CLNS Media's Taylor Kyles and Mike Kadlick preview the Patriots vs. Bears showdown this Sunday! Who will emerge victorious in the duel between top three picks? Then, they'll answer your questions in a mailbag segment.
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SportsTranscript
00:00I am joined by Robert Griffin III, James White, Field, Yates, Mena Kimes.
00:11All right, so first play we're going to look at, second and two, one of the Patriots' first
00:14offensive plays.
00:20What's going on, everyone?
00:21Mike Cadillac, Taylor Kiles here for CLNS Media, back with another episode of the Patriots
00:25daily podcast powered by prize picks and game time.
00:29We'll talk about them a little later, but first, Taylor, let's talk about Patriots versus
00:34Bears coming up in week 10.
00:36The Pats at two and seven headed to Chicago this weekend to take on the four and four
00:41Chicago Bears.
00:42The Bears are four and oh at home this season, oh and four on the road, so a bit of an uphill
00:46climb for the Patriots this weekend.
00:48Obviously, there's topics to talk about around the head coaches, Gerard Mayo going through
00:52some growing pains through his first year, Matt Eberfloos gets another season this year,
00:57Shane Waldron as the OC not doing great, Eberfloos catching a lot of heat as well,
01:02but obviously the number one storyline is these two quarterbacks.
01:05Number one overall in Caleb Williams, number three overall in Drake May facing off.
01:10Drake May talked about it this week, said that him and May, excuse me, him and Caleb
01:14Williams have had quite the relationship since they were in high school.
01:17They went to the Elite 11 together.
01:19They've kept in touch.
01:20They met at the Combine there, he called themselves, he called them friends and so thought it was
01:25pretty cool that they were going to face off this weekend and I think that's probably
01:28the number one storyline heading into this one.
01:29So since that is the storyline, Taylor did us a solid dug into the film on the two potentially
01:36star quarterbacks, both playing pretty well this season.
01:40Caleb's had some up and downs, May on a good trajectory.
01:42The turnovers are an issue that we've talked about a little bit, but Taylor, let's compare
01:46these guys a little bit further.
01:47We're going to talk about them passing in general, their ability to scramble and their
01:52ability to throw the football downfield.
01:54So first and foremost, take us through what you got on the passing stuff and just in general,
01:58I guess on these two quarterbacks heading into Sunday.
02:00Yeah.
02:01So first of all, when you look at like, we know that there are similar prospects in that
02:04they're mobile.
02:05They've got great arms, really smart guys as well.
02:08Great feel for the game, like natural instincts that allow them to thrive and that's why they've
02:12had success so far.
02:13Now when it comes to their supporting cast, they're kind of, they're similar in that neither
02:17has a great offensive line and a lot of that has to do to injury like Darnell Wright.
02:22Tackle is not going to play Braxton Jones is injured.
02:24So they're dealing with some stuff there.
02:26It's kind of affected their run games, but when you look at the actual weaponry, like
02:29Caleb Williams is in a very different place than Drake may where Drake, you know, a lot
02:34of young guys that are still coming along, still learning the game.
02:37The one veteran that you have that you rely on and Kendrick Bourne at wide receiver at
02:40least is someone who's still himself coming along because he came off the torn ACL rehab
02:45all summer and every week, you know, we talked about getting to his right depth in his routes
02:50on the scramble play, maybe not moving around enough.
02:52So he's still getting his feet under him, but still got Hunter Henry, old 85 reliable
02:56guy, Henry Mondrey, Stevenson, and reliable outlet from the backfield.
03:01But then Caleb Williams has Roma dunes, a first round, even Allen, another like very
03:06savvy veteran who obviously has a great feel for space and is a pretty reliable pass catcher.
03:11Then DJ more who, you know, enough said one of those explosive players in the NFL, then
03:16Cole can add another reliable tight end who can block and be a pass catcher, kind of like
03:20Hunter Henry, maybe a little bit more dynamic and Deandre Swift, another solid back out
03:25of the backfield.
03:26So you're saying, okay, you'd think that Caleb Williams would be thriving right now and Drake
03:30may obviously he's had his ups and downs.
03:32We'll get into those, but he's still played pretty well.
03:34When you look at the numbers, Drake by quite a few metrics has been better than Caleb Williams.
03:39The biggest difference I think when it comes to why that's the case is the scheme.
03:43I think Dan Orlovsky did a great job breaking it down on ESPN, but Shane Waldron, we kind
03:49of said this, I think earlier in the week, Shane Waldron is what Patriots fans think
03:52Alex Van Pelt is where it's like, you're not using anybody the way they're supposed to
03:56be used.
03:57The spacing sucks all the time.
03:58Nothing makes sense.
03:59And like, we all know Alex Van Pelt hasn't been perfect.
04:02Some of the, you know, end of half play calling has been a bit spotty.
04:05He called the last two plays against the Titans before regulation Patriots, Alaska offensive
04:10plays.
04:11The two most disappointing plays for him of the entire game.
04:14Didn't put it on the play calling, put it on execution, which it feels like has been
04:17the case anytime they have a failed two minute drill.
04:20It's like, yes, we can absolutely question the decision, but also it's not like guys
04:23are blocking it up.
04:24Well, and it's just a great defensive play.
04:26Usually they end up failing.
04:28But for the most part, Alex Van Pelt, he's still figuring out how to use his weapons
04:32and you can see that.
04:33And when you have so much turnover like they've had, that makes sense.
04:36But still for the most part, there's not a whole lot of times where I'm looking at the
04:39tape thinking, what in the world is this offense?
04:41This is ridiculous.
04:42This doesn't make sense.
04:44That's not the case with the Bears.
04:45Chan Waldron's guy who has more experience and he's from a tree where you'd expect him
04:49to be, you know, one of the more premier offensive coordinators that was added.
04:53Instead, you have the issues that people think of with Van Pelt where players are in kind
04:57of awkward roles.
04:58The route spacing is not very good.
05:00There's plays where kind of like the Patricia years where receivers aren't even looking
05:04at the quarterback when he hits the top of his drop and it forces some weird inconsistencies.
05:09And when you look at where Caleb Williams struggles, it's a combination of, yeah, some,
05:12you know, bad accuracy at times, but also it just feels like he and his receivers really
05:16aren't on the same page.
05:18So that's really the overview of what's been going on around them.
05:20But before we get into the actual tape and the stats and everything that you got, I just,
05:25as you started to talk about Waldron and the tree he's from, and I saw you kind of saw
05:29the wheels turn a little bit and I went to say it, but everyone says that Van Pelt is
05:34or what you're saying, Waldron is what people think Van Pelt is right.
05:38And Shane Waldron, he interviewed for the Patriots OC job this off season.
05:41I totally forgot about that.
05:42I just had to, I thought of it.
05:44I couldn't tell if I was right and that I double checked and he did and everyone wanted
05:47the Shanahan guy, the McVay guy.
05:49He worked under Shannon or McVay, excuse me, in LA.
05:52Then he went to Seattle and was, had a very up and down career.
05:55There was the thing with Jackson Smith and Jigbo when he was talking about how he got
05:59hired by the bears and he was like, Oh boy.
06:01And like,
06:03yeah, no, I'm just kidding.
06:04It was just like, or even a crystal lava.
06:06I think it was.
06:07Yeah.
06:08That's who it was.
06:09Yeah.
06:10So, I mean, interesting.
06:11Right.
06:12You wonder, you could have had Shane Waldron instead of you have Alex Van Pelt.
06:13I don't know who you would rather at this point, both struggling in their own, in their
06:16own different ways.
06:17But yeah, I thought it was interesting that Shane Waldron could have been here, but now
06:19he's in Chicago.
