LIVE: Patriots Nation: Coaching concerns? with Sophie Wellerr

CLNS Media Sports Network

Pat and Matt welcome Sophie Weller from A to Z Sports on to discuss the apparent turmoil in the locker room because of the coaching staff, and also what to expect on what should be a snowy Christmas Eve in Denver

Transcript

00:00:00 [Music]

00:00:03 You're listening to the Patreon Nation Podcast.

00:00:07 [Music]

00:00:29 All right, welcome to another edition of the Patreon Nation Podcast.

00:00:35 As always, this is brought to you by FanDuel, the official sports wagering partner of CLNS Media.

00:00:40 Go to fanduel.com/boston to sign up today.

00:00:44 And this is your boy Pat Lane with my guide Matt St. Jean.

00:00:47 But not only that, we are joined by a very special guest,

00:00:50 the beat reporter from A to Z NFL.

00:00:53 It is Sophie Weller.

00:00:55 And Sophie, what a day to have you on.

00:00:57 I mean, kind of a big day for you guys over there at A to Z Sports,

00:01:01 but we're excited to have you on.

00:01:02 We had scheduled this before and I'm pumped to have you here.

00:01:05 So thanks for coming through.

00:01:06 Of course, I think we knew something was going to happen today.

00:01:10 It seems like it, you know?

00:01:11 Planned it that way.

00:01:12 We'll go with that.

00:01:13 Exactly, that's the way it was.

00:01:15 You were like, "You know what? I'm coming on these guys' show.

00:01:17 I just have something big coming."

00:01:18 Yeah, let me just plan that, you know?

00:01:20 Yeah, you had that in the holster ready to go.

00:01:22 Yeah.

00:01:24 That's great.

00:01:24 So for those of you that don't know, Sophie is new to the beat this year.

00:01:27 Worked on the beat a little bit, but first year full-time on the beat.

00:01:31 And already crushing it, making a name for herself, doing a great job over there.

00:01:34 And so we appreciate it.

00:01:36 How is it?

00:01:37 Are you enjoying being on the beat?

00:01:38 I know you're from Massachusetts.

00:01:40 I assume grew up a Patriots fan.

00:01:42 And so, you know, are you enjoying being on the beat?

00:01:45 Yeah, I'm loving it.

00:01:46 It's been such an amazing opportunity.

00:01:49 And, you know, to take something, like, take my love of football

00:01:53 and be able to start writing about it.

00:01:55 You know, I always used to say, like, I hated writing for such a long time, like, growing up.

00:01:59 And then when I got to college and I learned I could write about sports,

00:02:03 I was like, "Hold on. This is a game changer."

00:02:06 And, you know, I definitely found that I like to write about the NFL the most.

00:02:11 And I loved writing about the Patriots when I was an intern with MassLive.

00:02:14 So I was just really lucky A to Z Sports gave me that opportunity to do it.

00:02:18 And here I am.

00:02:19 Awesome.

00:02:21 Love it.

00:02:22 Also, quick programming note.

00:02:23 I assume James is dark with gold over there.

00:02:25 We did get off of Twitch because I figured it was better on X than on Twitch.

00:02:29 We only had a few people.

00:02:30 We had a few people watching on Twitch.

00:02:32 So we switched over to X instead of Twitch.

00:02:34 So we won't be on Twitch any longer.

00:02:36 You're calling it X, Pat.

00:02:38 I can't believe it.

00:02:39 It's what it's called, man.

00:02:41 What do you want me to say?

00:02:41 I mean, it's like, you know.

00:02:43 It's still Twitter.com.

00:02:44 It is Twitter.

00:02:45 You're right.

00:02:45 It is true.

00:02:46 That is true.

00:02:47 It is still Twitter.com.

00:02:48 Nevertheless.

00:02:49 So but anyways.

00:02:51 All right, so let's get into.

00:02:52 I we're going to start with Belichick.

00:02:55 But I think before we start with Belichick, we got to get on.

00:02:59 We have to we have to talk about.

00:03:01 I mean, you were with with the person right now.

00:03:04 We got to talk about Trent Brown.

00:03:06 It certainly sounds like soon to be former Patriot.

00:03:10 Trent Brown gave you an exclusive interview today talking about being very candid about

00:03:16 the Malik Cunningham situation.

00:03:18 And what's interesting about what he said is that I feel like he echoed a lot of what

00:03:23 Patriots fans have been saying.

00:03:24 We were saying it on air for months, right?

00:03:26 But you don't typically hear that coming from a player that's still on the team.

00:03:32 And so that was a little eye opening, I thought today.

00:03:35 Yeah, he was very candid, which, you know, at first was not expecting.

00:03:39 But it was great to hear because it started when he posted on Instagram when Malik first

00:03:46 left with a photo of the initial report on Instagram from Adam Schefter and then said,

00:03:52 go flourish where your talent is respected.

00:03:54 And that gave an insight into how he was feeling about this whole situation.

00:03:59 I wasn't able to talk to him last week because he was dealing with an illness and some injuries,

00:04:04 but he was back in the locker room today and he was willing to talk to me.

00:04:07 And I just started asking him some questions about this whole situation, how he felt about

00:04:13 it.

00:04:13 And it became really clear, like, you don't normally see a practice squad player get that

00:04:18 much attention from the active players when they leave or go sign with another team off

00:04:25 the practice squad.

00:04:26 Malik had everyone saying congrats to him from the Patriots on Instagram right after

00:04:34 it happened.

00:04:34 So that was super telling in itself.

00:04:37 But then to have Brown kind of add that extra note, kind of dig at the Patriots too.

00:04:42 So that's how that started.

00:04:44 And I just really wanted to talk to him about it.

00:04:46 And the first question was just what was going through your mind when that happened?

00:04:51 And he explained that he thought the Ravens would always be the perfect spot for him because

00:04:58 of Lamar, because the Louisville connections.

00:05:00 But when that happened, he was like, you have to go.

00:05:02 And the last part he said to me is that it's good for him to get a real chance to play

00:05:08 his real position, which obviously the Patriots were using him as a wide receiver and giving

00:05:15 him some reps at quarterback, but they mainly brought him on to be a receiver.

00:05:20 So it's clear his real position as quarterback where he'll be back up to Lamar.

00:05:24 Did Brown, like, did he seem upset about this stuff, giving you these quotes?

00:05:31 Or was it more like, I don't know, a frustration or an apathy?

00:05:36 I think it was just from a standpoint, like, he liked Malik.

00:05:38 They all saw a lot of potential in him.

00:05:42 And I think they wanted to see him get a real shot.

00:05:45 And clearly, like, you know, he was brought up to the active roster in the Patriots for,

00:05:49 like, no time, put back down, all this elevated, but didn't get a single snap in the two games

00:05:55 he was elevated in before going to the Ravens.

00:05:58 So they just wanted to see him actually get a shot at, like, playing quarterback, which

00:06:05 is what he does.

00:06:06 And that's really, I think, where he was coming from was just, he was upset that,

00:06:12 they, you know, with all the offensive struggles that this team has had this season,

00:06:17 what was the harm in playing Malik?

00:06:20 Really?

00:06:20 Like, what was the harm in giving him a chance?

00:06:23 That's what a lot of the fans were saying.

00:06:25 And well, before no one in the locker room would say it, now clearly someone is.

00:06:29 Right.

00:06:30 Well, it's really three things for me stood out, right?

00:06:34 First of all, the unbelievable scoop by you, which is great, but like, you know, when he

00:06:39 says everybody on the team did, and then he doubles down and says, everybody like he's

00:06:46 not saying, oh, I feel this way.

00:06:48 No, no, no.

00:06:48 He's, he feels like he's speaking for the team and he's talked to other players about

00:06:53 that.

00:06:53 Right.

00:06:53 Like that's, that's legitimate.

00:06:56 That's big.

00:06:57 Right.

00:06:58 I feel like, and, you know, I love where he just says like, my guy couldn't even get a

00:07:01 red jersey, which is true.

00:07:02 Like it was obvious watching Malik play wide receiver.

00:07:06 He wasn't a wide receiver.

00:07:08 It was obvious.

00:07:09 Get us.

00:07:09 He didn't get a single catch in the preseason.

00:07:11 Did he know?

00:07:12 And, but you could see him like, so Edelman obviously Julian, I'm in play wide, played,

00:07:18 you know, high school, Jesus Christ played quarterback at Kent state.

00:07:23 Right.

00:07:23 Everyone knows that he came in as a wide receiver.

00:07:27 He looked the part as a wide receiver.

00:07:31 He was not super crisp running routes, but he was like quick as hell.

00:07:35 He was like, you could see it.

00:07:37 And it was, it wasn't just with the ball in his hands.

00:07:39 It was like getting open.

00:07:40 You could see it in training camp.

00:07:43 Malik was not comfortable running routes.

00:07:45 You could see that.

00:07:46 And so I just, I thought that, you know, we look at it and say, it didn't make any sense

00:07:51 what they did with them.

00:07:52 So anyways, him saying not get a red jersey.

00:07:54 And then the last, the last sentence of your article, I'm glad he's in a better place.

00:08:00 Like, my goodness.

00:08:02 I mean, that's, if that to me, you know, as I said, if Trent, if Trent wasn't already

00:08:08 on the way out, like there it is right there, like deuces, I'm out of here.

00:08:12 You know what I mean?

00:08:12 Yeah.

00:08:13 That one, I, I remember when Malik first signed, they were using him as a wide receiver.

00:08:18 You know, we had, we talked with him and everything was about, have you talked to Julian Edelman?

00:08:23 Like, what's that been like?

00:08:25 Cause you're kind of in a similar situation and he was wanting to make this connection

00:08:29 or have this, you know, part two of Julian Edelman, who obviously did so much for this

00:08:36 team.

00:08:36 Malik's not Julian.

00:08:38 It wasn't, it's not the same thing.

00:08:41 And I think it was almost like they wanted it to be, but he's a quarterback and he's

00:08:46 a really good mobile quarterback, which is, which for another part is something that I

00:08:51 think the Patriots needed.

00:08:53 Cause they, you know, went from Tom Brady to Mac Jones and even Bailey Zappi, who are,

00:08:58 you know, more in the pocket.

00:08:59 Whereas Malik, you, we saw in that preseason game with the Texans was moving around and

00:09:04 getting, getting those first downs, like in a Lamar-esque style.

00:09:09 And that's something this team hasn't seen in years.

00:09:11 Yeah.

00:09:13 Only, I mean, the, the best this offense has kind of looked post Brady was maybe that year

00:09:17 with Cam, especially the, the good Cam games, the, the bad Cam games were, you know, very,

00:09:22 very bad, not, not that far off from what we're seeing right now, but the good Cam

00:09:26 games, they looked really good.

00:09:28 And I, I didn't have any issue with trying to switch positions from a leak, but I think

00:09:32 that Texans game was a point of, all right, let's at least try him as a quarterback from

00:09:36 now on and see what this looks like.

00:09:38 And maybe it doesn't turn into anything.

00:09:40 He's an undrafted quarterback and those usually don't turn into anything, but that seems to

00:09:44 be where he's fitting the best and why they kind of continued to split the difference

00:09:50 between the two positions here.

00:09:52 Just didn't, didn't make a lot of sense from what we actually saw on the field.

00:09:56 And that I, I will kind of trust the coaching staff here and assume, okay, maybe he just

00:10:02 doesn't look that good in practice or he's doing, he's doing things in practice that

00:10:05 necessitate this, but the whole team feels like he was the guy that should have been

00:10:10 out there.

00:10:11 Then that kind of pushes back on the idea that there was something in practice we weren't

00:10:15 seeing that justified the way that they've, they handled them.

