- 10 minutes ago
Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran joined the show to preview tonight’s matchup against the Bears. Rich, Ken, Ted, and Tom discussed A.J. Brown’s drops, the Drake Maye/Caleb Williams comparisons, Pats injuries, and more.
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00:00Tommy Curran, what's up, buddy?
00:01How you doing?
00:04Everybody ready for a nice long night.
00:06Oh, yeah.
00:07Fired up.
00:08You're going to be hanging out with your buddy Ted, right?
00:10Yep.
00:11Oh, we'll get him a great night.
00:13Yeah, Ted gets into these games when you're with him.
00:16I do.
00:17He gets into them now.
00:18I feel bad because, you know, TC and, you know, Michael Holley,
00:23they hang out in the green room.
00:24And I kind of can just be, I don't like to talk that much.
00:29And my guys are, you know, they tweet and they're, you know,
00:31and so they, you know, I just, I just in my little cubicle.
00:35But so I always felt bad about that.
00:37But that's just, you know, that's.
00:38No, that's okay.
00:39You're okay with that now.
00:40That's much more noisy.
00:41Michael and I don't make much noise.
00:42Michael gets mad at me because I use NFL Jesus,
00:46which is usually a play ahead.
00:48And I will say what's about to happen.
00:50And Michael Holley flips out.
00:53Wow.
00:54Spoiler alert.
00:54Dude, I do in the, in the, in the news room, I do scream and yell.
00:59So it can be a little annoying.
01:01That's right.
01:02He's in his own.
01:02He's in his own dojo at that point.
01:05Well, listen, Tommy Curran, you scared me.
01:08I have to be honest when you were on with Jones and Keith earlier this week,
01:11because I wasn't feeling worried at all after last week's AJ Brown performance
01:17with his three wink drops when we all know it was more than that.
01:21And the fumble that you found, which I didn't even know what happened until you,
01:24you called it out.
01:26Um, and you said that your worry meter, I believe was using like a 6.8 out of 10.
01:31Can you kind of, have you rethought that?
01:34Are you still worried about AJ Brown and, uh, having a case of the drops?
01:39It's spiked.
01:40It's spiked up there at 6.8.
01:41It remains at 6.8, but all that it will require for it to dissipate.
01:47It's just a few catches.
01:49I mean, it was such an onslaught of bad hands that it gives you pause.
01:55I mean, it was not just the onside kick, not just the fumble, um, the downfield one,
02:03the one in the back of the end zone.
02:04And, you know,
02:05we had a game at the end of his tenure in Philadelphia last year in the playoffs
02:09where he had, you know, two significant drops.
02:11So it will dissipate, I'm sure, but you become accustomed.
02:16This Patriots team has had very good hands for Drake May.
02:21Last year, you know, Diggs, Booty, those guys were,
02:23were making contestant catches on a very regular basis,
02:28as good as anyone in the league.
02:30So it's a little disconcerting to see.
02:31I'm sure it will go down, but until it stops,
02:34you kind of reflexively are going to say, you know,
02:38is he going to catch this?
02:40I can't be alone.
02:42No, that, no, a lot of people agree with you, Tom.
02:45Um, I'm just, I'm curious.
02:46We're talking about Caleb Williams versus Drake May, uh,
02:48in this matchup tonight, which is going to be exciting to watch,
02:51but just what do you think about the, the head coach quarterback combo
02:54between Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson versus Drake May and Mike Vrabel,
02:57just those quarterback head coach combos.
03:00How would you, what do you think of those two?
03:01And just maybe in the pantheon of all the other kind of, uh,
03:05great, uh, head coaches, quarterback combos in the league.
03:08Mm-hmm.
03:09I think it's a really good mix for Vrabel to have May because Vrabel is a
03:14little bit acerbic.
03:15He likes to get on people.
03:17And from everything I've seen from May, he can take it.
03:20He can listen to it and not, you know,
03:23take it personally and move on.
