Transcript
Speaker: All right, guys, we're live. Welcome back to the Savage Boston podcast, and we're live streaming on YouTube and X. Appreciate you guys turning in tuning in, I should say. Please follow Savage Boston on YouTube.
Speaker: Active there now, and that's just this week, really. It's growing really quickly, which is really cool. So subscribe on there and doing live streams weekly, which is really fun, especially during Patriot season where we got a lot of stuff to chat about.
Speaker: And a lot going on. So we got a special guest with us today, Pete, friend of the program. Pete, how are we doing? What's going on? Doing well. ah We have a three game win streak that will always get me to answer the question, you doing with very well?
Speaker: And Pete's with Foxborough Fellas. Of course, you know, go tune into his stuff. He's got Boston Sports Zone, Foxborough Fellas. Anything else we're plugging, Pete? Anything else you want off the top? you nailed it. That's it. All right. you can talk ball.
Speaker: Okay, good. That's what we got. And we're here Brett with my co-host, Brett, for SavageBoston.com. So, yeah, man, we got a lot going on. This is, um you know, obviously we're like kind of in the middle now. We had a super short week.
Speaker: Very, very fast turnaround. I mean, we can talk about part of the Jets game, but also, you know, can – clearly move on to the Bears stuff too because that's coming in two days which I hate I just kind of hate that it's such a short such a short turn like I really just not a fan like if I was a player Thursday Night Football that's just not a great it's not a great turnaround like it really hurts game planning they're just they're just walking through this week. You know what I mean? It's, it's tough to install when you have such a short week, but, um but yeah, Pete, want to give me the 20,000 foot view here. How'd you feel about the jets game? Anything, anything relevant you want to get off your chest about the performance?
Speaker: What I want to get off my chest about the performance so first of all, a win's a win. a good You win by a touchdown. That's great. Divisional opponent. Very good. Team, you were favored by seven points. You won by seven points. You did what you're supposed to do.
Speaker: That's how I'm going to preface it. But I'm also going to say, if you want to be a football team that wins... Super Bowl that wants to win playoff games when you're in the third quarter, you can't let up 10 unanswered points to the Jets. That's the opportunity for you to score 10 unanswered points and put your foot on their throat and step on them because they're the effing Jets, right? You're the Patriots. Like yeah I thought that was a moment where it kind of slipped away a little where you you saw them just kind of like hang in there a little bit. And basically because you're up 17 three, that's what it felt like. Okay, foot on throat, right? Let's go another one and then another one and then get the veto in here.
Speaker: But instead, it was like they're fighting for their life at the end of the game, right? So for me, it was like a win's a win. It's good. But like if we want to have higher expectations of this team, like Super Bowl expectations, we have to hold them to that high standard during the regular season, too. And and I expected maybe a little bit more. out of them especially the running back group like where is trevion henderson where is ramondry steven cory kiner was the best running back right so there was like ah offensive line issues there's a million things you could talk about in that jets game but the injuries might be the biggest crossover right like how they overcame them in the jets game and then how are they going to overcome them in the bills that bills the bears game yeah true brett how'd you feel
Speaker: Yeah, I tend to agree with Pete, whereas like I was a little bit higher after the Raiders game because we were still dealing with injuries then, um and they just dominated the game front to back. Here I felt like there was ah a lot of let-up moments.
Speaker: The biggest positive I come away from this is just another stellar performance from Drake May. He had total control of the offense the entire day. If his receivers didn't fuck up a few times, he'd throw them for over 300 yards. He's probably getting another touchdown in there. So just Drake may continue to dominate, which is a good feel coming out of it. But I agree. I mean, opportunities lost.
Speaker: I'm less concerned on the running backs because of the number injuries that we have on the offensive line. It's it's the why receiver group, you know, pop on the fumble like can't happen in that situation. You just got to have better awareness and go down. Great punch out from behind. But still, like, what are you fighting for at that point? And obviously, A.J. Brown, hands for bricks, like total rust, didn't look good. But um I'm not super concerned on that long-term. Defense, again, i know we're dealing with some injuries, especially in the secondary, but the Jets' offense is not elite. This is should not have been a team that we should allow um like Cooper Jr. to go off on us. like
Speaker: we should have done a better job maintaining on the defensive side of things. So I would say I'm more critical and concerned about how the defense played against the Jets because what we have up against was Chicago and Ben Johnson and that team.
Speaker: They're going to to bring their A game. Jets are like a JV-level team compared to what we're going to go against on Thursday night. So my bigger concern is there was some of the mistakes we had in the wide receiver and just kind of sloppy play. And I'll throw in the fact that we did have another fumble in there on the running back side, but it's really the defense at which I want to see them just dominate. And for whatever reason, the jets were able to move the ball at times. And it's kind of silly. They shouldn't have been able to do that at all.
Speaker: Well, just to, just to lock in a little bit. So, I mean, I thought the jets game plan ironically could be like semi similar to the bears game plan. Like it was pretty, it was like pretty heavy. They had a lot of like multi tight end sets.
Speaker: And they ran the ball a lot and they controlled the clock a lot. And actually thought Braylon Allen was really good. I thought Braylon Allen looked like a really good back. I thought he ran really hard. Why? Why did he look so damn good? He should have looked that good. Was it awesome?
Speaker: I heard coming into the game, actually, he was averaging like, whether was like five a carry, like he was looked pretty good coming into the game. And they said Brees Hall being out wasn't a horrible thing because Braylon Allen looks so good.
Speaker: He's just a big bruising back. And like he had a couple, you could tell when you're watching, like he had a couple of really nice runs, like really nice cutbacks. Then a couple of times, like on fourth down, you know, he got, he gets stuffed by Robert Splane for like a huge, you know, a huge, um, misconversion, but basically, yeah, I thought he looked really solid. I thought he looked like a really good player. i was high on, on Allen, uh, how it looked in the game. i was impressed, but, um, I thought the Patriots defense would play a little bit better. They got lucky with, you know, the fourth down stops. Um, but it is what it is. You know what I mean? So, um, let's touch on quickly. So with AJ Brown,
Speaker: A lot of takes everywhere with AJ Brown all over the place with he should have played, shouldn't have played, was too many snaps. too like Do you guys have a strong opinion on um whether you think he should have been in there, whether was too many snaps? like ah Do you guys have an opinion on that?
Speaker: Coming into the game? I said it might be wise to not play him because then you have Thursday night football and a mini buy. So if there's any lingering effects from the injury after playing a game, you have a long time to recover from them as opposed to going into a Sunday game and say, yeah tweak a little something or it doesn't feel as great. You have to turn that around in three days and play again, right? Well, what happened? Dobbs goes down, forces A.J. Brown into a larger role.
Speaker: And now he's been limited. i just expected him to be limited anyway this week, just because he's just coming off IR. doesn't feel like he hurt something in that game, but you never know. Like, was he fully healthy? Right. And would he have benefited from more time? And if you want to go to a hindsight, like captain hindsight, right? Like,
Speaker: It would have been better if he didn't play. It would have been better to have someone elevated off the practice squad in reality, right? Like maybe he affected the defense and what they had to do, right? But it he didn't really help them. The reason they won was not A.J. Brown, and and he almost botched it at the end on the onside, right? So like multiple times bo could have botched the game. So I think they did bring him back too early. But again, i don't want to come across like hindsight. It's also something i I said before the game. So just being consistent. Shouldn't have played. Shouldn't have played in that game.
