Are The 2025 Patriots… Actually Likeable?! | Pat McAfee Show

Are The 2025 Patriots… Actually Likeable?! | Pat McAfee Show

New England Patriots team was able to say hello to the world last night and I don’t think it was just the boys on the field. Now obviously that’s a talented young bunch. I mean Trace Vion Henderson going for three touchdowns and them being behind the left side of that offensive line which is a rookie left tackle and a rookie left guard and a rookie running back running it in from the handoff of a secondyear quarterback. It’s like all the pillar positions are seemingly up and to the right for a long long time. And then you think about Mike Vrabel being the perfect supreme commander of this team. It felt like we’ve watched it all season through Connor’s eyes. You know, when we’re watching the Colts games and Connor’s down there wearing his Patriots gear in the Indianapolis Colts stadium and he’s watching the game behind us, we hear him losing his mind to the team. Not just this year, but in years past as well. This year felt different from the beginning. It felt like Mike Vrabel had the boys ready to roll. And they talked all night about how, hey, there’s a lot of first times happening for a lot of guys on the Patriots. And Mike Frabel might be the perfect guy to lead them. He’s one of the coaches who feels like he’s still in the locker room. He’s the alpha of the locker room. After the game, as the tunnel is kind of there, all Frabel’s doing is dapping up literally every single human as they come back into the locker room. He clearly has a personal connection with everybody. And I think Drake May is special. I think uh I’m not the only one saying that. Obviously, he’s the odds on favorite for an MVP. And not only does he I think in the first half, he was like 14 of 16. I I think he damn near had a perfect first half. And it’s like he’s in his second year, first year with Josh McDaniels. He’s only going to get better, but every decision he makes is seemingly right. Everybody was worried about his fundamentals and his technique, that new ball whenever he was coming out of UNCC because he’s a freak athlete. Well, turns out if you work on it and you’re really, really athletic, you can figure it out while also having the ability to extend plays. That play obviously spectacular. There was one to the right where he’s almost out of bounds and he shot puts it to Stfan Diggs for a first down and it’s like the shot put even had a perfect spiral on it somehow. So, this dude is only going to get better somehow and uh this Patriots team is special. And Connor, I appreciated the fact that the New Englanders were able to celebrate that thing. That was late in the game. We all kind of knew it was over and that place was filled to the gills. I love the Patriots fans are able to remind everybody, uh, yeah, we still got it and yeah, we’re back. Is that how you felt watching the game, Connor? And obviously now looking back on it, we should have sent your ass to this game. I apologize for not thinking about that earlier. I do not apologize. The Jets are not worth my time, but yes, that is exactly uh how I think everybody feels in New England. The the team being all the way back is one thing, but the fans being all the way back is a whole another thing. I mean, look at these throws. If you look up in the stands, everyone’s standing as well. They’re not just sitting there to, you know, watch the game. They’re there to be a part of the game. And I think that is a big thing in New England sports. It’s they want the home field advantage across all four of the major sports, but especially football cuz football, it just means more. Um, you mentioned all the young guys and how awesome it is. I think the left guard Jared Wilson, rookie from Georgia, shout out Kirby. Smart Bloody Tuesdays. He had like a perfect, you know, all the stats people perfect whatever the hell you want to call it. Pass protection, run blocking, the whole nine yards. Will Campbell, I mean, they they did a spotlight on Will Campbell verse Will McDonald and Will McDonald’s a great player. I believe he ended up getting a sack actually, but Will Campbell held his own and that was a huge thing. Not not just against the Jets, just all season long. And then he buries uh Michael Clemens. It’s after this on a on a little swim move from Michael Clemens who I believe is a vet. We saw him walking in with a bat and spikes around it when Aaron Rogers was playing with the Jets. So, it’s not as if he’s just some guy. He He’s a bit of a dog, but Will Campbell is a bigger dog. And the postgame, first of all, Amazon has the best pregame halftime and postgame show in the business by far. But I agree, by the way. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. They’re they’re very they’re worth watching, I think. Yes. They’re worth staying up for like both with the players, but they also just do stuff that you don’t think about. Now, bringing a Ryan Fitzpatrick in from New York when there’s probably 2,000 different Ryan Fitz Magics littered throughout Massachusetts. What are you going to do? But still hilarious that they did that in that post game though. You know, they asked May about Mike Vrabel and everything he means to him. And you know, May talks about how he helps me. He’s coached me on the sideline, not just with throwing the ball, but with everything it takes to be a quarterback. in May says in it too like, “Yeah, I’m taking the next three days off. I’m not going to be there till Monday.” And Vrabel actually talked about too, you know, hey, look, I’m 50. The these guys I’m coaching, you mentioned it Pat, they’re rookies. They’re 21, 22, 23. My youngest son is 23. So, it does feel almost like a fatherly supreme leader to to what you said. And to what Drake May mentioned about not being there, you know, for three straight days, I was kind of like, “All right, well, don’t love that, Drake. It’s cool we’re 9 and2, but you can you can easily still finish 9 and 8. It is the NFL. But then Mike Frael had this to say in the locker room after the victory. Listen to me. I want to recognize a couple of things. Okay, so we’re giving one clap. Pile push, touchdown. And then the last one is fourth down and three, Del Pedab. [Applause] And I would say you could file Dell under the guys that just take advantage of their opportunities. Okay. I would file Dell on a guy that takes advantage of his opportunities. So, we know what that leads to, okay? More opportunities. Fellas, let me just tell you real quick one thing. After 11 games, we got three days off, okay? When we got here, okay, we wanted to put a program together for you, okay? And that not just me and the coaching staff or the players, okay? That’s everybody in this building, okay? So before you leave here, okay, with the treatment and the equipment and the video and everybody around us, okay, I’m thanking you for where we’re at right now, okay? We all got a long way to go, okay? And you guys are going to help us get there, okay? Together. But that was the plan. Not just the players, not just the coaches, the entire program, okay? Everything we do, okay, we’re doing to help you to go out there and make plays, to perform, and to ultimately win. Okay? I’m proud to be your coach and I appreciate how hard you play, okay? But I’m also going to enjoy a couple days away from you. I enjoy working for this now, man. Be safe. See y’all, boys on Monday. Love you guys, man. Hey, Pat me. Pat on three. 1 2 3. I love that. Pats on me. Hey, I love that. Pats on me. Pats on three. And I appreciate the fact that they’ve had a long road here to start this season, you know? So, these three days, I think Vreyel also AJ is maybe showing these guys how to be pros. Like, hey, we have a Thursday night game. If you want to take the next couple days off, it’s the middle of the season. We’ve had a long run thus far. You could certainly do that. I’m going to get the hell away from you. Now, there’s going to be work put in though because I think that’s a team that they’re building. I just appreciate his leadership and I appreciate the buyin that we see seemingly from everywhere Vrabel is AJ. Yeah. I mean, for young people that might not know of Vrabel as a player in New England, like he was an unbelievable player. We know that. Could there be a better fit for a head coach of a franchise when you think of the NFL and you think of Mike Vrey? Like the fact that he’s there and that they were able, you know, they had Mayo for a year obviously didn’t really work how they planned and to bring him in, it’s like such a seamless transition. Are are things going too well for the Patriots? Guys like Boston Connor getting nervous, you think? No, I don’t know if things are going too well. I think they’re only going to get better and I think that’s the fear of every other team that the evil empire is back. Are these Patriots Pat? Sorry to cut you off. Are these Patriots easier to root for maybe than the old Patriots, though? Or is this a team where the I guess nationwide, not just in Boston? Well, so I think Tom Brady did a little bit of a babyface play, right? Tom Brady whenever he uh kind of retired did a little bit of a babyface play cuz he was out of the Evil Empire. I think we saw them fail uh a little bit. We saw Boston people, Massachusetts people, Revolution Region people kind of have to go through it a little bit in football, turn their attention to basketball again. Yeah, we got Celtics. So, yep. you know, whatever the case is. So, I I think we all got to experience that and then we watched with Grod Mayo and I think, you know, not a lot of people thought Drake May was going to be good. So, it feels like Drake May is maybe an underdog story. We saw Vable get fired from the Titans. I think we all think the Titans are stupid for that. Everybody kind of agreed with that. So, it’s almost a couple redemption stories for some people that I think we’re naturally going to get behind. But, if the Patriots win a couple times here, you know, they start making some real runs in which looks like they’re going to, everybody will hate them again. I I I I think that is very clear and I I think that’s what you heard from one half of the hammer Cowboys AP tone. Is that what your takeaway is that you like the Patriots right now and you’re planning on hating them or that they’re all the way back and they’re going to be a part of the picture and people are going to inevitably hate them again? Correct. The the latter of those situations and it’s strictly because it’s not the people because Fabes is awesome. Absolutely love Mike Rabel. Drake May’s awesome. Trayvon Henderson’s awesome. Will Campbell’s awesome. Everyone on the team is awesome. But the