Amid a slew of injuries, Mark Schlereth shares the good news for the Patriots | WEEI Afternoons

Amid a slew of injuries, Mark Schlereth shares the good news for the Patriots | WEEI Afternoons

Sunny Tuesday afternoon at 2:30. That means we go right to the guest line to talk to our buddy Mark Schlurth. We’re joined by the Odyssey NFL insider and host of the Stinking Truth Podcast. Listen to the Stinking Truth Podcast now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Insider calls are brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs. Nationwide is on your side. Mr. Schlurth, how we doing this week? I am doing great. How are you guys? Uh, we’re pretty good. Not as good as we’ve been. I’m sure you saw the game in Cincinnati. They didn’t necessarily dominate. They got the win and it came at a cost. They lose a couple players to injury injury, namely a couple starting offensive linemen. So, I want to start there. Will Campbell, Jared Wilson, left tackle, left guard, rookies. Looks like they’re going to miss weeks, uh, multiple weeks each, even if they avoided season ending injury. Not ideal, but how big a deal is that? I mean, it’s that’s huge. and they have been such a I mean it’s such a great tandem but such a pleasant surprise I think for two rookies to be out there on the left side and really you know ultimately dominate. Uh I think that’s been a you know that’s just been one of the great things that they’ve had come their way. But listen man, this is just the NFL. I mean guys get hurt, guys get injured, and you got to be able to figure out a way around those things. And and I guess here’s the good news. Like like I said, not ideal. um actually kind of sucks. But the good news is you’ve got an unbelievable offensive coordinator and you can say whatever you want about Josh McDaniels as a head coach and his tenure as a head coach both with the Broncos and the Raiders, but that dude is a phenomenal game planner and a phenomenal play caller and he understands his responsibility in keeping the quarterback clean. he understands his responsibility in how to call a game. Um to to help your offensive line go from, you know, like I always say, taking the passive out of pass protection and being the going from a passive kind of passing play to being able to be an aggressor in those situations. So, I think the best coaches in the league, in my opinion, really understand everybody’s issues and they mitigate their own issues before they attack, you know, the defense’s issues. So, you’ve got a great play caller in in Josh McDaniels who will have a plan to help that left side. So, that’s the good news. But, um, all that said, it it still sucks to lose players. So Stink, it sounds like you feel as though Josh McDaniels may have to be first and foremost to quote step up in the absence of your left tackle and your left guard, be they rookies or not, being out for possibly a month or more. Who else needs to sort of step up and fill in here? Or is it just like not just a next man up, but like a teamwide need for everyone to do a little more? Yeah, I think it’s I think it’s one of those things you just have to understand like you have to understand you like how difficult this situation is and then you know you really have to mitigate your own potential disasters first and I think it’s really like I think it’s with a lot of younger coaches or a lot of coaches that maybe don’t have the experience um you know they’ll see something that they want to attack and even though it exposes a weakness their own team. They can’t overcome the fact that, man, this is a juicy matchup and we’ve got a potential to make a big play here. And you know, experienced coaches, really great play callers, really great play designers and schematic designers will look at that and say, “Man, we can’t attack that because it opens us up to potential disaster.” And ultimately, what ends up happening, and this is the old Bellich thing, right? More games are lost than one. That’s how you lose games. You attack something, you attack something, you say, “Man, we just got to take one more shot at.” Next thing you know, tight game, strip, sack, fumble, uh game’s over, you lose. And so those are the things that you have to be able to do as an organization. And so it it it is more than next man up. It’s how are we going to give ourselves the best chance week in and week out. And I think they’re unbelievably well coached. I think Rabbel is is as good as it gets right now in National Football League as far as being a head coach is concerned. So, they’ll have a plan. Insider calls like this one with Mark Schller are brought to you by Nationwide. For your insurance and financial needs, Nationwide is on your side. Uh Mark, there were uh some goal to go situations on Sunday in Cincinnati against a Bengals defense that is supposed to be historically bad. Uh where the Patriots just couldn’t find success. I think they were actually stuffed at the one yardd line six times in the third quarter. There were tush pushes, traditional runs. Nothing could work. Uh you’ve talked about Vrabel and the physicality and winning the trenches. How alarming is that that they couldn’t punch it in with six tries? Yeah, I mean it’s not ideal obviously and it is one of those things where you know sometimes you give your guys an opportunity to say, “Hey man, we’re gonna like we’re going to lean on you guys. you guys got to go out and win these battles and um you know and and as a player I always wanted that. I wanted that opportunity. I wanted to prove that um that you know we could run the run the ball when you have to run the ball. It’s one of the things I always say about the red zone and everything else is running the ball is not you know popping a 14 yardd run on third down and seven. You know, like, hey, we ran a draw and next thing you know, you compile 145 yards rushing, but you really had two breakout runs. The rest of the time you were garbage. Running the ball is when everybody in their brother’s uncle knows you’re going to run it. Everybody in the stadium, the defense knows it, you know it, everybody in the stadium knows it. And you still can churn out a first down. You still can churn out four yards. You still can pop one over the goal line. That’s when you know you’re good. when you know you can really run the ball and you know I appreciate Braves putting it on the guys and say hey man we’re going to put this on you guys go out and make something happen but when you see them get stuffed when you see you know consistently on the goal line them getting stuffed in those situations um that makes you you draw back and go okay maybe we we need to throw some play action maybe we need to change it up a little bit. Um and then you saw the you know the second time they were down there they got the fourth down and one from the one yard line. They ended up just kicking a field