Efton Chism has to make the Patriots and other takeaways from New England’s preseason opener

Efton Chism has to make the Patriots and other takeaways from New England’s preseason opener

All right, Dan Roach, thank you very much. Joining me now is my guy, Mike Reese, and the other guy. See, I know it. I know he’s gonna do this. Well, I had to do it because what are you wearing? Stand up. See, Steve, we decided that we are not going to tell them how the sausage is made. Stand up. It’s the middle of summer. All right. I have shorts on. That’s what we talk about. What are we doing? You know, we just talked about not telling them how the sausage up top, party on the bottom. Okay. Thank you. Hey, let me tell you something. How good do And know it’s only preseason. I get it. But how good do they look on Friday night? Okay, so I I guess I’m not going to just ran over your parade, okay? But I think they did exactly what they needed to do under the circumstances, which I think is like an A+ type of performance cuz all they did was this this morning was look at other teams during their preseason games and how poorly or uh bad communication, all the little things that you’re supposed to do. Dan Quinn, basically the head coach of the Commanders, like who just berated his team for being sloppy, not caring. Even though 30 guys didn’t play, you’re still representing the team. They didn’t show up. The Patriots did. I sort of joke that we finally found out that the four on the home side of the Gillette Stadium scoreboard works. It’s been so long since they’ve had a four uh with the points, right? Um look, mentality, physicality, the the play style, no matter who’s on the other side. That’s what we saw. I thought that was Mike Vrabelesque. I got to give you credit because in our pregame show I said, “Who you gonna watch?” He said, “Tayon Henderson.” Okay, big player prediction. Trayvon Henderson. Second round pick, running back. This guy, Steve, is a home run threat every time he touches the ball. Thank you, Steve. Victory lap. This is where you take a victory lap. Henderson, right out of the gate, 100 yards, took him to the house. You called it. Well, I appreciate it, Steve. And I would say this is the home run threat that they’ve been lacking. And it’s so exciting for the Patriots to have a player that the minute he touches the football, he could go. So now for opposing defensive coordinators or special teams coordinators with the kickoff return becoming a bigger part of the game, you got a weapon that you got to contain. And I want to give credit to Jeremy Springer and the special teams staff cuz they dominated that game. Christian, you were talking about what Dan Quinn was saying. He was very upset that they had it taken to him. special because those things are I mean when you think about your lanes it’s about discipline on a special teams unit especially a kickoff team it’s lane discipline it’s toughness it’s effort and allowing yourself to get blocked those those lanes were so big for both Gibson and Tayvon Henderson now Gibson didn’t make it but they still had two big time kickoff returns and all the teams now are almost forced to kick this ball inbounds right so they’re forced to come back so so uh kickoff coverage is such going to be a huge part of everybody’s game plan. All right, let me go through the list. Welker. Oh, I love Ammonola. Keep going. Come on. Give me one more. You know the one Chisum. Oh jeez. Effing Chisum. Welcome aboard. Come on, man. Welcome aboard. He didn’t say Jacobe Myers. Jacob. Well, no, not no. He’s one of them. Go ahead. So, he made a play in practice today. Eftton Chisum III in the red zone from Joshua Dobs with Marcus Jones draped all over him, elevating up to get the ball. Steve, he has to be on this team in my opinion. I know people say, “Oh, we’re getting too excited about a player that’s only playing against second string, third string players, but the the short area quickness, the anticipation, the spatial awareness, it’s a player that to me it would be too risky to expose him to. If you put him on a practice squad, someone would would pick him up. here’s what he’s doing that um all these young guys need to do. Like he’s consistent so you know exactly what you’re getting with him. So, and that’s what coaches want. Hey, listen. I put a play in. I give you an opportunity to make a play and he comes down with it. So, because everyone can make the routine catches at his position, he needs to go above and beyond. And he’s showing if they give him a chance, he’s not going to make him regret it. Josh McDaniels loves players like that, right? They’re reliable guys. You don’t know, you know, where they’re going to go and all of a sudden, boom, they’re making plays. What are