Belichick still playing QB games … to what end | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast - video Dailymotion

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In the latest episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast featuring Nick Cattles, Greg and Nick kick off their discussion by addressing Bill Belichick's decision to not disclose the starting quarterback for the Week 12 game against the New York Giants. They then shifted their focus to the Thanksgiving Games, which they felt were subpar, before moving on to preview the Patriots upcoming game and share their predictions.  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 parter of the CLNS Media NetworkRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, Official Partner of the NFL. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. 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.  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. Go get it at https://oddsr.com/BEDARD  Visit https://factormeals.com/BEDARD50 to get 50% off your first box! Factor is America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit, can help you fuel up fast with ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. SeatGeek! Use code DREAMERSPRO for $20 off your first SeatGeek order! Visit SeatGeek.com and use code DREAMERSPRO when you checkout! With NFL, NBA and NHL seasons in full swing and the NBA starting soon, you don’t want to miss out - SeatGeek has your tickets to every game!

Transcript

00:00 the head coach couldn't even come out after last season and talk about some of

00:07 the things that he was telling people privately just admitting that look I

00:12 messed up I didn't put our offense and Mac Jones in position to succeed with

00:17 what I decided to do with the coaching staff that that's on me like don't don't

00:22 put that on them I thought it was gonna work it obviously didn't work you know

00:28 that's my fault but we're gonna get it corrected I mean we didn't even hear

00:31 that from him and you know instead we got the anonymous source sort of blame

00:37 game you know with Mac Jones and you know and then it was you know he's he's

00:42 not gonna mention his name all offseason and stuff like that so I mean this is

00:46 just you know what you get and you know to go back to my original point you just

00:50 have to wonder what the crafts are thinking about all this stuff that that

00:55 this is where their head coach is this is how the head coach treats some of his

01:01 duties which includes being the public face of the franchise to the media to

01:06 the fans more importantly and this is sort of what he does and is that good

01:12 enough for this franchise anymore especially now that they are on their

01:15 way to their third losing season in four years the Greg Bidard Patriots podcast

01:19 is brought to you by fan duel the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS

01:22 media network so Greg how was the turkey day my man it was pretty good Nick it

01:29 was just a quiet day with the family quite the feast that mrs. BSJ and myself

01:36 put together I'm sort of like I'm designated turkey guy she does

01:40 everything else including a mean apple pie so it was uh you know when the kids

01:45 kids were around you know we just it was a good quiet day nice glad you enjoyed

01:51 it I went to the I went to the mother-in-law's hung out there for a few

01:56 hours I had a couple drinks watched some bad football had some good food so it

02:00 was a good time hopefully everybody watching listening to us had a great

02:04 holiday as well as we get ready for this football game coming up on Sunday before

02:07 we get into it though this episode brought to by fan duel exclusive

02:11 wagering partner the CLNS media network right now new customers get $150 in

02:16 bonus bets with any winning $5 money line bet all right Greg now you and I

02:22 talked about doing a podcast today after the last one we did and we at least

02:28 thought there might be a shot that Belichick would know who is starting

02:32 quarterback is going to be for Sunday if he knows he's not telling anybody

02:36 earlier today with the media just about an hour ago Greg he stuck to the told

02:41 everybody to be ready to go line yeah yeah Nick at this point I'm about out of

02:50 answers or even I mean I do have some theories on why he's doing this but you

02:57 know my overriding thought is if you're the crafts and you're you know watching

03:03 this stuff at two and eight you know how do you feel about it how do you feel

03:08 about how your head coach is representing your football program there

03:14 haven't been any leaks to this point in time that the players are being told

03:17 something different which you know I wouldn't be surprised we're taping this

03:23 a little afternoon on Friday knowing the way Belichick operates as soon as he

03:28 gets off the podium there are some leaks so I should really be checking Twitter

03:33 that that he filters out what he wants to certain national reporters so be on a

03:39 lookout for that today since Bill doesn't now doesn't have to comment on

03:45 it until after the game on Sunday so those are sort of my overriding

03:50 thoughts but you know my my big thing is you know trying to put on my Belichick

03:57 hat which we all know is is is tough to do and questionable at best but the only

