In a solo episode, Andrew breaks down how Jerod Mayo is failing the Patriots during their 1-6 start and what Mayo should do to turn the ship around. Later, he shares his Pats-Jags film notes and tales from traveling to London.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Okay, full disclosure, right off the top, recording here, midday Tuesday.
00:18It's going to be a cranky show.
00:20I think you're probably cranky on your end, watching, listening, whatever you're doing,
00:23because Patriots are 1-6.
00:25And look, I'm not here to root for the Patriots.
00:27I'm not here to root against the Patriots.
00:28I'm not just here to watch football right and report about it.
00:32And the job, if you do it well, is to hold the mirror to what you watch.
00:37What we are watching is a massive mess.
00:40And when we play, naturally, the blame game of whose fault is it?
00:43Oh, is it the players?
00:44Is it the coaches?
00:45Is it the front office?
00:46Is it ownership?
00:47When it's this bad, it's everybody.
00:50Everyone is eating at the blame buffet.
00:52Now, I am going to go in today, as you can tell by the headline of this episode, in on
00:57as I did after the game in a column that said, basically, look, the Patriots have much bigger
01:01problems right now than losing.
01:02It's coaching.
01:04It's culture.
01:05It's comments coming to me from players like Kendrick Bourne and Daniel Ekowale from London.
01:09Travel tales coming up at the end, by the way, to end this on a high note.
01:12And we'll get to Pat's, Jag's, film notes, offense, defense, special teams.
01:17And we need to talk.
01:19But before that, again, if you want to go and yell about ownership or the front office,
01:26by all means, this episode today, though, is about Gerard Mayo, because in my view,
01:32this is his mess.
01:33Okay?
01:34He's the head coach.
01:35He's the one presiding over this six-game losing streak, longest in the league.
01:39He's the one in charge of the run defense that he declared after week one would always
01:43be good and has since allowed 167 yards per game since week two.
01:49He's in charge of the running game offensively, that he told opponents, hey, you're going
01:53to have to stop us.
01:54Oh, and that same running game the last two weeks has been led by Drake May, but not on
01:59purpose.
02:00By scrambling, he had a team high 18 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars and then
02:0438 yards against the Texans.
02:06This is a team averaging more yards rushing when it is trying to pass than when it actually
02:11hands the ball off.
02:13Mayo is the one in charge of a team that has regressed.
02:17Because you know, Drake May just submitted the two best quarterback performances of the
02:20season and the Patriots washed both games by 18 points on average.
02:26They're taking more penalties.
02:28They're committing more mental mistakes and they're actively getting worse in a way.
02:32They just got bullied like this is, this is going to be a simpler film review this week
02:37because when you look at what happened on defense, there wasn't a whole lot to be learned.
02:42We can split the blame pie and well, I got more stats and all this stuff we normally
02:44do here.
02:45It used to be a Monday, but it's a Tuesday.
02:47I got that like back late from London last night, but none of it is good and all of it
02:54goes back to the head coach who also said the Patriots need to better support the quarterback
02:59and now hasn't in either start either with a running game or protection.
03:03Now we're not here just to call out the problems, but you get some more obvious, you get your
03:07ass kicked at the line of scrimmage.
03:09We have a few solutions and they are for Gerard Mayo because the biggest news aside from the
03:15comments I got from Kendrick Bourne and Daniel Ekowale, which we'll get to here in a little
03:18bit was him calling the team soft.
03:22A comment that he has since walked back because he said, Oh, we weren't, we're not a soft
03:26football team.
03:27We played soft.
03:30And if you're familiar with Mayo's work in the media right now, it's a, it's not uncommon
03:34for him to walk things back.
03:36So suggestion number one is to be more prepared with the media, Bill Belichick.
03:42He's going to come up a lot if you haven't, if you haven't been able to tell when we talk
03:46about Gerard Mayo and this Patriots start used to take 10 to 15 minutes before every
03:49single press conference, muted, same old consistent Bill Belichick, who folks would always say,
03:55Oh, this is why you say nothing to the media.
03:57No, you can say whatever you want to the media.
04:00I would say just be more consistent.
04:02What Gerard Mayo has not been, has not been consistent because he's not prepared.
04:06Okay.
04:07And I wrote this column in March.
04:09People familiar with my work will remember this.
04:11The headline was Gerard Mayo's growing pains coinciding with the Patriots.
04:14Yeah.
04:15That that's holding up.
04:16I would say here in October, the intro was about him spilling orange juice, which look,
04:20you want to make a little joke about Belichick and the memes at the owner's meeting, because
04:24that's where this column was written.
04:26And Gerard gets a little laugh at the start and 10 minutes later, spills it on his pants.
04:30Well, that was emblematic of stuff he had been doing already for weeks.
04:33And here was the quote in the early in the column quote, the affable Mayo charms his
04:37audience and delivers a memorable quote.
04:39It's an instant PR win because every word he utters in every movie makes is contrasted
04:43against Belichick's cold, muted style.
04:46Then time passes and Mayo sits in a minor mess of his own making.
04:49Well, end quote, as we've covered, this is a much bigger mess and it's not just about
04:53PR.
04:54And I don't really care and didn't then how much he says to the media, because of course
04:58he's going to lie.
04:59He's a football coach.
05:00This is what they do aside from coaching football.
05:02The issue is when you're messaging to the public, to people who on the fan base are
05:08actively rooting for you.
05:09And that even goes for some of the folks in media.
05:10I'm not going to lie.
05:11There are definitely some in those press conferences, hoping the Patriots win every single week.
05:16Okay.
05:17If you can't get that messaging straight at a time that you are only up there for 15
05:22minutes, how can I trust you as someone covering you or as a fan rooting for you that you can
05:28get your messaging straight to an audience of something upwards of 70 men who you were
05:35in charge with motivating and organizing and leading.
05:39And here was the end part of the column quote.
05:41The next time Mayo proclaims the pats will extend themselves or he lays out a grand vision
05:45who won't pause before believing him.
05:47The danger is not in deceiving or angering fans that, that, that the danger lies in how
05:51males messaging reaches his players, assistants and front office members, especially as a new
05:55head coach, how will they receive their new leader reversing course on burning cash or
06:00committing to a quarterback?
