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All-star, closer, Kenley Janssen, we have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? This boy isn't boring, baby. I'm Rob Radford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago. It is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod. There is another fact. So jump aboard the BIB Express. Follow and listen to baseball as I'm boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app. Or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, fantasy football owners. The road to winning your fantasy football championship starts now. I'm Matt Harmon from Reception Perception. Join me and James Co as we take a deep dive into the position that's going to make or break. You're a fantasy roster. Wide receivers. We analyze route running, target share, and all the metrics that matter giving you the insights you need to draft the best wide receivers. As you prep for your draft, let us give you the coverage you need. Follow and listen to Reception Perception on the free Odyssey app. Or wherever you get your podcasts. Fresh off of his cognitive assessment at the hands of the Surgeon General to see if he is fit to continue as co-host of the Six Rings in Football Things podcast. We welcome back the esteemed Andrew Jumboheart, who enjoyed himself a nice 10 day respite from the wide world of football and all things W-E-E-I. Andy, I hope everything went well. And of course, we have to address the topic at hand and ask you the question that has been burning on the minds of one and many in Patriots Nation, the wide world of Boston sports and beyond. Have you gotten your Apple Day situation resolved? No, I called my wife and she came with her credit card 20 minutes later while I sat at the desk in front of the store and waited for her. Okay, now aside from glib topical political jokes on the up top and mention of a tweet that Andy put out, let me provide a little context. Hello, and welcome back to the latest episode, of course, everybody. Of Six Rings in Football Things, the band is back together. As always, we are a presentation of W-E-E-I, Odyssey in 2400 sports. Great show coming up today, we got a nice jam-filled Pat's Pari, we'll discuss some of the nugs that I had in the Sunday 7 that I addressed the other day on the pod, as well as a couple new ones and we'll get Andy's spin on that. And then we'll do in the back half another of our off-season player positional previews, OPPP. Today, we'll do the safety dance. Now, the tweet in question is one that was on my mind all weekend long. I laughed out loud when I read it because it only could have come from the original old man or rather mid-life man who yells at clouds and just general technology. And just general technology from the south coast. And we had about a 15-minute discussion of it with a giant set of belly laughs last night on The Rich Keep Show on W-E-E-E-I as well. Andy apparently was shopping for some, I'm going to guess, 4th of July or 4th of July, week, weekend party supplies. I'm imagining there was definitely burger patties, hot-og, some buns, maybe the ingredients for or some pre-made vodata salads and some other various accoutrements. Maybe there was a summer impulse purchase and they're like, "Hey, I love that Bluetooth speaker. I don't need it." "Oh, it comes with free salsa. I'll buy this." It's got a chip dip cup. So Andy checks out of BJ's and apparently he's using Apple Pay for the first time and it doesn't work. Okay, that's probably happened to a lot of people before. However, Andy in quintessential Andy Hart fashion, the same way that he argues in line, he waits for pizza with people on Twitter. He pulls out his phone and tweets out, "What was it again? Technology sucks. Of course, the first time I tried to use Apple Pay, I have $300 at the checkout at BJ's and now I'm screwed." Yep, that's pretty much it. And I should have known better because it was just a little tip here. The 4th of July week BJ's is a lot like Christmas week BJ's. And when I say BJ's, everybody smirks, I'm talking about the whole system. Yes, people, get your mind out of the gutter, please. Just like the other day, somebody had to point out that when in the Sunday 7 column, when I mentioned it was great to see Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski at Michael Rubin's White Party, I had to do a note to Benet saying it's called the White Party because Mr. Rubin requests that everybody wears white to it. It's not some sort of rally in Nashville. No, it's not. It's not Edelman, Gronk, and Brady are only allowed and some others are not allowed. No, no, no, it's a totally different thing. It's not the pay-through proceeding for the goal. It's not what we used to call the Nantucket formation for 2016. Randy Moss is like, "Wait, I used to catch passes here. Why am I not allowed in?" Well, Randy, I hate to tell you. Malcolm Mitchell probably looked around and was like, "Am I the only