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Patriots Catch-22 10/29: Trade Deadline, Dolphins Preview, Matchups to Watch · Patriots Catch-22

0:03
Speaker 1: This is the Patriots Catch 22 podcast with Evan Lazar
0:06
Speaker 1: and Alex Barth.
0:07
Speaker 2: I'm Evan Lazar. I'm Evan Lazar. I'm Evan Lazar. Hello, everybody.
0:10
Speaker 2: Nailed it. Joined as always by our bar.
0:13
Speaker 1: That's a fit.
0:14
Speaker 2: That's a match. No risk it. No risk it.
0:16
Speaker 3: 22.
0:17
Speaker 1: Here is Evan Lazar and Alex Barth.
0:19
Speaker 2: We were going to learn a lot about Drake May
0:22
Speaker 2: mentally and whether or not he was going to bounce back.
0:25
Speaker 2: Rough playoffs, rough Super Bowl, rough start to the season.
0:30
Speaker 2: Was he going to be able to bounce back and
0:32
Speaker 2: get through the other side of it? He's done it.
0:34
Speaker 2: The last month of the season. Drake may from an
0:37
Speaker 2: EPA standpoint is the most efficient passer in football. Despite
0:41
Speaker 2: the fact that he started poorly, he's now fifth in
0:44
Speaker 2: EPA per drop back for the entire season.
0:46
Speaker 1: Yeah.
0:47
Speaker 2: So he's gone from being a guy that we all
0:50
Speaker 2: were like, this is not good. Maybe he's broken to
0:53
Speaker 2: now back to being basically a top five quarterback from
0:57
Speaker 2: an efficiency standpoint, even with the first three games baked
1:00
Speaker 2: into that. What's up, everybody?
1:08
Speaker 1: Hello.
1:08
Speaker 2: How are we doing? It's Evan Lazar. It's Alex Parth.
1:11
Speaker 2: I'm annoyed with you right now. You're really rattled. I
1:13
Speaker 2: just made a joke. You're really rattled. That was not
1:16
Speaker 2: a joke.
1:16
Speaker 1: That was a joke.
1:17
Speaker 2: That was not a joke. You mansplaining what Seven Nation
1:21
Speaker 2: Army is to me is, like, honestly... We are from
1:26
Speaker 2: the same era. We grew up at the same time.
1:29
Speaker 1: You're very proud of the fact that you don't listen
1:31
Speaker 1: to music.
1:31
Speaker 2: I'm not proud of it. You seem proud of it. No,
1:34
Speaker 2: it's just like, oh my God. When he gets here early, Ace,
1:38
Speaker 2: this is what happens. Like, he just starts to get
1:42
Speaker 2: on my nerves. Like, especially, like, at, like, 9 a.m.
1:46
Speaker 2: in the morning. Like, it's too early for this.
1:49
Speaker 4: We just had the whole hour to drive and think
1:52
Speaker 4: about how to piss you off.
1:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just, oh, my goodness. Like, you know, there's a, like,
1:58
Speaker 2: girls say all the time, like, how annoying it is
2:00
Speaker 2: when you get mansplained to. I never really have felt
2:03
Speaker 2: that phenomenon until just now.
2:05
Speaker 4: Right.
2:06
Speaker 2: And now I totally sympathize. And if I ever do
2:09
Speaker 2: that to Jess again, I give her permission to be
2:13
Speaker 2: mad at me or whatever because that was brutal. That
2:18
Speaker 2: was awful. All right. Anyways, let's get back on the rails.
2:21
Speaker 2: Just wanted to make sure you're filled in. Let's get
2:23
Speaker 2: back on the rails. uh, here a little bit. Uh,
2:26
Speaker 2: you know, I, we can filibuster a little bit at
2:29
Speaker 2: the beginning of this show, Alex, because, uh, you know,
2:31
Speaker 2: the dolphins, I'm not trying to overlook any opponent. Uh,
2:35
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to, this isn't college football or sometimes
2:38
Speaker 2: like a team like Alabama or whatever schedules, like an
2:42
Speaker 2: FCS game early in the season. Like it's the NFL. Like,
2:45
Speaker 2: you know, did they have talent? Teams have talent, uh,
2:48
Speaker 2: any given Sunday, all that good stuff. Uh, but there
2:51
Speaker 2: isn't a ton to, uh, glom onto with this Dolphins game.
2:55
Speaker 2: I want to talk Dolphins, though. I want to talk
2:58
Speaker 2: trade deadline. I know that's a hot-button topic right now,
3:01
Speaker 2: and that's where I want to start. Obviously, a couple
3:04
Speaker 2: different directions we could go on with the trade deadline.
3:07
Speaker 2: DeForest Buckner and Quentin Nelson already get moved from Indianapolis.
3:12
Speaker 2: I know there are some Patriots fans that wish they
3:14
Speaker 2: were in, at least on Quentin Nelson, on those trades.
3:18
Speaker 2: What were... Where were you at now that the Quentin
3:22
Speaker 2: Nelson thing is already done to Seattle? Where were you
3:26
Speaker 2: at with trading for Quentin Nelson? Or I would just
3:30
Speaker 2: say in general, like a guard of that caliber that
3:33
Speaker 2: carries that kind of salary and that draft capital and
3:36
Speaker 2: that kind of player.
3:36
Speaker 1: I mean, so what was it? It was a third
3:38
Speaker 1: and a fifth, right?
3:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, third next year in 2027 and then a fifth
3:42
Speaker 2: in 2028.
3:42
Speaker 1: So that's a little less than I thought it would be.
3:45
Speaker 1: It's still not nothing. And remember, you have to top that.
3:48
Speaker 1: it's not also putting out a third and a fifth
3:51
Speaker 1: it's third and a fifth. And like, how are you?
3:53
Speaker 1: So third and fourth are both picks this year. Would
3:56
Speaker 1: it help? However, that manifests itself. But I don't think
4:00
Speaker 1: the Patriots need to add a top 10 guard in
4:03
Speaker 1: the league to answer it. Like that would be not like,
4:06
Speaker 1: ideally you want a top 10 player in the league
4:08
Speaker 1: at every position. That'd be great.
4:09
Speaker 2: Right.
4:10
Speaker 1: That's not how it works. And you're just not going
4:13
Speaker 1: to have, no team is ever going to have that.
4:16
Speaker 1: So yeah, With what they've invested financially, draft pick-wise, other positions,
4:21
Speaker 1: it's a non-premium position. They have other needs. Would I
4:25
Speaker 1: like to see them maybe trade for a veteran guard,
4:27
Speaker 1: just a guy that adds some stability? I don't think
4:29
Speaker 1: that that would be a bad move. But, you know,
4:34
Speaker 1: there's a lot of room between trading for Quentin Nelson
4:37
Speaker 1: and not trading for a guard. So that one, honestly,
4:43
Speaker 1: between the two moves that actually made You told me
4:47
Speaker 1: all things considered age, contract, draft pick, compensation, all of it,
4:53
Speaker 1: not just who's the better player, right? I kind of
4:55
Speaker 1: would have rather the Patriots, if they were going to
4:57
Speaker 1: do one of those two, I'd rather them have done
4:58
Speaker 1: the DeForest Buckner move than the Quentin Nelson move. And
5:01
Speaker 1: I don't think they need to do the Buckner move either,
5:02
Speaker 1: but that one feels a lot more realistic than the
5:04
Speaker 1: Nelson move to me.
5:06
Speaker 2: So I just... I've been dismissive of the Quentin Nelson thing,
5:10
Speaker 2: and I think it's kind of irritated some people that
5:14
Speaker 2: I have been dismissive, was dismissive of making that move.
5:17
Speaker 2: And it wasn't so much that I don't think Quentin
5:19
Speaker 2: Nelson's a great player and that he wouldn't help this team.
5:22
Speaker 2: He's obviously a massive upgrade over, you know, the third
5:26
Speaker 2: string guys that they're rolling out right now, or even
5:28
Speaker 2: Ben Brown or, you know, Greg Van Roten, whoever is
5:31
Speaker 2: healthy and available for them. But when I look at
5:34
Speaker 2: the trade deadline from a Patriots standpoint and I try
5:38
Speaker 2: to operate in realistic terms, I start to think about
5:42
Speaker 2: redundancies on the roster. And whether we agree with it
5:46
Speaker 2: or not, whether it's an excuse that fans want to
5:49
Speaker 2: accept or not, the reality of the situation is they
5:52
Speaker 2: are paying Elijah Veritaker and Mike Onwenu starting guard money
5:57
Speaker 2: right now. And Veritaker was a big free agent addition
6:00
Speaker 2: for them. He's going to come back at some point,
6:02
Speaker 2: you would think, this season from his hamstring injury.
6:05
Speaker 1: Ben Brown's working his way back. Greg Van Roten might
6:08
Speaker 1: come back.
6:08
Speaker 2: They have $ 25 million invested in those two guys, in
6:13
Speaker 2: Vera Tucker and on Wenu, not to mention a couple
6:17
Speaker 2: million bucks on Van Roten, who they signed as a
6:20
Speaker 2: veteran when they didn't feel like they had great depth.
6:24
Speaker 2: So when you look at just the roster and the
6:26
Speaker 2: way that they've shaped this roster... giving up then significant
6:31
Speaker 2: draft capital. A third round pick is, is pretty significant
6:34
Speaker 2: for a guard and paying the 9.7 million that's left
6:38
Speaker 2: on Quentin Nelson's contract for the rest of the season.
