- 9 months ago
Patriots WIN! Defense smothers Chargers, as LAC blanked 2nd half.
Drake Maye, Hunter Henry and the rest of the offense capitalizes late. AFC path is wide open- What were your thoughts on Drake's performance? Thoughts on New England defense?
Drake Maye, Hunter Henry and the rest of the offense capitalizes late. AFC path is wide open- What were your thoughts on Drake's performance? Thoughts on New England defense?
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00:00But the New England Patriots advance, and hard to believe where things were last season
00:05that this team has won a playoff game and is awaiting the winner tonight
00:11when it comes to another game here at Gillette Stadium.
00:14Yeah, the door is wide open for you.
00:17Ajar.
00:18Ajar after watching last night's game.
00:21And yeah, you're right.
00:22The offense wasn't pretty, but it's about capitalizing at the right time
00:28and defensively they did such a great job of smothering the Chargers
00:33that even though your offense wasn't great, you had room for error
00:37because the Chargers couldn't do anything on offense.
00:40It also makes me feel better the more people that are talking about this game
00:43talking about the fact that the Chargers' defense is so good.
00:45So Drake coming out of the gate first playoff game was able to face such a difficult defense.
00:50And yeah, it wasn't his best game statistically, but it did show that he had grit.
00:55Like he didn't let it spiral him.
00:57And that's been something that he's been able to do all season long.
01:00In the beginning of that game, a rookie quarterback in his second season,
01:04basically his rookie season, in your first playoff game where the lights are very bright,
01:08a lot of quarterbacks could let that absolutely crumble him, and he didn't.
01:11I think the defense, that series after the interception obviously was, for me,
01:16the biggest series of the game because you have a young quarterback in his first game.
01:21You know, I'm not entirely on him.
01:23The ball gets tipped, but it's an interception in an awful spot,
01:26and the Chargers take over in the red zone.
01:28And when the defense didn't allow a point, and then you take the ball 90 yards down the field,
01:33get a field goal yourself, that was the complimentary football this team has had the whole year.
01:38It's been when the defense is having a tough time, Drake may picks it up.
01:41When the offense is having a tough time, the defense picks it up.
01:43And never in that game, after that, when the Patriots stopped him at the two-highs at ballgame.
01:49Yeah.
01:49I mean, he came to play last night, and certainly you want to nitpick, whether it's on Drake May.
01:57You know, he's got to, at times, he has to stay in there and take that sack
02:02and not try to get rid of the football because that led to problems for him last night.
02:06I think Will Campbell is realizing that, you know, when he gets to playoff time,
02:12that the talent gets better on that side of the football.
02:16Certainly, he struggled a little bit.
02:18I mean, both those guys.
02:19Awful left side of the line.
02:21On the left side, both those guys struggled last night.
02:23So they got to, as Mike Vrabel would say, got to try to clean that up.
02:27But Ramondre Stevenson, unbelievable game for him last night.
02:33There's just, I, you know.
02:35The throw to Hunter Henry is, like, that throw is something you'll be talking about.
02:38Like, that was the LaFell catch by, the throw to LaFell by the Patriots and Brady in 2014.
02:44Like, that was a play.
02:46The only possible place you could have put that ball to get a touchdown with that coverage.
02:51It was one of the best throws you could see.
02:53You can't make a better throw than that in that spot to seal the game.
02:56Like, that was spectacular.
02:58It was perfect.
02:59And the only better one that I saw yesterday was Josh Allen on one leg throwing that football 30 yards or whatever, 30 or 40 yards yesterday.
03:10But I am excited.
03:13I don't get anybody's thoughts on who you end up playing next week here on Sunday.
03:18Do you care?
03:18I'm with you on that one, Pittsburgh.
03:22Because of the fact that we talked about Houston's defensive front is better than the Chargers.
03:29And it's obviously better than Pittsburgh.
03:31And you saw last night's game, the Chargers and their ability to create problems up front.
03:38And luckily, your defense, after whether it's, there was a couple, we talked about the tip, there was a couple opportunities down there when Drake May got hit that basically turned into forced fumbles that they were able to create from the front line perspective.
03:53So I would much rather see Pittsburgh come in here.
03:55But I think your defense is still going to play good enough to make sure whoever's offense comes in here, you'll be able to keep you in the game to where it's like, all right, once your offense makes a few plays here and there, that's why I think you have the advantage over both of those teams that you could potentially play next week.
04:13Can Mike Rabel take anything from the first Patriots game against the Steelers, like that loss?
04:17Or is this team just so drastically different that it doesn't matter what happened in that first matchup?
04:21Yeah, they're just so different.
04:22And I think you can, like, look at maybe what they did well, but I think you did a good job against them defensively.
04:29Like, that was a game that you kind of held Aaron Rodgers to.
04:33I think you might have had one or two interceptions in that game.
04:35You had five turnovers and you still almost, you were in the football game.
04:39So I don't, I, yeah, I mean, it seems like it was a long time ago.
04:42Yeah, it was two different teams.
04:44It's just wild.
04:45You're going to be hosting your second playoff game at home next, this upcoming Sunday.
04:49And the crowd felt great through the screen.
04:51And I, you know, I wasn't here.
04:53And one sneaky thing that's cool, Greg, is you know how they do those live shots of Boston?
04:58And how few cars are on the road in the middle of that game?
05:01Like, everybody in this region was sitting at home, got the game on, and it was old school.
05:08Like, I know you're no longer there, but in Southie, you're hearing people cheering.
05:11You know, the stupid people above me who I love, and that they're not stupid, but they were like a nanosecond ahead of me.
05:17So I'd hear cheers or throwing things.
05:19That's the worst.
05:20I was like, I'm just going to go up and bring some Diet Coke.
05:21The point that you made is that you're hosting a game again this week.
05:26Like, but the magnitude of it is like, if you win this game, you're in the AFC Championship.
05:31Unbelievable.
05:31They're going to be hosting the Bills.
05:32It's going to happen.
05:33It's meant to be.
05:34Josh Allen's coming back here, and it is going to be absolutely spectacular.
05:39I root for the Bills.
05:41Do you?
05:42I do.
05:42I did not yesterday.
05:43I don't want no part of that man.
05:44That is a bad man, Josh Allen.
05:45I love Josh Allen.
05:46I really do.
05:47I think he's got, like, whatever the qualities are.
05:49I think he has done so much to elevate everyone around him.
05:53He hasn't had Andy Reid.
05:55He hasn't had Tyreek Hill.
05:56He hasn't had Travis Kelsey.
05:58All the guys that, you know, that Mahomes, who is his number one rival, have had, he hasn't.
06:03And they've won in the regular season against the Chiefs, but in the playoffs, that's where coaching and those players helps out.
06:09And I just want it to be Josh Allen back here.
06:12I mean, we're doing that thing where we get ahead of ours.
06:16We're just far ahead of ourselves again.
06:19Do you think they beat the Steelers this weekend?
06:21Yeah.
06:22I mean, I feel like they, I feel like any given Sunday with this football team and with who is left.
06:28I did it last week, and everybody kind of poo-pooed me when I got ahead of it, but I'm with Curtis on this one.
06:33Well, I mean, I'm a one game at a time guy.
06:39Thanks, Coach.
06:40But, I mean, listen, you saw the way they, there's something about this football team where they have, whether it's Mike Vrabel from a leadership perspective or the guys that are on this team, they are, they make mistakes.
06:55They turn the ball over, and they don't, they don't sulk.
07:00They don't, they don't give in.
07:02They don't, they are able to overcome that.
07:05So, I, either one of those teams, I feel like you have, you have a pretty good chance of winning and advancing.
07:12And, I would disagree with Curtis.
07:14I, I, I, Josh Allen just scares me.
07:18Yeah, I don't want no props to him.
07:19I don't, I'm not interested in that when, when we get to that point.
07:23But, but then it goes back to that conversation we had.
07:27Then it's like, all right, if you do get to the AFC Championship and you want to stay away from Josh Allen, it means you got to go to Denver.
07:34Yeah, I, I, I, I guess the question would be, which is your, which is a worse poison, Josh Allen here or playing on the road in the AFC Championship game in Denver?
07:47I don't know, drinking at altitude is a tough thing.
07:50Yeah, I might go with, I, I, you know, if it came down to it, fan hat on, I would probably say, give me Josh Allen home, only because it's home.
08:00You go to Denver, look at last night's game and what the crowd was able to do to the Chargers, how many times they started in first and 15 because of false thoughts.
08:09I, I just think that if you are at home and you could get a little bit of momentum, you make a big play, you get the crowd into it, going to Denver, I, it's just, when you're on the road, it's just a tough, tough element, especially in an AFC Championship game.
08:24And Sean Payton's probably the only coach that you could say might be better than Vrabel that's still in the playoffs.
08:29Like a guy that's won a Super Bowl and what he's done in Denver has been remarkable with Bo Nix as his quarterback.
08:36It's wild.
08:36Yeah.
08:37Well, now you're, I mean, so you're not a Mike Tomlin guy.
08:40Like you're not giving him any credit whatsoever.
08:42I do.
08:43I just, if you were to put up Vrabel against Tomlin, I'd rather have Vrabel coaching my team.
08:47Because Tomlin's got to win.
08:48You know what I mean?
08:49Tomlin does a great job in the regular season.
08:51He gets his team there, but he hasn't won in forever.
08:54So, I mean, even Vrabel, right?
08:55Vrabel is, I mean, Vrabel won a playoff game here.
08:58And what was that, 2019?
08:59So, I think when you start to look at Vrabel and get an understanding what he can, like, in the game last night, you've got to make adjustments, right?
09:08So, you see the Patriots blitzing like crazy, Jim Harbaugh.
09:14It's like, all right, what do we need to do here?
09:16Like, we've got to build in some hearts.
09:18We've got to maybe bring in, you know, seven-man protections.
09:21There's got to be something that we need to do if I'm a Chargers fan.
09:24And you didn't do that, right?
09:26You look at the Patriots and, Courtney, you've been spot on about this all year long.
09:30And I think this is a big part of Vrabel.
09:32You've said all year long about how Drake may never kind of wavers.
09:38Even when things are not going good, he doesn't spiral out of control.
09:42And you've seen that last night.
09:43Like, there were some bad decisions that he made holding on to the football, but he never spiraled.
09:49And when he needed to make plays, whether it was with his legs or throwing the football, he took advantage of those.
09:56And that's big for basically a first-year starter.
09:59And those bad issues that he had were early on.
10:02Like, that's what worried me when that game started.
10:04I know a lot of people said that they were never nervous during that game.
10:07I certainly was nervous.
10:08How they started that game, I did not like what I saw.
10:12And my biggest worry was, okay, here we are, playoffs, first time seeing Drake.
10:17Is this going to be what cracks him?
10:19And it didn't.
10:19I think the difference is, and the reason why this team does feel like those old Patriots teams,
10:23is you never felt like a single mistake could derail you.
10:27Because you had confidence, and the players had confidence that, okay, Vinatieri's going to make this,
10:33or Wiggy's going to catch the ball in the snow.
10:34You never thought you had to overcome and do more than you were needed to do,
10:38because everybody on the team had a specific job, and they were able to do it without trying to do others at the same time.
10:44Yeah, I mean, Drake tends to, for whatever reason, it takes him a couple drives to get into a groove.
10:53And that did happen, certainly, last night.
10:57Again, I don't know if that's a concern or not going forward, but as we have been saying since we started the show 15 minutes ago,
11:06it doesn't matter because he won that game last night.
11:09And there is a lot to talk about this morning on a Patriots Monday with you about that.
11:15We're going to get to our leads coming up in about 10 minutes.
