LIVE Patriots Beat: Patriots vs Saints Week 5 Preview

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Join 98.5 The Sports Hub's Alex Barth and Pats Pulpit's Brian Hines as they recap the New England Patriots Week 5 game vs the New Orleans Saints.  This episode of the Patriots Beat Podcast is brought to you by:  This episode of the Podcast is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5  and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more! So, visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won’t wanna miss. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.  Visit https://Linkedin.com/BEAT to post your first job for free! LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Did you know every week, nearly 40 million job seekers visit LinkedIn.  #Patriots #NFL #NewEnglandPatriots

Transcript

00:00 to another live edition of the Patriots Beat podcast right here on the CLNS media network.

00:05 Brian Hines from Pat's Pulpit back as always with Alex Barth from 98.5 Esports Hub to preview the

00:11 Patriots week five matchup back home at Gillette against the New Orleans Saints, two and two Saints

00:17 versus the one and three Patriots. But we had a little roster shuffling this week with all the

00:24 unfortunate injuries and it brought home an old friend first and that was JC Jackson back in the

00:30 fold on Wednesday. They got him it was became official just a few hours ago today for a late

00:36 round pick swap in 2025 I believe it was and Chargers took on most of that contract too which

00:43 was a big thing they paid all the rest of the guaranteed money about seven and three quarters

00:48 this year. Patriots are stuck paying them about one and a half million this year and then the

00:53 remaining three years of his contract are regular but no guaranteed money so they can get out of

00:58 that at any time and Alex I don't know how you feel about that and I know JC is still like he

01:05 said last week he still wasn't 100% and might be working his way back from that injury he had last

01:11 year but they were at a point where they needed cornerbacks badly with all these injuries and to

01:17 get a guy who has been familiar in your system has had success in your system and get him in here I

01:23 think that's kind of a boost for the defense here yeah I always felt like if JC got cut he'd end up

01:29 being back here I think the injuries probably made it so that they couldn't afford to wait

01:33 for that definitely player they needed he'll help I don't know I think some people are just expecting

01:40 him to be the guy he was last time he was here which was an all-pro corner he was second team

01:44 all-pro in 2021 I got to see how well he's moving off that knee injury we don't really have a great

01:49 sample size he struggled the first two weeks then got benched the last two uh look he's a better

01:55 option than Miles Bryant and Shawn Wade I'm not going to sit here and tell you he's not he's a

01:58 much much better option but to what extent he can help the defense I don't know that he can be

02:03 you know I think asking him to play at the level Christian Gonzalez played at the first four weeks

02:07 might be a little bit of a stretch yeah and you're downgrading there we still don't know what what

02:12 the jude on the plan is to replace judan uh Gerard Mayo earlier this week spoke very highly of Keon

02:18 White but then Trey Flowers comes back to practice so where are they going there uh it's look it's no

02:25 secret they've they've got a massive hole to dig out of with these injuries and I think JC Jackson

02:29 helps but I don't think he's the one for one swap for Gonzalez and then in terms of the long term I

02:34 you know he's not going to be on this team next year with a cap hit of 14 million dollars yeah

02:38 he's just not so if he's bad this year he gets cut if he's good they'll restructure maybe trade him

02:43 if he can be 80 of the player he was his first time here him Gonzalez Jack Jones Marcus Jones

02:55 that's it and then I mean we'll see where John Jones factors in but that's a damn good secondary

03:01 right there so not a ton of risk here I I don't necessarily think the upsides as high maybe as

03:07 some other people do but I'm not going to say there's not upside we'll see uh the big test for

03:12 him though because remember when when we were having those debates and I think it was still

03:17 Evan on the show at this point about bringing JC Jackson back and you know remember the whole thing

03:24 was like is he really a a number one corner yeah remember that and the analogy I made at the time

03:31 with JC Jackson I make a lot with corners Brian is like to baseball right there's number one

03:37 starting pitchers and there's aces just because the player is the number one starting pitcher in

03:42 a rotation doesn't mean he's an ace and sometimes it's vice versa you can have two aces I JC Jackson

03:49 was like right on that line he's definitely a number one corner he's one of the 32 best corners

03:54 in the league if he's your starting number one corner you're probably in good shape but is he

03:58 an ace is he a guy that can go out there and just blank anybody and that was kind of the question

04:04 about giving him that big contract and what it always came back to was well if you can't stop

04:09 Stefan Diggs you can't throw the bag at him because you need to be able to stop Stefan Diggs twice a

04:17 year who do the Patriots play in two weeks three weeks Stefan Diggs in the Buffalo Bills that is

04:23 going to be a very interesting game and that was going to be the big question with Christian Gonzalez

