INSTANT REACTION – Greg Bedard on Patriots Week 1 Loss to Raiders

INSTANT REACTION – Greg Bedard on Patriots Week 1 Loss to Raiders

We welcome in Greg Badard of the Boston Sports Journal after a week one loss from the New England Patriots to the Las Vegas Raiders. Greg, how are you? Thanks for joining us. Good. What’s up, fellas? I’m sure um this will be a very um calm and rational discussion about this game. Hey, we’re not being irrational. We’re just reacting to what we saw. And I’m going to start with this, Greg. based on especially that second half. Okay. What you saw in that second half, what was the worst part of the game today overall for the Patriots? I thought the worst part of the game for the Patriots today was the performance of Drake May. Like I I I I think we all understand that if you have grand illusions for this team, if you have visions of grander that they’re going to make a postseason push and, you know, who knows what might happen, which, you know, could still happen. It that doesn’t happen without Drake May playing really well. And uh I did not think Drake May played really well today. I thought it was a continuation of what we saw in the preseason against the Commanders and especially against the Vikings. And um I just don’t think he was good enough and I thought he was thoroughly outplayed by Gino Smith. Greg, just to stick with Drake May, he’s had conversations about jitters early on in games. He had them today. Um I think he’s doing too much in the Josh McDaniels offense. He had that delay a game. Um I think that’s another reason why he has the jitters. He sailed a few balls and then the turnover was the turning point in the game today. Do you feel that he is doing too much at the line or do you think he’s picked up the offense easily and it’s really just about his ability more than setting everyone having too much on his plate? I guess. Yeah, I I can’t say that it’s um it’s the McDaniels offense or anything like that. I mean, what I see is just um a sloppy quarterback. I mean that first throw to Deario Douglas like it didn’t have anything to do with the guy was wide open and there I don’t know there must have been six or seven wide open receivers today that he missed that he wasn’t accurate with and to me that has nothing to do with the offense. that has to do with uh his sloppy mechanics sort of reverting back to and and I don’t I don’t even think he made that much progress last year um with it to to be frank. Um a lot of the stuff that we saw at North Carolina um that first throw to Demario Douglas, that’s all about his legs, his feet getting narrow before he throws. And this is something that has been an issue for him for years and it’s just not cleaned up. And until until he cleans it up and you know, you can put the blame on the coaching, I’m sure that’s part of it. But, you know, I I see a quarterback and and you know, I brought this up on Felgger Maz. I got some blowback about it. Like I I I just don’t know how much of a taskmaster he is, how maniacal he is about like, you know, I to be really good, I need to be my my fundamentals need to be flawless. And um I just don’t think he believes that. I think he’s more of a shrug, whatever. I’ll make a play next time. And I just think he’s a immature, inexperienced quarterback at this time. And you’re gonna get that until um he he evolves from that process. It didn’t look to me uh and I, of course, I didn’t go through the film or anything like that, but it didn’t look like to me he was really going through his progressions all that well. I mean, I I did was he ever scanning the field during the entire game? It looked like it was one read and throw or one read and then he’d be scrambling and trying to keep the play alive, but he’d ultimately run and he kind of looked timid when he Did you ever see him go through a progression or make a good read pre- snap even in this game, Greg? Well, I would say that in most circumstances, um, Mark, it’s it’s a bit of a misnomer that like, you know, when you talk about I’m sure people listening are imagining like him, you know, starting off on the right side and basically like going 1 2 3 4 basically across the field. That doesn’t really happen all that often and did it today. Yeah, that’s because he could have had a sandwich back there uh you know a couple times. Um but you know really and and this is the way the offense works is due to your pre-nap read um and what you think they’re going to be in post snap and I thought that the Raiders got a little bit more creative at that kind of kind of mess with Drake a little bit. um based on your pre- snap you read, you’re basically eliminating half the field. So, you’re like, “All right, well, I think I’m going to get this look or we have the numbers on this side, so now I’m working, you know, one to two, maybe to three, uh, if that’s the back out of the back field.” And and I just think that sometimes Drake plays sped up. I I don’t know the reason for that. I mean, like there there was one time and early on in the game, you know, he had to he sailed the ball to Douglas. Then there were a couple other times where he’s basically like going back looking and then taking off and he’s getting like one yard where, you know, play quarterback. Like I remember one time Stefon Diggs was wide open like right in front of him. Just check it down to him. And so I I just think that he’s um he’s he’s sort of a neopight in all this and and I think that people are just going to have to have a lot of patience. Do you think uh when they punted the ball after the Will Campbell false start to make it fourth and 10, they didn’t believe in Drake made a go for it? I know Vrabel after the game said he wanted the better punt, which was a 21 y, not good, but it was horrendous. Why not go for it in that play? Uh it’s it’s a great question. Um you know, I understand where Mike’s coming from and that was just like and Beher had