Transcript
Speaker: All right, we're back. We're live. You know, I had an emergency podcast yesterday. It is Tuesday, August 25th, around 830 night. This is the Savage Boston Podcast.
Speaker: I'm Scott from Savage Boston Sports. we got Brett from SavageBoston.com and Snooty, who's the man behind the the mustache tonight. um How's everyone doing? Hope everyone's having a a nice Tuesday. We've got a lot going on.
Speaker: um We're getting crunch time, crunchgu gettingtin near the season, lot happening. um Obviously, we just had, i want to touch on, we had our our live show last week. which was pretty great.
Speaker: I thought it went pretty well, minus the first like nine minutes of basically losing audio completely. So aside from that, it was really great. i was Honestly, that was a fun time. We had like Tully Banticaine on there. That was really cool. a Great guy, promoted his like beach football league.
Speaker: um You know, shout out to Joe from LFG PassPod and Pete. They really did a lot of planning. Same with Babs from Fanatics. Um, so it was a really cool event, man. It was a lot of fun. I'm hoping to do it again. We're maybe looking into something in the future and, and continue to get some sort of, you know, some former paths and, and get some, hopefully some really cool, some really cool interviews, but, uh, love the setup. I know you guys, you guys saw it, Brett, you saw it online. The setup was cool. And, uh, was there anything else, Brett, anything you, you to improve upon or want to, know, see changed?
Speaker: Yeah, definitely gift from ah get more than two mics. I know the audio threw everything off. We were blowing you up. We were all texting you. You're getting calls from your wife trying to get through to you. Everyone's trying to like say, hey, what's going on? Where are we at? We need the audio. We need the audio. So I think you're probably about 15 minutes in before we got it. Yeah. I got to say the backdrop looked really cool. I think you guys had a sweet spot at the harp. Great to see some of the giveaways, obviously doing for a great cause, ah you know, with for your niece, which I think was really awesome.
Speaker: yeah And first time on the podcast, you had two former Patriots jumping in. That's that's a pretty sweet thing to be able to do. and And glad that was able to happen. Hopefully get more and more former Pats guys from our youth growing up that we really loved. I mean, Tully Banticane, one of our buddies, that was like his homeboy. Like he loved Tully.
Speaker: You know, it's pretty cool to see guys like that willing to come on and talk to guys like us. So awesome experience, I'm sure. Hopefully the next one, if it comes through, I'll have the opportunity to attend. But overall, I mean, I thought that the background, where you were at, the harp, the table, the setup by the whole crew. i mean, really cool setup. Looked awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, appreciate I thought it was cool. It just, like you said, we lost all our audio, which that that's the only thing that sucked. And we did initially have five mics and like we had literally done dry runs of the audio, the visual. We had five mics.
Speaker: Then we're going and people in the background, I start seeing slowly. They're like, they're like, no audio. I was like, what are you? I was like, what? What? They're like, no audio. i was like, uh. So we started looking around and like Fitzy, meanwhile, is talking to like Tully Bantakane right here, like chatting with his football league. And I was like, i was like, we might have to like stop this like right now. So we literally had to shut it down.
Speaker: You know, we had a thousand views already in like five minutes. We had to shut it down and that just, that sucked. But you know what? Hey, it's the first, i don't know what we're gonna differently next time. Have like a full dry run. Like, I don't know a full live dry run. I don't, I don't know. But um anyway, I think it went overall, I'd say, well, other than that, we got to raise and donate $1,600 to charity for the Roberts program for, Cecilia Collins. So that was really nice in her name.
Speaker: um So hopefully next time we have a fundraiser, we can do even more and keep raising money for charity, which is awesome and is is great. So, Snooty, how are you doing? I'll leave you in the conversation. what's what's What's new with you? How's all this recent Patriots news treating you? I mean,
Speaker: Talking about the Patriots, I think I'm overall pretty pleased with the with kind of where they are. It's kind of in line with my expectations. I have some very strong feelings about the Kayshaun Booty trade.
Speaker: um But, you know, i mean, I think overall, I think kind of if you compare where they were at this now to this time last year, i don't see how you couldn't be happy with um kind of where they are and kind of where the team is headed and... What are your, don't just say you have strong feelings of the booty trade. What if you want to jump right into it? Like I have great opinions on the booty trade. Well, if you want to jump right into it, I think, I think it's fucking ridiculous. I've said this for months. I said this before they acquired AJ Brown, that if you acquire AJ Brown, the odd man out is going to be booty because they play the same fucking position. You're taking a good player in booty and exchanging him for a great player in Brown.
Speaker: That's just what it is, what it is. like they're Like, oh, he's better than Kyle Williams. He doesn't play the same role as Kyle Williams. He just doesn't. Like, he's a different player. So everyone's losing their mind. Like, we just traded Jerry fucking Rice. It's like, dude, like, he's been on the but he's been on the market for two years, basically.
Speaker: And no one's offered anything so substantial at all. So all that, that goes to show you what his value is on the market. The market, the team the NFL is telling you that they don't value him that highly. And everyone around here, like we always do, is were like, oh, he's worth at least a second or a third, dude. Like, look at Booty. Booty, booty, booty, booty. You're like, dude, like he sucks. I mean, he doesn't suck. But like, you're like, I like him. Good story. I like how he fought his ass off. Sixth round pick, hole nine. But like, chill the fuck out.
Speaker: That's the reason you got Brown. That's the reason you signed Dobbs. The decision to move on from booty was made in April. It was not made this week. It was made months ago. And probably before that. Which is funny because...
Speaker: Booty had to have known AJ Brown deal wasn't complete at that point. Funny enough, right? It was, it was completed in June. So, so obviously Booty knew they were going to acquire AJ Brown, which is funny. But yeah, I think someone called into Hillman show today, this morning, I put up the clip and they said like,
Speaker: ah Savage and Bryson, these Twitter nerds saying that, claiming they have inside information. I just want to make clear, at no point have we said we've had inside anything involving booties. It's very easy to use logic and make a deduction of what's happening here, especially since we have a couple of very, very public reports. Burt Breer has been talking about them shopping booty for months, months and months and months. Okay. Mike Giardi has been on this story. Karen Gregan had Kayshawn Booty requested a trade and in like in the spring in March or April. He requested out. He didn't want to be here. He sees the writing on the wall, right? And he wants out.
