Drake Maye COMING SOON, Jabrill Peppers Arrest & Patriots vs Dolphins | Pats Interference
In a solo episode, Andrew explains why Drake Maye's first NFL start will be coming soon, the latest on Jabrill Peppers' arrest and all of his film notes from the Patriots' loss to Miami. Later, he answers all your mailbag questions and puts Mutiny-gate to bed.
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SportsTranscript
00:00So, yeah, last time we chatted, we had not yet had a mutiny.
00:22We had not had a football game, nor a Patriots captain getting arrested for assault charges
00:28and one drug charge.
00:30Boy, this has been a dumb four days.
00:32Okay.
00:33It is Monday night.
00:34We are recording, as we always do, solo here to Monday.
00:36Hopefully you're having a beer.
00:37I am not tonight.
00:38I'm going to give you a little sugar.
00:39We're going to start with dessert for breakfast, not dinner for breakfast, okay?
00:43Not breakfast for dinner.
00:44We're going to go straight to the sweet stuff.
00:46What do you want to hear about?
00:47What do you want to talk about?
00:48What do you want to know when the team stinks and they're on the four-game losing streak?
00:52You want to talk about Drake May, and we're all excited for Drake May, and you're probably
00:57listening going, is Callahan finally coming around?
00:59Is he finally going to admit the kid should play?
01:02No, I'm not, but I will tell you this, his time is coming.
01:07I would bet almost anything at this point that Drake May will be starting for your New
01:11England Patriots within the next three to four weeks because one of two things had to
01:15happen for Jacoby Brissett to hand the reins over to the kid, who's the number three overall
01:19pick.
01:20The reason, basically, you're watching the rest of this gut-forsaken season if the Patriots
01:24keep playing like they did on Sunday.
01:26He either had to indisputably lose the job by losing games for the team like we've seen
01:31the last two weeks.
01:32He was bad again, just like against the Niners, he was against the Dolphins, and or the situation
01:37stabilizes around him in which you go, okay, this is safe and this is fine.
01:41That does not happen because the Patriots offensive line, again, allowed a pressure
01:43rate north of 40%.
01:46This is still a passing game, is really a game of flip a coin.
01:50If it comes up heads and you're the quarterback, you're ... That's Patriots trying to pass
01:55the ball right now.
01:56Separate from that, Brissett is losing the job.
01:59That's happening.
02:00Number two, as bad as it's looked, they're problem solving.
02:05They're finding things in a way that should be able to help Drake May because the coaching
02:09staff goes, okay, we know what we have, we know who we need to play, we know where the
02:12holes are, we can plug them.
02:14Right now for the offensive line, yeah, Miami's defense is not very good.
02:17You only had one offensive lineman who was a real problem in pass protection and that
02:20was Nick Leverett.
02:21If that's ever the case, you feel okay.
02:24Every team has that one old lineman where you go, okay, he needs a little extra help
02:27in pass protection.
02:29We'll give it to him.
02:30Not to mention, the Patriots running game, A is back, B is back in a way that helps the
02:35whole offense because it's back with their outside zone scheme, which you heard me talk
02:39over and over and over again, right, in the spring and the summer.
02:43All the linemen going in one direction laterally, okay, running back makes a read, one cut and
02:47go.
02:48Reminder Stephenson's 33 yard touchdown, yeah, there was a pulling guard because it was pin
02:51and pull, which is a variation of what?
02:54Outside zone.
02:55That's his longest run of the game.
02:57The only touchdown was off of outside zone.
02:59Antonio Gibson, who started, got the first four snaps because that's the punishment nowadays
03:03for four fumbles.
03:04He also had his longest run off of outside zone, 24 yards.
03:07So the running game and the pieces are coming around it, not just in pass protection for
03:11the most part, except for Nick Leverett, we'll get to him later.
03:14The running game is establishing in a way the Patriots need that because most of their
03:19play action game was built off of that outside zone.
03:22All the bootlegs, all the movement throws, where Jacoby Brissett actually finally had
03:26one of these plays developed, where Alex Van Pelt called a shot play and it wasn't blitz
03:31to smithereens or throwing into two deep safeties, Brissett overthrew it, but those are starting
03:36to get unlocked.
03:37Not to mention they have settled on a receiver rotation.
03:39We're going to see a lot more Jalen Polk, a lot more Demario Douglas, KJ Osborne was
03:43out, Kendrick Bourne is back.
03:44I think Bourne is going to keep that job and said today he can play a full game in probably
03:48about two weeks.
03:49So the offense is getting there.
03:51The last thing I'll say is this, if you still want Drake May right now, I get it.
03:57I know why you don't have to explain it to me.
03:59You're sick of watching Brissett.
04:00You want to see the kid.
04:01All of those reasons start with III, to which I would say, that's kind of selfish.
04:06That's fine.
04:07You're entitled to that.
04:08But me as the New England Patriots don't yet, yet give a damn about your entertainment.
04:14They don't give a damn about my entertainment as a media member.
04:16What they want is their future, the franchise to become just that.
04:20This kid who has all the hopes and the dreams, not just the players and the coaches, but
04:25ownership and a whole region, they need him to get to his potential.
04:28And they might say, okay, we got Houston coming in.
04:30Yeah.
04:31Jacoby's not been very good.
04:32And we might have a better shot with Drake, but if we can wait a week, we can trade out
04:36a Houston defense.
04:38It's going to roll in after being top five by DVOA before this past weekend, then allow
04:42just nine completions to Josh Allen in a win over the bills.
04:47And we could trade that out for the NFL's worst defense by DVOA, second worst by EPA
04:53and bottom five in scoring, because that's in London, that's a Jaguars.
04:57We can give this a week, let percent dig his own grave or get us to a surprise win and
05:01buy some more time.
05:02And we still figure out everything, what the hell's going on around him.
05:04And I'm not saying that's what they want to do.
05:06I'm not saying that's what I want to do.
05:07I'm just saying, if you're up for that, that might just happen anyway.
05:13Give the franchise a shot to get us together.
05:15They're getting closer as abysmal as it often has looked on Sunday.
05:20Drake May is coming.
05:21It's going to happen.
05:22You're going to get your wish.
05:23I'm excited to watch him.
05:24I've been excited since the draft.
05:27OK, trading out the sweet for the salty.
05:29We have to talk about to roll peppers.
05:31And look, I'm going to go through this quickly.
05:34You've probably heard by now that he was arrested on charges of assault and battery assault
05:38and battery with a dangerous weapon, strangulation in possession of a class B substance, which
05:41spoiler it seems was cocaine.
05:43How do we know that?
05:44Peppers told the cops, quote, it is cocaine.
05:48And this all happened Saturday morning, 415 a.m.
05:51Braintree police responded to a disturbance call outside of his apartment from a female
05:56victim, which cause.
05:58In the media, you do not identify the victim for their own protection publicly, so I'm
06:02not going to do so here.
06:04I have read the police report.
06:05There are a lot of details in there that I will share with you now.
06:09Some I will not, including her identity, but she is found outside the apartment, interviewed.
06:16Peppers comes out, complies with the cops.
06:18He's arrested, brought to the police department.
06:21They each do their own interviews on the victim was treated by EMS at the scene, according
06:25to the report. Peppers today was arraigned in Quincy District Court, pleaded not guilty.
