- 9 months ago
NFL legend Boomer Esiason joins! The Greg Hill Show
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00:00Boomer, how are you doing today?
00:02I'm doing well. How are you guys hanging?
00:04We're doing okay.
00:06Greg stayed out for the game.
00:07So Greg in San Francisco this morning.
00:09So you've got Courtney Curtis and Wiggy.
00:11But what happened last night?
00:13Well, I'll tell you what, man.
00:14A lot happened and a lot was going on with that offense of the Patriots.
00:18The Seattle Seahawks defense just basically took them apart.
00:21And there are a number of reasons why.
00:22If you have a vulnerability at left tackle,
00:24it's going to be a long, long night against a guy like Demarcus Lawrence.
00:27If you have a quarterback that seems to be locked up mentally,
00:33which I thought Drake was.
00:35I didn't think he played with any rhythm whatsoever.
00:37I guess he took a shot in the shoulder,
00:39which could have led to some of the inaccurate throws early on in the game.
00:43And, you know, the Seahawks turned out to be the better team.
00:46And really the key, anytime you play in any of these games,
00:49is don't turn the ball over.
00:50And Sam Darnold, who has been a turnover machine this year,
00:53got away with a couple early throws that almost were picked.
00:57And had those balls maybe been picked,
00:59maybe the game would have been different.
01:00But I just thought it was a tremendous performance by Kenneth Walker,
01:05a tremendous performance by the Seattle defense.
01:07And really, Josh McDaniels had no answer for Mike McDonald's defensive
01:11intensity, pressure, and blitz packages.
01:15They just could not pick him up.
01:17I'm glad you brought up Drake looking different than we've seen in the past,
01:21whether it was the shoulder getting shot up or what.
01:23I was just talking to Wiggy about the fact that he looked rattled.
01:25And that's something that Drake hasn't looked all season long.
01:29Even if he's having a bad game, he seems to be able to rebound nicely.
01:31Last night, he just wasn't able to do that.
01:33Do you think that the lights were too bright?
01:36I don't think that's the situation.
01:38That could be part of it.
01:39But, you know, when Seattle started blitzing and they started getting home
01:43and Drake May was not seeing the blitz and was not reacting to the blitz,
01:47I could think of two times Witherspoon came off the open side,
01:50the slot side away from the tight end, and you could see the slot receiver,
01:55whoever it was, whether it be Steph Diggs or Booty or whoever was in that spot,
01:59was looking for the ball coming off the line of scrimmage,
02:02and the ball never came.
02:03So, to me, either he's not prepared,
02:06they did something that they hadn't seen from them,
02:09or he just froze mentally.
02:12So, there's three different combinations of things there.
02:15But I'm thinking that Josh McDaniels on the sideline would be talking to him
02:18and saying, look, this is what they're doing to us on third down.
02:21This is what they're doing to us to an open formation.
02:24And they just never had an answer for it.
02:27They never adjusted to it.
02:28And if you're the play caller and you're trying to calm your young quarterback down
02:33and you have that vulnerability on the left side of your offensive line
02:36and you're trying to do whatever you can to help Will Campbell.
02:39Now, by the way, I'm not here to kill Will Campbell
02:41because, you know, he came back from an MCL injury.
02:44And that's, like, one of the hardest things to do
02:46if you are a left tackle going against some of these defensive linemen.
02:49So, this was the gauntlet of defenses that the Patriots had to go through
02:53to validate their weak or strength of schedule discussion
02:57going into the Super Bowl.
02:58And for the most part, they answered the question.
03:00But remember, going into this game,
03:02they had only averaged 18 points per game in the playoffs.
03:05And I think last night, this defense was just way too much for them to handle.
03:10Boomer, I think the biggest question moving forward,
03:12because you're right, there was the play when you said
03:14Pop Douglas was pointing to the guy coming off the edge
03:16and he didn't see it.