colors and the team and you can’t you can’t like or root for a team that’s already won six Super Bowls in the last 25 years. Like that’s just not something you can do if you are a football fan of another team. Like we can’t like them, okay? Please let the people on there awesome. You can root for them individually, but as a team you cannot root for them. The Patriots though seemingly likable to me. Yeah, very much so. You know, I don’t I don’t I don’t want to I don’t want to burst the old let’s hate them uh bubble cuz I would certainly see how that would make sense. But even Trayvon Henderson, I heard him talk after the game. First time I’ve ever heard him speak. Have you ever did you know that? Did have you? He’s maybe the most humble person I’ve heard talk. Oh yeah. Drake May speaks. Most humble person that you hear speak from a quarterback, especially one who’s the odds on favorite to win the MVP at this point of the season in his second year. Even coming out of college, it’s like youngest of three brothers. Younger younger younger brother kind of beat down. I don’t think he’s ever going to become some arrogant prick, you know, like I don’t think that’s ever going to take place. And then Vable is a guy that I think we all believe we’d like to have a beer or whiskey or maybe smoke sig or an entire tin of cope with you know like that I do think it is a very like like crew and then Stefan Diggs even I think Stefan Diggs because of everything that has kind of happened in the past there’s maybe one belief about him and he’s in a very very very loud relationship. Congrats to them. I think I found congrats to them having a baby and uh both of them obviously publicly relationships and personal lives have been documented. They seemingly are having a good time together. And uh anytime two people find love and happiness together, we are happy for them. So congrats to them on doing that. But Stfan Diggs buying into this team completely. Like there’s never any And last night he goes for 10 and some yards on nine catches. It’s like Drake May understands who Stfan Diggs is. People are saying that Stfan Diggs is back to being the Stfan Diggs that you thought he was going to be on the field and it’s like with Vrabel, it feels like you have a guy that Stfan Diggs, you know, probably respects, I think. So, like I I I think there’s a chance that it all just kind of goes very swimmingly for them. They even have their own handshake. Got our own We even do our own handshake. They went backhand there. I don’t know if you saw that. He did slap hug with everybody else. Literally everybody else, including equipment staff with Stefon Digs, they go back. Yeah. A little sauce on that thing. Backhand on that. So it’s like when you talk about like chemistry superstars to brand new guys everybody’s bought in it’s like here’s Stefan Force’s like stats by the way I mean Hembo sent him for some stats I just saw these down on the on the thing. Stfan Diggs force multiplier 2019 2020 Bill scoring offense went from 23rd to second whenever he arrived. Allen’s QBR rank went from 24th to third okay with his arrival. Now granted Josh Allen got a lot better in the offseason and he didn’t have a lot of accuracy deep balls. Stefan Dig certainly helped that. now 2024 to 2025 Patriots. Scoring offense goes from 30th to eighth and May QBR goes from 17th to fourth. Once again, Drake may put in a lot of work. Josh McDaniels we assume is a much better offensive coordinator, but Stfan Diggs comes in and helps a lot. And I think they respect and appreciate him. So hopefully, you know, there’s not the other side of the entire thing, right Con man? That’s kind of the openness. Yeah, exactly. And I think that just goes back to Vrabel. You know, Stefon Diggs isn’t on a, you know, the the signing was 3 years, $60 million, but that’s not how the contract was laid out. It was a prove it deal. It was more so like a one-year, $14 million deal. Hey, let’s see if you can earn all that money. And he did. He earned everything that, you know, he is going to get because of, you know, what Mike Vrabel is able to get him to buy into. I believe there was a report that uh Diggs actually chose the Patriots over the Broncos in this off seasonason, which to me is a massive deal because going into the season, everyone was kind of aware of the Broncos with Shawn Payton, that offense was going to get it done. It’s nice that Vable was able to kind of open Stefon Diggs’s eyes to how much better Drake May is than Bo Knicks. That that’s the biggest deal for me is that just Diggs is one of those players that had this reputation of being a diva, of being a wide receiver of and you’re still getting it for me. I’m still getting it on the internet. Well, just wait, you know, when it’s week 15 or it’s the playoffs and he only has two catches. No, that is not how Mike Vrabel operates. And I think Stefon Diggs understands that. And he also knows at this point in his career, he’s being called the diva, the receiver, the primadonna, all those things. So, the biggest thing for him is winning, is kind of proving to basically everybody else that he’s not just a, hey, if I don’t get my catches, if I don’t get my touches, I’m going to be pissed off. It is about winning for Stefon Diggs. And that’s showing up right now. It’s incredible.

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