On this episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast, Greg and Nick Cattles break down in detail where the Patriots fell short on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, where they took steps back from Week 1, the offensive game woes, the coaching decisions in overtime, and much more!
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00:00This is the Greg Bidard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
00:09The Patriots now one and one after their loss against Seattle on Sunday.
00:13We'll get to that game and Greg's thoughts, but first I remind you the prize picks app.
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00:45What time is it?
00:46It is Game Time.
00:47All right, Greg, let's talk about this game from Sunday, Seahawks Patriots.
00:52Let's start with the offense, I guess.
00:54Let's start there.
00:56I know you reviewed the defensive film just moments ago, so we'll give you a little bit
01:00more time to kind of absorb it.
01:02Let's start with the offensive line, Greg.
01:04Just overall thoughts, 30,000 feet.
01:07How much of a disaster was it on Sunday?
01:10It was pretty bad.
01:11I mean, look, I would say the run blocking on the whole was better than week one.
01:18It's still sort of wildly inconsistent.
01:22The yards before contact were much better in this game than they were week one.
01:28Like for instance, so the league average is the yards before contact is 1.38.
01:35Stevenson in this game was at 1.38, Gibson was at 2.09.
01:39We all remember like week one, they were like 0.1 or so, you know, like it was horrible.
01:45So I would say the run blocking on the whole was a lot better.
01:49They still allowed, I think it was 10 run stuffs in this game.
01:54So you know, not great, but definite progress there with the run blocking.
02:02But as far as pass protection, it's still, you know, a big issue.
02:09I mean, you know, basically depending on where you go, you know, like I think PFF has it
02:18like, you know, 45, 48%, very similar to week one.
02:22I had it, I had it 55% pressure rate, um, more than week one.
02:28Um, again, that's me and, um, you know, maybe they do things a different way.
02:33Now I will say in this game, two of those, two of the 18 pressures, Ron
02:38Jacoby, Brissette, the first sack, in my opinion, he didn't need to take.
02:42And then there was, um, there was another one where he took a hit later
02:47in the game where I put it on Brissette.
02:50So, whereas he didn't have any pressure in the first game, um, you know, the big
02:57topic of conversation is the offense, the passing offense and all this.
03:00And, you know, the wide receivers have three catches for 19 yards.
03:04And, you know, is it the scheme?
03:06Is it the players?
03:07Is it, and I, at Boston sports journal, you know, if, if, if you want to be a
03:12member, like, this is the type of article that you want to be a member for,
03:16because I broke down via video and also text, uh, you know, writing it out,
03:22basically my summarization, every single pass drop in this game, and we broke it
03:27down with the coaches film, first half, second half, um, there's a lot of stuff
03:31there and, but, you know, I wanted to know, and I don't know what, I don't go
03:38in with any preconceived notion.
03:40I just let the film dictate and break it down play by play.
03:43And then at the end, you total things up.
03:45And at the end of the day, you know, I looked at, uh, you know, if something
03:51didn't work, what was the, what was to blame?
03:54And at the end of the day, um, out of the, let's see, like, uh, basically
04:04half the problems in the passing game were on the offensive line.
04:09Um, a little bit of it was on Jacoby Bursette, you know, he missed some
04:13plays, he missed some opportunities.
04:16Uh, the receivers were up a little tick on that.
04:19They, they didn't have a very good first half.
04:21And when I say receivers, that means not getting open.
04:24Um, there were some route issues like Jalen Polk stopped a route for no reason
04:31when Alex Van Pelt had dialed up a deep shot.
04:34So, you know, I know there's a lot of talk about Alex Van Pelt in this scheme
04:37and is he doing enough?
04:40Um, are they, are they trying enough?
04:43And I would say on film, the answer is yes, they are trying to do things, but
04:49almost every time that they try it, there's a breakdown and usually the
04:55blocking doesn't hold long enough to let things develop, you know, or
04:59you have some other issues.
05:01Um, but so to me, you know, the big thing is it's week two,
05:09they're working through this.
05:11They got to figure out the line blocking.
05:13Um, if that, look, if that doesn't, I don't care who's at quarterback.
05:19Um, if that doesn't improve and I'm fearful, Nick, that it's, you know, you
05:26can somewhat make it workable in week one, you can hold it together
05:30a little bit more in week two, but now there's more and more film and the
05:34weaknesses on the Patriots and, you know, also just their play in general.
05:39Now they're down to probably if Darian Lowe can't go on Thursday night, they're
05:43down to their third left tackle, um, already at this point.
05:47And so I worry that it's not going to get better, that it's going to get worse.
05:54And, but they got to figure it out because there are opportunities.
05:57There are guys open DeMario Douglas does have opportunities to get the ball.
06:02Now, do I think Alex van Pelt can do a little bit more in the
06:05shortened intermediate game just to get the ball in his hands?
06:08Yeah, I do.
06:09And I think I wouldn't be surprised if they doubled down on that this week.
06:13I thought they were going to do it for last week.
06:15Um, but the big thing is this, this passing game is not productive enough.
06:21And to me, it starts with the offensive line.
06:25That's where most of the blame lies and, um, they got to get that figured out.
06:30Yeah.
06:31A few things here to unpack, uh, talk about Greg story.
06:34I read that this morning.
06:35So about 74% of the dropbacks, there were issues with the offense.
06:40Things didn't go great about 25% of the dropbacks.
06:44She had good stuff happen out of the 74%.
06:47You say, how much of that was the old line?
06:49Greg had it at about 45% and preset about 13%.
06:53So that's, you know, the 58% of your 75 there.
06:57So if so facto, as they say, offensive line, absolutely more than double and
07:03even, you know, triple, triple the issue that Jacoby preset was on Sunday.
07:09If you're wondering offensive line, Greg and I have talked about this.
07:13We have believed that this team would be able to figure some things out and be
07:16okay eventually after the first four to six weeks, but of course things evolve.
07:21And number one, chooks is now not on this team.
07:26So even if he didn't think he was doing a great job, which he wasn't, he was still
07:29tackle depth and a guy who started 60 games in the NFL, more than 60
07:34after starting for the Patriots.
07:35So, you know, you lose chooks.
07:38Then as Greg mentioned, Vidarian low goes down, don't know
07:41what's going to happen with him.
07:42It's a knee issue.
07:44David Andrews popped up yesterday on the injury report as a DNP
07:48and it wasn't listed as rest.
07:49It was listed as hip.
07:51So how healthy is David Andrews?
07:53And this is when you start to get some concerns because now
07:56attrition is playing a role.
07:58Finally, I'd say about pop Douglas.
08:02You know, some of it is the longer developing routes.
08:04They're having him run.
08:05Some of it is past protection breaking down when he's open, but I agree with
08:09you, Greg, and I've talked about this.
08:11It you've got to do a better job of getting him the football
08:15and you've got to find ways.
08:16When you run that reverse with the wide receiver, don't run that to Jalen poke,
08:20run that to pop or Tyquan Thornton.
08:22I don't know why you went to poke on that play.
08:25I like poke a lot, but he's not a super athlete.
08:28And he took forever to get to the edge and then he didn't
08:30cut up like he should have.
08:32Get it to pop Douglas, get him in space.
08:34So they should absolutely do a much better job.
08:37They didn't throw a single screen to a wide receiver in that game.
08:41Throw him a bubble screen, get them in space.
08:44Last thing I'll say about the offense, Greg, and this is something that you wrote.
08:47Van Pelt dialed up at least 15 plays where the Patriots were going to have
08:52the potential for a big play or at least a bigger play and something broke down.
08:57That has nothing to do with him.
08:59I do think there was some issues with Van Pelt.
09:02Uh, I didn't love all of his play calls.
09:03The third and three left me scratching my head.
09:06Uh, some other stuff that he did, but he wasn't a huge issue on Sunday, but
09:11let's talk about the quarterback because that's the one guy we haven't really
09:14dove deep into Jacoby percent.
09:16I think he continues to be okay.
09:18Nothing special, but really Greg, in my estimation, he's been as good as you
09:24could expect him to be given who he is and given the circumstances he's dealing
09:29with, do you agree?
09:31Yeah, I do.
09:32Um, you know, I, I mean, especially like in some of the, the sacks that he's
09:38avoided, I mean, um, you know, that one was that it was that at the end of the
09:42game, um, in where he, it looked like he was almost going to go down for safety
09:47and, you know, he's dancing around and he gets the ball out.
09:50Um, you know, I, I had him for, um, I had him for five plus throws in this
09:59game and four of them were against pressure.
10:02Um, you know, now I did have him for the two pressures allowed.
10:07He had a throw that rollout to Jalen Polk, for example.
10:12Um, and everybody probably remembers it.
10:13It's it's a rollout to the right.
10:16Um, Brissette has Polk's open, um, or as open as you're going to get in the NFL
10:22and Jacoby missed him and he should have made the throw.
10:26Now there are more circumstances to that.
10:29If you go back and you watch the film, KJ Osborne is blocking the end and he does
10:35it for about 0.5 seconds and then he just stands there, he literally turns around,
10:41tries to put his butt on the defender.
10:43And all of a sudden the guy takes off and he's in Jacoby's face and he makes that
10:47throw much harder than it needed to be.
