Transcript
Speaker: Ready to talk ball. All right, guys, we're live. Welcome back to the Savage Boston podcast. We're here. It is 830 at night, September 22nd. And we are here with I'm Scott Savage Boston sports here with Brett and here with Matt McCarthy from 98.5 the sports. How we doing, Matt?
Speaker: Gentlemen, i'm I'm doing great. I mean, Drake may had himself a hell of a game on Sunday. So I mean, I'm just i'm I'm doing awesome. Thanks for having me. You know, we so we were just mentioning this and and and, you know, the first thing I was going to say is I really was like, we all were hoping because we thought Matt was going to come on this week. We're all hoping that May had an a stellar game and we're going to be able come on here and be like, dude, you know what? You were too soon. You were early. you know, he was outstanding, blah, blah, blah. And unfortunately, it didn't go that way. So, um Matt, don't you jump out just give me your initial impressions of Drake and how the day went.
Speaker: Well, I mean, first and foremost, I was expecting the exact same thing. I mean, I was really expecting him to come out and shove it up my ass on Sunday. I do i do remain i do remain bent over waiting for that to happen because it will happen at some point this year. I'll i'll give you that.
Speaker: um Listen, I mean... I'm surprised, admittedly. And I've been harder on on May than than most people. I mean, over the summer, I was critical of his playoff performance. I mean, I was certainly more critical than just about anybody else after game one. But even I'm surprised. And I have more questions about May than most. And I think that's probably a fair way to to describe it. But Even I'm surprised with how he's looked to start this year, just because it hasn't we haven't had the the ups. you know like My criticism of May is that I think he's a real up-and-down quarterback. like I think he's going to make some unbelievable, spectacular plays where he just pulls stuff out of his ass, and you're going to say, that is like there are like three guys in the league who do that, Mahomes, Allen, and May. And we haven't seen that. So, I mean, undeniably, that's a little bit you know ah concerning.
Speaker: um I just I still think you're going to see the boneheaded plays. I still think you're going to see, you know, too many turnovers. That's my ultimate like if we're talking about like legitimate football criticism of May, you know outside of the you know sports talk radio sphere, if you want to like really break it down. My criticism of him is I just think he's too reckless with the football. um um You know, and, you know, the real debate is, can you win with a gunslinger quarterback? Because that's who he is. I feel like you've gotten the bad version of the gunslinger without the good version of the gunslinger. And that is what I'm surprised by in these first few weeks that you haven't you haven't seen the ups with the May with May, you know, along with the downs.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, I think. ah before I throw it at Brett and his initial thoughts in May from the game, I think, you know, May last year, right. we talked about May last year, it wasn't just, it didn't feel like it was just the massive plays to like, he was incredibly efficient.
Speaker: Like he was the most efficient, like we call them ethical Hooper, right? Like he was the most efficient player. He was, you know, you you see that chart where like completion percentage over expected and EPA, and he's the top right of the chart. Again, like, surrounded by Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, right? So like we knew he was an incredibly efficient player. So that's more of the the surprise thus far is like obviously in the playoffs, and you've alluded to this, you saw the efficiency drop and and the turnovers and and the EPA drop, right? And so we thought, okay, that's playing elite defenses, right?
Speaker: So I am surprised. I mean, we're talking Seattle and Pittsburgh who, you know, are throwing a lot of zone at them. And Seattle, Seattle. I don't, I think, again, I can't, I'm not, you can't get higher on Mike McDonald than me. I talk about every show. I love Mike McDonald. I think he's amazing. He's a fantastic coach. And then the Steelers, again, are a veteran, pretty solid defense. um Again, I thought Drake would, would do better in this game. And again, watching back through the tape, um there's some good stuff in there. There is some good stuff, man. There's just still a lot.
Speaker: to be kind of concerned about. And I think a lot that you got to go over and say like, what what happened here? Like what, what went wrong? So Brett, why don't you give me your initial thoughts? Well, you talk about the gunslinger. I would say this, I mean, that, that 60 plus yard bomb that he had to doves, I think shows the elite level talent that is in there with Drake may those plays were the plays that we saw last year. So we know that talent's in there.
Speaker: But I agree, there's just something not right with May. To me, he looks sped up, and he's just not trusting his line like he should be, because I don't think the line was as big of a problem. I mean, the sack that he had where he rolled out into Watt, Moses had the right coverage. He had to step the pocket, climb the pocket. So he's just not feeling the pocket presence like he needs to. He's throwing a lot. All of his interceptions are off his back foot, like just bad mechanics, forcing him in there. I know the last pick, it got tipped in the Pittsburgh game, but it was still off his back foot. It was throwing into double coverage. It was a risky throw to begin with. So he's just, he's got to get more rhythm. So to me, I look at it and say, we got to recognize he's still a young guy. He hasn't had a solid two seasons under his belt. He really had one and a half season. So we got to give him some slack from that. And to me, the biggest thing I want to see is McDaniels do a better job of getting a guy like him in rhythm with some of those options to get quicker routes, give him like good design plays. You could see it early on in the first drive when it was a scripted offense and it was well designed. That they move the ball really efficiently with ease.
Speaker: Obviously, we had the turnover by Stevenson, but like they were moving the ball efficiently. We got to find ways to do that more consistently. We can't just do that on the first drive and then we go stall out for two quarters and then we're trying to make something happen in the fourth.
Speaker: ah So to me, I think it falls a little bit more on Josh helping a young guy out and putting him in better position to succeed than looking at it saying, well, Drake may should all fall on him because no one is going to have that level of success this early in their career and just be like, Oh, it's all on you.
Speaker: Like no one Mahomes had read figuring it out for him. Okay. Josh Allen Before he went off, had Dayball, figuring out for him. So like you need your coordinator to help figure it out for your young quarterback and then put him in position so he can use his elite talent. And and that's the part where I look at it and say, I just don't think the offense is helping him enough, and i don't think Josh is helping him enough.
Speaker: Yeah, I was going to say, i mean what how much do we put on McDaniels and how much do we put on the offense? you know Overall, like the whole operation in in regards to May's performance. I mean, you probably know my answer. I don't put a lot of it on McDaniels.
Speaker: admittedly, I think the game plan week one would have worked. As frustrating as it is, and as boring as it was, all they needed to do was hand the ball off, punt the ball away, not turn the ball over, and they would have won the game. So, you know, it wasn't sexy. it you know, it certainly was not ah you know Ben Johnson or anything like that, but but it would have worked. I also wonder too, like how much of what you've seen, because I think there's been very little you know designed runs, designed moving of the pocket. It's been very much like we need to get Drake comfortable in the pocket and we're going to call kind of a
Speaker: More of a Tom Brady style of, you know, we're going to sit, we're going to three-step drop, max five-step drop, and the ball's got to be out. It's like we got to, like, keep him in the pocket. I wonder how much of the the offensive style is them still trying to get May comfortable in playing that style of game, and there are growing pains with it. I think there's a real debate that needs to be had. It's like, how much of the offense do you build around May and his strengths, which is rolling out, you know, on the move. I mean, the throw to Dobbs is dynamite. Like how many guys, and I know Dobbs is wide open, but like how many guys look the way that May looked on that play? And you're like, that's the Drake May I saw from last year. I mean, it was, it was tremendous, but
Speaker: Can't you defend that? Isn't that easy enough to defend? I mean, i don't know. It feels like Seattle and Pittsburgh did a pretty good job keeping him in the pocket. And that's where all the trouble is happening. He is not comfortable in the pocket right now. And I don't think this is just a philosophy. I don't think you can be successful in the NFL if you can't be a pocket passer. ah The other stuff is great. And that's what separates, you know, I mean, guys who have ability and guys who don't. I mean, May is always good on the move.
