Debut of Wednesdays with Ninko! Is this Patriots team truly for real? Rob Ninkovich joins!

WEEI-FM / WEEI

Debut of Wednesdays with Ninko! Is this Patriots team truly for real? Rob Ninkovich: "I think they looked really good. Drake Maye looked amazing."  Greg: "In your mind, what's the primary difference?" "Why didn't Mayo bring in a guy like McDaniels?"  "Is there a chance that they add significantly" Ninko discusses potential Patriots trade targets! #NFL

Transcript

00:00because this morning it was it was basically fighting through floodwaters trying to get here

00:05a raging river going down 95 so i'm happy to be here sorry i'm a little bit late you're coming

00:09from the foxborough area i'm coming from walpole walpole i dropped the kids uh that is the home of

00:15cam what's what's his last name courtney schlitler uh yes and so uh driving a like a reasonable

00:22vehicle or no not a reasonable not reasonable at all i'm in a 70 buick elektra oh convertible

00:27which was leaking soft top and there's a few leaks so um the reason i didn't have a car available

00:34is that my wife told me i couldn't use hers so use one of your old ones had to use the old one

00:39okay so if you see a 70 buick electric driving down 95 that's that's me that's you since you're coming

00:44from walpole every wednesday now moving forward can we do like a i might come earlier put in an order

00:49from muffin house oh yeah i go right past yeah that is muffin house oh great muffins really great

00:55breakfast sandwiches really good breakfast they do sourdough not a lot of places do sourdough

00:59it's better for you just like your uh thing of blueberries right there well you know blueberries

01:03and getting that low cholesterol i had a bite of my mush and it didn't taste right and i looked at

01:07the uh expiration date expired every four twenty twenty five the desk in front of you is so

01:13lord knows what will happen everything in front of you is the epitome of health right there

01:17blueberries yes uh so listen except it's not working uh yes let's talk about sunday night

01:25let's talk about it i'm ready on the brightest and biggest of stages and that patriots win is uh

01:32is this team for real they look really good i'm not gonna say they're they're they're back and

01:37they're going to the super bowl but i think from where they were they're learning and they're getting

01:42better and that's that's really what you want you want to see a progression from week to week of

01:46getting better granted there is a few penalties i mean they need to clean up some of the penalties

01:51if you look at the the amount of penalties the yardage there the hidden yardage and penalties that's

01:56that's that can get you in a close game but um if you look at buffalo they they they had a lot of the

02:01same mistakes as well so i think they looked really good drake may looked amazing through through

02:06the ball amazing he was able to get out of the pocket use his legs um look downfield you know a lot

02:12of young quarterbacks when they have to get out of the pocket they start to look at the rush

02:15instead of keeping their eyes downfield and for him to be able to evaluate the field digs had an

02:21amazing game i mean he he wanted a payback game and that was a payback game you could tell in the

02:26pre-game warm-ups the guy was juiced up and ready to go you know what i'm saying uh so it was a great

02:32game i think they played well um now i think the biggest challenge and wiggie you know this is going

02:38to go from the emotions and and getting yourself ready to go play a sunday night game on the road in the

02:44division keeping that same juice going on the road to play new orleans which they should destroy

02:51new orleans but this is one of them you know this is one of them games where you can get caught

02:55so keeping the same energy and keeping that same mentality going on the road for a non-divisional

03:00game now that's gonna i want to see what that looks like what is the primary difference between

03:05this season and last rex ryan we we listened to rex ryan yesterday on this show say it's all mike

03:12rabel like from your perspective it might be the development of drake may like what in your mind

03:18what's the primary difference i think it's a combination of things they spent 365 million

03:23dollars in free agency that helps right um so having bringing in new guys drafting you know i think

03:30campbell's having a terrific season for a rookie he's got the juice so you see that guy he always

03:35seems to be a young leader um i think digs watching him he seems like to to be that veteran leader

03:41getting everyone going you know the pre-game speech the in-game uh motivation after the game

03:47and vrabel's doing a terrific job so i think it's a combination i think bringing mcdaniel's josh in

03:53for drake has probably been the biggest thing offensively and moving forward to where this

