• 2 years ago
In the latest episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast with Nick Cattles, Greg and Nick recap the Patriots 25-20 loss to the Eagles in Week 1. They go through the positives, negatives and look ahead to Sunday Night's showdown vs the Miami Dolphins.

TIMELINE:
0:00 Intro
1:50 Overall thoughts
7:00 Not consistent
19:27 FanDuel
20:30 Mac Jones
26:00 Who should have played?
29:40 Bill O'Brien,
32:50 Factor
38:55 Defense overall
44:35 OddsR
53:28 3 Up 3 Down
57:00 4th and 17

Check Greg's Coverage out over at www.bostonsportsjournal.com, for $50 on BSJ's annual plan. Not only do you get top-notch analysis of all the Boston pro sports, but if you're a Patriots junkie — and if you're listening to this podcast, you are — then a membership at BSJ gives you access to a ton of video analysis Bedard does on the coaches film, and direct access to him in weekly chats.

This episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles Podcast is brought to you by:

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Transcript
00:00:00 This is the Greg Bidard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles.
00:00:05 - For the second straight podcast.
00:00:07 I don't know what the hell was going on
00:00:08 before we joined all of you, but here we are.
00:00:11 The old get out of the Zoom, get back into the Zoom work.
00:00:15 It's the Greg Bidard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles.
00:00:19 Let me run through a number of things here first
00:00:21 before I get into the football game with Greg.
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00:00:43 And if anybody follows me on Twitter at Nick C Radio,
00:00:46 I took a picture last Sunday of my setup at home.
00:00:50 I have the YouTube multi-view on the big TV
00:00:55 and then the two local games on the other two TVs.
00:00:58 I had six NFL games blasting in my face
00:01:01 at one o'clock on Sunday.
00:01:03 It is fantastic.
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00:01:24 Kelly had the shredded chicken taco bowl earlier tonight.
00:01:27 She was a fan.
00:01:28 She wanted me to pass that along.
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00:01:35 Get your first 30 days off the app free.
00:01:38 Just go to oddsare.com/bidard
00:01:42 to download the app that's oddsare.com/bidard.
00:01:46 Okay, now that the business part of this podcast
00:01:50 is taken care of for now,
00:01:51 let's get to the football part of the podcast,
00:01:53 the content part.
00:01:55 First, Greg, obviously Eagles beat Patriots 25-20
00:01:58 at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
00:02:00 Just your overall thoughts from 30,000 feet
00:02:03 watching this game, I'm sure by now, multiple times.
00:02:06 - Yeah, Nick.
00:02:09 Overall, especially if I was a Patriots fan,
00:02:12 I would be encouraged about what happened on Sunday.
00:02:17 You know, we can get into the end result
00:02:19 and why certain things happen
00:02:21 or seem to keep happening to this team.
00:02:25 But in general, I thought that you could make the argument
00:02:28 that in all three phases, the Patriots outplayed the Eagles,
00:02:33 the defending NFC champions,
00:02:35 which certainly sounds good on paper.
00:02:38 And I think that that was real.
00:02:40 I think that if you matched it up,
00:02:42 I thought the Patriots' defense
00:02:44 played better than the Eagles' defense.
00:02:46 And I thought the Patriots' offense
00:02:49 played better than the Eagles' offense.
00:02:51 And I thought the Patriots' special teams
00:02:52 won fairly handily outside of, you know,
00:02:55 Jake Elliott apparently has a robot leg
00:02:58 that can kick from anywhere.
00:03:02 But, you know, I thought that the Patriots
00:03:06 were a lot more competitive
00:03:08 than I thought they were gonna be.
00:03:10 Now, did I think that Bill O'Brien
00:03:13 was gonna have a really good game plan
00:03:15 to negate the heavy advantage
00:03:19 that especially once we got to game day
00:03:21 and we found out that Cole Strange was down,
00:03:23 Micah Winney was down, meaning, you know,
00:03:25 two mid-round rookies and Calvin Anderson,
00:03:28 we're gonna have to start at guard,
00:03:29 Calvin Anderson at right tackle.
00:03:30 So obviously the Patriots' coaches knew most of the week
00:03:34 what they had to deal with.
00:03:35 And Bill O'Brien crafted the type of game plan
00:03:39 that would mitigate that as much as possible,
00:03:43 would allow them to move the ball at times,
00:03:46 to be competitive.
00:03:47 And as long as the defense did their part,
00:03:50 then the Patriots would be in the game in the fourth quarter
00:03:52 and that's what happened.
00:03:53 The defense was more than competitive.
00:03:56 I think they did a really nice job in this game.
00:03:59 And so, look, I think, you know,
00:04:05 big picture, definitely encouraging.
00:04:08 Did it make me think that, all right,
00:04:09 my seven and 11 prediction, or seven and 10 prediction
00:04:13 might've been wrong,
00:04:15 well, especially in light of the Aaron Rodgers news.
00:04:18 Yes, but for me, and you don't have to feel this way,
00:04:23 as a fan, you don't have to feel this way,
00:04:26 but I wouldn't get uber excited about anything
00:04:30 that you see in week one, one way or the other,
00:04:32 just because, especially with teams approach
00:04:35 training camps now, the way they approach preseason,
00:04:38 week one can, not always, can be sort of an outlier.
00:04:42 You know, like look at the Cincinnati Bengals last year
00:04:46 against, they lost to Mitch Trubisky in the Steelers,
00:04:49 with Joe Burrow throwing four picks and fumbling a ball,
00:04:52 and they were fine.
00:04:54 And Joe Burrow was hot garbage on Sunday
00:04:57 because he didn't do anything in the preseason.
00:04:59 Do I think that's gonna hold up?
00:05:00 No.
00:05:01 So, you know, I wouldn't go nuts,
00:05:03 but I definitely, I left the stadium
00:05:06 and also watching the film,
00:05:08 a lot more encouraged about the Patriots.
00:05:10 And watching the film is the most important part.
00:05:12 And we'll get into a lot of that with Greg,
00:05:14 because he does watch the film.
00:05:15 He watches it multiple times.
00:05:17 He watches TV copy.
00:05:18 He watches the all 22.
00:05:19 He watches it live in person when it's at Gillette Stadium.
00:05:22 So he's had his eyes on this game an awful lot.
00:05:25 And when Greg says,
00:05:26 after watching the film, he was encouraged,
00:05:28 that means a hell of a lot more than Greg saying,
00:05:30 I was encouraged in the moment,
00:05:32 watching these guys live at Gillette Stadium.
00:05:34 Look, I agree with you, Greg,
00:05:36 and I'm not gonna go over the top here,
00:05:39 but I do look at that game
00:05:41 and I could play the old radio trick.
00:05:42 What if I told you, I mean,
00:05:44 what if I told you that the guys that were out were out?
00:05:47 You know, what if I told you this game would start
00:05:50 the way it started in the first quarter?
00:05:52 What is so many different circumstances,
00:05:54 the drops, Booty not getting his feet in,
00:05:56 all of those different things
00:05:57 that they couldn't run the ball.
00:05:58 If I told you that before this game,
00:06:01 you would think the Patriots would lose
00:06:03 by two or three touchdowns.
00:06:04 And so I think the fact that they were competitive,
00:06:07 they had a chance to win this game
00:06:09 a couple of times in the fourth quarter.
00:06:11 I do think fans should be allowed,
00:06:14 if some of the media here in Boston will allow them,
00:06:17 should be allowed to take some positives
00:06:20 out of a loss, God forbid.
00:06:22 I think that was a competitive football game.
00:06:24 And all last week we heard, you know,
00:06:25 that Philly was above and beyond
00:06:27 and they were just gonna take out the Patriots.
00:06:29 And that's if the Patriots were healthy
00:06:31 and everything was going great for them.
00:06:33 People thought that the Eagles would win
00:06:34 by possibly double digits.
00:06:36 So yes, I agree with you.
00:06:38 What ultimately cost them, Greg?
00:06:41 - The falling in a 16, nothing to hold.
00:06:44 And then, you know, also that this offense
00:06:49 for whatever reason, and I'm not ready to say
00:06:52 it's Mac Jones, even though plenty of people wanna say it.
00:06:56 They just come up short.
00:06:59 They're just not consistent enough.
00:07:03 Like Mac Jones, and Mac Jones is part of it.
00:07:05 He is.
00:07:06 I thought overall he played really well in this game.
00:07:10 He made five or six ridiculous throws.
00:07:15 Off the top of my head, the three touchdown passes
00:07:17 were all tremendous, timing, perfectly placed,
00:07:22 loved to see it, deciphering the defense.
00:07:24 For the most part, Bill O'Brien got him back
00:07:28 playing like Mac Jones.
00:07:29 He had confidence in the operation, the play calls.
00:07:35 Do I think, you know, he didn't have a ton of confidence
00:07:37 in the offensive line, especially early.
00:07:39 It's understandable.
00:07:41 But, you know, like, but just,
00:07:44 I just wanna continue on with the good throws.
00:07:47 The one to Kendrick Bourne, third and 12
00:07:50 that he threw over in the middle while getting plastered,
00:07:53 Kendrick Bourne has to catch that ball.
00:07:54 The ball was in a perfect place where only he could catch it,
00:07:57 should've converted.
00:07:58 Kayshaun Booty, the two throws to him,
00:08:02 third down and fourth down were good throws,
00:08:06 bad plays by the receiver.
00:08:07 For a rookie, you can understand it.
00:08:10 You know, but there are also miscues.
00:08:14 The pick six, and I wasn't sure about
00:08:17 the whole route combination thing.
