Are the Patriots on the road to redemption? | Quick Slants

Are the Patriots on the road to redemption? | Quick Slants

Quick slance is presented by your local New England Honda Dealers happy holidays everybody huh what do you do with a win like the one we saw Sunday I’m asking you that what’s it a race for instance you look at the end result and say hold everything does Chad ryland’s 56 y offset him kicking it to poblo and

Having a miserable rookie year in general Devonte Parker he caught four balls does that mean hit the pause button on finding a real number one underman on the road nothing to play for a win like Sunday doesn’t mean nothing but what does it mean in the grand scheme when it takes until

Christmas Eve to get your fourth win of the year that bears watching so does this show it’s quick slance welcome in here’s the game plan for the program the waiting game is ongoing between Robert Craft and Bill bich what’s next for our boy Bailey ranking the roster and then

Your comments we have a real fun one today and speaking of fun it’s no guy to bring the fun quite like Michael Hurley from CBS Boston hi HS hi every room I walk into that’s how I’m introduced so thank you for keeping that up you’re welcome as for your question Tom I think

You know grand scheme no we’re not changing Grand schemes based on that but I think you’ve got to get through the day you’ve got to get through the week you’ve got to get through the season and so these types of Victories make it so much easier for those guys who have

Poured every ounce of their lives into the season even if the results don’t show it so good for them that’s what I I say Tom uh you’re exactly right and you know this conversation that we’ll get into later on the show about tanking that is a straw manest of strawman arguments

That I’ve ever heard no one ever contended that the Patriots or Bill bich were going to try to lose football games so all the people saying H you think this is a tanking team no no no one thought that was going to happen meanwhile it’s time for quick fire it’s

Presented by your local New England Honda dealers looming on the horizon is a decision on Bill bich che’s future all right nobody ruling out the possibility and NFL media has reported there’s no firm decision that’s been made which leads one to believe what kind of decision is it if it’s not firm Michael

Shouldn’t the Patriots be meeting with Bill bich now if they want to see his vision for the future as opposed to January 8th I think this kind of just butresses the notion that the horse might be out of the barn on the surface no because there’s a work there’s work

To be done each week There’s games to prepare for but when you talk about your grand scheme in the larger picture The Season’s not going anywhere as soon as they were eliminated from the playoffs that should have begun I would think but they’re pushing it off I think that’s

Clear it’s clear as though there’s going to be some hesitation some discomfort um but to your point if there is going to be listening about what that future might entail you’d want it before the end of the season yeah and if you want to have a decision in a give and take

Then you would certainly sit down and have a conversation about it unless of course you’re already on the road to a decision uh meanwhile speaking of decisions there is one that will need to be made with young M Jones at the end of the season you’re bringing this guy back

Here’s Bill O’Brien today speaking about M Jones future I feel good about um you know M Jones I really do I think M Jones is is a smart guy he’s a very hard worker he’s uh he he’s really done a good job in this this situation here of being a good

Teammate um you know look these are things that happen in the course of a lot of careers right you you you have some ups and downs and and uh you know he he’s approached it the right way he’s working hard and uh you know I I I I

Believe in Mack you know so I think Mack’s uh GNA be just fine it’s really interesting isn’t a Mike it sounds as if wherever M Jones needs a recommendation he might not get it from the highest reaches the Patriots coaching staff but there’s plenty who would go to bat for

Him yeah and I think his teammates for his offensive teammates I should say uh have been in that camp as well this as far as this comment goes I mean what was the alternative there wasn’t much there to say he wasn’t going to sit there and

Say man that guy is a pain in the neck I’m sick of him so I don’t put too much uh stock into it but it it is you know there are a lot of people that would go to bat forom to steal your term but there was an earnestness I felt there

Was an earnestness for the commentary I mean you don’t want to give it that all right fine Fair that’s fair that’s fair I’ll give you that fine okay Mike Florio of course from pro football talk he put out his power rankings take a look at the uh top seven here AFC AFC NFC

AFC dominating the top is the AFC East the American Football Conference Eastern Division Mike what do you make of that uh I mean we we knew that the bills were probably well we thought the bills would be better than the bills are the Dolphins have kind of replaced them but

Uh it’s it’s it’s topheavy because I still think the bottom of the AFC East is still roughly could be considered wet garbage if you want to put it in such terms but no I I think there’s it’s wide open I think that’s the biggest sh of this year when it comes if you’re