00:10:19 First, I got to say that when you're talking about a Cam Newton season as the best season,

00:10:23 this team has had that in itself is quite telling about the last few years.

00:10:29 And I do admit there were the good games, but there were some bad games too.

00:10:34 Yeah.

00:10:34 So the one, and I'm just gonna pull this.

00:10:40 Paul, Paul C here says, how do you know Cunningham is a good quarterback?

00:10:44 We don't, we don't know the Cunningham's good quarterback.

00:10:46 And that's not really the point.

00:10:48 We have not gotten good quarterback play all year long.

00:10:53 Now, Mac Jones had one really nice drive against Buffalo.

00:10:56 He had a few nice throws in the first two games of the season.

00:11:01 Bailey's happy has had a few nice throws.

00:11:04 He had a good first half against Pittsburgh.

00:11:06 Beyond that, we haven't gotten anything even close to good quarterbacking by anybody on

00:11:14 the Patriots this year.

00:11:16 And so even if Millie Cunningham, isn't a good quarterback, he's going to give you

00:11:21 something different and you're not getting good quarterback play right now out of anyone.

00:11:27 So what difference does it make if you put him out there now, maybe Belichick says, well,

00:11:31 screw that.

00:11:32 I'm not gonna, you know, because then it's some, you know, Mickey Mouse organization.

00:11:36 We're just throwing guys out there.

00:11:37 Right.

00:11:37 And I, to a certain extent, I get that.

00:11:40 Right.

00:11:41 But like, at least give him a shot, at least in practice say, you know what, we're just

00:11:47 going to commit to him being a quarterback.

00:11:49 It's a complete disaster right now.

00:11:52 And so let's just commit to Malik being a quarterback.

00:11:55 Let's see what happens.

00:11:56 And then we can go and then we can figure it out from there, you know, and, you know,

00:12:01 and, and they never really understood, like, they never got to know.

00:12:06 Can he read it?

00:12:06 Because he just asked a question.

00:12:07 Can he read defense?

00:12:08 I don't know, but like, they didn't give him an opportunity to at least give him the

00:12:12 opportunity in practice to do those things.

00:12:14 They never did.

00:12:14 And so that's the, that's the frustrating part where it's like, well, we don't know

00:12:19 if he would have been a good quarterback because he never got the opportunity to.

00:12:23 And that's the issue.

00:12:24 Well, it also makes me wonder, like, really what this looked like in practice and what

00:12:28 the players were seeing, because he didn't get that many reps at quarterback through

00:12:33 all of this and probably not many during the regular season here.

00:12:35 I mean, it's been some weeks where he gets some and that's about it.

00:12:39 So what's he doing in those reps?

00:12:42 That's impressing his teammates so much.

00:12:43 What's he doing in meetings and in the locker room?

00:12:45 That's impressing his teammates so much.

00:12:47 I'd love to know that.

00:12:49 Because I think that gives you more insight into the way they view things, the way they

00:12:52 view the culture, what they think should be done with this team going forward.

00:12:56 And probably also, you know, the value of Mac Jones and Bailey Zampi once they hit the

00:13:00 trade market.

00:13:01 If the whole team is saying, hey, we'd rather take this undrafted quarterback over either

00:13:06 of these guys.

00:13:07 But it's not going to reflect favorably on them when you're trying to trade them and

00:13:11 send them to another team either.

00:13:13 My thing is that, you know, you've been blown out twice this season, shut out at home twice

00:13:17 this season.

00:13:18 Are you going to get much worse than that?

00:13:20 Are we really looking at that as the standard of, oh, well, you know, we don't want to

00:13:24 give him a chance because we don't want to make it worse.

00:13:26 We're already at worse.

00:13:28 Right.

00:13:29 So give him a shot.

00:13:30 People passed worse.

00:13:30 I was being nice, I guess.

00:13:32 But no, I mean, what's the harm in giving him a shot?

00:13:38 And it was Brown also, when I was talking to him today, he had this one part that really

00:13:44 stood out to me, and this was the moment when I was like, wow, he really saw something.

00:13:49 And Cunningham, which was, he called that drive that Cunningham led them to the touchdown

00:13:55 against Houston in the preseason.

00:13:56 It was only touchdown scored that game, and it was in the fourth quarter, nine minutes

00:14:00 left.

00:14:00 He called that the most exciting drive of the season.

00:14:04 We're in week 16, and that has preseason game one.

00:14:10 Right.

00:14:11 Fourth quarter has been the most exciting drive this season.

00:14:14 Yeah.

00:14:15 And it's hard to argue with him.

00:14:17 I mean, again, you could, maybe you could go to the Bills game at the end of the game.

00:14:20 Outside of that one, it's hard to argue against what he's saying.

00:14:24 The only other play that comes to mind is Brendan Schooler's blocked field goal in

00:14:29 there, which when a blocked field goal is entering the conversation, I think that also

00:14:34 tells you a lot about how the season's gone.

00:14:36 Yeah.

00:14:37 I mean, those are the three plays we're picking from right there.

00:14:41 Pharaoh Brown, like 80 yard touchdown or whatever.

00:14:43 Yeah, that was a good play.

00:14:44 It was a good play.

00:14:45 But again, I just think, I think overall drive, right, is that, and that's kind of the

00:14:49 point, you know, and so, and look again, do, do I think that Malik would have come in and

00:14:55 been like this savior and the Patriots would have made the playoffs?

00:14:58 I'm like, no, I mean, that's crazy to think that, right.

00:15:01 But like, again, just the fact that they didn't even, they never even gave him a red

00:15:05 jersey.

00:15:06 They never even made him a quarterback.

00:15:08 Like I just, that that's, that's the stuff, that's the stuff for me.

00:15:13 Right.

00:15:14 And I will say, and, and, you know, old man, mom says it over here too.

00:15:18 Like, it's not what he said.

00:15:19 It's, it's the fact that it's Trent Brown saying it.

00:15:21 And like Trent Brown is a guy that has been lackadaisical in the past, has been readily

00:15:29 unavailable for a ton of games because of injury or whatever the case may be.

00:15:34 Right.

00:15:34 So like he's not, he hasn't been a reliable player for the Patriots this whole second

00:15:40 stint he sat with the Patriots and hasn't lived up to the contract.

00:15:44 And so now you hear this coming from him and you're like, oh God, you know?

00:15:48 And I, I mean, I did get a quick, on top of the story, I also got a quick health update.

00:15:52 I checked with him on that one too, just because I, I mean, when he's out there, you can tell,

00:15:57 you know, he hasn't been reliable, but, but when he's out there, you know, he's out there

00:16:02 and he makes a difference for that line.

00:16:04 And he's just nursing through the illness last week, really knocked him out.

00:16:07 He was, he was down really bad from that one.

00:16:10 And then he's still nursing this ankle injury.

00:16:13 That's still bothering him a lot.

00:16:14 So he was back at practice, which is a good sign, especially with Connor McDermott now

00:16:19 missing from practice and having been injured in that last game.

00:16:23 It's either him or Vardarian Lowe.

00:16:25 So the hope is that he'll play this week based on him being out there.

00:16:29 Just for like a little, like, non, a scoop.

00:16:34 Right?

00:16:34 No, it's sure.

00:16:35 I mean, that's, you know,

00:16:35 Well, I think one of the other things that this kind of highlights to me too,

00:16:40 is like how good Dante Skarnecchia was at keeping this group united.

00:16:46 Cause Trent Brown was when he was acquired in some ways, a reclamation project that they've

00:16:51 done so well with a guy who I think had had some weight issues and locker room issues in

00:16:56 San Francisco, despite being an incredibly talented player and under Skarnecchia, now

00:17:01 they got the best out of him and that helped him win a Superbowl that year.

00:17:05 And I think, you know, keeping guys bought into the locker room is so important.

00:17:12 And especially for a player like that.

00:17:14 And it doesn't seem like that's the case anymore.

00:17:16 So we'll say, you know, they've had Trent Brown fall out and gotten him to buy back in.

00:17:21 Feels like countless times in his assistance here in New England.

00:17:25 So I don't know if I'm as pessimistic as you guys about the possibility of him coming back.

00:17:29 I think he calls it like he sees it, but if you talk to him, honestly, he seems like the

00:17:33 kind of guy who, you know, if you pay him and treat him with respect and tell him what's going

00:17:36 on, he can buy back into something.

00:17:38 I think if you want him to come back, you need to make some serious, serious changes.

00:17:44 Right.

00:17:44 He needs, you need to prove to him that it's not going to be a repeat of what they're going

00:17:50 through this year, whether that's drafts, free agent signings, coaching, who knows?

00:17:58 Well, I think it's kind of the assumption that no matter what happens here, there's

00:18:05 going to be big changes made because nobody in this organization wants a repeat of that.

00:18:09 I don't think there's a way they go into next season playing for 2025, even if they're not

00:18:15 a contender next year.

00:18:16 I think the goal is to be a significantly better product on the field.

00:18:19 Obviously, it remains to be seen if Trent Brown is going to be a part of that.

00:18:25 But, uh, we'll see.

00:18:26 And he might be the best tackle hitting free agency this year.

00:18:30 So I don't want to be the team trying to replace him, despite some of the issues that he brings.

00:18:35 Right.

00:18:36 Yeah.

00:18:36 So we'll see.

00:18:38 And that's, I think that that's kind of, that's the real question, right?

00:18:42 Who else becomes available?

00:18:44 There are some good players that will be available.

00:18:46 The question is, do those guys get resigned?

00:18:49 Do they get franchise tagged?

00:18:50 If that's the case, then the Patriots might look at it and say, well, it's in our best

00:18:56 interest to bring Trent Brown back.

00:18:58 Even though we don't love the fact that he's not super reliable, but like if we can get

00:19:04 him on a two year deal and he's the best option that we have because all the other guys we're

00:19:11 interested in are gone and we can draft a tackle in the second or third round.

00:19:16 Well, now all of a sudden you say, okay, well that now it makes some more sense to

00:19:21 bring him back.

00:19:21 But again, if Bill Belichick, I mean, to put it pretty simply for me, if Bill Belichick

00:19:27 and Bill O'Brien are here next year, based on what you heard from Trent Brown in your

00:19:32 article, I can't imagine that he's coming back to play for Bill Belichick and Bill O'Brien,

00:19:37 just based on the decision-making that they did, the offensive coaching and the way the

00:19:41 offense has gone, obviously not happy with it.

00:19:44 Clearly, upset about it and is just kind of looking at it saying, yeah, no, I'm all set

00:19:48 with that.

00:19:49 And so, and look, that might be for the best.

00:19:51 It might be for the best for Patriots fans, might be the best for the Patriots.

00:19:55 And so we'll see what happens.

00:19:57 But anyways, all right, let's get into the other big story of the day.

00:20:02 The other big story of the day was Deflategate Part Two, apparently.

00:20:07 This one, the Patriots have full deniability about, which is nice.

00:20:11 Can't blame the Patriots for this one, although I'm sure Roger Goodell will try.

00:20:13 So what happened?

00:20:16 He'll blame Tom.

00:20:17 Yeah, great.

00:20:18 That's a great point.

00:20:18 It was all Tom Brady.

00:20:20 For this one too.

00:20:22 For those of you that don't know or haven't heard, the kicking balls were severely under

00:20:30 inflated for the game on Sunday.

00:20:33 I think they were around 11 PSI when it should be between 12 and a half and 13 and a half,

00:20:38 as everyone should know by now.

00:20:40 And so that was on both sides.

00:20:43 How that happened, I have absolutely no idea how that happened.

00:20:49 But, you know, there were complaints from Butker and from Ryland and the Patriots special

00:20:58 team staff looking at it like, we don't, this seems weird.

