Patriots Unfiltered 10/7: Takeaways from New England’s Epic Win Over the Bills
[Music] Some of the content of Patriots Unfiltered may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. podcast. Welcome to Patriots Unfiltered. Patriots Unfiltered. It’s like the Award or something like that. The Not the Spinker. No, not that award. What is the expected gain on that play? So, it’s not average. No, it’s an expected. This is what the expected outcome in this situation would be versus what is the actual outcome of the play. If I say I expect you to be a nerd, it’s based on that you’ve been a nerd. James Pedigrew says Alex needs a better poker face when Fred starts calling Evan a nerd. Shoot. You know what? I’m think Buffalo’s going to win the game. Hey, what happened? Um, Buffalo wins. Nope. Uh, the Patriots will go into Buffalo. Yes. And have an opportunity to establish themselves as an up andcoming team on the rise. Okay. A playoff contender, if you will. They will do it. Uh, the Patriots 34, Buffalo 33. Wow. Drake May with a late scoring drive. Oh, lordy. The Bills are 4-0. They’re not going 17-0. Somebody’s going to beat them. Why not us? Let’s do it. This is Patriots Unfiltered, presented by Toyota’s official website for deals by Toyota.com. Patriots Unfiltered. All right, welcome to Patriots Unfiltered. It is victory Tuesday here at Gillette Stadium. A big win Sunday night in front of a national, may I say, worldwide audience. The New England Patriots are on the rise cuz it was on Univers. They’re on the come what I think you’re right. Worldwide. Universo, I think, was univers. Yeah. So, I mean, what else can we say that hasn’t already been said over about Drake May and the Mike and I are just putting our pants back on since the postgame show. I mean, we were we were all in. Yeah. Actually, phone phone lines were stacked at like 12:45. A little low energy, though. Low energy. Well, I will say one thing about one one negative thing about the show. It was about 8 million degrees in here. It was a very unseasonably warm day. Yeah. But it was really, really hot in the studio. The fans were a little bit like I didn’t agree. Mike had to have a an intervention with the fans at one point. I thought you were making fun of us. I expected fans to be like, you know, we’re going to the Super Bowl and No, it’s more like, well, you know, I need to see more. I don’t blame him. So, some people are just cautious by by nature. Yeah. And it’s And we’ve been hurt a lot before. And I mean, we trying to think of women heard a lot before. They won, six titles. It’s been five years. We’ve been hurt. Won eight games. Five long years. But that was I don’t want to say it’s a signature win. I talk about this in the PFW TV show because I think there’s more wins to come and I think when I think of signature wins I think of you know big things but this is definitely their best win. What about a breakout performance? Absolutely. I think it’s a signature continuing to break out. Yeah. Finish your sentence. Best win since since Bellichic left the Super Bowl, right? Super Bowl 53. That’s my answer. Yeah. I mean I mean hard to compare to a Super Bowl since Brady and Bellichic left. Oh, I didn’t say this is as big as a Super Bowl, but it’s the biggest wins since. Now, you can make an argument for one of those wins in 21. Even the Buffalo win in 21. I It was obvious. You were the number one seed, right? It was obviously under weird circumstances, but the win game in 2021 was a big deal. Yeah, it was. I think this was bigger. We were all excited after that. Yeah. Yeah. But it was also the that nature of that game that was like Yeah. But I mean, this wasn’t a yeah, but this was everything we’ve been talking about of needing a quarterback who can do it in any circumstances and needing a receiver who can do it in any circumstances. And those were the two biggest things that were on display. When you get into the bottom half of the league, that’s what you’re searching for, trying to find that quarterback. And Drake May continuing to prove each week that he’s looking like that guy right now. Yeah, that’s the number one story is Drake May, his performance. And it’s been getting better every week. I mean, like what he’s doing. We were saying, you know, well, we need to see that game where it’s all on Drake May’s shoulders and he takes the team and and leads them to a victory. Well, we got it. We got it. And I mean, almost to a comical effect with that first play where there’s literally players like draped off of him and he somehow completed that pass. Um, great performance by him. I got to give him credit. That’s what I’ve been looking for. And, you know, if he continues to have those kind of performances, he’s going to enter that strata of guys that you got better make sure they’re dead. You better make sure the clock is 00 0 because this guy can make all kinds of plays no matter how it’s been going. Yep. And you know, he does it with his feet, does it with his arms, his awareness of where the pressure is coming from, uh with people in his face. Yeah. I mean, it’s just he did it all. I said I mean, I’m sure Evan will have plenty to say about Drake’s performance after watching the film, but even like my little deuce review, like I I just think he was a little sped up and and amped up in the first half. Like I think it could have been an even better game for him. I think he left a bunch on the field in the first half, too. So, you know, I think that’s for me the positive coming out is that there’s still road to travel, you know, things to be conquered for him. Uh, but what a what a performance. Part of that makes me even more um enthusiastic about May because I agree. I thought it was a subpar first half. I thought he looked a little uh skittish in the pocket. I didn’t think he looked comfortable. I say this all the time, you know, like a pitcher, any pitcher can pitch well when he’s got his stuff, when everything is working. What do you do when maybe you didn’t get off to a great start? Maybe you weren’t necessarily throwing it where you wanted to throw. I think it says a lot more about a guy’s resilience to come back and have that second half after a kind of just okay first half. You know, the Bills that was damn near perfect in the second half and the Bills came out in the second half and they score and it’s like, okay, you know, we’re going to have to score some points here and they did right away. And they did. They answered right away. Yeah. Um, yeah, that was I was really focused on the defense yesterday and I just I kind of fell in love with the defense a little bit yesterday. I mean, I’m kind of getting it, but they’re just so aggressive and I just love going down like that. Like, look, the other team’s going to make some plays. Josh Allen’s really good. Their scheme is really good. They’re going to get guys open. They’re going to put your guys in bad positions at times, but at the end of the day, when it comes down to a critical third down, you know that Milt Williams and Christian Bar are going to be problems on that play. And that to me is the fruition of seeing those two guys up front, seeing the coverage of Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones who I thought had the best game of his career at quarterback. I mean, he’s just looked like he was sticky. He was physical and you can see guys that we’ve watched play over the last few years under Bellich and Mayo playing with the verbal style. I mean, Marcus Jones is getting in there. Uh Evan pointed out the one play uh where Josh kind of you know was getting sacked, flipped it to Shakir and then there were like literally six guys got a hit on Shir and I said this is a play that they’re going to show in the in the coaches in the tape meeting. This is how we want to play gang tackling, everyone around the ball, everyone getting a hit and there’s three more guys standing over him ready to jump in there if they need. It’s so funny about Marcus Jones because, you know, you see him. He’s not afraid to play the run, get his nose in there. Yeah. And before the game, uh, I was going down the elevator in the hotel, door opens, and in comes Marcus Jones. And I remember at that moment thinking, man, he’s tiny. Yeah. Like I’m as big as he is, you know, like I’m obviously wider than he is. And like and then and then I remember that image and then the game comes and I see him make a tackle at the line on a run play and I’m like it’s freaking amazing. Yeah. And then he’s on Keon Coleman downfield making a you know a pass defense. Most people his size would be broken in half if they tried that. Yeah. I mean there’s no question his size he gets them targeted. And I mean I think on a play like that Joe Brady saying perfect. We want Keon Coleman on Marcus Jones. This is what we’re looking for. But like everybody they gave some punches, they took some punches. It’s just a lot different style than I’m used to and I’m really enjoying it because it’s just like we’re coming. We’re coming. You’re gonna make some plays, but guess what? They’re gonna I agree with your point too about I’d rather if you’re going to lose, I’d rather lose like that than sitting back. I agree with you know what I’m doing. Oh, footsteps. Footsteps in the AFC East. Paul made fun of them. If I’m the Bills fans, I’m still making fun of you. If I’m the Bills fans, I’m a little worried. Statement is exactly what I thought was going to happen. No, it was it was a bad game for them and it was all penalties. Correct. Josh Allen. That’s what And that’s what they’re saying, which is what I thought they would say if they lost. Josh Allen might still be the king. Gonzo getting there like half a be. I’m not telling you they’re right. I’m just telling you this is how I thought that they would react to a loss. That’s how Allen might be a king, but there’s a prince in waiting and he’s coming up. I’d like to know when was the last time Buffalo, Baltimore, and Kansas City all lost in the same week. Yeah. I mean, it’s just kind of anecdotal, but at the same time, like I don’t know if the if the power structure is changing just yet. I mean, it’s week six. All those teams can get healthy or kick into gear or whatever, but at the same time, you’re seeing I love it some changes. Some changes in the league perhaps. Perhaps I’m not ready to be like, “Oh, I read today on Twitter that the Colts are the best team in the AFC now.” I don’t know why like Buffalo lost a game and suddenly they’re not, you know, so is this what we’re doing? We are we going to diminish the Patriots win, but are we going to diminish the Patriots win? Cuz I’m not doing that. I’m not going to sit here and tell you for an hour and 45 minutes that the Bills lost the game. No, they didn’t. The Patriots won it. No, but if I’m in Indianapolis, I’m thinking my team’s pretty good. It wasn’t from Indianapolis. It was from Boston. Oh, who? And I’m not going to do I’m not going to dump on this win because I don’t think Buffalo is still the best team in the AFC. No, no, no. The Patriots went into the best team in the AFC and beat them in Buffalo. Somebody said they didn’t do that. No, they said the Colts are better than Buffalo now. Well, they’re playing Colts are better than Buffalo. Okay. I’m not I’m not doing it. I’m not telling like listen. Did I think Buffalo played a great game the other night? No, I don’t. But I think the Patriots play made them sure not look as good as they can can look. They did. All right. I mean, just to continue on that line, like what really impressed me about the defense is that we talked last week about this new Buffalo offense where they’re not afraid to get under center. They’re not afraid to put three tight ends on the field and just try to run it right down your throat. Their biggest game was nine yards. I mean, they held James Cook in check in that game. I had questions about this run defense, but overall I would say and I’m talking about Cook if you’re going to go to the longest run and No, no, no. I’m looking for something else. But to me, that’s No, their run defense has been good all year and then and it proved to me someone who maybe a little bit of a doubter, maybe felt like some of this has been circumstantial, but you know, even Mina Kims pointed out Kyus Tonga playing really well as a compliment, you know, right? You know, getting some national attention. Um, you know, so I just I I I really was excited watching this defense and and knowing too that they haven’t really had a full chance to really lock all their guys in yet. There are still some spots that are probably going to continue to grow and be upgraded. You did it without Calevon Chase on anyway. So, um, just a really good performance for them going, you know, it’s like Bills think, hey, we’re just going to do we do we’re going to smash the ball right down your mouth, you light Patriots defense. And Patriots defense wasn’t having any of it. And I thought they brought the physicality. I mean, you know, Mina pointed out Tonga going against the interior line. Freaking awesome. He is like, can they need to extend that guy? Uh, he’s on a one-year contract, and the rest of the league is going to find out how good he is. Not if they haven’t already. And I mean, he’s he’s been freaking awesome. It gives him not just a rotational Williams and Barour, but they can put him out there on the field with those guys, too, when he needs to go more heavy. every time just firing his hands into the into the tackle or to the guard’s chest and just walking him back into the line of scrimmage and uh you know he made a play in the outside zone where he ran like 15 yards across the field and tackled the guy on a run play. I mean he’s just uh he’s been I had no idea that he was this good when they signed him and he’s been even better than anybody could have possibly expected and at this point it’s like how often couldn’t they possibly play him, right? I mean, he’s a big dude, so you don’t want to play o overwork him, but he’s been terrific. You know, they they’re doing things very differently in in the run defense than what we’re used to seeing with Bellich. You know, they’re not setting the edge the same way. They’re not building a wall. They’re not two gapping. And that’s like been a little bit of a uh my brain is like in a little bit of a pretzel with it because it’s it’s watching something that’s very different from what they’ve done in the past. So, uh, they’re they’re really trying to knife inside and and do what’s called spilling. So, they want to get inside the inside gaps covered and they actually want the ball to bounce outside. They want to try to force the ball uh to the to the numbers and to outside the tackles and and then they just kind of chase the guy down into the line into the sideline. So even like there might be some times when you’re watching the game and it feels like they gave up the edge but that’s by design that they are trying to funnel the ball in that direction. I noticed a couple times um you know they would get great push up and you know Allen would still be able to slip through you know for a game but you’ll take that because you’ve disrupted the play that they had in mind. You’re forcing him to run and you know you’re hoping the linebackers can fill in there and and minimize you know the gain after that. But yeah, I mean, thought they had They’re winning up front. They’re winning up front. They had a lot of really good spy reps in this game, too, where they pushed Allen and forced him to make a throw. Like, you don’t want him to be able to run and you don’t want him to have all day back there to extend plays. So, they were pressuring and then they’d have like Spalain or Ellis or Landry or someone like that was assigned to spy him. and and they did a really nice job of when he broke the pocket, they they made him throw the ball and they didn’t allow him to just sit there for five, six seconds and hold it and hold it and hold it. And so, uh, they they did a nice job of that, uh, as well defensively in this game. I I just I said coming into the game, I wanted them to play man coverage. Like they I just didn’t think the Bills receivers on the outside, you know, Coleman, uh, you know, guys like that were were going to be able to consistently beat Carlton Davis and Christian Gonzalez. and