00:00Maybe David Andrews will be that former player that I can get to say something
00:03about the team that they're not a playoff team. Every former player says the Pats can be a playoff
00:08team. I mean every team can be a playoff team right now. Here's the thing if you look at it
00:14you made a lot of adjustments. I mean the one thing I think I heard even Rabel saying this
00:20that I would worry about looking at the roster's depth. I think he said that the other day and I
00:25think that's a lot of teams in the NFL right now worried about depth and you know I mean
00:31look all right you win four games what's going to be the playoff 10 are we saying 10 is getting
00:36I think it's 10. It can't happen with 9 but I think it's 10. I mean I think this is a team
00:43that could easily win 10 games now they could also win. Easily? I think so. More games in
00:50NFL are won more than they're lost. I know but it's hard. Are lost more than they're won and I
00:56think with Rabel coaching Josh on the defensive side Colin plays the way he manages games does
01:03things they're going to be trained not to lose football games and that goes a long way. Now
01:09you know if I'm sitting here am I putting a lot of money on it I don't know but I think it is very
01:16possible and I it wouldn't it wouldn't surprise me if we're sitting here and they're in the playoffs
01:20the wild card but I'm not gonna go on the Vegas sports books. I would not do that. I would not
01:27bet money on them being a 10 win playoff team. I think eight wins is a really good season for them.
01:32It's a big step forward. It's getting back on track. It's all those things but this is the time
01:39to do it. It's week one. This is the time to talk about win totals and to say when we get to the end
01:43those who predicted 10 or 11 wins McCone McCone's got him at 11. You say this is the time to talk
01:48about it. Y'all been talking about this for three months though. Well yeah prior to the start because
01:53after this after this it becomes about path math and how do they get into the playoffs and that's
01:58you know more fun but I'm just saying the preseason prediction game I think people are very high on them
02:03and I just want all those people to come back at the end. I want them to be consistent and say
02:07well this was such a disappointment because I know what I'll say. Eight wins is good. Good step forward. Good year
02:12one. Mike Frabel's putting in his thing his program and and the thing that the peppers cut
02:18to tie it into what happened over the weekend represents is he does not feel extreme pressure
02:27to win now and that's probably a good thing from where he sits even though it's a bad thing for fans.
02:33Yeah I mean I think personally I look at the year and they end up eight nine. I think that was
02:38obviously improvement and you know I think Mike's trying to build this thing his way and you know
02:47you have to respect that obviously that didn't have me in the plans which that hurt but you know I mean
02:53that's part of this game that's the business and you know he's trying he's got a vision he wants to
02:58build and you know look the roster was what it was when he got here and it is hard to build a team
03:04through free agency. You know I think we'll see on some of these draft picks. I'm excited about some
03:10of them from the preseason. I mean you can't sit here and say that they're looking terrible. Now
03:16everything could change week one to four but right now I think there's a lot of hype so if they can
03:21continue to build on that that's really how you build a successful team and you know I think the
03:26teams I look on it wasn't like oh these 12 free agents came in and made a difference. It was the one
03:31two guys you know a Chris Long or Randy Moss coming in whoever it may have been. First snap on Sunday
03:38if it's Bradbury at center Wilson at left guard is that good enough? Should that be the combination
03:43to start? I think that should be the combination. I think you know having two rookies next to each
03:50other is tough because there's a lot of communication you know and you look like. So maybe you start
03:56Brown and then ease him in. Yeah I don't know but I'm also big on rotating linemen. I think
04:01rotating linemen is the worst thing you can do. That's the position that you need to get the five
04:05out there and they need to go. Now injuries obviously but get five out there and if you're
04:10going back and forth all year that's that's not good in my personal opinion but you know I think
04:17when Joe Tooney came in you were I was in my second year and then you had Nate Solder. So Nate Solder
04:21didn't need a lot of communication. He knew what he was doing and that kind of surrounded Joe
04:25you know with two people that knew what was going on a little bit. You know and so obviously it's a
04:31new system for Bradbury, new system for Wilson and rookie and Campbell's a rookie. You know there's
04:37going to be some challenges for him, learning curve for him. David Andrews with us here on Zolak
04:43and Bertrand for the hour 617-779-0985. Talk to me about Christian Gonzalez who did not practice
04:50yesterday. Hasn't practiced since the end of July. I have theorized that he is a player at this stage
04:55in the game who probably doesn't want to be playing at less than 100 percent. That his injury status
05:01could be impacted by where he is in the contract situation which is he can be extended after the
05:06year. Yeah. He could be making a business decision right now to to make sure he's back at 100 percent
05:13before he goes and plays and I am not critical of that one bit. It's the exact same thing I'd be doing
05:18if I were him or I was advising him. I would say get healthy before you get back out on the field.
05:24Yeah. I don't know if it's a conscious business. I've never made those type of decisions so
05:30I couldn't you know like I said I think O-linemen in general more of just you go play and you can be
05:38effective at 85 percent 70 percent whatever you know there's a threshold that you're like all right
05:43I'm not effective. Those guys though you know especially with like a hamstring
05:48you know you go out there and it's that quick burst when they have to go and so he goes out
05:54there for 12 plays pops a hamstring now he's out for another six weeks. Did that really help the
05:59football team Sunday when he plays 22 plays and pops a hamstring again? You know so those are those
06:05guys the receivers or running back or whatever it may be I think you want those guys to be as close to
06:11a hundred percent to be able to go play because those type of injuries for those guys are gonna
06:17they're gonna be bad and that's something you know lingering and you know maybe if he'd set out two
06:24weeks at the start of the season he plays you know 15 games versus playing in five games and missing
06:30you know here and there so you got to let those things heal for those type of guys. I think if
06:36Carlton Davis is out there that should make people feel a lot better. You lose both those guys now I
06:42think you're you know not having either one of them that's that can get dicey. You're worried about
06:48the linebacker depth on his team? Like after Spillane goes down. Spillane you got Spillane.
06:53Kick Ellis inside that someone takes his place? Like that's that's the way it looks to be.
06:57Who we got starting? Spillane in the middle. And Ellis. So and Landry on the outside. And then you
07:02got Jelani's been hurt right? Jelani yeah he's not gonna play. Yeah he's not gonna play um I mean
07:07yeah but I think you could go through a lot of these positions and worry about that. They're not a deep
07:11team. No I mean yeah did you ever feel yeah I know you were a backup quarterback so but yeah you know
07:16when the star you know starter got hurt you are everyone's holding their breath you know and yeah I
07:21mean same thing on the offensive line like it's very rarely you you know early in my career we had a guy
07:26like Ted who we felt like if we put him in at any three positions we were gonna be okay you know
07:32and maybe one tackle. Now you lose two tackles and one of those inside guys now you're panicked
07:37because if another guy goes down you know it's just you're shit out of luck. Can I say that?
07:41Yeah nope nope. He sure can. Nope. Probably not. We'll dump it. Okay uh you know. Let's not make
07:48it a habit. Okay uh you're just you're you're struggling. Can't say finger banging like stuff
07:54in that. No I'm not trusting him. Yeah no no. See this is gonna be the next five minutes now. Don't listen.
08:01Uh but I think depth around the NFL there's just not enough great players. Yeah. So any depth you're
08:07worried about I think Christian Gonzalez the biggest thing he can do for himself and the
08:12football team is to get healthy. That's to me the biggest biggest deal for him. And his bank
08:16account. He's gonna be back. Seriously. No seriously. When Drake's up Drake's gonna make
08:20the most money. Yeah. And then it's gonna be Gonzalez. Yes. It's also gonna get paid. But
08:24Drake's got what another year. Yeah. Or did this he have to go four. He's got two two more years. I don't
08:30even know how the first first year or first round contracts work. Yeah. He's got two more years
08:35and then you pick up the option on the fifth. Okay. Yeah. And then you can you can negotiate
08:41there. Yep. Yes. Beyond the fifth year option. Never had that problem. Yeah neither. I mean I
08:46hope that's a problem for them that they're running into. I do too. And it's yeah. You have
08:51a quarterback. It's going to be massive because you hit. You want to see that with your draft picks.
08:55Yeah. And you want them. And look that's how like a lot of these teams I think they've had
09:00draft picks they trade away that they don't want to sign and they get a huge haul on
09:05picks. Like we haven't been able to really do that in the last few years. Signing guys
09:10to extensions and guys that are you know key cogs of the organization. Yeah like the Dolphins
09:16keep moving off guys that they've drafted and drafted and hit on and then they've moved on
09:21from guys. Yeah. Or traded them away and it's like if you're hitting on those picks you want
09:25to keep those guys in your in your building. That's what I would think because that's how to
09:30me that's how you build a great team is the teams that have a lot of guys that are homegrown
09:36you know played there grew up there grew up in the system you know and then you go out there and
09:41try to find all right this key receiver this pass rusher this line whatever it may be one of those
09:45guys a year. And you look back at previous drafts that has not happened for this team. Cole Strange
09:51was cut the other day. That's a first round pick not here anymore. So that that didn't even develop
09:56into a player that's a cornerstone piece of the franchise and you can say look a lot of the
10:02linemen I started with the last two years are not on the football team anymore and that's hard
10:07you know. I mean there's you got big Mike but he was playing a lot of tackle you know when that
10:12probably wasn't you know what he needed to be playing. So it just it is what it is like the
10:18roster was what it was when you know Vrabel got here and he's doing the best that he can to field his
10:24vision and put the best team out there. I don't think they have enough talent for 10 wins. I don't.
10:29They certainly don't have depth which we've covered. They're not deep but I don't think
10:34they're all that talented either. We're gonna see on Sunday at 1 o'clock. We're gonna find out.
10:38But look I think you know I think it was funny because I go back to last year my wife was like
10:43oh my gosh you know we won Cincinnati and I knew in the back of my mind that was a great win
10:48felt great but that wasn't a sustainable way to win football games and you can win football games
10:55like we did but that it's not sustainable and to do that every week it's hard because you have to
11:00be almost be perfect and you know we weren't perfect but when you're just playing like that
11:06that's that's a hard way to win games. So it'll be interesting to see. I think we'll have a lot to talk
11:10about next week. Good or bad.
