things that like you are not on like the not not to the letter of the law. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Oh yeah. He was you know straddling that line. I just like when actors play against Father Fredesque. Yes. You know, willing to push the envelope when need be, but he has to do it because these villains are like super villains. So, the only way he’s going to bring down the villain is if he kind of toes that line. That’s a good that’s a good like button for some of the series and Father Fred is like when he goes to confession and there’s like a certain priest that he always goes to that knows all the dark secrets and then like maybe he gets kidnapped and Father Fred’s worried like it’s all going to get out all the sneakers. He has to go to the 83year-old like staunchly Irish Catholic guy for I go into confession it’s light out and then at the end it’s dark out cuz I’ve been in there that long. Father Oaughnessy has to hear Fred’s confession. Father Shaughnessy been kidnapped Fred. We’ve got to find him. It’s episode 2011. Yeah. 2011. Yeah. Wow. We’ve hit it big. Oh yeah. Going to syndication syndication dollar season 10. Yep. Uh Joe in Vermont. Uh, the other emailer was correct about the curse portrayal. I need more salt and pepper shows because that’s the only time my emails get read. Remember Salt and Pepper? Remember they came here? No, that was that was Evan me. Yeah. Like the Salt Oh. Oh, no. We had a We had a listener who came in with his girlfriend. Yeah. And they were like, “Salt and pepper.” Oh, I thought you meant like the music. Salt and pepper. Yeah. They’ve all left us. Um, maybe just Fred’s presence increases email quantity times 10. In all seriousness, what are the Patriots going to do with the tight end depth if they go into season with Henry Hooper and no fullback? It’s another great example to what Paul said. If Hunter Henry goes down, it starts to And the other part, you know, roster building wise, you know, yes, we can all say Lampy is on the team and that would be one of those tight ends, right? or one of these guys plays his way onto the roster. And there’s a handful. Uh Westover, Gc, Westover, CJ Dippy, uh G, is it Gcott or Scott? Gcott Gott G Jim Bell. Jahem Bell, former draft pick. Um if one of these guys has a strong camp, and there’s going to be opportunity because Hooper’s um at least out for now. Not driving the boat. I’m sorry. I knew you were going to make that joke. It’s what we do. I was going to say we can’t let down the audience. What are you doing, Huba? Dave Dave in the Philippines wants you watching. Dave in the Philippines wants to know if we know what’s going on with Poke. Uh Mike had something. Yeah. Report today that he had a little stiffness and that they’re just being cautious with tightness in the shoulder. Minor muscle tightness is what it was reported as which is a little strange in the shoulder. But I mean I Well, he had being precautious, but I guess he passed his physical. is all Reese reporting this, but he passed his physical, but then was trying to get out there probably earlier this week and and felt some some tightness. My arm, it’s broken. Oh, my arm. Uh Mark’s in Connecticut on the hotline. What’s up, Mark? Oh, hi, Mark. Oh, hi Mark. I just slept for uh with the Robin, the Red Robin. I was just at training camp today and uh I got to go over and say hi to Alex Bars before he got on 985. That was cool. Nice. Sorry for for that. So, did you have a good time today? Red Rob had a very good time. What did you think of the Travon Henderson wheel with the explosive speed that the kids got? Oh, kids got great speed. Yeah, he had he had a catch in the flat today where he he scooted a little bit after the catch with it. I mean, you can see it floats. Yeah, obviously that’s one of those guys that for McDaniels, just finding ways to get him the ball in space like you don’t want to force feed it, but he’s got to be unlocked. Yeah, you gota What was your favorite part about camp today, Mark? Meeting Alex Bar, of course. Of course. Oh, well, absolutely. I got to talk to him, but uh actually I got to say hi to Caleb Burton and uh Steve Burton. All right. Wow. The Burton family. Great. So, did you get an a, you know, any autographs or any anything? You try any food? No, I’m actually gonna go meet uh Bob Douglas at Cowoon on August 13th. Okay. You got a date with All right. Sounds good. At the Cowoon up in my right there. The Cowoon. All right. Sounds like a good All right. Well, thanks Mark. Thanks for checking in. Mark was at practice today. Had some saga swings. I got to go back there. I haven’t been there since uh jeez I think our god I haven’t I can’t remember college like the week of graduation you do all kinds of events and I think that was the last time I went there we went whole like class of 99 went to it’s like a it’s a big deal like they have like Andy Wong is like all over the place like yeah uh Jack in Arbor I’ve read every one of Ian Fleming’s Bond books Bond was an assassin a cold-blooded killer he was also a highly educated refined English gentleman Shan Connory was by far the best Bond and it’s not even close. I could explain it in excruciating detail why that is, but we don’t have time. He was fantastic, but to be consistent with my take on Jaws, his movies were obviously came out a very long time ago, so it’s a little bit of a different level of Did they not hold up? James Pedigrew, the most interesting Patriots fan in the world and probably our closest listener to James Bond to James Bond. Absolutely. Said Broen was the best. Craig is too emotional. He needs to smoke some weed. And PS is the only US call-in number. The free phone one. Can’t seem to connect. Oh, I don’t know. Pierce Pro was very good. I I I would like a book