06:02If he's already walking back comments to the media during what he accurately described
06:05as a honeymoon phase, how formal expectations be inside the building.
06:09Can you build trust like that?
06:11No, the answer is no.
06:13And it's not just the burning cash.
06:14And it's not about the quarterback plan, which he waffled all throughout the summer and has
06:18since now talking about when they decided to turn to Drake may was the offensive line
06:22considered was it not.
06:23It's now about calling them soft, which is not great in the first place.
06:27Some coaches do it.
06:28I would advise against it.
06:29And then walking that back to say, Oh, that's not really what I meant.
06:32Well, say what you mean.
06:33Cause your words matter.
06:35And not just to me, a media member who will be here win or lose.
06:40Okay.
06:41It matters to the players in that locker room.
06:43Calling them soft is not a way to earn trust with you or to get them to play harder.
06:48And of course, Bill Belichick sprinkles a little salt in all these wounds now that he's
06:51a media member and that's his job to be critical, to do what I do is call it like he sees it,
06:56but we know Belichick didn't want to leave.
06:58Robert Kraft admitted last week in a PR mess of his own that he fired Belichick.
07:03He said that crafted.
07:05Okay.
07:06But Bill's right.
07:08They're not soft.
07:09Most of this roster was here a year ago and the Patriots are missing key players and Christian
07:12Barmore and Chipro Peppers and Juwan Bentley.
07:14And I do not trust Bill Belichick to be a reliable narrator on this given again, he's
07:18salty about how things went down and we'll revel in all the failures for Mayo, but Mayo
07:23is making this too easy.
07:25And it also undermines his credibility.
07:28Walking back comments again about burning cash.
07:30The quarterbacks now messaging to his team, not to mention the lineup changes he talked
07:36about last week, which leads us into our second one because well, let's stop for a second.
07:41When he talks about players being soft, let's get something straight.
07:45This is not just an insult at them.
07:47That is a boomerang of blame coming back at him because this is often the case with coaching.
07:52You were either coaching it actively or you were letting it happen.
07:56So if you had a soft team that didn't just happen Sunday, Jacksonville, when the Jaguars
08:01called 16 straight runs and ran the ball 17 straight times, including a Jordan Lawrence
08:05scramble, they showed up soft and you let them in that building.
08:09That's on you.
08:10Not on them.
08:11Uh, as far as being harder on the players.
08:13Okay.
08:14So Mayo says last week, there are going to be lineup changes.
08:16Well, let me tell you this after, uh, looking at the snap counts and reviewing the film,
08:20there really was just one and it was Rayquan McMillan and adult and that linebacking core.
08:25Okay.
08:26And I thought McMillan deserved to be done.
08:27So wrong.
08:28Um, but where was Jalen Polk?
08:30Cause he told mass live last week that administration where he's caught two passes and 10 targets
08:37that he has the best hands in the league.
08:38Oh, okay.
08:39Well, then he goes over three, including two passes that hit him in both hands and leaves
08:45the game and then posts on Instagram with a peace sign.
08:47What does it mean?
08:48I don't know.
08:50Gerard Mayo, who said Monday morning, he hadn't talked to Jalen Polk.
08:53Well, I don't know, Gerard, if that player did indeed leave with a head injury as the
08:58Patriots reported, maybe you want to check on him.
09:01Maybe you see what's going on.
09:03Maybe you take a second in the cross Atlantic flight back home to see what's up.
09:09Understanding that if he's in a difficult mental spot, which Mayo alluded to again,
09:12by the way, in the press conference, it doesn't seem to be, uh, having an effect positively
09:17on Jalen Polk.
09:19I would ask him.
09:20Maybe Mayo was like, again, if Polk had a concussion, you definitely would think some
09:23member of the staff would check on him and at least relay that to Mayo.
09:26Maybe not.
09:27But here's the thing.
09:28Polk is not the only one in that receiver room to have been, I would say, immature with
09:32their comments.
09:33And it's a young group.
09:34It's pop Douglas who walked him back.
09:36Okay.
09:37Sean booty.
09:38He said, Oh, we need to be more aggressive.
09:39As we talked about last week, a guy with as many game appearances as healthy scratches
09:42feels like he's someone who's deserves to have a say in what's going on.
09:46Um, but that's what happens.
09:48Young receivers want the ball.
09:49They're going to, they're going to speak their ways.
09:50But if I'm the head coach and not a media member who is rooting for honesty and transparency
09:55and tell us your thoughts, not in a way because it will be scandalous or anything like that.
09:59I just want to know what you think.
10:01Okay.
10:02But if I'm the head coach enough, what good are all these comments doing?
10:07Be firmer with them.
10:09Tell them that if you were going to speak, realize that you were speaking for the team.
10:14Okay.
10:15Not just yourself represent the whole team in a way that you would want to be represented.
10:20If someone else was speaking for you and defensively, what good is it to air out some dirty laundry?
10:25Again, we on the outside should all be rooting for honesty and to knowing what they're thinking,
10:28but these are suggestions for Mayo to be firmer with his players, Jalen Polk probably shouldn't
10:33see that much playing time based on his production, his comments, or either of them.
10:37The receivers need to reel it back here.
10:39If you're going to drop passes or only have one catch against man coverage, which they
10:43had against Jacksonville after the opening drive, mostly because pop Douglas went down,
10:47he was sick.
10:48But Kendrick Bourne from that same receiver room is also saying, Hey, maybe you guys shouldn't
10:53stay up as late at night.
10:56Maybe they should eat things.
10:57They're going to have us better prepared on game day.
11:00It's true.
11:01That's personal accountability.
11:02As he put it, it's personal decisions to make, but it starts at the top either.
11:06Again, you were coaching this or you were letting it happen.
11:10That comes up to Mayo defensively.
11:13They said, again, what good is it for them to air dirty laundry?
11:15Well, Devon Hatcho says three weeks ago, guys were playing selfish.
11:19We're like, Oh, listen to this.
11:20That's pretty good.
11:21I mean, it's bad that he felt the need to say that maybe it'll let it fire.
11:26No, 193 rushing yards versus Miami, 192 rushing yards allowed the next week and now 171 versus
11:33Jacksonville.
11:34So no guys being called out is not having any effect.
11:37And I might have a reason why from Daniel Kowali quote, I feel like a lot of guys think
11:41too highly of themselves and have to check their egos and come in and just play as a
11:45team.