guy?" Alright, never mind. Are the ball, Tom? Right, what the is going on around here? So yeah, no, I had forgotten my wallet, so I knew I had no fallback. I didn't have the ability to just like, because people are like, "Why don't you just get out of credit card?" Yeah, thanks, Jack Wagon. If I had a credit card, I would get out a credit card. I was trying to use technology to save my ass because I forgot high-class problem here, had forgotten my wallet on the boat and realized it when I was in line. By the side note to that, you are never allowed to cape-shame me again if you say, "I forgot my wallet on the boat, so I had to use Apple Pay at the big box store." Get out of here. Literally, and not knowing how it works, it was amazing because I hold the phone next to it and it goes like beep, and it's like processing. And I'm like, "Wow, this is really easy." Till it keeps saying, "Processing." Till it keeps saying, "Processing." And then it goes, "Failed, meh." And I was like, "Ah, excuse me?" And I'm looking around and there's like 30 deep behind me at the self-serve register. And they're not happy at all. And then the little light starts flashing that says, "Help is on the way." My ass it is. No, it's not. "Help is not on the way." I'm just standing here with my thumb up my ass. And yeah, it was. And then the woman comes over and she's like, "Is this Instacart?" And I was like, "Excuse me?" I was like, "I don't know what you're saying." She's like, "Is this Instacart?" And I was like, "No, it's my cart." That's literally what I responded like it was a frickin' skit. 'Cause apparently Instacart is some like thing and like apparently they have a pre-order system that we can't figure in the pandemic for people wanting to do remote shopping. But I guess there's frequent payment issues or something with Instacart orders or something. And I'm like, "No, no, no. I have a cookout tomorrow." And I'm like, "I'm thinking in my head. I'm not leaving this cart. I will chain myself to this cart like I'm a protester on 93 South. You are not getting me away from this cart with all my meat in it and everything." So yeah, then the lady goes, "Well, I can clear this or something and you can sit out front." And I was like, "Okay." And she's like, "Maybe somebody else can come pay." So I literally had to do the 20 minute seat o' shame at a little bench by the service desk with my cart in front of me. Just everyone look at this man over here who didn't bring an alternative payment. Yeah, and all because Apple Pay and I have the email that says, "Your discover card is now connected to Apple Pay and ready for use." So I still don't know what went wrong. I haven't tried to use it again. I may never try to use it again. F Apple. You got a warehouse full of cash in California. You ain't getting any of more of my cash, bitches. Wow, this has been a very salty, borderline, expletive laden tirade from Andy as we catch up on how his life went. And of course, the great Apple Pay dilemma at BJ's of 2024. I just thought it was very funny. Who knew you can't take your bj's with Apple Pay? Wait, what? Alright, prop Jerry Springer. He's actually no longer with this. But it's a reminder to everyone try not to pay for your bj's with Apple Pay. It's great. I'm so glad the podcast has gotten off to a very family. BJ's are best paid for with cash, I believe. And it's also great. It's also a cautionary tale. We've lost 90% of the listenership at this point. Terp, we should probably just restart JK. It's also a reminder that if you're going to test out some sort of new technology, payment method, et cetera, usually maybe like do it at the corner gas station or something. Just get like a candy bar or maybe like a soda. And then if it goes through, hooray. Now I've updated something. I've updated. Well, I never planned on using it because I hate technology. And then I had to. And then technology failed me. Well, while you're on the boat, hopefully you're keeping in touch and in tune with everything going on at WEEI, the six rings podcast, past nation and beyond. Oh, come on. We know you're just like Stacey James and everyone else at one Patriot place. Your ears are extended. The antennae are always up. And even if you're in relaxation mode, I know you've got your finger on the pulse of the past people and be hard. I'm like that guy in NFL network. What's his name? I don't know. There's not many of them. He's not there anymore. Andrew Sicilliano. He's gone too soon. Oh, that's I know. They dismantled everything. By the way, side note, why would you get rid of the around the NFL podcast? That's one of the best football podcasts. What is going on with NFL media and the NFL network? All these people are paying for the fact that they screwed people over with their Sunday ticket package and the punitive settlement that came out that was like $5 billion. $18 games probably coming up as well, too, because the NFL does not want to lose any of its gigantic country