04:06 thing that I could here's a couple thoughts that I have that you know for

04:11 whatever reason he's trying to keep everybody on their toes I think part of

04:15 it has to do with some of these leaks to whether it's Mike Giardi or Andrew

04:22 Callahan or whoever about the locker room on where they are as far as Mac

04:27 Jones you know 80/20 being out on Mac Jones that sort of thing I can see this

04:32 as Belichick just being like you guys think you have a say in this like screw

04:37 you guys so now I'm just gonna keep you in the dark so that could be part of it

04:42 a bigger part of it my gut tells me that Bill is doing this because I think he

04:53 knows that he could be moving to Bailey's zappy and he doesn't want to

04:58 put Mac in the position and the players in a locker room in the position to talk

05:03 about all this if it was just Mac Jones you know why not go out there and say

05:10 like look you know Mac has had his issues but we have bigger issues as an

05:15 offense that are affecting the quarterback and we all need to be better

05:17 until we start pointing the fingers at at the quarterback not to make Mac Jones

05:23 a sacrificial lamb for the struggles of the offense but if he is thinking about

05:28 making a change to zappy this weekend to me it would make sense that bill would

05:34 withhold that information as long as possible just to not embarrass Mac Jones

05:39 I mean because if he if he if he did that on whenever they came back Monday

05:45 and Tuesday then you know what do you do about the wei interview what are the

05:51 guys being asked about you know putting Bailey in that position like you know

05:57 now at this point in time just say that he does go with Bailey's happy on Sunday

06:02 you know Mac Jones probably wouldn't be made available after the game he would

06:07 probably hightail it out of the locker room and he probably wouldn't be asked

06:11 about it until sometime the next week so those are just some of the thoughts that

06:16 that are running through my head but just in general I mean it's just it's

06:20 ridiculous you're two and eight football team you know figure it out set a course

06:25 for the team and let's get on with it he's playing chess he's not playing

06:30 checkers Greg a couple things here as far as protecting Mac I think what

06:37 you just said would make a lot of sense in theory right that you're protecting

06:41 Mac in essence by not coming out and saying zappies the guy but according to

06:45 the reports that I've read they're splitting reps yeah between zappy and

06:49 Mac at practice so look I just looking looking at this situation and saying to

06:56 myself man we're Friday before a Sunday game for a two and eight football team

07:02 and if this is truly the head coach being undecided on who's going to start

07:07 what a freaking nightmare this is it just highlights what we've talked about

07:10 before how much of a mess the quarterback room is I also kind of looked

07:15 at Dan Campbell last night I don't know if you saw this Greg but there was a

07:19 very questionable fake punt that they called for during the game and it went

07:23 nowhere it's like like Green Bay was the most ready team for a fake punt that

07:29 I've ever seen in my life and so Campbell after the game came out and

07:33 said I made a mistake I shouldn't made that call that that was on me and and

07:39 look people some people might not care about this and when you're winning I

07:44 think people care a lot less honestly I was one of those guys that would say

07:47 like hey whatever Belichick handles the things he handles and he's gonna be Bill

07:51 but they're winning so you can't really complain or criticize it but in this

07:55 case like just this year with Bill handling things the same way he handled

07:59 them when they were winning Super Bowls it's like it would be nice to see the

08:02 head coach take a little bit more accountability and responsibility for

08:06 some of the bleep show that we've seen this year Greg yeah I mean you know no

08:11 question but you know I think I think you and I realized that that boat left

08:15 the harbor a long time ago I mean yeah but the head coach couldn't even come

08:20 out after last season and talk about some of the things that he was telling

08:26 people privately just admitting that look I messed up I didn't put our

08:31 offense and Mac Jones in position to succeed with what I decided to do with

08:36 the coaching staff that that's on me like don't don't put that on them I

08:42 thought it was gonna work it obviously didn't work you know that's my fault

08:46 but we're gonna get it corrected I mean we didn't even hear that from him and

08:50 you know instead we got the anonymous source sort of blame game you know with

08:56 Mac Jones and you know and then it was you know he's he's not gonna mention his

09:01 name all offseason and stuff like that so I mean this is just you know what you