Speaker: I mean, i I thought really quick, just because people have addressed this, I think it's fine that he did play in hindsight only because I'd rather him just get it out of the way. Like, if you're going to have the yips and you're going to have, like, a fuck-up game. you think it was the yips?
Speaker: Yeah, I do. Yeah. I think he was jacked up out of his mind. I think it was the yips. I think there was – from watching all the all the fucking tape, like, all I watched it all. Like, um there's – one of those plays was just timing.
Speaker: One of them. It was one slant where it was off. So that's rust. That's not yips. Yeah, that's rust. Yeah, yeah. But like the rest of it, dude, like, mean, we're talking the deep ball. It's nothing wrong with his ankle. It's nothing wrong with his legs. He kind of drifted towards the middle of the field slightly. It felt like an an alligator armed it. Is that yips? sir To me, that's rust. think that's.
Speaker: I think it could be rust. You want to say rust? Can we use the word rust? Like I'm willing to, I like the word rust a whole lot better. Like, cause I think with on Thursday night football, he's good. I think he goes a hundred and a touchdown. I think he could light it up on Thursday. Like, I don't think his skillset did not leave him. Right. Like, I think it's just rust. He just needed a little bit more time, which lines up with the hindsight of shouldn't have played. Right. Give the heck, take that more time. Take the extra week at practice without having played in the game, you know, but does not playing help you? Who knows? Um, Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, no, i would so I would say it's more rust. Yips is like the Drake May where he's kind of got a little pitch in the pocket because he thinks he's going to get hit and no one's around him. That's like the yips. Those are, you know, seeing ghosts. The yips is like men mental error. yep Yeah, like a birth like a pitcher throwing a first base and he can't do it. That's the yips, you know? No, and yeah, I think this is something where it's rust. He's clearly, i mean, he didn't do anything in the preseason. You know, obviously the joint practices, he hasn't played like real ball in a long time. So,
Speaker: Honestly, for me, going in towards it, I was of the position, don't play him. And I agree wholeheartedly. I was like, if his ankle's not 100%, let him rest. Let's get him right. like we can weather through We should be able to beat the Jets without Brown. And essentially, we did. And then we should be able to go into Chicago and be competitive.
Speaker: Now I look at it in retrospect, you have Dobbs going down. You're going into Chicago. It's still, we got to get W's. And I think it was probably beneficial for him to knock off a little bit of the rust. Now we go in an away game. He's probably going to be a little bit more settled, have a little bit more time to work through that process and then get back into rhythm. And ultimately, like, let's be fair, we need this guy to produce. We just don't have enough elite weapons around Drake for us to be able to go against elite level competition. We've we've had a couple of good matchups early on, but like there's going to be big matchups again, playing Buffalo again.
Speaker: You know, we're going to see Kansas City down the road. Like, these are good matchups that we're going have to have our A game, and it's going to need to be A.J. Brown. So I'm okay with him getting in there. And this is going to be a real test coming up on Thursday. Quick turnaround. We're going to need him to produce. So I was of the camp of don't play him unless he's 100%.
Speaker: Watching how he played, his ankle did not seem to be the issue. So I feel more confident and happy that he did play in the mindset that now he's going to be better for Thursday and going forward. let me Let me chime in on that. So I think people should be – you should obviously, like, be discouraged to some degree. Like, obviously, you're not going to be happy he dropped a ton of balls, right? But, like, I don't think after watching him run his routes, how he moved, his ankle.
Speaker: Dude moved fine the entire game. He was open all the time. i mean, he was – dude, every time he got targeted, he was open. And by a lot. I mean, there were plays where i was like, He has no one near him. That deep ball, dude, he burned him, created separation at the end with a little hand fight. It was actually perfect. Like that's a perfect go route. Like his slants every time was wide open. He has good route running his deep comeback, or maybe could have like been a tiny a bit better, but he dropp he just dropped it. That's a ball he fights for and wins the vast majority of his career.
Speaker: So I think you should be encouraged that he can move. Well, he's going to move even better. this upcoming game. You know, the problem is, I think is like, here's a, here's a good thing.
Speaker: The bears pass defense and their defense in general is giving up six yards of play. Okay. They're 31st in the NFL. They don't give up a ton of points necessarily, but it's because the opponents can't hold the ball.
Speaker: The Bears possess the ball the entire game. They run the ball. They put in three tight ends. They hammer it. It's all time of possession. But when they're on defense, they're giving up yardage. so And I don't think their secondary is very good.
Speaker: So I think Drake may – I know, like, maybe we get intimidated by the whole Ben Johnson effect or he's some brilliant, amazing coach and we should really fear him or something. But, like, I think the offense should do okay in this game. It just comes down to, like, can they get stops?
Speaker: Can they possess the ball? Can they – you know what I mean? Caleb Williams will just sit there and just throw short. His ADOT is very, very small. It's like Bo Nix style. Like, he's just – Short a dot. He's just dipping dunk. He was 30 of 36 his last game.
Speaker: Just dipping and dunking at five yards and under. So again, to me, like, I think it's an interesting matchup. I mean, we can go through it now since we're talking about it, but like, i think it's fine to look forward to it because i have the Patriots winning, but obviously Thursday night's a wacky, wacky matchup. So um it is what it is. Pete, what would you say is kind of what, what are you looking forward to in the matchup?
Speaker: I would love a game without turnovers. And I think Mike Vrabel would do based on his press conference. He called it embarrassing me a number of turnovers and you're just not going to win games with the number of turnovers that the Patriots are committing right now and giving away. But you were talking about Caleb Williams and his like,
Speaker: short throw merchant type tag. um I would say, I would say it's working though. It's a, you know, like don't fix it if it ain't broken. Like if, if it was working for us, cause he still throws it deep.
Speaker: It's not like he doesn't throw it deep anymore. He throws it to wide open receivers too. So like, if he was like, not, I don't know. His target is the target 4.4 yards per separation, which is in the most in the NFL, his wide receivers are.
Speaker: 34.1% of his throws go to wide open ride receiver. That's the second highest. He's thrown to guys who are wide the F open all the time. And he has what? One of the highest. He has the highest completion percentage in the NFL, right? Like, like yeah I don't know. That's good. That's a good thing. And that keeps his offense on the field. And that's why I think the defense gets a little bit overblown maybe because they're never really on the field. So they can't really let up too many points if they're never on the field. to your earlier point. So I think this is truly a Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams ah marriage that works out very well, just as much as the Mike Vrabel being the defensive minded coach meant marrying up with Drake May works just as well, right? Like, I think they both landed in good spots with good coaches. So I'm looking at a little bit of that storyline of like, hey, you were drafted one, you were drafted three, like who, like, who's better? Like, you know, that whole that whole storyline, I think is a fun one, too. But The Bears are what favored by three points. And I kind of think that's appropriate home field advantage. Thursday night football were decimated with injuries on the offensive line. So I'm almost leaning towards Bears myself.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Ultimately, I'm with you on turnovers. I think it's going to come down to which team is going to turn over the ball. Like, whichever team turns over the ball the most is probably going to lose this one.
