Best of WEEI Interviews: Aug. 31-Sept. 4

0:00Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena, so my Kia Telluride Turbo Hybrid has to do a little of everything. School bags, speech chairs, a grocery run, I swore would be small. And somehow there's still room in my sister-tex. I'm landing in Burbank, come pick me up. It seats seven, has over 600 miles of range, and makes the 134 feel a little less like a test of character. Space, range, flexibility. The Kia Telluride Turbo Hybrid is built for the way LA moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. Crystal Geyser Alpine Springwater is now the official water partner of the Iron Man North America series. Together, we'll hydrate athletes from the first mile to the finish line with Alpine Springwater that's always bottled at the natural spring source. We're proud to partner with Iron Man and support a community defined by perseverance, determination, and the pursuit of extraordinary goals. Crystal Geyser Alpine Springwater, always bottled at the source. Nurse! Today's episode is sponsored by Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast.

1:03Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists who explain the why behind major financial decisions. You'll get research back insights and clear pros and cons, whether you're planning a big purchase or just want to grow your wealth. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast app. Safe $300 now through September 8th at pre-newvo.com. Terms and conditions apply. It is a Patriots Friday and head coach of the New England Patriots

2:03is brought to you by Northeast Men's Health, the experts in treating men's sexual health. With seven New England locations, learn more at Northeast Men's Health.com. Also brought to you by FindMastMoney.gov, Search and Claim Your Unclaimed Funds, and by Rocky's Ace Hardware. Good morning, Mike Vrable. Good morning, low T. How are you? I'm hanging in there and I hope yesterday's practice was not low T. I know you got one in and you said in advance you were looking for speed. So did you get it yesterday from the G. I mean, we got a little bit of it. We got off to a good start again. I think we have to realize how good teams practice without pads. You have to be able to learn how to do that. You go through training camp and you have pads on. And then all of a sudden the pads come off, you know, only 14 times during the season can we have pads. And so we have to learn how to practice with speed without collisions.

3:08And I do think that that takes some practice. I do. And, you know, we don't want it to be a job through. There are certain times we'll be that pace, but we also have to be able to get the timing and the precision that's required. And so I do think that that'll be a work in progress as we move along. What is, if any, what's the update on Travion is, I'm assuming he's dead today? We're all dead today. Mike, when you look at this game and you're obviously putting together your game plan, you know, you're dealing with some guys that might be, you know, dealing with injuries and not sure if they're going to play. Obviously the Christian Gonzalez situation is looming. How do you prepare a game plan wise with guys that you might not be 100% sure if they're going to be there for you Wednesday night? I think we just go by what we see each and every day. And then if something changes, we we're able to adjust and you know, try to adapt and be flexible.

4:13Mike, when you look at the biggest differences between this year's team and the team that lost the Super Bowl, what is the biggest difference in a positive way and in a negative way? I mean, we're the guys that we set our back with were another year experienced in what we want to do and how we want to do it. And you said what's the negative? I'm not sure what the other part of it was. Yeah, just what is there a negative like you've brought up the depth of this year's team? Is there any negative that's the difference between this year's team and last? Yeah, I mean, I don't think that I don't think last year we we had some deep team. We just didn't have injuries. So, you know, we'll keep working with everybody and keep building this thing and just look at what we have to do each and every day to improve and, you know, identify guys that are trying to improve and give them opportunities and then kind of go from there and see what the next guy can do.

5:17Mike, you know, we follow training camp every day and we're always looking for what stories are going on that down there positionally wise. The one area that I feel like has been relatively good for you guys all training camp long, at least from where I'm sitting. I'm not there and being able to see you guys out on the field every day is the offensive line. It seems like guys of, you know, from what I have done a great job. How do you feel about how your offensive line has looked heading into week one? Well, it's a critical position. I mean, it's the lifeblood of the offense and I would say that any good offense has a good offensive line. You know, we'll keep working and trying to get those guys to work as the best unit. But I think that that's something that will always keep striving for us. It is defined the best unit and put those guys together so that they can operate in the run game that can protect the quarterback, that anything that we call or have the ability to call they can execute. Speaking of positionally, I love giving you the chance to clear things up that are

6:24burped out into the ether. Adam Schaefter had floated this notion that this week that you prioritize the linemen and getting pressure over corners. Is that accurate? I mean, I listen, I love defensive football players and I don't want to sit there and say, I value one over the other. I don't, you know, I mean, I think that you have to affect the quarterback and I've said this numerous in multiple times. There's multiple ways to do it. You can rush them. You can be able to, you know, whatever we have to do, whether that's the coverage and intercept the football, to have pass breakups, to tip the ball up a lot of scrimmage and have somebody intercept it, to whether you're playing man coverage or, you know, zone coverage and reroute. At the end of the day, we have to identify guys that can affect the quarterback and that's either through the pass rush or guys and coverage that can take guys away or turn

7:31the ball over, intercept it, ball production, linebackers and people that can hammer the football out and create turnovers. That's what wins. And so, anybody on our defense that can do those things, that's what I value. With regard to Christian, your long time teammate Rodney Harrison says that if this deal doesn't get done, it sends a bad message to free agents about coming to play here. Any concern on your part about that? I mean, everybody's in title of their opinion when we've seen that, you know, so, again, I think that we've been able to identify guys and bring them in that want to be here. That's the most important thing. I'm not going to please everybody in this business. But, you know, I mean, the guys that we've tried to target and bring in, you know, and free agency we have and then we have to continue to draft good football players

8:32and develop them and then retain them. Has the Gonzalez contractual negotiation been a distraction at all? Hey, what are you, what are you, what are you, make you chime in later? But, you know, it's three questions. What you go to the bathroom? I have to get a thumbs up from Greg Mike. Well, and this very prolonged process where I have to get, like, I have to send up my question and question and triplicate and then it gets it back to me. Mike, he's gone from sitting next to the table. He's gone from sitting next to the top way. That's the tough way to go through life right there, man. I really am. I've heard it. Greg Hilt. Please, I mean, great. I mean, if you need a manager and I'll be happy to come down and print out some copies for you. Has it been a distraction for you? Right in between me and stretch. It wouldn't love that. I feel like we've got a lot great week to watch some college football Saturday. Has it been a distraction, Mike, at all, for you or the team? What were you asked? What's been a distraction? Christian Gonzalez, the number one storyline surrounding your team is entire training camp. Whether or not the organization will give them an extension.

9:33Has that been a distraction at all for you or the players? Well, I mean, it's not whether the team is going to get somebody an extension. I mean, it's about coming to an agreement. So let me just say that at first. But no, I mean, when Christian was rehabbing, he was where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there. Talked about his professionalism. I can't speak for the rest of the team and how they feel. From a coaching staff standpoint, it's, hey, this is who's available each day. Then we go about making a practice plan or, hey, this is what the reps are going to be this day. We deal with all different kinds of things each and every day about who's available and who's not available. So I can only speak for myself and it hasn't been an distraction. I've tried to coach everybody that's here each and every day.

10:35Do you have two game plans set up in the event that he's not playing Wednesday night in Seattle? We will have multiple obviously game plans based on what the down and distance is, what they're personnel. They're in how the game may unfold. I mean, we have to be flexible and be willing and ready to adjust. That'll never change. Has the relationship between the player and the team been fractured at all during this? Yes. And when you say team, who are you referring to? Me and the entire, the organization. Well, I guess I should separate. The, yeah, that'd be good. The player and the crafts and yourself and Elliott. Well, I don't think you can include all those. Just ask them about this, my relationship with me and Christian. Has it become fractured at all? Nope, not for me. I hope not. I coach him. I talk to him, communicate with him.

11:35So that's the only relationship that I can speak on. And I've said how much respect I have for Christian as a player and as a person. I've got to know him over the years that I've been here. So that's the only relationship that I can speak on is the one that I'm personally involved in. Let me flip to something that's different. Have you been following the discussion on the use of the Gillette video boards during opposing team field goal attempts during the Bella check tenure? And what do you know? What do you make of you know, I, I Stacy told me that he came up with that idea a long time ago and I thought it was just genius. I mean, it seems like it's fine. There's no, no, you should see the look on Stacy's face right now in my office. Shaking his head. Stay staying on hot topics right now. Did you ever consider going after Dejan love for this Patriots team?

12:4040. Dejan love. Dejan love. 49ers. Number seven. He's a receiver. Really a talented man. It does not follow that kind of. Yes, he does. No, he does not. He's got his busy code. Yeah. You're telling me you don't know who Dejan love us? I don't know who Dejan love. That's comforting. But you don't. Mike, you, you, you talked about your edge position a little bit. You got some young guys there. Obviously, Pond, they're coming into a second year. You got a couple rookies behind them. What have you liked about that group? When you kind of look at these players that you're, you're going to have out there for you Wednesday? What, what's really kind of jumped off the page for you from those. I think the daily consistency and improvement, see an improvement from from Gabe and Q when you reference in the younger guys. You know, but the daily improvement, some veteran presence from from Dremont and Elijah continues to to be very consistent each and every day. Mike, you've said that you guys need to be

13:42at your best going against the Seattle team playing on a Wednesday. What does that do for your, for your prep for next week? Well, today's a Tuesday and then tomorrow then would be Wednesday. But what the trail, come on. What? Well, with the travel and everything like you didn't even let, you didn't even let me finish like why are you guys already laughing? I don't laugh at your questions. Don't laugh my answers. I mean, and then we're going to travel out there Monday, which is like a Friday. So we'll just get out there low early and and do a walk through. Tuesday, which would obviously be like a Saturday. All right, I'll break that down for them afterwards. So then this schedule, Mike, when you start to just like one thing that you guys did well last year and obviously every year is a new year. You guys played really good on the road. What's been your message this year knowing that like you said, every season is its own season. What you guys playing a very good team on the road and the

14:45importance of focusing on that being a business trip. Well, I mean, I think that we understand the magnitude of the everything that's going to go around with it and the celebration of their championship. But we'll have to handle the environment. It's a great atmosphere and we'll have to be at our best and do all the little things and find ways to gain an edge with an opportunistic turnover or a shortened field or a return or those are just things that you have to do on the road against a very good football team to give yourselves a chance to win. Seattle's wanted a, I mean, for me playing there is one of the loudest places in the NFL, I believe. Was there anything that you did differently in practice to kind of maybe get some of these guys used to that crowd noise that you're going to be down with Wednesday night and Seattle?

