Are the Patriots this bad? | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast
On this episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast, Greg Bedard and Nick Cattles discuss how strong the start to Jayden Daniels' career has been, how good the Bills look, and how bad Mac Jones looks.
Drake Maye made his NFL debut against the Jets on Thursday, and Greg gives his take on how Maye looked, and whether or not he thinks Maye should be playing at all just yet. All that, and much more!
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Drake Maye made his NFL debut against the Jets on Thursday, and Greg gives his take on how Maye looked, and whether or not he thinks Maye should be playing at all just yet. All that, and much more!
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SportsTranscript
00:00This is the Gregg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
00:10We've got to do this.
00:11It's part of the job.
00:12We've got to take a look at that Jets game and what the hell happened last Thursday night.
00:16But before we get into all of that, I remind you of a couple of things, as I always do
00:19download the prize picks app today, use code CLNS and get 50 bucks instantly.
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00:30When you play $5, you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus.
00:34It's guaranteed prize picks run your game.
00:37Also take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time.
00:40Download the game time app, create an account.
00:42Use code CLNS for 20 bucks off your first purchase.
00:45Download game time today.
00:47What time is it?
00:48Game time.
00:49All right, let's get to some headlines.
00:51First and foremost, Greg, let's start outside of the Patriots.
00:54Last night, Jaden Daniels looked pretty, pretty, pretty good against Cincinnati.
00:59Got a lot of people talking this morning, of course.
01:02But before we get into the Drake May stuff and comparing him to Daniels, just your quick
01:06thoughts on how Daniels looked last night against Cincy.
01:10I thought he was sensational.
01:13Now, you know, three games into the season now is the Bengals defense, all that they
01:22were cracked up to be before the season, including by me.
01:25I mean, Lou Anarumo has been somebody that I've always been impressed with.
01:31I don't think the Bengals are overly good on defense, but still what Jaden Daniels did
01:38last night as a rookie in his third NFL game was just, I mean, he basically played perfect.
01:45I mean, you know, from what do you have, like one incompletion or something like that, one
01:49or two incompletions.
01:50And, you know, he did some stuff on the ground, he slid, that last throw for the touchdown
01:57was just ridiculous.
01:58He got smacked in the face, his receiver wasn't even open when he threw it, he just threw
02:05it into a bucket and it was an absolutely perfect pass with a ridiculous high degree
02:12of difficulty all the way around.
02:15And you know, for the coach, for Cliff Kingsbury to have Jaden Daniels, have the confidence
02:22in Jaden Daniels to make that call was just astounding.
02:29And you know, I couldn't be more impressed with Jaden Daniels in that game.
02:33I mean, this is really the first time I've gotten to see him this season and he just
02:41looked like completely in control of everything.
02:44Like he had, he had been there before, like it wasn't foreign to him.
02:48They're doing a lot of stuff at the line, he's making calls, he's, you know, telling
02:53the team to go for it in certain situations, like he's telling people where to go.
03:00You know, those were some of the questions about Jaden Daniels coming out in the draft,
03:05like whether he was going to be capable of being like a big vocal leader, that type.
03:12And I think, look, it's only three games in and a lot of things are going to happen, but
03:19the early results are unreal for Jaden Daniels on par with like CJ Stroud last year.
03:26That touchdown throw to McLaurin was just outrageously good for all the things that
03:31you mentioned.
03:32It was just absolutely outstanding throw.
03:35Is it fair to compare Drake May and Jaden Daniels, Greg?
03:39No, not at all.
03:41And I'm afraid people are going to do it.
03:42I haven't listened to sports talk radio yet today, but I'm worried that Patriots fans
03:49are going to see that and say, well, Drake may can do that for us.
03:53You know why?
03:54Why don't we put Drake May out there?
03:55I mean, people have to keep things in perspective and they need to keep it in their pants.
04:02Jaden Daniels and Drake May, when they came out in the draft, were two completely different
04:07prospects, similar in a lot of ways.
04:10I mean, they both have good arms, both are good athletes and can run.
04:16But what people need to keep in mind is that Jaden Daniels played like six years of college
04:22football.
04:23He's going to be 24 very soon.
04:27What we knew about these guys in the draft and I was one, the way they were drafted is
04:32the way I had them ranked.
04:33And I'm not making any grand sweeping judgments on what's his name?
04:41The first pick, just like Williams, Caleb Williams after three games.
04:50And just like I'm not going to crown Jaden Daniels the greatest thing since sliced bread
04:53because we've seen this before and we've seen this before in Washington with RG3 who came
04:59out and lit the world on fire.