Speaker: um Because I think this one's going to be a lot of back and forth. i While I think you're right, like, Chicago's defense hasn't truly been tested. Like they're, they have good stat numbers, but I don't think they've been like truly tested by an elite level offense that I say like, Oh, I'm concerned about how the Chicago is going to be able to slow down our offense. Other than the fact that we have no offensive linemen. So that's, that's the biggest issue that I see on our side is.
Speaker: what I'm going to look like. Yeah, it worked well and we were able to patch it against the jets. How is that going to look Thursday night? We really don't have time to scheme it up. We don't really have time to work anyone up. like It's going to be a problem, and especially on the interior. At least on the outside, you could chip people off the edge, bring some tackles in to help.
Speaker: Now on the interior, you're going to have to have them sit back there and probably put a running back in there to try and bring in like a two-set running back or even put a you know tight end in the backfield with you to try and help on the interior.
Speaker: So that's the biggest concern I have there. When it comes to Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson, clearly it's working. I'm personally not a Caleb Williams guy because I just don't think he has it between the ears. I just think he's going to be a gunslinger guy that's going to throw it up and trust in what he thinks he can do at all times. He still has that tendency, even though he's got very great completion percentage. They're all dinks and dunks. He will throw those big balls throughout the games.
Speaker: And some of them you look at and say, well, I don't know, break the other way. And that could be disaster. And he did that all last year. So I wouldn't be surprised if he has a moment like that in this game. And if we turn that into a turnover, I think that becomes kind of of the pivotal point If Drake may continues to be consistent the way Drake may has played, we're going to stay in any game. I don't care what's going on with our injuries. i don't care what's going on with our wide receivers.
Speaker: If he's putting the ball and placing it, where he's placing it, making the decisions he's making rolling out when he needs to roll out, not forcing the issue. He's going to keep us in the game. Ultimately, I think it's going to come down to turnovers.
Speaker: I'm skeptical in this one too. I tend to lean towards the bears. I think it's probably going to be like 27, 24 type game. where I think the Bears could come out just because we have the injuries, short week.
Speaker: I don't think we're going to be very dimensional on offense, so it's going to put a lot on Drake May. I think Chicago is going to run on us, and I think it's going to be a problem. Then they'll dink and dunk, and I think it's going to be a back and forth. but i mean, that's their – that that is their That's their whole game plan. they're goingnna They're going to pound the rock, and Ben Johnson's a good OC. It's going to be super heavy and put Caleb in good situations. So the Patriots know this.
Speaker: So the answer is, what do the Patriots do? What do they do on defense? How do they counteract this? right If you have to do a counterpunch, right what do you do for your counterpunch? And they have to basically find a way to stop the run, just like every team that goes against the Bears. like You have to find a way to stop the run and force Caleb Williams into third and longs.
Speaker: That's the only way to win the game. and then and pressure Caleb Williams. And yeah, maybe he has like a crazy play where he runs out the back of the pocket and he throws a bomb or does something wacky, but that's not every play. and the numbers will bear out that if you keep them in third and longs, you're probably going to be more successful than not. Like that's how you're going to beat them. You have to force him and Caleb Williams to throw the football in the pocket. He's like, it's like Josh Allen S you can't, You can't let them pound the rock.
Speaker: mean, that's that's modern football now. Like people are trying to pound the rock again. You're trying to bring in super heavy sets. There's a lot of three tight end football being played. That was never used before like last year. Now everyone just says three fucking tight ends.
Speaker: They use it a lot. They use 12 or 13 personnel. or p one personnel They use it on 51.9% of their plays. Over half the time, they're in 12 or 13. That's the highest in the NFL. They use heavy personnel. They use it a ton. And they pass out of it. 42% of their dropbacks come out of that heavy personnel. That's the second highest in the NFL. So they love it.
Speaker: Ask me if they're good at it. No, are they're not they're not not good at it. They're not good at it. They have the eighth fewest yards per drop back in those personnel groupings. The 12th lowest explosive play rate out of those out of that 11 personnel. The Bears average 6.8 yards. That's the seventh most. So they're a little bit better. So as they get heavier, they get worse.
Speaker: Right. But they chip, they chip, they chip. They only need to keep chipping away at you. Right. So you're right. When they pass out of those formations, they're not doing a whole lot. Right. So that there is something to take advantage of, I guess, is the hope that I'm trying to bring Patriots fans here. When they line up heavy and they're running the ball, they they they struggle to pass out of that.
Speaker: is the point right that's because they're very good they're very good at outside zone run obviously swifts brilliant like they have the running game is something to be worried about especially after braylon allen chews you up right um how i think they chewed him up they love sim pressures when you bring someone close to the line and back them off it creates a hole you run up that hole you run at the sim pressure i think that the jets might have discovered something with their offense i know that's crazy to say and put something on tape where it's run at the sim pressure And you can maybe gouge the Patriots for some yards. At least that's what the Jets did. So look for that against the Bears. Are they just running at where? where but Are you seeing Spillane pounce at the line of screen and back off? And then they run right where Spillane was. Well, that's how you get three or four yards, right? That's a gap not filled. So if Zach Kerr is aware of that, maybe there's a scheme for a scheme. If you're looking for some nerd stuff there, that's what I'm looking at on tape.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, the big thing, though, to look at Chicago is they really haven't played a lot of like tough component tough opponents. i mean Let's go through Panthers. Vikings. Eagles. the score against the Vikings? oh Vikings are they lost. That's a bum matchup. Eagles 27-7.
Speaker: So when you watch that fucking tape, dude, and you say, all right, like let's we got to do what Flores did. Good luck. Blitz 70% of the time? I mean, that's crazy. You can't do what Flores does. I know Flores is crazy, but – You have to throw that out the window. You to do what you do very well. You can't do what Flores.
Speaker: How is the success rate Caleb Williams had against all the blitzing? Do you know what i mean? like How does Caleb Williams perform against the Right? Like they obviously have all these metrics, right? Yeah. i mean and another comp to look at would be, i mean, he just came back against the Falcons. I have the data when you want it.
Speaker: You know, I, I do. I want it. yeah Hold on. Give me the data. I want the data. The Vikings blitzed Caleb Williams on 27 of his 33 dropbacks before he exited the game late in the fourth quarter. That's 81% of the time. They're not going to do that. I'm sorry, but that's what they did. They just resulting in a blitz rate that would have ranked as the third highest mark in a game in a defense since 2018.
Speaker: That's what the Vikings did to keep them. They blitzed the fuck out of Caleb Williams. He recorded an average time to throw 3.7 seconds. That's the fourth longest mark in a game in his career.
Speaker: He faced a career high 54.5% pressure rate his third career game in which he faced a pressure rate of at least half of his dropbacks. Despite his best effort to buy time, he completed just one of four downfield passes for 15 yards and an interception. So maybe the b blueprint is blitz the hell out of Caleb Williams.
Speaker: I think, well, or you could use a different term where you could just say pressure them, pressure the hell out of them. Like whether that's not necessarily blitzing, but maybe rush, you just rush five every time. You know what i mean? You're going to find a way. i think you're going to have fuck around with just your personnel groupings where they're not going to have true.