Speaker: always but like are you really going to be are you really going to reach your full potential if you're just so so in the pocket and I do wonder if they're almost challenging him and the results are not so good so far to to be more of a pocket passer and to be more efficient before they get him out on the move because I just I don't think he'll reach his ceiling if it's like oh just get Drake man the move okay well what happens when you have a defense that stops him from going on the move and I think that's what you've seen in the first two weeks I think so. Just to jump in though, like to me, when you have a guy that's struggling, sometimes you just got to give him those opportunities and they just don't give him the opportunity. So that's, that's my frustration is it like you look at the Steelers, they were struggling and when they were successful, they allowed Rogers to roll out and that was giving them the opportunity. I feel like sometimes they just kind of handcuff
Speaker: drake And that was my biggest thing when we were looking at the Seattle game. And i talked about I did it on the group text. I was like, but they got let Drake be Drake and let him be effective. My biggest concern with the Seattle plan is that anytime they did put routes in there, they were deep, long, progressive routes. and there was usually three options. And Seattle it did a good job covering it up. And then there wasn't much going on. So it was coverage pressure, et cetera.
Speaker: Here I look at it and say, Pittsburgh's a good defense. They're not Seattle. You could have exploited them had you let Drake roll out and be a little more effective or get a screen game going. I've been calling this for a while now. For whatever reason, Josh McDaniels doesn't want a screen game anymore. And I don't understand it because you have all of these guys that are shifty, like Kyle Williams. Can you get Douglas in in the open? you get Henderson on the flat? Like, we don't do it.
Speaker: And we look at it and say, like, you got all these guys that have all of this skill, but you won't put them into a position to make it it easy read, get some plays. Hold on. So there's a lot. There's just a lot here. there's a lot stuff flowing around. Zone it in, right? And what I mean by that is, like,
Speaker: We got like scheme and McDaniels, you got May and his footwork and his vision and targeting. Right. And I think there's a lot you can, you can break this down if you want to do your blame pie.
Speaker: And I thought in the first week, I thought, it was a lot of McDaniels handcuffing May in against Seattle. I thought like that was the plan. He was doing it. And then May frustrated, forced his three horrible picks, blah, bla blah, blah. That was very clear to me. Okay, in this game, looking through a lot of the tape, looking through a lot of analysis in the last day or two,
Speaker: There were people open. Okay. There were people open. There were a lot of solid routes. There was may hit guys on a lot of explosive routes too. Don't get me wrong. But I think we got to focus on on like, when, when is Drake comfortable?
Speaker: Right. Like when does he seem, when does he seem comfortable? Right. To me in this game, it was clear when he was allowed to get outside the pocket, especially rolling, right. Right. He hits jobs twice, like on great elite plays off platform one, hole shot on the right side, and then the massive 60-yard bomb, which is an elite pass. Not many guys actually can do that. It wouldn't looked that good.
Speaker: Maybe Drake, Caleb Williams, and and not too many others, right? Josh Allen, right? Yeah, Josh Allen, right? So maybe Mahomes still. I'm not sure Mahomes anymore. Can't really throw a deep ball well. But I think, again, like I agree. Someone put a comment up about um about footwork, right?
Speaker: You know, May great off platform. That's one of his skill sets. I think it's it's less just the footwork and more like he's not seeing it how he needs to see it. Right. He's nervous. He's basically like and Vrabel in his press conference even used the word panic, which I don't think he meant to say, but he did say panic. And I was like, that's weird. I just thought I found that interesting. And the one sack everyone brings up, which I think is clear, like broke down the play today.
Speaker: you know It's the one where May rolls right into TJ Watt and takes a 12-yard sack our own end. Now, he had a lot of space to step up in the pocket there, right but he got scared and he wanted to roll out the back of the pocket to the right. Instead of stepping up and he had a clear lane, he could run 15 yards for a touchdown, do Dobbs coming across the middle wide open. right He had a couple options there that he could have succeeded on that play, but it didn't happen because he just got nervous, didn't trust what he seeing,
Speaker: build out of the pocket right into TJ Watt. I feel like we got a breakdown. Like I think may has, as we know, to me, he has every skill in the book. I think the kid, regardless of footwork, the kid has every skill in the book.
Speaker: I think he is a fantastic player. i think he will improve still every week. And I want to be on record. I've said that a million times. I want to be on record saying it. I think he's going to get better every week. And I do think he's going to return to form. These are also tougher defenses on him, but teams, teams have the book on him. Now let's, let's play too high. Let's play a lot of quarters. Let's do the the quarter, quarter, half, but you know, cover six. Let's keep it in front of us and let Drake make errors. And that's what they've done in the first two weeks. OK, any thoughts on that, Matt?
Speaker: Yeah, i mean I think you're spot on in that analysis, Savage, because, again, if I'm a defensive coordinator, Again, I'm um'm playing cover six or I'm keeping guys back and I'm taking away May's ability to roll out, especially to the right, which is where he's the most comfortable. I think his still his still instinct is one, two, run.
Speaker: For him to take the next step, and I think Josh McDaniels understands this, and I'm i'm not a Josh McDaniels defender, although I have been in the last few weeks. For me to take the next step, it needs to be 1-2-3-4 run, not 1-2 run.
Speaker: um And you go back to where he's really gotten in trouble this year. I think i think they've been two situations. One, he's It's standing in the pocket and throwing off of his back foot and to trying to get out to the right when he shouldn't get out to the right. Everybody's been talking about the TJ Watt sack undeniably. That's one of the takeaways from huge play, huge play in this game, not only from the game situation, but it's an eye opening play. It's like, dude, what are you doing?
Speaker: But again, the first instinct is, and you can call it panic. You can call it whatever you want, but the instinct is run, roll, right. If I can figure it out, NFL defenses can figure it out. NFL defensive coordinators can figure it out.
Speaker: um So that that's been you know that's been his first instinct. And the second instinct is if you can't get out to the right, go backwards in the pocket and throw the ball down the field. Obviously, that's led to essentially three of the four interceptions. I'd have to go back and look at the second Seattle interception. I think he actually... The second one, he had a loose, and not necessarily a step up, but it was popped on the seam. he tried He thought he had him on the back shoulder. That was not basically a spy safety on the backside who literally just, it was as clear as day, easy interception. He spied him the entire way.