04:00whole organization could kind of get back to where they're winning ways now

04:04shime any kind of oh shime what does shime think josh why do you hate josh he's terrible he's terrific

04:11he thinks he stinks i i think his play calling is very inconsistent he's got what is drake may's uh

04:18percentage completion percent how many times did he have to roll out of the pocket and make a play

04:23and improvise with steph diggs yes uh i mean improvise that's football it's the whole exactly

04:28that's not josh but that's my point that's not josh mcdaniel's play calling that's a great job by

04:32the receiver to find a spot and the quarterback to find him and make a play yeah but the offensive

04:36coordinator puts the receiver in the spot to make a play he also that spot he also thought josh

04:41mcdaniel's was telling drake not to run well i would tell drake not to run considering if you watch

04:46this season he has been taking care of himself better than he was last year of course but in the beginning

04:51he was a bit nervous it seemed because i mean look i'd be nervous too i wouldn't want to see my

04:55quarterback it smacked yeah nick you would know this not like you had a job waiting or anything

05:00um but when gerard mayo built his staff in that one year did he do it with the expectation that it

05:09would look much different and more of his liking in subsequent years i don't understand that question

05:14so did the gerard mayo staff like so my question would be why did mayo bring in a guy like mcdaniel's why

05:20did he bring in a guy like van pelt well maybe he wasn't available or available to bring in at the

05:24time and i think every single year there's timing aspects of it too because you try to get your staff

05:30in line year or two before and say listen i might have this job that's coming up next year would you

05:38be open to moving your whole family back to wherever would you be open to taking this job

05:43and we all thought bill was going to have that job one more year correct i didn't think bill was going

05:49to get fired at but then that happened so then mayo was available and then mayo was probably

05:52hey i got to get a whole coaching staff together a year before or two years and i didn't i wasn't

05:58ready so i mean there's there's definitely a lot of timing factors when it comes and alex can you help

06:03me out on the offensive side and alex says i mean not alex but um elliot wolf and then elliot

06:08says oh yeah i worked with alex van pell maybe he could be somebody good for you and and it's all

06:13contracts too so you have to it's not just the timing of hey will you be available next year

06:18it's hey i have a two to three year contract that i'm working for somebody maybe i can get out maybe

06:24i can't get out maybe they'll let me out maybe they won't let me out so there's all these different

06:28factors that go into hiring your coaching staff do you know the organization better than anybody other

06:34than wiggy probably in the room is there a chance that they add significantly to this team i would

06:40assume they're always looking for talent they always say that mike rabel always i think yeah

06:45you do look for talent but then you have to look at what you're giving up for talent so are we

06:50going and getting somebody that we feel can help the team win right now versus giving up a draft pick

06:56that me potentially could have a future with somebody who's in the second or third round so i think it

07:02depends on the talent level but when you win a game like that like a signature game like sunday night

07:07does that change strategy wise internally do you do you then change and go all right we need to

07:13whatever we we need to win right now like we have an we have an opportunity here in the afc i think you

07:19stay with your building mentality of we're taking this organization that was really bad and we're

07:25bringing in our type of guys and we're looking for our type of guys who are trying to flip what what

07:31was into what will be so right now if you look at last year's captains to this year's captains they've

07:37replaced everybody you know the whole team is flipped over the coaching staff the everything

07:42is turned over so when you're looking for i don't know a receiver that might play for the eagles

07:48i would be interested in that because there is a relationship there number one with rabel so that

07:55goes to the whole hey i know this guy i know his character and then on the flip side of it

07:59wasn't didn't he say is it's aj right yeah aj brown didn't he say he wanted to be a patriot

08:04in the draft process yes he wanted to be a patriot so there's also a connection there so i personally

08:09would love to see that move but then on the flip side of it you have a team that's like all right

08:14give us a first give us a second you know which doesn't make sense well i think that it's going to

08:18be critical these next four weeks because the next four weeks the after the atlanta game you'll look

08:25at that and you'll go okay where are we because because then the trade deadline is a couple days

08:30later so i think those four weeks if you win your next four games you might be more in the line of

08:35saying all right we got a couple days let's get somebody that can really help us there's also

08:40specific positions that you can go and get that aren't really that hard to learn so for example if

08:47you're joe flacco and you just go to cincinnati you're literally having to walk in the building now

08:51he's a veteran he knows offenses and he could probably get it quickly but he's still having

08:55to relearn a verbiage right and do that as fast as possible verse you go get a running back or a

09:02pass rusher or a receiver and say hey run a go route right and you look at the guy and say just

09:06run a go it doesn't matter the verbiage right you know defensive end hey just get the quarterback

09:10all right cool i can do that what do you do with somebody like ramondre right now the fumbling

09:14continues to be an issue and now you've got gibson out i think you got to keep giving him the ball

09:18right and you know hope that he doesn't have another one and you know another part of football

09:23is your confidence you know we start to lose confidence but then also lose the confidence

09:27of your coaches and your guys around you now it is your fault because you're fumbling but on the flip

09:32side of it you know you can get past those things and if you start you know gaining your confidence

09:37back and holding the ball and running the ball well you can go on a run here so hopefully they continue

09:42to to use him but isn't it time for them to say because i think his confidence is completely

09:48gone yeah i think it's you know for him mentally even though they keep giving him an opportunity i

09:52just think he's like in that place where it's like oh my god he's always thinking about it right

09:57where i think like now it's time for say all right well travia travion henderson we drafted him in the

10:02second round he's going to be our lead back we're going to throw you in there ramondre and you don't

10:07have to worry about carrying the load as much because you know i've never been in that position but as a

10:14ball as somebody who catches the football once your confidence it's gone it's harder on the defensive

10:19side because you don't really have to focus on catching a football holding on to it i just think

10:24ramondres is gone well i think about as a long snapper you know i've been in positions where you

10:30make a bad snap and then you're thinking about the next snap right so in your head you know you can do

10:36it because you're repeating it in practice and you're doing it over and over and over again but the

10:39second you get back on the field you're like in the back of your head so i'm thinking about i hope

10:44i don't mess this up you know i hope i don't throw this over the guy's head because then it's my fault

10:49you drop a football it's the same thing it's the same thing and you start thinking about it and

10:53dwelling on it and you do it in practice you're like oh this is easy but the second you step on

10:57the game field it's almost like you have a flashback bang i'm here i gotta do it the hit that he took

11:04in the game it wasn't like a punch out with the elbow yeah it was just like a regular tackle he

11:09wasn't trying to get the ball and so that's why i think when i watch him i think that he it's just

11:15now in his head because of all the fumbles and sometimes it's hard for those guys to come back like

11:21to to really get to the point i i see no guys who had the drop sees like all right they never

11:26get back but with ramondre it's not even just the season he had this issue last season and with

11:29bill like bill benched him so he's still thinking about that's my point he might never come back

11:33from this yeah he might just have the thumb fumble itis for the rest of his career where there are

11:38some guys who never were able to to flip that switch and change and now if you have that as a

11:43coach you got to be like oh man yeah ken says you got to wear a mask to prevent spreading fumble

11:48itis it's like sticky traps you know those mouse sticky traps put a couple of them on his forearm

11:55do something that ball stick but when rabel's asked about it he's very like he kind of takes the

12:00blame off ramondre a lot it seems like he protects ramondre when he talks to people about it as a

12:06coach you're it's a balancing act of how much do i put on the player how much do i put on everybody

12:11else myself the coaching staff you know it's always a balancing act trying to give you don't want the

12:17guy to flip on any uh radio or the tv and say you know head coach blames running back for trouble

12:24right so you're trying to figure out the best way to say we still have confidence in the player

12:30because we need the player you know you can't just say all right you've been fumbling you're on the

12:35bench you're not playing anymore because at the end of the day the offense needs them so you just got

12:39to continue to maybe mix in the reps mix in the type of plays hey we're in the low red hey we're on

12:46the one we need you let's go punch it in and you know that's that's how you regain the confidence

12:50we were talking earlier we've been talking for a couple days about the afc and who you who you're

12:56worried about uh about parity about do you do you feel like it's wide open i feel like right now the

13:03nfl in general is sloppy you know there's a lot of sloppy football you watch these games and there's so

13:09many penalties and field goal you field goals used to be money every field goal field goal block in

13:16general you go back in the 10 years ago there wasn't block field goals like there is this year

13:23right you see all these field goals that are getting blocked and you're like what's going on

13:27and it comes down to going way back to the fundamentals and and learning things through

13:32college and you get to the pros and you're continuing to be coached and taught and learn

13:36how to do things to where our special teams used to be like hey there's not a hiccup here this is just

13:41the way the game is and now you see a lot of hiccups in a lot of areas that you start to say

13:47the better coach teams the more disciplined teams are gonna be able to win these games because at the

13:53end of the game when you need to kick a field goal and win it which you know hey i had my fingers

13:58crossed the rookie came through he kicked the ball it was through the uprights great yeah but you know

14:02you'll think back on some pats that they're supposed to be there and they were gone they weren't there so

14:07you know i think right now it's wide open and the next month the next four weeks of this season

14:13we're gonna see a lot of teams either getting better or staying the same and if you are a team

14:18that can improve and get better you're gonna be able to beat the teams that stay the same i just

14:22think nowadays like even in the nfc there's no when you played i felt like new england was always

14:30dominant they were just so much better than everybody else and there's no dominant team like you know i

14:35watch the philly game and there's a couple games that they win like you said on a block field goal

14:39they scoop and score but there's no team that you go man you gotta be on your a game to beat that team

14:47and that's why i give new england uh that's why in my eyes i i look at if new england consistently play

14:52like this they can easily make a deep run i think as far as these massive swings you look at the

15:00panthers they beat atlanta 30 to nothing right came here and they didn't even look like they wanted

15:06to be on the football field they were walking into the huddle or into the the tunnel at halftime

15:11literally walking every single one of them walking well maybe one or two because i filmed it but i'm

15:16like they don't want to be here right and then they got destroyed right so it's so weird how they

15:20have these massive swings and that's what i was talking about in division non-division game because

15:26atlanta in division they're jacked up we got to win this team we got to beat this team we got to

15:31win against this team and then the next week they're on the road team they don't really know

15:35eh who cares we're still getting paid let's get the you know brake speed off us and that's your

15:40concern about sunday my concern about sunday is the the momentum and the energy in a sunday night game

15:46we got a big one coming and then you go on a road on the road with a non-division team that really

15:51is kind of because they're not a good team either right but don't you think vrabel gives them a

15:55little bit of juice of juice in the sense not to fall into that of course he's telling them all

16:01week i guarantee he's saying it listen we're going on the road we don't know these guys we got to

16:05prepare this week like just like last week let's let's build this momentum let's go on a run here

16:10but you know at the end of the day i think that it's also been the mentality the mentality of the

16:16players and we're seeing a shift in the mentality of the players from what it used to be to this kind

16:22not as violent you know like before you go into pre-game if we were playing the ravens or the

16:28stealers there were almost like security people in between the two teams because they're wanted to

16:34fight each other like literally now they're like hey let's have dinner tomorrow great you know good

16:38to see let's swap jerseys after the game like we're buddies yeah we trained all that we trained

16:43in arizona together guys say that it's crazy said it though remember when vrabel when i remember

16:48there were guys that police the locker room guys like willie mack loya malloy these guys police the

16:53locker room so you had to be that for you guys i mean i i think we didn't really have that butler

16:59enforcer no i mean i'm thinking back to the teams that we played on defensively like vince didn't

17:09mess around like so i would say vince was quiet but he'd be like no we ain't doing that like let's go

17:15you know we ain't doing that like we ain't going over there talking having a good time with these

17:19guys he policed the locker room you had to worry about vince like if i said something slick vince

17:24is gonna be like so that's my but even vrabel said this to the other to us the other day i'm trying

17:31to find somebody to beat but like you said their personalities personalities aren't as like you know

17:37think about the stealers they had joey porter and warm-ups would have his shirt off flexing like

17:42trying to intimidate people which i'd laugh at because i'm like dude go over there right what

17:46are you doing it was probably juju smith schuster doing the tiktok for the stealers that changed

17:50i can do that to get everybody fired up for the show the raid take my shirt off and uh you know

17:55just give us the steph digg speech pregame

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended