In a solo episode of Pats Interference, Andrew Callahan explains how Drake Maye made two crucial leaps against the Colts, and why the Patriots ended up losing Sunday despite their best offensive performance of the season. Plus, he answers your questions about Jerod Mayo, Eliot Wolf and potential offseason plans. All that, and much more!
************************************************
Patriots Content Brought to you by....
💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS at PrizePicks.com/CLNS & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!
🎫 Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!
Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com
************************************************
Patriots Content Brought to you by....
💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS at PrizePicks.com/CLNS & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!
🎫 Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!
Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Okay, so I know I've made this promise before.
00:13I start out late on Monday night, say, it's me, you, which is going to be again here today.
00:17We got fill notes, we got mailbag, we got lots to get to.
00:21And I've broken that promise, I think every single time that I've made it.
00:25That promise being, hey, we're going to go short tonight.
00:27Well, tonight, I promise you, because an end of season tradition for your boy has
00:32come early, in which point, as soon as the Patriots stop playing football, I start to get sick.
00:37Nothing major, probably a little bit of cold, but we're going to get in today.
00:40I'm going to give you Drake May's two big leaps that we saw on Sunday,
00:43despite another devastating loss.
00:45Patriots are 3-10, they stink, that's not new.
00:47The sharp pain at the end of this, though, with Anthony Richardson going in for
00:51a two-point conversion, obviously new, not a whole lot of fun.
00:54So spent a lot of time today with Drake May after I wrote about the defense,
00:57post-game Sunday, we're going to do offense, defense.
01:00We need to talk, because again, no game balls, Patriots lose, so
01:03we sit somebody down, face to face, we need to talk, what would NFL film say?
01:07And they get to your mailbag questions, which actually hit on a quote that if I
01:11was writing a column today, instead of 2,000 God-knows-how-many-words-for-the-herald,
01:15I would have written about this quote from Gerard Mayo that he gave reporters this
01:19morning in the typical morning after press conference that I think got completely
01:23glossed over in the coverage this morning.
01:25I talked about it with Doug because he handles that stuff for us on Mondays.
01:28Anyway, we will get to that, and I think it's like 14 mailbag questions.
01:31So when I promise it's going to go quick, either my voice is going to give out,
01:35the clock is going to run out, or
01:36my computer is just going to shut down because it's sick of looking at me.
01:39Anyway, moving forward, Drake May, two big leaps, his best game as a pro,
01:43his most accurate game as a pro.
01:45And before we get into the how and why of that, let's pay some bills.
01:48Number one, game time, okay?
01:50You probably don't want to go see the Patriots when it's freezing cold and
01:53they're playing the Chargers and the Bills.
01:55Those are the only two home games left.
01:56But if you want to get tickets to a Celtics game, or a Bruins game, or
02:00a concert, or a show, and the holidays are coming up, go to game time.
02:03Because at game time, you will spend less money than you would anywhere else in
02:07the secondary ticket marketplace.
02:09And they give you 110% guarantee if you do find a lower price elsewhere.
02:13But you won't, just go to game time again.
02:15NBA, NHL, NFL still.
02:17If you do want to come to New England, come hang out with me.
02:20Go to game time for that lowest price guarantee, plus game time picks,
02:23which filters out all the fluff, all the bad deals, only the good seats,
02:26cheap prices right in front of you, and all in pricing.
02:28So no pesky fees at the end.
02:29And best of all, if you download the game time app today, create an account,
02:33use code CLNS, you get $20 off your first purchase.
02:37Terms do apply.
02:38Again, create an account, use code CLNS for $20 off.
02:41Download game time today.
02:42What time is it?
02:43Game time.
02:44Now, while you're at the game, if it's not so good,
02:46I'm gonna give you something else to download.
02:47Prize Picks, America's number one daily fantasy sports app.
02:50Prize Picks, you know, I play.
02:52Last Sunday, well, it was on the pod, whenever the pod came out.
02:56I gave you two winners.
02:57Hunter Henry, more than 43 and a half receiving yards against the Colts.
03:00Their bottom 10 defense versus tight ends.
03:02That was a layup.
03:03He gets 75.
03:04Drake May, more than 0.5 touchdowns.
03:07With that lineup, you could have won double your money.
03:10And with as few as four correct picks at Prize Picks,
03:12where you build a lineup with four players, your favorite players,
03:15whatever it is, they come with stats.
03:16You go more or you go less in each one.
03:18There it is, it's that simple.
03:19You can win it to 100 times your money.
03:21With as few as four correct picks, you make them in less than 60 seconds
03:24and turn your takes into real money all season long.
03:27My new favorite feature, Venmo.
03:28I've told you before.
03:30I use it, it's quick, easy.
03:31My money gets back to me in less than 15 minutes.
03:33So sign up today.
03:35Play with me, play Prize Picks and get $50 instantly
03:38when you play your first $5 lineup.
03:39You don't even need to win to get that bonus.
03:42Just download the app today.
03:43Use code CLNS for that $50 bonus instantly
03:46after you play your first $5 lineup.
03:48Prize Picks, run your game.
03:50Okay, Drake May.
03:51So what is this big leap?
03:53What is this sudden thing that he did on Sunday
03:56when you were watching with me?
03:59And he's playing really well.
04:00We can all see that.
04:01But what's underneath there
04:02when you kind of pop open the hood with Drake May?
04:04Well, number one, he didn't turn the ball over,
04:07which we talked last week.
04:08I'm not worried yet.
04:10I'm keeping an eye on it though,
04:11that he seemed to be not regressing,
04:14but making plays in college
04:15that everyone was a little bit worried about.
04:16The hero ball throws, the I need to do everything plays,
04:19which were understandable,
04:20but over a long period of time
04:22for a young guy building habits,
04:23I don't care if you're playing quarterback
04:25or you're at an internship,
04:27you need to do things the right way.
04:29This wasn't that.
04:29Well, he, for now, fixed that.
04:32Zero turnover-worthy plays for Drake May.
04:35So no picks, no fumbles, no drop picks,
04:38no inviting a fumble, okay, that he recovered.
04:40Nothing, zero, huge improvement.
04:42Number two, and this is the big one of my film review,
04:44which you can always read at thebostonherald.com,
04:46or if you're, I actually pick up a paper from time,
04:49yeah, that's going to say a dinosaur.
04:51I don't want to dismiss myself and you at the same time,
04:53but if you want to pick up a paper, it's in there too.
04:55Number two is anticipation, okay?
04:58And the reason this is important,
04:59I'm going to go back to a cookout that I did not attend.
05:03In May of 2021, this came up as I was doing background
05:06on Elliot Wolfe back in the spring.
05:08Patriots runoff, this is getting together.
05:10Everyone's coming out of COVID,
05:11off season starting to die down, draft is over.
05:14Elliot Wolfe is at this cookout,
05:15but he's not the defacto GM yet, and this is 2021.