00:21:01 They're like a little bit more squishy than normal.

00:21:03 They don't feel quite right.

00:21:05 And sure enough, they were like a full two pounds, a full two PSI lower than what they

00:21:13 should have been.

00:21:14 And so they went in, fix it at halftime.

00:21:17 And wouldn't you know it, they came back and the both the Patriots and the Chiefs were

00:21:22 kicking and punting the ball more effectively in the second half.

00:21:25 Just interesting.

00:21:27 Now, I think Mark Daniels tweeted this out, that it was almost the exact, I think it was

00:21:32 51 or 53 on Sunday and it was 51 during the Colts game and it was like 75% humidity, you

00:21:42 know, at the at the Patriots game on Sunday and like 73% at the Colts game.

00:21:46 So very, very similar conditions.

00:21:50 And so it's almost like the ideal gas law is actually true.

00:21:53 And the NFL just didn't, you know, didn't kind of go for it.

00:21:57 So I just getting I'm getting flashbacks of all kinds right now.

00:22:01 Listen, hey, at the very least, the Patriots can have full deniability, right?

00:22:06 And again, you know, maybe someone's going to show some Chiefs fans are sitting there

00:22:11 saying, oh, the freaking Patriots deflated the balls or whatever.

00:22:13 But just hilarious, just absolutely hilarious stupidity from the NFL on this one, I think.

00:22:20 From the last time we did this, this means it like invalidates all the results of the

00:22:25 season, right?

00:22:25 I think that's the precedent that we set the last time.

00:22:30 Is that is that what happens?

00:22:32 It's Tom.

00:22:33 All I know is it's Tom's fault.

00:22:35 Yep.

00:22:36 According to Goodell, everything was his fault.

00:22:38 Blame blame Brady.

00:22:39 That's right.

00:22:40 Does anybody know where he was at one o'clock on on Sunday?

00:22:43 Do you have an alibi?

00:22:44 You know, there is a I think we need to get his cell phone and find out.

00:22:48 It's more probable than not that Tom Brady was around in the building at some point.

00:22:52 This was an insane story and a great another great scoop by Mark Daniels.

00:22:57 I mean, it was for this to happen again and again with the full deniability, I think what

00:23:03 helps is it wasn't just Butker who missed Chad Ryland also missed.

00:23:07 Right.

00:23:08 So it's you know, it affected both teams equally in that case.

00:23:12 And I believe it was based on a story.

00:23:14 I could be wrong, but I believe it was the Patriots who actually pointed it out.

00:23:17 Yes, it was to the officials to be like, hey, something's not right.

00:23:21 So there you go.

00:23:21 It's like, OK, we're not going to like how can you accuse a team of cheating if they're

00:23:25 the ones going to the officials being like, hey, something's not right here.

00:23:29 Yeah, well, it's it's my understanding, right, that like the one team brings their

00:23:34 balls for the when they're on offense, the other team brings the balls for when they're

00:23:37 on offense and the NFL supplies the balls for the kicking game.

00:23:41 So the fact that those are the ones it's just I mean, it's negligence and it's yeah,

00:23:47 it's a dumb like there's just.

00:23:48 Well, and then you you get back into the question that I asked from the beginning,

00:23:54 right, of the first to flake, which is did you ever measure the balls before the game

00:23:59 started?

00:24:00 Right.

00:24:01 If you don't have if you don't have that initial reading, then all of your results

00:24:06 at the end is irrelevant because it doesn't matter what the end result is.

00:24:10 You don't know where you started from.

00:24:11 Right.

00:24:11 And so if you just assume that you take the ball out of that, because supposedly they're

00:24:17 new balls, I guess, is the idea is that the brand new balls.

00:24:20 So for the cables, at least you take the balls out, you're like brand new balls.

00:24:23 We have to check them.

00:24:24 OK, well, fine.

00:24:26 But how are you supposed to know where they're at?

00:24:28 Right.

00:24:28 They're supposed to be between twelve and a half and thirteen and a half.

00:24:30 What if they're not right?

00:24:32 And how could you know that?

00:24:34 And then when you bring them in, you're like, wow, this is weird.

00:24:36 This one's at eleven.

00:24:37 You don't know what it started at.

00:24:39 It started eleven and a half.

00:24:40 You don't know.

00:24:40 Right.

00:24:41 And so it just it's it's crazy to me that they they figure that out.

00:24:45 Well, and the PSI also matters a ton more for kicking something than it does for throwing

00:24:52 something or handing something, especially over the distances.

00:24:55 I mean, in the Mark Daniels article, talk about the Chiefs picking up on something right away

00:25:00 because the opening kickoff was way shorter than Bucker usually kicks it like five yards or more.

00:25:07 And like, all right, this is this is an area where it actually will affect the game, like a forty

00:25:11 five to seven blowout or whatever it was where all the arts come on the ground.

00:25:16 The football is not affecting the result of that one.

00:25:20 But one like this where, you know, you get missed kicks on both sides and it's affecting

00:25:23 kickoffs and punts.

00:25:25 I don't think that's like the difference here, but for a more important game.

00:25:30 Yeah, that could be the difference.

00:25:32 And if it happened in this one, it does make me wonder if they're sloppy about this.

00:25:35 Is it happening in other games?

00:25:37 Is this just an issue where cables are all over the place?

00:25:40 Because if I were an NFL team, I'd want to know that, hey, when my kicker goes out there,

00:25:44 he's going to have a ball that he knows what it's going to do.

00:25:47 Yeah, I think it was Mark wrote that it was Bucker has hit 87.1 percent of his of his

00:25:53 kickoffs for touchbacks.

00:25:55 So right then and there, they knew like something's not right.

00:25:59 Yeah, three yards short of.

00:26:00 Yeah, right.

00:26:01 And they compounded the something is not right by calling a questionable hold on said kickoff

00:26:05 return.

00:26:06 You need another podcast for that topic.

00:26:11 Oh, man, perhaps, too.

00:26:12 But that's what we did on Sunday.

00:26:15 We did.

00:26:15 Yeah, we did already talk about it.

00:26:16 You know what?

00:26:17 I just think it's it becomes this issue with the NFL where, like, you have these rules

00:26:24 that are set in place and you have all of these regulations and you've regulated all

00:26:29 of this stuff and you're litigating all of it and you're this is a huge deal and this

00:26:33 is that and then.

00:26:35 It's not right, then they then what they actually do is they don't care about it at all, and

00:26:41 they treat it as if it's a joke.

00:26:42 And it's like, well, what like either you care about it and it's really important or

00:26:47 you don't care about it.

00:26:48 And it's a joke.

00:26:49 You can't have it both ways from the NFL and they do it all the time.

00:26:53 And it drives you insane because you're like, well, how do you what are we trying to do

00:26:58 here?

00:26:58 What are we accomplishing by litigating all of this stuff?

00:27:01 And it just it becomes very frustrating when you see kind of a little peek behind the curtain

00:27:06 and you're like, these guys aren't doing their job or I don't know, they are doing

00:27:10 their job and the ideal gas law, I guess, plays into it.

00:27:13 But again, the ideal gas law is fine.

00:27:14 But if the if the first sign of it was the opening kickoff, the ideal gas law is an

00:27:22 instantaneous, right?

00:27:23 So like you have to think that those balls were underinflated at the beginning of the

00:27:27 game and they just never checked them.

00:27:29 And so it's just like the amount of negligence that comes into that, especially when you

00:27:34 made such a big deal about the PSI of footballs is insane to me.

00:27:40 We got Trump around, you know, the deflate gate part two on one day seems really falling

00:27:45 apart.

00:27:46 What a day.

00:27:46 We're throwing it back to the twenty eighteen and twenty fourteen teams right there.

00:27:51 Listen, I mean, this is like between between this.

00:27:54 I mean, this isn't anything, but between this and then the Bears, where it's like what

00:27:58 their defensive coordinator like just quit.

00:28:00 And then like, you know, they were talking about the FBI rating, which, of course, didn't

00:28:03 happen.

00:28:04 But like all that happened in one week and something else happened to the Bears that

00:28:07 one week, too.

00:28:08 And I forget what it was.

00:28:09 And the bills come out and, you know, Sean McDarren's talking about terrorists and like

00:28:13 this other stuff or the GM is talking about.

00:28:16 Well, you know, we don't really know what it's tough when Von Miller gets in situations

00:28:20 like that, like, no, he beat his wife, dude.

00:28:21 Like, what do we do?

00:28:22 So anyways, it's you know, we're not the only team to have suffered from crazy stuff

00:28:27 happening.

00:28:28 But when you're three and eleven on top of that, it certainly doesn't help.

00:28:32 It certainly doesn't help make it look more like a less like a clown show, you know?

00:28:37 Yeah, it's tough.

00:28:38 And in any story that's out of the norm, too, is always going to get, you know, if

00:28:43 you're a bad team, then all of a sudden, whatever the thing that's out of the norm is, that's

00:28:46 the bad thing.

00:28:47 And same if you're a good team.

00:28:50 I always I always go back to that 2012 Red Sox team with what was it the beer and wings

00:28:55 in the clubhouse or whatever it was.

00:28:56 If they were winning that whole time, that story would have been about how there was

00:29:00 so much team camaraderie and they'd all hang out and do that during games like it's it

00:29:05 sets the tone for all of the stories that are going to happen.

00:29:08 Yep, that's the way it works.

00:29:09 All right, so the last question for you.

00:29:11 Now, obviously, I'm not asking you an informed opinion, you don't have any sources on that

00:29:18 we might have sources, but you don't I'm not asking for a sourced opinion on this.

00:29:22 Do you think Bill Belichick will be the head coach?

00:29:26 Forget about GM.

00:29:26 Do you think Bill Belichick will be the head coach of the New England Patriots next year?

00:29:32 I want to have so it's it's hard for me to answer.

00:29:35 I have my opinion on what's going on.

00:29:36 I got it, Sophie.

00:29:37 Yeah, I know.

00:29:38 Right.

00:29:38 So, you know, right.

00:29:39 I have my opinion on what should happen as a head coach.

00:29:43 I think he should still be the head coach of the New England Patriots as a GM.

00:29:47 That's where I think things need to change.

00:29:49 That's where this team has really taken a decline in recent years.

00:29:53 But every player or analyst or anything that's been asked about this subject, they're all

00:29:58 like this is the craziest thing that we're talking about Bill Belichick possibly, like,

00:30:02 you know, for lack of better term, being fired.

00:30:06 Yeah.

00:30:06 Because this man, you know, helped the Patriots win six Super Bowl championships and build

00:30:11 a dynasty.

00:30:12 And I think he's still one of the one, if not the greatest coach in the NFL.

00:30:19 And I think that as a defensive mind, you're not going to get anyone better.

00:30:24 I mean, look at the Patriots defense this year.

00:30:26 Besides some, you know, those two blowout losses, defense has been pretty solid.

00:30:30 They've had a good showing and those players have stepped up where the offense hasn't been

00:30:36 able to.

00:30:36 And so because of that, I think that as a, you know, if you would, whether it's Bill

00:30:42 O'Brien or whoever is leading that offense next year, and with the draft picks with solid

00:30:49 free agent, you know, signings, anything of that matter, I think he could still take this

00:30:54 team and get him back to playoffs.

00:30:57 If he has the team, but he needs help in the GM department, because the drafting is not

00:31:02 what it needs to be.

00:31:03 Yeah.

00:31:04 Do you think the crafts are going to see it that way?

00:31:08 Based on your read of things?

00:31:11 Or do you think they're just gonna pull the plug?

00:31:13 Every report is different right now.

00:31:16 I mean, you know, you have one report that says he's, you know, he's out.