6:41
Speaker 2: Now we're talking about, and again, I understand that for fans,
6:44
Speaker 2: they don't care about this kind of stuff, but I'm
6:46
Speaker 2: trying to think of what they're going to do. Not
6:48
Speaker 2: what I would do. Cause frankly, what I would do
6:51
Speaker 2: is not always the most important. So at 9.7 million
6:56
Speaker 2: for Quentin Nelson, uh, You add that to the $ 25- ish
6:59
Speaker 2: million that they're owing Mike Onwenu and Elijah Veritaker. You
7:03
Speaker 2: add the draft capital that they're going to have to
7:05
Speaker 2: send out for Quentin Nelson. And now we're talking about
7:08
Speaker 2: just a lot of money and resources allocated in guard.
7:13
Speaker 2: And I don't think it's the most important part of it.
7:16
Speaker 2: This is kind of like a secondary argument. But Quentin
7:19
Speaker 2: Nelson's a left guard. He's been a left guard his
7:21
Speaker 2: entire career. Elijah Veritaker was playing left guard. Now he's
7:24
Speaker 2: played a lot of right guard in his career too, AVT.
7:27
Speaker 2: So could they have switched AVT over to the right
7:29
Speaker 2: side when he came back from the injury, played Nelson
7:32
Speaker 2: at left guard? Absolutely. Like, that's probably not the reason
7:35
Speaker 2: why you don't do it. But these are all the
7:37
Speaker 2: things that I think the team calculates that when we're
7:42
Speaker 2: sitting here trying to play fantasy football and just saying, oh,
7:45
Speaker 2: I'd take that guy. Oh, I take that guy. You know,
7:47
Speaker 2: maybe that that next step of thinking of. Do you
7:51
Speaker 2: really want to have $ 35 million worth of guards on
7:54
Speaker 2: your roster? And do you really want to put out
7:56
Speaker 2: all this draft capital for that position? Both on Wenu
8:01
Speaker 2: and Quentin Nelson are free agents at the end of
8:04
Speaker 2: the year. So Quentin Nelson's a rental on top of
8:07
Speaker 2: it and is going to want a big contract if
8:10
Speaker 2: you want to retain him long term. The other one,
8:14
Speaker 2: DeForest Buckner, I think is really, really similar. They already
8:17
Speaker 2: have a lot of money invested in Milton Williams and
8:20
Speaker 2: Christian Barmore. yeah at that position and he's not Buckner
8:23
Speaker 2: great good player but he is not a pure nose
8:26
Speaker 2: tackle he is not one of those types of guys
8:29
Speaker 2: he is another penetrating three technique kind of player just
8:33
Speaker 2: like Williams and Barmore are ideally for you so could
8:37
Speaker 2: you make it work absolutely you could make it work
8:40
Speaker 2: but now you're paying three defensive tackles what I would
8:45
Speaker 2: say probably almost 70 million in salary for three defensive tackles.
8:50
Speaker 2: So it's just redundancies on the roster and just where
8:53
Speaker 2: you already are paying players a premium salary. I'll give
8:57
Speaker 2: you one last one as we sort of segue into
8:59
Speaker 2: like who we could target here away from those two trades.
9:02
Speaker 2: Josh Downs.
9:03
Speaker 3: Yeah.
9:03
Speaker 2: Josh Downs to me is a slightly better version of
9:08
Speaker 2: DeMario Douglas.
9:10
Speaker 5: Yeah.
9:11
Speaker 2: Is upgrading to Mario Douglas. Like, let's say to Mario
9:13
Speaker 2: Douglas is a B minus solid B kind of player
9:18
Speaker 2: is getting a B plus player at that position, a
9:22
Speaker 2: needle mover for this team, where now you really have,
9:26
Speaker 2: you know, everybody already wants to see more F than Chisholm.
9:29
Speaker 2: F and Chisholm is not going to play at all.
9:31
Speaker 2: If Josh and pop Douglas are here, a similar situation again,
9:36
Speaker 2: as what we were just talking about with Nelson is,
9:38
Speaker 2: josh downs pop douglas 2023 draft class classmates both free
9:43
Speaker 2: agents at the end of the year yeah so another
9:45
Speaker 2: rental so it's just like when you look at that
9:48
Speaker 2: position it's not just oh he plays wide receiver and
9:52
Speaker 2: they have two receivers like dobbs and matt collins who
9:55
Speaker 2: are not available who are on injured reserve right now
9:57
Speaker 2: they don't play the same position he plays the same
10:06
Speaker 2: I get it. Josh Downs is a fun player. He
10:08
Speaker 2: played with Drake May at North Carolina. There's a lot
10:11
Speaker 2: of reason to like tie those two things together. But
10:14
Speaker 2: does it make sense from a roster construction standpoint that
10:18
Speaker 2: they would bring in another five foot nine slot receiver
10:21
Speaker 2: at this stage of the season?
10:23
Speaker 1: I mean, and look, I don't hate the idea of
10:25
Speaker 1: reuniting Drake May and Josh Downs. We'll get to that
10:28
Speaker 1: in the off season. I don't think now's the time.
10:30
Speaker 1: I'll just say this too, as we kind of set up,
10:33
Speaker 1: trade deadline talk and while we're on the topic of
10:36
Speaker 1: the Colts, like, I feel like, I know the NFL
10:41
Speaker 1: trade deadline has gotten more involved in recent years. It's
10:44
Speaker 1: still not where baseball, basketball, and hockey are. It's just not,
10:48
Speaker 1: and it's never going to be by the nature of
10:49
Speaker 1: the sport. Like, it is so hard, especially at a
10:54
Speaker 1: number of premium positions, to just drop somebody in to
10:59
Speaker 1: assist them mid-season and expect them to produce at a
11:01
Speaker 1: high level. That's why Frankly, I think a lot of
11:04
Speaker 1: the big trade, like you look at Forrest Buckner, that's
11:06
Speaker 1: a guy going back to somewhere he's familiar. And I
11:08
Speaker 1: think you see that a good amount at the trade deadline.
11:12
Speaker 1: The exception of the rule. What's the splashiest trade deadline
11:16
Speaker 1: in the last five years?
11:18
Speaker 2: Like in totality or told for one team for one team.
11:22
Speaker 6: Yeah.
11:23
Speaker 1: What's the one team that went forward at the trade deadline?
11:26
Speaker 2: The Colts last year.
11:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
11:27
Speaker 3: Yeah.
11:28
Speaker 1: How's that going?
11:28
Speaker 7: Yeah.
11:30
Speaker 1: It's not a sport that's conducive to that.
11:33
Speaker 2: I think corner is the one position where I think
11:36
Speaker 2: you maybe can do it.
11:37
Speaker 1: Corner probably is.
11:38
Speaker 2: Because you're literally just saying, hey, you got this guy
11:40
Speaker 2: or you got this side of the field or whatever.
11:43
Speaker 2: Especially for outside corners.
11:45
Speaker 1: That's true, but those massive trades just don't happen in
11:49
Speaker 1: the NFL as much to begin with, and it's so
11:50
Speaker 1: hard to do it at the deadline. But for people
11:53
Speaker 1: talking about doing that at running back or at guard
11:55
Speaker 1: or at receiver, some of these positions that really require...
12:00
Speaker 1: that kind of cohesion, it's really tough to do. It's
12:04
Speaker 1: really tough to do. And if you give up that
12:07
Speaker 1: massive capital at this point, again, look at where the
12:12
Speaker 1: Colts are now.
12:13
Speaker 2: I think the only reason why you give up massive
12:15
Speaker 2: capital at this point is if there's term on the
12:17
Speaker 2: contract with the player. Like it's not like you acquired
12:20
Speaker 2: sauce Gardner as the Colts. And I know it hasn't
12:22
Speaker 2: worked out for them record wise, but you acquired multiple
12:26
Speaker 2: years of control on sauce. Like you have sauce Gardner
12:30
Speaker 2: on your team. You know, these trades that we're talking
12:32
Speaker 2: about with the Colts today, Buckner, Nelson, Josh downs, those
12:36
Speaker 2: are rentals, right? You know, Buckner, I think might be
12:39
Speaker 2: under contract, but Nelson and Josh downs are rentals. So
12:42
Speaker 2: that's a little bit different. You know, I, I just
12:44
Speaker 2: getting back to the roster building aspect of all of this.
12:49
Speaker 2: when I look at the Patriots options or like what
12:51
Speaker 2: they could maybe do at the trade deadline, I'm really
12:54
Speaker 2: looking at three key positions that might not be the
12:58
Speaker 2: splashiest type of move, but would help shore up some
13:04
Speaker 2: holes or weaknesses on the roster. I think the biggest
13:07
Speaker 2: one to me, and I I've been on this for
13:09
Speaker 2: a while is nose tackle. Like, can you go out
13:12
Speaker 2: and I, you know, Grover Stewart's the name that immediately
13:14
Speaker 2: comes to mind just because the Colts are selling everybody.
13:17
Speaker 2: as a veteran player on their roster. Can you go
13:21
Speaker 2: out and trade for, again, this would not take a lot.
13:24
Speaker 2: Like you could maybe get Grover Stewart for like a
13:26
Speaker 2: six round pick, a fifth round pick, something like that
13:29
Speaker 2: on day three of the draft. And Grover Stewart comes in, he,
13:33
Speaker 2: for 10 games, for nine games, he stuffs the run
13:36
Speaker 2: for you on the inside. Like a defensive line of
13:39
Speaker 2: bar more Grover Stewart, Milton Williams on early downs is
13:43
Speaker 2: a lot more stout than what they're working with right now.
13:45
Speaker 2: And it also puts, Corey dirted in a spot that
13:48
Speaker 2: he's now the fourth guy in that rotation, which is
13:51
Speaker 2: probably where he belongs as well. So it just is
13:54
Speaker 2: their run. Defense has struggled at times. Their interior run
13:58
Speaker 2: defense has not been great. And that just is a,
14:01
Speaker 2: a weakness or a hole on the Patriots team where
14:04
Speaker 2: they don't really have a player or a body type.
