Hello, and welcome to the m m QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast. I'm your host, Gary Grambling. I'm going to be joined by a special guest in just a moment. We are rolling through. Really it's it's I am, it's my show. The other guy's a special guest. I am rolling through the division previews. We are onto the a f C East and with that we bring on the aforementioned special guest. It's Andy Benoit. These intros are getting a little carried away. I don't know, do we build it up now it's it's not special anymore. For one, I've been doing it every Monday. Oh it is. It is special, Okay, but go on, um, I don't think you need to veil it like you do. Maybe, but one day you'll be gone and we'll have a new guest and we'll have to to veil that. And uh, I don't know. People will probably be disappointed, but they're gonna be there. Get disappoint it when you say it's special and it's the same guy every single week. No, I think they're not disappointed. I think he I think you are special, and I think you should embrace it. And uh, I think we should celebrate it, and I think we should have that same build up every week. And uh, I really feel when I listened to the show on Monday morning, I can feel the anticipation. Sometimes I'm even not sure whom I'm going to introduce, and then it's you, and then I'm really happy about it. All right, all right, your show here, you're you know you're also, I should mention, and he's in a very warm room right now. Uh so, so I think this is maybe got three minute shows so he can get back into the air conditioning. Uh. We are on the a f C East. As always, we are going to go order of standing from last season. However, at the end of the show we will make our projections for the standings. But we are starting with the New England Patriots, the defending I don't know, eighty five time division champions here. Uh okay, So the big news this week, uh Dante high Tower is is going to out for the season, as is Patrick Chung a couple other guys as well. Uh Marcus Cannon on the other side of the ball. But uh, this linebacking corpse, specifically Andy, It's now no Kyle van Noy, no Jamie Collins. They they signed with other teams and now no high tower. Uh what does this do with their ability to basically function in the front seven. Yeah, if we didn't know this team, if this, if you remove the uniforms, you look at this, you say this is this is one of the three or four least talented front sevens in the NFL, I would imagine. I don't know. And the way they play in New England we've talked about's a little bit different where braun over athleticism. It does kind of lean that way a little bit, but it's you know, I don't see how this isn't a six and ten type of team right now, And yet I feel so out of place forecasting anything like that or not forecasting, but seeing the Patriots in that kind of light, it's just hard to get past all the history we've seen with them. But they're basically if this Cam Newton thing goes through, and that's how they play, you know, I think that decision is probably largely with the defense in mind, will play to our defense. I don't know if they've got that kind of defense to play towards now. Yeah, I mean the secondary is still really good. Obviously you have Gilmore you have Devin mcquartery back there. It's a deep unit. It's a good unit. Uh. They always, you know, even even beyond those stars, they seem to play beyond the some of their parts. But uh, it's it's really difficult. I mean, one, where where's the pastors coming from? I guess you you know, you hope Chase Winovich takes a jump here. Uh, josh U another Michigan guy they drafted. This year's you know, pure speed rusher. Maybe you generate something there, but uh, it's always been I don't want to put too much emphasis on. Okay, well, what's a run defense going to be? That's obviously a secondary concern for every defense in the league right now, But you do kind of look at it and it's like, I don't know, you take for granted so many years that they're just gonna effectively stop the run, and they're gonna get in teams in a lot of third and medium, third and long, and they're gonna get off the field that way. I don't know, I don't know about this unit. You know, Lawrence guy is really good. Uh, I'm not sure who else I see up there that is really good. Well, and one of the advantages Chunk I would consider part of their run defense very much. So. He's a slot corner, but he really plays He's not slot corns of safety, but he plays a lot of slot corner. He really plays a lot of linebacker for him. When when you can play your past defense and feel good about how you match up against the run, um when you have the best of both worlds, in other words, when you can stop the run out of Nickel is basically what we're getting at. And Patrick Chung gave him the ability to stop the run out of Nickel. I think that makes a coaching staff extremely comfortable. And so now you're talking about, Okay, not we're not as good against the run, but that that comfort might also get sacrificed as well. Now and maybe we ought to also consider New England is probably equipped to live without Chung just because they're so deep at safety. They have Adrian Phillips. Now, Uh, they drafted Kyle Dugger in the second round this year. I don't know if they view him as someone ready to play or not. I guess it's not overly deep, but uh, it's Joe Wan Williams from last year in the second round. Maybe they can find the replacement for Chung. I don't there's no replacement for High Tower. And the fact that Kyle van Noy and Jamie Collins are gone, basically the best four of the five best players up front from last year. Lawrence Guy is the only one back. The other four Chung, High Tower, Collins, and Van Noy, they're all gone. And now we find out for real how much of it's the system and how much of it's the players and finding the type of players that fit the system, because I assume that the backups are guys that also fit the system in Bill Belichick's mind. It'll be interesting to see how it shapes out that way there. It's it's a great experiment and test on a coaching staff that we've really put on a on a pedestal for good reason over the years. Yeah. Yeah, and obviously limited offseason all that stuff that we that we talked about all the time. There's a ton of changeover for that. On top of that, look at seven defensive touchdowns last year that that was probably not gonna be replicated anyway. Uh, And some of that's over blown. They scooped up some fumbles that just bounce the right way. They had a couple of tip balls at the end of a Dolphin's blowout that you know, it's it's but I hear what you're saying. I do want to talk on the offense side of the ball. And you know, we we devoted a show to Cam Newton a couple of weeks ago, and I don't think a whole lot has changed on that front since Marcus Cannon has gone. But that that's not gonna change fundamentally what they do, even if you're down grading the right tackle spot. One guy we didn't really talk a whole lot about on that show that I was just kind of curious about, Uh, where does it Where does James White? I mean, he was so effective moving around h you know when it was Tom Brady's offense. Where does it James White fit in a Cam Newton offense. Yeah, that's a great question, because really the value of James White is he's the He's an outstanding underneath weapon, especially in the flats and in a in a well designed quick strike passing game. And the Patriots do a great job of leveraging him to the especially on the week's side of the formation, it feels like and leveraging him with other routes and they get these combination routes underneath. And we've talked about how Cam Newton probably doesn't quite fit that style of play. If you are going to drop back with Newton, you're gonna throw the ball