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New England Patriots Breakdown | Super Bowl LX Preview · The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Favorites, presented by Draft Kings. The crown
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: is yours. We are an Action Network podcast. I'm Brandon Kravitz,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: back at it with my super friends, the first Lady
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of the pod, Kendra Middleton, and the Prime Minister of
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Degenerate Nations Stucky. On today's episode, we've got a special
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: guest joining us to chat about the AFC side of
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the Super Bowl equation. And then Thursday we're gonna chat
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks. How's everybody feeling this week? Kendre, you pretty
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: locked in on Uh? Have you've taken any calls from
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the the dudes out in Worcestershire wherever?
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: The health Worcester worsterer?
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Sorry, I was thinking about what I seasoned my stakes
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: with my bed.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Did you it's okay? I said the same thing. The
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Massachusetts town names are beyond it, saying did you see
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: the video of the guy screaming at the plow driver
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: that I posted? Is that why you're asking me this?
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I mean I just figured that, yeah, he gets crazy
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: this time of year, but what exactly transpired?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: There's a video of a guy in a Boston suburb
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: that I posted today and said, this is definitely a
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: ninety eight five the Sports Hub caller and he's cussing
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: out the plow driver because he's like, my car is
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: broken down, you can drive around me. What the fuck
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: is wrong with you? Like with the heaviest Boston accent ever,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and it is just the epitome of this town all
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the time, just but it's heightened in a snowstorm and
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: it is so good. But the callers this week it's
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: you can talk about tidle town, but unless you're really
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: in the thick of it here, people do not understand
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: how it is championship or bust every single year here
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: or like the absolute sky is falling. A team has
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: to win a championship here every single year, or people
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: think that they're oppressed.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they've been getting a lot of them. I
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: mean between the Red Sox the Celtics in seven years.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know how the Bruins have been doing lately,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: but they feel like a team that's usually in the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: mix is It is definitely a fanatical part of the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: country that you're in right now. It's also going through
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: a snowstorm. I feel like this time of year, like
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: things have really opened up for me in a big
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: way time wise, all of a sudden, It's like when
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the sky is dark and gray and then all of
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: a sudden it clears up. I love being in the
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: thick of the NFL and the NBA, my two sports.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: But now it feels like I have time again. I
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: feel like a healthier individual. Stucky. I know that you're
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: getting deep into the college basketball world and you're also
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: being a dad, and you're a dad, so but it
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: has has anything in your schedule cleared up now that
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: we're down to one game and we have nothing but
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the stupid Pro Bowl this weekend.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Not really, I mean I still have to catch I'm
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: so on college basketball. I mean, I had pneumonia and
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: then I had a kid. My wife is doing some
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: health issues with the pregnancy before then, so I was
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: staying in order to stay on top of football. It
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: took all of my all the time that I had,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: and I was trying to squeeze in college basketball. So
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: I'm it's so much harder to keep up with. So
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: I'm still trying to catch up on college basketball. This
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: week is spent a lot of time on props. I mean,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: there's a little more nap time. I'll probably be able
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: to catch a couple more naps this week with no football.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: But I'm just kind of in I'm in one mode
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: from it's all I know how to do. One mode
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: from you know, August until early April, and it's just
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: not sleep, always be looking, always be looking into something,
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: and we're watching games but pretty much all hours and
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: not sleeping. And then once after April, then I'm a
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: completely different person. So uh yeah, now that I have
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: to there's a couple of hours a day I gotta fill.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: I have to fill with you know, feeding, feeding my
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: kid and hanging out with him.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: A little bit.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: You're initiated, you got pooped on, Yeah, so.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Maybe a little tiny bit. But now this is still
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: this is still the grind from me until early April.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: But I love it. But yeah, I do It's I
