If that was Drake Maye’s bad day, the Patriots are just fine

If that was Drake Maye’s bad day, the Patriots are just fine

[Applause] [Music] The Quick Snap is presented by FW Web. Dependable solutions for the pros since 1866. Welcome back to episode 10 of the Quick Snap podcast. Post trade deadline. Do we have any news? Yeah, we do. No news. No. Brendan Rice, Jerry Rice is Hold on. But did we trade for him or No, we signed him to the practice that news that happens every week. At least it was a transaction. I mean, Dude, I’m sitting I’m watching the Jets with the fire sale. They’re trading S Gardner. They’re trading Quinnon Williams, which What was your response when I said that one? I I would be throwing a If I was still playing, I I’m still thinking about throwing a party and I’m not even playing. That dude’s a problem. He’s He’s a really good player. Uh the Cowboys making moves after they lost on Monday night. Can I can I the this that trade doesn’t make sense to me if I’m the Cowboys. I think they made the trade before the game. It just came out today. I take away the the loss on Monday. The fact that you had the best defensive player in the league, traded him away, and then just traded to get a great dtackle. Look, dackles are great, but you had to I like I if I’m the Cowboys, I’m looking at my secondary and being like, “All right, well, let’s go get like I don’t know.” Like to me, it just that didn’t make sense. But that’s Jerry Jerry’s World’s Jerry’s World. And just chalk it up to that. I really wish Jerry Jones would get this YouTube TV. I thought maybe by Monday night Oh, did is that what you used? I spent 50 minutes trying to figure this out last night. I thought, well, I turned off. Does no one have normal cable anymore as a backup? So, so, so let me, this is where I was. I was a big cable guy, all in on cable, and I had YouTube TV at my farm. But then when we moved, I was like, “All right, I’m not paying for both. Like, I want to get you.” And I wasn’t playing, so I was like, “I want YouTube TV for the uh uh Sunday Ticket in the Red Zone.” Yeah. Yeah. So, I did that and, you know, I was seeing all these commercials and then I I’ve figured it out Saturday, you know, when I couldn’t figure out how to get ESPN. And since I am a slave to technology and I just paid for the just, you know, $200 to Disney after spending god knows how much down there was you were able to watch the game. I did the exact same thing, David. I spent 45 minutes, then I did the fee. I don’t I don’t know if it was my internet last night, but I was watching Countdown and they were talking. Their lips were messed up. Was that happen to you, Danny? I don’t know. I I don’t know. I was too flustered by trying to figure it out. It was driving me ins. I’m tired. And then and then when you’re on these streaming services, you can’t flip in between anything else. I I I’m a slave to it. A whole new world. But so you were able to see Jacobe ball out though. Jacobe did look good. And I don’t know if Kyler I was listening to the radio today. They’re sticking with Jacobe. They did come out and say they’re going to see Does that mean Kyler Murray is healthy or like I don’t understand that. I have a question though. Let’s not talk about Kyler Murray. Let’s talk about, you know, the Patriots offense last year. What does that say about the Patriots last year where Jacobe Brassette looks great in these last three games in Arizona and what does that say about us last year? Yeah, look, I think David, you were there at the beginning while Jacobe was playing. I know Jacobe very personally. That’s like Garrett who’s in the the booth with you here as we record post uh trade deadlines after football practice. He’s nervous to come in the camera. He’s nervous. Doesn’t make any trades today, G. Come on, G. He’s too nervous. She’s too nervous for a receiver. You know, that’s like Garrett’s uncle and so like it was it was tough to see him go through what he went through last year, but I love to see him bounce back and and honestly, not just last night, the last few games he’s been balling out, they just weren’t able to win. But I mean, from your perspective, having been there with him, like what does that say about what happened here last year? Well, look, I mean, okay, you could say that about Jacobe. Look at Drake. Yeah, it’s the same thing. So, it it’s a whole new team. better talent, you know, I would say better offensive coaching. So, you could do it with both guys. You know, it’s not just a Jacobe thing like, you know, we’ll get into it Drake’s performance again, but you know, it’s both guys are excelling. One at the same place, one not. So, you know, I I don’t think it’s like a him versus him. Like, obviously, Drake I know, but like you can see like it wasn’t like Drake came in, we became a 10 time better football team, you know? So, there’s a lot that goes into football. It is not It’s why it’s the greatest team game. Getting back to, like I said, post trade deadline, uh, Patriots kind of hold hold pat, no pun intended. They didn’t really make any moves. There was some reports out there. They were interested in some of the Titans players. The Titans owner, that’s messy. Uh, didn’t want to send any players to the Patriots because she’s still a little buttth hurt from the Vel situation. And then the other players I think that they were interested in getting uh were either from the Jets or the Dolphins, whether it be Mika Fitzpatrick, whether it be Bree Hall, whether it be Jaylen Phillips, which I don’t know how Roseman keeps doing this. It’s just it’s incredible. I mean, what he’s done uh for the Philadelphia Eagles, but you know, it was going to be a premium for the Patriots to trade for someone within the division. Um, you know, so the fan in me and the media person in me, I was hoping they’d be one of those teams to make a splashy move, but I when I really look at it, I’ve been we’ve been so happy with this team, uh, the only thing that I thought was the injuries in the running back room. You need a little depth there. Do you really want to put, you know, and Trayvon Henderson’s coming along. I thought he had another good day the other day, but do you want to put that load on him as a rookie? Could you go and get a Bree Hall? Could you go and get a pard from the Titans? Uh, but I think it’s it’s a statement to the team that we’re all we need and we believe in who we have here. And so, um, I’m not going to make anything too big out of it. I think uh, they would have probably liked to do something. It didn’t work out. And now, you know, you still have that capital in the in the draft for next year. Well, I’ll say this to one of your points, the Howie Roseman point. When you look at the Eagles, right, I think How’s done a great job building that team through the draft first off, right? a lot of their offensive linemen, quarterback, a lot of their defensive guys have been guys they’ve drafted, tight ends, Devonte Smith. Yep. You know, and then what does he do? He goes and adds through the trades in free agency, right? AJ Brown, Seaquan, you know, uh, Hassan Reic a few years ago. Like, but he he’s hit on a lot of draft picks. Mh. So, I think when you do that and build through the draft, you’re more willing to sacrifice draft picks, you know, where you’re saying like, “Hey, if we usually get seven draft picks, I’ll take four cuz we’re going to be really good at these four picks.” Personally, I and I don’t know, but that’s just how I feel. And then when you look at the Patriots, you know, I don’t I’m happy with where the team’s at right now. I think they do have a plan to build through the draft. I think that’s how you have to build a football team. Building a team through free agency, I’ve never been a big fan of. They did it this year out of a necessity, I believe. I think free agency is great for getting one to three pieces in reality, right? And look, like Stefon Diggs has been a hit. Carlton Davis hasn’t been bad. You had to get a Morgan Moses type guy. got him, you know, signed Bradberry, you know, Harold Landry’s been great. Milt Williams has been great. Spain’s been great. So, they had to do that. Mollins, let’s not forget Matt. They had hero. Yeah, they had to do that this year, I think, to get the team where it needed to be. I would rather them have their draft capital personally for a couple of reasons. one, I don’t know how big of a Does Bree Hall make this team some type of Super Bowl contender? I don’t think so. Well, yeah. And to your point, is there any players out there other than Miles Garrett? No. Um, to me, it’s really like Miles Garrett. It’s someone who is either going to touch the football and score touchdowns for you or is going to get get after the passer. Yeah. Like that. Like to me, that’s the only two people or positions that can really come in midseason and have that type of I agree. So, I’m I’m more content with them keeping draft capital, not overpaying for somebody that’s not going to drastically change what’s going on right now. And who knows, maybe there’s something coming down the line in the off season with a guy like, you know, uh, Miles Garrett or Henderson or AJ Brown. Like, there could be something coming, but right now I just, as a fan, I understand you want to see that, but also I wouldn’t want them to overpay for anything right now. I agree. I agree. Um, yeah. Look, I think, you know, listening to the the media around here, people are mad because I think there is almost this expectation like you’re ahead of schedule. Go out and get something that’s going to help you get there. I don’t think if you’re an organization that has a level head about you, you don’t change your path, right? I agree. Like you have a you have a a plan and whether you thought you were going to be seven or and two or not, that’s what your plan is. And and I’m sure they inquired, but they didn’t overpay. Uh they feel confident in the guys they have. And the reality is, I mean, and I don’t know this, I’m just going off the top of my head, when’s the last time a team traded