05:02There'll be more film on him and teams will adjust, especially going year one into year
05:07two.
05:10But I had the quarterbacks ranked how they were drafted.
05:12I liked Jaden Daniels more than Drake May just because I thought he was more of a known
05:25quantity because he had played so much, he had played in the SEC, he had played really
05:32well in the SEC.
05:34Drake May was always the higher ceiling guy, even though Jaden Daniels last night looked
05:42like his ceiling was pretty damn high, but you thought Jaden Daniels had a higher floor.
05:47I didn't think he quite had the ceiling.
05:49Drake May's ceiling is probably a little bit lesser than Josh Allen.
05:54And given where the Patriots play in New England, a bigger, stronger quarterback is the way
06:02to go as long as you get them trained up.
06:05I mean, so I just don't, I don't know how you feel about it, Nick, but I just don't
06:09think that they are remotely close.
06:13You can't say just because Jaden Daniels is doing this, Drake May's going to do this.
06:16Jaden Daniels is more experienced, he's older, Drake May doesn't have very much experience,
06:22is a lot younger, is a lot more unrefined.
06:25Jaden Daniels' throwing mechanics are pretty much perfect in his footwork coming out in
06:30the draft.
06:32What people need to keep in mind about Drake May, and I think listening to some people,
06:38including some people on midday shows around here, they just have this vision of Drake
06:43May and what he's going to do where that doesn't, and that might be true at some point, and
06:48it could be true at some point this season, but the reality of what Drake May is, is not
06:54what you think.
06:55Like, you're thinking he's going to be Josh Allen or Justin Herbert, like right now, and
07:01that's just not the case.
07:02I mean, just for example, what you need to keep in mind, Jaden Daniels last year in the
07:08SEC, which I think we'll both agree is the best football conference in the country, in
07:14just SEC-only games, he completed 72.4% of his passes for 25 touchdowns, 3 interceptions,
07:22had a 202 rating, of course the NCAA does it a little bit differently.
07:27Contrast that, Drake May, just in ACC play, and so we're not using non-conference games
07:37and things like that, nobody's going to accuse the ACC of being a remotely good football
07:44conference, certainly last season.
07:47Drake May was 7th in that conference in completion percentage, just in ACC games, at 59.7.
07:55You know who led the conference in completion percentage?
07:58It was Jack Plummer, that guy who started the Carolina Panthers pre-season game.
08:05Drake May was 4th in passer rating at 152, he had 16 touchdowns, 5 interceptions.
08:11Now, there was a lot going on in North Carolina, we understand that, but I think that snippet
08:17just shows you, Jaden Daniels is pretty much a finished product at this point.
08:22He'll get bigger and stronger and he'll get better at reading the game, but as far as
08:26mechanics and playing the position of quarterback, he's pretty much a finished product, where
08:32Drake May is just, he's a baby.
08:38He's a test tube baby, you're building him up to create him into a monster, and so I'm
08:43just afraid people are now, after seeing Jaden Daniels, are going to be like, well, Drake
08:47May can do that.
08:48No, Drake May cannot do that, in my opinion, at this point, and I think his stint against
08:54the Jets kind of showed that.
08:57Different quarterbacks, different skill sets, different circumstances, different experience
09:02levels, different, different, different, different, different.
09:05Not sure why people would take two different people and try to make them as the same, but
09:10it's something that happens all the time in sports talk.
09:13I think it's just lazy, honestly.
09:15It's lazy.
09:16Oh, that guy played great last night, he's a rookie, oh, bing, bang, boom, put Drake
09:20May in, he's going to rip it up, and I'm somebody that wanted Drake May to be drafted.
09:25Number three, it's fine, I was more than fine, I was happy with the pick by the Patriots,
09:32and it's just, it's a longer conversation, I don't want to get on my soapbox, it's just
09:37the idea, heading into the draft, we all knew who Drake May was, we all talked about Drake
09:42May, pretty much almost every single national pundit that looks at the draft and breaks
09:48these guys down said it's going to take some time with Drake May, Jaden Daniels was the
09:54most pro-ready quarterback to go along with maybe Bo Nix, we all knew this, we all knew
10:00this.
10:01I don't know why, five months later, we act as if none of those conversations happened,
10:06oh, because we have a show to do today, I understand, but it doesn't mean we have to
10:10forget what we talked about in the past, or have an idea of what might be looking like
10:16something that's different in the future, or the same in the future, it boggles my mind,
10:22it really, really does, and this was so predictable, it was predictable the Patriots would get
10:27off to a not great start, it was predictable Drake May wouldn't be out there, it was predictable
10:31that at least one if not a couple of the rookie quarterbacks might get off to good starts,
10:36and the comparisons would immediately happen, this is what people do.
10:40You mentioned the New York Jets stint, what'd you see, Greg, Drake May against the Jets
10:44on Thursday night?
10:46So I thought it was uneven, I thought his throw to pop over the middle was terrific,
10:55slid in the pocket a little bit, feathered it over the linebacker in front of the safeties,
10:59that's great, and you could make the argument that Jacoby Brissette is not making that type
11:05of throw often enough, now whether he has enough time to do that is part of the argument,
11:13but that was impressive, and you could certainly say, you could make the argument if you're
11:20pro-Drake May and wanna play Drake May today, you could say, well, he was starting to settle
11:26down, and that could be the case, I'm not going to disregard that, but there was too
11:35much in that stint that I didn't like, and again, I don't wanna make sweeping judgments
11:44off of his first playing time, I will say, I'm glad Gerard Mayo put him into the game,
11:48this is what they need to do with him, they need to do what they're doing, developing
11:54him on the field when they can, and hopefully there's not a whole lot of circumstances
11:59where he needs to get in for the Patriots, it means they're a lot more competitive than
12:03they were the other night, they need to get him out there so that he can take what he's
12:08learning on the practice field, and in the room, onto the field, and see if he can continue
12:15that.
12:16Now, for example, his first play, he goes back, he recognizes the defense as a man-in-a-man,
12:24and by the way, the Jets didn't let up on the throttle when Drake May came in, they
12:28blitzed him three times on his, I think he had like eight dropbacks in the game, and
12:34he saw they were a man-in-a-man, he saw parting of the ways in the line, he didn't even look
12:39down the field, he just saw an opening and he started to take off, you know, this isn't
12:45third and fourth stringers in the preseason anymore, you know, these are real NFL players,
12:50so the hole closes quickly, he gets the snot kicked out of him, you know, he had another
12:58rep, now everybody's talking about how he gained 11 yards on fourth and eight, and they're
13:02talking about, oh, well, look at that.
13:06Even on that play, which I did give him a plus for getting the first down, now, I also
13:10gave him a minus because the blitz is coming from the right, Hunter Henry's right there,
13:16Hunter Henry's open, and I want Drake May to throw the ball instead of, he's looking
13:23to run too quickly, some of his footwork was sloppy, he was getting a little clickety-clack,
13:30I mean, I think even Alex Van Pelt said something about that, you know, he was, I did like his
13:37demeanor, like he didn't, he wasn't rushed, I think he almost, like, tried to slow down
13:43a little bit too much, like, his motion was very deliberate and, you know, and kind of
13:48slow, you know, so, you know, there were other things, like he threw wide of Hooper when
13:56Booty on the other side of the field is open, but, you know, look, what you saw to Drake
14:03May the other day, picking up 11 yards with his feet, hitting Pop Douglas, he's going
14:08to make those plays because he's a big, strong athlete and you're going to get those pops.
14:16The thing is, is like, how many other plays are not going to be good, what kind of trouble
14:20is he going to get in, and then the whole argument about playing him, you know, is about
14:26more, is he ready or is the team ready for him than anything else?
14:33I hated the idea of playing him the other night, so I disagree with you on that, with
14:37the offensive line situation already a mess, and then you had lost Michael Jordan during
14:41that game, you lost Caden Wallace during that game, to throw him behind a number of practice
14:46squad guys I thought was borderline irresponsible by Gerard Mayo at that point.
14:51Run the football with Jacoby Brissett, get out of New York, you'll find other spots to
14:55play him where it might not be an utter disaster, especially against that defense on the road.
15:00I thought it had all the fixings of him being a mess and, you know, the footwork stuff,
15:05AVP brought it up.
15:06The other thing I would say about playing him the other night is, if you're going to
15:09play him, then go for it.
15:11If you have a chance to score a touchdown, then try to score a touchdown.
15:13And so what the hell was the point?
15:16He took a rock bottom, somebody tweeted that out the other night, I don't know if anybody's
15:21a wrestling fan out there, but he took a rock bottom from a Jets defender for no good reason.
15:27Like what are we doing?
15:28Jacoby Brissett's taken 30 hits through three games, like the last thing you need is Drake
15:33May out there in garbage time behind a patched, you know, patchwork offensive line.
15:38He gets drilled and then you lose Drake May.
15:41And now you've got a banged up Jacoby Brissett with Joe Milton backing him up.
15:44Like I just, I thought it was, it just, I disagreed with the decision.
15:48I know some people agreed with it.
15:50You did Greg.
15:51I disagreed with it.
15:52All right, quickly, um, the bills, I stepped, I expected a step back somewhat like nine
15:58ish wins, uh, as good as they've looked.
16:03I mean, man, they were something the other night.
16:07I don't know if that's how bad the Jaguars was.
16:09You know, I'll just say like, I, I've been impressed with, I thought they were going
16:13to fall back a lot on defense, especially, uh, after, uh, Milano went out for the year
16:19and middle linebacker.
16:20But I mean, it just goes to show you that, you know, Sean McDermott is like, he is one
16:25hell of a defensive coach and he has his system and, you know, it might not be great
16:29against the top end guys and maybe in the post season, but you know, it's, uh, but games
16:36one through 17, like he's going to have those guys coached up and they're going to execute
16:41at a high level.
16:42To me, the thing that stood out was, I mean, not only how good Josh Allen just seems to
16:48get every single year.
16:50I mean, it's just astounding where he's come from.
16:53When he was a rookie and about the middle of his second year to where he is now, and
16:58he just seems to want more and more and he gets better and better.
17:02You know, the scheme that Joe Brady, the offensive coordinator is off operating, um, is really
17:09adding a dimension to that Bill's offense, you know, where they don't have the greatest
17:14weapons in the world, but you know, a lot of stuff that they're doing with James Cook
17:18out of the backfield and, um, you know, the, the motion stuff that we're not seeing with
17:24the Patriots that I think is part of the issue with this offense right now, um, they are
17:29humming right now.
17:31And so, you know, my hat's off to them and like right now, I think, I think they are
17:36definitely the favorites in the AFC East right now.
17:39Uh, quickly, Mack Jones thoughts, uh, rough.
17:45Um, I, I, I, I, I got excited for him to get in there.
17:50I don't know exactly what they were doing.
17:54I mean, look, the, the, the first fumble, I mean, he barely got the ball and then, you
17:59know, he didn't secure the ball.
18:00It got knocked away, but then they're throwing a bunch of like horizontal passes.
18:05Like that's not max bag.
18:08Like it's, you know, he almost throws a pick six.
18:12Now let's also point out, he should have thrown a touchdown pass, except the dude
18:17dropped it in the end zone, but, um, he did not look comfortable.
18:22You know, what we saw out of him in the preseason, it was a complete one 80 from
18:26that.
18:27He looked completely, he looked like Mac last year.
18:29He looked completely out of sorts, didn't know what was going on.
18:33Didn't have a whole lot of confidence and, uh, you know, things are not good down in
18:37Jacksonville.
18:39Watching those play calls, it just screamed safe to me.
18:43Like we, we can't allow this guy to try to hurt us.
18:45So we're going to throw a bunch of horizontal passes and try to get first
18:48towns and survive that way.
18:50All right.
18:51We've got to get into the Patriots offense versus the jets.
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21:04All right.
21:04Patriots offense versus the jets on Thursday night.
21:07You had a good write-up on Alex van Pelt and one of your recent stories, Greg,
21:12how big of a problem is the offensive coordinator right now?
21:17It's big.
21:18And now I think there are, there are a variety of issues that play into this
21:23Nick, but we, you know, when I look at it and I compared it to the saints,
21:27which of course they went out and scored like 10 points against the Eagles.
21:31I was thinking about that.
21:32I was, as I was reading through, I was like, yeah, I will say I haven't, I, I
21:37started to dig into their film cause I wanted to see what the problem was, but
21:41all I got through was their first drive and their first drive was really good.
21:44Um, but you know, the difference between, and let's just talk about the saints in
21:48the first two weeks where they had the best offense in the NFL by far, they
21:52weren't even throwing that much.
21:54Um, they basically, they, they run a similar scheme scheme, Clint Kubiak.
21:59His dad was Gary Kubiak.
22:01It, you know, they're more of the, uh, old school Shanahan Kubiak offense,
22:07but they're all West coast.
22:08They're all white.
22:09They're all, uh, they're all formulated from the wide zone running scheme
22:15and everything runs off of that.
22:17And what happens is you watch the Patriots come out and I know
22:25Jacoby checked at the line.
22:27And so he probably checked into the pass instead of the run as
22:32an offensive coordinator.
22:33You can't allow that.
22:34You have to be like, all right, this is what we're doing.
22:37And this is how we're going to set things up.
22:40And what do they do?
22:41They run that, you know, play action boot and the jets and will McDonough
22:46doesn't will McDonald doesn't honor the boot doesn't hold the backside.
22:53Why?
22:53Because the Patriots haven't run once in this game.
22:55And they also haven't shown on film that they can run the wide zone at all.
23:00And that's the fundamental problem with this offense.
23:03Nick is Alex van Pelt is a whole system is, is built off of the wide zone runs.
23:13And number one, they don't have the personnel on the offensive line to run it.
23:19Number two, they have a running back who doesn't want to run the wide zone who
23:23wants to run the gap duo inside power.
23:27They want to do that.
23:28Okay.
23:30That's fine.
23:30If you have an offensive coordinator that has a bunch of clubs in his back, say
23:34like a, you know, Josh McDaniels, like they would say, okay, well, we can't run
23:39the wide zone, so this is what we're going to do.
23:42And we're going to run power.
23:43We're going to run duo.
23:44We're going to have all our play action, like the traditional
23:47Patriots play action offense.
23:50That's what we're going to do.
23:52Van Pelt doesn't have that.
23:54So what happens is van Pelt's trying to run the wide zone.
23:58They can't do it.
23:59So no, nobody honors it.
24:01The Patriots are a gap duo run team right now.
24:05And van Pelt has no play action passes off of that.
24:08So it's all messed up.
24:10So every team doesn't honor, you know, they don't hold on the backside being
24:15like, oh, I have to stay here for the backside cut in the wide zone scheme.
24:19They're just, they're like, whatever, we're just going because
24:23the Patriots can't run out here.
24:25And so it's all a mess at this point.
24:28And so to compare that to the saints, you watch the saints film and.
24:34You know, they are pressing the edge, pressing the edge, whether it's a,
24:39whether it's a, uh, a stretch run, whether it's a bubble to the outside,
24:45everything they're, they're going wide, wide, they're getting the defensive
24:48line to move, they're tiring these guys out.
24:51And then guess what happens?
24:53They do the play action.
24:55Now these guys are holding because they're like, we're not sure if we're
24:58going to have to go side to side or what the saints, a lot of their big
25:02plays in the game that I analyzed.
25:04I forget who it was against.
25:06A lot of their big plays were only two man routes.
25:08It was only two wide receivers.
25:10It was max protection, eight, nine guys blocking it up.
25:13Cause quite frankly, their offensive line stinks too.
25:17You know, they have Trevor Penning at right tackle got benched last year.
25:20They got a left tackle.
25:22I've never really even heard of, uh, they have a guard who's not any good.
25:26You know, Clint Kubiak knows I had to protect my offensive line.
25:30And so guess what Derek Carr goes play action because the, the
25:35defensive line has to hold.
25:37Now his receivers get out there.
25:39No, one's even around him.
25:40They run an over and an under the unders open twice.
25:44He hits the under guess what now that now they run the same concept and now the
25:49safety bites on the under, and then they throw it over the top for like a 70 yard
25:53touchdown, like that's the difference between an offensive coordinator, knowing
25:58what he wants to do, formulating his game plan, and then an offensive coordinator.
26:04And Alex van Pelt, who is just calling plays and not setting anything up.
26:10Yeah.
26:10I mean, obviously that last point's a big issue.
26:12I also think you kind of mentioned other offensive coordinators and
26:16play callers being able to, to pivot.
26:19And van Pelt has not been able so far to pivot, at least not enough.
26:24Uh, you know, you look at Kyle Shanahan, you look at Sean McVay.
26:26Those are two guys that come from the West coast system.
26:29They have shifted their run games at times, especially McVay after the
26:32Patriots made them look silly in the super bowl, McVay kind of went more
26:36towards downhill and duo at times.
26:38So that versatility van Pelt, he has shown it in spots, but he hasn't
26:44consistently shown it as far as remandering, whether or not he likes
26:48running in this offense, he's been, he's been contradictory on this, you know,
26:52in camp, he said, oh, I ran this at Oklahoma.
26:55I feel like this is the perfect offense for me.
26:58And, you know, then during game one, he went to AVP and said,
27:01we need to run more duo.
27:03Now, is that because remandering is uncomfortable running wide zone, or was
27:06it because what he saw on the field, it wasn't working, uh, if you go off of
27:11what he said in camp, I would say the latter instead of the former, but, but
27:15it is kind of messy right now, which begs the question, Greg, can AVP figure this
27:19out?
27:20And if, if so, how long might it take for him to figure it out?
27:25Uh, I think, I think, um, I think he can, can get it figured out.
27:32He just has to have the strength of his conviction.
27:34He has to be like, all right, well, first of all, no more, uh, play action, unblocked
27:40ends, like, no, like you watch the saints, the saints at times would, you know, pull
27:45the tight end like they did with Hunter Henry on those plays.
27:48And they'd have that guy block.
27:49Like he, he has to be much more sound in his, uh, his protections and he can't just
27:55rely on fate that, you know, oh, that ends going to stay home.
27:59Well, you know, it's going to, this week is going to be Nick Bosa if he's healthy
28:04and he's going to decapitate Jacoby Berset if they do that.
28:07So, you know, basically what they, it's not going to be sexy.
28:11It's going to be boring as hell, but what they have to do is they just have to say,
28:16well, he has to pick a lane.
28:17He has to pick, and first of all, he has to be, he has to pick a lane.
28:20How are we going to run the ball?
28:22Okay.
28:22Is it going to be the wide zone or is it going to be duo and gap?
28:26That's the first question he needs to answer.
28:29Okay.
28:29Then everything else comes off of that.
28:31But considering I don't think he has anything else in his bag as far as regular
28:36play action, or it's very limited, then I'm saying we are running wide zone, wide
28:42running wide zone, wide zone passing concepts because in the West coast
28:47offense, and I think I've heard you say this before, Nick, you know, and this
28:52even goes from when I covered Mike McCarthy in green Bay, those guys believe
28:55that a lot of the short passing is an extension of the running game.
28:59So whether it's, you know, handing off that stretch that goes right towards the
29:03right tackle or whatever on one play, then you come back with some sort of, you
29:08know, bubble or something to pop, just getting the defense, they're going to
29:12have to move side to side.
29:13They got to press the edges and they have to get the defense going side to side
29:17because that's how things open up.
29:20And so if that's the case, they just need to run it and run those plays over and
29:26over and over again until they get the defensive line tired out, or at least
29:31them thinking in the back of their mind, all right, well, I need to be assignment
29:34sure I need to stay in my lane because the running back or whoever could cut it
29:38back and then you do the really good play action and you got to make it quicker.
29:42And then you can expand from there, but, um, he's got to pick a lane
29:46in terms of the running game.
29:47He can't keep mishmashing it.
29:49You know, one thing I will say, if you know, Nick, probably the best thing that
29:53they do, and we've seen the Cardinals do some of this, Dan Orlovsky had a
29:57great video this weekend about it.
30:00The Cardinals are a great 13 personnel team.
30:03Like they've had a lot of success with that, which we've seen the Patriots
30:06with the extra offensive linemen.
30:09Like, you know, if I were them in the interim, I would start there with that
30:14and even, you know, branch out from there.
30:16But basically Van Pelt's got to pick a lane and stick with it and just keep doing
30:23it over and over and over again, uh, before he gets one or two quarterbacks killed.
30:29All right.
30:29We got to get to the defense, but first Greg's got to tell you about game time.
30:33It's that time of year.
30:34It's football season.
30:35It's cooler out with me.
30:38Football means I got to be there.
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31:10Get a panoramic view from your seat in the app before you buy.
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31:55What time is it game time?
31:57All right, let's get to the defense now.
31:59So the major issue that you've written about and talked about
32:03is pass rush discipline.
32:05Number one, uh, explain to the fine people what that means.
32:11And number two, why do you think it's happening?
32:15So when I, when I talk about pass rush discipline and we know the
32:18Patriots do different things, they bring blitzers, they, you know,
32:22they do stunts upfront, but you know, even if it's just a four man rush.
32:28Everybody is responsible for some gap when they're rushing the quarterback.
32:32And, you know, we used to hear bill Belichick go on and on about this,
32:36about like, you know, keep the guy in the pocket or a must, must, must rush.
32:42Um, but basically there has to be a discipline and you have four guys,
32:46two guys have the edge.
32:48They don't go by the quarterback.
32:49They don't go inside.
32:51You have two guys in the middle so that they can't just run up the middle.
32:55That that's pass rush discipline.
32:58And I guess they really didn't need it the first week against Burrow.
33:01I mean, I know they executed at a high level Burrow.
33:05I mean, they had a bunch of sacks on Burrow in the first week.
33:09Um, so I think they did a good job of it, but in the last two weeks,
33:13it's completely fallen apart.
33:14I mean, Gino Smith, the plays that he made outside the pocket, uh,
33:19throwing the ball, running the ball, Aaron Rogers killed him this week.
33:23So just in the past two weeks, Nick, the Patriots have allowed a quarterback
33:29passing outside of the pocket 12 for 12, 140 yards, two first downs.
33:36It's the, it's the worst in the league, you know, and also running the ball.
33:41Rogers ran three times for 18 yards and picked up two first downs.
33:46Gino Smith rushed five times for eight yards.
33:48I think some of it was short yardage, but he also picked up three
33:52picked up three first downs.
33:54So, so what's happening is, and you see, it's, it's getting worse on film.
34:01Um, basically what's happening is they are somebody's screwing up, whether
34:07it's Josh Uche or Daniel Echewale or Anthony Jennings, or even Keon white
34:12at times, like people are not disciplined on where they're going to go.
34:16It's just like a free for all.
34:18Yeah.
34:18And Rogers who didn't want to move the first two games, all of a
34:23sudden looks like his old self.
34:25And, you know, and look, some of it might've been, some of it might've
34:30been the Patriots looked on film.
34:31They're like, Rogers doesn't want to go anywhere, which is
34:33what I said going into the game.
34:35I was like, he doesn't move like he used to.
34:36He doesn't want to move.
34:37Well, I guess I was wrong about that.
34:39But Gerard Mayo said like the last thing that he told the team going
34:43into this game was don't let the quarterback outside the pocket.
34:46And guess what?
34:47It killed them and extended drives.
34:49They couldn't get off the field.
34:50And so it's been bad and I've never seen Patriots.
34:55You could all, you know, sometimes there would be a play here and there, but,
34:59you know, even with Josh Allen, they would do a pretty good job, especially, you
35:02know, in the last couple of years against him, but this is just, it looks completely
35:06different and, you know, I don't know who to blame, you know, I will say that even
35:13going back to training camp, I heard some rumblings about, um, Jerry Montgomery,
35:18the new defensive line coach who came from the Packers who, by the way,
35:22had a great reputation there.
35:24Um, and I also looked at the Packers stats about quarterbacks outside the pocket.
35:29It wasn't anything like this.
35:30It was actually a lot better than the Patriots stats.
35:32Um, but I heard some rumblings in training camp that some of the stuff that
35:36Montgomery was teaching them, probably in conjunction with Drew Wilkins, who
35:40was the new outside linebackers coach, who was a Wink Martindale disciple, was
35:45with him, uh, in Baltimore, was with him with the Giants, um, very blitz heavy,
35:52uh, very aggressive sort of pin your ears back, you know, back to Montgomery
35:58for a second, I heard rumblings in training camp, and this might be in
36:01conjunction with Wilkins that some of the veteran Patriot players took some issue
36:07with the way they were being taught in terms of rushing the passer.
36:11Um, because that's not the way they had done it for years around here.
36:15So, you know, I don't know if it's the case.
36:17It could be just the third game of the season and, you know, getting used to
36:21things, I don't want to overreact to anything in the first three weeks of the
36:25season, but it's something to watch for that perhaps these guys, Jerry Montgomery
36:30and Drew Wilkins, who come from vastly different schemes, you know, are they on
36:36the same page with DeMarcus Covington and Gerard Mayo, as far as how the
36:41players need to rush the passer?
36:44Do you still have confidence that this defense can be good enough to lean on if
36:51they need to lean on them eventually this year?
36:54I do not.
36:55I don't.
36:56Um, Nick, I think, I think what we're seeing with every passing week and
37:01especially the Bentley injury really, really, really hurts.
37:04Yeah.
37:05Um, now they might get talkie talkie back soon, which I would assume that
37:09will help because he was basically brought in to be the smaller, quicker
37:13linebacker start in some matchups type of thing.
37:16So we haven't seen the full compliment of guys, but you know, we, we talked in
37:21the previous weeks about like, even after the Bengals game, I was like, all
37:25right, it looks really good now, but what happens when people start getting
37:27hurt because the Patriots, I mean, we far more of course, um, but I think the
37:32more and more film there is on the Patriots, I think, you know, you're
37:36seeing the Jets went a little bit to the no huddle, the shotgun spread.
37:41Don't let the Patriots get into their exotic stuff.
37:44Um, you know, make them declare, make them play simpler.
37:47I think that, uh, the defensive tackle spot next to Devon Godchow
37:53is a huge issue in the running game.
37:56They got, they got shoved around, whether it was Ekowale or, you know, they have
38:00a couple of new guys out there, Jeremiah farms, uh, the Johnson guy, you know,
38:06sometimes Keon white has to be pushed inside.
38:09Those guys are getting shoved around.
38:11Jelani Tavai has to play a lot more snaps since Bentley isn't here
38:15and Taki Taki is not on the roster.
38:17He's a liability in pass covers the middle of the field, whether it's
38:20running passing is now other teams are saying we're open for business.
38:25Cause Rogers, they, they ran the ball when they wanted to, they
38:29threw the ball down the middle.
38:30I think Rogers was 12 of 13 down the middle of the field.