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: do miss multiple football games like I'm I'm gonna get
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: The one thing that I always struggle with in the
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Super Bowl is we're going to talk about this game
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: for two weeks and you can start to like overthink everything.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: With props and everything, you can convince yourself on so
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: many different things. So I usually just like to target
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: a couple of players that I really like from a
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: matchup perspective and go all in there and then take
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: a couple of fun long shots. That's usually how I
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: approach it because player props are on my specialty. But
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: one of the reasons I do love the Super Bowl
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: is because I do get the sweat player props. I
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: don't really bet player props outside of like a couple
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: of times a year in the NFL playoffs, College Football
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: National Championship and then the Super Bowl, so that they're
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: not I'm not used to sweating.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Then it's like collecting candy on Halloween. You know, if
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: that's the only time of year you eat Halloween, then
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: you'd run around with your pillow case or your big
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: bucket or whatever and go grab.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean I've been Super Bowl twenty years, so
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: I'm did like sweating, like a like the excitement of
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: watching your guy go out on a route and just
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: worry about that and is he going to get a
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: catch or throw it to him? Just being that that
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: guy who roots for that for a game is always fun.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I used to be the person that would bet,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: like which which would the first catch be from an
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: even number or an odd number? And now that I
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: take sports betting far more seriously, and line shopping and
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: all the research that we put into this modeling and
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: things like that. I can't bring myself to bet those anymore.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: But I do miss I will this that this UFL.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: I think that maybe we're thinking about how much we
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: miss football we might want to consider betting. The UFL also.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Put its Olympics in soccer season. We have Winter Olympics,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: then we have March on it, and then we missed.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: The handicapping of football. I'm just saying there's a spring
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: league that we can look at. We've got a lot
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: of content to fill throughout the spring. On this podcast,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: real quick, before we get to alex Pro Bowl Week,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: pretty talk about Sanders. Maybe on this Kendrick, please tell me,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: because I have not seen this anywhere, please tell me
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: that Trevor Lawrence declined this and wasn't actually overlooked, because
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: that's the story being spit out on social media right now,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and I have a hard time believing that the NFL
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: is this stupid.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I have done so much in the weeds research about
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: this and cannot find anywhere on the Internet that he
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: was asked and declined. So I know that he was
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: an alternate, but there has been no confirmation of if
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: he declined or was asked or anything. So my tinfoil
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: hat is on. That's all I have to say without
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: getting myself in trouble.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, they just cannot be that obsessed with the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: idea of gaining social media impressions that they would invite
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Schador over.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I think they are near MVP candidate stuck. You make
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: it makes sense?
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Please wait, I wanted to say before we get to stuck.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: People don't understand right now that attention is currency and
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: that's what Shador provides.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: The Pro Bowl said.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: I mean it's a probo who cares? I mean the
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: Pro Bowl is such a joke now. I mean I
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: remember loving watching the Pro Bowl growing up. I can't
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: remember last time I even turned it on, and it's like, it's.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Like, nobody's going to Bowl. We get nobody is. I
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: would rather watch. I legitimately would rather watch the Puppy
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Bowl than watch the because the Puppy the games itself
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: for a joke. The invite isn't. The invite should at
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: least be taken seriously.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: They need to bring back those games that they used
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: to do with like Brett Farv and it's like how
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: far can you throw it? And there's some of the
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: fans that are on like ESPN Classic those throwbacks, you
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: know what I'm talking about. They would have like the
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: mini games.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Like pump pass and kick or am I thinking of
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: kick and keg?
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it would be like who could throw it the
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: furthest and then you would have like a wide receiver
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: drill that. Those were cool. But and then now UFL no,
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: I football. As much as I miss football, bet football
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: now college football specifically is a it's like almost year
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: round for me prepping, like with the transfer portal, it's
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: so much work. So like I do miss it, but
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I'm okay. Football is not spring for me. Like I'm
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: okay not betting on on football in the spring. So
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: UFL no thanks.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: It does feel very synthetic to better football. It was
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: just the suggestion many people.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: We'll see, ye I'm sure there's probably edges there, I.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Would think, so not a lot of not a lot
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: of modeling I would think going on for the UFL.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: So perhaps we'll check back in in April see where
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: we're at on that we're about to dive into our
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: pats preview. But first a word from our very own
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Kendrick Middleton.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: The Favorites podcast is teamed up with DraftKings sports Book,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: where new customers can bet five dollars and get three
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: hundred dollars back in bonus bets. If your bet wins.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: The next great touchdown is coming and you can bet
• 9:30
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• 9:33
  Speaker 2: bet touchdowns. To get starting to use promo code Favorites
• 9:36
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• 9:39
  Speaker 2: when signing up and bet five bucks to get three
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: hundred back.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: In bonus bets.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: If your bet wins, the crown is yours.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: The Patriots are back in the Super Bowl for the
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: twelfth time in franchise history. Here to help us take
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: a closer look at the New England side of things,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Alex Barth from ninety eight five The Sports Hub in Boston,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the station that birth Kendra Middleton for Alex covers all
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: things Boston sports over at ninety eight five of the
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: sports Hub dot com. You can throw them a follow
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: as well at Real Alex Barth. Alex, thanks for doing this.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: You are breaking ground for us. The first interview that
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: we've had as a trio and you can give us
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: the inside scoop on Kendrim Middleton. So I imagine that's a
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: unique experience working with her day to day. Can you
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: tell us something we don't know about Kendra?
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know. I was gonna say, I I
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: don't know that there's an inside scoop on Kendrim Middleton.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: I think Kendra Middleton gives you the inside scoop on
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: Kendri Middleton. She's pretty and it's one of my favorite
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: things about Kendra. She is very upfront and honest and
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: she tells a lot like it is. So I'm not
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: sure how much I have that she hasn't already put
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: out there.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, there's not a lot held close to the
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: vest there, so you might be onto something as far
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: as that goes.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I joked about this on this Sunday Recap show that
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I just feel I just feel so much relief for
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Patriots fans out there. They had to wait so long
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to get back to the Super Bowl. Well, what has
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: it been like in all serious this know, like covering
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: a team that was as dynastic as they were for
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: so long and then temporarily for a very brief period
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of time, we're totally boring and irrelevant, and now to
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: be back into the Super Bowl with a different grouping.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I don't know that we've experienced this much in sports.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: So from your perspective, what has that been like the
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: ebbs and flows of a dynasty, irrelevance and now into this.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been wild. And my first year covering the
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: team was twenty eighteen, so I like to joke I
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: got one in just under the wire and I got
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: to experience covering. It was the tail end, but like
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: Bellichick and Brady winning a Super Bowl and then they
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: it looked like it was going to keep going right away.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: They make the playoffs in twenty twenty one with Mac
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: Jones that ended up being fools gold and they really
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: bought him out. It was interesting because I'm somebody who
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: is a college football fan. Being in New England. That's
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: not the easiest sell to the market unless it's about
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: the draft for a bad team. So I got to
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: kind of trojan horse some college football talk in for
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: two years doing draft talk. But it's it really was.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: You know, people always sit. You hear people say, oh,
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: Boston sports fans don't know how good they have it,
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: and I do think towards the end of the Brady
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: Belichicker it became more of an expectation than maybe it
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: should have been. Not saying that those guys weren't great,
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: weren't expected to win, but the energy during this run
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: is different than it was even the last couple Super
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Bowl runs in New England. I think people really gained
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: a true respect for how difficult it is to get
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: to this point, what it takes to get to this point,
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: and having it taken away for seven long years, I
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: know people are really going to feel for us. Has
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: shaped a perspective and really why people are so bought
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: in to this team.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Alex, I'm just going to address the elephant in the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: room now. We got a shoulder injury that we're keeping
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: an eye on. We of course look at things through
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the scope of the point spread. We all sort of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: squinted our eyes at the four and a half like,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: is this right? Is it doesn't feel like the Patriots
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: should be installed as four and a half point underdogs.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: But if there's a legitimate injury to the shoulder of
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Drake May and it's the throwing shoulder I believe, then
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: then the line does make sense, So you tell us
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: how seriously should we be taking this injury?
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: Well, the look aheadline was what three and a half? Right?
