Stephen A. gives Drake Maye his flowers after Patriots improve to 9-2 💐 | First Take

Stephen A. gives Drake Maye his flowers after Patriots improve to 9-2 💐 | First Take

Yes, Stephen A. Smith is in sunnier weather there in Miami. He’ll be back. He’ll be back with with his puffy coat on on Monday. He’ll be freezing with the rest of us. Good morning, Stephen A. Howdy. Howdy. Everybody all right? Everybody all right? Yeah, I’m feeling good. What you going to say, Kim? I like this Stephen A. I like where he’s at right now. Huh? He’s in a good Is it Is it because of Ryan Terry? Huh? Huh? Is it because of Shay Girtu Elizabeth? It’s it’s it’s because of all three of y’all. I love my Fridays. I love my Fridays. Turn out. I’m here. Come on. Tell you what, Cam. Cam, it might be you cuz he showed up at 9:58 today. Yesterday it was 9:59. Yeah, it might be you. But, you know, I I I was here. I was here. I just I I you know I just had to use the bathroom for yesterday’s show so I got it a little bit late but I was here on time you know today and stuff like that to get to get the proper greeting because RC didn’t give it to me but it’s all right. I’m here I’m in the house y’all. Okay we brought up yesterday. Let’s it right. Let’s do it. Let’s talk about yesterday and what we saw on Thursday night football because last night the Patriots notched their eighth straight win beating the Jets 27 to 14. Rookie Trayvon Henderson two rushing and one receiving touchdowns. Stefon Digs put up over a 100 receiving yards and Drake May threw for 281 yards with no interceptions. So the Pats today are now up three games in the win column over Buffalo and remain the favorite to win the AFC East according to ESPN Bet Sports book. They also have the fifth shortest odds to win the AFC behind the Chiefs, Bills, Colts, and Ravens. After last night though, are we convinced after what you watched that the AFC Ryan Clark is going to go through Foxboro? Absolutely. I’m absolutely convinced. And it’s not just about what we saw last night. Obviously playing the Jets. You expected the New England Patriots to operate that way to execute in the way that they have. But also, let’s look at the rest of the season. The games that they have that are must-win games or the games that could be where you might say to yourself, okay, they have to be on upset alert. Those are the Buffalo Bills, which they’ll have at home and they already beat them early on in the season. And then they go on the road to the Baltimore Ravens. This is a team that’s shown us that they can win in many ways. You have a quarterback right now. I don’t care if you’re talking about the Patrick Mahomeses, the Josh Allens of the world, the Lamar Jacksons of the world. You have a quarterback in Drake May that’s outplayed all of them up until this point is the leader in as as far as the MVP conversation goes. And you have Mike Greyel that has instituted a culture here that is don’t quit, that show up every day, that’s execute every day, and never take a day for granted. Those are the type of things we expect from New England Patriots team. And when you look at their schedule as compared to who is the biggest threat for the number one overall seed, the Indianapolis Colts, it’s a much easier schedule down the stretch than Daniel Jones and his team face. It’s going to go through Foxboro just like it used to throughout the 2000s. Stephen A, I completely agree. I completely agree with RC. I get where he’s coming from because again, five of their next six games are against teams with losing records. We see that. We understand they got Buffalo in like week 15 or whatever it is. But the bottom line is that’s their scenario. That’s the situation. All I’m saying is let’s just make sure to stop short of saying that just because the road is going to go through Foxboro that that means they can’t be beat. Because when you’re playing inferior competition, I’ve got to take into consideration that the that that’s not what we should anticipate as this season moves forward. Particularly come playoff time. When you think about Indie, when you think about Kansas City, when you think they handle their business, when you think about Buffalo and others, maybe Baltimore, excuse me, I’m sorry. When you think about those teams, those kind of things can happen. you expect any other one thing I think we have to look at AFC RC and Cam we got to scour it and recognize the fact that most of those teams are fully capable of winning on the road. They can go on the road and handle their business. So we going to look at Drake man who completed his first seven first 11 passes last night and really has passed for over 200 yards in every single game he’s thrown his quarterback this year which is a testament to him. I I got to give credit where credit is due. He’s he had a pass rating for at least a hundred of 100 in nine of the games he’s played this year. These are incredibly impressive. I get that. But strength of schedule does matter. And then we take into account last night with the New York Jets. Yeah, they are the Jets. They’re football purgatory. We get it. No Source Gardner any longer. No Quinnon Williams any longer. Garrett Wilson’s on IR. So, arguably their three best players weren’t even on the damn field, which certainly did not help. So, we get all of that, too. The Patriots are a damn good team for all of the reasons RC articulated. Uh but it’s but the competition