04:29 John Jones couldn't stop Stefan Diggs JC Jackson couldn't was Gonzalez finally going to be the guy

04:35 that gave the Patriots the leg up in that matchup in that regard uh and now you're back to JC Jackson

04:40 who didn't just get beat by Stefan Diggs I mean got roasted by him on multiple occasions yeah just

04:47 so painful that Christian Gonzalez injury just yeah it's gonna just that's the worst thing that

04:53 happened from Sunday in my opinion I think but um it's up there yeah it's all the worst thing that

05:00 happened there was a game is the worst Sunday was just a mess but uh yeah on that like ace first uh

05:06 starting corners kind of thing I think that's what the Chargers kind of like I think they paid him

05:11 and then kind of thought he was going to be like this Daryl Revis yeah travel shut down type of guy

05:18 and that's why you saw him in the seven games he played last year before he was getting hurt that's

05:22 why he was getting beat pretty badly but I think the one thing that he could kind of bring here was

05:29 he was a ball hawk when he was here right like that was his Mr. INT that was his thing and this

05:34 is a defense through four games that has two turnovers and one interception and that was

05:39 Christian Gonzalez so they like with the way this offense is going they need all the help they can

05:45 get so if you can get someone in here who can start turning the ball over with JC Jackson that's going

05:51 to be a big boost for them and Jack Jones is a guy who's kind of like that too there was another

05:56 report out today kind of confirming what we were already expecting or heard that that's still going

06:01 to be a few more weeks till Jack Jones is back in the equation on IR there but uh yeah as he said

06:08 like it's an upgrade over sticky miles Bryant and Sean Wade out there all the time so you have him

06:14 hopefully John Jones is back this week and then Brian in the slot and Wade's kind of your depth

06:20 guy there right that's I think going to be the plan here yeah but um so we can move over to

06:27 some of this Saints preview and I think it all all eyes are on Mac Jones here to see how he

06:34 rebounds from that disaster on on Sunday and I don't know do you do you have confidence that

06:42 he's gonna bounce back here because that that was a mess like watching that back more and more

06:47 it was a mess JTO Sullivan if anyone doesn't you know watch his QB school videos he put out like a

06:53 30 minute long video on Mac breaking him down and he just confirmed everything I think we already saw

06:58 and thought like it was a mess footwork wise decision making wise so is there any confidence

07:04 on your part here that Mac can kind of bounce back against this Saints defense so I don't think he'll

07:10 play that bad again simply because I don't know how he can um if he has another game like that

07:15 you know we'll we'll do the full hour next week on on Michael Pollock's and college quarterbacks

07:20 yeah and Bo Nix and Quinn yours and those guys um I the thing for me is like I just need to see him

07:29 play within himself I'm not expecting to come out and throw 400 yards anything like that this is a

07:32 good defense but like what I would tell them is if I'm one of the coaches that the throws back

07:37 across the field that's the one that's like that's not an NFL play I tell you you take a 20-yard sack

07:44 before you make that throw I see you throw back across the field blindly like that once you're on

07:47 the bench that's got to go the the panic plays have got to go and what does that leave does

07:57 that leave a guy that completes 20 passes for 200 yards with no touchdowns no picks maybe

08:02 you kind of have to build back baby step which is sad at this point but that's where they are

08:07 so I I I he he look he's better than the player he was on Sunday yeah he clearly is bad people oh

08:14 well no that's what he was and you're defending him no it's clearly not who he is because he

08:18 doesn't play every game like that the question is is this a one-off that he can shake off or

08:24 is there going to be a process of building it back here and the Saints got him good last time

08:29 too that Saints game week three his rookie year he threw his first three career interceptions in

08:33 that game and one of them was you know late in game hail Mary whatever but he wasn't good in that

08:38 game either so this is a defense that's had success against them so that element of it will be easy to

08:44 see as well yeah my big thing with him is the footwork because it yeah a lot of those throws

08:51 against Dallas and this is something that even dated back to the end of last year and maybe you

08:56 saw glimpses of it early this year it's a lot of those like fading away and floater type of passes

09:02 and you can't have that with his type of arm strength so you know bailing from the pocket

09:08 is one thing but he needs to be a quarterback that can reposition himself in the pocket like

09:15 Evan Taylor and I were just talking about this like Brady used to always call it like the phone

09:19 booth right like those little movements in the phone booth to re-establish yourself reset your

09:25 feet and then you know when his base is set then he can kind of drive the ball in those kind of

09:30 tighter areas down the field so that's what you want to see from him and you'd expect the Saints

09:36 like they don't blitz a lot they don't have a lot of pressure this year it'd be interesting if that

09:40 changes when they see this Patriots offensive line right now but I wouldn't be surprised if the Saints