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: I think I saw you so moved by a point.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: Part of the reason I'm running around again. I appreciate
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: you guys being flexible. Mike Vrabel's gonna talk here at
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: eleven thirty, so maybe we'll get more information.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Then.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: The fact he stiff armed a linebacker off of him
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: on the final run with that right arm makes me
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: think it can't be too bad, but will It wasn't
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: bad enough that anybody really notice during the game, clearly,
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: so we'll see. I do think it's late in the year.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: Everybody's kind of banged up, right. Sam Darnold's been going
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: through that oblique injury for a few weeks now. He
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: was limited in practice. I think the last two playoff
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: games going into those so if he is banged up,
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: just based on what they've said early, my guess would
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: be it's week twenty one and everybody's kind of banged
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: up and it falls in that category. But it'll be
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: interesting to see what Frable says today.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Barthie, I got to know now that the regular seasons
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: ended the Patriots are going.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: To the Super Bowl.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: What was the key do you personally think to this
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: team's success, because going into the season, the win total
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: kind of bounced around from seven and a half to
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: nine or so, not a lot of expectations on the team,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: not a lot of big names on the roster. How
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: much of it was just liking one another or was
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: it something else entirely?
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: The chemistry is definitely a big part of it, and
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: people will downplay that. Maybe once you get rolling, it's
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: less of a factor. But they overturned over fifty percent
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: of the worker that's insane. At the NFL level, usually
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: a big offseason nets you about a forty percent turnover.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: This was more than half. So to get all those
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: new faces bought in, get them familiar with what they
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: were doing schematically as quickly as possible is massive. That's
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: not supposed to happen at the level that it happened
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: as Qui as it happened in New England. I think
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: that's a big part of it. And then just their
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: play in the trenches and it wasn't always perfect, but
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: it was so much better than last year, and it
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: gave Drake May more time to operate. I think it
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: created more opportunities for a secondary that has a ton
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: of talent. That was a big part of the turnaround
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: as well.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: So with Drake's injury, should I be looking more at
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: him to throw a turn or throw an interception or
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Sam Donald to throw an interception. Drake's minus one thirty
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Donald minus one forty.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean Sam Donald was pretty turnover prone during
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: the year. Drake has been a little more turnover prone
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: in the playoffs. Now it's been more fumbles than interceptions.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: So I don't know if there's just a turnover number
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: relative to an interception number. But I don't think this
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: is the game. Somebody asked me yesterday, do the Patriots
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: need to play perfect game to win? And it's the
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: Super Bowl, So I'm not going to say no. But
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: I don't think either of these teams just stylistically, are
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: the kind of team that they're just going to come
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: out and play mistake free football and grind their way
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: to a win. I think there is going to be
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: a good element of back and forth and kind of
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: teams chasing each other's mistakes in this game.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: So both so.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: Both yeah, okay again with May with May it's more
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: of the fumbles than the inter if if if he
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: has a turnover in this game. Again, I don't know
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: if there's a number on that or just a number
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: you can bet for turnover. But I'm more worried about
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: the fumbles than the interceptions.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: And we know that that Sam Donald sees some ghosts
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: when he sees that Patriots logo across from him.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And which it's so exciting is is Zach Horror
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: has in these playoffs been fantastic And he put Herbert
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: and a blender, He puts you j Stroud in a blender.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: There really wasn't an opportunity to put Jared's did him
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: in a blender? Just with with how limited the Broncos
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: offense was, but he has not been afraid to spin
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: a dial and get creative. It's much more than we
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: saw on the regular season. I would expect for him
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: to have something similar for Sam Donald as well.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: Alextenso joining us and speaking of the defense, we want
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: to focus on that side of the ball. Real quick
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: two part question. The first, we you know much has
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: been made of the schedule, but in reality, we just
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: don't have that many data points of this new England
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: defense against you know, really good, healthy offenses. So you
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: know one of them, you know the Bills, right that
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Bills game when they came back one thirty five to
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: thirty one. The Bills did that basically by I think
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: they completed one pass to an outside receiver. So when
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: I look at this new England defense from the outside,
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: when healthy, the run day is legit, like no one
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: can run on them. The front seven is going to
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: stop the run. Their corner group legit where I think
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: I would attack. And I'm curious to get your thoughts
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: on this is just is it the middle of the field?