00:31:21 And then the next report says, Oh, well, the crafts haven't made up their mind.

00:31:24 I genuinely think each day it's changing.

00:31:27 I don't think any official decision.

00:31:30 I mean, this is my opinion, but I don't think any official decision has been made.

00:31:34 I think that there's still three games left.

00:31:36 And even after that, I think it was Ian Rappaport who said, like, it's not going to be like

00:31:41 that, like, you know, firing the next day after the regular season's over.

00:31:45 I think this is going to be something that they're going to sit down with the crafts

00:31:49 themselves with whether it's with Bill without Bill, but like, they're going to talk about

00:31:52 and have to figure this out.

00:31:54 Because if they're going to bring someone in, what happens if next year, the same stuff

00:31:59 happens, right?

00:32:00 And you just let go of arguably the best coach in the history of the NFL.

00:32:04 Well, that's yeah.

00:32:06 You know, it's a great point.

00:32:09 I mean, look, you talk about how good the defense has played, right?

00:32:13 They played 14 games.

00:32:14 Their offense, one of the worst offenses in the league, and yet 10 of their games have

00:32:18 been within one score.

00:32:20 Right.

00:32:20 And so like they've gotten blown out twice.

00:32:23 They lost by 14 to Miami.

00:32:24 They lost by 10 to, to, um, to Kansas city this past weekend.

00:32:28 Right.

00:32:29 And so you look at it and say, they're not getting blown out really at all.

00:32:34 And, and they're, they're all pretty close games, which were the terrible offense.

00:32:38 And also, by the way, they're not scoring a billion points on defense like they were

00:32:42 in 2021, right.

00:32:44 Or even last year they scored, uh, you know, they, they turned the ball over a bunch and

00:32:47 set the offense up.

00:32:48 They're not doing that as much with the defense, but the defense is no defensive scores this

00:32:52 year.

00:32:53 Right, right.

00:32:54 The defense is playing so well that it's, you know, it's bringing them, it's keeping

00:33:00 them in games.

00:33:01 The big thing for me, and this is my take is evolved on this and it's, and it's a ridiculous

00:33:07 take, but I love it anyways, because I'm so obviously a Patriots fan, but a Patriots fan,

00:33:12 my whole life season ticket older.

00:33:13 Like I love the Patriots, but I am getting to the point where I cannot stand Patriots

00:33:19 fans.

00:33:19 They drive me completely insane.

00:33:21 And like, they don't deserve bill Belichick anymore.

00:33:25 Like I'm all set.

00:33:26 You don't deserve the budget.

00:33:28 I want him to go somewhere else and win a soup bowl because all I hear from Patriots

00:33:33 fans now is bills washed and he was never good in the first place.

00:33:37 And it was all Brady and blah, blah, blah.

00:33:38 It's all here.

00:33:39 And I'm like, wait a second.

00:33:40 The guy's the greatest coach of all time.

00:33:42 Like sure. Tom Brady, we don't win without Tom Brady.

00:33:45 I get that.

00:33:46 But like, we also didn't win every game 65 to 62.

00:33:51 Like it's not, that's not how it worked.

00:33:53 Right.

00:33:53 And so for me, I would love nothing more than for him to get trick trade him somewhere else.

00:34:00 Sure.

00:34:01 Trade them to Washington for their whatever second round pick this year, whatever it is,

00:34:06 whatever.

00:34:07 Okay.

00:34:07 Trade him somewhere.

00:34:09 He goes there and he wins.

00:34:11 And maybe he doesn't want to suit more right away, but you know, I, I want him to win and

00:34:17 really win and take a team that was outside of the playoffs this year and bring them into

00:34:22 the playoffs and make them competitive in a year or two.

00:34:25 And if that's the case, then I can just sit back and say, oh, you thought it was all Brady

00:34:32 Belichick now prove to you that it was just as much Belichick.

00:34:36 And again, Bill would be, if Bill was sitting here, he'd be pissed at me for saying for

00:34:40 even like mentioning him in the same sentence with Tom Brady.

00:34:43 Like he said over and over and over again, that players win games and coaches coach and

00:34:48 the players are the responsible for all the wins, but they don't win six Superbowls without

00:34:52 Tom Brady and Bill Belichick period.

00:34:54 Like that's, and for anyone to think differently is ridiculous.

00:34:57 And now the fact that Patriots fans are getting to the point where they're thinking differently

00:35:00 is really grinding my gears as Peter Griffin would say, and I'm, and I'm ready for him

00:35:05 to move on and prove everyone wrong.

00:35:07 And that's what I want to happen.

00:35:08 If he was really here though, I will say he'll, he would just sit here with like a stone face

00:35:12 and say, we're on the Denver.

00:35:13 Every answer I can guess is either like we're on the Denver or.

00:35:18 - Oh yeah.

00:35:19 - We're just, we're just trying to play good football.

00:35:23 - Yeah, that's right.

00:35:24 That's right.

00:35:24 - Yeah, I do.

00:35:25 I do what I think is best for the team.

00:35:27 - That's good.

00:35:28 - Now did you, those, those interviews gotta be so, they gotta be so like, I assume you've

00:35:35 asked him a question or two.

00:35:36 Is it like, is it like daunting to be like, so Bill, you know, what's going on?

00:35:43 Like, I feel like I'd be crafting my questions to try to like ask him a relevant question,

00:35:47 but also like bring up the history of the last like 75 years.

00:35:50 So we'll actually like give me an answer as opposed to just like, yeah, no, we'll talk

00:35:54 about, you know, we'll talk about guys that are on the team or talk about, you know, the

00:35:57 next game or whatever the case may be.

00:35:58 - Give him a chance to name drop like 70 people and he's happy as can be.

00:36:04 No, I mean, at first, definitely it was nerve, nerve wracking to ask him a question.

00:36:07 But now, you know, even when I can guess the answer, it's kind of like that thing where

00:36:12 people are like, well, why did you ask that question?

00:36:14 You know, he wasn't going to answer, but that's our jobs is, you know, half the time, right.

00:36:19 Covering this team is writing about Bill Belichick's non-answers.

00:36:22 That's what we got to do because, you know, half the time that's more telling than anything

00:36:27 else.

00:36:28 And, you know, with that, I also will say, whether it's just me or whatever, I do

00:36:33 try to have a little fun if like I can tell he's in a good mood one day.

00:36:36 Like the other day he came in, asked if everyone had their Christmas shopping done.

00:36:41 And I said, what about you?

00:36:42 - Yes.

00:36:43 - Yeah, right.

00:36:44 Or I asked him about like Elf on the Shelf, you know, like just things like that where

00:36:49 it's like, you know, yes, interviewing him can be hard, but like he's fun.

00:36:54 You know, you can have your days where he's in a good mood and you're getting some fun.

00:36:57 - Right.

00:36:58 - Not answering a lot of him.

00:37:00 - Well, and it's pretty, it seems I've watched a lot of Bill press conferences in my day.

00:37:04 I've never been in one, so I'm a little jealous there, but he does seem fairly consistent

00:37:09 in that, like he's not gonna, he's never going to give a quote that could really ever be

00:37:14 considered like talking negative about his players or negative about the opponent's players.

00:37:21 So he's just very reserved.

00:37:22 And if you, so if you ask questions about things that aren't necessarily relevant to

00:37:26 this week or this season, he's usually pretty eloquent and he'll go on about stuff.

00:37:30 Doesn't have to be like some super historical thing either, but yeah, he's just, he's never

00:37:36 gonna give a quote, which is why I was so surprised to see him talk, mention Bailey

00:37:40 Zappi in their fourth down decision-making this week, specifically calling him out as

00:37:45 a reason why they didn't go for it more often.

00:37:49 And that I think brings us full circle back around to the Malik Cunningham of it all,

00:37:54 of you got a quarterback there who you don't trust in those decisions and you got a quarterback

00:37:59 who apparently everybody thinks should be playing, people do have confidence in, then

00:38:06 what's going on?

00:38:06 What's the disconnected?

00:38:07 I would love to find out what the answer is, because I think, I think there are valid answers

00:38:12 there that could make sense, but I'd be curious.

00:38:14 Yeah.

00:38:15 I mean, every time we asked Bill about the Malik situation, it was always, you know,

00:38:18 I did what I thought was best for the team and things of that nature, you know, that

00:38:23 will never be, you know, we'll never get a deep insight into what happened there.

00:38:26 Like, you know, if you watch like College Game Day when Army Navy was at, when was at

00:38:33 Gillette, like he's like a funny guy, like he can sit there and he can hold a conversation

00:38:37 and be like really funny and stuff.

00:38:39 And you get glimpses of that every once in a while in these press conferences when, but

00:38:43 you know, it's not asking like football related questions or it's asking like a fun football

00:38:48 question where it's not like, what's your job status or how do you feel about it all?

00:38:52 So it kind of just depends, but you know, with a three and 10 team, my motto is like,

00:38:57 you know, I ask the questions I have to ask, but also like, why not have a little fun with

00:39:00 it?

00:39:00 Yeah.

00:39:01 Yeah, you should.

00:39:02 You should.

00:39:03 I think it goes, honestly, I think it goes a long way.

00:39:05 Like I'm a, you know, I'm a team three and 11 team.

00:39:08 Yes, I know.

00:39:08 I was going to correct you and I decided not to, I was like, we'll just let it, we'll

00:39:12 let it be for now.

00:39:14 No, but I'm a teacher and I feel the same way.

00:39:16 Like I, I'm a math teacher.

00:39:18 I teach math, but like, if I'm just standing up there talking about math all day and that's

00:39:22 all I talk to my kids about all day long, it's pretty damn boring for me and for them.

00:39:26 Right.

00:39:27 And so have a little bit of fun with it and do some interesting things and like, you know,

00:39:31 make it is your job, just like it's their job to have to talk to you every day and you're

00:39:36 there and it's like, let's make it a little bit fun and you can hear those things.

00:39:39 And I think that that's people appreciate that.

00:39:42 Right.

00:39:42 And I think that, you know, it's, it's not, it can get very monotonous.

00:39:46 Right.

00:39:47 And so that's a way to break up the monotony a little bit.

00:39:49 And I think, I think it goes, it goes a long way.

00:39:52 You know, so I'll check with him on Friday.

00:39:55 If you got his Christmas shopping done, see, there you go.

00:39:58 Right.

00:39:58 I'll circle back around.

00:39:59 Don't worry.

00:40:00 Yeah.

00:40:00 There you go.

00:40:01 That see, that's, that's what we, that's what we really want to know.

00:40:03 Right.

00:40:03 That's what I really want to know.

00:40:04 Forget about the coaching rumors and, you know, Malik Cunningham, all that.

00:40:08 We want to know if Bill Belichick has his Christmas shopping done.

00:40:12 That's it.

00:40:12 That's all we care about.

00:40:14 That is big, big J journalism right there.

00:40:16 That's right.

00:40:17 That's right.

00:40:18 So, all right.

00:40:19 I think it's a great time to, to, to let you go.

00:40:22 Sophie, we have, this has been great.

00:40:24 This has been great.

00:40:25 We really enjoyed having you come on.

00:40:26 You're killing it over there in Foxborough.

00:40:30 And, and we're really happy to see you, you know, kind of continue to grow.

00:40:34 And, you know, you're a lot, well, you're not that much younger than Matt, but you're

00:40:38 significantly younger than me and you're crushing it.

00:40:39 So that's awesome.

00:40:41 But before you go, you have to tell everyone where they can read you and maybe see you

00:40:45 or hear you or, or whatever the case may be as well.

00:40:48 Well, first you guys are crushing it too.

00:40:50 I love the podcast and thank you all for having me on.