recommendation. I’ I’d like to read a James Bond book. I’ll do that if anyone I guess. Start at the beginning with Casino Royale. Okay, I will. Okay. It’s also a great book. You’re leaving me, Mike? Huh? What? I’ll be the only one that has no no interest, no no knowledge. Well, I’m I’m interested in the books and people say it’s it really describes the character and I mean I I kind of have a you know pre not preconceived but I have a notion of what James Bond is based on the handful of movies that I have seen. So who was the uh character uh Robert Lulham’s book the his famous spy character? Oh Jason Bourne. Oh Bourne born. Uh I think I did read the first one but I saw all the movies. Yeah. Well, the books Matt Damon taking somebody down with a rolled out magazine. That was pretty fun. There’s nothing wrong with some Matt Damon action movie. Paul doesn’t not interested, but also doesn’t like Oh, born I saw all of them. Identity Supremacy. I watched the Born. I told you it’s not an anti- action movie thing. It’s that’s not accurate. It’s a little bit of an anti- CGI like superhero thing that I’m not really James Bond is not like that. No, no, no. So, I’m just saying it has nothing to do with that. had to transform. No. Okay. Like the new Superman then they try to use a little they use a lot less and try to make it more practical. I have seen I mean nowhere near like all of them like you all of the Marvel movies all the you know but I have seen probably double digits and I don’t dislike them. They’re just not my thing. I don’t have to rush out to go see them you know and I’ve heard really good things about the most recent Superman thing. Every everybody that has gone to see it says it was pretty good. Worth worth worth a watch. Divided. That’s all. That’s why it’s doing it so bad. You know, politics. Casino Rails is really short, huh? Wow. What politics? Should just watch the movie. It’s great. Uh they they James Gun making the immigrant comments about Superman drove the fan base in half. Well, it’s funny because I didn’t catch it. I know what he’s talking about and I’m going to choose to stay away from it because um Randy writes in, he’s from Providence. What I was saying, oh, we couldn’t hear him, was Maya’s growth should be about limiting mistakes, mirroring the Tom Brady plan years ago where he wasn’t asked to do a lot, just not lose games and learned to take what the defense gives him. And you guys made fun of me when I pointed out that he led the league in touchdown passes in year two. Well, he he just didn’t lose the game, he managed it, right? Yeah. Just managing games, leading the league in touchdown passes. Uh, that was a long time ago, but Josh Allen had a similar growth arc. Last year, there were only six quarterbacks with a worse interception rate than May’s 3.0. Richardson, Jameus Winston, Will Levis, Kirk Cousins, Gardner Menchu, and M. Jones. Learning to limit mistakes is definitely something he needs to work on. Speaking of that part, I agree 100%. Uh, do you hear that Justin Fields got carded off today? Yeah, he’s okay. Oh, he’s toe dislocated. Dislocated toe not considered significant. Okay. To which I say, the hysteria over it was hilarious. Uh, you get carded off with a dislocated toe. That could have just been like their practice facility. It’s like it’s a long walk. Yeah, I’d have to see it to to to make a definitive announcement. I think that was I think that was Twitter like way overreacting to something that was ended up being Sounds like people weren’t really paying attention and all of a sudden the quarterback went down and they were like, “Oh, he’s getting carded off.” Yeah. Yeah. I like the way of looking at that though for May and not focusing on we need you to be Superman. You know, just the baby steps. Clean it up. play consistent, take the profit, and if we get in a situation or a game where we need you to do something special, hopefully you you can do it, and you don’t have to put the pressure on you to be special. Just execute the I agree with everything Mike just said. Yeah. Not to, you know, compare him to Mahomes, but like I feel like that that was like sort of Mahomes’s evolution more than Josh Allen’s. Like now Mahomes just does just enough to win the game. like he doesn’t he doesn’t run around as much as he used to and he’s not throwing bombs all the time like he did early on in his career. Now he is a very very good game manager. So I would just say in terms of statistics I don’t really care. I don’t think Jaden Daniels statistics were eye popping last year. Um and I’m just calling them up right now. He completed 69% of his throws which is a high that’s a pretty high completion rate for a rookie. 3568 yards, 25 touchdowns, nine picks. His stats are pedestrian. I mean, a 100 passer rating nowadays is like 20th. Right. But what did he do in the situations that Evan’s talking about? He was the reason they won. Yeah. So, yes, he doesn’t have to be Superman for 17 games for four quarters, but he might have to be Superman more than a half dozen times when it counts. Yeah, that was Tom Brady. And by the way, that was Tom Brady in 2001 when the game needed to be won. He was near perfect almost always. Fourth quarter in Denver notwithstanding, right? Yeah. I mean, he that that’s what separates these guys. Jaden Daniels didn’t just light up every team he played last year. Now, this doesn’t also give his rushing totals, but Drake May’s going to have good rushing totals, too. He had great rushing numbers last year. What does he do when the game’s on the line and can he keep those turnovers down? There was that game. How cool is he in the pressure from Daniels last year where he threw the gamewinning touchdown to McLaren and just like put it right on. That’s the one I was