Paul Perillo shares his thoughts about a debate Felger and Mazz opened their Patriots segment with.
Thumbnail photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.
#nfl #patriots #football
Thumbnail photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.
#nfl #patriots #football
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00:00Hi, Paul.
00:01Hi, boys.
00:02Right now, tonight, one game, who gets a checkmark?
00:06Who's better, Geno Smith or Drake May?
00:09I think right now you've got to say Geno Smith.
00:11You've got to?
00:12Why do you got to?
00:12Because I think he's accomplished more.
00:14Okay, well, I didn't say who has a better resume.
00:16Well, you're asking right now.
00:19To win one game.
00:20I'm not going backwards.
00:22I'm saying the game's tonight.
00:24Well, tonight I would take Geno Smith.
00:26I would hope that by the middle of the season, I and everybody else would want to take Drake May.
00:33But he hasn't done it yet.
00:35When you draft Drake May, wouldn't you have hoped that by year two he's better than Geno Smith?
00:39Yeah, I'll let me know when he has a year of games under his belt, so year two can start.
00:44He only played half the year last year.
00:46It's over half the year.
00:48We can give him a little time, can't we?
00:49Okay, yeah.
00:50Would I hope that he was better?
00:52It's year two.
00:53Whether he played or not, year two, I would expect him to be better than Geno Smith, and he is.
00:56I would expect him to be better than Geno Smith, but to this point, he has not been.
01:01Okay, that's going backwards.
01:03The game's tonight.
01:04The game's tonight.
01:05Yeah, he said Geno Smith.
01:06Geno Smith.
01:06To this point, Geno Smith has been better than Drake May.
01:09Mike Vrabel or Pete Carroll?
01:11That, to me, is a little bit more of an argument.
01:13You guys can argue anything, though.
01:14I've got to give it to you.
01:15I thought I could.
01:16I'm, like, professional in terms of arguing.
01:18You guys.
01:19That was a good argument coming in.
01:21Thanks.
01:21That was impressive.
01:23Keep going.
01:23The coaching.
01:2416 years of work there, Paul.
01:25The coaching's a wash to me.
01:27Again, Carroll's probably got a better resume.
01:31Obviously, won a Super Bowl, college success as well.
01:35But Vrabel did a lot of good things in Tennessee, and then it didn't end well.
01:39We'll see where he ends up now.
01:41What I find interesting, I do think both teams are very similar, and they're in similar spots,
01:48but the quarterback does separate them, and the age of the coaches does separate them
01:52a little bit.
01:53Geno Smith is obviously a bridge guy, and Pete Carroll's well onto the back nine.
01:58So I think the Patriots are potentially in a better spot, you know, with a younger coach
02:03that if it hits, he's going to be here for a while.
02:05Well, and obviously you have a second-year quarterback that you're very high on his potential.
02:10Mike thinks he's already better than Geno Smith.
02:13So I think I'd rather be the Patriots right now, but there are interesting different ways
02:18of trying to reload and rebuild.
02:20I like Geno Smith, and unlike Murray, I've got a far wider net for quarterback.
02:26I think it's just more than two good quarterbacks in the league.
02:28I would say that you are ahead of Murray when it comes to that, but not as much as you give
02:33yourself credit for.
02:34That's not true.
02:35Guys both tend to hate everybody.
02:36That's not true.
02:38I root for quarterbacks to be good.
02:42I think it's boring if we're only just talking about the same two or three guys, and I think
02:46that, I don't know, when I look at who wins a Super Bowl, it's not those two or three guys
02:49every year.
02:50So you can win Super Bowls with Jalen Hurts, and you can win Super Bowls with Matthew Stafford,
02:54and you can win Super Bowls with guys you would not consider the elite of the league.
02:59Matthew Stafford was the number one pick.
03:00So I believe who you thought sucked, and you thought Josh Allen sucked.
03:05So to me, I think...
03:06You did too.
03:07I didn't...
03:08So wrong.
03:08And that's where I would argue with you guys.
03:10So wrong.
03:11You guys give up on court.
03:12Maybe not Josh Allen.
03:12I did not.
03:13Maybe not with Josh Allen.
03:15In year two...
03:15You definitely did.
03:16In year two of Josh Allen, I...
03:18He was a bum those couple of years.
03:19And I believed in him.
03:21I have evidence.
03:22I don't remember that.
03:23We have a whole podcast with Greg Bedard where I went on with Greg Bedard, and we looked
03:28over film.