11:46That's what he told me.
11:47I tend to believe him, but they probably wouldn't think that highly of themselves.
11:52Had they been told and informed in a way that we know Belichick probably went too far sometimes
11:56of those low lights.
11:59I don't know if the stats aren't getting to them.
12:01If the film's not getting to them, the head coach either needs to change his message.
12:05Okay.
12:06Or the way he's delivering it.
12:08Be harder on the players.
12:09Number three, be harder on yourself.
12:11Make the coaches stay later.
12:14Players stay longer.
12:15Now, granted, I do think there's a point of diminishing returns of these football coaches
12:18studying pouring over film until 2 a.m.
12:21It makes for a great soundbite, makes for a good story on my end.
12:24But at some point, the film is the film.
12:26With all the data that you're given and you could pull, you know, automatically through
12:30all these different services, okay, there's not that much more to be seen.
12:33It's great that the coaches get out early, mid-afternoon on Fridays now to spend time
12:37with their families.
12:38Who would have heard that if I was a head coach?
12:39I'll be your one in six.
12:43This is inexcusable if you're the Patriots and you are getting outscored in the first
12:48quarter except for Sunday, which is great.
12:50They led 10-0.
12:51Oh, but what happened after that?
12:52You got outadjusted.
12:53You had no more answers for a Jacksonville team that just showed up and punched you in
12:57the mouth up front.
12:58And with the media, Mayo, be harder on yourself and your staff.
13:03Get a little bit more detailed because the players think you could do a better job.
13:06Here's Kendrick Bourne.
13:07Oh, I think they're just figuring it out, he said, of the staff.
13:09You know, they go on day by day, week by week too.
13:12So we've got to be better in every area, players, coaches, everybody's got to be better.
13:17So there you have it.
13:18Be harder on yourself.
13:19Be harder on your players and be more prepared for media.
13:23I told you a month or two ago, I was sick of talking about Mayo's messaging with the
13:26media.
13:27I want a real football.
13:28Well, we got it.
13:29They got problems.
13:30This is coaching.
13:31This is culture.
13:32This is stuff he's allowing to happen if he's not coaching it directly, which he said he's
13:36not coaching them to be soft.
13:37And I believe it.
13:38There are a lot of hardworking, even ex-players on that staff that know the kind of toughness
13:42it takes to win, but they're not getting through right now to a young team that sounds immature
13:48and is playing even worse.
13:49Granted, the roster talent is the worst in the league, but that's just what it is.
13:53Good news.
13:54Drake May is not in that group.
13:56That man handles himself with the media.
13:57That man throws for two touchdown passes.
13:59And we will get into his start in one second before I tell you a little bit more about
14:02game time.
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15:03Again, the Celtic season is here.
15:05That's a winning team.
15:06Go down to the garden or find somewhere that the traveling just download game time today.
15:10What time is it?
15:11Game time.
15:12Okay.
15:13On to Drake May.
15:14So Drake May, pretty good.
15:15I gave him an A minus, but that starting debut we saw against the Texans.
15:19Most of it was context and a rookie curve.
15:22It was a top 10 defense he faced in Houston, carved him up for three touchdowns and a boneheaded
15:26interception.
15:27I'm going to take that into my expectations anyway.
15:30Here he does not have an interception against the Jaguars, a defense that allows a 20 yards
15:34versus a man to man, a 20 yards off of play action, doesn't force turnovers, takes a ton
15:39of penalties.
15:40And honestly, I thought Drake May certainly didn't deserve an A minus, probably in the
15:44low B range, a little bit of step back.
15:46Here's why.
15:47He was flat out lucky to avoid an interception.
15:50He had one more turnover worthy play against the Jags than he did against Houston, including
15:54a couple picks that had to be broken up.
15:57He was less than accurate on passes between zero and 10 yards on the line of scrimmage,
16:03which is basically where the Patriots live right now, given their protection issues.
16:06He threw an accurate pass on fewer than 70% of those downfield attempts, again, between
16:11zero and 10 yards, not that far.
16:13He also wore down, I think, a little bit under pressure.
16:16Now there were moments like him ripping that 22 yard touchdown, third and 15, closing pocket
16:22to KJ Osborne to keep them alive late.
16:25He did extend multiple plays in that second scoring drive where they got a field goal.
16:28One was a scramble and another one was a first down conversion on Hunter Henry, who ate 92
16:33yards.
16:34And overall, again, this is very good for a rookie who had zero benefit of a run game
16:40and honestly forced the Jaguars to change their game plan.
16:42They came after him with as many blitzes in that first drive as he saw on dropbacks the
16:46rest of the game.
16:48I just thought there was a little bit more meat left on the bone.
16:51And you saw this with some of their play action.
16:52We talked about this last week.
16:55He finished three of six for 17 yards in a sack.
16:57Some of that was Jacksonville having great coverage downfield, which we know the Patriots
17:00opponents for some reason, I haven't cracked this code because it's not by formation, it's
17:04not by personnel, it's not by quarterback alignment, whether he's in the gun or whether
17:08he's under center.
17:09They seem to know when they want to take these shots versus when they want to run.
17:13But May, with those play action drops where he turns it back to the defense, makes a play
17:18fake and then looks again downfield, often at a different picture.
17:22It's new for him.
17:23It's not just being under center.
17:24It's making more reads and understanding what he's looking at could be different from the
17:28defense.
17:29And if he's covered, what do you do?
17:30Because the Patriots ran multiple plays with max protection in just two routes downfield.
17:34If they're covered, that's not his fault.
17:36But there should be ways that the Patriots get more than 17 passing yards off of six
17:41dropbacks and play action.
17:43So I thought he played well enough to win, just not well enough to carry his team to
17:46victory.
17:47Again, a couple of misses that you just go, where the hell is that one going?
17:50That's a bug in his game.
17:51Okay.
17:52That's a B minus game, despite him going 26 to 37 for 276, two touchdowns and 18 rushing
17:57yards.
17:58Again, a little bit better under pressure, a little more accurate and shorter throws,
18:02a slight step back, but still better than you would expect generally for a rookie quarterback,
18:06especially given the offense he's been forced to carry.
18:09Let's be clear.