03:17But I think the biggest question that, you know, we're going to have,
03:21I think a lot of people are going to have nationally,
03:24is can Drake may, I know it's only his second year,
03:29but can he get it done in the postseason?
03:31And Courtney said, are the lights too bright?
03:33He had a great regular season, but all the way throughout the playoffs,
03:36he just hasn't looked comfortable in the pocket.
03:41Yeah, I don't know how many times he got hit last night.
03:43He probably got hit at least 18 or 19 times.
03:47That's no fun.
03:48Some of it was his fault because he wasn't reading the Blitz,
03:52or maybe it wasn't something that was in their offensive package.
03:55I don't know.
03:55I can't imagine that Josh Allen would put a quarterback out there
03:58without having answers for a Blitz.
04:00You know, you get to me once.
04:01Okay, I understand that.
04:03You out-coached me.
04:04You out-maneuvered me.
04:06But I have to make sure that my quarterback is going to be protected
04:08from that Blitz.
04:10The problem was is there were a couple four-man rushes
04:12that they weren't able to protect either.
04:14So, you know, Drake may is going to be fine.
04:17Nobody expected them to be here.
04:19I mean, I expected them to be in the playoffs.
04:21I think we all did, given, you know, who the coach was,
04:24who the coaches were, and, you know,
04:26who the players were that they brought in, the money that they spent
04:28in the offseason on free agency.
04:30And it really, truly was an unbelievable year.
04:33But it was a grind in the playoffs, and we knew it was going to be,
04:36given the fact that they were playing the Chargers, the Texans,
04:39the Broncos, and the Seahawks.
04:41Those are four of the best defenses in football,
04:43including their own defenses they see on the practice field.
04:46So I'm not worried about Drake May's future.
04:48That's like the least of my concerns.
04:50What I have to do is I have to shore up that offensive line,
04:53and I have to make sure that Will Campbell is 100% healthy
04:57coming back next year, and him realizing,
05:00and I know he is because I know he's the kind of kid he is,
05:02realizing that, you know, his playoffs were just as bad as Drake May's.
05:07You brought up Will Campbell again, Boomer.
05:08So I don't understand watching that game,
05:11how you do not bring another lineman or a tight end
05:14to help him throughout the course of it.
05:16From the very first series, Will Campbell was getting pushed
05:19right into the lap of Drake May,
05:20which prevented Drake May from getting into any rhythm at all.
05:23You know, they tried.
05:24There were a couple chip plays.
05:26They had a couple tight ends over there.
05:28There was a couple running backs that I think were
05:31Mondray Stevenson came over and tried to help and chip.
05:34But ultimately, here's the other thing.
05:37You know, Drake May has got to process things a hell of a lot quicker.
05:40You know, one of the things that I was talking about
05:42on our kickoff show on Saturday morning
05:44was there's a tendency to hold on to the ball.
05:47And if you hold on to the ball,
05:49it's going to lead to bad things.
05:50And Drake wasn't processing the game fast enough.
05:53And I think Chris Collinsworth really did a good job of explaining,
05:57like, all they're doing is playing defense.
05:58He's got to anticipate some of these windows
06:00and some of these throws.
06:02You know, and he made a couple nice throws
06:04towards the end of the game.
06:05But the other thing, too,
06:06is like that interception down the middle.
06:08Like, that's inexcusable.
06:09I mean, that's stuff that rookies do in week one of their career,
06:13not in the Super Bowl.
06:15And especially when it wasn't called for at that point in time.
06:18That wasn't desperation just yet.
06:20So those are things where, you know, he's not reading it right.
06:23He's probably playing the game too fast.
06:25He's been hit so much leading into that
06:28that it definitely had a profound effect on him.
06:30And he was having a little trouble getting away from that pass rush.
06:33But again, holding on to the ball,
06:35not deciphering things quickly and not getting rid of the ball.
06:38I don't ever remember Tom Brady having a game quite like this.
06:42I mean, this was really frustrating to watch
06:45because there were times where he just would drop back
06:47and it didn't look like he was ready to throw the ball at all.