14:07
Speaker 2: That's similar to somebody like Grover Stewart. Yeah. I know
14:09
Speaker 2: like the, the apex of this would be going out
14:12
Speaker 2: and trading for Vita VEA, but I don't know if
14:15
Speaker 2: he's available. I don't, you know, I don't know what
14:17
Speaker 2: that situation is. His contract this year is kind of reasonable,
14:20
Speaker 2: but he's on the books for big money next year
14:23
Speaker 2: after he signed that little mini extension to get him,
14:26
Speaker 2: you know, a sweetener to make him happy in Tampa Bay.
14:29
Speaker 2: That's a terrible division. There are two and five Baker
14:32
Speaker 2: Mayfield's back and it's a horrible division, right? So maybe
14:35
Speaker 2: they feel like they can still make a, a, a
14:37
Speaker 2: push for, for the division. So I don't know if
14:40
Speaker 2: that's an option. I'm sure there's other big run stuffers,
14:45
Speaker 2: block eaters that I'm not thinking about that are also
14:48
Speaker 2: maybe potentially available. A couple of the other spots that
14:51
Speaker 2: I'm looking at, guard is still on the table. Absolutely.
14:56
Speaker 2: But I don't know if it's Quentin Nelson level. It
14:58
Speaker 2: might be somebody... That's a little bit further down the
15:01
Speaker 2: pecking order than a Quentin Nelson. But if they went
15:04
Speaker 2: out and traded for a guard because then when it
15:06
Speaker 2: was not coming back and they'd kind of rather Ben
15:08
Speaker 2: Brown swing inside and not necessarily be a full-time starter
15:12
Speaker 2: and you get Vera Tucker back at some point, I'm
15:15
Speaker 2: all for it. The last one I think that is
15:17
Speaker 2: kind of sneaky is, is there a blocking tight end available?
15:22
Speaker 3: Yeah.
15:22
Speaker 2: Is there a Julian Hill replacement, which I don't think
15:24
Speaker 2: they ever have really gotten to. you know, I think
15:28
Speaker 2: a lot too is like the closest that they've gotten. Uh,
15:31
Speaker 2: but watching their tight ends in the run game, everybody
15:34
Speaker 2: wants to get this run game going. A big reason
15:37
Speaker 2: why they've struggled running the football is because they can't
15:39
Speaker 2: block the edges with the tight ends.
15:41
Speaker 4: Right.
15:41
Speaker 2: So they're getting those double teams going on duo and
15:44
Speaker 2: things like that. And the tight ends are backside one-on-one
15:47
Speaker 2: on these edges and the edges are caving in, you know, uh, the, um,
15:51
Speaker 2: from the outside and they're kind of caving in the
15:53
Speaker 2: run scheme. So like, can they go out and get
15:56
Speaker 2: a true Y in line blocking tight end? That is
16:00
Speaker 2: not going to cost you a lot. It's not that
16:01
Speaker 2: contract's not going to be a lot. And in the
16:04
Speaker 2: draft pick cap and compensation is not going to be
16:07
Speaker 2: a lot. Last one, off ball linebacker, middle linebacker. Like,
16:12
Speaker 2: can you go out and get a third linebacker that
16:15
Speaker 2: allows you to be a little bit better in base defense?
16:18
Speaker 2: Cause I think one of the things they're struggling with
16:19
Speaker 2: right now is teams putting big people on the field,
16:23
Speaker 2: and getting matchups against their defensive back, specifically Marcus Jones,
16:27
Speaker 2: you know, for their tight ends. You know, we've seen
16:29
Speaker 2: this a couple of times now. The Raiders, the Bears
16:32
Speaker 2: last week with Colston Loveland. Like, can they go out
16:35
Speaker 2: and get a true base package going by adding another linebacker? Like,
16:41
Speaker 2: those are the things that I look at. Again, it's
16:44
Speaker 2: not sexy, it's not splashy, like trading for Jonathan Taylor
16:48
Speaker 2: would be or Quentin Nelson would be. But where they're
16:51
Speaker 2: at right now, I feel like those are like the
16:53
Speaker 2: more realistic ones. Do you have any names you want
16:57
Speaker 2: to float?
16:58
Speaker 1: Well, just a couple more positions. You didn't say edge
16:59
Speaker 1: rusher in there, did you?
17:00
Speaker 2: I did not.
17:01
Speaker 1: So, and it doesn't have to be Max Crosby, but
17:05
Speaker 1: I look at Elijah Ponder's usage rate is pushing almost 80%.
17:08
Speaker 1: Gabe Ackes is right around 60. Draymond Jones, I think,
17:12
Speaker 1: would be higher if he hadn't been as banged up,
17:14
Speaker 1: but he's been banged up. They don't have anybody else.
17:17
Speaker 1: And that's usually a position. There's only like, 10 or
17:20
Speaker 1: 12 guys in the league each year that have a
17:23
Speaker 1: usage rate over 70%. Asking Elijah Ponder to play 80%
17:27
Speaker 1: of the snaps. Not that he's not good, but that's
17:30
Speaker 1: just a massive physical workload. And that can wear down
17:34
Speaker 1: a guy, especially a guy that's never played that much
17:35
Speaker 1: football before. You want to build up to that. He
17:37
Speaker 1: only played 20% of the snaps last year as a rookie.
17:40
Speaker 1: And same for Akis as a rookie. Just getting another
17:44
Speaker 1: guy in the rotation to balance the workload and make
17:47
Speaker 1: sure those guys are fresh for the stretch run. And
17:49
Speaker 1: just to throw another look at an imposing offense. Again,
17:51
Speaker 1: doesn't he be top of the depth chart? I go
17:54
Speaker 1: back two years ago when they were sellers and they
17:57
Speaker 1: traded Josh Uche for a six-round pick.
18:00
Speaker 2: Can you find the reverse of that trade?
18:02
Speaker 1: Maybe it is Josh Uche. He's in Miami now. But,
18:04
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know that he's a scheme fit
18:07
Speaker 1: for what they're doing at this point. It would probably
18:09
Speaker 1: need to be another, like a different kind of player.
18:11
Speaker 1: But can you find a rental edge rusher who's like
18:14
Speaker 1: the third or fourth guy in a team's rotation? Maybe
18:16
Speaker 1: second in a rotation of a team that's trying to tank.
18:19
Speaker 1: and just give up like a day three pick just
18:21
Speaker 1: to bolster that. And then Evan, I'm going to rehash
18:25
Speaker 1: a take I had last year because I stand by it.
18:27
Speaker 1: I still think it's relevant. I would trade for kick returner.
18:32
Speaker 1: I would try to trade a seventh round pick for
18:35
Speaker 1: a kick return.
18:35
Speaker 2: I love this. And this is, this is why catch
18:39
Speaker 2: 22 goes deep.
18:41
Speaker 1: Well, again, just to rehash my take from last year,
18:45
Speaker 1: I go and look at the top kick returners in
18:46
Speaker 1: the league. I'll give you the names in a second.
18:49
Speaker 1: The number one guy is Vegas. But then.
18:51
Speaker 2: We're just going to gloss over that because they're not good.
18:54
Speaker 1: Well, but for the most part, then it's Buffalo, Minnesota,
18:58
Speaker 1: San Francisco, Jacksonville.
18:59
Speaker 2: You don't disrespect Dylan.
19:00
Speaker 1: Well, I was going to get to the names in
19:01
Speaker 1: a second.
19:01
Speaker 2: Okay.
19:02
Speaker 1: Buffalo, Minnesota, San Francisco, Jacksonville, Cleveland. The Giants are in
19:07
Speaker 1: first place.
19:07
Speaker 6: Yeah.
19:09
Speaker 1: So of the top seven kick returners, six of them
19:12
Speaker 1: are on teams that are rolling. Maybe having a good
19:16
Speaker 1: kick returner makes a difference. And so the guy at
19:19
Speaker 1: the top of the list is Dylan Labby's averaging 31
19:22
Speaker 1: yards of return. Raiders are kind of spinning their wheels.
19:27
Speaker 1: And by the way, the Patriots could also use some
19:29
Speaker 1: running back depth, which like he's not terrible on offense.
19:31
Speaker 1: You don't want him to be your starting running back.
19:33
Speaker 1: But if you need to play 10 snaps a game,
19:34
Speaker 1: I think he can do that. Would the Raiders take
19:37
Speaker 1: a six round pick for Dylan Labby?
19:39
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe, but like why? Like he's a rookie.
19:41
Speaker 2: Like why are they just like kind of jettisoning Dylan
19:44
Speaker 2: Labby so quickly? Like, I know they are back.
19:47
Speaker 1: He's in his third year.
19:48
Speaker 2: I thought he was a rookie.
19:49
Speaker 7: No.
19:49
Speaker 2: Why do I think he was a rookie?
19:50
Speaker 1: So he's not quite on an expiring contract. I don't
19:52
Speaker 1: know why I thought that. No, third season. So time's
19:55
Speaker 1: ticking with him, right? And just, you know, so Lobby's
19:59
Speaker 1: averaging 31 yards a return.
20:01
Speaker 5: Yeah.
20:01
Speaker 1: The Patriots as a team are averaging just under 25.
20:05
Speaker 2: So you're talking about.
20:05
Speaker 1: Like six yards per return. The Patriots average four returns
20:09
Speaker 1: a game.
20:10
Speaker 2: I just wonder how much is that?
20:11
Speaker 1: 25 yards. That's two first downs a game. Drake may
20:15
Speaker 1: doesn't need to get that makes a difference.
20:17
Speaker 2: How much is that of that though? Is like, are
20:19
Speaker 2: the Raiders blocking it? Well, are they, you know, like
20:23
Speaker 2: I'm not questioning you. I'm just asking the question.
