• 2 days ago
Taylor Kyles is joined by Anthony Prohaska of the Cover 1 Podcast to share insights on this weekend’s Patriots-Bills matchup! Tune in for an in-depth look at both of the teams ahead of their first of two matchups to close out the season.

0:00 Intro
2:12 - Bills' recent history
4:54 - Offensive strategies
9:14 - Patriots defense
12:29 - Offensive line issues
14:49 - Bills pass rush
24:02 - Bills vs. mobile QBs
25:27 - Drake Maye's mobility
27:59 - Injuries on defense
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Transcript
00:00I am joined by Robert Griffin, the third James Whitefield.
00:08Yes, Mina Kimes.
00:09All right.
00:10So first play, we're going to look at second into one of the Patriots first offensive plays.
00:16What's going on everyone.
00:17Taylor cows here for CLNS media coming at you with another episode of Pat's daily brought
00:21to you by our good friends at price picks and game time.
00:25It's Bill's week.
00:26We're all super, super excited coming off yet.
00:29Any other embarrassing loss for the Patriots who lost by quite a hefty margin, whether
00:35you look at the statute or not in Arizona, have a chance to maybe turn things around
00:40going on the road to Buffalo.
00:42Maybe not likely, but Hey, the game has to be played and any given Sunday team has a
00:46chance to win.
00:47So just hold on to that little bit of hope, but to give me a little bit of insight into
00:51where the bills are at at this point in the season, I am joined by good friend of the
00:55show.
00:56If the pro has got cover one, he is going to be breaking down not only where the bills
00:59are, but maybe potentially if there's some cheeks in the armor, because it's not looking
01:04good.
01:05This matchup of a absolute juggernaut Bill's team against the new England Patriots.
01:10So without further ado, I'm going to stop making fun of the team I cover Anthony.
01:14Welcome back brother.
01:15How the heck you do?
01:16Thanks for having me.
01:17I'm good.
01:18It's still so weird.
01:19I was always talking about this, like a friend earlier today that it's like, so the bills
01:23won the AFC title again.
01:24And it's just like, not even like talk about it.
01:28She's like, yeah, they won the AFC East, like whatever, let's kind of see what happens.
01:30And it's just like wild to be in that spot, having watched the bills for so long and like
01:35objectively covering them now, but like growing up as a Bill's fan and still being a Bill's
01:38fan.
01:39And then to have the conversation with you and having like the bills be the juggernaut
01:43and the Patriots be like this fledgling, like, we'll see what happens.
01:47It hasn't been good.
01:48It's just like the, you know, Michael Scott, like my, how the turntables type of deal.
01:52But it's just, it's just still so crazy to wrap my head around it.
01:55That like the Patriots, like is, you know, just like quarterback stuff and head coach
01:59stuff.
02:00And it's just like, wow.
02:01It's just, it's still a shock to me to see like how each has flipped and where we are
02:04right now.
02:05It's wild, but I'm good.
02:06Thanks for having me.
02:07Good buddy.
02:08Full on Uno reverse card.
02:09Indeed.
02:10But let's actually get into it.
02:12We'll talk about some of the scheme stuff.
02:14You know, we always have a good time doing that before we go back and forth with our
02:17three questions for each other.
02:19I want you to catch me up on the bills.
02:21All right.
02:22Recent history.
02:23Where are they at?
02:24Obviously they're trying to win a super bowl this season, but when you look at how the
02:27team is made up, we know going into this season, we had questions about the wide receiver
02:31court because no more step on digs.
02:33What's it going to look like with Josh Allen?
02:34Is he going to be able to really get to that super sand level and carry this offense?
02:38And then on the defensive side of the ball, I know when the trenches, we were kind of
02:41concerned about the depth there, obviously Matt Milano and his injury, that was a pretty
02:45big blow, but it seems like year in and year out, Sean McDermott, whoever's in the lineup,
02:50he gets his guys to play.
02:51So catch me up where the bill's at heading into this week, 16 matchup.