you going to say? Well, Josh McDaniel is going to speak with the media on Monday for the first time in a while. We’re very interested to hear from him. Steve, I think he’s another key factor here. We’re talking about the Patriots and what we saw on Friday night. Just the entire operation, the way they’re playing, the running game. Josh McD is a really good coach and we saw that offensive line did a tremendous job. I think Drake mistake fumbling the football but for for the most part they gave him a pocket for the most part the run game driving the guys down the field off line did a great job. We we sat this at this desk, I don’t know, maybe three weeks ago, three and a half weeks ago, talking about the challenges with with two rookies playing on the left side, uh, left tackle and left guard, right, Wilson and Campbell. And I feel like it’s the like the second time this has ever even happened where two rookies will be starting. So they so of just like we said, they would try a stunt move. They got him on the first one and they were good the rest of the game. This is going to continue throughout the season. Okay. Yes, exactly. Ups and downs. We’re going to see hidden concerns. Are there any hidden concerns? You go first. I I’ll lead off, Steve. I have to be honest with you. The the quarterback play behind Drake May. And I thought the third string quarterback was was better than I anticipated. But if the team had ever had to turn to the backup Joshua Dobs, that that would concern me. And I always go back to what Bill Bich said. And Josh Dob’s a good is a good player, but is he a player that can get you through a season if you lose your quarterback or get you through a big part of the season? That when when the quarterback has the ball in his hands, he holds the the the fate of the entire team’s hands. And that performance Friday night didn’t give me a lot of confidence. Um I’m going to stay on the offense and that is a great pickup by you because I know a lot of people were are noticing that for being play seeing him play for the first time. I do think the offensive line is a hidden concern still. Still, I do. I do. I’m not listen you Bradberry uh for whatever reason center who’s the center I feel like there’s he’s not great but he’s he’s serviceable but he’s not a great player and you have two rookies I just feel like by the time they get to the ninth week is when I think they figure things out like I I just can’t tell you how hard it is to play that position and I and how many defenses are going to take advantage of practice today Kyle Dougle was with the twos unbelievable I mean you think I I wonder Steve if they saw something in the performance Friday night that they didn’t like or if they saw something from another player like Jaylen Hawkins who was in the starting lineup that they did like. Hawkins had a pass break up in the game that looked like it was a good strong play and and also Craig Woodson their fourth round pick out of Cal was also with the starters with Jabriel Peppers and so Kyle Duggar with that four-year 58 million contract from last year working with the twos. That’s that’s not a good sign. Working with the twos on special teams, you know, playing till the end of the game, never a good sign for an older player. He does have the protection of his contract, right? The money gives him some sleep at night pill, you know, that that he’s going to need, right? Cuz hey, listen, I have my contract. You want to get it’s all guaranteed, most of it. Um, but it’s going to be a problem. Preseason game number two, they got the Vikings going to Minnesota. They’re going to fly out on Tuesday, guys. They’re going to practice with the Vikings Wednesday and Thursday. Should be a good test against Brian Flores defense. We talked about Josh McDaniels before. Good chess match. One last thing. The Brady statue. Listen, I liked it. I did, too. I mean, I don’t know. People think I’m going to say I hated it. I liked it. I mean, what do you want me to say? I thought it was compared to all the other statues I see out there. Like, this one was great. I thought Brady and Mr. Craft did a super job, too, in presenting it. As usual, first class from the Crash family, and I thought Tom really appreciate it. And great job with you on the sideline. I love seeing Tom hang out with you. I appreciate that. I I want to ask you to stand up again. I wouldn’t leave. Should I leave? No, we got to go.

Steve Burton, Mike Reiss, and Christian Fauria give you their big takeaways from the Patriots’ 48-18 win in their preseason opener against the Commanders. Everyone is aboard the Efton Chism bandwagon, plus an explosive start from TreVeyon Henderson, thoughts on the offensive line, and some hidden concerns with the team.