Speaker: Yeah, and that was that was not a roll right. That was not an off the back foot. It was, I'm going to try to drive the ball down the field. That's actually been the outlier when it comes to the interceptions. i mean, his bad plays have been off the back foot or rolling right this year, and that's where they've run into trouble. And again, if if we can discuss that right now, you think they're talking about that in NFL um meeting rooms? I'm sure they are.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, he gets caught up. He's got to read the zones better. It's these two high safety zones. And, like, the Seattle one, there was a lot of scheme. And you also looked at how – I forget who was covering the underneath ah from Seattle. But, like, you watched how they pivoted off each other, like, just – You slide, then I'm going to drop. And it was just seamless. They're an extremely well-coached defense. Seattle is well extremely well-coached. Very well-coached. But the problem is, on top of it, that's the gunslinger MA, is I'm going to force it into tight windows, and I'm going to try to put it there. Not recognizing the fact that you can't always trust your arms in those. And some of these defenses, you're throwing it you're throwing it in a bad spot. And I would say on his picks, he's under throwing these balls. Like they're not getting to where they need to be. It's under thrown. So he's clearly not right. He's not where he needs to be.
Speaker: But I think the level of criticism on him is a bit too far, in my opinion. And like I said, i I'm in the camp where I'm putting more on McDaniels because I recognize the fact that he is still a young guy. They've gone through a bunch of ah injuries early on.
Speaker: And that's another grievance, I would say, to help support him. You know, people talked at the beginning of the season about the wide receiver room, and we made significant improvements. But you take A.J. Brown out of the mix, like your base, and then you've obviously gotten rid of Booty. So you're basically offsetting Dobbs for Diggs, and then everything else is the same. And what did that get you? Like it wasn't a great offense last year with those wide receivers. Now, if you put Brown obviously back in the mix, it opens everything up. So that is a problem.
Speaker: You know, you still got to be able to see it though. You know what i mean? He's got to see it. Even if you put Brown in, I get it. You can use him as your security guy, but like you have to see, you have to read the defense. Like Orlowski did have a good clip today, breaking it down.
Speaker: And I'm not a huge like Dan Orlowski guy, he had a good clip. He just showed one play and it was, it was ended up being the Mondray fumble play. And it's clearly not, you know, it's not Drake's fault. Like, but Drake checked down. We're like, oh, good. Take the check down. It would have been fine. He breaks it down like May's feet pitter pattering, falling backwards. Hunter Henry is wide open, which should have been his, his, his number one read up the field. Right. And wide, wide open. And again, it's something where clearly like,
Speaker: May got nervous on the play for whichever reason you got nervous. So we're just not seeing the the step up in the pocket conviction versus like he did have a great, he did have that great play to Dobbs where he did finally step up in the pocket, then went out to the right, hit Dobbs up the sideline. Right. Like, And I thought that was a fantastic pass. And that's where we talk about like the abilities there.
Speaker: I want Josh to help them. And I feel like Josh, you know, they're trying to do that. What do we fucking think Josh is trying to do? It's not like they're in the, they're in the room right now being like, right, fuck off, Dre. Yeah. Dre, you know, you do it. You know, they're trying to be like, what plays are good.
Speaker: What, what are you seeing? Well, right now, what do you want to run? What are we comfortable with? It's the same shit. This is the guy that coach Brady and offense for like 20 fucking years. Like you run the plays that you think are going to succeed. You're not just saying go out there. And, you know, so I do put some on Josh. like It's Josh's job to prepare Drake.
Speaker: Right. So they're naturally connected. and And then again, that's why some people are still on the Ben Johnson train because they're like, they feel like Ben Johnson he he prepares the quarterback, right? He prepared Caleb Williams who look shit like shit. Half the time he's going crazy, throwing picks, falling away from himself. And he, you know, I know he's hurt now, but I think Ben Johnson's getting somewhere with Caleb Williams. Right. So but anyway, that's my opinion on Josh. It's just like,
Speaker: You got a guy, his job is to make Drake's job easier. That's that's his job as the offense coordinator. Make Drake successful. Make the score points. Make the offense successful. Don't give away your tendencies. Like if everyone knows 90% the time you're going to run the ball on second and two in a heavy set, like you got to do something and change. You gotta to change your tendencies. And that's Josh's job.
Speaker: Run play action on second and two. They're 95% runs on second and short. 95%. They run every fucking time. They have two tight ends in Matt Collins. Like change some tendencies. Seriously.
Speaker: yeah guys but it's it's josh's job undeniably to you know put may in a position to succeed it's also his job to have him grow though too which i i think we're not talking enough about like the game there is still a development if you know and i hear from a lot of people who who defend may trust me i i hear you you know he's still young he's still young Okay, well, if he's still young, then you have to give the offensive coordinator some leeway here because he's obviously trying to get May to do some things he's not comfortable with. And there has to be a balance between doing the things that he's comfortable with and getting the results, but also doing the things that he's not comfortable with and having him grow. Because if he does not get better in the pocket, guys...
Speaker: He's not going to be the player we all want him to be. That's a fact. like i I couldn't feel more strongly about that. So it's one thing to say they're not doing enough you know to take advantage of his athleticism. They're not unleashing him enough.
Speaker: those are There are some valid criticisms there. That being said, if you do that all the time and May becomes a guy who's only effective on the move and only effective outside the pocket, Guess what?
Speaker: He's not going to be a top five quarterback in the NFL if that's the only thing he can do. So it's like they need to do things that make him comfortable, but they need to do things that challenge him too and force him to grow. And he's either going to grow or he's not.
Speaker: Yeah, no, it's fair. I mean, when I look at the pie, I put more on McDaniels because I want him to be able to put him in a position. Yeah, i look at that. ah yeah hand mode The pie. Yeah. great um But.
Speaker: I just think clearly Drake's not right. So there's they got to figure that out. And you're right, Savage. like so They're not like just sitting there saying, well, let the kid figure it out. he's got like We're not going to change what we do. They did make some changes. And they're they're going to continue to attack the defense, depending on what the defense is showing them.
Speaker: I just think there's there are certain things that they used to have as part of their identity, like I said with the screen game, where it's just not there. And I think those kind of things help them out a little bit more to get where they need to be. But ultimately, I 100% agree. Like I said, Drake's got to figure out the pocket presence issue because his offensive line isn't a major issue right now. Those were two great defensive fronts, and the offensive line did their job.
Speaker: Like that was on Drake. That sack was on Drake May. it wasn't on Morgan Moses. Like he brought up the pressure rate, by the way, Brett, they brought up the people were telling me this when I said, like, I don't think Drake had a particularly great game, you know, and and watching it right. And watching it back. And everyone's like, dude, the pressure rate actually was crazy. The pressure rate. I think like, like four or five of those pressures, Drake ran into the pressure, literally ran into that. I didn't think watch. I was there in person, watching in person, watching it back. I wasn't like this is um very – this isn't like the playoffs last year. It wasn't very obvious. Like Greg Van Roten or whatever had a horrible game. Jared Wilson had trouble protecting. So you got issues there. But like I didn't watch it and think, wow, the O-line is horrible. Like I thought they were plays to be made.