15:47I mean, you can only turn the speakers up so loud and you know, that's what we try to do and make sure that everybody is as focused and as poised on their on getting a call and their assignment and everything that they need to do to give ourselves a chance to pre-snap and then obviously going against an elite defense will be you know, harder than a handle in the crowd noise. If you were turning these speakers up louder, what would be the three bands that you would choose to play on those speakers? Richie played the loudest, whatever plays the loudest through there like usually heavy metal comes through pretty loud. I don't know. I'm just trying to get that, probably my talika, kind of get that migrable three favorite band question answered. What about like hype song? I'm still working about that.

16:49Yeah, like what do you listen to in your headphones on your way to the game? Usually just sit there and talk to the bus driver. My man. All right, Mike Brable. We thank you for taking the time. You ever think about that? Like these guys are like the opposing teams fans and based on the contract that they have to wear our hat as they drive the bus and you know the second they drop us off, they just throw it in the trash. So these guys are so these people are the best. They're so nice, but they're like I got to wear this stupid hat. I don't even like the Patriots, but I have to drive them. You got the best stories though. If you get if you get if you get to talk, then there's the one guy who gets stuck on the bus talking to Wiggy the whole time. You won't stop talking. I'm on the early bus bus number three and I'm in the back. He was back there. We used to make Wiggy sit in the bathroom. I'm going to knock it off. I'm going to knock it off. Are you guys going to be on the field when they raise the banner or is that before you guys get on

17:50there? I don't know. They haven't given I would imagine that's before. I don't know what the timing is, but whenever they say it's time for the Patriots to go out to the field, we'll go out to the field. I don't know. I'm not sure the timing of that. I would I don't even want to guess. Were you able to get any information about the Seattle team from Tom Brady in the in advance in advance of Wednesday night? No, I haven't got much from them. All right. We will we'll let you get to work. We appreciate you taking the time. We'll talk to you again in a week. All right. Thank you. Have a good day. All right. That is Mike Raible. We can unpack any nuggets from that when we get right back on the Greg Hillshow at WEEI. So you're on the road heading somewhere good. Your phone buzzes. You think I'll just check it. And then you don't because getting there safely matters more.

18:52One small choice behind the wheel makes all the difference. No matter where you go, stay focused. Keep your eyes on the road. Get there safe. Cambridge mobile telematics and WEEI are with you. Helping keep our roads safe together. Save 20% on Benjamin Moore Regal Select Interior paint, September 1 through the 14th and discover premium paint for practical living. Regal Select Interior is the paint trusted by generations of painters and homeowners for outstanding durability and washable. Visit our family on Rockies' Hardware and take advantage of this special offer. Rockies is trained paint advisors in every store who will help you select the right color and finish for your project. Save on Benjamin Moore Regal Select at Rockies' Anecordware Terms and Conditions Apply. Contact store for details. All right guys. It is the it's finally the Friday before the long Labor Day weekend. How is the energy level? Because you're going to need it. You got to get the barbecue ready. You got to get

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21:59Water that's always bottled at the Natural Spring Source. We are proud to partner with Iron Man and support a community defined by Perseverance, determination, and the pursuit of extraordinary goals. Crystal Geyser Alpine Springwater. Always bottled at the source. Nurse! Today's episode is sponsored by Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast. Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists who explain the why behind major financial decisions. You'll get research back to insights and clear pros and cons, whether you're planning a big purchase or just want to grow your wealth. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast app. One of you can see what's happening inside your body. Pre-newvos, whole body scans, screens for hundreds of conditions, including many solid tumors as early as stage 1, all in under an hour. And now, you can go beyond imaging with 80 plus blood biomarkers that

23:02help complete the picture. This Labor Day, save $300 off your scan when you book at pre-newvo.com. That's P-R-E-N-U-V-O.com. Save $300 now through September 8th at pre-newvo.com. Terms and conditions apply. It is 93-7-W-E-E-I rich shirt and leave. Ken Laird, three-time Super Bowl champion Ted Johnson, and joining us right now, man, it is football season. Finally, it's finally here. All the talk, all the speculation that we have on with us. Quarterback of your new England Patriots, Drake may brought to you by Northeast Men's Health. The experts in treating men's sexual health with seven New England locations. Learn more at NortheastMen's Health.com. Hey, Drake, thanks for joining us for your first interview this season. What's going on? I can't say I didn't miss that. That's free music for me. I've never heard that. This is actually the first time I've heard that. Is that something you listen to regularly in your card to get ready for the games?

24:06No, I thought was that not something you all did? No, that was the last part of the little Drake maybe or maybe not. That was the music. That's right. The mayor may not. Yeah, that was the music from that too. Well, now we're starting. Well, I'm not any of that. That's what I've been doing. Well, Drake, the good news is that we're talking to you again this season and the bad news is is that I am new. And so I've never spoken with you before. My name is Rich. Nice to meet you. By the way, Drake, the one thing that when you first got to the team, and I've talked to Ted about this before, the one thing that made me think that things were going to be okay is that you grew up with a bunch of older brothers. And the one thing that people who never had brothers, the one thing they don't understand is that growing up your brothers are your best friends. But you beat the living snot out of each other, right? Isn't that how it was with the May family? Well, we were best friends so we got out of the house and realized how much we think we are. To be, you know, have brothers. Yeah, when we were living together, I wouldn't say best friends,

25:10they became best friends, once we got over and realized how awesome is the house brothers. But you guys always beaten the hell out of each other, right? I think you know, four boys in the house that love sports, that love women, that's natural. That's what it was growing up. And it was, it was tough on my parents, especially my mom, to beat a locker room basically growing up. But I think it's what I couldn't beat, you know, more thankful for, you know, not three best friends now and we talk almost every day. So those are my guys. What was the worst injury you ever got fighting your brothers? I don't know my brother Bo in the front hall in low mini hoop. And I fell back and cracked my head open. All my brothers broke both his elbows and the driveway playing basketball. So we got him all. All right, Drake, everything you can think of it happened. I'm sure, I'm sure. I bring to the football field. I'm just curious. I believe this is maybe the first time since maybe your high school days that you had an offensive coordinator, the same one, in back to back seasons. I'm just curious how much, how comfortable are you in this offense,

26:14being it second year with Josh? I think it's, you know, it's awesome. You know, playing another year coach, you know, McGayno, she says, so the high level, I'm gonna understand this offense like, obviously like nobody, nobody does. So I'm just been trying to chase him and face face is level and you've gone and I know I'm in I get there, but I'm trying before. So I'm just been awesome to have him and get another year of understanding what kind of trying to get in, plays that we like and don't like and I think more and more freedom is earned when you play well. So I got continued to do what they do on offense and sport from points and especially if you know, challenge week one, we got started off strong. What's raker, how much more do you see pre snap now when you get to the line of discrimmages that you might not of a year ago? How different is it? Yeah, I think, you know, the biggest thing is just, you know, getting into good plays and positive plays. I think that's what coach McGayno is is is is preaching and I think the best thing for us is the more plays that we get on off and you know, the more likely you will have, you know, explosive plays and in place for us that are going to be in our favor. So that's been kind of a motto and I

27:16think just growing and understanding why we do things that is just, you know, snapping it and doing it. So that's a big thing. Drake, this is wild that you're going to have a super bowl matchup for the first game of the season. I mean, obviously as a fan, this is exciting to see, especially with you guys, you know, all being a lot healthier. How banged up were you during the playoffs last year? Yeah, I mean, I think it's, you know, I was healthy enough to go out there and play. So um, there's no excuses and there's players out there to be made and especially for speaking for myself, I didn't make them and those were what kind of leave you with what you're thinking about in the off season and what you kind of have something to chase for and go after. Yeah, so, so like, I mean, obviously you've spoken a little bit about it. Like how much of your normal arm did you have like during the Super Bowl? Was it like 80% 60% where do you think that was? I'm being hard to say. I think it's hard to say. I think, you know, the biggest thing was, you know, people are going to be playing injured and playing with, you know, bumps and bruises. So it's hard to say that, you know, exact, but, you know, I know that, you know, anytime you go in there

28:17and you're right, so what you're thinking about, you know, it's not, you know, obviously comforting. Oh, Drake, kind of a revamped receiving core for you this year. I'm just curious what, what you think about the, you know, just overall the receiving core and what maybe opportunities you have this year with these guys that you maybe didn't have last year. You have a really impressed with, you know, just the AJ moment coming in of, you know, how eager they are to learn the system, how quickly they've really adapted to it and, you know, kind of new, you know, terminology form and it's been great to see them kind of grow and seems about training camp of each having their days or they're really just taking over the day and just kind of being unguardable. So it's a, you know, it's like we have some of good additions with them to the room we had last year, you know, pretty similar guys that made plays, Mac and Pop and Kyle and Chish are coming back at two additions of those type of players with the skill room that we have. You know, I'm really excited to get out there and get going with those guys and they make my job easier. Drake, we saw the new Forge and Foxboro episode drop and they had the scene of Mike playing the Teddy Atlas speech in the corner in the

29:21boxing ring. You guys have like a new warriors come out and playing sort of vibe going yet or still trying to find that. I guess we'll find out. I guess we'll find that out. You know, there's really, I think coaches just kind of set the tone for the first week of, you know, a big time match up against somebody really went out there and, you know, on offense, you know, just specifically speaking, you're really whipped our butt. So we got to get after it and come ready to go, you know, from the first match. You know, since you guys, we, you know, the starters didn't play in the preseason and there was, you know, obviously joint practice, but also you're practicing against your own teammates. How tough is it by the way to practice against Christian Gonzalez? Like, what kind of talent is he? Yeah, he's, you know, like I said at the, you know, time and time, I think he's the best corner league. He's, he makes it tough on us. And I think we got some cast that are able to challenge him and he's able to, you know, get some good work and give us good work. So, um, he's, you know, as they say, you know, a lockdown corner that, you know, takes away, you know, a side of the field. So I love the challenge of them and try to, you'll give him some work and we always laugh and talk about him in the locker room. But no, I think it's, you know, it'll speak for himself,

30:22or speak for itself the way he's played. And just how he, you know, comes to work every day and and doesn't say much, but just put his head down and keep working. So Drake, watching the patriots, you know, they're right now trying to find a common ground with Christian Gonzalez, but there's a little bit of a struggle there to get him extended. What does that tell you about what your own negotiations might look like next year? I don't think you can worry about that. You know, we're getting ready to go. We got, we got a game in five days. So I think it's something I'm not thinking about and obviously supporting Gonzo and, and Wilco's definitely team. So we got a game to get ready to go for and that stuff of all, you know, play itself out. Drake, you guys kind of got a little bit of a revamped offensive line. You know, the lines of air Tucker at your left guard, Jared Wilson moves to center. Just what's your, what's your confidence level in your, in your new look offensive line there? Yeah, I think we have four, you know, the five guys back and I felt like we did some great things last year at front, you know, running the football and protecting the, protecting the pocket. So these guys that worked hard in front of camp, they've really done a good job and enjoyed practices.