06:20Yeah.
06:21So now we're going to break down the stats and I'm going to have some tape on and you
06:25kind of explain why these guys have been struggling and where they've had success, especially
06:28in the areas where we really know them for like the scrambling ability of downfield passing.
06:33But first we're going to start off with an overview, really where these guys have been
06:36overall as passers.
06:38Now Drake Mays dropped back 147 times this season, Caleb, or at least since week six.
06:43So Caleb Williams obviously has played the entire season.
06:46Drake Mays started in week six, but for Caleb Williams, I kind of just wanted to give them
06:49that last month.
06:50Cause in the NFL, you're typically scouting from the last four games.
06:53Sometimes you extend it to six kind of depends on the situation, but we're going with a month.
06:57So over that span, Drake May has 30 more dropbacks than Caleb Williams, but he's been
07:01more accurate.
07:02He's actually been accurate on 64.8% of his passes as Drake May Caleb Williams, only 57.7
07:10for Drake May.
07:11That's top 10 in the NFL.
07:13Obviously not so much for Caleb Williams.
07:15Then you look at production.
07:16So passing touchdowns, big time throws, both of those Drake may has six turnover worthy
07:21plays.
07:22Drake may has eight.
07:23All three of those are top 10 with Caleb Williams.
07:25Not quite as productive.
07:26All right.
07:27Instead of six passing touchdowns, like Drake, he has four.
07:30He has half as many big time throws with three and then turn over where the plays.
07:34That's the one area where he's been decisively better.
07:36He's done a great job protecting the football, Caleb Williams, only one turnover worthy play.
07:41So really impressive there from the since week six or that's five or eight overall in
07:48the season, but either way last month, last four, no, it's only been three games for Caleb
07:52Williams.
07:54But much better job from the young guy getting over that turnover problem.
07:58And with Drake may, that was one thing that he's discussed.
08:01That's one thing also that Dan Pelt discussed today.
08:03They've got to get better or Drake may does when it comes to those turnover worthy plays.
08:07Now where do those come from?
08:08Drake, right?
08:09We've discussed it on the show, but just quick recap.
08:11A lot of those have come one from poor accuracy where sometimes the ball will sail on him.
08:15And even last week where he under throws it and it ends up getting picked off.
08:19The biggest thing for me though, on these turn of worthy plays is when he's in the pocket
08:23trying to maybe extend the play and doesn't feel a backside rusher and ends up getting
08:27strip sack.
08:28That's happened a couple of times now with this bears defense, they will take that ball
08:32away.
08:33If you hold it out there, Montez sweat, we know who's going to be playing this weekend.
08:36So those are, that's going to be a very big area of emphasis for Drake may one, especially
08:40when that pressure's coming at him.
08:42Cause that's where you typically see sometimes a rush decision, or sometimes he can't quite
08:45get the ball out the way he wants to.
08:47We'll talk more about that kind of thing later, but Drake may been the much bigger play threat
08:52overall with his legs and with his arm, Caleb William struggling.
08:56But again, a lot of it has to do with the coordination of the offense in the way that
09:00he's having to read out these really funky plays or as a Drake may the talent's been,
09:05or the issue has been more of the lack of talent around him.
09:08And then obviously the offensive line struggles and not really having a run game that he can
09:11fall back on.
09:12Yeah, they're definitely both, uh, you know, from what I remember, obviously in college
09:16watching them a little bit and then what we've seen in league so far, guys who, you know,
09:20you can trust their arm.
09:21You know, you can trust their arm strength.
09:22They can put the ball pretty much anywhere.
09:23I do think it's interesting that no first couple of weeks, I know Caleb was a little,
09:28I don't want to even say turnover happy cause I don't have the stats in front of me, but
09:31the fact that he's kind of honed that in since week six and only had one turnover worthy
09:35play since then over three games tells me that, you know, with Drake may right now,
09:40his whole thing is, well, we've got to limit the turnovers and don't put the ball in harm's
09:43way and got to protect the football.
09:45It's going to kind of be, at least in my opinion, and it's like an experience thing and get
09:49out there and get a feel for the game.
09:50And hopefully as the season goes on, he can have that similar trajectory of, of Caleb
09:54Williams as protecting the football, as he understands and, you know, gets a feel more
09:58for the speed of the NFL, uh, and things of that nature.
10:01So hopefully something that we can look forward to if he takes the same trajectory as, as
10:04Caleb.
10:05And when it comes to the defense, it's like the bears don't have a ton of picks, but they
10:08force a lot of fumbles.
10:09So again, that's where I'm thinking Drake may ding, ding, ding.
10:11Like we'll let this, I think back in week one, it was very similar to Drake may trying
10:15to flick it to Jamichael Hasty, where you start rolling to the right, don't feel the
10:19backside pressure, try to throw it and it gets knocked out.
10:21I saw the play and I was like, geez, that was like deja vu.
10:24The fumbles are my biggest concern, but with the Patriots, they haven't forced a whole
10:28lot of turnovers.
10:29And you know, you have the Jelani to buy interception, obviously a lot of that had to do with the
10:32fact that if I got popped up in the air, DeMarcus Covington was asked, you know, how do you
10:36try to create more of those turnovers with Kyle, with no Kyle Duggar, obviously that's
10:40tough.
10:41No Jabril Peppers.
10:42Like those are the guys you really think of as your playmakers on defense.
10:45Jelani to buy really hasn't been that guy the way he was last season.
10:48And he was saying, you know, we have a certain thing that we study every week where like
10:52which guys are holding onto the ball and they're being loose with it or disrespectful, which
10:56I kind of like that.
10:57And those are the guys they try to target and punch it out.
10:59Now, Caleb is not one of those guys.
11:01If he feels pressure, he does a great job getting two hands on the ball, especially
11:04when he's in the pocket.
11:05And then when he gets out, if he feels that rush or he really kind of holds it away from
11:09them.
11:10So it's going to be tough because again, Caleb Williams is not putting the ball in harm's
11:12way.
11:13So I'm pretty sure it's, this is probably going to be a very tight game.
11:15You're going to have to find some way to generate a turnover.
11:18And also obviously Drake, make sure he protects the ball and everyone in general to make sure
11:22you're not giving away free possessions.
11:24Shady McCoy, one of the most disrespectful players in NFL history with the football in
11:27his hands, holding that thing out like a loaf of bread.
11:30All right, let's get to the scrambling Taylor because DeMarcus Covington, Gerard Mayo, both
11:34asked about Caleb Williams this week and talking about his ability to use his legs.
11:38Mayo noting that he really scrambles to throw and not scrambles to run.
11:42And then Drake may, we've seen it the last couple of weeks, obviously ran for 95 yards
11:46last week on eight or nine carries, uh, had over 12 yards per carry.
11:50And he's also doing so with no design run.
11:52So he's making things happen, uh, breaking the pocket and things of that nature.
11:56So take us through a little bit how both of these guys use those legs of theirs to make
11:59things happen.
12:00Yeah.
12:01So it's kind of funny.
12:02Drake may obviously had more of his success as a scrambler earlier on when he was starting
12:06by throwing, but he has the Titans.
12:09They did such a good job getting back in coverage, Mac matching routes and zone.
12:12He was like, you know what you're going to rush for drop seven.
12:16I'm just going to take off.
12:17And I asked him about that.
12:18He said that was really more instinctive for him, but with Drake may, you have to be worried
12:21about both.
12:22He also said this bears defense plays a lot of zone.
12:24It was kind of funny because when he answered the question about the bears, I was like,
12:27so it sounds like you're going to be doing a lot of the same things.
12:30And ironically, the bears have actually been one of the worst defenses in the NFL when
12:34it comes to defending quarterback scrambles.
