Is Week 1 a MUST WIN for the New England Patriots?

Is Week 1 a MUST WIN for the New England Patriots?

Patriots. They might be a middler and and you hope maybe a a fringe playoff team. A force. I’m expecting the Patriots to be somewhat of a force in the NFL. That played in the heads. You should hear these two. Orchestra of grunts and moans over there. I’d say that next time we should turn the mics on early, but I don’t think we want to get rid of that habit. I’m expecting the Patriots to be somewhat of a force in the NFL. Why are you grunting, Maz? Somewhat. I mean for the word force is what puts me over the edge if he had said to be somewhat of a factor. Okay. Like I could see that sleeper. Yeah. Be be in the mix, you know, a potential spoiler, difficult team for some teams to play. All of that. I could take all of that. Force. Force. What? When we use the word force, that guy’s a force. Force of nature. Like Scotty Sheffler is a force right now. Like I get you know you you understand what I’m getting at. Force this is see this is the one that gets me and pushes me over the edge. Goes right up my ass. Like why do you why does everybody have to go that far? You don’t have to go that far. Yeah, they should be pretty good. They have an easy schedule or they could they could really be a difficult team to play against. And I’ll tell you what, the more I think about this, do you know who I think all of this commentary is really an indictment on? who Gerrod Mayo on last year. I think that people see say, “Well, they were a four- win team last year.” Vegas, for example, having them at eight and a half wins. I think Vegas looks at their performance from last year and says, “Yeah, they were in two or three games they probably should have won. So, it really was like a six or seven win team. Now that Vable’s here, it’s we’re going to put him at eight and a half.” because the the coaching and the overall organization was so bad last year that it cost them games beyond the talent. And so I think that, you know, they they probably should have been like a six or seven win team last year, but they weren’t because the the comment that really stuck in my head is the one where he says they picked fourth and they’re favored in 11 games. like that is unprecedented which I would I I’d be willing to bet is probably true but I think last year as bad as they were they kind of underachieved. Okay. I I want to ask a question. What’s the difference? Why why and first of all the statement is don’t you feel the commentary on the Patriots is more frothy nationally than it is locally? Yes. Unquestionably, especially over the last two or three weeks. Nationally, I think they’re getting a lot of run and a lot of difference and a lot of positive sort of prognostications. As Chris Sims evidenced right there, they’re not just a sleeper. They’re not just a threat. They’re a force. And we’ve heard that a lot from the national voices. Locally, it’s decidedly mixed, if not even a little more negative than positive. We asked the people yesterday, who do they have, Drake Mayor, Gino Smith, and it wasn’t much better than 50/50. Okay, so why is that? Why is the commentary nationally ahead of the commentary locally? It usually doesn’t work that way. It’s usually the opposite. Why do we think that is? That’s the question for today to start the show. 6177790985. But I just want to do this because this just popped up on my call screen. If this is real, this I know. I Go ahead. This is like Lazarus. I I was just going to like hit the call back button and ask or talk back button and ask Jimmy is this legit. Well, let’s find out. Okay, let’s Carlton in Tampa joins us on the line. Carlton, are you there? I’m here. Carlton, good to hear from you. What is Bill What is Bill Bichc’s record without Tom Brady now? Eight games under 500 as head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991 through 1995. eight games under 500 before Mo Lewis put Drew Bledsoe in the hospital and elevated Tom Brady as the starting quarterback of the New England Patriots. 10 games under 500 since Tom Brady left New England and went to Tampa Bay for greener pastures. And now Bill Bellichic has taken his wrecking ball and his gold digger girlfriend and his and his toad sickant buddies down to UNC to ruin their football program. And if somehow Bill Bich does not come up with a winning record down at UNC this year with that cakewalk of a schedule, he should be fired. the athletic director should be fired and everybody who had a hand in bringing that guy to UNCC for $10 million a year should be fired down there. Now that said, they’re they’re likely to win their next three games cuz the schedule is that easy. But after that, they’ve got eight ACC games, one of which is a good team, Clemson, and the rest are mediocre. So there’s a chance that Bill Bich could actually have a winning record down there this year. Carlton, it goes without saying you probably feel vindicated, justified for your commentary all these years. Yep. The only person who enjoyed that game more than Catboy and Robert and Jonathan Craft was Carlton in Tampa. Carlton, you have no idea how happy we are to hear from you. I’d like to give you the hour. How you feeling, Carlton? Yeah. No, I’m I’m I’m glad to hear you guys voices again, you know, and and and you know, we had the one-year hiatus hiatus where Bill did nothing and and and now Bill’s back to his wretched self again as the most overrated head coach of a football program on on the face of this earth. Okay. It’s good to hear from you, man. Hope hope. All right. Have a good show, guys. Hope to hear from you again soon, pal. It’s keeping him alive. You know, I was just going to say I This is one thing that Bill Bich has succeeded at. It’s kept him alive. It’s a reason to live. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. It’s like he’s been on his deathbed for years now. And as soon that game on Sunday night was like a bolt of lightning that revitalized him. He jumped out of bed and ran on his better than interferon or whatever they give to keep you alive. Wow. Is that great? Oh, that is awesome. That’s unbelievable. Oh my gosh. It’s like that movie with Robin Williams where they gave people the medication, they all came back to life. Like this is awesome. Some more embarrassing news on Bill Bich, by the way, which we’ll get to later on in the program, him banning New England scouts from Chapel Hill or going to the game the other night or whatever that story is. We’ll get into that. Uh but either way, why do you think, back to my question, why do you think the national commentary is ahead of the local commentary on the Patriots? So I think the biggest reason is Varel. Okay, they all love Varel. Varbel’s respected uh by the media I think really all across the country. That was step number one. The other thing is I think it’s you know you heard Sims say it there. They were more aggressive than everybody in free agency. They So I think that’s one too is people look at it and say they got some players and they really haven’t looked beyond that. The flash of the off season was Vrabel and the free agent market and that makes people’s eyes light up. So, they didn’t spend a lot of time detailing what was going on in the practices and maybe they’re right not to. The league is different when it starts than it is in the preseason. There’s obviously no scheming, no game planning, none of that. So, everybody, you know, everyone is sort of starting from ground zero beginning tonight. And I think that they just haven’t really delved into a lot of the negative stuff that happened in camp. I my guess is they haven’t followed it all that closely. No, there’s no way. Your optimism cannot be based on what you saw from them this month. That’s the reason to actually be really dubious. And I think that’s I think locally more people certainly the guys that cover the team but that filters down to the people who listen to them and read them and watch them realize that even Drake Nay didn’t look all that good this year this August I’m saying and the offense is still hit or miss and the offensive line still a real sort of work in progress and I think locally maybe people came into it with that notion that they’ll be back and here we go and then they saw how it looked and said oh well wait a minute. We got to dial that back. And I think maybe the national people just didn’t just weren’t in tune on the day-to-day. Oh, I’m convinced of it. Yeah. I mean, daytoday media here is, you know, they’ve made their own observations. They watched it wasn’t as as tight as they wanted it to be, especially just going back to that Vikings preseason game. But more importantly, locally, those that cover the team day in day out, what they’re hearing within the walls of Gillette Stadium from from coaches. It almost feels like in the last three weeks, would you agree like it’s almost like they all got handed talking points, sir, of like, “Hey, by the way, dial this back. 11 wins is not going to be on the table. We might suck. Yeah. Internally, I think there was chatter about we don’t have much here after they, you know, again, Maz points of the Minnesota uh joint practice where they got their ass handed to him. But it was just at some point Vel and the staff got to a point in training camp and said, “Oh, we don’t really have a lot here.” And I think that filtered through. So, I think the National guys are behind on it. Uh but who knows? Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe maybe there are we’re maybe we’re maybe we’re circumcising the mosquito. We focus more on the ups and the downs and where if you could do that with any team, you’d have teams that had fits and starts in August and things that didn’t look good and holes coming out of training camp and we just gloss over them because we’re not following them every day, but we do follow this every day. So, I I just find that dichotomy interesting. It’s just what we’re going to start off with today as NFL football’s back. Okay, we got the Eagles Dallas tonight. Got another game tomorrow night, the Chiefs and Chargers in Brazil. We got the full slate of NFL action this weekend. So, anything you want to talk about football-wise, today is the day to do it. Do you have a thought here, M? I was just going to say that the the the uh the gap between the local sentiment and the national sentiment really does make Sunday all that much more interesting. Like, what if they come out and play well? And let me tell you, what if Milton Williams is a force, Carlton Davis looks pretty good, and Drake May and the offense look respectable. And I’m not telling you I’m not telling you this is what I think is going to happen. I’m just telling you what if they were to win the game 27 to 13. Something like that. Yeah. Where the it’s definitive, right? Right. Where and they don’t turn it over and they play good defense. Yeah. Here we go. Right. I’ll feel the same way I felt after game one last year. Here we go. Yeah. Right. You got something here. Yeah. and I’ll and if I get proven wrong in the very next week, then so be it. I get I think a a good start’s important. I think Sunday is borderline small M small W must win. I I think it’s important they get off to that two and two start. I think that September is no worse than two and two. And when you look at that week two at Miami, obviously a tough spot, historically a tough spot. Even when they were good, that was a tough spot. It’s a tough spot for anyone. September in Miami. Tough spot. I would not expect them to win that ball game. 0 and2 start and now you got to win the next two to get to Yeah. I don’t I think I think they got to win on Sunday and they got to and and that’s the way it’s got to be and they’ve got to be they’ve got to be ahead of the chains so to speak, Maz, from the jump. Yeah. Right. In more ways than one. And that’s what I want. And I I want them to be I I I want them to be at level all season long. I’m not I don’t have grand expectations. I have nine wins, but that means they’re 500 ball club. If this were a 16 game schedule, it would be an easy eight and eight. I can’t do that anymore. So, uh but to me that entails them not getting too far behind the chain, so to speak. Win week one, then you can play with Miami. You can split the next two. You can come out two and two, and now you’ve got a base. And that’s to me that’s the early path for this team. A loss on Sunday, then a loss in Miami. Now you’re fighting from behind and I don’t know if they got that in them. No. And then Craig Baddard might be right. 0 and5 might be in play.

Felger and Mazz begin the show previewing the New England Patriots home opener against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports

#nfl #patriots #raiders #football