Speaker: Let's say you're going to have to have three D linemen in all the time. And like one edge, like you're going to have Akis is going to have to play a ton because he's so good against the run. Right. And then you're going to have to have the bar more milk.
Speaker: and like durden or and leonard williams you're gonna have to go really heavy then the patriots probably aren't gonna be able to play a ton of nickel right like how are they gonna have like marcus jones in there all the time playing nickel you're gonna have to go like heavy linebackers like if this is gonna be the hard part and then ken gonzo 101 carlton davis is back can he one-on-one and then you see like your mat when gonzo and carlton davis are both playing You just create a ton of matchup problems, right? Because you can lock Gonzo one-on-one on someone. And like, yeah, maybe Colson Loveland might be a problem, right? Like Loveland's Are going to play a of man against Caleb, though? He's just going to take off, right? Like that's what they do with Carlton and Gonzo.
Speaker: and you can have Maybe you have a spot. Like maybe you do like man with like ah a QB spot. Like, I don't know. Like, are you going to do a two-high shell the entire game? You know, like, are you going to play too high shell the whole game as Caleb and they're just going to put fucking three tight ends in there and dip and dunk? Yeah, I don't i don't think you can just sit there at too high zone. Ben Johnson is going to pick that apart. He's just going to scheme it up. Like, and that's the whole thing. Like, let's be real. Caleb isn't, like, these plays and how efficient Caleb Williams is doing is the Ben Johnson effect. It's not Caleb Williams figuring out how to play quarterback. He's not dissecting these teams. We're watching some of these plays and you're like, well, that's amazing. And I'm like, that was entirely scheme related. He didn't audible. He didn't do anything there. So, no, I don't think you can sit back on zone here. i it's
Speaker: That is one of the promising parts of Carlton Davis coming back. Gives you the opportunity get a little bit more man, try to jam him up, try to throw off the rhythm while you put a little bit of pressure on them where you can. And, and yeah, maybe you got guy like Ellis who's fast enough to kind of put him on spy. I don't know if he can run that way. ah You could obviously put Spillane to try it. I just don't know if he could track him down if he ever rolls out and makes it ah but I would probably go more man and and get a little bit more pressure on them.
Speaker: Try to dial it up with four and and maybe throw off a blitz here and there. But again, you can't just go too high so and just try to, you got to disguise it because he's just not there yet to dissect and figure it out, throw them off.
Speaker: I think if you go man man on the outsides and then you, you you bring in the heavies, you do heavy box, and you find a way to just maybe you can do a single high instead of a two high shell the whole game. Like you just got to find numbers.
Speaker: Ben Johnson knows you're going to do this, right? He's thinking, okay, what's the counterplay? All right, they're going to go heavy. But the problem with that is unlike Drake May, like I think if if if you go heavy boxing as Drake May and play a lot of man-to-man, Drake's going to kill you, right? Like Drake's going to carve you up.
Speaker: So I think like i don't know if Caleb – Is that same quarterback. If you do, you know what i mean? If you do single high, go man to man, is Caleb the guy, if you're in his face, is he going to be able to be cool and make those, those tight window throws? I know he's capable of every throw and he's capable of improvisation, but can he sit there in the pocket under pressure and deliver?
Speaker: And that I don't know. And I think that's where Caleb has not been good in it through his career, right? Like Caleb hasn't exactly, he's so erratic man. And the post season last year, he had a couple spectacular plays and the rest of it was a disaster.
Speaker: So to me, he's a super erratic player. I don't really know what I'm going to like, what we're going to get from Caleb to honest. That's what I'm saying. I don't know, actually. He faces the 11th highest pressure. I mean, I know he's only played three games, but he does have the highest completion percentage in the league, but he doesn't face man pressure like ever, which I think is an interesting takeaway, right? Like he, it's zone, right? You don't turn your back to a runner like Caleb Williams, especially when he's scrambling at, like a like super high rate. You know, if the guy's going to take off a ton, if he's going to throw, that's how he's probably throwing at these little dink and dunks, right? Like just a little bit of a soft zone, yeah you know, fires the ball in underneath. So it would be interesting to see, well, what do you do against man? What what do you look like against man? Because the Patriots run at a ton, the third highest, and they create very little separation.
Speaker: Caleb Williams, let's see here, that faced the third lowest rate of man coverage this season, 14.3%. He's eight for 71 yards and a touchdown. He has two scrambles for 11 yards. And that's another thing. The Patriots don't allow a lot of scrambling. However, i think it's fair to say, like, you didn't really face a lot of scrambling quarterbacks either. Like Kirk Cousins and and Aaron Rodgers are pretty stationary guys. Like, you know, Smith really didn't take off on you. So like, it's probably a result in who you as a result of who you played and not so much a result of like how good you are.
Speaker: Well, we did it against Josh Allen and for whatever reason. Yeah, they yeah he went nowhere. Yeah. Well, and and the thing is that all we did was we just overloaded on the right side and basically said, I mean, he's going to pass rebuilding era.
Speaker: Just said it here. Would you just use the same game plan versus Josh Allen? And I think you got to, I think, yeah, you have to use a similar game plan, especially since the bills couldn't really run the football. Well, part of that was James, James Cook.
Speaker: ah James Cook wasn't nice comment here. savage that sound your nose look handsome but Don't pull up rice. And thank you, Brady. Let me back up here. Let me not crowd it too much. um Anyway. So yeah, I think with Josh, but the thing with Josh, right. Is Josh is a better quarterback than Caleb.
Speaker: Okay. jo Josh though, you have to stay in too high against Josh. You basically have to pray. They're not running the ball. Well, with James Coke or he's fumbling. and you have to keep Josh in the pocket. Like, that's how you beat the Bills. Keep him in the pocket, somehow stop the run, and then play too high.
Speaker: Against the Bears, I don't know if the formula is exactly the same, right? Like, I don't know if the formula is the same. Like, you got a little bit better of an OC in Ben Johnson than Joe Brady, in my opinion, right? A little better OC.
Speaker: And then again, I think you got basically, like,
Speaker: Caleb Williams is not quite the same guy. Like I think you don't have to play a shell. I know the whole league wants to be Mike McDonald and just play like this too high nickel shell every play where we have complex zones we're rotating through. But this is the anti that this is they're going to come in and punch you in the face and then be like, all right, can you can you stand it? We'll run for for four yards you every down for 20 plays. Like the Bears don't give a shit. Ben Johnson doesn't give a shit. He'll run every fucking play. That's why he's a good OC. He'll do what it do what it takes basically to win.
Speaker: so
Speaker: Yeah, it's again, i think there's ah opportunities though for a turnover. Like I don't think Caleb's completely out of that. He's going to have moments during the game where he's going to give you an opportunity. Can we kind capitalize on it?
Speaker: To your point, the biggest thing is going to be the run, is can we contain that? And I felt like even with the Jets, like we struggled with the Jets trying to contain their rushing attack, and it shouldn't have been as hard.
Speaker: I don't know what we did against the Bills and how that was able to kind of bottle up. I think it was really just Joe Brady stopped calling run plays to Cook until like, late in the game. And by that point it was kind of out of reach.
Speaker: and That went downhill in the second half. James Cook was like starting to get chunk plays and then they basically stopped running the ball. Yeah. James Cook was starting to get nine every carry. It was almost like the Harbaugh move where they just stopped beating Derek Henry and we somehow beat Baltimore. It was the same kind of game.
Speaker: So yeah our run defense has not been consistent enough. And I agree. They're just going to keep running the ball at us all day long and trying to go through. So We'll have an opportunity potentially for a turnover that could turn the tide and try to slow it down. But it's going to be on our defense. Like I said, I was concerned coming out of the Jets game with how our defense played.
Speaker: I think we should have played better. I think to this point, our defense has played really well, but the Jets game is kind of a letdown game. And maybe that's just a let up game. We're allowed to have one of those games. So maybe there'll be correction this week and they'll... have full horses and yeah it's great having carlton davis back for healthy for health reasons like that's huge for us and looks like draymond jones is going to be able to play for this one so we'll see ah like that's going to be really critical for us to be able to apply pressure and slow him down but this game feels like it's going to be on the defense to be able to perform and then our offense to be able to hold up offensive line to hold up yeah
Speaker: I mean, i would say this. i think I think you might be right. Part of the Jets game, maybe there is like an emotional, there was an emotional thing missing, like a complete letdown game. You know, you win two in a row, big performances, and it's like 1 p.m. before a short week on in prime time, right? And I think there is like, you forget the emotional component of the players, like looking ahead.
Speaker: The Jets game was a little bit of a trap game, um only because the Jets are a better team this year than they were last year. And they've been more competitive in every game they've been in. The Jets have been like a more competitive team. So I think it was it was ah it was a bit trappy.
Speaker: um I would say this game, though, they should be emotionally up for this. Like this is up, dude. It's a short week, then you get a longer rest. Like this is – they should be up prime time. So to me that says, is the D-line going to be up for this game?
Speaker: Like because you need them to be up. You need them playing really, really well. You need full effort bar more the entire game. You need full effort Milton Williams. You need, you know, like I know Ackes is going to be there defending the run.
Speaker: He's one of the best in the business basically this season. i mean, Ackes has been tremendous against the run. Draymond Jones has been really good player. You know, I think Elijah Ponder has been, again, like the the D-line has been really great.
Speaker: So I think basically – Patriots defense is good. i mean, long story short, I mean, you look at their team stats, the Patriots defense is a good defense. And I think they should be able to limit the bears in some capacity. You shouldn't just get rolled over, right? They should be in every game.
Speaker: We shouldn't see the Jaguars game anymore. We shouldn't see any more 30 point games. High 27, you know, 27 is the highest. I'll allow this this defense to allow the rest of the season. It's kind of like where my head's at with, I don't want to see 30 on the board. Ever again. um i think you mentioned Ponder too. Quick. Ponder's been a ah absolute standout this year. Great half sack in every game, at least. just all All the stats you already know about. But just undrafted free agent making an impact on the line where a lot of people would have told you edge is a big concern. Edge is a big concern. Well, now everyone's saying, well, that surprised me. That surprised me, right? And I think a lot of that to do with Ponder. Akis like I know I don't know if Draymond Jones should be really surprising you this is what he is he's a very good football player that's like you could have seen that before coming here whereas Ponder and Akis you had to like have faith to you know now you're know proofs in the pudding um it's interesting Barmore is not playing as much this year 40 percent of his uh of the defensive snaps for 65 last year it seems to be he's just not getting the reps like lot of rest
Speaker: Yeah, a lot of rest. Is it there the blood clot concern at the beginning of the season in a ramp-up period? You have to wonder that. But maybe this is the week you kind of ramp them up a little bit with the amount of running and the amount of heavy you're going to have to run in this one. um But I think it's going to be a very interesting game. I think Drake May is the reason that you win or lose football games these days, right? like I think the defense is important. I think the defense will keep other teams to that low 20s, high teens.
Speaker: Jake may just need to go throw 25 plus up a game. And I think you win most of your football games. If you just can obviously not turn the ball over is very helpful to scoring 25 and keeping the other ah team around that. But I think that's a good formula, right? Like Drake, we need you to go out there.
Speaker: you You guys got to throw up three touchdowns. And one of the times you can fail, we'll kick a field goal. That's pretty, you know, that will get us 24 points a game, right around 25 points in our defense. You can't let up three touchdowns as long as you go out there and play a solid game. You know, you should win most of your football games. That's how you're going to win this one, I think. Don't turn the ball over. Drake may take control of the offense because it's certainly not like a Trevion Henderson or a Mondray Stevenson show. Like, that's not what I'm expecting in this one. No, it's pass the It has to be a Drake May show, especially on a short week. But as I mentioned in the private chat, I got a dip. So that let my final thought be Patriots.
Speaker: I was out at the beginning. I was like, no, Patriots are going to lose this one. ne Patriots are going to win this one. 27. We got you. We got you, Pete. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm all amped up now. Convincing. We got you. We're hyped. Yeah, you convinced me. I'm all hyped up. It was Brits. Caleb Williams has to return back the form take, and I think that's a good one, right? Like, we're seeing brilliant Caleb Williams. It's only been three games, right? We've seen brilliant Drake May. So does that mean we're going see what we saw to Drake May the last three games every single day? No, we expect some regression to the mean, right? So we should also expect some regression to the mean with Caleb Williams. He's going to throw a pick in this one. Just like Gino Williams came in last, or Gino Smith came in last.
Speaker: I'm getting all quarterbacks crossover there. Geno Smith came in last week without a pick, and and now he has one. I think Caleb Williams comes in this and adds one to his total. That will be my final thought. all right. Thank you, boys, for having me on. Pete, before you jump, I love the Parcells-style sweater tonight.
Speaker: That's solid. Yep. We're going to work. You got to let the people know. Got to let them know. Cheers. right. Peace. See you. All right. Thanks, Pete, for tuning in. We appreciate that. Yeah, no, I just want to just just a few stats wise. Right.
Speaker: thedora You know, Patriots defense is giving up the fifth least points in football at 18.8. They're giving up the sixth fewest yards in football at 300 a game. Meanwhile, they they generate the seventh most yards in football, 374 a game. Right. So it's like I don't think the stats are against you. Like people people got to consider that the Patriots defense is really good.
Speaker: They're really good. It only looks it only looks like shit um because basically they've had, ah you know, they had one horrible game against the Jaguars where they completely imploded, ruined all your stats, right? Statistically, it's an outlier out of six games. Thank you, Poppy Love Crypto here. Channel's on fire. Thank you. Excited for the rest of the season. I agree, man. I'm excited too.
Speaker: um Yeah, so – but again, like, one outlier game, right, just like with the Bears stats, they scored 59 or whatever in the first game against the Panthers. Yeah. And then they only scored seven against Green Bay. They got beat 31-3. I know it's without Caleb, but but again, like, there's outliers can change this stuff.
Speaker: you know Like you said, they let up three points. And I know Caleb went down in that game, but he went down late. So there was three points, and he essentially played the entire game. So Minnesota shut the entire offense down. And let's be fair, I mean, that Carolina game was just a track meet and a shame for all of it. yeah So I have faith in our defense. I'm just – They're on a little bit of a skid. Like, I think long-term, I have faith.
Speaker: Long-term, I feel like they're going to be good. i just feel like on a short week, in a situation where we're still trying to get a little bit healthy with our legs underneath. Like I said, it's good that Draymond Jones is playing, but, like, how good is he at? Barmore, like we talked about.
