Latest / The Big O Podcast / The Big O Podcast - Bonus Pod: Pats instant recap
Transcript
- Glenn Ordway: Well, here we go with a bonus pod today, reaction to a disaster by the Patriots in Jacksonville. The other person joining me today is my son Sam. Sam Wardway. He's a senior in college down in Florida. Watch out. He is a broadcasting major. And he and I bond every Sunday. We watch these games together, even though we are 3,000 miles away. We communicate continuously during the games. And so we'll give you some insight into what we witnessed here today. And I think we start, Sam, with Drake May. So I think everybody was looking for maybe this will be the week he gains his confidence. This will be the week that Drake May finally figures it out. Sam, he was worse today than he's been probably in the last six games. And he's sucked in most of the last six games. Sam Ordway: Yeah, I mean I told it to you earlier. I mean, you walk out of this game just getting the Mac Jones PTSD. I mean, it's the it was the exact same type of plays that Mac Jones was was having on the the tail of his career in in New England. And my God, that was a rough watch all the way through. I mean, and Glenn Ordway: Terrible. Sam Ordway: you're right, there's zero confidence with Drake May right now. And I think that was, you know, one of the highs last year with him is that he was confident. And there's zero of that right now. Glenn Ordway: Just watched his postgame press conference. And I hate to say it because I think we liked the kid, and certainly he showed the potential last year as a runner up for MVP that he could really be a terrific NFL quarterback. He's saying the same garbage today that he was saying last week. I gotta look in the mirror, I gotta do better, I gotta do this. And the excuse, by the way, and this is where the game fell apart, I think, and probably transfer it on to the rest of his team. Is when the ball slipped in his hand. After the game, he said there was blood on the ball, and that's why it slipped. Now I thought it might have had something to do with the humidity and moisture on the ball. Well, you've got to prepare for those things. You've got to understand you're going to Jacksonville. I remember many, many years games in Miami in September where Brady would go down there and they would have to prepare for those games, knowing the atmosphere and everything else, climate. Conditions are going to be totally different than what you're facing when you're when you're playing in Foxboro. But the kid worries me now, Sam. I I just I wish I could see just a glimmer of hope where suddenly you're saying to yourself, Okay, all right, that's the Drake May I want to see. I saw none of that today. Zero. Sam Ordway: Yeah, I haven't caught any of the postgame quotes yet from Drake May. I don't like that quote though. You know, I if anything, you should just be saying, you know, that that play can never happen in the professional league. You can't make that play. I mean, you're Glenn Ordway: Exactly. Sam Ordway: a quarterback. You hand you handle the ball every single play. You can't make a play like that. So to even bring up blood on the ball or whatever he said was stupid. But I I to be honest with you, I don't care what Drake May says in the media. You know, these guys say whatever in the media. But he hasn't progressed since that first game in Seattle and surely since the playoffs last season. And and that's a big concern here. You know, we talked about it the seven games in a row now that he struggled. And today was was the cherry on top. Today was the worst we've ever seen Drake May. Glenn Ordway: There's no question. I'm not taking anything away from Jacksonville. Obviously they had the climate conditions in their favor. They practice in this heat and humidity. Patriots were what did they face? Temperatures in the sixties back in Foxboro during the week. And I'm not taking anything away from they're a really good defensive team. And certainly when you look at their offense, Parker Washington is a terrific receiver. Tooton is a really nice running back. And Trevor Lawrence Is finally living up, I wouldn't say a can't miss candidate, and that's how everybody, you know, described him five years ago. But he's a damn good NFL quarterback right now. So you've got to go out there and play your best. This was Vrabel after the game, Sam. He he was asked about Drake May's issues and problems and confidence. He said, I can't get into his psyche. Well, I hate to say it, coach, but you better figure out his psyche pretty quickly. Because it's gone right now. This kid is playing with zero confidence out there. And Sam, they can't w I don't care how good their defense can develop and be this c the course of the season, the defense can't score two or three touchdowns a game. You're averaging less than ten points a game through three games. If Drake May can't be a very good quarterback in this league, this team is in serious trouble this year. Sam Ordway: Yeah, I mean they're definitely looking like they're in trouble now. what I will say to the this whole psyche thing with Vrabel, I think one of the only ways you can really fix his psyche right now is by benching him. And I know a lot of people think that's