for someone before the trade deadline that really had a lasting effect on that season that helped them win a Super Bowl? I can’t think of one in recent year. Danny, any idea? No idea. I’d have to give that some thought. But I mean, the the only, you know, part here where I think that they should have made a move is like next year’s schedule is going to get really really hard and your window to like maximize taking advantage of the schedule, go get that first seat in the FC is like right now. when also too like your your record is going to be good. That pick’s going to be later in that first round, second like that you could be to the point where now you’re drafting every year in the 20s and and I mean hopefully that’s the case. Yeah. But the thing is you got to hit on these draft picks and right now look like we’ll see we’ll see what Kyle Williams turns into, right? Like I would say he’s been the most disappointing one. I think you know Henderson’s coming around. Will Campbell’s been great. I think uh you know so I would like to see them build through the draft cuz you know I really think that’s the big key to building a football team. But enough of that talk. It’s come and gone. Let’s get into the game. Hoy, what’s your thoughts? I mean look, uh sometimes you got to win ugly, right? And I would say that’s what it was. And it didn’t have to be that way. I felt like, you know, before halftime, they got the ball back. Uh they’re going on this two-minute drive. They, you know, they start with the draw, get the clock going, get them set in their two-minute, get them, get them set in their two-minute uh defense, right? Get the the Falcons. And that was always a big thing Josh would talk about. Look, you want to get the defense into their two-minute mode. You don’t want to go out there throw an incomplete pass. Now they get to huddle back up, call. Yeah. Do whatever you want, especially this defense, right? So, a lot of times it start with something like a draw or a quick pass. Get them in that rhythm, get on the ball. Now all of a sudden you limit their defensive package, which they are able to do. complete a few passes and now all of a sudden, you know, here comes the TE. They’re not able to handle it on the right side. Drake’s a little careless with the ball. He talked about it after the game. He’s like, I gotta got to understand I can’t stiff arm defensive ends in the pocket, right? Free rushers. Free rushers. And and I love him for it that he has the strength and the ability to think that he can do that, but he’s learning. Um, and he hasn’t had a play like that in a while. But, you know, that really changed the tide. And then they come out in the second half, they they didn’t look as as polished as what we’ve seen. Obviously throws the interception, which you know, I told people I would go over. They started with a fumble, too. They did. Literally, he just went to go in and hit it off of literally the next drive. Um and uh you know, then there was the interception. The defense kind of let the Falcons hang around. um couldn’t really cover Drake London, which I was kind I don’t know about you, but I’m looking at the TV, I’m like, can we just put Gonzalez on him and like just like a little more man coverage and just match Gonzalez with Drake London? Uh but they got the job done. And I think you would agree with me like as a team that’s jelling coming together. You got to win some of those games to understand you didn’t play your best football, but you overcame some of those things and you walk away with a win. And Vrabel, I think, is handling it in a great way. He’s like, “Look, no one’s going to steal your joy. It’s hard as hell to win a game in the NFL. You’re going to enjoy it. Um, look, I’ll I’ll be there tomorrow morning to point out where we need to make the corrections, but enjoy a win. And it’s better to be learning when you’re winning than better than than learning when you’re losing. Yeah. I to me the most important thing that happened Sunday is they won the football game. Of course. Like it doesn’t matter if this team goes to the divisional round and lose or win or the wild card win or lose, however it goes. We’re not going to say they lost that divisional round or wild card playoff game because of this Falcons win. You’re not going to say that. Like at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Like that win, it’s over with. You’re on to the next. Now, I thought the good in the game, they started fast. Yeah. And on both sides of the ball, like defense goes out there, three and out, offense takes the ball, great opening drive, seven points. Um, it was a dominant first half for 28 minutes and about 30 seconds or 29 minutes and 30 seconds cuz I think it was 30 seconds left in the half. So, it was a dominant half of football that really just And it’s one thing with this team. I think we were talking about it last week, how well they kind of have the next play mentality, right? Like we just haven’t seen them like something bad happened, they get down, whatever it may be, and it’s just kind of like water on ducks back. It rolls off. This week, that stuff kind of snowballed on them a little bit, you know, in the second half. And that’s when you saw Varel go over to Drake on the sideline, which I I loved. I mean, here’s your head coach, your your young quarterback has been playing at MVP level. He’s had a few bad plays. go over there, put your hand on his on your on his shoulder, tell him, “Look, you got this. You’re good. Don’t don’t worry about and and and to the thing you love about Drake is it doesn’t seem to affect him.” No. I mean, I I I think you you see that with with Rael because this is kind of one of those things you expect from a 23-year-old secondyear quarterback. We just haven’t seen it a lot. And I think that’s why people were so like up in arms like, “Oh, he didn’t play a great game.” Look, he he completed 19 to 29 for 259 yards, two touchdowns, and he had 102 passer rating. Like, if that’s a bad day at the office for Drake May, we’re going to be just fine. Yeah, I think talking about Drake, the interception wasn’t a concern for me. It happens. It’s the NFL. And it hasn’t been a problem. Like, that was his third, right? Uh, yeah, I think so. So, third in nine games is pretty good. Yeah. Fourth interception. Fourth was it? I thought I thought he only had two. Fourth interception. Still, it doesn’t really change the stat or how I feel about it that much. To me, it was the fumbles because the first one, you know, that it it could have been a worse play obviously with a touchdown. They still scored. Uh shout out to Will Campbell on that. The effort he showed that was huge and I love seeing that. You know, obviously they got points off of it, but it could be a, you know, it could be a swing. Yeah, if they score a touchdown there, maybe that’s what they need. Yeah, it could have been a huge swing. Uh, you know, if he tack Well, he did tackle him, but the defense stops him like, you know, the game changes. So, um, but that one and then the next, those were the ones cuz I think he’s corrected a lot of the careless throws part of his game and it looked like he was turning the tide with some of that stuff and he regressed a little bit. I don’t think that’s going to be another major problem. Um, I will say my one concerning thing right now is the quarterback’s getting hit too much. You know, I think we’re second sacks allowed. Um, most in the last two weeks. Most in the last two weeks. Yeah. You see what Bradberry said about this? Uhuh. He he said, “Look, it it makes us sick as offensive linemen to see the quarterback get hit.” And he goes, “It’s not all our fault. It’s not all Drake’s fault. It’s all of our fault.” No, I think that was a very good way to put it because there’s some sacks where I look and I think Drake Now, I’ll say this. Atlanta did a very good job of what I would say contain rushing. Well, that was what I wanted to get into because that that I do think Drake owns some of it, right? I do think it’s always interesting, right? Because I would never come to the quarterbacks and be like, “You got to throw the ball.” Mhm. But sometimes on film, you know, watching Monday, you’d be sitting there and you’re like, “Yeah.” Well, that’s our bad boys. But like, help us out a little bit here, babe. But I will say Atlanta, what I found really interesting about Atlanta’s game plan and how they attack this game, they had a great rush plan, and I don’t think a lot of teams can copy it because it’s one of the best secondaries in the league right now. They were did a lot of fiveman rushes when I was watching it. And so for fiveman rushes really it’s going to make you lighter in the back end, right? Which with the way the Patriots are passing the football right now, a lot of teams aren’t going to feel comfortable doing that, but Atlanta did because of their coverage unit. And when you do that now, it is easier to contain the quarterback. And there was a couple of sacks where sure the pocket wasn’t really the only sack where it was a free rusher was the strip sack. Yep. It was a TE on the right side. They didn’t get it passed. It was a free rusher. The rest where you know the pockets just collapsing and he’s trying to step up, but when the five guys are rushing and they have good rush lanes, there’s nowhere for a quarterback to go. I mean, you know that it’s hard. Yeah. And so they had a really really good game plan, rush plan, and were able to execute it due to their good secondary play, I believe. Yeah. And there was there were some great pockets like the first touchdown to pop, which by the way, Josh McDaniels, uh, special right there, L get in 21 personnel. So the defense sees the fullback in the game, the tight end in the game, they think, ah, it’s going to be, you know, eye formation, something like that. All of a sudden, you’re in gun trips with the fullback all the way outside. Pop is in the in the back field. Trayvon Henderson’s in the slot and they alerted to that play. So, they clearly had some type of tell or some type