Speaker: So there's no, you don't need inside. He wanted to leave. And then not to mention he DMed Bryson personally and was like, you got it right about the story.
Speaker: Literally like he just wasn't going to get an opportunity here. So as much as the fan base obviously is upset and I understand that this has been in the works for a long time. He wasn't going to get an opportunity here.
Speaker: He didn't have, he wasn't going to get the rep. How many targets was he going to get a game? Two? One? Was he going to, he wasn't a starter. He didn't want to ride the bench. So long story short, you had a guy who is very efficient, great body control, great hands, can be an asset on another team. So. Congratulations to him. I'm happy he gets on a decent team.
Speaker: CJ Stroud, not nearly the quarterback Drake may is. So we'll see how that works out. He's not going to put the ball exactly where he wants it. Like Drake did, but anyway, good for booty. A happy for him, but he wanted out. So Brett, what was your take on it?
Speaker: Yeah, it's not surprising. I think a lot of us were wondering what to do about Cause he had a good camp, but The reality was was he was going to be the odd man out. It just didn't make sense for them to keep him. I was of the camp that basically said...
Speaker: If he didn't find a buyer, it was just ride him out as long as he didn't become a cancer in the locker which I didn't expect him to become one. But it's not a problem to be able to have an extra guy like him on the on the bench and be able to come off in case there's an injury or you need something comes up, et cetera, et cetera. So I was fine keeping him.
Speaker: And it wouldn't have hurt me if we kept him and didn't trade him. And at the end of the day, he walked. But trading him, getting a seventh-round pick, picking up a safety depth piece, which we need depth, I was perfectly fine with the trade. And not upset at all about the idea of him going off to Texans. As soon as you...
Speaker: I can't remember the wide receiver that went down with the Achilles injury is out for the year. You're basically like, he there's a potential yeah, there's a potential buyer for it. And sure enough, like five days later, booty's gone. So good luck. I liked him. I liked him the whole time. He was a Patriot. I hope he does well for the Texans other than potentially if we play him and that's it. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. And I think to that point, like the argument for keeping him, like you said, is depth, right? But you got a player in Reed who, look, I don't know, maybe he can play, maybe he can't, who knows. But he's a young player.
Speaker: They must like him. They obviously looked at him before the draft, you know, when he came out last year. So, like, you you need depth at safety now, especially if Woodson's banged up like he purportedly is. So, look. you know, what are you going to keep them in case you need him in the future? So so you're going to, not only you going to not use him, you're going to take a seventh wide receiver spot, another roster spot away from somebody else, which is depth somewhere else.
Speaker: Right. Like you might, you probably need an extra alignment at this point, you know, given the rash of injuries they've already faced on the old line. Right. Like they just tried to sign that guy, the 36 year old guy who was on, um,
Speaker: Van Roten. Van Roten, on the the Giants. and He's been repping with the ones a little bit, all three interior spots. Like his role is like plug, you know, someone goes down, he can play any of the three interior spots. That was not the plan. You know, Landry could be is probably done for quite a while. Right. So like maybe you sign a veteran edge player. Right. Like so that's a roster spot that you you can't afford to have an extra roster spot to use an extra roster spot at receiver. Because it's it's not just that booty's gone. It's also that you if you keep booty, you lose someone else, somewhere else.
Speaker: but you you You need that depth. Yeah, i think I think it's just a it's a fandom thing. That's it. I mean, it's like not even like we're talking about, again, a 1,000-yard wide receiver. I think just people like the player. And he showed up in big moments. He had a great postseason, ah you know, as well, a couple great catches, one namely a legendary catch. I mean, truly, it was an incredible one-handed catch.
Speaker: It was there. It was awesome. um But again, like, there was some potential. Maybe he was going to become disgruntled at some point this year. I don't know, like, again, if he's a few weeks in and hasn't had any targets, how miserable does he get in the locker room? So maybe it's just looking ahead because we're not in the room, you know? So, like, maybe it's just it's looking ahead and saying, like, this was the time.
Speaker: they They did the best they could. um People were saying, oh, look at Jamar Chase. Someone just got hurt today. They should have waited. Like, Jamar Chase is not hurt. He's fine. But I understand, like, this is an opportunity. They saw the Texans were desperate.
Speaker: I thought the Texans weren't going to trade for him because they signed two wide receivers off the street, but then they decided maybe these guys aren't good enough. We're going to, let's take a you know, take a flyer on booty. So, I mean, obviously it's, you know, it is what it is. It's a guy that people liked who's a fan favorite, but,
Speaker: He's gone. So, you know, i think just people don't believe in cal Williams yet as your backup X or Z, wherever he's going to be spending most of his time. But, you know, maybe I watched some of Kyle's tape from the last preseason game and he was fucking open all over the field. Kyle Williams looked real. I mean, other than he had some problems on intermediate reps, like his deep stuff truly is pretty sensational. So, um yeah, I don't know. How do you feel about that, Brett?
Speaker: Well, Williams is the higher upside guy, and we see the skill set that he has. One of the things with Booty is he was able to make contested catches, but in order to make a contested catch, that means you're in pretty tight coverage. The hope is Williams can separate, and we can see that in flashes.
Speaker: So hopefully that carries over. We've got to make sure he gets in sync with Drake. There were plenty of times last year where he was just not in sync, and you looked at it and said that was on Kyle. Like he was either supposed to – you know, take a deep out and he came in or he came in and he was supposed to go out or or sit on sit on it, right? And it's just one of those areas where we got to see him get in sync with May so that he can produce.
Speaker: So he's just got keep learning the system, learn how to play with Drake, understand his role. And hopefully he can be able to produce. But if you look at from a skill set perspective, he has a much higher upside than Booty.
Speaker: So you're going to take that guy over a guy like Booty. And again, to Snooty's point, there's redundancies. Williams is not playing the same position on the wide receiver group as Booty. So if you look at it from that standpoint, too, you got to realize i only have so many pieces.
Speaker: We talked about all the other areas where they could potentially add. You heard Vrabel talk about it, which was really him kind of riding his guys preseason and just not happy with how they're producing. But we have no depth, right? Why did you bench all the stars? We have no depth.