further downfield. You're probably gonna use a little bit more play action, which that's new England's prepared to do all those things they've done these in recent years. They'll emphasize it more, but you're running back becomes more part of the past protection first, and then he's a checkdown weapon in the passing game, which is very different because not only is he getting fewer touches as a receiver, but defenses are preparing for him differently now as well. And last season it was evident every single week by December, every week, Uh it was Julian Edelman got the double teams and James White the double teams and nobody else got any attention from a defense on that Patriot offense. Well, now that you're not doubling White, that that's sure that that's gonna emphasize the lack of weapons at wide receiver, potential lack of weapons and wide receiver even more because there's just one less weapon underneath. Now, assuming that they are playing the full fledged Cam Newton style of football, maybe they feel they can do some of their stuff with White. Anyway, Um, well, we'll find out. I know one thing that does kind of mind Gary off the top of my head. If you want to make life easier on Newton, and I think you're gonna have to do that because of the lack of weapons around him. If you want to do that, playing with two running backs might help serve that to some degree, just because it's such an Unyeah, it's an unusual package. So if you have White and Burke head out there together, and I thought we'd see that a lot more last year, and we saw it a lot, and I want to say it's a week one that we saw it and then it never are quite stuck. But if you had those guys out there together, you know, maybe you do something creative that way. The problem is more teams have started doing that offensively, and defenses have figured out, we're just gonna play Nickel against it because that second running back is essentially the same as a third receiver for how these plays shake out. So I don't know you have something, No, I was just to say we also I should mentioned Dan vital the the fullback they added it has also opted out at this point. And you know, obviously this is a team that used the fullback more than most. But you wonder if if Vitao might have had an even more significant role than we expected as they sort of go through this offensive transition. Yes, because remember Mike Tilbert for the Panthers when when Cam Newton was really rolling with them, you know, and vital is not the same players Tilburt and Tilbert was a pretty good ball handler at times. But the point is that fullback, when you have a fullback is a second running back instead of another tailback. Then you do get base personnel always. It's especially if you have a running QB like Cam Newton. So they're gonna want to play with that fullback and and make it the numbers an angles game with with their rushing attack. So they have to find a replacement in vital is a good player, and what he is a good player for what they were gonna ask him to do, because what he started doing in Green Bay last year is flexing out of the formation. I think it was the Raiders game in Week seven where that really took on a prominence, and he showed that he can run some vertical routes out of the fullback position, which is those are extremely hard to defend because most coverages are not set up to account for those. So the dimension that you get at the full back position. Vital is probably a more dynamic receiving threat. He certainly is than James Devlin was, And a big part of the Patriots offense in recent years has been the ability to flex into passing formations when Devlin's on the field. That's just how creative and versatile the passing attack is. Vital would have been a weapon there. They'll still do all these things, just with a lesser guy. Last year was Jacob Johnson. Maybe that's who they go with again. But it's not gonna be that. They're not gonna feed the fullback the ball the way they maybe would have. Okay, alright, in in a few minutes, we will be projecting the new England Patriots UH placement in this season. But let's let's go on to last year's second place scene in this division wild card team, the Buffalo Bills. Uh Andy, I'm I'm going to I didn't really line it up this way. But I am going to start with like a twenty minute monologue here on the bills, and I'm gonna throw a bunch of numbers at you before I get to my question. Uh So, Josh Allens a rookie. Uh passes inside twenty yards through the air, so behind the line of scrimmage out to twenty yards through the air fifty nine point seven percent. They add Cole Beasley. Beasley ended up catching. Oh this is something like let's see six sixty Uh yeah, right around six or six percent of those passes out were throwing to cold Beasley last year were completed. Uh. Alan's numbers on those throws, those shorter throws twenty yards and in that's a I mean, that's a wide range, but it's Josh Allen. Uh. They jumped from fifty nine point seven to sixty six point three completion percentage in a year. Two. Now they've added Stefon Diggs. I think a very underrated part of Stefon Diggs game is his ball tracking ability to downfield. It's something I kind of noticed last year because I thought he was misjudging balls and then correcting himself. But I think he's kind of he's kind of bating. Uh. You know, Kirk Cousins was sort of throw those high arching deep balls and he's sort of you know, bait a defensive back to uh sort of judge what he was doing and and sort of, uh, you know, basically get out of trajectory with the ball at a trajectory. How about that for a term. But really he was just you know, he's creating late separation. He ends up getting the ball, end up getting the big play. Uh. So Stefon Diggs last year thirty passes thrown to him that traveled at least twenty yards in the air, he caught fifty three percent of them. Uh. That was Josh Allen's weak spot. And we all know about Josh Allen's arm strength. Uh, somebody talked about it once. But Josh Allen downfield throws over twenty yards twenty point nine percent last year completion percentage, which was even worse than his rookie year, which is twenty three point seven, which is still really bad. Lee average is right around. But like I said, Diggs was one of the best last year. I'm wondering how much does Stefon Diggs uh sort of mesh with Josh Allen as a downfield thrower, because the other thing about Josh Allen I just mentioned what I liked about Digs. On some of these sort of high arching rainbow throws down field, Josh Allen tends to throw a fairly flat deep ball from from my judgment that there's not a whole lot of air under it, because he can he doesn't have to be a fastball downfield. I mean, does this am I right to be optimistic about Diggs? Digs obviously helps, But does Diggs lead to a kind of breakout where all of a sudden he's, uh, you know, he's like a league average downfield passer. Um, it's a great question. I think Diggs of course helps. You can probably say Diggs is a true number one receiver. Buffalo certainly sees him that way, and this offense will be viewed that way by defenses because it's you know, John Brown is probably their number two, and there's a pretty big gap between the threat that those guys pose. Bigs is a more dynamic, scarier receiver than John Brown. A lot of what Alan's deep ball struggles with. I mean, he needs to get better at it, for sure, and especially because I do think that's has to be a strength of his game. Those guys that are these big arm, big body late and the down throwers that Carson Wentz a former Andrew Luck type. You can't be glaringly weak at the vertical ball just because even the that's not everything, you're gonna throw three or four of those every game. I think a lot of Alan's problems on some of those throws is that he's not