Speaker: Where's he at coming back? Carlton Davis, like he's still limited it today. So what does that look like? So there's just some of that stuff where you look at and say, okay, are we really humming where we need to be on defense? I don't know yet.
Speaker: I don't know. think This is – hold on, listen to this stat. This is actually a really good one. I think this this tells the story in a lot of ways of who the Bears are. um because this is really a a large dichotomy here. So Bears rushes a game.
Speaker: They average 36 rush plays a game. They're number one in the NFL. That's a lot of fucking rushing play. Yes. 36 times they rush. You want to guess how many times the opponent rushes against them?
Speaker: Give me a guess. 20. You're totally right. It's literally 20. I don't know how you got it. 20.2, which is also number one in the NFL. So they're number one at running the ball and they're number one at having the least run place against them.
Speaker: So, I mean, that to me shows the mark of, i mean, obviously what they do well, you know, and how good they are. I think one of the, one of the only stats that's working against them badly is again, opponents, yards of play, opponents, yards per play. The opponents are getting six yards of play.
Speaker: That's 31st in the NFL. That's not good. yeah I don't know how that got so bad, but that's, that's bad. They shouldn't be getting, you know six yards of plays is not great. Right. Again, I mean, they let up 37 points in that track meet that they had against Chicago. They let up what? 24 points. I think against green Bay opponents, Brett opponents, yards per pass.
Speaker: How many yards of pass play are they giving up 8.4 yards per pass. That's 31st in the NFL. And now you're going against Drake May with a really pissed off A.J. Brown, right?
Speaker: So if you're going to be almost dead last in the NFL in yards per play, passing yards per play, right? Like that to me, there's a weakness there, obviously, right? Like that's that's the weakness. That's what you have to attack.
Speaker: Um, so you got to get out there. You got to throw the ball. I think the game plan looks different on both sides. Like I would get out there. I would throw the rock, man. i would throw the rock a lot. Try your best to protect. They don't have Montez sweats not in. Like almost thought I almost rather them try Lomo out this week than an injured Morgan Moses. I think Lomo looks really solid. And i know Morgan's is Moses is the vet, but he hasn't been great. And I like how Lomo looks on the tape. So I'm only a little, you know,
Speaker: Not concerned-ish, but I just – I don't know. Is Loma going to play guard this week? Like people are saying maybe he gets reps at guard? i don't i don't know. I mean, yeah, I would think – We'd probably put Lomo out there to start just because Moses... I mean he hasn't even looked right before the game. Like, he's clearly dealing with a lot of injuries. So, like, I think if you have him and he's available, keep him available. But if you don't need him, don't force him.
Speaker: Because... we're just so freaking thin that it's like, I mean, we were at a position last week where it was like, what are we going to end up doing? Like, are we going put him Latu in a freaking guard? Like we're going to have to pull him to go in there and like, like what were we going to do? Like it's just imagine Lomu. I heard, um, Pat's rebuilding area here says imagine Lomu at left guard to be hilarious. Uh, I think i heard Roush Roush basically confirmed today that he's going to be playing left guard.
Speaker: I don't know who's playing right guard. Maybe Lomu plays right guard. Third position in three games. Left tackle, right tackle, right guard. And then Lomu just does whatever. He's like Joe Tooney, basically. Just doing whatever you need him to do.
Speaker: I don't know. I mean, credit to Doug Marone for getting those guys like – next man up and be able to pass work that because that jets d line is no joke like they're solid defense and for them to have been able to hold it up and then pound the rock like we did in the fourth quarter and like the moments when we're trying to kill clock and they're actually producing like where's that been how that was not on my bingo card watching that game when i'm going down the stretch thinking oh the passengers gonna run down clock and bleed it out because they have all of these guys back there yeah so
Speaker: Yeah, I think on a short week, I'm expecting Loma at right tackle. I'm expecting Roush to play in on guard again. i don't know who's playing guard. think they're have to get through with it. And just Josh is going to continue to have to scheme it up and yeah let him happen. you know I genuinely don't know who's playing right guard, though, which is an interesting question from Lansdowne to Foxborough, which I like your name a lot there on X, Lansdowne to Foxborough. How do you feel about the cornerback room? I feel really great.
Speaker: I feel really great. I feel really great about Gonzo. I feel really great about Carlton Davis. I like both players. Carlton Davis has been excellent against the run. um That might not as be impactful in the game this week because it's not like you need to shut down one guy. It's not like, oh, you've got to line up and shadow DK Metcalf. You have to line up and shadow um Jackson Smith and Jigba, right? This is going to be a run, pound the rock heavy team. This team runs the football.
Speaker: They run, they run, they run. They don't care if they get three a carry. Every single possession could be four runs, right? Like they run all the time, the run, run, run, control the clock. It's kind of like a microcosm of what, of what the Jets just did to you, where we get a little frustrated, like, oh man, we giving up a lot of yards in the ground, right? Like, That's how they wear you down. And then by the fourth quarter, you're getting worn. You're getting worn.
Speaker: So that's a concern is I think, um you know, again, and Dougie Fresh on YouTube says nervous about the game, huge win, ball security is key. Yeah, absolutely. Turnovers are, turnovers are massive. You can't turn the the ball. They turn the ball over every single game. They've been horrible turnovers this year. Vrabel himself said it's, it's an embarrassment. Yeah. It's like way over the top, but here's the good news. They're four and two, right? Everyone.
Speaker: you know what I mean They're four and two. Where did we think they were going to be? When we all drew our little maps, right? And you're like, oh, let's go through the schedule. When they got to four and two, if you if you said four and two after six, you'd have been like, fuck yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome. Like, that's what I want. Four and two is great. We said three and three. We're like, you have to a minimum be three and three. But they're four and two. And I think Chicago, yeah, this is a test.
Speaker: It's a test. Do you know what mean? Like, this is a test game. But... Yeah, you know, I think they've got a good shot to win. Yeah, it's a tricky spot. um You know, just kind of continue to build on this where you basically talk about the depth. Pat's rebuild there talked about now looking at O-line depth and ah defensive back depth. I would agree because, you know, taking it beyond what you see with Gonzalez and Davis.
Speaker: We had really good moments. Woods had an interception in this past game. um You know, we were looking at it. I think Marcus Jones has played pretty solid all year. Like, he's had his moments. And then, like, Vildor stepped in at a period of time when we were down multiple guys, and and he was able to step up. So...
Speaker: We clearly are doing a great job from a coaching level all areas of the game. And that's just something you can just hang your hat on, Mike Grable. And I was super critical of Josh early on, and I think he deserved it.
Speaker: As the whole offense looked just completely a mess, they've tightened it up real quick. And now they just plug and play, guys, and they just keep moving. I don't care if it's at the wide receiver level. i don't care if it's at the offensive line level. i don't care if it's at the running back level. They just figure it out.
Speaker: They figure it Drake May has has gotten to a point. This is everyone's dream. Okay. He's gotten to a point where he can elevate all the players around him. Right. We talked about this. He's elevating people around him.