Speaker: And that's him basically sending a message to his team, but it's also a little bit of truth to the fact that they just don't have enough depth to be like, yeah, we're going to carry a a super deep wide receiver room and we can't fulfill some of the other positions, especially in spots where we know there's risk injuries. Like Snoozy talked about O-line. I mean, Moses could go down. Varitaker could go down. When you get a veteran guy, you come in and you're like, okay, see what happens. We're already got Ben Brown who's already banged up. Like, what are you going to do? Yeah. Yeah. I want to throw it out to Snooty to bring this up, switch gears a little bit. i watch So the rookies, right? Because I watch, again, i watch through a lot of their all 22.
Speaker: Again, i said this Bryson yesterday on the live stream we did. Like, didn't realize there was such a large kind of like gatekeeping community around watching all 22. It's almost like there's like a film watcher community, community's like a real analytic nerd community. That's fine. Again, not I'm going for.
Speaker: Just a Patriots fan. I don't need to be an analytical guy. um i love ball i love I like watching it all 22. I like making some simple videos to just show people like, hey, not it's not just like one rep. Like they have like many, many reps. Like Ackes had like 19 pass rush reps, something like that, right? They have a lot of reps in the game.
Speaker: And if you watch them all, you kind of learn something about what the player is actually doing, right? Instead of just making judgments off of like one rep, right? So anyway, to to transition that, Snooty, don't you touch on Lomu a bit? Because after watching a lot of his all 22, you know, I think his pass blocking is actually not not horrible.
Speaker: It's really like in the run game, I saw him like have a lot of trouble generate generate push. So how did you feel about Lomu's performance? His pass game is clearly ahead of his run game at this point. um He gets sloppy with his feet a little bit. He's worse at, you can tell at right tackle, he's not nearly as fluid as he is at left, which makes sense given you know he's moving over to that side, yeah which is not an easy transition for everybody. that's It's harder than people think. um But you know he obviously can do it, um but he's got to get comfortable there. he has to He just has to physically get stronger. He needs another year for that.
Speaker: So he was getting killed on, i think you and I were talking about this, savage where it was like, on the stunt where gave up the sack and he did like a twist. It's like, I told us, hold on. It was two plays. I put this on tape. I could have read this at zone highlight. It was two consecutive plays. Like this is actually what I think he's probably getting ripped in, in the room, right? Like they, they ran an an end tackle stunt, right? So the end crashes down again, sorry, not being technical. The end crashes down and tries to take the tackle and the guard with them, right? He's crashing into the tackle and sweeping down and then tackle, the D tackle is going loop around.
Speaker: right It's a pretty simple end tackle stunt. But the problem is like the first time, Lomo almost did a better job than the second rep. like The second rep was way cleaner on the defense, and that's one that actually generated the sack where he did like the little spin move.
Speaker: So that I didn't like. You know you see a stunt back-to-back. It's just something he's going – again, that's mental and communication with the guard. like They're just going get ripped for that in in the film room. so Yeah, and I almost – I'm not – I hesitate – mean, first of all it's a bad rep. Don't go get me wrong. You should never be doing a fucking spin move as a tackle. If you are, bad things have happened. like the You should not be facing your quarterback ever. That's rule number one.
Speaker: Don't look at him. yeah um But I hesitate to hammer them too much because they probably – mean, they haven't paid like they haven't played that much together. And a lot of like twists, stunts – like it's a TE stunt, like you said, the the end is trying to – Think of ah a rub route for receivers. That's the same concept, right? Like you're trying to, yeah.
Speaker: To stop create separation. different way Yeah. um I hesitate to give them too much crap for that because you simply, you just need reps together to do that, especially like with your guard. And I don't know how much they've repped together. i think it was, was it Becton he was with? I don't know how much they've repped together, whatever. Becton won't even be on the team in a couple of weeks. yeah, Whatever, but he had his bad reps in pass pro are bad. Like he gets lazy feet. He leans like it's all the shit that tackles do. He's a rookie. I'm not going to kill the kid. Like he's a young rookie who needs to get bigger and stronger.
Speaker: Okay. like But the framework is there, and he's got he's a really good feet. I still think Campbell has better feet than he does. I think Campbell was ahead of him last year at this time like by ah a fairly wide margin. I know everybody hates on Campbell, but like he was a lot better than Loma was at this point.
Speaker: Yeah. that's I mean, that's almost like a hot take. You put that online, someone's going to somehow get angry with you and come out and talk shit at you. But like in reality, it's true. like Campbell's probably a little bit ahead of where Loma is now.
Speaker: but But he should have been, right, as the fourth overall pick. He should be ahead of where Loma is, right? He was 0-tackle one. Loma was 0-tackle seven. like yeah It doesn't mean he's a bad pick. They were talking about this on Zona Bertrand. They're like oh, he should be taking 1,000 reps as rookie. That's why he drafted a tackle.
Speaker: No, you drafted Solder. He didn't play the first year, effectively. And he was your tackle for like seven or eight years after that. Like that, it doesn't matter. It's a good pick. You have to think long-term with this. You can't just think this year. Yeah. That's not how the draft works. What is he, 21? 21?
Speaker: He's like 21 or 22. It's like, you know, he'll be OK. Like, I'm not writing him off or anything, OK? Like, he's going to take some time. But his run game is is much worse than than his past row at this point. He got lazy a little bit. I think he was getting tired because it's probably the first.
Speaker: I mean, i think a lot of snaps. It's the first time he's taken a lot of snaps in probably, i don't know, nine months or so. i mean, that's tiring, especially when it's hot. So like 60 some odd snaps.
Speaker: I looked through, I was like, this is a lot of tape, you know, deep into the third. And like, he was really, he was playing a lot. um But you can see when he gets tired, his his footwork, which is what he's usually good at. He starts to, he starts to lose it. He gave up a sack against, think the Colts. And his first step was literally non-existent, like at all. He just didn't step inside. The guy got right around him and it was like, ah, shit, dude. Like you gotta, you gotta to really hammer the inside step on stuff like that. yeah I don't know. Okay. He is athletic. I did see to his credit. And then I'll bret i'll let you go to his credit.
Speaker: He had a really nice reach block. I saw him reach for like the D tackle, like very athletic. I mean he sprinted out, sealed the wall. them on like It was great. Like he had a really nice reach block, highlighted that on tape. I thought he did a great job with that. Again, he can move, man. like So that's the kind of guy they want. They want athletic tackles, guards. they what They want people that can move and that's shown in their drafting. So, sorry, Brett, go for it.
Speaker: Yeah, I'll just say not surprised when you get a young group, especially ones that don't have as many reps together to get tricked up by stunts. I mean, Campbell and Wilson got tricked up all year last year. Like that's yeah they got dominated at times because of that and just not being in sync and be able to read it, et cetera.
Speaker: Hopefully, we'll see some improvement now with Tucker and Campbell there and Wilson sliding to center. But, you know, stick with Lomu. I mean, he's just he's at up and down moments. He's a rookie.
Speaker: That's what you're going to expect. To me, like you commented on, like he seemed tired and he hasn't played those kind of reps in night like nine months. I don't know, dude. You're a professional athlete.
Speaker: Like, how are you not getting yourself conditioned to be able to do this? I mean, you got other guys that are not doing it nearly as much. Like Moses is probably getting less reps through camp.
Speaker: like, than what we're seeing with Womu at times. And he's probably gonna be ready to go, no problem. You've got to be a professional. So I hate the, like... little harder on him. Brett's taking the harder road. Well, I just... ah Between him and Yakis, like, it's just... I don't want to keep making excuses for these guys. I need them to show up.
Speaker: I need them to show that they want it they're hungry and they want to develop. And, like, that's the part where I just... I don't see it. Like, at least I knew last year with Campbell, like the guy was hungry. The guy wanted to freaking be a bull.
Speaker: Dude, he was pancaking people in the preseason. I don't know if people remember that. Like, what Campbell's like 15 yards downfield pancaking guys? wash We had that on film. We're like, oh, my God. Like, this dude, like Campbell's attitude is no joke. Like, good Well, and that's what I mean. Like, it's those kind of intangibles. And, like, that's the part that I look at with Lomu where I'm just like, where is it?
Speaker: You know, where's that oomph to be like, I get it, I'm under development, but, like, I want to be a freaking professional football player. Like, I want to go out there and produce. So I just don't and understand why you're like, oh, I'm tired in the third quarter.
Speaker: of a preseason game and like I don't have it when you're a 21 year old kid like you shouldn't get tired like you should not get tired and so sloppy play like that because of endurance is concerning to me more so than like technique where it's just like hey I got beat on a stunt we didn't read it right or the guy just made a good move on me and I'm just not familiar with where I need to get out into the position like okay efforts ah efforts something where you look at and go dude that can't happen well I mean, Sunni commented as well when we were just like texting that he just needs to be in the weight room for a year.
Speaker: yeah And that I agreed with 100%. I mean, i see you see that on tape. Like he had a couple reps against, these are Eagles backups and I get they're pretty good. But like, mean, he got stonewalled into the hole. i mean he got blasted a couple reps, like on run reps. He got blasted back.
Speaker: Hated that. Hate that on tape because you're like, whoa, like you need to put on 20 plus pounds and of just muscle. It's how we felt about Campbell too. He needed to put on a little bit of muscle. So again, these just young guys, they literally just have to put on weight and get stronger and they will, this the good news, right? Positive time.
Speaker: They will, they will get stronger. They'll get better. You train them, you work with them. They're how they are now at 22 is not how you'll be at 28 for linemen. You can play into your thirties, man. This is like, you got that old man strength and the old line. It's not the same as playing wide receiver where you're capping out at like,
Speaker: 29 years old or running back, you're capping out at like 26, you know, like there's different levels of, you know obviously where your highest production will be. Linemen can be very, very productive into their thirties. So it's long-term project stuff. And that's why obviously we don't want to just be getting on them online all the time, because i think he will get better. I think he'll be fine. And his path blocking is fairly solid. He just needs to beef up.
Speaker: So like, I wouldn't trust him necessarily in a game right now. Hopefully you don't have to play him that much right now. um But I, and, and for Akis again, watch the reps there.
Speaker: He's getting good reports from camp. You know, like especially the practices that the public isn't there. Like there was couple of guys who said he had um I think it was either yesterday or today. he had like three pressures and he looked fantastic. And they're like, I read that. You're like, wow. OK. But then I watched the film and I was like, I don't know. like What is this? Like he there was no I didn't see any explosiveness around the edge. I didn't see any. He didn't use speed at all.
Speaker: um And there was that one really disappointing run play that we can go into about Markel Bell removing him from the hole. um But again, you know, Snooty, tune in again on Ackes. What did you see there?
Speaker: So Ackes to me as a pass rusher, he has really has one move at the moment. It's power. Bull rush. It's not even necessarily a straight bull rush, but bull rush is like his move. So he's got to move. He has to develop a repertoire to work off of that, right? Like he's never – it's like Judon. He's never going to be the speed guy.
Speaker: but he has the power to speed and he has stuff that he can do off of that to keep tackles off balance. Right. So Judon was like really good at it where he would, he, he, you know, power rush, bull rush. Yeah. Like three or four series. And then he'd, he'd set the guy up and then he'd, he'd, you know, give him some type of counter off of it and he beat him clean. Right. Like, so like there is that type of cat and mouse that,
Speaker: again akis is he's like 22 he's like 23 whatever he is he's a rookie like he he'll learn right he's going to learn this and that's coaching and that just takes some time which is unfortunate that they don't have a fucking veteran who can really teach him how to do this on the roster but it'd be great if they could sign someone for that alone um The run play with Bell, he physically gets moved out of the hole. Bell just goes, whoop, and just moves him out of the hole. I'm going to go fucking crazy to the people online. like and then and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. sorry Bell gets his hands on him, moves him out of the hole,
Speaker: And then doesn't let go. And Akis does not even get come close to getting off the block, anywhere close to where the ball carrier is. And goes nowhere near making the play. And everybody's like, no, he set the edge. It's a good play. It's like, no, it was not. He was physically moved from head up on the tackle to the C-gap.
Speaker: And then they ran right up inside, right up off the the tackle's left hip. That's exactly what happened. well Just because a player prevented or was like like was lined up outside,
Speaker: um doesn't necessari necessarily mean he did his job well. Like just because an edge, like the running back went inside, it doesn't mean Akis did a great job setting the edge. He went, he met the tackle where he wanted to meet him, right? He meets him.
Speaker: And instead of condensing down the hole, right? Or compressing the hole, being stout, or maybe trying to get off your block. Like I'm not saying do that. Even just being forceful, even just standing your ground, right? So the hole shrinks down. He was literally like, but Bell was like this. can see it on camera. He's like, whoop.
Speaker: And he's moved him out of the way. so And I was like watching. i was like, oh my God. as you know That's a horrible rep. What you're saying is he didn't set the edge. He was on the edge. Yes, he was at the edge moved when he got moved. Like, Setting the edge doesn't mean I'm outside. It means no, no, no. no You set the edge. You stop them from moving the the the you know that outside gap any further. And it just doesn't.
Speaker: so So, yeah, so he basically allowed for that gap to be widened significantly. And then, of course, true, if you watch on tape, everyone else did a horrible job. The dac the the nose guard de-tackle there got reached, got blocked up. Chad Muma got smoked.
Speaker: He had no business near the play, right? So a couple these things went really poorly. um But I just thought it was funny. Like, that's where the difference between talking to person like this online and um watching something on the internet and watching a clip.
Speaker: It's so different because people are like, no, he did his job. but i was like, what? Like if you watch that in a film room with your coach, you would get destroyed by your coach. You'd be like, oh, you okay, honey?
Speaker: You okay? Oh, he moved you out of the way. Like he's getting fucking ripped, ripped by his coaching. And so I just want to say, I thought that was a crazy, I mean, people have crazy takes online sometimes. That felt crazy, crazy. I'd taken crazy pills.
Speaker: I gotta say so at the top snooty you mentioned they're about where you thought they would be at this point in the preseason. Who do you which group do you think has been playing better so far to this point, do you think the offensive group has been playing better you think the defensive group has been playing better.
Speaker: um. Probably the offense, um just because they're skill guys and including Raritan, who's, come you know, exceeded expectations. I would say that's, we had a high bar set for them and they've,
Speaker: Matt or at least Matt if not exceeded that. um Gonzalez and Davis have both missed time. So kind of, I guess the performance of the secondary, although they were really good, the depth pieces in the game. um But the D line is troublesome because the interior is good, but we all have worries about the edge. So, I mean, I guess i guess what I meant by that is, like, I kind of expected the offense to be really good.
Speaker: It is. I expected the O-line to be improved by every report it is. I expected May to be May. He has been. And I expected, you know, them to to deal from a position of debt depth at receiver. They did. And I kind of expected the pass rush to be shit, which it pretty much has been. So, i don't know. Maybe I just was – that's just my – They've met my expectations overall coming into this.
Speaker: Yeah, to me, I would say the offense has been more surprising because there are so many new pieces. I get there's a lot of talent, but they're still new. So we got to get them in sync and understand how they work with each other. And I get it. It's joint practices. It's not...
Speaker: Like, this isn't a real game. But, I mean, they were putting up TDs left and right. And day one on the joint practice is that they just freaking dominated the Eagles. Right? Dominated them. It was a little bit, e like, even on the second day two.
Speaker: Even a little bit even on day two. But, like, you still had A.J. Brown out there dominating. You still had Dobbs out there dominating. May has been electric all offseason. So, yeah. To me, I think the offense is ahead of schedule, which is extremely promising.
Speaker: I'm concerned about the defense, and I think my concerns are growing. Like, yeah, I was weary about the defensive ends and our D-line play. I'm even more concerned.
Speaker: I was weary about where we were going have with our front seven as a whole and what we'd be for a linebacker group. I haven't seen much there. And then from the defensive back group, It's on Gonzo, right? If Gonzo's not there week one, if Gonzo's not there for this team, like huge concerns because it's going to be a steep drop off. And I mean, Carlton Davis is guaranteed to get some kind of injury this year. He's going to be out for a few weeks, guaranteed.
Speaker: So to me, my concern level with the defensive side of the ball has been increasing through camp more so than like all the optimism around the offense.
Speaker: We'll touch on the Christian Gonzalez contract now you know what i mean for christian like today was no good i mean it's funny again like the i think it's hilarious people doing their internet thing again where they're trying to like be the the one to guess when the contract's gonna happen they're like breaking news again not you're not shouting anybody out but there's a couple people in line that do this and um and it's funny a i think it's funny sometimes like a lot of people like it gets attention and people get angry. But then you have like Courtney Cox today on Greg Hill show.
Speaker: Shout out Courtney. But she said she got whispered to that. She thinks the deal's done. It's just, you know, dotting your I's, crossing your T's. Like she said, the deal's done. And judging by press conference day by Elliot Wolf, judging by Christian Gonzalez comments in his own press conference today, it doesn't feel like the deal's done.
Speaker: So I don't know where that sentiment is coming from, but um why don't you guys chime in? Like, how do you feel about the status of the Christian Gonzalez contract? Cause I'm getting a little, like it's getting a little tight now we're, we're getting tight.
Speaker: <unk> getting pissed because, again, i talked about this last time, and I think today was another example where you have Kraft, you got Elliott Wolfe out there talking about it, and like you hear Wolfe talk about the budget.
Speaker: And like, oh, they still get the line out there of we offered him to be the highest paid player in his position. And like Gonzo was asked point blank about that, and he was just like, no comment. Like, just totally the whole time,
Speaker: With Gonzo, you could tell there was a certain level of frustration about what the Patriots were doing and and all the comments they've made. And he's just kind of like, I'm just focused to be out here and practice.
Speaker: But there was also a level of like, yeah, I don't know. Like, god I don't know about this. i don't know about that. When he does know, like he it seems more apparent that that injury, that injury was really him basically saying f you guys.
Speaker: Yeah. And now all sudden they come out there and they again play the same game around about where the highest paid and whatever. And it's going to come down to what are the guarantees? What are the contract going to be? I mean,
Speaker: I think they're going to sign him. At the end of the day, I think they're going to sign him. But it's really, really, really starting to piss me off that they're not willing to just foot the bill and pay the man what he's worth. like He is a blue-chip, talented cornerback that should be one of the top five cornerbacks for at least the next four or five years.
Speaker: Like, the length of the contract, he should be one of the top five cornerbacks at ah at an an elite position that has such an impact. I mean, the only reason we were in the effing Super Bowl is because of plays that dude made.
Speaker: We have to sign that talent, and it just pisses me off because I feel like it's the same MO the Patriots do all the time with these contracts. They just play this Bush League bullshit game.