just thinking of. That was the one I was thinking of. Yeah, it is like under like a gamewinning, you know, walk-off type of touchdown and just drove him right down the field and then threw an absolute dime. But I’m even thinking early in the year there was a game against Cincinnati. I want to say it was like a Monday night game or a Thursday night game and they just Cincinnati just kept scoring and getting within a score and the fourth quarter, you know those those hard first downs that you have to crank out. Fourth down, they go for it. He runs for it. Third and long, they throw a pass deep pass to McLaren down the side and they put the game away with a touchdown pass beating the blitz. They sent everybody at him. I think we’re talking about the same play. Those are the individual Those are the individual moments where games need to be won. How do you play? That is Superman. Again, the stats don’t tell you he’s Superman. 25 and N. That’s a really good rookie year. It’s a really good rookie year, but it’s not anything that I would say that, oh, there’s no way Drake May is going to throw go 25 and nine this year. Of course, he could. Yeah. I feel like a lot of that is like where you’re most confident about like varel and like I feel like varel is going to put a much bigger emphasis on leadership and clutch and knowing what the game needs when it needs it and like not so much about making you know highlight reel plays that they’re going to put on on Drake May’s you know melt when they show him on Sports Center but like more so like all these other little things that that we’re talking about and I feel like Rabel is already sort of trying to hammer some of those things even in practice. It’s a great comment, Paul, is it just it’s this isn’t exactly what I mean, but it’s like special is intangible almost. And you can look at the guys who throw the most touchdowns and, you know, throw the most interceptions, but really the the trait that’s going to define greatness in the NFL at the quarterback position is do you perform when the game’s on the line and win those games? Like, let’s not make this out to be like, if we can get just a nice game manager who stays out of trouble and avoids mistakes, that’s not what we’re looking for. That’s not enough. I don’t I’m just speaking for myself. That’s not enough for me. They took this guy with the third overall pick. I don’t want Trent Dilford. I don’t want to win a title despite the quarterback. I want to win a title because of the quarterback. And that will remain to be seen. Yeah. Don’t don’t lose the game in the first three quarters and be ready to win the game in the fourth That’s like the line that they have to balance cuz like in order to get the turnovers down and stuff, he’s going to have to be a little bit more conservative, but you also don’t want it to be a detriment where it it’s Trent Diler, right? You know, you want it to you want to still have that balance of him being able to go out and make plays. And I love his aggressiveness going down the field. It’s something that stood out to me last year in camp. Like I hope they don’t take that away from Clark, you know, I’m a little I am too. Uh, Kai James writes in, “I know you all might be tired of the uniform conversations, but you’re failing to highlight one major issue with the blueberries. I myself want the dynasty uniforms back, not only because the silver on them, but because of the number lettering font. When they changed the unis in 2020, they changed the lettering and numbers to a more straight looking font. Look at Edelman’s Edelman’s 11 from both. You will notice they removed the bottom stand under the number one.” Likewise, the last name lettering looks much more boring without the traditional Patriots font bordering. I feel as if that is a sneaky underlying reason why we don’t like it. Who is that from? Who was that from? Kai in Kentucky. My peeps. I I totally Or he calls himself Kentucky James. It’s such a nerd thing, too. But like I even just really like the font that they had for the name plates on the Dynasty uniforms. I And I can’t explain why, but everything he said I I get it. Congratulations. The blue the blueberries just aren’t good. It’s okay. Yeah. And I don’t think and I I can say that because I don’t think they’re going to wear the full blueberry anymore. I think they’re going to do blue on top with silver pants. So, it’s I think we’re away from that. But the look of the one color from it’s just it just too much blue. Yeah. Too much. All right. Listen, that’s going to be it for this edition of Patriots Unfiltered. Uh we’ve got practice tomorrow, so we’ll be out there and you guys will have your wrap-up podcast right after that campcast. Yep. So you’ll have that. Same thing on Saturday. There’ll be another practice on Saturday, which we’ll be at. Players are off on Sunday. Uh and then we’ll be back at it on Monday with a live show from practice, first day of pads. Uh and we will be there. So until then, everybody have a good weekend. And uh as far as this show, we’ll see you Monday. Yeah. Hey, this is Deuce. Thanks for tuning in to the show. If you really want to help us, make sure you like us wherever you get your podcast like Apple Podcast or Spotify. Also, make sure you follow us on the New England Patriots YouTube channel to see this show and everything else that we do here at The Patriots. Thanks a lot. Heat up here. [Music]
Watch as the PU crew offer their key observations from Day 2 of Training Camp. Plus, we are joined my offensive lineman Mike Onwenu in studio.
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2 comments
Can we get Maye steel toe shoes?
Why is the audio always so quiet on these videos.
Can’t listen with headphones and mow my yard, like I do all other videos.