Speaker: Okay. He started that last year. Cause let's be for like real. Sure. i mean, who's booty without Drake May last year. Yeah, I know. Well, Booty wanted trade out to get out of here thinking he was going to hit home runs places, and it just hasn't worked. Drake May, unfortunately – I mean, this is not meant to be flippant, but he made Booty what he was in those times, right? And he found him, and Drake May being the best deep ball thrower in football, literally in football, placing balls. And Booty did a good job too. don't want to take it away from him. I'm just saying, like, Drake was awesome. But the fact that he's able to find, whether it's Chisholm subbing in, Pop Douglas all sudden like, Pop's open all the time now. You're like, whoa, like what's going on? You know what mean? Like Drake is finding these guys. And if AJ Brown's not dropping like seven footballs this past game, like –
Speaker: his numbers would have looked crazy. He would have had ah one of those amazing games again, where you're like, wow, he smoked the jets. You know what i mean? So I think, I think that's the crazy thing. And like, and those AJ Brown drops, man, like those are balls. He doesn't draw. mean, again, if I knew how I put the YouTube clips in here, right. I did like a eight, nine minute video on YouTube long form about each pass he dropped.
Speaker: And I know it did okay. But like people, the first one, Deep ball. He's open, wide open. Alligator arms it. That should have been a touchdown. Then he's got one in the end zone, back across his body, in his hand. right he's He's coming back across the field in his hands, and he drops it.
Speaker: That's a ball in his career as an all-pro. He never drops that football. He catches that ball 99 out of 100, right? That was like the back. like always It's crazy he dropped that, to be honest.
Speaker: we've We've heard it since since the game. I mean, this was statistically his his worst career game when it came to that. it's crazy. He recorded three drops, and you watch the game, you're like, it's really more than three drops. He dropped five. he had hit five drops. like He had multiple. They had one miscommunication. the numbers, he dropped a minimum four balls that were pure drops.
Speaker: And the thing is, is like you look at the one back of the end zone. Like, okay, maybe Drake could have like had it shade in like a few inches, maybe. But like, honestly, he put it where you need to put it.
Speaker: Like he had to put it back shoulder. although Otherwise the defender would have had it. Like he had to put it in that spot. The one over the top, like he put it in where it needed to be. The slam square went hit him in the freaking chest. He just didn't time it right. The other one where he dropped the onsides kick.
Speaker: Yeah, I know. That's what I mean. Like, but I'm just saying like the balls that Drake is putting on him is like on the hands, in the numbers. Yeah. Like he should have had, like you said, five more catches. He should have had eight catches that game. He should have had like well over a hundred yards.
Speaker: yeah drake Drake, not just... I do like the name kind of The Elevator. Drake is elevating everyone around him. It's such a lame nickname to call him The Elevator. um Anyway, sorry.
Speaker: Bad joke. um but But clearly, like... Drake's fine in any way. You're open. Drake's fine in you. And Drake looks in command. He looks accurate. He looks poised. I mean, he's the MVP level right now.
Speaker: Dude, he's already like fourth in MVP odds. Boom. Fourth. Week six. After his start, they're like, oh yeah, shit, he's back. Everyone, everyone's looking at his back. It was like you took the – that's how you know he's special because in the first three weeks, people were trying to hammer this dude. He doesn't have it. He's just – like if he was no – look at Jaden Daniels.
Speaker: Jaden Daniels, no one like gives a shit. No one gives a shit. Everyone's like, yeah, he's all right. Like no one – like um you know some of these players, they only give you get on you that bad when they know you're special.
Speaker: whether that's Drake, whether that's Mahomes, whether that's Josh Allen, right? They'll they'll they'll find you, get up. Like we do it with Mahomes, right? Oh, Mahomes stinks. He's this, he threw a peck because you know how good he was, right? And you're trying to like even that out. That's that's what people do on the internet, right?
Speaker: um And yeah, i I think, I don't know. I think people are giving Drake the superstar treatment, which frankly he deserves because he's a superstar. No, he's he's definitely earned it. And it's funny because like now, especially with the Caleb matchup, you're getting all of the talk coming out of there about you know who was the best in the draft, what does that look like, etc., etc.
Speaker: And to this point, like I just don't see why you would possibly look at the other guys and think... To this point, they have a better trajectory and they've looked better than Drake May. Like, Drake May has clearly looked like the better quarterback, has elevated his team with way less talent, way less situation, and been able to produce at a more consistent rate. So, yeah, I just, I think it's a silly argument to kind of go through.
Speaker: And again, I still think Caleb, like, is a benefactory of what he has with Ben Johnson. Just like I do think Drake benefits from having Josh, but like Drake didn't walk into the same situation. Caleb walked into in Chicago.
Speaker: He had a Drake. co Drake is in a worse. All these drugs in a worse situation, or he was today. He's still in a worse situation. Like his roster around him is not as good as Caleb Williams roster. When they go in to start that game, snap it. Yeah. And that's because injuries.
Speaker: Trade question lands on Foxborough says, we're gonna trade for Walker little or Dwan Jones. Like I don't, so for trades wise, have one trade I'm speculating on because i don't know, like they're probably not gonna trade for anybody in reality. Right. Cause they don't want to spend money. be Like if there's one person I want and one trade I want is I want to trade from, for Quentin Nelson from the Colts. Okay. Because you have such an absurd need at guard.
Speaker: Vera Tucker needs to get back ASAP. But like if you could get someone like Quentin Nelson, know he gets paid and you need and he's going to need a contract, but what kind of pick they want. You're not giving up one or two, but like can you just he's an all pro. Can you justify that level? play Because then Wenu's going to be gone probably, right? Because his contract's up. He's probably done here. So then you take that money, Wenu money, and try to sign Quentin Nelson. But like, that's something I would like to do is like, you want the dream scenario. Like I want a sick guard, you know, that you don't have to pay that much for like in draft capital. But that again, that's not, it's not going happen. You could get them as a rental though, because like, let's be real.
Speaker: Let's be real. Like they're going to be in a total rebuild mode and selling things. Yeah. Colts are fucked. They're fucked. Yeah. So you could get them on a rental situation. we talked about it i think two weeks ago on the pod like what would you do before the trade deadline where would you go and i said interior lineman was the number one position that i would look at and say we need the most and that was before all these injuries it was basically on whenu and then that was it um but yeah and that was before vera talker etc so
Speaker: I like Vera Tucker, too. He's been getting better, and he looks good. I like Vera Tucker. just I mean, he he looked good to this point. Injury was always the biggest concern with him because he was obviously – was a high draft pick, high ah ah you know potential, big upside, just didn't play like half the time. So that's where the biggest concern was with Vera Tucker, and you're right. On one who – I don't think he's coming back this year. i don't think he's coming back after. for now years long go resign him He'll probably be gone. i don't think they'll sign. I think they'll sign maybe a more athletic guard. I don't know. He'll probably be gone. But I think it's, it's, it's, I think Drake, this game should be efficient.
Speaker: I think he'll be efficient. And I think he should make good choices. I don't know how many opportunities he'll get. This might be like a, they don't have that many plays again. They said it like the Patriots can't,
Speaker: just have 50 plays this game. And meanwhile, the bears run 75 plays, right? They can't do it. Sad pass fan says more athletic guard. Yeah, they want. So, i mean, you see by the guys they hire, they they've been signing like Elijah Vera Tucker, right?