the opposite Glenn Ordway: I Sam Ordway: of what you do. It's a dumb move or whatever. But we were just talking about his confidence level. There's nothing that makes you more confident as a professional athlete than being benched. Okay. Because you work to I mean, e this was a guy who was a top three draft pick. Okay, you bench him after he knows he knows he's playing poor, everyone knows he's playing poorly. Okay. Benching him can only make him more confident to to actually step up to the plate right now. And that's what what that's what you need. Glenn Ordway: Yeah, Sam, I think that's really drastic. And I I think that, by the way, and you're a big huge Patriots fan. You're a big Celtics fan during the course of the Celtics season. We'll have you on a lot because you know the NBA inside now, but you're a big Patriots fan, and I think Patriot fans are going to say that during the course of this week. I don't think it's too early. I don't think you can do that. I'm not saying that that what you're saying might not help him, but I think it could be disastrous if Tommy DeVito can't get anything done. And I have no faith in Tommy DeVito. He's a nice backup quarterback, but he's a backup quarterback. And then two weeks from now, you've got to go and put Drake May back in the game. Here's what I think I would do if I'm Frable. I would use this Buffalo week to try to boost his confidence and say, Hey, do you remember that Buffalo game last year? It was like game five, I think, or something like that. That was your breakout game. That's where you finally figured all this shit out. And I think I would play that game with now I'm not saying it's going to work. Buffalo is going to be a very difficult team to beat, especially with Josh Allen having a rough game here today. And so my guess is he's going to come back and probably be pretty damn good next Sunday. But I think that's the way you've got to play the psyche, if you will, of Drake May. I don't I don't think you can bench him at this point, but you're right. Fans are going to say this all week long. That is going to be the narrative. Of this week leading up to the Buffalo game. Sam Ordway: and I'll also say I think it's a little more than just the psyche of Drake May. Like I think that's the biggest part of it. but it doesn't seem like him and any of the receivers are on the same page right now at all. I mean, his number one guy is Matt Collins. And by the way, how stupid was that taunting flag by Matt Collins? Why why are you taunting when you're down twenty eight to three? What was that? I mean, serio Glenn Ordway: We Sam Ordway: th the amount of stupid flags and penalties today was just it was unprofessional. It was unprofessional. Glenn Ordway: Awful. No, it was un you're right. It was unprofessional. I mean, for and he's a guy that usually gets it and understands it. So you make a good play. By the way, it wasn't a first down, was it? So he didn't have he didn't make the first down. And then he taunts the other player. You're right, down twenty five. Did he get the first? Okay. Maybe he maybe he did. If he didn't, it's even worse. Sam Ordway: I think he did get the first, no? I think they did. Well, they didn't 'cause they got taken back, but yeah. Glenn Ordway: But he's down twenty-five, and you're right. You're getting hosed in this game. And so now suddenly you make a nice play and you're gonna sit there and say, you guys suck on Jacksonville. I mean, it's so immature, so dumb. And it's again, Sam, and this is where what scared me the most about today's game. It started with Drake May, you know, just you know, melting early in the game. And then I started to see other players start to melt as well. It was almost as if Drake May gave us our orders. we're not that good. We're gonna melt. And they all started to do the exact same thing. But how you can look at a game in that situation, you're getting you're getting destroyed in this game. And you're gonna sit there and say, aha, look what I just did. I mean, it's an idiotic move. And you know, Vrabel, I don't know if Vrabel did he take him out of the game. I don't even remember whether he took him out of the game. But but Borgallis misses a what a 38 yard chip shot, 36 yard field goal. Everybody started to fall apart. Now I'll say this about the defense. The defense started off, I thought, great. They looked really good, especially the secondary. All right. And they're missing some key players on defense right now. And then Barmore, I think, got hurt. And so then they had to had to but yeah, and they Sam Ordway: Couple guys got hurt actually. Glenn Ordway: had to go to the bench or whatever and get a couple of other other guys out there. But I'll say this about the defense. I thought they started off looking really good. And because Drake May couldn't move the chains and he couldn't stay out on the field, that defense had to spend far too much time out on the field. And you know, you saw n almost eight nine-minute drives by Jacksonville. Well, it's eighty-seven degrees. It's humid as hell, and that is just wearing down on that defense. So I'm not trying to give him an out because I don't think the defense was good enough to win the football game today. And as I said earlier, The