Speaker: Yeah, but is this on the... Being serious, is this on the Patriots, this one? Yes. Is this on the Patriots? Yes. 100%. You think so? Like, you think versus, like... is should there be a gonzos I don't think Gonzo is the kind of guy that's asking for other word or other worldly like numbers that basically resets the entire market, not only for the position, but for like a defensive player. Judging by the comments, there's something, there's something in in the language of the contract. That's not, it's guaranteed what he wants, right? either a certain amount of guarantees. It's pushing money into the first two years. Like he wants a certain percentage. Like, Witherspoon got what is the number 59 million in the first two years or something, right? It's like front loading the deal. garon
Speaker: I guarantee you it's guarantees. The way the Patriots historically do this is their incentive lid. And like there's incentives all over the contracts. I guarantee you it's on an incentive basis, not guarantees.
Speaker: I think the evidence to support that kind of proves why it's on the Patriots is the fact that it's been, what, three or four weeks since. Kraft came out and said that they have an offer on the table to make him the highest paid player. You think if it was structured like a normal contract and it made him the highest paid player, they would be this far apart or they wouldn't have hammered something out by this point. i don't care if he's asking for 35 because like what, 32, 33 is about the top of the corner market. thirty That's a million or two a year on average. On a five-year deal, you're talking five to $10 million. dollars That's a bridgeable gap in three or four weeks.
Speaker: but craft came out and said that. And then fucking, if anything, it's got, it sounds like it's gotten worse, which I, if you come out and say that to me, that means like you guys didn't really come up with like a, an honest offer.
Speaker: Right. Like did you see Andrew Callahan's comments on it today. No. Callahan, um, basically said he, he reported today. He said that, uh, The year one money is very important to Christian Gonzalez. Some of the stuff structurally with the contract is at the center of these negotiations. The setup of the deal is not wildly different from the patrons are accustomed to doing, but it's a little different and Gonzalez is not budging. So there's some part of the contract that Gonzalez doesn't like and is demanding him and his team are demanding and something the Patriots aren't super comfortable with.
Speaker: And so, I don't know if we'll ever get those details of of what until the actual thing comes out, but there's something that Gonzo wants. Like maybe he wants a ton of money up front and not backloaded.
Speaker: And the Patriots want to like backload the deal for whatever fucking reason. but You know, but but something's not aligning. i do' Players don't care about – that they care about the guarantees. Like but he cares about if he when's he getting paid though? Like, so for instance, like are the, is he getting money like cash?
Speaker: When is he getting cash? You know, like in your bank account. Right. So if, if you're guaranteed cash and that a lot of that hits year one, he might want a certain amount of that contract year one. So that's what Callahan's reporting is like, He wants year one money is important. Like he wants a cash out year one. They usually do like a signing bonus to try to be able to move that around as part of it. So there's ways to do it. Yeah.
Speaker: I agree with Snooty. I mean, the fact that the Witherspoon contract happened, there's the narrative that the Patriots are pushing of we offered him the highest paid, yet it's not getting closed.
Speaker: Yeah, something's wrong. Something's off. And it there's nothing that would report or can point to that it's coming from Gonzo. Like every now and then you get the random like, oh, he wants 18% of the cap, which is just like ludicrous. And I have no idea where the hell that came from at all.
Speaker: um But like, it's just I don't I don't see it. Like, I don't see him asking for something. Like that, like it just wouldn't make sense. So, know, this is falling on the Patriots. And again, I think it's the Patriots playing the Patriots game, which is really pissing me off because you need to get this guy on the field.
Speaker: He like embodies what we're trying to do as an organization. Like he just sets the tone. Like he's, he's a building block for our entire freaking team. And we're just unwilling to pay the guy what he's worth.
Speaker: Would he hold in for real? You think he would actually hold in at this point? Yes. I think for sure. I don't think so, because I think ultimately that would hurt his value long term.
Speaker: How do you feel like the tone was do you feel like the tone was different today than it has been in the past? He sounded unhappy today. like vi Like he was not, he literally said he was frustrated. He's like, wanted them to change. Like someone has to compromise. That's the whole fucking point of negotiation. Someone has to, you have to, someone has to move or they both move. But if neither side is like the Patriots, like, Hey, we're not giving you that level of money in year one and too Like we're not, it's not happening. We're going to get, we can give you these big guarantees, but it's going to be like the cash hits later on, blah, blah, blah. Like, I don't know what they want. The thing is, we're not privy to this. It's just through a report reporting like Andrew Callahan from the Herald, right? He's, he's saying some of this stuff. So that's the hard part. It's just figuring out what does he actually want?
Speaker: What does he, what's the deal? What does he actually want? And how does it get done? I would hate for this to get to week one and not be done. And they have like, I mean, weak one's in two weeks.
Speaker: Right? It's two weeks from tomorrow. Two weeks till the opening game. That's not long, dude. So it's certainly long enough to get a contract done. But Mike Garofalo tonight on NFL Networks, he's like, I'm i'm surprised, but they're not they're not done. He's like, it's not done. They're not really budging.
Speaker: He said that tonight. It's a recent report. And those dudes fucking know. those that Talk about being in the know. like Those guys are literally the show is called NFL Insiders. So Um, you know, again, i think it's crazy.
Speaker: i can't imagine how disappointed the entire fan base would be because ultimately they're all just being greedy, man. I mean, like I'm usually, i like the side with the player for certain, but I think there is a point which if he's demanding absurd metrics that you got to be like, Hey, come on, man. Like, can you just, we'll make you the highest guy, but can it be like close? Like, I don't know what they want, but, um,
Speaker: But yeah, it seems like he's he's making these really kind of significant demands and not coming off his demands. So. I don't care. 99.9% of the time, I'm going to side with labor. So.
Speaker: I hear you. I hear you. ah Let's talk. Can we talk about Harold Landry? um And you want to talk like a position of concern?
Speaker: Like, is Harold Landry going to play again? i don't know. I don't know. Like, if he's not, why are we not signing a veteran?
Speaker: You know, why are we not bringing him up? Just bring in Boza. Like, why not? he could He could give you like 10, 12, maybe 15 reps a game.
Speaker: Right? Just bring in a guy like that. No, I'm super concerned with the lack of like evidence of Lander being out there and really doing anything. So,
Speaker: Yeah, the again, my concerns on the defensive side of the ball are growing every single day as we get closer. And i don't know, maybe we're going to write the script totally like, what are Nia's six, seven months removed from the Super Bowl. Next thing you know, we're going to be basically talking about how our defense is inept and our offense is elite.
Speaker: And at the Super Bowl, we were like, our offense can do nothing. Like, it's just crazy. No, I don't, we need a dial up pressure and we can't find a way to do it. It's concerning. They really should bring in a veteran. I don't know at this point, like if Ackis isn't there, Landry's hurt and you got what Elijah Ponder Draymond Jones, like his Ponder, even that guy, he was like a, wasn't he a UDFA last year?
