- 2 days ago
WEEI’s Justin Turpin joined Rich, Ken, and Ted to talk about the Patriots vs Jets matchup at Gillette Stadium this Sunday. They discussed the Jets defense, Drake Maye’s impressive stats against the blitz, whether he thinks A.J. Brown will play, and more!
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00:00All right, well, in studio with us, we love having Justin Turpin, top-tier Terp.
00:03Tier one, Terp.
00:04From WEI.com, who has been with the Patriots all season long, including the preseason,
00:09and we've got to get to some Celtics stuff as well.
00:11Oh, yeah, we do.
00:12Yes, oh, man, there's some Paul George fever people have lately.
00:16Running wild.
00:17Running all over the place.
00:19But first, let's get to this Jets game.
00:21And what are you hearing, and what is your feeling after spending some time down there
00:26about A.J. Brown and whether you think he's going to return?
00:28I'm still leaning that he doesn't, just with the short week, obviously, going to Chicago
00:32on Thursday.
00:33I think they'd like to give him the extra couple days to rest up and, obviously, the quick
00:38turnaround between the two games.
00:39I also think Mike Vrabel's very realistic when looking at these things, and they probably
00:43shouldn't need him against the New York Jets.
00:45Like, you can wait until next Thursday against the Bears, so I lean that he doesn't play.
00:49But he was out there during the portions of practice, open to the media, was limited all
00:53week, enters on Sunday with a questionable tag.
00:56So I guess we'll see what happens.
00:58They'll have to make that move tomorrow, but I still lean he probably doesn't play.
01:01Is there somebody that would be easily chopped off the roster if they could, you know, make
01:06him, even if he says 10 snaps, would you make, like, Kyle Williams an active or somebody
01:09deeper on the special teams chart, or how does that go?
01:11I mean, it had been Efton Chisholm before then, and I don't think it would be Efton Chisholm,
01:15so I think it probably would be Kyle Williams.
01:17I think he would be the guy, which would be weird after the week that he just had, and obviously
01:21what he brings.
01:22I mean, he might be kind of a one-trick pony with just a deep ball, but that's a hell
01:26of a trick
01:27to have if you are going to be a one-trick pony.
01:28So I think it would be Kyle Williams just because I don't think you can put Efton Chisholm back
01:32in that spot.
01:33Kyle Williams did have an impressive title.
01:35Ted doesn't love giving a lot of credit, but he beat that sucker off the line.
01:38It was good.
01:39We highlighted that play in the breakdown.
01:41That was a nice little get-off, we called it, when you can get off the line of scrimmage
01:45without getting jammed.
01:47It was press coverage, too.
01:48So, look, that's exactly what Kayshawn Booty did for Drake May last year, was that nine
01:53route, press coverage, no safety over the top.
01:55So, look, I mean, we know he can run fast, straight.
01:59You know, when he has to throttle down and cut is when he has problems.
02:03So, I don't know.
02:04They seem to give him a lot of opportunities to kind of figure it out because that was their
02:09first wide receiver that they drafted, right, in the Brable era.
02:13So, he's going to get all the chances to make, you know, improve, and he just needs to improve
02:18on his route three.
02:19Can you do comebacks?
02:20Can you do curls?
02:21Can you do in-cuts?
02:23He's still, you know, he's just a one-trick pony right now.
02:25Speaking of that nine route, I found this super interesting, put out by NextGenStats
02:28this morning.
02:29Romeo Dobbs has run a vertical route on nearly half of his routes this season.
02:3448.3%.
02:35Wow.
02:36They're trying to make a mess of that kind of...
02:38Yeah.
02:3940%, it just has the number for the entire year.
02:42Because Rich called this out a couple weeks ago.
02:44Like, he needs to...
02:45Who wrote that story about him running outbreakers?
02:47Tice.
02:47I forget what his name is.
02:48From Yahoo.
02:49Yeah, from Yahoo.
02:50He wrote something in saying that he was using...
02:52He was being used in a completely different way than when he was successful when he was
02:55in Green Bay.
02:56Like, as a matter of fact, the minute that he started running the type of routes that he
02:59was doing in Green Bay, all of a sudden, he's becoming successful.
03:02That was in weeks four and five.
03:03I think getting A.J.
03:04Brown back would just be huge for him.
03:05Puts him more in a role that he's more comfortable.
03:08Like, I don't think he's necessarily a number one wide receiver.
03:10He's more fit to be that number two behind A.J.
03:12Brown.
03:13And just the presence that A.J.
03:15Brown would bring.
03:16Like, going back to his first game, like, two of his catches on third down.
03:19Like, that's so important to have that kind of pass catcher.
03:21So, if he is ready to go, his impact will be felt right away.
03:25Tell me a little bit about this Jets defense and whether they're going to make Drake's life...
03:30Because you look at, like, the rankings and they seem to be, what, number four in yards
03:34allowed?
03:35And on PFF, their secondary rank's pretty high.
03:37Yeah, so how tough are they going to make Drake May's day?
03:40I mean, they're going to blitz a ton.
03:41And that's what they've done throughout the early part of the year here.
03:45In their last two games, they've blitzed over 50%.
03:47Now, I don't know if they can do that against Drake May.
03:49Even with his struggles early in the year, he's still excellent against the blitz.
03:53I think four touchdowns, just one interception, completing almost 70% of his passes in those
03:57situations.
03:57So, I don't know if they're going to be able to stick to their identity and blitz him because
04:01of how good he has been against the blitz.
04:03And I expect them to pick on Caleb Lomu, although I don't think Bailey, the second overall pick
04:09there, who's been awesome, is top five in sacks and pressures generated.
04:13I don't know if he'll necessarily be against Caleb Lomu, if it is Caleb Lomu, because he
04:18has traditionally lined up over the right tackle.
04:20So, you blitz him at your peril.
04:22He's just...
04:23He has issues when you flood the zones or you drop more guys and then you rush.
04:30You know, teams that have been having success with Drake, getting pressure on him, rush
04:35four guys and they keep two safeties deep.
04:37That's the formula for stopping Drake.
04:39So, if you want to blitz, he'll carve you up, man.
04:42The kid can find the open guy and usually teams are playing man-to-man behind the blitz.
04:47And Drake May is a much better passer against man-to-man than he is.
04:50The numbers against the blitz this year, he's completed 33 of 46 pass attempts at 71%.
04:55The third highest completion percentage behind only C.J. Stroud and Patrick Mahomes, four
04:59touchdowns, one pick in those situations.
05:01So, he's been very, very effective against the blitz.
05:03And that's including the first two, three weeks that he was struggling, three weeks.
05:07What are your impressions with...
05:08I'm going to do a twofer here.
05:10Give me your impressions on Efton Chisholm and the role he has and then also Eli Raritan.
05:16What do you think about the rookie tight end of Eli Raritan?
05:19I've been very impressed by Eli Raritan in both the pass game and the run game.
05:23I think he's been a much better blocker than I thought he was coming out of college where
05:27he's been very effective in that regard.
05:28Last week, he had a breakout game in the receiving game.
05:32Five catches, over 50 yards, both team highs.
05:36Clearly, he's built some trust in that with his chemistry with Drake May.
05:40So, I've been really impressed with Eli Raritan, just what he's been able to do in a lot of
05:44the facets of the game.
05:45And same thing with Efton Chisholm.
05:46He's made the most of his opportunity come in.
05:48And there's a reason they've been so high in their belief for him because they believe
05:52he can be this type of impact player.
05:54And I think we're seeing that through these last couple of weeks where he's gotten more
05:57opportunity.
05:57A couple of weeks ago, it didn't look so great.
05:59It's amazing how a few weeks switched things, Teddy.
06:01But looking at their draft classes from last year and this year and the amount of contributions
06:06they're getting from this crew.
06:07Look at just last year, their first five or six guys all playing.
06:10Campbell, Travion Henderson, Kyle Williams, Jared Wilson, Craig Woodson.
06:14Marcus Bryant's been a swing tackle.
06:16And then, obviously, this year's class, Raritan's playing a lot.
06:18Akis, better than we thought.
06:19Huge.
06:19Pretty good from Vrabel's draft.
06:21But you get two drafts back-to-back where you have a handful of guys that contribute
06:25from each draft class.
06:26Now you've got some.
06:29It's a pair.
06:31There is.
06:32But the Patriots 95-96 draft.
06:34It's not the 95 draft.
06:35I mean, it's hard.
06:37Yeah, a couple Hall of Famers in there.
06:38So, if you can have, like, two draft, you know, classes back-to-back where you hit on a few
06:45players, man, that does so much for your depth.
06:49And it saves you money so you can put the resources somewhere else.
06:53So, Raritan wasn't even there for one of them.
06:54He was in Utah for, like, a couple days.
06:55That's right.
06:56He was just like, yeah, I'll just call this one in.
06:58Speaking of that, I do Gabe Ackes.
07:00Just the outside pass, you know, Ponder, Ackes, what are your thoughts on the outside line?
07:05I think this could be a huge game for them.
07:07I thought it was really interesting the other day that Kevin Byard offered this up, that
07:10Geno Smith has been very intentional in not trying to throw interceptions to a point where
07:14he's holding the ball too much.
07:16And he's been pressured on over almost 44% of his dropbacks.
07:19He's been sacked the fourth most times in the NFL.
07:22He's holding on to the ball a ton.
07:23So, Byard said that?
07:24Byard offered that up at the podium, which you really don't hear from players at the
07:27podium.
07:27You know why he's doing that?
07:28He's going to make a one hell of a media personality one.
07:31He's already doing NBC Sports Boston.
07:32He's doing our show.
07:34Yeah, your show as well.
07:35As soon as he's done, he's just going to go right on to media.
07:39He's going to be great at it.
07:40Joe Buck's partner, Monday Night Football.
07:41Put him in there.
07:42That's going to be Pat McAfee.
07:43But he's obviously saying that.
07:44Yeah, I know, probably.
07:45But he's obviously saying that because he wants Geno to hear that.
07:47So, he makes some dumb mistakes and tries to get rid of the ball.
07:50Yeah.
07:51I mean, maybe it could be that.
07:52Or also, he could just, they really do think this is something that they can exploit.
07:56I talked to Gabe Ackes about it and Draymond Jones.
07:58And they both said that that is something that they believe they can take advantage of
08:01and get to the quarterback because he's holding on to the ball too long.
08:04So, it's much different than Kirk Cousins.
08:06Last week, where you see Kirk Cousins, where he's just getting the ball out super quick,
08:10trying not to get sacked, not wanting to get hit.
08:12Whereas Geno Smith is trying to not throw interceptions when he led the league in interceptions
08:16last year with 17, hasn't thrown any through the first five weeks here.