Patriots-Seahawks kicks off 2026 season

0:00coming up on today's edition of BFT Live. Football is back. The season begins tonight in Seattle. Super Bowl 60 rematch between the Patriots and the Seahawks. We get you ready for that. And also, Baker Mayfield said, no contract once training can't begin. Well, the box made him an offer. He wasn't able to refuse all that and much more on this first day of the regular season edition of BFT Live. I believe we're filling to the end of the night, you know? But to do it again, like we just trying to do it again for a football. That's what I was going to say. Give me one word to describe the expectation for this season. That's kind of hard to put it in a long word. I give you a phrase. OK, we just trying to run it forward. You are looking live at a wooden door. Wait, look at you. Come in like Brett Mossberger. Like it's a big game. Like you're just breaking it. I met a wooden door. Hey, at least the wood behind me is real.

1:04You've been sitting for 10 years in front of fake ass bricks. I think fake ass studio. It has been remodeled a single time in 15 years. So we're even today. We're even. Oh, we're even. This is the best I could do in this gigantic conference room that is not conducive to the production of a TV show. It's just go find a spot. There's the room. Go find a spot. And we have one more day after today. And whatever Mondays I happen to be on the road this season, although perhaps the message is stay home. Maybe that's the thing. Maybe that's what they're saying. You're right. Yeah, you're right. You're able to stay home as much as you want. Please stay home. Yeah, maybe that isn't. Maybe they're like, we are not going to spare any expenses on the show or the set. So maybe you should stay home. Maybe they are trying to tell you that they are going to spare.

2:04They are going to spare. Exactly. I'm not sitting inside of a closet in Seattle. All right. So what room you in today? It's the same room as yesterday. You just angle the different way. OK. All right. They don't have the setup behind me that had the chips and the coffee cups. And so to pop, it would look like I was at the checkout line at the pigly, weekly. So that's gone. So it made it easier to do it here because really it was this. It was the four sets of double doors. It was the white screen where it was the curtains again. So I drew straws and decided to get a bit. We're not here for the background. We're not here for the background. We're not here for the ambiance. We're here for the content. It doesn't matter where we are. We're talking football. We're going to run it forward like you in front of fake bricks. I got fake bricks at my house. I got fake Florida rock in my Olive Garden. My cellar wherever we are, we're talking football.

3:05I do want to address one thing though. Yeah. We haven't mentioned this. And I haven't announced it yet. I've been getting a lot of emails about when is the picks podcast coming? The first picks podcast of the season. And where should I tune in? And my response has been never and nowhere. I'm not doing it this year. You thought it was a hollow idle threat every year for five straight years. And it's not about you and it's not about my lack of enjoyment in doing it. At the end of the day, I can't reconcile it with my views on gambling. And I feel like for me personally, it's too close to the bone. It's too close to the line. Picking games against the spread. I'm not going to do it. Out of the picking games against the spread business. I'm after thinking about it a long time. I'm going to for fun and only fun. Not wink, wink, nod, nod. Amusement purpose is only fun. I, you know, people want to know what I think. And my disclaimer is don't use this for gambling.

4:05And if you are going to gamble, have a budget. It's entertainment dollars. You're not going to get rich. You're not going to pay your bills. And if you ever do well to consistent under make money, they're going to cut you off. That's how it works. Now, cut you off if you win. You're going to get kicked out of the casino like Charlie Bavitt if you win, right? If you have a system, the system for them is pull the plug on you and ask you to leave and never come back. So I just, I'm done with it. I'm done with it. I'll pick the games at PFT. We'll talk about the games. But, you know, all right. It's all right. I get it. I understand. I still love you long time. You're still my guy. I will, you will be missed. But don't tell them to tune in nowhere. I mean, I am going to be picking the games. I'm going to be picking the games on Christmas, I'm button with Connor Rogers. So he's going to take it that take, take your, your, your spot there. And we will be doing that on Fridays live at 11 a.m. on the NBC sports YouTube page. And of course, you know, anywhere you find the pod and rearing on peak calculators. So I will, but I will miss you. You, you got the better of me in more of the years than not in the picks.

5:10Certainly, it felt like every year, it was like you get out to a big lead. And then I'd catch you at the end of the year. And I, how many times have that happened? Seriously, where it was like you were winning the majority of the year. And then the end of the year, all of a sudden, I cut it down to one game or a tie or whatever. It just seemed like that. I'll miss our, our banter back and forth there. I asked you a week three. It was stopped the fight. He's already dead. Yeah, that's exactly. And look, the past couple of years, after the notorious, I was the last one to find out you're only going to be on the show one day a week. When you were vacuumed to college football coverage, we only did this like once or twice a week. So doing the picks podcast an hour after PFT live ended on Thursdays. It was nice to have another, another hour that we could talk about. Yeah, this year you're on this show four days a week. Although I have a feeling once you get going with five days a week of unbutton and four days a week. Does I have a feeling you're going to choose to tap out down to three?

6:11I can just feel that in the air tonight. Hold on. Look at you. I like the song. The reference there. Once you get a taste of five days of live unbuttoned, you're going to say, maybe I should just do three. Well, that's okay. I won't do that. It's more than what it's been in recent years. I won't do that. I am going to try to state a form to my, to the best of my ability. I really do. The first thing is, you know, Saturdays can be long and I am NFL all week. So like late in the week where I do get stressed out is like, oh gosh. All right. We got our college games. I got to start watching tape of the four, the six teams we got. So like there might be some weeks or maybe I might ask you to go, can I go Monday through Thursday and maybe have the Friday morning off or, you know, as right now we have it Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday set up. But I feel good, man. The fact that I'll have Sunday since I was fired from the show, football, night in America, I can sleep in and enjoy it there. I do think that'll give me a chance to kind of recharge and I'll, I'll be ready to go for you there.

7:12Big guy. When you say things like you've been fired, that's when I get 50 emails. If he was fired, why is he still working? He is a better way to put it. I can only reduce the amount of emails I have to deal with on a basis. So all that aside, that is just the precursor to the prelude to and to borrow a phrase from the old man and a Christmas story tonight, tonight, it's coming tonight, hot damn tonight. We start the season on a Wednesday. First time ever that we start on a Wednesday, it had been Thursday as the new beginning for 20 plus years of the season in advance of the first full week. Now we got Wednesday, Thursday because this year they can't do Friday because of the limits of the broadcast and I trust exemption. It's the second weekend in September. So no Friday night, no Saturday football. And I guarantee you if they could ever make that go away, we would see Friday night and

8:14Saturday football and I'd have no problem with that. But Wednesday, Thursday, fair game, Wednesday, tonight. It's not the first Wednesday ever, right? Didn't we have one Wednesday? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we did one. I do believe back when Obama was president, he was doing a state of the union on a Thursday night and we moved it. We moved it. Yep. Yep. Hey, I'm not I'm I think it was a convention maybe that yeah 2012 2012 convention. Yep. Gary's in my ear saying I that that is correct. I'm not worth the damn with many things, but I did read that like in the last two weeks that this is going to be only times. Yeah, you were in MetLife Stadium for Cowboys giants Jason Witten doubtful with the spleen injury. That's right. That's right. We played at a rare time somebody who's doubtful ends up actually playing usually doubtful means out, but that was 14 years ago. So that would have been a Wednesday night, Democratic National Convention, the incumbent president speaking Thursday night.

9:16So this is the first time it's Wednesday, Thursday back to back. They discovered Thursday Friday the last couple of years and they'll do Thursday Friday on the years where the first Friday of the season is the first Friday in September because by law, they're allowed to circumvent the broadcast and I trust exemptions limitations. And I tell you what by the time that swings around, it's going to be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. They just kind of stumble into these new ways to stretch the rubber band. The next time they can do Friday, it's going to be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I'm all for it. It's here to stay and it may just be a matter of time before they do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday, Friday. I won't be mad. Bring it on. Bring it on. I'm all for it. I'm so excited that we are starting this tonight. I really am. I mean, one, I mean, it's the start of football. It's going to be amazing. I'm looking forward to watching you guys on the pregame show that I got fired from, but regardless, the stadium there is going to be a electric.

10:17We know that's one of the most electric stadiums in football, whether or not they win the Super Bowl either way. So that place is going to be shaking tonight. And again, just some of the new cast the characters, it's fresh. It's fresh, especially for New England. They've had to hear about the Seattle Seahawks all off season and watch them get their new, their rings and the trophy and the celebration. You know, when you go back and watch the film, the Patriots are going to have a bad taste in their mouth. But the way they played, they were physically dominated in the football game in a lot of ways. As you know, the score, I think, was a little misleading as we kind of talked about yesterday. Yeah, it was 27 to 10 or 29 13, but man, it felt worse than that. There was never really a moment that you felt like New England controlled the game or you were like, uh, oh, here they come. There was a few times where you went, man, Seattle's letting them hang around. They're kicking field goals. They can't score a touchdown. They're playing with fire here a little bit, but it never got to the point where you

11:21were like, uh, oh, New England's got to go and here comes Drake May and company. And these guys got pride. They're bitter about the way they played and that's why I'm expecting some good fireworks tonight. It was so bad that I believe we were preparing the first Super Bowl shut out ever post. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Until New England woke up and scored a couple of garbage time touchdowns, much like the way the chief did the year earlier, we've had too bad. So you're right. Two in a row. So hopefully when this one ends after 272 regular season games, the full post season when we're in LA, so if I stayed him at that game, hopefully that game will have a better ending to it than the last two. But I remember when we found out it was going to be Patriots, Seahawks, Super Bowl 60 rematch. And I know that it makes people a little nervous when we say that we're not thrilled with a NBC game. But my initial reaction was I'm not thrilled with it.

