- 7 weeks ago
Zolak and Bertrand open their show by breaking down the Patriots' performance against the Commanders in the first week of preseason football.
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00:00And you just heard Zoe there, on the call of Friday night's preseason opener against the Commanders.
00:06Were you ready for that kickoff?
00:08I'm trying for a touchdown, Zoe?
00:09You know, you shift over, and I'm doing a play, not the play-by-play, but I'm running point there,
00:13and you're still shuffling your stuff, getting your cards ready for, like, your first read in the first quarter,
00:17and boom, it's right out of the gate.
00:20And you had to identify, because I knew Gibson was back there with him, and I'm like,
00:24oh, crap, that's Henderson.
00:25And I knew it once he started hitting a 20, and I threw it over to Devin,
00:28because Devin just got done, and he opened talking about the speed of the guy, you know,
00:31and these next-gen stats and that, and holy crap, McComb, we, okay, let's, the game is what the game is.
00:38They didn't play their starters.
00:39Yeah.
00:40We all know that.
00:40You have to acknowledge that, and I think you have to accept that.
00:42Everybody's going to handle preseason games differently.
00:46Jayden Daniels and crew did not play.
00:48We'll get to everything throughout the course of the game.
00:50I didn't care about the score.
00:51We don't, you want to win games, but it's not, oh, they blew them out.
00:55No, they didn't blow them out.
00:57They worked hard.
00:58I think the team played hard.
01:01It felt like football was back.
01:03The whole night, the turning of the page, sort of, you know,
01:06with the Brady unveiling of the statue, Vrabel being the new head coach,
01:10again, another new head coach, you just wanted them to come out
01:14and play representative football, and I think they did that.
01:17I thought the effort was there, and everything we've seen from practice,
01:22the energy, we didn't see physicality in practice,
01:25because you can't coach physicality in practice because you can't hit,
01:28can't go to the ground.
01:29I was pretty impressed with their physicality all night.
01:33We talked last week or the week before.
01:35What was it?
01:36We asked the question on the show.
01:38What's the strongest group on the offensive side of the ball?
01:42I think we all agreed, probably receiver,
01:44because there's questions about the offensive line.
01:46You didn't know what the backs are going to be.
01:49The running back position may be the strongest group position on the offense.
01:53I was pretty surprised by that.
01:55I'm surprised by the speed of Gibson on a return, 62-yard return.
02:00We know he runs hard.
02:01I saw that here calling games.
02:03I'm glad he's back, because I think he's –
02:05if Armandre gets nicked up and it's an ankle or knee,
02:07Gibson's going to be the guy.
02:08He'll be your bell cow.
02:10But, man, the possibilities with Henderson.
02:13He's a fun player, huh?
02:14Holy Jesus.
02:15I didn't know he was this fast.
02:16Like, because you don't really see it in practice.
02:19Because everybody runs.
02:20You know, they get through the line,
02:21and they had that drill where they all run down to the goal line.
02:23That's kind of what the running backs do.
02:24We want to get them in shape and all that.
02:25But that doesn't translate in practice.
02:29Translating the game, like, he blew doors.
02:31Like, two guys had angles on him.
02:33Yep.
02:33And 100-yard return, great way to start the game.
02:36I think he got the crowd into it.
02:37The crowd was great for a preseason game.
02:40It was a fun game to watch, fun game to call.
02:43Yeah, Henderson, to me, obviously an exciting play.
02:46It wasn't just the kickoff return, by the way.
02:48He had the 18-yard run, had some catches as well.
02:50Like, he is an explosive, explosive player.
02:53And the reason I say the running back position is the strongest
02:55is, like, they were productive runs.
02:57But, like, Henderson on two of them, he lowered the right shoulder,
03:00then he lowered the left, and they were both boom plays.
03:02Running defensive backs over.
03:05Ramondre did it.
03:06Like, that's the old Ramondre from two years ago,
03:09looking for contact, second-level contact,
03:11getting to the safety, trying to run that go over,
03:13hitting spin, Gibson the same way.
03:15They physically ran the ball hard.
03:18And I thought they blocked well up front.
03:20Yeah, I thought it was a great night for Mike Rabel
03:21and just what he's trying to build.
03:23And that was kind of my biggest takeaway.
03:24Like you said, look, Washington, I think, like, 30 players
03:27didn't play for him, including their top two quarterbacks.
03:30Not their fault.
03:31No.
03:31Not their fault or not New England's fault.
03:32You just got to go out and play.
03:34But the physicality, like you mentioned.
