Patriots Pregame Show 9/7: Patriots-Raiders Week 1 Preview and Warm-Ups Live

Patriots Pregame Show 9/7: Patriots-Raiders Week 1 Preview and Warm-Ups Live

[Music] This is the Patriots pregame show fueled by Duncan. He’s throwing it towards court in the end zone. Caught. Touchdown New England. The Patriots pregame show is your source for all the news and information before every game. He took into the house again. The Patriots take the lead. Patriots Nation, welcome to the Patriots pregame show. Fueled by Duncan. It’s the Patriots pregame show presented by Duncan. Fueled by Duncan, actually. We’re excited to be with you guys. Welcome everybody. Week one. Raiders are in town and the rain is pouring down. Such a beautiful day out. I love it. I’m loving it. I don’t know if this is football weather or not, but Exactly. I mean, some would say. Some would say. So excited. We got a first we got a new face here on set, Quani Lunas, joining us. And Quanie, welcome. Thank you. Welcome aboard. Welcome aboard. You’ll eventually be sitting in the host chair here. I will. No pressure, but Mike and I seem to go through hosts at a rapid rate. So, oh my gosh, the pressure is on. We might be hard to work with. Mike, I thought you were pretty cool for now, but we’ll see. We’ll see. Well, we got we got a quick shout out to Claudia Bellafato who was going to hold down the fort, got a great job offer down in CBS uh with Florida working NCAA football. So, we want to wish her the best. And now an opportunity has emerged for for Quani. So, Quani, thanks for joining us and you’re jumping right in. You’re not the only new face around here, though, of course, Paul. All summer we spent with Mike Vrabel, the new head coach of the Patriots. So for those just joining us here for week one, maybe they missed training camp. Give me the give me the quick synopsis of how the summer went here under Mike Vrabel. Just so much uh optimism, energy, enthusiasm. I would say there’s a lot of excitement for the start of a new season. But I think that the the number one thing I would take away from Vrabel and his imprint on the team that I’ve seen is just energy. Um, they’ve they’ve had, I think, a more of a purpose on the practice field. No more of that 45 minutes to an hour sort of warm up, individual drills, waiting to get into something. There’s seems to be much more of a purpose to everything that they’ve done. Um, from drill to drill, from period to period, a lot of running, a lot of intensity. Um, you know, we’ll find out what it all means when they they start playing games. But I I feel like that the way that the Velabel went about business in the summer, uh, I think has the the fan base, the the team, the organization in the building, I think, energized. Yeah. And he’s definitely a nononsense guy. You hear former players, current players say that he is all about business. And I think this is exactly what the Patriots need right now. It looks like it when he’s jumping in the drills and calling people out, tearing them apart. You seem to get those that footage every week. And and guys, before we jump into the keys, I just got to mention Drake May. Mike Frabel took over the team. But Drake May, secondyear quarterback, fourth overall pick last year. Hopes are high for him with Josh McDaniels offense. Uh we saw, you know, joint practice with the Commanders. We saw a couple joint practices with the Vikings. Limited work in the preseason game. But but Qui, what do you want to see out of Drake May here today? Yeah, so that’s actually one of my keys. I don’t know if I’m getting ahead of myself, but he needs to trend upwards. We look at this Celt the the Celtics. Oh my gosh. the Patriots this season and you know they’ve the last two seasons four and 13, right? And I spent the last 10 years of my career working in social media and I was covering the Celtics and Patriots as well. And one of my jobs was to make sure that we’re following the trends that fans wanted to see. But when you think about trends in the literal definition, it’s something that’s happening over and over that people are doing on a consistent basis. For the Patriots, that trend has been being mediocre, unfortunately. But right now, I think Drake May is at a position where he can trend upward. And we’re talking about Mike Rabel in the preseason. He said leadership is a no days off situation. I know that sounds very familiar to Patriots fans, but it’s true. And for Drake May, we he’s proven he can take snaps in the NFL. He is confident in that space. And now this is really like last season was his appertifi so to speak. And now we get to really see him take over and show Patriots fans what he’s really about. Do we become like bilingual? It’s a appetizer. Appetizer. Yeah, we can say appetizer if you don’t know French. Okay, listen. Dumb it down for your dumb. I got you. I got you. I’m so sorry. Co-host only speaks English degree is coming out. All right. Well, you set the table already, so let’s do it. Keys to the game. Let’s get into it. You waited all week for it. The whole team’s in the locker room right now just listening to this, waiting to hear what you’re going to say. Here are this week’s keys to the game. All right. All right. I don’t want to put more pressure on you, Quy, but there is a an illustrious key at risk here. Up for grabs. Of course, what is this like season 3, four, Paul? I don’t know. I don’t know. We’ve got, of course, all the winners will eventually be engraved on this at some point. Actually, we take it very seriously. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. The pressure is really on. We really don’t. Otherwise, my name engraved on it. Otherwise, I would just win it every week. Paul does win it a lot. But you’re the new person. So, you do crush a lot. Don’t forget. I do crush a lot. But let’s set the table. I know you you just kind of hinted at your key a little bit, but why don’t you go ahead? Yeah, I’ll delve in a little bit more. So, obviously, I mentioned the fact that we’ve seen Drake May, what he’s able to do in the preseason, even last year. But this is today’s game is very vital. When you talk about breaking those trends, one of the ways you disrupt those trends is with leadership. But with Drake May, now that he’s been solidified as a captain, as a leader on this team, he needs to step forward. And I know there’s some insecurities about the fact that his blind side is, you know, being protected by two rookies, but Drake has to control what he can control. And what he can control is moving the chains, whatever that looks like. I know the weather is not great right now. So if that means running the ball today, that’s what you have to do. But also with Stefon Diggs being here, he’s getting the pieces. The excuse was he didn’t have enough weapons and now he has those weapons. This is the year to just move the chains, get the get the ball in the end zone, and just get some wins. And and also one thing I appreciate about Mike Rael, um just one more thing when he he was talking about leadership. He said that not every game is going to be extraordinary. Of course, we know that it’s a you know long season. It’s grinding. But for Drake, he was saying specifically it’s how you come up after the god forbid losses. How you’re able to keep your teammates above and that’s what’s going to look like I think trending upwards for the Patriots this season. Yeah, Paul, we talked like all summer long. I felt like we get into certain issues for the team and and there are a number of areas of concern, but I feel like we always boil it back to how does Drake play. Can he offset some of these issues that they potentially could have? Absolutely. And it’s simplistic. You could do it every week and have the same kind of thing, but uh I think games like this come down to, you know, how do your your best players perform against the other team’s best players? The Raiders I do not think are a great team across the board, but they do have some high-end talent. And that’s why my key is is involving one of one of the uh individual guys that I would consider high-end talent in the league. Any team that Max Crosby obviously. So, it’s it’s Max Protect. Max with