Speaker: I thought there was timing. There was space. And, you know, and it could have been better. You know, we can talk about the interception where, you know, potentially that was tipped. And you want to we want to excuse that away. Fine. That's fine. We can just say that's tipped. Again, the problem with that play though is Vrabel made this clear in his press conference. He's not even supposed to throw that ball. Yeah.
Speaker: Queens backing up. He's supposed to hit the under to Gilliam. He wasn't supposed to throw it. And he saw like, like he threw it a hundred Henry in the post season is the chargers. Like he thought he could feather the pass in. and it just wasn't where they wanted the ball even. So, like, that's that's the concern to me too. It's like, where are they going on those plays, right? like So, again, I didn't see – I didn't think the off offensive line was particularly horrible. That's not, like, the big focal point of the game for me. um But I wonder, like, how do you guys feel about – know, I'm watching Stephon Diggs play. You know, obviously, Booty's playing for the Texans. Like, did they bungle the like the roster construction a little bit?
Speaker: Yes. Yes, they did. But in the end, if May is the quarterback he's supposed to be, he should be able to elevate the room. So I think both of those things can be true. I mean, trading Kayshaun Booty is stupid. It doesn't make any sense. That being said, if your problem is trading Kayshaun Booty, you've got bigger problems. You know you know what I mean? yeah like yeah i would also say, too, yeah, Diggs over Dobbs was a not a second guess. it was a I think they should have fucking signed Diggs, too. I mean, I think that was a, I think that was a fuck up, a true fuck up one year, 10 mil,
Speaker: no doubt thought no no yeah no No doubt about it. So, I mean, no they are legitimate criticisms. But how far do we really want to go with that conversation? I think we should bring it up. But, like, I don't know, man. They don't have a great room right now, and I understand that. Brown being hurt changes everything. So, I mean, we should acknowledge that. But if May is who he's supposed to be, you should be able to get by with what he has. You should look better than how he's looked. That's for sure.
Speaker: I find it – just – hold on, hold Let me say one thing and then I'll let you go. I find it interesting that if you critique – you don't realize sometimes the reach on Twitter. So, like, if you critique a player, sometimes, like, they see it.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. And DM you afterwards just saying after this last game I criticized someone and I got a DM after the game. And I was like, oh, yeah, like, good game otherwise. My bad. You know, like – but But, like, sometimes you realize the reach. so I don't want to go – before I say this, want to go too hard of on anyone in particular. But I need a lot more from Pop Douglas.
Speaker: Like, this is a guy in a contract here, dude. Like, he's great one-on-one and a couple of the Hoss-Jukes, like, combo routes. Like, he can he can find his way open. But – Is it just zone? He's not reading zone? like I'm trying to figure out what is it what is it with Pop Douglas? Why is Pop Douglas not more successful right now is my a question.
Speaker: Savage, when you figure it out, you can let me know because I've been asking this question for the last two years. And I mean, how much of it is Douglas? How much of it is May? There's obviously not a great connection between those two. i mean, I feel like every time i sit down and break down the film, whatever you want to call it, I like I feel like there are misconnections between May and Douglas more often than I can count.
Speaker: So that that has not worked. I don't know what else to say about it. And, um you know, should he be better? Yes, I guess. Maybe we just have to say this is who he is. And he's a training camp player. He's not a NFL regular season player. I don't know.
Speaker: Yeah, and I would also throw, like when are we ready to say Kyle Williams was a bust? like we're just not Last year. what We're not even going to play him anymore. like he's just not like It's a lost cause. He's not worth it. so and not Circling back, I agree. like It frustrated the fuck out of me when we basically had Brown go down and everyone's like, oh, would have been nice if you had booty. And I'm like, yeah, it would have. But like really, you've got to figure this stuff out.
Speaker: I look at Diggs and say, i think you could add Diggs, Dobbs, and Brown. I don't see why that couldn't have happened. You have the salary. They have to pay money. They have to actually pay the players. You have to give Diggs a fully guaranteed $10 million dollars contract.
Speaker: Yeah, we know how that goes. We know how that goes. so But it was there, right? We have the cap space to make it happen. You could have had it happen. They like wrote Diggs off. I don't know why, but I do think they botched that. I have no grievance with how they treated Booty. i Again, i looked at it and said, I was fine if he stayed. I was fine if he went.
Speaker: He was going to be riding the bench anyways. And if this happened, like what happened with injury, well, then we have a fallback plan. But this was also a guy that in the spring wanted out he could have become a potential problem so you traded the guy like whatever he's not going to be a difference maker you do need to figure it out so i i hate that excuse i agree with you 100 matt you you can't allow that to happen i want to see guys like pop and Kyle Williams step up and for whatever reason they're not. And then you hear people saying like, oh show me more Chisholm. I'm like, none of these guys are taking the baton and saying, here you go. The only guy that I look at and say is reliable that I trust is Hollins.
Speaker: Yeah, bro. Everyone loves like, I think this is just like a draft problem. Everyone loves like Kyle Williams. Like you draft a guy, he's third overall. You spend a full off, cause I do this shit too. Obviously you spend a whole off season hyping the player up. You're like, oh fuck. Kyle Williams, Kyle Williams. Like we're in all these Patriots, I'm in a couple different Patriots group chats, like large group chats. And it's crazy the difference in opinion. Like some people are already like, he's absolutely, he's not going to progress. This is not, you know, maybe as a wide receiver for like a go route guy, like this is not progressing as the number one guy, you know, and here we are two games in.
Speaker: as he have one He's got one catch, I think, and barely targeted. And you're like, okay, well, obviously this isn't like a number one or two wide receiver, right? So maybe you can keep developing the player. I don't i don't know. like You would think at this point, like I don't see it necessarily. I don't know where it goes. I said this year, if Kyle Williams had 500 yards re receiving, I would have been s stoked for him. If he had 500 yards receiving, couple of big hitter touchdowns, awesome for Kyle. I just don't know if that's going to be happening.
Speaker: It feels to me in 2026 that wide receivers show early in the NFL. This is kind of the way it is. i mean, guys come into the league. They take the league by storm. i mean, in some ways, is Kayshawn Booty a little bit of ah ah an outlier in the fact that I had real questions as to whether he would stick in the NFL, and he got better every single year.
Speaker: good How many times has that happened here just here in New England in the last 20 years? I mean, that's like, ah that's a very, very small list. So I just kind of feel like you either you either show out early on in your NFL career as a wide receiver, or you're just kind of another guy. And that's how I feel about Williams. I don't know how you could really feel any other way.