00:40:52 It was really fun.

00:40:53 You can find me.

00:40:55 I'm on Twitter right there on the bottom of the screen is my bio.

00:40:58 That's where I post, you know, 90% of my random thoughts or stories or Bill Belichick,

00:41:04 you know, quotes as we talked about, cause you know, he says such different things every

00:41:08 time.

00:41:08 But no, so yeah, you can always find me on there.

00:41:13 I'll tell you, I think it's really interesting because I saw your handle and I was like,

00:41:18 that's so cool that it's like Sophie Weller with two E's, two L's and two R's.

00:41:23 And I'm like, I like that.

00:41:24 It's like it different.

00:41:25 You know what I mean?

00:41:26 So yeah, I don't even remember what, like it was so long ago that I was just like, I

00:41:31 think, you know, Sophie Weller with like one E, one R was already taken.

00:41:34 I was like, let's just, you know, change it all up.

00:41:36 Yeah, mix it up.

00:41:37 What the heck?

00:41:38 Right?

00:41:38 Yeah.

00:41:39 So I like that thing for people our age of just adding letters to your name until the

00:41:43 username is no longer taken.

00:41:45 Oh my God, I've never heard something more accurate in my life.

00:41:48 Yep.

00:41:49 Yeah, that's the way it goes, man.

00:41:53 So that's funny.

00:41:54 Life in the digital age, right?

00:41:56 Hey, thank you, Sophie, so much.

00:41:57 We appreciate it.

00:41:58 And should we go to a break now, Pat?

00:42:01 Yeah, we're going to, we'll get to a break as soon as we let Sophie go, but we'll

00:42:04 definitely have to have Sophie on again.

00:42:05 Sophie on again.

00:42:06 I'm sorry.

00:42:06 It was a lot of fun and we'll have to do it again.

00:42:09 Anytime.

00:42:10 All right.

00:42:11 Sounds good.

00:42:11 All right.

00:42:12 Take care.

00:42:12 We'll see you soon.

00:42:13 All right.

00:42:16 All right.

00:42:16 Let's get into an ad break and then we'll be right back.

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00:43:34 All right, that was a lot of fun.

00:43:39 That was a great little interview there.

00:43:42 Sophie's crossing it over there and she's a lot of fun to talk to.

00:43:46 So that was a lot of fun.

00:43:47 All right, two things I think I want to get into.

00:43:51 First of all, we never touched on the JC Jackson issue on Sunday and actually turns out that

00:43:58 it's kind of good that we didn't because you got a little bit more information, I think,

00:44:02 Monday morning or Sunday night from his agent saying that he's going through some mental

00:44:07 health things right now.

00:44:08 I believe he was put on the reserve/injured list.

00:44:12 So his season is probably over.

00:44:15 Maybe not, but his season seems to be over.

00:44:18 I'm not sure what it is that's going on.

00:44:20 I don't think it really matters what it is that's going on.

00:44:22 Clearly something is going on with him and whatever it is, you hope that he's able to

00:44:29 figure it out.

00:44:30 Obviously, based on Alex Austin's comments at the game, it was something that happened

00:44:34 what looks like right before the start of the game.

00:44:38 Something about his jersey didn't fit right or something.

00:44:43 Who knows if that's even true?

00:44:45 But then he just took off, essentially.

00:44:49 Clearly, if that was the case, the jersey isn't the issue, right?

00:44:55 It was just some sort of precipitating thing that happened.

00:44:59 The straw that broke the game was back, as it were.

00:45:01 Yeah, and I think clearly whatever it was had to have happened in those 90 minutes between

00:45:08 the inactive list getting put out there and everything.

00:45:11 I think the flip side of this is Alex Austin getting put in that situation.

00:45:15 How many times this year have the Patriots had to fully adjust their cornerback plan?

00:45:21 You have to do it mid-game in Week 2 against Miami because of the injuries you get.

00:45:28 And you got to do it again after the Dallas game when Christian Gonzalez gets hurt.

00:45:32 Then you got to do it immediately mid-game again in this one.

00:45:38 That's three times.

00:45:39 So you got to make some real serious changes to your team on the fly.

00:45:43 And you can even argue with Jonathan Jones going out right before Week 1 that that was

00:45:47 part of that as well.

00:45:49 So the defense adjusting and playing as well as it did, I think, was impressive.

00:45:54 Alex Austin was up and down.

00:45:56 But for a guy asked to do that, I think he was as good as anybody could have reasonably

00:46:02 expected.

00:46:03 And then we'll probably get an extended look at him here at the end of the season.

00:46:06 Yeah, and I think they brought him in for a reason.

00:46:10 And so let's see if the kid can play.

00:46:12 And if he can, then he could be a guy that's corner depth for them next year.

00:46:18 I think J.C. Jackson was a guy that was never going to be on the roster next year anyways.

00:46:22 His cap hit was way too high for him to be on the roster.

00:46:25 And so obviously, you hope he figures things out in his personal life.

00:46:29 But even if assuming that he does and he's ready to play football next year, unless he's

00:46:35 taking a significant pay cut, you'd be surprised if he's doing that here in New England.

00:46:40 Oh, yeah.

00:46:41 And I think when the trade was made, it was clearly let's get an actual body in here for

00:46:46 a cheap, cheap draft pick.

00:46:48 Now that Gonzalez has gone to try to salvage this.

00:46:52 And, you know, it's there's a lot of ways the corner room can go for next year.

00:46:56 But I don't really see J.C. Jackson in their plans there pretty much no matter what, especially

00:47:02 because they seem to like Sean Wade at least enough to keep him around.

00:47:06 And Alec, even though he's already been jumped by Alex Austin on the depth chart, but they

00:47:11 also obviously like to some degree.

00:47:13 And you got Marcus Jones and Christian Gonzalez and Jonathan Jones is under contract.

00:47:18 And Miles Bryant is a free agent, but he's played well.

00:47:21 So between all those guys, I'm not sure how many snaps are available.

00:47:26 And I also wouldn't be shocked if they draft another corner somewhere in the middle of

00:47:30 the draft next year.

00:47:31 And just there's no reason to pay 15 million dollars or whatever it is to chase Jackson

00:47:36 and have him be a rotational corner on your team next year, especially with the way he's

00:47:39 played.

00:47:40 Well, and no dead cap either because you traded for him.

00:47:42 Right.

00:47:42 And so it's like, why?

00:47:44 You know, then it then it's no brainer.

00:47:47 Thank you, Tom.

00:47:48 Thank you, Tom.

00:47:49 Tell us go.

00:47:50 Yep, exactly.

00:47:51 So all right.

00:47:53 So the other thing I really want to talk to you about was and we talked about March.

00:48:00 We didn't really get into mock drafts as much, but I've had this kind of working theory

00:48:05 in mock drafts and I've come around a little bit because I've thought about, you know,

00:48:12 so we obviously now we talk about Trent Brown probably not coming back.

00:48:17 Right.

00:48:18 So now you wonder, OK, do you need to tackle at the top of the draft?

00:48:21 Right.

00:48:21 I know Murph loves Joe Walt.

00:48:23 Joe Walt's a great player.

00:48:25 You know, maybe you like the kid Olufosanu from from Penn State.

00:48:28 There are good players out there, obviously.

00:48:30 But I just think quarterback or wide receiver at the top of the draft is really where you

00:48:38 get those real impact players.

00:48:41 And so my thought was, OK, love Caleb Williams, assuming Caleb Williams goes number one.

00:48:46 I like Drake May, but I don't know if he's a game.

00:48:49 What if and hear me out now, maybe it's crazy.

00:48:53 What if you drafted Marvin Harrison Jr.

00:48:57 Number two.

00:48:58 And at number thirty four, you drafted.

00:49:03 Quarterback from the University of Texas.

00:49:07 Quinn, yours.

00:49:10 I think that's far too high for yours, quite honestly.

00:49:13 I know you do.

00:49:14 And I know people are going to say that, and I understand that.

00:49:17 But.

00:49:17 I mean, also, I listen to a podcast called McCoy this week today, so it's like a little

00:49:23 bit of, you know, he's talking up his guy, obviously, but.

00:49:25 The skill was there, the athleticism is there, the arm talent is there.

00:49:32 And so what if he puts on a show?

00:49:36 What if he goes up against, you know, Washington and puts on a show and wins that game and

00:49:43 then goes into the national championship game against, you know, Alabama or Michigan?

00:49:48 Right, probably Michigan, right?

00:49:50 You would think for you, obviously, I would have, you know, and win or lose plays really

00:49:56 well against a really, really good defense.

00:49:59 And so, you know, I don't know now.

00:50:03 Don says Malik Murphy's transferring from Texas, suggest yours, it likely isn't coming

00:50:07 out.

00:50:07 But Arch Manning didn't transfer out of Texas.

00:50:12 So, you know, Arch Manning could be the one staying and Malik Murphy is leaving because

00:50:17 Arch Manning is gonna be the quarterback next year, right?

00:50:19 And so I know that Arch took a redshirt year, but you have to think, I mean, it's Arch

00:50:26 Manning, for God's sakes, like, you know, you have to think he's going to start.

00:50:30 I think yours, I think yours comes out.

00:50:32 I just still have questions there.

00:50:33 And I think second, I think you can get a tackle in the high second with some of the

00:50:40 guys that are there this year.

00:50:41 And I'd be more likely as much as it pains me to say, take wide receiver last, because

00:50:47 I think it might be one of the most important positions right now.

00:50:50 Yeah, I think if you were to start this draft with QB offensive tackle, wide receiver, wide

00:50:55 receiver, you just take two guys on the end of day two, start a day three at receiver.

00:51:01 That is probably your best strategy here for getting all of those spots.

00:51:07 You just, you need to get the right prospects.

00:51:09 Right.

00:51:11 And finding guys at those spots can be a little bit difficult.

00:51:13 There's a couple tackles at the top of the second round right now in mock drafts that

00:51:17 I like.

00:51:18 Kid from Washington, kid from Arizona are the two that stand out who I think could at

00:51:23 least be developmental guys.

00:51:25 And you know what I will say about Trent Brown, if you bring him back, he's almost the ideal

00:51:30 guy when you're trying to develop somebody, because when he's out there, he's elite.

00:51:33 And you also know he's going to miss time at some point and your young guys are going

00:51:37 to get to play.

00:51:38 That's true.

00:51:38 That's a good point.

00:51:39 That's a great point.

00:51:40 You know, and look, look, I'm just I'm just spitballing here with Quinn Ewers.

00:51:45 And I know that that he's a flawed prospect and he's probably not going to go as high

00:51:49 as 34.

00:51:50 But, um, you know, I want someone that has that crazy arm talent, that crazy athleticism.

00:51:58 And I don't know if he has the crazy athleticism, certainly not like a guy who Jane Daniels

00:52:02 or anything like that.

00:52:03 But the arm talent mixed with the athleticism is, is what excites me about a guy like yours.

00:52:08 He was such a high draft, such a high prospect coming out.

00:52:12 Of course, he had to move around a little bit and kind of, you know, find his own way

00:52:16 and everything like that.

00:52:17 But, but I do think that, you know, I think it would be interesting to see what happens.

00:52:22 And look, maybe you draft a tackle in the first, a wide receiver in the second and Quinn

00:52:26 Ewers in the third or whatever the case may be.

00:52:28 Right.

00:52:28 And old man, mom mentions, you know, signing a guy like Baker or Tannehill, Tannehill,

00:52:32 I'm a hundred percent on Tannehill.

00:52:34 But, but you want to, you know, you tell me that you're going to sign Baker Mayfield

00:52:37 to a two year deal.

00:52:38 Um, you know, I, I don't know.