00:08:18 It looked a little weird to me,
00:08:19 but I asked somebody who knows.
00:08:21 Mac screwed up.
00:08:24 You know, now was the spacing perfect?
00:08:27 Was the spacing perfect all day
00:08:29 with some of the new guys, Kisicki
00:08:31 and Juju Smith-Schuster, you know, Kendrick Bourne,
00:08:34 it's a constant issue for him?
00:08:35 No, and on that play, Kendrick Bourne
00:08:38 could've let his return route breathe a little bit more,
00:08:41 but there was no pressure on Mac Jones.
00:08:44 I was told that Mac needs to let the Y shake,
00:08:47 which is the tight end, Mike Kisicki
00:08:49 is doing what's called a shake route,
00:08:51 where he looks outside and then fakes outside, goes inside,
00:08:56 and Mac didn't let that clear out
00:08:58 if he was gonna go to Kendrick Bourne,
00:09:00 and he sort of rushed it and kind of threw it
00:09:02 in between two people.
00:09:04 And, you know, so I'm not gonna bury him
00:09:07 for a mistake early, even though in some of these games,
00:09:10 you worry about the starts that he started to accumulate
00:09:12 over the course of his career.
00:09:13 Some of them are really shaky.
00:09:15 He just has these sort of brain farts, rushed decisions.
00:09:20 You know, there was the pass in the flat
00:09:23 later on in the game that almost got picked off.
00:09:25 Like, there was the screen pass
00:09:27 that almost got picked off by Josh Swett.
00:09:29 Like, I don't expect him to be perfect all the time.
00:09:32 I just expect him to be clutch,
00:09:34 and I just think he and the offense collectively,
00:09:38 it wasn't just Mac Jones, I don't mean to dump on him,
00:09:41 but, you know, falling behind 16-0 with huge,
00:09:46 but then at the end of the day, thanks to the defense,
00:09:49 they had six drives after halftime
00:09:53 where they were down no more than eight points.
00:09:56 They couldn't get anything until, you know,
00:10:00 they had the one touchdown.
00:10:01 You know, they had five drives in this game
00:10:06 that started at their own 43 or better,
00:10:08 and they punted all five times.
00:10:10 Like, it's not on just the quarterback,
00:10:13 but at a certain point in time,
00:10:15 you look at Mac's career to this point,
00:10:17 he hasn't gotten it done.
00:10:19 I'm not ready to say it's a pattern that he can't do it.
00:10:22 I've been through this before with young players,
00:10:24 but at some point in time, he's gotta take the next step,
00:10:27 and you look at Bill O'Brien's operation,
00:10:29 you figure the offensive line's gonna get healthy,
00:10:32 the running game's gonna be a factor,
00:10:34 the weapons, for the most part, are good enough.
00:10:37 At some point this season, Mac's gotta step up,
00:10:40 and he's gotta make the plays to win a game like that.
00:10:43 They're not winning, they haven't won those games
00:10:45 since Tom left.
00:10:47 They have to collectively figure out a way to do it.
00:10:50 - I was gonna get into my Mac stuff later,
00:10:51 but I might as well just dive in right now.
00:10:54 I have about a billion thoughts,
00:10:55 I'll keep it short though here.
00:10:57 Overall, I had Mac as about a B-minus or so.
00:11:02 A passing grade.
00:11:04 A passing grade.
00:11:05 There's this tit for tat about Mac,
00:11:08 and there's several layers to this, Greg.
00:11:10 You and I could do five hours on just Mac Jones
00:11:13 and how he's handled by fans,
00:11:14 how he's handled by the media.
00:11:16 And first of all, I'm glad you said, Greg,
00:11:20 he's not going to be perfect.
00:11:21 And if people are waiting for him to be perfect,
00:11:24 you're waiting for Godot, it ain't going to happen.
00:11:26 That's an old ass reference,
00:11:27 hopefully some of you got it.
00:11:28 You're just gonna be sitting there waiting
00:11:30 and waiting and waiting.
00:11:31 If you're waiting for him to be Tom Brady,
00:11:33 again, you'll be waiting until you drop dead.
00:11:35 It's not going to happen.
00:11:37 And I think some people, and it's not most people,
00:11:40 but some people have to stop the,
00:11:42 oh, if it was Tom Brady, get away from it.
00:11:45 You can't compare the greatest of all time
00:11:47 to a guy that Greg and I have talked about
00:11:50 is probably at best ranked 12 to 15 in the NFL.
00:11:55 You can't do it.
00:11:57 It's delusional to bring up Brady's name
00:11:59 in the conversation with Mac Jones.
00:12:00 It's delusional.
00:12:02 Now, as far as Sunday, look, he made some bad throws.
00:12:05 He made some bad decisions.
00:12:07 And I think you have to live with some of those bad throws.
00:12:11 What he has to limit are the turnover worthy throws.
00:12:14 And that's what we're talking about.
00:12:16 The pick six, the pick that Sweat should have had.
00:12:20 There was another pass, which I don't really kill him for.
00:12:22 It was the pass to Douglas.
00:12:23 He did get it over the defender.
00:12:25 I thought it was actually a pretty decent throw.
00:12:27 It was a dangerous throw, but he got it over the DB.
00:12:30 So I'm not going to dock him or kill him on that throw.
00:12:33 But of course, he's going to miss throws.
00:12:34 He's going to miss a sideline throw downfield
00:12:36 to Keyshawn Booty, you know, every once in a while.
00:12:39 He's going to miss throws.
00:12:40 Every quarterback in the league misses throws
00:12:43 from Josh Allen to Joe Burrow to Patrick Mahomes.
00:12:45 All of them miss throws.
00:12:47 You just have to limit the turnover worthy throws.
00:12:50 That's got to be his main focus.
00:12:53 The other thing, Greg, that's driving me ever loving crazy
00:12:56 about the game when people are talking about this.
00:12:58 And I talked about this a little bit
00:12:59 with my pod the last couple of days.
00:13:02 But what's driving me absolutely nuts is this narrative.
00:13:06 And there was a little bit of a back and forth with me
00:13:08 and somebody on Twitter today of,
00:13:10 they gave Mac Jones multiple chances to win the game
00:13:14 and he failed again.
00:13:15 Or, you know, he just can't get the job done.
00:13:19 I am sorry.
00:13:21 I am sorry that Mac Jones wasn't absolutely pristine
00:13:24 in the fourth quarter.
00:13:25 However, you look at those six possessions
00:13:28 that Greg brought up post halftime.
00:13:31 The first possession was murdered by Keyshawn Booty
00:13:34 for not keeping his feet in bounds.
00:13:36 That's a good throw down the sideline.
00:13:39 He keeps his feet in bounds.
00:13:41 You now carry that momentum over from the second quarter.
00:13:44 That stops the drive.
00:13:45 It was third and long.
00:13:46 Mac made that throw.
00:13:48 Kendrick Bourne, third and 12.
00:13:50 Greg hit it.
00:13:51 That is a great throw.
00:13:53 Under duress, between two Eagles,
00:13:56 a tight, tight, tight window.
00:13:58 And he hits Bourne right in the bread basket
00:14:02 and Bourne drops it.
00:14:03 That's on third and 12.
00:14:05 A must-have play.
00:14:06 And your quarterback stood in the pocket,
00:14:09 staring down the barrel, took the pressure,
00:14:13 and delivered a perfect football.
00:14:15 Fourth and 12, final play of the game.
00:14:17 It's a good throw by Mac Jones.
00:14:19 If Booty again remembers he's not at LSU anymore,
00:14:22 playing against the SEC, and toe taps and gets his feet in.
00:14:26 So like, what drives me crazy is, yes,
00:14:29 I will bring up the negative plays,
00:14:31 but I will also bring up the great throws
00:14:34 that he made late in this game
00:14:36 that could have resulted in a win
00:14:39 if his teammates helped him.
00:14:41 So the idea that he just peed down his leg
00:14:46 in the fourth quarter and was like looking around
00:14:48 and throwing the football in the third row,
00:14:50 that's not what happened.
00:14:52 There was some not so good,
00:14:53 but there was also some very good.
00:14:55 And if you ask me, two of the passes that he needed to make,
00:15:00 the two most important passes of the game, he made them.
00:15:04 Third and 12 to Bourne, he made that throw.
00:15:07 Fourth and 12 to Booty, he made that throw.
00:15:10 If one of those two guys catches the football,
00:15:13 we could be talking about the Patriots winning this game.
00:15:16 And-- - Yeah, Nick,
00:15:18 just to give you a little bit more ammunition,
00:15:20 I mean, fourth and three, they go for it.
00:15:24 Juju Smith-Schuster runs the wrong route.
00:15:25 Like, I mean, if he just runs the right route,
00:15:28 which is simple, and we've seen Julian Edelman
00:15:30 and Wes Walker do it time and time again.
00:15:32 Mac was waiting for him to run the right route.
00:15:34 He doesn't do it.
00:15:35 You know, and that stuff goes on all the time
00:15:38 in this offense.
00:15:39 It just, we have to, Greg, you know I'm a big fan of this.
00:15:43 Context matters.
00:15:45 And when we talk about all the players,
00:15:47 I will give you all the context.
00:15:49 I've told you, I agree mostly with Greg
00:15:52 when we've had Mac Jones conversations.
00:15:53 I think he's an average
00:15:54 to slightly above average starting quarterback.
00:15:57 So that's what I anticipate going in on Sundays.
00:16:00 If you're anticipating an A-plus performance,
00:16:03 you're going to be disappointed 95% of the time.
00:16:06 Because if you're going to get that kind of performance
00:16:08 consistently from him, guess what?
00:16:10 Mac Jones is the top five quarterback in the league.
00:16:13 And that's not who he is.
00:16:14 That's a you problem.
00:16:16 That's a Felger problem.
00:16:17 And everybody else who criticizes everything the guy does,
00:16:20 that's their problem.
00:16:22 Because you're asking more of Mac Jones
00:16:24 than what he's capable of.
00:16:26 That's on you.
00:16:27 That's not on him.
00:16:29 Now, context matters when you say
00:16:33 Devontae Parker was out of this game.
00:16:35 The guy who Greg and many others will tell you
00:16:37 had probably the best camp out of all the receivers,
00:16:39 minus maybe DeMario Douglas, Parker's out of the game.
00:16:43 Juju Smith-Schuster, for whatever reason,
00:16:46 played just over 50% of the snaps in this game.
00:16:49 He was not out there in the two minute offense.
00:16:51 You tell me why, right?
00:16:53 So you have Juju out there for about 50% of the time.
00:16:56 You've got Keyshawn Booty taking 55 snaps
00:16:59 in this game on Sunday.
00:17:00 Who predicted that happening?
00:17:02 55 snaps.
00:17:04 You have the best offensive lineman on your team out.
00:17:07 You have your other guard out.
00:17:09 You have two rookie guards in.
00:17:12 You have inclement weather to start this game.
00:17:14 Oh, and by the way, you can't run the football at all.
00:17:19 You tell me, you tell me how many quarterbacks,
00:17:23 if you take away their number one receiver,
00:17:27 the guy who's supposed to be the two receiver
00:17:29 plays 50% of the snaps,
00:17:31 has two rookie guards starting on the offensive line,
00:17:36 has to deal with awful weather,
00:17:39 an absolutely zero run game.
00:17:41 Oh, and by the way, also working with a new coordinator,
00:17:44 his third offensive coordinator in three years.
00:17:47 How many quarterbacks week one would go out there
00:17:51 and give you an A plus plus?
00:17:53 That's all I'm saying.
00:17:55 Let's keep it real.
00:17:57 Let's keep it honest.
00:17:58 I know we got content.
00:18:00 I deliver content.
00:18:01 I deliver honest content.
00:18:04 So if we want to look at what Mac did on Sunday,
00:18:07 is it not fair to sit there and tell you,
00:18:09 you know, it's funny,
00:18:10 everybody complained about Brady's lack of weapons.
00:18:13 And every time Brady had something
00:18:14 that was a little bit under average,
00:18:16 as far as players around him or issues with the team,
00:18:20 it was always everybody else, right?
00:18:22 But now because it's Mac,
00:18:24 it's like you're excusing him
00:18:26 for having a B minus performance.
00:18:28 No, these are reasons why any starting quarterback
00:18:33 would not be excellent on Sunday.
00:18:35 B minus, he got an F grade in the first quarter.
00:18:41 I gave him an A plus in the second quarter
00:18:42 when the dude went bananas.
00:18:44 And then in the second half,
00:18:45 I thought he hovered around a B minus to a B.
00:18:47 So I thought it was a B minus.
00:18:49 And by the way, Greg, I don't know if you would agree,
00:18:51 and I know we're going to get into this in a little bit.
00:18:53 I thought he outplayed Jalen Hurts.
00:18:56 And if you tell me that Mac Jones outplays
00:18:59 the other quarterback for the vast majority of this season,
00:19:03 given this schedule,
00:19:05 you have to feel pretty good about Mac Jones
00:19:07 going into the future.
00:19:08 You have to.
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00:20:25 (upbeat music)
00:20:28 - So, you know-- - Sorry, Griff.
00:20:32 You want me to lead off or you wanna lead off?
00:20:34 - I'll lead off.
00:20:35 So, Nick, I don't necessarily, you know, disagree with you.
00:20:40 I don't get into the whole outplayed Jalen Hurts thing.
00:20:44 Like, you know, we'll get into that.
00:20:46 I certainly have my criticisms of Jalen Hurts in this game,
00:20:50 which is a lot.
00:20:51 But, you know, and I do think, you know,
00:20:54 driving home from doing Felger and Mast today,
00:20:56 I do think that, I think Felger said at some point,
00:20:59 I do think, I think it's valid.
00:21:01 And I think it's valid in this conversation with Mac Jones
00:21:04 because, you know, he's, you know, with Brady,
00:21:07 I was one of the first guys to be like,
00:21:10 nobody's getting open or he's got a crappy offensive line.
00:21:13 And like, you know, that's why X, Y, and Z.
00:21:16 But I do think it's a worthy discussion that, you know,
00:21:20 in this post-Brady era and going forward,
00:21:23 and this isn't quite Mac specific,
00:21:25 but Bill's going to have to decide
00:21:29 if he's the guy going forward or what have you.
00:21:32 But I just think that, like, Bill holds certain beliefs
00:21:37 in terms of what he needs to give a quarterback
00:21:40 for the team to be successful.
00:21:42 And it's sort of what we've talked about before,
00:21:45 but I just think they're outdated.
00:21:46 I think that, you know,
00:21:48 unless you have an elite Brady, Mahomes,
00:21:52 Burrow, Herbert, you know, what have you,
00:21:56 some elite quarterback, like,
00:21:59 it's either the elite quarterback and you can,
00:22:03 all right, you know, 'cause I'm paying him a lot of money,
00:22:05 I get by with, all right,
00:22:06 maybe my offensive line isn't great,
00:22:08 but we figure out a way around it.
00:22:10 Or maybe I give him one really good weapon,
00:22:12 but he's got to figure out how to make everything else work.
00:22:15 I just think the way he's doing it
00:22:18 with Mack being not elite,
00:22:20 and we'll see ultimately,
00:22:22 they could have the offensive line
00:22:24 and the running game to support him.
00:22:26 I think that's the plan going forward.
00:22:28 It could happen if they get guys back.
00:22:32 I'd certainly leave that on the table,
00:22:33 that they could have one of the better offensive lines
00:22:36 in the league.
00:22:37 You know, I've said that consistently.
00:22:40 But, you know, and then you get into the weapons.
00:22:42 Yeah, if he had Devontae Parker back,
00:22:44 but that's part of the thing with Devontae Parker
00:22:45 is that he's not always out there.
00:22:48 I just think that Bill's trying to,
00:22:51 he's trying to middle things on offense,
00:22:53 where he doesn't have the great quarterback,
00:22:56 but he's not giving him great line, great weapons.
00:23:01 Like, it's really, it's gotta be one or the other.
00:23:04 And if it's not, then I don't think you have anything.
00:23:07 And so, you know, I just wonder if going forward,
00:23:10 they have enough, but I'm not,
00:23:12 again, it's week one, I'm not making any judgments.
00:23:14 It's just something that I have an eye on.
00:23:16 And I do think that Mack, at a certain point in time,
00:23:19 when they get the offensive line back,
00:23:21 when his weapons are more consistent,
00:23:22 he's worked with them more.
00:23:24 What I really like about this is now Bill O'Brien
00:23:26 has real film to go off of with Mack
00:23:28 to make corrections and going forward,
00:23:30 'cause I know Mack is smart and he'll take care of that.
00:23:34 You know, I just, at a certain point in time this year,
00:23:39 Mack is gonna have to win a game like that,
00:23:41 or multiple games like that.
00:23:43 Like, it's just, and we've talked about it before.
00:23:47 You know, you change offensive schemes,
00:23:49 you bring new players in, like Juju Smith-Schuster,
00:23:51 and you're doing stuff on the offensive line.
00:23:53 That stuff takes time.
00:23:55 Look at Tom Brady when he went to Tampa.
00:23:56 Seven and five, they were sort of in and out
00:23:58 of the playoffs at that point.
00:23:59 Then they got fire.
00:24:01 The same thing is gonna have to happen
00:24:03 this year to Mack Jones.
00:24:04 They have to stop losing games like Sunday,
00:24:07 and they gotta start winning 'em,
00:24:09 and Mack is included in that, big time.
00:24:12 - I wouldn't disagree.
00:24:14 Of course he's part of it.
00:24:15 Again, I don't go blind with the negative plays.
00:24:18 I brought them up.
00:24:20 I would say, though, ultimately,
00:24:21 I think he played well enough to win on Sunday.
00:24:23 And if you had one of the four big plays that backfired,
00:24:28 and people could say, well, if one of his negative plays,
00:24:31 I understand, but on balance, again,
00:24:33 I thought he played a good football game.
00:24:36 Greg said he was really good.
00:24:37 And so when your defense plays that way,
00:24:40 and your quarterback is really good on that day,
00:24:44 you should win the damn game.
00:24:46 The reason why they didn't win the game is because, again,
00:24:51 in the most crucial moments when you had to have it,
00:24:55 I think your receivers let you down
00:24:57 a lot more than Mack Jones let you down.
00:24:59 And those throws and plays that you had to have,
00:25:01 Mack made them.
00:25:02 He made three big plays, three big throws.
00:25:07 So I just, I think it's all part of it.
00:25:11 And I wouldn't have much of an issue with it,
00:25:13 but it's like Mack is always the focal point, Greg.
00:25:16 And you know this, if you listen to radio,
00:25:17 if you watch on TV, because he's the quarterback, right?
00:25:20 He gets the women and all the guys want to be him
00:25:22 and blah, bidi, blah, bidi, blah.
00:25:23 They get the credit when they win.
00:25:25 They get the criticism when they lose.
00:25:28 That's how this game is played by many.
00:25:31 But again, I just think he played well enough on Sunday.
00:25:37 He made the plays when they needed him
00:25:39 to make the plays in that fourth quarter.