Speaker: and So I had to just look it up real quick. He's only had 23 snaps in two games. Like they they're writing them off. Like you're looking at a ah ah position where they're depleted. They're already down. AJ Brown, they're trying to figure it out. He's not good. Like, he's not going to fill the role that you have with Matt Collins. Like he's got to be your slot guy and 23 snaps.
Speaker: You can't do anything with that. Well, don't worry. It's going to go to Kansas City like Taequann Thornton and turn into a player. I mean, you want to believe in voodoo magic? Taequann Thornton in the year of our Lord, 2026, having an impact on NFL games. that That is dark magic if I've ever seen it. Well, we've we've had this discussion too. A lot of people, there's a couple of guys who just straight don't believe in development that we chatted with. They're not like fans of even maybe the word development, you know, like it' like implying that guys change or improve over time. Um, I believe guys can develop, but I do think there's statistically like most top notch, like top 25, top 50 wide receivers are producing year one.
Speaker: yeah Like I, most of them, like that's, I bet you could go look at the top receivers in the league. Most of them, even like Parker Washington and fucking for the Jaguars. it's just like balling out. You're like, what the fuck? You know, like the dude just finds it. Jacoby Myers even here played really well for a while. He was here with not great quarterbacks. You know what i mean? So Taequann Thornton is a different example. You got a guy with, I don't know.
Speaker: The difference in coaching is just alarming. I would say that between um Matt Patricia, right. As OC and then having the Mayo year. And then, you know what i mean? And like Taequann Thornton,
Speaker: Obviously, he's fast, but like, my God, his route running was atrocious. It was atrocious here, and his hands were bad. was you can't have everything be bad, right? It was all bad. And then he goes, now he's catching fucking contested ball deep, deep routes from Patrick Mahomes in prime time. I'm like, what the fuck? This isn't the same dude.
Speaker: I couldn't believe that the other night. I mean, I can, I can, because that's what the Patriots did for not really at the wide receiver position, but that's pretty much what they did for 20 years in the Brady Belichick era. It's like, they'd bring some scrub off the street that some other fan base, other team just hated. They're like, get this guy out of here. And then they turn them into something. You're like, how the fuck did this happen? How did this guy become, you know, a quality NFL player? I mean, we could, we could run down the list of of just reclamation projects. The Patriots turned into quality NFL guys. Just none of them were wide receivers, by the way.
Speaker: Oh yeah. And we had, we had like a record of, we would have a guy, they would go elsewhere. They wouldn't put like, look at Dion branch early on. Like he was great for us, goes to Seattle, does nothing. And then comes back to us. And it's one of those pretty good again.
Speaker: Yeah. It was good again. It was like 2010 or something like that. It wasn't Randy boss, but he was all right. Brady made guys elite. And I mean, uh, I was listening to Sirona and Tyrone this weekend and like, they were talking about memorable plays and whatever. and heard the Kendrick Tompkins catch against New Orleans I was like oh my god like these guys were the guys that Belichick and everyone was putting around Brady and we're like what is this and now you look at it and say we have these guys here and we're like oh we can't develop any of these guys they can't produce it shows a level where like that was what was special about Brady
Speaker: that will yeah but But you need – so like you want May to turn into what Brady could do at the line of scrimmage, right? Like he comes up, he changes the play, he organizes the protection. had times where had eight rushers, Brady sends five wide. you know, he knows exactly what he's doing, what he's looking at, where he wants to go with the football.
Speaker: You know, like – but he's the greatest ever, obviously. So, but you want me to have some ability from Josh to do lot of stuff, to control it. And he's just not there yet. And I hope he can get there with that sort of command at the line. Like, do I expect Drake to be Brady? No, I don't. They're different players and people. Like I expect Drake to be more big play focused. Like, rolling out, running the ball, gunslinging. And I think you can win that way. Largely, like Patrick Mahomes did win that way a lot. Like they're similar-ish types of players where it's a lot of some runs, scampering, again, off-platform, exciting type plays. Aaron Rodgers played like that for a lot of years too, you know? And so it doesn't have to look the same way.
Speaker: And I think there's an element here where if you have such a competitive, aggressive defense and Drake figures this out, you're going to really good football team. And I'm looking at the schedule. So, yeah, I know we got – I think they win this weekend personally. I do too. Do you think they're winning?
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Jacksonville. I know. I think they're winning. Since when did going to Jacksonville become like, and I've heard this for weeks, like, Oh, we must win. Like get out of here. The Jacksonville Jaguars, like Trevor Lawrence. If now I'm hard on quarterbacks, no doubt about it. Add Trevor Lawrence to the list of quarterbacks. I'm hard on that. That guy's no fucking good.
Speaker: Like he's whatever. that He's not perfectly mediocre. So what Trevor Lawrence is going to beat you. I, I, It's going to be another ugly kind of low scoring game and it'll be that, but like going to Jacksonville's like, I mean, we're not guys. I mean, it's not like going into Lambeau against the Packers at the height in, in, you know, 20 minus 20 below it's the Jacksonville Jaguars. Like, come on.
Speaker: And the weather is going to be like a little bit cooler. It's going to be like 80 or something with low humidity. It's literally like going to be perfect. Drake may weather like North Carolina weather. It's going to be, you know, it's like perfect for Drake. So it's not 110 in human.
Speaker: you know, if if so long as Drake may doesn't face any good defenses or play in any conditions at all, he's great. So we here in New England don't ever have to worry about playing outside or playing good defenses in January. So, I mean, we're golden, baby. We're golden.
Speaker: I think – I will put it this way, to counter. i think if if we have, again, momentum maybe Drake is like a momentum quarterback, right? What I mean is like last year, it's not like he started crazy amazing last year at the very beginning either.
Speaker: He should have been playing all fucking preseason, which I've been saying for weeks now. It should haveve all been playing. Like halves of football. like injuries. Look at the injuries in the NFL in the first couple weeks, right? to Tons of injuries. Horrible injuries. So – and a lot of these guys rested in the preseason. Like this is not – there's no correlation right now to like, Oh man, you're not going to get injured in the regular season. If you, if you don't play in the preseason, like you could get injured anytime.
Speaker: And I understand it's just less regular football time. maybe they're taking that into consideration, but I think they've overthought this whole thing. And this is what modern analytics will do. Sometimes like they put, they've overthought the let's not play in the preseason thing.
Speaker: And I think it's hurt them. And I think it's hurt them and his initial development in the season. So I'm hoping Drake is just a slow starter guy. I do think he'll be better this weekend. And you know what?
Speaker: It's going to it's gonna have to happen where he's going to play a tough defense one of these weeks. right It's going tougher defense. And he's going to have to ball out. And, you know, like last year he did well against the Ravens. The Browns had a tough defense when he played. Again, some of these defenses were good when he played them.
Speaker: You know, that's the difference. Like, it's not like where he's playing against the defense, not the offense. You know, he doesn't square off against fucking Deshaun Watson. You know what mean? He's playing Miles Gare.