06:50And he ended up taking a sack.
06:52And that sack and fumble was another huge play.
06:54So the turnovers that were caused by him directly
06:57and the lack of turnovers caused by the New England defense
07:01ultimately leads to a crushing defeat.
07:04Well, it's going to be all Drake all morning.
07:05And it's time to get to this week's Drake Take from Boomer Esiason
07:08presented by your favorite New England Chevy dealers.
07:11Together, let's drive.
07:12Is there any positive that you can take away from Drake
07:15playing in a Super Bowl in his second season
07:17and getting a loss like that as a quarterback?
07:20How can you grow from that and take that into the future of your career?
07:23You know, he seems like a really good kid.
07:25So early in my career, I went to one Super Bowl.
07:27Dan Marino went to one Super Bowl.
07:29I don't think either of us ever took it for granted.
07:32But to make it to a Super Bowl,
07:34a lot of things have got to go right.
07:36And, you know, a lot of things went right for the Patriots this year.
07:39I think it's an unbelievable great learning experience for him.
07:42He'll never take it for granted.
07:44He'll come back and he'll be ready to rock and roll next year.
07:47I'm not too worried about this.
07:48This is a long, sustained career that we have in front of us.
07:52And I think that they have a good enough team
07:54and certainly have the coaching staff to be able to, you know, get back.
07:58They're not losing any coaches this year for the first time in a long time.
08:01They don't have to hire any new coaches.
08:03Now all they have to do is kind of retweak some of the roster spots.
08:08I think that they probably feel that they're weak in.
08:10And I wouldn't be surprised to see them right back in the mix again next year.
08:14Boomer, one of the things that I felt like I wish Josh McDaniels would have did a little bit early,
08:18and we talked about this when we were out at Media Row this week,
08:23is I wanted to see them come out and be a little bit aggressive
08:26in the sense of maybe going no huddle, going empty,
08:29getting the ball out of Drake May's hands quickly.
08:32I know when they did that, they were able to get the touchdown to Matt Collins.
08:35Is that something that you looked at and go,
08:38man, maybe Josh probably could have done that a little bit earlier?
08:42You know, yes.
08:43I was frustrated by the lack of, I don't want to say energy,
08:47maybe rhythm is probably the right word,
08:49that the Patriot offense did not have any of it in the first half.
08:52And I'm thinking, that was another frustrating thing for me.
08:54I thought, you know, well, it's, like I said,
08:57it's hard to call plays if your quarterback is not playing his best.
09:01And, you know, it was interesting.
09:02Tom Brady had a story this week about one of their Super Bowls,
09:05about how he was out to dinner with his family on a Friday night before the Sunday game.
09:10And he wasn't feeling great about their red zone package.
09:13So he met with Josh McDaniels on a Friday night and they redid the whole red zone package.
09:18And it turned out work, it worked for them.
09:19And they ended up winning the Super Bowl.
09:21I don't necessarily know that that relationship between Drake and Josh is there just yet,
09:26where Drake can basically take over a meeting and say,
09:30hey, this is what I want, this is what I like.
09:32That's really up to Josh right now, dealing with a second-year quarterback
09:35and only being with him for his first year.
09:38But, look, he came second in the MVP voting.
09:41He had a great season.
09:43He got hurt in the playoffs.
09:44He played through it.
09:45He played like a man.
09:47He ran the ball when he needed to.
09:49It's just that he finally ran into a much better defense that he had seen the previous three games.
09:54Boomer, the highlight of the broadcast for me obviously happened before the game
09:58because that was a disastrous performance for the Patriots.
10:01Rodney Harrison in the face of Coach Tony Dungy about the snubs of Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft
10:08and Dungy squirming, not actually announcing what he did.
10:12If indeed Dungy did not vote for both of those guys, what would you have to say about that?
10:17I would just say it's disappointing because he, of anybody else, would know just how difficult it is to do
10:23exactly what Bill and Robert Kraft have done here.