03:36And then the other thing, too, was,
03:37so it was a clean game for the Patriots as well.
03:39I think it wound up being two penalties for 15 yards.
03:42I know there was some offsetting.
03:43You know, but overall, versus what we saw last year,
03:47do you remember that preseason game where Chooks had those
03:49three straight penalties called?
03:50And you're like, oh, what are we doing?
03:53It just felt like the operation was way tighter last night
03:56than what we'd seen in previous seasons.
03:58I remember being out in Vegas two years ago.
03:59They had joints out in Vegas at a preseason game.
04:01And Josh said he's not going to play all the starters.
04:03The starters are not going to play.
04:05Bill Newton acknowledged it and played his starters.
04:07They look like crap.
04:09They were going to look like crap two years ago.
04:11This is different.
04:12And I kept talking about it throughout the game, too.
04:14Watching the sideline.
04:17Watch the sideline during the games.
04:18Watch the coaches coach.
04:20Like, that's something you watch.
04:22It's nonstop.
04:23It's Drake with Josh McDaniels.
04:24They're into the tablet.
04:26You get two offensive assistants helping Doug Marone
04:28up and down with the offensive line.
04:30Jeremy Springer, we've got to give him credit.
04:33He's a carryover from a year ago.
04:34That doesn't really happen.
04:36But the whole special teams unit was ready to go.
04:40Whether you're in a return game, kicking game, you name it.
04:42They were ready to go.
04:43About the 57-yarder.
04:44Whew.
04:45Yeah.
04:46Kicking competition.
04:46So we're going to find out that the 58-yarder from Gostowski
04:49is the stadium record.
04:51So he almost had the stadium record there.
04:53I know it's preseason, but.
04:54I'm surprised Chad Ryland didn't wind up with that.
04:56So, look.
04:57Physicality.
04:58Clean game overall.
05:00I also think when you kind of look at this,
05:01the foundation with this draft,
05:03what it could potentially be here for the Patriots,
05:05is huge in terms of this rebuild as well.
05:07Your whole left side of the line are going to be rookies.
05:11You've got a running back that appears to have some real explosiveness
05:15that you're going to be relying on.
05:16I thought you saw two rookie receivers, by the way.
05:18I know Williams didn't have a catch,
05:19but he was getting open on a consistent basis.
05:21Chisholm, obviously.
05:22It just feels like overall right now,
05:25the foundation's starting to be laid.
05:27And one of the bigger things to me, too,
05:29was also Javon Baker.
05:30And I know he didn't have a catch,
05:32but the contributions on special teams
05:34and then what Vrabel had to say about him post-game.
05:37Here, take a listen.
05:38Javon Baker made a couple of special teams tackles,
05:43and I thought you were encouraged by that on the sideline.
05:46But is it good to see someone who's trying to contribute
05:49in more than one phase in terms of trying to make the team?
05:54Yeah, I think that that's fantastic.
05:55When you have players, and especially receivers,
05:58that can create a role and they can help you
06:00and they can be big and physical
06:01and everything that we see out of Javon as a receiver,
06:04when you can embrace that,
06:06and they can embrace that as special teams players,
06:08guys that are big and physical and fast and willing,
06:13that translates to special teams.
06:15So excited and just happy for Javon,
06:18just being able to go out there and contribute.
06:20And when you do those things, your teammates get excited
06:22and hopefully his confidence continues to grow.
06:27Look, I don't know if he's going to make the teams, though.
06:28I have no idea.
06:30But when I look at that
06:31and I look at what happened last year
06:33and the issues in London,
06:35remember who knows what happened in that situation,
06:38couldn't line up in the right spot,
06:42had no idea what was going on
06:43versus what we see now in the buy-in,
06:46even on special teams from this player,
06:48it just tells me that the message that Vrabel has right now
06:50is resonating with some of these younger players.
06:52And I think Javon Baker is example A of that.
06:54It's the Parcells angle that I've talked about.
06:57Everybody says, well, is he like Bill, meaning Vrabel?
06:59And I said, no, I think he's more Parcells-like,
07:01knowing how to push 53 guys different buttons,
07:04and especially with this guy, number six.
07:05And that reports early in the offseason,
07:08Vrabel kind of took him under his wing and was pushing him.
07:11And I think good coaches sense that.
07:13Like, if I see this kid that he needs some confidence building,
07:17I got to get on him.
07:18Some guys I can't bust balls with,
07:19but supposedly he breaks balls with this guy, Baker.
07:23And the more and more you look at this day by day,
07:25he gets Barry on Polk.
07:27Not he.
07:27I mean, I'm just talking about whatever receiver gets opportunities.
07:31You mentioned Chisholm.
07:32You mentioned Baker.
07:33Williams is going to make the team.
07:35Let's turn around pick.
07:36Polk slides further and further down.
07:38I know you had the audio there of Vrabel.
07:40And Vrabel also said in the postgame,
07:42yeah, he gave the report on him,
07:43but he's like, yeah, he didn't finish the game.
07:45Did not poke.
07:46Went to the sideline, didn't finish the game.
07:47I know he's hurt.
07:48But you can't make the club in a tub.
07:51That's a Parcells thing.
07:53Yeah.
07:53Yeah.
07:53So there's issues there,
07:54but I just think you're getting buy-in.
07:56I think you're seeing a clean operation overall,
07:58a physical football team.
07:59And again, I just think that was another example.
08:01When you combine that with a joint practice
08:03where you kind of looked like you belonged
08:04on the same field with Washington,
08:06the foundation for this organization
08:08is sort of being laid right now.
08:09And you're seeing sort of the fruits of that already.
08:12617-779-0985.
08:14I do want to get your thoughts on Drake May coming up here, Zoe.
08:17I do.
08:17I do.
08:18Barely played.
08:19Did have a turnover.
08:20Also, your thoughts on that rookie left side.
08:23Mike Reese had this in his notes.
08:24First time, I think it is since 2016,
08:27that you're going to have a team
08:28that has both players on the left side of the line
08:30as rookies in game one.
08:33Is that a good spot to be in?
08:34If you're the New England Patriots,
08:35we'll get your thoughts on that as well.
08:36Of course, we'll get to your phone calls as well.
08:38Because that play right there
08:39just reminded me of the At Miami game
08:42where he got a little rattled in the pocket.
08:45And yeah, can't afford that first drive.
08:49Can't.
08:50Bounced back nicely second drive,
08:52but you're coming out of the gate right there at home.
08:54You know, first series, year two.
08:57Everybody's talking about you.
08:58The rise, the jump, all that.
08:59This is your team now.
09:01He's got to be smarter there.
09:02And I thought Vrabel was great.
09:04Accountability at the end of the game.
09:06Yeah, he did not hold back.
09:07Vrabel did not hold back.
09:08That's one thing.
09:09Man, we are going to get...
09:11I know you're not going to get a ton of information,
09:13but I think you're at least going to get answers
09:15that you can sit there and talk about.
09:16Like, okay.
09:18Vrabel sees it.
09:18Vrabel gets it.
09:19He's going to communicate that with the team.
09:21Drake knows that.
09:22Josh is going to get on him for that.
09:25Can't have that.
09:26Can't have those type of plays.
09:27So turnovers were a problem last year for Drake May.
09:30Right?
09:30And then start a camp, no interceptions.
09:33You're part of a bad team too.
09:34And I'm not making excuses for him,
09:35but you had tough situations all around.
09:38I agree with you, by the way.
09:39There were plenty of turnovers that took place last year
09:41where I don't even think you can put them necessarily on him
09:43for what took place.
09:44I remember Aikman had him.
09:45Manning had him.
09:46Their first year is like,
09:47and they get the bleep kicked out of him.
09:48So what's your level of concern with the turnovers right now
09:50for Drake May.
09:51Now we saw two in the scrimmage on Friday,
09:53and then you had one in that opening drive right now.
09:55I don't think it's a forefront issue,
09:58but it's something they have to really clean up,
10:01and he's got the right coordinator and quarterback coach for them.
10:03Like that's, you harp on that.
10:05It's repetition.
10:07If Rabel would get on his ass,
10:08that's the same way Parcells would get on our ass.
10:10Same thing.
10:10Belichick would do it too.
10:13Like, and right there, it happened so quick.
10:16And you're thinking, okay, is the arm going forward?
10:17I thought the knee may have been down.
10:19No, that ball came out.
10:20Yeah.
10:20They got the call right.
10:22I just look at what took place in that game,
10:25what's taken place throughout training camp so far.
10:27So, and to me, when we talk about how many wins are the Patriots
10:30going to have this year?
10:32You do that seven.
10:33Yeah.
10:34I think the operation itself is going to be clean.
10:36I think the coaching staff is doing their part.
10:37I think the foundation's sort of been laid in terms of the identity
10:40of what this football team's going to be.
10:42I think that seven, eight, nine, ten, whatever win,
10:45however many wins you think it's going to be,
10:48a lot of this is going to come down to Drake May,
10:49putting him on his shoulders,
10:51and what's the quarterback going to look like?
10:52And if he's turning the ball over like he did there,
10:55like you said, the win total is going to be less than what
10:58a lot of fans are hoping for.
11:00I think you're the two most important people in the organization,
11:03outside the owner, obviously, the head coach and a good quarterback.
11:07You have that combination, you're going to win football games
11:10in this league.
11:10Yeah.
11:11And you've got to be available.
11:12You've got to play games.
11:13You can't miss snaps.
11:14And you've got to make smart decisions.
11:16And I think for the most part, he will do that.
11:18I like him.
11:19You know my thoughts on him.
11:20Yeah.
11:20He can't have that.
11:22And if that team, with all their starters out,
11:24took it and went right in and put seven on the board,
11:27he'd be talking about this being more of an issue.
11:29But the defense pelt you out.
11:30So the pressure came on the left side there.
11:32Zoe, what did you make of Will Campbell and Jared Wilson
11:34in their first starts on that left side as rookies?
11:37I thought they had a really good night.
11:38I really did.
11:39I thought two times Campbell pulled outside,
11:41and he had a little red ass.
11:43He was getting after it.
11:44I think he's hearing it.
11:45You know, you're human.
11:47It's obvious the conversation around him.
11:49What's he going to be?
11:50The short arms.
11:50Is he a run blocker, a pass blocker?
11:53Can he handle himself?
11:54I thought his stance was good.
11:55His awareness was good.
11:57The combination on that left side with two rookies,
12:00you know, they tag-teamed on a couple run plays
12:02that were pretty devastating,
12:04which I think Gibson and Remondre got through on two of them.
12:07But I thought all in all, it was a good night for him.
12:09Good start.
12:11I don't think he's going to be able to hold up that type of intensity
12:13for 17 games.
12:15You get to week two in Miami.
12:17I talked to a former offensive lineman.
12:18They loved the way he played in the game.
12:21But they're like, it wears on you throughout the course of the year.
12:23You get sore.
12:23You're tired.
12:25He goes, I don't think he's going to be able to do that in Miami.
12:26Run down the field every damn run play.
12:28But out of the gate, he's jacked up.
12:30First home game.
12:31Good for him.
12:32So Mike Reese had this in his Sunday Notes column.
12:35He writes, according to ESPN Research,
12:37the only team to open a season with rookies at left tackle
12:40and left guard was the 2016 Baltimore Ravens
12:43with Ronnie Stanley and Alex Lewis.
12:46So should we be concerned that they're going to be starting this season
12:49where it appears with two rookies on that left side, Zoe,
12:51or do you think that, you know what, that's their best combination,
12:53so you go with it?
12:54I mean, just visually watch it.
12:56I mean, is that better, or is it better with Strange and, you know,
13:00if Darian Lowe drafted this kid number four overall to be that guy?
13:05Play him.
13:06Get him up and running.
13:07And I think, you know, the guard from Georgia,
13:11I think they're going to stick him at guard
13:12because I think the pressures of playing center early in the career,
13:15it's a lot on the table, a lot on his plate with Josh's offense.
13:18So I think you want more of the veteran guy.
13:21You saw Ben Brown in there.
13:22Bradbury, you know, when he's healthy, he's going to be the guy probably.
13:25And then they roll with that.
13:26I just stick him right at left guard and let him learn it and run it.
13:29Who stood out on the defensive side for you?
13:31Spillane.
13:32Spillane, superhero.
13:33That's your guy, huh?
13:34I mean, the two biggest things I'd take away from just calling the game
13:36for four quarters, the running backs, the intensity they played with,
13:40the physicality, the speed.
13:43And if they can run the ball, that's going to help them so much.
13:45Oh, my God, it's going to help them a lot.
13:47But Spillane, it's just weird seeing 14, you know, in the middle.
13:50I agree with you on that.
13:52So he stands out with the number.
13:54But he was playing the mic.
13:55He was seven yards off.
13:56He was shooting gaps.
13:57He was running left to right.
13:58He was getting to the sideline.
14:00He's a heat-seeking missile.
14:01He tackles.
14:02He drops into coverage.
14:04That's the first time I – that's why I was excited to watch him.
14:07Because I haven't really – it doesn't jump out of camp.
14:09It doesn't resonate with me because there's so many different drills.
14:11But it's good to see him in a game situation.
14:14Can't wait to see him again build off that this week.
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