31:22And I think, you know, the biggest thing for me is, you know, quarter of, I mean, sacks are also quarter backstacks. So that's been, you know, a big focus for me to, you know, get the ball out on time, you know, not take sometimes I can run out of bounds with negative one yards last year and they wouldn't have been a sack on the guys. So, you know, that stuff matters to me and I think protecting the football and, you know, knowing that sacks are negative plays and can, you know, oftentimes hurt your chances of getting points. So that's the big interest from, from my part of my game and, you know, those guys are wanting to block well and, you know, be good up front. Drake, you spent a lot of the offseason in the community around New England, the celebrity softball game out of Polar Park looked awesome. Looks like you're really making New England home. What is it, what has it meant to you to spend a lot more time here in the region over the last couple months? Yeah, just in Britain, you know, you know, community and a New England area who's in brave, you know, me and my family. So it's been really fortunate, you know, I've never been up here before I got drafted and it's really become a second home for me and it's a place that, you know, realizing the summer is hard to beat it up here in New England and, you know, this weather

32:23and really the people, I think the people have been awesome. And just a sports city that expects to win and, you know, expects good things in the sporting industry and I can, I can relate to that, you know, expecting to win and expecting to do good things. Do you consider yourself a mass hole like the rest of us? I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that yet. You may be down down the road in my career. Hopefully get to that point, but you know, I got a little bit too much southern charm in me still. So I got maybe got to translate some more, some more mass hole into me. Uh, okay. So I got to ask you with this because this has got a funny. So Mike Vrabel the other day, he was asked about this and he thinks that Tom Brady may have helped Seattle prepare for you guys in the Super Bowl. Do you believe that Tom Brady did and if so, would that piss you off? Um, I mean, I really, I really can't even, you know, think about, you know, how much it wouldn't, you know, help, even if he were to, you know, help, I feel like helps Seattle out. I think it's hard for me to even, you know, judge it or say that. Um, I think it's, you know, such a, you know,

33:25this place out there to be made and I think, you know, how much information you could, you know, give based off what we're doing and practice and, you know, when nobody's watching us, it's hard to say. So, you know, I wouldn't, I don't have too much to say about that. I think it, you know, it is what it is and whether it happened or not, it's all smoking mirrors and, you know, who knows, whoever find out. All right, Drake, we're going to do something new this season. And this is, I want to get the listeners involved. And we were going to do something called Ask Drake Anything. And usually we're going to be outside of Fenway Park or do you let's stay in with the TD Garden and just get people is are coming out with a big sign. They're going to ask you, you know, we're going to record them. Any question you want to ask you the only rule is it can't be about football. And instead, we actually for this first week, got people to call in and record some questions for you. So Drake, you might have if we rip out a couple for you. Yeah. All right, let's do it. Here is a question. Number one, ask Drake anything. Hey Drake, it's Jeff and Bridgewater. I was just wondering if you're going to get GTA 6. And if you're not, what's your favorite video game? All right, Jeff, GTA 6. You know, a lot of guys have been talking about in the locker room. I heard

34:27it's going to be sick. So I grew up playing GTA a little bit and I think it's, you know, the crazy of what they can do now with technology and the video games and what's going to look like. So I'll probably, I'm not sure if I'll get into it in the only time soon, but maybe I want to get the break or go buy a week and I think because you know, GTA is one of those games once you get on it, you can get, you know, pretty into it. So I think I may try it out at some point. They're saying that that to make more money than anything in entertainment history than any any single like movie or tour. It's going to make like tens of billions of dollars. Isn't that insane? I said that there's going to be full time jobs on there to make a bunch of money, which seems pretty unreal to me. All right, let's go to the next question. One more, asterisk anything for our listeners. Hey, Drake, it's Danielle from Winchester and I've got to know what's the biggest trouble that you got into as a kid. The biggest trouble I got into as a kid. Oh, I think I think to go back to mentioning about having brothers growing up, I think I used to be,

35:29you know, the youngest saw as the instigator brother and there would be times where I would before, yeah, I really got to know, you know, I understand how fortunate I am to have a brother where I would try to instigate and make fun of my brothers and some other people, you know, especially, you know, friends or, you know, close family friends that I would try to make fun of my brothers and really realize, you know, my parents, you're really instilled into to me and my brothers, how fortunate we are to have, you know, three, you know, really four boys and close the age that are all similar and enjoy the same things they really cherish. I think having brothers. So I think this important to family was probably the biggest thing my parents knew harped on us for. What did you say you called your brothers? You said you called them names. Like what did you call them? I mean, I was just making fun of them. One of my brothers, Bo, was a little bit overweight going up and now he's got a six pack and he's six nine and 220 pounds looks like a beast. So just things like that where I would make fun of them for things and just being a little brother. Yeah, he's got a six pack now because you made fun of him so bad. No, he didn't. He doesn't eat bread, doesn't eat sweets. So he's done that. He worked hard. I got one off the grid question for

36:34for Drake Ted from Melrose here. Are you seeing with our show split on this? Have you seen the movie, The Odyssey and what did you think of it? I have not. I have not. Keep on telling my wife me and my wife want to go see it. So my favorite good thing my brother told me it was it was awesome. What do you guys think? We're split. I think it was overhyped. Ken thinks it was overhyped. Not as good as the people were saying, but rich. It was the best. It's really often good. Yeah, it's great. I mean, it's Christopher. No, it's not. I heard that. I've kind of heard you overrated or like dope. This movie they've seen. So I guess I'll have to go see. You're the tie breaker then when you go when you get time, you're going to be the tie breaker, whether it's at the end of the season or not, when you're all done, you're going to be the ultimate tie breaker and the decision maker. There we go. All right. Well, Drake, thanks a bunch and good luck on the season. We're all excited. It's going to be awesome to see this as Super Bowl rematch. Man, they are throwing you in the fire at the beginning. This schedule is fine. I'm telling you. I mean, but listen, if you guys make it through this schedule and you know, you guys come out with a win and record, you've proved yourself. This is

37:38a tough, tough schedule. Hey, that's what we're over the NFL's about. So we've got to go learn our stripes. Absolutely. All right, Drake. Thanks for coming on, man. We really appreciate it. All right, thank you guys. Go pass. All right. Thanks, Drake. And Drake, every Drake makes down means more point than ports on the board. Thanks to the generosity of Shaws and Star Market Foundation. $1,000 will be donated to the May Foundation for every Drake May touchdown. That's right. Every touchdown by Drake helps make a difference off the field too. It's touchdowns for a great cause. Thank you. Shaws and Star Market Foundation for helping the May Day Foundation make an impact on our community. Let me hear a little bit of that song one more time. I know you guys have heard it. That's the first time I heard it. I don't mind that too much. That was an extended cut. I don't think Drake was too impressed. No, I think he wants to do it next week. Oh, you know, maybe we'll have Jackson make a new Drake May song. Oh, boy. It can be the follow up to Hey Hooters. Wait, hang up on us. You've heard the great follow up to Hey Hooters. All right. Thank you, Drake,

38:40for calling in 617779-7937. We'll be right back. Compact, capable, surprisingly roomy. Always forward with Kia. My apartment garage in Los Feliz was clearly designed by someone who never had to open a car door. That's why my Kia Salto's just fits. With room for work bags, yogamads, groceries, and whatever I accidentally buy at the Rose Bowl flea market. Small SUV, real cargo room, I've got turbocharged power and all-wheel drive for the days LA decides to be more mountain than city. The all-new Kia Salto says built for the way your life actually moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. Crystal Geyser Alpine Springwater is now the official water partner of the Iron Man North America series. Together, we'll hydrate athletes from the first mile to the finish line with Alpine Springwater that's always bottled at the natural spring source. We're proud to partner with Iron Man and support a community defined by perseverance, determination, and the pursuit of extraordinary goals. Crystal Geyser Alpine Springwater

39:42always bottled at the source. Today's episode is sponsored by Nerdwallet's Smart Money Podcast. Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On Nerdwallet's Smart Money Podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists to explain the why behind major financial decisions. You'll get research back insights and clear pros and cons, whether you're planning a big purchase or just want to grow your wealth. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow Nerdwallet's Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast app. What if you can see what's happening inside your body? Pre-newvos, whole-body scams screens for hundreds of conditions, including many solid tumors as early as stage one, all in under an hour. And now, you can go beyond imaging with 80 plus blood biomarkers that help complete the picture. This Labor Day, save $300 off your scan when you book at pre-newvo.com. That's P-R-E-N-U-V-O.com. Save $300 now through September 8th at pre-newvo.com. Terms and conditions apply.

