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Patriots Catch-22 10/21: Bears Preview, Keys to the Game, Injury Updates · Patriots Catch-22

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: All right, we're back now. All right, we're good? I
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: think we're good now. All right, sorry about that. Some
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: technical difficulties on our end, but we're up and running now.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I was just saying, Alex, that it feels weird that
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: there's no day off in between shows. It feels weird
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: that they're playing on a Thursday night. It feels weird
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: that you're unfortunately still at home. So this is all
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a little bit, you know, bizarro land here, but I'm
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: really excited to talk about this game. I'm calling it
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the Catch-22 Bowl because we finally get to see Ben
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Johnson and Mike Vrabel go up against each other. I
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: am a little disappointed that it's on a Thursday night
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: because I wish we had a little bit more time
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to really sink our teeth into this matchup and not
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: be so rushed or so crammed on the short week.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: And by the way, that coaches had an opportunity to
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: do that as well.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, but this is it. This is a big matchup.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I think this is one of the games of the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: year on the calendar for the Patriots. facing the bears,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams in an alternate NFL universe. These
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: coach and quarterback could be flipped in this game very easily.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Like Caleb Williams could have ended up a Patriot. Ben
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Johnson could have ended up the Patriots head coach. So
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: we're kind of seeing mirror images of each other as
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: two quarterbacks drafted in the same class, two coaches hired
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: in the same cycle, two successful coaches so far. Slight
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: edge to you, though, in this argument so far with
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel, 18-5, Ben Johnson, 15-8, obviously a Super Bowl
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: appearance for Mike Vrabel. But I'm excited to talk about
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: this one. This is kind of our game here. It's
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the Catch-22 Bowl. That's what I'm calling it.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, like, I don't think this game solves it.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: I really don't want to see if the Bears win.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: A bunch of people say, see, they should have hired
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Ben Johnson. Like, Vrabel's been to a Super Bowl.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: That's the scoreboard.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: And it's a short week, yeah.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: And it's a short week. But it'll be fun to watch.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: And the more I look at what Ben Johnson's done,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: especially this year, you know, there's some differences, I think,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: from last year. And some of it's maybe necessitated by
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: not having Caleb Williams or... not having had Caleb Williams
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: as much as they did. Like that's kind of what's
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: hard about studying this Bears team. You mentioned the short week.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: It's also like, well, okay, what are some of these
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: new wrinkles that they're doing because it's.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: A new wrinkle?
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: And are there certain trends here that they are things
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: they did because they had a backup quarterback and maybe
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: we're not going to see them. So that, that also
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: kind of at least studying it, like the game is
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: going to be the game, obviously going into it.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: It's, it's a weird wrinkle, but there is some stuff
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Ben Johnson's doing.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: That I really like, that I don't think is characteristic
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: for that kind of coach, if you want to put
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: it that way. Mainly how he's managing game flow. First
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: of all, the fact that he is managing game flow
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: and not treating every individual play as.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Its own separate entity. But some other things too, like
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: it's been, the way.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: They handled not having Caleb Williams, I mean, they did
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: an outstanding job with that. Ben Johnson, the staff, the
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: other players. So Not as relevant to this game, but
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: I think worth giving credit.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously Caleb played last week against the Falcons, but
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: even the game before that was in a monsoon against
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings where neither team could move the ball
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: because of the conditions. So it's been a little bit wonky.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Going back all the way to week one against Carolina
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: feels a little bit weird, but that was a huge
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: offensive performance for Chicago and sort of what their offense
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: looks like. Uh, when it's at its peak, uh, you
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: mentioned a lot of things about the, the way that
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Ben Johnson calls the game and manages the game. I
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: want to get to all that stuff. Uh, but before
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: we really start to dig into the bears and into
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: this matchup, I do want to talk about the Patriots
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: injury situation last And just where things stand as of
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: 10 0 6 AM on Wednesday morning. So I thought
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: that yesterday's injury report and our very limited sample size
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: of the walkthrough at practice yesterday was maybe more encouraging
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: than I initially thought coming out of the game on Sunday.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: You're going to be down your two guards, right? Elijah
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Vera Tucker and Ben Brown, or as Mike Rabel said,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: probably not, you know, unlikely to play. in this game
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: on Thursday night, we know that they placed Romeo Dobbs
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: on injured reserve. Uh, but Carlton Davis was out there
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: and I was just a walkthrough. Uh, so I, I
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: don't know how much we look into that. Morgan Moses
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: was also out there. again, in just a walkthrough setting.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: But as much as you're losing those guards is big
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: and Dobbs is a loss. They're going to have A.J. Brown.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: They're going to have potentially Carlton Davis back. Morgan Moses
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: is going to potentially give it a go in this
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: game as well. So maybe not the sky is falling
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: or quite as like alarming as the injuries might have
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: been we thought maybe coming out of the game on
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Sunday where they might be down three linemen. It might
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: not be all three of those guys that are missing
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: tomorrow night. Yeah.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Hey, you know, it's, I've not talked to players about
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: this where it's tough because you might get hurt in
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: a game on Sunday. You can't play on Thursday, but
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: if the game was on a Sunday, you could probably
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: go right. Like there's a reason these weeks are structured.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Think about you play on Sunday. You usually don't even
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: practice until Wednesday. You have two, essentially full days of
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: recovery in there before you get back out on the field.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Now you're playing the next day. So it's just, it's,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: it's a lot to manage, but if they could have
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Morgan Moses, that would, that.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Would be big.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: So I want to discuss the offensive line. Cause that's
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: really where the, the biggest sort of management here for
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Vrabel and the staff are going to have to come
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: in in terms of what you do with this offensive line.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I think there are other positions, you know, you lose
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Romeo Dobbs, but you're getting AJ Brown back and like
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: that sort of thing. Like, I think that they're going
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to be okay. terms of the skill positions. The offensive
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: line is those going to be down both their starting guards,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: at least the guards that they have healthy right now.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: And Ben Brown, you know, obviously on when he was
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: also out. So this is, you know, you're going down
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: pretty far down the rabbit hole here. But I think
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the the two different options here on the offensive line,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: there's the most likely, which I think is what's going
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: to end up happening here, Alex, which is just starting
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: this game with the line that finished the game last week.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: So that would be from left to right Campbell Rouse,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Wilson prior, and whether Moses is healthy or Lomo at
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: right tackle.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: So I think that that's probably, uh, you know, where
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: you start there. You know how I feel about this.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: We've talked a little bit about this off the air.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: That is the most likely five. That's what I expect
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: to happen. My five, though, I want to get Caleb
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Lomu in the starting lineup somewhere. Now, maybe it's just
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: that right tackle, right? Like maybe he just plays for
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Morgan Moses at right tackle. But even if Morgan Moses
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: is healthy, I personally would not rule out Lomu playing guard.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: And I know that you feel differently about this. And
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: I think they probably do, too, based off of what
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Walter Rouse said yesterday. But that's just sort of how
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I feel about it. How do you view this offensive
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: line situation?
