- 7 minutes ago
Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran joined the show to discuss the Patriots loss to Seattle, previews this Sunday’s game against the Steelers, Drake Maye’s issues, the lack of takeaways by the defense, and more.
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00:00Real quick, I just want to ask you this before we get into everything going on this weekend with the
00:04Patriots.
00:04We had Adam Schefter on yesterday, and with all this news and stuff that's been coming out of Bill Belichick,
00:08we were asking him, do you believe that Bill Belichick would be able to get a job in the NFL
00:14if he wanted to?
00:15And Adam Schefter seemed to believe that it would be crazy not to think that Bill Belichick could once again
00:22work in the NFL.
00:24Do you believe that there's a team that would take him?
00:27And it seemed like with Schefter that it didn't even matter how his season would go this year
00:32that would determine whether or not a team would want him.
00:36Do you believe that there's a team that would take him?
00:38Bill Belichick in a vacuum as a defensive coordinator, defensive assistant, overlord type.
00:44Head coach.
00:44No, because we heard this three years ago, that the line was going to be around the block.
00:50We heard that from the national media over and over and over again,
00:53how Bill was going to be the most sought-after candidate.
00:55He brings too much with him in terms of his personality, what he wants, the way he wants things done,
01:04and his track record of decision-making and personnel over the last 12 years or so here was not good.
01:11So, no, there's no line around the block for Bill Belichick.
01:14If there was, it would have appeared by now.
01:17I just kind of figured that, you know, what is it?
01:21If he beats Notre Dame and Clemson, how about that?
01:23If he beats Notre Dame and Clemson.
01:24If he beats those two teams, then everyone's going to want him back in the NFL.
01:30Okay.
01:31Okay.
01:32It's the same thing as Salt Lake and Squeeze.
01:35I can't.
01:36I can't.
01:37Trust me.
01:37Can I tell you one interesting thing that anybody who likes music, which is probably a lot of people out
01:42there?
01:42Sure.
01:42Because it's a great thing.
01:44There's a New York Times story you should Google.
01:45Why do you like the same music you liked at 14 now?
01:49Why do you keep returning to it?
01:50And it's a fascinating story.
01:52Google it.
01:53Read it.
01:54It's those, that year, that period in your life is embedded in your mind.
01:58That's why I'm still talking.
01:59Heads, Clash, Police, Squeeze, what have you.
02:02Love it.
02:03And that's why I'm Sabrina Carpenter and Dua Lipa.
02:07What's up, youth?
02:08Okay.
02:09So let's talk about this game this weekend.
02:11You know, Drake May, what a horrible game.
02:14We all know.
02:15He knows it.
02:16Everybody, you know, it sounds like Vrabel knows it.
02:18They're not making any excuses.
02:20We were trying to figure this out, or I was trying to figure this out.
02:23The end of last year, I was like, okay, he's obviously injured.
02:26But Seattle was the first game this season that made me think, or the first game that made me think,
02:31like, what if it's in his head?
02:33Do you think that there's any chance that maybe some of his poor play is mental?
02:40No, I think it could be a little bit fundamental.
02:44So put the fund in front of the mental.
02:47I think that his tendency right now to start to fade towards the right sideline,
02:52which was something they drummed out of him, really something Alex Van Pelt really stressed
02:56was the fundamentals and creating a good base.
02:59And I'm not saying he's gotten worse at that, but I think that, for instance,
03:04on that throw to the end zone to Mac Hollins, had he stayed in the pocket,
03:09he would have seen DeMario Douglas.
03:10The second he took a step to his right, he blocked off everything that was happening to his left.
03:14And that's what happens with these more mobile quarterbacks.
03:17Josh Allen does it, too, and makes some wonderful plays.
03:19And Drake makes great plays doing it.
03:21But that drifting to the right to buy time when you don't necessarily have to,
03:25I think is something that they really would want him to try and curb so that he's not limiting himself
03:31to hero plays because he's gone off script a smidge.
03:34Yeah, he has that skip and rip kind of thing he does, too.
03:37So it's almost like he doesn't look as comfortable throwing from a platform.
03:44It's interesting, Tom.
03:45But let me ask you about the defensive coordinator for the Steelers, Patrick Graham.
