- 2 days ago
Patriots Insider Tom E Curran joined Rich, Ken, and Ted to discuss this Sunday’s matchup against the Jets in Foxboro. He talked about A.J. Brown’s return, Drake Maye’s resurgence, the Pats/Jets rivalry, Mike Vrabel’s in-game management, and more.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Tommy Curran, how are you doing today, buddy?
00:02That was a really nice gesture, and it was highly appreciated.
00:05That kind of music just puts me in a good move right away, so let's get after it.
00:08Here we go. Let's go.
00:10Well, this has been a nice couple of days hearing that Christian Gonzalez is back.
00:16Will Campbell is apparently practicing, and now A.J. Brown not only on the field,
00:21but having a podium moment.
00:23Does that say anything to you about his availability,
00:25and what is your take on whether or not you think he's going to play this weekend?
00:29Yeah, I would err on the side if he's going to play, and that's not knowing.
00:33I mean, first they have to make him active again, put him back on the roster
00:36because he's still on IR.
00:39That would have to happen, I believe, by Saturday at 4,
00:42so that would be the first step, and then if he's active for the game
00:46once he's on the roster.
00:47So keep an eye out for that, for him to be activated to the active roster on Saturday.
00:54It's just indications are, from seeing him in the locker room,
00:58from hearing folks that he's spoken to a little bit, he's in a good spot.
01:03So I would be surprised.
01:05I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't play.
01:08I would say that he's probably going to play.
01:11Okay.
01:12Hey, Tom, I'm curious what you thought about the wide receiver group this past week.
01:15You know, you've got Eli Raritan, who you and I are both big fans of his game.
01:20You had Kyle Williams, Efton Chisholm making plays out there,
01:26and then, you know, Romeo Dobbs, three targets, only one catch.
01:29What would you make of just last week's performance for the wide receiver group?
01:33What were your big takeaways from their performance?
01:36Great protection, Ted.
01:38Yeah, no kidding.
01:39It was so much protection.
01:42The throw that Drake May said was his favorite was the throw to Douglas,
01:45but that was just like kind of a can of corn, pitch and catch.
01:48I loved his throw to Raritan.
01:50And I know, you know, you said the wide receiver group,
01:53but Raritan could, if they can get a complimentary tight end who's more of a blocker,
01:57and I don't know what their plan would be.
01:59He does have kind of that hybrid body type where he could be, you know,
02:05a tight end slash wide out.
02:07But I just think it was great for them to have time
02:11and not have a frigging fire drill after the snap
02:14so that guys could get into their routes, guys could have protection,
02:18guys could, you know, release off the line.
02:20Kyle Williams, for his limitations,
02:24which I do think will eventually be conquered,
02:28has really high-level ability to get off the line with releases.
02:32He is very good at extracting himself off the line.
02:36And so it was good for all of those guys.
02:38The Dobbs thing didn't really bother me because he had too long DPIs,
02:42and he showed the previous week that he's more like what the Patriots banked on,
02:48I think, than the guy that we saw drop the very first critical pass that went to him.
02:53Tom, I don't know if you caught the Vrabel postgame on Sunday.
02:56I'm sure you did.
02:57I wanted your reaction on that one quote he had where he praised the chemistry
03:01and the unselfishness of the receivers,
03:03but then went on to say basically he needs the rest of the roster to follow that example.
03:07Did you take anything away from that?
03:09Sure.
03:09I mean, I thought it was good candor,
03:13but as he pointed out, it doesn't surprise me.
03:17It doesn't surprise me that in a room of 70 people,
03:22basically an auditorium worth of humans,
03:25there might be a couple of guys who are saying,
03:28what about mine when they're going to work?
03:31And he probably added something there that he wishes he didn't,
03:36but even when pushed on it, he tried to backfill it.
03:40I don't know.
03:42There's a lot of personalities there, Ken,
03:45and everybody's at different stages of life.
03:47So I don't think that there is a selfishness problem on the Patriots that I detect
03:53among their more prominent players.
03:55But in any workplace, there's guys who are like, hey, what about me?
03:59Yeah, yeah.
04:00Do you think that maybe, just maybe, because we have seen,
04:03and listen, it's a great quality of a number one receiver is that you want,
04:08you know, give me the damn ball type of attitude.
04:09Do you think that maybe that might have been a little bit pointed towards A.J.
04:13Brown with his return that was impending?
04:16I don't think so.
04:17I think that Mike would tread very carefully with A.J.
04:20Brown, because I don't think that he's done anything
04:22to indicate that he's any kind of an issue at all.
04:25Yeah.
04:26So I don't think that he would try and say, see, that's how you've got to be.
04:29He hasn't done anything.
04:31So I don't.
04:32I don't think that would be an A.J.
04:34Brown message.
04:36TC, I'm curious what you thought of Caleb Lomu's play last week,
04:40and he replaces, of course, an injured Will Campbell last week
04:43versus the Raiders.
04:44And then just your thoughts on him last week,
04:47but also just your thoughts on Will Campbell being out there practicing,
04:50which is kind of surprising because it looked like kind of a serious injury.
04:53Maybe he re-injured the same knee that he did last year,
04:56but he's out there practicing.
04:57Just the dynamic of him coming back out there to practice
05:00and then Lomu's play from the Raiders game.
05:02Yeah, I thought Lomu held up, Ted.
05:05I thought he was fine.
05:07Nobody had a chance to game plan specifically for him and say, all right,
05:10well, let's see if this kid can deal with X, Y, and Z.
05:13But his improvement since we watched him during training camp
05:16when he definitely fits the suit,
05:18but there were occasions when he would get beaten badly more on technique
05:23than an inability to – more on technique employed by the guy across him
05:28from him than his own inabilities.
05:31He is still going to have a learning curve,
05:33and if he is starting at left tackle this week,
05:35we'll see whether or not that happens depending upon Campbell.
05:40They will put things together for him.
05:42David Bailey, the best pass rusher that the Jets have as a rookie,
05:46but he's lining up on the right tackle side.
05:49Would they flip him the way the Bills did on occasion with Greg Rousseau
05:52last week to put him over Campbell?
05:54That would be interesting to watch.
05:56But I think Lomu held up.
05:57What would be really interesting, and this is way too much hypothetical,
06:02but say Lomu comes in and plays great,
06:05and he supplants Will Campbell.
06:07Or the Patriots say, you know, it's just –
06:09it's what's best for the team right now is if we move Will over to right guard.
06:14And then he settles in there.
06:17That would be an occasion where Will Campbell would be like,
06:19whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
06:21Left tackles make a lot more money than right guards.
06:23I don't like it over here.
06:25I don't want to be over here.
06:28So it's interesting.
06:29That would be one of those situations where what's best for the football team
06:34is Caleb Lomu turned into the second coming of, you know, Anthony Munoz.
06:40Yeah.
06:41Then would you make that move knowing that you'd be hosing the fourth overall pick
06:46and a guy who seems like a pretty small word guy?
06:50It's just a hypothetical, just to talk about where you have a milk and cookies.
06:54How about WWBB?
06:57What would Bill Belichick do?
06:58You know, like he would certainly do that.
07:00I mean, if it's – for the best, you know, thing, decision for the team, I know.
07:05I know, but that is interesting because Will is his – is Grable's guy, you know.
07:10Grable loves Will Campbell, is my point, yeah.
07:14Tom, you have the Jets among a series of quick slants poll candidates
07:18for the greatest Pats rival.
07:21So I think the winning group was Jets, Bills, and Colts.
07:24Do you still feel the rivalry with these two teams?
07:28Yeah, I do.
07:29And I think sometimes rivalries are built more on fans.
07:34What riles us up?
07:36I mean, and if you're – it depends on what your age is.
07:38You know, for me, I hate the frigging Raiders, especially because I grew up –
07:43the first team I ever rooted for was the 76 Patriots.
07:46I remember them beating them 48-17 in that regular season.
07:50It was the only regular season game the Raiders lost.
07:52I remember them losing 21-17.
07:54I hate the Raiders.
07:56But if you grew up during the Ravens Patriots time
07:59or the Colts Patriots times in the early 2000s, you would have them foremost.
08:05I think the Jets are just a great foil as opposed to showing great resistance.
08:11They've just been an awesome foil for the Patriots.
08:14And on quick slants later today, we're going to have a list with Michael Hurley
08:20of the most ridiculous, hilarious Patriots-Jets moments of the last 30 years or so.
08:27Oh, butt fumble's got to be number one.
08:28Oh, it's got to be up there.
08:29Number one?
08:30There's butt fumbles in there.
08:32We haven't done the program yet.
08:33Tune in.
08:36Number one of them?
08:37That was a Thanksgiving special, right?
08:40Wasn't the butt fumble on the Thanksgiving game, if I'm not mistaken?
08:43Butt fumble was the Thanksgiving game, and then somebody scored on a friggin' kick return
08:47right after whoever that – I think it was a white safety that they had.
08:52Good fella.
08:53Oh, my God.
08:54Steve Gregory.
08:55Oh, okay.
08:56Steve Gregory?
08:56Good pull.
08:57I think so.
08:59But you know what else is hysterical that I had to get in?
09:02The Jets were pickless last year.
09:06Remember that.
09:07No interceptions.
09:08And they only have one so far this year.
09:10So 22 games, one pick.
09:13Holy crap.
09:14And they almost went half the season, Tom, I think, without even getting a fumble recovered, too.
09:19Wow.
09:20Well, I want to ask you about that, though, because there's a lot of people who are talking
09:23about this Jets defense that they're going to be playing.
09:26And there's a lot of people who are dismissing what Drake May did the last two weeks because
09:31they say, well, take a look at the yards allowed rank from the Raiders and the Bills,
09:36and they're atrocious.
09:36It's like 27th and 30th, I think.
09:38So they're saying, but look against the good defenses that May can't do anything, and against
09:43the bad ones he does.
09:44And the Jets apparently have the number four yards allowed or whatever.
09:47So all of a sudden, it's going to get tough.
09:49Can you throw water on that?
09:53It just doesn't make sense to me.
09:54No, I don't disagree with that at all.
09:55I don't.
09:56I absolutely, positively do not disagree with it.
09:58You go up against a pitcher who throws harder and is more precise, just to use that metaphor
10:04for the defenses, as opposed to somebody who's throwing 91.
10:08Not that I could hit 91, but you're going to be able to do more business.
10:14Now, the Bills bothered Drake May.
10:16He was flushed 18 times, pressured 18 times in that game, but their downfield coverage was
10:20not great, and May just kind of grew into it.
10:24May was not horrendous against Seattle until he was.
10:27So I'm not saying that he flounders against good defenses, but any team will have a harder
10:35time, and it's not just about May, honestly, Rich.
10:39In those first three games, the protection wasn't good.
10:43A.D. Brown goes down, and you have a bunch of receivers who are in their first few weeks
10:48together.
10:49Dobbs is the central guy, and May's trying to get used to them.
10:52And May is trying to, the whole no playing in preseason is ridiculous.
10:58When you look at Mike Vrabel's record for the first three games over the last six years
11:02of his coaching career, and he's one and two in every year, maybe he should do more in
11:07August and July in terms of getting them ready.
11:10Agreed.
11:10You know, the ready is ready.
11:12I'm not saying that they're just sitting around twiddling their thumbs in July and August,
11:16but they just don't feel game ready.
11:18They really ease into the season.
11:21They're standing there on the shallow end with their arms full, jumping up and down while
11:24everybody else is splashing in the damn pool.
11:26Get in the water.
11:27Get in there.
11:28Let's go.
11:29Dive in, baby.
11:30D.C., I'm curious, there's a lot of news and talk about just in-game management from
11:34a lot of these coaching staffs on these NFL teams, just some really just bad decisions
11:40late in games.
11:41How do you think about the Patriots in that regard?
11:44Like, how would you, what's your thoughts on how the Patriots under Mike Vrabel's tenure
11:50has done just in-game management type stuff?
11:57I think I do, on a weekly basis, get fairly agitated just before halftime because there
12:05seems to be so much machinations that go on.
12:10And I asked Mike about that and he said, you know, don't want to get too cute.
12:14I do have a weekly feeling that they get way too cute before the half.
12:18And I understand Bill Belichick really, you never heard about doubling up, even though
12:25I'm sure the coaches talked about it in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
12:28But Bill's ability to defer the opening kick, try and close the half, and then open the
12:35half was more celebrated.
12:37So that grew in importance, I think, among coaching staffs and strategists to the point
12:43now where there's a massive focus on trying to do that.
12:47And it becomes ripe for second guessing on a weekly basis.
12:51Okay, you just got the ball at your 20.
12:53There's a minute and 43 left.
12:57We're going to run a draw and see what we get.
12:59And then we're going to start throwing.
13:00It's like, oh, here we go.
13:02And then the other team starts burning timeouts.
13:04And that feels, on a frequent basis, too cute.
13:07And I understand it.
13:08What are you going to do?
13:09Drop back and start throwing the ball all over the place?
13:11And the other team gets it back with 135 left at their own 20?
13:15I don't know.
13:16That's the only thing that drives me crazy.
13:19Because I don't have a specific game in which they screwed up.
13:23They actually were artists with it last year.
13:26I think it was at Tampa Bay.
13:27Oh, one second left.
13:29Do you remember that game?
13:30Fork down?
13:31Yeah, flip down, throw to Stephon Diggs when they really built the clock down.
13:35So, I think they're probably in the upper tier.
13:39Or at least they're not noticeably crappy at it.
13:42Well, that's close.
13:44Nice job.
13:45Saved it.
13:45I thought that just right before halftime in the Seattle game, the week one,
13:49I thought it was a little, you know,
13:51Rabel's in the locker room before the time went out.
13:54I thought they could have squeezed some juice out of that.
13:56And I'm sitting there going, good.
13:59I hate watching the ridiculous end of half a round.
14:03Well, Tommy Curran, may I make one suggestion?
14:06Even though it wasn't on the field for your Jets-Patriots most embarrassing moments,
14:10what about the Wes Welker-Rex Ryan foot press conference?
14:14Oh, that's number one.
14:16That was immediate.
14:17Immediate.
14:18Hurley had to have that.
14:19Hurley would miss that?
14:20To this day, it still makes me laugh.
14:23Now, they got their ass kicked afterwards, which is kind of, you know, bad.
14:26And Belichick benched him for, like, what?
14:29First quarter, I think.
14:29For, like, the first quarter?
14:31First quarter, I think, yeah.
14:32Oh, God.
14:32Can you believe that?
14:33But that was – because when it happened, nobody caught it.
14:36And it took, like, maybe half a day for everyone to go, hang on.
14:42Is he dropping feet references into this press conference?
14:45And it just – it was poetry.
14:47That's when Wes Welker became one of my favorite players of all time.
14:50Me too.
14:51We're going to be good little foot soldiers.
14:54You know, put our best foot forward.
14:56Put our best foot forward, yeah.
14:58Put our foot in our mouths.
14:59All right.
15:00Well, Tommy Curran, great stuff.
15:01Always love having you on.
15:02You can see him on NBC Sports Boston, Quick Slants, and everywhere else.
15:06Tommy, thanks for coming on, buddy.
15:07We appreciate it.
15:08All right.
15:09Have a great rest of the week, boys.