a couple of those today. Um, you know, very disappointed in the special teams today. Like none of the team really played well. I mean, other than like, you know, Harold Landry, um, Booty, you know, looked like, uh, Booty. Yep. Um, you know, basically, you know, Milton Williams I thought did some nice things up front. I thought the I thought they good got good pass pressure, you know, most of the game and when they didn’t, Gino Gino hit him. But I I as far as that fourth and 10, um, I understand where Mike’s coming from. you you know, you’re thinking you’re going to pin them, they’re going to run the ball, they’re not going to try to do too very much and you’re going to get the ball with good field position and blah blah blah. But um yeah, I mean that might be Mike Mike not understanding um Drake and his ability because Drake’s actually probably at his best in those circumstances. And so, um, I think, you know, Mike’s just going to have to get used to that. Drake can make those plays and he often pulls him out of his rear end. It looked to me, Greg, like the Raiders, and I could be wrong, but it looked like they were really keying on Trayvon Henderson. And I don’t know if that was because Chip Kelly was with him at Ohio State last year, but they looked totally prepared for any of the checkdowns or the screen pass or anything that the Patriots wanted to do to Henderson. Did you get that feeling? And overall, did you feel like the Raiders staff outdid the Patriots coaching staff? Uh, yes. But because I think that the the Raiders had more to work with in terms of talent. Now, they did lose Bowers at one point, but also from the the sake of continuity. I mean, you know, I I think a big reason why the Patriots showed the way they did today were a couple things I and this is something I brought up before. I did not think Mike Vrael ran a very hard camp. Um this is now the fourth straight season opening loss that a team of his has had and um none of those game that the the games that they lost um you know one was like 1615 another was on a field goal. He even said the other day got boat raced by the Cardinals. Um and now this one was pretty ugly. I thought what you’re talking about in terms of Henderson, it looked to me in the second half that when the RA at halftime when the Raiders coaches got together, they said none of these guys are running by us. So like why are we being so cautious? Like let’s just play man coverage. If they happen to beat us, I don’t think they’re going to um tip your cap, but we are going on the defensive in the second half and we’re going to make them prove that they can beat us and we don’t think that they can. All right, we’re going to get to uh when we get back, Greg, I want to take I want to play a little game of bad game or bad sign. Uh just because it was not a good second half and I’m feeling the mood. Greg Bard of the Boston Sports Journal. And Greg, we’re going to play a little game of good game. Check that. Bad game, bad sign just because of the way the second half played out and the offensive inefficiencies that we witnessed. So, we’re going to play bad game or bad sign based on the following players. And feel free um you know to to be brief here. Drake May, was it a bad game or was it a bad sign what we saw? Bad sign. Oh no. Well, bad sign in that um it’s going bad sign in that it’s going to take time. Yeah. Like it if you were if you thought that he was just going to hit the ground running and be dramatically better Drake in week one, I just don’t see I just don’t think that was realistic. Um, but I am hopeful that um, he will steadily improve over the course of the season. Their starting running back today was Raandre Stevenson. Bad game or bad sign from Raandre Stevenson today, Greg? Uh, bad game. I thought the run uh, operation in general was not very good, and I won’t know why until I see the film. Here’s another one that surprised me. Bad game or bad sign, Pop Douglas. Yeah, I I just saw that. I just noticed that he had what? Two targets for minus two yards. I think he had seven targets, two catches for minus two yards. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. I’m going to say that’s a bad game. I think that they will look at the film and adjust and find a way to get him more involved. I maybe it’s debatable whether this is a bad game, but I it took him a little bit of time. Stefon Diggs might be a little harsh, but was it a bad game or a bad sign that he looked a little uninvolved early? I think that is about what you’re going to get. I’m going to say neither. Like right in the middle. Uh that is what you should expect from Diggs for at least part of this season. All right. Uh Keon White, did you see him on the field at all today? I know he’s playing uh good game. Was that a bad sign uh for him not being out there at all? It’s been a bad sign for him for about a month that he basically has no role on this team and uh he is just a sort of depth guy, rotational guy at this point. And so uh it it’s a bad sign. And another one that um you could have put into this category, I I I was kind of waiting. I was trying to be patient, but it looked like it started to get off the rails a little bit late. But what was your overall takeaway in and the performance of Will Campbell today, Greg? I thought that for a bulk of the game, I thought that Will Campbell was pretty good. Of course, he had the two false starts. Um, the one um sacked by uh Tyrie Wilson. Um, that one looked like it was on him. There was another one that the announcer said was on him, but it really wasn’t. What happened was Max Crosby lined up over Jared Wilson and sort of split Brad split the block with Bradbury. Um started to get out and Drake May sort of tried stepped up in the pocket and you know that’s not where Will Campbell’s leverage was. So but I thought overall I thought that Will Campbell was solid. Uh it was not a strong finish to the game