06:31OK, he was ordered to stay away from the alleged female victim who claimed that Peppers hit
06:36her, choked her, took off her clothing as she attempted to leave and put her outside.
06:41And this will get slightly more graphic.
06:44So if you want to hit fast forward, I get it.
06:46This segment will be over in a little bit.
06:49She also claimed that Peppers grabbed her by the neck and smashed her head against the
06:52wall before allegedly throwing her down the stairs of his apartment amid an argument.
06:57Now, Peppers claimed that he asked the woman to leave several times after this incident
07:03and altercation started in his bedroom.
07:05He denied putting hands on her.
07:07He said she fell down the stairs by herself because she was intoxicated, end quote.
07:11And he told police that the woman made these allegations to destroy his career.
07:15Police noted in their report that they did not smell alcohol on her breath, did not observe
07:20her being disoriented or in any kind of way intoxicated.
07:24Peppers and the woman gave different accounts of how this started in the bedroom and why
07:29his case bottom line has been continued to November 22nd.
07:32He does not have to appear.
07:33But if he is arrested again, the judge warned he can be held.
07:36So his defense attorney, because he's a defense attorney, told reporters after the
07:42arraignment, hey, we have evidence, including video that we believe will ultimately
07:48exonerate Peppers. And the Patriots, as you might expect, released a statement that said
07:52we are aware of this incident.
07:54We have no further comment.
07:55The NFL did the same thing because that's every statement after every incident like
07:59this. And Gerard Mayo confirmed that he got a call from Pepper Saturday morning after
08:04this happened to let them know the Patriots know what had occurred.
08:07The Patriots let the league know.
08:09Mayo talked about it with the team, did not divulge really any details of the media today
08:13except for to say they're going to let this play out.
08:15They're going to gather their own information and make a decision in the next couple of
08:18days, to which I would say good for them, because you might be inclined to seize on a
08:24couple of details that were aggregated here on Twitter or mentioned over there in a news
08:28story and believe one side or another.
08:30But the bottom line is, even as someone who has read a lot more details that I didn't
08:35even share in that police report, the world is not going to change if you just don't have
08:38a take on this. OK, you don't have to take the defense attorney's word about the
08:43evidence they supposedly had that could exonerate Peppers because the next defense
08:47attorney to leave an arraignment and say, oh, we're is going to be the first.
08:52OK, you also don't have to take the cops word for it or prosecutors or her story or
08:59whatever it might be.
09:00OK, you can just sit tight and let this play out because it will through the legal
09:05system and or the league and or the Patriots.
09:06What does it mean for Peppers, at least on the field right now?
09:08I don't know. He could go on the commissioner's exempt list because the league can do
09:12whatever the hell it wants and it can claim to have the best interests of the player or
09:17the team or whatever.
09:18But you and I both know the bottom line is the only thing that matters to league.
09:23And there's some backdoor politics between ownership and the league office, what those
09:27are right now. I have no clue.
09:28I do know the crafts, as an old player texted with me today about this quote, don't
09:34play when it comes to domestic violence.
09:36And we'll see, because largely it feels he said he said she said, and I'm not inclined
09:42to make any kind of judgments.
09:43I'm just going to report the news as I did today, ready for the Herald and telling you
09:46here in this podcast. And that's we're going to leave this.
09:48So stay tuned.
09:49That's about it.
09:51However, on a higher note, I came so close to giving you two prize picks, picks to go
09:57to. And Aaron Rodgers had something like 74 yards at halftime against the Vikings.
10:01And we're not for Jalen Polk's heel, which is not to blame him for that overturned
10:06touchdown. Jacoby Perced would have thrown a touchdown and we would have been over 500
10:09this season with our prize picks, picks of the week.
10:11Alas, we did not.
10:13But I always tell you, hey, if you want to take the Costanza approach, Callahan's
10:17instinct and just do the opposite, you can win money.
10:20There's no better place to win real money than a prize fix this season where you just
10:23look at player stat projections and you go more or less.
10:26OK, and if you make four correct picks, you can win up to 100 times your money again,
10:31more or less passing yards, receiving yards, touchdowns, every every team across the
10:35league. Most players, they could be on your fantasy team.
10:38They could be playing the Patriots.
10:39They could be the Patriots.
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11:03Price picks run your game.
11:05OK, speaking of the running game and for those who are new, typically we don't open
11:10with Drake May talk and then, you know, legal details and price picks, picks of the
11:15week, which we'll have more later this week.
11:17Fitzy, everybody's favorite, is coming on for the episode later this week.
11:21We talk offense.
11:22We talk defense. The Patriots win.
11:24We hand out some game balls.
11:25If they lose, we have a segment we call.
11:27We need to talk. And then we get into what would NFL film say?
11:30This fictitious hour long documentary about the Patriots season, imagining what they
11:35would say if this particular game last four weeks not been great.
11:38But the first one pretty good when they beat the Bengals back in week one, which feels
11:41like 1991 at this point.
11:43Then we're going to do mailbag.
11:44I'll have my comments about the whole unfortunate mutiny situation, which is really
11:49quickly here. I've been thinking about this for a while because I think my quote unquote
11:55role in this or asking Mayo a question that specifically mentioned the quote and
12:00report, whatever you want to call it, from Evan Lazar, which is an incredible job with
12:04his analysis in film breakdowns and draft preparation and covering this team for the
12:08team, rankled some people or made it seem like there was some drama between us and
12:12people in the media who know better because they're expert reporters now running the
12:16most popular radio show in Boston, insinuating that I was being a jerk to Evan through
12:20this as opposed to defining what happened to Mayo.
12:24So he couldn't say, oh, fake news outside media outlet.
12:27That's just their narrative, because what made the story bigger was it came from inside
12:30the house. The call was coming from inside the house was just really disappointing
12:34because there's nothing personal between Evan and I.
12:37We talked that day.
12:39We talked on Sunday. We talked two days before this happened.
12:41And I wasn't even sure I was going to ask this question about it, which, by the way,
12:44had we not as it be that same show would have been making
12:48claims like, oh, they're just carrying water for the team.
12:52Mayo's got the media right where he wants them.
12:54They don't even ask about the biggest story of the day.
12:57Not to mention that show also takes more shots at reporters
13:01than any other in the entire city.
13:03And now they're suddenly concerned about how we're treating each other as opposed to
13:07doing our job in a way that makes Mayo answer the question.
13:11And deal with the story because it got big because of what had happened anyway.
13:15That might just be all I have to say in the matter.
13:17Let's talk about football.
13:19Here's the thing about this game.
13:20Patriots lose 15 to 10.
13:22And I wrote up, as I always do,
13:25twenty five hundred words about this for the Herald gifts,
13:28blitz breakdowns, personnel, yada, yada, yada.
13:31You know what happened?
13:33The Dolphins had a punt blocked.
13:36They botched a snap on a field goal.
13:39They snapped the ball about 50 million miles over Tyler Huntley's head.
13:45Lost a turnover battle, only got two sacks, gave up over 150 rushing yards
13:49and still won because they bullied the Patriots
13:52before they marched 15 plays to the game winning touchdown.
13:55They had four drives that were at least eight plays or longer.
13:58They racked up one hundred ninety six yards.