00:25:41 And his teammates did not help him out.
00:25:44 His receivers did not help him out.
00:25:46 - Yeah, I don't disagree with that.
00:25:48 And actually, you know, when you said,
00:25:51 I think he played well enough to win,
00:25:53 I'm not sure about that.
00:25:55 I mean, maybe, I haven't really given it a lot of thought.
00:25:58 Like, I'm not gonna totally disregard it,
00:25:59 but the thought that I had was,
00:26:01 and I don't know how you're gonna react to this,
00:26:03 but if they had DeAndre Hopkins at X
00:26:07 and they had Kobe Myers instead of Juju Smith-Schuster
00:26:11 in this game, I think they win.
00:26:13 Which backs up your argument.
00:26:15 - I said it on my podcast today, by the way,
00:26:18 Nick Cattle's podcast, check it out daily.
00:26:20 I said it today, though.
00:26:22 I absolutely agree with you, Greg.
00:26:23 Like, if you look at, first of all,
00:26:25 Booty's not playing 55 snaps if Hopkins is out there.
00:26:28 You don't have to rely on Juju.
00:26:31 You don't have to rely on Kendrick Bourne
00:26:33 to make every big play.
00:26:35 And you can't tell me, with Hopkins and his resume,
00:26:38 he had, I think, what was it,
00:26:40 seven catches for like 60 plus yards on Sunday.
00:26:42 - Totally garbage quarterback.
00:26:44 - Yeah, Ryan Tannehill, I think,
00:26:45 had under a 30 QB rating, passer rating on Sunday.
00:26:49 Just God awful.
00:26:50 And Derrick Henry didn't get a lot of touches.
00:26:52 It was a brutal offensive game by Tennessee.
00:26:54 Nick Folk was the star, not surprising.
00:26:56 He had five freaking field goals.
00:26:59 But Hopkins, like, with his resume,
00:27:00 you can't tell me that on fourth and three,
00:27:03 he wouldn't run the right route,
00:27:04 especially with the history he has with O'Brien,
00:27:07 and give them a better chance to make a play.
00:27:09 You can't tell me that on third and 12,
00:27:11 that if Mack delivers the same football
00:27:14 to DeAndre Hopkins that he delivered to Kendrick Bourne,
00:27:17 you can't tell me that Hopkins has a better chance
00:27:19 of bringing that football in.
00:27:20 You can't tell me, if the two plays to Keyshawn Booty,
00:27:23 when he couldn't get his feet inbounds,
00:27:25 that Hopkins wouldn't be able
00:27:26 to get his damn feet inbounds.
00:27:28 So I agree with you.
00:27:29 Just imagine, at the end of this game,
00:27:33 them trying to upset the Eagles at home,
00:27:37 if they had DeAndre Hopkins at the X boundary,
00:27:40 they had Jacoby Myers in the slot,
00:27:42 and Hunter Henry at tight end,
00:27:46 with Kendrick Bourne as sort of like a fourth option,
00:27:49 that's tough to defend.
00:27:51 And to me, that's a bill thing.
00:27:53 This is one of our criticisms the whole summer,
00:27:56 like, have you done enough?
00:27:58 And I just don't think he does enough for the offense.
00:28:01 And meanwhile, on defense, the three first round picks,
00:28:04 or three top picks are showing out.
00:28:07 Be nice to get one of those on offense,
00:28:08 maybe that would have helped out.
00:28:09 But it's a bill thing, not a Mack thing.
00:28:13 So we'll see.
00:28:14 I mean, look, Bill has the balance of the season
00:28:16 to prove us wrong, that the way he constructs his team,
00:28:20 even though it looks out of step with the rest of the NFL,
00:28:23 can still win in the NFL.
00:28:24 He has the balance of the season to prove that.
00:28:26 I don't think it's gonna happen.
00:28:28 I thought game one was evidence of that,
00:28:31 but we'll have to see.
00:28:32 - Yeah, I agree with you.
00:28:34 This season, we've said it throughout the last few months,
00:28:36 this is all on Belichick.
00:28:37 He's trying to prove to the football world
00:28:39 that he can do it his way,
00:28:41 versus how the game has evolved.
00:28:43 And it's gonna be proven,
00:28:45 whether he's right or wrong on that.
00:28:47 And this is why you and I talked about it at the time,
00:28:52 and we'll get into Bill O'Brien and the defense
00:28:54 in a minute, but this is why we talked
00:28:55 about the Hopkins stuff and why I was infuriated by it,
00:28:59 because as we mentioned, margin of error.
00:29:02 This team has a very minute margin of error.
00:29:06 And we talked, like none of this is surprising.
00:29:10 Devontae Parker hasn't played a full season since 2019.
00:29:14 Juju Smith-Schuster has had a long, long injury history,
00:29:18 including just having surgery this off season,
00:29:21 apparently, according to Juju.
00:29:23 Like, it's not surprising that two
00:29:26 of your top three receivers are banged up
00:29:29 and not really producing right out of the gates.
00:29:32 And so that's why you go out and you get a Hopkins.
00:29:35 Bill O'Brien didn't have DeAndre Hopkins
00:29:38 offensively on Sunday, but what'd you make
00:29:41 of Billy O'Brien's return to New England
00:29:46 against the Eagles on Sunday?
00:29:47 - I thought it was really good,
00:29:50 and I'm not gonna get into comparing him
00:29:51 to what happened last year or whatever,
00:29:53 just on judgment.
00:29:55 I thought that he had a very sound plan.
00:29:57 Mac Jones, at the end of the day,
00:30:01 I think he was like third or fourth lowest time to pass
00:30:06 in the league this week.
00:30:08 Depth of target wasn't very big.
00:30:11 You look at his quarterback chart,
00:30:12 and there's a lot of stuff within five yards
00:30:15 around the line of scrimmage.
00:30:16 But that's just what you gotta do
00:30:18 when you have a complete mismatch of weight class
00:30:22 up front between the Patriots offensive line
00:30:24 and the Eagles defensive line,
00:30:25 which was as advertised pretty much.
00:30:29 Jalen Carter was awesome.
00:30:30 Fletcher Cox was awesome.
00:30:32 Jordan Davis was awesome.
00:30:33 And Ahsan Redick.
00:30:35 But he did a good job, they did a good job minimizing that.
00:30:38 I thought they took the appropriate amount of shot plays
00:30:41 and got it protected.
00:30:43 One that I'm sure Mac Jones would love to have back
00:30:45 was the underthrown ball to Kendrick Bourne
00:30:48 down the right sideline that Darius Slade broke up.
00:30:50 Look, it was underthrown.
00:30:52 The play was there.
00:30:53 Could have been a touchdown.
00:30:54 Mac put too much air under it.
00:30:55 You know, that's one of those plays that you talk about,
00:30:57 like, you know, to win a game like that,
00:31:00 you gotta hit those plays.
00:31:01 And, you know, so I thought it was about as expected
00:31:06 that they couldn't run the ball at all.
00:31:09 Surprised me a little bit.
00:31:10 I don't know if Stevenson was under the weather,
00:31:12 but I did not think he looked good as a running back.
00:31:15 He was much more indecisive than I've seen him before.
00:31:20 I thought Ezekiel Elliott was the quote unquote
00:31:24 better running back in this game.
00:31:27 The only real, and I'm sure the coaches
00:31:30 made these decisions based on what they see in practice,
00:31:33 and I'm sure they had a reason for doing this,
00:31:36 but I just don't understand why so much time
00:31:38 for Keyshawn Booty?
00:31:39 Why not move Kendrick Bourne over there?
00:31:43 It might be 'cause they don't think Kendrick can handle it.
00:31:45 That's very possible given that he's still having
00:31:48 a plethora of route running issues to this day,
00:31:52 especially on Sunday, and it's the reason why
00:31:54 he doesn't play more than he does.
00:31:56 You know, and why not put Demario Douglas
00:31:58 in the Kendrick Bourne spot?
00:32:01 You know, and I didn't love how much Ezekiel Elliott
00:32:05 was sort of used in the quick game.
00:32:06 Like, you know, Ty Montgomery is fast.
00:32:09 Demario Douglas is fast.
00:32:11 Like, you know, Zeke did okay, but, you know,
00:32:15 it just goes to further the notion
00:32:20 that the Patriots are not fast enough,
00:32:22 and they have the ability to get faster,
00:32:25 and they just decide not to do it.
00:32:27 But overall, I really liked what I saw out of Billy,
00:32:31 and I'm optimistic that, you know,
00:32:34 get the line healthy, give him a running game.
00:32:37 Yeah, he's gonna cook up some nice stuff.
00:32:39 - All right, we'll continue thoughts on Bill O'Brien
00:32:41 and this offense, but first, let's talk to you
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00:34:47 - You know, Greg, my thoughts on Bill O'Brien
00:34:54 is just the overall operation mostly worked, right?
00:34:57 I mean, it looked like an NFL offense,
00:34:59 which was nice to see.
00:35:00 And I agree with you.
00:35:02 You said earlier, Matt kinda got his confidence
00:35:04 rolling a little bit in that second quarter.
00:35:05 And I thought it was really telling
00:35:08 after that first quarter that Matt came back
00:35:10 in the second quarter and played as well as he did
00:35:12 because I don't think we see that last year.
00:35:15 And I think that's not only an offensive coordinator,
00:35:18 offensive staff problem,
00:35:19 but I do think that was a Mac problem last year
00:35:21 and he's talked about it.
00:35:22 He got down on himself, he got too emotional,
00:35:24 all that stuff.
