Speaker 1: The Around the NFL Podcast. Here's a three time offseason champion.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansas, and I'm joined by a
Speaker 1: room filled with some heroes. Chris Westling to my left,
Speaker 1: Greg Roseal to my ride. What's up? Boys? Honestly, what
Speaker 1: is up? Greg? What is up? Because something's up? Wow?
Speaker 1: You know everyone in my Twitter mentions and you got
Speaker 1: a big smile expects me to be down. But I'm
Speaker 1: not down. I'm I'm we excited about all the exciting
Speaker 1: news in especial podcast this week that got you back
Speaker 1: coming from home. This really is connecting on how disconnected
Speaker 1: Greg has become from the Patriots. Because this is a
Speaker 1: special edition of Around the NFL Podcast Unscheduled um based
Speaker 1: on the big news which came out Monday afternoon about
Speaker 1: five thirty Eastern time that the NFL announced that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady has been suspended without pay for four games for
Speaker 1: violating the NFL policy on the integrity of the game. Greg.
Speaker 1: In addition, the Patriots are fined one million dollars and
Speaker 1: if it was like do the Austin powers from there
Speaker 1: and will forfeit a two thousand sixteen first round picking
Speaker 1: a two thousand, seventeen fourth round pick in the NFL draft.
Speaker 1: That is a wild punishment. And uh, listen, West, you
Speaker 1: you spoke um passionately that you thought this was an
Speaker 1: overblown matter on our our last podcast, and now here
Speaker 1: we are the Patriots franchise torn asunder by the flight
Speaker 1: gate Your thoughts, Well, I'm dismayed because I think that
Speaker 1: the hysteria surrounding this issue played into what the punishment
Speaker 1: was meted out. Um, the NFL did not care about
Speaker 1: ball tampering in November when the Vikings and Panthers were
Speaker 1: heating balls illegally on their sideline and got a warning.
Speaker 1: The NFL didn't care enough in the San Diego charges
Speaker 1: we're using sticky substances and got a twenty dollar fine.
Speaker 1: So to me, I just think that the sterea played in.
Speaker 1: I'd like to see discipline that wasn't quite so arbitrary.
Speaker 1: I was surprised by the draft picks. I mean that
Speaker 1: was really the thing that took me most by surprise.
Speaker 1: I expected about two to four games it was in there.
Speaker 1: I agree with a lot of West's points, but as
Speaker 1: I said in the last one, this is one issue.
Speaker 1: I almost can't say anything because it's just gonna come
Speaker 1: at me that I'm saying it from a Patriots perspective.
Speaker 1: This is not the type of story that gets me
Speaker 1: excited as a sportsman. And frankly, you know, when this
Speaker 1: story drops, I'm not thinking about as a Patriots fan.
Speaker 1: We got you know, you're there. We gotta sign up
Speaker 1: the stories. We have to write it very straight. Working
Speaker 1: for the NFL, we have to figure out all the
Speaker 1: different things to do. It's part of our job. It's
Speaker 1: gonna set in. But as a Patriots, you know, fan,
Speaker 1: part of me there's at least a little bit that's
Speaker 1: intellectually curious about what's going to happen without Tom Brady?
Speaker 1: Can they win with Jimmy Garoppolo. But then we'll get
Speaker 1: to them, We'll get to all that. And and to me,
Speaker 1: the difference between the examples you brought up West and
Speaker 1: what how it came off to me from what the
Speaker 1: NFL released in terms of a statement, it seemed to me,
Speaker 1: and especially really sticking at to Brady with four games,
Speaker 1: that it wasn't just the crime, it was the cover
Speaker 1: up in the and the team and Brady's refusal to
Speaker 1: kind of play ball once the investigation was going. But
Speaker 1: I don't that's the NFL is saying that. But Brady
Speaker 1: sat down and interviewed for hours with them and another
Speaker 1: guy four different times. I mean, because the union told
Speaker 1: him not okay, but he didn't Harve's phone and the
Speaker 1: league had asked for it, or the investigator, Ted Wells
Speaker 1: had asked for it, and then uh, you know when
Speaker 1: you when you do that, and then they didn't let
Speaker 1: the what was it McNally. He sat down for four interviews,
Speaker 1: asked one more time, and he had an appointment that
Speaker 1: day with someone else. To me, it's just didn't play
Speaker 1: ball though. No. To me, it seems like the NFL
Speaker 1: can say all that stuff in his statement. But I
Speaker 1: think it's all right to question it. Of course it's
Speaker 1: fair to quick and I think personally, I think as
Speaker 1: a Jets fan, and this is a great day. Uh
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of an a f C. E's team,
Speaker 1: that's not the Patriots in terms of trying to win
Speaker 1: a damn division. But four games personally seems very strong
Speaker 1: to me. I thought this would be at at the
Speaker 1: most two games, or maybe even just one game, which
Speaker 1: would be you know, embarrassing for Brady, but would definitely
Speaker 1: send the message four games. This was a hammer drop
Speaker 1: by the league. It's it's really unbelievable. It's an historic
Speaker 1: moment if you think about it. The defending Super Bowl champion,
Speaker 1: one of the greatest players in NFL history by any measurement,
Speaker 1: to be sitting out week one. Oh that we could
Speaker 1: have a handoff between Jimmy Garoppolo and Jonas Gray be
Speaker 1: the week one first play because Lagarrett Blunt is also suspended.
Speaker 1: It's filed in in for me. Look, the throne of
Speaker 1: eas is doing fine. No one's taken out. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like Belichick says, you don't defend super Bowl trophies.
Speaker 1: There's nothing to defend because they get to keep the rings.
Speaker 1: It's there's they're starting over. And when they won that
Speaker 1: fourth Super Bowl, I told you guys, I was kind
Speaker 1: of retired, not retired as a fan, but I was good.
Speaker 1: I was good. I didn't need to believe that's still
Speaker 1: the same because if you were an actual Patriots fans still,
Speaker 1: which I don't really view you as anymore, you would
Speaker 1: be devastated by this because there it was one thing
Speaker 1: about when when the Wells report came out, and that
Speaker 1: that last week in January when everyone was going nuts
Speaker 1: about it. But now now that the penalty is out,
Speaker 1: there's no way to hide from this and not called
Speaker 1: a big deal because it was decided that it was
Speaker 1: a big deal. So that sticks with the franchise forever.
Speaker 1: Sure that that sticks, But so does the fourth Super
Speaker 1: Bowl title. And if they just win some games and
Speaker 1: then it doesn't really affect I think they can still
Speaker 1: survive this season. But what I was thinking about this
Speaker 1: hammer drop, I immediately flashback to the Monday of Super
Speaker 1: Bowl Week when I got the feeling that there has
Speaker 1: been a little bit of a back and forth between
Speaker 1: the Patriots in the NFL on this issue. Was a
Speaker 1: very uncomfortable issue that Bill Belichick called a surprise press
Speaker 1: conference on the Saturday before Super Bowl Week and really
Speaker 1: went to town, I mean, defended the Patriots as hard
Speaker 1: as he could. I thought, made some strong statements about
Speaker 1: their innocence, maybe you know, made some anti league, you know,
Speaker 1: some statements the league wouldn't appreciate. And then some stories
Speaker 1: come out on Monday that are very anti Patriots while
Speaker 1: they're in the air. Uh, it's back and forth between
Speaker 1: these two sides. Craft gets on the ground and he says,
Speaker 1: I expect an apology. I don't, you know, I expect
Speaker 1: an apology from There's no way that's set what sat
Speaker 1: well with the league either, And I think, well, that's
Speaker 1: another interesting thing because Craft has been Goodell's biggest supporter.
Speaker 1: How how's this gonna work in the future. So that's
Speaker 1: it almost I don't want to say it got personal,
Speaker 1: but it just feels like there was something going on
Speaker 1: here between the two sides in the NFL. Ultimately the
Speaker 1: final listen, there's an arrogance permeating from the franchise. They
Speaker 1: thought that they could kind of will this away with
Speaker 1: muscle and big statements and things of that nature. But
Speaker 1: what they feels like they never really took into account
Speaker 1: is they wouldn't have the final say and this could
Speaker 1: turn out worst case scenario. I don't think they ever foresaw.
Speaker 1: I don't think Bob Kraft would have ever made that
Speaker 1: statement if he thought how badly this can then they
Speaker 1: never thought what was the nuclear button option that they
Speaker 1: could get hit on? And that's what played out today.
Speaker 1: I mean it was unpredictable too. I mean, who was
Speaker 1: saying back then that this will be a four game suspension.
Speaker 1: Do you know who loses NFL fans lose. I don't
Speaker 1: have a team, so I don't have a bias. I
Speaker 1: don't hate the Patriots. I'm not wishing for them to
Speaker 1: get punished. But now we have the NFL's kickoff game,
Speaker 1: and fans are gonna be watching Jimmy Garoppolo, D'Angelo Williams
Speaker 1: and Jonas Gray instead of Tom Brady, Levan Bell and
Speaker 1: Lagarret Blunt. That's nobody's fault. But the Steelers player and
Speaker 1: the Patriots players, well you could I think they're innocent
Speaker 1: men and all this well, I think a lot of
Speaker 1: our tree feels one way on the pot issue, and
Speaker 1: then the NFL feels another way. I just think when
Speaker 1: you're talking about integrity the game, I don't want to
Speaker 1: see backups playing in the NFL kickoff Well. I also
Speaker 1: don't want to see the Buccaneers up seven going into
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter of the season finale and throwing out
Speaker 1: all their starters, putting them on the bench. Can they
Speaker 1: get the number one pick? To me, that that upsets
Speaker 1: the integrity of the game anything more than pside New
Speaker 1: England right in the reason, I think people just a
Speaker 1: month ago or just two weeks ago. Did not expect
Speaker 1: this hard of punishment. Is the crowd noise, uh that
Speaker 1: the Falcons were admitted to caught guilty of, you know,
Speaker 1: was not you know, greeted with a huge punishment. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say, you know, the Browns text gate, which I
Speaker 1: thought was really blown out of proportion, that that wasn't
Speaker 1: a big thing. And so that's why we really didn't
Speaker 1: expect it here. But I think if nothing else, the
Speaker 1: NFL said where they were coming from in these statements.
Speaker 1: And and I don't think they punished Brady and the
Speaker 1: Patriots so much just because of this issue. They punished
Speaker 1: them because they had a prior record because the spy gate.
Speaker 1: They said it, but Brady didn't. They didn't. But in
Speaker 1: terms of the draft picks and the fine, you know,
Speaker 1: Brady is not getting the million dollar fine the Patriots are.
Speaker 1: The draft pricks surprised me, but I think that is
Speaker 1: because of spy Gate. I mean, they brought it up
Speaker 1: that they had a prior record, that they were warned
Speaker 1: they had to do everything to the letter of the law.
Speaker 1: And then number two that Tom Brady and the other
Speaker 1: two guys weren't forthcoming with them, which then you know,
Speaker 1: you mentioned basically that not only were they not forthcoming,
Speaker 1: but they also found a lot of what they said
Speaker 1: not credible. They thought they were lying. I think the
Speaker 1: League felt disrespected by the Patriots here. I think after
Speaker 1: spy Gate happened and they hit him on the draft
Speaker 1: picks and it was a five thousand dollar fine that time.
Speaker 1: I think the Belichick personally, if I remember it correctly, um,
Speaker 1: and you think after the league came down hard there,
Speaker 1: that the Patriots would be on their best behavior by
Speaker 1: then doing it again. It's like it's like a repeat
Speaker 1: offender with a d UI or something where the judge
Speaker 1: will come down on you even harder. It was like, listen,
Speaker 1: you got your chance to straighten out, and instead you
Speaker 1: continued on a different line. So I think the league
Speaker 1: a little little bit of a vengeful god here. It
Speaker 1: is wild if you think about it, because I'm I'm remembering,
Speaker 1: uh one, an extra spygate story dropping on the Saturday
Speaker 1: of Super Bowl week, right before the Super Bowl in Arizona,
Speaker 1: and then once again they're back in Arizona another and
Speaker 1: you know, the game before getting there is when this
Speaker 1: all erupts. The whole week before and then you know,
Speaker 1: at least this one had a happy ending with the
Speaker 1: Patriots making the last play. Uh, do you wanna do
Speaker 1: you want to now take a look at what Tom
Speaker 1: Brady's missing? Want to take a look at the schedules? West,
Speaker 1: I know you wrote a piece on around the NFL.
Speaker 1: We have this covered very well on the website, Greg Right,
Speaker 1: we have a lot of we have all right, we
Speaker 1: have you know, of course, all the NFL statements and
Speaker 1: the news article. We have all the reaction, and there's
Speaker 1: been some good one, you know, La Garrett Blunt calling
Speaker 1: it ridiculous, Patrick Chung uh using an expletive. I can't
Speaker 1: some players really enjoying it. A wife of an owner
Speaker 1: putting a smiley face out on Twitter. I'm not gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, say what you got to say. I can't
Speaker 1: say who people they can find out. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: Eli Manning, you wrote a post about that. We got
Speaker 1: all starts that think. I have a post about Jimmy Garoppolo.
Speaker 1: You looked at the schedule, though, West, I think the
Speaker 1: Patriots should be uh the other team should be favored
Speaker 1: in three of three of those four games. Wow, I
Speaker 1: think the Steelers should be favored in the opener. I
Speaker 1: will definitely take Ben Roethlisberger over Jimmy Garopfolo. Uh. And
Speaker 1: then the second game they go to as at Buffalo,
Speaker 1: which you know, maybe Matt Castle and Tyrod Taylor aren't
Speaker 1: better than Garoppolo, but the Bills are loaded this year
Speaker 1: and the Patriots won't have Tom Brady to pull themselves
Speaker 1: out of that whole Buffalo is a very hard place
Speaker 1: to play. Jacksonville was a third game. I mean that
Speaker 1: might be a pick um game by then in New England.
Speaker 1: And then the fourth game is at Dallas, where again
Speaker 1: you got Romo against Garoppolo. I'm taking Romo if if
Speaker 1: I have to pick that game. So I think that's true.
Speaker 1: Three underdogs and three games doesn't mean, though you know,
Speaker 1: underdogs win all the time. I don't see them as
Speaker 1: a big underdog in any of those games, even with
Speaker 1: Jimmy grow Well, it depends how you feel about Garoppolo,
Speaker 1: right what, we don't really know anything other than he's
Speaker 1: gotten rave reviews and they liked him enough to make
Speaker 1: him a SEC round, second round pick when Tom Brady
Speaker 1: was still in his prime. So I guess that counts
Speaker 1: or something. And we should also mention, by the way,
Speaker 1: when we look at the schedule, that Brady has appealed
Speaker 1: this formerly formal recorrect that is true. And we've seen
Speaker 1: the only other quarterback in this sort of situation I
Speaker 1: can think of is Ben Roethlisberger, and that was a
Speaker 1: six game suspension that was appealed down to four. How
Speaker 1: about this West You had mentioned that, Uh, how's it
Speaker 1: gonna work with Goodell and Craft who had prior had
Speaker 1: worked well together or had a positive working say league
Speaker 1: figures approaching. Perhaps how about this when Brady's appeal comes up? Uh,
Speaker 1: and Goodell can handle the peel himself, or he could
Speaker 1: form it out to someone else. Maybe it ends up
Speaker 1: being cut in half or maybe even cut down to
Speaker 1: one game, and there you go, a little peace offering
Speaker 1: olive branch from the commission. Well, it might be too
Speaker 1: late for that. I mean, in addition to the fact
Speaker 1: that you came down pretty harshly on the organization, you're
Speaker 1: also tarnishing the lady, the legacy of Tom Brady on
Speaker 1: something where you don't have definitive evidence. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know that that's that was part of the whole
Speaker 1: thing that has surprised me. A little, and Mike Reece,
Speaker 1: you know, wrote about it and basically thinking that that
Speaker 1: Brady should be punished on some level, but that basically
Speaker 1: the punishment should fit the crime, and the relative level
Speaker 1: of the crime here was small. So why why would
Speaker 1: the NFL, who's so pr conscious normally go out of
Speaker 1: their way two really change the way you think, Dan,
Speaker 1: that people are going to think about Tom Brady. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if it changes how people think it does today,
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure long term, but for right now,
Speaker 1: it does change the scope of these these titles. It's Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is surprising to me. Uh, I agree that the
Speaker 1: I mean, he is the face of the NFL if
Speaker 1: you ask me, I mean, you could say Peyton Manning also,
Speaker 1: but I I like, I think that Brady probably is.
Speaker 1: And this there's no way this isn't gonna stick with
Speaker 1: him on some level. And it's surprising to me. You know,
Speaker 1: some of the stuff that I heard. You know, people said,
Speaker 1: oh this you heard out in New England that this
Speaker 1: is viewed as a sting against the patriots and the
Speaker 1: Brady and Brady And to me, that's just as ridiculous
Speaker 1: as the other side of the argument. But at the
Speaker 1: same time with Brady's agent, he was doing him no
Speaker 1: favorite sting talk, Like what is the sting talk? I
Speaker 1: don't understand, Like what It's not like the NFL is
Speaker 1: trying to destroy the New England Patriots. They have no
Speaker 1: reason to do that. If anything, they just maybe the
Speaker 1: Patriots got on their bad side to me, and they
Speaker 1: really came down on them. Maybe maybe they were thinking
Speaker 1: to micro and not macro enough because Brady is a
Speaker 1: legend of the league. Uh you know that to me
Speaker 1: is one of the biggest surprises about this entire misadventure.
Speaker 1: One of the crazier parts of the press release was
Speaker 1: and I want to get the wording exactly right, but
Speaker 1: it was essentially the NFL saying, and it was really
Speaker 1: Troy Vincent saying that no one would argue that this
Speaker 1: had any competitive impact. So and no one, no one
Speaker 1: is arguing that, like, no one would argue that this
Speaker 1: had any competitive impact in that game. That's clearly not
Speaker 1: the issue. But that doesn't change the way that we
Speaker 1: view you trying to, you know, affect the integrity a game.
Speaker 1: So it's just funny that all of this. But he
Speaker 1: also said very important point that did everyone who studied
Speaker 1: this from the Wells Report believes that it had been
Speaker 1: going on that the championship game was not the first
Speaker 1: time that's happened. That's true. It's just it's just interesting
Speaker 1: that something that no one, no one, I haven't seen
Speaker 1: anyone try to make the case that this has really
Speaker 1: helped Brady over the long haul, because the stats don't
Speaker 1: back it up. The home road stats every backs it up.
Speaker 1: So it's it's this whole decision and this whole huge
Speaker 1: punishment and maybe legacy changing thing or whatever over something
Speaker 1: that no one really thinks made any difference at all.
Speaker 1: You know, It's an interesting an interesting thing to think about.
Speaker 1: What if that was a close game, what would be
Speaker 1: the penalty? Then would we just never see Tom Brady
Speaker 1: ever again? Because it's like a forty point blowout, right
Speaker 1: it appears for a quarter of the season. What if, yeah,
Speaker 1: what if they had won by uh three points and
Speaker 1: he played great in the first half but stunk in
Speaker 1: the second half, and we would never know that really
Speaker 1: that was just a coincidence, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I mean the fact that he had a lights out
Speaker 1: unbelievable second half with the right balls, like really took
Speaker 1: a lot of the heat off. Maybe that's ultimately saves
Speaker 1: his legacy here, like this will be a part of
Speaker 1: the story of Tom Brady. Uh, not the whole story
Speaker 1: by any stretch, but a part of it. If if
Speaker 1: it would have been something where they just barely won
Speaker 1: and and his numbers reflected a change in play, it
Speaker 1: would have really destroyed him, in my opinion. So he
Speaker 1: gets you know, they get away with that as well
Speaker 1: and being a BLOWOUTA think look at that way. Not
Speaker 1: that you really care anymore. You're barely a Patriots fan
Speaker 1: at this point. But this is part of the reason
Speaker 1: why I'm not taking this too personally because I know,
Speaker 1: you know it not taking away the how many years
Speaker 1: have been seventift he's been in the league of joyous
Speaker 1: football watching every Sunday, being able to watch Belichick and
Speaker 1: Brady like two all time grades every single week. And
Speaker 1: by the way, I'll get to do it again this
Speaker 1: next year's starting in Week five with Brady, and the
Speaker 1: first four weeks will be fun to Garrappolo will go
Speaker 1: three and one and they'll trade him for that first
Speaker 1: round pick, get it back for next year. And I'm
Speaker 1: with Eli, by the way, I just want to make
Speaker 1: it clear, I'm not one of those like evil Twitter fits.
Speaker 1: I'm not happy that Tom Brady is suspendful. Ultimately, I
Speaker 1: like I do like Tom Brady a lot, and I
Speaker 1: like the competitive advantage for the Jets. But the whole
Speaker 1: thing's whole think sucks. Let's be honest, the whole thing
Speaker 1: is awful, and I wish we weren't talking about it
Speaker 1: because it's just like one of those stories like bounty Gate, Uh,
Speaker 1: like the Ray Rice stuff, which was terrible. You just
Speaker 1: this is the kind of stuff. Maybe this is kind
Speaker 1: of what you're talking about on our last podcast. You
Speaker 1: just wish it wasn't there. And it's not something that's
Speaker 1: bothering you as much as it's just something that's happening.
Speaker 1: It's ongoing. Got to deal with it. Not to mention,
Speaker 1: we're at work during these things, even during the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and we have a lot to do, Like this is
Speaker 1: one of those moments where I could get fired if
Speaker 1: I screw up. So I'm I'm less worried about the
Speaker 1: Patriots and more worried about myself. I mean not even kidding.
Speaker 1: I mean, if these are the types of things that
Speaker 1: you know our boss watching really closely. We have to
Speaker 1: be careful of how greg. You watched a lot of
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo. Yeah, the only thing I know about him
Speaker 1: from the office so far is that Damna Check will
Speaker 1: not stop talking about him. You think it's like TD
Speaker 1: throws his hands up because he knows exactly what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean you would think that like he
Speaker 1: Dave did that bit at the Super Bowl, which I
Speaker 1: liked a lot of a media day where he was
Speaker 1: asking everyone about who's better looking, Tom Brady or Jimmy Garoppolo.
Speaker 1: Check asked Garoppolo himself, which kind of caused Garoppolo to
Speaker 1: get uncomfortable. But that's all I know is that Dave
Speaker 1: is you know, thinks he's hot. Will You watched every
Speaker 1: snap he took in the preseason, and I guess he
Speaker 1: got some garbage time play last year as well. Well.
Speaker 1: He played the most of the second half against the
Speaker 1: Chiefs in Week four, that famous game where they got
Speaker 1: blown out. It was really the fourth quarter, the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and then he played the second half of the Bills.
Speaker 1: And we did this redrafting re ranking the class of
Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen West of the wide receivers. I did
Speaker 1: the quarterback. So I watched each one of his snaps. Now,
Speaker 1: let's start with this. Bill Belichick said the entire two
Speaker 1: thousand fourteen season turned around at the end of that
Speaker 1: Chief season, that that was the turning point because he
Speaker 1: saw such great effort and good play even though they
Speaker 1: were getting blown out. Hey, who was the quarterback during
Speaker 1: that stretch? He was basically the class basically the m
Speaker 1: v P of the season by that logic, classic phon
Speaker 1: coach narrative, Let's move on all right. Uh, But when
Speaker 1: watching that quarter and watching the second half of the
Speaker 1: Bills game, and then watching the preseason, he was very consistent,
Speaker 1: and I would say the word that kept popping the mind.
Speaker 1: He looked very professional. He looked like a competent quarterback
Speaker 1: who made quick decisions. Uh, didn't blow you away, doesn't
Speaker 1: have a big arm, but he is very athletic, and
Speaker 1: they're gonna look like a different team. Dan, when was
Speaker 1: the last time you saw Tom Brady run a read
Speaker 1: option play? I don't think I've ever seen he did
Speaker 1: that against the build. How about running and calling an
Speaker 1: outside quarterback run on fourth and sixth or something like that.
Speaker 1: They did that with Garoppolo, So he's built like a linebacker,
Speaker 1: Belichick said, and he's gonna play a little differently. Gives
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels a chance to go into the lab and
Speaker 1: cook up something new with his new quarterback. And it's
Speaker 1: not like it's a chump. I mean they really lucked
Speaker 1: out in a sense that they have Garoppolo in place.
Speaker 1: I mean they have a second round pick who's had
Speaker 1: a year to learn, and now they have the whole
Speaker 1: off season it's in place. He showed more in one preseason,
Speaker 1: I believe, than Ryan Mallett showed in four. Let's also
Speaker 1: say this, this is an unprecedented situation for a young
Speaker 1: kid to be and I would say, defending Super Bowl
Speaker 1: champion on Thursday Night football with basically half of America watching,
Speaker 1: with all the media's eyes on this game, and the
Speaker 1: all the storylines about Tom Brady being out of the
Speaker 1: lineup in Jimmy Garoppolo, and I'm sure people are gonna
Speaker 1: take it and run with it. The Drew Bledsoe tom
Speaker 1: Brady comparisons of fifteen years early, like, I would think
Speaker 1: even if and he seems like a well adjusted guy,
Speaker 1: I would think, uh that he could get spooked by
Speaker 1: this spot I mean that it wouldn't be crazy if
Speaker 1: he was really nervous. It was missing high on some
Speaker 1: passes early, and all of a sudden, it's, you know,
Speaker 1: seventeen three in the second quarter, and you got this kid,
Speaker 1: and the world's crumble, and it's possible, right was I
Speaker 1: think that's possible. I think what's interesting is, well, one
Speaker 1: of the many things it's interesting, they're gonna need a
Speaker 1: backup quarterback now Mike Vix out there. They don't have
Speaker 1: anyone else in the uh, matt Flynn is another option.
Speaker 1: I know Mark Sessler, who will be back with us tomorrow,
Speaker 1: he will get excited about Mattie Flynn maybe getting another ring.
Speaker 1: Garoppolo I thought he showed some poise, he would go
Speaker 1: through his progressions and it's not like this is just
Speaker 1: some no name. I know he went to Eastern Illinois,
Speaker 1: but he's a second round pick. That's where Colin Kaepernick
Speaker 1: was drafted. That's where Andy Dalton was drafted. That's where
Speaker 1: Derek Carr was drafted. That's where Gino Smith was drift.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying these are all great quarterbacks, but they're
Speaker 1: guys that people all look Jimmy right, I'm just saying
Speaker 1: these are the fans look at as Okay, here's our
Speaker 1: next great hope is a second round quarterback. It's it's
Speaker 1: a pretty big investment that they put in Jimmy Garoppolo.
Speaker 1: I wanna block on Twitter the next person who asks,
Speaker 1: what if Garofolo starts out four and oh and plays
Speaker 1: really well, will they bench Brady? Come on, stop with
Speaker 1: that nonsense. That won't happen. But what could happen maybe,
Speaker 1: right is if he plays awesome at the end of
Speaker 1: the season, maybe the Patriots have They're they're famous for
Speaker 1: not for being cold blooded when it comes to making
Speaker 1: roster decisions. I know he doesn't have a you know,
Speaker 1: a nasty contract in terms of the cap compared to
Speaker 1: other star quarterbacks, but you know it does. It's a great,
Speaker 1: a great moment for Garoppolo right now. Eight opportunity to
Speaker 1: really uh get himself out there and show that he
Speaker 1: can play. It is a great opportunity. I'm not willing
Speaker 1: to address that question until I actually see him go
Speaker 1: for and oh and light up the score and see
Speaker 1: what Brady does after that. You're right, it does. It's
Speaker 1: this whole thing as it's setting in is gonna be
Speaker 1: the framework for a lot of what we talked about
Speaker 1: for the two thousand fifteen season. This is the defending
Speaker 1: champion team, and it's an unprecedented suspension and just raises
Speaker 1: a lot of things that are gonna come up. I mean,
Speaker 1: just earlier on Monday, you're right in an article West
Speaker 1: about how the secondary is completely changed because they cut
Speaker 1: Kyle Arrington on Monday. They have Malcolm Butler and Logan
Speaker 1: Ryan is their top two quarterbacks. This is a team
Speaker 1: you wrote about often struggles in September. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that's not a that's not a small factor. It seems
Speaker 1: like the Patriots have done this the last three or
Speaker 1: four years, where they just used September to figure out
Speaker 1: who they are and to tinker and experiment. They're running
Speaker 1: different combinations of offensive linemen in against the Chiefs. They're
Speaker 1: trying to figure out if they want to start Aaron
Speaker 1: Dobson or cut Kenbrell Tompkins, trying to figure out who's
Speaker 1: gonna start it running back for them. This is what
Speaker 1: they do earlier in the season, and it shows up
Speaker 1: that there are stats. I remember we sighted early last
Speaker 1: year that their winning percentage is something in the five
Speaker 1: eighty range in September, which isn't bad, but then it
Speaker 1: goes up into the sixth you know, the mid six
Speaker 1: hundreds in October, and then it's well over seven eight
Speaker 1: hundred in November December. So it's a team that often
Speaker 1: does struggle early. Well. One thing also to keep m
Speaker 1: on Tom Brady since he became starter, has never missed
Speaker 1: the game other than that one season, so they've he's
Speaker 1: always been there in September. What if they get off
Speaker 1: to a slow start, let's say, because let's say that
Speaker 1: there they end up losing three of the first four games.
Speaker 1: What if it takes a month when by the time
Speaker 1: he gets for the offense. Really Brank and I were
Speaker 1: talking about earlier today, you know, if three and five
Speaker 1: or something at the midway point, and and let's face it,
Speaker 1: we've been saying twelve and four, twelve and four, twelve
Speaker 1: and four every year. I'm pushing them back now to
Speaker 1: ten and six. And to me, this AFC East, which
Speaker 1: we've been talking about a lot the last couple months,
Speaker 1: which has really tightened up at least amongst the the
Speaker 1: also rans in recent years got a lot better. And
Speaker 1: now the Patriots, there's no way around it that They're
Speaker 1: probably gonna be not as good at least win loss
Speaker 1: because of what's going on. This is this division. I
Speaker 1: think the Brady comes back like a household fire. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe I'm just saying it's not gonna be as easy
Speaker 1: this year. Now. It wasn't even with Brady for sixteen games,
Speaker 1: it was gonna be tougher. Now it's Brady only twelve games.
Speaker 1: So I think this division is officially to me, wide open.
Speaker 1: It I agree with you. Then again, wouldn't it be
Speaker 1: the most Patriots thing ever for everyone? Right in that
Speaker 1: Thursday night, you know, no Brady, no revous, no problem.
Speaker 1: The Patriots cruised to a seven to you know, seventeen
Speaker 1: win over the Steelers, you know, and it's just you
Speaker 1: could kind of you can see that happen. Bill Simmons
Speaker 1: writing for like Fox Sports Net, like we f you mode,
Speaker 1: we did it. We're gonna get him. Maybe he can
Speaker 1: join the end of it. I said, he can replace
Speaker 1: me as that Patriots home right here. Now you don't
Speaker 1: have to replace because TV pull some strings and got
Speaker 1: us a fifth mic and get the sports guy in here.
Speaker 1: Five mics redemption style. Um. All right, So that's some
Speaker 1: final thoughts now, Greg and and Uh, actually, let's start
Speaker 1: with West's gifted football mind a scientist. Uh. I want
Speaker 1: to hear your final thoughts of the matter, and then
Speaker 1: we'll throw it to the throne of ease. I guess
Speaker 1: I have to Uh, if you're playing or coaching football
Speaker 1: in the NFL, you are obsessed with gaining a competitive advantage.
Speaker 1: Which is why I was tickled to death by the
Speaker 1: website Your Team cheats dot Com because I'm tired of
Speaker 1: fans act like the Patriots are the only ones that
Speaker 1: try to gain a competitive advantage. If you're playing football,
Speaker 1: that's what you do. That's my first thought. My second
Speaker 1: is in two thousand and six, NFL decided to let
Speaker 1: quarterbacks doctor football's. We I told you last podcast, what
Speaker 1: Eli Manning does you You've got electric scrub brushes involved
Speaker 1: in the process. A Rodgers has said he likes to
Speaker 1: have his inflated over the limit. If you go to
Speaker 1: let quarterbacks doctor football's, let them play with any football
Speaker 1: they want. That's what we talked about months ago when
Speaker 1: we discussed this. The history of football started in the
Speaker 1: mid nineteenth century with soccer. One was made easier to
Speaker 1: kick with every iteration. The other one was made easier
Speaker 1: to throw to me. Let him use whatever ball he wants,
Speaker 1: Let any quarterback use whatever, bully and I agree with
Speaker 1: everything with West said, except for or in addition to,
Speaker 1: but keep it within the p s I laws of
Speaker 1: the NFL, Like why, DoD, why do you even have
Speaker 1: ps just No one's been able to explain that to me.
Speaker 1: Just follow that and you and you do whatever else
Speaker 1: you want to the balls. Why are you allowed to
Speaker 1: take an electric spinner brush to it but you can't
Speaker 1: take out air? I mean, I don't get that there
Speaker 1: is a that's what the football doctors say. They haven't
Speaker 1: really said anything about it. It is weird how you
Speaker 1: can you know? Like you mentioned that the chargers thing
Speaker 1: with the sticky, I mean that that that is against
Speaker 1: the rules. But that's a minor penalty. But this is
Speaker 1: ma um my quick point is Tom Brady cheated and
Speaker 1: Gino Smith did not. And now Greg your final thoughts.
Speaker 1: We'll give you the floor. I've had the floor. I've
Speaker 1: said basically everything I want to say. I do think
Speaker 1: it'll be fun to watch as a Patriots. You know, Faned,
Speaker 1: of course you're not happy to see this happen, but
Speaker 1: there is there is part of me that's just interested
Speaker 1: to see we've never seen a situation like this before.
Speaker 1: And if there's one thing that defines this Patriot a
Speaker 1: couple of things to find these Patriots teams over the
Speaker 1: last few years. Number one is their ability to take
Speaker 1: any slight, however small or imagine or real, and turn
Speaker 1: it into something that that that that's just that's their rallying.
Speaker 1: I'm imagine, imagine this now that was that was against everyone.
Speaker 1: It's got to the NFL. But number two is they're
Speaker 1: a great team at at adapting, at figuring out what
Speaker 1: their weaknesses are and dealing with the fact that Jonas
Speaker 1: Gray is they're running back and you know the year
Speaker 1: where they had no wide receivers or no cornerbacks, and
Speaker 1: you know, here's a here's a great chance for one
Speaker 1: of the greatest coaches of all time to show he
Speaker 1: can adapt it once again. Without Tom Brady for fifteen
Speaker 1: and a half games, he won eleven games. So I
Speaker 1: don't the last thing I'm gonna do is count out
Speaker 1: the Patriots and assume the Jets of the favorite. So
Speaker 1: I agree with And they're a team. I mean, they've
Speaker 1: always said they're they're more than just one player. So
Speaker 1: you know, look at you, you're all excited. This is Greg. Actually,
Speaker 1: this is giving Greg a little juice now for the
Speaker 1: first time he's facing adversity on the Well, there is
Speaker 1: there is something to that. You know that they've done.
Speaker 1: They've done everything else. Belichick always talks about how every
Speaker 1: every season, you know, it's it's you're starting from scratch,
Speaker 1: it's a fresh start. You know you're not you have
Speaker 1: nothing to do with last Well, it's not gonna be
Speaker 1: hard to convince the players this time. I mean Jonas
Speaker 1: Grays the running back. They have all new cornerbacks, they
Speaker 1: have Garoppolo quarterback, the whole new uh, whole new team.
Speaker 1: And now we're gonna do thirty minutes on Kyle Arrington's release.
Speaker 1: All right, Wes, your initial thoughts now, poor Fred Davis
Speaker 1: signing you. You had a thought. I had a couple
Speaker 1: of thoughts. Actually, we didn't get a news drop today.
Speaker 1: We did see I saw you bypassed the one million
Speaker 1: dollars duck the evil joke. You know, because you're comedic
Speaker 1: mind I don't have such a great comedic minds. That
Speaker 1: was good. I think all the heavy handed jokes I
Speaker 1: can get um Jimmy presents a problem for me because
Speaker 1: he has a hard last name to spell. It's kind
Speaker 1: of being but I figured it out though. It's it's
Speaker 1: a polo polo of a garop. So it's a garop polo,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, so that's I don't know, it's just
Speaker 1: that's the way that that was what you were waiting to. Well,
Speaker 1: that was the second point, and the third point was
Speaker 1: like this could all have been sold At the end,
Speaker 1: Foe had a body language minor. Because West keeps saying
Speaker 1: no evidence, no evidence. He could spot this some day
Speaker 1: one that press conference, it was obvious Rady how he
Speaker 1: aligned to the folks. All right, you almost Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: about as strong as the evidence was in the Wealth report.
Speaker 1: We were about to fly to England, find gold Center,
Speaker 1: flying to Japan in the middle of that is a
Speaker 1: body language miner, then, yeah, you might have an opening.
Speaker 1: I'm not even gonna ask how you figure out how
Speaker 1: to spell Roethlisberger. I won't. Oh yeah, well it's a
Speaker 1: burger with a roth list at the um. All right.
Speaker 1: So that was our very special edition, uh around the
Speaker 1: NFL podcast the Patriots cheated and got banged for it?
Speaker 1: Edition I called it and I really loved it. We
Speaker 1: will be back on Tuesday with another show with Mark
Speaker 1: back here and then on Thursday we're going to uh
Speaker 1: get Lindsay Roads back in the studio. We're excited about that.
Speaker 1: So we got a full week of shows. Thank you
Speaker 1: for listening, which is Dad fan Hands, the signing off
Speaker 1: for the mail Man, the Boss and find the Glass
Speaker 1: There