14:00They won time of possession by almost 10 minutes, which is that
14:03that's getting very overrated because Mayo keeps bringing it up.
14:05And that's fine. He can say what he wants.
14:07But the point is, the Patriots defense got worn out
14:10because after all that, you would get worn out, especially when
14:13the new signal caller Marte Mapu made his freaking season debut
14:17after basically not practicing the last two months
14:20and is running all the way around from deep safety
14:22to split safety position on the edge inside linebacker.
14:25Excuse me.
14:26And they just can't hold up.
14:28But Miami Finesse team bullied the Patriots.
14:30Their offense unraveled in the last few minutes.
14:32We all saw these dumb mental mistakes.
14:34I let the coaching staff on fire in a way that I don't do
14:37because, you know, this is more of my speed.
14:39Analytics, stats, research, play breakdowns,
14:42reasonable football analysis. But this was a joke.
14:46And, you know, as well as I do, Jacoby Percet played a large role in this.
14:49And I went back and watched the film and I said, yeah, this was not good.
14:52But you you already know his accuracy percentage.
14:55Just his ability to put the ball where it's supposed to go was only 65 percent.
14:59OK, and again, he was under pressure.
15:01Forty six percent of the time. It's terrible.
15:04But he for the first second game,
15:08I could see the pressure getting to him initially in the first half.
15:12That was like, OK, he might finally be breaking.
15:13Like we talked about last week.
15:15OK, it's taken four games for Percet maybe to break under all of this pressure,
15:19this onslaught of hits and hurries and sacks.
15:21He takes two sacks in his first two dropbacks.
15:24That then he's looking immediately for an outlet, like seeing cross
15:29Demario Douglas cross in front of his eyes on a shallow cross route.
15:33And he just whips to the right flag, gives it a reminder.
15:36Stevenson who gets tackled in the flap or nothing,
15:38whereas via just looked at the guy who's going in front of his face
15:42and thrown it to him in motion.
15:44Demario Douglas does the rest and they get a first down.
15:47He eventually did settle in.
15:48But the main issue was the Dolphins won the middle of the field.
15:52And when Percet had to go outside where the Patriots receivers were covered
15:56and he's not as effective, he was five of ten for fifty five yards.
15:59So it's no surprise that his two longest throws,
16:02his two best completions before the last drive and he gets twenty one yards
16:06and in the twenty five yarder to Hunter Henry, because Miami was like,
16:08cool, you want to you want to throw it in bounds with no time outs
16:11and seconds left. Great by us.
16:13Both of those good throws.
16:14His best throws were to Demario Douglas for 18 yards and then 19 yards.
16:19So what the Patriots really need to do here when we talk about fixes,
16:22what's next and what they can do to help Percet or Drake May,
16:25I really know you want to hear about Drake May.
16:27We already talked about is unlock the middle of the field.
16:31And to me, this is where motion and tighter formations
16:35and more play action will help, because Jacoby Percet has one hundred
16:38and five point three passer rating over the short middle of the field this year.
16:42On Sunday, that was seventy six point four.
16:45So if you want to know how and where and why the Patriots couldn't throw the ball.
16:50Yeah, it does have to do with protection.
16:52Yeah, it does have to do with the receivers who couldn't separate.
16:54We're going to get to that later.
16:56They didn't win the most valuable piece of real estate there was.
17:00They ran the ball really well, which I can't believe it's taken me
17:03this long to get to seven point nine yards per carry.
17:05New franchise record, by the way.
17:07Yeah, but sure.
17:08Let's let's call for three passes at the end of the game
17:10and at the end of the first half.
17:11Anyway, this is to say that Jacoby needs to be better.
17:15He needs to be more accurate.
17:16He needs to settle in against pressure.
17:18But he did make multiple completions while actively getting clobbered.
17:21And to bring up the point about the pressure, it's hard to access
17:25the middle of the field when Nick Leverett is giving up again a sack.
17:29A holding penalty in six other pressures as the center.
17:33Now, again, he's he's never played center really in the NFL.
17:36I think it was 42 snaps he had at center before he got to New England.
17:40OK, and he played in Tampa Bay for three seasons.
17:42He's he's been a guard.
17:43He's mostly been a guard.
17:46But Berset, if he can't get to the middle of the field
17:50and especially the intermediate level, he's in trouble now outside.
17:56Let's just do the receivers right now.
17:58Separation is a real issue.
17:59Jalen Polk and KJ Osborne, according to next gen stats, are dead last
18:03and second worst by average separation at the catch point.
18:07Again, Jalen Polk is dead last.
18:09KJ Osborne didn't play his second worst in average separation at the catch point.
18:14They are also among the bottom of the league against man coverage,
18:17according to PFF.
18:19And once you know, Berset against man coverage was five or 13
18:23for 57 yards versus man versus man to man.
18:25And over the last three weeks.
18:28I kid you not.
18:29The Patriots only have 10 completions against one on one coverage.
18:35So half of them came on Sunday.
18:37When you watch to go, how the hell is this an NFL offense?
18:40Well, that NFL passing offense was much better against man to man coverage
18:43than you saw against the Jets and against the Niners.
18:46Again, five or 13 for 57 yards.
18:48The receivers are not getting separation.
18:50They're also not getting yards
18:51after the catch, where Jalen Polk also ranks dead last in the league
18:54right now, according to next gen stats, which is not to pile on a rookie.
18:57But this is how, again, you lose a game just by winning the turnover battle,
19:01blocking a punt, having a field goal fumbled, and then you recover
19:05and applying a decent pressure rate.
19:07Defensively, the Patriots got over 30 percent.
19:09It's because you can't cover in the red zone.
19:11You can't pass them. You need to.
19:12All that said, bad game for Alex Van Pelt.
19:16They should have run the ball a little bit more.
19:1860 percent run rate on first down. That was good.
19:20Success rate was 47 percent. It's OK.
19:23But it's more than double what it was when you pass the ball.
19:26Not to mention here was the big kicker.
19:28The Patriots go to 11 personnel.
19:30We talked about this last week.
19:31That's the most common personnel grouping.
19:32We're going to go with three receivers. It's true for most teams.
19:36They were successful running the ball 62 and a half percent of the time
19:41when you got Miami to go lighter because you did the same thing
19:43and then ran out them.
19:45You were cashing in over and over again.
19:47A 62 percent success rate rushing the ball is outstanding.
19:50And they got runs of 24 and 10 and 10, eight and six yards.
19:54OK, passing the ball from those three receiver sets.
19:57Success rate was 26 and a half.
19:58Van Pelt did not dip enough into running the ball there.
20:02In fact, he only called eight runs compared to 26 passes
20:06from that personnel grouping in a game that was never outside of once for.
20:10So they should have run.
20:11They should have run more play action, which again, they finally get this deep
20:14shot and percent overshoots it.
20:15And this was not a good game for him.
20:17But you got to access that part of your offense.
20:19That's where all of the explosion comes from.
20:21If you're not going to stay ahead of the chains, which they do not
20:23because they also had five holding penalties,
20:25which kind of forced Van Pelt to throw a little bit more.
20:27Everyone's going, oh, this two to one pass run ratio.
20:30And that's that's accurate. It's a problem.
20:32But the context is, well, what would you call in first and 20?
