Games with Names - Highlight Reels: Best of Patriots Coaches

Episode Date: September 21, 2025

We hear from Patriots coaches that helped make The Dynasty possible.  We hear from the likes of Ernie Adams, Josh McDaniels, and Matt Patricia. Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to The Butterfly King on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Games with Names. I'm Julian Edelman, and we got a brand-new compilation highlight reel starting now. Now, Ernie Adams on how to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. The Ernie cards that we used to have to deal with in practice every day? That could be part of it.

I mean, it's not, I mean, there's a lot of, you know, all those cards. There's, you know, that's a lot of reading, a lot of film study. Because I always try to put myself inside, you know, the other team. What are they going to do against us? Yeah. Maybe it's a play they ran three years ago, and I've been waiting for three years, you know, to run this against us in practice. Sometimes it actually plays out that way in the games. Most of the times it doesn't. But I always thought, you know, keep everybody alert. Do you ever remember a time where we had one of those crazy Ernie cards where we were all bitching and complaining like, oh, we'll never fucking see this? You know, you've seen it when the offense is over. What the fuck is this? What are we doing? Jesus Christ. we're never do you remember specifically a time that oh so for instance we're playing the the dolphins

it's probably around 2011 so because brian dayball of course was he was with us for a number of years was the offensive coordinator and i said what's brian going to do and they had the throwback to the quarterback off the shotgun yeah so we ran that and practiced and people were all right what the Well, they ran exactly that play in the game. And the fact that, you know, we had seen it meant that we could react to it just in time, you know, to make the play on defense. Because the stuff is happening so fast, if you got to think, oh, it just went by me. You got to, you know, you got to be able to anticipate. In fact, one of the great lines for coaching football was somebody, I have tremendous respect for Tom Landry.

who would say, anticipation beats reaction every time. You know, hey, we know this is the situation. This is what we've got to watch out for. And that just makes a world of difference to just being out there playing. Oh, my God, the play just won't by me. And you've seen a lot of guys that are always half a step late.

And that just doesn't work. That's what I try to explain to people, like, when they ask, what was your guys day to day like? And I'd be like, oh, we'd walk through plays. We'd walk through the walkthroughs, then we'd go to a built-in drill for that specific play, take it to a seven-on-seven, then to a team, and we'd have all these reps, and you'd run 30 new plays, but you'd rep them four or five times, and guys would bitch and complain, but then when it came to game day, like Ernie said,

it's in your subconscious, it's built in your subconscious, so you react and you've seen the play. It becomes deja vu. on this technique this happens oh i see this guy i saw it in practice i saw it in the walkthrough and it allows you to play fast and that's and that's something that i always tell everyone what what made our teams was our practice and our ability to really take those meetings i mean that's hard to get you know 30 guys to to really buy in and go over plays and plays and plays but that's what made us us back to these Ernie cards okay people don't realize but we'd have like three

plays that are four point plays which is third down in the red area which are four point plays because you don't get him you get a field goal you need a touchdown and one time Ernie brings out this like blit zero look where these guys jump out and we look at where he got it from he got it from when like the defensive coordinator was a quality control guy at UOP in 1991, and Ernie found this one play on a third down in the red area where he used it against a look that we would give him. How many games have you watched, Ernie? Well, a lot. And, you know, it goes not only watch, but take notes. So I have, like, I can go to my book looking for, you know, those crazy situations, you know, and when I write it a play,

I always label it, hey, this was against, this was whatever. Cal against Stanford, 2003, you know, and it was play number 58 in the game. So if I really need to go back and find a video, I've got it right there. I don't pretend that I can just, you know, if I had to just rely on my memory for all of it, it'd take me three weeks, which doesn't do any good when the game is Sunday. You know, I mean, when I'm doing those cards on Thursday night, I need the information, you know, like right now. Ernie, you could do a guess a minute, approximately how many games have you watched?

Oh, God. 40 years worth, which is, you know, which is, there's a, you know. And, of course, this is, you know, like we, I would take, you know, a team that I thought was good on offense. Like, from probably 2007 to 2019, the two best offense. of teams in the National Football League over that time were the Patriots and the Saints. Okay, I mean, they were just, you know, year in, year out, you know,

both of us, you know, were some of the best teams in the league. So I would, you know, a nice snowy February day, I'd just, you know, take some Saints games and just go through them, you know, and it's one play, it just grind it out, one play at a time, you know, try to find stuff, you know, that was... People don't realize when he's logging these,

he's watching the play, and after each played, he's putting down the formation, the personnel group, the defense-aline look, the coverage, the potential blitz, the situation, the score. Like, he's putting all that down every time he's watching each play. And you're making, I'm not type of. And then you have a note.

Yeah, I mean, I'm writing, you know. Oh, you're writing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right on my. So 100,000, 100,000 games? That's probably a little much. And I would pick and choose, you know, which, I mean, some games, like in all honesty, two bad teams playing.

I would have a hard time getting myself excited about watching, you know, like right now, the Carolina Panthers playing, the Atlanta Falcons. It's, unless there was something I really wanted to see, it's kind of hard for me, you know, to invest three hours, you know, to watch it. But if there's teams, you know, who are doing interesting things, that I thought, hey, there could be something that we could use at some point. You know, because there are a lot of plays I might see, you know, I mean, I could go to Josh McDaniels.

Hey, here's a couple of plays that I've seen in the league. We should think about putting this in for us. And, you know, we were all doing the same thing. If you want to stay current state of the art, you know, you really have to be on top of what's going on. Yeah, and you always were. I mean, I remember a lot of people talk about that whole, what was it, when we had Who Man doing the formations against Baltimore. I think Alabama, there was someone who was doing it a couple weeks before.

Right. And, you know, and listen, and that was probably a project that you... Well, you know, it was a lot like, you know, I mean, you know, it's like Bill would talk, Bill talk to Nick Saban all the time. Yeah. I mean, there were, I mean, there were, I mean, this. goes back, because remember, Bill and I met each other as high school teammates in 1970. Okay.

1970. 1970. What's Bill like in 1970? Do you have good feet? You guys are both linemen. No, we're both terrible, but we love football. But there are so many times I've heard in the meeting room, me and fucking Ernie could do this. Well, it depends on what.

We could, you know, we could try hard. If it required a lot of ability, forget. Next up, Josh McDaniels on what it's like coaching under Bill Belichick and Nick Saban. You coached at Michigan State. Just for one year. For one year with Saban. Was that part of? Right after I graduated.

Yeah. From Carroll. And so did you think Nick gave you a recommendation to Bill? Sure. I don't. I mean, I can't. Yeah. Brian, so Brian was a second year GA.

I was a first year GA. So he was a year older than me. Brian. Dayball. So when I got there, Brian was already in his second year. And so I was in my first year. So that was a huge experience for me. Because coming to New England with Bill, after being with Nick,

it didn't seem like such a, like a, oh my gosh. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because I'd already like, all right, I know what this is like, you know, after having been with Nick. What are the similarities and differences? Nick is, Nick is not. afraid to really detail it out you know what i mean like there would be like a cover one tip sheet

for the dbs that was like this thick that's just cover that's one defense yeah you know i mean it's like holy cow you know if we do this do this and you know got that you know and he believed in preparation preparation preparation it was relentless in that regard um bill was very much the same but less like he would try to simplify, I thought, you know, as much as he could. You know, and we might play cover one, but he's not going to overwhelm you with, you know, too much detail. But I, I mean, honestly, there's, their personalities are a little different. Everybody thinks Bill is what you see in the media. And as you know, it's not like that. Yeah. You know, so it was fun. It was really, it was great for me to have a chance to be with Nick before going to Bill.

baptize you into it no doubt yeah we all forget anakin was a Jedi first next matt patricia on why winning makes you America's most wanted in the NFL like again you think about the incredible run that we had like every year let alone we were getting whatever team we played we were getting their best because that was the benchmark but you're also playing the best teams every year all the time like the mental fortitude is that a word The mental stamina. I mean, toughness. Stam, oh, favorite, Tommy.

Yeah. Like the, what do you say? Stamina, what was it? Competitive stance. My favorite, favorite term that he would use. Competitive stamina of you guys was unbelievable. Unbelievable. And that's what a lot of people don't realize right now with these chiefs.

Everyone says, oh, they only won by two points. They don't realize that every team and every coach that's coaching against them, they're sitting and they say, that's America's Most Wanted. If we beat them, we're going to get paid more. we're going to get a new job. We're going to do this. Every single team. And it's not like you're playing Louisiana, Lafayette Agricultural School to the

right. Everyone's getting fucking paid. Yeah. Everyone's good. Everyone's good. So that's why it's impressive what they're doing. But that's what Mattie P. was trying to say, like, you know, it gets hard when you, when you're winning first

place every year, you're America's most wanted. So you're playing everyone's Super Bowl. It's amazing. You don't realize. You know, and again, we did this on purpose, right? So we were always kind of behind the curtain. Like, you know, we had that mystery about us, right? Yeah.

Which we loved because we didn't talk outside the building, like everything was in-house. And we loved it because actually it was an advantage. Like Teddy would say this all the time. Brew would be like, we had them beat before they walked in the field. Yeah. Because everyone was like, how are they doing this? How are they doing this? And once we put a little bit of doubt in their head in the first or second quarter,

down their legs. It was done. We were rolling. Because you wouldn't make mistakes and they would. Yep, we had them. It's why the great teams. Embrace the bullseye, baby. You got to. Got to. You got it. You know what? Kyle Bush, this was great, right? So he rubbed me when I was fucking starting to race in a New Hampshire once

when I was the pit car. Yeah. He fucking bumps me. So I did the same thing. New Hampshire, go, right? Go. Do the same thing? Actually, like, so I go out, I got to, I walk out with him and give him a check or something to him, whatever. So, you know, everyone loves to boo him. So I come on, they like announce me and everyone's kind of like, and, you know, cheering. And then like they announced him that they want to boo, but I'm on there.

So it's kind of awkward. And then he just looks at me. He goes, he goes, I love the booze. He goes, it means you're relevant. And I was like, I freaking like that. It's true. I like that a lot. Love that mentality.

It was awesome. He was. He drove the pace car? Yeah. I didn't drive it. I rode. See, I drove the pace car. Getting bumped.

And he was the first, he won the fucking polls. so he was the first car. Rubbin's racing. And that's what he did. I went on and I was like, hey, this is a day's a Thunder dog. He's like, I didn't pump you. I rubbed you, go. And Rubbin, he's racing.

He's also a Broncos fan. I know, he's got to give it to us. He was so cool, though. He let me, he let me into his trailer and everything. 13 year old's definitely on this. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on. Now, Ernie Adams explains how to beat the Chiefs.

See, I brought this. This is, this is, now this is my Chiefs book from 2018. Oh, my gosh. So, as you can see here, Jules, what I do, you know, get rid of the game, I've got every game they played.

You know, and I've, this is form I've, you know, get comfortable to use it. Ernie cards. Well, these aren't the cards, but I can, but, you know, one page, you use both sides, of course,

I get 16 plays on each, on each pad, so if I want to find out, because the chiefs or big, they're repeaters. If they've done something in a critical situation, middle of the season, you get in that same critical situation, decent chance, you know, you're going to get it again. And I remember Bill always saying, it's going to be the same play. They might have a different guy.

They may have a different formation or a different way of getting there, but it's going to be this guy here, this guy there, and this guy there. Right, which is, and that's typical of most good teams. You know, you get good, you get in the critical situation in the, fourth quarter, like Sean Peyton says, you call the plays they know by heart. I have it. I mean, when you're going down for a game wing driving the fourth quarter, that's what you want to run, right? The stuff you've been running since training camp, you know exactly what to do.

You know, everybody else on the team knows what to do, and that's what you, that gives you, most of the time, gives you your best chance of success. Now, Ernie, you have a play, so this is your, your folder for the Chief, 2018. Yeah. Do you have a folder for every single team? Probably not to this detail. Not to this. But because, I mean, I've got every game here, you know, plus, you know, some prior years.

And one of the reasons because I do the Chiefs is they're really good. So, you know, when I want to, you know, I don't want to go, if I'm going to study, you know, in the middle of March, study a team, I'm not going to go study the worst team in the league. That really doesn't work. I want to see what somebody who's good, you know, is there something they're doing that we can use. And putting it all down on paper, to me, is, you know, the best way to, because I will tell you, because you're wearing your Phillips Academy hat. The best teacher I ever had in my life was my Latin teacher at Phillips Academy who would put a towel up at the board, we started a class, and he said, we'll write out this sentence,

how you translated it. And he would come and say, oh, lad, if you don't know it well enough to write it down, you don't know it well enough. Now, of course, when I would use, you know, for 30 years, I would say that to players, you know, say, I know this play. Okay, put it up on the board. Let's see if you can diagram. Let's see if you really know it. So I'm a big believer, you know, you really want to know something. Put it down on paper, study it, make sure you got it right.

You got to write it down. I wrote down everything. That's just to make me pay attention. Now, I always remember when we would be playing against these teams, the game plan, when you're playing against a Patrick Mahomes team. I just remember as an offensive guy, plaster, plaster, we got a plaster. What's the game plan? So the biggest thing.

And what does plaster mean? Plaster means when the quarterback starts scrambling, you know, you find the, if there's a guy open, go get on him. What made this team so dangerous was you got Mahom. He's going to get Tyreek Hill, who's, you know, the speed factor really changes things. So we got to be over the top on him. You know, the other guys are good, but we have to, you know, we have to take this guy away deep. And that's what I say, you always start off.

What, at the heart of it, what do we really need to do on defense here? So what did we do to do that? So we had Devin, we had safety over the top of him all day, which, you know, it's worked out, but they got, you know, that leaves other people one-on-one. I mean, they got, it's just, we get it later in the game. They start hitting this with the backs on the wheels. They hit the big play at a hill when Mahom's scrambled. And now you always premise your defense.

We'll get a pass rush. We'll keep the quarterback contained. The ball's going to have to come out in about three seconds. When the quarterback gets loose and now he's got up there five, six-second range, you know, things start to break down. Bad stuff happens. again this is you get your plan you practice it and you do the best you can now how come Travis Kelsey always seems wide open because he's you know you get you know number one he's got

other you know other great players around them so they can't just double up on him he knows how to work you know when the quarterback's moving around he can he can adjust with it and you know he's he's got a great tools for a receiver yeah then when for this specific Kansas City team, the number one thing was we have to contain Hill. We can't let him have a big play. Stay over the top of him. Stay over the top. Put Jay Jones, our fastest guy on him, put our other guys.

Right. So if he goes, you know, if he goes over to Watkins, you got, you got Steph. And there's a couple of plays there in the second quarter. I mean, it's back-to-back plays. I mean, Steph just, he just wires him at the line of scrimmings. So, yeah, you've got single coverage, but it's against Steph Gilmore, and you guy can't get off the line of scrimmage. And then, you know, stuff happens during the game.

They hit one big play on him because he kind of takes a sneak, you know, what do you can't do? I mean, you're an old defensive back. You play an AFC championship game when it's man-to-man coverage, what's the most important thing. Keep your leverage. Keep your leverage and keep your focus on the receiver. And your receiver, do not have your eyes in the background.

You stick your eyes back at the quarterback. It's over. and even as great a player as Steph is, got caught one time. He took a peek back, and, you know, it's going the wrong direction. So, I mean, this is, like I say, it's a messy game. Stuff happens. You just keep going, do the best you can. You try to make more plays for your team than their guys are making for their team.

Yeah. You have a plan and all that. It doesn't always work out that way. Yeah. I mean, you always got to adjust, as we know. Adjust, because the other team is doing exactly. the other team's trying to counteract what you're doing. Adjust to the adjustments.

Yeah. That's how it's simple. What do you think of what the Chiefs have accomplished since this game? It's been phenomenal. Listen, they were, you know, I mean, winning multiple Super Bowls, you know, being, and really, okay, they lost one to, they lost one because their offensive line was crippled up. I mean, they've been, you know, for the last six years,

they've been like we were. Go to the championship game every year, go to a bunch of Super Bowls. I mean, I take, it's a tremendous accomplishment. Can you draw any similarities between this run and our run? You know, just having, I mean, I'm not there. But I know it's you, you've got to have, you know, mentally tough people who know, to play over that long NFL season and can know how to show up and be there when it counts. The one thing that I always say when people ask me this, same question,

is it's been really impressive to see how they've, reinvented their team the last three times you know what I mean like they've had to adjust and they you know people don't realize how hard it is to sustain success with a salary cap with when you have to pay certain guys and you don't have enough money for other guys and being having having the humility and being humble enough to change their team from being a high flying team like they were in this year to a run defensive kind of team these last couple years. I mean, that's something that we always had to adjust to. We always adjusted our team to what we could put on the field. Yep. You know, so that's some of the stuff. What makes Andy Reed such a good coach?

You know, he's got a great system. He believes in it. Obviously knows how to teach it. I mean, he's had, he's been doing it now, because remember for him, before the Kansas City, there was Philadelphia. Yeah. And they went to, you know, they had the string there. They went to, you know, several NFC championship games. And look, when you're in, you know, when you're in the final four and you lose a couple people, say, oh, they're not thinking.

I mean, forget it. To get, just to get to the championship game, you've got to be really good. There may be somebody who's just a little bit better and beats you that, but that really shouldn't take away anything from what you do. Although in the end, there's 32 teams in the NFL, there's only one that gets to stand out there, you know, with that final trophy. So just because, you know, maybe, hey, you didn't quite get there, you still could be really good. You're just, you know, not quite good enough to win the championship. How are Andy Reed and Bill different?

And how are they alike? You know, never. Because it's, yeah, I've never worked with Andy and, you know, Bill, I've known for 50 years. So that's a little bit of a hard one for me to... I've heard that he practices hard. I heard that they practice really hard. You know, that's my impression. This is a team when they come out for pregame warm up

and nobody's screwing around. I mean, they're getting after playing football. Yeah. And you remember, particularly your younger days, I think we practiced hard. We practiced, yeah. I mean, we were in pads in camp. Two days.

Run in the morning, passing the evening. I mean, that's classic NFL. I mean, you know, that's why guys would have your offensive alignment. They'd have on their, you know, their seven stud grass cleats for the morning. They'd have on their turf shoes for the afternoon, for past protection. It's, you know, you know, the old thing about the different games. You familiar with this? A little bit.

Okay. Croquet is a gentleman's game played by gentlemen. Soccer is a beastly game. played by gentlemen. Rugby is a gentleman's game and all that. Football is a beastly game played by beasts. I mean, it's, you know, this is, it's a, you know, it's a nasty game. If you want to learn how to play it, it's, you know, it's, it's hard. It's tough. It's tough. You better be willing to bleed, eat some dirt, take a tablespoon of cement, at least back in the day. I don't know about that. I'm joking. But, but it's, you know, and that's, you know, and that's, we say,

And I don't really know any good teams that were soft. Yeah. I mean, I think that's this. Some teams maybe have tried, and there's just some of the teams, the players come together. Whoa, it wasn't like this the last team. I was at, well, great.

How many championships did you win? Yeah. Now, did you scout Mahomes coming out of Texas Tech? You know, we did not really, because this was at the state. We said there is zero possibility of us taking a quarterback in the first round. Yeah. So, I mean...

But he was... But, but no, I wish, you know, I wish I could say I'd studied more than I did, but... Have you seen his evolution from the early part of his career? What have you noticed? How has he evolved if you've watched it? Yeah. You know, he started off really good and he's gotten better. That's a...

Sounds it up. You know, you know, being a good quarterback in the NFL that's a high-wire. Iraq, there's no net. So, you know, you, you got to be aggressive with the ball, but you just got, you know, you got to know at some point, there's, there's that, there's that fine line between being reckless, you know, being aggressive and being reckless. Thanks for listening. Remember to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new episode and every Sunday for another games with names highlighted. so long. This thing is ancient.

Still using yesterday's tech, upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, ultra-light, ultra-powerful, and built for serious productivity, with Intel Core Ultra Processors, blazing speed, and AI-powered performance. It keeps up with your business, not the other way around. Whoa, this thing moves.

Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the Tech Search at Lenovo.com. Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero.

We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Introducing IVF disrupted, the Kind Body story, a podcast about a company that promised to revolutionize fertility care. It grew like a tech startup. While Kind Body did help women start families, it also left behind a stream of disillusioned and angry patients. You think you're finally, like, in the right hand. You're just not. Listen to IVF Disrupted, the Kind Body Story, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When news broke earlier this year that Baby KJ, a newborn in Philadelphia, had successfully received the world's first personalized gene editing treatment. It represented a milestone for both researchers and patients.

But there's a gripping tale of discovery behind this accomplishment and its creators. I'm Evan Ratliff, and together with biographer Walter Isaacson, were delving. Moving into the story of Nobel Prize winner, Jennifer Doudna, the woman who's helped change the trajectory of humanity. Listen to Aunt CRISPR, the story of Jennifer Doudna with Walter Isaacson on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's 1943. A king dies under mysterious circumstances in the middle of World War II. Was it murder? After 80 years of lies and cover-ups, his children need answers. And, you know, kissed us and said, I'll see you tonight. And we never saw him again. From Exactly Right and Blanchard House, The Butterfly King is a gripping historical true crime series that dives deep into royal secrets, wartime cover-ups and a mystery that refuses to die.

All episodes are available now. Listen to The Butterfly King on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.