09:46 come out pretty aggressive early and say you know we're going to try to hit Mac a few times on these

09:51 opening drives and try to rattle him and see if that he follows a similar path in Dallas where

09:57 he looks spooked his footwork starts to go and you know that's my kind of concern with him because

10:02 again once that goes like that's a tough process to get back especially mid-season I mean look he

10:09 was seeing ghosts he was seeing ghosts and and part of it is the offensive line has to be better

10:13 we'll talk about the offensive line because I think this team right now is absolutely shooting

10:16 themselves in the foot when it comes to the offensive line but I don't know sorry Mac you're

10:22 gonna get hit yeah you gotta be and he's he to this point he had done a good job of anticipating

10:30 pressure I don't think he was necessarily moving well but there were times the first couple games

10:36 where there's a rusher coming right out and he throws right in the blitz and it's it's on time

10:40 and it's accurate he completes the pass he just started anticipating contact way too much last

10:45 weekend look you'd like to be able to say hey he'll be protected better this week he won't

10:49 they have the worst by every metric the worst blocking unit in the league so no he's not

10:54 gonna be protected better and this is it goes back to the flaw in the roster building you're

11:00 just asking him to do too much and he's gonna be asked too much to do too much this week the

11:04 question is will he try to do too much or will he play within himself yeah well let's let's talk

11:09 about the offensive line because as you just said dead last in every whatever pass block percentage

11:15 stat site you want to look at they are dead last trick yeah and I feel like we're at the point where

11:23 something drastic needs to happen and that drastic thing is probably moving Mike on windows to tackle

11:28 but they don't look like they're willing to do that they seem pretty stuck in their ways that

11:32 they're going to leave him at guard so you know hang on before we move on from that all right I

11:38 do want to discuss what that would look like because I that's we're talking we're talking

11:43 about the team we're breaking down the team and I don't think they deserve a pass for that

11:46 their best five is Michael and when we're right tackle because not only are they struggling at

11:53 right tackle right now and for Darian low is not good last week you're seeing Mike on when

11:59 who's struggling right guard because he is also having to do too much because he is overcompensating

12:05 and having to deal with the weakness on his right so I think they'll probably try Riley reef out

12:12 there I don't know how well that's going to go he wasn't good this summer the foot speed wasn't there

12:17 guys were just burning around the edge on him and these the same seem as some fast pass rushers

12:22 but as much as we struggle to tackle I thought he was good at guard I thought he was good at guard

12:29 put him at right guard put Michael win with right tackle Brian we've talked about this a lot

12:34 it's you can cover up one spot and still probably get by they're never going to have a great

12:41 offensive line but if you have Trent Brown whoever your left guard is Cole strange Antonio Mafia

12:48 whoever Trent Brown left guard David Andrews Riley reef Michael and when who I think that's a

12:55 serviceable group yeah you're covering up at left guard and I think everybody else can hold their own

12:59 Michael when it's not going to be back here next year he shouldn't be back here next year

13:04 they invested heavily in guards in the draft that is a sign that you are not going to resign

13:10 somebody if they do resign him I don't know where these guards are playing unless they're moving

13:14 Cole strange which is a problem in its own right you don't need to worry about his value

13:17 is he better at right guard than right tackle yes slightly but the drop off from him to Riley

13:25 reef is not nearly as big as the drop off from him to or the drop off from him to Riley reef

13:32 at right guard is not nearly as big as the drop off from him to Riley reef at right tackle or him

13:38 to veterian law or him to Calvin Anderson or him to or to whoever they need to consider making that

13:44 move they won't do it I apologize for apologizing for wasting two minutes of everybody's time

13:49 but it needs to absolutely be on the table and I'll bring this up too with lael Collins

13:55 I guess if you want to if you want to exhaust every possible outlet sign and bring him in see

14:02 what he looks like I'm not saying no but I wouldn't get the hopes up about him yeah 30 years

14:07 old coming off a serious knee injury Joe Burrow has been hit more than any quarterback in the

14:12 league this year entering week five and the Bengals still sat there and said even though

14:16 he wasn't taking up our roster spot sat there and said we don't need this guy I'm gonna guess

14:21 there's something there whether it's an issue with his knee or something else that is a red flag

14:29 yeah so give him a look if you want but I I don't think he's any I don't think he's a

14:33 definitive answer yeah I know there was that video or report going around today of him working out

14:39 and that he passed that physical but again it's like you could give him a shot but I wouldn't

14:45 hang my hat on him being the you know solve all answer here to just slot in that right tackle and

14:51 you're never gonna have to worry about that position again but yeah I'm kind of with you

14:55 on a winnow I think they're at the point where you probably have to bump him out to right tackle but