11:18And then they said it, we got Mike Rabel will join us at 8, and Boomer is normally on at 8,
11:26so maybe we'll do Boomer at 7, get our leads in.
11:31We got two breaks to get leads in, and we'll get Boomer Esiason on the show at 7,
11:36and then they said it at 7.20 on this morning's show.
11:41News with Courtney coming up at 8.20.
11:43And I don't know how game notes went.
11:46Chime, good morning.
11:46Hello.
11:47How are you back there?
11:48I'm great, Greg.
11:49How are you today?
11:49Any game notes?
11:51Yeah, we got a couple.
11:52Not a whole lot, but we got a couple here.
11:54All right.
11:54Well, maybe we'll squeeze some game notes in, and we will definitely play your Hill Notes back on last night's win
12:01and other things during the 9 o'clock hour.
12:04At some point this morning, Chime, must be a happy camper with the way your guy won that game last night.
12:10Yeah, man.
12:11I'm happy to have a win, Greg.
12:12It wasn't his best performance, but he made an immaculate throw when you needed him to.
12:17Even after missing Cooper wide open in the end zone, he kind of battled back, and he was running for his life out there, which was great.
12:23I am very happy to just win and move on.
12:26That is the goal of the playoffs, the tournament.
12:28You're one and done in this thing.
12:29So I am pumped today.
12:32I was very stressed watching the game.
12:33It's the most – like, in a good way, though.
12:35Like, it was the best stress I've had watching a Patriots game in years, and I loved it so much.
12:41I'm excited for next Sunday.
12:42Yeah, it was unneeded anxiety.
12:45I felt like they gave us a little bit of unneeded anxiety last night.
12:49Were you nervous, though?
12:50After they stopped them down there on the goal line, after the pick, I wasn't nervous.
12:55I was like, I was just – you know, you're sitting there, and it's 9-3,
13:00and I was waiting for some bit of luck to fall in Justin Herbert's lap,
13:08and he ended up losing that game by one.
13:11And we had lost all weekend teams just constantly be coming back,
13:15and so I was just kind of on the edge of my seat like,
13:17is this going to be another one of those games where a team comes back?
13:20But the defense was just very, very, very good last night
13:24and completely shut the door on that possibility.
13:26Can we just sneak in a quick complaint because we've been too positive?
13:29the football world saying that the refs missed a blatant roughing-the-passer call
13:35when – was it Williams?
13:37I don't know whose hand it was.
13:38It was Milton Williams.
13:39So he comes in, and it wasn't an aggressive hit to the head.
13:44It was a collateral damage.
13:46It was not something that was done premeditated.
13:49The way Chris Collinsworth talked about it,
13:51you'd think it was like Bernard Pollard going into Brady's knees.
13:54Right.
13:55Well, but that's – I mean, that's the – they have to call that.
13:58Yeah, they have to.
13:58I mean, whether it's – whether it's –
14:00I don't think it was egregious.
14:01I think you could have – I think in the playoffs there is some discretion
14:05that they don't call every roughing-the-passer.
14:07They don't call every defenseless receiver the way they may in the regular season.
14:10But that's one that I think in, you know, 10 games they call it 10 times
14:15except for the players.
14:17But I look at it like this.
14:18Okay, you missed that call, but then you clearly missed the quarterback sneak
14:22where you gave them the first down where you got four downs.
14:25That was ridiculous.
14:26Right.
14:26That, like, they – and they showed the view, the overhead view on it last night.
14:32Not even close.
14:32He did not get a first down there.
14:35And so that was ridiculous.
14:37There was a – there should have been offsides called on the Chargers.
14:44The left tackle.
14:45And they pointed that out last night in the broadcast.
14:47So I –
14:48You got some.
14:48They got some.
14:49Yeah.
14:49The – the pass interference that they said no was no pass interference.
14:55And then you get called for a pass interference.
14:57So I kind of looked at it like, all right, the refs made some mistakes.
15:01You got some.
15:02They got some.
15:03But I feel like it was kind of was a wash.