defense needs to score. Marcus Jones had the interception, but now you turn it over to the offense. You're in great field position and you don't cash in on it. The offense was the main problem. So there were some there were some red flags with the defense today, but it's hard to sit there and really blast them because so much of it was created by the offense. Sam Ordway: Yeah, I mean I really don't see how anybody could make a case against the defense for the Patriots this year this season. But the Patriots offense has been horrendous. I mean, w one of the worst in the league. And, you know, w you look back at the the booty trade and then Diggs exiting out of New England and Well, Glenn Ordway: Yeah, you didn't you didn't like those deals. Sam Ordway: I think you at least gotta keep one of those guys because you know, we're talking about Drake May right now. This is a young quarterback. Like he had a good connection with those receivers. You bring in Two you know, two new receivers, one goes down in the first, you know, three quarters of the first game. That's a big problem now. And you could see it. Like the only guy Drake May is comfortable throwing the ball to right now is Mac Hollins and and Hunter Henry. But even Hunter Henry hasn't done much. So Glenn Ordway: Well, wait a minute. Wait, hold on. Pop Douglas has been open numerous times in the first few games. It is Drake May's fault that he can't get the ball into Pop Douglas' hands. That's on him. Sam Ordway: I'd agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. Glenn Ordway: But you you know, you're right. I think we we all knew that losing AJ Brown for four, five, six, maybe seven or eight games, we don't know what that how that's gonna play out. We knew that that was a major problem for this team. Sam, I think it's devastating. I I really do. Right now I think it's devastating. I think you bring up a great point. If you had Booty now, now maybe he wasn't going to play when AJ Brown was your number one receiver. Maybe Booty was going to be drop down in the list. Maybe they used Chisholm more because he's a he can play special teams. they had him they had him actually throwing the football today in a bizarre play. In which they actually gained thirteen yards and the play totally broke down. I mean it was a complete Sam Ordway: Yeah. MacCollins. Glenn Ordway: disastrous play. And they got thirteen yards out of it. But you're right, when you look back at it now, Booty may not have played if AJ Brown were here, but he'd be playing now. Sam Ordway: No, you wouldn't have got a lot of time. No. Yeah. I mean, and that that's Glenn Ordway: You'd be Sam Ordway: what that's the biggest problem too with this team. They don't have a lot of depth at any position. And before coming before trading Booty, I think a lot of the, you know, national media around the league look at the picture's team and said, Wow, this team has some, you know, r nice receiving core. And now you look at them and Mac Collins is the headliner. That can't be the case, especially w after you just paid Romeo Dobbs and and Romeo Dobbs is you know, looked below a he's looked average at best. He's not doing much, especially not Glenn Ordway: But yeah, what's he doing? You know, it you know, i i I I think I think his best catch, Sam, was late in the game today after the game was already lost, at least to everybody except for Hollins. He was the only one that apparently felt they were still in the game. But yeah, their receiver you're right, the receiving core are not on the same page with Drake May. They looked like they were able to run the football a little bit early on, three, four yards a carry. But then they get so far behind in the game. I mean, Jackson Mill literally scored fourteen points in eighteen seconds. So now you get so far backed up in the game that your running attack is useless. You've got to throw the football. I will say this. I don't think and and Van Rotten got hurt as well. I don't know how many plays he played after he he he came out of the game and went into the into the blue tent. But I thought the offensive line Actually held up at times in this game. Now, there were some breakdowns. Don't get me wrong. Jacksonville late in the game, once they got up a couple scores, they just came at you. And so they were coming at you from different angles. But they're playing zone defense. I thought the offensive line was holding up pretty well. There were times in which Drake May had some time back there in the pocket. But shame on what's that? Yeah, but shame, Sam Ordway: Too much time. Too much time. Too much time. Glenn Ordway: but shame on him. He still ended up. getting hit or or something happened or he was forced to throw it out of bounds or whatever. Sam Ordway: Well, that's that's the most concerning part, right? He's he's the last year the complaint was okay, he's not getting enough time in the pocket. His O-line sucks. Now he's getting more time than he needs. Too much time Glenn Ordway: Yes. Sam Ordway: where he's overthinking. He's too nervous that he's too afraid to throw the ball. That's a problem. And I don't understand, like this was a problem last week and the week before. How where is the coaching in all of this at this point? Because this this can't you can't play the same way you did this week, next week against Buffalo. You just can't. There has to be some type of game plan switch here because you're you're gonna start getting desperate here real s real soon. Glenn Ordway: Well, I I agree. I mean, you look around the league and it's it's hard to find you know, teams that are head and shoulders above everybody else, but I I think that's going to start finding its way over the next three, four, five weeks. You're gonna start see teams take, you know, steps upward. I don't know what teams though those are. I thought Cincinnati bait b may be one of those teams, they go into Pittsburgh and they lose. So, I mean, who knows? But you're right. If they can't get it together in the next few weeks, now you look at it, you got to go to Buffalo and you say, okay, well, the schedule gets easier after that. I'm not sure the Raiders are an easy out right now. Okay? I'm not saying they're a really good football team, but they're not what they're not a bad football team. And didn't they beat you last year? They beat you last year. And then you've got the Jets. The Jets don't suck. The Jets are stupid. The Jets find ways of losing games like they did against Green Bay a couple weeks ago. you know, at the end of the fourth quarter and into overtime, but they're not that bad. If your quarterback, if Drake May is playing continuing to play the way he's playing right now, the Raiders game and the Jets game are not automatic wins. Sam Ordway: No. I mean, the Steelers game wasn't very impressive. Nun none of these games have been impressive from the Patriots whatsoever. You know, th this is a and you gotta give credit almost to the people last year who were Colin Drake made the schedule and whatever, because this looks like a completely different team than last season. I mean Glenn Ordway: Yes. Sam Ordway: they they have nothing offensively. I mean, I'll give the defense credit. I think the defense legitimately looks pretty solid, but offensively they look like one of the worst in the league. Glenn Ordway: Yeah, but the defense does Sam Ordway: And I think people were coming into the season thinking the exact opposite. Glenn Ordway: But the defense doesn't have the depth. You already brought that up. They don't have the depth, and you're starting to see the injuries right now. And I'm telling you, you know, unless Landry comes back and and they get healthy again, that's going to be a problem here once you run up against really good offenses, and we may even see that next week. But the decision making, you say to yourself as you watch this play out, and you brought up Mac Jones as an example, people forget. Mac Jones in his rookie year was a Pro Bowl player. And people in New England were excited. I was doing the real postgame show after every game and people would call up and say, I think we found our quarterback. We got Mac Jones. And as we f Sam Ordway: Yeah, but what is he wasn't he sub in for some guy that was injured, right? He wasn't a real yeah. Yeah, none of that's none of that's even real. No. Glenn Ordway: Yeah, they they're all sub-ins. Yeah, he was like the third or fourth fifth guy. Yeah, and they don't do that anymore, thank God, because that was just, you know, a total a fraudulent thing. But but I would say say this that we all got excited about Mac Jones after that first year, and we saw what happened after that. He never had the ceiling to raise it up. He was probably better prepared for the NFL than most, you know, other the quarterbacks coming out of college. With Drake May, I don't think we saw that. I think we looked at last year and said, this is not Mac Jones, because this guy's got skill level. But something has happened up here. The decision making is horrendous. He he this looks like a rookie quarterback right now. I have no idea what is going on with the mistakes that he's making right now. I have no idea. Sam Ordway: I if I were just to throw out a guess, I would say it's the the expectations. I mean, the the amount of expectation probably, you know, that he sees in his head from, you know, being a VP runner up to being in the Super Bowl to then playing that same team on opening night of the next season that destroyed you in the Super Bowl. I just think this I think he has a lot of nerves right now that are going crazy in his head and he doesn't he doesn't know how to react. And I I that Glenn Ordway: Yeah, see, I think that's an interesting point. I think he was built up. There were a lot of people, including me, who felt that he deserved to be MVP last year. And the problem he had is it was an aging veteran quarterback that was in, you know, he was vying for for that MVP. And I think a lot of the voters said, let me give it to the to the vet, you know, he'll never get another one. Drake May's got plenty more opportunities. To become MVP. I'm not sure based on what we've seen now lately that that is a reality here. But it's interesting you bring that up. So the expectations are he's suddenly a superstar after last season. Now, albeit they played a a really push-over schedule. We know that. All right. So he played easy defenses, didn't have great quarterbacks that he had to go up against. So the other team had