09:05 get and you know to go back to my original point you just have to wonder

09:08 what the crafts are thinking about all this stuff that that this is where their

09:14 head coach is this is how the head coach treats some of his duties which includes

09:20 being the public face of the franchise to the media to the fans more

09:25 importantly and this is sort of what he does and is that good enough for this

09:30 franchise anymore especially now that they are on their way to their third

09:33 losing season in four years people might sit there and say Oh Greg and Nick this

09:38 is a media versus Belichick thing but it goes beyond that I want people to think

09:42 about why this is something that we should talk about the way Belichick

09:48 handles these things allows him to not take accountability or responsibility

09:52 for a number of different aspects we saw it at the trading deadline like he's the

09:57 GM he's the head coach he has the final call and when he's up there and he's

10:00 playing these games these semantics games about his position within the

10:04 organization like other organizations have their GM's out there saying this is

10:09 why we chose to do what we did this is why we chose to not do you know a trade

10:14 at the deadline it is taking accountability and responsibility for

10:19 the decisions that you make as the head coach and GM and the games that Belichick

10:24 plays with the media especially when you're losing like this he's he's

10:28 deflecting everything and he's deflecting any responsibility from himself so it

10:33 goes beyond this media versus Belichick stuff that I think fans get wrapped up

10:37 into and try to pick aside it's the guy who's calling the shots and he wants

10:43 others to take responsibility and accountability but meanwhile he doesn't

10:47 say anything at these press conferences which is running away from any of that

10:51 responsibility all right Greg you had a you had a great column and I read it

10:55 yesterday before I went out for Thanksgiving dinner on Mac Jones and the

10:59 offense and how things have just fallen off a cliff since 2021 you were speaking

11:04 my language my man we were not only in the same church we were sitting in the

11:08 same pew we were just sitting the same pew next to each other that's that's how

11:11 I loved how much I love this from you but the most telling parts for people

11:16 that haven't read it I would I would suggest that you read this piece by Greg

11:20 it's really good he spoke to four or five executives around the league about

11:24 Mac Jones in this offense but what was the most telling thing from that story

11:27 Greg when you looked back when you looked back to 2021 and from what you

11:31 heard from these executives I think I think to me and just to give people a

11:37 little bit of background but because of course when you publish something that's

11:40 not positive about the Patriots and you know you you get a lot of pushback I

11:47 mean that's just typical it's these people like they're still fighting the

11:50 Civil War like I mean you know like look what look what has happened to this

11:54 program and and you know since going back to Brady's last season and these

11:58 people want to pretend that you know everything is all hunky-dory like you

12:02 know whatever and so you know when I do these stories you know I try to take my

12:07 I certainly have my opinion but I'm not you know and I do have somewhat of an

12:11 informed opinion but I you know anytime I have questions or there's some doubt

12:16 like I just go back to my Rolodex so you know guys that I have spoken to over the

12:22 course of you know 20 years two of which have very heavy ties to the Patriots and

12:28 know how they do things and know some of the inner workings and actually what's

12:31 gone on with this internally over the past couple years and I put the

12:36 questions out to them and then you know I get it back from them and I take

12:40 myself out of the equation you know to try to better inform my readers

12:45 especially the members at Boston Sports Journal and you know I would say the

12:50 thing that that surprised me the most was that first of all you know all of

12:57 them wanted to go back to Mac Jones in 2021 and there was a lot of conversation

13:01 about that about where he was his rookie season now you know was it perfect did

13:07 he you know are there the people out there like oh well this goes this goes

13:11 back to Mac Jones you know not playing well down the stretch in in in 2021 you

13:18 know I mean you can say that I mean I put that more on the entire team I mean

13:21 the entire team has sucked for how many years in December but anyways you know

13:27 they point out that you know this was a guy that by the end of the season not

13:33 only were the team offensive staffs but Mac Jones's stats were at least or

13:38 better than Tom Brady's in 2019 so this goes back the deterioration of the

13:44 offense goes back a ways but you know they pointed out that you know how Mac

13:48 did you know in the sea in his for a very first game against the Dolphins and