14:59 they're just they're not gonna do it and we saw Riley Reif he returned to practice yesterday he's

15:05 been on the IR since that last preseason game when he hurt his knee against Tennessee and I think

15:10 that's probably going to be their route is just retry him at right tackle and say maybe just you

15:17 know because the veteran logo has been bad it's been really bad and just saying Riley Reif can

15:23 maybe just be a little more serviceable than this and then maybe he can give you a little more in

15:27 the run game to help the run game going and I think that's probably the path they're going to

15:31 take keeping on one new at right guard than either stranger moffy they battle it out for that left

15:37 guard spot but yeah that's that's that's what I'm expecting to see either reefer low at right tackle

15:44 on Sunday or whenever reef is ready and no one new sticks at guard yeah I I think that's what we see

15:51 too yep but uh yeah I mean I mean like cam Jordan he's gonna be he's gonna be coming over that right

16:00 side so that's gonna be an issue again Saints kind of low in their blitz blitz pressure blitz rate but

16:06 maybe they dial it up on Sunday try to pressure Mac take advantage of that line but uh we can move

16:12 over to or let's let's talk about running the running the football right because I know you

16:19 want to run the damn ball this week so do you think they can finally start clicking here in

16:26 the run game I know remandre he's been limited the last two days with a thigh injury uh so is

16:33 this the week that they say we're gonna run the damn football and find some success doing that

16:38 it needs to be Brian it needs to be especially in short yardage situations and we we talked on the

16:45 last show and people have heard me go on about this enough and I did like 10 minutes on this

16:49 thing on catch 22 the third one in the red zone and the fourth and one from the 40 in the second

16:55 quarter in that Cowboys game and how they didn't once in a short yardage situation just get an

17:03 eye set and hand the ball off to one of their power backs it is inexcusable and and you know

17:09 some people push back and say well they can't block it and they have to get creative freaking

17:14 try let's let's find out if they can do it or not because they really haven't tried it

17:18 I'm gonna give you some numbers here Brian all right on third and fourth and short this year

17:26 so that's three yards to go or less third and fourth and short the saints have faced 17 plays

17:34 in that situation defensively it's almost a 50 50 split teams have thrown the ball nine times

17:42 in third and short against the saints and run it eight times when teams run the ball against

17:48 the saints on third and short they pick up the first down 62.5 percent of the time

17:55 that is just five percent below the league average so the saints still better than average

18:00 but six times out of ten you run the ball on third and short or fourth and short against

18:06 the saints you get the first down when teams throw the ball against the saints on third or

18:12 fourth and short 33 percent of those plays results in a first down that's 20 off of the league average

18:22 you tell me what they should be doing on third and short on fourth and short against the saints

18:29 because it's the trends right there sounds like uh what Sandra Bullock would say here

18:35 run the damn ball on the dane ball and and look maybe they're worried about their own ability to

18:41 run the ball try try that's kind of where we're at because this team is built to run the ball this is

18:49 not a passing offense if they didn't want to run the ball if they were afraid to run in the ball

18:54 they should have signed DeAndre Hopkins they should have drafted a receiver in the top 100

19:01 they should have added a tackle they should not drafted a 300 pound guard last year

19:05 the team wants to run the ball do it this is the matchup to do it do it third and one put

19:13 Zeke back there behind Pharaoh Brown hand it off B gap put your head down go that needs to

19:20 needs to be a part of the game plan this week yeah I've even liked those those looks with like

19:26 they use Zeke out of fullback like for those short yarded situations those have worked but like

19:31 well yeah like still get that get them both of them in the back and just run

19:35 no throwing the ball 15 yards down the field on third and one no just run the ball you know how

19:46 you know you know how you know that this is what they need to do because Mr. Math himself Mr. I

19:52 the running backs don't matter Evan Lazar wouldn't be bothered if he didn't see another run in his

19:57 life he's ready to run the ball he wants them to run the ball run the ball there you go Evan if

20:05 Evan's calling to run the ball and you know it's serious you got to run right exactly this isn't me

20:11 wishing it was still 1994 saying they should run the ball more this is a legitimate critique

20:16 yeah and you know to go with that like again we say it every week don't turn the football over

20:23 don't put yourself in a 20-point hole where you you know you can't run the ball like that's

20:27 obviously the basic stuff but uh yeah I'm with it run the ball and then if you have some success

20:34 there it opens up this play action and this rpo stuff which you know they need to be hitting for

20:39 Mac um I was gonna pull something up oh speaking and then with the running backs like more time

20:46 Montgomery and and not him in that downhill run scheme like you need a pass catching back like you

20:53 haven't got much production there so every time I was gonna say every time we've seen time Montgomery