two X’s. That was well done. I love it. You see that? Max Protect. We get it. I was like, they can’t run max protect the whole time. Max double X. Look at that. Double X. We’re going to max protect. Um, so there is a lot and Quani brought up uh, you know, the rookies on the blind side. I think it would be sort of negligent on Pete Carol’s part and Patrick Graham, the defensive coordinator for the Rams to just line up Max Crosby on the side that he normally lines up on, which is the left defensive side, and go against Morgan Moses the whole game. I think they’d be doing a disservice if they didn’t move him around a little bit. So, I do think you’re going to see some Will Campbell reps. I do think you’re going to see some Morgan Moses reps on one of the premier pass rushers in football. And I don’t think, Mike, you’re going to see a whole lot of those with just Morgan Moses and just Will Campbell. I think there’s going to be some help with in the form of tight ends and whatnot, chipping with backs a little bit coming out of the back field. So, you can’t let Max Crosby ruin this game. Yeah, I did go back last year, Paul, because we had some discussion about this this week and I looked at their opening game last year against the Chargers, and it was surprising because I saw Max Crosby lining up on the right side, but not over rookie Joe Alt, who was playing on the right side last year. So, there are some samples of them moving him around. Patrick Graham, they did. I think you got finger wagged for suggesting that that might happen. Well, I I mean, I just think if you go into this game with the best pass rusher in the league and you were to lose this game and you didn’t once try to line him up against two rookies on the especially when Mike Frael told you on Friday that Jared Wilson was going to be starting on the left side. So, you know, we’ll see how it all goes together. It’s more than just Max Crosby. It’s also they’re going to run some stunts. We got old friend Adam Butler who can get up field. Um, but let’s go with my last key as we get ready for Vinnie Bonsori is going to join us from the Las Vegas Review Journal. Give us a view from the Raiders side of things. But mine is looking at the other side of the ball. Not surprising. I’m I’m a defense guy. Quan, you’ll get to to know that. Defense. I get it. I hope so. Um, you know, but mine was deep power Bowers. I don’t know if D power is a word. Do you know if that D power I think it makes it sounds like it’d be in the dictionary somewhere. But he’s a big problem. Everyone knows how good he is. And very curious to see what the Patriots plan is uh for dealing with with Brock Bowers as we welcome Vinnie Bonier in from Las Vegas Las Vegas Review View Review View Journal. I got a tongue tied on that one. I got tongue tied. Wait, wait, wait. Where is Vinnie from? The Las Vegas Review Journal. Okay, much better. I don’t know what that was the first time you tried to say. I was so excited for this first game and I was talking about Brock Bowers. I think I got it was a deer in headlights thinking about him. But Vinnie, thanks for coming here and joining us. Just uh give us a big picture view of of what’s going on in Vegas. All of it. New look team. Well, a lot has changed. Obviously, it’s has kind of mirrored what you guys are doing as well here with the Patriots. Uh so many changes. Thank you very much. uh so many changes. Uh it kind of goes all the way back to Tom Brady uh you know joining the ownership group and um and that was a lot bigger than people may think uh outside of Las Vegas and Raiderland, but that kind of started the ball rolling. Pete Carol’s not here if Tom Brady isn’t here with the uh with the Raiders. John Spite’s not here if Tom Brady isn’t here with the Raiders. So uh that that’s that’s really big for this organization, but practicalitywise um Pete Carroll is now the head coach. a massive upgrade over last year with Antonio Pierce. Uh there’s another offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly. There’s a new coach or excuse me, quarterback in in Gino Gino Smith. So Ashton Genty is here. You mentioned Brock Bowers. Uh he’s pretty good football player. Uh so it’s it’s dramatically different from what it was last year. How much better it is, that’s always going to be the question. And we’re going to get a some answers I think today against the Patriots. Yeah. I wanted to talk a little bit about the defensive side. Um, we’ve talked a lot about Max Crosby, obviously with the Patriots having some four new starters on the offensive line. Yeah. Um, I’m a little curious on the other side, Malcolm Coun, uh, coming off the torn ACL. How has his summer been and what kind of impact do you think he can have coming off that injury? Interesting about Malcolm because the question going into last year was could he pick up from where he left off the year before? he kind of turned the corner over the last eight games of 2023 and there was a lot of expectations for him and then literally a day or so before the first game of the season he goes down with a knee injury. It was a massive blow for them and so uh he spent all of last year getting better. Obviously it took him a little while in training camp uh to kind of get his footing uh and really get comfortable with uh with coming back. He finished with a sack in the last preseason game and I think that was a step in the right direction for him. Um but there’s been a lot of changes on defense as well. Obviously, you got Max Crosby, Malcolm Coun, uh the bookend defensive ends. Um you know, the linebacker group is completely different. You know, you’ve got Devin White, you’ve got Germaine Pratt, uh you’ve got Alon Roberts, former Patriot here in the back end, a youth with the quarterbacks. I would say that that’s the biggest concern for the Raiders right now. Um you know, Caillou Blue Kelly is a starter. Eric Stokes is a starter. Dameron Richardson is a secondy year player. He’ll get a lot of time. Darren Porter is a rookie from Iowa State. he’ll get a lot of time as well, but that’s there’s there’s probably I don’t know 25 games tops uh between all of those guys of experience. So, um keep an eye on that. And then safeties uh you know, Jeremy Chin uh they they signed him from the commanders and Isaiah Palmo is a returning player, but it is a a different defense. And what’s interesting about it is while they retain Patrick Graham, their defensive coordinator, um we all know that Pete Carol is a defensive guy. So, this is going to be kind of a combination of what Patrick does and what Pete Carroll does and what they do are is completely opposite of each other. So, um I’m interested to see how it actually looks uh in a real game and who’s, you know, whose weight carries the most um in terms of Pete and and and Patrick because that’ll dictate how this defense uh is aligned and how it plays and the philosophies that they use. Good question. If I could go back quickly, you mentioned Tom Brady. What exactly has that TV12 effect looked like on a day-to-day basis, maybe in the locker room and beyond? Yeah. Um, from a from a uh from a overhaul or or an overall uh football football mentality, it’s been huge. Like I said, Pete’s not here. Um, unless there’s that component uh in place. And it’s not just Tom. There there’s three others that they brought in that are pretty heavy hitters. Um, and you know, Mark Davis did that strategically. he knew that he needed help uh getting this football program and the business side of things uh to a to a new level. It’s it’s they’re they’re it’s a it’s a gold mine in Las Vegas. Uh and they’re doing well in the community. They’re doing well from a financial standpoint. Uh but there’s new plateaus that they want to get to, especially on the football side. Uh and so Tom being here to kind of oversee everything. He’s really the the face of the football operations. Uh now he does it in a remote way. Uh he’s not in the building. So he’s not a locker room. No. Uh he was he was there during training camp a few times. Uh he was at one of the preseason games at Allegian Stadium. Obviously today he’s somewhere. I don’t even know where it is what what game he’s got