18:10Drake May, still very much doing more for the Patriots than they are for him.
18:14Critical areas.
18:15Patriots finished with almost an identical explosive play rate as the Jaguars did, which
18:19is after turnovers, the second most telling stat as far as winning or losing.
18:23Here's the problem with that.
18:24They didn't have an explosive play until the fourth quarter.
18:27They had a success rate, meaning how often are you just staying on schedule?
18:3134% of the time, the Jaguars obviously beat them over the head with their running game
18:36and stayed on schedule in a way that was more than impressive.
18:39Their success rate, 58% absurd.
18:42And the Patriots had one successful play.
18:44Okay.
18:45They had 40% of yards to gain on first down, 60% or more of yards again, the second out
18:51and a hundred percent on third or fourth down, because you get, again, you just got to keep
18:54moving the chains.
18:55They had one play like that in the second and third quarters.
18:58And some of it was Jacksonville just eating up clock, but this is an offense that can't
19:01stay on schedule.
19:02Can't generate explosive plays unless it's made just chucking the ball downfield.
19:07Jacksonville did both.
19:08Opponents are doing both.
19:09This was more of a route statistically than it looked in the end on the scoreboard.
19:15Now Patriots started well, they're nothing late.
19:18We saw that that really happened.
19:20So what happened next?
19:21I don't really know.
19:24But in addition to Jacksonville backing out of some of their blitzes on passing downs,
19:27but again, just three blitzes after that first drive, as far as what Drake May saw, Alex
19:32Van Pelt backed away from his play action plan, which I didn't get again, they didn't
19:36generate a ton of yards, but eventually this defense is going to break.
19:39When you look at giving up the most passing yards and most completions up against play
19:43action compared to any other defense in the league, he called four play action throws
19:47Van Pelt did in the first draft and he called for the rest of the game and he insisted instead
19:51on running the ball specifically on first down.
19:54The Patriots had one successful first down run in the entire game that routinely put
20:00them behind the chains.
20:01So they did miss DeMario Douglas, who, oh, motion at the snap, look at this, uh, beat
20:07man coverage on that first drive, third down catch.
20:12And they had one such catch against the defense.
20:14It doesn't play a ton of man, but illustrates how the receivers would prime.
20:17Are they, are they getting enough separation for a ball from Drake May against man to man?
20:23Not really.
20:24You saw the numbers back that up.
20:26So Van Pelt was limited in what he wanted to do, but I just didn't think stuck well
20:31enough with the things that were working in that opening draft.
20:33More motion specifically against man coverage, more play action and movement throws.
20:38The trick may did really well with including one that Jalen Polk should have brought in.
20:41But again, flatly is just not bringing balls in through contact in a way that he should.
20:46Um, the other issue, these offensive guards were terrible.
20:49Okay.
20:50Lane Robinson goes down.
20:51He told me after the game day, quote, slight sprain, but he wasn't walking boot city.
20:55So comes in city.
20:56So I had down for four pressures allowed most among the team.
21:01Second, Michael Jordan left guard.
21:03These guys got stonewalled when they were trying to run block.
21:07They were leaking pressure when they were stepping back and pass protection.
21:11And Jordan also gave up to run stuff.
21:13So had one, the team had one.
21:15It just all around.
21:16Was it good enough for Michael?
21:17One who gave up a sack in a hurry and he's flatly not living up to that $57 million contract
21:21as a right tackle.
21:22Um, but for me looking at this tape, it started with the guard play and Jordan's been better
21:27generally than you would think for a guy who was bouncing around a practice squads and
21:30play for the Panthers and bangles.
21:32We both said, no, thanks.
21:34But city.
21:35So playing this poorly is a real bummer for a guy who was a starter all throughout camp,
21:39then got hurt and really hasn't played since.
21:41But maybe that's due a little bit to health.
21:43Uh, no, this was just flatly terrible performance.
21:46Granted, he's been playing mostly left guard this, this year and going back to the summer
21:50and he was at right guard on Sunday.
21:52But this is just in town.
21:53I mean, even the most mobile quarterbacks are not dealing with that kind of interior
21:57pressure over and over again, and certainly not creating any yards when they hand the
22:01ball off, which the Patriots overall running the ball 8.3% success rate is a run.
22:07First offense.
22:08No, no, no.
22:09It's not.
22:10It's a run.
22:11Last offense.
22:12It's running nowhere.
22:13Offense.
22:14And that's mostly due to the offensive line.
22:15But shout out to Michael Hastie who played the best of any running back on Sunday.
22:18Roger Stevenson came back at 18 yards, only forced one missed tackle.
22:22He had five very good in the passing game.
22:25Good in pass protection.
22:27But aside from him in May, that was about it because again, they're not generating explosive
22:32plays downfield.
22:33Hunter Henry gets a thumbs up too, unless it's just, just chuck it, which is what they
22:38did to Keishon Booty and to Hunter Henry who came down with a contested catch in the middle
22:42of the field.
22:43Jalen Polk's out there, 0 for 3 on targets.
22:46KJ Osborne comes off the bench.
22:48Great job on that 22 yard touchdown, not still getting separation though versus man.
22:52And it's just, it's just an issue all the way around.
22:57Offense have to be better.
22:58The offensive line is a mess.
22:59And the fact that City, so coming off the bench is, it should have been one of their
23:02best linemen going into the season, as bad of a game as he did, whether by my charting,
23:06you look at PFF, it's just really discouraging because the late Robinson is out.
23:10I mean, you're not only just running out of tackles, Demetri Jacobs going from left, left
23:14tackle to right tackle, left tackle again.
23:16I thought Jacobs was pretty good.
23:18You're running out of guards and we know what they have at center and it's just really,
23:21really not good.
23:22But it wasn't as bad as what we saw from the defense, which we'll get to in a second because
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24:29Okay.
24:30Defensively, this one was simple.
24:32They got their butts kicked.
24:33It's personnel, it's coaching.
24:36This was one of the worst linebacking performances I have ever seen.
24:40And we can talk about, you know, how much of it was male's fault.
24:43I spent a ton of time doing that.
24:45But the fact of the matter is, I don't know how many teams would have defensive tackles
24:49like Eric Johnson, waiver claim from Colts or Jaqueline Roy.
24:54It's by the way, we do playing like they are for the Patriots, but that's who they got.
