The Ringer NFL Show - Ep. 73: Stunned in a Houston Hotel Room

Episode Date: February 6, 2017

The Ringer's Robert Mays and Kevin Clark discuss what went wrong for the Falcons in Super Bowl LI (02:30), who is to blame (06:40), Bill Belichick's fourth-and-3 call (08:25), the postgame locker rooms (09:35), talent against depth (13:30), and the future of the Falcons (17:55). At the end, they dive into the "is Tom Brady the greatest?" debate (21:25). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No team goes into this season without a game plan, and Buffalo Wild Wings knows that football fans need a game plan that's built for game day glory, a game plan that should include 21 signature sauces and seasonings, a great lineup of beer taps, and an arsenal of Waltzwall TVs. All those details make for a game day plan can't be beat. So, win or lose, if you're a football fan, you still win on having the best game to atmosphere around. Buffalo Wild Wings, Wings, beer, sports. We do it for you because you're a football fan. Welcome to the Ringwriters'L Show. My name is Robert Mays. I'm a writer at the ringer.

And sitting right across the table from me in way too close with quarters. Kevin, how are you? I don't know what to say, really. We're now, you know, a little bit removed from it. It's the morning after. That's the time to ruminate. And none of it still makes sense to me. I still don't understand how what happened happened last night.

I actually just figured out why the NFL makes $13 billion a year. I figured out that much. It was absolutely incredible. The fact that it seemed weird had it for another blowout and then we get the best comeback in the history of the sport. Well, I mean, I sort of felt like something like that could happen. I thought this was going to be a classic game. These two teams were so evenly matched.

If this was going to happen, it was going to be the Patriots coming back on the Falcons. I think we talked for a couple of basically two weeks about how there was almost no way the Patriots are going to be blown out. And we started to why I was so surprised. We obviously started to doubt that idea for the first. three quarters, but I don't know. I wasn't totally shocked when they started shipping away. I was shocked that they got it to 2828 so quickly.

I mean, they didn't even have to, you know, I thought maybe they'd tied up with four seconds or something, but I mean, I, I don't know, I don't know what to say. I mean, it is the greatest game I've ever seen, maybe in sports, certainly the best game I've ever seen live. Yeah. I mean, it's the best football game I've ever seen live. It's not even a conversation. you're trying to piece it together

and that's what I tried to write about for today just how it all went wrong for Atlanta and what it looked like in their locker room, etc. And it really was the makings of a collapse in every single way. It wasn't one play. It wasn't even two or three plays. It was a succession of 20 plays that did them in.

I mean, just the idea that they get a second and one on that drive in the third quarter. They get a holding penalty. They get back to second and 11. Torpedoes are drive. They have to punt. They get to second and two. They get another one.

one-yard loss. Just every time they were moving the ball away, they wanted to, something happened. And Matt Ryan said that. We either got a holding penalty, we got a sack or just, you know, you look at the stats and it looked like Ryan

and the offense had a perfect day in a lot of ways, especially with the way they ran the ball in the first half. But I was telling the sad of the day for Atlanta's, Ryan got sack five times. And he got sack five times in the moments where you can't get sacked. Yeah. Including, I mean, we'll talk about this.

That play where you're in field goal range, I know we're going to shell over Kyle Shanahan for not, running the ball in that situation. Ruinning one of the greatest catch in Super Bowl history. That was ready. That Julio Jones catch was ready to go along with Mario Manningham and David Tyree. So, you know, my working theory here is that every good catch in Super Bowl history happened in the fourth quarter against the Patriots.

And that's what was going to happen here. And then all of a sudden, he takes that sack when you cannot take a sack. I don't understand, we can get into Kyle Shanahan a little later. I don't understand how the number one direction on that play was not. Not take a sack. Please don't take a sack. Matt Ryan. And that's how I'm sitting right there, is that I, I know that the play call in that moment

is probably in a vacuum to run the ball. But they ran the ball on the first down. They got stuff for a one-yard loss. Then they get the hole because they weren't running the ball well in the short yard situation. And in his mind, if you're the best offense in the league and what has taken you to a certain point is being this one thing, in the most critical moment of your season, stepping outside of being that one thing,

isn't natural. And I know that sometimes you have to control yourself and these offensive coaches that are aggressive, maybe have to be saved from themselves in those certain moments. Maybe that's on Dan Quinn to say, we run the ball three times here and we kick this field goal. I don't know. They also weren't even snapping the ball

with one second left in the play clock. They were really just playing their offense. I mean, you know, Josh McDaniels talked about halftime and he said, you know, the number one thing you have to do at halftime in a game like this is make a decision. Is the game out of reach to the point we have to start scrambling or is it not? And what he's saying with that is do you change your approach, okay?