quite crisp at reading safety's just yet. And it was more apparent early last season than late, which is a great sign. And it was certainly more apparent uh in his rookie year than it was in his sophomore season. But there are times you can tell because a lot of these deep balls come on designer shots where it's you're calling the play to to take the shot, which means that you're reading the safety and in the route combination. It's usually not a combo. It's just one over here, one over there, whatever it is, you're trying to beat the safety, the center field safety, and Alan at times you can tell predetermined what he's going to do with the ball rather than read that center field safety or read a corner who might carry with someone or whatever. It is so he makes some bad decisions on deep balls and that's going to lead to incompletions if that can get cleaned up, and I think it can for the reason that want it's his third season now, but two with Diggs, the safety will be a little bit more predictable because they're gonna cheat towards Diggs. So at least you know what you're getting at times. Um, maybe that will help Alan as well. Maybe some of those deep balls connect where they weren't before. Does that answer your question? I know it wasn't an only deep ball question, but it was. It was like three days ago that we started talking about it. I'm trying to remember exactly what what the what the thesis was. Yeah. I mean all I can really think about right now is is how wonderful Western New York is. But I guess my my overall question Andy is uh, I think you saw a more confident quarterback throwing in those short, intermediate range passes after you added Cole Beasley last year. A guy who can uh uh, you know, a guy who thrives on those kinds of routes. I'm wondering if you see a similar jump uh with Diggs coming in because you know, again, it's it's it's a vague concept that I'm throwing at you, but that's what I do, and then you correct me or or or do your thing. But do you basically have a more confident deep ball thrower in Josh Allen and therefore more affected, more efficient, probably, I think, because that will be symptomatic of if he's more confident overall, it's it's just a product of how he is handling the entire game. And the Bills did a nice job of using their formation NG and the way they align Beasley to make life easier to and to capitalize on on Beasley, who is I think that maybe the best underneath one on one separator in football. And he's not just that by the way he's they'll use him on on vertical concepts. You're not gonna necessarily run him on a go route, but they'll use him on fades and sale type of routes out of the slot. So they've done a nice job of diversifying the offense with it. Diggs will only add to that certainly, and I would imagine the whole intent of all of it is going to be to get Josh Allen as comfortable as possible, because the issue is not he'll probably always miss a few throws because he's a bit of a wild stallion type of thrower. But the issue is not him throwing physically, it's how he's interpreting the game mentally, and then sometimes that gets into how the ball comes out. If you can get him comfortable with everything that he's seeing, you're gonna get the most out of his throwing talent. And then then maybe then you start looking at trying to clean up some of the mechanical issues. Again, I think those are just always gonna be something you live with. UM. So, the more comfortable he can get, and a lot of that anymore comes out of the pre snap face. That's basically how football has played and with Josh Allen. Because you want him to be I don't. Do you want it to be a playmaker? And I'm asking that question because I do think some of his negative plays comes when he tries to do too much. I don't. I would love to know if the Bills want him to be. I mean, everybody's gonna say, yeah, we want I got to be a playmaker, but I would love to know how they really feel about that. UM, what would you do? I I leaned towards yes, I know a lot of people. I mean, look, our last image of him was running down the field and throwing a desperate lateral and an inappropriate time in a playoff game when they're trying to get back into it. Uh. I don't think he was overly reckless. I didn't think he needed to be really reined in. I thought he got out of control in that specific playoff game. But I don't think it was like an issue plaguing him throughout the season. No, it was in some of his plays he did have, and that that lateral was not the only play where he just lost his mind for a few seconds and happened to at the ball in his hand. There was there was an interception I remember against Cincinnati that was maybe the worst in the league decision wise all year. He's done some of those in the red zone before. It's a young quarterback, he's talented. I get all that. So I would love to know how you, if you're Buffalo, how do you how do you try to channel or regulate that? Are you gonna just do you want? Do you think it's important enough to regulate it with your system? Where you're trying to make it so he is not in position to make those dumb decisions, or do you believe in believe in him at this point enough to say, Josh, you can't have that you got you know, you can't ever have that. You gotta be smarter in that and hope that that works with them different guys. It's different answers to that. But what I'm getting at Gary is I think he's a half field reader at this point, and that will make it most comfortable for him and allow him to play looser. And I think that's a good thing with the with the Bill some qbs, you need to make them tighter. Alan, you probably is a guy you want him to play a little bit looser. Let him be more of an athlete, Okay, I I I lean towards the ladder, right. I think you don't overregulate him. I think you you lean in that direction with with Josh Allen. If you're gonna have Josh Allen's your quarterback, I you know, I can see why you'd say that, But just to clarify to people, it might sound like we're not really saying anything at all. Patrick Mahomes, you lean in the direction of whatever Mahomes wants to do, he's gonna do, and we'll live with it. If he throws ten picks a year, and by the way, he didn't have a lot last year, but he's gonna throw a couple of bad ones every year, we'll live. It's cost of doing business. We live with that. Nobody has to have that explain to them. Brett Farve was that way. I don't know if Alan's quite that kind of player or not, because what he has that Mahomes doesn't our very specific limitations and certain areas as a passer and then the so the question basically is can we work around those limitations or can he plow through? And which do you want? And I think that gets in at the heart of of how how much you just let him be him or let him go. I don't think he's a blank canvas guy at this point, though I don't think there are very many blank canvas qbs. But I don't think he's a mature enough QB at this point to be that. That doesn't mean he's not a quality starter, he's just that he's very much a young QB. Though, yeah, you see, I I think you just go forward because It also gives the idea of of who he is and and who he's going to become over the next you know, five seasons here for the Bills and uh, they'll they'll eventually have a decision to make on him. I think that's fair. But you know, we it's all good and well to find out who he is. But we're the best team talent wise in the a f C East right now. That window has not been open for us in a long time. We should have probably won our wild card playoff game last. We have a great defense, we have weapons all over the offense or no weaknesses. Anyway, if you're Buffalo, you ought to feel your it's a super Bowl type season. It might not be super Bowl or bust, but that's the goal certainly is super Bowl. So I don't know if you want to be feeling out Josh Allen very fair about what we have in him. You need to have the best version of him right now. This is what you have him for. You're trying to win a super Bowl. He's a wild card. Let him be a wild card. Andy, Yeah, that's that's that. You know the coaches will get home earlier if that's the plan. Maybe they'll want to maybe they want to do it. He's the more I think about it and work our way through this and kind of say everything and nothing at the same time, the more interested I becoming Josh Allen. He's like he was an interesting guy. You. I feel like you're on the verge of saying you want to rain him in. Uh. It's certainly much more than I do. But well, we'll see whose imaginary team does better in the various multiverses. I don't know how we'll figure it out. Well, if if you eliminated some of the wide eyed plays that he has and the handful of bonehead mistakes, which I do think we'll get eliminated, is he a different quarterback then? And then what does he become? Do you have to get some of that cleaned up? But you have to kind of just get him on the right path just a little bit and then let him go. It sounds like you're kind of saying, just let him go. There's no training wheels if he skins his knee, skins his knee. I love I love the chaos of it. Yeah, I love that. You know, I was just gonna say I I I love that. Uh, completely out of control performance in the fourth quarter, and he's similar year is entertaining. You know, one thing they did in that game, and I think it does need to be a staple, and they really settled on this well in the second half of last season is feature him in the run game. And that could be a solution to a lot of what we're talking about, because what we're trying to figure out is how do you get a guy mentally comfortable and maybe football feels different when when he runs the ball, because that one you can't just let him go. Josh stewartry here, here's how the play is designed. But we're not gonna get all, get all. You know, we're not gonna kill you if you if you do your own thing on some of these run plays, you're fine with that. So maybe he gets five or six design carries in the first half and now he's a more comfortable qub in the second half because you're just you've gotten hit a little. It's a proactiveness, You're just you're just playing. Um, that's pop. I don't know. I would love to I would love to hear these kind the bills. I guarantee you're sitting around having these discussions and you probably have to know Josh Allen personally to really have a good sense of it. I'm glad we're devoting a a true forty mens to the Bills here. Uh, the other side of the ball from him. I just want to ask you real quick and and this one will be quicker. I mean, look, everyone sort of has circled number two cornerback as as the sort of weakness in the secondary. It's been such a good secondary last couple of years. They they've been better than some of their parts. You know, they're they're they've been fine with Levi Wallace out there. Uh, it might be Josh Norman this year, opposite to Davious White. Is it really much of a problem spot? Uh? And specifically if it is Norman? Uh, what do we make of Norman at this point? I mean, obviously he was such a name brand guy a couple of years ago. He's not that anymore. But are we kind of exaggerating his downfall based on the fact that he was so good? Possibly he just doesn't run very well, and so what do you do about that? Now? Buffalo plays a lot of zone but most zone schemes, the cornerbacks still have what amount to a form of man to man on the outside one on one man coverage. They're very interchangeable with their safeties in Buffalo. They're not crazy schematic like, they don't do stuff that's hard to read once the coverage settles. They don't have a bunch of crazy coverages like the Chiefs have or or some of these matchup. His own teams, the Broncos and the Bears. They have very basic coverages. They just get to him in and untraditional ways, and they create this illusion of complexity. So what you can hide Josh Norman a little bit or give him some help if you feel you need to do that. Um, you remember in Washington, Gary, there's always the talk about, oh, Norman is not traveling with anyway, isn't Norman traveling? I bet he'll be traveling this year because he's gonna travel with ever, with whoever. As White is not traveling with, He's gonna be the number two guy. Uh and Levi Wallace is not a bad player. So if you fall back on Wallace and that has to be the way it goes, I think there's a good chance that will be the way it goes. This isn't the end of the world, their number who cornerback spot can only be better this year than it was last year, assuming these guys stay healthy and last year they got through it just fine. It wasn't an issue. Yep. Uh Levi Wallace. By the way, Connor or favorite Connor or doesn't remember that. No, and and the back story, I'll give em in the back story really quick. Uh Andy and Connor did a It was basically like a test podcast. You guys were building an expansion team and you were basically just you know, it was just basically, you know, it was just discussing a lot of players, a lot of players that you guys like or don't like or whatever ends up being. Uh, Levi Wallace came up. According to Andy, Connor professed his love for Levi Wallace. According to Connor, he has no idea what and he's talking about. He doesn't remember even mentioning Levi Wallace, and uh no one else has heard the tape, so uh and I never want to because I just want this mystery to exist. Tell me on my deathbed, but I don't want to know. Before that, I already told you. Connor professed his love for Levi Wallace, and Connor says no. Connor says he's never heard of the man. So I'm very confident in what he said about Levi Wallace because I remember thinking, oh, I bet there's no way Connor likes you know, like, oh, I I view myself. I know I'm one of the guys that appreciates Levi Wallace. That's how much I watch film, which I I that's true. I do feel that way. And then when Connor gave his thoughts of Wallace, I thought, I can't compete with I don't think Wallace is the next Dion Sanders. The way Connors making this sound um. Connor definitely said that. One other thing on this I just want to say, I can't wait to die so I find out the answer for it, but I want to stay and suspense until then. One other thing about this bill secondary because Dr Davis White is a true number one corner. Did he get the first team All Pro nod LA? I know you've got a lot of votes he was, He's had that kind of s That's a good question. I'll look it up. You go, yeah, I don't, Yeah, you'll tell me. But I mean he's you know, he's in that category. He's top five Top ten NFL corner for sure, band Man and Zone. I would still argue that the most important part of the secondary is the interchangeability of the safety zone. Jordan Poar and Micah Hyde and some respects they're probably the best one to safety tandem and football Harrison Smith and uh uh Harris in Minnesota. You know, you can make an argument for those guys as well. But um, a lot of what Buffalo does just hinges on how creative and and really smart before the snap those safeties are. It's probably the best interchangeable safety duel in the NFL. And Tredavious White was Associated Press All Pro First Team. He was also p f W pf W A All NFL Teams, so he made it all they're good. But by the way, we ought to mention, now, Ryan Taylor did indeed do that Associated Press study. Yeah. Um, looking at and I think the average number of primetime games for a guy who got the m v P Award and Defensive Player of the Year was both slightly over four. I'm always kind of saying, oh, you know, voters are going to cheat towards the guys that are on TV the most. I don't know if that's conclusive. I don't know what I was expecting it to be, because the average won't be five because that's the max, and only three or four teams every year have five prime time games. The average is a little bit over four. But for the defensive Rookie of the Year and kind of those ancillary awards, the prime time games didn't factor a whole lot. So maybe my theory about prime time voter bias, maybe that's unfounded. And the reason that the m v ps have swimming prime time games is because the good teams are on prime time and you're the m v P, and the good teams are best players usually gets the m v P. They're not. They're not gonna give it to the guy on the five and eleven team very often. So anyway, I think I need to back off of my voter type of theory thing. Maybe, or I would say, you just have to tweak your theory and make it a I think you have to look at the National four thirty game and then the Sunday night game, and then you have to include that. Okay, yeah, anymore though those it used to be like most of the NFL took place at one o'clock Eastern time on Sundays and then you had a couple of special games there. Now with the Thursday game and the emphasis on the fourth thirty game, they're they're almost four prime time slots Monday night, Sunday night, Thursday night, Sunday late afternoon, and then just one everything else slot. It's almost like there's it's the wet to just say it's, uh, what would be the opposite of prime time but still still positive downtime when that's not positive downtime isn't positive at all prime ish time. I don't know, but those it's the one o'clock games are like, that's barely half the games anymore. It feels like, so if you count four thirty games, I don't know what to do about that. It's it's you gotta go buy the broad you can't. It's it's broadcasted. How is it is it broadcasting? Because if you're playing it, well, I guess if you're the number two game on like CBS, like it's a double header, you don't start at four thirty, start at four oh five. So never mind. Yeah, I mean the waste land is the regional four o'clock games that nobody sees but I usually watch those. Yeah, well we watch them all, but well, no, you know I don't do that on Sunday's h. I guess you don't usually the national game, do you. We usually you had to put you on some weird game. No. Yeah, uh that was at ending with a whimper. Literally, let's go onto the Jets. Uh. My, as as the biggest Adam Gaze apologist in the world, I will point out that Adam Gaze in his career as a head coach is twenty and seventeen when he has his first string quarterback in the lineup. Uh, and that's with to bottom ten easily rosters. But again he looked, uh, he had a weird look on his face at that's press conference. So uh now, because yeah, um, I do want to ask you though, I mean, it's it's a receiving corps. The offensive line is better the receiving corps. You look at it, it's like, Okay, these are Jameson Crowder, Brashad Parriman, nice complimentary players to each other. Uh. I do wonder if Chris Herndon's in for a big breakout here Gaze. Uh, you know he loves to have those tight ends. Uh, was without Herndon a year ago. How do you think he does manufacture this passing attack for Sam Donald and you're three now. I think a lot of it. He's just counting on Donald to make better decisions that Josh Allen come conversation we had applies to Donald and then just multiply it by three or four. And Donald has a real problem with with being reckless and trying to do too much. And and then the other thing is he'll get snake bit at times. We saw that in the Patriot Monday Night game, the you know seeing ghosts, which that was that was taken out of context, but the concept of just you know, those cover zero blitz is at night got in his head and it's snowballed from there. And that's happened a couple of times with Donald. It's well, he has to get better when the play goes wrong. Initially, he right now becomes too much of a wild card to use your term, when the play does not start out the way that he's expecting and experience. I think we'll solve some of that. Interactions with gays more will help. And the one thing about about Gaye is he's been he's been doing zoom meetings for years. That's his preferred method of communication. So I'm sure this offseason hasn't felt as different to Donald as it has to some guys. I imagine those guys have been on the internet quite a bit together. I think they're excited to work with each other because I think Donald realizes how much better he can be when Donald's not making the bone headed plays. You know, there's you see the talent right there. It's just there's too many boneheaded players right now to make a good evaluation of the guy though. Yeah, uh defensively, And look, we talked before the Jamal Adams trade had happened, when he was on the market. Uh, you know, when is he worth? What do they get for him, what he's worked to the Jets, and and you've you've kind of uh you said over the over the past couple of months, it's it's not a crucial position for the Jets. You don't need a big time safety and Greg Williams defense here. So I mean, look, the fact that they ended up getting two first round picks for him and a little bit more, uh, ended up being quite the hall for the Jets there. Well, obviously we'll talk about Adam's impact in Seattle on our NFC West Show coming up sometime between now and the season. But uh, the pieces they have in the secondary now, Uh, they added Pierre to see her, and they got Bradley McDougald in that Jamal Adams trade. Uh does this fit together properly? I mean do Sire is a very specific kind of cornerback and and McDougald, Uh, you know, he's he's a he's a starting caliber safety obviously not of Jamal Adam's ability. But does it kind of does it add up to something that makes sense here? McDougald is absolutely a quality starting safety in the NFL. No, there's a question about that. Um Pierre to Sere long, arm strong, physical guy. When it's going well, he looks like a shutdown corner. At times when it's going poorly, you think, how can I you know, he's just not quicker, twitchy enough, and how can he How can you be on the field that's what you have. I think they feel because they play so much Cover two and Cover two you're gonna jam the receiver at the snap. They feel that that long physicality at corner is really going to serve to Seer well, now, the Colts played a lot of Cover two as well, and that's the team that just got rid of this year because the year was sewing consistent in the second half of last season. So a wild card, we gotta get a new term. There. You got me on that wild card phrase. But he is he's a he's a joker that helped a joker card. He can be anything. You don't know what he's gonna know. Um, he needs to be out of the deck, Andy, take the joker out of the deck. Yeah, I thought that always made the games boring as a kid. Yeah, we were. It was about adding jokers when you're eight, which is the last time I played cards regularly. Um to see her a lot rides on him, though, because they are not very deep at corner, they know that they're willing to live with that. I see here the other guy they got, Quincy Wilson from Indianapolis, who's like to see her just even even more negative though he's I think Wilson's the second round pick, wasn't he He was pretty overall overall seventeen. UM long arm guy also matched up the tight ends at times, so they have these big, physical defensive backs which tells you they count sticking with that cover to stuff, which is why I'm sure they're comfortable trading Adams. They got a good return on him. I didn't think that trade was as lopsided as people made it out to be, by the way, I don't think it's I mean, look, it's not lopsided. I don't at all. I thought it was great. Yeah, both both teams got what they were after. I was just surprised they got that price for him. Uh. Number one, I'm surprised we did see another trade where someone a non quarterback went for two ones, a non quarterback, and like a non Aaron Donald went for two first round picks. But uh, I mean, look, Jamal Adams just lit the entire Jets headquarters on fire. Uh. You figured that would have hurt his trade value, and instead they kind of got what I think most people saw as a maximum return for him. Well, look at some of these teams that are making the trades for these multiple first rounders. The Rams did it for Jalen Ramsey. The Rams view themselves as perennial contenders. I'm sure, um, the Texans did it for Laramie Tunsel. And as much as we like to, and I don't say we because I have not been part of this at all, But as much as people like to mock Bill O'Brien as general manager and all that, you know, the Texans have been in the a f C South and have won it a lot under O'Brien, and they're almost a perennial playoff team under Bill O'Brien, even though they've really only had to Shaun Watson available to them for one or two late season runs now, So they I'm sure they view themselves as contenders. It's when you're trading what you believe to be a late first round pick, which Seattle believes. I'm sure that they're not gonna pick any higher than twenty five this year. You know they could, but they don't believe that about themselves, and trading the number pick in your mind or whatever it is, to go up and get a guy who was drafted six overall and probably would be drafted that right now if we were to ever redraft the league and and bring all those guys from eighteen or seventeen back into the NFL, they would have had to trade up to get Adams on draft Day, So that you're basically trading up to get Jamal Adams. And what's different here is you're paying the premium because you have to give him a second contract, but you also have a sure thing. There's no guesswork in this trade. You know, Jamal Adams as a star in the NFL is not going to be a bust away A third of the first rounders at least become. So it's just a matter of philosophy at this point. It's not like anyone's getting fleeced. That's that's that's not happening here. John Schneider just believes that we're gonna We're happy to pay a premium for a player that we think can probably have a domino effect for us that we would have had to trade up to get a guy of his draft caliber anyway like that, I'd save it for the NFC West preview. Andy, Yeah, you're right, because that was more of a Seahawks side side of it. But the Jets, I understand why they did it because Jamal Adams, he's he became a locker room cancer. Towards the end, it looked like it worked out for him. He got out of town. Um, but I see why they did it as well. They they got good value on their end. Wind Winds are possible with trades. You won the trade, they both won the trade. That happens a lot more in the NFL than than people ever give credit for. I agree, I didn't. I didn't mean to set you off. I agree with the andy. Okay, let's let's go to Miami to wrap this up before our projections. Uh. Chan Gailey's back, first time back the league since seen with the Jets. Uh. Why has this Ryan Fitzpatrick Chan Gailey marriage made sense in the past? Um, because that's that's who they had. That was, That's who the quarterback wasn't that's who the coach was. I don't know if they set out to. No one was trying to. I mean, the Jets re reunited the dynamic duo they started in Buffalo in the earlier and then the Jets brought it back and now here's Miami again, at least for the first part of the season. Fitzpatrick is extremely decisive. When you spread out and throw the ball sometimes that that's gonna work very well. That can get taken away after a while. And then what does Fitzpatrick become? Can we call him a wild card to make it four for four. Yeah, everyone, everyone's a while. No Patriots were wild cards, but we had we had three wild cards here, um, and I would be I mean Fitzpatrick, I'm I'm surprised we've been talking about becau Is. I don't think that's the planet quarterback. No, but it's worked so well in all right, Well, let's talk about two and then from what you know about to his skill set, I mean, does it I mean, if it's Patrick Fitzpatrick, I mean, I don't know how well he could say it's worked. Jan Gailey was out of the league for a few years and probably it was a retire Maybe that's not like he didn't have a job. But Chan Gailey is not has not been mistaken for Kyle Shanahan the last few years, and oh my gosh, where's Chan Gailey? And Ryan Fitzpatrick's the most journey is journeyman in the history of the NFL. So I take some issue with the premise, but it works so beautifully. All right, let's let's talk about two and whether to can be as good as Ryan Fitzpatrick here, uh to a skill set? Wise, from what you know about him, do you do you? I mean, does Gailey run that same spread offense here. I guess so on top of two, I mean the fact that it's probably seem that wants to run the ball here, and uh, you know they bring in Jordan Howard. Uh does this? Does this all mesh? Uh? Do? Do you think it's gonna be that sort of spread look? And because if you canna do the spread look, you're gonna have a tough time sort of marrying that that that run game and pass game there, Yeah you will. If if they're spreading out Matt Breed, it would make more sense at running back than Jordan Howard, and I imagine that's what they would do. Howard's a tight formation based down type of back. You can run them out of eleven personnel, but you're not. It's gonna be base personnel runs that happened to have three wide receivers on the field. I think Howard's here because you know Klin Blage. I don't mean to be harsh on him. He had on paper, he had the worst season of best about any running back to ever play the game. I mean, his numbers were atrocious and he didn't look rid on film either, As you would imagine, they just needed to upgrade it running back, and Howard was who was available, and Breed is a different type of runners. So you'd like to have two runners that complement each other. And that's what it is. I don't know if they made the go out and get either those guys with the idea of we're gonna become this or that on offense. I think they just needed different players at that position. Okay, well how about two of then let's get to tah That's all I want to hear. What was interesting last year with the Dolphins they had So I think Too is a guy and I have not watched him closely at all, but we were talking about types and style like QB. My senses, he's the type of guy that he's gonna have to work well with the system, and the system is going to have to help him and and once you get that in place, he can be he can achieve more with that system than other guys might be able to achieve with that system. But to in and of himself, you know, he's not Patrick Mahomes. He's not the creator. He's not that kind of athlete. He There'll be comparisons to insert any mobile QB, but he's he's really not a dynamic mobile QB wasn't at Alabama. He'll move fine, but he's not gonna He's not gonna leave people in the dustaway, certainly Lamar, but even the way Josh Allen would um and he his arm is he's not dripping with arm talent either. So what you have is intangibles football i Q system has to play to his strengths. And now we're talking about how are you designing and presenting your your passing game, your route concepts, how are your receivers lining up? What is that continuity like? And really wants to play unfold like this gets I get reminded of this every so often by people within the NFL. Everybody runs the same place in the NFL. It's just a matter of how you present them and get to them. And that's really where your system exists to some degree of course that you know, don't don't go overly literal with that, but that's the idea. What was interesting in Miami last year's they had Channel she at offensive coordinator, So people like me said, okay, well it's gonna be the Patriots stuff. Then there Brian Flores is here, We're trying to become the new Patriots down in the in the Southeast, and the Dolphins didn't play that way offensively. They didn't do the motion and the stack releases. They didn't do the quick crossing routes or option routes. That wasn't their style. And the reason for that is because their wide receivers are not those style of receivers. DeVante Parker is a long, high cut body guy. So is Preston Williams, who is their best receiver for a lot of last year. So their top two receivers are really more of the They're more like the Lions type of receivers best. But Kenny Gala Day higher cut, vertical guys or the guys with the Chargers, that's the style of receiver they have. Therefore that's going to be the Secy by the ways like that as well. They're these long bodied, high cut guys. Adam Chaheen their new tight and I think the tallest tight end the league isn't that he's right up the six six. He is the heaviest tight end or one of them. Yeah, they're big guys. They're not little shifty guys. So that's how their passing game has to be designed. And then the question is how does chan Gailey do that and how does he get to it? Chan Gailey, if he's going with the spread routes and spreads, you know, spread personnel, he's just gonna ask guys to win one on one with their bodies. And that's fine. That that's not a bad way to play with DeVante Parker or Preston Williams, or especially DeVante Parker. And I say him twice because I think he needs a certain level of freedom as a receiver. Okay, I'll buy that. Uh, defenses out of the ball. We see what they've done in the secondary that they had Byron Jones. Now, Uh, they're they're gonna be good back there. I mean, look, it's it's it's it's patriot style that you know. They haven't invested big in edge rushers here. They did bring in Kyle van noy I. I guess that's where your pass rush comes from. I just don't really see anyone else who really who really threatens here. This is gonna have to be like fully manufactured, which is fine because that's that's the philosophy. And I have not had this conversation with anyone from the Dolphins or Patriots. So I don't know if this is exactly how they teach it, but it's it's evident on film the way these guys, he's Patriot and Dolphin players pass rush. They they very often square up the blocker, which takes time, and then it's some kind of game from there, so you screw up the blocker and then you're running a stunt or some kind of twist. Your pass rushes are working hand in hand with other guys's pass rushes, and they're slow developing pass rushes. So that's the philosophy, so you don't need That's why you don't need. The edge benders are the expensive Von Miller body type guys, the smart technicians, the patient players like a Kyle van Noy that will get the job done. It'll be interesting to see how Shack Lawson does in this this scheme, because if Lawson is to have a successful NFL career, he's not twitchy, so it's gonna have to be like this. He's gonna have to really master this kind of pass rush, and I can see him maybe doing okay with that. It's however, he's coached as a big deal. Same with a Manuel age about to a slightly lesser degree. These guys are not individual winners as pass rushes per se there they but they can be excellent scheme players if it works together. Alright. With that, we go to the a f C East projections uh bills one yep? Alright, then it gets interesting. I had how far does New England fall? Uh? And and just reminded Jets Uh six and two finish, but six and three finish last year. Miami five and four finished last year. They obviously went to New England and one in week seventeen? Uh do either of those teams lead frog the Patriots? It's it's entirely possible, and it's still hard to predict, isn't it. I'm I am. I am totally going to give into the Patriot mystique here at least acknowledge that something part of me has to be giving into that. I'm gonna make you answer at first, All right, okay, I'll do it for I'll go Buffalo, New England Jets, then Miami in in close one but only one playoff team. No, no, even with the three wild cards now, no, I mean we talked playing about wild cards in this league, and and there are plenty of wild cards within the rosters of the division, but you have no wild card teams. You know what I'm saying, And I do know that kind of I would agree with that. Are the Patriots, uh over under that on eight and eight for their record? Or should we say over under on eight and seven? So we have to can't push um? So you're basically sending it at a seven and a half. Yeah, that's what I'm doing, right, Okay? Well, yeah, what will their record be right on eight and eight? Okay, I can see him. I could see him going nine and seven, missing the playoffs, like you said. And then everybody's saying Bill Belichick deserves Coach of the Year. Yeah, even though he's probably deserves Coach of the Year five of the past ten seasons, and nobody considers him because the coach of the Year has become like the best in the award for best breakout coaches. Now, who gets Coach of the year. It seems like it either goes to Lovey Smith or whoever had an eight win turnaround? Uh, Bill's Super Bowl contenders contenders, yes, not favorites, and they and they would I would imagine they'd tell you that this this this conference goes through Kansas City right now? Yeah, who would you pick as the second S team in the a f C right now? No? Sorry, third? Best thing? I I sorry, Ravens, I forgot about you for a second, Chiefs, Ravens, Bill's third. I think I put Colts third and Bill's fourth. Interesting. Um m hmm, that's a hard one. I think I'm with you on the Colts. By the way, and maybe now we apologize to the Titans who said, geez, what the what the world? We won almost all our games in the second half of last year of the um on on paper, on paper, it's probably Buffalo in Tennessee is not to be dismissed. We haven't done the ANC South yet. We have to do the South AFC South soon. Okay, let's let's do it next week. Then, Uh, most likely that this is another good most likely to win m VP here, there's there's no obvious answer. I mean, obviously, if if the Patriots end up with ten or eleven wins, does Cam get into that conversation? Otherwise, Uh, those two third year quarterbacks, I don't think either of them you put among the favorites. But uh, you know, does Donald or Josh Allen, which one is more likely to make the jump. Let's pick a non quarterback here, if ever there's a chance to do that. Okay, listen to what we're saying here. Cam Newton is in a quarterback competition, so yeah, he might win MVP if he can get on the field. Snam Donald is trying to bounce back from a season where he had about twenty five horrible mistakes, and he needs to get that number down to five. Josh Allen was maybe fifteen. He gets needs to get the number down to five. These these guys don't belong in an m v P discussion just yet. Maybe one pair? Okay, who's trade Davious White as an m v P? Yeah? Who else would it be? Who else? I? Gilmore Gilmore for defense? You're looking at the defense? Yeah, I mean seven Gilmore for the for the three and thirteen Patriots. I do think Gilmore at this point now is as valuable to New England as any defensive players to their team just about. Okay, what offensively, he's more valuable to New England than White is to Buffalo, even though they're both first here cornerbacks, just because Buffalo has got more talent around White Stephan Diggs? Is that a year going as like best offensive non QB, like most likely to when MVP? What yep yep um I could go with that. I guess I feel like I need to treat this as