12:23Yeah, I'll be with you. Oh, bye. It's time's gone by. I think it's compelling. Yes. And I'm not saying that. So my playing ticket home will be honored. I think that the Seahawks have had enough changes and enough uncertainty going into this game with the departure of Kenneth Walker, the third Super Bowl MVP, the change over at offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak gets the job with the Raiders. Brian Floregaert's hired from the 49ers. He's never been a defensive coordinator before. He was a quality control coach five years ago. He showed up. I mean, he's got this rollercoaster ride of a career where he was in operation. He was in the first position for a few years in Miami. He hits a reset button when he came to work for Kyle defensive quality control one year, which as you know, is as low as it gets on the totem pole. And then the next year offensive quality control coach did well enough there. Finally, the hook set tight ends coach working his way up, run game coordinator for a year.

13:28And Mike McDonald, the Seahawks saw enough to say this guy's ready to be an offensive coordinator. This wasn't some pre ordained conclusion. This isn't some culmination of a career that has all been leading up to this moment. This is kind of a how the hell did that happen? Yeah. So they all at and I respect Brian Floregaert for overcoming the twists and turns and ups and downs of his career. But how can we forget about what happened in Detroit last year? And John Morton was in the building with Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson gets the Bears job. John Morton, the logical candidate to take over and he's there. He's there. He knows how they do. He's not some newcomer like Florey. And it was a disaster for the Lions. So how do you not look at that with Walker gone, Jadari in price, getting the nod as the starting tail back because X, Charbon A is on the reserve pop list and he's got to miss at least four games. And then you look at what the Patriots have done to beef up their passing game with the addition of AJ Brown and Romano Dops. You got Seahawks safeties out.

14:29I just think that anybody and we've seen this time and again, well, they blew them out last time. They'll blow them up this time. Hold on, zero and zero all over again. Their raise in the banner. Yeah, it's going to be loud, but they're expected to win. And it wouldn't be the first time we saw somebody get caught, fly footed on a night where they believed that they deserved what they were going to get without having to go out and earn it. The wrinkle on top of everything, the internal reaction and soldiness to all the variable stuff in the off season. I think back to the first Patriots game after spy date. And I know it's completely different controversies. But anytime you can create an us against the world vibe and you can make this belief in the building that the sky is falling and it's beyond our control. The only thing we can do is punch back. Is there a chance to finally punch back? I think that can be weaponized by the Patriots tonight.

15:29Oh, yeah. I can myself into thinking that it's going to be a closer game than most believe and they have a chance to win it. Oh, I definitely think it'll be a close game. I mean, I'm on a spot here where I go. I'm not sure I'm not going to pick the Patriots when it's all said and done. There's a lot of things that you said there. I mean, first off, yeah, it's a new OC. I don't think systematically it's going to be much different, but you're right. He's inexperienced as far as calling plays. But as we know, I mean, when you come from the Shanahan McVeigh tree, everybody wants you. I've had conversations with Mike McDonald. I mean, yeah, he respects the hell out of Shanahan. He knows the issues that he can give. So yeah, he's looking for disciples of that coaching tree. And of course, it's vice versa because Shanahan's like, damn, I can't stand Mike McDonald. He's really smart and he's matching with me there. But that, you know, like you said, it's a different cast of characters. There's a motivation to the Seahawks falling into the trap of, oh, hey, we're the greatest. And we relive memories instead of looking forward, like they're talking about running forward.

16:30Did they get stuck looking back a little bit like, man, we were the champs. That was really cool. And what you always worry or what you worry about when you're the team that won the last meeting, yeah, you know, you dominated the game certainly. But we talked about it yesterday. Drake May wasn't healthy. Will Campbell wasn't healthy. That's different. And now with the addition of the two receivers, definitely. And I think the other aspect that just pops to me is the unknown. It's the unknown in this game because Seattle's going to watch the film for the most part and go, hey, let's, let's not change too much of what we did. Let's kind of just, you know, let's play it the same way. So I don't think they're going to reinvent the wheel in this matchup. Whereas New England, they could have a different approach altogether where they're going to go, wait, it didn't work. And we're going to have to do some things that we didn't do in the Super Bowl that we're going to do here in unveil against them and see how they defend that. And that to me is where it's scary for Seattle. So now see now, New England may be trying a few different tricks and a few different ways

17:33to attack and plus now it's AJ, Brian and Romeo, dobs and Drake May's right arm is healthy and he should be able to throw lasers down the field tonight. That's the aspect I think we're talking about. And you're right. So I think that's the storylines, whether it's Vray Bull in the off season and some of that. But yeah, I totally expect to see a different New England team here because of all of what we said here. And these are two good coaches in Vray Bull and Josh McDaniels who are going to have a different approach and game plan to give something versus Seattle to think about a little bit here. Vray Bull is two and five in regular season openers. Mike McDonald is one and one. The Seahawks have won five of their last seven regular season openers. The Patriots have lost four of the last five, including the last year's inexplicable. Lost to the Raiders. Yeah, otherwise three and 13. You change that game. Does that give the Patriots the one seed? I think it may have.

