Jahlani Tavai joins the show! Is it difficult to prep on a short week? How will this defense stop the Jets' run game? Who will step up for Bentley?
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00:00Recapping a cocoa bomb from the start of the show this morning, you are hearing as the Bruins begin
00:08training camp that the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman have reached an agreement.
00:14Yes. Is that correct?
00:15Yes. I was whispered to last night that yesterday there was an agreement that was,
00:22they agreed to terms and that that was going to be coming out quite soon.
00:26Okay. Just a reminder on this show, we deliver cocoa bombs.
00:33Okay. And I feel like a good tagline would be tune in.
00:38We should do this at all times. Tune into the Greg Hill show for Cocoa's Bombs.
00:43All right.
00:44That was one time.
00:45Just one. Just one. It's singular. Is that what it is? Okay.
00:48It is. It is.
00:49At the time it was.
00:50Yes. All right. It is Patriots Friday of sorts on Wednesday because of the game
00:55tomorrow night. And joining us right now is Patriots linebacker Jelani Tavai,
01:01brought to you by Shaw's and Star Market, perfecting the art of fresh and by findmassmoney.gov
01:09right on time this morning. Hey, Jelani.
01:13How y'all doing?
01:14What's going on?
01:17Nothing much. Just getting ready for this Thursday night. So trying to pack up before we hit the road.
01:25Yeah. I mean, how difficult has it been when it comes to a short week or,
01:31you know, you used to this at this point when it comes to getting ready in a few days?
01:38Yeah. You just got to be professional about it. You got to adapt to the situation.
01:43Luckily, it's not too straining on the body since we're just trying to recover for the
01:50most part from Sunday.
01:52Jelani, one of the things that you guys did well against Seattle was you were able to take their
01:58run game away from them. You're going against, but they were able to make plays in the passing
02:03game. You're going against the Jets who can obviously run the football with Brees Hall
02:07and Aaron Rodgers. What's your biggest focus? I know this is a team that can do both, but is
02:13there something that you guys really need to focus on this week to come away with a W?
02:18The biggest thing is just getting Rodgers off track. You know, trying to put him in situations
02:23that we hope that he's not uncomfortable in. That's our biggest thing. And then, of course,
02:30again, stopping the run, making sure that we don't allow them to get a roll in and get it started
02:37on the run game. So those are two of the things that we're trying to accomplish.
02:43Jelani, how difficult is it for you guys, not only a short week, but also losing a run game?
02:48Jawan Bentley, how big of a loss is that? Losing a guy like Ben is a big thing. You know,
02:54one of our captains, our leaders on the team. But like we've been doing before,
03:00it's always the next guy up mentality. You know, we have great linebackers that are ready to,
03:06you know, take the opportunity and go with it, like Raekwon and Joe Diles. And also we got Ellis.
03:14So I'm excited to see what they, you know, what they can do. And I'm sure that they're
03:20just excited as well to showcase what they what they've been working so hard to, you know, to do.
03:27Jelani, this is a kind of a two part question. You lose Bentley. Was he the green dot guy?
03:33And then the second part of the question is you said get down Rogers off schedule.
03:38Do you think you need to bring pressure or is it something getting them off schedule with your
03:43front four? The first one, he was one of our green dot guys. Bentley was definitely one of them.
03:53And then the second one, I think it's just a mixture of everything, really.
03:58We got to apply pressure on him. And then we also got to just show him different looks, you know,
04:04get different disguises out there because, you know, he's been in the league for 20 years. So
04:08he's seen a lot of football. And so we got to be on top of everything. You know,
04:13whether it's a little detail, I'm sure that he's been watching plenty of film in the last
04:18three days on us to pick up on what our tendencies are. So we got to change things up a bit. And
04:26yeah, definitely get after him. Jelani, it seems like every time we talk
04:30with Gerard Mayo, it's all about vibes in this locker room and how he
04:35has all of you guys seeming to buy in, which is a bit different than seasons we've seen the last
04:41couple of years. But if you have the team releasing a guy like Rigor after a weird
04:46social media post and it seemed like he was unhappy with his position, does that affect
04:51the whole team when you have one person in a locker room that seems to be disgruntled,
04:55if we can use that word? And is that something that Gerard Mayo is really trying to squash?
05:01Um, why? I didn't know what happened, actually. I wasn't. I don't really. I didn't really pay
05:06attention to the social media stuff. So I wasn't aware of what the situation was.
05:12And of course, I just wish Rigor nothing but the best. But I would. I could see it that way. You
05:18know, you got to nip it in the bud before it creates a little pocket in our locker room.
05:24So I'm sure that's probably what Mayo was doing. But I don't know. You got that. You got to
05:29ask the main man for that. But luckily, in the locker room, there's nothing. There's no
05:34negativity towards anything. We're just we're just trying to get to the next next game. And
05:40and just our next game is in a short week. So yeah, I wasn't aware of that.
05:46On that same note, other side of the football, Pop Douglas, pretty vocal this week about,
05:52you know, lack of targets. Is that something that you guys
05:55lack of targets? Is that something that you guys hear in the locker room from those guys? And we
06:01look at it from the outside. But is that an issue when it comes to that wide receiver core?
06:07I don't know. That's not weird. But if you if you if you look at if you look at a dynamic in
06:14our locker room, I'm so far away from the receivers in the locker room because where
06:17my locker is, so I don't I don't hear the conversations that they're having.
06:21But I'm sure that they're just frustrated and they want to perform well, you know. So
06:25that's just like competitive nature. You know, they want to they want to succeed in
06:30and whatever they do. So, you know, the only way they can succeed is,
06:34you know, getting the ball man. So I'm sure that they're they're they're planning something this
06:39week. So, yeah, definitely something I'm not aware of because, yeah, I'm here.
06:50Johnny, you're good at this. Yeah, we get it.
06:52Gerard should integrate the locker room a little bit more
06:55rather than put all the linebackers in one spot. He should go like linebacker,
06:58wide receiver and all like, you know, I'm like I'm in the blend of it.
07:03I'm in the blend of the lineman and the linebacker. So I'm like in between.
07:09You'll answer this one. I think you've been in the league a long time when it comes to
07:15hostile environments. Where do you rank this one tomorrow night and what are your what are
07:21your top three most hostile away environments? Oh, I actually never been to a Thursday night
07:31or a primetime game in New York, so I don't know what the what their vibe or what the energy is
07:36going to be like. But I know I know that there's definitely a bad beat between the Patriots and
07:41the Jets for some reason, because I heard a lot with with with some of our coaches and in the
07:48past. But definitely. I don't know if you guys ever been to Philly or back in the day, Oakland,
07:58those are very hostile. Yeah, Philly's Philly's been to Philly. Don't forget Buffalo, Jelani.
08:06Yeah, they are. Yeah, you're right. But you know, they're they're a bit friendly. But they're
08:11definitely Yeah, I just like their energy. So I don't really see it as a hostile environment.
08:14I see it more of an energized crowd. My favorite Jets Patriots moment Jelani was the butt fumble.
08:21Where were you when that happened? Oh, Mark Sanchez. I was probably in middle school or
08:29just entering high school. I feel old. Speaking of feeling old. Is it weird to you? You play a
08:35guy like Aaron Rodgers. You probably what you watched him play growing up. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
08:43It was crazy when I was in that division when he was with Green Bay. So I was one of my like,
08:50welcome to the NFL moments when I got to play against him and and Brady my rookie year. So
08:58it's nice to see him in our division. It's gonna be some fun football to play against.