03:24Last summer, Vrabel was on him consistently to be a better leader.
03:29He would call him out.
03:30He would say, not good enough.
03:32Not what we're looking for.
03:33And May never really kicked rocks about it, never moped.
03:37And he has become a better player as a result of it.
03:40The difference, I think, with May and Williams in their,
03:45the way they're being developed, and I could be wrong.
03:48If I was in Chicago, I might have a different perspective,
03:51but it seems to be being drummed out of May pretty consistently
03:56to not play loose and sloppy, to be a pocket quarterback,
04:02and then run when the opportunity arrives, be a passer, then be a runner.
04:08And I think that's good because down the road, he can expand.
04:12Meanwhile, I think Williams has been given greater latitude to be himself.
04:20And as a result, he takes a lot of sacks.
04:22May takes a ton of sacks, too.
04:24They're very similar players, but I think that May has been,
04:27the attempt has been greater to curb May of his demons
04:31than has been with Williams.
04:34Going back to that draft, Tom, what do you remember behind the scenes?
04:37Obviously, you had the end of Bill and the unexpected win over Denver there,
04:40which cost them the second pick, and then Mayo comes in.
04:43But behind the scenes, Caleb versus Drake, the draft room,
04:46that sort of stuff, anything that stands out?
04:50Just the concern expressed pretty universally about May's inaccuracy and fundamentals.
04:59You know, he threw off platform a lot.
05:02You remember even Bill Belichick saying the night that he was drafted,
05:06there's going to be a lot of work to do with him.
05:08And it was present.
05:09He was pretty scattershot.
05:10Even on routine throws, he was not a terribly accurate quarterback.
05:15Very good, but he was not – he had a lot of work to do is the upshot of it.
05:23And, you know, when drafted, he comes in.
05:25He's under Alex Van Pelt, and I still think that that was to the good for him
05:29because Alex Van Pelt stripped everything with him back down to zero
05:33and had him throughout his first minicamp and into training camp going back to zero
05:40and trying to relearn everything about his fundamentals, how to drop, how to move.
05:45And I think it made a massive difference because he looked not good
05:49at the beginning of his time in New England.
05:53Just talking about that first camp, he looked very robotic.
05:56And then he expanded pretty quickly and learned how to better use his pace, I guess.
06:05So I think that was pretty significant to me with the work of the conversation
06:11about how raw he was and the drastic improvement he made.
06:16So speaking of Drake, last week I think one of the best stories was the fact that
06:21they literally ran out of bodies for the offensive line.
06:24They used their last body that could possibly be up there, and somehow Drake never got sacked.
06:30You know, going over that game and watching how they played,
06:33how confident are you that they're going to be able to keep him upright for this game?
06:37I know it's somewhat advantageous that the Bears have two very good defensive ends that are out,
06:43you know, one's for a suspension, a sweat.
06:46But, like, how confident are you in this offensive line?
06:49Because what we saw last week was crazy, and I don't think anyone would have expected them
06:53for their play as well as they did.
06:55You know, it was crazy.
06:56And the Jets kind of altered the things that they like to do.
06:59The Jets blitz a lot.
07:00They called off the dogs with the blitz and decided to play coverage, and that didn't work so great.
07:04I would imagine on the road against a higher-quality opponent with Dennis Allen,
07:09understanding the Bears defensive coordinator, you have some rawness up there.
07:14You know, it could be Caleb Womu.
07:16It's probably going to be Matt Pryor and Walter Rouse, the two guard spots.
07:20Jared Wilson is still in his first year in the NFL as center.
07:23They should bring heat.
07:25If they get out of this with two or fewer sacks, that's terrific.
07:31So, it was a really, really, really good performance, and it speaks to me about the way that they're
07:38doing a very good job, I think we've mentioned this before, of developing on this team in a way
07:44that necessarily wasn't happening, you know, in the last few years of Bill or in the one year
07:49with Gerard Mayo.
07:51They just, guys didn't improve as drastically as they seem to be this year.
07:55Hey, Tom, I'm curious what you think about this kind of report or this,
07:59a piece of info that's been in a book recently about Ryan Poles, the general manager of the Bears,
08:05you know, not inviting Drake May to a top-30 scouting visit or attending their pro day.
08:10He supposedly watched the tape and laughed and mocked Drake May for how bad he was on his college tape.
08:17Have you heard of that report?
08:19And if so, is anybody, is that even a story inside the building there in Foxboro,
08:23or is it, you know, nothing to see there?
08:27No, I've heard that story before.
08:29I think it was last year that emerged that, you know, they just didn't think he was equipped
08:36to be a top-tier quarterback, which, you know, it's funny because Caleb Williams is a more
08:44explosive player than Drake.
08:46He's a little faster, a little, much more elusive, I think, and sudden in his movements.
08:51And he's got one of the five best arms in the league.
08:55And I think Drake May is probably top 10, but Caleb Williams' arm could be right there with Josh Allen's
09:02as the strongest arm in the league.
09:04So I could see why they would look at the two and say, well, that's not our guy.
09:08But neither one was terribly polished.
09:11So I wonder if you hit Ryan Poles with the truth serum, if he would say, yeah, I thought
09:19he wasn't even a good prospect.
09:20I had Bo Nix ahead of him or something like that.
09:22But I thought, look, I like J.J. McCarthy.
09:26I still like J.J. McCarthy.
09:27I think he's got an absolute weapon.
09:29He hasn't had a chance to play.
09:30Everybody has different tastes.
09:32It's what you do, as you know, Ted, what you do when you get here.
09:35And like I talked about with Alex Van Pelt and the way he's been developed as not just
09:40a quarterback, but as a leader, they have hit.
09:46Oh, I'm sorry.
09:47I didn't know you were done there, Tom.
09:48My apologies.
09:50I thought there was more to come.
09:51You just had your Jermaine Wiggins moment.
09:53I had a Wiggie moment.
09:53You had a Wiggie moment this morning.
09:55I think Wigg just kind of spaced out.
09:57Sometimes Tom really brings it home in a crescendo.
10:00We're like, Ken, Ken.
10:02Okay, well, here's my question.
10:05Now that the buildup is significant.
10:06Let him go.
10:07This better be a good one.
10:08We've been waiting for a while for it.
10:09What are you feeling about the game, Tom?
10:13Hey, what do you think of the big game?
10:17But seriously, I did hear you talking yesterday.
10:19You did not sound.
10:20You sounded like you were leaning Chicago.
10:22Am I correct?
10:23I am leaning Chicago.
10:24If you're a Chicago Bears fan and the Patriots come in here and beat you at home when both teams
10:31are 4-2 and the Patriots have as many injuries as they do, and you've just gotten your quarterback back
10:36and they waltz into your stadium and give it to you, you'd be pretty pissed.
10:42And I think the Patriots would prefer to win, but if they don't, given the vast number of injuries and
10:48critical spots, what also doesn't match up here, another reason is the Bears run the ball very well, as I'm
10:57sure we've spoken about on the station all week.
10:59160 yards per game on the ground.
11:01They're missing one of their backs, but still, it's more predicated by what the offensive line is doing.
11:06The Patriots struggled against Braylon Allen for a large part of the game before the Jets went away from it.
11:12Struggled against Buffalo in the second half against the run.
11:15I think there's a lot of teams that have been able to, or certainly the Bears are going to be
11:19able to look at this and go, we're going to be able to run against these guys.
11:22Let's just run it, shorten the game, keep Cale Williams in a position where he's in second.
11:29Second and five, third and two, and we should be able to take care of business against these guys because
11:34we have them on the road, and we can do some things to confuse their offensive line.