And that's exactly why I don't necessarily destroy them for that. Right, right. But what I'm saying is there are just small adjustments you have to make. And one of them is snap the ball with one second left in the play. Maybe run a little bit more. And so stick in the game in some way. I am a huge, huge fan. I wrote this today of sticking to the plan.

I think that, you know, once you start, these game plans are carved out over two weeks. Okay? They're really smart. There was a reason these coaches are here. And so if you stick to the game plan, good things will happen, okay? But I do think you can make tweaks within that. I'm not saying you should just totally rewrite everything

because that's how you end up getting blown out and losing 55 to 3, okay? But I do think that they could have just said, all right, guys, we're going to slow this down, maybe run one or two more times. I mean, I just, I thought it was interesting. Zach Klein, a TV guy in Atlanta had a report that, you know, people who spoke to Kyle Shanahan at the team hotel last night,

Shanahan admitted he blew it. And I think that this is going to follow him around for a long time. And really, we haven't had a lot of situations like that. You know, Darryl Beville got a lot of heat after throwing at the one-yard line. But Joe Beville was going to be a head coach in six months. But Pete Carroll, you know, Pete Carroll also took the brunt of that. I think we know that Kyle Shanahan calls the place full time. And so I think it's been very interesting to see how Kyle Shanahan recovers from this.

I think it'll be fine. I mean, I honestly do. This is a tough one. But like three plays. earlier, we were lauding the guy on the internet for being aggressive by throwing that ball to Devante Freeman on that little leakout. Like it's just, you can't have it both ways. I know there probably should have been small tweaks, but just as I look back on it, it's like, I don't mind that they were who they were till the end. And I know that you have to be a little bit

smarter, but I'm not going to destroy him in the way that other people will. And maybe that's that I've kind of fallen for this Atlanta offense in a way that other people haven't. But I just, I would rather go down being the team you're going to be rather than pull Mike McCarthy you in the game you think is in hand and you're just trying to bleed it out till the yeah you know i'm not going to destroy him but i'm not going to look at the hook either i'm going to give him i'm going to write him a speeding ticket that's fair and i he does deserve some of the blame i just don't think it's this catastrophic like historic bad choice that a lot of people are making it out to me who's number one on your blame list for atlanta that's a great question is it maddie ice

is a mattie ice taking the sacks i think the first one the one that was the strip sack the way they talked about it afterward. Freeman denies that it was his guy. I think that the way that Danta Hightar was even talking about, he said, Freeman picked me up the other times that I did that. He didn't there. And Shanahan said that Freeman was supposed to get him on that play. It was a miscommunication.

So when you expect the guy to be blocked and he comes off of that quickly from the edge, just based on scheme, that's fine. But when you're in that field goal range situation, that's a different story. I mean, I think that on third down, you can take a sack, just to not throw an interception, not to make, I mean, it was a boneheaded play. wasn't even, it was a game-changing play, but you, the sack there is

defensible in some way. The one when you're in field goal range, you just can't do that. You do everything you can. Before that sack, I remember thinking, well, it was nice that the Patriots had the solo run, but this game is over. Yes. That was the 100%. After the Julio catch.

After the Julio catch. Yeah, I think we all figured that. Yeah, before the sack, after the catch, I thought this is, this is over. What a nice run for the Patriots, but this is the Falcons time. And then, I mean, I really, it was very interesting to me. I mean, there were all sorts of plays. You know, Tom Brady said it last night. There were 30 plays you can look to that this game could have turned on.

Totally. And that's somewhat rare for a Patriot Super Bowl. Yeah, right. Typically, it's just one, one play, one catch, one whatever. You know, the fact there's 30 plays, you know, the fourth and three for Bill Belichick, which I know you want to talk about. I mean, this was a, there were so many games within the game that I think we're going to have to look back on this and watch us, you know, four or five times over the next

couple weeks to actually process what the hell happened. Yeah. And when you're looking at a, when you're, it's a comeback from 25 points down with a quarter left. You need every single play. There isn't one thing that can go horribly wrong and you'll still be fine. And Belichick deciding to go for it on fourth and three from his own 46 with six minutes left in the third quarter. This game is over if they don't do that. And not going conservative on that play call by the way. And really, yeah, chucking a little bit to Amandoah. It was a 17-yard gain on fourth down. And if they don't make that, play, it's over. And it's two guys I want to

pinpoint just kind of in that vein on the defensive side of the ball. You know, we see High Tower get the huge sack. We see Trey Flowers get the sack that knocks them out of a field goal range. But both of those guys showed up in even quieter ways over the, down the stretch there. High Tower was the guy that got held by Jake Matthews on that

second and one. Flowers is the one that dropped Coleman for a one-yard loss on that play. Flowers had another half sack with Van Nuoy. He had another tackle for loss on a second and two that didn't let them stay on the field at Atlanta, they, both of those guys made tiny but huge plays down the stretch. And to do something like this, those are the kind of plays you need. Real quick, I went to the Patriots locker and

we'll get that in a second. Describe what the Falcons locker room was like. It was tough, man. I was standing outside and Arthur Blank was hugging a little kid who I believe is Thomas Demetrov's son. Don't hold me to that. And he was just, you know, he was upset. And I don't blame him. And that was a tough scene. And walking in there, you can speak to this. Super Bowl locker rooms are weird because they're not locker rooms. They're like these makeshift kind of rooms where there's a bunch of shit in the middle and really the stuff is piled up. So there's a sense of chaos to it as is.

They're like hotel rooms after you've been there for four days. Exactly. So you add that to just how demure the entire situation was. I'll never ever forget the look on Keanu Neal's face. He's sitting there just hunched over on the chair, you know, elbows on knees. And he's just looking into the distance at nothing. That's literally what I'm doing right now. I was like, man.

That is just, and that was it. I mean, it was very, very quiet and not a lot of people saying much, just a lot of shuffling around people. A combination of people try to get in and out as fast as they can and people are just in no hurry whatsoever. There was no one really in the middle. Nobody was going about their business as they normally would. I'll never forget Jake Matthews talking to one of the Falcons PR people, Matt, and just saying, I don't want to do it. Like, please don't make me do this. And, I mean, that's one of the things.

You have to go. And I don't blame them. Like in that moment, I certainly wouldn't want to talk to anybody. No. And that was the Patriots locker room was incredible. Robert Kraft was giving cigars out. Rob Grunkowski was escaping through a crowd. And I yelled, uh, gronk, what did you think of Brady?

Because I was writing a story on Brady. And he said, unbelievable. Greatest quarterback takes two steps, turns around and goes, hands down. And I said, okay, have a good summer ground. And so it was... Grock summer started today. You know summer movie season starts in March now? Croc summer started on February 6th.

Hands down was the kickoff for him. And so, yeah, I mean, it was just... I think they were stunned. I think there was some, you know... Both sides handling that in different ways. They really didn't, you know, they were... I think it took them a while actually to warm up. I mean, quite frankly, it took them a while for the champagne to come out.

I mean, the crafts were going around, you know, hugging people. but I think a lot of the players were just like talking and processing it. It was something I haven't seen in the Super Bowl locker room before. It was guys just sitting around and saying, how did this happen? Usually it's pretty self-explanatory. And this, I think that no one had ever played a game like this in their entire lives. You know, there were all sorts of weird heroic stories. Duran Harmon said that, you know, Devin McCordy said,

Duran Harmon came in and said this can be the greatest comeback of all time, whatever. I mean, no one actually believes that when they say that. When you're down 25 points. You say that because you don't believe that. Yeah, and you say that just in case you do it. And then you get to say it in the post-game press conference. But let's be clear. You know, we're going back to something I mentioned earlier.

They just stuck with what got them there. And that's what was so interesting. And that's why I think they struggled to put it into words after the game was because there wasn't a huge adjustment. There wasn't a fiery varsity blue style halftime speech. It wasn't anything. They just came out and they played their game and it worked. And that's why I think.

they were sort of, you know, they could not believe how well worked in comparison to the first half. Yeah. And just, I think that we have to talk, let's talk about the play disparity a little bit because I feel like that in a weird way, Roger Sherman actually wrote this last night. It's almost as if the Falcons were too good in the first half. I mean, when you are that efficient, which the Falcons were all season, good things happen. You're going to score points.

But the fact that you're looking at literally half the plays. And by the end, Dan Quinn admitted this. They were gassed. Yep. I mean, Atlanta's defense was just out of gas. And in a way, that's the only time a pick six could ever be bad for you is when it just leads to you being on the field more and more already when your offense is scoring quickly. So it's just a rough combination. I mean, three and outs late in the game plus quick scores early in the game.

There's a lot of time on the field. Here's what's interesting to me. The Falcons were a top heavy team. I think they have more talent in the first five guys than certainly the Patriots. Okay. Matt Ryan was the MVP. Vic Beasley was one of four. players in NFL history to lead the NFL in sacks and then make the Super Bowl.

Julio Jones was one of two receivers in NFL history to get 100 yards a game and then make the Super Bowl. They were a top heavy team. This was a matchup about individual superstars against a deep team. The whole salary cap management philosophy of the Patriots, everything they've done, you know, cutting this guy, you know, trading Chandler Jones, trading Jamie Collins, signing, you know, Chris Long instead, signing, getting Barquivus Mingo.

I mean, any of these guys, you know, mid-level guys, it's because they want depth at every single position. And they have it. Now, you're getting Patrick Chung back, for instance. They wanted depth. And it was a depth versus individual talent matchup. And I think when you started to see the Falcons get a little bit tired,

that started to reveal itself that the Patriots could go three deep at certain positions. I don't necessarily know if the Falcons could. They can't, but I also feel like if you play 93 plays, it doesn't matter how deep you are. your pass rush is going to go away. And that showed up in some ways. And others, I think that a lot of the game was a testament to how well the Falcons are built. If I deal Grady Jared, who's a fifth round pick, who would have been the MVP if one play

goes a different way. If Tom Brady doesn't complete that fourth and three, Bill Belichick doesn't go for it. If Trey Flowers doesn't sack Matt Ryan, they kick that field goal. Grady Jarrett's the MVP. He was a fifth round pick last year. Are we sure who was the MVP? I would have voted for him. It would same argument.

Would Connie Ely have won it last year? Yeah. I mean, who else would have won it? I mean, it's like, I would be given it to him. That game wasn't even close to the point that it's hard to argue, you know, what would have happened. But, I mean, I think it may have still been that, Ryan. That's fine. Grady Jarrett would have gotten some votes.

I mean, he had three sacks. He almost got a vote from Robert Mays sitting in row three. So I feel like in that element of it, he played very well. You know, excuse me, Dion Jones had a really good game. He made plays early. He made plays late. I mean, just they've drafted well. They've assembled this team well.

Gabriel came up in a big way. Alex Mack was a monstrous part of the running game early despite playing a broken leg. I feel like, you know, if one or two plays go a different way, we're having a different conversation about Atlanta. So I agree that they're not nearly as deep as New England, but I also just think that the way this game was played,

I don't know how deep you could be for it to matter. How insane. I mean, we were so close to the third minute of this podcast being, is this the end for Brady and Bellichick? If there had been one, you know, one missed drive, whatever. I mean, that would have been the narrative for the next seven months.

The hot take is fear would have just swallowed them whole. It is such a different narrative. It is incredible. I agree with that. I mean, I think that that would be the narrative. It certainly wouldn't be from this side of the table right now. No, no, I'm just talking about the debate.

Oh, yeah. No, they're gonna, they could have lost by 50 and I would have picked them to win the AFC next year. I honestly think that the Falcons were kind of a buzzsaw. And I still believe that. Even though they lost the game, the way they jumped onto New England starting the second quarter and just their defense was making plays. Dwight Freeney was doing shit. It just, they really seemed like it all coalesced into this thing that wasn't going to be beat in the playoffs.

And in my mind, that's not Brady and Belichick's fall. You know, Brady was playing well all playoffs. He had a fantastic season. I think that if the Falcons would have won, I would have looked at this as it all happened for Atlanta. It all happened in the right moments, and the Patriots will be back. I mean, that's how I would have thought about it. And now they're going to be back, and they're going to be unquestioned the favorites to win the Super Bowl next year. Let me ask you a question.

We had Carolina last year. I don't necessarily think any of us in the offseason thought Carolina was going to have this sort of fall next year. I thought that they would be a 500 team this year. Okay. I didn't think they would be out of it by October. Sure. That's certainly. Yes.

We both had, I think we both had Camdenian in our top five quarterbacks, we ranked him in June or July, which is a universally bad opinion, but was a shared opinion by everybody last June. And I thought I think Camden was pretty good. Sure. Yeah, of course. He's very good. What happens to Atlanta Falcons now?

I think they're in a much better position than that Carolina team was. Carolina was going to lose Josh Norman probably. They were going to lose some guys in the secondary. I felt like they were extremely thin, and they were extremely thin because they spent money in poor ways. I mean, it's just like that team was trying to build itself in a specific way that I think was almost guaranteed a regret. aggression this year. Some of the similar things, Atlanta had really good offensive line health this

year. There's a chance that doesn't happen next year. Stuff like that can go wrong for you. But I think that right now with how young Atlanta's defense is, you can see them being better. And the inevitable step back that the offense would take just by regression alone, I feel like the defense could make up for that, where Atlanta could still be a 10-11 win team next year just as a different version of itself. What I'm worried about with the Falcons is that not only are you guaranteed to not be this offense next year by virtue of injury luck whatever yeah i think chanahan's a really good coach and i think that them losing him is going to matter it's not just the way the plays are designed it's not just what you think the offense is on paper the idea of

calling a game and understanding the rhythms of your team and how to exploit things matters and that is an individual coach's prerogative that is not what it says in a binder so i feel like no matter How you replace him with? I like Kyle Shanham, but they should, the next guy they hire, they should ask him if he knows how to run the play clock. That's fair. I mean, this would be the first question in the interview process. Do you, if you, so just hypothetically speaking, I don't know who it would be. Yeah, I'll take the job.

Hypothetically speaking, Jim, if you say we're playing in the Super Bowl and you had the ball in the 21-yard line and it was second and second and 10th of 10th and 10th of 10th and would you throw it? Yeah. Or just like, would you snap the ball with 10 seconds up from the clock or one second left from the time? clock. This is great. These are all, maybe we should submit these to Dan Clay.

I agree with all of this. It was like, gosh, Shannon was a fucking monster. Of course he was. There's a reason he's going to be the head coach at San Francisco. Oh man,

are the 49ers worried now? The 49ers should look at what just happened all season, not be worried. Yeah, that was a really good thing. Yeah, the 49ers are going to rest in their offer. Who the hell are the 49ers going to hire?

A guy who helped build this offense from a personal perspective, from a design perspective, it turned Matt Ryan into the MVP. I love to see. No, these three calls at the end of the Super Bowl, which is the only reason that he was there, or they were there, is because of him, we're going to take the job back.

Yeah, a quarter and a half of bad football and all of a sudden, the freaking niners who have no leg to stand on. Oh, good God. He was going to let John Lynch run things by himself. It's all set. There were some really bad plays by the Falcons, but there were some worse tweets.

Isn't that always the case? Yeah. Tweets are always going to be worse. Always bad posts. All right, before we get more into Twitter commentary, let's hear from one of our sponsors. No team goes into this season without a game plan. If they did, game day highlights would be nothing more than a football folly's compilation.

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We do it for you because you're a football fan. All right, man, what else do you want to hit? I feel like there's... I want to hit the weird reflexive... Brady is not the greatest of all-time comments whenever you say Brady is the greatest of all time. Like, I wrote a column this morning saying, not only is Brady the best of all time, but he was the best of all time, you know. I agree with that as well.

At 4 p.m. yesterday. Yes. And this just cemented it. I got one tweet after the story was posted and said, I guess you forgot about Autogram's seven rings. First of all, four of them were in a league that wasn't the NFL and wasn't even the AFL. But let's leave that aside. I don't begrudge you your arena football championship rings.

I have, I have the Oando Predators banners in our living room. Just that's a, we don't have a TV. We just have a, you know, just ban. We just, what a franchise. That's what you point your couch at. I don't have a couch. I don't have a couch. I just have Orlando Predators jersey.

And the school. Yeah. I wish I had an Illinois Predators shirt. A good one though, like an old school one, not one of these new ones. So, you know, people are coming at me with Jerry Rice and like all these things are great, but like... I don't think Tom Brady is the greatest football player of all time. I think Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time. Is Jerry Rice better than Tom Brady?

better than Tom Brady? At football, I think yes. Yeah, maybe. I mean, I just know that... Just in relation to the other players at his position. I just said... Peyton Manning is a person, and so is Joe Montana. There is no other...

Like, there's no other human being you could mention to go along with Jerry Rice as a wide receiver. Well, it's also impossible. I mean, like, I don't know. Like, where's Willie Roof? You know, I mean, like, you know, once you start getting... Not Jerry Rice. Yeah, no, no.

I'm just saying, like, I'm just Hall of Fame guys in every position and it's impossible to quantify. Totally. But if we're having... We should try to quantify it in some way. And if we do, Jerry Rice has a bigger gap between him and the next best guy in his position than any other player ever. Even the guys without stats, I think that they would probably concede that that's true.

Like John Hannah and Archel are closer than... It was John Archell, a guard. Who was the guard? No, it was... Who was the guy that was Gene Upshaw? So it was like, John Hanna and Gene Upshaw, they probably close... If they're the two best guards of all time, name your guards, are probably closer than Jerry Rice.

And who's even number two? A wide receiver? Yeah, Lance Oldworth, Randy Moss. It's Julio Jones. I mean, I think that that's why you probably say it's rice, but there's not a Jerry Rice. No, I'm just saying it's really hard to quantify each position. I mean, obviously I was joking about Willie Rove,

but that's just an example of a Hall of Famer who you just say, well, where does he rank? You have no idea. He stands up in malls people. It's same as everybody else. And so he just did it for longer and better than everybody else. But, I mean, I just, I don't see a debate that anybody's ever been better than Brady. I mean, I actually saw the pendulum swing a little bit towards Manning last year, but, you know,

Manning couldn't come back. And also Manning was just, it was awful last year. I mean, like, he made for 466 yards in the Super Bowl. Payton Manning's corpse won the Super Bowl last year. Yeah, no, the debate didn't change, but, you know, there was, Manning's case was obviously helped last year. Yes. The difference between Tom Brady, the second best quarterback in NFL history is, is Manning, would you say?

I mean, I think probably a lot of people say it's Joe Montana. Yeah, yeah. But we can, I, let's not, again, this is not a 90s, 80s and 90s dynasty podcast for, for the Niners. But how could you say that Jerry, though? Maybe we should just totally. Jerry Rice. That's all of March is just Niners month.

Just Rice Montana. Just Rice and Montana. Ricky Waters. You can't say that, you can't say that Jerry Rice is the best player of all time and then say that Joe Montana is the best quarterback all time. Well, I think you can in a way that actually. bolsters Brady's argument because it's just a different era. If you look at the 94-49ers through the two years in a free agency, that team can't exist now.

And the fact that Brady is doing this and Belichick has done this when we have free agency, everything else, that's part of what makes it so remarkable, is that they've been able to sustain this with a business model and a sport that is completely designed to prevent this from happening. Yeah. Russell Wilson just tweeted, I'm coming for you, 52. 2, 4, 18. So, Super Bowl 52 is him?

Yeah. He's coming. He's guaranteeing a Super Bowl. That sounds great. Are you excited about Russell Wilson? I'm pumped. Are you excited for when they, like, go 9 and 7, lose in the wildcard round?

It's going to be great. After Earl Thomas retired. That was a joke, by the way. That was a joke. The entire season. Don't come at me, see Hawks fans. They're going to win the division. I don't know when it's shifted for me and Brady.

I call them the greatest of all time today. I just think I said, goat emoji is a joke. and something I wrote the second part of what I wrote this morning. But I don't know when I became comfortable saying that in such a casual way. It's recent. I think it's this season in a way. Just what he's done,

it wasn't just the lowest interceptment percentage of his career. He's 39 years old. I mean, his yards per reception were awesome. I mean... Honestly, you know what? This is going to be a really weird thing to say. I think I know exactly when I was just willing to concede it. I was sitting in my hotel room in Boston.

Conceit it. Just like, I'm not... I'm good. Like, this is something I'm not even willing to debate anymore. This is the story going. Like, I mean, just,

I was sitting in my hotel room in Boston and I, I've said this. I didn't watch a ton of the Patriots during the regular season this year. They didn't play interesting games. They played terrible teams. I dug in film-wise later on a couple times and just obligation stuff, but it wasn't a team that I was in tune with the entire season. Did you watch more Barris than Patriots?

No, definitely not. But I went back and watched a majority of their games before they played Houston. And just going back and seeing the way that he played all season, it was just like, good fucking Lord, this guy is ridiculous. I have maintained he does not throw the ball downfield in the way that he used to be able to. That's just true. But the way that he can manipulate a defense and bend and shape his throws and just continue to throw guys open, understand exactly where everything needs to be, it's just that hasn't fallen off one iota. And that to me is remarkable.

Just that that element of it is the same as it always was. physically he's not the same, which is true. Yeah. But everything else is. And that to me was when I, it really helped. It was just like, yes, I'm very comfortable to saying that is the greatest quarterback I've ever seen. Not happy with how much James White's performance is being overshadowed.

Seriously. Tom Brady isn't. No, I mean, Tom, he's mentioned it like three times this morning. Tom Brady thinks he should be the MVP. Because who gives a shit? Tom Brady's done. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know. I know. He's going to use it. Yeah, I mean, it's going to get the doorstop by now. doorstop. Even the car he gets as a doorstop by now. Hank Aaron used to use all those awards for doorstops, right?

And so for me, James White, it's emblematic of the entire season that it could have been Dionne Lewis, it could have been Ligarip one and happened to be James White in this situation. But, I mean, that's to have 110 receiving yards, to lead, to have a team that spreads the ball out and goes five wide in a lot of situations and to still lead the team in receiving by, I think, 30 or 40 yards. That's, I mean, what a performance. targets anybody else thing. Element had 12.

And they use them in a variety of ways. I put a catch in the starting 11 thing I wrote that's getting attached to Mike, Falcons thing from earlier, just the way they used him out of the backfield. And he came back to the ball. He's a very smart player. I think that's why he's so useful in games like this where you can really lean on him. I mean, they did the same thing with Vareen a couple years ago, and they're comparable in my mind.

I think that they're both just very in tune receiving backs that fit this team because they're just really heady guys that Brady trusts more. more or less. I think the one interesting thing that we want to talk about that happened on Monday morning, there was the narrative out there that Brady was working harder or that he was more focused because of the flake gate. And Bill Belichick really slapped that down. It was something I've said all year.

Tom Brady is maniacal. I know. He's a crazy person. It's like, it's not like Tom Brady was sitting there. Roger Gall was spending him. And Tom Brady said, well, time to work hard. Time to, you know, work, do spend more money in my body than any human in history. time to go out and play catch for six hours a day

with random people in L.A. Like, no, he's been doing that for 15 years. The year after time, let's go back to 2000, even before deflake eight, let's try to go back, like, 07 or whatever. Even that's a break between when he wants Super Bowls. But you can go to any year and look at Tom Brady and be like, that dude is crazy.

Head button people, he's screaming. And there is no moment, I think, that Tom Brady wanted one a little bit more. I'm not sure that's how Tom Brady is Tom Brady has no dimmer The switch is either on or it's off With Tom Brady You ever heard that Rodney Harrison's story

About how he kept coming to work Or kept coming in a facility Earlier and earlier And he got the one day He was like I'm just gonna get there at 4 a.m. And see if Brady's there Went there 4m, Brady was just Hey Rodney, how are you doing man?

Like the guy is just there all the time I mean that's not surprising at all And that kind of speaks to that ridiculous That notion is like Tom Brady's just Tom Brady He really gives a shit Tom Brady cares way more about his job than you care about your job And that's just two for everyone in America.

Tom, if Tom Brady, Tom Brady would spend five minutes you could host a better podcast and write better stories. Just look, do you just Google what's podcasting? What is podcast? Yes, he would sort it out and then he would, you know, he would have a great, a great show. Did you steal Tom Brady's jersey last night, by the way?

You know, it's funny. I didn't know what was happening. I was right around there. Robert Kraft was trying to give Tom Brady a cigar. And I didn't know what was happening. I thought there was like a warm embrace. What do you think Tom Brady would do with a cigar? Probably smoke it.

Great time with his family. Yes. Oh, I don't know. They won a Super Bowl. It'd be hard for me to see Tom Brady smoking a cigar. Maybe that's just, I'm not sure Tom Brady's ever put like sugar into his body in the last decade. I don't know. We should ask about that.

Carcinogens maybe one step over the line for him. So I got close to that because I thought it was going to be like a scene. Like maybe. And then I didn't hear anything they said. And then Brady walked right past me. And so someone actually yelled as I was, I was in front of Brady. And someone yelled, make room for the goat. Okay.

Who could that be? And so Brady walked past me. And so I was like, I wonder what scene I missed here. I'm sure it was great. And then I found out it was literally just Tom Brady losing his jersey. I think it was interesting. So apparently Michael Strayhan had his jersey stolen. It was replaced by a copy.

So Mike Flore. And then the original was sold by a scam artist. And so apparently, so Mike Florey will floated the idea that someone stole it and was going to replace it and Brady noticed it in the middle. Tom Brady is so talented that he snob. snuffed out the scam before they could replace it with a copy jersey. I'm very impressed. I mean,

that's just, that's what we expect from Tom Brady. You don't try to scam Tom Brady. A couple more things I want to mention just Patriots Central. Do you think that Tom Brady's going to spend the next seven months looking for his jersey like Liam Neeson and taken? No, yeah.

It's going to make him try harder next year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's going to want that jersey. I want that jersey. I want that jersey. I want that jersey. I want that jersey so badly.

I have a very specific set of skills. Yeah. eating kale, I'm throwing footballs. Two things I want to mention, just Patriots-wise, before we get out of here. Ligera Blunt's reaction on the field to me was priceless. The fact that he just went up to Bell-Truck and Brady, he's like, you're the fucking greatest.

It's important to them, and that makes me happy because that means it's okay for it to be important to me. That's what I say to you after every pot. You're the fucking greatest? Yeah, yeah. Totally. And then a couple more guys I want to just kind of point out on the Patriot's side. Marcus Cannon had an excellent game

at the end of an excellent season. Vic Beasley was nowhere to be found. Grady Jared had a nice day kind of working back around that side a couple times, but Big Vieslieb was blanked, and he did absolutely nothing. With one play where he almost picked the ball off in the end zone, would have ended the game.

But outside of that, very, very quiet. And Danny Mendoza, I mean, a guy who's been hurt in his entire career, more or less, comes in and has a huge game, comes up in a few big moments. And like you said, outside of Grunk,

this was a Patriots offense that was remarkably healthy by the end of the season and that came back and it helped them. It was a huge deal. Danny Amandola had the game designed two-point conversion.

Yes. Which was a kind of an interesting play call. All right, bud, that's all we got. That's all we got for today. That's all we got for this game and that's all we have

for the 2016-17-NFL season. We'll be back at some point when we get closer to the Combine and everything else. Check our Twitter feeds for some updates about some scheduling. We're not exactly sure. what it's going to be as we move forward here.

But we know we're going to have shows, even in the off season. So please check back. We really appreciate you guys listening all season. Can't tell you how much it means to us. The show has been fun as hell. And we're excited to keep bringing it to you. So thanks for being here. Thanks for being a part of what we're trying to do.

And we'll talk to you guys soon.