38:34You know, the issues with it, whether it's Tavai or Rayquan
38:36McMillan or Kyle Duggar again, had another poor coverage in Tampa
38:41two down the middle of the field.
38:42That would lead to a big play.
38:44I mean, Jack Conklin looked like Travis Kelsey out there.
38:47I mean, I, I, there's, there's a lot of worries and I think it's only going to
38:53get worse, the more film there is on this team.
38:56Yeah.
38:57Maybe you should have, uh, made a phone call to Lawrence guy or try to address
39:01that position next to God child before you walked into the season with what you
39:04have and you know, the Duggar stuff, I just, he doesn't do well covering tight
39:12ends.
39:12I don't know why, uh, he's going to be consistently put in a position to, to
39:18cover guys, it's not as strong suit.
39:20And as you said, Conklin tore them apart.
39:22So I don't, I don't know.
39:25I have no, maybe Jalen Hawkins can get a shot at that.
39:28I thought he did that a decent amount in week one.
39:32I just, I don't get it.
39:33All right.
39:33Before we get the, uh, three down three up, I want to let you know, you can check
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39:52Uh, we have to start with down because it was a terrible game.
39:55You're three down, Greg.
39:58Uh, Caden Wallace, um, tough, tough to ask the kid to do that.
40:03He gave up, you know, five pressures in the game.
40:06Um, I had him for eight minus plays that led the team.
40:10Um, you know, it, it wasn't great.
40:14It's tough to go on the road and sort of make your debut as a rookie.
40:17So, um, that would, that was rough.
40:20I would say the edge rushers or just the past rushers of the
40:23Patriots were my second down.
40:25Um, you know, if they, if they kept Rogers might've been so good in that
40:30game that it might not have mattered, but you need to make Rogers, you need
40:35to squeeze him in the pocket and make them a little bit more uncomfortable.
40:39You know, once he gets out there and the place sort of breaks
40:41down, um, there there's no hope.
40:45And my third down David Andrews.
40:49Um, you know, I didn't think he was horrendous in this game.
40:54Um, but I had him behind Michael Jordan, Leighton Robinson and
41:00Michael when he was far as the starters, as far as my grades, this is now two
41:04weeks in a row where David Andrews has had rough games, um, which, you know,
41:10really worries me, but I'm not, let me correct that I'm not overly worried.
41:15I'm just surprised because normally he's nails and I don't know if it's
41:19what's going on around him or what, but he's been on the ground
41:22a lot the past couple of games.
41:24He was questionable with a hip.
41:26So you wonder if he's, if he's healthy, uh, before we get to the jets game and
41:32three up, if, if Greg can actually find one up, uh, first I'll tell you, you
41:36want to take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time, download the
41:39game time app, create an account, use code CLNS for 20 bucks off your first purchase.
41:43Uh, all right.
41:43So did you find any ups from Thursday night, Greg?
41:46I got two, two nights.
41:48Nice.
41:50Bryce Berenger, the punter thought he had a really good game.
41:53Um, 49 average 44 net three of his five punts were inside the 20.
42:00I think two were inside the 10.
42:02So good job, Bryce.
42:03Nice job.
42:04Um, and I will say DeMario Douglas, um, look, you know, I, I still think he's
42:11more of a, I, I really wish he was like the third option on this team.
42:15And I, hopefully Elliot Wolf is listening and, you know, he eventually
42:19will be, and that's sort of the plan.
42:21Uh, hopefully, you know, maybe Polk's a number to, uh, get a number one,
42:27something like that, but you know, I thought he looked good and, you
42:31know, did what he was supposed to.
42:32This is about the amount that he should be used.
42:35And I think we talked about it last pod, Nick, where I was like, I
42:38want him to carry an end around.
42:39I want him to get a bubble, like all in the first quarter.
42:42I think all that happened in like the first quarter and a half of the game.
42:45So that needs to happen every game.
42:48Uh, and if it doesn't, um, there's a problem, but that's it.
42:52Two ups.
42:54Finally got popped the football.
42:55Good thing.
42:56And I've got my eye on Cincinnati at a zero and three.
42:59My Cincy to the Superbowl is looking like, uh, as good as the offensive
43:03line in the first few weeks here for the Patriots, but if Cincinnati
43:06continues to stink up the joint, I do wonder, will the Bengals take
43:11phone calls on T Higgins to try to get something for him before he walks?
43:15So, uh, something to keep an eye on for the Patriots.
43:18And I, I'm sure they are.
43:19All right.
43:19He's Greg.
43:20I'm Nick.
43:20Uh, we'll talk to you later in the week as we preview the, uh, 49ers
43:24game coming up on Sunday till then be well.