Greg Bedard and Nick Cattles break down Mike Vrabel’s introductory press conference, highlighting his focus on removing entitlement from the team. They discuss how Vrabel’s approach contrasts with that of Jerod Mayo and Bill Belichick, and analyze the dynamics of the Wolf/Cowden situation.
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SportsTranscript
00:00This is the Gregg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
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01:01All right.
01:02So Mike Vrabel, Greg has the press conference yesterday.
01:05We're recording this early Tuesday afternoon.
01:09Just your overall thoughts, your, your, your general reaction to that press conference
01:14and what Vrabel had to say.
01:17My overall impression, Nick was, um, and this is no slight to Gerard Mayo, um, who clearly
01:24wasn't ready for the role, but, uh, there is now an adult, uh, running the New England
01:31football Patriots on the field.
01:34And, um, that was much needed.
01:37It was a breath of fresh air.
01:39He was, his press conference was a complete one 80 from Mayo's press conference and where,
01:46you know, and we even pointed this out at the time.
01:48And that was my reaction to Mayo's like, all right, where's the beef.
01:51Where's the, I have no clue what he stands for.
01:53I have no clue what he believes in.
01:56I have no clue where this football team is going.
01:58And then ultimately guess what he didn't either, because that's why it led to the mess that
02:03we saw on the field this year.
02:05But I thought, um, I thought Vrabel was really good.
02:09Um, you know, I didn't think he was, uh, you know, outstanding.
02:14I thought he was a little bit wordy at times, but he definitely like he, you know, where
02:19he stands, you know, what he believes in, in a variety of different areas.
02:23Um, I thought he was good on, um, I thought one of the things that jumped out was, uh,
02:31where he talked about, we're going to have to, we're going to earn the right to be here
02:34every day.
02:35We're going to remove entitlement from our football team.
02:38And I think if I had an opportunity to give people sort of a, a behind the scenes thing,
02:45like I was there raising my hand, uh, the entire press conference to ask, I had a couple
02:50different things written down that I wanted to ask, uh, never got called on.
02:55It happens.
02:56Not a big deal.
02:57Plus, you know, mostly everybody hid everything.
03:00Um, but I just wonder, you know, did he hear things, um, you know, from people that he's
03:08talked to like Elliot Wolf and others, uh, the crafts, um, anybody else that he met with
03:14with the Patriots, did he watch them from afar and studying them and what went on?
03:20Um, because I do think that last year and I, and I think it went from, um, from the
03:26coaches down to the players that I thought there was a distinct lack or there was a,
03:31there was a lot of entitlement on this team.
03:34And I even railed about it, you know, since the season about, you know, hearing the coaches
03:37on this staff pitching and moaning about what they didn't have and whining and all this
03:43stuff.
03:44And like, that's just not the way football works.
03:46And like your job is not personnel.
03:50Your job is to coach the football team, each individual player, the best that you can.
03:55And I do not think that went on last year.
03:58I think they could have done better than they did, even with a, uh, tough roster.
04:02Um, I don't think the roster was quite as bad as everybody made it out to be.
04:06I mean, when you look at, um, you know, you look at the regression from the guys that
04:11they resigned, just regression for most, I would say you could take the tight ends out
04:15of it, you know, cause I think Bob Bignell did a nice job with Hunter Henry and Austin
04:19Hooper.
04:20Um, but outside of that, you can look across the board and say there was regression all
04:24over the place and we've been all over the names and, you know, you look at that, the
04:29veterans are having a tough time, but what do you expect the rookies to do?
04:33And that some of them didn't, didn't, you know, live up to par as rookies and, you know,
04:39you're just going to put that on personnel and they pick crappy players.
04:41I just don't disagree with that.
04:43So, um, you know, accountability is back, uh, you know, a plan, a direction for the
04:50football program is back and that's exactly what the Patriots needed when he brought up
04:55entitlement.
04:56I just thought, yeah.
04:57Looking at you, Jelani to buy, looking at you, Jayvon Baker, looking at you, Jalen poke,
05:01some of the names, some of the things that guys have said is Kashawn booty, uh, blaming
05:06Drake may for when he drops a pass and it turns into a pick, uh, those kinds of things.
05:11I don't think those kinds of things are going to exist in 2025 in that locker room.
05:16I don't think Tavai is going to be saying what he said.
05:18If he's here, I certainly don't think Jayvon Baker is going to be doing what he's done.
05:24And the same thing with Jalen poke, who can't help himself going to Instagram and posting
05:28every other day.
05:30I think that stuff is going to be pushed aside that that's not going to exist.
05:35And the one thing I will say is, you know, people act as if things falling apart with
05:42Gerard Mayo is some kind of vindication for bill Belichick, not only like on the field
05:47and coaching wise, but also handling a locker room.
05:51And I get it.
05:52I get it.
05:53Mayo was the complete one 80 from bill, but it doesn't mean you have to still do the job
05:58like bill.
05:59And it doesn't mean you have to handle players like bill.
06:01And I see some people and I hear some people talking about, you know, oh, they got to,
06:07they got to be super tough on everybody.
06:10They got to be super tough on certain individuals.
06:12It's a case by case basis in my eyes.
06:15And I think Mayo just didn't keep anybody accountable.
06:18And that was the problem.
06:19It wasn't that they were lightening.
06:21It wasn't the fact that they were trying to, you know, not be as hard ass or lighten the
06:25load on the players.
06:27It was the fact that it, it swung so drastically to the other side where guys were doing and
06:33saying whatever the hell they wanted, it was the wild west.
06:36And I don't think that's going to be happening in 2025, which leads me to Greg, your thought
06:41in the email.
06:42You said that in many ways, that press conference yesterday was the anti-Mayo press conference
06:47and Frabel was anti-Mayo.
06:50But you also said that he was anti bill.
06:53Explain why.
06:54Yeah, I, it's, it's interesting.
06:57And I somewhat knew this about Frabel, but you know, it's sort of dawned on me, you know,
07:02listening to him to other yesterday and also just to give people a full picture.
07:08We also spent a little bit of time with Frabel this morning nothing about what's going on
07:14with the Patriots.
07:15It was more of a typical sort of introduce yourself to the media, introduce, you know,
07:21both ways.
07:23It's happened a lot.
07:24You know, throughout my career when there's been coaching changes, those things happen,
07:28but you know, and he even, you know, Mike even asked, like, you know, we gave him like
07:34sort of our background, you know, family and stuff like that and where we're from and things
07:39like that.
07:40And I do think that he, from, from listening to people, he does care about that stuff and
07:44he's going to make the players care about the stuff and, you know, knowing your teammates
07:47and knowing the staffers and you know, the people that pick up your laundry or the people
07:52that fix your meals in the cafeteria.
07:55It's part of who variable is.
07:57And that goes to, you know, what Don on me was, look, you had, I think, I think to be
08:03fair to Gerard Mayo, I would say, and we heard this at the time.
08:07And I think I even mentioned this Gerard Mayo has a very high emotional IQ, emotional intelligence.
08:16He gets people that's probably his best attribute.
08:21Okay.
08:22And, but he was very low on the football as far as his knowledge, being ready for that.
08:28Like he just wasn't ready for the football part.
08:30I think he was ready in some respects, certainly to relate to the players and reach some of
08:36the players but lack the football part.
08:40Now, Bill Belichick on the other hand is a savant in football.
08:45And you know, it's all about, you know, just do your job and you do your job.
08:50You do these things, we're going to be successful.
08:52You're going to be successful.
08:54And Bill's great at that, but he has no emotional intelligence at all.
08:57And he doesn't really care.
09:00Stories about him walking by people in the hallway and just grumbling or not even knowing
09:05people were there.
09:07And I think, I think Vrabel's like in the middle.
09:10I think that Vrabel does have the emotional intelligence.
09:13It's not perfect.
09:15There are some things that worry me about Vrabel, including, you know, he's a lot like
09:19Bill and that they're both only children raised by educators.
09:25You know, sometimes I think he can get a little bit too into his own head and, and a belief
09:30in himself, similar to Bill.
09:32But I think that, that Mike at his best, and this is the second time around, maybe he's
09:38improved, at his best, he has the emotional intelligence and he approaches Belichick in
09:44terms of football and being able to coach all the positions and having input.
09:49So I think that he's, he's the, if you want to take it Mayo and Belichick, he's sort of
09:56the best of them combined.
09:59And I think that gives him a really high ceiling, whether that happens or not, you know, we'll
10:04see a lot of it's going to have to do with, you know, how he staffs, which is a worry
10:08of mine.
10:09You know, can they get the players and up the talent on this roster?
10:13But I think in terms of who he is, where he is in his career, he has a high ceiling
10:21in my opinion.
10:22All right.
10:23Before we get to some of Greg's favorite quotes from Rabel at his press conference yesterday,
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11:54By the way, Nick, I wanted to ask you, cause it seemed like from what I saw on Twitter
11:58and I didn't get to watch your, uh, Nick cattle's podcast yesterday, but you seemed, uh, pretty
12:04fired up, um, by the variable thing.
12:07What, what, what, uh, what tickled your fancy?
12:10I mean, look, I thought he, I thought he aced it.
12:13I really did.
12:14Um, I just think the tone that he set is sharp, clear plan.
12:20I thought he hit a lot of the culture stuff out of the park.
12:23It wasn't just, you know, broad strokes.
12:26He kind of described what culture is to him and how you try to set that as an organization.
12:32Um, I just thought a lot of the stuff that he said jumped out at me and we're going to
12:38talk about some of the direct quotes.
12:39And I, I tend to agree with a lot of the quotes that stood out to you that I thought were
12:43his best moments.
12:45I thought one of his best moments was just want to be good enough to take advantage of
12:49bad football.