41:03High-new Jones and Keith, here on WWE E.I. and as promised, maybe the most punctual guest in the history of the show. Red Sox, pitcher, Peyton Toley, joining us here on Jones and Keith. Peyton Toley, welcome back to the program. I'm always going to be on time. You guys know this. So what we do, that is true. That is absolutely true. And that's great to know. You have a tremendous event coming up with your wife, Devon. You're going to be hosting the ticker tournament. It benefits in power on September 10th, 2026. So next week, the event will be at Topgolf Boston in Canton and it supports children who have lost a parent while celebrating resilience, optimism, and the power of moving forward. So we know you're going to be on time for that. We want to get to some questions about that and how it came about. But we also have a lot of questions about this year's

42:08team, Peyton. I noticed the other night, you guys have switched up your celebration. You used to kind of do the little over the head celebration, like the triangle, the oh, whatever that was. I noticed you guys switched it up. What goes into that? Who decides that? Who's in charge of that? I mean, I think certainly not me. It gets brought up, it's something on the bus or on some. I'm fairly going past some structure right now and there. Yeah, we're picking some of that. They're doing work. Yeah, yeah. Hopefully you guys can still hear me. Yeah, we got to dig it up the road. It sounds like. Yeah, I mean, that's, but yeah, it's just something gets picked up along the way and it changes. It's if it's some joke or whatever it may be, it's just something that gets a good laugh. It's a good good vibe. It's but also something fun that I think people get to pick up on as well. When you first come across the mustache of Mickey Gaspur, do you kind of

43:14acknowledge him, almost like Michael Cain and Dark Knight Rises? There's like two mustache men being like, oh, or do you go over and say something? There's some sort of embrace when you come across another mustache like that in the wild. There's definitely a connection. It's hard to describe like some stars shoot across the sky and you see that looking as I. It's like, yeah, but he's going with the go team now these days, which I think it's an amazing look on him. I think he's a go-to guy, but him with that mustache, especially whenever he got added on to the Italian team. I thought, I mean, it's it was perfect. So yeah, it's definitely, there was a connection that he taught me a few times early in the year and it was a mustache connection there. That definitely was. How about the run that this guy is on though? I mean, Gaspur had one of the best months of August like in the history of baseball. He gets sent down for a moment and gets called right back up. It's another home

44:17or last night, but the guy is on some sort of insane run right now. Yeah, it's a heater for sure, and it's it's fun to sit back and watch and you know, bury Gaspur going at it, Mickey Bons, and it's it's it's amazing. I mean, the home run hit last night. It's like my gosh, they don't want to hit it. And then it's the home run and then it's a walk and it's like, of course, you don't want to pitch to this guy. You're shaking in your boots. So it's a it's a whole lot of fun to watch and I mean, whenever guys go on runs like that, it's it's special. We saw you got a married at the the All Star Break. Congratulations. Thank you. We're a couple. We don't like to brag. We're a couple of married guys on this show. Right. Keith, a couple of times. What what's the biggest change now is a married man? I mean, nothing create. I mean, breakfast is better now. It's not, uh, it's not, you know, dunk in her McDonald's every day like as she's there's a you know, she

45:22she likes she makes a good breakfast. Wow. Travels fun. She gets she gets the travel around and go to the the cities with us. So like we got good off day in New York together. So it's been a whole lot of fun. We've we've really enjoyed the time together and I mean, I'm not a whole lot change. She understands that you know, on start days, I get to I'm going to play the show for a little bit. Take it easy and but we we're we're having so much fun with it, but she definitely understands the routines and the the you know, the calls of being being doing this job. So well, and hopefully there's a much more season still to come, you know, another month left in the regular season, hopefully a long playoff run. But do you ever allow yourself to think about how the season began with both you and Chad Tracy in Worcester, start in the year with the triple A schedule. And now you guys are like closing in on the major league playoffs. Yeah, I mean,

46:22it's it's not. So I think especially coming up whenever I did and then whenever Tracy took over when he did like it was it was rough there for a while and it was it was what are what is happening like where are we going? It was that what's going on with the summer like are we going to get hot? What's what's happening here? But it's it's a I use the word word windway too much and I mean, it's just that. I mean, it's it's not doing great for a few months and then having the run that we had and then trying to continue with that run like trying to keep building off and understanding that there's still more season to be played and but it's been it's been so much fun. I think Tracy's done an amazing job coming in and the guys are really taken to him well. So it's been a whole lot of fun to be a part of and you know, we're just focused on each day. Peyton Toley joining

47:24us here on Jones and Keith W E E I you've had a lot of I would say viral moments whether that's on the field going back to your debut against Paul Schienes whether it's the hug from the other night with Can Zone. You had another one where I was a chopper that went like a hundred feet over your head and you kind of lep for it. Jordan style like out of all of those moments. What's the one you've maybe gotten the biggest response to or or had the most response to? I mean, I saw that it was the hug was on the stinking today show. So that one that might be the most widespread of them all. I think it was it just kind of happened but the the air toley shirts that I've seen out there from the from the jump have been that was pretty fun too. So I mean, there's so those things just kind of happened and they take off like they take off but it's been it's been the hug thing. I can go back to high school. I used to hug the opposing coach whenever we in high school basketball whenever

48:28we would do high five lines. And so that was just it took me back to that. So you know, high five your teammates go over there and high five the coach and I was like, no, I'm I'm going to make this one come from I'm going to give them a nice. What was the response by some of the opposing high school basketball coaches when you would hug them? We're we're started to get around and you know, most guys started to embrace it and but there were some that were like, no, no, no, and I'm I'm getting a hug here, man, like I'm not running away from you until I get this. What else did I was a baseball basketball in high school? Was it football? What other sports did you play? Baseball basketball in football. Yep. So it was it was all three and found out quickly that there's no room for a guy like me playing basketball. But it's yeah, being an athlete throughout high school, I think it's helped me a lot throughout playing baseball. Was there ever a time where anybody like a baseball coach was like, hey, maybe like don't play football like at the risk of

49:33getting hurt or are they always supportive of you playing multiple sports? I go back to like my witch-thos state coaches and they were always very supportive of it. They they were like being an athlete continue to strengthen your bodies and ways that you won't just playing baseball. So they were they were supportive of it. I'm sure that there was a little bit of like every Friday night they would text me like, hey, are you okay? And they're like, yep, we're guys. We're rocking a row. And so but there were I understand some fear there, but I also I love being an athlete. Well, you were quite a hitter in your your college days too, an old-rood winner if I'm not mistaken. So when the offense was struggling earlier this year, was there any part of you that said, pick up a bat? Yeah, give me a bat. I mean, I want to sit here and say, yeah, yeah, you know, I wanted to hit, but absolutely not. I said, I the the bat got terrible whenever I got that third year in college and I was swinging

50:33and missing and I mean, it was ugly, but and I mentally I couldn't handle the hitting part. It was I took a toll on me there too. So I'm like, I'll stick onto the onto the bump out there and um, you know, not once that I was like, you know, we'd joke around with it, but never am I like, oh, I actually need to. I've sounds like you're making your way to the ballpark, but can you already feel the buzz for baseball as in boring night at Fenway tonight? It pretty much. I mean, I I could I saw the Brad foe. He's got heads and there's a fat head over there. Oh, I'm glad. It's clarification. Am I good? I'm looking for Brad. I'm looking for the Fenway right now. It's just Brad foe carry it around his own fat head. Do you remember it? Is there like a favorite minor league, uh, like promotion that they would do? Because they they do a great job in all these different parks with like, whether it's bobbleheads

51:37or t-shirts or all kinds of wild celebrities. Is there one that stands out to you from your minor league days? Um, I mean, there were there were a lot. I thought greenville's promotions are pretty good. They had a few good bobbleheads while it was there. This the a couple of weeks ago, Joey Chessma being at the at Portland and doing and doing an eating competition on the field. That's pretty special, but there's some we had a good uh, uh, oh gosh, Scooby Doo, Jersey. Nice. In Portland. That was pretty. That they get that love whenever they get created with that stuff. One more quickly and then we'll get to the business of the Jones and Keith draft order and your excellent event, the ticket tournament, benefiting and power. It'll be September 10th at Topgolf in Canton. Um, you've been asked this periodically throughout the course of the year. Have the Red Sox talk extension with you at all? Uh, they have not. No. So what's your your appetite? Uh, if they came to

52:40you, what's your appetite for for talking with them to to stay in Boston for a while? I mean, you know, it's I will say it kind of say what I've been saying about it. I'm like it's it's great. You see a guy like Roman being able to be, you know, be able to call this place home, uh, for a long time. And I think that that is really cool. I think, um, you know, we were talking about my wife earlier and we call this place home right now. We'll call it home for, um, as long as they want me to. So I'll leave those conversations to, um, the people that need to have those conversations and get myself, uh, you know, invest in those conversations with the right need to. But, um, you know, I think it's cool. It's it's fun to talk about. But, um, at the end of the day, that's not happening yet. And I'm going to continue to, you know, work every day of, you know, that I need to continue to prove it. And, um, but, you know, it's part of it. So.

53:44Well, I'll speak for everybody and say that we all hope that you do. Yeah. It's not a long-term extension here at some point. So yeah, I'll say that. Hopefully it's not like the Patriots of Treating God. Yeah. Yeah. That's a different story. All right. Finisie football. Um, we have a draft tonight and you are kind enough to randomize our draft order. Uh, 12 through one for us. So, uh, without further ado, Peyton, what do we got? All right. So I'm, I'm, I'm, I might, I don't think there's any tough names on here. But we're going to go top three right here. I'm just going to go turp Brian and 50. Okay. I didn't hear it. And then are we getting that? Yep. Yep. Keep on. Yep. Good. Okay. Okay. And then Stiz and Ted. Um, um, um, skiing, sky, time, time, time, time, time, time, time. Yep. Yep. We're close. I just tried to, I was taught in school to just sound it out. Um, we're going to go Jones. Yeah. Jones at six. Okay.

54:53Keith seven. Uh, okay. Love that. Uh, uh, then Dan ball. Okay. Dan ball at eight. Yep. Heart, heart at nine. David and David 10, David 10. Very good. To more than this leaves. Nick and Billy rounding out. Oh, right. That is the official Jones and Keith draft order. I'm six. Keith is seven. That's 11 Billy 12. Do you guys have a, uh, a red socks fantasy league? Uh, we do. We do. We, uh, we, we, we schedule. We did a, did the order for, uh, a couple of the staff, um, we drew names out of a hat and they ran around the bases. And so we got, we got a draft coming up. Uh, at some point this way, I'm not too, I probably need to be more locked in. I gotta start, I gotta start mocking on this flight over to the ball. You can watch Jones and Keith tonight on YouTube.

55:55If you want any tips, we got to draft live on YouTube tonight. Yeah. What's the buy in? What's the buy in? I feel like Garrett crochet might be able to buy in a little bit more than some of the other guys. Um, I mean, yeah, it's, uh, it's enough. There's a, I am splitting a team. So it's, uh, wow, we're, we're like, you're like, Stis and Tim. Who's your, who's your co, who's your co, what's your coent owner? Uh, it's me and Rutch. So we're, uh, we're, yeah, we're, we're excited. It's gonna be a fun year. Okay. Uh, well, Peyton, Toli, it's also going to be a fun event, a, a great event. The Tigger tournament benefiting in power with Peyton, Toli and his wife, Devon. It is September 10th. So next week at Topgolf Boston in Canton and it supports children who have lost a parent while celebrating resilience, optimism and the power of moving forward. What can you tell us about this event next week, Peyton? Yeah. I mean, I'm super excited about it. Uh, it's my first, I think for me, whenever going up and then possibly getting to the show, it was,

56:58get to the show is the dream, but also be able to, um, pour into those that need it and being a guy that has lost a parent, um, at, uh, 20 years old, uh, being able to pour into these kids that are much younger than me, but they're still, they need that community and they need, uh, there's some mentors, uh, mentor program. They're able to find community together. Um, I love them, power. It's, I've been able to spend some time with them, um, walking down the freedom trail, actually. So it's been a whole lot of fun. They're great kids. It's a great organization. Um, then I'm just proud to be partnered with them and, um, in terms of the event, I think it's going to be a whole lot of fun, uh, probably see who can hit a drive as far there. Uh, uh, so that's what I go to Topgolf, to just see if I can hit it over the net, which it just ends up going, it ends up going far and hard, right. But it's, it'll be, it'll be a great event. And I'm super

58:01excited. It's super proud of it. Uh, there's a whole lot of people working really hard, uh, to make this happen and, um, just super thankful to them. But yeah, it should be a whole lot of fun and hope to see a lot of people there. Okay. Uh, well, again, it is next week, uh, in Canton at Topgolf, it is Peyton and his wife, Devin, the Tigger tournament, uh, on September 10th. Uh, Peyton, we really appreciate it. Thank you so much for helping us out with the draft order and, uh, well, best of luck. Rest of the season. Of course, he has a bucks in. All right. Thank you. Okay. Peyton, Toli, very good. You're on Jones and Keith. Uh, again, if he needs any fantasy tips or any of you do out there, you can watch along on YouTube tonight. I'm picking sixth. I mean, clear. Yeah, I'm picking seventh. We're smack dab in the middle. It's funny because right before we, during the break, you and I were talking about it and we're like, you know what? We don't want to pick middle of the round. The middle. Yeah, I was like, I either want like three picks or I want like 12. I'll trade you Nick and Lani. I would rather have the late pick, but we're going to go with Peyton Toli's word. Yeah. That's that I, you know, I, I, you know, you want the left? No, I was just saying, I love Peyton Toli. Put him in the bullpen for me. 11. Put him in the bullpen. Wow. Jesus.

59:04I think dump yourself. I did my best to not say anything about Adley Rushman having a lot of time to get ready for the draft. I was glad you didn't. I have a mon again. Sometimes. Thank you for doing that. I crossed my mind. I thought that Adley Rushman has some prep time. He's like, right ago, he's like, four that. Just like, three hundred mock drafts ready to go. That seems going to be nasty. That's what he's doing. The iPad that dug out. All right. But also in all seriousness, you get into like a baseball locker. Remember how serious was it? Jock Peterson and there's a fun. There's Jock Peterson, Tommy, Tommy Femme. Tommy Femme. Yeah. I'm kind of a fist fight on a fantasy football. I believe it. I'm going to leave with some wild men. I believe it. I'll leave it. I'll have a fist fight in this league. Yeah. We could. I got a text from somebody that says, if you throw me out of the league for Peyton Toli, I'm going to snap. But um, yeah, I think the fact that they're splitting a team also goes to tell you like the buy-in is not not insignificant for a man who by the way has not talked extension with the Red Sox. Yeah. Well, they're too busy locking up Christian Campbell. Come on. I mean, that was fun. I love that.

1:00:07How do you beat that with Peyton Toli? If you missed that, we know that it's a different pick, but I'm not going to, you know, honestly, obviously app AUD ACY get it on your phone. It's free. It's easy. You can take it with you wherever you go. You want me to second a Jones and Keith, including our interview that just wrapped with Peyton Toli. We can get back to the Patriots. They're captains. What does it say? If anything about their negotiations with Christian Gonzalez, there are updates on that as well. We'll get to all of it in just two minutes on Jones and Keith. Compact capable, surprisingly roomy. Always forward with Kia. My apartment garage in Los Felices was clearly designed by someone who never had to open a car door. That's where my Kia Celto's just fits. With room for work bags, yoga mats, groceries, and whatever I accidentally buy at the Rose Bowl flea market, small SUV, real cargo room, I've got turbocharged power and all we'll drive for the days LA decides to be more mountain than city. The all new Kia Celto's is built for the way your life actually moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. Crystal Geyser Alpine Springwater is now the official water partner of the Iron Man North America

1:01:09series. Together, we'll hydrate athletes from the first mile to the finish line with Alpine Springwater that's always bottled at the Natural Spring Source. We're proud to partner with Iron Man and support a community defined by perseverance, determination, and the pursuit of extraordinary goals. Crystal Geyser Alpine Springwater. Always bottled at the source. Nurse! Today's episode is sponsored by Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast. Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists to explain the why behind major financial decisions. You'll get research back to insights and clear pros and cons, whether you're planning a big purchase or just want to grow your wealth. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow Nerdwallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast app. One of you can see what's happening inside your body. Pre-newvos whole body scans screens for hundreds of conditions, including many solid tumors

1:02:10as early as stage one, all in under an hour. And now, you can go beyond imaging with 80 plus blood biomarkers that help complete the picture. This Labor Day, save $300 off your scan. When you book at pre-newvo.com, that's P-R-E-N-U-V-O.com. Save $300 now through September 8th at pre-newvo.com. Terms and conditions apply. The ocean delights us. Some marvel at the colorful world below the surface. The ocean feeds us. Others find nourishment in its bounty. The ocean teaches us. How our everyday choices impact even the deepest places. The ocean moves us. Whether we're riding a wave or soaking in its breathtaking beauty. The ocean connects us. Find your connection at monoraybeacquarium.org slash connects. Red Sox Front Office Report this week brought to you by Shaw's and Star Market Official Supermarket

1:03:11of the Red Sox Radio Network by FindMastMoney.gov and by John Sewer and Drain Cleaning. The name to know when your drains don't flow and it is the Chief Baseball Officer of the Boston Red Sox, Craig Breslow, who joins us right now. And it says here on my screen, are you working from home currently, Craig? No, I am not. I'm working from some sandwich bar. All right, but I'm guessing that you might, I should probably suggest, you might side with technology on this. I'm not sure exactly what the question is. I think asking me if I, if I side with technology, you could be dangerous. Well, I'll tell you what I didn't want to ask you about. Tobaro and NBA term, it seems like we are seeing some load management going on. Is that kind of what the strategy wise, what you guys are doing right now?

1:04:13I guess the answer would be maybe in that where we are is wanting to make sure that, guys who have either some lingering injuries, discomfort, soreness, or our approaching workloads that maybe they haven't before, we're trying to be as smart as possible about making sure that we're completely healthy, recovered, fresh for a stretch run. I don't think though that we're in a position to just take healthy guys and try to manipulate how much work they're taking on. We think about Sunny and having him skip a start and then swap back into rotation this weekend. This was not a reaction to something that's happened recently. This is more an accumulation of the work that he sat over the last month and a half or so and him wanting to stay on regular rest the last, I think, four or five turns through and then just saying, hey, I've been a fit from a few days. So we call that load management, we call that being smart, we'll leave that up to you guys.

1:05:16When it comes to Sunny, there's not a concern about a pain thing or an injury thing. It's really, it's just the rest, right? Yes, exactly. He knew that we were trying to find times to give Jake and Peyton extra day where we could when Ranger was coming off the IEL and still working his overall volume up. He said, hey, I can go on a regular five day. My body feels really good. There will be some point where I'll probably come here and say, hey, give me a couple extra days just to get back in sync. We knew that that was likely to happen. And then another example would be Wilson who was very clearly playing through from hamstring soreness and we were at this place where he could go two or three days in a row, but then might need a day or if he really needed to push it, not feeling totally confident like it was there and if we got through the Yankee series saying, hey, this is probably the right time to get on the other side of it. So we're trying to manage all those things. Craig, when you look at

1:06:16guys like Garakro, Shane Curtis, me, there's been reports of them working their way back. Where are you when it comes to being able to utilize those guys in the postseason? Is that some? I know it's hard to put a number, but are you feeling like maybe 60, 70% as a chance we'll be able to utilize those guys or even a higher number than that? It's so hard to put a percentage on it or a probability on it. I think instead we're trying to use, we're trying to map out some benchmarks that would be evidence of meaningful progress for Garrett. Obviously, the first one was throwing and then we'll be getting off the mound and facing hitters with Curtis. It was, you know, we needed to get the cast off and then need to get strength and range of motion back and then you're going to need to swing. So I know each of those guys are doing everything that Betty can to get back. And they're making progress every day, but to say exactly where they'll be four weeks from now,

1:07:16I think, just might be kind of foolish at this moment. I feel like our relationship has grown in the right direction. But if you, if you ever again, send Mickey Gaspert anywhere else other than Fenway Park, you and I are going to have a real problem. He has been just incredible to the point that when he gets up there and he hits a single, you somehow feel like he's let you down. It's incredible. It's just really fun to watch and so happy for this guy who has been through a lot. He's bounced around. He's finally getting some run to play every day. And we're seeing just an incredible potential. You can really, really get. I think that's become very clear. Craig, when it comes to Adley Rushman being out with the right elbow, this is something that now the team has said that they might have to manage for the remainder of the season. When you could take into consideration that he was your main acquisition at the

1:08:17trade deadline and what you've had to deal with since then. How serious is it? And what would you what would you rate that trade now? Sure, I don't think. In a trade like this where Adley is still here next season when some of the players that we gave up have very, very long tails of control. I don't think it can be graded a month after the trade. We knew what we were getting with Adley. We obviously were able to go through the medical and got comfortable with it. This is a situation where he took a swing and felt like he hyper extended the right elbow. There's some residual irritation and bruising that we can manage in that. He can play and we're just trying to straddle the line of when is it best to give him some rest and maybe be able to get out on the other side of this versus having him in the lineup is going to help us.