they they played 41% man man coverage. I mean Allen definitely had his moments especially to concade in man coverage but the Patriots were able to win a bunch of rounds doing it that way. And then I think the biggest thing with Allen when you get him to like revert back to playing playground football and trying to play out of structure, he makes mistakes. He doesn’t he’s not as clean as when he just sits in the pocket and methodically tears you up. So they really got him to kind of be a little bit chaotic in this game and he was leaving the pocket prematurely and he looked like the quarterback that was a little bit sped up and was kind of feeling pressure and things like that. And uh that to me is is the blueprint against him. When when you sit back and just let him pick you apart, it’s really tough. I mean I I thought Ellis did a good job early in the game with with that stuff. Mike and I talked about it in post game a little bit. I thought they did a good job. One of the things that I was concerned about is, yeah, it’s one thing to have a spy. Can that spy then get him to the ground? And I thought Ellis early in the game. Yeah. Established that, yeah, he’s going to I think I think Allen was better than that. I think he made one bad threat. He said it he made a horrific throw. Um he should have led Shakir and he missed him by a mile and threw the pick to Marcus Jones. But the covered receiver, the the coverage I thought was pretty good um throughout the game. I didn’t see a lot of Yeah, I didn’t see like a lot of breakdowns now. I think the the biggest problem for Buffalo offensively is I I I do think that the Patriots sort of did what you guys said and wanted to take away the run and then but they just kept going backwards. And I don’t care how good you are. When you consistently get holding calls and on drives, you’re you’re gonna go backwards and you’re not gonna convert. Now, they only punted twice the whole game. Like, but it’s hard to score when you consistently go the wrong way. And I I think that Allen, to Evans point, wasn’t razor sharp. I mean, I think he was good, but not Allen, not Superman. He didn’t have a lot of huge plays with his legs. He had some good good runs. I thought he missed some opportunities. Um, especially in the third the last third down, the the first really good play by Gonzo when he covered Keon Coleman for about 20 minutes. I think if he just had run there, he probably gets somewhere between five, seven yards and sets up a a much more manageable fourth down that now you can run to get um if you want to or you could, you know, sort of I mean the second down second it was second and third down, not third and fourth down. Check that. So it would have set up a much more manageable third down. And then the now it’s third and 10 and he kind of had to make that throw to Shakir that Gonzo makes the the incredible uh dive over the top pick. Uh not a pass defense. So that was close, wasn’t it? I like watching live. It looked like a penalty, but it was closer than I thought. I think he got there early, but that’s very consistent with the way they call that is and it drives me crazy like the Keshan booty. We’re running 35 yards down the field and we’re going like this with our arms. Well, that’s a penalty and giving a team 40 yards. You run through a guy and maybe you get there early and that completely eliminates any chance that that pass is getting completed and it’s fine. And that’s but that’s the way they do it. I know that like I’m This is not a homer called like I’ve seen that not called more often than not. Yeah. when they get there maybe a tick early. Like that’s that’s the way the game is being played. I I think that’s pretty consistent. Now that said, the officiating almost ruins what I thought was a tremendous night. Like just all around like do we really need all these alignment penalties on both teams. It didn’t benefit one team or the other. I’m not crying about the calls. It just no one came to see Shawn Hockey to complain about the refs. No one but no one came to see Shan Hockey. I understand what you likely know the penalty is declined because the result of the like he’s just so insufferable. Um so we’re all excited big win but you got to build on it and in order to build on it we got to there’s a lot of things that need to be cleaned up in this game. So let’s talk about some of those. You need to find a running game. Yeah. Well that’s the that’s the thing. You know everything we said about the run defense the opposite the running game. Raandre didn’t fumble. Yeah. Now with Gibson out for the season, it’s announced I guess he has a torn ACL. We need we need help here. Yeah. Uh and so what do you do? Um you can bring up Jennings from the practice squad, but do you go out and get yourself a veteran? Uh I got we got a lot of emails and we don’t have to read all of them. Alvin Camar uh might be available and you know uh but what do do you go all out and try to bring in some help or do you say we’re going to we’re going to do it with what we’ve got? I think you got to bring somebody in. Um I don’t know if Chimera will be the guy. I mean, I’d be looking for somebody who can take early down carries. I think he’s more of just a third down back, which I would hope that that’s a good point. Can develop uh you know, Henderson into. And you know, honestly, I had a thought kind of how to deal with Raandre. Do you kind of make him the third down back at some point? I mean, he’s great at pass protection. He can catch the ball. It would reduce his carries, but if you are that concerned, like I just don’t get the people who are like, “Well, we have to cut him tomorrow and then Tvian Henderson will just be the one running back and and that’ll that’ll work out great. They got to find another person.” Um, I don’t know if Terrell Jennings is the answer. I liked him in the summer u two years ago. Didn’t really notice him much this year, but he is that kind of guy. He runs hard. He’s he’s kind of a hard charger. So, I wouldn’t be opposed to some young fresh legs. That might give you a little bit more potential sense of optimism, whereas if you bring in Zack Moss or Ezekiel Elliott, you kind of know what you’re getting. Um, but I think at this point, they just need a body. So, they’re going to have to they’re going to have to bring somebody in. Yeah. I mean, they need a body, but like Gandre and Trayvon Henderson are going to be a platoon now and and that’s going to be your backfield. Like, I don’t think you’re getting anybody at this time of year that’s going to be better than either of those two guys. So you you you could bring in somebody that’s currently a free agent. You know that there are a couple guys you know Moss is one of them. You know J Michael Hasty’s on the Dolphins practice squad I think it is. And you know maybe he’s a guy that can come in. He’s he’s returned kickoffs a little bit in his career as well which I think is a sneaky bigger deal in a lot of ways than uh you know what they’re going to lose on offense with Gibson. you don’t love Candre back there is that they now have a whole you know Gibson week two as a special teams player of the week because of what he did returning kickoffs and every single time they booted it to Raandre on Sunday night I held my breath thinking oh god now uh you know really quickly they they actually did something cool uh with the special teams to goat the Bills to kicking it to Henderson instead of Raandre I think it was the last kickoff of the game uh they right before they kicked the ball they switched So Henderson and Raandre like right before they lined up to kick it, the Bills had everything set and then they were about to kick it and the two of them switched places. And so then they actually goed the Bills into kicking it to Henderson instead of kicking it to Raandre. So not only just cuz Henderson’s, you know, got better speed, but I think that the Patriots were thinking, “Oh god, let’s not get put the ball.” But even if Stevenson had no ball security issues, I don’t think his running style is overly conducive to that kick return play. You know, he’s more of a bruiser than a than a burner. Yep. So, I think that, you know, Gibson was already playing like a reduced role on offense and it was really starting to become Stevenson and Henderson’s backfield anyways. But the kickoff thing is sneaky important because they need every big play they can get. And aside from that last one, they were going to they were going to Raandre to see, okay, you got to hold on to it. Thank god he did. Yeah. So that that’s I think a again it’s just, you know, it’s something that immediately impacted that game on Sunday night when Gibson got hurt was that now Reandre has to return kickoff. So I brought up um and I don’t know if we talked about it on the show, Mike, but just like why can’t my guy do it? Marcus Marcus Jones and I know he’s smaller. I know they look at that as more of like a running back return. They do, but the Giants have Ovesky doing it. So, but I I you know, but a lot of teams do, and I get it because it’s more of it’s it’s turned into more of like looking for a crease like a running play. You might have to break through some some congestion, but I I just think that he’s so electric with the ball in his hands. Why not? They they were worried. They were worried in the past because we’ve asked them in the past about this uh you know Springer last year and still the same coordinator uh about durability because that is such a high impact play and they they’veer talked in the past about wanting a bigger body type. Now Henderson’s not exactly a big body either, but he’s a little bit bigger and a little bit you know meteor than a guy like Raman uh Marcus Jones. So that that was his response cuz last year we were all wondering why isn’t Marcus Jones returning kickoffs. Now they also mentioned, you know, he’s already on punt. He’s already a full-time defensive player. And so it’s another thing on his plate to put him on kickoff as well. But I think it’s mostly about a body type thing that they’re worried he’s going to get hurt. I do think it that’s the way they look at is the body type. Yeah. And I mean, if you do put him back there, you might get a lot more touchbacks because teams are like, “We’re not going to bother with him.” Just I don’t know. I mean, that’s interesting how they how they might approach it or they would say, “We’re going to go kill this little guy cuz that too.” I just don’t know why you’re I mean, I I I just don’t think there’s that much more risk. The the durability thing makes sense to me in in terms of workload. Yeah. Right. what Evan said about workload, that’s adding another three or four touches again. Like that’s that that’s significant. I just think that your chances of getting lit up on a punt are Yeah. just as much as that that was I think a combination like you just laid out like it’s the fact that now he’s going to have another exposure to possibly getting hurt and that Yeah. I mean that that’s undeniable. The more you give a guy the more chances he has to break down. He has he has been a guy who’s broken down. Yeah. So, the running game is something we need to look at. Um, a lot of penalties for the Patriots, a couple really boneheaded ones uh in the second half by some young guys. The the roughing the passer one though, I looked at that over and that wasn’t as egregious as some people said. It was he was he was coming off his block and we checked every box. It was late. It was high and it was follow through. Barely late. Barely late. I mean, I I’m just going to just tell you like I’ve never ever heard Scott Zolak not complain on a call like that. Yeah. All four of those penalties they played and it was like, “It’s a good call.” Oh, yeah. But I’m saying it was a good call. I couldn’t believe it. I I thought I was looking to somebody else. I wouldn’t I don’t call it I don’t call it on the level of the farmer one. Oh, the farmer one was one of the more egregiously cheap plays I’ve ever seen. I just when I was looking up when you were talking about James Cook, Mike, what I actually was looking up is in my mind’s eye, I don’t remember Cook being back in the game. He did have one other play. Yeah. After that, I think he might have been concussed on that play, but like he got ragged on. There has to be some like he had to have like not seen him go down, not the whistle. He thought that he was going to that he was going to pitch the ball back to Allen, I think. But I don’t care what you thought. You have to be more aware. Like let’s just say for argument sake his knee was barely off the ground. That might have been a penalty anyway. Yeah. No, those two penalties and obviously the schooler one on the sideline too, but that was a Yeah, that was in particular getting the two penalties that gave him 30 of their like 75 yards on that drive. Like that’s the crap that gets you beat. Like you can’t I I’m not a big penalties guy. Everybody knows that. Like I I don’t really like get all worked up about penalties, but when you do penalt penalties like that, you cannot have like that that is they handed the Bills a touchdown drive by by getting penalties there. But the Bills aren’t talking about that those ones, are they? They Well, it’s a little different when you’re complaining about a call and that and those calls. No one’s complaining about I got to be honest with you. You got I I didn’t think the schooler one was that egregious. Oh, no. It was. I thought so. He was out of bounds. I know it was he was like three steps out of bounds. He barely hit him. Barely tapped him. Wow. But you just can’t you can’t risk it. What are you doing? I know one like that one I I’m with Paul. Like I don’t I didn’t think that was in the category of the other two. The farmer and Duran ones like they that the other two are going to be fines. That’s half the yards on the drive. I just feel like they were getting those yards. I mean I stand by the Duran one. It’s it wasn’t as bad as people said it was. Still can’t you can’t you can’t give them an option to throw the flag. But look at it again. He didn’t like seven times they showed. He didn’t launch. He was already I don’t care that he didn’t launch. He hit him. Let me finish or you just going to interrupt? He’s saying he didn’t hit him that. Wasn’t that egregious? He’s just not going to let me talk. He doesn’t think it was God. Like can we just say like it was a great win and just move on? Like like why do we have to be like that? So we’re not going to talk about the game. No. like that play. We’re going to we’re going to break down that play with all the things that Drake made and Stefan Diggs did. I’m going to give my opinion on the play if you let me. It’s fine. Is that okay? The refs are out there. He was coming off his block and leaning forward and he was already in that direction and yes, his helmet made contact, but it he didn’t lean forward with his head or anything. He he was already it was like the leaning tower of Pisa and he and he hit him and yes, it’s a penalty, but it wasn’t like, “Oh, what an idiot.” I I thought his momentum was already going in that direction. I didn’t think it was that bad. I can see not what an not what an idiot. I can see that. I can see that. I mean, it’s But that’s one of those plays like he was an idiot. No, that’s just one of those play modern NFL where the pass rushers are coming hard at the quarterback. It’s the throws out and it’s it’s just I can’t imagine what it’s like going full speed fighting through a guy and you look up and then like you have a millisecond to like somehow avoid the hit. Sometimes it’s just I I Yeah, I I thought it was really hard for him to avoid that one. I I really do. Time on penalties. But that’s just my opinion. That’s just my opinion. No one else is allowed to have one. No. Well, if if you let me talk, I can have one. That’s all I’m saying is can I just give my opinion seven times you didn’t think it was a penalty. I I mean, I get it. I I’m trying to explain what I saw and you won’t let me. We let you say it like three different times. Can we just move on? You just You just won’t. You won’t. That’s all How many times are you going to say he didn’t hit him in the head, he didn’t hit him late, and he didn’t land on him? Cuz he did all three of those things. Okay, calm down. Um, then a lot of people want to know, Paul, what you thought about the clock management? Oh, you know, when it comes to Vrael, the end of the first half. Yeah. Yeah. These are the things that we’re talking about, you know, and and I Concaid’s still open, by the way. Like, we want to talk about I also want to talk about I was going to wait till Wednesday before I brought that up. I also want to I I didn’t want to yuck your yum today. I also want to Yeah. I also want to talk about Yes. So at the end of the first half that and also going not going forward on was it fourth you’re talking about the clock management at the end of the first half I assume on the first half. Interesting reaction from Vable yesterday. So I blew it yesterday. Um you blew it so disappointed in themselves. No because I wanted to talk to Mike about it and we not gonna make fun of the people like I normally do. There were some just really every time we we were on that topic a little bit and we were in it and I was ready to jump in. Sophie Well, she teed it up. Well, she did. She did. Sophie brought it up. Um, you know, because I did think the contrast. Let’s let’s go let’s work backwards. Start at the end. Like, so it’s there’s one second left on the one yard line. Yeah. Um, you know, so you go for it and get points. You don’t go for it. Uh, you kick the field goal, you know, whatever. Um, I thought it was a little inconsistent, but Mike and I kind of agreed with it. Like I thought it was like we both immediately said maybe he felt like it was important psychologically to go into the halftime locker room after that half with the lead. Yep. And Mike basically confirmed that yesterday. He said, you know, we wanted we didn’t want to do all of I think he said we didn’t want to do all that and then come away with no points. Yeah. um where I think that the second guess is and we never got to it because we ended up kind of veering off into other directions in the press conference yesterday and I I wanted to ask him you let about 10 or 12 seconds go off the clock and you wanted to specifically call the timeout at 18 seconds. Why? Like you you sort of put it so like we’re trying to thread this needle so there’s no time on the clock. Yep. And I get it. Buffalo’s calling timeouts. their their goal is to get the ball back, but the Patriots executed enough so that was no longer really in play. Like it was good. We’re talking about the best Buffalo could have hoped for was 10 seconds or so. Talking about the end of the game now. No, I’m talking about the end of the half. At the end of the game, they they executed to perfection other than that they didn’t get a first down, right? Um and they would have if they hadn’t had the penalty because Drake had snuck for the first. He got it. It was not the same possession. Oh, drive before. Um drive before. Okay. But the I didn’t really understand why Mike called. Let the time go off the I would have called the time out with like 30 seconds left, 20, you know, 25 seconds left, whatever the case may be. And then now I can run anything I want. I think that’s more important to have my playbook open to me. So then you get a situation that happened, you get a penalty cuz you’re thinking, well, you got plenty of time to run your three plays or whatever and then if we don’t get in, I think it was third and goal from like the 12 or something like that cuz I think they got a penalty and got penalty, right? So you had plenty of time to get your three plays off and then kick a field goal except for Trey White gets called for pass interference in the end zone which now gives you a new set of downs and now you don’t have time for three plays. There’s four seconds left. I think if they had called timeout earlier, they would have had a little more time. Now, I think I know that that was tried. I think he tried uh cuz you think he tried uh to call the timeout earlier because I was watching him on the sideline. He was all the way down on the sideline and he was barking at the official because I think he was yelling for timeout like it looked like they showed him and he was waiting and then he went like this at 18 seconds. I So maybe he was just trying to get the guy’s attention, but he he looked a little bit. So now I’m even more upset that I didn’t get that question in yesterday. Maybe he was just trying to communicate what you’re saying that they were waiting for a certain time, but it looked to me like he was like, you know, are you going to put some time back on the call? He did. He wanted him to go because they they let it run to 17 and he specifically said he wanted it at 18. Okay, that’s what he called it. And that’s what you know I was wondering if like you and your ilk think like that 18 second mark is what and they still had a timeout by the way. So it wasn’t like the last have it they might have it timed out that that’s the amount of time they need to run a certain amount of you know to run any plays they want without having to you know while still saving the timeout for a field goal if we need it cuz that’s important down there too. Now I would say Fred I I agree with you. There’s no way of knowing you’re going to get a penalty, but you had the ability to factor that in. Like at this point, you’re not worried about giving Buffalo the ball back. There’s not enough time, right? Yep. You know, so I just thought that that was a they lost a play there. Yeah. Uh and I thought they were fortunate that that the incomplete pass only took three seconds. Oh my god. I know. I thought that was it. Now I understand because I think Drake threw it a little bit earlier because of that. And I think had that been there been like 8 seconds left, that’s a touchdown. And if you notice, I think he did throw cuz Henry didn’t look ready. He didn’t look. Yeah, he wasn’t looking. That’s what I said to Evan. I said I felt like he had if he took a beat more, it’s an easy touch. It’s an easy touchdown. But I think in his mind’s eye, he’s thinking, I don’t I can’t afford to type, but definitely a it’s definitely a whole scenario worth talking about. Uh and and Mike did get a lot of questions about it yesterday. I just thought it was interesting Frabel’s response when he like yeah you know like you could tell you could have done it this way impressive I go for fourth and ones on my own 15 and then this one I didn’t go for but I I I understood the mentality and you know what I kind of liked uh Freddy was that it wasn’t just the numbers say I could get this 80% of the time so the numbers say go for it the numbers I’m sure right Ev like fourth and goal from the I mean the second and goal from the one I’m sure the numbers suggest you could go right most of the time. So this one he actually kicking like a game field goal of the game, but he went with the flow of the game. And again, you can disagree with him. I’m not telling you that he made the right call. I I think Evan probably sounds like you would have gone for and I don’t think Evan’s wrong. I I don’t think I would have gone for it. Um I wouldn’t have either. I would have because I think that his rationale like game the game has changed. Yeah. I wouldn’t have gone for it for the exact justification that Rabel gave. like they outplayed Buffalo outplayed them in the first half and they deserve to go in with short, right? There’s something to be said for even if it’s a three-point lead, there’s something to be said for the fact that you have a three-point lead and we hung with them and we out kind of outplayed them and we’re feeling pretty good. Whereas it’s very demoralizing if they go for it on fourth down and they don’t get it, right? And it gives the other team momentum the air and then Buffalo was also getting the ball to start the second half. earlier in the first half. I think it might have been the Patriots third possession round midfield and they had that fourth and three that they ended up punting. Another one now that that that raised my eyebrows. Now that was to me I could because if you the feel of the game his defense is playing pretty well. You give him the ball right there is probably sure points. I I I I wasn’t upset that he didn’t go for it. But it’s another good one. I Freddy, I think that’s great. This was I don’t know if you listened a lot to Mike and I cuz I know it was late. We we talked about a lot of this crap because the minutia I and I I do like the I think that Vel has been a little bit more analytically bent than I would have imagined. Yeah. But I was really pleasantly surprised to see that he does at least take the game cuz I think if you went into that game you would have said this is a game we need points. Fourth fourth and three from midfield. We’re going to go for it. uh second and goal with 1 second left from the one. We’re going to go for it cuz we need points. Y but when as you said perfectly, the game unfolded in a such a way where you had previously pinned them back with a good behinger punt um at the 14. I think of course you get help because immediately Buffalo gets a holding penalty. It makes it first and 17. They did that two consecutive possessions. Your defense is doing it. So why not try to back them up again? that the second one I think um was that the one that le led to the Keon Coleman fumble? It might have been um which set up points um in the game. So I I liked the fact that yes, he’s not afraid to go forward in fourth down even in unconventional spots, but he’s also not afraid to use the way the game is unfolding. Not a slave to the numbers in He’s not a slave to the numbers. It’s not 100%. Every game isn’t the same. You know, playing last week against whoever the hell we beat last week is not the same as playing against Josh Allen. Yeah. You know, so maybe if you’re with the Panthers at fourth and three, you do go for it. Well, I would think that would be doesn’t matter. But if when you’re playing Josh like Allen, you don’t win by field goals, right? Like that would be but in that game it was a little different of the game. That’s why I said going into the game, that’s exactly how I would go. I would have gone for every one of those if you would asked me before the game. Yeah. So, so, um, anything else before we kind of They still can’t cover Concade. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the tight ends. Yeah, the tight ends in general are a big problem. And I think both their safeties are free safeties. Like, they’re both guys that are best playing deep zones, you know, helping over the top, doing that sort of thing. neither one of their their safeties at least right now with Craig Woodson who I I do kind of like by the way like I can kind of see the light with him like I like him a lot more than the other flies like he can really run and uh he he can hit uh but he can’t cover in manto man and neither really can Jaylen Hawkins Hawkins struggles I think every week they need to figure out especially when you play a tight end that can actually impact the game like a like a concade can in the passing game. They need to figure out a different formula of how are we going to cover these tight ends. Whether that’s, you know, Carton Davis as a game plan element is on him or Alex Austin or Marte Mapu or just somebody else. You know, I maybe even giving Kyle Duggar. I know he’s had issues with it in the past, but I think he’s been better at it in the past than Hawkins and Woodson have shown so far, but I whether it was man, whether it was zone, concaid was open the entire game. Yeah, that was tough. Yeah. Um, so we’re talking about coming out games. Alex Bar’s guy, Bory Galas. Yeah. Yeah. Had himself a come little coming out uh moment there. Big kick and right down Main Street like up Yeah. What I thought was interesting is Varable talked about like his mechanics and when it looks right and I mean I think we all saw that this summer that there were certain kicks sometimes where the ball’s going 10 to four and it don’t look quite right. That kick looked perfect, you know. So I think it’s it’s funny. It’s one of those things you don’t really realize it, but you have a good sense of, you know, bearable compared to a kicker. Like when it was hit right and it looks right, you know, it he’s he’s looks like he’s found a little groove. He’s got to, you know, keep it up. But that’s good for him for his and I know, you know, there was some rousing on Paul’s shows about how much they’ve been kind of hyping up the kicker. You know, I think he got a game ball again out of this game. It worked. Oh, he needed that. And then uh they when he came into the locker room they they were chanting his name. I heard that. Oh, is that right? Andy. Andy. The whole team. Like the whole locker room. And like can we remember that this is like a 22-year-old kid? Like he like he’s a rookie that had some struggles, you know, in in Miami especially. And they’re trying to lift the kid up. Like they need him. Like he’s the kicker and they need him to to make kicks like that. And so they’re trying to boost his confidence. And like I don’t understand why like you know you’re giving the kicker a game ball. Like I I don’t understand why we can’t see that. Like Drake May is awesome. Like he doesn’t need the game ball to know that he’s awesome. I didn’t really hear anything yesterday that Felgar and Maz make fun of them for giving him the game ball yesterday. I wasn’t listening to Felgar and Maz. I don’t want to name the show directly. One of Paul’s shows. No, I heard Fred Fred toucher in the morning was making fun of the team for chanting his name. I heard that. Yeah, but like you say you thought that was disrespectful to the player. Um, which I didn’t really understand, but um I didn’t hear anybody making fun of getting a game ball for this game. No, I heard them when he missed the two extra points and but but it’s all connected though, right? Like it’s all and I think that this is one thing that I’m not you know I look I’m the X’s and no guy but Vel there’s something about Vel when it comes to motivation that he’s just really really good at pushing all the right buttons with certain guys and he’s clearly trying to inflate Borgal’s ego like he’s tr clearly trying to gain get the kids some confidence uh you know early on in his career and so far like he drilled that kick in a really tough tough environment, you know, with the game on the line. He he puts it right through the middle of the uprights. Like, yeah, I’m not saying that that was Vable, like did it, but like No, overall there’s there seems to be a lot of emphasis on supporting each other on the team. You know, they have this new chant at the end of the in the locker room. We’re all we got, we’re all we need. Uh that’s that’s kind of the new thing. It hasn’t really replaced a Yeah, but they say it just before that. Um is that a Diggs thing? I feel like that came from Digs. It might It might be, but there’s a lot of, you know, I love you and like cuz we hear the miked up a lot and, you know, we hear the whole thing. Most of it doesn’t get used, you know, but there’s a lot of, you know, I love you and a a lot of that stuff and some people don’t like that, but that seems to be the things that people get upset about. Yeah. That seems to be like something Rabel wants to emphasize is that we’re, you know, we’re all in it together. Yeah. you know, and I I’m sure every team does that, but it’s very um very out there. It’s very out, you know, it’s very different than what we’ve experienced, you know, here and his um look, it came as advertised. This is what I thought of Mike Frael that he would be a players coach and, you know, a guy that I mean, you hear him say it all the time, like it will always be about the players. I mean, I’ve heard him say that a number of times. I think I think Bill used to say that, too. Never believe it. But I, you know, I believe it with Rabel and, you know, the the way that he really seems to care about these guys and I think he’s done a great job here through through five weeks. He’s got the new thing. Well, it’s not new. He’s been doing it since the beginning of the season where he stands out in front of the locker room as the players come in. That’s win or lose. Yeah. He does that. And his energy when he said to Diggs, “Let’s get the hell out of here.” I was right