12:36I believe they've allowed the third most conversions since week five against those
12:40types of plays.
12:41So it could be a big day for Drake may again on the ground, but obviously you don't want
12:45him having to run to carry your entire offense.
12:48When you look at these guys on scrambles, again, all of these stats are since week six,
12:52we're only looking back about a month, which is, you know, three games and a little bit
12:55more for Drake may.
12:57And then three games for Kayla Williams.
12:58Now when you look at their run pass ratios, Drake may is about even, right?
13:02He's thrown 12 times, he's run 10 times.
13:05So you really don't know what you're going to get once he gets out of the pocket or,
13:08you know, if he's in those situations, it could be either, or Kayla Williams, like DeMarcus
13:12Covington and Gerard Mayo said, he does a good job of keeping his eyes down field.
13:17So his ratio is 15 passes to eight runs.
13:20So really you got to plaster on the back end.
13:22If he gets outside the pocket, those guys that need to make sure they have their eyes
13:25on the receivers.
13:26So there's no big play opportunities.
13:28And the guys in the front need to make sure that they're able to have good gap integrity.
13:33So when you have an opportunity to take down Kayla Williams, it's kind of like Ben Roethlisberger,
13:37where you need to be very careful with how aggressive you're being in your pursuit, because
13:41otherwise those guys are very good at making people miss.
13:44And when it comes to accuracy on the run, Drake may has been significantly better.
13:48Okay.
13:49With people over the past four weeks who've had at least 10 throws on scrambles, he and
13:54Patrick Mahomes are tied for the highest accuracy rate at 77.8%.
14:00Williams, not been quite as good, all right, worse than half of that.
14:04He's been 37.5% on scramble.
14:08So you still have to respect the ability because this dude has the flexibility, the arm strength
14:13and elasticity to be able to throw off of any platform to any part of the field.
14:17So the stats may say that, but you cannot let that let you be lax at day school when
14:23you're trying to corral him.
14:24And again, when you're on the back end and having to play that plaster technique.
14:27Now conversions, they're about the same.
14:29Mace had 10 conversions on scrambles, both from passes and runs.
14:33Caleb Williams has had eight, just a couple fewer, but they really scramble at about the
14:36same rate.
14:37Another big difference.
14:38Drake Mace had three big time throws while scrambling.
14:42Obviously last week had the great winter to Mario Douglas when he was rolling to his right.
14:46Caleb Williams has zero.
14:48So again, he hasn't been very threatening over the past month when he has broken the
14:52pocket, but you can't sleep on him, but just something to understand and kind of keep in
14:56the back of your head.
14:57Obviously something about him and his receivers not being on the same page, but also frankly,
15:01there's been times that I saw where Caleb Williams is trying to make one of those cross
15:04body throws and ends up throwing behind his receiver.
15:07Neither of these guys has turned the ball over when they scramble.
15:10That's really big because obviously young quarterbacks, one of your worst nightmares
15:13is them getting out of the pocket and having some kind of bow and head decision where they
15:17throw across their body like Matt Jones against Dallas into really bad looks.
15:21So these guys both obviously extremely, extremely dangerous on the run.
15:25The bears defense has been much more susceptible.
15:28So I feel much better about Drake May in that matchup.
15:31Obviously she talked about a strength against a weakness, whereas the Patriots, you're talking
15:34about their strength right now against not a weakness for Caleb Williams, but an area
15:39where he hasn't had much success because the Patriots have been one of the best defenses
15:43in the NFL over the past month against scrambles.
15:46According to PFF, at least they may have missed a couple, but they have them for zero conversions
15:50on scrambles.
15:51I'm not sure that's true.
15:52I think they had one, I know they had one against, uh, against, um, Mason Rudolph.
15:58I know Dietrich wives was upset with himself.
16:00He said, yeah, I kind of let the guy outside the pocket, but for the most part, they've
16:03done a really good job keeping guys contained, especially in passing situations, because
16:07what they'll do, they'll send five rushers and it's coordinated.
16:11So like we saw with Anthony Jennings, where he'll knife inside Keon white loops around,
16:16and then you have a defensive tackle, essentially spying in case there's an avenue to escape
16:20so he can spy that guy.
16:21So I'm feeling a lot better about the Patriots on these scramble plays, both on offense and
16:25defense, but you cannot sleep on the bears on either side of the ball either.
16:29Cause they were very good defensive team.
16:31And Caleb Williams is one of the most talented quarterbacks already in the NFL.
16:35There's, um, I think it's going to time up.
16:36Oh no, it's not.
16:37I wanted it to time up with one of those clips.
16:39It's the second clip in the reel and it's, it has to do with Gerard, not this one.
16:44It's the one of Caleb, not this play.
16:46The next one where he talks about scrambling to scrambling, to throw, not scrambling to
16:49run his ability to decide.
16:52I'm going to run.
16:53Wait, no, I'm, I don't like that lane.
16:54And then instead of not even panicking, but changing his mindset of I'm running, I'm breaking
16:59pocket in a different place and not just saying I'm still going to run because he's then able
17:03to reset, find something else and go downfield.
17:06That's very impressive to me.
17:07That's something where I feel like when you decide to run, you don't re decide to pass
17:11if you know what I mean, because you're just going to kind of go with it.
17:13But his ability to do that was pretty impressive.
17:15So going to be interesting to see like right here, you see like what the two hands on the
17:18ball.
17:19Yes.
17:20He thinks about running.
17:21Nope.
17:22He gets away and he makes sure up two hands just in case.
17:24So you'd love to see that out of young players.
17:25No, it's good stuff.
17:26It's like you said, it's, it's interesting where, you know, may may has the big playability
17:31right now.
17:32Not happening as much with Caleb, but you, you can't sleep on that, right?
17:34You can't use necessarily those stats or those numbers to be like, eh, he's not going to
17:38do it to us.
17:39You always got to be careful because we've seen it in college, we've seen in the pros,
17:42he can make things happen.
17:43All right.
17:44Let's talk about throwing the football again, specifically downfield throws.
17:46This is where they make their bread and butter.
17:47This is how a explosive teams want to play football and how you ultimately score points
17:52in this league.
17:53Drake may Caleb Williams have both done it a pretty solidly college in the pros, but
17:56take us through the real numbers on it and some of the film as well.
18:00Yeah.
18:01So ironically, these guys have actually struggled going downfield recently.
18:05Now Drake may in his first few starts with one of the better downfield passes in the
18:08league specifically on deep throws, but against the Titans, he went over five on those types
18:13of throws and was up and down.
18:15And I think he was three or five or something like that on intermediate throws, including
18:19some really rough choices like the interception that we've broken down or a turnover worthy
18:23play where he tries to target Kendrick Horne down the sideline and rather than throwing
18:27a back shoulder, he threw it inside and it almost got picked off.
18:31And then obviously the deep ball where he kind of under threw it.
18:34Now for Drake may, you're not thinking that's a longterm issue, right?
18:36You're talking about a very good Titans defense where again, there were some bad decisions,
18:41but also those guys don't make it easy.
18:43And the throw that he overthrew, that's very rare that Drake may is going to mess up situations
18:48was one of the most accurate, uh, deep or downfield throwers in the league before that.
18:52But when you actually look at the numbers since week six on throws of 10 or more areas,
18:56which are considered downfield 10 to 19 intermediate 20 or more is deep.
19:00They've attempted about the same number.
19:02So 37 for Drake may 33 for Caleb Williams.
19:05They are both bottom 10 in the NFL in, or at least they're high and uncatchable throw
19:10rate.