dominating rev share. All right. Eight minutes into the podcast. We'll finally get into the stuff that's the nitty gritty of past nation right now. All right, Andy, so a couple of things that took place over the last 10 days that I would like to get your spin on, or maybe an informed explanation. So when you see Matt Judon tweet out a day after Jelani Tavai gets a contract extension. First, quick, quick take on the Tavai extension. I thought it was a quality move. It's again, another solidification of the core and another guy getting rewarded. But should we, we shouldn't be doing cartwheels, but he happy about it? Yeah, definitely no cartwheels, no streamers, no fireworks unless they're left over from the fourth. But no, good solid contract for a good solid player who you know, I think had as impressive an evolution over the last couple of years from, why did we bring this guy in from Detroit who Patricia likes to, huh, this guy is pretty good and kind of plays every down and he's good on special teams too. This is, this is a classic Patriots player here in the mold of whatever you want to call it. Like Ray Bull, Roman Pfeiffer, Rob Ninkovich, these guys that, you know, Bill Woodjoker role players and then come to find out their role is to play every down and be really important players for our team. And that's what he is. Exactly. He played 75% of the snaps last year and was second on the team in tackles. Like you didn't give him a boatload of money. It's nothing that's going to, you, A, you have a lot of money because you didn't burn cash through the offseason. And B, these are the types of, if they get back to where they want to be in the next year or two, these are the types of players. I always say this, Jelani Tavai, unlike the dynasty Patriots would have been a borderline star. But the reality is he's just a pretty good player on a pretty bad team right now. And so it kind of gets forgotten. But if you get back to where you want to be, if Christian Gonzalez is who he's supposed to be, and if Christian Barmore is who he's supposed to be, and Kyle Dugger is who he's supposed to be, and you develop Keon White is who he's supposed to be, then all of a sudden you're going to really appreciate having a guy with the skills of Tavai. He's not a top five defensive player for you. He's in that second tier, but he's really good at that. And he's really valuable if it's blended with those other stars doing what they're supposed to do. So I have, and you know, you can pay him for three years what you have Matthew Judon looking for for one year, right? Like it's value. So it's a three for one kind of deal. So I love it. Love it. I appreciate it as well. And I think it's actually going to be on like these building blocks, these foundation pieces that you're talking about getting in for new Jennings three for 12, Jelani Tavai three for 15. These are going to be your core guys that will hold the edge, make the play, continue to never really be out of place and hear their name called more often than not for making a positive play that will allow your stars like potentially key on white or Christian Gonzalez or Matthew June on if he's still here and more to flourish. So agreed. I think it's a solid move. Now, the aforementioned Matthew June on. Yeah. So a day later, so we know he's been talking about he's not going to do a sit in. He's been using a lot of gifts and a lot of memes to share his feelings on the socials. Assistant GM Judy has over the last several weeks, June 21st. He tweets out, you know, the year too old Edelman yelling at Brady on the sideline, Jeff gift, whatever you call it. And then says, Lord, I know others have been getting theirs. I'm going to get mines. Hopefully someday soon. Then a few days later, he uses the Leo DiCaprio face from Wolf of Wall Street like I'm not ever going anywhere. So that means he's not going to do a sit in or a hold in or a hold out or a sit out. He's going to show up to camp. He'll be there on time. That's great. He's not going to cough up any money. Then the day after T'Vy signs his extension. June on tweets using a SpongeBob meme. All right, I'm ahead out. Now it's July 3rd. Was that for the holiday or was it more likely that he saw T'Vy get paid before he did? And he's not happy about the fact that he hasn't gotten his deal after Dugger, after Jennings, after Onwenu, after T'Vy now, you know, I'm sure he's getting a little frustrated. Okay, so you're better in this where I hate this crack. I know you can. I know you can. Social media, interpretation and assessments and whatever. So, I mean, because we never know if it has to do with what we think it has to do with, oh, it's contract. Oh, T'Vy. Oh, or is it like... Maybe he had an Apple Pay issue at BJ's. Right, right. Or maybe he's just like, I'm going to head out of social media. Like, okay, I need to stop. You know, this is going down a road where sooner or later, I'm going to do something bad or something I regret. Like, there's