25:00And they're getting manhandled inside.
25:01And when Devon Gotchow joins them, the guy who got stood up by a tight end on that last
25:06touchdown run for Tangy Pigsby, Dietrich Wise also got pancaked by a tight end for the Jaguars.
25:13Nothing is going to go right.
25:14There is no easy fix here.
25:16And you talk about how bad the D tackles were, the Jaguars average 5.9 yards per carry when
25:21running left between their center and left tackle.
25:24This isn't about setting the edge.
25:27This isn't about anything more than D tackles doing their jobs and linebackers fitting the
25:31run behind them.
25:32Speaking of those linebackers, I called it one of the worst I've ever seen.
25:35Jelani Tavai running himself out of place, missed two tackles.
25:38Christian Ellis, first career start for the Patriots.
25:41He had 10 tackles.
25:43Most of them were Tangy Pigsby meeting him.
25:46There was no force here that you felt like he was playing with.
25:49Meeting guys in the hole.
25:50The Patriots don't have the personnel, but they should be coached better than this.
25:54And so I look both as we talk about Mayo at new defensive line coach, Jerry Montgomery
25:58and Dante Hightower, because the problems underpinning everything that happened are
26:05just that.
26:06They're fundamental, okay?
26:10Run fits, block destruction, fulfilling your assignment and gap discipline.
26:15These are no longer givens for a defense that as Mayo said, should be always good against
26:19the run.
26:21Okay.
26:22And Raekwon McMillan, who got benched, missed one tackle and 11 defensive snaps.
26:25That was the only big lineup change here.
26:26Josh Uche played 11 defensive snaps, mostly because they were in dime personnel just seven
26:31times.
26:32But there's nothing good here.
26:35It's the personnel.
26:36It's the coaching that's clearly not getting there.
26:39And the linebackers need to stay true to their gaps.
26:42The defensive tackles need not to get turned around.
26:45Like they're getting out of way if someone's trying to squeeze by at a tight aisle in the
26:49grocery store.
26:50It's all bad.
26:51And Devon Gottschall wants the lone bright spot here was as bad as any of them.
26:56And he has to play across the line and he's not getting a whole lot of help and he's getting
26:58tired, but it's, it's, it's no good.
27:03Christian Gonzalez gave up three catches.
27:06All of them pretty tough.
27:07All of them.
27:08Brian Thomas Jr.
27:09I thought he would be better.
27:10Still, obviously a fault in the 58 yarder, but it's hard to time your rip any better
27:12than he did against Thomas, who just held onto the ball anyway on that deep ball that
27:16we saw from Trevor Lawrence.
27:19The first touchdown, Marcus Jones, I think was at fault in the coverage bus.
27:23Patriots were in man-to-man on the left.
27:24Jacksonville had a bunch set with three receivers, very tightly compact.
27:28A lot of defenses will form a box across from that.
27:31And so the two corners or defenders at the bottom of the box in each corner will say,
27:35okay, I'll take the first receiver who goes my way.
27:38You take the receiver that comes your way.
27:39Two at the top are doing the same thing.
27:41Okay.
27:42High left, high right, bottom right, bottom left.
27:46Three of those guys were forming a box.
27:47Marcus Jones was not.
27:48He was playing some man-to-man.
27:49Bryce Thomas comes over the middle, touchdown.
27:52I will say the one player who did have a good game in this defense, Jonathan Jones, didn't
27:56give up a single catch, had a great stop on that first drive and tackled well.
28:01He supposedly gave a fiery address to the team in the postgame locker room, as well
28:04he should, because this was an embarrassment.
28:07As was the touchdown return, as we saw for 96 yards, just before the half on the pun
28:12team.
28:13Okay.
28:14So what happened on the pun team?
28:15I believe Bryce Berenger just outkicked his coverage and the guy who takes the ball at
28:19the four yard line probably surprised everyone in that coverage, which is what Parker Washington
28:23did.
28:24But that dude had a runway well up the middle of the field and Berenger boomed that in the
28:28air, 76 yards.
28:30Very impressive.
28:31Would have won a lot of contests if we were playing punt, pass and kick.
28:35They were not.
28:36They were playing NFL football.
28:37So once Brendan Schouler, who was affected by a vice player in his area and then blocked
28:43secondarily by another player from Jacksonville, no one else was close.
28:47The other gunner, because that's where Brendan Schouler is, furthest outside player running
28:51down the field to cover a punt.
28:52The other gunner was Marcellus Dial, who was beat downfield.
28:56Not supposed to happen for guys with 4'4 speed who were not playing any on defense by four
29:01teammates, including Schouler downfield.
29:03So you have one gunner getting close, the other one's not remotely close, a ton of space
29:07in the middle.
29:08Not that hard for Parker Washington to go straight up the gut.
29:11Everything else.
29:12Oh, and special teams.
29:13Fine.
29:14Berenger dropped all three of his other punts inside the 20.
29:16Patriots and Jags had the same, the identical average starting field position.
29:20The problem was Jaguars kicked their ass up front on both offense and defense.
29:25And now is it?
29:26OK.
29:27Two more segments.
29:28We'll get to travel tales.
29:29We need to talk.
29:30This is the opposite of game balls.
29:31This is like, hey, come step into my office.
29:33And I already said their names because the personnel is what it is.
29:36The Patriots are going to have to wait until the offseason to replace guys like Jaqueline
29:40Roy and Eric Johnson, who are now big players in the middle of the defense, as well as Daniel
29:45Quali, who, by the way, was also not great in this game, but is going to surpass his
29:49career high for snaps played in a single season on Sunday against the Jets as soon as he places
29:5521st snap.
29:56Let me say that again.
29:58A Patriots starting defense tackle, typically a pass rushing specialist, OK, who's now been
30:03forced to play early downs because they have nobody else is going to surpass his career
30:07high and snaps played for a season less than halfway through this year.
30:13It's mismanagement from coaching for an office all the way down.
30:15Oh, and by the way, his password stinks, too, just as the whole Patriots passers didn't.
30:18I'm glad I came back to defense for a second.
30:20Here was the bigger issue.
30:22No sacks, no quarterback hits, no pass deflections.