goal I think to make it 23 to 13 at the time. So um you know it’s one of those failures you go back and you look at and say what can we do better. Um but it is disappointing. No question about it. So, with a team like the New York Giants coming to town, you know, their record is not great and they’re starting their third string quarterback, Famous Jamus, who’s going to take one and he’s going to give you one. Um, should a team like that be kind of feared? You know, obviously you respect every opponent. It is the NFL. you want to try not to overlook them and get into a trap game. But a two and 10 team that is basically, you know, playing with house money and has nothing to lose. Would a team like that be one that you would almost kind of uh have to prepare extra for because, you know, they’re calling trick plays and have nothing to lose? Yeah, I don’t know about preparing extra. I mean, they’re going to do what they do and there’s always going to be, you know, some unscouted looks that you’re just going to have to deal with. But the bottom line is if you look at them and and you mentioned their record at 2 and 10, man, how many games have they had to lead in the fourth quarter, five or six games, you know, with I mean they had the Broncos down by 18 19 points, something like that. They had Chicago down 10 points. Um, you know, 10 points with uh like three something left to play and and they come back and, you know, and lose that game. They just fired their defensive coordinator because of all the collapses they’ve had in the fourth quarter. They already fired their head coach. So, um, like these are these are real issues. Like they have when you watch them on film, I guarantee if you go through it, you’ll be like, damn, they’re they’re a lot better than their record would indicate. They’ve just given it up. Um, you know, at the end of games. So, they’re a dangerous team. And as you mentioned, Famous Jamus, like that dude can make some plays. As you saw, the reception he had for the touchdown the other day was remarkable. But like he’ll throw into a team meeting now. Uh he ain’t afraid like he will just he just th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th throw right right in there a defensive team meeting and see what comes, you know, and sometimes obviously you can turn that ball over, but sometimes he’ll fit it in there and and it’ll become a big play. So it’s that kind of um like I said that unscouted look that that hey man, he’ll never throw it over here and he will. Um, those are things that you have to concern yourself with. Mark, last week we asked you about a spitting incident. Uh, this week on Monday Night Football, we see Jawan Jennings get hit in the, uh, I guess Ron Burgundy would call it the baby maker by Trayvon Morg. Um, kept his composure during the game, then kind of got a little, uh, retribution after the game. What’s your history uh, either punching or being punched in a very sensitive area? Yeah, I don’t like that wasn’t I mean it hasn’t happened, you know? I mean, you might get grazed in the coin purse every now and again, but um it’s not like intentional, I don’t think. And so, um, you know, it just was like there was a different time, you know, like there was this Frontier Justice where you, you know, when I played, you you policed, the league policed itself. And so there was like if somebody did something stupid um you took a you know mental inventory and you logged it and then within the next drive or two um there was going to be some payback and and that’s the way it operated and and you knew if you did something cheap it was coming your way and you know it was just like I mean listen I’m going to hold you on every single play and I knew as soon soon as we threw a pick, man, somebody’s going to light my ass up. Like, cuz they’re sick of being held. And so, as soon as it happened, you’re just like, “Yeah, there was an expectation. Somebody’s going to blindside me.” And and you know what? And I probably deserve it. And so, you just you kind of live with the consequences. Um, and nobody was malicious in trying to injure you, but if you know, if you could knock somebody’s ass out, you’re going to take that shot. And so like right now there is there’s so much you know we’re so conscientious about um about not hurting people’s feelings and you know and not oh we can’t celebrate and we can’t do this that and the other that um I don’t know it just feels like it just feels like that there’s you the retribution is after the fact almost fake tough guy hold me back. um as opposed to, you know, the way it used to be where you you really get after somebody within the, you know, between the whistles. Uh all right, I’ll ask uh lastly, um as a longtime follower of all the food stuff you do with the stinking green chili and the queso and all that jazz. Uh I know you’re a big food guy, big tailgator. So, what does the schlare Thanksgiving look like? And uh what’s the power ranking on the dishes and how you how you prep your Thanksgiving meal? Um well, my my wife does all the cooking, so I uh I just partake. But the one thing that I do is um for years and years and years my mother um picked cranberries uh wild cranberries from Alaska and she would send them down and they’re very small very tart cranberries and I make uh the cranberry sauce and really my Thanksgiving dinner really consists of nothing but uh turkey and cranberry sauce and I smother my turkey in the cranberry sauce and that’s pretty much All I eat and it’s freaking delicious. It’s the best cranberry sauce you ever had. All right, I would say that is on brand for an NFL offensive lineman. Markith, we uh we appreciate you joining us. Do have a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy all the good football games Thursday, Friday over the weekend. We’ll talk to you next week. Sounds good, guys. Take care. Thanks, Mark. Thanks, Nick. That was Odyssey NFL Insider Mark Schurath, host of the Stinking Truth podcast. Insider calls are brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs. Nationwide is on your side. Remember to listen to the Stinking Truth podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Mark had a very uh distinct reaction on who needs to step up for the Patriots in the wake of the Will Campbell situation injury. We’ll talk about that next. And we’ll also look at the rankings. The rankings are out. And did you know the Patriots actually fell in one power ranking this week with a win in Cincinnati? That’s up next here on WEI.

Mark Schlereth of The Stinkin’ Truth Podcast, NFL on FOX, and 104.3 The Fan joins WEEI Afternoons with Andy Hart and Nick “Fitzy” Stevens to share the bright side for the Patriots amid key injuries. They also break down Sunday’s win over the Bengals and discuss whether team expectations should shift moving forward.

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