FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright CONCERNED New England Patriots Are NOT The Best Team In The AFC

FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright CONCERNED New England Patriots Are NOT The Best Team In The AFC

That was a fair point. Didn’t feel great about it. Coach, uh, coach, you can continue. I usually come out of there with a lot of confidence, but I think we’re actually on the same page. It’s hard to follow that. Yeah. Yeah. I look, I didn’t I didn’t love the the hole that they dug. I didn’t love the pick six. I did really like the fact that they were able to fight back the way they they were and that they lost the really the whole left side of the offensive line. great and still figured out a way to to to win the game. Uh again, they don’t get to choose who they play against and and and what those situations are. And the thing that they’ve done really well is handle whoever’s in front of them. And and I think Mike’s done an excellent Mike Drael’s done an excellent job of keeping them focused on just the next thing. You don’t hear him talking about the playoffs. You don’t hear him talking about the number one seed. You don’t hear him talking about anybody else. They just talk about what’s in front of them. And that’s the formula for for a long run. Coach, first if you recognize these guys, they they used to be the princes guys until Nick dropped them. Like there was Listen, I like these gentlemen so much. And as it happened, he likes them. The Jags are not quite as relevant. So we executed a trade. That was all. Go ahead. I mean, seven and four, by the way. Go ahead. No, they didn’t look like the number one seed. I’m sorry, Wilds. They didn’t. But it it’s a good win. And and I will give you guys this. Even though you’ve had the easy schedule, you have some good wins. Obviously, Tampa, Buffalo, and you’ve blown out like some of the They blew out Cleveland. That’s impressive. I mean, even though Cleveland No, it is impressive to score 32. No, I agree. Defense 32 on that defense. You blew out Carolina, which is playing a pretty good football. So I I just I don’t think I won’t think they’re the best team in AFC till they’re in the Super Bowl just because of the youth of the quarterback and think and they weren’t very good last year. But I don’t think they’re the true number one seed or the best team. We are the true didn’t look you are that but not the best team in my view. How are you feeling KW? I feel like I feel about parenting. Wow. Okay. Everyone’s parents on the strap in. I love this. You want to provide your kids with a safe environment to make mistakes and learn. And now that we have gotten 10 wins, not that the Patriots are kid, but Mike Vrabel, we and the Patriots have a safe environment to make mistakes for the playoffs. That’s how I’m viewing this. We have so much of a a good lead that we’re in the playoffs. Basically, we’ve got the Giants on Monday night who just fired their DC and fired their head coach. That’s a safe environment to learn. Then we have the buy get healthy Ravens and Bills. I I kind of want to lose one of these games. It sounds crazy, but I want to have like the bar rescue stress test. Like what’s going on? What’s wrong? What needs to be fixed immediately? And it’s hard to get it against Joe Flacco and a Jamarus well Bengals squad. So, just two quick points or one question to you and then one very quick point. How all that sounds well and good, but the most important thing going into the playoffs is Drake May is healthy and how concerned are you about those offensive line injuries? Like I know like not great that that he’s already sacked at one of the highest rates in the NFL and now the whole left side of the line that’s a problem. So listen, they they they have to have Will Campbell for the postseason. He can m because you guys have this big cushion. He can miss time, but they have to have him for the postseason. The other side, and I know we’re here to talk about the Patriots, just 10 seconds on this. Jamar Chase should give back another game check. The the the Bengals are a lot. I think they can win that game with him. Oh yeah. And Joe Burrow Joe Burrow is back on Thursday and the Steelers are falling apart. They play the Ravens and it’s like, man, you could have been there. Yeah, you could. I understand it would have been uphill, but they had the ball in the 26, right? They had a chance with T. Higgins going out and Chase not playing. Like I really like Jamar Chase is a great player. I think he is on a Hall of Fame trajectory as a at a tough position to make it. Him not being there cuz he’s spit on a guy is outrageous. And just before you play us off, gentlemen, this quickly to our viewers because I was a little too humble there. I know we talk about a lot of six and five teams being the best team, but the Patriots are currently the best team, actually. Yeah. Um, did the Pats look like the number one seed? Yes. Yes, they did. Uh, and I’ll explain in a moment. Uh, but before I do, please do not forget to subscribe and please don’t forget to watch the full length of this video as it is without a shadow of a doubt the best way to support this channel so I can keep making the best possible Patriots content that I can and it means the absolute world to me. Thank you. Let’s get into it. Um, not every game is going to be a blowout. This drives me insane. This idea that if you blow out a bad team, that means you’re the true top team. You’re the true top contender, guys. That’s not always how it works. You know who’s blown out a lot of teams? The Ravens over the years. Now, I’m not talking about necessarily this season, the Ravens. The Lions, the 49ers. Have they won Super Bowls? No. Okay. You know who haven’t been blowing out a lot of teams over the last like three over like the legitimate stretch of time, not just like a narrow window? The Kansas City Chiefs, the Philadelphia Eagles. They won Super Bowls. Just so we’re clear. Um so this idea that, you know, a game should never be in the balance, I I reject that. Um, Drake May pick six, bad, not good. You give them them points. That’s points right there. What? Take away the points and then what’s the score? It’s a lot different, right? There’s there’s a there’s a lot big there’s a lot bigger of a gap right there. But you dealt with injuries, dealt with issues. Um, despite what you may think, Joe Flacco does have a little bit of juice. Obviously, I know he had his own interception and his own issues. Um, but you hit I think what was it? Nine different receivers. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Yeah, nine different receivers. Uh, we’re able to run the ball with some level of consistency. Nothing crazy. Um, 31 carries for 107, five carries for 22 for Drake. I always like to also kind of subtract that a little bit because to me, when you get a quarterback getting some of those, uh, th those are gravy yards to me. But in a game that was clearly not Drake May at his sharpest, um, with obviously the the the really bad interception, which again, it happens. Every quarterback does it. Um, I give extra benefit of the doubt to a younger quarterback. I’ll be harder on a Josh Allen, a Momes, a Jaylen, etc., etc. but he was still 22 for 35, 294 yards and an 87.1 passer rating. I just think that sometimes these are the way these games go and especially when they kind of um don’t go exactly according to plan, right? Can’t get a whole ton going on. You have punt punt, right? You’re you’re now down 3 nothing. Then you have the interception right now. It’s 10 nothing. And now you’re you’re back is up against the wall. You’re like, is this game about to break through? Is this is this are we about to get roll now? Like we are we are in a tough situation. Boom. Nine plays, 70 yards, touchdown. And you’re like, all right. Like that’s okay. And then you get a little bit of your your own little gift, right? You get your the your interception pick six. Uh, now you’re up 1410 and now you’re in a you’re in a little bit of a battle, right? You’re you’re in a little bit of a a little bit of a battle. Um, and it just it’s just the way how some of these games unfold. I I think it depends. These types of games, man, you you really can look at from so many different angles. Um, you know, there there’s nothing here that ever like that that really not I shouldn’t say ever, but there’s nothing here specifically that glaringly stands out like, oh my god, they were two for 13 on third down. They were, you know, you know, 0 for two for the red zone. That’s probably the thing that would stand out the most. But only four penalties like nothing nothing like blatantly clear, you know, crazy. You would say, well, the Bengals have a bad defense. We should have been able to do more, etc., etc. And it’s like, yeah, I get that and that’s to a degree that’s fair, but not all games unfold that way. It just it’s just it’s just not the way how those things always consistently um unfold. And so to me, um if you were a little bit older of a team, if you were a little bit more of a mature team, I you would be a little bit harder on them or if they hadn’t been playing well. Like if this was the Eagles or the Chiefs or the Bills, the Ravens and like they hadn’t been playing well um and the expectations with them are through the roof. They have the experience, they have the veteran leaders, um and then you have a game like this, you’re kind of like, uh you haven’t been playing well and now you have this game. Like are you just why can’t you get it together? But if you’ve been playing well, you’ve been playing high quality football, you are an upand cominging team. It’s just to me this is just what are you just supposed to just blow out every team that’s beneath you. Like it just that’s just not the way how the NFL works. It’s just it’s just not it’s just it’s just not how the NFL works. I mean, who’s the true number one seed then, right? Is it the Chiefs and the Colts? Well, I don’t know. You know, they both seem to have their issues in that game. Patrick Mahomes to a terrible interception. Uh Daniel Jones looked like he couldn’t do much in the fourth quarter overtime. It’s like, okay, the Texans, no one thinks that. The Bills, they lost to the Texans. Uh the Ravens, I mean, I don’t know. Don’t think so. The Titans, no. Right. Like, so the Jaguars, absolutely positively not. The Cleveland Browns, no. The Raiders, no. So, I don’t know. It just is what it is. They beat the Jets convincingly. Okay. You got the Dolphins, three points. The Commanders, maybe they’re the one seed. You had the Steelers, right? They convincingly beat the Bengals. Do you feel like right now, who would you rather be, the Steelers or the Patriots? We know that answer. We know that answer. So, I don’t know. Not the Chargers. The Chargers, they’re in the playoffs blown out by the Jags. It’s like just not not every game is going to be so clear-cut. Not every game is going to be this big statement game of we have arrived, we are here, you can’t stop us. Um, they dealt with some adversity against an opponent that is not on their level, but still led by a veteran quarterback and some pieces on offense. Yeah, Jamar Chase wasn’t there. I get it. But still, um, yeah, came away with the win. Sometimes that’s sometimes that’s what it’s all about. Um, sometimes that’s all it’s about. And you you you can’t you can’t get too lost in it. And I just don’t think that the Patriots need to prove anything against a team like the Bengals. They do need to prove against the Bills, against the Ravens, against the Chiefs, against the Eagles, against the teams that we know have been top teams for a while. Teams that have won big games, have went on the road and you know this and that, like teams that have established themselves. I don’t think the Patriots prove anything by blowing out a bad team. It just they’ve graduated that for me. Just this just just doesn’t mean much to me. And some the only time it does mean something to me is if I feel the team needs it. I feel the team needs it. And there’s a certain situations that the team needs it. The Eagles needed to blow out the Giants, right? Uh the Chiefs needed to blow out the commanders. Like sometimes, yes, you you need that. You absolutely positively need that. It’s just not where I thought the Patriots what the Patriots needed in that moment of time. But those are just my thoughts. I’d absolutely love to hear yours. What do you guys all think about the New England Patriots taking down the Cincinnati Bengals? Uh are you concerned now? Has your confidence in them just be has it just been shook into shaken to the core? Let me know your comments in your Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I read every single comment whether you agree with me or disagree with me. Either way, let’s get in some discussions. Let’s get in some fights. But ultimately, let’s just have some fun. And please do consider subscribing. We’re building an amazing community here and absolutely love to see you part of it. I want to build something that we all generally feel connected to, something that we’re really excited to be part of. I think we’re well on our way to doing it. Please don’t forget to give this video a thumbs up. It really does help the visibility and the algorithm. Thank you so much. See you next time.

FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright CONCERNED New England Patriots Are NOT The Best Team In The AFC
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