trouble. scoring points. So now he's doing all these TV commercials. His wife is in all these commercials with him. I don't want to get the the the the family involved in it. But I would say this you're right. He was put up on a pedestal. Now he's got to maintain those expectations and instead he's gone the totally other direction. And from what I understand talking to people, it's not because he's not working hard enough at this stuff, but it's all in his head. It's all in his head. And I hate to say it, it's much easier for a coaching staff to look at the tape and say, Okay, technically you're not doing this. Your elbows in, your elbows out. Technically they can fix stuff like that. It is much different and much more difficult to fix a quarterback when the real problem is right up here. And if it's what you said it is, that he is feeling the pressure. He has to live up to those expectations of last year. How the hell do you do that? Do you get him do you sit him down with a shrink? Do you get him some medication? I mean, what the hell do you do? Sam Ordway: I mean, as I said, I and I people are gonna hate it, but I I think you have to bench him, you know? I think you have to. Because that's he's already lost Glenn Ordway: Benjamin, wow. We're gonna hear that all week. You're not gonna be alone. Sam Ordway: he's already lost his confidence. You know, it maybe if the Patriot you know, look at Mac Jones is playing it as a backup, and I'm not saying Drake May is gonna be a backup quarterback, but you know, the way he he looks right now, maybe. But, you know, when there's less expectations on Mac Jones and he's a backup quarterback in San Francisco, he actually looks pretty solid, you know. I think when you're Glenn Ordway: Yeah. Sam Ordway: asked to do more and you're expected to be, you know, top tier level quarterback and you're playing in the same place that had the greatest of all time, I I mean, I think that's a lot on your plate, whether, you know, he would want to admit it or not. I mean, there might be a reason that the greatest quarterback of all time was the last pick i in the NFL draft. That's like no expectation whatsoever. Glenn Ordway: Actually he used it as a great motivational tool, you know. Y you thought I sucked. You didn't think I was good enough. Matter of fact Sam Ordway: That's I'm saying with Drake Meg benching him. That gives you confidence. Glenn Ordway: Okay. W what do you think the chances are that Vrabel benches Drake May for this game up in Buffalo? Sam Ordway: I mean I doubt it. I doubt they actually do it, but I I I I'm just telling you what I think would be best for him and his confidence level. Glenn Ordway: Zero. I'll give you your percentage. Zero. No, no, I I hear you, and I Sam, I think we're gonna hear a lot of fans this week who are gonna say exactly what you're saying right now. They were so up on this kit and l listen the way fans took it too. Last year, they sat there and said, You gotta be shitting me. We had Brady for all of the years. Not not that I'm putting him in the same class with Brady. We had Brady for all those years, then we had the the the the down years, and then now this quickly. We're back because we've got the next generation great quarterback in the National Football League. That's what everybody bought into. I bought into that. You bought into that, right? Yeah, we Sam Ordway: Yeah, definitely. Glenn Ordway: all bought into it. And now we're watching this unfold. If it were one or two games, three games, I would say, let's let's play it out. Matter of fact, I think over the last couple weeks, I said exactly that to you. I said, Yeah, let's play this thing out. This this has got a way to go. But now we're we're looking at The playoffs last year, the Seattle game, Pittsburgh game, and now the Jacksonville game. And none of this is getting better. Matter of fact, dare I say, it is getting worse. So I think people are going to bring up the bench him this week. It's going to be one of the narratives, the biggest narrative during the course of of this week. But if you're Vrabel, I wouldn't do it. I don't think you can do it. I think you can destroy this kid. I think he's fragile right now. I do. I think he is fragile right now. I think it's a real issue. And I think I would take the opposite approach. This game in Buffalo last year was your breakout game. This is where you figured it out. This is the game where you're gonna figure it out this year. Now we shall see. So we get that game coming up next Sunday. All right, Sam, we're gonna do this on a regular basis because this is what Sam and I do on Sundays. We sit there and talk before the game, we talk during the game, we talk at halftime, we talk post game. And we'll bring you this from week to week, a little, you know, bonus pod of our reaction to the Patriots game. And as I said, Sam will be a lot more visible when we get to the Celtics season. We'll have him on and we'll have a bunch of other you know, Celtics guests as well talking about the Celtics. All right, go do your homework. All right, you graduate in two months. Get your ass together, okay? All right, man. You got it. Sam Ordway: All right. We'll talk to you. Bye. Glenn Ordway: Great job, Sam. This week, Kirk Minahan.