02:56So like you said, they've, you know, really kind of become a juggernaut offensively, especially
03:00the last like three weeks with all the, again, not that Ross stats or everything, but the
03:04last three games, 17 touchdowns, zero turnovers, zero sacks, you put up 35, 42 and 48 granted
03:11the 35 was at home in the snow against a Niners team that I never wanted to say, like, just
03:16seemed kind of checked out after like things started not going well and rightfully so they
03:20came out hot and then things kind of fell apart.
03:22But yeah, they really turned it around offensively for a large part of the beginning of the year.
03:28Even when they were winning, even before they got decimated by Baltimore and looked really
03:31poor against the Texans offensively, this was an offense that really struggled with
03:36the in structure passing game, the run game worked and the out of screw or out of structure
03:41off script passive stuff was working, but they were struggling to pass the ball outside
03:45the numbers.
03:47They were struggling to get the ball down the field.
03:48They trade for a Marty Cooper.
03:50Everybody goes from being like, everybody eats.
03:51You don't need Stefan digs to all of a sudden being like, we need an X.
03:55Like, what do we do?
03:56This isn't working.
03:57Yeah, exactly.
03:58And Cooper, you know, hasn't lit the world on fire from a staff perspective, also been
04:03banged up a bit, but his presence, I think has helped.
04:06They've had injuries at the past catching spot, Dalton Kincaid, a bunch of wide receivers,
04:11but throughout it all, I think Joe Brady really has done a good job pressing the right buttons,
04:15pulling the right levers.
04:16The run game has been strong, both the running back run game and the Josh Allen run game.
04:20Things are really starting to click and fold into one another very well.
04:24They become very diverse with their run game, especially against Detroit with what they
04:28were able to throw out.
04:29So this is an offense that I think there were significant questions early on, even when
04:34they were winning, even more so when they were losing, especially against, you know,
04:37man coverage and single high coverage structures in general that put them in one on ones on
04:41the outside.
04:42But they really started to kind of turn the corner against that and become an offense
04:46that has the opportunity or the ability, I should say, to kind of pass on you with it,
04:51with a variety of looks or run it down your face in a variety of looks, beat you with
04:55speed, beat you with power, athleticism.
04:57They're really coming into their own offensively, defensively.
05:00I think they are what they are year over year, you know, assignment sound, if not very sexy
05:05on the back end.
05:06And overall, I do still think the interior is somewhat worrisome from a pass rush standpoint
05:11and from a run standpoint, you can displace this interior, especially the second wave
05:17of guys and blow them off the ball.
05:19The Rams game was a great example.
05:21They're running split zone and just getting more inside with it and just knocking dudes
05:25off the ball.
05:26And Kyron Williams just has holes to get through.
05:28So I think that's still a worrisome thing.
05:30We'll see how it gets going forward.
05:31Game script matters a lot to them in order to get teams away from the run, or they just
05:35have to sell out for it with rumblitzes and numbers and bodies in the box.
05:39Even though these quarterbacks are going to be the headliners, Josh Allen and Drake
05:42may, obviously, I really do think it's going to be these run games and ultimately decide
05:45what happens in the game.
05:47Because if the bills can just feed James Cook the entirety of Ray Davis also, and just be
05:51able to dictate the flow of the game, and then Josh Allen doesn't have to, you know,
05:55go Super Saiyan mode, then it's going to be a long day for the Patriots who have had a
05:58really hard time stopping teams from just running the ball at will.
06:01Not a lot of explosive runs that they've allowed, but it really has just kept offenses on schedule.
06:06And then the Patriots can run the ball, so that actually has been one of the few things
06:10they have been doing very well on offense, then maybe that could at least keep things
06:13close.
06:14But like I said, headliners are the quarterbacks.
06:16So Josh Allen, for my first question, I got to ask you, has anyone done anything to this
06:23alien golden retriever with a rocket launcher on his arm this season?
06:28Because for years, we always talk about it.
06:30Really the only one holding Josh Allen back has been Josh Allen.