20:26
Speaker 1: No, I mean, that's probably part of it, but I
20:29
Speaker 1: don't know how many times I've looked at it this
20:31
Speaker 1: year and been like, Oh, the returner made a play.
20:36
Speaker 3: Right.
20:36
Speaker 2: Right, for the Patriots. Corey Kiner, like, a couple weeks ago.
20:40
Speaker 1: Kind of was all right, but, you know, or there's
20:43
Speaker 1: even been a couple times where it's like, there might
20:44
Speaker 1: have been a hole there. And maybe not a hole
20:46
Speaker 1: to take it at house, but to turn, again, can
20:48
Speaker 1: you turn like a 25-yard return in with 35-yard returns?
20:51
Speaker 1: So I'm sticking with this take from last year. I
20:54
Speaker 1: think kick returner matters. If it's not Dylan Lauby, some
20:56
Speaker 1: of the other guys on here that are on not-so-good teams,
21:00
Speaker 1: um Seth McGowan if you want to call the Colts
21:02
Speaker 1: he is a rookie so maybe that one less so
21:06
Speaker 1: uh Devin Duvernay in Arizona Cameron Johnson in Tampa um
21:11
Speaker 1: and then I mean if you want to get really
21:13
Speaker 1: nuts and I don't know if they're going to quit
21:15
Speaker 1: on their season because it's just kind of not in
21:17
Speaker 1: their DNA Kavante Turpin and I believe he's in a
21:22
Speaker 1: contract here one of the best returners is one of
21:24
Speaker 1: the best returners in the league yeah let me see
21:26
Speaker 1: where he's at with his contract but like Could you
21:29
Speaker 1: get him away from Dallas from Dallas? Like if they
21:32
Speaker 1: lose one more game and remember, there's still two more
21:35
Speaker 1: weeks to be played. So things are going to shift
21:38
Speaker 1: a little bit, but.
21:40
Speaker 2: As we're talking about this, we have another blockbuster trade
21:43
Speaker 2: in the NFL. Okay.
21:44
Speaker 1: Turpin's in his, He has one more year after this.
21:47
Speaker 2: Not to the Patriots. Jeffrey Simmons from the Titans to
21:51
Speaker 2: the Chicago Bears.
21:52
Speaker 1: Oh, I wanted... If they were going to make a
21:54
Speaker 1: blockbuster deal, that was the one guy I wanted.
21:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to wonder if they were in on that.
21:59
Speaker 1: What's the return?
22:01
Speaker 2: We don't know yet. Tom Pelissero, who is killing it
22:03
Speaker 2: right now in the breaking news game with the ringer, right?
22:07
Speaker 2: He's not with... Is he with Netflix? I think he
22:11
Speaker 2: think he's with the ringer. Is it both? Is it,
22:13
Speaker 2: I think full-time with the ringer.
22:14
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
22:14
Speaker 1: His bio says ringer in Netflix.
22:16
Speaker 2: I think the Netflix is just like the Netflix games,
22:18
Speaker 2: you know, and the ringer has a deal with Netflix
22:21
Speaker 2: as well. That was the one guy I, Jeffrey Simmons
22:24
Speaker 2: to the bear.
22:24
Speaker 1: That was like the one splash move.
22:26
Speaker 2: Yeah. I, I, I get where people's frustration is with
22:29
Speaker 2: the fact that the Patriots are not in on some
22:31
Speaker 2: of these splash.
22:32
Speaker 1: Trades, but they sold last year and made the Superbowl.
22:35
Speaker 2: Like, I just don't think that they're at that point
22:38
Speaker 2: right now in terms of their cap and, and they're,
22:41
Speaker 2: financials and all that kind of stuff, uh, that they're,
22:44
Speaker 2: they're trying to put out, you know, acquire players at
22:47
Speaker 2: that caliber, at that level, uh, of the, uh, of the,
22:51
Speaker 2: you know, accounting spreadsheet. Um, you said kick returners at
22:55
Speaker 2: edge rusher. I had one, one thought on the edge
22:57
Speaker 2: rushers and, and then, um, we'll take a quick break
23:00
Speaker 2: and we'll talk about the dolphins at the, on the
23:01
Speaker 2: other side on the edge rushers. Uh, I've seen a
23:05
Speaker 2: lot of Cleo Mac. I know it's a name and
23:07
Speaker 2: he's out there and he's maybe available and all that
23:10
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. If they're going to acquire an edge
23:13
Speaker 2: rusher to me, I'd much rather them acquire somebody that
23:15
Speaker 2: can play more consistently on third down. I feel like
23:19
Speaker 2: what they're missing from this group that they have currently,
23:21
Speaker 2: and Ponder is a good pass rusher, so it's not
23:24
Speaker 2: just this, but they're missing a guy with some real
23:28
Speaker 2: speed and bend off the edge on third down.
23:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.
23:31
Speaker 2: And I, I, I think ponder fits that mold a
23:33
Speaker 2: little bit, but it's not really access his game. Like
23:36
Speaker 2: he's a, he's a power rusher. He's a bull rusher.
23:38
Speaker 2: It's not really Draymond Jones's game. So if they're going
23:41
Speaker 2: to acquire an edge rusher, I don't know. I think
23:44
Speaker 2: first and second down edge setting and pat rushing the passer.
23:48
Speaker 2: Like I feel pretty good about those three guys in
23:52
Speaker 2: like most situations.
23:53
Speaker 3: Yeah.
23:53
Speaker 2: There's one area that I wish they had a little
23:56
Speaker 2: bit more juice is like when it's third and eight,
23:59
Speaker 2: Do you have a guy that can just win a
24:01
Speaker 2: one-on-one on a tackle in third and eight? I'm not
24:04
Speaker 2: really sure at this stage of his career that that's
24:06
Speaker 2: Cleo Mack. But I think Cleo Mack is more... draymond
24:10
Speaker 2: jones gay bacchus than he is that type of guy
24:13
Speaker 2: at this stage of his career so is there somebody
24:16
Speaker 2: out there uh pass rush wise like i i you
24:19
Speaker 2: know i i think this is maybe a little bit
24:21
Speaker 2: too rich but like a josh sweat would be like
24:23
Speaker 2: you know sort of in that mold that can go
24:25
Speaker 2: after the quarterback on third down so they don't have
24:28
Speaker 2: to blitz on third down all the time you know
24:31
Speaker 2: that that sort of thing I'd be much more interested
24:33
Speaker 2: in that than let's acquire another 260 pound edge setter
24:37
Speaker 2: like that. Yeah. I think they have that. I think
24:39
Speaker 2: that they have that at home. So I'm looking to
24:42
Speaker 2: see if they're going to go edge and they want
24:44
Speaker 2: to get a fourth guy, which is totally valid. Like the,
24:47
Speaker 2: the guy that's supposed to be that fourth guy. Wow. Oh, sorry.
24:53
Speaker 1: Rap report. Is this real? Says the Titans are sending
24:58
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Simmons, the bears for a massive package to help
25:01
Speaker 1: Tennessee rebuilt. It's two firsts at least.
25:05
Speaker 6: Yeah.
25:05
Speaker 2: I don't know why you're so surprised by that.
25:06
Speaker 1: Two firsts for defensive tackle? He's one of the best
25:09
Speaker 1: players in football. I know, but two firsts is the deadline?
25:13
Speaker 1: I thought a first. At least two firsts implies there's
25:16
Speaker 1: more there. I'm okay with Patriots not doing that.
25:19
Speaker 2: He's a top five player at his position in the league.
25:22
Speaker 2: He is, but he might be the best defensive tackle
25:24
Speaker 2: in football.
25:26
Speaker 1: I mean, he might be, but two firsts at the
25:28
Speaker 1: deadline is wild.
25:28
Speaker 2: I mean, what did Sos go for last year?
25:30
Speaker 1: And that was a disaster. And look at the Colts.
25:32
Speaker 1: That was a disaster.
25:33
Speaker 2: Okay, but like in hindsight.
25:34
Speaker 1: The Bears are better than the Colts.
25:36
Speaker 2: And Daniel Jones got hurt last year. Like if Daniel
25:38
Speaker 2: Jones doesn't get hurt.
25:40
Speaker 1: I just did not think two firsts a lot. Anyways.
25:46
Speaker 2: I'm looking for them to add. So Harold Landry is
25:49
Speaker 2: supposed to be the fourth guy on this Patriots defense
25:52
Speaker 2: right now at that spot. what is Harold Landry's skillset?
25:56
Speaker 2: Like what, when he's healthy and he's going, it's speed,
25:59
Speaker 2: it's bend. It's, it's that sort of thing off the edge.
26:01
Speaker 2: It's pass rush ability. He's 240 pounds. Like it's not,
26:06
Speaker 2: it's not setting the edge of the defense and being
26:08
Speaker 2: sturdy and being stout against the run and all that
26:11
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. So if you're looking to replace that skillset,
26:14
Speaker 2: I just don't really see it being Khalil Mack. You know,
26:17
Speaker 2: great player, great career, probably a Hall of Famer, but
26:20
Speaker 2: it's just, you know, again, we're talking about complementing the
26:23
Speaker 2: roster and augmenting what they already have and all that
26:25
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. You're still blown away by the Jeffrey
26:29
Speaker 2: Simmons return, and I feel like you can't focus on
26:32
Speaker 2: anything else right now. Two first-round picks for Jeffrey Simmons
26:36
Speaker 2: to Chicago. Interestingly enough, yesterday, I saw a lot of
26:41
Speaker 2: people in Chicago saying that they were not going to
26:44
Speaker 2: do the DeForest Buckner thing because they felt good about
26:47
Speaker 2: their defensive line. And then they just traded a whole lot.