12:51And to me, that was a message to the players of like, look, this is going to be baby steps,
12:56man.
12:57Like we're, we're not talking about, you know, being a great football team.
13:00We're not even talking about being a good football team.
13:03We got to start at the very basis of a foundation of a football team.
13:08And where we start is, can we get to the point when we play teams that are a disaster, that
13:14we actually take advantage of that disaster and we win those games that we should win.
13:18And I think there's been a lot of examples, even with bill, frankly, back in 2023 of,
13:23of certain decisions that he made that you might scratch your head and say, how did that
13:27help you win the football game in that moment?
13:30When you look back at last year's games, Greg, I mean, as in 2024, the Seattle game,
13:36for example, I think the Patriots win that game with Mike Vrabel as the head coach.
13:40And it's just, it's taking advantage of bad football.
13:42So that was one of those comments.
13:44And I know that was one of the comments for you that stood out.
13:46Yeah, absolutely.
13:47And this is something I got into with Michael Holly last night on TV because he made the
13:54point before I got on there saying like last year's Patriots weren't capable of taking
14:00advantage of bad football.
14:01And I just disagree with that.
14:03And this is where people like Mike and Chris Gasper and other people where I just like
14:09fundamentally disagree with them, like when it comes to football and you know, maybe it's
14:14different than other sports.
14:15I don't really care about other sports.
14:18You know, I worry about football and I've been analyzing football for, you know, thinking
14:22about talking to Vrabel today.
14:24I mean, I've been, I've been covering the NFL in some form since 2001 and full time
14:30for 20 years and football, football at its, at its basis, it's, you know, especially what
14:39Mike's talking about, like talent and being able to win games or just survive or stay
14:47in games.
14:48Talent doesn't have anything to do with that.
14:51Not if you're a well coached team, if you have, if you have good schemes, if the offensive
14:56coordinator realizes, you know what, our tackles aren't going to hold up today, this is what
15:00we're going to do.
15:01And this is how we're going to do it.
15:03We're just, we're not going to, we're going to try to pop a few plays here and there,
15:07but for the most part, we're just going to try to keep falling forward and pushing ahead,
15:11playing a field position, all that stuff, you know, to coaches instilling a discipline
15:17in the team where we're not going to do as Vrabel, I think is, is prone to say, we're
15:23not going to do stupid shit.
15:24Like in, and if you do stupid shit, you're going to sit down like fumbling the football,
15:29like false starting and, you know, or, you know, pulling horse collars three times in
15:36a season.
15:37You know, so, you know, when you have a competent coaching staff, when you have a competent
15:43head coach especially, you know, where the Patriots are right now, like it, it, it doesn't
15:50take that much to, to get competitive.
15:53And it just, it's a lot, a lot of it's about discipline and the Patriots completely lacked
15:59that last year.
16:02You know, yes, they weren't talented, but the lack of discipline, the lack of proper
16:07coaching is really what did the team in.
16:09There's no reason why, I mean, you, you mentioned the Seattle game.
16:13I mean the Snoop Huntley, Miami game.
16:15Are you kidding me?
16:16Mason Rudolph, the Titans, like, you know, there, there were plenty of other examples
16:21where you know, the Patriots, you know, could have won games and they didn't want, it wasn't
16:26because they were less talented, it's because they were stupid and they just played poorly.
16:31And I think that's going to be the focus and that's the basis.
16:34And he even said, he said, um, that's what I've tried to tell all the players is right
16:40now.
16:41I don't know if we're good enough to take advantage of bad football.
16:43I'm unsure right now.
16:45They're not because of how they got coached, but that that's what Nick, what we were sort
16:49of talking about all year with Mayo and that coaching staff was all right, fine.
16:54I understand where you are, but get to a place.
16:57Let me see you start making progress like the Carolina Panthers did at the end of the
17:02season.
17:03And so, um, you know, I, I thought that was, that was a really good comment and it's a
17:07great place for this team to start.
17:09And that's what we should be judging them on next year.
17:11And we will, there were these stretches in games this past year, which were just inexcusable
17:16things happening where it's just like, why, like how, how can it be this bad?
17:21There was the stretch in London against Jacksonville when you get, you know, you get an early lead
17:26and you're feeling good.
17:27And then they literally just blow you off the field.
17:30And it looks like you're not even an NFL outfit, right?
17:33There was the stretch against the Rams where Matthew Stafford is literally laughing at
17:37you holding up zero as an cover zero.
17:39I knew you were going to run that defense, making a mockery of Demarcus Covington.
17:44There were all these stretches.
17:45There was the game.
17:46Yeah.
17:47I mean, it was the Colts game and that, that game winning drive for them in a two point
17:50conversion where they just literally walked over to your sideline and, and dropped their
17:55foot across your neck.
17:56And you could do absolutely nothing about it when you knew they were trying to do what
17:59they were trying to do.
18:00There were just too many stretches this year, the humiliating laws against the chargers,
18:04where it's like, why even show up on that Saturday?
