In the latest episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast with Nick Cattles, Greg and Nick react to the New England Patriots 15-10 win over the New York Jets. Greg and Nick evaluate the performance from New England Offense and Defense then Greg shares his 3 up/3 down from Sunday.
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.
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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:
Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5 and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more! So, visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won’t wanna miss. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.
AG1! If a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, then try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase. Go to https://drinkAG1.com/BEDARD.
ODDS-R! Ever wished you could navigate the betting field with the confidence of a pro? Enter OddsR. They're not a sportsbook, but they're the sports betting advisor you've always needed. It's like having a playbook for smarter bets right in your pocket. I've been absolutely loving the experience, and I think you will too. Especially since Pats Interference listeners get a 30-day free trial! Elevate your game day and join the smart betting revolution! Go get it at https://oddsr.com/BEDARD
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00:00 This is the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
00:05 - All right, would you look at that?
00:06 We actually have a win to talk about today, Greg.
00:08 I'm very excited about that.
00:10 But first, this episode is brought to you by FanDuel,
00:13 the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network.
00:16 New customers get $200 in bonus bets,
00:19 guaranteed when you place a $5 bet.
00:22 I actually hit my Patriots same game parlay on Sunday.
00:25 I had Zach Wilson under 175 and a half passing yards.
00:30 Sneaky one here, Greg, sneaky one.
00:32 Mack Jones over seven and a half rushing yards,
00:35 'cause I figured at least once or twice,
00:37 the Jets would kind of get the rush and he'd scramble.
00:41 And I also had the under 35 and a half, I believe.
00:44 So, bing, bang, boom, as Tommy Heintzen used to say.
00:47 - Wow, I had something very similar.
00:50 Let me find it real quick.
00:52 So I had the under, I had Zach Wilson under 175.5.
00:57 I had Mack Jones under 204.5,
01:03 and I had the Patriots money line, so.
01:06 - The Mack just under, just under the 205 and a half.
01:10 So the Vikings screwed me on another parlay,
01:12 but we won't get into that.
01:14 All right, let's get into the headlines here
01:15 for the Patriots before we break down what happened
01:17 on Sunday against the Jets in Jersey.
01:21 Daniel Ekwale, Greg,
01:24 seems like he's gonna be done for the season.
01:26 Mike Reese had tweeted out earlier or posted,
01:28 and I know you got some info here,
01:29 but it sounds like it's a torn biceps.
01:32 He is going to be done for the season,
01:35 if that's the case you would imagine.
01:37 Meanwhile, Devon Godchow, who also left the game early
01:40 against the Jets on Sunday, he might not be out that long.
01:43 So what are you hearing about both guys?
01:46 - Yeah, so Ekwale looks like he's done for the year.
01:49 It looked like, you know, almost similar
01:51 to the Marcus Jones injury, where Marcus Jones went on IR.
01:55 And I think they fear that that's probably season ending,
01:59 but they're gonna see, you know,
02:01 what happens after the four weeks.
02:03 And Ekwale has the torn biceps,
02:07 you know, not a huge loss for them.
02:10 I mean, he's, you know, he's played a decent amount,
02:13 but he's really just a role player for them.
02:15 He's a situational inside pass rusher.
02:18 I think they have some options there.
02:20 Godchow, it looked bad on film.
02:23 He got sort of, watching the coaches film,
02:26 he got sort of like twisted around and, you know,
02:29 his ankle got really torqued and, you know,
02:32 you feared at the least it was a high ankle sprain,
02:36 but I'm told it's not believed to be a high ankle sprain
02:40 at this time.
02:41 He could miss this week.
02:44 I do think he has a chance to play this week,
02:47 but they don't believe it's gonna be long-term.
02:50 Now that's a bigger injury.
02:52 In terms of depth on this team,
02:56 with the decision to part ways with Carl Davis
02:59 after he had a bad summer,
03:02 we talked about it at the time,
03:03 they are very thin at interior run stuffer.
03:06 Basically, Laurence Guy is the only guy left
03:08 if Godchow can't go.
03:10 Carl Davis is a possibility.
03:12 He's on the Seattle practice squad.
03:14 I don't think the Patriots, from what I understand,
03:17 are hot to sign him.
03:18 Maybe they'll see how things go with Godchow.
03:21 They were just really disappointed in his summer
03:24 that I don't think he reported in the greatest shape
03:29 and didn't play well on the practice field.
03:32 And so that sort of explains, you know, why they did that.
03:35 But I think, you know, in terms of Ekoale,
03:38 I mean, what I would do, you know,
03:41 I would give Dietrich Wise, Ekoale's, you know,
03:44 and Sam Roberts, some sort of combination of that,
03:46 give them Ekoale's sort of sub package interior rushes.
03:51 And then I would put Keon White
03:54 and I would give him Dietrich Wise's starting minutes.
03:57 I don't know if they're gonna do that,
03:59 but that's what I would do.
04:01 - I'd love to see more of Keon White.
04:04 He seems, every time he's out there,
04:05 he seems to make at least two or three impact plays.
04:08 And at a certain point,
04:09 you've got a guy who can really cause headaches
04:13 for any offensive line.
04:14 I'd love to see him get some more time.
04:16 I'm not saying play him 60, 70% of the snaps,
04:18 but some more snaps would be nice for Keon White in my eyes.
04:23 So we, I don't know how much you wanna talk about this
04:26 because it's been talked about a lot
04:28 over the last couple of days.
04:29 But if we didn't talk about it, then we're ignoring it.
04:33 Mack Jones, Sauce Gardner, everybody knows what happened.
04:37 Third and short, you had the tush push that didn't work out.