Speaker: True. that That being said, he has benefited from quarterbacks who don't put pressure on him. Meaning, I mean, and and let's look at week like one as a perfect example. it's It's astonishing to me they lost that game because Drew Locke was never going to beat them. And the only way the only way you were going to lose to Drew Locke is if you gave them the ball, which they did. I would say the exact same thing about Aaron Rodgers this weekend. So, yeah, you're not playing Aaron Rodgers directly.
Speaker: But man, all you need to do is get a lead and that guy's not, that even he's washed. So, you know, there there is, there is that the string of quarterbacks they have played has benefited May because he's been able to get away with fumbling four times against the Texans in the playoff game. You know, he's able to get away with obviously, you know, not having any statistical output in Denver, different scenario, bad weather, all that stuff, good defense on the road, but, know,
Speaker: I mean, all you need to do is get up, you know, seven points on Jared Stidham, the game's over. So i I hear that argument. I understand that argument. You're partially right about that argument.
Speaker: But a quarterback on the other side who can force you into, I've got to match a score. He hasn't played one of those guys in a long time. If you look at the schedule this year, we're going to have at least a couple matchups where he's going to be in that scenario. I think one last year is when they went on the road at Buffalo and they won last year. That was a coming out party, and I was like, whoa. i was like, what do we got here? like That was the first week where we got something you know because that was felt like a special win, primetime at Buffalo. So you got that again. Not primetime. I think it's 1 o'clock, but you got that again in two weeks.
Speaker: you know This week against Trevor Lawrence, again, I don't respect Trevor Lawrence now. I don't think Trevor – I haven't in years. I think his numbers have been not great. I don't think he's been great. I think he's wildly overrated. And I think Vrabel should give him a really hard time. that's That's my opinion for this weekend. I mean, I think probably a lot of people agree. i think they're getting a lot of overhyped. But against Buffalo, Buffalo is going to score, man. They they score.
Speaker: Their defense, again, isn't great. Not good. So you should – that should be a higher scoring game. In a game where, again, Drake may, he needs to he needs to show up.
Speaker: Again, if if he's not showing up, like this week he might have another 220 yards passing, but he just can't turn the ball over. He's going to have like two TDs, no picks, 220 at 70% completion, right? He's going to have an efficient game.
Speaker: And again, maybe you only score 23 points, but you've got to win in that lower scoring game this weekend. So and then you play Mahomes later in the season, like you're going to play Jordan Love. You're going to play like you're going to play maybe Caleb Williams if he's not hurt. Like you're going other matchups where you're going have that guy on the other side. And let's see what happens to Drake. Let's see if he shows up, you know. Yeah, I mean, the good news is, is like the defenses are getting less potent. Yes. Right. Our defensive matchups are getting in our favor.
Speaker: So that should help us to try to figure this out. But we need to figure this one out because you are going to get in a position where it is going to be a gunsinger type match, right? Our defense can't keep these teams like in check like they are doing right now. And we got very lucky with Drew Locke going down with Seattle, and then they just kind of stalled out. like Matt, hold on. Matt, on this stretch, let me ask you on this stretch, both of you guys, let me ask this really quick. sorry you' This stretch of games, okay, starting week five, ignore the the next two weeks, okay?
Speaker: In a row, just read the teams, Raiders, Jets, Bears, Dolphins, Packers, Lions, Chargers. Soft, soft spot in the schedule.
Speaker: How many of those games do you win? cause I think there's a chance they win almost all of those fucking games. You listed six. They go five and one in that stretch. And so that's what I mean. Like this team could get that role going again because i think Green Bay has looked not good. i don't know what's going on there. They don't look good.
Speaker: Detroit's defense is horrific. Awful. Chargers are fucking – Chargers been horrible. They might be out of it, dude, by that point. The Chargers might have like seven losses.
Speaker: Who would have thought, by the way, in that stretch that the Raiders and Jets games look more difficult than some of those other games? Yeah, more competitive. And I obviously don't think those are great teams either. You know what mean?
Speaker: And then after that, it goes to the Bills again. Then the Vikings are always competitive. Then the Chiefs. Then Jets again. And then the Broncos. And so, yeah, you're going to have some some some tougher matchups in there. But like you you should hit a softer spot where I really do think you could still get to that 11 wins or something like that.
Speaker: I'm totally with you. I'm totally with you on that. I'll let you jump jump in here, Brett, too. But I just – what I want to see this week is I want to see what I saw against Carolina last year, which I feel like is a game people completely gloss over. I thought May was outstanding in that game. It was efficient. It was in control. And that was – you know He had had two not great games. The Raiders game was not good. The Steelers game last year, I still don't think he gets enough crap for the way, and this was last year. I don't think he got enough crap for the way he played in that game because it was reckless with the ball. It was his worst tendencies.
Speaker: He really, really was good against Carolina. And it wasn't flashy. It wasn't sexy. But it was so in control. And it was exactly what they needed. and they blew Carolina out. And then they go into Buffalo next week. And he has his coming out party. i mean, he has that throw in the fourth quarter that we all remember. is just tremendous. um I want to see that this week against Jacksonville. I want to see the Carolina Drake May I saw last year. Because I'll say this.
Speaker: I think maybe maybe he struggles in lower-scoring games where he needs to be in control, needs to and that's where the turnovers come. A game where you can just... be tits out and just go out and, and, you know, try and pull the ball down the field a million times and just gunsling it against another tits out idiot quarterback and Josh Allen, like that style. Doesn't that actually kind of bring out the best in May? Like i know why they're trying to get him to play control because he has to, he'll never fulfill his potential if he doesn't figure out how to harness this.
Speaker: But man, if you just let him loose, that's generally the best version you get of May. Yeah. Yeah. I agree, man. I think, and this guy just asked a quick question. How's Jacksonville's defense? And like, so thus far this year, they're okay. Like they don't give a ton of points up so far, but they've given up like a decent amount of yardage. They're middle of the pack or a little lower middle of the pack and yardage given up. So, but again, probably not going to give up a ton of scores.
Speaker: So the assumption is the game. I'm not a huge betting guy myself, but if the assumption is it's going to probably like low twenties, again, something like that. Maybe not as low as the Pittsburgh game, but probably probably decently, decently low. So um I don't know I don't think there's anything about Jacksonville and particularly um i guess scared of, I thought going into the season, they could be some sort of wagon. I just i don't know. I don't feel it. I don't trust it.
Speaker: And Matt, to your point, I think Drake, I agree. I think if he's just allowed to sling it, he's allowed to be himself. He can, he just needs to get, confidence back. He needs to to grow. He needs to get confident. We're still talking about a 24 year old kid guy. He's young and he still has developing to do. He needs to work on his mental stuff. He's got tools. You know, that's, we talk development. Like he's got to figure out where he's at mentally.
Speaker: Like, and if he figures that out, sky's the limit with this team, but he's got to have a couple of good games in a row where he fucking, he puts his shit together. Let me ask you guys this question. Cause I've been, I've been thinking about this. I really felt in the super bowl that he was, he was almost damaged by the experience leading up to the super bowl where he took a million hits and he was not the same player.