20:36What would you call in second and 19?
20:38Yeah, probably pass, right?
20:39But in the key spots, the high leverage spots,
20:41he needed to go back to the well, the only thing that was working,
20:44which was running the ball and ideally a little bit more play action.
20:49I think that's about it for my offensive notes.
20:52We talked about the receivers.
20:53We talked about Percet, the offensive line.
20:55I will give a shout out to Demetri Jacobs.
20:56You know, only gave up.
20:58I had him down for three hurries, but no quarterback hits allowed.
21:01No sacks. Michael, when he went right guard, give up two pressures.
21:05Both of them were quarterback hits.
21:06Leverett was an issue.
21:07Keishon Booty, a couple of catches, both for a first down.
21:10Great downfield blocking on a reminder, Stevenson's 33 yard touchdown.
21:14But that's that's about it.
21:15It's the same old story.
21:16OK, they need to protect better.
21:18You need to separate better.
21:19You need to do better to help the receivers who are still working
21:22all of these isolation rounds outside.
21:24And again, you can do that with motion.
21:25You can do that with switch releases, a lot of different stuff.
21:27But the bones of this offense are old.
21:29This is a stuck in their ways kind of offense.
21:33This is the deal.
21:34Let's talk about the defense
21:36context.
21:37Miami's offense stinks without to it.
21:39It's really bad.
21:40Really, really not good.
21:41You can lead a league in motion.
21:42You're still dead last in scoring, which is what they were.
21:45And they still are, as we talk here today, Monday getting close to midnight.
21:48But the Patriots did, though, without Peppers now for obvious reasons
21:51that we was on the injury report and Kyle Duggar is say
21:54we're going to play with three safeties anyway.
21:56And what they did is something I thought they should have done
21:58against San Francisco a week ago, which is say, OK, we're going to load the box
22:02because stopping the run is important to us.
22:04We know that's what your offense is about.
22:06But we're going to protect ourselves with a little bit more speed on the field
22:09so that Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy can't go over the top
22:12five times for passes that cover 30 yards or more.
22:16And Miami had a pretty good explosive play rate, but they did not hurt
22:19the Patriots in that way because they played with three safeties.
22:22Jalen Hawkins, Del Pettis and Martin Mapu 67% of the time.
22:26They also played zone 70% of the time.
22:29And when they did play man, Christian Gonzalez manned up
22:32and Tyree killed did an awesome job.
22:34Gave up just three catches at a pass breakup.
22:36Obviously, the interception that wasn't against Hill.
22:38But Christian Gonzalez is just a stuff like this guy
22:42should be headed towards the pro bowl base.
22:44It's been five games, but the word's out.
22:46It should be out. He's earned it.
22:48Stud. The other good news about this defensive effort
22:51before we get to the bad news, the Blitz is back.
22:55I kept talking about they're getting killed in high leverage situations
22:59because their solution is always pressure.
23:00And we're going to bring more.
23:01We're going to do this different pressure and this and that.
23:04They only blitz 22% of the time.
23:07But the Dolphins had a single successful play against it
23:11and averaged one and a half yards per play against the Blitz. Pretty good.
23:16So this is a big win for DeMarcus Covington.
23:18They played a lot of zone alternate between single high to high.
23:21They said, OK, Miami wants to motion all the way around.
23:24You got a mobile quarterback.
23:25And Stoop Huntley is not a great thrower.
23:26He did win the middle of the field, by the way, which is a problem.
23:29But we're going to keep all eyes on the quarterback
23:31to avoid him from scrambling, to avoid Tyree kill
23:34from getting by one guy who's in main coverage, unless it's Christian Gonzalez.
23:37And then he'll be able to hang one on one. And he did.
23:39So this is a well coached game.
23:40The issue was the Patriots again, wore down 196 rushing yards,
23:4575 offensive plays, time of possession over 34 minutes.
23:49And they miss 11 tackles.
23:51So it's not just that Kyle Duggar's out.
23:53Bill Peppers is out.
23:54Juwan Bentley's out. That was a big loss and is a big loss.
23:57It's also the guys are getting tired.
23:59And you saw it in fatigue, as they say, makes cowards out of all of us.
24:03It also makes bad tacklers and that hurt them.
24:06I'll also say the mental mistakes piled up on white.
24:09Had not just a bad game.
24:10He had a dumb game, a horse collar penalty.
24:15Four snaps later, followed by a headbutt of Tyler Huntley,
24:19that's 30 free yards to a bad offense that then drove for a field goal
24:23and got three points out of his stupidity, which is not to pick on Kim White.
24:27It's just to say you can't do this stuff
24:29when you're a bad team trying to scrap out points and stop a bad offense.
24:33You were favored here.
24:34The reason you lost is because of stuff like that.
24:37Now, Keon White
24:40and the edge defenders did a better job than they did in San Francisco,
24:43you know, keeping the quarterback in the pocket.
24:44We've heard this over and over again.
24:45And it's important.
24:46And Tyler Huntley had three rushes for seven yards.
24:48Should have been a big win. It was.
24:50And part of the solution for that, again, goes goes to Covington, who said, OK,
24:54we're going to play in this three, four front most of the time.
24:57We're going to put a safety down on the box, which Patriots have done forever.
25:00And we're going to give some speed to that front with Martin Mapu there
25:03or Jalen Hawkins playing inside linebacker.
25:06And we're going to take Jelani Tavae, who's normally in that spot
25:09and flex him out onto the edge.
25:10And Tavae was excellent.
25:11He had to run stuffs in a hurry.
25:13He set a consistent edge.
25:14The issue was they did have some success running at him,
25:18not because he didn't keep that edge, but because Miami routinely
25:21got to swallow up Rayquan McMillan.
25:24Which is to say the Patriots really just missed Rwine Valley.
25:26Like you can play this three, four front.
25:28You need thumpers.
25:29You need dudes coming to knock the heads off of big, ugly,
25:33I'll do respect offensive guards who are much heavier than you.
25:37And instead, Rayquan McMillan gets washed away like the tide rolling back in.
25:42And Miami is going off inside for 16 yards, bouncing outside for 12
25:46over and over again.
25:48So it was there was a lot of good stuff for Martin Mapu again,
25:51calling signals, playing in the box, playing on the edge, playing back deep.
25:55I mean, a snap where he robbed two different routes,
25:57faked double team in the red zone.
25:59But the issue is overtime teams know whether you're the Jets,
26:03whether you're the Niners, whether you're now the Dolphins, a finesse team
26:06that if you run at the Patriots long enough, they will wear out.
26:09And it has to do with depth.
26:10It has to do with their style of play.
26:12And they did their jobs with 15 points.
26:15But this is an issue.
26:17And I don't know what the solutions are.
26:18Christian Ellis did pretty well.
26:20Talk about linebackers and what you can do in fixes like this.
26:22I think to buy on the edge is a good thing.
26:24I would try to keep him there more.
26:26I like that they're getting back to more three safety looks.
26:28His own coverage is good.
26:29They're also very good in man.
26:31But I don't know if Ellis is a full time player
26:34because the one big play you did see from him
26:37was in dime personnel to third and 13 on that last touchdown
26:40drive the Miami had.
26:41He can't find his man.
26:43Tyler Hurley goes, Oh.
26:46This is free money.