for him. So I just want to ask Greg in terms of their overall offensive philosophy. It looked like I was encouraged early because it looked like they were trying to put the ball in Drake May’s hands. They were trying to make plays in the passing game, go downfield, be a little bit more dynamic. Did you think ultimately um that was a poor decision? I guess that’s kind of a silly question after what we saw in the second half or do you think that they should reel it back in going into Miami? Do they continue to try to give the Patriots more opportunities offensively to be dynamic or do you have to reel it back in and try to go back to ground and pound and being more ultra-conservative based on what we saw in that second half especially. I think Mark that and and I’m also sort of using my basis and maybe I shouldn’t of you know my history with this offense and um the Patriots in general mostly under Bill Bich but and with this offense and Josh McDaniels I think it’s the best path for them to for this to pay off long term for Drake May and the team is they need to um they need to find they need to dial things back and establish themselves, establish a physicality on the offensive line, run the ball between the tackles better. Um, you know, make sure they’re they’re doing more high percentage things in the pass game and build on that and hopefully at some point um the big plays will come and you can expand things a bit. Greg, um, I know you met you brought it up earlier and it was your take, uh, from preseason that it was a very light camp. They had no juice in the second half today. Uh, is that a bad sign? Yeah, I I do. And this was um, you know, one of my worries that um, now I will say from the time that after the time that I said that on Felgar Maz and I talked about how it was the lightest training camp I’ve ever seen and that was just a fact at the time. Now, I will say it picked up after that. Um, I still think Gerard Mayo’s camp was harder and we saw that the way the Patriots came out to start last season. Um, you know, it is I think it’s a bad sign, but um, Vable has the long game in mind and I think that’s why he chose to do things the way that he did them and we’ll have to see ultimately whether that pays off or not. Just a followup, the Dolphins got blown out today. Um, the Patriots have the Dolphins next week. There was no Christian Gonzalez today. Do you think that affected the Patriots defense at all? Uh, well, yeah, I’m sure it did. I mean, it would be hard to tell because we haven’t seen Christian in 5 weeks. So, I don’t even remember what the defense looks like with him on the field because he didn’t even last at the team periods in the first padded practice. I mean, but obviously he makes a he makes a difference and I think that, you know, there’s a trickle down effect like we saw Carlton Davis, they started to match him on Bowers on certain plays, third downs. Um, that probably would have gone to Christian Gonzalez and then maybe, you know, Carlton Davis has taken care of Jacobe Meyers, even though I thought Alex Austin did some nice things. I thought, you know, Jaylen Hawkins had the interception, but really that was Carlton Davis. Um, there was some iffy play in the secondary. You know, when they were getting desperate at times and that means you got to hold up in the back end, can Hawkins and Woodson and, you know, I saw Kyle Kyle Duggar out there as a third safety at certain points. Can those guys hold up? I mean the I mean you could say all you want about the offense and that it wasn’t the defense if you just want to look at the points and I’m sure a lot of people are going to do that but you know you look at I’m looking at the miscellaneous statistics report after this game you know from the NFL and this is like the 20 plus pass plays. I mean first of all the Raiders had so many I think it went off the the sheet. Um and the the Patriots only had three plays over over 20 yards. They both happened in the first half. the Raiders top one, two, three, four, five plays, 38, 36, 34, 30, 28, all happened in the second half. Um, so, uh, you can look at the points all you want. It was a sloppy day. There was, you know, Gino Smith made a few curious decisions. Um, you know, but, um, the defense didn’t really do their part today either. Last thing from me, Greg, in terms of positives to take away from this, is there any big positive takeaway that the Patriots could look at as they move towards week two in Miami? I thought that the defensive line um and Robert Spalain uh seemed to play well. I thought that they, you know, they got after it. That’s a pretty decent Raiders offensive line. Um, and I thought they they really started to hit a rhythm in terms of their stunts and twists and all that and defended the run really well. That was really good. Um, that will serve them well. And also, you know, just the way they worked up front. I do did think that they, you know, were sort of uh fast and relentless up front. Yeah, they got blocked up a few times. Um, you know, that’s going to happen. But I thought I I would say the front seven overall, maybe not Christian Ellis, but the front seven overall was pretty good and as advertised and I feel good about that. And I I thought the defense for the most part um was better than I expected for most of the game. And then if you can add a Christian Gonzalez into that, it could be even better. So that’s sort of the positive I’m taking from this game. All right, Greg Baddard. Always a pleasure. Greg Baddard of the Boston Sports Journal joining us. Um we look forward to his analysis after he’s watched the tape on Felgar and Mass on Tuesday. Greg, thanks so much. Anytime. And thanks guys.

Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal joined Patriots Postgame after the Patriots Week 1 loss to the Raiders.

Thumbnail Image courtesy USA Today Sports.

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