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: They did last week. I also wouldn't rush Moses back.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: And look, he's the constant professional. He wants to play. Yeah,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: he he's good.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: If he can be out there, he's going to be
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: out there and credit to him for it. This is
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: one where maybe. And again, I don't know the exact medicals,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: but I do know he's looked banged up the past
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: few weeks. This wasn't just last week. I wonder if
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: you just tell him, hey, it's a short week. Like,
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: the kid's playing well. Now, he probably takes as a
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: threat to his job.
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: So it's all the more reason for him to be
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: out there. But I do wonder if it would just
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: help him to stay off his feet for a week.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: And if you get a better version of him down
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: the line because of it. You know, my whole thing
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: with Loma went guard. is he's going to be a
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: right tackle. It looked like he needed more time to
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: develop there. Don't have him spend time in another position
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: when he needs the reps to tackle. Well, two things
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: are different here. If you're telling me it's just for
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: a week, all right, have him focus a guard for
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: a week and then he can get back to tackle.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: He also looks a lot further along at tackle than
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: he did last time we saw him. So, okay, maybe
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: there is some more flexibility. Maybe he can't afford to
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: take that time and go over there. So, If there
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: were a week to do it, this would probably be it.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: You know, not as I don't want him playing guard
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: full time. So if Ben Brown and I don't know
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: the nature of the injuries, Ben Brown's obviously looked a
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: lot more severe. Like, I'm not saying, all right, Ben Brown.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: All right, Caleb, you're our starting right guard for the
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: next two months. Like, no, no, he still needs to
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: have a long term plan at tackle. If it's a
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: short week, we don't have enough linemen. For these two
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: practices in a game, you're going to focus a guard,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: and then it's back to tackle next week.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Like, if that's what it is, yeah, okay.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, let me see how it looks. We haven't
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: seen him at guard. If he goes out there to
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: practice and sucks at it, then obviously don't do it.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: But this is probably the scenario where it does make
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: some sense to me to at least try it. Although,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: like you said, maybe it ultimately doesn't happen. Because the
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: other thing is, If Morgan Moses is playing hurt and
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: there's a chance he's not going to finish the game,
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: I don't want him prepping for two positions. That's high-level
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: stuff that you don't want to ask a rookie to do.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: To me, if he's playing guard, he's playing guard. period,
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: full stop. And if Morgan Moses gets hurt again, you're
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: either activating Marcus Bryant or you're going to Demetrius crown
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: over like that, that has to be the plan there.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: So that could complicate it too.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: And that it's all right, well, we need you to
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: stay a tackle because we don't know if Morgan Moses
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: can finish the game.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: So that last point that you made as my only
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: hesitation with this whole thing is that if you know...
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: you need to build in a contingency plan because Morgan
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Moses is going to try to give it a go,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: but it might, might not be able to play the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: whole game. Then I can hear the argument for let's
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: just leave Lomu on the bench to start the game
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: because we aren't sure if Morgan Moses is going to
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: be able to finish this thing out. However, there is
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a part of me that is like, well, it would
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: be a shame that that Caleb Lomu is sitting on
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the bench. Like he's too talented and they have too
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: many injuries on the offensive line. Now to have their
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: first round pick be the odd man out, right? Like
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I understand positions and all that. I get it, but
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: it just feels to me like not only has he
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: looked great the last two weeks when he has played,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: but just from a pure talent standpoint, your best five
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: right now, healthy five definitely involves Caleb Lomu in some way,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: shape or form. whether it's at guard or right tackle.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: So I I'm fully with you. That tackle is his
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: long-term position. That's where the develop needs to go. But
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: sometimes extenuating circumstances happen. Injuries pile up at one position,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: like guard where now you're down three guards. If you
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: include on well, four, if you can include Greg Van Rowan,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: right on when you have been wrote in on IR,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: I very Tucker, Ben Brown hurt like that. at some point,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: like you got to put out 48 guys, like Mike
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Rabel says, right. So, you know, you, you gotta be
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: able to do that. Now this it's not ideal. It's
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: not ideal. It's just, to me, it's the best, the
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: best five is from left to right. Campbell, Lomu, Wilson, Pryor, Moses.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Those are your best five offensive linemen that could be
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: available for this game depending on Moses' status. No disrespect
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: meant to Walter Rouse, but I just feel like it's
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: kind of a shame to have Lomu sitting on the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: bench when he's so talented and has looked so good
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the first couple of weeks here.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I just think it's different positions. And on top
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: of that, too, you could run 6-0 line. to get
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: him out there. Like that's an option too.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: That is an option. All right. Uh, let's get into
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: the bears. And I, like I said, on the offensive line,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: just to put a bite, a bow on that, I
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: think rouse is going to start. Like, that's what it
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: sounds like. It's going to happen. I wouldn't be surprised
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: if Mike Rabel later today confirms that, uh, in his
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: press conference, I think it's going to be prior and
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: rouse at guard. So, uh, that that's going to, My
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: guess is, is, you know, let's just get through this
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: game is probably the idea. And let's not completely mess
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: with Lomu and all that kind of stuff. Anyways, let's
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: get into the bears a little bit. I I'm glad
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: that you said that you are also enjoying the Ben
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Johnson experience and how he's managing games and how he's
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: playing games. I want to unpack that with you. I
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: also want to unpack a few myths about this Ben
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Johnson offense and what they have been this year versus
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: what I think maybe those types of the offenses typically
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: get like sort of lumped together, you know, like the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Shanahan's the McVeigh's those offenses. I think a lot of
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: people think are all kind of the same. This one
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: is a little bit different and a little bit unique
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: to Ben Johnson. But what is it that you like
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: about the way he's approaching the game that you won't
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: like about my guy out in San Francisco and et cetera?