09:04Jelani, one of one of the things we talked about the green dot,
09:08the new guy, is there any chance that could be you? Who's the new guy? And if so, how difficult
09:15is it for the guy with the green dot just to kind of like, you know, have the coach in your rear,
09:20but still have to call the defense and understand what you need to do is that because I would think
09:26that you're one of the guys that's been on this defense, you know, pretty much longer,
09:30most tended tended guy, who is going to be the new green dot guy with Bentley being down?
09:36Um, we haven't been. They haven't told us yet. But I mean, if they allow me to do it, and
09:43I'm more than you know, excited to do it. I don't. I don't know. I think I think that you
09:50just build experience through through practicing and through the years, you know, if you've had
09:56the green dot. Yeah, it's weird because you're able to hear the call. And then you're also able
10:01to like, you know, you got to practice like reading lips sometimes with your teammates
10:05to see what they're saying or yelling at you about. But yeah, just don't think it's that
10:13difficult to do. Um, I don't quote me on that one. But definitely, too late. I wouldn't say
10:21it's something as crazy as people think it is, you know, I think I think it's just, it's, uh,
10:26it's definitely something that you just got to get used to.
10:31Jelani, one thing that we've unfortunately been accustomed to seeing now is to on the field after
10:38a brutal concussion. What would you do if you were to at this point of your career after three
10:45known concussions and the after effects that we know they cause?
10:49Um, I think my first thing was just to have a sit down and talk with my like all my loved ones
10:54and my family to see, you know, I think I think it's so hard as a football player to just
10:59automatically say, I'm good. You know, I think a lot of us have been so stuck on this game.
11:05It's just, it's so hard for us to make the decisions ourselves that you know, we need
11:11to make the decisions ourselves that you know, we need outside like our voices of our loved ones
11:18that we trust and care for to, you know, have that talk with them and, you know, see what they
11:22say. And, and if it does come up that, you know, they say, you know, the best thing for me to do
11:28is to walk away then, you know, that I probably lean towards that. But if they didn't, then,
11:37you know, I'd stay in. But it's such a hard question because
11:44it's just the game that we've been playing our whole life. And it's so hard to just walk away
11:48from it. You know, a lot of guys have a big time, like a big struggle trying to walk away from
11:53football. And when they do, finally, they still struggle. So I don't know. It's a tough one.
11:59Yeah, I'm still struggling. I'm, I'm, I'm wanting one more play, but I think Jelani,
12:04you're right to the point where you work your ass off to get there. And when you finally get
12:10an opportunity to get there and be there and stay there, which is very difficult to do.
12:15It's very hard to walk away because Jelani, you probably know how many guys, I mean,
12:20even your family members that have tried to get into the NFL and can't and are still trying to
12:27get in. It's just, you know, there's thousands of thousands of guys that every day would kill
12:33to beat him. Oh, 100%. And you said it, you said it perfectly because I know, I know, like,
12:42I know plenty of people in my family would kill to be in my situation. And, and I do,
12:47I do take that into consideration a lot, you know, so, um, yeah, I, it's a tough one,
12:55but like I said, I'm, I'm really good, uh, like friends with it too. And I, I just hope the best
13:00for him on any decision that he makes because I know for sure I couldn't make that decision on my
13:05own. So I pray that, you know, he's okay. And when, when, uh, when he decides, uh, after being
13:14on IR, then, you know, I know that it would be the right decision. Do you, so in other words,
13:20Jelani, not to put words in your mouth, but it really should be taken out of the player's hands
13:25in some respect, right? Because what you're saying is the people around you are viewing
13:29beyond just football. Um, I would say a little bit, a little bit of it, but I think, I think
13:36again, it's on him to have that conversation with like, you know, um, with the professionals
13:42and with his, and with his like loved ones, you know, it's his family. That's, uh, that are going
13:49to be the ones that want to see him walk through the door every day. So, um, yeah, it's all,
13:55it's all brother to it. Jelani, we will let you get to work on a short week. Good
14:00luck tomorrow night. We'll talk to you again next week. I appreciate y'all have a wonderful day.