19:11So not only in terms of ranking, but top 10 in terms of the actual number, Drake mays
19:14at 43.2% of his downfield passes that haven't been catchable.
19:19Caleb Williams is at 48.4%.
19:21Then you look at yards per attempt.
19:23Also bottom 10 in the NFL.
19:24You've got Drake made 8.9 Caleb Williams, 7.9 passer rating.
19:28Stop me.
19:29If you've heard this one before bottom 10 in the NFL, 68.6 for Drake may 75.4 for Caleb
19:35Williams.
19:36Now for Drake may most of that, the bad has come from the turnover where the plays, which
19:40really kind of spiraled out of control against the Titans and kind of tanked his numbers.
19:44He has five return over where the plays on downfield throws, I believe that second worst
19:49in the NFL.
19:50Since he's become a starter, Caleb Williams, like I said, has protected ball very well.
19:54His only turnover worthy play was on a downfield throw.
19:57So obviously these guys have the talent.
19:59And like I said before, you don't want to sleep on Caleb Williams just because they've
20:02been inconsistent because he's way too talented.
20:05Drake may, I can very much see this being a bounce back game in terms of at least not
20:09putting the ball in harm's way.
20:10Now the bears do a great, great job, especially on the back end.
20:14They don't give up a lot of explosive plays.
20:17Tyreek Stevenson has like three pass breakups.
20:19They're one of the top teams in the league when it comes to getting their hands on passes.
20:23Not a lot of turnovers, but they do force in completion.
20:26So it's not going to be easy, but with Drake may, if he is going to push the ball down
20:29field, he needs to at least make sure he's not putting it in harm's way, both decision
20:34making wise and accuracy wise.
20:35Glad you mentioned, glad you mentioned Tyreek Stevenson in this talking about this game
20:39and not just the gaff he had against Washington a couple of weeks ago, it was like, yeah,
20:42that shit's going to happen.
20:43And yeah, maybe he should have been benched for a little bit like he was, but you know,
20:46a second or third round pick from two years ago, still a really good player.
20:50Someone you have to worry about, even though he did mess up, he, you know, he apologized
20:53for his mistake and all that crap, but I felt so bad, man.
20:55People were dogging him.
20:56I'm like, that was stupid.
20:57Like that was really stupid, but you're a young player.
21:00I think bears fans, once he apologized, I feel like they took it pretty well.
21:05So I mean, look, they're having, they're struggling in their secondary in the back
21:08end as well.
21:09Brisker has heard Jalen Johnson goes on IR, so they're going to need this guy anyway.
21:13So yeah, hopefully they, they, they realize that Stevenson's a pretty good player and
21:17it's going to bounce back.
21:18So all right, well, that's our breakdown on may versus Kayla Williams, number one versus
21:22number three.
21:24That's the really bears heavy stuff we're going to get to for this episode.
21:27We have a ton of mailbag questions that we took on Twitter, so we want to get to as many
21:31of those as possible.
21:32We're going to answer your questions.
21:33If you had guys have any more, we're going to try and do rapid fire.
21:36We only have about a little under a half hour cause the path beat guys are coming on
21:40right after us.
21:41So we'll get into a bunch of those.
21:43But before we do, let's talk about our friends over prize picks.
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22:29We have a Thursday night football prize picks lineup coming out on my Twitter, so make sure
22:34you check that out later on tonight.
22:36It's Bengals versus Ravens on Thursday night football.
22:39Two wide receivers in my lineup, so check it out.
22:42You know what?
22:43I'll just I'll just give it to you here.
22:44You can check out my tweet, but as long as you promise, you don't have to promise, but
22:48hop in on prize picks with us.
22:50I'm going with Zay Flowers to have more than 61 and a half receiving yards tonight against
22:55the Bengals.
22:56Flowers has had over 100 yards and four out of his last five games, and I'm going with
23:00Jamar Chase to have less than 10 receiving targets.
23:03I know they're without T Higgins, but they just got Trey White in there in the Baltimore
23:08back and they obviously have a bunch of other solid players there as well.
23:11So I think Joe Barrow is going to struggle to get the ball to chase tonight.
23:14If you like it.
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23:20play your first $5 lineup.
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23:29Run your game.
23:32All right, Taylor.
23:33Let's get to the mailbag.
23:34Get it.
23:35Well, I'm going to go to the chat first.
23:39Old man mob.
23:40I think we have old man mob in our tweets as well.
23:43So we'll get to him.
23:44What is the Patriot clock wood flag thing that's behind me?
23:48That is my cousin's, actually now husband who just got married, makes these, American
23:52palette design.
23:53I'll plug him right now.
23:55He makes them.
23:56So he made me that a couple of years ago.
23:59It's not a clock.
24:00It's a, you know, a palette with some paint and Patriots logo, but yeah, it's pretty cool.
24:03So old man mob, I'll hit you up.
24:05I'll hook you up with American palette design.
24:07We'll go from there.
24:08All right, let's go into the real questions now.
24:12First and foremost, Taylor, who's to blame for the Patriots lack of a running game and
24:17what has made this defense look so soft.
24:19So those are the kind of the two things outside of the kicking game that Mayo's mentioned.
24:22You got to be able to run the football, got to be able to stop the run.
24:25Pat's haven't been able to do either.
24:26Who and what is to blame?
24:28Yeah.
24:29So you could definitely say that like, oh, van Pelt isn't giving quite enough window
24:32dressing, right?
24:33Like he doesn't use a ton of motion in his run game.
24:36You know, with you look at a lot of these Shanahan West Coast offenses, they'll have
24:39the tight ends moving in different ways.
24:41It gives them some advantageous angles or gives them a little bit of momentum in their
24:45blocks.
24:46Sometimes, you know, you'll have receivers motion a certain way to create stress on the
24:49defense.
24:50That's not really in his wheelhouse.
24:51I don't think the Patriots hired him thinking he was going to be that.
24:53And I think it's kind of unfair for us to put that on him because there's a lot of coaches
24:57in the NFL that don't really subscribe to that type of motion.
25:00Now, that being said, the end of the day, like Rod Mayo says, at some point, you need
25:05to run the ball when they know you're going to run.
25:07The Patriots can't run the ball when teams have no idea that they're going to run because
25:10they're so bad at it.
25:11They don't really care that they're going to run.
25:13The biggest thing has been execution.
25:15Now, on the left side of the line was where I saw most of the issues last week where Darian
25:19Lowe acknowledged he did not have his best game.
25:22The offensive line did not have their best games.
25:24He had a miscommunication where he didn't hear a can call or they switched runs.
25:28There were some times where he and Michael Jordan's double teams weren't very good and
25:31you saw some penetration there.
25:34Or even sometimes where they would get to the second level and miss that guy.
25:38And then even on the right side, like Mike and when you mentioned today that he is kind
25:41of disappointed in how he's played this season.
25:43And I understand why he's been pretty inconsistent.
25:46And even on the right side with him and Demontre Jacobs, like there have been some flashes,
25:50but those guys really haven't really been doing enough either.
25:53Ben Jones has been solid, but I mean, you kind of expect it's not going to be great
25:57from him really.
25:58He's a replacement level player and that's really what you're getting.
26:01Although obviously his effort has been very good.
26:04Now with the Patriots putting Mike and one who had left guard, we talked to him about
26:07that today.
26:08Um, I asked him specifically, is it because of the ground game where you're trying to
26:11get more going?
26:12He's like, Oh, I actually don't know.
26:14Ask the coaches tomorrow.
26:15I'll try to ask Scott Peters, get a little more information on that.
26:18But putting Leighton Robinson in the lineup last week, knowing you were facing Jeffrey
26:21Simmons.
26:22My thought was this is because they want to get the run game going.