13:52 how much they blitzed them and how the the Patriots did not you know just curl

13:56 up in a ball and say like let's just manage the game and check it down and

14:00 those no they they went at it you know Mac Jones's first game and they ended up

14:05 losing the game but I mean that was on Damian Harris fumbling the ball at the

14:08 end or else they would have won that game and also you know a big thing is

14:12 the you know that the toe-to-toe matchup between Mac Jones and Tom Brady I mean

14:20 we all remember what that was like Tom Brady coming back in Gillette Stadium

14:24 with a Bucks team and you know let's be honest they were they floundered for

14:27 about half a season but still a team that went on to win the Super Bowl very

14:31 talented Tom Brady obviously coming back and wanting to show Bill Belichick what

14:37 he missed and you know Mac Jones in that game was 31 of 40 275 yards two

14:46 touchdowns and interception a 101 rating Brady was 22 of 43 a 70.8 rating you

14:51 know Dak Prescott came in here and actually torched the Patriots yet you

14:57 know Mac Jones you know ended with a 118.9 yeah he threw the pick six but he

15:02 also gave them a lead with two minutes left you know and when the Patriots it

15:08 seems like a foreign concept right now and it seems like a foreign concept and

15:11 that's part of the point about where Mac Jones is right now but you know they had

15:15 blowout wins against you know the Browns the Titans you know a couple other ones

15:20 and the way that the Patriots did that is they came out throwing against the

15:24 Browns Jones was 13 of 15 for 134 and two touchdowns in the first half almost

15:29 a perfect passer rating against the Titans it was it was 1613 and a halftime

15:36 oh I wanted to point out in the Tampa game people forget and one of the

15:41 sources pointed this out to me that the Patriots rushed eight times for minus one

15:45 yard in that game and they they should have won the game if yes if Bill went

15:51 for it on fourth down instead of going for the field goal was that the game or

15:57 was that the Dallas game in the rain I think it was yeah it was it was the

16:00 Tampa game if Bill goes for it and they get it they probably run the clock down

16:05 and win the game but I mean they they couldn't run it all against the Bucs yet

16:09 you know they threw 40 42 times for 320 yards 16 of their 21st downs came via

16:16 the air in that game and so you know and also you know like I talked about the

16:21 blowouts that Mac Jones did a really good job in you know going back to my

16:25 sources I asked the question because we've heard this from different people

16:28 that Mac Jones was tightly stage managed by Josh McDaniels and I've said that but

16:35 I wanted to know to what extent because there's a lot of talk about like oh it

16:38 was like Jared Goff and Sean McVay and the 15 seconds left on the play clock I

16:42 was told unequivocally no that did that stuff didn't happen that they put a lot

16:46 on Mac Jones and he was an extremely competent quarterback but really what's

16:49 gone on what's gone on since then why it's regressed so much is that you know

16:56 and I think that I think the final quote that I use kind of summed it up

17:00 perfectly where it says Bill just has not hasn't done a good enough job of

17:06 putting together a group of players and coaches that can support the quarterback

17:09 position when it's not Tom Brady they were used to doing in a certain way when

17:14 they got another quarterback that didn't change how it how it how anything went

17:18 down and they didn't support them with Mac Jones with personnel with the

17:24 offensive line deteriorated then on top of that the coaching the coaching took a

17:28 huge step back from where we were in 2021 with Josh McDaniels and sort of his

17:32 staff the guys that he trained a lot of the guys that he brought to Vegas and

17:38 instead what they've gone to you of course we know about 2022 with Matt

17:42 Patricia and Joe judge but also to today with you know Adrian Clem coming in and

17:47 Troy Brown and you know where the coaching is not good enough outside of

17:53 Bill O'Brien I mean even look at the quarterback position in as a rookie Mac

17:57 Jones had Bo Hardegre there who is now the interim OC for the Las Vegas Raiders

18:01 this is a guy who played the position who had been a coach in the league who

18:07 had been a quarterbacks coach in the league and now on this staff it's Evan

18:11 Rothstein an analyst like you know how does that happen you know so it's just a

18:16 you know it's the big a lot of stuff that we've talked about I don't think

18:20 any of it is groundbreaking but to hear it from people who aren't affiliated