18:08Too many of those, too many of those.
18:10And that's, that's the difference.
18:13I don't think anybody is arguing with, with Michael Holly about the level of talent.
18:18I think we all see that the talent isn't good enough.
18:20I think we all see that there were mistakes made, but at the end of it, when you look
18:26back to the season, it's where you competitive enough and you just weren't, you got humiliated
18:34time and time again.
18:36And I think you could have been even more humiliated if teams wanted to humiliate you,
18:41you go back to Drake Mays, first start against the Texans, the Texans pretty much at halftime
18:46were like, I, this game's over.
18:48We're not worried about it.
18:50You know, the Buffalo bills, if they wanted revenge in that final game, instead of just,
18:55you know, resting guys and really trying to lose to hurt your, your draft slot.
19:00I mean, imagine what that would have looked like in the revenge game after, you know,
19:04they kind of dicked around in the first half and Buffalo, like it was just, it was bad.
19:10It was bad.
19:11And it's talent and it's coaching.
19:13I thought another thing that stood out to me was, uh, the difference between interesting
19:19and important.
19:21I thought that was, I thought that was really good, Greg.
19:24And the reason why I thought it was really good, it's because to me, it's the folk let's
19:28focus on attention to detail, like what helps you win football games and what doesn't help
19:33you win football games.
19:35You know, going on a podcast might be an interesting thing to do, but if you say something stupid,
19:40it hurts us.
19:41And really, is it important to go out there on IgE and share your feelings with the world?
19:47Like, I guess you could have an interesting post on IgE, like Jalen Polk did with the
19:51black sheep, but is that important to us?
19:54Is that important to you?
19:55Is that important to the program?
19:56Is that important to winning?
19:57And I think Vrabel is going to draw that line, Greg, between, Hey, look, we can, we
20:01can have some fun.
20:02You can do your stuff and you can say some things, but you've got to understand the balance
20:06of what is something interesting and what is something important.
20:09And we have to first and foremost focus on what is important if we want to be a serious
20:14football program.
20:15Yeah, that, that was, um, I thought that was, I thought that was good.
20:22Another part that, um, that I really liked was just, you know, and I went back to Mayo's
20:26press conference last year, and I even like searched through it to find certain, um, you
20:32know, phrases that were there or not there.
20:34And, you know, Vrabel said, we're going to demand effort and finish what our non-negotiables
20:40are.
20:41Our effort and our finish is going to be the contract that we make with our teammates.
20:45And I look back and there was also talk about like tech, you know, techniques and fundamentals.
20:51None of that stuff was mentioned in Gerard Mayo's press conference, you know, which,
20:55you know, was, was perplexing to me about like, you know, I just went away from it thinking
20:59like, I have no idea where this guy stands as far as football, what he believes in, what
21:04are the things that are important to him that are going to be important to his football
21:08team.
21:09And he didn't know he, he couldn't provide that last year.
21:14And Vrabel did that in spades on Monday.
21:17Yeah.
21:18And I don't think, look, acing a press conference, doesn't make you a great coach.
21:22Just like bombing a press conference doesn't make you a bad coach.
21:25I said that stuff last year at Mayo's introductory press conference.
21:29Coaches have had plenty of bad introductory press conferences, but you know, some of them
21:33figure it out.
21:34Dan Campbell had his memorable wacky intro press conference.
21:38He figured it out.
21:39Adam Gase had his crazy eyes press conference and he never figured it out.
21:44So you can't draw a straight line from press conference to the product.
21:48But I think what Vrabel was talking about landed with a lot of people because it's a lot of
21:54things that we wanted to hear after what happened in 2024.
21:59We'll get some more of that.
22:00But first, Greg, tell the fine people about game time.
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22:55Before we get to the front office, because I know a lot of people want to talk about
22:57the front office and Elliott Wolfe.
22:59One more thing that you mentioned in the email about Vrabel's press conference is that when
23:03he was talking about offense, it was different this time around than it was during his Tennessee
23:09press conference.
23:10Why is that?
23:11Yeah, I went I went back and looked at at his press conference in Tennessee and like,
23:16you know, well, let me make that point after.
23:20Basically, he said he said he said we're going to run the ball.
23:25You know, he was he was high on that.
23:27I was looking for the for the direct quote because I sent it to Felger and Maz for the
23:38show today.
23:39Oh, he said when he was introduced with the Titans, he said, I think that we're going
23:45to run the football.
23:46We're going to run it from the quarterback being under center.
23:48We're going to run it from the quarterback being in gun.
23:50They had Marcus Mariota at the time.
23:56Those are all things we believe in, but we're going to run the football and we're going
23:59to do it from different ways, different backfield alignments.
24:02And, you know, there was no talk of running the ball in his Patriots press conference.
24:07You know, it was it was basically about the quarterback, you know, protecting the quarterback.
24:15You need to do that.
24:16You need the scheme.
24:17You need all that stuff.
24:18I mean, you know what he said about that stuff and what I loved because I've been harping
24:22on this all year.