26:50
Speaker 1: Cause they knew, cause they knew something. Um, and anyway,
26:53
Speaker 1: you don't trade for DeForest Buckner when you have Jeffrey
26:56
Speaker 1: Simmons in the back pocket.
26:57
Speaker 2: Exactly. All right, let's hit the break. Uh, when we
26:59
Speaker 2: get back on the other side, we'll talk about the dolphins.
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Speaker 2: of the new england patriots we actually bought some bob's
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Speaker 2: furniture semi recently it's like one of those like islands
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Speaker 2: like portable island things it's actually pretty cool it uh
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Speaker 2: it has like a a foldable end to it where
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Speaker 2: it juts out so it can be a kitchen table
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Speaker 2: set up. It's just the two of us. So it
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Speaker 2: whatnot at. And then it can fold into itself so
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Speaker 2: that part of it goes away. It's actually a pretty
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Speaker 2: nice piece of furniture. So you can go check that
30:11
Speaker 2: out at Bob's. I've come around pretty heavily on Thanksgiving.
30:15
Speaker 2: I think it's because it's a day off that we
30:18
Speaker 2: actually get to watch football during the season. So I'm
30:21
Speaker 2: now a pretty– I love Thanksgiving. And also the Celtics
30:25
Speaker 2: play again on Christmas this year. Thanksgiving's the best, man.
30:28
Speaker 1: It is just the best holiday.
30:29
Speaker 2: It's good. I, I, I like it. I mean, any
30:32
Speaker 2: opportunity that I get to like, just sit on my
30:35
Speaker 2: couch and watch football, like the good old days, like
30:38
Speaker 2: I I'm all, I'm all for that. So Thanksgiving in a,
30:43
Speaker 2: what a little less than a month now. So there
30:45
Speaker 2: we go. All right. Let's talk about the Miami dolphins.
30:48
Speaker 2: Who's a touchdown fight. Song is always gets stuck in
30:51
Speaker 2: my head. Whenever we go there. I don't know if
30:53
Speaker 2: we're going to hear it very often this trip, but
30:56
Speaker 2: I'm with Miami. They're one in five. So on the surface,
31:01
Speaker 2: they are not a very good football team. I would
31:04
Speaker 2: say the most fun I had watching the Miami Dolphins
31:09
Speaker 2: last couple games, the Bengals game before their bye week,
31:12
Speaker 2: and then this past game against the Jets.
31:15
Speaker 5: I am.
31:16
Speaker 2: I had some like lowercase F fun watching their offense
31:20
Speaker 2: and watching their run game specifically. Bobby Slowik is now
31:23
Speaker 2: their offensive coordinator. It's not all that different from what
31:28
Speaker 2: they were doing with Mike McDaniel. It's still West Coast.
31:30
Speaker 2: It's still Shanahan tree type of stuff. And I think
31:34
Speaker 2: that they're trying to squeeze every last ounce of production
31:37
Speaker 2: that they can out of that running game. given the
31:40
Speaker 2: talent that they have. It's probably the best part about
31:42
Speaker 2: their team, their offensive line. Ali Gordon, Malik Willis can
31:46
Speaker 2: factor in, obviously, in the running game as well. You
31:49
Speaker 2: know I love motion. Number one in the league in
31:52
Speaker 2: motion rate. They're motioning over 80% of the time offensively
31:56
Speaker 2: right now. So if I had to pick a strength,
32:00
Speaker 2: of this dolphins team. It is definitely their rushing offense.
32:04
Speaker 2: They're running rushing attack. Uh, they are one last number
32:08
Speaker 2: for you. They're number three in the league right now,
32:10
Speaker 2: an explosive run rate. So they, they hit big plays.
32:13
Speaker 2: They hit chunks, uh, in the run game, Ollie Gordon,
32:16
Speaker 2: kind of a similar back as Braylon Allen, you know,
32:19
Speaker 2: another big sort of bulldozing back. Uh, they like to
32:22
Speaker 2: pull the guards. They like to get downhill, uh, maybe
32:25
Speaker 2: a little bit different than like what your traditional, uh,
32:28
Speaker 2: West coast offense is due with all the outside zone.
32:30
Speaker 2: They are more of a counter power gap kind of scheme, uh,
32:34
Speaker 2: running the football. And you know what? I, I don't
32:38
Speaker 2: think he's the longterm answer there for the dolphins. I
32:42
Speaker 2: think that they're a quarterback team. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, but
32:46
Speaker 2: I enjoy Malik Willis. I think he's kind of fun.
32:49
Speaker 2: Like he can run around. He's got a huge arm. Uh,
32:52
Speaker 2: I'm impressed by his off platform ability and like the
32:54
Speaker 2: different arm angles and the way he can, kind of
32:57
Speaker 2: make those baseball type of throws to get the ball
32:59
Speaker 2: out of his hand quickly, whether it's on boots, screens, whatever.
33:02
Speaker 4: He is.
33:05
Speaker 2: Not probably not their quarterback of the future. Uh, but
33:09
Speaker 2: it's the type of player that if I was in
33:11
Speaker 2: the dolphin situation right now, uh, I would much rather
33:15
Speaker 2: take a chance on discovery, like Malik Willis kind of
33:19
Speaker 2: breaking out and being like a viable NFL starter for
33:22
Speaker 2: the short term, then do what the jets did by
33:25
Speaker 2: taking on Juno Smith. Like I would just much rather
33:28
Speaker 2: try to take a chance on some upside and some
33:30
Speaker 2: talent and some youth with Malik Willis, uh, And that's
33:34
Speaker 2: the nicest things I can say about the Miami dolphins.
33:36
Speaker 1: Look, I think that I, I think Malik Willis showed some,
33:41
Speaker 1: some stuff in green Bay. I don't think he's a
33:43
Speaker 1: bad option as a bridge quarterback. See if you have
33:45
Speaker 1: something there. And then if you don't, you obviously go
33:48
Speaker 1: to the draft, but I think there is a chance
33:50
Speaker 1: in theory, you get something versus going to like, I
33:54
Speaker 1: don't know, one of the bad bridge quarterbacks of teams
33:56
Speaker 1: that are like clearly punting. Sure. Um, But if that's
34:02
Speaker 1: your plan, don't strip all the other talent off the
34:07
Speaker 1: roster because you're not going to be able to see
34:09
Speaker 1: what you have in him. And he's been put in
34:11
Speaker 1: a horrible situation.
34:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a valid point.
34:13
Speaker 1: Now, they have some rookies that aren't bad, but when
34:16
Speaker 1: you have... I think they have, like, five or six
34:18
Speaker 1: rookies starting or playing significant snaps, right? We'll get to
34:22
Speaker 1: the defense in a second. So, I just meant on offense.
34:25
Speaker 3: Oh.
34:26
Speaker 2: Well, the two receivers, Bell and Douglas, for sure.
34:28
Speaker 1: The two receivers... He's hurt, so he won't play this week.
34:31
Speaker 1: He has a concussion. But Proctor, their fullback's a rookie.
34:36
Speaker 1: If you want to count that. And then Will Kismaric
34:39
Speaker 1: is their second tight end behind Dulcich. But he plays
34:41
Speaker 1: a lot. So that's two, three, four. That's five rookies
34:44
Speaker 1: right there.
34:45
Speaker 5: Yep.
34:45
Speaker 1: So, like, that's a lot to.
34:49
Speaker 2: Ask a quarterback to manage. I mean, they got rookies
34:52
Speaker 2: all over the place.
34:52
Speaker 1: Right.
34:53
Speaker 5: So.
34:54
Speaker 1: I didn't, when they signed Malik Wiltz, it's like, all right,
34:56
Speaker 1: they're going to see what they have. And then they
34:57
Speaker 1: just tore down the rest of the roster. And it's like, well,
34:59
Speaker 1: that's going to fail because he has no talent around
35:01
Speaker 1: him and it's going to be a disaster. And that's
35:02
Speaker 1: kind of what it's been. So, you know, I wonder
35:05
Speaker 1: if they would have handled it differently if they saw
35:07
Speaker 1: what this quarterback class was going to become because yikes.
35:11
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to see how
35:14
Speaker 1: they build it up. They definitely have a clean slate
35:16
Speaker 1: and maybe that's what they wanted. You could have had
35:18
Speaker 1: the clean slate without giving Malik Willis $ 60 million and
35:22
Speaker 1: tanking his potential.
35:23
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
35:24
Speaker 1: Um, but it'll be interesting to see how they build
35:27
Speaker 1: it up over the next couple of years.
35:28
Speaker 2: The last couple of weeks, I think that they're playing
35:30
Speaker 2: some better ball on offense. Now, some of it was
35:33
Speaker 2: in garbage time against the Bengals. They were down 28
35:36
Speaker 2: to 10 against Cincinnati in that game. They scored two
35:38
Speaker 2: fourth quarter touchdowns to kind of make it, you know,
35:41
Speaker 2: look better than it maybe was.
35:43
Speaker 3: Yeah.
35:43
Speaker 2: But they obviously moved the ball last week against the jets.
35:47
Speaker 2: I just think that they're, they're a little frisky on offense.