20:59 in training camp he's making plays in that role yeah health and ability and availability is one

21:04 thing but he's healthy now he's covering kicks every game so if you have them available to you

21:09 like put them in that pass catching role you need them yeah uh so again the whole run the ball thing

21:15 that's for like third and one third two third and three third and eight yeah time Montgomery should

21:19 be out there I'm with you 100 uh back to the offensive line real quick because I love this uh

21:24 maybe move on when to left guard mafia right guard so you can run behind Trenton on when

21:28 this goes back a couple years I wanted them to put Trent back on the right side

21:32 for this exact reason and now they can't this year but I wouldn't I'd rather see on when or right

21:38 tackle I don't hate this either but you still have the problem if you don't have a right tackle

21:44 so maybe if maybe if Riley Reef looks good that's where this comes in

21:47 that'd be interesting that's still like then you're back to like a lot of these moving parts though

21:53 yeah and you're trying to build this continuity you know what move the parts there's no continuity

21:59 it's it's not like they're building up continuity it's not like it's been the same group yeah and

22:03 you're waiting for them to get better it's four groups in four weeks there is no continuity

22:07 throw stuff at the wall and hoping it sticks at this point and hoping it works

22:13 but um yeah uh run the ball more time Montgomery Saints are we've talked a lot and you saw against

22:21 Dallas and New York the week before like Patriots offense hasn't been good against man-to-man defense

22:27 a lot of that goes back to this personnel decisions and you don't have wide receivers

22:33 who can beat man-to-man defense but the Saints play fifth or sixth most man-to-man coverage in

22:39 the league I believe so you're gonna need man beaters out there hopefully we get some more

22:44 DeMario Douglas still I know he's had some you know that that route that he caught on the the

22:51 42-yard completion yet against Dallas he collided with Devante Parker I know there's some issues

22:56 that they're probably seeing when they go you know correct these things after the game but

23:00 you're gonna need that man-to-man coverage beating ability and you're kind of at the point where you

23:05 just kind of need that playmaking ability on the field so you might want to live through these

23:08 growing pains and that goes you know back to Ty Montgomery he's one of your more elusive route

23:14 runners one of your man beaters in that sense so kind of get those guys on the field and hopefully

23:19 those guys can give you some answers there against that man-to-man coverage yeah more DeMario Douglas

23:25 I I said probably sound like a broken record at this point I don't really care more DeMario Douglas

23:29 he needs to play period he just he's the most explosive option on offense he needs to play

23:34 that's basically like all the wide receiver talk at this point is just like play DeMario Douglas more

23:40 because we still are waiting on Ty Quan Thornton seemed like he was headed in the right direction

23:47 to be back at practice this week but he hasn't been there yet so he's still on IR we're still

23:54 waiting to see him so without him like DeMario Douglas is the guy who can run away from man

23:59 coverage is that elusive dynamic guy so more pop Douglas as always but any other things

24:07 offensively from the Patriots that you were kind of looking at against this Saints defense

24:12 I think we covered it all all right so we can hear from our wonderful friends

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24:59 There was one more thing on run the damn ball I just thought of did you see who the 49ers released

25:13 yesterday oh Jack Coleto Coleto if you want additional fullback maybe there's nothing

25:19 traditional about Jack Coleto yeah you can for people who don't know Jack Coleto's plays fullback

25:24 tight end and linebacker he was in the draft this year from Oregon State he actually played for the

25:28 Patriots at the Shrine Bowl so I call I would not be surprised if they made yeah that would be

25:33 interesting to watch but we can jump over to the Saints or the Saints offense versus the Patriots

25:39 defense and could be another rock fight on our hands here because the Saints offense is one of

25:46 the three teams along with the Patriots and Josh McDaniels as Raiders that have not scored over

25:52 20 points this year I think they're averaging right around 15 15 and a half 16 points per game

25:58 so kind of weird because you look at their roster and there's a lot of like talent on that roster

26:05 right like Chris Alave is a really good receiver Michael Thomas Rashid Shahid is this big play guy

26:10 they got Alvin Kamara back I know Derek Carr is now battling that shoulder injury that AC joint and

26:17 he had a weird game last last week like a lot of check downs 13 14 passes like at or behind the

26:25 line of scrimmage but they have a lot of talent on their offense but it's just not really clicking

26:30 down there in New Orleans right now yeah and like you mentioned that injury is not helping

26:34 uh plain and simple like you got to take it it's an injured quarterback you got to take advantage

26:39 my biggest thing for the defense this week and the Saints defense plays like this they're not

26:44 going at the Saints defense isn't just going out there trying to stop the offense the Saints defense

26:48 is going out there trying to make plays on their own tackles for loss force fumbles interception

26:52 sacks like things like that right the Patriots defense needs to take it to the Saints offense

26:58 it's not just about stopping them it's about making plays in your own right now their two

27:02 best playmakers are out so that's a lot easier said than done but to only force two turnovers

27:08 through four games is not enough from this defense right now so they got to go out they got to be

27:12 aggressive they got to set the tone um specifically when it comes to Alvin Kamara this is a guy that

27:16 had in 47 plays last week had 24 touches got to be keying in on him gang tackling with him first guy

27:24 gets to the ball second guy tries to punch it out that kind of thing need an aggressive game plan

27:28 from the defense this week yeah and Kamara he had a very if i remember correctly he had a very good

27:34 game in two years ago right yeah that's i was just trying to pull up his stats but um he had 13

27:41 catches too he mentioned all those those touches so 13 catches how are you kind of guarding him

27:48 this week like marty mapu is is he going to be in this equation or i i don't know i want to be

27:55 safeties all these safeties you have how are you kind of guarding kamara in that pass catching game

28:00 probably mapu dugger maybe chaelan mills if he splits out wide um can't be can't be john

28:07 bentley look john bentley's gotten a lot better in coverage this is not your typical receiving

28:12 running back this is a guy with the receiving skill set who happens to play running back

28:16 it's like him mcafree he's in that elite elite tier of pass catching running back so

28:21 yeah i i think this should be a big marty mapu game probably should be yeah and nice to see him

28:27 increase season high snaps last week now that like we talked about playing these kids we'll

28:31 talk about keo white in a second but like get them all out on the field let them battle through the

28:35 growing pains but uh i just kamara two years ago here 89 yards on the ground three catches 29 yards

28:44 and a touchdown there so uh he had his mark on that game but uh you can talk about keon white

28:51 because mayo mentioned it earlier no matthew judan with the bicep surgery but trey flowers

28:58 practicing off pup if they play trey flowers over keon white like majority of the time i'm going to

29:06 be right pretty upset like you need depth there obviously right like sure trey flowers would be

29:12 nice to have in that instance but like this should be keon white's role going forward you expect some

29:17 anthony jennings you expect some jelani to buy down there but like let keon white out there and

29:22 kind of let him find his foot in here yeah i mean you're gonna rotate guys like you said no defensive

29:28 lineman really plays more than like 70 would be high but the the names you just named anthony

29:35 jennings trey flowers jelani tovi keon white should have more snaps in all absolutely and and more

29:41 importantly honestly i think third down red zone that's got to be you got to put him in the key

29:48 spots because he gives you the highest upside and you can't i he doesn't have the highest floor of

29:55 all those guys tovi probably does i i don't know what kind of shape trey flowers in if trey flowers

30:00 is truly healthy probably then it's trey flowers i don't know but um you can't bank on floor right

30:07 now it's too there's too much floor it's all floor it's like one of those outdoor patios that's

30:13 like really nice brick on the ground just the floor right it's just a floor so you got to get

30:18 some stealing players on the field and keon white's definitely a stealing player you got to get him

30:22 out there and see what he can do yeah it'll be interesting to see if they maybe give uche a

30:28 little more of like a three down roll too like this is a guy who you're gonna have to decide if

30:34 you want to pay him and i know he hasn't really done that he's been a situational pass rusher but

30:39 if if maybe he wants that money here they might have to see him more as a three down player

30:44 so now with judan out he might have a chance to kind of prove some of that but um well i would

30:50 say with him it's like he's good so part of the reason he was so good last year his teams were

30:55 double and triple teaming judan so uche is getting these one-on-ones and he's winning

30:59 now he's gonna get the doubles and the triples so who's winning off of his attention and that's

31:05 where i'm looking at keon white yeah and dietrich wise has been pretty disruptive i thought he's

31:10 been one of their better defensive players and you hope christian barmore can you know keep he's had

31:17 some good game pressure wise stats early to start this year but you hope he can kind of step up and

31:22 become your like number two rusher behind uche there and help relieve some of that pressure

31:29 off of him but uh yeah i mean we talked about the corners earlier jc was practicing he wasn't on the

31:37 injury report i mean would you expect him to be out there like he knows the scheme he knows the

31:42 system they kind of need the the bodies at the cornerback spot so i mean if he's ready to go

31:49 why not but look it's not like they signed him off the street he's in football shape and

31:55 you would think at least he's in football shape and i'm gonna guess maybe not this week but the

32:01 goal is within a week or two to have him at you know be the number one corner whatever gonzales

32:04 was playing like 90 some percent of the snaps i i would think that's the plan maybe this week it's

32:09 a little lower but no he should be out there he should be they need him they period point blank

32:13 they need him he should be out there this week and you trade it for him you make a trade like that