06:33When he has those games against the Patriots where he just locks in and decides, I'm not
06:36making any mistakes.
06:37It usually turns into a blowout.
06:39Obviously last season, the Patriots were able to contain him a little bit.
06:43A lot of that had to do with getting the bills in some obvious passing situations and teeing
06:46off with pressure schemes.
06:48So has anything managed to kind of keep Josh Allen under wraps, or are we seeing a version
06:53of him that everyone outside of Buffalo has always been terrified to see?
06:57You know, early on, it was single high coverage structures, both cover one and cover three.
07:02The lack of an ability to win one-on-one outside or pass 10 or 15 yards, there was
07:10just such a cap on the outside and the vertical aspect of the offense.
07:15Teams were able to flood the box with bodies, shut down the run game, and then make things
07:20tough with terms of just bodies, keeping an eye on Allen, all that kind of stuff.
07:24But really nothing has slowed them down too much recently.
07:31But to your point, and for as much as Allen is leading the MVP race and that conversation
07:38and is a mutant and an alien unicorn super saiyan, all that kind of stuff, the run game
07:43is what makes this offense go.
07:45If they cannot run the football, things just get a little harder.
07:48And sometimes it doesn't matter because Allen can just dust the cape off and be that guy.
07:53But the run game is what makes this offense go.
07:56A little bit of Josh Allen scrambling, a little bit of Josh Allen design, but really just
08:00the basic running back run game, like duo, the tackle pull stuff with long trap and with
08:04dart.
08:05They have the ability to just work in weak side mid zone, which pairs well with duo.
08:11They'll use six offensive linemen sets.
08:13They're attaching guys to the line of scrimmage.
08:15They're marrying their run concepts really well with play action ever since the game
08:19against Seattle.
08:20So everything is kind of hitting well for them, which in my paranoid brain means at
08:26some point things are going to regress to the mean just because of how well everything
08:30is clicking schematically, shut up.
08:32But also all the crazy high variance plays that Allen's making and how they're all hitting.
08:39Like that's just at a certain point, like that's like a guy hitting like 700 for like
08:44a month.
08:45Like you can't just keep hitting that at some point you're going to come back down or maybe
08:49not.
08:50It's been wild to see.
08:51And yeah, they, he doesn't look like he's slowing down and neither does his offense
08:54right now.
08:55As always with these great quarterbacks, a lot of the time it's not about really beating
08:59them.
09:00It's about beating the guys around them.
09:01So if the Patriots can ideally contain the run, not make it so easy on the bills ground
09:06game and then also maybe man up against the receivers because one of the few strengths
09:10for the Patriots defense has been their cornerbacks.
09:13Maybe you got yourself a little bit of an advantage there, but now brother, your first
09:16question, what do you got for me?
09:17I will say Christian Gonzalez is amazing and yeah, I just, I love how I had him as corner
09:22one and a lot of people fought me on it, which I was surprised at coming out.
09:25And I was so upset when he got hurt last year.
09:28I'm very happy to see him balling out again and kind of being the dude that he was supposed
09:31to be.
09:32Um, so yeah, we'll see what happens there.
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10:53My first question for you, and I know, I love how you called all my questions loaded questions
10:58because I thought it was funny.
10:59So my just opener for you is what stresses the Patriots offense the most?
11:05Something schematic?
11:06Is it something niche?
11:07Is it something general?
11:08Just kind of what puts them in a bind the most?
11:11Really?
11:12I'm not trying to be condescending.
11:13It's pretty much anything that has to do with the website, their offensive line.
11:17And that is also a trickle to center where Ben Brown came in midseason, literally was
11:21signed midweek and wound up starting for them in the first time that he saw action.
11:25He's been up and down.
11:26You didn't really expect the guy who's been living on practice spots for most of his NFL
11:30career to come in and be even like a replacement level starter.
11:33He has been that for the most part, but last week he had two snaps that wound up on the
11:37ground.
11:38There were some times where like line games really hurt him.
11:40He had some really ugly quick losses in pass pro.