26:48He snaps the ball.
26:49Ellis finds his man, who is Raheem Mostert, and then scrambles over to him.
26:53Huntley throws at Mostert, who stops and Ellis tackles him
26:56before the ball gets there and pass interference.
26:58It's an automatic first down.
26:59It didn't matter that Mostert was eight yards shy of the line of game.
27:03That's a penalty.
27:04They knew it.
27:04They got it.
27:05And help me, as I mentioned, was 11 of 14 for 146 yards
27:08over the middle of the field,
27:09which sometimes is going to happen and use a lot of play action.
27:13You run a lot of zone coverage in Miami, has all these different motions.
27:17And that's what the Patriots should be doing to unlock the middle of the field.
27:20But that's in addition to the steady Eddie run game.
27:23Again, 196 yards are just at you, at you, at you,
27:26and four drives of eight plays or longer before you then go 15 yards.
27:31Not to mention four and a half yards of pop going at the edge.
27:34They just wore them down.
27:35And that happens.
27:36And Mayo said it after the game.
27:38Nobody loved this.
27:39This tweet of mine got ratioed to me because of the quote that
27:43fatigue played a factor.
27:44He knew it for a fact.
27:46It did. It was true.
27:47In addition to bad games for guys like Keon White
27:50and a couple of the dumb mistakes, but that's what happens.
27:52Special teams really quickly.
27:53The good Brennan Schooler.
27:55Awesome. This dude, he should make.
27:56I don't know what the pro bowl is this year.
27:58Give him a hotel.
27:59Put him in the game.
28:01Whatever silly little side games that they're doing right now.
28:03That man deserves to be there.
28:04He is in the conversation for best course.
28:06Special team are in the whole freaking league.
28:08Bad. Joey Sly went one to two because he missed.
28:11He missed an extra point.
28:13Not an actual extra point, but he missed from 33 yards away.
28:16The bad part, too.
28:17Bryce Behringer boomed half of his punts for touchbacks
28:21and only one settled inside the 20.
28:23The ugly was Joshua Jay getting caught as the 12th man on the field
28:27during Miami's second drive, which gave the Dolphins new life.
28:29It's not only that Joshua Jay was on the field when he shouldn't have been.
28:32It was at the Patriots.
28:33Coaches did not call timeout at any point as he's scrambling off.
28:37Understanding this is fourth and one.
28:39And if the refs and the Dolphins catch us, that's a fresh set of downs.
28:43No one called timeout.
28:44We know what happened next.
28:45Thankfully for the Patriots, Christian Gonzalez bailed him out.
28:47And that's that.
28:48So this leads us to that game ball.
28:51Well, we need to talk.
28:53And I got to tell you.
28:56Nick Leverett, I.
28:59This is actually a good talk.
29:00This is like I'm not we're not breaking up.
29:02I want to stay friends and I want to keep up with you
29:05because the man took full responsibility for a terrible game afterward.
29:10And this is a very this is a classic case of media coming in a locker room
29:14after a game.
29:15We don't normally talk to you because you're the backup center.
29:18And we're here to talk, not because you won the game, you obviously lost,
29:21but because you did something and it was bad.
29:23And he stood up and he faced the music.
29:25And no one's being a jerk to him.
29:26But like you understand what that feels like.
29:27Hey, Nick, like you got a second.
29:28You can imagine that someone wants to talk to you at the end of your worst
29:31day at work and everyone's looking at you.
29:33He stood and faced the music.
29:34That being said.
29:36This is like the deep part of the piano,
29:39that the the super bass, like sad, scary notes.
29:43OK, seven pressures.
29:45Can't have it holding penalty.
29:47Can't have it.
29:48He's got a mark now, not in his back because they're facing him,
29:52but on him from every scouting report the Patriots are going to.
29:56Have drawn up by their opponents go after 51.
30:01Just can't have it.
30:01Lucky for him, I think the false start penalty of him
30:04allegedly moving the ball forward was complete garbage,
30:06so at least he's not doing that.
30:07The next one, though, goes to Ken White, who I already hit on
30:10for just just two asinine penalties.
30:13He did have a hurry.
30:15That was it.
30:16That was cool.
30:17Here's the thing.
30:17The bar's been raised.
30:19You want to be the best pass rusher on this team?
30:20You want to be the guy who earns the right to rush whatever way he wants
30:24and not be the number one pick in the who's divine?
30:26Gotcha.
30:26I'm talking about when he's talking about teammates being selfish.
30:29Be better than this because this was not good.
30:32But what would NFL film say?
30:33Well, they're going to be kind to the Patriots
30:34because this documentary is about them.
30:36They start boom, as we talked about last week.
30:39Very little at the San Francisco game is about Pat's.
30:41It's about Dolphins, AFC East and rivalry.
30:44They go right away with the Gonzalez interception.
30:46Gillette comes alive.
30:48This is the crucial catch.
30:49Maybe they do something about the cancer, not tied to the interception.
30:52But you get the whole build up.
30:52It's a sunny, sunny, beautiful weather.
30:54Gonzalez gets the interception.
30:56Go right to the reminder.
30:57Stephenson touchdown.
30:58Roar the crowd again.
31:00Block punch right there.
31:01Everything's on fire.
31:02But Miami slowly puts this out again and again.
31:06Then you get an incompletion reset and you get some soundbite on the sideline
31:10and everyone's hanging their heads.
31:11And then you get they've got a shot at the end, despite all this.
31:15And it's Jalen Polk's touchdown getting overturned.
31:17And you have the end with the big completion to Hunter Henry.
31:20The time runs out.
31:21Mayo obviously gives a quote at the end.
31:22And they I don't know what the theme of this particular game is.
31:25I mean, like obviously getting in their own way.
31:27It's a young team.
31:27That's probably what the highlight is.
31:29But we know, as we said at the top, this is just a transition.
31:31This game is a bridge.
31:32The season is a bridge to the future.
31:34But this game is a bridge to Drake May.
31:35So maybe they even hinted that in the documentary.
31:39But we'll see because we don't know what the next game is going to be about
31:41or how they're going to portray it.
31:41But for now, that's what NFL films would say.
31:44And maybe they do include Scott's Alex called the worst loss
31:48since Tom Brady left.
31:50Maybe they don't, though.
31:51I don't really know.
31:52All right. Before we get to the mailbag, I want to tell you,
31:54if you do want to go to the Patriots game on Sunday.
31:58Against the Texans, first of all, I want to remind you,
32:01the Patriots beat the Bills in late October in a game just like this
32:04where another team's coming in, they're much better.
32:06You know, I have no idea how in the hell the Patriots can win this game.
32:09Well, they beat the Bills.
32:11Second of all, ticket prices have never been lower,
32:13but they are the lowest at game time.
32:16You have a hundred and ten percent guarantee, which by that I mean,
32:19if you find a lower price than what's available at game time,
32:23they will credit you a hundred and ten percent of the difference
32:25for whatever ticket you found.
32:27And this is with all in pricing.
32:28So when you go to game time and you look up, oh,
32:30how much are the tickets for Pat's Texans or Pat's Jets later this month?
32:33Whatever game you want to go to concert show, whatever.
32:36No pesky fees at the end.
32:38It's all up front right there with game time picks with filters out
32:42all the fluff to only show you incredible deals and great seats.