Speaker: Super athletic guy, very, very good athletic source. Same with their tackles, like who they draft, like both Campbell and Lomu had really awesome athletic scores. Like go look at their relative athletic score at RAS. They're really great, really fast.
Speaker: agile they want quick moving linemen and when he was the only guy who doesn't fit the archetype of what they wanted a load he's awesome like don't get me wrong he's really good he just doesn't fit what it appears they've been trying to do that's the point so more athletic car and i don't know how quentin nelson prepares to end when you assume he's more and one who's not that athletic But Nelson's a small pro and that's like a dream.
Speaker: But that's what it's so for sad Pats fan here. That that's what I mean by guys to set more athletic guard question mark. That's what I mean. Like they just want to give Jared Wilson a center. He's really he's really athletic.
Speaker: They want guys that can get out in space and move like in case they want to play. They want to run zone or they want to do. duo off the backers. Like they want to basically like, they want to be able to move guys and they want to actually be able to get on the move. So that's what I mean by getting a more athletic guard. So, um all right, let's do, um let's do your pick. What do you think? What's the score?
Speaker: Who wins? Have we convinced you that the Patriots should win this game? So here's how I'm going to spin it in my head. I picked the bills to beat us.
Speaker: And we pulled it out. I'm going to pick Chicago to beat us. Secretly, hoping that we pull it out. I just feel like with the number of injuries on a short week, there's just too many things stacking up that make this really, really difficult.
Speaker: So I'm going stick with what I said. twenty seven twenty four Chicago. secretly flip those scores around and that's what i'm really like hoping for but if i was a betting man that's what i would say did you know the spread is actually higher i thought the spread would be like 45 the spread is like 50 it's like a little bit higher like 50 like low 50s a little higher than i thought i was like because i would say like 24 20 but i'm way i'm way under on that you know i'm way under in that one um
Speaker: But, yeah, like basically I think I'd say 24-20 pats. Maybe the Patriots put up a 30-burger and just like are really efficient against that defense. Like they – honestly, this is – like we're all thinking, oh, Ben Johnson, Ben Johnson, Ben Johnson, right? We're all thinking how do we stop him? And I understand that perspective. How do they stop us?
Speaker: If you're Chicago, you think, oh, shit, Drake May is playing really well and is really efficient. Like we have to get pressure on Drake May, but Montez Sweat is out. Yeah, have to get middle. Yeah, they got Jerry pressure on middle, get him off. Like, you know.
Speaker: Well, that's that's how they stop us. Again, if we had our health and ah we didn't have as much injury from the offensive line, I would be picking the other way around. But because of where we're at, like, I know we got through in the game against the Jets.
Speaker: I think this is a problem this week. It's just ah it's a problem. Yeah, they're good. I mean, they're good. i mean, there's not, I mean, people say in the comments, I think we all, it's so funny because we have basically zero rivalry with the bears, right? So there's not in the comments, there's no like,
Speaker: oh, F the Bears, I'll never this and that. Everyone's like, oh, I like the Bears. It's very respectful. I hate Caleb Williams. I'm rooting for you. Maybe Caleb, but the Bears and Ben Johnson. People like Ben Johnson. They think he's a really good coach because he is. He's a really good OC. He is a good coach. You can respect the coach.
Speaker: yeah just I mean, I picked Caleb Williams to flame out three years ago in the draft. I said he's not going to be as great as he's being – Sold as and I think he's going to be an okay quarterback, but like not super great.
Speaker: Yeah, I and I'm not, I'm not. I'm not crazy high on the Bears weapons individually, like a wide receiver or not. I think the tight ends are really good. And I think Ben Johnson is really good. And I think their O-line is really good. And that's what you need to win a football game. It's like, that's the recipe. And if you have guys that can run the routes, you want them to run, you don't need prime Tyreek Hill running around all over the place, right? Like their run game is really, really great.
Speaker: It's really great. And they pound the rock. Do you know what mean? It's like, they're, they're tough. They're going to control the clock. So I just think, man, like, can you get a turnover? How do you get off the field?
Speaker: You got to get off the field. That's the dream. Like, how do you get off the field? And if they have eight-minute drive, seven-minute drive, nine-minute drive, your guys are going to get tired and you're going to be able to stop the run. And, like, they're going have to be flipping people in and out. Like, so that's the logistical problem. Like, they there that's what they're going to do. So let's see what Kerr can cook up.
Speaker: Like, what can you cook up? Like, you have to make Caleb Williams beat you. You have to make him throw, make him sit in the pocket, and not just do dip and dunks. You have to make him throw the ball, make him try to push it downfield and see if you can bait him into a pick.
Speaker: And that's probably how I would try to beat him. Yeah. gotta get But I'm not the coach. Got to get a turnover. Got to force him to do Caleb Williams things. Yeah. yeah so Everyone says, oh, that's a Caleb Williams moment. My Caleb Williams moment is when the guy rolls out and throws it into, like, triple coverage off his back foot and it gets Yeah, and I think there's a possibility he has one of those. I mean, that's what Drake did at the beginning of the year, right? So I think there's a possibility that he has one of those and he has one of those moments. But um I'm taking the Pats.
Speaker: think Pats will get it done. and I think the Bears will have trouble stopping the Patriots themselves, right? so But again, i'm I'm more worried about the fatigue level. I'm just worried about tiredness because again, if the bears punch you in the throat and just march down and take eight minutes of drive and you're doing a three minute drive with all passes. I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned about fatigue. fatigue I'm not concerned about that. I think we got our teeth knocked in against the Jags. And i think that was the oblique moment. Get your shit together.
Speaker: And they're never going to repeat that. That was the get this thing out of our system game where yeah I just don't see. I don't think we're in a game where we're just going like, we're just throwing in the towel.
Speaker: I don't think that's going to happen. The Jacksonville game was fucked up because the turnovers were too weird. It got out of hand and there was too many awful turnovers. Like the momentum like perfectly got messed up. That's the only way that game got i said the away from the defense was doing pretty well. I would say the defense was doing well enough.
Speaker: in the first half i mean again trevor trevor lawrence just had a game and he was making throws he and pressure with guys in his grill like ready to take his head off and he would make a completion and guys were producing so i i but ah ultimately all i'm getting at is that kind of throwing the towel in the second half i don't think that happens ever again And I would love an effing rematch against the Jags.
Speaker: Would effing love rematch. I think I'd like another shot. Jags are tough, but I think if you get another shot, it's a really competitive game. Like you play the Jags in the playoffs, like you're talking, that's a tight game, a really good game. But yeah, I'm high on people are mentioning Carl Davis too. Like I'm high on Gonzo and Davis in this game. I think, Again, you can play really tight. Maybe you play a bit more man to man. You blitz Caleb a lot, like put pressure with single high man to man on the corners. And you say, Hey, like we're going to bring six.
Speaker: you know mean? Let's bring six. Let's get, let's blitz them a lot. Again, like when he got fucked up earlier this year, Brian Flores blitzed him 80% of the snaps. That's crazy. So, all right, we're going to sign off. I appreciate you guys coming on and being in the comments and everything. We really do appreciate it. Thanks for tuning in and we'll be around, man. We'll be on next Tuesday and preparing for, for that week. So appreciate you guys and and we'll catch you next time. Peace.
Speaker: Peace.