00:35:26 He was able to mostly tuck that aside
00:35:28 and really kind of battle the adversity early in this game,
00:35:33 which was nice to see.
00:35:34 And I think some of that is the belief he has
00:35:37 in Bill O'Brien that he did not have
00:35:39 in that staff last year.
00:35:41 I thought, you know, O'Brien made some good adjustments.
00:35:43 He ran a number of bunch formations,
00:35:45 which worked and created separation for parts of this game.
00:35:49 That was a factor, especially in the second quarter.
00:35:53 And I really think, you know, look,
00:35:54 it's similar to Mac where like,
00:35:57 if you're looking at this offense overall
00:36:01 and you're saying to yourself, like, you have no run game,
00:36:04 I think people are overlooking that.
00:36:06 This offense on Sunday was one dimensional
00:36:11 against one of the best defenses in the league last year
00:36:14 and against arguably the best pass rush this season.
00:36:18 Now, of course, we got to play the year out,
00:36:20 but if you're predicting and you're projecting
00:36:23 what this defense is going to do,
00:36:25 they knew that they couldn't run the ball.
00:36:28 Everybody knew it.
00:36:29 I knew it, you knew it, Greg, everybody knew it.
00:36:31 The Patriots could not run the ball on Sunday.
00:36:34 And so a one dimensional offense, and they still,
00:36:38 I thought, you know, I still thought that they,
00:36:40 the plays were there to be made,
00:36:42 which I think says a lot about Bill O'Brien.
00:36:44 Given the lack of the run game
00:36:46 and all the questions that I brought up with Mac,
00:36:48 the same exists for Bill O'Brien.
00:36:50 And the plays were there.
00:36:51 Like, I know we don't want to do it too often
00:36:54 'cause it's unfair to Matt Patricia.
00:36:56 Greg and I have said it before.
00:36:57 That was a Belichick problem.
00:36:59 Patricia, no win situation for that guy.
00:37:02 But imagine all those circumstances happening last year
00:37:05 to this team against Philadelphia.
00:37:07 Do they even score six points?
00:37:09 Do they even have a chance to score a touchdown
00:37:11 at any point in that game?
00:37:12 So I think that says a lot about O'Brien.
00:37:15 I will say this though.
00:37:16 I don't know about you, but I hated,
00:37:20 oh, and by the way, no run game also means
00:37:22 that you're not going to use the play action nearly as much.
00:37:23 And I think they would love to run the football
00:37:25 and use play action this year.
00:37:27 - Yep.
00:37:28 - I did not like the third and three play call to Stevenson,
00:37:32 which led to the fourth and three.
00:37:33 And I understand that Belichick obviously was committed,
00:37:37 I think, going forward on fourth and three
00:37:39 and likely told O'Brien,
00:37:40 and that's why they ran the play on third and three.
00:37:42 Still hated it because you haven't been able
00:37:44 to run the football all day
00:37:45 and you can't run between the tackles.
00:37:47 So that was pretty much just punting on that third down.
00:37:51 That was not good.
00:37:52 I did not like that play call at all.
00:37:54 I didn't like it in the moment.
00:37:55 I hate it even more now.
00:37:57 And also, Greg, your thoughts,
00:37:59 there was a late screen, I think, to Stevenson.
00:38:01 I think it was on third and long or something that I hated.
00:38:03 - Hated it, hated it.
00:38:05 Oh my God.
00:38:06 Like, yeah, it was third and 13 with 51 seconds left.
00:38:10 - Oh God.
00:38:11 - And they ran, now, I don't know if it was
00:38:13 because the Stevenson screen worked earlier,
00:38:16 but that was just a, you know,
00:38:18 the Eagles are defending, at that point,
00:38:21 they're defending the end zone.
00:38:25 That's all they're worried about.
00:38:26 So they're not getting,
00:38:27 they're gonna be covering the middle field in the zone.
00:38:30 Like, so I don't understand,
00:38:30 and I hated that play call.
00:38:33 I don't complain about many play calls
00:38:35 and I thought Billy was on point for much of this game,
00:38:38 but that play, man, I'm sure he'd like to have that playback.
00:38:41 - Yeah, it's, you know, I mean, look, again,
00:38:44 it's a couple of plays here and there,
00:38:46 but I thought overall, I don't have much to complain about
00:38:50 with Bill O'Brien on Sunday.
00:38:51 All right, let's jump to the defensive side here.
00:38:54 We still got three up, three down,
00:38:55 and I have an overall thought on this game.
00:38:58 But just your thoughts, again, from 30,000 feet, Greg,
00:39:02 your thoughts on the defense and what you saw.
00:39:04 - Okay, so just so nobody gets this twisted,
00:39:09 this was one of the best game plans
00:39:15 that I've seen the Patriots put out in the regular season.
00:39:18 It was like a Super Bowl game,
00:39:23 you know, when you have a couple of weeks to prepare.
00:39:25 This is not a surprise.
00:39:28 They have, this is something we've talked about a lot,
00:39:30 and I expected the Patriots' defense
00:39:33 to play well in this game.
00:39:35 I expected them to have a great plan
00:39:38 for the Seagulls team, which is,
00:39:41 you do not want to see this team in week 10
00:39:43 when you have like two days to game plan
00:39:44 and three practice days.
00:39:46 The Patriots have used multiple practices.
00:39:49 They used the Green Bay Packers' preseason game
00:39:52 as to prepare for this game.
00:39:55 And kudos to all involved.
00:39:58 They did everything well.
00:39:59 It was on point.
00:40:00 You know, the plan was extremely sound.
00:40:05 They showed some really nice looks, a few new ones.
00:40:10 They really bottled up.
00:40:11 They didn't let the Eagles have any big plays
00:40:14 at all in this game.
00:40:15 So, you know, kudos to them.
00:40:20 There's a couple of caveats that I have to throw in on this.
00:40:23 Number one, I do think that the weather early
00:40:28 and also even bigger, the 16-0 score
00:40:32 factored into how the Eagles played offense.
00:40:35 It was almost like they were like, you know what?
00:40:40 We were gonna bring out some new stuff,
00:40:43 but you know, the Patriots aren't doing anything on offense.
00:40:46 We might win this game 30-0.
00:40:47 Let's keep everything in our back pocket
00:40:49 and let's just play the game.
00:40:51 Sort of like the Bengals last year
00:40:52 when they were up 22-0.
00:40:55 I think that the Eagles were not prepared
00:41:00 for this game at all to play.
00:41:02 I don't think their offensive line was ready.
00:41:05 If you're critical of the way the Patriots handled
00:41:08 the preseason and training camp,
00:41:10 the Eagles were even worse.
00:41:12 They barely practiced at all.
00:41:13 They practiced for like an hour, hour and a half,
00:41:15 you know, talking to Jeff McClain last week.
00:41:18 None of the starters played in the preseason
00:41:20 and boy, did it look like it.
00:41:21 To the point where Nick Sirianni,
00:41:23 one of the first things he said
00:41:24 after watching the film on Monday to reporters was,
00:41:27 "Yeah, we're gonna play people next year."
00:41:29 Because I'm sure he saw the same film that I did
00:41:33 and he was just like, "We stink."
00:41:35 I mean, look, they stunk and especially Jalen Hurts.
00:41:40 I haven't seen a lot of him.
00:41:43 I've just seen highlights and I saw, you know,
00:41:45 how they cooked last year.
00:41:46 And, you know, he had a great Super Bowl and all that stuff.
00:41:50 You know, so I don't know what he does week to week,
00:41:52 but he was awful in this game.
00:41:54 Now, yes, did the Patriots factor into it?
00:41:57 Yes, some, but like for example, I mean,
00:42:02 I had him for 14 bad reads in running and passing.
00:42:07 And I'm not talking about like, you know,
00:42:10 so basically when you're running a scheme like they run,
00:42:12 a lot of it is just simple math.
00:42:14 Like, all right, how many defenders are over here?
00:42:17 How many receivers, running backs and tight ends
00:42:19 do I have in here?
00:42:20 Where do I have the numbers advantage?
00:42:23 And then I go from there.
00:42:24 I play to my advantage.
00:42:26 I can't tell you, Nick, how many times
00:42:28 he went counter to that.
00:42:29 And I don't know why he did that.
00:42:31 I'm sure a lot of people out there are being like,
00:42:33 "Bedard, you're just a hater, blah, blah, blah.
00:42:36 "You can't say anything nice about the Patriots."
00:42:38 Like, trust me, if it was the Patriots,
00:42:40 like if the Patriots were changing the math
00:42:42 after the snap all the time, I would tell you that.
00:42:45 And I would have been like,
00:42:46 "They screw with Jalen Hurts all day."
00:42:48 And he could not figure it out.
00:42:49 That's not what went on to the point where I asked somebody,
00:42:53 I don't wanna name him because, and out him because,
00:42:57 I don't know what he's gonna say about this publicly.
00:43:00 I'll just give him a chance to do it.
00:43:01 But somebody who watches Jalen Hurts all the time,
00:43:03 who watches the Eagles every week for what he does
00:43:06 and is well-respected in his position.
00:43:08 I called him up and I asked him, I said,
00:43:11 "So what'd you think of Hurts in this game?"
00:43:13 And even before I gave my opinion on it,
00:43:16 he said he was awful in this game.
00:43:18 It looked like he was playing his first game
00:43:21 as a rookie quarterback.
00:43:22 So, like, you know, I don't know what to tell you.
00:43:25 The Patriots are damn good.
00:43:28 Like, their defensive line, as advertised.
00:43:31 I thought Jawan Bentley was awesome in this game
00:43:33 at the second level.
00:43:34 I thought the safeties were awesome in this game.