00:52:42 I think that that's, that is an interesting way to look at it.

00:52:45 Um, and so, and so we'll kind of go from there.

00:52:48 Yeah.

00:52:50 So just it's, it's tough to replace.

00:52:54 I mean, we're look right now we're talking about replacing a QB one, a wide receiver

00:52:58 one and a left tackle one all at the same time.

00:53:01 And yeah, it's hard if, if that's the world we're living in, this is going to be a real

00:53:08 multi-year thing.

00:53:09 And you got to nail all three of those in a row.

00:53:11 Like it's, we know how hard it is to find one of those and you got to get all three

00:53:15 at a high level and quick order here.

00:53:16 So we'll see if we're able to do it.

00:53:19 Yeah.

00:53:19 That's why I think you'd sign a tackle in free agency, whether it's Trent Brown or

00:53:24 someone else, you go out and get a guy that's a proven player already and go from there.

00:53:29 Tyron Smith is probably the only other name up there who might be in that tier and he's

00:53:34 older.

00:53:34 But if we're, we're talking about a bridge guy, if it's a guy who's the line will be

00:53:39 good at this year, we take the can down the road a year and address it in the draft, then

00:53:43 I have no issues with that.

00:53:45 Yeah.

00:53:46 You know, it's, you're going to have to do this on the fly to a degree, and there's

00:53:50 going to have to be a certain good enough attitude for next year because you're not

00:53:54 fixing it all.

00:53:55 You got to get good enough without sacrificing your future.

00:53:58 You know, take one or two steps up here and then build off of that.

00:54:03 Right.

00:54:04 Right.

00:54:04 And that's really what it comes down to, right.

00:54:06 Is that, you know, what is it going to look like?

00:54:07 I mean, McKay back then is a guy, Austin Jackson, Donovan Smith too old for me, but

00:54:12 even a guy like Jonah Williams, who, you know, I know has kind of gone in and out of favor

00:54:16 in Cincinnati, but, you know, I just think, I think there are guys out there that are

00:54:22 similar to the level of Trent Brown.

00:54:24 Right.

00:54:24 And so, um, you know, and we can kind of, we can kind of go from there.

00:54:30 Donovan Smith to me, or my mom just asked about him as I was talking about him, he's

00:54:34 just old and he's just not as good as he used to be.

00:54:36 Um, and so, you know, he's a guy that I wouldn't mind having on the team.

00:54:40 I don't know if I'd want him being the full-time starter every day.

00:54:43 I'd love to tackle.

00:54:44 And it's, if we're talking about not sure if you want the guy to be the full-time

00:54:48 starter, then how much do we want to pay him?

00:54:50 Right.

00:54:50 And then you, and then, you know, we're almost, we're in Riley reef territory at that point.

00:54:54 Correct.

00:54:55 Yeah.

00:54:55 And that's, that's the one thing they can't afford to do this year is do what they did

00:55:00 last year, which is take a shot on two guys that aren't really proven players and not

00:55:07 draft anyone in replace.

00:55:09 Right.

00:55:09 And again, we can make the argument and I did for a while that city.

00:55:13 So was the right tackle they drafted.

00:55:15 They announced him as a tackle.

00:55:16 They started him a tackle.

00:55:17 They wanted him to play tackle.

00:55:19 He's not a tackle.

00:55:20 Yeah.

00:55:21 He's a guard.

00:55:22 But he does.

00:55:23 He does solve your tackle issue though, because you move on when you over.

00:55:27 Correct.

00:55:28 So it's still, you still get there.

00:55:29 You just not the way you thought you would.

00:55:32 What's frustrating is that they didn't do that in the first place.

00:55:34 They needed disaster to strike and for them to look at a complete and abhorrent mess to

00:55:41 move Mike.

00:55:42 I wanted to write tackle.

00:55:42 It should have never come to that.

00:55:44 Michael wanted to should have been playing tackle really since his rookie year when he

00:55:48 looked great at right tack.

00:55:49 We should have stayed there.

00:55:49 There's no reason to move them inside.

00:55:51 And so, you know, I thought we got a little too cute with that and there was no need to

00:55:56 do that.

00:55:56 So it's, it's, there's, that's the pattern here in the bill.

00:56:00 They have the end.

00:56:01 It's this is going to be near the end of the bill era, no matter what they do this off

00:56:04 season, just with his age.

00:56:05 Yeah.

00:56:06 A lot of moments where in the past we'd say, wow, Bill's playing chess and everybody else

00:56:11 is playing checkers.

00:56:12 And, um, you know, it seems to just be tilting the other direction doing things where usually

00:56:19 people are going to go, wow, I can't believe he did that.

00:56:21 And then it works.

00:56:22 And now it's just not, not working.

00:56:24 That's the hardest part is that in some ways it's not, it's not different from the approach

00:56:28 he had before.

00:56:28 It just stopped working.

00:56:29 So did it stop working because the league changed?

00:56:31 It stopped working because he got worse at it or was this always a high risk thing?

00:56:35 And he got lucky before he's not getting lucky now.

00:56:38 I don't, I don't have an answer for you on that one.

00:56:40 And I don't think, I don't think you ever do get an answer.

00:56:43 It's small sample sizes.

00:56:45 You can, you can read into it, whatever you want to read into it.

00:56:47 And I also think too, that part of it is that he had Brady and Brady could cover up some

00:56:51 of those deficiencies until he was able to figure it out.

00:56:55 Right.

00:56:56 2006 is a good example.

00:56:58 2006, they drafted a wide receiver in the, in the second round stinks.

00:57:01 Right.

00:57:02 And Chad Jackson can't play.

00:57:04 They sign Rishay Caldwell.

00:57:06 Can't really play that well.

00:57:07 They trade Deion Branch, which I will go to my grave saying that that was a great trade.

00:57:11 But like they bring in guy that brought into Bargaffle and they brought in guys that they

00:57:17 thought could play that could do enough.

00:57:20 And they tried to draft the number one wide receiver and it didn't work.

00:57:23 And so they still made it to the AFC championship game.

00:57:27 They lost the AFC championship game, but they still made it there.

00:57:30 Why did they make it there?

00:57:31 Because they had Tom Brady and they had an elite defense.

00:57:33 And then, and then so they just after it too, that's what I'm saying.

00:57:38 And then, oh, seven comes around and they bring in Moss and they bring in Welker and

00:57:41 they bring in Dante Stallworth and they, you know, and so, and then they go crazy with it.

00:57:45 Right.

00:57:46 And so they realized that we had to fix it and they fix it.

00:57:49 Now they still don't want a Superbowl for another, you know, however many years, but

00:57:52 they go undefeated and make it through.

00:57:54 Right.

00:57:54 And so, and I think that that oh, 18 would have, you know, been competing deep into the

00:58:00 playoffs, if not for Brady getting hurt on opening day.

00:58:04 So, you know, it just, it is what it is, but that's to me, Brady kind of, uh, kind of

00:58:10 covered up some of those things, you know, and the argument that I, you know, so, but

00:58:15 we'll see, but that's not the only reason.

00:58:17 And I do agree with you.

00:58:18 If you take high risks at some point, those risks aren't going to pay off.

00:58:23 And when the rest of your team isn't strong around you, when you don't have a guy that

00:58:29 makes everybody better, I mean, you know, Tom Brady made everyone better too, right?

00:58:35 Like Campbell Tompkins, not a great wide receiver, but he had a few, he had a good

00:58:40 year or two here in new England because Brady elevated the way he played.

00:58:46 Right.

00:58:46 And so then you see him, that's why a lot of guys, when they left here, didn't perform

00:58:50 as well because you were in a more difficult situation than you were when you were here

00:58:54 in new England, you know?

00:58:55 And so, um, now you're in that more difficult situation here and things aren't going as

00:59:01 well for you.

00:59:02 Right.

00:59:03 And that's kind of everyone.

00:59:04 Yeah.

00:59:04 Well, and the other part of this is one of the, one of the ways out of something like

00:59:09 this is that you have to take a high risk chance and have it go in your favor.

00:59:14 And I actually kind of think we saw this year that the Patriots did, I think Christian Barmore

00:59:18 was in some ways that guy who is a bit more robust prospect and he is booming fantastically

00:59:25 this year.

00:59:25 It's just the issue is you got to unlock in other ways for that to really be the difference

00:59:30 maker for you in terms of wins and losses.

00:59:32 Um, and you've just had, you know, a couple too many misses in that area and really no

00:59:39 hits.

00:59:39 You've had some guys who turn out okay.

00:59:41 Like Josh Uche is kind of in that range of, uh, you think he's going to be a boomer bust

00:59:45 guy and he just settles somewhere in the middle.

00:59:47 He's a, it's a decent player.

00:59:49 And, uh, you know, Josh Uche could be a rotational player on a championship team, 100%, but he's

00:59:55 also, I don't know if he's going to be more than that at this point in his career from

00:59:58 what we've seen.

00:59:59 And you need to get some of those elite players.

01:00:04 There's, you're just, you're not going to win super bowls with that elite players somewhere

01:00:07 on the, on your team.

01:00:08 And how many do the Patriots have?

01:00:10 Yeah, not many, not many.

01:00:14 And so that's kind of where they're at right now.

01:00:15 So, and my, my big thing, and we've talked about this on here before, so I don't want

01:00:19 to get too far into it, but Sophie was talking about, and Sophie can't, I mean, in, in, in

01:00:24 her defense, well, however she feels she can't be a hundred percent candid about it.

01:00:30 She does have to be in the locker room with these guys all day.

01:00:32 Right.

01:00:32 Yes.

01:00:33 And we all know the bill is, you know, a loyal listener to the patron nation podcast.

01:00:38 And so he will be listening.

01:00:39 So she can't really say what she thinks about bill Belichick, because she knows he's listening.

01:00:44 Right.

01:00:44 So, but I will say the hard thing for me, if you want to move away from him as GM and

01:00:52 he's still here in the building, that to me just seems like a losing proposition.

01:00:57 I don't know how you're going to get guys to respect the fact.

01:01:02 And look, I get it, but even, even with the best intentions, I just don't know how people

01:01:09 are going to stop treating him like the guy that makes the final decision, even if he

01:01:14 isn't the guy that makes the final decision.

01:01:15 I think there, I think there are ways to do that.

01:01:18 And it's just, you know, you gotta, it's gotta come from craft to the tone has to be

01:01:22 reset and you need buy-in from bill.

01:01:24 And I will say, this is different from 2000.

01:01:29 This isn't a new coach getting hired saying, Hey, I know you like me.

01:01:33 This is the terms of which I would do this job.

01:01:35 Right.

01:01:36 This is somebody who is kind of getting, it might be presented with an option of you

01:01:42 either stay with reduced stuff or you're going to be somewhere else.

01:01:46 And, you know, we don't know what other teams are going to value bill as here for his GM

01:01:53 capabilities.

01:01:55 It's not, not crazy to think that he hits the trade market here.

01:01:58 And the only jobs open for him are just head coaching job.

01:02:01 There isn't an owner.

01:02:02 That's like, we want you to be the GM too.

01:02:04 And if that's that bill might not want to take that risk bill might say, I like the

01:02:08 relationships here.

01:02:09 And I understand why people are upset.

01:02:11 I understand that I'm getting older and this is going to happen at some point.

01:02:14 And I can buy into a world where I don't get the final say anymore.

01:02:18 And his stipulation might just be, Hey, let's, let's have it be somebody I'm comfortable

01:02:22 working with.

01:02:22 And then as part of that, you can craft a lay down the law behind the scenes of, Hey,

01:02:27 this is how it's going to work and enforcing that.

01:02:30 So that that's there.

01:02:33 I think it's, it can be doable.