32:18 because you're not going quietly into the night because you do still think you can dig out of a

32:22 one and three hole and make the playoffs you don't have games to waste if that is the mentality so he

32:28 needs he you trade for guy in this spot the plan is he should be out there this week yep and you

32:34 obviously hope jonathan jones is is healthy here what's yeah like this would be if they put him on

32:39 ir back when this first happened like this would be the last game he would have missed on ir so

32:45 i mean i get like some of those injuries are weird like they're truly week to week you're not really

32:50 sure how it's going to go but he's still limited with an ankle but you kind of hope he's close at

32:57 this point i don't fault them for not putting jon jones on ir i i think that's a weird game to play

33:04 the oh he's been out for weeks he should have been on ir a couple reasons one and it's new this year

33:09 you can only bring eight players back and that sounds like a lot but i mean they're going to

33:14 bring two back already they're running through them already so if you don't need to and then well

33:20 you know he missed four weeks well what if originally they thought it was a three-week injury

33:24 and then in week two they realized he was going to be out for five weeks so now are you going to put

33:30 him on and he's going to miss seven like you can't do it retroactively like in baseball with the with

33:35 the il so i i i never have a problem with that he's a good play it'd be one thing if he's a guy

33:41 that doesn't play too he's a good player he's a guy they need i i i like the last couple weeks

33:47 i've definitely given them their fair share of critiques not putting jonathan jones on ir and

33:52 him still missing four weeks whatever some of those injuries like like damian harris he was

33:57 the thigh last year yeah like it looked like he could have come back and then just some of those

34:02 week-to-week injuries can be a little difficult to predict how they look so yeah no real fault

34:08 there but you hope he's back in the mix because you need him at the cornerback spot but uh any

34:14 other last defensive things that you got here um i think that's pretty much it for me yeah just play

34:22 the kids that's the big one play the kids but yes um could be in this rock fight a big special teams

34:30 battle yeah of course i think chad rye island will probably be busy bryce barringer will probably be

34:36 busy and saints have a pretty talented coverage and return unit mentioned rashid shaheed earlier

34:44 there he's an explosive player leads the league in punt return average i think he's averaging over

34:49 20 yards of return and then their coverage team is really good you know bill and k may cord shouted

34:54 out uh it's jt gray i believe it is uh he's like two-time all pro so they got some really talented

35:01 guys there and special teams and one of these low scoring defensive battles uh could play a big role

35:07 in this yeah shaheed in particular scares me you know you've been wearing those shirts all week

35:12 tough teams cover kicks i got approved at this week they got their work cut out for him there

35:16 yeah and the saints punter is one of those like rugby style punter yeah he hasn't been good though

35:22 yeah that's another one where can demario douglas kind of capitalize yeah so he said today he's

35:29 seen plenty of those in liberty so he should be comfortable with them so that would be interesting

35:33 if they can get something big going in the return game there because they haven't really i know

35:38 peppers had a few like 10 plus but they haven't really broken any big ones since since marcus

35:43 jones went down and douglas had kind of that poor one against uh dallas where he was like running

35:49 running sideline to sideline two yard loss strip sack two plays later so um it would be interesting

35:56 to kind of see how he looks in that role for for a second straight week there yeah yeah i'd agree

36:02 with that so that pretty much pretty much covers all three units there uh are you confident in this

36:10 one like no no i'm not like i i think they probably should win i know they opened as what

36:16 like one and a half point favorites now they're one point underdogs yeah i if forget the offensive

36:24 issues bill belichick is a defensive minded coach if he loses to a quarterback that's down his

36:32 throwing shoulder like this is the injury the ac joint like players miss time for this this is the

36:37 and granted it's jimmy garoppolo and we all know what martellus bennett said about jimmy garoppolo

36:40 but this is the injury that held jimmy garoppolo out in 17 like that's uh it's a bad injury and

36:45 he's playing through it and credit to derrick car for that nothing against him but if a bill

36:50 belichick defense even down players this is don't get me wrong matthew judon christian is also

36:54 incredibly talented but all the resources they pumped into defense the last few years non-going

36:59 offense all the defense they have no excuse to lose a game to a quarterback with a bad throwing

37:05 shoulder they just don't that's just the reality of it they don't so that'll be interesting to watch

37:10 it's probably gonna come down to the turnover battle whatever defense didn't create that

37:16 that either late turnover or that extra turnover that's probably going to be

37:20 a big thing there so yeah they are one point dogs home dogs over on fan duel so i don't know how

37:28 many times that has happened in the bill belichick era here probably not many but uh that'll be

37:33 it'll be a rock fight and the only thing is if we're under is down to 39 we still