00:43:37 I thought the rookies really showed well in this game.
00:43:41 And the Patriots covered,
00:43:42 they had like zero mental lapses in this game.
00:43:46 Not many blown assignments or blown gaps.
00:43:49 Kudos to them, they executed great.
00:43:52 But I do think that the Eagles were not prepared.
00:43:56 Jalen Hurts was not prepared for this game.
00:43:58 And I assume they're gonna be better from this
00:44:01 after seeing the film.
00:44:03 But I was very underwhelmed by the Eagles.
00:44:07 I don't wanna, you know, short the Patriots for credit
00:44:10 because they did what they should have done in this game.
00:44:14 And, you know, but ultimately how good they are,
00:44:16 you know, we'll see.
00:44:17 Do it against the Dolphins, do it against the Cowboys.
00:44:20 You know, then we're talking.
00:44:21 But, you know, obviously they did a great job in this game.
00:44:24 I just don't know how much was them.
00:44:27 I think a little bit more of it was Jalen Hurts
00:44:30 and the Eagles.
00:44:31 - All right, we'll continue the conversation.
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00:45:55 - All right, so watching this game defensively, Greg,
00:46:01 and I haven't watched the All-22 and stuff like you have,
00:46:04 and what I would say is it's a mixture of both.
00:46:07 It's just like every conversation we have.
00:46:09 People want to just kind of reduce things
00:46:14 to like one or two reasons why this team won, that team lost.
00:46:19 So what I would say is Jalen Hurts didn't play well.
00:46:24 I would say that the Eagles were absolutely not ready
00:46:29 for this game at a level that they should have been.
00:46:31 And I do think it's because of how Nick Sarianni
00:46:34 went along in the preseason
00:46:37 and just didn't really do much with his football team.
00:46:41 But here's what I'm looking at.
00:46:43 I'm looking at a defense that against multiple quarterbacks,
00:46:46 including Mitchell freaking Trubisky,
00:46:49 couldn't stop a runny nose.
00:46:52 They couldn't get out of their own way.
00:46:55 So even if Jalen Hurts didn't play well,
00:47:00 I am feeling pretty good about how this defense was able
00:47:03 to deal with just the athleticism
00:47:06 and skill level of this Eagles team.
00:47:08 Because even if they weren't playing great football,
00:47:12 in Patriots prior years, defenses post Brady,
00:47:16 when you would see this slow defense,
00:47:19 Greg and I have been talking about this, how slow they were.
00:47:22 It was just excruciating to watch this team
00:47:27 against quarterbacks like Hurts, like Josh Allen,
00:47:30 like Justin Fields.
00:47:32 They had no chance, no chance to do anything.
00:47:36 So watching it on Sunday,
00:47:39 I do feel pretty good about this team's defense
00:47:42 and its overall speed.
00:47:43 I do think they have a lot more athleticism now
00:47:46 that they've kind of rebuilt this thing.
00:47:49 And I think that gives them a much better chance
00:47:51 to handle quarterbacks that have driven them crazy
00:47:53 in the past few years.
00:47:54 So that's good.
00:47:55 You and I talked about the pass rush, pass rush was there.
00:47:58 This is one of the best offensive lines in football,
00:48:00 if not the best offensive line.
00:48:02 Were they ready?
00:48:03 I don't know, but hey man,
00:48:04 by the middle of the second quarter,
00:48:06 you got a bunch of studs up there.
00:48:07 They better be ready at that point.
00:48:08 I can't blame Seriani for everything.
00:48:10 These guys are professionals.
00:48:11 Like get your ass in line if you weren't playing great.
00:48:14 They got a really good offensive line.
00:48:16 Matthew Judon had six pressures,
00:48:18 Uche Barmore and Keon White each had four pressures.
00:48:23 I mean, you look at the pass rush win rate
00:48:26 of defensive tackles,
00:48:27 I think going into Sunday night or last night's game,
00:48:30 one of the two, Barmore was third in the league
00:48:33 for defensive tackles at pass rush win rate.
00:48:35 That statistic, that analytic.
00:48:37 So the pass rush was there.
00:48:39 I agree with you, Greg, about the rookies.
00:48:41 Again, Keon White flashed when he was out there.
00:48:43 Christian Gonzalez played well.
00:48:46 I mean, he limited A.J. Brown to under 80 yards,
00:48:49 just under 80 yards with like 79.
00:48:51 But Smith and A.J. Brown didn't murder you,
00:48:55 which, you know, rookie, first game, could happen.
00:49:00 And that didn't happen.
00:49:01 And another thing that stood out to me, Greg,
00:49:04 I thought they tackled incredibly well in this game.
00:49:06 - Yeah, absolutely, 100%.
00:49:08 - I thought, especially the defensive backs coming downhill,
00:49:12 Gonzalez did it a couple times.
00:49:14 And look, as I've said with Mack, who by the way,
00:49:16 I graded a B minus in case people thought
00:49:19 I went over the top with him earlier,
00:49:21 I gave him a B minus.
00:49:22 Greg shook his head.
00:49:24 It was a fair grade.
00:49:25 But, you know, Myles Bryant,
00:49:28 who I've gone after a little bit,
00:49:30 and he's bugged me at times.
00:49:34 I thought he played well.
00:49:35 And I thought he made a couple of tackles.
00:49:37 One, I don't know if it was on Smith.
00:49:39 I think it was on Smith, but he came up and he wrapped him
00:49:42 and he just stopped them in his tracks
00:49:44 and almost picked them up and carried them back two yards.
00:49:46 I thought the Patriots tackled really well,
00:49:49 which again is something, Greg,
00:49:51 that we haven't always seen against some of these teams
00:49:54 that are really athletic,
00:49:55 with really good skill position players.
00:49:57 And I thought they brought that in spades on Sunday.
00:50:01 - Yeah, Nick, one thing I wanted to point out real quick.
00:50:03 So, you know, two plays in particular stand out to me
00:50:07 in terms of Jalen Hurts and his issues in this game.
00:50:11 And, you know, sort of the tug and pull between,
00:50:14 you know, was it the Patriots or Jalen Hurts?
00:50:16 So, you know, remember the deep pass into the end zone
00:50:20 where Marte Mapu and Gonzalez were there?
00:50:24 - Yep. - Yeah.
00:50:25 - So that play, and, you know, Tony Romo did well
00:50:28 to point out that Dallas Cotter was wide open underneath.
00:50:30 Like that play, while the Patriots did show something
00:50:34 pre and post snap a little bit,
00:50:36 still wasn't that exotic where,
00:50:38 the quarterback knows it's cover three.
00:50:41 And basically that, the whole route design,
00:50:44 so you have the over route
00:50:45 and then you have the under route with, you know,
00:50:47 Cotter and the receivers going in the end zone.
00:50:51 And the whole point is to put Gonzalez in a bind.
00:50:54 If he goes with the vertical route,
00:50:57 which is really just supposed to be passed off
00:50:59 to Marte Mapu, then you throw underneath.
00:51:02 If he stays underneath on the tight end,
00:51:04 then you go up top one-on-one.
00:51:06 He went up top, Dallas Cotter is wide open underneath.
00:51:09 And I don't know, like it's a basic play.
00:51:11 Jalen Hurts wasn't under any duress at all.
00:51:14 And he just chucked it in the end zone.
00:51:16 Then there was the play where Tony Romo was like,
00:51:19 "Oh Jim, I've never seen this before."
00:51:21 You know, where it's the Patriots came with all out blitz,
00:51:23 but then they played quarters behind it
00:51:25 instead of man to man.
00:51:26 It was definitely a wrinkle, definitely an awesome play.
00:51:29 But the problem with that play was,
00:51:31 Jalen Hurts took too long to throw it to A.J. Brown,
00:51:34 which allowed Miles Bryant to come up
00:51:36 and take A.J. Brown's legs from under him.
00:51:38 A good quarterback sees it coming,
00:51:41 knows he has this guy, he sees all these defenders back.
00:51:43 He knows he has A.J. Brown coming on the slant.
00:51:45 He just hits his back foot, boom, gives it to A.J. Brown.
00:51:48 That allows him to turn up the field.
00:51:50 And he might truck people and go 60 yards for a touchdown.
00:51:52 But because Jalen Hurts, for whatever reason,
00:51:55 you know, wasn't on top of his game,
00:51:57 he threw it way too late and the Patriots, you know,
00:52:00 made a really good play to force the Eagles to punt.
00:52:02 So I just wanted to point out,
00:52:04 just give people two examples
00:52:06 so they don't think I'm completely crazy.
00:52:09 - Yeah, I don't think people think you're completely crazy.
00:52:12 Maybe somewhat crazy, not completely.
00:52:14 - Yeah.
00:52:15 - But, you know, look, what I would say overall, again,
00:52:19 if this defense is as fast and as athletic
00:52:22 as it looked this past week, I feel good.
00:52:24 If this pass rush continues to do what it did on Sunday,
00:52:29 maybe not as good consistently
00:52:31 throughout the entirety of the game,
00:52:32 but if they can have that pass rush, and fantastic,
00:52:35 and both you and I have been high on the pass rush.
00:52:38 If you've got the rookies getting better, which they should,
00:52:42 it was only week one.
00:52:43 If Keon White, and Christian Gonzalez, and Marte Mapu
00:52:47 develop over the next five or six weeks,
00:52:49 and all of a sudden in the middle of the year,
00:52:50 we're talking about, you know,
00:52:52 three guys who are absolute,
00:52:54 I don't know if I'd say studs,
00:52:56 but at least can change the game
00:52:58 and impact the game in a positive way, I feel good.
