Everyone talking about Maye/McDaniels/Offense- However, what about Vrabel/Zak Kuhr and the defense? Is this defense good enough for a deep run? 5 scores in a row?! Is the OC really the problem on the offensive side of the ball... Or talent? #NFL #Patriots
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00:00So, the conversation this week is circled around the offense and the inept performance in the second half.
00:08But if you're Mike Rabel, I mean, if you're Josh McDaniels, and you're sitting there and you're hearing how it was a cute double pass,
00:15aren't you looking at your defensive-minded head coach and saying,
00:18they scored 35 there, bub. You allowed five consecutive touchdown drives.
00:24Why are we talking about Drake May and the coordinator, and why aren't we talking about that defense
00:28that's figured it out in the first half, just like the offense did, but couldn't stop a nosebleed in the second half?
00:35Welcome to my side of the street, Curtis. Well done.
00:37Well, I think we did talk about the defense basically giving up five touchdown-scoring drives in the second half or something along those lines.
00:45I think we did talk about that, but I don't get the offense and Josh McDaniels, him, them, talking about firing him.
00:52And when you look at the Patriots' offense, they're top 10 in almost every major category, right?
00:58The top 10 when it comes to points per game, the top 10 when it comes to total offense per game,
01:03the top 10 when it comes to passing yards per game.
01:06It just seems wild to me that that's the speculation.
01:09Like, would Drake May be anywhere near what he is without Josh McDaniels?
01:14No. No, I don't think so.
01:17We could debate that, but I won't get into it.
01:19You would debate it?
01:20Yeah, I mean, I think you would.
01:22Then, during that debate, how do you allow for last season?
01:26Right.
01:26I mean, the transformation is extraordinary.
01:28Because everything else outside of the offensive coordinator was an utter disaster.
01:33That's why.
01:34I think the stability that Mike Vrabel has brought, the culture that he has built,
01:38is a large portion of what has led to Drake May being comfortable and being able to have success.
01:43That's why.
01:43So, you would give all the credit to Vrabel, then?
01:47I would give the majority of the credit to May and Vrabel, yeah.
01:51May for doing, for being this good in the games, because he's the one, at the end of the day,
01:55he's the one that has to make the throws, so he deserves the lion's share of the credit.
01:58But then, like, I think next on the list would be Vrabel, yeah.
02:00Yeah, but we go down this road all the time, right?
02:04When you think of Tom Brady, the success, large part of his success...
02:09I give it all to Belichick.
02:10No, but you got to give a lot of it to Charlie Weiss, right, for teaching him how to become a great quarterback,
02:16teaching him all the ins and outs, all these little things, right?
02:18When I told you, and, you know, I don't want to get too deep in the weeds,
02:22but when you're a defensive-minded coach and your offense and your quarterback is very good,
02:30yes, I'll give you credit for the culture and the way that you coach him as far as, you know,
02:35the things that he should be thinking about and how you change that.
02:37But the actual day-to-day work is with Josh McDaniels and the quarterback coach.
02:44That's where Drake May is learning how to become a great quarterback.
02:50When it comes to, Curtis, you're suggesting Mike Vrabel should be criticized or, you know,
02:55because of the defense.
02:58Any allowance given to the fact that he lost his coordinator middle of the season?
03:03Well, they had no coordinator in the first half.
03:05What do you mean?
03:07In the first half of the game against the Bills, they didn't have a defensive coordinator.
03:11Yeah, but no, what I'm saying is that he, Mike Vrabel, head coach who has to run every element of the operation,
03:18lost his defensive coordinator halfway through the season.
03:21Well, at the beginning of the season.
03:22Before the season.
03:23Before the season.
03:24Right.
03:24I'm saying that, but somehow, whatever system they had in place shut out the Bills up until the final minutes of the first half.
03:31It's not like they lost their coordinator in the first quarter and then all of a sudden had to regroup.
03:35Yeah.
03:35They had a pretty good plan.