no original tweet since then, Andy, to provide context. It has only been retweets of other people's content, none of his own. And that's how I wondered if it was just like, I need to stop playing the game because it's not funny anymore. Like reacting to other guys' contracts and situations is kind of funny until you're like, wait a minute. I'm really not going to get any money, am I? I'm really not going to get paid. And this isn't funny anymore. I don't want to play around. I'm going to see myself out kind of thing. But the age thing, he's too old. That's just to ask for a big money extension. He's too old. That's just the fact. And I think that's tough for people to... You know who he should call? In all seriousness. No sponsors. Who? Bill Belichick. The brazen man about town on Nantucket, who has been popular on social media photos of late. He's just enjoying a little summer vacation with his new paramour. Yeah. And they're definitely in contact with each other. Touchy touching. As somebody said, she's reaching second base in that photo. But I think Bill Belichick influenced her in the wild. What a time to be alive. It really is. And I thought panda videos were the best content on social media. Just become Bill Belichick watching from afar. But no, I think Bill learned. Doesn't matter how good you are. Whether you're a goat coach or a four straight year, five straight year, whatever it is, Pro Bowl pass rusher. If you're older and maybe coming off a questionable season, your value is greatly diminished. Bill Belichick learned he's too old, right? Nobody was just going to lay down and hand over the keys. And I think Matthew Judon is probably learning the lesson that when you're 32, coming off kind of a lost season, you're no longer a high end big ticket pass rusher. Even though the job you do is valuable, you're not in the prime of your earning career. And it is what it is. How this plays out. You know, is he a man of his word? Because he's not good. He called it trash, I believe, the way he handled last year. Yeah, you call himself the trash man sometimes, yeah. If he's a man of his word and is not going to be trashy, then he kind of just needs to shut up and play and see what he gets at the end of the year, I think. So right now, currently taking a look at the top paid, would you consider, I'm using Spotrack and they have a nice little feature where you can see the top average annual value deals for players of every position across the spectrum in the NFL. And now we're talking like hyperspecific as well. Would you say we should look at defensive line, defensive end or edge for Matthew or linebacker for Matthew Judon? Because I don't know exactly which position you want to qualify in this. Edge, I would say. Okay. All right. So I'm looking at edge. And right now, the current average annual value leader is Nick Bosa at 34 million a season. Josh Allen, 28 million a season. Bryan Burns, 28 million, Miles Garrett, 25, Von Miller. Stop me when you think we're going to get to Judon territory. Then we have... Wait, you want Judon want territory or Judon worth territory? Actually, I would appreciate both from you because if the social media aspect of things is my forte or my lane, then figuring what he wants versus what he's worth would be yours. Okay. So it's a fun little game. Stop me when we get there. So it's a 34, Josh, Josh Allen, 28 million, Bryan Burns, 28 million, TJ Watt, 28 million, Miles Garrett, 25 million, Daniel Hunter, 24 and a half million, Sean. Okay. I think you're in the want world. Okay. So somewhere between Max Crosby and Daniel Hunter. Yeah. And the 23 to 24 million. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to keep going. Max Crosby, 23 and a half million, Bradley Chubb, 22 million, Leonard Williams, 21 and a half. Williams, 21 and a half million, Trey Hendrickson, 21 million. He also wants more money. Also older, I believe. That's the one thing that you need to blend in here is some of the age. Yep. You know, you're paying for the future and the health and all that. All right. Von Miller's 32 and he's getting 20 million a season up in Buffalo. And he's been very... He's been unproductive since he betrayed it. And we all thought it was stupid the day it was signed, right? And you were correct. All of us that said, that's a bad deal. We were actually correct. John Mack is 33, still with the Chargers, 19 million. Jonathan Grenard, who switched places with Daniel Hunter up in Minnesota, 19 million a season, also five years younger than Judon. Harold Landry coming off of an injury, only 25 years old, 17 and a half million. I think you're getting down into... If you want him and you think he's still good, I think you're getting down into the world where that's probably fair market value. But it's changing, but still talented, has something to prove. I think you could maybe sell yourself on that. Yeah. Cam Jordan's only making 14 million a season. That's just a slight uptick