32:44You don't have to waste the time sifting through thousands of tickets.
32:47Oh, and they give you a seat view.
32:48So if you want to weigh what it looks like sitting over here
32:50behind the end zone or the 20 yard line on the opposite side,
32:53you can do that with seat view and everything else a game time has to offer.
32:57So go to game time now.
32:58Better yet, download the game time app because here you go.
33:00Twenty dollars for me to you create an account.
33:03Use code CLNS for twenty dollars off your first purchase.
33:07Terms do apply.
33:07Again, create an account at game time and redeem code CLNS for twenty dollars off.
33:12Download game time today.
33:14What time is it? Game time.
33:17It's actually mail time.
33:18So we're going to go home with a mailbag.
33:20Here we go.
33:22Oh, that's my that's my film review.
33:23That's not going to be very helpful.
33:25Here we go. Mark, quote, I need an explanation
33:28of how Elliot Wolfe thought Alex Van Pelt was a man to tutor Drake.
33:32They should have brought in a guy to develop a system for me.
33:34Not a dude trying to force your only hope to play
33:38his antiquated, ineffective system.
33:40I think what he means is like just a guy who can build a system around me,
33:43as opposed to what obviously the Patriots have right now.
33:46So just like anywhere else in the league, Mark, guys are going to hire their friends.
33:53The people that they know,
33:55you're familiar with this, could you root for a team where the guy hired his sons?
33:58And this isn't to knock Brian Belichick or Steve Belichick.
34:01I think both did and are doing decent jobs.
34:03The safeties were among the highlights of that game on Sunday, right?
34:06That's with Brian Belichick.
34:07It's a position he's coaching.
34:09But Alex Van Pelt on paper, and I said it at the time.
34:13So this is not revisionist history.
34:15This is not anything, but I'm telling you right now.
34:18Is a guy who connects with people.
34:20He develops players, even Josh Freeman.
34:23You want to go back to his days at Tampa Bay,
34:24readying five quarterbacks at Cleveland.
34:25I get you don't want to hear that right now
34:27because the Patriots stink and he's at the charge and he's calling plays.
34:30But that aligned with what the Patriots need in a rebuild.
34:33Who can connect with the modern player in the way that the old staff,
34:36the old head coach was not at the end,
34:38which is the same thing with Gerard Mayo's message and know someone in the building.
34:42That was Elliott Wolfe.
34:43And I told you on the flip side of, OK, he will develop and he'll connect.
34:47And that's great.
34:48The system is old, as you just said, like you need to win in isolation.
34:52And this isn't to say that what the Dolphins do is a whole lot better
34:55than the Patriots, because again, they're last in scoring.
34:57Motion is not this magic elixir, but you do need to establish
35:02or be good at certain things for the whole offense to work.
35:05And right now, though, there are encouraging signs,
35:08the outside zone, a little bit more play action.
35:10They're not good at those things.
35:11So, yes, it's talent. It's coaching.
35:13It's a system. But that's why he's here.
35:16That's why I think this will get better over time, the type of coach that he is.
35:20But I do think they will need to tweak certain things about the system.
35:23And there are to make improvements.
35:27How big those improvements are, that will be the key.
35:29And I know someone else is going to ask about job security a little bit later.
35:32So Carlos, hey, Andrew, would you expect your
35:36Peppers to play ahead of his November court date?
35:38Or is there a chance he gets placed on some sort of reserve list?
35:40I mean, there's a chance for anything.
35:42And I'm laughing that because it's an unserious situation.
35:45It is. But again, the league can do what it wants.
35:47They invented the commissioner's exemplars.
35:50This was nothing that was just inherited, OK?
35:52They can make up whatever rule they want.
35:55Now, Peppers is not such a name like a quarterback
35:58or a high profile running back or receiver or someone on your fantasy team
36:01that, you know, they really have a ton of people paying attention to this
36:04and can make it go away.
36:05But is a serious situation.
36:06And I know the Patriots, you know, at least their history
36:09with ownership are going to take it seriously.
36:11We just don't know the facts yet.
36:13If I had to bet, I do think Peppers will play at some point.
36:17But I don't know.
36:19And that's my point to you. We don't know.
36:20So just have to sit in the uncertainty in the nonjudgment of that.
36:24It's boring and maybe frustrating to you as it is.
36:26It's just where we are right now.
36:28Monday, October 7th.
36:30Jeffrey, if the Bengals lose two more games before the trade deadline
36:33and you're Elliott Wolfe, lucky me.
36:35What are you offering for Tee Higgins or are you passing until the offseason?
36:39I'm passing until the offseason.
36:42A, I had the money.
36:43I had the cap space.
36:45What they would want, surely, is a young player and or a draft pick.
36:48My only trade assets right now are going to be a receiver
36:51that they probably don't want in return, which would be Kendrick Bourne
36:54or Taekwon Thornton, who's supposedly in the black.
36:56And let me tell you, he's going to stay there.
36:58Or KJ Osborne, who doesn't separate.
37:00And Jonathan Jones or Joshua Uche, that's it.
37:04And I want my draft picks.
37:06So I'll wait in a season.
37:07I don't really care about wins and losses to the degree that most teams do.
37:11And if I do want Tee Higgins, who personally I don't think Jeff Jeffrey,
37:15sorry, is the number one.
37:17It's got a history of hamstring issues.
37:19He's a big, tall dude.
37:22That's it's going to.
37:23There's a chance where I could see them making an offer
37:26like they did with Calvin Ridley and getting outpriced,
37:29maybe because he wants to go elsewhere or because at some point
37:31paying a guy like that just isn't worth it.
37:34I think folks in Tennessee would tell you that, too.
37:36So it's not a slam dunk for me that you just throw a bag at Tee Higgins.
37:39Like, I don't think he's a one B.
37:41It doesn't mean you shouldn't get better receivers.
37:43I'm not saying that, but I'm not offering anything now.
37:46And I don't think it's a slam dunk.
37:48Patriots not only get them, but even offer him the most money
37:50that he could see in free agency, which is a bummer.
37:53I get it. Don't get me wrong.
37:54I'd be looking at trades
37:56if you really want to take something away from this.
37:59That's what I'm looking at.
38:00If I am Elliott, we'll next spring Valiant Patriot.
38:04To what extent are we too reserved in the way we move the ball?
38:06We don't look like a team that wants to score until we're behind.
38:09I know they say it's trying to not lose before you try to win,
38:12but I think we're seeing it to the extreme on exclamation points. Thoughts.
38:17Yeah, I think that's fair.
38:18I mean, that's part of living with an offensive line, though,
38:22that invites danger and not like, oh, my God, my quarterback's going to get hit.
38:26Invites negative plays.
38:28Invites holding penalties.
38:29Again, they had five holding penalties and sacks typically kill drives.
38:33That's life with an offensive line.
38:34You're not going.
38:35We'll do a seven step drop.
38:37We'll have a flea flicker.
38:38We'll have this, you know, deep post corner that takes so long to develop.
38:42You can't take those shot plays with that kind of offensive lines.
38:44They're trying to balance that and navigate it.
38:46It's not to excuse.
38:47It's been a horrible offense.
38:49But I do think the time that they have tried to take those shot plays,
38:53they've been well defended.