35:50
Speaker 2: You know, I'm not trying to hype them up too much,
35:51
Speaker 2: but I think if I had to pick a side
35:53
Speaker 2: of the ball that I, that the way Miami stays
35:57
Speaker 2: in this game to me is that the offense early
36:00
Speaker 2: in the game kind of hangs around, you know, they,
36:02
Speaker 2: they score enough points to sort of hang around from
36:05
Speaker 2: a Patriots perspective, looking at this dolphins offense. I, I,
36:09
Speaker 2: I think it's a fair question to ask, and I
36:11
Speaker 2: think Fred asked this question yesterday on Patriots Unfiltered. What
36:15
Speaker 2: would move the needle for you against a team that
36:18
Speaker 2: the Patriots should beat? If you saw something in this game,
36:22
Speaker 2: what would it be? And for me, playing aggressive man
36:27
Speaker 2: coverage against Malik Willis is really not the formula on paper. Now,
36:31
Speaker 2: I'm not saying the Patriots couldn't do it because they
36:34
Speaker 2: have more talent, than the dolphins do their corners, especially
36:37
Speaker 2: with Carl and Davis coming back healthy. It sounds like,
36:40
Speaker 2: and it's going to be Jones Gonzalez and Davis on Sunday.
36:43
Speaker 2: They could definitely play man to man against these rookies.
36:46
Speaker 2: You know, that the dolphins are rolling out at receiver
36:48
Speaker 2: and Malik Washington and probably shut down Miami's offense. And
36:51
Speaker 2: they could do their blitzes and they could do their
36:54
Speaker 2: simulated and they could throw the kitchen sink and the
36:56
Speaker 2: scheme at them and disguise and all the things that
36:58
Speaker 2: they do. Well, defensively, they could probably hit all those
37:02
Speaker 2: buttons or pull all those levers and, and really put
37:05
Speaker 2: Malik Willis into some binds and kind of get, have
37:08
Speaker 2: them in a blender. But we talked on Tuesday about
37:11
Speaker 2: some of the, the self scouting stuff. Uh, we've, we
37:14
Speaker 2: kind of laid out the zone coverages and how they've
37:16
Speaker 2: struggled in zone coverage. If you want to defend Malik
37:19
Speaker 2: Willis by on paper, the way to defend Malik Willis,
37:22
Speaker 2: it's a four man rush. It's zone coverage, make them
37:26
Speaker 2: sit in the pocket and read it out. Right? Like that,
37:28
Speaker 2: that's sort of the book on him right now. And
37:31
Speaker 2: that formula or that blueprint, uh, the Patriots defense has
37:35
Speaker 2: not been able to execute at times this season. You know, we,
37:39
Speaker 2: we rattled off the numbers on Tuesday of, you know,
37:43
Speaker 2: 30th and EPA per drop back in zone 31st and
37:45
Speaker 2: pressure rate in zone, you know, not blitzing as much
37:48
Speaker 2: in zone. Cause you just can't like just inherently you
37:51
Speaker 2: can't blitz as much. So those are all things that
37:55
Speaker 2: the Patriots need to work on. And I think in
37:57
Speaker 2: a lot of ways, I kind of hope that they
38:01
Speaker 2: go into this game and say, Hey, we're not taking
38:04
Speaker 2: the dolphins lightly. Like we'll do what you gotta do
38:06
Speaker 2: to win the game. If you have to go back to,
38:08
Speaker 2: you know, the blender and the disguises and the man
38:11
Speaker 2: blitzes and all that stuff, because it's a little bit
38:13
Speaker 2: more competitive than you thought then. Okay. But I would
38:16
Speaker 2: be kind of impressed if they could actually come out
38:20
Speaker 2: in this game and just sort of play regular zone
38:22
Speaker 2: coverage and win that way. Defensively. Can you win with
38:26
Speaker 2: four up front? Can you cover in zone coverage in
38:29
Speaker 2: the back end against the dolphins offense? It's limited. That,
38:32
Speaker 2: that to me is like a live reps of doing
38:34
Speaker 2: that in game. That could be valuable for this team
38:37
Speaker 2: down the road. They're going to play better offenses. They're
38:40
Speaker 2: going to play better quarterbacks, but if you can start
38:42
Speaker 2: to tighten some of that stuff up, then maybe you
38:44
Speaker 2: can do that against the better quarterbacks. Like right now,
38:47
Speaker 2: when they play Buffalo again, you know, at the end
38:49
Speaker 2: of the season, I don't know how their zone coverages
38:52
Speaker 2: are going to look against Josh Allen.
38:54
Speaker 4: Right.
38:54
Speaker 2: I don't know how they're going to look against Patrick Mahomes.
38:56
Speaker 2: I don't know how they're going to look, you know,
38:58
Speaker 2: in the playoffs against better teams that they do make
39:01
Speaker 2: it to the playoffs. So that's where I'm at, you know,
39:03
Speaker 2: with the Patriots defense. I almost wouldn't be super impressed
39:07
Speaker 2: if they come into this game and just out scheme
39:10
Speaker 2: and just kind of overwhelm Malik Willis that way. I
39:14
Speaker 2: know that they can throw a scheme at him. I
39:15
Speaker 2: know that they can do that. Let's see something a
39:17
Speaker 2: little bit different. Moving over to the other side of
39:20
Speaker 2: the ball, and I don't think the Patriots players want
39:23
Speaker 2: to hear anything to do with how bad this Dolphins
39:26
Speaker 2: pass defense is, but I promise you it is bad.
39:30
Speaker 2: It is that bad. They are giving up a completion
39:33
Speaker 2: on over 76% of opponent pass attempts. 76% of their
39:38
Speaker 2: opponent's past attempts are getting completed. That is insane. That's
39:42
Speaker 2: pretty high. That's absolutely insane. I don't care who you played.
39:45
Speaker 2: I know they played the dolphins and the bangles and
39:48
Speaker 2: the chiefs and some good offenses. Uh, I are the,
39:52
Speaker 2: the Niners, excuse me, bangles and chiefs. 76% of the
39:56
Speaker 2: NFL is astronomically high. So their past defense is last
40:01
Speaker 2: in completion rate. Obviously, uh, They're last in passer rating allowed.
40:05
Speaker 2: They're near the bottom of the league in pass yards
40:07
Speaker 2: per attempt allowed. This is, on paper, the worst pass
40:11
Speaker 2: defense in football. So, this is a great matchup for
40:14
Speaker 2: Drake May.
40:14
Speaker 1: It's time to throw the ball. It's time to throw
40:16
Speaker 1: the ball.
40:17
Speaker 2: It's a great matchup for Drake May. Is it exactly
40:19
Speaker 2: what the doctor ordered for A.J. Brown? Is the 10
40:22
Speaker 2: days off and a really bad Miami pass defense sort
40:25
Speaker 2: of the right, you know, medicine to get A.J. Brown
40:29
Speaker 2: a get-right game? Yeah, I mean, if he.
40:31
Speaker 1: Excuse me. If he doesn't get it going this week,
40:34
Speaker 1: I don't know, man. Like you said, this kind of
40:37
Speaker 1: all sets up. He's had the rest. And Juju Brents,
40:42
Speaker 1: was he limited or out yesterday?
40:44
Speaker 2: He was out.
40:45
Speaker 1: So they might be down their top corner. Their backup
40:48
Speaker 1: is Marcellus Dial, who we're obviously familiar with. This should
40:54
Speaker 1: be a week to get A.J. Brown going. This is
40:55
Speaker 1: a get-right game for A.J.
40:56
Speaker 3: Brown.
40:57
Speaker 2: So you mentioned the rookies on, they do have one
41:00
Speaker 2: really good rookie on defense. The dolphins offense. They're starting
41:04
Speaker 2: three rookies on defense right now. One of them is
41:07
Speaker 2: the one you're talking about. Jacob Rodriguez. He's off to
41:09
Speaker 2: a really good start. Might be the defensive rookie of
41:11
Speaker 2: the year. If you know, I don't know if they
41:15
Speaker 2: go one in 16, are they going to give them
41:17
Speaker 2: defensive rookie of the year?
41:18
Speaker 1: If he leads the NFL and tackles, I think he's
41:20
Speaker 1: like top 10 right now.
41:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's possible. Chris Johnson, their first round pick cornerback.
41:27
Speaker 3: Yeah.
41:28
Speaker 2: And Michael Taffy, who I kind of liked at Texas
41:30
Speaker 2: a little bit. He was their fifth round pick at safety.
41:33
Speaker 2: All three of those guys are starting.
41:34
Speaker 1: So they're kind of, and then they also have Kyle
41:36
Speaker 1: Lewis too.
41:37
Speaker 3: Yeah.
41:37
Speaker 2: They're kind of starting rookies at like, sort of like
41:39
Speaker 2: every level of this defense. When I watched them on
41:43
Speaker 2: film against the Jets, That was probably the most coverage
41:47
Speaker 2: bust in a single game I've seen on tape all season.
41:50
Speaker 2: I did watch Packers-Lions, and the Lions defense gave them
41:53
Speaker 2: a run for their money. That team busts a lot
41:56
Speaker 2: of coverages, too.
41:57
Speaker 1: I only allowed, like, 24 points.
41:59
Speaker 2: But there was a handful of plays in that Dolphins-Jets
42:03
Speaker 2: game where they just didn't cover guys in man coverage. Like,
42:06
Speaker 2: they just didn't have an assigned man coverage defender there.
42:11
Speaker 2: on players in a game like that. That's just kind
42:14
Speaker 2: of insane. And the first play of the game, I
42:16
Speaker 2: think it was for the jets goes for like a
42:19
Speaker 2: 50 yard play to Omar Cooper jr. Where they, they
42:22
Speaker 2: don't cover him. They literally did not have a player
42:25
Speaker 2: assigned to covering him. Right. The jets later on in
42:28
Speaker 2: the game hit a 40 yard check down to the
42:30
Speaker 2: running back in the flat where once again, there was
42:34
Speaker 2: nobody covering him. like literally nobody on that side of
42:37
Speaker 2: the field that was responsible for the running back. So
42:40
Speaker 2: I think that this is a combination of factors. I
42:43
Speaker 2: think that they are a young team defensively.
42:46
Speaker 3: Yeah.