24:26This year is like is just about what did he say?
24:30He said.
24:33But again, it will be based on what the players can understand and what they can handle.
24:38We're not going to put things that put in things that make them slow.
24:43And, you know, basically what he's saying is.
24:47You know, this isn't going to work.
24:49We're not just going to run offensive plays or script stuff up because it looks good on
24:53a whiteboard.
24:54And we think like this is great.
24:57Without thinking about the first thing that you have to you have to ask as a play caller,
25:04as a game planner, is can we run this shit?
25:08Like are we capable of executing this?
25:12Can Demontre Jacobs make this cut block against this player in this situation?
25:17Right.
25:18Yes or no.
25:19If he can't.
25:20Well, don't ask him to do it.
25:21And then when it gets blown up and, you know, causes a big turnover.
25:27Don't be surprised.
25:28And so, you know, I thought that was really smart and a departure from last year's coaching
25:33staff where I just looked at it like, you know, basically they're not going to run before
25:38they can walk with this coaching staff.
25:40And that's the way it was with Bill.
25:42You know, for a long time, especially when Josh McDaniels was here, you could do it by
25:48clockwork that you're like, all right, the Patriots are scuffling on offense.
25:51I can guarantee you what they're going to do next game is come out.
25:56Just go back to basics, do the simple shit and do that and then go on from there.
26:01And that never happened last year.
26:04Didn't happen often enough or consistent enough.
26:07So I was excited to hear that because that goes along with a lot of my beliefs.
26:14Before he talked about the non-negotiable of effort and finish, here's what he said.
26:19You can't tell the difference between a player that's afraid to do it or doesn't know how
26:23to do it.
26:24And I'll give you one guess, Greg.
26:27When I heard that quote, you can't tell the difference between a player that's afraid
26:31to do it or doesn't know how to do it.
26:33Which player do you think popped in my head immediately?
26:36Jalen Polk.
26:37Absolutely.
26:38I, when I heard that quote, I was like, that is poke standing around, being late off the
26:44snap on the ball, uh, being in the wrong spot at the wrong time, just looking lost.
26:49And it's, and so, but you know, when you look at what Vrabel is trying to say, there is,
26:55it's not because he, he, he might be afraid to do something.
26:57It's just, he probably doesn't know how to do it and you're asking him to do it.
27:01And so he's uncomfortable and that, and that creates some, some mental anxiety.
27:07He also said this Greg, uh, to Greg Hill this morning on EEI, he was asked about being a
27:13run first and run only guy.
27:15And here's what he said.
27:16I typed it up.
27:17I might miss a word or two, but our best player, cause he was, you know, and this is something
27:22I've been saying for weeks.
27:23I ran the football lot in Tennessee.
27:25He had Derrick Henry.
27:26Um, so here's what he said.
27:28Our best player was our running back.
27:30We tried to structure the offense.
27:32We tried to build the offense around who we thought was our best player and our strength.
27:37We threw it just as successfully as we ran it.
27:39We were good in the red zone.
27:41I thought we were creative.
27:42You base whatever system and scheme you have on the players you have.
27:46I do think there's a lot of versatility from not only myself, but hopefully from the coaches
27:51that we hire.
27:52So if you are concerned that Vrabel is going to walk in here and they're going to run the
27:56ball 45 times every single week, I don't think so between that comment to Greg Hill
28:03and the Greg Hill show this morning on top of, you know, what he said yesterday and calling
28:08Drake may a dynamic quarterback.
28:12I'm just guessing that Vrabel is going to look at this and say, okay, we can open some
28:16things up here.
28:17It's not going to be a ground and pound offense week in and week out.
28:20Yes.
28:21And, but also if Mike that week looks at the opponent and thinks they have an advantage
28:27or he sees it during the game where, uh, the Patriots are killing them on the inside and
28:33they're not holding the D the opponent isn't holding up the double teams and they are owning
28:38the line of scrimmage.
28:40You better believe he's going to run the crap out of the ball and be just fine with it.
28:45And I, I, I just think that that rarely happened, um, with this last group.
28:50But I do think that, yeah, I, all the people, Nick, and I know we've heard of them either
28:56in calling in a sports talk radio or on Twitter, like, you know, when he talked about Vrabel
29:01to be like, well, his offenses weren't very good or all he did was run the ball.
29:06I mean, yeah.
29:07I mean, even when I talked to Bill O'Brien the other day about Vrabel, I asked him about,
29:13you know, about Vrabel and having that sort of mentality in Tennessee.
29:17And even Bill O'Brien was like, he had crit King Henry.
29:21I mean, what the hell, you know, the Ravens just ran the crap out of the ball in a playoff
29:26game, you know, because they have King Henry to go along with Lamar Smith.
29:31And so, uh, you know, absolutely.
29:33I'm, I'm totally with you on this, that, you know, whatever advantage Mike thinks that
29:39week that the Patriots are going to have offensively, defensively, and special teams,
29:43they are going to press it.