like who is the most valuable right now rather than trying to guess how this will shake out. Okay, it's a tough division for this though. It is because there aren't a lot of good players. That's what makes it tough. It's who is the most valuable non core her back on offense in the division? That's the discussion. Yeah, Edelman's in that conversation for sure, because the value then takes it becomes relevant to what you have around the guy. Doesn't it value to your team? That's what the value would be. Diggs is in the conversation. But we haven't even seen Digs in this offense yet, so it's hard to put your steak all the way into that one steak you claim on that one lady on, but what do you think about lay down Bell right now? With with an improved offensive line? Well, we need how improved? I mean we need They had a lot of room to get better left tackle now mcgovernor, center Hudoga's back at right tackle Winters is it right guard. I don't think that's an overwhelmingly intriguing right side of your line. If they go from F plus to C plus on the offensive line this year, um Bell is probably a yard back then m Bell ran behind. And I am not at all saying that. Let Levan Bell like the line made Levan Bell and Pittsburgh, because I think Bell was as special as we made him out to be, and he's so unique. But you know, he ran behind some really great blockers for a lot of years in Pittsburgh, yep. And his style is dependent on blocking the patients. You can't be patient and not depend on your blockers, because otherwise you're just standing there letting guys come tackle you. You as a patient runner, you're more dependent on your blockers. So you know, Bell's even though he can create his own yards because of the way he begins his runs, He's a type of running back like Derrick Henry, just for different reasons and certainly extremely different styles of runners. But he's dependent on the blocking with his style, at least for the early part of his run. No lady on Bell for m v P. I have the other yeah. Because the other thing is Gaze does not do a ton with the running back in the passing game because Gates Gates likes to use his receivers in multiple route combinations, just the style of their offense. So no, I don't think it's Belle, you know, I honestly I think the guy you could argue for. And it's gonna sound absurd because I don't, Well, where does Miami have anyone? Real quick? I mean maybe one of those whiteouts? Just yeah, and and Parker. I don't think we'refined enough to be considered a true number one receiver. Doesn't mean he won't have big numbers and all that, but he's not. You're not building your offense or around him the way you are around even an Edlement type. Um Mitch Morrise at center for Buffalo. Their run games designed around interior old line mobility, pin and poll sweep runs um power, which moves the guard, not the center. But the point is interior old line mobility is the key to Baltimore or Buffalo's rushing attack and probably therefore their entire offense, because they're not the type of offense that's gonna throw fifty times in a game. And win many of those. I had Mitch Moore's first team All Pro for that reason last year. I would argue he is the most valuable offensive player non quarterback in this division. Yeah, more so than Edelman. It's close, It's close. I I do probably Yeah, I would say yes, okay because in part because I don't know what the Patriots offense is now that they have a different quarterback in there. I know, I do know this. If you take Mitch Morris off of the Bills on line, it's it's likely a different running game. Okay. I I like that we arrived at Mitch Morris as an MVP candidate by by the end of the show. Uh. Last one Defensive Player of the Year. I Gilmore obviously one in a year ago. But again, if if the Patriots are going one in fifteen, can you give it to him again? So then does it go to Tree? Davis White? Yeah, he'd be in that conversation. Um, even though I, as I said, I think those safeties are the key to that secondary. You know, the guy who might sneak up on it at some point is Tremaine Edmonds. We didn't talk about the Buffalo linebackers, but they're they're a big time duo. They're really good. They are fast, they have become very disciplined. Edmund has matured gradually, and I would say quickly is a fast ascension for him. And he's the type, he has, the dynamic type. He's gonna be a playmaker. He's got that Jamal Adams springy nous to him a little bit. There's an explosive fluidity to how he plays. I mean the guys, uh, the guys twenty two years old? How long is that going to go on? Though? I mean, like, how long we gonna keep sating his age? I know he was young when he came in, but he's now, he's he's entering his third season. Twenty two is especially young and two until May second of next year when he turns twenty three, so he's a pure twenty two then yeah, yeah, all right, that's I say, you get one more year of doing that, and then when he's twenty three, he gets treated like the rest of the adults, all right, until the bill is like draft like a twenty six year old, and then we'll spend all season talking about how much younger Tremaine Edmonds is. Do you remember who the last twenty six year old rookie was on defense to get drafted. I don't know if it's the last one. That's the one I always think of. And to be fair, he was I think he was at late when he was drafted, but he was twenty six at some point in his rookie season. The Wisconsin guy was was older this year. I'm blanking on his name, which is very sad. The linebacker. Uh who the Saints talk bon Zack Bond? Zack Bond. Yes, it's not him. He's not that old, is he. No, it's not him. I'm looking. I'm wanting to get the number before I do the big reveal. I want to make sure I've got the numbers straight. So, yeah, he was, so I think. Okay, he was twenty five as a rookie. He wasn't And it was September four his birthday for nineteen seventy eight, his rookie years two thousand three, he was twenty five. Terence Newman cornerbacks, Cowboys. At the time, we're gonna way back there we are. But Newman played until he was thirty nine, and so we're like, well, what a marvel. But you know, he would have been thirty five if he'd come in and the league at kind of a more traditional age. Not that I'm taking anything at all away from he had a great career, nice, very nice career. Yeah, but I always remember that as Terrence knew mean, he came in so so established, so old, That's what it was. Danny Watkins came in as a was he was a twenty five year old twenty six. I didn't last long either, He left as a twenty five year old. To mm hmm. Alright, Andy, Okay, this this is, this is a wonderful show. Uh. Maybe I maybe went in too many directions and hat hod a lot. We're gonna to go back and listen to the tape on this one. Listen to the tape. But just the quantity of bills to UK uh made it special. Uh So once again, our our special guest was Andy Annoy. If I could unveil that one more time before we go, Uh, Andy, thanks for joining us, and uh we'll call this just goodbye for now. Okay. The mm QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast is me Gary Graantling and special thanks once again to Andy Bennoit for joining me for this one. We are produced by Shelby Royston, Sis, Executive producer of podcasts at Scott Brody, Ben Eagles, Director of Editorial Projects of Product Mark Brave becas Emeritus editor of the mmqb. Andy Bennoit is the founder of the mmqd NFL podcast Keep Up with Our entire line of a podcast by Busy week Guy. Subscribing to the mm qb NFL podcast for free on Apple Podcasts and Why Are There? Please do us a favor and leave a rating M review. It really does help other people find the show, which is also available on Spotify Radio dot com, stitcher s dot com, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Two