18:34I can't recall. But it's just weird how that one glitch has happened. And what are you getting the one seed? Yes. The year before that, when the Patriots were horrible, they beat the Bengals week one in Cincinnati. And that kept the Bengals out of the playoffs when everything else played out. So week one is going to have the potential to have some scruely nutty outcomes that will not be indicative of either team over the long haul, but that could have a significant consequence for the losers' prospects. Because those games from week one count the same in the standings as the games from week eight team when you are a far different team. So it means a lot to both teams, especially what is it? What's the Seahawks run right now, right? We were talking in the Super Bowl a little bit. I've an in Toronto. Yeah. How many is it even leading in or going back into 2024, right?

19:37Where they went on a run at the end of that year? I mean, there is some stat where, and maybe Gary can look this up why we're talking here. But I believe the Seahawks have won like 23 out of their last 27 games or something. It's something like that. They were very proud of that. I remember going up to Seattle, you know, the week before the Super Bowl to do the Jackson Smith and Jigba interview and hearing that from some of their media people that, you know, hey, look about what we did this year in our record. You go back into last year where Mike McDonald's first year, they made a run late in the year and almost got into the playoffs where they've got it down right now. He's built a culture there. He's built a belief and he's got a great way about him, Mike McDonald. We saw it in Hard Knocks where he can be buddies with the guys, but yet he can mother after the guys like we saw him do with Derek Hall in the show when he got too close to Sam Donald and he can be a jerk that way, but yet has a way of it to be a jerk. And then later in the day, love him up and make sure the guy knows he loves him, right?

20:39And I think variable and Mike McDonald have that ability. That's why they're special. That's why, you know, they're leaders of men and then they can think outside the box schematically. And right now, Mike McDonald certainly is one of the greatest defense of minds in the sport, if not the top guy out there. And there's some things here that yeah, we know with their defense, they post some problems for new England. And that's where you hope New England's new additions can help them out here. 25 and five since week 11 of the 20. There we go. There we go. Mike McDonald's first year and he's kind of baby faced Lombardi. Is it? Yeah. I come off that way. And as he gets older, maybe he'll get a little grumpy here before you know it, he's going to be saying, what the hell's going on out here? But he has figured it out. And this is only year three. And he already has a Super Bowl win, something that coaches have toiled their whole careers for just that fleeting opportunity even get to the game. McDonald gets there in year two and wins it.

21:42And that is an impressive accomplishment. And they have a team that has everything in place. The biggest wild card is the organization going forward is what the new owners are going to do. They don't know. Nobody knows. You got three now. You had one owner to deal with in the past. Now you got Vinod Kostler, his wife, Nero, who is the controlling owner on paper. And then Neil, who I think is essentially going to be taking the place over. You got three new personalities and navigate way. You get this team that has a very high standard and they better live up to it. As long as they keep winning, as long as they win in a 25 and five clip, everything will be fine. Once it starts to dip, who knows what change is going to be made. And that's part of the stress that comes from wearing the crown. You have climbed to the top of the mountain. And now you are expected to do it again. On that note, Maria Taylor, who you saw at the top of the show talking to Devin Willspoon, the Seahawks corner back here is Maria from an interview with Sam Darnold on the Seattle

22:44philosophy as they begin their defense of their second NFL championship. It's a new team. It's a new season. And at the end of the day, like nobody cares about what happened in the past. We got to go make it happen this season. And really, you know, it's been starting in OTAs and training camp. I feel like our team in general has been doing a great job of compartmentalizing, you know, understanding like there's going to be moments where we can celebrate what we did last year. Right. But then also lock in on what we need to do this year and moving forward. So that's just going to be another moment, you know, when the banner drops of being able to celebrate that moment and then be able to lock in and move on to the game. Now he said celebrate when the banner drops and he said it. So it's out there. They're going to be on the field. Yeah. And our drops. They're going to be out there. That's usually not part of this.

23:46The coaches don't want the distraction and the coaches don't want the naval gazing. It's one of the things Bill Bell check like the most about the ring ceremony. That's it. And finally put last year behind us, we don't pay attention to what we did in the past. It's only a distraction from what we're trying to do in the future. Tom Brady, his most recent newsletter, he delves into that whole thing. He picked up the saying from someone at Michigan, what's your favorite ring? The next one. You never think about what you accomplish. You keep pursuing greatness and there will be a time at some point, perhaps when you're too old to even remember the accomplishments. I guess that would be irony. You never reflect on the accomplishments until you're too old to remember them, but you keep chasing greatness every single day. So they're going to bask in the moment. They're going to bask in the moment. And it's a duality. We celebrate what we did, but that means Jack did at least shit tonight.

24:47Once that game starts. No, it doesn't. We know and like we talked about, there's going to be adjustments or human emotion. Like you're talking about the fact that they're going to be on the field. Yeah, you're worried that they go to that little slippage in the brain of memory and down memory lane and get emotional about that. I don't think that would be a positive thing. It will be cool to see them out there on the football field. This is a Seattle team that they got a little bit of everything. And that's where I think they're supremely confident. They got young guys that they know are coming up the ranks and young talent and nucleus there. And at the same time, they got some veterans that I do think will keep everybody on task. Sam Donald certainly not a guy that's going to let people go crazy and be that way. You got guys like Leonard Williams on the defensive side, you know, to calm people down and keep them on task that way. That's what's going to take tonight. You know, we'll see. As we know, when you go back to the Super Bowl, the biggest issue in the football game and the biggest issue for the New England Patriots was what?