there with him. I was like, “Hell yeah. Let’s pack this thing up and let’s go home.” You know, real quick, Ev, I just wanted to to piggyback off your thing about Boralis is I just remembered uh in the 2006 training camp when Gastski was a rookie and Bill pulled the thing of make this kick, we’re off for the day and he made it and I still remember the picture which was, you know, probably taken by Silverman or Eric All at that point, but you know, him getting propped up and they, you know, everybody picked him up. So, it’s the same thing. You know, I just think concerted efforts to try to like nurture these guys and build their confidence and any chance you get to give them some recognition and positive reinforcement. I think you got to take it. It’s a tough job. You’re on it. It’s all between the ears. Like all these guys can kick the crap out of the ball. Say this all the time. It’s all mental. It’s not like these other positions where it’s, you know, there’s real physical elements to it that you need to kind of have to have it. Like all these kickers, it’s they’re mental cases. And so like when you have a guy like a young kid like that, you know, his confidence goes away and he he’ll have a rookie season like Chad Ryland had here a couple years ago. Yeah. And like when you’re competitive and you’re trying to make a push here, you know, you’re going to be in a lot of games that are close. You know, he you come off an off seasoning camp where you didn’t really outright win the job. You know, the other guy was just as good as you and you’re wondering what your teammates think about that. I just think that, you know, they have a real chance to be playing meaningful football in December and January. And when you’re in close games against good teams, like you’re going to win a lot of games by three points when the time expires. And they need him to be able to make those kicks. And you know that that means chanting his name when he comes into the locker room. Then that’s what they’re going to have to do. Yep. So that’s the game, right? Yeah. Anything else? just what really stood out to me like the star power and I know we don’t like we’ve been a little critical of the Patriots roster in recent years. They won four games backto-back years, but I do think that they were very aggressive in free agency this year and I think they brought in some talent and then some of the younger guys that they’ve drafted. But this game to me was about your your stars, Drake May, Stfan Diggs, Christian Gonzalez. You know, I don’t know if they’re the three best players in the team. You put Milton Williams and and Barour probably in that group for five, but you won the game because your your studs performed when you needed them to. They were studike. They were like Buffalo. Stfan Diggs was otherworldly in that. I mean, making that first guy miss. Yeah. He had like 70 yards after the catch, right? Like that was like a time machine game for him. He hasn’t really done that in in years. Yeah, that was uh probably the best receiver wide receiver game for a Patriots since like Edelman in Seattle, maybe like 2020. Yeah, I remember that game. You know, like that that was as good of a game as I’ve seen a Patriots wide receiver play in half a decade. I mean, that was just like a big standout to me is like we’ve been sort of and I’ve been I’m guilty as anybody, you know, like they just don’t have enough talent. They don’t have enough difference makers. Well, your difference makers maybe you still don’t have enough of them. starting to make a difference, but the difference makers made a difference Sunday night. And I again, I’m not I’m not going to sit here and crap all over Buffalo. I think I think Buffalo’s excellent. I think the Patriots when they needed to be, they were they were better. When they needed to make plays to win the game, they were better. I mean, those blitzes that McDermott dialed up, they all worked. They all got there. Drake just beat them. Yeah. Because Drake was better. the uh especially too like looking at that game who Buffalo’s identity was coming in and what they wanted to be and the Patriots just didn’t let them do it. They didn’t let the game get dictated by James Cook and the ground game. Um you know certainly Concaid is is probably an exception to that. But they were pretty tight with tackling. Like they haven’t been great at tackling but Shakir breaks more tackles than anybody as a wide receiver and yeah he made some catches but what I was just impressed with that they were right there. guys that even, you know, even a Jaylen Hawkins who gives up a catch, boom, tackled, you know? So, those are positive things. I just I think your expectations of going against another elite, and I don’t say another, but going against an elite NFL offense, like they’re going to make plays. They’re going to make some of your players look bad. You just have to be able to fight the long play the long game and make your plays when it counts. And I just I have confidence this defense is starting to do that. All right, so uh really quickly because I I try to keep, you know, it in my pants about Drake for the first hour of the show. impressed. Yeah, I tried. I tried my best. Uh there there was need to do that. There was multiple times both live and then watching this game back where I did the Collins were like, “Oh my god.” Yeah. I mean, like the second half was a masterclass. Like that was as good of a second half I’ve seen a quarterback play all year. Uh he was phenomenal. Uh I mean, obviously the stats are the stats. He was 13 for 14. Like he one incomplete pass went off Trayvon Henderson’s hands. Uh it was just throw after throw. And I I thought of Paulie. I thought of Paulie, you know, talking about against Carolina’s and Miami like McDaniels is scheming guys open and guy receivers are popping open, you know, down the field and all that stuff. And that’s, you know, I love that kind of stuff. I love breaking it down. But this game was we’re going to drop back pass and our guy is just going to be better than your guys and he’s just going to make play after play after play. Yeah. And uh that was just incredible. I mean, I know everybody’s talking about the the throw of, you know, hanging all over him and, you know, he kind of like blew the read on that one to be honest, but he, you know, makes the throw there to start that drive, but the whole shot to Booty is just as good. I mean, that throw I I underestimated that that throw live and then when we went back and I and I looked at it, Matt Smith, when he came in the postgame, he was like, “What about the one to Booty?” I was like, I gave Booty all the credit for the awareness to get down and stay in bounds. But then I looked back and I was like, “Oo, that was there’s a there’s a guy hitting him as he throws that.” You got to get it there. Perfect. Yeah, perfect throw. Perfect shot. Uh, and he actually I think he felt the pressure from the left side, so he actually drifted a little bit to the right to buy himself just like an extra half beat before he had to throw the ball. Uh, and then he fits it right into the cover two hole. I mean, the one that Henry up the middle of the field came off the first read came into Henry in the middle of the field and just rips it down the seam to Henry. Uh he had one to Arandre on a checkdown where you know he got forced out of the pocket and he’s rolling out and he just kind of flicked it to Raandre with anticipation and Raandre just broke right into the ball. Yeah. Uh I mean just there’s like five or six throws in the second half that are just uh you know unbelievable. I mean just put it right there. Well, it’s interesting because at the beginning of the season, a lot of the scribes uh came out with their best quarterback rankings and a lot of Patriots fans would be really upset because in these list May would be like in the low 20s or you know 25 and you know they would be pissed off but at that time he hadn’t really shown that he deserved to be in the top as but now he’s doing that now. Certainly the numbers say it, but now he’s the numbers are through the roof, but he’s I mean, he’s knocking on the top 10 of anybody’s list any now. He has to be, right? He’s a top 10. So now Patriots fans, you have a right to be upset if he’s not in the on top of those list. I mean, he I I don’t think we should like the Bills have won 14 straight games at home and he went into the MVP’s house and outplayed him, right? like that that is I mean that in his second year in the league and I know everybody keeps comparing him to Josh Allen and I and I do too and I get it. He’s way ahead of where Josh Allen was in his second season. Now I don’t know if he’s quite as like physically imposing. Like Allen’s like 66 235. Like Allen’s a tank. Like I don’t know if Drake May is quite built that way. He’s not. But from a a a numbers standpoint or whatever, like Allen was not playing this well this early on. He didn’t play this good. I mean, he won a lot of games, but he wasn’t playing playing like this. Yep. All right. 855 past 500 is the hotline. Uh, a lot of you have been waiting patiently. Uh, so let’s go to the phones. Uh, Anony’s in Seattle. What’s up, Anthony? We got our guy. Yeah, we got our guy. That’s it. That’s all he wanted to say. He waited 45 minutes to say that. Okay. Got our guy. That’s it. Isn’t that the whole thing that that’s what he said if they went to Buffalo? Didn’t Anthony say that last week? If we go to Buffalo and Drake May does this, I’m just going to call in on Tuesday and say we got a guy. He’s a man of his word. It’s a great call. Uh Patty’s an AWA. What’s up, Patty? Uh what’s going on, gentlemen? Um yeah, I can corroborate that. Paulie did say that. First off, I just want to give kudos to Paulie and Fred for picking the Bills where I didn’t have the coahones to pick them, but you guys certainly did. My hats off to you guys. Um, what a great freaking game. Just wanted to throw a couple numbers at you guys, too. That was the first game in 27 games where Buffalo lost the turnover battle. Yeah. And, um, that that was our first back-to-back wins since weeks 8 through 11. There was a by-week in there in 2022. And um for me, I don’t know how you guys feel about this, but I know May didn’t play all that great in the first half, but this was the second game that I I’d seen him raise the team around him. And the two most important games, the two on the road games within the division at Miami and and on Sunday night. That’s all that’s all I got to say. I’m freaking psyched. Let’s go, baby. All right. And that is that’s a great point. Two road uh division wins right now. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, I mean those are the two, you know, not always maybe the hardest opponents, but you know, if you look at getting to the playoffs, win the division every year, the game at Miami and the game at Buffalo, you have circled right out of the gate. And for able to win those two road games right out of the gate, it’s it’s uh you know, definitely feathering. That Pittsburgh game might come back to haunt us. Yes, it losing that freaking game. Or the Oakland game to Well, yeah, the Oakland game, too. Vegas. I I look at the the Pittsburgh one was right there. Just don’t turn the ball over. Yeah. Yeah. It’s okay. I think these are all the trials and tribulations that you know they kind of they kind of needed before the season. If you said you were going to be three and two after the first five, you’d be like, “Okay, I’ll take that.” It’s a good way to coaching regardless who you beat. Guys, if we didn’t turn the ball over, we probably win this game by 10 points. Just don’t turn the ball over and we’re going to be fine. So, I would actually say because I hate that that mentality that if you told me, but I would actually say I’d be more excited the way it came out. Like winning in Buffalo and Miami and being three and two is better than if they had beaten the Raiders and the Steelers at home. Yeah. Right. Um, let’s go to Ivan in California. What’s up, Ivan? Ivan. Ivan gone. All right, one more. We’ll take a break. Um, Chris with a T I N. What’s up, Christian? Incredible game. Didn’t go to sleep till 2:00 that morning. Woke up at 6:00. Felt like I slept 8 hours. We’re back, baby. We’re back. All the way, baby. All the way. Let’s go. You got it. Wow. Just that’s what I wanted from you on the call in Sunday night. You were a little subdued. Were there people around you? Could you not I was outside. Could you not Could you not really go full Fred? Yeah. Okay. We had to walk through Bill’s Mafia. Oh, that story’s great. Trying to fight me. Yeah. Oh, they were. They They knew who you were. That’s that Lazar guy breaking that film. I did I did see a couple Patriots fans on the way out and did like little quiet fist bumps on the way cuz like those guys went like they went to a game in that environment with Patriots gear on. Like that’s ballsy. And they came out alive first of all, which is good. And then second of all, they won the game. So I was like, “Thanks for coming.” Like I mean it was it was loud there. It was loud. They all had their white t-shirts on. Uh, how did their how did their rivalry uniform? The whole thing is so corny. Like, can I just rant about this for a second? Like, this isn’t college football. Like, it’s not Penn State. Like, you you guys like, come on. I I don’t mind that. No, it’s horrible. It’s so that they have a fan base that’s willing to do that. What do you mean a fan base? This is the NFL. This isn’t high school football in Texas. It’s like sports like like put it’s sports like I like pull the big white out like okay I don’t care what you do like you can do whatever you want like whatever you choose all the time that’s that’s you know what that is that’s small city stuff like you hate it when the Celtics put the green jerseys in for that’s different that you’re a team No it’s not fair I get it no it’s because they g they give you those t-shirts I’d be right I’m I’m okay with that I’m okay with that and what I will say is You can be okay with it, but it’s corny. Like, well, but the fact that their fans are so into it that they’re all like I would just say that it’s cliche. I mean, I’m with you, Fred. I’m not anti- fun. I think those kinds of, you know, those kinds of things like I have fun with them. Football gimmick league baseball. Winnipeg Jets in hockey, you go and everybody’s wearing white. Like, it’s kind of cool. I I I think it’s fun. Now, if you want to say like the Bills do something else, that’s what everybody else does. That’s cliche. Okay. Yeah. But I don’t have any problem with that. Whatever. I mean, I I think the uniforms look pretty cool. Yeah. I think cuz their new stadium um it’s right next to it with It’s huge and it’s like really tall. It towers over the old one. I guess they have PSLs and they’re still selling. They’re not sold out yet. I wonder if the atmosphere will get hurt a little bit because they’re pricing out, you know, the hardcores. I don’t know. Just to be clear, I have all all the respect in the world for the mafia. I have friends in the mafia. I like the Bills Mafia fans. I like their fan base. It’s not anti-fanbased thing. You guys are so beyond above things like gimmicky white. Well, that’s what I said. You could say it’s cliche, right? Like that’s all I’m saying. Like you guys are a very good football team that probably should win the AFC. Well, not according to the local asking about the uniforms. Um, one thing I will say about their rivalries uniform, it’s a it’s like a silver on white, so the numbers are very very hard to see. Yeah. Were they hard for you in the press box? Yeah, cuz you could see them on TV. Binoculars, Paul, which is a big that’s a big veteran move. Yeah, I had binoculars. Um, but I would say it was it was not hard on TV, but I could I could understand having that that problem from the press box. Kind of like when they had the red numbers that year for the Patriots on the blue. It was kind of hard to see from the press box. Can C could I just ask you this too, Fred? And you’ve been going to that stadium for a while now. I know it’s a dump. I know that there’s all kinds of technology issues, but like are you happy to see that old stadium kind of go or are you going to miss that