1:09:20So I don't think managing this is necessarily like the scary term or scary idea that it could sound. I think it's more saying he can play with this but there might be some time where he needs a day or he doesn't bounce back quite as well. And conversely there might be a situation where we're maybe over the last few days we've been able to give him enough rest to where it's it's gone to the point that he can go out there and he can play every day. But I think we know what we're dealing with and it doesn't appear as though there's anything really scary going on here. So if this were the playoffs tomorrow he could play. He'd be in the lineup. Yes. Was there was there a concern? I know you said you got comfortable with the medicals. We went over them yesterday in detail. The elbow has been an issue dating back. There was a couple of years ago with the right elbow. He was injured when he arrived. You have no concern about his ability to be a healthy player for your team going forward. Correct. He was on the I.O. when we got him with a wrist injury. That is not what's happening here.

1:10:20This is a flare up as a result of a swing where his right arm got into that and range and the result was some irritation and some bruising. But this is a different injury than what he was on the I.O. with when he got here. Yes, this was a playoff. We are very likely to see him in the lineup today. But feel confident in his ability to help us on the stretch here. Any concern the overpaid form? No, I think we'll be able to evaluate the trade in its totality probably five or six years from now. But the catching spot was an area where we felt like we needed to upgrade. The team had put us in a position to where being aggressive and trying to add at the deadline made a lot of sense. So we went out and we did it. Roman Anthony with a home run last night. Yesterday afternoon, but whatever. There was some question about when the decision,

1:11:28how you made the decision when it came to he and Trevor's story on playing in the Yankee series. What went into that for you guys? Sure. Just the combination of making sure that each of those guys and we can lump them together because they both were activated at the same time, but we approached them individually because they were dealing with different injuries, play different positions, etc. But wanted to make sure that we were meeting the two criteria both being completely healthy so that they weren't worrying about those injuries when they were coming back and could play with confidence. And then from a baseball standpoint, feeling like they were ready to come out and perform, just given the success that the team had had over the last couple of months and wanting to make sure that those guys were ready to contribute at levels that we've seen in the past. Craig, when you look at Trevor's story in both Roman Anthony, I know the biggest thing when when guys return from injuries is how they feel after they've played a few games

1:12:28physically. How have these guys have been feeling physically after getting some games underneath their belt? Sure. They both have said that they feel good. And the demands on each has been a little bit different with Roman, D.H.A. playing playing right one of the games to give the chance to get really off his feet. But I think Roman, in a position to where he can be in the lineup every single day, Trevor probably a little bit different just because I think the demands on his body at playing the middle of the field are a little bit different. So we're likely going to find our spots to give him days. And it becomes a lot easier to do that when you know that you've got quite a bit of depth that had stepped in and will continue to step in and make that those days pretty seamless. You bring up giving them days. I was just going to ask, is it sustainable for how good they're feeling with coming off these injuries? I'd like to think so just because we were in communication

1:13:28with each of the players, the medical staff. They rehab was pretty deliberate in terms of the buildup. But I don't know that there's any way to recreate a major league environment, including the travel, the pressure, just the speed of the game. So we'll make sure that we talk to those guys. And like I said, it is likely that we'll give them a day to make sure that they stay sharp. And that's a lot easier to do when you've got pieces on the bench that you know can step right in. Craig, we've talked a lot about it. And I think, you know, our own Rob Bradford, who had a big day if I would call it the Sunday prior to the game, the biggest August game in the history of the Red Sox. And then in the fifth inning of that game, you had Sadan Rathayala, a peer to catch a ball that was called, not a catch was reviewed and it was upheld as not a catch. What do you think happened? Do you think Sadan Rathayala caught that ball in the fifth inning? So I do. And a lot of that comes from talking to Sadan and feeling quite confident that if there's

1:14:30somebody in baseball who can tell you whether or not they caught a ball, it's Sadan Rathayala. And I think based on everything that we've seen, you probably are in the benefit of the doubt. I also understand why once the play went to review and there was that split second blind spot of not being able to see where the ball was behind the glove that maybe the call couldn't be overturned. But my strong suspicion is that if it were ruled a catch on the field, it would have stood. And that's a really frustrating thing there. Craig, last one for me, when you start to look at a team like the Yankees that you face so many times throughout the regular season, and then you potentially could see them in the postseason. It's about confidence and familiarity. Do you feel like if you as a team had to go into New York, do you feel confident in this baseball team that you guys could win that series? I do. And that's not to say that we shouldn't understand the situation and recognize

1:15:34that the caliber of team that New York is. I also think you talked about familiarity and I do think that's really important that we've seen, they're lined up a number of times. We've seen the arms that they're going to throw at us a number of times. It's always tough to go into Yankees stadium and win a series, but we're confident in the group that we have and I think the more times that we see them, the better our chances become. But there's a lot of baseball to play between now and then and we've got to make sure that we're focused on the series that we have involved more starting tonight. Alright, Craig Brezlo, thanks for taking the time. We will talk to you again in a couple weeks. Sounds great. Thank you. Alright, that is Craig Brezlo. I say a couple weeks because we will be joined on Wednesday show by Chad Tracy. So Chad Tracy joining us next week on Wednesday on opening night for the New England Patriots and we will be back in two minutes. Joining us now is a special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer as our coordinator series is back

1:16:38this year. Jeremy, how are you? I'm doing great, man. You said Friday and to me, it's like a Tuesday so it's a little different feel today than it usually is. It's funny. Robert Spalain was on the morning show and he said the exact same things. Do you guys have had to sort of change your calendars around a little bit, huh, for the game on Wednesday? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I'm just glad you guys got me out of the office. I'm walking outside right now so I get a little break from the office. I'm good. Very good. How's the preparation? How do you think training camp went? You know, it was it was good, man. We, you know, we got a lot of new guys in like it is every year with the Christian and new signings and things like that. And, you know, just the buy-in from the culture standpoint of last year and getting some of the same guy looks blamed back and and Holland and some of the guys that just been here and just been getting more and more of this. So it's it's been good. It's been good. We're going to be tested week one, but I'm excited, man. It's going to be fun. A fun fun visit, a fun game and I couldn't be more excited to open up a piece that way. Jeremy, we've heard you talk a lot about how with special teams players, sometimes the best thing for you is to

1:17:42see them kind of graduate to offensive defense reps. When you look at Elijah Ponder, how excited are you for him and his opportunity on the defense this year? I'm so excited for him, man. I mean, it's just the journey that he had from last year. I mean, just being a four-core guy, I mean, took every special team rep. I mean, I kind of felt bad for him because he just was dog tired of your practice because he did every rep. But then the long run towards the playoffs, he's like, that he just grew up and since then, man, I just matured matured and he's very he's a professional in every every step of the way. And I hope he balls out for us. That's going to be good for us on special teams. If he's balling out and I'm going to be more excited for him. Yeah. Oh, is he is he like incredibly smart because I was talking to him and apparently he was an architectural engineer major at Paul Polly. Yeah. So the thing was Ponder, he doesn't talk a lot. It's very quiet. I mean, you don't see any emotion. You don't see any excitement. You really don't see any like

1:18:44sadness or anger. He just like, he looks at you. He listens and he's just grasping and he's one of those guys and I noticed this from coaching college for a long time and now in the NFL. Like, the really, really good players in the league, they see it one time or they make them the stake and the next time they don't make them the stick again. And he's like the pit of me of that. Like, he'll make a mistake and he won't ever do it again or he'll see something in the meeting room or walk through it and then he's good. He doesn't have he doesn't need much reps at it. So it's those guys right there that I just feel like they're able to play a lot of time this league is those life things going on in this game. You know, the last few years, Patriots fans are used to seeing Brandon's school or fly up and down the field and make a ton of plays. We know he's on the NFL. Not going to be a part of the early season. What's the challenge for you not having a guy like that on the field? Yeah, you really can't replace. You don't replace a guy like that. And it's going to it's he's lost. Like it's tough to when you game plan, you have a guy like him. It's just easier game plan, right? It's just like having AJ Brown or you haven't Drake Mayer. That's how it

1:19:46is for us on special teams. Like he can he can do a lot of things where it makes you look better because he's so good. So you know, because of that, we just have to manufacture some roles for guys and and get some new guys in there. And at the end of the day, you know, we're going to be playing with younger guys and and that's what's all about. Those guys are going to have to learn. They're going to learn quick and they're going to have to make up for the slack that, you know, we're going to we're going to be missing without having to school it out there. Is he somebody you guys are expecting to get back at some point this year or is this unfortunately going to be looked like a lost season? I'm not sure. I'm not sure on that, you know, we'll see how that time table goes with that. I just know we don't have a week one. So I don't all I'm worried about right now is the Seattle prep and I know we don't have them. So I'm preparing that we're not going to have them and just going to go forward with that. With that Seattle prep for you personally, how much have you thought about how you're going to feel when you're out there? First time being back out any real game and it happens to be the team you guys lost two in the Super Bowl. You're in their house and they're going to be raising that banner in front of you. Like have you kind of sit expectations

1:20:49for you? Is that something that Mike has talked to the coaching staff at all about like managing your human side of you and your emotions? You know ever since I've been coaching or even as a player, it doesn't matter the stage, it doesn't matter the game. It can be a scrimmage like I'm always nervous, I'm in a good way. I got anxiety, I'm nervous, I'm thinking about everything, you know, but that's because I care so much and I know there'll be players that way, there'll be coaches that way, however they kind of stood it. So there's no really talk about it. Every player is different, every coach is different how they handle the situation. It's just about preparing. I think at the end of the day we're preparing for Seattle and that's how I'm going to attack it so that I'm the most prepared on game day. So when things happen or we go through adversity, how do I adjust, how do I coach it and how do I move on and that's the kind of the best way I can just put it is like I'm going to prepare my ass off and however it shapes out like I'm going to be prepared for those situations. How do you guys are? What's the thought process behind who is and is not the kick returner?

1:21:50How often let's say Marcus Jones does return ponds versus you know the ones where he decided not to return? I'm always fascinated to see what teams do and who they decide to return kicks at certain times. I think you know you always want your best out there and there's going to be a situation that calls for that and I think you just got to go with the flow of the game. Every game's different, you know if we're having a lot more defensive plays or a lot more offense or just the flow of the game the diamond distance those things are all handled and that's why go back to preparation. You got to prepare for those things and prepare for things like that. Now I know on the other side they're going to have Rashishahe back there so I ain't thinking about much about that. I know they're going to put back there and he's the guy he's the pro bowl he's one of the best in the league so I'm put on my focus and I'm prepared for him and then we'll continue to do what we do here for Marcus and our guys in the back end. Jeremy you come off as a pretty high energy guy even just watching you in training camp but talking to you and in these interviews as well. Is there something about being a special teams coordinator that attracts that personality type or is it being in that job that brings that out of you? I just think I just love what I do. I don't know if

1:22:56everybody coaches that way or I think every special team coordinator. I just I enjoy what I do and I think for me to be a better coach for whatever reason I think the energy part of it is important. I think when I was a player my short-lived career I just enjoyed coaches that had really good energy and positive and I was thinking that way and this not always that way I probably like on a Tuesday like today. I found a little different than I probably would on a Friday when the whole game plans in. So I'm just all I'm taking about right now so I'm just a little different feel for it but again I go back to just I want our guys to enjoy being here and love being here and I want to coach them as far as I can but doing it in the positive manner. What's the confidence level in Bore Gales right now? You know last year was interesting he missed a few kicks early and then was really reliable and hit a lot of 50 plus yarders and you seem like a guy that was pretty nails. This year you know especially without the starters playing a lot or at all for offensive defense we weren't kind of looking in the preseason more on the kickers and there was the game where he missed a handful of kicks coach Raebles talking about it afterwards. He did seem to kind of clean that up both in practice and the subsequent preseason games but where are you at right now on Bore Gales?

1:24:00Awful confidence I love I love Andy he does a great job for us. There's Edson flows for everything as a player whether you're a kicker or you're a quarterback and so guys go through having flows and train that's what training comes for you know what to fail in training Kevin to fail in practice and to fill in some scrimmages or whatever it may be like I encourage that because I'm not going to give the best call I'm not going to coach it the best way but hopefully by the time we hit the regular season we've got some stuff out the way which I know Andy has and we've cleaned some things up and and we're rolling man I mean I 100% confidence in Andy being our guy and I couldn't be more excited for him to see how the season plays out. He fast about some of the returners between Kyle Williams and Efton Chisholm what do you see those two guys being able to provide for you this year? You know I see it you know with those like Kyle Chish or running backs you know they all have to have a returner role and they're all working at that so it always you know you just played out on who's you know active and active and you got to play injuries and what their role is on office and or defense and you got to play it that way and that's what we're doing preparing all

1:25:04right this is our guy this is our guy how are we going to return the ball what kind of returns are best for that person and you got to prepare every single one of them like they're going to be the starter which is what we do now and it's new kickoff return age where you know it's it's a lot more physical than people think and so you have to have guys ready to go and if a guy gets injured or a guy's out then you got to put the next guy in so I really prepare like there's a group of starters out there they all get a lot of reps so that they're all prepared for the game. All right Jeremy Springer special teams coordinator thanks for the time today enjoy the rest of your Tuesday and we will talk to you in a few weeks good luck against Seattle. Yeah you guys have a great Friday and great weekend. All right thank you Jeremy Springer join us we got the coordinators back this year so I believe Josh McDaniels will be up next week at some point then Zach Kaur and then back to Jeremy Springer so very good Patriots Friday we'll roll on throughout the season all Friday for us Tuesday for the current Patriots right now. Let's clear the air about hybrids with Kia. I live in Pasadena so my Kia tell you ride turbo hybrid has to do a little of everything

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1:28:12This is P-R-E-N-U-E-E-I. It's certainly Ken Laird, three-time superbowl champion Ted Johnson, an instrumental version of Master of Puppets. I love coming out of Instra-Boot with Instra-Mantles. For some reason, when the people start singing and I'm talking over the top of it, it's like that episode of the office when he's trying to wrap over OPP that has the lyrics. It's tough like talking over that. All right, but God bless Metallica. And God bless Tommy Kern from NBC Sports Boston. We love having him on with us. He is a gentleman who right now is just so enthralled with everything with Christian Gonzalez. He's

1:29:13trying to find the dirt. All I know is that Christian Gonzalez is not signed to an extension. Who knows what's going to go on, but Tommy Kern is going to tell us right now. Tommy, what's going on, buddy? Are you saying that? Are you saying that to start castically knowing that I have the highest level of Christian Gonzalez contact to see you in the area? Yes, I am. And I'll tell you why. I'm going to tell you why right now. He's not going to not play. Really? That's the issue. So you're 100% that he's not going to not play. You think he's going to play in a manner? Look, look, who's 100% on anything? You're going to make it home tonight? You're going to make it home tonight. All right, fine. So again, he has been saying and through media members and including Ian Rappabord a couple months ago, he would play his fourth year and see what happens after the season. He's not going to not play. He's not going to do what Logan Mankins did. Because Logan Mankins, in my 29 years of cover in the team, is the only guy who ever held out for 10

1:30:19games. He's not in the custody doing that. He's not getting hosed. He doesn't like the contract as it sits. But if it was really that frigid bad, he'd have been kicking his stream a lot earlier. Instead, the craftsmen say, well, I'm only sign this thing and they're the ones who started the pitching and mowing. So in the end, that's why I look at this and like, he's going to sign something in the next week. And this is going to be so much freaking hot air. But it's what we got to do because there's a show to fill. Tommy said in the tone early in the interview, I like this. I like it. I like it. Tommy Kerin said right here, it's going to be signed before the season starts. Yes, he did. I just waited for a compliment. I don't have to confirm myself confirming. Well, you're like the athletic doing a, you know, a investigation of themselves talking to themselves and releasing it themselves. That's what you're doing right now. Right. All right. So Tom, okay, good. Well, then we'll move on. I do like the fact that you're so emphatic about

1:31:21it because I think this, you know what? I got to put one little after this next to what you said. Okay. I don't care if he signs it or not. He's playing. Okay. That's the, that's the, that's it. Okay. Okay. Here's why I can, here's why I got a billionaire trying to get a hundred million air. I mean, he's going to play football. And that in the end, everybody sitting out there with their radio on and their headphones and their cubicles or in their cars just wants to watch the football. He, I guess, I guess, I guess, and I'll end it this. Here's why I care is because there, if he doesn't have a contract signed and he's unhappy, what's to keep him from not playing through an injury that normally he would play through? Like something like a, like a, a little bit of a sore hamstring. Don't you believe that he would err on the side of not playing to protect himself instead of going out there and playing through it? Well, that's his problem if he does that because it could bite a little bit his value, but it didn't really for Sosgardner who sucked and still made a lot of money and go to read it for two-fourth round picks. But I guess you'd cross that bridge

1:32:25when you come to it. Are you going to run around the training camp for two months and then go out and, you know, not participate in the game because you get a bent knee. If you do then, I guess that's kind of buttresses your point of why are we trying to reset the market with this guy? But Tom, did you see Rodney Harrison commenting on this that it was a terrible message? You buy that a lot. No, who cares? Do you think I care if you got hosed in a contract dispute? The players might. When I came to the table, when I came to the table and they somebody gave me a fair one, who cares? People are like, oh, free agents might not want to come here. The agents are going to go with the money as if the Patriots don't like it. It could impact AJ Brown. AJ Brown might be looking at it and go, wow, are they going to host me next year? I've been, you know, strapped in. I'm making $4 million guarantee and I want to make about 35 consider that's the going rate might want to buckle up his distance. But it's not going to scare free agents away. Free agents are going to say, can you find me the best places for me to visit? Okay, I'm going to take a right turn here and it goes a different direction. Tom, I'm just curious.

1:33:30It was fun, though. I don't mind. I'm going to ask a footbally question because the game is right around the corner, which is insane. I'm only four or five days away. Just curious from what you've seen from Drake May in preseason and training camp. What do you expect to see in his game that's different this year than maybe we didn't see last year in his game? Throwing to pro bowlers and I would think that digs probably would not have qualified as a pro bowl campaign last year. Cusp of it, but 80 catches for a thousand yards is a cut below pro bowl performance I think in 2026. But he doesn't just have one all pro level receiver to throw to. He's got a digs replacement in Romeo dobs. So I think you're going to see kind of a turbo boost to him, but you know, we're doing quicks and I'm kind of the point I'm going to make is the Patriots better than they were in February. Maybe but who cares? That's in a vacuum. How much better

1:34:32are they in relation to the best teams in the league like Seattle, like San Francisco, like the Rams, like the bills? How much better are they than those teams? So the Patriots are going to be better and Drake May is going to be better. The numbers might not indicate it, but they will all be better. Get this out the way. The combined records of the first floor opponents from last year or last year's combined records of the first floor opponents this year is 49 and 19. Wow. They just they just fight in upperclass so everything will fit better. But it might and they might play better, but they might not have the same looking results. I'm watching clicks quicksand tonight. You're fired up. I mean, you were ready to go. I'm telling you that. Is this my my not going off half clock? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not half clock. I'm making sense. I am putting I'm putting the Louisville Flutter to the hand ringing of what is everybody else's

1:35:34mad Christian double-havocon track? Oh, if you ever sit there and say boy, I sure hope that Willoughby get his kids his deal. Never not once. Nope, nope. Not nothing. Okay, well, can I ask you about some of your other concerns that I saw you express, Tom, those were about this defense. You seem to I don't know what words you're about because you extrapolate on what you said on NBC about some defense. I just don't think they're very deep. I think they have significant and that's not really breaking news, but their edge, which for instance, Sam Donald last year when he had time, he was like the third graded pastor by EPA and the league when pressure to you was like 27th. The Patriots are going to try and bring pressure next week with Elijah Ponder, Gabe Ackis, and Jerry Montjones, and that's what constitutes your pressure unless you want to bring exotic blitzes and try and gain things up

1:36:39and against better teams. That's hard to really fool them with. If you have a quality law sets of line, they'll pick that up or if you have a veteran quarterback, they'll sniff that out, and then they will exploit you. So the drop off, defensibly I think this year is going to be pre-radical going from being Spencer Ratler and two or a couple of times and whoever was playing quarterback in New York. It's just it's just going to be more difficult and I don't think that's the depth on defense. They get into depth on defense. I mean, it's not 11 guys rolling out there without getting down to player 16, 17, and 18. Their depth is really a concern and I just don't know if they're ready to be that stalwart against the run on a week-to-week basis either. It gets the better teams. That's my I predicted this. How's this? Patriots were fourth and scoring defense last year overall. 18.8 points per game. I think that they will be about

1:37:39bottom half this year. Allow about 24 points per game. Fortunately for them, they should score about 26 or 27, which is kind of what they did last year. But you're going to see a lot of those games where maybe next week concluded where it's 28, 24, 27, 23 against the good teams and against the bad ones. It's going to be 34 or 13 Patriots. And it's going to be even worse when Christian Gonzalez isn't playing for them. All right, so I want to ask you about this thing that would viral. I guess it was just earlier this week and it was the whole four uprights, four yellow posts. That was great. It was pretty cool. Okay, so I mean, obviously you know what we're talking about where whenever the opposing team at Lads stadium was kicking our field goal, they would put on the video board behind it a kind of inverted version of it. So it looked like there were four goal posts and the win was blowing in the opposite direction. But when the Patriots

1:38:40were kicking to their own one, they would not do that in order to collect form and optical illusion. But what was great was that after all that happened and everyone was giving her any items, all this credit. Michael Hurley, who I love and who obviously he's like our own Pablo Tory. He finds out he does the digging. I loved awesome. Good. He should be doing more stuff. Michael Hurley's awesome and he's underused and I'm glad that you guys are doing that. Yeah, me and him, him and me. That's great. So, but he went and said, hang on, years ago, I noticed that teams all over the league were doing this and he went and pulled up pictures of teams all over the league doing the exact same thing. Was it the Patriots that might have originated that and everyone ripped them off? Or is he indeed right that this is something that's just for some reason because there's one tweet that said it was the Patriots doing it that everyone's giving them credit for being the inventor of it? Probably that. I think the Patriots, you know, people aren't really investigating what the Cardinals might have been up to in that early part of this century because they sucked. The Patriots do attract more eyeballs and if they've done something that's unique,

1:39:44they're going to attract more attention. So, but Graham Gennos was kicker in the league, saw this conversation and on Twitter, he retweeted that initial tweet of the observation of what the Patriots had been doing and said, yeah, teams all across the league would do different things. They would do a close-up of my face right before I was kicking. But it came to pass. I guess Stephen Gaskowski had told Bill that he doesn't like seeing the four bullpose and there's two options where he doesn't like seeing the all-22. Yeah, two options, apparently, and the league came out with a statement. You could either put a static image up there, something that just didn't change, or you could put the all-22 up there. You had those two choices. You couldn't put up, miss it, or anything like that. So, the Patriots, Gaskowski said, it distracts me when I have the all-22 up there. Can we have a static image? So, he gets a static image and then they said, hey, it's distracting to you. I wonder what it'll do to a crappy kicker.

1:40:47Yeah. Yeah, no question. And it's weird too because now all of a sudden Ernie Adams is getting all this extra attention because back in the day, he was, I guess, the whispers were that he was the genius behind all of this. Have you heard about, because I mean, when you've been around the team all this time, and even Ted was saying that nobody really knew what Ernie did when he was there, and we've talked to other players that are just like, he was this mysterious guy. Did you ever find out like what indeed he, like extra things he was doing? Yeah, kind of give me a little example of what you knew of Ernie. Yeah. All right. I'll give you a few examples. One, he was basically in charge of not necessarily covert operations, but intelligence. He was in charge of intelligence, put it that way. And you could see him playing his day every week in pregame, standing at the 50 R line in the middle of the field watching the opponents warm up. And if you remember the, I don't know if it's due to your job or whatever was left the Atlanta

1:41:50Super Bowl, it was observed in pregame that Julio Jones was having a more difficult time on his ankle, cutting to his left, I believe. And that was observed during pregame. So it's things like that. Who's your personnel? What are you doing? You know, in terms of collecting signals, which they certainly did, I think that's well established, how they did it, and how anyone did it was the source of, you know, so much angst in 2006 and 2007. But that's something to tell me once, you know, we got from those signals, I'm like, no, what? The clock could be running down and did you see her any going? It's a place, it's a place. No, no, no, it's not a place, it's not a blitz. The thing had cut out. Because that did. So diminishing returns maybe on occasion, but he was basically in charge of covert operations and he and Bill had known each other since still have standover. So any coach here, when, for instance, you know, Leon Gray and Johnny Hanna were on the team. He had been here

1:42:55forever. He knows what a good football player will play and knows what constitutes a good football player in terms of what Bill would define. So I think Bill always valued that. So that's Intel. He was an Intel guy. And I'll just add one more thing. He was also when there was the big decision to be made in a game, critical decision, forked down. Do we pump? Do we snap the ball out of bounds on this punt? You know, or, or, you know, for the safety or in the Denver game, that kind of stuff that to me is when Ernie was probably very valuable to Bill as well. But and now we're receiving the week has not just an analytic guy helping them with that, but of you know, I just, French for Brable. Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. Hey, just I just want to get your your before the season starts. What is what are you, how you picking the Patriots? How many wins, you know, and how do you see them do the first four games? I mean, the first four games are against, you know, all playoff teams from last year. I think it's one of the toughest starts, you know, before team with with that three games are on the road.

1:44:01Then in the last 20 years, so how do you think the Patriots, what's the record this year? And how did they get to the first four games? Just a fun, fun team to watch because, off sensibly, they're going to be outstanding. They might be a little bit maddening because as we talked about earlier, the fighting up in weight class, they're going to have many more teams that can exploit them. If we remember last year at the tail end of the year, not just in the playoffs, but in the least leading up to the playoffs, it turned into an absolute feeding frenzy in the offensive backfield for their linebacker that edge players in secondary players who were set on blitzes. That's because the teams they were playing really did not have very good offensive lines, very good quarterbacks. They're going to have to generate freeing up pressure this year. That means building Williams and Christian Barmore and Ponder and Dremont Jones, Accus, all these guys that we talked about have to generate pressure. And if they don't, doesn't matter if it's Christian Gonzalez and Dion Sanders, you have to cover the 3.3 seconds, there's going to be a completion on you. So all that said, they face good teams at the beginning

1:45:05of the year. They should take out Pittsburgh at home. Jacksonville on the road will be a handful. I don't know if they're better than Jacksonville, they certainly went further. I think May is set a quarterback than Lawrence, but is the Patriots defense more equipped to stop Lawrence than Jackson? It might be to stop the Patriots. So as a result, I think it's going to be a fun, fun team to watch that might say, God, 31 to 30, why didn't we just go for it on 4th and 11th? We had done it all game. Yeah, I'm going 3 and 1 on this. I'm overly optimistic for some reason. I'm going 3 and 1. Now that you've said that it's a guarantee that Christian Gonzalez will be playing, wink. Thank you. So I'm going to go 3 and 1 on the conference. Yeah, I think they lose, I think they lose week one and then they go on a run. Yep. I put a poll up today for quicksleece. You could sign it on Twitter and it says, what is the impact on the Patriots

1:46:08season if Christian Gonzalez is not signed before the year begins? And I had critical, it would be nice and it doesn't make a difference to W's and L's. And I think most people were saying critical and I just personally don't feel like that. Yeah. Well, listen, man, I can see to you. You are that right there with the team. We have the most knowledgeable fan base immediate core in New England. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. So I do. I appreciate people's opinions when they differ. All right. Well, Tommy Curran, you can see him on NBC Sports Boston and he'll be working with our buddy Michael Hurley over there in QuickSlands. That's great news. I did not know that. So you chose well. All right. Great stuff. And hopefully they'll get this thing signed. So we never have to ask you a non-football Christian Gonzalez question again. What do you say? I don't mind. I don't mind. It was it was fair to talk. It sounded like it did. No, it was

1:47:10fair for the clock. Don't mistake spirited talk for education. You got it. All right, Tommy. We thought you'd get to see it. All right. Thanks, Tom. See you guys. See you. All right. We got to break. Compact capable, surprisingly roomy. Always forward with Kia. My apartment garage in Los Feliz was clearly designed by someone who never had to open a car door. That's why my Kia Celto's just fits with room for work bags, yoga mats, groceries and whatever I accidentally buy at the Rose Bowl flea market. Small SUV, real cargo room. I've got turbocharged power and all we'll drive for the day's LA decides to be more mountain than city. The all new Kia Celto says built for the way your life actually moves. Find your way forward at Kia.com. Kia, movement that inspires. Crystal Geyser Alpine Springwater is now the official water partner of the Ironman North America series. Together, we'll hydrate athletes from the first mile to the finish line with Alpine Springwater that's always bottled at the natural spring source. We're proud to partner with Ironman and support a community defined by perseverance, determination and the pursuit of extraordinary goals.

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