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Sorry, you cut out. Say that again.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: What is it that you like about Ben Johnson that
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: you don't like about my guy out in San Francisco?
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, there's just less sample size. If Ben
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Johnson blows multiple 10-point leads in Super Bowls, I'll reconsider.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: But what he's doing so well, I.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: My knock on a lot of those coaches has been, they,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: they get so lost in their play sheet. They lose
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: sight of the bigger picture of the flow of the game.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: And I think he's done a tremendous job of that,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: especially like having a backup quarterback makes that, I don't
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: want to say harder, but it makes it more important
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: because you can't count on your offense, just going nuts.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: And you look at the number of plays, the bears
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: have run the pace at which they've.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Run those plays. the share of those plays, which have.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Been run plays, he seems committed to wearing out the
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: opposing defense, which, and he actually puts stock in the
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: human element of stamina and physicality and all of that.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: And especially when you have a backup quarterback, like that's
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: what you want to do. So I just really impressed
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: with the way he's approached the game management side of
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: it and actually trying to take it to the defense
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: and not just trying to come out there and run
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: his 20 favorite plays in a row, whatever. he's managing
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: the clock. He's managing the game tempo. He's shortening these
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: games for the opponent. He's putting the pressure on the
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: opposing quarterback. They've put up some big point totals, but
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: I don't get the feeling that he is trying to
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: win every game as a shootout.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I think he's okay winning some of these.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: Games, lower scoring, which is not usually how these hot shot,
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: you know, upstart offensive coordinator types handle it. They just
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: want to flex how cool their offense is. So for
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: the film nerds, And then that's kind of the end
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: of the story. I don't get the vibe that that's
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: what Ben Johnson's doing, whether that's intentional or whether he's
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: forced into doing that because he had a backup quarterback.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: It worked.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: And hopefully if it is the latter, he recognizes that
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: that's why. And, you know, he continues to do it
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: because they have a pretty well-rounded roster in Chicago. And
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: I think playing that way and shortening games and forcing
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: the other offense to be perfect is a really good
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: strategy for them.
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I would say that, uh, you know, the biggest thing
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: that I see as the reason to why they run
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: such a high volume of plays and try to have
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: play discrepancy and try to establish a running game on
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: top of the fact that a lot of his offense
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: is built off the running game in terms of the
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: play action passes and all that kind of stuff, you know,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: right now they're second in the league and run rate.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: And they're also near the top of the league and
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: play action rate.
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: So they, they run a lot of runs and they
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: run a lot of play action. Like that's, the sequencing
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: of their offense is very similar to a lot of
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the Shanahan guys as well. But I think the other
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: big reason why he does it this way is because
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: they're not very good defensively. So in order to keep
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: the points down for the opponent and to keep the
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: defense off the field, they're possessing the ball a lot offensively.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: So I think in a lot of ways, it's helping
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: out the defense more. a lot too, which is really
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: good on third down, which we'll get to, but not
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: so good on first and second down. So, uh, they
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: have that big discrepancy that variable pointed out on Monday
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: of like 73 plays offensively to 50 plays defensively per game.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: They're possessing the ball at the highest rate in the
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: league too, just in terms of time of possession. So
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: they're trying to control the pace and control the game
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: with their offense. Like, that's the strength of the team.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: They know that. The scheme, the talent is mostly on
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the offensive side of the football. And so they're trying
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: to do it that way. And to his credit, it's
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: worked so far. It worked with a backup quarterback in there, too,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: for the most part as well, like you said. It's
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: a different... it's the same, but different. I would say
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: schematically from a lot of the Shanahan guys, I think
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: it's got the same kind of core, uh, look to it.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: You know, they run a lot of 12 and 13
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: personnel with multiple tight ends. Uh, they are run action team.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of run game play action passes, uh,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: that sort of thing. Uh, they are a team that
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: typically runs a lot of outside zone, you know, like that,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: that is a lot of the same things that you see, uh,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: from the Shanahan's the McVeigh's, uh, those types of people.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I would say the biggest difference that I see with
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Johnson's offense, though, compared to those offenses, is he doesn't
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: get as caught up in the pre-snap stuff. Like, he
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: doesn't use as much motion and window dressing before the
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: ball is snapped. A lot of their sort of trickery
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: happens after the snap. Like, it's a lot of unique
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: wrinkles and play calls and angles and trick plays and
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: things like that that happen post-snap that is... confusing defenses
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: and playing with eyes and things like that. Less so
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: about like the eye candy or the window dressing before
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the ball is snapped as the other offenses. So right
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: now Chicago is only 19th in the league in motion rate.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: So they are not one of those teams that like
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: lives by motion. It's not like a way of life
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: for them compared to what, you know, the Shanahan tree
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: guys are like all up over 70% motion, 75% motion.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: He's at like 62% motion. Now, how much of that
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: is Caleb Williams and backup quarterbacks? And like the quarterback
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: has a lot to do with motioning and triggering and
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: things like that. Maybe that's an element of it, but
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: it's not a McDaniel Shanahan McVay type of pre-snap scheme.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: The other thing that is different than maybe what, you
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: would think, based off of the quarterback skill set, they
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: don't throw the ball down the field a ton. They're
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: not a... Right now, they're the lowest volume deep passing
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: offense in football when Caleb Williams is playing. They only
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: throw the ball down the field. Caleb's only thrown six
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: deep passes the entire year. Now, he hasn't played a ton,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: but it's 4.4%, which is the lowest among qualified quarterbacks.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: He's 31st in ADOT right now in average target depth.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: So he's... Right now, you know, you, you talked about
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: like them possessing the ball and them, you know, putting
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: together long drives. Some of that is because they're running
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the ball and they're throwing short passes.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: So like, this is not one of those opportunities. that
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: like the Patriots, which is like all second and third
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: level throws. This is a lot of first and second
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: level throws right now for the, the bears offense, which
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I think is a little bit different than what you
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: might expect out of a Caleb Williams type of offense.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it, it, I don't want to say it's dink
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: and dunk because there's more purpose to it, but that's
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: how they're operating.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: Again, it's a very controlled, monotonous offense.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The last thing I would just say about him
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: that I think separates him a little bit from some
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: of these others.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Him being?