26:25Now Leighton Robinson is back in the lineup, which that in its own, I'm not upset with
26:31because the bears don't have a great interior, especially without Andrew Billings.
26:35So he's not going to have to face a Jeffrey Simmons and maybe this is a good week to get
26:38his confidence back.
26:39Yeah.
26:40I love the idea of putting Mike and when he went left one, because he hasn't played there
26:42in so long, we have no idea how comfortable he's going to be.
26:45I asked him, I was like, is that like wiping with the other hand?
26:48Like, is it kind of weird?
26:49And everybody laughed.
26:51I thought that was kind of a common thing.
26:52And I was like, I guess that maybe I sounded kind of crazy.
26:55But he did mention that.
26:56Yeah, it's really more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge, because everything's
26:59converted.
27:00And then on the right side of Leighton Robinson next to another young, inexperienced player
27:05and Demontre Jacobs.
27:07And they've never worked together because the right side has been Mike and when with
27:10one of two spots, it's never been two completely different people.
27:13So this is a huge shakeup of the offensive line that I mean, we'll see how it plays out
27:19if the run game is better because you have your two bigger, more physical guys in there.
27:23Awesome.
27:24But chemistry matters.
27:25And when you downplay it, when I mentioned the effect of chemistry and said, you know,
27:28really, it just comes down to doing it.
27:30But I don't know, man, that's it's going to be hard because you don't know how this other
27:34guy works necessarily.
27:35And when you did mention he and Darian Lowe have worked together before, back last season
27:40when Darian on the right side, though, right?
27:42Yeah, exactly.
27:43But Darian wasn't very good there.
27:45And I think he would probably say that if you asked him, the numbers tell you the story.
27:49I think he told me last year that he was much more comfortable on the left side.
27:53So and it's also different because for them, everything is flipped.
27:55So we'll see how it works.
27:57But at the end of the day, it's execution.
27:59That's what's made them soft.
28:00They're not executing well enough.
28:01That's been two, two and a half weeks in a row.
28:04Something's got to give because they cannot survive what Drake made dropping back and
28:08being the only way that they can get yards on the ground or produce on offense, period.
28:11Yeah, I don't I don't love all the shuffling.
28:14And I get Michael Jordan has been great and they want to try and get him out of the starting
28:18lineup and they trust Leighton Robinson clearly enough to try and throw him out there yet
28:22another time at right guard.
28:24But I like that you mentioned the lack of experience with both him and Jacobs on the
28:27right side.
28:28Yeah, you have Lowe, who's played pretty well at left tackle, at least in pass, bro.
28:33And I know who is relatively reliable, probably your best player right now on the offensive
28:37line.
28:38But switching him to a place that he hasn't played in, what, three seasons now?
28:42I don't love it.
28:43We'll see how it goes.
28:44But I want to.
28:45Yeah.
28:46Another thing I was talking to Brian about this after after practice, there are two players
28:51on the Patriots offensive line who have 17 games of starting experience and only one
28:56who has a full entire season of starting experience on one who's the only one with a full season
29:01of starting experience.
29:02The only one that I believe it's now 17 games is Darian Lowe.
29:05And they're also the only ones I believe that either have been starters at any point before
29:09this season or aren't rookies or like guys that never played before because Darian and
29:14Mike and Winner, who, surprise, surprise, have been your best offensive linemen.
29:17And then DeMontre Jacobs, Leighton Robinson and Ben Brown.
29:21So when people ask, oh, why isn't the offensive line playing that well, it's just as simple
29:26as the personnel where we got in again, Mike and Winner's not playing up to standard.
29:30But I don't think it's a coincidence that they're two best guys and their three best
29:33guys all season have all been people who have started multiple games and also are Darian's
29:39only 25 on the older side and at least have some experience.
29:43All right.
29:44I want to parlay the O-line talk into Cole Strange, who, according to Mark Daniels, is
29:48on track to play again this season.
29:50So if he comes back, Ben Brown struggling on the inside, but there's been flip-flop
29:54left, left guard, right guard.
29:56Michael Jordan played well early, has been playing well of late.
29:59What do you think is the best spot for Cole Strange to play if and when he does end up
30:02being healthy this season?
30:04It's tough because I have a different stance on this offensive line as they move people
30:08around every week.
30:10If the lineup they have right now works out and they are saying we need to put Cole in
30:13the lineup, also just because they love Leighton Robinson clearly and want to keep him on the
30:17field.
30:18I also think Demetre Jacobs every week is earning more and more respect because he's
30:21been solid, man.
30:23It's really hard to critique him given where he came from in terms of the fact that he
30:27was added on the first week of the season, missed training camp and is learning all this
30:31kind of on the fly and is going up against some elite players almost every week.
30:36I think they would want to replace Ben Brown.
30:38As solid as he's been, he doesn't really feel like a net positive.
30:42He's holding it down for sure and has been solid, but Cole Strange, I think on the field
30:46is a net positive.
30:47He's going to have his struggles, but he's still a good player.
30:49Now I don't know when exactly he'll play, even if he gets activated.
30:52The guy hasn't played since last December or January, I believe.
30:56So that's a lot of time to have missed.
30:58I don't think he's going to come back and be the old version of himself.
31:01It's going to take a while, but I would probably lean.
31:05I was thinking left guard maybe when I was thinking that Lane Robinson might not play
31:09for the rest of the season.
31:10Then I knew that Michael Jordan, the lineup, because he's had two really rough weeks.
31:14But yeah, for me, the most sense would probably be putting him in left guard and replacing
31:18Ben Brown.
31:19At center, you mean replacing Ben Brown?
31:21Yes.
31:22Because I'm of the opposite mindset.
31:24I think down the line center would make the most sense.
31:27Just, you know, David Andrews, you don't know how long he's going to be here.
31:30Cole Strange, if he can kind of rejuvenate his career and become a center.
31:34But like right now, putting him in, you don't know how much he's actually snapped football
31:38and gotten reps with the quarterbacks and things like that.
31:41And yes, it does seem like they like Lane Robinson, but ideally you still want to flip
31:45Mike back to that right side.
31:48Then you can put Cole Strange there.
31:49Ben Brown has been up and down.
31:51I know it's not great.
31:52It's just something down.
31:54I know.
31:55Seriously, it rhymes.
31:56But I just, again, my thing is like, all right, a guy hasn't played since last November.
31:59Put them at a spot where he's at least relatively comfortable.
32:02You don't have to worry about snapping and also getting back into game shape and things
32:05like that.
32:06But it's all it's it's too early to tell.
32:08I think, too.
32:09It's going to really depend on where this offensive line is when Cole Strange is actually
32:12ready to play.
32:13Also, Chris Price spoke to Cole today, go in his article.
32:17I'm not going to read the whole thing, but there was a quote where Cole said, I feel
32:20like we're kind of in the final stretch of the rehab process.
32:23I want to be out there more than anyone else wants me out there.
32:26I don't know when it's going to be, but it will be soon.
32:28We're reaching that day soon.
32:30Interesting.
32:31All right.
32:32We'll see what happens.
32:33All right.
32:34Let's look to the other side of the ball for the Pats going up against the Chicago team.
32:36What do you expect with the pass rush?
32:38Seems like a good chance for them to get right compared to any of the other games left.
32:43They're going to be likely without Darnell Wright and their offensive line has struggled
32:46all season long anyway, not you no longer have Josh Uche out there.
32:51But Keon Keon White has been productive pass rushing.
32:55I know you were tweeting a lot about that.
32:56You had a couple of stats out there.
32:58You talked to DeMarcus Covington about it today, even though he's not putting up the
33:01sack numbers, he's been productive.