29:45They're going to utilize that.
29:46And if that's throwing up 50 times a game, he'll do that.
29:49If it's running at 50 times a game, he'll do that as well.
29:52By the way, Greg knows that it's Lamar Jackson and not Lamar Smith.
29:55He just kind of went back to time for a minute.
29:57He went back.
29:58I did that.
29:59You know, that was Lamar Smith was the, uh, uh, I'm a little nostalgic, you know, thinking
30:02about how long I've been covering the league.
30:05Um, I was there when Lamar Smith ran for like 200 yards for the dolphins in their last
30:09playoff victory, uh, in 2001.
30:12That's how long it's been.
30:14Yeah.
30:15And, and to go off your point though, that's why I say he's not going to do it week in
30:18a week out, but if he knows a rush defense, if a run defense is terrible and they're going
30:22to give you 200 yards on the ground, then yeah, you're going to run the football that
30:26week.
30:27And to go off your Ravens point, I tweeted that during the game, uh, to try to take a
30:31little bit of a jab at the people that are like, Oh, running the football around the
30:35Ravens in that playoff game, ran 13 straight times on a touchdown drive.
30:41They ran at 13 between Jackson and Henry.
30:43They ran 13 straight times and scored a touchdown.
30:47So does that touchdown not count?
30:49Is that, is that not an effective drive because they ran the football?
30:53Like what are we doing?
30:55What are we doing?
30:56All right.
30:57Before we get to the GM situation.
30:58Uh, Oh, sorry, sorry, Robert.
31:00We don't use the GM title in new England, uh, on office situation, Greg, let's get to
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32:26Some people made a big deal about this.
32:28What'd you make of the many mentions of Elliot Wolfe during the presser?
32:33Not much.
32:36These things tend to happen when you get in these situations.
32:42This is my read on it.
32:46You know, do I think that Elliot Wolfe has the potential to possibility or the potential
32:54to be in charge of personnel for the Patriots for multiple years?
32:59Yes, I think there's a possibility because I do think that there's a feeling that this
33:05past year for various reasons, he was not allowed to fully invest in his job.
33:16You know, for example, he wasn't even at the GM winter meetings.
33:20They sent macro.
33:22Was that because Elliot Wolfe was was busy with things internally and helping things?
33:28You know, could be.
33:31But I do think I read it as this and you get this a lot with a lot of NFL teams.
33:37I do think that the crafts really like Elliot Wolfe and his staff and the plans that they
33:43had.
33:45I think that they they feel that they he wasn't able to fully implement them.
33:51You know, this first season with a you know, it was obviously we know about Mayo shortcomings.
33:57The staff, Wolfe had to do a lot of work on the staff, the staffing and all that stuff.
34:04So I do think that they I do think it's the craft's preference.
34:10I remember hearing this about a couple other jobs or sort of transitions that I've covered.
34:17The owners basically go to the new head coach and say, like, I understand that you have
34:21your your ideas and this is what you want to do.
34:25But do me a favor for the first year.
34:29Like, give these guys a try out.
34:31Like, see, just do us a favor.
34:33I think, you know, talk to this guy.
34:34I think he's got some good ideas.
34:38Do that.
34:40I'm sure Vrabel said, yeah, absolutely.
34:42And we've heard him talk about Elliot Wolfe and all that stuff.
34:46Now, he also at the very same time, you know, as he's getting introduced.
34:52Mike Vrabel is bringing in Ryan Cowden into the personnel department, his own guy.
34:58And so, you know, to me, look, it could it could work gangbusters where everybody gets
35:06along, everybody's doing their thing, and it's all of a sudden they realize, like the
35:10synergies here, like we're kicking ass, like, let's keep going with this.
35:15Could happen.
35:16The odds aren't great.
35:18But the more likely thing is, is what you see is they'll go through this.
35:22Vrabel says, absolutely, Robert, whatever you want, I'll do this, blah, blah, blah.
35:28But really, he knows at some point in time, it's going to be him and Cowden running things.
35:33And it's just a matter of time, in my opinion, before that happens.
35:36Does that mean everybody in the department goes?
35:39No.
35:40You know, who knows?
35:41Maybe Elliot only has one more year left on his deal.
35:44He stays on through here.
35:45But at the end of the day, everybody's involved in discussions.
35:49But it's really Vrabel and Cowden going behind closed doors and being like, this is what
35:53we're going to do.
35:54So I think I think Vrabel is very smart.
35:57He's playing the game.
35:59How long that game lasts?
36:01We'll have to see.
36:03Totally agree with you.
36:05When I was watching that press conference yesterday, to me, people were just paying
36:07attention to him saying Wolf's name like, okay, Elliot Wolf just interviewed him.
36:12Elliot Wolf is his go-to guy right now when it comes to the football operation.
36:16And he's talking about these players.
36:18So he brought up Elliot Wolf five or six times.
36:22Okay, great.