11:44And then with the Darian Lowe and Leighton Robinson, you've got a rookie in Leighton
11:46Robinson who has been benched three times this season.
11:49He's gotten a little bit better the past couple of weeks when he got back into the lineup.
11:53He's playing left guard for the first time, but it's still a rookie.
11:56And if you are going to bring a twist or something from a side that he's not necessarily expecting,
12:01that's going to be tough for him to pick up.
12:02Against Blitzers has actually been okay, but some of those twists have been an issue.
12:06And then the Darian Lowe, who one of the nicest guys on the planet, I always have to preface
12:11with that.
12:12Every time you lead with that, that's a bad thing.
12:14It's yeah.
12:15He's not great because he's just been a lightning rod for criticism over the past couple of
12:19years.
12:20And, you know, first of all, he has outplayed expectation by far.
12:23He's got really long arms, he's got a strong punch and Scott Peters has really brought
12:27out the best in him.
12:28But at the same time, the reason that he's not a starter is because he's so inconsistent,
12:32whether it's penalties, whether it's, you know, just completely whipping on blocks at
12:36times that he makes most of the time, but then it's just like, ah, there were two drives
12:41basically last week that his assignment essentially blew up after two consecutive plays.
12:46This happened twice in the game.
12:48So the rest of it, like, yeah, the receiving core isn't great, but Drake may has done such
12:53a great job taking what defenses give it, give him.
12:56No one wants to play main coverage against him because they know he can just take off
12:59even if you spy him with a linebacker, he can outrun that guy and he can put the ball
13:03wherever he wants to man coverage.
13:04The tight ends have been really reliable.
13:06Pop Douglas is, you know, really good against main coverage.
13:08So in Kendrick Bourne, they're kind of finding some chemistry.
13:11So it's hard to stop the passing game when they don't stop themselves because Drake may
13:16has been so good, but really when you see run or pass game, then really start to get
13:21behind the eight ball.
13:22It's usually because the offensive line has done something wrong and typically it's been
13:25that left side.
13:26And again, kind of trickle over and around this week.
13:30It's funny you mentioned like even just like some of the pieces and the bills the last
13:34couple of weeks have really started to lean into like twists and stunts and games up front.
13:38And I wonder how much they, yeah, lean into that even further.
13:42And that it's an interesting spot, like to point to that kind of Pat's old line as a
13:46week, especially on like that left side, because the bills for as much as the numbers may suggest
13:51that individually and as a group, their, their pass rush and run play up front aside from
13:56Greg Russo and even Russo as a, as a pass rusher, it hasn't been as like great as it
14:01gets made out to be locally and nationally.
14:04So I wonder kind of who can swing that pendulum, if kind of just butt heads with that group
14:08in the trenches there.
14:09I've been wondering, cause I keep hearing about Greg Russo and you know what, I'm going
14:12to cheat a little bit.
14:13I'm just going to do my question right now.
14:15Where's the pass rush coming from for the bills?
14:17Because I keep hearing about Greg Russo.
14:19I feel like the numbers aren't really backing it up.
14:21I haven't gotten a dive into the tape.
14:22We're recording this earlier on in the week and you know, my thing with Ed Oliver, I think
14:26he's a good player, but he's never really struck me as someone who can consistently
14:32be the dominant force in a game.
14:34You know, where I feel like that's his reputation, but I just don't see that, especially because
14:38it feels like Mike and when you pretty much does a good job against them every year, whoever's
14:41at left guard usually hangs in there.
14:43So who does this Patriots offensive line outside of the scheme stuff have to worry about?
14:48Oh, if it's from a man, this is such a tough, this is, this is a load of question from a
14:56consistency basis.
14:59Greg Russo is the bill's best pass rusher from a dominance perspective in flashes.
15:05It's at Oliver.
15:06Right.
15:07Um, Russo has had some wins this year.
15:09He's really started to develop more of an inside move this year.
15:12Previously it was just, you know, he, he doesn't have great change of direction or dip or bend.
15:16He has literally built like group when group is full size, like hence the nickname.
15:20So there's not a lot of bend and flexibility and dip there.
15:22So everything for him is length, strength, first touch leverage, good hand placement.
15:27So it's really just him like collapsing the pocket, driving guys back this year.
15:32It's been that with a good inside move and when he wins with it, it's clean, it's dominant,
15:37but overall just, I feel like most weeks grew it on a scale of one to 10 and this kind of
15:42put in perspective group, most weeks on a scale of one to 10 is anywhere from like a
15:47six to a six and a half or a seven as a pass rusher.
15:50We'll have a couple blips is like an eight or maybe a nine, but he's usually living in
15:53that six to seven range, maybe six to seven and a half.
15:57So the number goes from, he'll be like a four one week and then he's like a nine and a half
16:01and then he's a three and a half and then he's a 9.7.
16:04Like it can be all over the place.
16:06He's been hurt a little bit, been banged up, had a great game against Detroit, both as
16:10a pass rusher and as a, um, a run defender as well.
16:15Playing with leverage, great hand usage, pop violence.
16:17I think he's gotten healthier as the season has gone along.
16:21The numbers don't reflect, I think he's played better than his numbers suggest.
16:26His numbers last year were amazing and I think that kind of put him into a different
16:29echelon of conversation, but I think he's been a good player.
16:32I still don't think he's kind of the perennial all pro you look for at the spot, given what
16:36they would have liked him to be drafted him inside the top 10, but he's been a quality
16:40guy.
16:41He's been getting better lately and he and Groot are both coming off a week where they
16:44had 10 pressures each against the Detroit lions and a pressure rate, uh, each above
16:4922%.
16:50I think Oliver was second on the week and pressure rate behind Micah Parsons Groot was
16:54third on the week, right behind Ed Oliver.
16:56Yeah, it was a pretty interesting.
16:58A lot of that was scheme and structure and what they were doing, but they had a lot of
17:01quality one-on-one wins.
17:02I mean, anytime you're Greg Russo and you're driving Panay Sewell back into Jared Goff's
17:07lap, like I don't care if it happens once, that doesn't happen a lot to him.
17:11Um, and then, yeah, I think, uh, seven of Ed Oliver's 10 pressures were all against
17:16a Graham Glasgow who's like, like a really good left guard, not some like scrub who's
17:21just in there just to be in there.
17:22So yeah, they both, uh, balled out in a week that they kind of had to, so they're coming
17:26off strong games.
17:27Yeah.
17:28I was going to ask if anybody was hurt up front for the lions, not even to be condescending,
17:32but that's kind of the worst case scenario as an opposing offensive line where yeah,
17:36Ed Oliver and Greg Russo are both going to be completely locked in and just terrorize
17:39up front.
17:40So that was my second question, brother.
17:42What do you got for me?
17:43Uh, I always like to change the, or no, I'll stay in order here.
17:47Um, Pat's defense, we're talking about a little offline before we got started, but where does
17:52the path defense struggle the most from a situational standpoint this year?
17:59It's been, the red zone was, has been pretty bad.
18:02I'll say that now a big issue there has been miscommunication.
18:05Um, it just feels like they're not on the same page.
18:08Like you had a bunch of them against the dolphins.
18:11You had one on literally a walk in touchdown against the Colts were Anthony Richardson
18:15could have walked in and himself, he could have thrown it to two or three different people.
18:19Just not great.
18:20And then you had some of the times that they ran it in, in the, you know, guys, I just
18:23went, wasn't very good.
18:24And you had like Christian Gonzalez is an unblocked guy, but he doesn't realize that
18:28Richardson got the ball.
18:29You have Christian Ellis.
18:30He's, you know, inexperienced guy, defensively, more of a special team or been asking you
18:34a lot more because of one Bentley's injury, but he's like flying out to take Jonathan
18:38Taylor.
18:39Also not realizing Anthony Richardson kept the ball and his situation where I'm sitting
18:43in the press box saying they are going, it's going to be a QB run on two point conversion.
18:47They're going to do that.
18:48And they're just going to dare you to stop it.
18:49And you know, so that's been a pretty big issue against the Cardinals.
18:53They scored a couple of times in the red area.
18:55The biggest issue there though, in my opinion was really just, I think at that point, the
18:59defense kind of, and I hate to say this, it felt like they kind of threw in the towel.
19:03It just wasn't very competitive.
19:04Both times, James Conner was able to walk into the end zone and I'm kind of cheating
19:09here, but the red zone is the glaring thing because you can be a bend, but don't break
19:13defense, but you can't break.
19:15And that's really been the biggest thing.
19:17But when we're talking about James Cook, I have to at least acknowledge the early down
19:20defense because third down was atrocious for the Patriots last week.
19:24The Arizona was 10 for 15.
19:26Only one of those 15 third downs was a third and long situation, third or seven or more.
19:32They were just constantly in these areas where all you really had to do was check it down,
19:36throw to somebody underneath.
19:37They turn around, you get the first down.
19:39So the red zone has been the crippling thing for the Patriots defense, but also if they're
19:44just going to let James Cook get three yards, four yards, I need one yard, let me get three
19:48yards, two yards.
19:50If that continues to happen, then they're screwed because then the play action game
19:53opens up.
19:54You got a lot of guys on this defense who were inexperienced, are going to make mistakes
19:57like Dell Pettis, Christian Ellis, guys who are in these really tough spots and against
20:02Josh Allen.
20:03This is the guy who's going to exploit every mistake you make.
20:06So got to stop these guys in the red zone, of course, but also I just don't think you
20:10can let them walk down the field because once you get in the scoring territory, there's
20:13not a whole lot you can do to stop up.
20:16And that's a good point.
20:17Yeah.
20:18A hundred percent.
20:19And the red zone piece is important, obviously, but I, the early down stuff is so important
20:23for anybody who plays the bills because when, and again, it was earlier in the year, but
20:26even as they've gone through, even after getting a Marty Cooper and still been kind of the
20:29juggernaut, if you can get them into third and long third and, you know, known passing
20:35situation or more of a true drop back, you can kind of put them in a bind at times, but
20:40they've just, you know, kind of like how you alluded to here and what the cards did,
20:45they've just been able to stay in third and four, like a third and long for them has been
20:48like third and five, maybe like third and six, but they're just running the ball so
20:52well.
20:53And Alan has been taking what's been given to him for a majority of the year.
20:56So they're really just staying on script and on schedule with the run in the past, which
21:00is what makes the offense so difficult when Alan is also hitting the high variance plays.
21:05Cause you're just getting this chunk, you know, generation in addition to kind of death
21:09by a thousand cuts and staying on pace, which has just been unreal this year.
21:13It's one of the worst ways to lose as a defense when you know, you can't stop them.
21:17And then every once in a while, it's just like, Oh yeah, Josh Allen's going to throw
21:20the fastest, the most quickly delivered 50 yard pass in like next gen stats history or
21:24some crazy something like that.
21:26I saw that tweet from Solak just on real, just, yeah, it looks like it too.
21:30When I saw it, I was like, that got on him very fast.
21:33That was like a Madden throw.
21:35It really was.
21:36Yeah.
21:37It was like, you didn't like put the arc on it.
21:38You just like lasered it with a 99 throw power and it just, yeah, there was no, there
21:41was no layer arc.
21:42It was just like, yeah.
21:43Which, but again, that's another example, like everything keeps hitting.
21:47So like, is the glass slipper staying on or is like, he going to turn into a pumpkin at
21:51some point?
21:52Like, and it would be so bills.
21:54I hate saying this.
21:55It would be so bills just like he wins the MVP and they just run through everybody and
21:59then they get like the two seed and they lose in the wild card or like they get the one
22:03and they get housed in the divisional round by like Denver or somebody just where they're
22:07like over with the bills are going to win.
22:08It would just be so bills.
22:09I think this audience would be very okay with that.
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23:30What time is it Taylor?
23:31Game time.
23:32But for my last question, we're talking about Josh Allen, the scrambles.
23:36I'm going to uno reverse card this one.
23:39Drake may been one of the better scramblers in football.
23:42It's done a much better job trying to keep his eyes downfield and has a really good sense
23:45for when to actually scramble to run, when to scramble to throw.
23:49How have the bills been against mobile quarterbacks who can threaten them once they leave the
23:53pocket and potentially extend plays because it feels like this is going to be a game where
23:57Drake may is going to have to pull a couple of things out of that.
24:00You know, they're, they're largely fine mainly in, in the fact that their past rushers are
24:09really more just compression guys as a whole, like Vaughn Miller is Vaughn Miller, who's
24:13going to kind of dip and bend and use, you know, has athleticism, which he's been better
24:17than he's probably getting credit and shine for this year.
24:19Not, not really, yeah, definitely not Vaughn at times looking like an edge two against
24:26the past, which is like fine, but really been more of like an edge three or like a low tier
24:29two at best.
24:31So he's going to do Vaughn stuff, but Groot is still a pocket compressor.
24:35Ed will try and win one-on-one.
24:38There's not a lot of pressure that comes from the interior other than at Oliver.
24:41So guys just kind of naturally maintain their rush lanes because they can't generate any
24:46penetration or knockback insides.
24:49And then AJ at Vanessa, really good double swipe.
24:51He'll try and run the corner on you and they'll do like twists and stunts and they're very,
24:55they're very conscious of not letting QBs get out of their rush lanes or not like not
25:00them, not getting out of their rush lanes to kind of let the QBs escape.
25:03Kyler Murray did a pretty good job in design and scramble in week one.
25:07I think you can find success there.
25:10You're not going to find too much because they are a primarily zone-based defense.
25:14So you're not going to turn and get a ton of like, Oh, he broke contain and everybody's
25:17backs are turned and you can run for 30 yards, but you can generate like seven to nine, seven
25:22to 10 yards.
25:24Bernard is a really good linebacker, not the best foot speed.
25:27I think may can, can kind of give him some trouble there.
25:29Bernard is the guy underneath Milano is working his way back, but can still be got, he's still
25:34kind of getting into game shape.
25:35I do think you could see a day where Drake may scramble successfully it just because
25:40of how good he is at navigating the pocket, embracing the chaos, and then making a play
25:45with his legs or with his arm out of it.
25:48Hopefully it's a bad day for the pass rush and he can find just a couple of cracks to,
25:51like I said, make some of the plays he might have to pull up because this is hopefully
25:55going to be tight, but at least he got Josh Allen on the other side, you're going to have
25:58to make some magic.
25:59Now, buddy, what's your last question for me before I get you out of here?
26:03What or where is the biggest vulnerability on the Patriots?
26:08Is it as on a specific side of the ball?
26:10Is it a specific player or position group or something schematic?
26:13What or where is it?
26:15I would say it's the Patriots defensive line play.
26:20I would say that's probably the biggest weakness.
26:22It's now it really is linebacker, but I will say because when you loop in pass rush, which
26:27they have absolutely none of right now, it is last year was Christian Barmore.
26:31Now you've got no Jude on.
26:32Far more was injured.
26:34Keon White has been pretty great, but I mean, he's an interior rusher.
26:38You can only use them there in certain situations and those known passing down.
26:41So it's kind of tough to get the most out of him consistently.
26:44And the offense, honestly, they get in their own way.
26:46There's not a whole lot that other teams have done that's really stopped them.
26:50As again, Drake may the running backs are getting going.
26:53Really it's just been they can't generate any pass rush.
26:55So quarterbacks have a ton of time to do kind of whatever they want.
26:58They've been much better in keeping guys hemmed in.
27:00And then when Calvary did get outside the pocket last week, the coverage was very, very
27:04good at just plastering and making sure they didn't give up anything.
27:07That's going to be huge this week.
27:08But one Patriots can't really stop the run.
27:11Like I mentioned, there's just a ton of guys that are in roles.
27:14They're not really suited for like Daniela quality right now is basically a starter.
27:18You got Jeremiah Farms, who I was hoping would take a step forward, but
27:21he's super inconsistent.
27:22Eric Johnson, a guy they picked up off waivers earlier this season,
27:26like a lot of guys playing a lot of snaps them exactly.
27:29That you ideally wouldn't love to be in those spots like Keon White.
27:32He's been kind of inconsistent as an outside linebacker stopping the run.
27:35And then it's pretty Jennings.
27:36He's being asked to be an every now player.
27:38And I think it's starting to kind of hurt him as a run stopper.
27:41He's still very good.
27:42But it's like two or three times a game.
27:43Now you'll see him give up an edge that he doesn't usually give up.
27:45So that defensive front period has been really disappointing.
27:49But I would say because we know injuries on the second level.
27:52No, Juwan Bentley, that's been pretty huge.
27:54Jelani to buy has been putting some tough spots, but
27:56the defensive line plays been really disappointed.
27:59Man, that's not great considering how the bills run the ball and how Alan goes.
28:04And yeah, it's so unfortunate when like injuries is kind of mashy.
28:08Plus you're trading Jude on before the season starts.
28:10And I really I know what a couple other people felt this way.
28:14I thought the past he was good last year and
28:16I thought they had a chance to kind of run it back this year.
28:19And I was like, okay, if the offense can just be halfway decent,
28:22this is a good defense.
28:23And then Jude on is gone and bar more with like the clocks or
28:28whatever that like kept him out and then Bentley and like, I don't know,
28:31Duggars get back to form Duggars.
28:34There was one there was a run against the Cardinals where I think it was on like
28:38a big run for Connor, where Duggars coming up and he just takes a bad angle and
28:42Connor beats him to the corner and gets up the sideline.
28:44And I was like, you gave that up to James Connor.
28:46Like and I think Connor sweet, but like, you're Kyle Duggar, man.
28:49You shouldn't be getting beat by James Connor at the second level to the sideline.
28:52And like that right there was like, give me a give you a microcosm of like
28:56the Patriots defense not working this year.
28:58I was like Kyle Duggar,
28:59like getting out run like that from an angle perspective because he's usually.
29:02That was right there in the hole.
29:04He had a chance to stop it.
29:05Mayo called him out.
29:05He's like, yeah, we I think he meant I'm not sure if he meant Ellis or Duggar, but
29:09he said there were two guys that had shots to make the tackles that they expected to
29:12make those tackles.
29:14Maybe not Ellis because he was a little far back, but like efforts and
29:17Duggar, he was just like, this is a really, really bad look.
29:20And that's what we're gonna close on because I'm about to go on your show.
29:23So before we get out of here, buddy,
29:24please let the people know where they can follow you.
29:26What great stuff you've got coming down the pipeline that we should be looking out
29:29for. Thank you very much.
29:30Yeah, you can find me on Twitter at pro underscore underscore ant.
29:33That's pro two underscores a n t.
29:35You can find me on blue sky at pro and no underscores there.
29:38They don't allow that there.
29:40So it's just pro ant.
29:41I host a solo show every Tuesday, live 9 p.m.
29:45Eastern called Disguised Coverage to focus on advanced metrics, film, all that kind of stuff.
29:49Yeah, you'll be on it very shortly as we wrap up here.
29:51And then I co-host a show every Wednesday called The Film Room.
29:55That show is purely 100 percent film based.
29:57So my solo show is anywhere from like 40 to 70 percent film, sometimes a little less,
30:02sometimes a little more dependent on the week.
30:04And then the film room is all film.
30:05I'm all about X's and O's scheme and structure, build stuff, league wide stuff, college stuff.
30:11That's me.
30:12Awesome. Thank you so much once again for coming on, buddy.
30:15And I'm sure we'll see you again soon.
30:17And thank you all, as always, for watching.
30:18Now, take care of yourselves.
30:20Take care of each other.
30:21We will see you next time. Peace, y'all.

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