04:41 Belly to belly suplex on Mack
04:43 after he tries to go back after the Jets
04:45 because they were taking some liberties,
04:48 I thought, above the neck with Mack,
04:49 which has been overlooked.
04:50 So, you know, some to the face, mask, and neck.
04:53 They were giving Mack the business.
04:54 Mack tried to give him back the business,
04:56 Mosley, Kurt Angle suplexes him.
04:59 And then, of course,
05:00 you have the whole Sauce Gardner, Mack Jones thing
05:03 where Mack looks like he's asking for help to get up.
05:07 Sauce kind of slaps his hand away.
05:09 Mack stands up.
05:10 There's been 75 videos, different views of this.
05:14 Certainly to my eyes, Greg, it looks like
05:18 Mack gave a little tap, tappy to the groin area.
05:20 Just as happy as Gilmore, just a little tap, tappy.
05:24 Just a little tap, tappy.
05:26 Just tap, tap it into the cup.
05:28 And now this is a whole thing where Tom Palacero,
05:32 I appreciate the work he does,
05:34 but posting today that Mack's not going to get suspended.
05:38 Can we all calm down with that?
05:40 But just your thoughts about everything involving Mack
05:43 and the extracurricular activity
05:45 that we saw on Sunday from him
05:47 and that we've seen before, Greg.
05:49 - So in the grand scheme of things,
05:53 am I all that bothered by it?
05:56 No, there's a lot of crap that goes on
05:57 on the football field, especially in scrums.
06:01 It's not for the faint of heart.
06:03 Normally that's the big fellas inside, the big uglies.
06:08 That it's a quarterback and that it's repeated.
06:13 And I do think that Mack gave him
06:16 a little cup check in this.
06:19 I don't love that it's the quarterback
06:22 and I don't like that it's the Patriots quarterback.
06:25 A stray play here, going up, cleats high.
06:31 I get that.
06:32 Hell, I used to do that in baseball once in a while,
06:35 especially against somebody I didn't like.
06:36 But there's two things that I think are pertinent to this.
06:41 Number one, as a quarterback,
06:46 you don't wanna be getting this reputation
06:50 because it's gonna spread around the league
06:52 and now I'm worried about Mack taking some dirty shots.
06:57 That's what I worry about most.
07:01 And let's contrast that to,
07:04 if you watch the Netflix quarterback series,
07:07 I think it was episode three,
07:10 Patrick Mahomes talks about how
07:12 he purposely goes out of his way
07:14 to be nice to the pass rushers
07:16 because he thinks that,
07:17 there's a ton of footage saying like,
07:19 hey, good rush dog, good play, good hit, stuff like that,
07:24 where he even admitted that maybe they let up next time
07:29 on him and don't give him that extra shot.
07:32 And I do think there's something to that.
07:34 And I think Mack's taking the opposite approach
07:37 and something bad could happen to him.
07:41 I'm not saying as a direct result of this,
07:44 but look, you play the Jets twice a year.
07:48 They're gonna remember,
07:51 along with other teams in the division, what have you.
07:54 And the other sort of thing
07:58 that I'm worried about with this,
08:02 sorry, I was just looking for my point,
08:05 but here's the other thing.
08:10 And this is circumstantial,
08:13 but I didn't like how Mack's teammates reacted to the play.
08:18 Now, there were extenuating circumstances on this play
08:23 because it was short yardage.
08:25 Really, when you look at it,
08:27 four of the offensive linemen
08:29 were like face down on the ground
08:30 when a lot of this stuff was going on.
08:32 There was a pile up because it was third and one.
08:35 The only offensive lineman
08:36 that saw a lot of the extracurriculars was Antonio Maffi,
08:40 and he's a rookie.
08:40 He's not gonna do anything.
08:42 When Mosley did the wrestling move,
08:48 you're the expert in this area, I'm not,
08:50 on Mack Jones, Devontae Parker initially
08:53 takes a couple of hard steps towards Mosley
08:56 and then doesn't do anything.
08:59 I don't care what the circumstances are or what,
09:03 I thought somebody needed to stick up
09:05 for the quarterback there.
09:06 And it should have been, Parker saw it all,
09:08 he was right there, he should have done something.
09:10 Somebody should have done something.
09:12 Now, do I think it's,
09:14 am I gonna take it to the sports talk level
09:17 where, oh, this is a sign that Mack's teammates
09:20 don't like him or don't have his back?
09:21 No, because like I said,
09:23 this was a different type of play.
09:25 The guys like David Andrews,
09:27 if David Andrews knew what was going on,
09:29 if he wasn't at the bottom of a pile,
09:31 then I'm sure David Andrews would have done something.
09:33 Trent Brown probably would have done something.
09:36 Michael Winnew, I don't know,
09:37 it's not really in his personality,
09:38 but somebody would have done something.
09:40 But you combine all those factors,
09:43 it's a little worrisome, but do I think it's a big deal
09:47 in the grand scheme of things?
09:48 No.
09:49 - There's no doubt he's got a little dirty
09:51 in his game, Mack.
09:52 There's no doubt.
09:53 Whether you wanna say dirty or cheap or smarminess or--
09:58 - A little Grayson Allen-ish.
10:01 - There's just, there's something there.
10:02 And the old adage of,
10:06 if you go through a lot of roommates,
10:08 it might not be the roommates that are the issue.
10:11 It's probably you.
10:12 And Mack is the common denominator
10:15 in all of these kinds of extracurricular things
10:17 that happen with him.
10:18 And he's had it with guys that don't necessarily
10:20 have sketchy histories on their end.
10:22 So I don't think there's any denying
10:24 that Mack gets into it a little bit, post-Whistle at times.
10:28 And whether it's competitiveness, fieriness,
10:31 or just brattiness, I heard Zolak and Bertrand
10:35 use that word earlier today.
10:37 Whatever it is, he's got some of that in him.
10:39 And I agree with you.
10:40 The biggest, I'm not really affected
10:44 or impacted by that that much,
10:46 but I am concerned about the reputation he now has.
10:49 Chris Long is out there posting on X
10:52 about Mack being one of the top five
10:54 dirtiest quarterbacks in the league.
10:57 Darius Slay posted about it.
10:59 Guys know, word gets around.
11:01 And whether or not every single incident is Mack's fault
11:05 or he had intent every single time,
11:08 that doesn't matter anymore
11:09 because the book's almost out on him, right?
11:11 Across the league.
11:12 So I am concerned that that reputation
11:15 will end up opening the door
11:17 to somebody taking a shot at him later on at some point.
11:21 And that's not good.
11:22 You don't need your quarterback.
11:23 Quarterback already has a bullseye on him.
11:25 You don't need any more of a bullseye.
11:27 Let's move on to one more headline here
11:30 before getting into the Jets game.
11:32 Speaking of Mack, having a bullseye on him,
11:34 he's been hit several times this year due to Cole Strange.
11:39 And Cole Strange, to put it lightly,
11:44 has struggled through his first couple of games here
11:47 of the season.
11:49 Greg, do you think it's time to bench Strange
11:51 or would that be a little bit too reactionary right now?
11:55 - Now, let me say off the top,
11:56 I don't know what his health is
11:58 and how it's being affected.
12:00 We obviously know that he dealt with a knee injury
12:02 from like the second day of camp.
12:03 It held him out like forever.
12:05 And he just came back, played his first game
12:07 against the Dolphins.
12:08 This was his second game.
12:09 So I don't know where he is health-wise.
12:12 All I can do, and what I always do on this podcast
12:15 and whenever I talk, is just tell you what the film says.
12:19 And what the film says right now
12:21 is that Cole Strange is a liability for this team.
12:23 Is he a huge liability?
12:26 No.
12:27 He certainly struggles against the Jets.
12:31 Like if he never had to play the Jets again in his career,
12:34 he might be an okay player.
12:35 The Jets are really good.
12:38 They really are.
12:39 And we're gonna get into that more
12:40 when we talk about the offense against the Jets.
12:43 But he is a liability at this point.
12:45 Apparently he was stretching on the sideline
12:49 during the game after he was pulled for Antonio Maffi,
12:52 making it look like it was for injury.
12:55 I think it was probably a combination with performance.
12:59 But he's just not very good right now.
13:02 Was Maffi a huge upgrade on Cole Strange in this game?
13:06 Maybe.
13:08 I mean, I only had him for one minus play, a run stuff.
13:11 It was limited time.
13:13 Now, Cole Strange, I had two knockdowns, a hurry,
13:18 excuse me, two and a half knockdowns, a hurry,
13:22 two stuffs, and another poor pass block
13:25 where he just whiffed, but luckily the ball came out early.
13:29 So he struggled.
13:31 A lot of it was against Quinan Williams.
13:32 A lot of people struggle against Quinan Williams.
13:35 But I do think for at least right now,
13:38 I think Antonio Maffi, their fifth round rookie,
13:42 gives them a better chance at that position, at left guard,
13:46 than their first round pick from a couple years ago.
13:48 I mean, that's a scary proposition,
13:50 but I think that's where they are right now.
13:52 And here's what I see on film from Cole Strange.
13:55 When you talk about interior, especially guards,
13:58 interior offensive linemen,
14:00 really the best guys have an extremely low center of gravity.
14:06 They're built low to the ground.
14:08 It gives you leverage.
14:09 It keeps you sturdy.
14:11 Not so much with centers, but definitely with guards.
14:14 I mean, just think about Shaq Mason when he's here,
14:17 Michael Wenu.
14:18 These are guys who just anchored strong to the ground,
14:22 and that gives you a chance to turn people and move
14:25 and impose your will.
14:27 With Cole Strange, and I was hoping it was gonna improve
14:30 this year because he was a rookie coming
14:32 from a small school.
14:33 He was a little bit undersized,
14:35 and it was definitely an issue last year.
14:37 I was hoping we would see more improvement.
14:39 I have not.
14:40 Cole Strange's center of gravity
14:42 seems to be around his belly button.
14:45 And that's a big issue when you're going against
14:48 bigger, stronger, defensive interior guys.
14:51 And I think that Moffey is built low to the ground.
14:55 He's a lot like a Wenu.
14:57 Certainly not the athlete that Cole Strange is,
15:00 but at this point in time,
15:00 I don't know how much that matters.
15:02 I would rather have a guy who has a sturdier base
15:05 and is better on those blocks.
15:06 As far as Cole Strange long-term,
15:09 am I giving up on him at guard?
15:11 No.
15:12 Maybe you give him another off-season to get stronger
15:14 in the lower body, see what happens.
15:16 Do I think he's a tackle?
15:19 Could be.
15:20 I don't think that they can transform him there,
15:23 transition him there during the season this year.
15:27 I've always felt, as we talked about when he was drafted,
15:30 watching his college film, I always saw a center
15:33 because of his athletic ability,
15:34 and he's light on his feet.
15:35 And at center, you don't have to be quite as anchored
15:38 to the ground because you don't get as many
15:43 big one-on-one blocks as more like angle blocks inside.
15:46 So bottom line is, do I think Cole Strange needs
15:49 to be put on the bench for a fifth-round rookie?
15:53 Yeah, I do.
15:54 - Woof.
15:56 Here's what I'll say about Cole Strange.
16:00 Unless within the next year or so,
16:04 he becomes a top flight guard,
16:07 or he moves to tackle and ends up being
16:10 a pretty damn good tackle,
16:12 or gets moved to center and ends up being an elite center,
16:17 they whiffed on this pick badly.
16:19 I don't need to relive the conversation
16:23 that Greg and I had over and over and over again
16:25 at the time of the draft when Strange was picked
16:27 in the first round.
16:28 The biggest beef was, you don't pick a guard
16:32 in the first round unless you think that guy
16:35 can be all world.
16:37 Quentin Nelson, Zach Martin, one of those dudes.
16:41 When you look at him and you go,
16:42 "Oh, that guy is just ridiculously good."
16:46 - Logan Mankins.
16:48 - Logan Mankins, that's when you draft a dude
16:51 in the first round.
16:52 If you think he has elite talent at that position,
16:55 not really good, not top tier,
16:59 I'm talking the elite of the elite,
17:01 is when you pull the trigger in the first round
17:03 on that position.
17:04 And if this guy, and again, health we don't know,
17:08 but if this guy just can't cut it to the point
17:11 where he's gonna have to sit down for a fifth round guard,
17:14 that tells you right there, doesn't it?
17:17 If you're sitting him for a fifth round guard,
17:19 it tells you you could have gotten a guard
17:20 as good as Cole Strange in the third, fourth, fifth,
17:22 sixth round, especially when we've seen it in New England
17:25 time and time again.
17:26 So yeah, it's not good.
17:28 It's not good.
17:29 And he has to be better.
17:32 And I understand that Quentin Williams
17:33 is one of the best in the game at what he does.
17:36 But again, if you're using the pick you used on Cole Strange,
17:39 he needs to be as good as Williams at his position.
17:42 He can't be just bowled over and destroyed
17:46 when he plays top interior defensive lineman.
17:49 That's the very point why you draft the guy
17:51 where you drafted him.
17:52 So when you go against monsters like Quentin Williams
17:54 or Aaron Donald, that you have at least a chance
17:58 on the left side of your interior.
18:00 It's not good enough.
18:02 It's bad.
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18:36 - All right, Greg, let's move to the offense.
18:44 I was reading your notes today
18:47 and you might have an unpopular take about this offense.
18:52 What'd you think of that side of the ball on Sunday
18:57 when you watched the film?
18:58 - It's funny.
19:00 Like, you know, when I have an unpopular opinion
19:02 because I stay true to the film,
19:04 that's negative on the Patriots.
19:06 Everybody, you know, calls me negative and all this stuff,
19:09 but now I'm gonna give this take
19:11 and no one's gonna have an issue with it
19:14 because it's a positive take about the Patriots.
19:16 My take on the Patriots offense
19:18 after watching them against the Jets
19:20 is that I think they were making progress.
19:22 I thought this was a step forward for this offense.
19:25 What are you talking about, Bidad?
19:27 They only got 15 points.
19:28 They couldn't do jack crap in the second half.
19:31 They punted like six times.
19:32 What are you talking about, you freaking idiot?
19:34 Like, I understand, but I'm just telling,
19:39 there's a couple of things that make me think this.
19:41 Number one is I don't think people understand
19:44 how good the Jets' defense is.
19:45 It's really, really good.
19:48 I mean, we talked about it coming in.
19:49 Their defensive line, their linebackers are really good.
19:53 The cornerbacks are really good.
19:56 Whitehead, the safety is really good.
19:58 Like, it is, it's tough sledding.
20:01 You know, now, did the Cowboys shred it the week before?
20:04 Yeah, but again, it's an abnormal opponent.
20:09 Those things happen, you know,
20:11 when you don't know teams that well.
20:13 And look, you know, the Cowboys had a day.
20:16 You know, what do you want?
20:17 Sometimes you're just on.
20:18 The Jets are really, really good.
20:20 So that's number one.
20:22 So you know it's gonna be tough sledding.
20:27 Number two, I thought, especially in the second half,
20:31 I thought the offensive line started to get some movement
20:34 in the running game.
20:35 They started moving the line of scrimmage,
20:37 which is, you know, when you're watching
20:38 on the coach's film, you know,
20:40 you can see it as clear as day.
20:42 You can see the uniforms pushing forward.
20:45 And I saw that more and more,
20:47 certainly more than at any point so far this season.
20:50 And to do that against this Jets' defensive line,
20:53 even though, you know, some of it was when
20:55 Quinn Williams was getting a breather,
20:57 but I do think that was there on film.
21:00 And so that was good.
21:01 You saw some of the running game get going
21:04 with Ezekiel Elliott at times,
21:06 even with Romandre Stevenson.
21:08 So that was good.
21:10 I think that they are gaining more confidence
21:13 in the offensive line.
21:14 So we saw them go under center more.
21:16 We saw play action come in.
21:18 The 58 yarder, I think both Farrell Brown catches
21:23 came from play action.
21:24 So I think that's a key for this team.
21:27 And now, you know, look, are still things off,
21:31 especially in the passing game?
21:33 And, you know, some of the play calls and things like that.
21:37 Yeah, you know, let's also, and, you know,
21:39 I know they didn't penetrate like the Jets' 29 yard line
21:43 the whole game.
21:44 Again, look at the opponent.
21:48 We're gonna do the same sort of thing
21:49 when we talk about the defense.
21:52 So I think we're looking at apples and apples here,
21:54 but I do think that against lesser defenses,
21:58 against lesser fronts, I think they're gonna be able
21:59 to impose their will more in the running game.
22:02 I think it's gonna open up play action.
22:04 There's a lot of work to do as far as sorting out
22:09 who's gonna do what in the passing game
22:10 of what Mac trusts and what their bread and butters
22:14 are gonna be.
22:14 They're still figuring that out.
22:16 It's a little slow for me, but to me,
22:20 there was little doubt watching the film
22:21 by the end of the game, even though the results
22:23 weren't there.
22:24 And remember, they should probably should have had
22:25 another six points if Joe Cardona could snap the ball.
22:28 You know, this was a step forward for me.
22:33 I think, I don't think, I know they are making progress
22:37 as an offense.
22:38 - Yeah, we can't sit back and say, oh, well,
22:41 they only scored 13 offensive points against the Jets
22:44 when we all spent last week talking about
22:47 how good this Jets' defense was.
22:50 Nobody anticipated them to put up 20 plus points
22:54 against this defense.
22:55 I actually thought, Greg, they moved the ball
22:58 much better in the first half than I ever thought
23:00 they would be able to move the ball against that defense.
23:02 They moved it pretty well.
23:03 They had over 200 yards of offense in the first half.
23:06 Given the conditions, given the defense,
23:09 I thought that was good.
23:10 And I thought that was a positive step like you're saying.
23:13 Really just to boil it down,
23:15 and we're gonna get into some other issues in a minute,
23:19 but offensive line to me was the biggest issue
23:21 the first two weeks.
23:22 And I don't think it's crazy that the offensive line
23:25 played a little bit better.
23:26 Your offense played a little bit better.
23:28 For the first time all year,
23:31 you had your top four linemen out there playing together.
23:34 So I know people kind of, their eyes glaze over
23:37 when Greg gets into the nitty gritty sometimes
23:39 talking about offensive line play, but it's crucial.
23:42 And it's really tough to run consistent offense
23:45 when your quarterback's running for his life
23:47 and your running backs can't find any room
23:49 to run the damn ball.
23:50 So offensive line played better, offense played better.
23:54 Let's get to the passing offense, Greg.
23:56 What's the biggest problem that you see?
23:58 - The biggest issue that I see is that
24:02 they just don't know the roles
24:08 that certain people should be in.
24:10 I mean, let's take, for example,
24:12 the two Juju Smith-Schuster throws on third down.
24:17 This is Juju lining up sort of inside
24:22 and these routes going outside the numbers.
24:25 The combination of Mac Jones and Juju Smith-Schuster
24:28 working outside the numbers, it's just, it's not good.
24:31 We just know this.
24:33 There's enough evidence from both guys.
24:36 So it's not a high percentage play.
24:38 Now, on both of those plays, I think that Mac was right.
24:41 I thought that Mac threw good balls on both of those.
24:45 It's just like Juju's gotta figure out,
24:47 A, either Juju's gotta figure out who he is at this point,
24:51 which is basically a cashed,
24:52 outside the numbers receiver,
24:56 or the Patriots need to not put them in that position.
25:00 So should Juju be running those routes?
25:07 No.
25:08 Who should be running those routes?
25:10 I don't know.
25:11 I don't think they have a guy.
25:12 I mean, what's interesting is talking to people
25:15 around the team and we talk about the whole Myers debate,
25:18 and I think there's no doubt in my mind
25:20 that if they brought in DeAndre Hopkins
25:22 or somebody, an upgrade on the outside,
25:24 and kept Jacoby Myers, do I think this team
25:28 has a legit shot at being three and O?
25:29 Yeah, I do.
25:31 But they made these choices.
25:32 And from what I understand,
25:33 Juju Smith-Schuster wasn't the Jacoby Myers replacement.
25:38 And so far, the way they've used him, you see that.
25:42 The Myers replacement was Mike Gusecki,
25:45 which just, it furthers the point of,
25:49 do the people in charge of Patriots personnel,
25:53 specifically Bill Belichick,
25:54 do they know what they're doing with offense?
25:56 I mean, I think, you look at their defense
25:59 and you could pick it, all right,
26:01 this guy was picked to do this role
26:03 and he knows what to do.
26:05 And then offense, it's apparent that nobody knows
26:09 what anybody is good at.
26:11 And it looks like they didn't have a plan
26:13 coming into this season, like this,
26:15 we're signing this guy and this is what he's gonna do.
26:17 And this guy is gonna do that.
26:18 Like it's just, they just threw some average bodies
26:22 and they said, well, we'll figure it out later.
26:24 And to this point, they haven't figured it out.
26:26 So, back to those throws,
26:29 like Juju is going outside
26:32 and he thinks he has a step on the cornerback,
26:35 thinking like, I don't know,
26:36 it's the Juju of five years ago
26:38 that he can beat this guy up the sideline.
26:40 He's not that guy anymore.
26:41 And Mac knows that.
26:43 And Mac says, all right, well, just like Jacoby would do,
26:47 all right, work your leverage,
26:49 like press the issue up the field
26:51 and then break off real quick, boom, back shoulder,
26:54 we got a conversion, we're moving.
26:56 That's the way Mac threw the ball.
26:58 I thought they were correct.
27:00 And so, there's just a lot of that on film.
27:03 I blame Mac for the throw to Demario Douglas.
27:08 It looked like Mac sort of split it
27:09 between Gusicchi and Demario Douglas,
27:11 but Demario had a step
27:13 and Mac threw it off his back shoulder
27:14 and threw it crappy, his footwork was bad.
27:16 Like that had a chance to be a touchdown.
27:18 And I don't know, we just kind of half-assed it.
27:21 He does that at times, which I don't like.
27:23 But the big thing, oh, and the other thing
27:26 with Juju and Mac and talking to people around the team,
27:29 'cause I asked them, I'm like,
27:31 do these guys practice together?
27:32 They don't look like they practice together at all.
27:35 And the answer I got was,
27:38 they practice together sometimes.
27:40 I mean, I think that has to do with Juju's health.
27:44 I mean, how are you expected
27:45 to have a precision passing game?
27:47 The game is on the line,
27:48 you have a quarterback and wide receiver
27:50 who are working together and they need to know each other
27:53 like the back of their hand.
27:55 And they don't, they look like strangers, why?
27:59 Because they don't practice that much together.
28:01 I mean, I don't know, I don't know what we're doing here.
28:05 - Sounds messy.
28:07 Look, I just, he can't play 74% of the snaps, Juju.
28:12 Can't play him that much.
28:14 You can't play him 74% of the snaps
28:17 and play Pop Douglas 17 snaps on the day.
28:21 You just, you can't.
28:23 You can't, he is detrimental
28:26 to this offensive operation right now.
28:28 And until you figure out what routes he runs the best
28:31 and limit him to those routes
28:33 and take some of those snaps away
28:35 and give those to other guys,
28:37 it's just, you're banging your head up against the wall.
28:40 And I wonder, I said this on my pod yesterday.
28:44 I do honestly question, again, Nick Cattleshaw,
28:46 if you wanna check it out.
28:47 I do question, is the 74% of the snaps thing
28:52 part of Bill Belichick trying to justify,
28:54 hey, I brought the right guy in?
28:57 Is the head coach being stubborn?
28:59 Is the staff being stubborn
29:01 because they paid the money to Juju,
29:02 he was the quote unquote prized free agent
29:05 in the offense in the off season.
29:08 And everybody sees that he's not quite with the program yet.
29:11 And hopefully maybe in a few weeks he will be,
29:13 maybe this thing will turn around.
29:15 I certainly hope so.
29:16 But there's no evidence that he deserves 75% of the snaps
29:20 unless Belichick is trying to prove to the world
29:23 that he was right on this guy.
29:24 And I hope that at some point the coach says,
29:27 okay, I can no longer believe
29:30 that this is Juju of five or six years ago.
29:32 I have to go off of what we're seeing right now
29:35 and I've gotta get the guys on the field
29:37 that can actually help us.
29:39 And it's just, and Gacycki's another one.
29:42 Everybody, Greg, you've said it, I believe.
29:46 Evan Lazar has said it, Phil Perry.
29:49 Guys that look at the film have said,
29:51 Gacycki's a pretty good route runner
29:53 and they should be using him more.
29:55 And it's just, like you said, what are we doing?
29:58 I don't know.
29:59 Overall, how'd you think Mac did?
30:02 - Overall, I thought he did pretty well.
30:05 Again, I think for the course of the game,
30:07 I thought he played winning football.
30:08 I thought his first half was way better than his second half
30:11 but I only had him for two minus plays in the game.
30:14 I had him for six plus plays in the game.
30:19 There was a third down to Hunter Henry.
30:22 That was late in the second half.
30:25 I didn't like the underthrow to Demario Douglas
30:28 as we talked about.
30:30 So I think he did fine.
30:33 There's just no confidence in exactly what they need to do.
30:40 And this is on Bill O'Brien.
30:43 I mean, Bill O'Brien, it is just three games
30:46 but in short order, he needs to figure out
30:49 exactly what everybody's good at, what everybody can't do
30:54 and then he's gotta craft a game plan for that.
30:56 They have to put their players in position to succeed more.
30:59 I mean, Devontae Parker, could you tell he was even
31:04 on the field in this game?
31:05 I mean, it's just, Gusecki is underutilized.
31:10 That they're putting Farrow Brown on the field
31:13 because the other two tight ends can't block.
31:15 I mean, it was a nice play, a coverage bust by the Jets
31:18 but 13 personnel, is that really gonna be
31:23 what they're gonna be doing?
31:24 It's just, they obviously don't have an identity.
31:28 Like I said earlier, I think what we saw
31:31 to the offensive line will give them a step forward
31:33 into figuring out their identity,
31:35 which I do think is a power running team,
31:38 off of play action and hopefully that gets better.
31:42 I mean, on the running backs, no question that Zeke
31:45 was way better than Ra'mondre Stevenson in this game.
31:48 I think that Stevenson is struggling
31:53 with the lack of volume.
31:55 I don't think they're doing him any great benefit of,
32:00 Stevenson starts, then basically they flip flop drives,
32:05 even the second drive of the game.
32:07 I think they need to give Stevenson
32:09 the first two drives of the game.
32:10 He's obviously a volume rhythm type of guy at this point
32:15 and they need to get him on track.
32:17 Now I know Zeke was brought here with the goal
32:21 of keeping Stevenson fresh for the end of games,
32:24 to finish off games, to come back.
32:27 We should also mention,
32:28 they still don't have a third down back.
32:30 You know, when we talk about this whole grand scream
32:32 of things with the passing offense,
32:34 I mean, Ty Montgomery, all I see him doing
32:37 is rushing on the edge and field goals.
32:38 Like, is that what he's here for?
32:41 So, you know, things to sort out of running back as well.
32:44 - Yeah, I'm not panicked about Stevenson yet.
32:49 I'd say there's a slight concern,
32:51 but I think he'll be okay.
32:53 I mentioned this after week one,
32:54 there's some tap dancing happening.
32:56 I think he's kind of, he's waiting for his blocks.
32:58 He's a Le'Veon Bell guy.
33:00 I think there's some, you know, he's trying to be patient,
33:03 but at a certain point,
33:04 patience turns into like indecisiveness
33:07 and there's just some hesitancy and tap dancing from him,
33:10 which isn't helping.
33:11 The yards after contact numbers are way down
33:13 earlier this year compared to last year.
33:15 Is that because, like you said,
33:16 the bus isn't revving up enough
33:18 and he's not getting enough touches early on?
33:20 He was handled differently during camp.
33:23 We all thought that was because they were trying to manage
33:25 his, you know, manage his touches and take care of his body.
33:29 Was there something else?
33:30 I don't know.
33:31 He's not on the injury report,
33:33 but we can manipulate that as we know.
33:34 So is there something bugging him slightly?
33:37 He hasn't been the same guy and it's kind of crazy.
33:40 You know, the offense took a step forward,
33:42 but I truly believe people,
33:44 if we look at it from 30,000 feet,
33:47 I posted earlier today at NXC Radio on Twitter,
33:51 who does Matt go to on third down?
33:53 And compare it to pretty much 75% of the AFC quarterbacks
33:58 in those teams, who do they have to go to?
34:01 Go team by team.
34:03 Mahomes has Kelsey, Burrow has Chase, on and on and on.
34:06 Herbert has Keenan Allen,
34:08 Tua has two guys that he can go to.
34:10 This team right now on third down, it's like, okay,
34:13 Hunter Henry, maybe?
34:14 Juju, if he figures out what route he's running,
34:19 and Kendrick Bourne, if he runs the right route,
34:22 there's no third down back that's like you said, Greg,
34:25 I mean, Raimondre's played that role in the past
34:27 and he's done a good job of receiving,
34:29 but he drops a football on Sunday
34:30 and now you're concerned about that.
34:32 Your best offensive player before the season kicked off
34:37 was supposed to be Raimondre Stephenson.
34:39 So think about all the other issues we're seeing
34:42 and then your best offensive player
34:44 has stumbled out of the blocks.
34:47 So to go along with the offensive line.
34:49 All right, let's jump to the defense quickly.
34:52 Can you take anything away from this game?
34:54 I mean, we all know Zach Wilson sucks,
34:55 but can you take away anything?
34:57 - Not really.
34:58 I mean, no.
34:59 The Patriots played very aggressive on defense
35:05 and even Steve Belichick, he blitzed like 34% of the time,
35:09 which is absurd for the Patriots.
35:12 I mean, I think against the Dolphins and the Eagles,
35:15 I think they might have blitzed like 10% of the time, maybe.
35:19 I compare it to me playing basketball
35:24 against fourth graders.
35:26 I'm like Shaq out there,
35:27 'cause I know they're not gonna do anything.
35:28 I can block every shot.
35:30 I mean, when you know that you're not gonna get burned
35:32 by the quarterback,
35:33 and a little bit of credit to the Patriots,
35:35 the throwing, I mean, they threw all sorts
35:38 of different pressures at him early,
35:40 bringing an extra guy, zone drops,
35:44 all sorts of stuff, different coverages.
35:45 I mean, it was good, but I mean, Zach Wilson,
35:48 there were so many plays out there
35:50 that he could have made in the game, smarter plays,
35:53 and he's not even close to that at this point.
35:58 And so tough to take anything away from the defense.
36:02 I mean, they executed,
36:04 did a really nice job against the running game.
36:07 I don't know what's up with their running backs.
36:08 I mean, certainly Dalvin Cook looks cached at this point.
36:13 Brees Hall didn't look great.
36:15 They have a lot of offensive line issues with injuries.
36:20 They had to switch people around.
36:21 Becton was bad at left tackle.
36:23 They had to move Vera Tucker to right tackle.
36:27 The rookie, Tippman, had to play right guard.
36:30 He blew a block that was pretty big in this game.
36:33 So the Patriots did what they should have done.
36:36 They should have beat up a weak offensive line
36:40 and a weak-minded quarterback,
36:41 and that's what they did.
36:44 Now, I will say,
36:46 even though it's tough to tell in this game
36:50 because of the quarterback,
36:52 but Christian Gonzalez looks really good.
36:55 A better quarterback makes some plays
36:58 against him in this game, like Aaron Rodgers.
37:02 But like we said last week,
37:05 his coverage ability is real.
37:07 I mean, it's sticky.
37:11 It's as good as I've seen around here,
37:15 certainly since Stephon Gilmore.
37:17 I mean, I would put him,
37:18 you know, it's like Rivas, Gilmore, and Christian Gonzalez.
37:23 I mean, he makes JC Jackson and Malcolm Butler
37:26 look like the practice guard guys that they were
37:30 or undrafted guys that they were.
37:32 I mean, he's so far, in a way, better than them
37:35 as far as a man cover.
37:37 And I think you could see a certain point in time
37:40 where he can be on an island with guys,
37:43 and it might even be at some point this season.
37:46 You know, they mix and match,
37:47 so you can't just take away what they did against,
37:51 you can't say A.J. Brown, and then Tyreek Hill,
37:54 and then Garrett Wilson.
37:55 There are a lot of circumstances at play,
37:57 including help and changing coverages and stuff like that,
38:00 but the bottom line is,
38:01 his coverage ability is excellent.
38:05 And for three games into his career, it's absurd.
38:10 And so that is for real.
38:12 - To put it in perspective too,
38:15 A.J. Brown, Devontae Smith, Tyreek Hill,
38:19 Jalen Waddell, Garrett Wilson,
38:22 it's not like he's doing this
38:23 against the scrubbinis of the world.
38:25 He's been thrown into the deep end,
38:28 and he's already looking the part.
38:30 So the level of opponent matters.
38:34 And if you wanna believe PFF grades,
38:37 I know some people hate them,
38:39 some people are,
38:40 but if you go by PFF,
38:42 he is the number one graded first round rookie so far,
38:48 out of that class, out of the first round,
38:50 he is the number one graded guy.
38:54 And he's also the fifth highest graded cornerback
38:57 in the NFL right now.
38:58 And so to look at, even if you don't love PFF,
39:02 okay, he might not be fifth,
39:04 but he's been really good.
39:07 And Greg watches the film,
39:08 and Greg's telling you he's been really good.
39:09 And again, the level of talent he's gone against,
39:12 that's Patriots fans should be very excited
39:15 about Christian Gonzalez.
39:17 All right, before we get to a three up,
39:18 three down, a couple of things,
39:19 check us out over at BSJ, 50 bucks for the year.
39:22 Greg and Mike Giardi doing some great work on the Patriots.
39:26 They have all the film stuff breaking down as well.
39:28 I thought Giardi had a good post.
39:30 I think it was yesterday that, you know,
39:33 Sauce Gardner and Mack Jones,
39:35 he had some film on this,
39:36 before the whole cup check incident.
39:39 There was some stuff going on between those two guys
39:42 earlier in the game.
39:43 So Mike's looking at things, he's watching film,
39:47 and of course, Greg's on it as well.
39:49 And as always, I wanna remind you
39:50 that the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast
39:52 is brought to you by FanDuel,
39:53 the exclusive wagering part of the CLNS Media Network.
39:56 New customers get $200 in bonus bets,
39:58 guaranteed when you place a $5 bet.
40:01 All right, lightning version of this, Greg,
40:03 three up for you from the game on Sunday.
40:06 - Christian Barmore.
40:08 I thought he was excellent.
40:08 He had to step up with the injuries on the inside,
40:11 and I thought he was really good in this game.
40:13 I didn't have him for any minus plays.
40:15 I had him for about six impactful plays in the game.
40:19 Jawan Bentley.
40:20 You know, again, I think this was indicative
40:24 of the Patriots being able to pin their ears back,
40:28 but I thought he did a really nice game
40:29 breaking through in the running game,
40:31 and really being a key to stopping that,
40:34 like we saw against the Eagles.
40:36 And David Andrews.
40:39 I thought was excellent in this game,
40:40 a clean sheet for him.
40:42 You know, plenty of guys that you could put on,
40:45 you know, the up list.
40:46 You know, Pharaoh Brown with the two touchdowns.
40:48 You know, Judon had a great game.
40:51 Wise had a really good game.
40:54 Certainly Zeke Elliott, you could put on the list.
40:57 You know, he had a really good game,
40:58 but those are my top three.
41:00 - I had Zeke on my list.
41:02 Trent Brown.
41:03 I thought he came back and played really well.
41:05 - Yep, pretty good.
41:07 - Bryce Barringer.
41:08 He got four of his punts inside the 20.
41:11 He wasn't perfect, but when you get four inside the 20,
41:14 pretty, pretty, pretty good.
41:15 Three down.
41:16 - Joe Cardona.
41:19 I mean, he's the second highest paid longstapper
41:22 in the league.
41:23 This was a rock fight.
41:25 I mean, and his two high snaps on long field goals
41:29 cost the Patriots six points.
41:30 That's why they paid him.
41:31 That's why he's here.
41:33 He's got to do his job.
41:34 If they would have lost that game on that Hail Mary,
41:36 you would have looked at, well, Belichick's decision
41:39 on fourth and one, and Joe Cardona, two high snaps.
41:42 It has to be a lot better than that.
41:44 Cole Strange.
41:45 Deserved to be benched in this game.
41:48 Like we said, I don't know where he is health-wise,
41:50 but on film, it's not good enough.
41:52 He needs to be a lot better.
41:53 I do think that he should be benched for our Tony Omafi,
41:56 at least for this week.
41:58 Maybe take a step back.
41:59 And my third down was Juju.
42:03 I just-- I don't--
42:06 he's just-- I have three minus routes for him.
42:10 He had that stupid penalty in the game.
42:14 You're just not really getting anything out of him.
42:17 Yeah, blindside block was idiotic.
42:19 Juju's on the list.
42:20 Cardona's on the list.
42:21 I'll put Romandre on there as well.
42:22 The big drop early on in the game killed the drive.
42:26 Not running as well as we documented earlier
42:29 in the podcast.
42:30 As far as the fourth down decision,
42:32 we don't have time to get into that.
42:34 But I will say, I dive into that on the Nick Cattle Show,
42:37 that podcast that I'm doing.
42:39 And I have some numbers for people.
42:42 My whole thing is, Greg, again, we
42:43 don't need to get deep into this or into this at all right now,
42:46 but Belichick's coaching scared.
42:49 And he's coached--
42:50 Has for a couple of years.
42:51 Yeah, he's coached scared.
42:52 If you look at certain metrics from Aaron Schatz, formerly
42:55 of Football Outsiders, he's coached this way since 2012.
42:59 It's not a Brady thing.
43:01 It's not a fourth and two thing against Indy.
43:03 He's been this way for a while.
43:05 And according to one of the metrics,
43:08 again, from Schatz, who Greg really, really,
43:11 really likes his work, Belichick was the second least
43:16 aggressive head coach in the league last year.
43:18 The least aggressive was Robert Sala,
43:21 who has Zach Wilson at quarterback a year ago.
43:24 And when you coach to not lose, when you coach scared,
43:29 that's how a game like Sunday that the Patriots dominated,
43:33 that's why it's a field goal game with minutes to go.
43:35 That's part of the reason.
43:37 And that's bugging me.
43:38 So if you want to check that out again,
43:39 I dive really deep into that on the Nick Cattle Show.
43:42 That'll do it for us today, though.
43:44 Greg's going to run to Felgram, as I'm sure he looks forward
43:46 to those two hours.
43:48 And coming up later in the week, we'll
43:49 get you ready for the Cowboys matchup on Sunday.
43:52 Until then, he's Greg.
43:53 I'm Nick.
43:53 Be well.
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44:41 to crushing your goals.
44:42 I love-- this was my favorite one--
44:44 loaded bacon shredded chicken with sauteed spinach, green
44:48 beans and ranch sour cream.