36:23He gave a bunch of non-answers when he was asked about the roster construction and control
36:28and collaborating.
36:30He was asked directly, Greg, he was asked directly who has say on personnel.
36:35He did not answer that question directly.
36:38He didn't say Elliot Wolf has the final call.
36:40I have the final call.
36:42He left it open ended.
36:44He said things like, you know, these decisions will sort themselves out.
36:48He mentioned, I mean, he went even to go as far as talking about that.
36:53Nothing had been finalized when he was asked about Cowden.
36:56He said, you know, Elliot and I will have conversations as it relates to the staff.
37:02Nothing has been finalized.
37:03Nothing has been determined.
37:05And he also said, as with many staff, there's going to be turnover.
37:09I did not hear any commitment from Mike Vrabel to Elliot Wolf in regards to Elliot Wolf having
37:17the call.
37:18None of it.
37:19And he was asked question after question.
37:21He was on Zo and Beetle.
37:22He was asked about Elliot Wolf.
37:25Listen closely to what he says.
37:26He says, I think the vision him and I both have the communication again, what Greg just
37:31said, Robert wants collaboration.
37:33He loves the idea of communication and having a vision together.
37:38He says, I think the vision him and I both have the communication, allowing him to find
37:43us great players.
37:45And then he says, and for us to come to an agreement about how we add them.
37:51So I read that as, yeah, Elliot's going to do more legwork than I'm going to be able
37:56to do.
37:57But at the end of the day, Elliot's going to come to me and we're going to have a conversation
38:01and we're going to have to agree on if we want the player or how we want that player.
38:06I don't think anything Greg is going to happen without Vrabel in Cowden being on board with
38:14it.
38:15And that's ultimately what people have to be worried with.
38:17Like there's no way on God's green earth.
38:20You know, Elliot Wolf better than I do, you know, Mike Vrabel better than I do, but let's
38:24just look at the personalities folks, but let's look at Elliot Wolf when he was with
38:28the media last year at camp, nervous, kind of fidgety.
38:32There's been reports from Andrew Callahan that he doesn't put his foot down with his
38:36staff at times.
38:37Greg, you said that is true that he's not really a guy, you know, that that's going
38:41to walk in and have that confidence right out the gates.
38:44And then you look at Mike Vrabel, who's walking in chest out proud as a peacock, you know,
38:50do you really think that when those three guys are in the room and they're having a
38:54conversation about drafting a player that if Elliot Wolf says, I want Travis Hunter
39:00and Vrabel and Cowden go, we don't want Travis Hunter.
39:03Do you honestly believe people that Elliot Wolf's going to go, well, tough shit.
39:07I'm drafting Travis Hunter.
39:08Like what are we doing here?
39:11To me, it's like, it's, it's just people getting worked up.
39:15They have this like trigger in their head when Elliot Wolf is brought up.
39:20It's unbelievable.
39:21Like how, you know, a certain show in the afternoon yesterday, I mean, you know, by
39:25the end of their show, they made it out like, you know, Elliot Wolf and potentially Josh
39:31McDaniels or Benedict Arnold's and like the Dan, you know, and now people react to like,
39:37they basically think that Elliot Wolf is the devil because Jalen Polk didn't have a
39:41good rookie season.
39:44Or Elliot Wolf whiffed on the left tackle.
39:46I mean, you know, look at the end of the day, you still need an experienced front office
39:52staff and Elliot Wolf right now, considering the, the coaching staff is gone, or I imagine
39:58most of them are probably some of them are still in the building.
40:02Some of them are trying to get other jobs and things like that.
40:05You know, he's invaluable as far as being like, Hey, this is why we drafted the guy.
40:10This is what went on last year.
40:12This is his weakness.
40:13This is his strength.
40:14And then like, you know, even going forward, you look at the hard knocks with the giants,
40:19you know, how many people were in Joe Shane's room when they're talking about what to do
40:23with Saquon Barkley.
40:25There's like six people in there.
40:27But at the end of the day, the, the GM or the, and those discussions are going to be
40:33going on in Vrabel's office or in a room where Vrabel's in charge.
40:37Cause I fully believe that Vrabel is getting final say at the end of the day.
40:43And he's going to Mike's Mike's going to listen to everybody that at the end of the day, who
40:47do you think he's going to listen to?
40:48The guy, he took about five minutes to bring in with him.
40:51I mean, so, you know, everybody needs to calm the freak down about Elliot Wolf.
40:57It's just gotten completely out of hand.
40:59And I even said this, the Felger in the email exchange, I was like, holy hell, it's going
41:03to be a long off season until they actually do something.
41:06I mean, I guess the coaching hires will distract people and then they'll go right back to hammering
41:11Elliot Wolf until they actually get some new players in here, even though it's really Vrabel
41:16and Ryan Cowden.
41:18Two things.
41:19I just ask you a simple question, not you, Greg, you generally in the people before we
41:23get to the OC quickly.
41:25I asked this question on my podcast yesterday, the Nick cattle show YouTube channels, check
41:30it out.