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: Is it the linebackers and coverage is at the young safeties?
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: Like where are you most worried about this Patriots defense
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: going up against you know, a full strength offense.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: So, first of all, good job differentiating the schedule, and
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: they played a lot of tough defenses. But this is
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: really where the easy schedule comes in. You're absolutely right.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: You look at the quarterbacks they faced, the offenses they faced,
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: it's it's among the worst. You know, they face some
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: of the worst offenses in the league pretty regularly. You
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: mentioned that Bills game. Now they were without Roberts Plane
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: and he has been it's night and day when he's
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: on the field and when he's not. So when he's
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: not on the field, teams attacked the linebackers and it worked.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: They've struggled to cover tight ends this year. They did
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: in the regular season. They've been better in the playoffs,
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: but they haven't really faced an elite tight end so
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: far in this playoffs. They got I'm blanking on his
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: name in Houston is a good player, but C. J.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: Stroud kind of took all their pass catchers out of
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: the game with how he was playing in that one. So, yeah,
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: it's throwing to tight end, it's throwing the running backs,
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: it's trying to isolate the linebackers in coverage. But having
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: Roberts plain back his big help. He went down during
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: the AFC Championship. He was back on the sideline of uniform.
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: He came back in, but he's been dealing with the
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: nagging injury. So he's a player maybe to watch in
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: that regard. But if there is a sawt spot of
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: the defense, it is probably the middle. But it's a
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: lot less soft than you might think based on the
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: end of the season, because again, they were playing with
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: that Roberts plaint and then.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: My follow up is, yeah, and you're we're all kind
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: of guessing at this, but the Patriots have really upped
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: their blitz rate, like five percent each of the past
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: four weeks. Easier to do against you know, the Chargers
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: offensive line. Strout on that offensive line and then you
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: know stid them. Do you think they keep that increase
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: blitz rate? And then also if this was Belichick and
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: his defenses, you know, obviously Vrabel very familiar with Belchick, right,
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: he would he wants to take away your strength, So
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: like this would be we're taking away jass N at
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: all costs and other people can beat them. So like,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: what do you think about the blitz rate and that approach,
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: and what do you think the Patriots might do schematically?
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: So I love how aggressive they've been. This is what
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: I wanted them to be all year, and they really
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: didn't do it until the playoffs. Oddly enough, the only
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: game they came close to it was the first Bills
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: game in Buffalo that they won on Sunday Night Football.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Zach Corr said last week that it's a game plan thing,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: it's a matchup thing, and just because the rates are
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: going up doesn't mean that's a permanent change. It's week
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: to week. Darnold has been the better quarterbacks against the blitz.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: He's he's been solid against the blitz. And like you mentioned,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: against this offensive line, you gotta pressure him. You have
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: to pressure him. Can you get pressure with four? It's
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: something they struggled to do all season. They were kind
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: of surprisingly able to do a little bit against Denver
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: against that offensive line, So that was encouraging and maybe
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: that that that means a little less blitz. But if
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: it's truly a matchup thing, I think you blitz less early.
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: You see if you can get pressure with four, and
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: then if you can't, and this is what they did
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: against Justin Herbert because Herbert had been good against the
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: blitz this year, then you turn it up and then
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: you crank it up if you can't get pressure with
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: those four. But that was, like you mentioned, with the
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: much worse offensive line, the JSN thing. I don't know
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: that there's a single better player versus player matchup in
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: this Super Bowl than Christian Gonzalez for Jackson Smith and Jinba,
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: I would think Gonzale shadows him. He doesn't. Gonzalz doesn't
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: really go on the slot. Jambe hasn't lined up a
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: ton in the traditional slot this year. Maybe that's an
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: adjustment that the Seahawks make to try to hide him
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: from Gonzalez and then do the Patriots move him inside.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: That's gonna be a fascinating matchup, and to me, it's
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: gonna be Gonzalez with maybe help to try to take
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: JSN away and I self to worry about Cooper Cup.
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: They've obviously got a really good run game two Robbie Ootz,
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: super underrated pickup, and he's been excellent for them as
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: the fallback leading the way. It was a two headed monster.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: I know now it's just Kenneth Walker, but it is
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: going to be really interesting to see That matchup is
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: going to go a long way and dictating this game
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: because if Gonzales, who has a history of playing at
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: his best against the best corners in the league, when
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: he gets beat like he gets beat last week by
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Marvin Mamms, he got beat by the Bengals fourth or
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: fifth receiver in that game in Cincinnati. But I remember
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: his second year and he only played four games as
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: a rookie, he had this gauntlet to start the year
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: where it was like Jamar Chase, Tyreek Hill, DK Metcalf.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: They were like five or six weeks where he was
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: playing top ten receivers every single week and he was
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: locking the guy down every single week. So he's kind
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: of got a little bit of that thing where he's
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: at his best when the lights are brightest. He's a
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: primetime player. But Jsen might be the best receiver in
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: the league right now. Like he's just he's on another level.
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: So can Gonzales rise to that occasion or his JSN
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: really going to prove that he is unguardable because if
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: Gonzales can lock him down or freeze the Patriots up
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: to do a lot more and play at ten on
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: ten and get more creative on defense and that kind
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: of thing.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Last one for me, I know, Kravitas one more, but
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Drake may is rushing total sitting at thirty seven and
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: a half yards, Obviously he can take off based off
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: of your gut reaction, Does this feel too high?
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Too low?
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Just right? He averaged twenty six almost twenty six and
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: a half in the regular season and forty seven rush
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: yards per game in the postseason against really tough defenses.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: With this shoulder injury should this get extra attention.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: I would even say without the shoulder injury, the Seahawks
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: allowed you know, we're top five and rushing yards per
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: carry allowed to opposing quarterbacks, something that they've struggled with
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: this year. And you know, thirty seven and a half we've
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: seen him in the playoffs. He's good for like a
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty five yard run per game. The shoulder might
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: add to that more. So I think that's about right.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: The one thing is, I have a buddy who keeps
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: getting burned on kneel downs on quarterback rushing totals all playoffs,
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: and he keeps texting me like, why is this the
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: world shouldn't count against rushing yards whatever? So I always
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: caution people with that when it comes to rushing yards.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: But no, I do think this is a game. Even
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: take the shoulder injury out of it, it makes sense
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: for Drake May to be a little more aggressive running
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: the football.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: Quick question. A lot of people won't talk about this days. Well,
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: I guess everyone's gonna eventually talk about everything. Yeah, but
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Seahawks elite special teams. People don't talk enough about their
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: special teams. I mean, if you go back to the game,
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: first game, against the Rams pund return flip that game.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: They get the one seed because of it. Last week
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: you have the Rams, you know, botch a punt, But
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: the Seahawks all year, their special teams have been great.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: You have Patriots have one of the best pund returners
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: in the league. You have Brendan Schooler is always good
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: for a player too. But barring tor Roff game last week,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: how much confidence do you have in the Patriots special
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: teams as a whole.
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: As a whole in confident? Like you mentioned, they've got
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: very good players. I think Jeremy Springer is an excellent
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: special teams coordinator. They've done a good job. They had
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: some issues in kick return coverage earlier in the year.
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: They've been better about that. Or they're just sending the
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: ball into the end zone and trusting their defense. You know,
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: maybe against a guy like Rashid Sihat, that's what you do.
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: A rough game for Barringer in Denver, no doubt, and
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: you worry about that. That's supposed to be a great
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: place to punt and he was struggling before the snow
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: came in. So in a game that could turn into
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: a field position battle, you worry about that, but outside
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: of him, they're in good shape. Seattle's special teams are excellent.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: They still probably have a bit of an edge there,
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: But I don't think the Patriots. The Patriots special teams
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: are much better than the Rams, for instance. I don't
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: think that's an area where they're gonna get caught lacking.