00:53:01 If they can deal with mobile quarterbacks,
00:53:03 like they dealt with, I feel pretty good.
00:53:05 So we'll see if they continue that.
00:53:08 I think for them, it was a major test.
00:53:11 They passed that test. Some had to do,
00:53:13 certainly with Jalen Hurts, and Philly,
00:53:15 not being ready to play,
00:53:18 which certainly is not a good idea
00:53:20 when you're actually playing a game that counts.
00:53:23 All right, three up, three down, fast paced,
00:53:27 lightning round edition of it.
00:53:29 Greg, you're three up from this game.
00:53:32 - David Andrews was awesome in this game.
00:53:34 Didn't have one negative play for him.
00:53:35 Keon White was terrific,
00:53:38 and he's pushing to play a lot more over Dietrich Wise.
00:53:42 And while Hunter Henry and Mac Jones
00:53:45 were nominated for the final spot,
00:53:48 Jawan Bentley got the third one for me.
00:53:51 I just thought he was really good,
00:53:52 especially in the first half,
00:53:54 sort of thwarting the Eagles run game.
00:53:56 I thought he was really good.
00:53:58 - I'll give some love to Miles Bryant.
00:54:00 I gave him some love earlier,
00:54:01 but you know, PFF had him ranked
00:54:02 as their best cover corner of the day.
00:54:04 And I know PFF's rankings and ratings
00:54:07 and all of that stuff in grades can fluctuate,
00:54:09 but I thought Bryant played pretty well in a spot.
00:54:12 Jon Jones, you know, given how he hasn't really played a ton,
00:54:16 I thought he played well enough
00:54:17 and he's going to have a big role, I would think,
00:54:19 this weekend against Tyreek Hill.
00:54:21 And I agree with, you know, Keon White.
00:54:24 I just thought he was a game changer.
00:54:27 And every time that guy's been on the field,
00:54:29 preseason, training camp, the game that counts,
00:54:33 he makes plays.
00:54:35 And Greg, I agree with you.
00:54:37 I think, you know, coaches, here's what I would say.
00:54:42 And look, the coaches have forgotten a hell of a lot more
00:54:46 than I'll ever learn about the game of football.
00:54:48 But I'd like to see Keon White get more snaps.
00:54:52 And I'd like to see DeMario Douglas get more than 33 snaps.
00:54:56 I think, you know, I think those two rookies,
00:54:59 they can impact the game at a significant level.
00:55:01 So I like to see, I'm not saying play them 85% of the time,
00:55:04 but I would like to see those two guys, as time goes on,
00:55:07 get more snaps.
00:55:08 All right, you're three down.
00:55:11 Kayshaun Booty.
00:55:13 Yeah, stay in bounds.
00:55:14 Yeah, stay in bounds and just not a lot out there.
00:55:17 Juju Smith-Schuster had a drop, bad route on fourth and three.
00:55:22 Talk about no juice.
00:55:23 He's got nothing off the line, Juju Snu.
00:55:26 And then third, I just lumped in Moffie So and Calvin Anderson
00:55:30 together.
00:55:31 I had them, they gave up 17 of the 20 pressures that I had.
00:55:34 Half the stuff runs.
00:55:35 Now, did I expect them to be world
00:55:37 beaters against the best line in the league?
00:55:40 No, but at the end of the day, they
00:55:42 were not good in this game.
00:55:44 I'll throw Zeke in there.
00:55:45 Look, not a ton of touches.
00:55:47 You can't fumble the football.
00:55:50 You know, Stevenson wasn't great.
00:55:51 Maybe I just do the whole running back tandem.
00:55:53 Neither guy was exceptional in this game.
00:55:55 Some of that had to do with the offensive line, which I thought
00:55:58 was overrated by some people.
00:55:59 They gave up a ton of pressure.
00:56:01 And look, it wasn't a train wreck.
00:56:03 And I think that's why people felt better about the home
00:56:05 line, because when you walk in, you don't have strange in Owenu.
00:56:10 You're thinking, oh my god, Mac's
00:56:12 going to get sacked 8 to 10 times,
00:56:13 and this is going to be a bloodbath.
00:56:16 They gave up a lot of pressure.
00:56:17 And I thought Bill O'Brien did a great job with his play calls
00:56:20 and utilizing the quick pass game to kind of combat that.
00:56:24 And I thought, again, Mac did a good job
00:56:26 facing that pressure on balance.
00:56:30 He wasn't perfect.
00:56:31 Far from perfect, B minus again.
00:56:33 But I thought he did a good job against the pressure
00:56:37 on a number of plays.
00:56:38 All right, fourth down decisions by Bill Belichick.
00:56:44 Agree, disagree.
00:56:45 There was the fourth and three.
00:56:47 There was the fourth and 17.
00:56:49 And then there was the--
00:56:51 there's three, right?
00:56:52 Oh, fourth and eight, fourth and three, and then fourth
00:56:54 and 17, Greg.
00:56:55 How'd you feel about those?
00:56:56 Yeah, fourth and eight I was fine with.
00:56:58 I thought that he was going to go for it.
00:56:59 I thought--
00:57:00 Me too.
00:57:00 --I was saying to myself in the press box, I was like,
00:57:03 this is two down territory now, especially with the rookie
00:57:05 kicker and all that.
00:57:07 And fourth and three, I didn't have a problem with.
00:57:10 They had not been down there.
00:57:11 So this was like, what, nine minutes left in the game.
00:57:17 The last time they had done anything on offense
00:57:19 was the end of the first half when they scored a touchdown.
00:57:23 And I didn't know when they were going to get down there again.
00:57:25 And you didn't know, like, with the Eagles and their offensive
00:57:29 line and Jalen Hurts in the running game,
00:57:31 like, they easily could have kept the ball for the last eight
00:57:33 minutes of the game.
00:57:34 And yes, you could say the Patriots did a great job
00:57:37 on defense, and they were holding them down
00:57:39 the whole game.
00:57:40 At a certain point, the law of averages comes out.
00:57:42 And Bill knows that as well as anybody.
00:57:44 Yeah, we've done a really good job of the Eagles at this point.
00:57:47 But we need a freaking touchdown.
00:57:48 We're not winning this game with a bunch of field goals.
00:57:50 And I don't know if we can drive the field again
00:57:52 against these guys with this offensive line.
00:57:54 And they ended up having like 80 plays on offense
00:57:58 in this game for guys who--
00:57:59 a lot of guys who haven't played worth very many snaps at all.
00:58:03 I'm sure they were all dead tired after the game.
00:58:05 So the fourth and three play, I had no problem with.
00:58:09 Juju, run the freaking right route,
00:58:10 and they would have converted it.
00:58:12 And then fourth and 17, that was stupid.
00:58:13 Just punt the ball.
00:58:15 You got all three timeouts left, the two-minute warning.
00:58:17 I don't care.
00:58:18 Take a delay game penalty.
00:58:19 I don't know how much field position.
00:58:23 Like, just punt the ball.
00:58:25 You're not going to convert fourth and 17
00:58:27 with freaking Keishon Booty and half a leg Juju Snu
00:58:30 and a bunch of tight ends and guys
00:58:34 who don't know where to run the right routes.
00:58:36 Just punt the freaking ball.
00:58:39 The fourth and 17 made absolutely zero sense.
00:58:42 It was a fourth and 12, and I'm going, oh boy.
00:58:46 They're going for it.
00:58:47 That didn't make much sense to me.
00:58:49 I didn't love the fourth and 12.
00:58:51 And then a delay of game happened.
00:58:53 I don't know if that was O'Brien taking a while.
00:58:56 I have to believe it's mostly on Mac because O'Brien's
00:58:59 been an OC forever.
00:59:01 Maybe something was off with the communication.
00:59:03 I have no idea.
00:59:04 But I'll put that on Mac.
00:59:06 You get a delay of game.
00:59:07 And I'm thinking fourth and 17, it was like, oh, well,
00:59:10 now maybe Bill will have second thoughts.
00:59:12 And maybe he'll punt it.
00:59:14 And he was like, we're going for it, baby.
00:59:17 What the hell are we doing?
00:59:18 Over two minutes left, all three timeouts.
00:59:21 What in the world?
00:59:23 What the hell?
00:59:25 I would also say the fourth and three, my gut instinct,
00:59:29 my initial reaction was like, okay, I get it.
00:59:31 You need a touchdown.
00:59:33 Even if you kick a field goal,
00:59:34 you still need a touchdown to win this game.
00:59:37 But then the more I thought about it,
00:59:39 and the more I looked at things,
00:59:41 you had nine and a half minutes left.
00:59:44 The longest drive for the Eagles all day was 61 yards.
00:59:48 That was their first drive of the game.
00:59:50 That was the longest drive they had.
00:59:52 The longest drive they had all game was 61 yards.
00:59:55 It's the first drive of the game,
00:59:56 which resulted in a field goal.
00:59:58 Their only touchdown drive was 26 yards
01:00:00 off of the Zeke fumble.
01:00:02 They had not moved the ball hardly at all that game.
01:00:07 I saw a stat from Warren Sharp today.
01:00:10 Patriots had the third highest three and out percentage
01:00:13 as a defense on Sunday.
01:00:15 Eagles were doing nothing offensively.
01:00:18 And I would push back on the Patriots.
01:00:20 They weren't moving the ball.
01:00:22 Look, again, circumstances kill them.
01:00:25 If Booty keeps his feet inbounds, that drive continues.
01:00:28 They're well into Philadelphia territory.
01:00:30 They're feeling good about themselves.
01:00:32 If Belichick kicks a field goal,
01:00:35 then we're talking about how they were able to score.