Speaker: So, you know, I don't know, man. I don't see why you wouldn't like, they have cash to spend this year. They could spend something on a one-year deal. You're bringing a vet, Hassan Redick. It could be Hassan Redick's available.
Speaker: You know, like you're this is veteran time. Like they didn't want to be in camp. None of these guys wanted to be in camp. Go sign Shaq Thompson, that linebacker. Like there's a couple guys that for for cheap cash now, like I think you should be going and signing vets soon because they don't have depth. And like a lot of these guys in these games or watching these preseason games aren't – it's not cutting it, man. They're not – to me, they're not playing well enough. Like I don't like how it looks in a lot of different positions. So, um, so yeah, I don't know. s snowoty How do you feel?
Speaker: I think the only reason I'm not any more concerned is because I i didn't think their pass rush was very good last year, and they did okay. like yeah Someone made the analogy that under Belichick, remember how they they always used to find corners.
Speaker: You never really worried about corner because like they're going to find somebody. They might feel like the end is that type of position for them where they're like somewhere on the D-line, we're going to find people. They find they found a few D-tackles, right? like Maybe they feel like they're just going find someone. Chason, I think, was again, was overrated for what he did last year.
Speaker: He was okay. it's you know Six and a half sacks. Kind of a specialist. Yeah, he was okay. He was nothing crazy. He didn't cry when he left. like you know Can you get that from Jones? Probably.
Speaker: You're really looking to replace too much from what you lost from last year. Maybe I don't know. Maybe I just thought they kind of sucked at the end and pass rush in general last year. They kind of schemed stuff up. They had to blitz a lot. But they have the corners to be able to do that. They have Jones. They have Davis. They have Gonzalez. And they have depth. They have pretty good safety play and they have depth a little bit.
Speaker: you know So it's probably going to be more of that this year unless a couple guys pop and they develop. I don't know. I would expect them to be active on the free agent market to see veterans who were still outstand who you know who are still out there or if anybody shakes free or becomes available from somebody else in the next couple weeks.
Speaker: I mean, I feel like they're probably going be sliding a lot of these interior guys around on the edge. Like, they do have some depth there, right? Barmore, Williams, obviously top two guys.
Speaker: Durden, good player. Josh Farmer, I think, good player. So, like, you can move some of those pieces around and try – You know, make something happen with the lack of like you talk about setting an edge, put Milton Williams out there, that edge is set, right? You know, so we may not be able to dial up the pressure, but we can do a little bit better by moving those guys around. So I could see that happening. But.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't see why they don't. i You look at it from a cap spend, and I mean, I haven't looked at in a while, but like I was just thinking through because they were talking about how Seattle just went ahead inside Njigba and Witherspoon, and you talk about two guys paying premium dollars in premium positions. They're also paying Darnold premium money. I understand they drafted extremely well over the last few years, so these guys are coming up on their contracts, so other guys aren't being paid as much, but Like, the Patriots should be in in the same camp. Like, there's cash to spend.
Speaker: Why are you not spending it on these guys? Like, I'm glad we were able to say, no, we're going to go out and get an elite talent like A.J. Brown, and we're going to sign a free agent like Dodds. Like, great.
Speaker: There's still more cash to spend. So this is the week when it usually happens. So I wouldn't be surprised if these ah guys all start getting picked up. Well, they should get some veterans in. I think that's no doubt. And they should be able to attract some good veterans. So I'm very hopeful for that.
Speaker: um Because, again, we talked about the depth isn't good enough. Like Daquan Jones and Shaq Thompson that visited, bring them both in. Here we go. Like I'm happy to do that. um I would love a veteran edge. It doesn't have to be like a Hasan Reddick wants too much money, it doesn't have to be him. But like you got to bring someone else in here. The room is just it's it's too weak right now. I don't love it can I get pressure from elsewhere? Like, yeah. And you can simulate pressure. You can draw it up. But at some point you'd like someone to win off the edge, right? Like chase on for whatever, for what he's worth. Like he didn't set a strong edge. He wasn't great against the run, but,
Speaker: He was a decent third down speed rusher. He made plays, made a couple of good turnovers. So there was a lot that Chason did that was positive. um You could have just re-signed Chason if you really wanted to.
Speaker: um Again, he's not an all-around end. He's kind of that third down specialist type guy. But um versus Tremont Jones is probably every down guy who who is a good player. I just consider, I think Harold Landry could be cooked.
Speaker: Like his whole kind of career could be cooked. He got ripped up. And again, the reporting from, ah K Stone. Let me look up for Kevin. um he's ah He was a BC guy. It's Kevin Stone. I just want to give him full credit. Hold on.
Speaker: Literally give me a second because I'm to give him full credit here. uh this is good audio know kevin stone he's a co-owner of new england football journal so i just want to and he's uh covers bc so i just want to give kevin full credit there and uh landry uh of course was a bc guy so um kevin great job good scoop obviously there's something going on there with with uh with landry's knee and and again like he's he was kind of felt like he was declining there a bit anyway so I don't know. Don't love it.
Speaker: I think there's, i mean, there's, again, we're talking about like kind of negatives at this point and going over the things to nitpick, so to speak, versus like we could do like two seconds on the positives, which are like Drake, me and AJ Brown look fucking incredible.
Speaker: And to me, could be both be like first team, all pros and look absurd. So, and I think AJ Brown seeing a person, absolute fucking freak show, just complete dominant freak show athlete. I haven't seen a guy like this since Gronk in camp. And again, I'm not saying he's going to produce like that, but just watching him and Dobbs, man, it's it's it's pretty real.
Speaker: So i just I'm just saying, I know we've been to the negatives all time because we can't come on here and just like goober out for fucking everything positive. But but yes, A.J. Brown and Dobbs looks look incredible.
Speaker: So just there's my positive one minute. If the old line holds up, this ah the offense could be really special. They can be nasty. yeah i think Yeah. I think they will be. um The whole line, though, yeah, you can't. They can't get hurt, man. The depth is pretty horrible.
Speaker: like So, again, i know everyone said talks about the schedule and the record last year. They played better defenses than they did offenses. Largely the why the record yeah of opposing teams was so bad is if you look at the quarterbacks they played, they were pretty fucking pathetic. They were worse than that then like you expected them to be at the beginning of the season. But the defenses they played, like Cleveland's defense was no joke.