today, but he’s not going to be there on a daily basis. But with today’s technology um you know he’s a phone call away and every big decision that’s made probably every decision that’s made on the football side um consulted with that makes sense. I saw that Raheem Oster was among the inactives. Uh a little bit more focus on Ashton Genty. how has he looked this summer and do you expect him to be a heavy part of the game plan today? Yeah, Ashton is somebody that uh in Las Vegas we’re pretty well aware of. Um you know he played at Boise State and they played in the same division or conference as as UNLV. Um he’s the real deal and uh you know it’s funny talking to Pete Carol about him. Pete Pete’s somebody that goes back to he coached under Bud Grant to give you a perspective of how long he’s been at this. So when you when you talk to to Pete about Ash and Genty, the the wheels start going, you know, and he and he and and he’s like, well, he kind of and then he start I could I could visually see the names or the faces that he’s thinking about. He won’t go there necessarily because he always stops himself and and we’ll let the young guy, you know, be himself, but Marshall Faulk, Leame, and Tomlinson, Barry Sanders, and I’m not going to EMTT Smith. He’s got a kind of a combination of all those guys. I’ve been around a long time. Um, I’m not I’m not afraid to to say what I think. I think he’s going to be fantastic. I think he’s going to be in contention for offensive rookie of the year and I think he’s going to have a fabulous career. He’s just there’s something about him that’s special. You saw that in college. We saw that in training camp uh in his limited action in in the preseason. You saw it. I’m I’m pretty fired up to see what it looks like in an actual game getting 20 carries or so and then obviously for a full season. But he’s he’s pretty good. when you put in with Brock Bowers, who’s also pretty darn good. All of a sudden, the Raiders offense with Gino, especially with Gino Smith and Chip Kelly, uh calling calling it, this has a chance to be a pretty good offense. And this is was not the case last year at all. It was a bad offense. And you touched on Chip Kelly and he’s been like one of the uh things this week is everybody’s talked about just what an unknown that is because the last we saw him in the NFL he was sort of trying to do the Oregon offense and the kind of the gimmicky kind of stuff but from what we’ve seen in his return to college kind of stepped away from that a little bit. So no one really knows anything to expect. Do you think it’s going to be about Genty today? um you know whether or not withstanding I that that could change you know anyone’s game plan but going in assuming the weather was normal would you expect them to try to establish Denty and play that way without question um but there’s also an understanding that you know when you have a a weapon like Brock Bowers that that the offense is going to run through him at least the the the passing game offense is going to run through him uh but but you also have a Jacobe Myers who’s you know pretty darn good as well and you’ve got a couple of rookies Dante Thornton and Jack Bash Um and and Dante is a guy that you know earned a starting role. Uh he’s kind of a you know situational guy run he’s 6’5 can run a 4340. So he’s their long ball guy but he showed uh in training camp that he’s more than that. Um I think that was a little bit of a surprise which is why he’s he’s one of the starters. Uh but also keep an eye on Trey Tucker and Michael Mayer I should say. I think Michael Mayer in this offense um to the Raiders have sort of shortch changed him a little bit. Uh he’s a good football player. who was a great football player at Notre Dame and I I just don’t think that they’ve utilized him correctly over his first two years. Uh I get the feeling um that that’s not going to be the case anymore. Now, it’s going to be obviously in conjunction with Brock Bower, so you got to keep that in perspective. Um but I would I would say that that he’s going to be a pretty big part of the game plan. But yes, to answer your question, it’s going to be the action. You don’t draft a running back sixth overall uh and then ease him in or do a committee. It’s going to be his show. Provided he stays healthy, he’s going to get the bulk of the carries. Yeah, you got another one quantity. Yeah, from what you’ve seen, we did our keys right before you got in here. So, what would you say are some of the keys for the Patriots when it comes to from Patriots side of things? Um, you know, definitely try to win the the the turnover battle. Pete Carol is 24 and 11, uh, in games that start 10:00 a.m. for his teams. You know, if you go back to his Seattle days, which is pretty darn good. Um, it’s kind of unheard of, actually. He’s got a little formula. He won’t share the details, but one of the things that he did say to me was he was he actually short changed himself. He said that they were plus 28 on the turnover differential. I went back and looked it was actually plus 34. I was like, you short that’s the difference between a real reporter and us. I would have known they were plus 28. I learned a long time ago, you never trust coaches. Their their memory is a little bit different. And it’s usually le it’s usually they usually give themselves a little bit more. He actually short changed himself. So, uh, and he said, “Look, if you want to know why we won those games, it’s cuz we won the turnover battle.” So, I think this game, especially with the weather, and especially with two teams that two new offensive coordinators, two new head coaches, a new quarterback for the Raiders, a secondyear quarterback who’s in a in his first year with Josh Daniels, I think the team that makes the least mistake mistakes is gonna, and I know that’s cliche, but sure, it’s typically what it comes down to, especially these early season games. Yeah. I just got to ask you one more. Uh, you know, Jacobe Myers, our old friend from here. What’s going on with him there in Vegas right now? Um, he’s not happy uh with the contract. Uh, he’s making $10.5 million this year. Uh, that’s that’s not what he’s worth, especially coming off the season that he came off of. Um, they’re trying to work something out uh that’ll that’ll make him happy, at least for this year. Um, but he’s made a trade demand. Uh, we talked to him on on Wednesday. He’s like, you know, I made the demand, they said no. And so, that was as far as that went. Uh, but I’m I’m ready to play if they want me to play. I’m ready to go if they want me to go. Um I’m happy here, but I could have be happy everywhere else. Um you know, they the money’s green everywhere. So, uh so he’s he’s not hiding the fact that he’s not happy uh with the contract, but he’s also I think you guys probably know Jacobe, he’s not going to be somebody that’s going to sabotage himself or the team. He’s going to go out, which makes the trade demand a little bit, you know, like a like a dog that’s barking but doesn’t have a bite. Um I think the Raiders understand he’s going to be a professional about this. So, um I would think that they would work something out at least for this year, maybe bump up his salary, um you know, to to guarantee a few a little bit more money and then revisit it in March. Yeah. You saying that he made the trade demand and they said no when he said, “Oh, okay.” is the least surprising thing that Mike and I have if you get if you get a chance to to meet Jacob’s dad. Yes. Um so just I heard he was a fan of the show. Oh, he he would write he would write into our show. Good family, good people. I’m not surprised at all that he’ll be a professional about it. Yeah. All right. Well, Vinnie, can we get a score prediction out of you? Oh, boy. Um, this this probably won’t make uh Patriots. Is it Patriot Nation or Sure. We’ll go Raider Nation hates that. Um, it’s it’s theirs and they make you know about it. Um, I’m going to say uh Raiders 2721. Sounds good. Vinnie Bonori, Las Vegas Review Journal. Thanks so much for taking the time to sit down with us. Absolutely. Thank you guys. Sorry for for No worries. remember any any weather here. This is uh brutal week one. Uh yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You see, we’ll see. We’ll see you upstairs in a little while. All right. I’m going to do it. Oh, you got some. We’ll talk about value. So, you got a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, hash browns, and a coffee for six bucks. And yeah, it’s as good as it sounds. Order now only at Duncan. No substitutions. Participation and times may vary. Offer prices vary in California and Hawaii. Limited time offer cannot be combined with other offers. Exclusions and terms apply. And the Patriots pregame show is sponsored by the Massachusetts 250 campaign commemorating a history of possibility. Plan your revolutionary weekend at massachus250.org. Well, good stuff from from Vinnie there. I’m not sure why I couldn’t quite get Las Vegas Review Journal out there. I was I was a You know, it’s you know, it’s kind of it’s the most elementary thing, but the fact that Brady’s here, like I didn’t think he would be here. Oh, is he here? Well, that’s what he said. He’s here somewhere. He’s hiding in the stand calling the game or he’s not calling any games or anything today. I assume he might. Well, maybe tonight. He might be later. Maybe I don’t know. Maybe maybe he doesn’t have by his statue like that’s me guys. You know, maybe maybe he was Yeah, maybe he was being facicious and I didn’t I didn’t pick up on that. I don’t know. No, I think he was being serious. No, I I just I didn’t want to ask him about the tuck rule, but I imagine that that’s got to get buried in Raiders history now. We can’t we can’t It’ be kind of strange, wouldn’t it, that like one of the guys who’s responsible for one of your most hated controversial plays now is now in charge of literally owns your team. Um, a little bit strange on there, but hey, we got some calls coming in. Let’s jump over to the phone line here. Nate’s down in Connecticut. Nate, what’s going on? Uh, not much. How you guys doing? Good. Hi, Nate. What’s up? Um, my question for you guys, uh, so obviously Foxboro, uh, really crappy weather. Um, raining. Uh, I don’t think it’s going to be too windy, but there might be, you know, a little gust here and there. How do you think this affects uh the Patriots initial game plan? Do you think they were uh you know going to go heavy on the pass um and with you know the conditions today? Do you think they’re going to rely more on the run game with uh Stevenson and Henderson or do you think despite the weather they’re going to still you know take some shots down deep? Thanks guys. Yeah, thanks Nate. Appreciate it. Yeah, we’re keeping an eye on the weather. What’s the latest by the way? So yes, this is a perfect segue. Great question Nate. Um, I actually I work at NBC. I didn’t say where. So, I work at NBC. I do a show called The Hub Today. It’s entertainment lifestyle show, but I called in our meteorologist Kevin Wooten because of course weather is playing a huge role in a game like this. So, he sent me a little radar. If you want to go on Instagram, you can find mewani a lunas. I put on my story, but he did he said big g big day for the run game and RPO because it is looking like the rain’s going to stick around until probably after the game ends. So, Foxboro, like you said, is really wet right I love talking weather with Paul because Paul always looks at me and goes, “Is there wind?” Wind is a good question. I got to be honest with you. Um, and I don’t I think both teams were going to come out and we talked about this all week and run the ball. So, I don’t necessarily think I don’t think the wind I don’t think the weather’s going to have much of an impact on this game because I don’t think it’s overly windy. I just looked up on my app and it’s like, you know, it’s 64 degrees and the wind is making it feel like 62. So, the wind is negligible, right? Um, if the wind picks up and as Nate said, you know, you get some gusts, you know, that I think that can affect the passing game a little bit, you get a wet ball and you’re not exactly sure, you maybe you’re not throwing it with conviction through the, you know, through the wind and it’s wet, that would impact it. But if as long as it’s as long as it’s kind of still, yeah, you know, I feel like, you know, ball security always an issue with with a wet ball. That was what I was going to bring. Like Vegas is dry. So my point is like is it harder to to to to hold on to the ball when you’re running with it or catching it and running with like to me it’s ball security either way. Um it’ll have a it’ll have an impact. I don’t think it’ll be a huge deal. You know if you had this kind of rain say in early November now you get a cold rain and you know rock that’s just miserable. Right. Not fun. It’s not fun at all. So yes I’m not going to say it will have no impact but I don’t think it’s going to be a major impact. Yeah. Jump back to the phones. Patty. Watch. There’ll be like 11 turnovers in the game now. Sliding all over the place. Hey, Patty. Hey. What’s up, ladies and gentlemen? Hi. So, um, I got to point something out. Paul, you don’t get much stuff wrong, but I You did get one thing wrong during the week. Oh, I get more I sure I got more than one thing out. No, come on. Let him have it. I gota agree with my Nan Aldrid. Um, Gino likes to go deep, and if you look at his metrics, he was one of the best deep passers in the league last year. One of the things that worries me is not having our full complement of cornerbacks, i.e. Christian Gonzalez not playing today. Um, they do have Thoron and I can’t remember the other young guy who’s a speedster. I I think they’re going to test us deep and if if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but I do think Gino being the passer that he is and the experience that he has, we’ll test deep at least initially to see if we can stop it. But, um, to me, the biggest equalizer is going to be if our our defensive line can get pressure. I like us to get pressure against them, especially when it counts. I’m the got to have it down in the third and fourth quarter on third down. I got the Pats Flynn today, 27 to 23. Let’s freaking go, baby. Thanks, Patty. Appreciate it. You guys are seeing warm-ups right now. Shot of Trayvon Henderson. Of course, the rookies now wearing that patch on their uniform. So, their first game. So, Trayvon making his debut. Should be exciting. Definitely a player we’re all keeping an eye on. We’re going to take a quick break, but first I’d point you to to Paul’s quarters. You might notice it’s a Brunt. It’s based right here in New England. 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I move like [Music] Join the show by calling in at 85500 or email at podcastpatriots.com. Now back to the Patriots pregame show fueled by Duncan. That’s right. Patriots pregame show show fueled by Duncan. We’re watching Diggs and Booty take the field there. Stefan Diggs about to make his debut with the New England Patriots. I’m digging it. Exciting. I see what you I’ve been waiting to say that all all day. Can you dig it? Can you dig it? Pop Douglas as well. Hey, get the moves. I see you. Oh, they almost tried they almost tried to get you zoning on the red zone already, Paul, but you’re not quite there yet. Don’t worry. But I’m sure this afternoon that’s more of a postgame show feature. Some great games. Uh let’s talk guys just for a second. Inactives came out. Not a lot of surprises. We knew that Christian Gonzalez wasn’t going to be able to go. Uh Anthony Jennings, not maybe not a total surprise to people who are following through training camp. Uh Paul, any any general takeaways? Will Campbell was on the injury report. Looks like he’s going to give it a go. Yeah. Well, I I think that’s probably the the biggest item of news that came out is I think we all expected Will Campbell to play, but we officially get word now that the inactives have been released that Will Campbell will be uh will be in the lineup and and I assume starting at left tackle. Um but yeah, you know, Gonzo we knew was going to be out. That’s a big blow. I mean, you can make an argument he’s the best player on the team, so to not have him in week one is is not ideal, but we knew that uh during the course of the week. Uh the rest um I’m sure some people are wondering a little bit about Eftton Chisum, but uh also coming off a bit of an injury uh from that Minnesota game and you know conservative. I mean he’s sixth on the depth chart um at wide receiver. So that that one didn’t come as a surprise and Tommy Devito being the emergency quarterback. I know I’m really bummed by that. By the way, people are going to be looking to see if he can supplant Josh Dobs as the as the number two. Uh I I don’t think that he’s been here long enough to really legitimately do that yet. Um but we’ll we’ll keep an eye on that going forward. All right, let’s uh got a couple couple Christians from California lined up. Let’s go first to Christian in LA. Hey, Christian. I usually stay away from religion. It’s Sunday. Here we go. Happy week one. Crack. I cracked him up. Hi, Christian. Here we go, guys. Week one. I am excited. I am excited, but I am also nervous. You guys all know why I’m why I’m nervous and the weather changes that even even more. With that said, I have my set of expectations and my set of things that I will accept. So, I’ll ask you guys the same of Drake May, of the defense as a whole, and then of the rookies. So, what I mean is of Drake May, I am expecting 200 yards uh passing, one touchdown, and about 40 yards rushing. The defense, I’m expecting they let up about 13 14 points. And then the the rookies, Trayvon Henderson, 25 yards uh rushing, 10 yards passing uh and onward. What do you guys think? I got the pass winning 1713. Here we go. Go Pat. Go Red. Thank you, Christian. Um, did you write all that down, Connie? Yeah, but I, you know, I wanted to ask Christian, I I heard you guys. I don’t know if he said 13 points for the defense. Does this mean this is a very defensive scoring game? Final game. I would just say that I don’t, you know, I’ll take a win no matter how it comes. Obviously, um, if you’re the Patriots right now, you’ve won eight games the last two years. So, I don’t think any Patriot fan is going to lift a look a gift victory in the mouth, so to speak. But, if it was 1713, I’d be disappointed if that’s the kind of game that unfolds. Unless the weather really does impact the game. Um, I’d be really really disappointed if it was a lowcoring game like that. And as far as Drake May, if we’re not looking at 200 yards u passing, then what are we doing? And something went wrong, right? Again, and barring the weather just not allowing you to throw the ball, which I mean, I think it’s just raining, right? I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Hard to tell from the footage where I mean we’re in the tunnel right now, but it didn’t look too too bad. You’re watching them go through warm-ups, Mike. Yeah, it doesn’t even look like it’s raining. I agree. I mean, it it’s definitely raining and it’s visibility getting to Foxboro, by the way. I’m just talking about the way they’re going about their business. They’re catch like you know that they’re fighting the elements trying to to get through. Football players, they’re used to it. For the most part, wherever you played, you were in some region with bad weather at some point in your life. This is this shouldn’t be new to them. Vegas. No rain in Vegas. Well, yes, like we said earlier, it’s got to hold up. Let’s uh continue our first round pick right there, Will Campbell. Yeah. Let’s uh let’s head back to California with another Christian in California. Hey, Christian. What are the odds? Hey, what’s going on guys? First time caller, longtime listener. Um so my question isn’t directly related to the game, but it does have some sort of correlation considering I’m going to talk about a free agent. I’m curious on what you guys opinions on Christian Wilkins are still. If he’s still out there, if you guys would take a chance on him or if you guys would still just kind of stay away from that and I’ll take it off here. Thanks, guys. I I forgot about Christian Wilkins who was signed big deal last year by the Raiders and then was I guess released. Is that exactly how it went with I know there was some weird stuff going on and I mean there’s a lot of issues there that people have gone back and forth about. Um, I know Adam Butler, former patriot, was somewhat um, critical at the same time as being sympathetic to whatever Wilkins is dealing with, but he was s sort of insinuated that there were some uh, mental health issues that Wilkins was going through. I I would say the fact that he is uh, still not signed by anybody would tell you that that’s probably the line of thought around the league. Patriots have been strongly working on the defensive line. That’s what I was going to talk about. Um whether it be practice squad, there’s been constant back and forth right up until yesterday when Mike, you should probably read off that latest. Cory, Cory Deran uh was promoted to the active roster and Jeremiah Farms was was released. Still a chance Jeremy Farms comes back to the practice squad. But just the latest in a bunch of moves they’ve done on the defensive line. And just and just to to add a little bit to that, Duran was actually signed to the active roster to replace Farms. Um, so that that is not just a practice squad elevation. He’s going to stay on the roster until they release him if they do. But, um, there’s been constant tinkering with the defensive line. I think they’re looking for, I would think, some more stout run stuffing kind of kind of players. I would have thought Farms would have fit into that kind of as a backup behind Kyus Tonga, but um, at least for now, he’s he’s off the roster. Durton’s on it. But Christian Wilkins to me, the bigger thing is the fact that no one signed him. Yeah. I mean, he’s obviously a tremendously talented player. I know he’s really intriguing to me last year. I mean, he’s just I mean, he’s kind of from the area, so he had a little bit of a connection to him. I think the Patriots, you know, were talking to him last year before he signed that monster deal. But anytime you got a, you know, big tough guy like that with personality, it’s there’s a lot to like there. Hopefully, he figures it out and and is able to get back in the league. But, um, just jump back to the phones here real quick. Parker calls in from Bolton. Hey Parker. Hey. How you doing? Good. How are you? I’m doing good. My big question is how are the injuries to Eston Chisum and Christian Gonzalez going to affect the game and possibly the season. Well, Chisum’s out. Thanks, Park. Gonzalez is a um that’s a significant blow. As I mentioned, I I feel he’s the Patriots best player, most talented player. I think he would have allowed you to do some different things. Maybe potentially with Brock Bowers in terms of coverage, maybe have, you know, Gonzalez’s length on a taller athletic tight end in Bowers. Uh maybe get more physical with him with Carlton Davis and allow Gonzalez to handle Jacobe Meyers. I think with with one of those guy, you know, Gonzo out, I think it kind of limits some of those options. Yeah, for sure. Jump back. Oh, no, not yet. Sorry. Well, we’re watching warm-ups here going through all the rookies. I mean, yeah. What do you feel like with the the Bower situation guys? What I mean, how do you guys feel that they might attack? Yeah, a guy with over 100 catches as a rookie all proseason as a rookie that you don’t see that kind of stuff. We love the Torrell Williams. You know, one of the reporters suggested, oh, do you put a corner on him? He said, then they’re just going to run the ball on you. I think it’s a spin the dial kind of thing, especially on third downs. I’ I’d consider that though third and long when you’re not as worried about the the run. But I’m curious without most, you know, is it all on Genty today? And is that, you know, can is he ready for that? ready to jump right in, you know, be a huge huge part of their offense. I’m sure he was going to be already, but even more so now. But, uh, same thing with Will Campbell and Max Crosby, you know, to step up to the moment, you know, and that’s what it boils down to, right? You’re going to have to make some plays. They’re probably going to make some plays, too, I think. So, yeah, they’ll have Zamir White, who’s more of like a third down kind of an option, but you’re right. I because I I have some respect for Moer maybe because he’s had some good games against the Patriots with Miami. Um, so I think that him him not being in the lineup I think was a a good development for the Patriots. Well, got a lot of confidence today and it’s important to have confidence when you’re on the road. With Bridgestone tires on your car, truck, SUV, or minivan, you’re riding on tires you can trust, Bridgestone Tires are engineered to give you peace of mind so you can focus on enjoying the journey. So whether you’re on your morning commute, a cross-country road trip, or a relaxing Sunday drive, Bridgestone Tires will be with you wherever life’s roads may lead. Bridgestone solutions for your journey available now at Sullivan Tire. Let’s jump back to the phones here real quick before we get into the six-pack. And we’re staying in LA. Jacked up for the open. Hey Nelson, thanks for calling in. What’s up? Let’s get ready to rumble. Hey. Okay, Nelson. 