03:36And then just like Josh McDaniels, they each had a great plan in the first half and it went away in the second.
03:41And I feel like the one thing too, if they do lose McDaniels, then Drake May has three coordinators in three years.
03:48I don't believe that Mike Vrabel is even thinking of not having Josh McDaniels around here next year.
03:53There's no chance.
03:54It's like, why is that anybody's thought based on a comment that he made on the show, which I don't think was even directed at Josh McDaniels.
04:03Because they took that comment and they wanted to put a negative spin on it.
04:07Yeah.
04:07Which I don't understand why you're trying to put a negative spin on it.
04:10We've lost one game in the last how many months and now all of a sudden you want to jump and try to make drama out of nothing.
04:18Do you think Tom Curran just creates drama?
04:20Tommy Curran walked it back after Curtis.
04:22Yeah.
04:23He heard the exact thing that we heard.
04:25And then he went and actually talked to Mike Vrabel and walked it back.
04:27But that's where this originated.
04:28But I'm telling you that he's corrected himself.
04:31So why are we beating a dead horse?
04:33But you said after he talked to Vrabel, which means Vrabel said, hey, don't say that.
04:36Right.
04:37No.
04:37If you go and actually listen to what Tommy Curran said, his article that's out there for anybody else to Google, he said he went to Mike Vrabel because he wanted to understand more.
04:47So he went and asked the questions instead of just going on with this narrative over and over again.
04:52But in the middle of a season where the team is winning, Vrabel is going to be like, yeah, I don't want Josh here.
04:56Okay.
04:56So then why did he say it on our show on Monday?
04:58If you're in the middle of a season where you're winning so much, why would he try to cause any type of drama with his offensive coordinator?
05:04Well, it's because the questioner does a great job of getting under his skin and he brings up things like being cute.
05:09And then the whole city talks about it.
05:10No, but that was that was just that that was a made up story.
05:13There were five people in the room when he made that comment out of the five people that were listening in that room.
05:19Did anybody think this was a dig at Josh McDaniels?
05:23I did not.
05:24I did.
05:24No.
05:25Sean?
05:25I didn't take it that way at that moment.
05:29No, no.
05:29Right.
05:29So what happened?
05:30Ken and I were texting about it in real time.
05:31So what happened?
05:32So four of the five people didn't take it that way.
05:35So then what happens is one person.
05:36Did you ask Amen Corner?
05:38Because that's the fifth.
05:38Oh, yeah.
05:38Oh, yeah.
05:39Amen Corner.
05:40I didn't get a chance to ask him.
05:41But then what happens is one person, Tommy Curran, then says, oh, here's what I heard.
05:48Clickbait.
05:48Drama, drama, drama, drama, drama, drama, drama.
05:50Rather than just being like what we are, like the majority of people I think heard was, oh, you can't win on trick plays.
05:58What are we going to just win on a bunch of trick, 13 yard trick plays?
06:02Yeah.
06:02And that's what the majority of people until Tommy Curran then says, oh, I'm going to put this negative spin on it.
06:09He's taking a shot at Josh McDaniels when nobody heard that, but he knows, oh, that's going to get people's clicking and eyes open and that kind of, that's all that is.
06:19This is Keith in the truck.
06:20Hey, Keith.
06:22I look at this at the professional level when you get to that high of a level, any sport, it doesn't matter what it is.
06:28The egos on these guys are massive, from the coaches to the players, and you have, and I think you have to be like that.
06:36I think for the most part, as a hedge coach, you get the positives and the negatives.
06:40When you're doing well, you're going to get praise when you do, and when you're struggling, you're going to obviously deal with that as well.
06:46I think there's been an awful lot of, like, compliments to McDaniels, and I'm sure it bothers, I'm sure it bothers for people a little bit deep down inside.
06:58That's why every time they bring that up to him, what does he say?
07:01Oh, no, no, no, it's the team.
07:03Oh, it's the QB coach.
07:04It's this guy.
07:05It's that guy.
07:06He never gives the compliments to McDaniels, and I just think it's an ego thing.