33:03So is this what do you expect rather from the pass rush this weekend?
33:06I actually think they had a pretty good get right game last week.
33:10It was one of their most productive days rushing the passer.
33:13Anthony Jennings obviously is now an every down player for them.
33:15He looked really good when he was slanting inside or looping online games.
33:19Keon White was on the assisting and a couple of times looping around when Anthony Jennings
33:24was inside.
33:26Obviously not the quickest winner, but one of your better pass rushers, especially technically.
33:31But I asked DeMarcus Covington about the line games and he said that's always been a part
33:35of our defense.
33:36And I just think over time they've gotten better and better at that.
33:38And he also was asked about Keon White and the fact that he hasn't gotten a lot of sacks
33:41recently and Covington was like, yeah, I wish you could get a sack every game.
33:45But he said what I, what he looks at is how often Keon White's affecting the pass or how
33:49often any of his defenders are affecting the passer when they're rushing.
33:52And he said that Keon White does that on a consistent basis.
33:56And the numbers show that as well.
33:57He has more hurries than he does hits and sacks, but you do still see that quarterbacks
34:01are getting the ball out and then they're getting hit.
34:04So Keon White is making his presence felt and I think at the end of the day, that's
34:07the most important thing.
34:08Yeah.
34:09I'm sorry, I was trying to figure out where to transition here.
34:12I felt we had another pass rush question, but we didn't.
34:15But I agree.
34:16I'd like to see Keon get into the mix and continue to produce and keep himself going
34:21on the right track.
34:22Yeah.
34:23Well, I need to buy was pretty effective as a blitzer last week.
34:25Obviously, Kirsten Ellis, when he's won all the facts has been good in that role.
34:28So a little probably pass rush from there as well.
34:30Awesome.
34:31All right.
34:32Wide receiver.
34:33None are traded at the deadline.
34:34KJ Osborne, Taekwon Thornton, the ones people talked about, Kendrick Bourne, even in some
34:38rumors as well.
34:39But now the question is how the rotation is going to work.
34:42And I'll go quickly on this one.
34:45I don't think the rotation is going to change.
34:46I think Taekwon and KJ are still going to be your healthy scratches.
34:50Maybe KJ gets released.
34:51Who knows?
34:52At this point, it's been a couple of days.
34:53Now you wonder what he's thinking, if he even wants to go through that process or if he
34:57just wants to remain.
34:58But I think right now it's it's Taekwon and KJ on the bench.
35:01Javon Baker continues to get some reps.
35:04We'll see what happens with Jalen Polk.
35:05He's really not earning them right now, but he's a player that maybe you want him to just
35:10stay out there and work through it on the field.
35:11But we'll see what happens.
35:12But I don't really expect to see many big changes from wide receiver.
35:15I don't either.
35:16I just think if there's a change, we see more Javon Baker mentioned that he's probably going
35:20to see more snaps this week after getting open a couple of times last week.
35:23And every time Alex Van Pelt talks about Javon Baker, he sounds like a guy you want on the
35:29field.
35:30It's like he's got wiggle.
35:31He's elusive.
35:32He's good in his routes.
35:33You know, he's aggressive off the line.
35:34It's like, yes, yes, yes.
35:35Now, I want to see.
35:36Now, let's see.
35:37Yeah, exactly.
35:38Now, I think if Javon Baker has a good game, we could maybe maybe that's when they release
35:41KJ Osborne.
35:42I think they probably want to keep, you know, one veteran around just in case they really
35:46can't get anything out of these young guys or something happens.
35:51And that's really the only significant shakeup that I see.
35:52I think KJ Osborne and Type 1 Thornton, once again, will be out the scratches.
35:55All right.
35:56On this topic, then a quick one before we go to our game time break.
36:00Are these guys getting open on film?
36:01I know you've talked about Javon Baker a little bit here.
36:03He only had, I think, two routes ran.
36:05He got open on both of them.
36:06But, you know, that and the other guys, what have you what are you seeing from this wide
36:09receiver room?
36:11I see Keishon Booty get open pretty consistently, sometimes against more physical coverage or
36:15guys that are grabby.
36:16You can get kind of stuck.
36:17But he's competitive.
36:18Again, to Mario Douglas, Mario Douglas, enough said.
36:22Kendrick Bourne's been inconsistent.
36:23He falls a lot for some reason.
36:25I've seen two or three games where I'm like, dude, why are you on the ground?
36:29Also the route depth with him hasn't been great.
36:31He acknowledged that where there were two plays I noticed where he was short of the
36:34six on third down.
36:35So he said, yes, I'm getting my feet under me.
36:37I need to make sure I push past so I have space to come back to the ball and still get
36:40the first down.
36:41So Kendrick, Kendrick Bourne's been inconsistent.
36:43He was good on those like curls.
36:45He was getting open, just wasn't, you know, getting the proper depth.
36:49Hunter Henry always open.
36:51Austin Hooper for his skill set has been pretty solid in that regard too.
36:54So yeah, I think guys are getting open.
36:55The bigger issue I would think is like in zones when they need to make sure their spacing
36:59is good.
37:00And a lot of that's to do with the guys inexperience and sometimes getting thrown off their routes.
37:04Like there was one route where Keishon Booty is running a go, essentially a clear out for
37:07an out route from Mario Douglas in the slot.
37:10And Bourne got kind of bullied off the line of scrimmage.
37:12And it took him so long to get into his route that he and Pop ended up basically on the
37:15same plane as to Mario was coming out of the route and that essentially covered his up.
37:20So yeah, really against zone.
37:21I feel like more than man is where I see them struggle to create the kind of separation
37:25you want to see consistently.
37:26But I think that's just also part of the growing pains, but against man, they do a pretty good
37:30job getting open.
37:31Yeah.
37:32I'm glad you mentioned the spacing too.
37:33There's, there's been a lot of that.
37:34I mean, it happened a few times in, I think it was May's first game against Houston.
37:37I want to say where they were, or no, maybe it was Jacksonville where Jalen Polk, Hunter
37:41Henry.
37:42Yeah.
37:43I think something similar happened this past week as well.
37:45I know that doesn't necessarily have to do with getting open.
37:47More has to do with scheme stuff, but, and we'll talk about the scheme a little bit in
37:50a little while, but yeah, glad you mentioned that because that's, that's been an issue
37:53for them as well.
37:55All right.
37:56We're going to continue with the mailbag.
37:57We'll get to some questions in the comments as well.
37:59We have just under 15 minutes left here to wrap things up, but let's talk about game
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39:24What time is it, Taylor?
39:26Game time.
39:27Let's go.
39:28It's game time.
39:29It's also time to wrap up this mailbag with a couple final questions here.
39:34So we got this one, and I don't mean it sincerely to ask it.
39:38And the question is, who should replace Gerard Mayo next season?
39:41I don't think, and you don't think that they're going to fire him after one year.
39:44I want to turn this into a different question because I've seen a lot of Ben Johnson rumors
39:49out there from Detroit where he wants the perfect spot.
39:53Adam Schepter reported today he doesn't want to go to Chicago because there's issues there
39:57with ownership and things of that nature.
39:59But the rumor was that Johnson wanted to go to Chicago last year to work with a younger
40:04quarterback.
40:05The reason I'm saying this and adding layers to this, Taylor, is I'm curious to you.
40:10If the Patriots could land Ben Johnson as their head football coach next year, would
40:16you take him over Gerard Mayo?
40:23I just, I don't like the idea of firing a coach with this roster.
40:28I agree with that.
40:29It's so much an experience.
40:30I think it would be a really bad move and a bad look for the Kraft family.
40:34I think it would seem very rash, and I think most people and rational followers of football
40:39would be like, that, you screw that guy.
40:42So no, I think if there's another wonder kid who comes down the line in two years, then
40:47maybe for sure.
40:49And obviously you want someone who can maximize Drake and maximize the offense, and especially
40:54someone like a Shanahan who could stick around for a long time because he's the head coach.
40:57But at the same time, I think that there's so much buying from the players, even through
41:01all the struggles they've had this season in what Gerard Mayo was trying to build.
41:04And they understand this was not going to be a year where they probably know the playoffs.
41:07We all thought if they were, we all, sorry, I thought at least that if they were healthy,
41:11they did have a chance, right?
41:13Because the defense was supposed to be like top 10.
41:15And then the run game, you're thinking if city so is at left guard and he takes a step
41:18forward, you figure out the right side and then you should be able to have a good ground
41:22game.
41:23Obviously that didn't come to fruition.
41:24But yeah, I think it's a bad move.
41:26I selfishly would love Ben Johnson just because of what happened, but also, yeah, you have
41:30to think about reputation and all those things and what message you're sending to the league.
41:35And I think it will just look very reactionary if they let go of Mayo this quickly.
41:38Yeah, I think that's, that's the right way to look at it, where I would rather Ben Johnson
41:43to be the head football coach of the Patriots.
41:44And I think if they knew he'd come, they probably, that probably would be the right decision
41:50for the longterm.
41:51But there are layers to it.
41:54Like you said that, you know, you tell the team, you tell this guy, look, we're going
41:57to, we want you for the foreseeable future.
42:00We want to allow you and Elliot to lay the groundwork and turn this team around.
42:05And everybody knew before the year that it wasn't going to be a one year turnaround.
42:09So it's not like they're necessarily not meeting expectations because there weren't really
42:14that high of expectations.
42:15I don't think through ownership and things like that, but man, he runs a hell of an offense
42:21for those Detroit lions.
42:22And it's one of those things philosophically for me, I think in this day and age, I would
42:28rather a head football coach on the offensive side of the ball because quarterback and offense,
42:32it's that kind of league.
42:33It's most important.
42:34Your offensive coordinator, if he does well under a defensive head coach is going to go
42:37and take a head coaching job, just like Ben Johnson, where Detroit's going to lose Ben
42:40Johnson, but you don't lose them.
42:42If he's the offensive head coach, like a Sean McVay, like an Andy Reid.
42:45So it's a tough fence to kind of lean on right now, but it's obviously a hypothetical,
42:51but figured it's worth talking and kind of hitting with this comment in there.
42:55Also, I saw somebody mentioned that like he wouldn't, I know old man, mom said he wouldn't
42:59come here.
43:00I don't think that's true.
43:01They have money.
43:02They have math capital.
43:03They have plenty, like Drake May, Christian Barmore, Christian Gonzalez, like Mike and
43:08Wenu.
43:09They have a lot of like, Keon White, but they have very good core pieces.
43:14You need to build around that.
43:15But if for whatever reason, you know, Ben Johnson was asked, would you like to be that
43:19coach of the Patriots?
43:20I think this is one of the hottest destinations because you've got your quarterback, two premium
43:23positions filled and plenty of capital over at least this year or probably over the next
43:27few years to fill everything out.
43:29I think the quarterback's massive.
43:30You're totally right.
43:31And I think that's a reason why he would come here.
43:33And the rumors are have been for the last couple of years.
43:35He's being super selective.
43:36He doesn't just want to go to the highest bidder or a team that just, you know, a not
43:42a random team, but he doesn't want to just jump too fast because he likes what he's doing
43:45in Detroit.
43:46I think the Patriots may be an open-ish checkbook for him to come here.
43:51And obviously a quarterback who would seemingly be at the very least fun to work with in Drake
43:55May.
43:56So I agree.
43:57I think he would at least think about it, but it's hypothetical that we don't know about.
43:59All right.
44:00I want to go to the chat with the super chat.
44:02Thank you, D for the cash.
44:04We appreciate you.
44:05And it has to do with what we were talking about before, and it's the wide receivers
44:08and the route sequencing and spacing.
44:10So why do you think it's been so bad?
44:12So what I typically notice is the young guy will sometimes get thrown off, like bumped
44:16in zone coverage, which sometimes that'll just slow you down so much that, and that's
44:20the big part of it.
44:21That's why, like, especially like defensive coaches will get so angry if they watch a
44:27team play zone and not reroute anybody, because then you're literally just playing on air
44:31and against good quarterbacks, like the Patriots, every single time, really, they do it all
44:35the time, but especially when they play Mahomes and Kelsey, Kelsey is like, is a living hell.
44:41They do everything they can to make sure that he isn't just able to run his routes.
44:44They want to throw off that timing.
44:46And when you're running routes downfield, it's even more important because if you're
44:49the clear out route and someone kind of knocks you off and it takes you just like half a
44:53second to gather yourself, that hurts the person who's running underneath you because
44:56it allows the zone defender to be able to midpoint a little bit more.
45:00Also, I just think for young receivers, it's hard to know where exactly you are on field
45:03consistently.
45:04So I'd say those are probably the biggest factors that I've noticed.
45:07Yeah.
45:08All right.
45:09There's another film question here that I want to hit on as well.
45:13And I guess I don't have it, but I agree with everything you said on the on the wider receiver
45:17spacing.
45:18It has to improve.
45:19And thank you, D, for the super chat.
45:21All right, let's go back to Elliott Wolfe and this this draft class, because right now
45:28it looks like they've kind of only hit on Drake May and it's super early.
45:31They've only played nine games, but Jalen Polk not looking good, Javon Baker not seeing
45:36the field.
45:37We were we were having the debate.
45:39Was it last night on on Pats daily or on the on the crossover, rather, who has been the
45:43most promising and best rookie outside of Drake May and it might be Marcellus Dial right
45:47now.
45:48And so is the draft class already a bust?
45:51And yeah, what do you think of the class as a whole right now?
45:53You can't even judge a rookie class on their first season, much less, you know, the first
45:59half of their entire career or their first the summer season rather of their careers.
46:04Now, obviously, the walls got hurt late in Robinson was thrown into the fire against
46:08some very good competition.
46:10Obviously didn't look great, but they clearly see something in him that they like.
46:13Javon Baker's on the rise, at least it seems that way on the outside.
46:17Jalen Polk, yes, is struggling.
46:19And then like Joe Milton wasn't going to play anyway.
46:21Jaheim Bell is someone they say is on the rise.
46:23Now they need to show it on the field.
46:24I don't really care what they're doing in practice because it needs to translate.
46:29But yeah, this is way, way too early to be casting any judgment on these guys.
46:34It's one thing if like a guy so bad, you cut him or like it's an Amir speed where,
46:37you know, that was in the same situation they were trying to create room.
46:40But yeah, unless you end up cutting a guy because he's so bad, which rarely happens
46:44unless you're something off the field.
46:46Yeah, this is a big fat incomplete.
46:48Even for Drake May, we don't know what he is yet.
46:50It's because like last week was one of the worst things of his career so far in terms
46:54of turning the ball over.
46:55And now it's like, OK, can you bounce back next week to where we say, oh, that was a
46:58blip on the radar or does it snowball?
47:00And then we say, oh, we may have to be worried about Drake.
47:02So yeah, it's way too soon.
47:04Way too soon.
47:05I do agree, though, with the with the talk about Jayvon Baker and the talk about Jaheim
47:09Bell.
47:10It's like, look, I understand that there are, you know, there's storylines and you want
47:13to, you know, I guess tell us and understand that, no, these guys are, you know, they're
47:17going to be impactful.
47:18But I don't really care until it happens.
47:20So, yeah, Jaheim Bell looks like he could be a potentially solid player, a third tight
47:24end here.
47:25And Jayvon Baker, they're talking about him.
47:27We got to let it happen or we have to see it happen rather.
47:29But you're you're 100 percent right on.
47:32We can't grade these these guys out yet because quarterbacks have had great starts and ended
47:36up being bust and vice versa, where the the example that I think of over the last couple
47:41of years, who a wide receiver specifically, who did not start hot at all and has turned
47:45into one of the better players in the entire league is Nico Collins in Houston, who had
47:50a really rough start to his his tenure in Houston.
47:53And I don't know if he was necessarily making mental gaps or mistakes on the field like
47:58Jalen Polk has, because, you know, I didn't watch every single down from Texans games,
48:01but he wasn't productive.
48:02He was someone who was sort of an afterthought as a second or third third round pick, I believe,
48:07of the Texans.
48:08Now, all of a sudden, yeah, he's on IR right now, but he's CJ Straub's number one guy and
48:11has become one of the best players in football.
48:13So let's be patient with this draft class and see what happens.
48:16And also the full office and also the coaching staff to a degree like patience, a lot of
48:21youth on this team and inexperienced.
48:23So, you know, you got to give them some some air to breathe.
48:25Definitely.
48:26All right.
48:27Let's talk about the Duggar rumors.
48:28Do you think there was anything to that?
48:30I don't.
48:31I think it's it.
48:32The way I read everything was teams called on Duggar and the Patriots said no.
48:36I think it would be a bad look if they signed this guy to not only the transition tag, but
48:42then the extension was like, you know what, we actually don't want you to be here.
48:44So I thought it was BS.
48:46But your thoughts on that.
48:47And I want to tie in the Duggar injury as well, because he didn't practice again today.
48:51Not a good outlook for him, at least against Chicago.
48:54So what would not having Duggar do to the Patriots against Chicago unless they were
48:57getting a stick around pick?
48:58I did not think there was any chance they were going to trade him.
49:00I think they were on the same page where people probably called and they were like, no, that's
49:04it.
49:05That's really all I think about that.
49:06Plain and simple.
49:07The injury.
49:08Yeah, it stinks because one thing that we mentioned on the show is that the Patriots
49:11have been getting killed by toss plays an outside zone to the perimeter and to Marcus
49:15Covington.
49:16Actually, who else?
49:17I asked Christian Gonzalez.
49:18I asked him about it yesterday and he said, yeah, you know, we get paid to cover, but
49:20you also have to help out the front and do your jobs and, you know, be tough to make
49:23those tackles.
49:24And today, DeMarcus Covington was asked about the run game struggles and he said, yeah,
49:27perimeter force.
49:28You've got to set the edges.
49:29Not with the ball.
49:30Get outside.
49:31I was like, yeah, yeah.
49:32He said it.
49:33He said it.
49:34Oh, but yeah, that's a Duggar in a lot of that was because in a lot of the packages
49:38that we've seen, they've struggled against shotgun run specifically to the outside.
49:43And what they'll do against teams that run a lot of RPOs like you've seen the past couple
49:46of weeks with the Jets and the Titans is when they get to the receiver side where they
49:51think the RPO is going to be coming from, instead of having a slot receiver there, they'll
49:54have the safeties in the slot receiver switch roles.
49:57So the cornerback has more range.
49:59They're going to play the backend and some kind of split safety look.
50:02And then you have the safety in the slot to be able to handle the RPOs or be the force
50:06in the run game.
50:08Usually that's peppers or it's Duggar.
50:10Now it's been Martin Mapu and Del Pettis.
50:12Now those guys, they, I love their effort.
50:16They're intense guys, but at the same time, Del Pettis is like five foot 11, 200 pounds,
50:21not small, but not big either.
50:24And then Martin Mapu is not the biggest guy either.
50:26You can see it in his frame.
50:27He should not be taking on a lot of blocks or work in the run game, which is why I like
50:30him better.
50:31And it's Evan McCourty role where he's a free safety and he's in man coverage and a robber,
50:35not really in the mix with the run game.
50:37But one, the recognition hasn't always been great.
50:39Like Del Pettis was seconds late on a couple of explosive runs allowed.
50:43Then Martin Mapu has been involved in a few of these outside plays, just not super physical.
50:48A lot of the times we'll try to go over or under blocks.
50:51And sometimes you kind of screw yourself by doing that, by taking, take yourself out of
50:54the play rather than just engaging.
50:56So at least you have the ability to go inside or out as needed.
50:59So yeah, with the injury, it stinks because one, you lose a playmaker.
51:03I think on the back end, in terms of coverage, they've been fine.
51:06Martin Mapu has gotten burned a few times where they have misdirection and he's like
51:10two seconds late to figure out what's going on.
51:13And then he has to kind of recover.
51:14But in the run game is where his, him being absent has really been felt.
51:18So not going to play probably this week.
51:20He's missed two straight practices again with the ankle injury, but hopefully he can come back next.
51:24Yeah. Losing a captain too.
51:26It is a curse to be a Patriots captain this season.
51:28Oh my gosh.
51:32All right.
51:32We only have a few minutes left here too.
51:34So let's take one more and we'll focus in on the Bears because that's who they play on Sunday.
51:38Has there anyone in film study, in game prep that has made you go,
51:42sir, I owe you an apology.
51:43I was not familiar with your game.
51:45Not exactly that, but I will take this opportunity to plug my boy, Austin Booker.
51:50I loved him coming out of Kansas.
51:53Is it Kansas or Kansas state?
51:54What's the one with the Kansas?
51:56Yeah.
51:56I'm really long dude.
51:58A lot of tools.
51:59The funny thing is he was known as a pass rusher coming out of college because
52:03like you look at his highlight reel, even like his pressures and sacks,
52:07his sacks come off of like a ton of different moves.
52:10And that was what got me really excited.
52:11I thought, Hey, draft him as a situational pass rusher.
52:14And like the fourth round or wherever, I think he got taken in the third.
52:16Yeah.
52:16Draft him there.
52:17Let him be that.
52:18And then get bigger and be a better run stopper.
52:20He's actually been a better run stopper.
52:22Like he's got that length and he's used it really well anchored down.
52:25And he's been a force against the run set in the edge.
52:27But as a pass rusher, he's done very, very little and looks extremely raw,
52:31which is really surprising.
52:32I didn't expect that.
52:33So he's definitely maybe someone who stood out to me when I was watching.
52:37And then Darnell Taylor is actually really solid player.
52:40He's been really when Montez what was out?
52:42He was the guy who was getting most of their pressure.
52:44So I'll kind of highlight those two edge guys for from bears.
52:47Love it.
52:48All right.
52:48Well, we got to get out of here.
52:49We only have two minutes before the Pats beat guys.
52:51Come on, Alex and Brian coming up with their Patriots versus Bears preview.
52:55So if you're here, make sure you stick around on the channel.
52:58Hang out with those guys for the next hour as they preview the game as well.
53:02Myself and Taylor will be back on Sunday for some Patriots versus Bears coverage.
53:07We'll also have you covered on the channel all weekend long leading up to it.
53:11So follow rate review.
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53:22Taylor.
53:23Yeah.
53:23No, I'm talking to stuff.
53:24I got to get us off on a good note before we wrap it up for the weekend.
53:28So thank you guys for watching.
53:29We appreciate it.
53:30As always, thank you for the question.
53:31Sorry, we're unable to get to all of them on a bit of a time crunch here.
53:34But thanks for watching.
53:36Take care of yourselves.
53:37Take care of each other.
53:38And we will talk to you next time.
53:39Peace out, everyone.