05:18Matt Groh isn't even in that role yet.
05:20This is at Dave Ziegler's house,
05:22former director of player personnel here,
05:25more recently the Raiders GM,
05:26since then fired now with the Saints, I think.
05:28But at this cookout at Dave Ziegler's house
05:30where all of the Patriots runoff is,
05:31Ron Wolfe shows up, Elliot's dad, Hall of Famer,
05:34former Packers GM, built that 1996 Super Bowl team,
05:38Super Bowl team that went and lost the Broncos two years
05:40later, and so eventually after a couple of drinks,
05:42as I heard from multiple people at this party
05:44in writing my profile, Elliot Wolfe,
05:47someone asks like, hey, what's the secret to a quarterback?
05:50And he gives three traits, arm talent,
05:53which obviously we know Drake Mayhew has in droves.
05:55Number two is accuracy, accurate enough in college.
05:58He's certainly gotten better,
05:59and this is something that functionally,
06:01mechanically you can improve on in the pros.
06:03He's done that.
06:04Number three, the third most important trait,
06:07according to this Hall of Fame GM,
06:08father of the man now running the Patriots,
06:11who learned at his knee since he was a teenager,
06:13was anticipation.
06:15So when I look at Drake May against the Colts,
06:18convert five first downs on passes that leave his hand
06:23as or before his intended target is making a break
06:26on his route, that's it right there.
06:30I don't care if it's man coverage,
06:32I don't care if it's zone coverage,
06:33Drake May hit a new high with his anticipation
06:36on Sunday against the Colts,
06:37where yeah, the overall numbers are good.
06:38Again, you knew he was playing well.
06:4024-30 for 238 yards, a touchdown and a pick,
06:4459 rushing yards, 41 of those on a scramble,
06:46but it was the anticipation.
06:48Two third down throws to Hunter Henry right on the money
06:52before Hunter Henry turns his head around.
06:54The ball is there, boom, 16 yard touchdown,
06:56Austin Hooper, he's breaking towards the flag
06:59on that corner route, right over the shoulder,
07:01touchdown, Kendrick Bourne.
07:03I tweeted this clip out, going over the middle,
07:05finds a soft spot on cover two.
07:07Okay, Hunter Henry holds the nearby hook defender,
07:11Kendrick Bourne slips in behind,
07:13ball right in stride right there
07:15before Bourne gets into that window.
07:17He had another seven yard out,
07:19Austin Hooper still tweeted it.
07:21This is not the last step for Drake May,
07:24but it's a crucial one because there are good,
07:26let's say average NFL quarterbacks
07:28that go through their entire careers
07:30needing to see an open window
07:33before they deliver that ball.
07:34They wanna see the receiver break,
07:36they wanna know that he's open, then they throw it.
07:39Great NFL quarterbacks know the window is going to come open
07:43or create it themselves with these types of throws.
07:45Again, Drake May did that five times against the Colts.
07:48Ooh, you could say, okay,
07:49these are not like the 2000 Ravens, 85 Bears,
07:51or even the Eagles this year, fine.
07:53But you go back and watch those throws.
07:56And if you'd rather look at the stat sheet,
07:57here's the number for you.
07:58A CPOE, completion percentage over-expected, plus 10.3%.
08:04Meaning, Drake May, yes, had an 80% completion percentage.
08:0824 of 30, 238 yards, pretty good.
08:11Based on the proximity of the defenders to his receivers,
08:14how far these throws were and how tight the windows were,
08:18his expected completion percentage was only about 69.
08:21Still not bad.
08:22He did 80.
08:24This spoke to his anticipation,
08:27his arm talent, and his accuracy.
08:29This was an outstanding day for him.
08:31So whether you look at the stats,
08:33you wanna look at the clips,
08:34and granted, the Colts play
08:35a pretty straightforward scheme, right?
08:37It's a cover three base, they didn't blitz a whole lot.
08:40When they did play man, he killed them.
08:41Touchdown to Hooper, 41-yard scramble,
08:43couple hour-out completions to Hunter Henry.
08:46And they did sprinkle in some disguise cover too,
08:47but it didn't matter.
08:49He sifted through the disguise.
08:50He beat the tight man-to-man coverage
08:52with these anticipatory throws,
08:54which gets to the point of,
08:56there's no defense for a perfect pass.
08:59And if this kid, who can throw the ball
09:0370 yards downfield with a flick of his wrist,
09:05who can scramble for 41 yards,
09:07the third longest play of the season
09:08for the Patriots, by the way,
09:10is now making 12-yard corner routes,
09:14or eight-yard out routes,
09:16or skinny posts and hitting them between the numbers
09:19on the move against different types of coverage,
09:22there's nothing he can't do.
09:24I'm not saying this will continue.
09:25I'm not guaranteeing anything.
09:27But this was a leap.
09:28This was different from Drake May.
09:30Whether you look to the traditional box score,
09:32or the advanced metrics, or the clips that I tweeted,
09:34those anticipatory throws
09:35can and will take him to another level.
09:37He needs to do it again and again.
09:39But this was a first step,
09:41and a big one for a kid
09:42who's not even taking steps anymore.
09:44These are leaps.
09:45He's at eight starts.
09:47And he was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL this week,
09:49and it was no accident.
09:51So good stuff from Drake May.
09:54One thing you wanna knock him on,
09:55he did escape a couple of pockets
09:57a little prematurely going to his right.
09:58That's where he likes to go, where he likes to escape.
10:00A lot of right-handed quarterbacks who can run do that.
10:03One of them resulted in a sack.
10:04A couple others didn't, but just something to monitor.
10:07Critical areas.
10:08Patriots won the turnover battle, two to one.
10:10Doubled up the Colts in explosive play rate.
10:12They had a similar success rate.
10:14Colts were at 58.5%.
10:16Patriots are at 59.5%.
10:17So again, just staying on schedule.
10:19How often are you doing this?
10:20Red zone efficiency.
10:21We'll get to this in a second.
10:22Patriots, two of six.
10:23Colts, three of four.
10:25Defensive pressure rates were about the same,
10:2628% for the Patriots.
10:28Colts pressured May about 30% of the time,
10:30which honestly, great number
10:31for this Patriots offensive line.
10:33So those are the five factors.
10:34Determine most, if not every single football game.
10:36But sometimes they can be weighted differently.
10:39Whereas you know, you can have fewer turnovers,
10:42more explosive plays, a similar pressure rate,
10:45a higher success rate, and still lose the game
10:47because you did not convert in the red zone.
10:51Now, we could talk about how the Patriots
10:53had really high success rates in 11 personnel,
10:56two tight end personnel, and Alex Van Pelt mixed it up.
11:00We saw the shovel pass to Hunter Henry,
11:01and Marcus Jones is on the field,
11:03and they're really carving up this cover three defense
11:05the way Josh McDaniels used to, okay?
11:08Drake made an attempt to pass that was more
11:10than 16 yards past the line of scrimmage,
11:12according to the next-gen stats.
11:13This was, we're going to carve you up,
11:15and they did it over and over again,
11:16but you don't want to hear that.
11:17Like, you saw the yards.
11:19In the end, it didn't matter.
11:20Why didn't it matter?
11:21It's because they had scrubs in the red zone,
11:22and here's what happened.
11:23Number one, opening draft, okay?
11:26They get down third and one, two,
11:30and Kendrick Bourne is running a shallow crossing route,
11:33a concept called mesh, okay?
11:34And I think it was Keishon Booty
11:35or Demario Douglas on the other side.
11:36Actually, it wasn't Douglas,
11:37but I think it was Keishon Booty on the other side, okay?
11:40And on mesh, these two shallow crossing routes,
11:42the coaching point for most teams is
11:44when you go across the middle and you start to intersect,
11:46you should be able to high-five the other receiver
11:49just by holding your hand up.
11:50They actually do this in practice,
11:51and so what these two shallow crossing routes do
11:53is if it's man coverage on mesh,
11:55okay, one of those guys is going to spring open.
11:57That's generally how you get open
11:58versus man-to-man coverage.
11:59Either traffic, again, two intersecting shallow crosses,
12:02or you just kind of pull away from the guy.
12:05If it's zone, these will stretch the horizontal
12:08zone defenders in the hook area,
12:11and what happens behind them,
12:12behind these two shallow crossing routes,
12:13is a tight end or a receiver or whomever
12:16will run what I call like a stab route.
12:18Some people call it over, a stop, whatever.
12:19You basically run from one side of the field,
12:2245-degree angle, up and over,
12:24eight, nine, sometimes 10 yards,
12:25turn around and stop right over the middle, okay?
12:29So you go up and stop underneath these crossing routes.
12:32If it's man coverage, one of them is open.
12:33If not, they're going to pull those defenders
12:35over the middle one way or another,
12:38and then there's the guy in the back
12:39all the way that's open.
12:40What happened was Kendrick Bourne,
12:42running a shallow crossing route, did that.
12:44Hunter Henry stopped, and then so did he.
12:47You look at the clip of that play.
12:49Kendrick Bourne stops right in front of Hunter Henry,
12:51who's about to spring open for a touchdown,
12:56and sometimes a coaching point on Mesh is to stop,
12:58but not right in the middle of the intense target.
13:00Who should've had a touchdown?
13:01What happens instead?
13:02Drake May takes his sack.
13:04Mike Unwendu gives it up to DeForest Buckner,
13:05but after four seconds,
13:06you don't really blame Mike Unwendu.
13:08You do blame Mike Unwendu, though, for the next rat,
13:10which resulted in a field goal instead of a touchdown,
13:14despite the fact the Patriots got to the two-yard line, okay?
13:16Drake's now at the reminder of Stevenson.
13:18He goes right.
13:19It's a G lead play, meaning the guard on the play side,
13:22wherever the running back is running,
13:24pulls around ahead of him, okay?
13:26And Mike Unwendu held on for a split second too long, okay?
13:30But that split second mattered
13:31because it took six points off the board.
13:33So first and goal in the two was the first and goal at the 12,
13:36Leighton Robinson, rookie left guard.
13:37Actually played decent, I thought,
13:39for a guy who had two ticky-tack holding penalties,
13:41gave up a couple of pressures.
13:42First start at left guard, by the way,
13:45in college or the NFL, okay?
13:47Then it's first and goal at the 22.
13:49You're just not gonna give her.
13:50The next one, May gets a touchdown to Austin Hooper.
13:52Great throw, corner route.
13:54Last one, this is the one I had an issue with
13:55when people get on Alex Van Pelt for the play calling.
13:58He gets down there, 41 seconds left,
14:02first and 10 from the 11, run play.
14:04Okay, don't love it, timeout.
14:06Second and nine from the 10, 30 seconds left.
14:09Run it again.
14:10And even though that play got six or seven yards,
14:13you have to call timeout,
14:14and now you basically have to throw
14:15because you're out of timeouts.
14:17And what do the Colts do?
14:18They get a stop.
14:19I'm not sure why they weren't throwing to begin with.
14:21I think the Patriots were too concerned at that point
14:23about the clock as opposed to just scoring.
14:25Alas, what are you gonna do?
14:27Third quarter, Hunter Henry has that,
14:28God, I don't know how else to put this.
14:31A kick in the nuts is what it was.
14:34Drake May rips this low pass
14:35away from the incoming defender.
14:37Probably a little bit too hot,
14:38but what else are you gonna do in that situation
14:39for Hunter Henry?
14:40You've stopped, turned around,
14:41found the soft spot in the zone,
14:42and he bobbles it, falls backward, back on the goal line,
14:46and then it goes up in the air
14:48into Colts' hand, interception.
14:50Patriots are three feet from a touchdown.
14:51It might clinch the game right then and there.
14:53Oh, by the way, Joey, so I missed the 25-yard field goal
14:56after that, Alex Van Pelt, whatever, and a half.
14:59Not great.
15:00But after that, they get another touchdown.
15:02Antonio Gibson runs it in for 11 yards.
15:04And the bottom line is here,
15:06as much as people like me and maybe you
15:08wanna get on play calling for games that frustrate you
15:11when they get over 400 yards for the first time this season,
15:14their most yards in a game since week three of 2022,
15:19sometimes it's bad penalties.
15:20Sometimes it's dumb route running.
15:22Sometimes it's just bad luck.
15:24And in this instance, it was all three or four of them, okay?
15:27So that's what I had offensively.
15:29It was a really good day.
15:30Drake made a huge leap.
15:31But when you have those mistakes
15:33and that critical, valuable real estate
15:37that can swing games and did, as we saw on Sunday,
15:41that's what wins or loses games.
15:42Now, I would argue the defense lost this game
15:44as much as the offense, if not more.
15:45Couple more offensive notes.
15:47Antonio Gibson forced seven missed tackles against the Colts.
15:52That's the most anyone's done
15:53since late October in a Patriots uniform.
15:55He, the last three weeks,
15:56quietly has been better than Ramondre Stevenson.
15:58And it's been by, I would say, a solid margin.
16:01Stevenson, by the way, fumbling problems are back.
16:03He's had one in each, or excuse me,
16:06two in the last three games.
16:08He recovered both, but running backs
16:10should not have six fumbles in a season,
16:13let alone six fumbles in 13 games.
16:15That's where Ramondre is right now.
16:17Better day for Demario Douglas.
16:20More than half of the targets and catches
16:22went to him and the tight ends.
16:24Again, short area of the field.
16:26They're gonna eat right there.
16:28His route detail has cost the Patriots in completions,
16:31maybe that turnover against the Rams at the end of that game.
16:34But he secured all four targets,
16:36thumbs up for him, and Jalen Polk.
16:38Saw one target, didn't catch it
16:41because he sat down in short zone
16:43and then slid to the right
16:44as Drake May was about to throw him the ball.
16:46Arm was cocked, ball was coming out,
16:48and he decided to move last second
16:50and that ball went to where he was
16:51as opposed to where he was going.
16:53So, Drake took responsibility for that pass.
16:56Rewatching it on tape today,
16:57I'm inclined to think maybe if Jalen Polk
16:59just sat where he was, he would've caught the ball.
17:01We'll never know.
17:02Speaking of the rookies, Jayvon Baker, two snaps,
17:04Jaheim Bell, four.
17:07Okay, you guys are on the field, cool.
17:09And Jacoby Brissette got in for one snap,
17:12third and one in the second quarter
17:14as a fake quarterback sneak specialist
17:17because Kendrick Bourne took a jet sweep on that play.
17:20Got the first down, went for six yards.
17:21It was nice, but I don't know what else to say.
17:26Defensively, so mentioned the Colts
17:28had a similar success rate to the Patriots.
17:30They only had two explosive plays all game,
17:32and this is how that Colts offense is built.
17:34Anthony Richardson, as we talked about
17:36with Kendrick O'Regan last week,
17:37is going to throw the ball deep
17:39or he's gonna run with it.
17:40Sometimes it's designed, other times it's scrambled.
17:42They didn't give up those deep passing plays,
17:45so they came very close late in the game
17:47and actually benefited from at least one drop.
17:50So the Patriots, again, just said,
17:51just like Miami, we're gonna stay
17:53in a base three safety personnel grouping.
17:56I don't mind that.
17:57It means a lot of zone, keep eyes on Richardson.
17:59And their preference was to play cover three.
18:01So you had this soft zone look, single high safety,
18:04corners more often than not.
18:05There are different versions of cover three.
18:07We're taking deep thirds as well.
18:09And it allowed them to,
18:11sometimes they wanted to pack the box.
18:14And when they did so, they still had enough speed
18:16to defend the pass, again, often in zone if they wanted to,
18:18because they had three safeties
18:19as opposed to a three, four personnel grouping,
18:21one safety deep, two in and around the box,
18:24or sometimes play a two deep structure if they wanted to.
18:27And the results were mixed.
18:28Because again, the Colts just kept running
18:29and running and running.
18:30They didn't give up the big play though,
18:32but their first drive was eight plays.
18:35All eight were successful,
18:37either staying on schedule or ahead of the chains.
18:41Can't have it.
18:42Later on, Covington dialed up more man-to-man
18:44and more blitzes to disrupt the Colts on that last drive,
18:46which of course ended 20 plays
18:48when you include the defensive pass interference
18:50or the two point convergent, or both, and it's 21.
18:53Patriots had actually thrived in off-main coverage,
18:55which again, is designed to,
18:58I'm playing you man-to-man one-on-one,
19:00but I'm either peeking a little bit into the backfield
19:03or looking at your hips to know when
19:05and where you're going to break.
19:06And this, again, you play off to prevent the deep pass,
19:09but also if you're the Patriots, play to your strengths.
19:11They did, and Christian Gonzalez gets a pick
19:13in off-man coverage, which is great.
19:15But the more the Patriots did this,
19:17Richardson attacked Kyle Duggar for completion.
19:20Alex Austin, who played a season high in snaps,
19:23more than he had actually all season before Sunday,
19:25over Jonathan Jones and Marcus Jones,
19:27who were just giving up way too much height to Alec Pierce
19:30and, forgive me, Michael Pittman Jr.
19:32We talked about this with Karen.
19:34It's going to be a bad matchup for the Patriots.
19:36Well, they said, we're not even going to give you
19:37the matchup.
19:38Alex Austin plays, he's 6'1", Jonathan Jones,
19:39Marcus Jones, you can take a seat.
19:41Except, Alex Austin did not officially give up a catch,
19:45had two pass breakups.
19:47Actually, officially, he did give up one.
19:49He also had a defensive pass interference penalty.
19:51Even if it's iffy, the Colts went to the soft spots
19:54when the Patriots were in man and converted anyway.
19:57Duggar gave up a catch, Austin the catch on the last drive,
19:59defensive pass interference penalty.
20:00Marcus Jones got very lucky on a deep pass
20:03that got dropped as well.
20:06Now, again, the drive still took 20 plays.
20:08There were three fourth down conversions.
20:10The Patriots just had to make a play and didn't.
20:12And a lot of that was a front.
20:14And I don't want to hear about Devon Gottschall saying,
20:17well, I did my job on that last play,
20:19when Anthony Richardson goes a gap over next to me
20:22through to win the game.
20:24Jabril Peppers, when he first came back,
20:27feel about that wherever you want,
20:30said, we just had to be better up front.
20:31He's right.
20:33Colts ran for 144 yards.
20:35They only had 66 after contact.
20:39Okay?
20:40And it's not like the Patriots are missing tackles.
20:41They only missed three.
20:42So their line was bullying the Patriots up front.
20:45So they had a fine coverage plan,
20:47which worked out to differing degrees.
20:49What didn't work is you just can't win
20:51when you're getting your butt kicked up front.
20:52And that's exactly what happened.
20:54So Gonzo had a pick.
20:55Christian Ellis had a pick and a tip.
20:57Nice play by Jelani Tamai, by the way.
20:59No one had more than pressure.
21:01Yannick Ngakwe had a second quarterback hit
21:02in as many weeks.
21:03Ellis also had a quarterback hit,
21:05but that was on the play where the Patriots
21:07at the end of the first drive.
21:09Red zone, again, just can't get lined up.
21:12And the Colts go hurry up.
21:14And they get a four by one set.
21:15And everyone on the right side clears out.
21:18They're all crossing around back towards the middle.
21:20Back, Jonathan Taylor leaps into the right flat.
21:23No one's got him.
21:23He walks in.
21:25Touchdown.
21:26Run stuffs.
21:27Daniel Akwale might've even played better
21:28than Devon Gacho, if we're being honest.
21:29He had a run stuff.
21:31Gacho only had three tackles.
21:32Peppers had one.
21:33Gonzalez had one.
21:35Okay, it says something when a secondary
21:36is playing the best run defense, okay?
21:39And granted, they were in nickel or dime most of the game,
21:43but your big guys up front had to be better,
21:45and they weren't.
21:46So I think that about covers it.
21:49Look, again, mixed stuff up on that last drive.
21:52The Colts had a good call on the two-point conversion.
21:55Split the defense, as Pepper said.
21:57I don't think Christian Ellis converged
21:59as quickly as he should've.
22:01It's a difficult play when you've got an option involved
22:03and a little bit of route on the same play,
22:05but the bottom line is a lot of people,
22:08some of the press box, knew that it was gonna be Richardson,
22:10because Richardson is what had been working, okay?
22:12Quarterback sweeps, quarterback power.
22:14That's where it went.
22:16They didn't stop him.
22:17They lose the game.
22:18One more note on that play, though.
22:19Christian Barmore 100% goes on the record to Mike Reese,
22:24and you'd see enough reporters tweet this
22:26after he probably talked to them, too.
22:28And I talked to Christian.
22:30We didn't talk about this, though.
22:31He had a case that he was illegally held,
22:34grabbed from the waist, from behind,
22:35and a shot blocked at the same time.
22:37So yes, the referees absolutely whiffed on this.
22:41I don't wanna hear, though,
22:42that the refs were biased against the Patriots,
22:44because the Patriots got whistled
22:45for a lot of penalties and the Colts didn't.
22:47You look at the rankings for penalties per game,
22:50Patriots are at the bottom, Colts are at the top,
22:52among the fewest penalties taken of any team in the NFL,
22:55okay, but in this instance,
22:56yes, the Patriots did get screwed,
22:57because Christian Barmore makes this incredible swim move
23:00right in the gap that Anthony Richardson is coming at.
23:02And instead, his man pulls him down
23:04from the waist from behind,
23:06Quentin Nelson pulling around, topples him from the top,
23:09he's flying this back,
23:10Richardson goes through for a touchdown.
23:12And that sinks, it happened.
23:15Christian Barmore also kind of splitting his work down
23:17between run and pass, 31 snaps,
23:20a little bit less than he had in Miami.
23:21The difference now is,
23:23whereas he was pretty much a pass rushing specialist,
23:25his first two games back, he's now more early down work,
23:28because he was about even between run and pass.
23:31Okay, we need to talk.
23:32So we skimmed over this in the offensive section.
23:37Penalties, four Patriots offensive linemen,
23:41again, whether the calls were ticky tack or not,
23:43got flagged for holding in the first half alone.
23:46The only one who did not was Ben Brown,
23:48who people wanna talk about Colt Strange playing center.
23:51Ben Brown's not the problem right now,
23:53but the problem is going from first and goal at the two
23:56to first and goal at the 22.
23:57Can't have it, no excuses.
24:00Like that's just it.
24:01You can kick a field goal there,
24:03you cannot go back 20 yards on your own.
24:06And so whether it was Vidarian low late in the game,
24:09late in the first half,
24:12Lane Robinson twice, Mike Onwenu,
24:14who honestly just had a bad game.
24:15He also gave up a third down run stuff
24:17after the first interception,
24:18third and one, doesn't realize
24:20that they've checked to a new play,
24:22blocks around guy,
24:23Ronder Stevenson goes down for a two-year loss.
24:26You can't do this, okay?
24:28And this is on coaching with Scott Peters,
24:30we know he's a rookie,
24:31offensive line coach leading a room for the first time,
24:33but he's got plenty of support.
24:34He's got two assistants.
24:35Like most of these guys, except for Lane Robinson,
24:37are vets, even Ben Brown didn't have a career start,
24:41but he's been around the league long enough.
24:42And granted, he was the only guy who didn't have a hold,
24:45but Demantre Jacobs, like these are costly penalties.
24:49These are ruining an offensive effort
24:51that should have put you over 30 points,
24:53maybe over 34 points, and it didn't happen, he lost.
24:56And you can play the blame game
24:58or divide the pie, however you want.
25:00I'm going to tell you, everyone gets a slice,
25:01but save a big one for the biggest guys in the room
25:03because four holding penalties really blew it.
25:06Five total for four guys.
25:08What would NFL film say?
25:09Okay, so you don't want to hear about this
25:13in the fictitious hour long review of the season,
25:15but I'm going to tell you the nostalgia
25:17is going to paper over a lot of that pain to start,
25:19because if you are making this documentary
25:22about the 2024 Patriots,
25:23you are going to hit hard on the history.
25:26Pat Schultz, Brady Manning, fast forward,
25:30rebuilds for both teams, young head coaches,
25:33new quarterbacks, okay?
25:35Could this be the start of a new rivalry?
25:37The answer is, yeah, we'll find out.
25:39But bam, Richardson touchdown, boom.
25:43Jelani Tavai pick, May answers
25:46with this perfect throw to Hooper that you know,
25:47because it's in the corner of the end zone
25:49where you always have these cameras,
25:50is going to get that slow spiral treatment
25:52as it's coming down to the dramatic music.
25:54Hooper over the shoulder, pass the pylon, touchdown.
25:57Gillette going nuts.
25:59This is like old times again,
26:00a tight game, a competitive game,
26:02a game people care about.
26:04If you're the Colts, you're still in the hunt.
26:05If you're the Patriots,
26:06you just want to get in the win column before the bye.
26:09So after that, you have Patriots take a lead into halftime.
26:15Comeback, Christian Gonzalez pick, okay?
26:18Time to put it away.
26:19They can't.
26:21So the Patriots, even though they get
26:23that Antonio Gibson touchdown obviously,
26:26leave the ball to their defense to stop it.
26:29Head into the bye, on a break, go ahead and do it.
26:32Fourth and three, Colts convert.
26:34Another fourth down, Colts convert.
26:36Fourth and two,
26:41fourth and goal at the two, Colts convert.
26:44Okay, but here's the thing.
26:45It can stop here.
26:46They can still win everything slow-mo.
26:48You get the radio call from the Patriots.
26:49You get the radio call from the Colts.
26:51Richardson takes a snap, fake to Taylor, up the middle.
26:54Boom, silence.
26:55He goes in, scores.
26:56That is how they play up this game.
26:59Unfortunately, the Patriots took three and 10.
27:01Pando, a devastated Mayo.
27:03Drake, Mayo the podium.
27:05It's heartbreaking.
27:06And then boom, black.
27:08So enough boom, enough this, enough that.
27:10Enough, what would NFL film say?
27:11Okay, we're going to get to the mail bag
27:12and get you out of here.
27:15This was on, I said,
27:16every question answered edition for the Patriots.
27:18Some people are just mad at Mayo.
27:20If you are, it's completely fine.
27:22I think today was a mess for him, frankly, messaging-wise.
27:26I mean, I in with the reporters,
27:27but you just might not have your question
27:29if your question was really more, why does he suck?
27:32Big Whiskey from Blue Sky.
27:34Follow me on Blue Sky.
27:35Asking how secure the coach's jobs for 2025.
27:38Obviously it was going to be a rebuilding year,
27:40but a shocking amount of penalties and a lack of defense.
27:42Firing a rookie head coach after one year
27:44to sign a tumultuous organization,
27:47but if better options are available,
27:48would the Crafts do it?
27:50So I told you off the top,
27:52I had a quote that Mayo gave today.
27:55Not a disaster, but I didn't think it was picked at enough
27:57in the subsequent coverage,
27:58which is not to call on my colleagues.
28:00I was busy today and we'll get to it
28:03probably later this week.
28:04The quote was, Mayo saying, quote,
28:08we're still focusing on the season.
28:10He's talking about what he's going to do over his bye.
28:11Someone asked him, what are you going to do?
28:13Quote, we're still focusing on the season, obviously,
28:16but you also have to look out the front windshield
28:18of things that are going to come up on us fast.
28:20And those are some of the decisions or conversations
28:23that I'll have during the week.
28:25Now, your first thought might be,
28:27oh, for agency, he's going to look at Tee Higgins tape.
28:30I'm going to look at Tee Higgins tape.
28:32Oh, he might be talking about the draft.
28:33Calvin Banks Jr. or Travis Hunter.
28:36I'm looking at those guys too.
28:38And I would encourage you to watch college football.
28:40It's awesome.
28:42I find it a bit, that's not what he's talking about.
28:45He's talking about coaching changes.
28:47So to Big Whiskey's question,
28:48how secure are the coaches jobs for 2025?
28:51I would all but guarantee
28:52you were going to have a couple of assistants, if not more,
28:55let go after this season.
28:57Because as soon as the season is over,
29:00the regular season is over,
29:01that's when you start to hear head coaches go.
29:03And that's when you hear about coordinator firings.
29:05That's when you hear about assistants moving about.
29:07And already you have teams like the Bears and the Jets
29:10who lost their head coaches.
29:12So a lot of those assistants and their agents
29:14or their buddies or their whatever
29:17are going to be making calls,
29:18starting to think around, ask around.
29:20Where could I be next season?
29:21Who's going to have an opening?
29:22And the Patriots, surely disappointed
29:25as we've talked about in this podcast before
29:27with their receiver play and their offensive line play.
29:30And more importantly, their development
29:32at receiver and offensive line.
29:34And you could probably throw some defensive positions
29:36in there as well.
29:38Might be asking around,
29:39can we do better than Tyler Hughes?
29:41Can we do better than Scott Peters?
29:43What are our options?
29:45And the options of course are going to dictate what they do.
29:48But they know, or they should, you hope,
29:51that they were at a disadvantage last year
29:54because of how long it took to build their staff.
29:56And a lot of people told them no.
29:59Whether it was coordinators or whether it was assistants,
30:02didn't want to be here, didn't know what it was like.
30:04Drake May changes that to some degree.
30:06In the last four games,
30:07he might also change the calculus for some assistants.
30:10I would say though, the higher up you go,
30:12the more job security there is.
30:13I have a really hard time believing
30:15the Crafts would fire Drodd Mayo.
30:17Roberts, anointed future coach for five years
30:21after one season when we all expected them
30:23to lose 12, 13, 14 games.
30:27And right now they're tracking to be three and 14.
30:29Okay, and it's been worse.
30:31I'll give you that.
30:32But then you go down to the coordinator level,
30:35Karen Garrigan plugged in.
30:39My gal told you she expects at least
30:41one of the coordinators to go.
30:42Is it Alex Van Pelt?
30:43Is it DeMarcus Covington?
30:44Is it Jeremy Springer?
30:45I don't know.
30:46But I would say down below them,
30:47you will see changes on both sides of the ball.
30:49So that's my answer for you.
30:51Built to last, quote,
30:52what specifically have Mayo and Wolf done
30:54to justify another year at the helm, end quote?
30:56Well, they got hired less than 12 months ago.
30:59Okay, and I'll say this.
31:01If me giving you reasons or answers to your question
31:05is gonna upset you because you think the answer is nothing,
31:07then just hit fast forward, okay?
31:10So what I would tell you is, again,
31:12that timeline of when they were just hired
31:14for a long-term rebuild is what matters.
31:17Pain was expected here.
31:19And it doesn't make it any easier to watch,
31:21whether you're in their jobs or you're on your couch
31:23or recording on this podcast,
31:25but they were hired for a multi-year job, okay?
31:29Number two, Elliott drafted Drake May,
31:31which we talked about before.
31:33I think it's revisionist history for people who are like,
31:35oh, it was a layup.
31:36Some people wanted the trade back,
31:37including, I think, Bill Belichick, if he was still here.
31:39Other people wanted them to take Bo Nix
31:41or JJ McCarthy or Marvin Harrison or Joel Alt, okay?
31:44They didn't do it.
31:45And they had some pretty good offers on the table.
31:47So the rest of the draft class, open season, go nuts.
31:52For agent class, it's like Austin Hooper and that's it.
31:57But these are new guys in new positions
32:00whose goal was not to win this year.
32:02It was to develop and find out who they have
32:04and start to reload this upcoming off season, okay?
32:07They're not there yet.
32:08I think they'll both get there.
32:10Badger, similarly, with Elliott Wolfe being named GM
32:13after Kraft hired Mayo,
32:14do you think Wolfe has the power to fire Mayo
32:16or does he have to go through the Krafts
32:18slash just Kraft making the decision?
32:20Elliott Wolfe does not have that power, no.
32:23They have kind of a parallel power structure,
32:25both reporting to ownership, their line and their vision
32:28and their goals and their statements and values
32:29and all that stuff.
32:32My understanding is, and don't quote me on this,
32:34but the reason the Krafts don't have a general manager title
32:38is because that presumes that they're
32:41overseeing the entire football operation.
32:43It is a, everyone's favorite word six months ago,
32:45collaboration up there.
32:47But no, if Elliott Wolfe wanted to fire, drive Mayo,
32:50that's not his decision to make.
32:52I'd rather be playing pinball.
32:54What's your take on Mayo saying that
32:56if they had taken timeouts during the Colts' final drive,
32:58the offense would have had less time to operate
33:01than the 12 seconds Drake May was left with?
33:04Didn't get it.
33:05That was part of the reason I thought
33:06if messaging was a mess today.
33:07I don't know what he was talking about.
33:09There was a lot of stuff there.
33:09They go, I was in his shoes,
33:12I would have said a lot differently.
33:13That's near the top of the list.
33:14Corey, if ABP comes back next year,
33:17should the Patriots trade Romandre Stevenson?
33:19He's just not a good fit for outside zone.
33:21So I disagree with you on the second part.
33:25As for trading Romandre,
33:26who's top 10 highest paid running back right now,
33:29and as we said earlier, is being outperformed
33:31three, maybe four weeks now by Antonio Gibson.
33:35I look into it.
33:36Draft another guy.
33:37Keep Gibson around.
33:39Michael Hastie, if he wants to come back, fine.
33:41Third down running back, third running back,
33:43whatever you want to call it.
33:44I think they should draft there regardless.
33:46I don't know what Stevenson's value would be.
33:48Not very good.
33:49Because other teams are saying,
33:50well, why am I going to take him
33:52if I can just draft a running back myself?
33:55So that's my answer.
33:56It's not scheme specific,
33:57but just in terms of assets and allocation,
34:00there's no real opportunity cost
34:02to keeping Romandre at this price.
34:04It's not prohibitive to keep him here
34:06and you're not going to not sign Tee Higgins
34:08because Romandre Stevenson's on your roster.
34:09I'm just saying the value does not meet
34:11the contract right now,
34:12which is never what you want to have.
34:14Though inevitably, you'll have some so-so
34:16to bad contracts on your team
34:18because that's just life in pro sports.
34:20Lawrence, hey Andrew,
34:21why do the bye weeks run from weeks five to 14
34:23when there are two weeks in between
34:26with no byes?
34:27And are the beat writers off this weekend?
34:29So kind of you to think of me.
34:30I will be off because you can probably hear my voice
34:32slowly start to go.
34:34I'm going to rest up.
34:35It's been a long stretch since July
34:38and not in this like, oh, boo-hoo kind of way.
34:41It's just, look, you work six days a week,
34:4310, sometimes 12 hours,
34:45sometimes longer on a Monday.
34:47You want that break?
34:48It's coming.
34:48I'm going to take advantage.
34:49I do not know though,
34:50why the NFL runs the byes the way it does.
34:54If I had to guess, it's certainly TV related
34:56because that's where the money is
34:58and money is what they care about.
34:59So if I were a commissioner,
35:01you would not have a bye past Thanksgiving
35:05because I think it's just ridiculous for these guys.
35:06Forget me sitting here and writing and traveling
35:09and going to the stadium,
35:10asking questions and doing whatever.
35:11Like you play football
35:12and you practice football for this long.
35:14End of July all the way to almost,
35:16you know, the early part of December.
35:18Is that a break?
35:19It's nuts.
35:21Kurt, my brother was happy in Patriots loss
35:23because he wants the best draft pick possible.
35:25I wanted the team win to build a better culture.
35:27Who's right?
35:28And can I disown him for the rest of the season?
35:31Kurt, you do whatever you want.
35:32That's family business.
35:34I would say though,
35:35you can lose and still build culture.
35:39It's harder.
35:40Like we talked about with Karen,
35:41you know, champions have champion habits
35:45before they're crowned, right?
35:46Like that's how you get there in the first place.
35:48Then obviously you need to perform,
35:50but you also need the carrot still to be dangling there
35:53or to not feel like it's totally out of reach,
35:54which when you lose and you lose and you lose,
35:57even if you're putting in more work,
35:59it starts to feel that way.
36:00So I would say you guys can split the difference
36:03and agree and hope that maybe they win one game
36:06of their last four.
36:08Ideally you would have made that before the game on Sunday,
36:11which was their most winnable game left,
36:13but neither of you are wrong.
36:16It's just going to be a lot harder for a team
36:17that I think has struggled with this culture
36:18to build a better culture without winning.
36:20So it's kind of a mealy-mouthed answer, but there you go.
36:24Junior, if you're Tee Higgins,
36:25what team do you pick next year?
36:26Patriots, Chargers, or Steelers?
36:28This is not close for me, and it's not a knock.
36:32It's not personal to any of the franchises,
36:35but you let me play with Justin Herbert,
36:36best quarterback on those teams.
36:38And Drake May could very well be close
36:40to Justin Herbert's level next year
36:43or maybe past in a couple of years.
36:45But I live in LA, I play indoors,
36:49and I've got a coach who has won a national championship,
36:51been to a Super Bowl and two other NFC Championship games,
36:54and has already turned the team around
36:56and what year I'm going to the Chargers.
36:57Oh, not to mention, by the way,
36:58I'm getting a ton of targets
36:59because it's me and Lab McConkie.
37:01That's it.
37:03Ed, in your opinion,
37:04will the Patriots win any of their last four games?
37:06Or are they destined to go 3-14?
37:09I do not believe in destiny, Ed,
37:11so it doesn't change the likely answer of no.
37:16I think, honestly, their most likely win
37:18would be the Bills in Week 18 if Kansas City,
37:21which has a brutal schedule down the stretch,
37:22they get to play Denver,
37:24they're playing the Chargers on Sunday.
37:26There's a game at Pittsburgh on Christmas.
37:29The Chiefs lose two games, the Bills...
37:33Or excuse me, if the Chiefs lose one more game
37:35than the Bills down the stretch,
37:36Buffalo has the head-to-head tiebreaker, obviously,
37:38so they will not need to do anything else
37:42to get the one seed.
37:43If the Chiefs do lose two games, though,
37:45and the Bills don't,
37:46the Bills can rest their starters in Week 18
37:48and lose and still get the number one seed.
37:51So that is my scenario, which I think is most likely.
37:54If not, though, they're going to be all out
37:56to get the one seed.
37:57That's a problem.
37:57No one's stopping Josh Allen.
37:58He's going to get the MVP.
37:59So I don't think they'll win any of their last four games,
38:01but I'm not completely ruling it out.
38:04Crazy as that might sound.
38:06This is a first on the pod,
38:07and we got four more questions.
38:11Oh, excuse me, five.
38:12New Hampshire Comets, 18 plus white.
38:15We have a softball team writing into the podcast
38:19or someone who thought they were tweeting
38:20from a different account.
38:21Why are certain people in the Boston media
38:24covering for Mayo, and what is obvious?
38:26He's not ready to be head coach and needs to be replaced.
38:28Look, I got this question before, softball team.
38:34You just have to be specific, because it's not me.
38:37It's not the people that I think of and work with.
38:40It's not because I'm covering for my friends
38:42or anything like that.
38:42I just don't see it.
38:45If you have a certain question, I want to point them out.
38:48I think I'll know a better idea of what you're talking about,
38:50but I just don't agree.
38:51And look, at least for me, I certainly am not.
38:55Pop, any laughing in the locker room yesterday?
38:58No, there was not.
38:59I tweeted, as other people did,
39:01some joking in the locker room.
39:02Got some, I don't want to say like flack for it,
39:06but a couple of guys asked me about it.
39:08Not too pleased.
39:09Last week, which happens,
39:12because it certainly came up on their end.
39:13But no, there was not.
39:15This was as silent as I've heard it in a long, long time.
39:17And that, I think, speaks to something
39:18we talked about last week,
39:19the difference between losing 24 to nothing at halftime,
39:2231 to nothing early in the fourth quarter,
39:24knowing, hey, we're going to lose this game.
39:26This sucks.
39:26And processing it on the sideline for about an hour,
39:29then going into the locker room,
39:30versus thinking you were going to win
39:33until your kicker tries a 68-yard field goal
39:35that honestly, for most of the time, it was in the air,
39:37looked like it might go in.
39:39Then you lose after giving up a 20-play drive to lose it.
39:42That's a gut punch,
39:43that you are crawling into the locker room
39:45without any oxygen in your lungs,
39:46then trying to figure out what the hell happened.
39:48That is the big difference, I think,
39:49between the locker room Sunday in Miami,
39:51versus the one we had this weekend at home against the Colts.
39:55So, three more.
39:57David Roman.
39:59Explain how Indy can grab randos off the couch
40:02to play offensive line yesterday,
40:03completely dominating the run game
40:05and keeping the quarterback upright
40:06while our offensive line can't run a play without a penalty.
40:09What are the coaches doing in Indy
40:10that they can't manage to do in New England?
40:12So, it's funny because I think the in-season,
40:17aside from, you know, trading Josh Uche,
40:18whatever you gotta pick for him,
40:20the best move that Elliot Wolfe has made
40:23was signing Demetri Jacobs, who's starting at right tackle,
40:25and doing it at least a replacement
40:27or just below replacement level.
40:29That's been a minor miracle.
40:31So, they grabbed a rando off the couch, and it's working.
40:33They don't have enough of them.
40:34As far as what's going on in Indy, I don't know.
40:36I know what's going on in New England is inconsistency,
40:39inability to get down to the fundamentals,
40:41and good for them with the Colts,
40:44because Anthony Richardson should have a shot.
40:45And by the way, I said this earlier, I'll go back up,
40:49their defensive pressure rate for the Colts,
40:51or for the Patriots, excuse me,
40:52was about the same as the Colts.
40:5328% for the Patriots is the time
40:56they got pressure on Anthony Richardson.
40:57The Colts got pressure on Drake May 30.7% of the time,
41:00so I didn't see a big difference there.
41:01Tamita, given how poorly Elliot Wolfe is drafted,
41:04should the Patriots just keep their first round pick
41:06and draft the best blue chipper available?
41:08I don't trust him to trade down
41:10and then choose the right players further down the board.
41:12So I don't say this because this is the GM that I cover
41:15and have written about and have spoken with in interviews.
41:18I say it because, just like a rookie quarterback
41:21or rookie head coach, one year is not a big enough sample,
41:24unless it is a complete and utter disaster.
41:26Not to mention, specific to GMs,
41:28the draft is a crap shoot anyway.
41:30And the biggest dice roll that he took
41:32came up whatever the best case scenario is in craps,
41:35and that was Drake May.
41:36So whoever you think how hard or easy it was
41:39to draft Drake May, he did it, they nailed it.
41:41That is the most important piece, okay?
41:42They have, theoretically, for the next decade or so.
41:47Now, Caden Wallace might be a suitable right tackle.
41:50We don't know.
41:51He's been hurt, that's your third round pick.
41:52Lane Robinson is working through rookie growing pains
41:54that you expect for rookie offensive linemen.
41:56That was your fourth round pick.
41:57He might come around, as Shaq Mason once did,
41:59as this run-blocking, you know, good guard
42:02who just needs time to develop and learn how to pass protect.
42:05Even if you nail those three picks out of the seven,
42:09it's a good draft.
42:11Now, those are a lot of ifs in the back end
42:13with Wallace and Robinson.
42:16And Jalen Polk, obviously, I just skimmed over.
42:17But I'm just going to tell you, wait and see.
42:2012 months from now, 18 months from now,
42:24you want to declare a grade on this draft?
42:25Fine, it's just a little too early right now,
42:28and that goes for any other team
42:29that just drafted last April.
42:32Last one, I like this question.
42:33Roy, what's the bigger surprise?
42:36How well Drake May has played in spite of coaching
42:37and the collection of talent around him,
42:38or how badly the defense has played
42:41in spite of last year's performance
42:43and relative continuity on the roster and coaching staff?
42:47So, I'm glad this isn't podcast form,
42:51because on Twitter or anywhere else,
42:52this would just be taken as a slight
42:54if you pick one or the other.
42:55Like, oh my God, you didn't expect Drake May
42:56to be any good if you picked the defense?
42:58No.
42:59Oh, you picked Drake May,
43:00you thought the defense would be trash?
43:01No.
43:02The question is, which has been the bigger surprise?
43:04Even if it's a slight margin, you got to pick one.
43:11And I'm picking the defense,
43:14which shocked me until about 10 seconds ago,
43:16because I believed in Drake May.
43:19I did not expect him to be this precise
43:21or this mature in his approach,
43:23the processing and the anticipation,
43:24all the stuff we just talked about
43:25at the top of the episode.
43:26But for the defense to not just be bad,
43:29but to be bottom five bad by DV away, EPA per play,
43:33and to get worse as the season goes on,
43:35even if you lost to Bill Peppers for a while,
43:37even if you lost to Juan Bentley,
43:39traded Matt Judon, traded Josh Uche,
43:43like, the staff that left here in New England
43:47over the off season was the offensive staff.
43:48These are all new guys.
43:49Defensively, you still had your guys down the middle.
43:53And even the new coach, it's Dante Hightower,
43:55was great here, who obviously played really well,
43:57regardless of coach on the field when he was playing,
44:00not to mention the defensive head coach.
44:02So yeah, I'm surprised at the defense.
44:04It's not shocked me if they were average,
44:06a little bit below average to be this bad.
44:08It's a bigger surprise than Drake May taking off,
44:10which though has been a complete shock
44:12because he's been outstanding
44:13and everyone else has been crappy.
44:15So that'll do it.
44:16I have to run off.
44:18I have to get a new voice box to go do TV.
44:22Later this week, we will have another episode.
44:25It will be a compilation
44:26of all the player interviews we've done.
44:28We skipped in the last week or two,
44:30four-minute drills with different player every week.
44:32They've been a ton of fun.
44:33If you've missed them, don't worry.
44:35Next episode is gonna be virtually all of those two,
44:38two-minute, four-minute drills,
44:40all those player interviews put into one.
44:42We are endeavoring to get a certain quarterback
44:45who you'd love to watch and I love to talk about
44:47for later this season, but that is TBD.
44:49So stay tuned next week.
44:50A lot of fun player interviews.
44:51Please do rate and review if you have a second,
44:53Apple, Spotify, YouTube, whatever.
44:55Subscribe to my YouTube channel at underscore Andrew Kalian.
44:58It's been a lot of fun.
44:59Patrons get a bye week.
45:01We all earned it, take a break, enjoy,
45:03and thanks as always for watching and for listening.
45:05And we'll see you next week.
45:06Good bye.
45:07Bye.
45:08Bye.
45:09Bye.
45:10Bye.
45:11Bye.
45:11Bye.
45:12Bye.
45:13Bye.
45:14Bye.
45:15Bye.
45:16Bye.
45:16Bye.
45:17Bye.
45:18Bye.
45:19Bye.
45:20Bye.
45:21Bye.
45:21Bye.
45:22Bye.
45:23Bye.
45:24Bye.
45:25Bye.
45:27Bye.
45:27Bye.
45:28Bye.