03:49He was the D.C. of the Raiders last year when they played the Patriots,
03:53and Drake did not have a good game in that game.
03:56Do you think there's a book?
03:58Because if it's starting to, a lot of data stuff is coming out about how teams are playing him
04:03in the postseason last year, Super Bowl, and then the first game this year, a lot of zone.
04:07Do you think that there's teams that have figured him out
04:10and that they got to figure out how to adapt to what the new reality is
04:15and which teams play him?
04:17Yeah, that seems to be the drumbeat this entire week, Teddy.
04:21We're going to play zone, and we're going to make you take what we give you
04:23and process the ball down the field.
04:26Now, if they're playing zone, which they were last week because of the presence of A.J. Brown
04:31and because that's what Seattle plays because they have such a good front four,
04:34they don't need to rotate people into the box to stop the run.
04:38But if you're going to play zone, too deep zone, that's what invites the runs, the checkdowns.
04:45If you're not playing too deep zone and you're playing a single high safety,
04:48that invites outside opportunities, which will be staffed by, I would guess,
04:53Kyle Williams and Romeo Dobbs now.
04:55So will teams say, okay, we're not really that afraid of Romeo Dobbs
04:59and Kyle Williams until they prove us wrong.
05:03Let's rotate somebody into the box and try and defend against Stevenson.
05:06So I think the book is make him take what he's given instead of risking him
05:13being the best deep ball thrower we've seen in the last 10 years,
05:16which not him personally, but the season was as good as anybody in throwing downfield.
05:22So make him do that.
05:23Sorry.
05:24We had Ted here and Wiggy in the morning both declare this game a must-win affair.
05:29Can you talk some sense?
05:30Can you coach these guys up?
05:31They are misguided, and I know you are not.
05:36The reason it isn't, and the reason I'm sure that Wiggy and Ted agree that it is,
05:40is that what they have coming up after them is two better teams than Pittsburgh.
05:44So you're looking at 0-4.
05:46Not where you want to be.
05:48However, be that as it may, every other team that they're competing with,
05:54except for the Chiefs, has an absolute gauntlet.
05:57So you don't want to go 0-4, but your season's not going to be lost.
06:01You will be behind the eight ball.
06:02You will be fighting to get back to .500.
06:06But whether it's the Bengals, whether it's Houston, whether it's the Bills,
06:10whether it's the Jags, all of them have really difficult roads ahead of them
06:16in this first half of the season before they start getting into the softies of their schedule.
06:20So it's not must win, but it's, you know, you don't want to be 0-4, and you could be.
06:29And the other aspect of it, too, is what we all do for a living.
06:32If they go to 0-2 and we start projecting 0-4,
06:35then they have to listen to that for a month plus beginning on September 10th.
06:40I mean, hell, think about that.
06:42It'll be from September 10th until October 12th that we're doom and gloom.
06:48So that, I imagine, no matter how much you ignore the noise, will wear on the team.
06:52So, Tommy Curran, with A.J. Brown out and, you know, Romeo Dobbs,
06:57I'm sure they're going to try to get him catching actual passes.
07:01But Mac Hollins, his value seems to have been boosted ever since last week
07:08because of the injury of A.J. Brown.
07:10This whole story about the Patriots asking Mac Hollins to take a pay cut
07:15when it came to his bonuses, it just seems, like, dirty.
07:21What do you know about the way the Patriots do that sometimes?
07:25Ted's been talking about this a little.
07:26Like, why would you do that right before the season starts?
07:31And kind of what can you tell me about when the Patriots ask these players
07:36to take that kind of cut?
07:38It's a bookkeeping trick.
07:40You know, any time a player has, for instance, 50 catches,
07:44and the next season he'll hit an incentive if he gets to 45,
07:49that converts to a likely-to-be-earned incentive.
07:52So because it's likely that the guy's going to do that, it hits your cap this year.
07:57If the Patriots reconfigure and change it to 55 catches,
08:00it becomes not likely to be earned because the player didn't do it in the past year.
08:04So I think there's two $300,000 incentives back-to-back at, like, 55 and 57.
08:11So it's a bookkeeping move.
08:13I don't understand how snug they are to the cap that they would need to do that.
08:19Certainly the way Hollins framed it in the locker room and his comments on it,
08:22he didn't sound that psyched about it.
08:24So I initially looked at it as, ah, it's just bookkeeping,
08:27and maybe they'll give it to him even if they don't get it.
08:29We've seen teams pound it.
08:30But the players, even Bill, would try and get players incentive throws.
08:34But I can see why this particular team at that particular time
08:39with an important player doing that, you would say,
08:42what are you going to do with him for?
08:43It's not like, you know, you're rolling quarters to get gas.
08:49Yeah.
08:49Yeah.
08:50Which I've done.
08:51Oh, sure.
08:52And on top of that, it just, it's, you know, it seems to me like, you know,
08:58when you're trying to, when you're trying to skimp out that much, he did not,
09:02I mean, first of all, he sounded kind of pissed,
09:04and it was weird that he talked about it,
09:06because you don't usually hear these guys talk about it.
09:09Would they have cut him if he would have said no?
09:13I have not asked directly.
09:15If they did, that would be really a horrible idea.
09:19So I would find it dubious to think that they would.
09:22But he seems to think that way, in the way that he's talking.
09:24Not that way.
09:25So, I mean, I don't want to, unless I've asked the Patriots,
09:28which I have not had an opportunity to ask anybody who would be in charge
09:31of the bookkeeping, would you guys have released Mac Hollins
09:34if he didn't take it?
09:35I can't answer whether or not they would have,
09:37but it certainly, if Mac is saying it sounded to him that they would,
09:41then I would have to defer to the guy who was involved in it.
09:43Hey, Tom, I'm curious what you thought of some of the bigger performances
09:47in the AFC.
09:48Would you make it to the Ravens, the Bills, the Chiefs?
09:52Were you surprised by any of those teams and what they did in week one?
09:56I think marrying up Kenneth Walker with Patrick Mahomes is just a master stroke.
10:01Now, we know running backs get hurt on a fairly regular basis,
10:04but that made a massive difference.
10:06She Rice looked really good in that game,
10:08and they're going to play such a putrid schedule this year
10:10because they went 6-11, that I would think that the Chiefs,
10:14despite last year's record,
10:16my dubious feelings as to whether or not they could again get back to where they were,
10:22they're kind of out the window already.
10:24As for the Ravens, they're always unbelievable in September.
10:28The Bengals, Houston, they remain teams that I'm like,
10:34I need a little more information.
10:36I mean, you can't be as bad as C.J. Stroud was in the playoffs last year
10:40and be magically with a wave of the wand all fixed,
10:42and certainly the last drive and his strip sack,
10:46thanks to Trent Brown to a degree, on the right-hand side allowing that to happen.
10:49But that kind of thing, it's just, he's a non-trustworthy quarterback,
10:54which is why he's still without a contract at this point.
10:58So, I love the AFC this year because it's so wide open,
11:02and Jacksonville, I would still say, might be the best team in the conference.
11:06They won eight straight to end the season last year.
11:09They lost 33-30 on a great Josh Allen performance in the playoffs,
11:12and they looked unbelievable last week.
11:14He could have won 58-1.
11:15Who would have ever thought, Duvall, that coach is winning.
11:19And they love him, too.
11:20Oh, they love him.
11:21He started off such a nerd, and all of a sudden, everyone loves the guy.
11:24That's what winning does.
11:25Hey, Tom, you made a convincing case to me, at least,
11:27that this Patriots defense needs to do more,
11:30needs to come up with some takeaways in order to win.
11:33Can you expand on that with our audience, and how would that look this weekend?
11:36Yeah, it's really distressing when you look at the fact that so many games last weekend
11:41that we watched, including the Patriots game, hinged on interceptions.
11:44And the Patriots, when you look at it, Mike has alluded to this variable
11:47a few times that, you know, we need more takeaways.
11:50We need more interceptions.
11:51And I looked at it.
11:52They have three picks in regular season games going back to last October.
11:58So those picks came against Joe Flacco, Brady Cook, and Quinn Ewers.
12:04In the playoffs, they got Jarrett Stidham, and they got four from C.J. Stroud.
12:08So they have eight picks in the last 14 games.
12:10Half of those came from C.J. Stroud on one horrendous evening for him.
12:14Meanwhile, they've thrown 12 picks.