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: But you know, between Shiheed and all that, they do
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: have to be on their a game. Absolutely.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: We'll trap with a quick chat about the tailbacks for
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: the Patriots. When in the world happened to Trevion Henderson.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: I was a fantasy stud for me all year, nine
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: hundred and eleven yards, nine touchdowns during the regular season,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: a huge drop off in the playoffs, and now the
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: backfield has gone all the way back to where it
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: was at the beginning of the season, with Ramandre Stevenson
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: taking the full load. Is Henderson in the doghouse? And
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: should we be looking the way perhaps at his unders
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: or Ramondre Stevenson overs? How do you view this?
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: It's look Josh McDaniels has always been hell for fantasy
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: or betting people when it comes to running backs because
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: he mixes and matches and goes off game plans. Henderson
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: was dealing with the shoulder injury last week. He was
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: a full participate in practice, but he was on the
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: injury report all three days. So maybe it could be
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: that I do feel like his field vision two. I
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: thought the second half of the season he was seeing
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: the field much better and that was the big difference.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: That's kind of waned a little bit here in the playoffs,
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: and Ramondre Stevenson, meanwhile, is playing the best football of
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: his career. So part of me wonders if they're just
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: riding with the hot hand or if you know, two
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: weeks Trevan Henderson can get healthy, in which it's all
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: the big plays with him. Even when he's at his best,
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: He's not a guy that's gonna consistently give you four
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: or five yard carries. It's one or two, you know,
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: twenty plus yard carries a game, and that's kind of it.
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: And then the rest of the game he looks like
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: the guy he's looked like. He just hasn't been able
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: to break off that big run against the Seattle front.
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: That's gonna be hard to do, So maybe that makes
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: it more of a Stevenson game to control the ball,
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: control the clock, stay ahead of his schedule, get the chunks.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: But Henderson is one of their best big play threats
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: on offense, and I don't think they're ever going to
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: go away from him entirely because just the threat he
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: brings of that one play can change the game. Because
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: he has that ability, you can't take him off the
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: field entirely. Is part of it.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: They just trust Stevenson so much more in pass protection,
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: is that.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: So yeah, that's a big part of it too. Henderson,
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: that's one spot he's actually been better. And he had
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: a huge pass block in the in the wild card
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: game or the division one of them, he came up
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: with a huge block. But yeah, Stevenson is a tremendous,
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: tremendous passblocker for running back and is the offensive line
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: struggled and they've gone again some of these elite pass rushes.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: I think that's definitely been part of wing it. But
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: Josh McDaniels also isn't afraid to have his running backs
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: be a tell of what they're calling the last Super
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: Bowl run they had. I think they ran the ball
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: seventy eighty percent of the time with Sony Michelle on
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: the field, something like that, and James White had a
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: wide Split two. Now they're not as talented as they
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: were back then. They can't get away with that strong vitelle,
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: but it's not something Josh McDaniels is afraid of.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Seattle doesn't blitz a ton either, so you might
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: might be able to get away with him on the
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: field more and get them gott in space in the
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: passing game.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Love the yeah I call that too. Love the callback
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to Sony Michelle too. Haven't thought about that name in a.
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: Minute, Alex, how long it's been had you cover all.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Go and follow all of his coverage ninety eight five
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: of the sports hub dot Com. Throw them the follow
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: as well for us at Real Alex Barth, Alex, thanks
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: so much for the time and the insights on the
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: new England Patriots enjoy the Super Bowl.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: Thanks guys, you too anytime.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Thanks by and that'll do it for today's episode special thing.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks to Alex Barth for joining us our producers David Paine,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Gifford Gould. Of course, the two stars of the show,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Stucky and Kendri Middleton. The Favorites, will return on Thursday
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: right here on the Action Network YouTube page. When we
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: preview the Seattle Seahawks the favorites. On the Favorites, We'll
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: see you next time here on the pod presented by DraftKings.
• 28:20
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• 28:23
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