of uh advantage that they saw. And sure enough, here it is and it’s Pop Douglas on appealing defensive end, which that’s all about mismatch mismatches, right? And getting to that through personnel groupings, right? So, getting the defense into a base defense where they’re more limited. you know what they’re going to do based on how they aligned to that formation and it was a great play call, a great execution by the players and a great great pocket. There was one he stepped up and threw a sail route to Diggs. It was a beautiful throw on third down probably probably the throw of the game to be honest with you. Like great pocket and so it just got to be more consistent but I think you’re right the way they rushed him was more like be disciplined and crush the pocket. Don’t let him have cuz he has done a good job stepping up this year and finding those lanes to pull the ball down. Those weren’t really there on Sunday. No. And and that’s due to the fiveman and and like I said, to me it looked like, you know, I I don’t want to say something that I’m not correct. I don’t play quarterback, but it’s hard when people aren’t open due to that, right? Yeah. Especially like your first second read. Yeah. Like if you go and even if they have that great rush and your first read’s there, the ball’s out. Yeah. even sometimes a second read, especially if it’s on the same side of the field. But when you kind of contain rush and push the middle of the pocket and there’s nowhere for you to go as a quarterback, you kind of just run out of room. And that’s what I a lot of those sacks were like Drake would pat the ball to throw, wasn’t there, and all of a sudden it just they were just on them. It wasn’t like he was getting teed off on with a free rusher. It was the line kind of holding up, getting pushed back. And I think you hit on it like those fiveman rushes, it’s five singles now, right? Like that’s the hard part. And so you got to fight your life your for your life up there up front trying to hold that stout pocket and you don’t have help from a guard or a tackle or anything like that. Hoy, is there one thing in practice though that like Drake and the coaches staff can do to help avoid these sacks more often? The one thing that I would say and and we used to do this a lot with Josh. I don’t know if you remember watching this. We would do what we call the gauntlet drill. So we would drop back and all the quarterbacks and the coaches would line up and we try to swipe at the ball, try to punch the ball out as they’re dropping, doing their drills. And I would say the one thing with Drake, like in in the strip sack, when you’re an athletic quarterback, you want to move athletically. You don’t want to keep two hands on the football, right? Because it’s awkward to run like this. And so sometimes you go to separate to either like he was trying to stiff arm or you try to make a move and the ball gets out here, it’s where it’s loose. And so a lot of the times in the pocket, we would be taught and I know people aren’t always watching this, but when you move, you almost want to bring your ball to the ball to the chest. That way it’s pinned. if someone goes to hit it, like I’ve had the ball like this before up against my chest, someone hits it, but at least it hits my chest and I can fall on it and collapse on it. And so, you know, when you’re athletic quarterback, you’re moving more athletically than I ever was. And the ball gets away from your body and that’s usually when it gets knocked out. So, I’m sure they’re doing the gauntlet drills, they get the the um foam pads and they’ll be hitting them and just making sure that he secures it all week in practice. One thing it’s been uh you know Dan Orloski does a lot of breakdowns and he’s he has been very glowingly about Josh and Trey and you were talking about base personnel. I always loved when you could and I think this is something that teams are trying to do is get teams or good teams and well coached teams into base. Yep. Because what does base defense do for the O lineman? one, there’s only a few amount of fronts you can play, right? And you kind of know where your spots are for you and for me. And then on the coverage end, there’s only a few coverages they can play in base defense. Usually teams have two coverages. They have whatever zone call they have and they have probably a man pressure or we a lot of times you and I would have called it under Tom Sam Blitz one. that was like a go-to because the way the game has evolved to so much 11 personnel or even you might call it 12 light because the these F tight ends are basically big receivers. Defenses have basically shifted to saying we’re going to play nickel against all those groupings, right? And so they that’s where they cook up all their different packages. they have multiple coverages and because a lot of teams aren’t getting into true 21 personnel with a real fullback or even true 12 personnel with two legit tight ends when it when they put their base defense out there. We’re talking about four D linemen, three linebackers, four DBs, they they they don’t have the time to practice at all because they’re practicing so much on their substituted defense that Josh would always come in and be like, “Look, we’re going to try to get them in base defense cuz we know the three things they’re going to do. It’s going to be under Tom, Sam Blitz, one. It’s going to be over Tomm cover three. Or they’re going to have just over double Tom, which these are just fronts with linebackers, cover two. That’s it. That’s all they have. And it simplifies what you have to see from the defense. And so now all of a sudden, you’re a defense. You only have these three calls and they line up in a trips formation that you’re not expecting. There’s no checking out of them. They don’t have any checks. And now that’s where you end up with Pop Douglas on the defensive end. Yeah. Which is what Josh does such a great job of. And when you can play like that, it makes you confident up front. All right, let’s get into the big talking point, I guess, of this week, which I don’t know how this has gotten blown up, but here we are. Clap gate. You know, I guess the Patriots are good. We got another gate, you know, clapgate. No, I I I think Raheem Morris in his defense, he was cuz I’ve seen some clips from him press conference. He was getting told what the players told him and to me it sound like the players tried to ca, you know, that’s what I Ca for everybody who doesn’t know, cover your ass. There you go. Yeah. You know, that made me think of Do you remember what Bill used to tell us every year? He’d be like, “Look, don’t come to the sideline and tell me they did all these different things. Like, we have the pictures. If you don’t know what they did, just say I don’t know because if you tell me one thing and I believe you and it’s not true, like that’s your ass.” Yeah. I I those pictures sometimes I for you guys, you could like just depending on where the picture got taken cuz it would be like you would get the still shot of the actual defense, right? so that you could make adjustments and then you would get like what like 2 seconds into the play or something like a second one. Yeah. So if they like disguised the coverage it would help you guys. Didn’t really do much for the O lineman but there would be clips of like you maybe getting edged and Dante would just you would he would rip your ass cuz you look like you’re getting beat and you you would be like just sitting there taking questioning your reality. Well, yeah. you just be like, I think I just stoned that guy about two yards in the back field like on a bull rush. Like what are you talking about? But right, uh but yeah, so I to me that was the players they messed up. There was a mistake and so they tried to find an excuse. Do you think it was a center like I heard someone clapping? Yeah, I think it’s an I mean cuz Dolman was there last year and he’s not there. So after all, we are the quick snap and we’re the ones who have to control the snap. Can we just explain to the people how and when would a quarterback ever clap to get the ball? So, the only times we would ever do this, uh, I’m not going to say the word cuz I did that the other week and figured that was not good. We would have a call if we got into like that formation, a funky formation, right? And let’s say we got into that formation with, you know, pop in the back field and like someone was uncovered. Jack Westover was uncovered. There would be a call that the quarterback would want the ball, just throw it to him quick. We did it against the We did it a couple times, but one I always remember cuz it was my first start and we practiced it and I was like, “This is never coming up.” And it came up week one. We played the Steelers and we did something with Gronk. He was wide open. We did it. But like we called that situation and Tom sometimes you’re not expecting it because you go up to the line with the snap count. It’s this whole process. He’d just be like because he wanted it to get it out there and it really didn’t matter if you messed up your block cuz it was a quick no or the other situation is you’re on the road, you’re in a silent cadence in every offense and we’ve we’ve heard I guess I’ll go with the most notable because he made a whole business out of it. Omaha set go with with Peyton Manning. So every every offense has what we would call like an alert word that no matter what we said the cadence was on in the huddle on one on two fake cadence. If we said the word we want the ball snap well on the road and you’re in silent you’re not using the words and so let’s say I got out of the huddle late. I’m getting people lined up. The play clock’s running down and David’s waiting for me to lift my knee and he’s not looking and I want the ball. I’m going to clap clap clap clap clap. That happened to us one time in Buffalo. But we got a funky blitz pressure and you know Tom had changed the protection. So I was already looking between my legs you know looked up. We were changing the protection play clock’s going down and I’m still up there communicating with the line and you know and I knew look go. One thing I will say this is my big proponent of always having your center look on the silent cadence. They were using the right guard. He the ball got snapped. He was not ready that Mil Williams went through, you know, there we are. So when you do the center, he always knows when the quarterback wants the ball because I’m looking at him. But I like, how does that work for you? Okay, you see the defense, now your head’s between your legs, you’re waiting for us. Like now you look back up, the picture could have changed when you don’t have Joe Tuni or Ted Carris or Shaq Mason Mason next to you. It’s a lot harder. Yeah. If we’re going to talk snaps, I do have one question. Like how much does a loud stadium and loud fans on the road, say you’re in Kansas City, actually affect the snap count? Can you not hear the quarterback? Sometimes we have even in Buffalo backed up under center. We could not use a snap count. So you’re using I could I could hear him, but the tackles and tight end could not hear the snap count. So we would even under center use a silent cadence. I mean, Danny, there’s times where you’re calling a play in a huddle where I’m the quarterback is literally screaming at the top of his lungs in the huddle and guys are like, “What? What is it?” So, we always had and and New England honestly was only one of the places I did a silent count from under center. Now, granted, we kind of got away from it later in in it would be like even in Buffalo, even in Buffalo, like I said, we were backed up when we used it or like right on the goal line maybe. Um, yeah, but you’re right, Hoy. Like a lot of like road games like loud like Buffalo, Kansas City, I would get in and like, you know, my voice and and I’m more exhausted. I’m not talking as much as you guys are, but I am exhausted from screaming, blocking combinations and communicating. That’s, you know, it it’s a great feeling, especially when you win, but you are spent in your head. your head is like ringing from screaming and yelling and and Danny, like this is how deep it got because of the continuity with Josh and Tom. When we would script the plays for road games, like third down plays, we would go over the call sheet and we get to third down and we would we would literally script in what silent cadence we’re going to use because we had like five different silent cadences from the shotgun. We had one that was quick. You had one that was a pause. You had one that was a normal time. You had one where it was a double. Like, and you had to figure those out based on if there was a shift, if there was a motion. And so, like, the intricacies of figuring out which ones we had to use. And then we would practice them all. But that’s why Tom always wanted the center to control it so he could time up a motion. When you’re trying to time up a motion and you got to relay to the guard, the guard’s got to tap to the center. Center’s got to wait a second for the guard to it can mess up the timing. So really, the Patriots weren’t doing. Jaylen Hawkins had no impact on the snap of the football. He’s literally trying to get Carlton Davis’s attention because they’re going from 2x two to 3x one, which especially in that bunch formation, you have to get some type of call made with the the corner, whether it’s a box, whether it’s a lock and combo, whatever it might be. He’s trying to communicate. There’s no way. Can you just say this once and for all for the people out there that you as a center would hear the safety 14 yards away clapping and think, “Oh, the quarterback wants the ball.” No. Yeah. I might hear it. I’m never thinking he would want the ball. The last thing before we get into our dependable player. I’m happy that we got to You guys got real excited talking right now podcast. I didn’t think it was going to go that far. No, because first of all, you know what really pisses me off? Let’s hear it. These damned colleges. Okay. Well, did you see the the clip? John Gruden knows his great like QB camp. Yeah, cuz John Guden’s a football coach and Jackson Dart. He’s like, Gruden’s like, “Show me your snap count.” And and Dart stands up. Now, now, now it’s okay that Kirby’s smart and and Mike Bubble use the clap. Love Kirby. Go dogs. They can keep using the clap. But the last interesting key point, I think we need wrap this game up before the dependable player of the game, Kahan Booty. I think this is going to be a big injury. And and not big injury in the sense of like he’s going to be out eight weeks. I’m just talking about the impact he’s had on the offense and not having him out there. And to me, I don’t know if it’s Kyle Williams, but I saw a slant route they ran and the ball was behind him. The way Drake’s played and how accurate and good he’s been, I’m putting that on Kyle Williams and not Drake May. So, yeah. You know, I don’t know how you feel about that. you played the position, but like it would be like if when I saw Tom miss somebody on a throw like that, I’d be like, man, the receiver, I’d never even question it. It could have been Tom’s fault, but you know, because it’s Tom Brady. Yeah. Um, no, I think, look, Booty is definitely the deep threat in this offense. There’s no doubt about it. He’s had a bunch of the plays where he’s gone downfield, whether it was the post a few weeks ago, whether it was the double move against the Browns, whatever it was. Um, you know, so that element of offense was kind of missing after he went out. I think the one thing you’re going to see, imagine how many reps do you think Kyle Williams is getting? Not a lot. He’s not getting a lot of reps, right? Because they got Booty, they got Diggs, they got Pop, they got M. Holland. Like, he’s like the fifth receiver probably to get a lot of those reps. With with Booty nursing this injury, he’s going to get more practice reps. I’m sure they’re actually going to probably design a few plays that take advantage of his speed. And so, I wouldn’t be shocked if he if if Booty’s out, which I I haven’t seen a injury report yet where he’s going to be. uh come out tomorrow. I I would imagine that Kyle Williams will be a little more prepared this week, a little more heavily involved and um we could see him start to maybe have like a Trayvon Henderson uh shift where each week he gets a little bit more. So Chisum Chisum. Yeah, it’s possible. I mean that that that really doesn’t replace Booty. That’s that’s the only thing like to me Kyle Williams can be a vertical threat because of his speed. And so fair, that’s why I would say uh you you probably would think you’d see Kyle Williams a little bit more. Before we before we get to the dependable player, I did want to hit on that interception because I did see some people on social media, particularly Savage, who’s who’s a good follow, has a lot of good stuff about the Patriots, and he was saying, you know, Hunter on the seam, has to turn his head. But the reality was that wasn’t a seam. A seam is a a a route that you want to get to two yards inside the the bottom the top edge of the numbers. What what Hunter is running on that is what we call um a middle read. And so if it’s too high safety, it’s going to look a lot like the pass that Drake hit to Austin Hooper a few weeks ago down the down the middle. He kept it thin. It was a two high safety. Last week against the Falcons, they played a single high coverage, but what they did on the snap, the weak side linebacker, the Will, and the weak safety who was down rotating. They exchange responsibilities a little late. And Hunter sees the post safety and Drake sees that Will kind of scoot out. He’s like, “Man, it just opened like the Red Sea. I’m going to hit Hunter here quick.” But Hunter sees the safety now coming to take that linebacker’s job and he’s like, “I got to get across and get in front of the safety.” So, his eyes are not turned around. And and um I’ve run that play before and I’ve tried to attempt the same throw Drake made and I’ll never forget Josh being like, “Look, he’s never going to turn his eyes that quickly when he’s running to the backside and there’s a hook player there waiting for him.” So, it’s one of those things where you feel something pop and you can almost see it in Drake’s feet on that play. He’s like, “Man, it’s wide open. I’m going to give it to him.” Now, it’s sales. Hunter’s not looking. It’s a miscommunication. And I think the one thing that we’ll say between those two players, you ain’t going to see that ever happen again, right? They’re going to talk it over. But I think it’s important to to to realize Hunter doesn’t have a seam on that play. He has a middle read and he’s doing the right thing. Drake’s seeing something now. They’ll talk it over and say, “Okay, when that happens next time, we’ll make sure we’re on the same page.” Like, I’m not going to throw you into a blowup because I understand if you’re running across, I’m not going to throw you the ball until you get to that backside hash. Yeah. No, that’s a good point. Can I say something as a fan before we get into the next segment? I can’t wait to hear it, Danny. It’s pretty damn good feeling to come out with a win and talk about, you know, across the Boston media sports networks. Everyone’s saying how we played bad. Drake didn’t have his best game last 5 years. We don’t we don’t win football games if we don’t play our best football. So, it feels pretty good to not play our best football and win football. And can I just say something? That Atlanta defense is real legit deal. They that was the best quarterback performance against them all year. What Drake May did to those guys. Th this is an Atlanta team that could be in the playoffs. Like they won’t. I mean, they could. I mean, you just never know. And look, the thing is, too, if you want to do the week to week thing in the NFL, you’re going to go crazy. Oh, we need to talk about that. Go ahead. And then I I want to talk about because did you see what Rael did when they asked him about the schedule? Oh, that was great. But they they the week to week. So, the Falcons get blown out by the Panthers. They beat the Bills. They get blown out by the Dolphins. Like they beat the Packers. They beat the P. Like Yeah. It’s just like you’re like you can’t keep track of it. You’re gonna be delusional. The only thing that matters in the NFL and look, I do think some of the the teams are separating. And it’s going to continue to separate as the year goes on, right? Like when does when does football start, Hoy? After Thanksgiving. So really, that’s when it’s going to start to separate those last few weeks. And it it is what it is. Go to Vable’s thing. I thought it was great. I don’t know who asked the question. I think it was on Wei and and literally the guy sounded like Danny. He’s like, “I mean, your schedule’s been a joke.” And I’m thinking to myself, “Oh boy, I can’t wait for Mike to respond to this.” As soon as that guy said, “Your schedule’s been a joke.” Like Vable had any control over what the NFL schedule was given to the Patriots. Yeah. He’s the athletic director. Yeah. Like this isn’t this isn’t Ohio State, you know, putting on the schedule UAB as an early prep game. Here’s $2 million for NFL teams and as you just pointed out, Carolina one week is is beating uh whoever is above 500, right? And and so to me, and I tweeted this out, like the only thing you can control are the controllables and that’s who you’re playing that week. Did you ever and I know how I feel about this. Did you ever go into a game and be like we this is a cakewalk in the NFL ever? No. And that’s the thing that’s different even like playing in the SEC like you play in the SEC. I I’m biased, so I obviously think it’s the best conference. Now, that’s changing a little bit with everything that’s going on, but let’s go back, you know, like it was a dominant conference. And but in reality, you were only playing like NFL players at your position like three times a year maybe. Like, dude, you could play the what the Jets have one win. One and what? Eight. You play the or one and seven. You play the one and seven Jets. And now this has changed, but they still have Quinn Williams over there, and that’s a bad son of a gun. You still got Jermaine Johnson over there. Titans still got Jeffrey Simmons sitting there. Like every week is a dog fight. So, and so like to to Rabbel’s point, like this isn’t college where you get a few tuneups where, you know, I was at Michigan State, we’re playing Eastern Michigan. Like, this is the NFL. You don’t get to decide your schedule. You got to play who’s on the schedule. And it’s not you’re not going to apologize that you’re seven and two with the with the schedule that you have and you’re going to go and prepare each week to win because if you don’t, you’ll get your butts beat. I mean, look, here’s the deal. They they played the Steelers. Steelers are at the top of their division. They beat the Steelers beat the Colts. Yeah. And we, you know, we lost the Steelers. Played the Bills. Panthers are above 500. Yeah. They’re five and four. Yeah. Panthers are above 500. Uh the playing the Bucks this week. They’re the top of that division. Like it’s not like every team we’re playing is one and seven. So, you know what game scares me now? Baltimore. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, their defense is is coming along. They got some of their guys that were injured back, including Lamar. Um, is that game in Baltimore or is that here? It’s Baltimore, isn’t it? It’s in Baltimore, I think. Tough place to play, too. I just I just think it’s ridiculous. You had an easy schedule last year and we couldn’t get it done either. So, I just We had a hit on that. It’s time for the FW Webb dependable player of the game. At FW Webb, people and relationships come first, and you can always depend on FW Webb to find the right products and solutions for your next project. Here’s the player the Patriots counted on to bring home the win. It’s none other than Pop Douglas. Four catches, 100 yards, and a TD. And obviously want to send out our thoughts and prayers to his family. You know, he said his uncle was, you know, killed the night before the game. So super emotional for him. Respect the way he went out there and conducted himself and handled business. But look, I think [Music] we all believe Pop could have this kind of effect on the offense. It just took him a little while. And you’ve seen him really come on in the last few weeks. What what I love about Pop is um you know, when things weren’t really clicking for him personally catching the football early in the season, what was he doing? Blocking his butt off, right? making blocks down the field to make sure people got in and and would score. And the one thing that I always thought about Pop was having watched him play here last year in the the last few years, he he doesn’t really fit the traditional slot Yeah. model of what this and and I thought it was funny when when Josh, you know, when Julian, we were both there at Julian’s Hall of Fame induction, he kind of said like, you know, what the slot is in this offense is a little bit different than what we might consider the slot in a lot of other offenses, right? And and what Pop, I think, is really good at is, and I know he’s not the tallest, but he gets into the defense and gets vertical, and then at the top of those routes, he has that really good shake. And so you’ve started to see him actually become a guy that they’re throwing the ball down the field to more, right? Some of these deep passes. Obviously, the one out of the end zone, the back field for the touchdown was an incredible scheme. But you see him race past that defensive end. Um, a few times now, and I know they didn’t hit it in this game, but they hit it in New Orleans game. They do the half roll with Drake and he goes and like he’s going to run the flag and then he goes across to the post. And so he’s actually for for being a shorter receiver, he’s kind of a long strider, but he has some quicks. And so it’s just been a little bit of figuring out what his role was going to be because what I would consider like the old Julian slot routes, you’ve seen Diggs run a lot of those routes, a lot of those underneath juke routes and some of those option routes. And Pop has become more of what I would consider like the F receiver in this offense where you can have him outside, you can get them vertical down the field and obviously when you catch uh four balls for 100 yards, you’re averaging 25 yard a pop. So pretty good, I’d say. Uh really good. And and the thing that I love about this entire receiver room, they cheer for one another, right? They’re they’re they they don’t care who gets it. If it’s one week it’s Pop, the next week it’s Diggs, the next week it’s Booty, the next week it’s M. Collins. If this week it’s Kyle Williams, I’m sure they’ll all be thrilled, right? And so they have a really good room. So I’m happy for Pop, especially under the circumstances that he played the game with. I can’t imagine getting that news and, you know, going out there and playing a football game. And so um he was tremendous. I love the one deep one where I mean he he had the longest fall of the season when he fell on that one. Is that a new stat? Longest fall. Stumble bum. Stumbleum. Stumbleum. We used to do that drill. You weren’t a part of it, but we literally had a drill that we would work for ball security. It really simulated that you’d carry the ball and every three steps you’d have to touch the ground with your left hand while someone was trying to punch you out. Do you you want to know what I thought about when you guys were usually doing those drills? What were you doing? That’s the first I would be in hell with Dante Scarncia just fighting our asses off and we’d be brother-in-law and each other. Yeah. You guys would be going one at a time jogging, messing around and I’m over there, you know, I don’t even have asthma looking for an inhaler from, you know, Jim Whan. Though on jobs large and small across 16 disciplines, FW web has the selection, instock inventory, expertise, solutions, and people to get the job done right. For more than 150 years, FW Webb has been the trusted partner for professionals across the Northeast. Delivering what you need, when and where you need it. Because at FW Webb, they believe relationships, trust, and dependable service matter. FW Web, where every customer counts. Uh but no, look, like we said, it was messy. It was dirty. The most important thing, they won the game and they finished the game. And yeah, I mean, talk about like, you know, for a subpar performance, what did they do with the when they needed to win? They put the ball in Drake’s hand, gets it to Hunter Henry, it’s a first down, you’re you’re taking a knee. Best formation in football, best play call in football. Defense, huge stop in the game, too. Huge stop. Huge stop. We haven’t talked a lot about the defense. Um, you know, they’ve just got to figure out a way. Now, they did stop Bejian Robinson, right? Like under 50 yards. No running back has had 50 yards this year. Bean’s unbelievable. He is. And so, you know, there was just some of those plays where I’m like, can we just put our best corner on their best receiver and see what happens? So, it’ll be interesting this week, you know, going to the Tampa with Emma. Ow, that was not the right that was not it. Well, we’ll get into Tampa in a minute. Right. He didn’t pronounce That sounded like Grunk. Echuka. That’s it. A Mecha Iabuka. A Mecha Iabuka. It’s not Amiki Abukbu like our boy Grunk tried to do on Fox. I’m just going to let y’all do. I messed up uh Trayvon’s Trayvon’s name this four weeks. For eight weeks. Yeah, I messed it up. And it also felt good. You know what? Cardi B’s in the stadium. We got that energy. We got We got Drake and Will Campbell front row courtside of the Celtics last night. There’s just a new energy. Freaking blowing. There’s a new energy. What do you think Cardi B and RK were talking about up there? He’s deep in the rap game, isn’t he? Friends with Meek Mill. Yeah, Meek Meek used to be in the locker room all the time. All right, that brings us to this week’s legendary moment presented by Miller Light. What? You go, All right, I see you bringing one in. Little cheers. Cheers. Those are beautiful looking cans. Yeah. Hey, these are the 50th anniversary, I think. Look at those things. This wasn’t a legendary moment. Legendary stories always start with the light. Here’s the 50 years of Miller time. And this week’s legendary moment is Tom Brady’s return as a Buccaneer to Foxboro 2021. Tough tough night. Uh I don’t know. I never thought I would see that night, you know. Yeah. I mean, you saw it on the schedule, you knew it was coming, but it was surreal. I was even so delusional cuz it was in that 19 Super Bowl or I guess it would have been the year 20 20 Super Bowl. Oh, yeah. Where he did the Was it Hulu? baby did the commercial of him in Gillette. And we were at a friend’s house watching the game and my wife’s like, “He’s leaving.” I was like, “No, no.” You know, I’m delusional talking myself into it like, “He’s in Gillette. They wouldn’t let him do that if you know.” I don’t know. I was Yeah. I just never thought I’d see this day. And here it was. Look, it was a It was an interesting game. I thought really I was like concerned cuz I was like dude this dude might be like he is already really good but there might be something different about him tonight and we it might be 50 to zero at halftime but no we played really well. You know I think we had a pretty good football team that year. Mack was starting to come into his own and play really well. um you know had a chance to win the game late and you know I think it was a fourth down the ball got tipped and right couldn’t convert get into field goal range to you know try to win the game. I just remember the emotion of the night and and you know for those who don’t know usually the visiting team will always come out a little bit earlier than the home team because they got to go back to the locker room a little earlier because they come out a little earlier and so I really wanted to be out there when Tom came out just to get the feel the stadium and Mac and I you know when when the New England quarterbacks would come out of the light tower end zone and we run the length of the field. We did that when Tom was here and we we just kept that tradition when Mac was here. And as he and I were getting to the the tunnel where we were about to come out, it felt like there was an earthquake and you know then I came to realize that’s when Brady was coming out and um it was it was a pretty unique reception. I I think he got there was nothing but love. Um but once the game started a lot of booze honestly to start there was nothing but love. Yeah, that’s I agree D which I think is the right way to go about it. like give him his flowers and prek. Mhm. Kick off. You can kiss our ass. We still love you, but you can kiss our ass. 100%. And I was in that stadium a lot. What did you What did you feel, Danny? Like, cuz it’s harder. Me and Hoy, our feelings and reactions. How did you feel? I mean, look, I’m the biggest Tom guy in the world. I was wearing a Tom Brady Bucks jersey uh in the stadium, but I thought that I was going to cheer for him the whole time, and I thought I wanted him to do well, but you were cheering for Mac Jones as soon as the I was cheering for Mac. Jones. Yes, I was. As soon as that game started, I was booing my ass off, screaming at Tom off. I I took it off. I took I was shirtless in the stadium for three hours and it was pouring rain. Yeah, it was a rainy night. It was good football weather. It was I remember I remember talking to Tom after the game. He’s like, “Of course it rains again in New England.” He’s like, “I’m down in Florida now. It’s good weather.” That’s what you get, [ __ ] Um, no. That was surreal. And um I’ll say this and I don’t know how you if you remember this. It took me an hour to get from the players lot just to get to route one after the game. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like everybody came and stayed. It obviously was an entertaining game. I don’t go that way. There’s no secret players road. There is, but not for where I was going. And usually, little known fact, I used to get up Route One and cut through the McDonald’s and go the back roads. But um but honestly, it didn’t even matter. It it took me from the players lot to get to route one. The the parking lot was stop and go. Like no one was going anywhere. It was incredible. And it was Sunday night football, right? Uh I think it was a 4:00 game. No, it was night game, was it? Yeah, it was Sunday night football. Sunday night football, I think. I didn’t know if it was one of those dark, you know, dark four games. Yeah. Uh no, it was incredible. I think um and honestly, this week kind of makes me sick. I have a question. Yeah, I have a question cuz we’re talking about it. Tom, you know, goes on to win the Super Bowl. Cool. Tom or Bill? I’ll say this. This is what I’m going to say about it. The player always has the last stroke of the pen because he’s on the field. And I think what happened with Tom, he took 20 years of experience here playing and learning and he went to Tampa and they were a talented team. And what he was able to do, what Bill was not able to do was step on the field and impact the game immediately. Yeah, that’s what I would say is as as the player, you always have more effect on the outcome than the coach. I would say this, you know, and this is a different scenario, but I thought about it when I got asked this this week. I got asked, you know, is this more of Drake’s development or is this more Josh? Mhm. Well, to say it’s all on Drake, it’s just his development. He’s gotten that much better. That discredits all the time, effort, energy Josh McDaniels has put into this year. To say it’s all of Josh and Drake could have done this last year with Josh, I think is a discredit to what the work that he’s that Drake’s put in. Yeah. That that he’s put in. So, you know, look, it’s a team game no matter what. And at the end of the day, Tom was such a big factor in what we did. And I I do think Tom and Bill collided at perfect timing. And I don’t know if there was a player that would have been able to handle no Bill better than what how Tom handled. No. And look, and I just I don’t know. I just I I hate saying, you know, that it it’s such a team game and you need everyone. And that means the coaches, that means the training staff, the weight room staff, the the GM scouting staff. It’s why everyone gets a ring. Mhm. And so look, like you said, I think you said it so well, like he has the final stroke cuz he has he’s on the field and you know, when you take him and put him somewhere else, you know, I think most places he would have gone talented teams, he would have won a Super Bowl. Yeah. Because I think that’s what what you have to realize what what Tom took with him to Tampa. He took everything that he had from that experience with Bill and then basically went there and implemented it on Tampa Bay. And it took a while, right? Sheriff told me he was like, “Dude, this dude’s like running this thing like it’s Bill.” Exactly. Because it worked. Because he knew it worked. He had a high standard. And I think I think look, we can debate this as long as we want. They’re both going to be in the Hall of Fame. They’re both going to be there at each other’s induction ceremonies. Like, it is what it is. I would just say, you know, because Tom left and had that success. It’s because he was able to be on the field. Like Bill could still coach the same way, but he didn’t have Tom Brady playing quarterback for him anymore. I agree with you guys. I was just trying to get under your skin a little bit. And get under my skin. It’s a team game. It was both of them. But Tom winning a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay was ridiculous. Yeah. Miller Light just isn’t any light beer. It’s the original Lightbeer. And when Miller Light arrived 50 years ago, time became Miller Time. And fun nights became stories worth telling. Miller Light celebrating five decades of legendary moments because legendary stories start with a light. All right. I mean, we just talked about a legendary matchup between the Bucks and the Pats a few years ago. This one’s kind of been circled on our schedule every week. We sit here and like, man, are they going to win the next three games, four games, two games to when they get to Tampa for this showdown? I think it’s a great litmus test for where the Patriots are. It’s going to be on the road. You’re playing a team that’s going to make the playoffs more than likely. Uh Baker is playing out of his mind, another MVP candidate. So, it’s going to have a lot of hype. They got the big boys on the the the call, Jim Nance and Tony Romo. So, you know, the Patriots are back when you get those guys calling a game. Yeah. I think the one thing about the Bucks that I would say big picture is most impressive team knows how to win. Mhm. Like, and they can win ugly. And I feel like the way the quarterback plays, like the belief the team has in him, you know, some of the stuff you see this guy do is really impressive. And um, you know, I I just I think they they are a team that’s played really well together. Um, you know, and played for a while together, you know, and I I’m interested to see. It’s going to be, you know, there’s going to be some elements to this game. We haven’t really played in some heat. It’s going to be a little warm down there. You know, it’s getting cool up here. So, that’s, you know, always changes the dynamic. Hot, humid. Um, you know, and look, I I I just I really think this is a great measuring stick for this football team. This is a good football team. They’re about to play, a team that knows how to win, like I said. And um you know it’s another team you do not know. You don’t play these guys. You know you you get into your division games. You you kind of played these teams a little bit. You know obviously you know the Jets have a new coaching staff and that’s going to be different than it’s been in years past. But um you know Gez Hoy, you’re getting old. It’s past your bedtime. Huh? Not used to recording 849. I’m usually getting the dogs outside. This guy getting things settled in. You got this old man. You got this. I said you got this, old man. Um, no, I think you’re right, David. I think um this is a a great test for them to go down on the road and play a team that, you know, was in the playoffs last year has really picked up where they left off. Now, the one thing I would say, you’re getting them coming off the bye-week. So, they had a chance to one, do a self scout, see where they want to improve, see the things they’re doing really well, the things they want to improve on, but also get some guys healthy. Right. We don’t know what Bucky Irvine’s status is going to be. We don’t know if Goblin gonna be Irving. Yes. Damn. I got you, David. I got you. Irving Irving. And uh you said that, you know, see what their status is. But um the the the thing that I’m looking forward to most is this Patriots offense against a Todd Bulls defense, which is historically BS is what you might call battleship football. We talked about this earlier. B2 hit. Now you’re back, you know, 12 yards. Uh A7 miss and all of a sudden it’s a 50 yard gain like and and I the one thing I would say this is a game where you’re glad you have Josh McDaniels preparing the game plan, calling the plays because what was Thursday for us? A big day. What did we go over to the side and do when they were doing special teams blitz pickup? And so Thursday is going to be huge for the Patriots this week. Todd Bulls has those big blitz packages. Uh he could literally bring a blitz zero in the middle of the second quarter on the 30 yard line. He Todd BS was with the Jets at 15, right? So we played them uh our first of the two divisional games. He blitz zeroed us 18 times. For those of people who don’t know, blitz zero is what is that in Madden? Like in gage eight, Danny, like when you just blitz everybody. And and for offenses, you usually would assume a defense might bring that like in the red area, the low red area, a certain situational when a team just randomly does it in on a second down in the middle of the like you’re like what? And so you’re not always prepared for it. And so I’m sure Josh is saying look we got to have our antennas up all week. You have to be ready for Bulls to blitz and because they’ve gotten some sacks against them the past few weeks, I would imagine Bulls is going to come out and test their pass protection right away. Yeah. And so it’s going to be, you know, it’s going to be a challenge. I like I like the Bucks defense. I think they’re a good defense. Um it it’s and I don’t know like this is where I said not to do this, right? Do the week toe thing and now I’m sitting here doing it in my mind. I’m like, well, they didn’t play that. But they could come out and play good. What is your opinion coming off the by-week for the Bucks? I mean, some some teams are better off the buy than others. Some teams some teams come out a little lazy. Some days I hated it. I don’t know how if you feel this way, but depending on when you had that by week, like getting out of football mode almost made it harder to get back. I think when it’s late, it’s really hard to get back into it because the Pats are week 14 this year. I hate that. It’s like one of those things like if we did we talk about this uh a few weeks ago, like when do you want to have your bye-week or was that I don’t think so. Like I like it dead middle. Dead middle is obviously great, but if you’re a team that’s going to make a run and you get it later, it could be a good thing because you kind of look at it like we know we’re going to have an extra month of of football. Like if we can get it in December, which like the Patriots have, um it can get you rejuvenated to be like, “All right, you know, Bill would always say like you’re going you’re going under, you’re diving under, you’re not coming back up for air for a while.” I think once I got after November, y I really just like to be in the suck and just be self, you know, just not no air. Yeah. What do you guys do on a bye-week? Do players everyone go on vacation, go to Florida, be with their families or other people in the facility. Before the rule change, Bill would keep you here as long as he could so you couldn’t do anything. Yeah. And he wouldn’t tell you when you were going to get out really. So you had no idea. It was hard to plan. Uh early in my career, we would sometimes try to go home. We’d fly home on like late, you know, we’d get out a lot of times Wednesday night, sometimes Thursday. We’d fly home late that night, you know, I’d probably go deer hunt for a day and just hang out for like, but then it was like Sunday, you were like, “All right, well, we got to get home.” You know, and then older in my career, we really, you know, with kids, we wouldn’t go anywhere. Like you got three, four days off. Like we maybe would go to like Maine, you know, like for to Vermont one time. Yeah. Like something local for like a quick little weekend. But yeah, I don’t know. Some by-weeks can be really good and they can also I feel like sometimes just disrupt your rhythm. Yeah. I don’t I mean I don’t know the stats on it all, but like sometimes I feel like teams come out a little sluggish off the buy. Sometimes teams can come rejuvenated. Uh and look, the Patriots are going to get a little mini buy after the Thursday night game. So, I love Yeah, you you hate it leading up to it and as soon as it’s over, you’re like, “Thanks. This is incredible.” But, you know, one one day, one game at a time. I I really like the Patriots chances. I really do. I think Oh, yeah. I think um you know, one thing you can do to really slow down that Bulls defense is to have a running game. And I think Trayvon’s coming along. I like what Terrell Jennings did last week. Got his first touchdown. He kind of adds a bruiser mentality. Do some of that. get some play action passes, settle them down, and ultimately I think Vreyel is going to come up with and and Zack Core, they’re going to come up with a good scheme to try to get pressure on Baker, but also keep him in the pocket because Baker is one of those guys where he can make plays outside of the pocket. So, what like what the Falcons did to Drake May last week, I’d like to see the Patriots do to Baker Mayfield this week. Yeah. And and you know, I I hope to see the defense get out after the offensive line of the Bucks. they’re banged up, you know, let let’s get after them, you know, gota just try to make it hard on Baker, get them uncomfortable, which I think is a hard thing to do. Um he he does well with adversity. So, like I said, I I think they should have a fire under their ass this week coming out to practice knowing like, hey, we won the game, but we can be a lot better. So that’s what I’m hoping for and I think you’ll see that the fruits of those labors this week on Sunday. Yeah. I think it’s similar to what we talked about with that Buffalo. If you love football, this is where you want to be Sunday. Is it still Raymond James Stadium? Is that what they call it? Yeah. Yeah. Like be there like this is to me is it can be I don’t know the other games, but I don’t I don’t know if there’s any more intriguing game than this one. No. You think you think Romo pumps Drake up like he does some of these other quarterbacks? 100%. I hope so. Me, too. Be good to hear. I mean, the Bucks the Bucks are favorites. We shouldn’t win this. What’s the spread here? Two and a half. So, we’re How do they come up with that? It You’re so new to betting, but that’s a grid line. So, I mean, the Pats are plus two and a half. We’re underdogs. Is it because it’s at Tampa Bay? Every home team like is automatic three points pretty much. Do you feel like like I mean, do you feel like that translates to like automatically being the favorite just by playing at home? No, not favorite. You get three points though. So like if the Carolina Panthers Yeah. You don’t understand betting lines at all. So if the Carolina Panthers No, we couldn’t even think about it. Like handicaps in golf. Yes. Exactly. But if you said they get three points and they’re favorites, they get three points off the spread. So here you think about it. Say the Jets. I don’t even care until we get sponsored by DraftKings. You can explain these guys, man. Well, just my point here. We shouldn’t win this football game. Even if we lose, I’m not going to go scorch to earth and say we’re done. I know. And and I think like this is this is where we’re at. We’re the the Patriots are seven and two. So we have like the best chance to make the playoffs. I saw that. What was that? Uh like I sent that to you guys. Lock. Yeah. Bec Well, and and I’m going to contradict myself right now, but after the Jets basically traded away all their best players, we still have them on the schedule twice. Granted, one of them’s a Thursday night game and you got to go handle business, but you know, go handle your business against Tampa Bay and then have a short week and beat the Jets at home on Thursday Night Football. If we booked the tickets, David Shadow Line card, will you put them in your top three then? And you’re see if we book them through Delta, we’ll definitely get a refund. It’s way too early. Yeah, you’re right. Yeah, you’re right. I think United flies. But if we win this football game, it is go time. I’ll connect in Atlanta. All right. I love it. All right, Hoy, a little bit around the league talk. Obviously, the big matchup of the week, I would say, is the new NFL rivalry, the Chiefs Bills. Yeah. Now, Bills won. Looks like the Bills are really starting to hit their stride, which I’m excited for. Um, I feel like the Bills always beat the Chiefs, though, in the regular season. I know. I had to I was on u the Up and Adams show with K Adams. uh the other day and she asked me like, you know, who’s better, Mahomes or Allen? And it’s so hard