10:26You know, I was saying on our other show that, you know, given all the Super Bowl wins
10:30under the stewardship of Robert Kraft, who at one time was a fan of the Patriots,
10:34and they've had all the success, it's mind-boggling that both of them didn't go in.
10:39I was happy for Roger Craig, but the voting has to be changed around.
10:42Like I've told you guys, in 2025, they changed the voting.
10:46They changed the criteria for the coach.
10:49I mean, they should have a separate coach one.
10:50They should have a separate contributor one.
10:52And then they could do the three or four legend players if they want.
10:56And never run into a situation like this.
10:58Yeah, but Rodney stuck up for his coach.
11:00He stuck up for his owner.
11:01So I wouldn't expect anything less than that.
11:03And now it's time for the question of the week for Boomer, presented by McFarlane Energy,
11:07the region's most dependable provider of home heating, oil delivery,
11:10and expert HVAC systems at McFarlaneEnergy.com.
11:14Boomer, a lot of people talking about Christian Gonzalez.
11:16He looked great yesterday, up for a contract extension this offseason.
11:19How much is he worth, and how much should Robert Kraft pay him?
11:23A lot.
11:25A lot.
11:25He's a great player, and he's exactly who they drafted.
11:30They wanted a shutdown corner.
11:31His game yesterday was incredible.
11:34I thought, you know, obviously the defense played well.
11:35If they had any sort of support from the offense for the first three quarters of the game,
11:39you know, there's no way, you know, they're going to score 29 points.
11:43But 17 points came off of turnovers anyway.
11:46So, yeah, he's going to be the highest paid – I would think he'll be the highest paid cornerback
11:51in the history of the NFL.
11:53I mean, coming off of this playoff performance, the defense playing as well as it has,
11:59there's nothing more important in this league than a shutdown corner,
12:02and certainly Christian Gonzalez.
12:04Boy, did he shine last night.
12:06He looked great.
12:06He made so many plays.
12:09You know, it's too bad he didn't intercept the ball down on the goal line
12:11against Jackson, Smith, and Jigba because he had that ball in his hands.
12:15That would have been quite the interception at that moment.
12:17Yeah, he would have had to get up and run it back 100 yards, though,
12:20based on the way the offense was playing.
12:21Boomer, I have to say this is my last one for me.
12:24Great minds think alike because I was pushing that narrative when I was down at Media Row.
12:29Separate categories for players, coaches, and contributors.
12:33Contributors got their own little area.
12:35Coaches the same way.
12:36And I also said former players, executives, coaches, scouts vote.
12:42I don't get why the NFL or the Hall of Fame, whoever's making these decisions, can't do that.
12:49I feel like it's as simple as it can be, and that's why I think, you know,
12:53quarterbacks and tight ends are the two smartest positions on the field
12:56because we came up with these ideas.
12:58Yeah, you know, the one thing I will say, the reason that the Hall of Fame's used the media members
13:02is so that there's always a media presence about the Hall of Fame out there.
13:06They want promotion.
13:08They want people who cover the league to be able to always be talking about the league.
13:12That's one of the reasons why baseball has so many voters and all those writers
13:16because, you know, they want articles written.
13:18They want promotion.
13:19That's why they – that's why who's voting.
13:21That's that basically – and then add a couple guys, you know, like a Tony Dungy
13:25or an ex-player or two that you feel like, you know, is somebody that you believe in.
13:31That's why they add those guys.
13:32But, yeah, I mean, just the whole criteria that got changed in 2025 created this whole mess.
13:39And, you know, when you think about other great coaches who are not in the Hall of Fame,
13:42what about Mike Shanahan?
13:44What about Tom Coughlin?
13:45I mean, a lot of these people should already have been in the Hall of Fame,
13:49but because of the way they do the voting, unfortunately, they keep locked out.
13:54And I would just say this whole thing surrounding Bill Belichick, I think, will force a change.
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