or lack thereof does say something as well. So we’ll see. The cona middle of the mall and yes is Drake May playing good football. Stephen Anthony and Ryan Terry. Absolutely. And I would like to attest his great play to one specific person that I know too well. Josh McDaniels. Now, Josh McDaniels may not be a great head coach, but he is a brilliant offensive mind and he explains the game in a way that it’s just dang. So, if the shades right here and the three texts right there, okay, cool. That’s over. All right, cool. I did the mic and let’s let’s play. You’re protected now. All right. The thing that I have a problem with is if you keep playing sorry scrubs, then you’re going to have this falsetto of a mentality going into the playoffs and it has one and done written all over it. Give me the Indianapolis Colts because the same questions that I have for Indianapolis or should I say uh Carly Ers’s Indianapolis Colts, she’s doing a damn good job with that. facts. When you talk about them, the same question still arise when you’re talking about the New England Patriots. How will their quarterback perform in Indiana Jones? Now, when you have Mrs. Ers or Mrs. Ers Gordon make the decision to burn the boats and say we all in for this year to go get a sauce gardener to go get, you know, pieces that can get us in the best situation to win yesterday. That’s where the the the the road stops. Yes. Am I questioning uh uh Indiana Jones? Absolutely. But do do I have more concern with the New England Patriots playing five or six teams that have losing records than going into a situation where now the competition exceeds, you know, what you may have been used to. That’s what I have the biggest question for Drake May because he’s playing brilliant. He’s playing clean football, not putting the ball in stress or stressful situations. And last night was a perfect indication of that. But at the end of the day, when you start to say and compare and contrast, I’m going to have to say the Indianapolis. You know what I love though? See, I I love that we’ve been rocking music all day, right? You came with that falsetto. I think the the dream the dream had that faux, huh? You know what else the dream said though? He said he was rocking that thing. And that’s exactly what Drake may have been doing. You know what I mean? Like this team starts one and two, right? You lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers and turn the football over five times, right? The Las Vegas Raiders beat them week one. This wasn’t a team we were expecting to beat here. But this is what people like to do, right? When you make an argument, you know what I’m saying? You’ve been in enough arguments in your life, Cam. They like to point out the things that support their arguments, right? They’re like, “Look at the five of the 16.” Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! But they didn’t say, last I checked, they went on the road and beat the reigning MVP in Buffalo. Because you only because you only play who they put on the schedule. Camo doesn’t look you can’t you can’t add people to the schedule. It’s still the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. Not blaming them though, right? Kansas City Chiefs. They went there. They couldn’t win. Patrick Nim, they could win in Buffalo. Oh, okay. Right. Shay. Shay said you said Buffalo didn’t look good. Let’s talk about Tampa Bay Buccaneers then. What? What? Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay Buccaneers good. Tampa Bay Buccaneers got Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield always comes back. We playing in Tampa. It’s hot down there. We’ve been in Foxboro. We ain’t even adjusted to the heat. Everybody sweating. We cramping. It’s all right. Drake May, explosive plays. Tayvon Henderson, explosive plays, right? Run game stuffed, right? Situational football. Making plays of situational football. The the the big eight. You know what the big eight are, Cam? Right. The last four minutes of the second quarter, the first four minutes of the third quarter. Who wins those? The New England Patriots. So, we could say what we want about this team to in some way try to negate what they have accomplished this year, but this team has won the games in the ways that they’re supposed to win them with a quarterback that is playing at the highest level. Now, when we get into the playoffs, if you have Kansas City that’s playing well and Patrick Mahomes comes in there, absolutely, you feel a different way because history proves that they show up. But for the rest of these teams, including the Indianapolis Colts, they still have things to prove. Nice narrative, beautiful saliloquy as always. You’re just getting better and better at it, RC. Especially when you’re on first take. I’m so touched by it. And you know what? And anybody that wants a motivational speech, something that’s inspirational, go to the pivot, check him out. He’s absolutely fabulous. But that ain’t working on this particular argument. And I’m going to tell you why. You’re left out the fact that they open the season losing to the hapless Las Vegas Raiders. I said that you’re left out that Excuse me. Hold on. Hold on. I’m talking about your point overall. What you accentuated. My apologies. You mentioned it, but you didn’t accentuate it. Can’t write that word down, too. That works for you. Accentuate. Point is, third game of the season, you had about five or six turnovers against the Pittsburgh Steelers cuz you should have won that game. Okay. In between all of that, you also struggled to beat the Miami Dolphins. Okay. Why do I bring that up? It was early. How you look then ain’t necessarily how you going to look now. You go out there and you beat Buffalo, you deserve a lot of credit. Is it plausible and possible that they were underestimated? It was plausible and possible that the Buffalo Bills, that’s the first level, that’s the first level of evidence that we saw that they ain’t what they needed to be, which is why we lamented the fact that they didn’t go and get somebody for the trading deadline. They tried to get Jaylen Wadd. Why the hell you don’t give up a first pick, a first round pick in 2026, holding out for dear life, unless they gave it unless they allowed you to give the 2027 pick, which makes no sense to any of us up here. They should have gave up that pick. If you got Josh Allen, don’t waste a year away. You could be in the playoffs. You got Jaylen Wadd, okay, with the rest of the crew. You got a pass catcher for Josh Allen. That’s desperately needed, especially somebody that can spread the field like a Jaylen Wadd. That’s what you should have done. They didn’t do it. So, we’re looking at all of those things. And along the way, I’m looking here at the schedule. You beat New Orleans. You beat Tennessee. You beat Cleveland. We don’t know what the hell is going on with the Atlanta Falcons, but you won that game by one point. Okay. 24-23. Okay. You had the coach complaining about some rules that might have influenced the game, the outcome of that game. You definitely beat Tampa Bay 28-23. That was a big time victory. And then you beat the Jets. All I’m saying is it’s not it’s not beyond the pale and it’s not throwing any shade or taking anything away from them to say, “Look, Drake May is that dude and and Mike Greyel’s coach of the year and look at the way this team is playing.” But do you see a team that can’t be had on their home turf? Not throwing shade on them. That’s recognizing their respect. They ain’t 4 and 13 no more like they were the last two years. and they got an easy schedule. They’re going to win about 13 games this season, have homec court advantage throughout the AFC. Do you see a team the home field, I’m sorry. Do you see a team that could sit up there and say, “Yo, we Yeah. The road come through us and it’s going to be hell for y’all.” I see teams that could go in there and take them. That’s all I’m saying. You know football far better than I could ever pretend to know. And I think what the Patriots have done, Drake May has done, and Mike Vel has done this year is admirable. With your eyeballs yesterday, did you They looked okay. They looked okay against a Jets team that is really bad right down their throat in the opening drive. Clearly the Jets did. Hey, no doubt about it. We could say that the Jets ran it down their throat, but this is still the top team in defense against rushing the football. That’s fact, right? And and that’s 11 games, right? We want to take this small piece of what we got to see last night when it wasn’t great or when we feel like they didn’t dominate in the way that they were supposed to and say that this team could be had. That’s absolutely true cuz everyone can be had, everyone can be beat, especially when we’re looking at the AFC this year. But when we’re talking about a team that’s playing their best over the last eight weeks, I think you have to consider the New England Patriots as one of those teams. Listen real quick, and I’m not denying no impact of what was done or what we’ve seen up until this year. All I’m saying is the way the AFC is being shifted right now, a really good veteran team will go into Foxboro. Um, and that’s all I’m saying. I agree with that. And playing these type of teams will have you thinking that you’re better than you are rather than knowing how to win versus good teams. And that’s it. So, so here’s my here’s my only problem with those type of statements though is this, right? You talk about the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills just lost to the Miami Dolphins. And I agree. I said the Buffalo Bills aren’t the team that they’ve been the last two years. But that’s the point of being a good football team. When you’re not at your best against bad football teams, you find a way to win. That’s who Kansas City has been the last two years. They weren’t as dominant, but they found ways to win. They were 12-0 in one-score games, even when playing bad teams, because winning is the ultimate goal of every week. And when there’s parody, like there should be in the NFL, we have to learn to do that. And so I’m giving them credit for finding ways to win even against bad teams. All right, fair enough. We’ll give them credit. We’ll give the Patriots credit. They beat the Jets last. It’s a lot of It’s a lot of hate here. We’re just keeping it real. Uh let’s Oh, Boris. [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Cam Newton and Ryan Clark weigh in on the New England Patriots moving to 9-2 after defeating the New York Jets in Week 11.

0:00 Does the AFC now go through the Patriots?
2:50 Stephen A. thinks the road goes through Foxborough
5:00 This has fool’s gold written all over it – Cam Newton on the Patriots
9:00 Stephen A. brings out receipts for Ryan Clark
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