42:46
Speaker 2: I think it's a new system with Jeff Halfley. When
42:49
Speaker 2: you combine those two things of them trying to install
42:51
Speaker 2: a new defense with a bunch of young guys and
42:54
Speaker 2: a bunch of rookies that, that can get dicey and
42:58
Speaker 2: it has looked dicey. They're okay against the run. They're
43:01
Speaker 2: like more middle of the pack. as a run defense,
43:04
Speaker 2: but their past defenses, it's cheeks. It's really bad.
43:07
Speaker 3: Yeah.
43:08
Speaker 2: It's really bad ball. Let's get into key matchups. Um,
43:11
Speaker 2: it was, this one was hard this week. I, I
43:14
Speaker 2: was kind of, I went a little outside the box
43:17
Speaker 2: on one of them too. And I don't normally do that. Uh,
43:20
Speaker 2: my first one though, I think was pretty easy. Uh,
43:22
Speaker 2: was Morgan Moses against chop Robinson. Like if there's one
43:25
Speaker 2: player on their defense, uh, that I feel like could
43:27
Speaker 2: wreck this game. Maybe not wreck it. I don't think
43:30
Speaker 2: he's that good, but he could maybe have a splash
43:33
Speaker 2: play in the game that is like a turning point,
43:35
Speaker 2: like a strip sack or something like that. He's fast, man.
43:38
Speaker 2: He's fast off the edge. He's really effective on stunts
43:41
Speaker 2: as well as the looper on stunts because he can
43:45
Speaker 2: really burst. He's a really impressive pass rusher. Morgan Moses
43:49
Speaker 2: is playing on that bad foot. He has had some
43:52
Speaker 2: trouble at times getting out of the stance. I expect
43:56
Speaker 2: him to get a lot of chips to try to
43:58
Speaker 2: protect the high side and make him go inside where
44:00
Speaker 2: he's not as effective. But Chop Robinson is the one
44:04
Speaker 2: guy that I circle on this Dolphins defense where I say,
44:07
Speaker 2: who can ruin the day? It's probably Chop Robinson.
44:09
Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned, you know, maybe having to send help
44:12
Speaker 1: over there. And if that's coming from the guard, I'll
44:14
Speaker 1: just build on that. Zach Wilson gave it away. Jared
44:18
Speaker 1: Wilson against Zach Seiler.
44:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
44:20
Speaker 1: Seiler's been pretty good for him this year.
44:22
Speaker 2: Really underrated player.
44:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's been a little disruptive. And you're probably going
44:25
Speaker 1: to have him and Jared Wilson one-on-one at times. So...
44:28
Speaker 1: Can Jared Wilson win that matchup so they can give
44:30
Speaker 1: Morgan Moses the help that he might need in this game?
44:33
Speaker 2: It would be interesting to see what happens with Sealer
44:36
Speaker 2: because he's a really underrated, sort of dirty work kind
44:39
Speaker 2: of player. So maybe not the kind of guy that
44:42
Speaker 2: is at the top of the leaderboards and win rates
44:45
Speaker 2: and things like that.
44:45
Speaker 1: He leads them in tackles for a loss this year.
44:47
Speaker 2: That's a good stat. Is he like a trade deadline guy?
44:51
Speaker 1: Interesting.
44:52
Speaker 2: He doesn't really fit. like they're going in the opposite
44:55
Speaker 2: direction and he's like one of the, he's older, right?
44:57
Speaker 2: That's still on the team. And he's still a quality
45:00
Speaker 2: starter for them.
45:00
Speaker 1: I mean, Hey, if somebody wants to trade for him
45:02
Speaker 1: between now and Sunday, no complaints here. He's 31. I
45:05
Speaker 1: didn't realize he was that old.
45:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. He's getting up there, but he's like, he, he's
45:08
Speaker 2: like a dirty work kind of player. He's not, he,
45:10
Speaker 2: you know, I think he'll age gracefully. The guy, he
45:13
Speaker 2: kind of reminds me of not exactly the same body types.
45:16
Speaker 2: He kind of has a little bit of Lawrence guy.
45:18
Speaker 1: I was going to say that. Yeah.
45:19
Speaker 2: A little Lawrence guy, not exactly the same, but, but
45:22
Speaker 2: a little bit. My next one here, I wanted to
45:25
Speaker 2: just talk about him to begin with, just because of
45:27
Speaker 2: the Travion Henderson draft pick. Last year, we saw Luther Burden,
45:31
Speaker 2: who was obviously in the same range. Jonas Savania, their
45:34
Speaker 2: right guard, was the pick before Travion Henderson. If you remember,
45:39
Speaker 2: there was that clip about them going back and forth,
45:43
Speaker 2: debating two different players at that point of the draft.
45:46
Speaker 2: A lot of reporting out there indicates that Savania was
45:49
Speaker 2: the other player that they were debating. He has not
45:52
Speaker 2: had a great start to his career. Now he's not
45:54
Speaker 2: in a great situation in Miami, but he hasn't had
45:58
Speaker 2: a great start to his career. He really does struggle.
46:00
Speaker 2: I would say with sudden movements across his face and, and,
46:04
Speaker 2: and guys that have speed, like putting Milton Williams over
46:07
Speaker 2: Savinia is, feels like a good starting point for the defense.
46:13
Speaker 2: If Caden Proctor doesn't play their left guard, who's a
46:16
Speaker 2: pretty talented rookie, if he doesn't play with that concussion,
46:18
Speaker 2: then that's a backup at left guard as well. Andrew Brewer,
46:22
Speaker 2: their center, is that Aaron Brewer? Aaron.
46:24
Speaker 1: He's a good player.
46:25
Speaker 2: Really good player. Andrew is their backup center, Andrew Meyer. Okay,
46:28
Speaker 2: that's why I got confused. Aaron Brewer is top five
46:31
Speaker 2: center in football, probably. Really good player. But those two guards,
46:35
Speaker 2: the Patriots should be able to win the matchups on
46:37
Speaker 2: the guards in this game.
46:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good one. Next. AJ Brown against whoever's
46:43
Speaker 1: covering him. I don't really know who it's going to be,
46:44
Speaker 1: but we already talked about it. Like, he's got to
46:46
Speaker 1: win that matchup.
46:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got to win that matchup. And it's one
46:50
Speaker 2: of those things that, you know, at some point, it's
46:53
Speaker 2: got to start to click.
46:55
Speaker 3: Right.
46:55
Speaker 2: At some point, it's got to start to click.
46:57
Speaker 1: At some point, this is the point.
46:59
Speaker 2: Yeah. Next one here for me was my little outside-the-box one.
47:03
Speaker 2: I just said Ollie Gordon against the run defense. Literally,
47:06
Speaker 2: Ollie Gordon versus tacklers. Yeah.
47:08
Speaker 1: Like, just tackle. Don't miss 17 tackles again.
47:11
Speaker 2: Don't miss 17 tackles again. Braylon Allen was a problem
47:14
Speaker 2: for them a couple weeks ago. Like I said, similar
47:16
Speaker 2: kind of back, similar body type. Ollie Gordon's a little
47:20
Speaker 2: bit smaller, but similar kind of power back.
47:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.
47:23
Speaker 2: That's how the Dolphins stay in this game is– They
47:26
Speaker 2: run the football effectively offensively. They have good moments with
47:30
Speaker 2: Malik Willis. They score some points. They control the game.
47:33
Speaker 2: They control the pace of the game with the run game.
47:35
Speaker 2: That's the underdog strategy. If they get into a true
47:40
Speaker 2: track meet with the Patriots, the Patriots are going to
47:42
Speaker 2: blow them out. There's no doubt about that. So they
47:46
Speaker 2: just don't have enough offense. And Malik Willis just isn't
47:48
Speaker 2: good enough to do that. But if they can... have
47:52
Speaker 2: sustained long drives run the football kind of like what
47:56
Speaker 2: the jets tried to do against them and the jets
47:58
Speaker 2: hung in yeah they did hang in there a little
48:01
Speaker 2: bit with the patriots uh did you have another one
48:03
Speaker 2: or was that it that's pretty much it we i
48:04
Speaker 2: think we covered yeah we both had ollie gordon yeah
48:07
Speaker 2: i think yeah okay uh we're gonna wrap the show
48:09
Speaker 2: up we have seven minutes six minutes here i.
48:12
Speaker 1: Will throw this in too yep if it's not um
48:16
Speaker 1: it's kate and wallace end up going in for kate
48:18
Speaker 1: and proctor Oh, they're... I forgot they're Caden Walls, yeah.
48:23
Speaker 2: Oh, man.
48:24
Speaker 5: I don't know.
48:24
Speaker 2: I'm not privy enough to the backup offensive lineman on
48:27
Speaker 2: Miami to know who.
48:28
Speaker 1: It would be. I just want to throw out there.
48:30
Speaker 1: It would be interesting if we see Caden Walls.
48:31
Speaker 2: It would be interesting. Okay, let's get to some emails
48:35
Speaker 2: to wrap up the show here today. We got a
48:37
Speaker 2: handful of emails. Trade deadline heavy, as you would imagine, Alex.
48:41
Speaker 2: So this one's from Thomas. When you say these players
48:44
Speaker 2: would be rentals, wouldn't you assume if they are trading
48:46
Speaker 2: these types of picks... for players, they would extend them.
48:49
Speaker 2: Like Evan, you mentioned Grover Stewart would also be a rental.
48:52
Speaker 2: I get the draft capital be cheaper than some of
48:54
Speaker 2: the other guys you mentioned, but why is that much
48:56
Speaker 2: different that you just answered your own question? It's, it's
48:59
Speaker 2: much different because you're not giving up a third and
49:01
Speaker 2: a fifth round pick for Grover Stewart. You're probably giving
49:04
Speaker 2: up like just the fifth round pick.