for me because I hate when you have to put these rankings and and only thing that matters is championships. That’s so I I said, look, I love Josh Allen. I’m a big proponent of him. Even being here in New England, I’m not afraid to say it. I think he plays the game uh in a in a the right way and incredible talent. But Mahomes has got the rings and until and it’s not even Josh’s fault that they haven’t been able to get past them in those games in the playoffs. I mean, the year that we lost to the Bills in the playoffs, Max rookie year 2021, Josh Allen in that game and then next week in that Kansas City game that went to overtime, those were two of the best performances a quarterback has ever made in the playoffs and he lost the game. And so, it’s not on him. Um, but he they do seem to own uh that matchup in the regular season. the way they the way they kind of mush rush Mahomes, they made him hold the ball like and I’m I I’ll say this, Patriots did a good job of playing against uh the Buffalo Bills. So, it goes to show you they can they can beat anybody. Yeah. I mean, look, the the Chiefs are struggling. It’s not But as long as they have Momes, Andy Reid, and Spagnola. Yeah. Like, you can’t count them out. Like, you will not. And I would say this if like because I think right now in the playoff picture we host the Chiefs. Is that correct? I don’t think the Chiefs are the Chiefs aren’t even in the playoffs. If it’s starting, they’re like eight. They’re eight right now. Yeah, they’re eight. Jaguars are seven. Yep. You guys, who you guys want to play in the playoffs? Jaguars or uh Chiefs? The Jags? The Chiefs are still, if we’re going to talk draft, we’re going to talk sports books here. The Chiefs are the Super Bowl favorites on the sports book. Aren’t Aren’t the um Ravens like they don’t they have like a good chance of making the playoffs, too? They’re they’re the favorites to win the um their division and they’re down two games to the Steelers even after the Steelers beat Indianapolis. Yeah, they’re the They haven’t played the Steelers yet, have they? No, they play him twice more and obviously Lamar’s back. Don’t the Steelers always do really good against Lamar? I don’t know the I’m pretty sure last year I remember seeing I mean divisional game like Yeah, they know each other well, so I’d imagine. But yeah, it’s interesting. And then what about in the NFC? Uh, Carolina Panthers, our our win, our blowout win against the Panthers. They beat they beat the Packers this weekend. It looks a lot better. Yeah, Jordan Love struggled. He He’s such an enigma to me. Like one week he looks like second coming and then last week against which you know Drake diced up Carolina. So like I don’t that’s just that’s the NFL for you. The parody each week is like you know who’s balling though? A Georgia Bulldog. Matthew Staf is tough. I think he’s in the lead right now for me for the MVP. I mean, I don’t I said that a few weeks ago and you guys every week. Did I not say that? But it changes every week. Yeah, because it changes every week. Did I not say that and you guys like scoffed me? David, you’re right. We were like, “What the hell are you talking about?” Thank you. We did. We did. And now he’s fourth. So, it’s Josh Allen plus 18. What the hell are you talking? No, you guys freaked out. You were like, “You’re just buzzing.” But see, like, you know, I like Stafford is actually behind Drake. I know. Yeah. The odds. Yes. I will say this falling, dude. Devonte Adams, I thought he was kind of like getting washed. No, guys. I played with him. He wasn’t washed. He played with washed quarterbacks. Oh, yeah. That’s true. That’s true. Yeah. But I don’t know. Wait, Aaron wasn’t washed, was he? Yeah, he’s washed. He’s He’s doing pretty good this year. I think if you go to the Jets, you just That’s just That’s Did you see the memes today of like It’s like Bree Hall like leaning behind the thing like, “Can I get traded?” Talk about throwing a party getting down in New York. That guy’s pissed he’s still in New York. Like how would you feel as an organization like now have to like see him walk in to work on Wednesday. The two worst teams in the NFL are in our division. Now, I will say this. Did you see the amount of draft picks the Jets have over the next two years? Oh, I thought it was a smart move by the Jets. Dude, they they’re going to have like I don’t know if we could pull that up. I just saw it before I came in. Like like two first rounders each year, two second rounders each year. Yeah, but I feel like they did this a few years ago. You still got a hit on them. Like when they tra they started like I feel like this rebuild with like Jabal Adams a few like I don’t know how long that go was like six years ago. They got a boatload of picks. Y and No, you got to hit them and then you got to keep them. It’s not even about hitting on them. You just got to be a competent organization. I have hit on some draft picks. Who would you be more afraid of in the playoffs to go on the road? Indianapolis or Denver? Denver harder to play. defense in that place is hard as hell to play. Shawn Payeyton’s a great coach. It’s a hard place to play. It’s a very I would say the few times, you know, I I I went to Denver a couple times in my career, but early in my career, you know, that was Payton’s last year and then they were still pretty good and had a really good defense. That place the altitude is actually like I don’t think it’s a huge factor. Almost die there. Yeah, that’s that’s another thing. We’re not going to get into that. It almost killed me last year, too, I think. Um, but that the altitude does have some effect like it’s not like, you know, but it you definitely can feel it. And that place gets very very loud. They got a great fan base. Yeah. I’d be more scared playing Denver 100%. Indianapolis though, they got S Gardner. I don’t. Yeah, I don’t I mean, look, I think Saus is a good player. I think he he was really good in Solah’s defense. I think there’s a reason that the Jets parted ways with him. Obviously, getting two first rounders is part of that. He’s got to be in He is not Christian Gonzalez in my opinion. Like, Gonzo, I I think Gonzo is right there behind Patrick Certain, right there with Derek Stingley Jr., and right there with JC Horn. I think those are the top four corners in the league. Um, you know, S is not as physical of those guys. He’s long, which when you’re playing in that solid defense where there’s a lot of zone, your eyes can be on the quarterback, you can make a lot of plays. Um, you know, the best corners that I ever played with her against are Derel Rivas and Stefon Gilmore. And Gonzo reminds me of of a combination of those two guys. So, you know, I’m not I’m not trading I’m not exchanging Gonzo for any of those guys. Let’s hope he’s healthy. He got the Bucks. Yeah, he said he was good after the game, right? Yeah, he said he was good. We’ll see with Drake and Will courtside last night. That was a That’s what I was saying. There’s just a new energy in New England. It’s awesome. It’s awesome to see. You know what it is is like, you know, the the the Red Sox have Roman Anthony, they got Marcelo, is it Mayer or Meer? Meer. Meer. Uh, so you got your two young guys there. You know, with the Patriots, you got Gonzalez, you got Drake May, you got Will Campbell, you got some of these young guys. Um, you know, obviously the Celtics have Tatum, which Tatum might be younger than some of those. He’s 25, 26. I’ll say this. When you’re winning, you you want to be out more and not out like, you know, clubbing. I’m not talking about that, but like you don’t care about like going out to dinner and people seeing you. One, because everyone loves you. Two, like, you know, you go out, you go out like he goes out to the Celtics game, right? Let’s say Drake has a bad game on Sunday, you know, like hope not, but like I’m just scenarios. Then there’s going to be, you know, people that criticize him and like, oh, it’s cuz you were out at the Celt like he had an off day today. Like he was out on Monday night. We used to do stuff all the time on Monday nights. And it’s just it’s when you lose now people criticize you for that stuff. But when you’re winning, everyone loves you. You kind of want to dig yourself into win again. When you’re losing, you’re kind of just like like the Homer Simpson. Yeah. like back into the bushes and you do feel like as a as a player and a person like this is the human side of the thing like you are like man like you know you want to take your wife to dinner on a Friday night and you’re like you know walking in the restaurant you’re like you know I hope no one knows I’m here because if something happens on Sunday human nature is to be like well yeah he doesn’t even care he was out the reality is like you can’t you you can’t burn yourself out in every waking moment you have in the season you spend like you have to have some kind of outlet and and obviously like for you and I we were both married young. We weren’t out doing any, you know, extracurricular activities like if we if we took our wives out to dinner. My son’s in the room with you right now. Chill out. Sure. Sure. David had probably more fun than I did. I had a lot of fun. I could imagine that. Well, let’s go have fun on Sunday and get a win. Let’s do it. I like it. All right, y’all. Thank y’all. That’s a wrap on the episode. We, you know, been in here for rambling now. So, hope you guys enjoyed it. Check us out on YouTube and, uh, NBC Sports Boston, Wednesday at 6. Thanks, guys.

Brian Hoyer and David Andrews react to the Patriots lack of moves at the trade deadline, discuss Drake Maye’s so-called “bad” day, revisit Tom Brady’s first return to New England as a Buccaneer and preview the upcoming Patriots–Bucs matchup.

1:00 – Reacting to the NFL trade deadline
11:00 – Breaking down win vs. Falcons
24:00 – A player’s perspective on “clapgate”
46:00 – Tom Brady’s return to New England with Tampa
53:00 – Previewing Patriots-Bucs
1:04 – Around the NFL

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