07:12And that's, believe me, at that level, Wiggy, you know.
07:14You know, Wiggy.
07:15It could be that.
07:16It also is a leadership philosophy, which is never let people get too high, like, and, you know, when somebody is, I don't.
07:26Look at the first month.
07:28Look at the first month, or whatever, two months, when May was just starting to, like, fly.
07:35He didn't give the kid a game ball for the first two months.
07:38He, like, didn't give him much compliment.
07:40So that's probably his philosophy, but I think a lot of it's ego, which is, it's every level.
07:45Once you get to the pro level, it's just, I think it's across the board.
07:50Coaches, players, everybody, they have ego.
07:52So, yeah, Keith, great.
07:54Well, we heard Vrabel give Josh McDaniels credit in the past.
07:57We've heard him say Josh has done a tremendous job.
07:59Josh is doing a great job with this offense.
08:02Can I ask you an honest question, Wigs?
08:03Has he ever been directly asked about McDaniels and replied only about McDaniels?
08:08I asked him about Josh McDaniels on Monday and said, hey, Josh said he hopes he's here for a long, paraphrasing, long time building this with you.
08:18And he's, you know, I guess he said all the coaches.
08:22He always answers about a collective when he's asked about him.
08:25Right, but that's what he does.
08:27He does it with the team.
08:28Not with the quarterback.
08:29He does it.
08:30No, no, he does it with the quarterback.
08:31He says, hey, listen, the quarterback's doing a great job, but also you've got to give a lot of credit to the wide receivers.
08:36He told him.
08:37I brought this up.
08:38He told the Amazon crew that Drake May is a big reason he's here.
08:41And then reiterated it with Marshall.
08:43We know, but listen, we know that.
08:45But he also says Drake May is a big reason why I'm here.
08:48Drake May is having success, but he's also having success because of the quarterback's coach.
08:53He's also having success because of Josh McDaniels.
08:56I asked him a question about the wide receiver room, and he brought up the fact that, you know what, they're doing a lot of great things.
09:02It's all of them, whether it's Matt Collins, the offense did what they were supposed to do.
09:09If you look at what the offense averages this season per game, 27 points.
09:17Defensively, they generally hold teams to 19 points.
09:21So, I know it's kind of a little bit of, you know, I'm being a little bit facetious here when I say this.
09:27You scored 27 points.
09:29Granted, it was in the first half, but you weren't able to do what you normally do, which is hold the team to under 20 points.
09:38So, the offense did their job.
09:39Granted, they didn't do what they should have done a little bit more in the second part.
09:43And the defense didn't do what they were supposed to do.
09:46But the fact that we're sitting here talking about Josh McDaniels and Mike Vrabel beef, like, come on.
09:52This is made up for people who have, you know what I call it?
09:57My mother used to say this all the time.
09:58I can't wait to hear this.
09:59Those are people with negative ears.
10:02Oh, negative ears.
10:03Negative ears.
10:04I don't like negative ears.
10:05Everything they hear is negative.
10:07Is negative.
10:07Yep.
10:08Why is that?
10:09It's like, oh, it's a beautiful day outside.
10:11Right.
10:11You and I heard that, but they heard something else.
10:14It's like, was it Linus who always had the black cloud hanging over him in the Charlie Brown cartoons?
10:20I think that was because he didn't shower at all.
10:22He got a paper pen?
10:24No, that was Courtney's Super Bowl trip.
10:26No.
10:27He's tough.
10:28No.
10:28But it might have been me because of my socks.
10:31I got new socks, by the way.
10:32Good job.
10:32After that discussion on the radio.
10:34Oh, goodness.
10:34Went right on the Amazon ordered.
10:36No, actually, I didn't.
10:37I went to a Target.
10:38Oh.
10:39I was over at Target.
10:40I bought myself some socks.
10:42I got like 30 pairs.
10:43There's nothing better than a new pair of socks.
10:45My highlight of 2025 is when Greg goes, where is there a Staples near here?