30:26Patriots had four total pressures, one from a quality one from white, a schemed one from
30:31Marcus Jones, who couldn't wrap up in a blitz in the second half and Kyle Duggar, who came
30:35free on a block, which is really not a credit to him.
30:37That's it for total pressures.
30:39You can't win like that.
30:42Patriots hung around longer because Ken White and Quail and Roy actually showed some desperation
30:46in these big spots, which I think also reflects Patriots not playing as hard as they could.
30:50Ken White got a pressure and Lawrence's last drop back incompletion third down force.
30:54The Jags upon the fourth quarter, Roy tosses the center aside.
31:00On that fourth downstop that no one thought was going to be made in Jaguars, we're just
31:04going to keep pounding the ball, but instead turn the ball over on downs.
31:07Pressure, it's just not existing, so anyway, but we need to talk.
31:12Jerry Montgomery and Dante Hightower, they're the only new defensive coaches in charge of
31:16a position this year.
31:17I get that they have bad talent to run with, and part of this again is injuries.
31:20Christian Barmore's gone, Juwan Bentley's gone, but this has not been good.
31:24Basic fundamentals, when those lack, reflect back on coaching.
31:28Jelani Savai was a much better player last year.
31:30Christian Ellis is probably better than he's ever been, but this isn't good.
31:33Rayquan McMillan's certainly been better in the past.
31:37It's just not good enough.
31:38These are fundamentals taken for granted when you're watching the Patriots run defense.
31:42Even by Mayo, who again, in week one, or just after week one, said the Pats would always
31:47have a great run defense.
31:48Right now, it's the worst in the league, 167 yards allowed per game.
31:56Commit guys to the box, teach better block destruction.
31:59This is bad for Jerry Montgomery and Dante Hightower right now.
32:03All right, what would NFL film say?
32:06You know what, they probably start on a Monday, or not a Monday, on Friday, Patriots get into
32:10London.
32:11There's a lot more in this fictitious hour-long documentary about the season, which is going
32:15to have negative viewers at this point, but we're going to continue on with the segment
32:18because that's what we do here on the show.
32:20It's the players, Harrow School practicing, Mayo talking about new dynasty.
32:24Cool, maybe a new location, new practice schedule, new starting lineup changes are going to spur
32:29them to victory.
32:30Well, here we go.
32:31We get to Wembley, and nothing starts.
32:33Drake makes a touchdown pass, Joey Sly kicks a field goal, great.
32:38Then they're going to cut to Megan Exact, then you're going to see the Parker Washington
32:41touchdown falling all the way back into the end zone, and then Tank Bigby pounding and
32:46pounding and pounding away, and then that's it.
32:48This is another game where they spend maybe 30 seconds on in this recap of the season
32:53so far.
32:54Jags 32, Patriots 16, and obviously some sort of British cliche or nod at the end of this
33:00because if it's Patriots produced or it's produced for the Patriots, they're not going
33:05to spend a whole lot of time in football on this trip to London.
33:08All right, travel tale, speaking of London.
33:10I got in on a red night, a red eye Wednesday into Thursday, traveled with my wife, met
33:17up with a friend who came a day later, he's a Jags fan, one of my oldest friends, and
33:20we took a taxi into West London where we stayed in Kensington, and a couple behind us when
33:24we're in line outside of the airport, shout out to Tim, a history teacher at Mansfield
33:28Mass and his wife, who said, oh, we're going to the same hotel, it's Marriott Kensington.
33:33Great area, very, very nice area in West London.
33:36And I said, oh, it's a work trip for me, why don't we expense this, you come on in.
33:40So we took, thanks to traffic, which by the way, London felt very prepared having sat
33:45in Boston traffic as often as they do going to and from Foxborough, because this was an
33:49hour ride.
33:50And thankfully, our taxi driver doubled as a tour guide around London and had been for
33:55years.
33:56So we got historical facts, information about the Premier League, the Herald School, where
33:59the Patriots practiced that Friday, which was like 35, 40 minutes northwest of the city
34:05and sprawling campus, I'll get to in a second.
34:08So he's giving us all this information, answering questions, very, very nice guy.
34:14And kind of getting closer to London, whether you were in a more residential neighborhood
34:18like where we were in Kensington, you know, it's just so densely populated.
34:23And I'd been there 12 years ago, so this was not all brand new to me going into London,
34:27but it just felt like, regardless of whether you're in Kensington or some of the rougher
34:30parts that are outside the city, it is so densely populated, more residents than New
34:35York City in London.
34:38It felt like if you farted, five neighbors would know, like everyone is so on top of
34:42each other there.
34:43Anyway, we get to the hotel and load our bags, it's Marriott, we get there, except for our
34:50new friends, Tim and his wife, not staying at our hotel, because this was a Kensington
34:55Marriott, we were at the Kensington Residence Inn.
34:57So after a long flight, long taxi ride, take a 20 minute walk over to the hotel, drop our
35:02stuff.
35:03I need to write my column on Friday five, and did that, wife takes a nap, we go pub
35:08hopping.
35:09And one of the facts that our taxi driver had told us is that a lot of them had recently,
35:12recently, but, you know, in the last 10, 20 years, were bought up by one of the more popular
35:18breweries in London, Fuller.
35:20And they had refurbished them.
35:21So you knew if you saw a sign that said Fuller atop one of the signs for these pubs, that
35:25it would be well run, well taken care of, clean, and have a similar menu.
35:29We found out there's another such chain, Green King, that had also, I don't know if they're
35:34in any way associated with the brewery, but another chain of pubs here in the city.
35:38So we go, okay, we'll pop out.
35:39We go to Handsome Cab, Elephant and Castle, and Churchill Arms, all real names for bars,
35:44and had a lovely time.
35:45I didn't love the beer in England.
35:48I'm not a beer snob, but the Camden Pale Ale was my favorite, and that was by a great length.
35:52I did love, though, more of the pub culture, which is just very relaxed.
35:57Everyone's there after work or to hang out.
35:59We were out probably like 3.30 to 7 or 8, got some food, called it a night early, and
36:04went to bed.
36:05Friday, got up, recorded this podcast solo, took the tube to the NFL Media Hotel, which
36:09was further inside the city near the Marble Arch.
36:12The media hotels, by the way, when the NFL, you know, buys them out or rents however many
36:17They're like 400 a night.
36:19So I've never stayed in them for a Super Bowl, for a big game, the Kami, any of this, okay?
36:24But it does have a shuttle.
36:25So I get there, see a lot of guys and girls who were on the beat, Mark Daniels, Chris
36:29Mason, Chris Price, Ko Yang, Mike Reese, Godfather, Chad Graff, and a few others.
36:34So we get on the shuttle, takes us to the Harrell School, which is this all boys boarding
36:38school.
36:39I talked about this a little Friday, and sprawling campus, very old campus.
36:44They had, and I'll go back to this, filmed a scene from Harry Potter there.
36:47That kind of tells you what you need to know.
36:50So we get into the media room, which is a gym that looks like it was straight out of
36:56my elementary school had I grown up in London, like the rubber floor, a bunch of, you know,
37:01basketball hoops on the walls, and they have a very, very nice setup and food and drinks,
37:05very gracious hosts.
37:06Like, I always feel like it's too much when we show up at different events like this.
37:11Like I just need a place to sit, a Wi-Fi, and that's it.
37:14Anyway, Mayo speaks, Drake May speaks, neither of them want to talk about, you know, the
37:18injury with the knee.
37:19That's fine.
37:20We go to the practice field, and it was converted from obviously a soccer pitch.
37:24Very well set up.
37:25They have all of their marketing partners who were there sipping wine in this giant
37:28tent, crafts on the field.
37:30We stay for a little bit longer than we normally do, but it's a Friday practice, walk through
37:34a lot of individual drills, nothing too crazy.
37:36Javon Baker's the only one missing.
37:38He's ill.
37:39We don't even see him on Sunday in the game.
37:41Come back, right?
37:42We're press conferences.
37:43Christian Gonzalez and Hunter Henry.
37:44And I'm asking guys like, you know, Drive Mayo just told us before practice, we're building
37:49towards a new dynasty.
37:50Do you ever think about that?
37:51And a surprising amount of them, and guys that you would, you know, if you listen to
37:54their press conferences, and I've talked to them personally, like, they're pretty authentic
37:59when they have a mic in front of their face.
38:01And Hunter Henry said yes, or Andre Stevenson said yes, and other guys said no.
38:04But it was interesting because you think here, okay, one in five, you can turn it around
38:09a little bit.
38:10Jaguars are the get right team in the NFL, of course, it didn't happen.
38:13But it's something they're thinking about.
38:15And I think if you're a fan, you're at least happy to hear.
38:18It's not any kind of consolation.
38:19These guys are looking to really refurbish and restore the franchise, like they got a
38:23ways to go.
38:24I think they're worse off right now than they probably were a year ago.
38:26But it was curious to me.
38:28So we asked about it.
38:30Anyway, we wrap up there, get back in the shuttle.
38:33They offer to give a tour of this room where they had filmed this famous scene from Harry
38:38Potter in the first movie, where the kids are all learning charms.
38:41And it's just got rows of wooden benches on the edges, you've got a wooden seat up at
38:46the front.
38:47Again, like everything about this screams, this is from centuries ago, and everyone but
38:51Mike Reese wants to go.
38:52So I'm like, Mike, you have to go.
38:54So Steve Burton, who was there, goes and films gives a whole, you know, Steve Burton experience.
38:59It's just, it's so gregarious, outgoing, just one of a kind.
39:04And they're filming spots of all this where Harry Potter set and on the wall.
39:08They had all the boys who went there back in the 1800s and early 1900s were allowed
39:13to carve their names in there.
39:14Like this is not the stuff you would find in the bathroom when you and I were in school.
39:17It's like, oh, that wasn't allowed.
39:19Like, no, this is I was here.
39:21And among those names was Winston Churchill that went there and a Cumberbatch also went
39:24to the Herald School.
39:25So anyway, we're, we're leaving.
39:28And this is probably around like 530 or six by now.
39:31And Mike, who did not want to go, he's just not a Harry Potter fan, comes out, Steve Burton,
39:36because they do TV all the time, obviously, at CBS starts to interview him about what
39:39it felt like to watch Harry Potter and be in the same room as Harry Potter and forget
39:44Winston Churchill.
39:45And Mike has to go on the spot with the camera rolling for a future show.
39:49I think it was probably their pregame on Sunday, but how connected he felt to the room.
39:53And so I take a picture, send it to him.
39:54We're laughing.
39:55We get back on the bus and it takes, I don't know, like 40, 45 minutes.
39:58Get an Uber back to our hotel.
40:00Go out that night with my wife, my Jaguar's friend who had finally arrived, Mark Daniels
40:05and Chris Mason.
40:06We go to four pubs, all of them highly recommended, still in the Kensington area.
40:09The Queen's Arms, Gloucester Arms, again, these are these are pub names, where we spotted
40:15the Mets Dodgers game walking by.
40:17And we should watch one inning.
40:18We were not the typical Americans like, you know, I'm going to go over there and try to
40:22have everything I do at home.
40:23But hey, there's baseball on, I'm going to peep.
40:26We also got crop dusted in a way that I have never experienced before in my life.
40:29It traveled with us.
40:30It was disorienting.
40:33So if you want to know maybe why we only stayed for an inning or two, that was it.
40:37Then we go to Greyhound, which was a rare bar in the area, which, again, it's just West
40:41London, you know, nicer part, it's not why we chose the residence in.
40:44I think it was probably the cheapest area I had available to me when we booked.
40:48But that place was open till midnight.
40:50There was one last pub open after that called Prince of Wales, and a lot of these were of
40:54the Green King chain that I talked about before.
40:57So the beers offered are very similar, same with the liquor selection, the food, but it's
41:02all very well kept up.
41:03It feels homey.
41:04I talked about this probably when I was in New York, you know, that kind of like dark
41:07wood, wooden taverny feeling.
41:09So it was great to go out.
41:10We left about one from Prince of Wales when they closed down, got back 1.30, nothing rowdy,
41:15just good to be out, hang with those guys, have a pint over and over again.
41:19Again, the only good one, in my opinion, was the Camden Pale Ale.
41:22I, of course, had a Guinness, sampled some other drinks, but just, you know, it was solid.
41:28Different story when we were in Germany.
41:29I'll put it like that.
41:30Saturday rolls around.
41:31I had no luck getting tickets to two Premier League matches, very new to the EPL, not an
41:35expert.
41:36One of them was in Tottenham, which is north of kind of central London, that was a bit
41:40out of the way.
41:41Fulham, which is a smaller club, the oldest, I learned, which is in a place called Craven
41:44Cottage, which is right on the Thames.
41:47And they had a match.
41:48Bob Soce went, Chad Graff went, because Bob had a hookup with the Jaguars, who helped
41:51him get a seat.
41:53And that's relevant because the Cons, who own Jacksonville, or own the Jaguars, also
41:58own Fulham.
41:59So they go, had a great time.
42:00I skipped it.
42:01My friend, my wife and I, we go to, instead, a play at the Globe Theatre, saw A Comedy
42:04of Errors.
42:05Awesome.
42:06Highly, highly recommend this.
42:08Now, I didn't realize that that current theatre had been built in 1997.
42:12I didn't think I was stepping into the 1500s.
42:15But everything there feels as authentic as possible.
42:18If you want to just go see a show, feel like you've stepped in a time machine, that delivered.
42:23The acting's phenomenal.
42:24There was some audience, I don't want to say, like, involvement, like you're pulling people
42:27out of the crowd.
42:28But there's a lot of wink and nod.
42:29The physical comedy held up.
42:32Just very, very cool to go and experience.
42:34We basically walked back through central London.
42:36After that, a lot of walking, down by Big Bend, Parliament, and stopped at a couple
42:41more pubs, of course.
42:42This one was the oldest Irish pub in London.
42:45Go back to 1605.
42:46And then a place my buddy, who knows a lot more about the Premier League than I did,
42:50recommended that we stop and watch the last game of that night, or last match of that
42:53night, before we go to Soho, which is a neighborhood, it feels like every major city, anyway, to
43:00see the Broad Street Pump, because my friend, who works in epidemiology, knew that this
43:05is where some cholera outbreak in the 1800s had started.
43:10And it was finally discovered that that was the source.
43:12This pump on Broad Street was the source, but he wanted to go check that out.
43:16And naturally, the pub right behind it is named after the scientist who discovered that,
43:20Jon Snow, who actually knew something.
43:22Shout out to the Game of Thrones fan.
43:23So very cool, relaxed Saturday leads into Sunday, Uber to Wembley.
43:28This is also 20, 25-minute drive northwest of West London.
43:32No parking there, really.
43:33And it was a little bit more built up outside than I would have expected.
43:38Or it was newly built up.
43:40If you've been to Fenway in the last five years, it feels like the apartments that went
43:44up there recently give it a very different atmosphere.
43:47But look, Wembley is a cathedral of international sports.
43:51Only home to the English international, or the men's national team, women's national
43:55team.
43:56And that's it.
43:57There are no Premier League teams that play there for all of their home matches.
43:59And of course, they do other big events and things like that.
44:02But my bucket list does not include stadiums in England.
44:08But if I had been a little bit more cultured whenever I last updated this bucket list,
44:11Wembley would have been on there.
44:12And it was an absolute treat to be there.
44:15By the way, walking in between my wife and my friend and I, checked off all 32 teams
44:20spotted in terms of Jersey representation.
44:22So this crowd was awesome.
44:24Outdoor press box, which I love.
44:26Again, very good care.
44:27Just way too nice to the media, I would say, as far as treatment.
44:31Visit with my wife and my friend, who had, again, great seats, shout out Game Time.
44:34And a guy stops me as we're walking around the concourse to say, not like, oh, hey, go
44:39pads or seeing you on TV or done this.
44:40It was, hey, tell Felger to suck it.
44:43So tweeted that out.
44:44Yes.
44:45Tell Felger to suck it was my Finn interaction or of a couple that we had in England, which
44:49honestly probably consists of my 30% of my interactions out in the wild.
44:54Nothing to do with the Patriots.
44:55Just, hey, next time you're on TV with this guy, tell him he sucks.
44:58The game was what it was.
44:59Wembley, spectacular.
45:00Again, the crowd, the stadium.
45:01If you have a chance to go, highly recommend it.
45:04Not a cheap trip.
45:05Not an easy trip.
45:06I'm very grateful that most of this was expensed in the locker room afterward.
45:10Go in to talk to Pop Douglas.
45:11We're all watching, going, what the hell is going on with him?
45:14Which the team did not report until I had asked PR, because they're very good about
45:18relaying injuries and keeping us updated.
45:20But when he was just on the sideline, I'm going, he should be playing.
45:23KJ Osborne is not supposed to meet in this game.
45:24I ask.
45:25They say, oh, he's got an illness.
45:27He confirmed that dude looked incredibly sick.
45:30I wrote about it, tweeted about it.
45:32and Kendrick Moran.
45:33Talked to Keyshawn Booty, Reminder Stevenson, and then Daniel Ekowale.
45:36So wrote up those stories, met them for a pint.
45:39One last pint at the Torch.
45:41This is a bar that is about 14 minutes walking away from the stadium.
45:46And this is where you get a lot of the new apartment buildings.
45:48You're going by some shops, obviously a big train station.
45:51And then took an Uber back to the hotel room.
45:53My column finished around 1 a.m. local time, which no one can relate to this.
45:57But if you work still in a newspaper, somehow in 2024, and we have these deadlines to get
46:01our print edition out, which people still read, it's nice not to be totally under the
46:06gun to write something so that, you know, you don't have as much time as I would if
46:10working for a website.
46:11So anyway, finished that up at one local time, Monday, flew back, watched film entirely on
46:15the ride home.
46:16Got back very, very late last night, and pretty much crashed at radio this morning, and here
46:20we are.
46:21So that's it.
46:24Not as cranky as when we started, but the Patriots in one and six are now going to try
46:27to play, believe it or not, spoiler against the Jets this weekend.
46:31We will have a guest later this week for our second episode, be back on more of a regular
46:35scheduling program with Pat's Interference.
46:38If you have not yet rated or reviewed or emailed me, akallian at bostonherold.com, please do.
46:44We'd love to hear from you, what you think, and all of the five stars help as we kind
46:48of grow and try to give you a good show here as the season continues to spiral.
46:53Until then, we'll see you in a couple of days.
47:01We'll see you then.
47:02Bye.
47:03Bye.
47:04Bye.