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Ben Johnson, sorry. That is the late-down execution. They have
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: a much bigger menu of third-down and fourth-down plays than
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: he liked Dan Campbell has continued to aggressively call the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: game on fourth down. They've gone in. I think it's
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: still the guy 15 times on fourth down this year.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: They've gone for it. Their fifth, I believe it is
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: in third down conversion rate. So this is a much
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: more deeper menu of, of things that they can do
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: on third down, uh, compared to the other guys, they
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: just kind of want to skip third down. They don't
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: want to ever be in third down, right. If they
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: can avoid it. Uh, so he's a much more laid
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: down focus coach. Uh, I mentioned the trick plays. They
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: ran another hook and lateral, uh, last week against the
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Falcons on a third down play. You, those are always
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: going to come out in a game with Ben Johnson,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: especially on a Thursday night. Kevin Byard said that yesterday, like,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you know, on a short week, he's going to try
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: to throw something at the Patriots that they've never seen
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: before just to see if they can, you know, catch
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: him on one. So I'm really looking forward to watching
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Zach core go up against one of the elite schemers
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: in the league, because I think cores on a heater.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: I think he's been pretty much great the entire season.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: I like Joe Brady. I think this is probably the
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: best coordinator that he's faced, or play caller, I should say,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: that he's faced. So I think that... Yeah, I mean, respectfully....
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd put Liam Cohen much closer to Ben Johnson
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: than Joe Brady.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Probably. Yeah, that's fair. I forgot about Liam Cohen.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: I also just... I think it's been a rough go
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: of it for Joe Brady, but that's another.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: But that's a head coach that this is our thing.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: This is a, that's a head coach conversation, not a
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: OC conversation, but that's besides the point. Well, all right.
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 22:17
  Speaker 7: Whatever.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: We only have an hour. Let's keep going.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that Joe Brady has done
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: a bad job with the bills offense?
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, we, we don't need to relitigate the bills game.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: They had one of the best rushing attacks in the
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: league against a run defense that had been struggling.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: They only ran the ball 12 times.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: OK, that's a fair criticism of that.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: You know, it took him, what, five weeks to get Kincaid?
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: Like there were random games that Dalton Kincaid just wasn't involved.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: He had to get like talked into using Dalton Kincaid again.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: Has Joe Brady done a good job with the Bills
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: offense or is Josh Allen just going to look good?
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: No matter what you call, because he's a good player.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, so now Josh Allen's that good.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Yes, this is what I've always said.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: You're kind of trapped here because you have to either
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: admit that Joe Brady is good or you have to
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: admit that Josh Allen is good. I mean, they're the
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: number one scoring offense in football. I don't think Josh
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Allen is as good as he gets talked about sometimes.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: I don't think.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Josh Allen is because he gets talked about sometimes. But
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: I've said this numerous times to you. The Bills also
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: hold Josh Allen back because they think he's that good
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: and they ask him to do what is realistically too much.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Okay. So in summary, though, they face three, I think,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: really good schemers, play callers, whatever you want to call
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: them on offense. Oh, they will after they play Ben
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Johnson tomorrow night. So Ben Johnson, Liam Cohn, Joe Brady.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: You clearly have Joe Brady third out of three there. Yes.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I can hear that in your voice. How close do
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: you think the gap is between him and Ben Johnson
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: and Liam Cohn? Liam Cohn did have the advantage. Now
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the Patriots has played bad everywhere in Jacksonville, to be fair. Uh,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: so I don't know how much I put that necessarily
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: on Zach core that they just kind of had a
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: dud of a game. Uh, but that was the last
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: experience that we have kind of against what you would
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: call an elite play caller.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: And he's, well, what about, what about your guy? Clint Kubiak?
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: He's good. I don't know if he has the horses though.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Like, I mean, besides Brock Bowers, like what's he really
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: working with?
