- 13 hours ago
WEEI Host & Reporter Mego joined the show to talk about the Patriots big win over the Raiders and shared her thoughts on Drake Maye’s turnaround, play calling, team morale, and more!
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00:00Are you a Commanders fan?
00:01I'm seeing someone on text.
00:02It's very tough.
00:03Oh, my God.
00:04Guys, I was thinking about this this morning,
00:07which is how quickly people around here,
00:10the Patriots fans, lost faith in Drake May over a couple of games
00:15were a year and change past Jaden Daniels' prime rookie year,
00:21and I'm still wavering.
00:24I'm like, no, no, sure.
00:25It was the worst ending to any game that I can remember in the last three seasons,
00:31not Commanders game, like any NFL game.
00:33It's the worst execution that I can remember from a quarterback,
00:37and I'm still like, but he's still going to save us, right?
00:41It's pathetic.
00:42Well, this leads into later in the hour.
00:44I have my five-star question of the day, which involves Jaden Daniels,
00:47and I want Meggo to re-
00:49Are you allowed to say five stars with Jaden Daniels?
00:52Did you get that clear?
00:53Well, I wanted you to re-rank.
00:55I want you to re-draft the first round of 2024 and later this hour.
00:59I want everybody to do that.
01:00So you've already done that.
01:01That's my five-star question.
01:02Okay, all right.
01:02That's an obnoxious exercise.
01:04Why?
01:05Because it's in hindsight going back like everybody should have known
01:09when they were picking on the board exactly who they should have had.
01:12You get a fresh start today.
01:13Drake May, Bo Nix, Caleb, Jaden, Penix.
01:16Put Penix in there.
01:16It's these kinds of exercises that lose any contacts that we get in the front office.
01:22Because they're like, F you.
01:24I heard you talking about the difference between Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels and Drake May.
01:29Oh, man.
01:29She seems nervous.
01:30I don't think she wants to do this.
01:31Oh, sure.
01:32I mean, anybody who watched the Commanders games, if you're a Commanders fan,
01:36you've got to be looking at Jaden Daniels and go, is he dumb?
01:41I got that question a lot.
01:43I got that question a lot.
01:45Guys, it hurts my heart.
01:46Well, let's talk about something that is the opposite of hurting our heart,
01:49and that is warming the cold depths of our innards.
01:53That would be Drake May's play.
01:55It has just been fantastic.
01:56And I just want to kind of, this is a question that we've been obviously pondering the last two weeks,
02:01and that is why it takes so long for him to be able, and this offense, to be able to
02:06come alive.
02:06Well, I think the biggest difference that I saw on Sunday was the offensive line.
02:11Now, I thought that Will Campbell, with the exception of going up in that Bills game,
02:16has been pretty good through, but it's always been like one piece on the offensive line is a little bit
02:22off.
02:22Drake said after the game he could sit back there and eat a ham sandwich.
02:26I was really, really impressed with the offensive line.
02:28I was really impressed with Caleb Lomu, who was able to come in.
02:32And I don't love PFF numbers, but PFF recorded him having just one pressure.
02:37Very impressive for a guy who was drafted, and a lot of people were bemoaning that he seemed like a
02:42developmental piece,
02:43and maybe somebody who was going to be on the right side behind Morgan Moses, because Morgan Moses' age.
02:48I don't want to take credit away from Drake May, or the guys who stepped up as weapons,
02:52and Kyle Williams and Pop Douglas, because they had a great day as well.
02:55But I think when the offensive line plays that way, and Morgan Moses is able to mostly handle Max Crosby,
03:02it just makes the rest of the offense go that much more smoothly.
03:06Mago, the offensive line did play really good, but part of it was because of Josh scheming
03:13and basically putting resources to help those guys by keeping guys in to pass protect,
03:19as opposed to putting them out in route.
03:21So I'm curious what you thought of Josh McDaniel's play-calling in this game,
03:25and just his play-calling in the last two weeks.
03:28Have you seen anything different that you didn't see in the first three weeks of the season?
03:32Yeah, don't you think it looks radically different in these last two weeks?
03:35Yes.
03:35To which I wonder, are the Patriots, is Josh McDaniels, Mike Rabel,
03:42the brain trust there, sitting down and looking at the personnel and saying,
03:47the identity of this team is going to be following our gunslinger quarterback,
03:51is going to be these X plays.