10:51Literally in our backyard.
10:53This is Tim from Hanover.
10:56Hey, Tim.
10:57Yep.
10:58Good morning, guys.
10:59And Merry Christmas on the way.
11:00Merry Christmas and best wishes to you and yours at this most joyous time of year.
11:05You got it, bud.
11:06Yes.
11:06Hey, I just want to say, Rabel, in his right mind, would never, ever even think of getting
11:15rid of Josh.
11:16Josh is doing a great job, and he's done an unbelievable job with me.
11:21And let me tell you, the reason why they're using trick plays at times, they don't have the
11:27proper guys to play.
11:29They got to do something to make up.
11:30They don't have the big-time elite players, and that's why they do that.
11:35Otherwise, they'd attack, attack, attack.
11:37That's the reason why they use those trick plays.
11:39What about those two big trivia Henderson touchdowns?
11:42What about, I don't know, what about all the deep passes Drake Mays has grown this year?
11:45I don't know.
11:46Never, never.
11:46I don't think they need the trick plays.
11:48They just, Josh loves to run a trick.
11:50It's part of it.
11:50I mean, that's what every coach has.
11:52They have a, they have a, Ben Johnson has run a million trick plays.
11:54Yeah.
11:55That's part of his M.O.
11:56Yeah, they don't need it, but yeah, I get it.
11:58Our trick play is you in a Santa costume.
12:00Yeah, exactly.
12:01Every, I would prefer less double passes, though, because the last two times you've run it,
12:05Drake Mays has almost gotten killed on the play.
12:07But, you know, like, I'm fine with the trick plays.
12:09Right, but the reason.
12:10Well, I mean, you loved it when it was Edelman to Danny Amendola.
12:13That's a great one.
12:13And won your football game against the Ravens.
12:16Great moment for it.
12:16You loved it then, didn't you?
12:17Right.
12:18Every offense, every offense has generally two to three trick plays a game.
12:24The Lions run one every game.
12:26And they use it for, hey, maybe our offense is sputtering a little bit.
12:30We need a big play.
12:31Because the purpose of a trick play is to really hit a big play.
12:34To trick them.
12:34Right?
12:35And so, if you don't, if you, that's what you have.
12:39And you tried it, and it worked out to the sense where it was like, okay, you didn't get
12:43the big chunk out of it, but you ended up getting the 13-yard overroute that I think
12:48my Matt Collins caught.
12:49But if you look at your offense from a week-to-week basis, this offense is one of the best offenses
12:57in the league.
12:58You would be stupid as an offense, as a head coach, to get rid of an offensive coordinator
13:02that has your offense as one of the best in the NFL.
13:05So, I don't, I told you, it's the negative ears and the fact that you need clickbait.
13:11That's the only reason why Tommy Curran did it.
13:12Let's be honest.
13:13You know, maybe, I don't, you know, I'm not saying that his subscribes or whatever the
13:18hell they call that.
13:19Substack.
13:20Substack or whatever.
13:20I don't think he's a substacker.
13:22No, no, no.
13:22But even the substacker went out of his way yesterday to say he spoke to people in the organization.
13:28They don't have a house in Connecticut.
13:31Substacker said he asked about Rabel firing Josh McDaniels, and they laughed in his face.
13:36Yeah.
13:36It's the clickbait.
13:38Just, like, imagine having a season like they've been having, coming off of the two
13:42seasons that they had, and people want to talk about the head coach having beef with
13:47the offensive coordinator and firing him.
13:50Like, it's so absurd to me.
13:51It's so, like, New England, where you need to find something negative during a very positive
13:56time.
13:56I mean, but look at the Lakers.
13:58Everybody talked about Kobe versus Shaq, the Patriots, Belichick versus Brady, the Yankees.
14:02You had all these, A-Rod versus Jeter.
14:04Like, that's what people are interested in.
14:06Great teams have drama.
14:07No, the drama's fine.
14:08The drama's fake.
14:09But just don't make up the drama.
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