over what Judon's getting paid now as well. Alex Highsmith is making 17 million a season. So it would be interesting to hear what Judon's want and wish is versus what maybe the Patriots would consider or be potentially willing to extend themselves for. So now let's get into this. Well, I think you're... Just throw this out here. Go for it. I think you're... Let's just say there's a $10 million window between 15 and 25 million a year. And I think Judon's probably on the higher end. And the Patriots are probably on the lower end of that window. Correct. I think that's safe to assume as well. Yeah. But do we think the Patriots... This is, I think, the million dollar question or the multi-million dollar question, the crux of it all. Do we believe the Patriots want to extend Matthew Judon and have him join this contractually extended core for the next couple of years? I think so. I think he can bring value still, both as a player. I don't know that there's been a severe decline in his skill. Just an injury. Now, obviously, sadly, that took him out last year. But injuries happen. Now, I also believe injuries tend to happen more the older you get and the more wear and tear you have on your body. Like those think you... As the great Paul Perrillo says, you generally don't get healthier as you get older. Like, it's just the harsh reality for basically everybody not named Tom Brady. That's just the reality. So, but I do think they kind of want him. I do think you can sell yourself on, because you don't have the next guy. Uche hasn't proven himself the next guy. Kion, whoever you think might be the next guy is not right now the next guy. So, the other issue here is the length of term. Not just the, is he looking for four years, $25 million a year, four years and $100? Is he looking for willing to take one with an option? That's a key factor here too. But I do think the team on a palatable deal is open to him getting an extension. I would imagine so as well, but it has to be...I won't necessarily say team friendly because that's a term that the Belichick era Patriots would more likely throw out. Whereas now they would at least try to pay him fair market value, but he can't be expecting to make Nick Bosa money if he's several years older coming off an injury as well. Something in that, I think something in that Alex Highsmith, you know, a little... A market-based raise from the contract he first signed, which lured him away from Baltimore to New England. I think something that would be fair as well. And look, if the Patriots decide that they're not going to extend him, do you think they just let him play out the season or would a trade possibly be in the cards? I think you have to trade him personally. Now, I don't know, you know, how much you'd get for him. I don't know what his trade value is. You know, a team would be renting him heading towards the end of the contract and he's proven that he, you know, over the last couple of years has proven that he wants more money, he wants to be paid higher. I don't know who teams perceive that, like you're bringing in a guy who is looking to cash in. I was going to say, I think an interesting comparison might be different stratosphere of money, so to speak. But remember when we were talking about Hunter Henry and we were like, well, he's one of your best targets. You'd like to have him back, but he was making $12 million a year. Do you really want to pay him, you know, he's probably looking for a raise. Do you really want to pay him 13 or 14, they got him back on a lower contract, right? So, right. And he's a little, he's still very productive and a little younger. And I would say he's almost the Matthew Judon of his position. I agree. And can you get Judon to see it the way you somehow got Hunter Henry to see it? Like I want to be here, whatever. I want to be part of the next phase. I'm able to take a little bit less. Last contract was my big one. This one is still nice, but not, not a raise. Usually in this world, everything goes up, right? Inflation, it's just three out contracts, everything we pay for as human beings. If you could talk Judon into at least a level-funded deal, if not a slightly lower deal, kind of like you did with Hunter Henry, then I definitely think there would be a ground for an extension and to continue the relationship as you build around the greatest defense that we've seen since the 2000 Ravens. Oh boy, here we go. All right, now I knew that was going to come up. In a column that Andy Hart was on his return, here we go, snark-a-tron. Oh, hey, it looks like it's snark week here on the Discovery Channel. Snark-a-tack. Andy Hart published a column. I included a little nugget in the old Sunday seven over the weekend talking about what are the realistic defensive expectations for your 2024 New England Patriots. And obviously, depending on whether or not we actually get Matthew Judon back on the defense as well, and if they can stay healthy, it seems like expectations are pretty high locally and nationally for the Patriots defense. Andy, sort of, I won't say fully poo-pooed that, but definitely wasn't as on board as the majority of everybody else. Would you care to explain, sir, why you may not be as on board as everyone else, especially considering you are the one who had professed it's the off-season, so it's time for everyone to party or at least have higher expectations and enjoy themselves. Sure, it's time for hope. The hope has turned into hype surrounding the Patriots defense, and I'm not quite willing to go there. I just, I tried it. Do I think the defense is the best part of the team? Absolutely. I don't know that you'd get an argument from anyone against that. I mean, they kind of proved it when they said, "Wow, we really need to go out and get some offensive players. We're going to leave the defense the way it is." You got Marcel. Marcelus Dyle. Marcelus Dyle. He's your only defensive draft pick. Like, there's even been joking about it that, you know, that Elliott Wolf apologized to Gerard Mayo. "Oh, sorry, but we had to do it. We had to do kind of thing on draft weekend." But there's a different stream being the strength of your team and being, you know, Mina Kimes has them as, I think, her fourth best defense in the NFL. Top tackling defense, yeah. Which, to me, that and $3 gets your, who gives a rat's ass if you can tackle? This is not an NFL where tackling is the premium. The premium is pressuring the quarterback and forcing incompletions through the air, right? That's the premium defense. Your cornerbacks, your passrushers, tackling, oh, great. Hey, that was a nice tackle. He made 12 yards downfield. Woo, woo, woo, first and 10. Oh, we need tackle decker in the end zone after he caught it. Wow, that was awesome touchdown. Well, also, but if tackling had been an issue previously or as an issue on other teams where people are able to evade tackles, gain extra yards, yards after contact, et cetera. If the Patriots are able to utilize their strength of solid tackling, fundamental tackling, and prevent those yards after contact, that is potentially, I won't say a big deal, but that's a plus on their side or a feather in their cap. Yeah, feather in a crappy cap, I would say. Oh boy. All right. He's back. The vacation. I just, it's, it's, it's sort of like, I don't necessarily believe you win in a lot of sports with light, like baseball. Defense doesn't necessarily win you games and championships. Bad defense can lose you games. Absolutely. And I look at tackling that way. If you're a good tackling team, but don't have a great pass rush, can't really cover. Okay, great. We can tackle it. We're still going to get our asses whooped because the other teams going to get open. They're going to drop back. They're going to throw the football, whatever. Bad tackling is a problem. Bad tackling can cost you, as you said, yards after catch. Like, I'm covering the guy at eight yards, but now he breaks a tackle and it turns into 15. I think that is on field demoralizing, but also spiritually and energetically demoralizing for a defense and for a team. But I look at this team. The defense has been pretty good in recent years. Correct. More statistically, I think than eyeball test and weighted towards really good performances against bad quarterbacks, bad offenses, injured offenses, backup quarterbacks. When they have faced the cream de la creme de creme de la creme, they have struggled at times, right? So you're facing a lot of really good offenses. In the first month, you have the Bengals, where Joe Barrow is like pulling a Randy Moss. And he's like, when you're injured, people forget about you. I'm going to remind him who Joe Barrow is like, he's got some swagger. And you're the you're the effing sacrificial lamb on opening day. If Joe Barrow was able to play half as good or half as well, as he looked like a psycho killer in the photo with Tom Brady at Michael Rubens white party, I would be worried. And you're you're the pinata. You're dangling in a tree and he's got a stick. We might very well be the worst appetizer served for the Joe Barrow. And then you got what the 49ers a couple weeks later, the dolphins, like you have, especially early in the year. I'm not sure how I feel about the dolphins yet. I know we've got a lot of time to discuss the national scene as well as everything pertaining to the Patriots and I can't wait till we get our predictions on the books here and on the rich keep show as well. But what were the doctors early last year? Frontrunners good offensively and then they fell apart. I'd rather play the dolphins twice in December because then I think you could be injured. You could like front runners you could have faded. Early season dolphins, I think can be scary season dolphins for a Patriots defense or any other defense. And this doesn't even get into what we were just taught like, is Matthew Jude on healthy is Matthew Jude on on the field. Is Christian Gonzalez help? Is he on the field? Is he good? Is he as good as everybody is fluffing him up to be when we don't have a huge track record to go by? So, to me, you marry. Oh, oh, oh, did I also kind of forgot Bill Belichick is now taking photos with his young girlfriend on Nantucket. He's not taking part in game planning on a weekly basis. And I've been told by you people, you people. Say it louder for the people in the back Andy. You people tell me he's arguably the greatest defensive mind in the history of the sport, correct? So I've been told yes. So he's been removed from the coaching process. He's been removed from the game planning process and you're going to be not missing a beat, not skipping a beat without him. Like, to me, there's just a lot of would be pitfalls that people are just whistling past the graveyard and like, well, they tackle well. Yeah, Christian Gonzalez played well for three games. Yeah. I actually, you know, I actually think you're the point because I think to Marcus Covington, you know, people are high on him as well. Maybe he'll be able to run out. It's all defensive plays at Eastern Illinois 10 years ago. Maybe he'll be able to maybe he'll be the contemporaries. Listen, don't tear a labrum patting yourself on the back. We already have enough people on the Patriots with torn labrams, or at least that are recovering. But you did too. Okay. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. Still makes funny noises sometimes when I lift. Maybe Covington will be like what Brian Flores was in 2018 coming out with a streamline simplified defense allowing the playmakers to play. Get after the QB and you can use some of Gerard Mayo's previous on field defensive acumen as well, not to mention the years he spent working under bill bell check and alongside Steve Bell check on the Patriots defense. I'm really not worried about the defense. I can see wanting to temper expectations that this is the 1985 Chicago Bears or even the 2018 New England Patriots defense. It's definitely going to be a win games. I've been told it wins championships. Does it? Because I've been told by six years ago that defense no longer wins championships and that's when he started loading up on talent that was like first round running backs first round wide receivers and decided. Yeah, those days are dead. So even if the Patriots defense is as good as people try to tell me it is which it isn't. It just flat out isn't mean a kind by the way with the Patriots is a little bit like Doris Burke with Jason Tatum. She has her in affinity for your note. She's one of you people. She like her. Some of you and one of us people. She want to you people. And I know why some of it is. She's fixated on the stats. She's a, she's a quant. She's one of those quants that just loves to read the numbers and the numbers more often than not in recent years as bill bell check himself pointed out when he was praising the work of his son. Oh, by the way, who just happened to be helping call plays for the defense. He loved to point out the numbers. Well, the numbers can be misleading. And that's the reality. The numbers are not going to help you on opening day when Joe burrow has a be in his bonnet and goes, do I want to whoop your ass with Jamar Chase or do I want to whoop your ass with tee Higgins because either way I'm whooping your ass. And who's the new starting running back in Cincinnati as well since Joe mix in made his way to the Houston Texans. Devon Singletary went to the New York Giants to replace a one Barkley who went to the Philadelphia Eagles. Who is the new starter out in Cincinnati. That's that's actually that's actually a reasonable question. Anyway, while you look that up as well, I would like to share that the Patriots did have the seventh overall ranked team defense last year as well. They were fourth against the run, I believe an 11th against the past. Look, you bring up Christian Gonzalez. Obviously everyone goes Gaga because they see him on one of those, you know, at flight skills or angles have Mike Gassicki. They also have Trent Brown. So let me change my whole tune. See, getting soft on your vacation. Look at you. I think it's going to be I think it's a great week one matchup for the Patriots as well. I'm fascinated. So that one goes so potentially many seasons in the AFC and many divisions could go. Who is there starting running back now, by the way, Zach Moss. Oh, the highly underrated Zach Moss. He actually like, he's actually pretty good at times last year. So it could be a good pickup for the Bengals as well. And probably a little less troublemaker issue, if you will, then Joe mixing off the field. So, allegedly, whatever. So, they were the seventh ranked overall defense last year, if Gonzalez is healthy, a lot of ifs, I know if if if such a big word for only two lives, if she knows we don't need that. But if Christian Barmore can play up to the level that merited the four year $92 million contract as well, they could at least keep them in games or be the more respectable side of the ball. But I think we all need to be far more concerned with the offense. And that'll bring up our last little point here, Andy, in this extended supersize paths per read to kick off the latest edition of six rings and football things. I'm sure you saw as well. We had a discussion about it on multiple radio shows. We've written about it at dot com. It's been bad at about social media. The props for Drake May and all quarterbacks for the 2024 season have hit the sports books. And while it's very difficult to find a Jacobi preset prop, it is rather easy to find a passing yard passing touchdown and top rated rookie passer prop for the 2024 season, and especially for young Drake may on the NEP. Are you over or under the fan dual passing yard total for Drake May 2024 Andy 2350 and a half yards. This is where optimistic Andy jumps in. This is where biased Andy. This is where the maniac that is Andy jumps in. Give me the over. And I'm hoping that this means the we've talked a lot about the over under on when he starts when he plays. Week two, maybe week six, somewhere in there, a home game, whatever. But 11 games. Can I get 200 yards per game? Let's just say it's week six right so like 11 games ish. Can I get 200 yards a game out of you? Probably not going to average that, but I'm hoping there's a wowzer in there against somebody where you, you know, we're all doing victory laps that he's our quarterback because he threw for 370 or something like that. I'm taking the over. But again, that is with, that is where I'm putting on little Andy with his Andre Tippett mid 80s jersey, pom pom waving rosy red Patriots. That's where I'm up on the wall with you guys who used to be so loyal you and the Jerry Thornton's of the world up there. That's where I'm joining the, I'm joining you people. We, we the people take the over in Drake May. All right, so I got a bunch of responses on the Twix machine the other day to such a question. I got under, under, under, under, under, under, it's not playing next year, under, under, under, one over, under, under, over, under, over. So that's three over is under, under, under, under, over, so if you hear you can take a look at it. Four, I got, he's not playing the season five. So I got of 30 responses. So that's, I got all told. That was five unders and over 20 unders. So just saying that's what the people think. The people are stupid. Oh, hey, that's not nice. The truth is never mean. Oh, no, that's an opinion and that is subjective and unless you can actually qualify it with some actual facts. Okay, by the way, if you actually, if you made me bet on it, like real money, if you said it, you have to take it. Yes, it's draft Kings 2400 fan dual 2350. I would take the under. See, see, you want, so optimistic Andy wants the over because that means there's more Drake May on the field, which winter lose come hell or high water is probably a more entertaining, or at least informative. A bit of Patriots action this year because people would rather see the future develop in front of their faces, as opposed to watching Jacoby percent out there. Take the slings and arrows of a very anxious nation. By the way, I just want to share this from 1993 drew blood. So started right away for the Patriots as they improved from two wins to five wins from 92 to 93 and his first year of the Patriots as a rookie. He passed for under bill Parcells, 2,494 yards, 15 touchdowns and 15 picks over 13 games played. So something like that, maybe he's going to play relatively early. The questions I have is, do I get yardage that is actually interception returned the other way because that would help me get the over if I needed it. And does the left tackle get him killed does he start and then missed three weeks because he's got a, you know, bad ribs or something that the left tackle spot is, I would say borderline alarming for this team to see what happens at that spot and how that affects the passing game in the quarterback position in general. Exactly. Fascinating stuff. So many different points of interest and emphasis to keep an eye on as we are now just but to that's right, Utah, give me two, two weeks away from the start of Pat's camp. 2024 and the one place you are going to want to be locked in and keep both good eyes focused and your other two good ears trained on will be the six rings and football things podcast and our coverage at WEI.com we will be there every day. Some sort of blend or mix of me. Collaboration. It's going to be silo free. Collaborative. It'll be a bunch of us down there on a regular basis and we will have fresh video and fresh six rings and football things reaction pods to each and every past camp practice as well as live shows after each and every Patriots preseason game. So don't you go anywhere, lock it in and tell your friends to join the fastest growing and most fun Foxboro football community out there.