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: That's fair. Yeah, no, I mean, it's it's a really
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: good test for.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: For Zach or it is the last thing on the
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Bears offense. And then we'll talk a little bit about
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: the Bears defense before the break. Some of the things
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: that have been tripping up, Caleb, are some of those
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: tricky cover twos that I always, you know, hype up
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: with the Patriots. disguise coverage post-snap rotation but split safety
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: shell and specifically uh that's why is a dot so
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: low is because he's seeing all these you know too
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: high safeties and uh they're trying to take away the
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: deep shots he's very similar to may in the aspect
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: of they all they both want to throw verticals outside
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the numbers like that's that's the deep balls that they
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: want to throw are those one-on-one shots outside the numbers
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: or in play extension mode right like in scramble drills
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: So if you take away outside the numbers by clouding
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the field, then they're kind of forcing Caleb to throw
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: these dink and dunk passes. Now he's done it at
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: a very effective level. I think he leads the league
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: in completion percentage and it's fifth in EPA per drop back.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: So it's not like teams have stopped him completely, but yeah,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: that type of defense and that type of style, making
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: them run the ball, making them throw short passes. At
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: least it keeps it close, right? It keeps the game
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: competitive and keeps you attached on the scoreboard versus giving
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: up explosives to Chicago. So it's very similar to how
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: teams are defending Drake May right now. It's keep them
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: in the pocket. Don't let them throw the one-on-one shots
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: outside the numbers, muddy the middle of the field and
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: spin the dial on him post-snap with the coverages and
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: kind of make him just be a check down Charlie,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: like that, that that's really been their approach against him
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: really starting. I would say with Brian Flores in that
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: game again with Minnesota, uh, where I thought that they
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: gave him even with the rain, I thought that they
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: gave him some trouble schematically there. Um, moving over to
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the bears defense. This is a very weird, uh, bears
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: defense from a statistical splits perspective. They are one of
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the worst defenses in football on first and second down.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: but they are one of the best defenses in football
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: on third down. So like we were talking about earlier,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: how a lot of the Shanahan tree guys just want
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: to stay at a third down completely. This is a game.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: If you're the Patriots where you kind of just want
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: to stay at a third down completely on offense. And
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Drake may kind of alluded to it yesterday when I
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: asked him about it. And he said, you got to
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: be good on first and second down. They give up
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: a ton of explosive pass plays. They don't really stop
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: the run. Well, They don't really stop play action well.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: So if you can stay out of third and long
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: against the Chicago defense, you can really move the football
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: against his defense. If you get into that Dennis Allen
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: pressure package on third down, that's where teams have really struggled.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: This reminds me now it was earlier in the year.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: The Jaguars were the same way going into that game.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: You heard it there in the open talking about the
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: run game last week. This is where that's going to
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: be so important. if you can run the ball consistently
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: get into even just second and five, right. Second and six, that's,
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: it's going to go a long way in helping sustain drives.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: You can't be in second and eight, second and 10 predictable.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: Now you're in third and seven and now the bears
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: get to do what they want to do on third down.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: So it's, you know, just like offensively or, you know, yeah.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: Like you said, you want to kind of stay out
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: of it and that starts on early downs. So, I'll
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: be interested to see if they can replicate the success
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: they had running the ball last week because that's going
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: to be the easiest way to do that. If they
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: can get– they averaged 5.1 yards per carry on first
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: down last week.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: They only had one negative run in 15 tries on
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: first down. If they can do that again, they should
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: be in pretty good shape.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: If you're averaging second and five– because even if– part
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: of what makes some teams really good on third downs,
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: you look at it, The average distance to go is
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: much longer.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: They're not good on.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Third downs because they're just third down lock in. It's
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: because where the average team is seeing third and four,
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: they're seeing third and seven, right? So if you can
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: at least get to third and two, third and three,
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: that third down defense isn't going to look quite as scary.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: So they got to replicate the first down success they
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: had against the Jets.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's a great point. And just to put
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: numbers to it, they're the second best third down defense
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: in football right now, 25.8%, just really impressive number. On
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: first and second down, they're 29th in EPA per play
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: right now. So they are a bottom five early down defense.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: The other thing that, you know, really looking under the
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: hood with the numbers, their play action defense is also horrid.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: They're 28th in the league in EPA per play against
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: play action passes. I watched that green Bay game a
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago where the Packers blew them out.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Here's Jordan loves stats on play action passes in that game.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: 10 for 11. 228 yards in a touchdown on play
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: action passes against this bears defense. So you can really
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: shred them with big plays through the air off play action. Like,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: like a green Bay did, you can really run the
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: ball on them. Uh, this is one of those games
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: where I wouldn't say the run game element is probably
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: a weakness on weakness kind of matchup, but the bears
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: inability to stop explosive passes and Drake May's ability to
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: to throw explosive passes is certainly a strength on weakness
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: for the Patriots. So I I'm looking for this game to,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: I think Drake may is going to make plays in
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: this game. I think he's going to have opportunities to
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: push the ball down the field. against this bears defense.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: And I, you know, in summary about this and then
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: after the break, we'll get into key matchups.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: I picked, I got, I got one more number for you.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Okay. I picked 3330 in this game. Like, I think
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: we're going to get some points in this game because I,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: I think both offenses have levers that they can pull
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: that might give the opposing defenses some problems. So I
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: expect Caleb and Drake may to have a little bit
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: of a shootout tomorrow night. What was the last number
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: you had?
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: I just real quick to off what you said.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: It, If you can be sustainable on first and second down,
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: it makes that play action that much more effective. I
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: know you don't really believe in this, but I do.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: Play action on second and three when you can realistically
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: run the ball is a lot more effective than play
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: action on second and ten. So staying ahead of schedule
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: is only going to make that better. Just to put
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: the ball on my point from before, average distance to
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: go on third down for defenses in the NFL, the
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: league average is like high six. The Bears are second
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: in the NFL. their opponents average eight yards to go
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: on third down. That's massive. Cause they're, that's a high number.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: They're either getting them into third and long, or they're
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: giving up a 50 yard play on. And I will
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: say in between.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: Real, you want to look very briefly ahead to the
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: Patriots on Thursday night game, you know, who's ahead of them.
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: So it's the bears at an even eight. Oh, there's
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: a couple of teams at seven, nine. The Vikings are
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: at nine too.
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: That defense is incredible.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: That's, that's disgusting.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Brian Flores.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: My goodness.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that defense is incredible.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: Another one that I wish was a longer week so
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: we could really dig into it, but we'll deal with
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: that one again.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, last point. I know I keep saying that, but
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: this is my last point, I promise. Part of the
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: reason why I.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: I am harping so much on the early down stuff,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Alex is because this is a good way to protect
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: your offensive line too. Like if you have a bunch
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: of backup offensive linemen, like running the football is always
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the way to go. Like, cause you're going to get
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: effort from those guys, right?