01:02:35 It's plausible that it's doable.

01:02:37 We'll obviously have to see how Belichick feels after the season and see what the timeline

01:02:42 is here.

01:02:43 No, yeah.

01:02:44 You're not wrong.

01:02:45 I just, the, the hardest part for me is that even if with the best of intentions, right?

01:02:52 Because he's been the guy for so long, it's difficult to ask the guys that have been here

01:03:01 to not have him be, you know what I mean?

01:03:04 Like, so that that's the hard part for me.

01:03:07 Right.

01:03:07 And so, you know, I think if you're doing this, it's got to come with some other changes

01:03:13 behind the scenes as well.

01:03:14 It has to be clear you're a behind the scenes management organizational perspective that

01:03:20 things are different.

01:03:22 That this is the new, like basically the post Bill Belichick era starts now.

01:03:27 We're just starting it with the first head coach of that era still be Bill Belichick,

01:03:32 but it is a new era.

01:03:33 That's how you have to set the tone on that.

01:03:35 I don't think it's impossible.

01:03:37 We'll just have to see the way.

01:03:39 And I think there's, yeah, old man mob also says, by the way, people don't understand

01:03:45 and realize if Bill goes, he's taking 90% of the coaching staff.

01:03:49 I don't know if he takes all of it in part because I think if Mayo might stay, but we

01:03:56 have to see his sons where they go.

01:03:58 I would assume they're going to follow him as long as he's in the league and we'll see

01:04:04 how much the offensive staff follows him.

01:04:06 I'm not so much worried about the offensive staff or the special teams staff leaving after

01:04:10 what we've seen this past season.

01:04:12 The defensive staff is tough, and I would love to keep as much of that intact as possible

01:04:18 with how they've done.

01:04:19 And I think a lot of that would leave if he goes.

01:04:21 Yeah, I agree with you.

01:04:22 And look, I think the big thing for me is that.

01:04:26 Well, first of all, the Mayo stuff I just think is ridiculous, and I don't know if he's

01:04:35 really rubbing people the wrong way.

01:04:36 I don't know what's going on.

01:04:38 The hard thing is it could be one person saying that one person might get rubbed the wrong

01:04:44 way once by Gerard Mayo, and then they in turn come out and say something to a reporter,

01:04:51 and then the reporter reports it.

01:04:52 I don't know how many guys are really, you know.

01:04:55 And look, I don't know who knows, right?

01:04:59 Maybe Gerard Mayo is, but I find that hard to believe.

01:05:02 Maybe it's true.

01:05:03 I just find it hard to believe.

01:05:04 So fine.

01:05:06 But, you know, I just I didn't love the way that came out.

01:05:12 It felt kind of weird that it came out that way, and maybe it wasn't me.

01:05:18 You know, maybe there's nothing malicious behind it or whatever.

01:05:20 It just felt strange the way it came up.

01:05:22 And I'll kind of leave it at that.

01:05:24 I don't want to I don't want to go any further into into how I feel about that.

01:05:27 But nevertheless, I just I didn't I didn't like the way that came out.

01:05:30 And so so we'll just see, you know, and I don't know who's going to take with him.

01:05:37 You know, is it going to be his kids?

01:05:39 I assume we'll go with him, although Dr.

01:05:41 Bogle says it leave his son behind, which I think is kind of funny.

01:05:44 But but, you know, it just I don't know.

01:05:47 I'm not sure what's going to happen.

01:05:48 But, you know, it becomes that issue of.

01:05:53 If you start over, are you getting a better coach?

01:05:57 Are you going to find a better coach than Bill Belichick?

01:06:00 That's available to you right now.

01:06:03 The answer to that question is probably no, right?

01:06:05 You're not going to find the greatest coach of all time.

01:06:07 Now, the question is, are you doing what Bill Belichick has done his whole career here in

01:06:12 New England and cutting bait a year too early?

01:06:15 OK, you're cutting bait too early.

01:06:17 Can he still coach?

01:06:19 Yep.

01:06:20 Is the GM stuff kind of lacked?

01:06:22 Yep.

01:06:22 But like, can we try to make it work with him as the head coach and a different GM here?

01:06:28 Sure.

01:06:29 Let's try that out.

01:06:30 Instead of doing that, you're moving on right away.

01:06:32 Which is something which is ironic, because it's something that Bill Belichick would have done

01:06:37 and has done over and over and over again here.

01:06:41 So, again, I don't know if that's what's going to happen, but I do think that, you know,

01:06:46 everything right now is, should be, and I think is on the table.

01:06:51 I would agree there.

01:06:53 And the other thing we've been saying is we're, I don't know, three weeks from getting our

01:06:59 answer here, I think.

01:07:00 I know they're saying that it's, you know, it's not going to happen immediately.

01:07:04 I also think a lack of a decision is a decision.

01:07:08 Like Bill Belichick is under contract for next year.

01:07:10 Right.

01:07:10 And if we go a week past the season and there aren't even rumors about what's going on,

01:07:16 that kind of gives you a bit of an answer, I think.

01:07:21 Well, you guys are going to be getting hired.

01:07:22 Like, it's just not, you know, like that's the other part of it is that if you really do believe

01:07:30 that you want to move on, you, you have to start it right away because then guys are

01:07:36 going to be going on, you know, they're going to be going on, uh, on interviews and you're

01:07:41 going to be hiring guys before the, the official end of the season.

01:07:45 And so if you wait and don't make your decision yet, that's where it becomes an issue where it's

01:07:51 like, well, now it's too late.

01:07:53 Now you you're picking off the scrap heap and you don't want to be doing that, you know?

01:07:57 So you got to make your decision right away.

01:07:59 And again, it doesn't have to be on, on black Monday, right.

01:08:02 But it needs to be, you know, fairly soon after so that you can make a decision about

01:08:08 who you want to replace it.

01:08:10 So anyways, all right.

01:08:14 This is a good show, man.

01:08:15 We, we actually, we tighten it up a little bit, which is nice.

01:08:17 It was nice having another person on, um, oh, let's get into our, our final segments.

01:08:21 As I did say to Sophie, um, I caught up, caught up a little bit, gain a little ground,

01:08:28 um, gain a little ground with, in our, uh, in our prop bets.

01:08:31 So just to, just to recap last week, my prop bets where I had Justin Jefferson, first TD

01:08:36 scorer and Russell Wilson over 217.5 passing yards.

01:08:41 Russell Wilson threw for like 221 passing yards.

01:08:44 I mean, it was right there, but he did it the over.

01:08:47 Uh, and so I got it.

01:08:48 You would originally had a Josh Jacobs anytime touchdown, which is ironic because everyone

01:08:56 else scored a touchdown for the radio for Josh Jacobs, because he didn't play.

01:09:00 Um, if you had realized that and switched it to Zamir white, you would have hit, but

01:09:05 you didn't.

01:09:06 And so you switched it to AJ Brown anytime TD.

01:09:09 Um, and of course you took the Pat's chiefs under, which did not hit either King close,

01:09:14 but that one didn't hit either.

01:09:16 So, uh, after.

01:09:18 Uh, 14, where are we at after 15 weeks?

01:09:23 Okay.

01:09:24 I am now nine, nine and 21.

01:09:27 Uh, and you are now 12 and 18.

01:09:31 So I'm still three games back, but I'm no longer four games back, which is good.

01:09:35 Um, so would you like to give your, uh, your prop bets, uh, for week 16?

01:09:42 Yeah, I'm gonna keep it simple and quick here.

01:09:46 Um, cause I don't have a lot of thinking behind it.

01:09:49 I'm just going based on vibes.

01:09:50 Give me a Tyler Higbee, anytime touchdown for the Rams in that game and give me a Lamar

01:09:56 Jackson over 215 and a half passing yards in the Monday night Christmas game, which

01:10:03 I'm very excited for.

01:10:04 That should be a fantastic game.

01:10:05 Do you say two 15 and a half?

01:10:08 Yep.

01:10:09 Over two 15 and a half.

01:10:10 You got it.

01:10:11 Love it.

01:10:11 That, those are great.

01:10:12 I'm excited about that.

01:10:13 Ravens games.

01:10:14 Give me a lot of fun at Ravens came to me.

01:10:16 A lot of fun.

01:10:17 All right.

01:10:17 So I am doing what you normally do and going with the Thursday night game, although you

01:10:22 have a Thursday night game too.

01:10:23 So there you go.

01:10:25 So I took a page out of your book.

01:10:27 I'm going with Kyron Williams over 16 and a half receiving yards.

01:10:33 Okay.

01:10:34 And I went totally off the board on the lot on the second one, just cause I think it'll

01:10:40 be really fun.

01:10:40 I'm going Easton stick over 210 passing yards.

01:10:47 So he had a big game last week, uh, through for a ton of yards.

01:10:53 He had some really bad plays, but the chargers are playing the bills.

01:11:00 I think it's the bills.

01:11:01 Yeah.

01:11:03 And the bills defense to me, I mean, the bills are fine, but the bills defense is a

01:11:08 little bit, it's a little Swiss cheesy.

01:11:11 Um, and so I do think that they can take advantage of the bills just a bit.

01:11:14 So yeah, I would go the under there.

01:11:17 So that's a, that's a bold pick Pat.

01:11:19 I like it.

01:11:20 I like it.

01:11:21 Should do.

01:11:21 I'm excited about it.

01:11:21 Your question.

01:11:22 I want to see it.

01:11:23 I'm excited about it.

01:11:24 And then let's, let's get into that trivia question.

01:11:26 Alrighty.

01:11:28 For, for anybody who's a repeat viewer here, you know, what's going on for the new ones.

01:11:34 We do a trivia question at the end of every episode.

01:11:37 If you answer it correctly in the chat and you're the first to do it, you're going to

01:11:40 get a chance to win something.

01:11:42 I think our next drawing is going to be either after the regular season or after the super

01:11:46 bowl.

01:11:46 We haven't decided when it's going to be yet.

01:11:48 So last week's question was in new England's last win over the chiefs, which Patriots who

01:11:54 are the game is final two touchdowns to secure the win.

01:11:57 That was a Rex Burkhead, a dark blue gold was on it.

01:12:01 First, he had a touchdown late in regulation to take the lead and the game winning touchdown

01:12:05 in overtime.

01:12:06 We're going a little Patriots Broncos history here.

01:12:11 We're going back to another cold night at mile high back in 2003, which Patriots punter

01:12:19 was set to punt from new England's own end zone when Bill Belichick called for the intentional

01:12:26 safety in the oh three game.

01:12:28 We have a Monday night game out in Denver.

01:12:31 Throw your answers out there for this one.

01:12:32 This is a good one.

01:12:34 That was an iconic game.

01:12:36 I love that.

01:12:36 I came with so much fun.

01:12:38 What a game.

01:12:41 What a game and what a decision.

01:12:43 You know, it's just just so good.

01:12:47 So good.

01:12:48 By the way, I got a text from from my dad about with with the with the correct answer.

01:12:57 So I think he was I think he was the first with the correct answer.

01:13:02 Did he did he beat my dad?

01:13:04 He did.

01:13:05 Yeah, he did.

01:13:06 Oh, my goodness.

01:13:09 So I don't know how he got in, but he did get in.

01:13:13 He's the slowest type of all time on his phone, but he did get it there.

01:13:16 He got it there quick.

01:13:18 So I love it.

01:13:19 I I got the buzz.

01:13:23 I looked down.

01:13:24 I looked back up and and then your dad's post was there and I was like, oh, I was like,

01:13:28 well, you must be because it wasn't there when I looked down for the buzz.

01:13:31 So that's right, Mr. St.

01:13:33 Gene.

01:13:34 You you missed out, sir.

01:13:35 That is a bad beat right there.

01:13:38 That's an awful beat.

01:13:40 But yeah, the we will give the correct answer officially when you guys tune in next Wednesday

01:13:45 night.

01:13:45 Yes, yes, yes.

01:13:48 So when you're right, Lonnie Paxton was the long snapper.

01:13:51 The question, though, was the was he was he the long snapper?

01:13:55 I'm pretty sure because that was the season that they are.

01:13:58 Their long snappers kept getting hurt and ended up in the Super Bowl.

01:14:02 But I think Kenchin came in.

01:14:04 I think Paxton didn't get hurt until the very end.

01:14:06 But they had they had somebody before Kenchin, I thought.

01:14:12 It's a good point.

01:14:13 That's a good point.

01:14:14 I don't know.

01:14:15 The answer to that question.

01:14:15 That's a great while we wrap up the show.

01:14:17 I'm going deep on pro football reference to see how how good their their long snapper

01:14:22 knowledge is.

01:14:23 I don't know.

01:14:23 I think if you just look up Lonnie Paxton, it should tell you what games he played in,

01:14:28 even though he didn't record any stats.

01:14:30 I don't know.

01:14:31 Well, because they didn't do the snap tracking back then.

01:14:33 So it's not going to tell you like, right.

01:14:35 Yes, he played in.

01:14:37 Yeah.

01:14:37 So yeah.

01:14:39 Well, anyway, so you go.

01:14:40 So all right.

01:14:41 While we're doing that, let's get into let's get into this week in sports history.

01:14:46 And where's the music?

01:14:50 Here it is.

01:14:50 I got it.

01:14:51 I got it.

01:14:52 And now for something we think you'll really like this week in sports history.

01:15:02 All right, would you like to go, sir, or do you want me to go first?

01:15:04 I'll take it.

01:15:06 Why not?

01:15:06 Do a fun one on this day in 1981, Winnipeg Jets left winger Doug Smale set the NHL record by

01:15:17 scoring just four seconds into Winnipeg's 5-4 win over the St. Louis Blues, the fastest goal

01:15:23 scored from opening faceoff to back of the net in NHL history.

01:15:28 It has been tied twice since then.

01:15:30 Brian Trottier and Alex McGillney, one of the other guys that have tied that.

01:15:36 That's why I smell Doug Smale is a great name, too.

01:15:39 And I tried to find a video clip of this and I could not find one on YouTube.

01:15:42 I got to dig a little deeper.

01:15:43 It's interesting that, you know, we're going to do.

01:15:44 We got to find the the guy that.

01:15:47 Who is it?

01:15:50 There's a guy on TikTok, and it's like the craziest thing ever.

01:15:54 But he has like he specializes in finding these like unknown games.

01:15:59 So it'll be like there was a there was a hockey game playing in the background of NCIS season

01:16:05 15, episode 22.

01:16:08 What game is it?

01:16:09 And he goes through and finds the game.

01:16:11 So I was I was actually watching one of these earlier and I send it to my dad.

01:16:15 And apparently the link didn't work.

01:16:16 So sorry about that one, Dad.

01:16:18 The guy is video.

01:16:19 It's incredible.

01:16:19 It was it was from the office, some baseball game in like the bar when they all go to watch

01:16:26 the office when it premieres in the show and the dude tracked it down.

01:16:32 And it was some really, really obscure, low level college championship game from 2000,

01:16:39 not championship, random regular season game from 09 with footage on YouTube.

01:16:43 Which is how we found it.

01:16:44 It's insane that this guy can do it.

01:16:46 And so but what's interesting about it is that they don't have to pay for the rights of it

01:16:49 because or they do, but like they have to pay almost nothing for the rights of it because,

01:16:55 you know, it doesn't make a difference.

01:16:56 It's like who cares about some stupid college game, right?

01:16:59 Whereas like it's not an actual NFL game because then they got to pay the NFL and all this other

01:17:03 stuff.

01:17:03 So so that's kind of the idea with that.

01:17:07 All right.

01:17:07 So I'm going to go I'm going to I'm going to switch it up a little bit.

01:17:09 I'm going to go with tomorrow, which is December 21st instead of December 20th.

01:17:16 And I'm going to go all the way back to 1891.

01:17:21 And that is when the first game of basketball, based on the rules created by James Naismith,

01:17:25 was played by 18 students in Springfield, Massachusetts, all the way back in 1891

01:17:33 in in Springfield.

01:17:35 And I'm also I had a second one also from the 21st in 1997, when Barry Sanders became

01:17:45 the third player to rush for 2000 yards in one season.

01:17:50 And so and then, of course, would go on to retire the next year, never finished a year

01:17:56 under 1000 yards rushing, just one of the greatest running backs of all time.

01:18:01 So interesting.

01:18:03 Oh, my goodness.

01:18:04 And Dark Blue Gold, he gets the call to the night Dark Blue Gold with the with the event

01:18:10 of the night.

01:18:11 And then, of course, Joe Namath back in 2003, that's 2003.

01:18:16 I can't believe that had his infamous I want to kiss you interview with Susie Colbert.

01:18:21 Oh, my God.

01:18:22 What an insane interview that was.

01:18:25 And Dark Blue Gold says that he's been sober ever since that incident.

01:18:29 Vowed to give up drinking and it's been a wise decision.

01:18:32 A very wise decision.

01:18:33 Sure was.

01:18:34 That was a that was that was tough.

01:18:36 That was really tough.

01:18:36 So iconic moment right there.

01:18:40 We were able to find the I believe my dad texted me and said, can you know, which I

01:18:45 knew and he did hurt his hand the night before.

01:18:47 But the question is, did Lonnie Paxton play up until that point?

01:18:51 So yeah, Lonnie Paxton did.

01:18:52 He was the snapper.

01:18:54 He got injured in week 14.

01:18:55 Their backup got injured.

01:18:57 It was done for the season the week after that.

01:18:59 And that's when Kinchen came in, I think.

01:19:01 OK, so there you go.

01:19:03 So yeah, I was there for more than one game.

01:19:05 Interesting.

01:19:06 Yeah, yeah.

01:19:06 Then he almost what do you call it?

01:19:10 He almost left at one point because of the pressure of the playoffs and not being ready

01:19:14 for it.

01:19:14 And it's a whole long sports illustrated piece on him that is fantastic.

01:19:18 You haven't read it.

01:19:18 Great read.

01:19:19 Brian Kinchen, the long snapper in 2003.

01:19:21 Google that you'll find it.

01:19:23 Yeah, but yes, it's funny with two regular seasons, regular season games left in the

01:19:29 season to continue their role throughout the playoffs.

01:19:30 So there you go.

01:19:31 Yeah.

01:19:32 And you think about how important he was to that playoff run.

01:19:36 Not even forget about the Super Bowl.

01:19:39 The the Pats Titans game ended up coming down to a field goal.

01:19:43 And then the Pats Colts AFC championship, they kicked five field goals in that game.

01:19:48 You get 24 points, you know, the old fashioned way with five field goals, a touchdown and

01:19:53 a safety.

01:19:53 And yeah, it adds up and you get there.

01:19:56 But now huge field goals important in every single playoff game there and back up, back

01:20:03 up long snapper coming in to make those plays.

01:20:05 Brian was pretty wild.

01:20:07 So anyways, well, there you go.

01:20:09 Well, there you go.

01:20:09 Well, there's a heck of a show, guys.

01:20:11 Thank you for coming through.

01:20:12 Thank you for Sophie to Sophie Weller for coming through.

01:20:15 Appreciate it.

01:20:15 Yes, a disease sports is where she writes for.

01:20:19 You can, of course, find her on Twitter and it's just Sophie Weller.

01:20:23 But again, she has two E's, two L's, of course, and two hours as well.

01:20:28 So so there you go.

01:20:31 So, yeah, so go go check her stuff out.

01:20:33 She's doing a great job over there and, you know, and we appreciate her coming through.

01:20:38 We definitely have to come or have her come on again as well.

01:20:40 So and yeah, we'll go from there.

01:20:44 So thanks, guys.

01:20:45 Thanks for coming through.

01:20:46 We did mention this.

01:20:47 I'm going to mention it to you again, just as a reminder.

01:20:49 Sunday night is Christmas Eve.

01:20:52 Okay, we both have to be in bed so Santa Claus can come.

01:20:56 We will not be doing a reaction show and it's reaction show.

01:20:58 I kicked around the idea of asking if you wanted to do something at halftime instead

01:21:02 of the end of the show, and then I was like, you know what, let's let's just not let's just

01:21:05 not do that and let's just go.

01:21:07 So we're the plan right now is to go on Monday night, which is Christmas night.

01:21:16 So the 25th, we will go and we'll do our instant or, you know, quote unquote, instant reaction

01:21:23 the night of the 25th.

01:21:24 So that will be the 945 time that we normally do.

01:21:28 It'll be on Monday night instead of Sunday.

01:21:30 So enjoy your enjoy your Christmas dinner, enjoy a cocktail or an eggnog or whatever,

01:21:35 and come hang out with us.

01:21:36 That's right.

01:21:36 Often I'll have to have some eggnog on air on that episode.

01:21:41 I just had a glass before this.

01:21:43 I love little eggnog with nutmeg sprinkled on top.

01:21:46 That is.

01:21:46 Yes, I love that.

01:21:50 I get it.

01:21:50 And you know what?

01:21:51 I'll tell you, Patriots for Christ, you're right.

01:21:53 We will probably lose, but it's OK.

01:21:55 We got to understand that there are better things coming and we want to lose right now

01:21:59 wins don't matter.

01:22:02 Wins don't matter.

01:22:03 It doesn't make a difference.

01:22:03 We don't we don't care about winning right now.

01:22:05 We want to play well.

01:22:06 We want the young guys to play well, and we don't want to build a losing culture.

01:22:09 But at the same time, those wins at the end of the season doesn't really matter.

01:22:14 So I don't want the team to be good, but lose games anyway.

01:22:19 But this team isn't good.

01:22:20 So let's just lose.

01:22:21 And exactly.

01:22:22 Exactly.

01:22:23 Yeah.

01:22:23 So anyways, well, Merry Christmas to all of you that celebrate Christmas out there.

01:22:27 If you don't, maybe you enjoy the weekend with your family and friends anyways, whatever

01:22:31 you're up to.

01:22:31 If you're not celebrating Christmas, we appreciate it.

01:22:32 Travels to dark blue gold as well.

01:22:34 That's right.

01:22:35 New York City.

01:22:36 That's right.

01:22:37 It's exciting.

01:22:38 So yeah, so we'll go from there and we'll talk to you guys on Monday night and hope

01:22:44 Santa Claus is good to all you guys.

01:22:46 I mean, you know, it'll be fun.

01:22:48 That's my favorite.

01:22:49 Honestly, after you have kids, that's my favorite part is like Christmas morning.

01:22:53 And of course, we all have that.

01:22:55 Yeah.

01:22:55 What Santa got you all right.

01:22:57 You all have that feeling of like Christmas morning and how and like some of the some

01:23:03 of those moments where they come running down the stairs and they're all excited and it's

01:23:07 the best.

01:23:08 It's the absolute best.

01:23:09 So enjoy that.

01:23:10 And even now, I mean, 12, 10 and seven, they're still not that old, but like they're old enough

01:23:15 that they're excited, but not like they were when they were five or six, you know, so it's

01:23:22 great.

01:23:22 It's great.

01:23:22 So enjoy it while you can.

01:23:25 And so and so we'll go from there.

01:23:26 So thanks, everyone.

01:23:27 We appreciate it.

01:23:28 And and we'll talk to you guys Monday night.

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