49:06
Speaker 6: Right.
49:06
Speaker 2: So it's a, it's the, you know, the compensation is,
49:09
Speaker 2: you know, obviously the position and the caliber of player
49:13
Speaker 2: is a big factor in that as well. As is
49:15
Speaker 2: the contract.
49:16
Speaker 1: I think part of the question too, is like, why
49:17
Speaker 1: are we assuming their rentals? They just, you can't pay everybody.
49:22
Speaker 2: You also can't assume that both sides are going to
49:25
Speaker 2: play ball on an extension, right?
49:27
Speaker 1: Like at this point, Nelson might just want to hit
49:29
Speaker 1: free agency.
49:29
Speaker 2: He's 10 games away from free agency.
49:31
Speaker 3: Right.
49:32
Speaker 2: So does he want, obviously if you put a huge
49:34
Speaker 2: contract in front of him, he'll sign it. But does
49:37
Speaker 2: he want to do that? Does he want to hit
49:38
Speaker 2: free agency? I, That sort of thing. All right. This
49:42
Speaker 2: is from Paul. He's mad at you about your kickoff return,
49:45
Speaker 2: which I'm not surprised. Guys, what are we talking about?
49:48
Speaker 2: Trading for a kick returner? Ten yards more or less, really.
49:51
Speaker 2: For Patriots, the personnel list is only the partial problem.
49:54
Speaker 2: Both acquiring new players, we need to get AJ and
49:57
Speaker 2: Gonzo going and improve on mistakes. That's like 99%. Yeah,
50:03
Speaker 2: I agree with that premise, which is why I'm not
50:04
Speaker 2: sitting here saying go trade for Jonathan Taylor. I don't
50:07
Speaker 2: know why trading for a kick returner prevents you from
50:10
Speaker 2: getting A.J.
50:11
Speaker 1: Brown going. Those two things are not related.
50:14
Speaker 2: Yeah. The other point that he made is he doesn't
50:17
Speaker 2: think that this is the Patriots' year. Roster-wise, next year,
50:20
Speaker 2: much better to go all out. So I understand where
50:23
Speaker 2: he's coming from. The injuries have obviously piled up significantly
50:26
Speaker 2: that it might not just be their year. However... When
50:30
Speaker 2: you have Drake May and Mike Rabel, you need to
50:33
Speaker 2: treat every year like it's your year. crazier stuff has happened.
50:36
Speaker 1: Right.
50:37
Speaker 2: And I know that we can talk about how the,
50:40
Speaker 2: it broke for them last year in the playoffs. Who's
50:44
Speaker 2: to say that is not going to happen again. Like
50:46
Speaker 2: who's to say that they aren't going to get a
50:48
Speaker 2: backup quarterback or a quarterback that they can, and isn't
50:52
Speaker 2: playing well, or another team that's decimated by injuries. And
50:55
Speaker 2: you have the best quarterback in the game and you
50:58
Speaker 2: have the best head coach in the game. I'm not
51:00
Speaker 2: saying the game is in the NFL. I'm saying in
51:02
Speaker 2: that specific matchup, Right. And you go on another run. Like,
51:06
Speaker 2: I don't agree with that that premise, but I understand
51:10
Speaker 2: what he's saying in terms of the injuries and stuff.
51:13
Speaker 2: It has started to pile up pretty significantly. This one
51:17
Speaker 2: is from Samuel in Charlotte. watching the game, it felt
51:21
Speaker 2: like every time the Bears would convert a third and long,
51:24
Speaker 2: there would be three Patriots jerseys surrounding the Bears receiver,
51:27
Speaker 2: but no one contesting the catch. Did you guys feel
51:29
Speaker 2: this way? And why do you think this was the case?
51:33
Speaker 2: So I think this was the case. I have two
51:37
Speaker 2: thoughts on this. One, I think this was the case
51:39
Speaker 2: because they were playing zone. And we've already kind of
51:43
Speaker 2: broken down that they just haven't been good enough in
51:45
Speaker 2: zone coverage. So the one that I think everybody's the
51:49
Speaker 2: most frustrated about is the third down backed up where
51:52
Speaker 2: Christian Ellis had the opportunity to sack Caleb Williams in
51:55
Speaker 2: the pocket. He drives by Caleb Williams. Caleb eludes him
51:59
Speaker 2: and Gonzalez looks like he's like way too far off
52:02
Speaker 2: of a dunes.
52:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
52:03
Speaker 2: When you watch that play again, and both things are true.
52:06
Speaker 2: Gonzalez has given way too much cushion, and Chris Ellis
52:09
Speaker 2: has got to break down. And if he's not going
52:11
Speaker 2: to sack Caleb Williams, he at least needs to have
52:14
Speaker 2: impactful pressure on Caleb Williams. He can't just allow Caleb
52:17
Speaker 2: to sidestep him and make an easy throw to the receiver.
52:21
Speaker 2: But if you watch that play again, what are they doing?
52:24
Speaker 2: They're blitzing out of zone. And when they blitz out
52:27
Speaker 2: of zone, they're playing basically a 2-3 zone on the
52:30
Speaker 2: back end. And so there's no... underneath the fender, underneath
52:35
Speaker 2: the dunes. He is, you know, what we would call
52:38
Speaker 2: free access throw where there's nobody in between the quarterback
52:42
Speaker 2: and the receiver underneath the receiver. So if you have
52:46
Speaker 2: a more, a better zone distribution there, and you have
52:50
Speaker 2: a hook or a curl flat defender underneath that route,
52:54
Speaker 2: now there's a little bit more of a squeeze there,
52:57
Speaker 2: where now Adunze needs to find the soft spot, find
53:01
Speaker 2: the void behind the short zone defender in front of Gonzalez.
53:04
Speaker 2: Maybe that split second to sort of navigate that zone
53:08
Speaker 2: gives Gonzalez the time to click and close to the curl, right?
53:12
Speaker 6: Right.
53:13
Speaker 2: So when you have nobody underneath it because you're blitzing
53:15
Speaker 2: because you can't get pressure without blitzing, This is the
53:18
Speaker 2: domino effect of how that can really come to bite
53:20
Speaker 2: you in the butt. And so it's all of the above.
53:24
Speaker 2: It's there's definitely a part of that that's execution based, right?
53:28
Speaker 2: Like it's also got to make a better play. And
53:31
Speaker 2: as does, you know, Christian Ellis, but I think some
53:35
Speaker 2: of that is also schematic in terms of their structure.
53:40
Speaker 2: This one's just funny because it's not going to happen,
53:42
Speaker 2: but I wanted to bring up your other podcast co-hosts.
53:45
Speaker 2: We have like 17 podcast co-hosts. Thoughts on bringing back
53:49
Speaker 2: David Andrews to play center during these? What do you think?
53:53
Speaker 2: You ask DA if he wants to come back?
53:55
Speaker 1: I'll ask him about it. He's in good shape. I
54:00
Speaker 1: don't know if he's just playing Wade anymore.
54:02
Speaker 2: Definitely not.
54:03
Speaker 1: But they're also fine at center.
54:04
Speaker 2: He's definitely not at his playing. They don't need a center.
54:07
Speaker 2: No center is the one spot that they probably are.
54:09
Speaker 2: I guess they could kick Wilson back the guard, I guess. Uh,
54:13
Speaker 2: but that's probably the one spot that they're okay.
54:15
Speaker 1: He had some great stuff this week on our show
54:16
Speaker 1: about like the intricacies that go into pass blocking. That
54:19
Speaker 1: was pretty cool.
54:19
Speaker 2: So check that out. He's lost like, They probably like
54:22
Speaker 2: 40 to 50 pounds. There's no way he's at his
54:25
Speaker 2: playing weight or anywhere close to it.
54:26
Speaker 3: Yeah.
54:26
Speaker 2: And he looks very happy to be in retirement. Yeah.
54:29
Speaker 1: I think he's enjoying it.
54:30
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, uh, he's really good. He's really good on
54:33
Speaker 2: the air.
54:34
Speaker 5: Yeah.
54:34
Speaker 2: I'm sure that his on air presence in this market
54:38
Speaker 2: will expand and expand because he's, he's good at it
54:40
Speaker 2: and tells great stories and good football knowledge. Obviously those
54:45
Speaker 2: centers him, you know, Jason Kelsey, like it's something about that,
54:48
Speaker 2: like thinking position that, They're good analysts.
54:51
Speaker 1: Damian Woody.
54:51
Speaker 2: Damian Woody is another one. Yeah. The centers know what
54:54
Speaker 2: they're talking about. All right. That's going to do it
54:56
Speaker 2: for today's show on Catch 22. We'll be back on
54:59
Speaker 2: Tuesday to break down this Dolphins game. and preview a
55:02
Speaker 2: really exciting matchup against the Packers. That's going to be
55:05
Speaker 2: a fun weekend. Gronk goes into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
55:08
Speaker 2: Tom Brady will be on the call. The Packers are
55:10
Speaker 2: a good football team. That one's got some juice. I'm
55:13
Speaker 2: not so sure about this trip down to Miami, but
55:16
Speaker 2: that Packers game has definitely got some juice. Patriots unfiltered
55:19
Speaker 2: is up in five minutes. Catch 22 back on Tuesday.
55:22
Speaker 2: We'll see you guys then.
55:25
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Deuce.
55:26
Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning into the show.
55:28
Speaker 6: If you really want to help us, make sure you
55:29
Speaker 6: like us wherever you get your podcasts, like Apple Podcasts
55:32
Speaker 6: or Spotify. Also, make sure you follow us on the
55:34
Speaker 6: New England Patriots YouTube channel to see this show and
55:36
Speaker 6: everything else that we do here at the Patriots.
55:38
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot.