- 7 weeks ago
NFL legend Boomer Esiason joins The Greg Hill Show! What does Esiason make of Drake Maye, Vrabel and Patriots?
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00:00Hey, Boomer.
00:01Hey, good morning.
00:02Another Victory Monday.
00:03That's three in a row.
00:04And by the way, if the Bills do lose tonight in Atlanta,
00:08guess who's in first place?
00:10How about that?
00:11Our beloved New England.
00:12But by the way, you're going all maw bell on us.
00:15Did Nor'easter take your communication system out down there or what?
00:19Well, I heard it was your fault.
00:21It's not my fault on this end.
00:22We are totally up and running right here.
00:25This is old school, so that's why it sounds kind of weird.
00:27But I will say this.
00:30We were talking about the Patriots schedule for the last three to four weeks.
00:34And winning a game in New Orleans doesn't seem like much, but it's a big deal,
00:39especially coming off of the big win at Buffalo, showing up, being professional.
00:44The quarterback plays great.
00:46The defense plays great, even though it's Spencer Rattler, I know.
00:49But next week they got Cam Ward.
00:51These are games, as Mike Vrabel gets to go back to Tennessee next week,
00:55these are games that young teams have got to win.
00:59And that's what was so impressive about yesterday's victory against the Saints.
01:02Well, you brought up the quarterback, and we'll get the Drake take in early this morning.
01:08And that is from Boomer and presented by your New England Chevy dealers.
01:11Together, let's drive.
01:13Drake May joins Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, and Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks,
01:1923 or under, to pass for 200-plus yards and have a 100-plus passer rating for five consecutive games, Boomer.
01:27He is the guy.
01:28I didn't even do that.
01:30Holy mackerel.
01:32I know.
01:32Well, actually, I think I started when I was 23.
01:35But anyway, yeah, really impressive.
01:37Almost 70% passing.
01:39Again, no turnovers.
01:40That's the key.
01:42He's throwing the ball down the field.
01:44I mean, you know, a couple of these throws down the field are really spectacular.
01:47And that's, you know, you're getting big plays.
01:50You know, he's running with the football.
01:52I mean, I'd like to see a little bit more balanced offense.
01:54And I'm sure Josh McDaniels would like to see a little bit more balance on the offense,
01:59a little bit more running the football.
02:00Because ultimately, when they get to the playoffs later on in the year,
02:04in the wintertime, outside, you've got to be able to run.
02:07So the running game is probably not up to snuff just yet.
02:11But I can't say enough about the way the kid's playing.
02:14He's absolutely living up to everything that they could have expected him to live up to.
02:19And again, as this season started, I said, not only was Mike Vrabel the right hire for the team,
02:24which was really important, but maybe even more importantly,
02:27to get the most out of Drake May was the rehiring of Josh McDaniels.
02:32Boomer, the confidence level is there for Drake right now,
02:34but he's not cocky after the games.
02:36And both Mike Vrabel and Drake said, you know, there's a lot to improve upon after this win.
02:40Is the running game the biggest part for you when you look at Drake May's play?
02:45I think what he's talking about is himself.
02:48I don't think he's actually talking about his teammates or any of that.
02:51I would say personally just sitting from afar, you know, running the ball for 73 yards
02:56and he being about, what, 30 yards of that?
02:58I mean, that's great.
02:59I mean, that's what you want.
03:00I mean, you want him to be able to create secondary plays.
03:04You want him running for first downs and keeping drives going.
03:07All of that stuff is fantastic.
03:09What I'm talking about is getting, you know, Henderson, Stevenson, those guys more involved.
03:15You'd like to see them rush for about 150 yards a game.
03:17You're taking a little bit more pressure off of the young kid.
03:20But I think for most people, when you watch young quarterbacks play, what you want to see is clean games.
03:28You don't want to see mistakes.
03:30You don't want to see interceptions.
03:31You don't want to see forced footballs.
03:33You may see them when they're behind late in games.
03:36But when they are in control of the game, you want to see your young quarterback to be in control.
03:41So there's always room for improvement.
03:43This game is a game of failure, as we all know.
03:45Sometimes the other team wins on a particular play, and sometimes you win on a particular play.
03:51But the good thing about the Patriots is that their offense has awoken.
03:56And when you think back to their win against Carolina, that win looks a lot better today than it did when they beat Carolina three weeks ago
04:03because of what Carolina has done in the last two weeks.
04:06So this is a team that's on the rise.
04:08There's no question about it.
04:09And a lot has to do with, you know, Drake May's ascendancy to one of the better quarterbacks in the league.
04:15Boomer, one of the things that you just talked about is Josh McDaniels.
04:19And to me, when I look at Drake May, his pocket presence, his awareness, his ability to make smart decisions,
04:26I think is in large part to his relationship with Josh McDaniels.
04:31Talk about what it's like to have an offensive coordinator who gives you that type of comfort as a quarterback.
04:36There's no question that when I lost my offensive coordinator way back when in the 80s,
04:43he left to go become the head coach of the Jets, unfortunately, for him and me.
04:48So I lost somebody that knew me better than anybody.
04:53Somebody that knew the game better than anybody.
04:56Somebody that could design plays that got the best out of me as a player.
05:00You know, he knew what I did well, and he would also get on me in practice if I wasn't practicing well.
05:07Or he would always quiz me after every practice, before every practice, before every game, the night before the game.
05:15I mean, it was constant.
05:16He was all over me.
05:17And it was somebody that I came to respect because I had a lot of success, you know, underneath him as a coach.
05:24And I'm sure that that's the relationship that's being developed right now between Josh and Drake.
05:29There's no question about that.
05:31And Josh, while his head coaching prowess is sketchy at best, his offensive coordination, there's no question that he's one of the best in the NFL.
05:40And there's a calmness, I think I'm sure, between the two of them during games about, you know, what they're going to do, how they're going to do it.
05:46Now, I compare that to what I witnessed yesterday with the Jets, who set offensive football back 50 goddamn years.
05:55It was incredible to watch the difference of a second-year quarterback compared to a fifth-year quarterback with an offensive coordinator who's a rookie himself and Tanner Engstrom for the Jets.
06:07So there's no question that that relationship is paramount to the success of the quarterback.
06:12Boomer, if I remember correctly, the coordinator you're talking about is Newt Rockne.
06:17Is that correct?
06:20Yeah, that's pretty funny there, Greg.
06:21I think you're older than I am.
06:24We debated this before.
06:25We don't have time for it.
06:26I know.
06:27I think you guys are almost...
06:29You've been on the air since Cousin Brucie, right?
06:32Wolfman Jack or something like that?
06:35Yes, Wolfman Jack.
06:39Boomer, I don't know why this still isn't done.
06:42But why can't coaches challenge pass interference calls?
06:46The call yesterday was so horrifically bad.
06:50Everybody watching it, it seemed, except the people in striped clothes on the field knew what had gone on.
06:55Why is there not a way for the NFL to fix obviously awful PI calls?
07:00You know, it's a really good question because this game was officiated horrendously yesterday.
07:06And I think we all saw that.
07:07And it was frustrating for both sides.
07:08I mean, really, both sides.
07:10And I don't know what's going on with the officiating.
07:12It seems like each week we get a game like this where I don't know what they're looking at.
07:18I don't know what they see.
07:19I don't know how many times there are flags being thrown for roughing the passer to that where there isn't roughing the passer.
07:25I wish they would actually be able to review that.
07:28You know, we went down this road before with review of pass interference.
07:31It really didn't work out all that well.
07:33I mean, you talk about frustrating and you talk about game stoppage and throwing red flags.
07:39I think what they're trying to do is to try to make these decisions as quickly as possible to keep the game moving.
07:44They don't want all these different stoppages.
07:46They don't want all these different reviews.
07:47And I remember Bill Belichick, I think it was probably four or five years ago, you know, he was advocating for reviewing everything.
07:55And that would create probably three and a half to four hour games.
07:59And that's the last thing that the TV partners want for the NFL.
08:03So I understand the frustration.
08:06There's no question about it.
08:07But I also understand behind the scenes why it's important to get these games over with and not get bogged down with replays and red flags and redos.
08:16And that's why we have that expedited review.
08:18Now that comes out of the press box from somebody.
08:22We don't even know who's making that call sometimes to the officials.
08:25No, no.
08:26Oftentimes when Steph digs is responsible for incidental contact, it's on a boat.
08:32Okay.
08:32Yeah.
08:33All right.
08:33You can say that for him.
08:34Not me.
08:36I have nothing to do with that.
08:37But speaking of Miami, Tua goes out after that game, basically throws guys under the bus for being late to meetings or not showing up to meetings.
08:49What is going on down there?
08:52All right.
08:52So that's an indictment of the head coach, unfortunately.
08:56You know, I think he's trying to support his head coach.
08:58But by doing that, he's also undermining him.
09:01And there's a lot to be said about a way a quarterback handles himself after the game.
09:06Now, I'm not going to say that I was perfect, but I do remember that after a game, especially after we lost, I had to be careful what I was saying for a number of reasons.
09:16Back in the day, everybody's family members were watching either SportsCenter or the local news to find out, you know, what the take was from the coach, from the quarterback and other players that may have had a mistake or two in the game.
09:28So you have to be really, really careful about what you do, and especially in this day and age with social media, because now all of a sudden, social media pounces and makes it even worse.