Speaker: Their offense was beyond dog shit, but their their defense was legit. And like they played a bunch of teams like that. like even Even the Raiders, like their defense at least wasn't horrible.
Speaker: Yeah. like Not great, but whole but was not horrible. Their offense was pathetic. They still fucking lost that game. Well, and I'll just say, to Felger's credit, I want to say it was like after the Buffalo game week five when he started to say, like, oh, should we be taking them for real last year? And then he basically commented about the fact, like you just said, Snooty, like understand the strength of schedule. Like, let's just look at quarterback matchups. Who are you going to take in the quarterback matchup, May or X, right? And they just went down the entire schedule, and they pretty much got to close to where they ended up as this regular season victories because Drake May was that much of an X factor, that much a differentiator from –
Speaker: the other teams are going against. So, yeah, I a hundred percent agree from an offensive line standpoint. When we were talking about Campbell a couple weeks ago brought it up. ah Basically like you look at the edge guys, that guy went against and you'd say like, yeah, I get like the, the record and the talent, but like his assignment was no joke that week.
Speaker: Like that was no joke. So the, yeah, the year is going to be a little bit tougher because the quarterback plays improved. And again, concerns on the defensive side, how are we going to do performing against that? But yeah, on the offensive side, we went through a lot of really stout defenses and found ways to produce. I mean, Houston Texans were the next Chicago Bears, and we somehow put up three touchdowns against them. So we find ways to score.
Speaker: i think our offense got significantly better. It's hard not to feel optimistic that we're going to go out there and put numbers up on teams and probably average you know you know, 24, 27 points a game somewhere in that ballpark.
Speaker: Yeah. I think they're they'll obviously do really well. um I still put them at, I'd say if you get to 11, 12 wins, I'd say like that the line to me should be like 11 and a half.
Speaker: Like you get to 11, 12 wins. And I don't know what the line is, maybe like nine and a half or 10 and a half. But like, again, I think 11, 12, you get in the playoffs Again, if they outperform that, then you're crushing. If they're 13-4 again, then you got yourself a fucking team. That would be really, really impressive with this schedule. That would be crazy. And, again, i don't think that's i don't think it's what's going to happen. I just think that would be incredible. So 11-12 wins, I think they make the playoffs, and they're a really good team. But, like, it's true. you can't draft horribly You can't draft horribly every year and have, like, an incredibly deep team.
Speaker: Um, but what you can do is if you hit on the quarterback, you can become special. And I think that's what we're, we've learned the most is everyone who said, build the team first, then get the quarterback.
Speaker: Isn't necessarily working the same way. Like it seems now like you need the quarterback first and then the team. And that's a tough way to tough way to live. Cause if you draft wrong, where are you?
Speaker: Right. Anthony Richardson and on the Colts. I mean, like how many of these teams take the wrong guy? I don't know how Fernando Mendoza is going to be. Maybe he's great. Maybe he's not. Right? CJ Stroud.
Speaker: But that's why they take him because if you're right, you have a job for a decade. If you're wrong, meh. Like, you're okay, you're fired. You're fired. But like, yeah, but like you're probably going get – if you're going get fired, if you don't get a quarterback anyway.
Speaker: Yeah. You have to try. you can't You can't take enough chances at quarterback. Yeah, it's crazy. You talk about a short life shelf with these guys when they they go wrong, right?
Speaker: I saw something where it was like you had over 20 new offensive coordinators in the league this year. It's just absurd. Two-thirds of the teams have a new offensive coordinator.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm pretty sure. yeah Well, look at Cleveland with like Todd Munkin coming in from Baltimore, right? with like helping Lamar and he's got Shadr and Deshaun Watson and Shadr can't beat out the guy who just insulted the entire fan base and has looked horrific. Unless their plan is like, let's throw Deshaun to the Wolves for half the season, let the team suck, and then Shadir can come in and try to be the hero. like that's like But then you don't even make give a fuck about winning games. So, like, know. Browns fans, I don't know. I don't think brown Browns fans to me have it the worst. I Jets will be bad.
Speaker: But, like, the Jets have drafted okay. Like, I like what they did in the draft, actually. And I think they're going to have some good young talent. They just don't. have a quarterback and don't really have a good coach. So there's problems, problems there too. And then the dolphins too, man, I don't know The dolphins are going to be horrific.
Speaker: para Other than the the two most important pieces. Other quarterback and coach. They're in great shape. They're getting better. Good old jets. All right. Anything else you guys want to touch on anything of importance?
Speaker: 55 minutes in. Two two more weeks. Two more weeks. We have another preseason game Thursday night, which we'll tune into. And I don't even know if the starters are going to go at all.
Speaker: He's just going to sit all of them. Like, to me, that's just like, does the NFL get involved at some point to be like, hey, you're actually supposed to play the starters at some point? No. No. no Like, that's crazy. This is not – it used to be you playing, like, the whole game. Like, it was, like, the third – remember, there was four preseason games. The third one, the starters would play three quarters.
Speaker: yeah Remember? Oh, yeah. And we actually get, like, real glimpse of them. No, when they basically dropped a preseason game, they added all the joint practices. Preseason games are joke.
Speaker: They're just a waste of time. It's fine doing a watch backups. We all used to have brick phones, and there was dial-up internet, and there was all sorts of shit. Like, it's gone. It's gone the way of the Dodo, my friend. Gone. I need some dial-up. I need...
Speaker: I need a landline, dude. That's what I need. Like one of those questions those landlines that were invisible and you can see like the gears in them. And you I want to jump on a podcast, a live stream and hear that AOL sound before you start to say, I really, your siblings would be on it and you'd like pick up the phone and it would be like making all the noises and like the phone. yeah And I would pick it up and start hitting the buttons. I would hit all the buttons and then shut it down and just know it would like screw it up for like my older sister. but like a need d diging dging And put it back down. I was like, ha ha ha.
Speaker: Yeah, that's great. Yeah. Good times. yes We're all good. Yes. Yeah. This is the oldest story ever. Bring it back. Yeah. Let's bring it back. All right, guys. Thanks for tuning in. I appreciate it. And a preseason game Thursday night. least we'll have something something to, something check out this week and and two weeks to go for regular season. So, all right. Peace out.
Speaker: Peace. ye