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Like you're especially given the kind of players those guys
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: are for this team.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And prior is a prior. He's a wide, big dude,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: you know, like run blocker.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Like that's what he does. if you can run the
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: ball and then a lot of the play action schemes
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: that green Bay was using. And I, I put these
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: in my written game preview on Patriots.com. A lot of
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: it is like two and three receiver routes, right? Like
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: they're just, they're putting six, seven guys into the past
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: protection and they're only sending like two or three guys
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: down the field. So like, that's a perfect way to
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: protect your offensive line. Like we're going to establish a
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: line of scrimmage in the run game. And then when
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: we do pass, we're not going to drop back pass
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: on third down where we have to send five out
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: into the pattern. We're actually just going to be able
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: to send two or three guys down the field, leave
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: the tight ends in, leave the back in and really
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: load up the protection. Dennis Allen's blitz package on third
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: down is highly effective. They'd run a lot of simulated pressures.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: It's similar to the Patriots. They play a lot of
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: quarters behind it though. And Kyler Gordon had those three
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: sacks last week. I know everybody's talking about what the strip,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: the two strip sacks specifically, that's the type of game
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: you do not want to get against the bears defense.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Do not let this become a drop back passing game,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: especially with backups on the interior of your offensive line.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: If you can run the football defensively, stay ahead of
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: the chains, play action, pass off the run game. They're
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: going to put up points. If they get into third
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: and long, uh, like the bears can do against teams
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: like they did last week for a lot of that
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: game against Atlanta. That's when the Patriots are going to
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: have issues offensively, I think, in this game. So it
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: will be a good matchup on both sides. Dennis Allen
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: and Josh McDaniels, two old heads. Is that fair to
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: call them both old heads at this point?
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's fair.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: They've been doing it a long time. And then, you know,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Ben Johnson and Zach Corr on the other side of
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: the ball when the Bears have it.
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: We're going to do key matchups after the break.
• 33:44
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  Speaker 1: vehicle of the New England Patriots. Toyota, let's go to Chicago.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: I've been to Chicago a couple times. I am looking
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: forward to it. The last time that we went, we
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: went to the Bean. And I got to say, I
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: thought it was a little tad bit overrated. Are you welcome? Yeah,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay, it's a sculpture that's a piece
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: of metal. I don't know.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: What did you think it was?
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Nothing. I don't know. I kind of was along for
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: the ride, honestly. I just was like, all right, wherever
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: you guys want to go is fine with me. It
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: wasn't worth it. It's all right.
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: You got to see it at least once, but once
• 36:43
  Speaker 6: you see it, take a picture, you're done.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: I know. I really want to go to a Bulls game,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: even though they're, you know, so-so basketball team right now.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: But I just have always wanted to go see a
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: Bulls game in Chicago. And we never seem to hit
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: it at a time where we can go to a
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Bulls game, which is a little bit disappointing. But anyways,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: let's get into key matchups. And I had a kind
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: of a tough time this week with my key matchups, Alex.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: I feel like this is such a this is so
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: much more of a big picture kind of game, you know,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: schemes and short week. And like, I, I don't really
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: feel like this is like truly a key matchups kind
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: of game. Uh, but one of the themes that I,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: I was hammering home and want to hammer, hammer home is,
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: When you play on a short week and you're banged
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: up across the roster like this, the big dogs got
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: to eat. The stars got to come to play. This
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: is one of those games where, starting with my first
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: key matchup, A.J. Brown versus Jalen Johnson, the Bears' top cornerback. A.J.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Brown has to have a bounce-back game. Romeo Dobbs is
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: now on injured reserve. They're down two starting guards. You
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: need your number one wide receiver to earn his paycheck
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: on Thursday night. and have himself a game. I kind
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: of expect it to happen. I think that he'll bounce back.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: I think it's prime time. I think that he knows, uh,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: you know, that he didn't play well, uh, last week, but, uh,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: Jalen Johnson, as much as he's got brand recognition, he's
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: actually struggled a little bit this year. Uh, PFF right
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: now has him 94th out of 101 qualified cornerbacks. and
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: pff grab not the biggest pff grade guy but when
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: a guy is 94th that is supposed to be uh
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: one of the top corners you know in the league
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: uh that's a notable number uh but in general it's
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: more about aj brown here they need aj brown to
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: look like aj brown.
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah how about just aj brown versus aj brown yeah
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: as a key matchup just put last week behind you
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: and go out and win You know, he's had big
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: games against the Bears before. We know he can do it.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: He's just got to put those drops behind him and
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: go out and play ball. And if he does, he
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: can have a big game.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: I think, in this one.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. They just gave Jalen Johnson an extension,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: not a Christian Gonzalez level extension, but a four year,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: $ 76 million contract extension. So not nothing, you know, he
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: got a pretty nice raise in extension there in Chicago.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: So far this season, Jalen Johnson, 73.1 completion rate into
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: his coverage. 73.1 for a guy that is supposed to
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: be like your number one corner, 115.1 passer rating against. So, uh, again,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: name recognition, good player in the past. Hasn't been playing
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: particularly well. Kind of sounds like the guy on the page.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: that he's going to be going up against, right. You know,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: so it's a very similar, uh, we talked to AJ
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Brown yesterday and he didn't really want to talk too
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: much about last week. He was sort of flushing it
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: onto the next. He did mention that his ankle feels
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: good coming off the game. And that he felt like
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: it's actually the bumps and bruises from playing in a
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: football game that are on his mind right now, not
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: the ankle. He also said that I did ask him, like,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: did it, was it at all silver lining or encouraging
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: that you were open a lot in the game? You
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: just didn't finish the play. You know, you didn't make
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the catches. And he said he kind of agreed with
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: that premise, that line of thinking. He said that getting
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: open is the hardest part. So it wasn't that he
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: wasn't getting open. So that's encouraging. But I thought overall
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: yesterday he sounded like a guy that was kind of
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: determined to put last week behind him and show what
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: he could do on Thursday night. I mentioned this in
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: our preview as well, but remember last year, how digs
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: just always played well in these primetime games, like Buffalo, Baltimore,
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: the jets, a game was a Thursday night game, like
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: all of these primetime games. I feel like the, those
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: star players like that, this is when they, they really
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: come out and put on a show. So let's see
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: it from AJ Brown. The second key matchup I had
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: was just bolted tackles. Like they don't have Montez sweat
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: in this game. So that that's big, but his replacement
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: last week, Daniel Hardy had a pretty big game against
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Atlanta has six pressures. He had a sack. So whether
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: it's Loma or Moses over there on the right side,
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: On the left side for Campbell, I've always liked Austin Booker.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: I liked him coming out of the draft. I think
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: that he's a pretty good player. Kind of reminds me
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: a little bit of Ponder, like a longer, like sort
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: of speed rusher off the edge. I could see him,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: you know, just from a body type standpoint, he's got
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: some length. He's got longer strides, a little bit taller.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: I could see him being a little bit of a
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: difficult matchup for Will Campbell in this game. But, you know,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: those are two guys I think, you know, on the
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: edges that they have to worry about a little bit
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: this week.