09:38So I saw this after the game yesterday, and I was cringing as to what he was saying.
09:45I understand his frustration.
09:47I understand why he would want to say it, especially when you're losing games the way that they have lost games.
09:52But by doing what he did, that wasn't leader-like.
09:55That was basically undermining your head coach, which was really unfortunate.
10:00I like Mike McDaniel.
10:01He's most likely going to get fired, it seems.
10:04Where there's smoke, there's fire in this league.
10:06And right now, when your quarterback is saying that guys are missing meetings and late to meetings, that is a strong indictment of the lack of respect that the players have for their head coach.
10:17He has to retire the pants, too, Mike.
10:19Like, enough is enough.
10:20You can't be losing like that wearing those pants.
10:23Yeah.
10:24There's no question.
10:25Does getting Lamar back fix the Ravens?
10:30Not their defense.
10:31I mean, their defense is horrendous.
10:33You know, they lost their big defensive tackle, Matabuke, and he has really been the linchpin of that defense.
10:38They played a little bit better yesterday.
10:40I don't know what the heck L.A. was doing.
10:42They should have ran through them yesterday, but they didn't.
10:45But they still won the game, and that's all that matters from Sean McVay's point of view.
10:49But Lamar is a great player.
10:52He can camouflage and make up for a lot of misgivings on that football team.
10:56I don't think that that team thinks that either Cooper Rush or Tyra Huntley are the answer.
11:02So, it's the same thing with the Jets right now.
11:04If you have a quarterback that nobody trusts, that nobody believes in, that can't inspire anybody, you don't have a chance to win in this league.
11:12And that's why this league is quarterback-driven.
11:14And that's why the Patriots are in a great situation right now.
11:18They have a quarterback that everybody in that building believes in, everybody respects, and he's playing like it, and he's also acting like it after the game.
11:28Like, he's humble after the game, like you were saying, Courtney.
11:31So, being that way means that you are going to ingratiate yourself to your teammates, to your coaching staff, and you're going to gain respect.
11:39And by gaining that respect, you inspire your teammates.
11:43And, unfortunately, there's not a lot of that going on in a lot of places in the league.
11:47It's not just the Jets.
11:48It's not just a number of other places.
11:50But, I mean, there's just probably half the league is missing the most important ingredient.
11:56Question of the week for Boomer is presented by McFarland Energy, the region's most dependable provider of home heating oil delivery and expert HVAC services at McFarlandEnergy.com.
12:06Romo said it at the end of the game.
12:09Matty Ryan said it on CBS.
12:11So, if today were the day that you were naming the MVP, is it Baker Mayfield?
12:17I would feel he's right there.
12:19As a matter of fact, I did a sports minute on it this morning.
12:22So, you can check that out later on on your radio show.
12:25But, yeah, he's fun.
12:27He's exciting.
12:29We're six games into the season.
12:31There are other guys like Matthew Stafford, Josh Allen, that will also garner a lot of consideration.
12:37But, right now, I would say that Baker Mayfield, and by the way, it is great to see guys like him and Sam Darnold do what they're doing after they were kicked to the curb by their original teams.
12:49So, yeah, I would think that Baker probably has a slight edge in that regard.
12:54All right.
12:54I thought you were going to go with Jackson Dott and Cam Skeeterboot out there.
13:00Jermaine, you would love these guys.
13:02I swear to God, you would love playing with these guys.
13:05This team, the Giants, have been so dead for so long.
13:09And these two kids have completely ignited their football team.
13:14Now, I don't know how long they're going to last because of the way they play.
13:17They're like crash test dummies out there.
13:18I mean, they are just lowering their shoulders, lowering their heads, and, you know, I just hope it doesn't end.
13:23I hope it's not like a Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks situation from years ago where it was a flash in the pan.
13:29I think Jackson Dott really does have it.
13:31He's got a great arm.
13:33He's got great touch.
13:34He's got really good accuracy.
13:36He runs around.
13:37He's just so energetic.
13:40And then this Cam Skeeterboot character, I mean, doing backflips after scoring touchdowns, ripping his shirt off,
13:45there's a little WWE involved in this.
13:48And finally, finally, for the 19 years that I've been here at WFAN, the Giants have got a damn personality, and I love it.
13:58Well, it gives you guys somebody to root for since the Yankees are done.
14:01Yes, you're right.
14:02Well, your Red Sox are done, too, by the way.
14:04Yes, I know that.
14:07And I'm a Met fan, too, so I don't think any great joy in that, all right?
14:10I understand.
14:11Have a good show, and then get in the boat and head down the highway and head home.
14:16All right, man, nothing better than Victory Monday, ladies and gentlemen.
14:20Enjoy it.
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