The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
New England Patriots Beat Writer Chris Mason on Texans-Patriots Matchup
(upbeat music) You're locked in with a Killer B's on ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Life in the Veritex Community Bank Studios. Here's Joel Plank and Jeremy Branham. - Let's go straight out to the HRNP guest line being joined by Chris Mason. Patriot's Beat reporter for Mass Live News. You can follow him on Twitter at @ByeChrisMason. Chris, thank you for taking a few minutes, hanging out with the Killer B's. Why now? Why now would Drake make? Why is it this week that they're making a change of quarterback? - Because Jacoby Percet has looked really, really bad the last couple of weeks, worth expected. And I think they're trying to keep them buying in a locker room here. The move here is go to the kid where they've been split in snaps before this week, where Percet was taken 70% of the reps of practice. Drake was taken 30 with the first team. And I think they just felt like, all right, if we want to try and get this thing back on the tracks after our four game losing streak, they're going to rush it a little bit. And that's why you're going to be Drake made it something. - Chris, not that things don't change in the way organizations work, but this is for all intended purposes, your franchise quarterback in the future. You're going up with a kind of less than offensive line against some pretty significant pass-rushers. My big concern is this kid is not supposed to be here just for the short term, he's for the long haul. And they're not only giving him his first start quicker than I thought that they would, but they're kind of putting him in harm's way right away, aren't they? - Yeah, and I think it's a really fair question when you look at the schedule right now. And last week they had the Miami Dolphins at home who are limping themselves. It ended up being a 15 to 10 game where neither offense could do anything, but the Dolphins pass rush wasn't fair. It was just the game was a mess. And you would think, all right, if you're going to drop him into like a soft landing spot, it's last week against Miami, not here. Or even next week, they play Jacksonville in London. That, I mean, I get not wanting to give the kid a London game is the first game, but still, if another opponent quite a bit easier. - Chris Mason joining us on the HRNP guest line. Well, what is the fan base's vibes when it comes to new quarterback, Drake May? Are they all in? Are they believers? Is there reservation? What do you, since the fan base is at with Drake? - It's interesting here, we're acting. The fan base wants to be all in on Drake, right? Where you see a number three overall pick with a huge arm, he has all the raw tools, but they also just lifted the match challenge experience where things went off the rails so quickly with him. But I think they understand how, like, delicate a young quarterback can be at a certain time. But I think the fan base is cautiously optimistic. Another thing though, last week, that's often's game, the fans weren't full. There are a lot of empathy from there, which isn't something you see very often, Gillette. Have to wonder a little bit of that place in the decision here too, where I think it's going to be a full house this Sunday. - Chris, I'm interested because of the fact kind of something you mentioned also translates to the fact early in the season when people were prognosticating, they had the Patriots as one of the worst teams in the league looking for a high draft pick. But all of a sudden, you get a win early, you get a new coach, now you get a new quarterback. And I'm wondering when you look at this team, like, is it better than we thought, is this a team that's still kind of on a complete rebuild? And they're just trying to see at different times what they need to do? Or is Mayo out of the Belichick mold of, we're still all in on whatever takes to win right now? - That's what he keeps saying. And that's part of the reason why he said he put may in, or it may as going to come in this week, is that they're focused on winning football games. They need to win football games now. But you know, that's not entirely true when the five weeks preceding this drink may have taken 30% of the first team reps at practice, right? Like, if you're all in on winning this week, no matter what, Jacobi were said is getting 100% of those reps. You're trying to get him started. You're trying to get him ready for a game. So I think they're trying to walk a fine line between competing right now and developing for the long term. And I don't know that that's possible. - Being joined by Chris Mason on the HR and P-guest line, I remember Gerard Mayo kind of being a hot name here, at least for people like us that were trying to put two and two together when it came to Casario and former Patriot ties, probably wasn't as realistic as we were trying to make it to be because it seems like Gerard Mayo has been the head coach in waiting for some time, even though not officially on paper. - How are the fans feeling about Mayo early into his first tenure taking over for arguably the greatest head coach of all time? - The fan base is pretty split. There's some fans that are definitely willing to give Gerard some grace here and realize this is gonna take some time, especially given the roster that he was handed, right? This is a multi-year rebuild they're staring down. That's how bad the Patriots offense has been staffed. And so there's definitely understanding of that and willing to give him time. - And then there's a whole other chunk that's just, oh well, Bill was the greatest coach of all time and you're not Bill and you came in here and you tapped him in the back and now you're the head coach and we're like, it was so great with Bill and they selectively forget that Bill's last three, four years here have not been competitive and haven't been good. So they really are divided on the two. - Chris, I'm curious from your perspective, I always like to get the outside looking in perspective on the Houston Texans. We know they're four and one, but we also know that doing what we do on a daily basis, there are a lot of people that are less than pleased with the way the team has performed. How do you see this Texans team and where do you see them stacking up in terms of teams in the AFC? - So I think this Texans team is exactly what the Patriots want to be and that's exactly what they want. Like Patriots stands one. I think the Patriots Texans is kind of the best case scenario for them in a couple of years right now where they're a young, talented roster. They have a quarterback who's young and looks like you can play and you know, there were certainly between years there, right? But now it's all come together and they look like a legitimate contender. And I think as long as you're out of quarterback and he's playing the way that he can play, like I assume in this contender and I think the AFC is pretty wide open right now. Even with like, I don't know, it's tough to take against Kansas City forever. You know, that's just Kansas City. They're like the Patriots of 10 years ago. But I mean, I think Houston can hang with just about anybody. - Be enjoyed by Chris Mason. Chris, big number on Sunday. Texans are six and a half point favorites on the road, which is a huge number for a road favorite in the NFL. If the Patriots pull the upset, what has to happen? - They have to run the ball really well. That's their path to victory. And it's part of the reason why they've gone off the track. So they've gotten away from that where they had probably prospect dropping back 38 times. And I think they ran the ball 18 times in their last game. That's not how they went football games. They have to run the ball and even more important this week where with the rookie trying to get a seat wet, you got to take some of the pressure off of them. You got to slow the pass rush down. You got to run the ball effectively. That's, I think that's their path to victory. They have to win the turnover battle. So one thing about that bangles when they had early in the season, their margin of error is so, so slim. And they were able to, basically everything went wet right in that game. And you had a bangles team that basically hadn't played over the summer and looked really rusty. That's how they stole that one. They're just team that everything needs to go right for, for them to have a chance. Chris, when you look at on the flip side of that, where do the Texans need to attack if they're going to take advantage of the Patriots? Where's the weakness that the Texans can exploit? Patriots safety is right now where Gabriel Peppers is away from the team with a legal situation and definitely, Kyle up here returned to practice today but missed all of last week with an ankle. And I'm looking at him in the locker room. He's still hobbling a little bit. He's still really taped up. I don't know, even if he plays, I don't think he's going to be at 100%. So you have a really like young inexperienced if he room. But I think targeting deep middle of the field is a way that the Texans could get this one out of hand in a hurry. Chris, great insight. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us this afternoon. Awesome, thanks for having me on guys. Chris Mason getting the insight from the Patriot side of Things Beat Reporter for the Pats for Mass Live News. If you're interested in following him on Twitter, he's @ByChrisMason.