18:24 with with the Patriots who aren't beholden to Bill Belichick and you know

18:28 who are just NFL League sources that executives that look at this from afar

18:35 and study the tape and and you know have their own grades on Mac Jones and stuff

18:39 like that you know they just think it's it's a systemic problem what's gone on

18:43 to this point the biggest thing that stood out to me was that these

18:49 executives that you spoke to universally believe that Mac Jones is an NFL

18:53 quarterback and they believe that he could be a good NFL quarterback so you

18:58 know for the people that are just in the camp of Mac sucks he's always sucked

19:02 again I'll just disagree with all of you that feel that way we each have opinions

19:06 it's fantastic opinions are opinions cool but if you're if you're talking to

19:11 people within the game like Greg did for this piece they don't see it that way

19:15 they see that Mac could be a starting quarterback in the league so if you

19:18 think that max value is completely shot or they don't believe that you know he's

19:21 worth absolutely anything I would say that's not true off of what these execs

19:26 said secondly the McDaniels hand-holding I'm glad you asked about that Greg

19:30 because this is something that's really been a hair across my tuk-tuk the last

19:34 few weeks and I know look I trust Burt Rear he's a good reporter and he gets

19:40 good information and I'm sure there were some people that were talking to Burt

19:43 that were trying to angle this thing to make it look like Josh McDaniels was

19:47 literally carrying Mac in the games like he was a little baby and taking care of

19:51 him and making sure that he had you know knew everything quarterbacks especially

19:56 young quarterbacks there's a good amount of guys that get fed information in

20:00 their ears before the snap of the football that's why the NFL allows it

20:03 until about 15 seconds left on the play clock that that's not something new it

20:08 happens a lot in the league so that's the first thing I'd say secondly once 15

20:12 seconds is there communications cut off so if you're playing against the defense

20:17 that's gonna I guess especially against the rookie that's trying to change some

20:20 things up front late in the play clock right some teams disguise things until

20:25 post snap Mac still has to read the defense and understand what's happening

20:31 and make the play and make the throw so I just I hated that narrative that

20:35 McDaniels was just you know the reason why Mac played well when he played well

20:39 that that's ridiculous to me and Nick and also along those lines go watch any

20:43 NFL game see how many teams break or even at the line of scrimmage by with

20:48 15 seconds left on the play clock like it it doesn't happen like they basically

20:53 break the huddle at 15 seconds so you're getting up there with a route 10 and

20:56 then you got to figure things out yep yep and you know I just think some of

21:02 that is is again making McDaniels look great and not making Mac look like he's

21:06 competent and I just I hate that kind of line of thinking back to 2021 I'm glad

21:12 that you went through some of the games you've kind of said to me that I've got

21:16 the Mac files and a number of the games that you brought up in this piece and

21:20 I've talked about these on the Nick cattle show my podcast that I do if you

21:25 look at these games I just the whole win-loss record against good teams and

21:30 the idea of like he's never had a comeback win other than two times

21:33 against you know Houston and then Buffalo and all that stuff is just it's

21:38 such a lazy statistic to go to because when you look at these games you have to

21:42 understand that the quarterback is not solely responsible for wins and losses

21:46 we used to do this in baseball we used to give credit to the starting pitcher

21:50 for wins and losses the win-loss record was indicative of the starting pitcher

21:53 and then about 15 20 years ago we realized that was crap a lot of things

21:58 happen in a football game so even this year like you could look at the plays

22:02 that Mac made against Philly and his receivers didn't help him out the play

22:07 that he made against the Raiders Devante Parker we've been through that so even

22:11 this year Mac has made some plays at the end of games where if guys helped him

22:15 out they would have maybe won those games and that's not to say that Mac

22:18 played great or Mac didn't make mistakes it's just that idea of he can't make a

22:23 throw late in the game he has disproved that multiple times throughout his

22:28 career all right let's get to the Turkey Day games quickly Greg before we get

22:33 into the Giants just your takeaways main takeaways from what we saw yesterday and

22:37 really three games that stunk to high heaven yeah you know I I had three

22:43 bullet points but all my biggest point you know watching the 49ers and Brock