37:39 hammering the under uh on that one i don't know both teams haven't scored 20 points so

37:46 that's going against uh that but uh i wanted to talk ask you one thing that i saw in the comments

37:53 here about some college football a lot of talk lately about brock bowers in new england i know

38:01 he's a really good player but like if they're in the top 10 i don't think you can pick a tight end

38:07 with that pick no are you kind of saying that's the same way tight ends are purely luxury picks

38:13 and i've said this before if they're drafting that high it means they need a quarterback

38:16 it's nothing against brock bowers i think brock is a fantastic player i think he's if i had to pick

38:22 like a dark horse for the heisman i actually think it's him i wrote that the other day on fubo news

38:28 but you can't like with the tackle issues with if max not the guy you well receiver is kind of

38:37 all right you got a pass catcher but man i just don't know how you justify it they would have to

38:42 have just a crazy free agency period to justify that pick brock bowers is going to whatever team

38:48 ends up with the top 10 pick via trade like not you don't take brock bowers with your own top 10

38:53 pick that's maybe if the bears take a court right because they have them in the panthers so maybe if

38:59 if if they end up with the first overall pick they had a quarterback maybe that next pick if marvin

39:05 harrison's already gone as brock bowers you get him a guy to throw to or um do the seahawks still

39:10 have some of the broncos picks like although they may need a quarterback too but if the seahawks

39:15 end up you know picking like eighth and fifteenth maybe they take brock bowers eighth and then they

39:19 get the quarterback or something like that or the texans do they still have the texas

39:23 or do they should know because they met is it the no that no because the texans they traded last year

39:29 to get they shipped all the drought and anderson remember yeah we're talking about the watson picks

39:35 they might still have one that would be a good pick for them but yeah um that's just the reality

39:40 of it yeah it's a it's a luxury pick that's what yeah because i i know we had like an awesome game

39:46 last week and i saw a lot of people there were a few mock drafts going around but like he's an

39:51 awesome player nothing against brock bowers but if the new england patriots are in the tight end

39:55 like or top 10 it's got to be a quarterback or offensive tackle you're thinking at that point

40:00 right and and i mean this is like sort of fair point but if you get gronk you pick him anywhere

40:06 you don't know for sure he's gonna be yeah you don't there's no guarantee with these guys he's

40:12 guaranteed to be gronk like he's probably on first overall right if he's guaranteed to be gronk he's

40:17 going to be going one one um and the reality is with this class you know some of these quarterbacks

40:24 in this class have very high upside too and even some of these tackles and it's if you can have

40:29 a top five tight end in the league a top five quarterback in the league or top five tackle

40:33 in the league like rank them in the order you're taking those guys tight ends going to be third

40:37 that's just the reality of it yep yep i agree with you there i just want to bring that up quick but

40:42 uh that's fair point so any any other last thoughts pat's pat saints or we can wrap it up here and

40:50 just look on look forward to sunday i i do i i would be remiss if we didn't mention i just saw

40:55 this uh i would have said we should lead the show with it and i didn't see it until i sat down here

40:59 uh the passing of the great dick butkus uh chicago bears legend linebacker passed away at the age of

41:05 80 the bears just announced this um all-time great old school football players i didn't get to i he

41:12 i forget exactly what years he played he was in the 80s right the 86 bears yeah i think so

41:17 so i don't i never got to see him you know i was it's decade before i was born but uh in terms of

41:24 like going back watching clips like watching old school football ah love watching me some dick

41:29 butkus that you say the word linebacker and it's like dick butkus jack lambert like that's who comes

41:35 to mind right um so yeah uh obviously a big loss for the for the football world there and we'll see

41:43 if the bears can go get their first on their backs for tonight yeah this would be this would be uh

41:48 at home i'm sure that crowd will be riled up now for that would love to see them i think it's in

41:54 washington isn't it oh oh you're right it is i don't know i thought it was in chicago um but still

41:59 would love to see him get one for dick butkus tonight that would be that would be very cool

42:02 yeah and i don't know if mike dick is weighed in yet but i i would love to hear what mike dick has

42:06 to say about uh dick butkus's legacy yeah yeah it'll be a good time for the bears first win in

42:13 the season but yeah uh we will wrap it up here and we will get on our way till sunday pats saints

42:22 looking to kind of keep the season afloat here if that's possible but uh alex and i will be back to

42:30 break break that game down on monday so make sure you're subscribed to the channel here so you know

42:36 when we go live and until then you can follow alex over on twitter at real alex barth go read all his

42:42 work for pat saints over at 985thesportsup.com and you can follow me on twitter at iambryonhines

42:48 and go read all my work this week at patspulpit.com thank you all as always for tuning in and we will

42:54 see you guys next week bye

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