00:00The great Doug Kide gracing us with his presence here tonight.
00:03Doug, great to talk with you, buddy, and great to be talking about a team
00:07that seems to have in many ways turned their season around in week four
00:11with one game.
00:12Is that sort of the sense among the people like you on the beat
00:16and maybe in that locker room here that this season is now pivoted
00:20and maybe getting back on track?
00:23Yeah, it was actually pretty shocking to hear Mike Vrabel say the words,
00:27we're not dead yet and back in the race.
00:30And it was week four.
00:31I think that tells you how poorly the first three weeks of the season
00:35went for the Patriots and how they were feeling entering that game.
00:39So, yeah, it feels like they're right back in the race.
00:42If they had lost that game, it would have been extremely difficult
00:45for them to win the AFC East.
00:47And I think this gives everyone a lot more optimism about this team
00:51now for the rest of the season.
00:53What makes you think this is different from, say, like in the Mac Jones year
00:56at the end of the bill, but when they beat Josh Allen randomly, you know,
00:59like there's been random years when the team wasn't good where they did
01:03still beat Buffalo and we know how division games can be.
01:06Why is this different from those years?
01:08I think mostly just because we know what the talent is on the roster.
01:14And obviously they didn't play up to that talent through the first three weeks
01:18of the season.
01:18But just thinking about the fact that, all right, that team had the wherewithal
01:23and strategy and everything to be able to beat the Bills in Buffalo on the road.
01:28And, oh, now they get to get Christian Gonzalez, Christian Barmore,
01:32and A.J. Brown back at some point this season.
01:35So that's why I feel that way.
01:37I think it's also just the trend now because they were able to do this last year.
01:42Now they're able to do it again.
01:44It doesn't seem as fluky when they're able to do it two years in a row.
01:47Yeah, I think that has a lot to do with it as well.
01:49And I also think that last year they got off to a rough start, Doug,
01:52but we all kind of agreed that whatever happened in the first couple of games,
01:57Drake May was going to get some grace for it because it was his first full season
02:00and it was his first time really leading the team.
02:03There was a new coach and a new offensive coordinator and all that.
02:06I think that there was a lot more from people like me.
02:10It was kind of, all right, let's see what you got here with this kid.
02:13You know what you have, or at least what he's capable of.
02:16It was more of a can he erase those poor games in the playoffs.
02:19That was the first time he's looked like Drake May since, what, week 18 against Miami,
02:24would you say?
02:24Or do you think that performance even goes back further to various points of last year?
02:30No, I would say back to week 18, back in, you know, last year's regular season.
02:36And I don't even think that this performance against the Bills ranks among his best performances
02:41of last season, but it's obviously a great trend in the right direction.
02:45He'd like to eliminate the fumble.
02:47The interception wasn't his fault.
02:49He wasn't quite as efficient in this game as we saw him at times last year,
02:53but the confidence just seems back from him.
02:56He wasn't rattled when there was center quarterback exchanges.
03:00He wasn't rattled by the pressure.
03:02He was willing to make throws in that game that it didn't seem like he had full confidence
03:08to be making in weeks one through three.
03:10So that's why I'm so optimistic about it.
03:13I think that he probably can even get better now.
03:16But obviously the last play, that's the one that's on everyone's mind.
03:20That throw was as good as pretty much any throw that he made last season.
03:24So something clicked for him.
03:27I think it's probably confidence.
03:29Maybe they all rallied around the noise and people talking about them and even some things
03:34that were said on this station about potential issues.
03:38I think that they rallied around a lot of those things.
03:40Yeah, certainly.
03:41Could it just be as simple as Drake Mays' slow starter?
03:44Could it just be that?
03:46It could be.
03:46And it also could be that Mike Vrabel's a slow starter.
03:48I know that shouldn't impact Drake Mays' performance.
03:51But on my podcast, Michael Hurley was talking about all the times that Mike Vrabel started
03:56the season one and two and then gone on these little runs.
03:59So it's interesting because the team performed well in training camp.
04:03And I thought the same thing last year.
04:05So it's strange that they get out to these slow starts.
04:08Maybe next year they try to play some of the starters in preseason.
04:11Maybe they try to switch some things up.
04:13But I guess as long as the season goes well, maybe it doesn't matter that they start slow.
04:18I'd like to think that maybe we can remember this next year if they start one and two and
04:23not panic quite as much.
04:25But I think that's kind of wishful thinking.
04:26And I'm sure that we'll still have the same reactions we did this year.
04:29I'm sure we will.
04:30And I know that for 20 years we had those same reactions even with Bill Belichick not treating
04:35the first month like it's still the preseason and getting off the two and two starts.
04:39I remember that one year they lost to Patricia in Detroit and everybody lost their mind on
04:43to Cincinnati and all of that.
04:44But we just don't learn.
04:45I guess we just don't learn our lessons around here.
04:47Speaking of not learning their lessons, Doug, the Buffalo Bills certainly played a hand in
04:52their own demise.
04:53In what ways would you say that the Patriots sort of were aggressive, obviously, but in
04:57what ways would you say that the Bills played into what ended up happening with them
05:01out there?
05:02Yeah, I mean, Josh Allen, Josh Allen, which I guess you can expect out of him at this
05:06point.
05:08You'd think that now that he's getting older, he's not a young quarterback anymore, he's
05:12a wily bat.
05:13Like, you'd think he wouldn't make the same mistakes that he's still making.
05:17But it obviously was hugely beneficial for the Patriots that he threw the interception
05:22when they still had nearly two minutes on the clock and three timeouts.
05:26That was an inexcusable decision by him to throw that pick.
05:30Like, also, I mean, I know it wasn't as impactful, but when he threw it behind him and with Gabe
05:36Ackes in his face and Mike Rabel said yesterday that easily could have been a fake six, it's
05:40like, I think that didn't help.
05:42I don't, there were times when Josh Allen's wide receivers didn't help him that much either.
05:46There were some drops.
05:48There were some issues tracking the ball.
05:50And then I think that that was most of the issues.
05:55Maxwell Harrison had played a bad game for them, their first round pick from last year.
05:59But yeah, I mean, the Bills helped out a little bit, but I think this was more the Patriots
06:05doing to win this game than it was the Bills losing it.
06:07We're talking with Doug Kide of the Boston Herald, joining us here on the Christian Arcand
06:11Show.
06:12Doug, the defense, I think, is just as big a story, really, as the offense and their big
06:17redemption there.
06:18I know the defense has played better over the course of the year, but with no Gonzalez and
06:22with no Barmore up the middle, they did a real nice job of containing Allen, not letting
06:27him run.
06:28And, you know, Buffalo probably could have handed off to Cook a little bit more, but him
06:32throwing the ball, Josh Allen throwing the ball, no one thought going into that game that
06:36the Patriots could win if they made Allen throw a bunch.
06:39Like, that wasn't, you know, like, I just, I feel like that's sort of getting overlooked
06:42and shouldn't be, considering how shorthanded the defense was.
06:47For sure.
06:47I was especially impressed just by how well they contained Josh Allen.
06:51I think it was five carries for four yards.
06:54A lot of credit goes to the edge defenders, especially the young ones, because with Draymond
06:59Jones, he knows what he's doing out there.
07:01He knows that he has to be patient, can't be too aggressive.
07:05But to see Elijah Ponder and Gabe Ackes playing patient, not getting overly aggressive, containing
07:12Josh Allen on the edge, I thought that was huge.
07:15And just their ability to bring pressure in the right spots as well.
07:19We saw Elijah Ponder dipping under Deion Dawkins, which is not an easy thing to do.
07:25He keeps flashing week after week.
07:28And then Gabe Ackes overpowering Deion Dawkins as pass rusher as well.
07:32I thought that that was huge.
07:34And, you know, the guys in the secondary stepped up as well.
07:37You saw Kevin Byard break up a pass intended for Dalton Kincaid on the first drive.
07:42I thought that Carlton Davis played well in the game.
07:44Marcus Jones didn't have the best effort, but, you know, he rebounded decently.
07:49But their ability to take away Dalton Kincaid was huge in this one, too.
07:52I think they were chipping him at the line.
07:53I think the play from Byard off the top helped as well.
07:56But obviously they focused a lot of attention on Kincaid, and that paid off in a big way.
08:00No question.
08:01Doug Kide, before we let you go here, you and your partner over there, Andrew Callahan, who
08:06I'm a little annoyed with right now, but that's another story for another time.
08:09But you guys do, at the end of these seasons, a great job of sort of capturing the tone
08:14and what's going on in that locker room.
08:16Three games, Drake May having all sorts of problems, the team really struggling.
08:21It's getting blown out by Jacksonville.
08:23Were there low points in that locker room?
08:25Were you starting to get your end-of-season thing ready, getting notes down for what to
08:29maybe include at the end if this thing went left?
08:32I don't think it got that far.
08:35Because even, like, the guys still seemed confident heading into this week.
08:40Carlton Davis was talking about that in the locker room.
08:42I think it was pretty buttoned up still.
08:45So things will have to go sideways for us to write one of those obituary pieces on the
08:52team again.
08:53But, no, the radars weren't up too high.
08:57I do have one thing to say before I go.
09:01My nine-year-old daughter, Olivia, is in the back seat.
09:03She just wanted to say hi on the radio.
09:04Oh, hello.
09:05Of course.
09:05By all means.
09:07Hello.
09:09Hi, Lizzie.
09:10She said hi.
09:11Oh, very cool.
09:11Wow, awesome.
09:12I didn't know we were going to get a celebrity on the phone here tonight.
09:14That's very cool.
09:14I know.
09:15I know.
09:17Awesome.
09:17Like Vrabel's favorite reporter.
09:18Very good.
09:19Well, Doug Kite, thanks so much.
09:20Great to talk with you, as always.
09:21Oh, real quick, before we let you go, Vrabel mentioned maybe going after someone in the
09:25wide receiver market.
09:26You got any intel on that?
09:29He, so, I know he was asked about that.
09:31I know he gave that answer.
09:33I thought I've been covering Vrabel for two years.
09:36He doesn't, like, say no to a lot of things.
09:38Right.
09:38He's kind of agreeable in those pressers.
09:40That's what, that's how I felt about his answer.
09:43I would expect maybe, like, a practice squad thing more than anything else.
09:47Would it shock me if they went out for someone young?
09:50Like, it would be surprising, obviously, if they trade for Marvin Harrison or something
09:54like that.
09:54But someone like that, though, would make more sense to me than, oh, will they trade for Diggs?
09:59Oh, will they sign Tyreek Hill?
10:01Because it's a short-term.
10:03They're only looking for a short-term answer.
10:05I think that that could be the guys on the roster.
10:07If they can acquire someone who could help them moving forward, then maybe.
10:11But I'm not feeling it with the older vets just until Brown and Hollins comes back.
10:16Like, I think they can weather the storm without them.
10:18Okay, I hope you're right.
10:19And Efton Chisholm, if he keeps making catches like that, we won't even be having this conversation.
10:23So, Doug Kide and, of course, the great Lizzie Kide back there in the backseat.
10:27Great to talk with both of you guys.
10:28And thanks so much for coming on tonight.
10:31Yeah, thank you.
10:32All right.
10:32Doug Kide, Boston Herald.