12:16So they're running a massive deficit, and I don't think it has anything, Teddy,
12:19to do with, and I asked Ted because, you know, no defense is better than all of us.
12:25You've got a really good secondary.
12:26Gonzalez, despite the drop pick last week, we know what he is.
12:29Marcus Jones, a great athlete.
12:30Carlton Davis can make plays.
12:32Kevin Byard's probably here because he led the NFL in picks last year.
12:36Woodson's a good player.
12:37Spillane's an athlete.
12:38Christian Ellis is an athlete.
12:40The problem is up front.
12:41They don't bother anybody.
12:43They can't get Drew Locke to throw a near pick in three-plus quarters of play.
12:48Come on.
12:49Yeah, way too comfortable.
12:50Quarterbacks, way too comfortable for sure.
12:52That's a big issue, and I think they were bottom of the league in takeaways last year.
12:56So that's obviously – and to me, Tom, what we would do is if we would just make it
13:02a huge priority in practice, usually when you just really concentrate on one thing,
13:07whether turning the ball over in practice, it usually means good things in the game.
13:11So I'm guessing they're emphasizing it in practice.
13:13It's just weird that it's not showing up in the games.
13:17Watch for tipped balls because Mike mentioned that specifically.
13:20When you get a hand on the ball at the line of scrimmage.
13:22So watch for some of those guys trying to be more – you know, abandon the pass rush a
13:26little bit more if you're in the middle and just start getting your hands up and screwing
13:29up throwing lanes.
13:30There you go.
13:31And, Tom, it appears to me – maybe I'm reading into it too much – that Mike Vrabel
13:35was very hands-on in the offensive game plan in Week 1.
13:39Is that accurate to assert that the ground game and establish the run, that sort of thing,
13:44was coming directly from the head man?
13:46Oh, I think it was probably a team-wide mentality throughout the offseason.
13:50You know, you add Reggie Gilliam.
13:51You made an effort to add Julian Hill, who was a blocking tight end.
13:54You improved on the offensive line.
13:56So I think it was a team-wide mentality from personnel to Mike to Josh McDaniels.
14:00Who, you know, likes running with a fullback and multiple running backs who are
14:05available to you when they are because you want to try and create some kind of,
14:11you know, pressure point in the defense to start accounting for the people you have
14:17on the field.
14:17Seattle really didn't have to do that, although the Patriots, I thought, were pretty
14:20good in the running game in terms of just sticking with it.
14:24You're going to get some losses, tackle for losses, zero-yard gains.
14:27But stick with it.
14:28And it actually paid dividends.
14:30I thought Stevenson had the best game of any Patriot player on offense this past week.
14:34So I wouldn't say it was strictly Mike.
14:36I think the team-wide mentality is this is what we want to be and this is who we will
14:41try to be.
14:41And we'll be aggressive with Drake when we get opportunities.
14:45He just decided to be aggressive when there weren't opportunities.
14:48Well, Tommy Curran, what luck is this?
14:50You, me, a week from today, September 23rd, Mastodon at the House of Blues right at Fenway.
14:58We're already broadcasting from there.
15:00You can go to the same concert that I brought Mike Reese to.
15:03It changed his life.
15:05You and me.
15:05Come on.
15:06Let's get in the mosh pit there, Tommy Curran.
15:08Mastodon.
15:09Oh, with Def Heaven and Alsest.
15:12I would go to Dinosaur Jr.
15:15That's the only prehistoric band I would see.
15:18Dinosaur Jr. is a good band.
15:19You got good taste.
15:20I know it is.
15:21All right.
15:22I like that.
15:23But listen, if you change your mind a week from today, Mastodon will blow your mind.
15:29And you know what?
15:29And then you and Mike Reese can bond over how much you enjoy getting in the mosh pit.
15:34How did Reese do in the mosh pit?
15:36I'll send you a video.
15:38I'll text you a video when we get off the air.
15:40It was unbelievable.
15:41He's never seen one before.
15:42He's been to a million concerts and never been to one.
15:44And that guy couldn't have had a better time at that show.
15:48I love that kid.
15:49Oh, yeah.
15:49He was like a human beach ball in there just getting tossed around.
15:52I mean, man, a glass is a skew.
15:55It's the whole thing.
15:57All right, Tommy Curran.
15:58Great stuff.
15:59Great having you on.
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