41:32Why do you think Ryan Cowden's here?
41:33Like, what are we, what are we doing?
41:35Like, how did, how did it had a job with the giants?
41:38Okay.
41:39He had a contract with the giants.
41:40He was employed by the giants.
41:43Why do you think he leaves that job to come here to new England?
41:47If he doesn't have significant say, if it's not him and Vrabel getting together and having
41:51these conversations, like what are we doing?
41:54Cowden's not going to leave the giants just to show up here and be like, I, I'm going
41:58to kick up my feet and enjoy some cheese and crackers while you guys do the draft.
42:02Uh, Burt Breer said that he's the number two guy, which isn't great for Matt grow because
42:06Elliot Wolf said last year that grow was the number two guy, but just, just, just think
42:10what common sense, you know, if, if Cowden is the number two guy, Brable's the number
42:15one guy really above Elliot, Elliot Wolf's not going to, you know, outrule those two
42:21guys.
42:22It's just, it's not going to happen.
42:23It's, it's not going to happen.
42:26And one more point before we get to the OC, the collaboration stuff, Greg, I'm so tired
42:31of it.
42:32People, people mock it and here's the truth.
42:36Everybody in the NFL collaborates everybody.
42:40There's not one single person in this league that has full ironclad control as the head
42:46coach of the roster.
42:47And if you say Kyle Shanahan, Burt Breer will fight you on that.
42:51He says, John Lynch has the 90 man roster.
42:54Then Shanahan has control of the 53.
42:57There's no bill Belichick's in the league anymore.
43:01Eddie Reed is not walking in and making all the decisions.
43:04Like there's a collaboration.
43:06All collaboration means is like Greg just said about the giants.
43:10You get into the room and you bounce ideas off each other and say, what do you see in
43:13this guy?
43:14What you don't see in this guy, every team does it.
43:18Bill did it when he was here.
43:21He talked to people.
43:22Collaboration is talking with people.
43:24It's all it is.
43:25Settle down, please.
43:27Everyone settled down.
43:28All right.
43:29Before we get to the OC, let's get to no turno Greg.
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45:46What are you hearing?
45:49Not much.
45:50I'm sort of in the same place.
45:51I have been, and it was confirmed by variable.
45:54It sounds like they're going to talk to a bunch of different people, you know, including
45:59Josh McDaniels.
46:01I think Tommy Reese is on the list.
46:05We'll have to see how the process goes.
46:06They have to go through a process due to the Rooney rule.
46:11It's not as expansive or steadfast as the head coaching search or GM search, but I will
46:20say, and we'll probably expound on this on Thursday.
46:28How variable staffs is one of my big worries.
46:31I do not think that was a strength of his in Tennessee.
46:36I don't think he got along great with LaFleur.
46:38He sort of fell into Arthur Smith who had been there on staff sort of inherited and
46:43struck gold a little bit.
46:45I don't think that was really about Vrabel really seeing a lot in Arthur Smith.
46:51His offensive line coaching was sort of a disaster the entire time there.
46:57You know, he's got a lot of work to do and I just, I hope he gets it right.
47:01I think it's a great staff is vital.
47:05I think everybody knows where I stand.
47:08You know, I would love Josh McDaniels to be back.
47:11I think he's really good.
47:13He takes the, there's no guesswork.
47:16You know exactly what you're going to get.
47:18You know the coach, Drake May is going to get coached up the way he needs to.
47:23He's going to get developed.
47:26I would love to see, you know, there's been a lot of talk about Tommy Reese from the Browns.
47:31You probably have stuff to say about him since he was the Notre Dame offensive coordinator,
47:35former Notre Dame quarterback.
47:40He's never coached quarterbacks at the NFL level.
47:42I'm sure, you know, he does, he do a good job, but man, that's a lot that if it doesn't work
47:49with an unproven guy, all of a sudden now, you know,
47:52May's on his third offensive coordinator in three years.
47:55I would love to see if this can work.
47:58And I don't even know if it can, you know, Josh McDaniels and Tommy Reese together.
48:02Tommy Reese is sort of the quarterback coach, sort of learn from Josh McDaniels,
48:06sort of, you know, bring some of the college concepts, help Josh with that,
48:10adapt the Patriots playbook a little bit to the college game.
48:14Like, I think that would be awesome in a way to go, whether that could ever work.
48:18I'm not sure, but that's sort of where I am right now.
48:22I'm sure we'll have a lot more on this later in the week because names will be popping up.
48:25Vrabel told EEI this morning that he's going to start interviewing
48:29OC candidates this afternoon.
48:30So we should be getting some names over the next 48 hours.
48:33Greg's going to go to Felger and Maz, wish him luck, pray for him.
48:37If you're into praying, pray for Greg, hope for the best.
48:41He might not come out of this one.
48:42Well, we'll see how it goes.
48:44We'll talk to you later in the week.
48:46That'll do it for now.
48:46Bye-bye.
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