- 9 months ago
On to Denver! "Gutsy" Patriots beat Houston 28-16! This New England team is back to the AFC Championship game. How good was the defense? Can the defense keep it up? Biggest play of game?
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00:00It wasn't necessarily pretty yesterday, but a gutsy performance by the Patriots defense
00:07wins you a football game, and I can't believe I am saying this, but this team is on its way
00:14to the AFC Championship in Denver on Sunday. Morning, hello. Who wants first mic time this
00:20morning? Can I just say who cares if it was pretty? Good morning, everybody. Doesn't matter.
00:25Does not matter. It was gritty. They stuck in it. All you heard about, I know that you
00:31were at the game, Greg, but during the broadcast, all they talked about was how dangerous this
00:37Houston Texans team is in the fourth quarter, and oh God, you've let them stick around. It
00:43was just, the hate for the Patriots is so real. We are so back because of it, and I don't care
00:50that it was ugly. They got it done. Yeah. Not the, again, back-to-back weeks, not the
00:55greatest performance from Drake May overall, although when you need him, he is able to
01:03make a beautiful throw and get a beautiful catch from Kayshaun Booty and able to put the
01:09points up when you need him. So, do you have a concern, I guess, about ball security when
01:14it comes to your quarterback, Wiggy? I don't know.
01:17I mean, there's always a concern when it comes to ball security, whether it's Drake
01:20May holding on to the football too long or the offensive line getting cooked at times.
01:25But you're right, Courtney, going against a really good defense. And I said this, I said
01:29this before the game, it's got to come down to those quarterbacks making the throws when
01:35they needed to make the throws at critical condition, at critical times, because you have
01:40two really good defense. It's time to give the New England Patriots defense, especially
01:45in this playoffs. They're just due. When we start talking about, like, we're going to
01:49talk about Denver's defense coming up. We also need to now talk about how good New
01:54England's defense is and what they're going to do to Denver's offense. So, when you look
01:59at those two areas there, you start to say, Drake May, got to do better with the ball
02:04security, but you still make those throws when you need to make those throws. And you're
02:09right, we are back. I was in the airport in New Orleans yesterday, and I was wearing
02:12my Norris the Gray sweatshirt at the, like, one of them little stores in there.
02:19And this lady was...
02:20Hudson News.
02:20Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And this lady was like, you lucky I'm going to sell this
02:25to you one time, baby. You got that sweatshirt on, baby. I hate the Patriots. And I was like,
02:31oh, you know, why you hate us? She's like, man, you win all these championships and now
02:35you're back.
02:36I said, well, it could be worse. I could be a Saints fan.
02:39I think that the Drake May on-field interview at the end with Lisa Salters, he said exactly
02:46what he should say, which is the defense bailed him out. You know, you said he makes the throw
02:51in the right time, but the only reason he had the ability to maintain a lead was that
02:56they once again, in short fields, after offensive turnovers, the defense picked their offense
03:01up. And I think the Patriots have played C, C-plus games in the wild card of the divisional
03:07round, and neither game to me was really in doubt. So if you're able to get to the AFC
03:13championship where you have not played your best football, where Drake May has been error
03:18prone, where you're sitting here, you know, I just, I found it so oddly peaceful. Like,
03:25I remember watching Patriots games and the Patriots weren't playing the Steelers. Tom Brady and
03:32Bill Belichick were playing Shula in Montana. Like, they were, winning a championship wasn't
03:37the only thing. And so it was always tense. It's like, they have to win one more and then
03:41they're the best, or this can end the argument. And now you're just watching a team where it's
03:46like, I don't care if they freaking run the ball a hundred times or do, you know, get a safety
03:50and win two nothing. Yeah. I mean, I think certainly I, I do have, I have faith in the
03:55defense. It was, I was, I didn't have that faint, that, that same feeling that you did
04:02of confidence when they continued to be unable to take advantage of turnovers and, and get
04:08points when they were, I mean, they put themselves in third and long over and over and over again
04:17in that game yesterday. Yeah. But I was like, Curtis, I had the confidence because of what
04:23the defense did and what you weren't able to do offensively. I just knew it was a matter
04:28of time where you were going to have to make a few plays here and there on offense. And
04:32when I was looking at the Texans offense, there was not at any point in my mind where I was
04:38like, all right, the Texans offense is going to make plays on this defense. Not at all.
04:42No. And can I just say another thing about the broadcast? Because I'm so sick of the
04:46excuses that these Patriots haters continue to give to the opposing team. Like yesterday,
04:52the entire thing was CJ Stroud must be hurt. His hand must be hurt. He keeps looking at
04:56his hand. His hand must be hurt. That's why he's, he's turning the ball over so many times.
04:59That's why he's having this atrocious game. Stop giving excuses to every other team that
05:03goes up against the Patriots because they're losing. Like I, he just, he had a horrible,
05:08terrible, horrible game. Terrible game. And I don't know how much of it has to do with not
05:13having to deal with the weather and you're, you know, you're playing at the home. Like
05:17I don't know. The weather was an issue. You can tell early
05:19in the game, his first throw, he kind of like, he threw it off target and the guy was
05:23wide open in the flat. So the weather was definitely an issue for CJ
05:27Stroud. And I think the weather was a little bit of an issue for Drake May.
05:31But to me, it's what this defense has been able to do, man. They, they put pressure on
05:37you and they, and granted they have to, they have to create the pressure with adding extra
05:42rushers unless it's Milton Williams. I, I feel like in Barmore, they, you know, they get a
05:48little bit of pressure from, um, from chase on 44, but they really have done such a good
05:55job. Their secondary makes plays. And I guess I'm, I kind of am at the point now where I'm
06:01like, all right, Carlton Davis is going to have like three or four, but it's funny because
06:07it is a next man up thing where a guy like Carlton Davis, who we've been critical of
06:14almost the entire season shows up big in that game. He was great in the Bucs Super Bowl
06:20run. Like he had a really good, he has a knack for making plays in big games. Yeah. And
06:24not during the regular season, but that's okay. Why not wait till now? Yeah. But the, the
06:31other thing is Ramond Ray Stevenson reshapes the entire offensive approach when he's in
06:38the game. It's a different team when he's running effectively, like that in the, in the third
06:43and fourth quarter, seeing him with the ball, it was like, holy cow, this is the, what the
06:46offense should be like. We love Travion Henderson, right? He's a rookie. He'll get better, but
06:50yeah, he's the explosive guy. The other one is the actual hammer. You know what that game
06:54was won? That game was won at the 12 minute mark in the fourth quarter. The Patriots held
06:59onto the ball for six minutes and they punted, but that is where they kept running, running,
07:04running, running, running. That was where they were able to kind of put the chokehold and
07:09win that football. I mean, this is witnessed by the uneducated eye. So I'll ask you and
07:15I'll ask Sean, they, they were having trouble, could not run the ball up the middle. Why are
07:21they continuing to attempt to run the ball up the middle in that football game? Well, I
07:25think the reason why is because when you look at Ramondre, that's where he is as a runner.
07:32He's not an edge guy and no, they bounced out a few times and they made some, that's
07:36when, when he bounced out is when he got that significant gain. I just, you know what it
07:42could be. That could be how their run game is built. They could be a team that's built on
07:48the inside run where 80% of their runs are between the tackles, where they don't run
07:55outside as much. So now you're going to try to ask them to do something that they don't
07:59do often in critical situations where they say, okay, if we keep going up the middle sooner
08:05or later, one will pop. It could be their mindset there, especially Josh McDaniels.
08:09Yeah. And I feel like, you know, what a great crowd. You could speak to it. Obviously you
08:13were there. I wasn't, but it felt like you can feel it through the screen and all that
08:18we heard forever from the jets, the dolphins, the fans of the bills and the AFC East or other
08:24teams across the NFL was that you can't take credit for the Brady Belichick thing because
08:30you lucked into him at one 99. Everybody was wrong about them. You get this coach and anybody
08:35can win with those two things. Now, within five years, you're back to the final four of the
08:40NFL and every other team you've been competing against outside of the bills, the dolphins
08:45of the jets are in more dysfunctional. They're more dysfunctional now than even you were with
08:49Gerard Mayo. Right. Yeah. And you sit here today and it's like, I thought Aikman did a great
08:54job. I love Troy Aikman. He was talking about how Robert Krafts had three quarterbacks, you
08:57know, Bledsoe, Brady, and now Drake May. And it's just, it is shocking that they're here
09:04and it's not at all gimmicky. It's not even that they're playing at their best.
09:09Yeah. The power, the power structure has shifted in the national football league, especially
09:14in the AFC. When you think about this, Baltimore's kind of in disarray because they just fired
09:19their coach, John Haber, who we all feel like is a good coach and with Lamar Jackson. So
09:24they're kind of trying to figure out where they're going. Cincinnati, Joe Burrow and that
09:29team, you kind of don't really know what they are. The whole patch. He hates it there.
09:32He hates it there. He doesn't like playing there. Right. I, you know, Kansas City is
09:37what, what, you know, I think they're in disarray. You think they're, I personally do. I think
09:42that that team is kind of the, uh, Andy Reed's words are now falling on deaf ears. So when
09:48you look at the power structure and, and Buffalo, Hey, it's Josh Allen, but it's Sean McDermott
09:55who's been there forever and hasn't been able to get over the hump with the, with, with,
10:00with Josh Allen. I think when you look at the power structure in the NFL or, you know,
10:05especially in the AFC, it's new England. And right now it could be Denver where you go,
10:10okay, these two teams based on their coat, their head coach and their quarterback and
10:15their play are going to be in the mix for a long time moving forward.
10:18Yeah. Well, it's Curtis brought it up. It it's incredible. The new England Patriots
10:24are in the AFC championship game. And that opened up, I believe opened up shine with them
10:30as four and a half point favorites. Am I correct? But now up to six and a half. Is that the deal?
10:35Oh yeah. Go ahead.
10:36No. Yeah. That's that's correct. It opened at four and a half and went up to six and a
10:39half. Greg, I got to tell you, I listened to shine about that 49ers game.
10:44Oh, it was a mess. Oh, you chimed at the Niners plus seven and they lost by seven.
10:49Curtis, I knew I was on the wrong side of things. Uh, after talking to Costos, Costos backed it up.
10:55He's like, yeah, like, I think that's, I don't think you're crazy at all. And then I felt like
10:59everybody started taking the 49ers and I immediately regretted it.
11:03Yeah. Well, that was something. Wow. I mean, I thought the 49ers were going to give them a game
11:07too. I did too. Especially with Sam Donald and the oblique injury. I did too until opening kickoff.
11:12I thought right up, right up until kick. I thought it was good. Yeah. It's going to be a game.
11:16I heard about the, they were talking about the Sam Darnold oblique injury and that they
11:20show, so they shoot them up right before the game because the tour doll wears off.
11:24Yeah. The tour doll wears off like after the game, like, you know, four or five hours later.
11:29So yeah, you get the needle right before the game.
11:31Yeah. So you're playing with a torn issue, but you just don't feel, and then it wears off
11:35and you're in agony. I don't know if you, I don't know if you follow me on social media,
11:38but Ty Law shot me up right before the game yesterday here. I have zero willpower.
11:44Yeah. Zero. So Brees wanted to go to Ty's Corvus tailgate, which is great. It throws an
11:50unbelievable party. And I said, fine, I'm going, but I'm, I'm, I am not drinking for 30
11:54days. As soon as I get there, Ty Law peer pressure. And I can't say no.
11:59Not even just a shot. He wanted you to run the gauntlet.
12:01He did want me to run the gauntlet. I didn't want to run the gauntlet. I mean, I got a job
12:05to do. I didn't want that, but I, I, and then I get, so once I do that, I forced, forced
12:11to do a shot with Ty Law. Then I get to the suite. I have to eat all the food that they
12:15have in the suite. I mean, I, I am, I'm going to have to restart. Right. I'm going to have
12:19to restart the wellness journal. I should have brought the wellness journal with me here
12:23to Gillette.
12:23Got to report the first five or six pages.
12:26It also is like, once the floodgate opens with a shot, like you might as well just keep
12:31going.
12:31It's a, it's a real problem and I'm going to have to start maybe launch another 30 days
12:35like right now.
12:36I actually haven't, I have an 18 day coin for you at my call.
12:39I appreciate it. I mean, 18 is a bit of an accomplishment for me, so I don't know, but
12:43it was, it was, it was an excellent day here yesterday and those fans, you guys showed up
12:50and showed out yesterday in the weather and made an awful lot of noise. And I'm sure Mike
12:56Rabel will join us at eight o'clock this morning on this show here. And I'm sure he will say
13:00great things about you because you made a lot of noise yesterday and it was important.
13:04Can I also say when a tie was the keeper of the light, it looked like there were more
13:07people in the stadium than we've had in the past.
13:10Yes. They moved it up. It was, it was about nine. There was about nine minutes to kick.
13:14Okay.
13:16When he launched the keeper, his keeper of the light role.
13:20Oh, that's good.
13:21And did a good job.
13:21Yeah, that's really good.
13:23Did an excellent job. There was this rumor floating around that post Malone was going to
13:28play halftime last night. Bean Shooter started that. I'm sorry, not being Johnny
13:32Bart started that.
13:33Whoever, whoever, yes, but they were both posting about it, but Johnny Bart started that
13:38rumor.
13:39Well, I saw other people like, and so everybody was certain that post Malone was going to
13:42play and he didn't.
13:44Yeah.
13:44But it was, it was great. It was, it was, it was awesome. And it is, I mean, this is the
13:50Patriots are back in the AFC championship for the first time since 2019, which is just amazing.
13:58To be able to say.