Mike Vrabel coach of the year?! NFL legend Boomer Esiason joins and weighs in on his chances. With #NFL trade deadline tomorrow, where does Boomer think NE should prioritize? #nfl #trade
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00:00Hey Boomer. Hey, good morning. Another Victory Monday, man. This is getting old, isn't it?
00:05Yeah, thy number or number one seed, thy name is Patriots. However you say it,
00:10we're sitting pretty this morning here. Well, I'll tell you, it's amazing. And even when,
00:16you know, maybe you're not playing your best game or you make a mistake here or there,
00:19and you can still win and you can win against a very good team who's maddening, to say the least,
00:24the Atlanta Falcons. You know, all I could say is that this is the way it's supposed to go.
00:28You know, there are a lot of games during the Belichick and Brady eras where they didn't play
00:32their best game, but they still won. And that's exactly what this was. I mean, you know, I thought
00:37that their defense and their offense made the plays in the fourth quarter at the end of the game in
00:41order to seal the game. And they, and they won it that way when it, when the game really did,
00:46you know, obviously was on the line, but I mean, like even Drake may after the game was like,
00:52he's not happy with the way he plays. He's got to play better. I took too many sacks. I had to sack
00:56and fumble for the return that, you know, put Atlanta back in the game. You know, I love that
01:00attitude because, you know, here's a kid and you guys know this just like I do. And Patriot fans
01:06know this. He's got eight straight games where he's got over 200 yards or more passing and his
01:11rating is a hundred or higher. And there's only, I think, been four guys that have had that many
01:16games in a season in a row like that. And Aaron Rogers holds a record. He had 12 back in 2011.
01:23He won the MVP and the other guys, you know, where Aaron Rogers, again, Tom Brady and Peyton
01:28Manning, this guy is in some very, very lofty company. Well, time to get this week's Drake
01:34take from Boomer, which is brought to you by your new England Chevy dealers together. Let's drive.
01:38We saw Mike Vrabel go over and talk to him specifically after that second turnover.
01:45How important is that when it comes to a young player? Yeah, 100% most important thing. And,
01:50you know, he only had the interception, the fumble, but I look at his overall playing for the first
01:56eight weeks of the season and he's been everything that we thought he was going to be. And to have
02:01the communication with, you know, Vrabel's not going to back down either. Come on, you know,
02:04he's, you know, former player and he was a head coach, you know, down. He was around Bill O'Brien
02:09too, by the way, in Houston and then became a head coach in Tennessee. So he knows how to deal
02:14with players. And I think Drake is a kid that he could really talk to, just like Bill could really
02:18talk to Tom. And again, you know, I'll just reiterate it over and over and over again until
02:23I'm blue in the face. The Josh McDaniels play design, the play calls, you know, it's third and
02:29five. The guys on the air are saying, you know, they should run it here, keep the clock running.
02:32I'm like, you know, put the ball in the guy's hands and let him make a play and win the game.
02:36Yeah. That's what Josh did with Drake. And that's exactly what happened.
02:40Yeah. I mean, I don't think we've really gotten fully into it with you,
02:44but shine gives virtually zero credit to Josh McDaniels. Wow. For, for where Drake may
02:50is. I don't want to speak for you shine, but why is there shine? What, what, what's up?
02:55What's up your ass?
02:58Well, Boomer, it's just like, we could have iced the game on the drive prior with,
03:03they just put the ball in Drake may his hand. Instead, we're running some cutesy swing
03:06pass out to the left. Well, I mean, the Drake may has got to negotiate the defensive end.
03:11That's going to be jumping up, trying to knock the ball down. I mean, you know, still player
03:14execution at the end of the day. And by the way, if he throws it and they catch it, it's probably
03:19a first down and you probably win it right there. But that's why that that's why you have defense
03:23shine. And yet the only thing I can tell you is that a quarterback coach is like a psychologist.
03:28He's got to sit down every day of the week and prepare his patient for the upcoming game.
03:34And he's got to deal with the ups and the downs, the negatives, especially within the game.
03:38And he's got to be able to calm the guy down. And he's got to put forth a plan
03:42where he's going to get the most out of the player that he's making that plan for.
03:47And I'm just telling you, knowing all I know about coaches and relationships,
03:52you could ask every great quarterback in this league that has ever played,
03:57and they'll tell you that the guy who's calling the plays and the guy that they deal with every
04:01single day is the most important person in their life to help them get to where they can go.
04:05Boomer, we talk about Drake May's pocket presence, but just walk us through being a
04:11former quarterback when sometimes that pocket presence can lead to you taking sacks and
04:17what he might have to do a little bit different to get out of some of those sacks that he's
04:22taking because he's kind of looking to make a play downfield.
04:25He's just got to get that part out of him. You know, one of the great things about Tom Brady
04:28when he was at his height there in New England is that the ball came out quickly.
04:33And you're watching Joe Flacco do that in Cincinnati. Now, the older they get, the more
04:38they realize the ball's got to get out. You've got to make your decision. You've got to find
04:41your guy and it's okay to take a check down. You don't have to always force everything down
04:45the field. The problem with him, it's not a problem. It's a good thing because he wants
04:49to be aggressive. It's like Jackson Dart for the Giants. It's like Jaden Daniels for the
04:54Washington Commanders. Same thing with CJ Stroud. The play never ends for them yet. You know,
04:59they haven't learned to live to play another down and they'll learn it and he'll learn it
05:04and it will be driven into his head. And the more tape he watches of himself, the more
05:08conversation that he has with Josh McDaniels, the more he starts to understand how these
05:13things can hurt the team, then the better he'll be when it comes to decision making
05:18because that's really what it comes down to. The other thing I will say is that he is
05:22fearless. I don't ever want to, you know, that's the number one thing.
05:26He's got poise. He's fearless. And, you know, that's also something that, you know,
05:31he feels like he's invincible right now, which is, which is a really good attribute to have
05:36when you're a quarterback in this league. In other words, it's nothing's too big for him.
05:40Boomer, when he was explaining the interception, he said it was a miscommunication between he
05:44and Hunter Henry. Who do you put that more on the veteran and Hunter Henry or, or the young
05:49Drake May? All right, Courtney, it's always on the receiver's fault.
05:52You're never going to get me to blame the quarterback on any days, especially when they're
05:57playing as well as he's playing. I mean, and I know Jermaine's going to be sticking up for
06:05Hunter Henry, but Hunter Henry, he better have said after the game, it was my fault because he
06:09wouldn't be getting any more balls for me. But, you know, I mean, it's one play in a game that,
06:15you know, all right, they didn't have their best stuff, but they won. I mean, that's the most
06:19important thing, you know, that gives the coach a chance to exhale a little bit and also gives
06:24the coach a great key teaching tape. You know, you learn from wins just as much as you learn from
06:29losses. And I think what they did learn is this is how you slam the door shut so the other team
06:35doesn't have a chance. And I think the defense did that after that second to last offensive series.
06:41And certainly the offense did that, especially with the past, the Hunter Henry that went for that
06:45first down on third and five. So I just, I don't know. They're really, really solid team. I would
06:51say that, yeah, right now they are a top five team in a league, no question. And you take a look at
06:57their next four games. I think out of the next four games, they're all tough, but the next four games
07:01next week at Tampa will be the toughest of the next four. I mean, this team could get to, I don't
07:06know, man, could they get the 14 and three and 13 and four? I think they can. Oh, I hate saying it on
07:13this show with the jinx, but I think they can. Yeah. Boomer works perfectly. Is it too early to
07:19start talking about this team being a legitimate Superbowl contender? No, I mean, look with the way
07:24this, the NFL is going right now with all the injuries that, that are piling up all over the
07:28league, the lack of defense. The one thing I will say about the Patriots, they play defense.
07:33It's one of probably five teams. And that's the other impressive part about what Drake May has done
07:38the last two weeks. He's played against statistically two of the better defenses in the league and has
07:43had really good games, even though he wasn't totally happy with his game yesterday. The game
07:47against Cleveland was really good too. But I would say because of the balance of the team,
07:51because they have good solid special teams, I mean, and they beat Buffalo who made Kansas
07:56city look pedestrian yesterday. I would sit here and say, yes, as long as they stay healthy,
08:02which is the key aspect of it all. You're very familiar with this, but is the old Daniel Jones back?
08:08I had a tough day yesterday. I mean, you know, uh, Kim Hayward had a meeting with his defense last
08:13week after they got trounced by the Packers who looked like crap yesterday against the Panthers,
08:18by the way, it's a week to week league in the center in the NFL. And Kim Hayward went to his
08:23defensive players and said, guys, we got to step it up. Now we've been giving up way too many yards
08:28and the offense has been carrying us. And yesterday, you know, the Colts stepped into a hornet's nest.
08:33That's all I can say. So Daniel had his worst game of the year and I'm sure he'll bounce back.
08:37Cause looking at their schedule, I think they have a really good chance to at least get the
08:41double digit wins as well.
08:43You talked a little bit about this, but dive deeper into how important is it to win a game
08:48like that yesterday where you've been in games where you've been able to win blowouts, but you
08:52win a game that you controlled and you make mistakes and you almost give it away. How important is that
08:58for a team to show like we can win in a number of different ways?
09:03You know, it's, it's, it's about confidence. And I think about the giants here, you know,
09:09they step on the field. They know they have no chance to win. They, they know it. I mean,
09:13the jets may win one here when they're, when they're, especially if they play the worst
09:17defense in the history of the NFL, which is the Bengals right now. But I just, there's a confidence
09:24about an air about a team that is winning and expects to win. And, you know, they, they all step
09:30on the field. They don't want to be the reasons why a team loses. And you go back and you look at
09:34the Patriots two losses and you look at as, at to who they lost to, if they would have played those
09:39teams later on in the season, they'd probably undefeated right now. That's how, that's how
09:43well they're playing. And like I said, they didn't play the most perfect game yesterday,
09:47but they expected to win the game. So to answer your question, Jermaine, it's everything.
09:52It's a belief that you can win. The coach is standing up in front of the team. He's going to make
09:56fun of some guys today, making a mistake here, mistake there, give out some game balls.
10:01Everybody looks forward to coming to work. Everybody looks forward to the next opportunity.
10:05I mean, they are in a great spot right now. Question of the week for Boomer is presented
10:10by McFarlane Energy, the region's most dependable provider of home heating oil delivery and expert
10:16HVAC services. Find them at McFarlaneEnergy.com. Where does Mike Vrabel sit on your list when it
10:22comes to coach of the year? You know, I figured you were going to ask me that. He's, he's a top
10:26five guy, Mike McDonald, Seattle. I would say Shane Steichen in Indianapolis. You'd have to say
10:32Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. I don't know. I swear to God, I don't know how the hell they're
10:37winning football games. The amount of injuries that they have. It's because of Mac Jones.
10:41It's Mac Jones. It's out there, man. It's amazing. But Kyle Shanahan is much like, you know,
10:46like, like, like Josh McDaniels is the quarterback whisperer. Like whoever the quarterback is,
10:52who's playing for those guys that are designing and calling the play seems to play really well.
10:57So yeah, Mike's Mike's up there, but you know, we're halfway through the season. We got a long
11:00way to go. And for all those teams that had rough, you know, first half of the seasons,
11:05they can easily turn it around. And I think Baltimore is one of those teams to keep an eye
11:09on, because I do think that they have a really good shot at making the playoffs because you look
11:13at their schedule and I mean, they could run rough shot over the next four or five teams.
11:17They play if they played the way that they played last week.
11:20Boomer, if you were Vrabel or Elliott Wolf in the trade deadlines tomorrow, what would
11:24be the main focus for this past team?
11:26You know, you always are looking for depth right now. I don't think there's anybody out
11:30there that's going to make a huge difference over the starters that they have playing their
11:34respective positions. Everybody wants a defensive lineman. Everybody wants a cornerback and
11:39everybody could use another extra running back. And, you know, I think those are probably the
11:44three areas. And let's not forget Jacoby Myers is out there and I think Buffalo would love to have
11:50him and maybe New England keeps him away from Buffalo. I don't know. That could be in the
11:55thought process of Elliott Wolf as well. So, you know, those four positions, I don't necessarily
12:00know that they're going to do anything that's going to be earth shattering. But the fact that
12:03they traded away White and Duggar, you know, tells you a lot about how comfortable they are
12:08with the young players on this team.
12:10Boomer, is this the year that Mahomes does not make the AFC championship game?
12:15I mean, I thought that they were the best team for the last three weeks. I really did. I thought
12:20that their defense was smothering people. They were scoring 30 points per game. And yesterday
12:25was a little bit of a wake-up call. He did not look great yesterday. However, Josh Allen did look
12:31great. I mean, Josh Allen was Superman yesterday. And that's the guy that I would worry about if I
12:37were doing. I mean, that one player right there is playing at such a high level that, you know,
12:43they are going to be really tough to beat again a second time. But I can't wait for that matchup.
12:48It's still probably about five, six weeks away from now. But that will be the biggest game of
12:53the week, obviously, when those two teams get together.
12:55All right, Boomer. Always great to talk to you. We'll do it again next week.
12:59You know what? I love Victory Monday in New England because we never have Victory Monday
13:03down here in New York.
13:05So thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
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