10:49Now, I still don't, uh, absolve Jacoby.
10:52He still should have made the throw and NFL quarterback should make that throw.
10:56But it's just the, like the little attention to details on something
11:00like that, like aren't happening.
11:02But I, I think Nick, I think what we've seen so far through two weeks,
11:07Nick is about what we expected.
11:10Now I will say, I think Jacoby Brissett in terms of like not taking sacks, like
11:15I said, um, his decisiveness, um, not really holding the ball.
11:20Those were all things that have been, uh, you know, a staple of
11:24his play in the NFL to this point.
11:25And it gets him into a lot of trouble.
11:27Now he doesn't, uh, you know, he's, he's been one of the most quarterback,
11:31sacked quarterbacks in terms of rate, um, since he came into the league.
11:36And he's doing a great job of avoiding that and putting this team
11:39in the worst circumstances.
11:40Now, we also knew sort of going into this, that Jacoby is what he is.
11:45He, he's not going to elevate anybody and you know, there's nothing wrong with that.
11:51But when you, you know, when you have a, when you have a team that, uh, does not
11:58protect well, um, he's going to have issues when you have a team that their
12:05wide receivers don't win off of man coverage.
12:09Um, I'm just, I'm just looking, cause I had the stats, um, you know, when
12:15they don't win off a man coverage, like, you know, Jacoby's not going to, you
12:20know, make things happen out of thin air, like some quarterbacks.
12:22And now the hope is you got, you have a guy in Drake may who's warming and
12:27getting ready and he'll eventually be that type of guy that can elevate that unit.
12:32I still wouldn't rush it, but like the Patriots were eight of 17 for
12:3748 yards against man coverage.
12:40Man coverage is about talent.
12:42Um, the, the, the Seahawks conversely were 11 of 17 for 107 yards and seven
12:50passing first downs against man coverage.
12:53And the Patriots were eight of 17 for 48 yards.
12:56They were six of eight for 72 yards against zone.
12:59I'm guessing that was probably mostly, uh, Hunter Henry early on in the game
13:04before the Seahawks got played more and more man coverage as the game went on.
13:09And that's sort of where you saw the passing offense really disappear because.
13:15You know, really man beating man coverage is about talent, uh, among the receivers
13:20and tight ends and what have you.
13:22It's not really about scheme.
13:23It's just man beating man zone is more about scheme, beating the coverage.
13:29And you know, what we see so far is the Patriots aren't good enough
13:34on the outside to beat man coverage.
13:37And that's going to continue to be an issue and, and, and sort of
13:41in tandem with the offensive line, hold this passing offense down.
13:44But I think overall, I think Jacoby did fine.
13:47I thought his touchdown pass was great.
13:49It was a bit of a busted coverage by the Seahawks.
13:52I mean, he hummed it in there.
13:54Um, you know, that was really good.
13:56He made some really nice pressure, uh, plays against pressure again, but unless
14:01they block better and get open better, this is about what they're going to be.
14:08Do you see a lot of hesitancy from him or do you see some hesitancy to push it down
14:12feel when there are plays to be made?
14:14Not really.
14:15I mean, I look, I, there are certain times where I don't like his decision
14:20making, or I do think that he could do something better, like, you know, for
14:25example, the, the third and sixth play that everybody's talking about, um, the
14:29sack and then the block field goal, which was, you know, the biggest, the
14:35biggest part of the game, um, you know, he does have an opportunity.
14:40So pops on the left and pops running and out it's man coverage.
14:45Jacoby's throwing from the opposite hash mark across the field.
14:49There's a corner back there.
14:51You, you know, the good quarterbacks in this league, they throw that and they
14:59probably convert the first down.
15:01Now I think Jacoby, and he even hinted at this in his post game press conference
15:05that he wanted to make sure he took care of the ball.
15:07Now, you know, that pass, um, high rate of pick six.
15:13I mean, you're on pick six alert.
15:15It could happen, you know, pop stumbles or whatever you like.
15:20Anything could happen.
15:21If that's Mack Jones throwing that pass, it's definitely a pick six.
15:24Now, Jacoby, I do think he, he has a stronger arm.
15:28He can make that throw, but I think he was just trying to manage the game and I
15:32didn't have a huge problem with it.
15:33I didn't have a huge problem with sack.
15:36Um, the Patriots should still make the field goal.
15:39It should not get blocked.
15:41Austin Hooper screwed up the field goal block.
15:44Um, so I don't put that on.
15:47Brissette, the blocking again, didn't, you know, he, he made one read and
15:51then two guys were on top of them.
15:53I mean, I, I don't know really what you're supposed to do in that circumstance,
15:56but, um, no, I don't see a ton of hesitancy.
16:00I, I marked them down for two decisions in the game, both in the second half.
16:05Um, one, he went to Jalen Polk where I think he had pop Douglas.
16:09It was pop.
16:10Douglas was coming open.
16:11It was the play where Jalen Polk caught like a seven yard pass with a under a
16:17minute left and of course, Jalen Polk decides to pose, uh, even though there's
16:21a running clock on like a seven yard, nothing gain, but if Jacoby hangs on a
16:28little longer, he's got pop coming, um, across the middle for a bigger play and
16:34maybe they get in a field goal range.
16:35But those were really only, I only had two instances where I was like, you
16:40know what, he could have done a little bit more in that play.
16:43Didn't love the sack.
16:44I think that's a bad sack to take.
16:46I'll disagree with you on that.
16:47As far as the, the man coverage stuff, as Greg mentioned, it really changed
16:52the dynamic of this football game as Seattle and Mike McDonald evolved from,
16:57you know, playing that zone coverage to going to a lot more man.
17:01And Greg had the numbers in his article, you know, Henry had five
17:04catches, 82 yards against zone.
17:06All of those catches, all five of those catches were for first downs
17:10against man coverage, Julian love kind of took care of him for, for much of
17:15this game, once they went to man, Henry had a three catches for 27 yards.
17:20So the offense, the water was just shut off and the Patriots had a very
17:24difficult time in adjusting to that.
17:26Some of the stuff, as Greg mentioned that the past protection, the wide receivers,
17:30separation, all of that stuff, uh, played a role.
17:33All right, let's get to defense.
17:34But before we do that, Greg's got a message for all of you.
17:36Find people watching and, or listening to this podcast.
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17:46It's football season and enjoy football.
17:48You really got to be there, whether it's pro or college, you got to get out to a
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19:36What time is it?
19:36Game time.
19:39It's defense time.
19:40So let's talk about, uh, DeMarcus Covington's unit, obviously in the
19:44first week of the season, uh, we, we, we praise them for the most part.
19:49They rattled Joe Burrow in the first half.
19:52They got some pressure.
19:53They were great against the run game.
19:55Against Seattle, especially in the first half, there was some leakage
19:59and some leakage against the past.
20:01Let me first ask you this, Greg, because a lot of people have talked about it.
20:04The hurry up offense by Seattle seemed to make the Patriots
20:09look a little bit scrambled.
20:10Uh, did you see the same thing when you watched the film this morning?
20:14Uh, yes I did.
20:16And, um, and I saw it live and to me, like it was, uh, we know Ryan grub their
20:23offense and their new offensive coordinator come from, it came from
20:25the university of Washington, Ray Penix and Polk and all those guys.
20:29Um, uh, I, I thought that they sort of ran like a college offense.
20:35There were times where they would get up to the line quickly, uh, sort of go
20:40like muddle huddle and get a look from the Patriots and then look over to the
20:45sideline and they, you know, change some things and flip people around.
20:49Like I thought it was, I thought it was a tremendous job by them.
20:52I it's something that I don't understand why more teams, why they
20:57don't do it against the Patriots.
20:59Um, you know, a lot of these career NFL coaches, they're sort of stuck
21:03in their way and how they do things, but you get these guys from college
21:08and especially the guys who can balance the NFL game in the college game.
21:12Cause I don't, I don't think you can just go like, you
21:14know, straight college offense.
21:16It's, it's just, you know, not going to work in the NFL
21:19with these type of athletes.
21:20But, you know, when, when you force a team to do that, especially a Patriots
21:25team that likes to dial things up in certain circumstances and, you know,
21:29we're going to show pressure, then we're going to drop and, you know, all this
21:33stuff, um, you know, getting to the line and then seeing what they're in and
21:38sort of countering that, you know, really saps the creativity out of it
21:44and makes them go more vanilla.
21:46So I thought, um, I thought they did a tremendous job, the Seahawks and
21:51Grubb doing that and really sort of, you know, throwing the Patriots for a loop.
21:56And, you know, it led to, you know, some big plays, like for example,
22:00the Metcalf touchdown, um, which was a busted coverage.
22:04And, um, you know, I thought that, I thought that, um, Grubb got the best
22:10of DeMarcus Covington in this game.
22:12Um, you know, two first time coordinators.
22:14I know I'm trying to look for, but there were a couple of times where I noted
22:17where, um, they just got, they, they just got beat and, you know, there were
22:24some times I thought Covington was a little bit overaggressive.
22:27I know some people have made a big deal out of it.
22:29And even, um, Brissette said something about like, oh, we had a, uh, a tell,
22:36a tell, like, I think a lot of that stuff is like overrated.
22:40And as far as the offense, you know, we talked about the offense.
22:42I think it was just, I think it was mostly Jacoby covering for the
22:46offensive line and the receivers.
22:48Um, then, you know, there, there wasn't any point on film when the Patriots
22:52offense, where I was like, geez, that defense, they just couldn't
22:55run that against this defense.
22:57I never, I never saw that on film.
22:59Um, it wasn't about that.
23:00It was about the protection.
23:01It was about other things.
23:02Um, but as far as the defense, um, you know, I thought for the most
23:07part, the defense, you know, was, was pretty good.
23:10Gino Smith was just spectacular.
23:12And, but I do think that I'm worried, Nick, that there's a creeping in of a
23:18little bit of undisciplined play, um, you know, not letting Gino Smith get
23:23outside of the pocket, um, where, you know, I wouldn't say he killed the team,
23:28but I mean, he made some crucial plays and there's, you know, there's
23:31nobody there on the edge.
23:32Um, you know, you had the busted coverage you had, which in
23:36my opinion was Kyle Duggar.
23:38Then you had the Charbonneau play, uh, on the drive and overtime third and
23:43six, you make a play, you get off the field, they probably punt, you get
23:47the ball back and nobody's covering Charbonneau out of the backfield.
23:52In my opinion, it was supposed to be Duggar again.
23:55And so you worry, would you want Bentley now out for the year?
23:58Kyle Duggar is going to have the green dot.
24:00Are there going to be more communication issues?
24:03I know Mayo thought it went really well in that game.
24:05I disagree.
24:06And I thought Kyle Duggar was responsible for two of the biggest bus in the game.
24:11Christian Gonzalez could have still made the tackle, you know, coming off his guy.
24:15He dove, didn't make the tackle.
24:18And you know, those type of plays are huge in a game like this.
24:22And the Patriots are going to play a bunch of games like this that are one
24:25score games and you either make the plays or you don't and down the stretch
24:30in the final six minutes and overtime of the game, the Patriots didn't make enough.
24:34Place.
24:35Yeah.
24:35Gonzalez has to make that tackle on third and six against Charbonneau.
24:39And, you know, you got to stop them short of the sticks there.
24:42He didn't Charbonneau gets the first down Seattle continues.
24:45And we know how it ends.
24:47Uh, I thought it was interesting, you know, watching the
24:49offenses and what grub was doing.
24:51Really the antithesis of, of Alex van Peltz, uh, van Pelt, not a ton of motion.
24:57If you look at the Patriots motion numbers, pre-snap motion across
25:02the NFL and how they stack up.
25:04They don't run a lot of motion.
25:05When you look at grub, you had a lot of motion.
25:07You had some shifting.
25:09And then when the Patriots tried to do something fancy, it was the worst
25:12time to do it, which was the third of one play and you get Taequann Thornton
25:15out there, it looked like nobody had a clue what the hell to do.
25:18And you get a penalty.
25:19So you you've got one offense that does a lot pre-snap.
25:23You've got another offense that doesn't do a lot of pre-snap.
25:26Let me ask you this about doing stuff.
25:27Pre-snap post-snap.
25:28Greg, do you think we saw on Sunday?
25:32DeMarcus Covington, his play calling, maybe trying to be a little bit too
25:36tricky at times and it biting them in the ass this time around versus what
25:41we saw against Cincinnati in week one.
25:43Yeah, for sure.
25:44I mean, you know, there were a couple of times, you know, where, you know,
25:48you're looking at it and Josh Uche and Keon white are dropping down the deep
25:52middle of the field and cover two.
25:55Now Uche did have a really good cover early in the game.
25:59Keon white was victimized later in the game.
26:05You know, I, I just, I don't know, Nick, I just I thought at times in this game,
26:13I thought it was like, that stuff was like too risky.
26:16Like the Seahawks are, they're too talented to, you know, try to trick them.
26:22I thought, I thought, you know, Gino Smith was just, I thought he was just,
26:28he was borderline spectacular in this game in terms of how he dealt with things.
26:33I mean, it just like, I know there was a certain point in the game, especially
26:37in the fourth quarter when, you know, the Patriots decided to get back to
26:41like really pounding the football, you know, the Stevenson touchdown, that
26:45drive, and then the ensuing drive where they ran the ball, I think every
26:49single down to get down there.
26:51And I just think that, um, I just think that the Patriots just got like a little
26:59too cute for things and thought they needed to do certain things to, to, to
27:05gain an edge in this game where I just like, you know, the, the Seahawks with
27:09their talent, with Metcalf and Lockett and Smith and Jigba and, you know, Gino
27:15Smith, like, you know, I think they would have been much better off sort of, um,
27:22playing a little bit more conservative, um, on, off, uh, on defense.
27:26Um, and you know, I thought there, the Seahawks talent just
27:30won out, uh, one too many times.
27:33Yeah.
27:33I don't need to see Keon white dropping into coverage against
27:36Jackson Smith and Jigma on a third and seven.
27:38I really don't see that play call.
27:40Uh, appreciate the attempt at creativity, but, uh, not the moment
27:44and not the matchup that I want in the middle of the field that it
27:47just didn't make much sense to me.
27:49But let me get to the biggest issue.
27:51We haven't even touched on.
27:52I think about this defense before man pass rush, we talked
27:57about this in the preseason.
27:59You trade Matthew Judon.
28:00You don't have Christian bar more due to the blood clot situation.
28:04I think all of us looked at this and said, how are they going to get home?
28:08How are they going to get to the quarterback enough?
28:10And Greg, outside of Keon white, you got Joshua O'Shea showing up.
28:16He was okay on Sunday, had some pressures, but this team four-man
28:20pressure, they are having one hell of a time trying to get to the quarterback.
28:26Yeah, a hundred percent.
28:27Um, you know, and even, even Keon white at times, I mean, you know, he did, he
28:34did a lot of damage, um, from the inside.
28:37He certainly has his plays, but you know, I'm just looking through it.
28:40Like outside of, outside of Keon white, I have, let's see.
28:44Anthony Jennings, uh, with a pressure because he drew a holding penalty.
28:48I only have Joshua O'Shea for half a hurry in the game.
28:51I have, uh, Tristan Hill or no, Jeremiah farms for a knockdown.
28:57I have Dietrich wise in the first half had a knockdown in a hurry.
29:01That's when he broke up.
29:02What would have been a DK Metcalf touchdown on another coverage
29:06bust by the Patriots in the backend.
29:09Uh, the play where Jabril peppers got his hand on it, um, to Vi and Rayquan
29:14McMillan coming from the second level for hurries, um, Marcus Jones was
29:20brought from distance and had a hurry.
29:22So yeah, not, not a whole lot in the pressure department, um, for this team.
29:28And yeah, it's a worry.
29:32And you wonder if that sort of fueled DeMarcus Covington in terms of like,
29:36you know, we got to do all this creative stuff, which obviously the
29:40Seahawks, uh, were ready for anticipated.
29:45I know some people are talking about how, like, you know, they, the, the Seahawks
29:49had this huge answer and huge plan.
29:52I mean, it, the Patriots tendency, and I know Covington is new.
29:56Um, but you showed it a bit in week one, you sort of go off of last year.
30:00The Patriots have certain circumstances where they're high pressure rate
30:04team, uh, pressure rate teams, which is, you know, they bring a
30:07blitz in certain circumstances.
30:09Third downs, one of them.
30:11And when they get on the edge of field goal range, the
30:14Patriots love to bring pressure.
30:16And a couple of times they brought out, brought six man pressures.
30:20Seattle anticipated it and just beat them at it, got it blocked up.
30:25And, um, you know, that was a big story in this game.
30:31All right.
30:31We're going to get to the coaching and then get to some ups and downs for, for
30:35Greg and his call here on, on the game against Seattle, before we wrap things up.
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31:31Uh, just, you know, going into this game, Nick, uh, we're going to have to,
31:37on Wednesday, we're going to break it down for people, uh, at least,
31:41you know, my picks for this game.
31:44Pop Douglas is killing me, um, and him not getting anything.
31:50Um, but definitely nailed the Hunter Henry last week.
31:54Uh, also nailed the Jacoby Brissett under, I got a lot of people who are like,
31:57wait a minute, you have Hunter Henry over into Mario Douglas over, but you
32:02have Jacoby Brissett for like, I think it was under 180 yards or something like that.
32:06And I was like, well, Hunter Henry and pop Douglas only, they only have to
32:10get the 46 yards combined and I win.
32:13And, uh, I was definitely worried at halftime.
32:16Jacoby had 117 passing yards at halftime.
32:18I was like, well, that's gone, but in the end he was under.
32:22So we'll be back, uh, later in the week before the Jets game
32:26to give you my picks on that.
32:28All right, Greg, did you think Gerard Mayo had a good day on Sunday
32:34or not so good of a day on Sunday?
32:36Not so good of a day, Nicholas.
32:39Um, the, the end of the first half was just disaster.
32:48Yeah, it was just, it was, he basically handed them three points.
32:51I mean, you've got to, you've got to pick a lane.
32:54You've got to decide what you're going to do.
32:56You've got to anticipate what you think the other side is going to do, including
33:00have a defensive head coach, the Seahawks were leading 14 to 13 at the time.
33:06The Patriots get the ball at 137.
33:10They run for two yards on first down.
33:12Um, now you have to, and, and Seattle doesn't call a timeout.
33:17So in that circumstance, like, uh, I'm, I'm probably running the ball.
33:24I mean, you could say like a safe thing, like a screen, but
33:27with the Patriots passing game, I don't know what's safe at this point.
33:30So, you know, I think at least you run another running play on second
33:36down and you, you got to do one thing.
33:38You got to make Seattle take their timeouts at the very least.
33:41You got to make a decision on that.
33:43They didn't do any of that stuff.
33:45So Seattle gets the ball back after a really good punt return to midfield.
33:50And they don't have to go very far.
33:51And Seattle has all three of their timeouts.
33:53So they just, they gave Seattle the opportunity.
33:56And if it wasn't for Seattle, making a stupid decision to go
34:00on a fourth and one and get stuffed.
34:04Um, they should have had a double score there and really
34:07taking control of the game.
34:08But I thought there, and also, um, you know, end of regulation.
34:14Um, not great by Gerard male.
34:18Yeah.
34:18He blew timeouts in the second half.
34:20You had to blow time out because of 12 men on the field.
34:23You had to blow a timeout because you didn't get the play call in, in
34:26enough time, uh, when Stevenson fumbled, but recovered it and they're all
34:30kind of just scurrying around the goal line.
34:32So you blew two timeouts, which really came back and bit you.
34:35Uh, I would have gone for it in overtime on, on, on fourth and one.
34:38I know some people disagree.
34:40I don't think it's an easy call.
34:41I think you can push back.
34:42I think it's a reasonable debate to have and say, well, you're on your 39.
34:46And if you, if you don't get that first down, then you're screwed.
34:49I would have gone for it.
34:50I would have been aggressive.
34:52Uh, but they didn't, they decided not to go for it.
34:55They punted and they never got the ball back.
34:57So I thought it was not a very good day for Gerard with it.
35:01I will say Nick, just on that.
35:03Um, first of all, in the whole overtime thing with the, you know,
35:10Vidarian low had gone, gone out.
35:12Caden Wallace was going to be your left tackle.
35:15Um, I would have kicked there, you know, and knowing, you know, the rules have
35:21changed and all you, all you have to do is not give up a touchdown and I'm sorry.
35:27That's Mayo's baby.
35:29All the players are there, all the money.
35:32Like I would have kicked there at that point, but you know,
35:37if you give up a field goal, you lose the game there because you had
35:40the first possession of overtime.
35:42So you had your possession to them.
35:45If Seattle kicks a field goal, you lose.
35:50If I kick off an overtime and I give him a field goal, I lose.
35:54If you defer the team that receives, it has to score first.
35:58The Patriots, they had the first possession of overtime.
36:01So I just want to, I want to make, cause it sounded like you, you had said,
36:05you know, the only way I lose is if they score a touchdown, that you received
36:10the possession to start that overtime.
36:12Then you punted.
36:13So if Seattle kicks a field goal there as they did, you lose.
36:16So I just want to make people know the rules.
36:18Cause I think there's some confusion about overtime and how that works.
36:22So the, the Patriots won the toss and if they, if they elected to kick, then
36:30the touchdown rule doesn't apply.
36:32They can win with a field goal.
36:33No, you haven't possessed the ball.
36:37All right.
36:37So if you win the toss and you, you defer Seattle, if they
36:43score a touchdown, you lose.
36:44If they score a field goal, you get the ball and you can match the field goal, or
36:49you can score a touchdown and win the game.
36:51The Patriots won the toss.
36:52They got the football first.
36:54Yeah, but they didn't have to take the football.
36:56Right.
36:57Right.
36:57We're talking about two separate things.
37:00I know they didn't have to take the football.
37:01I'm talking about the fourth down call.
37:03They decided to punt and then you're putting the game in Seattle's hands.
37:06Oh, the pun.
37:08Okay.
37:10I was going down to the, I was going back to the coin toss first.
37:14All right.
37:15On the, on the coin toss, considering like what's going on at left tackle
37:19and like, this is my defense.
37:22Like I would have, I would have kicked the ball in overtime.
37:25They won the toss.
37:26I would have kicked the ball.
37:27So that was put it in Seattle's hands and said, Hey, look, if you
37:30score a field goal, good for you.
37:32We're getting the football.
37:33We have a chance to either tie or win this with a touchdown.
37:35Yeah.