Looking from a Patriots perspective you only have to be kind of good to have a chance to get through this AFC playoffs you don’t have to be all time great you don’t have to be prolific uh because as as good as Baltimore looked last night they’ve come up and down as good as

Miami can look they can be beaten so that is the one you know ultimate piece of regret the Patriots could have building for this team is man you only had to be decent to really be a contender and the funny thing is is in those early games both against

Philadelphia and Miami they were decent they were a decent football team early on before they absolutely fell off the precipice meanwhile there’s an MVP MVP race going on and here’s some of the odds Lamar Jackson with a centilating performance against the ners on Monday night leaps to the front better than

Even odds uh then you have maccaffrey Tua Brock pie on down the line has Lamar Jackson sewn up the MVP race did everything come down to that Monday night game against the ners I mean probably just because we’re so obsessed with giving it to a quarterback I still

Think it’s Christian mcaffrey I know I’m going to get rocks thrown at me because it’s a running back but he is the offense and it’s tough on a night after last night to make this case but when you lead the league in rushing when you still have 600 receiving yards when you

Lead the league in in scrimmage touchdowns he’s so important to what they do it’s telling that he even scored last night but we are a quarterback obsessed Nation I’ve said it many times so it probably will be Lamar you know I had uh Nick gos out in The Newsroom

Asked me one day he said how come quarterbacks and I happen to have one of the 50 votes among the voters for the Year End Awards and I said look they handle the ball on every single play they are defenseless as they process downfield what they’re going to do with

It there’s more pressure on the quarterback as a hood ornament as a standard Bearer for the franchise as the person who has to make decisions with the entire fate of the organization in their hands on every play that’s why I always defer to quarterback but Christian mcaffry did indeed make a good

Case this year but I again I nine times out of 10 I’m going quarterback because of the pressure on that position how do you like that that’s fair what if Lamar goes out and throws four picks next week then what are you going to do Mr voter

Man I’m gonna say it’s too much on him it’s too much on his plate go the next quarterback down all right time now from the stands is presented by Shaws perfecting the art of fresh here was the question how should the Patriots be viewing young Bailey zappy entering 2024

You can read the numbers but what’s Germain here is the fact that 77% of the voters said he’s either hey he’s a solid number two now or he’s competing for the number two as far as they’re concerned when it comes into next year thank God only 3% said just make him the starter

Big old reef money said the guy is poised in the pocket and making all the reads and getting the ball down the field I don’t understand why there is eight I don’t know graph fashanu from Penn State that’s a tackle and a quarterback in the second and grab a top

Free agent wide out and it is so simple so simp hey Aldo this entirely depends on draft position and who we draft I we get this we St uh huge upside quarterback Drake May Jaden Daniels assuming Caleb’s off the table then zapp’s a solid number too if

No one’s at that level or a veteran free agent let him compete with whoever it is so that means you could have a zappy under Center I like this one from my guy P Nasser assuming the Patriots are picking out of the top five Jets will

Make sure of that zappy will be the starter since bellich and the team finished strongly belich will be the GM and head coach next year leading to him trading down four times in the first round round to accumulate 34 fourth to seventh round picks over the next three

Drafts you got your Kevin KAS irrational exuberance just like last year HS yeah what does bayy zappy do for you well I’ll say this let’s start with a positive because I like you watched him in the summer in the spring and thought this he might not be in the

League anymore he had doubts himself as we learned he texted Kurt one of those questions so credit to him for coming in getting this opportunity finally you know he had a couple opportunities throughout the year and we all continued saying this kid probably doesn’t belong

In the league he goes out and wins that game he plays pretty well for a couple weeks out of his four starts credit to him he’s he’s established that he will be in the league next year I don’t think he’s someone you want to build your franchise around I’m not sure that he’s

A starter but as a spot starter backup guy I think he’s proving himself proving doubters such haters like Tom curan and myself wrong who will have a better NFL career M Jones or Bailey zappy answer it based on the way this year’s gone there no question that’s not what I ask who

Will have a better career I’d like to think and and M Jones will get his head screwed on straight somewhere and figure it out but I’m not a bad I wouldn’t I wouldn’t put my money on it no he’s got a higher top end but what’s what good is

That done him this year too much H and gross potential brought to you by Dr L presty feel younger look younger get your hair back call 1800 get hair meanwhile let’s chew on this for just a second here best passer rating since the beginning of

Last year here the top two are both from ma Jones one recently 126.70 to nothing last year all bayy zappy wins and then again you have good teams in the Eagles dolphins and dolphins where Ma was pretty good if you go all the way back to 2021 M Jones had