22:48 Purdy and and Kyle Shanahan operate you know I'll stick to that one and it's in

22:53 it relates to Mac Jones and the Patriots is that you know what you see with Brock

22:58 Purdy and look Brock Purdy might have some sort of intangible that Mac Jones

23:02 ultimately doesn't have I totally allow for that but you know I've watched some

23:08 San Francisco games this year just because you know I love Shanahan's

23:11 offense and but what you see with Brock Purdy especially when all his guys are

23:16 healthy you know Trent Williams and McCaffrey and Debo and Kittles and you

23:21 know you know all these guys you know when they are healthy Brock Purdy is in

23:29 the MVP discussion you know there have been games when Trent Williams has been

23:34 out when Debo's been out when Christian McCaffrey's been out and he throws like

23:41 three interceptions he looks terrible and like you know what you see with

23:46 Brock Purdy is what you get when you have a quarterback who is who is well

23:52 supported that he has he has a head coach with confidence in him a head

23:57 coach who game plans better than anybody who game plans around what he does well

24:02 and what he doesn't do well how to you know they go out and get guys who all

24:07 you need to do is distribute the ball and they go get another 20 yards after

24:11 the catch or what-have-you you know I just think that I don't know how people

24:17 watch the San Francisco 49ers and then watch the Patriots and think that they're

24:22 even in the same stratosphere as far as how to support a limited quarterback and

24:28 let's all be honest like Brock Purdy you might want to say he's an MVP candidate

24:31 but he's not the most talented guy you know he's probably a little bit more

24:36 athletic than Mac and there are certainly things that I like that he does

24:39 way better than Mac but right you know when you get when you get the coaching

24:43 that he does on a day-in day-out basis on a real coaching staff a real

24:47 offensive coaching staff you know and has been for years that's what you get

24:51 and when you don't do that when you don't support the quarterback in any

24:55 realm this is what you get with Mac Jones and so that was my biggest takeaway

25:00 from watching the games. So to really just get to the gist of the Purdy thing

25:05 before Debo Samuel and Trent Williams were out due to injury Terry Bradshaw

25:10 people you know Rex Ryan and stuff we're calling this guy Joe Montana then look

25:15 at the games when Debo and Trent Williams were out Purdy was awful he was

25:19 a turnover machine the offense fell off a cliff just due to the absence of those

25:24 two guys if you don't think talent around you. Didn't they lose three straight games? I think they lost three

25:29 straight at one point. Yeah and Purdy had more than I think two or more picks and

25:32 like all of those games that those guys were out like he was just a

25:36 disaster. And they scored 17 points each they scored 17 points each game too.

25:42 My biggest takeaway was young top-tier offensive players Greg and how the

25:48 Patriots don't really have any of those guys. Pop Douglas nice surprise I like

25:52 Pop I have high expectations and I'm optimistic about that guy and what he

25:56 can do but Iuke, CeeDee Lamb, Amon Ross St. Brown, Jamison Williams who's starting

26:02 to get it going with Detroit after all of his stuff injuries and off the field

26:06 stuff the suspension and even Green Bay with Watson. Watson got it going with a

26:10 couple of big plays. Romeo Dobbs makes some tough catches in the middle of the

26:14 field just young wide receiver talent and you look around the league and it

26:18 should drive Patriots fans nuts that they can't figure it out it's it's just

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26:59 Alright let's move on to the Giants quickly Greg. Frankly you put in the

27:09 notes they blow. Your thoughts about this football team? Yeah my quickie thoughts on

27:17 this you know I the Giants offensive line is freaking horrendous. Like I love

27:24 it and the big thing is it can the Patriots should be able to get crazy

27:29 pressure on Tommy DeVito who by the way I just want to note I forget who it was

27:33 I don't know if it was Gasper or somebody else referred to Tommy DeVito

27:36 as a Rutgers quarterback. No don't even say that he didn't go to Rutgers he went

27:40 to Syracuse. So I don't want to even hear that stuff don't put him on us. But