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, this is it's a good rush, even without sweat.
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: And like you said, they're going to need time against
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: this Bears defense. So big game for for those guys.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Last one for me. And then if you have any, uh,
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: feel free to chime in.
• 41:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Uh, darn all right. Versus Draymond Jones is like an
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: old school football brawl. This is, those are two, those
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: are two heavy handed customers that are going to be
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: going up against one another. Uh, right. As really developed
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: into one of the best right tackles in football. Uh,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: they obviously for good reason, uh, run it right behind
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: him a lot as I would probably too, with how
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: effective he is as a run blocker. Draymond Jones has
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: been great setting the edge. Uh, they usually line him
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: up on the strong side. I assume he's going to
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: be overwrite a lot in this game to try to
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: set the edge of the defense. You're going to get
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: a lot of outside zone, probably to the right side. Uh,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: but this is, uh, if you want to see two
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: guys that are going to, uh, be in like a
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: heavy weight bout, uh, those two guys are going to
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: be squaring up on Thursday night.
• 42:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: I'm curious.
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: So for mine, I'm curious, who do you think Gonzalez
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: gets a doomsday or burden?
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: It's a good question. You know, burden, they haven't played.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: He doesn't play a ton. He like he played, he
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: has high volume, but.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: He's kind of what digs was here last year.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Cause they play them in three receiver sets and they
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: play them out of the slot. When they go to
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: 11 personnel, uh, Cleve Raymond plays a lot more on,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: on their base, like 12 personnel packages right now than burden.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: So like burden to me is a perfect Marcus Jones
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: kind of guy. Like it's just a speed on speed
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: thing and a inside, you know, slot receiver type of thing.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: I would say I probably expect Gonzalez to play a
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: little bit more on a doomsday in this game. But,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: you know, one of the other kind of under the
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: hood numbers with Caleb Williams, teams are terrified to play
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: man coverage against Caleb Williams. He's the second lowest man
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: coverage rate in football because they're worried about the play
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: extension and the scrambles, right? So they don't play a
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: ton of man coverage against him. The Patriots do play
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: a ton of man coverage, especially when Gonzalez is healthy.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: So how does that chess match work itself out? I
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: think is important in this game as well.
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: So just say Gonzalez on whoever on that top receiver,
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: and then just what are they going to do against
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: Colson Loveland? They still have these issues covering tight ends.
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: Not really a key matchup. I guess these are more questions, but.
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: The coverage matchups are going to be interesting. I don't
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: think there's as clear of a pattern as maybe some
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: of the other games the Patriots have played this year,
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: even with Gonzalez back. Do you put Gonzalez on Loveland?
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: Now, I do think it's interesting.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: When Vrabel talked about Brock Bowers two weeks ago, he
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: did the whole Belichick-Travis Kelsey. Well, he's really a receiver,
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: and you've got to treat him like that. He talked
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: about Loveland like a tight end. I don't have the
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: exact quote in front of me, Evan. I don't know
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: if you remember it, but Mentioned, like, his ability to
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: create in-line, his ability as a blocker. I wouldn't hate,
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: in theory, putting a tight corner on Loveland. I don't
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: know if he's the kind of player you can do
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: that against, though, like Bowers.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an interesting matchup. And Loveland has kind of
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: had an underwhelming start here to the season. He really
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: came on late in the year last year and in
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: the playoffs for them. And I think everybody thought that
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: this year he was just going to absolutely explode. And
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: it hasn't really happened yet with him.
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: But.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: He, I completely agree with variables assessment of him as
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: a player. I think he's definitely more of a traditional
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: wide tight end than like a Brock Bowers or, you know,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey, like he can move around and they'll detach
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: him sometimes, but he can block, like he can put
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: his hand in the dirt and block. He can block
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: in college too. Like this isn't like a new thing
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: with him. He's a much better blocker than he gets
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: credit for. I think sometimes, cause he is so dynamic
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: and athletic as a receiver. I am very curious how
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: the Patriots generally speaking, match the Bills' offensive personnel. because
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: the bill or the bills, the bears, the bears, uh,
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: they run just as much too tight end as pretty
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: much anybody in the league. They run a lot of
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: 13 personnel too, with three tight ends on the field. Uh, it's,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: they are all bought in on that. Uh, they're, they
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: have the second highest rate of two tight end sets
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: in football, but the highest is the Raiders who are
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: doing it with Brock Bowers. And it's like kind of
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: a different thing, right? So they're really like the number
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: one team in traditional football, Two tight end sets and
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: the Patriots are near the top of the league and
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: how much nickel defense they run and how much three
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: corner nickel specifically they run with Marcus Jones in the slot.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: I don't feel great about the Patriots matching the Bears
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: to tight end and three tight end personnel groupings. in
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: three corner nickel. Like I, I think you're going to
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: get Marcus Jones on tight ends. I think you're going
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: to get advantages for the bears in the running game.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: I think the Patriots are going to be too light
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: in that personnel grouping. So what do you do? Do
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: you run base? Do you run three safety nickel? And
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: this is a big Jalen Reed game. Uh, those are
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: things that I think that they're probably working out right
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: now because the pats want to play in three corner nickel.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: Cause those three corners are great. Like that's where they're
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: at their best. Can they stop the bears run game?