Speaker: Obviously he was hurt as well, but mentally um i mean the fourth quarter pick, his first pick is, is it haunts me because that's like, Oh, that's scary. Yeah. How much of this season do you guys think is, because people have said he doesn't look like the same guy. What's the reason for this? How much of it is football PTSD? How much of it is the beating that he took en route to the Super Bowl last year where it's like, it's the playoffs.
Speaker: It's, Way better teams, better defenses for sure than, you know, the the garbage he played in the regular season. Let's call it what it is. How much of how much of the beating that he took and he did take a beating.
Speaker: How much of that do you think has to do with his play and kind of the skittishness and the lack of confidence this year? Let me bring up a great reference, okay? Great reference. This is my Bill Simms or S not really a good reference. You know what, baseball – I know you're a baseball fan too, Matt, right? So what did Manny Ramirez used to talk about at the plate, right? Like what was Manny Ramirez's mantra? Like when he got to the plate, right – And he would strike out.
Speaker: It was always almost like he would just forget it happened. Yeah. Like immediately. He would just be like, oh, he'd just like get up. And next time, just like he would strike out, to look horrible. And then smash one, 450, right, over the monster, right? So Manny Ramirez was so good at getting up and just forgetting about the last at-bat. He's like, yeah, I'm just here again. And it's like that was was part of what made Manny an all-time hitter.
Speaker: think that was his mentality. So what I'm getting at, obviously, is – Trauma is real. Trauma is a real thing. ah It imprints on your nervous system. So I think there is potentially a reality where if you're under pressure every second of every fucking game and getting your ass beat, all playoffs, like the record high for s sacks, getting beat up, no time. I think there is a reality. And this is why I wanted them to play in the fucking preseason. Bring up again, take play in the fucking preseason.
Speaker: And first of all, I started screaming, we're paying for those fucking tickets. We're paying season ticket. Season ticket members are paying for that shit. And you and we're watching third stringer. I'm watching Baron Morton. It's consumer fraud is what it is. I mean, it is a is a scam of the highest order. i can't I feel so badly for you that you guys get fucked like that. There's no other way to say it.
Speaker: Why are we buying those tickets? but ah but Not to digress, but i agree 100%. what you're saying. I think there is a very strong reality to that, but he's going be Manny Ramirez.
Speaker: He's got to be Manny. You're going to say, that play's over. I'm in the pocket. I'm to step up. I'm going to throw a confident throw. My feet are going to be set. I'm throwing confident. Or this is it. Roll up. I'm gonna step up. I'm to step out. I'm gonna run. You can't You can't bake it in your nervous system that you're fucked every play or else you will be fucked.
Speaker: This is cerebral shit right now. It is. You have to be Manny Ramirez so long as you don't use towels to wipe your ass and try to flush them or take shits in hotel rooms. Other than that, be Manny Ramirez. i agree.
Speaker: Manny being Manny. He's got Drake being Drake. He's got to be Drake being Drake. Manny's got to find his inner Manny. It's hard not to agree with that. Like I said, to me, you can tell he's just struggling in the pocket when he shouldn't be. His line has definitely, definitely improved. There's times, sure, where...
Speaker: Yeah, I agree. I don't think Wilson had a great game, but it wasn't like horrible. And Van Roten coming in, like he had moments, but by and large, the ah offense did and ah a really good job against Pittsburgh. They did a really good job against Seattle. It's hard to look at the struggles May has when he's had it and say, this is just a guy that's just feeling it, feels rushed, feels pressure when it's really not there. It's like he's seen ghosts. and he shouldn't be in that mode so i agree because you look at it and you say joint practices he's not getting hit in joint practices they're not going to let him get teed up on a guy coming around the edge like it doesn't happen so there is some benefit going out there and getting hit and then realizing what it feels like to get that into your like rhythm and get ready to get game speed like you sometimes you just got to get hit
Speaker: I tried to talk to Ryan Pagnetti about this, the analyst guy on on Twitter. I DMed Pagnetti and I was like, is there research about this shit, like injuries in the preseason and he didn't have anything? going to hit him up again, but like I want to make sure there's no research that suggests like if you play in the preseason, you're gu more likely to get hurt. like what are they What are they hinging this material on?
Speaker: That's making them not play in the preseason. Like there's some piece of data somewhere. I swear to God, i don't know what it is. No, it's just simply put. I mean, I don't know if we need to overthink it. Like you don't want Julian Edelman ripping his knee up in the preseason. You don't want to lose a play. And and I get it. And,
Speaker: You can charge the fans tickets no matter who's playing. They can have these fake-ass joint practices in these controlled environments where it's like, oh, well, you know, the work and the joint practices is just as good as the preseason games. Bullshit.
Speaker: bullshit It's really, frankly, it's just, if I'm an NFL owner and I can get away with, ah you know selling season ticket holders, forcing season ticket holders to buy preseason tickets without putting my top investments on the field and protecting those investments in the moment, I'll do it every time. So i just, i actually think like the league needs to force more action in the preseason. You've got to ban these joint practices and They're worthless. They're not good enough for the fan experience and force these guys to actually put on the pads, take a hit or two in the preseason. And if somebody gets hurt, you know what?
Speaker: So be it. It sucks. It's unfortunate. There's nothing worse than a fan as a fan than losing a key guy in the preseason. But it would help the product at the beginning of the year. I've said this for weeks. I've said this for months. I've said this for years. I say it every September. The NFL, the quality is not good enough. in weeks one through four.
Speaker: It's not. And it's because of the way they approach the summer and the league is just getting away with it. Yeah. I mean, unless they decide to, they they should do something different. Like maybe you broadcast again. Like I saw someone bring this up and they they don't want to do this, but like you broadcast to join practice.
Speaker: Like you say, Hey, we're to, we're our season ticket holders get fucking front row seats. I don't know what you want to do. Like, but you got do something different. Like i said, you can't sell that product in the preseason. It's invisible product. You can't, but you can bet on preseason games.
Speaker: and That's great. If you're betting if you're betting on preseason games, you're a legitimate degenerate. No, no, no. I'm with you guys. or just that's why That's why the NFL will never get rid of the preseason, even though it's a joke. And it's why the joint practices will never be more than what they are now because you can't bet on a joint practice. I mean, I guess you could figure out a way. I don't know, but like – That's why it is what it is. Like the NFL is not going to monetize those things.
Speaker: But it's crazy. there's so much more juice with joint practice than a ah game. And it doesn't like keeping score. Like, dude, there's – you go to the – here you go. What's up, Babs? You go to um the joint practice and you're like – you know what i mean? you're You're on the edge of your seat almost. You're watching fucking A.J. Brown and Quinnian Mitchell. Like we're we're fucking balling, dude. We're balling out. But I agree with Babs here, comments saying anyone crying about injuries, that can happen at any moment. I agree a million percent. I mean, A.J. Brown, first game. Jackson Dart's done for the year now. I mean, we got guys.
Speaker: Caleb Williams pulling up his hammy. You know, it looks like he got shot by a sniper with his great one hamstring strain. You know, but like and it is what it is.
Speaker: He probably thought he was hurt a lot more than that. But i agree, you can't. I like the joint practice. It's a decent viewer experience. If you're there, it's hard to see. It's hard to pay attention to everything, but it is cool. There's, there's buzz in the air.
Speaker: um But yeah I think just think from a, from a gameplay perspective, it has suffered the first week of the season. Everyone's telling me, wow, the offenses are so amazing. Oh my God. Everyone's so amazing. I'm like, why don't you guys think the defenses suck? Not to be a pessimist, not to be Felger or not to be McCarthy here. Right. But like,
Speaker: I don't, I look at it and like, dude, Carolina gave up how many points to the bears? 59. Yeah. You want to tell me that's good versus a shit product, a product you know? So that to me was, it was bullshit. You know what i mean? Like, I didn't like that. So I just, that just wacky.
Speaker: I'm with you, man. You don't need to convince me about that. I am with you. Well, yeah we all came crashing down because everyone looked at week two and they were like, wow, everything kind of brought back to basically earth on what they did. I mean, they only scored three points the next week.
Speaker: Chicago, this elite all, you know, whatever MVP top voting guy. Three. Three points. It's it's hitter hit or miss. But all right, let's pivot to Jackson real quickly and just need for us some time. We usually try to end the pod, just say, like, go to everybody. It's like, who's going win? Give me your score and anything else you want on the game. So, McCarthy, you go first. who What's the score? Who's winning?
Speaker: Give me the Pats 20 to 13 in this game. Again, I think lower scoring game. I think May protects the ball better. This is what I predicted last week. It did not happen. So I'm going to predict it again. um And ah in a lower scoring game, Jacksonville's got a good defense. Again, another team I just don't know what to make of. I could i didn't have a take on the Jaguars last year, let alone in week three of the 2026 season where you don't really know who anybody is. All I know is this. I don't believe in Trevor Lawrence. I think the Patriots have been excellent defensively.
Speaker: Part of that has to do with their the quarterbacks they've faced. Lawrence is a step up from that. I don't know how much of a step up he is. I question that. i love I think their ability to cover is excellent. Gonzalez has been not only the best player on the Patriots, he's been one of the best players in the NFL. So I think they contain this Jaguars offense. I think they do just enough offensively. The Patriots do to win this game. They go to two and one. i don't want to hear anything about this being some crazy tough matchup on the road. It's the Jacksonville Jaguars. Talk to me on Monday. if If I'm dead wrong about this, I probably am. It's never a good thing. This is the McCarthy kiss of death, but I like the Patriots in this spot quite a bit.
Speaker: That's good. Brad, what do you got? I'm going to say twenty three fourteen um i think it's one of those situations, again, with regards to Jacksonville. I'm not a Trevor Lawrence guy either. i just think he's just a run-of-the-mill type quarterback, like not going to really be able to produce much. I think our defense is playing at an elite level. We're going to find ways to get after him. You look at Jacksonville's defense. I mean, they really can't dial it up. they couldn't They couldn't record a single sack against Bo Nix when they played Denver.
Speaker: They can't put the pressure on, and I think that's going to allow Drake to be a little bit more settled. So I agree. I think this is going to be one of those no turnover games for Drake. I'd like to see him get over 250 and two touchdowns would be a good feel for it. But I feel like this game's never really going to question.
Speaker: Like I think Jacksonville is probably going to a late score, but I feel like we're going to have general control over the entire game because our defense is largely going to keep them in check. And I think we're going to walk away with a W. There you go. Yeah, i got I'll take Pat's 2320.
Speaker: twenty three twenty Similar reasons to everyone. I think low-ish scoring game and they do enough to win. I think Drake's better. Again, i do think, I think he gets better every week. I think we're going to go through that stretch of games you mentioned. We're going to be like, all sudden people are going to be like,
Speaker: He's getting, he's heating up a bit and you're going to start being like, you know, sneaking a couple of 300 games and his, all his efficiency shit's going to start creeping up. And then you're going to be like, he's going to be in the top 10, the top. Like, so that's, that's how I think the season is going to go. If I could predict it, I could be completely wrong, obviously, as I am wrong frequently, but I can, you know I just trying to, that's how I think I do believe in his character and I believe in his work ethic. And I think, He will make the changes he needs to. And Josh is too fucking good for too long to just.
Speaker: to to have him just be mediocre. I think it's, you know what I mean? Like if he's too good for this in my opinion. So listen, Savage is somebody who's never been wrong about anything. I will be the first to tell you if you're wrong about this one. So just keep that. mind thank you i'll I'll be here. I'm just doing, I'm just doing my part. What can I say?
Speaker: appreciate that. um All right. Yeah. Anything else going on? So Matt, you're ah telling people where to find you. If you have anything else going on, you got anything to tell everybody? at Matt McCarthy 98.5 obviously 98.5 the dial. You can find me on Nesson every once in a while. Obviously got a whole bunch of Red Sox stuff coming up. Hopefully you know Red Sox Yankees is ah is ah is a victory for Boston. We can actually have October baseball here. So should be a busy next month for me. And you know by the time I return maybe Drake may will have shoved it straight up my ass which. um You know, i would the only thing I would say is is I've been dead right about him for the last six games. And in the words of the great Weird Al Yankovic from the great song Albuquerque off the 1998 classic Running With Scissors, oh man, I hate it when I'm right. So I hope I'm dead wrong.
Speaker: How's the show going, by the way? How's the Nesson show? That seems like a fun time. It it has been so much fun. i actually, I hated TV in college. Like I never really wanted to do it. It's been a blast because it it doesn't it doesn't feel like TV. It just kind of feels like a talk show, which, you know, like i I feel like radio has done that so well. It's like TV can be like really format. It's like, look here, do this, but we're going to put this graphic We're just sitting around talking sports, which is exactly the type of show I want to do. It's been a blast. Obviously, anytime you get to do anything with Joe Murray, it's the best in any format, in any medium. So i have I have thoroughly enjoyed it. And i like that John Henry now signs my checks. So you know like let's just keep that mind. So we, ah the Red Sox, are very, very happy to be in the playoffs. And I speak on behalf of all of us in our organization to say we all knew this was coming.
Speaker: youre base So you are basically now you're like just coworkers with like Peyton Tolley. You guys are just your coworkers basically. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. i mean, he's, he's my colleague and, and some would say a friend. All right, man. Well, i appreciate you coming on. Thanks for taking the time. And, and yeah, we hopefully, you know, hopefully next week we get some more positivity and,
Speaker: better offensive play so everyone can chill the fuck out. it's Savage and and Brett, you guys are a lot of fun. You don't take it seriously, which is which is ultimately what this is all about. I've had a blast and always happy to come on with you. Seriously, I mean it.
Speaker: All right. Thanks, man. i Appreciate it. Peace.