03:29I think Greg still thinks Josh Allen stinks.
03:30And I pointed out play after play after play where they said, look at this.
03:34Look at the way this guy moves and throws on the run.
03:36Like, there's some special stuff in here.
03:37I said it in year two.
03:38That might have been year four.
03:39It was year two.
03:40Year two.
03:41It was year two.
03:42I know the game.
03:43It was a Saturday afternoon game in Foxborough.
03:45It was a year two.
03:45He made a throw in that game that I was like, this guy might have something.
03:48It's on the record.
03:50So it's on the record.
03:51So listen, I'm willing to give Geno Smith...
03:56You can win with Geno Smith to a certain level.
03:58I do think he's gotten a little overrated in that.
04:01Because I think everyone had the bar...
04:02He's okay.
04:03Everyone had the bar set so low.
04:04The sucky jet sucks.
04:06So he sucks.
04:08And then when it turns out, he grows up a little bit.
04:10He doesn't totally suck.
04:11People are like, oh, this guy's really good.
04:12No.
04:13He just doesn't suck.
04:15So I would like to think Drake May in year two just doesn't suck.
04:19Okay?
04:20But doesn't that mean you're sort of putting him in the same bucket?
04:24Yes.
04:24Now, you should hope.
04:25I agree with your overall premise I agree with.
04:28You hope he gets out of the suck bucket.
04:29You hope a lot more of Drake May.
04:30Yeah.
04:31I mean, if Drake May at the end of the year was still having a conversation
04:34of whether or not he's on par with Geno Smith, something went wrong.
04:37By the end of the year, he should be markedly better than Geno Smith.
04:40He should be.
04:41I'm just sort of accelerating that a bit.
04:42I think by year two, I know it's week one of year two,
04:45but by year one or week two, we shouldn't be debating who gets the checkmark.
04:49You know, if you really drafted the guy.
04:51And I'm just going to assume you drafted the guy.
04:53Yeah.
04:53If they drafted the guy, he should be a better player.
04:56There's no question about that.
04:57But, like, I just look at it in these terms.
05:00The big thing with me is the mistakes.
05:02So, like, if I were to say to you, because we all agree the teams are close.
05:07It's a two-and-a-half point spread.
05:09I think we can all agree on that.
05:10Who's more likely to make a mistake?
05:13Well, based on last year, it's Drake May.
05:15But I'm going to hope that Vrabel and McDaniels have already stepped on his neck
05:18enough and beaten that out of him.
05:19Okay.
05:20And you might be right.
05:21I'm just telling you right now, based on last year,
05:24Drake May is the candidate to make the mistake.
05:26It might be one of those boring games where the team that doesn't turn it over wins.
05:30Because I do think they're very evenly matched.
05:33I'm going to give you an example of what I think of Geno Smith as being overrated,
05:37which doesn't mean suck.
05:39I like him.
05:40PFF, preseason quarterback rankings.
05:42When I say preseason, this was released in May.
05:45Okay.
05:45So, this is before the training camps and all that.
05:47But just to give you an idea.
05:49So, PFF.
05:50Again, the top five is everybody.
05:51Mahomes, Burrow, Jackson, Allen.
05:54And they have Jalen Hurts, five.
05:56Jaden Daniels, six.
05:57Matthew Stafford, seven.
05:58Justin Herbert, eight.
06:00Jared Goff, nine.
06:02Geno Smith, ten.
06:03Too high.
06:04That's too high.
06:04That's overrated.
06:05That's too high.
06:06I would agree with you.
06:06Okay.
06:07So, just like, for example, Brock Purdy or Geno Smith?
06:10Brock Purdy.
06:11Brock Purdy.
06:11Me too.
06:12Yeah.
06:12They have Jordan Love, 12.
06:14Jordan Love.
06:15I have Jordan Love, too.
06:16Yeah.
06:17I don't know about that one.
06:18Baker Mayfield, 13.
06:19Baker Mayfield.
06:20Mayfield or Geno Smith.
06:21I'm with you on that as well.
06:23C.J. Stroud, 14.
06:24C.J. Stroud.
06:25C.J. Stroud over Geno Smith.
06:2815, Kyler Murray.
06:29I don't.
06:30Not a believer.
06:31I would have him ahead of Geno Smith, though.
06:33You would?
06:33Yeah.
06:34I don't love Kyler Murray.
06:35No, me neither.
06:36I really don't.
06:36So, now out on him.
06:38So, we'll revisit this after the season.