atmosphere that they clearly have? I’m not going to miss it one. Fred Fred brings up a great point though about the crowd and I I do think you run the risk of that. It’s happened like at Yankee Stadium. Yeah. Yeah. It’s the best It’s the best crowd in the NFL. Yankee Stadium used to be ridiculously loud and it still gets there but not the same. Yeah. And there’s a lot like those. You ever watch a Yankees game in the regular season? All those seats are empty around because they cost a million dollars. Like like no one can afford them. They still get it for the playoffs and stuff, but sometimes you lose a little of that advantage that you have. I think Fred might be on to something if they’re going to try to price out those Evans guys, you know. I think I think it’s different though like to me uh this what makes the Bill Stadium so great is that it’s very low. Mhm. And so like the fans are like on top of the field. Yeah. Like it’s not one of these like big monstrosity stadiums where you’re you’re sitting like on the moon compared to the game. It’s one of these stadiums where it’s really like a college football stadium. Yeah. It was one of it was very similar to the old Foxro stadium. It was identical at one time and they had you know and the one thing I’ll say about it is and I have watched a game from the stands there in Buffalo. It’s great sightelines. It’s a dump. It’s a It’s not a good stadium, but I understand what Evan’s talking about and you will lose something. You because you’re gonna have a modern stadium with modern amenities. Yeah. And I’ll tell you the uh story. My first time at that stadium was 1995 and it’s cold out. And if you never been there as a writer before, you don’t know how to get to the press box. Especially from where you get dropped off with with the team bus, it’s not obvious how to get there. You have to go through the crowds and everything and so we win the game and it’s like the apocalypse. There’s fights in the stands like the fans are just pissed off and you know I’m I’m with somebody else and we’re trying to make our way back to the buses and and down to where they’re doing the press conferences and we take a wrong turn and we end up in the stands. So now we’re looking down into the end zone. we have to get over this wall to get into the ramp. And so we’re fighting our way and literally these guys punching each other out and we get down there and I see a cop and I’m like, I’m going to go over the wall. And the cop looks at me goes, “Okay, there’s a door right there.” I was like, “Oh, I will not.” As far as covering the game goes, I will not miss that stadium. I I’ll miss it for fans, but the uh the fact that you have to go outside to go back inside and then you have to go outside through the the mafia coming out this little door that’s not marked, right? and you have to like go you’re going against the current like they’re coming out and you’re trying to go kind of diagonally through and like there’s no other stadium in the NFL where you have to go outside with the fans to go back inside to go to the down to the locker room. It’s the only one that’s like that. You know, here, you know, for people that don’t know, there’s just an elevator that takes you right down to the field level and you walk through the guts of the stadium uh down to the locker room. So this one you have to literally go out into the concourse and walk through the concourse as everybody’s trying to leave and then you put on top of that that they just lost a game that they were seven and a half point favorites in and like so now they’re pissed that they lost the game. This this is the same place. Remember Shane Donaldson? I told I told my story this morning. So it’s it’s it was a December game. There’s snow and ice everywhere even on the concourse. And we’re like Evan said, we’re walking through the concourse to get back to the press box against the grain. And poor Shawn Shane has he got cerebal palsy. So he’s, you know, kind of walking like he walks and he’s got his laptop in his arm and he hits a piece of ice and just goes down. Well, someone kind of knocked him down, didn’t they? Like they like as Evan said, you’re going against the grain and the laptop goes flying. It cracks and he’s on the ground and people are just walking over him. Oh yeah. And and he had I remember like he had his hands as he’s you know lifting himself up and he’s got no gloves on. They’re yelling him, “Where’s your gloves, idiot?” Like screaming at him and he’s just in a panic cuz he thinks Fred’s going to be pissed at him for breaking the laptop. Right. Oh, you got a tech. It just makes me um a little sad because I love when you turn on the TV to watch a game and you know exactly what stadium it is and what that home crowd is like. And you know, the newer stadiums are all becoming so just these monstrosities that are void of personality and they all kind of feel the same and you don’t really like Seattle’s a good example of, you know, one where it still feels like there’s a home field advantage. Otherwise, like you’re in LA, you don’t know if the Rams or the Chargers are playing, you’re in New York, you don’t have to, you know, I mean, they change the colors, but there’s just no personality to it. And that’s what I like love about stadiums and all you guys are say, right? He can’t continue going with a stadium like that. But just makes me sad that, you know, it’s just going to be another one of these huge things that you’re like, “Yep, there’s the Bills.” 100%. All right. Um All right. So, we’re going to take a break. More calls and emails when we come back. Lots of lots to talk about. Whether you’re in the game or betting on the game, you’ll need a game plan. DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the New England Patriots, provides you with everything you need to build your personal betting game plan so you can get in on all the action while practicing safe bets. Visit draftkings.com/responsible-gaming to learn more about all the safe betting tools DraftKings has to offer. Hope is here 800 327-50 or gamblinghellinemma.org. Must be 21 plus. Play it smart from the start. gamesensemma.com physically present in Massachusetts. 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Visit fedex.com/1 rate for details. Exclusions apply. If you’re going to play the game, boy, you got to learn to play it right. DraftKings is all about responsible gaming. It’s more fun when it’s for fun. So, play responsibly. Draft Geeks, the crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1800 gambler. 21 plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Slim pickings. I missed you last night. I was staring. I’m sure you were. I’ve watched every um I don’t know if you have any more uh update um on Gibson, but uh along with that, do you anticipate having to make some kind of move to shore up the running back room? Um well, no. Don’t have any update yet. Uh got back late. Some guys are still going through some some tests and uh some medical evaluations. Hopefully, I’ll know more this uh early this afternoon, but uh we’ll keep you updated if we if we add anybody um to the roster or we feel like we need guys at at any position. Mike, what do you think that a win like that can do for for you and your message, your first year here? You know, I don’t know how much you’re thinking about buying right now, but just getting a win like that, do you feel like it does anything in terms of your message resonating with your team? Um I don’t maybe I don’t know if I look at it like that. I I think that um you know the the the the buy in you know again I don’t know how you necessarily define that. um you know just trying to show them I think what they’re capable of doing when we can do it um together in all three phases and and play up up to our identity because it wasn’t great. I thought we played really hard. I thought we I thought we flew around on defense. I thought we tried to hammer the football out. Um sometimes we did, sometimes we didn’t. They made some plays, but I thought we have uh even offensively a lot of room to grow special teams wise. We didn’t have the impact that we I maybe or were used to the the previous weeks or some of the phases. So, I think that uh you know, we continue to show them those things and what we need to improve, the things that we do well. I do think that they are trying to uphold the style of play that we want to play with. Um and then we’ll just it’s every week is a challenge and then we’ll move on and you know we’ll prepare to go down and and play the Saints that coming off a huge win at home and um you know that’s where we’re at you know so I’m happy for the players. I’m always happy for the players. They’re the ones that that go out and do it. I appreciate the coach’s efforts, but uh you know, we we expect, you know, a good week of practice. We expected to go in and and and play well and and give ourselves a chance to win, and that’s what we did. And again, hopefully we can build some confidence by the way that we played. You know, we gave up a touchdown drive to start the second half, but our offense came back and answered and they went down and tied the game and we came back and and made a kick and executed the time and the clock and, you know, gave them, you know, an MVP quarterback very little time to to be able to do anything. So, those those are things that we had to do. And so, maybe that can we can show them and say this is what you’re capable of. This is how we’d like to maybe do it a little bit differently. But, I mean, I don’t question the buy in. And I mean, I think that they’re they’re trying. We just a lot of things we can improve on. How much does that help along kind of those lines? That two-minute drill at the end, you know, by trade to win the football game. What does that do for a kid like him? Uh, well, I mean, you have to be put in those situations and I think you have to be in that situation to to be able to to feel it and, you know, execute it. Even the last play, the third down play, we’re trying to, you know, catch one out of there to the to the flat and see if we can’t get somebody uh to break free out there. And, you know, we’ve been talking about not throwing that ball away in that particular situation again, not to necessarily unless it was to to lose yardage and and he made a great decision to to not lose yardage, but also keep the clock going. Um, so I think that those situationally is where he’s starting to improve. Um, not that those situations aren’t critical, but there’s so much that he and Josh and Ashton and the offense are doing, you know, with him, right, to understand those first and second down, you know, operations, procedures versus pressure and third down. And then it’s like, okay, two minute and oh, by the way, five, like we want to be a good fiveminute football team. We we want to cuz that means that we’re ahead and that we’re controlling the ball and the clock and that we’re using all the time and but there there are certain things that probably are a little lower on the list of priorities. There’s a lot more first and second and third down snaps than there are five minute snaps. Not to make those less important, but you know, we’re we’re practicing in them and we’re showing them and he’s understanding. And so that was good to cuz when you get into that situation, you’re pretty much in a it’s two minute but it’s really five minute. You’re trying to, you know, take care of the clock to the best of your advantage. So a lot of things that we can um coach from and and and hopefully have some confidence with. Mike, with the decision at the end of the um half to kick the field goal second, I’m just kind of curious your thoughts on that one and just I know I just didn’t want to do all that and not come out of there with points and I just the way that the first half had gone I felt like and not to look at the other side of the coin, but to come out of there tied. I just felt like at least we could say, you know, we we we were we were winning the first half and that we were, you know, in a position to to kind of do some things. So, you know, that may change next week or the following week and just felt like at that point how it was going. Just wanted to make sure we came out of there with with points and and a good feeling going into half. Do you do you have a plan for those types of situations going into a game like that one? Like you and your staff say to each other, “Hey, we might have to be aggressive and go for six.” But did then did it change just based on the flow of the game? I think at that point in time it did. I mean, we plan on trying to be aggressive and not reckless. Um, you know, those are conversations that that Stretch and I have that we communicate, you know, to to Josh and to, you know, everybody else. Um, certain times throughout the game where it’s third and eight and if we get it close enough that it’s four down, we try to tell them that and if we don’t get any yards or lose yards, then then we make a decision to punt. I think that the communication there is going well, trying to be one play ahead. Um, you know, but to F’s credit, you know, I mean, we trying to coach that when the guy’s not playing the football, you know, I mean, go back and and create contact, show the official that you’re making an attempt to go back to the ball and go through the defender when he’s not playing the ball. So, would have liked to reward him uh with a touchdown. Wasn’t able to do that. Um, but yeah, I think that there’s games where you certainly want to be, you know, you feel like you’ll need to be aggressive, especially a team that’s averaging, you know, close to 34 points a game. When you had the chance to either watch it back or even in real time, what did you see on the pass from Drake made a digs where he was like being t, you know, half falling over as he got the ball out. Just what did you see on that play? Uh, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh, we made it. It was an eight yard loss to a 12 yard gain. Um, you know, just, you know, he’s continuing to to grow and gain confidence and show us and show everybody and show his team and himself the ability to operate in in the pocket ability to operate um in scheduled um move the pocket plays and then also off schedule, you know. So, putting the ball in in good locations and only, you know, not throwing behind guys and, you know, going on the move and and putting the ball in harm’s way. Coach, two and0 on the road. Anything in particular you’ve liked about the approach to road games? We had a good week of practice. I think that they were really um you know focused on what the environment would be and what that would look like and how we would have to operate and function. I thought that was really important for a lot of young players that maybe haven’t been in a game of that magnitude. Um it was good to see them, you know, respond and operate. I mean, we had the one, I guess, you know, false start on the, you know, short yardage that was, you know, disappointing how close that was. I I mean, that’s how they call it some of these guys. And, you know, Hunter’s line of scrimmage penalties, frustrating, you know, I mean, looking over at official that’s 15 yards away. Um, and I’ll have to, you know, try to get some clarification on that on how we’re going to do this going forward. Um, but proud of the guys and how the way they competed. And now, great moments in history. You never get into what is that hideous shirt you’re wearing? It’s a Kermit the Frog color. It’s a Is that chartreuse? It’s a polo. It’s a green polo. That’s not green. It is green and it’s got mustard all over the front of it. It’s It’s like almost like the color of my Granny Smith apple. But that’s not green. That’s lime. That’s chartreuse. That’s a good point. Ugly shirt distracts people from his face. Wow. He’s just He’s Wow. Wow. He’s just so mean. I can’t believe you ruined that shirt. What is that bag that you’re wearing? That’s another great moment from All right, back here on Patriots Unfiltered. 855 path 500 is the hotline. podcastatriots.com is the email address. We’ve got a ton of emails, so I’m going to get to some. I know you’re calling in as well, but um just want to get to some of these emails. Nicholas writes in and he’s Esquire, by the way. So, we should probably take this one a little bit more seriously. He says, “Pat’s fan here from St. Louis. Love the show. It’s one of the few podcasts that offers great insights and isn’t afraid to keep it real.” Shout out to Paul. He says, “Now that we’ve beaten Buffalo, I’m not the only one who keeps it real. Now that we’ve beaten Buffalo, what do you think our potential is for the rest of the season? Do you think the Patriots will start to get more attention after this win?” It’s a good The reason why I asked that wanted to read that email cuz I wanted to ask everyone now that we’ve have you reset your expectations? I have. I said no. I’ve been on nine wins all along and I’m staying on nine wins. I have not moved. I mean, I think there’ll be some ups and downs continuing along the way. You don’t know what injuries are going to strike. They need to fund a running game. Um, but the trajectory is is pointed up. Yeah. Mine mine was floor seal floor six, ceiling 10, and now I’m veering more to the ceiling. I mean, I I’d say the thing that’s maybe affecting it a little bit, not quite yet, but it’s just the the lack of the top dogs really being the top dogs. And now there are right now some new top dogs, but we’ll see if they stay top dogs. So that’s that’s where I’m more interested in is just is the power structure of the AFC going to all get a little bit changed this year. Yeah, I I I have the same expectations of the Patriots because I thought they were going to be a much improved team and I I thought Mike Vrabel would help and that Drake May would get better and all the things that are happening, but the rest of the AFC and their schedule has gotten eas somehow is even easier than what it looked like coming into the season. Fact Cincinnati and Baltimore right now. The Bengals look like they might start Joe Flacco moving forward. They traded for Joe Flacco with the Browns. So, he might be their quarterback. Uh, who knows what is going to be going on in Baltimore by the time the Patriots play the Ravens. You know, who’s going to be healthy for Baltimore? Are they even going to have a chance still to be competitive this season at that point if these injuries don’t get better for them quickly? So, the that Ravens game now doesn’t look so hard. Now, the Tampa game looks harder. I would say Tampa looks like a real legitimate contender. But overall, I I think that’s the biggest thing is like this schedule is Yeah. And and I do my expectations have have risen for the Patriots, too. And I everything Evan said about the AFC is uh factual, but I did not think that um and I kept my my caveat all year was unless Drake May X, right? I think you’ve seen Drake May X. Like he’s making the year 2 leap right in front of us. He’s getting better seemingly every game. Um and that’s the big thing. Like Washington last year I don’t think was that much better than they were the previous year. But the quarterback lifts everybody. Y and in the second half Sunday night the quarterback helped lift everybody. Yeah. And I I I can’t you can’t convince me that the defense doesn’t play better because it has belief, right? And you know, the the plays that are being made, but you know, look at the buy in for guys like Booty who’s getting one or two targets every week, but seems to make a play or two every week. He’s the new David. Demario Douglas. Deario Douglas like throwing blocks at 5 foot8 and and you know getting called out by his head coach two weeks in a row for his physicality. Like there’s a buy in and I think it’s stems from a belief that they have a quarterback that if they all do their jobs he’ll make sure that he does his and he’s going to help us win. And I do think now I I would have thought eight, you know, eight wins was about the mo I’m I’m up I’m almost to the point where I would say that if Mike’s nine ends up happening, I think you might look at back at that and say that’s a bit of a disappointment. That means they lost to a couple of teams that you probably don’t expect them to. So the uh I’m glad you mentioned the pop block because that on that was on Diggs’s 30-yard catch, the the one that he broke the tackle and ran after the catch with. You watch that on the All 22. There’s like four Patriots sprinting to Buffalo Bills to get blocks for Diggs once he breaks contain once he breaks Bishop’s tackle. They have Booty’s blocking his guy. Pop Douglas is shot out of a cannon to try to get in front of Diggs to block the unblocked guy. Austin Hooper converts into a blocker and is blocking down the field on the play. Garrett Bradberry is like 20 yards down the field chasing it from behind. And like that those types of things when you see that like that is like culture. Like when you talk about building a culture and like effort and finish and all the different stupid tropes that Vable has like I know like some of that stuff’s like corny and like cliche but like that is like that is where it comes out. It’s not like the rahr speeches and all that kind of stuff. It’s when you turn the film on and like there’s blue hats just flying to the football at all times on offense and defense. Like that’s that’s the team that has bought into what they’re doing. Yep. Iron sharpens iron, right? Good job. Uh Michael writes in, “Remember when Fred was worried that Diggs was being too emotional before the game?” I think after a 10 for 146 game, he can be as emotional as he wants. He’s the type of player that feeds off that energy and absolutely plays his best when he’s playing with emotion. I understand the concerns, especially how he has acted in the past, but he is now an 11-year vet and has definitely grown up quite a bit. My opinion, he was the exact kind of veteran leadership we needed on this team. Biggest surprise for me, I mean, I, you know, well, listen, I look, okay, he can blah me if he My point was, what if it didn’t, what if he didn’t get those targets? Yeah, that was my thing is he’s he’s all worked up and if it doesn’t work out, you continue on because I would definitely cosign on. I mean, it’s great that it he he showed up and showed out. So, great. Great. But, you know, I I stand by what I said. Last Wednesday in the locker room, there was just something a little bit a little fire in his eye that you could kind of sense that he was looking at this game different. And um I I don’t know what I don’t know what Stfan Diggs was like early in his career. I don’t know what kind of guy or leader he was within the locker room. I wasn’t there to see it. But I wasn’t expecting him to be such a force on this team that everybody seems to really be rallying around. And I think the wide receiver room needed this leadership. They needed this kind of guy who can also back it up with the talent on the field. And you know, I think that’s part of what’s keeping guys like Booty in line or, you know, let allowing them to stay patient. I mean, I said to Paul, Evan, like M. Collins, he has no problem running like 60 go routes a game and just clearing out. Like he’s not really getting targeted at all, but he’s the kind of guy that Josh knows that you’re going to block and you’re going to run down the field today and you might not have a catch. And I think Matt, you know, so I think that room has a good dynamic last year and it’s completely changed from what it was last year when they were just up and down and immature. Digs has been really good in the leadership role. Um, you know, I’m still a little skeptical of how long, like long term if that will continue, but yeah, they’ve gotten everything they could have possibly wanted out of him on and off the field. Yeah. And and it’s 200 yard games in a row. So like as much as this was like getting up for Buffalo for him, like this game was obviously special for him. But even still, like the Carolina game, it was already really good against Carolina and you could feel that he was starting to to perform at a much higher level. But I mentioned this to you guys off the air. I don’t know if we post posted it, but he when he ran on the field, he didn’t come out for early warm-ups. He didn’t come out for t-shirt warm-ups. He came out for jersey warm-ups. And he ran on the field and he was like dancing like as he was running on the field and he just like had this like swagger to him that like you could just tell that he was like in a zone already and the game hadn’t even started yet. And like when’s the last time a Patriots receiver has had that kind of swag? He’s on a different level than anyone we’ve had for a while. There was a comment that he made to Melissa Stark, too. I forget what it was now, though, but it was just like talk. It was like there’s a lot of confidence, a lot of swag. He was ready to go. He was all sweaty before the game. He was all lthered up. You could tell he had a little different look. Yep. Let’s bring it to New Orleans this week. Yeah. This emailer calls himself the gripes of wrath in Las Vegas. Uh, first time emailer, mediumtime listener. Which decision by the Bills do you think was worse? One, trying to throw it on Christian Gonzalez’s direction on critical downs or two, wearing a blizzard uniform while it’s 83° out. In all seriousness, my question is, do you think our receiver core Stfan Diggs looks so good because of the lack of secondary of the Bills? I thought I remembered hearing that they were banged up and missing key pieces. Just wanted to get your thoughts, although I know you will provide insightful analysis. I’m really looking for confirmation bias that we back. Also, overall great performance by the Patriots and I’m stoked for the rest of the season. Let’s bring it back. Fred, say it with me. 15-2 is still on the table. It is. Their defense does have some injuries, not so much in the secondary. You know, they didn’t have Oliver in this game and Matt Milano was in and out of the game and I don’t think he really played in the second half. Yeah, his his absence was was noted in the second half, but that’s Yeah, I thought they got beat by I I actually think the Bills defense played pretty well. I think they got beat by just superior individual performances by the quarterback and the number one wide receiver. Yeah. Like how like I don’t know how what do you do different if you’re like on the sideline with Stefon Diggs on that play? I mean, and I would say pick pick any of one of three or four plays. Yeah. You know, maybe they could have tackled him better. Yeah. At times in the in the course of the field, but those toe taps on the sideline, it’s not like he was wide open and easily caught the he had like tiny window that Drake threw it through. And then unbelievable hands catches while getting your feet down. That 30 that one that with anticipation on the broken play down toward the sideline, that wasn’t bad coverage. Yeah. No. And that’s like a tiny window to throw that. How many times did we see that the shoes on the other foot when it was Josh Allen throwing those passes to Stfan Diggs and you’re like it’s third and eight and you’re like and it’s just an absolute pinpoint. He taps his toes and first down. I mean it’s it was nice to be on this side of Yeah. I actually cuz I didn’t I don’t thank a whole lot of the Buffalo defense and all I and we talked to a guy from the Buffalo News Jay Skursky before the game. I said is the run defense as bad as the numbers look or is it No. No. He goes no they struggle to stop the run. It’s not it’s not deceptive. they they have a hard time and you know I thought they did a pretty good job against the run and then you’re looking and you know they blitzed at times they just got pressured with four at times like I just thought they flushed Drake out of the pocket they made him make some quick throws I thought guys were in the area I didn’t see a lot of just like blown coverages I just saw Drake May and Stefon Diggs be better than the guys that were out there I think that’s what’s more most encouraging about it is that there wasn’t like any of the like Bills beating themselves things and they do a really good job of disguising and they were spitting the dial like crazy on him, you know, going one high, two high pictures and uh they were they were really trying to confuse him and he he read it out like he he saw all their different disguises are dropping safeties from like the first and second level into the deep halves and things like that and he’s seeing it, you know, processing it cleanly. You know, the throws, you know, throw to Henry right up the seam. He sees, you know, he try thinks he has one-on-one on the outside and they spin it into too high and he comes right off it and goes right into the middle of the field to the open part of the zone and like they’re just different things that they were doing that were just they were just executing at a higher level in the uh Dan and Pikipsy. What’s up Dan? Hey guys, you hear me? Okay. Hey. Y All right. So, I really wanted to gush and ask about one specific play. It was the first play on the game-winning drive by Drake May. Um, obviously the best play I’ve ever seen the kid make. But Evan, do you know what the play I’m talking about? Yep. Okay. Do you have any running theories on what Josh was cooking up on that play? Like I saw Will Campbell go to the other side. Um, yeah. Do you have any running theories? I was just curious. It’s counter bash, baby. Yeah, it’s counterbash. And they they did not bash option play. Yeah, they they Thank you, Fred. Yeah, it’s an option play as I way overexplained it last week. Uh yeah, option play and uh they just they just didn’t block it very well and uh Bills just had a you know, it’s interesting like these are little things and and Drake May said that uh you know he was looking at the the stills when Borgalis was kicking the field goal partially because he didn’t want to watch, but he also said that he messed something up in the running game. And uh I I do think there are, you know, I don’t know. I’m not in the meeting rooms. I can’t tell you exactly what they’re how they’re telling him uh to coach things, but there are times where they run in the run game specifically where they’re running a a play and I’m like, “Yeah, that play is not going to work against that front and they don’t get out of the play.” And I thought that was one of those times because they the Bills had a three technique over uh inside the B gap over the guard and the tackle that were pulling and Bradberry has to get all the way from center, snap the ball and get all the way out to the three technique and block the three technique. And I just don’t think that you’re going to be able to do that like that. That three tech is just going to fly right up the field exactly like he did and and he was on top of Drake. So I I think that that was one of those plays where they probably would have liked that to as they say can can you reload and get out of that one. Thanks Dan. Let’s go to Chicago. Nate’s there. What’s up Nate? Nate in Chicago. Nate. Okay. Nate is late. Uh let’s go to Brian and Lel. What’s up Brian? Brian and Lowel going three once, twice, three times. You’re out. Okay, back to the emails. Uh, the lines are open up if you want to call in. Um, let’s go. Sam and St. Catherine’s obviously on cloud9 after the win, but is it crazy to think we could sweep the AFC East? Oo, 6 and0. Jets are awful. Dolphins we get at the end of the year at home, which they’ll be packed up and can’t play in the cold. The only tossup is Buffalo, who we get at home coming off our buy. This is unbelievable. So, I was looking at the the week 15 slate. Oh, yeah. Flex. Flex. The flex is in play. It’s in play. I think that the the one of the prime time games is like Steelers against it’s it’s not a a good game on paper anymore. And uh if that’s like lowkey for the AFC East, like is there a chance that that gets flexed into prime time? Hat and t-shirt game. Well, I mean, I don’t think they’re going to clinch the AFC East in week 15, but I mean it’s it these kinds of things are in play when you go to Buffalo and beat the Bills. These kinds of emails are not out of the question. Well, speaking of Yes, they could go six and0 in the Speaking of flexing, next week’s game was originally a 425 game and it got moved to one. Do you think they’re regretting that? New Orleans below. No. Um, but they’re playing better. Like I don’t know why you think they’re playing better. They’re terrible. They’re pretty bad. I mean, you’re just trying to like pump up the Patriots because I’m on board with that. Are you trying to help, Mike? Their games have been competitive. Yeah, they play bad teams and they really haven’t like they lost like 48 to three to Seattle. Like I don’t really That was early. That was like we Okay. Well, the last game they played, the other team turned it over five times in a row and they won. Yeah, like the Giants. Can I They’re terrible. They’re a terrible team, too. Oh, by the way, we’ll see them soon. Can I question the panel, though? Is is could this running game be the fatal flaw that kind of helps forces the Patriots to struggle a little bit on offense going forward? Like, is is the running game important enough? They’ve been hit with injuries. We’re not sure what’s going on. Trayvon still depend. I mean, right now it seems like you’re asking a lot of Drake May to single-handedly lead this team through the next 12 games of the season. I was going to wait till later in the week. I I would say I understand Evan’s point about like the thing that excites me the most and I would agree with him. That’s the thing that excited me the most like May and Diggs doing all these plays and making like cuz you’re good enough to do it. He’s showing you that you’re good enough to do it. But it’s also the thing that worries me the most cuz I don’t think that you’re going to complete all those passes on a regular basis. But we’ve seen them do the other thing against the Carolinas and the Miami and the Pittsburgh of the world where they can scheme it up and they can get guys open, you know, and not have to have Drake May roll out to his right and throw. So, let me give let me just like, you know, Buffalo we know is good, but let’s just say like let’s go to like Cleveland. Yeah. Cleveland’s got a pretty good defense and I know it’s really hard to win that way with just a great defense and you’re going to win 13-10, but that’s how they want to try to play. Like I could see Miles Garrett making Drake May consistently have to run to the right sideline all day. I could absolutely see that happening. I also know that Josh and we can get to the game plan in three weeks. Josh McDaniels and those guys will have a game plan specifically for Miles Garrett. We know that. But I could understand sometimes their guys just better. Mhm. You know, those hard against Big Willie. That’s a hard way to win. That’s a hard way to win the way that they won the other night. Like that was like some highlevel stuff with May and Diggs. And I keep saying both because I don’t think just any receiver makes those catches. Yeah. That that Diggs. He made at least three or four catches that I don’t think anybody else on the Patriots would have made. Making the catch and then making that guy on him miss. No, I’m talking about the ones on the sidelines. Yeah, the ones in the in the field of play were on point right there. And I know Tradavius White, I said it before the game, and Tradavius White’s clearly on the back nine, but he was in reasonably good position a number of times and may just made the the throw anyway. What if that throw is a little bit different? Yeah. You know, that’s what I would, you know, for Mike’s concerns. But my biggest concern is just everybody else is getting butchered with injuries. Like, are you just going to be that one team? Sometimes that happens. Buffalo didn’t really get a lot of injuries last year. Washington either. Um, so sometimes you’re just the one outlier that you don’t get banged up. I worry about the depth a little bit and if they lost some guys. Yep. Uh, Joel in Ottawa, I’m not just pandering to Mike, but the Ravens seem to be on a downward spiral. Henry is pricey. What would this trade look like? Derk Henry. Derk Henry. They’re not trading. I I I just like Yeah. Thanks, Paul. I don’t think I mean I I I never like to say never because third rounder get it I don’t see like the need for them to trade for like a true like stud lead back like a guy like a Derrick Henry I agree why do you want to waste anything right like I I don’t think that it’s that serious like I know everybody’s out on Raandra with the fumbling I get it can’t he’s got to stop forget about it being serious even if it even forget about the fumbling if Henry was available would you go get him Well, I mean it depends on what for like if you want if like to run the ball. No, no. I mean, for what trade compensation? Like if if it’s like a, you know, if it’s a day three pick. You want to tell me for like a another receiver to go with diggs? Sure. Like now my offense is like potent. Like I don’t need a running back to do that. Like you know me. I think the running game thing is is a legitimate concern, but I also think that they’re still able to script things off the running game. Even though the run game itself has not been overly productive, the play action passing game has the option plays that they’re running with Drake have been mostly productive. Uh they’re still able to move the pocket off the run action. So like as long as the run is good enough that it’s setting up the pass because the one thing that the run game isn’t doing is it’s not going backwards. They’re not getting a lot of negative runs. They’re just not breaking a lot of runs to really drive up the efficiency. So, they’re still moving the ball three or four yards at a time, which is just enough to make the defense. Even then, like as it stands right now, if if if you forget about the fumbling, which is hard to do, I I I grant it. We have two decent backs and I think a good good enough line where we can stay balanced if we’re not turning it over. We can play a balanced offense still. Now, if you get one injury, another injury, we’re we’re we’re in trouble. Um but that’s my point is with the balance, like they’re still able to be balanced. So just your passing game is just going to be the better part of your offense. But as long as you can keep the balance, whereas like when you get into real trouble is when the run game is constantly going backwards and now you have to abandon the run alto together. That’s when it starts to get to be a problem. And that’s why I said I don’t think they need like Derrick Henry. Like you can you can run the ball. They need to run it a little bit better than they have, but it hasn’t been to the point where they can’t run it at all because they can’t get any I just worry like if if you’re gonna stick with Raandre, which they might have to this fumbling is is going to affect his running style because he’s best when he’s breaking tackles and not worried about contact. And I can’t see how he’s not going to be affected by I I can’t fumble the ball. I can’t. Do you think there’s a chance that Raander Stevenson this year gets back into form and you have trust in him and every time he carries the ball it doesn’t look like it’s Rockam Sockum robots and anybody trying to tackle him is just coming in with the haymakers you know and can he do enough this year then to be that back going forward or do you feel like it’s kind of I mean like in my mind I feel like yeah we’ll get through this year with Raandre but next year RB1 is a need to me. We need a guy that we can trust and I just I don’t know if I can ever regain that trust in Raandre. Even if he makes it through this year without eight fumbles again, you know, maybe it’s just one more. I I still don’t know how he It’s a legitimate long-term concern. I don’t think they really have many choices right now to get out of it. But in the off season, like if you want to get, you know, your David Montgomery to your Jir Gibbs with Trayvon Henderson and you go out and get another sort of between the tackles early down back, then like you you might be in the market for that. Like what do you guys think of him as a running back just outside of the fumbles? Like because there have been games over the years where like great game by Raandre. He’s tough to bring down. He’s got good hands. He’s a three down back. He can kind of do it all. But at the same time, you have plenty of games where it’s like completely ineffective. Did nothing today, you know? And I know that’s a function of the offense, too. But I just think he’s okay. I think he’s okay. Okay. I think he’s a a good solid middle of the road starting running back, but I don’t look at him like uh like a Josh Jacobs I think is is better than that. You know, those kinds of guys that do a little bit of everything. I like Stevenson’s versatility. I think he’s underrated in the passing game, both as a blocker and as a receiver. But you guys are right. I mean, if you can’t hold on to the ball, he says it more than anybody. I mean, there’s probably maybe five games in his career that you can look at and be like, he was dominant in that those five. But, you know, it’s been he’s been here for five years, you know, like it’s been a while. I just don’t think he’s a game. But I just don’t think like as long he’s he’s good enough that if they have good blocking, then their run game is going to be I also think he’s been hurt over the last couple years by the lack of an offense in general. I mean, like we say, they’ve been easy to defend. You don’t have to worry about the outside down deep. So, we’re going to pack the middle. It’s going to be eight in the box. And it’s hard to run against for anybody. 16 arms trying to punch the ball out. And you’re a thousand% right. Like, they haven’t had a good offense. And I don’t care who you are. Like Derrick Henry, I think, would have had offensive line. I just look at when when cases are there um and he’s had one of those five good games that you’re talking about, do you ever look at him and say, “That was an electric run.” I don’t think he has that. No. Maybe game he scored in as a rookie. I think Evan pointed out um they’re blending Carolina. He had like a long run against Carolina and and he like got tackled and as he got tackled you went and Rabbel actually said the same thing like we had one more guy to take care of and I think Evan kind of thought the running back should have been explosive enough to take care of that on his own. Yeah. And I don’t even when he has a good free safety he’s a good player like Stevenson is a good player. Yeah. I I I just want to, you know, restate that because it’s not like I think he’s, you know, without talent. He’s a good player. I just don’t think he’s anything more than that. Even at his best. Yeah. I just think I don’t care. Like that’s my bottom line with running back. And this isn’t like a shot at deuce. I just like there’s like five running backs in the league that matter. Yeah. So like, no, he’s not in the Saquon Barkley, Christian McAffrey category, but like out of like the rest of the just the guys that are in the league, like you have one of the the guys and that’s why I didn’t even go, but that’s why I didn’t go to like the Gibbs, Robinson, McAffrey, like I Josh Jacobs like, yeah, this is an every down back who’s kind of a traditional back. He’ll catch some passes, too. I think when he gets creases, they’re bigger plays than what Raandre gets with, you know, I, you know, I we get into all the EPA and all that stuff, but like I don’t think he gets much more than he breaks tackles. Yeah. Like he’s hard to tackle when he’s lthered up and he’s going, but I don’t think he like makes these big runs because he just made two guys miss in the open field. Yeah. Yeah. They got they got to get um you know I I right now I don’t see them getting a lot of second level blocks from the offensive line and the tight ends where they’re really you know the right now they’re taking care of the bigs and that’s why you don’t have any negative runs is like the defensive line isn’t getting into the backfield and making plays in the back field but they’re not getting up to the linebacker level to really spring the running backs on these big runs. And that’s how you spring it is when you can get, you know, guards and tackles and tight ends and guys up to the second level of the defense and really get, you know, hats on those linebackers. So like to me, like when I watch their run game, it’s definitely more a product of blocking than it is the guys carrying the football. You know, the one little nitpick I’d have about carrying the football is like these outside zone runs, like they’re just ramming it right in like into the line of scrimmage on some of those. I would like to see a little bit more patience to let the cut back lanes develop a little bit more. Like when you see teams that are really good at outside zone, there’s like a dance like rhythm rhythm to it where it’s like, you know, you kind of pace it out and it strings out and then they cut up the field right up the middle of the field and it’s gone. Like the Patriots don’t have a ton of those types of outside zone runs, but overall like they get like the first two to three yards blocked. They just need to get them up into the second and third level more often. Nola’s in Austin, Texas. What’s up, Nola? Nola, howdy. Y’all hear me? Yeah. Sorry about that. Uh, first and foremost, uh, first time caller, but I absolutely loved watching the game. Yes, it was kind of rough in the first half, but we got our win. Um, I had a few things. I feel like Carlson Davis is still kind of disappointing as of I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but watching that game, it felt like he really wasn’t much of an impact other than letting big plays happen potentially. Uh, and then the other thing is is now I’m kind of kind of worried that this Saints game might be a trap game for us. Um, just wanted to hear your thoughts. It could be. It could be. Funny that your name’s Nola. Um, yeah, I was thinking that when I was on the on the list. Um, yeah, I mean, Saints could be a trap game, but Carlton Davis, um, he flashed. He had a nice pressure that caused it incomplete and he did. Quick question. Um, you know, um, did let up a couple plays, but I think he’s a number two quarterback. Yeah, I think that that’s sort of where the Yeah, maybe my disconnect with it with some people is like he’s not supposed to be the Christian Gonzalez like Christian Gonzalez is supposed to be Christian Gonzalez. He’s supposed to be a starting caliber number two quarterback. Now, they paid him a little bit more than that, but that’s cuz they went into free agency to get him. So, you’re going to pay top dollar when you go into the market to get the play. And I think he’s been exactly what they wanted, which was to have a stable, consistent player to play opposite of Gonzo. Yeah. Like they use the Coleman third down play where they just toss it up to Coleman. I mean, I said to Paul, I mean, that’s the matchup you want. You want your big cornerback on their big receiver. They’re going to try to just throw it up to him. You know, I I was really impressed with him and there were a number of plays where you just it just looked like great defense. It looked like the rush was getting there. It looked like everybody was kind of locked up. Very jazzed up. I was jazzed up. Yeah, he is. Uh Brian’s and LOL. He’s calling in again. What’s up, Brian? Okay. Hey, what’s up? Oh, there he is. All right. Hey. Yeah. What you guys think about that uh the game on Sunday night, huh? Sweet. Yeah. Who won? Have you been listening for the last two hours? No. Yeah, it was a good game. So, you know how we feel. Um, I know how you guys really feel. I’m pretty hyp about it about the win with the Bills. We actually snapped around 15 winning streak, a long win streak that goss. Yeah, we actually did that, too. So, not just beating them, but we snapped a winning streak. Yep. Their home winning streak. Yep. Yep. Yeah. put on top of it all. But um but anyways, yeah, that kicker Bales. How do you say his name is man? He’s a stud. Boragalis. Yep. Oh my Oh my god. I I was nervous. I was I’m like, “Oh my god, please make this.” I know. I I was right with you. What a relief. Right with you. Yep. No. No. Gibson now. Now Gibson Gibson’s injury now. That’s serious, man. That’s a big blow. That’s That’s tough. Oh, that’s a blow right there. Ouch. It’s just you hate to see that, you know. We should get We should get Chisum now. I think should activate Chisum. Yep. Yep. Cuz Yeah, he could be a running back. He’s got pretty good contact B. He could do the run kicks. Yeah. All right, Brian, you hang in there, right? Thanks a lot. Appreciate the call. He’s my favorite caller right there. Is he like trolling us or I think he just wants to chat checking in, boo, seeing what’s going on. I think he’s trolling. You guys talking about the game? You want to get hot? You think there’s any chance that that’s an avenue for Chisum to be on the I’m being dead serious. This wasn’t ironic at all. Kickoff. Yeah. Yeah, why not? An avenue to get on the game day roster. I mean, there’s obviously an opening. Yeah. Yeah. You know, put him next to to Henderson. I think he did a little of that. I know he returned punts. Did he do any kicks, too? I remember doing kicks. I don’t He doesn’t really have the straight line speed. No, I remember I was thinking about Isaiah Balden. I mean, long gone now, but, you know, he was one guy that I know was in the mix with Z. Z. I also wonder if you know, now this would be two rookies back there, but do you think about Kyle Williams going back there who has practiced kickoffs? Yeah. Quite a bit and now those are probably your two fastest players. Now you’re not adding a roster spot. Yeah. Right. I just want And maybe not, but like Kyle Williams already is like, you know, had a smaller role on offense and this might be another way to get his speed to impact the game in some way, shape, or form. He’s another one I that I noticed on Sunday night. Uh there was a little quick uh screen to Douglas and he’s out in front blocking someone. I think it was Taran Johnson that blocking. Like no, but I’m just I’m using it as like like the whole buy in thing. Mike tried to like downplay that on Monday when he was asked like so what does a win like that do for the buyin? Like I think he kind of already felt like he had that. So but I do think there’s a lot of evidence that the players are playing at a different level. Not so much how well they’re playing, but with different levels of intensity and commitment and the finish that that we talk about all the time, that kind of stuff. Kyle is apparent. Kyle Williams gets open. He gets open on the film. It’s not finding him right now. And I’m not saying that they like secretly have this like 150 yard receiver that like they’re just hiding. But uh you know, he ran like probably about 10 routes in this game. And like he was open on a handful of them. Uh runs good vertical routes. like I’m just waiting for him to hit one of those go balls like that’s coming. Be great to see Drake just develop. I mean you clearly see Drake has confidence in throwing a Hunter Henry and throwing a Stfan digs right now. And the other guys I think it’s a little bit still hit or miss but I think with I mean one of those throws I mean I think Hunter Henry two catches I think it was the second one like it’s like 20 yards down the field that strike he threw where that I mean just unbelievable you know the trust is there. I’m going to throw it to him. There’s a lot of guys down there but he comes up with it. Same thing with Digs. Can another Can Kyle Williams emerge over the course of the season? So going into next year, you feel like he’s going to have a bigger role? Yeah. Uh Joe’s in Pennsylvania. Hey Joe. Hey guys. Hey, thanks for taking my call. Hey Joe. And uh first com comment before uh my question, but like just about like when he when he made that catch and he extended out for that first down. Oh, that’s good. What a what a stud play. It was a great play. Yep. How how often do we say why didn’t he just reach out? You know, it’s like granted you don’t want to reach out in traffic, but on those sideline catches like that. I mean, and uh and like Bout like like right around that four or five catch mark per game. I think that is like a great a great number for him, especially when there’s like 20ome completions. Yep. Yeah. He hasn’t really been that though. I don’t He hasn’t caught five in a game since the first game, right? Yeah. Yeah, I know. Oh, he only had three, but I think right around that like, you know, I’d say that four to five mark would be great for him. But and but I think Paul said it earlier. It seems like every catch he does make is a is a really meaningful catch, right? Showing awareness. Good. I mean, I mean, he had those two catches that we’re talking about. One he reaches out for a first down and then the one on the sideline and the game-winning drive. I would just say thanks. careful on the one he reaches out on cuz I you know and Evan might be able to speak to this better than me but Collinssworth mentioned at the time Mike and I immediately thought it did he run a bad route and be short of the sticks there I think there’s probably an argument to be made on on third you got to get to the sticks maybe and then I don’t think coaches universally do not like that reaching out thing I know like it it worked you know like Mike Vrabel was not happy with Hunter Henry two weeks ago on his touchdown down the sideline, that funky throw from May, he kind of was very casually with the ball down as he’s going into the end zone. You know, you don’t know if there’s someone there that to do a Kyle Duggar on that uh jack wagon from the Bengals last year that was starting to celebrate as he’s going in and you know, Kyle Duggar knocked the ball out. Yeah, ball security is important and reaching out. I don’t care if you’re on the sideline, you never saw a ball just get knocked out of a guy’s hand, just sit there on the sidelines. Like that’s not they don’t like that. So every time I see that I I don’t like it either. I mean it’s worse like doing it to reach it into the goal line in my opinion because that then you get the fumble touchback thing and like you know last night Trevor Lawrence trying to do the the Drew Brees sneak and he goes but that’s okay on fourth down because you lose the ball, you lose the as long as it doesn’t get returned touchdown or something like that. That’s not so okay. But you know Yeah. No, they recovered on the three yard line and it was their ball anyway. Yeah. But it it’s it happened again this week. The kid in Arizona, De Marcado, it’s like every I don’t understand how these guys still are fumbling the ball like dropping the ball celebrating before they get into the end zone. I kind of thought Mahomes was like kind of close last night. He ran one in on like an option play. I agree. And and I looked at it and I was like it was pretty that was you know he was maybe a step or two into the end zone. But can I just say something about the the one for Arizona? I don’t know if did you guys see this at all? I saw the Gon reaction to it. I know. I know. That was not good. Yeah. Um I’ve seen it a few times. I have not seen sort of the the pylon cam down the sideline. I got to tell you, watching it over and over again. I’m not excusing it because it it just never will I will never understand why that’s cool. Why it’s cool. I scored a touchdown and it’s cool if I can drop the ball as I go into the end zone. Like I don’t know why that makes it any cool that you just ran 71 yards. It is kind of swag. Why don’t you just get in the end zone and then do it, right? I to Mahomes did and it looked cool. So So I’ve seen this play a number of times and I’m not convinced that he didn’t break the play in the goal line before he dropped the goal. It was close. Yeah, it was close. I think that they’re really being picky with them like to try to like prove a point like he reaches out like this and it for all the world it looks to me like that’s breaking the plane of the goal line. Then he lets it go. And I think that they’re deeming this as losing control of the ball. And I don’t think he lost control of the ball until he actually crossed the goal line. Now, if someone has a a video that I haven’t seen, then I’m wrong. I just the ones that I have seen. Um it looks to me like he broke the plane. Yeah. Uh Eldred’s in North Carolina. Hey, Eldred. Yeah. Caused that three car accident. Well, ain’t nobody in front of me so why I did. Okay. So, yeah. Hey, Evan. Yes, sir. Take your victory lap. Oh, I got everybody buy me drinks Sunday at the bar and they talking about your boy Drake. So, take your victory lap, buddy. Uh, he finally sold me over this time, you know. So, I’m I’m a Drake man, a Drake made fan to the end. There you go. We’ll talk about him even though North Carolina won’t. Nice. Nice, Freddy. So, what do y’all think about the blow up in Philadelphia and AJ’s definitely worn out? You think uh something happened about it? Sunday. He him and Herz got into it on the sideline. I mean, hot and heavy. Yes. There is that team. Yeah. Not all four in ones are built the same. Thanks. I mean, they they they were up 17 to3 and coasting in that game going into the fourth quarter and they blew it. It’s tough to stay up on top and their offense like completely just went in the tank. Like they looked like, you know, they had the wheel route to to Barkley and all of a sudden they look like they’re the Eagles offense last year and they are not running the ball as well as they were last year. The offensive line’s not playing well. Yeah, they’re still 4-1. How about my Jaguars? These are like 2011 Patriots problems. that game last night with the Jaguars like Trevor Lawrence is a roller coaster like watching him play is honestly bumbling and like so they have him running this like this can system right where he’s got the two plays called and he’s got to pick the right play and every single time the two seconds through one second the play clock is winding down and he’s like yelling and barking and doing all it’s like maybe just don’t do it like you ever like is it really that big of an advantage to change the play is Is it really like is that really working that much that every single time you snap the ball there’s 1 second left on the play clock? Is it taking him a while to process which play to to call? Is that what it is? Like or is it just Yeah. And I you know they’re talking about a little they were talking about it a little bit on the broadcast and like they were saying that like he’s got to get out of the huddle faster so that he can get to the line of scrimmage and look at the defense and then make the adjustment. I guess like they have the the numbers that like 75% of the time he switches the play at the line of scrimmage. So it’s just like and not just call the second play and and it’s not just like% there’s two under center plays and we’re just going to run the second run play to the first. They’re going from like shotgun to under center or under center to shotgun. So like the whole formation is changing and then they’re get they there’s delay game calls thing this like can system as you well a lot I mean a lot of coaches run it like in that tree uh you know it’s really like Brady used to do it all the time like the Patriots do it too. Oh sure it’s not that hard like it’s just usually usually it’s a it’s a like it could be anything. It could be two run plays, two pass plays but it’s just like if we get this front we’re going to run this run play. If we get that front we’re going to run that run play. It’s just it’s not that hard. All right, one more call. Troy’s in Virginia Beach. What’s up, Troy? Hey, what’s going on, guys? Hey, now you talk. Can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah, we can hear you. Okay. Okay. I’m fine. Uh, I would like to take it back to week three. I had an amazing time going up to Boston. Thanks for the tips of getting the train. Um, I had an amazing time. That was my first time ever being a firefighter. very best. But um I know uh the first few callers or the last few callers pretty much touched on it. Um I was wondering um since we have a dog in our camp. Um when would Kyle Williams be in the mix or you think it’ll be a good idea to put him in the mix? Um you know just for just in case purposes if something happened two days we don’t want that to happen. But yeah. Well, you mean in the mix of catching footballs? Is that what you’re talking about? Yeah. Kyle Williams in there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I think a lot of people would like to see him get more involved, including him. Um, but right now, it’s just not, you know, the ball’s not finding him yet. I think his time will come. Uh, but we talked about earlier, Troy, about getting him in the mix on kickoffs, kickoff return. Thanks for and thanks for the call. And you know, I could see that might be something to get him in the game. You know, I I feel like it’s him and I have one minute to let but like with him and Henderson, I just think people are being a little bit uh not being patient enough. Exactly. Like it’s this is the fifth week of the season. They’re rookies. Like if you just give it some time like let let them develop. I mean, it’s a new offense for everyone, not just the But I would also say if the offense wasn’t performing well, and I think for the most part, say for the first game of the year, the offense has been okay. Like, what do you Yeah. You know, right. You always want to see the thing that you haven’t seen. It’s a shiny new toy. And I and I get it, but like they’re they’re on these developmental plans and like let it he has a speed that you like to see maybe stretch the field a little bit. If they can rush the rookies, if they could, you know, integrate him into the offense, that would be all right. That would be cool. We’re going to integrate into saying goodbye. Uh, but we will be back tomorrow. Catch 22 tomorrow at 10. Tomorrow at 10. How’s Bar doing? Is he okay? Like soil his pants during the game at any point? Absolutely. He’s watching it at at home. He doesn’t travel, so he’s watching it at home. Does his mother yell at him to keep I’m watching the Patriots. Mom shot. Mom, no. No, that wasn’t a shot. I was just saying it because Alex, I made meatloaf. I’m watching the game. He he just he said that his this is the first time in a while that his inner fan kind of came out a little bit watching the Patriots. And I kind of felt the same way. I felt something about this team for the first time in a while. I think if the Patriots get to the Super Bowl this year, we should all chip in and and get Bara a lady friend, you know. Oh, I thought you were going to say to get to them. We got to get him there. No, I’m sure that the station would send him down, right? Are you? Well, they would. They would have to. He’s their football guy and he go to the Super Bowl. You don’t send your football guy. I mean, Paul’s shows go to the Super Bowl, so I’d assume that they could find it. But while he’s there, we should we should get We should get him some company. The morning show is not going or Fred’s quitting. That’s what he said. He can sleep on the floor in my hotel room. We’ll get him a cot. There you go. Yeah. All right. All right. Use a different bathroom, though. We will see you tomorrow. more more of this and turn the page. Hey, this is Alex. Thanks for tuning in to the show. If you really want to help us, make sure you like us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Also, make sure you follow us 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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6 comments
When it comes to kickers, as a coach, I admire coaches who see when kickers have it in them, even if they miss early in their careers. Vinatieri struggled early in his career, and Parcells stuck with him. Then Belichick stuck with him, and he kicked some of the most clutch kicks of all time.
The kid has a very good leg, that would’ve been good from 65-70 yards. Very clutch kick. He’s been very good since game 2, hasn’t missed a kick since game 2. Why not give him a game ball after a clutch kick ?
I knew Barmore would be a top 3 DT this season after the clots came last year , I had him top 4 dual/rush interior DT in the NFL for the 2022 offseason I wanted him signed 2 years before with Bill at gm .. lol I didn’t think he’d be top 3 in week 5 .. Trust god 🙏
Good to have a competent team. Now you can draft what you want not need.
The Lowe False start gave the ball back to buffalo
Side note the next forged in foxborough is about to be amazing
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