38:55They've been they've been totally predictable,
38:56and they don't know what to expect is their tight ends.
38:58Coach Bob Bicknell told me on Friday, like the way they chart
39:02coverages from defenses when you're trying to say, OK, if we get them in a blitz here,
39:06maybe we'll have a shot or they're in single high coverage and we run a deep over
39:09and that'll distract the safety and then we have a post behind it.
39:12OK, what are they in single high?
39:13Oh, 33% of the time.
39:15And they look at this chart and it's like, oh, well, this isn't helpful.
39:19It's like 25% of four different coverages.
39:22And most of them are good against the shot plays.
39:25So they need to get better either at scouting the other team or themselves
39:30because they have taken the shots and it's just not working.
39:32So they are conservative.
39:34I understand it to an extent, I would say to your question directly.
39:37It's not an extent that I have such a big issue with
39:41because even playing conservatively, they're dealing with issues
39:44that you would exacerbate or further invite if you played a little bit
39:48more aggressively.
39:48They are trying to win.
39:50They're just trying to win their way, understanding they have a small margin
39:53for error.
39:53So it's like stepping out on a high wire and going very slowly.
39:58Like that's what it is.
39:59I'm not going to run across.
40:00I'm just trying to get across.
40:01So that's what they're doing very slowly.
40:02Step after step after step, because they know, again,
40:06margin for error is very, very small.
40:08Sox Nation, which player in offense do you think may benefit the most from Drake
40:11starting?
40:12I would say.
40:15Pop Douglas, I like I keep calling for more targets for him,
40:19and it just hasn't happened.
40:21And we talk about percent is best over the middle of the field,
40:23pass rating over one of five.
40:25He's still just not getting targets.
40:27And I think whether it's because,
40:30you know, Drake might be able to access that a little bit better
40:32or be on the move,
40:35you know, because you would think maybe it'll be a downfield receiver.
40:38He'll attack. He's got a bigger arm, a stronger arm.
40:41But Taekwondo is not even playing anymore.
40:43Jalen Polk is a downfield receiver, but he's not separating.
40:46And Jacoby's giving him chances downfield.
40:48He's just not making plays the most part.
40:50So I think it is Pop Douglas, because Drake's numbers also jump
40:53significantly in training camp when Pop Douglas came back to full contact
40:57and was playing in 11-11.
40:58So I'm going to go with Pop.
41:00Kenny, it might be a league wide issue, but it does seem like injuries
41:03have been piling up in the past few seasons for the Patriots.
41:05There are a lot of reasons why this might be.
41:07But do you see anything with their current strength and conditioning
41:09coaches that might be contributing to this? Great question.
41:13I have a bad answer.
41:14It's I don't know.
41:16And it's to say that before I
41:20opine on this, I would want to have some serious data
41:23and not just injuries that they've had or number of games missed.
41:26It's what are the
41:30measurable differences
41:31between what they were doing in training camp now in their workouts in past years?
41:35And I was at every single training camp practice.
41:37I could list a couple of things, but off the top of my head
41:39is not a good enough measurement to give you the answer that you deserve.
41:42So what I would say is I don't think and I think I talked about this last week.
41:47The plan is all that different from what they were doing before
41:49under Moses Cabrera, who is now gone because Duran Mayo, his brother,
41:53now the head of strength and conditioning, along with Jim Whalen,
41:56who does some some medical training stuff, and they've got one sports science guy
41:59left, I think they're using the same playbook that Moses left.
42:03It's just like DeMarcus Cummington taking over the defense from Bill.
42:06You'll make tweaks.
42:07But like the basis of what they're doing is still there.
42:09So I think it is partly bad luck.
42:13I think you do see teams who take it easy in camp
42:15and the preseason still have bad injuries like you alluded to league wide.
42:19But it is scary the way that the Patriots have been this banged up
42:24and not all injuries are created equal, right?
42:26Like you deal with injuries at MetLife Stadium
42:28where the turf is notoriously bad, non-contact injuries.
42:31That's not because you ran an extra couple of laps back in July.
42:34It's just because that's a very unforgiving turf and one bad twist
42:37to the ankle or knee or whatever it might be can cost you a season.
42:40So I don't have a hard answer for you yet.
42:43The longer we go into the season, though, I will be able to have better numbers
42:46to say, OK, we don't have a bigger sample for the Patriots,
42:50but a bigger sample relative to the rest of the league.
42:52And that's stuff that we can really sink our teeth into, as opposed to week five
42:55being like, oh, how many other teams have lost like two or three caps as an injury?
42:59OK, probably not many.
43:00But give it time and they might catch up.
43:02And then what's the reason?
43:03I don't know.
43:05All right, I got to go faster.
43:06Matthew, if you were running the Texans, wouldn't you just sit
43:08Nico Collins in week six? Yes.
43:10Yes, I would.
43:12And I think he will.
43:13D'Amico Ryan said today that Nico Collins has a hamstring
43:15and hamstrings usually take a couple of weeks.
43:17So I do not expect to see Nico Collins against the Patriots on Sunday.
43:22Chris, can you see Alex Van Pelt being a one and done?
43:24Oh, see, the plate calling is a little underwhelming at times.
43:27Yes, I can.
43:28And it's not because I believe he will be a one and done
43:32or because I think he deserves to be a one and done.
43:34It's because while it absolutely has been underwhelming
43:37and the Patriots have been outcoached on offense the last couple of weeks,
43:40games, whatever.
43:42The coordinators go before the head coach does.
43:45So if if Mayo's pressure to do something or feels compelled to do something
43:49and provide, hey, we're making changes, we're trying different things,
43:51he's not going to fire himself.
43:52He's going to fire that guy,
43:53especially if he's in charge of an offense.
43:54And right now he's scoring fewer points than Patricia did.
43:59It's true, it's a fact he has less talent, let's be clear,
44:02and some other challenges.
44:04But yeah, it's not good.
44:07Jordan, is it fair to blame Kraft for this mess?
44:09He was one who promised a head coach job to Mayo, which hurt our chances
44:12of bringing in a competent GM and OC.
44:14Yeah, sure.
44:14I mean, like my default and I did this in the column
44:18I wrote Sunday is to blame the guy at the top.
44:21Right now, the guy at the top of football operations on Sundays is Gerard Mayo.
44:24So everything else under his purview goes back to him.
44:27Kraft. Sure.
44:29I would say I would not pass full judgment on Gerard Mayo
44:32in the first five games as a head coach.
44:33But as I noted, many, many, many, many, many times,
44:36he only had five years in coaching.
44:39It's great he was here as a player.
44:41It's great he was a captain and a great leader.
44:43And I think ultimately, if I had to bet, I call them a worthy gamble.
44:46Again, you can look this up at the time.
44:48It will work out.
44:49But right now his growing pains are coinciding with Alex Van Peltz
44:52as a play caller to Marcus Covington's as a play caller.
44:55The worst roster in the league at their disposal.
44:57It's going to look bad.
44:57It has. They've cost him some games and it could get worse.
45:02So, yeah, if you want to bring a blame, Kraft, go right ahead.
45:05He's he's above Mayo.
45:07They can never say that they hired the best candidate available
45:11because they didn't ask around.
45:12And that goes for him and Elliott.