37:36And, and if Seattle goes down and scores a touchdown against my
37:39defense, I deserve to lose.
37:41Um, but on fourth, on the fourth and one, I would not have gone for it.
37:45I, I would have kicked, I would have pinned them just like they did.
37:49And it's up to the defense, um, to stop them.
37:53I just thought, you know, the potential to turn it over, um, at the new England
37:5939 to the Seahawks and basically conceding the game, that's just not
38:05something I was, I was comfortable with doing, but I, I understand the
38:08point and, and the, your viewpoint on that.
38:11I don't disagree with it.
38:13Um, it's just not something I would have done.
38:15Yeah.
38:15As I said, there's a reasonable pushback.
38:17There's a reasonable debate.
38:18There are arguments for each side.
38:20I would have been aggressive.
38:21I don't think you're going to win a ton of football games this year.
38:24Uh, you know, put some, put some faith in your team and say, all right,
38:28we're going to go for it.
38:29We're a smash mouth team.
38:31We're going to try to make a point here and get this first down.
38:33But I also see the other side of the argument as well.
38:36The bigger picture to me is look, we know Mayo and this staff, lots of new going on.
38:42I think we have to embrace the learning curve.
38:44We have to understand there are going to be mistakes.
38:46It's whether or not, and Gerard said this on Sunday, you know, it's only a real
38:50loss if we don't learn from it.
38:52And that includes the coaching staff with that said, to be fair, he was going
38:57against a fellow rookie head coach.
38:59So.
39:00And a first time NFL offensive coordinator and Seattle's coaching
39:05staff outcoached the Patriots on Sunday.
39:07It's not to say that Mayo's going to fail and this is all a disaster on Sunday.
39:11They didn't have the best day.
39:12They got outcoached.
39:14Um, all right, before we better do three up three down, Greg.
39:19Yeah.
39:19So just, um, three things I liked in this game, the running backs, they were sensational.
39:23Antonio Gibson was tremendous.
39:26I think he only played like 16 snaps, but I mean, he was like, he was, he was marking
39:31up my chart, um, the 45 yard run, turning it from a five yard loss and a 45 yard run.
39:36Um, was spectacular.
39:38Um, I'm not going to put Hunter Henry in this here.
39:42I just, you know, it was a lot of his stuff was easy against zone.
39:45I wasn't that impressed.
39:46Keon white.
39:48Um, definitely something I liked in this game.
39:51Um, I thought it was really good.
39:53Um, you know, it needs to be a little bit more disciplined on the edge
39:57against some of these quarterbacks.
39:59And I think he'll learn from that.
40:01Um, and what else?
40:05Um, not much, really.
40:10Um, I had issues with a lot of things.
40:12I mean, I will say the defensive line, the, the, uh, I thought they did
40:16a really nice job against the run.
40:18The three things I did not like in this game.
40:21Number one, the offensive line, um, did some nice things in a running game.
40:27Um, but it wasn't consistent and they were not good enough, uh,
40:31in past protection, not even close.
40:34Um, the secondary, um, I didn't like their play overall.
40:42Um, I D I didn't think that they were, you know, all that good.
40:45You had, uh, the defensive pass interference penalty against Marco Wilson.
40:50Also the one against Jonathan Jones, which I did not disagree with on film.
40:56It looks like, and I know there wasn't a good replay.
40:58I saw a tug, um, of lock its arms.
41:02I mean, look, Marcus Jones could have gotten one on the play next or the play
41:09after that is somewhere in there.
41:11But, uh, I did think that was a legit call.
41:14I didn't have a huge problem with it.
41:17Um, you know, but, um, you still got to play defense there.
41:23And I, and I still think that the Patriots had an
41:25opportunity to get off the field.
41:27Um, I thought, I thought, uh, Seattle gave you a lot in terms of penalties
41:32and drops, um, as well.
41:34And what else, um, didn't I like in this game?
41:38Um, I think that's about it.
41:44I mean, I remandered Stevenson has to stop fun fumbling one of these times.
41:48They're not going to bounce right back to the Patriots.
41:52Uh, we're short on time.
41:53Greg has to go do the, uh, Felger and Maz show.
41:56So I will just say, I disagree with Greg's opinion on the Jonathan Jones,
42:01DPI shocking thought it was horseshit.
42:04And by the way, a lock, it told Jonathan Jones that it was
42:08horse bleep after the game.
42:09So the receiver himself didn't think it was defensive pass interference.
42:13Uh, I thought that was a trash call, especially in that moment.
42:16Anyway, that'll do it for today.
42:18We're back, uh, quickly, quick turnaround jets on Thursday night.
42:21Greg and I will preview that game in the next pod until then be well.