01:00:37 If the Hunter Henry holding call, was it on Henry?
01:00:40 I don't know.
01:00:41 Some people, I know Phil Perry said
01:00:42 it might've been on Farrow, Brown, or whatever.
01:00:45 That Hunter Henry call was garbage.
01:00:47 They were about to, they're in perfect position
01:00:50 to possibly score a touchdown
01:00:51 or at least get three points.
01:00:53 You get the holding call,
01:00:54 and then you got another penalty that I,
01:00:56 oh, the holding call, I think it was.
01:00:58 And then you have the weird screen pass to Pop Douglas.
01:01:02 It wasn't a great throw by Mack.
01:01:03 He loses three yards,
01:01:05 but they're sitting there on the doorstep thinking red zone.
01:01:08 That holding call just completely just,
01:01:10 it hits a brick wall, stalls the drive.
01:01:12 So they, as I said earlier,
01:01:14 I thought the plays were there to be made.
01:01:16 I thought Bill O'Brien called the good game.
01:01:18 And, you know, nine and a half minutes left,
01:01:21 I would have kicked the field goal and taken the points.
01:01:23 One thing I would just say overall is,
01:01:26 I don't want to get into a huge conversation about this.
01:01:31 I'm sure you don't want to, and we're along anyway,
01:01:34 and I'm hopeful that people are loving the content here.
01:01:37 I'm not going to get into the moral victory thing.
01:01:40 Again, I vented today on my show.
01:01:44 I vented on the moral victory thing,
01:01:48 which I think is a sleight of hand
01:01:49 by the media around here that I don't love.
01:01:52 I think some of it's disingenuous.
01:01:53 You know, you can't tell me
01:01:56 for the entire Patriots great run
01:01:59 that we're going to talk about bad stuff after a great win,
01:02:03 because what else are we going to do?
01:02:05 We got a job to do, blah, bitty, blah, bitty, blah, right?
01:02:07 That was the stance.
01:02:08 When the Patriots were doing nothing but winning,
01:02:10 it was, well, we have to pick apart these games
01:02:13 and we have to find the negatives
01:02:15 because what else are we going to do?
01:02:17 Just sit here and kiss their ass?
01:02:18 And now when they're not a very good team,
01:02:22 you're not supposed to take any good out of a loss?
01:02:26 I do think you can find positives in a loss.
01:02:28 Like you can't tell me the Patriots defense
01:02:30 wasn't a positive on Sunday.
01:02:32 But ultimately, undeniable fact
01:02:36 is what Greg brought up earlier on this pot,
01:02:38 which is with Brady and with Mack Jones and Cam Newton,
01:02:43 they've been unable to win these games late.
01:02:46 And they've lost a bunch of close games.
01:02:48 That's an undeniable fact.
01:02:50 But this is what I'll say.
01:02:52 I'm throwing last year out.
01:02:53 Yeah, I said it.
01:02:55 I'm throwing last year out.
01:02:57 I'm not going to sit there and hold last year
01:02:59 against Mack Jones in this, I'm just not.
01:03:01 He was dealt an awful hand.
01:03:04 So as Greg and I have talked about,
01:03:07 I've been consistent about this.
01:03:08 This is the year that Mack has to prove himself.
01:03:11 Last year to me is just a waste.
01:03:14 Bill Belichick wasted Mack Jones's sophomore season.
01:03:17 Fact, okay?
01:03:19 So here's what I'll say.
01:03:21 Yes, Sunday looked a lot like a lot of these other games.
01:03:24 22 doesn't matter much to me.
01:03:27 I don't think they had the coaching staff
01:03:29 to win those kinds of games.
01:03:30 I just don't.
01:03:32 They were not going to put the players in position
01:03:34 to win those games.
01:03:34 They just weren't going to, in my eyes, my opinion.
01:03:38 So when I look at this game, I say to myself,
01:03:41 I'm going to give these guys a chance.
01:03:43 And I don't think it's worth talking about
01:03:46 moral victories right after a game in week one,
01:03:49 because we won't know if this is a moral victory
01:03:52 until like week nine or 10.
01:03:53 If Sunday's game built momentum
01:03:57 and the rookies develop and play better,
01:03:59 and Mack has more confidence because of Sunday,
01:04:02 and the defense not only proves
01:04:04 that it can stop a mobile quarterback who stunk on Sunday,
01:04:06 according to Greg and Jalen Hurts,
01:04:08 but can actually stop other mobile quarterbacks,
01:04:12 then we'll look back at week one and say,
01:04:14 that was an indicator.
01:04:16 That was an indicator that this team was going
01:04:18 to figure things out after five or six games,
01:04:20 and they were going to be better than we thought.
01:04:23 Or we'll look back at week one and say,
01:04:26 it was just like all the other games.
01:04:28 And they did that the rest of the year,
01:04:29 like they've done the last three years with Mack Jones.
01:04:32 And now we've got to kind of reset everything.
01:04:34 And it's not just last year in the staff, Greg.
01:04:38 I want people to appreciate this before we go.
01:04:41 The Patriots played nine rookies on Sunday.
01:04:46 That's a lot, breaking news.
01:04:48 And they relied on,
01:04:51 it wasn't like they played those guys a few snaps.
01:04:54 Mapu didn't play a ton.
01:04:55 I think he played, what, nine snaps?
01:04:57 But when you look at Booty, Douglas, Maffie,
01:05:01 So, white, somewhat, 25 snaps or so,
01:05:06 Christian Gonzalez playing every snap.
01:05:08 A lot of people like these rookies.
01:05:13 If they develop and get better,
01:05:15 I think you look back and you say,
01:05:16 yeah, that was, you know,
01:05:18 they were depending on a lot of young dudes
01:05:20 because there were some absences
01:05:22 and Juju let them down and other stuff happened, right?
01:05:24 So I just think this year,
01:05:26 they do deserve a little bit of leeway here,
01:05:31 given the context and the circumstances.
01:05:33 Now, if they stink and they continue to lose games like this,
01:05:36 I'll be as frustrated as anybody else.
01:05:39 But I think off of that game, Greg started this saying,
01:05:42 you know, feel a little bit at least optimistic
01:05:44 or encouraged by the performance.
01:05:46 And so would I.
01:05:47 And ultimately, let's see how they, you know,
01:05:50 how that leads into Miami on Sunday night
01:05:53 and whether or not it meant anything,
01:05:54 or they go out there and get their doors blown off
01:05:57 by Tuatunga Baoloa.
01:05:58 So that's how I feel.
01:06:00 Greg and I will have a ton on the Dolphins game coming up
01:06:06 in a couple of days. - Just one thing,
01:06:07 just let me have the final word on this.
01:06:09 Just, you know, I'll only say this.
01:06:13 It's only a moral victory if you follow it up
01:06:16 the next week or soon, you know?
01:06:18 So that could have been a building block,
01:06:22 'cause, you know, I know Tommy Curran loves talking
01:06:24 about moral victories.
01:06:25 He's done it the past couple of years.
01:06:27 It hasn't worked out for them.
01:06:29 But, you know, if they go out and they beat the Dolphins
01:06:30 at home on Sunday night, which they kind of need to do,
01:06:33 you know, even with the whole Jets thing,
01:06:35 which we didn't even talk about, with Rodgers,
01:06:37 and now you can give them those two games
01:06:39 against Zach Wilson.
01:06:42 They need, they can't play another close game
01:06:45 and lose to the Dolphins on Sunday.
01:06:47 They need to win.
01:06:49 If this was a true moral victory, which I believe in,
01:06:52 you have to follow it up.
01:06:54 So they need to go out, they need to beat the Dolphins,
01:06:57 and they need to play toe-to-toe with the Dallas
01:06:59 in week four, and then maybe we can talk about some things.
01:07:03 - Check Greg and Mike Giardi over at BSJ,
01:07:07 50 bucks for the year, tag-teaming on the Patriots coverage.
01:07:10 It's fantastic.
01:07:11 I'm doing the Nick Cato Show Daily Pod now,
01:07:13 Monday through Friday, 30 minutes a day,
01:07:15 YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast,
01:07:18 that's happening again, Nick Cato Show.
01:07:21 I appreciate everybody helping me out with that.
01:07:23 And I would like to tell everybody else that FanDuel,
01:07:26 fantastic stuff, played over the weekend.
01:07:29 Mahomes screwed me on Thursday night.
01:07:31 Well, actually Mahomes' receiver screwed me.
01:07:33 I had 250, I had 250 plus passing with a touchdown,
01:07:38 and that was one of the bets I made,
01:07:41 and he had 226 because Kedarious Tony was worse
01:07:45 than anything we saw from the Patriots on Sunday,
01:07:47 that's for sure.
01:07:48 But check out FanDuel exclusive wagering partner
01:07:50 of the CLNS Media Network,
01:07:51 sign up now at fanduel.com/boston.
01:07:54 New customers can now receive 200 bucks
01:07:55 in free bonus bets with a $5 bet,
01:07:57 plus all customers who bet $5
01:07:59 will receive a hundred bucks off NFL Sunday ticket
01:08:03 via YouTube and YouTube TV.
01:08:05 That Sunday ticket offer will end on September 18th.
01:08:08 All right, it's been a long one today.
01:08:09 Hopefully people enjoyed the coverage and the content.
01:08:11 We're back to a preview of the Dolphins game
01:08:14 later this week, and I'm sure we'll touch on Aaron Rodgers
01:08:16 as well, at least for a couple of minutes in that pod,
01:08:19 but until then, be good, be safe, be healthy.
01:08:21 (upbeat music)

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