45:15But you can also believe in one or both of them and
45:19and still be upset in the crafts and say that.
45:21And that's that's pretty much where I land.
45:23Last one.
45:25Why did you personally call Lazar in the Mayo press conference?
45:28Is there a grudge there? Sounded personal.
45:29So I said it earlier.
45:32No, absolutely not. Hell, no.
45:34It's actually how I responded to Dave on Twitter.
45:37And this is a case of at least I say, as I hear myself talk,
45:42the more you address something like, oh, I don't care.
45:45It's not that big of a deal.
45:46And the more you talk about it, you're arguing against yourself.
45:49Like the people disbelieve.
45:50Like, OK, if you didn't care, you would stop talking.
45:51But I just I want to repeat that there were three reasons
45:54why this became a story. Number one,
45:56which again, Eminence walked back and this is.
46:01This is it's.
46:04It was obvious to me, so that's why this has become just
46:06just just mind numbing in so many different ways.
46:08The word mutiny is a wow word.
46:10OK, like that's that's big.
46:11That means overthrowing leadership.
46:13That means players going mail, you're done.
46:15You can leave. We're in charge now.
46:17That's what that's OK.
46:18People misspeak. People step in it.
46:21People have bad reports, bad takes.
46:23I know. And I brought this up to you a few weeks ago.
46:26Lost my mind in TV saying play Joe Milne ahead of Drake May.
46:29I didn't mean it. I stepped in it.
46:30How much to everyone?
46:31Evan stepped in it. OK.
46:33And number two, it came from a team person.
46:35So the call was coming from the side of the house.
46:37You never really hear in this kind of way, even if you do get carried away
46:40in a kind of rant.
46:42And it's not only just from inside the house.
46:43It's from a very well-respected analyst who, again, does a great job
46:46with film analysis, breaking down scheme and techniques in the draft
46:49and everything I said earlier, a guy I would want to read as a fan and do read
46:52and done a ton of good work for this podcast network that I share.
46:56CLNS. And he was here before going to Patriots dot com.
47:01But it was not only a team person.
47:02It was not only a respected team person, but it was on a team produced podcast.
47:05And again, people who work for the teams, which is something
47:09the folks at Velgram has no, because again, they were in media.
47:12But there's a there's a line drawn that I don't think most fans know or some don't.
47:16So don't take this to me, you know, talking down to anybody
47:19because I don't I never, ever, ever, ever want to do this
47:22is to say that when we're all in the same room at the press conference,
47:26there are certain things that team reporters or writers.
47:31And that's if you work for the Patriots or the Red Sox or the Celtics
47:33or the Marlins or the Avalanche, whatever, are never going to ask about
47:36because they are basically forbidden from talking or writing about things
47:41that bring a negative light to the team off of the field.
47:44And this is where I give a ton of credit to Evan for doing his film analysis
47:48and always being honest of what he thinks, like in the Patricia era
47:52and the way that we were writing very similar things.
47:54And he had some great nuggets about like, what's going on here?
47:57There's no identity doing that in that market.
47:59And under a Belichick regime, take some guts.
48:02And he did it time and time again was critical of the on field product.
48:05But you will notice not only did the team scrub what he said about a mutiny,
48:09something off of the field that brought a negative light to it.
48:12From the video and the audio.
48:14But if you go to Patriots dot com today, you will not find the number one
48:17Patriots story on that website to Bro Peppers being arrested
48:21and facing assault charges.
48:22And as a reporter on the outside, whether you work for a TV station
48:25or a newspaper or podcast or whatever, that's not employed, not paid by the team.
48:29I have to write everything good or bad and cover it.
48:32And this is not due to me having more courage or a defect.
48:36And Evan's professional character personal to anyone who works in a team setting.
48:41That's just the gig.
48:42That's the job.
48:44And so that's what drew so much attention to this is that, OK,
48:49it's a team person who should know they're in the building.
48:52They're also not really allowed to do this kind of stuff.
48:55OK, just like you never saw anything of Patriots dot com.
48:58Jack Jones bringing guns to the airport and certainly not Robert Kraft
49:01going down to Florida and getting tied up in what was then believed
49:04to be a sting operation for sex trafficking, which, of course, it wasn't.
49:08But you never saw any of that because you will never see any of that. OK.
49:12But the reason I ask that question is to get ahead of powerful people
49:17who when they're confronted with uncomfortable truths in a press conference
49:20of like, hey, someone inside your organization said there's a mutiny.
49:24The default, whether you're in sports or politics or whatever, is to go.
49:30That's bullshit.
49:31Oh, it's a media narrative.
49:34It's fake news.
49:35It's on you.
49:36So I'm thinking, OK, what might Mayo say to this is a powerful person,
49:40the head of an organization who's got to deal with this uncomfortable fact,
49:44which sucks. It's no fun again.
49:45I didn't I was talking with reporters before.
49:48We even give like voice to this because Evans has walked it back.
49:52It's the biggest story in the city, talking to every radio station, a TV station.
49:56None of us have any kind of evidence or inkling that this is true.
49:59People are also in the locker room every single day.
50:01And then it's like, well, if we don't say anything about it,
50:04then you come up like you're carrying water for the team.
50:06Let's just see what Mayo says. OK, fine.
50:08So I get ahead of this and say, OK, this is not outside media.
50:11This is a team employee and a team produced podcast.
50:13You know, has anyone come to you and said they want new leadership?
50:17And Mayo gives an answer.
50:18And despite the way I phrased it, he goes, well, that's journalism for you.
50:23And I'm like, OK, well, it's not.
50:25It's a team employee.
50:26So I just want to know what someone from the team thinks.
50:29OK, and it's nothing to do with Evan.
50:31This is not to punish or rub salt.
50:32Nothing I said or could have said would have changed.
50:35The facts would happen. I'm not his boss.
50:37I'm not related to anything.
50:38Had they asked my advice, I would have said, let it go.
50:40We all screw up. OK.
50:41But Mayo had to deal with this.
50:43The Patriots had to deal with it.
50:44So I followed up and reiterated, OK, well, it's not.
50:46Fake news. It's not journalism for you because they don't do,
50:50you know, journalism in the deep reporting sense.
50:52And I say that as someone
50:53who for most of my career is not really deep journalism.
50:56It's been a lot of writing about games and relaying stuff from press conferences,
50:59but not digging behind the scenes.
51:00And what seemed like Evan had done by saying this.
51:03And again, we all step in it and it's fine.
51:06And we just had this stupid swirl around the team that led to an even stupider
51:09football game and now some really serious charges.
51:11But anyway, this is my podcast.
51:14So I talk about it here with you
51:15and surely just argued against myself for how long we've been talking about it.
51:18But that'll do it.
51:20Patriots are one in four.
51:22We will have a more lighthearted show later this week with Fitzy from WEI.
51:27And I can't wait for that.
51:29We're going to talk Pat's Texans, whatever else goes on in this week.
51:32And maybe Drake May.
51:34Who knows?
51:35I think I actually don't know if Fitzy wants Drake May to start.
51:38Anyway, I will leave that for him to tell you.
51:40I'm going to go to bed and do Touchdown Hardy in the morning
51:42where they might even bring this up again.
51:44And if so, we'll just keep marching on.
51:46Have a great week.
51:48Chat with you soon.