28 to 21 Hes away. Let’s go, baby. 28 to 21. Love it. Thanks, Nelson. Now we’re heading over to Kakar in Jacksonville. What’s up, Kakar? Yo, so I got one question. One, just one. When does Trayvon Henderson take over? Take over. In terms of being in terms of being the leadback or being an impact player? Uh, lead back. Uh, I don’t think that will happen, but he’ll be an impact player. I think Mike is right right from right from the outset. I think he’s going to be the most dangerous weapon the Patriots have on offense in 2025. Very possible. Very possible. Is he the starting uh kick returner, too? Yeah, I would think. Yeah. I think uh you’ll see Stevenson and I mean Henderson and Gibson back there on kickoffs as well. Yeah. Yep. Not Not Jones on kickoffs. No, probably punts for for Marcus Jones. Yeah. All right. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Aar. How about Kendall in North Carolina? Hey, Kendall. Hey, what’s going on guys? Kendall, were you banned from the North Carolina campus? I’m correct. I knew this. As a Patriots fan, did they just say no, you can’t come in here? No. How you guys are doing? Good. Countdown kickoff. What are y’all doing in just an hour show nowadays? Yeah, we shortened it up a little bit. Pregame is an hour. The postgame will remain two hours to let everybody uh celebrate slash vent. Oh, okay. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. I just want to ask how you think the um the second Well, do you think with the rain I heard it’s supposed to be going on throughout the game. Do you think it will have an effect on like Brock Babson and that Gino Smith offense? No, not enough. Yeah, I I don’t I don’t think it will. But, you know, all it takes is, you know, a high pass off a guy’s hands that maybe would have been able to corral uh with the drier drier conditions. You know, one or two of those and all of a sudden, you know, you lose a completion or worse, you end up committing a turnover. Those can be the difference in the game. I think these are pretty evenly matched teams. It could be something like that that makes the difference. All right, let’s grab one more call here. Eldred down in North Carolina or wherever he is driving about. Hey, Aldred. Hey, fellas. Uh, hey lady. No, I’m off today. All right. I’m watching the game. There you go. Yeah. Uh, two keys. Uh, Mike, I’m like you. First one. I want to see the killer out of Drake May. Thanks. And and uh the guy I picked over Poke and Baker and y’all laughed at me. I want to see what they do against Dante Thornton when it run deep. 65 43 Mike Evans. And I let it go from there. All right. Bye. Thanks, Eldred. Appreciate it. Chiming in. Of course, he Elid loves like big, tall, fast wide receivers. That’s he’s very consistent. I tend to share his thoughts. I think the sort of smaller, shiftier guys are kind of, you know, everybody has those. I I think these are the guys that that are difference makers and not everybody has. I mean, Patriots really been looking for, you know, a bigger option on the outside for a while. They try to force feed guys like Devonte Parker in that role. Um, but I I I don’t know a ton about Thornton as a pro. I obviously know what he did at Tennessee, but um we’ll see what kind of an impact he has. I thought Vinnie Bunenori, our pregame uh guest, was pretty high on him. He thought he was uh he sort of build as a one-trick pony downfield guy, and he thought he showed to be more than that during training camp. We’ll see what he’s like as a pro. Said won the job. I thought that was interesting how he said it. An opportunity there. Um hey Patriots fans, game day is almost here, so stock up now. Grab a refreshing Pepsi Zero Sugar 12-pack now because tailgating deserves Pepsi. I think Paul would agree with us. Let’s do the over diet type. Are we doing we doing an intro mat to overunders this year? Yeah, we are. Hey, right. Time now for this week’s edition of overunders. You’re over me? When were you under me? Well done. I like that. All right, the overunders are brought to you by me, Paul, and Quanie. Why not? Hey. All right, guys. We’re going to start off with Drake May passing yards. Uh 220 yards. That’s ladies first. Over or under? I’m going to take It’s the weather now. Now the weather’s getting in my head. Yeah, I’m going to take the over on that. I believe in Drake May. 20’s on the over. Paul, what do you got? Don’t disappoint me. Paul is going to take the over on that as well. Thank you, Paul. 220 seems like a a modest enough total. Yeah, I’ll make it I’ll make it all three of us. Yay. All on the over on Drake. Let’s uh talk Stefan Diggs. Receiving yards 50.5. Quanie, back to you. Oh, no, wait. We’re doing We do. We do. We do it. Yeah, we do it while you’re up, right? Um, okay. I said spiral. I’m going to take the under on that one. Um, under for for Digs. I think um I think Douglas might be the guy that gets a the yards the volume today. Uh, I’m going to go I’m going to go over. I’m feeling positive. Stefan Diggs first day. Oh, I’m a tiebreaker. I’m nervous cuz, you know, I was driving in and then people were concerned like his ACL is why is he back? I’m going to go ahead and bet on him as well. I’m going to take the over. If Yeah, let’s feeling positive. All right, Deuce’s turn. And of course, I get to go first on an Ashton Genty question. I kind of uh caused a stress this year. I took him in a mock draft. People were upset with me for a while for the Patriots. Really? I was just causing discussion, that’s all. Uh Genty 80.5. H I’m going to go over I’m going to go over. If there’s one thing I’m not quite sure about, one of them is is run defense. So, I’m going to go over with Ashen Genty. I think he’s going to touch the ball a ton today. I’m going to absolutely agree with you on that one. I’m I’m just scared. I look at him, I’m like, “That kid can run through anything.” And I thought that that would be the game plan. That’s Pete Carol’s history. That’s why I wanted to ask um our our pregame guest. Uh Vinnie felt the same way. I think he’s going to get the ball a lot today. So, I’ll take you over. All right. We’re staying on the Raiders offensive weaponry. Brock Bower’s receptions 6.5. Back to you, Quin. Uh, I’mma just go under on that one for the sake of the Patriots. Shut him down. Didn’t take her long, did it? Just quickly. For the sake of the Patriots. For your father. For your father. What do you got, Paulie? Uh, I’m going to take the over. I think you know he and he and Myers I think will be the guys that get the most of the attention, most of the targets. I think he’ll get seven catches. Yeah, I’m with Paul. Sorry, Connie. I’m gonna go over on that one. It’s okay. It’s okay. All right, Paulie. Back to you. total touchdowns for a good one. Here’s where I depress myself. Um I’m going to take the under on this one. Uh oh, not not a huge believer in the offenses yet. Yeah, fair assessment. Yeah, I’m going to I’m going to take the under, too. I just I’ve seen too many unders in recent years and hopefully we can get off that this year. Right. What do you got going? Because of the weather, I’m taking the under as well. It’s too wet. Just blame everything on the weather. Too rainy. Too cold. All right. And our last one. Total score 43 and a half. I’ve got to think about what my final My under is for touchdowns. I’m going to go over on this one, but not much. I I took the under again. Um again, I just don’t feel like the offenses are the strength of either team yet. I think that could change. Um but I’m going to take the uh the under. They should do a third option to take the middle. Take the middle. Take the push. Taking the push. All right. Over unders. So, what do we take on that last one? What do you got? I took the middle. 43 and a half. You can’t get a half. That is a good point. I agree. 40. Okay, I’ll take the over. 44. All right. Is that even a football score? Yep. You got it. 44. First overs of the year. All right, we got Chance from Connect back on the phone lines. Let’s hop back there real quick as we’re building up just about a half a half hour away from kickoff. Hey, Chance. Chance, are you there? I’ll give you one more chance. Oh, you guys, this is gonna be a I just wanted to wrap with Chance. He’ll call back. I’m sure he’ll call back. So, yeah. So, any like any little things, you know, with this matchup, I feel like we, you know, Mike and I, uh, Quani do shows Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. There’s a lot of minutia that goes along with that when you’re just talking about one team all the time. I I don’t feel like there’s anything that we You know what? We haven’t talked about the uniforms. I I got a little something. Can I do a little something? That’s what I’m looking for. This is going to make you pull out your hair, but um I don’t have any. Wait, is it the uniforms? Raiders advantage in the kicking game. I mean, there’s two, you know, and you know, we brought up rain not being a huge thing, but a rookie long snapper. Yeah. Uh a rookie kicker for the Patriots and Daniel Carlson for the Raiders. One of one of the best kickers in the league. I mean, not great kicking conditions, but if the game does come down to the end, that might be an answer for the Raiders. You would have to figure if the game came down to a kick, who’s the better shot? The Raiders would feel better about it. Absolutely. Yeah. So, they have an excellent kicker and the Patriots may have an excellent kicker, but this is his first, right? And I mean, and just to drill down on Boragalis a little bit, we’ve heard from some of the coaches this week saying, you know, we felt like he won. It was the entire body of work. You know, to me, watching the practices that we watched, we didn’t see everything, but we saw a lot of it. Um, still a little bit surprised. I still thought, you know, Parker Roma had a little bit of an edge. I don’t think Parker Roma’s landed anywhere, but I thought he kicked well this this summer. So, we’ll see what it looks like with Boragales because to be honest, from the practice that we’ve watched, I, you know, I don’t have this like immense confidence of, oh, this rookie came in here and he’s just kicking lights out, especially in a weather game. I mean, I know he’s, you know, down from Florida, but just every little factor that you get with a rookie kicker, it could potentially cost you points on the scoreboard, right? Difference. No, I like that. Um, I like that addition to the the analysis because we all we’re all talking about how both teams are kind of in the same spot. They’re two, let’s face it, they were two bad teams last year. They both won four games. They both picked, you know, very early in in the first round because they were among the worst teams in football. They both think they’ve improved. They have new coaches. They brought in new coordinators um on on the at least on the offensive side of the ball for the Raiders, for the Patriots, both sides of the ball. They think they’re better, but it’s still kind of an evenly matched game. So, you do need to talk about the margins. Yeah. And you’re right to Mike, to bring up the addition of the long snapper, too. um kicking in snapping in his first game with a wet football and whatnot. Yeah. I I again, if it comes down to a kick, you you’d have to feel pretty good if you were Pete Carol because you have one of the best kickers in football and the Patriots are dealing with a rookie. That’s what makes this matchup so exciting. No, I was just going to say that’s why I’m so excited about the matchup because of the fact that both of these teams are in their rebuild era and we get to see who’s going to prove that they’re better right now at least. Yeah. Which Taylor Swift album was that? Not even. No, for the record, I’m not a Taylor Swift fan. That was so unintentional that I’m kicking myself. You’re not even a Taylor Swift fan. Not a Taylor Swift fan, but I work somewhere where it’s She’s everywhere. I have no choice but to see her. I don’t know if we can be friends. You know, guys, one more thing I would just say as we come down the last 10 minutes. So, it’s just I’m just really interested and you can make fun of me, but just how does the defense come together? This is a totally new look for defense for what we’ve from what we’ve seen. That’s another great one, Mike. You know, how does it come together with They want to be aggressive. I mean, you went, you gave Milt Williams a ton of money. You have Christian Barnmore. Uh, you’ve got two new defensive ends who really their thing is to go get the quarterback. Uh, how does that look? And how does it look stopping the run, especially Paul, you’ve been hammering it all week. They’re going to come in here with Genty and really try to get him some carries and see what he can do. How does that all flesh out for this new defense? Well, the reason why I think it’s such an interesting point that you bring up, what are we gonna get from the Patriots defense? I feel like the whole off season, that’s where the majority of their free agent signings were. they they improved the level of talent on the defensive side of the ball. And I think a lot of people felt, rightly so, because of those improvements, this is how they’re going to play. They’re going to lean on their defense. The defense is going to be, you know, top, you know, some people say top five, but top 10 anyway. Um, that’s the strength of the team. All of a sudden, we get to the last week, week and a half, and I’m hearing a lot of talk about this could be a high-scoring game. Both defenses really struggling. Um Vinnie talked about the uh the lack of experience in the Raiders secondary. Patriots are missing their best piece in the secondary and all of a sudden people are talking about this is going to be a high-scoring game. Neither one of these defenses can stop anybody for the whole offse for the Patriots, right? So what do you think? Yeah, I think the Patriots defense will be okay. I am a little concerned about the ability to stop the run, but that generally keeps the score down. When you run the ball, it takes longer to score. it shortens the game and all those cliches. Now, you can be very productive doing it and I don’t think that they’ll shut down Genty today. Um, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to get in the 30s to win because if you’re running in, you know, 8, 10, 12 play drives that are taking seven, eight minutes off the clock, you don’t have a lot of time to score. Yeah. Well, we’re closing in on it. I’m sure there uh plenty of fans out there making some nachos like Paul shared his gourmet nachos recipe this week in the PU newsletter. trash can nachos to a new level. Cuz football fans know that traditions matter. Turning moments together into truly something truly epic. That’s what they’re what inspire us to make our masa and Tostitos the traditional way. Starting with whole corn kernels, no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. All to give you that perfect crunch. Discover your next tradition this football season. Head to the store, grab your Tostitos team bag, and scan the code for a chance to score an epic experience with the Patriots. Tostitos. Tradition matters. I love nachos. Let’s do the six-packchack. All right, first up, Miami Dolphins at the Indianapolis Colts. Colts by one and a half. They’re back up. Oh my goodness. I am just going to Ooh, I’m taking Indie. You going to take the Indie? Yeah. Indie at home. Yeah, Paulie, what do you got? How you feeling about those guys? What’s the weather in Indie? I don’t really feel great about either one of these teams, but I’m going to take Miami. I just think they have more high-end talent early in the season. I think that wins out. I pick the Colts this week. I’m going to go with the Colts. I don’t know why I I feel like Miami is being left for dead a little maybe a little too early, but maybe the Colts do it today. I’ll take Indie. Next one up, Pittsburgh at the Jets. Pittsburgh minus three. They just uh they swap quarterbacks. Yeah, the Aaron Aaron Rogers Bowl. I saw I saw Rogers, you know, Mr. uh, you know, Mr. Great teammate, uh, you know, hugging all the all the Jets and like, oh, what what problems? What what I’m a great guy. They miss him. Justin Fields is bad. I think Pittsburgh’s going to go to the Metife Stadium and and lose. Lose outright. So, I’m going to take the Jets, not just with the points. I’m going to take the Jets to win the game. Oh, dang. Jes. I’m taking Pittsburgh. Yeah, that’s where I’m conflicted. And yeah, I’m going to go with you. I’m taking Pittsburgh as well. On to the 400 p.m. games for Rogers, but whatever. And we have at first the battle of the NFC North, the Lions are put the Giants game on here. What was that? Uh, we match just picks random ones. It’s only a Yeah. Are you a Giants fan? You giants? No. Is that Giants blue? It does look like Giants blue, doesn’t it? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. My octave just got really high. It doesn’t matter who sign your check. You can say the first 42 and 46. 46. I was a a freshman at BC and uh one team that I was rooting for won and then I actually uh told the Patriots fans to clean up after that. You will have Giants Weekly on there. Don’t worry. Wow. I put the lines just for the drama. I had a I had a similar college experience um in my freshman year at BEu, which you know, right down the street from me. Much better, too. Much better after school. Sucks to be you. You’ve heard it before. He He doesn’t actually like be. Oh, good. Kind of facts. Um but the the Red Sox lost the World Series to the Mets. Oh, yeah. We had like a team free-for-all on the baseball diamond. So, I was clean. Not good. No, I just had to go home and feel shame. That was the pain. All right, moving along here with our six-pack though. The Lions at the Packers. Good matchup here this afternoon. I guess I’m up first. And man, I just some change in Detroit. I’m going to go with Green Bay at home. You got Quant Europe. I’m gonna take Green Bay. Green Bay as well. They’re at home. You said game. Yeah, great matchup early. This is where my focus will be during the postgame show. uh when I’m watching the red zone and the giant TV right in front of me. Um with all the commercials, I’m going to take Detroit. Uh I feel like they’re healthy and I think they they’ve done a great job. I think Dan Campbell has done a great job of convincing the players they have something to prove despite being a 15-2 team. Losing the coordinators, a lot of there’s there’s a lot of doubt. Can Dan Campbell do this without Aaron Glenn and and uh and Ben Johnson? I think they get off to a good start on the road. Detroit for Paulie. Next up, Texans at the Rams and they’re, you know, trying to hold Matthew Stafford together any way possible. Tore it all and duct tape. Yeah, I uh actually you’re you’re back up, Quan. Yeah, I think I’m just going to go with the Rams. Rams. Rams. I It looks like I’m picking all the home. No, I didn’t take the Jets actually. Yeah, I’m taking the home teams. It looks like Los Angeles Rams. Who you got bought? The Rams. Uh I’m going to take the Rams as well. Um you know, I am I soft spot for Matthew Stafford. So, as long as his back is, you got to send him a disc in one piece. I I I take the Rams. I’m going to buck the trend here. I’m going to take Houston. I do like CJ Stout, too. That’s a good point that you make. I do like CJ. Couple Ohio State receivers they picked up. We’ll see how it comes together for them. Uh, Sunday Night Football, one I’m sure we’re all going to enjoy watching when we get home here after the Patriots put up a victory. Ravens at Bills, Baltimore by 1.5. I struggle with this one already. Toughens. This is going to be good. Lamar versus I I’m going to take Baltimore. Um I think they’re the regular season team um a little bit ahead of Buffalo. Yeah. And I I mean the Ravens are I I feel the best team in football on paper. Uh this will be a good game. Good matchup. These two teams probably will see each other again uh in January, but I’ll take the Ravens. I guess I’m up. Um I I can’t quit the Bills. I don’t know. I think they’re I for Allen. We saw him this morning on TV. I love Josh Allen. They did, you know, they took a little little uh reset last year and I feel like it did them good and I think that they’re going to they’re going to start to, you know, go to a new level. According to Fred, the window not closing for Buffalo. I got Buffalo. No, I don’t think it’s closing either. I think this is going to be a really close game and a really good one. But I’m not betting against Lamar Jackson. I’m going to take Baltimore as well. I get it. I get it. Yeah, I just have to. All right. And last up, we have our game right here. The Raiders at the Patriots. Patriots are two and a half point favorites. Sorry, Quani. Who did you take? Ravens. She took Baltimore. Baltimore. Okay. Yep. Sorry. Go ahead, Mike. And uh I guess Paul, you’re back up then for the uh Patriots by two and a half. I am going to take the Patriots to win this game. Controversial. Um yeah, it is very controversial for for me. It’s very controversial, especially early in the season. Um I think that the energy in the building today is going to be a a big advantage. Yeah, I’m not a huge believer in the whole West Coast coming east coast thing. I think that sort of really lessened in recent years. I think Pete Carol in particular, as Vinnie mentioned, has been really really good in those spots, but I think the Patriots have just enough to get by. This game could go either way. I’m going to go 2317. Uh maybe a late turnover by the Raiders is the the difference. I like it. I’m in a similar territory as Paul is. I’ll take a low 20s to high teens. Say 2318. same kind of same kind of game. I just I want to see this Patriots defense force some turnovers, be aggressive. I think it might be a little bit feast or famine. They might make a big play, they might give up a big play, but I think ultimately they’re going to put enough together to to pull this one out. Um, but just so many unknowns. It’s it could really the game could be could unfold any way and I wouldn’t be too surprised, but I I think the Patriots have enough here at home like Paulie said, so I’m going to go with the Pats. Well, I am definitely not a party pooper and also why would I bet against the Pats at this point? I am going with the Pats as well. I think they they got it. This is the moment to trend upwards. There you go. I took a little call back there. She she brought it all. She’s tied it all together and I guess we got cut off cuz Vinnie came in, but you know. Yeah. Why don’t we give Quanie the key here for her first day and you’re going to wear that for the whole week. I’m really not on board with that at all. Including uh I had I had double X. I thought I should have gotten it, but that’s okay. Well, we’ll see. We’ll see afterwards. Be sure to tune in right after the game ends. We will be back here with the Patriots postgame show. Break it all down for you guys. Look forward to hearing for you. Otherwise, enjoy it. Week one. Let’s go. Let’s go. Hey, this is Evan. Thanks for tuning in to the show. If you really want to help us, make sure to like us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Also, make sure to follow on the New England Patriots YouTube channel to see this show and everything else we do here at The Patriots. Thanks a lot.

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