06:41Kyler Murray will have a good year.
06:42Murray will fall back in love with him.
06:44And then we'll all say, oh, yeah, yeah.
06:45No, I was on him in the beginning.
06:46He's a real hammerhead.
06:48Trevor Lawrence, 16.
06:50Oh, Geno Smith.
06:51I'll take Trevor Lawrence over Geno Smith.
06:53Geno Smith.
06:54I might go Trevor Lawrence there.
06:5617, Dak Prescott.
06:57I'm taking Dak Prescott.
06:58Me too, Dak Prescott.
07:00So, and then it's Tua, Bo Nix, Bryce Young, J.J. McCarthy, Drake May 22.
07:05Okay, so now all those guys.
07:06I would take Tua over Geno Smith, too.
07:08But the rest of those guys, I'm okay with Geno.
07:11You would take Tua over Geno Smith?
07:14Yep.
07:15Tua's problem is he can't stay healthy.
07:17But what he plays, he plays at a better level than Geno Smith does.
07:20Okay, so I just say.
07:21Now, that's a big but, I'll admit.
07:24He's middle of the pack.
07:25Geno Smith's like 16th.
07:26Yeah.
07:26That's too high.
07:27Tens too high.
07:28Tens too high.
07:28So, when I say overrated, it doesn't mean suck, but it just means a little overrated.
07:32What's your overall temperature on the Patriots here heading into the year, Paul?
07:36Uncertainty.
07:37He thinks they suck?
07:38Yeah.
07:38I don't think they suck.
07:39He's not allowed to say it, but you could tell by the agitation.
07:41That's why he went on.
07:42That's a non-answer.
07:42That's a non-answer.
07:44Yeah, that was like in court.
07:45I can't recall.
07:46That was obvious.
07:46You want me to tell you something?
07:47I plead the fifth.
07:48You guys know I'm a chronic.
07:50I listen all the time.
07:51What do you guys call it?
07:51P1?
07:52Yes, P1.
07:52All right.
07:53So, I'm listening to you guys with Greg yesterday.
07:55I always like when Greg is on, and he talked about at the end, you sort of, hey, we didn't
08:01even get your thoughts on the game, and he sort of envisioned a high-scoring game, I think
08:05he said.
08:06He never gave a score, but it was, you know.
08:08Yeah.
08:08Too bad.
08:09He thinks the Raiders defense stinks.
08:11Raiders defense is bad, and the Patriots he's a little concerned about based on what he's
08:14seeing, which I would agree with wholeheartedly.
08:16I'm sort of looking at this game as both teams probably want to run the ball.
08:21In the Patriots case, to maybe, as you said, with McDaniels, beat those turnovers out of
08:26Drake May early on, a lot of short, quick throws, help the offensive line, bunch of new guys,
08:32bunch of rookies, easier to run block.
08:35You know the Raiders are going to want to run with Pete Carroll and Ashton Gentry.
08:38Gentry, yeah.
08:38Well, doesn't that sort of lend you to believe it would be a little bit of a lower scoring game?
08:42Yes, it does.
08:42So that's why I say uncertainty.
08:44Like, I'm kind of looking at it as like, well, geez, I think both teams probably want to
08:47run the ball.
08:48Greg, who's down there every day with me, looks at it as I think this is going to be
08:51a higher scoring game.
08:52So I really don't know what to expect.
08:55Both teams with new coaches.
08:58How do you feel about the Patriots in a vacuum coming out of camp?
09:01Good, not great.
09:02I think they had a good camp.
09:04The Gonzalez thing is significant.
09:06And not just because of his absence on the field, but it is a long time and it is kind
09:11of inviting.
09:12I agree with your guys' thoughts about Vrabel sort of throwing these kind of non-sequiturs
09:17in working hard.
09:19I think he kind of stopped himself on Monday.
09:22I think he was asked if he felt like he had a setback.
09:24Yeah, he said it hasn't gone as we, he's working hard.
09:27So I do think that that's part of the storyline right now.
09:32Your best player, bar none, hasn't been on the practice field in over five weeks.
09:37That's, that's part of it.
09:38I don't think it's, he has been out there every day.
09:41He's traveled with the team.
09:42So I don't necessarily think it's a hold in kind of situation.
09:45There's nothing to hold in from.
09:46Right.
09:47I know he can't get the contract, but I don't necessarily think it's related to that.
09:50I think it's an issue.
09:52I think it's a physical issue, which is not good.
09:54Not good.