11:39So that's why I say, with all things being equal, this should be a dead-even game, but I think
11:47the injuries, the short week, it's just going to be a lot for the Patriots to overcome, which isn't to
11:53say that they can't.
11:54But they already surprised the hell out of me by winning at Buffalo when I thought they'd lose by 21.
12:00So I'm prepared to be surprised.
12:02Imagine if they lose on Didconite, too.
12:04I mean, that would be a shameful, shameful loss over there in Soldier Field.
12:09Exactly.
12:11I want to ask you one last...
12:12There's nothing else I can say to amplify that.
12:14No, no, no.
12:15You cannot lose a...
12:16By the way, they're moving to Indiana, right?
12:17Is that official?
12:19I'm not sure it's locked in.
12:21Well, they're moving to some city.
12:22I don't know.
12:24Oh, yeah.
12:24At the end of the state.
12:25Yeah, they're moving there.
12:27Are they well?
12:28Yeah, Dome, too.
12:29It's going to be Dome, too.
12:30They want the Super Bowl, probably.
12:31You're kicking me flat-footed.
12:35Well, listen.
12:36All I know is that...
12:37Is there anything that you can predict as far as...
12:40I don't know what I'll ask you.
12:41Because this is the...
12:42It's a question that's been asked all week to everybody, but I do like this question.
12:46If you had to pick Drake May, Caleb Williams, who are you picking?
12:51I would say Drake May.
12:53And the reason is I just think that he is more equipped for this region.
13:01I might say something different if I was in a different part of the country.
13:07I mean, and I said this before he was drafted.
13:10I said the two greatest selling points to May as a top pick, as a franchise quarterback, is he is
13:20extremely predictable.
13:22Yeah.
13:22He's consistent.
13:23He was at North Carolina.
13:24They went through offensive coordinators, offensive linemen.
13:29They went seven and four in a seat.
13:31He never said a word.
13:33He was here.
13:34He was under Gerard and Alex Van Pelton that first year, playing behind Jacoby Brissett.
13:41Accepted everything.
13:43Never complained.
13:44He's physically tough.
13:46We've seen his physical toughness.
13:48He's mentally tough.
13:50And I think that that's one attribute of the quarterback position that is not as important as the physical stuff.
13:57But if it's going to separate the okay from the good from the great, the great ones have the mental
14:05makeup and physical makeup that May does.
14:08I think that Caleb Williams is Kevin Durant.
14:11He is a wildly talented player.
14:14He's going to be great in this league, but he's going to be someone that you are going to find
14:18out one day he's ripping on fans on a burner Twitter account who are making fun of him, and he's
14:23going to go off at press conferences like we've seen him before.
14:25He's still going to be great, but man, he is going to listen to the noise way too much.
14:32I agree.
14:33The emotional roller coaster is not one that May seems to live on.
14:36I mean, he didn't get pissed when we were all hammering him three weeks ago.
14:41Three weeks ago.
14:42Yep.
14:42It was Mac Jones and Drake.
14:44Never got pissed.
14:44Never got mad at the podium.
14:47Never kicked rocks.
14:48Never moaned.
14:49Never saw his helmet fly.
14:52Just kept saying, yeah, it's me.
14:54Yeah.
14:55Yeah, I'm going to be better.
14:56I mean, he did nothing.
14:58Yeah.
14:58So there is an incredible amount to be learned from that, I think.
15:04Absolutely.
15:05All right.
15:05Well, Tommy Curran, good stuff.
15:06Enjoy your evening listening to Ted make noises in the other room while watching the game.
15:12He's used to it.
15:14And once again, you can tune into NBC Sports Boston.
15:17You want to see Ted, and you want to see Michael Hawley, and you want to see Tommy Curran.
15:21I believe Bill Perry is there as well.
15:23It's a great thing to watch as soon as the game is over.
15:26Tommy Curran, always great having you on, buddy.
15:28Thanks, T.C.
15:29Hey, enjoy the game, guys.
15:30See you later.