27:44 anyways he their offensive line is freaking horrible especially it looks

27:50 like the right tackle I forget his name right now but it looks like

27:55 he's gonna be out he hasn't practiced all week. I mean they are freaking

27:59 horrendous outside of the left tackle Thomas. They have good they have good

28:04 skill players I mean okay skill players Jalen Hyatt's a rookie that you know a

28:09 lot of people wanted the Patriots to get. I know that Dayball will have a good

28:13 plan against the Patriots. He knows how to game plan against the Patriots. So if

28:18 they if the Patriots don't get pressure in this game this has to be a big Josh

28:21 Uche game for me. If it's not then I think that the Giants are gonna do some

28:29 things because Dayball knows how to go up against the Patriots. Defensively

28:33 Lawrence is incredible in the middle of the Giants line. You have to block him

28:39 could be a horrible day for Cole Strange. Good matchup to see where he is.

28:44 Their cornerbacks stink. Their safeties are pretty good. Looks like Okariki is

28:48 gonna be back at linebacker. There's Simmons you have to deal with Wink

28:55 Martindale. They bring a lot of pressure. He blitzes a lot. So it's gonna be to me

29:01 as usual this is gonna be on the two lines. You know which line does a better

29:06 job the Patriots or the Giants. That's gonna tell the story of the game.

29:10 Before we get into the pick for this week's game we remind you that this

29:13 episode is brought to you by FanDuel exclusive wagering partner the CLNS

29:16 Media Network. New customers receive $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5

29:21 Moneyline bet. Patriots are favored on the road by three and a half. Greg the

29:25 over-under is is something to behold. 34 is the over-under number. Your

29:35 pick on this game Greg. I do like the Patriots in this game but I just think

29:41 giving them three and a half on the road is is way too much. Maybe they you know

29:47 win by you know one or something like that. So you know I think the pay I'm

29:51 gonna pick the Patriots to win this game. I just think that they're more competent

29:55 across the board. I do think the offensive line will find a way to hold

29:58 up. Trent Brown has been practicing this week after dealing with a personal thing

30:03 last week and also his injuries maybe he's a little bit better this week. So

30:07 you know and I think as long as they have him that I think they get back to

30:10 making the gains that they did on the offensive line in previous weeks. So I

30:14 think the Patriots win I just think that's a little bit too too big of a

30:18 number and I think I'm actually gonna go over the 34 but that's 34. Paul Pierce 34.

30:29 Alright so I like the Patriots but I'm standing by my edict. I said a couple of

30:38 weeks ago I'm not picking the Patriots any of these picks until they actually

30:42 win a football game on the field. So I'm gonna go with the Giants getting the

30:46 three and a half at home. I'll go Giants and I'll go over 34 because that number

30:51 is crazy. Like the whoever's playing quarterback I just feel like you'll see

30:56 at least three or four turnovers in this game which will set up short fields. So

31:00 I'll go over the 34. Alright check us out and check Greg out over at BSJ. 50

31:05 bucks a year. Bedard and Giardi tag-teaming on the Patriots with film.

31:09 Best sources around to give you the information. Also John Corrales does some

31:13 great work with the Celtics. You know the deal. BSJ member question of the day from

31:17 Tyler. Hey Greg by most accounts sounds like Mayo is the head coach in waiting.

31:22 If that does happen will that limit their options when it comes to hiring a

31:26 GM? Can't imagine any GM worth their salt that would take a job without having any

31:31 input on the coach they'll be working with. Well you know I picked this

31:35 question from our from my member chat which I'll be doing later today. I do

31:39 that every week with the members and we do it on every sport. You know for a

31:44 couple different reasons. Number one the Mayo topic was popular with the sources

31:50 that I talked to. The league executives. They want to know what's going on. I would

31:55 say that almost universally they all think that Mayo is going to be the next

31:59 head coach. That leads into a big discussion. A lot of

32:07 the sources worry about what that looks like with Mayo in charge.

32:12 They just don't think that he has a and you you would think he wouldn't

32:17 that he wouldn't have a very big Rolodex in terms of how to fill out his coaching

32:21 staff and personnel and things like that. I think the big

32:26 thing is is that Mayo is gonna have to find somebody.

32:32 They have some great there are a few different options I think and I think

32:36 the most important thing that the Crafts do is if it's Mayo then they he has to

32:41 pick a GM that he's gonna work with. I do think like internally the

32:47 reviews aren't very good on on Matt Groh. I could just tell you that from talking

32:51 to these sources. They think he was way under prepared for this job

32:55 coming from college scouting about how to how to build the team and

33:00 like that. Assuming it's not Matt Groh I mean it could be but you know

33:06 Pat Stewart's in the building. He rose very high with the Panthers. Elliot

33:11 Wolfe of course. John Robinson I still think has a lot of time and money left

33:16 on his Titans contract but he's thought of very highly.

33:22 The big thing is Mayo is going to have to find a way.

33:26 They just can't change the head coach and think that things are

33:31 gonna be better and I hope that Gerard doesn't think that. I hope the Crafts

33:34 doesn't think that. Gerard's gonna have to rely on his agent Sean Kiernan

33:39 from Athletes First. Very experienced, very good agent. They have a long depth

33:44 chart in terms of coaching prospects around the league but it's incumbent

33:49 upon Gerard to when he gets in there find the right personnel guy. Sounds like

33:55 John Robinson. A lot of people think he's the best option. We'll see whether he

33:59 wants to do that but he also has to do what he has to do with the

34:05 coaching staff. Just don't do Steve Belichick if that's not what you believe

34:09 and go find the best coaching staff possible or else it's

34:13 almost pointless to let go of Bill at this point. I don't think you bring back

34:17 the Belichick's. I don't think you bring back a number of these guys.

34:21 What has Troy Brown done at wide receiver to continue his job? Special

34:26 Teams has been a disaster. Blow those guys out. The one thing though that

34:30 interests me and I talked about this on my pod this week so I won't go too in

34:34 depth about it. I did a whole podcast on Gerard Mayo before Thanksgiving. The one

34:38 thing I would say though is offensive coordinator and I know people want to

34:41 get rid of Bill O'Brien. They want a young offensive mind and I understand

34:44 all of that but I truly believe it depends on the quarterback. If you

34:49 don't get a top pick in this draft, if you don't get a top three pick and you

34:52 don't have a shot at one of Mayer Williams and you're not necessarily

34:56 believing that the other guys, that all of them, there's not one guy that

35:01 could be that next face of the franchise dude. As much as people hate this idea,

35:05 there is a possibility that Mac Jones is back next year. Now he could be back with

35:09 say Michael Penix or a Jaden Daniels and you have a quarterback competition or

35:13 you bring in a vet quarterback. If you're bringing Mac Jones back, you're

35:20 likely to bring another quarterback in that is similar to Mac so you run an

35:24 offense that can work for either quarterback that wins the competition. So

35:28 I want people to keep that in mind because Bill O'Brien might actually hang

35:31 around with Mayo because if you do bring back, let's say you're quote-unquote

35:35 stuck with Mac, if you bring him back you don't want to give him another system to

35:41 learn. He's already gone through three different offensive coordinators.

35:44 So I would just remember that fact. The OC is tied to the hip

35:51 with the quarterback and if they're in a position where they can't get somebody

35:55 else who is an absolute upgrade over Mac or they want to have a competition,

35:58 O'Brien could be back as OC as well to try to at least keep that consistency on

36:02 that side of the football. I completely agree, Nick. I completely agree and I just

36:08 wanted to add that like you know a checkmark for for Bill O'Brien and I do

36:13 think you have the benefit of him probably wanting to stick around and who

36:16 knows when he wants to be a head coach again and you know he's been transient

36:20 for a while and his family is settled but a checkmark for him is that he

36:24 tailored the Patriots system to Deshaun Watson and it worked pretty well and

36:29 so you know he has the ability to to tailor it how the quarterback needs it

36:35 even if he has different quarterbacks in the room like say Mac Jones and Jaden

36:39 Daniels or somebody like that like Bill O'Brien is a guy that I would feel very

36:43 confident in doing that in the best interest of the Patriots.

36:47 He's Greg, I'm Nick. Everybody have a great weekend.

36:52 [Music]

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36:59 (upbeat music)

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Belichick still playing QB games … to what end | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast

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