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: And if Loveland or even Cole commit, who's a beast
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: get matched up on their DBS, like, is that a
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: matchup that they're going to be able to have, you know,
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: a heavyweight fight, they're going to be able to win.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: So I'm very curious to see holistically just how the
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: Patriots line up against the bears defensively. This kind of
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: takes them a little bit out of their comfort zone
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: defensively when they play in three quarter nickel, they're dynamite.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: They're one of the best defenses in football. Their base defense,
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: there's three safety, which they've done a little bit of.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: That hasn't been quite as effective. So time to see
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: what they do against an offense like this. I'm really
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: curious about it. Like Loveland's an interesting matchup for them.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: You know, I think at times both Woodson and Bayard
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: have struggled a little bit on tight ends this season.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: They haven't always gotten burned by it, but I think
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: that they've struggled away from the ball at times too.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: So is this finally the game where Jalen Reed really
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: makes an impact? You know, is that the player that
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: they use against him? If Carlton Davis is back in
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: this game, do they bring Carlton Davis inside a little bit,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: you know, and put him on over maybe over the
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: nub side of the formation where the two tight ends
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: are lined up and that way there they can kind of,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: you know, do that sort of thing. I don't know
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: what direction they go with it, but I'm fascinated to
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: see what do you think the best approach is?
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, this is one of those games.
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: I think we said this a couple weeks ago. Could
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: you get more out of a guy like Jalen Reed.
• 48:34
  Speaker 3: And is this where, you know, adding a guy like that,
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: he's been in the system now for a couple of months,
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: adding a guy like that starts to pay its dividends.
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: I think that's how you probably really want to play
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: a game like this, but it comes down to, is
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: he ready?
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: Is he up for it? And it is tough to
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: take Marcus Jones off the field.
• 48:49
  Speaker 7: It is.
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: He is such a good player. So it's, it's, it's
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: a tough one.
• 48:53
  Speaker 3: Like this is part of what makes the bears so
• 48:55
  Speaker 3: tough is that this is it.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: Like you said it there. And it's a really good point.
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: This is a real two tight end offense.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: And that doesn't mean Brock Bowers is not a good player,
• 49:08
  Speaker 3: but Brock Bowers, the wide receiver.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: This is a real legit two tight ends. They can
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: run the ball on you. They're going to line up
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: in line. It's going to be a condensed formation. Like
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: this is a real.
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: 12 personnel offense and presents more. The Raiders offense presents
• 49:27
  Speaker 3: some very unique challenges. Some of them are not consistent
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: with what you traditionally think of with like a 12
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: personnel offense. This offense presents the challenges that traditionally comes
• 49:36
  Speaker 3: with that 12 personnel look that we know so well here.
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: because of how much Josh McDaniels has used it over
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: the years.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It presents, you know, use your word though. The
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: Raiders 12 personnel presents like 11, like it presents like
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: a three wide receiver set because Bowers is 90% of
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: the time Bowers is detached from the formation. So whether
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: he's in the slaughter, he's out wide, he's a wide receiver.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: You're treating it like a 11 personnel offense. This is
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: a true 12. Like this is true to tight end
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: quarterback under center, uh, type of offense. And it's a
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: different kind of unique challenge. Uh, the last thing I
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: would say about that before we wrap it up as
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: just a way to kind of defend it. I wonder
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: if they almost invert the structure and put Marcus Jones
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: kind of at safety in the deep part of the field.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: to keep him on the field, but then have Craig
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: Woodson and Kevin Byard as the guys that are playing
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: down in the box.
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: And sort of like switch it that way. So it
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: probably would be like, uh, you know, still nickel, uh,
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: in three corner nickel at that, but you're getting maybe
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit bigger, uh, bodies like in Woodson and
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Bayard closer to the line of scrimmage versus having Marcus
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Jones in the nickel spot. I love Marcus Jones as
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: a player, but knowing Ben Johnson, if you put a
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: 180 pound nickel on the field against him, when they
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: have two tight ends on the field, he is going
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: to run the ball right at him. You know, and
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: like Marcus Jones does a great job of holding up
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: at that size in the run game. But we talked
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: about it at the top of the show with the bears,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: they're committed to it. Like they're not, this is not Buffalo.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: They're not going to get duped out of stopping the run,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: like stopping running the football. They're going to keep running it.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: And so eventually that that's going to wear on the
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Patriots if they are too small defensively. So really interesting matchup,
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: a really fun one. Uh, we're going to be back
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: on this show on Tuesday.
• 51:33
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: It's going to be a little bit of a layoff.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: We had this with the Seahawks game too. It's kind
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: of weird that we're going to come back almost a
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: week later and talk about the game. But we're going
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: to talk about this game next Tuesday on Catch 22.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: We'll go back to Tuesday, Thursday with the Patriots back, thankfully,
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: on a Sunday game next week in Miami, going down
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: to Miami again. So that'll be fun. That's it for
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: here on Catch 22. Patriots Unfiltered is up in five minutes. Barty,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: thanks again for tuning in remotely for us. Will I
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: see you next week, hopefully? Yeah, if I'm not.
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: Back next week, I mean, that says it. bigger problems
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: but yeah i should.
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: Be that's the goal that's the goal of the sea
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: of next week so we'll see you guys next week
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: on catch 22 uh patriots unfiltered is coming up next bye.
• 52:23
  Speaker 6: Hey this is deuce thanks for tuning into the show
• 52:25
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• 52:27
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• 52:36
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