03:53The difference in the game on Sunday were the X plays.
03:57And when you actually have personnel that can execute them,
04:00I don't know about so much in the running game,
04:02because Trevion Henderson is now sidelined for who knows how long.
04:06But in the passing game, it seems, I keep thinking back to week one against the Seahawks,
04:11and in the moment I was like, okay, it was smart to be a little bit,
04:17to restrain yourself a little bit, because once you took off the reins in the fourth quarter,
04:20the wheels came off and everything went to hell.
04:23But now when I look back on that, I think,
04:25maybe this is who the team is supposed to be all along.
04:28Yeah.
04:29Well, and I was going to play that clip again from Sunday.
04:31I wanted Mago's reaction to Vrabel talking about how close these receivers are together
04:36and Ted's reaction to this too, because I think Rich has a very good theory about this,
04:40which I wanted to see if you guys agree with.
04:41So here's Sunday.
04:43I mean, they're all ready to go.
04:44They all play different positions.
04:45That's not easy, you know, to learn three different positions
04:47and being able to step in there and block and make plays.
04:52The ball found each and every one of them.
04:55And Todd does a great job, and I think they all care about each other.
05:00You know, those receivers, they don't care who catches the ball.
05:03They don't care who catches the touchdown.
05:05They're just as excited for the next guy if it was them.
05:08And I think that that's truly what we want to build around here.
05:11You know, and I got to get it to be the entire team.
05:14You know, I got to get the entire team to look at it like that.
05:18Go ahead.
05:19All right.
05:19So Ted and Mago, what's your reaction to that clip?
05:21Okay.
05:22I got to say my most, I'm sorry, a little bit negative reaction was,
05:27who's he talking about?
05:28Right.
05:28Well, exactly.
05:29Can I jump in and just tell them what my theory was on that one?
05:32Absolutely.
05:33Because I did the same thing, Mago.
05:34I was trying to think around the team.
05:35It made me feel gross, but my first inclination was,
05:39who's not happy for other guys?
05:41Everybody thought that, Mago.
05:42Exactly.
05:43And so I started thinking around the team.
05:45I'm like, oh, is it the running backs?
05:47And I went through the whole defense, and I thought,
05:49you know who I think that's for?
05:51I think it's for one guy.
05:52I think it's for A.J. Brown, who's returning.
05:54And it's not angry at A.J. Brown.
05:57It's more like, hey, I know you're an alpha.
06:00I know you're an A number one guy.
06:02If you come back here, and you don't immediately get what you think is coming to you,
06:08and you're not getting all of Drake May, just chill.
06:12It's going to come your way.
06:13It's more successful.
06:14Don't mess up this great thing that we've got going on around you,
06:18and be more of a team guy instead of being a me guy.
06:21That's kind of what I read into it.
06:23But he plays the same position above the position group that he's saying is the one that he thinks is
06:29great.
06:30Yeah, exactly.
06:31That's what he's saying.
06:32Rich is worried that A.J. Brown is going to come in and be a jerk, is what he's saying.
06:36Or basically be somebody who is going to expect to get the majority of all the...
06:42He calls out, he basically is saying, by saying what he said about the position group,
06:45he was saying, I wish other, you know, groups...
06:47The rest of the team.
06:48The rest of the team.
06:48So it's, I don't know.
06:50It's very vague.
06:50He didn't say position groups.
06:51He said, I just wish everybody on the team can buy into that.
06:55I got to be honest, I don't read that as A.J. Brown.
06:58Because I read it more as if there is somebody, and who knows,
07:01maybe this is just Vrabel talking, and there is no message that he's trying to send to a particular guy
07:07or group of guys on the team.
07:08But if he is trying to send a message through talking at the podium,
07:11I would guess that he's sending it to somebody who's been actively involved in the last couple games.
07:15Okay.
07:16Rather than, hey, A.J., I remember you from Tennessee years ago.
07:20I followed what happened in Philadelphia and saw on the sideline what everybody else saw.
07:25And now I'm saying this to you as a cautionary message.
07:28To me, that doesn't really feel like the way that Vrabel operates.
07:31I think he's going to give his guys, especially somebody who has a relationship with, like A.J. Brown,
07:36the benefit of the doubt before he goes up to the podium and tries to send a message to the
07:40media.
07:40And who could it be?
07:41Because that's fun.
07:42So I started to speculate, like, Barmore's snaps were down.
07:45He only played 27 snaps this weekend.
07:47Is he not giving everything that they got?
07:50They disciplined him a little bit.
07:51You know, could that be a guy?
07:52I like that one.
07:53That's a nice thing to try.
07:53You like that one because you are so tough on Barmore.
07:56But he's been playing better.
07:58But I don't know.
07:59This snap count is going down.
08:00Why are snap counts still low?
08:02Or is it Christian Gonzalez?
08:03Like, why aren't you playing?
08:04Like, hey.
08:05So you think Christian Gonzalez is dogging it?
08:06Is that what you're saying?
08:07Hey, this is very irresponsible speculation.
08:09So I'm just throwing all kinds of names.
08:11You got another name?
08:11No, is that it?
08:12That's my big two.
08:13All right.
08:14I have no idea.
08:16Just honestly, there's nobody that I see that is sticking out as, like, a problem or being selfish.
08:22But I love these Vrabel drops.
08:24Like, he ripped the depth before the season.
08:25And then the depth showed up.
08:27He has a way of using the media to his advantage in, like, cool ways.
08:30So I like to read in the Vrabel stuff.
08:32You know what he reminds me of, guys?
08:33So he's been kind of critical.
08:35Like, yeah.
08:36Even in the win against the Bills, it was like, yeah, but we missed Kyle Williams.
08:41You know?
08:42Like, okay, bro.
08:42Well, but, you know, we got a touchdown from Espin Chizan right after that.
08:46So it's a Parcellian tactic.
08:50Parcells was harder on us after wins.
08:52But Vrabel didn't play for Parcells, right?
08:54He came from Cower and then just straight to Belichick, right?
08:57But there is that culture here, right?
08:58Yeah.
08:59You know what?
08:59He might have read a Parcells book.
09:02Yeah.
09:03He might have known somebody that knows Parcells.
09:04Probably found out from you.
09:05Yeah, maybe so.
09:06Maybe just the – but it's a Parcellian strategic tactic to be hard on us.
09:12Be easy on them after wins and be easy on them.
09:16You would think a lot of times after a bad loss, Parcells would come in and rip us.
09:20Shockingly, he was the other way.
09:21Yeah.
09:22It was like, all right, guys, you know what, man?
09:24We just got to figure this out.
09:25And it was like, wow, okay.
09:26So he threw you off by doing that.
09:28I think Mike has a little bit of that Parcells in him.
09:31Now, you also said that sometimes Parcells would rip you guys in public and then afterwards
09:35he would come and talk to you, right?
09:36Yes.
09:37Yes.
09:37And that was his way of kind of, you know, keeping you off balance but also knowing that,
09:43hey, ultimately, I got your back.
09:45I care about you.
09:46I'm coaching you hard because I care.
09:47Not because I don't like you or think you don't have any ability.
09:50It's because I think you have ability and I think you can be better.
09:53Yep.
09:54Well, I mean, that's the kind of stuff behind the scenes.
09:57I love the fact that you're right.
09:58Vrabel seems to be hard on these guys when they win.
10:00And he was very easy on Drake in the first three weeks.
10:03Like, he was pretty, like, he was not damning to the guy.
10:07And now, listen, I like that fact that he's calling out some mystery player.
10:12And I like trying to figure out who it is.
10:13The thing you're doing, though, is you're trying to keep – it's like he did everything he could to pump
10:17their confidence up
10:18with showing the video, going into the Bills game and getting them hyped.
10:21And then after he's seen what he's seen the last two weeks, it's, yeah, well, you know, we got some
10:25things we got to figure out.
10:26We're still, you know, it's like, okay, bro.
10:29Like, I used to fall for that stuff.
10:30I mean, now where I sit, I can see it all, man.
10:32I know exactly what he's doing.
10:33All right, Megan, when we get back, I want to ask you about – there's this theory that's out there
10:37that people are saying that the only reason that Drake has been great the last two weeks
10:41is because he's played against some of the worst defenses in the league, which is true.
10:45But I want to get your take as to whether or not it's more than that.