25:49The offense aligned. The offense aligned got their ass whooped in every way. We know Mike Raeville wants to play defense and run the ball and they couldn't even run the ball. They gave up on running the ball. In fact, it was almost like they went through the first quarter and they were like, you know, we're not going to be able to run it. The hell with it. And they kind of gave up on it pretty quick. And so that's got to change. They allowed Seattle in the game to kind of play too deep and play coverage and never really have to get out of their comfort zone. And the front four for the Seattle Seahawks just absolutely obliterated New England. What did we have? Six, seven sacks in the Super Bowl. I mean, rushing the ball, Drake May led the team and rushing. The running game never got going that way. That is not if they replicate that, then there is no way New England will be able to win this game tonight. And I think that's where it's got to start. It's finding some ways to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage a little bit to make Seattle finally have to get out of Seattle. So tough because Mike McDonald can keep seven guys in coverage.

26:53Those front four can get there. And then he's got all these cool zones and they're great at passing people off. And they just, it seems like the field shrinks when they're out there. But if you can get them to run, if you can run the ball a little bit and then get, you know, some space there, get some people in the box and now create AJ Brown and Romeo dobs one on one situations there. That's where you go. Uh oh, things could maybe change. And that's what we're going to see. But I do think it starts up front tonight. I know that's a cliche. But as we know, cliches are usually a cliche is because they're real. And New England is got to fix that if they want to have a fighting chance tonight. One of the first cliches I ever heard in football, you run to set up the pass and it could be for the Patriots tonight. It passed to set up the run. It may be. It may come out, take some shots down the football field. See, see what they're about? Maybe scare them a little bit and maybe that does back off the secondary and now you can, you know, run the ball. But there's no Travian Henderson.

27:53So that's that, or we don't know for sure, but it's certainly dealing with an ankle. He's out, right? Yeah. So there's not, there's not that. That certainly takes away a big play person where Travian Henderson would be great to what you talked about is, hey, we throw it deep. All right, hey, we throw deep. We run the ball. We run the ball. Hey, we throw deep again. And then, oh, hey, look, we're dropping back. It looks like we're going to throw deep and we throw a little dump screen to Travian Henderson and now they're space. And we know he's a special guy that can flip field positions in a hurry. So that's going to hurt. And now Ramondra Stevenson, who's damn good, is going to have to carry the majority of the workload. But he's not a guy that's going to break 60 yard touchdowns. He can break a lot of 15, 20, 30 yard type of runs. So that's another element that hurts the Patriots tonight, but not a total game changer with that Travian Henderson. They have two healthy running backs on the roster. Ramondra Stevenson and Corey Kiner, they have a couple of other guys on the practice squad. My anticipation is one of them will be called up by 4 p.m. Eastern today to fill that

28:55spot. I'm assuming there's still time to do that. This is the time of you that you become really acquainted with the niceties of when the deadline is for locking your roster before a game. But no Henderson does change things. No Nick Imanewari for the Seahawks. He's still recovering from late off season ankle surgery, Tio Kata, other safety won't play tonight due to hamstring. And it just feeds into this idea. Unleash AJ Brown, unleash Romeo dobs. See what some of these other guys like Mac Hollins and Kyle Williams can do, right? Your guy. Yeah, yeah, that's my guy. Right. He tore it up this this preseason. Yeah, the new Mexico. No, he was Washington state. He was Washington state, right? It kind of looks like those uniforms. Yeah, same colors. America quite possibly. You're funny. Here is Devon McCordy, former patriot who won a few Super Bowls in New England with AJ

29:59Brown and Drake May on how adding Brown can unlock Drake May's game as he begins his third NFL season. Hey, just a veteran presence that brings leadership. I think we have somebody in that room that the guys just walk in the huddle and he gives a little different, you know, a little, you know, he's just the defensive side of the ball. He gets a little different respect than your kind of what I've had in the past. And I think that brings something a little more pressure on the defense helps other guys in our offense. And he just brings a, you know, a swag and a respect that he deserves. AJ, you said he makes your life easier. How does he make your life easier? Man, his arm talent, you know, he can make any throw from anywhere on the field. And I'm 30, 40 yards on the field. He plays in in my hand, you know, and he gets upset at himself when he doesn't. You know, I'm like, it's still, it's a great, it's a great time. You like it still go get there. Yeah. So I think that he'll learn also just in the way, in the way in the vicinity, you know,

31:01that would be great. You know, more importantly, anytime I see an accomplished alpha male in shorts, I think of Carmine's line from the sopranos to Tony, a dawn doesn't wear shorts. And I'm not saying that I agree with that philosophy. That's just what I think of. But beyond that, it's far more important. What Drake, May and AJ Brown will do together this year, what it means to Drake, May's game and comparing contrast. Sometimes we overcomplicate football. Sometimes it's easy. Last year they didn't have the weapons for Drake, May and they still did well. He's still finished second in the MVP voting. Stefan Diggs had a thousand yards a year after tearing his ACL in the Josh Prada and his off. We've put up the graphic in the path. I believe and I know we at least talked about this. The impact that McDaniel's has first year with a high end receiver in McDaniel's office.

32:01They knew this AJ Brown thing was coming for months. Yeah, they got him June one. They knew they were getting him since March one. They've been plotting and they've been planning and they are ready to unleash AJ Brown. Look at all the times. We saw him wide open. Why isn't Jalen Hertz thrown it to him? Look at this wide open. Look at this wide open throws it over here wide open. And when he's covered by one guy, he's still open. He's one of those rare individuals who will go get it. He's almost better. There was that play in the Super Bowl. The win over the chiefs. Just go. Right? I think it was there was actually a loss in the chiefs when he threw like the double through in the double the double team. He just threw it out there. Yeah, right. And he goes and gets it. Yeah. It's almost like a Randy Moskade ability, even though they've got different builds and different skill sets overall. But once the ball is in the air and everyone else is freaking out.

33:03The AJ Brown, the Randy Moss is calm and just goes and gets it. Everybody else is losing their mind just trying to stay in the frame or stay in position to have a chance. And the man among the boys goes and gets the ball. Moss did it. AJ Brown does it. And I think the Patriots have had great ideas percolating for months now as to how they're going to incorporate AJ Brown. And I think it's going to be a big difference. Well, I know it'll be a big difference. Now it does it show up tonight. That's what we want to make sure. But you're right. I mean, one, it's it's AJ Brown. He's a freak of nature. He's been one of the best receivers in football for quite some time. He's now in an offense that, yeah, in Philadelphia, it was one on one ball. Like you heard me always kind of joke about it. Oh, we're going to throw him a fade or we're going to throw him a slam. That's kind of all it was. And of course, that's why everybody in Philadelphia was frustrated. That was the majority of their offense. In New England, there's going to be more systematical surgeicality. And he's going to get used in ways and that's where Josh McDaniels and again, another

34:05year for Drake May in the offense, they can go to another level. I experienced Josh McDaniels with a guy like AJ Brown in Brandon Marshall in Denver. And this is this is this is his bread and butter. I mean, Josh McDaniels is phenomenal about this. He coached Randy Moss when Randy Moss came to New England and he said, Hey, we'll feature him and find a lot of great ways to get him the ball. He was a mastermind and using grunk and Edelman or grunk and Welker off of each other and and high-loving people and stressing you out that way. And I think you're going to see some of that with Romeo Dobbs involved and using him and AJ Brown together, they have a pretty good tight end too. They're going to do that. But the again, where you go back to it. And I know Josh McDaniels has made some comments about it. Wasn't his best in the Super Bowl and all that. Yeah. We know that. We got that. But I would say too, off of that, it's hard to be creative and open up the playbook

35:06when you go, I don't know if we can block the four guys in front of us. I don't know. I want to try this play down field. It's great. We'll get open. But I don't know if we can block them up front to actually make it happen. Again, one of the stories of the first half of the Super Bowl was that the guy you talked about that was one vote away from winning the MVP really had one significant completion in the first half of the game. I mean, he was the star of the league. He threw a deep curl, the step on digs, and that was really the only throw with the first half. He threw a few swing routes. He threw a little few flat routes, but they couldn't do anything to protect the throw the ball down the field. And then because they couldn't run, Seattle just kept seven in coverage and those passing lanes were tight when he did have a little time to throw the ball down the field. And then I also think that, yes, Drake Mays are in play to parten that to where there might have been some throws and plays where if it was healthy, Drake Mayn, he would have

36:07pulled the trigger and fired it in there. But I think he was a little like, I don't know if I have my fastball, and if I do, I'm not sure I'm going to control it the way I'd like to. And that's where again, I think it'll be a different, a different scenario tonight because I expect to see a different Patriots team. And it had seven months to stew over this. They've had plenty of time to be determined. And when you know who that first opponent is, the moment it locks in in May, then you can get down to business of doing everything you can to prepare for that opportunity. This is a hell of an opportunity for the Patriots. And think about how we will view them if they can go in and disrupt that party tonight in Seattle. You mentioned McDaniels and his regrets and the responsibility he takes for the loss in the Super Bowl to the Seattle Seahawks. Here he is on the last time these two teams got together. I didn't do a good enough job. I mean, pointed at me, you know what I mean.

37:08So they did a great job. They out everything to us in the game. So start with coaching. And that relies, you know, comes back to me. So we have a lot of things we've learned. But I think this will be a different game. I think it'll be a new game. It's a new year. We have some different players. They have some few guys that are new and they're going to be working with. So we'll see how different it is as the complexion of the game unfolds. But they certainly found some opportunities last year. And hopefully we've done a good job of trying to limit those as we go into one tonight. It does begin with the ability to block, for Drake May, the Wil Campbell narrative, the short arms. That wasn't a big issue early in the year. And he had the MCL injury miss some time. And he was very emotional. We spent a lot of time talking about that after the Super Bowl, the things he said, recording

38:10his performance. And you'll fight through it. And look, not everybody who fights through an injury is going to be as good as they were if they weren't injured. For some guys, the play is diminished as a guy tries his best. No one's going out there and trying to not play well. You go out there and you get it the best you have. You lift the body in the condition that it's currently in. And you know, one of the conversations we've been having about the Patriots. Wil Campbell is one of the five best linemen. And of the five linemen, he's the one best suited to play live tackle. But long term, he probably is better off interior. Well, that's that. I mean, that was always the conversation. Yeah, being all pro, right? But as it stands, he's one of the best five and he's the best suited to the left tackle. And that's where they are, even though the arms, I mean, look, just like you said, cliches become cliché because they're true.

39:10Specific measurables become obsessions because there's a reason to obsess over somebody who can't maybe direct push shove that guy who's trying to get around him as far as he'd like to. And that's what split second that changes everything that splits second that you lose by having the shorter arm is the split second, the defensive end gains trying to disrupt the quarterback. And that one play in that one moment on a third and 10 in the second quarter that knocks out the ball and they recover it and they get a short field and he scored touchdown. That's the one thing to change is all season. Yeah, yeah, that's right. He was on skates. You know, one one, not only short arms, but not a healthy knee as we know. He can play left tackle and I'm going to trust that Mike Vreibon, Josh McDaniel's no football and they know he can play left tackle. You're right. I mean, they're listening. They're always be discussion of whether he can play guard, but right now, you know, they did fix some of these situations. We saw, you know, my guy from Texas, Byron Murphy, right?

40:11I came out of the Moomswold. He whooped the crap out of the interior part of that offensive line. So it wasn't just Will Campbell. He whooped him and are Williams whooped him. And again, now we have a healthy will, what the hell is his name? Will Campbell, excuse me. We've moved Jared Wilson, the left guard to center. We signed Elijah Veritucker, who's really an all pro type of talent on the offensive line who just hasn't been able to stay freaking healthy when he was with the New York Jets. So you hope that that gives them a different look and a different confidence to where now, okay, hey, we're okay. Elijah Veritucker. He'll be good against Byron Murphy 101. We're all right there. Hey, let's just have a back, maybe chip for Will Campbell, help him out every now and then. But that's where I expect it to be different. And I do expect McDaniels to have a few wrinkles in the game plan where it makes Seattle think. He's smart as I've ever been around, Josh McDaniels. And I know that performance probably drove him crazy.

41:14It looks like he's got a few extra gray hairs on his head ever since I saw him last of the Super Bowl. But I do know that he will get in the lab and come up with a new way to attack them. That makes sense for their team. And that's where it's exciting for night. And that's where it feels like it could be different than the Super Bowl. When I think of McDaniels, I think of a master carpenter who does great work with at times tools that perhaps leave something to be desired. He's been given a magic camera. Yeah. I keep coming back to that. When you give a guy who is very adept at scheming up his 11 circles to go against the 11 X's. And he's got an idea of how it's going to go. And we still have fun with the tight end, not the tight end. Yeah, the tight end blocking the defensive end. Sometimes the receiver blocking the defensive end looks good on the whiteboard.

42:18But then it's time to go out there and Chris Carter is getting thrown into the quarterback's legs by Reggie White, which is a great clip. But when you, I mean thrown into his knees Thursday night, 1994. But when you have an O that is supercharged with NO2, all of a sudden, the O's flow better than they did. And those plays that you drew up are going to work a little more effectively when you have a player who is that magic hammer to the New England offense. And I think that's one of the reasons why we've seen historically such big numbers for big name receivers first year with McDaniels because he got a magic hammer now. He's going to use it. Holy shit. It's job got a lot easier when they gave me a magic hammer. Yeah. No, I agree. He's got some different things to make them think. That's the big thing. And if they can protect just a little bit, he will get AJ Brown and dobs open down the

43:22football field. Now the other aspect of this because we spent a lot of time on one side of the ball. It's just the other side, right? It's because you can really kind of get in the same story. We know New England played extremely aggressive in the game. I mean, think about early in the football game in the Super Bowl. How many throws did Sam Donnell make where we're like, oh my gosh, that's going to get intercepted. Oh my gosh, I can't believe he threw that ball. New England had the safety down and they played downhill football. And as we know, there was some opportunities for Sam Donnell to hit some big throws down the field and he missed them. And that game might have been a whole lot uglier if he did. And he talked about that hard knock. So he still has a bad taste in his mouth that way. But even with that and New England playing downhill and aggressive, what was the story of the game again? They got their ass whipped up front. They did. So they didn't, the sea oxygen pass protect all that well. Milton Williams absolutely destroyed Bradford in the past game, the right guard for Seattle.

44:23But within that, the safety is being close to the line of scrimmage and then playing downhill. It still didn't matter. Kenneth Walker and them had their way. Now, you know, can the offensive line and week one function that same way when they're in a groove late in the season? Those are things you think about. Are they going to be on their pees and cues with that limited reps in the preseason and on all the things they need to do to execute as a unit in the run game? Those are things you worry about in week one. And yeah, you got to, I think, a healthier Milton Williams here. You're going to have a fresh Christian bar more here in this way and they are going to have to play their best football. We know we've talked about it. Seattle's been raving behind the scenes about Jadari and Price and what he's looked like. So they're going to run the ball and test that right away. They're going to go, let's just see. They couldn't hold up against us last year. Let's do it again. Let's see if we can move them and do what we want that way. And if they do, then again, it's going to leave Gonzales and some of these other guys on an island against Rashid Shaheed or JSN. And then you're going to, ooh, these downfield shots are going to be there once again for

45:26Seattle and then Ken Sim, Donald Hitom. And if he does, of course, that'll be very tough for New England. But it's that front for New England that we know is that a great past rushing unit. But they do look like they got the ability to be better than what they were in the Super Ball and the run game. And that's where it's going to start. And I would think Vray Bull, he's annoyed on that aspect like McDaniels was about, you know, his offense is showing. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. C 그다음에. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. Jadari. He's got the full off season, the full training camp, the full preseason, an integral part of the preseason

46:28planning of what they're going to do under Brian Flory running that offense. He's got the chance. I mean, the money tells you everything. Even though 17 million a year is far from top of the market, that's a significant receiver contract. To go along with the 42, they're paying to JSN, another 17 to Sheeheed, and you're still paying Cooper Cup Good money. Yeah. So your offense presumably is going to follow the money. And when you don't pay the money to Kenneth Walker, you did invest first, found pick in Giddory and Price, but the money is in the passing game. And the future may be in the passing game. And maybe they will pass to set up the run or run to set up the pass. Maybe it's run to set up the pass for Seattle pass to set up the run for New England, but regardless, Seattle's going to pass. Seattle's going to pass. Year two of Sam Darnold, but again, new pieces, moving parts,

47:29Brian Flory, Walker's gone, and it's a anytime you reset to zero, zero with 15 minutes on the clock in quarter number one, you don't know what's going to happen, but, I still believe that as the teams were constituted back in February, if they play that game 10 times, the Patriots win none. It was a 1970s style, super bowl suffocation, where one team just didn't belong on the field with the other and still had kind of a chance. That's the thing. The Seahawks, as you were saying earlier, they kept giving them chances and they just couldn't get moving. No. The opportunities to get yourself out of the quicksand and they just couldn't get themselves out of the quicksand. No, it'll be about kind of what you said. Can they take advantage? You know, he didn't, Sam Darnold didn't only only miss shots to Jackson Smith and Jigba. He missed a few to Rashid Shaheed as well.

48:29So that, that, that'll be a big part, I think, of early on in the game. And how does, how does New England's D you want to play it? Do they want to come out and play? Oh, we're going to get down hill and stop the run game and not let them go in that way. Or are they going to be worried about, hey, they might take some shots on us early. Let's play it conservative. I could see both teams playing a conservative defensively early on in the football game just going, hey, we don't know exactly what we're going to get here. And then as we go, start to get into more in their meat and potatoes of what they want to do, but weak one, as we know, it's an unknown. It really is. Guys haven't played a lot of football. They're not going to be executing at the highest level. And, you know, there's going to be jitters and nerves and all of that going on. And that's what should make it really exciting tonight. When and where will you be picking the game? I will be picking the game today on Christmas and button at 11 a.m. Eastern live on the NBC sports YouTube page. And then of course, as you know, it comes on peak oculator in the day.

49:32But yeah, we will make that pick at some point in the, in that hour show. Now that I am not going to be doing the picks podcast, I have some freedom to maybe not disclose a pick for the NBC game until it's time. So I can maybe change my mind. Yeah, that's right. To flip the pick, but we lock them in on Thursday. And maybe I'll, maybe I'll wait till tonight. I have a lien right now. OK. I have my picks in progress as opposed to PFT. You haven't finalized it yet. But maybe I'll just put a feather in that or a pin in that or a bow on that and wait until tonight and see how I feel when I get there. Because I remember three years ago when we're in Kansas City. And we've already locked our picks in chiefs over the lions. And when we came out into the stadium, yeah, yeah, saw this thick band of Honolulu blue in the front row all the way around.

50:34I thought, oh, huh, huh. And then when the lions came out and it was Brian Branch or CJ Gardner Johnson, maybe both. I could just tell by how hyped they were. It's like, is it too late to do too late to and I don't know that I would have had the co-hunus to do it if I could have. But it's like, so I want to be able to take all that in. All right. I would be able to get five if there's a bunch of Patriots fans at Lumen Field tonight. Maybe the Patriots fans didn't show up at the Super Bowl. So I don't think they're showing up for this one. Is not against the world in more ways than one. I was taking a break. Baker Mayfield to whom I should maybe refer as Baker HW Mayfield. Read my lips. No new deal. Baker HW mayfield doing a new deal unexpectedly yesterday. Honey changes everything, baby. It changed for the box in Mayfield. We'll break down the unexpected new contract for Tampa Bay.

51:35And it's for Patriots quarterback next on PSD box. Armady, the Bucket Bears.