Some really good statistical games so what do we make of all this the competition the performances brings us down to myel watch out and it brings me to the question of what does Bailey zappy think he’s doing who is he fighting and in what war I have belittled and ey rolled

About well since August when he stunk and he doesn’t stink anymore and I have been served a steaming cup of STFU yeah I’m sure he couldn’t care less about the case he makes to me but what about the case he’s made to the Patriots and to

The rest of the league what’s he trying to prove that he’s a starting caliber player that he can follow a brock pie Dak Prescott Kirk Cousins track to becoming the guy and a pro bowl level player player in the right uh situation or is he making the case that he’s a

Solid number two who you’d feel comfortable handing the Reigns to if a more physically gifted and highly drafted quarterback comes on to the roster and he’s either hurt or he needs some seasoning is is he a Garder muu level guy he’d likely say you know my my

Role’s going to sort itself out I’m just going to keep producing and it will but will he be satisfied Bailey zappy I ask if and when the Patriots make the inevitable decision to add a projected new starter in the off season either through draft or free agency how does

Zappy view himself is he looking at the Patriots quarterback landscape and saying bring me another first rounder I’ll beat him out too it’s so fascinating to watch the way this unfolds Michael and and I wonder because we have so many cautionary tales around the NFL mik with Tommy DeVito or Josh dos

Or uh Sam Howell so many guys who spark have good games and then flame out it’s hard to really put your chips on a guy and say yeah even though we didn’t Scout him as being this good he is this good yeah and I think also something that

Bayy zappy has working for him is that he has I’m the backup and I’m in I’m going to sling it I’m going to take these risks I think of that touchdown in Pitts ber to Hunter Henry where he barely fitted past the safety who took a

Bad read on it where if a safety makes a better play on that we’re talking about another interception another turnover and credit to him he’s taking the shots we saw him take a nice cover two hole shot Saturday Sunday night in Denver I love me a cover two hole shot that gets

Me excited it’s a pass that an NFL quarterback has to make and one that I was not sure Bailey’s zappy could make uh until Sunday night so there’s a lot of that a lot of case being made where all right well he’s not good in practice he he might not understand certain

Things but when the lights flick on uh he he can play and the biggest thing Tom is this defense has been playing its butt off as we know turning the ball over and just watching M Jones play so poorly so to have a guy just come in and

Be decent I think has been huge for everyone in that locker room yeah what’s interesting about bayy zappy as compared to M Jones as downfield throws there were so many occasions where M Jones had difficulty even keeping the ball in the grid and bayy Zappy’s downfield throws

Whether it be the hunter Henry touchdown you mentioned against Pittsburgh the touchdown to SII which was an outstanding throw that he had to scramble on but especially the throws to Devonte Parker those receptions and completions are on the quarterback we see all over the NFL guys make ridiculous catches with those stupid

Sticky gloves that the quarterback doesn’t even have even have to throw a good ball on or the receiver’s gotten so much separation it’s an easy pitch and catch but with zappy throws he’s small throwing it a small windows and his receivers except for Demario Douglas the other night when he had a backpedaling

Catch those throws on zappy not on the receiver making ridiculous catches credit to them but the ball’s where it needs to be and that’s a contrast with what M Jones has done so we’re gonna just we’re gonna tap the breaks we’re gonna think about hinei we’re gonna

Think about how we’re gonna think about Mina we’re gonna think about D Vito we’re also going to think about your Kirk cousins’ and your Brock PES and your guys who did Dak Prescott become players who were able to ascend and overcome their draft status and turn into good players meanwhile

Gerard Mayo today talking about the difficulties of coaching a team that has already been eliminated and keeping them up keeping them up keeping them up yeah I I’ve just learned that you know these guys are are very resilient they’re mentally resilient um you know it really doesn’t matter what’s

Happening on or off the field as soon as they cross the white lines they’re going to give it everything they have and I think that’s reflective of what we’ve done you know so far especially defensively um these guys work hard no matter what’s you know what the record

Is no matter where we end up on the field and and I appreciate that attitude that mentality and Coach used to always talk about you know you get to the playoffs it’s a crash landing there’s no like Smooth Landing one thing I would say now we have an end date and

Hopefully these guys you know they understand that and you know want to go out with the bank yeah it’s it’s a crash landing but they’ve been smashing through the trees for going on six weeks what’s difficult for you about covering a team that is out of the

Playoff race uh H great question I I I like this better than the the phony they have a chance at the playoffs whether it’s 2020 20 2022 where you’re like oh if they do this and 19 different if you do the New York Times playoff odds predictor at least we’re not doing that

I think this one is much more laid bare the situation they’re in so there is that but the the the lack of everyone caring Tom we used to cover the most interesting professional sports team in the world and we did it for a long time

So it it’s we’re still not used to it it’s still tough but uh poor us is what I’m trying to get to poor me and you yeah and it’s funny too because there were so many games where they’d win 27 and 12 over the Panthers or something

And the game was a snoozer because you know how it was knew how it was going to end and it was difficult to extract a story from that because you expected a win and then you get into style points and what does it mean for the AFC Championship or the playoff race how

Well are they playing are they trending in the right direction now there’s very little football talk very little things to look forward to and Converse about and that’s what sucks is we’re not talking about the football as much nor the Arc of what guys might be doing who

Will be big difference makers down the road where’s been what 5 minutes so far to in the show talking about bayy zappy and whether or not he is a competing number two or a locked in number two so to me it’s it’s fascinating me all right

This was a fun exercise let’s leave it for a second this was my top 20 Patriots I was curious to do this just a look at the general Vibe and where the drop off is and everything else Christian barmore Matt judon Gonzalez peers and Stevenson are my top five Trent Brown talent wise

As good as it gets on wenu Elliot Tavi Hunter Henry then we get into some other guys Dugger Bourne Keon white David Andrews Bentley strange Jonathan Jones Anthony Jennings Demario Douglas your results May well vary Michael you had all those up there yes your take on that group I

Mean yeah that’s a it’s a 4 and11 team it’s it’s there’s a lot of guys you respect there’s a a lot of guys who’s who have had good years there’s guys that have had breakout years there’s guys that have been reliable can we throw it back up while we’re talking

Yeah bring it back people can look and see it I’m just I’m just saying there’s there’s not a lot of maybe Pro Bowl all proo type players on that list yeah and when you see the breakoff break look at all the guys who have expiring contracts okay um Brown onwenu Elliot Henry Dugger

Bourne all of those guys have expiring contracts and then when you have anern Jennings at 18 good player probably could challenge to be a starter elsewhere also look at how many defensive players there are there and how many skill position players there are there I have Demario Douglas at 19

I’m sure he’s a riser but it is really interesting to look at where the strengths of this team are and where they’re lik here’s a few comments on um from people out there Brian always a good buddy he had barmore peppers on wenu Gonzalez and Bentley then he had a

Few other fellas down there thank you we only need a five uh TJ Peppers t on the outside the punter it’s he has a name sir Google a TJ next he kicked at 80 yards the other night he did the air Paul nargang um pepper L Elliott okay he had

A two Douglas barmore and an frery Jennings and then Kyle Davey barmore Peppers Tavi Andrews and JN Jones so there’s a variety and I actually have right here which I’ll get into after your list wow I tallied up 30 of the votes and just came up with a consensus

What do you got who’ you put where I was Defensive heavy with mine a big question coming into the year was Deon McCord Deon McCord so I have two safeties uh in the spots there uh Christian barmore we’re affected by the most recent game with three sack Knight three sack

Quarter uh and then David Andrews made my list cuz he’s been on the field for 100% of the offensive plays and I have a Tai pop Douglas he’s their he’s their chain mover but uh they don’t move the chains much so Bryce we chew on him we

Should well they got hurt in part of the team they’re on the roster maybe I didn’t understand the assignment I think Gonzalez certainly would have made it given what we think would have panned out and judon obviously is the only pro bowler that we that we know of on the

Team so they would have made it but I’m I’m looking at the team over 15 games that’s my list these people understood it these people got the grip uh barmore I took 30 votes okay I went with 30 because I there were 115 responses barmore had 19 uh 30 overall votes in

The top five 19 number ones six number twos judon he had 10 number ones nine number twos he had 28 votes next up was Gonzo 27 votes for him Michael he had 1-1 62s and 11 threes uh jabil peppers and Mike en wenu were next up they had

17 of the 30 votes put them in the top five so your five best players according to you folks barmore judon Gonzo peppers and an wenu good there was a vote for Trent there was a vote when’s Election night they should have you on

On the latest Quick Slants, Tom E. Curran is joined by Michael Hurley to discuss the Patriots’ win over the Broncos, Bailey Zappe’s performance and the future of Bill Belichick

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